Story Title:
Bound by Regret
Genres/'Tags':
Mystery / Supernatural / Romance / Yuri / Alternate Universe / Ghost
Summary:
Walking home from school, Takamachi Nanoha sees a mysterious blonde girl in the park. Entranced by the girl's mysterious air, Nanoha walks up to her and asks her who she is. The response she gets is not quite what she expected: "Y-you can... see me?" ::AU & Nanofate::
Disclaimer:
I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and all related trademarks are owned by Seven Arcs.
*~-[ Chapter #8: Enter, the Yagami Family ]-~*
Nanoha POV:
Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan and I had agreed to meet at the bus stop not far from Hayate-chan's house before we would go there. Fate-chan and I had arrived a little early so we were waiting patiently. To kill time I talked to her a bit about Hayate-chan so she could get a bit of a better idea on what she was like.
"Cosplay?" Fate-chan asked curiously.
"Yeah, Hayate-chan is really into that. Her usual victim is her younger cousin Vita-chan." I explained, scratching my cheek.
"She lives with her cousin?" Was the blonde's obvious follow-up question.
"Oh yes, she lives with… well I never really asked what their exact relation is to each other but I do know Vita-chan is Hayate-chan's cousin. She also lives with Signum-san and Shamal-san. They're her guardians and I think they're her cousins as well. Hayate-chan never knew her parents." I explained with a sad smile.
"I see." Fate-chan said. She looked away for a moment but I caught the glimpse of sadness in those burgundy eyes.
I rested my hand on her shoulder and gave it a slight reassuring squeeze. "Hayate-chan's family are good people Fate-chan, almost to the point of over-protectiveness."
That seemed the cheer the ghost up a bit as she turned to me and smiled gently. "That's good." She said in that soft voice that I'd come to love. Wait… love? Where did that come from? Once again a strange feeling came over me and I realized once more how beautiful Fate-chan was. Not just her looks, but also her voice and her personality were sublime.
"Nanoha? Are you okay?" that same soft voice that led me into it pulled me out of my reverie.
"Oh, sorry Fate-chan, got lost in thought for a second. Nyahaha…" I blushed as I spoke.
"Guess you really have a tendency to daydream." Fate-chan said with a giggle and for a moment I was sure I was in the presence of an angel. Then I was reminded that it was, in fact, a ghost.
"Nanoha-chan!" I heard Arisa-chan call. I turned and saw both her and Suzuka-chan approach.
"Hey there!" I waved back in greeting.
"Good morning Nanoha-chan." Suzuka-chan said once they stood next to me. She then turned to Fate-chan. "Good morning to you as well Fate-chan… she is right here right?"
I chuckled while Fate-chan scratched the back of her head a bit due to the awkwardness of that question.
"Yes she is." I laughed.
Suzuka-chan smiled. "I don't know why or how but I keep getting a better and better feel for where she is."
"Same here." Arisa-chan added with a smile. "Ah, that reminds me," my green-eyed friend hit the palm of her open hand with her fist. "Are you going to tell Hayate-chan about our ghostly friend here?"
"I'm sure you could, if she's at least half as understanding as they are it shouldn't be a problem." Fate-chan said, waving her hand in my friends' direction.
"If you don't mind Fate-chan. I mean, I did tell Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan without asking you first." I said, feeling a bit bad about the fact I'd done so two days ago.
"I trust your judgement Nanoha." Fate said with a smile. I think that somewhere she wanted me to tell Hayate-chan.
"Alright Fate-chan." I couldn't help but smile back at her warm smile.
"What'd she say?" Arisa-chan asked.
"She doesn't mind me telling Hayate-chan."
"I thought so," Suzuka-chan smiled. "From what I could feel she even seems excited to make more friends am I right?"
Fate-chan nodded happily and I, in turn, confirmed Suzuka-chan's suspicions.
*~-[ X ]-~*
The four of us found ourselves at the front door of a modest but modern Japanese house. Three of us had been over quite a few times but for our new ghostly friend it was the first time there. Suzuka-chan was about to ring the doorbell when I noticed something about Fate-chan I found a bit strange, she was shivering as if she was feeling cold or sick or something.
"Something wrong Fate-chan?" I asked, stopping Suzuka-chan from ringing the doorbell.
"I-I don't k-k-know, for some reason I'm f-feeling so very nervous, like there's something… off… about this place." Fate-chan shivered through clenched teeth. She proceeded to shake her entire body and stretched out real quick as if attempting to shake off the strange feeling she was getting. "Okay, I'm good now." She sighed.
"Is everything okay?" Suzuka-chan asked, her finger resting on the doorbell.
"Yes, we're good." I flashed a quick smile at her but in the back of my mind I was a bit unnerved at Fate-chan's feeling about Hayate-chan's house. Why would she get bad vibes from Hayate-chan's house? While it was true that Hayate-chan could be a bit… off, she was by no means evil.
Suzuka-chan rang the doorbell and after a few seconds the door opened, revealing one of Hayate-chan's relatives, the same blonde woman with violet eyes that'd picked up Hayate-chan from school after this year's first school day, Shamal-san.
"Good afternoon Shamal-san!" Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan and me chorused.
"Good afternoon girls! Here to visit Hayate-chan I presume? I'm sure she'll be happy to see you." Shamal-san greeted with a smile before leading us inside.
*~-[ X ]-~*
Fate POV:
For some reason I couldn't explain the house we were at just irked me. I had attempted to shake off the bad feeling and while that worked for the most part I couldn't calm down entirely.
As this blonde woman I'd learned was named Shamal led Nanoha and the others into the house and I intended to follow Shamal-san's next action caught me completely off guard. As soon as the three girls had passed her she turned to me and winked. No doubt I had to have had the most ridiculous expression on my face as she turned back around and partook in idle chatter with Nanoha and the rest as if nothing had happened.
Stunned as I was I nearly forgot to follow them. Was that? Did she? I didn't imagine that just now… did I?
The strange and dare I say 'ominous' feeling I'd had before was back in full force and while I wasn't particularly thrilled to go further into this house, I wasn't too keen on leaving Nanoha's side either.
So I followed and stuck as close to Nanoha as I could.
We were led to an upstairs bedroom where we found a girl about our age with short brown hair sitting in a bed reading a book. I took a wild guess that this girl was Hayate-chan.
"Hayate-chan! How're you feeling?" the three girls I came here with asked in chorus. Seems like she's Yagami Hayate. Hm, I expected… I'm not sure what I expected actually…
"Hey, you guys! I'm feeling pretty good; I should be able to come back to school again tomorrow actually." Hayate-chan smiled back as she marked the page she was at and put her book away.
"We got you a little get-well-soon gift!" Nanoha offered Hayate-chan the plush raccoon, which was wrapped in blue wrapping paper with yellow stars on it.
"Oh you guys!" Hayate spoke with a voice drenched in emotion. "You're the best!" She took the gift and tore the wrapping paper off. When the gift was unwrapped she took a good look at it before turning to Nanoha and the other two. "Are you guys trying to tell me something?" Hayate-chan deadpanned, which earned a hearty laugh from the three visitors as well as a soft chuckle from me.
"I got you girls some drinks!" Shamal-san from earlier came into the room carrying a tray with a few cups of tea for the visitors and a glass of orange juice for the almost recovered short-haired brunette. I kept my eyes on her, wondering if she'd acknowledge me in some way. She didn't and after receiving quick words of thanks from the four friends Shamal-san left again, leaving me wondering if the wink she gave me had solely been a figment of my imagination.
"Where are Signum-san and Vita-chan by the way?" Nanoha asked, taking a sip of tea.
"Oh, Signum is teaching her Sunday kendo class and Vita-chan went to the old folks' home to join them in their weekly croquet game." Hayate-chan explained with a smile that could only be described as proud.
"By the way…" The supposed raccoon girl grabbed the attention of everyone in the room with a short pause.
A pause during which her three visitors all took a sip of their tea.
"Won't you introduce me to your new blonde friend over there?" she asked with an overly sweet smile, pointing directly at… me?
The effect was immediate as Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan and Nanoha all three almost choked in their tea. I could only gape at the girl sitting in her bed as she looked at me, waiting for an introduction, smiling a knowing smile that made me realize just exactly why the plush raccoon made such a good gift for her.
However, all I could stammer was "Y-you can... see me?" as I felt a strong sense of déjà vu over my own words.
*~-[ End of Chapter ]-~*
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*~-[ May we meet again, fare thee well! ]-~*
