Prologue
Two slender girls darted through the dogwood forest. "Catch me if you can" the smaller of the two yelled. She giggled as her eight year old feet, traced the worn path.
"Rin come back!" her sister called grinning. Rin dogged around a wide mossy tree trunk, before hopping onto a thick root, that protruded several feet into the air. "Let's play my tree." She commanded airily. "This is Mizuki's tree"
"Are you going to tell me who Mizuki is this time?" her sister asked, tipping her head to the side.
"Of course, silly Sayuri" Rin spread her arms wide and closed her eyes. "She spun and twisted far above, and she insisted that she killed her son out of love." As Rin spoke the air seemed to grow colder. Above her head the pale form of a woman in a long old fashioned kimono thrashed from a gnarled branch. A rotting rope dug into her neck, and her bloated tongue gleamed wetly between her blue lips.
Sayuri took a step back. Every shadow seemed evil and menacing .Rin stayed on the root, her eyes twitching feverishly under her pale pink lids. "Rin!" Sayuri screamed. The branch hanging over her sister bobbed than broke with a loud crack. Sayuri summoned her strength, and thrust her hands toward the falling piece of wood. Sweat streamed down her face, and her breath came in pants. An unseen force hit the branch in midair knocking it harmlessly to the side.
Rin's eyes flew open as the branch hit a bush with loud snapping sounds. "Sayuri, daddy told you not to use your PK!" She leaped off the root. Staring at her sister she assessed the damage. "You are in so much trouble!"
An inhuman scream tore through the air. The woman previously hanging from the branch leapt up, towering over Rin. The eight year old scrambled back wards, bumping into a swaying Sayuri. The ghosts clawed, grasping hands swiped through the air as she struggled forward drunkenly on bleeding wart infested feet. Sayuri's eyes widened slightly as her blurry vision focused on the crazed red orbs that lay sunken in the terrifying creatures gray skin.
"DIE!" The ghost screamed her open mouth offered an imperfect view of jagged black teeth. Yellow frothy foam gathered at the corners of her mouth and sprayed over the sisters. "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
"Go away." Rin whimpered. her blue eyes were smoky with fear. "I don't want to play anymore."
Next to Rin, Sayuri tumbled limply to the forest floor. The woman ignored the girl on the ground her eyes intent on Rin. "You're going to die," the woman rasped. "You're going to die the same way my son did!"
"Sayuri!" the woman stepped toward Rin, "Help me please." Rin choked out as the woman's claws scrapped Rin's skin, and her sour breath wafted into her fac. Shadows danced across her vision and she last thing she saw before she slipped away were the woman's blood red eyes, filled with rage and insanity. "Mizuki why," Rin spoke with her last breath.
