(A/N: Hey all! Shinigami-chan here! Just a heads up! This a bit more serious than other chappies. Not angsty. Still slightly serious tho'. Anotherwarning beforehand -sheesh, whole lotta warnings this chappie, eh?- , LOSTS OF FRENCH IN THIS CHAPTER! The translations are at the end so without further adieu, enjoy!)
"Hey Slave Freak!" Akane yelled, "Put some muscle into it!"
"Mehmehmehmehmeh!" Duo mumbled mockingly from beneath a mountain of luggage, "…put some muscle into it…why don't you put some muscle into it?"
-pok…pokpokpok-
Akane's face broke into a poisonous smile as she dropped a foot in Duo's path.
"WAH-AAH!" Duo yelped as he tripped, becoming entombed in a suitcase crypt.
"I don't recall ever sayin' you could speak." Akane smirked walking past the front desk.
"Ah! Mademoiselle Kakyoin?" the concierge asked quickly, stopping her.
"Oui?" Akane replied.
"Cecé arrivait en ce moment pour vous." (1) she said, handing Akane a package.
Sora and Hinode shot Akane a look.
"Stupid…mannaphranna bilingual…" the muttered under their breath.
Akane heard this and stuck her tongue out at them.
She inspected the label thoroughly.
No return address.
No watermark.
Verrrrrrrry suspicious.
"Domino, would you?" Akane asked, turning around and handing the package to him.
"Of course, Miss Kakyoin." He replied (recovered from his lil' episode) carrying it away.
"Where's he going?" Relena asked, watching him go.
"Classified." Akane drawled, lighting up a cancer stick as she spoke.
Relena scowled at her in a pathetic attempt to be threatening.
Akane nearly went into a coma from lack of oxygen.
She was laughing that hard.
Heero and Trowa, alternating between staring at Akane, holding the front desk for support, and at Relena who look about ready to cry.
Domino returned just as Wufei sauntered down the stairs and Duo finished re-stacking his luggage tower.
"All clear." Domino said crisply, returning the parcel to Akane's pale, thin fingers as they piled into the stretch limo-van.
"Thank you." Akane sighed, leaning back against the seat and tearing it open.
A perplexed expression crossed her face as she removed the contents.
An old locket and a letter written in French, which Akane read aloud.
"À ma cherie princesse Akane,
C'est un message du grande amour.
Je place mon coeur sacrificial sur l'autel."
"Um…come again?" Sora asked, a dazed expression on her face.
"We aren't all bilinguals like you, ya know." Hinode added grumpily.
"Actually we are." The G-Boys responded.
"Same goes for me." The vice foreign minister smiled sheepishly, "It comes with the position."
Domino gave a nod to indicate that, he too, was in the loop.
"…shut up." Sora moaned, hiding her face in her arms.
"Quitcher griping! I'll translate!" Akane snickered, "It says:
"To My Darling Princess Akane,
This is a message from one who truly loves you.
I place my sacrificial heart upon the alter."
Everyone just stared.
"Sacrificial…heart?" Duo asked, "Are you translatin' that right?"
"Yes, Slave Freak." Akane snapped, "I'm positive."
Duo glared at her.
Akane glared back ferally.
Duo let loose a tiny squeak and ducked behind Domino.
"…I place my sacrificial heart upon the alter…" Akane mused, "…who do I know…with a sacrificial heart?"
Sora and Hinode had a sudden realization and looked quickly at each other through the corners of their eyes.
They were in Paris.
Paris is where Kakyoin Chloe (see chapter 11) stated she was returning to with her husband Kakyoin Aogi.
And as previously stated, Kakyoin wasn't the world's most common surname.
The odds that Chloe's Kakyoin Aogi and Kakyoin Akane were father and daughter were looking pretty likely right now.
But the odds that he would know, or care, about where Akane was and where to find her were pretty slim.
"Remember, just keep your mouth shut." They thought to themselves, "Don't go stirring up trouble."
Akane peered at the old locket.
Engravings covered it's entire surface and it had recently been poished.
"Do you need help opening that?" Quatre asked gently.
Akane glared venomously at the Arab.
"No." she spat.
Quatre pouted and Trowa patted his head.
Inserting her thumbnail into the thin seam, she undid the catch.
At the sight of the photograph inside, Akane choked and threw the locket away from herself as if it had just bitten her.
It skidded across the carpeted floor of the limo-van, coming to a rest at Duo's feet.
Curious as to what could so thoroughly disturb the normally unfazeable gang-leader, Duo extracted it of the floor and peered inside.
It was a photograph of a man with stylishly cut shoulder length, midnight blue hair.
His large, doll-like, lilac eyes seemed tired and sad, framed by dark lashes.
His pale skin seemed all the paler in his dark clothes.
"Man…whadda looker." Duo nodded appreciatively, "If I was gay, hell, I'd fuck'm."
In this man's his arms…he held an infant.
With hair, eyes and skin identical to his.
And next to him lay a woman in a hospital bed.
A woman whom Duo remembered from the DVD.
Akane's mother.
Akane didn't speak for the rest of the ride to the airport.
She didn't even order Duo to unload the luggage (he did anyway; force of habit)
The silence was unbelievably unsettling.
But it was soon broken when they saw who was waiting for them at the terminal.
Midnight blue hair tied back in a rather long pony tail that stopped just below his shoulder blades.
Round, doll-like, lilac eyes that were ringed with exhaustion and worry.
Moonbright skin that stood out in his black suit.
Rather tall and well dressed, but rather disheveled none the less.
It was obvious whom Akane had taken afterat a singleglance.
"She has his looks." Duo thought to himself, noticing for the first time, since her face wasn't contorted with rage, that Akane's eyes were as large, roundand beautiful as her father's, "...she's in trouble."
"Akane…" he murmured.
Akane merely stared at him, silently seething.
"Ju abandonné mon…avec c'est femme." (2) Akane muttered, no emotion trespassing her voice or face, "Je ne commencer tu decrire tout elle du tu moi." (3)
"Oui." The man, or should I say, Kakyoin Aogi, nodded sadly, "Ju pourvoir jamais demander pour ton pardon." (4)
Akane stared at him, a look of childish stubbornness clouding over her face.
"Si vous s'attendre à un étreinte, oublier il." (5) Akane growled.
A tiny smile formed on Aogi's lips.
"Ju ne s'attendre à je n'ai rien vu." He said softly.
Akane shook a little, barely containing herself.
"Bien vous faire un DE TOUTE FAÇON, TU RAMPAR!" (7) Akane shrieked, grabbing the man in a bone crushing hug.
Aogi's widened in understandable surprise.
"You leave me again, and I'll kill you…just so we're clear." She mumbled into his shirt in Japanese.
"Oui." Aogi nodded, patting her head, "Creestahl."
Sora and Hinode just stared vacantly.
"Um…would somebody mind…filling us in?" they asked.
(A/N: Father and Daughter arereunited, to Madagascar they go! Suo & Co. get wind of the mess, so you'd better prepare for a show! R&R!)
(1) "Cecé arrivait en ce moment pour vous."- "This just arrived for you."
(2) "Ju abandonné mon…avec c'est femme." - "You abandoned me…with that woman."
(3) "Je ne commencer tu decrier tout elle du tu moi."- "I can't begin to describe all she did to me."
(4) "Ju pourvoir jamais demander pour ton pardon."- "I can never ask for your forgiveness."
(5) "Si vous s'attendre à un étreinte, oublier il." – "If you're expectin' a hug, forget it."
(6) "Ju ne s'attendre à je n'ai rien vu."- "I don't expect anything."
(7) "Bien vous faire un DE TOUTE FAÇON, TU RAMPAR!"- "Well you're getting one ANYWAY, YA CREEP!"
