Chapter 10: Family History
As Shepherd and Garrus made their way to Kasumi's friend on the Citadel, they were still wrapping their heads around the fact; the newest member of the Normandy crew was in fact a relative of Shepherd. At first, Shepherd didn't believe her and asked for some proof, she did she opened a halo of her family, and he saw her his mother as a little girl sitting with her younger sister Megumi. Shepherd couldn't help but smile, it was good to see that part of his family, it made him feel whole.
"Who would have guessed?" Garrus said.
"Yeah, I know a lot about the people on my dad's side, but when I asked about my mom's side, things became awkward" Shepherd said. He remembered the long silences, the awkward answers for why he could see his mom's family. It gotten to the point where Shepherd had stopped asking, because it was obvious he wasn't going to get an answer. He would hope Kasumi could share with him some stories, how his Aunt and Uncle were like, what his grandparents were like, and why they never bothered to contact his family, especially after Mindoir.
"I know what you mean, I knew that my mom had a sister, but she never talked about her, especially when it came to if she had a kid" Kasumi said.
"How did you find out?" Shepherd asked.
"My mom had a diary, and I kind of hacked it" She said with smirk. Shepherd raised a brow. "Hey, it wasn't like she would tell me"
"What did you find out?" Garrus asked.
"Yeah, I'm curious too." Shepherd said.
Kasumi smiled. "Okay, first things first, our family came from money, you see, the Sakai family is one of the richest families in Tokyo" Kasumi went on to explained that the Sakai family owned a huge electronics company that owned Aldrin Labs, the leading human manufacturer of Armors, omni-tools, and bio-amps that was used for the Alliance. This info surprised Shepherd surprised, his mom was from a very rich family, she could have lived her life in luxury, but instead she became a simple school teacher on a small farming colony.
"Really? I wonder why mom never said anything." Shepherd asked.
"It wasn't a happy time, as much as we like to think we've advanced, some things stay the same" She said. "Your mom was actually offered to someone else"
"Wait you mean, like an arranged marriage?" Shepherd asked.
"Yeah, exactly what I meant" Kasumi said. "She was promised to Hiroshi Sanada, member of the Sanada household, another rich family, since she was little" She sighed. "Hiroshi is my father"
Shepherd eyes grew wide. "So the man who was promised to my mom, is my uncle" he said. "What changed?"
Kasumi smiled. "Your father" She said. "Do you know how your mom and dad met?"
"Yeah, it was the only thing I could get out of them" Shepherd said. "Dad had gotten an Alliance scholarship for engineering, and went to the University of Tokyo, since it had one of the best engineering programs on earth, that was when he met mom"
"According to my mom's diary, it was love at first sight" She said with a smile. "However…"
"I take it grandpa was not happy" Shepherd said.
"Neither was my father" Kasumi said. She scoffed. "He only wanted the money and prestige, he would be damned if a gaijin got in the way, it almost turned violent"
"Huh, I never knew" Shepherd said.
"They eloped, my mother was the only to know…but it didn't last" Kasumi said. "Grandpa Ginrei found out, and threatened to disown her if she didn't tell him."
Shepherd scoffed. "Then he disowned my mom" Kasumi shook her head.
"No, not right away, in fact grandpa thought Auntie Sakura, would come to her senses" she said. "He did it after, one significant event"
Shepherd clenched his fist. "When I was born…" Shepherd said.
Kasumi nodded sadly. "Yeah, it was done quietly of course, so it wouldn't embarrass the family."
Shepherd was silent for a while, which worried Garrus and Kasumi, he wanted to hear about his family, but instead he got the opposite. The reason he never knew that side was because, he and his sister were the embarrassments, the skeleton in the closet. Now he understood why his parents never told him, because they didn't want him to think he was a mistake, after all the most damaging thing you could say to a child that he was unwanted. "What about you?"
Kasumi looked down. "Hiroshi married my mom, and couple of years later I was born." Kasumi said sadly. "It wasn't a marriage of love, like your parents, it was one of convenience, Hiroshi never loved mom, just the prestige that comes with being affiliated with a Sakai, it was even more clear after her death."
"I'm sorry…" Shepherd said.
"Don't be" Kasumi said. "When I got older, I left and changed my name and never looked back"
"Well, welcome aboard, cuz" Shepherd said with a smile. They made it to the lower wards and saw a female Quarian, a human C-sec officer, and a volus. The quarian had on a grey and white suit, she looked how Tali was when he met her two years ago. She was arguing with a very irate volus with a C-sec officer trying to break them up. The quarian looked at the team approaching.
"Kasumi-kun!" Lia said excitedly. Kasumi smiled and nodded.
"What's going on here?" Shepherd asked.
"Sorry trying to take a statement here" the officer said.
"There's nothing to talk about she stole my credit chit" the volus said angrily pointing Lia. "Arrest her!"
"I did not, I told you I was just waiting here for my friend and this volus bumped into me" Lia said angrily. "You only blaming me because I'm a Quarian"
"Stop and take a deep breath, both of you" the officer said.
"You're mocking me, Earth-clan" he said angrily. "Just because the vol-clan needs…"
"A poor choice of words, I apologize" he said. Kasumi spoke up.
"Officer, I know this girl, she didn't steal anything, and she's a good kid" she said.
"I was just waiting here after checking out the stores and this guy just bumps into me, seconds later he runs up with C-sec and accuses me of stealing" Lia said.
"Maybe the chit fell" Garrus said.
"Maybe, all I know is that I didn't do it" she said.
"You could have stashed it for later, we know how you Quarians are like" the officer said. Shepherd glared at him.
"What? How the fuck the do you know?" Shepherd said. "Did she have it?"
"Uh, well no" the officer said.
"So you're accusing this girl and you don't have proof?" Shepherd asked. "I think you two need to get the fuck out of here" The c-sec officer stance grew threating.
"How about I run you in for obstruction of justice?" the officer sneered. Garrus grabbed his collar.
"What part of any of this is justice?" Garrus growled. "You're an insult to the uniform"
"Get your hands off me, before I arrest all of you" the officer said. The officer was lifted bioticly. "W-what?" he faced Shepherd.
"Tell me do you know what above the law mean?" Shepherd asked. "It means a Spectre and anyone working with him, guess what I am?"
The officer eyes grew wide. "Uh…I…Uh" he stammered. Shepherd dropped him.
"Not that you know, get out of here, before I decide to use it" he threatened. The volus and officer ran.
Lia ran to Kasumi and hugged her. "Thank you, onē-san" she said. She looked at Shepherd and Garrus. "So you found them?"
"Yep, we'll be working with them" Kasumi said. Lia walked in front of them and bowed.
The team walked back to the ship, Lia seemed to be in good spirits despite the volus and the C-sec officer acting like jack-asses to her. Lia was very perky quarian, but it could have been because she was a young. They had to stop sometimes, because of Lia's curiosity, which meant she hasn't been traveling for long. "I'm surprised, Lia know some Japanese words" Shepherd said.
"I thought her some when she was younger" Kasumi said.
"Really? She's of pilgrimage age now, how did you get the Migrant fleet to let you in?" Shepherd asked.
Kasumi looked at him. "Lia wasn't born on the Migrant Fleet, she's a nedas."
"A who?" he asked.
"She is the child of exiles" Kasumi said sadly. "She knows next to nothing about Quarian culture, other than what her parents have told her"
"So how does she have a suit if she's exiled?" Shepherd asked.
"Another exile made a suit for her" She said. "It was a community of exiles, that's where she was born"
"So that's why you wanted me to accept her along with you" Shepherd realized.
"Yeah, there's a chance for her to reconnect with her culture" she said. "It was a final wish from her parents"
"I can respect that" he said. "So is that only thing that needs to be resolved" Kasumi smirked.
"Well…" she said.
Shepherd sighed. "What is it?" Shepherd asked annoyed.
"My deal with Cerberus was to gain your assistance in retrieving something that belongs to me." She said.
"What exactly?" he asked.
"My former partner, Okota's greybox. Keiji came across some Alliance information. Very important information. He was caught and killed by a criminal warlord by the name of Donovan Hock who wanted this information." Kasumi said.
"What did he find out?" Shepherd asked.
"He didn't say. Keiji just said that it could cause a war." She said.
"Perfect…" Shepherd muttered. The team arrived at the Normandy.
"Wow…" Lia said in awe. "This is yours?"
"Yep, welcome aboard kid" Shepherd said. "You'll be rooming with Kasumi"
"Ok" she said and went off to explore the ship.
"Just one question, Kasumi, what skills does she have, this isn't a pleasure cruise" Shepherd said.
"She's pretty good with tech, not as good as someone from the Fleet, but she did design my stealth cloak." She said.
Shepherd smirked, "She going to fit in with engineering, she can learn from Donnelly and Gabby until Tali comes on board."
Kasumi raised a brow. "Who's Tali?"
Shepherd blushed. "She's my…uh…girlfriend from the Migrant Fleet" she said.
Kasumi smirked. "So that's why you were quick to defend Lia" she said. "I can't wait to meet her, all the family stories I could share"
"We don't have family stories, I just found out I got a thief for a cousin just today" Shepherd said annoyed.
"I know just teasing you, have to make lost time somewhere" she joked. She then disappeared. "I'll see you later, cuz" Shepherd sighed and Garrus chuckled.
"What?" he asked annoyed.
"You have the weirdest taste in recruiting," Garrus said.
"Recruited you didn't I?"
"Point taken. Things have gotten a lot more interesting" Garrus said with a smirk.
Shepherd rolled his eyes. "Whatever" he said. "I just wonder how long before Miranda finds out"
"SHEPHERD!" Miranda yelled.
Shepherd groaned. "This is going to be fun" he muttered. Back on the ship, Shepherd helped Lia and Kasumi accustomed to the crew. The crew just adored Lia, especially Gabby and Donnelly, he smiled at that, it reminded him of the old days of how Adams and the engineers treated Tali. As for Kasumi, she settled in just fine, she was quite popular with some of the male members of the crew. Kasumi, despite being thief based on stealth was very sociable, when she wasn't disappearing to keep her skills sharp. After getting them settled in Shepherd went to see Miranda, who had calmed down from her little tirade on bring in people who were not part of the mission plan.
"So how's our newest member?" Miranda asked.
"Fine, the crew loves them, they really lightened up the place" Shepherd said.
Miranda scoffed. "This is a war ship not a cruise, if they can prove their usefulness, then they can stay"
Shepherd rolled his eyes. "Whatever" he said. "I just wanted to ask you something"
"What?" Miranda asked while doing paperwork.
"Did Cerberus know that Kasumi was my cousin?"
Miranda looked at him. "No, we did not, though the Illusive Man had suspected something when he mentioned your name, she took his offer very quickly" she said. "Why?"
"Nothing just curious…" Shepherd said turning.
"Shepherd, I know you have concerns about our organization, but we aren't as evil as people think, I hope that one day you'll see that" she said.
"Maybe…we'll see in the future" he said walking away.
