Third Person

~

Haru sighed, whatever the teacher was saying had receded to a low buzzing background noise that was secondary to his private thoughts.

He had accepted to be Kira Vermillion's tutor. He really didn't have a choice in it anyway. Tutoring other students got some special extra credit and his parents had instructed him from a young age to get every academic credit he could.

A while had passed since he last tutored anyone so hearing he was going to be doing so after school would get them off his back for the time being.

He could already feel his nerves fraying at the thought of actually having to interact with her. She seemed nice but they all always seemed nice at first.

Then once all was said and done, they'd leave without a second glance. That's was all he was good for, the knowledge he carried, his easy methods to study and all that.

Once they got what they needed, he would go back to just being another face in the hallway and the kid that teachers always called in class because he'd save them the trouble of having to explain again.

He always got everything right.

It was the same even at home.

'Prestigious children get prestigious grades Haruno, don't disappoint us.'

'You wouldn't like to end up liked your sister now would to you?'

He would always shake his head.

'So always listen to us, mother and father know best.'

He knew they were wrong to blackmail and threaten him, but there was really nothing he could do about it. As long as he got good grades and became the perfect son they wanted, he was fine.

Sadly, the amount of time he spent learning to memorize and assimilate while he was younger had left him with zero idea how to interact with people.

He really wanted to connect with others but usually came off as too smart or too quiet, too blunt or too eager to please. He had no idea how to join a conversation or he'd start to stutter when attention was on him for too long.

So he closed himself off, it was better than to make a fool of himself or make people uncomfortable.

He'd assigned himself to living this ghost life he'd created for himself.

But he was slowly cracking, he could feel it. Years of hurt, longing and loneliness were making him desire what he couldn't have.

He would hold on though, as long as he held on, he'd be fine.

Just...fine.

"Hey Haru, snap out if it."

He blinked a few times, staring up at the person in front of his desk. It was Kira.

"What's going on that big brain of yours?" She said bopping his forehead slightly.

He stared, hopping his confusion didn't show outwardly. Was she teasing? There didn't seem to be any signs of ill intent on her face.

She was grinning at him too, and not in a mean way.

"I...was just lost in thought."

"That's okay, happens to me all the time," she was still smiling, he noted, "Anyways, I just wanted us to clear things up for the tutoring sessions."

His flame of joy was immediately stamped out, of course she didn't just stop by to say hi.

He forced a nod.

"My schedule's kind of tight you know, volleyball practice and all so I was thinking...what about we just use the time after school, before practice starts?" She made a vague gesture, "It's only an hour and a half and I usually use it to hang out with my friends but they come to practice for a while and I end up seeing them again."

"They sound nice and the time is no problem." He just wanted this to end, and she probably wanted the same.

"You can come as well of you'd like."

His eyes snapped up, questioning, "Huh?"

"I said you could come to practice, and watch me or talk."

She was inviting him to some other activity. He should probably say yes, but what if it was a joke and she didn't want him there at all?

"We have plans to go to an aquarium this weekend, Troy likes fish and planned going on his own but Kuro found out and suggested that we all go along. Troy doesn't want us to but once Moriko and Kuro get going there's no stopping them," she let out a small laugh, "Jade likes pissing him off so she's definitely coming as well."

Haru listened with wrapped attention. Someone was talking to him and not asking anything in return.

Five minutes had passed and she was still here.

"So what do you say?" She asked finally.

"I'm not...I don't..."

"Take your time," she smiled, green eyes sparkling, "It's just lunch time now, you can give me your answer when we meet in the library."

She wasn't pushing, was that a good or a bad thing?

"Kira, let's go before all the good stuff runs out!" Moriko squealed from the door.

"Yeah, Vermillion, get out of my class." Sasaki Mayu hissed.

Haru wanted to ask if there was bad blood between them them but he had no idea how. Even if he did though, Kira was already waving and retreating towards the door.

Haru smiled, a little saddened at the end to their conversation but he felt happier than he had in weeks.

He pulled out his small notebook that his used to write ideas of a story he planned to write soon. Kira Vermillion had just given him an inspiration for a new character.

As he wrote, he decided then and there that he would indeed say yes to the offer.

***

"Just what we need, someone else to add to the noise levels." Troy sighed as they started warm ups that night.

Kira pulled her hood down to let some fresh air blow past her ears, "Haru seems like a really nice guy, plus he's pretty quiet."

"When do I get to meet him?" Asked Kuro, wings flapping excitedly.

"Might be a while, I invited him to practice but he seemed really nervous about whether you guys would like him or not."

"What's he so nervous about? He already met Keller, Moriko and I when you asked him." Troy huffed with a dismissive hand wave.

"Not everyone has the amount cool and confidence you do, Angel boy. Some need time to adjust to things." Kuro retorted, tugging lightly at the other's braid.

The blond swatted him away and curled his lips as one would at an offending fly. Kira wouldn't be surprised if Troy did think of Kuro as a fly.

"Enough joking around boys. Kuro, status update?" She asked.

"While you two are in school playing teenage life, I do all the hard work," he huffed dramatically, They both rolled their eyes, "I've been combing the streets, there are a lot of yokai that have somehow managed to get onto this plain but a good amount of them are harmless 'tsukomogami'."

"Those are?" Kira inquired.

"Household item spirits, I'm surprised taking as almost everything these days gets changed and thrown away after a couple of months-"

"No rambling, brat." Troy snapped.

"I was actually interested." Kira shrugged.

"Ask him later, get back to what you found out."

"Oh, I wanted to say that most of them were scared and wouldn't even tell me anything."

"Please tell me there's a 'but'."

"There is, I was pointed towards the woods, there's a fox spirit that lives in solitude that is said to know everything.

"And you believe that?" Troy seemed skeptical and I couldn't help but feel the same.

"I know we're all thinking it's a trap but I've heard of this guy before, he's pretty strong so maybe he's in the party of this spirit realm mess that's sitting on the fence," Kuro locked eyes with Kira, "If we stand the chance convincing him to help us, we should at least try."

Kira let it all sink in, Lucifer had given her the gist of what was going on in their plane of existence. Nightmare had backers that were on board to take the human plane while other, but few, powerful demons like the Six of the Seal were content with being the only ones able to travel to the other world.

As always, there were those who didn't care either way because they were strong enough to survive no matter who the victor of the war was.

"We don't exactly have other options, Archer." She said finally, "So when do we visit this fox spirit?"

"I was getting there," Kuro grinned, "Like I said, he's pretty powerful and we have no idea what we might face when we get there so I want us to get good grasp of your chains. The ability they possess could come in handy."

Kira groaned loudly.

The previous night had ended pretty badly when she had tried to use Mammon's chains.

She kept slipping, constantly falling in and out of the urge to gain more power. She'd lashed out and smacked the boys about a bit before they subdued her.

They had been going easy because they knew it wasn't her in in control, just a part of her mind the demon of greed had claimed.

"I'm getting better at using the staff and the winds, I can do well-"

"No you can't." The darker haired boy snapped, this was the first time she'd ever heard that tone from him, "You can't move forward without conquering this Kira, you know you can't and if you want to move forward you have to be the one in control...not your fear."

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The tentative silence stretched for a bit before she finally breathed out her agreement.

"But we'll have to find somewhere else to train in case I go crazy again. That roof didn't take well last night." She said.

"I already have a place in mind." Kuro beamed.

***

"A scrap yard? Really?" Kira cringed.

Troy eyed the place in complete disgust.

"If you two have any better ideas, I'm open to suggestions. This place secluded and far enough from where we'll attract major attention? Any further objections?" Kuro pouted.

"Gloves would be nice."

"You're wearing gauntlets." Kira hissed at the blond.

"Still."

She raised her hands in defeat, "Let's just get this over with."

Kuro clapped once, "Just remember, the key to overcoming demonic influence while using their power is to have your goal in mind. Tune out their whispers and focus on your goal."

He pointed to a rusted beat down car, "Your goal is to move that from there to the point marked by my feathers." A couple of feathers left his wings and danced into the air. Standing a few meters from the car."

"That's a bit far for a first try, bird-brain." Troy drawled.

"It's the progress that counts."

Kira stared at the car, then at the feathers, shaking the doubt from her mind before dragging in a lungful of air. She closed her eyes, and concentrated her magic around her, connecting to the part of her soul that harboured Mammon's abilities.

'I won't let you take me.' She thought.

'We'll see.'

The chains sprung from the earth, searching the air hungrily in the direction of the most powerful being around to latch onto and take.

They turned to Kuro who watched with an unblinking gaze.

It was a tug of war keeping them back, and directing the attention towards the car.

"The car, focus on the car..." She whispered under her breath.

'Power...'

"Shut up."

'More power...'

"The car..."

She lost it, control was pulled from her as the chains burst into action on their own, going after the boys again.

She cursed and made them vanish.

"At least you were you the entire time." Kuro pointed out.

Kira couldn't help but smile, maybe he was right about this. If she kept practicing, she'd soon get a hold on them.

***

Kira slipped back into her room through the window. Transforming out of her vigilante costume into her regular clothes.

She grabbed some night clothes and headed towards the shower, thankful that the blood related Vermillions slept like rocks when they were knocked out.

She lifted her face up into the spray, letting her thoughts consume her, until she could no longer stand the lonely silence.

"Lucifer, why are you guys helping us?" She asked softly.

'Its not we have a choice, now do we?' Was his curt reply.

"I just...have a feeling that you're lying."

Silence.

'The spirit plane has no rules, Vermillion. The strong get what they want and everyone carries on with their lives. It isn't a beautiful place either so reincarnation is what everyone is waiting for. Some, like myself, for reasons better left unspoken can't reincarnate.

'We spend centuries growing stronger just to leave that place and come to this world, whether to cause havoc or just get away from it all. Too many of us come here and its only a matter of time before it becomes the same as there.'

"You guys didn't want that."

'Selfish of us not to want to share our hunting grounds but yes, we didn't want that. Nevertheless, we couldn't simply join up with the humans and join them just like that, we'd lose face. So we set up the stage and made a big show of being forcibly sealed so we had no choice but to do what we're told.'

"That pretty... genius, but still," she turned off the water, "Is that it?"

There was an annoyed huff to his tone, 'If you really want to know Vermillion let me tell you something that might shock you; Demons protect things too, we're monsters but some of us are sentient enough to have feelings and experience emotions.'

She shook her head, looking at the mirror and glancing down at the Seal symbol on her shoulder, "The thing is... I'm not shocked at all. Everyone is capable of some level of emotion, even if it's just towards a few people or even a specific person."

'You almost sounded mature for a bit there.'

"Shut up...do you think I have to get through to Mammon? Prove myself like I did to you?"

'I'm sure you'll figure it out, Kira.' He said and she felt his presence vanish.

She could call him back, try to force some type of answer from him, but she was quickly getting tired.

After all, a busy day waited her when the sun rose.

***

"I'm so sorry Kira!" Haru exclaimed bowing down to her in the middle of the hallway.

Kira blinked, heat creeping into her cheeks, "Haru what the actual- stand the hell up!" She hissed, grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him to a quiet corner where prying eyes wouldn't watch them.

Haru was a stuttering mess, "I-I really thought I brought it with me b-but I was so excited that I...I really like tutoring you Kira so please don't get mad and go away!" He was gripping the sleeves of her blazer like she was his life line.

Kira stared, not completely surprised since she'd figured out Haru had anxiety issues.

She held his hands, "Haru, what are you talking about?"

"I forgot the special textbook you asked that I bring yesterday. I never forget things I swear I was just so excited since you wanted to see me two days in row."

She still totally saw him as pathetic but it was in an endearing way.

"Haru, I won't get mad at you for forgetting a book, I forget books all the time." She patted his back gently, "We'll just run over to your place, study there and I'll run back for practice. It'll be a good work out on my part."

"Really, you're not mad?" He asked.

"I'm not mad Haru."

He seemed to deflate with relief, "Thank you."

"C'mon, let's get to our classes before time runs out."

***

"See you guys soon." Kira waved at Jade and Momo. Troy and Kuro had gone off earlier so they were no where in sight.

The thought of Kuro waiting excitedly at the gate for them warmed her chest slightly. The way he cared was its own brand of special.

She jogged over to where Haru was waiting nervously, fiddling with his pen which he had pulled out from his bag.

"Let's go!" She beamed.

"I....I heard Sasaki say something about a game tomorrow...I hope you win."

"I hope so too, it's happening after school at the other school, you can definitely come."

"Crowds give me nausea." He said turning green at the thought.

Kira chuckled, "We'll take it a step at a time then."

He wanted to ask what she meant when she suddenly started dragging him.

"Kira, what's wrong?"

"The bus, you live in Shinjuku so we have to hurry."

She was completely right so he focused his mind on trying to match her speed, keeping in mind she was still holding his hand.

***

Everyone at Hamada High came from rich homes. That was probably the entire point of the school.

Kira really shouldn't have been surprised Haru lived in a mansion.

But she was.

The gates were opened by security guards and someone even ran over to take his bag from him.

She fully expected him to relax as this was his home but instead, he only seemed to tense up more.

The house was pretty modern, polished wood floors, high walls and simplistic furniture.

The walls were covered with several art pieces Kira was sure she could paint in her sleep, still look like trash but would sell for thousands of dollars.

"Are mother and father home?" She heard Haru ask the young lady that had taken is bag.

"No Haru-sama."

He nodded, looking more tired but calm all of a sudden. The stiffness to his steps vanished as well.

She caught him turning around to face her and pretended to inspect the floor beneath her stockinged feet to avoid being caught listening.

"My room's this way, Kira."

She followed him up the stairs and into his room.

It was neat; wide, spacious and very bare of any thing to tell what kind of person Haru actually was outside school.

There was very noticeable trait though, a small white, wooden shelf up on the wall that held several books as well as on very small blue ribbon.

She walked over to it and picked out a book to see a Japanese translation of Stephen King's 'Cujo'.

"Stephen King, huh. Ares said he used to love this guy."

"Ares? Another one of your friends?" Haru asked setting some cushions on the floor.

"No, he's my step dad, but...I do feel like he's my best friend sometimes." She said returning the book.

"That's nice. I love reading, my parents don't let me have a huge shelf in here, they say that's what the library is for."

"Why? There's so much space in here, might as well use it for something," she picked up the ribbon, "'First place Nakashima Middle Short Stories Contest.' That's pretty impressive, Haru."

"Oh, thanks. That's the only one they said I could keep."

"Wait, there are others? Where?"

"In the family trophy room," He plopped down on a cushion, silver eyes avoiding hers, "They said it really isn't worth anything compared to the other trophies."

Kira looked down at the little ribbon, imaging a younger Haru, excited and running to show it to his parents, only to be told that it meant nothing even if it was a first place ribbon.

"It does mean something." She said dumbly, pushing the image of crushed hopes and dreams out of her head. She was finally seeing where his problems came from.

"It's okay, I've gotten over it." He gestured to the other cushion across a low table, "Let's get started shall we?"

She got to her knees, and they got started, "You know, if you want a shelf in here, you could just buy one yourself and set it up," She looked up from the notebook with a grin, "We're rich teens, being bratty and rebellious should be our thing."

Haru wanted to find that funny but rebellious thoughts always led him back to his sister, Aoi.

They had just been four years apart but they didn't speak to each other unless necessary. He remembered her for mostly disobeying their parents and throwing tantrums when they didn't let her do what she wanted. In her defense, they restricted her a lot more due to her being a female but she didn't take it and ended up being disowned after getting pregnant for a boyfriend.

He had no idea what happened to her without a home but the next time he'd heard of her, she was dead.

Murdered.

'That, Haru, is what happens to kids who don't listen,' His mother had said at the funeral, 'We don't have need for stubborn children, if you give us trouble, we'll just throw you out as well.'

He couldn't imagine that, left to the streets with no home to return to or friends to turn to. But their expectations were taking a toll on him, crushing him and his own aspirations.

He had no love for the life they planned for him but he had no choice because the alternative was a scary prospect he just couldn't face.

He wasn't strong enough, he was too weak to say something back.

"It's best not to make them mad, they already do a lot for me...it's all in my best interest." He smiled, hoping it seemed genuine enough.

Kira could spot a fake smile from a mile away, "You have a choice in your best interests though."

"What is choice but an illusion? What stops life from determining how we end when it's already decided how we've started?" He sighed.

"Woah, that's..."

"I'm so sorry!" He freaked, "Thoughts like that just slip out sometimes. Don't feel offended or..."

"Haru, it's okay." She noted how pale he seemed, he really was scared.

"Kira I...I don't..." He seemed ready to cry.

"I'm here whenever you're ready."

He nodded, blinked several times before opening the textbook to where they would be looking at.

"Haru, what do you want to be when we're out of school?"

He shrugged, his voice a tad bit emotionless when he said, "Biochemical Engineer."

Kira nodded, eye going to the little ribbon on his book shelf, "Liar." She muttered before turning back to the question.

She didn't see the sad smile that acknowledged how right she was.