"Anguish" The brawl in the main facility of the Searrs complex was still well underway. Haruka had since run out of ammunition and was now using hand-to-hand combat to give Akane assistance in her fight against Topaz. The HiME swung her tonfas at Topaz's head and neck, but neither managed to make contact. The brunette Otome dropped down and out of the way before leaping back up to land a punch to Akane's rib cage. The officer wheezed as she tried to gain air. Luckily, Haruka was buying her time. Upset that her assistant had been beaten, Haruka returned fire by rushing forward and grabbing hold of Topaz's wrist. The blonde quickly spun, complete with a battle cry, and attempted to twist Topaz's arm behind her back, hoping to break it. Topaz responded by curving her own body, escaping from the hold. Across the way, Midori was busy swinging her axe at Crystal, who was expertly dodging out of the way. The Otome was having a difficult time finding the right moment to fire her weapon. Midori was quick and her own weapon was rather slow. She pumped her shotgun once, leveled it, and pulled the trigger. With a shriek, Midori dove to the far side of the hall, leaving the ice shards from the shotgun to embed themselves within one of the cell doors. Cursing her luck, she went back on defense as the redheaded archaeologist stormed back her way, axe at the ready. Lapis and Akira had fought once before, of course, and Lapis now knew to resort to leaving her weapon de-materialized. It was easier to deal with the ninja at close range. The bow needed ample space to truly be effective. The two were in fighting stances, Akira holding a dagger in her hands, and they circled around each other, waiting for a moment to strike. It nearly came, but Lapis' potential assault was interrupted by Onyx. Her voice came through the gem on her earlobe. "Ruby is engaged with the other HiME. They are attempting to escape. Cut them off and give her full support. I will assist." "Understood," Lapis replied, and trusted that all the other Otome had heard the message as well. She backed away from Akira and pointed towards the exit. "Move!" Crystal and Topaz rammed themselves into Midori and Haruka respectively, shoving their way through and breaking for the exit. Lapis followed at top speed, and all sprinted out the door and into the night. The partially dazed HiME who had been hit paused and looked after them. Midori could have sworn she saw some kind of faint glow in the distance out in the night air. She turned back to the others and shrugged. Well, what else were they to do? The main objective was to rescue Akane and Haruka, and that had been done. Fighting the Otome was a secondary objective. But, hey, it was her job as the leader to make decisions. And Midori always chose to attack! "Don't let them get away. Let's go!" - - - Natsuki, Shizuru and Mikoto were running as fast as their legs would take them. They ascended out the bunker as quickly as they could, that hovering doppelganger just behind them. Once they had reached the ground outside, they quickly spread out and held their weaponry in their hands with death grips, waiting to spring on the Otome the moment she exited the bunker. They held their breath as the glow from her fiery Elements grew closer, the doorway of the bunker entrance lit up with the flames. Ruby strolled out as if she was taking a nice afternoon walk, a halo of fire surrounding her entire body. A small smile was on her face, though it was faint and barely noticeable. From behind the bunker entrance came three Searrs agents, as if they would do any good, to assist while the other Otome headed to the area to help. One held a gun straight at Mikoto, who held up her sword to try and block whatever shots came her way. Luckily, she did not have to risk it. Quick drawing a revolver, Natsuki fired on him, taking him down in one powerful hit. Quickly acting, she drew the hammer back and fired once more, leaving a gaping hole in the second agent's chest. A bullet raced right by Shizuru's startled head, and Natsuki's gaze instantly drifted to a sniper situated on the roof of a nearby building. The last ground agent running towards them, she fired on him with one of her revolvers, hitting right between the eyes, and then lined up a shot directed at the sniper. Her barrel lined right up with the sniper who ducked behind a structure of some kind on the rooftop. Natsuki squinted, seeing part of his arm. She fired, hitting it with amazing accuracy, and fired a second time to finish him off after he fell back into her proper sight. Her right gun empty, she opened it up and let the bullet casing fall to the ground with a distinct clatter. Flipping it shut, she holstered it and resorted to using the other one. She didn't have time to reload. She hissed towards Ruby. "Tell me where the Emulator is, or we'll just have to kill off all of you to disconnect it." Ruby said nothing. Instead, Natsuki heard footsteps behind her, and she spun around to see Onyx standing there, her pole-arm in her hands. The redheaded leader of the Otome did not look pleased, to say the least. Pointing her pole-arm at Natsuki she said, "Lay down your arms." "Onyx!" Lapis called, and the three Otome who had been fighting in the prison section ran up on either side of their leader, falling into battle stance. "We miss anything?" "Nothing terribly interesting," Onyx replied coolly. "The other HiME?" "Get back here!" Midori's voice could be heard in the distance, and the redhead was running after them with her axe held in the air. Lapis sighed and looked back to her leader. "They managed to get the bait free, and as you can see, they're in pursuit at the moment." Midori and her team fell in behind the main group of Otome, leaving the entire group in a chaotic mess. Technically, four of the Columns were surrounded, which gave the HiME an advantage. Midori looked over to Natsuki and nodded, the other woman seeming to understand her intention. Shizuru, Natsuki and Mikoto ran straight at the four, ignoring Ruby, as Midori's team rushed in as well. The four Columns in the center of the mess scrambled and dealt with strikes coming from every direction. Onyx held up her axe to block both Midori and Shizuru's weapons at once, starting a battle of pole weapons. Ruby, however, did not seem keen on being ignored. As she saw Crystal take a shot at both Akira and Mikoto, both of them dodging, Ruby ignited her Elements again, and rose into the air. The scene below looked like a true war, each side taking shots at each other while warriors flung their enemies over their shoulders. As Akira sent a flying kick towards Crystal, and as Haruka was punched in the face by Topaz, Ruby had an overwhelming desire to put a stop to all of it. She started to summon up a wall of flame from her unique vantage point. "Holy fire of Mai, who is that?" Midori asked, distracted for just a moment. Natsuki fired a shot at Lapis, who returned the gesture. After dodging, the biker replied. "That's the last one." Mikoto stopped her charge on Lapis and skidded to a halt, immediately changing directions as she noticed Ruby take flight. Overcome with her desire to avenge Mai's loss of power, she abruptly leapt into the air, her claymore raised above her head. She didn't have proper height due to her lack of HiME enhancing powers, but it was enough. She arched towards the orange-armored woman, but found herself on the ground once more, a pain in her back as she landed on a rock. A flame shield that Ruby had formed was dissipated a moment later. The dark haired Otome shook her finger. "That wasn't nice, Minagi-san." Mikoto was flung like a rag doll as a fireball connected with her already injured body, and she landed about ten feet away after the flames dissolved. Her shirt was blackened by the heat, her flesh receiving minor burns. Her claymore landed several feet away, the blade impaling the ground. She struggled to her feet as several of the others turned their attention to the flying devil above, seeing her as a genuine threat. Akira rushed over and pulled Mikoto up. "You okay?" The ninja asked. When Mikoto nodded, Akira responded to Ruby by flinging one of her final shuriken at her, and was disappointed to see it deflected by a flame shield. With a grunt of frustration, Akira rushed forward after Ruby lowered herself down, striking out with her dagger. Ruby flew out of the way and flung another fireball at her. Like Mikoto moments before, Akira flew back and landed against the ground roughly. With both of them injured, most of the HiME turned their attention to Ruby. The other Otome dealt with the few who remained while Natsuki, Midori and Akira began to charge at once. Two shots were fired by Natsuki, at which point she ran out of ammunition. Ruby blocked both, but as Midori and Akira leapt at her, she realized she needed more power. Smirking, confident that she was far more advanced than any powerless HiME, she drew up a large wall of fire and sent it rushing towards the attackers. Midori and Akira fell back and howled in pain, while Natsuki held her ground and looked away as the flames raced by. As a side effect, Ruby not having looked at what she was doing, Crystal and Lapis found themselves knocked over as well. They scrambled to get up as Ruby continued her assault, flinging flames in every direction. Even Onyx found herself ducking out of the way. In the chaos, they heard Natsuki issue an order to all of the HiME at once. "Retreat!" Ruby followed behind initially, but Onyx, a small burn on her face, waved her back. "Ruby, stop! Watch what you're doing, dammit!" As if the aggressive Otome was blind to anyone except for the enemies in front of her, she flew by, the flame trail behind her forcing Onyx and Lapis to leap out of the way yet again. The HiME escaped into the forests surrounding the Searrs complex, and Ruby began to fling trails of flame into the trees, setting them ablaze and leaving the HiME to run through a dangerous inferno. They scattered, heading back for their escape vehicles as both Onyx and Lapis pinned Ruby to the ground to get her to listen to reason. Ruby watched the fire she had created, grunting as she stretched her arm out towards the direction in which the HiME were fleeing. But her two commanding officers finally won, and she relented, resting her head on the ground. - - - "What in god's name happened to you?" The Doctor was furious. Ruby had seen him angry at her on several occasions, but she fixed her gaze at the floor as he screamed. "Are you so batshit crazy that you're attacking your own teammates now? I knew we shouldn't have sent you out. You're such a... if you don't improve, I'm dropping you from the unit and labeling you an official failure. Do you understand, Morgana?" The dark haired fire adept winced and gritted her teeth. She'd heard it over and over and over again. You're a failure. We gave you too much power. You don't have the capacity to handle what Tokiha could, and you never will. You're inferior to the Otome and to the HiME in every way possible. She heard it so many goddamn times she wanted to rip off his jaw. She said nothing at first, gripping the sides of her chair with all her strength, her nails biting into the wood. The Doctor stood and exited the room, slamming the door. From the other side, she could hear his still livid voice. "This is the last time we use foreign Heirs!" With that, he referred to descendants of the original HiME that had stood a chance of inheriting the title during the Carnival. The Otome were all Heirs, but none of them were chosen. That honor, of course, had gone to their current enemies. After he had left them, Ruby's hazel eyes trailed up to the other person left in the room. Onyx, who had been leaning against the wall, remaining deathly silent during the entire exchange. She was their prized warrior, perfect in every way. Even still, she seemed to tolerate Ruby's inexperience and unpredictability, looking after her when times were rough. This time, however, Onyx merely stared at her. With no natives of Japan in the room, Ruby allowed herself to slip back into her native tongue. She held up her arms, looking rather like a child as her eyes began to water. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to. I just... I just got carried away. Please, will you forgive me, Allie?" Ruby remained still for several long moments, hoping for some kind of answer that never would come. A hand on her weak facial burn, Onyx kicked herself off the wall and with restrained frustration, she opened the door without a word and left her to rejoin Celeste, Sonia and Eva. She saw them briefly before the door was shut again, Allison turning around only for a moment to give her a parting glance, and she was left to suffer in the brig alone. She wept, her hands pressed to her face, hoping to stop the tears from falling. - - - Their base of operations unofficially became Mai's place. It was closer than Shizuru's. It was about midnight when their vehicles came to a halt outside, and they marched up the stairs leading to her apartment, leaving their weapons in the vehicles. Mikoto was wrapped in Midori's coat to prevent anyone from seeing her scorched shirt or rousing suspicion. Mai opened the door moments after Akira knocked, and widened her eyes slightly. She stepped to the side, allowing them to enter. They each took a spot on the floor, revealing their various wounds and injuries. Not long after receiving a call, another woman trained a bit in healthcare showed up. Shuffling her feet out of nervousness, Shiho greeted Mai, and then proceeded to help the redhead address some of the problems at hand. First up was Mikoto, who was given a spare shirt of Mai's to wear. She seemed to have the worst injuries out of all of them. In the meantime, Shizuru handed her flash drive to Yukino, who had been monitoring the action from the computer and the JSDF satellite network. Shizuru, Haruka and Midori stood behind the hacker as the files were accessed. "Well, what's on there?" Haruka asked. Yukino put a hand to her mouth in surprise. "Oh, my! This is... this looks like an entire database of people with HiME blood, and all past participants. This goes back for several Carnivals. The oldest date here is from the time of Rome. There are family lines going back for everyone, with theoretical ties to the very first HiME." "What's it say about me?" Midori demanded, shoving her face closer to the screen as she got a big grin on her face. Yukino looked back, briefly, and then pointed to the screen. "'Sugiura Midori – Gakutenou. Full Key Separation on 2009-May-14, at 11:34 PM.' There's also lineage for you. You're... well, as expected, descendant from the original Asian HiME, apparently. A list of older Gakutenou users... it goes in different directions." "What's a Full Key Separation?" Midori inquired as Yukino browsed through a list of names. "Just... having your Key go up in green sparkles?" Yukino ran a search. "There's a small glossary, fortunately. The files states that a Full Key Separation is 'the death of a HiME Key, rendering the HiME unable to summon an Element or Child and permanently inhibiting their mental state so that they are gripped with despair and left emotionally crippled.' Which is what happened to us when we lost our Keys, certainly. It goes on to say the bond between a HiME and a Key is artificially enhanced during the Carnival. I suppose that's true as well. We did get a bit clingy, didn't we?" Haruka pointed to an entry. "Aoyama Reiko. Partial Key Separation on 1708-July-17. Razed the village of Daishima. Killed by Kazahana Mashiro on 1708-July-28. Partial Key Separation? Is there an entry for that?" Yukino nodded. "A Partial Key Separation is listed, yes, along with a list of people who were victim of it. Aoyama, Kitamura, at least three from the European Carnival circa 800 AD, and... hmm. The definition states that it's, 'the rejection of the HiME on the part of the Key, usually in the form of emotional abandonment. In this scenario, a HiME can still summon weapons, as the Key is alive, but is left in the same permanent hopeless state as if they had endured a Full Key Separation, and will often run on base emotions for the rest of the Carnival, until they are exterminated by a fully functioning HiME.'" Shizuru tightened her jaw, and scanned the list. Lo and behold, at the bottom, her name was listed right under Shiho's. She softly spoke. "Fujino Shizuru – Kiyohime. Partial Key Separation on 2009-May-14, at 8:46 PM. Razed First District region. Full Key Separation and death on 2009-May-16. Killed by Kuga Natsuki." Haruka managed a laugh after a moment of tense nervousness. "Well, that explains the sudden snap, I guess. At least you have a clinical term for it all." "Seems fairly common," Yukino interrupted, before any kind of melodrama could occur. "There's been at least one in every Carnival. There were a total of five from the Carnival in Europe circa 800 AD, apparently. I'll... see if I can't find something on the Otome now." The group fell silent again. Haruka, Yukino and Nao had somewhat forgiven Shizuru for her actions, but still held very rightful grudges. Shizuru found her eyes drifting to the floor, mildly comforted by the fact that she was not some freak of nature after all, and that it had happened to warrior maidens before her. Her gaze drifted up to Natsuki, who was in the process of getting a bandage applied to a minor burn wound on her arm. They locked gazes for a brief moment, Natsuki's eyes becoming concerned after seeing Shizuru's glum expression. The Kyoto woman smiled after a moment to alleviate the worry. Before Natsuki could venture over, Yukino piped up again. "There's a lot of HiME descendants who work for Searrs. I mean... a lot. Most of the top executives seem to be descendants of the HiME. The code names for the Otome aren't listed, so I'm not sure which ones are them. Pictures aren't posted. Or if they are, I can't really access them. I'm currently tracing us back." Yukino tapped her hand on the mouse while the command was processing. "Most of us are just descended from that original Asian HiME from the First Carnival, and it lists what parent had the gene." Haruka dropped her jaw and pointed to the screen. "Click it!" Yukino clicked on Haruka's name. "Haruka-chan, your father had the gene! You must just not have been selected by the Obsidian Lord. Ah, it says you're a descendant of a certain Valerie Alcourt, who fought in the Hundred Years' War Carnival. Haruka-chan, you never told me you were part European." The blonde crossed her arms. "My grandfather was from England. I had the lineage, then? And the Obsidian Lord didn't choose me? How rude! Clearly, that machine was fool and deserved to be destroyed. Wait, how'd my ancestor do in the Carnival?" "Ara, it says she was decapitated," Shizuru informed after reading, "by the Kiyohime user, at that." "Oh, bull! It does not say that! Move, let me read!" Haruka dropped her face near the glass, and took in the words. "Oh, dammit, no way. Fujino, don't you say a thing." By this time, most everyone was listening, the rest of the room having gone silent. Natsuki had wandered over after her wound was cleaned up, crossing her arms and coming to rest next to Shizuru. Yukino continued on. "The others who are from different lines are Shizuru, on her mother's side, Natsuki, on her father's side, and Alyssa-chan, on her father's side as well." "Yeah, you don't look very Japanese," Midori said to Shizuru, who shrugged. Natsuki knew very little about the maternal side of Shizuru's family, as she seldom talked about it. It was a rather sore subject. Her aunt was the only remaining member of that line, and while Natsuki knew her, that was the extent of her involvement with Shizuru's family. The Kyoto woman had essentially grown up an orphan. Perhaps that was why they got along. Shizuru managed to smile and explained. "My mother and her family was from Moscow. My father was from Kyoto, which explains my mixed complexion." Yukino nodded along. "Milena Dragunov was her name, then?" Haruka huffed. "I knew it. She's a Commie. That explains all that lazy and twitchy behavior, expecting everyone else to do her work for her and still get recognition for it." "Haruka, shut the hell up," Natsuki warned. Haruka glared, but seemed to comply for now. Yukino coughed and changed subjects yet again, to avoid more tension. She clicked on another name. "Alyssa-chan is descended from Alicia Smith, who was also in the Hundred Years' War Carnival. Smith... ah, huh, I guess her father was that creepy blonde guy?" "What about you, Natsuki? Was one of your parents a foreigner?" Midori asked. "I wouldn't have guessed from your looks, though." Natsuki was silent, shrugging and looking away. If Shizuru's past was a sore subject, her own was worse. Natsuki knew nothing about her father's side of the family, or who he even was. He had never been a part of her life. "You tell me. I don't know. What's it say?" "Never mind." Yukino looked away quickly, knowing that Natsuki's reaction would be bad. Silence followed, until Midori broke it in her own way. "What, is she Darth Vader's daughter? Come on, stop being all dramatic." Seeing Natsuki's stern gaze, as well as the interested expressions from the people around her, Yukino realized that there was no real way around it. She certainly had a right to know. She just had to brace herself for a bad reaction. With a sigh, Yukino spoke. "You're a descendant of Alicia Smith as well, Natsuki." A pause. Midori again. "Natsuki's a honky? No way. She doesn't even look it." "You don't mean, I..." "Alyssa-chan is your sister," Yukino said bluntly. Green eyes widened to dangerous levels. "Different mothers explain the different looks. Dr. Kuga isn't listed, so you couldn't have gotten the HiME blood from her, so... I..." A tense jaw and a hostile expression set fear into Yukino. It looked like Natsuki was almost willing to punch one of them. She opened her mouth, but said nothing at first, only tightening her fist in the air and sharply pivoting around towards the door. She grabbed her keys from a table nearby and pulled on her riding jacket once more. "I have to go." "Natsuk—" Shizuru began to call, but was cut off. "I said I have to go." Shizuru knew better than to argue with that tone, and decided that if Natsuki needed alone time, that was fine. It was her thing, driving off into the night like that. She marched out the door in an instant and a moment late, the revving of a bike engine could be heard below. Shizuru and Mai went to the window and watched as the biker rocketed down the street at full speed. That was her form of therapy. Between her and the road, she could sort out her issues with enough time. However, the sinking feeling in Shizuru's stomach did nothing for her as she found herself reminded of the Carnival and the day before her 'Partial Key Separation,' as it was called, apparently. She picked up her coat and looked to Mai. "I should go home. If for some reason she comes back here, tell her I have her things?" Mai nodded. "Of course. Drive safely, kaichou-sama." Shizuru nodded and soon left after waving farewell to everyone else, and when the door closed behind her, some of the HiME sighed and looked over to Yukino. Midori patted her on the back. "Don't worry about it. Now, can we ruin any other lives tonight?" "Sensei!" Mai chastised. The teacher shrugged and smiled innocently. Yukino turned back and pointed to a list of names she had been making. "Allison Rosenkrantz, Sonia Valencourt, Celeste Richardson, Morgana Loran, Eva Olsson, and Leanne Young seem to be within the age range of the Otome. Perhaps that's them, if they're related. Well, five of the six, anyway. I don't know. It's a place to start." "Good enough for me," Mai said. Mikoto looked sadly at her. Mai furrowed her brows. She had been getting those kind of looks all night. It was the feral child who finally broke the last part of tension in the room, and said, "Mai, I found who took your power away." Mai looked to Midori, "What's she talking about?" The teacher made a nervous laugh. "Yeah, about that last Otome... she was apparently engineered by Searrs after the Carnival. She, ah, she's using your Elements. The twirly spinny things of fire." Mai was silent for a long moment, not quite sure how to handle that. Then, she looked back up to them, her face harboring a great deal of anger, a look not really seen since the end of their own conflict. "Searrs put my powers to use in their sick little game? I had put faith that with the destruction of the Obsidian Lord, no one would ever wield such powers again. I could barely handle them as it is. They just sat back, studied me, and then made some little clone of their own?" "Something like that," Akira muttered. "Except you aren't nearly as nuts." "I want to go next time." Everyone knew that when Mai made such a demand, it would take a fool to argue against it. "I want to see her for myself." Shiho, who had been silent most of the time, felt that it was wise to try and reason with her. "What if she spots you? You can't fight. It's risky." "I'll wait on the edge of battle as a getaway driver," Mai declared. "You all should plan a final assault to get that Emulator down once and for all, now that you know that it must be in the one remaining facility. We should hit it soon, before they move it. We'll get Miyu in to help in a full scale assault. Aim to take it down within one week." The tone had been more serious than Natsuki's usual commanding voice. Midori shivered, "That's that old red ranger attitude I like to hear from you." - - - As Natsuki rode, she realized she needed to learn how to think moving at a speed slower than eighty miles per hour. She did this too often, and it did nothing for the amount of money she spent on gas. She kept trying to avoid thinking of the subject she'd gone riding to think about. Anything to elevate her mind to a state other than 'pit of despair.' She growled lightly as she rounded a corner. That... that cold and emotionless Searrs asshole had violated her mother and some other poor woman just so he could hopefully gain a HiME of his own to use in his grand plot. Whatever the hell that was. To rule the world, according to what Nao had recorded on her phone. She took another turn and scoffed. Then again, knowing full well that her mother had intended to sell her to the Foundation, it made sense that her mother was in on it as well. The good Dr. Kuga probably just fled and held a young Natsuki ransom in exchange for their money. Well, a lot of good that did her. Wonderful. She was the offspring of two greedy and self-centered Searrs officers. And then Alyssa! He had just sat by and watched, probably making little scientific notes, as his two daughters nearly killed one another! Good god, she'd nearly killed her own sister and didn't know it. At the mere thought of the young blonde girl, her own problems fell to the wayside. Alyssa was the only one of them that had the right to actually complain. Natsuki had gotten off easy. Alyssa had been held there and treated like a test subject, a victim of their experiments. She had been nothing more than a tool to them. Her, their, father had just sat through it all as if it were nothing. No compassion, no caring, not a hint of emotion. Natsuki turned down another street. She had found herself in a certain area of Kyoto where she was thinking of moving, in which Shizuru's aunt happened to live. It was late, but the good natured Russian was usually up until the ungodly hours of the morning anyway. Sakomizu was too far away to be of any use to her, and for some reason, she toyed with the idea of meeting with her other parental figure. She parked her bike and marched down the sidewalk towards Ms. Dragunov's house. The lights were indeed on. On the way, however, she spotted someone else walking on the street. A certain platinum haired guardian of a certain blonde. Miyu stopped and stared at Natsuki. "Kuga-san, it is late. You shouldn't be driving." Natsuki was silent for several long moments. "Where's Alyssa?" Asleep, at home. She is to be in bed by nine." Miyu stared at a very silent and obviously disturbed biker, and continued. "Come with me. I will make you something to drink. It is cold out here." Natsuki followed without argument, which alerted Miyu further. Natsuki did not usually accept such invitations. The android opened the door to her home, a few houses down, and stepped inside, leading Natsuki to the kitchen. She set herself to making green tea, no doubt something Natsuki was accustomed to having. The biker, however, fixed her gaze on the stairs, clearly not interested. Miyu turned to her as the water began to heat, and made a correct assumption. "Do you know?" Miyu inquired. Natsuki was snapped out of her reverie. "What?" "I don't see a logical reason why you would be here so late, and be so fixated on Alyssa, if you hadn't heard something. Do you know?" Miyu asked again, taking the kettle off the stove. "Yes." Natsuki slowly nodded. She blinked and then whirled her head up to stare at Miyu. "You know? Why didn't you stop us in the Carnival, then? You could have told me right then and there!" "You both didn't need to know. It was not a prime directive," Miyu said calmly. "My mission was only to defend her. You were not an objective of mine." Natsuki narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, 'both of us didn't need to know?' You're saying she already knows?" "She was briefed before the Carnival." Miyu put down a cup of tea. "Smith and the Chief told her. She was trained not to pay any attention to the blood relation. Never the less, she did the most research on you out of all of them. More so than she did for Mai. Perhaps that was her undoing in the end, or at least part of it. Yes, she knows. She's known since then." She felt like crying, if just for a moment. So, when she had called Natsuki onee-sama, it had not just been a mere gesture. She actually meant it in its more literal sense, and Natsuki had thought nothing of it. Without warning, she stood from the stool she had been offered and headed upstairs, and Miyu merely watched. Her arms crossed, Natsuki silently wandered to a partially open door and peeked inside. The blonde girl was sleeping soundly. Well, in theory. Natsuki only saw the back of her head. She stood there for several minutes, just watching. She sighed. She was a loner by nature, of course, but had inwardly kind of wanted a stable family. Or at least a living relative. Now that she had one, she wasn't sure what to do. Damn, and she had made no effort to befriend her over the years, save for just recently. She thought herself an ass for that now. She shook her head and turned back down the stairs. It was a mistake coming here so late at night. She marched down the stairs, grabbed the offered tea from Miyu, and chugged it. "I need to go. Thank you." Natsuki moved towards the door, and the robot seemed content with letting her do as she pleased. This was not her area of expertise. She knew to stay back and out of the way. As Natsuki reached for the door handle, she was stopped by a light and melodic voice. "Natsuki onee-sama?" She froze, a shocked expression on her face as she let go of the handle and turned around. Standing on the top stair was Alyssa, her golden hair disheveled and her eyes still slightly weary from her interruption. She must have heard their voices or sensed Natsuki's movement upstairs. Natsuki swallowed a dry throat but could think of nothing to say. The two females simply stared at each other for several moment. "Y-yeah. Hi. I didn't mean to wake you. Sorry. I was just leaving." A sign of her distress was always her short and choppy language. Alyssa descended down two stair and said, "Are you all right?" "Fine," she replied. "Liar." It didn't take a genius to figure it out, or for that matter, why she was here. Showing wisdom beyond her years, and already having eavesdropped on half of the conversation, she spoke in a clear and adult voice. "Natsuki, I know you've had more shocks in your lifetime than anyone should have to deal with, and I'm sorry you only found out now, apparently. I had always meant to tell you. I had always wanted a sister. I didn't like to be alone when I was little. I just never found the courage to speak up. Perhaps it was the scars from the Carnival that held me back – being worried that would be bitter about everything that happened – or it was because you still felt like a stranger that I didn't want to anger. I'm sorry." Natsuki slowly shook her head, although she was somewhat surprised that the shy girl had been so straightforward. "Anything that happened during the Carnival, caused by anyone, was something I forgave a long time ago. You don't have to worry about that." Alyssa shifted her weight, unsure of what she should say. "I..." "I'm sorry you grew up alone," Natsuki mumbled, trying her best. "It should have been me in your position." "Fate and chance funny like that," Alyssa replied. "No, it should not have been. Your place was with the HiME. I had my roll, and you had yours. Everything worked out all right in the end. You all gave us a chance to start over." Natsuki's chest suddenly felt tight. She needed to go home. "You should get back to bed. It's late. I have to go." She opened the door, and before closing it, Alyssa shouted back, "You still owe me a decent bike ride." "I know," Natsuki shut the door, a small smile on her lips. It could work. - - - One lantern was lit outside the house as Natsuki walked towards her home, hands gripped on her jacket. She gently stepped up the stairs, the night's news still weighing heavily on her mind. In all honesty, her parentage did not matter. Her mother, her father – they did not matter. They were not a part of her life, and had not been for years. On the ride home, she had come to that conclusion. The people who actually mattered were the ones she was around every day, or had the chance to be around every day. Alyssa, now that she knew her relation to her, her friends, Shizuru... they were the only ones that counted. But still... She slid open the door at around two in the morning, and was greeted by a soft glow from the living area. Shizuru sat on her ankles, reading a book. Red eyes looked up to meet Natsuki's, and the brunette slowly stood. Natsuki, cold and fatigued beyond believe, allowed the other woman to wrap a small blanket around her that had previously been folded neatly on the floor. Shizuru pulled the woman into an embrace afterwards, and not willing to fight about it, Natsuki sank into it. Neither said a word. - - - Two days later, Midori stopped by the hospital before work. She walked her way up to the proper floor and signed all necessary paperwork. Nao, dressed back in her cleaned street clothes, calmly walked out of her room, a bag of her belongings in her hand. The pair headed back down the stairs and out to Midori's truck without more than a polite greeting exchange. Nao slid into the passenger's seat and Midori began to drive away, thank the heavens above. Any longer in that place and Nao would have busted herself out. It took about ten minutes of driving before Midori realized she didn't know where the hell Nao lived. "Hey, Nao, where are we going?" "Drop me on the corner. I can take it from here." The reply was curt and to the point. Midori shook a finger. "Oh, no you don't. I want to see where you're staying. You aren't at a dorm anymore, and you certainly don't have funds for an apartment of your own, so... you understand that your ex-teacher is a little worried about your living conditions." Nao scoffed. "Oh, please. Drop me off." Midori glared. Nao glared. They both glared for another thirty seconds until the honking of a horn reminded Midori that she had to actually watch where she was driving. Damn, she was starting to act like Youko, the crazy she-devil. Nao said nothing for several long minutes before she replied and said, "I crash at friends' places for a while. Or hotels, if I have the cash at the time. I make a bit here and there, working as a vigilante. People give me money to rough up assholes who deserve it." "So, you're staying at my place, then? Oh, that's fine, I know right where it is." Midori took a sharp corner and headed back to her own place before Nao could protest. Well, she did, but that was after Midori started to head in that direction. "Sensei, I don't want to stay with you, you're a creepy old lecher who pretends to be a teenager." "I pretend I'm twenty-one now, thank you." Nao sighed. "I'll be fine, Sugiura." "Yes, you will," Midori replied, smiling, adding in, "at my apartment." "I can't pay you." Nao crossed her arms and looked out the window. "That's fine. When you enroll back in university, you can find your way back to your old dorm. Don't worry, I'll smooth everything over with the teachers and administration. What? What's that? 'Thank you, Midori, you super-awesome and kickass crusader of justice?' Don't worry, Nao, think nothing of it." Nao hissed in frustration. "Fine, dammit, I give up." "That's my girl." Midori turned back to her for a moment. "You're lucky, Nao. You get to stay at my place and you get better right before the endgame! You're back for the best part. Now it's just kicking ass and taking names, I'll bet. Mai seems to be back in charge, too. She's already got a mission lined up for you, me and Miyu." "Really now?" Nao said, suddenly feeling a hundred times sweeter now that she knew she could get back into the fighting aspect of their drama. "Do tell." Midori smirked. - - - Next Episode: The HiME, and Miyu, take an aggressive stance with the Otome and Searrs, calling them out to fight themselves after assaulting a facility under their control. United together, they make efforts to pin down the exact location of the Emulator so that they can end the fight once and for all. A sick revelation is made about the nature of the Emulator and the source of the Gems, however, putting the HiME at odds with each other on how to handle it. Episode 9, "Fury," coming soon. Author note: Alyssa and Natsuki being sisters is a manga thing that I learned later on, but to be honest, I had hypothesized that Smith had been Natsuki's father and that the two girls were related in that manner. So I had to work it in. That and a scene with the Otome to help flesh them out. In addition, I may jump on the ShizNat Emo bandwagon and make a quick prequel to the Kyoto Hunt about how they resolve their issues after the Carnival and come together as they are here, since their relationship is rather superficial in this fic given how I've already put them together for sanity's sake. Well, okay, it wouldn't all be emo. But you know.
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