The Memories that Haunt Us.

[Chii]

Chii snuck from the room she shared with Oishii. She didn't make a sound as she dressed and walked out the door. She glanced back briefly and looked at his slumbering face. A soft smile rested on his lips. Her eyes clouded briefly with worry then cleared. She knew Oishii would be able to take care of himself if anything went wrong.

Chii had received a message from her brother the evening before, He wanted to meet her and had important news. She was unsure if it was a trap or not but she had to go. Chii had not told Oishii, so he would not have to worry. If it was from her brother, then she needed to find out what he wanted anyway.

Before she closed the door she whispered softly so he would not wake. "I will be back Oishii. Forgive me if anything goes wrong my love." With hat she closed the door. She paid the man for the room for another month, and made her way out into the dim morning light.

[Yasashii Mikan]

Unlike his brother, Yasashii didn't sleep heavily. He followed Chii in secret, a technique perfected long ago by evading snipers and hitmen, and being a hit man himself. He meant Chii no harm, but only meant to follow her for her own safety.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii rolled over, and was soon wide awake. The bed felt different to him somehow. Oishii looked around, and realized what was the matter. Chii.

"Where did she go at this hour?" He muttered to himself. His shirt was dry after hanging up all night, so he put it on and went out, stopping to ask the bartender, who was preparing to open, for directions.

[Chii]

Thick, cold mists clung to Chii's legs as she walked. She clutched her hands around her own arms in an effort to keep herself warm. The sun had not yet come out to chase the shadows from the corners. She watched them with suspicious eyes. She knew Alex was capable of anything.

Chii picked up her pace. Her heels of the shoes she wore, clattered eerily against the pavement. She thought of Oishii, and wished she was still in the warm bed they shared.

Chii had almost reached her destination, and she could make out a small ship and what appeared o be her brother standing next to it. As she got closer she could see that it was indeed her brother. She raised her hand in silent greeting. "Come on Chii, we have to hurry. You know father will be upset if he finds me missing from the compound."

He had no other greeting for her, than that. Her eyes grew sad. Her whole family treated her as if she were nothing more then a servant. But she loved them and would do anything to save them. "What is it you need to show me brother?" She asked as she stepped into the small ship he had brought.

[Yasashii Mikan]

A ship...Yasashii waited for them to board, then snuck on behind them, barely making it in before the hatches closed. He leapt straight up, scrambling into an air vent. Close, but they hadn't caught him.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii saw the ship take off and cursed his luck. He had not made it on time to get on board. Oishii kept his eye on it, and would follow in its general direction, provided it did not leave the planet.

[Chii]

Chii belted herself into the small seat next to her brother. Her eyes scanned the control panel for any information she could find. He had not programed in where they were going.

"What is it you wanted me to see brother?" She asked softly, not wanting to upset him again.

"It's just outside of the compound Chii. Not close enough for them to track us." He answered in a tight voice.

"The compound? Not smart brother, you know how heavily guarded that place is."

If we are spotted Chii, they know it is my ship and will figure I am just going to the sight and grieving." He said through clenched teeth.

Chii turned sharply toward him. Her eyes had gone wide and scared. "What do you mean grieving Brother? What has happened?"

"What always happens when you decide to Go against our fathers wishes Chii, or when you cross Alex?" Chii's brother sneered at her.

As they got closer to the area the housed the compound, Chii's eyes scanned the electrified gates. She did not want to see what her brother had to show her, but she knew she must.

When her brother landed, he faced a tree that held a body swinging from a rope. The corpses face was horribly distorted. "Who??, and then she knew. She gasped and moaned in pain.

"Yes, our younger brother. You were warned Chii. Why must you always put our lives in danger? Why cant you just do right by the family?" He yelled at her.

Chii barely heard the words, her eyes were glued to the figure the swung slowly back and forth. She got up, haunted and Keening like a wounded animal. She made her way to the brother who had died for her misdeeds.

Chii's small hands rested softly on the feet that hung at her eye level. She could not look up into the eyes, and could see the blame in them.

"Damn you Alex." She cried out. Her heart broke and she began to keen louder.

"Damn him, Chii? It is you that are damned Sister. You who had caused all of this pain to our family. Our mother sits and grieves for the sons she has lost. She grieves for the daughter who does not do her duty. She is a gray, an old woman now because of you Chii." He said yanking her head back by her hair. Chii's empty eyes looked into those of her living brother, and saw the blame there.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii saw the ship turn and head in one direction. The flight path had been slow enough, and once he had "persuaded a speeder gang to take him where he had wanted to go, he saw what had happened.

"You are pathetic, you know that?" Oishii said, appearing around from behind another tree. "Blame your sister? You don;t even know why that boy's death happened. I made Alex go after him. When I stormed his compound and tried to kill him for all the bad things he had done to Chii. You want to blame somebody, blame me, not your helpless sister."

[Yasashii Mikan]

Yasashii wasn't content to leave it at that. He stepped from the ship, cracking his knuckles with a severe expression.

"You allowed it to happen. No doubt he killed the boy in front of the family? Well? Am I RIGHT?"

The man faltered for an answer.

"Shut up, I don't need an answer. I'm former Yakuza myself, I know they killed him in front of you. Plenty of our hits were screwed because of the family uprising when the time came. Its how I'm such a great fighter, its tough to beat back a whole family. If you cowards had more guts, that guy'd be alive, instead of 6 feet under."

[Chii]

A sound of pain boiled up from Chii. She did not realize that the Oishii, and Yasashii had arrived. All she realized was her lose, and the pain of being to blame for it. She had fallen to her knees when her brother had released her hair. She bent over them now, her forehead almost touching the ground. Her body shook with grief. She heard nothing but the sound of her own pain.

Then she heard a voice, one saying that her young, dead brother had been killed in front of her living brother. One that said they had stood aside, and done nothing to prevent it. Hate boiled up inside of Chii. Her low keening became a scream of anger. Her hand flashed out, she did not even raise her head. She gripped onto her bothers ankle, and pulled his feet out from under him. He fell to the ground next to her. Before anyone could move she was up and over her fallen brother, her Katana drawn and placed to his exposed throat.

"You watched him die, and did nothing." Chii growled low in her throat, her eyes were lost and empty. In them her living brother saw his death.

[Yasashii Mikan]

"An' killin' this one won't do a damn thing to bring 'im back."

Yasashii hauled her up off her brother and spun her around to face him.

"You wanna stand a chance?"

He looked her dead in the eye, unwavering, commanding her full attention.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii watched his brother work. It was fun to watch him. He would make a good leader. What was he saying? Yasashii had his own little posse when he was with the Yakuza.

"Chii, listen to my brother. He knows what's best."

[Chii]

Chii's eyes were dulled with pain. Yasashii could see that she did not even recognize him. She was to lost in what had happened. She did not hear his words, nor the word's of the one she cared so much for, Oishii. All she saw was her dead brother swinging from a rope. She blamed herself and her family. She blamed Alex. Chii's hand tightened on the Katana. A cry of utter vengeance ripped from her throat. All Yasashii was to her now, was a barrier to release her pain.

"Alex..." It was all she said as she pushed back from the man who held her arms. Chii raised the blade and brought it down. Her foot kicking out at the same time, catching Yasashii in the shin.

[Yasashii Mikan]

Yasashii tripped, but wouldn't be cut down so easily. He put a hand down and flipped, catching her arm with his ankles and twisting. The katana clattered the the ground and he stood, then shoved her toward Oishii.

"Make her calm down, then I'll continue."

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii rushed over and folded Chii's arms over her stomahc then brought her knees up under her chin, pinning her arms down. All she could do was kick her feet uselessly.

"Calm down, sweetheart," he whispered in her ear. Whenever Oishii was little and got angry like Chii did, A monk would always pick him up in the same manner he did Chii and let him thrash uselessly until he wore himself out.

"We can do this all day long, Chii. But I think you need to calm down now, and listen. Nothing ever came out of losing our temper."

[Chii]

Chii cried out in anger as her arms were held to her side. She could only twist and struggle. The arms that held her were to strong, she could not break the hold. She moaned softly as her body relaxed. She was still lost in her grief, lost in the anger that had engulfed her. In the training she had taken, she had learned how to shut all feelings down. She could lose herself in a void of darkness. It was how she had killed her brother. It had been dark, and she had been in the void. Alex had sent her to kill a man who had not paid him. So Chii had thought. It was only later when Alex had told her, that she had found out it was her brothers life she had ended.

"Let me go. Please let me go." She made her voice calm, Her body was totally relaxed. What the two brothers could not see, was that her eyes were totally vacant. She still did not know who held her, she only knew the one who had her pinned would release her if she was calm.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii kissed Chii's smooth forehead. "Sweet heart, you had me worried." He let stand on her feet, but continued to hold her, swaying back and forth. "My sweet Chii is so upset right now, and I don;t know what to do to help her. Poor sweet thing." He kissed her on the cheek and hummed a lullaby as he continued to sway back and forth.

[Yasashii Mikan]

"Dude, don't you dare let her go."

The brother started to crawl away, too scared even to stand. Yasashii stomped him.

"You don't dare. You're stickin around for this, whether you like it or not."

[Chii]

Oishii's sweet voice called Chii back from the veil of anger that had fallen over her. Her heart ached at the thought of what she had wanted to do. She still felt the need to slit her brothers throat. To make him take back the words of blame he had spoken. She also knew it would do no good because she blamed herself in the same way.

"Oishii..." She gasped softly. "Make him go, make him go now or I will kill him." She hated the words she spoke but they were the truth. She felt shamed by them, shamed that Oishii had to hear them from her. She could not hide who she was. A hired killer. One trained to kill without emotion. She went limp in his arms, her anger not yet spent but it receded. "Make him go, so I can bury my brother." She whispered.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii shook his head. "Sorry. He needs to stay. You two are going to bury your brother together, and you are not going to kill him. Then I am going to take your brother aside and me and him are going to have a talk."

[Chii]

Chii's lost eyes looked up into those of Yasashii's. He could see the dead look in them. The anger and hurt building to a point of no return. No words would call her back from this place, only action. From one killer to another her eyes pleaded for him to understand if her brother stayed he would not live.

"Oishii, I can understand you wanting to make things right. To make things better but you must understand me. You have to make him go. He will not walk away from this if he stays." Her voice was soft, but its deadly calm told her true anger. She did not want Oishii to see her this way. It was tearing her heart apart to have him witness the anger she harbored.

Her eyes swung from Yasashii, to her dead brother. A keening cry filled her throat. She tried to remain calm ut the darkness pulled at her. She wanted to retreat to a place she felt nothing. She wanted to rid the world of her brothers spiteful face.

[Yasashii Mikan]

"Ya know what? He's gonna live through this. Just as soon as you shut up and listen, we'll loose you on him, let you beat him up real good, then you'll back off. Or I'll MAKE you."

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii nodded. "He will. Now you are going to stop right where you are, stop acting spoiled, and be a mature adult. Show that brother that you want to kill so badly that you are better than him by acting in the rational manner that he could not."

Oishii gently turned Chii's face so she could look at her brother hanging in the tree. "Your family falsely blames you for his death." The he turned her face so she could see her other brother who was on the ground. "If you kill him, then they will be fully right to blame you for his death, and I will not protect you from them as I have protected you from him. If I have to, Chii, I will do what is necessary to protect you from anything, even yourself. Because I love you." He whispered the last part in her ear, so only she could hear.

[Chii]

Chii turned her face away from her brother. She ached at Oishii's cutting words. They had been said to her before, much in the same manner. The sting of them was dulled when he whispered "I love you," but not completely. They did not understand the suffering that her family had put her through. The fact that Alex had killed the only brother she had enjoyed in childhood. The fact her family had watched and done nothing to save him.

"I will do as you ask Oishii." She looked at him, her eyes hurt. "Because I love you." She all but whispered the last part.

She wondered in the back of her mind, had she resisted his fingers turning her head to look where she had not wanted to, would they have bitten into her flesh. Alex had done it often, he to had turned her head toward the things she had done. Things she did not want to see. When she had resisted his fingers would bite into her skin, and force her eyes to see the things that darkened her soul.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii looked at her again. "Sweetheart, tell them how you feel. Tell them all how you feel. But don;t be violent about it. I'll stand by you, I'll always be here. Tell me everything. How you feel, why you feel that way. Be open and honest with me. It can only make me love you more."

[Chii]

Chii looked at Oishii, the words she wanted to say were bitter on her tongue. What she had to say, he did not want to hear. To Chii it was painfully obvious. How could she express the pain she was feeling right now. She had lost so much. She had killed one brother and at the time had not known it. Now another one was dead due to her failure. One lived and she wanted desperately to end that. She wanted to be able to tell Oishii how she felt but the words would not come. Her eyes spoke volumes but he did not see. The fact that he had called her a spoiled child, made her ache. If he stood in her shoes and had seen and experienced the same pain, would he have hesitated in releasing the rage.

"It does not matter anymore Oishii, my love for you will stay my hand. He will live, as will I. If I could put into words what I feel, I would. But I cannot." She choked out.

Bending down Chii picked up her Katana under their watchful gaze. She made her way to the brother who had died for her. She wrapped her arm around his legs and cut the rope that had ended his life. She slid him to the ground and placed her hand on his chest.

"I will miss you. I am sorry I did not save you, and may your journey be peaceful my brother." She bowed her head and walked toward the ship. She needed something to dig with. To put her brother in a cold place where he did not belong. Her head lowered and she found she had no more tears left.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii watched her go about her work. He would say no more, only watch, and if she needed it, he would help her. But while she was doing that, he would talk with his brother.

"Yasashii, we have some planning to do."

[Yasashii Mikan]

"Let's hop to then."

Yasashii jerked the man up by his collar and slammed him on the nearest solid surface.

"Tell him like it is, bro."

[Chii]

Chii began to dig the hole that she would put her brother in. A cold frost had settled on her heart. She tried to ignore what Oishii and his brother were doing. She concentrated on her duty.

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii walked over to Chii's brother.

"I have a few questions that you need to answer me. You will tell me what I need to know, then I will tell you what you need to know. Do I make myself clear?"

The man nodded. "Good. Now, want to know every last detail about Alex and his group that you know. Start talking, and do not stop until you have told me everything, and I mean everything."

[Chii]

Chii buried her brother. Her heart aching with each shovel full of dirt she placed on him. She had taken off her outer jacket and covered most of his body. She moved away from his grave and listened to Oishii taking to her brother. Her hurt eyes scanned Oishii's face. She could not bring herself to look at her brother.

[Yasashii Mikan]

The fool was stuttering, scared out of his wits. Time to scare his wits back into him.

"Start yakkin', little man...you think your boy Alex is bad news? When I finish, Alex is gonna look like the boy next door..."

That did the trick.

"I...I dunno! He...he...!"

"Yeah," Yasashii repeated. "He. What about 'he', tough guy? Where's he operate?"

[Oishii Sakana]

Oishii smiled. "Be glad you only have the two of us to deal with. I was merciful when I refused to let your sister kill you. Speak, or I will go back on that promise." He whispered in the man's ear.

Chii's brother began to try to back away, but Yasashii held him too tightly. "He-he asked us to meet him a,a,a,at a bar! I don;t remember which one!"

Oishii shrugged. "Ok, then we will go all about the town to all the bars until you find the one that looks most familiar."