Sorry it took so long, well, I have an excuse, I was sick. Hey, I'm still sick. Oh well, too bad, enjoy.

Icya


Chapter Three: In The Eyes Of Death

The rain poured with fiery as the water drop bounced off the opened umbrellas and landed upon the already wet ground, loosening the soil and formed little puddles of mud, which welcomed the raindrops with a song of their own. Some people stood without any shelter from the storm while others tried to hide beneath what ever they brought, dodging the tear of mother nature as she wept for the innocence lost. The faces were that of a grim feel as black clothing wrapped their by now wet bodies, shaped some while hide others and brought more coolness than wanted for everyone.

Aya shivered slightly as she tugged her jacket closer with one hand and ignored the raindrops from the tips of her umbrella that attached themselves onto her hair. Ran bought the black jacket for her about half a year ago for a birthday present, and finally, the weather was just about right to wear something like that.

She tapped her foot faintly to the ground and saw her black rain boots sunk into the miniature mud piles. Pulled her foot out of the dirt, Aya tried to wash it off by extending her foot to be cleansed by the rain. It would have been better if Manx planned this on some other day, but Aya guessed the red haired woman didn't really cared much about weather when she prepared for the funeral of her younger sister.

Felt a pair of eyes upon her that watched her like a hawk, the young girl looked up and saw her brother studying her with those eyes that always veiled a mention of warmth as he looked at her. "Are you okay?" He questioned with concern in his voice. Not many had heard him speak like so, only the ones he cared about. "You're not catching a cold, are you?" The redhead knotted his eyebrows as he bent down to her eyelevel.

Aya-chan displayed a smile for her brother. "I'm fine Oni-san, I'm not going to die anytime soon if that's what you're asking." She joked, though by the look of her brother, he didn't think it was funny, nor did he believed what she said. Ran looked away from her with suspicion, though made no hint of correcting her.

She coughed slightly to shrug off the feeling of unease, then turned her attention back to the priest who held a thick version of the bible in his hands as he spoke the words of goodbye.

"We are gathered here for the…" The words seemed to slip in one ear and out the other as Aya felt the coldness about her and leaned on her brother for comfort. She really didn't want to be there, funerals always filed her with discomfort, and this one was not different from any others. Just the thought of being near a body whose soul was take away by a brutal murderer made her noxious, even if the corpse in the coffin was that of Manx's sister.

It didn't felt right here, something was always wrong with death.

The young girl felt Ran's hand about her shoulder and tried her best to relax as the priest stopped talking and stepped aside. Others started to walk up and say their farewell under the watchful eyes of many. Manx was the first one to appear before the coffin.

She stood there like a black rose, for once wearing other than red. A black dress with a long black coat that went down pass her knees and a raven hood covered her crimson colored hair. The dark circles beneath her eyes told all that the redhead was not getting much sleep, and the puffiness of the eyes themselves showed that all the time for sleep was substituted with tears. The woman must have really cared about her younger sister.

Sobs concealed her voice as she spoke softly about loosing her sister and how the little girl named Ayami would be resting in heaven as an angel. How she was in a better place and was at the moment watching over everyone about with a smile. And of course, how the death of the seven year old was that of a tragedy and she would be missed terribly by everyone. Perhaps it was the tone of her voice and the apparent sorrow in her eyes that brought half of the people in tears, and Aya was among them.

Hot tears rolled down Manx's cheeks as she walked away from the casket. Aya had never saw that woman cry, she had always brought a sense of calm and inner strength with her when she paced into the flower shop, or walked into the cabin, or even drive by in her red sports car, but now, she seemed weak even, a woman drowned in the past.

Aya felt sorry for her as she wiped the tears away from her own face.

People stepped up and spoke after Manx who now stood back at her original place beside her mother, a woman about sixty some in age and whom also in all black. More of those heartbreaking words were said and more tears were shed, and finally, it was the Weiß's turn.

Aya turned toward the others and found them.

Yoji had placed himself right next to Manx, and by the looked was whispering the words of comfort to her as he bent down to her height. He then took her into his arms and lends his shoulder for Manx to cry on, for once, she did not step away nor smack him in the face.

Omi was about ten feet to the right of the coffin with a look of regret in his eyes, obviously not in the mood to talk; he had his arms crossed before him in a defensive position and his eyes seemed far away, as if he was remembering a terrible past. Then again, she didn't know much about his past, the young man never said much about it.

Ken stood next to the siblings as he met Aya's eyes and shook his head. He was never good with words, especially those of goodbye.

Ran sighed and looked down to his sister once more. "Come on Aya, we'll do it."

Aya leaned against her brother at their approach towards the coffin, and then stood about two yards away. Ran cleared his throat and started a speech, moving by the fact that everyone was silent like the darkest night when death walked the roads to hell; Aya decided to study the girl instead of listen to her brother's speech, which would depress her more than she was.

The girl named Ayami rested in the wooden tomb, her finger crossed before her stomach. A red dress wrapped her small frame, identical to her hair while paled her already pastel skin and made her dark lashes more conspicuous. Her tiny lips were painted red, matched her shoes as her limp form lounged on the redwood floor of that soon to be closed prison.

She would have been a beauty if she had the chance of growing up.

"Bless your soul." Aya whispered at the sight of the deceased girl, Ran looked down towards her with misery.

With the sound of Aya's voice, the lifeless eyes of the seven-year-old girl snapped open, stared blankly into the gray sheet of rain.

She wanted to say more, she wanted to pray for her, to wish for her happiness, but Aya found the words stuck in her throat and refused to escape. Those ice like eyes stared towards the so-called heaven, those windows masked with a sentiment so strong that it brought the dead moving once more. Concealed within that freezing stare were the feel of despair and utter hatred.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Someone was watching her, someone was chasing her, someone was aware of her every move. She wanted to scream, wanted to shake off that fear which covered her heart. She wanted that someone to disappear, to vanish into thin air and depart from this darkened place, to leave her alone and let her feel safety once more. But that didn't stop that touch of death, that touch of someone other than herself watched her like a tiger, preyed on her as an eagle to a rabbit.

She ran.

Her footsteps echoed in the dark place, bounced back like a child playing ball by the wall, soon, it was joined with another echo, one different from her own.

She cursed slightly and begged Kami to help her, to free her from the shadow that chased her, as she felt hot tears rolled down her cheeks, blurred her vision.

"Come back here my little wolf, come back here." A voice hissed out from a couple of inches behind her, the hot air stroked the back of her neck and brought more terror into her heart.

"NO." She shrieked as she ran harder, tried to escape that voice which hunted her. "Leave me alone, please!"

A miss step forced her to the ground, then the shadow was on top of her, breathing next to her as the heat brushed against her face. "My little wolf, come with me." It hissed as burning hot tongue touched her cheek.

She opened her mouth and tried to scream, tried to call someone's attention, anyone's attention.

No sound came out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aya snapped her eyes open at the echo of a scream, and then looked about desperately for the cause. Everything was the way she left it, nothing out of place or even moved an inch from their original spot. Her room was dark; the moonlight shone into the place with her soft smile and illuminated the objects with an almost unreal glow. There was just enough light for the half blurred sight of the spaces and emptiness.

The scream continued until the girl matched the voice to her own. It almost shocked her that her voice was the thing that woke her from her sleep and she closed her mouth. The scream of horror stopped instantly. Annoyed with that, she wondered why her scream had not woke any of the four men, and how her brother wasn't in her room since the first thing he would do would be to break down her door with a kick, run inside holding that katana of his and the look of an assassin in his eyes.

Picked up her watch from the bed with one hand, Aya rubbed her eyes as the time two thirty was displayed on the face of the watch.

That WAS weird.

What was even weirder was that she couldn't remember a thing that caused her to scream in the first place; it must have been some nightmare to wake her with her own scream of bloody murder greeting her like a cold slap of winter storm.

Placed back her watch onto the nightstand by her bed, a sheet of paper caught her eyes and she picked it up with one hand. Turned on the lamp on the stand with her free hand, Aya placed the white sheet of paper before her face to read its contents. Neat black ink filled the page as she read it out loud. It was from Omi.

"Aya-chan:

I'm sorry to say this but we have to check out that killer tonight, we know it's late, but it would be for everyone's advantage if we catch this slayer as soon as we can. Just don't worry about us. We don't want any more deaths of innocent people, and Yoji-kun wanted me to add that Manx requested us to go and give the killer a very painful death. We're sorry to leave like this. Ran-kun wanted to write that you should get a good night of sleep and don't worry about us. Wait, I've already said that. Good night Aya-chan.

Omi.

P.S. Don't wait for us at breakfast."

Aya sighed slightly as placed back the note with a smile. The two taller men must of 'requested' Omi to write a letter again. She grinned. Those two were always picking on the younger two, especially Yoji, who seemed to be very satisfied with his age and his height.

Aya pulled the blanket up to her chin and reached for the lamp, she took one last look towards the note and realized there was something on the back for ink leaked through the thin white paper and caused some slight dots of black on the perfect sheet of snow. Turned to the back of the paper as she picked it up again.

Her mouth went dry.

The piece of white fell onto the ground like the feather of an angel as a scream echoed through the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aya shivered in the corner of her room, her arms wrapped about her legs as cold sweat covered her body. She rocked herself slowly, her eyes almost blank as she gazed upon the paper on the wooden floor. The sheet of white was about three yards away, and even that, she could see the words clearly.

On the back of Omi's note, written in raven ink was the thing she feared as it brought back the memory of a dream she did not wanted to remember.

"Hello my little wolf, I'm watching you."