Music of Choice: Why - Rascall Flatts

A/N: IT'S ALMOST OVER! Only a few more chapters to go. As the ending is quickly coming upon this story, so is the Hyakki Eikou, the Hundred Machine Funeral. What will become of Kia and Vice? Will they ever be together? Will she ever forgive him? Only time can tell.

Warning: There may be some MAJOR OOCness and MarySue tendencies coming up very quick. Please bear with me. I greatly apologize about this beforehand.

Chapter 15 - Time Ticking Away

"Come play with me," Kia begged, tugging on the boy. Vice lay against the base of a tree, relaxing.

"Go home," he muttered, slightly annoyed from the constant attention from an ankle biter.

"But I wanna play," she pouted at him, plopping herself down on the grass.

"I played with you yesterday and the day before and the day before that," he told her, not bothering to open his eyes. "Now go away, tiny."

Kia stuck her tongue out at the boy, and contemplated on how she would get him to play with her. With a smile, she said very quietly, "I'm gonna tell Mommy about you."

Vice opened his eyes. "You wouldn't dare," he warned. Quickly getting to her feet, she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. He was still too fast for her, and one swoop had her caged in his iron grip. Giggling, she attempted to struggle from his grip, and he shook her lightly.

"Don't tell your parents about me," he said. He dropped her and watched her scamper off. Leaning back against his tree, Vice closed his eyes hoping for some peace and quiet from the child. Kia studied the boy for a bit, and when she tried to wander off to find her own fun, she heard her name being called.

Her mother yelled her name. Kia had received a sound scolding from her parents when she arrived home covered in mud. Vice had stopped their walk short from the edge of the woods, and made the little girl swear she wouldn't say anything about him to her parents. She didn't understand why, though.

"You'd better hurry," she heard Vice tell her, "Or I'm going to take you far away." He made a playful snatch at her. Kia giggled as she dodged him and ran away.

"I wanna play tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Yeah, whatever."

Kia woke up to the sound of someone speaking. Looking out of the small room she and Risa shared, she discovered her sister was gone. The voices she heard weren't normal talking that her Mommy and Daddy usually had. It sounded angry and scared. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and wandered from her room. "Mommy? Daddy?" she asked, her voice echoing in silence.

Out of nowhere came a bloodcurdling scream, sending shivers down her small body. Sounds of glass breaking and shouting and someone crying echoed through the hallways. Someone came bolting out of the kitchen, knocking the small child down to the ground. Kia felt something warm and wet hit her face. She touched it hesitantly and was terrified to see it come away bright red. "M-mommy?" she began to cry.

The sound of running footsteps, and Kia tried to follow them. Upon entering the livingroom, she saw the dark outline of someone standing before her mother and sister, who were trapped in corner. In the light of the doorway, she saw bright green claws strike her mother and sister, and their blood sprayed to the walls, furniture and floor, coating in the crimson fluid.

Kia screamed, running from the person. She could see the golden eyes and wild black hair when he turned to her, and she found it was Vice. He grinned at her cruelly, and lunged for her. Claws scratched her side, sending her flying into the wall.

Kia snapped her eyes open. She looked around, trying to remember where she was at. Yamato had taken them to an abandoned hospital after meeting up with a very large man. He said he was called Ekouda Shin and that he owned the neighborhood sushi restaurante. She didn't remember much after that.

"Miss? Are you awake?" she heard someone asking her. Turning to the one who spoke to her, she was met with a boy who had short black hair cut neatly and dark purple eyes. He wore something that reminded her of an apron with butterflies upon them.

"Oh, yes," she answered him, looking away. Pulling up her blood encrusted sleeve, she saw that the three scratches Vice had made were almost healed now, merely three pink scars remained.

"I'm sorry that I cannot heal them all the way."

"Uh," Kia's mind pondered, "how did-?"

"Healing is one of Pardonner's abilities as a Douji," she heard someone speak. An elderly man, much more older than Aleksandr, spoke to her. "He represents Patience."

"Hold on a moment," Kia said, putting her hands up. "You said Douji? As in KarakuriDouji?"

"Yes," a familiar voice told her. She spun her head, her gaze traveling towards Murayama in the corner. He was reading a magazine or book of some sort, completely cool and collected. "But it shouldn't be too difficult for you to understand. You have lived with one for about six or seven months, haven't you?"

"Y-yes," she answered slowly.

"Then who are you?" a woman with long black hair in a black dress asked.

"How do you know the Douji?"

Kia began to get bombared with questions, and she had to resist the urge to scream and run. "Now now, give her some time," the large man told them. He must have been Ekouda Shin, if memory should serve her right. "Kia," he asked, turning to her. He had a kind smile on his face, and she felt herself calm down slightly. "Can you tell us anything about you or what you know about the Karakuridouji?"

"Well," she said, hesitant in her answer," My name's Kia Kachikawa, and I don't really think I know that much about them."

"How do you know about them then?"

"My uncle is a Master of one of the Douji's."

"Which one?" Pardonner asked.

She hesitated. "Vice."

Everyone's eyes, excluding Murayama's, widened when she said his name. They immediately began to whisper amongst themselves about something Kia hoped to not know. She could hear phrases about Vice and "does she know any weaknesses or strengths?" or talk of "erasing her memories". Tired of it, she yelled "Whatever is going to happen on the day of the Hundred Machine Funeral or whatever it is, I don't care. I just don't want to get involved."

Immediately, everyone's talking ceased. Whatever was going on, Kia had only till then to find out what she needed to know. Every second counted, and the more time she wasted here was less time to think of how to prevent the Douji war, if that was even possible. She spotted Yamato in the group and watched him walk over to her quietly.

"The Hyakki Eikou is tomorrow," he said.

Uh-oh. Please leave your thoughts.