Snippet #2476681

”I am Miuru Sohma… My father… Meitarou-san… left something here… sent here to get it…”

Her voice was soft like the whisper of a mouse. It was his doctor's daughter, come to pick up an item left behind by her father. He had never seen her before but he had heard more than enough about her from her father. Her father had described her in glowing details, definitely creating high expectations from the start. He knew better than to expect much and he was right. The only particularly noteworthy details that stood out to him were her demure appearance and glasses.


Her father had always served as his doctor for as long as he could remember. For the earlier half of his life Aiko had seen as much of her father as he did his own. In his own way he owed her father a lot. From the oxygen tanks which kept him breathing for so many years right down to the inhaler he keeps just in case pollutants irritate his airway without her father he would not be alive today. Of course, then his father got sick and her father failed at his duties as both a doctor and a parent. It was natural for him to harbor some anger at her father for what happened the day his father died. He felt let down by his doctors inability to save him but what his father had said to him before put the entire incident in a different light.

His father didn't die just because his doctor failed him, he died because the curse had come to collect it's dues. After all, this curse afflicted him and his father as much as it did the rest of his family. He would not turn into an animal at any point but his share of the curse was just as debilitating, perhaps more so than the rest. His father's death was less sudden tragedy and more a grim inevitability, as is his own. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't run from the fact that death was the real head of this family. his role is just to serve his purpose for as long as it has planned for him to do so.
He was the master of this curse and it's slave all the same.

As such, he did not blame her father when his father's final hour had finally past. His doctors duty was a Sisyphean task, failure being almost entirely assured. He kept him on as his doctor because he knew his doctor would strive even harder to redeem himself from his disgraceful defeat. If he couldn't be assured of his dedication and loyalty before he certainly could now.
If his doctor ever planned to kill him it would be far too obvious who did it. It would be foolish for her father to even try.


Aiko turned to Keiko, his body still in the way of the door. "You need to keep me better informed." He commanded her in a low, hushed tone so he wouldn't be heard by Miuru. He figured he could use Miuru's unexpected visit as incentive for Keiko to start informing him of everything that was going on. An extra pair of eyes and ears with which to spy on his fellow family members with was valuable indeed and by extension, so was Keiko.

Aiko opened the large wooden door to his home, holding it open as he gestured for Miuru to step inside.
"It is good to finally meet you Miuru, Please step inside. Your father has spoken quite highly of you. I've actually been looking forward to speaking with you for some time. I trust you are not too busy to speak with me while we go retrieve this undisclosed item you were speaking of?" He welcomed Miuru inside, offering an opportunity to converse with him while they looked for what she was sent here for.

He wasn't lying to her particularly when he said he was looking forward to speaking with her. He had actually been hoping to learn more about her for some time given that they have not met yet. It would be a good time to analyze her, figure out just what to do with her and where she would fit in the family order. His voice was less cold bordering on hostile and more cold seasoned with formality now since both of the people he was in the company of were rather well behaved at the moment.
He was sure his day wouldn't end with just these two so he savored the comfortably quiet people's company while it lasted.

Will she help or will she hinder? He planned to answer that question soon.