Meet the Parent (part 17 of 17)

a Noir fanfiction by Cozmos

Back to Part 16
Both hands grasping the gun, and pointing it to the object in front of 
her, Kirika stood steadily, coldly. Her Asian face showed neither smirk 
nor smile, while her weapon glared at the breathing living beings after 
her as her brown eyes glimmering in a threatening way to any who saw 
her. The dark aura hovering between her gradually turned to become more 
and more visible. It was clear that she was not a woman one would 
underestimate; she seemed dangerous despite her petite appearance. In 
fact, she was dangerous. Two women stood in front of the brunette; both 
obviously struck dead in their feet in great shock as their eyes widen 
in an even more astonishment. The one standing in front was a tall, 
pretty blonde dressed with a tight trousers and dusty white jacket, 
obviously was the result of undertaking a task. The other girl behind, 
apparently younger, was wearing a green cloak which covered almost all 
parts of the body except her head, gathering all the mysterious thoughts 
around her. The girl's unusual hair's colour adorned her white, pale 
little face which grown in even bewilderment as time passed by without 
any words being exchanged.

Kirika smiled inwardly. From the appearance alone, she could tell that 
the two of them were exhausted; their cloths were ripped poorly, their 
face sweaty as well as dirty of the long fight, and their breath was not 
calm. And she, on the other hand, was as new as a baby who had just been 
delivered to the world. She had succeeded in meeting the preys, she 
could feel the blood flows inside her boiling, signing her eagerness to 
fight, to finish her task immediately. Her heart pounded animatedly at 
the view of her preys. They would be her next enemies. She heard voices 
inside her head commanded her to finish them off harshly, quickly. 
Without further consideration she usually would.

Yet she realized she had not this time.

Kirika did not really understand. She stood on her current place, simply 
gazing at the pairs for some long minutes. It was just like in most 
movies, nobody did anything; they were simply looking at each other. 
Ironically, the pair gazed back at her; they stared at her as if they 
had not seen anyone pointing a gun to a person before. Kirika knew she 
just had to pull the trigger and bang! Everything would be done. As 
simple as that. But despite all her common sense, the gun that hung on 
her right arm just pointed proudly but quietly without action 
whatsoever. Evidently, the user had not decided when to use it yet. The 
Japanese girl just stared at them, and the pair looked back at her. This 
was how they looked like physically. Mentally, Kirika felt even more 
perplexed.

She found it hard to admit, as it was embarassing for her too, that 
there was this feeling of familiarity that slipped into her heart once 
she faced the pair. She was an assassin, and feeling was certainly not 
anywhere in her dictionoary. She just need to kill and tried not to be 
killed. But strangely, she had unconsciously delayed her prevailing 
assault. This was weird, considering that she did not acknowledge them. 
They were complete strangers.

Weren't they?

She did not know who they were, or why they were here. One thing she 
knew for sure was that the two were intruders. And aside of all that, 
she could only guess. But guessing had also been a hard thing for her - 
she realized greatly that for some reason her heart ached painfully at 
the very first time she saw the blonde who were standing in the front. 
That was why she changed her gaze into that blank, stolid gaze she 
usually used to avoid deep eye contacts. Inexcusably, the gaze the 
taller girl's gave to her felt like piercing through the deepest part of 
her heart, as if it was jabbed deeply with a knife. Weird.

It was even more bizzare due to the fact that the three of them were 
just standing there facing each other and doing nothing without saying a 
word. Even stranger that the pair neither attacked her nor trying to 
hide when they saw Kirika. The tall blonde was holding a gun on her 
right arm, and the shorter girl was also grasping two sharp knives on 
both her hands. Those were weapon, but none of them dared to move or 
even raise up that weapon. The two definitely were strong for they could 
not ever reach this level - or in other words, met her - if they had no 
skill. But regardless, those uncanny feeling, those confusion in her 
head, and those bizarre combination alone, were sufficient in delaying a 
sober Kirika to pull the trigger of her gun.

Despite her thoughtful mind, the Japanese girl stared coldly like a 
statue at the awkward pair. She reminded herself to finish her mission; 
she had been assigned to kill any intruders in this place. And those two 
women standing right after her eyes, with battered clothes and unheveled 
appearance, were unquestionably those intruders.

"Kirika.." it was the one with blue eyes who spoke, the blonde. The word 
reached out to the Japanese girl's ears smoothly, surprising her inner 
heart. Before she got the chance to resist, the voice flowed softly like 
a goddess lullaby - the light, friendly tone she reckoned like knowing.. 
such a lovely tone had escaped from that beautiful lips.. just like an 
angel's voice..

Why did she.. feel like that?

Kirika slapped herself from her daydream wonder. She set her gaze 
sharper at the intruders. Ever since they came, the confusing feeling 
had haunted her. It was not like her usual self to dwell with such tiny 
matter, such unneeded problem. But still the Japanese girl could not lie 
to wonder why that blonde woman could know her name, and why did the 
fact bother her so much.

"Kirika.." the girl with purple hair whispered softly. "Can you.. lower 
the gun? It is.. us." she tattered unconfidently.

Kirika remained impassive and said nothing. Both of the stranger women 
knew her name. But she did know any of theirs. How?

Silence filled the air inside the long shiny corridors as the pair did 
not pursue the subject anymore. The three assassins stood silent staring 
at each other; voices came only from their hard breathing. Then a while 
after, Kirika pulled the trigger off and launched a shot at the blonde - 
which to her dissatisfaction was dodged.

"Kirika!" the blonde exclaimed loudly after she dodged the bullet by 
rolling at one side. "What in the world.. did they do to you?" the women 
gazed weakly at the brunette's eyes while her voice suddenly became so 
weak as if she was about to cry.

"..Kirika?" the green cloaked girl asked roughly. "Don't you know us?! 
It's me, Chloe."

Kirika remained as silent as a rock and shot another bullet at the girl 
who called herself Chloe. And as expected, the shot was also dodged 
beautifully by the quick reaction the girl innately had. But even with 
that assault, the pair neither fought back nor move their weapon. The 
only thing they kept doing was continuously staring, staring, and 
staring at her. Tough they did hold their weapons in ready this time. A 
sense of survival and vigilance, Kirika thought.

"Don't you remember her?" Chloe asked weakly as she stood up, one of her 
finger then pointed the tall blonde who was kneeling down on the floor. 
"..Mireille."

Chloe. Mireille. The names rang something she did not remember.

But what?

The Japanese girl felt a sudden headache striking her. Feeling weak all 
of the sudden, Kirika dropped her knees to the floor and lift out her 
left hand to touch her head - hoping to ease the pain, which succeeded 
after a while gritted her teeth hardly. Kirika stammered to her feet 
slowly, and pointed her gun to the intruders like before. "Draw your 
weapon and fight." she said coldly, speaking for the first time as she 
tried to maintain her breathing from the sudden headache.

"Kirika.." the women named Mireille muttered softly. "Are you okay?" she 
asked in a worried tone, instead of drawing out her gun. "You are not 
hurt, are you?" At each word, the women stepped closer to the Japanese 
girl. Her blue eyes shimmered a worry light, a caring gaze.

Kirika, who in return was stepping back slowly, shot the bullet in her 
gun at the women's feet to stop the movement. She did not know her and 
therefore, she could not trust her. They might just pretending, won't 
they? As the blonde did not slower her pace, Kirika shot out another 
bullets, and finally after the third bullets, Mireille stopped 
approaching her and stood at her current place.

"Kirika, please.."

"Kirika.."

Mireille and Chloe kept mumbling the brunette's name, despite the fact 
that none of it could bring Kirika to respond. She stepped back every 
one of them said something, and threatened them with a shot. I just need 
to kill them. What is wrong with me?

But the pair determination won the best of the circumstances, they tried 
to speak something to her, saying something about go back, or get away, 
and kill a certain person. Kirika did not understand any of it, neither 
did she understand everything of herself since she met them. Her normal 
self would kill any person standing in the way. Any one. Yet she could 
not direct her gun in a right way for some reason.

This was definitely not like her usual self.

Kirika did not know why she just threatened them, instead of killing 
them. Moreover, it was confusing how she had - or rather let herself - 
been pushed until this far; her back had now touched the wall. Kirika 
glared at Mireille and Chloe, and they stared back. At one second, her 
gaze met the blonde's eyes and all of the sudden, the Japanese girl 
began to feel dizzy. The headache troubled her again- it was pretty much 
the same stinging pain from before. It happened pretty often, and she 
usually won't be worried of it. But this time, it was excruciatingly 
painful for her it made her lost her balance and forcing her to use all 
the energy left to keep grabbing her gun. In dizziness, Kirika shot the 
last bullet in her gun to threaten the pair for the last time, and 
kneeled down to the floor weakly, breathing hardly. Her heart throbbing 
achingly, and her breath circulation was not helping either.

Then she started to see something in her head. Flashes of vague memories 
started to flick inside her head like a book in a fast motion. A huge 
white room. Doctors and people. Injections. Medicines. Bottles. Pictures 
of bones, organs, brains. All those visions just popped out in her minds 
once she stumbled heavily, but before she got the chance to recall all 
those flashes further, the pictures disappeared and then like a thunder 
shot, an electrical stinging buzzed their jerking bolt inside her head. 
Once, twice, more, and more - it kept stinging her head like crazy like 
a severe punishment for what she saw. She greeted her teeth not to 
scream, not to let the pain take her self away. But the shot inside her 
head perpetually kept striking on and on, she began to hear strange 
voices. It was as if somebody else were inside, controlling her head, 
managing everything she should see.

"Arrrggghhh!!" Kirika begun to feel so much pain she could not bear her 
own weight with her knees any longer. She dropped her gun, fell and 
dropped all the way on the floor while grasping her head with both hand 
in agony.

Stop! Stop it!! Stop it!!!

Kill them.

Please, stop! Stop!!

Then kill them. Kill them.

Fighting back the painful feeling, Kirika's eyes had become wet and 
teary due to her suffering to hold back her cry. The teeth she had been 
gritting started to bleed, and her hands grasped her own head 
vigorously, unconsciously scratching herself until it got deeper and 
deeper with her nails it actually added the pain. She wanted the pain to 
stop! Yet the thing did not obey; it kept striking her harsher. Sweat 
began to pour down while at the same time her body turned colder. She 
was now trembling hysterically and also screaming desperately. The pain 
was too much for her to bear; her body had come to lose the strength. It 
was hard to breathe. It was harder to even feel alive. Another bolting 
shot strike her. Then another. Kirika felt her head might explode 
anytime.

For the first time in her life that she remebered, she felt weak. And 
helpless.

Kirika did not realize someone was kneeling down beside her since long, 
trying to ease her pain - until that person hugged her. The movement was 
so gentle and strong the Japanese girl could not even resist. But she 
still realized that the hands holding her were comforting, nice, and 
strangely, reliable. She was buried into the person's chest, and after a 
long moment of trying to breaking the pain out of her mind, felt 
extremely surprised to find such warm and loving touch she had been 
given. Those hands fondled her head, stroked her hair softly, and 
touched her arms gently; all to sooth her. In the remaining of her 
coming sense, Kirika vaguely smelled the soft aromas of the body, and 
found it relaxing, in a confusing manner. The Japanese girl began to 
regain her composure; the trembling slowly stopped, and the headache did 
not hurt her as much as it did before. Still letting herself be 
embraced, the brunette inhaled deeply in relief for the pain gradually 
disappeared. Amazingly, she felt so much better. It was incredible how 
such act could ease her. But much to her confusion, she found the person 
embracing her was now sobbing.

Curious, Kirika opened her eyes and blinked it rapidly until she could 
see things vividly. Then, she saw the person who was crying, but never 
letting go of her grip on her. Kirika's eyes widen slightly when her 
eyes caught the women's figure; the vision made the Japanese girl felt 
her cheeks and her entire body became hotter. And worst, tor some 
unknown reason to herself, Kirika blushed. The blonde women, Mireille, 
was holding her tightly while sobbed loudly the brunette could not help 
but felt guilty when hearing it.

A while after, as Mireille realized that she was being watched, she 
stopped sobbing and looked at the Japanese girl in obvious worry. 
"Kirika..! Is it still hurting you? Kirika.." she touched Kirika's head 
and rubbed it cautiously in affection. "How do you feel now?"

Kirika did not answer. She was too busy to argue with her mind. All 
things had gone uncontrollably, pretty much stressing. She was supposed 
to kill the intruders, not being embraced by any of them. Truth was that 
she felt ashamed of her weak self, her soft, caring self. All of it had 
showed up eventually since she met the intruder pair. What made her felt 
the worst was the fact that she actually.. liked it - which was why she 
fought back the cautious act to get off from the hug. It was really 
strange.. But somehow, this particular woman acted like she knew exactly 
what Kirika needed right now.

"Are you okay, Kirika?" Mireille asked softly while rubbing her own 
teary eyes.

Kirika, decided not to be brutal to show her respect, nodded slightly 
and whispered shyly, "Why.. did you cry?"

"I.. Well.. It's hard to explain. I am jst so glad I can finally meet 
you.." Mireille stampered uneasily, but then smiled warmly. "I suppose 
you are alright now, eh?"

Why did she want to meet her? Kirika did not reply as she lowered her 
head and hided her blush. Their body might embarrassed a glue's function 
had it cold see them; their sensitive parts were touching and their 
noses were just an inch away. Not to mention they could just kiss right 
here and now.

"Kirika.." Mireille hesitated, completely obnoxious to the sensual touch 
she was giving. "Don't you.. remember me?"

The question was simple yet the effect was outrageous especially in 
heart for Kirika. She did not have the heart to speak up her answer, and 
just nodded sternly for the reply.

"Oh.. Alright." the blonde muttered in apparent sadness. Then her face 
grew confusingly blank, as if she had something in her mind she got to 
consider.

"Umm.." Kirika whispered softly after a long period of silent moment. 
"..but you did feel familiar."

Mireille blinked rapidly as if to erase her thought, and then her 
expression grew happier. "..I see."

"So Kirika.." the voice came from the left side of where Kirika and 
Mireille were. "Don't you remember anything about us?"

From the corner of her eye, Kirika noticed Chloe walked closer. She was 
just about to think of the appropriate answer when someone cut her line.

"What a lovely scene.." an unexpected voice joined the conversation 
abruptly, out of nowhere.

By the time Kirika noticed that there was a person at her back, Mireille 
had jumped and ran back to another side, still carrying herself in 
strong arms, obviously trying to hide. The next moment, before she could 
ever think of what was actually happening, she heard a movement of some 
sharp things slashing through the air in a very creepy sound. The 
Japanese girl stole a glance and saw the purple haired girl was 
fighting.

..with Doctor Naomi.

Doctor Naomi! Kirika's stared in astonishment as her body tensed harder. 
The mysterious pair did not fight her, yet they attacked the doctor. The 
doctor who has been really caring and nice to her, who also had given 
her life. The one and only Doctor Naomi. Her Doctor Naomi! With all her 
might, Kirika jumped and release herself from Mireille's grip, leaving 
the blonde's eyes widen in shock.

"Kirika?" Mireille's voice was bitter, as if wandering out of focus.

Frantically, Kirika searched for her gun and run after it once her eyes 
laid the vision of the object. She took it from the ground, refilled it 
with new bullets, then pointed it sternly at the blonde. From the noises 
behind, she could assume that Chloe was still fighting harshly with 
Doctor Naomi. But she needed not to care about Chloe. The doctor could 
take care of her alone. And she was pretty far from her.

"Kirika?" Mireille asked while drawing her step closer to the brunette.

Kirika did not answer. Chloe had proved that they were her enemies by 
attacking the Doctor, which added the reasons why she must kill them, 
whatever it took. But again, the blonde women did not even take her gun, 
which made Kirika grew hesitation, despite her wrath. Neither of the 
pair even pointed their weapon at her, so they did not meant to hurt 
her. But they hurt Doctor Naomi! Kirika grew even more confused now.

Why?

And unfortunately for her even more bewilderment, thanks to some unclear 
reasons her heart had been feeling, Kirika had to admit that she did not 
want to kill them unless she was forced to, especially the blonde women. 
But regardless, she could not be reckless. She pointed her gun in a safe 
distance at Mireille, hoping the latter to just bring out her gun and do 
something other than looking.

Yet after some long minutes staring at each other, the blonde stood 
quietly without making a slightest move.

"Kirika, come here." Doctor Naomi's voice suddenly echoed in the 
corridor, replacing the noisy sound of booming bullets or slashing 
knives. Pretty aware that the battle was over, the Japanese girl made a 
move on her feet to walk back without losing the eye contact with 
Mireille, who was now stuck in her feet with her blue eyes staring 
resentfully on Kirika.

"Wait!' Mireille suddenly screamed loudly. "Kirika!" She ran fast 
towards the brunette, but then stopped with a shot that slash through 
her right shoulder's clothes, which without doubt was Doctor Naomi's 
bullet.

Kirika sighed in relief without knowing why. Unconsciously, her heart 
leaped in fear for a second back there. She thought the bullet would not 
miss and the blonde would fall down right away. Instinctively, she 
quicken her pace and stood beside the doctor's figure. She glimpsed a 
second away, noticing Chloe's body was nowhere to be seen. Then a hand 
went stroking her hair.

"Good girl." Doctor Naomi said, smiling. Her white teeth glimmered; 
pretty much contrast with the gold tiles along the corridors. As one of 
her hand stroking the brunette's hair, the other had pointed the gun at 
Mireille, who had now slipped herself behind a thick wall.

Kirika's eyes darted all the way, searching for Chloe's body. She gasped 
inaudibly when she found the body laid weakly on her right, at the 
deeper part of the corridors. But the girl was still breathing, judging 
from the weak up and down gesture from her diminutive self. She wondered 
ho the girl could still be alive, after fighting with Doctor Naomi. Her 
Doctor Naomi!

But it was fortunate that the Doctor did not realize it. Regardless 
tough, Chloe was obviously beaten pretty harsh; the girl laid 
unconscious on the floor as her cloaked ripped and small holes occurred 
everywhere along the cloth at some dangerous, vital parts of body. Had 
the bullets really went through there, Kirika doubted the purple haired 
girl would even stand up again. Whatever was it that Doctor Naomi had 
done to the girl, Kirika was sure she did not want to see. She knew how 
dangerous that lady was.


"I'm sorry. I haven't killed.. them." the brunette apologized, half- 
heartedly.

"It's okay." the reply surprised Kirika. She expected the doctor to be 
mad at her, after all her slacking. "Are you alright?" the female doctor 
continued with a smile on her white face.

"My.. my head hurt." the brunette whispered softly, tentatively.

"Ah.." Doctor Naomi muttered. "Then you'd better go to the lab, Kirika. 
And get some medicines. Or.." She paused for a while, considering 
something. "No, no. Can you help me tell Franchis to turn on the 
machine, quickly? Good."

Kirika was about to dashed her feet to meet Franchis, another assistant 
of Doctor Naomi, when she heard a loud noise of a serene. Doctor Naomi 
looked at her and said, "That's it. He's done it. You don't need to go, 
Kirika. Can you hold on the pain in your head a little longer and stay 
here?"

The Japanese girl obediently nodded. Her head did not ache horribly like 
it did before, after all. It was just a simple headache she felt now, 
maybe due to the side effect of the medicine she had this morning. She 
would get better, she was sure..

Then a short, quiet boom bloomed up, and Kirika caught a glimpse of 
flying bullet speeding through at Doctor Naomi. Instinctively, the 
female doctor dodged and jumped to her right while shooting at the same 
time. Afterward, there were shooting along the corridors, noises and 
movement of a slight dodging reaction, as well as huffing of tired 
breathing. She needed not to know who had done it. Kirika slipped 
herself between an unspotted edge at the corridor, and sometimes ran to 
shoot the bullets at Mireille who was hiding at the other side of the 
wall. Unbeknownst for Kirika tough, she did not shoot whole heartedly 
and precisely at the blonde. On the other hand, Doctor Naomi, who was 
showing off her prodigy talent at killing and dodging, was hunting 
Mireille animatedly like a lion hunting its prey.

In the middle of the fight, all of the sudden Kirika heard a melodious 
sound from far away. It was strange how such lullaby could be heard in 
the middle of a battle, but the Japanese girl could not help but forced 
to listen to it. The music flowed smoothly in the air, the soft and 
peaceful tone adorned the tense air in a slow rhythm. Kirika was sure 
she had heard this lullaby somewhere. Pushing her mind to think, all she 
got was the slightest vision of a beautiful pocket watch.

A watch..

Then a clanking sound of a metal things falling to the floor disturb the 
music. Kirika peered ahead to see what happened. But then the lullaby 
stopped.

"How pathetic." Doctor Naomi said with a smirk on her face. In return of 
that, Mireille's face turned paler. The mysterious things that fell from 
before was the blonde's gun, apparently shot by the female doctor. 
Eventually somehow, Doctor Naomi was standing in front of the blonde 
with her weapon pointed at the latter's throat, while smiling in 
victory. "I'm so.. sorry I have no further use of you." The female 
doctor cooed annoyingly.

Quietly, Kirika walked closer at Doctor Naomi for a better view. They 
were obviously in victory with Mireille in the doctor's hand, but 
somehow Kirika now just felt like a knife had just stabbed her heart. 
The Japanese girl walked faster and decided to stop just a meter before 
Doctor Naomi's and Mireille's figure. In a short glimpse, Kirika saw the 
same watch she recalled to see in her mind was resting on Mireille's 
left palm.

"You bitch. You are the worst, Naomi." Mireille stated calmly, despite 
how threatened her life had be.

Doctor Naomi pushed the gun forcefully at the blonde's throat. "You 
still dare to speak? I can just pull the trigger right now, don't you 
think?"

Mireille did not reply.

The female doctor laughed creepily. "You think you are smart? Invading 
like an idiot! Even if you had turned down all the members, you can't 
kill all of us." she muttered. "We don't need you anymore. Our doctors 
had proved to be even more genius that I can expect! Hahaha!!"

"Shut up." the blonde hissed.

Doctor Naomi scowled dangerously. "This is why I don't like you. You 
acted like you are the boss. If you have manner, I'd consider using you 
as well." The female doctor paused, then whispered in a very low voice 
that meant not to be heard by anyone beside the blonde. "You see her? 
She doesn't remember anything. Not. A. Thing." she emphasized the last 
three words. "Only me." the doctor mumbled softly. "I am her mother."

Mireille's eyes widen dangerously. "No. Fucking. Way."

"And she is my daughter. A machine daughter!"

At this word, Mireille kicked Doctor Naomi.

"Son of-!" Doctor Naomi was startled as well but did not let go of her 
grab at the neck and else, strengthen it. Mireille kept struggling and 
kicking for a minute, but after all that, she was once again grabbed and 
controlled by the female doctor, who was now pushing her gun at the 
blonde's forehead and choked the blonde's throat with the other hand. 
"..A bitch."

A quick slash which came exactly from Kirika's back broke through the 
air. A knife was launched at Doctor Naomi. Before Kirika ever got the 
chance to see and kill the person who threw the knife, two short 
shooting sound was heard not far from where she stood. Turning back her 
head once again, she saw Doctor Naomi's body fell off to the floor; and 
therefore, a pool of blood eventually flowed from her bloody stomach. 
Seconds passed in silence. Kirika gazed in shock at the female doctor; 
the pale face she was wearing, the sea of blood which gathered around 
her body, the stabbed knife on her forehead.

Doctor Naomi was dead. Dead.

Kirika's whole body was shaking with fury. Mireille killed her. Mireille 
was the perpetrator. And now the blonde was standing just a meter ahead 
of her, holding the gun of Doctor Naomi on her right hand. Kirika felt 
raked up. She must kill her.

"Chloe! You okay?" Mireille asked.

"..No." Chloe's cracking voice reflected the pain the girl must be in.

"You-" the blonde halted as she saw the brunette's strange expression. 
"Kirika?"

Nobody knows how many times Kirika had pointed her gun at Mireille. 
Numerous times. And she did it again this time.

But this time the Japanese girl was serious. Dead serious. And Mireille 
could also see it. In fact, the blonde was clouded by half fear, half 
personal emotion. She realized those eyes, those cold eyes from before. 
The very same empty, cold eyes she recognized from the former Kirika. 
The cold-hearted one. The Kirika before she, Mireille, met her, and 
changed her. The eyes who only saw objects to kill.

The eyes who killed her parents.

"Why did you kill her.." Kirika's voice hissed ominously as she looked 
up and stared at the blonde. "WHY?!" she bellowed.

Mireille did not answer aside than gazed in astonishment as well as 
shock. The blonde gulped inaudibly, noticing how perilous the situation 
had become.

Harshly, Kirika inwardly pushed away the desiring urge to hear her name 
once again be spoken by the tall women and therefore, felt anger towards 
those impudent women. They were the reason that she felt so ached at 
heart right now. Her sense screamed to kill them as a lesson for them. 
They killed Doctor Naomi. They killed her. For God's sake, she knew she 
must kill them for vengeance.

..Yet why was her heart screaming to hear that angel voice once more. ? 
No.

Kirika shook her head, could not help but feel disgust at her pathetic 
whim. She let anger occupied her heart, so that she could focus on the 
task she was left to do. To kill them.

"They must have done something incredibly wrong to her, Mireille." from 
far away, a voice claimed softly. It was Chloe's. She panted her way 
through, limping and struggling to get closer to where Kirika and 
Mireille were.

Kirika instinctively shot her bullet at Chloe, right where the purple 
haired girl's wound was opened. Accurate as she was, the bullet went 
through, and Chloe yelped in agony as she fell down to the floor.

Mireille, either forgetting or ignoring Kirika, sprinted to Chloe and 
hold the younger girl on her arms. "Chloe!" she shouted. "For heaven's 
sake, Chloe, don't you..!"

"..I won't.." the younger girl retorted weakly before Mireille ever 
finished her sentences. "If only.. she got normal to her usual self. 
..which seems to be even harder now that we have killed that bitch she 
seemed to love so much." The last comment was so low in voice it seemed 
to be not meant for anybody to hear.

But Kirika heard it, and she squinched madly in response. She was 
furious as hell, and there it was, two anonymous girls playing foolish 
drama, in front of her? And right before her eyes, too. Now she could 
really feel the hatred burning inside her chest, covering all the human 
feelings she felt before. And worst, her head started to hurting again.

Fortunately, right before the Japanese girl decided to shot her last two 
bullets at the enemies in front of her, the Corsican woman spoke up. 
"Kirika.. Please listen to me." her voice was strangely heavy and 
steady. The blonde shifted her position, and exchanged glances at 
Kirika, then at Chloe, then at her own arms. The weariness of the 
blonde's physical was apparent as the exhaustion was obvious in her 
voice.

The Japanese girl expected the blonde to preach her last wish or talk 
about bulshit, but the Corsican girl did not.

"Kirika.. I'm.. sorry. Sorry that I killed her." she said with a broken 
smile on her face. "I really.. We have to, Kirika." The way she sounded 
her sentence now was firmer, and steadier. "..You of all people should 
understand." she whispered the last sentence so softly it was almost 
inaudible.

This is ridiculous.

"Kirika.. We.." Mireille's voice was distant now as the Japanese girl's 
mind was wondering something else.

I have to end this mess.

Kirika saw Mireille gently put Chloe back down on the floor, and stood 
up in a slow motion and said with a weak smile, "I don't know what they 
did to you.. But.." her voice generated to an even commanding, steady 
voice. "I'm not giving you up." she claimed, now looking confident all 
of the sudden. The blue eyes now gazed at Kirika's brown eyes, and the 
two stood there motionlessly for a while, both unable to do anything.

Now.

With a cold stare on her face, Kirika launched the last two bullets in 
her gun. One to Mireille, and the other to Chloe.

BANG! BANG!

She caught a glimpse of the horror in Mireille and Chloe's face, and she 
could see their astonishment of her unexpected action. Resentfully, 
Kirika saw the bullet accurately wounding where the heart was on 
Mireille's body. She had aimed correctly. She knew that bullet going to 
crash that body, bleeding it to death.

She knew Mireille was about to die.

But yet now, of all the time in the world, her headache assaulted her 
again, invaded her mind as the pain throbbed the back of her head 
agonizingly. "Ughh.. Aghh.!." Kirika hissed in agony as everything on 
her sight became blurry. Her legs felt numb and powerless, and she could 
no longer stand on her feet after a couple moment struggling the pain.

Her breath became unstable, and her strength was gone she could no 
longer hold the gun in her palm tight anymore. With the last effort she 
could ever imagine exist, she peered to where Mireille and Chloe were 
at, making sure that no threat would be done if she was going to fall. 
She found Mireille panting her breath heavily, one of her hand covering 
a certain part of her body - her stomach. It was bloody red now, and 
even in the middle of unconsciousness, Kirika could see the flowing 
blood from where the wound was. And as she expected, no one fought back. 
Not even Mireille, who was still in good position to fight her, before. 
Chloe on the other hand, was no longer sound alive. No sound was audible 
from where the purple haired girl last was seen by her.

Feeling bitter despite her achieved goal, Kirika let her strength faded 
away. Two clanking sound echoed down the corridor. First it was 
Mireille's gun, then it was Kirika's gun which fell to the floor. The 
next thing happened was that her powerless body followed on to fall, and 
she dropped exhaustingly to her knees, focusing all her strength to her 
hands on the floor.

As if in irony, another clanking sound followed the sound. Another thing 
was fallen. Yet it was not a gun.

Kirika did not realize what the thing was, she was having much trouble 
enough with trying to keep herself conscious. Nevertheless, the vague 
tune was too much for her ears to not yanked with the familiarity. 
Despite her weariness and her headache, the Japanese girl still caught 
the unmistakable noise; the melody she really knew. Fortunately, the 
thought was spoken out of her mind, not too long after she heard the 
lullaby.

It was the pocket watch.

The song - the melody flowed by with a haunting echo. Right at that 
particular moment - feelings, memories, and thoughts - all of the sudden 
raced through Kirika's mind, and the Japanese girl could feel her head 
was getting ready to explode. The headache was really excruciating. In 
her head, she saw herself when she was little,holding a gun. Then she 
saw a school ID. Next, she saw an apartment. And she saw Mireille. Then 
Mireille again. She thought she was going crazy. But all those events 
were now rolling in her head, just like reading a tape. Where did all 
these information come from she did not know. And how did these happen 
she did not care. She was in a super state of agony, and it was getting 
worst as soon as she gained more of the knowledge of the invading 
memories in her head. She was sure that she was going insane, but after 
a couple minutes focusing her mind,

..she finally realized. She was gaining her memories back.

And now that she knew what she had done, the memories became even more 
painful. More painful than what her head had suffered.

Chloe..

Mireille..

..Mireille.

"MIREILLE!" Kirika screamed hysterically. "Mireille.. MIREILLE!" Kirika 
got to her feet and dashed with all her strength left to where the 
Corsican girls was. Unfortunately for her, her feet did not cooperate 
this time, she was still dizzy from the sudden headache. Kirika then 
looked up ahead, and found Mireille somehow was about 9 feet from her.

But the sight of the blonde's figure was killing her. The Japanese 
girl's eyes widen in horror as she saw Mireille was obviously panting 
from staying alive, and the Corsican girl was now leaning her back 
against the wall, her bloody hands covering the deep wound in her 
stomach as much as possible. Kirika could see how the blonde was 
shaking, how she struggled to keep breathing. The Corsican girl was 
trying to poke the bullet off her body, and apparently she had not yet 
succeeded. Blood was flowing even more than the last time Kirika saw it, 
and the view was so strikingly stabbing for her heart.

I shot her. I shot her. The word kept repeating back and forth in her 
head. Kirika hold her urge to commit suicide right at this moment, and 
instead forced her powerless self to move.

"Mireille!" Kirika yelled one more time as she struggled anxiously to 
crawl to Mireille's side. The moment the blonde heard her name was 
called, she looked up, and her gaze met Kirika's.

"Kirika.." the word was mouthed softly from Mireille's lips. The 
blonde's lips had gotten a color of pale blue, while her face was as 
white as a corpse. Worst, it was extraordinarily contrast with the color 
of blood from her body.

"Mireille, Mireille..! I'm sorry. Mireille.. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, 
Mireille.." Kirika crawled hurriedly to the blonde's side, muttering her 
apologize all the way through.

As she finally got her way over to Mireille, Kirika reached her lover as 
careful as she could, and embraced the girl with a hug, burying herself 
in the scent of the Corsican girl. As soon as she noticed Mireille's 
familiar hand behind her back, embracing her back closer, Kirika sobbed 
without bothering to control her body's own shakes, and her voice was 
all cracked. What has she done?! Kirika's eyes mirrored a reflection of 
a huge worry, and her whole body was trembling for the sense of living 
she was struggling to maintain. "Mireille.., I'm gonna be right back 
with some aid kit." she said, shaking with her sobs, now breaking the 
hug.

"No." the word was whispered really inaudibly, but Kirika's momentum of 
rushing was stopped as soon as she heard the word. Thinking that the 
blonde was muttering something out of her will, Kirika struggled to get 
up to her feet regardless. But again, her movement was now stopped by 
the cold hand which was now holding her own shaky palm. "No.. Kirika. 
Stay."

"Mireille.. I got to.." Kirika hissed urgently, her voice filled with 
worry.

"Stay." Mireille said firmly, fixing her gaze on Kirika's brown eyes, 
with her hand steady grabbing the Japanese girl's. "I.. want you to 
stay." the blonde said heavily, panting as she spoke each of the word.

"No, Mireille.." Kirika's eyes were all red now, and a new flow of tears 
were forming on her eyes. "I know we can still.."

"No.. we can't."

"Mireille, please don't.."

"Kirika.. I know." Mireille insisted with her low, tired voice. "..You 
also... know." she added softly.

"No, Mireille.." Kirika mumbled. "..It's not what you're thinking, and 
I'd better.."

"Kirika.." Mireille muttered heavily. "..there's no point. You know 
better.. than I do."

"Please, Mire--.."

"..You know." Mireille held her gaze still at Kirika's brown eyes, while 
her hand reached the palm of her lover, squeezing it softly. "It's 
impossible.. too late..." the sentence was perturbed as Mireille spurted 
a great amount of blood from her mouth to her shirt.

"Mireille!" Kirika's eyes widen to a really frightening state, while she 
quickly reached down to Mireille's lips, wiping all the blood on her 
lover's lips using the shirt she was wearing. "Mireille, stop talking." 
she said. "Please!!" she added, after she noticed that the Corsican girl 
was trying to say some other words to her. The result, however, was that 
Mireille coughed another spit of blood to her shirt.

"Please.. stay with me, Kirika." whispered Mireille weakly, barely 
audible. "I.. I want you.. to be with me.. when I'm.. leaving.."

"Mire.. Mireille.." sobbed Kirika uncontrollably. Her flooding tears 
flowing down her red eyes, wetting all the blonde and her own clothes, 
ruining the blood pattern spreading on both their shirts.. "..how could 
you say that?" she muttered weakly more to herself, rather than to 
Mireille. Then the Japanese girl looked up and said slowly, "You are not 
leaving me anywhere, Mireille.." she sobbed sadly, "YOU ARE NOT!" 
Kirika's voice echoed down the corridor at her last sentence; it was the 
expression of her effort of maintaining her sanity of not killing 
herself right at this moment.

"Sshhh... Kirika.." Mireille soothed the brunette, as her hand once 
again went through Kirika's hand, and up to the younger girl's hair, 
pulling their head and body closer and closer to each other. Slowly, as 
both of them pulled their strength to support one another's body, their 
lips brushed in a soft, deep, long kiss. It was a pure kiss of love, but 
full of unspoken passion. Shaking but deadly quiet, Kirika let herself 
to be hold and kissed still by Mireille, not struggling to move anymore. 
Time was running out for her and her soulmate, and she was aware of what 
she got to treasure the most.

When the kiss broke, Mireille, lips blue and pale-faced as she was, 
vomited another flood of blood to her already red shirt. She coughed and 
again spurted some blood, and the coughing apparently turning to an even 
worst situation. Struggling to maintain the shock and fear in her own 
mind, Kirika wiped the blood while trying to stay as close as possible 
to her lover.

"I'm sorry, Mireille.." Kirika muttered the apology while crying, her 
eyes now gazing at the huge hole of Mireille's bleeding heart. She knew 
there was no way an aid kit alone could help the wound to close up. No 
way. She could almost see the inside white part of Mireille's body; she 
could see the flesh, the meat.

"It's okay, Kirika.." Mireille mumbled reassuringly back to her lover.

Kirika's voice was cracked in sorrow as she tried to speak. "No, it's 
not.. I'm.. I'm so stupid.."

"Sshhh..." Mireille assured the younger girl lovingly and brought their 
body all closer together.

They huddled together like a pair seeking the warmth of the other, and 
spoke no word after that. They silently embraced each other, as there 
was no more time to share for words; one existence was the most 
important thing to the other one. Together they stayed cuddling 
altogether, staring into the deep pair of eyes of the other's face. What 
everybody else would never know was that through all those silent 
moment, a lot was being shared between them; their thought, their love, 
their passion, .. their apologies.

It was through that short moment that Mireille told Kirika how worried 
she was before, and how afraid she was that the brunette might be turned 
into a killing machine; which she almost did. And it was at that 
particular moment as well that Kirika beg Mireille's redemption as to 
causing her a dying consequences. It was during the same time also, that 
they both shared their love, their thought, everything. Throughout that 
moment, it was as if Mireille told Kirika how glad she was to find out 
that the Japanese girl was back to normal, to her usual self; at how she 
was really happy to find her Kirika. One thing that the blonde really 
ordered Kirika to do was to keep living, and not dwell in regret as she 
knew the brunette was going to do. All these things had just somehow 
delivered into both their minds, without any words being spoken, and 
only through the contact of the eyes.

And finally, Mireille muttered her goodbye.

...Then when the blonde finally closed her eyes forever, Kirika still 
could not say a word, and only cried in silent.

And the only thing that keep the Japanese girl from commiting suicide 
herself was Mireille's last whisper to her after her goodbye:

"Please enjoy your life, Kirika. And remember.. that I will always love 
you."

THE END

So here it is! The last chapter of "Meet the Parent"! I know it's 
probably a little bit too.. quick, probably for an end?

But this is how I have been longing to have as the ending part.. And 
just in case somebody is wondering about Chloe, you can say that she's 
dead, too.. (I'm sorry, Chloe's fans!)

So yeah, please tell me whether you like it or not, and what do you 
think about the story.

I especially want to say thanks to all who gave me some reviews 
throughout the beginning of my story until its end, I really thank you 
all for the supports! I can't name you all one by one, but I honestly 
thank you all from the bottom of my heart.. I hope this last chapter did 
not dissatisfy you guys..

THANKS FOR READING...

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