Shadows

The Sequel to Barriers

Chapter 1.

Konoe Konoka wandered back to her dorm, led by the hand of her recently acquired girlfriend, Sakurazaki Setsuna. The two talked about small things as they made their way through the campus, things that didn't really matter. There were only a few people out wandering the streets and paths of the Mahora campus. Most were still cooped up inside, trying diligently to avoid the rain, despite the storm being half an hour gone. Whenever they did come across someone, Setsuna would let go of Konoka's hand until the person had passed them by. Then she'd look back to make sure the person wasn't watching. Once she was sure they weren't, she'd snatch Konoka's hand back as if it was the last time she was ever going to hold it.

Konoka might have been annoyed with her new girlfriend, but she knew Setsuna better than she knew almost anyone else. It was going to take time for Setsuna to get used to being open in public, Konoka knew that. She also thought it was cute how passionately Setsuna grabbed her hand, each time taking care to lace their fingers together. So instead of getting angry, Konoka simply indulged Setsuna's idiosyncrasy. After all, it was pretty adorable.

Eventually, the large, windowed exterior of the backside of the junior high dormitory came into sight before them on the path. With the dorm in sight, Setsuna slowed to a stop, a crease of worry apparent on her brow. Konoka slowed with her, and waited patiently for Setsuna to speak. She knew exactly what Setsuna was worrying over, but she thought it important that her Secchan learn to gather the courage to tell her directly what was troubling her.

Remaining silent, Konoka watched Setsuna's eyes trace the outside of the building, then the path leading from the dorm's entrance to where they stood, and finally landing on their hands with fingers entwined. A look of mixed emotion came over Setsuna's face. There was a hint of a blush in her cheeks, but determination and indecision warred in her near black eyes. Even after seeing the look in her eyes, Konoka kept silent. After a long internal struggle, Setsuna let out a heavy sigh and dropped her head. Weakly, she let go of Konoka's hand.

Initially, Konoka felt a pang of regret, and a small amount of annoyance that Setsuna hadn't kept hold of her hand, but before she could object, Setsuna spoke.

"I'm sorry Kono-chan, I'm just…not ready for other people to know about us yet, I guess… Especially the other girls in our class." Her voice had the sound of a warrior forced to admit defeat on the battlefield.

Upon hearing Setsuna's words, Konoka's heart climbed up in her chest. Not because she was disappointed in Setsuna's decision, but because this time, Setsuna was able to be openly honest about her feelings. She didn't hate Setsuna's apprehension. In reality, she was slightly shocked—and rather happy—that Setsuna had been able to tell her exactly how she was feeling. Even if she isn't comfortable showing us off yet, the old Secchan wouldn't have been able to say something like that. With a sparkle in her eye, she smiled brightly at the charcoal-haired girl.

"It's okay Secchan. I think it's good to take things at your own pace. For now, we'll just act like normal, okay?" Tilting her head to the side slightly and smiling, she added a bubbly, care-free pitch to the last word, attempting to reassure Setsuna that she was fine with whatever the other girl was comfortable with. It was, actually, a feeling that Konoka did not have to force. After all, Setsuna had confessed to her in the forest not even an hour previous. She knew that Setsuna loved her. Whether their friends knew or not didn't matter all that much. As long as she knew.

For her part, Setsuna smiled warmly, with an air of gratitude permeating her features. "Thank you, Kono-chan. I'm sorry…again…for being this way."

"What matters is to be true to who you are, right?" Konoka spoke gently but emphatically. All she got from Setsuna was a despondent nod.

Oh Secchan, you just don't get it do you? Konoka couldn't help but giggle quietly to herself. But then again, it's something I don't hate about you, that you're that way. Shy, and always thinking about me. Rather, it's something I like about you.

Suddenly, a cold breeze flowed over them. It filtered through Konoka's clothes, still damp from the storm, and nibbled at her exposed flesh. The strange, warm sensation she had felt during their time in the forest had inexplicably dissipated, leaving her body exposed to the cool elements of fall. It sent a shiver down her spine that quickly traversed the whole of her body. Shaking the shivers out, she looked at Setsuna with an intentionally exaggerated look of distress.

"I'm cold, Secchan!" Konoka felt a glint appear in her eye. "Let's hurry inside! I'll race you!" And with that, Konoka took off running towards the dorm's back door, leaving her new girlfriend very much in the dust.

"Ah! Kono-chan, wait for me!"

The young couple parted ways at Konoka's room with a quick kiss, after Setsuna made sure they were alone in the hallway. With a smiling glance, Konoka shut the door to her room. Alone, Setsuna continued down the hallway. Their race had ended with Konoka beating Setsuna to the room she shared with Kagurazaka Asuna and Negi Springfield, already celebrating her victory as Setsuna crested the last set of stairs. True, Konoka had the jump on her, and Setsuna was so stunned she didn't react for a while, but honestly, Setsuna didn't really want to race the chocolate-haired girl. If she ran full speed, there'd be no way the girl would win, but Setsuna didn't think that would have gone over well.

She soon reached the soft-brown wooden door with the number that designated her room and turned the handle. Or tried to at least, but the door was locked. That's strange, she thought as she dug through the inside pocket of her uniform jacket to find her key. Shouldn't Kaede be home by now? Class ended almost two hours ago, and she always comes back to sleep before training later in the evening… So where is she? Finding the key, she pulled it out by the ribbon. Most girls at the school that she knew attached little charms to their keys or their phones, something like a bunny, or a kitten. Setsuna didn't have a phone, and she was quite satisfied to only have a thin, black ribbon looped neatly through the hole in the handle of her key. It suited her well, she thought.

The mechanisms inside the handle made a small click as she unlocked the door, and Setsuna pushed the door open slowly. The room was shrouded in semi-darkness. Only the weak light of a late-autumn evening streaming through the curtains illuminated the inside of the room. Flipping on the light switch, Setsuna crossed the room to her dresser. The damp cotton fabric of her shirt was clinging to her skin, making each and every movement uncomfortable. She shrugged out of her maroon blazer, which hit the floor with a damp flop. As she began to undo the buttons of her shirt, a thought crossed her mind. Something had been bothering her, and she finally realized what it was. Her book bag was missing. As she unfastened the last of her buttons, she began to think of where it might have gone.

She knew she had brought it to class that morning, and remembered cramming her things in it before going to catch Konoka after she stormed out of the classroom, but she didn't remember having it on their way back from the forest. So then, did I drop it on the way to the forest? Or before that? She tried to mentally retrace her steps as she unzipped her skirt, letting it fall around her ankles. The spandex shorts that she always wore underneath her skirt were mostly dry, but if she was changing her outfit, she figured she might as well change everything. She bent over as she pulled the shorts down below her waist.

"That's quite a view!"

Setsuna nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise. As it was, she tried to turn around to see who it was, but since her shorts were still around her knees, she ended up falling to the floor, bumping her head on the dresser in the process. With a sharp gasp of pain, Setsuna put a hand up to her head to feel for blood. Relieved to feel no broken skin, she opened her eyes and saw none other than the Dark Evangel herself, smirking as she leaned against Setsuna's window frame.

"Evangeline?! Wha—what are you doing in my room?"

The blonde vampiress, dressed in one of her caped, doll-like loli costumes, alighted from the windowsill and held a leather bag out to Setsuna.

"Take it. It's your book bag."

After a moment of shock, Setsuna realized that it was indeed her bag. There was no mistaking it. Sitting up, she reached out hesitantly and grabbed the handle from the other girl.

"Thank you, Evangeline. I just realized that it was missing actually. I'm glad you found it."

Evangeline shrugged and moved to lean against the wall. "I didn't, really. But on my way back to my cottage from the forest I ran into Chisame. She was holding your bag. Said you had dropped it on the beach, or something—I wasn't really paying attention." A bitter look came over Evangeline's face, as if she had just eaten a raw lemon. She even crossed her arms in frustration. "But the next thing I knew, she was pushing the thing into my arms, and ran off saying that there 'was something she needed to attend to,' whatever that means. So I was stuck bringing it here." Then she muttered under her breath, something about 'needing to change first.'

Setsuna suppressed a chuckle. There weren't many people that could boss Evangeline around—especially of the people who knew her true identity—but Hasegawa Chisame was definitely one of those people. She was someone who could tell a brunette that she had blonde hair, and the brunette would agree. She did actually get dragged into things a lot, but she was completely no-nonsense when it came to certain things. Giving the bag one last look-over, and giving Chisame her mental thanks, she looked at Evangeline.

"Well, either way, thank you Evangeline. I appreciate it."

The blonde vampiress gave a curt nod before twirling around and hopping back onto the windowsill. As she was about to jump out the window she turned her head to face Setsuna, a jaunty smirk on her face.

"Oh and Setsuna, I didn't know you were one not to wear panties." Setsuna didn't have time to process Evangeline's words before she continued. "Although there was that one time, back during MahoraFest, when you were changing before the martial arts tournament…"

"WHAAA?! How did you even—? Were you spying on me?" Flustered, Setsuna wriggled her black bike shorts back to their proper place, which took more time than she would have liked. Her blush was only heightened when she heard Evangeline's odd cackle coming from the windowsill. Once she was decent again, she looked up at the High Daylight Walker, too embarrassed to scowl.

Evangeline stood with arms crossed and an all-knowing sneer stretching across her face, which made her witch-like laughter all the more jarring. Abruptly, she halted her mirth and pointed a finger in Setsuna's direction.

"That aside, remember, girl, that you and your precious princess are still in danger. You may have defeated that guy—Septimus—once, but make no mistake about it. He will be back, and it won't be as easy as it was this last time."

The words had barely reached Setsuna's ears before Evangeline was gone, only the ghost of a flutter from her costume's cape heralded her departure.

For a time, Setsuna sat on the floor of her dorm room, looking out the empty window at the late-afternoon sky. A thousand thoughts swirled through her mind. She was still riding the high of her new relationship, but for the first time she realized that that new relationship brought with it new responsibilities. The basic principle hadn't changed: she still needed to protect Konoka. What was different was the motivation. Now she not only had to protect her as her guard, but also as her lover.

The implications of the new responsibility were just beginning to sink in when the cool breeze of impending evening touched her skin, sending a shiver down her spine. Picking herself up off the floor, she repeated Evangeline's last words in her head. He will be back, and it won't be as easy as it was this last time. Tightening her grip on her book bag, Setsuna spoke through a determined grin.

"I know, Eva-san. I know."

Small feet stepped lightly and unhurriedly through the streets of the Mahora campus, headed towards a particular region of woods slightly removed from the campus' heart. Eventually the expertly laid brick gave way to the hard-packed dirt of a well-worn footpath. The trees became more plentiful as Evangeline entered deeper into the wood: pine, spruce, alder, and others she didn't recognize. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't bother to greet the miniaturized girl that was perched on a low-hanging branch of a nearby tree.

"How'd it go with the girly, master? You make'r pay for her forgetfulness?"

Evangeline casually raised her hand and waved once to her small doll-servant. At the end of the motion, she extended thin wires of magic from her fingertips out to connect to Chachazero's control centers, allowing the magically infused doll a limited range of motion. The small doll then jumped off the tree limb, and fell into place trotting alongside her master. Without waiting for a definite answer from Evangeline, Chachazero continued.

"You didn't tell her you covered for her guard duties the last few nights, did you?"

Evangeline threw her head to the side, acting like she was scoffing at something. "The idiot can't even remember her own responsibilities, I don't know how she's going to manage now."

Chachazero, though, saw right through her master's diversionary tactic. When she spoke, her voice carried a tone of playful disappointment. "Aww, master's going soft…"

In the dimly lit sublevels of Library Island, Inugami Kotaro screeched to a halt by grinding the claws of his hind legs into the cement floor. By the time his body came to a complete stop, his momentum had carried him far enough to leave sizable scars gouged into the floor. Quickly glancing at the dusty, high hanging clock on the wall next to him, Kotaro recounted the maneuver he had just been practicing.

Desk to shelf 1, one. Shelf 1 to shelf 4, two. Then use ceiling to rebound to shelf 2, three. Shelf 2 to table, four. Table to shelf 3, five. Shelf 3 to floor, six… Six attacks total. And only three seconds passed, and a lot of that was the skid at the end. Good, but still not good enough… He was about to hop back onto the desk to start over when a quick sigh made his ears perk up.

Murakami Natsumi was sitting at one of the old study tables in the next section over, in a chair that didn't look stable enough to be sitting in it the way she was. She had the chair balanced on the back two legs, with her head thrown back towards the ceiling, using one hand to stabilize herself against the table. A dusty copy of Shakespeare's Othello laid open on the table. Kotaro looked around to see if he could identify whatever it was that made Natsumi sigh, but to no avail.

"What's up, nee-chan?"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, the front legs of Natsumi's chair slammed into the cement floor, creating a violent echo that reverberated through the vast, empty chamber. Natsumi was looking square at Kotaro, a small scowl planted on her face.

"I told you not to call me that! And are you done yet?" Her features softened, a look of impatience replacing that of annoyance. "It's been over an hour, and I don't want to spend all of my free time here in the basement of Library Island! It's creepy…" Natsumi unconsciously began rubbing her arms, as if she was shivering from the cold.

Kotaro looked again at the clock on the wall, itself with a slight amount of dust on its face, slightly obscuring the time. When he was training he only cared about how many seconds had passed, which was easy to see with the clock's bright red second hand. For the first time he actually focused on the shorter hand. Five Thirty. Crap… He and Natsumi had come down to the library directly after she was done with her drama club meeting, which meant they had been there for closer to two hours than one.

Kotaro pushed a hand through his ruffled hair to get it away from his forehead, then wiped his brow with his arm. The type of training he was doing took a lot of energy, and produced a lot of sweat. Lowering his arm, he looked again at Natsumi, who seemed to be waiting patiently for his response. "Yeah, I'm done for now. We can go." Without another word he put his hands in the pockets of his grey-black jeans and turned to leave.

He hadn't made it three steps before Natsumi jumped out of her chair, snatched up her book, and ran to catch his arm. "Where do you think you're going without me?" Her voice sounded playfully offended.

Kotaro stopped and looked back at her. Her face mirrored her voice with her eyebrows furrowed, but a smile was breaking through the corners of her mouth. Kotaro saw right through her façade. Wriggling his wrist out of her grip, he started walking again. "I figured you'd catch up."

With a half-hearted sniff of indignation, Natsumi caught up to Kotaro and slipped her arm through his, pulling herself closer to him. Kotaro didn't know exactly what she was trying to do, but her being so close to him made him feel good, somehow. With his wolf-clan nose, he could smell the strawberry scent of her shampoo still lingering in her hair

Neither of them spoke as they approached the door of the elevator. Kotaro pushed the button that would take them to the entrance level, and the sound of the moving elevator resonated through the metal shaft.

"Have you thought of something for us to do together yet?"

Still fixed on the scent wafting from Natsumi's hair, Kotaro mumbled something he hoped would get her off his back. It didn't work out the way he expected. She wriggled her arm free of his and moved to look him square in the eye.

"Meany. I just wanted to do something with you on my one day off of full club practice, and you won't even tell me what you want to do." Natsumi's freckled cheeks were getting red from a mix of anger and embarrassment. "That's not a very good way to treat your girlfriend."

Two sounds echoed through the dusty sub-basement of Library Island. One was the ding of the elevator reaching their floor, and the other was Kotaro's jaw hitting the cement floor. He searched her reddened face, trying to process if he had heard it right. It was only when Natsumi turned sheepishly, blushing heavily, to get in the elevator that he finally decided that she had said exactly what he thought she did. He almost jumped into the elevator behind her.

"Girlfriend?! What do you mean, girlfriend? I never agreed to that!" Kotaro was so wound up he was almost bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Natsumi folded her arms together and shifted her weight on her feet. "Well, after you saved me from that Septimus guy, and then kissed me on the couch, I figured we were…" She reached out a hand and hit the button for the lobby level of the library. The elevator jerked into motion, "Well, you know… dating." The intense color remained on her cheeks.

A stunned emptiness filled Kotaro's mind. He felt like his tongue was stuck in his throat. The kiss on the couch? He remembered it all right, but he hadn't thought much of it. In the moment, he was overwhelmed with emotion. So much so, that he did something he wouldn't have done otherwise. I was just… caught up in the moment, is all. Right? Surely she knows that… Or maybe she doesn't…

As the elevator creaked slowly up the shaft towards the main floor, Kotaro snuck a glance at Natsumi, who seem intently concentrated on the buttons that lit up, tracking the elevator's progress. His eye's shifted back to stare at his shoes. What do I do?! I don't even like girls! I mean, I like Natsumi-nee-chan, but… I don't even know what having a girlfriend means! But, I guess… Kotaro's mind was getting so muddled that he started unconsciously growling under his breath. He was very close to giving up before Natsumi's soft voice penetrated his thoughts.

"If… If you don't want to be my boyfriend, that's fine. I'll be okay on my own, I guess." The disappointment in Natsumi's voice tugged at Kotaro's heartstrings. At the same moment the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened. Natsumi was half-way out the metal doors before words poured out of Kotaro's mouth.

"No, no, it's not that." He bounded across the elevator's threshold and caught her arm before he knew what he was doing. She stopped in her tracks and turned to him, with what to him was a confusing expression on her face. Excitement? His mind caught up to his heart and he ran a hand through his floppy hair in frustration. "I just… I didn't even know you felt that way about me." He threw his arms up to the sides. "Besides, I don't really know what a boyfriend is supposed to do anyway."

His words seemed to hang on the air. His gaze drifted down to the floor between their feet. There was silence for an uncomfortable length of time before he felt her hand cup his chin. She lifted his face to hers. He tried to meet her eyes, but they were hiding behind closed lids. Her face got closer, and he could feel her warm breath against his skin. He realized then what was about to happen, and his mind erupted into chaos. Decisions, responsibilities, judgments—all manner of thoughts fought to override and rationalize what his eyes were telling his brain was going to happen, but it was all for naught when she closed the last small distance between them.

As their lips touched, a small spark of electricity surged from the point of contact up to his brain, culminating in a burst of sensation that he could only begin to describe. She was hesitant at first, but quickly found the courage to fully commit to the gesture of love. Her lips were warm and soft; inviting even. To his sensitive nose, smell fused with touch in the most intimate of ways, simultaneously telling him more about who she was, but also hinting that there was much more to know. Somehow he felt more connected to her than he ever had before, even though she was like a sister to him.

When she finally pulled away, Kotaro was left with another strange sensation. He wanted more, but he didn't know why. Her face, with her freckled, blushing cheeks, and sparkling green eyes brought a new feeling to his heart. A feeling that he didn't recognize, but one that he didn't want to lose.

When Natsumi spoke, her voice was airy but carried a certain confidence. "Well, then we'll just have to figure out what a boyfriend is supposed to do." Her free hand caught Kotaro's and she laced her fingers through his own, then turned as if to lead them out of the library. "But let's figure it out together, okay?"

As he walked beside Natsumi, hand in hand, Kotaro didn't exactly know where his life was leading him, but right at that moment he didn't particularly care. As long as he was with her, he was content.

Unforgiving eyes surveyed what was soon to be an unforgiving landscape. Try as he might, Septimus could not get the sound of his master's laughter out of his head. Recently, it had been driving him so close to the brink of insanity that it started to change the way he viewed the world. What was once vibrant was now soaked in blacks and greys. The sweet melodies of life had become tainted with sour notes, blending into chords that would drive nails into the ears of even the most tone-deaf person. Even the smell of the cherry trees were corrupted, twisted and rank. The only solace Septimus had was knowing that soon…soon enough, the rest of the people in that miserable little campus would feel the exact same abject misery that he felt.

Author's Note: Hey guys! I took an extended break from writing, but as of 3/26/2017, I'm officially back at it! Thanks for reading this updated first chapter of Shadows, and look for Chapter 4 out soon. In the immortal words of Glyph, "Have a pleasant day."

-Grimbt