"Gate sham bad!"
Mioko giggled, reaching out with her grasping, sticky fingers to the wrinkled face smiling down at her.
"Mioko, sweetheart, no. It's great-grand…" Kaito ceased speaking mid-word, pulling his hand back from his daughter's shoulder as Ito Ganawa's hand flew up with surprising speed to halt him.
"Don't you dare correct her. If that's what she wants to call me, then that's what I'll be," the nonagenarian said with a merry laugh. He reached out a shaking index finger, letting the toddler sitting on the sofa next to him wrap the whole of her hand around it. "Your gate sham bad loves you so much, little miss Mioko. Do you know that, honey?"
The toddler nodded, grinning wide. "Mmm-huh!" She turned her head, distracted by the bright colors of the cartoon on Hana's television set, and momentarily lost interest in the proffered finger. She instead busied herself with depositing a small stuffed penguin into the large pocket on the front of her brown corduroy overalls.
Ito turned his attention to the couch's other occupant on his left, his thousand-watt smile not fading in the slightest. Though the teeth in the smile were false, the joy in it was not. "And as for you, little man! Gods, you were what, six, seven, the last time I saw you?" He reached out, gently ruffling Hoshi's jet-black hair with his hand. "How are you? Enjoying school?"
Hoshi nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah! Last week in science class we did this crazy thing with like a million ping-pong balls and mouse traps and…"
Ito chuckled, clapping Hoshi on the thigh through his school uniform slacks. "The only way to do science, if you ask me! The rest is just math." He stuck his tongue out, making a disgusted bleghhh sound.
"I knew I liked that guy," Ranko said with a laugh as she emerged from the kitchen, setting out a large tray of pan-fried gyoza dumplings. She set the long ceramic serving tray on the center of three folding tables that had been set in a row to accommodate all four generations of her family that had gathered in Hana's third-floor apartment. Her jibe elicited a bright giggle from her wife, who busied herself laying out napkins and chopsticks around the table.
"I thought you said he was a mechanical engineer before he opened the bar," Izumi whispered as she darted by her mother with a stack of plates in hand.
Smirking, Hana nodded as she took the blue square plates to complete the relay to the table. "He was. But let him have his fun." She had yet to stop smiling since the moment her longtime father figure had shambled through the door of the Phoenix seven hours prior.
"I gotta tell ya, little buddy," Ito said, listing to his left to get closer to Hoshi. "Between what your mom, your Auntie Ayako, your Auntie Mei, and your Auntie Ranko are doing in there, you and me are gonna eat like kingstonight! Ho-ho!" He craned his neck around to watch another platter delivered to the table. "Everything smells just wonderful, girls!"
Hoshi grinned, leaning close to his great-grandfather and cupping his hand between his lips and Ito's ear. "That's 'cause they don't let Auntie Akane cook anymore," he said a little more loudly than he intended to.
"Is that so," Ito said, rocking back and giving the young man a shocked expression. "Surely it can't be…"
"Yes, it can," exclaimed Yui, Akane, Ranko and Izumi in unison.
The door to Hana's bedroom closed with a quiet click, and a tall, raven-haired man tiptoed down the hallway to rejoin the festivities in the kitchen. "He's finally down," Kage said, a hint of exasperation in his voice as he waved the plastic receiver of the baby monitor in front of his chest.
"My hero," Ayako exclaimed, looking up from her skillet to give her husband a peck on the lips. She wiped her fingers off on her lime-green apron and took the monitor from him, placing it on the counter next to the stove. "I can't say I blame him for being riled up, though. There's a lot of excitement going around tonight."
Ranko emerged from the kitchen again, untying the sash of her princess apron as she walked. "Dinner's just about ready, if everybody wants to start making their way to the table," she announced with a flourish toward the makeshift banquet table.
Akane nodded, hurrying into the hallway. She retrieved the collapsed wheelchair from its stowed position near the bathroom door, pulling it into the open area between the kitchen and living room and beginning to unfold it. So glad we hung onto this thing after Ranko messed up her leg, Akane thought as she maneuvered it carefully around the coffee table to the couch. "Your chariot awaits, Granddad!" She motioned invitingly to the faded blue vinyl seat before stepping around it to provide Ito support as he transferred from the sofa to the chair. Once he was settled, Akane wheeled him to the head of the table, where the space for a chair had been left vacant.
Only once Ito was situated did the seven Phoenix sisters, their husbands, and their children begin to make their way to the table. Sakura slipped off of Yui's lap in the living room recliner, stopping to offer Mioko her hand as she led the toddler to a seat between those designated for her parents.
Ito frowned at his steaming teacup, reaching out and grasping Yui's wrist as she walked by him. "Can I maybe… get one of those?" He pointed to the brown bottle in her other hand.
Smirking, Yui offered a bit of a chuckle and rolled her eyes. The mirth in her eyes did more to light the room than Hana's five-bulb dining room chandelier. "You sure you should do that, Granddad? Probably not so good for you at your advanced age."
"Yeah, my doctor said something like that to me once," Ito said, laughing and shrugging his shoulders. "But, he's dead now, so I guess we don't have to tell him!"
Happy to concede the point, Yui scurried into the kitchen, returning in a moment with a bottle of beer. She reached down to her pocket, pulling out her key ring and using the aluminum tool on it to pop off the cap before setting the bottle in front of her grandfather. She took her seat between him and Sakura, tilting her own half-empty bottle in his direction in respect.
Grasping the bottle, Ito lifted it over his plate, beaming proudly across the long row of tables as Hana took her seat at the opposite head of it. "I'm so grateful I can be here with you all for this." Using the table for support, he started to tentatively stand. Yui stood with him, not helping him, but remaining on standby in the event he needed her support.
"To the next forty years," Ito said, tilting the bottle in Hana's direction.
Hana stood, extending her bottle toward her father in return. "And the next four generations."
* * *
Ito sighed, smiling softly at his adopted daughter. He sat in the yellow plush recliner in Hana's bedroom. Ayako and her family had left for the evening, and the crib had been folded and stowed back under the bed. Ito had changed into a sky blue pajama set. "How are you doing, Hannie? Really? I've been so worried of late."
Seated on the foot of her queen-sized bed, Hana smoothed the yellow duvet cover with her hand. "I'm doing, Papa. It's been rough, I'm not gonna lie. But the girls and I are hanging on."
"Have you been taking better care of yourself, since you gave the bar to Yui?" Ito sat up a bit in his seat, leaning his elbows on his thighs to support himself somewhat.
Hana nodded. "Trying. Eating better, going for walks, stuff like that. The big thing is just sleeping. I don't think I got eight hours of sleep once in forty years of working behind that bar."
"Good." Ito gave her a shaky thumbs-up gesture. "You need to keep an eye on Yui and Sakura now, and make sure they don't go do that to themselves, too. What about everything else? Are you adjusting to everything?"
"I'm trying, Papa. It's been a hell of a year." Hana sighed, slumping onto her side on the bed.
"I know, baby. I know." Ito leaned forward, reaching out and patting Hana's thigh with his hand. "But you've made it through all of it, and even better off than you were before from the look of it. I can't even tell you how proud of you I am."
Hana shrugged, running her fingers through her salt-and-pepper hair. "I didn't have anything to do with it. It was all the girls. They kept the place going after I got sick, and then before we got up off the mat, we got hit with that eviction notice. I had basically given up hope that we could save the place. But there was no quit in those kids. Not for a second. You should've seen them, Papa."
Ito laughed, shaking his head. A soft smile lingered on his lips. "And you think you didn't do anything? Where do you think that spark came from, Hannie?" He smiled at the closed bedroom door, behind which most of Hana's daughters still worked to clear the dishes from dinner and set the apartment back to rights. "Every one of those girls owes that to you, and more. As modest as you might want to be about it, you can't fool me. You know it. Or, at least, you should."
Hana shook her head, raising a hand to deflect his compliment. "All I did is what you taught me, Papa. To try to give them what you gave me. It's nothing special."
With a quiet scoff, Ito patted his daughter's leg again through her black denim jeans. "You know, you can't have it both ways, kiddo. You can either say what I did for you was nothing, or acknowledge that what you did for them is everything. In fact, you know what? Do me a favor, honey. Go get Ranko, if you would. I wanna talk to you both for a minute."
Nodding, Hana stood. "If she's still here. It's rare she gets a night off like this, and she's always exhausted, the poor thing." She pulled the bedroom door open, finding Ranko and Akane cuddling on the couch watching music videos on the small living room television. Yui and Sakura once again shared the plush recliner off to the left of the set, and Izumi and her family had gone home.
"Hey, little star? Your grandfather wants to talk to you for a minute, if you don't mind." Hana smiled as the redhead yawned and stretched in Akane's arms, waiting until her youngest daughter had joined her to return to the bedroom.
Ito smiled warmly when Ranko entered the room, motioning to the end of the bed once Ranko had finished rubbing her bleary eyes. "Hey, honey. Sit down for a minute. I wanna tell you a story."
"Wow, really?" Ranko blushed, sitting on the corner of the bed closest to Ito. She left room for her mother, who joined her to her left. "Didn't really expect storytime at my age, but then again, I've never had a grandfather before." She giggled, turning to her mother. "I feel like we should be roasting marshmallows or something."
Hana laughed, shifting on the bed as if she intended to stand again. "I'll get the skewers."
The old man laughed, but not for long. "So, I want to tell you about my friend Chieko. She's a nurse at the old folks' home I stay at up in Sendai. I see her a couple of times a week. Anyway, she used to be really sad all the time. I could see it on her face every time I spoke to her, but ya know, they're not supposed to open up about their personal lives at work. But, we've become friends, and I finally got her to talk to me about her issues one day. See, Chieko has a daughter. Mayumi's her name, and she's twenty-one years old. Same as you, Ran-chan, or close enough, anyway."
Ranko nodded, listening intently. Not sure what some nurse at a raisin ranch a couple hundred kilometers from here has to do with me, but, okay…
"Turns out, Chieko's been very worried about her daughter, because she was dating a really abusive guy. Dangerous sort. But no matter how many times he yelled at her, or hit her, Chieko just couldn't convince her daughter to stand up for herself and leave him to protect herself."
The young redhead growled, cracking her knuckles. "Are you asking me to go kick this scumbag's ass? 'Cause, give me 'til the weekend when class is out, and I'm down. Got an address? Me and Akane will make a day trip out of it."
Ito laughed heartily, grinning at Hana. "Boy, you weren't kidding, Hannie. She is a little spitfire, isn't she?! No, honey, that won't be necessary. You see, a few months ago, Chieko came into my room smiling like crazy. She told me Mayumi finally left the guy, and was safe. I asked her what she said to finally convince her daughter, and she said it wasn't anything Chieko said at all. It was actually a song Mayumi heard on the radio one day, of all things. It was called Self-Rescuing Princess."
Ranko said nothing, but her hands flew up to cover her gasp.
"A few weeks after that, the guy tried to bother Mayumi at work, and she called the police. Turns out that the guy she'd been seeing was actually wanted for hurting several other girls, and they arrested him." Ito sighed at the heaviness of the conversation, but smiled up at his granddaughter a moment later. "Your music saved her life, Ranko. I wanted you to know that. I wanted you to know that you aren't just selling records up there on that stage. You're changing lives, including those of people you'll never even meet."
Swallowing hard, Ranko took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as she sought some measure of composure. "Right before Mom had her heart attack, she told me she wanted me to… well, to make sure everybody out there heard all the things I've learned from her and my sisters. I'm trying my best, sir."
Ito nodded, smirking victoriously - but at Hana, not at Ranko. "You're doing it, honey. Your mother should be so, so proud of you - and everything she taught you."
I'm sixty-two years old, and you're still teaching me things, old man. Hana chuckled, nodding in acknowledgement as she beamed proudly at her youngest charge. "She is."
"Hannie, honey, would you mind if I had a few minutes alone with my granddaughter?" Ito smiled up at the redhead. "I want to get to know her a little bit."
Nodding, Hana gave Ranko's hand a squeeze and stood, slipping out of her bedroom and closing the door behind her.
"So, miss Ranko," Ito began. He slowly started to stand, resting all of his weight on the arms of the chair he was vacating.
Ranko sprang from her seat, reaching out for him. "Whoa, whoa, where you going? Let me help. What do you need?"
Ito waved her off with his hand. "Scoot over, girl. I wanna sit next to you." He chuckled, taking two tentative steps and lowering himself gently onto the corner of the bed.
Ranko eyed him a bit nervously. I don't think he'd do anything to hurt me, she coached herself. Or that he really could, in his condition. I mean, he's gotta be a good guy, after everything he did for Mom. But, being alone on a bed with a guy - any guy - feels a little weird. Especially lately.
"How are you doing, Ranko? I mean, I understand if a part of you feels like we don't know each other and you need to introduce yourself. I'm so sorry that we haven't spoken before now. Traveling, and even talking on the phone, can be hard at my age. I so wished I could have been here for your wedding, but my doctors said I shouldn't travel at the time." Ito braced himself on the bed with his arms, as if he did not trust his back alone to keep him upright.
Ranko giggled a bit. "Shame you weren't here two weeks ago then; we just had a do-over. It was a whole thing with my record label." She waited for his response, but none came, and it occurred to her that he intended to wait in silence until she broke down and answered the question he had originally asked. Now I know where Mom learned that annoying trick, she thought.
"I'm trying to be okay," Ranko began, fidgeting idly with her fingernails. "Everything's going great with my music, but it feels like it could all fall down any second. My record company hates me, 'cause I'm…" She swallowed hard. It was still hard to use the word to describe herself, considering the fact that when she had first fallen for Akane, she had been a boy. "... gay. Or, at least, they hate the idea of people being gay, and they only tolerate me 'cause I try to hide it from them and everybody. And I don't do it very well at all, neither. They still suspect, and it's like, I'm not doing a good enough job hiding it to get them off my back, and I'm also hiding it good enough that I feel like I'm living a lie all the time. It's just…" She sighed heavily. "If I worked in an office, I could just check my feelings at the door, walk around in my little pencil skirt and fetch the coffee and not think about it for a few hours until it was time to go home. But my whole job is about sharing my feelings with as many people as I can get to listen. How am I supposed to do that, and hide who I am at the same time?"
Ito nodded along as she spoke, listening intently. "I wish I had better advice for you, honey. There's a lot of people in this world who aren't ready for the idea that love is between hearts, and it doesn't have a damn thing to do with what your family registry says, or what's in your pants. I know it can be tempting to hate people that feel that way, and even more so in your case with all the ways it hurts you and makes your life hard. As for me, I pity people like that. I really do. If you think about it, every single person that thinks it's impossible for love to exist when it's a hard choice to do it - like what you and Akane have, or like what you and your sisters and mom have - only thinks it's impossible because they've never had it happen to them. They've never had anybody love them so much that they could do it even when the world says they shouldn't. They've never had anybody say, I would walk through every fire in the world to be there for you when you need me. To be honest, I think subconsciously, a lot of 'em might just be jealous of the fact that people like us have been blessed enough to find love worth fighting for like that, and they haven't."
Ranko crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself a bit. "I don't know that I can feel that way about it. I mean, I get that it's hard for some people to understand. My… Akane's dad, for example. He hated the idea of us being together at first, and it took a little convincing and giving him a little time to sort of sit with it, but now, he's amazing with both of us. Hell, Akane herself struggled with the idea of being with a girl at first. Only reason I didn't is 'cause…" She swallowed her words back. "But some people aren't like that, Granddad. This Kondo guy is different. It's like… there's just a sadistic glee about it when he's being cruel. He enjoys it."
Ito reached out with his left arm, hugging the slender songstress about the shoulders. "I said to try and give people grace, Ranko. I didn't say there's no such thing as an asshole."
The young redhead blinked, surprised to hear anything resembling foul language come out of the kindly old man's mouth. "I just…" She sighed, allowing herself to relax a bit into the hug. She reminded herself not to lean into it, as her weight would likely have been enough to knock the geriatric old man off the bed. "I don't know what to do."
Ito bent down, kissing the top of Ranko's head through her hair. "There are some people you just can't change, and the only thing you can influence is how much you engage with people like that. But the most important thing you can do right now is build your castle."
"My… castle?" Ranko sat up, looking at him skeptically. "I can barely afford rent most months."
Ranko's grandfather chuckled, shaking his head. "No, honey. The castle's in your heart. People talk sometimes about putting up emotional walls, designed to keep people out. When we've been hurt, we wall ourselves off sometimes so nobody else can get close enough to hurt us."
Ranko nodded slowly, trying to follow along. "Yui used to talk about that a lot when I first got here."
Ito nodded. "But a castle is something different. Sure, it has walls, and those walls can protect you. But it also has beautiful tapestries and stained-glass windows. It has a comfortable throne, and rooms of books, and lush gardens. It's a living monument to the person who lives inside, that anyone is welcome to come and visit, and be inspired by."
He stroked the redhead's hair as Ranko leaned back into the hug. "It's a celebration of you. It defines you. It's about establishing a core part of you and saying, this is who I am, cast in iron and stone. This is the part of me that will never change, and will never bow, and that I will never be ashamed of, even if I don't let the bad guys at the gates close enough see it. The part that I'm willing to protect at all costs. You need to take the way you feel about Akane, and everything else that's central to who you are, and put them inside your castle. Does that mean you never let the world see you? Or even see her? Absolutely not! But it creates a core of you that's indestructible and non-negotiable. A part of you that you can be confident in and proud of, no matter what anybody else says or thinks about it. The parts of you that the bad guys won't ever get to touch. Your old walls kept the bad stuff out. But a castle keeps the good stuff in, too."
Ranko's eyes widened, and she sat up a bit. "That's… wow. Is that how people get to be like Mom, where like, no matter what happens, nothing ever shakes them?"
Ito smiled, nodding softly. "That's right! Because once you know who you are - and you're so damned sure of it that nobody can ever convince you otherwise - then nobody can make you feel bad about it. Nobody can take it from you. Ever. And everybody that loves you will defend your castle right alongside you. I can tell you right now, your mother's castle is pretty much entirely you and your sisters. You girls are her whole world, and she wouldn't have it any other way. And in turn, you have protected her. I can't tell you how proud I am of you, and how grateful I am to you, for the way you've fought to help this family over the years. How much you've sacrificed to support and protect them."
"I just did what I had to do," Ranko replied softly. "I owed them. They saved my life. They made my life." She paused for a long moment. "They, and Akane, are my life."
The old man gave her shoulder another reassuring squeeze. "None of them thought you owed them. None of them thought you had a debt to pay. What you did was a choice you made out of love, and there's no shortage of honor in that. I want to thank you, Ranko. It doesn't have anything to do with the bar. Your sisters would have found other jobs, and it would have been sad to lose the place, but they'd have been okay in time. You threw yourself on the grenade for your family, and you did what none of us could have done. You really are something special, kiddo. I'm just in awe of you." He bent down, kissing her through her shock of crimson hair again. "And your mom is, too. I bet you didn't know that - your mom looks up to you as much as you look up to her."
Ranko chuckled dismissively. "Oh, please. Now you're just blowin' smoke up my ass. No way. I'm a freakin' mess, and Mom and everybody else knows it."
"Yeah, honey. You're a mess. You're supposed to be. It's called being a kid." Ito chuckled, squeezing her as tight as he could. "But you're also the best of us, and I don't ever want you to forget it."
* * *
"Oh-ho! This Shiori sounds like a lot of fun!"
Ranko nodded, giggling after recounting another of her favorite stories involving shenanigans with her fellow cheerleaders. "Oh, she's just awesome!" She and her grandfather had traded stories for the better part of an hour, laughing nearly the whole time. She barely noticed how tired she was.
Ito yawned quietly, and Ranko stood from the bed, turning to face him. She smiled reverently down at the shriveled old man. "It's getting late. I've really enjoyed talking with you, but you've gotta be beat. You want me to get out of here, so you can get some sleep?"
Covering his mouth with his hand as he yawned, Ito nodded. "Before I call it a night, I have one more thing I want to do. Would you mind sending Yui in here if she's still out there? Sakura, too?"
The redhead bowed respectfully. She knew the formality wasn't expected, but something in Ranko just felt the need to pay homage not to the old barkeep's request, but just the whole of who he was. She had never before realized just how big the shadow she had spent the last few years growing in had been, and who had cast it. "Of course… Grandfather."
She pulled open the creaky wooden door, exiting through it into the living room. A few moments later, the door opened again, admitting Yui and Sakura. The pair were holding hands. Ito had transferred himself back to the recliner to allow both girls to sit on the bed.
"Surprised you haven't turned back into a pumpkin yet, ya old geezer," Yui said with a chuckle as she sat next to Sakura on the edge of the mattress. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"
"I'll have you know, I was slinging beers until two in the morning before you were an itch in your daddy's pants," Ito said with a snicker. The mock bickering of their banter had long been a hallmark of the special bond he shared with Yui. "It'll take more than sitting in a chair telling stories for a bit to wear me out."
Sakura grinned, leaning into Yui's side. "Go easy on him, Yuri."
Ito clapped his hands on his thighs. "So, listen, girls. I wanted to talk to you about something." His grandfatherly smile was undiminished despite his exhaustion. "I wanted you both to know something."
Yui straightened her back, a more serious expression forming on her face as Sakura slipped her hand into hers. "Sure. What's up, Granddad?"
Ito smiled, reaching both of his hands out. "Come here, you two." When Yui and Sakura approached, he took Yui's hand in his left and Sakura's in his right.
"When I opened that bar, I never could have dreamed it would be there forty years later, let alone that it would end up being passed down from me, to a bartender I adopted…" Ito smiled up at Yui. "To a bartender she adopted. But I wanted you both to know that I can't imagine anything that could make me prouder. Yui, you've worked so hard there for so long. It's been your whole heart for going on a decade and a half. You are exactly the kind of person I want behind that bar. You have my absolute, unconditional blessing."
Yui reached up with her free hand, silently wiping a tear from the corner of her eye with the back of her knuckle.
"I want you…' He turned his head, smiling up at Sakura. "... And your lovely wife… to make the place your own. Don't feel constrained by anything I did, or your mom did. It's your legacy now. Do you understand me?"
Both women nodded, but Yui was the only one to speak. "Yes, sir. We will. I promise. Thank you, Grandfather." All traces of sarcasm and playfulness had faded from her voice. She squeezed his hand as tightly as she thought she could without hurting him.
"And you, miss," Ito said, turning his attention to Sakura. "You take care of this girl. You understand me? She's a truly special one, and she's about to start working harder than she ever has. She's gonna need you and her sisters behind her more than ever before. I hope you got your wanderlust out of your system last year, because you're part of this family now."
Sakura bowed stiffly, not releasing the old man's withered hand. "Of course. Yui is my whole world, sir. I'll look after her for the rest of my life, on my honor."
"You see that you do," Ito said. "I might be almost a hundred years old, but if you break her heart again, I'm still gonna kick your little ass, ya got me?"
With a sharp nod, Sakura turned her eyes to Yui. "I couldn't dream of it, Grandfather. Being without her might have hurt me even more than it hurt her. I've learned my lesson. If she goes to the moon, I go with her. No questions asked."
"Good girl," Ito said, letting go of Yui's hand long enough to pat the back of Sakura's. "And I'm glad, because there's something else I need to make sure you both understand."
Yui cocked her head a bit. "What's up, Pops?"
Ito smiled, motioning with his hand to a dark wooden frame mounted on the wall of Hana's bedroom. It featured Hana, all five of her adopted daughters and Akane standing in front of the temporary stage that had been erected in the street in front of the Phoenix for the party celebrating the release of her youngest sister's first album, Phoenix Rising.
"I need you both to understand that when your name is on the front door of that building, it's a lot bigger than being responsible for the cocktails and the live music. You weren't just chosen to lead a bar, Yui. You were chosen to lead this family."
Yui shook her head, chuckling. "Don't be ridiculous, old man. Mama's in charge of this family, no question."
Ito nodded softly. "Yeah, she is. But she won't be around forever, as you learned a few months ago. Gods willing, I pray she's still sitting in this chair forty years from now talking your ear off, just like I am tonight. But there's going to come a day when another lost girl or boy crawls through that door that needs a place to belong, strong arms to hold them, and a family to love them, just like you did. When that happens, it's going to fall to you. Sooner or later, the day will come that the woman with a spine of steel that spreads the wings of the Phoenix over a scared, desperate kid with nowhere to go is not going to be Hana Takahashi. It's going to be Yui Fukawa. I need to know that you're both ready for that."
Sakura smiled, wiping her eyes with her fingertips before rubbing Yui's back. "What do you say, Yui? You ready to be a mommy?"
"Not remotely," Yui said.
Her mind raced back to the day Crash had told her and Akane about the dark fate Ranko had narrowly avoided in Thailand. I was furious, but beyond that, I felt… responsible for it. Like I should have been able to stop it somehow, even though it was half a world away. Is that what he means? Being ready to protect them and fight for them, no matter what?
She reached down with her other hand, taking both of her grandfather's hands in her own.
"But I swear to you, Grandfather, on every shred of honor I've managed to rebuild in the fourteen years since Aya carried me through those doors. I swear on every wisp of the soul the family you started has saved. When that day comes, I will be."