Chapter 11 - Love's departure


If his mission was sneaking through a high security fortress, he could do it. If he had to defeat a huge mob of monster, no problem. But when it came to getting through a forest and not getting lost, Tanaka Kuro was not the person for the job.

He jumped up to the branch of a tree and closed his eyes. Good thing his brother had a good sense of direction. He thought about the secret tunnel of the storage room. He was the only one who knew about it, having discovered it by accident one night while sleeping on the job. Any one could have cleaned the place out should they have the good fortune of finding the passageway. Even to this day he still wondered how he had managed to open it. He probably couldn't open it again if he tried. Then again, he wouldn't need to.

The hot afternoon sun barely penetrated through the thick canopy of leaves overhead, such a far cry from the blazing heat of Morroc. Jumping down, he decided to continue on, maybe by sheer luck he would be able to reach Payon soon.

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Weili walked to the window upon hearing a noise. someone shot an arrow into the tree. She attempted to retrieve it, but it was out of reach. Carefully climbing out the window, she balanced herself on the branch just outside and managed to snag the paper from the arrow. Before anyone could see her, she clambered back into her sister's room. She carefully unraveled the paper and read the message it contained.

Ai-chan,

I'm glad to say that I have fulfilled my promise of returning to you. I have a surprise for you, please meet me tonight at the cliff where we sat together and watched the fireworks.

Shiro

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cont.

Shiro lay back with his legs dangling over the side of the cliff. The moon was extremely beautiful, and the numerous stars made for a picture of serenity and peacefulness.

Hearing the rustling of leaves, Shiro sat up and turned his head to see who it was. he stood up and brushed off his clothes, ready to greet Ai Ming , yet was surprised to see her sister Weili instead.

"Weili? I though I sent the letter to Ai-chan...where is she?"

"She...she couldn't come...it just wasn't possible..."

"Why not? i need to speak with her, even if it means going to her room while she's asleep! If you're just trying to keep us apart, the-"

"Dammit Shiro, there is no way for you two to ever be together!"

Shiro was surprised by her sudden outburst and immediately shut up. After a few seconds of silence, he got the courage to ask the one thing he didn't want to know the answer to.

"She…she and her fiancé already got married, didn't they?"

"No...they didn't"

he breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's much worse."

"What could possibly be worse than that?"

Weili paused for a moment, thinking of how to word her response.

"Shiro, Ai Ming has been dead for two days now."