"Hey, Himeno. Juanes told me you had a package here for me?"
Kyo stood on the outside of the highschool front office desk. Glancing at his watch impatiently, he sighed as the young girl fumbled with the very long package. She handed it to
Kyo with a wink and her phone number folded on a piece of pink paper. Kyo responded with a smile then searched the package for a return address. It was from Kyoto. There
was a note attached to the box. He picked it up and began to read it.
"To my only grandson:
May my teachings benefit you well.
And that your dreams may remain filled
with naked women and nothing else.
Love, your old fart of a grandfather."
"Old fart." Kyo chuckled to himself, "More like horny old fart." He grabbed the package and walked to his next class.
"Here we are. My last class." Hikaru looked up at Juanes. He really didn't look like his sister. He had a certain softness to his face; his expressions. He always looked at her with
such admiration, such love. If only Setsuna would look at her like that.
"Hey, Hikaru... You know how I feel about you right? Why can't you just give me a chance..."
"Juanes. Please don't. Not now." Hikaru placed her hand on his face.
She felt horrible about not being able to return his feelings. She wished she could. She wished she could give her heart to him entirely, but Setsuna had already taken it. She
frowned, Juanes taking notice decided to drop the subject. He bid her farewell and before he left, surprised her with a kiss on the cheek. He smiled fondly upon her and walked
away. Hikaru sighed and leaned against her classroom door. She watched Juanes walk away. Perhaps she should give him a chance. Maybe he could rip this masochistic addiction
she had to the exquisite pain of wanting someone so unattainable. She decided to give it a try. She ran after Juanes.
"Juanes! Pick me up tonight at seven." Hikaru forced a smile.
"It's a date?" Juanes asked.
"Yup. I decided that you deserved a chance."
Juanes hugged Hikaru, "You won't regret this! I promise."
"I love the rain. It just washes everything away. It's like a cleansing of the soul. When it rains, I feel this great sadness... and with this great sadness comes a faint sense of introspect.
Suddenly everything becomes so clear and I become another person entirely. I don't want to accept the other person that's me... it's difficult ...it's complicated."
Aya stared out the huge window of the cafe in a daze, her cheek resting on her hand. The smoke from Kaneshi's cigarette seemed to flood the air around them; Clouds of hypnosis.
The rain made mini waterfalls against the glass. She observed the people running from the rain, as if it were to kill them. She never understood why people would do that. It was just
water. Water...
"Come in the water." She beckoned playfully.
"No, I'm fine where I am." He assured.
"Come on in."
"No, I can't. I have my clothes on."
"So? What are you afraid of? The water?"
He simply chuckled at her remark as he watched her swim provocotively through the river. The sunset reflected off the surface of the water in an array of bright warm
colors. Her movements made ripples that reached even him, as he sat on the grass at the edge. She grinned and began to mock his chuckle.
"You are scared, aren't you!" She gasped in a fictitious look of shock, placing her hand over her mouth.
"What! What do you want to see?" He stood up, taking his shirt off as he called out to her. "You want to see this! How about this?"
He rushed into the water with his pants and shoes still on. Her eyes widened in surprise. She laughed as he she attempted to run from him, but then realized it was
pointless to run with the weight of the water surrounding her. She turned to see him closing in on her and laughed hysterically as he caught her.
"You win! You win!" She shouted in defeat as he embraced her tightly. She noticed something different about his smile this evening. It was the smile of complete
happiness. Love. It was love she noted in his eyes... in his appearance, in the way he held her.
"What are you thinking?" She asked, gently wiping the drops of water from his face. He responded by kissing her passionately until she had no breath left. She melted
in his arms.
"I love you, Aya Moritaka." He said with that voice. That familiar voice. Who was it... Who was it...!
She opened her eyes and there he was. The man who created Himura... and who was slain by it. It was him. It was the man she had killed. It was...
"...Setsuna...!" Aya gasped in a silent shock.
"Maybe it's difficult because it's so simple." Kaneshi placed his hand over Aya's. She shifted her gaze from the window to him in a sudden, swift motion. He looked directly into her
eyes; He had these intense brown eyes, they seemed empty. Something about them captivated her as she struggled to make sense of things.
"What?" Aya pulled back her hand and placed it on her lap.
"Maybe it's difficult because it's so simple. All you have to do is accept it. Accept who you are and everything that comes with it." Kaneshi took a sip from his tea, not removing his
gaze from Aya.
"I think I should be going home, now." Aya stood up from her chair.
"I'll take you." Kaneshi put out his cigarette.
"No, no, no. It's okay. I'll walk."
"In this rain?" Kaneshi looked out the window. The sky had grown darker and the rain began to pound hard on the streets.
"Don't worry about it, Mr. Kaneshi. I can handle a little rain." Thunder suddenly echoed through the skies that made Aya jump up in fright. Kaneshi glanced at her facial expression
and couldn't help but laugh lightly.
"Don't worry. I'll take you. But under one condition, only."
"What is it?"
"Stop calling me Mr. Kaneshi. It's Hiro. My father was Mr. Kaneshi."
"Aya..." Setsuna whispered in the rain, as he stood infront of the door to her home. He tightened his grip around the object in his hands. "It's time to wake up, Aya...Time for a new
chapter in the same ol'story. I'm going to change our destiny. I promise you. "
Setsuna kissed the object in his hands and placed it at the foot of the Moritaka's doorstep. He then walked away, unaffected by the rain. Hikaru watched him from her bedroom
window, as he walked away from her front door. She placed her hand on the window as a tear fell from her eye.
"...Oh Setsuna, I'm dying to explain to you what's in my heart... what's on my mind everytime I see you... everytime I see the way you look at Aya. I know you love her as much as
I love you." Hikaru placed her other hand on her heart and cried outloud. " You don't have to say it, because I feel it so much it breaks my heart."
"Where are you going?" Rin said as she jumped on her brother's bed.
"I, dear sister, have a date." Juanes beamed with glee.
Rin's eye brows crossed as she watched Juanes put cologne on. "With who?"
"With no other than, Hikaru Moritaka."
"But Hikaru doesn't like you."
"Do you have to be such a downer? She decided to give me a chance to win her heart. Which I will, despite what you say." Juanes smiled at himself in the mirror. "Bueno, hermana,
adios. Wish me luck." Grabbing his car keys, he pet his sister's head affectionatley and left.
"Here we are." Hiro Kaneshi parked his car infront of an apartment complex Aya didn't recognize. He pulled the key out of the ignition while she glanced about in confusion.
"Where are we? I thought you were taking me home." Aya frowned.
"I can't see well with all this rain so I decided to bring you to my apartment since it's just a block away from the cafe." Hiro turned to face Aya only to see her pretty face frowning.
"It's only until the heavy rain passes."
Kyo sat on the floor in his room, with the package his grandfather had sent him, He opened the package in great anticipation only to find,
"A broom stick!" He pulled the object out of it's wrappings. "...No. It's grandfather's rod!" Kyo found something engraved on the opposite side of the rod, it read Kilik . It must be
the name of the rod, he thought. "...Kilik" Kyo began to practice everything his grandfather had taught him with the rod. Kyo then faced his mirror with the rod in hand and smiled,
but the smile quickly turned into a look of disorientation as he found himself covered in blood and in another's clothes. He looked around and realized he wasn't in his room
anymore. "Hikaru! Mom! Dad! AYA!" He yelled, taking a few steps back between every name. Suddenly, he tripped on something and fell to the ground. When he glanced to see
what it was he had tripped on, he gasped in horror. He had tripped over the body of a woman. "Kasumi..." He whispered as if he knew her. He spotted a small sword clenched in
the woman's left hand. A ninja sword? He thought to himself in confusion. She was left handed like him. It seemed someone had beaten her to death with an object. "Who could do
something like this?" he frowned in sympathy for the woman.
"Don't be cynical." a wounded man pulled himself to the woman's corpse. Grasping her body with the last of his strength; with tears in his eyes he buried his face in the woman's
neck and hair. He lifted his head in a violent rage, "YOU KILLED HER! You killed my wife!" The man's voice echoed through the area. "You killed everyone in our village! You
traitor! We took you in and fed you, clothed your murdering body and look! This is how you repay us! By slaughtering everyone..." The man began to cry, "...even my precious
Kasumi..." The man kissed the lips of his dead wife and died.
Kyo glanced about in denial, in confusion... He couldn't have done this. How could he? He doesn't know these people. He's never been in this place. He gagged at the sight of all
the dead bodies in the area. How could he have done this if he didn't even have a weapon! Kyo looked at his hands, his right hand was tainted in blood and in his left was a rod. In
fear he slowly turned the rod and spotted the engraved part...it read... Kilik. He closed his eyes and tightened his grip on the rod.
Kyo opened his eyes and found himself back in his room, still facing the mirror. He glanced at his bedroom door and there found Hikaru staring at him.
"Who's Kasumi, big brother?" she inquired.
"You have a nice apartment." Aya walked through Hiro Kaneshi's apartment. Everything seemed normal, so he wasn't some serial killing rapist. She sighed in relief, laughing slightly
at herself for thinking such nonsense. Aya began taking note of all the artwork he had in his apartment. "You like art alot don't you Mr... Uhm Hiro?"
"You have no idea." He grinned.
There was this particular area in his apartment that was not lit. It was a corridor; A hall way probably leading to his room. Aya blushed when she thought of his room. Switching on
the light of the hall way, she began to walk through the hall. On the walls in the hall were paintings that portrayed a beautiful lady with a sword; All were of the same young woman.
A few of the paintings depicted the girl in fighting stances, Aya recognized. The fighting stances were those her grandmother had taught to her. She continued to take steps forward
never lifting her gaze from the paintings. The girl, she seemed so familiar. In every step she took, she felt more nostalgic. In every painting she laid her eyes on she saw a
resemblance to herself, until she came to the last painting at the end of the hall, infront of the entrance to Hiro's room.
The paintings were of her. She felt a tear fall from her eye as she placed her hand on the painting. Why was she crying? Why did she feel this sudden wave of sadness over come
her. It was a portrait of Aya and a man. They were kissing. She continued to stare at the painting. Her fingers traced the outline of the man's face... why couldn't she remember?
"What are you doing?" Hiro asked.
"Why do you have this painting?" Aya cried.
"It's a collection, I've had for a very long time."
"Who painted them?" Aya wiped away her tears, in embarrassment.
Aya watched Hiro walk towards her. She faced the painting, still wiping her wet face. He stood behind her also looking at the painting. She felt his presence behind her. She sensed
him take a step closer to her.
"What you really want to know is, who is he? Who's the man with you in the painting?"
Aya turned to face Hiro, she didn't realize he was so close. She crossed her eyebrows in anger. "Who is he?"
Hiro nudged her against the wall under the painting. She felt his breath on her face. He placed one hand on the wall and another on her arm, to keep her from moving.
"You already know the answer to that question, so stop ignoring it. It's time to wake up, Aya!"
"Wake up! I'm not asleep!"
"Is the past too tramatizing for you to deal with? Is that why you refuse to remember? Aya you're a warrior, stop playing the role of the fragile girl."
"I'm out of here." She pushed Hiro away from her, only to be pulled closer to him.
"Stop running away, Aya." Hiro pushed her roughly against the wall and kissed her.
Aya threw her arms around his neck, instantly returning the kiss. Something felt familiar about his lips on hers. She's felt them before. The scent of him, she had smelled it before.
She entangled her hands in his hair as he began to kiss her neck. Her head swung back as her eyes opened.
"You! How could you possibly love anyone? You're not capable of such a feeling. You're cold and heartless. You spit on people who aren't as rich as you are or as well
educated." She looked at him in anger, she spoke to him in disgust. "I pity your poor soul that will be flung into the fires of hell for the mistakes you've made."
He laughed at her bravery, it intrigued him. She intrigued him... she always has. He did love her, that was no false."There are no such things as mistakes. There are
things you do and things you don't do." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close, kissing her without warning. "Like this. It wasn't a mistake, it was an
intention."
She pushed herself away and pointed her sword at him. "Do you wish to die?"
"I see you enjoyed the kiss, otherwise, you wouldn't have returned it." He grinned, pulling his sword out.
"You disgust me." She spit, wiping away the taste of his lips from her mouth. It began to rain as they crossed swords.
"Are you sure?" He kept on grinning.
She gave a good fight but in the end lost to him. She was on the floor covered in mud.
"You were right about my soul being tossed into the dark abyss of the underworld. That's why..." He agreed as he gave his hand to help her stand back up. She
reluctantly took it, as she did he took advantage and pulled her close to him and whispered in her ear...
"...You're the closest to heaven that'll ever be. And I don't want to let go." He kissed her again with the passion she inspired in him. After kissing her he looked at her
facial expression and felt satisfied. "I want to paint you."
"That's going to cost you" She said with rage as she walked away. "You get off easy this time Kaneshiro, but next time I'll collect your head." She smirked.
Aya pushed Hiro away from her and ran out his apartment, picking up her bookbag on the way out. Hiro stood in the same place, the fragrance of her hair lingered on his hands, his
fingers. He knew what he needed to do. He glanced at the painting above him and grinned. "Still running away as always, Aya."