FALLEN

5-Cousin

Personally, my favorite part of this entire story is the end of this chapter with Angel and Cass.

~Saya

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5

C O U S I N

            Bree and I were sitting in one of the abandoned rooms in the orphanage the next morning. She was lightly strumming her acoustic guitar while I looked over the most recent lyrics Faye had written.

            "Fuck!" Bree growled as she screwed up again. Less than a second later, Amy poked her head around the door.

            "I heard that," she informed Bree, who blushed. Then she glanced around the room until her eyes lit upon me. "Angel," she said, her blue-grey eyes lighting up, "the proprietor wants to see you. Actually, there's someone else here to see you."

            I tipped my head to the right in curiousity. "Someone's here to see me? It's Sunday, not to mention that people rarely come for someone our age." I may have sounded pessimistic, but I was only stating facts.

            "I think it's a relative," Amy added.

            My curiousity piqued, I stood and tucked the papers back into my folder. "Can you take this back to my room for me if I'm not back before you leave?" I requested. Bree nodded and I left her and Amy.

            It took me a few minutes to reach the proprieter's office, since it had been moved when our favorite part of the orphanage had fallen to disuse. That was before we'd come, of course, but when we'd discovered the abandoned wing, we'd practically adopted it. I knocked warily, unsure what to expect.

            The proprieter opened the door, then stepped aside to admit me. Behind him I saw a tall boy with thick, messy black hair, dark brown eyes, and silver framed glasses. He was wearing a black v-necked t-shirt and plain blue jeans. A nervous smile graced his features. I didn't see any resemblance that could be attributed to family.

            "Hi Angel," he said softly. His voice was deeper than I would have expected. "I'm your cousin, Eric Oguri."

            "Hello," I said formally. Eric and the proprietor frowned, but I paid it no mind. Perhaps that was something I'd picked up from Oliver, but my usually distrusting nature had become increasingly so. Eric looked uncomfortable. My conciousness nudged at me, reminding me that this was apparently my cousin. That would take some getting used to if it was true, considering I'd lived all of my memorable life with not blood-relation family.

            The proprietor attempted to smooth over the situation. "Angel, why don't you spend today getting to know Eric. You can introduce him to your friends."

            I resisted the urge to simply stare at him. Did I look five? Instead I chose to disregard the patronizing nature of the comment. "Right. Sure," I muttered, then looked up at Eric. There was confusion in his warm dark eyes. They were a little too much like Oliver's for my liking. I turned away and motioned for Eric to follow. "Why don't we go meet Bree?" I suggested, my mind on the lyrics I'd tucked into the folder.

            Eric followed me quietly. I led the way quickly, albeit not so confidently, to the room I'd left Amy and Bree in. Three heads turned when I opened the door. Amy was still there, and Sam had joined them. Their eyes widened at the sight of Eric as he poked his head over my shoulder.

            "Angel...who's that?" Amy asked when they recovered from the surprise.

            "Eric Oguri," I replied, trying to hide my hesitation and nervousness, "He's...my cousin."