Note: This chapter contains explicit language. Even though you can hear these words in PG-13 movies, I'll say that this is rated R, just in case any of you soccer moms are reading this...
chapter two: separation
"You're all crazy..." Roku said under his breath.
"Excuse me?" Nemu shot back. Roku quickly thought of a way to escape from her question.
"Ok, this has gone far enough," He stated as he rose out of the bed, "You can take off those fake wings and those stupid looking halos now. Where are the cameras? Eh?"
He opened the closet and began digging through the racks of clothes. Finding nothing, he began to search behind each of paintings that were hanging on the walls.
Rakka tried to calm him down, "Roku, I assure you there are no cam-"
"Goddammit! My name's not 'Roku'!" He shouted, interrupting Rakka, "It's... it's..." He shook his head in dismay and continued his search.
"Hey!" Kana shouted, "If this is fake, then how would I be able to do this?" Kana then started to move her wings without touching them. Soon all the girls began moving their wings. To further insure that Roku was not dreaming, Hikari started waving her hand between her halo and her head. She then waved it above the halo, making sure any doubts were gone from Roku's mind.
Roku, full of male stubbornness, headed for the mirror that was hanging next to the window. He observed his green eyes, piercing itself in the mirror. He then studied the golden halo floating above his own head. Slowly, he raised his hand and waved between the top of his head, and under the halo.
Nothing. No wires from his head. Next, he waved above the halo. Again, nothing was holding the Halo.
"So...this isn't a dream..."
"No it's not." Rakka said, inching toward him, "And soon, you'll have your own pair of wings."
Roku reached over his left shoulder and felt around the blade area. Huge swells the size of billiard balls were where nothing was supposed to be. Shocked, Roku sat back down on the edge of the bed.
"When?" He asked.
"Soon." Nemu said, "There'll be a lot of pain, and tonight you'll suffer from a heavy fever, but by tomorrow morning you'll be fine. It'll seem like it was a dream..."
Roku closed his eyes and sighed.
"Goddammit..." he grunted, "I need a cig..."
later that evening
As Roku laid there on his stomach, the girls prepared to receive his wings. There were bundles of cloth piled on the dining table, along with brushes, a tube of ointment, and a dishpan filled with soapy water. With each passing moment, the pain in Roku's back multiplied its intensity, though being the stubborn male that he is; he kept to himself, only allowing a few grunts and moans of pain to escape from his mouth.
"Are you hurting badly?" Rakka asked as she wiped his back with a warm cloth, "You want some tranquilizers?"
"No..." Roku grunted, "I'm fine, thank you."
As if on cue, a small amount of blood squirted from one of the swells on his back and onto the floor. Roku growled as the pain finally broke his "manliness".
"Oh no! It's started!" Rakka yelped as she rand to get an object from the table. More blood gushed out, this time from both swells. "Bite onto this!" Rakka placed a pair of spoons wrapped in cloth into Roku's mouth.
He accepted, and clamped tightly onto the homemade mouth piece. Hikari and Kana quickly gathered bundles of cloth and placed them on the floor around the bed to prevent anyone from slipping on the blood. Quietly, the girls waited in angst as Roku writhed in pain from the rapid growth of his wings. They all wished that they could somehow stop the pain, or help make the growth more comfortable, but they each knew that nothing could be done. It had to be natural.
Roku held his breath and arched his back. The swells on his back began shaking erratically, spraying blood onto everyone's face. At almost twelve midnight, Roku's wings finally made their violent appearance.
(PC)...
I woke to the soft sound of someone brushing something on my back. Slowly I opened my weary, sleep deprived eyes. Realizing that my face was buried in a pillow, I moved my head to face my left, where the most light came through... I saw a soft image of somebody sitting at my side. She was carefully brushing blood off of what looked like feathers.
"Ra-...Rakka?" I whispered.
"Yes?" She answered.
"Damn... so I'm not home anymore..."
"No."
"Are you... brushing my... wings?"
"Yes."
"You've been up... all night?"
"Yes."
"... Thank you..."
"Hey! I was up too!" It was Hikari. From what I could tell, she was to my right, brushing my other wing.
"Yea! We had to take hourly shifts brushing all the blood from your wings!" Another familiar voice.
I chuckled, "Thank you too, Hikari... Kana..."
"You're welcome!" Kana said sternly. Rakka giggled to herself.
"Where's... Nemu?" I asked.
"She went to the Haibane Renmei to inform them about you and...uh..." Kana trailed off. Suddenly, I could feel the atmosphere of the room go from a warm spring-like feeling, to a cold dark winter.
"And?" I questioned.
"When you were inside the cocoon..." Rakka asked, "Do you remember seeing somebody else?"
I thought as hard as I could. "No...why?"
"Well..." Rakka trialed off as well.
"You're one half of a set of twins." Hikari said.
"Me? Have a twin?"
"Yes."
"Well... where is he?"
"Um..." Rakka whispered, "It's actually a 'she'...and..."
"And?" I was quickly filled with adrenaline. I wanted to see this "twin" of mine.
"I'm sorry... she didn't make it out of the cocoon alive."
I was devastated. There was supposed to be somebody I knew from my past, and now that only link is gone, before I even had any chance to ask about anything.
"Dammit..." I cursed myself.
(PC)...
A soft knocking came from the guestroom door. Slowly, Nemu crept in, followed by seven members of the Haibane Renmei, along with the honored Communicator. Strangely, two of the Renmei Members were carrying bags that sounded as if it contained metal.
"They've come to collect the body..." Nemu said quietly, "And to... uh..."
"That is enough." The Communicator demanded. He then made hand signals toward a few Renmei members. Complying with his orders, three of the Renmei left the room.
"What's all this about?" Rakka asked, "What's wrong with Roku?"
Ignoring her, The Communicator made more hand symbols toward the remaining Renmei Members in the room. Rakka suddenly felt the blood rush from her head to her legs, recognizing the symbol for "saw". Stumbling to regain her balance, she confronter the communicator.
"What are you going to do with Roku?"
The Communicator turned to face Rakka. He examined her face quietly as tears began flowing from her eyes. Slowly, he walked over to Roku, who was still lying face down. He picked up his left arm, showing to Rakka a black scar running from his wrist to his shoulder. The girls gasped in horror at the sight before them.
"You are the newborn, yes?" The Communicator asked Roku, "What is your name?"
Still filled with pain from his wings, Roku quietly answered.
"It's...Roku."
"Feather Roku, you had a twin accompany you. True?"
Roku was silent.
"Sadly, she was killed even before she was born... Do you know why?"
"Killed?."
"Your left arm is possessed. It strangled her to death."
"What?"
"You are sin-bound!" He stated.
"I...don't understand!" Rakka retorted, "How can he be sin-bound? His feathers don't have a spot of black on them!"
"What's going on?" Roku frantically asked as the Renmei Members turned him onto his back, "What's all this sin-bound crap?"
"Unlike you, Rakka," The Communicator began, "This boy had no control over his own sin. An outside source took control of his left arm, forcing it to strangle the unborn girl."
"What?" Rakka asked, "What kind of outside source?"
"That is only something that he can answer. But we must first have him rid of his arm, lest his sin be spread throughout his entire body."
"What?" Roku screamed. The Renmei Members opened one of the bags and drew several leather belts. Immediately, they began restraining Roku's legs, strapping them down to the bed. Another Renmei member wrapped a belt around Roku's right arm, tying it to the upper bed post. His left arm was then strapped by a belt connected to a small table. A Renmei Member then sat on it, rendering Roku completely immobile.
"Rakka?" Hikari asked, "What are they saying?"
"What are they gonna do?" Nemu questioned.
The Communicator bent down to open the other bag. To the girls' horror, The Communicator drew a surgical saw. They each closed their eyes, avoiding seeing anymore of the silver instrument.
"What the fuck's that for?" Roku shouted, "GOD NO! PLEASE, NO!" He tried desperately to escape from the restraints.
"Please leave." The Communicator ordered the girls. They all walked slowly out the door, and into the hallway. Rakka was the last to exit.
"Nemu! Help! Please! Kana! Hikari!" Roku screamed, "RAKKA! NO! COME BACK!"
Her heart filled with sadness, she regretfully closed the door behind her, leaving a screaming Roku in the hands of The Communicator. From within the guestroom, the wails of the newborn shattered any type of barrier. His screams echoed that of every muscle fiber that was ripped apart from his body. The sickening sound of flesh being torn apart went straight past the girls' ears and into their hearts. They all fell to the floor, helpless, unable to do anything to comfort him. They each covered their ears, trying to dampen the siren-like call for help. The Young Feathers of Old Home ran straight for their rooms, hiding in the closet, scared of the monstrous noise that came from Roku's lungs. The Haibane of Abandoned Factory came out of their rooms, trying to find out what was that horrid noise. The entire town of Glie was suddenly saddened, realizing that somebody, somewhere was in great pain, and nothing could be done.
Seconds later, a stomach-churning grinding noise was heard. The Girls knew that they had reached bone. Roku begged them to stop cutting. When they didn't acknowledge his cries, he began pleading for God to stop them from cutting anymore. He made sure his voice could be heard from heaven. Frustrated that God wouldn't answer, he began threatening the Renmei Members. His voice became hoarse, matching the sound of the saw boring through the bone, and back into muscle.
In a matter of minutes, the hellish act was done. The ghoulish screams softened into quite sobs. The girls hesitantly reentered the room one at a time. They all gasped as one of the Renmei members wrapped Roku's severed arm and placed it in a black sack. Two of the Renmei Members were quickly cleaning up the blood that stained the floor, walls and even the ceiling. The remaining Renmei Member untied Roku from the bed, replacing the belts into the bag that it came in.
The Communicator wiped the blood from the silver saw, handing it to one of the Renmei, who quickly placed it into it's case, and exited the room, following the others.
"Roku," Said The Communicator, "I understand the pain of losing a limb, but it had to be done, to save the life of not only yourself, but also the entire town of Guri."
Roku, still sobbing, covered his eyes with his forearm, ignoring the Communicator.
The Communicator reached into his cloak and withdrew a small brown booklet. "You are now recognized as a member of The Haibane Renmei. This will guarantee you your daily life. As a Haibane, your duty is to work in the town of Guri, showing a good example for the Young Feathers to see."
Furious, Roku snatched the booklet from The Communicator's hands, flinging it across the room. He then returned to his original position.
The Communicator walked over to the girls, handing Nemu a small bottle.
"Make sure to apply this to his wound every night, taking care to replace his bandages." He then turned to Rakka, "Have him come to the temple as soon as he is ready." He then turned and exited the room, leaving the girls alone with Roku.
end chapter two
disclaimer: with the exception of Roku, I do not own any characters that have made an appearance in the story. I did this for fun, not for money. If you own these characters, please don't sue me. Please don't ruin my fun. Also, this story is only allowed to appear on If you wish to paste this onto your site, please ask permission first and give credit where credit's due.