Shikei Karasu
Rain. It was raining right now. Heavy raindrops fell from the sky like teardrops of the heaven. The black bird gave a long, mournful shrilled sound and circled the graveyard. Unlike the other normal birds, it didn't mind the heavy rain for it came here for a reason. It landed gracefully on a tomb and preened his feathers carefully, its black eyes took in the scene in front of it like a person observing a beautiful but sad scene. The funeral was still happening despite the rain and it nodded its head, as if agreeing with the action. It flew to where the beautiful coffin laid and touched the wood thing silently with its head, paying the last respect to the dead. A few others saw it and attempted to shoo it but it didn't want to fly away. It still wanted to give its last words to the dead. It turned its head and gazed at the person - a fat man in a suit. The man flinched when he met its gaze and it nodded in satisfaction as the man stumbled then fell. Good! No one would be on its way when it was doing its job. If it could, it would be snorting its nose right now. The man would be dead soon and it would pay the man another visit really soon. Maybe next month or so. The gang killed him. Well, it couldn't say that it was not a fitting dead for the man was one of the most greedy men it had ever met but then again...it was human nature to be greedy.
Well, it didn't matter anymore. Its job was done here. It flew and landed on a nearby tree branch, waiting for the funeral to end so it could have some time alone with the dead. It didn't have to wait long as the funeral had already ended and the people were leaving. And so, they left, never once paid attention to the strange black raven.
The moment the last person left, the Raven of Death landed on the ground next to the newly-made tomb and transformed. It grew larger and larger, the wings shrank and on its spot soon knelt a rather handsome boy with long, black hair. He was wearing a white kimono, the one people often used in funeral and on his hips were two dangerous-looking swords. He had pale skin, which shone even paler under the rain, giving him a slightly ghost-ish appearance. He sighed and didn't even bother to find somewhere to hide as raindrops continued to pour down his bare head.
He touched the new tomb, the tips of his fingers traced the craved words gently and he let out a sigh. He muttered softly underneath his breaths "So young...yet you've died so early...poor soul" He sat next to the tomb and leaned against it. It was slowly raining more heavily but he didn't let himself be bothered by it. Well, it looked like the sky was crying for him today! His hair, dripping with water, was covering his eyes and he raised a hand to wipe the wet locks away from his eyes. He smiled at the stone tomb and spoke again "Welcome, Linda-san...My name is Shikei Karasu...you're lucky to be here...not many souls have the chance like you...this is a nice place to sleep..." The young man - Shikei tore his gaze away from the name 'Linda M. Jones' and looked at the sky. He whispered to the tomb "You know what, Linda? If...no, when I die, I want to be buried in this place, too...though I can't be near my family this way...you have any better ideas?..." He bit his bottom lip and looked away sadly again, like he had just realized the dead couldn't answer his question even if they wanted to. He raised his hand and chuckled as several raindrops fell into his opened palm "It's ironic, really...half of the time when I visit this place, it always rains...maybe the sky is crying for me after all..."
Shikei shook his head slightly and continued to talk to the tombs around him. He greeted them like an old friend "Konnichiwa gozaimasu, Eric-san, Bobby-san, Emily-san, Katherin-san...How are you? Have your families visited you yet?..." He looked at a tomb closely like he was listening to someone and he shook his head again after a while "...I'm sorry but I can't spend my life with you just yet, Dean-san...I still need to get my revenge and after that I may consider to move in with you guys...maybe...but I still need to take care of my parents and siblings..." He sat there in silence until the darkness began to take over the sky. Pushing himself back up with his hands, Shikei dusted his body and bowed to the tombs "I must go now...I'll come back and visit you later if I can...Jā, Shitsurei shimasu...."
He looked at the night sky and crouched down on his feet. Slowly, he, for the lack of better words, shrank and a pair of black wings grew on his back. Seconds later, a black raven was standing proudly on the spot where Shikei had just knelt. It looked at the tombs and gave another sound before flying away into the dark night. Its job was done here...It had just come and said 'hello' to the new soul and now it would be on its way again. It flapped its wings and soared into the sky...well, it could sense that someone would be dead very soon and it wanted to announce it for them so they could prepare themselves. Now where was Xibalba anyway? If it didn't hurry up, it might miss all the fun...With that thought in mind, the black raven sped up, its shadow soon disappeared into the night as well.
And once again, the graveyard was silent with nothing but the sound of the heavy rain behind. If only someone could see what just happened... but then again, Shikei Karasu was very careful and didn't leave tracks so people would know about his existence. Because after all, what kind of Raven would he be if he was so careless?