Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Twilight Sky ❯ Gotta go home ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Twilight Sky 10
Gotta go Home

Ningen means mortal





Shin-


Shin wanted to kill someone very badly, but he didn't know who to blame.

They'd all managed to shed from the colored armor almost as soon as they'd stopped running and found themselves in the middle of a forest. 'Coward!' Shin screamed at himself while holding aside low branches of trees for Xiu, who carried Ryo and managed to somehow keep a hand on the pressure bandage made out of Ryo's shirt that covered the wound. 'Why are we running? I should have taken Ryo to the hospital. We were attacked, we didn't do anything wrong.' Of course, Seiji did commit murder. 'But it was to save Ryo, so it wasn't malicious or anything." Images of Mr. Date's head bouncing across the floor intruded on Shin's reasoning. "Well, maybe just a little malicious, but no one could blame Seiji, right?'

Ryo made no noise at all when Xiu carried him and Seiji was being pulled around by Touma, who seemed to have taken charge of him, leaving Shin to blaze a path through the woods. 'I don't even know where we are.' He thought, though he kept this thought to himself. The last thing he wanted to do was to upset everyone more than necessary. He cast a quick look over his shoulder and didn't like what he saw.

Seiji looked like a zombie and only moved at all because Touma was holding him by the arm and kept telling him that they had to move, they had to keep going while pulling him along. Along the way, Seiji had cried on and off and Shin was afraid that whatever had happened to them back at the restaurant had destroyed Seiji's mind. After all, he'd killed his dad. This wasn't like Touma's knifing his dad; Seiji decapitated his dad. There wasn't going to be any getting better.

"Shin,"

Shin's attention was brought to Xiu who looked up from Ryo with dark circles under his eyes, showing how badly the stress had affected him.

"Ryo's not doing good. We have to stop and let him rest."

Nodding, Shin agreed that they should stop and rest. By now, it was the middle of the night and they'd managed to get into a deep forest. There were no lights from houses or sounds from near-by roads and Shin was having trouble facing the fact of how they'd gotten so far from the city. 'We ran. We left the restaurant and just ran. Besides the city park, there aren't any forests like this near the city for miles and miles. It seems like we got here in just a few minutes.'

"Seiji, sit down. Just take it easy for a minute." Touma was saying, bringing Shin back to their reality. Alone and lost out in the middle of nowhere, it seemed like he'd become the unofficial leader of their little gang while Xiu and Touma looked after their injured friends. Shin wasn't sure he liked having everyone look to him to tell them what to do. But Seiji and Xiu had just lost family members in such horrible ways and Touma wasn't in any frame of mind to do anything. His situation mirrored Seiji's just a little to closely, it was no wonder that Touma hadn't left Seiji's side since they'd left the restaurant.

Ryo was set down on the ground and, while Touma sat next to Seiji and kept a hand on his shoulder, Xiu started to look Ryo over. 'It's his way of dealing with all this.' Shin knew. Xiu was the kind of person who had to keep busy or he'd explode with anger. As the eldest of a large family, Xiu was actually pretty clever when it came to basic first aid, but this was a little more than his skills could handle.

"I've got him bandaged up as good as I can." Xiu told Shin. He'd used Ryo's shirt to staunch the blood, but as much pressure as Xiu put on the knife wound, there was still a small amount of bleeding that just wouldn't stop. "I just don't know what else to do for him." Even now, Xiu kept his hand pressed firmly down on the wound.

Shin bit his lip, trying to think straight. Xiu seemed to be doing everything right for basic first aid, but Ryo needed a hospital. They couldn't just stay out here, Ryo was sure to die.

"Fire." Everyone looked at Seiji who'd spoke for the first time since. He was still looking at his lap, but repeated himself. "Ryo needs a fire. It's getting cold out here and we'll have to keep him warm. It's all right for us to rest for a little while, but he needs to go to a hospital."

Shin felt somehow vindicated in his judgment of Ryo's condition since Seiji, their resident expert, pronounced his opinion. "Is anything you can do for him?" Shin asked. He almost hated to ask, since Seiji looked like he needed some healing himself, but Ryo was getting paler and paler because of the blood loss and Shin wasn't at all convinced that Ryo was going to live for the next few hours.

"I..." Seiji shook himself out of whatever shock he'd let himself slip into and moved away from Touma to where Xiu was kneeling with Ryo. "I'll try."

That little bit of uncertainty worried Shin. Seiji had always been so confident with everything he did, it just didn't seem right.

Seiji must have seen Shin's worry on his face, because he added, "All this time, I thought it was the power of my belief in wicca that helped me to heal people. Now...I just don't know. It's this thing we all have now. This yoroi and weapons, this is what's healing people. Not me. Not any of the spells or potions I've been making all this time." Seiji turned away abruptly and motioned for Xiu to move away from Ryo so he could get a better look.

'His faith's been shaken.' Shin realized. He hoped that Seiji's faith in his religion hadn't been destroyed all together, it had always been so important to him. 'But Seiji's right. How much of this...magic,' He looked down at the pale blue orb in his hand. 'How much of this magic has influenced us? How much of us is the magic? I spent a year in an asylum because I heard the voice of this Suiko and took pills for years after to drown out the voice. What would I be like if I hadn't been taking drugs for so long?'

Ryo woke up while Seiji was examining him, and looked around tiredly. "Where...?"

"Were in the forest somewhere." Xiu answered. "Don't worry, we'll get you to the hospital soon."

Ryo nodded, showing that he'd head before his eyes started to drift closed. The last thing any of them heard him say was a barely audible, "...Anubis..."



Naaza-



Rajura returned faster than either Naaza or Sh'ten had expected, appearing in their family room with a large black wolf they all recognized as Anubis' alternate form. The ability to shape change into his favorite animal wasn't a power that he'd gotten from the yoroi, but rather one he'd inherited from his vampiric nature. He'd used this talent often enough for them to know who he was and quickly abandon the sofa so Rajura could lay him down there.

"What happened?" Sh'ten asked, scowling. He was the general, and if something had happened to make Anubis seem weak in Arago's eyes, it was Sh'ten responsibility to protect his brother against Arago. He'd have to think up some excuse as to why Anubis couldn't come when Arago called for him.

"He wasn't paying attention." Rajura said bitterly when he set Anubis down. Though he sounded angry, Naaza knew Rajura wasn't angry at Anubis so much as he was angry at himself. Rajura tended to blame himself when any of them got hurt, claiming that he hadn't trained them well enough. "Anubis? Anubis, can you hear me?"

The black wolf whimpered on the sofa and its eyes cracked open.

Naaza knew this was his place more than Rajura's, so he none to gently pushed his eldest brother out of the way and sat by the wolf's side. "Change back, Anubis. I don't know your wolf form enough to heal it. Change back human so I can see what's wrong." He didn't ask. In all his years as healer to his stubborn, proud brothers, Naaza had discovered that he got better results if he told them to do something instead of asking. Anubis tossed his furry head, in an effort to look away from Naaza, but Naaza would have none of it. "I said, turn back!" He snapped, grabbing Anubis' muzzle and forcing Anubis to look at him. "You've been stupid again, haven't you? Did you go see that ningen boy again? What happened? Did he get a good look at your ugly face and panic?"

Anubis growled softly and tried to pull his face away from Naaza's hands, but Naaza's long, sharp fingernails held him securely in place.

"Naaza," Rajura started, sounding doubtful. "Do you really think..."

"Go sit in your web and spin." Naaza snapped at Rajura, irritated at the interruption. "This is my business." Then he spoke to Anubis again, determined to get him as angry as possible. "Did your little Ryo try to kill the shape changing monster? Did he hate you? Did you see the disgust in his face..."

That was the last straw as Anubis wrenched his muzzle out of Naaza's grip and bit his younger brother's arm. Naaza didn't flinch. One of the advantages of having natural poisons and other interesting chemicals running through one's body meant that Naaza could make it so he felt no pain of any kind. It was like a painkiller he could turn on and off. "Awww." He said mockingly. "Did I make little wolfy angry? Poor little beast."

Anubis glared at him with his sapphire blue eyes and began an unusually slow and awkward transformation into his human self. Even after he'd shifted and turned back into a human, Anubis' teeth were still sunk into Naaza's lower arm and there was a low, throaty growl coming from his throat.

"Good." Naaza declared. "I'm glad to see you're finally listening. Now let go before I beat you. I'd hate to hurt someone who's been having a bad day." He really had no pity for someone as stubborn as Anubis. Sure, he was sorry his brother was hurt, but he wasn't sorry about how rough he had to be.

Reluctantly Anubis let go and sunk back down onto the sofa, looking exhausted. "Bastard." Anubis muttered. "Cold, heartless..."

"Pout on your own time." Naaza told him firmly. "Now," He began to rub his palms over Anubis' chest around the area of the wound. "What happened? A knife?"

"Yeah." Anubis seemed to be resting a little easier now that the pain easing slime that Naaza secreted from the palms of his hands was getting into his bloodstream. His eyes started to droop shut. "I was with Ryo and he went to his friend's house. Someone, he smelled somewhat like Ryo and that blonde brat, Seiji, had killed a little girl and a woman. He attacked me while I was distracted..."

"Distracted?" Sh'ten asked.

"The blood." Anubis answered. "There was lots of blood everywhere, it was so overpowering. Then, then he hurt Ryo." Anubis began to go limp under Naaza now gentle hands that kept moving and encouraging his natural pain killer to go into Anubis' flesh. "Have to find him. Have to...find...Ryo..."

Sh'ten was the first one to speak. "I think I want to go find this person who hurt our 'Nubie." His usually bright eyes were dark at the thought of someone attacking Anubis. "I'm the only one who's allowed to hurt him."

"He's dead." Rajura told him.

"You say that like it makes a difference, 'Jura." Sh'ten smirked. "We know, better than anyone, that spirits don't just vanish when a mortal body dies. I think I'll go find this person." His smile broadened. "I also need to repay Anubis' little betrayal. Don't worry, I'll wait until he's better."

"While your mind goes to the spirit realm," Naaza said. "I'm going to use your blood to feed Anubis. It helps a little if he's got fresh blood."

But Sh'ten made a sulking face. "It's no fun when he's not awake."

"Don't be so childish. Just lay down and shut up." Naaza used a knife to slice open Sh'ten's arm, just at the inside of the elbow and held the dripping wound to Anubis mouth. Though he still wasn't awake, Anubis unconsciously opened his mouth to let the healing liquid run down his throat. "Close your eyes and relax." Naaza told Sh'ten.

"I'm going to the spirit realm now." Sh'ten told them. I'll be back after I've finished playing with Anubis' little friend. The dead are fun to play with. They can't die again, so I've got endless time to play with them." He, like Anubis, slowly drifted to sleep.

The spirit realm was unlike the Youja Kai, in that the spirits of the dead resided there. In the Youja Kai, the demons lived. It was a great difference, but for someone who lived in the Youja Kai, it was relatively simple to travel between the two worlds. In fact, all of them could do it in a sort of dream, like a trance, which was what Sh'ten was doing now.

While Naaza held Sh'ten's arm over Anubis' mouth, he spoke to Rajura who hovered silently. "You have something to say?"

"He's in trouble." Rajura replied. "Anubis is losing himself to that boy."

Naaza had never had much cause to like ningen's in general, but even he knew how much Anubis cared for Ryo. There was no disguising it and, no matter how Naaza felt about it, he knew Anubis wouldn't let go of Ryo easily. "Is that truly a bad thing? Arago doesn't have to know about this. We can protect them easily enough. We'll hide them until Ryo ages and dies."

"I've foreseen...bad things." Rajura sadly shook his head. "It won't last. Not now, anyway. He's going to be hurt."

"Can we stop it?"

Rajura hesitated before answering. "I've gone over it a dozen times in my mind and tried to think of a way around it." He sighed and leaned over the back of the sofa, brushing his fingers through Anubis' dark blue hair. "No. This will happen. We might as well not even fight it. In all the visions I've seen in my long life, never once have I ever been able to prevent or change an event. I'm just an observer. He'll be so badly hurt and then I..." He stopped and stepped back, away from Anubis.

"Then you what? Why is there so much mystery? Just tell me what's going to happen."

Rajura opened his mouth, as if he'd say something, but turned quickly and strode out of the room.



Lai-



Lai was crying and she didn't know how to stop.

Xiu and his friends were all sitting around a circle and no one was talking to her or each other, not even nice Seiji san. Everyone looked so sad, especially Xiu who was sitting on the ground with his face in his hands. Lai was pretty sure he was crying and that scared her more than anything else. 'He shouldn't be crying. He's strong and almost grown-up. He's never scared and he said crying's for babies.'

Lai didn't even know how she'd gotten out here, out in the forest, she was just glad that Xiu and his friends were here so she didn't feel so alone. But since no one was talking to her, Lai still felt a bit alone.

The last thing she remembered was mama and papa going out, telling her that they were going to visit someone and then a stranger came into the restaurant. She felt sort of bad that he'd found her there. She was supposed to stay upstairs and stay with her big brothers and sisters, but she was hungry and just wanted to go downstairs to get something to eat. Usually, she'd just get Xiu to get her something, but he wasn't there. He'd had to go out and see his new friend, Ryo. 'I wonder if papa is still mad at Seiji san.' She thought as she sat next to Xiu and cried, desperately wishing her da ge could hear her.

She really didn't know what was going on and it was scaring her as much as the fuzzy memory of the man with the knife. She didn't like to think of that. It hurt to think about the man. He was very angry and kept talking about sin and evil. He'd raised the knife and...

"Da ge!" Lai cried, trying again to get her big brother's attention. "Da ge, I need you! Please, look at me!" Lai grabbed at Xiu's arm, but her hand passed through him like he wasn't even there.

The shock of that made Lai stop crying for a moment and she looked at her hand. It looked normal and Xiu looked normal. So, why couldn't she touch him? "Please, da ge. Please, look at me." Even her whimpering couldn't make him look up.

"I'm sorry, Ryo." Seiji-san said, breaking the silence. His voice sounded scratchy and, for the first time since she'd found herself here, Lai looked closer at someone other than her da ge. "I...I didn't know he was your dad, too."

Ryo, the black haired friend Xiu had brought to dinner a few days ago, was laying down with his head on Shin's lap. He didn't look very good and didn't even open his eyes when he spoke. "It's not your fault."

Seiji-san stood up and started to angrily pace in a large circle around everyone. "I killed him, Ryo. There's no question about it and it wasn't an accident. I killed our father." Seiji-san stopped pacing and laughed bitterly. "Funny, when you think about it. Who'd have guessed we were half-brothers?"

Ryo smiled weakly, but still didn't open his eyes.

"How you feeling?" Shin asked. He kept looking under Ryo's shirt at something. "That very bad wound. We go soon to hospital." Shin put a hand on Ryo's forehead and looked at Seiji. "Not good."

Ryo still didn't open his eyes and he looked very pale. Seiji came over and looked at whatever Shin was looking at under Ryo's shirt. He looked grim. "It's better than it looks, actually. He's not in such great danger now. At least, he'll last until we get him to a hospital." Seiji seemed to remember that Ryo was awake and could hear him. "I'm sorry, Ryo." He said. "I don't mean to sound so cold."

Ryo just smiled, but didn't move, not even to speak.

Shin smiled at that. "At least we all hear voice. I am not crazy. A waste, all those years of pills and doctors."

"I know the feeling." Seiji agreed. "I thought I was going to go the same way dad did."

Xiu jumped up and charged into the forest away from his friends. No one called after to stop him, though Seiji did start to rise to his feet. At the last moment, though, he looked back at Ryo and sank back down to the forest floor. "I can't leave Ryo. Touma, would you...?"

"Sure." Touma stood up and ran after where Xiu had gone. Touma wasn't alone as he chased after Xiu. Lai followed, but her little legs weren't long enough to let her keep up to Touma and she soon found herself alone, running though the night forest.

She ran and ran, desperate to find her da ge or, at least, Touma. The forest was dark and frightening, with strange animal noises coming from all directions. Finally, exhausted by crying and running, Lai stopped running, breathing hard. "Da ge?!" She called out into the darkness around her. "Touma-san?!" But there was no answer and she was still alone. "Someone!"

"Little one."

Lai looked up at the voice and saw another stranger. Frightened again by a stranger, Lai jumped away from the red haired man who smiled kindly at her. He wasn't like any man she'd seen before, there was something...different about him. "Don't be afraid." He was dressed very fancy, in a kimono of green, red, and gold and his eyes were the brightest green Lai had ever seen before. His pale skin was almost white next to his brilliant hair, but the thing Lai noticed the most was his soft smile. It was almost sad. "I won't hurt you, little one."

She licked her lips and told herself that she had to be brave, just like Xiu would want her to be. "Who are you?" She asked, hoping her voice wasn't shaking as much as she was afraid it was.

The red haired man knelt down until he was sitting on his knees in front of her, but he kept a safe distance away. It was far enough that they could talk, but far enough away she didn't feel like he would hurt her. "You can call me Sh'ten, if you like." He told her. "I was just passing by and I heard you crying."

"How? No one else can hear me."

"I'm a little different than most people."

Lai liked his smile and decided that he wasn't a bad man. She cautiously approached slowly. "Do you know why da ge isn't talking to me? Is he mad at me?" It wasn't just her da ge, though, who wasn't talking to her. His friends were all equally silent and wouldn't look at each other or say anything. "Everyone seems so sad and now I'm lost."

Sh'ten just shrugged. "He's sad, I think, because he can't see you anymore."

"He can't?" Lai looked down at herself. She didn't look any different. "Why not?"

"Because you're dead." Sh'ten said this softly, like he really didn't want to say it.

"But," Lai bit her lip. "Dead? I don't want to be dead."

"I know." He reached out his hand and touched her face with a long finger. "There aren't many people who really want to die, and you weren't expecting it. Are you afraid?"

Lai only really had seen one dead person and that had been Ryo's granma. Everyone had been sad and mama told papa that Ryo was going to have a hard time without his granma. Lai didn't know what a 'hard time' was, but it must be bad because Ryo looked really sad and angry at the funeral.

"Yes." She answered, starting to chew on her thumbnail. "But just a little."

"It's all right to be a little afraid. Almost everyone is afraid when they die."

"How do you know?"

"I see lots of them. I wasn't expecting to see you, but I was passing and you looked so sad." He motioned for her to come closer and Lai felt that it was all right. Mama and papa and da ge had always told her to stay away from strangers, but Sh'ten wasn't a stranger. He was safe and nice.

Lai went to sit on the grass next to him. Putting a hand on her hair, Sh'ten said, "Don't worry about them. My brother likes your brother's friend. I think they'll be all right. They'll look after each other."

"I don't like da ge to be sad."

"I don't like my brothers to be sad, either."

Lai sat up as tall as she could so she could look at Sh'ten's eyes properly. "Where were you going when you saw me? Did you want to visit someone else?" She didn't know why she asked that, really. Probably it was because she didn't want to think about what was going to happen to her. Mama had told her that people die, but not what happened to the people after they die. Lai didn't want to go anywhere without her mama or papa or da ge. They were a family, papa had said, they were supposed to stay together no matter what.

"You will be together." Sh'ten told her and Lai wondered if she'd spoken out loud. "For a little while, you will have to wait for them, though. Don't be afraid. Where you're going, you'll have a big, beautiful garden to play in and lots of other children to play with." Sh'ten pulled her closer until she was sitting in his lap and Lai let herself rest her cheek against his chest. He felt warm and comfortable. "The sky is going to be always blue, except when you want it to rain. There will be a big lake with swans and birds singing in the trees. And you have family waiting for you there."

Lai's eyes lit up. "You mean granma and granpa?"

Sh'ten nodded and his smile grew slightly. "So there is nothing to be afraid of. You won't be lonely and in a very little while the rest of your family will come to be with you."

Lai thought about this. She did miss granma and grampa who'd died a few years ago, but it would mean leaving Xiu and the rest of her family. "Can I see da ge before I have to go?"

Sh'ten held out a hand to her. "Certainly. I'll take you to him."

Lai took his hand and they started walking. It was easy with her new friend and Lai wasn't nearly so upset now that she had a grown-ups hand to hold out here in the dark and the forest didn't seem nearly so scary.

"It's not your fault, Xiu." Touma said. Lai heard his voice before they came into the clearing where Xiu was pounding his fist against a tree.

"I don't want him to be sad for me." Lai told him as she pointed back to Xiu. "Can you make him stop being sad?"

"No. It's better for him to be sad for now. Let them cry for you, because they don't get to be with you for a little while. In time, they'll be happy again."

Touma walked over to Xiu and put his hand on Xiu's shoulder. "Come on, man. Everyone's worried about..."

"Shut up!" Xiu shouted, turning on Touma violently enough that Touma took a cautious step backwards. "You don't know anything! My sister just died! She was a baby and that shit slit her throat like she was an animal!"

"Calm down." Touma told him, sounding like he was trying to stay calm himself.

"Calm down?! My home's covered in blood, my boyfriend's dad just killed my sister and his own wife. Not only that...but...and now I can...I can...I..." His voice trailed away and he turned back, away from Touma again. "You saw what I did. What the Hell are we? How did this happen?"

Touma swallowed hard and came back closer to his friend. "I'm Hashiba Touma. You're Rei Faun Xiu."

With a bitter laugh, Xiu asked, "Is it really that simple for you?"

"Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best, but I don't think we're simple at all. But, I don't think we're anything more than who we were yesterday. I'm still me and you're still you. I guess we've got something about us we never knew before, but it really doesn't change us. Does it?" Touma leaned his back against the tree Xiu had been punching. "I'm still a bit of a jerk. Shin's still got a heart of gold and a nasty temper. Seiji's still going to worship his goddess. Ryo's still got an inferiority complex. You still care more about other people than you do about yourself. Look at me, Xiu." He waited until Xiu reluctantly turned around and looked at him balefully. "Remember when you learned geometry? This is the same thing. We've all got a new skill, but we're the same on the inside."

"Are we? I feel different."

"You just lost a big part of your life. Of course things are different. But you're not alone." Touma put an arm around Xiu's shoulders. "We're all in this together, Xiu. I promise."

This only upset Xiu more and he swung his fist at Touma. "I don't want to be with anyone in this!" He shouted.

Touma dodged the blow, but only just and he was able to jump backwards, away from Xiu. "What are you doing?" He demanded. "I'm not your enemy."

But, with tears streaming down his face, it was doubtful that Xiu could think at all. He was just to upset. For a long time, Xiu swung wildly, seemingly trying to kill Touma. Touma was faster, though, and was able to get away each and every time all the while staying silent. It looked like he was just going to dodge around until Xiu wore himself out. It was working beautifully until Touma tripped over something and landed hard. It was during the fall down that Xiu managed to hit him in the face and Touma grunted in pain. Touma landed on his side, clutching his face and didn't get up. He moaned pitifully.

Though he raised his arms, as if he would hit Touma again, Xiu snapped back to himself when he heard Touma moan. "T...Touma." Xiu lowered his arms and he looked at what he'd done in horror. "Oh, God. Touma!" Without another word, he went to his friend's side and rolled him over so he could look at Touma's face. There was a lot of blood and Touma's face was all ready starting to turn purple where he'd been hit. "Christ!" Xiu swore. "I'm sorry, Touma. I didn't mean it. I just...I couldn't control myself."

But Touma grinned, not a pleasant sight with the state he was in, and showed a mouth full of blood which he spit out. "Sissy. You hit like a girl."

Xiu stared at Touma for a moment and then he laughed. It started out as a low chuckle under his breath, but it took only moments before he was bent over and howling with laughter. He laughed and laughed and laughed, until he sobbed with laughter and then he only sobbed. Touma stayed on the ground and let Xiu cry on his chest until Xiu was completely worn out.

"Come on." Touma said at last. "Give me a hand up. I want to see how Ryo's doing."

"And Seiji." Xiu wiped the tears off his face. "He lost his mom and had to kill his dad. He gotta be more broken up than I am. Not that he'd show it."

Touma shook his head as Xiu helped him to his feet. "That's not good, you know. Seiji doesn't like to show what he's feeling, I know, but he's going to have to let this all out sooner or later. I hope, for his sake, that it's sooner rather than later."

"I'll keep an eye on him." Xiu promised. He looked at Touma out of the corner of his eye. "Ummm...I'm sorry about..."

"Never mind. Friendship means you can be a jerk once in a while and I'll forgive you." Then he winced and put a hand to his swelling face. "Just don't do that to often. Now I know why no one wants to fight with you."

Sh'ten was a lot stronger than Lai had thought he looked and picked her up easily. "It's time for you to go to that pretty garden. Say good-bye to your da ge."

Lai looked at Xiu in time to see him wipe a tear off his face with his still clenched fist. "Bye-bye, da ge." Then she looked at Sh'ten. "Will you come with me to the garden?"

"As much as I would like to, I'm afraid I have something to take care of." He looked over his shoulder and a nasty kind of smile appeared on his face. "Come on out. I haven't got all day." For just an instant, his pretty green eyes darkened and Lai was almost afraid of him.

Several people walked out of the darkness and none of them looked happy. Lai looked back at Xiu and Touma, but they both looked...funny now. Like it was foggy all of a sudden and she couldn't see them clearly. They were still talking, but she couldn't hear them anymore. "Sh'ten..." She turned to him, worried about what was going on, but he was still looking at the new people.

"I see you're all finally here." Sh'ten said. "I waited for you long enough."

"What's going on?" One of the men stepped forward and demanded angrily. "Who the Hell are you?"

"I'm your guide into the next world, dear departed souls." Sh'ten couldn't seem to help the giggle that escaped his lips. "I'll stay with you for a while just to make sure you don't get lonely before I leave you in the care of the one who'll supervise you from now on." He giggled again. "I think we'll have fun together, gentlemen. Bishop Brannon. Shit Face. Date Sango. Yes, we'll have lots of fun together. Actually," He pointed to two of the men. "You two are bonuses. I just came for Date, really. Ah, well, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"What about us?" This from another person who walked out from the shadows, also. "What's going to happen to us?"

Lai recognized two of the women. One was Ryo's granma, whom Lai only knew from the funeral, and a second was Doctor Date, Seiji's mom. The funny thing was that Seiji's mom was standing up. There were two other people that Lai didn't know; a man with pink hair and a woman with bright red hair who was smiling.

Sh'ten answered, "You will all go that way." He pointed in one direction, but didn't seem nearly as interested in these four as he did the first three men. Then he seemed to remember he was holding Lai. "Oh, you'd better go with them." He walked to Doctor Date and passed Lai to her. "Good bye, little one."

Doctor Date smiled at Lai. "Hello, Lai-chan. It's been a while since I've seen you. That was pretty scary, back home, I mean. Don't you think so?"

"Yeah." Lai hugged Date san tightly. It was so nice to find someone she knew who could see her.

Dr. Date looked lovingly at one of the men that was going with Sh'ten and then at Sh'ten and she frowned. "Don't hurt my Sango to badly. He didn't mean it. He didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"I'm not here to punish mortal sins or pass judgment over people." Sh'ten's eyes narrowed and a funny smile replaced the sweet one he'd had. "Your Sango hurt an innocent child and I take offense at that. He also injured my beloved brother. He will suffer punishment for his actions, but not to badly. I know his mind was sick. He'll be returned to you in due time."

Dr. Date shook her head. "Who are you?"

"I am a demon. It's a fitting place for me to punish the wicked, don't you agree? Actually, this is my elder brother's job, but he's not feeling well at the moment so I'm helping him out with this oh so pleasant task."

"Perhaps." She started to walk away, still carrying Lai. "But don't get carried away, please. He's all I have until my Seiji comes to me."

Sh'ten nodded before he turned and started walking in the opposite direction. "Where's he going?" Lai asked. She liked him and wanted him to go to that beautiful garden with her.

Dr. Date said, "You know Xiu's friend, Ryo?"

"Yes."

"Well, there were some people who did some bad things to Ryo and it's Sh'ten's job to make sure those people are punished."

Lai looked ahead to where they were going and saw the two other people waiting for them. There was the pink haired man and a lady with bright red hair who was laughing about something.

"We're going along, too." The lady said, waving at Doctor Date. "Ryo told us about your family, Date-san. I thought it'd be fun to get to know you. I'm Yoko and this is Joji." Yoko beamed at Lai. "I think I'd like to see this garden of yours kiddo."


Ryo-


Everything hurt, even opening his eyes hurt, but Seiji and Shin were so insisted that he do just that. When Ryo did open his eyes, all his friends were there looking down at him with worried expressions. Ryo was sorely tempted to close his eyes again. He felt so terribly tired.

"Seiji? Something..."

"Rest." Seiji told him. "We'll talk when you're fully healed. It was a nasty blow you took, I'm afraid." Seiji looked away and Ryo could see the worry and stress on Seiji's face. "We're all going to have to decide what we're going to do now." Seiji was speaking to the others now, as well as Ryo. "Ryo has to go to a hospital. I've done what I can, but I want to make sure nothing internal was injured."

"My trial's tomorrow." Touma told them grimly. "I don't mind running away and never coming back, to be honest."

"No." Shin insisted. "Must finish what we started. You and I will go to trial. You and I will finish this. Must prove you innocent."

"I've gotta go home." Xiu told them. He shook his head. "I don't know what I'm going to tell my mama and papa." He buried his face in his hands. "They must be home by now and they've found the bodies. They must be so worried. I can't believe I left the kids upstairs all alone. Jeeze, what if one of them went downstairs before mama and papa came home?!"



Abraham-


From the darkness Abraham watched the five boys. He could smell Kujuurou on these boys. 'He's been with them recently.' Abraham smiled. 'At last. I've been looking for you for so long, my little Ku. It's time for you to come home.'





To be continued...