An uncomfortable silence fell between them.  Yuki’s house fell behind them into the background.  All they could think about was the look on his sister’s face.  She had relief.  Even though she was likely upset with Yuki leaving, she was glad he returned.  She had no idea what happened in Atlantis.

Yet it weighed on the two of them.  They knew what Yuki had to do and the future he had in store for himself now.  His fate or destiny, whatever people wanted to call it, had already been locked.  It might have been forced on him even if he made the choice himself, a choice of circumstance.  Yet none of it changed the eventuality he faced like all Kings before him.  Atlantis’ dark secret kept from them until the end.

It seemed far too cruel to say and even more heartless to explain.  It was a horrible situation where there was nothing good to be had from it.  Seiji and Saki hoped, believed, prayed they took the right course.

For such a family, it was a terrible curse.

Chapter 289 – Uneasy Night

It wasn’t as though Saki needed the company or even the protection back to her place.  Seiji just didn’t feel like immediately returning home.  Part of it did come from the fact that they both had similar thoughts and emotions on the mind.  So it came as part of a weird licking each other wounds as they both knew the feeling.  All of it played out in silence.

When Saki reached her home, she departed without a word.  Not even a wave, but it wasn’t something that bothered Seiji.  He just acknowledged her disappearance up the stairs to the apartment.

Seiji came to a stop long after she disappeared.  He turned around looking at the complex.  His eyes stared off in the distance seeing where Yuki was.  Every one of their friends returned to someone, to family.  It got him thinking about strange things that he hadn’t even thought about for years.  ‘…I wonder if she’s…  Even though she left so long ago…’  Seiji shook his head, needing to focus.  It wasn’t the time to get distracted.

The thoughts lingered for a little while, but he turned away to focus on the road.  Or at least what served as a road, since grass and nature covered everything.  The change was actually not that big for him, since he had been used to Atlantis for so long.  However, the unusual clash with nature and civilization made the homecoming a little less meaningful.  It wasn’t the way they remembered, even if it was how it was now.

Saki stood in front of the door for several minutes trying to come up with a plan.  She didn’t exactly leave on the best terms with her mother.  ‘This is actually worse than the way Yuki left.  He just disappeared mostly.  Mom actually knows I left and for Yuki’s sake.  She’s never gotten over the past…’  The thought of all sorts of scenarios went through her mind.

Hesitation got her nowhere, as she expected.  It only dragged things out.  She didn’t have an answer to her dilemma.  She wondered if she would ever have an answer to it.  Standing around outside of the door wasn’t solving anything.

In the end, all she could do was just open the door and deal with things as they came.  No plan was probably the best thing.  Though she feared how many mistakes she would make as she fumbled.  ‘I’ll just have to live with it.  Weird how I’d rather take on two Rheia’s than my own mother…’  The thought made her laugh a little as she opened the door.

It ended up happening a lot sooner than she expected.  Bad timing couldn’t have come at a worse moment.  She had no preparation for actually confronting the situation so quickly.  “Hey…” Saki greeted, weakly to her mother standing slack jawed at her daughter’s return.  “I’m home.”

Her mother stood in mid action, trying to help Noriko to the kitchen for something.  A wash of emotions ran through her face.  The most noticeable was anger, powerful anger.

However, it was stunted quickly by Noriko realizing that Saki had returned.  “Sis!”  She broke free from the directed motions and sped over to Saki.  “Welcome home!”  Noriko jumped up quickly to greet her big sister.  “Did you beat up all of those bad guys?!”  She made tiny little fists to try to illustrate her words.

Saki immediately turned down and away from her mother.  Half of her didn’t want to deal with it, but the rest couldn’t ignore her little sister.  She knew her mother wanted to get into it over Yuki, but it wasn’t the time.  Not in front of Noriko.

Bending down, she reached eye level with Noriko.  Saki caught her fists that she tossed about.  “Yup!  I stopped every last one of them.  Now you don’t have to worry anymore!”

“Really?!”

Saki picked up Noriko and walked into the living room past her mother.  The glare was stronger than the one that she felt from Momoko.  It followed her wherever she went.  She felt sweaty already from just entering the room.  All she could do was keep a happy smile on her face for her sister.  ‘Is this how Yuki does it every day?’  She wasn’t used to making it natural, she wasn’t sure how well she was doing.

Noriko jumped around on the couch getting excited to hear about the stories that Saki had to tell.  She never really had the chance to meet Yuki before everything went south between their families.  She was too young to remember when Yuki came over.  It didn’t stop her from asking for stories.  Saki wondered how she heard anything about Yuki, since his name was taboo in the household.  Perhaps the mystery of him made her more interested in learning about him.  But she always pestered Saki for tales of Yuki and Saki’s adventurers, as Noriko liked to call them.  She seemed to treat them as though they were a fantasy that happened in some other world.

However, it didn’t take long for Noriko to want to include their mother.  “Did you hear, mom?  Saki beat them all up!”  She bounced off the couch with surprising agility to run over to her mother.  Noriko tugged on her to bring her into the living room.  “She did it for us!”

The little sister was completely obvious to the drop in temperature in the room.  Saki could feel the changes as their mother stepped into the same space.  Noriko kept pulling on her ignoring all of the signs.  The look on her face was hard not to miss, but Noriko was too excited to see it.

They stared at each other coming to a silent conclusion that they would make nice for Noriko.  Saki still found it a little surprising how stubborn she was being over Yuki.  She almost felt like the adult was being the most childish one in the room.

Faking a smile as well, their mother sat down on the couch far opposite of Saki.  “Come on up here, Noriko,” she invited.  It put her between the two of them.

“What sort of fights did you get into?” the little sister asked, still just as clueless.

Saki glanced over at her mom for a read.  She hesitated in telling her about anything that happened in Atlantis.  It wasn’t exactly a fairy tale to spread around.

“Yes, I’m curious as well,” insisted their mother.  The look of her eyes made it clear she judged her on every word.  There was no enthusiasm that Noriko shared, even if she pretended to have it.

Put on the awkward spot by both of them, Saki didn’t really have much choice.  ‘Damn, mom’s just looking for anything to tighten her hold on me and place blame on Yuki.’  However, even knowing that, she wasn’t getting out of it.  Noriko wanted a story.  “I guess I have a story or two…” she began.

Saki couldn’t remember the last time she felt so awkward doing anything.  It was like being naked giving a presentation in front of her entire classmates and all they could do was stare at her.  She really didn’t want to be on that couch.  Worse was that the atmosphere only became more oppressive the longer it went.

An hour passed before Noriko released her from her bondage.  She did everything she could to try to skip around details that would be too incriminating for either of them.  There was plenty that her mother wouldn’t approve of her doing, not that society approved anymore of it.

“It’s getting late,” their mother reminded, trying to get Noriko out of the room.  While it was night, it was hardly that late for Noriko.

“But mom!  I don’t even have school!”

“No buts.  You need to get to sleep.  I won’t have you ruining your sleep just because the rest of the world is falling apart.”

“Yes…”  She pouted and started to walk off.  However, she came to a stop and grabbed Saki one last time.  “Since you beat up all those bad guys, are you going to do the same here now that you’re back?”

Saki turned in confusion towards her sister.  She wasn’t sure what she talked about.  ‘Is she meaning the UN forces?  How bad have them been here?’  The questions made Saki lean in a little more wanting to know more.  “What bad guys, Noriko?”

Before her sister could even answer, their mother intervened again.  “Noriko,” she reprimanded.

The feeling that she got from Noriko left her a little uneasy.  She wanted to know what she was talking about.  It felt like an ill omen.  Saki stood up wanting to know more, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“Where do you think you’re going?”  The anger returned without a missed beat.  It was as though it actually increased intensity having been plugged up for so long.  “You’re not going back out there.”

She wasn’t even sure if this was about Yuki anymore.  “You planning to stop me?” she dared her mother, stepping up.  Any sort of unease or fear she might have had in confronting the woman disappeared.  All she had was emotions burning through her blood.

“I won’t allow you to leave this room, Saki!”

“What do you think you can do to stop me?  Huh?”  Saki vanished quickly from her mother’s eyes and appeared a short distance away.  “Can you do anything, really?”

“What’s gotten into you?  It’s that boy again!”

“You’re going to bring up Yuki again!  Leave him out of this!  This isn’t about him!”

“All he has been doing is twisting your mind!”

“Is that what you think?!  There’s people out there hurting and in trouble!”

“You seem to have gotten it into your head that you need to be some hero!  It’s that boy’s doing, corrupting you!”

Saki stepped up in her mother’s face.  Her eyes narrowed harshly.  They were already yelling at each other.  It was nothing but emotions flying between them.  “This is who I am!  It wasn’t him doing anything!  These are choices I made!  I don’t give a damn anymore!  I don’t need your approval for what I want to do!”

Her mother didn’t back down anymore than Saki even with the intimidating stare.  “You aren’t my daughter!  I don’t even recognize you!”  She stared longer into Saki’s eyes and saw something that she didn’t expect to see in her daughter, darkness.  “What the hell did he do to you!?”  She grabbed onto Saki’s wrist demandingly.

Slapping her hand away, Saki stepped free.  “You’re just seeing what you want to see!  You don’t care about me, just blaming everything on Yuki!  What gives you that right?!”  Saki turned away and walked towards the door.

“Saki if you walk out, you’re never coming back!”

“That a threat?”  Saki tilted her head back over her shoulder with a fierce glare.  Their stares matched, increasing the atmosphere.  She didn’t plan to back down.  She had been pushed too far by her mother to stop.

“You’re not my daughter anymore!”

“Is that how it’s going to be, mom?”  It became very clear how things would turn out.  The worst-case scenario happened.  Saki didn’t plan to stop anymore.

Their mother could see Saki calling her bluff.  She pressed her into action.  It was completely rash and quick without any thought.  “Get out of my home!  You’re not welcome back here anymore!”

“I was tired of living here anyway!  Maybe I can find someone that isn’t so blindly prejudiced!”

“I only have one daughter!” she shot back as though needing the final word and the final nail.  Everything was sealed with those words.

Saki walked out of the apartment and sped away.  It was mere moments, but she stood in front of Yuki’s house.  She was still across the street with no plans on approaching.  She didn't even know why she came to him.  All she could do was stare.

She leaned up against a tree finally taking a pause.  ‘This is how it’s meant to be…now I can watch Yuki’s back…as I promised…’  It wasn’t the way she wanted it to go.  It just turned out that way.  She had to accept it.  But even accepting it, she couldn’t help but find tears falling down her face.  Sadness covered her face through a determined pair of eyes.