Akane is a Remaining, emotionless, shuns all contact. Reclusive. It is expected among the villagers especially for someone so young. Yoshitatsu, however; wishes to help his daughter in any way he can. Using his extraordinary talent in doll making, he builds a replacement Azami. All goes well until the doll becomes possessed and Akane becomes a puppet of the doll...
The doll's view will be included. Also, I use X or XX days later only because there really is no real timeline other than Akane's and Azami's story happened 'long before the Repentance.'
Chapter 4- Return
Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill? Why kill?
Feverish scratches from the stylus onto the paper were all that young Akane Kiryu could hear. She had not cared to celebrate with the rest of the village. They were safe, Azami was forever gone. Nothing could change what had happened. Her sister's death couldn't have been prevented, no matter what she had tried to convince herself. Many people had tried to see her, give thanks, present flowers and other gifts. She had told her father to turn them away and he did with every guest. No one could bring what she yearned for…no one could bring back Azami.
Her black hair fell into her eyes, but she left it there. Azami hated hair in her eyes and anyone else's. With her gone, Akane could see no reason to feign interest. She threw the stylus onto the floor and slammed the violet book shut. The ink to her right almost fell, but she caught it deftly and put it back onto the desk. She stood up and put her diary in the crevice of the family altar, making sure it was completely hidden from view. After she made sure no one would find it except herself, she left the room and marched slowly back to her room. As she was about to open the door she could faintly hear her father yelling at someone in the entrance of the house.
"I'm sorry," he yelled. "My daughter does not want to see anyone! Yes, yes I'll leave the gifts for her, but please let her alone!"
As she closed her door, the other door had slammed as well. She sighed and silently thanked her father as she sat on the tatami mat. She resisted the urge to look at her sister's side of the room and opened the drawer underneath her mirror stand. Inside was her sister's pale purple necklace. She took it out and stared at it.
"I want you to have it."
"But it's yours."
"I don't want you to forget about me."
"But...but I won't forget you"
"Take it, I won't need it when I..."
Tears rolled down Akane's face at the sudden memory of her sister. She put the stone away and rolled onto the floor, crying herself to sleep.
Yoshitatsu sighed heavily as he leaned onto his work table. Pieces of paper and doll parts were strewn over the table and the parts not in boxes were in a small corner of the upper right of the room. He rubbed his temples as he thought about the doll of Azami.
"She should look exactly like the twin mechanism," he muttered to himself. "…it shouldn't be that hard. I'd just need to find the right color glass for the eyes for realism. That could take days, Akane needs something now!"
He slammed his fist onto the table. Where would he find the right color glass for the eyes? He thought for a short while, but decided that he shouldn't worry about the eyes until last. He went to the box and grabbed the necessary cogs, cords; everything needed to make the perfect doll…the perfect replacement.
Hours later he had succeeded in finishing little more than half of the Azami doll. All he needed was an arm, one of her purple kimonos, finish making the face, and the eyes. Satisfied that he had done quite a lot than he had expected of himself, he grabbed the doll and put it in a separate box that he had cleaned out earlier. 'It should be finished by tomorrow,' he thought, closing the door behind him. 'Akane…she'll be so excited. I can't wait to see her happy again.'
The next day had started out uneventful. Akane woke up; still expecting to hear her sister's pacing footsteps. She half-expected to see her standing and staring at herself in the mirror, making sure her hair was out of her face and her kimono was perfect. She wanted to hear her cheery morning welcome, "About time, Akane! I've been up for hours! Let's go, okay?" She would have killed to see her bright smile. She missed her ringing laughter.
It never came. None of it would ever come back. Azami was gone.
Akane stood up and went to her dresser, picking out her purple kimono. She put it on quietly, still avoiding eye contact with Azami's side. She had no idea what she was going to do; Azami was the one who had always thought of adventures. Akane had thoughts but hers were rather simple compared to Azami's. She turned and decided to go the doll room. She walked silently, not caring to look up when she brushed past one of the younger children who must have sneaked past her father. She opened the red door and went inside, staring at the doll mechanism.
"This is the passageway to the X?"
It was amazing to her how close the dolls resembled her and her sister. Akane glanced at the table to her right and could see Azami reaching for the doll. She turned away from it and stared at the doll Azami. Akane sat on the floor in front of it, looking up into its shadowy face. She wanted to cry again, but couldn't. She felt completely numb, every memory of her sister seemed sharp and cold, but it didn't bother her as it did yesterday. Akane rubbed her throat and the memory of the butterfly flooded back into her mind. She pushed it away and focused her mind only on the doll in front of her.
'If only it was real.'
Yoshitatsu stared triumphantly at the blue glass in his hands. He couldn't stop smiling at his catch. How lucky was it that one of Akane's gifts was a glass vase, a blue one nonetheless? He didn't seem to think Akane would mind that he had gotten rid of the flowers. She had never seemed interested in flowers, and he knew that she wouldn't care about the vase. After all, it now had a more important duty to the replacement of Azami.
He placed the freshly cut glass eyes gingerly on his work table, and fished the doll out of the box. He reconnected the arm and placed the kimono on the doll. He set it behind him, just in front the screen. It looked odd without its head, but Yoshitatsu was far too used to that sort of appearance he didn't even pass a glance as he searched for the right paints for Azami's face.
He brushed the silky black hair out of the doll's face and concentrated solely on his departed daughter's image. In little under an hour he had finished, all that had to be done was put the eyes in and make any adjustments to them, and to attach the head to the neck. Carefully, he placed the eyes in the open sockets, and was surprised that no minor adjustments had to be made. Smiling again, he lifted the head and placed it on the neck until he heard a click. He stood back and looked admiringly at his best accomplishment.
"Azami…"
"I…only want…Akane…to do it…!"
Akane jerked from her sleep. The dream of her and her sister in the altar room was one that kept repeating. Akane sat up and did her morning ritual, brush her hair and put on her purple kimono, and was about to go to the doll room when sudden shuffling noises from behind the screen on the other side of the room stopped her. Waiting patiently Akane saw her father round the corner with something in his arms…no not something…someone.
"Azami!" Akane yelled, running over to her "sister". "She's…you…you brought her back! But…but…how?"
Yoshitatsu smiled, but couldn't find anything to say about how Azami came back. "Azami…wanted to come back."
Despite the lameness of that lie, Akane didn't mind…didn't care. Her thoughts were only on the fact that Azami had come back to her and her father. Yoshitatsu only sighed, thinking that one day she would find out that Azami was a doll now. He patted Akane's shoulder and left the room as Akane leant over to Azami's ear and started whispering to her.
Father brought Azami back. All I could do was apologize.
She forgave me. The killing is over now. No more. I'll never hurt anyone again.
Akane never leaves Azami's side for even a second, always whispering things to her. I don't know what she says, but at least she seems to be slowly returning to her former self.
X days later
A loud sound awoke Akane and she saw that Azami was missing from her side. Frantic, she sat up and searched the dark bedroom for her sister, but there was no sign of her. She stood up and went through the hall of contrasts to look for her. She wrapped her white sleeves around her, her soft footsteps padded lightly through the hall. Shivering slightly, she turned the corner and heard a door slam from the other end of the hall.
"Azami?" her high pitched voice asked. "Where are you?"
Akane backtracked to the other end of the hall and went into the projection room. She hurried through this room, afraid of the images that would suddenly flash on the wall. Akane ran over to the stairs as she heard the door above her close. She hurried up the stairs and entered the next room. Still no sign of Azami.
Getting colder with every passing second, she retraced her steps and went back to her room. She lay on the floor for what seemed like hours, but Azami hadn't come back. Finally, she drifted off to an unsettling sleep full of dolls telling her to kill.
The doll Azami stood at the top of the stairs. Looking down, she could see a large bare room with only a lone clock by the door. Memories of the sister and her entered her mind. She shook them away, her neck making noises unlike what she had made when she was alive.
"Father made me this way," she whispered, her wooden lips barely moving. "A doll…no heart to feel with, no mind to think with, without soul to live. Sister brought my soul back. Why? She killed…"
The door opened and Azami saw her father's outline. He looked up, hearing the echo of the voice and footsteps on the other side of the door.
"Akane?" he asked.
Azami didn't answer and instead turned around, walking awkwardly back to her and her sister's room. Yoshitatsu stared at the sight. That was not his daughter. He backed out of the room quickly and went back to his work room.
Last night, I heard footsteps. I thought it was Akane, but it was really Azami-walking by herself. Akane has spent so much time thinking of her sister, a spirit must have taken over the doll. It is said that when a spirit takes residence in a doll, it can steal the souls of others.
X days later
"He wants to kill me…"
"I don't want to kill…"
"You killed me!"
"I don't want…"
"You want me to die again!"
"I don't…"
"You will kill him or I will…"
"I don't want to kill…"
She's like a doll.
Controlled by Azami, she keeps repeating, "I don't want to kill," over and over. She looks so much like my daughter...Azami must be killed, again.
Father says Azami has been possessed, and he's trying to kill her. He's trying to kill Azami. I won't let him do it. I won't let that happen anymore.
Akane walked silently to the doll room. Her eyes were glazed, her motions were mechanical. She walked in front of the Azami doll mechanism. Carefully, she stood on the pedestal that the unmoving doll stood sentinel on and held the arms tightly from under the sleeves. With a quick movement, she tore the arms from the sockets and threw them carelessly over her shoulder. Akane held onto the waist with one arm for support and with the other, she twisted the head off.
With her bounty in her arms, she gathered the limbs and walked around the house placing the parts in separate boxes. One arm in the sliding screen room, the other in the second floor stair room, and the head in the storeroom. Her task completed, she walked back to her and Azami's room. Azami only looked up from her sleep as Akane lay down next to her. She knew that her sister had obeyed her orders.
Akane damaged the mechanism to access the passageway, and she took part of the doll. I have to restore the twin doll to normal, and drop the possessed doll of Azami into the X, to send that spirit back to hell.
But that path was the only way to the X...
Azami watched her father as he ran past her in fear. She smiled, as much as her lips would allow. Akane had done what she had told her to do, with amazing results. Her father was absolutely frantic now, trying to find the missing parts, and she couldn't help but laugh about it.
"Can't kill me now…can you father…?" she whispered as the door closed behind him. "Locking yourself in your room…what will that succeed in?"
Akane came from behind the corner. She was deathly pale now and her voice was so soft as if the mark on her throat was strangling her. She glanced at the doll and waited expectantly for what she had to say, but nothing came. Instead she went back to her room and Akane followed obediently.
Yoshitatsu stared hopelessly at his table. Nothing could be done, the parts were missing and he had no idea where they were hiding. He turned around to face the screen when he saw a fuzzy outline of a girl just in front of it. Kiryu backed away quickly, fearing it was the spirit of the doll coming to kill him. The girl lifted her head and he could see a faint red mark on her small neck.
"A…Azami?" He asked weakly.
She walked forward and grabbed his hand. Yoshitatsu saw a brief flash of a box. The girl stepped away and vanished as soon as she had appeared. He looked down at where she was standing and saw the girl's notebook lying there with two small glass balls next to it. He picked up the balls and saw that they were the eyes to the doll mechanism. He put them in his pocket and opened the book lying on the floor.
YoU Don'T NeeD a sUbSTitUte. for Me.
I aM parT oF AkANe Now.
I aM One wIth AkaNE.
KILL. IT.
KiLL ThaT StupID dOll!
I saw Azami, even though she should be in the X now...
She was asking me to kill the Azami doll. I have made a grave mistake. The twins had at last become one again...I was wrong to make that doll.
I think Azami was trying to tell me where the head and hands of the doll are hidden. They're hidden in a box, somewhere in the house.
Haha! Finished chapter four, so enjoy it. Chapter five will be after the next Himuro ending.