Meet the Parent
Disclaimer: I do not own Noir. I just own this fanfic myself..!
The promised time was after lunch, while it was still ten o'clock in the morning now. Mireille and Kirika were now waiting in their living room, one browsing the internet, the other dozing off until the meeting time came.
"Mireille.." Kirika broke the silence in the room, gazing at the blonde.
Mireille, not stopping her activities mumbled, "Hmm..?"
The Japanese girl stood up, then walked to where her partner was sitting. "This is not too serious, is it..?"
"..." pausing her typing, Mireille looked carefully at Kirika to find a pair of curious brown eyes filled with worries. "I hope so," Mireille said, smiling. "I know you kinda like her."
Kirika smiled back and whispered something which Mireille couldn't hear clearly. "..."
"What did you say, Kirika..?" asked Mireille.
"Nothing." was the brunette's reply.
The rest of their waiting period was occupied with their tea time, chats and fun time playing with the sleeping Adeline. When lunch time came, Kirika and Mireille had lunch in a small restaurant near the apartment and went to the clinic afterward. Once again they saw the oriental building painted in yellow and red, and once again they walked over to the front door. There, Mireille knocked a few times and was greeted immediately by some hurling footsteps which rushed to open it up. As the door swung open, they saw a familiar face welcomed them.
"Hello," Doctor Naomi said as she smiled. The oldest woman looked at Mireille briefly, before switching the glance to Kirika. Her facial expression changed a little when she saw the Japanese girl's face, obviously uncomfortable with the brunette's presence. She tried to hide her disappointment, however, and acted naturally as she said, "Come in, girls."
It was the second time for both Kirika and Mireille to step into the clinic, and it was no different than the previous experience, except for the fact that they were brought to a deeper part of the house. It seemed that the house served as both clinic and house. It was also surprisingly big for such a small view from the outside, and the three trotted down their way for about five minutes before finally came to a halt.
"We can talk here," the female vet finally announced.
They were now standing in an empty and tidy room which has only a big blue sofa, a regular TV, and a table. The room was painted white rather than yellow or red, which made it different from the rest of the rooms. Judging from the furniture, it was as if the room was designed to receive guests. Mireille and Kirika sat on the big sofa, while Doctor Naomi walked to another room nearby. When the female doctor showed up, she brought a chair with her.
"I can-"
"I will sit here, it's okay." Doctor Naomi cut off Mireille's line, as she placed the chair in front of the two, despite the empty space in the sofa. The female vet first made herself comfortable to sit on the chair before starting the conversation, "About your parents, Mireille.."
"Huh..?" muttered Mireille, confused.
"I'm really sorry that they were already dead," Dr. Naomi said calmly.
"…"
How in the world can she find that out??
Mireille did feel uncomfortable with this topic, but she was fully aware that Kirika as even more at unease. The Japanese girl had come to acknowledge the fact that she was the one who killed her parents, and still did dwell with the guilt of it. The blonde had already forgiven Kirika for sure, but this topic was going to be very sensitive for the brunette if continued. The blonde remembered the last time the Japanese girl apologized to her, both of them almost cried nonstop. Mireille had glanced at Kirika, and saw that the brunette made a slight reaction. A very little one, which could be realize by Mireille only.
"Kirika..?" Mireille asked in a worried tone. "Are you okay?"
Kirika smiled at Mireille, "I'm okay."
"Actually I will talk a lot about Mireille's parents, Kirika." Doctor Naomi said, a smile on her face.
Kirika said nothing and remained quite.
Mireille stared angrily at Doctor Naomi, tough the vet herself seemed to ignore it. "This is just a suggestion," the vet started. "But maybe..you would like to wait outside for a while?"
The blonde shot another discontented look at the female doctor, but said nothing for a reply. The Japanese girl looked up to see Doctor Naomi's face, hesitated, but agreed in the end and walked out of the room.
Mireille felt guilty to have brought Kirika here, but Doctor Naomi obviously did not want Kirika to hear the conversation no matter what. After a while, convinced that Kirika had left, Mireille said in an angry tone, "You bastard. Don't you have any other ways to make her leave this room?!"
"I'm sorry for that," the female vet apologized. "But I can't help it. You brought her here."
"Leave that for later," Mireille said impatiently. "Who in the world are you..?" the blonde asked sharply, genuine suspicion in her tone.
"I'm currently a vet," the older girl answered shortly.
Despite how unsatisfied she was with the answer, Mireille knew that she had to play smart with the woman in front of her. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Is it Kirika in the picture you have?"
Doctor Naomi wore a surprised expression and said, "Picture.??"
The blonde said lazily, "Don't play dumb with me." She added coldly, "You were the one who dropped your wallet on purpose. Admit it yourself."
The female vet laughed, her voice roaring throughout the entire room. "It was due for you to recognize me."
"So it really is Kirika..? Mireille's voice was cracked as she inquired this.
"Yes."
Mireille had prepared herself to accept any answer and thus muttered, "I don't trust you though. Why do you have it..?"
"Someone gave it to me."
"What for..?"
Doctor Naomi lowered her head, hesitating for awhile, before peeking her brown eyes to Mireille's direction. "You wouldn't believe me," she finally said.
"What do you mean..?"
The doctor bitterly pursed her lips but answered, "I am Kirika's mother."
Though Mireille had mentally prepared herself, she gasped the moment she heard that sentence. Kirika's mother..?
Now that she thought about it, the similarity between Kirika and Doctor Naomi was not that obvious, but still can be deciphered. In fact, Mireille did recognize it as time passed by. For example, both Kirika and Doctor Naomi's eyes had that sort of similar colors which was strangely shaped in quite the same manner. Despite her bewilderment, Mireille observed Doctor Naomi and imagined what Kirika would look like if she had the long black hair that the female vet possessed.
After a long silence between them, Mireille said, "I don't believe you completely, though physically you two apparently do resemble each other."
"I have proof with me."
"Show me," Mireille insisted.
Dr. Naomi went to another room of the house, and brought a thick book with her when she came back. Inside the book there were a photo album and a birth certificate. The birth certificate somehow seemed convincing from the old looks, and Kirika's name was written there. Her name really is Kirika, eh..?
The blonde didn't want to check longer on the birth certificate, so she took the photo album out. Mireille saw the picture of the woman who seemed to be a younger version of Doctor Naomi with a man who was likely to be Kirika's father from the look, and maybe, Kirika at the age of 2 or 3; they were posing in front a small house. The next one was the picture of the three of them laughing cheerfully in a room. The sound of flickered pages of the album was the only one heard in the room as no one talked. The more pages opened, the wider Mireille's eyes became. The blonde found it hard to not realize the similarity of the girl in the photo with Kirika. Finally the last pages were flipped, and Mireille sighed in contempt.
"How do you know that this girl," Mireille pointed at the little girl who resembled Kirika in one of the photos, "is Kirika..?"
"I have checked it when I took a bath with her."
Mireille exclaimed, "TOOK A BATH?!"
"Yes." Dr. Naomi said calmly though the doctor wore a shocked expression as to hear the blonde exclaimed loudly. "Why did you exclaim..?"
Mireille felt embarrassed on herself, "Ah.. Sorry. I just didn't hear about it from Kirika." Mireille gathered up her mind and said, "Anyhow, you are still not convincing enough. You just took a bath... with her."
"I saw the birthmark."
Mireille raised her eyebrows, "Birthmark..? Where?"
"Behind her left ear. A very small one."
Such a small birthmark, Mireille herself knew nothing about it. "I see."
Dr. Naomi smiled, "So, you believe me..?"
"Not really.. "
"Your doubt was already enough for me to prove that you actually do," the female doctor said confidently.
Mireille, decided to ignore the female vet for a while, drifted her mind to wonder about Kirika. Her first meeting with Kirika. She remembered all the story the brunette had told her. The Japanese girl's ambition. Kirika's smiling and sad face. Her solitude personality, her tough heart. Suddenly Mireille felt hatred occupying her whole heart, and knew that this was directed towards Doctor Naomi who claimed to be Kirika's mother.
Despite the anger in her heart, Mireille tried to hold her emotion and asked, "Say, you threw her to Soldats, didn't you..?"
Dr. Naomi nodded weakly.
She said furiously, "Say if I do believe you. Tell me, why did you leave Kirika alone..? Thanks to you for throwing her away to Soldats, she became a prodigy of an assassin who only knew how to kill..! What have you been doing until now..?!!! Are you really a mother..??"
"I..." Dr. Naomi smile faded upon heard this. The female vet then shut her mouth and became silent.
As Mireille was about to shouted more, she saw Dr. Naomi was slowly shaking. Strangely, the doctor was about to cry. Mireille felt a bit guilty to say all the things back then, tough the blonde didn't even consider to apologize. Reasonably, she loved Kirika more than this random female vet.
"It's true. I... I am not qualified... to be a mother. Threw... threw her away like that.." the vet sobbed wetly, as she was also shaking greatly.
Mireille remained silent and waited for the doctor to stop crying. After about ten minutes, Dr. Naomi had regained her calmness.
Decided not to argue about Dr. Naomi "un-motherly-like" further more, the blonde asked calmly, "Doctor Naomi.. What is your purpose, telling me all this..?"
Doctor Naomi took a deep breath and said, "I gave up for Kirika just about two weeks ago. But all of the sudden, you and Kirika went to my clinic." The female vet looked up at the ceiling as if she was remembering the moment. " Just then I realized that she is my daughter I have been searching for. It is all based on my feeling. So I arranged all of this to know you and her more."
Mireille listened to the older woman patiently.
The vet looked at Mireille seriously. "Could you please... make her acknowledge me..?"
"What..?!" Mireille asked out of confusion. "I can't just jump in and said to Kirika: Hey, you have a mother living near here!"
Can't she realize that she have made her waited too long..? I thought her parents already died..!
Doctor Naomi smiled, "I just had a feeling that you can help me somehow."
"You yourself must tell her," Mireille said sharply. "Though I doubt that she will believe you."
"But still I need your help."
Mireille kept silent. Help..
As if she could read Mireille's mind, the female doctor smiled and said, "Yes. Maybe you can let me visit or invite her more."
There was actually another question in Mireille's mind. "What would you do when she acknowledges you..?"
The female vet smiled and said matter-of-factly, "Of course I will bring her back home."
With that last sentence, their conversation end. Mireille felt that it would be too long for Kirika to wait for her. The blonde knew the best that Kirika wasn't a fool. The brunette surely enough would know that something she couldn't know was happened between Mireille and Doctor Naomi. Mireille said goodbye to the female vet and walked out from the clinic. She found Kirika outside the clinic, embracing a wild cat. The cat ran away the moment Mireille showed up.
"Sorry to make you wait this long," muttered Mireille.
Kirika smiled, "That cat accompanied me, so it's fine." The Japanese looking girl stood up and said softly, "But I think I will accept an apologize gift."
Mireille laughed, "I'll treat you an ice cream, then."
They went to the park, not far away from Doctor Naomi's clinic. There they bought two ice creams from the ice cream man. Mireille and Kirika then walked to sit at the bench. It was evening now, and most people were outside at this time. They could see people walking all over, while most children happily played in the park. The scenery was comforting and peaceful, and the two quietly enjoyed their ice cream.
"Kirika.." Mireille glanced at the younger girl beside her. "I'm sorry that she had made you waited outside."
The Japanese girl smiled slightly and whispered, "It's okay." Kirika licked her ice cream and asked in a soft voice, "Was it about your parents?"
"U.. Uh..." stuttered the blonde as she licked her vanilla ice cream.
The Japanese girl had now stopped licking her ice cream and started to stare at Mireille, as the brunette's brown eyes glowing brightly and a bit, naughty.
Not again...