Ok, once again, all dialouge between the kids is in Japanese, and the twins in Chinese. I don't own GW, so get off my back. Oh, and the song is from Lunar, and is called "Wind's nocturne".
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Hell Is For Children
Chapter 4
Her Hell
One week later, Lucrezia watched quietly as the nurse disconnected the heart monitors, pushing them to one side as she slowly removed the thick gauze from around Aki's wrists. Her stitches had been taken out, and now the wounds were starting to heal up nicely. Of course, the scars would never go away...Lucrezia's eyes darkened. When Aki grew up, there would still be those scars, three horizontal slashes on each wrist, with the intent to take away her life.
All of a sudden, she hated the people who had done this to Aki. Not the cold, unsettled hate she had felt before. This was a dark rage that promised revenge for this family.
"Aki-chan, korekara mo, kiotsukete kudasai wa ne?" The nurse said, smiling sweetly at the little girl. (Aki, from now on, please be careful, ok?)
Aki nodded as the nurse wrapped a thinner band of gauze around her wrists, Ryosuke standing next to her. He turned to look at her.
"All you need to do is get dressed and then we're going home." He said, smiling slightly.
"Home?" Aki repeated softly, her eyes wide with hope. Ryosuke's face fell slightly and Kotaro bit his lip, suddenly very interested in his feet.
"Yeah..we're going home."
The next thing Lucrezia knew they were at Sapporo airport, ready to fly back to Tokyo to the Yui house to gather the children's belongings. She was holding Kotaro's hand, and keeping a close eye on Aki and Ryosuke who were reading. She locked eyes with another Preventer across the almost-empty waiting lobby and nodded. He nodded back and immediatly scurried out of sight. She blinked.
All the kids are here, but where's my husband?
She saw Zechs staring at the arrival and departure screens, occasionally asking Ryosuke to read for him. After a few minutes, however, he seemed to be doing fine on his own. Lucrezia left Kotaro with Ryosuke and Aki and walked over to him.
"Zechs, what are you doing?"
He didn't even turn his gaze from the screens.
"Did you know the Hong Kong International airport flies here from the mainland?"
"Mainland China? Yeah...so?"
Suddenly a strange sound followed by a swishing noise was heard as a closed-up folding fan slid into the lobby. A few seconds passed as no one in the room spoke, and then out of nowhere a young girl - no older than five - ran into the room after it. Dark bangs fell in front of silk blue eyes and her long black hair was drawn up very cute-like in pigtails. She scooped up the fan and immediatly turned, doing so fast enough as to jump in the air as a young boy looking about the same age ran in behind her and tried to punch her. He also had bangs, but his eyes were dark grey and his hair was pulled into a low ponytail. The little girl landed and both took fighting stances, glaring at each other. Lucrezia gulped.
"Why do I strangely recognize that style of fighting?"
The boy and girl stood locked in a staring contest, glaring at each other, when suddenly an older girl looking around 9 appeared between them. She glared at each of them, her own jet black hair wisping from side to side as she turned her head towards each of them.
"Leun! Mu Lan!"
Both children reluctantly slid out of their stances and lowered their heads, mumbling something in Chinese.
Looking slightly annoyed, the young girl grabbed Leun's hand and then picked Mu Lan up, balancing the little girl on her hip. She sat Leun in a seat, Mu Lan next to the seat Aki was in, and then sat herself between Mu Lan and Leun. Mu Lan huffed for a minute, but then looked over at Aki and smiled.
"Konnichiwa!"
"...Konnichiwa."
Mu Lan leaned over the seat, speaking in perfect Japanese.
"My name's Mu Lan. What's yours?"
"Aki."
"Hi Aki!"
Aki smiled slightly. "Hi. So...what was that earlier?"
Mu Lan looked a bit confused, before her eyes rolled slightly. "Oh...with my brother??"
"Yes."
"We were having an argument. He took my fan and threw it, so I kicked him and ran off to get it."
"Oh..who's older?"
"Hm?"
"You and your brother...who's older?"
"Oh..we don't know."
Aki face-faulted. "You...don't know?"
"Nope! We're twins, and my mom said she didn't pay attention to the minor things like who was older."
"Oh..You're Chinese, right?"
"Yup! Did you hear me talking to my sister?"
"Yeah, how do you know Japanese?"
"Papa taught me! Said he got to practice it alot with one of his old friends."
"Really?"
Lucrezia smiled as she saw Aki chatting with the little Chinese girl who had come in so suddenly. She was glad that the lonely little girl she'd seen in bed just a week ago was up and making friends.
She blinked and straightened suddenly as a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Yin Mei! Yin Mei!"
"Onna, it's your fault for not keeping track of her!"
"She went after YOUR son, Wu-pie. Yin Mei!!"
"Argh! DON'T call me WU-PIE!"
Lucrezia's mouth dropped open. So THAT's what he meant when he said that!
"Sally!?"
"Lucrezia?!"
Sally eagerly ran forward and hugged her friend, ignoring the fact that Wu Fei was giving the twins a good talking-to they didn't deserve. After all, if he was going to teach them Martial arts, he couldn't actually expect them to behave. She pulled back and grinned, her blonde hair hanging loose down her back against her dark red sweater.
"So! What brings you to Sapporo?"
Lucrezia's smile faded slightly, casting a sideways glance at the three children sitting by each other. Sally followed her gaze, and blinked.
"Oh! Who's the cute little girl Mu Lan's talking to?"
"Aki." Lucrezia answered quietly.
"Ah, Sally. Good to see you're doing well."
"Zechs. Good to see you're...Oh, never mind."
Zechs blinked, and then sighed. "So, how-"
"SAI LIN!" A booming voice interrupted, and Sally looked up to see Wu Fei at her side, his cheeks slightly red. "Onna, do you know who Mu Lan is talking to?"
Before she could answer, Zechs stepped slightly between them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Well, we have 45 minutes before takeoff. Why don't I sit down and explain that."
Sally's eyes widened with shock as Zechs finished the last of his story, and sat back with a grim look on his face. Wu Fei was holding her hand comfortingly, but that didn't stop tears from springing to her eyes.
"Relena and Heero are...dead?" She whispered softly, afraid of the answer. Zechs nodded solemly. Sally lowered her head, tears threatening to spill over onto the linoleum floor. Wufei silently pulled her into a comforting embrace and she let the tears fall, not making any noise as she buried her face in his sweater and cried quietly. Wufei cast a forlorn glance over at the little girl and her siblings.
"I could tell..The girl, Aki, she looks so much like Relena.."
"So that's how you knew." Zechs said softly.
Wu Fei sighed. "Ryosuke isn't exactly unique when it comes to facial features too, you know. Or hairstyles."
"He looks just like his father." Lucrezia said, just as quietly.
A moment of silence passed between them before Sally spoke.
"But..why would anyone want to do that to Heero?" Sally whispered, rubbing tears from her eyes. "Why?"
Zechs lowered his eyes. "We don't know, but...we think Relena was murdered as well."
"Relena was..?!"
"Yes..I couldn't get the full story from Ryosuke, but we think she was pre-poisoned when she was pregnant with Aki."
"Poisoned?"
"Yes, that's why we think she died so suddenly. I mean, she was very healthy through the course of her life..That's why I want you to take another look at the medical records, Sally. If she was poisoned, some levels in the blood will be different than normal, right?"
Sally nodded. "Indefinitely. Histamine and protien, hormones, all that stuff."
Not a second after she had said that, the loudspeakers crackled and a sweet-sounding woman started speaking Japanese, and Zechs was alerted by a small tug on his sleeve.
"We're boarding." Ryosuke said evenly, and walked back over to his siblings. Zechs followed, showing their five tickets as they walked onto the almost-empty plane.
"I kind of can't believe how outdated these land-to-land planes got." Zechs muttered as they found their seats. He noted that even though Wu Fei and Sally's tickets were on another end of the plane, they sat next to each other anyways. The plane was so empty that no one really knew the difference.
"So, what's with the two grownups who don't speak Japanese?"
"Oh..they're my aunt and uncle."
"Really? You don't seem to like them very much."
Aki simply shrugged as another stewardess appeared at the front of the plane with the microphone.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Sapporo International Passenger Lines. Very soon, we shall commence takeoff. May I please remind everyone at this time to please fasten their safety belts. We will reach our destination, Narita Airport in Tokyo, in about 30 minutes. Thank you for choosing Sapporo International."
What the English-speaking people heard: 'Minna san, konnichiwa. Sapporo Joukyaku Kuuki ni youkoso. Mou soro soro kuuki no ririku suru tsumori de gozaimasu. Minna sama wa shiito beruto o musunde kudasai. Tokyo no Narita Kuukou ni sanjuppunkan de tsukimasu. Sapporo Joukyaku o tsukuru koto doumo arigatou gozaimasu."
She bowed deeply before disappearing into the station at the front of the plane. Aki sighed, already feeling so homesick. 30 minutes, and then another 10 by train to 4 chome, 6 banchi, 14 gou; where she lived. A small, quiet little house sandwiched between the Tsuchida's and the Yamatani's. She missed it terribly. And somehow she just knew this was the last visit they would be able to make to their house in a long time.
Takeoff went smooth, and after Aki was allowed to unfasten her seat belt she went over to Ryosuke who was talking to Kotaro.
"'Niichan." she said quietly, tugging on his sleeve. Ryosuke peered down at his little sister before reaching down and lifting her onto his lap and hugging her.
"What's wrong?" He asked quietly, hugging his little sister. Aki paused a moment.
"We...we're not going to live at home anymore, are we?"
Ryosuke froze. He never expected for her to catch on that quick.
"No..no, we're not, Aki-chan."
"...Sore jaa.."
"Don't worry, we'll be staying with Uncle Zechs and Aunt Lucrezia in Europe-"
"I don't WANT to go to Europe." Aki whispered, trembling. "I want to stay in Japan! I want to stay with my friends! I don't want to move out of 4 chome!" She wrapped her arms around her brother, hugging him fiercely.
"Aki.." This time it was her younger brother Kotaro talking, stroking her dark brown hair soothingly. "Aki, I was only three when mom died, but one thing I remember is dad saying to me that I had to be brave. For my brother and my daisuki na little sister." He said, placing a comforting hand on her back.
"Easy for you to say. You've got lots of courage. You never know what fear is." Aki muttered against Ryosuke's sweater.
"Aki, courage isn't not having fear. It's about managing the fear that you feel. You're a total bakayaro if you're not scared of anything at some point in your life. Have you ever heard of the Monster Under the Bed? Man, I'll have nightmares for weeks! I'm terrified of that dude!"
Aki giggled softly, but didn't pull her face out from her brother's sweater.
"Aki, what I mean is, don't completely hate the idea of going to Europe. Put on a brave face and even though you're scared you have to learn to deal with your feelings. But y'know, we're not going anywhere, sis. We're still gonna be with you, no matter what."
Aki sniffled and peeked out from behind the folds of Ryosuke's sweater.
"Promise?" She whispered softly.
Kotaro grinned. "I promise." He said, extending his pinky. Aki linked pinkies with him for a brief moment, and then threw herself into Kotaro's arms. Ryosuke grinned. His little brother always had a way with words he knew that he could never be good at. At least, not the way Kotaro could. He was never good at expressing his emotions. He chose to let his eyes do the talking and his actions the expressing. Like his father. He often remembered his mother holding him close, stroking his hair as he drifted off to sleep and whisper affectionately how he was so much like his papa. And as he would soon learn, it was often a wonderful blessing. But at the same time, a curse.
The wind blew softly as the five traveled down the street, walking a short distance from the Sakuragao train station to their residence. To Lucrezia it was all a big maze, and only the children seemed to know where they were going. They passed rows and rows of houses and made numerous turns before she noticed Aki start to walk a little faster. She kept her eyes on the outside of the fences, because the names of the family of each house were printed on the outside, sometimes on the mailbox. Yatari, Nakano, Tsuchida...Yui.
Aki was running by now and the boys were trying to catch up with her, standing back slightly as she threw open the front door. As Zechs and Lucrezia approached, she noticed that Aki wasn't going into the house, just standing looking sort of estranged in the doorway. As they approached the children from behind, Ryosuke slightly outstretched his hand and looked like he was about to say something to his sister. Aki cupped her hands to her mouth and called into the dark house.
"Tadaimaaaaaaaaa!"
Lucrezia's heart wrenched. Ryosuke had explained to her earlier that 'tadaima' was basically an equivilent of 'I'm home' and announced a returning person's arrival. And she knew that somewhere in her heart that Aki was half-expecting an answer. But only silence met the group's ears.
Aki took a step into the house and called again.
"Tadaimaa!!!"
Again, only silence.
Suddenly Aki took off running into the house, carelessly kicking off her shoes and running down the wodden hallway.
She made a sharp right turn into the kitchen, running through into the living room and peering in.
"Papa!" She called, continuing up the steps and down another hallway. "Papa! I'm home!!" She paused to push the door to his room open, and seeing it dark as well ran to the end of the hall, pushing the door open.
"Papa! I'm ho-" Her voice cut itself short as the image of her father's dark study imprinted itself onto her mind. The computer was humming slightly, a strangely soothing sound that could always be heard from the room. Nothing was on his desk, no papers were out. The rows of CD's and disks lined neatly on one side were obviously untouched, by the way that dust had settled on them.
Papa's gone. A tiny voice in her head whispered. Gone, gone, and he's not going to come back.
"Papa!" She called again, a little more weakly. She leaned against the doorframe, tears filling her eyes.
"Papa!"
This time the call was desperate, desperate for a response, a word of comfort, for her father's voice. Her father's voice to tell her everything was alright, the past week had been a horrible dream, and now she could wake up and everything would be normal again.
But her father was gone.
Aki slid down the doorframe, slid until her bottom met the cool floor and she could slide any further. She let her muscles go slack, unlocking her knees and letting her legs fall stationary to the floor, and her arms hanging by her side. Tears dribbled down her cheeks as the silence suddenly became too loud to bear.
Her papa was dead. He wasn't going to come home again. Ever.
She pulled her knees to her chest as she started to sob, her small frame trembling. She wasn't ever going to see him again. He was gone.
"Let her cry." Ryosuke said quietly as he led Zechs up the steps and into the hallway and into him and his brother's room. Zechs looked around. It was basically what you would expect. Bunk beds were pressed up against the wall-as far as they could get from the window, he noticed-and there was a desk and chair with two penstands and wire baskets on it and kanji papers strewn in and around the baskets on the desk. A toybox, shelves lined with books and a dresser adorned with pictures, small toys and other odds-and-ends...basically a normal bedroom for two normal boys.
Wothout a word, he turned and left the boys' room, maneuvering around Kotaro (who was standing in the doorway) and opened the door to Aki's room, right across the hall.
Aki's small bed was, once again, pressed against the wall as far away from the window as possible. A rainbow was painted on the wall her bed was up against and red pillows rested on a red-and-pink Hello Kitty bedspread. A smaller desk and chair, pink curtains, a dresser, origami this-and-that, a jewelry box...another ordinary little girl's bedroom. He heard a creak from the door next to him and peered out in time to see a flash of brown hair disappear into the room.
Aki..
Exiting her room, he slowly closed the door and pushed open the door to the room she had just gone into. The curtains were drawn shut but he could make out a bed, nightstand and dresser in the dark room, with another door leading to the bathroom.
This was Heero's room.
Aki had wrapped herself in the covers of the bed and now her breathing was even, and Zechs could tell she was asleep. He slowly exited the room, closing the door behind him.
"Zechs!" A soft voice called, and he turned to see his wife behind him, her face slightly pale.
"Lu?"
"Zechs, I think you should come and see something." She said quietly, gently taking his wrist and leading him down the steps.
Wishing on a dream that seems far off
Hoping it will come today
They sat at the kitchen table where about 7 thick books were sat in front of him. Four were white, one was pink and the other two were blue. He picked up the top white one and opened it slowly, and his eyes widened as he realized that what he was looking at was not a book, but a photo album.
Into the starlit night,
Foolish dreamers turn their gaze
Wishing on a shooting star
The first picture in the album was one of Relena, sitting upon the cement steps of some house, with 2-year-old Ryosuke on her lap, smiling happily. it was autumn, he could tell from the sweater and long skirt Relena was wearing and the sweater Ryosuke was wearing that had some sort of cartoon show or the other on it. The next was of Ryosuke playing in a pile of leaves in his tiny front yard, Heero sitting amongst the mess with him. Zechs chuckled at the next picture which was of Heero, looking slightly irked as his son stood on his lap and precariously placed leaves on the top of his father's head, laughing the whole time. He flipped through the album, carefully studying each picture for about 3 seconds before going to the next. One picture, though, he just couldn't take his mind off of. It was a picture of Heero, sleeping peacefully on the couch. Ryosuke was curled up beside him, sleeping just as peacefully, and Heero had a protective arm around his son. It sent a twinge through his heart. No matter how bad of a man Zechs could make Heero out to be, he loved his children more than anything. He himself was a father, and he remembered thinking the moment that his little daughter Ari was placed in his arms that he never, ever wanted to let her go. And he didn't doubt that Heero had shared his feelings whenever he had held his three children.
But, what if that star is not to come?
Will their dreams fade to nothing?
"Well, we certainly can't say she was unhappy." Lucrezia said softly as she flipped through another photo album.
"Hm.." He answered softly, picking up the blue book.
"Oh..this must be Kotaro's." He said, seeing the first picture in the album which was Relena, sitting on the couch, with a small blue bundle in her arms and holding Ryosuke in her lap, letting him see his new baby brother.
"Yes..And I have Ryosuke's."
A few moments of silence passed before Zechs put down Kotaro's book and picked up the pink book, which he assumed was Aki's. The moment he opened it, he felt a cold fist envelope his heart and squeeze lightly. Taped to the inside of Aki's book, with obvious caution and carefulness, was a lock of Relena's hair.
When the horizon darkens most,
We all need to believe there is hope
Unlike the boy's books, in which the first picture was Relena holding them and their sibling when they were just newborns, the first picture of Aki's was her when she was 6 months old. And he could tell because the writing on the side was in English.
"Aki at 6 months..Aki and Ryosuke..Aki's first birthday..." Zechs read quietly, flipping through the album. After about a year and a half, the writing once again converted to Japanese and Zechs could no longer read it. He sighed softly, setting down the book. These, definitely, he would keep.
Is an angel watching closely over me?
Can there be a guiding light I've yet to see?
"Where are you going?" Zechs said as he saw his wife stand up and set down the book she was looking through.
"Over a few blocks down. I have to go see the 'family doctor'". She said, reading off a piece of paper in front of her. "Kouichi Watanabe. Apparently he knows the family really well. Maybe we can find something out. You never know." She smiled softly at him, and then leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "Watch the children. Oh, and try to talk to Ryosuke a little, will you?"
And with that, she was out the door once again.
I know my heart should guide me, but
There's a hole within my soul
"Aah yes, the Yui family. I do know them very well. I've been taking care of the little one ever since she was just a tiny infant." Dr. Watanabe, an elderly man in his early 60's with wire-rim glasses said as he sat down across from Lucrezia in his small makeshift office.
"Please forgive the mess, it's a work office, and as you know, work can be a little rough sometimes." He said as he opened a filing cabinent.
"Oh, it's quite alright." Lucrezia answered, a bit surprised that he spoke English so well. He produced five files and handed them to her, leaning back slightly in his chair.
"The english transcripts are all there as well."
"Yes..thank you."
After a moment of silence, he leaned forward once again, his kind eyes locking with hers.
"Is there something you would like to ask me, Mrs. Peacecraft?"
What will fill this emptiness inside of me?
Am I to be satisfied without knowing?
"Well..I was wondering about how Heero was when you first met him."
Dr. Watanabe's expression changed slightly as he heard this. He sighed, entwining his fingers.
"Heero..well, how to explain..was very grief-stricken when he first came here to Sakuragao with his family. I could see it reflected in his eyes when he brought his two boys in for their first checkup. His wife had died and Aki, the little one, was so sickly-"
"Aki was sick?"
"Oh yes, when she was very little. She had a protien in her body that didn't cooperate with her immune system, and at times there was nothing I could do and that poor young man had to watch his baby daughter suffer. There's nothing worse than watching your child fall ill and knowing there's nothing you can do to help ease their pain." He leaned forward a bit more. "And then, when she was around 6 months old, I was able to aquire-well actually, it had to be made for her-an antidote of sorts that would literally dissolve all traces of the protien in her body. Within a week all the developmental progress she lacked from being sick-holding her head up, recognition, and basic muscle development-were all made up. In full, might I add. She hasn't been sick since." He lowered his voice. "But the fact that the protien was evident in her body made me a bit..oh, I hope I can say this without coming off the wrong way..suspicious."
"Suspicious?"
"Well..for awhile, I vaguely wondered if Aki's mother poisoned herself before Aki was born."
"Poisoned herself??"
"Maybe not intentionally, but she clearly ingested something she shouldn't have. I strongly believe that was why she died."
I wish, then, for a chance to see,
Now all I need...desperately...
Zechs sat down at the kitchen table, directly across from the young boy who had, just a minute earlier, came down the steps announcing that they had to talk. Ryosuke took a deep breath.
"I..I want to tell you..about that night. The night my mom was poisoned."
Zechs nodded, encouraging the young boy. Ryosuke took another deep breath, figeting slightly, before calming himself down and staring Zechs straight in the eye. But not confrontationally. As if he had a painful secret kept inside him that was eating his soul.
"The night it happened..was the night of my sixth birthday."
Is my star to come...
TBC
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Hell Is For Children
Chapter 4
Her Hell
One week later, Lucrezia watched quietly as the nurse disconnected the heart monitors, pushing them to one side as she slowly removed the thick gauze from around Aki's wrists. Her stitches had been taken out, and now the wounds were starting to heal up nicely. Of course, the scars would never go away...Lucrezia's eyes darkened. When Aki grew up, there would still be those scars, three horizontal slashes on each wrist, with the intent to take away her life.
All of a sudden, she hated the people who had done this to Aki. Not the cold, unsettled hate she had felt before. This was a dark rage that promised revenge for this family.
"Aki-chan, korekara mo, kiotsukete kudasai wa ne?" The nurse said, smiling sweetly at the little girl. (Aki, from now on, please be careful, ok?)
Aki nodded as the nurse wrapped a thinner band of gauze around her wrists, Ryosuke standing next to her. He turned to look at her.
"All you need to do is get dressed and then we're going home." He said, smiling slightly.
"Home?" Aki repeated softly, her eyes wide with hope. Ryosuke's face fell slightly and Kotaro bit his lip, suddenly very interested in his feet.
"Yeah..we're going home."
The next thing Lucrezia knew they were at Sapporo airport, ready to fly back to Tokyo to the Yui house to gather the children's belongings. She was holding Kotaro's hand, and keeping a close eye on Aki and Ryosuke who were reading. She locked eyes with another Preventer across the almost-empty waiting lobby and nodded. He nodded back and immediatly scurried out of sight. She blinked.
All the kids are here, but where's my husband?
She saw Zechs staring at the arrival and departure screens, occasionally asking Ryosuke to read for him. After a few minutes, however, he seemed to be doing fine on his own. Lucrezia left Kotaro with Ryosuke and Aki and walked over to him.
"Zechs, what are you doing?"
He didn't even turn his gaze from the screens.
"Did you know the Hong Kong International airport flies here from the mainland?"
"Mainland China? Yeah...so?"
Suddenly a strange sound followed by a swishing noise was heard as a closed-up folding fan slid into the lobby. A few seconds passed as no one in the room spoke, and then out of nowhere a young girl - no older than five - ran into the room after it. Dark bangs fell in front of silk blue eyes and her long black hair was drawn up very cute-like in pigtails. She scooped up the fan and immediatly turned, doing so fast enough as to jump in the air as a young boy looking about the same age ran in behind her and tried to punch her. He also had bangs, but his eyes were dark grey and his hair was pulled into a low ponytail. The little girl landed and both took fighting stances, glaring at each other. Lucrezia gulped.
"Why do I strangely recognize that style of fighting?"
The boy and girl stood locked in a staring contest, glaring at each other, when suddenly an older girl looking around 9 appeared between them. She glared at each of them, her own jet black hair wisping from side to side as she turned her head towards each of them.
"Leun! Mu Lan!"
Both children reluctantly slid out of their stances and lowered their heads, mumbling something in Chinese.
Looking slightly annoyed, the young girl grabbed Leun's hand and then picked Mu Lan up, balancing the little girl on her hip. She sat Leun in a seat, Mu Lan next to the seat Aki was in, and then sat herself between Mu Lan and Leun. Mu Lan huffed for a minute, but then looked over at Aki and smiled.
"Konnichiwa!"
"...Konnichiwa."
Mu Lan leaned over the seat, speaking in perfect Japanese.
"My name's Mu Lan. What's yours?"
"Aki."
"Hi Aki!"
Aki smiled slightly. "Hi. So...what was that earlier?"
Mu Lan looked a bit confused, before her eyes rolled slightly. "Oh...with my brother??"
"Yes."
"We were having an argument. He took my fan and threw it, so I kicked him and ran off to get it."
"Oh..who's older?"
"Hm?"
"You and your brother...who's older?"
"Oh..we don't know."
Aki face-faulted. "You...don't know?"
"Nope! We're twins, and my mom said she didn't pay attention to the minor things like who was older."
"Oh..You're Chinese, right?"
"Yup! Did you hear me talking to my sister?"
"Yeah, how do you know Japanese?"
"Papa taught me! Said he got to practice it alot with one of his old friends."
"Really?"
Lucrezia smiled as she saw Aki chatting with the little Chinese girl who had come in so suddenly. She was glad that the lonely little girl she'd seen in bed just a week ago was up and making friends.
She blinked and straightened suddenly as a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Yin Mei! Yin Mei!"
"Onna, it's your fault for not keeping track of her!"
"She went after YOUR son, Wu-pie. Yin Mei!!"
"Argh! DON'T call me WU-PIE!"
Lucrezia's mouth dropped open. So THAT's what he meant when he said that!
"Sally!?"
"Lucrezia?!"
Sally eagerly ran forward and hugged her friend, ignoring the fact that Wu Fei was giving the twins a good talking-to they didn't deserve. After all, if he was going to teach them Martial arts, he couldn't actually expect them to behave. She pulled back and grinned, her blonde hair hanging loose down her back against her dark red sweater.
"So! What brings you to Sapporo?"
Lucrezia's smile faded slightly, casting a sideways glance at the three children sitting by each other. Sally followed her gaze, and blinked.
"Oh! Who's the cute little girl Mu Lan's talking to?"
"Aki." Lucrezia answered quietly.
"Ah, Sally. Good to see you're doing well."
"Zechs. Good to see you're...Oh, never mind."
Zechs blinked, and then sighed. "So, how-"
"SAI LIN!" A booming voice interrupted, and Sally looked up to see Wu Fei at her side, his cheeks slightly red. "Onna, do you know who Mu Lan is talking to?"
Before she could answer, Zechs stepped slightly between them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Well, we have 45 minutes before takeoff. Why don't I sit down and explain that."
Sally's eyes widened with shock as Zechs finished the last of his story, and sat back with a grim look on his face. Wu Fei was holding her hand comfortingly, but that didn't stop tears from springing to her eyes.
"Relena and Heero are...dead?" She whispered softly, afraid of the answer. Zechs nodded solemly. Sally lowered her head, tears threatening to spill over onto the linoleum floor. Wufei silently pulled her into a comforting embrace and she let the tears fall, not making any noise as she buried her face in his sweater and cried quietly. Wufei cast a forlorn glance over at the little girl and her siblings.
"I could tell..The girl, Aki, she looks so much like Relena.."
"So that's how you knew." Zechs said softly.
Wu Fei sighed. "Ryosuke isn't exactly unique when it comes to facial features too, you know. Or hairstyles."
"He looks just like his father." Lucrezia said, just as quietly.
A moment of silence passed between them before Sally spoke.
"But..why would anyone want to do that to Heero?" Sally whispered, rubbing tears from her eyes. "Why?"
Zechs lowered his eyes. "We don't know, but...we think Relena was murdered as well."
"Relena was..?!"
"Yes..I couldn't get the full story from Ryosuke, but we think she was pre-poisoned when she was pregnant with Aki."
"Poisoned?"
"Yes, that's why we think she died so suddenly. I mean, she was very healthy through the course of her life..That's why I want you to take another look at the medical records, Sally. If she was poisoned, some levels in the blood will be different than normal, right?"
Sally nodded. "Indefinitely. Histamine and protien, hormones, all that stuff."
Not a second after she had said that, the loudspeakers crackled and a sweet-sounding woman started speaking Japanese, and Zechs was alerted by a small tug on his sleeve.
"We're boarding." Ryosuke said evenly, and walked back over to his siblings. Zechs followed, showing their five tickets as they walked onto the almost-empty plane.
"I kind of can't believe how outdated these land-to-land planes got." Zechs muttered as they found their seats. He noted that even though Wu Fei and Sally's tickets were on another end of the plane, they sat next to each other anyways. The plane was so empty that no one really knew the difference.
"So, what's with the two grownups who don't speak Japanese?"
"Oh..they're my aunt and uncle."
"Really? You don't seem to like them very much."
Aki simply shrugged as another stewardess appeared at the front of the plane with the microphone.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Sapporo International Passenger Lines. Very soon, we shall commence takeoff. May I please remind everyone at this time to please fasten their safety belts. We will reach our destination, Narita Airport in Tokyo, in about 30 minutes. Thank you for choosing Sapporo International."
What the English-speaking people heard: 'Minna san, konnichiwa. Sapporo Joukyaku Kuuki ni youkoso. Mou soro soro kuuki no ririku suru tsumori de gozaimasu. Minna sama wa shiito beruto o musunde kudasai. Tokyo no Narita Kuukou ni sanjuppunkan de tsukimasu. Sapporo Joukyaku o tsukuru koto doumo arigatou gozaimasu."
She bowed deeply before disappearing into the station at the front of the plane. Aki sighed, already feeling so homesick. 30 minutes, and then another 10 by train to 4 chome, 6 banchi, 14 gou; where she lived. A small, quiet little house sandwiched between the Tsuchida's and the Yamatani's. She missed it terribly. And somehow she just knew this was the last visit they would be able to make to their house in a long time.
Takeoff went smooth, and after Aki was allowed to unfasten her seat belt she went over to Ryosuke who was talking to Kotaro.
"'Niichan." she said quietly, tugging on his sleeve. Ryosuke peered down at his little sister before reaching down and lifting her onto his lap and hugging her.
"What's wrong?" He asked quietly, hugging his little sister. Aki paused a moment.
"We...we're not going to live at home anymore, are we?"
Ryosuke froze. He never expected for her to catch on that quick.
"No..no, we're not, Aki-chan."
"...Sore jaa.."
"Don't worry, we'll be staying with Uncle Zechs and Aunt Lucrezia in Europe-"
"I don't WANT to go to Europe." Aki whispered, trembling. "I want to stay in Japan! I want to stay with my friends! I don't want to move out of 4 chome!" She wrapped her arms around her brother, hugging him fiercely.
"Aki.." This time it was her younger brother Kotaro talking, stroking her dark brown hair soothingly. "Aki, I was only three when mom died, but one thing I remember is dad saying to me that I had to be brave. For my brother and my daisuki na little sister." He said, placing a comforting hand on her back.
"Easy for you to say. You've got lots of courage. You never know what fear is." Aki muttered against Ryosuke's sweater.
"Aki, courage isn't not having fear. It's about managing the fear that you feel. You're a total bakayaro if you're not scared of anything at some point in your life. Have you ever heard of the Monster Under the Bed? Man, I'll have nightmares for weeks! I'm terrified of that dude!"
Aki giggled softly, but didn't pull her face out from her brother's sweater.
"Aki, what I mean is, don't completely hate the idea of going to Europe. Put on a brave face and even though you're scared you have to learn to deal with your feelings. But y'know, we're not going anywhere, sis. We're still gonna be with you, no matter what."
Aki sniffled and peeked out from behind the folds of Ryosuke's sweater.
"Promise?" She whispered softly.
Kotaro grinned. "I promise." He said, extending his pinky. Aki linked pinkies with him for a brief moment, and then threw herself into Kotaro's arms. Ryosuke grinned. His little brother always had a way with words he knew that he could never be good at. At least, not the way Kotaro could. He was never good at expressing his emotions. He chose to let his eyes do the talking and his actions the expressing. Like his father. He often remembered his mother holding him close, stroking his hair as he drifted off to sleep and whisper affectionately how he was so much like his papa. And as he would soon learn, it was often a wonderful blessing. But at the same time, a curse.
The wind blew softly as the five traveled down the street, walking a short distance from the Sakuragao train station to their residence. To Lucrezia it was all a big maze, and only the children seemed to know where they were going. They passed rows and rows of houses and made numerous turns before she noticed Aki start to walk a little faster. She kept her eyes on the outside of the fences, because the names of the family of each house were printed on the outside, sometimes on the mailbox. Yatari, Nakano, Tsuchida...Yui.
Aki was running by now and the boys were trying to catch up with her, standing back slightly as she threw open the front door. As Zechs and Lucrezia approached, she noticed that Aki wasn't going into the house, just standing looking sort of estranged in the doorway. As they approached the children from behind, Ryosuke slightly outstretched his hand and looked like he was about to say something to his sister. Aki cupped her hands to her mouth and called into the dark house.
"Tadaimaaaaaaaaa!"
Lucrezia's heart wrenched. Ryosuke had explained to her earlier that 'tadaima' was basically an equivilent of 'I'm home' and announced a returning person's arrival. And she knew that somewhere in her heart that Aki was half-expecting an answer. But only silence met the group's ears.
Aki took a step into the house and called again.
"Tadaimaa!!!"
Again, only silence.
Suddenly Aki took off running into the house, carelessly kicking off her shoes and running down the wodden hallway.
She made a sharp right turn into the kitchen, running through into the living room and peering in.
"Papa!" She called, continuing up the steps and down another hallway. "Papa! I'm home!!" She paused to push the door to his room open, and seeing it dark as well ran to the end of the hall, pushing the door open.
"Papa! I'm ho-" Her voice cut itself short as the image of her father's dark study imprinted itself onto her mind. The computer was humming slightly, a strangely soothing sound that could always be heard from the room. Nothing was on his desk, no papers were out. The rows of CD's and disks lined neatly on one side were obviously untouched, by the way that dust had settled on them.
Papa's gone. A tiny voice in her head whispered. Gone, gone, and he's not going to come back.
"Papa!" She called again, a little more weakly. She leaned against the doorframe, tears filling her eyes.
"Papa!"
This time the call was desperate, desperate for a response, a word of comfort, for her father's voice. Her father's voice to tell her everything was alright, the past week had been a horrible dream, and now she could wake up and everything would be normal again.
But her father was gone.
Aki slid down the doorframe, slid until her bottom met the cool floor and she could slide any further. She let her muscles go slack, unlocking her knees and letting her legs fall stationary to the floor, and her arms hanging by her side. Tears dribbled down her cheeks as the silence suddenly became too loud to bear.
Her papa was dead. He wasn't going to come home again. Ever.
She pulled her knees to her chest as she started to sob, her small frame trembling. She wasn't ever going to see him again. He was gone.
"Let her cry." Ryosuke said quietly as he led Zechs up the steps and into the hallway and into him and his brother's room. Zechs looked around. It was basically what you would expect. Bunk beds were pressed up against the wall-as far as they could get from the window, he noticed-and there was a desk and chair with two penstands and wire baskets on it and kanji papers strewn in and around the baskets on the desk. A toybox, shelves lined with books and a dresser adorned with pictures, small toys and other odds-and-ends...basically a normal bedroom for two normal boys.
Wothout a word, he turned and left the boys' room, maneuvering around Kotaro (who was standing in the doorway) and opened the door to Aki's room, right across the hall.
Aki's small bed was, once again, pressed against the wall as far away from the window as possible. A rainbow was painted on the wall her bed was up against and red pillows rested on a red-and-pink Hello Kitty bedspread. A smaller desk and chair, pink curtains, a dresser, origami this-and-that, a jewelry box...another ordinary little girl's bedroom. He heard a creak from the door next to him and peered out in time to see a flash of brown hair disappear into the room.
Aki..
Exiting her room, he slowly closed the door and pushed open the door to the room she had just gone into. The curtains were drawn shut but he could make out a bed, nightstand and dresser in the dark room, with another door leading to the bathroom.
This was Heero's room.
Aki had wrapped herself in the covers of the bed and now her breathing was even, and Zechs could tell she was asleep. He slowly exited the room, closing the door behind him.
"Zechs!" A soft voice called, and he turned to see his wife behind him, her face slightly pale.
"Lu?"
"Zechs, I think you should come and see something." She said quietly, gently taking his wrist and leading him down the steps.
Wishing on a dream that seems far off
Hoping it will come today
They sat at the kitchen table where about 7 thick books were sat in front of him. Four were white, one was pink and the other two were blue. He picked up the top white one and opened it slowly, and his eyes widened as he realized that what he was looking at was not a book, but a photo album.
Into the starlit night,
Foolish dreamers turn their gaze
Wishing on a shooting star
The first picture in the album was one of Relena, sitting upon the cement steps of some house, with 2-year-old Ryosuke on her lap, smiling happily. it was autumn, he could tell from the sweater and long skirt Relena was wearing and the sweater Ryosuke was wearing that had some sort of cartoon show or the other on it. The next was of Ryosuke playing in a pile of leaves in his tiny front yard, Heero sitting amongst the mess with him. Zechs chuckled at the next picture which was of Heero, looking slightly irked as his son stood on his lap and precariously placed leaves on the top of his father's head, laughing the whole time. He flipped through the album, carefully studying each picture for about 3 seconds before going to the next. One picture, though, he just couldn't take his mind off of. It was a picture of Heero, sleeping peacefully on the couch. Ryosuke was curled up beside him, sleeping just as peacefully, and Heero had a protective arm around his son. It sent a twinge through his heart. No matter how bad of a man Zechs could make Heero out to be, he loved his children more than anything. He himself was a father, and he remembered thinking the moment that his little daughter Ari was placed in his arms that he never, ever wanted to let her go. And he didn't doubt that Heero had shared his feelings whenever he had held his three children.
But, what if that star is not to come?
Will their dreams fade to nothing?
"Well, we certainly can't say she was unhappy." Lucrezia said softly as she flipped through another photo album.
"Hm.." He answered softly, picking up the blue book.
"Oh..this must be Kotaro's." He said, seeing the first picture in the album which was Relena, sitting on the couch, with a small blue bundle in her arms and holding Ryosuke in her lap, letting him see his new baby brother.
"Yes..And I have Ryosuke's."
A few moments of silence passed before Zechs put down Kotaro's book and picked up the pink book, which he assumed was Aki's. The moment he opened it, he felt a cold fist envelope his heart and squeeze lightly. Taped to the inside of Aki's book, with obvious caution and carefulness, was a lock of Relena's hair.
When the horizon darkens most,
We all need to believe there is hope
Unlike the boy's books, in which the first picture was Relena holding them and their sibling when they were just newborns, the first picture of Aki's was her when she was 6 months old. And he could tell because the writing on the side was in English.
"Aki at 6 months..Aki and Ryosuke..Aki's first birthday..." Zechs read quietly, flipping through the album. After about a year and a half, the writing once again converted to Japanese and Zechs could no longer read it. He sighed softly, setting down the book. These, definitely, he would keep.
Is an angel watching closely over me?
Can there be a guiding light I've yet to see?
"Where are you going?" Zechs said as he saw his wife stand up and set down the book she was looking through.
"Over a few blocks down. I have to go see the 'family doctor'". She said, reading off a piece of paper in front of her. "Kouichi Watanabe. Apparently he knows the family really well. Maybe we can find something out. You never know." She smiled softly at him, and then leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "Watch the children. Oh, and try to talk to Ryosuke a little, will you?"
And with that, she was out the door once again.
I know my heart should guide me, but
There's a hole within my soul
"Aah yes, the Yui family. I do know them very well. I've been taking care of the little one ever since she was just a tiny infant." Dr. Watanabe, an elderly man in his early 60's with wire-rim glasses said as he sat down across from Lucrezia in his small makeshift office.
"Please forgive the mess, it's a work office, and as you know, work can be a little rough sometimes." He said as he opened a filing cabinent.
"Oh, it's quite alright." Lucrezia answered, a bit surprised that he spoke English so well. He produced five files and handed them to her, leaning back slightly in his chair.
"The english transcripts are all there as well."
"Yes..thank you."
After a moment of silence, he leaned forward once again, his kind eyes locking with hers.
"Is there something you would like to ask me, Mrs. Peacecraft?"
What will fill this emptiness inside of me?
Am I to be satisfied without knowing?
"Well..I was wondering about how Heero was when you first met him."
Dr. Watanabe's expression changed slightly as he heard this. He sighed, entwining his fingers.
"Heero..well, how to explain..was very grief-stricken when he first came here to Sakuragao with his family. I could see it reflected in his eyes when he brought his two boys in for their first checkup. His wife had died and Aki, the little one, was so sickly-"
"Aki was sick?"
"Oh yes, when she was very little. She had a protien in her body that didn't cooperate with her immune system, and at times there was nothing I could do and that poor young man had to watch his baby daughter suffer. There's nothing worse than watching your child fall ill and knowing there's nothing you can do to help ease their pain." He leaned forward a bit more. "And then, when she was around 6 months old, I was able to aquire-well actually, it had to be made for her-an antidote of sorts that would literally dissolve all traces of the protien in her body. Within a week all the developmental progress she lacked from being sick-holding her head up, recognition, and basic muscle development-were all made up. In full, might I add. She hasn't been sick since." He lowered his voice. "But the fact that the protien was evident in her body made me a bit..oh, I hope I can say this without coming off the wrong way..suspicious."
"Suspicious?"
"Well..for awhile, I vaguely wondered if Aki's mother poisoned herself before Aki was born."
"Poisoned herself??"
"Maybe not intentionally, but she clearly ingested something she shouldn't have. I strongly believe that was why she died."
I wish, then, for a chance to see,
Now all I need...desperately...
Zechs sat down at the kitchen table, directly across from the young boy who had, just a minute earlier, came down the steps announcing that they had to talk. Ryosuke took a deep breath.
"I..I want to tell you..about that night. The night my mom was poisoned."
Zechs nodded, encouraging the young boy. Ryosuke took another deep breath, figeting slightly, before calming himself down and staring Zechs straight in the eye. But not confrontationally. As if he had a painful secret kept inside him that was eating his soul.
"The night it happened..was the night of my sixth birthday."
Is my star to come...
TBC