"You're late." "Give me a break, Nakamura," Sagara yawned, stretching as he walked into the office, looking at his partner out of a half-closed eye. "Mankind wasn't meant to get up this early." "No. I'm serious this time." Sagara shot him a puzzled look as he pulled out his chair. "Don't bother," Nakamura said as he was about to sit. The younger policeman rose from his own desk and, striding over to his partner's, handed him a slip of paper. "Last night they found the missing Sudou." The elder cop scanned over it. His eyes went wide with disbelief. "Murder?" "By strangulation, apparently, though we won't know if that's the cause of death or not for sure until the autopsy." "So we're headed to the morgue?" Sagara grumbled when his partner gave him a confirming nod. "Great. Just my luck; I haven't eaten breakfast yet." * * * Arcana started by: Scott Schimmel Chapter 26: Reunion by: Brett Schimmel * * * "Go away!" Chris growled, covering his head with his pillow. It was no use; he couldn't drown out the sound of the knocking on his door. After a minute of futile struggling, he gave up. He glanced at his alarm clock as he rose. Grumbling, he made his way to the door; whoever was waking him at this hour on his vacation had better have a good reason. "Yeah?" He threw open the door to his room. "Morning, Chris!" his cousin greeted him, a wide smile on her face, fully dressed in a male high-school student's uniform. "If you woke me up to ask how you look, congratulations: you look just like a guy." He started to close the door, but Natsu reached out and stopped him. "Hey, not so fast!" she chuckled. "I have a slight favor to ask of ya!" "Favor?" That was never a good sign. Against his better judgment, though, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What favor?" "You can come out now, Hanako!" She called down the hall. Chris' jaw dropped as a ten year-old girl emerged from her room. "What the-?! Don't tell me you were hiding a kid all these years!?" "Don't be ridiculous!" She pushed him back, and waited for the child before closing the door. "Can I ask for an explanation yet?" "Chris, this is Hanako, my friend's younger sister. Her parents went out of town recently." "So...?" "Well, they couldn't find a baby-sitter, and her brother has school. So I offered to take her in." "But don't you have school also?" Natsu grinned, and Chris' eyes widened as he caught on. "Wait a minute! Are you asking me to-" His cousin clapped her hands together, bowing her head. "Onegai, Chris!" "You gotta be kidding!" "Come on!" she begged. "No way! I'm not a baby-sitter!" "But there's nobody else I can ask! Please, Chris? I'm depending on you!" There was a tense moment of silence as he thought things over. Finally he groaned, knowing he would regret this. "All right, I'll watch her for now. But you owe me big time, 'mister'." "Thanks! I knew I could count on you," Natsu replied. "Well, I've got to get to school now." "Right... school." "Have fun," she said as she passed around the doorway. "Right... fun." Chris blinked, rubbing his eyes, then faced the child. "Hanako, was it? What do you want to do today?" "Um... I'm kinda hungry..." * "Hiya, H-" Natsu began as she caught a glimpse of Hotaru through the fog. The girl ambled slowly towards her, eyes cast downward. She looked depressed, though given what had happened yesterday, that was only to be expected. She hadn't taken Miyuki's "death" as well as Natsu had. The latter was relieved, and overjoyed at the fact that the girl's consciousness survived. The former, however, felt wretched. "So what if her spirit still lives?" she had said, gesturing at Miyuki's unmoving corpse. "Without her body, she's stuck like that! She's confined to the Tower Reversed forever. She'll never get a chance to grow up!" "Would she have wanted that chance?" Tetsuya answered. "I know this must seem terrible to us, but Miyuki never really seemed happy to me. She may very well be satisfied now..." "But-" "Why don't we just ask her?" Hanako interrupted. Miyuki's response had been vague, but the impression Natsu had gotten was that the girl was at the very least content to be without form, rather than without sight. Hotaru was still shaken, though. She'd probably need time to think about it. Or maybe she just need to be cheered up. Natsu smiled again, waving her hand. "Hiya, Hotaru!" * "So, what's the verdict?" "Well, we don't need to do an autopsy to tell you this much." The mortician nodded to Dr. Takasakura. "If you would be so kind." She nodded, pointing to his neck. "No doubt about it, the causeof death was definitely strangulation." "Damn," Nakamura swore. "They kidnapped him and killed him." "However, something puzzles me," the doctor went on, catching the attention of both police officers. "Normally, strangulation can take several minutes. Yet the marks here seem to indicate that he had diedalmost instantaneously." "Could they have dropped him from a high place?" Namakura asked. "No. That would've caused his neck to snap. It's perfectly intact; as I said, he was definitely killed by strangulation." She folded her arms, staring down at the corpse's face, which held a surprised gaze on its unblinking eyes. "Logically, it wouldn't seem to make any sense." "Logically, nothing involving Ishido has made any sense." Sagara turned around, giving his partner a questioning look. "Eh? Did you say something?" His eyes drifted aside. "No." * "I just don't see the point!" the inverted man argued. Calmly, his white-clothed conversation partner took a sip of a red liquid, not looking up from the morning papers. "The point is to keep them busy." "Why? Why should we do anything now, and risk endangering ourselves? They hardly know about us." Another sip. "And I'd like to keep it that way." "But if we just wait..." "Hanged Man," the Hierophant looked up from his newspaper, shooting the other a stern glare. "I want the Paradox, that non-Arcana magic-user, eliminated. Whether she knows it or not, she was responsible for Sudou's demise. The Magician's movements can be predicted; hers cannot." "I am aware of that, but-" The Hierophant didn't give him a chance to finish. "Then get to it and find me a suitable puppet. I'm not going to have my plans go to waste because of a disobedient servant." The Hanged Man was surprised, but nodded. "Very well," he said as he turned, walking towards the door via the ceiling. Once his back was towards the aristocratic Arcana, he allowed himself a half-smile. No more, though; not as long as it could be detected. After all, the Council had ways of finding things out. 'Servant', indeed. Playing the part might be necessary for now, but having to follow that man's orders was a bore. Still, it would all be worth it in the end. The Hierophant wasn't the only one who had plans. * Overcast. The dark clouds certainly displayed Hotaru's mood well. By lunch time, the fog had cleared, but the sky looked as though it were ready to send rain falling down at any moment. She slowly made her way towards the lone tree where she and Natsu usually ate lunch, her mind lost in thought. Miyuki was not dead, nor was she among the living any longer. Having to live her life restricted to the Tower Reversed... She imagined what it would be like, and shuddered. Hanako had wanted to spend the night there, but Hotaru couldn't accept that. For one thing, the Council knew about the Tower Reversed; it was no longer a sanctuary. Besides... The girl's corpse was still there. They decided to leave it there for the night, and attempt to contact Miyuki's parents today before holding a funeral. They had a right to know. A voice broke her thoughts, and a hand was on her shoulder. "Hiya!" "Na-" She turned, expecting to see her friend. But it wasn't Natsu at all. "You okay?" Shiho asked, the goofy smile on her face replaced by an expression of concern. "You looked kind of down." Hotaru shook her head. "No. I'm fine. Really." The girl stared her for a minute, half in disbelief, then uneasily adjusted her ribbon. Finally, she shrugged and changed the subject. "We're eating lunch over there." She pointed. "That is, Mariko, Natsumi, and I. We thought you and Natsu might join us." "Perhaps we will." Shiho yelped in surprise, whirling to see the blond girl behind her. "Natsu?" Hotaru gave her a look of surprise. "Really! Great!" Shiho grinned excitedly. "We were afraid you'd refuse, like last time... Ah! Not that we thought you were being rude or anything. It's just... well... you were kinda mean... Er, not mean in a bad way!" Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Is it possible to be mean in a good way?" "No! Uh, I mean yes!" She reached a hand behind her head as she broke into laughter. "Umm... I should stop talking now." Hotaru put a hand to her mouth to stifle the laughter. Meanwhile, Shiho pointed towards the school wall, where several groups of students had gathered to eat, her other two friends in particular. "We'll be over there. Just come when you're ready!" Natsu smirked as she watched the energetic girl blaze across the lawn towards her friends. "Amusing." "Why did you agree to that?" Hotaru asked. "Isn't that the same thing I asked you when they invited us to eat out?" "That's exactly it. How come you've changed your mind so quickly? Before, you didn't want anything to do with them." Before, you weren't so depressed, Natsu thought. "Saa... Maybe I've just decided they've earned a second chance." * "I thought you might be here." The eyes of the Ace of Blades glanced to the side, acknowledging Keisuke as he stepped into the room, almost immediately, her gaze returned to the bed, and the unmoving body within. After a moment of silence, the Knight of Wands continued. "None of us has been able to locate her parents so far. I think if we don't find them in a few days, we should go ahead with the funeral." "I see." "I'll try again after school," he went on, "along with Tetsuya, Hotaru, and Natsu. We could use your help, too, if you're not-" Sumire turned, and shook her head, walking towards the door. "I'm afraid I have another matter to attend to tonight." * This had turned out to be a bad idea. At first, Natsu had thought these girls might be able to cheer Hotaru up, and while it was true that the Magician was at the very least smiling again, the price might not have been worth it. Mariko, the girl in glasses, who wore her hair in a long braid, was constantly correcting everyone over trivial matters. Natsumi, the freckled pig-tailed girl, enjoyed prying into everybody's business, and had a mouth with no off button. And Shiho... "As I was saying, 'Fire and Loveblossoms' was quite a good romantic movie. You should all see it! The best part is the twist at the end! You see, Sakura really ends up with Eiji, of all people! Can you imagine..." she grew frightened when she noticed their icy glares. "What?" "You just ruined the ending," Natsumi pointed out. "And it's 'Love and Fireblossoms'," her other friend corrected, nitpicky as ever. "No I didn't! I just... uh..." the girl laughed uncomfortably. "I guess I did at that! I'm sorry." Suddenly she grinned. "Hey, why don't we all go see it after school?" "I can't," Natsumi said. "I've got gymnastics club." "Cleaning duty for me," Mariko sighed sadly. "Otherwise, I'd love to." "Actually, we're busy after school, too," Natsu said quickly. It wasn't a lie so much as a convenient excuse; she and Hotaru were going to help search for a sign of Miyuki's parents. Shiho looked disappointed, but it was only momentary. "Oh well! Maybe next time!" "Maybe," Natsu said simply as the bell rang, and they rose to head for class. * Chris sighed. They had just had lunch a few hours ago. How much could one kid eat, anyhow? "Now what are we doing?" Hanako asked as they left the cafe. "Ice cream?" "Ugh." He winced as they walked down the street.. "How about we do something besides eating?" "Like what?" The American grinned. "Ever been to an arcade?" * Well, that had sure been a waste of time. Not exactly the most athletic person in school, Natsumi had nevertheless had gone through the boring, and painful, warm-ups only to find out afterwards that the actual gymnastics class --the fun part, and the reason she joined-- had been cancelled. Shiho had already left, naturally. There was only one day of the week that she didn't have some sort of after-school club, and that girl never remained at school longer than need be. Mariko would be busy with the cleaning for at least another half-hour. Wearily, Natsumi headed for her home alone. On the positive side, her route took her through a part of town filled with stores. And there was no reason not to do a little window shopping, was there? In fact, maybe she'd actually buy something, like... that dress in the window of that one shop, for instance. "Why don't you? It'll look good on you." She cried out in surprise at the sound of the voice, then quickly looked around, embarrassed at having done so. Fortunately, she was alone on the street. She blinked. Alone? "Up here." An odd man hung a short distance away from her, legs arched over a streetlight. He smiled as he met her gaze. "Who- Who are you?" Natsumi asked, taking a step back. In response, his smile grew. "Not really a fighter, are you? Just an athlete. Well, it doesn't really matter; the power we let you borrow will solve that problem." "What are you talking about?" she repeated, desperately scanning the street for someone, anyone. But it was just the two of them. "What kind of psycho-" "More importantly, you have emotional ties." He nodded to himself. "Yes, you'll do." "Somebody help!" Natsumi screamed as she ran. She didn't get very far before a sudden lightning-bolt of pain shot through her leg and she fell. She looked back in horror to see that it was pierced with a small silver thread that went straight from the man's hand into the sidewalk. Desperately she cried out again. "Help!" "Save your breath," Hanged Man said. "They can't hear you inside the field." The pain was intense, and the girl couldn't stop crying. She barely caught his words as he continued. "Don't worry, it will be healed in due time. Once we have you under our control, that is." * The setting sun cast its light through the high school's windows, dyeing the walls a crimson hue. This late into the day, most students were usually gone. As today had been a special holiday for the school, however, its halls were entirely bare of students and staff alike. Thus, nobody noticed the senior as she strode through the halls. A smile of nostalgia crossed her face as she glanced in one of the rooms on the upper floor, remembering her childhood. It'd hadn't even been all that long, and she had only gone to this school for a short time. Still, memories flooded through her mind as she made her way to the stairs and ascended. Reaching the top, she pushed the door to the roof open with her free hand. "I see you got my letter." A woman leaned against the fence surrounding the rooftop. She was clad entirely in black, and a biker's helmet lay at her feet. She turned towards the other girl, running her fingers across her scar. "You're right on time." "Of course! Punctuality is a necessity-" "-and 'friendship is a luxury'. Yes, I remember your motto. It suits you well, Sumire." "Ari-chan..." Sumire gave her a pleading look. "Don't call me that!" she snapped. "You don't have the right to call me that name anymore!" "Arisa, then..." the Ace tried again. "The bike out front is yours, I take it? You've changed a lot since then." "I had enough reason." The Knight spread her arms, as if to encompass all of their surroundings. "Do you remember? Three years ago, today. The same time. That's how long it's been since you've destroyed my life!" "But not the same place?" "Somehow, I feel the roof where we ate lunch would be much more fitting spot for our final duel." "I see," Sumire replied, slowly raising her bokken to a ready level. "So nothing I say can convince you otherwise." "One of us isn't going to leave here alive." She lifted her arms into a fighting stance, gazing coldly at her former friend. "I'm going to make sure it is you." "Then so be it." Sumire suddenly tossed her weapon aside. It struck the fence surrounding the roof, then clattered to the ground. The Ace of Blades herself threw her arms out wide, and waited. Arisa's face was a mask of confusion. "What do you think you're doing?" "You don't know the pain I went through when I thought I had killed you," she replied simply. The other smirked. "You think I'll lose?" "No. My power extends only to blades themselves. Yours is something different. It's entirely possible that you could defeat me. But... I don't want it to be this way. I don't want you to have to suffer. If my death is what will free you, then so be it." "You're lying," the Knight sneered. Sumire didn't react in the slightest. She nodded towards the bokken. "Pick it up." No response. "Pick it up!" "I won't." With a cry of rage, Arisa lunged at Sumire, thrusting a hand outwards. The Ace merely blinked as she felt a trickle of blood slide down her neck where the attack had grazed her. "No..." The Knight of Blades looked at her through tear-filled eyes, then slumped to the roof, pounding it angrily. "No! You can't do this! I've been waiting my whole life for this moment! I can defeat you!" "But you don't want to." Sumire knelt beside her. "You want me to win, and to kill you." "You're lying!" She lifted the other girl's head and gazed into her eyes. "Am I?" Arisa returned gazed, trying to fight back the tears. Ultimately she failed, and Sumire gently embraced her as she cried. "I'm tired of the hatred," she sobbed. "I've been living with it for so long. I can't stand it anymore! But... but there's no other way..." "Yes there is! It doesn't have to be this way." "But my face..." "Do you remember when I asked you what you wanted to be when we grew up?" "An artist..." "That's right," Sumire nodded. "Now, that contest where you had to paint a plant? You chose a cactus." Her cries had faded, and she responded with a sniffle. "I don't understand..." "Few people would find beauty in something like that, yet once you placed it on a canvas, it was magnificent." "...I only won third place." Sumire rolled her eyes. "That's better than I did in the idol competition." Arisa gave a weak chuckle. "You always did want to be a singer." "I don't know what I was thinking back then." Eventually the laughter died down, and there was an awkward moment of silence. Then Arisa spoke again. "But... that's all in the past." "It doesn't have to be." "Can we really start over again?" "Or pick up where we left off." The Knight wiped the remnants of tears from her eyes and smiled. "You always were better at debating than you ever were at singing, Su- chan." "I'm glad you've changed your mind." the Ace smiled gratefully. "You can't imagine how I've missed you..." "Honestly? I felt torn apart when I thought I lost you as a friend," Arisa nodded as they rose to their feet. "And nobody could ever take your place as the one I love." "Eh?" She raised an eyebrow. "What did you just say?" "Ah... Nothing," Sumire said awkwardly as she made her way to the door. "I'll see you later," she said as she stepped through. She allowed herself a smile as she hurried down the stairs. They were friends again, finally. But at the same time her suspicions had been confirmed; Arisa had never thought of their relationship on "that" level. Still, perhaps she could be convinced... * "Say, that was fun!" Hanako grinned as she and Chris left the arcade. "Can we go again sometime?" "No!" he said quickly, feeling through his empty pockets. He'd stayed longer than he wanted to, granted, but he had been hoping to challenge the old man. Unfortunately, Hanako had a tendency to plow through his spare change. It was a good thing the old guy hadn't shown up, since by the end he was out of money. "Can we get some dinner?" "I'm sure Natsu will take you somewhere when we get home," Chris grinned mischievously. At least he could dump the kid on her in a few minutes... "Why Chris, what a surprise!" "Eh?" the American turned at the sound of his name. "Maki?" "I'm sorry about the other day," the girl smiled. "I didn't mean to walk out on you like that." "Eh? Oh, it's no problem," Chris chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. Maki's gaze shifted downward. "And who's your friend?" "Hmm?" Chris dumbly looked down, having almost forgotten about the kid. The child had moved behind him, eyes fixed on the high school girl. "Ah, this is Hanako! I'm watching her for my cousin." "Cute." "Do I know you?" the Page of Pentacles asked. "You know... I think you just might!" Maki grinned at her, then turned back to the foreigner. "Would you mind if I talked to her in private?" "Eh? Uhh... I don't think I should let her out of my sight..." "You won't have to," Maki assured him. "Just watch from over there for a bit. Please?" "Alright," Chris reluctantly agreed, and began walking away. After a few steps, he vanished as he stepped through the boundary of the field. Hanako's eyes went wide. "Y-You're one of us?" "That's right. More so to you, the Page of Pentacles, than anyone else." "Wh-what do you mean?" She took a step back. "I don't like you." "You will," Maki said, advancing. "You'd better, for a Queen does not appreciate disloyal subjects." * End! Author's notes: Well, that was fun! Who's for Chinese? :) Thanks to Scott, Kate Malloy, and NinjaDebugger for prereading.