EPILOGUE: Shadows and Lights

ONE YEAR LATER:

Weiss hid within the shadows of the garden belonging to their current target, a rich gentleman who had a habit of killing women and placing their bodies within the garden walls.

Not only was their target the man responsible, but his female counterpart, as well. She would help lure the women to him, saying that she was a modeling agent.

Youji was just about to round the back of the estate when he ran head-first into someone who appeared out of nowhere.

"Shit!" the person in the shadows swore. Youji processed the voice and whispered, "Makoto?" with a hint of doubt in his voice.

The figure sighed. "Should have known you boys would show up," it said.

"It IS you!" Youji said a little too loudly.

Makoto slapped a gloved hand over his mouth and hissed, "of course it is! We must have the same target tonight."

Youji slapped her hand away and said, "Your mission was over a year ago! Why are you here now?"

Makoto sighed and said, "Long story short, we couldn't go back to normal lives. So we became freelance assassins. After all, without missions we are only criminals, right?"

Youji said nothing.

Suddenly, all the lights inside the mansion went out, and Makoto said, "That's me and Yuko's cue! Here we go!"

And then she disappeared into the darkness.

His own mission forgotten, Youji followed Makoto into the darkness. He had to talk to her. Had to convince her to stop this. If he could only be alone with her, he could change her mind!

But before he could get inside the mansion, the living room burst into flames.

"MAKOTO!" he yelled over the inferno. Nothing inside moved, and there was no answer.

Then, bursting out of a second story window, he saw three shadowy figures.

Youji let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

* * *

Ken had been inside the mansion hunting the target when the fire had started.

He had been chasing the targets down the corridor to the living room when the female pushed over a four tiered candelabra right in his path.

He would not have had time to jump out of the way if not for an arm snaking around him and pulling him back into the adjoining hallway.

"We have to stop meeting like this," a voice whispered into his ear.

Ken's heart stopped, and his blood froze.

"It's.impossible," he stammered, not wanting to turn around.

"Silly Ken," the voice said. "Nothing is impossible. And only good girls go to Heaven."

Finally, slowly, Ken turned around and came face to face with the woman he thought had died in his arms a year before.

"Maki," he said, reaching towards her. She held up a hand to stop him, and turned around. Flames were practically licking at their toes when she said, "And this is definitely not Heaven."

Then she turned and fled into the flames, and away from Ken again.

* * *

Author Babble: Well, thanks for giving the story a chance, and making it this far! All reviews are welcome. Right now, we have a "Gluhen" sequel in the works that has turned out to be a lot more light-hearted than this one. So depending on the feedback we get, that one might take less than 4 years to complete! ^_~ Oh, and the idea to name our chapters after Weiß song titles was one we thought of long before the "Gluhen" series came out and did the same thing. I guess great minds just think alike! ^_~