OCTOBER 13th , 1984
Rokkenjima Island

"Uu- Uu- Falling! Falling!"

"Haha- 'Falling!' 'Falling!'"

"Aaaa, cut it out! Maria! Ange!"

"Pfft- Serves you right!" Jessica crowed from somewhere behind Battler as he dashed up the steps. He scooped up both of the screeching younger girls in his arms, their cries and his cries and Jessica's calls and their laughter all tripping one over the other in a bright screech of sound. "After teasing Maria-chan so horribly like that, she and Ange are giving you your just desserts!"

"Eeeeeh?" Battler made an abrupt turnabout, earning a surprised hiccup from Ange from her place on his shoulder as he leered back at Jessica. "In that case, how do I get to get back at you for teasing me?"

"-EH?!" Jessica ruffled up instantly at the prod, earning a snicker from Battler that only ruffled her the more. But before she could properly retort, a hand came down on her shoulder.

"Ha… We shouldn't yell here- The house is just ahead," George said, an amused smile beneath his kind reminder- The rebuke much softer than the sharp yell that came back at them from ahead.

"Hey! If you kids keep messing around we'll leave you behind!"

The mirth dancing on Battler's face died down, and he glared at his father's retreating back… But the sight he could see just beyond Rudolf and the rest of the adults quickly ate away at his irritation.

He climbed the last few stairs with short, slow steps as Maria wriggled out of his grip. He let her go as he went, but Ange remained, turning in her brother's arms to see what Battler gawked at.

"Woooow! Look at that, Ange!"

"Pretty…!" the girl called in a soft coo, craning around all the more to get a better look at the cultivated field of roses spread out before them. "Flowers!"

"Yeah, there must be hundreds of them!"

"Uh-huh, I remember!"

Yes, Battler thought with a belated righting of his place in reality, she would. For Ange had been there last year… And the years before that, even if her young mind had lost the memory of those earliest trips.

Ange's memory of Rokkenjima Island before 1983 was likely no more than a fog… Just as it was for Battler. It had been a lot longe since he last set foot in that garden.

Four years, to be exact.

And once again an awkward pang hit him with the thought- The same sort of feeling that had struck him multiple times throughout the day already. Meeting his kind aunts and uncle again, seeing how mature George was and how big Maria had gotten, running Jessica on the dock and discovering she was far more of girl than he could ever recall- It was all a strange mesh of rediscovering a world just as he had left it, yet so changed.

They had all welcomed him, though, with warmth and cheer, and for the first time Battler had reason beyond regular close contact with his baby half-sister to be glad he had returned home to take the Ushiromiya name.

It hadn't really been his idea, after all. He had agreed, but only reluctantly, and he knew his Dad and Kyrie and probably everyone else knew it. He had only done it to relieve his grandmother – his mother's mother – of the need to support him.

She was sick and needed care of her own, but after grandfather had that heart attack out of nowhere late that summer, it had been just Battler and her. She had been ill a long time, and they had all always acted around the belief that she would predecease her husband. It grieved him to live with that idea, but Battler had at least known he would have a second home for as long as his grandfather lived.

It didn't work the other way around. An invalid lady and her high schooler grandson couldn't support themselves all on their own.

And Battler hadn't asked it of her. His grandmother had a little sister who could take care of her, if only Battler was out of the picture.

And so, at Grandfather's funeral, when his father tried again to apologize for what he did to Mom, begged him to come home… Battler accepted him.

What else could he do? It was the only option, and he resigned himself to that when he moved in with Dad and Kyrie and Ange last month.

But, walking among his relatives right then, back before the family home of his childhood?

Battler was finding reason after reason to regret not coming back sooner.

"Ah- Look! It's my parents!"

Jessica's call as she rushed by knocked Battler loose from his thoughts, and he belatedly notice the figures coming out of the great house.

He couldn't make them out well from the opposite end of the garden, but as he hitched Ange up in his arms and trailed after the rest-

"Everyone, welcome!" Krauss called, stepping out into the sunlight beside his wife. He held his hands out in welcome, and one quickly came down to shake Hideyoshi's as he smiled on to the rest. "It is good to see everyone made it in one piece- The flight wasn't delayed again this year?"

"Thankfully not," Rudolf answered as he strolled up to the gathering group, a grin on his face and in his voice. "Everything went smoothly, though it still dragged on like you wouldn't believe."

"You must all be very tired from the trip," Natsuhi observed, her greeting smile showing a touch of fatigue itself as she grabbed the group's attention. "Lunch will be ready shortly, but if you would like to have a chance to put down your bags and rest a little first, I will show you the new guest house."

"Oo-oh?" Eva practically rolled the sound off of her tongue, cracking a wide grin at her sister-in-law as Krauss continued to individually greet his siblings and nieces and nephews. "Show us yourself? What an unexpected pleasure, when a servant would usually guide us around."

The smile on Natsuhi's face disappeared in a blink, her features pinching together as she stared hard at Eva. "It cannot be helped. Otou-sama wished to have his lunch served early, in private, so it is only natural that the staff is occupied."

"Ah- Then Otou-sama will not be joining us for lunch? How strange."

"A-anyways," Rosa cut in, an awkward smile playing at her lips. "We've been looking forward to seeing the new guest house, Natsuhi-nee-san. We would love to see it."

"You're going to love it!" Jessica assured, grinning between the visitors without any sign of noticing the tension that had just risen and fallen in a blink. "The rooms are amazing- I've been wanting to move in myself since they finished them!"

"Jessica-" Natsuhi's voice threatened to turn sharp again, but Battler drowned her out with his own chuckling enthusiasm.

"Oo-oh, really?! I didn't know there was a new house!"

"-ah, Battler-kun," Krauss said as he focused on him, his pleased glance announcing that he had only just noticed him among the group's broken greetings. "So you came after all. Look how tall you have gotten."

Battler laughed again, choking on the surrealism of having that comment repeated for sixth or so time that morning- And by his severe old uncle, at that! "Ah, you know- It's only natural, right?!"

"It is, it is," Jessica mumbled, too quiet for her father to notice, but loud enough for the nearby cousins to hear and look back at her. "Only natural to be tall… But that just means he has farther to fall, right Maria-chan?"

"-right!" Maria agreed, calling out far louder than her smirking cousin and grabbing everyone's attention. "Falling! Falling! Uu- Uu-"

"Eeeeh- Cut it out already!"

"Genji, what is all of that noise out there?"

"I believe it is your younger children and grandchildren, master. They must have just arrived."

"That doesn't mean I need to listen to that- Shut the window."

"Of course."

"I will know no peace so long as they- What is it, Shannon?"

The young servant girl jerked at the question, the sudden softening of that deep, gruff voice catching her off-guard far more than any reprimand could have. The tray she held was blessedly empty, as she had frozen while setting the last of Kinzo's plates on the table, but Shannon still blushed, casting her eyes to the carpet with the knowledge of her own good luck. "N-nothing, sir."

The master gave a deep humming sound, one that caught in the back of his throat that Shannon recognized easiy. He was unsatisfied, and trying to decide whether to dismiss or insist, and she could only wait to find out which.

But what could she even say if he asked? The stall had been nothing but an impulse- A catch at the unfamiliar.

Shannon had managed to block out the distant chatter when it first started, kept her hands steady as she served the master, drowned out her own anticipation and anxiety in a deaf focus on the two men's conversation. She was excited to see the distant members of the Ushiromiya family - George would be arriving and likely looking for her, and Beatrice had a whole list of new tricks and ideas to share with Maria - but she still had to perform her duties as a maid before all else, and save such pleasures for her own time. She knew that, and acted accordingly.

But then, when Maria's young voice was followed by the call of a man not familiar, yet… Yet-

"...never mind then," Kinzo finally allowed, a faint shifting in her ear and peripheral telling her he had turned to his meal.

She stepped away from the table at the unsaid release, and looked up only when Genji slid to her side and murmured, "You should go to the kitchen and help Gohda and Kumasawa finish the preparations for lunch."

"-of course."

A short series of farewells and bows and dismissals followed, but within moments she was out in the hallway with the great heavy door shut behind her. Out there, alone, she could finally stop and shut her eyes, try to steady the dizziness that had struck her.

But, she was not alone.

"You're not thinking anything foolish, are you?"

Opening her eyes, she saw with no sense of surprise that it was her little brother, standing at the top of the stairs with an armful of linens and a frown on his face.

Despite it, Shannon smiled. "Kanon-kun, you finished changing the sheets in the rest of the mansion?"

"Yes, it's quick enough now that the guests are staying in the new house." He shifted his remaining load in his hands. Clearly it was the master's change of sheets, but he didn't move passed Shannon just yet to deliver them, continuing to stare at her with something between disapproval and concern. "You didn't answer me."

"-what is there to say? I wasn't thinking anything at all." And it was true, she had been trying to clear her mind, not linger on any thoughts.

Still Kanon shook his head slightly, looking off to the side at nothing in particular. "Milady invited you to join her and the cousins, didn't she?"

"Yes, just after lunch. But only for a bit, my full break for the visit isn't until tomorrow afternoon."

"-and will you spend that with the family as well?"

She, didn't answer.

She hadn't been invited to do so yet, and she wouldn't presume, even if she trusted Jessica or George to do so.

But… he wouldn't be satisfied by that answer.

To him, it would be a 'no' no matter if he was asked or not.

Kanon gave her a long chance to reply, but finally huffed and turned his frown back on her. "You shouldn't expect anything from them, Nee-san. You'll just end up hurt."

"-George-sama wouldn't hurt me," she insisted, cheeks flushing with the effort to stand her ground with such a direct reference to the man. "He's already made it clear what he wants, and- It's what I want, too. What is wrong with that?"

"What is wrong is we are servants, and to his family." The simple, flat answer was enough to sting her, make her look to the ground… But Kanon wasn't done, and it was his next comment that froze her cold. "And George-sama isn't the only problem, is he?"

"...I shouldn't leave Gouda-san and Kumasawa-san waiting." She couldn't even bring herself to look up, couldn't meet his eye as she skirted his form and made for the stairs.

He didn't stop her… But still Shannon saw him, in her mind, staring after her with knowing, frustrated eyes, until he finally dismissed her in turn, and knocked on the master's door.

Of course, no one would ever answer him.