Jin looked behind him and inched closer to his big brother, Ragna. It was that boy again; the one with the dark green, short hair and purple eyes. The village called him a freak. The boys called him a weirdo, and the girls called him a stalker. He was always watching them with his eyes that were bursting with bright, vibrant color, yet they were dulled by something no one knew. The boy hardly spoke at all; he only Watched. Observed. Stared. In fact, he only spoke one word, and that was his own name.

"Don't pay attention to him," Ragna assured Jin, putting a hand on his shoulder. "and he'll go away." Ragna looked back quickly and glared at the boy. Jin looked back a few seconds later. The boy was gone. But not for long. Jin knew he would come back.

It came as no surprise to him that when fire broke out on the church, Jin saw that boy among the flames. Jin knew he was there, even though the thin, ghostly figure that was whispering commands into his ear didn't notice him. He was too busy taking his sister away and insulting his brother's corpse.

Jin turned around while that evil figure wasn't looking. There he was. Flames were in front of him and behind him. But he didn't look scared. He stood among the corpses of others that had became victims of the fire. The fire Jin had caused. Jin fully turned around, wanting to see that weird boy burst into flames. He wanted to hear him scream.

"… Freak." Jin shouted to him. The boy bowed his head.

"Jin." The boy murmured. "We will meet again…"

"Fat chance!" Jin spat. The boy paid no attention to his words and finished his statement:

"… and you will die."

With that, the green haired boy was suddenly engulfed in a tidal wave of fire that seemed to engulf his whole body at once. Jin's eyes widened as the purple eyes suddenly disappeared.

Jin thought nothing of it. That boy was just another life that he killed. He was dead now. They would never meet again.

It was impossible.

Jin Kisaragi woke up and stretched. Moving quickly, he put on his NOL outfit and looked in the mirror to comb his blonde hair. Jin's hair was such a pale blonde, and it was a complete mess today. No way could he show up to the NOL base looking like that. After about 5 minutes of struggling to get his hair to cooperate, he figured it might be better if he got it wet. Jin wandered to the bathroom.

The door was wide open and the knob had scratches on it as if a beast had clawed at it. Jin grabbed Yukianesa and cautiously opened the door. Bloody was splattered on the floor; the bathtub was filled with blood. It wasn't Jin's blood; he'd be dead if he had lost this much. Jin's attention shifted to the mirror. Someone had smeared blood on it as well. The blood stains seemed to form words, and even though the blood was dripping, the words were legible:

"YOU KILLED ME, NOW I'LL KILL YOU"

Sorn Nethaniel Crows sighed and walked through Ronin-Gai. It was his typical shortcut between the NOL and Orient Town. He quickly paused and fidgeted with the brown leather belt he had tied tightly around his eyes. The belt was so long that it covered his whole face from his forehead to the beginning of the bridge of his nose. He raised his hand and centered the normal, silver belt buckle so it was in the center of his face.

Strolling along at a quicker pace, Sorn began to hear footsteps all around his dark world. They echoed through his ears along with all the other sounds. Usually, he paid them little mind, but he recognized the gait of a familiar maiden. Sorn turned around.

"Oh geez, oh geez… I gotta get back to the ba- AH!" Sorn wasn't wrong. That childish voice belonged to Noel Vermillion. Sorn could feel the strange gaze she was giving him. He nodded in response.

"Vermillion." He greeted.

Noel hardly paid attention. The man was a monstrous 6 feet 4 inches tall at least! But he didn't look that intimidating. Brown belts were tightly tied around a third of his face, obviously prohibiting his vision in every way. The same type of belts were also tied tightly around his arms from his wrist to just before his elbow on both arms. And more belts were tied from his chest to beneath his abs. Noel couldn't imagine a man wearing so many belts and moving around so freely! Noel quickly noted what else he was wearing. A loose, long black jacket that's coattails came down to just before his jet black, leather pants. The sleeves of his jacket were staunched from the elbow down because of the belts. He didn't have a shirt on underneath his jacket; his belts were the only thing covering his chest, if only a little.

Suddenly, Sorn snapped his fingers (he was wearing black, fingerless gloves) in front of Noel's face, snapping her out of her observations.

"Vermillion." He said.

"E-eh?" Noel stammered. "O-oh, sorry sir… I was… uh… Lost in thought…" Sorn shrugged.

"Fine. What're you doing here?"

"I was going on patrol… and… I was going back to report my findings! … oh no… th-that's classified! F-forget I said that!" Sorn paused and then nodded.

"Forgotten."

"U-uhm… What are you doing here?"

"Oh… I was returning from a mission-" Suddenly, Noel's receiver began to ring. It was a device that NOL members used to contact each other quickly. Noel picked it up and answered it.

"Lieutenant Vermillion!" Screeched the angry voice on the other end. Noel sighed.

"M-major Kisaragi…" She murmured. "What's wrong?"

"What is the meaning of this blasphemy?" Jin screeched. "There's blood everywhere! In my bathroom, there's splatters in my living room…"

"W-what?" Noel said, shocked. Sorn stared at Noel but said nothing.

"Noel, I order you to find who did this!"

"Y-yes sir!" Noel quickly hung up the receiver. "Excuse me, I don't even know your name, but do you kno-" Noel turned to where the man with the belts had previously been. He was gone. Noel didn't get it. He was hear but a second ago. She thought nothing of it. He had something important to do… right?