Please read Disclaimer in Chapter One.
Title: Maya's Tale (C16: Welcome The Stranger)
Author: JaganshiKenshin
Genre: Action/Adventure, General
Rating: K+/PG-13 (for anime-style fight scenes/language)
Summary: The Kawasaki sisters learn the truth about the cameraman.
A/N: Idiot Beloved takes place shortly after the Dark Tournament; Firebird Sweet directly follows that timeline. For certain character developments, you might read them in order. I appreciate your reviews and thanks for reading this tale!
"Don't blame him for what he is!"
Maya's Tale (16: Welcome The Stranger )
by
Kenshin
If you were just looking at surface appearances, the Kawasaki residence was cozy, safe and warm.
The fire crackled. The clock ticked. And the strange girl, teacup in hand, went on about her 'gifted' father.
But beneath the surface was the matter of Maya's kidnaping. And the fact that the girl was not exactly human.
Olivia told herself: Two ladies of our caliber would not simply leave Maya to chance. Even with this rather pathetic Roku-girl here, we would take our weapons and fly to her aid.
So why were they lingering?
"My dear." Olivia addressed the girl, not knowing her name, "I'm sorry. But we must go now and help Maya."
The girl didn't look up. "You can't."
"I insist."
"Please feel free to remain here," Ruth chimed in. "We can see that you have much to tell us, and that this house fascinates you. You'll be quite safe. Explore as you wish. Help yourself to anything you like in the kitchen."
The girl began to tremble. "You can't," she repeated.
"We'll return soon enough." Ruth got up from the sofa, flashing Olivia a determined look. "Don't worry."
"Get the shotgun," Olivia instructed her.
The girl shook her head. "You won't be able to." She shot Olivia a fleeting glance, then added, "It's for your own good."
Olivia kept her gaze on the girl, but her remark was addressed to Ruth. "What does she mean?"
Ruth strode to the door. She tried it. Olivia found herself hoping the knob worked as usual. Turning to Olivia, Ruth was still and calm, her voice as cool as when she had seen the Rokurokubi in the office. "It's locked."
Olivia put a hand to her throat.
"The windows will be locked, too." The girl in green sounded truly unhappy. "I seem to be able to do that. Yes, that is one thing I can do. And I will not open them."
Olivia was staring down at the girl, with no memory of having risen. "But why?"
"You could not deal with Father. I know you are brave and clever. But you would not survive."
"If that is so," said Olivia, forcing gentleness into her voice, "what do you imagine he will do to Maya?"
"I know what he will do to Maya. That's why I came." She looked up, her earth-and-moss eyes swimming. "Please. I-" She broke off. "Please."
Olivia sank back onto the sofa. If we remain here, if we allow harm to befall Maya, then we will be guilty of the same complacency into which we sank fifty years ago.
"We can smash the glass in a window," said Ruth.
"And call the police," added Olivia.
"He would know," said the girl. She seemed a dreary little figure now, her head bent in great misery almost to her knees. "Father would know. It will end with everyone in ashes."
"Nonsense," said Ruth, but her voice quavered.
While Olivia was thinking furiously of a way out, Ruth spoke again: "Who is your father? Describe him."
The girl composed herself as if reciting. As she described her father, gooseflesh prickled across Olivia's skin, for all that the fire blazed.
"He is tall," the girl said, "with dark hair and a little well-trimmed beard. He wears a thick coat, and a fur hat he wears outdoors, and red gloves."
Ruth gave an involuntary cry.
Olivia thought, Of course. That man. I knew it, yet didn't want to believe it. That chilling aura of his! For all that we're armed, we are not young. Could we react quickly enough?
"And he carries a camera," she added dully.
"That's right." The little Rokurokubi girl flashed Olivia a look of surprise. "I can't help," she insisted. "The one named Maya. Neither can you. Maybe that man could. That is why I told you to call him."
Young Mr. Minamino. Maya's friend.
From the moment she had laid eyes on him, Olivia had sensed that here was a man of courage and quality.
She recalled her terse instructions to Mr. Minamino. Had she said enough? Would he know what to do?
Olivia was no longer afraid of the girl, but... "It's after ten." She glanced at the clock. "He should have arrived at that house by now. Did we hear a car?"
Still pale with fear, Ruth shook her head. "No."
Still, one has to try. "Dear," said Olivia, "we have a shotgun, and a pistol. We know how to use them. I believe-"
"A shotgun?" The girl had been focused on the stairwell, but she jerked her gaze from it to regard Olivia. "I do not think a shotgun would stop Father."
"And that young man could?"
"I think... I hope..." The girl's voice trailed away.
And still one tries. Knowing what she would find, Olivia hurried to the door, and tried to work the knob. "Locked." The thought of breaking a window and running down the street was a strong temptation, but then she thought, Would we make this situation worse for Maya by rushing in? Have we misunderstood?
All right, doors and windows locked, and she's an odd little thing and my heart goes out to her, but we need facts.
She returned to the sofa, and made an effort to sweep her fears aside, if only for the moment. "If you won't let us leave, or call the police, at least tell us what's happening."
"I will try my best to explain."
"Then we shall have to trust to Mr. Minamino now," said Ruth. "And I sense that hearing this girl out may be important."
Hearing Ruth, the girl gave a great sigh. Her hands were shaking, but she lifted the cup to her lips and managed a sip.
The girl did not complain, but Olivia knew the tea was cold. She re-filled the girl's cup, and then Ruth's and her own.
Now that they had determined to stay, Olivia vowed that this time, things would be different. She would neither pretend, nor look away.
Once she had made that decision, it wasn't so bad. The fire was warm, and made the room smell nice. The clock sounded cheerful. The tea tasted good.
The Roku-girl was about Maya's age and size, but while Maya was a beauty, this girl was plain. Her hair was the color of a paper bag, and strained back from her wide forehead into a bun too old to suit her. Her wool dress, dark green like Maya's favorite sweat jacket, was most unflattering, but she wore it like a badge of honor.
In the brighter light of the parlor, Olivia also noted that the girl had the merest film of dust on her shoulders and shoes. Had the office curtains been dirty? But the only the girl's head had touched them, and her hair was free of the dust.
She had a certain skittish, off-beat charm, as though she had been isolated from human company until now, was seeing a home where actual people lived for the first time, and was eager to make a good impression.
Her well-scrubbed face could radiate such joy that Olivia had to wonder why Mother had been afraid of these creatures at.
And she was back to examining the room, while keeping her neck quite in its proper place. Her gaze danced around, then lit upon the green Sevres vase filled with artificial sweet peas.
"Such a pretty vase! And oh, what a color!"
Olivia couldn't help smiling. "You like it?"
"Yes! I can't even express how much."
I believe when all is said and done, thought Olivia, I shall give her the vase. "What is your name, dear?"
Her smile faded. "I haven't one."
"But that's impossible," said Olivia, "everyone has a-"
A look from Ruth quelled her.
"Then," said Ruth, "we shall just have to give you a name. But first, tell us why Maya is being held in that house."
This seemed to focus her attention. "Of course. I fear my visit is not of a strictly social nature." She glanced about the parlor again. "But I've never had tea with anyone before."
"My dear," Ruth began, her voice troubled.
"Anyone but Father, that is." Lowering her gaze, the girl put her teacup down. "I...please." She lifted her earnest gaze to Olivia's. "Try not to blame him, will you?"
"Blame him for what?" The rate at which answers came seemed hideously slow. But Olivia knew impatience would get them nowhere, and one glance at Ruth proved they were in accord. "Do go on, dear."
"That man Maya liked. I tried to warn him, but I don't think I am very good at that."
"Good?" Ruth offered the girl another cookie, but she seemed not to see it. "At what?"
A frown of concentration creased the girl's brow. "Sending pictures to someone. Father is quite gifted in all aspects of that art."
"Yes. You said he was gifted. "But about Maya-"
"Father can make an ordinary camera take pictures of a person who is not present at a particular time or place, but who was there at an earlier moment."
"Pictures of people who aren't there?" Olivia thought of Maya, as a courier, making deliveries to their house. If that man was taking pictures, it wasn't of our house. It was-
"Well, they were there, at one point."
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Ruth tapped her own head gently. "Getting old, you see."
"I am not certain how it works. Suppose you left this room tonight and went into the city. Father could enter this parlor and point his camera at the sofa where you had been seated. And somehow, he captures you sipping tea on the sofa."
Ruth's look was puzzled. "Though we are no longer here?"
"Maybe it has to do with memory, or psychic impressions. Father does not like to discuss the details. But yes. Later, when the photographs are developed, your image will be on them."
"Pictures of people." Ruth cast an uneasy glance at Olivia. "People who are not present when the photograph is taken?"
"Yes. Oh, I'm not at all good at this! I was never any good at explaining. And I will forget about my neck. That is why I stopped accompanying Father on his walks. He realized how forgetful I am becoming, and he-"
"Please," Ruth urged. "About Maya-"
"Father is a wonderful photographer, but I am less than wonderful at being able to look into danger and convey its meaning to another." The girl glanced at her plate, surprised to find a new cookie there. She dipped it in her tea and nibbled it. "Oh!" She stopped, a hint of pink warming her pale cheeks. "Is this all right? I mean, is it permitted?"
"It's fine," assured Ruth, dipping her own cookie.
"Please go on, dear."
"I find it hard enough to explain how it's done, this image-taking, and I'm not at all sure that man could get my messages."
Olivia sipped the bergamot-scented tea, but it had lost its flavor. She strove to organize what the girl was saying in a neat, orderly line, but failed. "And your father lives in the house on the cul-de-sac?"
"Perhaps," Ruth said, "if you explained step by step what he means to do to Maya? ..."
"Very well." The girl straightened. "I am the last of Father's daughters. Most of my sisters were captured, and I imagine, disposed of, the night they were born."
While Olivia tried to comprehend, Ruth's voice fell to a whisper. "That night in Mother's letter?"
"You knew your mother?" The girl's eyes flew wide. "You spoke with her, walked with her, touched her?"
In spite of Maya's peril, in spite of being trapped in the house, Olivia felt her heart twist with pity for this girl. She hastily gulped more tea for an excuse to dab her eyes. "Tea," she explained. "Hot."
"Your sisters were born fully grown?" Ruth inquired.
"I didn't join them that night," the girl went on. "I never left the house. I was afraid. I simply didn't have the heart for it. Father was cross with me."
"I'll just bet he was," muttered Ruth.
"You mustn't blame him," she added quickly. "Father is who he is, and he has lost so many children over the years."
Over the years, thought Olivia. This girl is not yet twenty-five. Or so she looks. But that night was fifty years ago. "How were they lost?"
The girl looked at the Sevres vase. "Everyone wants a family, don't they?"
"I believe so." Olivia wanted to snap her next words, but did not "And what of your family?"
"My sisters are gone. They went out at the hour of their birth and I think it has been a long time since then. Father was unable to get them to stop."
"Stop what?"
The girl colored again. "I forget so easily. And lately it's been worse. Father always said we should have moved when it all went wrong that night, but he also says he is stubborn."
"So are we," said Ruth. "Now, Maya-"
"Father had told me of his... of our... family history. He keeps trying to create a family. Father once lived in Europe, but then had to move to Japan. Every time he loses his family, he changes location. Except this last time. It was a very pretty neighborhood. It still is, of course," she added hastily.
Olivia said, "And where was your mother in all this?"
"Mother died giving us life. They always do."
Into the silence that followed, the clock ticked.
"Father is very wise, very learned." The girl's voice faltered. She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself more than Olivia and Ruth. "He has had this experience again and again. How sad to lose one's entire family in a single night!"
Ruth glanced sidelong at Olivia. But Olivia was at a loss. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to grasp the threads of this strange creature's story and make sense of them. "This same tragedy will befall Maya? How?"
The girl studied her fingernails. "I believe I am somewhat like Mother," she said, "more so perhaps than her other daughters. My sisters had a taste for the same foods Father does. I do not. I prefer things like tea and biscuits. Nothing with blood in it."
Blood? Olivia's fingers twitched. Patience, she advised herself, Calm. Suppose we did phone the police. What exactly would we tell them? Would they arrive sirens blazing? Would that tip off this camera fiend?
"But you see," continued the girl, "that is why I had to come. No matter how I longed for a new mother, even if only for one hour, I would not have this happen to the one named Maya."
"Have what happen?" Ruth leaned forward. "Please."
"I had wondered what she was like, my mother. All these years, I had wondered. And of course there was the medium." The girl set down her teacup quickly. "He's gone now." Her hands twisted in her lap. "The medium. But I had wondered whether one with such skills could help me speak to my own mother. And of course that is why that girl came inside the house. I had wondered if we could be friends, she and I." The soft shy voice rose a little, the words ran together. "But she always hung back, she never came inside. This time, Father told her the medium was there. Of course he wasn't, he isn't anywhere now, but all the same I had wondered."
Olivia thought, Maya had been going to that psychic for nearly a year. Was that when we first saw the camera fiend?
But the girl was drifting off into tangents, while Olivia was intent on finding facts.
"Dear," Olivia hoped that her questions would help the girl focus. "We knew Maya was seeing a medium. Leave that aside for the moment. But about tonight-what is happening now?"
The girl shot her a grateful glance. "Yes. Tonight. Let me recall." She closed her eyes a moment, then continued. "Although he wanted me to do so, I did not help Father get her to that room. That Maya. I did not want the same thing to happen to her that happened to my own mother. Not what had happened to my mother. Not that. I looked for a way. Her scooter was there. Parked right outside!"
She got that radiant look again. "It tempted me. The scooter. And you were so close by. I knew that you could do something to help, even if only to call that man."
"Mr. Minamino?"
"Is that his name? I did not know his name but I saw his face. Because Maya would think of him. I saw him one day from my tower. He is grown now, but still the same. And there was another man who has a sword."
Olivia did not even need to glance at Ruth to feel her sister's flash of hope.
"Those two were doing something to a tree when I saw them," the girl explained. "It made Father cross."
The clock ticked on. The fire hissed softly. Ruth's voice was gentle. "What happened tonight? To Maya?"
"Oh." The girl put a hand to her face. "Tonight. I left Father to his own devices and just got on the scooter. It was my first ride! I am amazed that I could get it to work. It seemed so fast, like I was flying."
"But is Maya-"
"She is there. With Father." The girl's moss-and-earth eyes flicked up and around. "I will try to control myself. I will try to explain." She went on more soberly, "I never knew Mother, and I know that girl had lost hers. I have no sisters left, either, yet this seemed to make Maya and myself sisters after a fashion."
Olivia pondered. Inevitable that a man who knew Maya should come to see them out of the blue. That the medium should be part of this sequence of events, that the dangers of fifty years past seemed to be recreating themselves, that Mother's letter about the Rokurokubi should be read at the instant one such girl came to pay them a visit and deliver a warning and a second chance.
But if they were unable to leave the house, how could this be their second chance?
Ruth spoke. "Tell me if I got this right. Your sisters were born on a night-some time ago. There was murder done on this block, and it was covered up. Your sisters were disposed of? By whom? And why did the authorities then not find you? Or your father?"
"They could not see the house." The girl gazed thoughtfully at Ruth. "Father did not wish them to see."
"Then how will Mr. Minamino be able to see it?"
"Maya could see it. He will, too. He and Maya can see things others can't. Father's concentration will be on Maya."
Olivia knew why. He wants a new 'mother.' For his 'children.' We would have been too late the moment-
"I should have come sooner." The girl lifted her teacup again and looked pleadingly at Olivia. "But I'm not at all brave, and not at all strong. This man, is he strong?"
"He will have to be," said Ruth.
There was nothing more to be said. Their second chance was an illusion. Fate had defeated them after all.
"You are both so wonderful," the girl said. "I'm glad Father is not here. That new camera of his..." She trailed off, peering about as someone awakening from a dream, not yet sure where she is.
She placed her cup down again, as if it might shatter. "Please," whispered the girl, not daring to look up. "Please, will you tell me what it's like to know one's mother?"
The words went right to Olivia's heart, and she needed a moment to compose herself. With a silent prayer for the success of Mr. Minamino, she wondered whether perhaps this, after all, was their mission after all-merely to speak, merely to listen.
I shall adopt this poor girl, she vowed. When Maya is back safe, and that camera fiend behind bars, I shall adopt this girl.
Then, taking a deep breath, Olivia told the girl of several small incidents with Mother, nothing much, just events from ordinary life. Browsing for treasures at a flea market. Planting Mr. Sanrio's white roses. Driving to the heart of the city to try a new French restaurant.
Ruth offered reminiscences of her own. The tea grew cold. The clock on the mantelpiece ticked on. The fire crackled.
It was nearing midnight.
"Thank you," said the girl, when they had finished. "Thank you. That was wonderful."
"What name would you like, dear?" Ruth prodded.
"Name?" The girl seemed thoroughly bewildered.
"When this is over, you may stay with us," said Olivia. "And we must know what to call you."
When she smiled, her wide mouth trembled. "I am glad Father and his cameras are not here." Carefully, as though they were made of soap bubbles, she reached over and touched her cup and plate. "You are both so kind. Whatever happens to me is not important now. The important thing is, I was able to meet with you, share tea with you. I got to know you."
And Olivia, who had not been able to muster the slightest fear of the girl after the first shock of her appearance, now felt fear rise in her throat to choke away reason.
The girl in green spoke distractedly. "When you see that girl. When you see her. That girl. Tell that girl, tell her-"
And then she stopped speaking altogether. And what followed was terrible.
-30-
(To be continued: The death of an ally.)