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Looking Back

Part II.I

Location: Japan, Hikawa Jinja, Hino residence

            "REI HINO! GET UP! YOU'RE LATE FOR WORK!"

            Almost instantly, the said woman awoke with a start, throwing off her blanket covers and began rushing around her room at the shrine much to the amusement of the short, stocky old man who was trying in vain to suppress his laughter. Upon hearing his outburst of laughs, the raven haired woman turned and shot a glare at her grandfather. Her violet eyes flicked over to the calendar that hung on her wall then turned on a death glare aimed at her grandfather's head.

            "Grandpa! It's a Saturday!"

The old man donned on an angelic frontage. "Really? How about that? My bad, Rei."

            Actually, she was a sight to see. She had slept in her work blouse and skirt, both of which were wrinkled and her hair looked worse. She had on one shoe and was in the process of putting on the other and had her coat and briefcase slung over her shoulder. The woman glared at her grandfather and great flames ignited in her eyes.

            "Grr…GRANDPA!!!"

*One chase, one pillow, and about twenty whacks later…*

            Rei rolled her eyes at her grandfather who lay on the floor, her abused pillow in his lap. Geez. Her grandfather was at least three times as old as she but had tendencies of a child one-third her age.

            "Now why'd you have to go and do that?" She demanded as he arose.       

            "Aww, c'mon Rei." He chastised. "Stop acting like a child."

            "Me?" She exclaimed. "You're the one playing the pranks in this house. Sometimes I feel like I'm babysitting a four year old in an eighty-year old man's body!"

            He brushed away her comments and smirked.

            "Come now." He said, disregarding her fiery temper. "I'm about to serve some tea. Go take a shower. You smell."

            Before she could retort, he walked off, humming to himself. Rei stood there, mouth open as if so enraged to say anything. Finally, she just gave up and turned around, rubbing her temples as she sauntered back to her room. Unbeknownst to her, her grandfather had turned around halfway, watching her retreating back. He looked over his granddaughter and sighed dejectedly. Since when did kids grow up so fast?

It seemed like yesterday she had shown up at the shrine in a chauffeured car. Her father was too busy that day and didn't have time to take his own daughter to the shrine so he figured that the car would be enough. Masaki Hino frowned slightly at the thought of his son. While he was incredibly pissed off at the man for abandoning both his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, he felt sorry for him. He had missed out on two amazing and wonderful women.

Rei's mother, Seti, was a great woman. She was graceful, beautiful, and incredibly knowledgeable. He saw more of her than he saw of his son, as she often visited to bring Rei to see her grandfather. Over the years, he had seen how she was getting weak but had always managed that encouraging, bright smile of hers for her daughter. Masaki took another glance as Rei entered her room, closing the screen behind her.

She had grown up so much. Then again, she was incredibly mature as a child. He had always been so mad at himself whenever he fell ill. That would mean the girl would have to manage both herself and the temple. But she had persevered, taking care of everything for her grandfather whenever he got sick.

Masaki shook his head and proceeded to make that tea that he had promised Rei he would make. Just as he went to the front of the shrine to get into the front room, a flashy red car pulled up at the bottom of the hill where their temple resided. Masaki quirked an eyebrow. 'Who could that be?' He thought. He was answered as a dark-haired man rose from the car and smiled up at him.

"Grandpa!" Masaki let out a huge laugh and spread his arms wide open as the young man leapt up the stairs and into his arms.

"Haha! Yuuichirou!" The young man enveloped the older with a huge hug.

"Hey gramps. How's it been?" Masaki slapped him on the back.

"Great kiddo." He motioned towards inside the temple. "Come on. You can help me make some tea for us and Rei."

Yuuichirou nodded and followed behind. His hair was now combed and slicked back into a ponytail and his face was shaved clean. He had left the temple a while ago and returned home. After doing so, he had taken to his family's company and was finally making a good life for himself. Despite that fact, he hadn't truly abandoned his dream of a music career. How could he? All in all, he was a whole lot more mature and serious than the scraggly young man that had stumbled upon the temple years ago.

"So, Gramps," Yuuichirou began. "How's Rei been?"

"She's been good." Masaki nodded approvingly. "Her work at the company has done us a lot of good. She's been raking in a good amount of money lately."

Yuuichirou nodded. "That's what I heard. A lot of people are beginning to recognize her at my family's company nowadays."

"Of course they'd recognize her! Her father's a statesman and her work has improved the company's progress threefold!"

For a while, the two became silent. Then, Yuuichirou broke the silence.

"Grampa, I've been getting some bad vibes lately and —"

He was cut off by Grampa holding up a hand to silence him. Yuuichirou noted that the old man had tensed up tremendously. During his stay at the temple he had learned to hone his senses and lately, he had been getting some VERY negative energies and his main concern was for Rei. He had figured out Rei's little secret about a year ago and had dutifully kept his trap shut about it both because he cared for Rei's safety and because of his great respect for the Scouts. He looked over Masaki and saw that the man's face was incredibly grim. Tiredly, he replied,

"I know what you're talking about." He looked over at Yuuichirou and the younger could see the pain that was in the man's eyes. He didn't want his granddaughter to ever fight again. For her to die before him…he couldn't bear the thought. Masaki moved the tea onto the table as he talked.

"Just this morning," He said. "I knew something was wrong."

When Yuuichirou looked over at him quizzically, he continued. "I awoke this morning with a seriously bad feeling in my body. My first thought was to get to Rei. But when I came to her room, I saw something strange. She was tossing and turning in a horribly fitful sleep." He stopped and looked up, eyes glazed over.

Yuuichirou looked down. "Does that mean…?" To his dismay, Masaki nodded.

"Yes." He said. "It is her duty and she looks upon it as an honor to do so. So, I shall not interfere with it."

"Grandpa?" Rei's voice floated into the room. "Are you talking to yourself ag-"

She was cut off as she entered the room and spotted Yuuichirou. Letting out an out-of-character squeal of delight, she ran straight for him and the two embraced.

            "Oh my God!" She exclaimed. "Where the hell have you been lately?

Yuuichirou laughed and the three sat around together, drinking their tea. Rei smiled outwardly at them. Inside, however, she was filled with determination: Determination to fight and protect her princess and the people of this planet, especially these two men who loved her unconditionally. They didn't have to know that she had heard their conversation and they wouldn't have to worry about her. She would make sure of it. And they would not know of the sense of doom that was slowly enclosing in on her heart as she worried nonstop yet still managed to keep up her happy façade.

            'Who were those people?' Her frustrated mind flashed silhouettes of the figures she had seen in her vision. This latest wasn't the first. There had been others and Rei had a feeling…Something BIG was coming. The visions had been coming and going, with almost every dream following the one before. Just tonight, the leader of the group in her dream finally made it through the portal. But to where? And why? Rei looked out the window. She had a strange feeling that when her questions were answered, it'd be like discovering her past life all over again.

In an alley in the slums of Japan:

            The three walked together, bundled up in their expensive coats that were either stolen or bought with the money they stole or got out of selling drugs. They loked tough enough, and one could tell they already had spilt blood out of a couple of innocents on their own time. They had roughed up a couple of people and they probably had their shares of rape and other crimes. But they hadn't killed, no. They wouldn't have the guts to do so. They were too cowardly to actually do such a thing. He snorted. They were tough-looking alright. But they were cowards in his opinion. They came past the alley, when one held up an arm to stop his comrade from moving forward.

            "Yo, bro. Check it out." The other two followed his eyes and found them lying on a certain lump of cloth in the partly-wet alley ground. From first sight, it looked like just another bum on the street trying to catch some shut-eye in what ever place he could. But closer inspection proved them wrong.

            It was a girl. A fine one at that. She was propped up with her back leaning against the wall in a sitting position. She had a clear, peachy color face framed with long, black luscious wavy curls. The boys traded immoral thoughts and wicked grins before beginning to advance upon the unsuspecting girl.

            They got no closer than about four steps.

            A dark figure descended from the rooftop of one of the buildings that made up the alley, blocking them from the girl. All three took a step back, startled. He looked them all in the eye and they took another step back, repulsed.

            "What the fuck?" He had red eyes. Not like the ones albinos had. More like demonic ones. They were red with tints of yellow-amber giving the impression that he literally had fire in his eyes. And he was angry.

            "I suggest that you all back away from here," He hissed, suddenly barring stark white fang-like teeth, "Before I get really pissed."

            One of the three backed away even further, scared. The other two clenched their fists and took poor stances in getting ready to fight. The stranger from the sky just continued glaring. Suddenly, he smirked, the prospect of these bastards' slimy bodies strewn across the floor. He stooped and began to bend his knees, ready to dash at the three like one would when taking off from a sprint. At the last second, though, he was stopped.

            Calm down, hon. He looked over his shoulder to see that she had arisen and was looking over at him. They're not worth one ounce of either our energies.

            His companion turned her blue-eyed gaze upon the unsuspecting thugs. She reached out at their minds and found them to be as manipulative and miniscule as she had thought. She grinned.

            You didn't see anyone here. She sent out soothingly. You were on your merry way to turn in your gang friends to the cops. Go on, now. You don't want to waste any time, now do you?

            Their gazes had turned blank, as if they were being possesed. Slowly, they moved out of the alley in a zombie-like manner, heading towards the nearest police department without any real idea as to why they were heading there. Once they were out of his line of sight, he turned back to her. Her blue eyes met his red ones. It was when she made a face that he realized that they were red. He blinked deliberately. She found herself staring into gorgeous blue orbs.

            He turned up to the rooftop of the building he had been on when the thugs approached. With one, agile leap, he landed there again. She followed his lead. Together, they scanned this city of Tokyo on the landmass called Japan. The girl smirked.

            "Maybe this won't be so hard after all."

~*chickay*~'s notes:

Hehe…Sorry for leaving on weirdo cliffies. Read the next one, it might give you guys some more info to the situation. A lot of you probably have a good idea as to what's going on. Review and let me know what you think so far. Please keep in mind that all the chatpers in this fic are gonna be updates on the scouts' lives so it's gonna be a good while until the real action begins. Oh, BTW, when I say scouts, I mean just the planetary ones. I haven't seen the Stars series (one major bummer of the U.S.) so I feel I don't have the talent to thoroughly describe the Starlights. So…sorru Starlights fans, this won't have them save for a few references to them or if I suddenly change my mind and put 'em in.

As to the questions as to where 'Unknown' is, all your questions shall be answered in due time, I promise!