Chapter 16: Goodbyes
Katsumi guessed it was mid-morning before she woke up. Ayame and Meika were both still asleep so she dressed and stepped out of the room. She was headed to the kitchen when she ran into someone coming out of another room.
"I'm sorry. I should have been watching where I was going." Katsumi said. When she looked at the other person she was shocked to come face to face with someone she didn't know. The woman in front of her looked strangely familiar. A man walked out beside the woman. Katsumi also thought she recognized him, but couldn't place him.
"Hey, who are these people?" Quatre's voice came from behind her. She sighed in relief when she saw him and Duo walking towards her. Heero was behind them with Meika and Ayame. Trowa and Wufei followed at length. Quatre wrapped his arm around Katsumi protectively.
"I don't know. I know them, I think. But I don't at the same time." She answered.
"Do you two know Katsumi?" Quatre asked. The man and woman looked disturbed at that name.
"We used to know a Katsumi, but…"
"Who are you?" Heero's tone was suspicious.
"I'm Takuto Otakawan. This is my wife, Aoki." The man answered and Katsumi drew her breath sharply. Yasu and Take meowed beside her.
"What's wrong?" Quatre asked. Katsumi felt as though she couldn't breathe. Takuto and Aoki Otakawan, those had been her parent's names. Ms. Reo came upstairs at that moment and saw the two groups. She slapped herself on the forehead and stood in between them.
"Let's all go and eat breakfast and I'll explain." Complacent to this the two adults and the group of young adults walked down to breakfast. Ms. Reo cleared her throat, and everyone looked at her.
"These eight young people are the ones who fight OZ in Japan. They were forced out of their base of operations and came here. The man and the woman are Katsumi's parents." Katsumi stood up quickly.
"But my parents were killed in the raid!" Katsumi protested at the same time that Takuto protested that his daughter had died in the raid.
"No no I assure you, those are you parents Katsumi, and that is your daughter Mr. and Mrs. Otakawan." Ms. Reo said. Katsumi looked nervous. She had adjusted to not having her family around. Things would be different now.
Ayame cast a glance between Katsumi and her parents. The former was wary of the latter and made no effort to accept the greetings from her family. Ayame was a little concerned about her. Quatre put his hand on Katsumi's shoulder.
"Katsumi, why don't you introduce your parents to your friends?" Ms. Reo said breaking the tension. Katsumi went around the room and pointed everyone out.
"You know it's a lovely day out. You should all go swimming." Ms. Reo said lightly.
"Swimming!" Meika's eyes widened. "I love swimming."
"Wahoo!" Duo yelled jumping in the pool a short time later. Wufei sat cross legged on the side of the pool and Trowa sat with his feet dangling in. Heero, after a lot of goading from Meika, finally got in the water. Katsumi, Ayame and Quatre were all swimming around and got into a huge splash war. The Otakawans joined the group a little later. They all swam until the sun set, when they got out and dried off.
"You kids are leaving tomorrow right?" Ms. Reo asked them at dinner. Heero nodded.
"Yeah, that's when the person you were talking to is arriving to pick us up right?" Duo queried.
"Yes." Ms. Reo looked at Katsumi. "So will you be leaving with them?" Katsumi paused. She seemed to be deciding what her answer would be. They all watched her.
"Well?" Wufei asked impatiently. Katsumi shook her head.
"No, I'll be staying here with my family." She cut off Quatre's protests by putting her hand on his shoulder. Ayame wasn't surprised. She doubted that her answer would have been any different, if she were in that situation.
"Why?" Duo asked, apparently he was surprised.
"Because I never was much help to you guys anyways. Meika was trained at the flight academy and is as good a fighter as any of you guys. Ayame is the best technician on the planet probably, and I'm just a renegade seeking revenge. Now, there is no revenge to seek. My family is alive and well." She responded evenly. Ayame knew she wasn't feeling sorry for herself. She had stated what she believed, however untrue it was. Quatre opened his mouth to protest, but she stood up and cut him off.
"You can't say that I'm wrong either." Katsumi stated walking off; the group was down to one less member. This idea wasn't really appealing to Meika, not only had she considered Katsumi a friend, but there was safety in numbers. The rest of the night was spent with the remainder of the group getting ready to leave.
Ayame awoke in the morning with Meika shaking her.
"It's time to go wake up!" Ayame scrambled to her feet and stretched. She grabbed her belongings that she had packed the night before and followed Meika down to the transport. It was a personal plane that didn't look like it could hold 8 people and the pilot, but it did. Ayame took her seat and watched as the others got on. Katsumi stood by the door as Quatre got on.
"Are you sure you want to stay?" He asked. Katsumi nodded. Quatre looked pretty upset.
"Don't worry, I'll see you again." She smiled and kissed him lightly.
"Be careful, OZ may well be out here, and you have a price on your head like the rest of us do." He said to her.
"Hey, take your own advice,. You're the ones going to the stronghold country."Quatre boarded the plane and Katsumi backed up to allow it to take off. Meika waved to her friend through the window as they took off.