Mirroring Lotus

Reflection 1: Meetings and Greetings

"Watashi ga kagami no eizou o miru toki itsumo~," a slender looking girl sang as she played the old, black grand piano within a room that looked as if it hadn't been used in years.

The girl had long, snow white hair tied back into a ponytail that gently swayed to and fro as her skeletal fingers quickly danced over the once white now gray and black keys of the piano. However, as she continued to sing, she had to wonder to herself: why was she singing and why did it have to be this song? Why did she care for the people that were fighting monsters outside the orphanage she was living at? She didn't know them well enough to care for or to cry over them if they died. She didn't even know why they were here in the first place.

As she continued to sing and play, her mind went to what happened earlier that week....

The week had started out like any other at the orphanage, which was located on the outskirts of a harbor village in southern China. The girl had woken up from a nightmarish dream that had left her in a state of tears and yearning. Her bed sat underneath a window with tattered graying white curtains, letting the sun in and hit on a sword leaning against a dark brown nightstand near the bed.

The sword was long and had a dark green sheath with a light green silk wrapped around it, near where the guard should be. She looked toward it with her oddly colored dark to pale green eyes and extended her hand toward it. She then wrapped her fingers around the sheath and pulled it over to her. She held it within her arms as a soft ringing vibrated throughout the room, slowly bringing the girl into a calm state.

"Yeah," she said softly, "I had that dream again."

"Yon, what are your plans for today?" a dark haired woman asked, walking up to the girl, Yon.

Yon turned around and looked at the woman as she approached her. Yon had changed out of her pajamas and into a white shirt underneath a black, red and white Chinese bolero and a pair of black fighting style pants and matching flats. Her sword resting on her back.

"Why do you want to know?" Yon asked, smiling innocently.

"Well, I received word that four young travelers are on their way here to have a look at you." the woman said, closing her eyes as a way to remember the information correctly.

"When will they be arriving, Miss Caretaker?" Yon asked sweetly.

"Sometime today," the caretaker said proudly. "So I want you on your best behavior and absolutely do not leave this building! Got it?" She opened her eyes to find Yon missing....again. "Where did that mischievous little lotus blossom go to now?!" the caretaker exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

"Yon Kaida, huh?" a red haired boy said questionably as the boat he and his friends were on drew closer to the harbor.

"According to this, she lives in an orphanage within that village over there." a white haired boy said, pointing towards the village as it grew larger the closer they got.

"It seems a bit strange that we're going to an orphanage to look for Innocence she may have." a dark haired girl said, reading over the material.

"I don't see why all five of us were sent on this mission," a dark haired boy said, rather annoyed with the situation.

"It can't be helped, Yu." the red haired boy, Lavi said. "According to the mission statement, she's very unstable and quickly recognizes a person when they talk."

"Like I give a care," the dark haired boy, Kanda said. "The girl is better off only having one of us go and bring her back to this ship, by force if necessary."

"It would be pointless to do that," an old man said as he stood next to Lavi.

"Why's that, Panda?" Lavi asked before getting hit on the head by the man.

"If Komui only sent one of us here alone, the girl would run away from us and continue to run without hearing a word of what we have to say." the old man, Bookman said.

"My brother also says that she can appear as anyone she wishes to without letting on that it's really her." the dark haired girl, Lenalee said.

"That'll make the mission a lot harder to do if it were only one of us here," the white haired boy, Allen said.

"Exactly," Bookman said, "so that is why Komui sent the five of us here. It'll give us more of a chance to sit the girl down and talk with her."

"Huh, hey, that reminds me of something." Lavi said, recalling something within his memory.

"And what would that be, Lavi?" Lenalee asked, giggling.

"Ain't "Yon Kaida" a Korean name?" he asked, looking towards Bookman.

"Yes," Bookman said, a little bit annoyed with his apprentice. "What about it?"

"Isn't it a little weird to be going after a girl who has a Korean name but lives in China?" Lavi asked, somewhat making sense.

"You're right," Lenalee said. "If she's Korean then shouldn't she be in a Korean orphanage?"

"If I remember correctly, "Yon" means "lotus blossom" and "Kaida" means "little dragon"." Allen said, recalling information from who knows where.

"Makes you wonder what kind of past she has that made her wind up here," Lavi said, smiling.