Author's Note: Gaaah, sorry that I vanished for a while! ^^;; Got sick and super busy there for a while. BUT here is Chapter 7, even if it is a bit late!
.
.
On the seventh day of Christmas, a prostitute wished for salvation.
The next day, Fuuma agreed to take Yuzuriha out so that she could do some Christmas shopping. She was a little surprised by how readily he agreed to it but was excited nonetheless. Unfortunately it was bitterly cold out still and Yuzuriha was much more of a summer kind of girl as it was, so she found herself looking for an excuse to get indoors again soon after a few hours. It was then that she noticed the stained glass windows of the church.
"They're beautiful…" She noted, slightly distracted for a moment.
"Hm?" Fuuma had walked slightly ahead, not noticing her pause, but turned around when he realized she was no longer beside him.
"The windows- they're gorgeous. Could we go inside to look at them closer?"
Fuuma shrugged and followed her into the church.
All was silent as it was an unusual time of day to be there and only a few people were scattered throughout the pews, praying or perhaps merely meditating. Yuzuriha was distracted from the windows by the people praying, wondering what each of them was praying for, and if some kind of divinity would answer their prayers.
She explained this to Fuuma when he asked why she was looking around at the people's solemn faces rather than the ornate glass windows.
He considered her response for a moment, then quietly, so as not to disturb the prayers, asked, "Do you believe in God?"
Yuzuriha thought. "I don't know." She turned to Fuuma. "Do you?"
He frowned at the stained glass window at the front of the church with a cross and a humble man. "I don't trust the Christian God."
"Why not?"
"What kind of father condemns his own son to torment, torture and an early and painful death?"
Yuzuriha didn't really know what to say to this but before she could respond, a woman a few pews away spoke up.
"I wonder though. What do you think of the son?"
"Karen-san!" Yuzuriha leapt over Fuuma to tacklehug her.
"How are you hon?" Karen asked, holding her tightly as though it were her own daughter returned home.
"I'm great!"
"That's good to hear." She looked up at Fuuma, who had not moved from his seat. "Here I thought Sorata was playing some sort prank, saying that you were with the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth."
"Nope, I really am! But it's okay! He's really nice!"
Fuuma tilted his head slightly as Karen raised an eyebrow.
"Well as long as you don't feel in any danger." Karen hesitantly acknowledged.
"Did you come in to see the pretty windows too?" Yuzuriha inquired cheerfully.
Karen laughed warmly. "No. I came in to pray."
"Ohhh. What are you praying for?" Yuzuriha pressed, blissfully unaware of the privacy she was invading already.
Karen did not take offense however, she merely gave another laugh like the flicker of a candle. "Forgiveness."
"Forgiveness? For what?"
Karen gave the girl a regretful smile. "For my sins."
"Ohh, have you sinned lately?" Yuzuriha innocently blinked up at her.
"I do nearly every day, that is why I come in every day after work to pray."
Yuzuriha frowned slightly at this, studying the red heels beneath Karen's coat. "You… are a nice person though."
Karen laughed. "Thank you hon, you're pretty sweet yourself."
"I don't think you would do something that you did not think was right or necessary in some way." Yuzuriha looked up at her concerned. "So I don't understand… why you need to be forgiven."
Fuuma sank back against the pew.
"I mean, I wasn't raised Christian and I don't know a whole lot about it, but isn't the most important thing to be a good person? To care about others?" She pointed at the stained glass window at the front of the church. "Isn't that what he supposedly said?"
Karen hesitated. "Well, yes."
"And you do care about others. You've been really kind to us seals." Yuzuriha turned back to her. "So I can't imagine that heaven would think of you as a bad person." She nodded again to the window. "I think if he were around now, he would defend you and your actions."
Karen stared at the young girl before her for a long, expressionless moment then broke into a soft smile and embraced her again. "Thank you." She whispered in the girl's ear.
Fuuma stood up and joined them. "I don't know about you but I'm starving." He cheerfully announced.
"Ah, we should go get dinner then!" Yuzuriha quickly hopped away after him, waving at Karen over her shoulder.
"So you are doing it on purpose." Yuzuriha declared as they wandered into a grocery store.
"Hm?"
"You're intentionally making it so that we run into the other dragons." She replied firmly.
"You asked to go into that church." Fuuma pointed out.
Yuzuriha frowned at the cuts of fish laid out upon trays of ice. "Yes, but you're arranging it somehow. I don't know how but I think I am starting to get why."
"Oh?"
She toyed with a piece of ice, watching it melt slowly in her hand. "We're granting wishes aren't we?"
"No." Fuuma flatly denied.
"We're not?" Yuzuriha was genuinely surprised.
"We aren't."
She watched the water drip through her fingers then perked up again. "Are you sure?"
"I certainly did not grant Karen's wish." Fuuma pointed out as he debated which filet to purchase.
Yuzuriha raised her head then dropped the remnants of the ice back into the tray, recalling Karen's prayer and the conversation that had followed. "I did?"
Fuuma ignored the question, busy paying for the fish he had chosen.
The rest of the way home, Yuzuriha could get nothing more out of him about the wish-granting but she went to bed wondering what all the wishes over the past few days had been and what wishes they would encounter in the near future. Most importantly, she wondered if she had misunderstood, or if she could really grant them.