Hades

Chapter Three - The Departure

Chapter Three: The Departure

It is perhaps important at this point in time, as Uxi handed her master a very precious file, to reveal the whereabouts of little Harusame Izuki who was, eleven years one month and ten days after meeting the young man she called Hades, not so little anymore. She was now a young woman of seventeen years who had inherited the odd combination of her mother’s sombre nature and her father’s wistful dreams. The file held no recent photo attached – a fault which befell many a soul file – but as he read, the young man was assured that Harusame Izuki had long black hair, fine features, and a candid gaze (all of which he recalled and affirmed) that regarded those around her with polite, detached interest. She was tall for her age and her nationality, almost 5’9, and known amongst her teachers for being the courteous one and amongst her classmates for being the quiet one; they knew little else, as she kept to herself whenever possible.

‘Super,’ muttered the strange young man, pulling a face as he turned the page, ‘that makes my life easy. Befriending her is going to be a snap.’

As he flicked through the documents that contained all the details of the girl’s existence, he was provided with a brief but absorbing account of her life so far. After the sudden departure of her mother and with no immediate family to care for her, Harusame had at six years of age been put into a state-run children’s home. It was not an unpleasant place – the staff was kind, the doctors gentle and the children willing to share their toys, but none of it mattered to the dark haired little girl who sat alone by the window, seeming as though she was adamantly waiting for something, or someone, that would never come.

Harusame had never shown much interest in playing with the other children, but preferred to watch them play their games from the sidelines or sit outside in the shade curled up with a picture book. Her father’s old Greek mythology hardback (‘That’s how she knew my name,’ he thought) was her favourite. In the years that followed many families came to the care home looking to offer their love to one of the unfortunate children, and Harusame was always careful to go and hide herself in her room when this happened. When counsellors and nurses came to ask her if anything was wrong, she would politely answer that she was quite happy and didn’t need or want a new family, thank you very much.

The strange young man stopped reading and stared down at the facts and figures before him, stored safely in the cabinets of the Underworld and now held in his hands, and took a moment to wonder just how many truths about the girl were missing from this file – truths stored only in her heart. He shook his head and read on.

As though deliberately defying all of the doctors who said that she wouldn’t live past the age of ten, Harusame just kept growing. When she was fifteen she ran away from the care home, leaving a note which explained that she was ever so grateful for all they had done for her but that now, two weeks before her sixteenth birthday, she felt able to support herself. She found a nice apartment in a nice neighbourhood, run by a nice older lady named Mrs Kamiya, who took pity on the small, pale, eloquently spoken girl who appeared on her doorstep one day, and allowed her to pay back the rent at her own pace.

In order to pay for her future college education which her parents had always wished for her, and to make rent each month, Harusame found herself a part-time job at a café and enrolled at the local high-school, earning herself a scholarship. Here she continued this life of working, studying and taking care of herself; being a responsible girl she even continued to attend the hospital regularly for her check-ups. She could still see those beautiful, large, glowing butterflies, but pretended not to. She often watched them out of the corner of her eye, and was sometimes known to talk to them if she was alone, but didn’t appear entirely comfortable with their presence.