DISCLAIMER: Fatal Frame and all the characters inside are copyrighted by Tecmo, and so does the base idea of this story – the Crimson Sacrifice and such.
The original character, Tsuchihara Kasumi and Yuugiri, belongs to me.
FATAL FRAME: WITHERED MAIDENS
"You both... were born for a divine purpose. You are the key to this village's glory."
That was the words I usually heard from father. I would at first hold them in my mind, thinking that one day, his words shall become true. But it was my greatest regret. I should not cherish them - for the words themselves reflected what will become of me years later. It worried me not. The one that got anxious the most was my twin sister.
Yes... We were brought into this world as twins. Everybody seemed to having a hard time of telling us apart. From the tip of our head to the edge of our feet, we were exactly the same. When we stand still and try our best not to speak, nobody will ever guess who's who. And what really tell us apart is the only thing that is not visible physically, instead residing within the mind; our personality.
While my sister, Kasumi, was granted with the personality of a quiet, soft-spoken and gentle lady, I, Yuugiri, was gifted with the stubborn, harsh and strong one. Only by this mean did anybody within our village could finally tell us apart.
We might have different personality... But that didn't even matter at all. What really important to us is that we were born to have each other; to complete our well-being. As one single person, we are fragile and nothing. Only by having each other did we became 'one true person'. I need her, she needs me. As long as we stay at the company of each other, we don't need another.
Our parents seemed to be greatly proud of this bond. My father would spread the story about our closeness, something that my sister and I could sometimes laugh at. I mean, it was obvious how close we are. We don't need anyone to went off and tell everybody that we were the closest being in this village - or world, perhaps. But something always felt off. Whenever we meet the villagers, they were always... treated us like something outside of their realm. This pissed me, but I shrugged them off anyway.
I don't care what the others think about us. As long as we stay together... We'll be happier than anything. This feeling finally brought us to our own doom.
"Yuugiri... are you alright?"
My twin's soft words somehow startled me, but I instantly brushed the surprise off and behave like normal.
"Yes. What is it, Kasumi?"
Instead of replying, she gazed off to the distant gloomy sky from the wide wooden window beside her. "I just..." she continued, "Oh... I- I don't know..."
She tried her best to hide it, but I could felt the trembling of her voice. She was suffering... And I need to make sure that she won't feel them anymore.
"It's alright, Kasumi... Don't worry about anything. We will always be together - we promised. Right?"
She looked at me, and as I thought, she was crying. The tears dropped from the edge of her chin to her pure-white kimono similar to the one I wore. I hugged Kasumi to comfort the broken parts of her heart, although mine was just the same.
Only several days left before the crimson sacrifice ritual. My village - I mean, our village - was blessed by the gods who gave us abundant harvest and happiness. Without them, this place is as good as doom. But all the blessings and gifts are not without sacrifice to be offered.
We, those who born as twins in this village, were destined to be the sacrifice. Our suffering and lost will bring Murakami back to its glorious state. Through our tears and grief, smile and joy shall be brought upon the village. It was our final duty - our destiny. Everybody respected us because of this... some even feared us. And nobody would ever notice the broken feeling we kept inside.
We have to lose each other by our own hands. In this ritual... The older twin must kill the younger one by his or her own hand... by choking the younger to death. Everybody believed this ritual would finally bring the twins as one being, and calmed the gods. Thus the remaining one shall be respected even more as protector of the village, and be recognized as 'The Remaining'.
The more I think about the ritual, the more I felt sick and shattered by it. Not only does it will separate us away, it will also bring eternal regret to my twin.
I am the younger one... And thus, Kasumi will soon have to bring herself to kill me.
I told her that I'm ready; that I'm willing to accept my fate and become one with her. This calmed her a bit, but I know: It won't free her from the burden she has to keep.
And only I myself know...
About the untold fear that resided my heart... The fear of facing my own death at the hands of the one I loved the most.
Finally, tomorrow shall bring the cruelty it had prepared for us. Outside our bedroom, some male villagers were commanded to protect us from outside intruder - or even, to prevent us from escaping our fate. The night felt even quieter than ever. I couldn't bring myself to rest as the thought of doom keep haunting my mind.
I looked toward my sister and quickly noticed that she too, couldn't sleep.
"Tomorrow, we will become one." as I spoke, I forced an unneeded and fake happiness in my voice.
"Do not bring that matter upon me now!"
I was rather surprised by my sister's angry tone. She sound really upset about the ritual. I couldn't blame her. She is my twin, and I understand her more than anything.
"Forgive me, Kasumi." I told her as the feeling of regret forced its way toward me. Only about a second after I spoke, I felt a soft hand held mine. Kasumi's hands were as soft as her words.
"I can't..." she began to shed tears, "I can't bring myself to kill you. I can't!"
I could felt her tightens her grip of my hand. I scanned toward the door and raised myself from the bed; Kasumi followed a bit later. We sit right in front of each other, holding hands tightly.
"You have to." I told her. She shook her head and cried even more. We shared a hug; something that we used to do to comfort our pain.
"How can I kill you, dear sister? What kind of being I am, to kill my own precious person?"
"But if we don't, Kasumi... the village will..."
"I don't care about this village!"
I was greatly surprised by her words; they even brought me to break our hug and looked her directly in the eyes. Kasumi, the sweet and caring person, could actually spat those words of hatred?
"How could you say that?"
"It's true... This is what I felt. When I learned about our duty... I grew to hate this village. How dare of them to spoke that we born for each other, when finally forced us to separate?"
"Sshhh... It's alright." I placed my hand at her right chin, softly brush her tears away. "By this ritual, we will finally become one... Forever."
"But what if the ritual fails?"
At last, she muttered that one sentence I fear the most. If the ritual fails... We will not become one. I will die in vain, and my sister shall bear the burden of failure.
This time, I too, begun to cry. I could no longer hide my fear.
Oddly, my sister instead stopped crying and in turn brushed the tears in my face. I couldn't believe it; she was... she was smiling.
"Believe me... No matter what happen... I will always forgive you."
"...Sister...?"
Without muttering anything anymore, she brought me back to my bed. She herself lay next to me, in her bed. She smiled the serene smile she used to gave me and said,
"Sleep well... Dear sister..." and closed her eyes to a calm rest.
That one last sentence puzzled me. I began to felt uneasy, but the exhaustion of sadness and grief gave me the rest I need.
As the female villagers helped us with the white kimono, I repetitively gazed at my sister, whose face looked so abruptly calm. Perhaps she finally accept her fate as a would-be remaining? This was the only time I COULDN'T actually understand what was on her mind. If that's true... Then it's alright. As long as she lives, I know I'll live through her. I will overcome this fear for her...
...Or at least, I was hoping so.
"The Tsuchihara twins are finally ready."
As the ladies who helped us spoke, the door of kimono room opened - revealing many priests whose face were conceited with a white veil. They each held a shakujou staff, and their black robes matched the dread that will come upon me and my sister. Right from that room, they started to lead and accompany us slowly through the opening rituals... One by one, toward the final.
None of us spoke; we followed each of the rituals in deep silence. This bothered me a little. My sister, in any kind of situation, would always try to talk to me, whether when she needed a comfort or needed to comfort me. This time... none. She speaks nothing and not even tried to look at me.
To be honest, this brought pain to me. Does she hate me? Does she finally choose to ignore me, and calmly accept her destiny as the living one? Only by thinking of those though, the tears started to come again. As we walk toward the last place, I wept silently, trying not to make any sound as I cry my needs.
"Are you afraid?" my sister finally spoke; she must be noticing my tears. I gazed slowly to her while doing my best not to break all the loneliness off. She wasn't looking at me at all.
"I'm not."
"Then why are you crying?"
Her voice was calm and comforting, but her hands - very unusually - not trying to hold mine.
"Dear sister... do you hate me?"
She didn't change her facial expression at all upon that question. She instead replied,
"You are the person I loved the most, and no one could replace you."
"Why did you ignore me, then?"
Kasumi fell silent for a while. She seemed to gather a breath and perhaps - a little strength - before continuing,
"I'm so sorry... I was just... preparing myself."
To me, these were final words. She, at last, choose to let me go and finish her duty. I could felt myself trembling a bit; the fear came again. Today, I will die and fulfill the village of their need. Die... I must admit, my greatest fear came from that fate I need to accept. But what can I do? Nothing. Instead, I began to pray for this ritual to succeed - and for me to become one with Kasumi, my beloved twin.
The final path looked more dreadful than I thought. We went through a hidden underground passage where red wooden gates stand; the color of deep red dominated the place, as if it was a way to hell.
At the end of the passage, I met a scene I never dreamed of seeing; the *. An unspoken place where the dead and the malice resided. If the ritual of crimson sacrifice did not fulfilled, death, curse and eternal darkness shall spill from * and engulf our village and the people within it. Suffering will invade, and none shall escape. For this purpose were the twins sacrificed. We are the next to be the offering.
Having finally arrived at the *, the priests began to spread to the right and left side of the underground ritual site. We were left in the middle, having to walk by ourselves toward... the sacrificial place located right in front of the *...
Only in this place did my sister finally held my hand. She smiled at me and nod; thus, she slowly led me to my dead place. I couldn't resist. Being held in hand by my most beloved one is more than enough for me before I faced my own death. I followed her, beginning to move side-by-side with her.
Right in front of *, a bed-like stone was placed. I knew that it will be my final bed. We soon arrived there, hands held still. I turn to face my sister, and she did the same. This time I become worried.
Kasumi never let her smile off her face. She was smiling... this time, rather a sad one.
"Kasumi...?"
"Yuugiri," she whispered, "Live..."
In an instant, she took a small knife from the inner side of her obi and stabbed her own throat. The blood was spilled into the ground; some sprinkled into my face and white kimono.
Suddenly, there was no voice. No sound. No nothing... Only the darkness...
Kasumi...
My Kasumi...
No...
Don't leave me...
Why...?
Their fault...
"She killed herself! She tainted herself in front of the *. If we don't perform the next ritual in this short amount of time, the village will be doomed!"
My Kasumi... She's gone... Forever...
"The Kurosawa twins! Thank goodness we still had them. We have to purify the boys and sacrifice them before the malice come!"
Sacrifice...? Ritual...?
"Such a shame to the gods! Not only did she break the ritual, she has brought this family to shame!"
No... Father... It's my fault... My fault... No...
Their fault.
It's their entire fault.
They have to die.
Everybody has to die.
Die in pain and suffering...
Just like her did.
"Ryokan... It's her."
In the face of a dead girl's body, a twin of Kurosawa could no longer bring himself to look at the scene.
"I know..." the other twin clenched his fist, "I know."
Kurosawa Ryokan griefly proceeded to touch the long hair of the dead girl and brought them to the side of her ears. Her eyes were half-open; likely unsuccessful of having a final rest before her own demise. With a broken heart, Ryokan closed her eyes and took her pale, lifeless hand.
"How...?"
"She stabbed herself right on her heart after murdered some innocent villagers. What she had been looking for is her parents, but she couldn't find them in the house." a man holding a torch answered his unending question.
"This shouldn't happen... Yuugiri..." he brought her hand's back side to his scalp, tears falling from his eyes.
"We will burn her corpse before dawn comes. You both shall be prepared for the next ritual."
One of the Kurosawa twins seemed to be surprised by this exclamation. "For the next ritual...? But the amount of time left is...!"
"Worry not, because a Kusabi had already been prepared. The outsider will be sacrificed to calm the *, thus we are given with enough time to purify the two of you."
The familiar voice of Ceremony Head came from the door of Tsuchihara house. The middle-aged man stood there, on his facial expression was doom; after all, he was a witness of the Tsuchihara twin's tragedy.
"And about their family..." this question of Kurosawa Ryokan brought a bit of noise upon the groups of villagers gathered in the house. His twin, Kurosawa Masaki, looked anxiously at the Ceremony Head.
Anger could be clearly seen from his expression. "Such disgrace could never be forgiven. The women of Tsuchihara house shall be thrown out into the woods, while men shall be the new mourners."
Ever since that tragedy, none of the villagers dared to speak of the Tsuchihara's fate. A family of which a pair of twins was born and was well-respected in the village because of that blessing. A family, in which Tsuchihara Kasumi and Yuugiri were born, destined to fulfill their duty as the crimson sacrifice.
However, none could ever predicted that Tsuchihara Kasumi would kill herself in front of the *, ultimately brought failure upon the ritual even before it finished. She could not bring herself to kill her beloved twin, Yuugiri, and decided to take her own life.
The stressful Yuugiri, upon her twin's death, became crazed of the event. Blaming the whole village for Kasumi's death, she went on rampage and killed any villager she met with a knife. In her final words, right before she stabbed herself to death, it was known that the ones she was really intended to kill were her parents.
Thus the whole events finally brought fall to the Tsuchihara house…
-AUTHOR'S NOTE-
Finally, my first published fanfiction ever! I have never imagine that my first fanfic would be of Fatal Frame series -_-
I actually had lots of fanfic in my mind, including a Fatal Frame one, but most of them are unfinished. I have always wanted to post them once they're finished, but I'll see if I have enough courage to put them on chapter by chapter.
Anyway, I'm terribly sorry for my bad English and grammar. I'm an Indonesian and English's simply not my mother tongue . but I'll try my best to improve them.
Lastly, please rate and review!