Broken Wings

Chapter 4: The Herald of Noise

Luka had her new "guest" spread out on his back along her spacious bed. She and Kaito had extended his wings across the mattress – though she hadn't experienced it in years, no Seruva that ever suffered a wing cramp in the morning forgot that unique discomfort. As she'd touched his soft feathers, melancholy stabbed at her heart. She thought she'd been able to finally let go of her past and accept the false earthbound life thrust upon her. But just the feeling of another Seruva's wings in her hand threatened to wrench the emotions back out of her heart that she'd learned to suppress.

Had she ever once considered her wings something she could lose, she might have thought to cherish the gift of roaming the skies.

Furthermore, had she ever thought she'd be having to tell Miku of all people about her past, she might have prepared her before the poor girl found herself centimeters from being impaled by a Noise-addled Seruva warrior.

The car ride back to the apartment had been a flurry of questions Luka was still trying to prepare her answers to. She'd not expected to run into Kaito when she was investigating the "4th District Shinigami." An oversight she should have anticipated – of course Gumi would have pumped him for information if she'd been sniffing around Miku. And of course he would have easily pieced together that the "Shinigami" was a Seruva in search of his whereabouts.

Fortunately, it wasn't difficult to redirect Kaito's concerns to the state of his friend. He'd hovered around this "Gakupo" person nearly constantly. In spite of the man's experience with being warped by Dark Notes, he appeared calm as he slumbered. She hoped that meant he had no remaining side effects. As for Miku... she simply appeared overwhelmed. Not that Luka could blame her – once Miku told her the truth about the last several days with Kaito, she found herself impressed by the girl's fortitude. Though Miku sustained injuries in the encounter, aside from her tousled hair and some scorch marks on her clothes, Kaito had performed a clean healing ballad on her and she showed no signs of further wounds.

Finally, Gakupo began to stir and Luka summoned up her patience and courage. The man could have any number of possible reactions to his location, to the sight of "humans" in front of him, to recalling his possession to...

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

... bolting up screaming and swinging his arms as if he was still wielding his sword, sending poor Miku diving to the floor behind the foot of the bed. Kaito and Luka jumped out of the way of his flapping wings. After his shouting, he remained still a moment, his arms still extended, the only motion in the room being the settling of some of his molted feathers.

Finally, Gakupo lowered his hands, as if just noticing his lack of weapon. He glanced around the room, his blue eyes stern as he appeared to note his surroundings. "A human dwelling..." he murmured, "I'm surrounded by humans and..."

His eyes settled on Kaito. "Kaito! You're safe!" Gakupo said, breaking into the first smile Luka had seen on his face. The joyful notes in his voice indicated sincerity – at least he may truly have been a friend.

Kaito appeared unphased by the odd scene that unfolded in front of him. Perhaps such outbursts were normal for this man. "Gakupo... I could say the same for you!" Kaito responded, smiling in turn, "I was worried about you!"

Gakupo let out a rich laugh. "Me?! What cause could you have for worrying about me!? You're the one that sent everyone in the Islands into a panic by vanishing!"

'What a strange man...' Luka thought to herself, 'He thinks all of this is funny?'

"So... you don't remember anything?" Luka asked aloud.