The return of Satoshi Hikari
The next morning he woke up and his headache was finally gone…for now. He was about to get ready for school when he saw the note.
Sato-kun, I told them you still weren't feeling well, so you have the day off. When you feel up to it we'll go see what damage Hiwatari-the-idiot did to your house. Love, Kari.
Satoshi slowly got out of bed and almost immediately had to sit down again. His headache had returned with a vengeance. Kari had anticipated this, so she left some Advil on the counter by the bed along with a glass of juice. He waited until it took affect before attempting to get up again. He went to see if she had left any breakfast for him as well. (He had gotten used to actually eating breakfast before school.)
"Let's see what she left for me," he mumbled to himself. He ate some cereal and washed the dishes. He smiled…he may have the day off from school, but that didn't mean he was going to sit around all day if Kari could help it!
He went to see what time it was (he had already been up for nearly two hours), and he was surprised to see it was almost noon. This was quite a shock; normally he didn't sleep in this late! Satoshi's attention was diverted when he heard the door open. At first he thought Kari had come home for lunch…then he quickly realized it wasn't her! She would have announced coming in so he'd know it was her. He looked through a crack in the door at a mirror that faced the front door. It was originally meant to tell Kari if Dark had come in that way…now it served a similar purpose. (He knew that it couldn't be Dark since Daisuke was at school.)
He held back an angry gasp as he recognized the figure. It was Hiwatari. Satoshi was beginning to grow angry at his intrusion…until he realized that the 'universal' remote Kari bought a week earlier was in the room with him. (They had already set it to her electronics!)
Satoshi smirked…it was time to scare dear old dad. This was going to be fun!
I recommend the Stereo. Kari had a feeling he'd show up eventually…so she left it on FULL BLAST.
Yay! Fun time!
-----
Hiwatari walked through the girl's apartment with a critical eye. It was clear she wasn't the most organized person and she loved electronics. He briefly looked at her DVD collection and walked away in disgust. He had never suspected that the girl was an anime otaku! Right as he walked near the speakers he was blasted half-way across the room as it suddenly blared to life playing a mixed CD. He couldn't hear the snickering over the music.
-----
Having fun are we?
Better believe it! I'm soooo glad she left the remote in here! Did you see the look on his face when I turned it on? That was priceless!
Kari said she's coming home for lunch. She'll be here in five minutes…and she said knock yourself out with the remote.
Thank you Kari!
(Hiwatari's POV)
I didn't know she had a motion-sensitive stereo! Damn that girl! Why'd she leave it at full blast…unless she left it for Dark.
As Hiwatari walked past the stereo system (which had continued playing the last song on the CD) and went towards the kitchen area. Then things really went out of control. The stereo turned off, and the TV came on with a very loud movie. He assumed it was the infamous 'Jaws' film with the shark. As the theme music for the great white's appearance played, he went to turn it off. As a result, the stereo came back on with a country song, which was the very first track. He winced as the stereo's loud acoustics began to make his ears throb (the vibrations were the real reason). Thanks to the loud music, he never heard the door open…he only realized that someone had come in when the music instantly went off along with the TV!
-----
"Chief Hiwatari. Care to explain why you're in my house uninvited?" said Kari annoyed.
"What?"
"Sato-kun, were you playing the mix CD again?" asked Kari.
"Nah…you said I could play around with the remote."
"True."
-----
(Krad's POV)
Master Satoshi walked out of the bedroom and stood beside Kari with a smirk. The man who broke into Master Satoshi's house, the one he called 'Father', lay on the ground from pain. Master Satoshi seems to enjoy this…
Hiwatari stood up…I guess the noise hadn't bothered him as much as I'd hoped. He seems angry; maybe it's because Satoshi-sama is by her side. I hope for his sake that he isn't planning to get rid of her. Things will not bode well if he tries that!
(Back to regular POV)
-----
Kari wasn't too happy that Hiwatari had actually showed up. He obviously didn't notice the camera in her hands, since he was too busy arguing with Satoshi. She quickly took a snapshot of him in her house. He blinked a few times thanks to the flash; he tries to lunge for the camera, knowing that if she gave them to the detectives he would lose everything.
"Leave Satoshi alone and these photos won't reach the press," said Kari calmly. She knew he couldn't hear her thanks to the trap Satoshi had sprung on Hiwatari. But he could sense what she had said and that was more than enough. His face was full of rage. Satoshi's eyes were colder than ice towards the man he called father. The man ran out and left the scene faster than they thought he could ever move.
"So, Sato-kun, how'd you like to see what he did to your house?" asked Kari.
"I think that would be a wise choice…considering the fact that I won't call him father after what he pulled," said Satoshi, eerily calm.
"I'll bet you a soda that he'll be trying to get rid of me after this."
"He probably hasn't even realized yet that the recommendation letter you sent was fake."
"How long…?"
"For over a few months now. I suspected you were lying about the college courses when you couldn't remember your teacher's names. So I looked you up and found that you never attended the college. I would have said something earlier, but when you began teaching Dark a lesson I decided against it."
"I'm glad you did. Though the letter was only a partial lie. I really was taking classes on Japanese…except I was doing it online under my usual alias."
"Sakura Elric, right?"
"Yup. Let's go before it gets too dark."
What greeted them was a police barricade and Detective Saehara. He seemed surprised that Satoshi had actually shown up.
"Hello Chief Commander. I thought you weren't feeling well today?"
"I'm fine. So why is there a barricade around my house?" he said calmly.
"There's no way this is your house. The deed is written to a woman named Rio Hikari, according to this."
"That's my mother's name."
"That can't be. Your last name is…"
"Hiwatari? Please, I was adopted. The only reason I even left the title under my original name is so my step-father couldn't use it without my knowing."
"Since someone broke in we can't let you stay here until we confirm that," said Saehara.
"I can live with that. Oh, and my 'father' will be a little hard of hearing for a week at least. He was too close to a stereo playing full blast," said Satoshi with a cold grin of satisfaction.
"I hope you can handle staying with the Chief until this whole mess is sorted out…"
"There's NO way I'm staying with him! I'll be with Kari instead…she doesn't get on my nerves as quickly as he does," said Satoshi.
"Very well, so long as you don't try to leave town," shrugged Saehara.
"Looks like we won't be able to survey the damage until they get through with their investigation."
"Oh well. It's not like there's anything I really need that I can't get elsewhere," shrugged Satoshi. Before she could reply they heard an exclamation and someone yelling, "Hey! Hiwatari wait up!"
-----
"Oh hell no! Why's Takeshi here?!"
"I'm glad I finally found you! I've was looking for you at school and they said you were still sick!"
"Go away Takeshi."
"You do know that the person who called in the break in was a woman, right?"
"What?"
"Yeah, pops let me listen to the tape, and it sounded like a woman's voice! He thought Kari was there until you mentioned that she was with you," said Takeshi, catching his breath.
"That's impossible. There was no one in the house when we left. I should know considering I double-checked!"
-----
KRAD!!! What the hell did you do now?!
What? I didn't do anything.
Then what's this about a WOMAN'S voice calling in the intruder?!
Ah, about that…I tried to imitate Kari but it was impossible so…
You didn't!
I used hers.
You bastard! Why the hell did you have to use my mother's voice?!
-----
"Earth to Hiwatari!" said Takeshi loudly.
"Don't call me Hiwatari anymore. I'm sick of being reminded of that jerk."
"So what else am I supposed to call you?!"
"Hikari. That's my original name," said Satoshi coldly. That was when he remembered something about the house. He remembered exactly where he had put the papers!
"Prove it!" said Takeshi.
"Will your father let you through the barricade?"
"I'm sure I could talk him into it…if you had a juicy scoop I could use."
"Heh…second floor to the right next to the closet. If you open up the middle drawers you'll see something you might find interesting," said Satoshi.
"What?"
"You'll have to find out for yourself," said Satoshi.
"So where was it again?"
"Want me to write it down for you?"
"It might help!"
-----
Satoshi wrote down the specific directions…as well as what folder to look for. He handed it to Takeshi and said, "When you find it, you might as well show your father as well."
"Got it!"
"What was that about?"
"My father tried to sell the house once, except the deed was still in my mother's name. Since he couldn't prove that he had married her, he couldn't do anything with it since I never gave my consent. Ever since then I've kept my own copy of my birth certificate and the adoption forms. I just now remembered where I put them."
"So you sent Takeshi in to get them for you and to prove that the house really is yours legally. Very sneaky Sato-kun!" laughed Kari. They went back up and waited until Takeshi found the forms Satoshi had secretly sent him to get for him. (He wasn't about to tell him that he had Saehara do his dirty work.)
Detective Saehara took one look at the papers and decided to see if they were authentic.
XxXxX
"If I may suggest something, I recommend you look under case file 14F345SH in the land title claims. You'll see that I wasn't joking," said Satoshi coolly. In less than 15 minutes his point was across. Once again he had proven that the house and land around it was legally his and no one else's.
XxXxX
"Sorry about that Chief Commander. I didn't expect you to actually memorize the case number and have those copies!"
"After my step-father tried to sell the place without my consent I figured that I should keep the photocopies in case it might happen again," shrugged Satoshi. As soon as they had collected the evidence they needed to further the investigation, they left. (Much to Satoshi's dismay Takeshi remained, determined to get an interview for the paper!)
After Takeshi got enough answers for an article he left. Satoshi sank down onto the couch wearily. He looked at Kari and asked, "If I strangle Krad will you feel it too?"
"Why…?"
"That idiot had the gall to mimic my mother's voice when he called in the break-in."
"So will they come after you once Hiwatari tries to retaliate?"
"They won't do a thing since I've already proven that I legally own this place and not him. And if he does find out that your letter was fake, he can't exactly kick you out. You didn't take any money from the department, nor have you committed any crimes and the like. You can just claim you're a tourist who volunteered to work with our division," Satoshi pointed out.
"Well actually, he can't exactly kick me out if he doesn't know my real name. My passport may say I'm Kari, but my Driver's Permit from the States says otherwise."
"What?!"
"I didn't want to tell you, but it seems now is a good time to warn you. The name on the passport is a made-up nickname I came up with. I told the Custom's Agency that I preferred going by the nickname instead of my real one. And since I wasn't pretending to be someone else they let me get away with it," admitted 'Kari'.
"So what's your real name, Onee-san?"
"Anne Nichols. You can see why I choose to use a made-up nickname…" she sighed in dismay.
"Yikes…that explains a lot. So should I start calling you Anne or can I keep calling you Kari?"
"The latter."
"You can probably guess what I'm going to start doing."
"Go back to your birth name to spite Hiwatari?"
"Yup."