Family History
Summary: Maka's mom returns to Death City to take her to a trip to Japan. They soon get wrapped up in in battle against a force that is after their family. Their friends soon get pulled into their struggle against ancient forces.
Disclaimer: I don't own soul eater or any of it's elements.
Chapter 2: Photos
Kami was just a little girl. The sun stood high above in the sky as she ran in a field filled with flowers. Her yellow hair waved in the air as her bright white dress fluttered along. She fell backward into the field. She looked up see a woman with a smiling face. Her long purple hair flowing in the breeze. Her long color kimono seem to perfectly fit surrounded by flower.
The sound of the food cart being pushed down the aisle snapped Kami back to the real world. The dream, the memory, lingered. She rubbed her eyes as she saw her daughter sleeping by her side.
"Maka, sweetie, wake up." Kami whispered. "The food is coming."
Maka slowly woke up as the cart reach them. Many people say a lot bad things about airline food but Kami actually likes it maybe it was the fact the she was always traveling that made her used to it.
They ate their in flight meals as the air plane soared across the sky.
As the memory crept up Kami asked, "Maka, how much do you know about your grandmother? My mother?"
"Not much." Maka admitted. "You don't talk about her much."
"I suppose this is as good a place to start." Kami smiled at Maka. "My mother and father were both student at DWMA when they were younger. They were both meisters."
"Really?" Maka smiled at the thought that she was a legacy.
"Mind you they were both in the Not class. They could have moved onto the Eat class but choose not to. Neither wanted to be traveling around and fighting for their lives."
"What kind of meisters were they?"
"Let's start with your grandfather." Kami said gathering her thoughts. "He was a pistol meister. My grandmother, his mother, actually was British. Actually I think both you and me take after her a lot."
"Really?" Maka questioned. "How so?"
Kami pulled out a wallet from her and pulled out an old worn picture. Thought the picture was black and white Maka could see a young woman with short blonde hair. She was wearing a long button black coat. "That's Rebecca Fujiwara who was born Rebecca Palmer. She actually gave me my coat when I went off to school. She was the daughter of a librarian and was very smart. So smart when Britain went to war entered into War World Two she became one of the code breakers."
Maka was impressed. "That sounds very impressive."
"Yes, especially when you consider she was only sixteen. Her father had a position in the armed forces. She worked very hard to prove herself. One time she told me that she as a woman and one so young had to be better than the best. She had to be perfect. So every morning in the middle of the war she would practice with a gun just in the case she needed to fight. She needed to be a soldier and a scholar. In the end she did end up sent to France during the occupation as spy. She preferred being the code breaker she actually met her husband there working as a code breaker. One of the translators Sojiro." Kami pulled out another photo of Rebecca standing next to a Japanese man with glasses and brown hair in a ponytail. "They married and moved to the United States and eventually had my father Keiichiro."
Kami handed Maka another picture of a young man with long blonde hair and bright green eyes. "That's grandpa?"
"Yes, my grandmother's genes must be strong cause her blonde hair made it through three generations. And you, me and my father don't seem to show our age. I mean my grandfather was three years older than her but she still looked like a teenaged girl into her thirties."
Maka looked at a colored photo her mother handed her of her grandfather and his family. In that one her Rebecca must have been easily in her forties but still seemed very young and Maka couldn't help notice her petite frame. A few comments Soul had said about hers came to mind.
Kami continued the story, "My father ended up taking after his mother with the gun too. He eventually enrolled in the school as gun meister where he would meet my mother."
Kami pulled another photo of her parents in school. Kami's father was wearing a simple shirt with a black jacket and next to him stood a pretty Japanese girl with long silky purple hair. The girl had on a beautiful smile. She wore a black Japanese styled uniform with a skull pendant.
"And that's grandma?"
"Yes, Haruhi..." Kami spoke with reverence. "She was a sword meister and a very good one at that too. I remember watching her train as a little girl. The way she was with her sword, her movements, she just seemed so natural to hold that sword."
Maka looked at her grandmother's picture, "She was beautiful."
"I know." Kami agreed. "The sad fact is that the picture doesn't do her justice. Her smile was so amazing. Her smile was warm and could brighten up the room. Something terrible would have to happen to make her stop smiling. My father said that something happened on the first day of school and she smiled at him and he told me that was when he fell in love with her."
Maka couldn't help but smile at the thought.
Sighing Kami continued to talk about their family, "They dated through their years in school and eventually got married. Sometime later I was born." Kami paused memories of her childhood flooding back. She loved her parents and she knew they loved her. They were the balm that made the teasing she got from the other children so much bearable. "I had certain skills and eventually I went to the very school they went to and I met your father."
Maka watched her mother for a moment as tears formed in her eyes. "Mama?"
"I turned your father into a death scythe and a little after that there was an accident. My parents were driving along and..." Her voice broke. " They didn't make it. What really gets to me is that a little after that I found out I was pregnant with you. The sad thing is that they never got to meet you."
Maka hugged her mother tears forming in her own eyes. She couldn't imagine that pain, loosing both your parents at once and she never hoped to never experience.
"They would have loved you." Kami whispered as she hugged her daughter. "That is something I'll always regret."
"I'm sorry mama."
"Don't be. Every thing and everyone has their time and their place. They had a good life and they helped me become who I became and I was able to have you."
"You still miss them."
"I do everyday of my life. Sometimes I think it would be easier to forget them but I'd hate that. I know it would be worse. Love is never wasted, as long as I remember them they're alive to me. And there are others who've helped fill the space they left."
Maka looked through the other pictures of her mother friends. Her eyes turned to a picture of her mother standing next to a man with a pin stripe suit and a girl with long silver hair in armor. Then she found one of Kami as a teenaged girl next to her mother and two women wearing shire maiden outfits.
"Those were my mother's sister and her mother. After my mother died, just a few years later, my grandmother died. Sometimes I wonder if the pain of loosing a daughter just became too much. As for my Aunt she had a heart defect and passed away a while back. Back when I was traveling alone I heard she was dying and made my way to her and spent her last days with her." Kami pulled out a small picture of Kami holding Maka as a baby girl. "I'm sorry you never got to met any of them. Even my other grandparents passed away some time ago. Maka, you are the family I have, the only one who shares my blood."
"Is that why you wanted me to go with you to the shrine were your mother grew up? So I could know them?"
"Yes, in a way." Kami her rubbed her eyes. "There are things to do. Right now let's just try to get some rest. We'll be landing soon enough and then we still have to travel."
Kami smiled at the picture of her and her daughter.
In Death City Spirit looked at the picture of his ex wife and daughter as a baby. They both looked so happy and now he'd pray for them to glare at him. As he walked down the halls of the school he heard some some noise from the records room. Checking in he found Stein and Soul going through the record.
"What are you two doing?!" The red head shouted.
"Calm down old man." Soul told him off. "I'm a death scythe now so I'm allowed in here."
"He's helping me." Stein told him. "Something Kami said reminded me that she told me once that her parents went to school here too. I got curious but I can't seem to find their files." Files were tossed all around the room. "I found her and her father's file but I haven't found her mothers."
"Well, it's because you don't have her last name." Spirit pointed out. "Fujiwara was Kami's maiden name and her father's last name but not the name her mother had when she was in school."
"So what is it?" Stein asked.
"You expect me to know my wive's mother's maiden name?"
"Ex wife." Soul pointed out.
Spirit pouted hearing that.
"Maybe Lord Death knows what her name was." Stein said pulling out a mirror and writing some number on it the image of Lord Death appeared. They explained the situation.
"Maybe I know her. There are a lot of students." Lord Death said. "What were their parents names?"
Taking her file Stein read Kami's file, "Let's see name change. Divorce. Here it is. Parent's names Keiichiro and Haruhi Fujiwara."
Lord Death seemed to freeze hearing those names, "There was a couple by those names. The girl Haruhi Hiiragi was... scary."
"Scary?" Soul questioned, he couldn't imagine anything that would scary Death.
"On the first day of school she was trying to find a partner." Death continued. "It was the first time she had ever seen a gun much less used one."
"Was there an accident?" Soul asked.
"Yes, when she tried a demon pistol their soul's wavelength matched and she was able to use the pistol but she used the pistol too well. One shot she ripped a quarter of the school apart."
"From one gun shot?" Stein couldn't believe it."
"They started dating right after that. They were good kids but always seemed to get involved in things. Haruhi seemed to always get herself in trouble. They were talented. i even tried to talk to them into going into the Eater Class but both refused saying they preferred not to have a life of fighting. It's not an uncommon reaction many children whose parent were soldiers or just been in many fights."
Soul looked at the file Stein just pulled out, " Haruhi Hiiragi? Doesn't seem that scary. She looks kinda cute."
Spirit who'd gone to the corner huddle, "No she was. i remember visiting her when me and Kami started dating. I spilled some tea and she..." Spirit seemed to go catatonic.
"Hiiragi?" Lord Death continued. "That name rings a bell. Stein bring over their files."
"Alright but why?" Stein asked. "You suspect something?"
"Not really. It's a a hunch. Something has felt wrong since Kami visited. I never knew she was Haruhi's daughter." His large glove like hand scratched his would be chin. "Haruhi was something else. If she had gone onto the Eater class I would say she would have been an even better meister than you and Kami."
Stein looked at Death with disbelief.
"Are you serious?" Soul asked.
"Oh, I am." Lord Death insisted. "She was a sword meister and a fine one too. That was where her real strength lied I heard once she cut a battle ship the long way with a swipe of a sword."
"Whoa." Soul remarked calmly. "Cool."
"That's nothing, she cut it the long way why while she was still on land." Death seemed to cringe at the thought.
Soul started to understand why Lord Death and Spirit were scared. A woman like that was not one anyone would want to make angry. If she was anything like Maka making her angry might not be a hard thing to do. What Soul didn't get was that her strength was not what they feared about her.
Kami and Maka had gotten off the plane and then onto train and a bus. Then as they arrive in a small city they walked a while before they reached a hill. After climbing the steps they finally made it up the steps. That's when Maka first saw past the red torii a large Shrine. There were large dog like statues and wondrous green trees. The ground were well kept and everything seemed to give a serene feel. Moving to the back they found the entrance to the old home behind the shrine. Home might be the wrong word in fact it almost seemed like an estate or a castle.
"Welcome home, Maka."
"Home?"
"This has been the home for our family for centuries going back to before the first demon weapon. No matter what this is your home Maka. The blood,sweat and tears of our family made this home it belongs to you. No matter what happens know you have a home here."
"Thank you, mama."
As they walked in side Maka was swept away by the history. The walls had old weapons, samurai armor, wood carvings and paintings. She was simply overwhelmed by all the history there. It was her family and their life she was glimpsing.
"Are you alright?" Kami said.
"Yes, it's just a lot and how did our family get all this."
"Well, they started the shrine and build the house around it. We technically own the house, the shrine and the mountains in this area."
"We own the mountains?!"
"I do. My aunt left them to me in her will and I have left them to you in mine. Well our family has been smart about their money over the years and we go back a long time. Maka, you look tired."
"I'm a little tired." She blushed a little.
"It's fine. Why don't you get some sleep? The sun is already setting. I'll fix us up something to eat, I'll wake, we can eat and then I can show you around."
Maka nodded and got her into bed to let her sleep. When she was sure Maka was asleep Kami ran into the kitchen. She was relieved to find the Shrine attendants got her note and stocked the fridge and hopefully would stay away for the next few days like asked. She found bottle of sake and ran out of the house towards a small bridge that stood over a small river that was nestled behind the house. Kami didn't hesitate to pour it into the river until it was all gone.
"So you intend on doing it?" A voice called out.
Spinning on her heels the meister spotted and old woman. "Yes, I think it's the only choice. Maka is safe here but that's not the best protection or even permanent."
"I see." The only woman spoke frankly. "I won't stop you and I wish you luck, whatever that's worth. Your family are owed a large debt by many here and we will do what we can but I'm not sure it will be enough."
"I'll take what I can get. Thank you." Kami bowed to the old woman before she headed back inside to start dinner. Kami promised herself that she wouldn't let anything happen to the family she had left.
Authors Notes: Another chapter done. Thanks for the review and I'd appreciate it if you gave me some more. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far. Things are going to get started and threat will soon show up. Anyway I hope you guys like it so far.
