Kai hesitantly answered the door. It was 8:00, and he hadn't managed to get the twins ready for bed yet. Upon opening the door he was faced with a tall, cloaked figure. A hand reached out from the dark folds, and all the hairs on the back of Kai's neck stood on end. He knew Chiropteran flesh when he saw it. The hand was a dark red color, with elongated fingers that had wicked-looking points on the knuckles. He would have panicked if he had not seen what the hand held: A pink rose tied with a blue ribbon.
He knew that rose, a similar one was left every week on the steps of the Otonashi mausoleum where Saya lay sleeping. He had always known Haji was alive because of this.
"Haji?" Kai asked hesitantly.
"Yes." His voice was hoarse, laced with that odd undertone he had heard in Diva's chevaliers when transformed.
"C-come in!" Kai stuttered, moving out of his way and pulling out a chair from one of the tables.
Haji limped over to the chair and sat down. Kai was a little surprised, he had half expected Haji to remain standing, but from the way he walked he seemed to need the relief.
"How are you?" Kai asked, sitting opposite him, knowing he couldn't offer his sister's chevalier a drink or some food.
Haji sort of cleared his throat. "I will survive."
Kai laughed at that, it was just the thing Haji would say, and in that flat voice, too. He suddenly realized that he had missed the man.
"How bad is it?" he asked, knowing Haji wouldn't conceal his face from Kai without a reason. In answer, Haji simply reached up and pulled back his hood. One side of his face had managed to reform fine, but the other was taking it's time. The skin stretched tightly over the misshapen bones of his face, and his eye looked irritated and oddly wide.
Kai sat back, not frightened, but a little taken aback. "I take it there are other injuries as well?" he asked. After all, and atomic bomb wasn't easy to survive.
Haji nodded. "Mostly on my left side. It would appear that I will heal, though."
Kai nodded. "Well, that's good." He searched for words—conversation with Haji was always difficult due to his habitual stoicism.
Suddenly Julia ran into the room, halting instantly when she saw Haji, who was facing the door she came through.
There was a long, tense moment as the two chiropterans regarded each other, and Kai suddenly felt he might need to protect his niece because of her eerie resemblance to Diva, even though she was still young.
"Th-this is Julia," he stammered, standing up. "My niece. Saya's niece. Your niece, I guess," he rambled on, inching toward Julia as Haji never broke eye contact.
Julia gasped, and Kai turned to see her grinning.
"I know you!" she sounded delighted. "You're in the pictures of Auntie Saya and Daddy. Haji is your name."
"That's right," Haji stated, and Julia looked very pleased with herself. She walked over to him and held out her hand.
"It's very nice to meet you, Haji."
Haji hesitated, and then held out his disfigured hand but did not take hers. "It is pleasant to meet you as well, Julia."
Julia stared wide eyed at the hand and took it with both of hers, studying it with her fingers. She seemed fascinated.
"You are not afraid of me," Haji more stated then asked.
Julia looked up and shook her head enthusiastically. "You kind of look like the things in my dreams." She glanced at Kai momentarily, she knew she wasn't supposed to tell anybody about the things she dreamed, but he just nodded.
"You look like your mother," Haji said distantly, and Julia nodded.
"People say that a lot."
The two of them looked at the doorway suddenly, obviously hearing something Kai couldn't pick up on. Julia leaned up to Haji and whispered. "It's Irene, my sister. Hang on a minute."
Haji nodded and watched as Julia scampered back through the doorway that connected the Omoro restaurant to their home. Although they whispered, Kai and Haji could easily hear what they were saying.
"Don't you want to meet Haji?"
"He looks scary."
"Nuh-uh. Don't you think he looks like the Phantom of the Opera?"
There was a long pause, and then Irene popped the top of her head around the corner before ducking back.
"Yeah, kinda. But backwards."
"He'll like you."
"Why?"
"You look like Auntie Saya."
Kai's eyebrows shot up but he refrained from comment as Irene slowly made her way across the room. He would have to tell Haji later that it wasn't him—Irene was painfully shy around new people. When she finally reached Haji, she studied him for a moment, and then held out her arms to him. Without hesitation he picked her up and held her in his lap, and she hugged him.
Kai shook his head, chuckling. "Well, as exciting as this all is, you two need to go to bed. It is way past your bedtime."
The twins let out a simultaneous sound, somewhere between a groan and wordless whining. Julia began to trudge back into the house, and Irene slid of Haji's lap to follow after. They let them get a head start, and Kai turned back to Haji.
"You have forgotten," Haji mused.
"What?" Kai was confused.
"You were afraid for Julia. You forgot that it was I—with your help—who convinced Saya to spare them. While Saya sleeps I will devote my life to protecting them. I would have come earlier, but…"
Kai held out a hand to silence him, and poked his head through the door quickly. He looked around and then sighed, seeing no one.
"How much do they know?" Haji asked perceptively.
Kai ran a hand through his hair. "Only enough to keep them safe. Practically nothing. Nothing about their mother."
Haji sat back in his chair. "When do you intend to tell them?"
"Red Shield has decided we should wait until they stop maturing."
"Sixteen," Haji answered the vagueness of Kai's answer.
Kai chuckled, surprised. "That soon, huh?"
Haji nodded. "I met Saya when she was 14. After two years, she stopped aging."
They stopped talking at the sound of feet pattering down the stairs, and Irene came to stand in the doorway.
"Haji…" she implored softly, "would you tell us a bedtime story?"
"Of course." He stood to make his way into the house, and Kai herded Irene up the stairs.
"Did you two brush your teeth?"
They cast him two identical too-wide grins, showing their freshly cleaned—and somewhat sharper than normal—teeth.
"Good." The four of them made their way down the hall, and Julia lagged to walk with Haji.
"Did you know my mommy?" she asked, hopeful.
"Not very well, no," Haji answered truthfully.
Julia stared down at her bare feet as the trod the carpet. "Oh."
"However, I know Saya better than anyone alive," he offered.
Irene lit up. "Oh boy, I bet you know all kinds of stories that uncle Kai has never told us!"
Haji's face lightened a little. He did, although most of them would not be of the bed-time variety. Still, he had good memories from before he was a chevalier, and as the girls climbed up into their beds he selected a favorite and sat on one of the desk chairs.
Kai leaned against the doorframe, equally interested in these new stories.
"Once, when Saya and I were very young, we went out to play at the beach. It began to rain and we were forced to find a place to hide, because the rain was very cold…"
Before long the girls were fast asleep, and Kai and Haji made their way back down to the kitchen.
"I don't think I've ever heard you speak so much in my whole life," Kai commented with a chuckle.
Haji didn't answer. After a long, not so uncomfortable pause, he spoke.
"So Red Shield still exists?"
Kai nodded. "Their new main mission is to protect the girls, and make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands."
Haji nodded.
Kai smiled. "You probably think that's redundant now that you're here, but there are other things."
Haji looked mildly interested, so Kai continued. "We infiltrated and searched all Cinque Flesche holdings, and since no one was left a good number of them hadn't been cleaned out. We discovered a great deal of information. Amshel, it seems, kept a similar diary to Joel's. Because of his… questionable experimentation, it contains a lot more about Diva and chiropterans in general. We only found it a couple of years ago, and we're still processing it, along with data collected from some of the research centers."
Haji soaked this in carefully and looked around the room.
"You could stay here if you want," Kai said suddenly. "I could use a little help with the girls—they're getting a little strong, if you know what I mean."
Haji nodded, and Kai continued. "I don't suppose you'll need a bedroom, but we have a couple to spare if you like. There's the master suite—I never moved in, since it was Dad's, and then there's Saya's old room."
"If you could place a comfortable chair in Saya's room I would be most grateful."
Kai nodded. He knew Haji didn't sleep, but he seemed to need to sit a lot, lately.
"I must go now," Haji stood to leave.
"Why?" Kai frowned.
Haji looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Because I am healing, I … hunger often. I must feed."
Kai balked inwardly. He forgot so often that Haji, Saya, and even the girls were really a sort of vampire. The girls received IV's weekly, much as Saya had done, but he knew from personal experience that live feeding worked just as well. Kai's surprise must have showed on his face, because Haji halted.
"I need only a little… they will not even know it happened."
Kai rolled up his sleeve a little and held his wrist out to Haji. "No need to go out."
Haji regarded him dubiously.
"Don't worry. It's not the first time I've given to the cause."
Haji glanced towards the upstairs, and Kai guessed his thoughts. "The girls have never had it live, I meant Riku."
Haji remembered of course, he had been there. He had been the one to recognize Riku's distress for what it was. He removed a thin, discreet dagger from his cloak and cut Kai's wrist crosswise, putting his mouth to it quickly to stop the sting. After a few awkward moments he pulled away, and Kai calmly walked to the sink to wash the wound. He stared at it carefully while he reached for the first aid kit under the sink.
"It won't need stitches," Haji said from across the room.
"Oh. Thanks." He selected a gauze pad, smeared some Neosporin on it and taped it onto his wrist. He replaced the kit and stood, staring at Haji's wounds.
"You know, I'm surprised you healed so much already," he mused. "It seems like just yesterday that Saya went to sleep."
Something in Haji's face twitched. He could not relate. Although he had lived a very long time, it always seemed like an eternity when Saya was sleeping. "7 years, 3 months, 9 days and 2 hours, approximately."
Kai frowned. "If you had escaped already why didn't you come to Saya? I'm sure she wouldn't care how bad you looked."
Haji shook his head. "I had not escaped. I simply felt it." He placed a hand to his chest, and Kai suddenly envied Haji his connection to Saya.
"I better get to bed. The girls have a bad habit of waking early."
Haji nodded, and Kai walked upstairs, thinking about Riku.
AN: I started doing this as a flashback during another chapter, but it got so long I just made it it's own chapter. The good news is, the next chapter is already all planned out, so I should get it to you soon.
I am updating all of the chapters because I noticed a good deal of typos and as an editor they annoy me terribly. I'm not sure how this will effect comments and the like, but I apologize for any inconvenience.
Here are some replies to reviews I haven't responded to:
Hinata's Fox: No, they're not going to meet up with Diva or any of the other chevaliers, but Julia may remember more than anyone thinks….
Synthia: I know my story doesn't have original characters yet, but give the twins some time to grow up and make friends!
Wolfen Kahlon: Just another thanks for your beautiful review! I felt so flattered and professional. Hope you enjoy the upcoming chapters.
Sangraal: Don't worry: the only relationships involving OC's involve the twins and other OC's. I wouldn't Mary Sue any characterized cannon characters. At least not in the Blood+ universe… I tend to abuse Sesshomaru from InuYasha with Mary Sues.