Author's notes:

Nothing much to say despite thank you for reading and reviewing, and now...

Enjoy!

Chapter 21 – The long awaited Reunion (1)

After she had left the Organization's headquarters Hitomi was heading west, to return to her assigned Region. A lot had happened ever since Jacqueline, her most important friend, had vanished more than two years before. After hearing how she might have awakened she had instantly begun to look for her whenever she had time between two jobs. She had made an oath to herself, that, if Jacqueline really had awakened, she'd kill her the moment she'd meet her. Then, after two years of aimlessly looking for her missing comrade she suddenly heard how she might still be a warrior and got sent onto a mission to find her and make her return to the Organization. With every day she and the partner she had been assigned with, the Organization's Number 2, Vectra, she could feel how she came closer and closer to meeting Jacqueline again. Though she stood calm on the outside her innermost was in uproar, burning with questions she had to ask and things she wanted to say. She eventually got her chance and, while traveling, reflected on those moments that left her in the state of uncertainty she was in...

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There she was, kneeling on the ground, her loyal claymore right next to her. All she could do was stare at her friend Jacqueline, who was standing before her. She had given it her all to defeat her, but she had just not been able to and then, after one deep look into the silver eyes of her friend, realized, that the gap between the two of them was nothing she could hope to close the way things were, and gave up.

Jacqueline sighed as she regarded what seemed to be nothing but Hitomi's broken self kneeling on the ground, defeat written all over her body, crying because she could not do anything else. "If you'd only realize" she said and stepped towards her friend, kneeled down, too, and, while laying her arms around Hitomi, pushing her face tightly against her chest, continued: "how difficult you are making this."

She grabbed the Jacqueline's sides, pinching them, and began to cry and sob loudly. The tall warrior closed her eyes and began to caress her friends hair to calm her down. She checked on Vectra's Yoki for a moment to conclude that she would have been out for a while, and hence decided to stay with Hitomi for a little while.

It took the latter several minutes to calm herself enough to at least stop crying. Hesitatingly she disengaged herself from Jacqueline's embrace, but took the hands of the latter and proceeded holding them. Only sole tears were rolling down her cheeks from time to time and she was breathing deeply in order to calm some more. Her view had fixated the eyes of her friend that seemed to express a faint mixture of pain and guilt.

After a while Hitomi managed to say: "I've missed you so much" took a breath, and added: "It has been so long!"

Jacqueline could feel Hitomi's grip tightening. That alone expressed the feelings of the one before her so strongly that words could never compare. She could feel a stinging pain in her hearth and her chest felt so tight it felt like she might suffocate. Ever since she had decided to leave the Organization she had watched over Hitomi from afar. Even though she wanted to see her above everything else, she had decided against it, because she had thought of herself as a danger to the ones around her, and the last thing she wanted was to endanger Hitomi. She knew, of course, how the latter had felt all the time. And whenever she checked on her she could see the pain of losing her best friend was preying on her mind. In the end she could do nothing but watch, because she was convinced that things were for the best that way, but at that very moment, whit Hitomi directly in front of her, she had to at least explain everything to her, and ignore the doubts about her convictions that where popping up in her mind.

"I missed you, too" she said.

A few moments of silence passed by. Noticing that it was her turn to talk, after all, Jacqueline decided to explain the best she could: "Back then, during the hunt for Luciela of the South, I released too much Yoki and my body went berserk for a moment. The result of that was the death of Neerie and Vanessa being split in half. After somehow managing to suppress my Yoki and fixing her up I decided to leave the Organization. I did not know what had happened. Had I awakened or had I not? Would I awaken soon? I was so afraid of something like that happening again that I decided to live in hiding until I felt it was safe for others to be around me again. I've been watching you from afar all the time, this was all I could. I wanted to go near you and I did not want to leave you alone without even telling you, but I was too afraid of myself and what might happen at any given time that I simply could not go and meet you. It was hard to decide to come and meet you today, but I should have known that you'd come up with some plan to make me. After all, you wanted to see me no matter what. So I decided to come out. I wanted to act as if I did not care about you. I would have been fine with you hating me, as long as that meant you'd be safe. But in the end you did defeat me, so, just this time, I will stay for a little while."

A faint smile appeared on Hitomi's face as she chuckled: "This is so you. I should have figured it was something like that. I can't even be surprised about you crossing your limits and returning afterwards." Her face went a little darker, as she lowered her gaze a little and asked: "This does mean, however, that you are going to leave me again, right?"

Jacqueline did not answer, knowing Hitomi would understand.

"I see" Hitomi said, and, with a pleading gaze, added "but why can't you return? Haven't you been fine for two years already?"

Her friend closed her eyes for a moment to think. Indeed, she was sure about being able to control herself, but something else had come up. Checking on Vectra again she noticed that the latter was still unconscious and decided, that she could share what she had discovered with Hitomi:

"I am fine, yes. There is, however, something else that keeps me."

"What is it?" Hitomi answered instantly.

"First of all" the deserter began her explanation, "all of what I am about to tell you will never leave your mouth, I trust you on that." Hitomi nodded, getting a little tense due to the earnestness.

Jacqueline took a deep breath and explained: "During the last two years I had, apart from killing Awakened Beings and Yoma that happened to cross my paths, plenty of time to monitor all of the land we live on. By doing so I discovered two strange things. The first one is a place, far in the northern lands. Daily there are appearing the Yoki of Yoma seemingly out of nothing. It could be their birth-place, a nest, you could say. However, there is also the second thing that I have found. Below the Organization's headquarters there are two Yoki that are so faint that I am probably the only one who can feel them. Both of them do not resemble anything I have ever felt, be it Yoma, warrior or Awakened Being. However, if you don't look too closely, from a far enough distance, both Yoki appear to merge into one. And this one feels kind of like a Yoma. Can you follow me?"

Hitomi had taken all of that in and, having realized where her friend was going, stumbled: "Y-you are not g-going to say, t-that..."

Jacqueline interrupted her: "This is all hypothetical and I have yet to find proof: Wouldn't you think it is strange that there is a place where Yoma appear out of nowhere and, coincidentally, the Organization has two Yoki sources hidden below their headquarters that, if they blur into each other, strongly resemble a Yoma's Yoki? You are right, what I am saying, is, that it is possible, that Yoma are created by the Organization themselves."

A mixture of shock and disbelief was written all over Hitomi's face.

"Y-you can't be... serious?"

Author's notes:

After finally being able to spend a moment of peace with the friend she thought she had lost Jacqueline presents a frightening hypothesis. Her reaction and part 2 of their encounter in the next update.

Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing, you rock :)

kstefan88