Finally got this chapter all typed up! If people haven't guessed, I'm back in school now, which gives me less time to work on chapters. I'll try to get at least one or two chapters up per month but no promises there.
Hikaru tried to swallow but it was difficult with the huge lump lodged in her throat. Her eyes were shut tightly. She did not want to see the expression on his face. It was probably disappointment. Disappointment and disgust if anything else. She was not the pretty angel that he believed her to be.
He released her and she crumpled to the ground with her arms wrapped around herself. She kept her eyes locked on his shoes. She did not want to see the disgust on his face. Heck, thinking about it now, she should have probably done this in the first place. If she scared him off early on with her scar then it would have saved her all of the trouble she had gotten into because of him and this stupid Grail War.
He didn't seem to be moving. He wasn't even speaking. What was he doing? She held herself tightly. Was he thinking about what to do with her? A small half-smile crossed her face. He was probably trying to comprehend how someone precious and pure like her could have such an injury. That was like him.
Something dropped next to her.
"The bottle is filled with water. Use that to clean your wound. Then use the salve on it afterwards. Then cover yourself. I can't have my Queen walking around with a torn open shirt."
Hikaru looked up at him in surprise. He had turned his back to her. His bare back to her. She looked down at the pile of things he had dropped in front of her. A bottle of water, a container of salve and the shirt he had been wearing a few moments before.
"Gil…" Her gaze turned back to him. Why? Why was he still up for helping her?
"Tell me when you are done Hikaru. I will stand guard to make sure no mongrels come by to see you like this." He took a few steps away from her and crossed his arms as he gazed out into the empty cemetery.
Why? Why wasn't he furious? Why wasn't he throwing a tantrum? Why was he helping her? Why was he being so reasonable now of all times!? She sucked in a deep breath and took off her ruined shirt. Despite it being spring, she shivered as the cool air touched her skin. Quickly she poured the water from the bottle on her skin to clean the blood off. The bottle did not empty no matter how much of the liquid she poured out of it.
Once the wound was cleaned, she grabbed the container of salve. The salve was a dark green and smelled funny but she did not complain as she treated the wound with it. The pain from the injury faded quickly. Dang! He could make a fortune on this stuff!
After she gently put down the container of salve, she grabbed his shirt and pulled it over her head. She had to roll up the sleeves a bit in order to be able to use her hands. "Thanks," she murmured as she stood and handed him the bottle and salve container. She still could not look him in the eye.
Silently he took the items back from her. After a couple of tense seconds of silence he asked quietly, "Was that ex-boyfriend mongrel of yours the reason?"
It took her a few seconds to understand what Gilgamesh was asking. She shook her head. "No. He had nothing to do with this. This was my own fault. A stigma of what happened long ago."
"Shall we go home? You're probably exhausted."
She could not help it as her eyes darted to his face in surprise. "What?" she managed to get out.
Gilgamesh seemed oblivious to her surprise as he put his hands in his pockets. "As a King, I am concerned to how the average mongrel will feel having to look upon my heavenly form. As such, it would be for the best if we returned to your house for the time being."
She played with a loose thread of his shirt. Damn it. He was being so reasonable right now and it annoyed her. However what else was there to do? "Okay," she whispered.
Hikaru collapsed on her bed and pulled her feet to her chest. All she wanted to do was sit here and think about nothing. She placed a hand to her chest. He knew. Gilgamesh knew about her scar now. What was she going to do? What was he going to do now as a result?
Sensing that her Servant was outside her door, she sat up. To her surprise he knocked on her closed door and said, "I have drawn up a bath for you. You may cleanse yourself whenever you like."
Really? Why was he being so nice to her? Also, when did he know how to draw a bath? She got up from her bed and walked over to her door and pressed her forehead against the wood. "Aren't you curious? About the scar?"
Silence answered her. She could still sense him on the other side of her door though. "Of course you chose now to be considerate," she said with a quiet laugh. She pressed her back against the door and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. "The scar isn't only on my chest. It's also on my back too."
Her eyes trailed to her closet where she had stored the dress that Gilgamesh had bought her. "I can't wear most dresses. In some way or another, the scar will show." Still no response but he was still there.
She sucked in a deep breath. There was no going back now."I got it when I was a kid. My memory is fuzzy of that time but I remember enough. I used to meet someone back then. I can't remember what he looked like but he was an adult. I found him funny from what I could recall.
"But anyway, I met this guy a few times and I always had fun, every single time. While I was meeting this guy, the fourth Grail War was going on and although I did not know it at the time, I was hanging out with a Servant from that War. My mom found out and decided we needed to move and get away from the city until the War was over."
Hikaru held up the finished flower crown up in triumph. It was made from pretty flowers from one of Mommy's flower vases. Lotuses they were called. She wasn't sure if it would fit on top of Giggle's head but she hoped so! Giggle needed an amazing crown!
She jumped off her bed and hurried downstairs where a lot of activity was going on. Mommy and Daddy had been acting weird for the past couple of days. They had been keeping an eye on her a lot and wouldn't let her leave the house at all. That's why she ended up using Mommy's flowers to make the crown. She couldn't pick wild flowers for it.
"What's going on?" she wondered as her feet touched the bottom step. There were a bunch of bags sitting by the door. Mommy and Daddy were running around doing something or other. Why were they packing up the house? "Mommy?" she asked as Mommy ran by with another bag.
"Oh, hello sweetie. Don't worry. We'll be leaving soon. Everything will be fine. We'll be going on a vacation for a while."
Vacation? Hikaru's grip tightened on the crown. They were leaving now? But Daddy always planned for trips weeks in advance! He would talk about it a lot until it was time for it to happen. Why were they leaving now? "Is something wrong Mommy? Is this because of Giggle?"
Mommy's mouth set into a hard line. "Everything will be fine soon Hikaru. Just go back to your room until it's time to leave okay?"
Hikaru bit her lip as Mommy went to help Daddy. Why were they leaving now? It was nighttime! They never left at night! She looked down at the crown in her hands. What about Giggle? She promised she would make him a crown! Also she had the strange feeling that if she didn't give it to him now, she would never get the chance to.
She nodded. Yes! She knew what she had to do! She would listen to Mommy and Daddy and be a good girl right after she took care of this one thing! She listened to where Mommy and Daddy were in the house before she hurried over to the front door. When neither of her parents stopped her she sucked in a deep breath before she stepped outside.
"I'll be right back," she promised as she ran down the dark street. Like before she cast out her senses to try to locate Giggle. She located his prana loud and clear along with a couple other prana signatures nearby. Was Giggle with other people? Maybe she shouldn't bother him?
She shook her head. No! She needed to go! Mommy and Daddy probably already noticed she was gone. She needed to hurry and meet Giggle before then! He needed to get his crown!
Racing down the street, she followed the prana signature. She had to keep moving. Grownups were staring at her as she ran by but she didn't care. She just knew she had to get to Giggle. She just had to!
It was then that an explosion rocked the Earth and the world caught fire.
"I think I was knocked unconscious when the Grail blew up. When I woke up, there was something running through me. I don't remember what it was, a pipe maybe but I knew I was dying. It hurt so bad. So much pain that I think I almost blacked out again."
Gilgamesh's hands curled into fists. He had forgotten about the little girl he had met during the fourth Grail War. How was he supposed to know back then that the girl who had given him that horrid nickname had been Hikaru? He didn't gain the memories of the Moon Cell and of her until after he had been bathed by the corruption of the Grail itself. Then the reason she had gotten hurt, the reason why she had that horrible scar…
As a king he would never admit to it. A king did not make mistakes, a king was not the reason why something went wrong.
However, even with his big ego, he had to admit to himself that he had played a part in what happened to her.
"I…everything is pretty fuzzy after that. However, I remember seeing someone-a girl. She stood over me. She was talking to me I think, instructing me on what to do. She said she would save me because she needed to-to keep a promise she had made however I would hold the scars for what she did for the rest of my life and she was sorry because of that."
Her laugh was muffled by the door. "I'm not sure how but due to the girl I somehow was able to pull the pipe or whatever it was out of me and the girl helped heal me enough that I would be fine. I think I was walking afterwards. I can barely remember it but somehow I had gotten to my feet and walked through the wreckage of the city.
"I ended up being found by some of the workers that had come to help after the disaster. They took me to Aunt Nomi who told me another truth. My parents…they…" Her voice hitched.
Was she trying not to cry beyond the door?
Control. He gritted his teeth to keep himself from opening the door.
"They…they had noticed I was gone and followed me. Unlike me, they didn't have someone to help them. So…I lost them. Because of me, because I was so stupid and ran after a guy who I made a stupid childish promise to, they…they're gone…gone forever…and I will always hold a reminder of that day."
He could not take it anymore. Gilgamesh put his hand on the door and gently pushed it inward slowly until there was enough space for him to enter the room. She was sitting pathetically on the floor, her eyes rimmed with red. Even with how sad she looked he had to note that she was still wearing his shirt. Not like it said much since he had not grabbed a new shirt to wear either.
"Gil!" her voice cried out in surprise as he sat next her and pulled her into an embrace.
"You are not the reason why they perished on that day," he said firmly. That was something he could be certain of. If she, as a little girl, could run to the location of the Grail itself then the house wasn't far from it. The house would be gone and probably the family within it as well.
"Yes I am!" she protested. Raw, bare emotions could be seen on her face. Emotions that she never showed to anyone, except perhaps that crazy aunt of hers. "If I wasn't so stupid, if I didn't leave the house then they would still be alive…"
"Or you would be dead along with them."
She winced. "No. We might have left…we might have been gone by then…"
"Stop it with the what-ifs," he snapped. "What is done is done. They are gone, it is not your fault. You were a child." A very amusing and yet annoying child. "They made a choice as well as you did. You are not to be blamed for it."
"But you don't have to live with it!" He could feel her shivering in his arms. "I have this…scar. It never went away. I thought it would, when I got older. Nope. It just bigger. It stayed the same size from back then! Whoever that girl was, she was right! I will hold this for the rest of my life. It's because it is my fault!"
Damn it. Gilgamesh wished he could have a talk with the version of Hikaru from the Moon Cell where he had gotten his favor from. How could she end up messing up his Hikaru like this!?
"Gil…"
He relaxed his muscles which had tightened around her as he thought about the other Hikaru. He took a deep breath and spoke again. "Again, I will repeat, it is not your fault. Banish that thought for your mind. What is that saying that people say in this time…ah yes, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time." He ran a hand along her back. A stigma that will follow her forever. "This is a small price to pay for your life. What about the people you met now? You would have never known them and they would never have known you. Also that aunt of yours. What would have happened if you and stayed with your family and did not get away in time?"
Hikaru's breath hitched as she thought about it. "Aunt Nomi…she would be…" She shut her eyes. "She would be all alone. Poor Aunt Nomi…"
Did he finally get through to her? He wasn't sure. Women were so difficult to read and the years of experience he had did not help matters at all.
"Thanks Gil." Her eyes met his. They weren't as pained as before but it would probably be a while until she could truly see it herself. She rested her head on his chest. "I have to say, this is pretty funny. Me being consoled by a pompous ass like you."
"Well I will say my ass is glorious."
She laughed. It was good to hear that again. "But really. Thanks again Gil," she whispered. She closed her eyes as she kept her head rested on his chest. "Gil?"
"Yes?"
"You're such a pervert," she said with a small sigh.
