Heritage

Greetings

Rei left the resturant with her ruined dress in a bag and crained her neck, trying to spot the tall, green-haired Guardian. She wasn't all that upset about the dress, but Setsuna's smile had made it clear that the older woman had wrecked it deliberately. Rei wanted to know why. Thankfully, Setsina was always easy to spot (being as tall as most men, dark skinned and green-haired had that effect) and Rei caught sight of her within moments. The woman was standing, talking to a scared man in a wheelchair near the wheelchair access ramp. Rei had no idea why the resturant was raised up above street level, but it was.
Rei hesitated. It was Stesuna's date and the familiarity of the man's appearance was nagging at her even harder. Then the man spotted her, followed by Setsuna, who smiled and waved her over. Rei took a deep breath, wondering why she felt so nervous. Did it have to do with that strange vision earlier in the day? She walked over, strides long and purposful.
"Setsuna-san." Rei greeted when she drew close enough to be heard.
"Re-" Setsuna started, only to be cut-off by the man's startled question.
"Risa?"
Rei and Setsuna looked over at him in surprise.
"Ah, no, sorry." He said suddenly with a sheepish smile, "My bad. You're way too young to be her. Oh wait, you must be her daughter if your Hino-san's..."
He trailed off, eyes troubled, then he shook his head vigirously and gave her a sunny grin.
"Sorry. I seem to have made the situation awkward."
"Huh?" Rei replied, then gave a start and mentally shook off her odd stupor, "Oh, no, no! I was just surprised to meet someone that knew her, that's all."
Rei bowed politely and introduced herself.
"Ah," He said dissmissively, "No need to bow since I can't."
Rei looked up with a surprised, "Eh?"
"Well," He explained, "I'm paralyzed down the left side of my body, so half the time any attempt doesn't end well."
Setsuna knew that although he really was paralyzed as he said the rest of his statement was a) a total lie and that b) he had never bothered with bowing anyway at any point past the age of five unless it was to someone he acknowledged as being his better in some manner. Or he was asking something of them that he couldn't do himself. She suspected that he felt no remorse over this. The fact that he was telling Rei not to bow was actually a little odd and made her wonder if, perhaps, he remembered the Silver Millennium.
"Oh, alright." Rei replied, straightening.
"Anyway, how has Risa been?"
Rei hesitated and Tenka's expression turned worried.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"She... Died. Several years ago."
Tenka's face turned grey, his eyes going wide and his expression immediately falling slack. Rei watched as the information sank in. He started with shock, then moved to realization followed by pain and grief. He sagged under the weight of this new knowledge.
"Oh." Was all he said, leaving Rei feeling absurdly guilty.
What had his relationship been with her mother? She didn't ask. Instead, she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeez. Rei didn't believe for a second that it would lessen the pain, but she didn't know what else to do. Well... There was one other thing that she could do for him. She told him where her mother was burried.
He looked up at her with surprise and a strangely hollow look. Then nodded.
"Kumo Shrine." He repeated quietly.
Rei nodded and said, "Her family insisted that she be burried there. I'm not really sure why since I only recently met them, but..."
Rei trailed off with a shrug, letting go of the man's shoulder and standing straight.
"Specifically, it's the Tokyo Kumo Shrine." She added, remembering that there was seven of them.
"Tokyo?" He echoed again, this time with confusion clouding his voice, eyes and expression.
"Yes. There's seven Kumo Shrines."
That earned her an odd look.
"It's true!" She exclaimed, brows furrowed.
"Seven?" He muttered, looking off to the side, his gaze distant, "Since when were there seven?"
"Uh, for the last hundred years or so." Rei informed him, surprised that he didn't know.
He looked back at her and nodded. It didn't occure to her that it was unreasonable to think that he would know something like that. The Kumo Shrines weren't very well known after all.
"I'll find it." He said firmly, "Now if you ladies will excuse me I need to get going."
Rei and Setsuna both politely said good bye. He wheeled himself away and down the ramp. As soon as he was out of earshot Rei turned to Setsuna and asked, "Why did you bump into that waiter?"
Setsuna debated how to answer for a moment before saying, "I can't tell you."
Not the answer Rei wanted, but Setsuna was already walking away, saying, "You should probably go home and meditate. It might be enlightening. Oh." Setsuna added, pausing and looking over her shoulder, "And happy birthday Rei-chan."