Note: Italics in dialogue can be read as Japanese, Regular dialogue is Italian. This applies unless stated otherwise.
A/N: Welcome to my story! This whole story is un-beta'd as of right now until further notice.
If you find errors, please do notify me of them if possible. I'll fix them as soon as I can!
Please enjoy my first attempt at a story ~
If there was one word that would describe her whole being in regards to this situation, it would be stubborn. She was so goddamn stubborn.
Her mother had always been kind to her, so kind to her that it was borderline concerning but she never wanted to give up on her.
The woman stroked her nails gently across the fragile skin of her baby's neck, "Baby, do you love me?" she whispered gently.
Her mother honestly terrified her, she always felt the need to get away from her but she ignored that little feeling and always clung onto that tiny sparkle of hope that her mother would turn around and love her properly and genuinely.
The voice in her head screamed but the child smiled brightly and reached out for her mother, "Mama, Mama!" she called happily. Her mother was back!
She clung onto that sliver of hope like she knew that her mother would never hurt her because she was her mother and she must have felt at least a little bit of love for her.
"Mama needs you to do something for her, okay?"
She attached herself to a lie.
"Okay!"
Lady Chiyo intimidated her too but her mind didn't seem to dislike her. It always thought that she was genuine even if she acted scary and as such, the girl held a lot of her respect for the old woman.
Despite how she presented herself, she knew that Lady Chiyo was strong. She might've come across as a cheapskate little frail old lady but she was the one that provided her and her mother shelter, and she was the powerful, independent woman she had always dreamed to be.
But their attempts to hide her mother's chosen way of work was absolutely pathetic. Every night the whole building would resonate sounds of pleasure and pain, it was disgusting. If she hadn't overheard them arguing about their methods of hiding, she wouldn't even have had a split second of thought that they even attempted to hide it at all.
Not that she knew what all the signs pointed to or meant at the time. All she knew is that she hated and it disturbed her immensely. She would flinch at every sound and try to muffle them by burying herself in her blankets.
She would never ask Lady Chiyo about the noises though, she would never complain to the old woman either. She would never risk getting on her bad side because, with how guarded and strict she acted, the girl didn't feel like Lady Chiyo would be lenient if anything went against her beliefs. The last thing she wanted was to be punished on top of being forced to stay put for survival.
She was rather fond of the aggressive old woman because she made it her right to pursue and do what she felt like doing which was super admirable in the little girl's opinion. Lady Chiyo was her role model.
However, Lady Chiyo wasn't enough to make her want to stay. She still desperately want to leave.
Sitting in her child-size futon, the girl stared at her hands. They were soft and powerless. Her fingers curled into a fist of frustration.
There was almost nothing she wouldn't give to get stronger.
The girl let out a sharp sigh, an expression too depressing for a girl her age to be showing.
It would have been a simple task to just leave, but to leave and survive was a completely different matter. Right now, she needed a reason to ask Lady Chiyo if she could leave. Preferably gaining one in a non-life-threatening way but at this point, she wasn't picky...
–actually, she was picky about that. She didn't want to die or get anywhere close to it.
At the same time, if she stayed any longer she might die anyway. Something in the back of her mind made her feel that way but the 'whos' and the 'whats' of the equation were still an absolute mystery.
Footsteps sounded from outside the door, getting louder as the person producing them approached. The girl kept her face hidden in her blankets and evened out her breathing to fake sleep.
The door slid open and someone took a step inside. Within the darkness of her closed eyelids, she could see the little sparkle of a presence but she wasn't sure who. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest, it was getting really difficult to keep her breathing even and present a convincing act.
If she was lucky, it was Lady Chiyo or one of her attendants. The worst case scenario was that it was someone here to kill her like an assassin of some sort.
The latter should have been completely ruled off because of her status in life. She was two, poor and hadn't left the building so to do something that would make someone hate her that much was virtually impossible, but that chill that ran down her spine, despite all the points against it, made her lean towards the killer end of the spectrum. She shivered in her skin.
It didn't matter the reasons why this person wanted to kill her, but she had no intention of dying tonight.
The girl rolled to the further side of the futon, ripped off her sheets, fully prepared to take a run for it. Her breathing was hitched, she stumbled to her feet and-
It was her mother. She had been freaking out over her mother.
She relaxed all her muscles and fell to her knees, her arms slumped to her sides as she stared at the pretty woman with blank eyes. Why was she freaking out so much over her mother returning to her own room? It wasn't the first time and wouldn't be her last.
Her head hurt, she didn't understand all the mixed signals she was getting from her mind. It was so frustrating she couldn't understand why she felt so off, why she was so scared when her mother had been nothing but really nice.
Her mother wouldn't kill her, right...? Then why did her instincts think she was an assassin, why did she still think she was a threat?! Her head was making her feel so scared and intimidated by the woman but her heart was positive that she wouldn't kill her own flesh and blood. The idea of a mother doing such a thing was absurd.
Her mother smiled kindly at her, "Hello, baby."
'Fake.' Her mind hissed out.
She internally hissed back at the little presence at the back of her mind but the feeling of dread and despair triggered by the suggestion was established. She felt sick and forcibly swallowed bile back down her throat.
"...Hi Mama." She whispered.
Contrary to the young girl's beliefs, Lady Chiyo was actually quite a loving person.
She had the heart in her to move from her successful lifestyle and create a place for women to make a living without drowning themselves in the currently over-priced housing market.
She allowed her girls to stay for free and be provided jobs. If they had gotten knocked up, like the girl's mother-in-law, they had the ability to terminate the child without a fee.
Lady Chiyo had never approved of the young woman keeping her pregnancy but she hadn't imposed on her decision either, the decision was hers and hers only and she respected that.
When Chiyo finally met the young girl, when she was a few months old, she instantly saw the potential in the girl. The child's eyes held determination and curiosity, the two qualities that could lead her to greatness.
The old woman was, well... Old, but not blind. As the years flew by she had seen the brief looks of longing the girl sent at the doors and the little flashes of fear and regret that lingered on her face momentarily whenever she took her mother's hand.
It was as if the child knew that her mother didn't like her but chose to cling onto the hope that her mother truly loved her instead of acting upon her intuition. Chiyo didn't know how she felt about it, it was always a bad idea to ignore your gut instincts.
Like it was stated before, Chiyo gave her girls freedom. So, as soon as the girl was born under her roof, the young girl was also presented with the exact same rights as any other woman under her roof. Thus, her decisions were of her own.
Needless to say, there were still several things the old woman disapproved of. Such as the girl's mother refusing to present her daughter a name, thus an identity. It disgusted her how someone could deprive their own flesh and blood something so important.
But everything changed when the tiny little 3-year old stumbled into her office one late Friday evening drenched in dying will flames.
The girl looked mortified and was clutching onto her own clothes, tears threatening to rain down at any moment. The girl was trembling and borderline hyperventilating, the only thing running through Lady Chiyo's mind at that moment was 'What the fuck happened?'
The girl remained in the doorway as if that was the extent of her rights, only moving closer when the significantly older woman ushered her in.
The child broke down into sobs when Chiyo opened her arms in a silent offer.
"She...and...bang...flames... and...rocks... I didn't mean to!" the girl cried.
The old woman was desperately trying to piece together what she was trying to say. Bang? Did her mother try and shoot her? Did her mother try to kill her and cause her flames to explode in the monstrous heap it was left in currently?
Chiyo sucked air between her teeth and sighed, the girl's flames were monstrous in size, she was finding it difficult to hold her own away from the unintentional sky attraction she was inflicting on her for comfort.
She clasped her hands on the small shoulders of the girl and held her steady, pushing all thoughts aside for a moment, "Breathe, child. Tell me once more what happened."
The little girl paused, breathed in deeply then exhaled. Little trembles were noticeable in her breaths but it was an achievement in its own that the girl was coherant at all.
"She- Mama came into our room... And-and she felt dangerous b-but she was Mama. She was smiling and-and s-she pulled out a black thing and pulled and bang. The flames went boom to protect me and her arms and legs and face and everything was like rocks! I-I really didn't mean to! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... "
Beep… beep…beep…click!
"…Hello?" A gruff aged voice greeted.
Lady Chiyo chuckled, "You sound old, my friend."
"We are old, Chiyo." The man snarked back, "You do not typically call, is there something you need?"
The old woman sighed into the phone, "One of my girls is petrified, Watari."
"Petrified, you say? You wish me to locate the culprit?"
"No" Chiyo stated, her voice cracking slightly in memory of the incident, "The culprit is a two-year-old and I have her within my custody. I have called you up as you mentioned that your next project was on dying will flames, correct?"
"Indeed." The man replied.
"The girl has powerful flames to the extent that she completely petrified her mother in a flare of panic. The girl clearly wishes to leave this place and I will help her achieve such."
The woman shifted her body in her seat.
"And the father?"
"Sawada Iemitsu. The man knows nothing of the girl, I intend to keep it that way unless the girl announces the fact to him herself." The man hummed.
"You wish for me to take on the child then?" He questioned, scepticism hinted in his tone.
"Yes" The old woman confirmed.
The old man breathed out sharply, "I do hope that I do not regret trusting you, Chiyo."
"You won't" She stated unmovingly, "The girl is intelligent, she understands, she has good intuition. She is a curious girl and I do not doubt that she will be a good student."
"The things that I do for you, old friend." The man chuckled lightly. The woman laughed alongside him, "I always repay my debts, nonetheless."
"Always, indeed. What is the girl's name?" He asked.
Lady Chiyo paused.
The old man frowned, "Does she not have one?"
"No" Another crack in voice rose, "The girl had been holding that off, she had hoped her mother would turn around one day and name her."
"Clearly she did not." He stated.
"She did not." Chiyo repeated solemnly.
"I assume the mother set the child's flames off. You spoke of the mother completely petrified, leave any and all evidence of the incident untouched. I want to analyse it myself."
"When will you arrive?" The woman probed.
"First thing tomorrow morning." He established.
Lady Chiyo huffed out a laugh, "As reliable as ever… Bring a name for the girl, won't you?"
A pause.
"Will do, my friend. Good night now."
"Good night, Watari. Be sure not to die before this old woman."
"I should be the one telling you such." The old man chuckled and momentarily cut the line.
Placing the phone down on its stand, the old woman leaned back into her seat.
'Watari will care for you child. You will have a good life with him.'
A knock of the front door echoed through the building. The little two-year-old shuffled herself to a sitting position, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
"Lady Chiyo?" She whispered out, voice slightly husky from sleep. Hearing no reply, blurry eyes glanced around the room. "She's not here…"
The girl staggered to a stand and stumbled to the door, still half asleep. Sliding the door open, she peeked her head out only for her to bump her forehead against a pair of dark clad shins. "Oof!" she exclaimed as she stumbled back a few steps, plonking down on her bum.
A chuckle vibrated above her, grabbing her attention at the not so familiar voice. An old man, she observed.
"Who're you, mister?" She asked curiously, rubbing her forehead trying to soothe the ache.
'She speaks Japanese', the man mentally noted in surprise. 'Hm… interesting.'
The man kneeled in front of her and held a hand full of bright yellow flames to her forehead. The pain quickly vanished, the girl's eyes widened and she stood up quickly.
"You did the flame thing! Like Lady Chiyo and me!" She proclaimed.
The old man erased his previous mental note and corrected it. 'An odd jumbled mix of Japanese and Italian, it seems. Oh dear."
"Lady Chiyo and I, my dear." He corrected, "My name is Watari, an old classmate of your Lady Chiyo."
The girl let out an "ohh" in understanding. The man stood back up straight. "I was sent here by the bossy mistress of this house to fetch you for breakfast." He stated.
"Lady Chiyo isn't bossy!" She defended as they walked themselves to the dining area.
Watari chuckled. 'Oh, how adorably innocent.'
"Are you sure?" He challenged.
The girl went silent for a moment, placing her hand on her chin, visibly thinking very hard. "No… okay maybe she's a little bossy" she whispered before covering her mouth with both hands.
The little girl quickly ran in front of the old man, stopping him in his step, her pointer finger sitting in front of her lips. "I didn't say that okay? You didn't here it from me!"
Watari raised an eyebrow in amusement and nodded before ushering the girl along.
'How cute.'
Opening the door to the dining room, Watari stepped aside and allowed the toddler to run inside ahead of him before stepping in himself and closing the door behind him.
"Good morning Lady Chiyo!" The girl exclaimed running over to her side and sitting next to her.
"A good morning to you as well." Chiyo greeted her with a smile. "I see you have met Watari. What do you think of him?"
The man in question sweat dropped in the background. 'I now see where the girl gets her language flaw from. That is not how one teaches a child a language, Chiyo!'
The girl nodded, "Mn! He's really cool, he stopped my forehead from hurting!"
The older woman sent the old man a 'Oho?' look to which he shook his head disapprovingly. "The poor girl was looking for you and bumped into my legs half asleep."
Chiyo barked out a laugh and ruffled the girl's already messy bed hair, "Oh you poor deary."
The girl pouted and mumbled under her breath, "He just has hard shins…".
Watari smirked, "As we all should do, little flower."
Her face flushed in embarrassment and she rushed to cover her face with her short arms. "So cruel!" She whined.
"Luculia." The old woman stated. The newly dubbed girl stared at her in bewilderment, a smart "eh?" reply exited her mouth.
"Your name, young one. That's your new name… Do you like it?"
Luculia was bouncing in her seat, her eyes were shimmering in glee. "Like it? I love it!" She exclaimed and dove to hug the old woman, mumbling a joyful "thank you" into her chest.
Watari smiled happily at the pair and Chiyo sent him a grateful nod, the girl oblivious of their actions.
"When did Mr. Watari arrive, Lady Chiyo?" Luculia asked as she was pulled into Lady Chiyo's lap. "Not long before you met him, my sweet. I was barely finishing preparing our breakfast when he knocked on the front door. I sent him straight to fetch you as he arrived."
"Isn't that rude, Lady Chiyo?" The woman in question raised an eyebrow at the toddler. "Typically, yes, you should not be sending your guests to do your chores however Watari is a good old friend of mine and had wanted to meet you anyway, so it was alright."
"Actually- " The man cut in smoothly, "Even if they are your close friends you should still refrain from making them do your chores. They can meet whomever they wish at the table or at a later time." The toddler nodded in understanding and the old woman sent him a half-hearted glare and he smiled back.
"Anyway," Chiyo continued, "You wanted to leave this place, did you not?"
Luculia nodded, "I did…" she whispered, lowering her head ashamed.
The old woman's hand landed on top of her head. "Wanting to go on adventures or wishing for freedom is nothing to be ashamed of. Don't worry so much about it, okay?"
Another nod.
"As I was saying, Watari will be taking care of you from now on."
Shock was written all over Luculia's face. "EH?!" Her attention flicked to the old man, looking for confirmation which he gave with a friendly smile.
"It's okay?" She asked the old pair. They both nodded.
"Watari plans on moving onto a project regarding flames. Since you have unlocked your own flames, I believe it would be benefitting for you as well as him." Lady Chiyo explained picking the girl up and placing her back on her seat. "Now, finish your food then go and pack your things, you can take the bag that I left in your room. I need to show Watari-kun here something before you go."
"Yes ma'am!" Luculia mock saluted her and dug right into her food.
Two pairs of eyes watched her fondly. 'It really was hard not to get attached to the little girl.'
"After you pack, meet me at the front door. Got it?" Chiyo said as the girl wiped her mouth and hobbled to the door.
"Got it!"
With the youngest of the three no longer in attendance, Lady Chiyo made her way to the mother's bedroom with Watari not far behind her.
"Your mixing of Italian and Japanese with the girl will prove detrimental to her in the near future when she leaves the building." The old woman hummed before waving him off with a carefree smile, "She'll be fine, she always understands no matter what parts I intertwine together. She's pretty set in my opinion."
"The girl speaks in a mix of both the languages, not only understands it. She will confuse any natives of either country." Watari notified the old woman.
Chiyo barked a laugh, "Well, good luck to you then, my good friend."
The old man sighed in resignation. 'Typical.'
"In here." She announced, sliding the door open wide and revealing the contents of the room that was on display due to the sunlight.
Watari strolled directly past Chiyo and straight to the statue of the young woman. Analysing the stone, Watari hummed in contemplation. "What colour were the little flower's flame?"
"Orange" Chiyo replied, thinking back. "Orange with flickers of indigo."
"A sky with a minor mist then, the properties of sky flames that I have read is harmonization. There are records of the flames having petrification abilities." He informed her.
"Is the woman dead?" She queried.
He let out a breath, "Essentially, yes. If she is alive, we do not yet know how to revert her to her original state. By the time we figure that out, she would be long gone and we would be reverting her back into a corpse."
Lady Chiyo frowned before spinning on her heel and walking out the door. "Destroy it." She commanded her voice fading with distance, "I will send people to sweep up the dust that remains."
Choosing not to reply to his old classmate, Watari observed the statue. 'That poor child, subject to attempted murder by her mother.' A furious face, a glare burning metaphorical holes into the corner of the room that Watari assumed the child had gone to for any form of shelter. The statue held a gun that was also turned to stone, the gun aimed to shoot a bullet through the toddler's brain given the height of the child. His eyes glanced at the three piles of stone dust laying in neat piles about half a meter from the corner.
He hummed for a moment and placed a hand on the petrified woman's shoulder the next. The hand burst into flames, the stone burst into dust particles due to vibrations, all traces of the statue's form were gone.
Without turning back, the old man shook his shoes and swatted his suit of any dust before stalking down the hallway to the front door where he assumed the newly named sky would be awaiting him.
Dressed in a cute overall, the young sky waved him over, jumping in excitement next to her little drawstring bag. "Over here!" she exclaimed.
The chuckling, very amused old man walked over to and crouched in front of her. "Is that all you're bringing, little flower?"
"Yeah!" She responded, "I have my yukata, my notebook and my pen. That's all I really own I think."
Watari frowned, "Hmm… I think we will need to go clothes shopping if that is the case."
Noticing that Luculia had already put her little slipper on, he slid his shoes on for himself and turning towards Chiyo whom was prepared to send them off.
The old woman had crouched in front of the two-year-old, "Does this little old lady get a hug before you go?" she asked, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a small smile.
The little girl jumped to wrap her arms around the older lady's neck, "Thank you for everything, Lady Chiyo" The toddler whispered, "I love you, Lady Chiyo"
Lightly petting the girl on the head, she pulled back from the hug and pinched the girl's nose playfully. "I love you too, Luculia. Be sure to stay in contact and visit me sometime in the future okay?"
"Okay!" Luculia replied with a smile, there were hints of sadness in her eyes but it momentarily disappeared under the toddler's bright smile.
Nodding a goodbye and thank you to Watari, the old woman stood up as the front door slid open.
The aged man tied the little sky's drawstring bag to the handle of his suitcase and picked it up. He tilted his head and nodded at his friend in goodbye. "Wave your Lady Chiyo goodbye, little flower." He commanded lightly.
Taking a step out of the door, the toddler poked her head back into the building, sticking her hand inside and waving. "Bye Lady Chiyo! Don't be bossy to the next old friend that comes by, okay?"
Sending the girl a look of fond exasperation, the old woman smiled. "Will do, my dear. Stay safe now."
Saluting her one last time for the next several years to come, the little sky sent her a blinding smile. "Yes, ma'am!"