The next day, Jia woke up with that awful image of Xena in her mind. She jolted up and rubbed her eyes. She didn’t recognize the room. She figured out she might have been moved by Kanae or Kaito. Yet she didn’t see anyone there with her. She began to feel unsafe. Thinking a bit about the raid last night, she began to be suspicious of him. Why didn’t he come to save her? Didn’t he care? Or perhaps he had his hidden intentions and he just didn’t want someone as little as her to figure him out. Even so, she decided to keep that to herself.

Suddenly, Kaito barged in. He had a worried look in his eyes. He sat on the bed next to Jia and pet her head. She hugged him tight. She rubbed her face on his shirt and let out a faint yawn.

“Good morning, little one.” giggled Kaito. “Are you feeling better?”

Jia nodded. She was silent. She just didn’t want to say anything she shouldn’t. Kaito smiled at her. He got up and walked towards the door. It appeared that he wanted to go away all of a sudden. He didn’t even get to stay beside her for 10 seconds… Understanding that she was feeling better seemed to have made him want to leave for some reason. He gave Jia a quick look before stepping out of the room, but the little girl stopped him. He tilted his head back and gazed at her.

“What is it, Jia?” he asked, calmly.

Jia looked down for a few moments, trying to find her words. Then, she looked into his eyes. She had some questions in her head and knew he was the most suitable person to answer them. After all, what could happen in his own home that he wouldn’t know about…? Right…?

“Can you please tell me what happened last night? Who was that woman that came here? Why did she look like me?”

Kaito looked hesitant. He was just standing at the doorway, not knowing how to respond. Yet the woman that Jia mentioned didn’t seem to be familiar to him. He was being true to himself and no one came to mind that matched the description. He knew no one to look like that except for the little girl in front of him, or simply assuming, her mother. There was nothing he could tell her; well, currently nothing he wanted to tell her.  

He sighed. He looked up and only said:

“Listen, there is nothing you need to worry about. I have everything under control.”

Jia grunted. “But where were you last night? And who is that woman?” She didn’t know that he was also asking himself that same question and demanded answers. It was not curiosity. She knew he was hiding something and it made her feel uncomfortable. He was not even willing to sit beside her and talk to her or at least comfort her. She found that very suspicious and wondered what was there that he was so desperate to do? What made him want to leave just like that without even giving her a reason?

Kaito stepped further from the door.

“Listen, Jia, I have no idea who you are talking about. But let’s not think about raids and mysterious girls. Why don’t you get ready to come downstairs at breakfast? I guess Kanae is done with it…”

After saying that, he closed the door behind him and left. Jia heard his footsteps slowly fading.

She sighed. She knew that man had something very important that he wanted to hide from her. But seeing he didn’t want to tell her anything, she decided not to force him anymore and take matter in her own hands. If he wasn’t going to tell her, she would find out for herself. She didn’t know why exactly she wanted to after he told her not to worry… After all, for a child, the best idea would be to move on and forget… She felt that… But at the same time, she felt like she was being pushed forward by determination to reveal the secrets…

Kaito was now downstairs, at the ground floor. Kanae was there too, mopping the floor. There were dried bloodstains on it… Clearly from when she was brought inside; she was hurt and bleeding, so she might have left trails behind… She seemed so bothered because of what happened that she wasn’t even putting effort in washing the floor. Rather growling and aggressively wiping one spot lots of times…

But as soon as she saw him coming, she narrowed her eyes and groaned in anger. She was more likely offended by his presence than intimidated, as she should have been.

“I stayed up all night burring those bodies! I had to treat Reiji’s wounds and clean everything! What the fuck have you done?! Why did you even spare Xankaria?!”

He smirked. “I thought you were badly wounded and couldn’t even handle yourself. How are you so full of energy now?” he said with a playful voice.

“I regenerate, dumb shit! I have blood manipulation powers.” she hissed.

He giggled. “Then why didn’t you use them before I came and took you inside?”

“So, you could ask me this right now!” replied Kanae, ironically and very full of nerve. But it wasn’t a response out of rudeness. She rather tried to mask her disappointment…

She turned with her back at him and continued mopping the bloody floor. Kaito walked towards her and touched her shoulder. She tilted her head back and looked at him with some sort of disgust reflecting in her eyes. It seemed like she no longer enjoyed his company. Not like she ever did, but at that time, she was truly frustrated.

Kaito sighed. “I was serious. Why couldn’t you regenerate before I came?” he asked, with a low voice.  

Kanae let out a low grunt. “That stupid Xanii had a weird ability that didn’t allow me to regenerate. She poisoned me during the fight…!” There goes the disappointment. The frustration of having to accept the truth. She always thought she was better than everyone and she had so many hopes, but in the end, she was always the one fail. In Night Raid, if it hadn’t been for a certain man to save her, the small group of heroes would have taken her life. And against Xanii… All she had were the blood manipulation powers and her weapon. Maybe she new some battle moves, but not enough to match with Xanii. That woman was a real brute and despite her slim body, she had such amazing strength… And she was even fighting with her eyes covered. No one knew if she could see or not through the mask, but it was certain that it was no obstacle for her.

Kanae walked further away and tossed the cleaning tools aside. She tried to avoid eye contact with him… She didn’t want to talk about the attack the night before, especially with him…

Kaito seemed rather concerned than annoyed by Kanae’s rude tone and behavior. He began to think that something was wrong and she just didn’t want to tell him. Well, he knew better than that; he was aware that Kanae had her problems and when she did, she always behaved like that. He knew his younger sister very well- she never liked having to deal with any problem let alone being involved in one. He decided not to tease her about it. He let her go and walked away. He headed to a dark hall and entered a tiny room.

Kanae let out a low groan. She followed him. She knew that he wouldn’t go in there without having serious business to handle. But she was curious about why he would go there at that time. There was nothing too important that he had to do, right…?

Now, both of them were walking down the stairs that led to the basement. Once they got there, Kanae sat at her desk. She let out a long sigh and thought of making the situation a little bit easier…

“Listen, I’m sorry!” she started. “I am just not as you expected… That Xanii woman is more powerful than me… I was mad about my defeat…”

He sighed. He gave Kanae a cold look. “Listen here, I’m not mad because you lost. I am mad because you always act so improperly.” He was finally free to tell her the whole truth straight to her face. Maybe he didn’t have anything important to do about the ‘situation’, but he actually wanted to talk to her. And he attempted to go easy on her at first thinking it would make it easier for him to reason with her; and looked like it worked. Not like it was going to last him too long after he’d tell her how mad he truly was and why… “And plus, you are never doing what I ask you to do! You went out there to fight Xankaria and Xanii when I told you very clearly to watch over Jia!”

Kanae scoffed. She was not entirely sure if he would bring out that topic any sooner, but now that he did, she found no way to excuse herself. Even if she preferred resting over fighting, there was something about Jia that she didn’t like. And it was shown since the day he brought her there that Kanae felt more likely uncomfortable and left out than hateful… She didn’t hate Jia as a child. There was something about her that made her feel strange. And she was just not telling him what that was… There was only one thing she had to say for herself:

“I am not her fucking babysitter! You adopted her, you take care of her! I told you she is in our way!” she hissed. She knew she was going to make him start with ‘that’ all over again and she could do nothing but listen because there was nothing that could change the way he felt about it…

“Jia is not the problem here, Kanae! The problems are Xankaria and all the evil people out there! I already told you why I’m doing all this! It is all for the sake of this planet! I am eliminating all the evil out there and I am trying to restore what they destroyed! I am the savior of NEON!”

Kanae watched him all along. She didn’t seem delighted by his ideals. She found it stupid for some reason; pointless. Ever since he started this little ‘plan’, she always looked down on him. There was something that she didn’t want to tell him. She had so many secrets to hide from him, but why? What was the reason why she was just obeying quietly while knowing damn well she could do something about it? She could, truly. But then again, why not finally prove herself by doing something helpful? Not necessarily for him, but for herself. With such a cold heart, all she could think of anyways was getting herself out of trouble and abandoning everyone else regardless of who they were. So, did that mean she was not confessing just so she could watch him suffer further on? Just so she could enjoy herself after he’d fail? Did she want him to feel the way she felt all her life? Because truthfully, he never helped her at all to get over it. He didn’t care…

Kanae gave him a cold and spiteful look, ready to argue against him.

“Listen here, mister “hero”! Stop acting like the whole world revolves around you! Stop acting like you are someone you’re not! You are not a hero, you are not Kaito! You are a destroyer!” she said. She had to be direct with him this time. That was something she could no longer hide. She thought of telling him that while he was around Jia, but she thought quite well about not ruining her own life by having to deal with her brother’s rage…

Well… He wasn’t stupid not to read it from her eyes; all that she wanted from the very beginning to do or say. They were nowhere near the siblings they said they were. No bonds, no respect for one another. Just hatred and disgust for the other’s ideals and thoughts… So then… Why were they even together…?