Kai climbed up the stairs, his two daughters coming behind him. Julia had told him of something interesting that she had discovered during research. Referring to earlier research notes and her own research it seemed that the queens lived connected lives with each other and their chevaliers. Meaning, that now that Saya's sister was dead and so were Diva's chevaliers, her hibernation period had shortened to seven years. If no one knew that, they might have a clueless Saya come out extremely early. Kai got to the top and surveyed the clean grave. He chuckled and walked forward, picking up the letter and rose left for him.
"Someone did know, Julia. Someone who's been by her side his entire life." Kai shook his head and read the letter.
Kai,
Too many people know me here in Okinawa. I'd also rather not meet Diva's daughters, too many complications with that. I'm sorry for not saying goodbye before I leave, but, I'd prefer not to. I really wanted to stay with you Kai, but no, I have to leave you. This is my decision to make. Don't get mad at me. I'm not doing this for your sake like you probably think I am. I'm doing this for my sake and Haji's sake. So, until we meet next.
Saya Otonashi
Kai laughed again and let the letter flutter off in the wind. He picked up the rose and gazed at it. He put the rose into his pocket. His two daughters were arguing about beetles and caterpillars. He looked up at the bright and clear sky, squinting as the sun blinded him.
"Say, Riku, you'll watch over them for me, won't you?" Kai whispered. The wind gently tousled his hair and the wind rushing against his ears sounded like a small giggle. "Thanks, Riku." Kai pushed his now overgrown hair back. He'd need a haircut. The girls needed haircuts as well. "Haji, huh? You made a nice choice Saya, that man wouldn't leave you even if it were the apocalypse." Kai turned to his daughters. "Alright girls, it's time to go back home."
"Eh? Then what did we come here for?" The girl in the pink frock frowned at him.
"Just to find out if your aunt left or not." Kai grinned, riffling her hair.
"You're dumb, Dad. You could have just asked us, we knew that she left last week." The girl in the blue dress shook her head at him. Kai blinked at them in shock for a while then rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll ask you girls next time. Is that OK?" He asked them.
"She's not coming back though, stupid dad." The one in pink laughed at him. The two girls turned around and started descending the steps while a dumbfounded Kai followed them. Kai would have to talk to Julia extensively. The girls were a lot smarter than anyone had anticipated.
"Until we meet next, Saya." Kai whispered into the air.
-o-
"Haji, this place is so beautiful! Thank you for bringing me here!" Saya threw her arms up as she viewed the scenery. Haji stood silently behind her as he watched her act like a little child as usual. Saya ran to look at the flowers, a large and childish smile on her face. Haji didn't know when he had last seen that smile. Oh, the last time he had seen that smile was when she was with Kai.
"Saya, is this OK? Didn't you want to stay with Kai?" Haji asked her. Saya turned to him. Her smile had faded. She walked up to him.
"And how long would I stay with Kai? Ten years, maybe twenty years if I locked myself inside and let no one see me. To watch him age and die. To watch my friends age and die. To watch Diva's children age but not die. I would never be able to do that. This is better. More than that, the most important thing Haji, the one reason why I left was not for anyone back there but for myself and for you, because, I love you more than anyone else in this world." Saya chuckled and smiled brightly, a large blush on her face. "Kai would just get in the way wouldn't he?"
Haji was struck with the sudden desire to forget everything and just grab her and kiss her, but he had to make sure of several more things.
"But don't you want children, Saya?" Haji asked her, feeling truly useless now. He couldn't make the woman he loved happy. He couldn't provide her with a family. They would be alone by themselves for the rest of their lives.
"Well, we can't do much about that, now can we? Plus, I don't mind. When we finally met up with Riku and Kai again, Riku talked to me about wanting to help that orphanage more. It was then that I really realised what I wanted to do, Haji. I want to help people. No, to be exact, I want to start an orphanage for children. We can use Joel's contact here to get blood from the hospital for our needs and start an orphanage of our own. It's a small island so it's OK if people find out that we're immortal, it won't get out of hand and a lot of children here lose their parents to the sea. That way, we'll have children, Haji. We'll have a family."
"You sure you're OK with leaving Kai with Diva's children?" Haji asked her.
"Of course! Kai will make a great father! More than that, he won't feel lonely because they'll remind him of Riku!" Saya beamed.
Haji sighed. He had no choice anyway.
"If that is what you wish-" Haji began. Saya's finger on his lips cut him off. She looked furious.
"Don't you dare, don't you dare, Haji. You are done following everything I said just because I said so. You do what you want to do. If you want to cry, cry. If you want to yell at me, yell at me. If you want to eat ice cream then eat ice cream. If I ask you for water, you have every right to say that you are lazy and that I should just get it by myself. Please, please, let me see the child I used to know as well, let me see the man that would scoff at my ridiculous ideas but would accompany me anyway simply because he wanted to make sure I was safe." Saya breathed.
Haji stared at her and then the front he had been keeping for so long now, crumbled away. Melted away by the smile that he never thought would be directed at him ever again. Haji cupped Saya's face and then kissed her. An orphanage, huh? He would have to get used to getting surrounded by kids then. It was a time for their dark age to end and time for a new beginning for the both of them. And somewhere in the distance, Haji was sure that Riku would be watching over them.
-o-
A/N - hehe...I hope you liked this fan fic. I wrote this because I was struck at how the Queen's hibernation periods started after they gained chevaliers...so yeah...
