"Anna! Hey, wait up," Yata called to the younger girl who had slipped from his sights.
Leave it to him to be distracted by the skate shop's window of newly imported boards. It'd been a while since he'd gotten his current one, but with the insignia of the HOMRA clan sentimentally painted on its backside it was hard to actually replace no matter how grand the newer models looked. It was frustrating in a way even if he could just paint the symbol again, but he'd spent so much time trying to get the current one to perfection. Ah well, he'd just have to wait until the board actually broke in two to get a new one.
"Hey, don't go wandering off on your own like that," Yata said, putting a hand on her head as he caught up with her, "Mikoto'll have my head if I lost track of you."
Anna looked up at him with eyes with their usual disinterest, "Sorry, Misaki."
Yata slightly flinched at his cursed name that sounded too feminine for his preference, but then shrugged it off. Anna was the only one he'd ever allow to call him that since he just couldn't bring himself to snap at and tell off HOMRA's unofficial princess- or a female for that matter. Of course, if it were anybody else he would have surely thrown a threat.
"Should we go and try to meet up with the others, now?" he asked, paying no attention to the sudden wave of people walking by them chattering away and cheering.
The Festival of Colors was in full throttle in the late afternoon and the two were wandering about the crowded streets of the city. Anna, at the firm word of Mikoto, was not allowed to go into the strip club Rikio and some of the others were dragging the rest to go into and Yata had pulled the short end of the stick. Despite actually being old enough to go into a harem house, he was unfortunately slapped with the duty of accompanying their princess. It wasn't that he didn't like being with Anna, but he was more or less cursed with being unlucky nowadays.
"No," Anna said, looking over to one of the intersections a few yards away. The small wave people that had passed by them were joining the sea that gathered on the sidewalks to watch the parade go by.
"Shouldn't we watch this with the rest of the crew?" Yata asked with an eyebrow raised.
"It's too late," Anna said with a monotone that gave no emotion away if she inwardly had any, "We're towards the end and the red is about to pass by."
"Oh," Yata said, realizing that this would be her last chance to catch the only sight she could see. He took hold of her tiny waist and lifted her up to set her atop his shoulders, "Well, let's go then!"
"Mommy! I want that big bunny!"
"Wow, the parade this year is pretty amazing."
"The Red is always my favorite part!"
"Look! I see the Blue around the corner back over there!"
"Oh my. That woman's red dress is gorgeous!"
"Yay! Pretty red lights and confetti!"
The two's ears were bombarded with loud festival music, laughter, and chatter of the people around them happily watching the parade. People in grand red clothing holding numerous red balloons of all shades, five floats adorned with red flowers and décor, large rabbit and kitten balloons hovering overhead sporting a red dress… it really was a nice sight. It was everyday that the colors of the city danced under the sun and moonlight, but it wasn't everyday that the colors were organized into a line of full-blown festivity. Even Yata had to admit that this was a nice experience every once in a while.
"So, Anna, what do you think?" Yata asked over the music. He looked up at the girl on his shoulders.
"Mikoto's Red is prettier," Anna said bluntly, laying her arms atop Yata's covered head. Yata let out a laugh and tightened his grip on her legs to keep her from falling backwards at his guffaw.
"Duh, of course our King's got the best Red."
"Of course," a light voice sighed.
"Huh?" Yata glanced around him at the sound of the sigh to see whom it belonged to. It sounded like someone had whispered the words right into his ear, but no one was near enough to have done so and everyone already looked too busy awing and cheering at the parade in front of them. What in the hell was that?
He looked up at Anna on his shoulders with an eyebrow raised, "Did you say something?"
She shook her head but her slightly alert eyes told him that she heard something unusual as well.
"Of course he has the best Red," the voice said again, but with malice that sent a small tingle down their necks.
"The Red King may have the best red, but she's mine. I need her."
"What-?"
Before they could grasp what the sighing voice had said, people's frightened screams tore through the air and the sea of bodies started to churn. Animalistic growls joined in on the newly enticed chaos and the two caught sight of small black, armored beasts prowling through the crowd. Their armor covered the top of their heads, shoulders, back, and legs and neither Yata nor Anna had ever seen a sight like this before. The beasts jumped atop people's backs and violently weaved through the ones who were trying to escape; it was as if they were searching for something.
"Ugh!" Yata was suddenly shoved from behind and he suddenly felt a sharpness slightly digging into his back. Anna's weight disappeared from his shoulders as his body toppled down onto the ground, all six of his senses completely blacking out for a brief moment. He didn't feel himself hit the floor and his world was thrown into the silent and blind darkness.
What in the fucking hell was going on?
"Fuck off!" a female bellow cutting through the air in a muffle from the slow return of his hearing. Yata recovered his vision in time to see that a woman with short, spiky white hair falling from the sky. She sent a powerful kick towards the head of the armored beast, translucent flames engulfing her leg and ramming straight into the beast's cheek.
…Black aura?
"Get the girl, Rae!" the woman called out as she landed a few yards away.
Girl? Anna?!
Another woman suddenly landed with a heavy click of her heels right in front of him. Yata blushed at the brief sight of white undergarments beneath the black pencil skirt before the new woman straightened up from her landing. She was pink haired with a thick, loose braid cascading over her shoulder and was clad in a black vest, grey tie and white blouse looking almost like a bartender.
"Come," the woman said, immediately grabbing the evidently paralyzed Anna by the waist, tucking her under her arm, and making a break for it.
"No! Anna!" Yata yelled. He couldn't move. The pain from the impact and the coldness of the cement floor were in the scope of his senses- but he couldn't move like his body was frozen in time. No, this wasn't happening.
"Yo! What the fuck do we do with this other runt?" the wild, white haired woman called over to her retreating companion as she dissipated another one of the black dogs with a dark, flaming fist.
Runt? What the hell was this woman trying to say? It made Yata boil on the inside at how he had been overpowered, paralyzed, then demeaned down to a 'runt' in a matter of seconds. Everything was happening much too quickly and he should have been more prepared for the unexpected things that had chances of surfacing. And to top it all off, his incompetence was allowing for Anna to be kidnapped right then.
Fucking move, Yata. Move! he frantically yelled in his head.
"Grab him, too," the pink haired woman called back pausing in her running strides and blasting away an attacker, "He's still HOMRA. We can't leave him behind at this point."
"Tsk," the white haired woman clicked her tongue distastefully and roughly grabbed Yata by the waste, throwing him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Wha-?! Put me down!" Yata resisted, but he could barely move around to successfully fight her hold.
"Shut your mouth, runt," she said, dodging more dogs and kicking one aside, "I'm saving your fucking ass."
"I said put me down!" Yata growled, his annoyance completely disregarding his usual attitude towards women. With how vulgar and wild this woman was, he subconsciously didn't count her as one of his designated weaknesses.
"I said," the woman hissed, "Shut the hell UP, runt."
A bandaged elbow then smashed hard into his chin and his head abruptly jerked backwards, his consciousness slowly slipping away at the hard impact. The screams and the sight of chaos started to fade away in a blur.
D-damn it… Yata cursed before plummeting into the darkness.
"Misaki."
….
"Misaki."
….
"Misaki."
Huh?
"Misaki… wake up."
Who's there?
"Wake up. They're taking us somewhere."
Anna?
Yata suddenly felt a pain in his abdomen and he jolted awake, feeling the coldness of the ground. He sat up in surprise and saw that a booted foot had taken a heavy rest on his stomach. Anna, who had been sitting beside him, grabbed on to his shoulders and looked at him with a worried expression on her face.
"Finally, you wake up," the white-haired woman said, glaring down at him as she put more pressure on Yata's stomach. He winced in pain, a groggy and dizzy feeling still lingering.
"Dani, you don't have to be so aggressive with him," a scolding voice said. Another woman with blonde hair, a monocle, and large spherical earrings appeared right next to the white-haired woman.
"She told us not to hurt the girl or him in any way."
"It's a little too late for that, Ada," the pink-haired bartender droned as she appeared on the other side of the Dani woman, "She already knocked him out once."
"Well, it's because he didn't shut up when I told him to!" Dani said with an annoyed tone.
"Whatever," the woman whom was called Ada said. She lightly pushed Dani aside, much to the younger woman's opposition, and then knelt down in front of Yata and Anna who were still sitting on the ground. The close proximity oddly didn't bother Yata at the least… and made him wonder what was up with this group of women. Why was his usual behavior with the female persuasion currently nonexistent?
"I'm Ada Elrik," the blonde woman said, giving them a small smile and her monocle glinting somehow glinting in the dimness of the room. She nodded to either side of her and continued, "The bartender-looking one is Raven Acker. The wild, loud one's Dani Clark. Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you even if Dani already has, Red Clansmen."
Anna said nothing and Yata only glared up at the three of them. He had no idea what was going on and didn't like how it seemed like they were cornered. And the voice he and Anna both heard… what in the hell was that? Did it have something to do with the armored beasts that attacked them or these random women that happened to appear at the same time?
"Now, I know you've probably got a whole lot of questions going through those heads of yours," Ada continued, folding her arms over her bent knees, "but for now just do what we say and it'll be alright, alright?"
"What the hell is going on here? Who are you?" Yata blurted out angrily out of nowhere. Ada slightly twitched back at his sudden burst, but then chuckled as she straightened back up and brushed her long skirt.
"I'll leave that question for her to answer," she simply said, turning around and walking towards the exit of the dim room, "Come; she's been waiting for both of you to wake. And don't even think of trying anything funny, Red Clansmen."
She?
Yata and Anna exchanged glances and saw no choice but to do as instructed. With only Anna with him and even if he wasn't the sharpest of the HOMRA clan, Yata saw that it would haven been stupid to try anything anyway. He didn't know where they were or who these women were, but a feeling down in his gut told him that they were powerful. He felt the same aura he did whenever he was around other HOMRA or even the Blues, but something was off about it- familiar but completely unfamiliar at the same time.
"Come on, runts,"Dani grunted irritably, pulling Yata up by the collar, "She doesn't like waiting."
He swatted her hand away and stood up on his own accord. Anna followed suit and immediately held on to Yata's hand.
"Oooh, a little feisty one aren't you, kiddo?" Dani sneered, aggressively grabbing his collar and pulling Yata closer to her taller build. She looked down at him with one of the most mischievous looks he'd ever seen, "You got some nerve, even after I saved your ass. I might as well knock you out a second time right now, you ungrateful prick."
"Try it," Yata spat back.
"Oi," Raven intervened. She took hold of Dani's wrist and lightly pushed Yata away from the vixen's grip with the palm of her hand, "None of this. We need to go before she gets angry."
"Tch," Dani scoffed and briskly made her way out the door after Ada.
"My apologies for my comrade," Raven bowed down to them, "She doesn't admit it, but she has an unfriendly attitude towards males, especially of other clans. However, we really do need to get going at the moment."
Other clans? The black aura… No wait, they can't be…?
"Please follow me," Raven said as she started to exit the room.
"Whatever," Yata said, following after her with Anna in tow. The two followed Raven down the hall not knowing what exactly was in store for them.
"Anna, any idea where we are?" he murmured only loudly enough to for the girl beside him to hear. Her grip on his hand only tightened and she didn't do anything else to respond. Yata assumed she hadn't any idea, either. After all, it didn't seem like she had a chance to use her marbles.
Ada and Dani stood waiting at the end of the hall in front of a pair of double doors that looked something off a horror movie set in a haunted mansion. Without waiting for them to arrive directly in front of the doors, both women took hold of each handle and opened the entrance. Inside was a large dining room with the elegant tables pushed to the walls as if someone had wanted to make space. The lights were at least brighter than in the confinement they were in, Yata noted. Around the room were also multiple other women casually sitting in mahogany chairs and standing dressed in different black attire- looking almost as thuggish as the members of HOMRA, though more ornate. Yata felt himself slightly blush at the sight of so many women- maybe thirty or so?- concentrated in one place. But who were these people?
His eyes then landed one where a single, throne-like chair sat atop a small platform at the other side of the room right below one of the gigantic glass windows. A woman was sitting in the chair with three others standing nearby… with one of them strikingly familiar with his distinct hairstyle and glasses Yata couldn't ever miss.
Saruhiko.
"Bastard," Yata growled, clenching his free fist as they made their way in. He glared at the other young man across the room, "What the fuck are you doing here? As if you haven't betrayed us enough already, you prick."
Saruhiko only smirked and held a sadistically amused look on his face. He shook his head and shrugged, "You've got no idea what's going on and you still love to throw that anal attitude of yours; you haven't changed a bit."
"You better watch it, fucker-"
"Silence," Raven said firmly into his ear as she squeezed his arm, "Have respect in her presence, Red Clansman; she is about to speak."
That "she" again. Who was she? Yata shut his mouth at the surprisingly strong grip on his arm and looked over to the blonde woman who was sitting near where Saruhiko was standing. She was dressed in black like the rest of the women, but looked twice as intimidating… in a hauntingly sexy way, Yata had to subconsciously admit. What was this? A brothel of powerhouse women?
"Who the hell are you? What do you want?" Yata questioned aggressively, his weakness for some reason not relevant to this particular woman as well. He then felt a tug on his sleeve and he glanced down to see that Anna's eyes were oddly transfixed on the woman who sat on her throne like she ruled an empire.
"My name is Klaire Byron," the blonde woman said, her smoothly sharp voice matching boldness of her solemn face. Her dark blue eyes narrowed as she gazed at them with soft, but intimidating, eyes. Her lips never deformed from its stiff line.
"And I am the Obsidian King."
I've been in such an anime craze lately and K was one of ones I indulged myself into. 5/5 star anime seriously. The character concepts are great, the music is amazing and the story was smooth all the way through. Ahh I really wish they were doing a second season instead of just a movie but then I remember that Mikoto's gone and then I want to cry LOL.
But anyway, like with my other stories, the first chapter is always a trial chapter to see if what I'm writing is something people would want to read. So if you do, please don't hesitate to drop a review, fav, and/or alert! Having some kind of feedback would let me know if I should continue on or not. If there isn't much feedback or if feedback isn't good, then I just usually delete the story.
However, a note about this just in case people are confused: this takes place before the events of the actual K anime and after Saruhiko joins SCEPTER 4. I'm also happy to answer any questions if there are any! :)
Thanks for reading! Until next time~