Warning: Alternate Universe, slightly OOC

Summary: It's the year 1827, and Yohji has just found a statue with interesting origins. Who is Aya, and why does Schwarz want him so badly?

Author's Note: I wasn't feeling very creative when I was trying to come up with names, so just accept that in this, Farfie's real name is Farfarello Jei. Jei is just his last name. Hawari means 'alteration', Kenshiki means 'insight', and Gin means 'silver'.

~*~*~

"It will begin soon."

The red-haired sorceress looked at her employer questioningly. He had always been mysterious, especially when it concerned one or both of her brothers, but he had never said so little.

"They must not find him."

Manx nodded slowly. She did not know how her employer knew it had begun again, but she did know who *they* were and who they must not find. If her brothers were together again, the world would be destroyed.

~*~*~

The blonde man panted as he ran farther into the forest. Yohji Kudou was the president of his newly formed club, and even though the other two members knew him *very* well, being late for their first official get together was unacceptable.

He was three-quarters through the forest when he fell. He stood up, sputtering. As he turned back to his destination, he noticed a small figure. It was too shiny to be a rock, so he picked it up. Before he could examine it, he remembered why he had been running in the first place. Ten minutes later, he reached a giant waterfall and, behind it, the cave he and his friends had turned into a clubhouse.

"Late again I see. Is anyone surprised?" the dark-haired man asked sarcastically. After pretending to wait for a response, he continued. "No, I didn't think so." Yohji smiled as he took a seat across from his friend, Ken Hidaka. The third member of the group, Omi Tsukiyono, was sitting on a rock on the other side of the room. Yohji smiled again thinking back to his first meeting with the younger men.

Ken and Omi had been best friends from the time Omi was born. When he was ten and Ken was eleven, Omi had been kidnapped. It was later discovered that Omi's uncle had planned the whole thing, but Omi's mother had called in a spy to find her son and then protect the family.

Mr. Kudou and his fifteen-year-old son, Yohji, had immediately moved to the area. Yohji had been shunned by most of the town; they did not approve of spies or bodyguards. Ken and Omi, however, were thrilled to have a new friend. They immediately accepted Yohji into their group. It had been seven years since that first encounter, and the three had become inseparable.

"What is that?" Omi asked, breaking into Yohji's thoughts. Yohji glanced at his hand Omi was pointing at, and realized he was still holding the shiny…thing.

"I don't know. I tripped on it on my way here," he said, examining the object. "Woah…it's a statue, but it looks like it was made out of silver. Why would someone throw out a statue made out of silver?"

"I can't see! What's the statue of?" Ken asked, craning his neck so that he could see without having to get up. Yohji looked at the statue closer.

"It looks like a guy. He's wearing a vest and tight-looking pants. The vest and pants have bits of amethyst in them, and the hair has bits of rubies," Yohji told them.

"It's got a smudge or scratch on it," Omi commented, standing up and starting toward Yohji. Yohji pulled a cloth out of his jacket and began cleaning the statue. As he rubbed the silver, there was a blinding flash of violet light.

When the three men could see again, there was a fourth person in the cave. He had red hair and violet eyes. His open vest matched his eyes perfectly, and his black pants fit tightly until flaring at his calves. He had a wide sash around his waist just lighter than the vest, and he was barefoot. It took them a few moments to notice the katana he held in his right hand.

Once the sword registered in his mind, Omi squeaked and pressed himself against the cave wall. If the red-haired person hadn't been standing in front of the only entrance, he would have left the cave. Ken was leaning forward in his chair, gripping the armrests so tightly that his knuckles were white. Yohji was now standing by his chair looking shocked. He still clutched the statue in his left hand.

"Who are you?" Yohji asked after getting his voice back. The red-haired man looked at him and frowned slightly. He then noticed the statue and sighed.

"Did you find that?" he asked, nodding his head toward the statue. At Yohji's nod, he grunted. "Then I'm…your djinn." Yohji was shocked, but seeing the djinn's face, he refrained from commenting.

"What's your name?" Ken asked a few minutes later, getting bored watching the djinn look around the cave. He looked from the dark-haired man to Yohji. At the blonde's curious look, he answered.

"Aya. Who are you?" The others were slightly startled by his uncaring tone. Omi was the first to recover.

"I'm Omi Tsukiyono. I'm seventeen…in case you wanted to know. That's Ken Hidaka, he's eighteen. The guy with, I'm assuming it's *your*, statue is Yohji Kudou and he's twenty-two. Um…what's your age?" he asked, babbling. The sword was making him nervous, and when he was nervous, he babbled.

"What's the date?" Aya asked.

"Um…July first, 1827," Ken responded. He was curious, too.

"Oh. Then I'm …one thousand, one hundred and ninety-nine," he said, smirking slightly at their shocked expressions. He loved seeing a human's reaction to his age, especially after he turned 1500.

"B-but…" Omi stuttered, "you only look like you're twenty!" Aya shrugged and resumed his study of the cave. When Yohji cleared his throat and asked for an explanation, Aya rolled his eyes. Humans could be so dense sometimes.

"If I was a human I would be twenty."

"If you were a human you would be dead!"

Aya rolled his eyes again. That dark-haired one was not the brightest star in the sky. Of course, humans didn't understand a djinn's aging process. "I'm the equivalent of a twenty-year-old. Well…I'll be twenty in three days." This time, Aya was the shocked one. He hadn't meant to say that last part, those people had no right to know. Besides, the mischievous look in Yohji and Ken's eyes was making him nervous.

~*~*~

"Put that down, Nagi," Schuldich told the telekinetic. Nagi glared at the redheaded telepath, but obeyed. As the table dropped from its position ten feet above the floor, a man in a dark robe entered the room; his is brown eyes flashing with anger from behind his glasses.

"Hey Brad!" Schuldich called from his spot on the couch. He only called the wizard that because it annoyed him to be called by his first name. As expected, Brad answered him with a glare.

"Your brother has been found," he announced.

Nagi groaned. If the couch Schuldich was lounging on hadn't started levitating, the others would not have known how upset he was.

"What's wrong with you?" Schuldich asked. He could find out much easier, but this way was more fun. Besides, Nagi was getting good at keeping the telepath out of his head. "He's not your brother."

"I know. But I read." After receiving two identically confused stares, Nagi continued, "You think I don't know what happened last time you two got together? The country you were on SANK!!! It's now who-knows-how-many miles under water! And then your father and uncle…" Nagi trailed off, but Schuldich knew what he was thinking without having to read his mind. Nagi decided to say it anyway. "Thanks to them, an entire ERA of creatures in EXTINCT!!!"

Schuldich winced as Nagi yelled that. It wasn't because he was embarrassed by it; in fact, the thought of his family being the cause of the death of an entire era amazed him. He winced because, as Nagi yelled, the couch had been rising. When he had screamed the final word, Schuldich's head hit the ceiling…almost 30 feet above the floor. "NAGI!!!!!! Put me DOWN!!!"

At Schuldich's bellowed protest, Nagi looked up and, his concentration broken, dropped the couch suddenly. Schuldich shape-shifted into a lynx and jumped off the couch. He landed with an angered growl and stalked out of the room.

He started down the hall; the door clicking closed behind him. So…he's been found. Good. Schuldich's thoughts were interrupted by a hysterical giggle and a crash. More giggling followed the crash, and Schuldich headed to the sound to investigate. The noise was coming from the kitchen, or, more specifically, the man standing in the kitchen.

The man was almost transparent and wearing an eye patch. His white hair was cut close to his head, and his visible eye was a glowing yellow color. In his hand was a large knife that he was repeatedly stabbing into the table.

"Hello Farfarello," Schuldich greeted as he returned to his normal form. The white-haired man looked at Schuldich, still grinning crazily. Farfarello was possibly the strangest member of their group. He was a half-ghost/half-demon certified psychopath. He also loved being hurt…and hurting others. No one really knew what had happened in his past, but it had turned him into a psychotic masochist. He would help find Aya.

~*~*~

"And that's a chair we found back here! The waterfall had carved it when we found it. That's a pot of flowers, those are paintings we made to make it brighter in here…" Aya rolled his eyes. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, especially when Ken was talking. The dark-haired youth was currently running around the cave, explaining every pebble and speck of water to the djinn.

Ken was jumping around the cave, pointing at various objects. Yohji had settled against the wall of the cave, watching everything with observant eyes. Omi had finally gotten over his fear of the djinn and was sitting next to him on the couch.

These are strange people. Aya thought, watching the other three. They aren't making any demands, or asking many stupid questions. They just want to show me everything they find valuable. Most of Aya's previous masters had asked for riches or immortality the moment Aya had said the word 'djinn'.

"Helloo? Earth to Aya! What's going on up there?" Yohji asked, tapping Aya's forehead. Aya flinched slightly before looking up. Seeing the concern on Yohji's face, he smiled reassuringly.

"Sorry, Master. Were you saying something?" Aya asked. He hated saying 'master', and being polite to a selfish human, but that was one of the MANY downsides to being a djinn. He thought about how nice it would be to be a normal human, then mentally shook his head. It would only happen if someone aside from him was holding his statue and wished for him to be free.

"Okay, first of all, that 'master' thing has got to go. Call me Yohji, or Hey You! I'm really not that picky. Second, talk to me the way you want to," Yohji told him. Seeing Aya's blank expression, he explained. "You have this I'm-only-doing-this-because-I-have-to look on your face. If you want to yell at me, go ahead. Just know that I'll probably yell back. Third, well, I can't remember that right now. Fourth, do you not like to be touched or something? Fifth, no I wasn't saying anything, you just had a faraway look on your face."

Aya's head was swimming. That was a lot of information to try and process. Deciding that it would be best to give Yohji a real answer instead of his usual nod and grunt, he began. "Okay…Yohji. I don't like having to be polite to people, I HATE to be touched, and I was just thinking about things." Yohji nodded once, then smiled. It had surprised him to have Aya give him a real answer, but surprises weren't necessarily bad, right?

"And that's the waterfall, oh wait! You knew that. Sorry," Ken continued to ramble, oblivious to the fact that Omi was the only person listening. Two hours later, Yohji had to interrupt his friend.

"Ah…Ken? If you and Omi don't want your dads to send out a search party then we'd better get home. And how are we going to explain Aya? If that town can't handle a spy, I don't know what they'll do about a dji-" Yohji cut himself off when he noticed that Aya had disappeared. "Where?"

"I don't know," Ken said, correctly guessing what the questioning was. "He was there, and then…he wasn't."

"I saw a few purple lights floating to the statue when he vanished," Omi told them. Yohji picked up the statue from where he had placed it earlier. When he looked at it, the statue's eyes gleamed purple for a moment.

"I guess he's in there," Yohji said after the statue's eyes returned to silver. "Well, now that that's settled, let's go home." Yohji led the way, putting the statue in his pocket.

~*~*~

At that same time, two shadowy figures entered the forest. One was a teenage girl with dark hair. Nothing else could be seen through her black cloak. Her companion was a large, dark gray, female wolf. The moon illuminated the wolf's green eyes.

"Why again did we have to come to this place?" The girl asked. The wolf grinned at her. "Hawari? Answer me!" The wolf shook her head slightly.

"Calm down Kenshiki," the wolf told her. "I was checking to make sure no one could hear us. This place is called Ookami Forest, and we're here because there are demons here, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Kenshiki exclaimed, grinning. "So…when are we stopping? I'm hungry!" While she was saying that, Hawari had been sniffing various plants and trees.

"You should have eaten more at breakfast," she told her friend, continuing to explore. Kenshiki pouted slightly before sighing and following the wolf farther into the forest. "We'll camp here tonight," Hawari announced when they came across a waterfall.

"Here?!?" Kenshiki shrieked. "It's wet, and open, and cold, and…do we have to?" Hawari grinned at her again and nodded her head.

Just as Kenshiki was about to start whining again, Hawari began to change. Here gray fur lightened to a snow-white color, her legs lengthened and her tail shortened. When the change was complete, instead of a gray wolf, there was an average sized, teenage girl with white hair. She was wearing a gray cloak that matched the fur she had traded for darkly tanned skin. Under the cloak, she wore tight gray pants and black boots. Her black top looked like a strip of cloth sewn together at the front, and her eyes were still the wolf's golden green.

"Yes, we have to," the girl told Kenshiki. "This is the farthest place from town, and if we get closer people will be able to sense us. Imagine those fools' reactions to a fire-mage and a shape-shifter. We would be dead by morning. Besides, we won't be outside." Hawari walked behind the waterfall, and after a few seconds, Kenshiki followed. As soon as she stepped into the cave, Hawari's nose began twitching.

"What's wrong?" Kenshiki asked, seeing her friend's behavior. Hawari turned to look at her, nose still twitching.

"Can't you feel it?"

Now that Hawari mentioned it, Kenshiki did feel something strange. The air was more energized inside the cave, and something had happened not long before they had arrived. The air felt almost…pure. As if… "Someone found a djinn!"

Hawari nodded, smiling at her friend's excitement. Kenshiki had been interested in djinns even when Hawari had first met her fourteen years before. If what Hawari could sense in the air was true, her friend would soon be meeting, and possibly fighting, at least one djinn.

~*~*~

"And then all three of you just disappear for hours on end, not caring that their families would be worried sick when they didn't return at dark! How could you be so careless? I'm supposed to protect those families, and my own son almost gives them heart attacks!" Yohji rolled his eyes as his father continued to lecture him. True, they shouldn't have stayed out so late, but Omi's uncle Reiji was in need of something like that. The man forgot he even had a nephew most of the time, and the only time he had shown any concern for Omi at all was when Omi had been 'kidnapped' seven years earlier. Yohji, Ken, and Omi knew he had set the whole thing up to get sympathy from the rest of the town, so he had had to act upset and worried about the ten-year-old. "What do you have to say for yourself?!?"

"Um…sorry, it won't happen again," Yohji responded when he realized he had been asked a question. He looked at his father's face to see how much trouble he was in for ignoring his father again, and was shocked to find the spy laughing. "What…why are you laughing?"

"You…you didn't look sorry at all," the spy continued to laugh at his son's sullen expression. "Just don't do it again. Go ahead and eat something, then go to your room," he said after he finished laughing. Yohji left, his face red with embarrassment.

"I was being laughed at!" he muttered to himself. "I'm glad he's not mad at me, though." Yohji had reached the kitchen and began rummaging through the cabinets. Within a minute, he had emptied half the kitchen onto the table in the center of the room, and gotten bored. "I wish someone was here!"

With a flash of light, like a smaller version of the flash earlier that day, Aya appeared in front of him. "Be careful what you say around me," he told the surprised blonde. "Don't worry, I won't count that one against you."

"Oh, okay…thanks," Yohji said to the djinn. "Want something to eat?" Aya nodded and grabbed two rolls. After twenty minutes, the djinn still hadn't even slowed down. "When was the last time you ate?" Yohji asked. Aya shrugged and swallowed.

"I don't know. Probably about 300 years ago," he answered as he grabbed more food. Yohji was shocked. Well he thought, It certainly explains how thin he is, but how is he still alive? As if reading his mind, Aya began talking again. "Staying in that statue keeps me from starving, but that doesn't mean I don't get hungry. I can only come in and out of the statue as I please when I have a master that doesn't keep me in there. I haven't had a nice master in 300 years, though, so…"

Yohji was, yet again, shocked. Not only was that a long time without food, but that was the most the djinn had said at one time since that morning. "Well," he said, "feel free to go in and out, stay in, or stay out. I just ask that if you go back and forth, try not to let too many people see you." Aya nodded his consent before returning his attention to the food.

~*~*~

The dark-haired man opened his eyes abruptly. He pulled on his glasses and ran to the company room. He knew for a fact that the others would be in there. "We can't take the djinn," he announced as he entered the room. A large, green-eyed cat looked up at him.

Why not? Could something bad happen? Brad Crawford heard the almost purred words in his head, and knew that Schuldich was not really listening to him yet. Get out of my head Schuldich. And yes, if we go after your brother today, you and Farfarello will be killed. Nagi and I will die in a few days.

The lynx's eyes widened and he changed back into his human form. "How? Last week you said we'd be fine."

"Last week I didn't know a demon-killer and a werewolf would be coming here. I can't see what they look like, but they must be powerful. Only highly dangerous and well-trained people can keep me from seeing them. These two are most likely both.

~*~*~

"AAHHHH!!!!!!"

Hawari lifted her head quickly, green eyes scanning the trees Kenshiki had disappeared into earlier. When another scream broke the silence of the morning Hawari moved two feet to the left. Just as she laid back down a dark-clad figure landed on her recently vacated spot. "Why didn't you come looking for me?" Kenshiki demanded, water forming a puddle around her.

"I knew you would be fine," Hawari said, stretching lazily. "Besides, the only thing even half as dangerous as you in this forest is me. Since I have no intention of attacking you, you're as safe as anyone can be this close to a town."

"But what if I had been fighting a demon?"

"You weren't. Besides, if you had been fighting a demon you wouldn't have shrieked like that. You and I both know that that would have attracted every demon within five miles of here. …By the way, why were you screaming?"

Kenshiki blushed but answered, "I fell into the stream." Hawari raised her eyebrows slightly. "It was cold!!" Kenshiki defended herself. Hawari laughed slightly.

"Of course it was baka! It's not even dawn yet, this is mid-autumn, and the stream is flowing from the mountains." Kenshiki opened her mouth to call out a retort, but no sound came out. Hawari turned to see what had gotten her friend's attention so completely and saw a group of people walking toward them holding torches. "Uh-oh, this could mean trouble. Kenshiki, if anyone asks, I'm your dog," Hawari cautioned as she changed form.

~*~*~

Omi woke that morning to the sound of pebbles hitting his window. He considered ignoring it, but Ken didn't seem to know how to stop; Omi knew he would just throw harder. He groaned and pushed himself out of the bed. He stumbled to the window and pushed it open while Ken was grabbing a new batch of pebbles.

"Ken, stop! I-OUCH! I'm awake," Omi whispered, whimpering slightly when a pebble hit him in the forehead. Ken grinned and dropped the left over rocks. "I'll be out in a second." Omi changed and climbed out the window in record time. "Where's Yohji?" He asked as they left the Takatori courtyard.

"We have to go to him today." At Omi's questioning look, Ken explained, "He got in trouble for 'keeping us out all night'. Aya showed up in my room last night and said we should go up to his door to get him. They've got a point; it's kind of useless to try to sneak into a spy's house." Ken knocked on the door when they reached Yohji's house.

A tall man with dark-blonde hair opened the door. He looked like an older, blue-eyed version of Yohji. His all-black suit was the one he wore when he was on-duty.

"Hi Mr. Kudou!" Omi said after a moment of silence. The older man smiled and let them inside.

"Are the three of you actually going to let me know when you're leaving? I'm honored! And slightly shocked. Yohji's in his room; most likely bored stiff."

"Thanks Mr. Kudou, we'll be back by dark," Omi promised as he followed Ken down the hall. When they entered the room, they saw Yohji standing next to his bed, a look of awe on his face. The reason for that expression sat across the room. Sort of.

Aya was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed and his head bent forward. What had amazed Yohji was that Aya was not sitting on the floor, but he was floating, his chin was just above Yohji's head.

"Woah…" Ken breathed. "How long has he been like that?"

"Probably about an hour. He said he was getting tired; I guess this is how he sleeps," Yohji responded, still staring at the redhead. "Should we wake him up?"

"What other choice do we have? Tie a string to him and pull him around?" Ken answered sarcastically. Yohji looked at the djinn speculatively. Ken saw the look and somehow knew how the djinn would respond to that. He was struck by an image of Yohji with a black eye and an angry Aya, rubbing his fist. "Nevermind. We'll have to wake him up. Unless of course you know some other way to get him into the statue or don't mind your dad seeing him."

"My dad won't mind, it's the rest of this town I'm not sure of." Yohji moved toward the djinn and called his name softly. "Aya? Aya, wake up." The redhead opened his eyes, looked around, and closed them.

"Why?" he mumbled.

"Because we want to leave through the door, and you'll attract a lot of attention like that," Yohji replied. Aya yawned, but kept his eyes closed. With a slight movement of his fingers, his clothing changed to loose black pants and a large cream-colored shirt. He was still barefoot.

"Better?" he asked around another yawn. Yohji sighed.

"We still can't leave," he told the djinn. Aya opened one eye sleepily. "You're still floating. People don't float," Yohji reminded him, answering the unspoken question. He was about to continue when Aya suddenly dropped. Yohji threw his arms out reflexively and caught the djinn. Aya murmured something and Yohji realized he had already fallen back to sleep. "Wish I could fall asleep that easily."

The group headed back into the living room and toward the front door. They passed Yohji's father on their way through the kitchen. "Hi again, Mr. Kudou!" Omi called. The spy quirked his eyebrows at the pale figure in his son's arms, but said nothing. "Bye Mr. Kudou!"

"Goodbye. Oh, and Yohji?" the man called when he found his voice. Yohji turned and looked at his father questioningly. "We'll be having a talk when you get back." Yohji nodded and followed his friends out the door and into the forest.

"Ow! It's too dark!"

"You should have brought a light!"

"Would you two hush! If you keep talking and yelling so loud you're going to wake Aya up." Yohji could just make out the glares his friends were sending his way. Well it's true he told himself. They ARE being too loud.

He didn't have to worry much longer since Aya woke up on his own a few minutes later. The djinn created torches-already lit-for the humans and the walk continued. When they reached their destination, they saw a girl standing outside their waterfall/hide-out. Her left hand was buried in the gray fur of the wolf standing next to her, and her right arm was hovering over the hilt of the sword stuck in her belt. The girl didn't look to be much older than Ken, but Yohji knew that looks could be deceiving. Aya surprised everyone by being the first to speak.

"Hello Hawari," he greeted, looking at the wolf. The girl next to it gasped slightly. "You've recreated your life since the last time we met, I'm glad." He finally looked at the girl. Her blonde-brown was pulled back in a long ponytail and her blue eyes were wide in confusion. She wore a floor-length black cape over a tank top, pants and a pair of boots. The shirt, pants, and boots were all a red so dark they looked black, and the sword hilt was covered in red and orange jewels. "Is this one yours?" he asked the wolf, earning confused stares from the four people surrounding them.

The wolf seemed to laugh at him. Then, to the shock of the three men, she spoke. "Not hardly. She's a good friend of mine. And I see you haven't changed a bit, Ran Fujimiya. Still trying to appear cold and uncaring," the wolf shook her head as she said that. "You're not," she continued. "Your brother is the dead one.

"Which, I suppose, is why you're here."

"Absolutely. Tell your humans to stay calm, I'm going to change now."

"You know, we CAN hear you," Ken said, annoyed. "I don't get why you called Aya Ran, that's not his name. And I don't know what you mean by 'change', but I can assure you that-" He broke off as the wolf began to change form. Less than a minute later, there was a white-haired girl in front of him. The blonde girl seemed to be holding her steady with her hand at the white-haired girl's shoulder.

"AAHHH! A WEREWO-" Omi was cut off by Aya's hand over his mouth. Both girls glared at the human angrily.

"I am NOT a werewolf," the white-haired girl stated calmly. "I am a shape-shifter. My name's Hawari Jei, and this is a friend of mine, Kenshiki Gin. Now, who are you and why are you yelling at me?"

"Um…" For once, Ken was at a loss for words. However, when the wolf-girl growled slightly, he found his voice again. "Hello! Uh… I'm Ken Hidaka, the screamer is Omi Tsukiyono, and the blonde is Yohji Kudou. I guess you already know Aya, or Ran, or whatever his name is, even better than us. Omi was yelling because we've never heard of a shape-shifter who could turn into a wolf without being a werewolf."

"But Hawari? I thought you were a werew-" Kenshiki started before Hawari covered her mouth and smiled.

"Ignore her!" Hawari smiled.

"What was she saying, though?" Yohji asked. Hawari smiled again, but said nothing. Yohji continued to look at her. He was ready to give up when she looked up at Aya, saw his nod, and groaned.

"Fine," she sighed. "But only because he," she pointed her finger at Aya, "thinks you can handle it. By the way Ran, since I'm telling my story, you have to tell about your name." She waited for him to agree before continuing. "I am a werewolf, but not a normal one; I don't have a lust for blood, human or otherwise. As you can see, I can turn back and forth whenever I want to. I do have to change at the full moon, but I can change back within five minutes. Your turn, Ran."

The three men looked slightly dazed, but they accepted it. Mainly because Aya seemed to know and trust her. If it weren't for him, Kenshiki thought, those boys would be running home and getting the pitchforks. Hawari and Aya seemed to agree with that thought, because both of them sent many glances toward the men.

Hawari had to repeat herself twice more before Aya was willing to tell about his name, but he did eventually start. "It's really not important…" At Hawari's glare, he sighed and began. "I have three siblings: two sisters and a brother. My older sister, brother, and I are not exactly immortal, but we have a life span that's at least 100 times longer than a human's. Our little sister, Aya, was a normal human, and I got along better with her than with my other two siblings. When she was sixteen she got really sick, and a few years later she died. To remember her, I changed my name from Ran to Aya. That's all there is to it." Ken sniffled slightly when Aya finished. The djinn looked at him questioningly.

"It's sad and… and sweet," Ken shrugged.

~*~*~

To Be Continued!