Hint of Darkness

Three children played a game of tag amongst the blue painted grey stones of the ruins. The oldest boy, about eight, was clad in red. Three greyish spikes protruded from his crimson hair. The next oldest at six, was a girl in blue. Two small spikes rose out from her long hair which had been pulled back into two braids. The youngest, at five, was a little boy in white. Seven greyish nubs poked out of the silvery-white hair on his head.

"Kiri-san. Kumo-chan," the girl called. "Where are you? Come out. This isn't fun anymore."

Aoi Ame tugged nervously on one of her braids. She'd been 'it' for a while now. Every time she'd spotted her playmates they'd shouted and run away, quickly outdistancing her. It had been some time since she'd last seen them and she was starting to wonder if they'd left her to wander the ruins alone. Her azure eyes filled with tears.

"Kiri-san," she called, with a quaver in her voice. "Kumo-chan?"

The tears spilled down her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around her stomach, pulling her blue cloak around her slender body. A moment later two sets of arms encircled her. Warm bodies pressed against her comfortingly.

"Forgive us, Ame-chan," Kiri said. "We didn't mean to make you cry."

Sympathetic tears filled Kumo's soulful green eyes. "Don't cry Ame-chan. We didn't leave you."

Ame's tears continued for a moment more, then ceased under the gentle words and reassuring arms of her two best friends.

"Are you alright, Ame-chan?" Kiri asked.

Ame wiped the last of her tears away and nodded. "Yes, but I don't want to play tag anymore."

Kiri smiled and knocked his horns gently against hers. "No more tag."

"What shall we play then?" Kumo asked, regaining his usual good humor.

Before anyone could anser a strange darkness began to fall over the landscape. The three children looked around in confusion. It was still many hours until dusk. They ran to a broken and crumbling staircase that led into the upper stories of the ruins. With reckless abandon the three children charged to the highest point of the ruins, a flat stone slab that might at one time have been a grand balcony. Thick, dark clouds covered the sky. As Kiri, Kumo, and Ame watched a huge bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by deafening thunder. The children cried out as they were knocked to the ground by the nearness of the explosion.

"We need to get home," Ame cried as she pushed herself to her feet.

Kiri and Kumo got to their feet and the three children started running. Another explosion sent them all sprawling again. They turned to see the sky rip open and a huge black spiral descend. The ground shook as the spiral impacted, joining sky and earth. The slab beneath the children groaned and stone shrieked against stone as the balcony began a slow slide toward the ground, several feet below.

"We're falling," Kumo yelled.

Ame let out a terrified scream.

"Get up!" Kiri commanded.

He hauled Ame and Kumo to their feet and shoved them back toward the more stable ruins.

"Run!" the crimson clad boy yelled.

They all ran, Kiri and Ame on either side of Kumo, gripping his hands tightly. As they neared the gaping chasm between the falling slab and the ruins, Ame and Kiri threw Kumo toward safety. Ame leapt after the younger boy and watched in horror as he skidded on the loose rocks, fell, and cracked his head against a sharp rock.

"Kumo-chan!" she cried.

Ame landed on solid stone and rolled a few feet before getting up and running to Kumo's side. He sat up and blinked dazedly at her. A terrified cry behind her made Ame spin around.

Kiri had used too much force to throw Kumo and had left himself off balance for his own leap. Ame saw his panicked face as he began to fall. Thinking quickly, she ran forward, taking off her cloak, and flung one end toward Kiri. She threw herself to the ground just as the jolt of Kiri's weight pulled her toward the edge of the ruins.

"Kumo-chan! Help!" Ame screamed.

Kumo crawled to where Ame lay. Blood oozed down his the side of his face, matting his fluffy hair to his head. He grasped Ame's cloak tightly, pulling back with all the might in his little body. Ame's forward slide stopped and she took a better grip on the cloak.

"Can you climb up, Kiri-san?" she called.

The ruins shook and Ame screamed as she and Kumo slid forward again. A moment later Kiri pulled himself up over the lip of the crumbling ruins and rolled toward them. They all lay there breathing hard. The ruins shook again, showering the three with dust and small stones. Kiri rose and got Ame's cloak, wrapping it around her shoulders as she stood.

"We've got to get out of here," the crimson-eyed boy said.

The other two children nodded and they started down the stairway, Kiri supporting Kumo. Halfway down the stairs Kumo collapsed, dragging Kiri down too.

"Kumo-chan!" Ame shouted rushing to her friend's side.

Kumo's right cheek was turning purple with bruise and a sluggish trickle of blood still flowed from a gash on his forehead.

"Sorry, Kiri-niisama, Ame-chan," Kumo whispered as his eyes slid shut.

"Kumo-chan," Ame sobbed, hugging herself. Tears fell from her eyes as Kiri checked his brother.

"He's still breathing," Kiri said. "We need to get him to your mother."

The ruins shook again, throwing Kiri and Ame into a wall. Kiri righted himself and hefted Kumo into his arms. They started down the stairs again, Ame helping steady Kiri when the ground shook. Despite several more heavings of the earth and large stones falling down around them, Ame and Kiri stumbled out of the ruins and into the arms of their waiting parents who had come looking for them.

"What happened to Kumo?" Madori, the boys' mother asked.

"He hit his head," Kiri said.

"He saved Kiri and me," Ame said.

Shichiko, Ame's mother, knelt at the white-haired boy's side and breathed out a trail of Mist. She began to trace healing sigils over the area of his injuries and murmur her healing spells. The boys' father, Kageshi, stood nearby with his maken drawn.

After a few moments Shichiko smiled. "He's stable now. He can safely travel."

"Let's get back to the city," Kageshi said. "The children need rest and we need to discover what has happened."

Madori and Shichiko nodded. Kiri walked next to Shichiko who carried Kumo so she could monitor his condition. Madori carried Ame on her back and Kageshi took up the rear in case of attack. As their world heaved and shook around them, the small group made their way back to the relative safety of their homes.