Chapter Ten: Don't Screw With Me!

"Don't run!" The spirits cried to them. "Please," they pleaded. So what did the photographers do? They ran, of course! They scrambled through the halls again, running up stairs and occasionally falling down them, while pushing each other out of the way. Mio was amazed that Mayu had been able to keep up, especially for someone who had always gotten left behind a few years back. Mio paused when she was sure they were no longer being followed, or at least believed they weren't. She went over a head count. Let's see here. Me…Mayu…Saiyuu- wait a minute!

"Hey! What happened to the kid?!?"

"Huh?… Wha?...Hold on! We lost Saiyuuri?!?" Mayu started to frantically run around, blathering on about how she was going to be reprimanded, and how she was going to have to take responsibility, while Mio was lost in thought. She was JUST right here! There's no way she could have disappeared unless…

"Mayu? Do you know anything about this?" She stopped spazzing out and looked at Mio.

"No, why would I know that this place has been haunted for a long time?...Heh…heh heh…" Mio stared at her blankly. Mayu's sudden jolted from pausing caused her bag to move slightly ajar from its original position, opening and letting the "antique" from earlier fall out of it. They both froze and stared at it with thoughts immediately flying through their heads. …I hope Mio didn't see that! Mayu started to laugh nervously.

"Um…I can explain," Mayu nervously waved, taking notice of her sister's sweltering anger, which then blew out into full blown furiousity.

"You brought the Camera Obscura and you didn't tell me!"

"If I had, I didn't think you'd come," Mayu defended herself.

"I should kill you!"

"Uwaah I'm sorry!" Mayu flailed around in the air. Mio grabbed her by the neck and started to strangle her in the air.

"I shoulda' killed you when I had the chance! Then I wouldn't be here!" She let go and turned around grabbing her head and looking to the ceiling. "Oh, where did I go wrong? Why me?" She tried to think back to everything they had gone through and why Mayu would risk putting them through it again. Then she thought about all the times Mayu had compromised things and "accidentally" made them worse than they really needed to be. First, in grade school Mio had tried to defend someone, and Mayu, never wanting to be left out, had to step in, causing Mio to get a referral, close to expulsion, for almost killing someone. Then there was the time where she fell. There was no way she could have fallen. Mayu kept looking back to check on her every now and then. She was in the middle of the path. How could she have fallen? Nevertheless, she achieved that, too. And then she managed the impossible at All God's Village. Apparently, she hadn't learned the lesson "Don't follow strangers" in school. Certainly, that horrible little red bug wasn't THAT interesting, and as far Mio was concerned, it definitely qualified as a "stranger". She certainly hoped that hadn't happened to Saiyuuri: She couldn't POSSIBLY be that dumb.

"All I wanted was to spend some time with you, again. You were never around!" Mayu looked hurt. Not physically, but mentally. "It's like you never cared!" Mio was silent.

"It was all planned out, wasn't it?"

"Huh?"

"The fall, every time you got hurt, everything. It was all just one of your selfish plots, wasn't it?" Mayu looked away. "Don't screw with me, Mayu! Was it all just a game to you?" Mio grabbed her and forced Mayu to look at her. "Well? Was it?" Mayu was silent for a while and looked away. Mio laughed and backed away from her.

"You think everything's a game… Well, guess what. It's not! Do you know how long I spent worrying about you! It was ALL about you! I never took time for myself! I devoted everything to you, and all you could think about was yourself!"

"Mio…stop."

"No, you need to listen!" Mio fought back. "I almost killed you! What part of that did you NOT understand? At least I was able to refuse our "destiny" long enough to get us out of there. I could have just left to begin with, if I hadn't wanted you to be safe!"

"If I was such a problem, then why didn't you just leave me?"

"Because the moment you fell off that cliff, you became MY responsibility. It was my job to protect what I failed at protecting to begin with. I just didn't know that I had to protect you from yourself," she said more calmly than she had begun. She looked very disappointed with Mayu, something that Mayu didn't want to see, the scorn of her beloved sister raining down upon her.

"You never HAD to protect anything," Mayu said from her knees. "You never had to do any of that. You called it protecting and being there, but you never WITH me. You were always looking for something bad," she looked up at her. "I never expected ANY of this to happen. You never listened to me. That's why I fell…but I only meant to trip, not break anything. I didn't mean to cause you any grief. Every time we went out, you stressed because you thought I would get hurt. When I figured that out, I tried to be more independent. I tried to be stronger like you. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy…but look what I've done…I've only made it worse." She paused to give herself a moment of thought, then laughed at herself. "You know, heh, I'm no better than Sae, now that I think about it. I'm just as pathetic. The only difference is that I have the better sister. The one that's more selfless than selfish." Mio tried to make herself not look at Mayu, but she couldn't help it. It didn't matter how angry Mayu made her, every time she forgave her.

"Well…at least you admit it," Mio said, offering her hand to help her up, trying not to look at her, but failing.

"I'm sorry, Mio. For everything…I mean it."

"Yeah, I know you do…at least you better," Mio taunted playfully. "C'mon, we got a kid to find."

"Well, at least she's not paranormally sensitive, like I am…" Mio froze, her face turning blue and jaw dropped. "Mio?...Mio? Did I say something wrong?"

Saiyuuri woke up to pitch black surroundings. It was so dark she couldn't see her hand waving in front of her. She looked around for any signs of light, finally settling on a dim source. She fumbled her way through the darkness trying to reach it, finally identifying the source. It was the twin spirits.

"Please!" They pleaded again. "We need your help." Saiyuuri started to back away.

"Um, normally, I'd help and all, but…heh heh."

"Do we seem evil to you? " Saiyuuri took a closer look at both of them. They seemed gentler than the ghosts Mio and Mayu seemed to be referring too, but they had identified them as those very ghosts. She had seen one of them earlier, wearing bloodstained attire, which was now stainless.

"How can I know I can trust you?"

"We mean no harm. We are here as a warning," the seemingly older one notified her.

"We know about your family. That is why we picked you," the younger one said. Saiyuuri tensed a bit at the mention of her family. "Do you know of the Crimson Ritual," she inquired sadly.

"I've heard of it some. My family has dealt with spirits of that origin before. Why?... You're not sacrifice twins are you?"

"Indeed, we are. I am Yae, The Evanescent One," the older said.

"And I am Sae, The Abandoned One," the younger joined. "We remain to warn others of the evil intent of the Remaining, as punishment for our decision."

"The Ritual is no longer necessary, but it is impossible to convince those whom the Malice has conceived otherwise. Therefore, it is now our task to prevent chosen spirits, like us, from becoming sacrifices," Yae said sincerely.

"Will you help us?" Sae added. "Will you take us to them?"

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(attempts the scary thing again) WOOOOO! (and fails miserably) Damnit, it doesn't work! Hm, oh well. Let's see. (reads author EMCEE notes….) Oh, um… Will Saiyuuri help them? Are they evil? Are they good? Wasn't the Crimson Sacrifice taken care of? And are Mayu and Mio really okay with each other? What other things lie in wait for our heroes? Have you figured out Saiyuuri's family's business yet? (it's a no duh when you find out….) Join us for the next chapter….within the week…… Oh, damn, school's starting….wait a minute…What do I mean, "oh damn"….YAY! FRIENDS AND LESS BOREDOM!