Haibane Renmei is the property of Yoshitoshi Abe, Aureole Secret
Factory, Fuji Television and Pioneer.
This is a fanfic created for entertainment purposes only.


This fic contains a spoiler or two for the final episode of Haibane Renmei.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

She'd lost everything.
Her name and memories had been the first to go. One day she's woken up
to find them missing. She was in a mysterious place with nothing to tell
her who she was other than a difficult to remember dream. Then, her
confidence had been shattered as she was ostracised because of the black
blotches on her otherwise white feathers. They were a dark mark - visual
proof she was fundamentally a bad person, or "Sin-Bound." But worst of
all, now she'd lost the only friends she knew - Kuramori had deserted
her, and she and Nemu were not speaking now because... well...

Because a little girl named Reki was a foolish ass, and she knew it.

She rested her hands on the bridge and looked down into the water. It
rippled and waved endlessly in the downpour. The rain had long since
soaked though her clothes, hair and feathers, and she was feeling a
chill.
She laid her arms down on the stone, and rested her head. She had to
think. Had to figure out what was bothering her. Had to figure out where
Kuramori had gone. Had to figure out how to apologise to Nemu, if she
actually wanted to. She didn't feel like it.

She thought back to her dream. It was the only memory she'd brought with
her to Glie, but it was so horribly vague.
/Gravel crunches beneath my feet.../
The water beneath Reki flowed onward. If she stared at it long enough,
she might have been able to see a pattern emerging in it's movement.
/A low, red moon in the sky... maybe.../
The clock in the bell tower hit 7:37. It was precisely the right time.
/The ground, shaking slightly/
The clouds in the sky slowly blew past. None of them ever looked like
anything.

Reki wondered to herself, trying to figure out this unease she
constantly felt. It seemed like she was a misfit... but was she wrong,
or was the world? It had to be her. How could the entire world be wrong?
She shed another tear - unnoticeable in the rain - and slapped her palm
against the stone. She was so damn sick of this confusion... this
endless doubt! Sick of the dusty rat's nest she had to live in. Sick of
the damn Communicator, telling her to be good and not think for herself.
Sick of feeling alone, even when surrounded by people.
"Maybe this is how every haibane feels," she said to herself. "Maybe
Kuramori felt like this... she was just able to deal with it better than
I can."

Suddenly, she got the feeling she was being watched. Slowly, she raised
her head and looked around.
There was a dark figure on the bank of the river, and she straightened
up to look at him. His face pointed away from her, but for a moment Reki
thought she'd seen it turn away as she'd looked. He had been watching
her. She returned the favour.
He wore a long dark coat, buttoned up so that you couldn't see his other
clothes. His hair was cut short and he wore a black hat that hid his
eyes. Something bothered Reki about him - people in Glie didn't tend to
go for that kind of look. His appearance screamed "suspicious," and he
seemed to be awkwardly aware of the fact he was out of his element.
/A shadowed man, pointing a gun at me/
A new haibane? That was possible, though hiding his wings under that
coat must have been uncomfortable, and he was dressed a bit too richly
for a haibane. A visitor? That was impossible... but a much more
exciting idea. Someone other than a toga had come through the wall.
Maybe... maybe he might know something about Kuramori! About where she'd
gone... or about why everything here felt fake and wrong.

*ting*

The sound of a small bell rang across the street, in spite of the rain
and the river. A pair of toga were approaching from the far end of the
street, just past the man. Without even looking at them, the man turned
and started heading for the bridge, before turning away from it and
walking down an alleyway. The two toga followed him.

Reki stared at the alleyway, wondering what she'd just watched. For a
moment, she thought about following them, but a small voice inside her
cautioned that she'd done enough stupid stuff already. She didn't want
to get too involved with the toga - they creeped her out.

"Woah, wings that have been dyed black... cool!"
Reki turned to see a boy her age grinning at her and a younger, more
cautious girl holding a stuffed bear, both sheltering under an umbrella.
"They're not dyed..."
Instead of pursuing the mysterious man, she stopped to talk to them, and
a vital part of her dream slipped though her fingers.

/"Stay on the tracks. We've prepared a better place for people like you,
Ms Williams,"/





TXFpbggl
Sbyybj gur Juvgr Enoovg - uggc://jjj.fvzcjbexf.pbz/ybt.ugzy









             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'