Prologue
AC
197
December
25
To
my son:
It's
been almost eighteen years since I had to leave you behind...but it wasn't
because I didn't want you with me. It
was the only way I could keep you safe, since I had no other choice and could
not take care of you. The area where I
lived was slowly becoming more dangerous as it was torn apart by war...and your
mother was wounded because of this, dying shortly after you took your first
breath. My last chance for your safety
was to place you in that orphanage five days after your birth. I had hoped that someday I would be able to
reclaim you...yet there was a fire, and I thought I had lost you forever. But I never gave up hope-for the next eleven
years I searched to find some good news that would prove you were alive, and
more than two years ago, I saw the face of a young boy on television...one that
had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes.
He resembled me so closely that right away, I knew it had to be you. Two more years were spent trying to learn
where you had gone...and now, it seems as if I'm finally going to meet
you. I understand that, if and when I
do, you're going to have a difficult time getting to know me; and that you'll
have many questions that only I can answer.
It may take months or years before you learn to care about me as I do
about you, but I hope with all my heart that it's not too late for us to have
the relationship that many parents share with their children.
Your
father,
Joseph
Kimura
The
Inheritance
Chapter
One: A New Home
TO: PILOT
01
FROM: S.S.
RE: RETURN TO THE BASE IMMEDIATELY. TELL NO ONE OF THIS MESSAGE.
The
compound towered against the cold, gray sky as strong as any fortress of the
past, protected from intruders by a pair of barbed wire fences. Within its impenetrable walls lay a
makeshift colony of workers, an enclave of scientists, doctors, and
ex-soldiers. Any normal person would
have thought it to be a prison and just walked on-yet to Heero Yuy, it was home. Although it had been two days since the end
of the war, something inside him had led him to return instead of moving on
like the others. Maybe it was because
his friends all had somewhere to go, while he still wandered looking for one. Or perhaps he was torn
between sorely missing
Relena Peacecraft and wanting to forget her. Either
way, he had come back for what few belongings he had left before going off on
his own.
Yet today,
something had changed-the atmosphere of the compound was a far cry from how it
usually was. Several of its tenants could
be seen rushing back and forth between buildings: some were carrying suitcases
and casually conversing, while others were hurrying to get rid of certain
documents and photographs. Something
had happened, Heero thought. They were
undoubtedly preparing to go somewhere else, but where? One of the specialists inside would probably
know.
He noticed
that the large gates of the compound had been left slightly ajar. In spite of what the people within were
preparing for, they had received his message and knew of his arrival. As he passed through the compound's gates
and moved towards the row of buildings, he walked by a group of retired Marines
in deep conversation.
"What
happened to that family who came here a few minutes ago?"
"The
Kimuras? They're in the main building talking to Dr. Stein."
Kimura...he
had heard that name before. Earlier
that morning, he had met someone named Joseph Kimura
while in a restaurant. This man had
been strangely concerned about his welfare, because the first question he asked
was why Heero had been by himself. Yet
there was some reason to his concern: he had three small children at home, and
upon that day, he was looking for a fourth.
Heero learned that Mr. Kimura would finally meet his son in a few
hours...but why did he need to be here?
"Why
did he ever allow them in? People like
that might get suspicious and start to ask questions."
"Maybe
they had business with the doctor."
"After
what Joseph Kimura discovered about Heero, I guess Stein had no choice but to
admit them inside."
"Uh-oh...look who's been
listening."
"Heero? Have you been eavesdropping?"
"Voices
carry," Heero replied coldly. He
turned to face the four Marines.
"So you've seen Mr. Kimura?
What does he want with me?"
But the old soldiers refused to give him an exact answer, thus
heightening his suspicions.
"You'll
probably want to go inside if you're that curious," was all they told
him. "The Doctor said he wanted to
see you as soon as you came back."
A thousand
thoughts and questions raced through Heero's mind as he finally entered the
main building of the compound. The last
time he had seen Mr. Kimura was when he explained that he was going somewhere
to meet his son...yet he had been allowed into the compound for an unknown
reason, and what had this man discovered about him? He certainly had never met
Mr. Kimura before that morning in the restaurant, and neither had he heard any
mentioning of the other man meeting him in the past. Just what was it that brought him here?
Back
within a small corner office, Dr. Stein and the Kimura family patiently waited
for Heero to arrive. Although they had
hoped that he would be there when they entered, the Doctor told them how it
would be some time before he came inside the compound as well. But now twelve minutes had passed since they
were admitted...when would he turn up?
"Are
you sure he's coming?" Aiko Kimura asked the Doctor for the third time.
"Of
course he's coming," Dr. Stein insisted, exasperation evident in his
voice. "Just give him time, won't
you? I'm sure if we wait a few minutes longer, he'll come." By contrast, Mr. Kimura was silent as he
watched the time pass. It had been
almost eighteen years since he had left his newborn son at that orphanage. A few minutes was nothing compared to the
time he had spent searching for the boy, and neither would it hurt for him to
wait a little while longer.
The clock
read ten-fifteen when Heero finally entered the small office. Dr. Stein slowly turned to face him, hiding
any signs of concern for what would happen next.
"You've
finally returned, young soldier."
the Doctor began. "We've
missed you here at the compound."
"I
know." He was wearing that cold expression again, just as he had done in
the past. "Everyone else is
leaving. Why are you still here?"
"I was
told to remain until you arrived.
There's something I have to tell you-"
"This
wouldn't have anything to do with Mr. Kimura, would it?" asked Heero.
"You
already know?"
"Some
Marines outside told me." He
turned his gaze towards the man whom he had met in the restaurant that
morning. "What are you doing
here? I thought you said that you were
looking for your son."
"I
am, Heero..." Mr. Kimura replied softly.
A small surge of happiness rushed through his heart.
You're so much taller than when I saw you last, he thought to himself. And so much stronger, too...
"Did
you find him, then? Do you know where
he is?"
"Yes." The older man slowly placed a hand upon
Heero's shoulder. "He's standing
right in front of me."
A small
bit of emotion flickered in Heero's eyes after Mr. Kimura had spoken.
"What...what
did you say?"
"He's
right in front of me," Mr. Kimura repeated. "You are my son."
"I...I
don't understand...How can I be your son?
I never had any parents..."
"I'll
tell you how it happened, then. Sit
down." A second flicker passed
through Heero's eyes, which was quickly hidden by his usual cold
expression. Was he about to learn the
truth of where he came from? Or would
it be just some story that this man had made up?
"When
I was younger, I lived in the city of Sendai, which is on the main island of
Japan," Mr. Kimura began. "At
the time, there was constant feuding between the Yamada and Tanaki clans. Their conflicts caused many of the citizens
to find safety elsewhere, including several government officials-yet I was
unable to leave with the rest. I was
married to Kara, your mother, who would have brought you into this world one
week later if that terrible accident hadn't happened..."
"What
happened to her?"
"A
few days after our neighbors helped us find a nearby shelter, both of us went
outside to get some water when another fight started only one block away. At first we found safety back inside, but
then someone fired into that same area and then..." A painful expression
manifested in Mr. Kimura's eyes, but he managed to continue.
"Then
she was badly wounded, which caused her to painfully expel the baby from within
her body. After only ten minutes, I
realized that she wouldn't make it ...but I still tried to help our son be
delivered before it was all over..."
It
hurts...it hurts...
Try,
Kara! You've got to...he's almost
here...
Waah!
Waah!
Look
Kara...he's all right. He's going to be
fine...
Joseph...take
care of him for me...
"Shortly
after you took your first breath, I lost her..." Both he and his wife were
sitting beside Heero now, Joseph covering his eyes with one hand and Mrs.
Kimura quietly attempting to comfort her husband. All of them fell into a numb silence as they reflected on the
tragic event, which had somehow linked each one to the other. So this was how it had all happened, Heero
thought to himself. His life had
started with the death of his own mother...
"And
because I didn't want to risk losing you as well, I had to place you in an
orphanage in order to protect you," Mr. Kimura continued after regaining
his voice. "I thought you'd be
safe there, but I was wrong. After only
four years, there was a fire...I thought you had died, but I didn't let that
keep me from trying to find you. I
searched for eleven years in the hope that someone would tell me where you had
gone. Then, one night, I saw your face
on television; and I heard that you were involved in the war that took place
two years ago. I was desperate to find
you after that, because I didn't want to lose you like I lost Kara. I didn't want to see you struck down by some
unknown attacker."
"Mr.
Kimura..."
"I
also heard that you might be living on one of those space colonies, so I went
to each one asking if anyone had seen you.
Then, when I first visited L1, I met Dr. Stephen Stein, who told me
everything. He told me that you would
be coming here, so I came to find you.
I...I'd like to bring you back to Earth with us, Heero. I've been wanting to do this for a long time
now...but only if you'd like to come along."
Go back to
Earth? It was an
unthinkable thing for anyone to do, especially with a stranger who claimed to
be one's own father. How could he even
be sure that they were related? Until
there was some sort of test that proved this, Heero could only think of this
man's story as a lie. But on the other
hand, Mr. Kimura had been very nice to him-both here and in the
restaurant. And, oddly enough, Heero
did resemble this man rather closely.
He had the same dark hair as Mr. Kimura, and his face was shaped the same
way. What if it was true? What if being part of a real family was the
chance he had waited for all these years?
What if Joseph Kimura really wanted to show him a life that was far
beyond any battlefield? But then again,
what if it was a lie? What if it turned
out to be something that only made his life worse? This was a very difficult decision to make...
"What
do you plan to do?" Dr. Stein asked.
Although Heero had the strange feeling that he should go with Mr. Kimura
and his wife, he still had to be sure that this man was exactly who he claimed
to be.
"Do
you really believe that I'm your son?" Mr. Kimura nodded. "Then prove it to me. I want both of us
to be tested so I can make sure you're telling the truth."
"That's
fair enough," Mr. Kimura replied, "but you could also stay with us
until the results of that test come back.
Is that all right with you, Heero?" As much as Heero wanted to say that yes, he might want to do that
after all, he was unable to answer. His mind suddenly began to spin violently.
That feeling of dizziness that had plagued him so many times in the past had
returned, and like before, he collapsed. In a flash, Mr. Kimura, Dr. Stein, and
Mrs. Kimura rushed over to make sure he was okay.
"Heero!
What's the matter? Are you feeling all right?"
"I...I...there's
something wrong with me..." His vision suddenly grew hazy, then vanished
completely as he lost consciousness.
Mr. Kimura attempted to slowly help Heero to his feet, but then he
noticed how terribly sickly the boy looked. His face wasn't normally colored,
but very pale, as if he had never gone near a single beam of sunlight. His
bones were unnaturally visible beneath his ivory skin-but that was only half of
the entire story. The older man also
saw a thin, white scar upon Heero's left shoulder, which led to a series of the
same scars covering his back upon further investigation. And there were deep
shadows underneath his eyes, which told him that Heero had not slept normally
in a very long time. Mixed feelings of
shock and anger filled Mr. Kimura's heart as he began to understand how Heero
hadn't been treated as well as he had hoped. Who was heartless enough to do
this to someone so young? What had Heero done to deserve such ill treatment?
"Is
this how you've been taking care of him?" he said quietly to Dr. Stein,
fury evident in his voice. "With
starvation and abuse?"
"Not
by us," Stein muttered darkly. "These acts were done, but not by us.
He might tell you what happened...if he wants to, that is."
"Do
you think he'll mention how he was tied down and whipped?"
"Joseph!" Mrs. Kimura took hold of
his wrist, automatically preventing him from doing anything regrettable. "He needs help. We've got to get him to a hospital."
"There's
one further down the road from here," the Doctor stated before picking up
his suitcase and leaving the main office.
"Go there if you need to."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Kimura then helped the unconscious Heero towards the
direction of their car.
"You're
going to be all right, son." Joseph whispered as they left the compound.
"We'll get you to a hospital where they'll take care of you. You're going to be all right..."
Thirty
minutes later...
"It's
exactly as you suspected," Dr. Glover told the Kimuras as they looked at
the examination results. "There's definitely evidence of malnutrition
here: not only did he appear to be unnaturally thin, but his normal pattern of
growth has been stunted." She then pulled a growth chart out from beneath
the small stack of results.
"According
to this, he should normally be around here-at least 5'10" and 150 lbs.,
and yet he's down there, around 5'2" and 106 lbs." The Doctor looked
cautiously at Mr. Kimura.
"Has
he been having an eating disorder, or have you been refusing to feed him
properly?"
"He
was placed into my care only today," Mr. Kimura began, "but I think I
know how his previous guardians have been treating him. If I spend a few
minutes with him, some guilty people could finally be put in prison where they
belong."
A moment
earlier, a few members of the medical staff had examined Heero. Now he was
lying in a hospital bed with an IV in each of his wrists-but although the
liquids in the IV's were supposed to help him, they only caused him to grow
increasingly sore from within his veins. The pain he felt was long, sharp, and
intense, almost as if a small blade was sliding through him. And although the
Kimuras had stayed by him during the examination, at this moment he was by
himself. Yet unlike all those times he
had been alone before, this time was much different. Something inside him hoped
that Joseph and Aiko hadn't left to give him some quiet time to rest. Something
inside wanted them to stay just one moment longer-but he wasn't sure why.
"Is
anyone there?" Heero's tired voice called out faintly to the Kimuras, who
came immediately to his bedside.
"How
are you feeling?" Mrs. Kimura asked as she began to stroke his dark hair.
How was he feeling? He was unsure what she meant by that. Maybe she was
referring to his physical condition, and if so...
"It
hurts," he moaned as he shifted restlessly in his bed. They look worried, Heero thought to himself
as he observed the expressions on their faces. Maybe they're worried about
me. He then watched in silence as Aiko
took hold of his left hand, being careful not to disturb the IV within it.
"That's
only because those doctors didn't take proper care of you," she said
gently, trying to comfort him-but Heero roughly withdrew his hand from hers.
"You're
wrong," he rasped weakly. "It wasn't them. Someone else did this to
me, somebody evil..."
"So
we made a mistake?" Mr. Kimura said softly. "Who was it, then?"
"De...Dekim
Barton..." He remembered all those nights when he was forced to stay awake
repairing machines...how he had constantly fallen asleep with no food inside
him...the time when that madman bound his wrists and began to beat his humanity
out of him after he tried to escape...and his death at the hands of one of his
followers, one that could only befit such a cruel person.
"...But
you won't find him. He's dead. He can't hurt anyone else now..."
The pain
he felt was now even worse than before.
It was as if the small blade had multiplied, and was gradually cutting
him from within. He couldn't stand this
anymore...Heero gripped Mr. Kimura's wrist tightly as the ache swept through
him, and he began to moan louder.
"Take
them out. Please stop the pain..." Joseph Kimura placed one arm under
Heero's neck and lifted him into a sitting position, then carefully drew him
into a warm embrace.
"I
know how much you must be hurting right now," he whispered, "but it
won't last forever. Trust me. The pain will go away after a while. Just try to relax and see if you can go to
sleep. It might not hurt as much after you rest." He then began rubbing
the boy's back with one hand, hoping that it would distract him from his
pain-and after a few minutes; Heero fell silent as he rested his head upon Mr.
Kimura's shoulder.
I have no
idea why he's doing this to me, he thought, but it's
helping me somehow. I...I like this. Is
he doing it to keep me from hurting any more? If he is, it's working... As Joseph continued to rub his back, Heero felt his
eyelids begin to droop from exhaustion.
It was at that moment when he realized just how tired he had really
been. Ever since he traveled back to
the base, he had felt so very worn out from his life as the ideal soldier...and
yet, after these recent events had occurred, he wondered if he was regaining
something that had been lost long ago.
He started to think that there was something else beyond the battlefield,
and that maybe these people could give it to him.
"Does
this help you at all?" Mr. Kimura whispered. "I hope so. Before you were born, Kara felt rather sore
sometimes-but after I gave her some of what I'm giving you, she'd feel
better."
"What
was she like?" Heero whispered back.
Even now,
almost eighteen years after her death, Joseph Kimura could still remember his
first wife. Ever since he had left the
baby at the orphanage, he kept visualizing her eyes, her smile, her kindness,
and her memory...none of these ever vanished from his mind.
"Kara
was a very kind and generous woman," the older man said. It still felt painful to speak of her as
someone who had faded away long ago, yet he still had an obligation to tell
their son about who she once was.
"She was slightly taller than you are, with
silvery-white hair and eyes of the deepest blue...just like yours. And I remember how she was constantly
helping others in need. If there were
any service to be done for anyone, she would do it...in fact; one could say she
gave her life for it. When she was
wounded, she didn't ask to be rushed to any hospital. Her only thought was for you to live, even if it meant that she'd
never see you or myself ever again."
The sound of Mr. Kimura's gentle voice caused Heero's eyelids to slowly
close-yet through his drowsiness, he thought just how selfless this Kara had
been, even if he wasn't sure whether she was his mother or not.
"How
did you first meet each other?"
But the
most unique characteristic of Kara had been the fact that she wasn't human.
Four years before their marriage, a much younger Joseph had seen a strange disc
of fire in the night sky-and upon following it; he saw the wreckage of a small
spaceship floating several feet from shore, with a young girl clinging to its
right side.
"A
long time ago, I discovered that an odd-looking spacecraft had somehow fallen
into the ocean; and that the young girl who was holding onto it might need my
help. Everything changed for us after I
brought her to shore, because then we fell in love with each other. Of course, she was slightly cautious around
me at first, but she eventually learned to trust me."
That
story...he had acted almost exactly like...
"Relena..."
"Relena?
Who is she?" But Mr. Kimura heard no answer from Heero. He had fallen
asleep right after speaking the girl's name.
"All
right, then." Joseph whispered as he helped Aiko lower the sleeping boy
back into bed. "You can tell me all about her later."
AC 198
January 1
It had
only been seven days since he was admitted to the hospital, yet this brief
amount of time still proved beneficial to Heero's health. Before, he had slept rarely and survived on
the smallest of rations, but now started to get stronger from proper nourishment
and being able to rest whenever he needed to.
Both Mr. Kimura and his wife were relieved to notice that, on their
regular visits to Heero's room, how he was slowly but surely gaining weight; as
well as a healthy flush overcoming his pale skin. The process of healing that had originally been expected to take
several weeks completed its course in only seven days, much to the surprise of
every doctor within the hospital. Yet
Mr. Kimura secretly knew that this was no miracle. Deep down, he was sure that it was Kara's genes within Heero that
could do such things, for at this moment, he was ready to prove it to his son
at last: the results of the blood test had come back.
From
inside the small hospital room, Heero slowly awoke to find Joseph and Aiko at
his bedside once more. It's good to see them again, he thought to himself as he managed to sit up.
I've valued their company ever since they stayed
with me during that examination.
"I
think I'm getting better," he told them before they could ask. "I'm not as weak as I was when I first
came here." Both Mr. and Mrs. Kimura smiled warmly in return.
"We
know," said Aiko. "You've been healing so fast...and you've surprised
all the doctors as well! They didn't know what to say about it, except that you
could go home tomorrow." Heero suddenly went pale after hearing this last
word.
"Home?"
He began to notice how a familiar, empty feeling was surfacing inside him.
"But you already know that I don't have any home..."
"You
do now," Mr. Kimura replied calmly, and then Heero realized that he was
holding a folded sheet of paper.
"Is
that it?" Heero whispered eagerly. "Are those the results of the
blood test?"
"When
you saw me for the second time at the compound, you wanted to make sure that
everything I told you wasn't a lie," Joseph said quietly, handing him the
folded paper. "Well, now you can see that I've told you the complete
truth-where you came from, who your parents were, what happened to your
biological mother-everything I said will be proven to you once you see the
results."
As Heero
studied the information upon the page, he finally understood that Mr. Kimura's
story was true, every word of it-the results showed more than three matches
between them both. Seventeen years of being alone in the world vanished in a
mere moment, for now he had somewhere to live and a family who cared about him.
Once, long ago, he had wondered if he'd ever get a chance to have the normal
life that everyone else took for granted-yet today, he realized that his chance
had finally arrived.
"I'm
your son," Heero whispered, no longer doubtful of the truth that lay
before him. "I'm your son..." For the first time in his life, he knew
that he was going home. His father was regarding him with the same expression
as he had when they first met in the restaurant, a caring look that he could
now return without hesitation.
"I've
been waiting for you,
musuko-sama."
Never
before had Heero felt the deepest joy imaginable after hearing these words.
This, by far, was one of the happiest days of his life; if not the only one.
And it was his turn to tell about how he had really become a soldier in the
first place...
"I
was also waiting for someone...waiting for you, chichi-san..." He spoke of how he would spend hours just staring
outside, looking for the person who would come to take him home someday...how,
in the midst of that fire, he had discovered a way out and went exploring for
this lost person...then, upon that same night, he met the man who soon taught
him how to use a loaded weapon...and not long after, both glory and suffering
as a Gundam pilot...until finally, he found the person he had searched for so
long ago.
His father said nothing in return, but responded
instead by embracing him once again, this time for affection rather than for
comfort. My search has ended at last, Joseph Kimura
thought to himself, gently stroking his son's hair as he recalled
his first wife's final wish. Now I can keep my promise to you, dear Kara. Now I can take care
of our son, as you wanted me to.
I'm going
home... These words kept replaying in Heero's thoughts
as he rested against his father's shoulder.
Rather than being secluded in a distant metallic fortress where none but
strangers surrounded him, he would soon be living in a quiet, stable household. He had seen a photograph of it a few days
ago, as well as learning that a room had already been prepared for his arrival.
Now he was more than ready to stay there with his father, stepmother, and their
three children.
While
Joseph and Heero had been conversing, Aiko had left the room momentarily to retrieve
her son and two daughters (who were busy drawing in the playroom), returning a
few minutes later. Heero slowly lay
down again as he watched Kitami, Eidan, and Nora
present the minute works of art to their parents. My brother and sisters, he thought, listening to
their happy voices. I wish that we were all at home right now. I've had enough of hospitals... But alas for his wish,
because this would not come until the day afterward. It was time for the family
to leave Heero once again and return home, a time that came too soon for all of
them.
"Daddy,
can't we stay here just a little while longer?" asked Kitami (who was nine
years old).
"I'm
afraid not, Kiki," her father replied gently. "Your brother needs his
rest."
"Is
Heewo going to be awone all day, Mommy?" asked Eidan, the youngest of the
children at four years of age.
"Yes,
honey."
"And
tonight?" asked Nora (who was six).
"He
probably will be."
"And
tomorrow, too?"
"Just
until the doctors tell us he won't have to stay here anymore. Then he'll come home, and you'll be able to
see him all the time." Although
Mrs. Kimura had meant to comfort her younger children with these words, Eidan
was sure that "Heewo" needed someone to keep him company until he was
allowed to leave. While his parents
were saying goodbye to his brother, he crept up behind them and hid something
of his under Heero's blanket; then tiptoed away to wait outside with Nora and
Kitami.
"I
wish you could stay longer, too," Heero said sadly, receiving a hug of
farewell from his stepmother.
"It's too soon to see you leave..."
"Don't
be sad," Mrs. Kimura whispered soothingly, tucking the blanket close
around him. "Just try to wait for
tomorrow, okay? That's when we'll come
back and take you home."
"In
the meantime," Mr. Kimura finished, "you should get as much rest as
you can until then. It will take a lot
of energy to keep up with your younger siblings."
Long after
his family had left, Heero lay awake in bed, reflecting upon all the events
that had happened in the last week. He remembered how he had walked off alone
that night, not knowing what he would do next or what lay in store for him,
leaving his closest friends behind to face some unknown future. Now that he had discovered what that future
was, he was sure that they would be looking to see where he had gone...and he
somehow couldn't wait to tell them everything he had seen, heard, and felt
since then. I wonder if Relena will
still remember me, he thought to himself as he rolled over to the left side of
his hospital cot.
At that
moment, he noticed a strange lump in the blanket where his parents had stood
only twenty minutes before. He slowly reached over to touch something small and
fuzzy, then removing a gray-colored teddy bear from beneath the covers.
"Did
Eidan leave you here so I wouldn't be lonely?" he asked it, placing it on
the bedside table before finally falling asleep.
Well, hope you all liked the first chapter to my
take on a sequel to the "Endless waltz" movie, and the rest of the
series. <musuko=son>, <chichi=father>
My theory here was why Heero had those superhuman
powers--because he's really half alien (at least I think he might be).
I also came up with the idea on the reason he tells
the girl <in the movie> he was "lost since the day he was
born": maybe when his dad held him for the first time, he said something
like "I'm sorry you can't stay with me, little one. If you do, you might
get hurt or worse, just like your mother". Anyway, that's the first
chapter...now will you be kind and leave a review? I'm just a rookie; so I need
as much positive comments as possible...it's necessary for my self-esteem. My e-mail address is M2J2Too@AOL.com.
And if you like Gundam Wing AND Digimon at the same
time...please read my other fic, "The Last Digi-destined" and review
that one too. :D The start of it <at
least> would be on: