Five years had passed since the Ogre incident and seven since I first came back to life. I was now twenty as well as Dio. Arisu is now fourteen. I've cut my hair short now. It suits me better and my hair was starting to get in the way. My style really hasn't changed much. I still wear a light blue dress similar to the one from my childhood.

Dio looks like a real man now. Besides the bandage around his eye, everything is different. He's been working out a lot, trying to strengthen himself so he could protect me. I get light-headed every time he takes off his shirt. His muscles are amazing and he has abs. His blond hair has grown a darker color, seeming close to brown now. His eyes have darkened as well. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such an amazing boyfriend.

Arisu has changed the most out of all of us. She looked more like a young adult than a teenager. Her hair was slightly shorter now. She'd asked me to cut it yesterday. Instead of reaching past her waist, it now reached about halfway up her arm, and she constantly threw it up in a ponytail. Her red eyes glowed brighter. Some might be terrified by eyes like that, but I found them strangely beautiful. She'd hit a huge growth spurt, already almost as tall as me, not that I'd ever grown much to begin with. Her...chest area had also increased and she wore a plain, white dress with lace at the bottom. It seemed a bit plain for her, but she made everything appealing.

"Mom, dad," Arisu squeaked, her voice nearly a whisper. She looked incredibly nervous and I could visibly see her palms sweating. "There's something I'd ,like to talk to you about."

I turned away from the carrots I was chopping and walked over to the door, calling Dio in. He dropped the axe he was holding and picked up the firewood he'd cut, bringing them inside.

Dropping the wood, he asked, "What is it?"

My heart beat fast in my chest. I had a feeling that I knew what Arisu wanted to discuss. "Arisu has something she wants to talk to us about."

Dio glanced suspiciously at Arisu and he followed me over to the couch. We both sat down together and Arisu stood before us. She looked nauseous now. She kept getting more and more nervous.

"It's okay if you aren't ready to say it," said Dio. "Besides, there's something I'd like to say too…"

Dio's face grew red, and Arisu smiled, reading his thoughts. She nodded in agreeance, and stepped back. Dio stood and fished around in his pocket. I stared up at him in curiosity. What was going on?

I clasped my hand to my mouth to prevent from screaming in excitement. He was on one knee! He had a black box in his hand! Was he really going to…?

"Aya Drevis," he said, opening up the box and revealing a diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"

Everything goes numb and my breathing slows. The only sensation I feel is my cheeks growing hotter. He just proposed! Eventually, the numbness faded and an overwhelming feeling ran through me. Before I even realized it, I was crying.

"Yes," I answered, a bit too giddy. "Of course. I've been waiting for the day you'd ask me to marry you, but where'd you get that ring?!"

He slipped the ring on my finger silently, dodging the question. I decided it was for the best that I didn't know. He leaned in, his forehead resting against mine. His breath warmed my neck and I found that even though we were inches away, we should be closer. I closed my eyes, chills going down my spine as I kissed him. His lips pressed against mine with a strange ferocity like I'd never felt before. I could feel by his kiss just how joyful he was that I'd agreed. I didn't care when, where, or how this wedding was going to happen, but my heart was filled with happiness. I'm getting married!

Arisu cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself. I broke apart from Dio and pushed my hair behind my ears. "I don't mean to interrupt this precious moment, but I think I'm finally ready to tell you guys…"

"Tell us what?" asked Dio.

"About my past…"

My hunch had been correct.

Dio gave a brief nod, remembering back to our fight with Ogre. There, a boy had encountered us, the boy somehow related to Arisu's dark past.

"Let me start from the beginning," she sighed, finally positioning herself on a chair. It made me feel nervous when she'd stand and pace around. "I was born in a no-good town. My parents were poor and had no where else they could bring me. At first, they had cared for me a lot, raised me to be the best I could become in that criminal city, but of course, a kid costs money, and they just started running out of finances." Arisu took the time to breathe for a second, and I knew the bad part of the story was coming in. "And when they went bankrupt, they became really stressed out. Even though I was young, I still remember their panicked faces. They looked wereinsane. Mom and dad...no, I refuse to call them that...Teresa and John, completely losing it, not knowing what to do anymore, they decided to make...budget cuts."

I tensed at the way Arisu said that. Budget cuts. The look of hatred in her eyes she'd had when she looked at Ogre appeared on her face now. Her eyes were blank at lifeless, but her face was contorted into a look of rage. She took a deep breath and decided to continue.

"'The kid is costing us too much,' John had whispered, thinking I was asleep. 'If we could just get rid of her, then maybe we could support ourselves at least. Maybe put her up for adoption?' 'That's too much of a hassle,' Teresa had hissed back, no sympathy towards me like any normal mother would have. 'Let's just kill her. Nobody will catch us, not in this blood-stained city. The cops can't handle all the murderers out here. And we don't have any friends or really know anyone here, so how could they know we had a daughter? As long as we properly dispose of the body, no one will ever know.' I would've expected John to be the one to plot out my murder, but here was Teresa, laying it all out on the table. John didn't even hesitate. He agreed with her 100%."

Arisu's glare got even icier. She didn't look like herself at all right now. Those red eyes no longer held beauty. Now I could see why people feared red eyes like that. I felt myself shaking and Dio wrapped me in his arms, and I could feel him shake ever so slightly as well.

"So what was the little girl lying in bed supposed to do, knowing her parents wanted to kill her? I did nothing. I continued to pretend I was asleep, thinking this was all just a nightmare. But it wasn't.Teresa had walked out of the room and then she'd come back with her largest kitchen knife. John grabbed a large potato sack. And then they pounced."

My heart raced.

"John snatched me up, wrapping his arm around my neck. I was in a headlock. He then threw me into the potato sack and knotted it up tight. I was screaming. As loud as I could scream. But these citizens were used to hearing innocent people's cries. They wouldn't help me. Those heartless people didn't even think twice about that six year old girl…"

Tears ran down Arisu's cheeks, yet her expression of hatred, not sadness, was plastered on her face.

"Through that bag, Teresa stabbedme. Thrusting it in and out of my flesh mercilessly. I remembering begging her for mercy. 'Mom, I love you! Momma! It hurts! Stop!' She laughed psychotically and continued to stab me. I must have died then…"

"But you're alive," Dio retorted.

"Yes," Arisu said. "But I wasdead. I knew I was dead, but my spirit refused to pass yet. Similar to you, mom. That's one of the reasons I wanted to help you back then. Because I had experiencedthat. I floated above my small body, watching as John picked me up and carried me off into the back yard. Teresa came out as well after grabbing something. Something that would help cut me apart and make it easier to hide me. She'd grabbed John's hatchet and handed it to him. Not knowing what was happening, I watched in terror, witnessing my own body being chopped up into bite-size pieces. Then, they gathered my pieces and threw them into the fire pit, then igniting me. I cried out as my body burned and no one could hear me. Somehow, I figured out I was dead. A spirit. Of course, a fire can't dispose of everything, so they gathered some of my remaining bones and spread them out over time. Burying some in different areas, throwing some away. And the cops nevercaught them."

Arisu's expression changed as she saw the horrified look on my face. She stared at me in concern. "Should I tell the rest later?"

I shook my head. "No. I want to know now."

She sighed and picked up. "After watching my parents as a spirit for so long, hatred began to bubble up inside me. 'I want to kill them,' I'd thought over and over. And suddenly, a black-haired boy appeared in front of me, his purple eyes gleaming greedily in the moonlight. He looked around my age, but he was no normal kid. 'So you died,'he laughed at me. 'But I see you desire revenge. I could arrange that...' I listened to his words carefully. If their was any way I could give my parents some retribution, I'd do whatever it took. 'You are a very beautiful child. You'd grow up to be a true beauty. I can make you reborn, live again, if...you meet my demands. What I desire from you is simple. I wantyou. Once you reach the age of 14, coming closer and closer to fifteen, I'll sweep you away, making you my little slave. And that means, I can do whatever I want with you, give you any demand, and you must listen. Deal? Almost fifteen years of life for you, and the opportunity for revenge and then you spend a lifetime by my side. Is it a deal?'"

Arisu started laughing. It was a forced laugh. "Thinking back now, that deal wasn't very fair, but I wanted to live again. After dying, it felt like I'd suddenly grown up. I had dreams I wanted to reach and one of them was murdering my parents as crazy as that is. I agreed. 'My name is Kuro. Don't about me. I'll be watching over you as your life goes on, and on the day you ripen, I'll return for you.' And then, suddenly, I was alive again. I had the same body of a five-year-old, but with the mental capabilities of a killer. I was like a genius. The only physical feature of mine that had changed was that I now had red eyes. Sort of a way for Kuro to mark me. I didn't care about that though. I was busy plotting how I'd get revenge in such a pathetic and weak body."

Arisu smirked creepily. It was the face of a killer.

"Hahaha...it wasn't too hard to kill them, even as a child. As long as they were asleep, I could sneak attack them. I gently poured gasoline on their bed, one of their match boxes in my hand. They didn't wake up until I ingited them. I wasn't done with them yet though. As they burned, they tried to run and escape, staring at me in shock. Yes, I was alive again. I grabbed Teresa's kitchen knife she'd used to kill me and my hands were bloodied. It took Teresa a while to die. She begged me for mercy like I'd done with her. 'Please, don't kill me. I love you, Arisu...' 'You never loved me,' I countered. And then, she never breathed again."

Arisu sucked in some breath and it sounded like a hiss. "Life didn't get better from there. I couldn't escape that town and I was incapable of moving my parents bodies, so I stayed in an abandoned house. But that house, apparently, "belonged" to someone else. Someone walked in and shanked me with a pocket knife, screaming for me to get out of their house. I cried as I stumbled down the steps, hitting my head. I ran into the forest, thinking that would be safer than murder town. I used my intelligence to find food and water and stop my bleeding, but I didn't last long before being attacked again. This time by a bear. I don't know how I got so unlucky as to be mauled by a bear, but it tore me up. I cried so hard, thinking that I'd wasted the life Kuro gave me, thinking I'd die. I didn't though. Maybe it would've been better if I had, because then Alfred found me and you know the story from there."

It took a while for the whole story to sink in. "You murdered your parents," I choked in shock.

"I don't regret it."

"..." I couldn't comprehend all of this.

"Do you hate me now?" she asked, sounding like her "normal" self again. But which side of her was really the normal side?

I took a deep breath. "I can't hate you. I love you with all my heart. It's just...I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that."

My words sounded like a strangled cat because I was sobbing. Arisu started to cry to. Dio hugged me tightly, pulling in Arisu as well until we're all calm again.

"So that Kuro boy is going to take you soon?" inquired Dio. "You're fourteen, nearly fifteen now like he said."

"That's right," Arisu sniffed. "Because I accepted the new life he offered and murdered my parents, I'll soon become his eternal servant…"

"He can't take you away!" I screamed. "Everything's finally coming together. We're finally becoming a real family. We've gone through so much. You can't leave us now, Arisu."

"But she doesn't belong to you," a voice snapped coldly. "She belongs to me."

"Kuro," gasped Arisu.

"My chariot awaits you, darling. Come with me now. Your time in this world is over."

(Attention: Looking for artists with DeviantArt accounts! I would really appreciate it if someone could draw me a picture of Arisu and Kuro. I want to use it as a cover. I would gladly put in a link in one of my chapters to your DeviantArt page and acknowledge you in the chapter as well. I would be overjoyed if someone could make a picture for me. I'd find some way to thank you! -IchigoHatake)