Chapter Two;
The Dawn brings an explanation

Thud.Thud.Thud.
MomijiÕs own heartbeat drowned out the sound around her, filling in the space, leaving nothing empty. Her hazy green eyes clouded with confusionas she stared around her, not quite understanding where she was. All she could see was blue high above her....frames with bits of green and white tufts were thrown casually across the blue canvas above her. It took momiji a few moments to realize she was staring at a sky. Moving her arm tentatively, she found she was lying on the ground of a dirty dusty path.
She heard that heartbeat of hers, so loud, so insisting, it was everywhere in her ears. Pushing herself onto her feet, she found herself looking over a small valley, and its center stood many a rustic huts, proof of human life. People dressed in thin animal skins walked around, some tending to pots simmering over a blazing fire, some bouncing crying infants on their knees in exasperation, and some working on tools of some kind in a corner of the village. Momiji rubbed her forehead in bewilderment. Where in the hell was she?!
One minute she was sitting on a chair in her kitchen...and now here she was God knows where with some very uncivilized looking people. She wondered if they spoke any english.And then her hand froze in mid-movement as her eyes spotted the huge spiral green plants. All around the village and in the center of it, surrounding a tall platform on which a single person stood. A girl with jet black hair and dressed in ceremonial robes of some kind, adorned with beads and flowers. She raised her arms and stood in silence.
Momiji watched as the people dropped what they were doing and began to gather around the platform. Some people looked mildly curious, while others looked worried and wondered what was happening.
The chattering between the crowd died away, as the girl lowered her hands and began to move around the platform in what was no doubt a ceremonial dance of praise to the gods.
Momiji stood high above them all, and she watched as the black haired girl moved faster and faster, and from within her robes produced a small object. The tall green plants began to shudder and move agitatedly. The crowd watched silently, as the girl stopped suddenly her hands high above her head, grasping something small and shiny. Momiji squinted to see what it was, and with a jolt realized it was a dagger, and moments before she could cry out, she knew what was happening and where she was.
The dagger plunged forward and cut through the air with a protesting sound. Instinctively, the people began to cry out and some cheered and their voices rose in one massive outburst of emotion. MomijiÕs screaming was heard by no one as the blade pierced the flesh of the black haired Kushinada and the plants stopped shivering and with a rushing sound, burst into bloom.
Tall red flowers each the size of a football field glowed an unnatural light above the people and the platform below them. The KushinadaÕs body hovered in the air a few moments before falling to the ground with a sickening noise. Blood flowed silently from her torso and slivered across the wooden platform. The people below her began to scream as mitamas rained from the huge flowering plants. Momiji yelled and yelled and no one could hear her.
Thud.Thud.Thud. The heartbeat was louder and louder and it almost deafened Momiji and suddenly she opened her eyes and woke with a start.
ÒAh-AHH!Ó She yelled as she slipped off the chair and fell to the floor in a heap.
ÒOwww!Ó, Momiji groaned, rubbing her shoulder where it had collided with the floor.
ÒWas that only a dream? It was the Rite of Matsuri... I know it!Ó, she said to herself.
Slowly, painfully, Momiji raised herself shakily to her feet, grasping the table for support.
Thud.Thud.Thud.Thud.
What was that sound!? If it had only been in the dream then why was it so very audible now in the kitchen in the middle of the night?
ÒMaybe I really am losing my mindÓ, Momiji grumbled to herself.
THUD.
Momiji stared around the room, not really expecting to see anything, but just trying to concentrate and find the source of the persistent sound.
THUD!
Momiji scowled. This noise is going to wake the whole house up, she thought.
THUD. ÒHello!!Ó, A voice cried hopefully from behind the back door, only a few feet away from where Momiji was standing.
Momiji stopped dead in her tracks. She could have even bet her heart had stopped.
Beat. Beat. Stop. Silence. Nothing.
She closed her eyes, and opened them again. That voice was all too familiar. She had spent the last three years trying to keep a memory of that voice alive, though she had never tried to think of what that voice had said to her. Through the window she could see the sun rising faintly over the horizon, streaking the sky with pink and gold colors. Not now, Momiji thought. Not now.
Now the thudding had simpled down to a quiet and faint knock, and if Momiji closed her eyes, she could almost pretend she had imagined it. But no.
Moving purposefully, Momiji stood up tall as she could, and moved torwards the kitchen back door, regret and hope in every stride. Her fingers found the brass knob, and with a numb feeling, she turned it, leaving the door to swing open freely.
The dawnÕs few early rays shone down on MomijiÕs doorstep, and barely illuminated the person who had tried so desperately to get in. Now, Momiji stood, and stared at a person who might as well have been holding up a mirror. MomijiÕs green eyes, full of shock and hope and yearning, stared into a pair of green eyes exactly like hers, except they were full of resignation and understanding but also hope.
Momiji gasped and her hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes roamed the girlÕs face, as if seeing it for the first time and taking in every detail and not wanting to let go. Ever.
Momiji stared at her twinÕs face. KaedeÕs face. She was here, Kaede was here in front of her, flesh and blood!
Kaede looked back with equal curiosity and anticipation, wondering if she had done the right thing, coming back to a world she never thought she would want to return to.
She broke the silence first.
ÒSisterÓ, Kaede whispered, placing her hand upon MomijiÕs shoulder.
Momiji let her hands drop from her face, her mouth slightly open, fully shocked to feel the warmth of her sisterÕs hand on her arm. She looked at Kaede and blinked.
Kaede looked just as she had three years ago, still dressed in the off-pink ceremonial robes, her blue-black hair still short and framing her perfectly built face. With that determined look on her face, Kaede almost always reminded Momiji of a younger Ms. Takeuchi, who could very well be KaedeÕs mother. The low cut front of the robe revealed a little bit of KaedeÕs neck and shoulders and chest, enough to let a brightly blue colored crystal mitama shine brilliantly against the pale creamy color of KaedeÕs skin. Momiji stared at the mitama, almost unbeliviengly. How could her sister have a mitama? How could she even BE here?!?
ÒK-KaedeÓ, Momiji breathed, almost daring to believe her own words, Ò Youre...youre realÓ
Kaede closed her eyes in relief, and smiled. She had felt the hopefulness in MomijiÕs words, how the girl almost sounded like she was in a very, very pleasant dream, and she knew that she was welcome here.
ÒYes, sister. Momiji. Im here. Im real.Ó, she said calmly.
Kaede sounded so happy and calm and somehow distant that for a second Momiji thought her dear sister was sounding a bit drugged. On the other hand, maybe Momiji herself had hit her head a bit too hard, taking that fall off the kitchen chair, and was hallucinating.
She found herself staring at the mitama again, almost hypnotized by its unfazed glow.
Kaede followed MomijiÕs glance, and reached up a hand to trace the smooth outline of the blue shape upon her chest.
ÒA mitama.Ó Momiji finally said. She almost sounded accusing.
ÒYes. I-I came here... because I wanted to live...on earth...with you...and...everyone..Ó, Kaede sputtered words and stared past Momiji into the kitchen.
Momiji silenced an inner urge to laugh at how stupid KaedeÕs words sounded, after all they had fought through, with her sister trying to destroy the place and people she was now trying desperately to cling to. But for once Kaede was at a loss for words and it seemed almost like she was telling the honest truth.
ÒKaede...my sister...Ó, Momiji finallly broke all boundaries and rushed towards her sister.
Anyone watching from a distance would have found the scene a bit odd, two twin girls hugging at seven oÕclock in the morning, outside, with one of the girls almost half naked in pink robes. But then, no one was.
They broke apart, and Momiji was just about to say how much she had missed Kaede, and how great it would be that she stayed, and how they would share a room, and how happy everyone would be, but a sound from inside the house cut her off.
ÒOh my God, Kaede, thatÕs Mom! Come on!Ó, Momiji whispered excitedly.
And grabbing her sisterÕs hand, she dragged Kaede inside the house, expecting to see her MotherÕs shocked expression, but the smile faded off her face when she saw who was really there.
ÒHey, Momiji...I-Ó, Hs words broke off in mid-sentence.
Momiji frowned and closed her eyes. This was so so so not good. She opened them again and looked first at Kaede, and then at the tall, handsome man whose mouth had stopped moving and hung open in obvious shock as he stared unwaveringly at MomijiÕs other half.
Momiji brought words to her throat, knowing that someone had to break the ice.
ÒKusanagi.Ó She said plainly, and smiled weakly, as though that would explain everything.
But he didnt even hear her. Kusanagi stared at Kaede like he was seeing her for the first time and Momiji could almost see how much he didnt want to be here right now.