SUMMARY:

It rained the night of Ginji's fight with Hishiki "The Undead" Ryuudou during the Stradivarius retrieval. Coincidence or is it? with reference to episode 8, I think....

CHAPTER 1: PRELUDE TO THE RAIN

"Oji-ue..."

A soft female voice called.

Dark clouds hovered above the old temple and shadows cast themselves upon the tattered shoji screens. Inside a darkened room a girl sat silently, an old man laid on the futon beside her, eyes closed in contemplation.

"Oji-ue..."

Came another plea, just above a whisper.

"Kou... yu..." went the reply.

"Kouyu... you must... get it... back..."

As the wind howled deeper and deeper, the old man weakly reached for the girl's cheek.

"Find... the thunder and... get it back..."

The old man's quick, heavy breathing gradually turned easy and steady, his heart pounded ever so slowly, and at long last, he closed his eyes which finally gave way to eternal darkness.

The girl stared blankly into the night, her tearless eyes glimmering. The thickness of the cold air covered the moonlight, cracked only when she spoke the words she put all her resolve into...

"Hai.. oji-ue.."

And the rain started to fall...