"And I thought Chloe was trouble," Mireille mused, sitting on her bed and sighing. She and Kirika had retreated to the Corsican's room where the younger girl had taken a position staring out the window at the grapes vines stretching into the distance, "That woman, Althena, she's got 'suspicious' written all over her. I just wish I knew what on Earth was going on. This woman obviously has connections with the Soldats. She probably works for them. But what's her motive? Why not just kill us? There's something especially twisted going on here." "Hmm." Kirika sighed, not really paying attention. "K-Kirika, this is a problem! Why aren't you listening?" Mireille demanded. "Oh, I-I'm sorry." Kirika turned to face Mireille, her expression blank. "That's it. Something's got you acting even odder than usual and you're going to tell me what it is," Mireille said firmly, sitting at a nearby table and beginning to drum her fingers. "Uh . . . I don't know," Kirika said quietly, turning back to the window, "Since I lost my memory I've always felt out of place, like I didn't belong, but since we've come here, I feel a little more . . . I don't know, at home, I guess. Like this is where I should be." "Here!?" Mireille's eye twitched with annoyance, "You feel 'at home' HERE, of all places? This god-forsaken primitive heap of rubble and two women who should be COMMITTED make you feel at home!?" Kirika stood up, a tear in her eye as she stared at the floor and began to march for the door, "I don't expect you to understand," she said quietly, firmly, "Which is why I didn't tell you." With that she closed the door behind her and began walking slowly down a hall, not knowing where exactly she was going. --- 'Why is Kirika acting like this?' Mireille demanded to know, as if from deep within her mind she would find some sort of an answer. The girl had stormed out; well, not really stormed, but the strong and rare emotions emanating from the girl had struck Mireille at her soul. She had been gone a good 10 minutes before Mireille became aware that the girl had indeed left. 'Why does she care so much about this place? Why do this place and those freaks make her feel more at home than my apartment or I, ever did?' "WHY DOES THAT BOTHER ME?!" Mireille shouted to her room, dying to know the answer; dying to know that the answer was not what she thought. 'Because she means that much to me,' Mireille admitted submissively, 'Because I love her. I guess I knew already . . . I found her perplexing and intriguing when we first met, and as we persevered through so much, as I watched her, I became attached. I guess . . . I guess I just never wanted to admit it. I've never liked a girl before . . . but I've never met a girl like her before.' Mireille rose from her seat, shaking a bit with her first few steps, and left her room, knocking on Kirika's door. There was no answer. When Mireille opened the door and found it empty she grabbed her gun and went to find, and if need be, rescue, her friend . . . her love. --- Kirika walked down the dark hall, her only light being cast by the moon falling through occasional slats in the wall, throwing a ghostly silver light on stone and old portraits of prominent looking people. She had been walking for nearly an hour, slowly meandering through the halls, but never finding a dead end or closed door. 'It's like I know this place,' she thought to herself, and stifled an unwanted sob, 'but why? I want to know why!' Kirika looked up. At long last she had come to a closed door. This door . . . she knew this door. It was hazy, but she knew this, remembered it. The large oak door had appeared once before in her dreams since she had been living with the Daughter of Corsica, but she knew . . . she felt she knew it from a time before that. With no hesitation the young woman reached for the doorknob and twisted it slowly, pushing the door open. "Kirika, can I help you with something?" Althena smiled up at the girl. The room was small; there was a desk at which the older woman sat, writing with a quill pen by candlelight. It was both serene and surreal to Kirika, who just stood silently. After a moment Althena set her quill down, "You can come in if you'd like." "Oh, yes," Kirika stepped in, shaking her head, and closed the door behind her. Althena sat smiling at her for a moment, "I-uh . . . was just wandering. I . . . I'm sorry if I interrupted you." "Not at all, I was just finishing," Althena smiled softly, as she folded the letter and began dripping red wax onto it for the seal, "This letter is very important, so Chloe will be leaving in the morning to deliver it for me. I hope that your room is satisfactory." "Oh, yes, it's very nice." Kirika nodded, sitting on one of two stools near the desk. "Hmm . . ." Althena pressed a seal into the wax and stood up. "I should go give this to Chloe, would you like to walk with me?" Kirika nodded and after blowing out the candle the two women left and began trekking the corridors side-by-side. "A-Althena?" Kirika ventured quietly after a few moments of walking silently beside the older woman. When the woman nodded that she was listening she continued, "I, I feel like I've . . . like I've been here before. But I don't remember anything. Did you . . . I mean, do you . . . do you know me?" The older woman turned to look at the questioning girl and smiled, giving a slight nod, "When I was very young I learned of the story of Noir. I saw the . . . potential in the legend and strived to become a part of it, not as an actual member, as much as a facilitator. Sixteen years ago, after I had come to live here, a man brought me two children, blessed by a high priest, who had the potential to become Noir. Both, apparently, were orphaned. I named one of them Kirika, for her Japanese heritage. The other I named Chloe," Althena sighed and smiled once again at the intently listening Kirika, "You could not have been more than 3 when you arrived here, Chloe couldn't have been over a year, still in infancy. I had no idea how to raise assassins. I tried my best, and that seems to have been sufficient, don't you agree?" She chuckled a bit, "You and Chloe were the perfect team, an elite force, always in sync with each other, as if you were closer than any two humans could be. Which you seemed to be. You grew up together, and became a part of each other, in a sense. When you left the Manor for a mission and you never returned . . . Chloe was bedridden for a year. She was so stricken with depression that at a point it appeared that she would die. But then . . . then word came that a girl named Kirika Yuumura had surfaced in Japan," Althena's voice lifted from its remorseful tone, "Chloe was ecstatic. After a quick recovery she immediately left for Japan, only to return with news that you no long remembered anything. She vowed that she would seek vengeance on whoever did this to you, and one day help you to regain your memories . . . it's been very hard for her." After several moments of silence Kirika turned away from Althena, "I, I'm sorry to have put her through such pain. I - I still don't remember," She stifled a sob. Althena wrapped her arm around Kirika as they walked in silence, "But now, now you know. And you can begin rebuilding your life."
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