King of this Tragedy: Seto

The weather was nice that day, even with the sun pouring down on us there was just enough of a breeze for it to be comfortable. The group was pretty cheerful heading into the forest, and it was rather pleasant. Mary was on my back, letting me give her ride most of the way, Kido and Kano, Momo and Hibiya were arguing a little bit in their conversations, and Shintarou was attempting to ignore Ene. Perfectly normal, but it made me feel happy nonetheless. If such casual days could go on forever, it would make for a wonderful world.

But even in that blissful time, I was well aware that such things don't last forever, even if I was for the moment ignorant to when exactly it would all end.

"Seto..?" The small girl on my back piped up, resting her chin on my shoulder.

"Ah, did I space out?"

The girl nodded.

"Sorry... But hey, aren't we pretty close now?"

It was true. We were visiting Mary's old house, and the building was too much further. We arrived just a few minutes later. Quite a few of the people with us had never been here before, so there was a little tour. Well, the house was kind of tiny, so that didn't last long. Then everyone was just relaxing, hanging out. The sort of thing normal teenagers would do, I think?

"Ah!" Mary gasped out of nowhere, jumping back from the window and bumping into Shintarou. Before anyone could ask, Shintarou was looking alarmed as well. There was a bee buzzing around the two, which at first glance wouldn't look like much of a problem, but I guess with how little the two go out they might not have much practice around them.

"If you stay still, it'll-" I offered, but Shintarou was already heading out the door, trying to escape the tiny creature. I sighed, rubbing my head. Konoha was outside, wasn't he? That kid would probably help him out. And so I decided to leave the matter as it was.

Before we had realized it, the two of them didn't come back for a while. Maybe we should have been more worried than we were, but it's too late for that now.

But one of them did come back.

And it looked like Shintarou had either given him a wicked make over or something had gone terribly wrong. I truly wish it were the first explanation.

The pure white hair had been stained black as death, pink orbs polluted into a vivid yellow, clueless expression deformed into an unsettling grin. Even his clothes seemed to have been swapped with a garment more fitting for an executioner, trances of dried blood on the fabric.

I couldn't help but stare for a moment. Despite all the changes, you could get the feeling this was Konoha but at the same time not... He stepped forward, and I gently pulled on Mary's shoulder so that the girl would be placed behind me.

"Who..." Kisaragi started, breaking the thick silence, "Who are you?"

The grin on the man's face only grew as he stepped forward, everyone flinching at the sudden move. As he came closer we couldn't help but step back.

"Mary..." I whispered. Danchou and Kano had stepped forward, glaring at the man, who merely chuckled a little under his breath.

"Seto?" The girl seemed a little nervous about all this.

"Can you go hide for me?" I tried to sound cheerful, I didn't want to scare her. "Just for a little while, then I'll go find you, okay?" I glanced back with a smile, even though I'm probably not as convincing as Kano when forcing such a face.

She didn't seem so sure about this, but slowly nodded. Keeping to the back of our small group, she scampered off. I gave a small sigh of relief, thinking she should be safe now, but we still had somebody to deal with.

When I turned back around, satisfied that Mary was gone, the first gunshot went off.

Kido fell to the group with a strangled gasp, and the second bullet was fired, sending Kano down with her. Momo screamed. That bad, awful feeling I got when he came in wasn't just paranoia after all.

It all went so fast it felt like a dream, but I just couldn't wake up. I couldn't just call out for someone to shake me awake. Why did it has to be so unfortunate that I wasn't asleep right now? One by one my friends fell, and before I knew it I was running, and the sun was going down. I didn't want to stay in the nightmare, it was too much, and they'd have to get out of the forest to get help. I ran, probably faster than I've ever before. My friends needed help, and I wasn't exactly sure where I'm supposed to get it. Maybe if I can get to a phone, I could call the police...

Suddenly I stopped, a cold feeling coming over me as I recalled something. Mary was still back there. If the others were gone, then there was nobody to protect her. I turned around, forgetting my mission and praying the girl was okay.

It was several minutes before I got there, and every second was spent in misserable worry. It was quiet when I arrived, silence filling the dark air.

Bodies littering the ground outside. I didn't see Mary among them, but the rest of my friends had still been so cruelly killed. Why, just why did this have to happen?

Slowly, trembling slightly, I pushed the door open. I could barely see, and didn't have any source of light on me, but for now I couldn't see or hear Kuroha anywhere. Mary wasn't making any noise either, so I strained my eyes in the dim room, only to have them tear up again imdiately as I approached the dark form in the middle of the room.

Dearest little Mary had been hung from the ceiling by her own hair, and her dress was so very damp from the stab wound in her chest. The lonely, sad feeling was overwhelming, and I didn't know what to do. This whole situation hurt so badly. Barely able to think, my hand drew up to her face, gently caressing her face as tears dripped down my own. Only a little warmth remained on her soft cheeks. I set to work to free her body from where it hung, even though I had tried to be careful some of her hair tore as I brought her down. Once the last bit of hair was undone, I held her limp body close to my own, clutching it as I fell to the floor. I don't know how much time passed where I did nothing but cling to her and cried. There was a small creak behind me, bringing me back into awareness. Footsteps, taking their own sweet time, moving closer and closer. I shuddering with each small thud, not bothering to turn around. My hand brushed the hair out of Mary's face, so I could place a small kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry Mary... I'm so, so sorry... But we'll be together again soon, okay?"

As if Kuroha would be so kind as to execute his king and spare him of the detailed suffering he had been planning on inflincting on him.