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, Sanyu, Ryouno, Mishi Takano, and Ayu..

Note

I was really curious about knowing who everyone thought the murderer was until it hit me you can't know 'cause I'm a bad writer. Sorry! ;

. A R C . T W O .

The Screaming Mirror Chapter

C h a p t e r 0 0 8 : Spreading Sin

Sanyu was sobbing, on her knees by her sister's dead body, covered in his sibling's blood. A confused Kain stood next to her, concerned, confused, disgusted. Ayu had a hole right in the middle of her stomach and, by the looks of things, whoever had killed her had been attempting to disembowel her... Kain guessed that the killer had heard them coming and fled.

Fled...

"Sanyu. Sanyu!" Kain snapped, trying to get her attention again, "Let's go. We'll alert someone... But first you need to wash up."

The twin blinked, rubbing her eyes an accidentally leaving little smudges of blood on her cheeks. "But... why?"

"Whoever killed Ayu had a job to do... They're probably going to try and come back."

"Then I'll catch them come!"

Kain shook his head, holding her hand tightly now. "No. You're going to wash up, I'm going to alert the police."

Sanyu still looked a bit rebellious, but the hard look Kain was giving her helped her to give up. She sighed and nodded slowly.

"Ok... I'll... Go to the house." Sanyu whispered, "And meet you in by the shrine... Ok?"

Kain nodded, "Sure. Be careful, ok?"

Nodding, Sanyu hurried off down the road, leaving her friend behind. When she was out of view, Kain took off his coat to cover Ayu's face and then hurried off to get some help.

It was getting late when Kain found her. He needed some support, some advice, so went to the only head of house that he could trust.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Kain?" Nina asked, turning around to Kain with a game gun held in her arms, a kitsune mask over half of her face and held in place with an elastic string. Next to her, Mikan had a similar mask on her face and Nanaha wore a fox ear head band, licking a bright red candy apple and holding another one that he assumed belonged to Mikan.

Mikan's yukata was bright yellow with flower patterns rising from the bottom.

"I-I need to...Talk to you, Nina." He said slowly, breathless and shaking. The more he thought about Ayu's now lifeless body in the woods, waiting for a proper burial, the more scared he got.

Nina tilted her head and handed Mikan the fake gun, then walked silently over to Kain and guided him a few yards from the noise of festival games.

"So, care to tell me what the trouble is?" Nina asked. Kain was shaking worse then ever.

"It's... Ayu... She's..."

The miko's eyes softened a bit and she put a finger to her friend's lip. "Why don't we go to the shrine? Oyashiro-sama will want to hear this." She explained, wearing a kind but sad smile.

Kain gulped and nodded, trying not to cry.

Still smiling, Nina took his hand and pulled him away from the life of the festival and dragged him to the quiet shrine. There, Sanyu was already waiting, curled up in a little ball and sobbing.

Nina hurried over to give her a hug. It surprised Kain a bit that Nina seemed to have a full understanding of the situation, as if she'd been there when they discovered Ayu.

"It's ok, Sanyu. It's ok." Nina whispered soothingly. She whispered something else, something that made Sanyu gasped and sit up in a hurry, looking fearfully into her friend's calm eyes.

"Nina... Nina, what's going on?" Kain asked, alarmed by Sanyu's sudden change of expression. The white haired girl had stopped crying and was just sitting, staring sadly ahead.

Shaking her head, Nina smiled weakly.

"It'll all be over soon... Please, don't worry."

If her words did had any more of a calming effect than they did a frightening one, it was all spoiled when Nanaha seemed to appeared from no where, eyes narrowed a bit and a glittering cleaver at hand.

"It's because there is dirt in Oyashiro-sama's Hinamizawa that Ayu was killed." The young girl said, her cold voice drawing the attention of her friends, "Just like Miss Takano and Ryouno, Sanyu was bringing sin into our house."

Sanyu looked startled at the mentioning of the manga team they'd met earlier.

"E-Eh? What do you mean, Miss Takano ad Ryouno..."

"They're dead." Nanaha said bluntly, casting her gaze at the ground, "Killed because they wanted to make money off the story of Oyashiro-sama... Killed because they wanted to share his secrets."

Dead? The only one who didn't look surprised was Nina, so Kain assumed he announcement must have been made earlier...When Nina was playing, she must've been trying to get Nanaha and Mikan to cheer it up... It seemed like a perfectly Nina-ish thing to do, anyway.

"How did they...?"

"Ryouno clawed out his throat for some reason." Nina explained quietly, her voice sad, "Takano was vanished but left a suicide note by his body."

"When...?"

Nina didn't answer Kain's question. She couldn't, because Nanaha spoke up again.

"Poor poor Ayu. Oyashiro-sama must have been aiming to strike you down, Sanyu." She said in a dark voice, "But he got her instead."

The idea made Sanyu's eyes widen and she began shaking her head, breaking into a sobbing fit and leaning to Nina to bury her head in her friend's shoulder. Nina closed her eyes and pulled Sanyu into a protective hug, giving Nanaha a scolding glare.

"Sanyu has been through a lot, Nanaha. Please don't go bullying her like this."

The younger girl laughed, her crazy laughter making Kain shudder and Sanyu cower more than ever.

"Bullying? I'm far from bullying her! I'm just making sure this scum knows that all of these deaths have been triggered by her! You pushed Oyashiro-sama over the edge! He could handle a bit of sin, the sin of that manga woman and her editor, but you...! Coming and dishonoring him on his special day...!"

"Enough!" Nina snapped. Her tone made Nanaha's eyes snap back to normal and the younger girl stepped back. Her eyes watered a bit.

"No... Nina-mama, don't stand up her! Please! You'll get all dirty too!" She pleaded.

Nina looked away. "Nanaha... I'm already as dirty as a person can get... No sin can drag me any further now."

Nanaha whimpered, but Nina didn't look up and say she was lying, which the young cleaver girl wanted more than anything. She just sighed and hugged Sanyu protectively. Seconds later, Kain walked over to join the protective barrier around the sinful young woman, who began sobbing again.

"Fine..." Nanaha whispered, "Fine! See if I care! At the very least, I'll protect Mikan! I won't let this sin spread anymore!" And with that said still carrying her cleaver, Nanaha turned and ran off, leaving the three to comfort Sanyu and mourn the lose of three innocent lives.

The sun was setting the Higurashi cried out in harmony with the screams of a young girl as the sin left her veins.

Chapter End

A broken mirror is bad luck

seven years of misery

a broken mirror is bad luck

seven lives made miserable

Three more to go