AN: This is my first Saint Tail fic, so any feedback is very welcome. Please review; tell me if you think I'm doing a good job, or if I'm just completely screwing up the entire world of Saint Tail fan fics. ^_^0 I do hope the latter won't happen.
Disclaimer: Maju, Rosemary, and any other Saint Tail characters are the workings of Megumi Tachikawa's brilliant mind.
A Question of Loyalty
Chapter One: A Fated Meeting
I loved my life.
Everything I needed was at my disposal. Even more was in my reach. Mom and I were quite well off, moving from town to town making money off of the gullible people that believed us. We worked for our money. With mom's guidance and my abilities we made an unstoppable duo.
Our line of work required a lot of travel seeing as people may begin to catch on that the little fortune shop keeps telling people that their treasured items are cursed. I never lived in one place longer than a couple months. I didn't mind - not really. I saw more places than I would have ever seen if I had stayed in my hometown. Everywhere we went was home to thousands of people, people willing to pay for a psychic reading - even if it was by a fourteen year old girl. After I reeled them in, it was quite easy to convince them that their family heirloom statuette was jinxing them. Heh, people will believe anything if you make it sound good. As their faces lit up with fear, I would politely offer to "dispose" of the item.
Yeah, meaning Rosemary would find a wealthy art dealer in the next town and "dispose" of it there.
And I never had reason to question our actions. Rosemary was the only one who cared for me. My parents both died when I was young, and my foster family treated me badly when they found my astrology and fortune books under the bed. I really can tell the future, but I had no one to train me properly. That's where Rosemary found me. She offered to take me away from my horrid life, and together we'd make a wonderful life for ourselves. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.
Yes, we had it made. And nothing would shake my loyalty to Rosemary.
Until one day.
I was sitting in the back room of our little shop looking over the items a week's worth of work had produced. The trunk in front of me held nine items. These items consisted of small statues, crystal vases, paintings, and jewelry. My favorite was a painting done by a famous American artist. I half wished I could keep it myself as I traced the brush strokes with my finger. My mind must have wandered off, because I didn't hear the bell over the door ring.
"Hello?" I jumped up at the sight of a little girl and another boy in the doorway to my hideout. I shut the trunk lid and hurried out the door. Thankfully they followed, but the boy gave me a very inquisitive look. Had he seen? The little girl brought me back out of my thoughts.
"I got a flyer and wanted one of your readings." She said happily. She couldn't have been a day over seven.
"Kioko…" The boy said impatiently, as if waiting for her to say something.
She sighed, "Please?" , and stuck her tongue out at the boy, who I assumed was her older brother. They had the same black hair and green eyes. He looked to be about my age, if not older.
I nodded and motioned her over to a small round table in the middle of the room. The shop itself, not including the back room which was now locked, was dim. The only source of light came from a few candles and oil lamps. Incense filled the room - lavender, my favorite.
"Now," I said calmly, "I'll need your name and birthday." I couldn't really get anything out of her, children usually didn't treasure anything beyond toys and their parents. I certainly wasn't going to kidnap middle aged people. But I couldn't exactly give her a real reading - a kid just can't appreciate that sort of thing. So I usually made it sound as happy as I could.
"My name is Kioko To…"
"You don't need her last name." The boy interrupted. He was very cautious of his little sister.
"Kenji!" The girl protested, but gave in after he glared knives at her. "My birthday is April 16th."
I smiled politely and began to tell her things a kid would want to hear, lots of happiness and good marks in school - that sort of thing. After ten minutes I wrapped it up and she skipped off to get ice cream from a truck nearby. The boy, Kenji, stayed behind. For a long time he just looked at me as I cleaned up. It felt weirder than anything I'd ever felt. I could sense his bright green eyes following me everywhere, as if calculating my every action.
Finally I gave in to temptation. "What?" I asked, staring back into his eyes.
To my surprise he grinned. "It's just odd to see a girl my age working all day."
My face wrinkled in confusion. "How do you know I work all day?" I asked, taking my eyes away from his. The gaze was too intense for me. I busied myself with a burnt out candle.
"People talk. At school, you know. We wonder why someone your age isn't in school. What keeps you here." He said matter-of-factly.
"Perhaps I like it?" I said coolly. His questions were annoying me. Where was Kioko? She could lead him away.
Kenji laughed at me, his face breaking into a huge smile. "You like working in a place that smells all the time?"
I'd had enough. "Yes I do. And it's lavender, for your information. I don't go to school because I don't want to. I've learned everything I need to know, and I'm doing just fine running this business with my mother."
"Your mother?! She keeps you out of school, away from life, cooped up in this place all day? Not much of a mom now is she? Seems she's using you."
My only thought? Kick him out, kick him out now. "My mother cares for me more than you know. In fact there's a lot you don't know about me so don't go around passing judgments. Please, just go away." I led him out, but to my dismay he grabbed my hand in his.
"What's your name?"
"Huh?" I was shaking all over. His eyes on mine, his hand on my hand… for some reason I felt different. "M-Maju. My name is Maju."
He shook my hand. "Nice to meet you Maju. I'm Kenji, and I'll be back to see you. It seems a real shame for someone your age to not experience life outside a dark shop. Maybe I can get you out of there." He let go of my hand and walked off, waving as he went down the street.
What just happened, I thought to myself. One minute I was fighting with a guy I'd never met, and the next he's offering to take me out? I rolled my eyes. He actually thought mother didn't care about me? What a lunatic.
Yes, he was a lunatic. A very cute lunatic who had just offered to show me what it was like to be a girl my age. I hadn't felt that in a long time. To be an average girl with only homework and boys to worry about.
Perhaps I was missing something.
Maybe I didn't have everything I needed.
Did Rosemary really care about me?
I began to think about being a normal schoolgirl, and going out with Kenji when the shop bell rang again. I took a look at the trunk and had to forget those thoughts at once. It was time to work again. Mother would be very disappointed if the day hadn't added a single thing to our trunk.