I'm writing this for me and my best friend. In the story, I go as June and she goes as Kiriko. Hope you love this, buddy! And to my readers, yaaaay, a Scryed fanfiction. I can't wait to try this out. I've been into this anime for forever, so I'm very proud of myself that I actually managed to start something~ :P

Chapter 1

Another Kind of City Entertainment

"Grab onto my hand!" A brown haired, blue eyed girl called as she got on her knees at the edge of a concrete ledge, the top of a tall wall. She thrust her hand downwards, reaching into the air. "Come on, just a little farther…"

After a few scrapes and near falls, another hand appeared over the edge and the two locked. The girl on the ledge pulled back with all her might and the two landed in a heap on the concrete.

The one with the long brown hair, who had ended up at the bottom of the pile, was laughing. She was wearing a scuffed up black shirt, ragged jeans and shoes that looked like they'd just gotten into a catfight with each other. Her face was streaked with dirt and sweat. But she was laughing.

"What?" Asked the other, prying herself off of her friend, Kiriko.

"That was amazing, June!"

"Yeah…" June sat back, brushing the dirt off of her arms. "If consider near death experiences amazing, it was freaking fantastic."

"Oh don't be like that." Kiriko turned and looked over the edge of the wall. A wind blew over them, throwing her hair flying in all directions around her face. She grinned and put her hands into the air. "Isn't it just beautiful!"

Overlooking the wall was a wonderland of buildings big and small, windows shining, lights bright. The ground was blanketed in a layer of asphalt and even the very sky seemed brighter surrounding the Inner than it did on the other side of the wall. While life seemed kind and beautiful before the two girls, behind them was a veritable wasteland. Jagged mountain peaks arose in places that looked like they weren't supposed to be anything but flat, and the place had the general look of a poor, un-watered garden whose owner had gone away for a long time.

That was the Lost Ground. Japan's failed accidental experiment.

It was the girls' home.

June sat down beside Kiriko and leant on her, smiling slyly. "Yeah. I guess it's pretty awesome. You ready to screw it up?"

Kiriko shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, we could just hang out for a while. Pretend we're Inners. Just this once! Have some fun." Her eyes were bright. They almost seemed to reflect the lights of the city, as the sun was going down and bathing the sky in orange.

"That might be a change…" June said, thinking it over and fiddling with her fingers thoughtfully. "Imagine that. Inner clothes. Inner food. Inner books…"

"Don't get carried away." Kiriko rolled her eyes. She prepared to jump down. "Let's go!" She grabbed June's hand and the two hopped over the wall. They'd blended in as soon as they'd landed on a sidewalk inside the city and continued on down the calm, quiet street as if they had been there their entire lives.

June slumped in her chair, fiddling with the spaghetti on her fork. They were in a large restaurant. It would have been a beautiful sight, actually. The walls were a deep red. Candles were everywhere. Outside, the sky was growing dark. The only thing ruining this perfect night was the fact that at the opposite side of the table, her best friend was in a life or death staring contest with a little rich boy sitting at the nearest table.

"Ignore him." I said, glaring at her, twitching slightly.

"No." Kiriko threw her spoon down. "He won't stop staring at me! Look at him! Look at his snobby little face!"

"You were the one who wanted to 'become one with the Inners'".

"Let me punch him!" Whispered the hotheaded brunette over the table. "Just this once!"

"Kiri-chan, everyone is starting to stare at you!"

Kiri was about to offer an angry comeback when one of the waiters approached our table. He looked uncomfortable. Oh great, June thought. So much for finishing a quiet meal.

"Um…excuse me, ladies. Would you mind keeping your conversation a little lower? Some of the other customers are beginning to grow agitated."

"What the hell does that mean?" Kiri demanded. "Are you saying we aren't aloud to talk in here? This isn't a library. It's a restaurant. Haven't you ever heard of tableside conversation?"
"Well…um…yes, however…" The menus in his hands were shaking. Poor guy. He was just a teenager, no older than us, and he looked like he was one of those spineless city brats that had no self esteem, too. He didn't stand a chance against Kiriko.

June was about to suggest they just leave when a child's scream erupted from behind them. "Alter power!"

The girls had no idea what was going on for just a second, but June looked down and saw that the candle on their table was no longer flaming its regular orange. It was flaming a pure white fire. Oh, yeah, and the candle? There was a huge chunk out of it.

Kiriko grinned twistedly. She put a hand in the air in front of her face and snapped her fingers. Suddenly each finger tip hosted a small white flame exactly like the candle. "What were you saying, guy?" She asked. Her face was now aglow in the light of her flames.

The child behind us yelled. "Stupid alters! Get out of our city! Nobody wants you!"

His mother cried out. "James! Stop that!"

But apparently she hadn't been able to stop anything, because a few seconds later, a plate soared through the air. It had been aimed at Kiriko but instead it hit June in the back of the head, cracking in half before hitting the restaurant floor.

June winced and grabbed the back of her head. Kiri hesitated and turned to look. "June?"

Her friend had a look of sudden hate dawn on her face. She turned around slowly. The kid's words were ringing in her ears. "Go home, you stupid native alters! We hate you! Just get out of here and go home!"

June's hand twitched as she tried to restrain herself. She turned around slowly and walked over to the table where the kid was standing. His mother stood next to the seat behind him. She gasped when June started to come over, and grabbed her son's hand, holding him back. However, instead of something going up in flames, like was happening over where Kiri was, June simply approached the table and got down to eye-level with the kid. "You know, James," she said his name mockingly, a look of torment filling her eyes, "it's really not nice to say things like that about other human beings, who, for all you know, might be a lot better people than you ever were."

The boy stepped back, tripping over his chair. June grinned at the shocked look on his face, mouth agape, and eyes wide.

Then at the last moment, June heard Kiri call out from across the rom. "Watch out behind you!" June dodged just in time to miss a pair of hands reaching for her wrists. She spun around, getting the HOLD member who had attacked her in the side with her elbow.

Another came at her from the other side, however, and this time they didn't miss. June cried out as she felt restraints on her arms.

Kiriko turned, surprised by the sudden attack on her friend. She stuck her hand out in June's direction, causing a few of the restaurant employees who were surrounding her to back away, afraid of what the young alter user might do. Fire erupted from each of her fingertips. "Omniscient Pyre!" She commanded, and just like that, a circle of pure white flames danced around June's feet. They blasted back the two HOLD officers, dissolving the restraints on June's arms. "How dare you touch my friend!" Kiri yelled. Her eyes flared, and almost on que, a streak of red ran through the flames.

They were reacting to her emotions.

Red was the color of rage that seeped into her thoughts as they did her fire.

Kiri stopped, though, as soon as the HOLD soldiers were down. The red faded out of white and a mix of blues and oranges showed through. She was tired.

Using her alter too a lot out of her. Not only that, but Kiriko had been using it a lot lately. Not just as a toy to cook her food or light her way through the house at night. No, her alter was capable of being much more than that. And she had been taking advantage of that lately. Kiri and June were bored, and they solved that boredom by causing trouble like this, stirring up their peaceful lives with a little mischief. Now overuse had made her tired. She held onto the table to keep herself from stumbling.

June struggled to her feet. She rushed to Kiri's side, holding her steady. "We need to ditch this place!" She said assertively.

Kiriko nodded. "It's not safe." She eyed June nervously, as though she was more worried about her friend than herself. "Where do we—"

Kiri saw June's eyes go wide as she reached up and decked someone over Kiriko's head.

A HOLD officer hit the floor a second or two later. "I may not be an alter user, but that doesn't mean I can't fight." She turned to narrow her eyes at the shocked customers of the restaurant. She wasn't just saying it to Kiri as much as she was saying it to everyone there. "And if you guys want to cause a problem here, that's okay with me. But if I were you, I'd consider just letting us leave peacefully…while you can."
When the frightened crowd said nothing, Kiri stepped in. "Well I am an alter user. SO what? Does that make me lower than you guys? More primitive somehow?" Kiriko's voice echoed, filling the room with a taunting lull.

For a few merciful moments, the room was silent. But then came a cry of fear. A man in the back yelled. "They're gonna kill us!"

And then all hell broke loose.

HOLD officers everywhere. They swarmed like angry bees from a kicked hive. Many of the Inners in the restaurant ran. Others, self righteous civilians thinking they'd be a help, tried to pitch in. In the end, it didn't matter who they were. Kiri and June were outnumbered by a lot. June fought with her fists, landing a kick in a HOLD soldier's gut now and then. All around Kiriko, there was fire. "Mad inferno!" She spoke, and like obedient minions, her sparks followed. Every candle in the room was lit in white, and then they exploded. Fire was uncontrollable. The room was an oven, cooking everything inside in a thick later of alter power.

"This thing's gonna kill us unless we kill it first!" One man screamed. He ran at Kiri with a knife in his hand.

Kiriko's eyes went wide. A spark of yellow zigzagged through the flames over her head but they were soon replaced by a deep red. One that she was having increasing trouble controlling.

June collapsed as another of the men bashed her in the back of the head.

"Don't you see? She's a monster!" Yelled the ring leader. "A monster!"

Kiriko's body was bathed in red.

Then the sound of a car engine overran the man's crazed screams. A large, although very run-down, buggy crashed through the restaurant window. The buggy drove over overturned chairs and around tables until it was between Kiri and the man.

"For God's sake, she's only a sixteen year old girl!" The driver countered him. His hands gripped the wheel with a white knuckled grip, but he was staring the man down all the same. "Alter power or not!"

He turned and reached a hand out toward Kiri, forming a comforting smile. "Now cool down, Kiri." He paused. "Literally."

She wasn't cooling down, though. She just continued to bur, the red growing redder.

"Kimishima!" Out of the crowd, June appeared. She was grabbing her throbbing head, but she was okay. But when she saw Kiriko, her face fell to concern. "Kiri…"

"Can you…" Kimishima asked. He looked around cautiously. "We need out of here. Now."

The crowd was temporarily shocked into silence, but not for long.

June nodded. She turned to Kiri. "Come on, Kiri-chan. We need to go." She moved her hand toward Kiriko's flaming wrist and almost like magic, the red turned to blue, then purple. Concern. Recognition. Friendship.

The flames wouldn't hurt June.

In an instant, they disappeared. Kiri half stumbled, half collapsed into June's arms. June helped her into the back seat with her and braced herself as Kimishima hit the gas, yelling, "Go! Go! Go!"