Blood+ Fan Fiction ❯ Memories Of Yesterday And Today ❯ What Is Hidden ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: The Last Z Fighter 
Anime/Manga: Blood+ Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Supernatural | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.24.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 491 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Blood+ Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Supernatural | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.24.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 491 | Status: Completed
“Solomon?”
After Kai had spoken there was silence that had once again settled onto the group. Okamura was visibly nervous, if only because he was Diva’s ex Chevalier. Irene and Lulu were for once a bit hard to read while Mao glared at the gentlemen; fist tightly clinched. Kai honestly didn’t know what to think. It was true he had sworn his loyalty to Saya and no longer had ties to Diva but he couldn’t help but be untrusting.
Solomon didn’t answer at first, gauging the semi-hostile reactions from the group. Not counting Mao, who looked at him with something close to loathing. It should have been expected. This was going to take some time to ease the suspicion and general distrust from his former life. He took a careful step forward but not to close; doing so now might cause the two Sif to take it the wrong way. After all, they had been, or rather were in a way still enemies. While he may not serve Diva anymore, the fact remained he had still killed two Sif.
“What do you want?” Mao growled out as she lost her well known patience.
“I had a feeling something was amiss, so I came here to follow my instinct.” Solomon said in his normal pleasant tone like Mao hadn’t said it that way. “Originally, I was going to simply check up on the twins and be on my way, until I discovered what happened. I think we can help each other.”
Kai closed his eyes, thinking. “Answer me honestly, why are you helping us? I mean, Saya isn’t awake right now and the twins have nothing to do with you.”
The blonde-haired businessman looked into Kai’s eyes. “It was Saya’s wish that the twins grow up peacefully and live normal lives. I’m only trying to assure that. She cares for you like a brother, as such I also had to make sure you were all right and taken care of. Those are my two reasons for being here. With my resources I can help yo-”
“We don’t need your help.” Mao interrupted forcefully. Just looking at him made her blood boil, just anything with Diva did after what happened to Riku.
“Mao please. Let him finish.” Kai said pleadingly.
The woman in question looked back at Kai, who had a pained subtle look in his eyes. The missing twins were hurting him even if he wouldn’t project it out loud. Even if she wanted nothing to do with Solomon, the twins needed to come first. She would hear him out, though reluctantly. She sullenly sighed and looked away. “All right.”
Solomon waited a bit longer before he continued. “I can help you locate the twins. It would be easier if we worked together. What do you say we put aside our differences, just this once?”
Kai thought about it. If it was just himself he wouldn’t have hesitated as much but there were other people to think about He glanced at his companions. Okamura was silent, he seemed to take everything relatively well all things considering, Mao was obviously still not happy but was willing to go with what he said. Lulu and Irene were hard to gauge at first, but looking into their eyes he knew they trusted him and would go along with his decision.
Somehow this made things harder.
“How are you going to help us exactly?” Kai asked in an even tone finally.
“I plan to help you financially and with traveling. While you look for them I’ll be searching on my end, we’ll cover much more ground this way.”
Kai was about to respond when the door creaked open, everyone looked towards the entrance and immediately stopped talking about the subject. The nurse seemed rather nervous that everyone was looking at her silently, maybe it was a bad time?
The nurse spoke timidly. “I hope this isn’t a bad time but someone wanted to talk to you Mr. Kai. They said it was important and it had to do with your twins.”
As soon as the word ‘twins’ came into play, Kai and the others interest went up. “Give me the phone.”
“Uh ok.” The nurse said, handing him the phone. “I’ll be back to pick it up later.” And with that she quickly left from the awkward situation. Kai felt kind of bad for sounding so rash but at the moment he didn’t care, something about his kids had come up and he wasn’t going to miss it.
He put the phone to his ear. “This is Kai speaking.”
“Ah. Wonderful. I’ve been dying to speak to you for sometime.” The voice on the other end was smooth and deep. “Turn up the volume. I’d like everyone to hear.”
Kai did so before speaking again. “Where are the twins? And how do you know me?” He felt his already low patience give away to the stress of the situation, yet he tried to remain cool.
“Tsk, tsk. Once question at a time my young friend. I know you simply because I’ve been keeping a careful eye on you and your precious babies. Their quite lovely specimens, if I do say so myself.”
The young man’s grip on the phone tightened, almost to the point of breaking it. “Listen, if you did anything to hurt them I’ll ma-”
“You’ll do nothing, or rather you can’t because you know nothing about me. I guess that would make things difficult wouldn’t it?” The strangers tone was mildly amused. “But in either case, they are out of my hands. You see, someone has taken those lovely specimens from underneath my nose. I don’t know who or rather what they are but suffice to say we have a clashing of interest.”
This made Kai pause for a minute. “So they’re not with you.” It was just a statement confirming something instead of a question.
“Your catching on quickly my friend. I know nothing about what took the two specimens, but my eyes told me about the little incident. Quite sloppy for them to be taken as they did but that’s besides the point. They were last seen heading towards New York, according to my source.”
“If you know so much about them, why aren’t you getting them yourselves and telling us. What do you gain in this?”
There was a slight chuckle from the phone. “It seems you aren’t as stupid as I thought. There are certain things preventing me from acting out in that way. By saving them you make it easier on me, lets just call it temporary mutual interest in something and leave it at that. Believe or disbelieve me is of no consequence, except for those poor children of course I guess. Its been fun, perhaps we will do this another time. I have to go, next time we will meet in the flesh.”
A light click ended the conversation between them.
Mao looked disgusted. “That asshole. Who does he think he is?”
“So, we going?” Okamura added. “It sounds like a trap. I mean the whole thing is awfully to convenient if you ask me.”
“We don’t have any other leads or even where to start so we have too. Besides, if he was working with that thing and wanted to kill us we would be dead by now. So, there must be some truth to his words..” Kai looked at Solomon. “When do we leave?”
“First thing in the morning. I talked to the nurses and persuaded them to release you tomorrow. Get some rest and recover for now. If you’ll excuse me.” Solomon said simply and left out of the room. Kai couldn’t help but notice he seemed preoccupied about something but couldn’t even start to make a guess of what it could be.
“I still don’t trust him Kai.” Mao said at length once he was gone.
“I know. But we should at least give him a chance, besides..” Kai trailed off noticing Irene and Lulu besides being silent during the whole time Solomon was here had now grown tense. “What’s wrong?”
Irene was the first one to say something. “Moses and Karman are here.”
Kai was about to ask why that had bothered them, both were soon quickly out of the door but it clicked almost instantly later. Those two didn’t know that Solomon was helping them, and knowing Karman he might rush first and ask questions later.
The two Sif in question were in the middle of the waiting room, standing up and looking at Solomon. The three didn’t move but the tension was pretty thick inside the room, the people in the waiting room felt it as well, which is why they were probably on edge as well. Karman and Moses didn’t bring their weapons with them, but their cloaks still attracted more then enough attention to them anyway.
“Karman, Moses stop! Don’t fight him.”
Karman looked like he was about to do something when Irene’s voice grounded him back to reality, seeing both her and Lulu come over to stop the fight. “Irene, Lulu your all right. Wait, why are you two protecting him?”
Irene shook her head. “The twins were taken away. We..need his help to find them.”
Moses hadn’t jumped the gun as quickly as his friend. Solomon had the scent of Kai and the others but there was no signs of a fight, which meant something was going on. “Karman, stand down for now.”
Very reluctantly, the taller Sif did as he was told, still glaring at Solomon. “Fine. But after this is over, we settle this. I’ll be outside.” Not wanting to even be in the same building as the Chevalier, he walked outside with out another word.
“C-could you please settle down?” One of the nurses said timidly. “Your scaring the other patients.”
“I’m sorry it won’t happen again.” Solomon said sincerely, looking at Moses as if to confirm his statement.
Blinking once for what might almost been mistaken for confusion, Moses went along with it to keep them from getting kicked out of the hospital.“Yes. My friend was just in a bad mood.”
Slowly, the nurse nodded and went back to work. Moses however was still at a lost of just what exactly was going on. He turned to Irene and Lulu. “Mind explaining to me what’s going on?”
* *
Around the next day, Kai was finally discharged from the hospital since they really had no reason to keep him there and he was fine physically. Solomon, true to his word had taken care of everything before hand, even as far as getting their weapons shipped along with them. It had taken some coaxing from Irene and Moses but Karman reluctantly parted ways with his spear, still not trusting the Chevalier even if their goals were the same. Kai left Ryo in charge of the pub until he returned but hadn’t left an exact date of when he would come back.
The trip to the air-port was rather uneventful, though Karman had wanted to drive and would have if it weren’t for Moses interference. Due to this the ride went without incident and they safely reached where they needed to go. Once arriving, Solomon was nowhere to be found at the busy air-port.
Mao glanced around the sea of people. “I knew he would bail out.”
“Not quite.” Kai began, walking ahead towards the waiting seats. “He left a message on my cell and told me he would be a little late. For now we’ll just have to wait.”
“That doesn’t sound half-bad right about now.” Okamura sat in one of the empty seats and leaned back trying to relax before his life was once again surrounded by chaos. Sometimes he considered retiring, maybe once or twice but always dismissed it. He had his father’s adventurous spirit and was unable to sit down for long periods of time, the reporter would have grown bored very quickly with a normal life.
“Irene look!” Lulu excitedly exclaimed, looking at the large window at the planes land and take off. Her face was pressed against the window as she watched, and soon Irene mimicked her friends action, watching curiously.
It’s always the little things with those two. Kai didn’t want to spoil their fun so he left them alone and instead focused on Moses who was relaxed. Karman on the other hand seemed slightly edgy once he saw the planes. It was still something he hadn’t completely gotten used to, seeing Karman and Moses in ‘casual’ clothing was just as an interesting experience as it was the very first time. It wasn’t to say they weren’t well put together with their style of dress, or at least it would have been true for Karman’s case if it weren’t for one detail. In this case it was the scarf the owner of the mansion had given him, for lack of a better word it was hideous and Kai wasn’t even a fashion expert. Most likely he had been asked to wear it and seeing him do just that must of meant he cared to some extent so he left alone.
“..So we’re going to be riding one of those..things?” Karman asked hesitantly.
Kai nodded, if he didn’t know any better he would say Karman was scared to fly. “An air plane. Their pretty safe, actually their more safer then driving a car believe it or not.”
A skeptical look fell on the taller boy’s face. “I doubt it. How does it even work?”
He shook his head briefly.“I couldn’t tell you the specifics. So, Keina gave you that scarf?”
“Yeah. For good luck. Why?” Karman didn’t know why but people had been starring at the scarf ever since he had started wearing it. He couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing and nobody was telling him, he felt like he was being left out of a big secret.
Kai waved it off. “Nothing. It looks good on you.”
For some reason Karman didn’t believe him.
“Sorry for running late. I had to take care of something.” Solomon came into view, wearing his trademark suit. “Is everyone here?”
“Just a minute.” Okamura said. “Aren’t we going on a private plane of yours?”
“That’s what I was taking care of. We would have, but it was destroyed.”A small frown appeared on Solomon’s normally pleasant face. “And I have no idea who did it or why. But not to worry, I pulled some strings and got us all a flight in first class.” The group had mixed reactions about that comment, and it did very little to help Karman’s nerves or his suspicion of Solomon.
Okamura rubbed his chin, thinking. Could that person that called have something to do with it? But if it was him why? If he didn’t want us to come and be out the way, why did he tell us? It doesn’t make any sense. Arghh, damn it my head hurts. Maybe that’s their master plan, give me a headache thinking.
A pleasant female voice boomed over the intercom signaling their flight was ready. “Attention. All passengers heading to the first flight too New York please come forward.”
Any further conversation was halted as they went to board the plane. By now it was obvious Karman had some reservations about this whole flying thing had to take a minute to himself before following after. Not to many in Japan were heading to New York at the current time so the group was blessed with the ability not to be as cramped, which Karman was eternally grateful for as that was something he truly hated. He took a seat by Moses, who took out a book and began quietly reading while his companion seemed tense. Okamura, Lulu and Mao took seats across from them while the others claimed their own spots up ahead.
“Thank you for taking our air-line. Please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your flight.”
Karman started to relax after the pilots announcement, he sounded like he knew what he was doing. However, the plane soon began shaking and lurched forward making the Sif grip tightly at the armrest. “Why is it shaking? What’s going on?” His voice had risen with out intending to as he spoke rapidly.
“It’s taking off, don’t worry.” Moses tried to calm down his friend. He had never been on a plane either but he had read about them.
“Don’t worry Karman, I read in a safety magazine once. It said we could use the safety floating devices if it crashes.” Lulu assured, adding her own two cents.
“Thanks. But that only helps if we crash on water.” It was unknown if Karman was being sarcastic or not but one bet on the first then the later.
Meanwhile, Kai, Irene, and Solomon had all managed to find seats for themselves. They weren’t able to sit close to each other due to lack of room. Kai sat with some strangers while Irene did the same, sharing some space with a little girl around six and older woman in her fifties who was fast asleep already. Children had and still fascinated Irene, she still couldn’t believe something so small would eventually grow up to be an adult. She was tempted to start some form of conversation but thought against it for now, having other things on her mind.
“You live here in Japan?”
It took a moment to realize the old woman was talking to her. “Oh. Uh, yes.” The reply was a bit awkward, however, if the if the stranger noticed she made no indication of it.
She simply gave a disarming smile, hoping to relax the younger girl as if sensing her nervousness. “That’s nice. We were simply visiting a few old friends, New York is our home. I’m Kayla and this is my grand daughter Amanda.”
“Irene.” The Sif offered. She relaxed as the conversation continued.
“Well, that’s a very pretty name young lady. Your parents had some good taste in names.” Kayla praised.
Irene’s face seem to fall slightly. “I don’t have any parents.”
“Oh I’m sorry, sometimes this old woman talks to much.” She said apologetically, assuming her parents had died or abandoned her. That would have only been the half truth either way.
She only slowly shook her head. “Its all right. I like..talking with you.”
After this comment, Kayla seemed to take this as a sign she could continue. “Well, thank you. Its nice to see there’s still nice young people in this generation.”
Is this the right time to say it? Irene wasn’t to sure at first but it seemed right. “Thank you for saying that.”
Blinking once for a minute, she chuckled seconds later. “My, aren’t we very polite? No need for a thank you just yet dear. You seem to have a very pretty spirit Irene.”
“A pretty spirit?” A look of confusion appeared on the blondes face, she had never heard that term.
“Yes. It means your heart and soul seem to be good.” Kayla explained. “Your way of being if that makes sense to you. Maybe we will meet again in New York, I would like to see you again someday.”
A ghost of a smile formed on Irene’s lips. “Me to.”
The rest of the flight went peacefully.
______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
< br> Authors Notes: I was trying to show Irene’s social awkwardness in the last little scene. Re watching the episode when she talked with Kai, I made some mental notes to keep in mind during her conversations. Its hard work but its satisfying when it pays off.
I like Karman (especially after seeing the episode where he admitted was scared of dying, because I could relate to that) but I couldn’t help but give him a hard time in this chapter, he’s just a fun character to mess with. Not to worry for Haji fans, I haven’t forgotten about him, I’m just waiting for the right time.
After Kai had spoken there was silence that had once again settled onto the group. Okamura was visibly nervous, if only because he was Diva’s ex Chevalier. Irene and Lulu were for once a bit hard to read while Mao glared at the gentlemen; fist tightly clinched. Kai honestly didn’t know what to think. It was true he had sworn his loyalty to Saya and no longer had ties to Diva but he couldn’t help but be untrusting.
Solomon didn’t answer at first, gauging the semi-hostile reactions from the group. Not counting Mao, who looked at him with something close to loathing. It should have been expected. This was going to take some time to ease the suspicion and general distrust from his former life. He took a careful step forward but not to close; doing so now might cause the two Sif to take it the wrong way. After all, they had been, or rather were in a way still enemies. While he may not serve Diva anymore, the fact remained he had still killed two Sif.
“What do you want?” Mao growled out as she lost her well known patience.
“I had a feeling something was amiss, so I came here to follow my instinct.” Solomon said in his normal pleasant tone like Mao hadn’t said it that way. “Originally, I was going to simply check up on the twins and be on my way, until I discovered what happened. I think we can help each other.”
Kai closed his eyes, thinking. “Answer me honestly, why are you helping us? I mean, Saya isn’t awake right now and the twins have nothing to do with you.”
The blonde-haired businessman looked into Kai’s eyes. “It was Saya’s wish that the twins grow up peacefully and live normal lives. I’m only trying to assure that. She cares for you like a brother, as such I also had to make sure you were all right and taken care of. Those are my two reasons for being here. With my resources I can help yo-”
“We don’t need your help.” Mao interrupted forcefully. Just looking at him made her blood boil, just anything with Diva did after what happened to Riku.
“Mao please. Let him finish.” Kai said pleadingly.
The woman in question looked back at Kai, who had a pained subtle look in his eyes. The missing twins were hurting him even if he wouldn’t project it out loud. Even if she wanted nothing to do with Solomon, the twins needed to come first. She would hear him out, though reluctantly. She sullenly sighed and looked away. “All right.”
Solomon waited a bit longer before he continued. “I can help you locate the twins. It would be easier if we worked together. What do you say we put aside our differences, just this once?”
Kai thought about it. If it was just himself he wouldn’t have hesitated as much but there were other people to think about He glanced at his companions. Okamura was silent, he seemed to take everything relatively well all things considering, Mao was obviously still not happy but was willing to go with what he said. Lulu and Irene were hard to gauge at first, but looking into their eyes he knew they trusted him and would go along with his decision.
Somehow this made things harder.
“How are you going to help us exactly?” Kai asked in an even tone finally.
“I plan to help you financially and with traveling. While you look for them I’ll be searching on my end, we’ll cover much more ground this way.”
Kai was about to respond when the door creaked open, everyone looked towards the entrance and immediately stopped talking about the subject. The nurse seemed rather nervous that everyone was looking at her silently, maybe it was a bad time?
The nurse spoke timidly. “I hope this isn’t a bad time but someone wanted to talk to you Mr. Kai. They said it was important and it had to do with your twins.”
As soon as the word ‘twins’ came into play, Kai and the others interest went up. “Give me the phone.”
“Uh ok.” The nurse said, handing him the phone. “I’ll be back to pick it up later.” And with that she quickly left from the awkward situation. Kai felt kind of bad for sounding so rash but at the moment he didn’t care, something about his kids had come up and he wasn’t going to miss it.
He put the phone to his ear. “This is Kai speaking.”
“Ah. Wonderful. I’ve been dying to speak to you for sometime.” The voice on the other end was smooth and deep. “Turn up the volume. I’d like everyone to hear.”
Kai did so before speaking again. “Where are the twins? And how do you know me?” He felt his already low patience give away to the stress of the situation, yet he tried to remain cool.
“Tsk, tsk. Once question at a time my young friend. I know you simply because I’ve been keeping a careful eye on you and your precious babies. Their quite lovely specimens, if I do say so myself.”
The young man’s grip on the phone tightened, almost to the point of breaking it. “Listen, if you did anything to hurt them I’ll ma-”
“You’ll do nothing, or rather you can’t because you know nothing about me. I guess that would make things difficult wouldn’t it?” The strangers tone was mildly amused. “But in either case, they are out of my hands. You see, someone has taken those lovely specimens from underneath my nose. I don’t know who or rather what they are but suffice to say we have a clashing of interest.”
This made Kai pause for a minute. “So they’re not with you.” It was just a statement confirming something instead of a question.
“Your catching on quickly my friend. I know nothing about what took the two specimens, but my eyes told me about the little incident. Quite sloppy for them to be taken as they did but that’s besides the point. They were last seen heading towards New York, according to my source.”
“If you know so much about them, why aren’t you getting them yourselves and telling us. What do you gain in this?”
There was a slight chuckle from the phone. “It seems you aren’t as stupid as I thought. There are certain things preventing me from acting out in that way. By saving them you make it easier on me, lets just call it temporary mutual interest in something and leave it at that. Believe or disbelieve me is of no consequence, except for those poor children of course I guess. Its been fun, perhaps we will do this another time. I have to go, next time we will meet in the flesh.”
A light click ended the conversation between them.
Mao looked disgusted. “That asshole. Who does he think he is?”
“So, we going?” Okamura added. “It sounds like a trap. I mean the whole thing is awfully to convenient if you ask me.”
“We don’t have any other leads or even where to start so we have too. Besides, if he was working with that thing and wanted to kill us we would be dead by now. So, there must be some truth to his words..” Kai looked at Solomon. “When do we leave?”
“First thing in the morning. I talked to the nurses and persuaded them to release you tomorrow. Get some rest and recover for now. If you’ll excuse me.” Solomon said simply and left out of the room. Kai couldn’t help but notice he seemed preoccupied about something but couldn’t even start to make a guess of what it could be.
“I still don’t trust him Kai.” Mao said at length once he was gone.
“I know. But we should at least give him a chance, besides..” Kai trailed off noticing Irene and Lulu besides being silent during the whole time Solomon was here had now grown tense. “What’s wrong?”
Irene was the first one to say something. “Moses and Karman are here.”
Kai was about to ask why that had bothered them, both were soon quickly out of the door but it clicked almost instantly later. Those two didn’t know that Solomon was helping them, and knowing Karman he might rush first and ask questions later.
The two Sif in question were in the middle of the waiting room, standing up and looking at Solomon. The three didn’t move but the tension was pretty thick inside the room, the people in the waiting room felt it as well, which is why they were probably on edge as well. Karman and Moses didn’t bring their weapons with them, but their cloaks still attracted more then enough attention to them anyway.
“Karman, Moses stop! Don’t fight him.”
Karman looked like he was about to do something when Irene’s voice grounded him back to reality, seeing both her and Lulu come over to stop the fight. “Irene, Lulu your all right. Wait, why are you two protecting him?”
Irene shook her head. “The twins were taken away. We..need his help to find them.”
Moses hadn’t jumped the gun as quickly as his friend. Solomon had the scent of Kai and the others but there was no signs of a fight, which meant something was going on. “Karman, stand down for now.”
Very reluctantly, the taller Sif did as he was told, still glaring at Solomon. “Fine. But after this is over, we settle this. I’ll be outside.” Not wanting to even be in the same building as the Chevalier, he walked outside with out another word.
“C-could you please settle down?” One of the nurses said timidly. “Your scaring the other patients.”
“I’m sorry it won’t happen again.” Solomon said sincerely, looking at Moses as if to confirm his statement.
Blinking once for what might almost been mistaken for confusion, Moses went along with it to keep them from getting kicked out of the hospital.“Yes. My friend was just in a bad mood.”
Slowly, the nurse nodded and went back to work. Moses however was still at a lost of just what exactly was going on. He turned to Irene and Lulu. “Mind explaining to me what’s going on?”
* *
Around the next day, Kai was finally discharged from the hospital since they really had no reason to keep him there and he was fine physically. Solomon, true to his word had taken care of everything before hand, even as far as getting their weapons shipped along with them. It had taken some coaxing from Irene and Moses but Karman reluctantly parted ways with his spear, still not trusting the Chevalier even if their goals were the same. Kai left Ryo in charge of the pub until he returned but hadn’t left an exact date of when he would come back.
The trip to the air-port was rather uneventful, though Karman had wanted to drive and would have if it weren’t for Moses interference. Due to this the ride went without incident and they safely reached where they needed to go. Once arriving, Solomon was nowhere to be found at the busy air-port.
Mao glanced around the sea of people. “I knew he would bail out.”
“Not quite.” Kai began, walking ahead towards the waiting seats. “He left a message on my cell and told me he would be a little late. For now we’ll just have to wait.”
“That doesn’t sound half-bad right about now.” Okamura sat in one of the empty seats and leaned back trying to relax before his life was once again surrounded by chaos. Sometimes he considered retiring, maybe once or twice but always dismissed it. He had his father’s adventurous spirit and was unable to sit down for long periods of time, the reporter would have grown bored very quickly with a normal life.
“Irene look!” Lulu excitedly exclaimed, looking at the large window at the planes land and take off. Her face was pressed against the window as she watched, and soon Irene mimicked her friends action, watching curiously.
It’s always the little things with those two. Kai didn’t want to spoil their fun so he left them alone and instead focused on Moses who was relaxed. Karman on the other hand seemed slightly edgy once he saw the planes. It was still something he hadn’t completely gotten used to, seeing Karman and Moses in ‘casual’ clothing was just as an interesting experience as it was the very first time. It wasn’t to say they weren’t well put together with their style of dress, or at least it would have been true for Karman’s case if it weren’t for one detail. In this case it was the scarf the owner of the mansion had given him, for lack of a better word it was hideous and Kai wasn’t even a fashion expert. Most likely he had been asked to wear it and seeing him do just that must of meant he cared to some extent so he left alone.
“..So we’re going to be riding one of those..things?” Karman asked hesitantly.
Kai nodded, if he didn’t know any better he would say Karman was scared to fly. “An air plane. Their pretty safe, actually their more safer then driving a car believe it or not.”
A skeptical look fell on the taller boy’s face. “I doubt it. How does it even work?”
He shook his head briefly.“I couldn’t tell you the specifics. So, Keina gave you that scarf?”
“Yeah. For good luck. Why?” Karman didn’t know why but people had been starring at the scarf ever since he had started wearing it. He couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing and nobody was telling him, he felt like he was being left out of a big secret.
Kai waved it off. “Nothing. It looks good on you.”
For some reason Karman didn’t believe him.
“Sorry for running late. I had to take care of something.” Solomon came into view, wearing his trademark suit. “Is everyone here?”
“Just a minute.” Okamura said. “Aren’t we going on a private plane of yours?”
“That’s what I was taking care of. We would have, but it was destroyed.”A small frown appeared on Solomon’s normally pleasant face. “And I have no idea who did it or why. But not to worry, I pulled some strings and got us all a flight in first class.” The group had mixed reactions about that comment, and it did very little to help Karman’s nerves or his suspicion of Solomon.
Okamura rubbed his chin, thinking. Could that person that called have something to do with it? But if it was him why? If he didn’t want us to come and be out the way, why did he tell us? It doesn’t make any sense. Arghh, damn it my head hurts. Maybe that’s their master plan, give me a headache thinking.
A pleasant female voice boomed over the intercom signaling their flight was ready. “Attention. All passengers heading to the first flight too New York please come forward.”
Any further conversation was halted as they went to board the plane. By now it was obvious Karman had some reservations about this whole flying thing had to take a minute to himself before following after. Not to many in Japan were heading to New York at the current time so the group was blessed with the ability not to be as cramped, which Karman was eternally grateful for as that was something he truly hated. He took a seat by Moses, who took out a book and began quietly reading while his companion seemed tense. Okamura, Lulu and Mao took seats across from them while the others claimed their own spots up ahead.
“Thank you for taking our air-line. Please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your flight.”
Karman started to relax after the pilots announcement, he sounded like he knew what he was doing. However, the plane soon began shaking and lurched forward making the Sif grip tightly at the armrest. “Why is it shaking? What’s going on?” His voice had risen with out intending to as he spoke rapidly.
“It’s taking off, don’t worry.” Moses tried to calm down his friend. He had never been on a plane either but he had read about them.
“Don’t worry Karman, I read in a safety magazine once. It said we could use the safety floating devices if it crashes.” Lulu assured, adding her own two cents.
“Thanks. But that only helps if we crash on water.” It was unknown if Karman was being sarcastic or not but one bet on the first then the later.
Meanwhile, Kai, Irene, and Solomon had all managed to find seats for themselves. They weren’t able to sit close to each other due to lack of room. Kai sat with some strangers while Irene did the same, sharing some space with a little girl around six and older woman in her fifties who was fast asleep already. Children had and still fascinated Irene, she still couldn’t believe something so small would eventually grow up to be an adult. She was tempted to start some form of conversation but thought against it for now, having other things on her mind.
“You live here in Japan?”
It took a moment to realize the old woman was talking to her. “Oh. Uh, yes.” The reply was a bit awkward, however, if the if the stranger noticed she made no indication of it.
She simply gave a disarming smile, hoping to relax the younger girl as if sensing her nervousness. “That’s nice. We were simply visiting a few old friends, New York is our home. I’m Kayla and this is my grand daughter Amanda.”
“Irene.” The Sif offered. She relaxed as the conversation continued.
“Well, that’s a very pretty name young lady. Your parents had some good taste in names.” Kayla praised.
Irene’s face seem to fall slightly. “I don’t have any parents.”
“Oh I’m sorry, sometimes this old woman talks to much.” She said apologetically, assuming her parents had died or abandoned her. That would have only been the half truth either way.
She only slowly shook her head. “Its all right. I like..talking with you.”
After this comment, Kayla seemed to take this as a sign she could continue. “Well, thank you. Its nice to see there’s still nice young people in this generation.”
Is this the right time to say it? Irene wasn’t to sure at first but it seemed right. “Thank you for saying that.”
Blinking once for a minute, she chuckled seconds later. “My, aren’t we very polite? No need for a thank you just yet dear. You seem to have a very pretty spirit Irene.”
“A pretty spirit?” A look of confusion appeared on the blondes face, she had never heard that term.
“Yes. It means your heart and soul seem to be good.” Kayla explained. “Your way of being if that makes sense to you. Maybe we will meet again in New York, I would like to see you again someday.”
A ghost of a smile formed on Irene’s lips. “Me to.”
The rest of the flight went peacefully.
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< br> Authors Notes: I was trying to show Irene’s social awkwardness in the last little scene. Re watching the episode when she talked with Kai, I made some mental notes to keep in mind during her conversations. Its hard work but its satisfying when it pays off.
I like Karman (especially after seeing the episode where he admitted was scared of dying, because I could relate to that) but I couldn’t help but give him a hard time in this chapter, he’s just a fun character to mess with. Not to worry for Haji fans, I haven’t forgotten about him, I’m just waiting for the right time.