Chapter5:

Meet Krist, the Aiyan

It was late in the middle of the night; everyone was deep in sleep, dreaming about their heart's wishes and muttering random things in their sleep. Akane stepped down the long steps of stairs quietly, not wanting to be bothered by questions as to why she's wandering around in the middle of the night. She walked towards the door and opened it quietly.

Creeeeeaaaaaaakkk.

She froze, listening intently for footsteps. When she was sure no one was awoken by the door, she stepped outside and softly closed the exit.

Akane breathed in the fresh air, okay, polluted air, but it's better than the stinky smelly disgusting atmosphere back at the dungeon.

The full moon shown upon her delicate figure, making her look paler than usual: like a ghost. She looked at her surroundings: a pond, a fountain, trees, bushes, and some houses. Nothing big, nothing beautiful, but to her, it was the most lovely sight she's ever laid eyes on.

Akane jumped and landed on a thick, brown branch hidden in the green leaves.

She sighed, closing her eyes and taking another whiff of the air. 'Peace and quiet…'

In the background, crickets chirped and a flute could be heard. It played a beautiful melody that echoed in her mind. She didn't find it unusual that a flute was playing in the middle of the night, she couldn't care less really. It rocked her chaotic heart to sleep and willed the nightmares to wait until next time.

In the Morning:

"Not the TV!"

"Stop! GET BACK HERE!"

"HEY, THOSE WERE VALUABLE DISHES YOU JUST BROKE!"

"WAIT! DON'T THROW THOSE OUT THE WINDOW!"

"YOU JUST WASTED PERFECTLY GOOD DONUTS!"

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"STOP RIGHT THERE, DONUT KILLER!"

Akane's eyes snapped open and she turned her head towards the source of the racket; the loud sounds of dishes breaking and screams reached her ears. She winced, cursing her acute hearing.

"What in the world?" the vampire muttered, jumping down from the safety of her tree and walking towards the mansion. She glanced at the sky; the sun was up high in the air and it was killing her. Her slow walk began to pick up into an all out run. If she stayed in the sun's face for too long, she'd burn to death and that was something she didn't want, not when she was free of that man's clutches. As she neared the door, maniacal laughter reached her ears. "That can't be..."

"STOP IT! YOU'RE BREAKING EVERYTHING!" Tyson yelled, swinging the broom in his hands from left to right to try and hit the giggling girl in the air.

The strange girl threw her head back and laughed at his vain attempts, clutching her stomach in pain because of all the laughter. Her cheeks began to flare with ache; it was a long time since she laughed this hard, her body couldn't handle the pressure... "Can't catch me that way!" she laughed.

The girl whacked Tyson in the head and chortled at the top of her lungs when he went tumbling down the stairs. She laughed so hard that tears were falling down her face.

'I thought so...' Akane raised a brow.

"OOF!"

The girl had taken the broom Tyson dropped and whacked someone else in the head...A short little boy with flaring red hair soared across the sky like a bird in the air.

"He can fly! He can fly! He can fly!" she snorted, pointing her finger at Daichi who grabbed ahold of a fan and was desperately trying to find a way down without breaking any limbs...

Daichi slowly moved closer to the floor without letting go; looking down, his vision began to blurr with fright. He took in a deep breath and the released his clutches. "WHAAAA!" he fell upon his butt, "Ouch..." he groaned, rubbing his rear with his hand.

The mysterious girl then began choking on her laughter. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA--Can't—AHAHAHAHA--breathe—AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—AHAHAHA!"

Akane then heard Kai yelling furiously; soon afterwards, she saw everyone plummet down the stairs ungracefully.

"Oof!"

"GEEZ!"

"GET YOUR FOOT OFF ME HEAD!"

"This is not what I planned for today..."

"Ozuma! You're wrecking my hair!"

"My glasses!"

"I can't see!"

Akane stepped over the people on the ground and ventured up the stairs. Looking around, she tried to find the person who started this entire mess. "…Christi…?"

"Akane?" a girl's head appeared through the wall. "Akane!" the girl ran up and embraced her tightly.

"Haven't changed a bit…" Akane sighed, patting her friend's hair.

"Neither have you, old friend…" the girl smiled; she let go of Akane. "Why are you here?"

Akane didn't answer; she looked at the ground, suddenly finding the red carpet very interesting.

"Oh…I see…it's because of HIM isn't it…"

Akane nodded, not removing her gaze from the floor.

The rage inside the girl was boiling; she hated that man's guts! All of the lives he took, all of their innocence, all of the memories, she hated him for what he was: a monster. There was an uncomfortable silence as the she tried her best to stop from going berserk.

"Come on…" Akane said after a while and lead her downstairs.

Krist was greeted with a glare from everyone; she stuck her tongue at them playfully. "Not my fault you guys can't even fall down the stairs with elegance!"

"This is Christi Namone, but she prefers Krist; she's an Aiyan."

"A what?" they were totally lost…

Akane sighed, not wanting to explain everything. "Hopeless mortals…" she muttered. "An Aiyan is half animal; Krist over here is half fox and…she's dead…"

"What do you mean?" Kenny asked hesitantly.

"I mean what I say, she's dead…or maybe we should put it in simpler terms: she's a ghost Aiyan, in other words, a Shikobi. AND if you can't even understand that, here's an even simpler way for your puny minds to comprehend: she's a ghost."

"Hi." Krist smiled, waving at them as if Akane had to explain those terms to humans every day.

"I never knew anyone else besides a few of our friends who were actually alive." Akane informed them.

"What about Akane?" Hilary asked, scratching the back of her head in wonder.

"She's a vampire; she's one of the living dead." Ray replied.

"…Oh…right…"

"For being one of the living dead, she sure has great taste!" Miriam muttered. "I know! And I also love Krist's outfit too!" Hilary smiled as she stared at Krist's clothes.

Krist wore a long white dress, white boots, and her long white hair was in a pony tail as it flowed behind her; her blood red eyes blinked innocently. She had a necklace of the moon, 1 black bracelet on her left arm and a white one on her right arm. Her outfit was simple but very fashionable.

"If she's dead, how come she can touch us?" Dunga asked, getting up and brushing the dust off of himself.

"As long as I have this," she pointed at the black bracelet, "I can touch and hit whomever I want."

"How long have you been dead?" Tyson stared at the ghost. Hilary elbowed him in the side angrily. "OW! What was THAT for!"

"You can't go around asking ghosts how long they've been dead! That's a personal question!"

"…Your point…?"

"UGH! Why do I even bother? He's too stupid to understand…" she sighed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I AM NOT!" Tyson glared furiously at her; he was starting to wish that Hilary hadn't decided to come along. Sure she was his friend, and she was apart of the team, but she really irritated him, many times a day. Tyson sometimes found himself wondering if it was her hobby to annoy him.

"Geez, they fight like a couple…" Krist smiled.

"We know; we're trying to get them to be one…" Dizzy said.

"Can I help?"

"Of course you can!"

"So…can you answer my question?"

"Huh? Oh, right, I've been dead for like, 10 to 20,000 years." Krist placed her hand under her chin, thinking hard. "Or maybe it was 200,000…or was it 400,000?" she smiled at Tyson. "I've been dead for so long, I can't seem to remember!"

He sweat-dropped, "You say that as if it's a good thing…"

"So how'd you die?" Ray wondered.

A flash of pain and hatred entered her eyes but quickly disappeared.

"That's none of you business." Akane hissed she stepping in front of Krist, as if shielding her from something.

"Oh…I'm sorry, it was rude of me to ask." Ray apologized.

"Krist," she turned around but Krist wasn't there.

"Where'd she go?" Max looked around quizzically.

"I think you hurt her feelings…" Daichi whispered.

"You didn't…just brought back some… memories…" Akane walked up the stairs and left them.

Lunch:

"I'm hungry!" Tyson rubbed his stomach in starvation.

"Me too…" Daichi whined. "I want some food…"

As if on cue, Kai walked in with a croissant.

"Ah…It's deluxe…" Daichi stared.

"It's delicious…" Tyson drooled.

"It's gonna be de last you'll see of it!" the feminine voice finished, repeating the lines of a movie the gang saw a few days ago.

They turned around to the owner of the voice and saw Krist smiling innocently.

"If you think you can eat it before WE can, you're dead wrong." Tyson smirked.

"Oh, it's not me that's gonna eat it. By the way, I'm dead right."

"Huh?"

Krist pointed at Kai and they turned around. Just as they did, Kai popped the last part of that croissant into his mouth and walked upstairs.

"NO!" they dropped to their knees and cried.

"They're weird…" she raised a brow and then disappeared.

"Hey Akane!" Krist appeared next to Akane on the rooftop.

"Hn…"

"You want something to eat? I think Kai has some more croissants!"

"I'm not hungry…"

"Are you sure? I've seen lots of the living eating croissants and I hear they taste great!"

"Hn…"

Krist sighed, rubbing her temples. Her friend only went "Hn..." when there was something on her mind. "Okay, what's bothering you?"

Akane didn't answer.

"Is it the abbey?"

Akane cringed at the name; it was obvious that that was what she was pondering about.

"So it is…" Krist sighed again. "Look, you should be happy. You've got new friends…er…roommates… And you're finally free, just as you dreamed of being. And yet, why aren't you celebrating?"

The wind blew the female vampire's hair as it ran past.

"Look, there's only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other, is as everything is a miracle." With that, Krist vanished.

'So she means to tell me that all of that crap I endured at the abbey is a miracle?'

Dinner:

"This is great!" Daichi complimented Hilary on her cooking as he stuffed his face.

"Yeah!" Tyson agreed.

"Don't eat too fast you guys, you might--" Tyson and Daichi began choking, braking off Max's sentence. "…Choke…" he sweat-dropped.

"Hey, is Krist gonna eat?" Ray asked.

Akane shook her head, "She's a ghost remember?"

"Right…so…are you gonna eat?"

"No…I don't eat human food…"

On the Rooftop:

Krist stood on the rooftop, quietly waiting, watching everything around her even if her eyes were closed. The black clouds shielded the full moon and the stars, the wind shrieked as it flew around the place, roughly disturbing the night trees and animals. Wolves howled in the distance, thunder boomed and lightning flashed.

A figure emerged in front of her in mid air. "Krist…" he nodded.

"It's Aura to you…" she opened her blood red eyes.

All of a sudden, everything went quiet...as if Mother Nature knew the tension that was quickly building between the two siblings.

"It's nice to see you again, ever since you went into exile 10 centuries ago."

"Let's cut the crap and get straight down to business." she spat.

"Well that's an interesting way to greet your only brother after 10,000 years." he rolled his eyes.

She frowned. "Look Kusanagi, I know you didn't decide to come just to say hi, now tell me your businesses or leave."

"Fine, we want you to come back to the tribe."

She scowled, baring her fangs at him. "Never do I want anything to do with that tribe ever again."

"You can't hide from your destiny forever, sister," Kusanagi said.

"Whoever said I was hiding?"

"Denying the facts cannot change the facts. You belong there."

"I don't belong there as much as a duck belongs with a group of pigs." she spat.

"Listen Aura, if you think you belong among humans, you are sadly mistaken." Kusanagi remarked, sliding his hand through his brown hair.

Krist glared at him; so long, she hadn't seen that face for so long, and now, her brother returns his ugly face back into her life, asking her to return to their family after the horrible thing they had did. What did he expect her to say? Yeah sure, I'll come back! It left such a mark on her, a deep wound that wouldn't heal, even after all of those years.

"I know that I don't belong with these mortals but I also know that I don't belong with the tribe." she said.

"You were born there, you have the mark." He raised his black sleeve and showed her the tattoo that he was also marked with; it was a picture of two dragons, intertwining, and behind it was a full moon.

"Wrong, the mark is for Aiyans, but you forget, I'm a Shikobi."

"That's the same thing, you're still an Aiyan." he shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets.

Krist smirked. "Wrong again. Aiyans are alive, Shikobis are deceased. There's a big difference if you haven't noticed."

"You are a disgrace! The tribe needs you and you turn your back on them!"

"You're not my family!" she argued back. "I was stripped of the Tatibana title long ago! You know that as well as I do…"

Kusanagi stared at her with pleading eyes. "But you can regain it…"

"I never said I wanted that title." Krist crossed her arms and turned her head to the left, staring at the black skies above her.

"Fine," he glared ice daggers at Krist. "I'm disappointed in you sister," He turned around vanished without a trace.

The wind blew her hair brutally as precipitation fell from the heavens above. Turning her head to where her brother once stood, she glowered.

'I'm disappointed in you sister,' his last words echoed within her mind over and over again, like a broken sound track.

"As I'm disappointed in you brother…"