Chapter 40- Saya's Third Chevalier

Mary Frances took a long drag off the cigarette in her mouth as she gazed down at her hand entangled with his. The one thing that was grounding her right now was him. In her mind, she was counting down the hours and minutes that she had left with him before he returned to LA and left her here with this… mess.

Watching the tendrils of smoke that snaked out of her mouth as she exhaled, Jack was thinking along the same lines as the woman that had captured his heart. No matter how long they had left to spend time together, it was not nearly enough. Her pretty brown eyes turned to meet his and she gave a small smile. It wasn't one that said, "Everything's fine." It spoke of confusion and pain- those things that he wanted so badly to take away from her.

"Do you really have to go back?" she asked in just above a whisper, her eyes shining with hope.

He gave her a wide grin and teased, "Hey. What happened to my tough little warrior? Where is the MF I know? The woman I fell for never lets this kinda shit get to her. She just rolls with the punches before dishing out a few of her own."

She smiled her gratitude and then turned back to take another pull from the cigarette before snubbing it out. "I know. This fucking place is making me so damn soft. I don't know why I haven't kicked my own ass yet."

He chuckled at that and finished off his own smoke before he added, "Now don't kick your own ass too hard. I may want to take a whack at it later."

Pushing off the wall, she came up behind him and gave him a swift, loud swat before responding, "If you will recall, my ass is off limits, but yours… my love… belongs to me." Her mouth was on his before he could retort and he quickly melted into it.

Hibiki and Kanade were standing next to each other, Riku on the other side of Hibiki and Hojo next to Kanade with his arm around her waist. A sigh came from Kanade as she watched the two lovebirds kissing.

Hibiki snorted, "I bet she ties him to the bed and tortures him senseless every night."

Riku leaned in and whispered something in her ear to cause her to snort out a very unladylike laugh. He joined in the noisy display bringing Kanade's narrow-eyed glare.

"I think it's sweet that they found each other," Kanade defended as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Yeah," Riku shot back, "submissive finds a dominatrix- very romantic."

Kanade gave a knowing smile and responded, "You should know all about that, huh?"

This brought a blaze of color to her chevalier's cheeks. The younger red queen was hoping that her sister would at least get the hint since her chevalier was too chicken to ask her. It was painfully obvious that Riku was crazy about the blue-eyed queen, but he always had some excuse for why the romance should never be.

Hojo's voice broke them from their verbal jousting, "Well, I get that the two are nuts about each other, but there is a problem- in case no one else has noticed."

The group looked around in confusion. Kanade thought Hojo had just let the cat out of the bag and Riku was too embarrassed to even glance up. Hibiki was clueless until she followed her chevalier's gaze to the couple that was nearly making out next to the wall of Omoro.

"Geez, I hope Kai doesn't come out here and see this. That dude will be sent back home in a body bag," Hibiki commented.

The others looked too and Hojo added, "He's human. He will die long before she does. What will happen to them?"

Hibiki smirked, "Nathan already explained it to me." This brought on shocked expressions from the other three as they waited for the explanation. She added, "He says that there is a way to make their life spans match. All she has to do is turn him."

Kanade blinked and then shook her head. "I thought only queens could make chevaliers."

Hibiki nodded and explained, "Her blood is really strong. Nathan says it's like a mix of a chevalier and a princess. She can't make a chevalier, but she can make something a bit lesser."

"I don't know," Kanade commented as she looked at the pair, now walking hand in hand toward the ballpark. "I could use a second chevalier… and he is pretty strong."

"That would be up to her," Riku said. "If he becomes a chevalier, then he will outlive her."

"Wait…" Kanade noticed as she turned to her sister, "is it just me, or do you guys notice too?"

Hojo interrupted with a confused look, "Notice what?"

"Yeah, she's really strong and all, but why does her blood seem undiluted like the other princesses? We all notice that her presence brings a red haze to our vision. Our bodies react to her like they'd react to Hagi."

"Meaning?" Riku asked.

Hibiki finished with a faraway look, "Meaning that somehow… she is not a princess… she's like Hagi."

"A chevalier?" Hojo and Riku asked together.

"Saya's third chevalier," Hibiki corrected as she began to follow the two that were the topic of the conversation. "I know it's impossible, but that is exactly what she feels like. Maybe her human mother had weak DNA and it was overcome her father's… because I know that there is no possible way for a female to become a chevalier."

"Has anyone tried?" asked Hojo.

Hibiki nodded, "Nathan told me that Amshel had tried… and many centuries ago, the immortal court had discovered one that had tried. The results were the same- you recall those ugly creatures we fought?" At the collective nods, she finished, "That's what happens when a queen shares her blood with a human woman."

It took a moment for the group to mull over the idea before Riku asked, "When Cinq Fleches developed that drug, why did it do that to everyone- including the males?"

"That drug was some kind of mutation," Hibiki spat. At the surprised looks of her companions, she turned innocent eyes upward and commented, "What? I did nearly finish my degree in Bio-chemistry. Besides, I've been in Dr. J's lab enough times to know some of the tests they do."

"Okay…" Hojo said after a time of thoughtful silence in the group. "So how is it possible that we have a female chevalier on our hands?"

"Dr. Julia is still trying to figure it out," Kanade informed them. "It makes things more difficult when Hagi decides he doesn't want to cooperate. Now that he is somewhat accepting of the DNA results, he's back to refusing to give samples of his blood, skin, and anything else that Dr. Julia would even think to ask for."

~0~

Evening had come to Koza, bringing even cooler temperatures that brought the younger generation indoors and a sneaky smile to the face of Omoro's owner. Riku, as usual acted a kitchen helper and Hojo bussed tables and acted as a bouncer if anyone got a bit rowdy. It surprised him that the newest arrival helped him out quite a bit, too.

Jack may have been human, but he was a very strong human. Working on cars in the heat of the shop was a great help in making the young man very strong and quite agile.

The younger queens were at their usual place as waitresses. The two moved through the crowd effortlessly and handled orders with a grace that came from the vast experience they gained in the past fifteen years.

It amazed them that the locals weren't more curious about them. After all, they had been working as waitresses for so long and yet they had not aged. So many other waitresses had come and gone throughout the years, but they were the constant- other than Kai. Again, as they had done every other night, they shrugged the thought and moved on. Everyone was too busy to care anyway.

Mary Frances did what she loved- the bar. Kai was a wiz at cooking, but Mary Frances knew alcohol. The number of different Japanese beers they had on tap were a source of curiosity for the young woman. In the past few times she had worked the bar, Kai allowed her to try one mug of her chosen draft. So far, she had tried the first three and tonight was going to be really great because she would finally get to try number four- the most popular with the locals and she was dying to find out why.

Like she had told Hagi before, it didn't matter how much she consumed, she could not get drunk. That was the reason she never really cared to drink a lot. Where was the fun in consuming something like alcohol if it did nothing to you?

The place was packed at 7pm and they had already begun their second wave of guests with a crowd outside waiting to come in. Kai popped his graying read head out of the kitchen door to the sight. It was shaping up to be the busiest night ever at Omoro! The question was- would they be able to handle it?

Suddenly, the queens had to shut their eyes when the sudden red haze clouded their vision and the sudden rage of the eldest queen caused their eyes to glow in either vibrant red or blue. The two chevaliers and Mary Frances looked up to the ceiling and all knew that only one thing would have caused this sudden disturbance.

Thankfully, the girls pulled their feelings back and began to work again with radiant smiles while Hojo and Riku took their cues from their queens. Mary Frances was still looking at the ceiling with a sigh and a very busy Jack couldn't help but notice. He lightly scoffed and shook his head sadly. As bad as he wanted to know, he would not push her, but there was still something that needed to be explained to him. It bothered him that the sister of this man Kai seemed to hold such animosity toward Mary Frances.

The twin girls that lived under Kai's roof bore a remarkable resemblance to the woman that they told him was their aunt. That could not be possible! The woman that seemed to be hiding upstairs looked like she could be their lost triplet.

Aside from that, there was that damn attitude the woman had. Mary Frances explained to him that the woman, Saya, was in love with her half-brother Hagi. Why Mary Frances would have anything to do with their relationship was beyond him and it was bothering him. "What does she have to do with any of this?" he mumbled, hoping that the real answer was not that Mary Frances had decided to bed the guy after all.

She was that kind of girl and even though he was not her type at all- it seemed the only logical explanation for all the negativity that was going on. Maybe Hagi wasn't really her half-brother and she was saying it to save face.

He chuckled at the thought. That guy she was staying with was about as warm as a block of ice in the North Pole during a blizzard. His beloved little fireball had made it no secret that she could not stand the man that she called her half-brother. There was no way that they would have an affair.

~0~

The cool night air had caused Saya to seek out her pink flannel pajamas with the little fluffy bunny socks as she moved to the window and gaze at the half moon in the sky. This time of year, the nights were mostly clear, letting the stars twinkle like specks of glitter in the midnight blue canvas above.

Wisps of chilled air were seeping through the small crack that was left when she closed the window. It wasn't the first time she had noticed some detail Kai had missed in keeping the place up. Being the father of four was a real challenge- especially when single. The idea of calling a repairman came to mind as she bit her bottom lip. It would just make Kai feel bad if she did that.

With a sigh of reluctance, Saya decided to climb into bed. In her heart, she felt bad that she wasn't downstairs helping with the dinner crowd, but she was still not at her best. Whenever she was confronted with the problem, she'd shake her head and command, "No. No, I don't want to hear it."

Her heart was broken into a million pieces… and there was nothing he could do to repair the damage that had been done.

A small welling of tears formed at the base of her eyes as her long, black lashes fanned over them, causing them to spill. Every night since she had found out about Hagi's affairs she had cried herself to sleep, swearing each time would be the last.

After she was fast asleep, her faithful chevalier returned, pulling open the window and slipping inside before a very large draft could slip through and wake her. It gave him hope that somewhere deep inside she still believed in him when she left that window unlocked. She had to know that he could never stay away from her.

The blue-grey eyes that scanned the room methodically seemed to glow against the alabaster skin of his face. Shadows from the bars of the window cast lines that broke up his face into four parts as his eyes finally made it to the reason for his coming here.

She had finally finished clearing her room out of the unwanted stuff that had littered the floor and the closet. Her clothes hung in the closet neatly and everything seemed to be in order, save the dirty pair of socks that hung haphazardly on the edge of the bed.

It was all he could do for her tonight, so he took the dirty socks from the bed and placed them in the basket of dirty clothes before he returned to her bedside. He had done this in secret every night since she had found out about Mary Frances. Before the first shafts of sunlight rose above the horizon in the morning, he would make a silent escape.

As she slept in peace, he couldn't help noticing the tears that had welled under the dark lashes that fanned above her cheeks. His hand moved of its own volition as it followed where his heart led. He wanted all the tension between them to evaporate like the morning mist in the light of day. The skin of his hand trembled with anticipation of the touch he had missed for so very long.

As his hand moved slowly closer, his eyes widened marginally and one could barely notice the small upward curve in the corner of his mouth. No matter what she did, every second with her was pure bliss and he could not resist just a simple, chaste caress of his hand across the skin on her face.

The moment his hand made contact, her eyes shot open and the force of her anger physically pushed him back a couple of meters. Her eyes immediately turned brilliant red as she angrily growled, "How dare you touch me!"

She hadn't even touched him, but he could feel the ache from the blow in his gut. Her pure rage was making the room feel too small. Staggering to his feet, Hagi placed his palm out in front of him and brought out a dagger in the other.

Before he could make the cut, she was in front of him, slapping the dagger out of his hand and causing it to be flung into the wall all the way to the hilt. "I did not call you," she informed him, "and I am not in need of blood. The Red Shield takes care of that for me now."

He bowed his head as he fell to his knees. Knowing she was watching him and waiting for him to plead his case, he asked in a soft voice, "Saya, do you not know me? I am your servant and I serve you with my mind, body, and heart. I would come back for you no matter what has happened or will happen."

"Your heart?" she asked. "You can't be serious! One thing is obvious to me and it's the fact that you have… a daughter! If your heart was really mine… then… y-you would have waited for me!"

His eyes remained downcast with his face, causing her to only see the back of his head where the tied locks of wavy hair fell between his shoulders. The navy ribbon still held the strands together, leaving the shorter ones to frame his face. "If you truly know me, then you will know that the accusations against me are false."

"The DNA test lies too?" she asked bitterly. "Hagi, how could you? How could you come here a-and try this? Why can't you just admit it?"

His eyes shut, but as his face remained turned to the floor, she could not see. She did not believe him. All the moments they had spent together, from the time to the Zoo all the way until the present moment came to mind. It was the most heart rending thing he had ever experienced. She did not trust him. All this time and all that they had been through- she did not trust him. Even as the floor around him skewed in his vision with the tears welling in his eyes, he held it together. "I…" he responded slowly, "I will not admit to a lie. I have never betrayed you."

Tears of her own welled and spilled, but they were not the result of sorrow- they were tears of rage. Here he was again, completely refusing to tell her the truth! How long was he going to maintain this lie? Suddenly, the room was suffocating her. She quickly rose from the bed, throwing off her blanket and rushed to the door, throwing it open. "Go and look at her!" she demanded. "I want you to go out there and take a good look at your daughter, Hagi. Then… come back here and tell me to my face that it's a lie!"

He did not move right away, but instead spoke, "I do know that she is my daughter, Saya. However, I maintain my innocence. There has never been another woman in my heart but you."

She bit the inside of her cheeks and thrust her hand out the door, commanding him to go. Once she calmed enough to speak, she added, "I have two eyes that work fine. I have seen the girl and I have seen the DNA results. I have lived for more than 200 years, Hagi. There is only one way for a woman to get pregnant- and you managed to get two pregnant. J-just tell me the truth."

Hagi rose quickly and headed down the stairs to the pub, without a glance to Saya. He couldn't see it again- he couldn't see the anger there. She was right, it was obvious that he was lying, but he couldn't recall any moment of weakness toward any woman. How was the impossible actually happening?

As he made his way through the pub, he was halted by the upturned hand of Hibiki. Her cool blue eyes glared at the chevalier, speaking more in that one look than most people could ever hope to express in an entire conversation.

Thankfully, dinner service had ended, leaving the pub empty of all patrons as the younger generation was cleaning up. He had just been scolded by the younger queen for his chat with the unwanted chevalier, but that was not his main concern when his eyes moved to the bar at the other side of the pub.

Mary Frances was standing with her eyes locked on the nearly white haired man at the end of the bar. Neither party even noticed what was going on as they were busy talking and drinking.

Drinking? Hagi's serious gaze turned directly to the girl who was now laughing at something that was said when Riku joined them while grabbing himself a bottle and popping the cap off. When his expression froze at the sight of Hagi, it caused the others to turn to face him, as well.

Not even when Kai came out of the kitchen, shouting at his underage son about his choice in beverage, did the chevalier's intense gaze leave his daughter's.

She then decided she had enough of her father's house rules. With an eyebrow raised in challenge, the girl took a big drink from the frothy mug on the counter. Her eyes never left his as she dared him to try to do anything about it.

Hagi finally broke the intense silence. "Tell Jack goodbye and then return home immediately," he demanded in a low and angry voice.

When he had disappeared, she began mocking him. Riku snickered, knowing his dad had gone back into the kitchen, but he still did not try to take another drink from the bar.

Mary Frances waved him toward the bar and was surprised at his upturned hands and the shake of his head. "What?" she asked in surprise. "You had enough?"

"Yeah," he responded. "Dad and I already had this talk before and it's not one I want to have again… EVER!"

She raised a brow. Kai didn't look like the type to hit his own kids. Shrugging it off, she dismissed the thought and took a hard swig off the mug of beer. Her boyfriend's question brought her out of her thoughts.

"You think he knows what we did in his apartment?" he asked. At her nod, he asked another question, "Why does it matter? He's only your half-brother, so why does it matter if we're sleeping together?"

She shrugged and answered, "He's just overprotective… and a prude."