Kira

~

I've woken up from several uncomfortable naps in my life but none could probably compare to this.

Trust me, I've fallen asleep in the craziest positions.

I pull my body up into a sitting position, taking the softness beneath my aching body as my bed.

Weird, when did I get home?

Searching my brain for what I could have done that had led up to the pain and me getting back home only turns up blank spots and a light migraine. Despite that, a strange nagging sensation doesn’t release its jaws on my mind. Constantly screaming that I was forgetting something important.

I glance around my room, nothing looked off, then reach for my phone to check the time only to discover it's past midnight. And it was charging, that was nice.

Then again...

Why was nothing making sense?

My thoughts are cut off by the sound of the door creaking open. I could make out Ares' face, lines of worry pulling at his brows and he looked so anxious.

"You're awake." He says, relief calming his features slightly. He takes quick strides to get to my side and embraces me in a crushing hug, "Kira, what happened? You leave for hours without telling me where you are or what you're doing then show up at the door passed out and covered in bruises. Who hurt you?"

Now that he mentioned it I could feel tiny Band-Aids on my face and see some on my arms where scratches decorated the skin beneath them. I search the recesses my mind further but the less that turned up, the more frustrated I became. Why couldn't I remember anything?

"I...I... can't remember..." I admit shamefully.

His eyes are filled with anxiety, "I couldn't get a doctor to come at this hour but...do you feel any pain...down there?"

A burning heat creeps into my cheeks and I scream in embarrassment, "No, Ares! Shit.... don't ask me that?"

He merely chuckles but there was no joy behind it, he still looked pale and anxious, "If you sat so, but we're going to the hospital first thing in the morning and get a proper test."

"I wasn't taken advantage ofif that's what you're implying."

"Better safe than sorry," he mutters under his breath, "Anyways, are you sure you can't remember anything?"

"I was just walking...I wanted to run actually but then...it all just goes kind of black." I sayconcentrating as hard as I can. Annoyance at my own incompetence pulses through my veins but as much as I want to remember what had happened, my brain only throbs with pain and a demand for sleep.

I fall back into my pillows with a great sigh. Ares takes my left hand in his.

"It's okay Kira, You'll be alright." He murmurs rubbing soothing circles into the back of my palm.

To me, that was one of the best things about him, there weren't that many men out there who would know how to handle comforting a teenage girl. Ares was amazing at it, which is why I respected him so much. He genuinely cared for me and Kat and would find any excuse to do what's best for us.

He's still shit at cooking though.

But everything else, was just the best.

I hold his hand back and flash a smile his way, "I'm fine...dad."

His face breaks out into a bright smile, nodding he gets to his feet, "Try to get some sleep, we still have that trip to the hospital tomorrow. Goodnight."

"G'night." My gaze follows him until he's out of the room then I dim the lights with the remote at my bedside and pulled out my phone.

Yes, I was tired and exhausted but like every teenager, those feelings didn't always equal sleep.

The internet should be a great distraction from my raging thoughts and that nagging feeling that wouldn't let go of me. I pull up my browser, aiming to type in the first random thought I could conjure when my eyes instead fall on an article about Demona.

Reading through it, not only could I tell that it was written by a very over-enthusiastic fan girl or boy, but it kept sending shivers down my spine, as well as dark cloudy figures dancing in the back of my mind.

I sit up once more, peering down at my screen like it held the secrets of the universe. My head begins to throb once again, I can feel pain with every effort I make to navigate through the fog that surrounds the memory of what happened tonight.

Demona.

Throb.

But why?

Throb.

Shit!

I slam the phone into the sheets and collapse into them once again. If I said it out loud I probably would have realized how stupid it sounded but I think Demona had something to do with what happened to me.

The more my thoughts linger on that the more my head throbs but that feeling at the back of my mind seems to calm. I lift the phone to my face, looking intently at the poorly taken picture of a lone, shadowy form on top of a tall building.

No, she's definitely involved.

***

The following days after that were little more than minutes and hours blurring into each other.

Obvious news, I wasn't taken advantage of and none of the injuries I had sustained were a major threat.

The doctor kindly suggested I just get lots of sleep and avoid being out late as that is when Demona hunts for criminals.

Go figure.

Ares tried to stop me but I kept venturing out at night but didn't wait until it got too dark before I headed home.

I venture down the path I had taken that night to see if anything would shout out to me but the mist that hung over the memory like a thick fog refused to give way. My only drive was that Demona had something to do about it. I didn't trust whoever it was but I had grown curious and needed answers.

Immediately.

I turn the corner, nearly five days had passed and my thoughts still refused to settle. The thought of school starting the following day also wasn't helping.

Ares had insisted I try online schooling like Kat but I could speak fluent Japanese and I had brushed up on my writing, it wouldn't make sense to stay cooped up all day.

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Besides, I like having people around me. Friends and a social life helped me feel grounded. A long time ago I was shit at making friends and it didn't help when I had nowhere to go after my family's death.

I'd learned my lesson. Always have people in your corner.

As always the streets are busy and dark clouds hang over the crowd, constantly reminding me that I hadn't brought an umbrella and I should probably start heading home. To my misfortune, the rain wasn't going to wait, it started as a drizzle, building momentum until it became a torrid downpour.

I sigh at the apparent sign that my luck might just continue to be shit until further notice.

I'm about to make my way to the nearest subway station so I wouldn't get drenched but I felt a sudden pull, like a gut feeling that something was terribly wrong and I had to act fast. My entire being feels on edge like a danger I'm familiar with lurks in the shadows.

I look around for any immediate signs of threat but I find nothing.

Weird.

I continue down the sidewalk until I'm hit by that fear again. The irritating madness itches within my skin, I want to run. I turn around, ready to snap right there on the street when I see a ripple of light.

Wait, that couldn't have happened.

The space in front of an alley seems to shift, like a hologram seeming to fade, struggling to hold on.

My eyes narrow, lingering on the refracting light, there was definitely something there. I keep looking, pushing past the fog trying to get around my brain.

It's the rain, Kira!

Turn around!

Go home!

Don't look!

All these thoughts scream themselves inside my head but I knew what I was looking at. Whatever hologram had been there had sort of glitched for a split second and I had been able to see what was going on.

Jorōgumo.

Demona.

I made my way to the front of the alley, rain wiping sweat from my brow as I struggle to make sense of what I'm was seeing.

A cloaked figure clad in purple, fighting off at least six large spider women monsters. The mist in my head disperses leaving the floodgates open for my memories to come back.

Demona had saved me.

I'm so caught up in the spiraling return of my memories that I didn't realize I had unwittingly drawn attention to myself. One of the Jorōgumo spots me and leaps toward where I stand.

A thick chain launches out from the ground, wrapping it up and throwing it into a wall.

"Get out of here!" She screams at me.

I turned to the streets, how was anyone else not noticing this absurd display going on? I'm too afraid to call out, but I need to do something other than just stand there.

Run!

That seemed like a good idea. But instead, I had to look up and take in the state the city's acclaimed vigilante was in.

She was bleeding badly like she had just gone through one fight after another. But she kept fighting, despite these spiders being strangely larger than the one she had rescued me from.

I should be scared, and I am, really, but more than that fear, I feel pity and irritation, why did I easily have to feel indebted to people?

Run! A sensible part of my brain calls out for me to listen.

I don't. I grabb the nearest object that feels heavy in my hold, a trash can lid, and run right into a spider woman creeping up on Demona and bashing it on it's human head.

"Suck on that, creep!" I yell. Now that I'm not too busy being terrified from seeing it for the first time, all my self-defense lessons were actually working their way into my head and boy were they seeming useless.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Demona screeches, slicing a spider in half with her huge ass sword.

"Repaying you, stupid. You look like shit by the way."

I hear a frustrated grunt from where she stands beside me. Then I feel an arm around my waist and right after I can feel the wind rush past my face as my feet leave the ground.

She's scaling the walls at breakneck speed until we finally reached a rooftop. She deposits me on the ground roughly, glaring with her scary-as-shit blue-green eyes.

She opens her mouth to yell but instead, all that comes out is blood.

Lots

And lots

Of blood.

I flinch, reaching into my pocket for a napkin and hold it out to her but she slaps my arm away.

"You shouldn't have done that," She says stiffly, tone as cold as the rain that beat down on us.

"Why? You're in bad shape and there were a lot of them."

"You've interacted with those yokai, now they know you, they'll track you if I don't kill them now."

"You don't look in shape to do any fighting any time soon," I say simply, a little irritated I wasn't getting at least a thanks.

"He's been hammering me with monsters all morning...and this curse..." I hear her whisper. She falls to her knees, seemingly tired. "Kira Vermilion...you have to...no...I have to... that's unlikely. Sath, help me out here...no I won't do that." She keeps talking to herself, or probably some invisible spirits.

"Who are you talking to?" I kneel in front of her.

"Nothing, just thinking about your predicament. You must have had quite the impression of me last time not to forget completely."

"I'm actually strongly suspicious of you."

The dark hood doesn't hide her amused smile.

I don't know what I'd been expecting expecting but I definitely wasn't expecting to see how simple, non-threatening and human it seemed on her.

She-s about to speak again but more blood begins to make its way out of her mouth, the scarlet color mixing with raindrops at our knees.

Then I see it.

A shadow above us.

I look up to see the spider descending, a claw poised to stab the vigilante.

Like an idiot, I did the one thing you shouldn't do for a stranger you've known for less than ten minutes.

I tried to save her.

I shove her back and decide to act as a shield. At the moment, it sounded far cooler than what actually went down. A sharp pain flares up my left arm, I let out a blood-curdling scream as I fell to the ground squirming while watching half of my arm fly through the air and land right beside me.

I don’t know what to do other than to keep screaming and letting the tears fall free.

Through the blur, I barely note the panicked expression in Demona's eyes, and more spiders climbing the rooftop. She moves closer to me.

"I'm very sorry for what is about to happen next, Kira." Her voice was solemn like she had no other course of action and had come fo a realization I had no idea of.

I keep whimpering, mind too busy frying over the pain and blood loss to realize what's going on.

She picks up my arm and places it next to the stump. A calming warmth envelopes me but at soon as it does, everything flared up into more pain. I'd love to say I grit my teeth through it but in all honesty, I cried only sob more and more.

More screams joined my own and soon I realize it's the Jorōgumo. Their pained cries melding with mine as Demona sang a deathly enchanting song that almost made me want to stop screaming and listen. I hear the sound of explosions, followed by another and more. I look around, the spiders were blowing up.

Silence follows once all the lifeless spirits were on the ground.

I could feel my hand again but I flex it to be sure.

The rain keeps pouring. The only sound other than the white noise going on in my head.

Demona made to get to her feet but fell to her back almost instantly.

"Shit." I hear her whisper, it sounds faint but cracked like she was near tears, "Shit, shit, shit!!!"

"Thank you...for saving me, again," I say, I don't know how to ease her frustration but I can feel the sorrow rolling off her in waves.

She turns to me, eyes full of pure gloom. "This is a thankless job, Kira." Her eyes then turned back to the sky, "But I've failed."

I say nothing, I don't want to know.

"Kira." I looked into her eyes, she was holding the hand she had reattached but this time there was something placed in my palm. It felt wooden and shaped like tiny balls in a ring. Not just that but the skin of her palm had lost all warmth, exchanged instead for frigid cold and the appearance of cracked coal.

"I'm so sorry I have to drop this on you, but I can't go without out passing something on. These unfortunate circumstances have led me to make this decision."

My eyes widened, "What are you-"

"Please remember me." She sobs.

"What the hell?!" But I was cut off as white-hot pain filling my body again, making me unable to speak, unable to think, this pain was different though like I could feel something settling into my skin, making its home in my soul, the very essence of myself, something else was taking hold of me.

I slump back down, breathing hard, fresh tears rolling down my face. I had a feeling I'd just gotten myself into something I should have just stayed far away from.

I meet those turquoise eyes only to see not a vigilante in a cloak but a young girl no older than me wearing a beautifully colored kimono. She had the most beautiful eyes and a small bloody smile, but her fair fair skin was being quickly eclipsed by the darkness taking her whole body.

"Try not to give into pride, he's a bit persuasive." She says, a small chuckle escaping her as I watch her beaten form dissolve to dust that'sbeatenfurther by the rain. "You're not the ideal type but please...do try, you've shown me how amazing you can be today."

I can only keep my eyes for so long after.

A powerful wave of exhaustion hits me almost immediately after she vanished. I know I have to get out of the rain but at that moment, being unable to stand or think or speak, I can't think of anywhere more comfortable to fall asleep.