Sin was nearly out of breath when she reached the area near the Huang estate. She had made sure that all the girls that were kidnapped along with herself, were set free and got away far enough from the slave traders. She was the last to leave as to make sure that the others had gotten a safe distance first.
I even carelessly bumped into a person. He was all dressed up fancy, too! I hope I didn't dirty his clothing...Sin sighed, knowing that the cost of clothing like that wasn't cheap.
She glanced around where she was now. She had ran away from the carriage after destroying it, and was now in a different part of the city.
It was still the evening and it was becoming darker, with the lights burning brightly on the streets.
Sin stood there for a brief moment, finding solace in the very place she grew up. She hadn't seen the place in a while, and coming back to the area was still warming, even after a bad situation.
The place did change a little bit, but not so much that she couldn't recognise it. It had more of a European influence, but still retained its traditions and original architecture.
Having regained her breath, the woman looked around to see the huge Huang estate, seeing that the doors were open, and one of the women that she had been stuck with in the carriage was there, speaking to one of the guards. The guards had instructed her to go a certain way, which she was very thankful for. After that, they closed the doors, with two of the guards standing outside for patrol.
I forgot how big this estate was...Sin thought, with a half-smile, seeing the huge walls that loomed over her.
She headed off downtown, seeing that the nightlife was just as lively as before, especially in the city's centre. It was quite bright and just seeing it reminded Sin of how it was back then. It was nearly the same, if not more developed.
A wave of nostalgia rushed through the woman as she walked down the path of stalls, the scent of Chinese food filling her nostrils.
It's been too long, she tore her eyes away from the stalls and shoved her hands into her coat pockets.
"Hm?" The Innocence user took out the round object that was in her pocket. She realised that it was the golem that would connect back to HQ.
I forgot I even had this...she turned it on, hoping that she didn't make the others worry too much. She had forgotten to turn it on when she left for the mission.
The golem flapped its wings as it head butted the exorcist, with Komui's voice shouting through the intercom, "THERE YOU ARE! FINALLY!"
A little shocked, Sin slapped her hands around the golem, muffling the sounds coming from it. She sighed and looked over her shoulder, seeing people staring at her with weird expressions.
"S-sorry!" She apologized.
Ignoring her apology, the people continued on as if she wasn't there.
Geez, Komui...Sin sighed deeply, releasing her hands from the golem. A video call from Komui had popped up almost immediately, showing him incredibly close to the screen, almost as if he was holding the golem itself.
"Chief, good evening." She greeted with a nod, almost sweat dropping at his antics.
"Was your golem turned off the whole time for your mission?" Komui went straight to the point, moving away from the screen. He was in the cafeteria, eating food. He sat down but didn't touch his meal yet.
"Yes. Sorry about that, I forgot to turn it on. I must have caused a lot of worry. I'm sorry." She apologized, lowering her head.
"Don't worry too much about it, just tell me what happened." Komui had started to dig into his food, waving around his fork. Sin could hear his stomach growling even over the call, which made her laugh lightly.
"Alright." Sin recalled the events that happened, "You've probably heard from Toma about what happened at the train station, right? I went to the bathroom and someone used chloroform to render me unconscious, and took me away less than a minute when I came out of the place. I'm not sure what happened after that, but I woke up in a carriage in China. I was with five other girls, and I eavesdropped on the conversation between the two drivers, who were slave traders. They were planning to sell us off to a brothel in the Tian province's red light district. I came up with a plan and we escaped. That's probably the gist of it."
Komui nodded as he ate. He finished his mouthful before talking, "Good job. The others got away safely?"
Sin nodded.
"That's good." He paused, "Have you rested well enough?" His voice hinted concern.
The Chinese girl just smiled. "I'll be fine. I know my way around this place, so I'll take a look around for accommodation."
"There's no need. First and foremost, I'd like you to rest before continuing. I do have a mission for you, but it'll have to wait until after you've rested." Komui almost sounded like a strict father, which surprised Sin.
Normally he's a little...different, but this side is refreshing too.
"I will. Thank you for worrying. Before I go off, I'd like to ask how the others are. Did they manage to meet up?" She questioned.
On the other side, Komui nodded. He had finished off his meal and was solely giving his attention to the golem and video call. "Lenalee, Allen, Lavi, Bookman have met up. They're heading to China now. General Cross might be there."
"General Cross is in China?" Sin's blues went wide.
"Yes. They were tipped off." Komui crossed his arms, "But where in China, I'm not too sure. You can probably search around before resting. After that, you can head to the Asia Branch to get an examination. We need you in full health if you're going to be fighting akuma and Noah."
Sin pressed her lips together and nodded. "I guess I'll take a breather by walking around and asking if anybody's seen General Cross."
"But your rest—"
"I'll rest when I get to the Asia Branch. Send someone to find me, okay?" Sin waved bye at Komui before shutting the video call. She turned the golem off and shoved it back inside her pocket.
Now to find General Cross, Sin eyed the area.
She was still in the night market area, where everyone was buying stuff and having fun. It was almost festive. She rubbed the back of her head, wondering where she should start.
She hadn't met Cross Marian before. He was someone said to be very elusive and rarely showed up to do his job as an exorcist, and even went missing for months at a time. The Order pretty much had no way of tracking him down.
However, she has seen a picture of him, and he seemed somewhat familiar.
I wonder why, she sighed, I hope he looks the same in those pictures Komui showed me.
Sin felt her stomach rumble. The longer she stayed there, the easier it was for her to be hungry. She missed the street market foods.
The girl rummaged through her pockets before finding a little pouch of money, which she grinned at. Heading over to the bun stand, she asked for six buns, with her favourite one being the BBQ meat ones.
"Big sister...?"
Sin froze when she was handed the paper bag of buns. She was just giving the coins to the lady that owned the shop when she heard that voice.
Regaining her composure, she smiled and thanked the lady for the food, handing her the money before turning on her heel quickly, heading the opposite direction in which she came.
"Wait!" The voice followed her until they clamped a hand around her wrist, trying to stop her, but ended up getting dragged along instead.
Sin stopped abruptly, causing the boy to hit into her. However, she didn't turn around. She kept her gaze straight ahead.
"Big sister! It's me! Leon! Don't you remember me?!" The boy was about 12 years of age, with chocolate coloured hair that was short and styled to the side. His eyes were a blue like the ocean that contrasted with his fair complexion.
Sin stared at the ground, trying to focus on something else.
She had not expected to see him there. She thought he'd be at home, sleeping and getting rest. After all, he was always up doing stuff all day.
He's grown, Sin stated almost as a reminder to herself that years have passed.
She glanced over her shoulder just slightly, seeing the boy again after half a decade. Once she did, Leon's grip on her loosened, allowing her to pull her arm from him and proceed forward.
"Sister! Don't go!" Leon reached forward to stop her, but ultimately stopped when a bun got shoved into his mouth, making his hands go to the bun as it was still hot.
"Here you go. That's my favourite bun, the BBQ meat one. Enjoy it while it's still hot." Sin didn't look back as she headed forward with a heavy heart, merging with the crowd of people that had come from the other side of the night market.
Leon stood there holding the bun, mouth opening and closing like a koi fish. He didn't know whether or not to believe his own eyes, but he swore he saw her.
"Leon! There you are!" Leon turned around to see his mother coming to him with his father, their arms hooked around each other's playfully.
"Eh? Did you buy that yourself, Leon?" His mother questioned, pointing to the bun he was eating.
"No, mother. Somebody...gave it to me as a present." Leon smiled.
"What a nice person." His father rubbed the boy's head, ruffling his hair in the process, "If you find anything you want, just call me, son."
"Yes, father." Leon watched as his parents went off to the stalls again, seeing them look at all sorts of things and chat to the owners of the stands.
Was that her? Leon thought, staring at the bread that the girl he seemed to have mistakenly called 'sister' gave him.
Can it be...? Leon pondered silently for a moment, do I miss her too much? She's probably not her, anyway. That's just wishful thinking on my part. I haven't moved on at all.
Leon's eyes teared up, a painful wave of throbs hitting his heart.
After all, she's already dead.
-
Sin stopped when she reached the other side of the night market. She looked back over her shoulder, not forgetting the boy's face.
It's good you're doing well.
The exorcist went to a few stalls and started to ask if anybody had seen a tall, flashy man with fiery, long red hair wearing the exorcist uniform. Most of the responses she got were ones which said no, however, there was one who responded with a yes. They even drew a picture of what the man looked like and asked her if it was that guy, in which Sin said yes. She was quite grateful for the information and even bought some of their bread to say thanks.
She forced a smile on her face and stared at the large amount of bread she had, including the buns she got before. She sighed silently and went off to the side, just managing to take out her golem and turning it on again.
She called Komui in a voice call, "Chief, I got some information on General Cross."
"That was quick! You skipped rest again, didn't you?" She could almost see him sweat dropping on the other side.
Sin nodded out of habit, even though Komui wasn't there to see. "I asked the stalls at the night market, and one of them said he went to a high ranking brothel in the red light district."
"A brothel?" Komui questioned.
"Yeah," Sin paused, "Should I go pay the place a visit?"
She was a little unsure of whether she should or shouldn't go to confirm the information, and she knew it'd be kind of dangerous going by herself. Plus, she also had all this food to take care of.
"If you can, that would be good." Komui said after a moment. He added, "Be careful, those slave traders from before might still be lurking around."
"Yes, Chief." She nodded again, "Thanks for worrying about me." She felt warmth, almost like a familial embrace from a family member.
"I'm hesitant to get you to go by yourself, but there's no helping it." Komui sighed, "If anything happens, one of the people from the Asia Branch will help you out. I sent one to look for you. He's a big fellow and you might mistake him for a tall grandpa. He'll recognise you, though, so don't worry about finding him."
"Alright."
"They'll probably come to find you after night falls or when it gets darker."
"I'll keep an eye out for him." Sin stared at her bread. "I'll report to you when I find out something."
"I'll be looking forward to it." He hung up.
Sin didn't turn off her golem and placed it back into her pocket, disabling its ability to fly for the sake of keeping it there.
She found somewhere to sit to eat the remaining five buns, since they were starting to get cold. She took out a meat bun, taking a big bite out of it.
I need to check out the red light district, don't I? Sin sighed to herself, and why did I have to buy all this bread? I can't eat all this in one setting...
Sin stopped eating for a moment, ah, maybe if I'm really hungry then maybe...but I'm not really.
She didn't even realise it when somebody had come up to her and asked a question.
Blinking a couple of times when she came to, she saw a hand waving in front of her face and stopped eating, seeing the tall well-dressed man from before, specifically, the one she bumped into.
She stared at his golden coloured eyes with wide eyes, "Ah! Sorry! Pardon me?"
She felt like his face was familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger to it.
The male chuckled, pointing to the seat next to her, "Is that seat available?"
Even his voice is familiar? Sin thought with slight confusion.
Sin nodded slowly, then looked over and saw that her bread was taking up the space. She quickly placed the bread closer to her, "Sorry about that! Here you go."
"Thanks." He sat down and stared ahead.
Moments passed as Sin continued to eat her bread, finishing off her 2nd one. When she reached for the 3rd one, she saw the man eyeing the food in the bag she had. She stared at him for a moment.
Is he hungry? She questioned herself. He was just looking, but it felt like he really wanted something to eat. He looks like he comes from a wealthy family, though. Did he lose his wallet?
The exorcist placed the 3rd bun in her mouth, taking a small bite. Maybe I should offer him one? I guess I could use some help eating that 2nd bag.
"Do you want some?" Sin asked politely, giving him a small smile. She pointed to the 2nd bag of food she had.
"Hm?" The male was taken by surprise, looking up to meet her eyes with his own wide ones. He pointed to the bag she was pointing to, "Is that okay with you?"
Sin laughed lightly, "It's fine. I bought too much, anyway. I wouldn't have finished it by tonight." She gently pushed the bag towards the male, who took it without a hesitant thought.
As he did so, a loud growl could be heard from his stomach, like he hadn't eaten all day.
Sin laughed, a grin on her lips. It was almost comical, like something out of a fictional story. The food gets offered, and when the other person takes it, their stomach growls.
"Hurry up and eat it before it's not crispy anymore. The bread from that place is delicious." Sin took another bite out of her bun, turning back to face the crowd that was walking through the night market.
-
Tyki was quite surprised that she'd offered him food. It was almost heroic, seeing as though he had realised he was quite hungry, and went to get food first before heading off to find Suman.
It was incredibly startling to find Sin in a place like this. She had bumped into him earlier before, but he didn't realise it was her since he didn't see her face, but when he did see her again it was pretty much instant recognition.
The only thing I didn't expect was that she had grown her hair out, Tyki thought with a side glance to the female. Indeed her hair was nearly at her shoulders. She looks exactly the same as last time I saw her. It's been a while.
Does she recognise me? Probably not, inwardly, the Noah sighed.
Of course, he couldn't just come out and tell her that it was him. After all, he was keeping his double life a private matter, separating his human life and Noah life.
She only knows me in my human form. If she finds out I'm a Noah will she hate me? Tyki started eating the bread he was given, finding it quite delicious, just like she said. She probably doesn't even know about this Noah and exorcist business, anyway.
Sometimes, he did imagine her going against him and hating him because he was a Noah who used akuma to kill people for a living. In all honesty, it did freak him out a little, and that seed of doubt had been planted for a while.
He remembered that when he first met her, he thought she was a boy. Her hair was quite short back then, and she had a pretty face that could be easily mistaken for a pretty boy or girl, especially with hair and clothes like that.
She kind of looked like a paperboy back then...
As the years flew by, he didn't notice it because they had been living together, but she had turned out more feminine than he'd thought, seeing her now. At that time he didn't question her. He'd thought that she was a boy until just before she left for her new job, when she came to them to say she was going to leave for a while.
It was weird, to say the least, but although he was surprised, he accepted it easily.
Looking back at it now there were so many pointers...Tyki laughed inwardly, feeling that he was just dumb for not picking them up, and she never said she was a boy either.
He felt kind of stupid for not figuring it out sooner, like Eeez did.
Urgh, enough about that.
So what's she doing now? Tyki turned to her, pausing from eating his meal. She said she was doing something else now.
"Hm?" Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Sin turned to her eating companion, "Something the matter? Do I have something on my face?" She was genuinely asking.
Her eyes were as blue as he remembered, which made him crack a small smile, and her to tilt her head.
"No, there isn't." Tyki shook his head, chuckling. "I never knew there was a night market like this. Do you come here often?"
Sin turned back to watching the people. She smiled, "I'm not sure how it was for a few years. But it's nearly the same as it was about five years ago. Maybe bigger and better more than anything."
Tyki wasn't a mathematician nor was he someone who fancied studying, but he did manage to calculate the number of years she spent travelling with them as part of their group.
It's pretty much five years, Tyki was almost amazed at the number. It had already been quite long. But I can't exactly say that I know who she was with the whole time, he mentally sweat dropped.
To his surprise, she continued, "I was with a group of people that time during when I was away from here. They took care of me well." She smiled when she remembered the fond memories.
Tyki just observed, seeing that she thought of them positively. She does know that I'm right here right?
"Where are they now?" He took another bite of bread. He felt like he was supposed to ask this type of question when she brought it up.
"They should be somewhere out there going about their lives, moving place to place with smiles." She paused, then added, "Except one, he goes out and does some things on his own sometimes, but always comes back."
She must be talking about me, the Noah let out a light chuckle.
"Do you miss them?" He was genuinely curious.
Sin didn't respond for a second, which made Tyki look towards her. She was staring at him with a thoughtful expression, her 3rd meat bun half eaten in her hands. He just stared back, not knowing what she was thinking about. Finally, she turned forward.
"This is strange. I feel like I can tell you anything." She mumbled, then sighed lightly, turning back to him, "Of course I miss them. They were my family for five years—no, they're still my family. I want to be with them again, but I can't. Not now, anyway."
Not now? Tyki raised a brow, and tell me anything?
He laughed lightly, "And why is that?"
"Which one?"
"Both."
"...you heard what I said before?" Sin shyly looked away, not realising that he did. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment.
How could she say that about a stranger, even if she feels like she knows him?
"Yeah." The Noah chuckled.
Sin sighed through her nose, breathing in deeply to calm herself down. "Well, for the first part...um..." Her voice almost became a whisper, "You look really familiar to me..."
"What?" Tyki blinked once, having heard it. She was looking away, but he knew she was embarrassed. A smirk curled his lips. Seeing her like this made him want to tease her, "Are you hitting on me?" He joked playfully.
Sin whipped around to him, an expression of a mixture of astonishment and embarrassment on her face. She stuttered, "N-n-no! That's not it! I'm just saying you look like one of the people I was travelling with!"
Ah, so that's it, Tyki shrugged in response to her, well, I am him, after all. She just doesn't know that.
I forgot she's seen me without those glasses, he watched as the female pressed a hand to her cheek, feeling how hot it was. She frowned slightly, hitting her cheeks lightly, even though it didn't help at all.
"Don't worry too much about it," His hand went to her head and he ruffled it, bringing her in slightly closer to him. When he realised what he was doing he let go, "Ah, sorry. I...did that out of reflex."
Sin stared at him with wide eyes, not expecting that at all. She pressed a hand to her head, blinking a few times. Her eyes welled up a little, leaving them glossy and shiny, which even Tyki could see with the night lights.
"W-what..." Tyki started, a little stunned. He did not expect that.
"You act like him. It's confusing me." Sin came back to her spot and she fixed her hair, blinking the tears away.
It almost feels the same, too.
"Are you upset?" He asked. He leaned back on the bench, glancing in her direction.
Tyki wouldn't normally want to delve into matters like this because it was much too complicated for his liking, but he wanted to know what she thought. After all, it was strange to have someone who he's been living with for a long time in his human form, to come across him in his Noah form.
It's interesting to hear her opinion of me, Tyki wanted to laugh when he recalled her reactions from before. He paused his thinking for a moment, but why does that matter?
"I'm not exactly upset...rather that I really, really miss them. If anything happened to them I'd be really upset." She tapped her fingers on her thigh. She stopped for a brief moment, realising that the whole conversation was him asking her questions, but she didn't know anything about him.
"What about you? Is there someone like that to you?" She asked, turning to face him.
Tyki glanced at her, then turned back to face the crowd with a small smirk. He couldn't just up and say it that he missed that group too, so he had to word it differently. He wasn't one to lie.
"There is." Tyki didn't elaborate.
Sin just left it at that, not wanting to pry. She finished up her 3rd meat bun and took her 4th, which she ate contently. When she was looking into the crowd, she realised that a lot of people were looking their way. She didn't even notice that when she was looking out there before because she was focused on the conversation, but now that she's realised it, she was confused.
Why are they blushing, squealing and pointing over here? Sin stared at a pair of girls who were giggling to each other and pointing towards where they were sitting.
She looked to another, and saw that there were a few guys looking at her and then Tyki, who seemed more cautious if anything.
What exactly is happening here? Sin was beyond confused. What had she done to warrant this attention? She understood that in certain situations it was appropriate but she was incredibly confused as to why this was happening now. After all, she was just sitting with a stranger, eating a meat bun. Why was that so fascinating to them?
Tyki, on the other hand, was kind of used to it, though it did bother him a little bit.
They're staring at us too much...Tyki sweat dropped. He knew why they were staring, of course, but chose to ignore it, since he couldn't really do anything about it. However, there was one thing he was annoyed about.
Those guys...Tyki stared at the guys that were all on the side, trying to hide that they were looking at her, it's like she's a celebrity here.
He glanced over at Sin to see her reaction, and laughed lightly at her. She had the most puzzled expression ever, like she didn't know what and why it was happening. He swore he could see question marks popping up all around her head, clueless as she currently was.
"Can I get your pictures, please?!"
Sin yelped and scooted over to Tyki, half squashing the bag of bread. Tyki was equally surprised, but more so when he felt her clinging to his arm, quite strongly, he might add.
The person who had popped up randomly behind Sin was someone holding a camera, wearing traditional Chinese attire that displayed he was part of the promotional team for the night market events. He looked quite happy with his cat-like face, "I'd like to take a picture of you two enjoying the night market."
"Uh, um," Sin regained her breath and she shook her head, "No thanks. I'd rather not get photographed."
"That's a shame, but that's fine. Have a lovely evening with your boyfriend!" The photographer waved and rushed off to find other subjects for photos.
"Boyfriend?" Sin blinked and wondered who he was talking about, glancing at Tyki. She gasped and went back to her spot, apologizing to him profusely for grabbing his arm.
"It's fine." Tyki chuckled, raising his hands. He almost felt guilty about it, even though she was the one apologizing.
Sin stopped at that, shutting her mouth, then burying her face in her hands as she leaned forward on her thighs.
He really looks like him, Sin shook her head, but he can't be. Tyki doesn't have golden eyes.
I should get out of here before I overthink things, Sin sighed gently to herself and stood up with her bag of remaining meat buns.
"Mister, thank you for taking time to have a chat with me tonight. I have somewhere to be, so I can't stay any longer. The bread can keep you from going hungry. Thanks again, Ty—" Sin's eyes widened as she gasped and stopped herself, "—I mean, sir."
Tyki raised his brows, stunned. Was she just going to say, 'Tyki'? It left him speechless. But the way she stopped, she probably doesn't think it's me.
That was a close call, Sin mentally exhaled in a tired breath.
She nodded at him, "Goodnight."
Tyki smiled and gave her a little wave, seeing her go off. Once he couldn't see her anymore, he leaned back and sighed deeply. He could almost feel a smile come to his lips as he took out a cigarette and placed it between them, lighting it and taking a deep inhale, before exhaling.
I really needed that, he closed his eyes, well, that was interesting. Didn't expect to bump into her here. She gave me food even when I was posing as a stranger. She really hasn't changed from back then.
He chuckled, who knew she missed me so much? He was just joking, but he felt happy she did, feeling the same way. Of course, he'd feel happy if Momo, Clark and Eeez told him that, too. However, it felt like more of an impact when she did.
He opened his eyes and stared up at the sky, knowing that he had a soft spot for the girl. It was strange, what five years does to you. He sighed to himself.
As long as she's smiling, then that's good.
The Noah got rid of the cigarette and continued to eat the bread, but saw something shine blue. It was on his thigh. He picked it up and stared at it, wondering what it was. Once he examined it, he realised that it was one of the blue earrings that Sin always wore.
Why is this here? He questioned, trying to find the other part. He found it on the ground just next to his foot. He dusted it off and cleaned them, staring at it for a moment.
Must have been when she grabbed my arm, he paused for a moment, how does that even work? Did it get caught somewhere?
He glanced at his suit jacket and saw a small tear on his arm, ah, figures.
'Those are from my grandparents', Tyki remembered her telling him about her earrings once. He stared at it in his hand for a moment, before taking off one of his own earrings, and replacing it with Sin's one. He placed his own in his breast pocket.
That way I won't lose it. I'll give it back to her when I see her next, Tyki thought for a brief moment, I don't even know where she'll be. I guess I'll just hold onto it.
Tyki rubbed the back of his neck, coming to a realisation that he was treating her pretty much the same way that he did when he was in his 'white' form, just that his speech became more refined, and his appearance changed slightly too.
Tyki froze for a moment, realising something. A single thought went through his head.
I don't know if that's concerning or not.