Haibane Renmei is the creation and property of Yoshitoshi ABe and Aureole Secret Factory, translated and distributed in America by Pioneer and distributed in Europe by MVM. I make no claims of ownership of anything featured in this story.

A few months earlier...

Kaori had a haibane keyring. The ring itself was shaped to look like a halo, and a fine silver chain attached it to the head of a wooden model of a haibane - a girl in a pure white gown with pure white wings. Her arms and wings were tucked in around her and her face was a picture of perfect contentment.

She clasped it in her hands and whispered a quick prayer for good luck to god, then carefully stowed it in her handbag and strode into the library. Once inside she steered clear of the musty shelves and headed directly for the service desk, only to find there was nothing there except for a huge stack of unlabeled books. A bit sloppy and annoying, she thought, as she hated being forced to wait, but then she remembered they only had one librarian right now. The poor dear had probably been rushed off her feet for months!

Well, that was why she was here, wasn't it? To help bring the library back up to speed! When she'd seen that they'd needed a new junior librarian she'd come in for an interview which had went very well, and in the time since then she'd come up with lots of great ideas for this place. Now all she needed was word that she'd got the job... and that had been slow in coming.

To pass the time she picked up a small book from the counter, and started flicking though it in order to show interest. It was handwritten, and seemed to be about the beginning of the world. She hadn't got far into it when she heard three sets of footsteps approaching, and saw the Director of the library emerge from behind a bookcase, followed by a pair of women. One was the librarian who had been on duty when she had her appointment, a young woman with curling dark hair. The other was a taller, heavier woman with short brown hair who Kaori did not recognize.

"Now," the director was saying, "over the past few weeks the collection has suffered, a lot of books have been misfiled and the pile of books brought by the Toga has been building up..." The young librarian opened her mouth, but the director continued. "No need to apologize, Hisami. As I've already said, it was inevitable with us short staffed. Now, I know Sumika wasn't here when you joined us, but I'd like you to follow her lead. She has a lot of experience..."

Kaori ignored the conversation and pretended to read her book, waiting for a chance to talk to him. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting the two librarians went to work and he headed for his office, where the waiting Kaori took her chance and intercepted him.

"Excuse me, Sir..." she said, sweetly. "I don't know if you remember, but I was in for an interview a week ago, and I was wondering if you'd made a decision yet."

"Ah, yes..." he looked her over, as if trying to place her, and continued. "I remember. I'm sorry, but the position has been filled."

"What?" She almost yelled back at him "But... when I came in, you said I was at the top of the list..."

"Yes, well... I apologize for saying that so prematurely. A previous employee applied at the last moment you see, and we could really use experienced help right now. So you see, the position is closed..."

"But... that's not fair!" Kaori yelled, throwing the small book down on the service desk. This was intolerable... he'd almost promised her! "I needed this job; you said I could have it!"

The director did not respond immediately. Instead he just stared at the desk, watching the spot where the bouncing book had slipped off the other side of it. In the silence, the taller librarian stooped to pick the book up - if looks could maim, hers would have ensured Kaori never walked again.

The director drew himself up to his full height. "Please remember this is a library, Miss. Shouting is not allowed in here. And," he added, "I would hope that someone who claimed her 'life's calling' was to work in a library would have a greater respect for books. Especially... rare ones like that. Good day, Miss."

With that he pushed past her and into his office. Kaori stood there for a moment, fuming, and then stormed out of the library, taking care to kick over a stack of books on the way.

That, Kaori thought as she grumped along the street, had been completely unfair. An obvious show of favoritism. Or maybe it was just bad luck again.

Not her fault, in other words.

"It's their loss," she reasoned. The place had been a mess, frankly, and it was obvious why with such rude people running it. In fact, she remembered that there had been a haibane working there not long ago - she must have left because her co-workers weren't nice to her, cared about stupid rare books more than they cared about her, in which case they got what they deserved. If you had a haibane to bless you and give you good luck, you'd have to be nuts to let them get away.

She stopped in the street and sighed. She sure could use some of those blessings right now. For what seemed like the whole of the last year, nothing had gone right.

She'd broken up with her fiancé Kenji nine months ago, shortly after the beginning of the year. She'd got fed up of him being so critical of her, and all the fun had drained out of their relationship over the final couple of months. There had been others since, of course, but nothing lasting. They all seemed to get scared off by something.

She was pretty sure that the "something" was her money troubles - not long ago she's lived in her big house on the edge of town, with her cook, butler, three maids and the gardener. Now she was alone in the big house. Her inheritance had started to run out and the staff had been the first to go, though sometimes one would check back to see if she was eating correctly. Most of the furnishings and ornaments had been sold now, and she had reluctantly moved into the servant's quarters on the bottom floor. To make matters worse, since she'd started going broke many of her friends had stopped talking to her for some reason, leaving her increasingly alone without the promise of parties to keep her occupied.

So it was that she was searching for her first job at the age of twenty-three. This was not as easy as she'd expected. She liked fashion, and had tried the tailors, but they hadn't been interested in someone who couldn't sew. She couldn't type quickly enough for secretary work, got far too bored by clerical work, was too easily angered for shop work and would rather die than set foot in a factory. Everything else involved animals, kids or heavy lifting. What she really wanted was a job where she could sit around all day, do some reading and get paid for it. Librarian had seemed perfect, so it really was bad luck that she hadn't got that one.

She drew the haibane keyring out of her handbag. Sometimes, she envied them. Everyone knew they were always busy, yet always smiling. They didn't seem to have any trouble finding jobs, and always seemed to be among friends. They didn't even need money - they just gave a note when they needed something, and the Haibane Renmei paid for them!

It was no wonder they gave good luck and blessings to the people of this town - with the charmed lives they led, they were probably some of the luckiest things in the world. Well, except for the Grumpy Haibane she'd once met in the thrift shop, but she was probably a special case. Sometimes Kaori wondered about her, and her own run of misfortune... it would be just her luck to meet the only Bad Luck Haibane in Glie, who handed out curses instead of blessings.

At that point, as if to underline this thought, a drop of rain fell on her head.

"Ohhh no..." she groaned, and ran for her home as a downpour began.

Leyton House was an ancient stone manor - maybe one of the oldest surviving buildings in Glie - and had been in her family for generations. It was three stories tall, with an attic and a basement, and the grounds were expansive. The hilltop it sat on was called the Lookout - the highest point within the city, and the most expensive land in Glie. Once, some time ago, the nobles had planned to build their houses as tall as possible there so they could sneak peeks over the wall. It hadn't worked - even at five stories the wall was just too tall - but the land had retained its value after hope had been lost.

A few people had suggested all of Kaori's money problems could be solved if she just sold the house, but she didn't want to depart from the place of her birth just yet.

Gravel flew from her shoes as she sprinted down the front path in the pouring rain and practically dived onto the porch, taking a moment to rake in her handbag for the keys and stare balefully at the flowerbeds. Damn... she'd really wanted to do some work on them today. She did like tending the gardens, but could only manage to keep up with some of the beds lining the path. The other beds were covered in weeds now, including a blight of dandelions that appeared every spring and always threatened to overwhelm the entire garden.

Sighing, she turned she turned the key in the door and stepped inside. The state of the interiors was not much better than the exteriors. Over the past year they had grown dark and bare, and Kaori wasn't much of a cleaner - the floor was dirty in many places, and a layer of dust and cobwebs had gathered over anything she didn't use regularly. To make matters worse she was drenched to the skin and dripping water everywhere.

"Right. Bath," she said and hurried upstairs to spend the next few hours reading a book in the bathtub, grateful for the fact that she'd kept up with the electricity bills and had a near-limitless supply of hot water.

She remained there for most of the afternoon, running more hot water as required, and only got out when she realized she was getting hungry. Of course, she'd never learned to cook, but snacks were well within her abilities. She'd just eat out later like she normally did.

She changed into fresh clothes and stepped out into the first floor hallway, only to be surprised when an unexpected smell met her. This part of the house was unused now apart from the bathroom and had mostly got still and stale, but this strange scent was sweet and fresh, like a ripe berry...

Curious, she followed her nose and was led in the opposite direction from the kitchens, toward the front of the house. When she reached the end of the hallway she found the smell led her round to the right, which was a dead end apart from the door to her father's study.

Except it's not now, she thought. Dead people don't own rooms. And apart from his old writing desk, that room should be empty. But even though she knew the room was empty, there was no doubting that was where the smell came from. It intensified as she approached the door, and as she came within a few paces of it she felt her slippers go squish, squish on the carpet.

"Huh?" She squatted down and touched the carpet. It was damp, and it looked like some liquid had seeped under the door. "This must be what's making the smell."

She tried the door handle, now even more curious than before. It was locked. But of course it was... she'd locked it herself after the furniture was sold. But as she tried the handle again she was surprised to hear a startled yell from inside the room, and the sound of someone moving around and... crying?

"Who's in there?" she called though the door. There was no reply, just another yelp. "Who's there?" Kaori asked again, her temper rising. "There's nothing to steal and nothing worth vandalizing."

No response this time, just silence. Kaori rattled the doorknob again and then walked away to get the key when it refused to open.

The crying had got quieter and yet more desperate when she returned, and she found herself hesitating as she turned the key, wondering what she would find in there. Probably a burglar or a kid talked into breaking in to the old house for a bet. Still, she couldn't shake a slight feeling of dread. As a child, coming to this room had usually meant she was in trouble, about to buckle under her father's oppressive glare. Those days were long gone, but...

She sighed and steeled herself, swung the door open, and saw something she would never have guessed would be there.

A huge blue-gray shell or cocoon dominated the far wall of the room. It looked like it had grown out of the floorboards - vines and roots had worked their way into any gap they could find, and the carpet was torn and rolled up. The cocoon was broken as well - parts of it were lying around the room, and she could see a small pool of liquid sitting in its base.

She took a few steps into the room, hearing her shoes squelch on the waterlogged carpet, and then the sound of muffled crying got her attention again. It was coming from the corner of the room, from the gap between the wall and the writing desk. From a girl there, huddled up and shivering, who almost certainly wasn't a burglar. Most burglars didn't turn up looking like they'd slept at the bottom of a river for a start - her long, dark hair was matted and tangled and hung down over her face, and all she wore was a rough white nightgown.

Surprised, Kaori took a few steps closer and kneeled down in front of the girl. She was terrified, and had definitely been crying. She looked back at Kaori, staring warily at her, and shuffled further back against the wall.

"Hey, it's okay..." Kaori said, trying to appear calm, but inside she was full of questions. Where'd this cocoon come from? Where'd this girl come from? The cocoon? That was nuts... she'd NEVER heard of anything like that before.

"It's okay..." she repeated, "You're not in trouble. I'm not going to hurt you." She held out a hand. "What's your name?"

The girl squirmed and hugged herself more tightly, squeezing her eyes closed and turning her face away. She didn't reply.

"I'm Kaori..." she continued, stretching her hand out further."What's your name?"

"I don't know..." the girl replied through a sob, her voice cracking. "I... I can't remember."

"You've forgotten your name?" This sounded bad...

"I can't remember anything..." was the answer, and Kaori reeled. "I don't remember... I don't remember my home, and I don't remember my dad or my mom... it's all gone, and all I know is it should be there." The last few words were a whine, as she let out another sob. "And knowing that... I should know but don't... it hurts..."

"You really don't remember anything?" Kaori asked, a little horrified. "Do you know how you got in here?"

"No! I... I just woke up in here, and the door was locked, and the windows are too dirty to see out of, and... and..." There was a sniff and a sob, and before Kaori knew it the girl was on her feet and throwing her arms around her, crying into her shoulder.

"... I was afraid I was going to be alone forever!"

She sat there, a little stunned, as this distraught (and slightly sticky) girl hugged her.

"What's wrong with me?" the girl asked. "Where'd I come from? Why can't I remember?"

Kaori hesitated for a moment, and then put her arms around the child.

"I don't know. But I promise, we'll find out."

They stayed that way for a while, and then Kaori asked the girl if she was hungry.

As it turned out, she really was. When Kaori made her a sandwich, she wolfed it down like she hadn't seen an ounce of food in days. More followed, and the girl ate them so quickly Kaori had to get her to slow down, or she might start throwing it up. Soon they were sitting at the big wooden table in the kitchen as the girl ate, and she was chewing more carefully now. Kaori sat watching her, wondering what she could do to discover her identity, but she didn't have a clue where to start.

"Are you sure you can't remember anything?" she eventually asked.

The girl stopped eating. For a second Kaori was afraid she might start crying again and regretted her question, but instead she just let her shoulders sag.

"No, nothing real. But... I had a dream," she replied nervously, looking awkward about it.

"A dream?" This was interesting. "What was it about? It might help."

"I don't know... it was..." She took a few deep breaths, and tried to steady herself. "In the dream, there was this huge, still ocean. Only water, for as far as I could see in every direction. And I was floating on it. I could lie on it, or kneel, or sit up without sinking, but if I tried to stand I'd lose my balance and fall down. And I was the only person there... nothing else, anywhere. Well... except for the sun and the moon, which were moving much faster than they should - I just lay there and watched them until I fell asleep."

The girl finished, and Kaori felt a strange shiver go down her spine.

"Does it mean anything to you?" the girl asked, but she had to shake her head.

"No. There aren't any oceans in Glie. I've only seen them in books." The rest seemed pretty meaningless to Kaori as well. It didn't answer the big questions, like how this girl got in a cocoon in a locked room.

"Maybe I should take you to the Watch," Kaori wondered to herself.

"Kaori..." the girl said, squirming in her chair.

"If anyone would know about missing girls, they might..."

"Kaori..."

"What?" she asked, turning to face the girl.

"My back... it's been really sore for a while now," she winced mid-sentence, "and it's getting worse. It's..." she let out a sharp gasp, "it's getting a lot worse."

The woman just looked at her carefully, and walked behind her chair. "I'll just open up the back of your gown, and take a look." The girl did not protest, so she started to carefully undo the buttons, trying not to brush her fingers against her back as it made the girl shudder and wince. And what she saw surprised her.

Two large red bulges were swelling painfully from behind the poor girls shoulders.

"Oh boy..." Kaori said to herself. "You're just one mystery after another, aren't you..."

An hour later, she was really, really worried.

The pain the girl was going though had only intensified, as the swelling on her back got worse and worse. Soon she'd been unable to sit or stand for the pain and Kaori had moved her though to her own bedroom. Now she lay face down on Kaori's bed, squirming and moaning. Her breathing was labored and gasping and she had begun sweating heavily.

And all Kaori could do was pace around, trying to figure out what to do. She didn't have the first clue where to begin! She was less of a nurse than she was a cook, and as a cook she burned everything she touched! She didn't dare even touch the girl now.

"Kaori..." the girl choked out, tears forming in her eyes again."Help me... it's so... I feel like I'm falling apart!"

Kaori dithered, biting her thumbnail. She had to do something. She'd decided to go find a doctor long ago, but she couldn't bear to leave the girl for long. Who knew what could happen while she was gone? But she could always go get someone else to find a doctor. She ran over to the bedside and knelt by it. The girl's hand was hanging over the side of the bed and she took it.

"It's OK... it's going to be all right," she said, and the girl nodded. "But I need to go find someone, and then that someone will go find a doctor for you..."

"NO!" the girl howled, "No! Don't go, don't leave me! Please, don't go!"

"I have to!"

"No!"

"I have to!" Kaori said, clasping the girl's hand with both hands. "I promise I will be back. I'll be back right away! Okay?" She smiled desperately, trying to get the girl to trust her on this, and was relieved when she nodded.

"Good girl. Remember... I'll just be a moment."

And she ran for the door, her heart thumping its way up into her throat.

She was out the front door and off the porch when she noticed it was still raining heavily, the dark clouds lending the sky a malign tint even though it couldn't be any later than four or five o'clock. With no time to go find her coat she sprinted down the front path and out into the street beyond.

Which was completely empty.

She cursed the rain for forcing everyone to stay inside, and looked around, wondering which way to go. As she was doing so she heard the mechanical grunt and hum of a scooter and turned to see a headlight coming up the hill.

Perfect! Someone on a scooter could make it to the doctor's even faster! She started jumping up and down in the street, shouting "Hey! Heyyy!" and was relieved as the scooter slowed and came to a stop just past her. She ran up behind the rider, who was wearing a black raincoat that obscured all other features, and stood to the side of the scooter so she could see their face - it was a teenage girl, with short dark hair. Nobody she knew though.

"What is it?" the rider asked, slightly annoyed by the interruption.

"Sorry, but I need your help!" Kaori yelled frantically. "I need you to go find a doctor, there's a very sick girl in that house!"

"Sick? I'm on a delivery, but sure, I'll go find him. What's wrong with her?"

"Lots of stuff!" She started waving her hands, making exaggerated gestures as she explained. "She just, TURNS UP in one of my upper rooms, and she has total amnesia, and now there are these huge bumps on her back that seem to be trying to kill her! I've never seen anything like it before, and... and..."

She trailed off. The scooter rider was staring at her.

"Why are you staring?"

"Bumps on her back? You're joking... you've got to be joking. That's not funny!"

"Joking? I wish! It's true!"

The two stared each other down, and the scooter rider eventually bowed her head and swore. She then jumped off the scooter and dragged it onto the pavement before starting a sprint for the house.

"Hey!" Kaori called after her. "You were supposed to go get the doctor!"

The rider turned around and continued jogging backwards.

"If this is what I think it is, we don't have time! And a doctor won't be any help anyway!" she grimly yelled back, and as she turned to run for the house the wind caught the hood of her raincoat and blew it back.

Even in the rainstorm, there was an obvious flash of gold above her head, and Kaori's heart lifted immediately. A haibane! Maybe, just maybe, some good luck at last? She ran after the haibane and caught up with her in the vestibule. She was fighting to quickly get out of her raincoat, and Kaori was delighted to catch a glimpse of white wings... and slightly less delighted to see slightly manly clothes.

Okay, she's a tomboy haibane, she thought. She's probably still lucky.

"Where is she?" the haibane demanded, and Kaori quickly led her though to the bedroom. The two of them stood in the doorway, watching the sick girl - she didn't seem to be aware they were there, and her breathing had grown even more desperate and painful. After a moment watching this, the haibane pulled Kaori back into the hallway.

"How did you find her? How long has she been here?"

"I, I..." Kaori stammered as she tried to think about how to say it. "I know it sounds crazy, but I found her in a locked room. There was this cocoon, and water everywhere, I guess she came out of it..." The haibane grimaced, and looked back into the bedroom, obvious concern on her face. "You know what this is, don't you? What's wrong with her?"

"Technically, there's nothing wrong with her. This is supposed to happen to her." Kaori stared in disbelief as the haibane continued. "This happens to every haibane."

"This happens to haibane?" This was impossible to believe. Surely haibane wouldn't be put though this kind of pain. "But, she's not a haibane."

The haibane looked at Kaori. "Isn't she? How can you tell?" she asked, a little sharply.

"Well... she's not got a halo. And she's not got wings..."

"She'll have wings soon, lady. What do you think those lumps are? Her wings are growing under her skin!"

Kaori had difficulty digesting this. It sounded wrong... "Are they meant to?"

"Yes! And..." the haibane lent in closer to whisper to her, "If she thinks she's in pain now, she's in for a shock when they break through."

All Kaori could do was goggle at her in horror. This did NOT fit her mental picture of haibane.

"What can we do?" she asked, weakly. "If she's not sick... can we help her?"

"Yeah," the haibane replied. "But it depends on one thing. Can you stand the sight of blood?"