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A secret. part 7 of 11

Walking into the gloomy room slowly, Mayu hobbled over to the opposite wall, mind hazed with confusion and fear. The walls, unlike the other rooms in the hallway, were devoid of eye candy -- no paint, no wall paper, just bare cement, giving a fitting gloomy ambience to the atmosphere. The flooring was also torn out from the ground, tiny feet slightly uncomfortable on the cement floor. Overhead hung a small lightbulb, giving off a dim yellow light. Though it wasn't the best lighting conditions, Mayu could clearly see the photographs posted upon the wall: they were in varied locations, but they all focused on one person -- Kimiko.

Who were these people, Mayu wondered, and what did they want with her mother?! There were mug shots (though slightly obscured by leaves, it seemed like they were taken from inside a bush or a tree), profiles, the whole shindig, taped upon the wall for all to see. And that wasn't it. Newspaper clippings from old copies of the "Gambino Post" and the "Barton Times" were cut out carefully and taped upon the wall as well, though she couldn't read them. They all seemed to have one subject in common though: The Sayakis and the collapse of their grand mansion.

Her hand reached up without thinking, and the silver-haired girl ripped a small assortment of photos and clippings from the walls, stuffing them messily in the pocket of her feety pajamas. Now, to get out of there before anybody discovered her ...


The clicking of footsteps sounded unusually clear on the laminate floor, a distinctive tap as each pointed shoe hit the ground gracefully.

Nyx yawned loudly, a bit out of character for her usually gloomy countenance. Everyone else was snoozing downstairs, and she was about to as well (the Pursuers were NOT day people, if any of them ever decided to quit the group, they would have to do some serious work to revive their healthy sleeping habits); she just had to check on the babe first. Not that she really needed to, the chances of a toddler escaping the grasp of the shady group, even one with fancy skills, and even if the members were lying unconsious half-drunk and knee-deep in empty beer bottles (which they were, fortunate for Mayu) were a hundred to one. They were good enough for a sleepy Nyx, but her brain forced her to perform a daily checkup on any and all hostages.

Passing the cement room and the rainbow walls of the of the others (one was hot pink, shudders!), Nyx stopped at the very end of the hallway, sticking her face in nosily. No stealth when she was off-duty.

The sheets were crumpled into a baby shape, and Mayu's blanket draped above that neatly; any sharp eyes could have picked out the disappearance of the baby easily, but Nyx was half-drunk herself (she had downed a pint of Irish whiskey before, Hermes pressured her into it) and slightly hung over, percieving the crackpot arrangement of the blankets as a sleeping baby.

Waving to the sheets lazily, the intoxicated Nyx turned back to the staircase and walked back down to the living room slowly. She was getting a slight headache; she would be feeling it in the morning, or more aptly, night. This was why she always stored a bottle of heavy-duty aspirin in the bathroom shelf.

Breathing a sigh of relief as Mayu watched the dark-haired lady return down the stairs, the child double-checked to give a confirmation that she was gone -- and of course, that no more of them were coming. After verifying the fact, she slipped out the door carefully and grabbed the footstool; a formidable fact, considering the now-large bulge in her front pocket. She hobbled back to the hallway where she had awakened, and placed the step in front of the window. She now had just the right leverage to take in the landscaping, and possibly even open the window latch.

Discoveries. part 9 of 11

The man -- dubbed Icarus -- with the lampshade over his head had a "fetish", as his female coworkers dubbed it, for anything technological. How cruel they were. He had been sketching up blueprints for his new gliders when the party had entered, and he had ran to get the fragile paper out of the room before the crowd ripped it to shreds. Oh, what a powerful influence alcohol could be.

The Rolex watch on his wrist (imported, he had bragged) ticked away precisely as the seconds passed by, and the dials were currently positioned at 3:00 PM; approximately 4 and a half hours before the whole gang woke up. They would be having major hangovers considering the amount of fine liquor they had downed the preceeding night, but they would still be awake. Which would be an awkward situation for the nosy baby.

For the past few hours, the toddler suited in pink feety pajamas had been shuffling through file cabinets, desk drawers, and everything else she could find, her searches turning up nothing. She sighed listlessly, sad that she was unable to find anything on the mysterious group. They were sneaky.

Well, there had been one thing, a piece of stationary with a scrawly script on it, penned in a black ink. It looked quite official, and although the child could not read it yet, she decided to stuff it in her pocket. It nestled comfortably inside with the photos and clippings Mayu had torn down just a few hours before. Souvenirs, she had decided to call them.

There was one last room she yet to search, then it was escape. Mayu looked down the intimidating stairs with a small whimper, apparently pondering over the thought of going into sucha dark and scary room.

There were different levels of dark, as all children knew, and basement dark went into its own classification. Monsters, bugs, and even rats lurked in its depths. It was an intimidating room, the walls laced with spiderwebs, dust, and mold.

'Well, it's for the best,' Mayu thought, and gulped. She was about to face the ultimate in scary. Stepping into the dimly lighted room, Mayu winced slightly; before her seemed to loom a corridor to the depths of the world. The wooden stairs creaked beneath her steps, and the baby continued forward, knowing very well that she may not see the light of day again.

The stairwell led out to a cavernous opening, white florescent lights flickering to life overhead. The cave emitted an ominous feeling, its walls covered with what seemed to be computer screens. Endless rows of them, as it was. They were watching something, Mayu realized.

The LCD screens fitted upon the walls showed only darkness, but Mayu knew they were on by the dull hums emitted by the machines. The cameras were turned off, the baby reckoned, and went about surveying the fancy equipment. She could never understand what adults saw in those things.

A screen flickered to life before the silver-haired toddler, making her literally jump. There was a quiet shuffling as the image on the screen tottered, then it began moving. A mobile camera, ingenious. The baby immediately recognized the landscape as the very building she was standing in, having gone through it throughly herself, though she had never seen any mobile cameras .. It was very curious indeed.

"What are these? Look just like fancy contacts to me." The girl huffed, obviously uninterested in Icarus's newest creation.

The man in the blue sweater protested angrily, his pride shot at the girl's ignorant comment. "These are not contacts! They're a set of cameras, you see? These will revolutionize our surveillance system!"

"Whatever." Flicking a bit of blond hair behind her shoulder, the girl walked away harshly. The poor misunderstood genius stoop behind her, jaw dropped in disbelief. He was in fact right, the i-cam as he had kiddingly dubbed it (Eye and cam! It was hilarious!) would indeed revolutionize the Persuers' surveillance system, removing the old-fashioned rotary cameras and replacing them with something completely outside the box -- people.

The camera was designed so the Pursuers would be able to reach where the old cameras' bild spots had been, a truly remarkable device. It could be picked up with only the finest bug detectors, and even then, it would be virtually undetectable. After all, the iris was the most unusual place to hide a bug, so why even bother to check?

It was ingenious, and the group deserved the finest equipment. The blond woman had dropped her jaw in disbelief when the boss had commissioned a whole bundle of the cameras, to fit each member of the team. Icarus just stood to the side and smirked.

The screen fluttered between the image and black for a few seconds, then went blank once again. Mayu cocked her head curiously; must have been technical problems. Walking across the linoleum floor quietly, she scanned her surroundings once again, looking for more items to take from the unruly gang.

The room was empty save for the fancy equipment (them and their captivating blinky lights!) and a desk in the center of the room, firmly affixed to the tile floor. It was too high for Mayu to reach, however, so the baby decided to leave it alone. For the meantime.

She would be back to unravel this whole mystery in the future.

The aftermath. part 11 of 11

The black-haired one paced around the living room in circles, eyes full of worry and regret.

"How could I have missed it? How could I have let this happen?" She choked through a bite of chocolate, salty tears running down her face.

"Stop drowning your sorrows in chocolate, human. It doesn't help at all."

"Yeah! What mum said! And also, you know Mayu's a bright girl. She's probably crusing down the sidewalk right now!"

"Listen to the Talaye. Geez, I hate to see you like this; it puts me on a major guilt trip. Y'know?"

"I suppose ..." The girl sniffled, plopping down on the tatami mat. "At any case, I should get my jacket and try to find her."

At that moment, a loud knock came from the front door. Miyu rose from her seat on the crimson-colored couch and turned to the foyer.

"I'll get it ..." The girl fumbled with the lock for a few seconds and pulled over the intricate door.

The baby Mayu ran straight through the door, into the living room, and into Kimiko's arms.

"What did I tell ya?" The tala smirked.

Kimiko was too happy embracing her daughter to notice.

growth quest ------------------------------ end

Another kid?!

The weather outside looked terrible, it seemed the torrential downpour would never let up. Miyu leaned her head against the glass panes of the patio door, which was covered with a sort of bamboo screen to give it an oriental feeling.

"I wonder if Kimiko will ever get back," she murmured, watching the raindrops fall one after the next. It was getting dark, she observed, and sighed. It wasn't that she was getting soft, or course not! The girl simply worried for Mayu, the baby was so attatched to her guardian. And if Kimiko disappeared, who was going to pay for the cable bills? Certainly not her.

"When will mama be back, big sister?" The toddler murmured, bumbling over to Miyu with a worried glance. Her mother always gave forewarning when she left, it wasn't like her to just disappear without leaving a note!

The front door creaked open, and a soaking wet Kimiko came stumbling in. She was wearing a poncho, but a strange figure seemed to have been wrapped up in the front, leaving the girl defenseless to the beating rain.

"I'm b-back!" The shivering girl groaned, shuffling off to get a dry change of clothing. The yellow poncho she had discarded on the floor seemed to be shuffling, however ...

The infamous Chaos Tala pawed her way over to the "posessed" shawl of sythetic material, sniffing at it curiously. "Why's it moving?" She inquired loudly, alerting the others of the spazzing poncho.

"Mum, maybe there's something inside!" The Chaos-spawn replied from her cozy spot on the couch. She wasn't about to go check it out -- the cushions were much too comfy! Purring happily, the Tala gazed up at the plasma TV mounted upon the wall, which was currently broadcasting a silly animated children's film.

"A possessed poncho? Hey, wait for me!" The silver-haired girl laughed, picking up the toddler and walking over to the foyer where Orphne was sitting. "Scootch, I want to get a view too!"

As if on target, the Jumi poked her head out of the discarded fabric, startling the spectators gathered around her. "Hi! My name's Verde!"

She had a rather unusual hairstyle from the looks of it, a great mass of green curls falling to her back. It was adorned with an elegant headpiece. The girl was dark-skinned, and had a shimmering aventurine forehead jewel. Her eyes were a milky peach color, and seemed to be dazed in thought.

"Verde, Verde! A'hm Maa!" Mayu struggled to get out of Miyu's grip, landing upon the floor ungracefully. Extending a hand to the Jumi, she gave a great big smile. "We go play now, okay?"

"'Kay!" The little girl grinned in reply, pushing aside the dripping poncho and stepping out of the folds. "What should we do?"

Ignorant to the blank stares Orphne and Miyu had shot her, the girl bounded after the toddler with a cheerful step.

An unexpected surprise.

"The keys, the keys ..." Kimiko muttered, fumbling between a large bag of groceries and her pocket. She withdrew her set of household keys with great care after placing the groceries down carefully upon the bench swing stationed helpfully beside the front door. Creaking open the front door, the black-haired girl was met with an unexpected -- though not bad -- surprise.

"Need help with the groceries, mother?" The silver-haired one chimed happily, twisting a lock of her flowing hair around her fingers. She obviously delighted in the guardian's surprise, giggling as the teenager almost fainted from the shock.

"I think that was a bad move, Mayu."

"Oh, but it was so fun!"

Kimiko rubbed her head vigorously, almost cracking her skull open on a hanging fern as she stepped back in surprise.

"Now, what happened here ... ?" She murmered, recollecting herself.

"I grew, silly!" The pink one giggled, running over to help her mother catch her balance. She shoved the distressed girl into the building where Miyu and Verde lended a helping hand, and picked up the bag of groceries that her guardian had gracefully plopped onto the swing. Hoisting them against her waist (she was not very strong yet, and the bag of groceries was heavy, so it was a bit of trouble for her), Mayu ran back into the house cheerfully, shutting the door behind her.

begin -----------------child

In which Mayu learns a bushel of things.

"But, mom!" The Legend protested as her guardian double-knotted the pink apron around her back. "Are you sure it's safe to teach me how to read and how to cook at the same time?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Kimiko chirped, wielding a dangerous-looking spoon in one hand and a children's book entitled Run Dog, Run in the other. Ignoring the pouting face of the Legend -- she had to, or else she would cave in to the poor girl -- and gestured to the refrigerator vaguely. "Alright, let's start with something simple. Cookies! Get me two eggs from the fridge and the sack of flour from the pantry, while I school you on your ABC's."

Mayu perked up just a little. It was a bit hard for her to stay sad, after all, her mother was trying to do something nice for her! Sticking her face into the refrigerator curiously, she tried to find the whereabouts of these "eggs" while she pondered the thought of being schooled in her "ABC's". Sounded scary, but she could handle it.

"Eggs, eggs ... Found 'em! I think ..." Mayu called after a few moments of rummaging, pulling out a green stalk from the vegetable cabinet.

"No, Mayu, that's the celery." Kimiko stifled a giggle as she retrieved a large baking sheet from the storage bin and an equally large bowl from the cabinet above. "Eggs are white and round. Now, repeat after me: A, B, C ..."

"Round and white. Got it." Mayu replied, picking through the food with care. "A, B, C ..." She sang, repeating Kimiko's words.

"Are these it?" The clueless girl asked, holding out two chicken eggs with curiosity.

"You got it." Kimiko chuckled, flipping through the children's book as if it were a college textbook. "Get the flour from the pantry too. D, E, F, G ..."

"But I've got flowers right here!" Mayu said, placing the two eggs on the counter. She gestured to the branches on her back with a wave of her hand, but decided to shuffle along to the pantry anyway.

"D, E, F, G?" She called, nosing through shelf after shelf of canned and dried foods.

"H, I, J, K," Kimiko sang, retrieving the eggs that Mayu had placed down earlier. "Not those kind of flowers! It's called flour, F-L-O-U-R! It's powdery, white, and it comes in big paper sacks!"

"H, I, J, K," Mayu repeated flawlessly, as she scanned the shelves again. "Oh, I found it!" She said, hoisting the sack of flour up in her arms. "It's heavy!"

"Good job." The black-haired girl smiled, beckoning the Legend to come to the counter. "L, M, N, O, P! Now, watch this, and try to copy it the best way you can." Kimiko said, placing the book besides the ingredients Mayu had painstakingly carried out.

"You take the egg like this," Kimi said, holding out the egg in one hand for the pink Legend to see, "And you tap it slightly on the edge of the bowl to give it a small crack. Easy, no?"

"L, M, N, what were those last two again?" The girl giggled cluelessly, attempting to crack the egg just as Kimiko did. So far, so good.

"O and P. After that are Q, R, and S." Kimiko said, returning to the egg. "Now, you take it in two hands, and kinda bring them together so the crack seperates and the yolk and the whites fall out." Demonstrating what she had just said, she looked to the girl with a worried expression. "Think you can do it?"

"O, P! Q, R, S, am I doing this right?" Mayu asked, following Kimiko's instructions carefully. The egg in her hands cracked into two pieces, and she blinked as its inners dropped into the bowl with a fluid motion. "It broke ... Was it supposed to do that?"

"Very good!" Chimed Kimiko happily, glad that her teaching techniques were working. Splendidly, as she observed. Taking the egg shells from Mayu's hands, she disposed of them in the trash with a flick of her wrist.

"Wash your hands, now. Don't want you getting salmonella." The girl winked, turning on the flow of cold water. From the living room, Miyu rolled her eyes, then returned to watching television from her slumped position on the couch.

Mayu beamed, runing her hands under the cold water. "Now what?"

"Now we add the flour!"

Kimi shuffled around in the drawer for a few seconds, pulling out a set of stainless steel measuring cups and spoons she had purchased in Gambino. For 200 gold, that was a steal.

"You see, every food has a basic recipe. You can add on to or take from that recipe to make the food your own, but the main ingredients stay pretty much the same! You following on?"

Nodding slowly, Mayu attempted a nervous smile. She was completely lost!

"Now, this recipe calls for 1 cup of flour. So we take the cup that's marked with the number one on it and use that to measure how much flour we put in the dough." Scooping a cupful of flour from the sack, Kimiko leveled it with her finger and held it up for Mayu to see. She dumped it into the cup and gestured to the pantry again with the spoon.

"T, U, V, and get the bag of sugar from the pantry. Also, get the bag of chocolate chips from the fridge."

"Alright!"

Mayu loved chocolate chip cookies, so the instructions given to her by Kimiko were an easy task. With giddy excitement, she spun to the pantry and grabbed the bag labeled "Salt". An easy mistake, as the two looked so much alike. "T, U, V!" She sang happily, as she withdrew the bag of chocolate chips from the refrigerator's shelf.

"Good, now bring them over here." Clapping her hands together happily, Kimiko readied the measuring spoons for Mayu to use. "W, X, Y, and Z! There, now you've got the whole alphabet. Can you repeat them to me? And while you're at it, measure out five tablespoons of that sugar you've got there."

The girl nodded eagerly, silver hair flying up and down in a blur. Taking the spoons, Mayu quickly measured out five tablespoons and dumped them into the mix, all while singing the alphabet at a rapid-fire pace.

"Can I add the chocolate chips too, mum?"

"Good job! You're catching on quickly, though you mixed up the letters M and N." Laughing lightly, Kimiko nodded at the girl's request. "Go ahead, but don't go overboard. We want to see more dough than chocolate, you know."

Clapping with glee, Mayu begun taking hndufl after handful from the open bag of chocolate chips. In just a few second's time, the bowl was filled with bittersweet chocolate.

Kimiko was startled by the massive amounts of chocolate that the girl had put in the mix, and raised her voice in an attempt to halt the process.

"I think that's enough!"

"Sorry." Mayu dropped the chocolate she had held in her hands back into the plastic bag, and gave a sheepish smile. "I love chocolate, I can't help it!"

Making a face, Kimiko zipped up the bag of chocolate chips and tossed it back into the fridge. "Now take one of those wooden spoons with the long handle and stir the dough for a bit while I get the baking sheet ready and preheat the oven."

"'Kay ..."

Though the task at hand wasn't hard at all, Mayu struggled with the bowl a little because of all the chocolate chips she had dumped in a moment ago. She peered down at the mixture in her hands and grimaced; it was gooey chocolaty MESS. Were they really going to eat that?

Slipping on her oven mitts, Kimiko walked over and took the bowl from Mayu, who was quite relieved to be rid of it. Spooning the glop onto the sheet, the black-haired girl continued until the entire bowl was empty. She pulled open the oven door with ease and slid the dough-covered baking sheet onto a heated rack, then slammed the door closed with a bang.

"And now ... We wait."

Shopping, shopping!

The girl manuvered quickly through the large crowds, brandishing a dangerous looking shopping list.

"Bed! No, we'll get that later. It'll be too hard to carry about. Hurry up, Mayu."

"Coming!" Mayu called, copying Kimiko's movements. She slipped through the dense crowd of people with some difficulty, and raced after her mother clumsily. She was carrying a small pink notebook and a pen, which Kimiko had picked up for her at the stationery store at the beginning of their shopping trip.

"Alright. Now, you know all of the letters have a distinct sound. But did you know combinations of letters can make all sorts of new sounds? For example, c and h together make the ch- sound, and c and a together mahe the ka- sound. However, even single letters can make different sounds too. For example, 'a' can be pronounced as 'ah' or 'ae'." Kimiko blurted out quickly, not at all considering the Legend's still-limited vocabulary. Her eyes caught on a dress which was displayed on a distressed-looking mannequin, and she beckoned for her daughter to come.

"Let's look in here!"

Mayu made some skritches in her notebook, and nodded to confirm she had heard all of Kimiko's lecture. She had been given a full course on writing the past night by Kimiko and a reluctant Miyu, so she was able to pick out the letter sounds and copy them down on her notepad. Now she just needed to learn how to read, so she could actually use her notes!

"Sounds, gotchaaaaa--" The girl stuttered out before Kimiko yanked her to the side, dragging her forcefully into the clothing store.

"Now, looking at the placement of letters in words, you can easily distinguish the different sounds each makes. Sound them out seperately, then say them together. And how about this dress?"

Kimiko held out a white knee-length dress for Mayu to see. It was plain and simple, with lace trim on the bottom and pink flowers embroidered here and there.

"Okay!" The pink Legend smiled, immediately getting to work on the notes she had scratched down in pink ink during the duration of the shopping trip. "A verb is an action worb, and it describes a person or a thing performing a task, like rolling or walking." Enounciating each word clearly and slowly, Mayu looked up at her guardian for approval.

"The dress looks nice!" She smiled, noting that the embroidery very well matched her own petals.

The black-haired girl was very amazed that her daughter had gotten the hang of things so quickly, and she clapped to show her appreciation. "Perfect! Now, try to read a little faster and faster until you can just say the word when you look at it instead of having to pronounce the phonetic sounds one by one!"

Humming a little song as she walked over to the cash register, Kimiko looked back at Mayu, who was busy reading out every word she had excruciatingly taken in the past few hours. It was ... cute.

"Say, to celebrate this, want to go out for ice cream or something?" She attempted, trying to catch the girl's attention.

"Alright!" Looking up at the words "ice cream", Mayu skipped to the store's exit with a supressed giddyness. "I want strawberry!"