Chapter 1

Butterflies. And flowers. All of them bright sky blue. That was the first thing she remembered seeing. That, and the beautiful dark woman whose hair and eyes shared their color. Petals, wings, and silken strands alike fluttered in the tranquil breeze.

The woman who stared down on her was beautiful. Ethereal. Too close to perfection to be anyone of unimportance. She spoke, and her voice seemed softer than the petals. It was almost like she could reach out and touch her words, and would feel the same velvet texture.

“What is your name…?” The woman mused to herself.

But the other didn’t seem to care what her name was. Why should she? She didn’t even know what a name was. Such a curious word, though.

“There are so many…” She said idly, referring to the butterflies.

The woman nodded. She was very familiar with her surroundings. After all, she’d been there for quite a long time. “There are exactly one thousand.”

She looked around some more. Through the ocean of bright blue came forth a blood red butterfly – Blood red in appearance and not in name, because she did not yet know what blood was or that she had it. It perched on a flower by her foot – A singularly flawed red bloom amongst the nine hundred and ninety-nine perfect blue ones.

The dark woman blinked, as if remembering something, “Ah… Sen. Yes, that’s it! That'll be your name --Sen. It means one thousand.”

Was that what a name was, then? Something you called someone? “Why is that my name?” Sen asked, curious creature she was beginning to realize she was.

She smiled patiently. “For every one truth or fact, there is one thousand exceptions. For every thousand truths and facts, there is one exception. You are the one.” She nodded, realizing the words were true as she spoke them. “You are… The one.” She repeated, nodding with finality.

Sen nodded back, though she didn’t understand the words as well as the dark woman seemed to.

The woman continued, “Now there is only one thing left to do… But I think I shall let you choose.” Sen looked curiously at the woman, waiting for her to continue, “…What color do you want your hair to be?”

Sen vaguely knew what hair was, and color, too. Though where that information had come, well, that was something she did not know. Her first thought was blue, like the woman’s hair. But there were other colors, too… The grass on the ground was a pretty shade of green, the bark on a nearby tree was an equally appealing sepia. In the end, Sen couldn’t choose. So instead she asked, “What is the color of everything?”

The woman smiled, “That is simple. It is black.”

Sen nodded, “Then it shall be black.”

She had just seconds before finished uttering these words before the world around her was enveloped by her color of choice. She could no longer see the flowers, the butterflies, not even her own hands. The darkness was suffocating; frightening, no doubt, to a girl who had never known of it before. She was relieved to realize, however, that she could still hear what was going on.

A cold feminine voice called out from behind her, “Aeryl. What is the meaning of this?”

The woman, Aeryl, gasped, “M-Mother!”

Another curious word, Sen thought. What was a mother?

The cold voice continued, “This is strictly forbidden, Aeryl. Has being imprisoned here all these years taught you nothing?”

Another voice, also female but much haughtier, added, “I don’t think she’ll ever learn! Or maybe we simply haven’t punished her severely enough…”

Aeryl growled, “You stay out of this, Marlene!”

“Is that the tone you use with the Bearer of Light, Aeryl? You wretch!” The haughty one replied indignantly, obviously offended.

“You won’t be Bearer of Light much longer.” She spat.

This comment, although it sounded rather negative to Sen, seemed to have pleased the other. She replied even more arrogantly, “Ah, so even you’ve heard, eh? Yes, despite the complications,my daughter shall be taking over soon…”

The cold one interrupted her, “Be silent, Marlene. You are starting to annoy me now. Continuing to do so will result in not living long enough to see your daughter succeed you.”

Marlene promptly shut her mouth at that.

Suddenly Sen felt a very cold but very soft sinewy touch creep across her bare shoulders. Despite the softness, it was a very unpleasant feeling. It made Sen shiver and distinctively try to pull away from it. But when she tried to do so, the chilling invisible presence seemed to cling tighter. The cold seeped into her skin until it was so intense that it stung like a burn. Sen wrenched from it, but again it only tightened as she struggled.

Sen wrenched from it, but again it only tightened as she struggled.

Aeryl screamed, “No, Mother! You mustn’t!” She pleaded.

But her desperate words were ignored. In fact, they only served to egg the cold tendrils on. Sen screamed as the pain reached an unbearable level.

Suddenly, two hands were placed on Sen’s chest and she felt herself being pushed away from the painful touch and into what seemed like a deep pool of dark, cloudy mist. She sank deeper and deeper, getting sleepier and sleepier as she descended. Her eyes moved as if she no longer had any control over them into the back of her head, and her body felt heavy. That was the last thing she remembered.

Meanwhile Aeryl’s mother screamed, no longer as calm and cold as before, “What have you done? You disgraceful girl!”

Aeryl took no notice of the insult, vying instead to answer the question, “I did…” She replied levelly, “What you should have done a long time ago.”

A short silence ensued, only seconds later being broken by a soul-shattering scream.

Several years later, Christmas Eve.

Sen snuggled closer to the taller girl who, along with the blonde girl next to her, shared the blankets and bed. They were her best friends; almost sisters. It was eleven o clock at night, and tomorrow would be Sen’s fourteenth ‘birthday’. Actually, it was merely the day that the police officers had first found Sen, naked and shivering in the street.

For a while afterward, Sen wondered if her experience with Aeryl had merely been a dream… But why would a five year old girl remember a dream and nothing before then? Why would she not remember her own mother’s name, or even what a mother was? How could she not know anything about herself, her likes and dislikes, her favorite foods, her friends – Nothing but her own name?

Soon after being found, Sen was adopted by a kind and relatively well-to-do heiress who requested that Sen call her ‘Nanna’.

“…So Nanna is your name?” Sen had asked, sipping from the mug of hot cocoa that she had been given. She didn’t care for the color, but it tasted so good she found she couldn’t mind.

The elderly woman smiled, a little embarrassedly, “Well, no… That’s just what you call me, dear. My real name is Elvira. In fact, since you don’t have one, why don’t we make that your middle name?”

So a name is not necessarily what you call someone? Sen asked herself in confusion. But then what is a name? And why do you need more than one, even two? Many things confused Sen, but this particular question nagged at her mind more than most others in her first few weeks of awareness. After a while, she forgot why she’d ever wondered it at all.

Less than three months after being brought to live with Madam Elvira Christian, Sen, now known as Sen Elvira Christian, found herself being sent to a private, all-girls’ academy located about a hundred miles away from her new home. If it’d only been ninety-eight miles away, she might’ve just walked back. Nanna taught Sen about Heaven and Hell, so Sen knew where to compare her Alma Mater to. Nanna convinced Sen the other girls were merely jealous, since Sen was considered an academic genius and was even good at sports, too. Knowing that didn’t help, though. She hated being there. All the other girls made fun of her, made all the worse after she learned she needed glasses. One evening in late May, after a particularly brutal taunting, Sen sat crying in the school garden, and suddenly… They were just there. Naked and clueless as Sen had been the day she was found. Like Sen, the only thing they knew about themselves were their names. That was what convinced Sen she wasn’t crazy. That Aeryl was real. Whether she was alive or dead was another mystery yet to be discovered.

The first was Lon. She was normally cold and frigid in personality, something Sen found funny sometimes because Lon was colored warm – Curly orange hair and chocolate eyes. Although at first, when Sen had found her, she seemed lost and clueless, she quickly took in all the knowledge around her. She read all the books in the library in a relatively short amount of time and remembered every detail in them. She remembered every word the professors said, even corrected them occasionally, much to their dismay.

Sen also found herself suddenly needing Lon’s assistance with homework. Problems that had once been simple were becoming steadily complex. Lon had no problem with them, though. She quickly became the new school genius in Sen’s stead.

The other was Mika. Her perky personality fit her flawlessly golden hair. Like Sen, she wore glasses, thick ones, which made her jade green eyes look like gigantic olives. She quickly gained reputation at the school for excelling at every sport she cared to try out, even basketball despite being shorter than most girls. But faster than the last, her reputation for fighting got her recognition as well. One of Sen’s former bullies was unfortunate enough to try and harass her around Mika. That particular girl still had a crooked nose from the experience.

Sen found sports, with the exception of dance, to be suddenly too much work and not as fun as they used to be. Mika would sometimes have to annoy her into completing her run. Sen decided against joining the tennis team, but Mika joined instead.

When the two girls were first found, the school wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. They considered just handing them over to the state to deal with, but Sen had called Nanna and begged her to adopt the two girls as well. Because she was kindhearted, Nanna had complied. Lon and Mika had been stationed beside Sen in their dormitory, as Lon cried loudly and Mika threw fits when they’d tried to station them elsewhere. Sen had to admit, she’d felt rather depressed when they were apart as well.

Sen had asked them if they remembered anything before she found them that day, if they remembered a pretty woman giving them their names or a field of flowers and butterflies. But neither Lon nor Mika had known what she was talking about.

Mika had said, “The first thing I remember seeing… Is you.”

Lon added, “We remember nothing before then.”

Sen had nodded in understanding and didn’t bring the subject up again. After all, they were such great friends, always laughing, eating, and sleeping together. Going out for parfaits on Sundays and studying together in the library on Saturday evenings. They watched Mika gain her karate belts and watched Lon win her chess competitions. And, on very rare occasions, praised Sen for getting good grades; mostly in choir and ballet class. The subject of their origin seemed to make the other girls so unhappy that Sen didn’t want to endanger the friendship by pressing the matter too much.

But, all in all, despite the sudden appearance of random children who in a short amount of time become her best and only friends and the mysterious dream-like past she seemed to have, Sen’s life was relatively normal. She went to school, stayed home with Nanna on the holidays and hung out with Lon and Mika. Nothing more complicated than that ever happened… Until December 25th, 2004.

Nanna had been rather sick lately, so she wasn’t able to attend the Christmas Parade with the girls this year, though it had been a tradition to do so ever since she adopted Sen. The girls understood and, at Nanna’s request, left for the parade with a chaperone.

The sight took their breath away. Lights of every color sparkled like jewels, like stars, like thousands of trapped infernos. The way their lights danced so frantically, it was as if they were banging their little flaming fists on their prisons, wanting to be free so they could burn their captivated admirers alive. Despite these slightly negative sounding metaphors, Sen loved Christmas lights. They were her second favorite part about the holiday in question, her all time favorite part being, of course, the food, which to Mika’s dismay, she could consume as much of as she liked and never gained much weight.

“Which ones do you like best, Sen?” Mika asked.

Sen rolled her eyes, “You ask us that every year and every year it’s the same. I like the blue lights best, and Lon likes the green ones.”

Lon added, “If anything, we should be asking you. You’re the only one who changes her mind every year. You never seem to make up your mind.”

Mika laughed, “This coming from the girl who takes no less than five minutes deciding whether she wants pudding or pie when she can easily have both.”

“I don’t like making a habit of taking both.” Lon replied, “It’s either one or the other. You can’t always have your cake and eat it too.”

Mika rolled her eyes and shifted her glasses, “That’s stupid!”

Sen nodded in agreement, “What’s the use of having cake at all if you don’t plan on eating it?”

“Well, actually…” Mika continued, “If the cake were only for decorations then you might get into trouble for eating it…”

“Who ever heard of a cake made only for decorations? Even wedding cakes are eaten!”

“Yes, but they take pictures of it too, don’t they?”

Lon broke in, “Oh, of all the ridiculous conversations you two have had, this is easily shaping out to be one of the stupidest! Will you two just pay attention to the parade? Nanna will have plenty of cake for you two to argue about when we get home.”

Sen deflated like a balloon, “Must you be so serious all the time, Lon?” Mika nodded in agreement.

“Someone has to be.” Lon uttered, “Oh, excuse me.” She added and stepped aside as a tall man walked past her. But just as he was about to pass Sen, he stopped and stared at her, unbelievingly. His jaw quivered, but didn’t quite drop, though it took quite some effort. It was as if he’d seen a ghost.

Sen, who never liked being outdone, especially when others were being rather rude, stared right back although the man was a good eight or so inches taller than her. He was wealthy, from the looks of it -- Gucci clothing, stylishly long hair for a man, and custom sunglasses. For the briefest of seconds, he lowered his sunglasses to get a better look at Sen, and she gasped as she saw the bright red eyes beneath them.

Then she shook her head. How stupid of her. They were obviously contacts.

“…Pardon me, Sen-san.” He mumbled, pushed up his sunglasses, and walked away quickly. Sen watched him as he walked away, blushing as she noticed the way his hips subtly swayed as he did so. The fact that she’d spent most of her life thus far socializing with only other females and ugly, middle aged men was the only thing she had to blame this on, though the man truly was very sexy.

“What did he just say?” Lon asked with worried, furrowed eyebrows, “Sen, how does he know your name? Have you met that young man before?”

Mika rolled her eyes at her, “Of course not. If Sen had met a young man, we’d surely know about it. How often do we even see young men, anyways? The youngest man at the academy is Professor Jacquelle, and he’s thirty-one!”

“Thirty-two.” Lon corrected offhandedly.

Mika choose to ignore the correction, “In any case, he might’ve mistaken her for someone else. He called her ‘Sensan’ remember? Maybe it was just a coincidence…”

“No, ‘san’ is a Japanese honorific. He knew her name.”

“But…” Sen said at last, “I’ve never met him before… I mean, he looks kind of familiar, in a déjà vu kind of way… But I swear I’ve never seen him before in my life!”

“Weird…” Said both Lon and Mika together.

After the parade, the three headed home. With thoughts of treacle, tapioca, pound and fruitcake as their guide, they got to their destination in record time.

“Nanna! We’re home!” Sen called as they walked through the door and hung up their coats, “We took some pictures of the parade for you, we can get them developed by next week…”

The three settled on the couch by the fire to warm their frozen fingers. Mika looked over to the black haired girl, who’d just yesterday had it cut short. If she didn’t wear girl’s clothing, she would easily be mistaken for a boy, since she was not curvy like either of her sisters. Such was the price of a high metabolism – No fat in which to make breasts.

“Sen? What’s the matter?” She asked, noticing because of her hung head that she looked depressed.

“Nothing.” She replied, though her tone claimed what her words did not. “I’m just thinking. I’m trying to remember if I truly have met that boy before… He seemed so familiar…”

“Was he there when you met Aeryl?” Lon offered.

Sen blinked, “No. No, I don’t think so. But… It was dark. He might’ve been there and just didn’t say anything. But I don’t believe that’s the case. I must’ve simply met him somewhere before and forgot about it, that’s all…”

Mika furrowed her finely shaped eyebrows, “It still seems rather odd to me, either way…”

“What on earth is Nanna doing?” Lon wondered aloud, stealing the attention away from the mysterious young man, “She didn’t reply when we called…” She sniffed, “And is something burning?”

Mika sniffed the air as well, “Oh, I think that was the sugar cookies…” She said sadly, “You don’t suppose Nanna took a nap and forgot about them?”

Sen shrugged, “Probably. But she’s been sick, so you can’t blame her. Here, why don’t Lon and I got look for Nanna upstairs and you go check what’s salvageable in the kitchen?” Mika nodded and they headed off to do just that.

“Even if she is sick, that’s so unlike Nanna to doze off when she’s cooking…” Lon remarked as they climbed the stairs.

“Well, yes, I suppose so. But she’s just--!” Sen was interrupted by the sound of a loud, shrill scream. Mika’s scream. The two girls hurried down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen. There they saw Mika, slumped on her knees, shaking. A second later, they realized why.

“Oh, god…” Lon whispered. Sen said absolutely nothing, just stared in shock.

The entire kitchen was covered in blood and batter, pots and broken dishes littered the floor. Sen stepped forward slowly, turning off the oven as she passed it. She stopped only when she reached the middle of the kitchen where Nanna, limp and covered in blood, lay propped up against the island, holding a carver’s knife defensively.

But that sight only held Sen’s attention for a moment. To the right of her kind caretaker, in a deep puddle of blood, was a pair of sunglasses…

His sunglasses.

Suddenly, a dark blur past by her, too fast for her to follow it very well with her eyes. But one thing was certain. It was a dark haired man dressed in black.

He pushed Lon aside and bolted for the door. Lon immediately ran after him, and Sen followed her, dragging Mika after her.

“Don’t let him go!” Sen yelled. The chase led them outside and into the front yard where he quickly got inside his awaiting car, turned it on and screeched down the street.

Sen growled, ran back into the house, picked up a random set of keys and ran back outside, throwing them to Lon, “Did you see what kind of car he was driving?” She asked, the part of her brain telling her that chasing after this man was a very dangerous and therefore a very, very stupid idea being thoroughly ignored.

“Black Ferrari, license plate 7AKU384. Let’s go.” She replied and got into the driver’s seat. Mika got into the back and Sen into the passenger’s seat.

“This is a really dumb idea… Lon doesn’t even have driver’s license...” Mika said, though when you’re a genius like Lon, picking up things just by watching others do it wasn’t uncommon. When Sen turned to glare heavily at her, she added, “So don’t drive like a maniac while you’re chasing this guy, okay?”

Lon started the car and drove off in the direction the man had gone, muttering, “Oh, well look who’s the voice of reason now...” Even Sen had to admit, the irony was a little overwhelming. More overwhelming, however, was the urge to seriously hurt the bastard that killed Nanna.

“Go faster.” Sen commanded, as Lon had been, in her nervousness since this was her first time driving, going too slow. Lon complied, pressing down more on the pedal. The car swirved a bit, but she quickly got things under control. She was a fast learner, after all.

Their search to find the man soon took them from their familiar neighborhood into one that was much more ominous than what they were used to. The buildings that were once brightly colored and cheery turned dark and hardly colored at all, besides the grey. A few scrappy looking people trudged down the street, though not many. It was that hour that was late enough for most people to be at home, but not late enough for the more dangerous people to be out. Plus, it was Christmas, and even gang members had families and friends to celebrate with.

…Christmas. Nanna had died on her birthday. Sen fought back angry tears. The normally joyful day would be forever tainted because of this. It wasn’t fair. Even if Sen had never thought of Nanna as a mother, she had thought of her as an aunt of sorts. Though it didn’t quite matter what was to her, the only thing that mattered was that she was gone. And Sen just couldn’t forgive the person who had taken her away. Even if she could forgive him, she wouldn’t. An outright murderer should always remain hated by someone, and Sen felt that she was the right girl to do it.

About three minutes or so later, Mika piped up, “Is that him?” And pointed to a black car turning a corner about three cars ahead of them.

“Yes. Positive.” Lon replied. Mika and Sen believed her – Lon’s memory was photographic. She quickly got into the next lane to continue following him. He didn’t seem to realize they were behind him, however. They followed him for fifteen minutes until he finally parked his car in front of an old looking apartment building and ran inside, covering his face as if he was afraid of being seen. Lon parked down the street, and ran to check the license plate.

“We have a match.” She told the two girls who ran to catch up with her. Sen turned to enter the building, but Lon caught her by the shoulder, “W-What are you doing? You weren’t actually planning on following him in there, were you? Sen, we have his license plate, that was enough, but now we also know where he is! Let’s just go find a payphone and call the police…”

“No!” She replied stubbornly, shrugging Lon’s hand off her shoulder, “He killed Nanna… I want to know why!” With that, she rushed into the building before Lon or Mika could stop her. Not knowing what else to do, and not able to leave Sen by herself, the two girls followed her into the building.

Almost immediately, Sen bumped into a man leaving his room.

“YOU!” Sen yelled, pounding mercilessly on his chest, “Why, damnit, WHY?”

“What in the bloody hell--?” He replied, confused as anything.

“Sen!” Lon called, causing her to stop long enough for Mika to drag her away from the tall man, who rubbed his sore chest in annoyance.

“If you’re going to kill us, you’d better do it now, or else we’re going directly to the police!” Mika yelled.

Sen joined her, “That’s right, you murderer! We know where you live, we know your license plate number, and even if you kill us, you left those sunglasses of yours at our house! You’re as good as caught!”

Lon shook her head at her friend’s stupidity, stepped forward, and said, “I apologize, sir.”

Mika and Sen’s jaws dropped, “Lon, what are you saying--?” Mika started.

“Though, admittedly…” Lon continued as if she’d never spoken, “It’s still rather suspicious. You know Sen’s name, even though you’ve never met, and seem to live in the same apartment complex as the man that just killed her adoptive mother.” At the continued looks of puzzlement on Sen and Mika’s faces, Lon pointed to the man’s face, where the same pair of expensive sunglasses that they’d seen him wearing at the parade still rested, right below one raised eyebrow.

If the situation weren’t so sadly serious, Lon might’ve laughed at the look on Sen’s face.

“Someone was killed…” The man started, “…And he looked like me?”

Lon nodded, “Though, now that I think about it… I think his hair was just a very dark brown, not black. And a tad bit longer, too.”

“But the sunglasses!” Sen interrupted, “They had to be custom-made! They were the exact same kind he’s wearing!” As she said this, a horrified look crept across the man’s face.

“Get out, now.” He said hurriedly, almost verging on paranoia, “It’s not safe in this building.”

Sen opened her mouth to argue, but the man yelled, “NOW!” And Sen found she suddenly didn’t want to argue with him, looking the way he did then. Mika and Lon both dragged her out of the building, heading back towards the car.

“Don’t worry.” Lon said, “We’re going straight to the police now. It’s what we should’ve done to begin with.” As soon as their reached the car, however, they heard violent shouting coming from the building, and seconds later, the man they had talked to in the hallway came running out of it and towards them. When he made it to the halfway point, the apartment exploded, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Since Sen wasn’t one to hold grudges, especially after realizing the person was innocent, she rushed over to the man, “Are you okay?” She asked.

“Fine…” He coughed. Suddenly, behind him, a dark haired man exited the burning building, untouched by the flames that consumed the building and clawed at his clothing. He stopped when he reached the middle of the road and caught Sen’s eyes.

They were red. No, crimson. How Sen could tell when the man was easily fifty feet away, she’d never be able to explain. It was as if everything in Sen’s field of vision except for that man’s wicked face had completely disappeared. Sen remembered only once feeling as cold as she did that moment…

“No, Mother! You mustn’t!”

Then, as quickly as he had captivated her, he was gone. Vanished right before her eyes in a tornado of fire. Sen’s mouth opened and closed in disbelief.

The dark haired man before her rolled his eyes, “Oh, don’t act like you’ve never seen anything that strange before.” He scoffed.

“…What?” Sen said after a moment, then changed her mind, “Who in the bloody hell are you?”

The man smirked like a regular pseudo-bad boy, “Sebastian Yamino.” After a second, he added, “…I’d be more than happy to tell you more, Sen-san… But I also don’t feel like getting arrested or taken in for questioning. What say we continue this somewhere else? There’s a Starbucks not far from here.”

She’d agreed before she knew what she was doing. Just like her mother, this situation was simply too unreal. She needed answers. Sebastian Yamino seemed cocky enough to have them.