Intermediate of Mel's Bio

        “Sakamoto, come over here a moment,” the woman with the silver hair and silver eyes spoke, commanding for her daughter to come out of the shadows. A young girl by the age of seventeen poofed near the grown woman. She wore a loose-fitting kimono the color of lush green grass, with gold trim. Her hair was long and black, adorned with various barrettes and reaching the back of her knees. She looked up at her mother with her emerald eyes, who stood over the body of a collapsed and possibly dying brown-hair girl, barely age thirteen. The child showed signs of labored breathing, and her brown eyes were glazed over with darkness.
       “Mother, what is wrong with her?” She asked, looking back and forth from the girl lying unconscious and her mom.
      “Nothing dear. Her body is just having a hard time accepting HATE. She needs both you and your sister’s skills,” the silver haired woman responded, doing a nearly impossible bend with the clothing she was wearing, unless she showed something. Yet gravity did not seem to affect the gray-black, skin-tight, Japanese style dragon gown, which had a split just below the start of her right thigh. She moved her hand up and down the body of the motionless thirteen-year-old child. “HATE is trying to find a way out, but a majority of it is within her. Where is your sister?” she asked the older teen, somewhat annoyed.
        “Right here, Mom.” A fourteen-year-old girl with wavy blonde hair that ran halfway down her back appeared next to her older sister. She sported a Japanese sailor-style uniform, and looked somewhat interested in the girl on the ground and somewhat fearful. She was about to touch the girl with the tip of her shoe before her older sister held out her hand, stopping the young one.
        “Hamano, don’t. HATE could still be very active. For all we know, it’s waiting for us to find out if it’s connected to her body yet by us stimulating a sense, such as touch.” Sakamoto’s voice was full of sage wisdom, and lacked the sass and ego of someone her age. Hamano lowered her foot and folded her hands behind her back, playing with the tips of her hair.
       “Very good Sakamoto’, their mom praised her. “I see that you have been paying attention to your teachers. We’ll have to let them know.” She was still bent over the girl. She did not look up at her daughters at all while she talked, but they did not need to see her eyes to know that she was speaking directly to them.
        “Now, without reading my mind, Hamano, can you guess what I want you two to do now?” Hamano stood up straight when her mother called on her, and paid a more detail attention to the girl her mom was looking at. Cuts, some still fresh and bleeding, covered the youngest girl’s body. Without jumping, Hamano began to float in the air, but only to get a better look. Her skirt floated somewhat tenaciously, restricted by an unknown presence that did not need acknowledgment by the three conscious females.
        “Do you want us to heal her? I don’t see why you need me here for that though. Sakamoto’s the one who knows magic.” At that point, Sakamoto the older daughter glared at her younger sister. Hamano winced and set herself back on the ground, her shoe tips first before the rest of her feet followed.
          Acting as if her sister did not ask what she would consider a stupid question, Sakamoto spoke. “Mother, I thought that we were not to use our special abilities,” she glanced at her sister as if she were the only one to use her own skill, “in the public.”
          Their mom chuckled. “Honey, do you see the public? There are not many people left to be considered the public, and even if there were, they most likely would not be coming out of that temporary coma for another half day.” Having finished studying the reason why she called her daughters over there, the silver haired woman stood up and looked at her two beautiful daughters. Her eyes struck as fierceness to the girls, and they had to resist wincing. Sakamoto was able to resist it almost completely, blinking only once, while her sister Hamano, who lacked the training, took a step back before regaining the composure she thought she had.
        “Hamano Chiaki. Sakamoto Chiaki. This is Melody Hikari.” At the sound of the last name their mom mentioned, the two sisters leaned forward, ignoring all suspicion they had before. Curiosity led them, and it led them well. Hamano placed her hand a few inches above the motionless body and slowly led it all the way down to the girl’s feet, doing her best to resist running away in fright from the darkness inside her. While she did this, Sakamoto spoke with her mom.
        “Is this the light?” she asked, her voice leveled and not revealing the possible excitement and interest that coursed in her veins.
        “Yes, my dear,” her mother responded, glad with some sort of relief.
        “I don’t sense any power of a requiem in her, mom,” Hamano alerted her mom. Worry and concern showed on her face. Sakamoto’s expression changed from the emotionless one to one of alarm. She looked from her sister and then to her mom.
         “But you said! You told us that the light would have the power of a requiem and Hamano’s almost never wrong! And we--”
          “Sakamoto!” Her mom said in a loud voice that instantly silenced her almost adult daughter. Sakamoto bit her lower lip and cursed herself inwardly, while Hamano stood erect. She walked over to her sister and hugged her right arm, leaning her head on her sister’s shoulder.
         “Girls, she hasn’t experienced anything yet. She will not be at her full potential until age eighteen, or when HATE has left her body,” their mother explained to them.  The girl on the ground, Melody Hikari, began to convulse. While the moon was not yet that bright, due to some clouds still covering it, her shadow began to elongate and grow.
          “Crud. Girls, I need you to help seal HATE within her, right now! The prayer I had her recite earlier won’t hold it down for much longer. Sakamoto, heal her injuries and Hamano, try to keep her mind stable and restrict HATE’s movements.” Her voice was rushed and every word came out like daggers. Sakamoto hastily went to work closing up some of the wounds and increasing their healing rate while Hamano stood there, shaking.
         Her voice shook with fear and fright. “Mom, I don’t think I have enough power to! HATE’s very powerful, and I don’t have enough stamina--”
        “Hamano quit stalling! You do too have enough power and stamina!” Shadows began to uplift from the ground. The mother held out her hand, and silver shots of energy spheres hit the rising shadows, dissolving them. “Now go!”
       Fearing her mother more than HATE, Hamano kneeled over Melody’s head and held her hands over her. She quickly began a binding chant when she suddenly felt a bolt of power course throughout her body. Guessing whose power it was, she quickly began channeling her mom’s power with her own. Soon, she found herself exploring Melody’s mind, walking down what seemed to be a corridor with many doors, before opening up into a large round library with many bookshelves overflowing with books of memories; most were yet to be written. Before she could make sense of the shadow in the middle of the room, a bolt of dark energy was shot at her, knocking some books out of their shelving.
         Hey! Be careful! You may seriously mess up her mind when she awakes if you do more of that! Hamano sent thought signals to HATE, commanding its respect. The massive shadow seemed to cringe, only to lash out immediately. Doing what she could to prevent a mind link between herself and HATE, Hamano quickly encircled it within a psychic bubble. Her mind avatar held out its hands against HATE’s charge, and a blue-green transparent shield formed. Sending another impulse to the avatar, the shield grew and shaped itself around the internal shelves.
        What do you think you’re trying to do? You can’t win against me! </b>HATE’s abilities could not be oppressed, even with the combined power of Hamano and her mom. A barbed vine shot out from the mental shadow, and broke through the shield. It was too fast for Hamano to dodge; she was mentally disconnected, and physically thrown.
        “Looks like I’ll have to get rid of it my way. Sakamoto, get out of the way.” Her silver hair was the last they saw of their mother as she enter Melody’s mind. She recited an ancient incantation in Latin. Chains came out from the bookshelves, binding HATE. The endless shadow thrashed about, but the chains glowed silver, and held fast.
          You can’t break free of a holy chain, HATE, the silver-haired woman told HATE. She constantly moved her arms as the corresponding chain came out of the deepest reaches of Melody’s mind. You’ll be bound to this girl’s mind and body until she releases you herself, or dies. If the latter, then you’ll walk the earth in her rotting corpse, released only when the body has returned to the dust it once was. HATE’s snarls broke a few of the links, which caused the woman to take a step back.
          You cannot bind me!! What are you thinking</b>, more chains snapped as the shadow hunched upon itself, growing larger. Trying to bind ME to a HUMAN! Were you really an angel? I doubt that God Himself would allow this idiot of an angel to exist!</b>
        “Hamano?” Sakamoto’s calm voice broke through to her startled and scared sister. The younger girl looked up with aqua eyes to her older sister’s emerald ones. “Are you okay?” She went over and hugged her younger sister.
          “Sakamoto…hic…” She began crying, trying to hide her emotions. Sakamoto brushed some strands out of her sister’s face, the silky kimono caressing her skin. She caressed her younger sibling’s head, and spoke to her in a soothing voice. “It’s okay. Shh... It’s all right. Mom’s taking care of it.” When Hamano heard that last sentence, she broke away from her older sister’s embrace.
       “Onii-chan… Mom’s not gonna make it!!! It’s just… it’s… too powerful!!” She bit her thumb, hard in thought. “I know that Mom has holy power on her side, but…”
        “Hamano!” Sakamoto’s stern voice made her younger sister flinch. “Sorry,” Sakamoto quickly apologized, “but if Mom could hear you say that, she’d have you practice both mental and physical exercises for ten years if she heard you doubt the Lord’s power. Isn’t that why you’re the more religious one?” Sakamoto embraced her sister again, combing Hamano’s hair with her fingers.
        “Hamano?” she asked in a whisper.
        “Yes?” Hamano looked up at her older sister.
       “Can you mind-watch the battle or something?” Every word she asked was carefully said, like placing ten-pound weights across an inch of ice.
        “Uhm, I can try… I’m pretty sure I can.” She sniffed and wiped away her tears with her hand. Sakamoto grabbed at some excess material on her kimono and rubbed away some snot from Hamano’s nose. Her older sister led her to Melody’s body and helped her kneel down. Once sitting, Hamano placed her hands over Melody’s head, and almost instantly she was at the doorway of memories, watching the fight.
           Light and feathery wings sprouted from their mom. Silver feathers, each lighter than air but sturdy enough to use as possible weapons, filled the air and stopped in place, like a photo. Divinus catena ex penna, her mom commanded. Hamano wasn’t quite sure if she heard it right, but she assumed that the Latin her mom spoke was “Divine Chain from Feathers”. And that’s what vaguely seemed to happen. (Her Latin wasn’t as good as her mom’s; no one on earth seemed to compare to her mother.) The feathers became light and bound themselves around HATE. The luminosity from the feathers did not fade, and only when it seemed that HATE itself was glowing with light did they weaken their shine slightly to show the binding chains.
          This damned chain will not be able to bind me forever! </b>HATE’s voice showed triumph and slight weariness.
        It will hold you for now, and that is most important right now. Hamano’s mother floated in the air without having ever flapped her wings. A bright light was being emitted from her, and a sacred force that Hamano’s abilities would never fathom seemed to course throughout the silver woman. The avatar that Hamano created before the supernatural beings blinked, and she found herself back in her own body.
         “What happened?” Sakamoto asked anxiously. Hamano had to catch her breath; how had she become out of breath?
         “Mom transformed.” Two simple words had sent ripples of shock throughout Sakamoto’s body, and Hamano’s mind could finally comprehend at least what the force behind her mom was. “And I think God was there with her. His power was literally off the charts. Mom bound HATE with a chain made from her feathers… I think…” Hamano looked around and found herself five feet away from Melody. How did that happen?
          Sakamoto’s gaze followed her sister’s. “You were thrown back by some sort of strong wind, but I didn’t feel anything; I was right next to you the whole time.” She enveloped her sister in a bear hug. “I was worried that something was going to take you away…”
         Hamano was about to respond when a brilliant light hovered over Melody’s head. The illumination did not affect the still unconscious child. Of course, it wouldn’t; after all, it was the other two’s mother.
         “Mom!” Sakamoto exclaimed. She helped her sister up and ran towards her.
        “Sakamoto, stop right where you are.” About a foot before the light, Sakamoto heeded her mother’s firm voice. “That’s far enough. Hamano, you can come closer now. I don’t know what you were thinking, attempting to watch me like that.” Both daughters exchanged glances before lowering their heads.
          “Stand up straight. I have something significant to tell you two.” Simultaneously their heads rose up, fearing the worst. “Good. I’m sure you’re both well aware of the legend?” Slowly, their minds comprehended what she said and gave the proper response: a nod. Her silver eyes soften but still remained fierce to her daughters. “Now is the time that you’ll both begin your guardianship of her. Sakamoto, I’ve arranged a date in the future in which you’ll talk to her parents in about three years’ time for “past” guardianship. They do not know it yet, but it is being ingrained into their heads as we speak.” Hamano and Sakamoto exchanged curious glances at how that was being done.
        “I have also stored within Melody’s mind the ability to “transform” herself into something similar to me. She will only be able--” Her daughters broke in.
       “Mom! Does that mean---“
       “Are you saying—“
       “Silence!” Both winced and bit on their lower lips. Their synchronicity somewhat amused their mom in a fond way. Boy, was she going to miss being with them.
        “You both knew what it meant when HATE appeared on the net as a virus. Do NOT start crying over what you both knew would be coming.” Sakamoto lowered her head as Hamano tried to avoid her mother’s eyes.
         “Now,” she continued without further interruption, “she will be able to do this only when she has lost all control of HATE, and only when something to fight for seems imminent to her, as well as a lack of obtaining control. Later, she will learn this knowledge. It is important that you know this in the event that she lacks the knowledge to “transform”; that is highly improbable. It is also important that you keep her from “abusing” this ability.
        “Her requiem power,” she said, cutting off Hamano before she could speak, “will come a few months into her journey.” She eyed both her daughters, forcing them both to meet her fiery silver ones. They looked from her luminous eyes down her just as gleaming silver hair and ended up at her slowly dissolving feet. Distress became the sharp emotion on their faces and both looked to one another to confirm that they both were seeing the same thing.
      “Yes, my time is limited. Any other questions?”
      “Mom, where will we go?” Hamano asked timidly.
      Their mother placed a finger on her cheek in thought. “I have previously arranged for you two to live with your father for the time being.” Both daughters interjected their displeasure.
       “Dad?! Why him?”
       “No! Anybody but him!”
       “I heard he’s found a possible match for Melody.” Their mom’s voice was full of light; whether she was joking or serious about their dad having done so was uncertain.
        “Mom, please!” Sakamoto tried to begin reasoning with her.
        “What’s so wrong about your dad?” she asked innocently. She was fully aware of what they disliked about their dad; she was just hoping that they would realize how silly their excuses were one last time.
       “He keeps trying to set us up with men!” Hamano added in. She knew from experience. “Remember that African -Asian he tried to set me up with?” Sakamoto stifled laughter as Hamano recalled her memory. “I was only eleven, and he was already proposing to me!” She made a disgusted face and crossed her arms, beginning to levitate.
         “Yeah, well, at least you weren’t about to call off men from that experience. He made more mature advances on me.” Sakamoto shivered as horror seeped back into her mind. “Right after you said “eww, no!” and began crying, he went for me when you teleported away.
       “Dad likes playing matchmaker too much!” she told her mom.
       “Do you want the same fate to happen to our light?!” Hamano exaggerated; she was hoping something big when she prayed that her dad had more than enough sense to set Melody up with the same guy he tried with them.
        “I assure you, it is not the same one. He even showed me who. I say, this one may actually work out.” Their mom smiled as her torso was the next to slowly disappear. “He also has something she can do there while he tries to get her “romance” to blossom.’
        “Dad seriously needs a life outside of Japan and matchmaking.” Sakamoto’s voice contained not one drop of humor or sarcasm; she was serious.
        “I’m sure he’ll retire after this one,” their mom said, her silver hair starting to fade as well.
       “More like he’ll become more inspired,” Hamano commented dryly.
       “Well, he found a hottie for you in someplace London-esque.”
       “No, mom. I don’t care; dad is the worst at picking couples!”
       “Sakamoto, he says that he’s still searching for one who would stand up to your harsh comments.”
       Sakamoto snorted as a response. “He’ll never find someone then.”
       “Give Takashi and Sarai my love.”
       “What?!” Both daughters snapped out of their dislike of their dad and paid more attention to their mom. Barely her shoulders upward remained as particles of light disappeared into the atmosphere. Hamano began crying and tears escaped Sakamoto’s eyes. They both understood that their mom would not be able to visit their dad and youngest sister one last time. It normally took Sakamoto about a week to make a potion for time-travel. Her mom had only a few more minutes left; she hoped it was more.
       “Mom! Please!” Hamano cried out; her young age and lack of training showed as the tears overflowed from her eyes. Sakamoto bit back tears, but those were impossible to hold.
       “My beautiful girls, I love you.” With that a small wisp of light blinked and faded out; all signs of their mothers’ presence was gone.
       Silence consumed them. Both stood there; Hamano’s knees buckled and she slid to the floor. Sakamoto could not process a thought. The training her dad paid for did not prepare her for such a bombshell. Only the faint sound of a moan brought them out of their dead state. Hamano sniffled and tried to retain her whimpering. Sakamoto looked over her shoulders and remembered whom their mother died for.
       “Sis,” she began softly, not wanting to cause her any more distress. “She’s going to have a killer headache. I won’t be able to heal all of her injuries.” She slowly walked over to Melody and placed a soothing hand over the child’s forehead. Her face showed some signs of distress before seeping off into a peaceful sleep.
       “Let us hope that Mom was correct about her.” Sakamoto closed her eyes as the last tears fell from them. When she opened them, she regained the harden composure she had when she first came in contact with Melody. “Come on sister; we have to tell dad about mom and her coming.” She hurried over to her sister, Hamano nodding. She held up her hands and focused, and they both disappeared as Melody regained consciousness.