1: Denial
It had started with small things; randomly zoning out for a few minutes, pausing in sentences, her eyes flickering around the room every so often. Igawa only noticed the odd behaviour for the first time when he walked into the kitchen one night wiping his greasy hands on an old towel after a day's work in the garage. He had been working on his beloved van, adorning it with new upgrades in its system and a few good coats of polish (such a sophisticated vehicle deserved to look just as good on the outside as it did on the inside in Igawa's opinion). It was the team's day off, so it was only Igawa and Haruka in the large house. Dai had left early on his motorbike after a hearty breakfast, Juliet had waltzed away with a bounce in her step informing no one in particular that she was going shopping, and Mamoru had slept in and also decided to go on an outing himself, murmuring something about cake as he left through the front door, his trusted cane in hand.
Haruka was standing at the kitchen bench, seemingly preparing the ingredients for that night's dinner, as was her routine at that time of the night. Igawa was about to continue on his way to the fridge for a much needed drink of cold water when he noticed something off with the scene in front of him.
The hand holding the kitchen knife was frozen in the air, the girl's gaze blank as it bore holes into the steel sink in front of her. But closer inspection showed the girl's silver eyes unfocused, as though observing a scene play out in the distance.
Igawa had stood in the doorway, puzzled at the girl's statue like stillness.
"Haruka, you okay?" he called out, then waited for a response but received only heavy silence. There was no indication that Haruka had even heard him, despite her being only a few feet away from him. Slightly alarmed, Igawa quickly advanced until he stood behind her and firmly grasped the blonde's shoulder.
Haruka jerked at the sudden contact and whipped her head around to face the techie with wide eyes and a sharp inhale of breathe. There was something close to a mix of fear and confusion clouding her wide gaze, worrying the man further.
"You okay?" Igawa repeated; his voice laced with concern at her frightened reaction. The hand holding the girl's shoulder unconsciously tightened as his stomach began to churn. The man had no idea why Haruka would be so startled by a simple touch.
Haruka didn't say anything for a few agonizingly slow moments, just stood there transfixed, as though her body had been put under a spell. The techie noticed how her eyes continuously flickered slightly to the left of his cornrowed head.
Finally, Haruka's tense frame relaxed and her widened eyes went back to their usual calm state, a small reassuring smile replacing the tight line her lips were in. Not a trace of her previous fright remained as she stood, torso twisted around to look at the worried man directly.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just daydreaming a bit, sorry." She replied apologetically, breathing a light chuckle. Igawa kept his gaze firmly on the girl, unconvinced that her weird trance was simply a day dream. That wasn't normal, something was definitely off…
Haruka noticed his scrutinizing look, and then dropped her gaze to the floor guiltily, reminding Igawa of a puppy caught stealing its owner's shoes to hide in the back yard. The awkward silence that followed confirmed the lie, and Igawa could feel his chest constrict slightly with anxiety. "Was it a vision?" he asked faintly, trying hard to keep the worry out of his voice.
Haruka's cool silver eyes looked up tentatively at Igawa's dark ones through his square glasses, before dropping back down to her feet that fidgeted nervously. "…yes" she replied with uncertainty, looking uncomfortable under Igawa's unfaltering gaze.
A vision… Igawa thought to himself. That would explain her lack of awareness when he first called her. "Is it something we should know about?" He asked gravely, knowing how useful her foresight can be for 'Team Blade' on their missions – her precognitive abilities had saved the members' lives enough times for them to place their faith in her visions.
Haruka shook her head with more certainty, turning back around to face the kitchen bench before replying "No, nothing like that. It didn't really tell me much; I just saw a few images of a few buildings. There was nothing that stood out about them." Haruka resumed chopping a carrot as she added "I may see something more later, but at the moment it's of no help."
Igawa wearily sighed, convinced of Haruka's explanation. These kinds of visions were not uncommon, where Haruka sees a few images in her mind rather than a full scenario. Igawa dropped his hand from Haruka's shoulder down to his side and made his way to the fridge where he finally got his bottle of water before retreating to the doorway, pausing his steps to turn back to face the girl who was humming a soft tune as she continued to calmly chop vegetables. "I'll be on the computer, so just give me a shout when dinner is ready."
Haruka waved a hand dismissively with a low hum of understanding, not bothering to turn back around. Recognizing that there was nothing left to be said, the techie continued to make his way to his beloved computer set where he planned to go through more coded gibberish in preparation for a few upcoming missions. He also mused quietly to himself that he should probably get in contact with some of the other Network members to share information and debrief.
The incident was forgotten and never crossed the man's mind for a number of weeks.
First mistake
"Haruka, have you lost some weight?"
The blonde momentarily stopped chewing a mouthful of her dinner to look up at the tanned beauty sitting across from her at the dining table. Haruka's eyebrows scrunched up a bit in confusion while she finished off her mouthful of food before replying. "No, I don't think so. Why do you ask?" She added curiously as she regarded Juliet calmly.
"It's just that you seem thinner than before, and your clothes look a bit big on you for some reason." Juliet continued to carefully look over Haruka for a bit before turning to face Igawa on her right. "Igawa, what do you think?"
The techie's hand holding his chopsticks stopped mid-air, half way to his awaiting mouth to cast his gaze over to Juliet before also looking at Haruka seated on the opposite side of the table. "I don't really know..." Igawa commented before stuffing his mouth with his delayed mouthful of food. Placing his chopsticks down on the table, he leaned back in his chair as he narrowed his eyes, taking in Haruka's thin wrists and how her red long sleeved top seemed to hang off her narrow frame. Examining the child before him, he began to notice other things as well. "Actually, I think you might be right, Juliet" he stated evenly. "You do seem kind of thinner than before, and you look kind of tired as well" he mused, scrutinizing the shadows under her eyes and how her eye lids seemed to droop as though they weighed more than they should, willing to be shut to lull the girl to sleep.
Haruka laughed nervously, feeling extremely uncomfortable under the strong gazes of the two adults before her. "No, I really don't think so. It's probably just your imagination" she offered quickly with a reassuring smile.
"No. They're right. You have lost weight" a deep voice cut through the conversation before anyone else can get another word in. The three of them turned to regard Mamoru who continued to calmly eat his meal, slightly surprised at the unexpected input from the blind swordsman.
A heavy silence fell over the dining table as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the only sound interrupting the silence the rhythmic ticks of a clock and the sound of Dai wolfing down his meal, seemingly oblivious to the tension at the table.
The moment of quiet was broken when Mamoru took a long drink from his cup, placing it down to resume his comment. "I barely see you eating when you're not at the table with the rest of us, and even then, your portions are smaller than they used to be. You also seem to be less attentive lately, so I'm guessing you're not sleeping well, either."
After another moment of silence, realizing that Mamoru had nothing left to say, Juliet, Igawa and even Dai – who paused his rapid consumption of food for a moment – all turned to face Haruka, clearly expecting her to say something.
Feeling extremely uncomfortable under the strong gazes of the three adults, Haruka hastily stood and excused herself, murmuring something about needing to clean the kitchen as she made her hurried retreat, dirty cutlery in hand.
Igawa and Juliet looked at each other curiously, then shrugged off the girl's odd behaviour and continued eating quietly, occasionally exchanging a few words about their day.
As the casual air returned to the dining room, unseeing eyes behind shades remained fixed on the door where the girl had exited from, brows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line. After a quick internal debate, Mamoru decided against telling the other members of his team what he had heard in the middle of the night on a number of occasions in the past few weeks.
Mamoru had been woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of the girl's quiet sobbing, and the subtle but distinct smell of blood.