Please read Disclaimer in Chapter One.

Title: Maya's Tale (C21: Epilogue)

Author: JaganshiKenshin

Genre: Action/Adventure, General

Rating: K+/PG-13 (for anime-style fight scenes/language)

Summary: There is something different about the house at the end of the street.

A/N: I appreciate your reviews. Thanks for reading this tale!

"We won-so why does it feel like we lost?"

Maya's Tale (21: Epilogue)

by

Kenshin

Three days after their battle with Von Brandt, Maya accompanied Kurama to the Kawasaki home.

At first, she had not wanted to come. But when Kurama reminded her how good the sisters had been to her, she relented.

Hiei drove the black Nissan Pathfinder, Shayla Kidd beside him. Next to Kurama in the back seat, a subdued Maya spent her time gazing silently out the window, her fire and enthusiasm banked into melancholy. Even the mink-dark richness of her hair was dimmed. She wore a gray dress that made her look like a Pilgrim, possibly the same dress she had worn at the restaurant. It seemed a lifetime ago.

He could hardly have expected Maya to bounce back from her ordeal in a mere three days, and yet-

On the face of it, they had won. Von Brandt was no more. Maya was rescued. But the atmosphere in the car was gloomy.

For one, Maya had lost her job.

Though the redoubtable Kawasaki sisters had secured the messenger company's little black scooter, wheeling it into the safety of their yard, Maya hadn't reported in that night, and Mr. Quicksilver refused to listen to any explanations.

For another, Hiei's broken laptop was going to stay broken.

Shayla Kidd, who would have been chattering away to fill the void, sat as silent as Maya. Hiei's silence was less unusual, but also tinged with gloom, which could hardly be chalked up to a broken laptop.

It seemed a dreary eternity until Hiei parked the car and they got out in front of the gracious Victorian house. A hot day for April, almost like June, with a fierce, cerulean-blue sky and trees and flowers alike bursting into bloom out of sequence, making up for lost time.

They went to the sage-green door with its discreet little nameplate, and knocked.

Ruth appeared, her gardening gloves on. Olivia was polishing a musket. Laying their occupations aside, the Kawasaki sisters clasped their hands in delighted surprise.

"Why, look who it is!" exclaimed Ruth.

"And look who they've brought!" added Olivia.

"Twice as beautiful as on TV!" marveled Ruth.

"If such a thing is even possible!" said Olivia.

"You look so much taller, too Dearie."

"And twice as manly."

"If that's even possible!" Ruth put one finger under Hiei's chin to tilt his face up to hers.

If Hiei objected to being manhandled and called 'Dearie,' he hid it well. Catching Kurama's glance, he shrugged, muttering, "These two kissed the Blarney Stone. Just go with it."

"Thank you, dears, for bringing Maya and Mr. Minamino to us." Olivia ushered them inside, arranging them on chairs and pouffs, plying them with French cookies and strong coffee.

The windows had been thrown open to the balmy, flower-scented breeze, and on the mantle, a clock ticked away, next to a green-and-white porcelain vase.

Kurama found himself drawn into the radius of Ruth and Olivia's infectious cheer. His spirits rose, almost against his will; the sisters were fresh air and sunshine.

He had worried about them, phoning when he'd arrived home the night of the battle. They assured him all was well, but would not disclose any details.

"Maya, dear," Ruth began, "you're looking wonderful."

"And is that a new dress?"

"Not really." Maya glanced at Shay-san. "I just added a few touches here and there."

"Well, it's splendid on you."

So. Maya was talking again. Just not to him.

Then Kurama filled the sisters in as briefly as possible, sketching their struggle against Von Brandt, and the subsequent visit to Toad Palace.

"Now," he said when finished, "what about the Rokurokubi?"

Olivia favored him with a smile. "How sweet of you, dear, to express concern."

"But even with a shotgun, you two, facing a monster-"

"There was no monster," said Ruth.

"It invaded your house. How did you deal with it?"

"Not it, dear," corrected Olivia gently. "Her."

Ruth sighed. "And I'm afraid that it is not a happy story."

Exchanging glances, the sisters settled their cups on the coffee table and sat back.

"You see, she came to warn us."

"So there was no need for the blunderbuss."

"And that is how we knew for certain what Von Brandt had planned. The girl explained it all."

"She was-the last of his daughters."

Shayla Kidd spoke. The tone of her voice indicated she already knew the answer. "Where is she now?"

"Yes," put in Maya. "Maybe we could help her."

Olivia fumbled for Ruth's hand. "This will be as difficult for us to relate as for you to hear," began Olivia. "Do you have the strength?"

"I'd better." Maya glanced at Kurama. "Please, go on."

"Very well." Olivia sighed.

"We gave her tea," Ruth said. "We had a chat."

"The girl in green was quite strange, but also so sweet, so timid, so unassuming," said Olivia. "How could we be afraid, even knowing what she was? And she didn't want Maya to suffer her own mother's fate."

The warm, bright room seemed to fade away as the sisters related the story of the girl in green: how she had popped into the office, alarming them at first, then settling into the living room, eager to share tea in what she called 'a real home.'

So vividly did they describe their meeting with the girl in green that Kurama felt as though he were there with them. A feeling of dread crept over him.

"Then..." Ruth breathed out, "Some time into our visit-"

"The girl collapsed," finished Olivia

Kurama looked at his hands, and un-clenched his fists. He dared not glance at Hiei.

"And just as we were feeling for her pulse-"

Ruth finished. "-she simply crumbled to ash."

A breeze fluttered the lace curtains.

Rising, Ruth went to the mantelpiece, and took down the vase. "It is of the Sevres make. That poor child admired it so, even with its silly little spray of artificial flowers." Ruth came back with the vase, handed it to Maya, where it lay parrot-green against the Pilgrim gray of her dress.

"This," said Ruth, with a catch in her voice, "is all that's left of her."

Kurama swallowed, hard. "Into... ash?"

"Ash," Olivia confirmed. "And we never even had time to give her a name."

For a time, no one spoke.

Tears sprang to Maya's eyes. The sisters had begun to sniffle. Shayla Kidd, the girl who never wept, clenched her jaw. Hiei's face was stony. While Kurama-

"Daughter my foot!" Maya snapped. "That man thought so little of her, she wasn't even on his mind when he invaded mine!" Cradling the vase, as though the girl were still alive in it, still fragile, still vulnerable, Maya wiped her eyes. "We must name her. That green dress. What about Ivy?"

Another small silence. Then, her voice remarkably controlled, Shayla Kidd spoke. "Ivy sounds perfect. What about giving her a decent burial?"

"We fully intend to, dear," offered Ruth. "In the garden, beneath the cherry tree."

"Cherry tree?" Hiei frowned. "Thought they all died."

"This one remained," said Ruth. "We never had the heart to cut it down, and today, we discovered that it has bloomed again."

"Ivy would like that, I think," said Olivia. "Where the sun could reach her. She was never allowed out in daylight."

-while Kurama, with a growing certainty, made a calculation. Midnight, he thought, when Ivy collapsed. At just the time he had pierced Von Brandt's true heart.

And I never realized. Kurama was about to speak, but Olivia flashed him that piercing Ming-blue gaze. "Don't, dear. Don't blame yourself. Ivy knew full well what would happen to her. Imagine living in that crumbling pile of dust and illusion, knowing what she was, slowly deteriorating, realizing what her father planned, struggling with her own fears and uncertainties. It was the path she chose, and we must honor her choice."

Maya said, "I saw her, in that house. Ivy. And I... I never got a chance to thank her."

They could almost hear Ivy's voice: I am so happy I met you. So happy.

Maya and the sisters dabbed their eyes. Kurama added Ivy to the list of Von Brandt's victims.

Another silence reigned, as each of them memorialized the strange, shy creature, whose father had not seen fit to name her, but who had loved him nevertheless. Ivy, who had tried to live a decent life and do the right thing, who had alerted Kurama in dreams, who had finally gathered the courage to warn the Kawasaki sisters at the ultimate cost.

Ivy, moved by the simple beauty of a vase, where she would now rest.

Eventually, Olivia broke the silence. "And how are you holding up, Maya dear?"

Maya gave a little sigh and brushed back a stray lock of hair. "I don't see how I can go back to my 'normal' life now. I can't face the girls in the Adventure Club with their talk of space aliens and monsters, now that I've seen the real thing."

"Well, then..." A warm smile lit Olivia's face. "We have been wondering for quite some time. Why not stay with us a bit? We can use some help, and you could certainly return to your own home whenever your father is back from his travels."

Recalling how Maya had refused Toad's offer, Kurama thought she would say no.

"Maybe." Maya's fingers tightened on the vase. "Maybe. Yes. I'll stay with you a while, at that."

And then Hiei said, out of nowhere, "When you do, my car is at your service."

Maya glanced at Hiei, then Shay-san. To Kurama's surprise, she nodded. "Thanks."

Or maybe not so surprising. Maybe just practical. After all, Maya had not disliked Hiei on meeting him in the restaurant, and only when her memory flooded back had she turned on him.

Then, Maya glanced at Kurama, dropping her gaze almost at once. A faint flush lit her cheeks.

His heart beat a little faster. Would she speak to him now?

But Ruth took the vase from Maya, replacing it on the mantle. The chance fled. "There's more," Ruth went on. "That house at the end of the block."

Olivia added, "You know the one we mean: his house."

"It's been burnt to the ground."

Hiei snorted. "Don't look at me."

"Well, of course you didn't do it, Dearie. It happened during the night." Olivia poured coffee like a countess, entertaining guests of equal royalty, turning their patter to lighter subjects: the cherry tree, dresses, even make-up.

Kurama leaned toward Hiei. "There's a lot of estrogen in this room," he murmured.

"That's okay." Hiei's eyes gleamed mischief. "You heard what those two ladies said. I have more than enough testosterone to compensate."

"You never disappoint, Hiei."

"Take a break then," Hiei suggested, "if you're afraid."

"Never," continued Kurama, "ever, ever disappoint."

Hiei was half-right. Kurama needed time to think. And he wanted to see Von Brandt's house. So when at length Ruth opened the French doors and led everyone into the garden, Kurama made his getaway. Hiei tagged along.

The block was a twisty meander, and despite burgeoning greenery everywhere, between the Kawasaki home and the end there lay only abandoned houses. Hiei and Kurama started toward the cul-de-sac, a distance of about half a mile.

The sun beat down with such intensity that Kurama removed his jacket and slung it over one shoulder. Hiei wasn't wearing a jacket. Kurama half-expected him to peel his shirt, but all Hiei did was push up his sleeves. "Your chemistry test," began Hiei.

Well. He could hardly have held back the news forever. "I bombed out," Kurama admitted.

A swift, startled glance from Hiei. "Not you?"

"I never took it. Came home, crashed, slept for two days."

"Can't you make it up?"

Kurama dawdled near a stray forsythia that blazed with yellow star-shaped flowers. "Maybe a higher education isn't needed. Look at Kaitou Yuu: he's a dropout, and a huge success."

"Kaitou's an author. He cranks out a bad book, no one dies. Whereas a doctor who never went to med school..."

Hiei, lecturing him on his duty to future patients, was almost enough to make Kurama laugh. "Maybe Smith can help me get around the test. He's wily enough. But that's not the problem."

"Oh?" Hiei snapped off a spray of forsythia and studied it.

"The real problem is, I'm not sure I want to continue."

"Nothing like a dose of uncertainty to stop a fellow."

"Once I make up my mind, nothing can stop me."

"So I've noticed."

"Perhaps this was a wake-up call."

"Well." Pitching the forsythia, Hiei strolled on. "Since we're in full disclosure mode, we lost the Haunted Palace job."

"Not you, too?"

"Turns out that vapid little fop is a plagarist. Haunted Palace is actually an older song, Forever With You. Zo just rewrote the lyrics."

"So that's why the song seemed familiar. Still, it doesn't seem fair that you should suffer because of his misdeed."

"Look at the bright side: I won't have to wear a pink tutu."

They reached the cul-de-sac. Von Brandt's house was now a pile of charred rubble: a bit of roof there, a blackened beam here, sagging clapboards sodden with water.

Firemen had been at it in the night, and the blaze was now gone. Yet the heat of the day seemed to arise from the dead fire as a few tendrils of smoke still drifted toward the sky.

Or maybe it was just mist.

Not even the iron fence was intact. It lay like jackstraws strewn about the property's perimeter.

Surveying the ruin, Hiei whistled. "Some ash-heap."

Kurama nodded. "I think maybe the sisters did it."

"With a Howitzer."

"Wouldn't put it past them."

A male redstart flew to a maple tree next to them, his orange breast and charcoal top brilliant in the warm air. Jerking his tail, he poured out his clear, trilling whistle, then sprang aloft, the branch quivering in his wake.

But as for Maya...

As if reading Kurama's thoughts, Hiei said, "Maya will be all right."

"She's-angry with me."

Hiei agreed. "She'd probably like to stab you through the head with an ice pick."

"I don't think she's the ice pick type."

"Iron skillet, then."

"Too slow. Too heavy. I'd see it coming."

"She'll get over it," said Hiei. "Besides, she threw up on you in that forsaken elevator."

"Only you could call this an encouraging sign."

"You really don't know the first thing about women."

It was a relief to be heckled by someone who had his back, no matter what. "Well, that's settled," said Kurama, with a false heartiness, which he certain did not fool Hiei one bit.

No. He owed Hiei more than that. "Maya... I'd save her again in a heartbeat, chem tests be damned. She's beautiful, bright, energetic, and I don't know why someone hasn't already snapped her up. But-"

"Ch. Since you obviously need it, let me tell you something about women. They hate ambiguity."

"I see." He let out a long breath while he thought. Maya and me? At fourteen, I was far too young. But now?

Fear of attachments? No. I already have them: Mother. My stepfather and stepbrother. Shayla Kidd, Hiei, Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Kaitou, even Dr. Smith.

Because Maya might become a target? But she did, and with me not in her life. So that's not it.

But how can I move forward when she won't speak to me?

Hiei glowered at the ruin. "I'd feel better if this wreck was cleansed."

Kurama nodded. "We should do it soon. Do you have any-"

"-Holy Water on me? Not enough."

"Besides," mused Kurama, "I think-"

"Yeah. Salt would work better."

Kurama said, "Time to go back," lest the two of them really did turn into Olivia and Ruth, starting and finishing one another's thoughts. "Before they send a search party."

They turned around, Kurama still weary and disheartened. I feel as though I need hope. A sign.

The redstart's song burst through the air, shattering his line of thought. Kurama sensed the whir of its wings overhead.

Hiei put a hand on Kurama's sleeve, stopped him, pulled him back around. His eyes were wide. "Look...!"

The fire that destroyed Von Brandt's house had been well-contained within the perimeter of the fencing, and no part of the surrounding neighborhood was touched by its fury.

The redstart landed on the lone spike of iron fencing that survived the blaze upright, drawing their gaze to something that stood beyond the rubble.

They both stared, and no one could think of a thing to say.

It hadn't been apparent at first, for the wreckage of the house had claimed their full attention, and it was some distance away, in the woods.

Kurama found his tongue at last. "But-it was dead."

Hiei said, "And I cut it down."

Yet there it stood, as if in answer to Kurama's prayer, exactly where he and Hiei had trained with vine and sword. Rising from its roots. Alive. Cheerful. Bristling with thick green leaves: the Bartholomew Tree reborn.

-30-

(This concludes Maya's Tale. Thanks for reading! I thoroughly enjoyed writing about Kitajima Maya, and with luck she'll appear again.)