Disclaimer: Blah and blah don't belong to me etc...

----o

There was once a Haibane named Fune. His name had meant "little boat", because, in his dream, he had been pushed from one into deep, dark water. Pushed by someone he knew and thought he trusted.

Fune had hatched from his cocoon near the painting of the Akabane, and thus caused many to worry about him, greatly. And there was much to worry about, for Fune proved to be a most difficult, unpredictable and angry young Haibane.

He would latch onto people, as if they were his anchor in the world of Glie, and would invariably be left disappointed and feeling betrayed when they left him, or moved on. All of his extreme emotions were so wrapped up in trying to control those that he felt were there to support him that he never learnt how to take care of himself. Nor did he accept help from those who openly sought to give him what he wanted, if he considered said help to be hostile.

And so, when the darkness broke through the walls of Glie and came for him, there was nobody to protect him.

----o

Ketsu stared up into the bright, burning sky.

Spinning blades of a giant weather vane refelcted light into her eyes. She could imagine the light, flowing back from her into the world

She reached up, as if to touch the vane, and wondered if she was dreaming.

She heard Rakka calling out to her, and she turned.

----o

An Haibane Renmei Fanfiction

Red Feathers in Old Home

by Dark Day For Anime

Part 8

Within - Without - Withunder

----o

Summer in Glie would arrive with the same abruptness and intensity as the Winter that preceded it. The calm, gently warm days of spring would suddenly become intensely hot and humid, bringing with it wild electrical storms, interspersed with but a few breaks of more inviting, balmier weather (often in the immediate wake of the storms). Rakka looked up into the morning sky, already starting to fill with clouds, and dabbed the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief. There was going to be rain before the end of the day, and long, heavy rain it would be, too.

She turned back to the archway into the courtyard of Old Home, pocketing her handkerchief, as slow, tentative footsteps echoed through its recesses. Ketsu stopped and stared at the fields that surrounded Old Home warily, as much frightened by her first moments outside its protection as she was fascinated by the scenery. She then looked down at the clothes she was wearing, feeling a little uncomfortable. Rakka noticed.

"They don't look too bad on you." She appraised Ketsu, who was wearing a short-sleeved, reddish brown shirt, black shorts and similarly black, rather large (for a girl Ketsu's size) shoes. The clothes had been cast-offs from Sa's wardrobe, the twin forgetting, in her over-eagerness to acquire clothes of her own soon after her arrival in Glie, exactly what her body measurements were likely to be. Almost everything she chose from the used clothes store was too big for her.

She'd traded most of her poor acquisitions later on, but these had somehow hidden themselves at the back of the wardrobe, almost as if they knew they were going to be used. Sa was not happy with having to part with them. There was a half-constructed crystal set, sitting innocuously on a shelf at the back of the second-hand store, that she would have liked to get her hands on.

"I don't know." Ketsu shrugged, moving the shirt about. "The fabric feels odd over my skin. Really abrasive. Unpleasant." She glanced back at her wings. "And the slots for the wings aren't lined up right. Its rubbing against them the wrong way, where the wings join my back."

"You worry too much." Rakka patted her on the shoulder. "Your wings are a lot hardier than that." She flapped her wings a couple of times to underline the point.

"I suppose so." Ketsu bit her lower lip. "Though I'll probably get friction burns from all the rubbing."

"Its the weather." Rakka gestured at the sky. "The humidity makes you sweat, and your skin gets irritated, especially with unfamiliar clothes. Learn to ignore it, it isn't going to get any better."

"I'm sure I'd feel this way in mid-winter. These clothes are all itchy and rough. I should put that dress you gave me back on...."

As Ketsu looked as if she were going to turn back into Old Home, Rakka shook her head and took her by the arm, leading her away from the arch. "You are far too used to an easy lifestyle. The walk should do you some good."

Ketsu stared back at the arch for the first ten or so steps, almost longingly, before registering what Rakka had said. "Easy lifestyle?" She puffed up her cheeks and pouted. "I'm only just getting my legs to work properly. I haven't had much chance to live anything but."

"You've been walking around Old Home for days. I think they're working properly." Rakka smiled. "Though it would have been nice if the weather had been better in your first few days here. The weather was really nice when I arrived in Glie." Ketsu shrugged and held onto Rakka's arm, tightly.

"I don't mind the hot weather. Mostly. It feels as if I've lived with this kind of weather for as long as I can remember. Here. And before. Maybe the weather is adjusting itself to suit me."

"I certainly hope not. Don't think I could stand it like this all the time." Rakka chuckled.

They continued on in silence for a while, following the path before turning off towards the temple. A short time later, Ketsu let go of Rakka's arm and paused, watching the windvanes atop the windy hill. Rakka, who had walked some short distance after Ketsu had released her, turned and studied her expression. There was something going on behind her eyes that was difficult to read: they didn't seem to be quite focused....

"Are they that interesting?"

"Hmm?" Ketsu snapped out of her musing and shrugged. "I dreamt about these things last night.... I think." She paused. "So hard to remember the details of my dreams. They're all a jumble. Sometimes I have trouble remembering which world is the dream and which is reality." She glanced at Rakka. "This is the real bit, isn't it?"

Rakka raised an eyebrow before shrugging and pinching her cheek between thumb and forefinger. "It hurts. This must be real." She folded her arms behind her. "I certainly wouldn't want to dream about this kind of weather."

Ketsu sighed and turned back to the vanes. "They were big." She pointed at the nearest of them. "Really big, and clean, like they'd just been built and painted. Not at all like these." Her hand moved back to the bridge of her nose, which she pinched as she closed her eyes, like trying to ward off a headache. "Or maybe there was just one. One big one. It seems important, somehow. I'm not sure why. Maybe I saw them from Old Home. But I wasn't really looking at our surroundings."

"You can see quite a lot from the upper-storey windows of Old Home. Even if you weren't thinking about it, you could have glanced in this direction...."

"No." Ketsu shook her head. "I wasn't looking. Not at that. I was looking at Old Home, itself." She paused. "Have you noticed the way it changes?"

"Changes?" Rakka frowned.

"All the rooms. They change around. Things move. Rooms that were derelict one moment seem not so the next. It is almost as if the place is alive, and adapting itself to the changes in its environment."

Rakka thought long and hard about what to say next. Ketsu had a tendency to say these kind of things, out of the blue. "I've.... lived there for a number of years. Apart from watching things slowly fall apart, I can't say there have been any great changes."

Ketsu seemed disappointed. "I thought, maybe, it was just my imagination. As I said, I've had trouble discerning the difference between the real world and my dreams. Maybe I'm mixing things up. Or maybe I'm just mixed up. I dunno...." After a few moments, she turned back to the vanes. "There is something about them." She said in an almost dreamy tone. "I almost feel as if I want to curl up underneath one and fall asleep...."

"Well, you can do that later. We have things to do."

Ketsu's face fell and she turned, brushing past Rakka in the direction of the temple before stopping. "Must we go? I really don't want to see them."

"A summons from the Haibane Renmei cannot be ignored." Rakka shook her head. "There is nothing to be afraid of. The Haibane Renmei exist to help all Haibane who live in Glie...." She paused, thinking. "They might seem a little scary, at first, but they only want to help you. And to do that, they have to meet you."

"I have you." Ketsu hadn't turned to look at Rakka, but she had gone rigid and stiff, her hands clenched white. Rakka knew, from experience over the last few days, that this was a sign of an incipient tantrum.

"You have me." Rakka said, soothingly. "You have many people, Ketsu."

"I have you." Ketsu was quivering now.

"You have many people. People who helped me. Do you not trust those in whom I placed my own?" It did the trick. Ketsu's figure relaxed noticeably. Rakka stepped up alongside her once more and took her arm, gently guiding her further towards their destination.

----o

Sa leaned her chin against the wall of the balcony landing, looking glum as she stared at the empty courtyard. Hana watched her from the doorway to the common room, nervously.

"Is she still sulking?" Hikari asked as she entered the common room, shrugging and stretching as she tried to make herself more comfortable in her blouse. As one of her better items of clothing, she tended to wear it sparingly, and thus found it somewhat strange and uncomfortable every time she put it on.

Hana glanced back at her. "She had an argument with her sister this morning." The younger Haibane almost whispered. "Yu stormed off after she got dressed, to town, probably to the second hand goods shop. Sa's been like this ever since."

"Been like what?" Sa grumbled from behind Hana. She had practically crept up behind the girl, so was unsurprised by how far the smaller girl leapt from the doorway. There were, practically, nanoseconds between Sa speaking and Hana hiding behind Hikari.

Sa took a long breath and put her hands on her hips. "Honestly, we didn't argue at all. She's been all upset these past few days, and I called her an overemotional arse to calm her down. Then she starts crying and runs off. I really don't understand that girl."

"Obviously." Hikari glowered. "Perhaps you might like to apologise to her when you next see her? Just a thought, but it might do a better job at calming her down."

"Apologise?" Sa sniffed. "For what? She's the one who keeps acting like she's upset." Sa stormed past Hikari and grabbed Hana's arm. "Come on, you, we've got stuff to do."

"Hey...." Hikari turned as she watched Sa and Hana disappear out of the room, the door slamming shut behind them. "Oooohhhh.... Kids!" She rubbed her face with her hands in frustration.

----o

Sa managed to drag Hana some distance before the smaller girl was able to work her way out of her grasp. "That hurt." Hana rubbed her arm as Sa paused, not turning around to look at her. "Why did you have to do that? What do we have to do?"

"Check on the cocoon. I'd rather not go in there alone." Sa mumbled.

"Oh...." Hana sighed. "You know, what she said.... what Hikari said.... was right."

"I know that. But I'm not going to say that to her." Sa spun and grabbed Hana by the shoulders, taking her by surprise once more. "There is something going on between Yu and Ketsu. She might seem upset, but that's not what she's really feeling."

"Eh?" Hana blinked in confusion.

"Despite what Hikari says, I do know my sister, all too well. Sulking and whining are her pastimes. They're what she likes to do. So if she's especially sulking and whining around Ketsu, it means she really likes her."

"Umm...." Hana frowned. "I'm sure it all makes a lot of sense to you...."

Sa sighed with exasperation. "Look, you've spent much of your time trying to help Ketsu, to befriend her. You tried to show her around Old Home. You gave her meals and all sorts of things, and how has she responded?" Hana said nothing, so Sa nodded. "Exactly. Hasn't shown the slightest interest in you. But she seems to feel she has some kind of special attachment to my sister. They argue all the time, which means Yu really likes her, and she must really like Yu."

"There is a flaw in that logic, somewhere."

"My logic is never flawed." Sa let go of Hana and smiled. "You mark my words, if it goes on like this, they'll be lovers by this time next week."

She had to help Hana off the floor. "I think...." Hana tried to stop herself from laughing. "You're misreading the situation."

"Oh no I'm not. Not if I know my sister as well as I think I do."

"I think we should be checking on the cocoon, what do you say?" Hana stifled a giggle before she moved on, leaving Sa standing in the middle of the corridor, considering all the things she could do to get between Ketsu and her sister....

----o

The secondhand goods store fronted onto a small cobblestone laneway, not far from the bakery where Hikari worked. The twins had discovered it whilst investigating the nooks and crannies of the township during their first few weeks in Glie.

According to the customs of the Haibane, all new feathers were to find their place within the life and business of Glie, which meant finding them something productive to do with their days.

Of course, it wasn't easy: they showed scant interest in doing any of the work the other Haibane of Old Home were doing. The mere suggestion of joining Nemu at the library was almost enough for Sa to break out in hives, and they'd both shown exactly what to expect from a visit to the bakery by almost setting the kitchen ablaze, one night, whilst trying to cook dinner. Nobody was willing to allow the pair close to anything that vaguely resembled a food-warming implement after that.

Sa had shown some interest in Kana's work, at the clockmakers, and had even helped her out, for a while, with the renovation of the clocktower at Old Home. But Sa's attention span was too short: Kana never seemed all that interested in actually completing what she was doing.... She had remodelled and redesigned the mechanism for the clock at least twice before Sa wandered off with Yu to find something more their style.

Yu had actually been mapping out the streets of the township. She had every bit the spatial memory of her sister, but used it in different ways. She'd memorise the lengths and widths of the streets by pacing them, then would go back to Old Home and draw them up on a piece of parchment she had found in the wardrobe of their room the day after they had chosen it.

It was during these investigations, with the assistance of Sa, that they'd discovered the secondhand goods store in the small cobblestone laneway. It wasn't all that much to look at: a wide, slightly dusty front window, displaying a variety of household implements that had been, mostly, given to Inakuma, the owner of the store, in trade for other things. The laneway, itself, ran behind a line of townhouses and supply stores, which meant very few people used it, and with it being in shade for the majority of the day, there was a sense of the hidden about the store. All the same, they were sure they could hear a heavenly chorus the moment they laid eyes on the treasures within its depths. They had found their calling.

Or so Yu had thought. Things had changed since then. Sa had changed.

The owner of the store, Marie Inakuma, was a middle-aged woman who had inherited the business from her husband, after he had passed away from complications of an illness he had had since his childhood. His picture hung on the wall behind the counter of the store, giving it his continued, albeit mute, presence. At least, Marie liked to think so. She had said as much to Sa, when the unsubtle twin had bluntly asked her if the frame around the picture of 'the guy' was for sale. Much to Yu's relief, Marie proved to be a readily forgiving woman.

Yu entered the store to the rattling jingle of the doorbell, which had spent a portion of its life as a cowbell, until Sa discovered it and made the conversion for the sake of Marie, who only ever seemed to register that anyone had entered the store on the odd occasion that she was awake. The rattling had roused her even now, and Yu sighed as the woman smiled a welcome, blinking blearily.

"Honestly, what kind of welcome is that for the customers?" Yu put her hands on her hips. Marie stood from the battered old seat behind the counter and shrugged.

"Good morning to you, Missy. Might I ask you what you have been doing for the past few days? I do seem to remember something about your working here."

Yu huffed and stomped over to the counter. "There probably hasn't been a customer in all that time, so it wouldn't matter, anyway."

"Au contrere.... There have been quite a number of customers."

"Buying what? Everything is exactly where it was when I last left." Yu gestured to the items stacked on the dusty shelves before hopping up onto the counter, crossing her arms and flapping her wings. "But don't worry, I'm here to save the day."

Marie smiled. "Whatever you say. Would you like some tea? I'll put the kettle on." She was about to turn before noticing what Yu was wearing. "My, all dressed up today, aren't we?"

Yu looked down at the dark dress with the white frills around the collar and sleeves. "Mmmm.... Had this for a while. Just haven't had the time or opportunity to wear it."

"Hmm?"

"The funeral this afternoon." Yu sighed as Marie stared blankly at her. "Old Mister Fujita. You remember?"

"Ah...." Marie nodded. "Mmmm.... Forgive me.... I didn't know him or his family all that well. Though my dear Goro probably did." She turned to her husband's picture. "He knew a lot of people around town. There were many at his service."

Yu considered Marie for a moment, then shrugged. "We didn't know if we were going to be allowed to attend this afternoon." She leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "You won't believe the circles Rakka-oneesan and Hikari-oneesan have run around. Meanwhile, the rest of us have had to keep an eye on the newcomer...."

"Hmmm...." Marie nodded before turning and opening the door to the small backroom. "How is she going, by the way?" She asked, pausing before entering and picking up the kettle from the counter by the door, testing how much water there was inside. Not much was the sloshing response.

"Terrible. Awful. And that's just around me." Yu sniffed.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Yu shook her head. "I dunno which is worse.... The fact that I'm one of only two people she actually wants to interact with, or the fact that said interaction usually means arguing. With me. Only with me."

"So she's a bit of a disruptive sort, is she? This...."

"Ketsu."

"Yes, this Ketsu. Sounds a bit like one or two Haibane I've heard about from the past." Marie moved across to the sink at the back of the room and started topping up the kettle.

"Oh, it gets better. Half the stuff she wants to argue about, with me, she seems to have made up in her head." Yu turned and looked back at Marie, tapping the side of her head. "I'm not exactly up with the personalities of Haibane, in general, as I only know the ones I've met, but I have to be honest.... She's mental. There ain't no other word for it."

"That's not a very nice thing to say." Marie stepped back towards the counter, replacing the refilled kettle where she had found it and plugged it in to the power. "All Haibane have eccentric personalities, in my limited experience, and of what I hear from others. Yours just happen to clash for the moment, that is all. She'll change in time, when she gets used to things."

"You know, less than a couple of days after she had arrived here, she wanted to discuss with me stuff that I'd never said to her. Do you know what.... 'post-modern interprit.... interpola.... intrapretive.... dangers'.... actually means? I have enough trouble actually saying it." Yu made a spitting sound to underline this.

"Is 'interpretive' the word you're looking for?"

"Yeah, whatever. She wanted to have a row with me about it on her second night here. I had no idea what she was talking about. But in her own mind, I was the one who'd brought it up to begin with. And the only other person she'll talk to is Rakka. But does she argue with Rakka? Nooooooooooo.... Why me? What did I do to deserve this?" Yu slumped back on the counter and sighed. Marie pondered over the girl as the water in the kettle started to bubble. A rumble from outside the shop roused Marie from her reverie.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Probably. The sky was starting to look pretty grim in the west as I was making my way here." She sat up and jumped off the counter, brushing the back of her dress. "It is looking pretty dark, now. I wonder if Rakka is alright. She said she had stuff to do with Ketsu this morning."

"Hmm...." Marie turned her attention back to her tea-making as the kettle boiled. Yu absently wandered over to a shelf and touched the item that was sitting there.... A small kids turntable set, the needle arm sitting tenuously in its half-bent cradle. Yu ran her finger along the rubber ring of the turntable, itself.

"You know, she wanted this."

"What's that, dear?" Marie asked as she plonked two mugs in front of the steaming kettle.

"This old turntable. Sa wanted this when we first started working here. But she never touched it. I always wondered why."

"Everyones' interests are fluid. They move and change with time. Hers just moved on."

"Like she moved on from here."

Marie paused, then peered out from the backroom. "So, she's told you about that, has she?"

Yu didn't reply. She didn't even turn to face her. But she didn't have to see Yu's face to know that she was crying. She took a breath and stepped out from behind the counter, putting her arms around the girl. Yu did not resist, pressing her face deep into Marie's front. After a minute, she lifted her face away and sniffed, wiping her eyes. Marie ran a hand across her hair.

"Will it always be like this?" Yu asked, softly.

"Like this?"

"Will Sa always be the one who moves on first?"

"I don't know." Marie said, soothingly. "Perhaps she's the one who is having the most trouble finding her place in the world."

"I don't know." Yu swallowed. "Do you know anything, about Haibane twins?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do they always reach their Day of Flight together, or do they leave separately?"

"I don't know." Marie shook her head. "I've never met twin Haibane before. I'm not really the kind of person to ask. You and Sa, you're the first Haibane I've ever had the chance to know, personally."

"What if she reaches that day before me?" Yu's eyes started to fill with tears again. "I don't want that to happen. I don't want to be left behind by her...."

"You'll never be left behind." Marie turned to the picture of her husband. "When your time comes, you'll know, and understand."

Yu swallowed. "I really think I could do with that cup of tea...."

----o

He stood within the gardens of the temple, alone and silent. Nothing had been done to him, nothing had been said to him. His actions had gone completely unpunished. And that, more than anything, frightened him.

For what he had done was a grievous sin. The punishments handed out to those who had tried, in the past, had been severe. But he had been conscious and lucid for over a day, now, and could feel, what passed for life, returning to his body. If not for the bandaged wounds he had inflicted upon himself, there was little sign that anything had changed. Nobody had challenged him when he'd left his bed to come out into the gardens. It all felt very, very wrong.

But for now, there was the glade at the edge of the gardens. The high, protective walls had provided some shade from the relentless sun, now disappearing behind the burgeoning anvilhead clouds that would flash within their dark cores, like angry spirits building themselves up to rain vengeance upon the world. The trickling of a small stream enveloped the glade with a coolness and tranquility in stark contrast to the approaching storm. Here, he had decided to pause and reflect on what he had done, and why....

And the moment he had heard the gates to the temple open, he remembered why. There were Haibane entering the gardens, and one of them was HER....

A rumble of thunder spurred him into action, moving quickly and silently through the trees, bushes, stones and monuments, towards the central corridor. When, at last, he saw them, he slowed and sidled his way behind one of the trees, watching as the Haibane were silently lead through by the Touga whose turn it had been to guard the gates.

The Touga turned and placed the bells of communication on Rakka's wings and wrists, the girl accepting them readily. All within the temple knew the Haibane Rakka as well as any of them could. In their experience, few Haibane had spent as much time within the temple as she. She had even learned the basics of their sign language, though they wished for it not to become something she would need in later life.

When the Touga moved to place the bells on the new feather's wings, however, she shrunk from him, hiding behind Rakka like a protective barrier. Rakka turned to her and whispered something, then took the bells from the Touga, placing them upon the new girl the way the Touga had done so on herself. She then nodded at the Touga, who turned and stepped back through the gates, closing them behind him.

----o

She stood upon the edge of a large pond and stared up at the giant, circling wheel. The huge, gleaming white windvane stood alone and incongruous within the forest, its blades rising above the high treetops as light was reflected down onto the still water below.

She cast her eyes down to the pond and watched the gentle, rippling flashes of light, feeling a sense of ease she had not felt for some time. She had no idea where she was, but was sure the hall had to be nearby, and within it the red feathers she treasured. They had not followed her here, though they, perhaps, should have.

She waded into the pond, allowing the water to rise up around her waist. The water was cool and relaxing: the world and the atmosphere had become altogether too uncomfortable. She felt the temptation to wade deeper, until it rose above her head, swallowing her up completely, when she heard a voice....

"The girl does appear most apprehensive."

She shrinked as much as she could behind Rakka at the approach of the Washi. Rakka looked away nervously as she felt Ketsu tense up, as if she were about to make a run for it. The Washi chuckled, shaking his head.

"You would almost think she doesn't like me very much. Ah well, I suppose that is to be expected. It is the way of things." He paused, resting himself over the winged staff he always seemed to carry, looking quite tired. "Though what an old man like myself could do to you, to engender such fear, is beyond me. It is more than enough that I find the energy to get out of bed to greet you." He turned his eyes, momentarily, to the trees before gesturing to Rakka. "If Haibane Ketsu wishes to remain here, she can." He peered around Rakka's shoulder, at the one eye Ketsu was willing to watch him with. "Rakka can fill me in on how you are progressing. Is that alright with you?"

Ketsu didn't respond, either way. Rakka sighed, shaking her head before leaning back one more and whispering into her ear. Ketsu nodded and, with a jingling of the bells on her wings and wrists, dashed behind the nearest rock, stopped and continued her intense appraisal of the Washi. He gestured to Rakka to follow and they moved away.

Ketsu took in her surroundings, letting out a long breath when she felt assured that she was alone. Slowly, she slid down the rock, her legs seemingly exhausted from all the nervous energy she had expelled. She stared down at the moss on the ground and felt the world become hazy once more....

She was standing on the edge of the pond. She thought she could hear the voice of Rakka, calling out to her. Rakka's voice seemed worried, concerned, for her safety.... But it didn't matter. She was where she wanted to be.

Staring at the reflected glitter from the large vane above, she was about to wade out into the pond once more when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned.

The cowled figure she had seen in the hall, when she had first discovered it, stood silently, holding her back from the edge. For a moment, she wanted to scream and run, but the figure held up his other hand, and in that hand was.... a red feather.

She felt compelled to take it from him, and as she did so, the world came back into focus....

She was sitting against the rock in the temple gardens, clutching something within her hands. The cowled figure was sitting, cross-legged, in front of her. She recognised the clothing as belonging to one of the Touga, covering up any sign of individual identity. The figure silently gestured to her enclosed hands, and she opened them to see what she was holding.

It was a small, ornate blade, its handle carved and painted with the symbols of red feathers. It was like a stilletto in miniature, more decorative than practical. The tiny blade glimmered like the water atop the pond, and she looked up. Above them whired the vast blades of the vane, translucent like a ghost. She watched as the vane vanished into the shimmering haze of the pre-storm humidity.

The figure watched her bleary gaze for several moments before taking her arm and standing, helping her to her feet. She allowed him to lead her away from the rock towards the protective enclosure of the glade....

----o

Another rumble of thunder caused Rakka to turn and look back at the rock where she had last seen Ketsu. That the girl was no longer there came as no surprise to her. She had seen the Washi's gaze, towards the figure that was hiding within the gardens. She turned back to the Washi, who had paused, waiting for her.

"She will be safe." The Washi pointed at the gardens with his cane. "It was important that they meet. Better now than later, though the result, for her, would be no different." Rakka wanted to ask him what he meant, and he noticed. "As I said, she will be safe. That one has no desire other than to protect her. He knows, all too well, what it is like to go through the things she is experiencing."

----o

There was once a Haibane named Fune. His name had meant "little boat", because, in his dream, he had been pushed from one into deep, dark water. Pushed by someone he knew and thought he trusted.

Fune had hatched from his cocoon near the painting of the Akabane, and thus caused many to worry about him, greatly. For the painting was a symbol of the way their previous lives had ended.

In the act of murder.

END OF PART 8

----o

This has been, by far, the most difficult chapter for me to write.... over a month since the last one.... I've chopped and changed so much in this one, even more than when chapter 5 turned into 5 and 6. Ah well, it is finished, now.... :)

And now, a response:

Savage Reprise2: Well I've just finished your fanfic after a moderately extended read, and I find myself quite impressed with the overall quality of the story.

It is certainly well written, with a good balance of effective pacing and descriptiveness. I like the length you're writing at the moment.

DDFA: Thanks, though I sometimes feel I'm making the job difficult for myself, writing chapters to this length.... More to keep a round figure of how long I want the chapters to be than anything else....

Savage Reprise2: The fanfic does retain a certain quality of the series, but, I feel has lost a little of the charm. That's to be expected, though, of a darker story, and of anything willing to deviate from the show towards originality.

DDFA: Indeed, it would be difficult to do anything but.... To write in the original style of the series, completely, would be racking over exactly the same material as it covered, so.

Savage Reprise2: The characterisation is great, both for the original characters, and for the ones adopted from the show. I enjoyed what you've so far done with Hana's character, and the twins are certainly engaging.

DDFA: I have fun writing for them. A lot, thereof. :)

Savage Reprise2: Ketsu, though, while being at the heart of the story, so far has earned little likeability.

DDFA: I certainly hope so, as I'm not trying to make her likeable. Difficult, mixed up, sad and somewhat scary, yes. Likeable, no. ;)

Savage Reprise2: The whole idea of the Akabane is quite interesting, I must say, and the more grim and graphic nature of the tale makes it slightly more gripping than other fanfic I've read for this series.

DDFA: Grim and graphic has never been something I've shirked from. It hasn't made me popular with certain individuals, but hey.... ;) Anyway, most people tend to forget what episodes 6-8 and 13 are like. Dark and grim they be, indeed.

Savage Reprise2: There were a few occasions where I felt a scene was overdone, or where I just didn't like the idea behind it. Rakka's use of her thumb was one of those times. I didn't like that scene in the show, because, if I remember correctly, there were other objects that could certainly have been used to prevent Rakka from biting her tongue. I probably would have used the roll of bandage.

DDFA: I'm always trying to control my tendency to melodrama in my fics. Chapters 7 to 16 of "Usagi is Dead" shows what happens when I go completely manic. I'm trying my hardest to control that with this one. And it is damn hard, I tells ye....

Savage Reprise2 I'm sure Rakka would have at least remembered to have the tongue-biting issue covered beforehand.

But I love the story nonetheless, after all who has read a story that had no aspects that they did not like? I'm eagerly awaiting the next update!

DDFA: And I'm hoping that this chapter hasn't changed your mind. :)

DARK DAY FOR ANIME - THE RIGHT DISHONOURABLE MARK A PAGE

FEATHER 1.0: 1st October - 1st November 2004