Jeremiah’s doctors had swarmed around Angel for weeks. Jasmine had read to her most evenings, the two had begun building an uneasy relationship. The older girl had helped the waifish little girl care for her long, blond hair. Jeremiah had made his intentions of adoption clear very early to Jasmine.

Angel was in a room that had started out somewhat sterile, with a medical bed and plenty of monitoring machines that tracked her every biological aspect as closely as possible without being too torturous.

Often, the doctors would look seriously at their clipboards and scribble what had to be detailed notes. After many blood tests, they began giving her IV medications. The doctors smiled to her and said kind things about how brave she was and how they were there to make her whole.

One day, in the third week, they told her that they were giving her something to make her sleep. One redheaded doctor, with a thick Drawl that told of aristocratic Atlanta families, told her that they were going to try giving her a new arm.

When she woke, it was to the same redhead. The doctor cleared her throat when she saw that Angel was awake. “I’m sorry, sweety. There was a problem, and we could not get the graft to take. Give us time, and we will get you fixed, I promise, honey.”

The second and third tries in the following weeks went much the same. Angel could see the dried tracks of tears on the woman’s face the fourth time. That woman had been missing on the fifth attempt.

Oddly, Angel never saw or could feel any signs of the attempted surgeries. No incisions, stitches, or scars showed after them.

 After two months, she was well fed and had conversed with Jasmine daily about the many kinds of work she had done for Jeremiah in the organization he ran. She saw the slight blush and pupil dilation in the older girl when she talked about the many ‘coffee dates’ she had been going on with Johnny Black. Angel had to agree, after seeing a picture, that he was handsome. Jasmine even confided that they had been out for drinks a few times.

Jasmine and Angel had added drawings and pictures to the walls of her second floor room slowly. Small stuffed animals had found their way into the room and on the bed over time. Whenever she went out for another procedure or test, they would just appear. The scent of vanilla and cut flowers now carried over the inevitable medical scents.

The first time had been a sort of memorial to her father, Grey. Jasmine described him as a stoic and taciturn man of great strength. That did remind Angel of her ‘brother’, but she began to see, in comparison, he had never been as warm to her as Grey had to Jasmine. Her brother had been all about having her learn to use the simulacrum and become useful to him in contracts.

Angel began to feel happy when she heard of how Jasmine’s relationship with Johnny was going. “Do you love him?” she asked one day.

Jasmine was stunned. Her eyes widened and she blushed hard. The pink reached her ears and Jasmine stuttered for the first time Angel had ever heard. “I-I-I I mean… He is just. I mean, why would I… He would never see me that way!”

Angel gave Jasmine a smug and knowing smile. It was the first smile she had ever seen from the serious young girl.

“Are you sure you are only ten?” she retorted with a delicate smile.

“I had plenty of time to watch daytime TV and anime in that pod,” replied the little girl.

---===+++===---

Jeremiah smiled across the dining table at the scowling Angel. She had her long, blond hair brushed so that it hung down to completely cover the empty socket of her right eye. Her missing left arm had been troublesome for her in dressing and brushing her hair. Jasmine had helped where she could, but Angel was angry and frustrated by the end of the whole effort. Her wheelchair was snugged up to the table, concealing the fact that her right leg ended at the knee.

“Angel,” Jeremiah started, “I have good news and bad news for you.”

The cerulean clarity of her left eye looked a Jeremiah with the stoic attitude of a child who had seen much bad news over her decade of life. “What is it?”

Jeremiah looked her straight into the burning blue of her eye. “We have the results from your doctors. Your mutation makes grafting new tissue onto your body impossible. All of the tests showed the grafted tissue failing and just falling off. Stem cell regeneration was a failure as well.”

“So, am I too defective to join your organization after all?” she asked with the resigned tone of one who always expected to be tossed aside.

Jeremiah tilted his head slightly to the side as a stern look came into his eyes. “I would never dream of taking my granddaughter’s favorite aunt from her!”

The little girl’s eye clouded with confusion. “What aunt? Who is your granddaughter? Are you going crazy?”

With a wide eyed look of curiosity and a smile that made her know that someone was teasing her, he replied, “Didn’t Jasmine tell you? Grey was my son, and I have started the task of adopting you. You will be her aunt in about a month.”

The child was caught without a ready response. Slowly, she recovered. “That is good news!”

Jeremiah displayed a sly smile. “Oh, that wasn’t the good news. The good news is that we have had some people working on prosthetics for you. They use the same tech as the simulacrum suit, but just the parts you need. We had them made to match the rest of your body,” he said as he stood and walked around the table. In front of her, he placed a case that was two feet long and eleven inches tall and wide, a box that was similar, but only eighteen inches long and was ten inches tall and wide. Lastly, he placed a case that was six inches on each side squarely in front of the startled girl. “The eye was the tricky item. They are all designed to recognize your body and integrate with your nervous system. The leg and arm will adhere to your stumps on their own. The eye is designed to match the other one and give you normal vision, once you put it in the socket.”

Tears were streaming from the girl’s eyes and she was making a sobbing mess of happiness at her place at the table.

“Would you like Jasmine to help you try them out?”

It took her a moment to regain control enough to speak. “Yes, sir,” was her meek response.

“You may call me ‘sir’ if you need to, but I was hoping for my name, or some nickname. You tell me what you feel comfortable with.” Then, he called out, “Jasmine. Would you help your aunt try out her presents?”

Jasmine spoke from the door like she had been waiting for this very summons. “Of course! I also have an outfit picked out for her that is ready and waiting.”

Jasmine took a position behind the wheelchair and bent down to whisper in the girl’s ear, “May I help you Aunt Angie?”

Angel snorted a laugh through her tears as she nodded her head. Jasmine rolled the wheelchair back from the table to make space before loading the cases into the girl’s lap, where she hugged them to herself like a long lost puppy.

Jasmine pushed the conveyance to the elevator and hit the call button. Once they were inside, Angel noticed that the button for the second floor, where she had been staying, was not lit. The button that Jasmine selected was for the fourth floor.

When they left the elevator, the older girl took them through a door into a sweet smelling room. The medical odors were not present to compete with the vanilla and wildflower scents. On a queen sized bed, all of the stuffed animals were present. They were arranged around and summer dress in blues and purples. The plushies looked like they were in awe of the pretty cloth thing.

It took quite a while longer for the happy crying to finish this time. By then the older girl had placed the cases on the bed. “What do you want to put on first? Oh, and can I call you Angie? You can call me Jaz if you like.”

With a new steel in her eye, she responded, “Let’s put on the leg first. It’s been a long time since I could walk!” 

---===+++===---

Across town, in a private part of OldTown, Ivan and David were sitting in the dining room where Ivan had met Jeremiah a few days before. David was still a little uncomfortable, his Asian features twisted with worry.

Elia spoke first. “So, you are a member of the Yokai group,” it was a statement, not a question.

“Yes.” David replied needlessly.

“Not a Shinigami?”

“No, I am a Zenko. I work as a courier and advisor. I never do anything dangerous or violent.”

“What were you doing when I met you?”

“I was working as a Kudan.”

“So, Yokai are demons? Does that mean the organization does things that most would consider evil?” Ivan was troubled by this connotation.

A slight and gentle smile came to David’s lips. “No. Japanese legends have yokai of all natures. Just like people, some are prone to good and helpful actions, and some are more negative. You also have many who are in between. In the organization, we have only a few with darker natures, like the Shinigami and Nogitsunae. Mine has always been on the lighter side. I’ve been a messenger and advisor.”

Elia relaxed visibly. “Do you know what Jeremiah wants us to do?”

“The Oyabun had a conversation with me. Before you ask, I was not ordered to do it, I was told what he wanted to happen. He asked.”

“I know this is not the best situation. Will you build a family with me?”

“Are you proposing to me?” David asked with a quick grin that caused Ivan to blush hard. “After all, you are about to have five children to look after. We need to be married to have a big family like that.”

“I may have to care for my cousin once they manage to put him on the road to recovery as well. They say he has lost a large portion of his brain. They can rebuild the physical areas, but he will have to relearn to be a person.”

“Then, I have my work cut out for me in getting the house ready for such a large family.” Responded David.

“I don’t know about that. This house has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms. I have new staff members starting tomorrow. I hope Jeremiah gave you some time off.”

“Yes, he gave me time off and has made me the dedicated messenger between you and the Oyabun. I am your personal Zenko.”

“How would you feel about adopting five children after the wedding?” Ivan asked in a low voice.

“Yes! You silly man! We will make the happiest home you have ever seen. Don’t worry, the Oyabun will make sure your administration of the family business will be prosperous beyond your imagination!”