Made For Each Other
~*~
"My aren't you looking quite sour this morning."
With a grunt as his answer, Luka opened the fridge and grabbed whatever he saw first, chugging it and tossing the container into the trash. Looking slightly disgusted, Nell asked, "Where's Hiryuu?"
"And how would I know?!" the wizard snapped back.
Taken aback, the younger girl stared at him, slightly afraid and sank back into the warmth of Luel's body as he put his arms around her. "It's okay, Nell," he whispered in her ear. "Luka!" he said, sharply. "What's your problem this morning?"
But Luka merely grunted again and stormed out of the room just as Neo came in. Giving his mentor a cautious glance, Neo sat down at the table and gave the other people in the room a curious look. But, shaking their heads, they said nothing and breakfast continued on in silence.
Once again, the skies outside were a steely gray that threatened rain. With a dull glance, Hiryuu took in the ghastly weather and turned back to her bed. Debating whether or not to go back to sleep, she finally managed to get up somehow and brace herself for the day ahead. Not like there was any point to it, mind you.
Wrapping herself in a silk shawl against the early morning chill, she ambled slowly down the hall, intending to get some coffee or something before she decided what to do with her day. Glancing up, she saw Luka brush past her, and hardened her face, blanking her eyes. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her pain; if he was going to be like this, then she would meet him head on.
Tossing her head, she quickened her pace and pretended she didn't see him, treating him much like the carpet under her feet.
Feeling the gentle caress of her hair and shawl as she brushed by, Luka felt something in his chest give a lurch. Almost reaching out with one hand, his mouth began to form her name, before he realized she had disappeared from the hallway. Scowling, he mentally smacked himself for letting his resolve weaken; he was the great and powerful Luka Guillaume Reinhardt, he did not need anyone! Especially obnoxious women such as Hiryuu.
Muttering under his breath, he continued down on the hall.
Sweeping grandly into the kitchen, Hiryuu let her guard down the moment she felt Luka's eyes leave her back. Sagging slightly with the burden of her emotions, she yawned and blearily poured a mug of coffee for herself. "Something wrong, Hiryuu dear?" Madame Batolli asked, sipping her own coffee and paging gingerly through the newspaper. "You don't look too well."
"I'm fine," Hiryuu murmured, downing the lukewarm liquid in two large gulps. "I just didn't sleep too well last night, that's all." She walked out of the room once more, and left the others staring after her wonderingly.
"Yeesh, what's gotten into them this morning?" Nell pouted, glaring in the direction where the two magic users had disappeared.
Her mother's gaze, as she looked at the kitchen door, was sharp and questioning. But, to her daughter's surprise, she said nothing and didn't try to stick her nose in their business. She just went back to reading the paper.
Nell and Luel glanced at each other and shrugged. Soon after that, the blonde-haired man kissed his soon-to-be wife goodbye and left for the store. Sighing, Nell slumped back in her chair and stared out the window as the rain began to fall once more.
Sitting in her room, Hiryuu noted the rain also and heaved a sigh that matched Nell's own perfectly. Her chest felt hollow, empty as if something important were missing; it was a struggle just to move, the weight pressing down on her shoulders seemed greater then she could bear. The shawl slipped from her shoulders to hand about her arms, but the young wizard made no move to correct its position.
Sitting down slowly in the window seat, she pressed her forehead to the cool glass and stared listlessly out at the falling drizzle, mind adrift.
"I don't belong here . . . this is their home, not mine. I don't think the prophecy I was sent here to fulfill will ever come true at this rate. . ." As these depressing thoughts swirled through her head, pictures of home began to come with them. Green, rolling hills and wide glassy lakes that reflected the shimmering sky above. Dense forests, pierced with sunbeams that glittered with swirling flower petals and dancing birds. The happy laughter of her friends and family as they all gathered together at the day's end.
A lone tear slipped down her cheek, and soon more followed it, mirroring the rain outside. A choked sob escaped her mouth as she realized she had been doing a lot of crying lately. "Ever since I came here."
Bringing one hand up, she wiped away the silvery wet trails and blinked several times, trying to clear any lasting tears from her violet depths. Breathing deeply through her nose, she regained her composure and stood up. She let the shawl fall to the window seat; yes, it was time to go home.
Pulling her bag out from its dust-covered home underneath the bed, she began furiously stuffing anything and everything into it, not caring what got wrinkled or crushed.
She was going home.
~*~
"But, Hiryuu!"
The platinum blonde smiled a sad smile at the protesting girl and gave her a fierce hug. "I'll come back for the wedding," she promised. "Just let me know when it is." Nell threw her arms around the wizard and the two hugged one last time.
Moving to Madame Batolli, Hiryuu hugged her also and whispered a thank you for her hospitality. Nell's mother only nodded, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
Lastly, she hugged Neo and then Luel, pausing as they gave her identical looks. "This isn't because of-" Neo started.
"I'm leaving because I wish to see my family again, Neo. My purpose here has been fulfilled." With a final wave and a last chorus of good byes, she turned and strode away towards the boarding gate for her flight.
". . . What was her purpose here?" Nell asked a few moments later.
~*~
With an annoyed air, Luka mounted the steps from his lab to the house above, calling out, "Hey Luel! Do we have any more . . ." The dark mage trailed off as he entered the ground floor and found no one around. "Luel? Neo? Madame?! . . . Where the hell did they go?"
With a small shrug, he turned headed back down into his lab, the back of his mind registering the absence of Hiryuu's magical mana, but his brain not comprehending it fully yet. He would only come to realize much later that the female wizard was gone . . . and gone for good.
~*~
The flight was underway and Hiryuu settled back into her seat with a contented sigh. She was going home, Luka was no where close by, and her heartache had dulled to a faint throbbing. Of course, it was still there and that dragged the normally optimistic girl down somewhat, but as of now, the thoughts of home crowded out any others that might filter into her head.
Pulling out a CD player, she slipped in a CD from her bag and closed her eyes. Soon the music carried her off into the realm of dreams, bombarding her with images of hills, fragments of song, and the spiraling pits of Luka's golden eyes.
~*~
The wind screamed through the emerald grass coating the hillsides, tearing petals off the scores of wildflowers and whirling them into miniature tornados that peppered the hills with color. Eagles and hawks soared overhead, their cries unusually loud even for them. Deer darted in and out among the sun-speckled foliage, their head held high and their white tails bouncing with the movement. All the smaller birds spun and danced, their colors flickering in and out among the tree branches.
A tall woman with blonde hair streaked with pale gray straightened and stared up at the wheeling birds of prey, one hand shading her eyes. "Look." A muscled arm appeared next to her and a thick finger pointed up to where the woman was already looking. "It looks like the falcons have come to join them, too."
The woman nodded her agreement, shirt whipping around her slender frame in the suddenly strong wind. "Yes, it appears Hiryuu is coming home."
