Dangerous Demarcation
Chapter 1
'Every family had secrets yet to be revealed...doors left unopened...'
THE TOKURA
Misaki looked upon the night, angling her body so she won't be feeling sore or uncomfortable. She peered down on the busy street, her eyes unfocused. She didn't particularly look at the noisy street, only gazing at it while her mind unlocked the truths she had been trying to hide for all these years and succeeded in doing so, she didn't need anymore tear-leaking revealation. It's true that she had gained true comrades and was very grateful for their existence, but it was making her decision even firmer than before. Somethings were meant to be hard, like her secrets.
"It's been twelve long years..." she muttered to herself. "..since the last time I saw you..." Misaki looked up to the sky, her eyes brimming with unspoken longing and locked tears. She fidled with the necklace they made together, before anything was out of hand. She took it on her hand gingerly to kiss it, feeling the familiar coldness of the metal against her skin, tears joining soon.
The moment was ruined of the creaking sound of the silent witness, light penetrated from the other side of the recently opened door. Misaki quickly wipe off her tears and turned to face the intruder.
"Are you alright, Misaki?" Shin asked, his eyes were cloudy and sorrowful, his jaws were tight against each other, as if he wanted to glue them. Misaki always noticed the change of his demeanor every time anything or anyone related to the Tokura Tragedy-as they would usually call it-because it was inevitable. She knew how he felt, his helplessness, his want to change the past, and most of all, the strength to protect the ones he held dear. But alas, he could do no such things. She had been the sole reason why they were still alive. Unbordered tears blurred her vision as she coughed. Shin rushed to her side and helped her up.
"You shouldn't push yourself," Shin chastised in panick. "Your health must improve!"
"I'm alright, Shin. I must be alright," Misaki said. "I can't let her sacrifice to waste, and you be forced to serve them." Shin closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I should've been stronger." Misaki looked at his uncle.
"It's not your fault that the Priests exist," Misaki said. "Seeing that I'm one of them."
"No, you're not!" he rejected. "You're not like them!"
"But the more I deny myself," Misaki argued. "The more I'm dying."
Silence.
"I can't let you carry me like I'm a burden," Misaki reasoned.
"Because you're not!" Shin answered.
"But I am a Priest."
Silence.
"One of the people who..." Misaki trailed off. She looked at Shin who was already pale, his knuckles white and tight.
"Drink your medicine," Shin ordered which Misaki obeyed. She grabbed the glass between her palms, eyeing the potion a Fairy made. Shin waited as Misaki devoured every single drop of the potion before leaving her with her thoughts again.
"I'll go check on the yokais," Shin declared as he brought the tray out, closing the door and created another session for her.
"I almost come to age," Misaki mumbled. "What should I do?" She paced around the room. She wanted to give up but she couldn't, not if she had to break the promise she made to her before she was gone.
Little Misaki was running in the fastest pace she had ever been, sweat drenched her whole being, from head to toe, no spot escaped. She gasped for more breath so that they could run more, longer and faster. Little Misaki looked at the key-necklace they made together, with their own struggle and effort; it was drenched in her parents' blood. Her parents' blood. She was still horrified by the idea that her parents were now gone, gone by the hands of the enemies, by the hands of those evil people. She wanted to weep, but she looked at the face of the girl she admired, the girl she wanted to be. She was angry, not angry, mad, furious, disgusted, and sorrowful. She was strong, really strong even though the world tried to kill her in the deadliest way, she survived. And Misaki admired her for it. Little Misaki locked eyes with her as she saw calculations passed her beautiful eyes, the eyes that people admired, even worshipped.
"Promise me something," she said, eyes was filled with pleading and determination. "Please."
"Alright," Little Misaki agreed. "What is it?"
"Stay alive and happy," she said with emotions so strong, little Misaki knew she was up to something so her. She was a martyr in big aspect, selfish in small things. "Do it for me. Live for me. Don't let other people dictate your life." Then she leaned over little Misaki's ear and whispered something that was very meaningful to them both as little Misaki cried silently. "There's a portal I made around here a few days ago, you should be able to escape through it. It's across the street, but don't worry, I'll do something that will let you get across without them capturing you."
"Run," she said, pulling herself. "Run and be happy. Alive and happy. Please do it for me."
"Yes," little Misaki sobbed. "I promise." She looked at little Misaki with proud that should've been in an adult's face, but she was more mature than anyone Misaki knew.
"You're strong, Misaki. You can survive anything the world throws at you," she said. "Goodbye, my Misqaret." With that, little Misaki broke down. She called her with the lost language only few people knew about in all worlds.
"RUN!" she shouted as she lunged herself at the people who wanted them dead, making possibilities for Misaki to live on. "RUN, MISAKI!" Little Misaki ran as fast as she could as she heard a body being shot and she also heard blood sprouting from the body. She cried and cried. Blaming the world at her lost, but she remembered her promise and looked back to see her. Little Misaki smiled at her for the last time as she saw the smile on her bloody lips, her blue eyes lost its light little by little. Little Misaki kept on running and found the portal. She threw herself at the portal and disappeared, out of those people's grasp. She whispered one last time to her, "Goodbye, my idol….my sister."
Misaki felt tears poured down her cheeks, hard and fast. It was always like that whenever she remembered the memories they shared. Misaki looked at the blank sky and felt her soul was empty. It was a scary feeling, a feeling that she never wanted to experience.
"What would you do?"
THE SENDOU
Sendou Shizuka watched as her daughter fell sick-no, reacted. It was all she needed for her morning to go bad, from the peaceful morning she had just met and missed into the morning where she could feel dry sweats and her own heart beats thumping against the cage of her chest. Once she knew that the seal she put in her years ago reacted, she paled. She loved her family so much that she was willing to sacrifice her own life for their well-being, if only it was that simple.
"Mom?" Emi called. "Am I okay?" It hurted her heart so much that Emi must be suffering like that, all because of her selfishness and good-intention. She had the urge to tell her the truth, telling her that she would chase the darkness away, tell her and Aichi the real reason why she had never visited their grandparents. But Shizuka kept quiet, just like all these years. The truth was just too painful for her.
"Mom?" Emi called again, snapping Shizuka out of her thoughts.
"Yes, honey. You're going to be alright," Shizuka answered her daughter. She excused herself from Emi's room and walked past the kitchen, to the attic. The children didn't know what the attic was really used for, but it was not necessary, since she planned the rest of their lives to be out of the dangerous nature of their world. She gazed at her daughter before thinking, 'If only a sacrifice is enough….'
THE KAI
Kai Toshiki entered the room casually; his strides were strong and confident. His sharp and intelligent eyes roamed over the room in a single sweep, absorbing the details and everything, like what his job demanded. He hadn't realized that he did it until he was finished with his scan and tried not to frown deeper, as his job he was handling had been doing to him. He locked his eyes with a soft cushion and walked over to it, sat down on it comfortably to wait for his uncle and aunt to come. The light was bright, even though he felt familiar with the mansion; he felt something else grew in him. Some nostalgic, some…flashes that had been haunting all his life.
"Come on, Toshiki-kun!" a black hair beauty called to him, their 7 years old eyes were locked on each other. He felt a rush of emotions went through him like every other time when his flashes looked their eyes together, he was lost in its beautiful blue, absorbing and hypnotizing him in every way he thought possible. It was like his sole being was for her, that his existence was numbed by those pair of eyes, sucking him in. Her black hair was blown softly by the caressing wind, swaying it back and forth. She let her hair flow out of boundaries, like she liked, and like what he liked to see, an angel calling out to him. The girl was smiling at him and something, a deep and dangerous feeling, flowed through him, occupying every space in his body, coursing through every single of his blood vessels. Kai replied the girl's smile with one of his own, earning a soft chuckle from her. He smiled even more; happiness was fueled by her, though she didn't know that. Kai ran to her, chasing after her as she ran away from him, playing a dangerous game that they knew would either be a draw again or one of them won, with the prize at stake.
"I'm going to win this time!" Kai shouted in a foreign language, an old, lost language. He ran in a surrounding that he should be feeling strange and new of, but there was only familiarness about the surrounding. He spotted a few females his age pointed and squealed at him, seeing his charm wasn't suppressed and he was the Royal….Kai fought the throbbing headache that attacked his skull in a sudden every time he tried to remember a bit more of his and the girl's identity, who or…what he actually was. He put a hand on his head as the throbbing ebbed little by little. And as usual, he tried to remember more….gain more flashes of whatever those flashes was.
"It's beautiful," the girl breathed at the sight he had prepared. Kai vanished, running to get her present in an inhuman speed. He handed her a box that was wrapped nicely in a bundle of roses in various colors. The girl gasped before looking at him in uncertainty. One of the qualities he either loved or annoyed at; she was not full of herself even though people practically worshipped the ground she walked on, though she said that people was just mocking her. He knew the surroundings she grew up in a little by little, and he despised her families. She was strong and delicate, yet they tried to crush her in every way they knew, but she was strong in every aspect, none could destroy her…except him. He came to care for her as she came to care for him, and she said that he was her weakness not because he was a Royal... The flash stopped there. Who was he? Kai always questioned himself of it, who was he? What Royal? Kai tried to remember the day where the girl confessed that he was her weakness.
The night breeze slapped their faces as she cuddled to him, seeking his warmth and presence. He was very happy about it, that she cared so much on him, that she depended so much on him, though she said that she hated to depend on others, only because of those people. The girl touched his cheek and caressed him softly, making him burst with happy emotions. The girl sighed in contentment, inhaling Kai's scent as she held his hand close to hers, feeling secured and full.
"You're strong back then," Kai said, complimenting her from the battle. "Really strong."
"Thanks, you're strong too, though a little playful," the girl replied him with a warm smile on her face, something he enjoyed watching.
"I began to wonder if you have any weakness," Kai said. "You seem flawless, with no weakness at all."
"Then let's exchange the information of what or who our weakness is or are." Kai blinked at her suggestion.
"Alright. You start," he said, grinning at her with happy feelings, he felt that it was one of the chances that they were growing closer and closer. Weakness wasn't something you could tell others easily, and her wanting to exchange information about it indicated that she trusted him. And of course, he also trusted her. It was an unbreakable bond that they shared.
"You're my weakness," she answered, causing Kai to be startled.
"Really?" Kai asked, making sure he heard right. The girl nodded.
"You're the closest person to me," she stated. "And you're also my weakness. How about you?"
"You're also my weakness," Kai said. "Though you seem to know my weakness already."
"Of course," she said in a teasing tone, which he knew the next step of; she would call him with that annoying mocking name. "My Royal-"
The flash stopped, Kai clutched his head as it was throbbing again, as if there was an invisible hammer that knocked his head. He tried to breathe normally, in and out, in and out, changing his breathing pace into much more steady and normal. He knew that those kinds of flashes weren't normal, it couldn't be normal. He would either get flashes like that when he was awake, or when he was asleep. It had been happening for a very long time already. It was like he had a forgotten obsession to the girl. He knew something was wrong, it was as if his memories were jumbled together with false ones, he had that kind of feeling, but why? There was an invisible border that didn't allow him to know more.
"Toshiki-kun," his aunt said, walking in the room. "There's something you need to know."
"Our family's dark secret…." His uncle said.
THE NEXT DAY - IN THE PARK
Kai walked over the park, the light of the day illuminating his figure. He looked past the horde of people who wanted to enjoy the day, to the dark alley that he could see, now that the seal was crumbling. He walked and walked, with no exact destination as he let his mind wandered to the past few years of his life...and the life that he had as a normal teenager. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily, his mind full and busy. He walked near a dark alley when the scent of alcohol and little blood hit him like a wall. He turned his direction and met the source of the scent. A little girl, no older than Kamui or Emi, was trying to fight off the drunk men who surrounded her. When he was about to save her, a pinkette came in the view, her eyes held fury as she launched her attacks to the drunk men, and in a few seconds, the drunk men were knocked out. The pinkette soothed the little girl, which he suspected as a sister because the pinkette was around his age, and held out a hand to her. The little girl accepted her hand gratefully as the pinkette ushered the little girl out of the alley.
"Let's go home, Amytta," the pinkette said.
"Yes, Onee-sama," Amytta sobbed.
The name of the little girl was familiar to him, but who was she? He hadn't gotten everything back yet, but he was sure that the little girl wasn't a human, but she seemed to have no clue about it. He loosened his gray jacket a little, his long sleeve short was folded a little, and his dark blue jeans were long and comfortable. Kai looked up to the sky before deciding to walk back home.
SOMEWHERE IN JAPAN….
The place was dark and gloomy, with little light as navigators to the main room, where the person he wanted to see was at. He looked at the lavender hair girl in his arms, pale and unmoving. He knew that she would be furious at him, but it was for the best. She won't deny herself anymore because she won't even know who she really was, everything would be better.
Would it? She won't remember her and that would be a big mistake, she won't forgive you.
He gritted his teeth in anger, his jaw clenching tightly as he moved upwards, to the main room. Guilt washed over him, but it was a necessary act for him. It would make things went a bit more normal, though he would have more jobs to take care of. It would be worth it, Misaki would never remember her sorrow, the sole reason why she was dying. And she would go to her teammates to go to the national. She would have a normal life at last, though not so normal, but it wasn't suffering like how she was. It was a good choice, he tried to convince himself.
"Nitta Shin?" a voice called him. He stilled for a while before going into the main room. "And Tokura Misaki."
"I need you to do me favor," he said. "It's really important."
"What would that favor be?" the voice asked, emotionless.
"I need you to erase her memories."
