Prologue

When Merry returned from the village, it was quite late in the evening. Expecting Kaya to have gone to bed already, he put the packages in their proper places and headed to bed himself.

The next morning, he woke with his usual smile and busied himself preparing his mistress' breakfast.

Tapping lightly on her bedroom door, he called out to her.

"Miss Kaya, I've brought your breakfast. May I come in?"

There was no reply. Instead, a steady dead silence that hung thick in the air. Merry immediately knew something was awry. Kaya always replied, and she wasn't a heavy sleeper, so his knock should have woken her up.

Again he knocked, this time a little louder, and called to her once again.

"Miss Kaya, it's Merry. I have your breakfast. May I come in?"

There was still no reply. Merry's stomach knotted and a wave of nausea swept over him. He hated going against Kaya's wishes and intruding on her, but it was his duty to protect her at all costs.

He opened her doors, stepping back as the smell of death hung, ever present, in the room. What met his eyes made his blood run cold.

There lay Kaya, covered with blood. Above her on the wall, written in crimson red for the world to see was a cryptic message.

"I'm still yours, Klahadore," was all it said.

Merry reeled and dropped to his knees. He'd lost the lovely daughter of his former employers to a mad man. A man bent on greed and destruction.

Doubling over, he tried as hard as he could not to vomit on the site. Instead, still clutching his stomach, he made his way over to her side.

Looking down, he saw her peaceful smile. Perhaps she had been happy, dying this way. He knew how she felt about Klahadore to a certain extent, but this was madness. She'd loved him?

Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the gore. Deep down, he'd thought of the girl as his own daughter. How could he have not foreseen her suicide?

"I should have been here," he choked.

Kneeling down on the side of the bed, he lay his head at her side, letting loose his stream of tears. His body shook with his sobs, mind reeling and sinking into past memories.

"Dear God, what have I done!" he cried.

His body became heavy, and for all the day, long he lay at her side. Finally, still distraught and filled with fatigue and hunger, he rose and began to trod back into the kitchen when he saw something he'd neglected to notice before.

Sitting neatly on her writing desk was a letter on flowered stationary. Next to it, a blood red rose.

Picking them up, Merry cleared his eyes and slowly read the letter's contents.

Merry,

I'm sorry. Please don't blame yourself for my death. I love Klahadore, and there's nothing anyone can do. I know you tried your best to make things work out, and I appreciate all that you've done, but this is the only way to end the pain. You made me happy never doubt that. Thank you for everything.

Love,

Kaya

The butlers pushed back the tears that had resurfaced and looked from the letter to the corpse.

Stroking her golden tresses for the last time, he took the letter and rose and departed for his quarters to wash up before leaving for the coroner.

Ever so gently, he placed them on his mantle, below a portrait of himself holding a young Kaya.

"Miss Kaya, may you rest at ease," he murmured, gazing at the painting that had been made at such a happier time.

Finis, (again).

A/N: I had to do a Prologue with Merry's reaction. It just begged to be written. Anyway, hope you like it. I'm a dark writer, so character death is right up my alley, even though I don't necessarily like killing Kaya off. Please don't take this fic the wrong way; I love the Kaya x Usopp pairings! I just thought it would be a little romantic, kind of like Romeo and Juliet, you know. R&R!