Shades of Blue
A/N: Well, what to say about this chapter? It's mostly a series of flashbacks that explain Hei's past and family background. I hope that the conversations between people aren't too boring and I also hope that the name thing isn't too confusing. I didn't want to call Pai 'Pai', so I simply called her Xîng and since I didn't want to give other people names, they don't really have one, so I hope I don't confuse you.
The characters are probably a little OOC (or too IC…), but since everyone is young I hope that's okay.
Also, it stops rather abruptly, but I'm quite busy for the next few days and this part reached the length for a relatively long chapter, so I thought 'Why not?'
I hope I didn't cut at a too inconvenient part… Anyway, I wish you good reading!
Translations:
xîng - star
gê ge - older brother
mei mei - little sister
mu qin - mother
Hei watched the older man as he reiterated the background he had created for Mei Ling. November had been acting strange and the Chinese man knew that it had something to do with him – the way these kingfisher-blue orbs had been glued to him had been more than enough to tell him that.
"…because of that, they couldn't contact anyone and were picked up by the police."
He finished the fabricated history of what had happened and waited for the blonde to say something. His hands were aching, but it wasn't the worst injury he'd ever had – after all he had fought Contractors since before he had become one himself and he had met many that used abominable powers.
"You do know that I know that what you are telling me is bullshit, do you?"
The other man's calm voice was a stark contrast to his cold, unforgiving eyes and Hei reacted on autopilot.
"What makes you think that I lied?" With a hurt and confused expression on his face, his surprised voice and his head tilted slightly to the right, he was a picture of innocence. Jack's mouth tightened into a thin line, before the blonde slowly started to speak.
"The way you talked to the woman was too familiar for you to not know her and besides that, you addressed her with her name, which she didn't mention at all. I can't speak Mandarin, but I can listen to names and besides that, it wouldn't be the first time you lied to me. Ever since I took you to the hospital there has been something that bothered me until I found out what it was."
The assassin forced himself to stay relaxed, but he eyed the door and windows in case he had to make a quick getaway. Almost as if the agent had realised what Hei was thinking, he wrapped a hand tightly around the brunette's wrist. The assassin only noticed vaguely that the older Contractor had finished bandaging his hand.
"What I'm talking about is, that apparently a normal thug was able to overpower and injure you, while you didn't even have bruised knuckles or skin or blood of the guy under your nails – almost as if you didn't even try to defend yourself."
The Chinese man stared at November, unsettled that his lie had been discovered that easily.
"What makes you think that I wasn't simply overpowered? The man was taller and heavier than me – is it really that improbable that something like this happened?"
Hei stared at the older man challengingly – he didn't know just why the man was that upset about these discrepancies in his story, but it never was a good thing when people decided to investigate him. Besides, the assassin knew that, even when Jack knew that something strange was going on, the blonde wouldn't be able to do anything about it – the syndicate didn't allow anyone to find out about them or their objectives, whatever they may be.
November stared back at him, the frigid expression in his kingfisher-blue eyes chilling the brunette to the core.
"I think that it's quite improbable, because, on the same day, you managed to punch me and I am – in case you haven't noticed yet – taller and heavier than you, too."
Hei interrupted the older one, still pretending not to know what Jack was talking about.
"I only managed to do that because I caught you off-guard and you know that!"
November's reply was sharp and it was obvious that the MI6 agent was quickly losing his patience.
"You would have been able to do that even if I had been expecting it – the punch was too fast for me to stop and I noticed even before that, that you've obviously been trained in some kind of martial art. I know how to defend myself, after all I'm not the best agent that the British Military Intelligence has for nothing and, if even I wasn't able to stop your attack, I doubt that a common mugger was able to harm you, had you defended yourself." While talking, Jack's voice had been growing calmer than before and the next question was spoken almost silkily.
"The question is, now, whether the story you fed me was true and, in case it was, why you didn't defend yourself. Well? Are you going to explain this to me and will you tell me the true story of the women in the interviewing room, or will I have to tell Misaki and the rest of the team what I found out?"
This time the Brit's gaze was challenging and Hei was feverishly trying to find a way out of this situation – escaping through one of the windows didn't sound like a bad idea – also because they were on the ground floor – but with his wrist caught in a vice-grip, practically chaining him to the blonde, the assassin didn't think that that would be a good idea, after all the older man could freeze him as soon as he twitched with a muscle that didn't need to move. His mind racing through his possibilities, the brunette finally came to a satisfactory result – one that would help him in the long run. He had, after all, noticed that the blonde seemed to have a – uncharacteristic for a Contractor – soft spot for children and he didn't seem to be corrupt, so maybe he could get the blonde to help him get Yîng out of the country.
Having made his decision, the Chinese man looked November square in the eye and answered.
"I'm not going to tell you about how I was wounded, because I don't want to talk about it, but," he raised his voice a little to keep Jack from interrupting, "I am going to tell you about Mei Ling and Yîng – will that satisfy you?"
A strange expression flashed across the agent's face – one that he recognised, because both of his former team-mates (other than his sister) had looked at him like that too sometimes, when he had cradled Pai against him while she had been paying her remuneration. Unfortunately, Hei had never been able to figure out just what that expression meant – in fact he still didn't know, but he filed it away for later study.
"Mei Ling and Yîng? You don't even say their names with suffixes. Who are they to you? Is the child yours?"
For a moment Hei was reminded of the endless, embarrassing questions November would ask him while stalking him and he was surprised to notice that he had almost missed the blonde's inquisitiveness – almost.
Closing his eyes, the assassin decided that the best thing he could do was to tell the older man the edited truth about his relationship with Mei. It wasn't something he liked to remember, but it seemed that the Brit could tell when he lied and he didn't want to make the older one even more curious about his past. Curiosity could kill and, while Jack was a Contractor and knew when to stop asking, the blonde had been getting more and more emotional and daring in the time they had spent together – it almost reminded him of the time he had been fighting in the war around the Heaven's Gate – his team-mates had, at first, been cold and unfeeling, but after some time they had started to behave strangely too.
Tiredly Hei opened his eyes again and started to talk. He would edit his story a lot, but he hoped that November's instinctive knowledge about his lies was restricted to full lies and would let him get away with half truths.
"You are right, I know the both of them, but not in the way you obviously think I know them. Mei Ling isn't my lover and Yîng isn't my child, but I am related to them.
Yîng is my niece and Mei is… was… my sister-in-law – she is the wife of my older brother."
Tiredly the assassin started to tell the edited story of how he had gotten into the mess that was his current life.
Quietly a seven-year-old Hei crept through the house he, his younger sister and his mother lived in. The boy was supposed to be sleeping, but the sky had looked incredibly beautiful that night and he wasn't able to resist the temptation of sneaking out and go star-gazing. Seeing stars clearly was one of the advantages of living in the country, where there was little light from houses.
Humming a theme song in his head, he paused for a moment to peer around a corner – things were looking good, as his mother was already asleep.
Eager to get out of his home Hei quickened his steps and soon he had reached the back door – he had learned that the chance of getting caught by his mom and getting a lecture was considerably less threatening when he didn't use the front door.
Eyes glittering with mischief, the boy slowly slid the key he had 'borrowed' earlier into the lock. Just as he was about to turn it, opening his way to freedom, he heard a noise behind him. Hei quickly turned around and peered into the darkness of the room, tense and fully expecting his mother to switch on the light and start yelling at him. After several seconds, he managed to make out a small, petite figure in the shadows and relaxed immediately.
"Mei mei, what are you doing?" The boy's voice was an oxymoron of whispering and yelling, his heart still beating fast.
His sister came closer and he could see the sky-blue colour of her eyes before he heard her quiet voice.
"I heard you get out of bed and wanted to know what you're doing." She looked at him curiously.
"What are you doing gê ge?"
Grumbling under his breath, the boy answered the question, telling his sister of his intention of going star-gazing. As soon as the words 'star-gazing' left his mouth, Xîng's eyes lit up with excitement and a pleading expression crossed the girl's face, asking a question without using words.
Hei couldn't help but curse his sister's orbs that had the same effect on him as his mother's – he could never deny the both of them anything when they looked at him like that. Hesitating only for a moment, he motioned the girl to come closer and turned his attention back to the door. He turned the key and waited for the quiet 'click' that told him that the door was open. Grinning brightly, he slowly opened the door, mindful of the usual creaking, careful that it wouldn't be loud enough to wake up his mother.
When the crack was wide enough to let him slip through, he turned to his sister who had been watching him in awe. Feeling embarrassed, Hei cleared his throat and started to talk to her sternly.
"If you want to come with me, you have to do what I say. Mom would kill me if I lost you, do you understand?"
The girl nodded enthusiastically and whispered her assent. Satisfied, the older one took his sister's small hand into his own and together they walked out of the house.
I'll take her to my favourite spot on the hill – I bet she'll like it as much as I do, what with the lake being there and all…
Eager to get to his star-gazing spot, Hei quickened his steps, so that he and Xîng were running up the way on the hill, passing trees and bushes. When they were a safe distance away from their home, Xîng started to laugh happily, while her brother started to grin.
It was the start of a tradition that they would continue for many, many years.
Bored, Hei looked out of the window, watching the storm and rain that were raging across the landscape. He and Xîng wouldn't be able to go star-gazing at night as they had done almost every night for the last six months…
Though even if there was no storm, mei mei isn't feeling well so I guess it's alright.
Xîng had come down with a cold and was now resting in her room, curled up in her bed.
Sighing deeply, he vaguely heard the voice of his mother as she talked to someone on the phone.
"You want to… but they are still just children and I don't think they're ready… alright… as you wish…"
At fist she had been defiant, but she quickly yielded, which was completely uncharacteristic of his mother – she never obeyed anyone and had an iron will.
The only time he had seen her submit to anyone was the day he had first met his father. At the thought of that man, a wave of disgust and dislike swept over the boy – he would never forget what the man had done when he had visited them last time…
When he had been younger, he had asked his mother practically every day just who his father was and what had happened to him – he had wished, he still wished, he hadn't been that persistent when he had finally been told the truth a few days before that man visited the first and only time.
Good riddance you old coot!
Hei really didn't know just why his mother liked that man that much. Again he sighed deeply, this time because he remembered the story that he had been told.
His mother had been a well known and respected private tutor and had been called to a big and rich household to teach the nine-year-old heir of the family.
She had arrived and had been greeted by the head of the family and father of the boy she was supposed to teach. The married father, who had a quite vicious and extremely jealous wife. Despite that obstacle, his mother had immediately fallen in love with the man and he, taken by her intelligence and good looks, had offered to make her his mistress – she had agreed.
A year later Hei had been born and she had been moved to a small house at the outskirts of the city, almost in the countryside – far enough away from the city to not be bothered, but still close enough to that man for Xîng to be born two years later.
Sometimes she still visited her love.
His mother had tutored them since they had been able to remember, teaching them with games and rewarding them when they did good work and she was paid a lot of money to teach her children and to keep quiet about them. The only thing that Hei disliked about his mother was that she was naïve – she still believed that the father of her children loved her.
Frowning, the boy thought back to the visit his 'parent' had paid them two years ago when he had been five years old.
His mother had been stressed for several weeks and had gone into a cleaning rage that swept through the whole house – the next day a man had stood in front of the door that Hei had opened, too curious to see what kind of visitors they had to wait for his mother.
He would always remember the imposing figure that had been standing in front of him.
Tall statue, broad shoulders, short dark hair, tanned skin, an attractive face and dark brown eyes – even then, the boy had been able to tell that he didn't like the man.
There was something strange about him – something heartless, cold and terrifying – something which apparently only he was able to feel, as his mother loved the man and his sister liked him too.
Hei hadn't known just why he had felt that threatened by the older male – in fact, he still didn't know - but every time they had been within feet of each other, he had wanted to either flee, or hurt his father – it had been frightening to feel such a destructive emotion. It had been on that single visit that the boy had learned to act.
He had hidden his dislike from his family and pretended to be as taken with the clan-head as his sister and mother, but on the inside he resented the one who called him 'son' as if they were close.
The child had hated it, but he knew that, should he protest to the title, his mother would be disappointed and if there was one thing that he couldn't bear, it was the knowledge of having let down his mom.
The sound of a door closing snapped the boy out of his thoughts and he looked up just in time to see his mother vanish into the kitchen – the door to the hall, where the phone stood, was closed tightly.
Hei frowned when he noticed the worried expression on the woman's face – he didn't like it when she was unhappy. Quietly he stood and, careful not to make a sound, followed her into the room, watching as she started to take bowls and plates out of the cupboards.
He silently watched her for a moment and, as always, marvelled at how much his sister resembled their mother – sky blue eyes, light brown hair, tanned skin, a beautiful face and a kind smile.
Compared with his own ink black locks, his midnight blue eyes, pale skin and rather stoic expressions, he sometimes wondered if they even were related at all. He didn't even look like his father.
Thank goodness for that.
His mother was busy cooking and Hei wondered why – it was already late in the evening and they had already eaten. Deciding that being silent had outlived its usefulness, he voiced his question curiously, after making sure that the older woman wasn't using a knife or something else damaging.
"What are you doing mu qin?"
As expected, she whirled around, a plate slipping from he fingers and crashing on the floor, while her eyes were wide and surprised. As soon as she realised just who had startled her, she rolled her eyes and knelt down to pick up the pieces of plate that were scattered in the room.
"You are going to be the death of me eventually, do you know that? Sometimes I wonder if one of my ancestors was a cat and decided to let you inherit its ability to sneak up on people! Honestly!"
She chided him gently, but the smile had returned to her face and it was obvious that she was both amused and used to her son's tendency to sneak up on people.
Hei smiled back at her, relived that the worry had vanished from her face. Her statement also gave him the opportunity to ask his mother a question he had been aching to ask since he had noticed that he didn't look like his parents at all.
"That would explain just why I don't look like you or father."
He made sure that his voice sounded amused while he said that, while he inwardly cringed at having to call that man 'father'.
The older woman was startled for a moment, before she laughed – to the boy's surprise, it sounded strained.
She stopped laughing and, while it had sounded fake, the smile on her face was genuine and soft.
"That's not the reason you look different from me or your father."
The grin that appeared on her face made her look years younger and more carefree.
She sat down on a chair and, after putting the shards of the ruined plate in front of her onto the kitchen table, she motioned for him to sit down too.
Careful not to cut himself on any remaining shards, the boy sat down on one of the chairs, curious about what she was going to tell him.
Seeing that her son was comfortable, the woman started to talk, a reminiscent smile on her face.
"I've never told you about my parents, have I?"
Seeing that her son shook his head, she sent him an affectionate look and continued to talk.
My father was a Chinese teacher – he went to England and taught science and math at a high school. That's where he met my mother. She was also a teacher and a few years older than him, but despite the age difference they fell in love and married a little later.
They had me, but because of her age and several difficulties with my birth, it was impossible for her to have another child – because of this I don't have any siblings."
Hei listened to her story, eager to hear more about his grandparents and mother.
"Anyway, a few years later, when I was about six years old, my father got into a car accident and died because of his injuries. It was then that my mother decided to move to China, even though she knew that father didn't have any living relatives there. We moved to a small city, where my mother could teach English at a school. I decided then that I wanted to be a teacher – teaching others had brought my parents together and even though they had had to part, my mother managed to heal herself as she taught children in the country her husband grew up in."
She laughed and this time it was honest and carefree, her eyes hazy as she remembered her parents.
"You probably think that I sound silly, but I always wished to find someone just like they did and when I met you father, it was love at first sight."
When she saw the way he grimaced, she grinned, mischief clearly visible on her face.
"Don't look at me like that! One day you'll meet someone and just know: 'that's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with' and I'll be there at your wedding and laugh and tell everyone around me that you didn't believe in love at first sight when you were younger."
Hei rolled his eyes, while his mother went on and on and practically started to plan his wedding – it was creepy when she started to ramble on and on and on and showed no sign of stopping.
The bad thing is that mei mei can do that too – I wonder why they don't need to breathe when they do that…
The boy called his mother, interrupting her just as she was going on about with what kind of flowers he should decorate the room for his honeymoon.
What on earth is a 'honeymoon'?
Bewildered he called her again, this time getting her attention. For a moment she looked confused, before she smiled sheepishly, clearing her throat and continuing her story.
"Sorry about that… Anyway, because of my mother was British, Xîng and I have a lighter coloration than usual in Asians – you on the other hand are a carbon copy of my father when he was young. I don't remember him well, since it has been a long time since he died, but mother used to show me pictures. Your resemblance to him is remarkable – if it weren't for your blue eyes, you could have been a clone of his."
For a moment the smile on her face turned sad as she looked at him, in her thoughts comparing him to the man she once knew and called 'father'.
Soon the moment was over and she brightened again, but Hei couldn't help but feel a little unsettled – maybe it was because his mother had called him an 'almost-clone', but mostly it was because she was behaving very strangely.
Usually when he wanted to know something about their family-history he had to plead and whine in order for her to tell him something, but this time he hadn't even had to ask – a simple statement had gotten her to open up and then she talked with sadness in her eyes and tension in her thin shoulders.
Mustering her for the tenth time this evening, Hei decided to push his luck – maybe his mother's sudden willingness to satisfy her son's curiosity would hold on for a few more questions.
"Mu qin, why are you acting that strangely? Does it have anything to do with the phone call from before?"
He hesitated for a second before continuing with the next question.
"Was… father… the one to call you?"
The boy flinched when his mother stood abruptly and went back to cooking, acting as if their conversation had never happened. For a moment he didn't dare to breathe, afraid that he had upset his mother but still hoping for some kind of answer.
After working in silence for some time, the woman stopped moving and slowly turned around – the look on her face made Hei dread whatever she was going to say.
She looked unhappy to the point of looking depressed, almost as if she had never been happy in the first place – the boy knew that nothing that could make the usually cheerful and mischievous woman look like that could be a good thing.
And he was right.
Gods above, he was right.
With a single statement the woman that was his mother, his friend, his teacher and his confidant chilled him to the core and made him feel like he had been punched violently as all the air in him left his lungs.
"It was your father who called – he is going to come tonight to take you and Xîng with him. From now on you are going to live in his house – you, without me."
Hei could almost hear both of their hearts break.
How am I going to tell this to mei mei?
The two of them had been at their father's house for a few weeks and Hei wished they were back at home, with their mother and her sweet, gentle voice that called them by their names or sometimes affectionate nicknames – not this, never this.
The moment they had arrived, people had looked at them as if they were trash, as if they were insects just waiting to be stepped on and they openly showed their feelings.
The servants ridiculed them, the family was openly cruel and visitors wrinkled their noses in disgust – Hei was sure that hadn't it been for his sweet mei mei, he wouldn't have survived even this long in that torture-chamber these people called 'home'.
Because the worst thing that had happened wasn't the ridicule, it wasn't the disgust, the resentment or the petty acts of dislike they were subjected to – no, it was worse, because their identity had been stolen.
His name, his precious name, that his mother and sister had used to call out gently or angrily, or softly, or happily, had been taken away – and not just his, his sister's name too, had been taken from her.
Shortly after they had arrived, their father's wife, the woman that man had cheated on, had looked at them and asked them for their names – innocently, naively, stupidly, they had told that woman just what they were called and then she had said something that Hei would never, ever forgive her.
"Really? Such ugly names aren't welcome in my home. From now on you won't be called that and if I hear these words spoken by anyone, they will be punished severely! From now on you will answer to whatever you are called, no matter what! Do I make myself clear?"
Her eyes had been as cold as ice – no, they had been even colder – and they demanded absolute obedience.
The boy knew that life would never be the same for both Xîng and him.
He had been right and this was the first, but definitely not the last time, that he cursed the bad luck that seemed to suddenly haunt his family.
Maybe his mother had been right – maybe one of their ancestors had been a cat and had given Hei the ability to sneak up on people, had given him the abilities of a cat – that, together with his colouring and the sudden stroke of bad luck would explain a lot.
After all, everyone knew that black cats were a sign of misfortune.
Well, after reading this part again, I read and read and nothing seems to happen…
That will (hopefully) change in the next chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this anyway.
If you find any mistakes, please tell me and I'll fix them!
This is version 2 of this chapter and I thank explodreamer for correcting my translations and for offering to continue to do so!
Really, thank you!
Yours,
TTF