"Are you sure we have the right person?" Hiiro whispered very softly, almost too low for Duo to hear.

"You're the one who said it was Usagi, not me," the American returned.

Techno-ish music poured out of the kitchen, and two feminine voices sang along with the deeper voice leading the song. Lina had warned them when they'd asked Usagi to move back in that she'd become quite a fan of a new group that had just emerged. Unfortunately (or maybe it was fortune in disguise), it was also Yukiko's favourite group.

"Nee, oikakete, oikakete, shiroi kaze
Nee, koi ni natte, ai ni natte, hane hirogetai
Nee, ii koto mo, warui koto mo, subete tashite

Ni de watte, umaku ikite, toki o koetai..." [1]

The thinner of the two live voices broke several times throughout the song; the other tried to cover it.

"Oi, Usagi!" Hiiro called just loud enough to be heard over the music.

Blonde hair appeared around the kitchen counter before her face appeared. "Hai, Hiiro-kun?" she cheerfully returned.

"Can we talk to you for a minute?"

A smile hit her face. "Sure! Just one second!" She vanished back in the kitchen and reappeared a moment later, leaving the door open a bit behind her as she sat at the table. "So we can keep an eye on the chibi," she answered the unspoken question. "So what did you need to talk to me about?"

"What you said in the hospital, for starters," Hiiro answered flatly.

"About you dying. When was this?" Duo jumped in. "I mean, was it when Yukiko was born, or before then, or what? How are you still here?"

She sighed, fingering a leaf on the plant sitting on the small breakfast table absentmindedly. "I... think it was when Yukiko-chan was born. The exact time and all is kind of blurry to me now, but I'm pretty sure that's when it was. Mostly, I just remember this place I went to. It was like... I don't know, nothing I'd ever seen before but still some place I recognized. Like a castle from our feudal times, but with huge doors and tunnels and all kinds of modern things. I remember standing in line with all these other people, and I remember talking to this blue-haired girl in a pink kimono and a dark-haired man who had a bigger sweet tooth than mine and yours put together, Duo. Then I remember feeling like I was being yanked out of place and opening my eyes to a hospital room in Osaka, but that's all I remember."

~ * ^ * ~ * ^ * ~

[1] Yeah, chasing after it, chasing after it, that white wind,
Yeah, wanna become love, wanna become love, spread out my wings,
Yeah, all the good things, all the bad things, put them all together,

Divide them up between us, do a good job of living, unbound by time...
- "SUPER DRIVE," Bad Luck, from Gravitation

If you know me, you know I couldn't resist!! *glomps Shuichi* It had to be in here somewhere!!