Brief Notes: Yeah I'm a bit late with this. Life came up and I had no time to finish this before, or during Halloween.. :P Sorry about that—err this. Point out any mistakes ya'll find.

This chapter also deviated from the plans I had for it (Not that any of you would know what those plans were.). Strangely enough, I still liked how it turned out. -_- It's great when the characters tell the author how the story should go. xD Less work for the author.

Happy (late) Halloween!

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Shortly after the school Halloween party ended, Natsuki found herself being dragged into Mai's jeep. Chie volunteered to take Alyssa home, much to the awe of Aoi, who decided to accompany them. Nao, while making gagging noises, hopped in with Mai and Natsuki.

"How is going to Kanzaki's going to help?"

"You need to relax Natsuki." Mai said, clearly going ten miles over the speed limit. "And Reito's party is the place to do it."

Natsuki groaned while rubbing her eyes. "We just came from a party."

Nao leaned forward from the back seat, a grin splitting the sides of her face. "Yeah, a party with adults and kids, and no alcohol. Christ Natsuki, this is what you need, with all that weird crap you've been doing."

"I haven't been doing anything weird." Natsuki's voice went up a notch. "And what does going to Kanzaki's party have to do about anything? I want to sleep."

Nao waved her hand. "You can sleep tomorrow. The rest of tonight is going to be about real partying…and watching Mai act like a fool in front of Kanzaki." Nao cackled afterwards, dodging the blind fist Mai swung in her direction.

"Nao I swear to—if I wasn't driving right now."

Nao rolled her eyes, still grinning. "Besides, this is our last Halloween of high school. We have to make it memorable."

"By getting wasted?"

"Natsuki, Natsuki—"

"Don't do that."

"—it is our sworn duty to have as much fun as possible, and the only way we can achieve that is through consuming large amounts of alcohol and making fools of, everyone else. We have a tradition to uphold."

Mai turned a sharp right, causing Nao to jerk against the seats. "Twenty bucks Nao passes out first."

Nao rubbed her head and glared at Mai. "I'll have you know—"

"Deal."

And Nao watched as Mai and Natsuki shook hands, smirks darkening their faces.

"…I hate you guys."

Natsuki laughed and turned the radio on, sighing when the car filled with pop and rock. Mai rolled down the windows and honked to the other teenagers heading to Reito's manor, and got similar responses; some even yelled out of their windows and flashed their headlights.

Wow, was all that went through Natsuki's mind as the car passed through tall iron gates. Natsuki had never seen Reito Kanzaki's house—mansion, before, only heard about it in passing. Mai sometimes talked about too, but words did not do the place justice.

It sat on a high hill, rumored the highest in Fuuka, looming over the steep driveway up. The mansion looked old with its numerous arched windows and small, spiky gates boarding every roof flat. It stood three stories tall and massive, covered in old maroon wood and grey stones. Lights flickered in the windows, and even though Natsuki knew they were just party goers, their shadowy figures caused a hot chill to crawl up her spine.

"Damn! I heard it was big, not the size of a small country!" Nao said, gaping.

Natsuki mumbled in agreement, but didn't take her eyes off the stone gargoyles crouching over the roofs and side columns, sneering at them.

The dark haired teenager managed to get one foot on the ground before her arm was yanked by Nao, towards the entrance.

"Wait for me!"

"Can't. " Nao called back to Mai, who was still getting out of the vehicle, "We have to get wasted before Chie gets here."

Natsuki let herself be pulled into the middle of the party, and was then surrounded by noise, the smell of beer, and the light of the massive glass chandelier hanging two floors overhead. Despite the lights and colorful costumes, the interior of the house was much like the outside: dark and old.

"Hell yeah, that's what I need!" Natsuki heard Nao exclaim, and watched the redhead bound up the maroon carpeted staircase. What she had seen, Natsuki did not know. All that she could see on both of the staircases were drunken teenagers and even a couple adults. She wandered off towards one of the side hallways—with less people—and decided to look for Mai.

And got completely lost because of it.

Natsuki passed statues and paintings, glass vases and suits of rusted armor, all on plush maroon carpets. She went up and down at least five staircases, and by the time she came upon a grand circular opening with marble flooring, she was groaning in frustration. What a night.

"The party isn't here, you know." A deep voice called out, and it echoed in the opening.

Natsuki turned only her head and grunted. Straight black hair and an equally black suit, tall and thin, and with an ugly, crooked smile.

Reito Kanzaki.

"Really?" Natsuki replied, motioning to the empty hall. "I hadn't noticed."

Reito rubbed his chin and adopted a quizzical look. "Then what are you doing way over here?"

Natsuki stared at him, a blank look on her face.

"My family's gallery."

Natsuki raised an eyebrow.

Reito sighed and spread both of his hands in front of him. "Look about you."

Natsuki did so. Tens of paintings hung against the walls, their golden frames glittering. All of them had dark smirks on their faces, matching the dark looks in their eyes. The dark haired girl turned around, behind her, to the one she hadn't seen, and was met by a pair of familiar scarlet eyes. The girl from the graveyard and the old music room was looking back at her, her image trapped in time by dark paints and faded paper.

Reito spoke, his voice like one who didn't want to wake a sleeping child. "That is Shizuru Viola."

Natsuki's eyes stayed on the girl, posed in the painting, wearing the same black dress. A silver pendant hung from her neck.

"They say she was a witch."

Natsuki snapped her eyes away from the colors. "What?"

Reito smirked, and it matched all of those around them, including Shizuru's.

Natsuki wanted to punch him in the face and for an instant…she could have sworn she had seen gold flicker in his eyes. She unconsciously rubbed her eyes again.

"She was not. Though, they had the audacity to try her for it."

A thought came to Natsuki then, set off by the tone in Reito's voice. "Does that make you, a witch?"

Reito's smirk fell and he narrowed his eyes. "Even if Shizuru Viola had been a witch, it would not have shamed my family. She married in, not out."

Natsuki turned back to the painting, wondering why that statement made her so angry. And why wasn't he calling her Shizuru Kanzaki?

"Besides," the smile was back, "they found the real witch a couple weeks after she married."

Natsuki's eyes locked back onto the silver pendant, contrasting with Shizuru Viola's smooth skin.

"And they burned her alive."

"…why? There is no such thing as a witch."

Reito rolled his head, cracking it in the process and smiled. "She tried to tarnish the family—blame her witchcraft on the family—whether real or not." Reito paused and then shrugged his shoulders. "It was even said that they found her trying to attack Shizuru Viola."

Reito's back hit the ground, his head slamming into the hard marble. His nose pounded in pain.

"Take that back." Natsuki had her reddened hands on his neck, watching the golden specks in his black eyes.

The dark smirks surrounded them, and Natsuki tightened her hold.

"Kuga?" Reito grunted and clawed at Natsuki's hands and he flailed his legs as he did so. Natsuki's grip was firm, but her arms shook with every second that passed.

"Get off him!"

Mai crashed into Natsuki, successfully freeing Reito from the girl's grasp. The boy gasped for air and started to cough, massaging his neck afterward. Mai helped him up, and when the two looked over to where Natsuki should have been, they weren't all that surprised not find her there.

Natsuki had left seconds before, confusion and anger burning in her lungs and making her eyes water. A sick heat had settled in her chest, blocking out the noise of her footsteps and of her own heavy breathing. She stumbled into a heavy door, at the end of the hallway and, without thought, opened it and fell, right onto a familiar, soft lap.

"My poor Natsuki."

Natsuki felt something begin to shift inside her.

"You understand now, don't you?"

Natsuki closed her eyes, she was so tired. "No, I don't…understand anything right now."

Soft fingers began to graze through her hair and Natsuki opened her eyes when a soft breeze blew across her face. They were in a grassy, flower spotted field and the blue, cloudless sky hung above them. Natsuki shifted into a more comfortable position, and it was then that the dark haired girl noticed that she could only feel Shizuru; the grass didn't prickle her skin, and the air around them was far too chilly to be from the warm day that greeted her eyes.

And when green met scarlet, Natsuki understood why.

"This isn't real," she muttered. "None of this is real."

"It is real. You remember, don't you?"

Natsuki pushed against the arms holding her down and stood up. She didn't look at the brown haired girl or her sad eyes, but at her jeans—her clothes. Not a blade of grass anywhere.

A dark feeling settled inside of Natsuki and she turned to where she had fallen through the door. Shizuru called her, but she ignored it and instead held out her hands. She began to walk, slowly, and only stopped when her hands came upon something hard and unseen, blocking her pathway. She pushed, and while it didn't give way, the smooth wooden texture pushing back against her hands told Natsuki everything she needed to know. She turned back to Shizuru. Shizuru Viola.

"So I was seeing things."

Shizuru met her stare with one of her own and smiled. "It was nothing you had not already seen before. Although, the grave was a bit later."

Natsuki gritted her teeth and looked to the side. After a brief pause she looked the other way. "Your name is Shizuru, Viola."

Shizuru nodded, her smile twisting into the smirk from the gallery. "You didn't remember that."

"Kanzaki—Reito told me." Natsuki leaned back against the unseen door. "He said you were accused of being a witch, way back."

Something flashed in Shizuru's eyes, but Natsuki had neither the means nor understanding to interrupt it.

"Where is the silver pendent?"

"Excuse me?"

"The pendent," Natsuki jerked her thumb behind her. "You had it on in the painting of you. In the gallery."

Shizuru's smirk widened. "That painting was completed a very long time ago."

"I figured as much. How long."

"A while."

Natsuki pushed herself from the door and took a few steps forward. "A couple generations ago maybe? Like when they burned people at the stake for false accusations?"

Shizuru jumped up, a ripple washing across the sky as she did so. "That wasn't my fault."

"What wasn't your fault?" Natsuki tore through the grass, her footsteps echoing as she did so. "That your sick games are coming back on you?"

"…Natsuki should stop now, it's obvious that she isn't thinking clearly."

"Why? What are you going to do about it? Curse me?" Natsuki threw out her arms, and one of her hands went right through a passing butterfly, turning it into a puff of smoke. "Fitting for someone like you."

The scenery around them began to melt, the images distorting. Natsuki went on though, her eyes as misty as Shizuru's, and just as bright with rage.

"What are you going to do Shizuru?" The dark haired girl's voice cracked, and at the same time the colors did around them, turning into a town not unlike Fuuka. And when the wooden homes and brick mansions became crisp and clear, everything caught with a red haze of fire. The air around the two girls remained cool though and soon dark whispers began to surround them. Natsuki felt something click inside her head, soothing the pounding that had plagued her since the graveyard encounter. It did nothing to sooth the pain in her heart however, and it continued to pump a numbing pain throughout her body.

"Natsuki...I…."

Natsuki let the waves inside her crash around, again and again, and when the first torch, burning brighter than the fire around her, hit the dark sky, Natsuki let it, and waited for them to come. Just like they had done last time.

"I was just your toy."Natsuki said, her eyes never leaving Shizuru's own. "Even now."

Shizuru clenched her fists and the dark images around them pulsed, but did not go away. "I…I never meant for things to turn out the way they did. I—"

"How dare you show up and try to manipulate me, Shizuru Viola." A great howl broke the angry silence and a great, grey wolf stumbled to Natsuki's right. Dark, red blood dripped off his matted fur and he finally collapsed, his blood pooling against the pebbled cobblestones. He tried to get up, but couldn't, and with a whimper fell still. "You even went so far as to con Duran's soul into this life. Tell me, did you put him in one of those stitched dolls you were so fond of?"

Shizuru squared her shoulders, but her voice shook. "I never did anything to Duran. He came back because he wanted to."

Natsuki tilted her head to the side and smirked. "Oh? That alone astonishes me…if I could ever hope to believe it."

"Natsuki, please, I never had anything to do with—"

"You even tried to get me away from my friends, from my family—things that I treasure very much. You knew that though—didn't you? You knew everything back then." Natsuki spread her arms wide and laughed. "Even now you tried to do so. My, the years haven't changed you one bit." Natsuki's smirk morphed into a snarl. "You're still the same greedy, manipulative little—"

A loud shriek cut through the air and the two watched as a parade of shadowy men and women, came marching through, torches and weapons in their hands. Behind them came a smirking man with glittering yellow eyes, and behind him came a large man who was dragging a woman behind him. The woman covered in dirt and blood and bruises, didn't utter a single sound. She just gazed back in the direction she had been dragged from, a sad look on her face.

"Hey," Natsuki said. "I remember that. Don't you Shizuru?"

Shizuru wasn't looking. She kept her gaze to the side and kept as quiet as the beaten woman.

"This part is still hazy. " Natsuki sighed. "But I do remember what happens next. Tell me Shizuru, how about you and me go watch? We'll call it a date and have a roaring good time."

Shizuru opened and closed her hands and when Natsuki shrugged and began to make her way towards the screams and cheers, the image shattered and Natsuki almost crashed into the mansion's brick wall.

"That would have hurt…." Natsuki said, facing the girl. The dark sky covered them and the chirping crickets provided a gentle lull in the background.

"Natsuki needs to know, I've waited so long to—"

"I know who you are, Shizuru Viola." Natsuki said, but unlike before, it didn't carry the same heated rage; just the calm voice of someone who remembered something that had happened once upon a time, to a different them, in a different time. "I know what you are…back then, you never told me you could live this long."

Shizuru visibly relaxed and let the tears fall. "I didn't." She reached into a hidden pocket of her dress and pulled out a shining chain, upon which a silver pendant hung. "Metal can do many things." She let her fingers run over its smooth surface, a fond look washing over her face. "As long as I always found this, I would always remember you."

"…you handed me to your husband on a tight, little leash Shizuru."

"I did not." Shizuru choked out, and for all her grace, she looked much like a child at the moment. "The night…that night, the one we had planned, he had found out about it Natsuki, he had found out about us."

Natsuki narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you."

"I learned afterwards…I was such a fool. Natsuki, I wasn't the only one with something to hide." Shizuru smiled. "Not including you, of course."

Natsuki mulled over this new piece of information while biting her lower lip. "Then why didn't he just tell the town?"

Shizuru wiped her wet cheeks dry and laughed. "Oh, you must not remember everything yet. That man valued his family name more than anything. If the town knew what his wife of two weeks was doing and what she was then…."

"…then his name would've been marred forever." Natsuki muttered. "Even more so, the townspeople might have even killed him, and burned his estate to the ground."

"Natsuki was his scapegoat." Shizuru turned her eyes to the dark gardens, away from Natsuki and the house. "That night, I…I thought we had time, Natsuki, I did." Her voice wavered. "But then he came and took you away…."

Natsuki delved into her old memories, all glossy with a red haze. She remembers when they took her away…right after a particularly heated moment.

"Oh my, Natsuki is thinking dirty thoughts, and at such a time as this."

Natsuki snapped out of her thoughts and noticed the heat on her cheeks. "I was not." Shizuru smiled warmly and Natsuki bit her lower lip to stop herself from doing the same. "That's why they thought I was…attacking you."

Shizuru nodded. "I figured as much as well. Not only did he get the fame from capturing a witch, but also the praise of saving his wife while he did so."

"Why didn't you say anything? You could have had all of them…something –in seconds." Natsuki furrowed her eyebrows. "We—you could have still escaped."

Shizuru shook her head, her hair swaying as she did so. "Natsuki forgets. He wasn't much of a human either." She held up her hand and showed her wrist, where a small grey mark in her skin festered. "My parents think this as a birthmark. I've had this in every life since then."

Natsuki frowned. "He did something to you."

"I couldn't move, couldn't speak. Not until he told me to anyways." A lone tear slid down her cheek, and Natsuki moved to brush it away. "I managed to contact Juliet though. She agreed to put your…remains to rest, properly."

"Juliet? But, she…you…. I thought—"

"We did, and probably still do, though I haven't met her here yet." Shizuru took Natsuki's hands and held them in her own, and the dark haired girl let her. "But she cared for Natsuki."

Natsuki waded around her muddled mind, the red haze dispersing, slowly, finally. "What happened to you then?"

"I killed myself."

Natsuki flinched in alarm and stared at Shizuru with widened eyes. "What?!"

Shizuru smiled and took a step closer. "Not that I hadn't entertained the thought, but it was months later. I was kept, commanded to play a good little wife. I tried many times to break his hold over me, but whatever he had done was a physical enchantment and not a mental one…. I could not break it."

"Then….then how?"

Shizuru smirked. "How indeed. The fool got into a skirmish between a rival business partner and was severely wounded. His hold weakened, but I could still feel it. It was during that time that I—"

"Killed yourself?"

"—made sure I would never forget what happened." Shizuru squeezed Natsuki's hands, and the girl felt the silver laying in between them. "I made it so. No matter where I would go, this would follow; no matter which life I was in, I would always remember and try to find my way back to you."

Natsuki opened her mouth but only air came out. She closed it, and opened it again. "Why didn't you escape?"

"Life without Natsuki isn't life at all."

Natsuki blushed and lowered her head, eyeing their clasped hands. Shizuru had said that many times in the past.

"And while his hold had weakened, it was not lifted. I knew that he would simple recover and command me to return."

"So you stayed."

"I stayed. And it was then that he found no need for me. Simply put, he gave me one last order, and that was to kill myself. He didn't tell me how though." Shizuru smirked. "So I had a bit of creative freedom."

Natsuki nodded, a sick feeling of anger and pain mixing in her stomach.

"He probably came home hours later and made a big parade out of it."

"You don't remember?"

"How could I?"

"So you…looked for me? Afterwards?"

Shizuru laughed and Natsuki smiled because of it. The taller girl puller at her and Natsuki let her, sighing and breathing in her scent as she did so. I definitely remember this. Natsuki thought, and she rested her head on Shizuru's shoulder.

"I did. I can recall my lives before the pendant and after. I came back here, during every one and searched for you." Shizuru rested her head on Natsuki's. "I met versions of others from that time—all with new personas, but the same in a way. In one life, I never saw anyone. I was a cancer patient at the time, so I didn't have to wait very long for the next life."

"…Where was I?"

"Trying to make some kind of peace in the After probably. I wish you could have done so sooner if that's the case." Shizuru nuzzled into Natsuki's dark blue hair. "I was so shocked to see you earlier."

Natsuki smirked. She had forgotten that the whole of this happened in one night and during Halloween too. "No wonder I'm so tired. You had me running ragged all night."

"I only had tonight." Shizuru giggled, and then sighed. "My parents have me running all over the world, learning the ins and outs of the family business."

"You don't like it?"

"I much prefer it over some of the other things my families have made me do."

"Ah." Natsuki wasn't sure if she wanted Shizuru to elaborate.

"Besides, my father recently sent me a beautiful silver pendant from a strange little town…kind of like this one."

"Oh?"

"Hm."

A brief silence fell on them. Questions began to bubble in Natsuki's mind and while she loathed doing it, she broke from Shizuru's warm embrace and took a step back.

"Natsuki?"

"Shizuru…what do we do from here?"

"…'do from here?'"

Natsuki swallowed and nodded. "You, me…what do we do from here?"

Shizuru blinked and blinked again. "I…don't understand."

"Shizuru, we're not the same people as we were before. Similar, but still different. I—we don't know anything about each other."

Shizuru hummed and then smiled widely. "How about a date."

"Ha?"

The brown hair girl nodded and then pulled on Natsuki's hand, leading her to the mansion's forgotten door. "Natsuki promised me a date earlier."

Natsuki stammered, red sweeping across her face. "I did not!"

"Natsuki did."

"You're not listening!"

Shizuru laughed and pulled Natsuki inside, where the warm air greeted them. "You must introduce me to your friends and family, as a proper girlfriend should."

"Girlfriend? Shizuru you said we were only going on a date!"

"Oh my, I would love to."

Love to what? Went through Natsuki's mind a second before a pair of soft lips landed on her own. Oh. Her lips (and tongue and teeth) acted on their own accord and when Shizuru broke their contact she leaned over to reinitiate it.

Shizuru smiled and licked her lips, but she tilted her head away from the other, and was met with a dazed scowl. "Natsuki remembers now? Natsuki knows now?"

Natsuki blinked and then smirked. She slowly stepped towards Shizuru, leading her into a side room. "No, it's all still a bit hazy." She did a quick swept of the empty room with her eyes. "I'm sure you can help me though." And then kicked the door shut.

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End.

Lol, why do these chapters keep getting longer? First one=roughly 2000 words, second one=roughly 3000 words, fourth one=roughly 4000 words. Dx Oh well, the deed is done, and I'm not elaborating any more. ;) Although…you can send me a PM if you have any remaining confusion about the story, a small 'sorry' if you will for taking so long. Don't expect a straight answer though. xD