HnM - Snow-white memories II

Chapter 11:

Snow-white memories – Part 02



24.12.1994 Germany / In the middle of nowhere


The „something" Siberu had just tripped over lay in Gary's arms now; it had been a half-frozen girl as they quickly discovered. The little girl wasn't conscious, which was no huge surprise due to her exceedingly cold body temperature – but apparently they were still right on time to save her from the worst. How long had she been lying outside at this place? And for what reason? She was poorly dressed as well, not at all suitable for this time of the year - a blue checked skirt that went down to her knees and a black top. Both could be classified as rather thin and she didn't wear any shoes either. A rather bold and rash move…what did such a little girl do out here? She couldn't be older than four.

„Hey. I hope you know that you won't save this brat. It could have severe consequences! Have you never paid attention in movies? Changing the past can do grave harm in the future!", Siberu announced after having been quite for a while, however both of them knew that Siberu had an altogether different motive than worries about the future; he harboured a natural aversion to children below the age of ten ever since a little girl had cut off his pigtail when he had been sleeping, and he had been forced to wear short hair for quite a while.

„Silver. First of all this won't start a third World War and furthermore there's an additional factor that'll surely be obvious to you if you look at this girl for a bit; so, tell me – what do you notice?" The one addressed did as he was told and eyed the girl with scepticism in his eyes. The bright brown hair of the unconscious girl was braided to pigtails which were currently tattered, and the blue ribbons that were supposed to tie the hair together already loose. Only for a short moment Siberu had to think about his brother's words before he understood what the other wanted to get at:
„Don't tell me…it couldn't be - this is Green-chan?!"

„You're a sharp one ", Gary said while he rose up together with little Green and looked around for any sign of a human community. The same question Gary had already asked himself seemed to be written on Siberu's face as well – what had Green been doing out here? – but instead he voiced another one:
„But then we should simply leave her like that. It means someone else will come and rescue her…or does it?" Gary only regarded his little brother for a moment, who looked at him with confusion in his eyes, before he turned away and started to walk with the little girl in his arms.

„…it's…so… cold…" Gary stopped in his tracks when the fragile voice suddenly echoed amidst them; a motion Siberu immediately copied. Only Gary was able to understand the German words little Green whispered, but still both of them held their breath, fearing what would happen in case Green would pick up their voices this very moment; if she did, they would meet up years previous to their first meeting in their original timeline – that would definitely change the course of events, since Green had not known either of them till they had decided to show themselves.

But Green wasn't conscious.
She had just talked in her sleep and instinctively pressed closer to Gary to seek the warmth a human body could provide. The two brothers exchanged quick looks which told Gary that Siberu had though just the same thing he did: they had to hurry and quickly lodge little Green at some place before she would wake up and they'd be confronted with more than one bad scenario.

Gary turned away from Siberu and walked deeper into the forest filled with determination, closely followed by his brother who maintained his silence even though there were just as many questions racing in his head as in Gary's case. The stream of questions suddenly stopped though, after quite a few meters spent in silence – since Green's voice was audible again:
„…No…stop it…I don't want…" This time Gary didn't slow down even though he noticed the insistent look Siberu gave him; apparently he was very keen on hearing the translation for Green's words. Gary shook his head in response and put his index finger on his lips to explain his brother that he didn't have in mind to have a conversation with him now and that he had to wait for a safer time. Although Gary concentrated on moving on quickly he asked himself whether Green only had a bad dream or if the words were actually directed at him. If that was the case he would need to ask himself why she didn't want to be rescued.

Did it mean Green, despite being such a young girl, wanted to end her...
Gary's thoughts got interrupted by Siberu, who suddenly reached out with his arm and pointed to the west. His older brother followed his example and really, there was something: between the many firs one could make out a faint light.
Quickly the two halfdemons crossed the snow-clouded fir trees and caught sight of a nice looking wooden house, which had a now frozen lake nearby and emitted a calm and sedate feeling. In its garden Gary could make out a lot of play equipment and when he sneakily eyed the little sign next to the entrance door, his suspicions got quickly confirmed: it was an orphanage; most likely the one Green had been raised in.

Gary motioned to his brother to hide below the fir trees and that he would approach the door without him. Siberu's reply was a pout, but he retracted into the shadows below the fir tree and Gary teleported on the stony pathway that lead to the entrance door. A few steps in front of the door a weird feeling washed over him, which got only stronger when little Green, who he was planning to entangle from himself, desperately clutched onto him in an almost frantic manner, even though she was still fast asleep. In the end Gary could loosen her grip, but the queasy feeling grew stronger once more when he softly lay her down on the doorsteps and glanced at the houses' wooden walls.
Was this place really that horrible?

Gary had no time to think about this places' influence on the future for long, since Green seemed to wake up any minute now and thus Gary used the door bell and immediately teleported next to Siberu afterwards, also becoming one with the shadows. The queasy feeling didn't let go of him, especially when he could make out how someone appeared in the doorframe and took Green in, but the reason for his inner turmoil got soon enough replaced with something else: his brother was chalky-white, which had surely nothing to do with the cold they were facing.
„…Aniki, we have a tiny, little problem…" And in his palms, a broken watch rested.


03.12.2005 Japan / Tokyo

„Are you sure we're at the right place?" With a sceptical glint in her eyes Kaira raised her head and looked up to the apartment building her friend had led her to. It had stopped snowing a while ago, but the temperature was still rather cold even though neither Kaira nor her companion were influenced by that; unlike Kaira, who wore the beige cloak she had already encountered Green with, the other girl hadn't even bothered to slip on extra clothes.
„I am absolutely sure about it!", she replied and already proceeded to pass her, her arms crossed and wearing a confident grin on her face. Unlike Kaira, who was anything but convinced.

„Since when do demons reside in common apartment buildings?"
„How should I know? Do I look like the author of „Demon encyclopaedia"?" An annoyed sigh slipped out of Kaira's mouth while the glass door made way for them and the Wächterin pointedly went into the staircases' direction. Her companion didn't seem to be too amused by that, mentioning that there was also a lift to their right, but Kaira didn't pay any attention to her remarks. She was too eager to get her watch back to wait for the arrival of a slow lift.

„Hey, Ai-chan, wait a second! You don't even know which floor to go to!" Despite not looking like it, the blue-haired girl was anything but gifted for sports, after all she spend most of her daily life in front of a computer's screen and wasn't used to doing sports; unlike Kaira, who was well trained and in good shape and thus able to take the stairs without the slightest problem. The smart argument of her friend could also not stop her in her tracks, since she simply shouted at her from above to tell her the floor in question.

„…sixth floor!", she breathed heavily with exhaustion and already had to surrender after two floors while Kaira was busily leading the way up. But since she didn't know which apartment to approach she had to wait for her friend whether she wanted or not, who arrived a few minutes later with gasps and had to grab onto the staircase for support. Kaira didn't have consideration for that though and harshly asked her for the apartment's number.

One, two times the exhausted girl coughed before she forwarded this question to her mini-laptop and moved on to pass the different doors in the staircase, until a beeping sound could be heard in front of apartment number 121.
While Kaira instantly rushed to said door, the blue-haired girl deemed the neighbour's one much more interesting.
Just when Kaira prepared to open the door violently, her companion interrupted her:
„Ai-chan, Ai-chan, there's no use for you in breaking down that door! The watch is not in there at the moment, it's currently being used." Apparently the other one didn't feel too persuaded by these words, since she had still raised her leg; prepared to kick the door in any second.

„Being used?", Kaira sceptically asked and continued just as venomously:
„How is that even possible? I thought demons couldn't use our artefacts, much less touch them?"
„That is incorrect; demon can't touch our weapons directly since they are linked to our very being and our element…but our artefacts – your watch is one of them – do not have the same connection to its wielder and therefore can be used by anyone else as well."
Kaira lowered her leg and said:
„If my watch really is being used that reduces our chances of ever catching the culprit. He will be intelligent enough to travel through time with it."

„Ah, I strongly doubt that! I have access to your watch and apparently it's damaged."
„Do you want to imply the thief is stuck in some timeline? That's what he deserves; I will surely not go and get him out of there."
„I can't fully assess the situation since it's not working properly, and therefore also can't give you a professional opinion about this. But I think we should wait; at least until I get the next signal." Nodding to her words the blue-haired girl lowered herself to the ground and supported her small laptop on her knee. Kaira's tounge was fired up for a few questions, for example how it could be possible for her friend to receive such a signal straight through time; but she decided to keep silent, since she was not up for a long, complicated explanation for this phenomenon and didn't want to feel stupid because she could only understand half of it.

Kaira sighed and also sat down on the ground, next to her friend who was eagerly typing something on her laptop. When a few seconds in silence had passed Kaira asked her what or who she was writing to. The one addressed didn't look up, but again a grin emerged on her tanned face.
„That's a secret, Ai-chan…"
„I don't like your secretiveness! Spit it out, Asuka!"
Only at that the blue-haired girl looked up and peeked at her teasingly.
„I'm writing your heartthrob!" Kaira jumped when she got this answer:
„H-He is not my heartthrob!"
„You like him just as much as Itzu-chan, Li-chan and I. We should really set up a fanclub!" She laughed at her own words, clicked the „Send"-button and the E-Mail disappeared from the screen.
„…but he can't even work with his computer."
Her friend knew this all too well and replied:
„You're saying something; he can't even power on a computer, let alone open his E-Mail postbox! No, I sent the email to Ryô-kun, he'll let him know for sure."
„Say, what's the mail's content anyway?"
The grin on the girl's face turned into a tricksy smile when she replied:
„Just concentrate, Ai-chan. Then you'll sense a small, weak and almost not noticeable aura. At the same time it'll fall into place for you who stole the watch…and you'll also get the answer to your own question."



  


24.12.1994 Germany / In the middle of nowhere


„Let me guess. You moron broke the watch and now we're stuck here." Siberu looked at his big brother, deeply sulking even though his face was still pale upon the discovery of the broken watch in his hands. Why did he always get the blame? No matter what it was? Blue really always acted as if Silver would be a complete idiot who only ever managed to make things worse.
„No, it was not my fault! Why do you always say I am at fault for everything?! But… yes, we're stuck here. What do we do now?"   
„First of all, maybe it is because you are always – or let's say most of the time – at fault when we end up in troublesome situations. Second…what are we going to do? Step one is obvious: not getting into panic, instead looking at the situation from a neutral point of view. Step two…well, I'll have to plan that out first." His brother looked at him with a doubting expression and jumped to his feet when he heard Gary's last words.

„With these horrible prospects I am supposed to keep calm?! Aniki, think of something, but do it quickly! I don't want to freeze to an ice-statue in this place!" While he uttered these words with panic strongly affecting his voice he shook Gary back and forth, apparently thinking this would speed up his thought process.
„Calm down, Silver!"
„No! I don't want to calm down! To be trapped somewhere in time is not my thing! Because you can't change it by blowing up the whole area! You fucking watch!" And before Gary could act in any way, the watch had already been violently smashed to the ground and much to their dismay it hit a rock, which completely shattered the watches' glass this time. In the very moment Siberu realized the disastrous consequences of his rash act it was already too late: the watch seemed to go haywire and without the brothers having any chance to protect themselves from it they were already swallowed by the stream of time again.

???

Gary didn't dare to open his eyes, fearing what they'd come to look at once he would; there was no way to know where they had ended up or how long they'd stay at the same place, after all the watch was damaged and could quickly change their position in a matter of seconds.

And once again Gary asked himself what he had done to deserve such a chaotic little brother.
„You'll be sorry if we are in year 3000 or something like that, Silver – then I am really going to kill you!" Since he didn't get an answer he was forced to slowly open his eyes and look around for his brother. The snow had vanished; taking this into account they had to be at least a year earlier or later in time – it was hard to guess, since Gary couldn't recognize anything that hinted at a specific time: although the snow had disappeared, the forest was apparently the same since the same formation of firs from the last station on their journey was still surrounding them.
He could make out his little brother in a bush only a few meters away from his own position, again complaining about his hair in which he had found laurels this time, cursing loudly without any prospect of him stopping. As if there were no other problems at hand!

„Hey…do you think we could be friends?" Gary got a real scare just like Siberu, who had managed to free himself from the bush he had landed in. The redhead could localize the source sooner and pointed into the direction without saying a word; Gary could see a small playground behind the bushes. With that he finally knew in which time they were at the moment, since he recognized the same wooden house and they could not have progressed too much in time since Gary could make out little Green he had rescued from the snow only moments ago, her back facing the two brothers. She still wore the same braids and the same clothes, but she had grown a bit in height. Most likely they had jumped two years forward in time. The girl that had addressed Green sat lonely on the swing and watched Green, skilfully throwing balls in the aged basketball hoop. Apparently Green had been good at sports in her childhood as well, since only few pitches missed their goal.

In the meantime Siberu cowered next to Gary and hissed at him to finally start translating instead of staring holes into midair.
„That's for sure the girl that still writes Green-chan those letters."
„Could be", Gary replied deep in thought when he looked her over for a second time. She was a small girl, for sure two or three years younger than Green, but she had a certain spark of childish eyes brimful of life, a soft glow was nestled in her brown eyes; her hair was of the same colour, braided into two small braids. She looked like a typical, lovely child which would surely find new parents soon enough. Nobody would part with such a child out of their own free will, she had surely lost her parents by death…

Gary's trail of thoughts got interrupted when the girl insistently tried to talk to Green again, animated with the thought of making Green her new friend:
„…so does that mean you don't want to be my friend?" Again she didn't get any reply. The ball got pitched up again, touched the hoop, slowly turned around and finally got through the net's opening. In the same moment the hollow sound of the ball's impact could be heard, the little girl on the swing started to cry. Green tried to continue ignoring her by picking up the ball and preparing to throw it again. But instead of doing this she turned her head around and Gary and Siberu could get a glimpse of Green's eyes; they were completely different from those they were used to look into.

The blue colour of her eyes was hard to see, they appeared to be nearly black. Her look was void of all feelings, expressionless. Likewise, the crying girl didn't seem to cause her any remorse or compassion. The zest for life Gary and Siberu associated with Green was nowhere to be seen and again Gary silently asked himself why she had run into the forest; had she really had in mind to end her life? Why? And why were her eyes so empty?

But suddenly Green did something to halt the other girl's flow of tears. She picked up her teddy bear that had been next to the basketball hoop and thrusted it into the girl's hands. At first she only quietly looked at the teddy bear, till she raised her head again and gave Green a hopeful look; but Green's expression remained unyielding. This didn't seem to be an issue for the girl and winged with a spark of hope she stretched out her hand and shook Green's with it.  Instead of letting go again she squeezed it tightly and said:

„Let's be sisters!" Okay, Gary thought, the girl was really very naive. She had just gotten a brush-off from Green when she had asked for her friendship and now she wanted to declare Green her sister?
„My name is Kari!", Kari babbled on, still full of euphoria:
„I've just arrived here and I don't know anybody so far and…and…I like fairy tales! Can you read? I only know a few letters and…could you read some for me? Ah! Say, what's your name?"
„Green…", she replied and it was apparent that she was just as much taken by surprise from Kari's sudden volley of words as Gary was, who had a hard time translating the words at least almost as fast as they left Kari's mouth. Kari eagerly babbled on, a mountain of words that buried Green past all hope and Gary chose not to translate anymore, since Siberu also abandoned his interest and had turned it to the watch instead.

„You think I just have to smash it to the ground again and then it'll work out again?"
„No, I don't!", Gary whispered back to him and was about to take the watch in his possession for safety measures when the face of the redhead brightened up.
„Hey, sweet! I think I did it!" Gary just wanted to add that it would be a huge surprise to him if that was to be the truth, but his words already got lost again in the watches' magic.


3.1.????

Again the watch had a harsh landing on hand for the two halfdemons and slowly but surely Siberu could claim with a quiet conscience that he had clearly had enough: the damn watch was either programmed for causing crash-landings or it was adverse to demons. Luckily for him he had clutched onto a branch this time and could skilfully sway on top of it now to get a good first look at their surroundings. His brother was lying about five meters below him in the snow and rubbed his head in pain, likewise not too impressed about the merciless landing.

„You must have been joking about getting the grip of it!", he could hear Gary moaning up to him from below where he sat up again and looked around as well, when Siberu raised his voice from above.
„But I know what's going on now!"
Oh great; that was something you could rely on, Gary thought while he brushed off the snow from his pullover and determined that the watch had once again sent them into the wintery season. Siberu didn't pay attention to his brother's annoyed expression and cheerfully continued: „Since you know, before we set out I entered a few dates from the photos! I guess the watch will go through them one by one, till we're at the end of the list." Slowly, with the strong conviction that he had just misheard this, Gary raised his head and his expression was anything but happy - hence his voice didn't really come off especially joyful when he opened his mouth:  
„…Silver?"
„Yes, Aniki?", the redhead replied with his most innocent voice.
„You are such a damn…BRIGHT SPARK! You could have thought of that earlier!", he shouted at him from below, but the one addressed decided not to mind and successfully acted as if he hadn't heard anything. Just when Gary was about to speak verbosely for a second time to give him a talk, Siberu suddenly spotted something which would surely save his skin for the time being.

„Hey, Aniki, I can see Green-chan!" That was truly the deciding spark that could make Gary forget about the previous topic, and he appeared next to Siberu on said one's branch and looked into the direction his little brother pointed at and was thus able to recognize Green as well. A thick scarf hid half of her face and it was more than clear that she had mulled it around her throat countless times, since the scarf was without any question way too long for such a little girl. They had moved a few years into the future from the looks of it, since she was quite a bit taller. But still she had her hair tied into two braids on her sides and the empty blue eyes hadn't changed either; and it was still the same girl that held Green's hand tightly in hers and talked insistently and eagerly to her – apparently not expecting an answer.

The two girls seemed to be on their way down to a nearby lake Gary could already spot at the end of the small pathway and without further ado he jumped down from the tree.
„Let's follow them, Silver! We have nothing else to do anyway." The younger one didn't need to be told twice; his brother had barely finished his sentence when Siberu was already on his way to the lake. Throwing a wide grin towards Gary he shouted:
„Wanna bet I'm faster than you!?" Gary rolled his eyes, but even though he acted annoyed with Siberu's childish behaviour that was not the case, if the chuckles on his face were any indication; no, he was secretly glad about it. It was almost, but only almost, just like back then…

„Are you coming or are you frozen solid to that spot?!" Little after Siberu had called out to him, Gary stood next to his brother, who had waited a few meters ahead for him and put on a sulky pout now.
„Hey, using teleportation is not fair."

„Don't throw bricks when you live in a glass house", Gary replied, but instead of countering Siberu already dashed away. Gary followed suit, but had already lost before he had even started to run, since Siberu's speciality had always been speed: Gary had never managed to outrun him, no matter how often they had run against each other: maybe that's why Siberu liked to have a race against him so much.

The only thing that set this race apart from the thousands of others was the fact that Siberu was so fast he almost fell into the river in front of them, because it wasn't frozen solid.
He didn't allow himself to be swayed by that and said proudly:
„Muhahahaha! I was once again faster than you, Blue! You're simply way too slow, Aniki!"

„Even you must be good at something", Gary replied with a hinted grin, but before the two brothers could indulge in their favourite activity – to quarrel with each other – they suddenly heard a sharp scream coming from the lake. It was without any question the voice of a girl and Siberu and Gary instantly had the same intuition. They looked at each other for a second before turning around and heading for the lake, where they hid behind a few snowy bushes in a good thirty meter distance to the events so nobody could discover them. Thanks to their superior sight they could see well enough and noticed that their gut instinct had not played a trick on them; the scream had indeed been from Green, who clutched onto Kari's arm. They stood there among a handful of other children; all of them armed with ice-skates on the lake which was coated with a thick ice sheet.

Someone had obviously chopped a hole into the ice though and it was not hard to conclude that Greens's leg was wet thanks to it and why she had such a shocked facial expression. On top of that Gary noticed that she was the only one in the group of children that did not wear any ice-skates.
„What's going on there?", Siberu asked, hoping to get a translation from his brother.
„They are arguing." Kari was up front - apparently she could not only babble needless rubbish, but also didn't mince her words:
„ Why did you push sister Green?!"

„We?! It's not our fault she's too stupid to walk!" one of the boys replied, who was apparently the oldest one judging from his height. All the other children aside from Kari and Green gathered behind his back and the superior number was more than obvious.  
„How cowardly! Seven against two little girls!", Siberu said, his voice carrying heavy disgust. It was very clear that he deeply wanted to join the group to teach them the ins and outs; the right way was definitely not to push Green into the icy cold water.
„Do you think the same thing I do?" Siberu had turned his head towards Gary when he asked it, but even so said one shared his sentiments, he replied:
„Yes – but you are nicely going to stay at my side! Green mustn't see any of us! Are we clear on that?" Sore and also a bit angry the one addressed grumbled and turned back to following the happenings similar to Gary, who watched the whole spectacle deep in thought.
Was that the reason for Green's empty eyes? Was it the reason for her flight into the snowy forest when she had been just five years old? Ordinary bullying?

No, there was no such thing as „ordinary bullying", he corrected himself. No matter how you called it - teasing, bantering, bullying – it was never ordinary; it was never harmless. When it came to this humans were in no way inferior to demons, Gary thought with an ironical smile on his face. They were always competent when it came to learning about other human's weak spots and using them to their advantage; and when they had found the one that hurt the most they would simply pick on it long enough till it got really painful.
For Green, the sore spot was obviously the coldness and everything that had something to do with it and apparently these children were experts in having their fun with it.

But Green wasn't alone. Admittedly Gary had already labelled Kari as a little, annoying girl, but her eyes shone with confidence and even though she was surely at least two years younger than Green, she protected her „sister" with a determination that was truly impressive – she could definitely be a role model for some others when it came to this.

„You're lying! I saw with my own two eyes that you pushed sister Green! And it wasn't the first time you did it either!", Gary translated for his little brother and had no break to rest because the reply of the oldest boy followed suit:
„Then she shouldn't turn up here at all, she should stay in her room anyway, so nobody has to see her. She has no business here; it would be best if she'd leave the orphanage. But there's nobody who would want such a girl. Ain't that right, Green? From all of us you are the one that's here for the longest time – ever thought about the reason?" But just when Kari was about to snarl back at him, Green raised her voice, but a whole level less defined.

„Kari…never mind it… I feel cold…I want to go back… "
„Good idea, sister Green! And we're also going to report them!" She turned to face the group and said snidely and with resentful eyes:
„And then you will get what you deserve!" The boy looked at her with his brows raised and responded:
„You don't say. The same nothing as usual?" Kaira receipted this with a sinister look while she took Green's hand and pulled her away from the other children. They were barely out of earshot when the group started to laugh – and it was a gleeful mischievous laughter, which confirmed for Gary that they had indeed never gotten the punishment they deserved.  

„I'm going to shut them up now! Nobody treats my Green-chan that way!" Siberu was already in the process of standing up, but Gary pulled him back into the snow, accompanied by the warning words that they couldn't change the future:
„No matter how hard it may be for you, keep calm. Or else you could even change something about Green's personality – and you don't want that to happen, do you?" The redhead clenched his teeth, mumbled something and sat down again. He didn't like it at all that he sadly had to prove Gary right and had to remain motionless because of that. But before he could start to complain to do his displeasure justice, the watch called for their attention.

Both halfdemons most likely hoped for the same thing the moment the watch glowed up again: that it would finally be the last crash landing and they'd emerge in Tokyo again – but sadly they got disappointed quickly, since they felt wet, oppressive coldness around them once again and the soft drops of snow on their skin. Even before they opened their eyes they could hear something in the near distance. At first they couldn't identify the sounds, but then they realized what kind of sound it was that reached their sensitive ears:
It was the miserable crying of a young girl.

Both opened their eyes and found themselves no thirty meters away from the orphanage, apparently in the middle of the night. This time they were on the houses' backside though, in the proximity of the frozen lake they had encountered earlier. A small voice was coming from there this time. They weren't too far away from it, but had yet to see who the voice belonged to, though both of them had a similar guess – but if they would raise up, anyone could most likely easily spot them since there was nothing on the snow-painted meadow that could be used as a hiding spot.
„Aniki!" Encouraged by the whispered voice of his little brother he looked to their right, where he could see a few taller trees closer to the lake. He understood Siberu's wink and nodded. Without hesitation both of them teleported on top of the highest tree they could find – and one whose branches would not break under the additional weight of the two halfdemons. One couldn't call their current position a box seat, but at least they could get a glimpse of the lake's surface from there – where they could make out the small frame that pitifully sat in the middle of the lake, all alone and curled up into a ball, crying agonizingly.

It was once again Green who clutched both arms around herself and rubbed her hands up and down, attempting to warm her body. She crouched on the empty surface of the frozen lake and Gary could see that there were many footsteps going to and fro the lake – but one pair in the middle of them had not returned from its journey; had the children simply led Green onto the ice and then left her there for good? Her whole body was quivering, but Gary wasn't sure if it was only the cold's doing or if there was also another reason…

In any case Gary understood now why she feared snow and coldness the way she did. It was because she had nearly been frozen to death in her childhood, and linked nothing but torments by the other orphans with the cold season, since she had collected these bad experiences in her childhood. Snow meant nothing but unfortunate memories for her. And each time she had to face these memories once snow came falling down again, they suffocated her anew…
„Let's just try to return…to our timeline." Gary looked to his side, where Siberu had just said this and noticed that he seemed to feel anything but fine to see Green in this condition.
„I have the very strong need to give Green-chan a big hug."



03.12.2005 Japan / Tokyo
Sadly even the last landing couldn't be called comfortable, since they painfully touched the ground once again; but at least they had arrived in their own four walls.
But things weren't in the state they had left them in and something about their apartment was not the way it was supposed to be. Siberu's ever so great plan had obviously backfired, something Gary quickly concluded not only because he had the sight of female gloves in front of his eyes, but also because of two auras; one of them foreign to him, the other one too familiar.

„Welcome back to the year 2005!", said an unfamiliar voice the same moment Gary and Siberu jumped up back to back, ready to attack if necessary, each of them facing one of their opponents. Siberu faced Kaira and Gary eyed the unknown girl opposite to him. But judging from their stance only one of the two intruders – Kaira – looked more than ready to attack them; the other one had made herself comfortable on their kitchen's counter and stirred her cup of coffee with a spoon.

„Who are you and what is your business with us?", Gary asked, his eyes directed at the girl in front of him. However, he got his answer from Kaira behind him:
„I just want to get back what was stolen from me!" All eyes turned onto the redhead, who instantly put on an innocent grin.
„I didn't really do anyth-" But he couldn't try to explain himself, since as if she had only just noticed him the blue haired girl suddenly jumped off the counter and the attacking position of the two halfdemons burst in two when the girl fiercely pressed the redhead into her quite well endowed chest and nearly suffocated him.

„Oh such a cutie! What a cuddly specimen! I can't believe you still look way cuter in reality than I thought!" Equally shocked by this spectacle both Gary and Kaira looked speechlessly at the hug; a friendly hug was nothing either of them had expected. Of course Gary had witnessed from time to time that some girls would fiercely throw themselves at his brother, but it was new to him that a potential female enemy did so.

„And your hair! Is it naturally red-coloured?"
„Asuka! You have gone nuts! That's a DEMON!", Kaira finally barged in, her face already showing red-coloured cheeks from her very obvious rage.
„But he is so cute…"
„Since when do you have a thing for children!? Do I have to remind you that you are 20 years old?! At least act that way! What happened to your qualification, in the name of Light?!"
„What the hell is going on here?"
All of them turned their attention to the door, where they came face-to-face with Green - and Pink secured behind her, who was jumping up and down to look over Green's shoulders. Since all of them looked more or less bewildered at her sudden appearance, she explained:   
„Pink sensed unfamiliar auras, so she bundled me out of bed and…" The blue haired girl let go of Siberu, chucked the watch to Kaira since she had taken it from the redhead during her hug and confidently took a few steps into Green's direction, only stopping when she faced the girl from a few meter of distance. Green was the one who looked the most surprised about this act, especially when the girl suddenly took an elegant bow with a grin and led her hand to her chest upon saying:

„My name is Tinami Kikou Asuka, Elementarwächterin of Climate, first rank. My brain is at your disposal, Hikari-sama!" Green took a step backwards when Tinami said this with pride and the look she gave Tinami was anything but honoured: it was nothing but Greek to her and she was lost on such an introduction.

„I have one myself, but thank you." Grinning, Tinami rose up again and replied:
„I don't doubt that one bit, Hikari-sama." Green furrowed her brows when the Wächterin called her like that for a second time, which said one seemed to notice, since she offered:
„I can gladly call thou using something else, since I like nicknames! What do thou think about „Ee-chan""?
„"Ee-chan"?"
„Yes, the double ‚e' from ‚Green'."
„Um, okay?" Green threw a confused look to Gary and Siberu, but both of them shrugged likewise confused.
„Asuka, could you kindly hurry up a bit?! We don't have all night!", Kaira said roughly and joined Tinami's side, her arms crossed and the forehead wrinkled  in a frowning gesture.

„Have you even introduced yourself, Ai-chan?" A scornful snort was the only answer, so Tinami continued:
„Apparently that'll be my job then: that's Kaira Toki Kitayima, Elementarwächterin of Time, first rank. An excellent warrior that will surely serve th- I meant you well in the war." Green raised her eyebrows sceptically and repeated the last word in the question that followed, once again looking back to her two halfdemons for confirmation.
„Yes, war against our enemies, Najotake", Kaira replied with a an almost gloating smile and when she had slowly voiced the word „enemy" she had given Siberu and Gary a weird look for a reason Green couldn't explain herself.
„But we aren't the ones supposed to explain all of this to you, Ee-chan! That's something your big brother will do." Green, who was about to protest in annoyance, looked at the two of them in a dumbfounded manner instead.
„My…big brother?"


Finished: 20.01.11