1Disclaimer: JJ I'm sorry about the sad chapter, but it had to happen. My apologies, if anyone following my story is offended. Not that anyone that follows my story ever reviews! ý:( Just kidding! There's only one more chapter after this, so keep reading!
Look for my next fics: "Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures" and "Love's Labour Found". Greetings to empira arieona, Harryhunny08, Ravyn Nyte, and my kibito onni wherever he is right now, (shrugs). How should I know? I'm stuck in 3/8th of a dot on a road map. Hee-hee.
Chapter 16:
The Journal:
In her darkened bedroom, Lorea cried quietly. After knowing about her relationship to Tilly; after going to the same school; always having to settle for "best friend" instead of sister; never being able to tell Tilly all of her accomplishments or goals, now it was too late. Lorea wiped away a final tear as she remembered the last thing Tilly had said to her,
" 'Rea… in my room, my diary,…give it to my little girl."
As the words floated back to her, as though from a dream, Rea sat bolt upright on her bed.
'Of course! Phoebe will never know her mother now. But, maybe with that diary I could change that!' She thought. She and Tilly hadn't either, but Lorea was bound and determined to change her niece's fate. She ran down the upstairs hall into the spare bedroom, which recently had been dubbed "Tilly's room".
"Diary…diary…" she thought aloud, "Where would Tilly put a diary?" She looked in the closet, no diary. In the nightstand, no diary. In Tilly's backpack, still no diary. Finally, turning towards the dresser, she began to look through the clothes. Lifting up a pale pink shirt, Rea spotted a little purple book.
Grabbing it, Lorea ran to the forest temple/training ground. The only thought running through her mind was to give this book to Josh and Phoebe. She ran and ran until she was tired and dizzy, and until she had reached the temple door.
The wake was still going on inside. All of her friends and the friends of Tilly had come to pay their respects to the family. All around people were crying, saying how young Tilly was, and praying.
In a corner, Josh's mother, Josh, Phoebe, and Tilly's adopted parents sat. Josh saw Rea through the crowd and left the parents with baby Phoebe to mourn.
"Rea?" Josh said, sounding surprised, "I thought you said you weren't coming."
"I wasn't going to, but… Tilly had told me to give her diary to her little girl." She produced the journal and handed it to Josh. He held it tightly, as if trying to somehow bridge the Living and the Spirit Worlds.
"Lorea," he said, "You have an even bigger role in Phoebe's life than I do now. You're her last glimpse of her mother. I mean… Til' and I could never get up the courage to tell Hiei that Phoebe was ours. They've never so much as seen each other." Lorea nodded, understanding immediately what he wanted her to do.
"I'll do it, but you have to promise me that you'll at least wait outside the door." He promised and brought phoebe to her. Lorea held her little niece, and smiled at the sleeping ten month-old, in her arms.
'Oh if only you knew, Phoebe,' Rea thought, 'how much I dread this meeting.'
Lorea climbed the rough-hewn wooden steps with Josh following reluctantly behind. Her father tended to have that effect on people.
Turning, into the left hallway, the trio made their way to the last bedroom at the outer edge of the temple. Lorea pressed her ear to the door; all was silent. She slowly slid open the door and walked into the darkened room.
As her eyes began to dilate, she could discern a small figure crouched on the only piece of furniture, a dark green futon. The figure seemed to be staring out of the window. She walked further into the room; her feet sent black tear-gems rolling like marbles. There were dozens of them, strewn all across the floor. She called softly to the figure.
"Dad, It's Rea. We need to talk."
Hiei Jumped startled by her presence.
"Dad…" She hesitated, "this is Phoebe… your granddaughter. Josh and Tilly had wanted to tell you at the right moment but they never got the chance to."
Hiei turned slowly,
"Give her to me." He said in a voice not his own.
Lorea handed Phoebe over. The child awoke at the sudden movement and found herself staring into a new pair of crimson eyes. She smiled at Hiei, yawned, and went back to sleep in her grandfather's arms.
Awwwwwww! Ain't that sweet? I've been pretty preoccupied with finals coming up, but by the fifteenth I should be writing again at the latest.
Love & Laughs, Darkness-Kitsune.