Ishihara Residence

Jean's jaw dropped. Not as much as the exaggerated cartoons showed, but just enough to make her closed mouth slip open. She reached out a hand to touch Kitt. Something was wrong. Jean just went to her funeral not two months ago, and here she was, standing at her door.

Kitt flinched when Jean touched her shoulder. She was solid, not some ghost from the accident. "Ouch. Jean watch out, I'm still a little sore from my bruises." Somehow, Kitt's voice was different. Jean noticed, but didn't give it much thought. It was still Kitt.

Jean welcomed Kitt inside and sat her on the couch as Jean ran into the kitchen to make tea. She didn't know why she was making tea, as neither Kitt nor Jean liked it much. She just needed to do something in her anxiousness.

After starting the hot water, she eagerly stepped back into the living room and sat on the couch. Kitt looked at Jean, and then looked away.

"I'm so happy that you're alive and okay," Jean said to her sister. "I realy thought you were gone for good."

Kitt turned her blue eyes back towards Jean and said, "You know, if you hadn't moved so far away in this icy wasteland with that idiot, I never would have crashed."

Jean froze. Her sister's words were harsh, though her voice was conversational. "Wh- What- What do you mean?" Jean studdered. Surely Kitt wasn't blaming her accident on Jean. Kitt would never do that.
"You know what I mean. It was on these frozen roads that I had my accident. I was coming to see you." Kitt's voice started to match the venom in her words. They made Jean shudder.

"But you were in the SciLabs. I went to the hospital there to see you. You weren't anywhere near Sharo." jean tried frantically to make sense of this. It could not be happening.

"Jean, you idiot. I asked the hospital to take me somewhere far from here and tell you I had crashed there. I didn't want you to feel guilty. But I thought about it and I realized how much you should know about your ignorance."

She couldn't believe it. Jean was apalled at her sister's bitterness and hatred. Kitt had never said any such words to Jean, ever. Jean had never seen Kitt like this.

It's all your fault.

It's all your fault.

It's all your fault.

It's all your fault.

The words echoed in her head until Jean wanted to scream. It wasn't her fault. she didn't even know!

"You didn't even realize that your sister was in danger." Kitt's mouth moved to the words, but it wasn't her voice that said it. It was her own mind's voice that made those deadly words.

No! Jean felt the insides of her soul tear as she tried desperately to ward off the ever-growing guilt.

She screamed. She let it out, finally. She screamed and screamed until her voice grew hoarse.

Then she heard soft singing. A lullaby. A soft tune that she was familiar with, but didn't recognize.

Kazu slipped quietly into the house, leaving the groceries on the kitchen table. The door slammed behind him and he winced as he realized that Jean was sleeping on the sofa. With as much stealth as he could manage, Kazu crept up to where she was dozing and sat next to her. She couldn't have been sleeping for very long; she had been operating Kitt minutes ago. With a small smile he ran a hand through her long hair.

Something was troubling her, he could tell. Her face twisted and clenched as if in pain. Worriedly, Kazu woke her up by placing his hand gently on her shoulder and whispering in her ear. "Come on," he cooed. "I'm home, Jean."

Jean was uneasy for a little while before growing comfortable in the lullaby. She opened her eyes.

"Kazu!"" She was so relieved. She hugged his arm and refuse to let go.

Kazu frowned as he saw the email out of the corner of his eye, but his attention was quickly diverted away from it.

Mostly. The content was troubling... he hoped that the trouble could wait for a few minutes. He might have been worried, but he also sense how troubled his wife was.

Pushing aside his instinct to immediately run out and help his old friend, Kazu looked curiously at Jean. "What's wrong?" He said finally, placing a hand on her shoulder and trying to look into her eyes. "Everything's all right, isn't it?"

"Yes." Jean's voice was a little shakey, but it was subtle. She continued to hold on to Kazu's arm. She noticed that Kazu was a little distracted, but she paid no mind. Right now Jean was feeling especially selfish, and especially shaken.

Jean laid there in thought, thinking about the two people in this world that she loved most. One was deceased. One had blamed everything on her in her dream. One had cracked the code into her heart. Kitt introduced her to Kazu. Kitt told her about people, animals, and all sorts of imaginary creatures. Kitt had always known everything.

And here was Kazu. Always. He was always here, holding her in his soft arms and waiting for her to run out of tears while she soaked his shoulder. He had cracked the code too, with help. He was always happy with her, and she was always happy with him. She would never let him go. He couldn't go. She'd lose everything if he went. She would hold on to his arm forever, and he would never leave her; never die. Never leave her to be alone.

She clutched his arm tighter.

Gently, Kazu turned his body so that he could comfort her, running his fingers down her back in a way that he knew would please her. Sometimes he was afraid that their relationship was empty, an echo of something lost with their teenage years. This was not one of those times. Kazu didn't know what Jean could possibly have dreamt of that would make her so upset, but he had an idea. Two things had a tight grip on his wife's heart, and one of them was him. The other...

Kazu placed his hand under Jean's chin, and kissed her. He wanted to whisper that it was all right, that he would always be there, that anything she needed, he could give-- but it would have sounded hollow and untrue. His kiss would have to do.

As he drove home from SciLabs, Kazu reflected on the days behind him. He was starting a new chapter, creating a new beginning. Every time before, his Navi had been bred for combat from day one, but this child was too human for that.

Human. Toshokan had been a machine that dreamt of being human. Maybe he would meet that particular program again. He wasn't sure if he looked forward to it.

All Kazu knew now was that he could feel the fresh newness of the next chapter of his life entering. No foreboding. No hatred. No ghosts to cloud his vision, at least not until he was good and ready for them. He was coming home to his wife, with a new friend who embodied perfectly everything that he felt. The smile that crept across his face made him feel warm and fufilled as he clamped his PET into the holster on the dashboard and activated it for the first time.

Hello, my name is Memoriam-- nice to meet you, Mr. Ishihara! The Navi's voice was high-- boyish, one would say. His exceptional appearance fit perfectly the refreshing and lighthearted feeling he brought to the car's interior.

"You can call me Kazu," said Kazuhiro sagely, returning his attention to the road. Memoriam... the name was ironic.

Jean watched television, not really paying attention to it as she waited for Kazu to return home. He called her earlier; he was leaving Scilabs. He should be home in a few hours. What was she going to do until then?

Just as she flipped open her pet to talk to Kitt, the doorbell rang. Kazu couldn't possibly be home already-- who was at the door?

Jean opened her door, the light from outside blindingly bright to her eyes. The tinted windows did their job well; keeping the light and heat out of the house. Her eyes hurt for a few moments before she could properly see the paper boy standing at her door.

"Yes?" Jean's voice was soft spokn, but not very welcoming. It wasn't so much that she didn't want him around as much as her voice was just that way. She didn't mind the boy.

"Um... Mrs. Ishihara, could I, um, come in?" His voice faltered a little, like he was being shy. He looked earnestly at her, big round eyes pleading.

She nodded, and the short boy stepped into the house and made way to the couch. "Is, um, Mr. Ishihara, uh, here?" Often he put incomprehensible pauses between words, like he didn't know how to continue his sentence.

Jean shook her head once, analyzing him in her mind. He was short, as she had seen in the door, her had not had his growth spurt, and if he had, he didn't grow very much. His hair was short, but long enough to fall almost flatly on his head. His hair was colored brown and bleached blond, his face small and round. His eyes seemed almost dominant on his face, but when he smiled nervously, it rivaled his wide eyes. His teeth were white and his lips were quite pink in contrast. his nose was wide but still small, his face was almost flat. He had mostly Asian features with the exception of his unusually wide eyes. He wore a white T-shirt with khaki cargo shorts and wide, brown shoes that were left untied. He was thin, with just barely tanned honey-brown skin that seemed to soak up energy and make the world around him a little more dull than before. Overall he had a boyish look to him, though he couldn't be less than fourteen years old.

Before Jean realized it, he had asked her a question. "What was that?" She asked politely, wanting to be a good host, but not used to other's company.

"Why don't you guys have children?" He paused for only a second. "I mean, uh, I wouldn't want to overstep any boundaries, but I, uh, was just wondering, you know, 'cause I, uh, yeah." He closed his mouth and looked away, obviously being shy.

Jean was taken aback by the question. Children? She had never really considered actually having children-- she had always had Mitsue, her kiddish little sister. "I don't know." Her voice was quiet and stony, with no feeling in it at all. The conversation dropped dead quiet and remained there, awkward and apparent.

Kazu grit his teeth and realized he was going to have to let his Navi fend for himself as he pulled onto the freeway and put both his hands on the wheel, where they belonged. "Sorry about this, Memoriam," he said, putting just the tiniest bit of extra pressure on the accelerator. "That Sword chip should hold you over for a while. I'll be back with you soon." He swore under his breath. He didn't want to lose this Navi now.

Now speeding along the highway at almost 70 mph, Kazuhiro Sachio Ishihara realized why he was so eager to get Memoriam up to speed: He wanted to show him to his wife. His wife... Jean.

He sighed and concentrated on the road. He'd be home to her soon.

A few minutes later, Kazu had parked his car and was at the door of the house, fingers hovering at the handle. Something seemed... wrong, somehow, but he was surely just imagining it.

With a quick wrist action, he turned the knob and swung the door open, pushing with his shoulder out of habit so that he was all the way into the room before he could even see what was going on. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't to see a boy in his living room.

Perfect timing. Jean had no idea how to answer the boy, yet she didn't want him to think that she didn't want his company. "Honey," she said towards her husband, "You remember the paper boy?" She had forgotten his name.

Mark jumped up, blushing a little as he did. It was hard to say why his face had suddenly turned red, but Jean thought nothing of it. She didn't even notice. "I, uh, better get going... So... yeah." He zipped through the door and was out of the house before Jean could tell him that he forgot his watch on the table.

"Silly boy," Jean said quietly; to Kazu, but also to herself. "He forgot his watch." Jean looked up at the silhouette of her beloved Kazu. "You're home very early. You must be excited about your new Navi."