Chapter 3: Neighbors

Fujimura Taiga was worried. The first thing she did when coming back to school for the weekend was glomp her friend, but Neko seemed off. She remembered her being a little distraught when someone stole a large barrel of wine from the Copenhagen, but she recovered from that fairly quickly. This time, however, she seemed a lot more glum.

It only got more strange as Taiga noticed her friend space out in class. Neko was the type of girl to take meticulous notes for every class. Taiga even saw her color-coding her science notes one time. But today… today she didn't even take out her notebook.

By the time lunch rolled around, Taiga just wasn't having it anymore. They were sitting on the roof and Neko didn't seem to be listening to Taiga's rant about male idols, despite Neko being a connoisseur of culture herself.

"C'mon, Neko! What's going on?" Taiga asked. Neko snapped up from picking at the food in her bento box and looked at Taiga with a confused expression.

"What do you mean?" Neko tilted her head. She really did look like a cat when making that expression.

"You've been out of it all day! Tell me what's going on," Taiga frowned.

"It's nothing," Neko shook her head. "There's just something on my mind."

"What's up?" Taiga scooted closer. "We're friends. You can tell me stuff."

"It's just…" Neko heaved a sigh. "Did you know there were survivors in the fire?"

"There were?" Taiga's eyes widened. "But the news…"

"I know what the news said," Neko pursed her lips. Taiga put a hand on her friend's shoulder. She had never seen Neko so conflicted. "It's just… two people stopped by the bar the other day. Apparently they were caught up in the fire."

"Oh…" Taiga muttered.

"If that wasn't bad enough, Shirou couldn't have been older than seven," Neko shook her head. "It's just… I want to do something for them, but I don't know what. They've obviously been having a hard time. Tiamat, the other person, said she just moved in when she got caught up in the fire."

"Damn. That's some shit luck," Taiga replied. Neko huffed in response, but Taiga considered the small smile on her face a win.

"Yeah," Neko sighed and looked up at the clear sky.

Shirou and Tiamat, eh? Taiga thought as the two sat in silence. I'll have to ask Grandpa about them.

As Taiga turned up at her house, she saw two people she didn't recognize. One of them was a beautiful woman with unnaturally long hair. Speaking of unnatural, there was no way that people were born with bright greenish hair. It was almost white for god's sake!

The other was a small boy with crimson hair. He was happily walking alongside the woman with a book in his hands.

"Did you enjoy yourself, Shirou?" The woman asked. Taiga's ears perked up at the name.

"Yep! Thank you, Mama!" The boy, Shirou, replied with a wide smile. Taiga's heart almost melted. Was this kid really a victim of the fire? Instead of greeting them, Taiga decided to ask her grandfather before going to meet them. She went inside and immediately made her way to her grandfather, nodding to the two men that were guarding his office.

"Oh, what a surprise," Raiga looked up from his paperwork as Taiga closed the door behind her. "It's always nice to see my little Tiger."

"Grandpa…" Taiga grumbled as she sat down across from him.

"I see that you have something on your mind," Raiga chuckled as he put his pen aside. "What is it that you need?"

"Ah, Neko told me about two survivors from the fire. Apparently their names were Tiamat and Shirou. Do you know anything about them?" Taiga asked.

"Ah yes. I did have a pleasant talk with Asashi this morning," Raiga nodded his head. "I did a little digging myself. They were lucky enough to have such a wealthy patron, though."

"Patron?" Taiga asked. Neko didn't say anything about that.

"Yes. His name is Gilgamesh," Raiga pulled a drawer open and grabbed a file. "He's been very important in our jewel business. He only approached us a couple days ago, but he set up an exclusive deal selling precious metals to us. It's been very profitable."

"I see," Taiga nodded. "Did you know they moved in next door?"

"Actually I just recently figured that out," Raiga opened the file and looked at the contents. "Gilgamesh bought the property only a couple days ago. It was going to go to an old friend of mine, but… he didn't make it out of the fire."

"Oh…" Taiga looked down. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't worry about me," Raiga shook his head and smiled. "Maybe you should go greet our new neighbors. I'll have something prepared so you don't seem disrespectful."

"Grandpa, I can make something myself," Taiga said with a small pout.

"I would prefer it if I had a professional prepared something," Raiga's smile didn't move. "This will also reflect on me."

"Fine," Taiga groaned as she got up and left. As she closed the door behind her, Raiga heaved a sigh.

"How fast they grow up," Raiga looked down at Gilgamesh's file. "Now, I wonder what you're up to."

Tiamat was content. Shirou had asked Tiamat to buy a cookbook so he could start preparing meals at home and Tiamat was more than happy to oblige. She was able to easily persuade a couple of humans to tell her where she could buy books and used some of the paper Gilgamesh had given her to purchase it.

As she walked down the street with Shirou, she noticed something. She walked towards one of the patches of grass in front of a house and knelt down.

"Mama, what are you doing?" Shirou asked. Tiamat couldn't help but smile. Shirou had recently started calling Tiamat "mama" and it had meant the world to her. She picked up a small insect with sharp teeth in its mouth.

I see someone is raising their own children, Tiamat thought with a smile. How sweet.

Tiamat then gently placed the bug back into the grass and walked back to Shirou, and took his hand.

"Nothing, little one," Tiamat smiled down at the young boy. "Come, now. Let's go home."

Taiga stood in front of the neighbor's house with a plate of cookies and a couple of towels. For some reason, she felt nervous. She had no problem meeting new people. Hell, she met new people for her friends sometimes. Reikan really needed to get out and talk more.

Taiga took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She didn't hear any footsteps, but she did hear a voice.

Suddenly, the door opened, causing Taiga to jump. She was now face to face with Tiamat, who was looking at her with a perplexed expression. If Taiga could describe her with one word, it would be otherworldly. Her hair was wavy and smooth and her eyes… Taiga thought she saw butterflies in them, but she shook her head. It was probably a trick of the light.

"I… I heard you just moved in and I thought I would get you something," Taiga handed the gifts to the woman. "My name is Fujimura Taiga. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh? How thoughtful," The woman smiled gently and took the items. "Would you like to come in?"

"Oh, you don't have to…" Taiga raised her hands.

"I insist," Tiamat said gently. Taiga then felt something pull at her heart, as if going inside the house was a moral obligation rather than a choice.

"Alright," Taiga nodded. Tiamat stepped aside and Taiga walked in. The house was nice, if a bit empty. The boy, Shirou, was sitting at the table reading a book. Shirou looked up and saw Taiga. He put the book down and waddled up to her. God, the kid was cute.

"Hey," Taiga put a smile on and looked down at the boy. She didn't know how to deal with kids, but she tried her best. "I'm Fujimura Taiga. What's your name?"

"Shirou!' The boy chirped.

"Nice to meet you Shirou," Taiga said. "Do you have a family name?"

"Nope," Shirou shook his head. "Mama doesn't have one so I don't have one either."

Taiga looked to Tiamat, who was putting the cookies on the table. Who didn't have a family name? Even though Taiga was sure she was a foreigner…

Something terrible must have happened with her family, Taiga's brain instantly jumped to a dramatic conclusion. She knew enough about foreigners to know that they had family names. Waver had one, after all.

"Well, feel free to call me Fuji-nee," Taiga replied with a smile. She always wanted to have a younger brother, but her parents said they couldn't deal with another one of her. Plus, Taiga was an impulsive girl. What's the worst that could happen? "Don't worry about a thing, okay? Your onee-san will take care of everything."

"How thoughtful," Taiga looked up to see Tiamat right next to her. How did she get there? Tiamat then raised a hand and started to gently pat the young woman. "I'm happy that my child has such a loving older sister."

"E-eh?" Taiga stared blankly. She didn't expect Shirou's mother to accept it just like that.

"Now, if you're going to be Shirou's big sister, then you should stay here," Tiamat said as she moved her hand from Taiga's head to her chin. "Would that make you my daughter then? I wouldn't mind having another child…"

"W-w-wait!" Taiga took a step back and raised her hands. "I didn't sign up for this!"

"You didn't?" Tiamat looked genuinely confused. "I thought that you volunteered to be Shirou's older sister."

"I mean I did, but I still have a family," Taiga replied frantically. "I live next door, so I'll be able to take care of Shirou when you can't."

"That is… acceptable," Tiamat returned her arm to her side. "But I will always have time for Shirou. I will continue to take care of him."

"Don't you have a job, though?" Taiga asked. Tiamat's confusion only grew.

"Job?" The odd woman blinked a couple of times. "What's that?"

Taiga had to remind herself that they were down on their luck, otherwise she would have rolled her eyes. She knew this was going to be a hassle, but she just couldn't resist little Shirou's puppy-dog eyes.

"My king, is something troubling you?" Kirei asked. Giglamesh had been sitting in the church's pews for about half an hour, completely silent.

"It's nothing, Kirei. Leave me," Gilgamesh demanded. Kirei nodded and left the church. Gilgamesh pursed his lips.

He had pretended not to recognize Tiamat because getting into a fight with her would only cause problems. He knew many things about the Primordial Mother, one of them being her immense power. He wasn't sure if he could beat her in the body he had now.

That being said, Tiamat was not known to be dishonest. It was odd, saying that her only purpose here was to care for a human child, but according to tales he had heard, it seemed like something Tiamat would do. It was odd that she was caring for a human child, but it seemed that Tiamat cared for children, regardless of species."

What should I do now, though? Gilgamesh thought to himself. There was now a beast in his garden. A pest that he could not remove. Luckily, said pest seemed to be fairly peaceful.

The golden king heaved a sigh. If it wasn't going to cause problems in his garden, he figured it could stay. Maybe it would even weaken enough so he could kill it himself.

As much as I hate it, I must be patient, Gilgamesh heaved a sigh as he stood up. Maybe he'll visit the Copenhagen again. For a couple of mongrels, the food they made was… acceptable.

Good thing for Zouken that Tiamat doesn't know what exactly he's using those crest worms for. I wouldn't imagine her approving of such a thing. Anyways, please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.