A/N: Alright, so here's the second part of the story. As I've mentioned before, this part was not written by me. It was written by a friend. I got her permission before posting here, of course! I'll try to answer all reviews by PM. It makes me incredibly happy to see people are reading this!

After this most tragic incident the whole village was mourning the loss of such a lovely and kind girl. Her fiancé was heart-broken. But the person most affected by Atsuko's demise was her older sister. Jealousy had made her blind but the moment Moriko heard about her sister's death she realized what a horrible deed she had done. The guilt and regret were eating away at Moriko's mind and soul. Sleep eluded her and she wouldn't eat anything for days.

Her parents were most worried that they might lose this daughter too so they talked insistently to Nauki trying to convince him to marry Moriko instead. Nauki (who was of course unaware of the true reason his fiancée had ended her life) got lured in by their claim that Atsuko would surely want him to wed her beloved sister rather than any other woman and finally agreed to take Moriko as his bride.

Moriko was appalled at the thought of marrying Nauki. As she had soon realized she didn't have any true feelings for him; the reason for her jealousy was not Nauki himself but the thought of her sister getting married before her and always being favoured by their parents. Not only that but it would also mean to betray her late sister even further. She begged her parents to reconsider but since she was too afraid to tell them the truth about Atsuko's death they thought that Moriko was only saddened and confused by her sister's accident and that's why she reacted this way. The marriage would take place and they were convinced that over time Moriko would also see how lucky she was to have a husband of such high social status.

The closer the day of the wedding came the more desperate Moriko grew. She was plagued by sinister nightmares and whenever she looked into a mirror she saw her sister's face staring back at her with accusing eyes. Moriko was gradually losing her mind. The night before the wedding she had another dream about her sister.

Moriko was running through a dark forest, being chased by something dark and evil. Suddenly she could hear her sister's voice calling out her name. Then she saw Atsuko standing beneath a tree a little further away. She was waving at Moriko and telling her to come closer with a smile on her face. Moriko ran towards her but when she was only a few feet away her sister's kind smile tuned into a gleeful grimace. That's when Moriko realized that her sister had lured her into a deadly swamp and slowly she started to sink in deeper and deeper. She was screaming and begging her sister to help her but her younger was just standing there laughing at her. Moriko was swallowed by darkness before she finally woke up drenched in sweat.

On the next day Moriko was so sleep-deprived and felt so forlorn that she didn't even realize where she was or what was going on. She vaguely recalled getting dressed and made up by her maidservants and finally being led (or rather dragged) to the wedding hall by her mother. When she and Nauki were standing in front of the priest she started looking absentmindedly through the room when suddenly she glanced at the window to her right and out there standing in the rain was her sister (of course, no one else could see her)! Moriko let out a terrible scream and fled the wedding ceremony before anyone could stop her.

She ran into the forest and subconsciously followed the path that led to her family's summer mansion up in the mountains where she and her sister used to play when they were little. Rain was pouring down and Moriko ran until she broke down due the exhaustion right in front of an old oak tree. She lay on the forest floor crying desperately. She wailed and screamed how it should have been her jumping into the well and not her little sister who was always so kind to her and whom she had so shamefully betrayed.

In the meantime Nauki had followed Moriko into the forest. He could hear her screaming about what she had done to her sister and thereby found out the real reason why Atsuko had killed herself. The samurai couldn't trust his ears. While he was still contemplating what to do next Moriko, who was still crouching on the floor, was suddenly engulfed by a bright light. Then, out of nowhere, Atsuko appeared right in front of Moriko. She looked pale and almost transparent. Her older sister looked up at her. Then she threw herself to Atsuko's feet and begged her for forgiveness. Atsuko (or rather her ghost) was smiling at her sister like she'd always done. She helped her sister stand up and embraced her with Moriko crying on her shoulder. Nauki - up until then paralyzed by fear and disbelief - finally came to his senses and wanted to step forward.

Suddenly the oak tree was struck by a flash of lightening and Nauki had to shield his eyes. When he looked up again the tree had been broken in half and Atsuko was leading her sister towards it. Moriko was clutching her little sister's hand and her face was showing nothing but peace and ease of mind. They stepped into the split tree and suddenly they were gone. They had crossed the border to the realm of the dead never to be seperated again.

The next morning, Nauki returned to the place where he had witnessed the miraculous event last night. To his astonishment the old oak tree wasn't broken in two anymore but stood there, tall and firm. Nauki decided to build a little shrine right in front of the tree to honour the memory of the two sisters and their tragic fate. When he was finished he suddenly noticed a pond right next to the tree for the first time. In it there were two beautiful Koi swimming side by side. One was white as snow, the other one was pitch-black like the darkest night.

Nauki believed that the kois were the reincarnations of Atsuko and Moriko. The samurai then went on and became a monk in a temple nearby. And he would tell everyone who came to visit the temple the tale of the Koi Sisters just like I told you now.

THE END