Well, it's the second chapter. I got 2 reviews for the first! Yay! Reviewer responses! This will be done mostly in the first person Pov. Just because.

Yunchen: thanks so much for your review, I was afraid no one would review it! Thanks for the positive feedback and you're right, it does say only sometimes does the remaining's hair turns white…oops.

Kouichikimura4eva: thanks for reviewing bell! Mutsuki and Itsuki are quite adorable aren't they? Lol.

Anyway, onward!

Chapter 2: Chitose

Itsuki's POV

Mother and father say Mutsuki and I are to have another sibling. I hope it's a little sister really and I know mother does too which is why I hope so too. Maybe if we both want a girl it will be a girl. I also hope she's not a twin like Mutsuki and I are. I've heard bad things about other twins from this village something about a ritual. But I don't want to think about that right now because it's too horrible.

"Itsuki? What are you thinking about?" Mutsuki asked quietly. I haven't told him about the things I've heard but he knows I'm keeping something from him.

"Nothing really. Just our new brother or sister."

"Oh. You want it to be a girl like mother does, don't you?" he asked. He's full of questions today.

"Yes. Wouldn't it be fun to have a little sister Mutsuki? When she's older I'll bet she'll look just like mother and all the boys in the village will be chasing after her. So we'll have to make sure they're nice to her, won't we?"

He just smiled and nodded. I know I should tell him about this ritual but I don't want to tell him before I have to. Before the sacrifice takes place. I'll have to tell Yae and Sae too but it'll be okay because they'll have time to run away so they won't have to do it. I don't want them to have to perform the ritual ever.

Mutsuki and I waited for a long time for our new brother or sister. Neither of us could wait but in the back of my mind thoughts of the ritual ran rampant. Every month that went by, every hour that passed was one step closer to the ritual. I don't care about saving the village. There must be another way. Finally on a warm spring day our sister came. The doctors said she might not be able to see very well and that made mother upset. But I know that Mutsuki and I will take care of her so everything will be all right.

5 years later

Chitose's POV.

I can't remember my mommy. Itsuki says that she's gone away but I want to know where. Mutsuki says he doesn't want to talk about it whenever I ask him. My daddy is always working in the village so I don't see him that much, but that's okay, I have my big brothers to take care of me. Today we're going to see Sae and Yae, they live in the big house across the scary bridge but Itsuki says that it's okay, he won't let me fall in the water.

I like Yae a lot, Sae is nice to me but Yae is nicer. She lets me play with her dolls when we go over to her house. Sae says that I can't play with hers because I might break them. But she only says that when my brothers aren't around. She's so funny sometimes.

There's a place Yae's house we're not allowed to go into, her daddy says if we ever enter that room we'll die instantly so we never want to go there. Maybe one day I'll sneak in there and see what's there but not today, Itsuki would be upset if I got into any trouble.

Itsuki's POV 3rd person.

Itsuki grabbed onto his little sister's hand. She always did hate going over Whisper Bridge, maybe it was because she couldn't see very well and was afraid to fall in the water and drown like a woman had long ago. Chitose was always very curious about everything so he had to watch her all the time so she didn't get into trouble. She was afraid of most people though. On the way home she would probably ask about the dilapidated old house that was connected to theirs. She always did even though he didn't know who lived there or why it was usually locked.

Mutsuki had a hold on Chitose's other hand as well, they both promised if she fell off the bridge at least one of them would be able to jump in and save her though in reality neither Itsuki or Mutsuki could swim.

They continued to walk until they got to Kurosawa house, Yae and Sae usually waited for them inside the front gates now. Both sets of twins were watched more closely now but only Itsuki knew the reason. The ritual. It was coming and he knew it but he could do nothing to stop it. Soon Mutsuki would know too and then…

"Itsuki Itsuki, we're here, we're here!" Chitose exclaimed happily.

He smiled at her and was about to let go of her hand when she grabbed on tighter.

"Nii-san you have to protect me!" his little sister said with a giggle.

"From what? We're over the bridge now."

She pulled him down so she could whisper in his ear.

"The monsters!" she screamed and ran toward Kurosawa house.

Of course both Mutsuki and Itsuki got dragged along with her but they didn't mind. They were happy as long as she was.

Itsuki laughed, "What monsters? I don't see any monsters. Unless… you're calling Yae and Sae monsters? That's not very nice!"

Chitose gasped, "No! Yae and Sae are my friends nii-san!"

The two twin girls were waiting for them right inside the front door of the huge house but they could obviously hear everything that went on outside so they had heard the three of them coming.

Yae and Sae waved from where they were sitting and smiled at them all. Chitose who was always shy when it came to people gave a small wave and moved closer to her brothers. Itsuki didn't know why Chitose was still a bit timid around the other pair of twins but she would probably get over it eventually.

"We thought you would take-"

"Forever," Yae finished for her sister. The two girls tended to finish each other's sentances and say the same thing at the same time unintentionally. Itsuki and Mutsuki never did that but Itsuki almost wished they would, it seemed that Sae and Yae were closer than the two boys were to each other. That bothered Itsuki sometimes, he wanted to be as close as he could to his brother before the ritual took place.

But he shook those thoughts from his head, now was not the time to feel sorry for himself. Mutsuki was always brave so Itsuki would be too; he wanted to be like his brother.

The girls weren't allowed to go out that much anymore so the group of them went to the twin's room to play. Chitose stayed close to her brothers until Yae asked her if she wanted to play with the dolls with her. Sae stayed with Itsuki and Mutsuki while they sat there watching over their sister.

"Itsuki, come with me, I want to show you something," Sae whispered.

He looked at her and raised and eyebrow. What would she want to show him that was so important that she would hide it even from her sister? Itsuki looked over at Mutsuki who pretended that he hadn't heard anything.

The two got up and left when Yae and Chitose weren't looking. Sae grabbed his hand and started to run as quietly as she could. Maybe this was so important that she didn't want her father to know either? Regardless Itsuki ran with her and tried to keep quiet.

Then ran down the long cloth hallway and to the Family Altar Room. Itsuki had never been inside but he knew that they weren't allowed to be in this part of the house. So if they weren't allowed why was Sae going there? He was about to ask her when she suddenly stopped. She reached into the folds of her kimono and pulled out a small key. Sae stuck the key in the lock and turned it. A second later there was a click and they pulled open a door each.

The Family Altar room was huge and was adorned with many decorations and pictures of the dead. Offerings from days previous to this one could be seen on the small ledge of the altar where fruit or other food or gifts were placed. A big box made out of glass surrounded a lot of the main altar though most others were out in the open.

Sae beckoned him to follow her and he quickly matched her stride, he didn't want to be left behind. They walked down two flights of stairs in the right corner of the room closest to the door they had entered through and got to a small wooden door. It was unlocked unlike most other doors in this part of the house.

The two then walked down a short hall and up a set of stairs until they reached a previously undiscovered part of the house.

Two long identical pathways led to two identical doors at the end. From what Itsuki could see the doors led inside to another part of the building. Sae seemed excited but Itsuki wasn't. This sounded very familiar to him and just looking down the paths made him uneasy. But he doubted Sae would let him leave now, she looked too curious to miss out on her chance to see inside of the forbidden area.

"You go one way and I'll go the other," Sae said with a smile. She at least seemed to know what was going on.

Itsuki as apprehensive as he was just nodded and went down the path on the left.

At the end her found himself face to face with Sae and standing on a part in the floor that went down when he stood on it. The door in front of each of them opened simultaneously and not knowing what else to do Itsuki walked through.

Once inside they were stopped by yet another door. Two double doors again. Sae seemed to have the key for everything and opened the doors.

The room they were now in was strange, like an octagon or hexagon. Ropes hung from poles in each of the points the room intersected. In the middle was a pan like thing but Itsuki didn't know where it went other than outside because cold air could be felt blowing through the cracks. All he knew was that he wanted out of this place, the feeling he had earlier had worsened and he kept looking at Sae for any indication that she wanted to leave.

"I wonder where this door leads to. Itsuki, What's wrong?"

"…I don't know…I'm worried about Chitose let's go back," he lied.

"But…oh, okay."

They turned back the way they came and made their way to Sae and Yae's room as quietly as they could. Mutsuki was still sitting in the same place and didn't look at them when they returned. Yae and Chitose were still playing loudly so they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Itsuki sat down next to his brother and said nothing. He didn't know what had scared him so much about that place but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't shake the feeling that bad things had happened there.

"Nii-chan, are you alright?" Mutsuki asked quietly.

"Yes, I'm fine…"

Chitose looked back at the two boys so they both smiled at her. Itsuki didn't want to worry anyone so he would just keep quiet about what had happened. Maybe it had all been in his imagination.

Well, gonna end it there. Itsuki and Mutsuki were a lot older in this chapter than they were in the first. Chitose is around five so assuming they were 9 at the start of this chapter they are 14 in the later parts. The next part will be basically when the others find out about the ritual. I'm assuming Yae and Sae were told about the same time as Mutsuki and Itsuki simply because if something were to go wrong the other set of twins wouldn't have to be informed. Itsuki knows about the ritual only because he overheard villagers talking about it sometime and as we all know the villagers would be happy it's taking place as they want to save their own skins. Itsuki probably wouldn't have much of a sixth sense as I'm going to assume Mutsuki had (it seems to be a pattern that the younger (by the AGV standards) had a stronger 6th sense.) so he probably would have only gotten a bad feeling and a desire to get out of the place as we know that that is where the forbidden ritual starts (the beating up of the kusabi). that's all for now!