Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Hellgirl.

This story takes place during the time when hellgirl's companions were in a school in their respective roles."

"So...as I was saying," the man paused, looking at a painting before him in his hands and returned his gaze to the beautiful teacher across. "You really look like her," he continued, "It's uncanny for one would think that she would probably be your ancestor!"

Hone Onna took the paper from the man and had one look. It was definitely her in the painting, with the background of her quarters behind. She smiled. She knew who the artist was as memories came flowing back.

"This belonged to my ancestor, found among his belongings of poetry and other artistry objects. He had an incomplete journal too, a collection of sorts about his life and so forth. And he's always mentioning about a particular courtesan inside it...always her...like she was his muse, if not someone close to his heart."

The man speaking was Hasegawa sensei. He observed her as she coolly placed the paper on the desk. The fan in the lab was on and she was dressed in her red gym suit with her hair in a ponytail.

"Journal?" Hone Onna asked.

"Yes, Sone sensei. I'm guessing that the lady in the painting is her. She's really beautiful isn't she?! Her name was Tsuyu!"

"Mm?" Hone Onna winked teasingly as he blushed furiously, suddenly remembering their resemblance.

"Um," he continued. "The journal would speak of his trips to see her, the time they spent together and how much he'd look forward to seeing her again once he's back home or alone. He would bring gifts for her from time to time and take her for walks sometimes."

As Hasegawa continued to ramble on, Hone Onna was lost in thoughts. Yes, she remembered those times. The only guest who only wanted to talk and paint. She smiled. There weren't many like him around and there were times when he could not show up due to his line of work, to which was quite mysterious at the time as he would not speak about.

Hone Onna realized that she had at times missed him during his absence but didn't acknowledge it then till now. Love was a luxury that might not even come by then she had thought. He had mentioned once actually, if he would one day come to free her, would she have come with him. She had remained silent then.

"My ancestor went to look for her once and couldn't find her. It was the saddest day for him that time, for the time had come and he wanted to free her. But alas, the proprietress wouldn't speak much about her and just brushed him off saying that Tsuyu had just left and her freedom paid. It was written in his journal that he was heartbroken and felt that he had missed the timing of sorts. After that day, he would always wonder where she was and if she was happy. It would break his heart to think that she would be in another's arms and he was too late to tell her how much he was in love with her. He would return emptily from his journeys as he could find no trace of her in any town or prefecture."

Hone Onna was sad. It didn't dawn on her then that he could be in love with her. Perhaps he didn't reveal much and was always capricious on many things. Though the hardest hit was knowing that he had just missed her prior to her fateful death.

"He didn't marry after all," Hasegawa added, and drank his tea. "Well, thing is, it's sad since he died and she would never know how much he has loved her..."

"Well," Hone Onna murmured softly. "She does now."

"Excuse me? Did you say something?" Hasegawa asked.

"Nothing that you should know about." She smiled.

End