Seeing the Sun

Chapter 21

A/N: Well, hello there. XD

Takane walks up to the door, a determined look on her face. Before she can push the buzzer, a woman opens it, a grim look on her face. "Why are you here, officer?'

Takane recognizes her. This is Jo's legal guardian, her older sister by law. She'd bailed out Jo many times, but the brunette never bothered to learn her name. But rather than ask now, she gets to the point. "Don't act like you don't know."

"Point. Made. I can see the look on your face. But I know that you don't want to arrest Jo..."

"You're right, I don't want to arrest her." Takane stands straighter, a fire in her eyes. "I've always wanted to fight death. This is my chance. I want to fight Jo."

Sei looks at her for a long while, but when the silence is broken it's not her who speaks.

"You're stupid."

Amy stands, chewing on a pocky stick in the doorway. "Jo is Jo. Jo is the angel of death. Jo never loses. Sorry, but this is how things work: Jo is the best. No one can beat her in a fight. And let me tell ya, hawk lady," the pocky snaps, and you can see just how proud Amy is to have a sister like Jo is in that moment. "You, at your best, couldn't beat Jo at her very worst. It couldn't even beat Jo from five years ago."

"You watch your mouth, you little-"

"She's right."

Both of them turn to look at Sei, Takane in angry shock and Amy in pride. Sei continues. "Jo's strength... is actually scary. I saw her fight, once, and she gets angry, in a calm, but sadistic way. She was against one hundred well-equipped, well-trained men. She beat them in less than an hour, and she did it without exerting herself at all." Sei looks down. "She's been called a monster, but we," she pats Amy's head, "could never see her like that. Because her power has always been on our side, protecting us. That's the only reason, you know, that she works for the syndicate."

Slowly, so as not to alarm the two girls before her, Takane takes out her sword. The stain that Jo left is still there. "She didn't even flinch."

Sei nods. "I heard about that. She came back here and cleaned it up herself. She doesn't take any help, unless maybe from Meg. But remember my warning, Takane."

"I will."

At that moment, they hear a motorcycle stop outside. The door opens, and Jo walks in, tossing her jacket through the doorway leading down to the basement. Her eyes seem to skim over Takane, focusing more on her sisters before finally zeroing in on the violet-eyed girl.

"Need something, officer?"

"No," responds Takane. With what she's heard, she seems to notice more about Jo. How many scars decorate her body. How painful those tattoos look. How there are bags under her eyes. How hard she works. "I was just leaving."

Jo shrugs, going down into the basement. Takane can hear an excited bark, and chuckles slightly. "That girl is insane," she comments.

"No," says Amy. "That girl is Jo."

It was gym today. Dodge-ball, to be specific.

Now, one thing you may not know is, Meg wasn't the best at sports. Being a klutz didn't help with that. And Jo rarely came to school, so-

Never mind, there she was now. Taking off her jacket, tossing it off to the side as she walks into the court, cracking her knuckles as she grins at the fear on the other team's faces. She walks over to Meg's side, who brightens up a bit. Still, she's confused.

"I thought you were ditching."

"I did too, but it's been a while since I've played dodge-ball. And hey, according to what's about to happen, you could use the help."

"What?"

Meg finds herself being pulled towards Jo, a ball narrowly missing her head. When had the match started. Jo catches another ball, immediately throwing it at someone else (lightly, to her standards) to get them out. Someone tosses her a ball, probably just glad that she's on their team.

"Bring it, bitches!"

It takes less than a minute for the other team to be eliminated, only a few out from their team.

Catch. Throw. Repeat.

"Happy birthday, Amy."

Amy is woken up by being pulled out of bed by none other than Jo. Meg, who'd been over more often, was there too. The small girl laughed as she was brought to the kitchen, where there was, of course, a cake. A cake that made Amy's face light up the second she saw it.

Jo sets her down, grinning at her little sister. Taking out one of the knives, she quickly serves a (rather large) piece to Amy, who immediately attacks it. Kannibal bounces around excitedly, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. He settles for sitting down next to his owner, who pets his head as his stubby tail wags back and forth.

Jo gets up, walking over to Amy. She pulls a thick envelope out from her jacket pocket, winking at her. "Spend this anyway you want," she whispers, and Amy's eyes widen at the large amount of money. "I've been saving up."

Amy's eyes sparkle. She sees Jo as a great person. Jo doesn't want to shatter that illusion.

Smoking, she lived with. But when she'd been arrested, looking through the glass at them, she'd refused to meet Amy's confused gaze. The small girl had been wondering why Jo was in prison. Jo had felt ashamed, because she wanted Amy to be safe from the truth for as long as possible. As long as she could protect her little sister like she'd failed to do with Maria.

Jo walks over and sits next to Meg, lightly kissing her on the lips. Meg's eyes widen a bit when she doesn't smell the usual smoke, sending a questioning look at Jo. The girl smirks. "Not on her birthday," she explains. "Never on her birthday."

These moments remind Jo that she's still a human.

A/N: I know, that last line may be a tad overused in some places. But I thought it fit in nicely. Really, the dodge-ball scene had no actual purpose. But you see, I've wanted to put that in there for a long time. And that last bit... I thought it would be nice to show how close the siblings are, and that Meg actually, you know, knows them.