Sweet Sacrifice

"Geez, it`s about time! What do you think you were going to do, sleep forever?" Ayame asked in a rather annoyed fashion.

"Who, me? Never!" I yawned, feeling that this question deserved a sarcastic response. I earned a low growl from Ayame, which put a smile on my face. I`d only been up for a minute or two, and I had already managed to tick off Ayame.

"Anyways, where`s your iPod?" she asked sweetly, all signs of aggression gone.

"Where's yours?" I asked in reply, my eyebrows raised.

"It's taking a long, sweet journey right now as we speak," Ayame simpered in sad, dramatic tone of voice.

"In other words, you lost it." I gave her a well-deserved glare.

"Yeah, pretty much!" she responded guiltlessly. "So where's yours?"

Does she honestly think I`m going to tell her that? "OUT!" I growled, pointing towards the door.

"This is a free country, so I don`t have to leave," Ayame spat back at me.

And with that, I lost it. Rising to my feet, I tenderly started to shove her out the door.

"You can`t do this to me!" she yelled.

"Watch me," I said with a smirk. I pushed her out the door, quickly slammed it shut, and locked it. Let`s see you get in now, I thought to myself, satisfied with my work. Times like this make me glad she's not Ash.

I quickly got dressed and left the room. Just a normal day and a recurring nightmare. It's haunted me since I was little. I don't know why. I can remember much of my past, so I couldn't really figure it out. It's like a book you read a long time ago; you remember bits and pieces, but never the whole picture.

Lost in thought, I failed to noticed the door in front of me opening. I ran smack into it in a most spectacular fashion.

"Sorry," came a monotone voice from the other side of the door.

"S'all right, I wasn't paying attention anyway," I said with a shrug, but I rubbed my forehead regardless.

Reina blinked her foggy blue eyes as though waking from a daze. "All right..." Reina said slowly, walking past me. Her wavy, snow-colored swept past me, and I watched the silky strands exit my peripheral vision before I turned and watched her saunter slowly to the library. Naturally. She could live there if she wanted. In the months I'd known Reina, I'd always been fascinated by her... well, weird appearance. Not many white-haired teenagers walking around.

I continued my walk down the hallway, taking care to watch where I was going this time. Why do we have such a long damn hallway? I griped to myself. It was freakishly long. Guess it just came that way. At last, I came to the living room.

Ayame, who was slouched on the couch, gave me a glare before returning her attention to the TV. Her long cascade of red hair whipped back around her neck as though it were alive. To this day, I've wished that her hair would slap her across the face. Revenge of the hair, I thought smugly.

Beside her was Kurai, who was attempting to read a book. A rare sight indeed. Her short blond hair was in perfectl little ringlets, per usual, and her eyes were filled with pain as though this were the most agonizing thing she had ever been forced to go through. Reading was a terrible thing, to be sure. I looked past Kurai, expecting to see her twin sitting beside her, but Hikari was not there.

Hikari and Kurai were fraternal twins by name and nature. Hikari had long, black, cornsilk hair that wrapped itself around her like a second garment, while Kurai's hair was short and curly and blond. While Hikari means light, and Kurai dark, Hikari dressed in dark clothes, though Kurai preferred lighter colors. Hikari was one of the purest people I had the pleasure to meet, and Kurai was the embodiment of evil.

"Where's Hikari?" I asked Kurai.

"By the pool," she answered without looking up from her book.

Not odd at all, I thought sarcastically. I left Ayame to her TV and Kurai to her book and went into the kitchen. I noticed it just as I was heading toward the fridge: A piece of cloth snagged on the limb of a tree. The fabric brushed against the window with the breeze.

Frowning, I stepped up to the window and swung it open. As soon as my fingers brushed the piece of cloth, it turned to ash in my hand.

I stared at the dark gray stain on the palm of my hand like it was a terrible omen, panic filling my head with a steady roar. I stumbled away from the window and ran.