When Natalie and Edward came back into the yard of Yuko’s shop they were all smiles again. Yuko was sitting on the front porch with Mokona, Watanuki, and another man that hadn’t been there when they’d left. They seemed to be drinking sake and chatting. Seeing the unknown man made Natalie stop dead in her tracks and her face went pale.
“What’s the matter?” Edward asked but Natalie didn’t hear a word of it. She’d already bolted straight towards the man, her fist cocked back.
“You bastard! What are you doing here?!” she yelled as her fist connected with the man’s face knocking him back.
Edward ran to catch up with her, grabbing her so she wouldn’t go crazy on the guy. He’d seen her get mad before but it had been nothing like this.
The man sat up, rubbing his now partially swollen cheek. “Is that any way to say hello to your father,” he said.
Natalie stood there seething trying to break free from Edward’s hold but failing. “Shut up you good for nothing dead beat! How dare you show up out of nowhere and expect me to be all nice and glad to see you!”
Edward knew exactly how she felt and there was a part of him that wanted to let her go. He thought better of it though knowing that rage inside of her was still too dangerous. If he let her go right now she’d probably kill him, literally.
“Well I certainly understand your anger but calm down a little and let me explain will ya?” her father said now standing up.
“You walked out on us thirteen years ago, what’s to explain? You left without so much as a good-bye and just left mom and me alone! Do you know how sad she was without you? Do you have any clue how hard she worked to raise me alone? You don’t! You just ran away you filthy coward!”
Her father chuckled a bit. “So Michelle did tell you what I asked her to.”
“What?” Natalie said, relaxing a bit because she hadn’t expected to hear that from him. Feeling her relax, Edward finally felt OK with letting her go.
“Sit down,” Yuko said, “there are still things that need to be explained.”
Natalie eyed Yuko, not liking this situation in the least, but she did as she had been asked. Her father and Edward sat down as well. “Alright then,” Natalie said, her arms crossed and her voice still sounding harsh, sharp, and angry. “Start explaining.”
Her father took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Where do I begin?”
Natalie glared at him. “Try the beginning old man,” she said sharply.
Her father didn’t look amused but continued. “I guess it started the day you were born. When you took your first breath, your mother and I both saw a small flash of light and a symbol on your forehead. It must have happened too fast since no one else in the room seemed to notice. Needless to say, it freaked your mother and me out to say the least but it didn’t appear again. For the next few years everything seemed to be normal but when you were about four years old that changed. You had been playing outside with some of the neighbor’s kids and one had said something that made you mad, that’s when it appeared again. I had seen the flash again. I didn’t know what to do and neither did Michelle. We took you to doctor after doctor but they couldn’t find anything to explain it, they even thought we were crazy at one point. I had reached my whits end. Finally I gave up and took you to see one of those supernatural psychic exorcist types hoping they could help. It was a young lady and her three male companions…”
Natalie’s eyes went wide. “Was the girl’s name Sakura?”
Her father thought about it for a moment. “Yes, I think it was actually, why?”
Natalie turned to look at Yuko. “Sakura, Syaoran, Fay, and Kurogane… they were in my world?”
Yuko nodded. “Yes. The white Mokona took them there in search of a feather. Mokona actually mistook your power for the power of a feather.”
Natalie lowered her head thinking about this then looked back at her father. “What did Sakura tell you?”
“Well when we arrived she had me put you in her lap and she hugged you. What she saw exactly I don’t know, but she did tell me that one day you would awaken to a great power, a power so great that it would allow you to travel worlds. She also told me one day you’d go away and never come back. I begged her to explain more but she only shook her head at me and said she couldn’t. When I asked if there was anything I could do they were kind enough to put me in contact with Yuko.”
“The Mokonas…” Natalie said.
Her father nodded. “Yuko explained your power to me, how it worked, the taboos, everything. I had to do something. Yuko promised me that she would give you the things you needed to survive with your power but in exchange…” his voice trailed off.
“In exchange James had to give up all ties to you and your mother,” Yuko said, picking up her pipe and taking a pull from it.
“Wait, he was the one who paid the price for my necklace and the advice you gave me? He’s the one you couldn’t tell me about?”
Yuko nodded. “Yes.”
Natalie looked at her father, the anger coming back. “Why would you do that?!” she exclaimed standing up again. “You would give us up just so… just so…”
Her father stood up as well and put his hands on her shoulders smiling softly at her. “Natalie, you have to understand. A father would give up everything if he thought it would make his daughter’s life one ounce better.”
She started to cry, hitting her fist against her father’s chest but nowhere near as hard as she’d slugged him earlier. “Why? Why? Why would you leave mom and I alone? Why didn’t anyone tell me about any of this before now?”
James held his daughter close as she cried. “That was part of the deal, you weren’t allowed to know. I was given enough time to explain things to Michelle. I asked her to lie to you, to tell you that I had run out on you guys. I needed you to hate me so much you wouldn’t come looking for me, not that you would have ever found me if you had tried. Once our deal was complete, Yuko arranged for me to come here and I’ve been living in this Japan ever since.” He then looked over at Edward. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the reason you wouldn’t return home would have something to do with a boy.”
Edward stood up and looked James directly in the eye. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
James chuckled. “Nothing more than this, love has no logic, no rhyme, and no reason. No matter how smart or careful you are, no matter how much you plan and prepare and try to resist it, love will always have its way. I could have given up a hundred lifetimes, paid any price to make sure she would return home someday, to try and change destiny but it would never have been enough to stop this from happening, I know that now. She was always destined to live her life this way.”
Natalie pushed away from her father, something dawning on her. “Wait a minute, if I was never supposed to be able to see you again, why am I allowed to now?”
“Because it was necessary and the price had already been paid,” Yuko answered. “Your mother actually paid the price a long time ago just before your father left. She gave her ability to have any more children in order to grant you one visit with your father when you needed it most.”
“That’s why… she knew that I would need to have this explained to me someday. And she… she never bothered to date again not only because she couldn’t let go of him, she knew she couldn’t… wait a minute…” Natalie put her hands on her stomach. “Looks like mom and I have something in common.”
Yuko chuckled. Natalie and Edward both looked at her. “What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Well about that, you remember what the gate keeper said about you not having to pay a price?”
“Yeah but then… and you were there for that?”
“Yes I was, out of sight mind you, but he only said that he was going to accept the exchange to appease you. You were rather insistent that you had to pay a price to get this young man’s alchemy back.”
“So then he didn’t take anything from me?”
Yuko shook her head. “No, and besides him and I both knew you were going to pay a far greater price for what you planned to do, it would have been too much to take that from you too.”
This was all too much; it was making Natalie’s head spin. Why did all of this have to happen at once? She felt weak and started to waver, it was clear she was going to fall. Edward rushed to her and caught her just as she fainted.
“Watanuki, show him where the back bedroom is. She can rest there.”
Watanuki nodded. “Oh course, Mr. Elric, please follow me.”
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