Third Person

~

"Ice magic, huh?" Kuro asked studying Jade with intrigue in his bright red eyes. He supposed he shouldn't be so surprised, her fascination with the world of magic was different from the way regular humans went about it.

She didn't make it her whole personality, choosing only to talk about what she found interesting or relate it to whatever manga or comic she'd be reading at the moment.

There was a calmness to her that human occult enthusiasts didn't have; almost like she knew magic was real, like she didn't have to prove it.

He should have suspected her sooner.

"That was one hell of a move," he added.

She grinned, gold eyes smug, "It's been a while since I've had to actually use my ability. The ice I create is under my control, once I make it I can destroy it. Just had to make sure I froze that thing up from the outside right to its bones."

"We were doing fine without your assistance," Troy spat.

"Not with how long you were taking to get back," her eyes narrowed in annoyance, no longer smiling, "Kira is messing up her game cause she worried about you two morons."

"I specifically told her not to worry," Kuro sighed.

"You know how she is," Jade gave an exhausted hand gesture to follow her off the shore, "She's probably thinking about leaving to come here but if she leaves now, the team will lose a huge chunk of respect for her. If she can't play she'll be miserable, she'll also beat herself up for not being there for you two."

She studied their injuries from the corner of her eye, "I hate when she acts like she has to be like she's on top of the world, trying to please anyone that has so much accepted her existence," Her hands were clenched at her side, "I only came to help so she wouldn't go into one of her moods. Let's head back."

Troy watched Jade with piercing gold eyes, he had several things to ask, but her expression and stand were guarded. They wouldn't get any more out of her, not now at least.

"Brat, open the portal," he instructed turning to Kuro.

"A 'please' wouldn't hurt Angel boy," the younger male pouted, letting a few feathers drop from his wings to fly in front of them, spinning furiously as he channeled magic through the spell being chanted in his head.

The space within the feathers glowed to life, and he hurried toward it, "We've got a brunette to smack some sense into."

"For once I agree with you," the blond said as they stepped through.

***

Kira sighed, her right leg was bouncing anxiously beneath her, a sign of just how anxious she was.

She looked a the scoreboard, the other team was leading again. She wanted the coach to put her in, but unless she calmed down, she'd be useless.

'But how can I be calm when something might be wrong with my teammates?' her eyes glanced back to the clock.

She couldn't sit by any longer, lives weren't worth a simple game. She stood up, faltering only a bit when a weak part of her whispered if it was only a game. She'd just started working hard to make herself better, she was making a name for herself here, and she had a team who respected her.

Did she really want to lose that?

She shook her head, she had to go.

"Kira," Kaito called, "Where are you going?"

She just had to say she was going to the bathroom, it wasn't that hard.

"Even if you're not playing, being here gives them hope that you trust them, leaving us the same as admitting defeat," he said simply.

"I know," her voice sounded strained even to her, "But I just have to-"

"KIRA!"

Her enhance hearing picked out the scream, causing her eyes to dart around the room before she had time to place which direction it had come from.

But luckily enough, her eyes met bright red ones almost as soon as she started looking. Kuro was at the railings of the spectators' seat above, leaning over it so far she'd be afraid that he'd fall if she didn't know him better.

Troy was beside him as well, gripping the rails and glaring irritatedly, "Hey, Vermillion! If you're going to lose at least have the decency to blame yourself not us!" He snarled.

Kira stared, face growing warm with embarrassment at his words and the way Kuro continued to scream cheers down at her. They looked a bit beat up, their bandages probably covering up injuries that had yet to fully heal.

They were attracting a lot of attention now. She noticed a shock of purple hair beside them, Jade winked at her.

Why did she suddenly feel like she was missing something?

"Are you gonna play or what?!" Kuro screamed.

"Shut up!" Troy tried to grab at him, they had enough eyes on them already. He spotted some staff heading their way. Vermillion would pay for making him act in such an embarrassing way. He locked eyes with her, 'Get to work already, or are you going to warm that bench some more?' He asked in her mind.

He watched the determined fire come back to her eyes as she dashed toward her coach.

"Put me back on, Coach!" Kira said, hoping she didn't sound too overly demanding. She probably did but she couldn't sit back.

Coach Makino leveled her with a hard look that slowly morphed into exasperation, but she could see the glimmer of the girl that had stepped foot on the court earlier that evening, "Don't make me regret this, Vermillion."

Kira nodded, throwing the towel that she'd used to wipe off to Kaito and racing to the court just as Coach called for the substitution.

"Your little fan club sure knows how to make a scene," Sasaki spat at her.

"They're not my fan club, they're my friends."

The other scoffed, "Yeah, whatever, just try not to get in my way."

"I could say the same to you," Kira hissed back.

The game resumed, the other team coming at them full force on realizing they had to close the game before Kira's return made a difference but the Hamada high girls weren't going to go down that easily.

Kira spike a toss Kamura sent her way, it was kept from the ground by the other team's libero and sent back toward their court by another player but Sasaki managed to hit it back.

The two kept this up for a while, if one's shot was stopped, the other would get the rebound, bother moving so fast on their own sides of the field that openings were scarce for the other team.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Leave it to those two to have their own challenge mid-game," Miura sighed to Kamura who was panting beside her.

"At least we've caught up," the second year pointed out.

"Yeah but now we're even, with one point left," the Captain said.

"Guess we'll just have to support them,"

The ball was spinning their way, Tenya dived, hitting keeping it from the ground, she cursed under her breath realizing that she hadn't sent it Kamura's way to set up a spike.

Sasaki growled the ball was coming toward her, it wasn't high enough for a spike and there was no way from below pass would go through.

She'd have to set up the spike herself, her eyes found the captain, "The last play was meant to be mine!" She scowled as she hit the ball into the air, a faint in her movements had led the other team to believe she was passing to the Captain.

Kira leaped into the air, her eyes zoned in on the other court.

'No more risky plays,'

Kira smirked, changing her center of gravity last minute, just as the opponent's blockers launched into the air to stop her. She shot for the other end of the court way too close to the line.

There was the buzz that signaled their victory as she landed awkwardly.

Cheers rose from the crowd, nearly deafening her. Sasaki stalked forward grabbed her by the shirt and shook her.

"You just had to show off, one more centimeter and we'd have been done for your moron!"

Kira was panting, mind still reeling, trusting her instincts that much really could have cost them.

The two of them were tackled by the rest of the team and Kira barely managed to escape to the bench to get water. She was tackled again, this time by a more familiar weight.

She fell to the ground, gasping, "Kuro, I can't breathe."

"That was incredible, Kira!" He chirped.

"Someone, please get him off," she rasped out, her muscles ached and thus really wasn't helping.

Troy stepped forward and pulled the other boy off, "Congratulations, you didn't make a fool of yourself."

"She technically is laying down on the floor so..." Momo said teasingly.

"Haha, very funny," the brunette clicked, letting Haru help her up and going for a soft hug of his own.

There was a whistle, and Kira separated from her friends to line up with the team and shake hands with their opponents. They were going to the inter-high finals.

"We made it," She whispered under her breath.

A hand came down on her head, Kamura chuckled, "Game's not over yet, keep your eyes on the prize."

She nodded, they still had a long way to go before Nationals even if they did win the upcoming game but winning would mean they'd become stronger. At the end that was all that mattered.

***

Kira stepped out of the changing rooms, everyone was still having fun and joking around as they got ready to head out to celebrate on what they were hoping was the Captain's tab.

She highly doubted it.

She'd hoped she'd meet Kaito in the hallway but he was nowhere to be seen.

'Maybe he went to freshen up too?' she thought. Her friends were standing outside and she wanted to tell them to go on without her. But she also wanted to ask Troy and Kuro about what had happened.

Jade turned to Momo and handed her some money, "Here go buy us drinks."

"Why should I?" The blond girl asked incredulously.

"Cause these two couldn't do so without getting in a fight," the darker girl pointed to Troy and Kuro, "And I'm paying for it."

"Fine, but someone has to come with me," she demanded.

"Take Haru," Jade smirked before pushing them on their way.

Kira watched as the two left, she also noticed as Troy and Kuro were giving Jade strange looks, and once again, the feeling that she was missing something settled in.

Jade started walking, leading them to a more private space beneath the spectators' seats and hidden form view.

Kira suddenly picked up on a different aura, her eyes landed on the source and widened.

"Jade..."

"They would have told you anyways," the purple-haired girl shrugged, hiding her aura once more.

"The boats were actually being dragged down by a yokai with a very hard shell, Jade showed up and help defeat it," Kuro explained.

"You have magic, but how?" Kira asked.

Jade smirked, "A very long story, do you know the kinds of magic out there?"

Kira nodded, Kuro had given her a crash course on their first night of training together. It was hardly important knowledge though. Magic was divided into three types; Basic, Dark, and Divine. Dark, which came from making an exchange with a demon and Divine belong to guardian spirits and gods who had left earth long ago.

Basic being the one every human was born with in varying amounts and was mainly limited to the power of the elements.

"Everyone has Basic magic energy flowing in their veins, being able to use magic depends on how much but regular humans don't even believe magic still exists," Jade said, a hand going up to her neck and twirling the chain of her necklace.

Kira was never sure it was the same since the pendant was always hidden in the collar of her shirt. It was a vague observation she'd brushed off when she noticed because Jade's fashion choice wasn't her business.

"I had large amounts when I was a kid, I had no idea. Magic and witchcraft were all just a game. I was still in the States then, I went from one trick shop to the other searching for any real spellbooks or items because I was going through a phase and wanted to piss off this one chick in school that got on my nerves.

"I turned to the internet, and what do you know, I stumbled upon someone on a shady forum that swore on their mother's grave that some weird summoning spell worked."

A dark laugh escaped her.

"You went ahead and did the spell," Troy stated.

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to work," a dark look dimmed her eyes, "I forgot the demon's name but the bastard gave me real good spells and the location of some master who happened to be in town so I could get training. It was the best day of my life...until he asked for payment."

"Payment? But he didn't give you powers," Kira cut in.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be like that," Kuro said, "Demons always demand something in return when they offer any sort of assistance. Powers, revenge, answers, they'll demand payment for anything."

Jaded nodded, "I told the bonehead I had nothing, and tried to end the summoning but the bastard went out of his way to curse me. It's all burned itself into my memory, every detail, every note of the scream that left my lips as his powers pierced me."

***

A fall afternoon, no one was home but she and her brother, a year younger who was painting down in the living room. Their other siblings were on playdates, their mum was shopping and their dad hadn't returned from Japan yet.

'Don't come bug me.'

'Mum said no more playing with candles in the room.' Jason called back.

She wished she'd listened back then. Her scream drew him upstairs. He burst through the doors, taking notice of the glowing blue mirror which the demon was still trying to crawl out from.

She remembered how she fell into his arms, needing his warmth to soothe the pain that clawed at her.

His soothing hands had stopped, and his questions on what had happened turned into screams of his own as his temperature dropped rapidly. She'd pulled back to see the ice crawling up his body, his brown skin turning a frigid blue.

A loud laugh burst out around them as she scratched at the ice but it only encased him faster. She turned to the mirror.

'WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!'

'I did nothing, it's all on you, your hands,'

The Demon pointed she looked down, another scream burst from her as she noticed her own blue palms. Suddenly all was quiet. She looked up to where Jason had been kneeling in front of her all that was left was a statue of ice.

She reached out a trembling hand to touch but it crumbled to the ground. Tears fell before she could even stop them, a wail of horror and pure anger escaped her and she crawled to the mirror, punching it repeatedly as the emotions clouded her.

The demon's cackle had long since faded and she was still punching and crying, fists bloodied and body trembling from fear and pain.

When she'd calmed, she realized how late it was getting, how long had she been punching this mirror? She crawled over to the ice bits on the ground, pieces of her brother scattered all around amongst glass. She sunk lower to the ground, burying her face in the floorboard.

'Jason...' she called to the fading lights of noon.

'Mum will be back soon,' she stood up, more fear chilling her bones, 'No one must know.'

She grabbed a shard of glass but it instantly froze. She cursed, running to her drawer and pulling on some woolen gloves. She felt the insides cool but much slower. She set to work cleaning up, struggling not to break down with each piece of ice she swept up into the trash bag. She took the mirror up to the attic and set her room right.

She eyed the trash bag wearily, what did she do with that, she had to get rid of it. No one must know. If anyone found out, she'd be nine and in prison or worse, taken away. The possibilities didn't sit at all well with her.

But how did she get rid of it? The events of the day replayed in her head, and the demon's words about some master called out to her. The address was in the city but she could get there before nightfall if she played her cards right.

She changed her clothes, stuffed the trash bag in her backpack, and left the house after taking money from her secret savings.

The money she'd been saving to buy Jason a new set of classy paintbrushes.

A bus ride and a subway train later, she arrived at a nondescript shop in some shady corner at the early onsets of night.

She pushed the door open, cold tears and snot streaming down her face as she approached the woman at the counter.

"Help me," she wept softly.