Sister's Memento (for CleverFox)

[*starfruits*]

Kochigawa only had an old, battered station, right at the very top of a hill, past a small tangle of trees that hid the small city from prying eyes of train-riders. It was a beautiful little place, although it had its fair share of criminal underground that felt fleeing Tokyo's bright lights and sheltering under something more earthy and wholesome would aid them.

An old blue Toyota purred to a halt at the entrance steps of the station, and as the engine slipped off, the driver door clattered open. Plucking the keys from his mouth, Tetsuya Nagano stepped out of the car and pushed it closed with a hard, tanned palm.

His hair was short and dark, eyes a distinct gray, like brewing rain clouds. He wore a murky green jacket and shirt, a red tie pulled slack about his white collar. He was about 36, had rugged good looks and was lean-bodied. He'd just gotten away from work for the day, and weeks had been building to this moment.

His throat was dry, yet he'd already drained his paper-cup coffee which was now shoved into the glove compartment of his car.

He'd prepared as much as he could for this moment, and yet... he still felt like a rookie on his first homicide case with no clues, and no brains.

Frowning in determination, the man steeled himself and mounted the steps to the train station. When he got to the top, he gazed at the platforms. All were empty.

Dry leaves rustled along the tracks, before being swept into the air by a stray breeze. Tetsuya waited, leaning back his head and looking into the sky above. It was clear, blue, with only the faintest flecks of cloud threatening to tendril in to mar the vibrancy of the late winter afternoon.

His older sister had always been a fan of those kind of names... the ones that resided over the sea. Nichola. How did you say that properly? Nii-cho-la...? He'd only really written the name rather than spoken it all those years...

He hadn't spent a lot of time with his sister before she passed away. He'd been young, fresh into the force and with high hopes. But that wasn't what had kept him away in all. It was that damn guy of hers... something about him had really put Tetsuya's back up, even back then, and the feeling hadn't changed at all. Old habits fell hard, old dogs never forgot a stranger that had a cruel smell about him.

The detective's nostrils twitched, and he sniffed a bit as if ridding himself of the hated man's smell. He'd kept his distance all these years, just sent things now and again. A bit of an allowance on the kid's birthday. Bracelets, little bits and pieces that he'd found at local festivals when they were on. He'd never dreamed that a day like this would come.

The day he became like...

Over on the other platform, he saw the blurred image of a family. The ideal, japanese sect. An old, heartwarming, post-war piece. The girl in middle swinging on her parents' hands, rosy cheeks, dark eyes glimmering.

Like that.

Scratching at his freshly-shaven cheek, Tetsuya looked away, almost self-consciously.

He'd been on so many stake-outs, fought and sought out criminals - even murderers - every single day and yet... this was one of the few times he was really unsettled.

Would she be like his sister? He'd never seen his late sister when she was young... only in old photographs... she always wore dresses. Her hair was long and silken, under straw hats in the sun.

How could a guy like him look after a kid like that?

A hiss sounded on the platform, signalling the arrival of a train. Detective Nagano looked up, straining a bit, as though meeting a grieving victim, preparing himself for... well... for Nichola-chan.

[CleverFox]

Sitting near the window on a train filled with strangers who were going about their day to day lives as though nothing at all were wrong in the world a pair of mismatched eyes gazed out at the scenery that was whizzing by. The right eye was a piercing blue while the left a stormy gray, the gift of a genetic anomaly or so the theory went. The small figure was dressed in a white button up shirt with the button at the collar left undone and a pair of khaki colored pants with black shoes. Short mahogany colored hair partially obscured the child's right eye and at first glance one would assume that it was a little boy that was riding the train. Of course anyone who made such an assumption would be completely off the mark. Nichola, who chose to go by Nic to all those she actually offered her name to, had always been tomboyish and the look just seemed to suit her somehow. It wasn't that the nine year old girl was really trying to fool anyone with her appearance but she didn't do anything to keep people from jumping to that conclusion either.

Shifting her eyes around she briefly gazed at the train's other occupants before watching as the station slowly came into view. This was her stop and she found herself wondering what this experience was going to be like. She had a few letters from her uncle, her mother's brother, but had never actually met the man that she could recall. Having lost her mother on the very day that she was born Nic didn't really know anyone from that side of her family not that she was really all that much more familiar with those from her father's side. Best she could tell they weren't really a close knit family however you chose to slice it. Not that it mattered much to her either way. Since her father hadn't really taken much of an interest in her she'd more or less learned to take care of herself from an early age and as a result of this she'd developed a definite independent streak.

Hearing the sound of the air breaks and knowing that it signaled their arrival Nic got to her feet and grabbed the backpack that contained the possessions she'd deemed important enough to bring along with her on this trip. Putting her arm through one of the straps she slung it onto her back before departing the train, making it a point to be the last one off just so she wouldn't have to deal with the other people. She wasn't really a fan of crowds and avoided them whenever possible.

Stepping out onto the platform Nic gazed around through mismatched eyes, not even really sure how she was supposed to find the person that she was looking for. This uncle of hers, she had no idea what he looked like or what his personality was like for that matter. It was definitely going to be an adventure, this new life that she was embarking upon. Of course Nic was somewhat anxious, what child wouldn't be in such a situation, but she hid this fact well behind a mask of stoicism that was somewhat surprising for a child her age. Gripping the strap of her backpack she took a couple of steps away from the train, hoping that her uncle knew what he was looking for better than she knew what she was looking for.

"Well..." she muttered to herself with something of a dry laugh. "I suppose I could always shout for him if he doesn't come forward. If nothing else it would definitely stir things up."

[*starfruits*]

The attendant that had been sitting beside Nichola for the entire journey had been all but ignored by the girl. All attempts to talk to her about her favorite idols, her favorite sweets, her favorite colors and such had been thwarted, and the woman had been left completely demure and silent for the most part, interpreting Nichola's reactions as dislike and sass. When the girl rose from her seat, the attendant barely noticed, and instead sat in her seat, drifting on the verge of daydreams. When she finally came to, the suit-skirt-clad woman gasped comically, and ran for the shutter doors, just narrowly managing to escape before the doors closed upon her dainty ankles.

She shrieked, and nearly fell flat on her face, her short skirt flipping and giving several of the folks on the train a view of her pastel pink panties.

The woman whimpered pitiably for a moment, before she stood up on those dainty white legs, adjusting her hat, before she stormed after her little charge, and placed a small firm hand on the girl's shoulder, "Nichola-san! What are you doing?! Why did you leave the train and not tell me?!" the woman demanded loudly, and at the other end of the quiet town platform, the Detective's ears perked up.

That sounded like what he would write in a letter to his niece...

Squinting a bit, the man swallowed, and began to walk towards the distant pair. As he walked, he slowly buttoned the second to top button on his shirt, raising his tie just a tad, and then straightening his collar. He kneaded the back of his tanned neck as he closed in on the attendant and... the kid with her.

Tetsuya recognized the attendant; Ms. Yariko, from her suit and her uniform hat. The man's gray gaze then turned to the child with her, tentative, even a little anxious. He blinked.

At first glance, with his superficial view and ideal of what little girls looked like and how they dresses, the detective thought he was looking at a young boy, but... the rounded face, the small hands and the softer features suggested a girl.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?!" Ms. Yariko squeaked, gripping the girl a little harder, somewhat spurred on by her three broken nails, before the young woman looked up and gasped at the Detective, recognizing him instantly just has he had her, "Ah! Detective Nakano!"

Releasing Nichola immediately, the attendant bowed her head and smiled brightly at him, to which he bowed his head in return, "Good afternoon! This is Nichola-chan! Safe and sound, as promised!" she beamed, all too perfect, her hand now lovely and gentle on the girl's shoulder. She chirped happily, looking down at the child with mismatched eyes, "This is your uncle, Nichola-san! Say hello~!"

Tetsuya tensed up as he waited to hear his niece's voice, not knowing how to respond, frustrated by the fact. A faint pink blush bloomed under his eyes, as he glanced away, before looking back down at the girl. Unable to settle on a confident, cheerful smile, he ended up almost frowning at her, seemingly serious and gruff.

[CleverFox]

Nic was actually somewhat surprised by the fact that the irritating woman with whom she had been forced to travel hadn't even noticed when she got to her feet and left the train and for a brief moment she'd thought that the woman was just going to continue to ride the train. A smirk appeared on her face as she heard the shriek that signaled the fact that the so called attendant had in fact decided to depart from the train. In a rush judging from both the sound of her screech as well as the fact that she almost face planted and succeeded in flashing several of the people still on the train.

When the woman asked her why she'd left without saying anything Nic offered her a droll look but didn't say anything in reply. However the moment that the woman placed a hand on her shoulder and asked her what she had to say for herself the girl decided that silence and ignoring her wasn't really the answer. So Nic offered up a sarcastic reply instead. "Last I checked I don't answer to you so there really wasn't any reason to tell you that I was leaving. Your job is to keep an eye on me which apparently you weren't actually doing or else you would have known that I left without me having to spell it out for you." The girl wasn't happy that she'd had to travel with the woman in the first place and she did absolutely nothing to hide this fact from her. She moved to pull free from the grip that the woman had on her but didn't have to since she was released as a man approached them.

Nic turned her mismatched eyes toward him and watched as he approached. She picked up on the fact that he seemed almost nervous and was that a hint of confusion that she caught in his gray eyes? The girl wasn't really sure exactly why he looked like that but it didn't really matter much to her. Watching as the attendant did a complete one eighty as far as her behavior was concerned she actually scoffed. "Oh yea, wonderful acting skills you've got there. I'm impressed." Once again her voice contained a sarcastic quality to it, the girl shifting her gaze back and forth between the woman and the man that she assumed was her uncle.

Even though the attendant instructed her to say hello to her uncle those weren't the words that Nic offered him, the child gazing at him in an almost appraising manner. She was trying to find the similarity between him and her mother though it was difficult since she'd only ever seen pictures of the woman. "You shouldn't make faces like that... might stick that way and then you'll be in trouble." Not that she really thought this possible despite having been told this a couple of times herself. Nic was a smart girl, much farther along in her schooling than most kids her age, and she knew that wasn't going to happen. But it still amused her to tell her uncle this, speaking to him as one might speak to a child. Which made the little girl sound almost condescending.

[*starfruits*]

Tetsuya blinked at that, though the hardness of his eyes relaxed. He was used to punk kids talking to him like that before he had a chance to round and pin them, but he'd never taken that kind of backchat from a little kid before. He simply stared at the girl for a while, happier to appraise her as a Detective than as the shaken uncle through her stiff greeting, before he looked back to Ms. Yariko, moving for his wallet, "Thanks for the service -"

After placing an envelope of details in his hand, the young woman looked back down to Nichola, interpreting the Detective's silence as scorn of the girl.

An opportunity.

Although it ought to have been kept under wraps, Ms. Yariko feigned an expression akin to pity for the girl, and heaved a sigh, "She's been like this throughout the journey, Detective," she then leaned forward, brushing her perfumed cheek against his as she whispered all-too-loudly in the rugged man's ear, "I think she is feeling lonely... of course she would. After all, her father..." she let the words hang on the air, as she slowly leaned back, and in those dark, sad eyes a real monster lay in wait.

Nakano clenched his fists, a muscle tightening in his neck. He was furious.

But, he forced himself to relax, turning off the switch of his annoyance, as he nodded to her, "Thanks for the service. I'll pay the fare for your ride back," he ventured, taking out his wallet again and offering out more than enough for the woman to take. Of course, she took it with greedy talons and hungry eyes, painted over by a sweet, apologetic smile.

The next train to the city was 20 minutes away, and that was 20 minutes more than Tetsuya could stand with the woman. She'd pushed all his green buttons in the way her scent, her looks, that figure, but she'd strayed into his red zones when she overstepped her bounds. Talking shit around the kid like that.

Finally, after making his excuses and turning away from Ms. Yariko, the Detective looked upon his niece with more gentle eyes. As gentle as they could go right now, anyway. He looked to her backpack, and then to the small case he was now holding.

The bastard hadn't even packed for her.

Tetsuya's jaw tightened, as he looked at his niece, her profile as she walked. She was so small and so... damn. It was riling him up. She was just a kid.

And that guy... he'd just tossed her aside because a big job had come up. A big job and a new woman.

It was like those damned teen soap operas the kids were all watching these days. A guy like that should never had had kids.

Just like he hadn't.

A sinking feeling began to burn through his gut like a hot coal, as if his thoughts were an omen. He was a top-notch officer, but what if he was as big a scumbag as his sister's fella?

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

As the two walked down the concrete steps of the station, the wind was easing up. It made the silence more unbearable. It looked as though the girl was looking out into the trees, listening to their melody. Her uncle looked, too.

Eventually, Tetsuya cleared his throat, "...Guess you're more used to the lights, hm?" he waited, looking out into the small city surrounded by forest and hills, "I'll bet you don't see many stars in the sky in the big city. You'll see them all out tonight in Kochigawa." he placed her suitcase in the boot of his Toyota, and slammed the back down - it needed that these days. He then opened the passenger seat, holding it open for her, "We'll be passing by your school on the way," he offered conversationally, moving to help her with the seat belt, "the belt's a little tricky... let's see..."

[CleverFox]

Nic was so close to kicking that irritating woman in the shins that the longing to do so was almost written across her face as she glared through narrowed and hardened eyes. "Lonliness had nothing to do with it... I just don't like you, idiot. Honestly, is it really that hard to figure something like that out? Did I need to spell it out for you?" It was a rhetorical question, Nic didn't really expect or want an answer to it. She just said it to further irritate the woman who had been a burr in her side since she'd met her. As the talk turned to her father the girl bristled for a minute before the stoic expression returned to her eyes. "Father of the year and all that," she said with a shrug, not really caring about the situation. She certainly wasn't going to lose sleep over it.

Being a very observant child Nic noticed the furious look that appeared in her uncle's eyes and she wasn't sure what had caused it. Possibly the words that she had offered to him but that didn't seem likely. While perhaps not polite they hadn't been anywhere near bad enough to have elicited such a look. Or at least, she didn't think so. Shrugging her shoulders the girl decided that she would wait for him to say something about it or else pretend that she hadn't noticed. She was quite good at that after all. Just ignore it and it would go away.

Nic wasn't sure about going with her gruff looking uncle but figured that it had to be better than staying with the obnoxious woman so she didn't protest as they began to walk away from the platform. Gazing around with keen interest she took in her surroundings, liking the trees and open landscape better than the stuffiness of the city. She'd never really enjoyed living there but it wasn't as though she had much of a choice in the matter. It was what it was.

Swiping at a lock of her mahogany hair, brushing it away from her right eye, Nic gazed up and regarded her uncle. She had to crane her head to actually do so, small for her age even and with the lithe build of a gymnast. "Actually I'm more used to the indoors. I don't get out much." She had been more or less in charge of keeping their apartment clean and had even learned to cook since if she didn't do it then no one would and there was only so much take out and microwave fair that a person could deal with. The girl watched as he placed the suitcase in the car and then held the door open for her. Admittedly this threw her off a degree, the child being used to indifference. "You're strange," she said bluntly as she climbed into the passenger's seat. She grabbed for the belt and actually slapped at his hand as he moved to help her with it. "Tricky or not I can do it. I don't give a damn how tricky it is."

Nic didn't even give a second thought to her language as she said this, offering her uncle a decidedly disgruntled look. An independent soul Nic was used to doing things for herself and she was not going to let this man get the impression that she was some helpless little child who couldn't do anything for herself.

[*starfruits*]

The tanned guy frowned a bit in confusion, but the statement didn't upset him. In fact, he thought it was sort of...well... he didn't know how to put it, but there was something endearing about a kid her age acting like she just didn't care what anybody thought. It was spunky, brave, and something that he could relate to, even if just a little. His eyes actually relaxed enough to suggest a smile, though it hadn't the time to show.

Admittedly he wasn't prepared for being batted, but it was a harmless gesture. The officer was not particularly angered by such an instinctive act, but he hadn't been expecting it from such a dainty little thing. Kids in this town barely dared anything that they might'a gotten away with in the city, with parents who promised the world just for a moment of peace from the bustle of office life. In these little cities, more in tune with tradition, kids were kids, played and learned and laughed. Split watermelons in summer, and played tag or otedama in the streets while their parents prepared dinner or worked nearby.

In Kochigawa, kids of all ages, even grown-up kids showed respect to their elders. Not only because there was time for nurturing and care, for life-lessons and simpler, happier life, but also because... otherwise, they'd be sleeping belly-down on their futons.

Even so, that's not what had gotten to Detective Nakano. His gaze hardened the moment her words turned sour.

"Watch your mouth." his gray eyes were steadfast and firm, as he moved back and shut the passenger door. His tie flew back somewhat as the wind picked up, but he didn't hurry his pace getting into the Toyota. Instead, he gave a lasting look to the station, wondering how this was all going to play out.

Was he really all this kid had? He was a lousy choice for anybody, and yet... here he was. Here they were. Raking a strong palm through short auburn hair, the detective finally got into the car and strapped himself in. Tetsuya didn't offer much in conversation or even eye-contact at first, as he moved into gear and reversed out of the station parking lot, giving one last stare at the ornamental stone travelers' shrine situated at the right of the entrance way.

Their journey was just beginning.

[CleverFox]

Once he moved his hand Nic set about figuring out the trick that would make the safety belt latch, it only taking a couple of minutes for the little girl to figure it out and be rewarded with a 'click' that signified that it was secured in place. The child turned her gaze back to her uncle just in time to watch the expression in his gray eyes turn firm but she wasn't really phased by this. However she was affected by his gruff order for her to watch her mouth. Nic wasn't accustomed to having anyone care what she said or did for that matter and so she wasn't willing to have him trying to do so now. "I'll say whatever I want to say and there's not really much you can do about it," the little girl informed him in a rebellious tone of voice, her own mismatched eyes meeting his stern gaze with a steely look of her own. She didn't care how gruff he looked, she wasn't afraid of him and after having been the boss of herself for practically her entire life she didn't fancy the idea of suddenly having someone tell her what to do.

It didn't even register to the little girl that he might be doing this because he actually, genuinely cared about her and wanted her to be a decent person who didn't use coarse language and who had respect for their elders. She was completely unfamiliar with such things and as a result wouldn't have been able to recognize it if this were indeed the case with her uncle.

Having made this declaration Nic watched as her uncle made his way around to the driver's side of the Toyota, keeping her mismatched eyes focused on him until he climbed inside and then shifting her gaze to the window. The scenery was mildly interesting to the little girl but the main reason why she was choosing to focus her attention on the outside was that she wasn't really sure how to react to the situation on the inside. Nic had always been more or less a loner and now she suddenly found herself in a new situation, with a new family member, and she just didn't know how to deal with it.

So she went for the old stand by of ignore it and it will go away.

[*starfruits*]

Trees and high, green woods passed them as Nakano drove back down the slender road to Kochigawa. Thin pylons rose up here and there, all attached to one another, their wooden beams seeming at peace with the life around it. Houses were dotted here and there, many of them built in timber beams. They were old, rustic, homely. Just as the little district itself.

They passed rice paddies and vegetable fields, cyclists and even a cattle. Some stands stood aloft, offering out fried soba and water to the workers in the paddies, wearing straw-hats in the afternoon sun.

Nakano's gaze drifted from one such stand to his little charge, only to go back to the dirt road.

"Are you hungry?" He drove leisurely, but kept his eyes on the road. Not because it was a necessity, but simply because he was still unsure of how to go about this... any of it. He chanced a glance over at his small niece, and for a moment, their gray eyes met only to look away once more, "What do you like to eat?"

Now they were passing houses, some new, others just as old and wholesome as the first few. Detective Nakano's home stood on a slope, a midst a simple but large garden with an unused well at the back. The house was a combination of fine, pale yellow plaster and mahogany dark timber. Inside the house was dim, though when the window blinds were parted it really transformed. The floors were boards, but polished, and though the man had added many of his own, modern touches about the place, the fact of its tradition and its cultural add-ons were plain to see.

A traditional, rural Japanese homestead. Complete with indoor and outdoor bath and toilet.

[CleverFox]

Nic was a fair amount curious about where it was that they were going and she was also somewhat curious as to why her uncle seemed to have such an aversion to talking. It didn't actually bother her that he seemed to be more of the silent type since she was used to that sort of thing but even at her young age the child figured that there had to be some kind of reasoning behind his silence. The child did briefly consider the fact that he felt put out that he had ended up with her, the little girl turning her blue and gray eyes toward him with a look that could only be considered appraising. Was that what it was? Was the man being silent because he was angry that his niece had been practically dumped on his doorstep like an abandoned and unwanted infant? Nic figured that this could be the case but after a moment of thought the little girl simply shrugged her thin shoulders. If that was the case he should have just said no so she wasn't going to worry about it.

The question of whether or not she was hungry, which was followed by a second question of what she liked to eat, served to bring Nic's attention back to the current situation and she once again gazed at the man. "Eh, I'm not all that hungry but I'm not picky about what I'll eat. Since I have to cook it myself the options are limited." She had learned to cook a few things but her staple was mainly rice and whatever meat happened to be on hand at the time. Fried rice was her favorite but she didn't offer him this bit of information. Truth be told she really wasn't all that picky about what she ate.

The fact that her uncle had actually spoken was surprising but Nic couldn't fail to notice that he still looked decidedly uncomfortable and seemed to be avoiding making eye contact with his little niece as much as possible. Which she could kind of identify with since despite the tough mask that she maintained Nic couldn't completely banish her own feelings of apprehension and insecurity. All she could do was hide them from sight and deal with them as she dealt with everything else.

As they arrived at what Nic assumed would be her new home a keen interest filled her mismatched eyes as she gazed around, climbing from the Toyota as it came to a stop and gazing around with interest. She had always been inquisitive and this house was vastly different from the apartment where she'd grown up. The child couldn't really help but be curious about things.