Belonging

[Aione Higurashi]

The beach was deserted. Obviously, it was the coldest time of the year, and the wind from the ocean only made it colder. Snow was whipping across the ocean waters, stinging the skin like little needles. So who in their right mind would walk out to the frozen shore just moments before sunset? The answer was simple. Someone not in their right mind. That someone happened to be Aione Higurashi.

The young slave was running down the snow-covered beach, her red hair blowing out like a cape behind her. Her eyes were narrowed, partly from the wind and partly from crying. It was a surprise that her cheeks weren't frozen from the tempature and her tears. Still, she wasn't running from anyone, but she was still going recklessly fast. Her grey winter jacket was keeping her completley warm, but her ankles weren't covered by her jeans. If she ddin't have frostbite later, it would be a miracle.

Stopping to catch her breath, Ai let out a sharp curse.

"F...Fuck..."

Now such language would never escape good little Ai's lips on any occasion, so anyone who knew the girl's split-soul issue would know she wasn't innocent little 'Ai-chan' at the moment...she was her less-than-innocent other half, Innerai. The girl looked around, seeming to be searching for something. Finally, her diamond gaze found it. A small spot where the forest and the beach met, bleeding a few trees onto the sands. They were peculiar trees, since normally no plants grew in the sand, but they were even more so without their leafs.

Ai took a few steps over to one of the trees, then prompty slammed her bare knuckles into the edgy bark. A couple minor slashes were left behind, she didn't seem to notice, and then she punched the tree again.

There's nothing...

Flecks of blood fell to the snow as the slave cut her hand more and more. It definetily hurt, but she was apathetic. This place...this memory...it needed to have a bit of red on it. A piece of her, the real her. This was where she'd first met him almost half a year ago. But that hadn't been Innerai, it had been Ai-chan. Innerai let more red tarnish the pure white.

There's nothing that belongs to me.

A sharp cracking sound finally broke Ai's masochistic behavior. She winced, looking down at her ring finger, which was bent at a rather odd angle. She swore again, bitting her bottom lip in pain. Barley able to stand the freezing cold, Innerai turned her back and slid down the tree, resting in the snow, her injured hand numbing allready.

Not Sori-nii, or Augusta, or Tristan...

Nothing in mine. It's all hers.

More tears streamed down her creme and rose face, blood, tears, and snow all falling around her. She'd sworn she'd never get close to anyone, and look what had happened. She was jealous of herself, for christ's sake, because of him. Ai-chan, innocnet angel, had claimed him. Now what did she, Innerai, Aione, the devil, have?

...it all belongs to her. Tristan belongs to her. She's the winner here...

More blood dripped from her broken finger.

...and I have nothing.

[Ryan Cardwell]

The cold... Oddly enough it didn't bother him. Perhaps that was because he was colder still on the outside than he could ever be on the inside. He'd been thinking of Haruko again. He blamed himself everyday for allowing such harm to befall her, never failing to provide himself with some way that he could have prevented it. In reality there was little to nothing that he could have done, but reality was something that never even came close to him when thoughts of Haruko filled his head. There was nothing he felt but regret, despair, and deep seated self loathing. He hated himself because of his perceived guilt. And because of that he'd never be able to heal, at least not fully.

Now he made his way to the beach, slowly and methodically. Why? It was the middle of winter, no sane being would venture down to the icy waters this late in the year. To do so was near suicide, the chill wind and frozen spray quickly propelling one towards a frozen grave in the snow packed earth. But this was where Tristan always came to think, and where he always would come to. It didn't matter if it was in the midst of a hurricane or the end of the world, if Tristan had something on his mind he was off to the beach.

unfortunately for him, he would be here quite a while this day. Not only was his deceased love on his mind, but so was the girl he'd thought of as his little sister. While back he'd awoken to find that she'd chained him to his bed. They'd conversed for a bit, after which.......events had ensued. He hadn't seen her since then, though he hadn't tried very hard a part of the time. To be honest he was rather tormented over the whole thing. He'd never thought of Ai as anything more than a little sister, but now.....he didn't know what to think., His thoughts and emotions were conflicting and contradicting each other, battling it out so fiercely in his head that he couldn't hear himself think, literally.

Tromping through the trees the frigid ocean breeze blew across his body, causing his coat to billow out behind him. He barely felt it though, and when he reached the beach all feeling disappeared. His gaze had immediately trailed off to the left, towards the spot where he'd first met Aione. And there he saw her, slamming her fist repeatedly into the jagged bark of a frozen tree. Frozen to the spot he watched, a jolt of pain shooting through him everytime he saw her blood stain more of the snow crimson. He was unable to move, and was currently hating himself for his inability to stop the scene before him. But when the sharp crack echoed across the beach, his legs suddenly began working again and he rushed across the sands.

Moments later and he was beside her, kneeling down with an incredibly pained look in his eye. Holding her hand in his he looked it over, frowning as he looked back up at her face. He didn't need to say it, they both knew this was going to hurt. Without a word and without removing his gaze from her eyes he took the finger in his much larger hand, jerking the bone back into place. with that taken care of he removed his coat, still not feeling the freezing weather, and wrapped it around her. And last but not least he wrapped his arms around her, holding the girl to him. "What's the matter? Why would you do this?" No matter what happened, he loved her. He wasn't sure what that love meant anymore, but that didn't change things. He loved Aione, and he always would.

[Aione Higurashi]

Aione barley had time to gasp before she caught the black-drabbed man out of the corner of her eye. What should have been warm kindness was replaced with sheer terror as Tristan approached. He caught her. In this scene. In this state of mind. Innerai tried to say something, but nothing made it past her throat. As he held her hand, a shot of heat went down her spine. She knew where this was going...exspecially when he took her broken finger in his own...

"Sh-Shit!!"

She swore, quickly pulling her hand from his. Her eyes refused to meet his, even as he pulled the jacket over her freezing body and pulled her into his embrace. Her hand was hurting, but not as much as the rest of her, so it barley stood out. Aione clung her good hand to his arm, getting a bit closer to his warmth. She'd been avoiding him for what felt like forever, but now he was here. Ai-chan was happy. Innerai was panicing.

In a lurch, she had escaped Tristan's hold and had her back to the tree again, silver eyes wide and tortured.

"I...I...No, d-don't..."

The girl gripped one of the sharp limbs of the tree to help hoist herself up, legs weak and numb. Her body was trembling, making it hard for her to stand, but it wasn't her physical form making it difficult. Rather, it was her very core, split in two. Ai-chan, a shirll voice in her ears, told her to tell him she was fine. The other voice, Innerai's voice, cold and menacing, was furious.

Tell Oniichan not to worry!

[glow=red,2,300]Keep him away from me![/glow]
It was worse than a migrane, and Aione was feeling it like that. She covered her ears in a vain attempt to shut them out.

Oniichama, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

[glow=red,2,300]You bastard, you never cared about me! Stay the hell back...![/glow]
"N-No..." her voice was nothing but a whimper, "D-Don't make me...don't make me..."

[glow=red,2,300]Don't make me choose.[/glow]

[Ryan Cardwell]

"Sh-Shit!!"

The language didn't surprise him a bit, and so he said nothing. He knew full well that this wasn't the sweet little Ai he'd known, but rather the girl that had been in his room those weeks ago. it was easy enough to tell the difference between them now that he'd met them both. His instincts were finely tuned from a lifetime fighting to be top dog and then fighting to stay there. As soon as he was near her he could feel the difference between her and the other Ai, and when he looked in her eyes he knew without a doubt.

"I...I...No, d-don't..."

As he held her he felt happy, something he hadn't felt in awhile now. Despite what had happened, he'd missed her. NO matter what he loved her, and it pained him greatly to be apart from her. He was a bit surprised when she jerked away from him, not expecting her to react so. His eye followed her every movement, the despair growing each second that passed. There was something wrong, he knew there was. But whatever it was he didn't know, and he hated it. He hated it because she was hurting and he couldn't help. All he could do was watch, the boogie was helpless. And it was killing him.

"N-No... D-Don't make me...don't make me..."

She was hurting, he could see it plain as day. And she didn't want anything to do with him, he could see that as well. A sharp pain ripped through his chest, followed soon after by another. He was dieing inside, bit by bit as time passed. Yet without a second thought he moved towards her. Wrapping his arm around her he pulled her towards him once more, this time holding her more securely. With his other hand he tilted her chin back, and leaned down before she could think to resist. He pressed his mouth against hers, and he didn't stop. It wasn't anything like the sort of kiss he'd given to the one who he thought of as his sister, no this was something more. Whatever it was he couldn't tell, but he knew it was something. and though there was something that he desperately needed to tell her, he continued to hold the kiss. Everything else could just wait.

[Aione Higurashi]

Aione pressed her hands even harder against her ears, almost completely unaware (or rather ignoring that) Tristan was still there. Her head was spinning, the two voices still howling at her and at each other, and she couldn’t stop either of them like she used to…because she wasn’t ignorant little Ai-chan or strong-willed Innerai. She couldn’t stop them, because she wasn’t either of them right now. She was more of the battleground. And the headache was just getting worse. As Tristan moved closer to her, catching her attention again, the voices responded as violently as before.

Oniisama! Help me…it hurts! She’s hurting me...hurting us!!

[glow=red,2,300]Stay away from me…I can’t get close to anyone…not even you…[/glow]
It didn’t really help much when his arms wrapped around her. Back to where Ai wanted to be. Innerai snarled again, clawing at her ears. Aione’s hand gripped Tristan’s shirt, gripping him in her own sharp pain. She didn’t have time to react to him moving her face to see his, and even less time before he lowered his head…and Ai let out a screech even sharper than Innerai’s. But Aione didn’t hear it…she was a bit preoccupied, skin heating in the snowstorm and grey eyes sparkling. He was kissing her, not the other way around like a few weeks ago. Innerai let out a satisfied purr. Ai kept shrieking.

[glow=red,2,300]Okaaaay…I can live with this.[/glow]
No, no, no, NO!! I’m your imouto!! Stop it, stop it!!

Every now and again, Aione had to agree with the devil on her shoulder (or brain cavity). She closed he eyes, pressing up and kissing him back. Her brain went numb, but it was sure not from the cold. Innerai laughed, covering Ai’s mouth.

[glow=red,2,300]See? The dark side can be fun sometimes.[/glow]
She couldn’t really disagree.