A/N: I want to go ahead and thank the readers and reviewers alike. And yes there will be action in here in the future chapters... at least I hope I Think so.

Chapter 3: You're afflicted

Nathan pretended to be fast asleep on a small comfortable looking couch. He had heard someone unlock the front the door that was several meters away from the small area he was in. The blonde man knew who it was right away and smiled slightly, pretending to sleep. He breathed in and caught the whiff of his pupil right away, but her scent was slightly different. He felt a frown fall upon his facial features, and turned over in the light colored blanket he had wrapped himself in.

The brown skinned girl walked over to the living room, treading lightly on the wooden floors, leaving her shoes behind in their small designated area. Her socks muffled the sound of her footsteps, but only slightly, Nathan could hear everything going on. She didn't know of course and continued on her way. She paused reaching the entrance to the living room and leaned forward, letting her elbows rest on a dark colored couch, on which Nathan 'slept'.

"Goodnight Mr. Mahler…" she said in a soft voice, and Nathan heard her walking up the stairs, making a right down the hallway and entering the first door on the right side of the area.

The chevalier sighed and sat up rubbing his eyes, they ached a bit for staying closed for so long. He was glad that she came back, but he didn't like the fact that she smelled of the Omoro. 'She told me she wasn't going back…' he thought but he let that notion just slowly slip from his mind.

It had been the first day in several months since she had gone back to the Omoro, and she had complained to him that she wanted to go back one day, but school and a couple of white lies stopped her from doing so. The chevalier had hoped that she would go back, but still he felt a bit strange, almost to father like when it came to the thought of Selma with someone else.

'I understand… why he tried to keep from seeing her…' Nathan thought looking up at the ceiling of his home for a moment. He thought back to the first woman he ever came to care about on that sort of level and sighed, chuckling softly to himself. He shook his head and searched around for the remote to the rather large screened television.

There had been very few Chiropteran outbreaks in Okinawa, so he wasn't all that worried if Selma did come home late, but for the past several days all she did was whine constantly about some Hamasaka fellow it was beginning to drive him a bit crazy, up to the point where he would just bluntly ask her one day 'why don't you just leave then?' or 'how about you just transfer?' just to be polite.

Upstairs the brown skinned youth made her way past the cold tile floors and somehow managed to dress herself in her sleeping attire, and before long found herself staring up at the ceiling of her decorated room. She took off her glasses and placed them on the table beside her bed and smiled at a faint memory.

She covered herself with the thin sheets that were neatly folded at the edge of her bed, and closed her eyes. She breathed in, catching faint traces of her stay at the Omoro. Selma could faintly smell the perfume that Kaori had, it was a light fragrance, one that she herself had previously worn before coming to Okinawa.

Somewhere rather far away from the Nathan Mahler household an individual was leaning against the doorway of one separate room, watching two figures sleep peacefully through the night. Kai ran his fingers through his hair and smiled softly, sending silent prayers with the children. He walked back out and yawned, rubbing his eye for a moment and sighed. He thought back to Kaori and Saya and how happy they had been, they had a bond almost like if they were sisters.

He sighed and found himself walking along the wooden floor and into the kitchen. He plopped down on a chair that was close to the small rounded table and found himself lost in through for awhile.

That girl's smile, it was plainly innocent as far as anyone could tell, but to Kai Miyagusuku that wasn't the case. She held the same gaze as Irene, the deceased Schiff. From there his mind traveled to Lulu, that last remaining Schiff, she had gone through a lot, losing all of her good friends in the process, but she had gained new ones as a result. She was staying with David and Julia for the remainder of it all, because she wanted to help Julia with the babies.

He knew that Kaori saw a bit of Saya in that new girl, but she was different from her as well. It didn't do her any justice, being placed side by side to Saya, because in Kai's mind Saya would take up most of the attention, but it would shift. He personally didn't know the new girl, but he knew enough to try and not get that close to her.

"It's not like I can just tell her not to help take care of the twins…" he said to himself watching something in the distance. He noticed the faucet as it dripped for a moment and Kai shook his head and yawned.

He closed his eyes slightly, and Irene's image plagued him, it had been awhile since he had thought about the Schiff like that. 'I still remember seeing you at the Eiffel Tower…' he thought looking up at the ceiling and stretching for a moment.

A red balloon danced around in his mind for a second or two and he shook his head, bringing his hands to his face, he sighed and breathed in again once more. 'You're in a better place now, and you won't be forgotten Irene. You're in our memories…' he thought and pushed the chair gently, so as not to wake the sleeping infants. With that he walked off to his room hopefully he would have a couple of good dreams that night.

"I have a question for you…" the green eyed Schiff asked. "What… is a human?"

"You have no idea what a human is?" Kai asked.

"We were created by those called the human beings."

"Huh…?" her words had caught his attention, loud and clear.

S e l m a

I sat up yawning, and dried the little tears that the yawn had produced and chuckled, feeling my cheeks get a bit rosy for some reason. I turned my head slightly and looked at the little red numbers that indicated the time and I squinted, I could barley see anything with my glasses, I keep forgetting that. I leaned in, my arms supporting me over the edge of the bed, I was too lazy to get up.

7:29 early in the morning, that's what it read, at least in my mind anyway. A second later, genius me fell off the bed, letting my arm slip on the sheet and down I went. My arm hit the nightstand, and my glasses landed on my chest. A great way to start the morning. I sighed and sat up, rubbing the side of my head, and I let my glasses fall purposely on the tiled floor. 'I should probably take a shower…'

I walked through my room, remembering to put my glasses back on the nightstand, and getting out of that dark blue two piece sleepwear. I ran frantically to the other side of the room grabbing the light pink towel and rushing off into the restroom, I'd figure out later what I would wear.

After five minutes the cold restroom began to grow warmer and warmer with the steam. I sighed and let the water hit my face. I didn't sleep all that well last night, stupid Hamasaka kept invading my dreams, it just goes to show that I'm not even safe from him within the comfort of my own mind, it's really annoying me now.

I did however have something else to look forward too, I finally get to help take care of the twins, Akako and Amaya. It's the least I could do for Kai Miyagusuku, he probably has enough problems to deal with. I breathed in, forgetting what it was I was doing, bathing was just something programmed into me, I didn't need to think about it so much, I was conditioned I guess you could say.

The fragrance was really soft, which was good for me because it'd probably end up getting my allergies started again, and I really didn't want that happening. It's the only thing I have left that really reminds me of home, because that's what I mostly had on me. Everything else like clothing and material possessions I couldn't really take so much with me, and Nathan was overjoyed at the time and he bought me a new wardrobe which I'm very grateful for. Plus he made new outfits all the time, he said it was because he had too much spare time on his hands now.

I shivered and shook my head, it reminded me of, for some strange reason, my little dog I left back home with my family, he use to shiver before drying himself off. 'God I am a nut case…' I thought to myself and laughed slightly. The light hued towel was resting against the sink and I pick it up, wrapping it around this small looking thing called a body. This whole bathroom was color coordinated, except for my towels they could be whatever color they pleased. 'Nathan sure did set up everything in advance…' I thought to myself musing over the fact that a man of that age would get so excited about having someone else around the house.

I opened the door, and out rushed some steam escaping into my room, but that didn't do much at all. The floor was still cold and I forgot to bring my slippers with me. 'I'll mop it up before Nathan throws a fit…' I thought to myself and made sure not to slip on the tiles like last time. I dried my feet on a small blue rug in the middle of the room and made my way towards one of the wooden dressers. The brass knob was cold to the touch but so was everything in this room, not that I'm complaining about it or anything.

Before long I was wearing some comfortable jeans and undershirt with the essential, and a towel wrapped around my head, I still couldn't decide what shirt to wear. 'He just had to go on a shopping spree.' I chuckled and pulled out something, it was navy blue and white, it looked like a modified looking turtleneck. The material was a bit thin, kind of like a cotton shirt, with one thick stripe under the chest area. It was striped navy blue and white.

"I'll need a zipped one for this…" I mused to myself and plunged deeper into this semi-looking closet. At last I found a black hooded sweater, it had a small heart design on the right corner pocket and on the back were strange tribal designed wings, stitched in white.

"Shoes are downstairs…" I muttered to myself putting on the clothing articles, and slightly drying my hair in the process. I sniffed the air and something made my mouth water a bit. "Ms. Cheza's making blueberry waffles from scratch…" I could smell it a mile away, her cooking was like it was made by the gods themselves.

I don't know how many I ate, or how long I had been sitting at the wooden table, or even if Nathan had touched his coffee at all. I remember saying my good-bye's to both Ms. Cheza and Nathan Mahler, slipping occasionally on the wooden floors as I rushed to get my shoes from the front door.

Walking along the sidewalk of this place, it slowly reminds me how it's not that different from home, but there are a lot of people here, and if anything I'm a little afraid of people in general, especially one individual. I'm not scared of Kaori she's really nice, and Kai I don't know so much to actually be afraid of him. Nathan at first I was a bit scared but he's a doll, and Ms. Cheza, or Madame Cheza as Nathan says, she's rather sweet.

"Uso no ie nai kimi ga iru, furueru koe juwaki goshi ni…" I sung quietly to myself along the somewhat peaceful streets. UVERworld was playing on the little headphones I had placed in my ears and I relaxed for a bit. I kind of found myself losing some fear, so long as I had my headphones on.

It was probably around 10 or so in the morning and lo and behold I found myself right in front of the Omoro. I looked at it and smiled, relaxing my grip on the little blue mp3 player I had in my grasp. I noticed that the Omoro was empty which meant that either Kai had was doing some last minute cleaning or that he hadn't come yet. I decided to sit by a small bench near the Omoro and patiently waited, I had nothing else to do now I had no classes scheduled for this day.

K a i

Lewis at that point decided to let me go on ahead, he would catch in a little bit. I turned on the ignition from the motorcycle, placing the helmet over my head and without so much as a second thought I found myself flying down the streets. The background began to fade as my vision focused on the path before me.

I hadn't slept all that well, thinking back to Irene for some odd reason, and the little red balloon she had held before I came to her rescue. That was some time ago, months long into the past, but still I couldn't get her out of my head. It was rare for me to have dreams like that, but I guess my subconscious is trying to tell me something. What it is, of course I might probably never know because dreams work in different ways.

The lush scenery around me somehow didn't seem to hold the same value as it had did before, I think it was because I didn't have Saya yelling at me to slow down. But I do it now just out of habit, plus it's my own way of reliving good memories.

"How did you know?" she asked me once.

"I kind of figured it out a while back…" I told her.

I breathed in taking the last corner, hugging it tightly so as it keep the curve open to other passing cars. I wondered if that girl was sitting outside of Omoro, she probably was, just sitting there and waiting, I kind of felt bad about leaving the house so late. It wasn't my fault though, Akako and Amaya had run out of diapers and I needed Lewis to do me that quick errand, I just wasn't going to leave my kids all alone, what kind of parent would I be?

Somehow I found myself getting closer and closer to the Omoro, and I wasn't really thinking about the speed I was going at, but I knew it was close to being a safe limit so I didn't bother so much with that. I slowed down on the street that connected with the Omoro mostly because little kids would be playing around in that neighborhood, and last time I almost ran into one, luckily no one was hurt, except for a rubber ball and my arm.

I parked the bike somewhere close by the white painted building. I saw the signs it had and smiled, this was something my dad had shared with all of us, and I guess he had wanted us to run it like a family, but we can't really do that now, but maybe in time we will.

With that simple thought in my head I took off the helmet and pushed back some strands of hair. That's the one thing I didn't like about the helmet was that 'helmet hair' became somewhat of an issue, but that really didn't matter I guess seeing as how I'm not really doing anything else for the time being. I blinked and noticed a lone figure sitting quietly near a bench by the Omoro. The figure was singing something but I could barely make it out because of the distance between us.

The figure paused and looked up, for a spilt second our eyes had connected, and with that she looked back down again, putting something into her sweater pocket. 'Yep, that's her all right…' I chuckled quietly to myself and took the bike helmet with me. I walked across the dark colored asphalt and stopped shortly after reaching the sidewalk. My eyes wandered back to the lone figure sitting by herself and she looked up, as if she could sense it.

"Hi Kai Miyagusuku." She said with that same politeness that never seemed to leave her. "I sort of came a bit too early…" she chuckled to herself and looked at me, her eyes traveled down south to the helmet that was dangling by my fingertips. "How long have you been riding?" she asked.

"About three years or so…" I responded noticing her eyes wandered away from me. It didn't bug me, some of my customers were like that. "Do you drive?"

"No…" she smiled and shook her head. "I'm not a big fan of driving."

"You worried about the ozone layer?" I responded jokingly, and she seemed to laugh a bit but again she shook her head.

"I'd prefer not to, I'd rather walk or take the bus, it's a bit healthier to walk, but Nathan wants me to at learn how to drive." Selma said taking off her glasses for a moment, she paused and cleaned the lenses with a small corner of her shirt. "Where are the twins?"

"A good friend of mine is bringing them over in a little bit." I said pulling out the keys from my pocket. They made a little bit of noise as I picked out the key to unlock the Omoro.

I felt something move the helmet from my grasp and I looked to the ground thinking it had fallen, but it stared at me from the side. The new girl was holding it for me just until I opened the door to the building. I walked in and placed the keys back inside my pocket and looked in back of me, she was gone.

I looked straight ahead and felt my mouth open a bit, she was right in front of me now. She smiled at me nervously and made herself towards the counter, leaning forward for a moment.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. She looked up, a bit surprised. "Something at least to munch on before you help take care of the twins."

"I guess…" she sighed in defeat and sat down.

I walked past her and made my way to the other side of the counter. I was getting the food ready, and before long the smell of food was starting to fill the place up. This new girl's been really quiet for the most part, and she doesn't talk as much as I thought she would've. To be honest I kind of forget that she's even sitting there most of the time.

"Do you enjoy working here?" I chuckled at the question. The moment she asked me I was boiling two eggs, one for the new girl and one for Lewis. Tempura was next on the list and I got to working on that right away.

"I do… it's not a bad job, plus this was my dad's." I informed her. She watched my hand movements as I was making the batter for the tempura. "You like living here?" I asked her.

"I do… a lot really." She laughed. "It's starting to feel more and more like home."

"Have you ever been to New York?" I asked her looking up at her for a spilt second.

"No… but I have family who lives there." She said and paused. "It smells really good…" Selma said.

The rice was already in the steamer, and the tempura was done not to mention the boiled eggs. I placed the tempura neatly on the side of the plate and the boiled egg right next to it, putting a little plastic sauce container neatly to the side, that was for the tempura. With the white fluffy comestible material already done I spooned out a somewhat normal portion and placed it on the plate.

"There you go." I said with a slight smile on my face. She expressed her gratitude while handed her the proper utensils so she could eat. "It's free of charge since you're helping me with the twins."

"Then I should help you out everyday…" she was joking of course.

Several minutes later

A rather large man stepped into the Omoro holding an infant in each had. He was wearing a rather large orange shirt, with a plain black shirt underneath. Most striking of all were the dark glasses he had on him. The brown skinned girl looked up at the dark skinned man and stood up, ignoring her meal for a moment.

"Lewis this is Selma." Kai said placing a small had towel over his shoulder. "Selma, this is Lewis."

"Hello Mr. Lewis." The brown skinned girl said. It surprised the man known as Lewis that for a foreigner her Japanese was for the most part almost perfect. The older man nodded and would've expressed his salutation if it weren't for one small factor. Selma chuckled and nodded, stepping out of his way as he walked through the doorway that read 'Staff Only'.

The young adolescent made her way back to her plate of food and continued eating once more. She munched a little bit on the tempura and poked the boiled egg for a moment with one chopstick. Kai watched her for a moment and dried his hands on the white towel he had over his shoulder. Selma looked up at him, the pendant from his necklace was a curious little thing to her, but she tried her best not to stare as much.

"Where are you from Selma?" Lewis asked as he reached the two of them.

"Los Angeles…" she replied watching Lewis pull up a seat close beside her. "You're from Okinawa, aren't you?"

"Born and raised." He said proudly. "You know you don't really have much of an accent when you talk."

"Thank you…" she replied timidly and bite into the boiled egg. Kai decided to serve Lewis the same dish seeing as how he had made some extra just in case.

"She's going to be helping us with the twins." Kai said watching the two of them eat from his side of the area. "I hope you don't mind Lewis, I kind of already made her a promise that she could…"

"Don't worry about it Kai. Why don't the four of you just got out today, I can manage the Omoro just fine."

"I don't mind taking care of them in the Omoro…" Selma said in between bites. "But it depends on you Kai Miyagusuku."

Lewis gave him a certain look and Kai felt like he was figuratively being cornered with his back against the wall. 'I guess… it's been a while since I've taken the twins somewhere nice…' he thought and let out a small sigh in defeat. The red head looked at the dark haired girl and smiled slightly.

"I'll get the twins then." She responded softly and before long disappeared into the other room. Kai noticed that her plate was empty, except for the shrimp tail left neatly to the side of the plate.

"It'll take your mind off things," Lewis said picking up his plate and the newcomer's plate. "You need to take a break, you've been working yourself too hard. Beside hanging out with that girl might do you some good…"

Kai sighed at the thought his friend was forming and watched him clean the plate for a moment. The sound of footsteps caught his attention and he turned around slightly, she was carrying the infants in their little carriers. Something had caught the young looking adolescent's attention. The pictures pinned up by a small bulletin, her finger gingerly traced one of George, Kai, Saya, and Riku all together.

"Come on Selma, let's go…" Kai said looking back at Lewis, the older man handed him some keys. "We're just going out for a while…" he said and walked out the door of the Omoro, Selma did the same after saying goodbye to Lewis.

"…" she stayed silent for a while and looked down at Akako and Amaya, they were sleeping peacefully. 'They really like sleeping…' she thought and looked up for a moment. Kai was waiting from them by a dark colored car.

"Let's get going, shall we?" he smiled. She looked down at the little ones and asked the same question but in a very soft, gentle whisper. The twins smiled in their sleep, dreaming of whatever it was babes dreamt of.

Kai tried his best to not wake them up as he placed each one in their designated car seat. Akako yawned and looked up, her little red eyes caught sight of their uncle, their designated guardian, and she moved her sight to the girl in the background, she cooed but that was it. Amaya was still fast asleep in her car seat, undisturbed by the action that had taken place.

"Don't wake up your sister…" Kai said softly placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. He closed the door and looked back at Selma, she was still as quiet as last time. "We should get going then…" he said, he offered to open her car door but she declined and opened it herself.

In the car

Somehow the brown skinned girl asked Kai if he could stop near a beach. She explained to him that she really hadn't gone to a beach in Okinawa yet and that she wanted to go at least once before the semester for her was over. She opened the car door and noticed several people walking along the sandy beaches. She breathed in and caught the fragrance of the sea breeze, it was relaxing to her.

The infants started to whimper a bit seeing as how no one was around to greet them as they woke up. Selma took her role and leaned over the passenger seat, the babes were greeted with a person who was upside down in their line of vision. Amaya made a soft coo and the brown skinned adolescent smiled, and tickled their little tummies.

Kai had been standing outside when the children had woken up, he was lost in memories already. He was thinking back at the walk he had promised to take Irene on. 'I'm never going to get that chance…' he thought and sighed. The sound of laughter caught his attention and he turned his gaze to the car. The babies were laughing at something Selma had done. He sighed and decided to go back in the car. Kai left the door open from the drivers side and shifted his weight so that he could see the little twins as well.

"They're really cute, I bet just like their mother and father…" she said softly. Kai flinched a bit but regained his composure after that. "I don't want to be mean or anything but… why aren't they here?" she asked, referring to the two individuals, Diva and Riku.

"They passed away…" Kai said softly, and the newcomer expressed her remorse. "They're in a better place though."

"Yeah…" she said resting her hand on the handle of the one of the baby's car seats. "Akako looks a lot like your sister, Saya."

"She gets that a lot." Kai said taking pride in that matter. "It's because her twin sister was their mother…"

"I take it the little boy in that picture was their father…" her hand rested on Amaya's cheek, she gently stroked the delicate infant. "Amaya has his features… it's in her eyes…"

Kai knew that she didn't mean anything by it, it was just a simple observation, but he couldn't get Riku's stare out of his head. He leaned against the driver seat again and closed his eyes, he didn't want to remember Riku like that but that image would forever haunt him, he couldn't help it at times.

"Aruru mi niños, aruru mi amor…" she let the words gentle form a lullaby to the children, and for a moment it was calming. "Duermese mis niños, duermese ya…" the words danced around in Kai's mind and for a while he relaxed.

"Why are you singing them a lullaby?" he asked catching her backside, she was watching the infants for a moment.

"Just for no reason…" she said sitting upright now. "They were going to start to cry for some reason…" Selma said softly and with that she walked out of the car, opened the backside door and took Amaya in her hands. "Come on, we might as well let the babies have their fun, I doubt they're want to be stuck in a car for the remainder of the time…"

Kai for some reason found himself with Akako in his grasp. He locked the doors and off the two went, each with one infant in their grasp. Kai Miyagusuku, the last conscious member of their family, walking down the sidewalk with a somewhat complete stranger and two nieces.

The light blue ocean, nor the white sand, not even the sky could capture Kai's attention, his mind was wandering far to much now for a simple conversation to be carried about. Maybe it was a good thing the new girl didn't talk so much, at least for Kai she was just a tad bit, but her simple actions and words could make his memories spill over the imaginary sink of his mind.

A/N: You know what to do one review please!