Yami was silently fuming as he glowered at the peaceful little mortal world. Kayano, cool and resourceful as she was, damn her, could undo any of his tricks; he already knew that firsthand. What was more, if she won this little bet, she could banish him to the World of the Unreal, or even destroy him. More than once had Yami crossed her infuriatingly wide line of patience and though she would never show it, Kayano hated him more than anything to draw breath. Yes, his fist cracked into the stone wall, leaving a gaping hole, Kayano would either kill him, with or without Kami�s approval, or throw him to the spirits of the Unreal and let him go mad; most likely, she would choose the latter, she despised him that much.
The World of the Unreal was no place for any being, mortal or immortal, alive, or dead. It was world of black and white, with nothing in between and everything weighing down on your shoulders. The only beings there were spirits of the damned, caught in the limbo between dead and undead; it was the ultimate void of reality and unreality. Everything hovered between real and nonexistent, and anyone, anything, could go mad within a day in the World of the Unreal.
"No," Yami hissed, his brown eyes darkening, "I�ll take any measure, Kayano. This is my game, my rules, and you�re my pawn!"
On a small table, in the middle of the room, sat ten little glass figures. His fingers flexed and unflexed, as if itching to shatter five of those little figures.
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It was a beautiful morning in Seisha; birds sang and dewdrops glimmered on the green grass. But there was nothing to smile about, at least, not that day. Another boy had been found dead that morning, the third victim that year. The other two had also been discovered dead in the morning, the first, a brown haired, blue-eyed boy, without a mark on his little body, the second, a blond one, mutilated beyond recognition. Now this one, a particularly strong child for his age, was found dead, with a tiny trickle of blood from his blue lips. The crowd of people watched in sympathy as the mother sobbed into her son�s short chestnut hair. Near the back, little Duo was trying his damndest to get a view of what was going on.
"Hey, c�mon!" He whined to no one in particular, "I wanna see, dammit!" Now had his mother, a caretaker of the temple of Kayano, heard that, she would�ve washed his mouth out with soap, but in any case, she wasn�t there and he was free to wreak havoc as he pleased. So, pushing his way to the front and ignoring the dirty looks shot his way, Duo stood up on his tiptoes and looked at the sheet-covered figure on the table. His blood turned to ice as he took in the white skin, chestnut hair, and the violet eyes that were rolled all the way back into the child�s head. Duo�s stomach lurched and he immediately tore off, unnoticed by the mourners. The moment he was out of sight, the braided boy dropped to his knees behind a bush and threw up.
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"Heero."
"Go away, Relena." The little boy scowled, crossing his arms over his chest in a fashion too adult-like for his age.
"Don�t you wanna play?" He winced at her dead tone; God, he hated her.
"No!" He snapped, his cobalt eyes flickering wistfully to Duo, who sat under a tree, playing idly with a stick.
"But-" The blonde girl stopped and suddenly glowered. "You wanna play with Duo, don�t you?"
"��.." Having nothing to say, Heero shut his mouth and hoped that the creepy girl would just go away.
"Fine, go ahead." She muttered, her blonde hair framing her white face perfectly as she stomped off.
"Creepy little-" Grumbling a few choice obscenities under his breath, Heero then turned to join his friend. From the bushes, Relena stood quietly, her pale eyes dark with fury; her clenched fists closed around a rock and when they opened again, only dust slipped from her white fingers.
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Night finally fell on Seisha, covering the little village with its black cloak. Only one soul remained awake that night, peering through the window with his bright Prussian eyes. Eventually, he lay down on his bed, twisting his blanket and feeling under his pillow for the dagger he always kept there, despite his mother�s wishes. A small hand closed around the cool hilt and Heero smiled; just the feel of the weapon felt so good. When he turned to looked at the moon, he froze like a cornered rabbit.
Relena was outside his window, his second story window, watching with those horrible blue eyes of hers. She was paler than she usually was, almost gray and she looked too dead and evil to be human, much less a six-year-old girl. "Heero," She whispered, her dead voice now like a banshee�s dry hiss. Her round little face began to shrivel and her blue eyes bulged; long fangs slid from her gums and gleamed in the light of the full moon.
Heero�s eyes narrowed to cobalt slits as he whipped the dagger out and threw it with accuracy no child should have. Relena could only stare stupidly as the dagger plunged into her shoulder; her eyes narrowed and she calmly wrenched it from her body with a sickening crunch, her pale fingers twisting the hilt in half as she did so. The girl watched the blade drop to the floor and looked up just in time to see a pillow coming at her. Relena made no sound as the pillow hit her and sent her flying.
Heero crouched there, panting and sweaty; tentatively, he peered out the window and saw Relena, bleeding and ghostly still, staring up at him from the dirt road. Frightened almost to the point of shock, Heero did the only other thing he could do- he flipped her off.
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Kayano watched curiously, her head tilting like that of a bird. "How unusual," She mused, a smile lifting the corners of her rose lips; she suddenly let out a peal of laughter, her voice rich and bright as her chuckles rang through her room. Beautiful as she was, Kayano looked even lovelier when she smiled, which no one had ever seen. But now, alone in her room, watching Wind, she allowed herself a brief moment of laughter.
But then� her smile faded and a hard gleam crept back into her sliver eyes; the five Shadows were obviously very hungry for blood. Each had killed at least one child, most victims strongly resembling the five they were supposed to destroy- the little brown haired one taken by Illusion, the blond murdered by Violence, the most recent one, the chestnut haired one by Turmoil, and all three died on a night when the moon hung full� which had been tonight. The next full moon wouldn�t be there next month- not if she could do anything about it. Kayano refused to see another mortal child be wasted on a matter that was supposed to be settled between divine beings.
Calmly, Kayano drew a small sheaf of paper from her robes; characters scrawled in black pigment ink spread across the rice paper. Lifting it up, she closed her eyes and began to mutter incantations in a strange language too old to be translated. The moon began to glow and pulse in time with her words.
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The full moon didn�t come the next month; most of Seisha, or at least the farmers, were disappointed, as nature, and in result, their crops, was mostly controlled by the movement of the stars and planets; the moon had the most impact, being the closest to the earth and all. The marketplace wasn�t any less busy, though, still teeming with villagers. In the middle of it all, all twenty-nine daughters of Isham and Quatrina Winner were fighting over who would be the lucky one to watch their baby brother.
"It�s my turn!"
"But you did it last time!"
"And you gave him a bath last night!"
"Girls, not in public!"
"Well, you dressed him!"
Looking thoroughly exasperated and embarrassed, Quatre slipped from his father�s arms and tiptoed away from his family, taking cover under other people�s legs.
"Hey there, Quatre!" Duo waved and motioned for the blond to come over and join him in his favorite tree. The little blond child scurried up the branches, never once stopping to see how high up he was. "Did you escape your family?" He asked, handing the boy a stick of candy, one of the many snacks he�d snatched from a nearby cart.
"Yeah, thanks," Quatre sucked vigorously on the sugary confection, something that his overprotective sisters would�ve never allowed him. "They were acting all funny again."
"Girls are like that," Duo said shrugging.
"No they�re not!" came a tinny voice from the bottom of the tree.
"Oh," Duo peered down and waved to the little black haired girl, who was staring at him indignantly, hands on her hips. "Hi Hilde!" To his surprise, she huffed and stomped off, muttering to herself.
"Wow, what�s with her?" Duo asked, scratching his head.
"Dunno- AAAHHHH!!!" Quatre�s eyes, already very wide, grew even larger and he stammered, "Duo� t-turn around�"
"What- JESUS CHRIST!!!" Perched on a branch less than a meter away was a gigantic black snake, hissing and snapping at the two little boys, who sat petrified in the tree. "HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLP!!!" Duo�s own scream sounded pathetically tiny, compared to the hissing that sounded as though it could shatter his eardrums.
"Duo, what do we do? It�s gonna eat us!" Quatre cried, clinging to his friend�s arm.
"I-I�" The braided boy looked around frantically; there was no other to go but down, and damn, was that a long way down� The snake eyed the children hungrily; its long body coiled and reared up, ready to strike. "Omigod, omigod, omigod�" Duo broke out into a cold sweat as he tried to think of his options. It was either the snake, who was sure to devour them, or jumping out of tree, which was at least ten feet from the ground�
"JUMP!!!" With that, Duo grabbed Quatre and both jumped from the branch. Less than a second later, the snake hit the branch, hissing furiously as it watched what would have been its lunch drop to the ground.
Duo couldn�t even cry as he hit the ground, it hurt so much. He lay there, on his back, trying to regain the air that had been knocked from his lungs, head spinning as he looked around for Quatre. His vision was darkening as he spotted Quatre. The unconscious boy had a dark bruise blossoming on the side of his face and his arm was bent at a painful angle that couldn�t have been achieved unless the limb was broken. The last thing Duo saw before blacking out was the black snake still coiled on the branch above them, glaring with its pale blue eyes.
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Hilde pouted as she watched Duo and Quatre be taken away by their parents. She had been so close� if only Duo hadn�t pushed both of them out of the tree�
Her small pink tongue ran over her quickly disappearing fangs, licking away a stray drop of blood. The dead rabbit lay at her slippered feet, shriveled and completely drained of blood. She made a little huff of discontent and kicked the crumpled bundle of fur; she needed real blood, not some pathetic animal�s blood. Hilde could almost taste Duo�s blood, the thick flavor of a mortal�s vitae and the wild, unchecked power of Water flowing and mixing with the crimson fluid that ran through his veins.
A dark, towering figure appeared, looming over her and radiating the darkness that made up her entire being. "Turmoil, you�ve failed me."
"Forgive me, Master." Hilde lowered her head, tiny body shaking in anger that she had once again been unable to kill her prey, even when he�d been sitting right under her nose.
Yami�s lips were pressed into a thin white line as he growled, "Do not miss next time."
"Yes, Master."
"Because he didn�t see you for what you really are, I will let it go, this time� Fail me again and I won�t be so kind."
"Yes, Master."
The dark haired god then craned his head up and glared at the golden haired figure crouched in the branches. "I hope you heard that, Disease."
"Yes, Master." Sally jumped down easily from the tree and bowed. "I hear and obey."
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"Hey, Wufei!" The little girl with her short black pigtails and red dress came running up to him, a smile on her face. "Guess what?"
"What?" he asked flatly, paying more attention to the blade he was polishing rather than his future wife.
"My parents said that I could sleep over at your house tonight!"
A single black eyebrow arched up and Wufei nodded. "Oh really?" he mumbled indifferently, "that�s nice, Meiran�"
Later that night�
"OH NO, I�M NOT SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED AS YOU!!!" Wufei raged, having gone as white as the sheets on his bed. He didn�t mind having the little girl sleep over and tag along with him, just because they�d been engaged from the time they were born; he just couldn�t stand the fact that Meiran was madly in love with him, madly being the objective word.
Meiran wasn�t so easily fazed; she cocked her head and replied, "If we�re going to married when we grow up, then we should get used to sleeping together now."
The way she said it, it sounded as though he had no choice, which was probably true, knowing her. "But-"
"NO BUTS! NOW GET IN BED!" With a mighty heave, Meiran grabbed his arm and flipped Wufei over her shoulder and onto his bed. Coming up in a tangle of sheets and limbs, Wufei sat up and stared at the little girl who had unceremoniously jumped on and now sat next to him, brushing out her short raven hair.
"Where the hell did you learn to do *that*?!" he sputtered, resembling a landed fish.
"From my daddy." Meiran beamed and settled beneath the covers, curling close to Wufei. Said boy grimaced as she wrapped her arms around him in a chokehold and pulled him close. "G�night."
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Sally darted along the shadows, keeping out of sight until she was sure that the streets of Seisha were abandoned for the night. Her boots clicked along the stones as she ran, her gold pigtails flying behind her; she kept running until she reached a particular house. A smile lit up her face and Sally vaulted up to a window ledge on the second story.
Crouched on the tiny ledge, Sally slowly opened the window and peered in. A single figure slept in the bed, short black hair unbound and flowing over the pillow.
Licking her lips, the girl silently hopped down and treaded across the room. Standing over the boy, she held out one hand; her fingernails began to darken and seemed to melt and steam rose off them, like acid. The droplets, a dark purple, slowly slid off the ends of her fingers and Sally chuckled as the drops of poison began to fall. "Fight Fire with fire�"
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Confusing enough? Thank you everyone, you know who you are, for sending me feedback and nagging me to write Part 1- this wouldn�t have happened without you (seriously). I�ll send Part 2, someday, someday�- nah, just kidding. Later!~ LiLi