Nakamura looked at a report that had just come in. "Apparently there's been a disturbance in our quadrant." Sagara stretched lazily and took a sip from his coffee. "Yeah? So why don't you check it out, then?" "Pardon me, but..." Nakamura pointed at the large pile of paperwork on his desk. "You did want me to finish this, right?" Sagara groaned. "Fine, fine, I'm going." He stood up and walked out the door. Nakamura turned back to his paperwork and resumed typing. A few minutes passed, and Sagara reappeared at the door to his office. "Forget your keys?" Sagara nodded and grabbed the keys from where he had left them on the desk. "I'm leaving now!" "Have fun." Sagara muttered something incomprehensible under his breath as he walked out. ***** Arcana Started by Scott Schimmel Chapter Five - Just Breathe This part by Delfina ***** Natsu sat in her bed attempting to finish her homework. 'At least the English teacher had pity on me and didn’t assign much,' she thought to herself. She wistfully looked out into the hall through her open door. 'I'll be out of here by tomorrow, thank goodness!' A stretcher zoomed past, surrounded by nurses. A police officer trailed after it. 'Hm, wonder what happened to that person?' Shaking her head, she turned back to her English vocabulary lessons. ***** "And you say that he used some sort of gas or sleeping potion to put your mother to sleep?" Sagara looked steadily at the small girl standing in front of him. Hotaru nodded. "Yes, he did. She was unconscious when I got home." "And then he tried attacking you?" "Yes, sir," Miyuki agreed. "And you and your little friend here pushed him out of the window?" Hotaru flushed a bit. "Yes, sir." "And what are you doing here, boy?" Tetsuya blinked. "I'm her friend. I had just walked her home and then heard the commotion, so I came running back." Sagara rifled through a neighbor's testimony. "Okay, that checks out. Is this your little sister or something?" He indicated Hanako. "Well, he's not really my brother. Hotaru and him took me out to dinner today and --" Hanako was prevented from further elaboration by Tetsuya’s hand over her mouth. "Uh, yeah, sir. She's my sister...sorta." Sagara frowned but decided not to pursue it. "All right. Why don't you two go home? Look, I've got all of your statements now, you're free to do whatever. I'm going to go back to the station and file a report. That boy, Joker you say? He's under police surveillance at the hospital so don't worry about him." He noticed the brief look of skepticism that passed over Hotaru's face and made a mental note to himself to check on the girl later. "We might call you and your friend in for more questioning later, but for now go get some rest." "What about my mother? Will she be all right?" "The medic has checked your mother and she'll be all right too. She just needs some rest. Apparently she was given some sort of sleeping potion in her tea. Unfortunately, she doesn't remember much of what happened, only that a boy came by and asked about your well-being today." Hotaru nodded. "Thank you, sir." "It's my job. See you later, and keep those doors locked, got it?" He turned and walked out of the house, leaving the little group inside. Tetsuya looked around the room. "So...what do we do now?" Miyuki frowned. "There's nothing we can do right now. Joker won't be able to do anything till tomorrow, at the soonest. He may have been able to absorb some of the damage, but he still needs time to recover. Let's go get some rest, like the officer suggested, and meet again tomorrow to discuss this with the others." She paused. "Tetsuya, would you walk with me?" He groaned. "Yes, I suppose so. Come on, Hanako." Hanako ran up to Hotaru. "Don't worry, everything will be all right," she whispered, giving Hotaru a quick hug. Hotaru smiled and watched as Hanako ran after the two walking out the door. The trio left, leaving Hotaru alone to contemplate the events. 'It's a good thing that Miyuki helped me cover up the scorch marks on the wall. And I guess that Joker's innate magic protected him from being seriously burned. While I don't like him, I don't want to kill him either...' Walking into her mother's room, she checked to see that she was sleeping peacefully. 'The medics must have given her something to help her sleep, or I know she'd be sick with worry about this.' She wandered back down the hall to go get a snack from the kitchen, then heard a car pulling up in the driveway. 'Uh oh...Dad!' "Honey, I'm home! Hotaru, are you there?" A tall, dark and handsome man stepped in the door, holding a briefcase. "I just saw a police car leave...is anything wrong?" Hotaru ran up to him and hugged him fiercely. "Dad! Someone broke in, the same guy who attacked Natsu and me before!" "WHAT?! Where is your mother, is she okay? Are you okay?" He held Hotaru away from him slightly to inspect her. "Yes, yes! Dad! I’m fine! Everything is just fine now. Mom is resting." He frowned at her. "All right, why don’t we sit down and discuss what happened today then, since everything is 'just fine' now." He led Hotaru to the table. "Uh, well...see it was like this, Dad..." ***** Maki hummed to herself as she did her homework. Glancing at her watch, she frowned. 'Where is Joker? He should have been here by now.' Shrugging, she continued to work on her lessons. Ten minutes later she found herself looking at the clock again. 'I really need something else to do.' Sighing, she stood up and walked into her living room to turn on the TV. The light-hearted music of Doki Doki Kokoro filled the room. "Wai! Doki Doki Kokoro! I can't believe I almost missed this episode by waiting for Joker." Smiling, she settled down in front of the TV. ***** "Let me get this straight, you and your friend threw a guy out of the window?" "Yes, Dad," Hotaru nodded emphatically. "We were really, really scared!" "Hm." ‘I hope he buys this...I don’t think that police officer did.’ "Well, dear, I suppose it doesn’t matter what you did to get rid of him, or how you did it. I'm very proud of you." Inwardly he thought, 'If I ever get my hands on that little ... Best thing to do now is calm Hotaru down.' She sighed in relief. "And you know, I think that you should start taking some self-defense courses, just in case something like this happens again. Or a boyfriend. Your mother and I worry about you, you know." "Self-defense courses?...a BOYFRIEND?" "Sure, it won't hurt you a bit, and I'd really feel much better if you did. The self-defense classes, I mean. The boyfriend I can wait on, your mother is the one who really wants you to get one of those." "...Okay, Dad. I'll look into it. I think the school offers some classes, I'll see if Natsu will take them with me." He beamed at her. "Thank you, Hotaru-chan. How is Natsu doing, by the way?" "She's fine. The doctor told her that she could come home tomorrow." "That's great! Now, you look tired, why don't you go get some sleep? You’ve had a rough day and you still have school tomorrow." "Yes, Dad." Hotaru gave her father a hug and a peck on the cheek then walked to her bedroom. Turning the light off, she crawled into bed. 'Well, that went a little better than I thought.' ***** "Hey, Nakamura? You’ll laugh at this." Sagara strolled into the office and laid a sheaf of papers down in front of his partner. Nakamura never paused in his typing. "Hm? What is it?" "You know that stabbing the other day? Turns out the guy went after the other girl today." "Is she all right?" "Yep. And her and her friend managed to throw the guy out the window too. Knocked him out. He's in the hospital right now. His name is Ishido Usono, but for some reason he’s called Joker." "Great! Have you been able to question him yet?" "No, but I have an officer waiting beside his bedside to tell us when he wakes up." Nakamura grinned. "You know, I love it when these scum get what they deserve." Sagara chuckled. "Yeah, I thought you would like hearing that." He picked up the deck of cards sitting on Nakamura’s desk and started shuffling them. "Ah, see you haven't gotten rid of these cards yet." He frowned. "No, not yet." "Well then, here's another card for you." He flipped a card at Nakamura. "Gruesome, ain't it?" Picking up the card, he again got that strange feeling he had before when he'd touched one of these cards. This one depicted a skeleton wearing armor of a sort riding a horse. The flag he was carrying had a picture of what looked like a flower on it. "Yeah, gruesome all right." "Hey, you look like someone just walked over your grave! The card isn't that bad. Anyways, I'm going to go get some coffee, do you want some?" Sagara stood up and looked expectantly at Sagara. "Actually what I'd really like is for someone else to do all of this paperwork." "Coffee it is!" Sagara strode off in the direction of the cafeteria while Nakamura chuckled to himself. ***** "There you are, my lady! An escort to your very front door!" Tetsuya bowed floridly. Hanako giggled. "Thank you, Tetsuya, Hanako," Miyuki said. "Will you be requiring anymore of our services, madam?" "Oh do be serious, Tetsuya. We have a problem here." "Well, yes. There is a psycho trying to kill other Arcana running around. Yes I can see how that could be considered a problem... But he's under police surveillance right now, and Hotaru did show she can defend herself." "That's not the point. He almost did get her, she doesn’t have all of her memories back yet." "None of us do. Not all of them, and I don't think Hanako has any yet." They both turned to Hanako. "You said that she was the Page of Pentacles, Tetsuya?" "That's what the card she pulled out said." Miyuki laid her hand on Hanako's forehead and pulled away quickly. "Well, she is definitely Arcana." Hanako smiled. "Yep, I'm the Page of Pentacles, but I don't see my Queen anywhere..." Miyuki and Tetsuya exchanged glances. "Your Queen?" Miyuki asked. "Yeah, I'm 'membering stuff now that I didn’t know before. Although I didn't like my Queen, she was scary..." She shuddered slightly. "Scary?" Tetsuya prompted. Hanako nodded. "Yeah, she was just a mean person! She wasn’t always that way, she used to be real nice and give me candy and stuff." Miyuki took Hanako's hands in hers. "Do you remember anything else?" Hanako's face scrunched up tightly as she concentrated. "Nope. I’m sorry, I can’t remember much else right now." "That's all right. Just tell us when you do, okay?" "Will do!" She turned to Tetsuya. "So, niichan, are we going home now?" Tetsuya groaned. "Yes, I suppose so, seeing as you have nowhere else to go." Miyuki grinned. "That's so sweet of you, Tetsuya-sama, taking a cute little girl under your protection like that!" "Ha ha. Come on, Hanako, let’s go." The duo trudged off, Hanako's light chatter filling the air. Miyuki watched them fade from sight. 'More Arcana showing up each day...what does it all mean?' ***** "Tune in next week for Doki Doki Dokoro! The secret of Rei's past!" Maki started to turn away when a brief news update caught her attention. "In local news, two girls managed to throw a burglar out of their window. The man has been sent to the hospital and the police await questioning." The newscaster on the screen turned to his partner. "Personally, if I had been beat up by a couple of girls, I'd be embarrassed, wouldn't you?" She turned the TV off. 'Hm, time to make a visit to the hospital.' ***** Ishido Usono tossed and turned in his bed, voices filling his dreams. *You didn't kill her.* "No." *The Queen of Pentacles will not be pleased.* "She never is." *She will come.* "Probably." *Will you try a third time for her?* "I'm not sure. Who knows, she may try and kill me before then." *She will not. She needs you.* He sighed. "Maybe. Maybe not. She might have someone else." *But you are not sure.* "No." *Will you kill the Queen?* "...No, I don’t think so." *What if she tries to kill you first?* He grinned wryly. "I’ll let you know when that happens." *Very well then.* The voices paused, as if listening to something. *She is here.* ***** Maki idly twirled the stem of a white lily she held in her hand as she gazed at Joker’s slumbering form. The chair beside his bed was conspicuously empty, the only occupants of the room being Maki and Joker. The curtains over the window were closed and on a table near the bed was a vase of lilies left by the previous resident of the room. Joker's eyes fluttered open and he took in the scene, noting Maki's presence. "Ah, I see you have finally awakened." He inclined his head slightly. "Yes?" "You have failed me. Again." "What? No 'How are you doing, my faithful servant, good to see that you aren’t dead?'" Her eyes flashed. "And what do you have to say for yourself? The Empress is still running around." Shrugging as best he could from his reclining position, he said, "We'll have more chances. It was just blind luck that she managed to remember what she did. Which reminds me, I don’t think she is the Empress." "What? Then who is she?" Maki paused, then added. "It was just blind luck that you managed to survive. You're a fool, but you're very fortunate." "I am *the* Fool. Blind luck is one of my specialties. Fortune happens to be on the other side, in case you've forgotten, my dear Queen." Glaring at him, Maki continued, "If you had managed to kill her before she had awakened fully, we would not be in this situation." "Hey, I’m the one in a hospital bed here!" "And here you shall remain. I do not feel like breaking you out tonight." "Gee, thanks." He pointed at the empty chair beside his bed. "So what did you do with the officer I'm sure they set to watch me?" "Oh, he’s around..." "I'm sure he is." Grinning to himself, he thought, 'And most likely the richer for it, too.' Maki suddenly smiled at him, causing him to wince. "I think this stay will be good for you. Get a good night's rest, I'll see you tomorrow!" Placing the lily back in its vase, she waved cheerfully and walked out of the room, leaving Joker to himself, for the moment. ***** Natsu put aside her homework. 'I am *so* tired of this. I can’t wait to go home.' She gingerly climbed out of her bed and headed to close the door. 'There's too many people going back and forth, it’s distracting.' She looked out the hall to see what was going on. Only one person traversed the halls, and she appeared to be leaving. As she walked past Natsu's door, Natsu blinked. 'That school uniform looks very familiar.' The girl happened to turn and meet Natsu's eyes with hers for a moment. Natsu felt a chill and broke contact. The girl smiled slightly and continued on her way. Closing the door, Natsu leaned against it. 'I wonder what that was all about...that girl was kind of creepy.' Shrugging it off, she decided to go rest. 'Tomorrow everything will be much better.' ***** Not much to tell. No prereaders, unfortunately. I was really pressed for time, finals and all. Hopefully this chapter isn't as bad as I think it is. I tried to advance the plot somewhat - but we're still on the same day! Ah well. Poor Natsu will just have to wait a bit to get out of the hospital. I also tried to not make Nakamura an Arcana by simply having him get the cards and stuff happening. To put it simply. For instance - Justice can mean 'the triumph of the deserving side in law' or something like that. Well, Joker went to jail - sorta. So the good guys won that one. Death...can mean corruption, among other things. But anyways... Quick fixes by Scott Schimmel! Thanks! ^_^;