Sumiko looked up and saw no twinkling stars left in the sky. There was a sudden crack of thunder and lightening before the clouds burst open and it started to hail. Round ice balls the size of Sumiko's thumbnail rained down. The created a strange music of bombardment when they collided with the house.
"How strange," she said softly, watching balls of ice land on her bare toes. "The sky is angry. It's unusually cold and the air feels sad and lonely. I wonder why."
"Come here, stupid brat!"
Sumiko looked up and saw Kaiein roughly pulling little boy by the arm.
"Kaiein, what are you doing with him?" she asked.
"Unhand me now!" the child ordered.
Sumiko stared at him. "This isn't how he's meant to be," she said. "He's supposed to be older."
Even though Sumiko was petite this child was less than half her size. She had to bend down so she and the child could see eye-to-eye.
"I am called Sumiko. What's your name?"
"My name is Sesshomaru," the child answered in a cold voice. "What do you want with me?"
Sumiko smiled a little sadly and tousled Sesshomaru's hair. "You're slowly reverting to the personality you had as a child. I wonder how long they're going to keep you in this state."
Kaiein groaned with exasperation. "Sumiko-chan, don't get used to this kid. We're only keeping him until Loathe decides to get rid of him."
With that, Kaiein tightened her grip on Sesshomaru's arm and pulled him inside. She managed to bring him all the way up to the third floor without much of a struggle.
"Loathe, I got the brat!" Kaiein called as she slid the door open.
Loathe looked up with a smile. "Leave him here," she said.
Kaiein pushed Sesshomaru in and he stumbled into the room, falling to his knees.
"You should listen to your betters," Kaiein snapped and closed the door, nearly breaking it.
Loathe walked over towards Sesshomaru.
"She should treat important packages more carefully, don't you think?" she asked sweetly, reaching out to touch Sesshomaru's head.
Sesshomaru held out his hand. "Dokasso!"
Strands of green energy came out of Sesshomaru's claw and hit several things in the room. It melted a tatami mat and damaged one of the chests on the floor, but it didn't seem to hurt Loathe at all.
"I can't be hurt by any attack, Sesshomaru," Loathe calmly explained. "The only one who can hurt me is Faith and she disappeared a long, long time ago." The young girl cocked her head to one side and stared at him. "I didn't really think Kaiein would bring you here today. Didn't you put up some sort of fight? Or were you too broken up about Misaki to do anything?"
Sesshomaru glared at her. He wanted to fight back so hard, but if this little girl was like Kaiein, he knew it would be useless to even try. It just wasted energy.
"So you're mad because she left you to go down that well?" Loathe stood up and laughed. "You're so stupid! It's your own damn fault for falling in anyway. And then Kaiein got her all excited today and you completely break her heart. I tell ya, it was truly hilarious."
"You're not an incarnation of Naraku. What are you?"
Loathe stopped laughing momentarily. "It's funny how serious you look. And no, I'm not with Naraku. I'm with me; I'm in this for my own selfish reasons. I want to get back at those that put me in this form. In a way, I guess you could say I'm a little like you. I didn't fall down a well, but I was dragged into something I didn't completely comprehend. By the time I realized what was going on, it was too late. Love had left me there." Loathe frowned. "She only got Hope and left me there by myself. The awful bitch! I hate her so much!"
"You seem motivated by revenge," Sesshomaru commented.
Loathe stopped raging and smiled sweetly at the dog demon. "That's why we need to work together," she said and knelt in front of Sesshomaru. "I'll help you get back at Misaki if you help me kill Love, Hope, and all those other Seraphim."
"No. I have no interest in helping you."
Loathe gaped. In some ways, she still possessed the sort of naïveté you'd find in a child her age. She had really believed that Sesshomaru would've agreed to help her because they both seemed to share the same goal.
"But we share the same goals!" she protested, balling her small hands into fists.
"We don't share anything in common, much less goals." Sesshomaru stood up. "My goal is to get the Tetsusaiga from Inuyasha and that's all."
The dog demon turned and reached out to open the sliding door. His fingertip was an inch away from the door when he heard the sound of crackling. He pulled his hand away and, briefly, saw a barrier on the door.
Loathe stood up, laughing, and slid her arms over Sesshomaru's shoulders. "You're going to help me, right?" she whispered in his ear.
The hail stopped, but there was something else in the air that made Sumiko feel uneasy. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.
"What's the matter?" Kaiein asked.
"C-c-cold!" Sumiko whispered, her breath creating tiny puffs of white in the air.
"Well, maybe you should find a different outfit."
Kaiein was wearing a floor-length coat while Sumiko had on the same sheer dress.
"It's not even that cold today," the Cherub continued. "You should've been shivering while the hail was falling."
Sumiko shook her head and her ringlets swung back and forth. "N-no, it's dif-different. A sin-sinister co-cold."
Kaiein looked up and saw a strange black mist whirling around the third floor. She let out an impressed whistle. "The brat's trying real hard to brainwash him."
"Kai-Kaiein, do you th-think it'll wo-work?"
Kaiein stared down at the shivering Angel. "From the way you're shaking, I doubt it."
Sumiko looked up at her with confusion.
"You told me that you're usually immune to the cold. Whenever you start shivering or something, it means someone's trying to cast a spell of some sort," Kaiein reminded her.
"Oh, yes." Sumiko squatted down on the snow and blew on her red hands. She rubbed them hard and tried to warm up. "A hex. . ."
Kaiein stared up at the third floor and watched the mist slowly fade. A snowflake suddenly appeared. Kaiein held out her hand and the snowflake fell on her palm. Normally, the snowflake would've melted into a tiny puddle, but it didn't. More snowflakes fell on Kaiein's palm, but none of them melted.
I'm the Cherub of Fire, but the snow doesn't melt. It's a sign of impending doom.
Sumiko noticed the still-frozen snowflakes on Kaiein's palm and gasped. She also knew what that meant.
"How?" the Angel gasped and stood up.
Kaiein shrugged and held out her palm. "Read it."
Sumiko closed her eyes. Wide golden wings popped out of her back. A few of the glistening feathers landed on the white snow. One of them landed on Kaiein's palm below the life line. Clasping her hands, the Angel started whispering clues to the future:
"Memories . . . blood . . . beloved . . . 'beautiful girl' . . . 'strong protector' . . . 'noble' . . . 'hard worker' . . . two types of existence . . . aru . . . iru . . . sacred arrows . . . splitting . . . shattering . . . loss . . . death . . . forbidden . . ."
Before Sumiko could continue, her wings disappeared. Sighing, the Angel unclasped her hands and sank to her knees.
"I couldn't read anymore," she said softly in a sad voice. "It was too murky. Crimson colors danced around indistinguishable voices. I'm very sorry."
Kaiein nodded. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't really matter anyway. The future's been predetermined and nothing can be changed."
The girls stared up that the sky. The snow was still sprinkling down on them. It fell on the cursed forest that had been named for its light snowfall.
School is a pain this year. The classes are too far apart and we don't get nearly enough time to get to them. Idiots like to make out in the hallway and block the door. And then there's my math class. I detest math! There isn't any word in any language that can accurately describe my feelings about it. I'm not good at it no matter how much I try. Anyway, I think I'll update every Saturday or so. I'm not sure how many chapters this fanfic will be. I don't want it to look like I just rushed into an ending. I guess I'll have to plan it out better. I have a vague idea as to how I want it to end (well, not an "end" end since it's going to be continued), but it doesn't look good enough. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll be able to pull something.