Her. Chapter Seven

Chapter 7
         Success is on the mind of the disgruntled girl as she awakes from her little nap during her flight back to New York. A success for her would mean at least one death of another, and she does and will not fail. She keeps calming herself down as to not disturb the other passengers, but this is Kira we’re talking about and she is only remaining calm because she wishes to return in one piece.
         Worriment about her brother is also plaguing her thoughts. She hopes Christina has delivered her package to him and reassures herself that the stolen car will not be placed back to him. She wonders if he will actually call her sometime. I mean, she has been gone for three years and just returned home to see him for a few minutes. She didn’t ask him how he was doing or about school or about anything new in his life. Hell, he has probably thought she was dead for the past three years.
         She only returned home once before for Christmas, and by retuned, I mean she snuck into her house to swipe the presents her folks had left under the tree for her. Regret not grief is what she feels. Regret that she hadn’t talked to her parents more, regret that her brother probably hated her, and regret that she is now realizing all of this while flying in a metal death trap. All she had left is her brother and Kin. She secretly wishes Kin had come with her. She has only been away from the man for a day, and she already misses the English son of a bitch. At least in New York, she is aware he is probably near or keeping an eye on her, but she has an overwhelming feeling that Kin would be leaving her. That doesn’t sound like the Kin she knows, and she stubbornly fights of the thought of Kin abandoning her.     
         She arrives back in the city early in the morning and hails a cab home. No point in calling Kin, he knows everything anyway, and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of thinking she has missed him. She trudges up the steps to her apartment, half asleep, a quarter awake, and another quarter in a zombie state. She enters her apartment, locks the door, drops her purse on the floor, and collapses on her bed. She completely ignores the well dressed man standing in her bedroom staring out the window.
         “Was the flight that bad?” asks Kin. She moans and groans in response. Kin sits on the bed next to her. She places her head on his leg. He runs his fingers through her hair to comfort her. It does comfort her a little, the bastard. Kin will not leave her, he is too good. 
         “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about their deaths sooner, my dear,” he says. “I had to make sure it was safe for you to go back home. I’m sure you have realized something big is happening.” She groans again.
         “How’s Luke?”
         “He’s fine.”
         “And did you discover anything back at home?”
         “Yes.” She holds up her arm so Kin could see the red ribbon tied around her wrist. Kin holds her wrist and examines the ribbon. The perfume of the ribbon smells familiar, but he can’t place the scent.
         “Your move,” he reads from the ribbon. “Where did you find this?”          
         “At my parents’ graves. Someone wants to die, Kin.”
         “And that someone is very stupid to challenge you, love.”
         “Can I ask you something, Kin?”
         “Of course.”
         “Am a bad person?” Kin is surprised by the question and notices Kira lips are shaking and her head is trembling. The closest she will ever get to crying.
         “Of course not, why would you think that?” he asks, his paternal compassion taking over.
         “I haven’t spoken to my parents in years. My brother thought I was dead, and now my parents are dead. I never got a chance to tell them I loved them, Kin.”
         “They’re your parents, Kira. They know you loved them, and they loved you just as much if not more. You’re not a bad person, my dear. I am afraid the world is like this though. It is unfair, and it is loving people that suffer the most.” Kin kisses her on the forehead. Kira lifts herself up and nuzzles her head into the man’s suit coat, wanting to hide there forever. Kin holds her and says no more. No more words are needed. Kira needs human contact, something she has avoided for so long. She needs to be reminded that she may be a special girl with an extraordinary, troublesome talent, but she is still human, with all the perks and shortcomings that being human entails.
         Kira begins to calm down, her breathing slowing and her trembling weakening. Kin whispers into her head, “We’re going to have to leave here, Kira.”
         “London?”
         “For now, yes, but we might have to move from London too.”
         “Will I be able to come back to New York?” she asks. Kin does not answer.
“What is happening, Kin?”
         “The higher powers of us are changing,” answers Kin. “We must find a way to stop this, Kira.”
         “Does this higher power have something to do with my parents’ deaths?” she asks.
         “Yes, I believe so,” answers Kin. “You see Kira; people like us, people who want to help others are becoming rarer nowadays.” Kira removes herself from Kin and sits across from him on the bed, her legs crossed.
         “I’m ready, Kin,” she asserts. Kin brushes his hand gently down the side of her face.
         “Never doubted it for a minute, my dear.”

         Kira looks over her apartment for the last time before her and Kin are to head to the airport. As we know, flights to England and Europe have been put on hold, but this does not apply to private jets like Kin’s. Her things have already been shipped to London via Kin, and Kira can now see just how boring her apartment really is from an observer position.
         Kin is outside the apartment conversing with the landlady and paying Kira’s rent for the next couple of months. Kira can hear him outside in the hall and can imagine the landlady’s reaction to the polite Englishman. She wishes goodbye to her apartment and promises it she will return eventually with a painting or a poster or something. She locks the door and meets Kin in the hallway. The landlady has already returned to her room, no doubt to call her girlfriends and tell them about the man she has just spoken to.
         “Ready to go?” he asks. Kira nods her head and accepts his open hand. She takes the elevator down with Kin, the second time she has taken the elevator of the apartment building since she moved in. Outside awaits Kin’s car and driver, and across the street awaits Warren.
         “Hmm, he is tolerable, I suppose.”
         “Shut up, Kin,” snaps Kira, supplying Kin with the reaction he wanted from her. His little girl likes a boy. Kin releases his grip from Kira’s hand, walks down to his car, and is seated in the car, closing the door behind him.
         “What are you doing?” she asks Kin, before noticing Warren has walked across the street and around the car. Kira takes a few steps back out of surprise, slipping on the first step behind her and falling to the ground.
         “This is not happening,” thinks Kira. She never trips or falls, her ass hasn’t unintentionally touched pavement for at least a year.
         “Are you alright?” he asks. His hands gently grasp her shoulders and he lifts her to her feet. He smells good, clean but not too clean, the scents of the bakery are still on him. Oh my God, he is touching her. Oh my double God, he’s talking to her.
         “I’m fine,” she says, quickly brushing herself off and carefully stepping away from the gorgeous man.
         “That’s good,” he says, just as awkward as her. They both stare at the ground, waiting for the other to say something.
         “You know, it’s strange,” he says. “We’ve lived across the street from each other for a couple of years now and we’ve seen each other, yet, I’ve never introduced myself. My name is Warren.”
         “I’m Kira.”
         “Kira…that’s a nice name.”
         “Yeah, I guess so. Warren…Warren is nice too.”
         “Yeah. Umm, you leaving again?” Warren asks, motioning to the car that held a very amused Kin and his driver.
         “Yeah, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”
         “I hope you have a safe trip, then.” God, he is so polite. She hates herself. Why didn’t she talk him when she had all the time in the world? Why hadn’t she just said ‘hi’ to him once in awhile or smile or wave? And now, he’s talking to her and its going to be cut short by all of the crap going on now.
         “Are you sure you’re alright?” Warren asks.
         “I’m sorry,” she says. “A lot of crap has been going on lately, and I’m not used to someone…talking to me.”
         “That’s too bad. You seem like a nice person to talk to,” says Warren. She continues to look into his eyes. If Kin wasn’t there, she would take him right now. She would ask him if he wanted to go for some food or a drink or a walk or bloody anything so she could keep looking at her eye candy. Warren stares back at her, trying to see in her eyes what is troubling her. He feels the same way. Why hadn’t he tried harder to talk to her? Now, she is leaving and it seems like she wouldn’t be returning as quickly as her last trip.
         “Warren, when I do come back, would you like to do something so we can get to know each other better?” Kira, after sucking in a big, deep breath of air, finally asks him.
         “I would love that,” answers Warren. She blushes at the quickest and certainty of his answer. He notices her blush and it excites him. She wants to kiss him right now. She wants to taste his lips against hers, she wants his skin against her own, she wants to breathe in his breaths, but she couldn’t, not now. She would need the cover of darkness and be free of the eyes of Kin.
They both continue to pierce into each other’s thoughts and eyes, her looking up at him, and him looking down at her. The tension between them is broken by the force of four, simple words.
         “I am sorry, Kira,” says Kin. Kin has stepped back outside the car and holds the car door for her.
         “I’m sorry,” says Kira, still looking at Warren, but the intensity is gone.
         “I understand. I’ll see you later and we’ll do something,” says Warren. Kira nods her head and steps around the brown haired angel to a sympathetic Kin. She steps into the car and the door closes her in. She does not look at Warren from the car window, her head is low, her attempt to hide how distress she is about leaving him. Kin sits beside her, and the car rolls off. She can’t take this anymore. She turns around and looks at her Warren become farther and farther away from her. He now stands in the middle of the street, his hands in his pocket, and a sincere smile on his face. As the car turns the corner, Kira turns back around and throws her head up in frustration.
         “We shouldn’t be in London for too long,” assures Kin, trying to bring hope to his confused little love struck child.
         “Then why the packing?” grunts Kira.
         “Well, we’ll be there long enough for you to miss him terribly,” replies Kin. Kira turns her head to the smiling Kin.
         “What’s his name?” he asks.
         “Warren.”
         “Hmm, never would have suspected him to be a Warren. How long has this been going on?”
         “Just now.”
         “Interesting.” Kin doesn’t need to say anymore.
         “Fine,” she sighs. “I’ve liked him before just now.” Kin laughs.
         “You two remind me a lot of how Sharon and I were, back when we a little bit older than you two,” he reminisces.
         “Did you want Sharon all for yourself when you first met her?”
         “Is that how you feel?”
         “Yep. I like the way he smells, Kin. I like to smell him.”
         “He smells good, then?”
         “Yep.”
Kira keeps her head safe on Kin’s shoulder the whole ride to the airport. She hopes Kin is being honest with her when he says they won’t be too long in London. But then again, ‘not too long’ could mean anything from a month to a year in Kin terminology.
         She is quiet the flight over the Atlantic. Her head lays lifeless on the head rest, trying to become lost in the sky that passes outside her window. She dozes off between sleep and consciousness, fighting with herself whether she deserves to rest or not. She is thankful Kin has a private jet. Flights to Europe are still at a stand still because of a strange illness spreading among the pilots. Kin wouldn’t tell her anymore, and she didn’t bug further about it.   
Kin observes in silence, regretting the need to remove her but assuring himself that she needs to witness the council and decide for herself whether they indeed have something to do with her parents’ deaths. She also needs to meet Beline, a physical example of how an extraordinary and helpful power is not automatically positive. Beline may have had some devious internal motivation behind wishing to protect Kira, but the joke is on Beline if she thought Kira would submit to her.
Kin feels Kira’s hand brush over his. Is she anxious about London? Her hand grips onto his hand. She is anxious. Kin breaks his silence and attempts to simulate conversation with the anxious or depressed young adult.
“What have I told you about us?” he asks, his words forming awkwardly, not knowing exactly what to say to her. Kira rolls her head and the corner of her lips lift into a genuine smile.
“Not much. I mean, there are other people like us and ect and ect—there are good people and bad people in the world, my dear,” she says, trying her best to imitate Kin’s accent.
“Very well,” smiles Kin, happy to see Kira isn’t completely devastated by their trip.
“Have any I told you about the council?” he asks. Kira shakes her head.
“Sounds like they’re high up on the food chain,” she says.
“My dear, the council is comprised of six men and women who represent the five major groups of our people. They are the respected heads of their groups.”
“Groups?”
“Yes, my dear. We belong under the council member Leonoor’s supervision.”
“Leonoor?”
“She is a very kind woman and you are to be as polite as possible when we meet her.”
“At least she was kind when I last encountered her,” thinks Kin.
“What’s she like?” asks Kira, more interested in what the woman could do than what the woman is actually like. She just imagines the woman to look like Kin in a wig.
“She reads minds, Kira, so you are to think nice, pleasant thoughts too.”
“Reads minds? Is see any good at it?”
“Best to my knowledge.”
“How would my power affect hers?”
“We will have to see, my dear.”
“And we will have to see how she reacts to you,” thinks Kin. The council member’s reaction would hint him to if the council has indeed change. Ideally, the generous council member would see Kira as much of a treasure as Kin did. And ideally, Kira wouldn’t be able to read her mentor’s face so well. 
“You using me as some sort of test against this council, Kin?”
“Why Kira, I am insulted that you would even humor the thought!”
“I don’t mind.”
“Then yes, I am doing something like that, but also for your own safety till we get a handle on what is actually happening or not.”
“Whatever, Kin. So what’s up with this council?” she asks, realizing how hungry she is. She leaves her seat and looks for the snacks Kin kept in the cabinet.
“The council in the past has been a haven free from corruption and maintained order amongst our different kinds of people,” replies Kin. She nonverbally acknowledges his reply since her head is in the cabinet, weighing her salty snack options. She is successful in her scavenger hunt and pulls out a bag of sour cream and cheddar baked Lays, her favorite kind of chips.
“I take it this isn’t the case anymore,” says Kira, ripping open the bag of crunchy goodness.
“Recently the council has been a little severe in their judgments,” explains Kin. “Some in the community believe the council is pushing their own agenda rather than fair judgment for the betterment of others.”
“So they’re power corrupted,” says Kira. “What does this have to do with me or my folks’ murders?”
“Since the council is a high power in our society—”
“Everything can be sourced back to one of the members, huh?” Kira has read enough comic books and has seen enough action movies to know that too much power equals one or many evil villains. She has no intention of minding her thoughts when she meets council member Leonoor, no matter how much she looks like Kin is a five dollar piece of hair. If this council of high status old people wants to mess with her, then she is going to let them have it, and they will pay.
“Kira, I know you wish ill upon these people and—”
“I should mind my manners and be polite and not jump to conclusions and—”
“Above all, my dear, if you do find that the council has something to do with your parents’ deaths,” says Kin, taking Kira’s one hand that is not covered in cheddar cheese dust. “I will support any decision you make.”
“Kin, why did you choose to find me and not some other whacked out girl to help?” 
“Because you are special, and you can change things, my dear. I know you can.”
“Chip?” asks Kira, offering Kin a chip to avoid more of the conversation. She always felt awkward about Kin placing so much trust in her. Kin smiles, understanding Kira is still uncomfortable about being referred to as some sort of bringer of change and takes the offered chip from her hand. He cannot remember the last time he ate a potato chip.