Helllooo and here is another chapter! I'm trying to keep everything as organized as possible and in the correct time frame without making it sound rushed! This was my iffy chapter as everything starts coming into play here, and while I realize what's going on I had to write from a point of view of someone who doesn't know and has little understanding. So let me know if it mentions too much or anything! Or if I mess up.

B.B. Wolf123 I'm glad it isn't confusing! I've been trying to make it a bit longer but this one came out a bit short. I wanted to add more but then I like how it came out, so I decide to leave it alone

Chitose sat in the closet, diary clutched in one hand and an inked feather in the other. She finally had the time to write. A candle lit up the small enclosed space, allowing her to see and squinted, beginning to write down her thoughts.

The day after theceremony, my brotherItsukicame back alone.

His black hair was white!

Where has my other brotherMutsukigone?

Since Mutsuki disappeared,
Itsuki doesn't want to talk.

He is still nice to me, but his eyes are always sad.

She frowned at her words, the diary held close to her face as her pale fingers held tightly to it. She shouldn't have let them leave that day…

She should have begged them to stay, to stay there with her where she could keep an eye on them. Though she was the younger sister she watched out for her older brothers, making sure they were always there.

"Mutsuki…"

What happened on the day of the ceremony?

"Itsuki…"

"Chitose?" Her head rose at her name, knowing very well who it was. "Itsuki?" She called, going to the door to peer out of the closet. Itsuki met her gaze, his eyes dull.

Chitose swore he looked terrified for a moment. Like- like he had lost something...His eyes seemed to lighten when he spotted her though.

"I-Itsuki? Are you alright?"

She knew asking was completely pointless as he instantly shook his head, white strands falling over his face to hide his expression. She couldn't help but notice how sad he looked…skinnier as well. Was he eating?

"No, actually- I mean I'm fine but-"He faltered for a moment before continuing. "Would you like to sleep in my room tonight, Chitose?"

Her expression brightened at the question and she nodded, gladly accepting his invitation. She always loved sleeping in her brothers' room.

"Of course I would!"

Chitose crawled from the closet, candle blown out and diary still in her hand and went to Itsuki's side. She tried to see his face, certain she had caught signs of tears threatening to spill and went to take his hand. It felt so very cold and she grasped it tight to give him warmth, squinting up at him with dark eyes. She wanted to make sure he was alright but he wouldn't open up. He had been so closed lately…

They went to Itsuki's room and curled up, Chitose snuggled into his side. Now she could clearly see the dark circles resting beneath his eyes and how pale he looked. She didn't need to squint to see how different he looked.

'I promise Itsuki…I'll give Ryozo the key just like you asked, and then, everything will be better…'

Itsuki shifted and opened his eyes, finding his sister staring at him and looked away.

"Itsuki…"

"It's nothing Chitose, I'm fine."

He caught her before she could ask. He knew too well what she wanted. It was the only thing she had been questioning him about lately.

She frowned. "You don't seem fine. Your hair…it's so white now. And you look tired and sad all the time."

Itsuki shook his head. "I'm fine Chitose. My hair is white now but I'm fine. It's probably your eyesight playing tricks on you. You know your eyesight isn't good." He protested, a hurt look crossing the girls face.

"I do not have bad eyes. I-I can see perfectly fine…" She muttered, a glum expression falling on her face.

He often said her eyes were bad but never so harshly. She flinched when he said it, cowering into his side and hugging his kimono. She didn't want her eyes to be bad. The thought scared her that it could get worse. Tears stung her eyes and she wiped at them, a bit shocked that her brother reacted so badly to her worries. Something was wrong but he just wouldn't tell her…

Itsuki rolled onto his side, wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to him, allowing her to hide her face in his chest.

"…I'm sorry Chitose." He whispered, clinging onto her. "A lot has happened lately…"

She waited but he didn't speak again and she frowned into the front of his kimono.

"You're not going to tell me," She concluded, her voice muffled by the cloth material.

He didn't respond, instead hugging her tighter.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. Let's go to sleep, okay?"

Chitose agreed despite her curiosity, not wanting to push him further. Still, if Itsuki would tell her what's wrong, she could help him. Itsuki would never lie to her, but he wasn't telling her the truth. He avoided her so much lately. Was it because she was questioning him so much? She just needed to know so she could help. She fell into a nightmare filled sleep, unable to help think something bad was going to happen.

Chitose ran into her room, her eyes bloodshot and red from all the crying she did. Itsuki had given her one task and she messed it up, unable to show herself to the dark-haired male. The key sat on her wrist still, aware that Itsuki had made her promise she'd try. She tried, she really did, but she couldn't do it!

Her hands dug into her arms, hunched over as she hyperventilated. She saw him, Ryozo, looking around their house. Itsuki had shown her his picture so she wouldn't be frightened and know to give him the key. "I'm sorry Itsuki, I'm so sorry!" She bawled, hoping he wouldn't be disappointed. Her heart beat quickly and her breathing hitched, unable to cope with the attacks her shyness gave her.

Chitose hung away from the door, clutching her kimono with her left hand and shook the right, constantly checking to make sure it was still there. She gazed ahead, listening as the footsteps drew closer.

Itsuki told me to hold the key for his room.

He said I can't let anyone go in there.

She had become a bit excited at having such an important job that she forgot of her shyness for a while, wanting nothing but to please Itsuki. She wrote of it in her diary, too excited to keep it hidden.

He said if his friend comes,

to give the key to his friend.

I am so happy that he gave me such an important job!

The footsteps drew closer and closer, louder and louder and her heart beat just the slightest bit faster. She waited patiently and pulled her bell bracelet off, examining the key to her brothers' room with nimble fingers. She was supposed to give this to Ryozo and she would. She absolutely would. Chitose finally saw him, tall and dark haired- stepping into the long hallway when she suddenly felt terrified.

His eyes instantly found her and he smiled gently; Itsuki must have told him about her. She clutched the key in her hand so hard it hurt, an awful feeling overcoming her as she squinted at the new man. She barely registered what had happened when she ran, taking off so quickly she stumbled a few times and ran for the closet crying.

'I can't! I can't!' She thought hysterically.' I can't- I tried-! I'm so sorry I just can't do it!

She squished her frame in the corner of the closet, gasping for breath as she heard the man walk through the house.

"Chitose…?"

She slammed a hand over her mouth and tried to get into the corner more, cowering in the comforting darkness. The bracelet was held tightly in her hand so the bells wouldn't ring, berating herself for not being able to give the item to the man.

'I'm so sorry Itsuki-!'

The man called a few more times but she wouldn't answer. She couldn't answer.

She sobbed silently in the closet. Itsuki had given her one job and she couldn't even do that. He would most certainly leave now, he'd been so sad lately.

She clutched her diary to her, having left it in the closet again along with an ink feather pen. She often left it here nowadays; she was in here more than anyplace else.

Itsuki's friend came to the house.

I was scared so I hid.

I couldn't give him the key.

"I'm so…so sorry." She murmured, curling her knees and wrapping thin arms around them. She for sure disappointed her brother. 'Please Mutsuki, come back. Itsuki is so sad and I miss you so much…'

She heard the man leave and stayed in the closet, clinging to her diary and waiting for Itsuki to come back.

Itsuki ran into the room suddenly and Chitose jumped, already moving to run for the closet but he was quick to get to her.

"Chitose!" His hands grasped onto her shoulders, a frenzied look in his eyes. She flinched away and hoped he wouldn't notice the key still on her wrist, shifting her arm slightly behind her. "Itsuki? W-What-"

"I'm sorry, I don't have long," He interrupted and her forehead creased in worry.

"Did you help them?" She asked slowly, a hint of anger beneath her tone.

Chitose secretly hoped he did not, not wanting her brother to get in trouble for helping the twins escape. To her dismay he nodded, looking down the hall frantically before meeting her eyes again. "I-I have to go for a while. I'm afraid they found out I helped them." Her eyes widened at him, worried tears beginning to form.

"I-I told you not to help them! What's going to happen? I don't want anything to happen to you!" She clutched onto his hand and pulled

"Let's hide! You can't get in trouble if they can't find you!" She yanked him towards the closet but he pulled from her grip, meeting her gaze.

"I don't want you to get in trouble too, Chitose," Itsuki ran a hand through her hair and smiled. "I'm just going to be locked in the storehouse. Everything will be alright. I just wanted to see you before it happened so you didn't worry."

"But…Itsuki…."

"It will be alright." He murmured gently, the sadness leaving his eyes for the briefest of seconds. Even so something felt wrong.

"Itsuki I have to tell you something. The key I was supposed to give the man-Ryozo - I-" A slam from the front of the house caused her to jump and she looked over at Itsuki. His expression was calm, calmer than it had been in the past few days and she touched his hand.

"Please… don't go…" She wrapped her small hands around his, indicating for him to follow her to the closet. He appeared heartbroken and looked at her carefully. It reminded her too much of the last expression she saw on Mutsuki's face and wondered if Itsuki would disappear just as he did.

"Please," Chitose begged louder, pulling just the slightest bit harder.

"…I'm sorry. I need to." He knelt down and hugged her tight. Everything about his demeanor screamed for her to stop him, though she didn't know why. He looked so pale, like a ghost. Did it have something to do with Mutsuki? She saw the mark better now that she was closer to his neck, unable to help the thought that it looked like a crimson butterfly.

'The butterflies he told me guard the village...'

"Please, are you sure Itsuki?" Another slam on the door, hard enough that it shook and she cringed into her brother, hiding her face in his neck.

"Everything will be okay." He assured and pulled from her. Her eyes were glassed and tears running down her face now, her eyes pleading for him to agree. But he didn't. He shook his head and pushed her away, towards the closet even as she tried to keep his hand in hers. They both heard the front door slam and she spent one last look at him before she ran for the closet, not wanting to deal with angry villagers. She could hear them storm in, their angry voices filling up the normally silent house.

"Do you have any idea what you have done!?" A man shouted. He sounded mad but she could hear the desperation in his voice.

"You have doomed us all" Another voice spoke, and many others began filling up as well. She slammed her hands over her ears and cried silently, not understanding why Yae and Sae leaving was such a big deal. She was afraid to be found. One person was terrible enough, but a group…

"We have found Sae but we can't find Yae," someone spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. Fear was clearly evident. "What do we do? They are the only twins left in the village! They were the ones to use in case the first two failed!"

'The first two…?' Chitose thought, on the verge of hyperventilating. She didn't understand…Were the first two..? But, what were the twins used for?

Her brother remained silent through all of this, the villages too panicky to slow down.

Chitose slide the closet door open just the slightest to see what was going on. Five villagers stood in the room, and though she knew they were angry they seemed more terrified than anything. They kept muttering about the ceremony and how it wouldn't work, but that they were going to try and use just Sae.

"Yae, why did you leave…?" A man murmured, turning to the person next to him.

"Bring him. He will be locked away as punishment. We have more important things to worry about."

Itsuki went without a fuss and their eyes met briefly before he was pulled towards the front door, leaving Chitose alone inside the house. It felt so alone now, empty and eerie. She sniffed and crawled whens she was sure everyone was gone, her journal clutched to her chest as she began sobbing.

"I told you not to help them! I told you!" She couldn't find it in her to be angry, too unnerved by everything happening that she didn't understand. Chitose made her way for her brothers' room, curling herself in their blankets as she imagined them lying on either side of her and cried.

'Itsuki…Mutsuki….'

She sniffled, clutching the blanket to her and falling asleep. That was the last time she saw Itsuki.