CHAPTER 4: Human Emotions

Hikari woke up in a haze. She had barely remembered getting back to sleep after her dream. Not a dream, a nightmare, she told herself. She got up groggily. Hikari had never been a morning person. As she was slowly working her way on to the floor, there was a knock on her door.

"Come in." She said sleepily. Vince walked through the door.

"Good morning!" he said cheerfully. Hikari just groaned and gave him an evil look.

He sighed and said, "You're just a regular Miss Sunshine, aren't you?"

Hikari said, "Its part of my charm." She got up out of bed and walked over to Vince. "Wasn't there something you wanted? You know it's not wise to talk to me in the morning…" She said evilly.

"Just wanted to tell you that breakfast is ready." He said. He walked over to her dresser and picked up the white feathers. "Where did ya get the feathers?"

"I found them outside last night." Hikari said.

"Last night? When I came in to wake you up for dinner you were dead asleep." He said then smiled. "Are you telling me that the sound of a feather falling wakes you up when me screaming won't?"

"No, I was already awake…." Hikari said, "I…..I had a bit of a nightmare…."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Vince said concerned. "Because, if you do, I'm here for you."

Hikari smiled sadly and said, "I don't think I'm ready to talk about but, when I am, you'll be the first person I talk to.

Vince just smiled back and left the room.

Dammit! He thought as he left the room, 'I'm here for you' is that the best I can come up with? Jeez, that was pathetic! It's a wonder she didn't laugh in my face! He walked down the stairs angrily.

"Something wrong?" A voice said behind him. Vince jumped two feet. He spun around and saw Caleb.

"Jeez! Are ya trying to give me a heart attack?" He said to his step brother.

Caleb ignored the comment and said, "Something go wrong with Hikari?"

"No! What makes you say that!?" Vince said defensively.

"Well, for starters, you came walking down the stairs like you were going to kill yourself and second, you got all defensive when I asked if anything was wrong." Caleb answered grinning.

Vince rolled his eyes and said, "Have I mentioned lately that I hate you?"

Caleb laughed and said, "Well, not recently." He looked at Vince seriously and said, "Seriously, what happened?"

"I acted like an idiot in front of Hikari."

"And that's different from normal how?"

"Shut up."

"Since when do you care whether you look like an idiot in front of Hikari?" Caleb said questioningly. Vince thought for a moment before answering.

"I honestly don't know." He said, "I don't know when I went from thinking of her as a friend too thinking of her as……well….potentially more than a friend."

"Ah, my dear romantically challenged brother, how naïve you are to the world of women and romance." Caleb said teasingly.

"Don't talk to me like you're older!" Vince said angrily.

"I'm only stating a fact, brother dear." Caleb continued. Suddenly, more seriously he said, "And let me offer you a bit of relationship related advice; tell Hikari how you feel. She's an amazing girl, if you don't tell her, mark my words, someone else will!" He then turned and walked down the hallway leaving Vince speechless in the hallway.

"Something wrong?" Vince jumped and turned. Hikari was on the stairway behind him.

"Are you and Caleb both trying to give me a heart attack today?" He said.

"Dammit, who let the secret out?" Hikari said sarcastically. Vince laughed.

"Anyway," Hikari said, "Why were you just standing in front of the stairway looking like you've just swallowed some thing really unpleasant?"

"Umm…No reason." Vince said. He was beyond thankful that she hadn't heard the conversation between him and Caleb.

"We should get some breakfast before Caleb and Cid eat everything." Vince said, trying to change the subject.

Hikari smiled and said, "Yeah, we should." She walked down the hallway to the kitchen with Vince closely behind her.

"How goes bodyguard duty?" Greed said to Pride. They were both sitting on a roof not far from the home Hikari was staying in.

"It's been…..nice." Pride answered. "The night was pretty uneventful. I found out the she talks in her sleep."

Greed almost choked on the hotdog he had been eating. "You went in her room?! Are you insane?! What if someone saw you? Everything would be over!"

Pride said, "No you idiot. I didn't go into her room, I was outside the window. I didn't hear her talking, I just saw her lips moving, and that's all."

Greed seemed to calm down a bit after that but he said, "You're certain no one saw you?"

Pride laughed and said, "I'm certain, ok?" He shifted uncomfortably for a moment, as though he had just remembered something.

"Why are you doing that?" Greed asked, "You look like you just remembered something that you really don't want to tell me."

"It's probably nothing." Pride answered. He looked at the hotdog Greed was eating. "Why are you eating? You don't need to; it's a waste of time."

"Just because I don't need to eat doesn't mean that I can't." Greed said defensively. "Besides, I liked hotdogs a lot……when I was human. Plus, it's not a waste of time, it's actually very enjoyable." He thought for a moment then said, "Oh yeah! I almost forgot the reason I came here."

"Why? Is something wrong?" Pride asked.

Greed nodded slowly. "We ummm……kinda lost track of Envy…"

"You what!!!!!?" Pride yelled angrily. "How could you lose track of her?! Do you know what could happen if she finds out where Hikari is?!"

"Calm down Pride." Greed said, "Gluttony, Lust and Wrath are out looking for her. Sloth is betting that Gluttony will find her first but my money's on Wrath. Care to place a wager?"

"One: I have no money. Two: This isn't something you should place a bet on. And three: Wrath will definitely find Envy first." Pride replied. "And if that's all you wanted to say, would you mind leaving? I can't afford to get distracted when Envy could be close by."

Greed snorted and said, "Fine! Just trying to give you some companionship!" He turned to leave.

"Please Greed, spare me the sad story. If you had really wanted to keep me company, you would have come yourself instead of sending one of your doubles." Pride said.

Greed stopped short and smirked, "How did you know this wasn't the real me?"

"I've noticed that each of your doubles have a slightly different way of speaking then you do." Pride answered.

The Greed double smiled and said, "Well then, see ya!" The Greed copy vanished in a puff of smoke.

Pride rolled his eyes and said, "Must you always be such a show-off?"

Far away, the real Greed said, "Yup! It's part of my charm!

It was about mid afternoon when Hikari's cell phone rang. "Hello?" She said when she answered.

"Hi Hikari. This is Devon." It took Hikari a moment to remember who Devon was.

"Oh, hi! Wow, you really called back. I didn't think you would…."

"Well I did and I was wondering if you wanted to meet at Rika's sometime day or tomorrow." He said.

Hikari thought for a minute than said, "Today's good, what time?"

"Anytime that's good for you." He replied

"How about now?" Hikari said.

"Now?" Devon replied

"Yeah, I have nothing to do now. And I might be leaving Central tomorrow…." She said.

"Now's fine! I'll meet you there in…..how about an hour?" He said.

"Ok, great. Bye."

"Bye."

Hikari hung up her phone.

"Who was that?" Vince asked her when she put the phone down.

"If you must know, that was my date for today." She answered.

"What!?" Said Vince at the same time Caleb said, "You have a date?!"

"Yes, I do. Now, if you don't mind, I have to get ready." She said as she walked up the stairs to her room. Caleb and Vince were sitting at the table dumbfounded.

"I told you." Caleb said to Vince.

"Told me what?" Vince replied.

"That you should have asked Hikari out by now." Caleb answered, "Now it's too late, she already has a boyfriend."

"Hey! She said she was going on a date with the guy, not be his girlfriend!" Vince said, "What could be so great about this guy anyway?"

"Oh? Do I detect some jealousy?" Caleb said.

"N-no Way!" Vince answered, his face going as red as his eyes. "There is no way I'm jealous of a guy I haven't even met!"

Caleb smirked and said, "Whatever you say brother, whatever you say."

About 40 minutes later, Hikari was ready to go. She wore a pair of blue jeans with a black t-shirt and a short red jacket. "Well, I'll be going now…" Hikari said as she went out the door. She walked over to the garage and opened the large, metal door. She walked inside and pulled a large piece of tarp off of a lumpy shape in the back of the garage. "Hello, long time no see." She said when she saw what was under the tarp. There was a black motorcycle. It was top of the line (Much more advance then anything that would come out in years) and built for speed. Hikari had them specially made as a present for her and Vince and Caleb. The boys both had ones similar to this one, but Hikari knew this one was hers because of the silver Flammel's crest on the side.

She carefully pulled it out of the garage and tested it to see if it still worked. She put the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life instantly (Well, not roar really. The engine is designed to be silent but you get the idea…..). Hikari put a helmet on and drove out of the driveway and down the street.

The minute they were sure she was gone, Vince and Caleb stood in the doorway. "We following her?" Caleb asked.

"Hell yeah." Vince answered as he went to the garage to get his ride.

"Hey Hikari!" Hikari turned to see Devon on the other side of the street. He ran up to her and said, "How's it going?"

She smiled and said, "Pretty well, and you?"

Devon grimaced and said, "Not so well."

"Oh? Why not?"

"My aunt is in town and she won't let me out of her sight!"

Hikari laughed and said, "Why is she doing that?"

Devon sighed and said, "She keeps trying to set me up with daughters of friends of hers. She's convinced that I need a girlfriend so, the only way I could get out of there was to tell her that I had a date." He paused and looked at her. "You don't mind, do you?"

Hikari laughed again and said, "Not at all! In fact, you can tell me the rest of the story over a cup of coffee." They walked inside Rika's and found a table near the window.

"I'll get the coffee, what kind do you like?" Devon said to her as she sat down.

"Anything with chocolate in it." Hikari replied

"Want something to eat too?" He asked.

"Yes, anything with chocolate." Hikari said smiling.

"Ok, I'll be right back." He went to go order.

Hikari admired the view from the window. She could see most of the beautiful gardens that occupied the front lawns of the homes of upper Central. She saw crowds of people moving through the streets. One of those people was a young woman of about 20-years-old. She had bright silver hair that went down to her shoulders. For some reason, Hikari couldn't stop staring at her. As if aware of her gaze, the woman stopped and stared right in Hikari's direction. Hikari saw that the woman had strange purple eyes. They made eye contact for a while. Hikari, still unable to look away, saw the woman's lips form a sinister smile. That sent shivers down Hikari's spine.

"I have the food and coffee." Devon said when he approached the table. Hikari immediately looked in his direction. When she looked back out the window, an old man was in the place the purple eyed woman had been in.

"Are you ok?" Devon asked. "You looked pretty freaked."

"No….it's nothing. Thanks for the coffee." Hikari said. "So…why don't you tell me more about this crazy aunt of yours?"

Devon laughed and said, "Well, she's not totally crazy. She doesn't have a son; she has 5 daughters but no son. So she tries to treat me like her son by setting me up on dozens of blind dates. It was cool for a while. I met so very……interesting girls."

"Interesting how?" Hikari inquired.

"Interesting as in completely crazy." He replied. "One of the girls she set me up with was an artist who liked to draw dead corpses!"

"Even I think that's strange and I'm the queen of all things strange and weird!"

"Oh come on, you're not that strange. I've been set up with hundreds girls who are weirder then you."

"Really? Name 10."

"I will. Let's see…there was Tina the circus performer…"

"Circus performer? How did your aunt know her?"

"I'm not sure. I think it had something to do with rampaging elephants and a sequined dress."

"Ok, so Tina and the creepy artist girl make 2, you still have 8 more to go."

"Hey! Don't rush me; I have trouble remembering bad dates."

"What are they talking about?" Vince asked Caleb from their hiding place in some bushes in front of a building.

"I think they're talking about rampaging elephants and drawing corpses….." Caleb answered looking through his binoculars at Hikari and Devon.

"What? That doesn't make any sense!" Vince answered.

"My lip readings a little rusty, I may have misunderstood."

"Then give me the binoculars!"

"No way! These cost a fortune. Go buy your own! Besides, you can't even read lips!"

"I can do a better job then you are! Elephants and Corpses? You obviously can't read lips either!"

Vince reached out to try to grab the binoculars from Caleb's neck.

"Hey! Don't touch those!" Caleb said, trying to get the binoculars back.

"Oh, put a sock in it!" Vince said as he looked through the binoculars at Hikari and Devon.

"Ow! Vince, those are still attached to my neck! You're….strangling….me!" Caleb said as he started coughing.

"Quit whining! I'm trying to see what's going on over there!" Vince raised the binoculars to his eyes again. Only now, he was staring into the eyes of an angry street cop.

"Do you boys mind telling me what you're up to?" The cop said angrily.

"Ummm……ok…." Caleb said. He turned to Vince. "Uhh….What were we doing?"

"Oh…we were…." Vince thought quickly. "We were bird watching!"

"Bird watching?" The cop said suspiciously. "In the bushes?"

"We wanted to observe the birds in their natural habitat without disturbing the delicate ecosystem." Caleb explained.

The cop thought for a moment and said, "Fine, I have no reason to apprehend either of you. But I will say one thing, I had better never see either of you two skulking around here again or you'll get a one way ticket to Central H.Q!" He walked away.

When the cop was out of range Caleb turned to Vince and said, "Bird watching?!"

"Hey, it was the best thing I could come up with on the spot like that!" Vince said defensively.

"But 'bird watching'? I'm surprised that cop bought such a lame excuse like that. He obviously doesn't get out much." Caleb answered. "We had better just leave, we can't hide in the bushes anymore and Hikari will notice if we stand on the sidewalk with binoculars."

"We can't leave!" Vince said indignantly. "There is no way I'm leaving Hikari alone with some guy I don't know!"

Caleb sighed and said, "You'd hate to leave Hikari alone with any guy, even if it was someone you knew!"

"Shut up." Vince replied. He started to walk to where their motorcycles were parked.

"I thought you weren't going to leave." Caleb said with a slight smile.

"Shut up." Vince said as he put his helmet on and drove away.

"Jeez, someone has some jealousy issues." Caleb said as he put on his helmet and followed Vince.

The old man turned and walked down the street, resisting the urge to look into the coffee shop window again. She had found the girl, good. Soon her revenge would be complete. The man turned down an empty ally way. When the man reached the end of the ally, there was a flash of light and in the man's place was the woman with silver hair.

"Envy." A voice said from the shadows.

Envy turned. Behind her was a girl of about 15 with long red hair.

"Wrath," Envy spat. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Wrath replied. "I just thought you should know that the others are all out looking for you. You're departure caused quite the stir."

"Oh? What are they so afraid I'll do?" Envy said.

"You're going to kill that girl, aren't you?" Wrath replied. "If you do, the others will kill you."

"I don't care." Envy said, "As long as my revenge will be complete, I don't really care if I die. I've lived for almost 1000 years now, that's long, even for a homunculus."

Wrath lost her patients, "Can't you kill her after we're done with her?! After that, she'll be near death anyway!"

Envy looked at her, "Do you really think the master will just let her walk away? The master will keep that girl as a prisoner for her entire life, possibly longer. Trust me; what I plan to do is much more merciful."

Wrath sighed, "There is just no pleasing you is there? I thought if I found you first, I could try to reason with you. I guess now I'll have to alert Sloth to your location. After all, she's the only one with any real power over you."

Envy's expression darkened, "You little bitch! Do that and I'll kill you right now!"

Wrath smiled, "You can't, you know as well as I do that only the master is able to kill us."

Envy just became angrier, "I can at least cause you some pain!" She rushed at Wrath as her left arm transformed into a sword.

"That's enough." Said a voice.

Both Envy and Wrath turned. There was a woman with blonde hair standing in the entrance to the ally.

"Sloth, I didn't expect you to get her so quickly." Wrath said.

"I was already in the area, checking on how Pride was doing." Sloth answered. She turned to Envy. "Now really Envy, expected something better from you."

Envy said nothing she searched for an escape route and found one. Quickly, she transformed into a bird and flew away from Wrath and Sloth.

The two homunculi just watched as Envy flew away in bird form.

"Are we going after her?" Wrath asked

"No need, we know where she's going." Sloth said, "I should go warn Pride about Envy. Are you coming?"

"No," Wrath said, "I think I'll just wander around for a while, it's been a long time since I've been out in the fresh air."

"Fine, just don't take too long," Sloth replied, "You know that the master doesn't like you being alone for too lone. You know what will happen if you stay around humans for too long."

Wrath nodded, "I'll be careful."

She left the ally and walked down the street and out of sight. Sloth turned in the other direction and walked away thinking, what exactly is Envy's game? Does she really not care about the power we could get from using that kid? I hope the master will be able to keep her in line until we have no further use for her.