Meet the Parent
Disclaimer: I do not own Noir. I just own this fanfic myself..!
It was another sunny day, though the weather seemed to be rather darker than yesterday. The sun had shown itself, a common sign of a beginning of days. The apartment where the two lived remained the same, despite its addition of an anonymous black bird.
Mireille was the first to wake as she could no longer sleep since the black bird's loud voice was banging onto her ears. She had no idea whether it was a singing or not, but it surely was enough to drive her crazy in the early of the morning. Taking a new towel from the closet, she once again proceeded to take a bath. By the time she was finished, the blonde saw her partner was already awake, and was trying to feed the black bird with fresh fish.
Giggling, the blonde said, "If it can eat worn, it doesn't mean that it can eat any animals, Kirika."
Kirika blinked impassively at Mireille. "He was too cute when I saw him gazing at the fridge."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Mireille asked, perplexed.
"I just tried to feed him with whatever is in the refrigerator," the short haired girl stopped for a moment, and kept her eyes focus to the bird in front of her before continuing, "and you coincidentally saw me while feeding him with this fish.." Kirika then smiled cheerfully resembling that of a kid when they first found an interesting toy to play with.
Precisely this time, Mireille had come to realize that most food in the refrigerator was put outside by Kirika alone. From dairy to fruits, it was not all scattered in the room. On the tables, on the floor, on the pool tables; it was all over the place.
"Well..,okay.. Do what you want to.., but remember to clean up the mess, Kirika." Mireile sighed, not having the heart to scold the girl.
Upon hearing the answer Kirika became too busy to bother or answer, and tried to feed the bird with a bottle of mayonnaise this time. The blonde was about to tell Kirika about how animals did not eat the things human eat, but rejected the thought when she saw the look of fun the Japanese girl was having. Moreover, the bird itself seemed to be smart enough not to receive any strange food the brunette offered.
Sitting herself in front of her laptop, Mireille turned it on and started browsing randomly. She had kept searching for some information regarding Soldats for about three months now, and probably had resulted in almost nothing but information she already knew. It seemed like their organization was pretty skilled at hacking the technology.
"Let's see.." the blonde whispered softly, deciding that today she would probably better off searching a mission for the two of them.
"Mireille.." a soft voice called her name.
"What is it?" asked Mireille, didn't bother to glance or look at Kirika, the only one capable of producing such a tone.
Kirika hesitated for a second then said, "What do you think is in Kuro's mind..?"
"Huh?" This time the blonde stopped her activity and turned her back to see the person whom she was talking to. Kirika had by now stopped feeding the bird, and now staring at it in perplexity. Kuro? She gave that bird a name already?
"Hmm.. Why do you want to know what the heck is that bird thinking?"
Kirika whispered, "He looks bored."
After saying that, the one with oriental blood sat herself at the polo table, with the black bird acting restlessly in her palm.
It does look bored, but why does he keep moving like that..? What a weird bird..
"Hmm.." Mireille mumbled, closing her distance with the bird and Kirika. A few steps forward, and she was already beside the brunette.
"What should we do?" Kirika inquired, genuine concern in her voice.
Mireille implied, "Maybe he wanted to be free?"
To the blonde's surprise, for the next couple minutes nothing was being said. For every minutes passing by, Mireille had noticed that her partner's expression had changed slightly to what seemed like a melancholy state. It looked like what she said had deeply bothered Kirika's mind. Deep inside, the short haired girl probably knew the truth that the bird wanted to be free, but she wanted somebody to dismiss the thought. But instead of giving the support the brunette needed, Mireille missed the sign and said the exact last things Kirika wanted to hear at that time. Apparently the Japanese girl did not want the bird to go away, and once again the blonde was flamed with guilt for saying such line. Mireille felt really stupid for not noticing the things faster, and ended up hurting Kirika's feeling. Just right when the blonde wanted to say some word to apologize...
"... you're right." Kirika stated after quite a long silence.
"Er..." Mireille stuttered. "Maybe it's not right, Kirika.. It's just my-"
The Japanese girl had walked to open the window by the time Mireille was talking. Too late.
"Now you are free, little bird." Mireille heard Kirika whispered softly to the bird, as if it could actually hear her. "Bye, Kuro."
As Kirika bid her farewell, the black bird managed to flap its wings and slowly flew its way outside to the sky where it belonged.
"..." Watching the scenery in great surprise, Mireile was left speechless sitting on the pool table.
Then all of the sudden, a beeping sound came from the laptop, informing a new message. The blonde rushed toward her notebook, and read the new message in silence.
"I see," Mireile said after a while.
"..Anything new?" Kirika asked solemnly.
"A friend of mine said that we ought to be cautious of anything suspicious." answered Mireille, looking at Kirika's brown eyes. "In other words..," she looked at Kirika seriously, "Soldats have already begun their move."
With that, all the thought about the birds instantly escaped out of the two's minds, thus welcoming the growing unease - regarding Soldats in their minds.
Many days had passed since the day Mireille received the email. To tell the truth, nothing had happened. No gunshots, no murders, no bombs, and no such thing as danger. Kirika was staring at the sky, and Mireille was watching the comedy show at TV. The birds were chirping outside, and the brilliant sunlight was shining brightly, warming the earth gently with its radiation. It was peaceful and normal; the typical day when one would want to do was doze off all day.
Unless one feel threatened by Soldats, of course.
The Corsican girl was in fact having quite difficulties of letting go all the perilous thought going on in her mind. Even feigning to be interested in those stupid comedy shows became hard enough. The blonde glanced at Kirika who was standing peacefully, looking like having no worries whatsoever. Sighing, Mireille stood up and called her partner. "Kirika, want to go out a bit?"
The Japanese girl slowly tuned around, eyeing Mireille mutely for a while before whispering softly, "..Sure."
The shopping center the pair was going to was not too far from the apartment, presumably a fifteen minutes walk. Normally when Mireille had had the mood to go out, they would most likely spend the day outside until late. Moreover knowing Mireille, it had indeed become some kind of tradition that the blonde would at least bring three bags back home whenever she went out shopping. Fortunately this time, the trip was made out of boredom so the two, or rather Mireille, just intended to wander around the shopping center. They halted occasionally to look at the shop's display, exchanged some casual chit chats along the way, and discussed some things they found interesting. Time flew by unconsciously, and amazingly for the Corsican girl, the thoughts of Soldats' coming did not worry her as much as it did early in the day.
"Can we look at that shop?" Kirika;s voice inquired the question as the two passed the less-crowded part of the shopping center.
Surprised at this unusual request, Mireille looked at Kirika, and followed the Japanese girl's eyes gaze - where it was concentrated at one shop at the end of the road. Judging from the animal's logo in front of it, the shop was without a doubt, a pet shop. Instinctively Mireille nodded in agreement, and eventually they entered the shop.
As soon as the two stepped their feet inside, the smell of animals, and the sight of them trapped in cages were what greeted them. Immediately both Mireille and Kirika felt sorry for all the animals in the shop; they had no choice but to live in the cage, trapped without freedom. Regardless of that, however, the animals were lively enough. Some dogs were barking softly, the fishes were swimming, and the hamsters were dozing; somehow all the sound audible came from the animals. It was so noisy of animals that Mireille felt as if there was no one else human besides the two of them. Looking around the blonde came to realize that it might be true; the shop was empty save for the animals. Even the cashier was not around for the chair was left unseated. Shrugging, Mireille and Kirika in the end wandered around together, sometimes stopping to observe some unique animals that caught their attention.
"It sure is kind of... nasty." Mireille said, shaking a bit. She pointed her finger at a green, huge snake trapped in a mirror box.
"Yes." Kirika nodded her agreement quietly.
"I'll go look at something else," Mireille announced. "It creep me out."
The two then separated as the blonde went to the insects area, while Kirika approached the cat's zone. Stealing a glance at her partner's glimmering eyes, Mireille smiled to herself.
You want a cat eh, Kirika?
From Mireille's sight, it seemed to her that Kirika was currently forming her rare smile to a white fluffy ball being. Apparently, it was a cat engulfed in nothing but white fur. Giving Kirika the self privacy the girl might need, Mireille decided to entertain herself solely for a little bit more. Some minutes later, she slowly approached Kirika, who, as expected, was still having her eyes set on the fluffy cat.
"Do you want one?" the blonde asked, trying to sound indifferent.
"…" Kirika switched her gaze to Mireille for a brief second, before returning it back to where it was. "I just think that it is.. cute."
"Yeah," replied Mireille, looking at the white cat. "It sure is."
"Is it.. really okay to have one?" Kirika asked in a serious tone, despite her ever impassive expression.
Amused, Mireille curved her lips into a smile. If everybody thought Kirika was no good at expressing herself, then Mireille had proved herself to be worthy of being perceptive enough when it came to understanding the Japanese girl. Mireille knew that from the body language, and more importantly the eyes, that Kirika was longing to have a cat.
Mireille chuckled a bit, then said, "Yes. You can pick one, either that fluffy ball or the others."
The Japanese girl's brown eyes brighten one more time, and remained so even after she turned her head down to look back at the cat. "I like this one," Kirika said softly as her cheeks slightly turned red.
"Okay."
They bought the white cat, which unsurprisingly remained silent all the way. Not even a "meooww" came out from its round face. Right after Mireille and Kirika decided to purchase the cat, the shop assistant rushed out to greet them, and was obviously thrilled to have a customer. He was really excited that somebody actually came to buy, and became very friendly and laughing uncontrollably at all times. Surprisingly he was really generous, and even gave Kirika a free cage for the fluffy cat. After paying and thanking the cheerful shop assistant, they walked out from the shop. To their surprise as well, it was already night by the time they stepped outside; neither of the two paid attention as to how much time was spent during their time in the pet shop. The road was empty of people, and instead was caressed by the cool breeze of nights. The moon had now shone brightly, causing the street lamps to glitter even more in the darkness.
"Thank you." Kirika said after they walked a good couple minutes away from the pet shop. The Japanese girl fixed her gaze at Mireille's eyes, then give the blonde her simple, charming smile.
Seeing the smile, a warm feeling rushed through Mireille's heart, but for some reason she felt her body heat rising as well. Completely unaware of her reddening cheek, Mireille stuttered, "It's.. It's nothing. You barely got a present, anyway." The blonde faced away from the brunette, and pretended to focus on the road ahead.
It's just a cat, isn't it..?
Mireille was full in her thought, and did not realize that Kirika had suddenly stopped walking until a few second later. Expressionless as ever, the brunette just stood still, carrying the cat in the cage on one hand. Confused and at the same time worried, Mireille quickly sprinted near her partner. It was just a precaution, but every time Kirika halted for reasons unclear, it most likely would result in danger. Then as if to strengthen her conclusion, Mireille was astonished by an eerie bristling sound coming out of nowhere. The aura hovering around had somehow become really tense and thick to the point where all Mireille could sense was darkness and danger.
Pulling out her gun, Mireille could feet sweat dropping from her forehead. Whoever this person who caused such perilous and threatening aura to them was, he was smart enough. Examining the scenery around, she was sure that there was only one way out from this shopping area to their apartment; there was no other option. Nobody could escape freely in this road unless he could jump or climb really high.
Keeping their position back to back, Mireille and Kirika observed the area and remained silent. Somebody might just come and attack, and they must be prepared for it. Then all of the sudden, they heard a scream not too far from where they were standing. From the sound of it, a female was likely to be the owner. Both Mireille and Kirika were already on their ready to fight, thus without further conversation but a look at each other they carefully approached the pathway on their right, to the source of the scream. A side road as it was, as the two got closer it became darker. There was not a single lamp at this path, and all they could rely on was the moon's light; Mireille and Kirika had to trust their eyes to be able to look trough. Moving forward, they were forced to stop when their eyes spotted something on the ground.
Having been assassins for years, the two had a real understanding of what they had found without even need for looking. A group of man dressed in black uniform was killed and unconsciously laying on the ground. They were scattered all over, blocking the pathway the pair was supposed to be taking. Judging from the look of the wound, it was possible that they were all stabbed with sharp weapon, not a gun. Avoiding stepping on the men, the two carefully walked closer and closer until Mireille heard a suspicious noise and gestured Kirika to stop behind a thick wall. Conversation was barely heard, but Mireille was sure there was someone talking right at the other side of the wall.
She stole a glance at Kirika, and was utterly shocked when she realized a group of men with the same black suit they just saw were surrounding her and Kirika. She could feel the threat coming from the many guns directed at them, and was amazed as to how she had not yet dead as a corpse. How could she not hear them coming? Frustrated by herself, Mireille stared blankly at the ambusher, then at her partner. Calm and expressionless, the Japanese girl still remained her face as such, only that her gun was pointed nowhere but rest beside her waist now.
Kirika?
From the corner of her eyes, Mireille saw the Japanese girl made a little movement. As if in plan and perfect situation to communicate with each other, both Mireille and Kirika rolled and released the bullets in their gun towards the men at the same time. As a response some gunshots were being directed back at them, causing the two to run as fast as they could, dodging and attacking at the same time. Just as the opponent started to fall one by one, a splitting sound of air buzzed through the air, visualizing the sight of knives breaking through. A couple seconds later, all the man had fallen down, leaving Mireille and Kirika alone.
Trained to remain her vigilance after battle, and confused as to what exactly was going on, Mireille just stood still in her position holding her gun, waiting for any other assaulters. While Mireille was in her fighting pose, Kirika never changed her expression even during all those perilous situations they just had. The brunette went over to check the pulse of the victims instead, leaving the blonde on guard by herself. Slowly, Kirika pulled off a knife on one of the men's body, inspecting it carefully. After a while, the brunette grabbed hold of the knife tightly to her body, then stood up soundlessly after that, looking right at Mireille while she did so. The sound of gusting wind broke the silence, while the chill ran cold down their spines. The night was dark, and the wind was cold. But nothing gave the same chilling, cold effect that Kirika gave when she whispered,
"Chloe."