Chapter 14
- Echos -

Deja vu reigns, but only for a short while
The Archer will be with her guardian
The Warrior with his brother
- The Prophecy of Ages

Tamaya Nukumi walked down the halls of the hospital, looking at the patients in the rooms that lined the place. She was rather mature for

a small child of three; she was raised around all that was medical so she loved talking to patients, and was unafraid of death.

She glanced at a few more rooms, but stopped by something strange.

A young boy, perhaps her age, slept in a bed, his hair shining white in the morning sun. She approached him, and climbed on his bed to

get a better look at his face.

He had a rather gentle-looking face, softened by the fact that he was sleeping.

"Huh...?" she said, kneeling over his face and gently stroking his hair. "Who's this...?"

For some reason, she felt she knew him, and found her hands wandering to the top of his head, like something was missing there.

Then, his eyes opened, and she jumped back a little.

"Who...who are you...?" he asked softly.

"I'm Nukumi, who are you?" she replied.

"My name's Mamoru," the boy said, sitting up. "Ow...my chest hurts,"

"Maybe that's why you're here," Nukumi said.

"Maybe...I don't remember a lot," he said. "Why are you here?"

"My mama used to work here," Nukumi said, her eyes downcast. "She just died, so I'm waiting for my auntie to come get me,"

"So...you lost your mama?" Mamoru asked.

"Uhuh..." Nukumi said. "But I'm okay! 'cause my godpapa is gonna take care of me!"

Mamoru smiled. "That's good! He nice?"

"Yup! I love him!" Nukumi said.

-/-

"Nukumi! Nukumi-chan!"

Nukumi's twin sister, Saeko, was searching the hallways for her sister. Her aunt Kenbo was waiting in the lobby with Nukumi's godfather,

Charles, so she was entrusted to finding her.

"Excuse me, little girl, are you lost?" she heard someone say. She turned around to see a young woman, no older than a teenager,

standing in the frame of an open door. She was wearing a brown turtleneck, and her hair hung somewhere around her waist. Behind her,

a child slept in a bed, a man slumped over a chair beside it, obviously fallen asleep watching it.

"Nope, but I could ask you a question?" she said. The woman shrugged her shoulders.

"Did a girl around my age walk down here recently? She looks like me,"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I think I saw her," said the woman.

"Which way did she go?" Saeko asked. The woman pointed to the right.

"I think the fifth door down from here,"

Saeko smiled slightly.

"Thank you, lady ghost," she said. "I hope you'll find peace,"

As she went on her way, the spirit laughed.

"Oh don't worry, dear, I'm perfectly fine,"

-/-

"...so then, Ayame came in with a clown's nose on, an-"

"Nukumi!"

Nukumi and Mamoru both looked around to see a rather severe-looking three-year-old standing there, her arms crossed.

"Saeko!"

"Where were you?" she asked angrily. "Auntie Kenbo was worried sick about you!"

"I'm sorry, I was just talking with Mamoru, here!" Nukumi said. "Sorry, I gotta go..."

"Okay!" Mamoru said. "You think that we can play again sometime?"

Nukumi shrugged. "Maybe. It was nice knowing you!"

Mamoru waved as he watched the twin girls leave, until an orderly came in with his brother in a wheelchair, his left arm missing. When he

explained that their father and his mother were dead, he broke down and sobbed.

-/-

"Nukumi, don't go off like that again, okay?" Saeko said. "I can't find stuff like you do,"

"Yeah you can," Nukumi pouted as they walked down the stairs. "It's diff'rent with you,"

Saeko sighed, until their one-eyed aunt and wheelchair-bound godfather came into view.

"Uncle Charles! " said Nukumi, running to him and giving him a hug.

" Hello, " her godfather replied. " Nukumi, we're going to be leaving here soon, are you ready? "

She nodded. " Yup, as long as my things are packed, " she said. " Mama said you'd take good care of me last night, "

" And I will, " Charles replied. " Kenbo, I trust Saeko will not give you any trouble? "

" None at all, my dear Charles, " she said. " Nukumi, are you going to be a good girl? "

Nukumi nodded.

"Saeko, I'm gonna miss you," she said, reverting back to Japanese.

"Don't worry, Auntie Kenbo will write letters," Saeko said. Nukumi nodded, then gave her sister a hug.

"Bye..."

With one final wave, the wheelchaired man and the young child were gone from the hospital.

"You won't see her again until you're almost grown up, Saeko," said Kenbo. "You can go with them, if you want,"

Saeko shook her head.

"She should go,"

"But mama, I saw him! There was a boy in the river!"

"Mother, please knock some sense into Chihiro, she's thinking things again,"

A small party of a child, her parents, and her grandparents were coming out of the lobby, and Saeko couldn't help but observe.

"Let her believe, Yuuko," said the grandmother. "Perhaps she's right,"

"Mother..." the child's mother sighed.

'I wonder what they're talking about...' Saeko thought. "Well, Auntie Kenbo, what are we to do today?"

"We're going home," she said, smiling. "Do you want to help clean up the shrine?"

"Yes!"

"But gramma, I swear!" the young girl said, leaving with her family. "There was a boy with green eyes in the river! I swear!"

-/-

At the funeral for their father and Mamoru's mother a while later, Mamoru sat in the corner in a somber black suit, his eyes towards the

floor, a small model plane in his hands. His best friend Yuuji sat next to him, silently offering moral support.

Kousei sat alone, the left side of his suit limp, on account of his missing arm. His friends had already come and paid their respects.

"Hello, Kousei," said a cold voice. He looked up to see his mother standing there, his sister standing behind her.

"Mother..." he said, a bit suprised; she had suffered a very bitter divorce with his father years earlier, and his funeral was the last place he

expected her to be.

"Here to pay my respects," she said with a bow. "Ketsui, you too,"

His fire-eyed sister glared a bit at Kousei, battered and bandaged, but bowed nonetheless in front of her step-father's portrait. They

stayed there for a long time.

"Take care of yourself, I know you will," she said, finally rising and wiping her eye. "I expect you to keep in touch,"

"Yes, mother..." he said softly. With a final bow, they were gone.

-/-

"...Brother...Nana an' Grampa said they were gonna take care of us...right...?" Mamoru said softly later that night, as they ate a small

dinner.

"Yes, they are,"

"Are...are things gonna be okay for us?"

"...yeah, I think they are, Mamo," Kousei said, a bit of a smile on his face. "I think they are,"

Next
- Shadi's Plea