... something wrong... .... something important... .... I have to know... .... have to... .... have...
.... a brightly lit, antiseptic white hospital room. She lay on the bed, exhausted, but happy. She looked up, into the clear green eyes, squeezed a callused hand. Kit looked down at her, beaming proudly, the brow he'd furrowed in worry for the past several hours now smooth. The nurse walked back over, bearing a freshly bathed, squalling infant in her arms. "Congratulations," she said as she handed the baby back to Miao. "It's a girl!" Miao looked down at the baby... her baby... and was instantly captivated by the eyes... the soft, innocent eyes...
.... narrowed in concentration as she attempted to break out of the playpen again. "Wan' go out, Ma." Kit-chan propped her little fists on her hips and jutted her chin out stubbornly. Miao sighed as she picked up Kit-chan.
"I'm so sorry, honey, I really am... I wish I could take you to all the places in the world, but I have to work..." Miao stared hopelessly at the stack of papers on the kitchen table. Tiffany worked all night and slept all day, so she was out... and the chores were piling up... and she couldn't ever pay enough attention to her darling daughter... She hugged Kit-chan tightly, the room blurring from her tears...
.... and her eyes slowly readjusted to the brightness. How long was it since she'd seen sunlight, real, actual, bright sunlight? She laughed. Too long, it seemed.
"Ma, kwai dien la! Hurry up!" Kit-chan ran along the sidewalk, calling over her shoulder.
Miao ran after her daughter. "Don't run out into the road! Wait for me!" Kit-chan looked back over her shoulder and made monkey-faces at her mother. "Watch where you're going!" Miao called.
"Can't catch me, can't c- oof!" Kit-chan would have fallen flat on her bottom had the stranger she'd run into not stuck out a hand and caught her. Miao caught up with the two hastily.
"See, I told you..." she muttered to Kit-chan as they stuck their tongues out at each other, then turned to the man. "I'm very sorry, sir," she said, and nudged Kit-chan.
"'m sorry too," Kit-chan mumbled in turn, then hid behind Miao.
"Oh, it's perfectly all right," the man said, smiling. "You have a very cute child, miss..."
"Marozi," Miao supplied, using the pseudonym that she'd adopted. "Naomi Marozi. And this is Catherine," she added, putting a hand on Kit-chan's shoulder.
"Pleased to meet you," the man inclined his head at them both. "My name is..."
.... "Michael!" Kit-chan wailed in exasperation, emerging from her hiding place behind the curtains. "You peeked!"
"Did not either; your feet stuck out." Michael grinned maddeningly at Kit-chan and pointed to the offending appendages. "Next time, make sure that no part of you sticks out, or makes a bulge, or moves. Just because you can't see me doesn't mean that I can't see you."
"Anyways, it's your turn to hide." Kit-chan turned her face to the wall and began counting. Michael glanced at Miao, who had been watching amusedly at the doorway, and winked at her before folding his lanky frame behind the sofa. "... 'leven... twelve... thirteen..."
"... fourteen!" Miao shook her head as she lit the last candle on the brown-frosted ice-cream cake. "I still expect to turn around and see a knee-high little tot tugging at my pants leg and chirping 'Wan' chookie!'" Kit-chan blushed.
"Mo-om, you're embarrassing me," she groaned. Miao and Michael laughed.
"That's what mothers are for," Michael informed Kit-chan with a perfectly straight face. “Now make a wish and blow out the candles.” Kit-chan brightened up and leant over the table, blowing out all fourteen candles with a whoosh.
"Presents!" She cried happily as she skipped off towards the living room. Miao hung back to talk with Michael.
"How has the training been going?" she asked. Michael shook his head grimly.
"At this rate, she'll be as strong as Kit with enough practice. But she lacks the self-control necessary."
"Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing? Instilling a sense of discipline in her?"
"I can only do so much."
Miao sighed, then looked at Michael ruefully. "I should be thanking you for even caring at all about her... about us."
Michael grinned slightly, then went solemn. "I make sure that she is no danger to herself or people around her..."
..."Because I have to," he said.
"What?" Kit-chan's voice cracked. "What could you possibly want from me?" Miao was screaming the same thing, screaming silently as she watched helplessly... Malachi was going to kill her daughter and she couldn't do a single goddamned thing...
"Why you, indeed." Malachi picked up the dagger. "Because your soul is the Key. You are more closely intertwined with your father than anyone else alive or dead. If anyone can unlock the Gate, it's you. And because of that little fact, your life is forfeit and your soul must be taken from you." No! Not my daughter! Not her, please, please God, not her... Miao screamed, trying to drown out the rest of the conversation, trying to make herself heard, somehow..
Kit-chan inhaled sharply, began rocking back and forth.
"This isn't fair," she whispered.
Then she looked up, met Malachi's eyes, and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Miao knew that face, knew the look that her daughter, her precious daughter always made when she took her medicine. Oh God... no...
She let her arms to her side, straightened her legs, and bent her head down.
"Do it quickly. I won't let someone else die for my sake."
NO!
Malachi looked at the girl. She trembled slightly as he adjusted his grip on the dagger. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear.
"I'm sorry."
In one swift motion, he slashed the ancient weapon across her throat.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!![/i]
Miao sat bolt upright, panting. Just a nightmare... just a nightmare... she tried to reassure herself.
Wait. Where the hell am I?
"She's awake!"
And who the hell is that?
OOC: GOM, where are you...?
_________________ "I just want to know why guys will talk about boobs, but rarely talk about anything else when it comes to girls! What makes them talk about boobs? What makes boobs so interesting?"
"Because talking about vaginas is even less socially acceptable."
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