Hello, all! I don't have a whole lot to put here (yawns), except to again thank Dying Redemption for reviewing. And, once again, if anyone else has anything to say, feel free. I accept criticism, but if you flame me, I WILL SIC SEIJIRO ON YOU! (Does pathetic imitation of Sae laugh).

Hikari Kiryu lay awake in her room. She had been hearing strange whispers all over the place since she saw Akane (or was it Azami? They were so hard to tell apart!) and had been unable to sleep for any reasonable amount of time. Most of them seemed to originate from the study, where Yoshitatsu had made his dolls.

What was he saying? Something about that piece of paper I burned…the eyes…and…

And then there were the periodic outbursts of WHY KILL WHY KILL that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

And the projector had started working by itself.

And the head she had found in one of the storage areas.

And the front door had stopped opening. She had to use the one under the bridge, which was far too close to where she had seen her cousin…

"I have to get out of here…" she murmured to herself. "Have to go…get away…"

Must make the dolls

The eyes are the key!

WHY KILL WHY KILL

Kill that stupid doll!

"The…doll?" Hikari clapped her hands over her face. "What doll?"

You don't need a replacement for me

"I don't understand!" she shouted to the ceiling. "What do you want from me?"

Kill it…

As odd as it sounds, the prison was an amazing place for Seijiro. There were books all over the place! Shelves and shelves of information for him to see…

He read and read. The Crimson Sacrifice and the repentance and the twin Shrine Maidens and Altar Twins and the Kusabi

His eyes flicked back over to that part. The Kusabi? He hadn't heard that one before…

Slowly, Seijiro began to understand his fate. The Hidden Ceremony…sacrificing outsiders…

"Am I…to be a Kusabi?"

At first, he was afraid, but after a few seconds, he broke out in a huge grin. "To see Hell with my own eyes," he whispered to himself. "That would be a real experience…"

Itsuki sat impatiently in his cell, writing in his diary. How was he supposed to do anything from in here? He'd be able to break out to help Yae and Sae escape – that is, if Ryozo had found out how to escape. But what if he hadn't. Or, worse yet, what if he had left? Itsuki wasn't sure what he would do then. They could conceivably break the door open, but that wouldn't be the best way to do things…and, besides, Sae had a game leg. They couldn't hurt it before the escape.

He ran a hand through his white hair. What was he supposed to do?

Wait.

"I hate waiting!" he shouted.

Chitose, meanwhile, was knocking on the door to the Osaka House. She had read that there were four stone tablets – one for each family – that were required to open the Kureha Shrine door, and knew that she would have to get them for her brother. She really didn't want to be here, though - Osaka-san made her really nervous – even more than anyone else, except maybe the Ceremony Master. Her hunchback was so frightening, and her hair was always hanging in her face.

The door slid open, and Chitose let out an audible sigh of relief. It wasn't Osaka-san, but one of her children. The boy looked at her in surprise.

"Never see you out," he commented.

"Y-yeah…uh, can I come inside?"

"Sure." The boy stepped away from the door. "What do you need?"

"I…uh, I think that my brother left something here a while ago. When he visited Osaka-san and brought her some bread?"

"Oh, right." The boy (Chitose had no idea what his name was; she didn't know any names except Yae and Sae) turned and walked into the Sunken Fireplace Room. "Well, we're playing Demon Tag right now. You want to join?"

"N-no…thanks…"

"Alright. Just let me know if you need help with anything." The boy turned and left her alone.

Chitose slipped over to one of the doors and opened it. She came into what looked like a storage room. "So many boxes…" she murmured.

But what she needed was lying right outside of one. The big red one.

A small, round stone with a pattern on it.

Chitose bent down and picked it up. "Osaka Crest…"

Next was the Kiryu Crest. When she asked Kiryu-san if she had a small, round stone, she woman immediately went and got it. Normally Chitose didn't mind Kiryu-san a whole lot, but she was really scary right now…

Hikari eventually walked back to the door (the back one – the front one was still jammed) and placed the crest in Chitose's hand. She then shut the door without saying another word.

Chitose took a deep breath. Only one more…

She stepped into the cemetery. The Tsuchihara family had been gone for a while now, but their crest was supposed to be in the small shrine here.

She walked past the Old Tree, into the cemetery proper. The shrine was easy to find, and easy to open.

"The last crest…"

She held it to her chest. She had them! She had atoned for her earlier failure! Her brother could do what he needed to do now…

"You…"

Chitose whirled around, barely keeping a hold of the Tsuchihara Crest. Standing in front of her was a girl she vaguely recognized, and knew to be dead.

Akane.

"YOU CAN'T TAKE THEM FROM ME! I WANT THEM! I MUST EAT THEIR PAIN!"

Akane began to advance. Chitose let out a shriek and turned to run away. She sped across the bridge and to Misono Hill, past the Osaka House and to the storehouse. The veiled priests standing guard looked at her and then at the apparition behind her and began to chant.

Itsuki pulled the door open. "What's going on?" he shouted. He saw the girl chasing his sister and began to charge forward.

The two collided. For a moment, Chitose knew that it was all worth it – that her brother's love was worth anything. She pressed the crests into his hand and he quickly stuffed them into his kimono.

They held each other for several minutes as Akane Kiryu fled from the priests.

"Thank you, Chitose," he whispered.

All right! One more chapter completed! BTW – I didn't go over how she found the Tachibana Crest because all it would have involved was her going into one of the storage areas and digging around for it. So that's why she had four crests to give her brother. I just felt like pointing that out.

The Repentance draws ever closer…