Note: And after months and months of examinations…here's chapter 8!

Disclaimer: I own EVERYONE! Except for lord Voldemort… *sniff*

8. Salvation

The pounding of thunder was growing distant, leaving only the sound of the last trickle of rain after the storm. To Momoko, the rain was like all the tears of the dead, crying at the sight of what has become of mankind. She believed that as they cried for the mortals, they washed away their sins. This was all but an idea, of course. She could only find out when she dies… if she dies.

Her eyes lay on her guest, as he sat cautiously before her. She was aware of how he felt. He was afraid. He could sense that she was slowly waking up from a deep slumber in the unconscious. It was like being trapped inside a sleeping dragon's cave, just waiting for when it will wake up to devour you. And although she could sense what he had left of that emotion, his body showed no sign. He was just as cold and calm as when he had first entered. His heart didn't even quicken its pace. She was slightly impressed by the control he had over himself. It probably took years and many deaths to reach such a degree of self-restriction, she thought. Perhaps her thoughts were obvious in her eyes, because the man asked, "Is something the matter?"

She smiled slightly, showing no teeth, and answered, "Why would something be wrong?" He seemed slightly taken aback by this answer, and his eyes dropped for a moment and he smiled back. "Perhaps it was just a mere memory that has come back to you"

Momoko nodded and said, "Yes, it is a memory. What happened after I came back from the boat was, to say the least, catastrophic." She took a deep breath and began, "I was walking back to Onee-san's house, thinking about all that had happened. I felt like there really was no way out for me. I was stuck in a world of fraud and robbery and even sex trade, and there was nothing I could do about it. Going home to Onee-san was like returning to a prison. I was trapped in her world, and being in her territory allowed her to do as she pleased to me and say whatever she thought was necessary to keep me in her arms. And there was nothing I could do about it. There was no escape from her. I loved her and she was my only company.

"I entered her home and I was met with the sound of laughter from within one of the bedrooms. I walked towards my room, passing Onee-san's room and glimpsing her shadow on the screen door, sitting on top of a man and working for something else she needed to pay for. A look of disgust formed on my face unnoticeably, and I entered my room, changed into more comfortable clothing and walked back to the kitchen to make myself a warm cup of tea. By the time I was done, I could hear them moaning form within the room. I sat down at the table in the main room and sipped, listening to them as they came to a finish. The sound of clothes brushing against skin and a scuffling of the man's socks as he moved towards the door were heard, then I saw them walking past the door opposite me. Onee-san just continued to walk hurriedly to open the front door for him, but the man caught sight of me, halted and turned to look at me, surprised.

"'I thought there was no one here but us,' he whispered to her. I just stared at him from behind my cup of tea as he looked back at me, his eyes wide. He looked like he had been caught in a terrible act. Suddenly, I wondered if what they were doing was illegal and possibly punishable by law as much as religion. Onee-san came back in sight at the main room door's entrance looking frightened, then she noticed it was me and sighed with relief. 'It's just my maid,' she said. A shot of anger spread through me when she said that. Just a maid? Am I no longer your little sister? That's what you called me when you let a strange man into the house instead of saying that I'm your lover, but now you just call me a maid? As much as those words angered me, they seem to put his heart and mind at ease. A huge smile spread across his face, and he bent over, laughing a little. 'I'm very relieved. I thought she might be someone who would report us,' he said. I raised my eyebrows. So it really was true. This action is illegal. Onee-san noticed the comprehension dawning on my face and she grabbed his arm, laughing nervously. 'Why would she report us?' She asked. 'It really isn't like we're doing anything wrong.' She pulled him away from the door and he looked confused at her and her words. 'What do you mean we're doing nothing wrong?' Those were the last words I heard from him. I smiled. This was probably my ticket out. I could just report her and live my life without her. Then I wouldn't have to live with her and all her talk of revenge. I could just go down to the village, go to the chief and report her.

"I got up and headed to the kitchen. I threw my cup of tea in the washing pot and realized that I needed to change and fix my hair. I couldn't go talk to the chief without looking flawless if I wanted him to listen. I turned back to go to my room and gasped. Onee-san was standing at the kitchen door, her arms crossed and a cold look was in her eyes. It was that impenetrable wall of ice she had around her when I crossed her. I gulped and took a step back unconsciously. She smiled a cold smile and whispered in a low cold hiss 'There's no need for you to fear me, Momo-chan.' A cold sweat formed all over my body, and I was frozen in place by her eyes and her words. She walked slowly and gracefully towards me, and she wrapped one arm around my shoulder, grasping me in a half-hug. Her touch was icy and firm, yet her smile remained as she whispered in my ear, 'Where were you going, my love?'

"My body stiffened and for a while I couldn't talk. Then I whispered in a trembling voice, 'Nowhere. I – I was just going to take a nap,' Onee-san chuckled lightly and let go of me just enough so she could look me in the eyes. The cold look in them was unbearable even through her smile. She lifted her other hand and placed it on my face, brushing her thumb lightly on my cheek. Her smile widened, and then – SLAP – that hand that was caressing my cheek bore down on me like a whip. Her smile was a frown now, and her eyes were no longer smiling but angry and reproachful. Her entire face had changed, and I thought I was looking at an angry goddess. Tears filled my eyes, but I couldn't stop looking into her enchanting eyes. Only when she turned did her charm break, and I fell to my knees. She walked back to the kitchen's entrance and put one hand on the door. 'I will not have you lie to me, Momo-chan,' she said, her voice calm and firm. 'I know where you were going. You were going to report these acts. But Momo-chan, have you given a thought about what would happen after you report me?' She turned slightly and looked at me with one eye through her long black hair. Even then, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was yet how venomous. She smiled again, and then laughed. 'Of course you haven't you silly little girl. You think that by reporting me you will be free from everything that's going on. You think it's like pinching yourself to wake up from a nightmare. Well, Momo-chan, we live in a real world, not in a dream.' She turned and walked towards me and knelt with one knee before me, drying a tear off my cheek. I winced at her touch, thinking she was going to hit me again, but she didn't. 'What will happen is what I will tell you now, darling,' she said softly. 'If you go report me, and the chief, in the best of cases, arrests me, he will take this entire property away from you. How would you enjoy sleeping in the sand, then?' She patted my cheek lightly and continued. 'In the worst of cases, you will have that Hayate guy of yours also claim that you slept with him and you will also be arrested.'

"I pushed her hand off my cheek and screamed, 'He would never do that! He understands me and what I've been through.' My sobbing became uncontrollable, and Onee-san got up sharply. 'At this point, Momo-chan, I don't know whether to punish you for having tried to report me or having spilled all of our secrets to a traveling stranger.' Her eyes bore into me with a fierceness that burned my soul. I couldn't stand being in the room anymore. Her anger was emanating so strongly that the air was suffocating to breathe. She turned around, walked to the door, threw me a look of great deception and hatred and left. The silence that followed was deafening, and I cried until the sun set and the moon rose high.

"The next day, Onee-san and I didn't speak a word to each other. She would glance my way from time to time, like a busy mother that watches over her playful child, but she would not utter a sound. I found myself wanting to see Hayate-san just to be reassured that he might be right, that there might be a way out, but I couldn't leave the house. Something about Onee-san's mere presence chained me to this place. Worried and depressed, I decided to take a nap to finish the day sooner.

"I dreamt about flying and falling again and again, and desperation engulfed me. I would try to stay in the air, but it didn't hold me up. Then I would come back down, crashing into the hard rocky surface of this barren land. Once, twice…then I heard a crash that woke me up with a gasp. I turned my head quickly from side to side to look around the room, but I saw no one. Then I heard it. There was a sound of footsteps running in the hallway right outside my door then a thump on the ground. Onee-san's voice was heard in a muffled scream of frustration. I got up quickly and pressed myself against the wall opposite the door into the shadow. Someone was fighting with Onee-san. He might hurt her or even… Tears filled my eyes and I trembled, frightened. I heard a chunk of metal then a sharp thud on the ground and a gasp. The fight must have involved some kind of weapon, and I prayed it wasn't the attacker that was trying to use it. I listened as the fighting continued before my door, then a sword pierced it, ripped it vertically and Onee-san was pushed through the hole. She fell down on her back and crawled spider-like away from the door as fast as she could. Right then her attacker forced himself through the hole. He was a tall, slender man dressed in a long black cloak, but the hood had fallen off his head during the fight revealing long fiery-red hair. His voice was rasping as he spoke to her in an odd accent, "I want you. Why won't you let me have you? You know you are already mine!" This time, he threw the Katana at her and it slashed through her left shoulder and struck the ground behind her, leaving a trail of blood. Onee-san hissed in pain and looked up at him, her grey eyes wide in fear as she held her wounded shoulder. She sat there, frozen as he approached, and I wished then that I could evaporate or have the wall suck me into it and make me disappear.

"The man reached her, sat between her legs and leaned in on her. He held her head in one hand and pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes awoke for the second they touched, then they fluttered shut. She let go of her wounded arm and held him closer, kissing him more fervently now. As she kissed him, he laid her back until she was on the wooden floor. They broke the kiss, and a new wave of horror struck me. Blood was trickling from both their lips. 'Now that you are calmer, perhaps…' He started, but then Onee-san chuckled. She rose up slowly until she was kneeling before him, then she put both her hands on his shoulders and kissed him again. She pushed him down and simultaneously stretched her leg out until her foot reached the katana on the ground behind her. She softly pulled it towards herself and whispered to the man, 'Oh I truly was expecting you. As a matter of fact, I had done so many preparations. I didn't think you would come so soon though. That was a pleasant surprise.' Her hand slowly moved from his shoulder down his chest and to his privates. The man smiled when she did that, but his smile was ripped away as she lowered her hand still, grabbed the katana and swiftly raised it to his exposed throat. A grin spread on her face.

"The man looked at her for a moment, then his loud and sneering laugh echoed in the room, making my bones shiver. 'Do you think this is going to kill me?' He asked. Frustration came across Onee-san's face, and she swiped the blade, slashing his throat and bathing herself in a jet of his blood. The body fell backwards and was still. 'I did it,' she said, seemingly to herself, and then her voice rose. 'I did it.' She turned towards me and a maniacal grin was on her face. She scurried up and ran towards me. I tried edging away but I couldn't go through the wall behind me. She grabbed my shoulders and looked at me, blood staining her pearl white cheeks and pastel robes. 'I did it!' She yelled. 'That was the man. That's the man that ruined your life and mine, and now we have finally accomplished what we wanted! Revenge is ours, Momo-chan!' She held on to me, hugging me tightly. But something was wrong. She became very still as her head dug in my neck. I felt her sniff my neck lightly, the air tickling my neck as she expired in a sigh. She slowly ran her tongue on it, and a voice in my head screamed Run away, Momoko! I tried pushing her away but her grip was like iron. I wriggled in her arms but she did not budge, her tongue running over my neck in circles. Then I felt that feeling I felt before. Cold teeth were being pushed onto my neck, and they would soon pierce my skin.

"At this moment, we both heard a gurgling sound coming from behind Onee-san. She froze, her teeth painfully on my neck, then she turned around. The corpse was sitting up. Its hair was hiding its face, but it looked up and we saw the man, perfectly unharmed. Onee-san's eyes widened. The man smiled and said in a rasping voice, 'How stupid you are. You know you can't harm me with a simple blade. Look at your own shoulder, stupid woman.' And Onee-san's hand quickly rose to touch the place that had been wounded on her shoulder to find that her skin was perfectly repaired. 'Here I thought you would be grateful for the gift I had given you. Apparently I was wrong. You turned out to be such an ungrateful bitch.' His smile widened. 'It's too bad you don't have what can kill me. That would be because I am the only one who does.' With that, he got up, cackling, and in a flash was beside Onee-san and I. She screamed and tried to run but he grabbed her hair in a strong grip and pushed her to the ground. She scratched at his hand and fought but he was not affected. He glanced at me, and smiled affectionately. At this point, I just ran away. I ran to the door of the room, down the hallway and into the main room. From there, I got out of the kitchen door and ran up the path to the village. I had no idea where I was going, but the sun was almost setting and I wanted to run for as long as I could before it set. I heard a blood curdling scream coming from behind me and my running became frantic. She was dead. I knew she was.

"As I ran through the uneven pathway, my steps faltered and I fell. My heart was racing but the shock of the fall made my body ache and I moaned in pain, trying to get up as quickly as I could. I was up on my forearms, then on one hand, and I lifted my face to see the man's smile, a wide, toothy grin and wild eyes. I jumped and screamed, falling backwards, but unlike Onee-san that was in the same position as I just earlier, I couldn't move. The man laughed and knelt to my height. 'Why are you so afraid of me? We have met before you know,' he said. 'I believe you remember that night quite well.' His eyes hypnotized me into place and he came closer and touched my face. I gasped. His fingers were frozen, but his touch was oddly arousing. He leant in and kissed me lightly with cold lips, making shivers of pleasure run across my body. He couldn't have been human to have such powers. He scared me, yet his touch made me feel like giving in to him. I had nearly seen him murder the woman I loved, yet I felt oddly numb and calm in his presence now. It was his touch, this simple contact of his skin on mine. How he did it, I couldn't understand, but I didn't care at that moment. All I wanted was more of him. I didn't care if it killed me, but I wanted more.

"His kisses became warmer and his tongue slipped into my mouth, arousing me more as the kiss intensified. Unbelievably, I threw my arms around his neck and leaned in for more. He then laid me down and continued to kiss me, and then his lips left mine and ventured across my face, to my jaw and onto my neck. He had done this before, and I knew he would do it again. His tongue ran up and down on my neck, licked my throat and he sucked on it lightly. Whatever it was he wanted, I would give it to him now, just to have one moment longer of his touch. I ignored the little voice in my head telling me to run before I die, and moaned instead. He was then encouraged to do a little more, and he nibbled on my neck lightly, savoring the taste of his prey. He opened his mouth wide and cold teeth pressed against my skin, penetrating it slowly and deliciously. They exited as suddenly as they entered and he sucked hard. My heart quickened its pace as my life was sapped away and swallowed into his. He sucked and I moaned, feeling the last light of the sun dimming away and my breathing become shallower. And as I felt my consciousness leave me, he stopped. He looked at me caringly and I heard him talk as if from far away. 'Here is my gift to you, Momo-chan,' He said. 'Eternal life for those who deserve it.' A cold liquid was dripping in my mouth. Its irony taste ran down my tongue and into my throat. I swallowed it barely, and suddenly I stopped breathing.

"My eyes cleared up and I could see everything. A searing pain went through my body, numbing my arms and legs and heart. My heart wasn't beating anymore, but it was still. I felt as if something was being pulled out of me, something within every fiber and cell of my body. It was being ripped away, leaving a numb pain in its place, then cold emptiness. I had never screamed louder in my life. My limbs stretched and my skin hardened, my eyes felt as though they were being squeezed and my head was about to explode from the agony. Then it all stopped and my lungs regained their function. I took deep quick breaths, like someone coming out of the water they were nearly drowning in, and I jolted up. I looked around, but I was alone. The man was gone. I sighed with relief. I didn't feel much different, but I didn't understand what had just happened. I was about to die, then it was as if I truly had died, before life was blown right back into me. Now here I was, feeling as normal as ever. I looked around, and the sun had set, leaving the sky a deep orange and red color. The stars were already appearing to the west, and they twinkled peacefully. I got up and a stench hit my nose with a pang. It smelled like smoke.

"My heart beat again as I feared the worst. I turned around and surely enough, Onee-san's house was burning to the ground. I ran again, but my legs felt weak and tired. I made it to the house in about as much time as it took for the house to burn half-way down. The entire place was blaze and the heat was so intense I couldn't get close enough to enter it. I screamed 'Onee-san!' but, not surprisingly, there was no answer. I had to save her. Her body was going to burn down with the house, and her soul would never be rested. My eyes filled with tears and I tried to walk closer, feeling the scorching heat on my skin, and a wooden bar the size of a small boat fell right in front of me. I felt two strong hands grab my shoulders and pull me away. I turned around quickly, ready to defend myself if it was that man again, but it wasn't him. Hayate-san was looking at me, his face surprised and confused.

"'Hayate-san,' I whispered. Then I threw myself in his arms and cried. He held on to me, a little stiff at first, then he pated my back lightly and comfortingly. When I felt a little calmer, I let him go and he looked at me with the same expression. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again. I frowned. 'Hayate-san, don't you remember me?' I asked. He looked closely at me scrutinizing my face, then his eyes widened. 'Momoko-san? Is that really you?' I took a step back and he looked at me from top to bottom, as if seeing me for the first time. I smiled and said, 'Yes, Hayate-san. It really is me. Surely I haven't changed that much since yesterday.' He nodded, then shook his head, then sighed in desperation. 'What's wrong, Hayate-san?' He shook his head again and said in a rasping, disbelieving voice, 'If only you knew how much you've changed. I only recognized you by voice, milady.'

"I was surprised by what he said. He took off his top kimono and draped it over my shoulder to cover me and we walked silently to the village. He told me he would bring me to the local inn and pay for a night there. He said I should stay there until the morning, and then I should plan what I had to do from there. I refused the offer, saying that I had nothing to give him in return, but he smiled and kissed my forehead. He wanted nothing in return from me. I thanked him endlessly for his care and he left me with the caretaker of the inn. She was a sweet old lady that blushed when she saw me in my night wear and him in his underwear, but she took me up to a nice little room and made sure I was comfortable. She put a pot of hot water in my room for me and left, closing the door behind her. The room had a small table, a futon and a tiny closet. I undressed to freshen up and as I opened the closet door my deflection showed from the mirror on the inside. My mouth dropped and my hands let go of my kimono. My hair had straightened down, just like Onee-san's had. My eyes were a bright shade of moonlight grey and they almost shone in the darkness like two lamps. My lips were pouting and dark, almost as though they were painted and my skin was a pearly, china-doll white. The person I was looking at had nearly the same roundness of my original face and the same shape of the eyes and nose. Other than that, I was unrecognizable. I understood now why Hayate-san didn't recognize me. I had also grown slightly taller and more slender, yet my curves were ever so slightly more pronounced. I was almost as beautiful as Onee-san was.

"Looking at my reflection, I was painfully reminded of how I lost her. She truly was a unique person, in character and in body. The pain was strong at first, then it eased as I remembered the suffering I went through. She had saved me, yes, but she had used me and abused me to an extent I was glad to escape from. What now, I though. My mind was so full of memories and vivid images of that day that I thought a good night's sleep was best, and that I should start worrying about tomorrow when it comes. Preferring to think about Hayate-san, I slipped into the futon and fell asleep immediately."

That's all folks! See you in chapter 9! And don't forget to review!