It took a long time, too long for Ken's tastes, to track down the owner of the blue beetle. In fact, it was only due to a wonderful thing called the television that they actually found the house - lucky for them. Now, as Ken stood outside the house, he felt the anxiousness build up.
The garden in the front yard looked much like it had on the T.V., the black rose that the news had been raving about stood proudly in the middle of the yard. The small blue beetle that had visited their flowershop was parked in the driveway, almost going unnoticed with the beautiful floral arrangement in the front yard.
Hesitantly taking a step forward, Ken managed to make his way up the stone pathway to the door. Raising his hand to knock, the door suddenly opened, and there, standing before him, was his reflection. Or... maybe his twin... he couldn't be sure.
"Well... hi there..." his twin said, looking a little confused. "Can... I help you?"
"Er..." Ken responded, intelligently.
"...You must be Ken," the other boy mused, inspecting him, casually.
"...I... am. Aren't you me, too?" Ken asked.
His twin blinked. A few times.
"I'm... Aniko. Hashibara Aniko. And you're standing on my porch impeding my path to work."
Shaking his head, Ken smiled a bit. "Sorry... May I ask you something, before you go?"
"Hm?" the other brunette grabbed a small black briefcase.
"Have you seen... this boy?" Ken asked, holding out a picture. Looking at it, Aniko paused, frowned, then turned.
"RIINNN!"
"Yeah?" a light tenor voice responded from somewhere in the house.
"Rin... Where's Kisoka?"
"Kisoka? She went to visit Omi," Rin responded, matter-of-factly.
Biting his lip, Aniko turned around. "I'd take you, but I'm going to be late. Rin here is going to accompany you to your friend. Right Rin?"
"I am?" Rin asked, peeking out of the kitchen.
"You are!"
"But Aniko!" Rin frowned. "I was in the middle of - "
"Rin!"
"Ok, ok..."
Ken blinked at the interaction, then started to smile. "Thanks I - "
"Look, this isn't for you," Aniko responded, then pushed past him to the car.
A sigh could be heard from the hall. "Don't mind him... He's probably worried about Omi. He always is... With good reason, mind you... Kisoka always seems to ignore him these days, off in lala land taking care of Omi's garden, and checking on him and stuff. Ah well..."
Rin pulled on his shoes. "Aniko's stolen the car, so we gotta walk."
Ken smiled a little. "I can drive us."
"Sounds good to me!"
"You're taking good care of them," Omi said softly, looking over Kisoka's shoulder at the pictures she brought today.
"I do try. You did all the hard work, though, all I have to do is drag a hose around and water them," Kisoka smiled.
Omi smiled back, though it was fragile. It was disheartening for Kisoka to see Omi's steady decline from the last time she'd seen him really smile. His skin was pale, and pastey, his face hollow, and eyes blank. He was so heavily drugged that the redhead could barely tell whether it was him or the drugs talking to her.
Blue eyes turned back to the pictures, and Kisoka obediently began to flip them again. As she flipped, Omi suddenly frowned, grabbing her hand. "Wait... what was that just now?"
"Hm?" Kisoka blinked, looking at the pictures.
"Back a couple... there," Omi looked genuinely interested. "I didn't plant that."
Kisoka glanced down. A rose, so dark a red it looked black, stood to the left of picture, at the base of a sakura tree. The trees petals lay scattered around it, so bright in contrast to the flower, it was difficult to see how she might have missed it.
"Ah, our infamous black rose. It's been getting a lot of aire time, along with the rest of the garden..." Kisoka explained. "I'm not quite sure how it managed to get there but - "
"Roses don't grow that colour," Omi stated, shakily. His eyes were wide, and his hands, still gently placed on hers, were beginning to shake, sweat beading on his palms.
Suddenly, he pushed away, crying out and clasping his head. "Go! Go away! Take them away!" he said, fleeing to one padded corner of the small, sparcely decorated room.
Frowning, Kisoka stood. "Omi, I... I'll get rid of it if you don't like it," she said, setting the pictures aside and going to kneel by him. The boy merely shrieked and bundled himself further into his corner.
"Leave! Leave now!" he wailed.
Almost before she could react, doctors rushed in to sedate the nearly hysterical boy. Kisoka, unable to watch, allowed herself to be escorted out of the Institute. Standing on the large stone steps outside the castle-like building, she stared up at it, wind causing the leafs to dance around her feet, where they had fallen from their respective trees.
"Kisoka!" a familiar voice called, and a pair of arms immediately attached to her.
Glancing down, bright green eyes smiled hollowly at her, red curls dancing around in the wind as the smaller girl bounced with drug induced glee. Her arms moved to grab one of Kisoka's hands, leading her away to a tall oak tree.
"Do you remember me, Kisoka?" the girl asked, her eyes looking hollowly at her, still more.
"...Of course I remember you, Kiara..." Kisoka sighed, kneeling beside her.
"Did you come to bring me home, big sister?" Kiara asked, watching Kisoka slowly lay herself down.
"You know I can't do that," the straight haired redhead replied, watching the girl slowly climb up the oak tree.
"Of course you can! You just have to ask Pappa to sign the papers, then we can go home together, and be happy again!" the child insisted, sitting on the lowest branch of the tree.
"Kiara... I can't..." Kisoka insisted, then sat up. "Get down from there, you'll hurt yourself."
There was the soft crunching of fragile autumn leaves for a moment as Kisoka stood and walked to the branch, holding her arms up. The girls eyes lit for a moment, before she climbed higher into the tree.
"Pappa doesn't want me back... Mamma and Pappa are ashamed of me. You are, too, aren't you, Kisoka? You always come to play the caring one, but you hate me, too... I'm not crazy! I hate them always sticking needles in me! You won't stop it, so I will!" Kiara's voice rose in volume as she continued, before she stood on the highest branch she could manage.
Without warning, a rope made it's way around her neck, tying itself to the tree, and the child hung herself there. This, however, was no surprise to the other redhead.
"...You know I love you, Kiara," Kisoka sighed, softly. "But I can't take you home... because you're already dead."
Kiara looked up from where she'd hung herself, then slowly slipped herself from the noose to hop down the tree branches, light as air. "...Mamma and Pappa said I was crazy," she said in a sing-song voice, "but look at how the perfect child so easily speaks with her deceased, deranged younger sister!"
"Kisoka!" a voice called. Kiara turned away.
"...Come visit, once in a while," her youthful face shrivelled in anger. "Maybe next time, they'll see through you, then you'll understand."
"Kisoka!" the voice called again, and Rin appeared in Kisoka's line of sight.
"...Rin, what are you doing here?" Kisoka asked, sighing softly as Kiara faded from sight.
"Well... You know that person... Ken, the one Omi always used to talk about and stuff?"
"Yeah, what about him? Isn't he dead or something?" Kisoka asked, turning around, then blinking a few times.
"...I generally don't like to consider myself dead," Ken said, raising a slightly amused eyebrow at the girl's fish impression.
"Oh my God... it's... it's you!"
A/N: And here it is, after so many long months... or years... or however long it's been. BR Chapter Four! It's been a long time coming :tears:
I finally figured that if I was going to use OC's, I oughta at least provide some information about where they come from and what's up with the way they were so, there's the dirt on Kisoka. Rin and Aniko aren't quite as fascinating as she is, but don't take me the wrong way! I love Rin, he makes me a very happy Authoress.
Anyways, many, many, many apologies for the horribly long period between updates. I might have to put something else on hiatus to finish this, first, but it'll probably only be two or three more chapters. Maybe an epilogue. Much love:
Amy