Close To The Enemy

Part 3

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own the storyline or characters of Yami no Matsuei/Descendants of Darkness. They belong to Yoko Matsushita. I only own Amaria.

During her slumber, Amaria had a nightmare. In it, she was lying in her bed at home. She was asleep and her alarm clock started to ring just like it always did. Naturally, she turned it off, got out of bed and went to the bathroom.

On her walk back to her room, she noticed it was eerily quiet. Normally her parents could be heard talking downstairs. Amaria thought nothing of it, though, and went straight to her bedroom to get dressed. Amaria finished putting on the day's outfit and walked downstairs.

She entered the kitchen. There, slumped in their seats, were her parents. Their eyes were glazed over, their skin chalk-white, and bright crimson red blood was everywhere. Amaria stared on in disbelief, How could this of happened?, she thought to herself as she slowly backed in to the wall and slumped down.

Amaria screamed, tears streaming from her eyes, "No...NO!" Amaria was suddenly jerked awake from the nightmare by a loud scream. She looked around the room and saw Hisoka hunched over on the floor near her bed. He seemed to be shivering in pain.

"Hi-Hisoka?" she managed to say. The door flew open and two men came running in. Amaria recognized one of them as Tsuzuki. The other man had light brown hair, dark blue eyes, glasses, and a gray suit on.

Tsuzuki spotted Hisoka and went to help him. The other man addressed Amaria, "What happened?" Hisoka suddenly spoke up, "I heard her screaming and tried to wake her up. But, when I touched her her feelings started to flood me...I overloaded." Tsuzuki helped Hisoka up as the man introduced himself, "I'm Tatsumi Seiichiro. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Amaria nodded. Tatsumi continued, "I see you didn't sleep well. Do you remember what the nightmare was about?" "My parents...they were...dead," Amaria slowly replied. Tatsumi inquired further, "Do you remember who shot you?" he finished while adjusting his glasses.

"Yes. He was a mysterious man. He wore all white and his hair and eyes were silver. His right eye was different, though. It paralyzed me until I couldn't move at all." she finished recollecting. "Muraki!" Tsuzuki suddenly spat. "And you're sure of this," Tatsumi asked. Amaria nodded once more

The room seemed to become tense. The three men looked at each other and then back at Amaria. It made her feel uneasy. Hisoka, now recovered from the ordeal, walked out of the room.

Tatsumi looked at Tsuzuki, "Tsuzuki, I'm putting you in charge of keeping this girl safe." With that, he left the room. Amaria was even more uneasy now. What could there be that she needed to be kept safe from?

Tsuzuki, noticing Amaria's uneasiness, explained to her why she needed to be kept safe from Muraki. Amaria was silent for a time. Finally, she said to him, "Tsuzuki...I'm scared." She could feel tears welling up in the back of her eyes.

Tsuzuki's expression softened and he looked at her. She felt the tears start to stream down her face. She sprang out of the bed and over to Tsuzuki, hugging him. Tsuzuki held her head against his chest as she cried.

"I'm sorry you've been dragged in to this. But, don't worry, I'll protect you." he whispered in to her ear. "What about my parents..." Amaria managed to get out inbetween shaky sobs, "Are they really dead?" Tsuzuki closed his eyes, as if it pained him to tell her the truth, "Unfortunately, yes." Amaria started to cry harder, the cold truth hitting her deeply.

"Please don't cry anymore," he said, wiping away the tears on Amaria's face, "I know you're sad, but crying isn't going to help any." Amaria quieted down, he was right, crying wouldn't help her feel any better, only worse. Behind them, the huge glass window was starting to let in light, it was morning.