Approximately three months later…
She watched as the morning sun rose up out of the ocean for the brief portion of the drive that took them within view of the beach. Saya, and her thirteen-year-old adoptive brother, George, sat in the backseat with their book bags in their laps
"Where're Kai, Aka and Ruka this morning?" Saya asked. She had taken on the habit of referring to her adoptive father by his first name, as did her adoptive sisters.
"Um, I think Kai took them to a doctors appointment. They'll be late to school."
"Oh."
In truth, all three were attending a Red Shield teleconference regarding some recent, unsettling information Lewis had managed to turn up. Over the past few decades, chiropteran incidents had been few and far between, but were still enough of a problem to keep the Shield in operation. During Saya's long sleep, Kai, being infallibly loyal and experienced in the field, had risen to third in command next to David. As for Diva's twins, skills acquired during their stint as kendo champions combined with the cultivation of their chiropteran powers by their uncles made them an obvious choice for de facto on-staff secret weapons in Saya's absence.
The car came to a stop at the monorail station.
"I've never ridden alone before," Saya commented to no one in particular.
"Sorry, but I don't have time to drive you all the way to school before work. George is only getting a free ride because his school's on the way."
"I understand," Saya nodded. As she scooted toward the door, she turned to face George. She had made an earnest effort to be friends with him, but she had yet to realize that he was making an equal effort to avoid her. Unknown to Saya, his evasive behavior was not due to his knowing that she was a blood-thirsty chiropteran; after all, he had grown up around Diva's twins. It was just that the myriad of lies and half-truths and subjects to be avoided made conversing with Saya mentally exhausting for the young teenager, especially when taken with his father's frightening allusions to what could happen if she wasn't brought to the truth gently.
"Have a good day at school!" Saya said cheerfully as she flung her arms playfully around him. "I could just hug you to death!"
The boy looked more generally uncomfortable than embarrassed as Saya slid out of the car and made her way to the platform. Once onboard, she found it to be especially crowded that morning; most of the passengers were standing shoulder to shoulder.
Saya clung to a rail, gazing inattentively at blurred scenery, when her face abruptly formed into a frown.
What was that?
Did someone just touch my butt?
Yeah.
She was now especially sorry that she was alone today.
Maybe it was an accident…
No. That was definitely not an accident.
…Okay, what do I do?
Ruka had once told her that the proper response was to hoist up the offending hand in order to publicly shame the guilty party, but she knew that neither of her adoptive sisters were known for avoiding conflict, on the contrary, they both seemed rather fond of making a scene every now and then.
Before she could settle on a course of action, the hand was abruptly snatched away, the groper's grunt making it clear that it was done forcefully by some third party.
Saya turned to face the commotion, expecting so find an irate dirty old man standing behind her, only to discover that he was actually no older than she assumed herself to be, and looked scared half out of his wits as he scampered to the back of the car.
"At that age, boys can hardly help themselves," a bystander, presumably the one who had confronted him, chuckled softly.
"Thank you," Saya managed along with a grateful bow.
At no point in their interaction did she ever look him in the face, half out of embarrassment, and half due to cultural norms concerning his being an older, and judging by the expensive-looking black suit, important stranger.
"Here, please take my seat, we wouldn't want that to happen again, now would we?"
"Thank you, but no, I'm already obliged -"
"If your obliged, then why not sit as I've requested?" he said, his smile quite evident in his tone of voice.
"Thank you." She reluctantly took the seat.
A station came and went.
"So, you're on you're way to school?" he asked.
"Yes."
He certainly is forward, this guy.
"Do you like it? Your school, I mean."
"Yes."
"The uniform suits you."
That comment made her more than a little uncomfortable. I may have just traded one pervert for another… or… could it have been him to begin with?
"Um, this is my stop," she said with yet another bashful bow, eager to remove herself from this awkward situation. However, she couldn't avoid coming in rather close proximity to him as she slid through the crowd on her way to the door.
She immediately took note of a strange, and somewhat unsettling physical response, her heart began racing, senses heightening, her entire body entering a state of non-specific physiological arousal.
She attributed this to embarrassment and nervousness.
Saya caught the stranger's smile out of the corner of her eye as she stepped off the train, and was suddenly seized by an intense, unexplainable urge to remain in his presence. But by the time she was able to recognize the feeling, the doors had closed behind her, and the stranger was now obscured by the crowd.
The Miyagusuku family was no longer quartered at Omoro. Though the pub was still in operation, Mao had insisted on moving into a real house, her considerable income making a much nicer residence possible, and because her risky profession required her to move often. Kai had agreed partially because the neighborhood surrounding Omoro wasn't as nice as it once was, but primarily because he had finally learned how to choose his battles wisely.
Saya was doing her best to study that afternoon, but the surprisingly obnoxious vocal exercises coming from the other room were not making it easy. The sound of the doorbell stood out amongst the singing, and caused Saya to look up from her homework.
"I'll get it!"
The front door was actually at the other end of the house from where she had been studying, but lately she had been going out of her way to be helpful.
How could I ever repay them for adopting me, some complete stranger with absolutely no identity or past?
She bounded into the front room, barely taking notice of Kai napping on the couch, and didn't bother to peek out the window before pulling the door open.
Saya's head tilted back slightly in order to find the face of the tall caller, but when she did, suddenly all thoughts of a standard polite greeting left her mind; indeed for those few seconds, she forgot not only how to speak, but how to breathe.
Her lips parted slightly and her eyes bore a look somewhere between dazed and awed. In that moment, the world seemed to pause around him, the young man was like an image, suspended in time.
His long, wavy black hair was gathered back in a blue ribbon, several chin-length tendrils draped carelessly about his face. He was uncommonly tall, with a slim figure clad in an elegant, yet curiously retro suit, unique due to it's slightly flared sleeves, and it's having coattails both in front and in back.
She found herself completely unable to estimate his age with any confidence; he could have passed for any where between his late teens to his early thirties. His face could be best described as distinctive, but in the most attractive of ways; his features initially struck her as biracial, though what combination she could barely guess. In her limited experience, his exceptionally fair skin and pale-blue eyes suggested that he was from somewhere in Europe, but there was something about him that struck her as having more exotic origins, perhaps Middle Eastern.
Either way, she came to the same conclusion as so many had in the past.
Oh my god, he's gorgeous!
Saya's appraisal was made without a second's awkward hesitation, the implications no greater than if he had been a real stranger, since her judgment was no longer obstructed by decades of seeing him as something like a brother or as a herald of impending carnage and misery. He was simply an attractive young man who had just happened to fall into her life.
She would have never guessed that he was, at that moment, making a similar assessment of her as she had of him, admiring how her current appearance echoed back to the Saya of old, not just her general air of carelessness, but her long hair. Mao had been quite adamant that it should not be cut short again.
At least thirty seconds of mutual staring passed before she returned to her senses, glancing over her shoulder to find that everyone in the house, save George, was now standing in the room, watching intently for some indication of awakening.
Saya flushed in embarrassment at her absent-minded behavior, absolutely sure that whatever this young man was thinking of her, it was definitely something along the lines of her being a weirdo. If she had remembered how to read his subtle affect, she would have seen that he was actually quite happy to see her, and truly charmed by her blush.
"Oh, hey Haji!" Kai exclaimed, hopping up from the couch and making his way toward his guest.
Haji. Saya took note of the name.
"Saya, this is Haji." Kai turned to his guest. "Haji – Saya."
Kai, and indeed, almost everyone in the room felt that there was something profoundly absurd about what he had just said, the idea of introducing Saya to someone who had been her almost constant companion for decades.
"Haji is an old friend of mine – from – from work. Saya's the new addition to the family. Um, come on in bro, don't just stand out there in the rain!"
Haji obeyed his host and stepped into the house.
Kai turned to Saya. "We, uh," he paused, searching for the lie that they had previously settled upon, "according to the police report, even though you weren't carrying any I.D., you did have some sheet music for cello in your bag, I figured you must have played it, so we thought we'd get you one, but I don't know shit about cellos, so I asked Haji here, Haji's a great cello player by the way, to pick one out for you."
Haji sensed that this was his cue to shed the cargo on his back, an ordinary, black, hard-shell cello-shaped case, and proceeded to open it, revealing a shapely wood form, polished to a glassy-shine
"It's the best instrument to be had for a reasonable price," Haji said quietly.
He has such a nice voice, she thought to herself, soft but masculine.
"Um, the thing is - I don't remember how to play it."
Kai chuckled. "That's why Haji's gonna give you some lessons."
"Lessons?" she glanced at her teacher to be. "I don't know, I don't want to be too much trouble…"
Kai laughed again. "C'mon, it might help you remember something."
As hesitant as she was, the possibility of regaining some of her past combined with the prospect of spending time with such a desirable new acquaintance, made her nod her acquiescence.
"Well if it isn't my dear friend Haji!" came a squeal from beside the kitchen door.
Haji had actually been so preoccupied by Saya, he hadn't noticed Nathan standing at the other end of the room. Haji's features formed into an almost discernable expression of dismay.
Saya seemed intrigued by Nathan's greeting. Nathan knows him?
Of course, as far as Saya knew, Nathan Mahler was a family friend, who strangely, no one, save her adoptive sisters, ever seemed very pleased to see.
"Don't worry sweet cheeks, I'm not stalking you. I'm here for the twin's voice lessons," Nathan chirped.
Stalking? Wait, could they be ex's or something? She glanced at Haji again. He is well groomed and a nice dresser… and… I guess he's too perfect to be straight.
"You know, speaking of voice lessons," Nathan continued, "Saya, I really wish I could convince you to join in, I'd bet that there's some beautiful music hiding somewhere in that beautiful throat! Don't you think so, Haji?"
Haji knew that strangely enough, Nathan was right. He could recall days long passed when Saya could often be caught idly singing to herself, and she even occasionally coerced him into singing duets with her on particularly boring afternoons. But Saya's singing voice seemed to have been permanently silenced, not coincidentally after the Zoo tragedy. Haji had always supposed that it reminded her of Diva, as he had observed their respective singing voices to be strikingly similar, though Saya's style was a good deal less extravagant.
Saya shook her head bashfully. "I never sing."
"Oh now that really is a shame!"
Nathan's attention appeared to shift back toward Haji, but before any cheeky comments could be made, Haji turned to address Saya.
"Shall I return tomorrow for your first lesson?" he asked softly.
For a long moment, Saya was silent, seemingly hypnotized by mysterious slate blue eyes. Eventually, she managed a dumb nod.
With that, Haji made his exit, and Saya immediately made her way to her room, suddenly desperate for a moment alone with her thoughts.
She sighed as she tossed herself onto her bed, and immediately found herself lost in her reverie on the strange feelings that the young man had so effortlessly inspired in her.
It's strange, I feel almost like – like somehow, this guy is really… important. Almost like he's a crucial part of… I don't know… my destiny… Like a part I've been missing.
Wait, isn't that what it's supposed to feel like when you fall in love at first sight? Does that mean I'm in love with him?
The three Queens, though only two of them knew of their bearing this title, sat around the kitchen table, receiving their transfusions, Aka and Ruka whispering amongst themselves, while Saya pretended not to feel left out.
While she was rather fond of her sisters, in truth, Saya didn't feel as close to either of the twins as one might have supposed she would, mainly because of the obvious profound intimacy between them, Saya was beginning to realize that she was often the third wheel. Then there was also the matter of the unwelcoming silence she was always greeted with when walking in on their conversations. Between these two perceptions, it was impossible not to feel like an outsider. But, like George, it wasn't because they didn't like her, it was because half the things they had to talk about, couldn't be discussed in front of Saya, from their family history, to various events in their lives that would have identified them as being over sixteen.
Mao sat down at the table beside Saya.
"So, I take it you like your cello teacher."
Saya blushed slightly. "Um, yeah, I guess so."
"You should totally ask him out," Mao said casually.
Saya's blush deepened. "W-why would I do that?" she stuttered in a failed attempt at appearing disinterested.
"Oh, c'mon, we saw you at the front door, you were about two seconds away from drooling."
"I was not!" Saya retorted, reddening even further.
Mao shot her a stern, skeptical look, causing Saya to change her tune.
"Okay, fine! I admit it, he's kind of cute."
The twins' only input to the conversation was their stifled laughter. It seemed to Saya that giggling was Akahana and Ruka's natural state of being. In truth, they weren't much more bubbly than an average young woman, it was just that from Saya's early days acting like a toddler, to now, with Haji's arrival, they were immensely entertained by the ironies of Saya's amnesia. It was the constant diversion of I know something you don't know. However, because their laughter was so frequent, Saya was often able to tune it out for the most part, as if it were the laugh track to a sit-com.
"Well, then ask him out, why don't you?" Mao said impatiently.
Saya struggled to regain her composure. She had spent enough time in society to learn that for a teenage girl to be pressured into dating by a responsible adult was a little strange.
"Don't – don't you think he's too old for me?"
Aka and Ruka erupted into full on laughter.
"If you find him attractive, then who cares how old he is?"
Saya thought for a moment, "Yeah, but – I mean, a guy like that – he's totally out of my league."
"Oh, hush," Nathan chimed in, having invited himself into the room and the conversation, being in the habit of hanging around after the twin's voice lessons. "Honey, you are just as pretty as he is – as a matter of fact, when you're not sniveling, you're downright stunning."
What was that supposed to mean? thought Saya. Well, I guess if Nathan thinks I have a shot, then that probably means that at least Haji's straight, not that it would give me much more of a chance.
Yet more giggling from Aka and Ruka.
"See, even Nathan thinks you're pretty!" Mao returned to her prodding. "So you should definitely ask Haji out."
Saya couldn't help but wonder why her adoptive mother was so insistent on this, knowing nothing of Mao's lingering insecurities about her husband. As a precautionary measure, Mao wanted to get Saya paired off with somebody as soon as possible, and she had decided that Haji was the most expedient candidate.
"I don't think Saya has that kind of guts," Nathan declared.
"Well, at least flirt with him a little, Saya."
"Flirt with him?"
"Yeah." Mao nodded. "Look Saya, I'll tell you a little secret about men – they're all idiots," she paused, "no offense Nathan – but then again, - I'm not sure you count."
"None taken," Nathan returned casually.
"Anyways, all men are idiots, especially when it comes to romance, unlike us, they don't know the difference between their heart, their brain and their – you get where I'm going with this? Without a woman's encouragement and feedback, they don't know which way is up in a relationship, so if you want one, then YOU have to take charge, you got it?"
It was a few seconds before Saya spoke. "Um, this might be the amnesia talking, but - um, how do you, um, you know, flirt?"
Mao considered this for a moment. "You ever meet someone who was just a little too friendly?"
Saya nodded, instantly thinking of the man on the train. Meanwhile, the twins had resumed whispering amongst themselves.
"Well, just act like that, for starters."
"You're grossly oversimplifying it," Nathan interjected.
"Yeah, well, she's a beginner!"
"We've got an idea!" Aka exclaimed as Ruka leaned toward Saya. "What you've gotta do is…" her voice faded into a whisper only intelligible to Saya.
"You can't be serious!"
"Hell yeah!" Aka insisted.
"Saya, if you don't do this, I swear I will lose all respect for you!" Ruka added, only half joking.
Saya blushed as she fussed with her I.V., made her excuses and made her way upstairs, her lips forming into a nervous, yet somehow mischievous smile as soon as she was alone.
Mao busied herself at the other end of the kitchen, but Aka, Ruka and Nathan remained around the table.
"Hmm," Nathan put his fist to his chin as he turned to the twins, "Interesting that you two are pressuring her to flirt with Haji. I was under the impression that Solomon already bought your loyalty. Could it be that he's rubbing off on you?"
"Hey, we just agreed to tell him when she woke up."
"That may be, but don't you think siding with Solomon was implicit in the deal?"
"We're not siding with anyone, ojisan," Aka insisted.
Strangely, the habit of referring to their late mother's Chevaliers as "ojisan" had developed rather recently. As children, they referred to all their uncles by their first names, Kai, Nathan and Solomon, but upon learning a little more about their immortal uncles, they began using "ojisan," as their shared odd sense of humor had decided that it bore an amusing double meaning of uncle and old-man, as Solomon was over a hundred, and Nathan was, in all likelihood, the oldest living organism on the planet. Likewise, whenever they were talking in private, Saya was known as "obachan."
"Then why get involved?"
Ruka glanced at her sister before answering. "I don't know, I guess you could say we just want to stir things up a bit."
"Ojisan, keep in mind, we're thirty-two years old, we've moved back into our parents house and are going to high school all over again. The only fun thing about this arrangement is seeing how this Saya-Haji-Solomon thing plays out."
Nathan laughed heartily and patted the two girls on the head. "That's my little Princesses!"
"And besides," Aka resumed, "Why does she have to choose anyway? Queens can make multiple Chevaliers, so from an evolutionary stand point, that suggests that Chiropterans are naturally polyandrous."
Nathan laughed and Mao decided to rejoin the conversation. "Good luck with that, girls, trust me, one husband is a pain in the ass, having two would be twice the variety in bed, yes, but I'll bet you anything it'd be quadruple the pain in the ass, and thus not worth it."
A pair of chairs were set up in the center of the deathly silent living room. The amnesiac and her life-long companion approached their seats, and began uncasing their instruments.
"What happened to your hand?"
"A mistake," he answered flatly. Saya correctly assumed that it wasn't something he wanted to discuss.
She let out a discreet sigh, attempting to pluck up her courage.
"I, um," she managed a half-forced grin, "that's a nice suit."
"Thank you." You picked out the original, he recalled fondly.
Haji began by playing a brief example, naturally, an excerpt from the Bach Cello Suite No. 5.
"You're -" she sighed in a slightly, but obviously exaggerated tone of admiration, "You're amazing, that was really beautiful."
He glanced up at her, brows ever so slightly raised into a look of subtle curiosity and confusion. She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a smile too.
Haji was no idiot, he knew flirting when he heard it. This notion, combined with his finally getting a verbalized compliment from her as to his musicianship, was enough to make his year, to say the least.
"Thank you."
He motioned for her to pick up her instrument. As she opened her legs, she thought of how glad she was that she had changed into a pair of pants after school, but as soon as she grasped the bow, she experienced a flash of phantom sensation, so brief that all she was only able to perceive the distinctive feeling of restrictive clothing.
Haji watched tentatively as she shifted in her chair.
Saya inhaled deeply.
"What you gotta do is…"
She slowly exhaled, again, attempting to gather her courage.
"I'm not sure how to hold it, do you think you could show me?"
He gave a silent nod and exemplified the movement.
"Um, I mean, could you help me."
His brows raised even more when he realized what she meant, and he placed his instrument gently on the carpet, proceeding to kneel behind her chair, arms reaching around either side of her.
A chill spread throughout her body, a quarter due to his cool hands on her wrists, a quarter to his cool breath on her neck as he spoke softly over her shoulder, and half due to sheer excitement.
"Just hold the bow straight across the strings."
Saya didn't see the tiny smirk he displayed with that statement.
He guided her hands and the bow along with them, creating a tolerable sound. She smiled at her own progress, unthinkingly turning her head to show him her pleasure.
But the smile quickly fell as her eyes locked on his for what seemed like a much-too-short eternity.
Without thinking, she briefly glanced down at his lips, and was again enveloped in tactile flashback, this time the sensation of wet clothes clinging to her skin, hot tears streaming from her eyes and cool lips closing against hers.
It was only when she returned to her senses that she realized how near she had been to reenacting the mysterious notion, that all throughout her brief break from reality, her face had been slowly drifting toward his.
She blushed along with a shyly averted gaze. "I - I think I get it now."
"That's all for today!" called the coach. The dusty high school track slowed under the feet of the three Queens, and they, along with their classmates and the coach, made their way toward the gym.
"Who do you think could have sent it?" Saya returned them to a previous subject, something that was weighing quite heavily on her mind.
Aka and Ruka glanced at each other. "No idea."
"Sent what?" inquired someone standing nearby, and Saya was rather surprised to see that it was the coach.
…
It was, without a doubt, the biggest bouquet any of them had ever seen, the sort of gaudy arrangement that would have been more appropriate for a wedding or funeral, an enormous mountain of red roses intermingling with spires of purple gladiolus, baby's breath adorning the edge, like lace on a valentine.
The entire household stood in awe of the delivery.
"I don't suppose this is a belated anniversary gift," Mao muttered, though with a playful air.
Kai plucked the gilded white card from amongst the flowers and glanced at Saya.
"What's it say?"
"Read it yourself," he sighed as he placed the card in her hand.
For Saya
From _____
The color drained out of her face upon reading her name, but returned, and then some, when she read the enclosed message, written in elegant English script.
Please consider this a token of my eternal devotion.
Her mouth hung wide open, a pair of giggles ringing in her ears as Aka and Ruka peered over her shoulder at the card.
…
"Oh, someone sent Saya a huge bunch of flowers this morning."
"Wow," said the coach sounding genuinely impressed, her manner less like a teacher than a gossiping classmate, "barely at this school a month and you already have a secret admirer!"
"Somehow I don't think a high school guy would ever write the words eternal and devotion in the same sentence," Aka commented.
"Well, if it's not someone from school, who could it have been?" asked the nosy adult.
Saya considered the implications of this statement. That logic in mind, she could think of only one person who might have sent it.
It had to be him. Who else could it have been?
She developed a curious warm, heavy sensation in the center of her chest.
"Saya?"
"Saya?"
"Earth to Saya?"
She shook her head, as if to snap herself out of it.
"Oh, sorry, just… thinking."
"About your lover?" Ruka teased.
"No!" she paused. "Or, well, I just wish I knew who sent it." Several seconds passed before she worked up the nerve to pose the question that was now occupying her mind, and her heart, so completely.
"Do you think it could have been – do you think maybe it was, um, you know, Haji."
The twins glanced at each other, engaging in a brief telepathic dialog.
"Should we tell her who it really was?"
"Better not, then she'll ask 'who the hell is that' and we'd have to tell her everything…"
"Um, somehow I doubt that a music teacher could afford to send you something like that, I mean, a bouquet that – um – humongous, would probably cost like, fifty-thousand yen."
"Hmm…"
Saya was strangely disappointed to hear that.
"Who's Haji?" asked the coach, still walking beside them.
"Saya's cello teacher, who she's got the hots for."
"Give it a rest, will you!" Saya exclaimed.
They reached the gym door and the coach spoke again. "Miyagusukus, hang on a second."
The twins approached their teacher while Saya continued on her way.
"How's she doing?"
"Okay, still doesn't remember anything."
The older-middle-aged woman sighed. "Well, tell your dad that I was happy to help," she said, referring to her tampering with some school records on their behalf, at Kai's request. "If there's anything I can do, just give me a call."
"Sure thing, coach Kinjou."
"How long do you think she'll be going to school here?"
The twins thought for a moment and exchanged glances before Ruka spoke, "That kinda depends on when her memories come back -" she paused, and resumed in a rather grave tone, "or if shit starts happening again."
The coach nodded. It might have seemed strange that Kaori Kinjou was now so knowledgeable on a subject previously kept secret from her even by her best friend, but her inclusion was felt to be necessary, though not out of any need for her help. Shortly after Saya went into hibernation, Kai had taken on the grim task of informing all of Saya's non-Shield acquaintances that she had died due to complications from her anemia, but he didn't have the heart to tell this to Kaori, knowing that she would have not only have taken it extremely hard, but was close enough to Saya to be able to discern that she wasn't being told the whole story, which was exactly what she ended up getting.
The middle-aged woman's lips formed into a bittersweet smile.
"I guess there's no chance that she'd want to hang out with an old lady like me."
Of course, I am anxious to know what you all think of the various reunions, or anything else you feel like commenting on!