3 A Unique Family

After walking for a very short time with Delly, hand in hand looking very much like siblings (although they looked very dissimilar), Ren soon realized that the park he was in was in fact not isolated in the slightest.

He craned his neck to look at the tops of the stone buildings each one with iced over openings yet not melting despite the firelight inside. "That is strange... Delly, how do they keep the ice frozen like that?" Ren asked the young girl pointing with his free hand at the windows above.

Delly giggled and answered, "Thats not ice silly. they're windows. If you want to trick me, you're going to have to try harder." she stuck her tongue out at him playfully. To an unknowing observer they might look like siblings, barring the time of night they were out and about.

This was not a problem however, as most of the possible denizens of the city were at home or in their respective work related establishments. The streets had few people walking along them and almost just as few driving.

As the pair, Ren and Delly, made their way, Ren kept his head on a swivel, looking here and there scanning each available face to spot someone reminiscent of the little girl he walked with. Like this, he spotted a decently curvy woman across the way sporting the same hair color as Delly and a flowing, elegant orange dress, consequently matching the vague description of Delly's mother.

"Delly, look there," Ren pointed to the woman stepping towards her, "that woman there looks li-"

Ren's next words didn't make it out if his mouth due to a strong yank on his left arm, pulling him back the way he had come, causing him to stumble, "Huh..?!" He said with a surprised look on his face.

Just moments later a car sped by where he was standing with an indignant honking of the horn.

Delly looked on the verge of tears, her face screwed up in an angry pout, "Stupid Ren, you're supposs to look both ways before you cross the street! I'm just a kid and I know that!"

Ren blinked at her with a rather stupid expression on his face, his silvery eyes not comprehending. "I'm sorry...?"

Delly pointed farther up the road to the evenly spaced, thick white lines that was the crosswalk. "Look! Thats where you cross. And before you do, you look to see if cars are coming!" She stomped her foot explaining like an angry mother, her cheeks puffed up to express her exasperation.

Seeing the young girl look so motherly despite her age was just too funny to the boy she admonished. He doubled over laughing, bringing Ren to about Delly's height before replying.

"Yes, you're right. I'll look next time." However he still didn't quite understand the problem. He had known the metal box was coming, and knew he could move fast enough to avoid it. And with that it occurred to him...

'The woman from earlier...!'

Ren straightened up and became more serious, he looked back across the way but could no longer spot the woman in the orange dress.

"Delly? Did you see the woman from before? The one in orange?" Ren looked back to the young girl before him.

She nodded her head, "Mm hm, she was pretty, but she wasn't nearly as pretty as Mommy. And Mommy doesn't wear dresses, she says they make it hard to move." Clearly she had already forgiven Ren for almost getting pancaked by the rolling mass of metal.

Ren nodded his understanding. 'Hm... this may prove more difficult than anticipated.' He mused to himself, however after walking for another 10 minutes, making turns on the whims of the shorter of the pair, they found their quarry. Or more precisely their quarry found them...

"THAT'S MY LITTLE GIRL YOU WEIRDO!!" Came a manic voice behind them.

Both Ren and Delly turned to see who would be shouting so incessantly on this fine and peaceful night. Unfortunately Ren was met with the sight of the heels of two boots flying at his face, much to his surprise.

After sending Ren flying with a dropkick to the face, the woman quickly embraced Delly whispering words of reassurance to her.

"I've got you baby, that weirdo isn't taking you anywhere. Its alright now, Mommy's got you...." she continued to smother the little girl as Ren rose unsteadily to his feet.

The mothers eyes narrowed on the youth as he rubbed his nose, 'That should have put a normal person out of commission for a little bit at least...who is this kid?' meanwhile Ren had an apprehensive smile on his face.

'Delly certainly takes after her mother it seems.' Looking at her now she definitely matched the description given by her daughter. A beautiful face very much like a grown version of Delphine, a figure many women would most likely be envious of, and wearing something a far cry from a dress. The woman wore a long sleeve blue shirt with a V in the neck, exposing a fair amount of cleavage, with a white high-quality jacket. Her lower half sported casual jeans and shin-high black boots obviously made with practicality in mind yet still rather stylish.

Ren came to the conclusion that whoever had wed this woman was either very lucky or very unlucky. Her next words led him to believe the second option.

"What were you doing with my daughter huh? Were you gonna kidnap her? I would cut your n**s*** off and shove it down your throat if you did that I'll have you know!" Luckily in her misplaced display of anger, she remembered to cover her daughters ears, the people close enough to hear however watched on with a passing curiosity, concern mixed into their expressions.

"And whats with those clothes?" She seemed to just now realize the odd uniform Ren wore. As a matter of fact that was part of the onlookers bundle of questions too.

In the time Delly and Ren has been on the streets they had received a number of glances ranging from curious to panicked as some realized the leather armour had a healthy layer of blood on it.

Seeing this the mother actually became less confident in her verbal attack, consequently releasing her struggling daughter who's ears were still covered.

"Mommy! Lemme go! He a nice big bro. He was helping me find you!" Delly looked up at her mother with a look halfway between pleading and admonishing. "You're always making things up on your own, even with papa and sissy."

Throughout most of this Ren was considering making a run for it considering his objective was now complete, but decided it would look worse than sticking around with an embarrassed smile on his face.

"Ma'am, I apologize for looking the part of a suspicious person but it is as your daughter said. I was accompanying her until you, her mother, could be found." Ren's lips twitched still trying to hold a friendly smile. Aparently his facial muscles were unaccustomed to such a venture.

Delphine's mother scrutinized the young man standing before her. In her eyes Ren looked to be in his early years of highschool at the latest. Disregarding the sorry excuse for clothes he wore, he did seem to be of no danger to her daughter, herself, or even anyone else around.

Nodding her head and finally letting a natural expression radiating goodwill spread across her face, Delphine's mother spoke to Ren. This time without a hint of the hostility from before.

"Well if thats the case, I guess I owe you something in thanks. My name's Katherine Flourestine. You can just call me Kathy."

"My name is Ren, Mrs. Flourestine." Came the stiff response from the black haired youth.

"I told you, call me Kathy. Everyone does." Kathy snapped out quickly to Ren. He thought to himself, 'A bit strange to insist on something such as this, but if it'll make her happy....' Ren got the sense from the flying dropkick earlier that she wasn't one to make angry.

"Yes ma'a--" The woman in question glared at Ren causing him to clear his throat, "I mean, yes Kathy." The words felt strange in his mouth.

He couldn't have known at the time, but Ren would come to be very close with these people and their family.