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Usagi looked up from her computer and smiled slightly at the figure in her doorway. "Usami-chan, what can I do for you?"
Usami smiled a little. "Someone wants to talk to you. Alone, I'm afraid," she replied, glancing over at Rei.
Rei eyed the younger woman curiously, then shrugged. "I really should go check on Deja-chan and the babies, anyway."
Usagi nodded. "We'll finish that discussion later, Rei-chan." Usagi turned the wheelchair around and moved closer to the couch as the other woman left. "So, who wants to talk? Asht-chan, Tai-chan or Mara-chan?"
Two little figures eeped and hid behind the Kinmokunai's legs. Usami sighed, deliberately walking into the room and sitting on the couch. Her three tag-alongs quickly followed her, but only Asht would sit with her, while the other two hid behind the couch.
"It seems they're a little nervous without Taiki-chan around."
"It isn't only that, I'm afraid." Usami replied. "Tai seems to be ... having nightmares. About you and the other Senshi."
Usagi nodded. "It would only make sense that Rubeus would. I'm afraid he ... didn't fare well in our last battle."
Tai jumped up from his hiding place behind the couch and stared at the blonde. "You knew?"
"Since the day you walked into my home. I've even had several discussions with Demando, here."
Asht frowned. "Please don't call me that."
Mara glared at her brother. "You never said you talked to her."
"I never said I didn't."
Usagi smiled slightly. "That only leaves us with you, Mara-chan. I can't quite figure out who you are, or rather, were."
"It'd be easier if you imagined her as a boy. But then again, Saffy always was kinda girly."
Mara smacked Tai and turned to glare at the snickering Asht. "Shut up, you ... meanie."
"Now I see it." Usagi reached over and touched Mara's forehead, a few inches down from her hairline. "Right there ... an inverted moon. But they're not black anymore ... and a little faded."
"See, I told you it would be ok." Usami pulled the redhead closer and looked at his cheek where his sister had smacked him. "I think Tai is a much better name for you than Ruby."
"Rube-US, it's a boy's name." Tai flinched when she touched his cheek and was glad that Kakyuu had already said they didn't have to go to school tomorrow. "It's not going to bruise, is it?"
Usami shook her head. "No. I doubt she hit you hard enough for it to bruise, but if you like we could go put some ice cream on it."
"I think that would really help," Tai replied, trying his best to look pitiful.
Asht rolled his eyes as he grabbed his brother's hand. "Come on, you big baby. Like that's the first time Mara's ever hit you."
Mara was about to follow them when Usagi placed a hand on her arm.
"Mara-chan ... what do you remember?"
"Not much. I remember fighting. And a lot of pain, but that's all."
"Do you remember other people? Other names from that life?"
Mara frowned. "Esmeraude .... and another lady whose name I can't remember. I don't know who she was to him, but she was important." She shook her head, then looked up at the blonde. "Do you know who she is?"
Usagi shook her head slightly. "No, I don't." She watched the girl run after her brothers, who were waiting just outside the room, then looked at Usami. "Keep them away from the Ayakashi. At least until I've had a chance to talk to them."
Tai went running around the corner, being chased by his two siblings. "I'm going to win!"
"Tai! Be quiet," Asht hissed as he reached for his brother. He caught up to the redhead just as the slightly younger boy slammed into *someone* coming out of the kitchen.
Juzo grabbed the younger boy with one arm as they both fell to the floor, dropping the glass he had in his other hand. Asht saw them fall, but couldn't stop himself in time and wound up falling on top of the other two boys. Mara was behind them and would have been able to stop herself, had she not slipped on the spilled milk.
Before the blue-haired girl could even register the pain from the glass in her leg and hand, Asht was at her side. "Mara? Are you okay?"
Juzo sat up, gingerly rubbing his head where it had connected with the floor. "What happened? Is she-Kuso!"
Usami caught up with the triplets just as the white liquid under Mara's leg began turning pink. "Mara!"
The blue-haired girl barely noticed when the older girl picked her up. She barely noticed her brothers both hovering around her, asking what seemed a million questions. Her attention was fixed on the older boy that Tai had crashed into ... and a face that haunted her dreams.
"Asht, go find Dema! Tai, go tell Usagi-sama what happened!" Usami carried the younger girl into the living room and turned her leg to see how deep the cuts were. "Your Dema's going to kill me, little one."
Mara snapped out of her semi-trance and looked at Usami. "You didn't do it. It was an accident."
Juzo quickly cleaned up the glass and spilled liquid before grabbing towels and following Usami. "Usami-san, is she ok?" When he saw the slightly younger woman shaking, he walked over and gently took Mara from her. "Didn't they say that that lady that came with Urani-san was a doctor? Maybe you should go get her."
Usami nodded and vanished from the living room. Zoë came into the room moments later. "Juzo, what's going on? I came to see-Shit, what happened?"
"I dropped a glass and she slipped on it. Usami-san's gone after the doctor and the boys went to get her mother and Chiba-san." Juzo looked down at Mara, wondering why she wasn't screaming in pain. What he found was blue eyes watching him intently. "I was beginning to think you had passed out, kiddo."
Mara shook her head, flinching only slightly when Zoë touched her hand. "Can't sleep. Bad dreams." She turned to look at Zoë and saw her blood on the older girl's hands. She pulled her hand free, gasping slightly as she closed it into a fist. "No."
"Mara-chan, you have to let me get the glass out. It'll only hurt worse if I don't."
The smaller girl shook her head and tried to move away from Zoë. "Doesn't hurt."
Zoë looked at her curiously, then at the bloody towel in her husband's hand. "Mara-chan ..."
Kakyuu came into the room, followed by the two boys and Usagi. "Is she alright?"
Zoë looked at the redhead, then Usagi, shaking her head. "I don't know. She says it doesn't hurt."
"To her, it probably doesn't." Asht grabbed his brother and moved to the back of the couch where they could see what was happening. He ignored the strange looks from most of the adults. "Where's Usami-hime?"
"She went to get that doctor that came with Urani-san," Juzo replied. He shifted slightly so that Mara could see her brothers and so Zoë could sit beside him. "She should be back any-"
Panacea was arguing with Urani over being awakened in the middle of the night so rudely as Usami teleported them into the living room. The young boy's face was bright red, as was Usami's. "I said I was sorry," the Princess replied. "But there was no other choice."
The redhead hmphed and stalked over to the couch. She pulled a small device from her pocket and started looking at the young girl. "Shtai itchta moner."
"Why not?" Usami shook her head slightly, then asked again in Kinmokunai.
Juzo frowned. "What did she say?"
"She said she can't treat her. Her injuries are too bad to treat with a field kit." Kakyuu replied, frowning. "And we can't take her to one of the ships like that."
Usagi frowned as well. "Usami-chan can teleport her to the hospital. We'll follow in the car. Zoë-chan, can you stay with the boys and their little sister?"
"Of course," Zoë replied. "Juzo should go with Usami-san."
"We're going too," Asht levelled a glare at Usagi that reminded the blonde of his former self.
"Alright, but you go with Kakyuu-san and myself. Zoë-chan, stay with Rsin-chan."
Juzo looked at Usami and stood. "Ready when you are, Usami-san."
Usagi and Kakyuu arrived at the hospital to find Usami and Juzo being questioned by a police officer. After speaking with a nurse, who was anything but helpful, Kakyuu was allowed in to see Mara. The doctors were just finishing up the stitches in her hand when she came in.
"Are you her mother?"
Kakyuu shook her head. "No, but I am her Guardian. Her mother ... is dead."
The doctor nodded slightly, moving to examine Mara's leg. "Do you know what happened?"
"My daughter said she was taking the kids to the kitchen when they bumped into another housemate. He dropped a glass and Mara slipped on it." Kakyuu stood beside the bed and brushed the young girl's hair from her face. "Why is my daughter being questioned by a policeman?"
The doctor placed a temporary bandage on Mara's leg and stood. "He was here when she brought the child in. No ID, no proof of relation to the child. I think he was concerned over her injuries." He motioned Kakyuu away from the unconscious girl, frowning. "Frankly, I'm also a little concerned. She said the girl was almost ten years old, but she's so small."
"She's always been small. All three of them have."
"Three?"
"Mara is one of a set of triplets. Plus their parents were never very tall. My ... former lover is their god-father and legal Guardian. He asked me to take care of them while he was away on business," Kakyuu replied. "Both I and the lady I am with have legal Guardianship while he is gone. After his wife died, we made sure that, were something to happen, none of our children were to be without family."
The doctor nodded. "Alright, then. I'll speak to the officer myself, but he may have a few questions for you as well. There is only one more matter. Mara's injuries are pretty bad. She's lost a lot of blood ... you said she was a triplet?"
"Yes. The only girl."
"I hate to ask this of parents with such young children, but ... Mara has a very unusual blood type. Would you be willing to authorize us to give her a transfusion of her brothers' blood? I am, quite literally, worried that any blood we have here may do more harm than good."
Kakyuu looked over at the small girl on the bed. "Her brothers would do anything for her, but I don't know if I could do that to them. Test my blood. If it doesn't work, then I will allow you to use theirs."
"What of your daughter?"
"She has an even ... rarer blood type."
Mara was kept in the hospital overnight, as were both of her brothers, who had had to give blood after all. When she was released the following afternoon, it was with a strict diet plan from the hospital nutritionist and doctors orders to stay home from school a few more days. Her brothers were not happy to learn the school orders were only for her, while the diet plan included all three of them.
The blue-haired girl was sitting beside Rei that afternoon, while her brothers were stretched out on the floor watching television. She glanced over to see the former Priestess holding the youngest of her children and frowned slightly. "Kumada-san, may I ask you a question?"
Rei smiled at the young girl's formal tone. "Of course you may," she replied.
"Did Usagi-sama tell you about us? Who we really are?"
"Yes. There are few secrets between the members of this house. And we do want the three of you to know that we do not hold you responsible for what they did. I don't even think they were responsible for most of it."
Mara nodded slightly. She glanced over to see that both of her brothers were facing away, but she knew from their body language that they were listening. "Did they ... have any family?"
Rei frowned. "I don't know, Mara-chan. We never got to know the three of you. Saffir and Demando were always in the background. And Rubeus ... we never knew their private lives."
Asht sat up and turned to face the older woman. "What she's trying to ask is ... is Juzo-san the son of Saffir?"
Sighing, Rei placed the baby into the nest of pillows between her and Mara. "Juzo-chan is ... Juzo-chan's father is dead. His name doesn't matter."
Tai sat up, but didn't turn around. "It matters to us. Even if we're not the same people we were, we ..."
"We feel a need to make up for their wrongs," Mara replied.
"You're just children. You bear no responsibility when it comes to anything they did. You're not them. You just have their memories ... and maybe some day, their powers. Let their guilt have died with them," Rei replied. "And whatever you do, stay away from anyone calling himself 'Wiseman' or 'Death Phantom'."
The triplets chuckled slightly. "Will do, Kumada-san. As long as we see him coming," Asht replied.
Mara gave her brother a look. "He was a short freak with a skull for a face who constantly went around wearing a hooded robe. I think we'll be able to spot him."
Tai shrugged, glancing back over his shoulder. "I don't know, Mara ... this is California. There are some pretty weird people here."
"At least two." The blue-haired girl smirked at the strange looks her brothers were giving her. Her smirk faded as she turned back to Rei. "Kumada-san ... is there ..."
"Not yet, sweetie. Goodman-san said it will be another day or so before she can safely open the portal." Rei watched as all three children seemed to curl in on themselves. 'Taiki-chan ... I hope you're okay.'
