So this is a story that I have been working on for the last two years. I have been writing it on a Word document, and my friend finally convinced me to put up a couple of chapters on another website and see how everyone liked them. Because it has been decently popular on that other site, I have decided to post it here as well although I know that the forums here don't get as much attention. I have 40+ chapters already written, but I will not upload them all at one time. What would be the fun in that?
Depending on the attention this gets here, if it gets any at all, I may upload once a week, or every other week.

Summary:
All life was normal in Tokyo, Japan, or so it seemed, before Mika Minamoto, a new transfer student, was thrown into the mix. A few days after her arrival, she uncovers the secret behind the chaos surrounding the city, herself, and her two newfound friends, Ayako Hanashi and Kana Tsuyoku, a secret that was undoubtedly best left uncovered.

 A few things to note before you read:
~ I wrote this with a kind of anime theme, therefore, it can be a bit episodic at times, but I promise it does have a plot! You don't have to like or know anything about anime to read it, just know it is written a bit like one.
~ My knowledge of Japan is limited to what I can look up on the Internet (I have done a good bit of research) so if you do have a working knowledge of Japan and you believe my information to be wrong, let me know and I will gladly change it.
~ I love comments and kind critiques! If I misspelled something, or have a grammar issue let me know.
~ This story has been posted on a couple of other sites, so if you frequent the writing thread on CS, you may have seen it.
~ And lastly, if you don't like it, don't read it or comment. I sincerely hope everyone does like it though.

Table of Contents

~Chapter 1~

~Chapter 2~

~Chapter 3~

~Chapter 4~

~Chapter 5~

Chapter 1 – The New Student

Kaito sat playing with his pencil as he stared mindlessly out of the window. It was a normal day, or so it seemed, at his school in Japan. The bell hadn’t rung yet and his classmates were standing around chatting with their friends

He heard footsteps approaching from down the hall and looked up to see his friend, Daisuke, bursting though the door of the classroom. The bell rang as soon as he reached the threshold of the door. Daisuke slumped over panting and then walked to his seat slowly with the teacher glaring at him on the way.

“Cutting it short are we?” asked Kaito as Daisuke sat down.
 
“It’s not my fault!” he argued as he shoved his long, dark brown bangs out of his eyes. “My idiot kid sister was being even more stupid than usual, and I couldn’t leave the house until I had to make her lunch! Do you know how incredibly hard it is to make lunch for her? She practically hates all foods!”

“Suzuki-san, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get started now,” the teacher interrupted Daisuke’s ranting. A couple of people glanced at him and snickered, but he looked down pretending not to notice them.

Kaito smirked and whispered “Good job...” just loudly enough for his friend to hear.

“Oh, shut up Kaito.”

“Now then class,” the teacher began again. “We will have a transfer student joining us today.”

Everyone in the class looked up as their teacher gestured to the door. It slid open and a girl stepped slowly through it. She had straight, brown hair that went about midway down her back. She glanced quickly around the room her brown eyes quickly taking in the people and the scenery.

“Please introduce yourself.”

“I’m Mika... Mika Minamoto...”

“Alright then Minamoto-san, you can sit behind Takahiro-san near the window.” Mika's gaze followed the teacher's finger, and she nodded before heading to the seat he had indicated.

She put her bag down, pulled out her newly acquired books, and kept her head down all through class. She could feel the curious stares directed at her but refused to meet any of them. Finally the bell rang for lunch, and people began to leave the room in large groups. There were still a couple glances and whispers in Mika’s direction, but for the most part she was ignored.

She looked up as the black haired boy in front of her shifted and then stood up. He stretched and then walked out alone without a lunch or anything else. Her focus shifted again as she heard footsteps coming closer to her. She glanced up to find two girls standing at the side of her desk looking down at her.

“Hey, I’m Ayako Hanashi,” the slightly taller of the two stated. She had dark brown hair and eyes. Even without knowing the girl, Mika could tell that she was very athletic. “And this is Kana Tsuyoku." Ayako pointed to the shorter girl beside her, who had circular glasses pushed far up on her nose and short black hair. “Anyway, you can eat lunch with us if you want."

“Th-Thanks,” Mika said. She grabbed her bento(lunch) from her bag and let Ayako and Kana lead her out of the room. They turned left down the hallway and headed up the stairs until they came to the roof. Ayako opened the heavy metal door and let Mika and Kana through. Mika quickly scanned the area. There was a small bench over in the far right corner, but other than that, the roof was empty.

Ayako walked to the left of the door and into a small area that was sandwiched between the small structure that was built to cover the upper most platform of the stairs, and the brick wall that went around the perimeter of the roof.

“This is where we like to eat,” Ayako announced. “Few people think to come up here, although I don't really know why, but that's why we chose it.”

“It’s really nice,” Mika commented. She sat against the wall around the perimeter. Ayako sat directly in the corner and Kana sat facing Mika. She had just sat down and opened her bento when she looked up. On top of the platform she could just barely see a lump of a person. She bent her head slightly trying to get a better look at who it was, but with no luck. 

Ayako followed Mika’s gaze. “Oh, that’s just Kaito. He usually stays up there during lunch. The lazy bum is always sleeping.”

“I’m not in such a deep sleep that I can’t hear you, you know.” The person on the covering shifted and sat up to face the girls.

Mika immediately noted it was the same guy who sat in front of her. She had already noticed his hair was solid black, but now she also noted that his eyes were a shocking, royal blue. His bangs fell slightly into his face, but they didn't detract from his eyes at all. Mika gave herself a mental shake and looked back down at her lunchbox hoping he hadn't noticed her staring.

“If you’re not always sleeping then why do you stay up there?” Ayako retorted.

“Well, it used to be quiet enough for me to sleep during lunch until a bunch of noisy girls started taking over my area.”

“We’re not that noisy, and since when has this area belonged to you? As you can see Mika, this is the idiot that happens to sit in front of you. I’d probably keep your distance from him.”

Mika glanced at Ayako and then back at the boy called Kaito, who was rolling back over.

“Oh, and since you’ve disturbed me, Hanashi-san, I think you at least owe me some of that fish in your lunch box.”

Ayako grabbed a piece of the fish that she had, stood up, and threw it at him as hard as she could hoping it would nail him in the back of his head. To her dislike, he moved his hand and caught it in a flash without even turning around. “Thank you,” he replied, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

“You’re very welcome,” Ayako stated, matching his tone.

The rest of lunch break continued without any major events. Kaito stayed silent, and Ayako continuously asked Mika questions about where she came from and why she moved.

“Where did you used to live?” was Ayako’s first question.

“I used to live in a small town in Hokkaido,” Mika replied.

“Really? Cool! So the amount of people in this school is really different then?”

Mika nodded. "My previous school might have been one tenth of the student body here. They can't even begin to compare.”

“Wow…” Ayako paused with a bit of a dreamy expression on her face. “That must have been so nice. Why did you move then? It sounds like that town was nice enough.”

“It was.” Mika’s expression fell slightly. She paused for several moments before continuing. “When I was a kid, my parents died, and I was sent to live with my grandmother. Well... she died just a few days ago of a heart attack. So I was sent here to live with my mother’s brother...” Mika immpatiently brushed away the tears that were trying to force themselves into her eyes. She still just couldn't believe that it was real, and saying it aloud made the impact of it significantly stronger.

“Sorry,” she murmured. "I'm still not used to the idea that she's gone..."

Ayako shook her head. “Don’t be.” She wrapped her arm around Mika and pulled her closer to her. They stayed like that until the bell rang. The group stood up slowly, and Mika packed up the lunch that she hadn't eaten. Then, she looked at Ayako with a warm smile. “Thanks."

“You okay now?” Ayako asked.

Mika nodded enthusiastically. “Yep.”

The group of three walked back down the stairs for the rest of the classes. As they arrived in the classroom, Mika was surprised to see Kaito already at his desk. She hadn’t heard him or seen him get down from the roof, but then again, she had been a little detached near the end of lunch. She walked over to her desk, sat down, and drug out her books again ready for the class to start. Kaito, who was sitting with his back against the window, glanced at her every now and again as if he was expecting something. Mika finally acknowledged his glances and lifted her head.

“What is it?” she questioned him.

He looked at her again. “Nothing really.”

“Then why do you keep staring at me?”

“I’m waiting for you to break apart again,” he said casually, running his eyes back over her as if contemplating the likelihood of it.

“You-you heard that?” Mika stammered blushing slightly and averting her eyes out the window.

Before Kaito could respond, the bell rang for class to start, and Mika buried herself in her books not looking up even once. The class on continued slowly, and Mika found herself glancing at the clock every two minutes or so which didn't help the apparent passage of time. At long last, the final bell rang.

Mika sighed in content and pushed all of her books into her bag. Ayako and Kana came over to her desk while the rest of the class poured out into the hallway which was filled with noisy students ready to enjoy their afternoon, or what was left of it.

“So how’d your first day go?” asked Ayako who was smiling down at Mika.
 
Mika stood up with her bag and smiled back. “Not bad at all.”

The three of them made their way down the nearly empty hallway and to the front doors. They all turned left out of the school, but Ayako branched off down another street shortly after they had left the school.

Kana and Mika continued together down the bustling road in silence. All the while Mika was attempting to start a conversation; however, every time she opened her mouth, words would fail her and she would close it once again. After a few minutes, she began to wonder if Kana disliked her. The girl hadnt' even said a word to her.

As Mika contemplated this, Kana stopped. It took a moment for her to notice, but when she did she turned around quickly to face Kana. “Is something the matter?” she asked worriedly.

Kana shook her head. “My home is down this way,” she said indicating another road to the left. Her voice was quiet and gentle, but also had a undertone of strength to it that Mika hadn't expected from the girl.
 
“Oh... well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Mika hesitated slightly wondering if Kana would even want to see or talk to her tomorrow or if it would be just like today.

“You will,” she stated. “Mika, it was nice to meet you,” she said smiling ever so slightly. She nodded a farewell and turned down the street.

“You too!” Mika called after her bowing slightly. She continued on her way down the street happily humming to herself. As she got further out of the main portion of the city, the foot traffic lightened up allowing her to travel a bit faster. Mika reached her new home and paused in front of the tiny gate that led into the yard.

It was still so strange to think of this place as home, or to even think of Tokyo as the city she now resided in. To her, everything still seemed like a bad dream, and she just kept waiting to wake up. Of course, that wouldn't happen, and she knew it.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Mika slowly walked through the small front yard and up to the door. She dug in her bag for the key her uncle had give her on the first day she had stayed in the house. He had told her then that he was not her babysitter and she should not expect him to be home constantly, and he had stayed true to his words. She had not seen him again after the first day.

Mika finally got the door open and looked around the dark house. “Tadaima*,” she murmured to herself. “I’m home,” her voice echoed in the gloomy darkness.

A/N~ So this is the first chapter. As I re-read through all of this, I'm reminded of how young I was when I originally wrote it. I messed with it a little bit, and I think it's better now than it was before, but every time I read my chapters again, I always find something to change. Anyway, if you think this is even mildly interesting, let me know. I adore comments. ^^

*dies*

MORE PLEASE xD

This is really good, even though there's only 1 chapter so far, lol.

Its really good! ;3

Thank you both! :D I'll upload a new chapter tomorrow. I was planning on doing it tonight, but I ended up editing Ch. 2 more than I had originally planned, and I still need to go back and re-read it for grammar and whatnot.

Chapter 2 – Target

Mika left the house bright and early that morning. She slung her school bag over her shoulder and set off down the street following the vaguely familiar path to the school. Mika couldn't help feeling slightly uncomfortable in her short sleeve and mini skirt she had for a school uniform, as she'd had a slightly longer one in her old school. Mika had found the package after arriving home last night. It had been placed outside the door just right so that when she walked in, she'd tripped and had done a face-plant into the floor.

As she walked along, she began to think of her new friends. They contradicted her own personality, but that didn’t matter. Some of her best friends back in Hokkaido were opposites of herself. Ayako was very outgoing and drew attention to herself. She seemed to like being the center of all happenings. Kana was quiet but she didn’t really give Mika the sense that she was shy. She just didn’t waste unnecessary words on unimportant things. Mika on the other hand, was indeed shy and usually quiet. She could stand up for herself when need be, but she’d much rather just fade into to the background and pretend like she didn’t exist.

Mika shook away her thoughts and looked up. A figure ahead immediately drew her attention. Even though she had only known her for a day, she immediately recognized the person standing on the corner of the street. “Kana!” she exclaimed running up to her new friend. “Were you waiting here just for me? Have you been here long?”

"No, not very long," Kana said with a small smile. "Shall we go?"

"Yep!" Mika agreed with an enthusiastic nod, and the two of them started off to school together. It was surprising to Mika that even though they hadn’t even known each other for twenty-four hours, it seemed like they had been friends for months.

Ayako met them at a later intersection and the three happily walked to school together laughing and giggling all the way there. It was still relatively early when they arrived, so Ayako led the group to a large sakura tree.

“We like to sit here in the mornings when we have a little extra time,” Ayako explained. “It’s really pretty when it is in bloom.”

“I bet so,” Mika commented. She wished it was a cool spring day, but the heat and humidity wouldn’t let her forget that it was only the beginning of the summer. Mika could only imagine how good it would feel when fall finally set in.

“Mika? Mika!”

Mika startled at the sound of Ayako’s voice. “What?”

“Were you listening to anything I said just then?”

“Ah... oops...” she quickly apologized and sent Ayako into laughter. Kana followed shortly after chuckling, and Mika joined last in the merriment. Too soon, the first bell rang indicating students should begin moving to their classes. The girls sighed and headed in the building to begin the school day.

As Mika walked, she had the sudden feeling someone was watching her. She spun around and stared into the bushes. There was a slight rustle and she froze. A squirrel jumped from the bushes and onto a tree a moment later. “Must have been nothing,” she muttered to herself still feeling a little on edge.

“Come on Mika! Class is going to start without you!” Ayako called from the front door. Mika held her bag tightly and ran up the stairs to join the other two. The trio took off down the hallway and just barely managed to make it to class before the final bell rang.

Mika hurried to her seat and sat down panting. It was after she sat down, that she realized Kaito was not here yet. She couldn't help but glance around to confirm what she already knew.

As the bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom, Kaito did as well. He followed right behind him, and the teacher never saw him. Kaito took his seat quickly without catching his teacher's attention.

It was then that Mika noticed that the boy sitting diagonally to her, across from Kaito was staring at him. Kaito had also noticed Daisuke and smirked. He could tell exactly what he was thinking by his glance.

'Why is it that when I’m late I get in trouble, but no one notices when you come in late?'

Kaito merely rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly at his friend before pulling out his textbook and a binder for the class.

Daisuke glared and pretended to pout, but couldn’t keep the smile from his face. It wasn't until the teacher began class, that he turned toward the front once more.

Class was extremely uneventful as always. Mika couldn’t help finding her mind wandering as the teacher droned on and on. She had already covered English up to this point in her old class and was also relatively good at catching onto foreign languages.

The next class was math. Although, depending on the day, this period would either be math or science. Math was scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the Science classes were scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mika was decent in math as well. She solved all of the given problems correctly and ended up being called to the board to solve one, which she did easily to some of the students’ amazement.

Literature was the class was after that. It was probably Mika’s worst academic class, but she wasn't terrible in it either. The lunch bell rang after this and people began to disperse, exiting the classroom to find a suitable spot to eat lunch with their friends. Ayako and Kana met Mika at her desk, and they all headed up to the roof.

The three ate with minor conversations between each other. Near the middle of the lunch break, Mika became aware that Kaito had taken his place on the uppermost part of the roof. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, she just knew that he had gotten up without using the ladder, which was across from Mika. She couldn't help thinking that it was rather impressive that he had managed to jump up there without drawing attention to himself.

The bell rang once more and they headed for the door. Ayako faced the unmoving lump that was Kaito and said, “You’re going to be late again if you keep sleeping! Just like you were this morning!”

An incoherent grumbling came from Kaito.

“Lazy bum,” Ayako muttered under her breath, and then he moved so suddenly, that it was a blur. Mika jumped back in astonishment as she saw him leap down and land right in front of Ayako. How he did not hurt his legs from the impact of landing from such a large jump, Mika had no idea. However, he landed lightly and without a sound as if he were jumping off of something that was just several centimeters instead of meters.

Ayako stumbled backward a few steps, astonished, as he landed right in front of her. She blinked, and he smirked at her baffled face.

“Now then,” his voice was soft and honeyed, but it had the slightest edge to it, “who were you calling lazy?”

“I...Y-you could hear that?”

Kana took a couple of steps toward the two, and said, “If we don’t get a move on, we will have a repeat of this morning, except Takahiro-san will not be the only one late.”

Ayako huffed, spun around, and took dramatic, marching steps to the door and down the stairs. Kana nodded her head to Kaito and also followed with Mika beside her. Kaito sighed and followed after them. 

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

It was finally the last class of the day, but Mika was dreading it as she changed. Ayako even noted her concern andasked if she was okay. “I’m just really bad at P.E.” Mika answered swiftly with a small smile.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ayako encouraged. “It really doesn’t matter how good or bad you are. As long as you do something you get an A for the class.”

Ayako, Mika, and Kana walked out onto the field together, and joined the rest of the class that had already gathered there. When all of the students had joined them, the coach walked up holding a soccer ball. “Today,” he said in a loud booming voice, “you will be playing soccer. We will need two teams and two captains, so who wants to be a captain?”

Ayako’s hand shot up and she glared at Kaito. It was obvious in her eyes; she was going to challenge Kaito for what he'd said on the rooftop earlier. He sighed and consented, raising his hand

“Now then, divide yourselves in half and join a team!”

Most of the girls migrated to Ayako’s side while the guys headed for Kaito’s team, and then the game began. Mika immediately noted how athletic Ayako was, but then again, Kaito was just as athletic. Despite there being so many team members, it still seemed like a one-on-one battle between Kaito and Ayako.

After ten minutes, no one had scored a goal, but also as Mika watched, she noticed that Kaito was not playing seriously. His expressions and movements in every way indicated he was playing around with her.

Kaito snatched the ball from Ayako and kicked it across the field to Daisuke who headed straight toward Mika. She froze knowing that she needed to move, but couldn’t seem to make her legs work properly. Daisuke flew by her without a second thought and scored the first goal.

From her spot, Mika could see Ayako panting and scowling at the goal as though it had betrayed her in some way. As Kaito walked passed Ayako he whispered just loud enough for her to hear, “You’ll never beat me. You won’t even score.”

Ayako's already red face brightened even more with her fury as she glared after her opponent. The game resumed quickly and didn’t leave her time to dwell on his words. The longer the game went on, the more desperate Ayako became. She would pass to a teammate, only to have someone steal the ball. When she kept it, Kaito would block her movement forward and steal it back, and once he started running with it, getting the ball back was hopeless. Kaito was the fastest in the school, Mika decided, and no one could catch him.

The game ended with a score of four to zero, Kaito’s team completely dominating Ayako’s. The coach dismissed them, and everyone trudged back to the locker rooms sweating and exhausted. Mika was halfway across the field when it dawned on her that Ayako wasn’t coming. She turned back around, and her eyes locked on her friend, who was kneeling in the middle of the field. When Mika reached her, she realized immediately something was wrong. “Ayako?” she asked hesitantly.

Ayako managed to smile up at her, but the strain on her face was evident. “I’m fine,” she said, but it was obvious that she was far from fine. She put all of her weight on her left leg and pushed herself to her feet, but when she took a step forward on her right foot, she crumpled to the ground once more.

Mika tried to grab her friend's arm to steady her, but she soon realized she wasn’t strong enough to support someone who had no use of one leg. Ayako’s face was clearly pained now, and Mika could feel her panic level rising.

A movement from across the field caught her attention, and she looked up to see someone walking slowly in their direction. Mika waved her hand hoping whoever it was would come over to help, but as he neared, Mika regretted her actions. It was none other than Kaito. Naturally, it had to be him.

Ayako gritted her teeth and stood up, determined not to appear weak in front of him. She moved forward, and for a brief moment, held herself on her right leg, but before she could take the step onto her left foot, the right one gave, and she began to fall.

Kaito was next her in an instant, grabbing her arm with his left hand and wrapping his right around her waist to steady her. Ayako regained her balance on the left leg, but as soon as she saw who it was that had grabbed her, she began trying to pull away
.
Kaito glanced at Mika as he held onto the flailing Ayako. “You should go back to class. Homeroom will be starting in less than a minute.”

Mika hesitated, glancing at Ayako and looking for any indication of what she wanted. She sighed when Ayako paid no attention to her and ran off toward the school. She didn't bother changing, and made it to her classroom a second before the bell rang. She took her seat quietly, relieved to find that no one had noticed her entrance.

The teacher began, going through the list of club meetings and upcoming events. As the final bell was about to ring, he said, “Hanashi Ayako and Hatori Tatsuya will be in charge of the cleaning this evening.”

Mika raised her hand. “Sensei(teacher), Hanashi-san hurt her ankle in gym today. I don’t think she can clean...”

“I see, well then Minamoto –san, you will be in charge of cleaning in her stead.”

“Yes sir,” Mika said quietly.

She glanced at Hatori across the room. She had never really noticed him, but now she studied his appearance. He had longer, wavy dark brown hair that fell over his eyes. It didn’t really look like he brushed his hair, but at the same time, it didn’t look knotted. She could tell he had glasses, but couldn't make out any of his other facial features due to his hair.

The final bell rang and interrupted Mika’s thoughts and she watched as the class poured out into the hall. Mika stood up but didn’t leave her desk. Hatori-san also stayed across the room, but as soon as the teacher was gone, he turned to Mika with a glint in his eyes. “I’ll leave the cleaning to you then, Mika Minamoto.”

Unable to say anything, Mika watched as he left the class and listened to his footsteps fade down the hall. She sighed and looked out the window at the flood of students pouring out of the school gates. After a moment, she turned back around and began to gather any trash that had been left. She tied up the trash bag and set it near the door to take out later. Then, she worked on cleaning the white board and wiped off the desks.

By the time Mika was done, the sun was significantly lower in the sky. She grabbed the trash bags from earlier and headed down the stairs and out the back door to the large trash bins.

As she was walking back into the school, she realized that she was still wearing her P.E uniform, so she changed directions, praying that the locker rooms were still open. Thankfully, they were, though from the look of the room, many of the club students had already gone home.

Mika changed quickly back into her school uniform and grabbed her bag from the locker she had set it in a couple hours before. She headed back down the hall once again, hopefully for the last time. As she walked, she felt the chill on her spine again, much like it had been this morning, as though someone were watching her. Mika looked slowly around but saw no one. She took a step forward and then heard it, footsteps heading in her direction from behind.

She whirled around, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the figure. Then, upon recognizing him as Hatori, she relaxed and took a deep breath. Mika was about to open her mouth and comment on how he had scared her just now, but she hesitated upon seeing his eyes. Even through his hair, she could see that they gleamed with bloodlust.

He walked steadily towards her, and for each step he took forward, she took one back; however, he was still quickly closing the distance. Before she knew it, he was only arm's length away. He was smiling in a mad sort of way, like an animal that had gone rabid. He took another step and reached out toward her face, and Mika immediately jumped backwards.

In the middle of her mad leap for freedom, she hit something. Knowing it could only be a person, since the end of the hall was still another ten meters or so away, she flung herself against the wall on her left. The scene that she saw took several seconds to process. Two men stood in front of her. Hatori was of course one, but the other caught Mika off guard. Kaito stood there before her, his hand holding the wrist of Hatori which was outstretched toward Mika.

Hatori’s body had gone rigid when he realized who it was. He ripped his hand out of Kaito’s grasp and dropped it to his side. Mika was utterly speechless upon realizing how much power Kaito really did hold within the student body, even though he was a freshman. Somehow, she felt that all of the other students were under Kaito in ranking. He was stronger, faster, and smarter than anyone else in the school, and he held the respect of everyone.

Kaito straightened and glared at Hatori. “Go home, now,” he commanded in a low voice filled with utmost authority.

Hatori did not make eye contact with Kaito, but he heeded the orders and walked slowly down the empty hall.

Kaito then turned to Mika who was still shaking slightly against the wall she was pressed up against. “Are you alright?” he asked studying her.

She nodded but was momentarily unable to speak. After a couple moments, she managed to ask, “How’s Ayako?” her voice was shaking slightly, but she was beginning to get herself back under control.

“Eh, she’s alive. It wasn’t really that major, just a twisted ankle.”

“Oh...” Mika finally pushed herself away from the wall, and dropped the bag she had been clutching to her chest, down to her side. She glanced outside. It would still be light for another hour or so. She had enough time to get home if she walked quickly. She turned back to Kaito, and realizing that she hadn’t thanked him, she bowed. “Arigatou(Thank you), Takahiro – san.”

“Kaito,” he corrected. “You can call me by my first name.”

“Then, Kaito-san, arigatou gozaimasu.*”

He nodded in acceptance of her thanks. “Are you headed home now?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll accompany you on your way.”

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Mika glanced over at Kaito for what seemed like the hundredth time, and like all of the previous times,, he didn't even acknowledge her. She was about to go crazy from the silence that seemed incredibly awkward to her, although Kaito seemed to be unaffected by it. “W-why did you want to accompany me?” she asked in an attempt to start up a conversation.
“Does it really matter?”

“I-I guess not...” Attempt at a conversation: failed. She sighed and continued walking down the street toward her house 

Then, out of the blue Kaito spoke, continuing Mika’s attempt for a conversation. “You of course, would not know; however, Hatori Tatsuya is part of a decently well-known gang in this area."

Then he stopped, and Mika turned around to face him. For the first time since she'd met him, his eyes met hers. “This will not be the last time you see him, Mika. He will come with more forces if he wants you as badly as I believe him to. Be aware of your surroundings and the people in it. I would recommend not traveling down the streets at night, especially not alone.”

Mika’s eyes went wide and she stiffened. “H-he’ll come back? But I thought you –”

“I have only chased him away for today. It won’t be permanent, but at least he shouldn’t go after you tonight.”

“But why is he after me?” she demanded. “I didn’t even know his name until today! We’ve never talked before!”

Kaito shook his head slowly, “I cannot answer that.”

They continued down the road with Mika’s mind in utter chaos trying to figure out what she would do if he did indeed come back. They reached her house too soon and she stopped at the gate, staring into the ominous black house.

“Well then,” Kaito said looking at the house that was obviously hers, “I leave you.” He turned to walk away, and without thinking, Mika took a step towards him. He glanced over his shoulder at her.

“W-would you like to come in for tea since you brought me all the way here?” She dropped her gaze to stare at the asphalt. “If you want to I mean...”

“I suppose I can, if that is what you want.”

Mika looked up and a relieved smile broke over her face. She opened the gate, led him to the door, and fumbled with her key for a moment before opening the door to the dark house; although it didn’t seem nearly as lonely as it had the previous night.

* Arigatou Gozaimasu ~  A more formal way of saying 'Thank you'.

A/N~ Another chapter, and it's a bit longer than the previous one. I ended up editing and refining this chapter a good bit, so hopefully, I caught all of my grammar mistakes while I was playing with my sentences. Enjoy~

YAY. I found the thread on CS :D

Now I don't have to rip my hair out waiting for the next chapters. Yay!

You can probably tell, I'm not the most patient person on Earth. I stayed up until 4AM last night reading this. I just couldn't stop. Lol.

:O

I really like this story so far. I love how long the chapters are, especially since you're only going to be updating once every week or so. 

Just wondering, are you still writing chapters or have you finished the entire story and you're just uploading them?

And I'm totally going to search for this on CS now. xD

I am almost finished writing it. You may want to read it on CS if you want to read a lot of chapter as at once. I have 45 chapters posted on my thread there, and so far I have 52 written. 

Chapter 3 – Protector

Mika worked to prepare the tea while Kaito sat on a mat at the chabudai – the small and low-to-the-ground table. She had turned on the TV and had given him the remote, telling him to put it on whatever he wished. Mika brought out the tea after a couple of minutes and poured Kaito a cup before pouring her own.

Kaito mindlessly flipped through the channels. He glanced at her before picking up the cup of tea. “You live here with your uncle, do you not?” he asked breaking the silence. “But he does not come home often I take it?”

“Yeah... but, how did you know that?”

Kaito didn’t answer. Instead he glanced back at the TV. It was set on a history channel which was currently airing Japanese mythology. An older man was shown talking about demons that once roamed among humans in the world. Kaito snorted.

“Do you not like the old stories, the mythology of Japan?” Mika asked curiously.

“It’s not that I dislike it,” Kaito said slowly, cautiously. “I just think it’s interesting what humans come up with to fill in the gaps of their knowledge.” He suddenly turned and looked at Mika. “Do you believe what they say, that demons once lived in this world?”

“Of course not,” she stated as if he was insulting her intelligence. “That’s ridiculous. It’s simply impossible, and there’s nothing to prove it.”

Kaito laughed slightly. “I see. So if there is no proof then it mustn’t be true. However, what would you do if I told you that you were wrong?” His eyes blazed as he watched for her reaction on the subject.

“Are you saying I am?”

“I’m saying you must never close your mind to the possibilities that are beyond your comprehension.”

“But they are not beyond yours?”

He leaned slightly closer to Mika and spoke softly. “What if they’re not?” He smirked at Mika’s puzzled expression and pulled back. Kaito took another sip of tea and started flipping channels once again. After he was done with the tea, he stood up and stretched. “Well, I’d best be leaving now.”

“Oh... well come back any time," Mika said as she walked with him back to the door. And Kaito left, causing the house to feel alone once more, but now it seemed even lonelier than it had the previous night, since Kaito had come and gone.

Mika slept very poorly that night. The words that Kaito had said about Hatori and others coming after her again rang in her mind. She ended up getting out of bed a couple of hours early because she lost all hope of getting any more sleep before school. She grabbed a towel from the closet, and turned on the shower. The warm water felt good running over her tense muscles, and for the first time in the past twelve hours or so, she relaxed.

After standing in the shower for very nearly thirty minutes, Mika dried herself off and began to rummage in the closet for clothes. She grabbed her uniform and once dressed, headed down the stairs into the kitchen. Mika rummaged around for food, only to decide that she really wasn’t hungry, so instead, she made her lunch for the day trying to keep herself busy for another half hour. She failed. Making lunches went by quickly and even if one tried to take longer, it didn’t really help much.

In an attempt to waste more time, she flipped on the TV and aimlessly watched an anime that happened to be on until she decided it was late enough to leave the house. As she went to gather her things for school, she heard a knock at the door. Quickly grabbing her bag and lunch she ran to the door and opened it cautiously.

As she creaked it open, she recognized the person that stood before her, but it took her a moment to believe it was real. “K-Kaito-san? Why are you here?” she asked astonished.

“Why else do you think I would be here?” he responded.

Mika stared at him blankly in response.

“I’m here to accompany you to school,” he elaborated.

Mika continued to stare at Kaito dumbfounded. “But why?”

Kaito smirked at her expression and said, “If you don’t move along, we’ll be late.”

A switch finally clicked into place in Mika’s brain, and she nodded, shutting and locking the door on her way out. The walk was much like the night before. An awkward silence hung in the air, and neither bothered to break it. As they continued, Mika began to consider what she would say to Kana and Ayako when they met up.

As Kana’s street came into view, Mika saw her new friend standing in the corner as she had yesterday. Mika ran up to her trying to put some distance between herself and Kaito, as if pretending she had no idea he was with her. “Ohayou(Good morning), Kana!” she greeted her.

Kana glanced at Kaito first, who was coming up behind Mika, and then looked at Mika, the question obvious on her face.

“It’s kind of a long story,” she replied to the unspoken question glancing over her shoulder at Kaito who had stopped behind her.

Kana nodded a greeting to him, and he nodded back in reply. And so the walk continued; however, the silence was two times worse now, with two relatively antisocial people in the group. Mika didn’t have any confidence in breaking it, so she just trudged along awkwardly.

Then the form of a person that had to be Ayako, loomed in the distance. As Mika neared, she noticed the strange way in which Ayako stood. She also had a crutch in her right hand and all her weight on her left leg. It took Mika a minute to remember her injury from yesterday.

“Ayako!” she greeted as they came closer to each other. “How’s your ankle?”

But Ayako wasn't looking at Mika. She was staring at the person beside her. At first words seemed to have failed her as she glared at Kaito. Finally, the glare turned to Mika and Kana, and she studied them as if trying to find out who it was that invited him. In a moment, it had settled on Mika. “Why is he here? Did you invite him?” she demanded.

Mika flinched away from Ayako's harsher tone and backed up a couple of steps. "I...He...S-sorry?” she stuttered.

Ayako whirled around as best she could with a crutch and a bum ankle and stalked off in the direction of school. Kana glanced at Mika who had no idea how to react. “I’ll talk to her,” Kana assured Mika and headed after Ayako.

Mika looked back at Kaito who was staring off in another direction. Frustrated by his lack of concern, she marched after Kana and Ayako. Mika arrived at school with Kaito still vaguely walking behind her. She was glad that he was far enough away for them not to be considered as arriving together.

Mika trudged into class miserably and plopped down into her desk not even bothering to glance in the direction of Ayako’s and Kana’s desks. The morning passed even slower today than it had yesterday. By the time the lunch bell rang, Mika was ready to pull her hair out in frustration, and of course, the more she thought about Ayako disliking her, the more she was beginning to dislike Kaito for causing the issues to start off with, though she knew in the back of her mind that wasn't really a justifiable reason.

Mika was walking along up the stairs to the roof when she realized that the only people on the roof would be Ayako, Kana, and Kaito, none of whom she wanted to see. She immediately changed direction, heading toward the large sakura tree that she and her friends had sat under yesterday morning.

It seems like yesterday morning was such a long time ago, she thought to herself.  Mika settled herself down under the cool shade of the tree, leaning her back against the trunk. She unwrapped her lunch and took a bite.

It was not long after, she looked up to see three men walking in her direction, staring straight at her. Then she saw him, Hatori, slinking behind the three walking in front. He wasn’t done with her yet she realized, and her blood ran cold as she froze on the spot.

*    *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     * 

Around this time, Kaito had made his way to the roof, and the two girls had just settled into their corner. When Kaito realized Mika wasn’t with them, he sat up and looked at the others asking, “Where is Mika?”

“I don’t know,” Ayako replied curtly.

“She isn’t with you?”

“Nope.”

“Well then,” Kaito’s impatience was becoming evident now, “Do you know where she might be?”

“Nope.”

Kaito sighed in frustration and leapt down from his spot on the roof. He flung open the door to the stairs and let it slam behind him as he rushed back into the school.

Kana glanced at Ayako. “Why do suspect he is so angered by this?”

“How should I know?” retorted Ayako. “They can just go be happy together for all I care. There’s no need for me to get in their way.”

Kana glanced at Ayako thoughtfully and then returned to eating her lunch without another word.

*    *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *    

Kaito flew down the stairs and immediately traced where Mika had been. He headed quickly out of the school and around to the side, where he saw four others in the distance. Only one of which he recognized, but he didn’t need to know the others to get a firm grasp of the situation.

Mika was unable to move as the rough looking boys approached her. It was only then, when it was too late, that she remembered Kaito’s warning of staying in a group. She had been so disoriented by Ayako’s hostility towards her that she had forgotten, that is, until now of course.

As it were, she was frozen to the spot, chopsticks still held in the air. She had three choices then: try to run, it was unlikely that she would be able to get away from the three men, two, fight, this really wasn’t an option at all considering her lack of physical ability, three, scream for help. This one was definitely the best of the three options, but of course her mouth had to be as dry as cotton, and she couldn’t even manage a sound.

They were almost within touching distance now. Mika rose to her feet to face them, but because her legs were shaking so badly, she had to use the tree to support herself.

“Well, well, well...” Hatori said as he walked to the front of the small group. “I found my prey once again,” he whispered the words getting closer to her ear. “You’ll never escape me. I have a much greater power and force than you. Even with Kaito on your side."

Hatori took a step back from her and snapped his fingers. One of the guys, naturally the biggest, stepped from the group.

“Let’s have some fun together girl.” His voice was gruff, scratchy, and deep. To Mika, he definitely screamed gang member. He was heavily built and probably had a couple hundred pounds on him. He looked incredibly strong. His bulging arm muscles easily told her that. He had several large tatoos, and his hair was very long.

Mika attempted to back up, but because of the tree, she was stuck.

His hand reached out slowly reaching for her face. Mika closed her eyes and prepared herself for some sort of impact. Instead, she felt a warm breeze against her face, but there was no contact with the hand that was looming towards her moments ago.

Mika opened one eye tentatively, which immediately turned into a wide-eyed stare. He was before her once again, much as he had been before. His black hair flittered across his face in the wind, almost hiding the murderous, cold blue eyes.

Kaito stood stiff with his hand gripped around the assailant's wrist, and no matter how hard the huge man pushed or pulled, Kaito’s gripped neither softened nor gave way.

“You little brat!” he yelled in frustration, through gritted teeth. Forgetting that his left hand that was immobilized, the attacker hurled his right fist straight at Kaito’s head. However, Kaito held up his hand and blocked the attack.

The man’s face twisted in utter rage and his face got so red that Mika thought he would literally explode any minute. He seemed to be unable to utter any words so he just growled incoherently. The other two members of the group stood back watching as if to say ‘it’s your fault you’re in this situation; get yourself out on your own.’

Hatori was also in utter shock and seemed incapable of movement, although his face quickly began to contort in anger.

In blinded rage, the first man pulled back his fist again, but before he had even got his arm back far enough to throw a good punch, Kaito twisted his right hand hard which also twisted the attacker’s wrist. In the same breath, he picked up his right leg and landed a solid kick in the guy's stomach.

The force was so powerful that it sent him flying backward a couple of meters. It almost seemed impossible to even get him off of the ground but Kaito had managed to do it.  After their comrade had fallen, the other two charged forward simultaneously, screaming incoherently.

Kaito easily dodged to the side to avoid the punches. He hit the second man in the group with a strong punch, and he toppled over. Then, Kaito whirled around to face the third and landed a kick that made the man drop immediately onto the ground.

Mika realized that she hadn’t taken a breath since the brawl had begun, and instantly gasped for air. It took her a moment before her eyes would focus on Kaito once again. He strode forward slowly, but powerfully, toward Hatori who was staring panic-stricken at the immobilized recruits Kaito had struck down in a matter of a minute.

Kaito grabbed the collar of Hatori's shirt and jerked him upward so that their faces were centimeters apart. Kaito murmured something to him and thrust him backwards onto the hard ground.

Tell your boss to start counting his breaths. He won’t live much longer. I’m coming for him.

He then turned to Mika. As he walked toward her, his gaze began to lose the mad and murderous look it had, and became expressionless. His muscles relaxed slightly, but still held an enormous amount of tension. When it finally hit Mika that the skirmish was over, her knees gave way. Kaito was beside her in a flash, holding her shoulders to keep her from falling. Then, he gently lowered her to the ground.

Neither said a word for a long time. Neither wished to talk nor had a clue what to say. It was Mika that finally broke the silence with a simple question, “Why?” she whispered barely audible.

Kaito didn’t answer, or even look at her, so she turned to face him. “Why are you protecting me? Why would you...” she trailed off not exactly sure how to word the questions that arose.

“Who knows...” he finally answered. “But before you worry about that, class has started,” he announced gazing at the school.

Mika jumped up, and immediately regretted it. Her head spun and she felt nauseas and dizzy.

"Follow me,” Kaito ordered her without looking back.

“But–” she began. Kaito cut her off with a sharp glance. Mika lowered her head in consent as she followed Kaito into the school building.

Kaito walked into the school and headed right, down a hall Mika hadn’t been on before. She followed him, wondering what in the world he had up his sleeve now. Kaito stopped outside a door labeled ‘nurse’s office’ and Mika understood what he was doing.
Although she didn’t like the idea, she took a deep breath and tried to play the role of looking sick. It wasn’t too hard considering she was pale and in a cold sweat due to the recent trauma.

Kaito slid the door open and younger girl’s head popped up to look at the newcomers. Mika figured she was probably in her mid-twenties. “Hello Amano-sensei,” Kaito greeted her.

“Ah, hello Kaito,” she replied. Her voice was soft and gentle and she had a concerned look as she glanced over Mika. “What seems to be the problem today?”

“She’s not feeling too well. I believe she feels a little nauseas,” Kaito replied.

The nurse nodded and motioned Mika over to her. She took her temperature, and after confirming she had nothing physically wrong, gave her a couple of plain salt crackers and a small cup of ginger ale soda. Mika picked a bed and sat down to nibble on the crackers.

“Kaito,” the nurse spoke, “You can go back to class now.”

“I was told to stay with her,” he lied easily.

“Well...alright then. I have something I have to pick up, so please stay here quietly,” she told the two before leaving the room.

Kaito sat down against the wall that Mika’s bed was pushed up against. Once again, they elapsed into silence. It was Mika of course that had to break it. “Do I have to stay here all day?”

“No, I think we can go back after the current class ends in another thirty minutes.”

“Was this your solution to skipping class?”

“Mostly...but you really did look sick.” He glanced up at her with his cold blue eyes contemplating how she looked.

“Were you born in Japan?” Mika asked suddenly.

Mika noticed Kaito stiffen ever so slightly. “No... not really.” He spoke carefully and slowly as if making sure what he was saying was the right thing.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to...” Mika replied noticing his reactions.

“In a sense I was born here, but I really wasn’t.” He glanced at Mika a light smirk on his face. “I’ll leave you to take whatever meaning you can out of that.”

“Here, but not...?” Mika mumbled, her face screwed up in concentration.

Kaito laughed softly. “Why do you ask?”

“Hm?” Mika replied snapping out of her analysis of his words. “Oh, because of your eyes. Not really any Japanese people have blue eyes, unless they are of mixed origin like Japanese-American.” She glanced at Kaito questioningly.

“I’m not part American or anything else.” Heck, I’m not really even Japanese, he thought to himself.

Silence took over once again; however, this time, it was interrupted by the bell for last block. Mika finished the crackers rapidly, and Kaito scribbled a note to the nurse saying that Mika felt better and they were going back to class. They raced down the halls to their classroom and amazingly arrived before the teacher had come in. Most of the students were talking amongst themselves so only a few noticed when Mika and Kaito came in.

Mika realized then how odd it would seem for the both of them to be missing and then come in at the same time. Certainly people would start to talk; although, most of those types of people were busy gossiping about something else, and had not noticed them coming in, in the first place.

As soon as Kaito and Mika had sat down, the teacher walked in. Mika hastily pulled out her books and tried to ignore the murderous gaze she felt from Ayako. Time passed slowly, and the more Mika glanced at the clock, the slower the time seemed to go. She attempted to pay attention but utterly failed, too many things on her mind.

After an hour of torture, the school bell finally rang, although Mika didn’t leave her seat. She turned around to look at Ayako across the room who had turned her way with that murderous glare.

Kaito had just turned around to look at Mika as well, and he spoke in a voice loud enough for just Ayako to hear as she approached. “If your ‘friend’ doesn’t care that you were attacked, I think you should forget her. She obviously has no right for you to call her a friend.”

Mika watched as Ayako’s expression slowly turned into one of curiosity instead of hostility. She moved closer slowly with her head down. “I’m sorry Mika...” Ayako said, though her voice still held a trace of anger.

“So what happened anyway?” She looked up and stared at Mika her expression clearly saying ‘give me all the details’. She quickly glanced sideways at Kaito and then returned her attention to Mika. Kana walked over too, to listen in on what had happened.

“Well...” Mika muttered. She wasn’t really sure how she should word the events that occurred.

“Hatori decided he wanted to have Mika, so he’s been getting after her,” Kaito said in an off-hand tone.

Both girls’ eyes widened. “Hatori what?!” exclaimed Ayako.

“Is that why he didn’t come back to class after lunch?” Kana added.

Mika quickly shushed the two of them. “I’ll explain on the way home,” she muttered trying to get away from some of the awkwardness of having Ayako and Kana staring intently at her.

So as they were walking home, Mika tried to give all of the details that she could, and Kaito who was following them, much to their dislike, would chime in on parts Mika breezed over. Ayako was so into the story, she skipped her road to listen to the rest of it.

When finally everyone had gone their separate ways, Mika sighed in relief. She had her friends back, and they all understood her position; although she got the feeling Ayako thought of it more as a surreal experience.

“So what are you going to do over the weekend?” Kaito questioned.

“Oh yeah! I forgot it was Friday. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Probably stay in the house and get things organized.” Kaito walked Mika up to the gate of the yard. “I guess I’ll see you...” Mika said as she turned toward the yard.

Kaito only nodded, and watched Mika go in.

A/N ~ Sorry I took so long to update this. >.< I'll try to do better in the future, life has just been a little busy lately.
I sort of played with the mythology to make it fit my needs for this story. Although I don't believe it to be too far off since Shintoists believe that everything has a spirit, and that oni or 'demons' do exist in the world.

On another note, I absolutely hate messing the the spacing on this thing.

                                     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Mika was vaguely aware of being drug into a run-down building by the rough gang members. They fiddled with the door for a moment and then shoved Mika into the dimly lit building.

“You have what the boss wanted I presume,” said Hatori as he emerged from the shadows.

The man leading the group that surrounded Mika answered, “Do you think we would come back empty handed?” He gestured, and the members that had surrounded Mika parted so that he could confirm that they had obtained the prize. Hatori assumed the lead and guided them to a staircase which opened into a narrow hall that led to only one room on the end.

Hatori walked up to the door and knocked. “We’ve brought what you requested Boss!” he called into the room.

“Enter,” a cold and scratchy voice replied.

Hatori opened the door and the men surrounded Mika shoved her inside. She stumbled forward and fell into the room. Hatori also stepped in and shut the door behind him. After a moment Mika dared to look up. The man in front of her was sitting back comfortably on a couch watching her. He had long and wavy brown hair that fell into his eyes.

“You may leave Hatori,” he commanded. The man stared at Mika without saying anything for a period of time.

“W-who are you?” Mika finally got the courage to ask. No answer; although he stood up from his seat and walked to where Mika was still sitting on the floor. He took her chin in his hand and lifted it up slightly to get a better look at her face.

“Well, well, you are a beauty aren’t you? For a human at least. And with one of the best scents in the world.” He ran his hand through her hair. Suddenly, he stiffened and all went quiet. “He got here faster than I had planned...” and the door suddenly made a cracking noise and fell down to the floor with a thud.

“Get your hands off of her,” came a low growl from the threshold. Recognizing the voice, Mika whirled around to see Kaito standing erect and threatening.

“What interest could you possibly have in this human?” The man replied as his face slowly contorted in anger.

“That doesn’t concern you.” Kaito’s voice was still dangerously low.

The stranger stiffened, and his eyes got a wild and mad look to him. Mika watched in astonishment as his hair seemed to grow even longer, as did his nails. His teeth also sharpened to a point and the white around his eyes faded into a darker red, like blood. His skin seemed to gray slightly. His whole appearance was extremely devilish.

Mika put her hands over her mouth, and her eyes widened in horror. The demonic-like creature lunged at Kaito. Mika closed her eyes in fright, and there was a screaming noise that quickly died. She opened her eyes slowly, and turned around prepared for the worst, but the creature was gone, nowhere to be found, and it was at this time she became aware of a smoky smell in the room. She slowly raised her eyes to look at Kaito who was glaring in disgust at a small mound of dust on the floor.

Was that there before? I was too afraid to notice... she thought to herself.

“Can you stand?” The sudden noise broke the quietness of the room, and Mika jumped. She nodded, although when she tried to stand she found her knees were very much like jello. She would have immediately crumpled to the floor had Kaito not grabbed her elbow to steady her. He helped her over the broken door on the ground, and they walked out of the building together and back into the dark streets.


A/N~ Well here's another for you all, although it's a little shorter than the previous one. Sorry ^^" I don't have too much to say about this one except that I hope I haven't thrown anyone off by the supernatural twist.

Is there any more chapters?

Yeah, I'll post another tonight. :) I hadn't been keeping up with it because there didn't seem to be very much interest.

I'm completely interested.