Walking through the gates to Sun Garden hadn't always been a good feeling. When she had first arrived, it had been hard to stop herself from walking right back to her old home and begging to be taken back in. In fact, even now, she occasionally found herself standing outside her old home, wondering what things would have been like. She wasn't even sure her mother still lived there; she could have upped and moved back to Osaka without her even knowing. Thoughts such as this always had the undesirable (both for Gazel and her companions) effect of leaving the ice striker in a dark mood for most of the day.
Today was one of those days. Declining Nagumo's offer to walk back home with him (she couldn't stand to face him after the mornings incident); she had taken a route different from her usual, but with every intention of returning to Sun Garden. Somehow, however, she had found herself in front of her old home.
It was nothing special. A traditional style house, with a small outside garden, it was no different to any of the other buildings that stood beside it. But to Gazel it was different, whether her mother still lived there or not. It had hardly changed over the years, the only difference being the flowers that graced the entrance to the genkan. Baskets of shion and Edelweiss as well as Higanbana and yellow roses hung, swaying gently in the breeze. Looking at them, she though idly of the hanakotoba, the language of flowers. Not that she believed in that stuff anyway.
She turned to go, hoping no one had noticed her lapse in punctuality.
"Tadaima."
She murmured the phrase as she entered the orphanage, looking around to see if anyone was around. It was strangely quiet; usually the place shook with its inhabitant's noise. Most of the time it involved two redheaded former captains, but there was always the other orphans too.
Making her way to her own room, situated in the middle of the former Diamond Dust quarters, she slid the door open softly, closing it behind her.
The room was painted a light blue and the contents of the room matched the colour scheme. The covers of the bed were a darker blue, the cupboard white and a small lamp stood beside a pile of books on her desk. Dropping her school bag besides the bed, Gazel swiftly changed out of her uniform and into her usual purple and brown assemble before turning to leave. She paused for a moment, remembering something, before picking up one of the books on the desk. Aphrodi had asked her to learn some Korean and she had agreed, but she hadn't been able to find time for such pursuits. She pulled the door open and left, reading as she walked.
The place really was deserted. She somehow managed to find herself in the back garden without meeting a single soul, not even Hitomiko nee-san. Starting to feel apprehensive, she wondered if perhaps they had all gone out somewhere without telling her. Perhaps this was their idea of a prank? Or perhaps they were gathered together somewhere she hadn't passed by yet. Although she thought she would have heard them if they were, the silver haired girl turned to go back inside. As she did so however, she collided hard against something, or someone, else.
"Oh! Suzuno-san! I'm sorry!"
Gazel didn't need to see the person to know who they were. Only two people in the orphanage ever referred to her by her real name nowadays. One was Hitomiko, who was tall and sounded nothing like this person. So this had to be…
"Tomoko-chan."
The latest addition to the Sun Garden family, Tomoko had arrived a few months ago, after the end of the FFI. At around ten years old, her red hair stopped just above her shoulders and her eyes were a bright green. Surprisingly enough, she had recovered quickly from the loss of her parents and now had an almost permanent expression of happiness on her freckled face. She wore a long, light green t-shirt over her white leggings and dark green shoes, and was looking at Gazel guiltily.
"Are you OK?" she asked, green eyes worried. "Did I hurt you?"
Gazel shook her head, smiling slightly. for whatever reason, Tomoko was always able to cheer her up. Usually.
"I'm fine," she reassured the younger girl. Pausing, she added "Do you know where everyone else is?"
"Nope!" came the bright reply. "I was looking for them too, then I found you, Suzuno-san! Why don't we look for them together?"
Gazel shrugged slightly. It couldn't hurt, she supposed.
"Alright, come on," she said, turning to go. Tomoko followed, but stopped suddenly.
"Hm? Is this yours, Suzuno-san?"
She was holding the ice strikers book in her hands. She must have dropped it when they collided.
"Yes, that's mine."
On Tomoko's request, she let her carry the book as they walked around the orphanage. The red-head kept up a steady stream of questions as they walked, and also appeared to be determined to learn the Korean numbers by the time they found the others.
"Hanna, dul, set, net, dasot..um…"
"Yasot"
"Oh, right! Hanna, dul, set, net, dasot, yasot…"
They had wandered around for at least an hour and found no one. To be perfectly honest, Gazel felt ready to strangle the first person they found. She should have just sat in her room, let them do what they wanted and relaxed. But instead, she had actually felt a nub of concern growing in her and decided to actually look for the idiots. This, she reasoned, was why she should have worked better at maintaining the cold, apathetic attitude she had had as the captain of Diamond Dust. It saved her the hassle.
Perhaps this was Burn's way of getting back at her for shouting at him that morning. She winced as the memory resurfaced- she simply could not believe herself. Why had she been so stupid? The only thing she had achieved with that outburst was to utterly humiliate herself. And there had been no reason for it. Resisting the urge to smack herself, she inwardly promised to avoid such unnecessary outbursts of emotion in the future. She would regain the cool, calm attitude she had been famous for during Aliea Academy.
"Hey!" Tomoko tugged on her sleeve, breaking her out of her thoughts. "We haven't looked his way!"
She looked at the direction the younger girl was pointing. The garden?
"I was there when you found me Tomoko." She pointed out somewhat irritably. "There was no one there."
"But you didn't check did you?" the other pointed out, green eyes wide. "You only stood at the door. They could be there, just further down!"
It was a point, and a good one too, even though she didn't like to admit it. Sighing softly, she looked at her companion.
"Fine. But if we don't find them there, I'm done looking, okay?"
"Alright! Come on then!"
And as the bluenett raced after her companion, who had shot of at a dash, she swore that, cold and calm or not, she was so going to get them when she found them.
A/N: I'm sorry I took so long with this! I was pretty busy, and I just didn't know what to write XD I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even if it is rather short. I'll just explain some things that came up now-
Hanakotoba: Literally 'flower words' it's the Japanese form of the 'language of flowers'.
Shion/Aster Tataricus (Remembrance)
Edelweiss (courage, power)
Higanbana/Red spider lilly (Never to meet again/Lost memory/Abandonment)
Yellow roses- (Jealousy)
The genkan is a traditional entrance for a house, apartment or building, a bit like a porch, and is mainly used for the removal of shoes before entering. 'Tadaima' means 'I'm back' or 'I'm home' and is usually replied to using "Okaerinasai' or 'Okaeri'. The Korean words Tomoko was spouting are the numbers up to six.
Done! Thanks for reading, please drop a review if you can! Hibisha is next :D
