GUNDAM--WING
LOST PROMISES
CHAPTER 7
DISCLAIMER and Writers' note:
Jessi-chan: Chapter 7!!
Mae-chan: Sorry guys, but this is an extention of Heero's past with Nicole Shiriori. We might not move forward until chapter 9.
Jessi-chan: Gomen everyone. X_x
Mae-chan: and again, we don't own the series and stuff… blah blah blah…
Reminder: This fan fiction has altered facts that may have a chance of happening in the storyline of the series. So please, do not bombard us with facts that the information is wrong and never existed in the series.
THE BROKEN FAMILY
"I first met the Midaki brothers when I went to that colony where Tomoko Shiriori was hiding. The two brothers were strange, so to speak, but that's only my opinion. The older one, Tetsuya Midaki, was 14 years old. He's a little bit arrogant, and can be full of it at times. He can be loud, and he's too cheerful. But he also has an opposite personality residing in him, one that he doesn't show. To be truthful I've only seen that side of him after what happened to that girl. He was cold and cruel. Even that annoying girl, her name was Taebe, couldn't calm him down. From what I was told, those two were good friends. The younger one was called Kaworu, Kaworu Midaki. He's 2 years younger than Tetsuya. Kaworu wasn't too much like his older brother. He was calm at most times. He tends to stay quiet and only speaks his mind when he has to. He's known to be quite cynical at times. Sarcasm was also one of his main weapons. He was like the side Tetsuya hides. Kaworu was always serious. He never got near too many people. He wasn't the social-type, and he only speaks with those he likes. Nicole once told me that. Now that I think about it, I'm finally realizing where some of that girl's personality comes from."
The young boy stood silently in front of an unfinished mecha. It looked somewhat close to what Dr. J is working on.
"Is it for the same thing?" the boy thought to himself.
"Hey, kid." A young male's voice called from across the dock.
The young boy turned, only to see a young male, about 12-13 years of age. He had jet black hair and startling blue eyes. The young boy stared at the older boy with expressionless eyes.
"What are you doing here? This isn't some sort of playground." The boy continued.
The younger boy's eyes turned hostile to the older boy's remark. The older boy frowned.
"What's with that look…?" the boy uttered in a lower tone of voice.
The two glared at each other in silence, only to be interrupted by the same little girl the young boy had seen outside.
"Kaworu-san!!" she shouted, bursting out from one of the doorways of the docks.
She ran to them quickly, passing the younger boy and grabbing onto the back of the older boy's shirt. She clutched on his polo tightly, hiding herself behind Kaworu's larger body.
"W-What is it?" Kaworu blushed as the little girl burrowed her head into the back of his clothes.
"Tetsuya-niisan is being a *hentai!" she cried in panic from behind him.
"I was not." A voice remarked, followed by footsteps approaching them.
From the same doorway came out another boy, about 14 years of age, looking quite pleased about something. Just like the first boy, this one looked peculiar. His head was adorned with a dark tint of colour, and his eyes were green.
"I was just plainly explaining the difference and possibilities between the good and bad intentions of men." The boy called Tetsuya casually replied.
"Brother…" Kaworu glared as Tetsuya started to laugh uncontrollably.
"Well, then dear 'younger of us', who is your little friend?" Tetsuya asked pointing at the young boy standing between them.
The girl looked at the boy and studied him for a moment.
"Ah." She mouthed.
"What is it? Do you know him?" Kaworu asked.
The girl let go of Kaworu's shirt and stood beside him.
"Yes." She nodded, "He was with the sensei earlier. Taebe told me he's Odin Lowe's child."
Tetsuya's eyes slightly widened. The young boy was also shocked.
"Odin Lowe?" Kaworu asked.
The girl nodded again.
"Yeah. Do you both know him?"
Kaworu was watching his older brother the whole time. He shook his head slightly, noticing that his neither brother nor Taebe had said anything to their young companion.
"I never noticed till after I asked Dr. J why Tetsuya and Kaworu had reacted that way when they found out my connections with that man. The one called Taebe was a girl a year younger than Tetsuya. Her last name was 'Jinnai', the very same last name of the scientist who was originally working with a man called ^Tsubarov in some sort of program for improving MS systems. That man's name was Sasuke Jinnai. He was murdered after a meeting with the Barton and Romafeller families. Jinnai was also the last name of a young leader of the L2 colonies. They considered her to be a risk for forming a reprisal group against the Federation government. Her name was Yashiro Jinnai. She was also murdered… assassinated to be exact. What I'm getting at is this… The Odin Lowe I knew… that they knew… was the murderer of Sasuke and Yashiro Jinnai… Taebe Jinnai's parents."
Tetsuya turned about and left them in a hurry.
"T-Tetsu!" Kaworu called while grabbing Nicole's hand and ran after his brother.
The young boy noticed that Nicole's eyes never left him even as Kaworu dragged her away with him and out of the docking area. It was obvious that the girl was curious about the sudden change of mood between her companions.
"Our encounters became very few after that. To be more precise, we never had another encounter… except…"
"Odin Jr. correct?" Taebe Jinnai called to the young boy who was sitting by himself at one of the tables in the base's cafeteria.
At first, the young boy didn't understand. But it didn't take too long for it to click in. So, instead of calling him "boy", "you", or "hey", they gave him Odin Lowe's name. How typical. The child nodded slightly at Taebe. Might as well just go with the flow, for now…
"Would you mind if I we talk…?" she asked.
The child nodded again. Taebe took the chair across from the boy and sat there quietly. She looked like she didn't know what she was doing. It looked rather pathetic to the boy.
"… I… I just wanted to ask…" she started.
"She got right to the point after that. She asked about Odin Lowe, what kind of person was he, how did he treat me, how did his mind work. It was as if she was searching for an excuse to not hate the guy. She wanted some sort of justification to why that man killed her parents. Odin Lowe was an assassin. What else was there to it? God dammit… she proved me wrong there as well… Our conversation lasted for awhile. I don't even remember it lasting that long…"
"Ta-e-be-saaaan!" a pair of small thin arms circled around Taebe from behind.
"N-Nicky..?!" Taebe stared at her in suprprise.
"Eheh." The young girl grinned, "Matreya-san just ordered for the Jr. Officers to assemble at dock 5."
"What?!" Taebe sat up suddenly, "When did he order that?!"
"Hmm? About 5 minutes ago."
"Aaah!" Taebe screamed and ran out the room, "He's going to kill me!"
"**Itarashai~!" the girl waved as she said it in a sing-sung tone.
The girl called Nicole sat herself down on Taebe's chair and stared at the boy impassively. The boy frowned at her.
"Is your name really Odin Jr.?" she asked.
The boy shook his head at her.
"Do you have a name?"
"Not really." The boy uttered.
She looked at him, slightly surprised.
"***Nanda… You 'can' talk." She remarked.
The boy looked away from her, looking quite impatient.
"My name's Nicole. Nicole Shiriori!" she said suddenly while reaching her hand out across the table to the boy.
The boy took her hand reluctantly. The moment his hand was in her grip, she shook it happily. She was incredibly hyper.
A chime suddenly sounded in the room, followed by a voice of a woman.
"Attention. Attention. All Jr. Officers please assemble in dock 5 immediately. I repeat, all Jr. Officers please assemble in dock 5 immediately."
The boy stared at Nicole half in wonder and shock.
"Didn't she just say to that other girl…" he thought.
Nicole smiled at him.
"I never found out about what she did back then till after I met Ayame. There were things about Nicole that only a few about. A number of people were aware that something was wrong, but no one ever had the courage to ask. They wanted Nicole to stay the way she was with everyone. They never realized that by doing that, Nicole Shiriori would suffer even more."
Nicole had dragged the young boy out the base and to the same hill where they had first seen each other. She said that crowds made her feel irritable. It was true. Nicole can never stand being in a room full of people. She only stuck to people she liked, but she also tried to get along with everyone. Silence was a norm in her group of friends.
"Hey, how did Mr. Lowe die?" she asked the boy while taking a seat on the grass.
"He was shot." The boy replied.
"By who?"
"… I don't know."
Nicole didn't look like she was really paying attention. Her eyes wandered at the scenery of buildings that stood before them in the colony. The boy decided to just stand.
"I met him once." She muttered, "He was a really nice guy."
"Hmmm.." the boy said absent-mindedly.
"He was kinda weird though." She laughed, "He didn't know his position compared to the high ranking officers of this colony."
She shifted on the grass and brushed her bangs back.
"He even got mad at that man." She smiled solemnly, "He sure was nice…"
They were silent after that. They only continued to stare at the city area of the colony, without a care.
"'That man', who did you mean by that?"
Nicole glanced at him, and then smiled wearily.
"My father, Tomoko Shiriori." Nicole turned back to the scene before her, "There are a lot of things going on between the two if us… And when I saw Odin-san shouting at father, I felt relieved. I didn't know what they were talking about but Odin-san was really against something my father had said. You see, no one ever goes against father… They were too scared…"
The young boy knew well of what type of person Tomoko Shiriori was after staying in the colony for a while now. He's been hearing stories from people gossiping, and Dr. J had been telling him a few things. Tomoko Shiriori, in the boy's opinion, was a decent leader. But, he wasn't cut out to be considered a decent father, or a good husband. Apparently, he had sent his wife to Earth, where she died in an accident. His first son died because of a failed experiment with some weird system that DR. J didn't want to talk about. And now, Nicole… dear god... What the hell did that man do to the child?
There was an amazing amount of stories and rumours about her. All together, they talked about how Tomoko Shiriori abandoned Nicole after hearing about his wife's death. He sent her to an orphanage in L5 for a year, only taking her back when the colony was attacked by rebellions and caused a massacre in the churches, killing all the priests, nuns, and children in it. The rebellion had nothing to do with the war in Earth and the Colonies of course. It was between Tomoko Shiriori and a group called "Reapers".
The Reapers were a group of people who followed Tomoko Shiriori during his war with the Federation forces. The details about why the group formed or what purpose do they have to exist weren't clear. At least, it didn't make any sense to outsiders. No one wanted to talk about it. Maybe it was because the person who wanted to know was, again, an outsider. There were no records of their existence either. But then again, Tomoko Shiriori's existence was also removed from the Federation files. All there was to know was that something important happened and it was horrible enough that the truth was kept away from the people of the world.
"Father… he's cruel… but…" Nicole muttered in a quiet tone, "I'm not sure if I hate him or anything… He's the only family I have. What about you?"
The boy stared at her then answered in his usual emotionless tone.
"I have none…"
"I see… So Odin-san was your only family then…"
The boy slightly nodded. Nicole then stood up and let out a long breath.
"Hey, I can be your family if you want!" she smiled brightly.
The boy looked dumbstruck.
"W-What?" he stuttered, "That's stupid!"
"Oh, come on!" she said and walked right up to him, "It would be fun!"
"That's stupid." The boy repeated.
"No, I'm not kidding! I can be your younger sister!" she said insistently, "Even just for a while!"
"… That's stupid…" her happy nature was over powering him.
"Pleaaase?" she said sweetly and tugged on his arm childishly, "O-niiii-chan~"
The boy blushed and became frustrated. He quickly drew his hand away from her and ran back into the building, leaving Nicole Shiriori, who was grinning happily, behind.
Heero opened his eyes and looked around the room. He had fallen asleep again. He sat up on the bed and looked at the time. It was 12:30pm. It's still way too early. Duo suddenly busted into the room looking out of breath.
"Heero!" he huffed, "Come here, quick!"
He ran down the hall. Heero got up and walked out of his room, following Duo calmly to the direction of Quatre's quarters. When he got there, Quatre was sitting in front of his laptop with Duo standing behind him.
"What is it?" Heero asked and walked over to them.
"This." Quatre inched to the side to let Heero see what was on the screen.
A name and a picture flashed before his eyes. It was someone that was supposed to have disappeared 9 years ago.
"Romafeller Family's Financial and Business advisor… Kathleen Mizuno…" Heero read to himself.
The picture was of a stunning woman in her late 30's. She had long brunette hair tied in a bun and gentle auburn eyes. If this woman was any younger… she could have been a replica of the girl they knew as Ayame Machiro. Heero frowned. Kathleen Mizuno… Katleen… Geraldo Mizuno's sister was called Kathleen Mizuno… It couldn't be.
"I got a call from her when I was out of the building. She left me a message at the office asking if I could meet her." Quatre began, "So, I looked her up, just to see who she was."
"And then…?" Heero asked.
"I'm going to call her back. I'm going to see her." Quatre answered, "If there's any chance I can find the truth about Ayame Machiro and Nicole Shiriori it might be from this woman."
"Quatre…" Duo thought, "I'll go with you. This is Romafeller we're talking about after all. Who knows what can happen. Besides, I have questions of my own…"
Quatre nodded in agreement. They turned to Heero.
"We'll be back in time for the mission. So don't make that face." Duo grinned.
"It's not that…"
"Do what you want." Heero said to them, looking at the picture of the woman on the screen.
"It's not that at all…If this was indeed the same Kathleen Mizuno who died 9 years ago… Then why didn't she come and save Nicole from Tomoko Shiriori?"
"It…It seems…"
The young face of Nicole Shiriori returned into his mind, smiling at him weakly.
"I made a mistake…" she continued, "I'm such an idiot… right?"
"..I'm sorry."
"I'm… sorry…"
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Jessi-chan: Chapter 7 ends here just when a new mysterious event happens.
Mae-chan: "Dun dun duuuuun"!
Jessi-chan: lol. Till the next chapter then.
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Translation stuff
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*Hentai- pervert
**Itarashai- Can be translated as 'Have a good/nice trip'. Usually said when bidding someone goodbye at the door.
**Nanda- Can be translated a 'What the…' or 'oh'.
END