Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni SAI

When They Cry Again

Disclaimer

I do not own Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Kai) or anything like that. My characters are obviously mine, though. That's Mikan, Nanaha, Nina, Kain, and Ayu..

Note

Ugguuu ; Sorry for the crappy murders! Umm... Well, this marks the end of Arc One. I hope it turned out semi-ok..

Umm...

If you have time, feel free to leave questions in the reviews? I want to know what exactly you all want answered since, in the spirit of Higurashi, I'll do an 'answer' arc for this chapter pretty soon. Thank you for reading!

And Blitz12: I'd love to help you out! Just let me know what I can do! 3

. A R C . O N E .

The Blood Tears Chapter

C h a p t e r 0 0 5 : Bad End

By the time he reached the festival things were well under way. Kain found that many people had dressed up in colorful Japanese clothing, a result from how the culture in Hinamizawa had changed drastically to differ from the towns around it. He could see that there were many games to be played and trinkets to be won.

It looked like so much fun.

It made him feel cold and sick. Looking around he could tell which games he wanted to play most and which ones he would win or lose. Mikan and Nanaha would want fish. Nina would be good at the fish game too, and maybe her and Ayu would be a good team for the shooting game.

Ayu.

It was now that he'd gotten over his anger that Kain really realized what he had done. He couldn't get the smell of her blood and her sobs out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. The feeling of sinking a blade into a human's skin and the sickening result...

"Kain! Where's Ayu?"

When he snapped to, Kain was faced with Nanaha and Mikan. The two girls had already won a fish, a tiny little goldfish with a black spot on its tail.

"A-Ayu?" He repeated, shaking a bit, " Oh.. uh... She said she'd be a bit late. She's.. um..."

"Cleaning?"

He decided to go with what Nanaha said, nodding. "Yeah, still cleaning."

"We can go help. We need to get our goldfish a bowl anyways." Nanaha chirped, turning to leave. Kain's eyes widened and he shook his head, reaching out for the younger girl's shoulder.

"NO! No, she wanted to do it alone!" He insisted, "You guys can win a bowl, right?"

Mikan nodded, stepping up by Nanaha. "Let's do that, ne? I don't think we want to go see Ayu if she says she wants to do it alone. Right?"

"Mmm... I guess so.." Nanaha murmured, biting her lip, "Sure... Let's go. Kain, are you coming?"

He shook his head, glad Mikan had saved him. "N-No.. umm... Do you know where Nina is?"

Nanaha looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Oh! Yes! Miss Takano said she was up at the shrine repenting!"

Miss Takano? Kain hadn't heard of her before. However, he did not question who this woman was. Instead he just nodded and hurried off to the shrine. If he couldn't find someone to 'demon away' then he'd just have to protect Nina for the time being. And maybe there'd be some clues up there anyway.

Nina wasn't hard to find,either. All Kain had to do was run up a little ways up the hill, on top of which was Oyashiro-sama's sacred shrine that looked over the town, and Nina was in sight. Just as Nanaha had suggested, the brunette was kneeled by the shrine praying. When in ear shot, Kain could hear what she was asking for.

"Even if I die, please protect the others, Oyashiro-sama. I'm sorry." She whispered.

Kain walked up beside her, still holding his baseball bat. He wasn't quite sure whether or not to interrupt her. Would she even care that he'd come? That he'd gone through so much to protect her?

"Nina..."

She jumped a bit when she heard his voice, turning slowly and smiling up. It was as if nothing had ever happened; Nina was back to being cheerful and sane.

"Oh, hey there, Kain. You just couldn't let your first date end badly, could you?" She teased in her usual sweet tone, "Sorry for running off."

When he didn't reply, Nina continued.

"I think I sorted things out... Even if Oyashiro-sama takes me away, I at least want to leave all of you happy and well."

Did dead count as well? Maybe Ayu was excluded from this wish. If she was, Kain would be able to stop feeling so sick inside.

For a moment there was silence. Then Nina frowned a bit.

"What's wrong, Kain? You're all quiet." She pouted a bit.

He frowned too.

"Nina... I... I did it. You're almost safe now."

She blinked, stunned.

"You won't die this year. You'll get to your fifth year and you can leave without a care in the world."

Nina shivered a bit. "H-Hey, what's with that tone? You sound like you..." Her voice trailed off a bit, "...killed some...oh god."

It took her a record two seconds to scramble to her feet and put a bit of distance between them.

"You.. You didn't, right?"

He bit his lip. Should he lie? His hesitation said everything, though, so there was no point to it.

"K-Kain! Hey, say something... You didn't kill anyone, did you?"

He stayed silent. The only sound came from two laughing girls running up the hill.

"Please say you didn't! Even if it's a lie..." Nina's voice trailed off and she clenched her fists, on the verge of tears, "Kain... I... I was ok with dying! I sinned! If it'd help save everyone I love then I'd happily die!"

Just like Ayu had said.

Kain was feeling worse. Had this all been for nothing?

"Kain, I'll die anyways, you know... If no one comes to kill me, I'll do it myself!" She snapped, voice shaking, "My existence did nothing... My sin has taken an innocent life away!"

He shook a bit. Was he sad? Feeling guilty?Heck yes. But he was also angry. Why was she being so ungrateful? After everything he'd done... And for what? Why?

"Shouldn't you keep living?" He asked, trying to remain calm, "Live for the person who died in your place?"

"I know I should... but..." She looked away, "I don't know them... I don't know how to..."

"It was Ayu."

Nina looked back at him. Her eyes had gone wide again and her mouth was open.

"A...A..A...Ayu?" She repeated. When he nodded, Nina put her hands over her mouth and shook her head.

"Why...? No... I can't!" She screamed, "No.. no no..."

He didn't say anything.

"Ayu...Ayu..." Nina repeated, sobbing, "I can't... " She looked up at Kain, "There was to be a second, right? I'll be the second! I can't just leave Ayu alone!"

Mikan and Nanaha were visible now, carrying their fish bowls. Nina knew they were coming, but directed her efforts at trying to open the shrine door, hoping to either curse herself so badly she'd be killed on the spot or find a good suicide tool behind the wooden doors.

Kain spun the baseball bat a bit. He had to do something fast. Nina seemed quite serious about suicide at this point... To make herself the second death of the year.

If there was a second... she wouldn't want anymore deaths and would live on... right?

But who could Kain make the second? Nina was surprisingly good at attacking the shrine door's lock... And pretty soon, he realized she had a key and was just struggling to get it in the keyhole with her shaking hand.

"Nina-mama? What are you doing?"

Nanaha.

And Mikan.

Surely if he beat them both good and hard... One would die before Nina got the door open. Or at least get her attention away from the door.

So, not thinking too straight to begin with, Kain rushed forward with his baseball bat. The two young girls laughed at first, expecting a joke or something. But when the bat hit Nanaha, resulting in a sickening cracking sound and a falling body, the only girl who could still stand screamed.

"NANAHA!" Mikan screamed in horror. Her voice caught Nina's attention and the older girl instantly dropped her key, staring in horror. Kain gave Nanaha's limp body a few more hits for good measure, until he realized a growling pool of blood. For a split second he paused, but Nanaha was still making sounds, so he lifted the bat to beat her once more, just get the second death done before he had time to think anymore about it.

"MIKAN! NO!" Nina shrieked, stumbling off the shrine, which was elevated a few inched from the ground, and towards the bloody scene. Kain had accidentally hit Mikan when she rushed over to try and protect her friend's battered body resulting in another crack when Kain's bat hit the living girl's neck.

Mikan fell over top of Nanaha and Nina slowed a bit, shaking far too much to keep going. Even if she could keep going, she didn't want to. The sight of the two bodies from a distance was plenty horrifying... Seeing it up close would just make it worse.

"Mi...kan..Mikan! Nanaha! Are you ok? ANSWER ME!" She screamed.

There was no response.

And maybe he was trying to get them to wake up, or just make Nina throw up, but Kain nudged the bodies with his bat, unintentionally squeezing a bit of blood out of open wounds.

Nina was sobbing now, on her knees and staring up at Kain as he walked over to her.

"K-Kain!" She wailed, "How could you? We were a family... They're like my children! They were my little angels... And you... You...!"

Shaking her head and covering her face, Nina kept sobbing.

Kain snapped back to his senses.

"I-I'm sorry. Nina, I... I don't know why..."

She choked a bit on her tears and tried to wipe her eyes enough that she could see him clearly when she looked up again.

"I-I hate you... I hate you so much..." She whispered, "You...You're a monster! I wish you had been the one to die!"

Maybe it was because she was wishing while near the shrine, or maybe being a miko does give you some sort of power, but Nina got her wish.

All it took was a bullet from the woods and Kain fell. Nina instantly screamed, but couldn't move. His body was right beside her, his eyes staring up at her as blood soaked her dress.

He didn't know how long it took for him to finally die. It didn't matter anyways, so why count the seconds going by? All Kain could use to track the time was that it had been slow enough that he could see her lean over him and cry something about having not meant it and not to leave her too. Some time after that, hands grabbed her arms and, despite a decent struggle, Nina was eventually picked up and carried away. It really looked like she wanted to stay with him as she kicked her feet and reached her arms out, wanting to grab so much dirt she couldn't be taken away.

She was crying the whole time. Crying real tears. And when he thought about, he was crying too.

He didn't know how long he was laying there alone, ether.

But it probably didn't matter.

Nothing mattered once you were dead.

FYI, this is a BAD END.