A/N: Now that my back is mainly healed from my fall, I had another mishap take place, a rather emotional one. My grandmother has passed away and now after a long drawn out couple of days my mom's plane flight to Vietnam has been arranged. Mom will be missing my birthday again this year but for worst reasons. Thank you all for the wait.

Mucking into the Past

Haji felt the tension emanating from Kai before entering the back room of the Omoro with a touch of apprehension for the onslaught of questions he knew Kai would want answered. His mind drifted away from the matter and the pair of eyes glaring at him once the door was closed, there was little he could do except let the young man vent at him for being left out of the decisions by Joel. Once the red head finished his rant, he folded his arms and simply glared at the Chevalier standing before him with very little attention focused on him.

"I feel as if I'm speaking to a brick wall Haji."

The Chevalier blandly gazed down at the man, azure eyes offering no sympathy, no remorse, just emptiness.

"Is this what Saya would have wanted, a withdrawn, reclusive Chevalier?"

Azure eyes narrowed discretely at the human.

"She wanted to live with us, the least you could have done after hurting her with your absence was to let me know you were alive instead of holing up in that shrine by yourself."

"I am a servant of Saya. It is by her side I remain."

Kai's temper frayed considerably, his hand clenched at his side, "Then why weren't you there when she was fighting off the sleep? You hurt her Haji."

Haji tilted his head sideways a bit, not gazing down at the human any longer, but at the wall, thoughtful, "I was unable to reach her in time. I do regret it." The Chevalier stood immobile with his hand resting inside a pocket, a single bandage exposed to prying eyes that would wander over his immaculate figure. Kai curled his fingers tighter than before, "I suppose what matters is that you're here now, isn't that what I'm suppose to say, Haji? But, right now, all I can see is red. I'm angry that everyone, including you, kept me out of this. Didn't you want to see Saya's nieces?"

"No."

Kai took a step back with a slow blink, "Why?" Haji observed Kai as he assessed the situation, the flickering emotions dancing across his face. Kai perceived the world as a human typically would, expecting Saya's nieces to mature into adulthood as humans, not Chiropterans. For all his hopes, Kai realized the error of raising the girls as humans with no knowledge of Chiropterans. They'd share the same fate their mother and aunt shared merely from a lack of heritage, self-identity, and knowledge of what previously occurred. The girls only had a future if they were permitted the forbidden knowledge their relatives hadn't known.

"Because...they'll grow up.. and want a family," Kai heavily leaned against the wall feeling defeated. When Riku changed, he fought it, pretending his little brother was still human, but in the end it was useless. Now Haji forced him to realize the true weight of his declaration to take care of the twins. Given the chance at living without knowing their blood heritage, they would grow up and realize all too soon when they stopped aging. Undoubtedly, the girls would inquire until he buckled about their uniqueness and if he held out for too long, they would resent the dishonesty.

"Yes. They'll want a family, something I will not help them with and Red Shield would not either. They are queens; the last generation as far as Red Shield is concerned. Would they permit them to make Chevaliers and breed? I doubt it. I will not be an instrument for little girl's whims unless ordered by Saya."

"And... Saya would never do it to you."

The Chevalier inclined his head in affirmation to the conclusion, "Therefore I have requested to be as far from their future as possible, consider it the removal of... 'temptation'." Haji tilted his head to the side, maintaining a bit of arrogance with the gesticulation, "Are we in agreement, Kai?" Azure eyes remained intently focused on the younger man as time passed, watching the resolution on Kai's face as he debated how to raise the girls and the lack of Haji's assistance if they should decide they wanted a family. He also mulled over the knowledge Red Shield held over the reproductive capabilities of Chiropterans because of his brother's sacrifice as Saya's youngest Chevalier. Joel and Julia were working together in trying to determine if previous generation of Chevaliers were able to impregnate receptive future generation Queens based on the knowledge of Nathan and Diva's couplings yet the lack of offspring from the unions.

If that were the case, then Haji would have no other fear from the new Queens, even death was impossible by their blood. Another lesson provided by Nathan's survival of Saya's blood coated sword puncturing his Chiropteran form. Nathan was spotted on film during the hectic cycle of organizing the mess left behind by Amshel, leaving Red Shield to tidy up the remnants of the ruin. The rediscovery of his presence bred into a highly displeased Julia and further embargos of questions that needed answers.

----

In the Omoro's dining room, Takara slowly dug into the obentou with an abating hunger for food due to the increased curiosity over Mr. Goldschmidt's temporary departure through the back of the room. Sliding a piece of the food between her lips, the girl bore her weighted gaze into the closed door waiting for a sign of life, a head to poke out to wave at, something in which would take her mind off the alienation.

The two men were odd together in her opinion, since she rarely saw Mr. Goldschmidt anywhere outside the floral side of the market place and Avery's music shop. Their connection with each other prior to their recent acquaintance drew a bit of her curiosity toward the matter. Although, internally, she admitted the red head was rather attractive even with bits of food on his apron and smudges from the oven all over him. WhereHaji was quite and handsome, the Omoro's owner was vivacious with life and a feisty disposition attributed with his red hair. They were two opposites of a coin, neither matching the other for all she observed, but absolutely individual in their personalities and appearances.

"Have you seen the recent music charts? There's that artist who disappeared on the top ten!"

"Which artist?"

"The singer who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House!"

"Her name was Diva right?"

"That's right, Diva, I hear she was quite a handful too."

"What happened to her?"

"It's strange, she seems to have disappeared after her performance when things started happening at the Met. Did you know some people are saying there were monsters running around in it?"

Takara listened to the conversation between the three men eating their meals by the window, "Well, no matter if she survived or not, her manager should be making a fortune, she's at the top of the music industry, there's talk about releasing her CD single soon."

"I'll have to check it out, I missed her performance because my wife was having a baby, and we were both going to go. We're thankful we didn't make it after we heard about the collapse of the support beams. All that talk of monsters, ludicrous!" A fourth man muttered, leaning back in his chair to eyeball the men collectively bantering each other about Diva's performance and the rumors about her absence. They each waved off the older man in the chair, "The older generation is suppose to be more superstitious than us, what happened to your traditions old man?"

The man waved chopsticks at the younger men, "Out the window when I married an American woman. They'll set you straight about all that foolery."

Takara softly laughed behind a napkin at the display especially when cat calling developed into inquiries if the older man preferred sun bleached hair to the typical dark hair of their Asian women.

Takara reflected on the night of Diva's concert where candy was given out to the audience just before the show, she'd have to get the CD since her mother was ill that night and she had to leave before hearing Diva sing. It was further so unfortunate that she wasn't able to go to the Met to see her second live performance either due to a business gathering at her parents' house for her father's promotion.

-----

"Haji... You can't just stay in Saya's shrine with George. When she wakes up, she'll need a real home. If not with the twins and I, then with you somewhere else, yet not too far away she'll regret the change. Remember she wished to live with all of us."

The Chevalier merely inclined his head to Kai, submitting to the point made, "And.. how do you propose I do this?"

The red head almost instantly reverted to his boyish charm with the smile he flashed the Chiropteran, "By getting your own place and living in this world, of course!" Before the Chevalier had any hope of escaping, Kai was laying out the groundwork he'd later approach Joel with for setting Haji up in his own residency not far from Kai and the girls by human standards. Briefly Kai touched on the subject of Haji working as Solomon once worked, as the head of a corporate office, until he recalled Haji required no source of income for as long as Red Shield prospered.

Before Haji could return to his guest, Kai struck him with another grin, "You know Haji, suits these days aren't so, archaic. Have you ever worn anything else?"

Slipping through the door to the restaurant, Haji spared Saya's older brother with his impassive azure gaze, "No."