Three Little Words [pm me if you want to join]

[+. I M A]

The Peridot knight had returned. Perhaps not stronger or wiser, but certainly she had grown...different. Her eyes spoke of a loneliness that reminded one of a wolf in the winter, hungering for some scrap of warmth. She had grown and quiet, and in her absence, something that which had been dormant for many years had finally sprung up to overtake her: her hopelessness.

Ima sat in the first row and faced a vision of the holy mother, watching the statue's face but not really looking at it. Her mind was as empty as the church was but her hands were gripping a small folded up piece of paper. It was hard to believe such a small thing had eradicated everything she had ever hoped for or believed in.

Aiko was hovering over by the candles, observing the light with reverence. She fidgeted and kept glancing back at Ima. She had been growing more and more concerned for the girl as of late and Ima wouldn't tell Aiko what was happening.

Everything remained bathed in this silence until the creak of the church doors muted everything else. Ima stood up without looking over her shoulder; the knight knew who it was. A young and beautiful woman was walking down the aisle as if it were a catwalk, and did it with such ease and grace as if it were on instinct. She was older, yes, but not by much. Her dyed brunette hair was pulled back in a bun and her trench coat covered most of her outfit, with the exception of her high heeled boots.

Ima watched her older sister as if she had seen her every day of her life, not for the first time after the many years she had been missing. Himeko smiled sweetly - if poisoned honey was still sweet - and nodded her head to her younger sister. The two sisters and the two opposites: Himeko the swan and Ima the ugly duckling, and even more wickedly teased as the beauty and the beast. Ima had been slowly gaining some self-confidence with the help of her chara Aiko, and today it showed in the way she dressed and in the tortuous walk she took to the one person who had betrayed her above everyone else, as well as the person whom she had loved the most.

"Ima-chan! I missed you!" Himeko exclaimed with a great smile. A smile that made Ima want to leap into her arms that very minute but the pain Himeko caused her was a good restraint. "Do you have an answer? For my offer, I mean."

Aiko was, for once, rendered speechless as she watched Himeko's character hover near her owner. Ima probably never realized Himeko had a chara. But...if Ima knew now. from whatever sort of sick and twisted notes Himeko had been leaving Ima...and if Himeko had been last seen with Easter Corp...

Aiko gasped but she clasped her tiny hands over mouth. The word NO resounded in her head but would not find its way to her usually incessant tongue.

"Hai...nee-chan. I...accept...your offer."

Ima then unfastened her brooch - the brooch of the peridot knight - and handed it to her sister. "I'll join Easter Corp."

[Kiko/Hotaru]

"What?"

Kiko had picked the wrong day and the wrong moment to decide to walk into the church...temple...thing. Religion wasn't one of the main things Kiko had grown up with, seeing as it was her brother who raised her, and seeing as her mother and father had come from completely different cultures. So, now fifteen years later the raven had finally decided to explore the 'local' church she had the luck to stumble upon Ima and a beautiful brunette who's name she didn't know.

Unfortuently, Mitsukai wasn't anywhere near her. The neko chara had decided that a church, a sanctuary, might be a safe enough place for Kiko to go to, so she had decided to stay back at the mansion, flipping through all the different animes. She was so wrong.

"Easter? Ima-chan? W-What? What does that mean? Ima? Who is she?" Kiko asked, stuttering, looking at Himeko. She felt all sorts of bad waves pouring out of the brunette, and she realized they weren't friendly waves. Maybe it was because she unknowingly housed the friendship Embryo, Kiko could tell if someone meant her harm or not. Friend or foe?

Himeko was more likely her foe.

"Wh-what's going on? Ima-chan?" Kiko asked a little louder, a little more frantic. Her wide honey-gold eyes starting watering up, tears threatening to over flow.

Was she going to lose someone, again?!

---------

Farther away, Hotaru was sauntering to the church, Genma floating behind him. He had received a text from an unknown source telling him to come on over.

A help signal from a sin.

"Something...doesn't feel right." And with that, Hotaru picked up his pace, a little more determined to reach his desitnation. Genma stared at him, confused, but he sped up also.

"What is it...Hotaru?" Genma asked, blinking at the young man speed walking toward the church.

"You ever have the feeling that something really bad is about to happen? I'm having that premonition right now." Hotaru explained. Genma smirked.

"I get that feeling whenever you go to a sin meeting."

They weren't idiots. They both knew that being involved with a sketchy group as the Deadly sins, that someone could get hurt. They were about to find out though, that the people that could get hurt didn't have to be themselves.

[+. I M A]

The complicated web of emotions and lies that was Ima was hard even for herself to understand. Why would the peridot knight, once a force so adamant against Easter, join them? Ima knew she could never admit the truth to anyone but herself. If Himeko found out, she would tell Easter, and then Ima would be dead. And, inevitably, so would Himeko.

But when she saw Kiko walk into the church, Ima almost dropped the charade right then and there. She froze in place as Himeko turned around to observe the girl and arched an eyebrow inquisitively. Ima murmured the girl’s name, too shocked to recognize the error in the softness of her voice: ”Kiko-chan…”

Himeko suddenly smiled charmingly at Kiko; she had a smug expression, like the cat that swallowed the canary. ”Kiko-chan, is it? That wouldn’t also be Hirogawa-chan as well, is it?”

Ima went pale as soon as she heard Himeko say Kiko’s last name. She had seen Hotaru when he had received the names of the possible embryos and Kiko’s name had been on the list. Aiko zoomed forward to hover near Ima’s ear, whispering to her.

”Stop her!”

Just as Ima was about to protect Kiko from Himeko’s unwarranted sense of duty, the last person Ima ever wanted to face came in. Hotaru entered the church and froze at the same time she did. She watched him, lips parting and eyes widened in surprise, and was rendered speechless. Kiko was in between two Easter Sins (Ima would never count herself), and all she had to protect her was Ima. She doubted after her rejection of Hotaru that he would ever help her with anything.

”Ah, Lust, you came! Lust, allow me to introduce my little sister. Lust, meet Greed.”

Himeko gestured towards Ima with a smile, completely unaware that her little sister and her colleague already had past experiences with each other. Ima felt her heart freeze for a moment once Hotaru’s eyes betrayed that he realized what Himeko meant by calling her Greed. Then, Himeko made a point to drop the Peridot brooch and stomp on it – essentially shattering it – beneath her boot’s heel. Then Himeko smiled at Kiko, and sickeningly enough, it looked as if she was trying to reassure the girl that everything would be okay.

”Now why don’t we get down to business, hmm, Hirogawa-chan?”

[Kiko/Hotaru]

It was no use. The way Ima had said her name, soft and comforting, had only proved what Kiko already knew what was coming. Ima had already left. Kiko had that feeling the minute she entered the church. That familiar feeling of loss, the heart shreding feeling that left you broken and shattered inside. The way Ima had said her name had only made it worse, because it reminded her of the night she lost Kakeru. Everyone had repeated her name, in soft and sickingly comforting tones.

"Don't...Don't say my name like it'll be alright..." Kiko whispered, as the tears fell, clear and pearly, down her cheeks and dripping onto the floor and onto her dress. "Don't...please..." Kiko whispered again, lowering her head, long raven strands covering her face.

Kiko didn't realize the danger of Himeko knowing her name, too torn up with pain for the fact to register on her brain, for her to panic.

It hurt too d**n much. And it only goes down hill from there, because Hotaru...Kakeru...just walked in.

At first, Hotaru's eyes, his focus just zoomed in on Ima and Himeko. He froze, Genma blinking inquizzically at him. Himeko...and Ima? The pieces didn't fall in until Himeko started talking.

"Ah, Lust, you came! Lust, allow me to introduce my little sister. Lust, meet Greed.”

Hotaru felt his eyes widen again. Ima??! Her?! No! He wanted so badly to say those words, to scream them out and shake Ima until her brain was working again. He wanted to hit Himeko for lying, for trying to decieve him. But when Ima's peridot brooch was shattered, he went on lock down mode.

Himeko wasn't lying.

”Now why don’t we get down to business, hmm, Hirogawa-chan?”

Hirogawa...-chan? No one knew his real surname, and no one used the suffix '-chan' with him...so then...that comment wasn't directed at him...And so, tawny honey-gold eyes finally zoomed in on the shaking white and black fluff positioned in between him and his two fellow 'sins'.

"NO! Hotaru choaked out his scream as Kiko's shuddering build downloaded on his brain. "NO! NO NO NO! KIKO!"

That voice was so familiar. Deeper, and made of silk, but it was the voice Kiko had heard when ever she strayed too close to the street or when she leaned too far out a window. It was a phantom, come back to haunt her. Still, Kiko turned, blinking away tears to stare clearly at the young man Kakeru had become.

"Ka...K-Kakeru-nii...I told them you weren't dead." Kiko mumbled, her high voice cracking. "I told them..." Kiko said again. This time, a sob coming along with it. And then, a cry of pain, the cry of a wounded animal.

"No...no...not her..." Kakeru pleaded. Kakeru, the boy who held his little sister when she was sad, not Hotaru, the man who all but forgot about her.

[Eriya Barrette]

For some reason, Eriya had an odd feeling to come to church today. She always went with her family on Sundays---back in Romania they did. But, now that everyone was so busy, her father with the company, her mother taking care of the house, her siblings busy with their own lives and jobs, and herself kept busy with her duty as the Garnet Knight....

She shook her head slightly as she walked uptowards the large, intimidating doors of the chapel. She wore a pale golden dress that reached a little past the mid of her thighs, with half-inch straps clinging on to her tan shoulders. An over dress of translucent powder pink was over that, with short puffed sleeves, the hems lined with lace bunched up like little flowers while a strawberry pink ribbon was sewed through the over-dress' collar ending with a little bow in the middle. She were platform sandals of 2'' in height that had golden ribbons criss-crossing up her legs and tied into little bows below her knee-caps.

Her hair was let loose and flowing. If their was something she knew about going to church, it is that you always dressed your best before entering the house of the Lord. Grabbing the iron handle and pushing inward, she was just thinking that she was going to happen onto a still, serene church, but she happened to walk into chaos.

Eriya's blood-red eyes grew wide with shock as she stared at the scene before her. "I-Ima-san?" she sputtered from her lips, staring confused at the Peridot Knight."What's going on here?" she asked again, sternly and fiercly this time. Kiko's crying echoed in her ears, but she didn't want to turn to see a person in pain, but faced Ima glaring at her with pity and rage.

Greed.

She heard that word when she first entered the church and continued on eyeing Ima. "Ima what does she mean by 'Greed'? And---" Eriya paused when she heard something crunch beneath her feet. Looking beneath her sandals, she trembled at what she saw. Shards of a former gem were scattered upon the floor. Unconsciously, her fingertips brushed the garnet brooch that was pinned to the dress she wore. Eriya began to tremble. She felt hurt, rage, anger, and worst she felt betrayed. Betrayed by a fellow Knight....

"Ima-san! What do you think your doing, huh!?" she shouted, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. "Are you really joining Easter? Are really going to betray me? Betray the Knights, your friends!"

Her small hands clenched into fists, and she forced herself not to let the tears spill completely. "Answer me Ima!" she screamed at the older girl, for once leaving out the suffix of '-san' and calling Ima by her name. Yes, she was that mad.

She was so mad, that she ignored Hotaru and Kiko behind her. If she was not mad, in complete hurt and anger, she would be rushing to help them. But, at the moment, she was too mad to notice it. Eriya continued to glare sternly at Ima, wating for her answer.

[+. I M A]

God, why did this have to be so d**n hard? Ima knew the truth and she had originally believed the truth would be able to keep her sane. But now that she could see the horrified looks on her friends' faces, she realized her so-called betrayal was beginning to cut deep. Yet nothing hurt more then the way Hotaru started to adamantly protest against the attack of his sister. Of course, she had no idea that Kiko was his sister. All she knew, in that instant, was that the man she had unwittingly fallen in love with was distraught over the well-being of another woman.

Something deep inside her twisted and growled. It clawed at her stomach and her heart, it crawled from the dark pits of her subconscious and wanted nothing more then to make Hotaru put that much care into her. Then she heard Kiko's reaction to seeing Hotaru and she felt ill. Kakeru? Who the hell was Kakeru? Ima looked to Hotaru, eyes wide and fearful for him.

Suddenly the sound of laughter resounded through the church. Ima realized the sound was her sister's. That sweet bell-chime, so light and carefree, was her finest arsenal to mock the reunited siblings with. Himeko wagged a finger at the Hirogawa siblings and offered them a gentle smile.

"Why don't you tell her to join us, Kakeru-kun? My sister and I have solved our differences, so I'm sure you two can solve yours. Kiko-chan, I promise, Easter treats us very well," cooed Himeko like a mother soothing her sobbing child. Ima flinched against her words while Aiko simmered on Ima's right shoulder.

Himeko took a few steps toward Kiko and Kakeru with no trace of fear or malice in her expression. "Ima-chan thought I was dead too, Kiko-chan. But then she found me, and she realizes she needs to be with me, because I'm the only one who has ever given a d**n about her. She has no one else left but me." Then she glanced at Kakeru with a small smile before addressing Kiko again. "It's the same for you, isn't it? Then join your brother. You'll have Ima-chan with you, too."

The former knight felt her throat grow tight with her sadness. She could feel her friend's sorrow and her confusion; she had once lived it. When it came to Hota - no, Kakeru - it was a different story. She was almost sure he hated her for this atop everything else she ever did to him.

Then Eriya, her fellow knight, stormed into the church. Aiko let out an audible sound of triumph when she realized there was one more hero to come to the rescue. Her anger echoed through the church and jabbed at Ima. But, strangely enough, Ima was completely emotionless. In the time she had been gone, she had grown numb and empty. There was little life in her eyes and, in the candlelight, one could see her eyes had a quiet desperation.

"I already made the choice a long time ago. Right, Lust?" Ima had said his sin name so freely that it might be hard to believe how much it hurt her to call him that. But she was hoping he remembered the choice she had made that night she almost lost herself in his warmth.

Loyalty and loneliness. No sin, not even lust, could ever make her desire something more. She was still a knight and so she will always be one. But for now she could not be known as Peridot. She must be called Greed, the sin that devours in the direction of its desires.

"I'm sorry, Eriya. But my wish has always been to be a woman like my sister. As a knight I couldn't find my confidence, or my strength, or even my happiness. I can...no longer serve with you. Tell the rest of them that...that I'm sorry."

Ima bowed her head to Eriya and then turned her back to her, facing her sister instead. "Nee-san, I think the thing you asked of Hirogawa-san is a big decision. You need to give her time to decide. And...Barrette-san is an inexperienced knight. Let her tell the other knights about what I have done. It'll be a blow to the group that it'll take them a while to regroup," she murmured calmly. Nothing seemed to phase her and her words were laced with an underlying confidence. She waited patiently, her eyes dead as they watched her sister.

"You're such a good girl, Ima-chan. And a good sport," sighed Himeko. "Very well, then. Kiko-chan gets three wonderful days to decide! While the knight gets to take her life with her. I suggest you both shoo...except you, Kakeru-kun! It seems we have a lot to talk about!"

[Kiko/Hotaru]

Kiko stared up into the eyes of her older brother, confused, with tears still streaming down her face. She was so confused! Wasn't this her brother?! Wasn't this her Kakeru?! The voice he just used to choke out his protests was the same as the one Kakeru used, if not deeper and smoother. And the eyes were the same; Exact duplicates of Hirogawa Kaori's eyes, on both Kiko and Hotaru's faces. But...they were the same, and yet, at the same time, they weren't. The small raven shook and trembled, scared, but she approached Hotaru, eyes wide and lost.

"Kakeru...? Aren't you Kakeru? Aren't you my older brother?" Kiko asked, looking like a child that had just been told that neither the easter bunny, Santa or the tooth fairy existed. It was such a pained and lost expression that automatically Hotaru raised and reached his arms out, trying to comfort. But Kiko cringed away, and it felt like a white-hot knife had twisted around in his heart. It made Kakeru howl and shriek with pain, but Hotaru was fully in control, and he couldn't let on that Kiko's pain was hurting him. It was the wise thing, the smart thing.

"Don't...I play a mean game of hide and seek, Kiko? Hotaru whispered, low enough for only the tawny-eyed half-child in front of him to hear. Kiko stared wide-eyed at him, as he brushed by her, walking straight towards Ima.

This exchange between both Hirogawa only lasted a few seconds, even though it felt like an eternity. And soon, Himeko, with a voice like someone who was both comforting and persueding(sp?) was talking.

"Ima-chan thought I was dead too, Kiko-chan. But then she found me, and she realizes she needs to be with me, because I'm the only one who has ever given a d**n about her. She has no one else left but me. It's the same for you, isn't it? Then join your brother. You'll have Ima-chan with you, too."

Kiko swiveled around, everything pouring from Himeko's mouth capturing her interest. Hotaru stopped and snarled quietly, Genma's wolf ears and tail fitfully in place. He didn't like where Himeko was going with this...

"T-Together...? I get to have them...together??" Kiko repeated, shoulders hunched forward in an attempt to protect herself. Hotaru and Genma snarled and growled simountaniously while Kakeru shouted away his protests in Hotaru's mind. Hotaru glared first at Himeko, then at Kiko, making another white-hot knife twist around as she cringed again.

But then, before Hotaru could protest, Eriya made herself present, screaming at Ima. Oh yeah. She was the leader of the Knights, and Ima was a knight. Betrayal. Of course she would be outraged.

"I already made the choice a long time ago. Right, Lust?" Ima responded, a bit dead. Hotaru gazed at her. Then...did that mean...?

"Yeah. You did." Hotaru mumbled back, finally reaching Ima. He stood beside her, observing his little sister now. She looked back up at him, the tears not stopping once in their flow. And then Ima's words sunk in, and she let out another cry of pain, this one sharper and louder than before.

And Hotaru winced, because, growing up the way they did together, created a bond deeper than ever experianced before. Both of the Hirogawa heirs were linked together; you hurt one, and you hurt the other one as well. They continued to stare at each other, probing silently, the others around them almost forgotten.

"Yeah, I suppose we do have a lot to talk about..." Hotaru finally broke he silent conversation as Kiko stiffled another sob.

"Nii-chan...?" Kiko whispered brokenly, stepping away from the 'sins'. "Are...you leaving...again?"

"No, Kiko, you are." Hotaru whispered back. Kiko howled again, and he fought the urge to go and hug his little sister.

[OOC: Urg! I despise this post with a passion! Even though it's long, neither Kiko or Hotaru were working for me!!! Urg! Excuse the crappiness!!! DX]