(A/N: Hiya once more, readers! School's over! I can breathe! -breathes- Summer vacation also means more time for writing, so hopefully I will be updating more often. Here's hoping. Anyway...review replies!
Smoke-Angel: OMG, I totally forgot about Max! -slaps hand on forehead- At this point, most of my plot ideas are accumulated (most, says I), so I'm not really sure if Max will actually be in this fic, let alone play an active role. As for Tala...well, not sure about that either. -sweatdrops- Did I say that I was planning things? I lied.
Storms-winter: SCHOOL IS OVER! Students everywhere rejoice! -dances-
Lunar Fire: Yesh, here is da update. I like emotion too. It gives me so much to write about. -is happy-
Monarch: Thank you! -laughs- Be reassured, it's not a shounen-ai fic. That's just Tala being stupid. -flicks him- I considered it at first, but then I decided...no. Are you sighing in relief?
EvilTwinKae: Thank you! Here is the -drum roll- CHAPTER!
side note to E and J: Sorry, I can't wait for you guys for this chapter! lol
Just to say...this chapter is kinda rough (unrevised)...like most of my NOTV chapters...because the plot at this point was written pretty much on the fly. Oh well. When I revise this fic, it'll be better. Until then, happy readings!
Oh yeah, and in case no one understodd what happened at the end of last chapter...Carmen sensed Ceridwen's presence in her room, and the two were talking about Tarian, who was actually there the whole time, watching over Carmen in silence (reread the last sentence). Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Oh well...
Chapter Eight: He Used To Call Her Verochka
The night was unusually still as he made his way up the gravel path leading to the Hiwatari's mansion. The sight of the huge building did not faze him, although something twinged in his heart as he imagined what was left of a broken family, living in that immense space. How were they able to bear it?
Maybe they can't.
"Good evening, I'm here to see Kai."
Kana stared quizzically up at the stranger, her small hand still on the burnished doorknob. Her thin frame was clad in a simple night dress, her midnight blue hair flowing unbound behind her.
"Who are you?" she asked outright, squinting at him as though not quite seeing him properly, "I don't think my big brother has ever asked you to come here before."
Rei smiled, impossibly indulgent.
"Well, if you don't like the looks of me, then I can just leave. I'm sure you'll fell better that way."
But Kana wasn't listening. She had just caught sight of his eyes, reflecting the moonlight that had begun to wash over the roofs. The little girl was obviously fascinated, just as young children usually were. Rei waited patiently.
"Why are your eyes yellow?" she said finally, still staring, "They look like the sun. They're the color of our guest room. Why are they yellow?"
"I'll tell you if you let me in," Rei answered with a playful grin, and Kana actually laughed.
"Do you promise?"
"On my family honor."
"Okay!"
Still watching him from the corner of her mahogany eyes, the girl pulled the door open and skipped out of the way, long hair bouncing with the same mirth. Rei stepped in and carefully closed the door behind himself. Instantly, Kana went to him, if only to stare up into his amber eyes once more.
"So will you tell me?" she pleaded, as though Rei had not just given his word of honor, "Huh? Huh?"
Rei laughed this time and reached down to tousle her hair. She giggled. The teenager crouched down, so that their eyes were level. Kana seemed entranced.
"I come from a very special family," Rei started to explain, spreading his hands to emphasize his point, "and…"
"How special? How special are they?" Kana prompted in a chirrupy voice.
"Very special. As a matter of fact…they don't even live in Japan at all!"
"Don't they? Where do they live?"
"Kana, who was it at the door? Is it Rei?"
Her brother's voice at the top of the stairs seemed to bring her to her senses, and she looked back before turning towards Rei again, seeming almost apologetic, although whether it was about her or about Kai, one could not tell.
"My name is Kana Hiwatari," said the girl, bowing daintily for a moment, "what's your name?"
Rei stood slowly, bowed, and still, Kana followed his gaze with her own.
"My name is Rei. Rei Kon."
"You have pretty eyes," the child claimed, her own scarlet gaze sparkling, "may I call you Rei-chan?"
Rei laughed out loud at the query, just as Kai was starting to walk down the massive stairs, seeming confused.
"Of course you may," said the raven-haired teen, ruffling her hair again, "but you should go now. I have to speak with your brother."
Overjoyed, Kana gave a shrill cry of delight and bounded from the main hall, stopping only momentarily to wave back.
"Okay, Rei-chan!"
Then she had left, and Kai came up to the doors, smirking gently.
"Rei-chan?" he asked, amused.
Rei shrugged, glancing after her for a moment, light dancing in his eyes, before he became serious once more.
"I have to talk to you about something."
The boy's voice was grave, and Kai frowned, gesturing vaguely towards the south end of the house.
"We can talk here."
He does care for you. Yes, he cares very deeply.
"I know."
Then why did you shun him, banish him? Ceridwen asked, half watching a burst of flame that she carefully manipulated in her hand, dear, innocent child, you broke his heart!
"I…I know. And I'm not innocent, for your information, Ceridwen."
The spirit sighed in exasperation, closing her hand with a snap, so that the fire was choked out of existence. Her crimson eyes were sombre.
However you may be, I think still that you should call him back.
Carmen did not answer. Her eyes were unfocused as she remained leaning on the cool windowsill, ignoring the chill emanating from the glass before her. Ceridwen shook her head impatiently, tossing a look behind her, towards the empty walls.
I have seen his tears, girl, as well as yours. You are not standing this any better than he is!
Again, her words met nothing but a wall of silence, and she almost growled, placing both of her hands on the girl's shoulders. Carmen flinched instantly.
Proud, stubborn human, if it is your desire, then call him back!
"How do you know what my desires are?" Carmen screamed, spinning around and dislodging the spirit's grip, "You don't know anything about me! How are you able to speak to me like this?"
Like you mentioned earlier, I have lived much longer than you have, Ceridwen retorted crisply, flipping her abundant bangs from her face, and I know much more about the world and its insufferable emotions than you do.
"I don't care!" Carmen all but yelled, and Ceridwen started to look worried, "I don't care how long you've lived, or how much you know! You don't know me, although the little things that I know are all I need to be able to say a bit about you!"
Ceridwen was shocked, and once again, her gaze flicked to the wall. Carmen was looking fierce, silver eyes narrowed in that characteristic way of hers, and for a moment even their emptiness had a depth, shining dully from within with a mixed sorrow and colder, harder resolve.
"Don't forget, my dearest Ceridwen, that Tarian and I have been together for eleven years. We talk to each other sometimes too, you know," the teenager muttered, although the spirit heard every word, "and it seems that I'm not the only one who has broken his heart. Isn't that right?"
I…
At loss of what to say, Ceridwen backed up, shaking her head, although the memory was still fresh as a stinging wound in her mind.
"Tarian, stop! You cannot leave, not now!"
"You should have thought of that before you took such action, Ceridwen."
"No! I love you! Do not go! You cannot, I know you better than anyone!"
"How can you say this? You do not know me at all…"
Not at all…
The spirit gasped, and her flames leapt about her like living things. Carmen stepped back from the heat, but her expression remained the same.
"You should go now, Ceridwen," she merely said, looking away to the vacant space, "I need to be alone."
Without another word, Carmen moved away and threw herself onto the hospital bed, and Ceridwen bounded from the room, leaving behind only the faint scent of a burning flame.
"Do you remember when I told you that you were different, Kai?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I remember."
Rei smiled at the befuddled look in the blue-haired boy's eyes, shifting in his armchair in order to adopt a more comfortable position. Kai watched with half-lidded eyes as the amber-eyed youth brought his slender legs up under him, his spine curving ever so slightly, and his figure greatly resembled that of a feline, relishing in the luxury of a soft, warm bed.
"Good," Rei murmured, closing his eyes for a moment.
Kai moved forward in his own seat, now utterly perplexed by his friend's odd behavior.
"So what did you want to speak to me about?" he asked, lacing his fingers together and leaning his chin on them.
Rei's expression changed, and he opened his eyes, seeming disoriented, like emerging from a dream.
"Oh, yeah…that."
He sat up straighter, as though berating himself for his ways.
"You may not realize it yet, but you are much more special than you think," he said, looking to his side before continuing, "and I think it's time for me to show you just how…particular you truly are."
"What are you saying? You're talking as if I won't believe what you're gonna tell me."
Rei smiled.
"Maybe you won't. That's why I'm going to show you instead."
"What…"
"Aria."
Kai gave a start, the name triggering something in him, before the room suddenly exploded with a greenish light. The blue-haired youth threw himself back in his chair, shielding his eyes with his arm.
Then, a woman's voice emerged from the glow, its tone beckoning by the mere musicality of it, and Kai deigned to look up.
I am pleased to finally meet you face to face…, said Aria as the light faded, though her smile was as bright as ever, …Kai Hiwatari.
Kai could not easily tell if the woman standing before him was truly a woman, but then again, it was difficult to qualify her as anything else. In his juvenile eyes, she seemed to be a female of about nineteen years old, young and shapely. Her hair and clothes were long and shining of the same aura that had filled the room a few seconds ago, but it was her eyes that really drew Kai's own. They were almond-shaped, their eyelashes fine, and again, of the same green that had induced dancing, disorienting spots of light in Kai's vision.
Rei was still smiling, now leaning back in his seat as though watching some kind of excellent show, although he was in fact surveying Kai's reaction to Aria's sudden appearance. The latter was starting to giggle at the youth's silence, clapping her hands excitedly, treating this all like a game.
Look at him, Rei, he is so surprised! She laughed, taking a floating step in order to get closer to him, my, my, you should have told him more about me first.
Rei shrugged at the mirthful reprimand, seeming very much like a naughty child, used to being admonished.
"There wasn't really any way to explain it," he claimed, sulfur-colored eyes twinkling, "isn't that right, Kai?"
"Huh? Oh…"
Still entranced by the young lady, Kai stood and bowed slowly. The spirit laughed again but returned the bow, mentally commenting to Rei about strange customs. He snorted with suppressed amusement.
"So what exactly are you trying to tell me?"
Kai had sat himself down again, and although his gaze was still half on Aria, his attention was on Rei.
"You're special, Kai," the other repeated yet again, "and if you weren't, you wouldn't have seen any of this. Not the light, and not Aria either."
He is confused, Rei, look at his face!
"But why me?" Kai asked then, frowning as doubt surfaced in his mind, "why me, of all people? And how did you know?"
Rei looked away and gave a low but humorless laugh, eyeing Aria as he pondered his answer. The female spirit had begun to wander about the large sitting room.
"I've been doing my homework," said the other youth quietly, "Aleksis and Vera Hiwatari, if I'm not mistaken."
Kai slumped heavily back in his armchair at the sound of his parents' names, closing his eyes.
"He used to call her Verochka," he murmured, putting a hand to his left temple as though the thought was painful.
Rei's golden eyes grew sympathetic, and he leaned forward to lightly brush Kai's arm with his fingers.
"I'm sorry."
"Mm…it's not your fault."
"It's not yours either. My…my parents are dead, too."
Kai shifted his weight, curling himself up in on side of the seat. He turned his head and opened his eyes, shooting Rei a one-eyed glance, but saying nothing.
"I'll be honest with you, Kai," said the raven-haired boy with a sigh, "it was no accident. For either of our families."
Kai sat up straighter.
"They were murdered."
"Wh-…what?"
Aria looked up at the undeniable tremor in the boy's voice, eyes softening as she made her way back to Rei's side.
Rei, you need not be so blunt, she said concernedly, placing a thin hand on his arm.
He shook his head apologetically, but something was glowing in his eyes. His parents' voices were flooding his mind, but he needed to stay in control.
"We have no time to be delicate, Aria. This is important."
"What do you mean, we have no time?" Kai piped up, straightening further, "what's going on?"
Rei was about to speak, but Aria stopped him, her gaze on the door of the sitting room.
Wait. The child is listening.
"What? Kana!"
There was no reply, and Kai stood from his seat, facing the door with a hardened gaze.
"Kana Hiwatari, you come out of there this instant!" he said loudly, taking a step forward.
Silence once more, but then the door swung open slowly, and a sheepish-looking Kana was standing behind it. Kai would have been livid if he had not been so overwhelmed by the memory of his loss.
"Kana," the elder intoned with a slight tremble in his deep voice, "I want you to go up to your room, and I want you to stay there, understand?"
Wordlessly, the little girl nodded and turned without looking up, and soon her small steps rang down the ceramic hall. Sighing and raking a hand through his hair, Kai stepped forward and closed the door after her.
"Can I continue?" Rei asked, almost timidly.
Kai nodded slowly and sat back down. The other exhaled a slow breath, looking towards a window to his right. Night had fallen outside, blanketing the town in moonlit sorrow.
Then his voice sounded, and Kai closed his eyes again to listen.
"It's…it's sort of complicated, so I'll try to shorten it.
There are others like us. Other people who can see Aria and other spirits like them. Yes, there are more. I don't know them personally, but…anyway. That's for later. Right now, you have to know this.
Every family has a heritage. For most, it's a material heritage. Heirlooms of a past era. People also speak of genetic heritage. Then, there is our heritage. My family's, and yours, respectively. Though they lived far apart, they shared one thing, passed down since the first ancestor down to the youngest descendants to date. At least, they were, until you and I came along.
Jin Kon to Rei Kon, and Aleksis Hiwatari to Kai Hiwatari. Mother to son, and father to son.
It doesn't always go to the sons of the family. If Kana had been born first, it would have been her. But it wasn't.
These spirits are our heritage. They are…our family guardians, if you will. I'm not sure how they came to be in our families, but I do know this: they all have a purpose. I'm also unsure as to what this purpose is. Aria won't say. I don't know why. But that's not all that important yet. Are you still listening?
Our guardian spirits have power, governed by several elements, one to each being. There are many that I know of…earth, fire, water, wind, ice…and there are much more that are scattered about the globe. They are our planet's essence, and we, as well as our spirits, are its keepers.
Every member of our families, and everyone who became part of them, acquired the ability to see and interact with these spirits. It's a gift, some sort of special ability that puts us all apart from the others of human kind.
Everything would have been fine. In Antiquity, nothing happened. In the Middle Ages, nothing drastic happened either, and until about a few years ago, nothing had ever happened. But then…but then there was violence.
I don't know who it was. But someone was moving about and killing everyone who could see our family guardians. That meant the Kons, the Hiwataris, and the other families who possessed spirits like ours. They were all murdered, one after the other.
Then they came to the Shandong province, in China, and they killed my parents, as well as everyone else in the house.
My friends helped me to escape. So I left my home, and Aria came with me.
Are you still listening?
That's almost what happened back in Moscow too, Kai. They found Aleksis and Vera, but your parents were smart. They left quickly once they got wind of danger from their spirit, and they took you with them.
You must know what happens next, Kai.
Phoenix Hills, 1997. They thought that they were safe. They'd been in hiding here for eight years. But then, the organization came in the night, and the next morning, both of your parents were found dead in each other's arms.
But you had been lucky. For some reason, they didn't know that the Hiwataris had two heirs. So you and your sister were spared, left to sleep soundly in your own bedrooms until the maid's scream awoke everyone.
Don't look at me like that, Kai. I'm just giving you the story.
There's one last thing to tell. For another strange reason, your spirit seemed to think that you have been killed, just like Aleksis and Vera, because she left…and she hasn't reappeared until recently.
It's alright, Kai…
…I cried when I found out."
The silence had become a tomb of nothingness. Not even a breath dared shatter the glass, and Rei held his own as he waited for Kai's reaction. But there was none. He was staring down at the floor, holding his disheveled head in his hands.
Suddenly, there was a loud sob that shot across the air, but it was not coming from any of them. No, it came from the door, which had actually not been closed very well. Someone was crying behind the door, and at once Kai was on his feet and opening it, revealing his kid sister, sitting nearby with the tears running down her face.
She held her arms out to her brother. He picked her up, carried her inside, and they put their heads together and mourned their parents once more, crying tears that only children could cry.
(A/N: Vera/Verochka (Russian): faith;
Aleksis (Russian): helper of man;
Jin (Chinese): gold.
I'm so mean to Rei's and Kai's parents. Anyway...review please! I need to feel the loooove! lol
Carmen
(p.s. please go read my first Gundam Seed fic! It's prettyful! -hugs it- I adore Athrun.)