Her. Chapter Six

Chapter 6
         Kin is part of a group of men and women determined to live peacefully in the world and extend their talents to the betterment of their fellow people. Others wish to live in peace and be left alone, others do not even know others exist (previously Kira), and others desire to live in existence with others but be in control of others. This last group of others has become surprisingly powerful over the past years. Kin’s initial interest in Kira and this group’s rising power are more than coincidence.
         Kin reflects upon the past several years of his life as he leaves Kira on her apartment steps. Kin does notice the young man across the street from Kira, and Kin recognizes the attraction the two have for each other. It reminds him of him and his wife; back when they were young naive things. Kin regrets having to tell Kira about her parents’ deaths, and he regrets the young lady could not become closer to her admirer. He blames himself for this instead of blaming the stubbornness and shyness of the two persons.
         The past years have been busy for Kin. He has found and raised Kira to her current status on the food chain. He has maintained his various businesses and very much so wishes to retire to the country side or city or wherever he could relax and not worry so much about things. Kin smiles to himself. This little fantasy is not going to happen anytime soon. Ideally, Kin has imagined Kira to take his place amongst their kind and still dreams of this.
         Kin has hidden the fact that he has been hiding for the past year and has intentionally been avoiding physical meetings with his little prodigy. One of Kin’s associates has already been killed. Kin is not afraid of his own death but the possible harm that may come to Kira because of his relationship with her. He worries about Kira’s trip home but assures himself that whoever killed her parents is long gone from the home. Kira’s parents had died over a week ago, and Kin has withheld news of their deaths as long as he could from her. This is not because of some selfish desire to keep Kira in New York or near him, but out of concern of how the deaths would affect Kira’s influence on others.
         “Where are we going, Sir?” asks his driver.
         “Back to the hotel please,” replies Kin. The driver takes Kin to the five star hotel the man has been residing at for the past couple of days. Kin thanks the driver and tells him to pick him up tomorrow morning. Kin has a feeling Kira would not be staying home for long.          
         Kin sits himself at the restaurant at the hotel and orders lunch for himself. A woman walks into the restaurant and sits herself at Kin’s table. She is around Kin’s age with long brown hair and a flawless complexion. Likewise, I can only tell you her age because I know it, not because it shows. She crosses her legs and leans closer to Kin, almost peering through him with her green eyes. She is dressed in a green dress with gold embellishments. Her black shoes alone cost more than some New Yorkers’ monthly rents.
         “I’m surprised you’re not on a flight with your little pet,” she says.
         “I’m afraid that would prevent me from having to deal with you directly,” replies Kin, not amused by the woman’s presence. He stares right back at her, challenging her stare.
         “Come now Kinsey, you can’t honestly say you’re happy to see me?”
         “What are you doing here, Beline?”
         “Fine,” she says. “What exactly are you planning on doing after your little pet returns from her sad visit with mommy and daddy?”
         “None of your business, I assure you.”
         “I assure you that it is.”
         “How so?”
         “You’re taking her with you to the council aren’t you?” she asks, pleased with Kin’s reaction after her question. Kin does not respond. Beline is a deceiving individual, her motives a constant reflection of her own selfish desires. Kin is sure there were men in the world more selfish than her, but he has yet to meet them.
         “The council is no longer safe, you know that,” she adds.
         “No where appears to be safe anymore, Beline. What are you offering?”
         “Let me meet her, Kinsey, and I can offer you her safety while you attend to business with the council.”
         “And what if I plan on presenting her to the council?” asks Kin. “What value does your protection of her have then?”
         “There are traitors in the council, Kinsey. Traitors I am sure would love nothing more than to kill you and steal away your—”
         “Kira,” interrupts Kin. “Her name is Kira.”
         “My apologies,” she says. “I am proposing a partnership, Kin. Let me help you in protecting her and together we may end the reign of the council.” Kin smiles to refrain from laughing at the woman’s suggestion.
         “You believe me to be so blind as I allow you anywhere near her?” he asks. “You believe me to be so naïve to assume you mean good?”
         “Times are changing. It’s not my fault I adapt better than you. You need all the help you can get, Kinsey. Let’s be realistic, your friends are disappearing, and you need all the friends you can get.” As much as Kinsey dislikes the woman, she is right.  His friends are disappearing either by death or by association. The council’s past belief of peace and understanding is diminishing and being replaced by a harsher, more domination oriented belief about humankind.
         “If you betray me Beline, I will not stop Kira from hurting you,” Kin replies. “If you harm her, I will not stop myself from hurting you.”
         “Fair enough,” says Beline, offering her hand. The thumb and forefinger of the hand are brutally burned. The skin is scarred and ugly. As Kin accepts her hand, she digs her long, green painted nails into his skin. Kin does not flinch, does not give her satisfaction in seeing any discomfort. She has broken the skin of his hand and blood begins to slowly drip into the white tablecloth. She then places her hand over Kin’s injured hand, moves closer to Kin, her mouth merely centimeters from his.
         “You need me Kinsey,” she whispers. “You’re too kind and the world is not a place for people like you.” She releases her hand from his and removes herself from the table. Kin does not watch her walk away. The waiter brings Kin his lunch and is shocked by the blood on the table.
         “Is everything alright, Sir?” he asks.
         “Fine,” says Kin. “A little bit of a nose bleed, but it seems to have stopped. I’ll pay for the tablecloth.” Kin eats his lunch in silence, wondering if he should be regretting the alliance he has just made with Beline. No signs of any wounds on his hand.
         “If it is for the protection of Kira,” he thinks to himself. “Then I have no regrets.” His encounter with Beline puzzles him the rest of the day as he tries to imagine the woman’s scheme involving himself and Kira. No doubt Beline’s interest in the girl is selfish and motivated by her own desire to move up in the world, but why offer protection for Kira, then? Perhaps the council is more disheveled than Kin has previously thought.
         Well then, while Kin is deep in his thoughts, I’ll enlighten you on the woman in green, Beline. Much of her past is shrouded in mystery but the woman’s talent is no such mystery. She has the talent of healing anyone she touches from the simplest physical injury to the most complex, life threatening injury. One would think with such a talent, Beline would be a model citizen, helping her fellow kind. The truth could not be farther away from this. In reality, Beline has made a living on injuring the wealthy and offering to save them from their life injuries in exchange for wealth. She is a parasite, feeding off of one wealthy man to the next. However, this is a very negative evaluation of the woman, and she does in fact show much cleverness and adaptation.
         Beline and Kin, now there is a history. Believe it or not, Beline at one time was much like the Kin. Both were more experienced persons of talent helping others of less experience in the world. And like Kin now, Beline had a little pet, a prodigy that she invested so much of herself into. The only difference was that Beline was not teaching her little pet about helping others but instead was teaching the boy how to help her torture and blackmail others. The boy was unstable to begin with, being a pyromaniac, and Beline was pushing his talent too much for her own benefit and not the boy’s own.
         The council, back when it symbolized fairness and justice, sent Kin to investigate the young boy and Beline. Kin encountered the two as Beline was using the boy as a threat to a wealthy businessman in Tokyo, threatening that if she did not receive her payment, the boy would burn the building they were in down. Kin tried to reason with the boy, offering him a better life than his current one, and the boy almost went with Kin. Beline struck the boy and the fire began in the board room. Within the next hour, the building had burned to the ground. Kin and Beline made it out alive, but the boy did not. He would not leave the building and burned himself alive. Thirty people died, including the Japanese business man. Beline felt no remorse for the causalities, but Kin has never forgiven himself. Beline was banned from the council. She has since been moving from place to place, feeding on man after man, and holding a grudge against the council that abandoned her. She, the strongest healer currently in existence, was abandoned by the council that was, in her mind, supposed to protect and idealize her.
         Her yearning for revenge has finally come in the form of an angry, young girl with revenge also on her mind. Beline knew the council feared the girl’s power, and their fear was her opportunity. The world is a cruel place filled with revenge and suffering, so maybe Beline is not so evil or despicable but a realistic female surviving in a cruel world.
         Beline smiles to herself as she leaves the restaurant. Kin is so predictable, so caring, and so self-sacrificing. All she has to do is mention the possible harm of another and Kin would crawl over glass and eat out of her hand. She has no intent on hurting the man yet. She also has no intention of hurting Kira. Kira is new project, a new endeavor filled with possibilities for the woman. She envies Kin for finding Kira before her and will show him just how powerful his little pet can be with the proper education and motivation.
         She leaves the hotel and takes a cab to the airport. The woman knows she has at least a one day advantage over the suited man. Her masterful and deceptive plan has been set in motion, and she has much more to plan for.
         It is now early the next morning when Kin retires to his room after meetings with board executives, the meetings quickly forgotten by the pressing matters on his mind from his encounter with Beline. He wonders what Kira is doing at this time, if she’s safe, and if she’s being safe. He wishes the young lady would call him, and let him know how things are going. Normally, he would have sent spies out to follow Kira to ensure no unwanted trouble but the last time he employed this method of parental supervision, two of his men lost the ability to reproduce.
         His cell phone rings and a voice begins to talk before he even has a chance to answer.
         “I’m on my way back, and when I get there, I want to know everything you know, Kin,” she demands and hangs up before Kin could wish her a safe journey home or to be on the lookout for a woman in a green dress. Kin sighs to himself and closes his phone. The man is thankful Kira is already on her way back to him. The sooner she got back, the sooner he could warn her of his alliance with Beline.
         “Everything I know, huh?” he asks himself while sitting in his chair. “I wonder what she has found out, then?” No one responds to the man’s questions. Kin stands up and looks outside his hotel window onto the shimmering city that lay below him. He may be admiring the timelessness of the city, but more likely, he is giving into his paranoia brought on by the recent deaths of close colleagues and the visit from Beline.
         “You are too delusional about you own abilities to think I will fall so easily like my comrades,” says Kin to the city below, channeling his thoughts on Beline. He closes the blinds and clicks on the television to the news. The breaking story for the past couple of hours has been about the closing of many airlines to England or its neighboring European countries. All of the pilots have apparently gone blind. 
         “Sorry about this,” Kin apologizes to the pilots. “You will only be in the dark for a few more hours.” Kin falls asleep leaving the television on, content with Beline being stuck in the city for as long as he will be…perhaps a little longer. Though around the same age as the woman, Kin is far more knowledgeable of the world and how he fits into it. Unlike Beline, he sees the world as an opportunity for peace and understanding, not profit like Beline, and this distinction between them would transpire into future successes for one and failures for the other.