A/N: Once I'm done with this story I will be starting two new stories for K. Maybe even a third. They are Fushimi, Yata, and (possibly) Tatara. I would appreciate your opinions so message or Review. ~Maya
Fire Starters
Chapter Twenty
Hara was walking down the street on her way to a small store to pick up a few more things for the kitchen when a flash of blue caught her eye. Looking up, she saw Saruhiko chasing down a man with tattoos covering every part of visible skin. Knowing he was a strain, she thought to just continue on when a scream broke her thoughts. She hastily looked in the direction it came from and saw the strain had a hold of a young girl by her hair, a knife to her throat.
Saruhiko looked miffed and was sweating. Several more blues appeared from among the crowd and cornered the man against a wall. He still held the child and Hara frowned seeing the girl's frightened expression. Sighing, she moved to an alley beside the building and made her way to the roof. She looked down and saw that no one was paying her any mind as they were focused on the man and girl. Looking around she saw a brick and picked it up.
She aimed carefully and then released the heavy object. It hit the man dead center on top of his head and knocked him unconscious. Hara immediately disappeared before anyone could see her and reappeared amongst the crowd. The blues had the strain in custody and was hoisting him into a dark blue van when Saruhiko's eyes landed on her. The girl was reunited with her mother and pair went off as the young man made his way over to Hara.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said simply looking at her with slight irritation. Hara smiled softly and stroked his hair. Having gotten used to her babying him often, he allowed it.
"You know how I love children. I couldn't help it and you have to admit that my intervention saved that girl." Saruhiko sighed and shook his head.
"Whatever. And stop touching my hair, it's annoying." He snapped at her. She laughed and poked his forehead.
"But I like your hair. You look a bit more mature with the new style." It was true. With his hair no longer the messy waterfall of black locks and neatly styled to give him front bangs on the left side of his face and the rest combed back he no longer looked like he was in high school. "Did you graduate?" Hara asked with a small smile. Just as he opened his mouth to answer, most likely rudely, another blue called out to him.
"I have to go, and yes I did. You really are a stupid woman." Hara sighed and hugged him tightly. His eyes widened but he did not return the hug, only clicked his tongue.
"Eat your vegetables." Hara said and released him. Making her way back into the crowd she heard him scoff and return to his fellow clansmen. "Silly little boy." She said to herself. Her hone rang then and she looked down to see an unfamiliar number. She answered with reluctance and placed the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"I think my clansmen were quite capable of handling that alone." Hara sighed and chuckled.
"Munakata-san, how are you?" The man sighed.
"Tired. And you?" Hara smiled and continued walking to the store.
"In a fairly good mood. No real complaints here." Munakata chuckled and Hara could hear him adjust his glasses. "Would you like to have some coffee? I'm out right now and could use some company." She heard him sigh and mumble something to himself before answering.
"I don't see why not. How about we meet a Miura's Cafe?" Hara thought for a moment and found she wasn't far off from the little cafe.
"Sure, I'll meet you there."
"I will see you then. Good day, Suoh-san."
"Sure," she said with exasperation. He was just so formal some times. She hung up and made her way to the cafe.
Once there, she looked around and was seated at a small table for two. She sat alone for only a few minutes when Munakata showed up in casual clothing. Hara smiled and waved him over to which he smiled and approached her immediately.
"I apologize for being late. I had to lie to my Lieutenant to get out of work." Hara laughed at him.
"It sounds almost like she's your caregiver. Or wife." Munakata smiled softly and shook his head at her.
"Awashima-kun is a good woman, but there are no romantic feelings between the two of us." Hara sighed.
"You could you talk with a bit less formality? You're giving me a headache." Munakata smiled wryly.
"I am afraid I was never taught any other way to speak. Much the same with you." Hara froze and looked at him.
"Excuse me?" Munakata gave an apologetic smile.
"You caught my interest and so I decided to investigate you. I apologize if I have invaded any of your privacy by doing so." Hara felt her eye twitch as her anger mounted.
"What do you know and does anyone else know?" Munakata shook his head.
"I am the only one aware, and I know most every thing there is to know. About who you really are, that is." Hara sighed and rubbed her temples. "Does your husband know?" Hara flinched and looked away with an uneasy smile. "I see."
"You don't know every thing I'm sure." Hara glared at him to which he sat back uncomfortably. "So tell me what you do know." Munakata cleared his throat and played with his cup of coffee.
"Mina Monet is your real name, half Japanese, half British, father is a member of parliament, your mother is deceased, and you're a runaway who has been missing since thirteen." Hara sipped at her coffee and smiled. "Now what I want to know is why such a well-bred woman is with a barbarian of a man like Suoh Mikoto." Hara looked at the ceiling and sighed.
"My mother was the daughter of a washer woman and a maintenance man. My father came from a long line of military and politics. You can see where the conflict lies. My father fell in love with my mother as she was an aspiring pianist and very beautiful. He was a narrow-minded man with an ego that could make the size of the moon seem miniscule and yet she loved him." Munakata sipped at his own coffee looking a bit uncomfortable.
"He had to possess her since she was so beautiful. But once he had her as his wife, he grew restless. My mother became pregnant a short time after their marriage but it ended in miscarriage. She miscarried a total of four times when I was finally born. But I was born a daughter and it didn't sit well with his ego. He needed a son to take his place in the family, a daughter was useless to him.
"One night when I had just turned thirteen years, I heard my parents fighting down the hall from my bedroom and being the child I was, I went to see what was going on. I found my father screaming at my mother that she was a useless woman who couldn't give him a son. He held a knife and was waving it around, my mother was crying and begging for him to calm down. Eventually it died down and I went back to bed thinking nothing of what had happened."
"Did it not bother you, what he said?" Hara shook her head.
"I felt nothing for him, I knew he did not favor me because I was not a son. And as such I felt no love for the man." Munakata nodded and drank more of his coffee.
"Please continue."
"I woke up around midnight to find my father sitting at the edge of my bed, holding the knife. He wasn't looking at me, but I knew I was his next target. I screamed for my mother and he was on top of me instantly, the knife at my throat. As I was lying on my back and facing the wall, I couldn't see that my mother had come running. She screamed for help when she saw my father cutting into my back with the knife before she jumped on him to get him off me."
Munakata swallowed as the image of what had happened to her entered his mind. The gory images made him taste bile in his throat.
"He had thrown her off and was still cutting into me when our cook came wielding a knife himself and stabbed my father. My father turned and threw him off and advanced on them both. My mother was brutally murdered and so was the cook. Another in the house had called for the police and he got her too. It was just the four of us in the house that night, and so when the police came, my father said the cook had killed every one and he had saved me from him. They believed him without an investigation and I was taken to the hospital.
"I tried to tell them what really happened, but no one believed me. I ran away once I was released from the hospital and fled here to find my mother's family. I found they had passed when I was a child and my only living relative was my father. I went to find someone who could give me a new identity and I did. A court judge here in Japan who believed me gave me a new name, birth date, and identification number. I chose Michitaru because it's my mother's maiden name, and Hara because it is my Japanese grandmother's name. My whole life has been me hiding from that man.
"A year after coming to Japan I entered a middle school, but was expelled as I had to work and they did not allow such things. I went into another school that believed I was an orphan who lived alone and allowed me to work. That was where I met Mikoto and Izumo. We became friends and I fell in love with Mikoto. We became an item and the rest is history." Munakata had sat silently and was now sitting with a look of thoughtfulness.
"When I read the report I saw that every one except you and your father were killed by your cook. To think that is what really happened. I don't understand why they wouldn't investigate it for any reason, even when a thirteen year old victim is telling them the tru-"
"Money." Munakata looked at her with surprise.
"I'm sorry?" Hara sighed and gave a sad smile.
"In this world, money talks. At least that's what they say. You give someone a little bit of money and they'll do whatever you want. Leverage, if you will. It's how he got away with every thing he did. Dirty politicians, dirty cops, dirty judges, he had them all in his pockets so long as he gave them the right amount. Johnathan Monet, is a vile man. Unneeded." Hara's eyes became hard and Munakata looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"I see. Then why don't you do something about it?" Hara smiled.
"I did. Seven years ago, I hired someone to take care of my father. If you read the reports, you would know an assassin at one of his meetings was captured after he shot Monet in the head. My father is dead. I made sure of that." Hara gave a wicked grin and stood up. "Til we meet again, Munakata," she said and left. Munakata watched her go and sighed. He pushed up his glasses and paid for the coffee before leaving himself.
Hara walked into the bar to see a messy cake sitting on the counter and a confused Mikoto looking at it. She smiled and went up to him. He looked at her with a bored look and then went back to staring at the cake. Anna rushed out of the kitchen with Key then and both smiled at her, Key with his grin of missing teeth and Anna with her usual soft smile.
"I'm partly afraid to ask." Mikoto snorted and the kids only continued to smile. The poor cake, Hara saw, was lopsided and was missing chunks out of it where it had gotten stuck to the pan. "What happened and what's the occasion?" Key broke into laughter when Tatara came out of the kitchen with a guilty smile.
"We only wanted to make a cake, but it didn't come out right." Hara looked at the cake and tried desperately to hold in her laughter.
"I think we can fix this." At her words, the whole group perked up.
That evening, Mikoto and Hara were eating a much better looking cake when Mikoto poked Hara's shoulder. Giving him a questioning look, he grumbled.
"You were gone longer than normal, and you came back without any groceries. Did something happen." Hara smiled broadly at him.
"Nothing much, just helped some blues get a strain that held a little girl by knife point. Saruhiko was one of them. Poor thin looked very tired a pale. Hasn't been eating his vegetables again. Anyways, we said hello and what not and he got mad at me for getting in his business and touching his hair." Mikoto chuckled at this and sipped at some milk while Key puffed his cheeks and Anna smiled.
"I wanted to go~" Key whined. "I could have seen Saru." Hara smiled and kissed his head.
"I have to send Izumo down to Scepter4 in a couple of days with some paperwork, so you can go with him and maybe you'll see Saruhiko." Key lit up like Christmas and threw his hands in the air in happiness. Mikoto finished his cake and after washing his dish, went up to bed. Key promptly followed leaving Anna and Hara alone.
"Something else happened." Anna said without emotion. Hara sighed and gave her a sad smile.
"Don't tell Mikoto please. But I met with Munakata and it didn't end up a happy meeting." Anna nodded and fished helping clean. The two went to their rooms and Hara entered her's to see Mikoto sitting up in bed.
"What else?" Hara sighed knowing full well what he meant.
"Munakata knows about me. He brought it up over coffee." Mikoto glared at her as the temperature in the room spiked to dangerous levels. "Calm down, he's the only one who knows and seems willing to not speak of it." Mikoto calmed down as requested and sighed. Hara sat beside him and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. He moved her hair away and kissed the slight scar that wrapped around the back of her neck.
"Let's sleep." Hara nodded and followed him to sleep.
A/N: Wow, plot twist! Hope you guys liked it. My creative juices are finally back too! Woot! Just waiting for this heat wave to die away and I'll be posting at lightning speed once more! Review/Follow/Favorite!