Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Refugees and Kings ❯ Forgetting How to Fly ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Aeoliander
Rem and Valari have always felt their lives were pretty normal. Can they take it when they realize Hitomi has been hiding something all this time?

Anime/Manga: Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.23.2006 | Updated On: 03.23.2006 | Pages: 20 | Words: 17.5K | Visits: 277 | Status: Completed

Disclaimer: Still don't own Escaflowne! I'd be flattered if you sued, but please don't.
 
Refugees and Kings
Chapter Two: Forgetting How to Fly
In which Rem and Valari begin to grow up on Earth
 
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Five years and Hitomi was still having the nightmares.
 
Usually she woke up with no memory of them. The only reason she knew she had them was because Myoujin sometimes asked her about them in the morning when they sat together for breakfast. He never expressed anything except concern but Hitomi knew that her tossing at night kept him awake as well. So the moment Hitomi was back on her feet, she made sure to get her own apartment.
 
Asleep in her own room, she didn't have to feel guilty about concealing her dreams.
 
Hitomi sat up with a start, shaking off an image of breaking wings.
 
She glanced at her clock. Unh. Why did her maternal instinct have to kick in at 3:00 A.M.? Throwing off her sheets, Hitomi rolled out of bed and groped through the darkness of her bedroom towards the door.
 
She opened it as slowly as possible to avoid making any sound. It was a rare moment when both Rem and Val were asleep and Hitomi wasn't about to risk waking either of them. Not only did the twins have a talent for seeking out trouble, they seemed to have synchronized their schedule so one would keep Hitomi busy while the other one could rest.
 
Hitomi did not have far to go down the hall to reach the twins' room. No matter how lucky they were to have the apartment there was no denying the space was cramped. The arrangement wouldn't last forever but for now the twins could share.
 
Hitomi peeked in the doorway. Val was sprawled in her usual tangle of sheets and her raven hair matted across her pillowcase. Hitomi heard the girl breathing heavily and smiled, reassured. Then her eyes turned to Rem.
 
“Rem?” Forgetting any fear of waking the kids, Hitomi rushed into the room to paw through the empty sheets on Rem's bed. It took her less than a second to turn on Val, shaking the girl's shoulder gently.
 
“Val?” Hitomi tried to keep the urgency out of her voice so she wouldn't scare the child. “Val, where's your brother?”
 
“Mom?” Val complained groggily, rolling over to try to shake Hitomi off.
 
“Val, tell me where Rem is or you're spending tomorrow at Myoujin-sensei's while I'm at work.”
 
The threat penetrated the girl's sleepy consciousness and her chocolate eyes opened reproachfully. Val dragged herself from her dreams long enough to gesture in the vague direction above them, “Outside.”
 
At the same moment something thumped in the ceiling. Hitomi stared up at it, wishing desperately she hadn't heard anything. “Oh dear God.”
 
Val went back to snoring, blissfully unaware of Hitomi's sprint through the apartment.
 
How was it possible that she hadn't heard Rem use the front door? Then climb the service stairs up to the fifth floor balcony? The walls were so thin she usually heard what went on in the entire complex!
 
Hitomi reached the front door in moments and found it completely unlocked. She was sure she had locked it for the night. Rem had no excuse now. Unless he could convince her, fast, that he had been sleepwalking, she was ready to ground him for the rest of the month for leaving the house in the middle of the night.
 
Hitomi burst through the door and turned on her heel. Scrambling down the open-air hallway overlooking the street below, she reached the stairs to the fifth floor landing and took them two by two. She knew there was a wonderful view there, where you could watch the car lights twinkle as they passed huge glass buildings.
 
At the top of the landing, Rem's small form could be seen scrambling up the side of the railing, silhouetted against the glow of the city. His dark eyes reflected that glow happily, completely unaware of the five story drop below him.
 
“Rem!”
 
“Mom?” The boy jerked around to blink at her. His moment of surprise gave Hitomi enough time to descend upon him and drag him away off the side of the railing.
 
Gasping from adrenaline, Hitomi hugged the boy tight. “What were you thinking?”
 
“But I did it Mom!” the boy cried, squirming with surprising strength for a five-year-old. “I dreamed it then I did it!”
 
Hitomi blinked and released him. New possibilities at what he might have accomplished swam in her thoughts. She knew the twins had watched that show that said cats always landed on their feet recently but he wouldn't have actually tried to....
 
“What? What did you do?”
 
Rem spread out his arms and gave Hitomi a proud smile. “I flew.”
 
Hitomi stared until her eyes began to sting. “You- you…. Oh Rem.”
 
Rem's smile faded and his eyes went wide as he watched her. “Mommy?” he said, a quaver in his voice. It took her a moment to realize there were tears running down her cheeks.
 
Flying. She had almost forgotten.
 
Hitomi wiped the tears off her cheeks and gripped the boy's shoulders. “Listen to me Rem. It was just a dream. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
 
“But mo-”
 
“You can't fly Rem. It was just a dream, that's all.” Hitomi forced herself to smile, as though she was merely considering a funny thought, “You can't fly.”
 
Rem was frowning, ready to disagree. Then his eyes dropped, letting her win the argument before he even tried. He gave a small jerking nod.
 
Hitomi continued to smile. “Come on. Time to go back to bed.”
 
Later, when she was sure this time that both children were asleep, Hitomi snuck back upstairs to sweep up the feathers.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
 
Hitomi sighed in satisfaction and set down the box in the corner. She turned back to Myoujin, who had only just stepped through the apartment door, carrying the last box of her few belongings from the dojo. With that the move was over.
 
“So, what do you think?”
 
“You already know what I think,” Myoujin murmured as he eyed the cramped space critically. “I think you should stop this nonsense and come back to the dojo.”
 
“Thank you Daisuke. But now that I finally got that promotion I can't ask you to house us anymore. Oh, speaking of freeloading...” Hitomi rummaged through another box waiting nearby, bought out a white envelope, and offered it to Myoujin. “A great deal of rent has built up over the years. I told you I would pay you back someday.”
 
Myoujin walked past the envelope without even glancing at it. He stopped at the living room window, frowning down at the street. “Even in a normal situation, this is no place for children to grow up. At least the dojo has some green life around it.” Myoujin looked significantly back at Hitomi, “But this is hardly a normal situation is it.”
 
Hitomi sighed, avoiding his gaze. “It's been years....”
 
“You think you're finally safe from them?” Myoujin asked earnestly. After years of Hitomi refusing to describe the disaster that had brought her to his doorstep, Myoujin had been forced to refer to her secret enemies in vague terms and allusions. He would have to be even more careful now that the twins were getting older and more suspicious.
 
“I'm not letting my guard down, if that's what you mean.”
 
“I mean that it would be safer for them back at the dojo.”
 
“I used to feel the same way. In those early days when I really thought we might be followed, I never wanted to leave your protection. But the twins are older now, things have calmed down.” Hitomi shook her head, at last admitting some of her guilt, “That, and I can't ask you to put your home and your school in danger any longer.”
 
Myoujin mused over that a moment, unsure of how to respond. It was true that he would have preferred to know what kind of dangers he had been shielding them from all this time. “You know, the greatest protection would be to tell them what they could have to face.”
 
“I can't do that. I won't force them to live in fear like I have, not because of some danger that may never come.” Hitomi smiled wryly, “Besides Daisuke, I think you're forgetting that even if I did try to tell them they would think I'm nuts.”
 
Myoujin conceded that point easily enough. He would still sometimes try to convince himself that he had saved Hitomi and the children from a fiery car accident or some other bizarre explanation, rather than remember how she had actually arrived.
 
“What about Leon?”
 
Leandros already had the problem of attracting far too much attention by his appearance once he went off to school. Hitomi had tried to minimize the issue by convincing the boy to go by the more well-known name Leon in public. Val and Rem had already forgotten calling there older not-quite-brother by anything else.
 
“He seems to be settling in just fine after the move.”
 
Myoujin rolled his eyes. “It's not as though he would ever complain. The boy is too polite with you Hitomi. He spends most of his time training at the dojo anyways. Why not let him become a full-time boarder?”
 
Hitomi hesitated.
 
After watching Leandros flit about those first few months as though having lost a piece of himself it had been Myoujin that suggested to Hitomi that she let the boy learn how to use the sword.
 
Myoujin-sensei certainly resembled any Fanelian swords master Leandros would have ever imagined and all of them that Hitomi had actually met. He was gruff, aggressive, completely dedicated to his art, and he drove Leandros like an animal. Myoujin had enjoyed forcing him into ambidexterity where in Fanelia Leandros would have simply been treated as a cripple.
 
At the same time, Hitomi knew that things hadn't always gone smoothly between master and student. The weapons, the bamboo shinai and the wooden bokken, barely resembled anything Leandros had known in his own world. A respectable Fanelian samurai would use steel. Unable to shake that knowledge from Leandros' memory, Myoujin battled constantly with the boy on the subject. It took several sound defeats before Leandros became convinced that what mattered wasn't the damage he could do, rather the ability to protect himself was the more important.
 
“I doubt he'll refuse,” Hitomi said, inwardly promising to offer Leandros her apartment as a rest from the dojo whenever he needed it, unaware that Myoujin was silently thinking just the opposite.
 
Hitomi held up the envelope, “Fine. But only if you accept this.”
 
“Hitomi,” Myoujin sighed, “I know it's important to you to feel like you're striking out on your own, but it's important to me as well. I'm not taking your money.”
 
That was about as close as the old samurai would ever come to admitting that the children had become like grandchildren to him.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
 
 
“Kanzaki-chan! Get down from there!”
 
Val neared the edge of the roof to call down to him, “I'll be down in a second!”
 
Leandros' eyes flew wide and he felt his heart stop. Suddenly it no longer mattered how exactly Val had gotten onto the dojo roof. It wasn't important that he had somehow let Val out of his sight when he was supposed to be watching her. All that mattered to him was how she got down.
 
“Not that way!”
 
“Rem told me,” Val said, as though that explained everything. “I wanna see if I can do it too.”
 
Just keep her talking, Leandros urged himself. Anything to distract her. “What did Rem tell you?”
 
“It's a surprise. You'll like it!”
 
“I already hate it Kanzaki-chan. Just stay there instead and I'll come get you.”
 
“You can't tell me what to do,” Val rejoined, upset at Leandros' refusal to support her cause.
 
Leandros' panicked mind scrambled for something to say. “But what if Rem lied to you? Remember what he told you about ants and the microwave?”
 
“He's not lying this time,” Val insisted, though her face did turn a pale shade of green. Those poor ants. Hitomi had grounded both twins for a week.
 
Suddenly all bets of friendship or fealty to the young exiled prince were off. The next time Leandros saw Rem, he would kill him. Worse if something actually happened to Val.
 
At the back of Leandros' thoughts there was something about a king... or a prince perhaps.... that could fly with wings and summon dragons. But what did that mean? Would Valari actually be able to do this without getting hurt? He couldn't understand where Rem had gotten an idea like that anyway. No way Hitomi would have told him anything.
 
Val spread her arms out straight and laughed at the sky, “Here I come.”
 
She was actually going to do it?! And he would have to watch as she fell then.... His imagination shied away from the image of Val's body touching the ground. Leandros' chest constricted.
 
“No!”
 
Something in his strangled shout made Val pause and glance down at him once again. She peered at him curiously. “Leon-kun..... you're too old to cry.”
 
“I'm not crying!” Leandros snarled, wiping his nose and eyes furiously on his sleeve.
 
“What's wrong?”
 
“I...” Why was it so painful to get the words out suddenly? Leandros' arm began to ache and he rubbed at the scars of his old wound absently. Despite Myoujin's careful attention, Leandros' arm had been slow to heal. It also quickly became clear he even though some control would return, he would never have full use of it ever again. Still, he had to try to protect the twins as best he could.
 
“Please Kanzaki-chan. Let me come get you down from there.”
 
Sometimes Leandros could dream of Fanelia. Not that last glimpse of a nightmare Fanelia when he traveled with Hitomi-sama to the Mystic Moon, but the Fanelia he knew from early childhood. Sometimes he would even drift off into sleep, telling himself the old stories his mother knew. But that was getting more and more difficult as he got older. He could no longer imagine the young king, soaring with bright wings high above his kingdom.
 
Val's voice turned meek with confusion and worry as she struggled to reassure him, “But I can really- I won't....”
 
“I can't stand to see you hurt Valari,” Leandros pleaded, for once using her name without any formality.
 
Val and Rem were all that Leandros had left to remind him. He saw Fanelia in them, when they acted with the wounded pride of a prince or princess or smiled at him. They gave him hope. Hope that maybe someday, just someday, Hitomi would say it was finally for them to go home. If he lost even one of them, what would there be left to fight for?
 
“But Rem told me I can.....”
 
“Please,” Leandros might as well have gotten down on his knees. “You'll fall and then I won't know what to do.”
 
Apparently Rem hadn't said anything about falling. At last Val's eyes focused on the distance between her and the ground. When had it gotten so big? She had been on the dojo roof before, just never for the same purpose as that day. The blood rushed from her head and Val staggered to her knees, clutching the edge of the roof in a death-grip as she stared down at the ground.
 
“Leon-kun!” she gasped out from chattering teeth.
 
“I'll be right there,” Leon shouted, “Just don't move!”
 
“Hurry,” Val whimpered.
 
Seeing his opening, Leandros scrambled for the dojo drainpipe, too impatient to find the ladder out of the shed. For a few precious seconds, Leandros had to take his eyes off of her and his imagination tormented him with pictures of Val regaining her courage and taking the plunge while he wasn't there. The best he could do was hope she had the sense to stay put and pray that if she didn't, Rem and his mother's stories had been telling the truth.
 
Leandros plunged across the rooftop, fully aware that Myoujin would have his skin for making such a racket while he was trying to teach classes below. He found Val kneeling at the edge of the roof, staring bleakly down at the ground with tears dampening her cheeks. Thoughts of how he was going to punish Rem were pushed out of the way as he went to comfort the little girl.
 
“You silly girl,” Leandros' words were harsh but he spoke them gently as he took hold of her shoulders and drew her away from the edge. “Didn't you know you were afraid of heights?”
 
Val hid her face against Leandros' chest.
 
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10 years after Hitomi returned to Earth
 
Everyday after grade school let out, Leandros walked the twins home while Hitomi was busy with work. It was really out of the way for him but the habit had stuck from the days that Leandros had lived in together with the Kanzakis in their apartment. He doubted that the twins even remembered those days. Leandros had spent so much time at the Kamiya dojo that one day Myoujin and Hitomi simply told the boy to stay.
 
Despite that their apartment was out of his way, Leandros savored the small amount of time he had to spend with the twins. He hoped that they would begin their training soon and he could see them even more often.
 
Their favorite game during those walks home was to try to get Leandros to answer their questions. “Leon-kun, where are you from to have such strange hair?”
 
Leandros liked to smile and tease them and that afternoon was no different, “Can't you guess?”
 
“Germany,” Rem tried.
 
“China!” Val said at the same time.
 
“If you can't guess, I won't tell you.”
 
“France.”
 
“Zimbabwe.” Val liked to try the stranger choices.
 
“Nope. You'll never get it.”
 
Val and Rem frowned at one another in concentration. Rem looked up and chimed, “Give us a hint Leon-kun.”
 
“Yes, a hint!”
 
Leandros paused. The twins had never thought to ask him that before. He thought about it and supposed there was no harm in a tiny hint. “Where I come from, there was a king.”
 
“Was he a good king or a bad king?” Val asked.
 
Leandros' faltered and he blinked, discovering he didn't know. There was his mother's hand in his memory, stroking his forehead as she told the story before bedtime. He could hear her voice but the words were getting more and more difficult to remember.
 
“A good king,” he decided, striding onwards. “But he died.”
 
“What happened?”
 
“The king had two sons, one light and one dark. The dark prince was in line for the throne but the dragons decided his thoughts were ugly and he was unfit to be king. My home fell on hard times then, because the light prince was too young so we had no king.”
 
“Dragons,” Rem breathed, listening raptly.
 
“Yes, and the heart of every dragon was made of-” Leandros halted, discovering that Val was no longer at their side. He glanced over his shoulder to where she had fallen behind several paces. “Kanzaki-chan, catch up.”
 
The girl didn't move. Instead she glared at Leandros accusingly. Rem crossed his arms impatiently, “Val, what's wrong?”
 
“He's lying!” Val burst out.
 
Both Leandros and Rem stared. “Huh?”
 
“There's no such thing as dragons. Not anywhere.”
 
Leandros listened in detachment as the twins squabbled a moment, wondering at how careless he had allowed himself to be. If he wasn't careful, he might say the next thing that sent Val or Rem for the roof.
 
“Leon-kun,” Rem's insistent voice broke through Leandros' thoughts, demanding that the older boy back him up in the argument with his sister.
 
Leandros' smile was considerably weaker this time. “She does have a point, Kanzaki-kun. There are no such things as dragons on Earth.”
 
Val couldn't resist, “Told you so.”
 
Rem stared a moment then without warning kicked Leandros in the shin. “No fair lying when we're trying to guess!”
 
Leandros staggered and Rem ran for his life. It seemed that once again that all bets of friendship and fealty Leandros owed to Rem were off. Leandros was going to kill him. “Get back here you squirt!”
 
“Run Rem, run!”
 
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“But Leon-kun, why do we have to learn how to fight?”
 
Hitomi had finally given into Myoujin's pestering and agreed that the twins were old enough to start kenjutsu practice. That afternoon, Leandros brought them to the dojo early for a quick introductory lesson with Myoujin before the rest of his students arrived. The twins had reacted to the news with mixed feelings, even though they had spent so much time at the dojo before.
 
“Because Kanzaki-san wants you to know how to protect yourselves,” Leandros replied, handing Val a shinai that matched her size and weight. She regarded the thing dubiously, as though Leandros had given her a snake.
 
Nearby Rem was swinging his own shinai more like a baseball bat than any sword. “Protect ourselves against what?” he laughed, “Random samurai attacks?”
 
Someone else might have gritted their teeth at that remark. Leandros, however, was learning how to keep cool around the twins' teasing. He considered his answer, calculating the possible dangers, then said, “Your father knew how to fight.”
 
Both twins jumped, Val's eyes darting away and Rem looking up at Leandros avidly. “What do you know about our father?” he asked.
 
“Just that he knew how to use the sword very well,” Leandros said flatly, careful that his expression wouldn't reveal anything else.
 
As Leandros lead them into the main practice hall, Val fell into step with her brother. “You sure changed your mind quickly,” she observed quietly.
 
“It's important,” he insisted, refusing to look at her.
 
But Val was his twin. She knew exactly what would be the most painful thing for him to hear. “Learning the sword isn't going to make our father appear out of nowhere, you know.”
 
Rem twitched and a stricken flew across his face. Then he hardened. “I don't care. Maybe this way I can still learn something about him.”
 
Myoujin was waiting for them at the center of the hall, a shinai slung over his shoulder casually. His traditional gi and hair-cut which drew his graying hair back into a harsh pony-tail might have looked old-fashioned on the street, but in the dojo Myoujin was the master of his domain. His eyes were still bright and young there, reflecting the light off the floors he had his students keep well-polished.
 
“Rem-kun, you first.”
 
Suddenly shy around this man he had known all his life, Rem approached and stood across from Myoujin timidly. “What do I do?”
 
“Nothing right now. Stand there and watch closely while I perform the basic strike.”
 
But maybe Rem could do more than that.
 
He didn't know how it worked, but he knew how to look at people and see their possibilities. If he concentrated very hard on a certain person, all the different ways that person might move in the next few seconds appeared in front of Rem's eyes, as though there was film-strip after film-strip laid on top of each other to make a messy blur. Rem suspected the visions hurt so much because of the way his eyes strained, trying to focus the different images that were really only in his mind.
 
“Are you ready?”
 
“Yes, sensei,” Rem said, rising his shinai the way Myoujin had shown him to. He squinted at Myoujin as his sensei prepared to strike.
 
His visions immediately sparked to life. Rem had never concentrated so hard on anyone in this kind of situation before. The light of possibilities pooled around Myoujin, fluid and always in motion but with the obvious ability to become spiked and dangerous if he so chose.
 
It was like someone had just turned up the lights too fast in a dark room, only the light was one hundred times brighter than it should have been. The visions stabbed backwards into Rem's eyes and he recoiled with a cry. He dropped his shinai, clamping his hands over his head.
 
“REM....”
 
The voice sounded like his sister's but Rem couldn't be sure. Then a pair of chocolate eyes emerged to look into his, two dark spots in a field of light. Those were his sister's eyes, his own eyes. Their faces were still mirror images of each other's. He saw their fear and confusion and he knew she
 
Rem's eyelids fluttered. “Val, please, make `em go `way.”
 
“I know Rem. Ignore it. Don't look,” Val squeezed his hand, swallowing again and again, “Think about something else.”
 
Someone had moved him to a different room during the time the earth had fallen away from his feet. Vaguely Rem recognized the sparse room he and Val had sometimes stayed in during sleepovers, its single brush painting hanging like a lonely question mark in the corner. The shoji doors were opened wide onto the practice yard to allow in as much fresh air as possible.
 
From the entrance, Leandros peered at Rem's careful balancing act between feeling the pain and unconsciousness. He had felt the same thing once before in his life and recognized it easily enough in Rem, despite how the younger boy was trying to pretend it wasn't happening. Rem opened his eyes fully, wincing at the light and pushed himself up painfully.
 
He could hear the sound of Myoujin instructing his other students in a loud voice not far off in another room. The old samurai sounded frustrated and worried, leaving Rem no doubt he would be in to chew him out any moment.
 
“How long has this been going on?” Leandros murmured gently as he handed Rem a steaming cup of tea.
 
“A long time,” Val said. “He has nightmares-”
 
“Don't mess with me and say you don't have the dreams either,” Rem snapped at her from over his cup.
 
“I told you already Rem, I don't have them!”
 
“Somehow you're better at suppressing them than I am.”
 
Leandros was watching Rem with that strange look in his eyes he got when someone mentioned the scar on his arm. “Wait. What kinds of dreams?”
 
“Just.... nightmares,” Rem said, closing himself off from any other questions. Leandros sighed.
 
“All right Kanzaki-kun, you rest for a while. We can try to get in your first practice tomorrow. Kanzaki-chan, look after your brother for me, will you?”
 
“Leon-sempai!” Leandros turned at Rem's call then started. Both the twins suddenly looked very frightened and alone, kneeling together in the corner of the room. Their gazes held him in ice. “You can't tell mom anything.”
 
“Rem...” Leandros began reasonably.
 
“Swear you won't tell her about this.”
 
“I can't just-”
 
“Swear it or I'll never speak to you again!”
 
Leandros didn't believe him at first. He glanced at Val and found she was just watching him with her head slightly cocked, firmly at her brother's back. Leandros wasn't going to be able to take much more.
 
“Fine. I swear I won't tell Kanzaki-dono anything!” he snarled before whirling about and stomping out of the room.
 
Val looked dazedly back at her brother, “Did his just say dono?”
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- -----------
 
“All right. Take a break, Kanzaki-chan.”
 
Val wasn't about to argue. She immediately took advantage of his offer to collapse on one side of the practice hall. The polished wooden floor wasn't exactly comfortable but after the drills Leandros had just put her through, it was bliss.
 
She heard footsteps nearby and opened her eyes to see Kaoru leaning over her, smiling. Kamiya Kaoru, Myoujin-sensei's niece and heir to the dojo, was one of the few people that was kind to Val despite her shortcomings during practice. Which was surprising, since Kaoru was the epitome of the perfect kendo girl, pony-tail and all. Val sometimes supposed it was because she helped Kaoru transition to being just a regular girl at school.
 
Kaoru settled down next to Val and sighed, “You're so lucky to get so much extra attention from Leon-sempai.”
 
Val rotated her head to look at her friend blankly. She wondered if Kaoru would say the same thing if she had as many bruises as Val at that moment. But just like most girls at the dojo, Kaoru was mesmerized by the silver hair and mysterious scar on his Leandros' arm. “You can have all of it if you want.”
 
Kaoru thought about it then giggled. “Maybe if I pretend to mess-up as often as you do Leon-sempai will look at me too.”
 
“You shouldn't. Sensei and Leon'll know that you're during it on purpose. Me on the other hand, they know I just suck.”
 
“Val-chan! You shouldn't say that! You're just a little clumsy, that's all. I'm sure you'll grow out of it.”
 
Val smiled. “Let's face it Kaoru-chan, if anyone ever actually does comes after me with a sword, I'm just going to run the other way.”
 
“What a depressing thing to say.”
 
“Myoujin-sensei!”
 
“Uncle!”
 
Myoujin loomed over the two girls, frowning. “That's four laps, up to the shrine and back, both of you. Now go.”
 
“Yes sensei,” the girls chimed, scrambling to their feet and darting off on his orders.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
 
16 years after Hitomi returned to Earth.
 
“Please Hitomi.”
 
“No.”
 
“Puhlleeeeeease?”
 
“I said no.”
 
“I'm your brother!”
 
Hitomi sighed and swiveled around on her chair, turning her back on Shigeru. Anyone passing by her cubicle would immediately see the family resemblance between her and the young man standing near her desk. Though he had a much lighter shade of honey colored hair, he had the same moss green eyes as his sister.
 
"That's why I'm not going to let you set me up with anyone!” Hitomi shut down her computer and started collecting her papers. The workday was over and the building was mostly empty by then. “Besides, why do you need me for this double date thing?”
 
“Because, the girl has some silly rule of never going alone on the first date. So I figure, what's more trustworthy than bringing my own sister along? I swear you'll like the guy I've got for you. Please?”
 
“Sounds like she doesn't trust you already.”
 
“But you should really see this tart.” Shigeru grinned sheepishly at Hitomi's dark look, “Ok, I can see you're not exactly interested in that bit of information, but if you could just see her..... Well, you'd understand why I need you to do this so much. I'm begging you Hitomi, don't make me get down on my knees.”
 
“I take it this isn't someone you'd want to bring home to mom and dad.”
 
“Tch,” Shigeru leaned back against the cubicle wall and crossed his arms, beginning to get frustrated. “Since when do you care what you bring home to our parents?”
 
Hitomi looked up in shock as though Shigeru had just slapped her. Shigeru stared back at her in horror, only just realizing exactly what he had said. “Oh jeez Hitomi, I didn't mean it like that.”
 
Unable to find any kind of answer to that, Hitomi suddenly made herself very busy organizing the papers in her out-box. Shigeru rubbed the back of his neck, “I tried to talk them into coming to the twins' birthday party you know.”
 
“Yeah.”
 
“You just have to give them some time.”
 
Hitomi finally stopped her frenzied organizing and looked up at her brother. Her voice came quiet and strained, “Fifteen years?”
 
Shigeru laughed weakly. “Okay, a lot of time.” He sighed when Hitomi didn't laugh back, “You have to understand what it was like. I mean, none of us even knew you were pregnant until...”
 
Hitomi shot up out of her chair, “So you hold it against Val and Rem?!”
 
“Hey,” Rem raised both hands as though to ward her off. “I think Val and Rem are the best niece and nephew I could ask for, but mom and dad are going to need to start feeling their mortally a lot more sharply before either of them start accepting any grandchildren.”
 
He waited for Hitomi to subside a while before he said anything else.
 
“Look. You need cheering up anyways. Why don't you let me take you out?”
 
Hitomi cocked an eyebrow at him, “On that double date?”
 
Shigeru grinned, “Just killing two birds with one stone.”
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
 
Rem hissed and pulled away from his sparring partner, shaking out a twisted wrist.
 
He saw the flash of teeth behind his partner's helmet. “What's the matter, Rem-kun? Is your sister rubbing off on you?”
 
It was perhaps the finest insult someone could throw in the Kamiya dojo, comparing a person's swordsmanship to Kanzaki Valari's. Rem pulled his gloves off with his teeth to inspect his aching fingers then spoke through a full mouth. “Bith meh.”
 
“You woke up grumpy today.”
 
Finding no unusual angles on his hand, Rem replaced the glove. “No, you woke up annoying.”
 
A nagging voice sitting next to his ear screamed illegal move! Illegal move! A voice Myoujin-sensei encouraged but never enforced. “There's a reason it's called satsujinken,” he would tell his students, “There are no rules when it comes to life and death. Honor maybe, but never death. Understand that and you'll understand every opponent you come across outside this dojo.”
 
That didn't mean Katsuro had any reason to try and break every bone in Rem's hand.
 
The next time Katsuro lunged, Rem stepped to the side and thrust back into the other boy's strike to disrupt, throwing him off balance. On his next step Rem slashed down on his partner's shoulder. Katsuro yelped in surprise more than pain.
 
“Shit Rem! That's not the kata we're practicing right-”
 
“Kanzaki-kun!” someone barked his name.
 
Rem turned around. Leandros stood nearby, wearing his “looks like I'm gunna have to take you down a notch- again” look. Rem winced. This was going to hurt.
 
Or maybe this time it wouldn't. Everyone at the Kamiya dojo knew about Leandros' handicap, that his right arm lacked some of the normal dexterity and was a great deal weaker than his other arm. The ragged scar from some mysterious childhood injury was still visible across his forearm when his sleeve was pulled back. Maybe this time Rem would finally figure out how to that to his advantage.
 
“Takani-kun, may I borrow your opponent for a moment?”
 
“Yes, Leon-sempai,” Katsuro stammered, hastily getting out of the way. Kicking off his sandals, he hopped up on the dojo walkway overlooking the main practice yard where the students worked during the summer.
 
“One strike duel,” Leandros announced formally, positioning his bokken at the ready and facing off with Rem.
 
“Go!” They lunged.
 
Their first few strikes were tests, drawn straight from the simple kata they had practiced since childhood. Because of their ongoing rivalry, Rem and Leandros liked to know the exact condition of their opponent when they finally beat each other. They had to know it was a fair fight after all.
 
Rem had had a long afternoon of practice at the dojo but he was well rested compared to the entire day Leandros had spent. And still he was moving faster than Rem, flicking away his probing strikes with ease. Rem could see the possibilities of attack floating around Leandros' and as usual there were way too many for him to sort through, let alone make a safe guess about what Leandros might do.
 
But Rem was getting better at reading his half-dreams, as he secretly called the strange visions he saw surrounding people when he concentrated. The occasional migraine was worth the advantages they provided him during practice. He was even beginning to understand that the web of chance wasn't as complete around Leandros as it was around people like Myoujin-sensei. There was a distinct gap at Leandros' right arm. If only Rem could figure out what to do about it.
 
Sword lock, he decided. If he could hold down Leandros' sword for just long enough, pin him, then he would be able to use his full strength against Leandros' weaker arm, maybe even disarm him.
 
Leandros was the first to drop out of the rhythm of the kata. He swung without warning for Rem's head and Rem's visions barely gave him enough warning to be able to duck out of the way. Rem felt his balance shift dangerously to left. You're over extending your arms again, he heard Myoujin-sensei's quiet instructions repeat at the back of his mind.
 
Rem retreated, trying to correct himself. But Leandros wasn't about to give him any time to recover. He advanced on Rem step for step, pressing his advantage with side-swipe for Rem's shoulder. Come on, Rem pleaded with his exhausted body as he blocked clumsily, Just let me last four strikes into the actual duel.
 
Their swords locked for the briefest second, giving him his last chance. Rem knew something was wrong when Leandros didn't act the slightest bit concerned. Then he felt Leandros shift and he knew it was over. Leandros spun about, using the strength of Rem's thrust to supplement his own. All Rem could do was go through the bracing techniques for lessening the effects of a blow and hope that the upcoming strike wasn't going to be as bad as it looked.
 
Contact. Rem grunted as Leandros' bokken forced all the air from his lungs. Damn, I knew I should have worn more padding today, he thought as he fell to all fours onto the packed dirt ground.
 
Game set. Match. Once again Rem had failed to beat the Kamiya dojo's top student.
 
Leandros crouched down next to him. To Rem's surprise, he was smiling. “Well done,” he said as cheerfully as if he and Rem had just shaken hands instead of trying to slaughter one another. “You surprised me a bit there.”
 
Rem struggled a moment, trying to convince his body that something was wrong. Finally his lungs seemed to realize that meant them and released their clench hold. Rem drew in a long, wheezing breath. “Did you have to hit me that hard?”
 
“Yep.”
 
His pride defeated, Rem allowed himself to collapse onto his stomach, wallowing in the now very painful feeling of air simply entering his lungs. “Damn fancy footwork.”
 
Leandros chuckled gently, “It's called Ryuukansen. If you aim it for the right vital spot between the ribs, you can use it to knock out your opponent's breath and avoid any other confrontation. If I had hit you full-strength, you wouldn't have enough breath to move right now, let alone speak.”
 
Rem burbled something unintelligible to show he was listening.
 
“Since I've shown you how, I'll assume you know how to use it from now on.”
 
That was the one good thing about getting beat down by Leandros. He always demonstrated some kind of advanced move as though silently encouraging the other students to learn and mimic him. Rem smiled grimly. Katsuro would have hell to pay if he ever tried anything like that on Rem again.
 
“Now get out of here, Kanzaki-kun. Your sister went home an hour ago and you've been at practice too long as it is.” Leandros noted Rem's condition, “Er, I mean when you can.”
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- -----
 
It wasn't an extremely long walk out of the park surrounding to dojo and back to the apartments, but an afternoon like that made it seem like miles. By the time he got himself up to the fourth floor, Rem was short-tempered from the pain and ready to collapse on the couch before dinner.
 
“I'm home,” Rem called as he kicked off his shoes in the entranceway and leaned his kenjutsu equipment against the wall. No one answered. Rem wondered what was going on. Both his sister and his mother had to have been home by then.
 
He turned down the hallway leading to the bedrooms and found Hitomi's door partially cracked. He started to knock then thought better of it and decided to listen instead. Hitomi was talking to someone inside, “No, I don't need your help..... It's all right. I've got everything under control.”
 
“Listening at doorways?”
 
Rem jumped and whirled about. Val had just come out of their room behind him and was watching him with her arms crossed. He gestured roughly towards Hitomi's room, “She's doing it again.”
 
Val blinked quizzically, “Doing what?”
 
“Talking to herself.”
 
Val's expression turned skeptical and she stepped towards the door, leaning her ear towards it. “I won't do it,” she heard Hitomi say sharply. “And I won't let you either.”
 
Val leaned back and frowned at her brother, “She's talking on the phone, dumbass.”
 
“She's not high enough in the company to talk to anyone like that and you know it. Come on Val, you've heard her do it before.”
 
“Rem, she's not the one who's nuts.” Val flicked her twin's forehead playfully, “You are.”
 
“Oh yeah?” Rem stalked after her down the hallway and into the living room. He pointed furiously down at the coffee table, where Hitomi's cell-phone rested, “Then what do you say about that?”
 
Val rolled her eyes, “It doesn't mean anything and you know it.”
 
“What are you two arguing about this time?” Hitomi sighed as she came out of her room.
 
It was pointless to try to hide the fact that they had been arguing. But it was another thing altogether to let their mother know what they had been arguing about. Rem shifted gears seamlessly. “And another thing, I'm getting flack yet again at the dojo because of you.”
 
Val blinked. “Me? What the hell did I do?”
 
“What's going on?” Hitomi insisted.
 
The twins continued, pretending not to hear her. “You're a slacker, just like always. And that image is rubbing off on me.”
 
“Hey, I work just as hard as-”
 
“No Val. If you were even trying, you'd have actually shown some kind of improvement by now. Do you realize you're the only one of your age group who still practices exclusively with the shinai?”
 
“Oh no, this isn't all about me. You've earned whatever reputation you've got. How many times have you gotten over-arrogant in the middle of a fight? Besides, what's the big deal? There's more to life than kenjutsu, you know.”
 
“It's a big deal because we could be so much better than that. With the two of use together, we could have the power to-”
 
Hitomi's eyes narrowed. Power. She had never liked that word. “Oh stop it, both of you. You're just like your father!”
 
The twins cut off and stared at her. It was never a good sign when Hitomi mentioned their father. It was like firing a warning shot saying they had better shut it and start listening carefully to her every word.
 
“Rem leave your sister alone about the dojo. It's Myoujin and Leon's job to drill her, not yours,” Val had started to smirk at her brother, thinking that she was off the hook until Hitomi pointed at her. “And Val. Try harder.”
 
“Yes Mom,” the twins said quietly in unison.
 
Then Rem noticed what his mother was wearing. Her skirt was much shorter than anything she might have worn to work and the top was lower and distinctly more complimenting. “Why are you all dressed up?”
 
Hitomi shrugged, “I'm going out.”
 
“Out where?” Rem pressed.
 
“On a date.”
 
Val brightened instantly. “A date? With who?”
 
“Someone from work,” Hitomi smiled, catching her daughter's excitement, “Your uncle...”
 
“Uncle Shigeru?!” Rem said, “You're letting him set you up? Do you even know anything about this guy?”
 
“News flash Rem,” Val teased. “That's what people do on dates, get to know each other.”
 
Hitomi stood back, amazed that the twins had dared to explode on each other again within minutes. Rem glared at his sister, “Unless you're a psycho, then you-”
 
“You're acting just like an old man!” Val laughed.
 
“Well if I'm the only one who's going to show any sense-!”
 
“Enough!” Hitomi shouted, drowning them both out. The twins jumped and stared at her in surprise. Hitomi raised her voice even more rarely than mentioning their father. “Now. I'm going out tonight so don't expect me back until late. There's leftovers from last night in the fridge. Call Myoujin if it's something involving fire or blood.”
 
“But-” the twins protested in unison as Hitomi stormed across the apartment and into the entranceway, pulling on her jacket.
 
“And try not to kill each other while I'm gone!” Hitomi slammed the door behind her.
 
For a long moment, they just stared after her. Then Rem broke the spell and wandered off towards the nook that served as their kitchen. They didn't say anything to each other about what had just passed between them. The twins always formed a momentary truce during dinner.
 
“Can you believe she's trusting Uncle Shigeru on something like this?” Rem mumbled, opening the refrigerator door.
 
“I think it's good that mom's going out,” Val said, leaning her elbows on the counter. “She should do so more often.”
 
“Hunh. You want the ramen or the beef stew?”
 
“Rem...” Val watched him rummage through the leftovers, concerned that he hadn't chosen to agree or disagree with her on that last comment. She couldn't understand why he was so worked up over this. “Don't you want mom to be happy?”
 
“Of course I want her to be happy!” Rem shot up out of the refrigerator, nearly beaming his head on the freezer door. “I just..... I just want her to be careful too.”
 
Val cocked her head at her twin, as though seeing him for the first time. She had always known that her twin was protective of their family, but she had always thought it was in the normal boyish manner of taking down whoever insulted his mother. Worrying about who she was dating was a little extreme. “What are you talking about?”
 
Rem hesitated, contemplating the tupperware in his hands like it was a work of art. Val studied the emotions playing across his face, confused that there would be anything her own twin would hide from her. Then he came to some kind of decision and shoved the tupperware back in the refrigerator. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
 
He led her back down the hallway and into Hitomi's bedroom. Val hovered in the doorway nervously as he dodged the mess Hitomi had left scattered across the floor and opened the closet door. Then, without so much as an explanation, he pulled out one of the cardboard boxes buried in the back of the closet and began to dig through it right there on the floor.
 
“What are you doing?!” Val demanded.
 
“Oh calm down. It's not like you've never searched through mom's room before.” Rem blinked at his twin's stunned expression. “You mean you haven't? Christ Val, you need to live a little.”
 
“I have been living,” Val hissed, keeping her voice down as though Hitomi was going to burst through the door at any moment. “I just never realized that my brother was a delinquent along the way!”
 
“Please, it's not like I've ever taken her money or anything. I just want to find out- Ah, here it is. Take a look at this.”
Rem handed her an official looking piece of paper. Crouching down next to her brother Val glanced over it and cocked an eyebrow, “It's mom's birth certificate. So what?”
 
“So, she's been lying to us.” He gestured impatiently at the certificate when Val just frowned at him. “Look at it!”
 
Val sighed and reluctantly did as her brother ordered, trying to understand and see what his conspiracy oriented mind was used to seeing. Finally it bit her. “Oh.”
 
“Kanzaki is her maiden name,” Rem said quietly, nodding. “Whatever our father's name was, it wasn't Kanzaki.”
 
“You don't know that,” Val kept her voice quiet, not trusting her voice at that moment. “It's not like Kanzaki is a rare name. They could have been distant relations....”
 
“She's been lying to us about her age too.”
 
Val rolled her eyes and shoved the certificate back into her brother's hands. She didn't want to look at it anymore. “Rem, a lot of women lie about their age.”
 
“To make themselves older?” Rem asked pointedly.
 
Val's mind unwillingly called up the dates she had read, did the math. That meant.... Val looked away.
 
Rem nodded again, seeing that she understood. “Don't you think she's a little young to be our mother?”
 
“So....” Val shot to her feet, shaking her head furiously. “So you're telling me our father was a slime who got a teenager pregnant then abandoned her. Fine. Now drop it already!”
 
Rem winced, his expression rueful as he gazed at the paper in his hands. “Val.... Don't you want to know who our father is?”
 
“No. Especially not after this,” Val said fiercely, clutching her arms around her stomach.
 
“How can you say that?” Rem murmured, “Leon always acts like he knows something. And Myoujin....”
 
Normally Val would have happily joined into a bash session about the old man, but in this case she was quick to jump to his defense. “Don't you dare try to blame this on Myoujin-sensei!”
 
“That's not what I meant! He just always seems like he's keeping some secret. Why does he drive the two of us so much more than anyone else? Why does Leon give us so much more attention? Has Leon ever told you where the hell he's from?”
 
“He's from Japan, just like us!”
 
“Did he tell you that?”
 
“No, but-”
 
“Damn it Val, I just want to know why everyone has been lying to us!”
 
“Why do you always have to do this? Can't you just leave things be?”
 
“Val....”
 
“No Rem. We've lived this long without having a father. Whoever he was, we're never going to know him and mom isn't going to tell us anything. You have to let her move on.”
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Hitomi and Shigeru strolled down the sidewalk, having abandoned their dates fifteen minutes before. They were completely oblivious to the weekend crowds around them down the city blocks. Both of them were too stunned to even think about hailing a cab.
 
“That was awful.” Hitomi said.
 
Shigeru grunted in agreement.
 
“No, I mean that was really awful. As in I'm never trusting your taste in people ever again, awful.”
 
Shigeru shrugged, unconcerned. “At least it took your mind off your troubles.”
 
“You took my mind of my troubles by giving me an evening full of other troubles?” Hitomi said, unable to believe how he was justifying the torture he had just put her through.
 
Shigeru tossed her a grin. “You're just angry it worked so well.”
 
“Shigeru....” Hitomi growled, ready to throttle him like she had threatened when they were teenagers together. Then she sighed and crossed her arms, “When are you going to grow up?”
“At the last minute possible.” Shigeru's grin faded a bit when he looked at her, “You really did seem distracted tonight though. What's wrong? The twins giving you trouble?”
 
“The twins always give me trouble,” Hitomi joked, smiling. Then Shigeru gave her the first serious look he had in a month and her smile disappeared beneath a faint frown. “They're just.... on edge lately. And Rem worst of all. Maybe you could talk to him, something man to man.....”
 
Shigeru snorted, “Right, because I'm such a responsible role-model. Besides, what am I going to tell him? You're the one who knows all the secrets he want to know.”
 
Ignoring the mention of secrets, Hitomi sighed, “You're right. I'll talk to Myoujin-san.”
 
“Well, the night wasn't a total disaster.”
 
Hitomi thought of her date's face leaning in far too close to hers and shuddered, the punch lines from his awful jokes still ringing in her ears. “How's that?” she asked dryly.
 
Shigeru pulled his cell-phone from his pocket and twirled it like a magician on the backs of his fingers, his trade-mark grin back in place. “I got her number.”
 
“Lemme see that,” Hitomi held her hand out for the phone and Shigeru gave it to her proudly. She studied the number, glanced up at her brother, looked back at the number, contemplated how exactly to break it to him. “Uh, Shigeru? She gave you the number to the pizza place.”
 
Shigeru snatched the cell-phone back and stared wide-eyed at the screen. “Your right,” he breathed after a moment. “I can't believe I didn't recognize the number. I order take-out from there all the time.”
 
Hitomi tried to force down her laughter but a tremble of emotion quirked the edges of her lips. Shigeru looked over at her sharply, “Say anything and I'll shoot you.”
 
Hitomi ignored the threat, bursting out laughing.
 
“Why couldn't I have gotten a more sympathetic older sister?” Shigeru groaned up at the sky.
 
Hitomi patted him on the shoulder. “Because you wouldn't survive without a sister who can bully you into doing the right thing.”
 
They walked another block in silence, content just to let that evening's memories fade into oblivion. Then:
 
“Hitomi?”
 
“Hm?”
 
“Wherever it was.... Wherever you went all those years ago... Well.... I'm glad you came back.”
 
Hitomi stared at her brother in surprise. Then she smiled gently. “Yeah. Me too.”
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- -----------
AN: Cheers! Another chapter finished. Be sure to review. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!
 
If there's any term you didn't understand, just check the glossary! I tried to make it amusing as well as informative ;)
 
Next Chapter: “But I don't have visions anymore!”- Hitomi
 
Glossary:
 
bokken: Wooden sword, used most often by more advanced students. In ancient times wooden swords could be sharpened to cut in a similar manner as steel swords. In modern times, not so much, though there is the danger of severe injury (broken bones, etc.) if two people were to get sloppy. Kinda like fire, or any weapon for that matter.
 
-chan: An honorific used for and among girls. Normally used with their first name. Since he prefers to be fairly formal with the Kanzaki family, Leandros uses Valari's last name. Hey, he needs something to distinguish between Rem and Val when he's shouting at them during practice.
 
-dono: an honorific indicating great respect and a high position, even bigger than -sama (though I haven't actually used that one here, oh well)
 
kata: form, a structured exercise
 
kenjustu: swords arts. Focuses more on technique and less on philosophy than kendo.
 
-kun: Masculine form of -chan.
 
padding: Just like in European-style fencing, kenjustu students wear mesh helmets, chest protectors, and whatever else they feel is necessary to guard them against the impact of strikes during bouts and practice. But due to Myoujin-sensei's teaching style, he sometimes “forgets” to encourage his students to put them on. I'm sure he's breaking some kind of regulation somewhere.
 
Ryuukansen: literally dragon spiral strike. Congratulations! If you're checking this you must be a Rurouni Kenshin fan and you're about to tell me that this move belongs to Kenshin and his Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, not Kaoru's Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. Well sure. But what I'm portraying here is the Kamiya style as passed down by Myoujin Yahiko (and perhaps Kenji?), who most likely would have incorporated the knowledge he gleaned from Kenshin into his lessons. I fail to note this in the actual text of the story because, well, why would my characters be talking about Himura Battosai?
 
-san: pretty much Mr. or Ms.
 
satsujinken: the philosophy in which swords are used by the strong against the weak, mostly involving the taking of life. As opposed to kastujinken (swords that give life), which is taught by Myoujin at the Kamiya dojo in order to protect the weak.
 
-sempai: Used with superiors (upperclassmen, higher ranked students, etc.). Since Val and Rem have known Leandros since they were kids, they only feel the need to use this in the setting of the dojo.
 
-sensei: Teacher, professor, sometimes even doctor. I'm afraid the “-grasshopper” corollary is just an urban legend.
 
Shigeru: In the tv series, Hitomi tells us she has a mother, father, and little brother. In some disk versions there are even scenes that show Hitomi's mother. But I haven't been able to find any kind of name for Hitomi's littler brother ANYWHERE. If you can tell me what it really is and site your source, I will be eternally grateful!!!
 
shinai: bamboo sword. Since there isn't much risk of serious injury, you'll often see beginners using these. There is still a chance for some nasty bruises/broken noses if they're used improperly or with malicious intent. These kids are learning how to use weapons after all.