Eve: Okay. Well, first of all, hi.
Mike: Yeah... summer school, ugh!
Eve: Yeah, we're kinda dead at the moment.
Mike: Too early. No special guests, they're all asleep cause they're SPECIAL!
Eve: 4:30 am is NOT morning dammit! It's still night!
Mike: Evee... i'm leaving you.
Eve: ... you wanna explain that?
Mike: I know i promised to help, but i'm leaving and going to bed.
Eve: ... you're mean!... You can go sleep on my bed if you must.
Mike: cool.
Eve: this occ is brought to you by the makers of poptarts.On with the Fic.
The next morning James woke up in the hospital wing of the academy. In dull shock he relapsed into the memory of the night's mission. He hadn't been hurt... That's right...Kira. He looked over to his right and saw her, asleep. He breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. Dizzy at first, but the feeling soon passed and he looked around. The tools made him remember that sometimes the hospital had to take a lot of blood from a donor, so they could search out the healthiest to ensure a successful recovery.
After seeing the condition she'd been it, it was probable that they had been forced to do a lot of searching. She probably didn't need too much, but rather a small amount of perfect blood. James was glad that the academy did a good job of cleaning up as he'd seen this done to someone else, and it was messy. He searched his arm for a scar; there was a fading red line on his arm, shin, chest, and back.
James groaned and pulled on his shirt. He couldn't remember much of the process as they would use pain killers for this kind of transaction. However, the medication still in his system would take over sooner or later and he'd feel it. The door opened with a soft swish and the doctor walked into the room.
"Ah, lord James. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, putting on gloves as he walked over.
"Just fine...How's Kira?" James asked coyly.
"She's fine. You can take her home if you like, or she can stay here," the doctor replied with a look that he'd gained over the years; a nonbiased look that proved to be extremely unhelpful in decision making, but perfect for his line of work.
"No, I'll take her home," James answered. He picked up Kira and thanked the Doctor. James traveled back to Clef's office, to thank him, but upon opening the door he found the office to be empty. On the desk was a note.
Dear James.
I hope you are well. Because of the blood transfer I'm allowing you two weeks paid vacation. That and I think you need to decide what your going to do with little Kira. The species of blood that is in her has the ability to change...you will know what I mean later. I'm sorry about that little test last night, but I wanted to be sure that you wanted Kira. If you didn't I was afraid she'd get hurt.
Clef
James finished reading the note and saw a bag sitting next to it. The bag, quite literally, had his name on it. The tag on the bag simply said:
Keep this for Kira.
James took the bag and left. He carried Kira all the way out to the stables and whistled for Gyriph. The horse whinnied and stuck it's head out the stable door. James noticed that Gyriph looked pleased to see him, but could sense the scars. He hopped on Gyriph and hurried home; he didn't exactly know what he was going to tell Lilly.
'Hello honey, I'm home and I brought that monster I was supposed to kill'...That didn't sound good at all. James landed, using the hill as cover and carried Kira up to the house. Cota ran up to meet him and stopped dead when he saw her.
"J-James?" Cota asked with wide eyes.
"I'll tell you when we get inside," James told him.
Cota hurriedly put Gyriph anyway and ran into the house. Kira had been laid on the sofa and Lilly and James where standing next to her. James explained the whole story; he expected Lilly to be mad, and Cota to be weird about it. But after he finished his story, Lilly hugged him excitedly and Cota has smiling. He had many different smiles, each with different effects. Looking at this one made James feel at ease, like everything was perfect.
"You- You're okay with this?" James asked Lilly.
"Of course! It's just like adopting a child, only you know that the child REALLY needs your help. Oh, and I wanted a daughter too!" Lilly cheered and hugged him again.
"Cool, so now your going to have a son AND a daughter," Cota smiled that he saw absolutely no problem with the situation.
"Somehow I expected a different reaction," James told them.
"Nah, like what?" Cota asked, James didn't answer, but rather gave him a look. "...Well, I'm late."
"There is no class today," James said, surprised. Derek was working today.
"I know, I'm meeting Oweiry," Cota explained.
James nodded and explained to Lilly everything that Clef had told him. Lilly listened then looked over at the girl. A silence settled between them and suddenly everything in the world seemed dangerous. She wasn't just going to sleep for the rest of her life.
"What do we do when she wakes up?" Lilly asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, what do we say? How should we act? She'll be scared," Lilly explained.
"I... I don't know."
"And what room will we give her?"
"Umm... well..."
"And what about when our son is born? His cries will wake her up at night."
"Well..."
"She'll have to be some place where of that base came to take her back, she wouldn't be easily found."
"We...well...umm... I don't know."
"And what about her age? She is a year and five months old, but looks four. She's very, very small for a four year old, so how would we explain that?"
James hadn't thought about all this, he didn't know any of the answers. Lilly collapsed in the chair next to Kira.
"We don't even know what she's like," Lilly sighed.
"They made her to have the appearance of a four year old, and be as small as a one year old; as she gets older she'll grow. She is capable of learning," James answered as best he could.
He remembered that she had a backpack and opened it. He pulled out a book and handed it to Lilly, the book and a plush raccoon were the only things in the backpack except a drawing pad. Lilly still didn't look calm; she was staring at Kira sadly. James knew she was still worried about the answers to all the questions she was thinking about. James didn't know how to answer; the only thing he could think to say was that she probably wouldn't wake up for a while because her energy was gone from defeating the black creature.
Lilly sighed and there was a knock on the door. James got up to answer it, when he opened the door he breathed a huge sigh of relief. Standing in his doorway stood Albus Dumbledore in all his glory.
"You have unbelievably good timing," James greeted and moved aside to let him in.
"Well, you sent me an owl, and who am I to ignore an old student when he and she is in need of some aid?" Albus smiled warmly as if James had invited him for tea.
They entered the family room where Lilly and Kira were. Albus smiled comfortingly at Lilly and looked over at Kira. Dumbledore had heard Lilly's questions on his way to the door; he even had answers for them.
"May I make a suggestion?" He asked Lilly.
"Of course," Lilly nodded.
"Give her the guest room; it's hidden so if they came for her they wouldn't find her and your son will need the room next to yours. If she's in the guest room you can let her settle in with out smothering her, and she'll be far enough away that the baby's cries won't wake her up. And if they do, they won't be loud enough to keep her awake," Albus stated.
Lilly's face beamed with thankfulness. James was also relieved and was amazed how Dumbledore could be so calm about everything. Of course, he saw everything from an outside view and was therefore able to step back and determine the best course of action.
"Why don't you go put her in the guest room bed, James? We don't want to wake her" Dumbledore advised.
James nodded and picked up Kira; he carried her into the guest room and laid her on the bed as gently as he could. She stirred slightly and James found himself holding his breath, but she soon became still again and he relaxed. She looked so innocent; it was hard to imagine that she was the same girl he'd taken from the jaws of that evil place.
It was almost impossible to accept that this small child was supposed to be a weapon. She was human. Clef had said something about a rare species and James knew that one of his teammates had stolen some files on it, but at that moment, she was just a little girl and.... And she was... she was his little girl. With a soft smile, James pulled the covers up to the little girl's neck. He cared for this child like it was his own, she had some of his blood, and he had basically adopted her. (Not legally of course)
Lilly stared at Albus with a bland, almost placid stare. She'd been relieved to have his help, but now she was almost angry at him. He wouldn't just let her be happy, instead he was destroying the moment with terrifying reality that she would have loved to save for later.
"Lilly...I want you to understand. Kira was created to kill; she's not going to be a warm loving daughter for a very long time. You can't tell many people about her either. If everyone finds out about her, the base will find her. If people ask about her simply reply that her parents are gone and you and James are looking after her." Albus instructed. "You and James are going to have to come up with a very creative story about how she came here. It's got to be believable.
"I...I understand," Lilly replied in a whisper.
Dumbledore nodded; he came across as a very gentle person, but he could be very stern when he needed to be. He knew what Lilly and James would have to do in order to keep Kira safe. James came down as Dumbledore was leaving; he walked him to the door.
"I can't thank you enough for coming. It probably would have been morning by the time we calmed down and thought about what we were going to do," James stated with a smile that he'd been famous for. That 'we're going to win' smile that had usual destroyed the other team's enthusiasm so much he could have won with his eyes closed.
"It was no problem, whenever I feel a student is in danger, old or new, I do my best to help. I want all my students to trust me and come to me if they have an important problem," Dumbledore answered and turned to leave out the door. James said good-bye as Dumbledore apperated back to the school. James went back to Lilly.
"Get some rest. I'll watch Kira," James offered, seeing her fatigue.
Lilly nodded almost robotically then she looked up at him for the first time in an hour. "Well, one things for sure. You'll make a wonderful father," she smiled and went to bed.
James sat in front of the door inside Kira's room, he had She opened her eyes very slowly. fallen asleep. Kira had been asleep for hours; exhausted from her near death experience.
'Where am I? This doesn't look familiar.'
Kira sat up, she didn't recognize anything. The smell was different that anything she'd ever experienced. There were no fluorescent lights of stainless steal. No whitewash walls, no mirror with eyes staring from behind it, no TVs screaming massacre, no needles, no noise, no creatures, no guards, and most importantly, no Takai. Throwing the blanket off, she jumped out of the bed and stared around the room as if she'd just been abducted by aliens.
She had never seen anything like this room, it was terrifying. It was soundless, it was strange. Her chest tightened and her heart sped up. James woke up when he heard soft footsteps. He groggily opened his eyes and looked at the bed, it was empty. His eyes shot around the room and he breathed softly in relief as he saw her.
He stood up and walked over to Kira; she turned and looked at him, her gray eyes shone beautifully and made him stop as something lulled him back towards sleep. He shook his head and stared into the terrified gaze she was giving him. James searched for the right words to say, he didn't know how to start. He didn't know anything about her, he wanted to tell her what happened, but would she understand?
"Why did you not kill me?" Kira asked, her soft voice breaking the uncomfortable silence. It sounded slightly slurred, just like a young child, knowing the words but having trouble saying them.
James was taken back by this, how did she know he was there to kill her? "W- what? How did you know I was supposed to...?" James asked in surprise.
Kira pointed to James's uniform.
"If you knew that I was a rider and that I was supposed to kill you why did you risk your life to save me?" James questioned. He tried to look at things from her point of view as she stared at him like the creature from the black lagoon. How would he feel if he'd woken up in a room with Voldemort and was unarmed?
Kira took the book from her backpack and opened it to the last page. The page showed two parents and their son, they were hugging and looked extremely happy. James saw that the father had black hair. She thought the guy in the picture was him. James was overtaken by emotion, this little girl knew she was going to die; She saw the person who was supposed to kill her...and saved his life because she knew a father belonged with his family. He looked over at Kira, she looked scared, like she didn't know what to expect. She was shaking slightly and her eyes watched every move he made.
"Are you scared?" James asked softly.
Kira nodded.
"Would you like me to explain what happened?" James asked, sitting on the floor in an attempt to be less of a looming figure.
Again, Kira nodded, she didn't seem to want to speak.
"My name is James Potter; I am a Council Member and a Rider at the Zagan academy. My mission was to kill an ultimate weapon. I was attacked and saved by you. You had lost a lot of blood, so I took you to the academy and gave you some of mine. You're at my home now, this will be your room if you want to stay," James explained. "I'd really like it if you stayed."
Kira stared at him as the memory of Irving's last words to her echoed through her mind. A family shares a bloodline. She looked up at James and let the events sink in. He'd been sent to kill her. She'd stopped the monster. He'd saved her. He wanted her to stay with him.
"Y-you mean like... like part of your... family?" She asked coyly.
"Yes," James's voice came out little above a whisper and his eyes shimmered as he realized that that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted her to stay and be part of his family.
Kira looked down and James's breath caught in his throat. Had he scared her? Did she even understand? Was she crying? He bit him lip, but when she looked up at him again, there were tears in her eyes, and a smile on her face.
"I... I wanna stay," she whispered.
"Well, if you want we can go get breakfast...are... are you hungry?" James asked, fumbling over words in his excitement.
Kira nodded and James opened the door, he looked back at Kira.
"Let's go," James smiled.
Kira started to slowly walk forward, but stopped. She remembered the day Irving left, he had asked her to do the same thing, to trust and follow him. That hadn't ended well.
Flash Back
"Hello little Kira, are you ready for today's lesson" The guard asked her as he put her down.
"Don't take it out on her, it was my idea. I hate being in that room where my every move is watched" Irving said and clenched his fists.
"Well? Are you ready for today's lesson?" The guard repeated.
She nodded and the guard raised his hand high in the air.
"Good" He said and brought his hand down, hitting her in the face.
She fell to the ground.
"Today's lesson: knowing only to listen to your master!" The guard yelled and took out a nightstick.
End of Flash Back
Kira shivered and backed up. James was confused; he didn't understand what had happened.
"Kira? Is something wrong?" James asked.
Kira lowered her head as if she was ashamed and tensed up like she was expecting to be hit.
"Kira?" James asked again and walked closer.
"I'm sorry," Kira said, her voice quivering.
"What? But you haven't done anything wrong," James said as softly as possible.
Kira didn't move, she was shaking as if overcome with fear. James kneeled beside her; he didn't know what was wrong. He just knew that she was scared and seemed to think she had done something wrong. James put his hand on her shoulder and Kira pulled away, she didn't understand he was trying to comfort her. No one had ever tried to comfort her, she didn't identify with that reaction. James didn't know what to do, then he saw the mark on her neck, someone had hit her recently.
"Kira, did someone hit you? Is that why you don't want to come?" He asked. "I'm not going to hurt you; you just need to talk to me because I don't understand. Please, tell me why you won't come," James pleaded.
"I got hit the last time I followed someone with out my master's order," Kira answered.
"Oh...Well as long as your with me I promise you that no one will hurt you," James promised.
Kira looked up; her eyes were hazy with tears. "You promise?" She asked.
"I promise, I will do everything I can to protect you. You're safe with me," James again promised. Irving had explained promises so Kira understood them very well.
"Safe?" Kira asked.
"Yes, being safe means you don't have to worry about being hurt, it means...well it's security," James explained.
Kira nodded, and James walked over to the door. Kira hesitated for a while, and then heard Irving's voice in her head. 'I want you to know when some one is trying to help you and not be afraid to accept their help. I want you to have a father someday' Kira followed James out.
()()()
Eve: COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE!
Mike: ... i'm cutting you off.
Eve: What! I only had like... three cups!
Mike: Three? You wish, you had about seven.
Eve: ... i feel jazzy.
Mike: Sit down.
Eve: I am... oh... maybe i've had enough.
Mike: Reviewers review.
