Tokyo Babylon: Sound part 5: Murmuring / Waiting Midori smiled to herself, pausing in the doorway of Subaru's room before leaving for her work. Her one-time lover was sleeping peacefully, curling up beneath the bedsheets much like his son did. He didn't look thirty. But then, neither did she. She was going to marry him; she was more determined about that than she had ever been before about her feelings for Subaru. Marrying him was the one thing that would make her life complete and completely happy. Except for the exorcism of the mind predator stalking her son. That was the other thing that could only give her joy. she thought, a frown flickering across her face as she recalled the game of waiting and watching they were forced to play. But, having no other choice, she waited. She leaned against the doorframe and closed her eyes, letting herself remember that which surfaced in her mind, only distantly hearing the noises of her son singing in the shower as he warbled a pure soprano rendition of "Samurai Heart." * * * Sakura petals. They were the first thing a five-year-old Midori saw as she opened her eyes. "Kirei yo!" she cried, gazing raptly at the pink mass that swirled about in the breeze. She turned around and tugged at her brother's sleeve. "Oniisan, kirei desu ne?" "Hai, kirei desu," he softly agreed. "But... don't they frighten you, Midori?" "'Kowai'...?" Midori wondered, not understanding what her brother meant. But he looked so sad when he said that.... "You know that the sakura flowers are colored pink because there's a dead body underneath each tree, don't you, Midori?" he asked her, brushing her hair back out of her eyes. "Aren't you frightened?" Midori thought for a moment, then smiled. "No," she answered. "The flowers are pretty because of the dead people right? That means that even dead, the people are making the world nicer." Her brother looked curiously at her for a minute, an odd expression in his hazel eyes, then pulled her into his arms. "It's against the rules," he murmured, "but I think I'll keep you, Midori." "Oniisan...?" Midori wondered, not understanding. He straightened, and met her eyes evenly with his. "I promise you that you will never be one of the people below the sakura tree, Midori. You will never color this tree's flowers." * * * Midori thought, opening her eyes, She looked once more at Subaru, peacefully slumbering, and sighed, turning to go. Their son knew the morning routine perfectly; she had left his breakfast on the table, and after finishing it, he would go next door to the Tatsugawa's until he and Seiji-kun departed for school. She and Su-chan wouldn't see one another again until half past five in the evening, when Midori arrived home from work. Grabbing her briefcase from its place by the door, Midori paused to check that she had indeed finished grading the English tests from her fourth period class and remembered to place them in the black carrying case. Then she slipped out of the front door and walked quickly down the street, breathing in the cool, still morning air. This walk to her school was usually the calmest part of her day, and she often used it to psyche herself up for the challenge she got from making each day's lesson interesting and exciting for her students, even those who did not plan to try to go on to a university. But now, she let herself run through the imbalance ripping away at How Things Were Supposed To Be. Before, her son had been safe from hunters, a simple hidden Balancer-in-training. Now, due to the awakening of his onmyouji abilities, he was much more of a tempting little morsel to certain entities than he had been before. The one who had grabbed him first was rather powerful, and beyond her son's natural ability to shake off. Midori and Subaru, as well, would be unlikely to be able to guard their child against it, not having the type of connection to Su-chan that was needed to create kekkai on the level he was being attacked from. Midori sighed as she entered the school grounds. There was a solution possible, but she didn't know how well Subaru would take it, and wanted to exhaust all other options first, if only to delay his temper and pain. Her brother was bound to aid her son, by his own words, spoken on a very different occasion from the time he had vowed not to kill her. He had no choice. But for Subaru's sake, she had to try to avoid that option. No matter how calm and centered he was now, he had too much of a past with her brother for it ever to not bother him. Subaru's first love, first lover, first betrayer, and first enemy... greatest enemy... no, there was no way that he could ever just shrug Seishirou-niisama off. Midori sighed as she entered the gates of the school. She barely paused in the Teacher's Lounge to make herself a cup of hot tea and check her mailbox for new fliers and memos before heading to her classroom. There was too much on her mind for idle chat, and the Balancer part of her was screaming in impatience. A day full of classrooms, students, and teaching had never seemed to stretch so long before her as it did now. Midori sighed and sat down at her desk, pulling out the loose schedule she had made for the day's lessons and skimming over it, tea in hand. It was hard to focus as her thoughts kept drifting to marbles and tables and the correct move at the correct time. Slowly the students began to file in, but the Gods were kind and they all seemed to sense her mood, electing to speak quietly among themselves until the bell rang for the class. Midori blinked and shook her head. Where had the time gone? She set down the cup of tea that had grown cold in her hand and stood up, walking in front of her desk. "Well--" She noted her voice was a little unsteady, and corrected that, "--does everyone remember where yesterday's lesson left off? No? Hatake-kun, will you please open your text to the correct page and recite the last paragraph we covered yesterday? Thank you." Midori firmly shut out her distracting thoughts and concentrated on her students. She was a teacher. She had a job to do. Nothing would happen today. Not during the daylight. And if it did, she would know. She had left very strict instructions with her son's school, and with the staff at the school where she taught that if ANYTHING happened to her son, to let her know at once or there would be hell to pay. She felt psychic bells go off in her head during third period. She had all but abandoned the class by the time the call came in three minutes later. They said he had fainted. She knew her son was being attacked, and didn't grab anything more than her keyring as she ran out of the classroom. Even that delay cost her a precious half a second... she thought wildly, not knowing if she was trying to reach her son or his father. In her mind's eye the figure in the white robes of the head of the Sumeragi clan vanished behind a hill of sand, and she realized that in her nightmares, the one Subaru had represented the other.... ***** Linguistics: "K'so" should actually be spelled "kuso," but I write it as I hear it. It's roughly equivalent to "shit" or "damn it" as a general curse of frustration. Sakura flowers, cherry flowers, are important in TB for a few reasons, and have several levels of spiritual meaning in Japan. "Kirei yo!" means "Pretty!", and "Oniisan, kirei desu ne?" is "Oniisan, aren't they pretty?". "Oniisan" means "Elder Brother." "Hai, kirei desu," means "Yes, they're pretty." (I recommend X Character File 6, BTW; Sei-chan's drama sequence with his mother is *most* interesting.) "Kowai" is "Frighten."