Chapter 1:"Talking About Time and Changes"
-"If you could only know how much things have changed, you'll be surprised. But you are lucky, you stay the same"
The moon shined over the white mausoleum, the air chanted an old tune forgotten to many, but to others it was a memory they held dear. The waves hit the shore of the Japanese island, and the fresh salty breeze you usually found in the beaches filled the air. A tall man, with reddish hair stepped out of the darkness of the night and approached the mausoleum in the top of the hill.
"Hmm, it seems he was here . . . again", said the tall figure of reddish hair as he picked up the abandoned, pink rose with a blue navy ribbon in the steps of the mausoleum.
The man entered the dark mausoleum, lighting the room with only but a simple flashlight; he sat on the cold marble floor and sighed.
"If you could only know how much Aki and Aoi have grown, some times I think they are making me older.", he said with a deep breath and a chuckle," And Robin, when you left he was not even born, now he's a healthy boy, he sure resembles his father. Many things have changed, but you . . . you stay the same, you and Haji are so lucky. "
The reddish haired man took a deep breath, as he said Haji's name, remembering the many times he had seen both Saya and Haji together, but now it seemed as a mere illusion.
"Haji, he was here the other day . . . well I didn't see him, but he left you a rose", Kai said with a shivering voice as he watched the pink rose in his hands, "I'm sure he's ok, maybe he's wandering somewhere watching over you, as always."
Even tough Kai held the rose between his fingers, a proof that Haji was still alive, he couldn't help but thinking about the night at the MET, when Haji almost died facing Amshel, protecting his queen and her family. He stands up of the cold marble floor and places the pink rose over Saya's cocoon in his way out.
"If you could only know how much things have changed, you'll be surprised. But you are lucky, you stay the same" said Kai in a soft and quiet voice. He stepped out of the darkness of the room and into the daylight, only to find a tall blonde American outside.
"David, I didn't expected to see you here", said Kai surprised by David's presence.
"Well, I wouldn't be here if Mao hadn't told me you disappeared in the middle of the night" said a half asleep, half annoyed David, "that woman can be so noisy."
"Tell me, I live with her.", said Kai as he laughed, seeing that David's face reflected the few hours of sleeping. They both laughed at Mao's annoying and noisy temperament as they walked downstairs, where a black van was waiting.
"Anyways, that's not why I'm here." said David seriously as some men stepped out of the van and climbed the stairs to the mausoleum.
"Where are they going? What are they doing!?" said a confused Kai,"David, where are they taking Saya?"
"Kai," said David as he stopped him from doing anything reckless, "you must understand that Saya can't be here for the next thirty years, the pass of time can affect her."
"She has been here once for thirty years and she has been fine!" Kai said raising his voice.
"Yes, but when she waked up she didn't remembered a thing", said a voice of a man eating potato chips.
"Lewis? What are you doing here? I thought you had returned to the CIA." Kai said as he sat on the stairs, filled with an indescribable anger, confusion and impotence.
"Hmm? Well, it seems I wasn't fit to occupy my old charge at the agency." Lewis said in his usual humor as he ate another potato chip.
"We are taking her to a Red Shield secret facility for studying and protection." David said as he instructed the men that had stepped out of the van, where to place the cocoon.
They carefully placed the cocoon in the van as if it was a rare type of fossil, more than the sleeping body of a hibernating queen; the men entered the van once more and so did David and Lewis.
"Kai, the Chief is in town, come tomorrow afternoon, we need to talk about, 'time.'" said David as he handed Kai a business card with an unknown address and number. The van left, and Kai returned to Omoro in his old motorcycle, where and angry Mao and his two nieces will be waiting for him. By the time he got there, Mao was outside, wearing her usual angry look.
"Kai! Where have you been?! You know this is the third time in a row you disappear at the middle of the night!! Do you?? Do you Kai?" Mao said as they entered Omoro and Kai collapsed into a chair watching the business card David had just given him," Kai are you listening?"
"Sorry love, I promise I will tell you the next time." Kai's eyes fixed upon the little white paper.
"Kai, sorry I didn't mean to yell at you, but you worry me. . ." Mao's voice lowered, and she placed her arms around Kai's shoulders, "What is that?"
"Hmm? What? This?" said Kai showing the address to Mao," David wants me to meet Joel to talk about time."
"The Red Shield again, what do they want this time? Could it be weapons or maybe another chiropteran hunt?" Mao nagged leaving the business card on top of the bills and some other papers.
"Mao, this is serious, they took Saya's cocoon to a secret facility," Kai said taking the card from the pile of papers, "I think they might want to wake her up again, like in Vietnam."
"Saya, Saya, Saya, it's always about Saya," Mao complained as she served four glasses of orange juice,"Kai, if you hadn't married me, I would have thought you care more about her than about me."
A cold air filled the room in the warm morning, nothing was heard, only the sound of the birds chirping outside and the sound of the frying pan where bacon and eggs where been prepared. The moment seemed to last for ever, but for Kai's luck, the silence was interrupted by the footsteps of both of his nieces.
"Morning Kai!!" greeted a hyper-active five-year-old of blue eyes as she drank a glass of orange juice, "Morning Aunt Mao."
"Morning . . . Uncle Kai and Aunt Mao . . ." a sleepy five-year-old of red eyes said as she sat on a chair, placing her face on the cold wooden table.
"Morning Aoi, morning Aki", said both Mao and Kai in a semi-perfect choir.
A still angry Mao served her nieces and husband bacon and eggs, and placed some toast in the middle of the table, without a word she left the room.
Kai watched Aki and Aoi eat, they were both wearing school uniforms, he couldn't help but to think about Saya and Diva when he saw them; he smiled weakly and started eating, even tough he didn't have much of an appetite. He stopped, watching the clock move slowly, every minute that passed by seem to go slower, but out of the blue his trance was interrupted by the voice of one his younger brother daughter's.
"Kai, Aunt Julia is taking us to school today!" said Aki, "Bye, Kai!"
"Take care, bye. ", said Kai as he ride his motorcycle and went to the address David gave him earlier that morning.
It was an abandoned warehouse, he had seen this place many times before when he was young and used to get involved in street fights, but now it was rusty with tall grass growing around it. He parked the motorcycle and stepped into the warehouse, just to find out that it was locked; he hit the door and screamed, "Come on! It's me, Miyagusuku Kai!"
He kept doing that for an hour, until a voice behind him said, "It seems you got here earlier, or am I late for my own meeting?" He knew this voice, it was Joel's; he turned around, facing Joel, David, Lewis and Julia.
"Kai," said Julia's tender voice," I'm glad to see you here, we need to talk, it's about Saya"
Kai stood motionless for a second, and then followed the rest into the empty warehouse, were they stepped in the middle of a platform.
"Is this where you are keeping her?" said Kai as he looked around.
"No, we are keeping her here," David say as the platform was lowered into an underground facility," in the Red Shield Research Center"
Kai was surprised, by the looks of the place, it resembled a hospital more than a research center: everything was white and chrome, with a touch of neatness here and there.
"When did you build this?" said Kai as they started walking through the hallways and into the conference room.
"As soon Saya started hibernating" Lewis answered as he shut the door behind him.
"Please, take a seat," said Joel in his usual calm voice," as you know Kai, Saya must sleep for at least another twenty-five years, to complete her thirty year hibernating cycle."
"Or at least that's what we used to think, until we faced a new . . . problem", David say with uncertainty.
"Kai, we believe the reason Saya stood awake for so long, after her powers have been drained, was . . ." the blond doctor said holding Kai's hand, "is that Saya is pregnant."
For about the fourth time in a day, Kai was speechless, now remembering the time at the airbase when Diva told him about Riku's babies, now he faced the fact that his baby sister was pregnant with the babies of God knows which of Diva's former Chevaliers.
"When did this happen? Which Chevalier did this?" the reddish haired man said as he impatiently stands up from his chair.
"Kai, what it's important right now, is what we are doing with Saya," Julia said trying to calm down Kai," we cannot let her sleep for another twenty-five years."
Kai looked at Julia as some soft and quiet tears dropped down his face, "But, wasn't Saya's mother hibernating when she was pregnant from her and Diva?"
"Yes, but eventually the babies feed up the mother's blood and nutrients," Julia said looking at her husband," so if we let the babies feed up of Saya's blood, when its time for her to wake up again it could be too late."
Kai stormed out of the room and into the hallways of the research center, just to find Saya's cocoon in a laboratory table, being prepared to wake her up.
"Kai, tell us the time and we will wake her up," said Joel's voice, "her future, but mostly the future of her children, is in your hands now . . . "
Kai again stood speechless, this time watching Saya's cocoon in the laboratory table; he never thought this day will come so early, and neither did he thought that it would be him to choose the future of a race.
For Kai Miyagusuku, this day had been a bucket of cold water, snapping him into the reality he feared the most, seeing Saya loose control, just as she did many years ago in Vietnam.
