Darkness engulfed her. Shadows moved and danced across the wall. Unthinkable terrors prowled outside of the box she sat in. Vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and demons; all of them were out there. Right outside of the paper box she sat in that seemed very likely to collapse in on her on any given moment. The world had been normal. It had been fine. Then, Rima had to go screw everything up. She had to go and be empathetic and helpful (which she seldom ever was) and just had to help the little boy that she found. Look where that had gotten her. She had released creatures that came straight from hell onto the world. Let it be said that she will never help anyone ever again.

xXx

It was raining. The rain poured down in sheets on the flimsy cardboard box that was Rima's shelter. This situation was all too familiar for the girl. She had nothing else to do, so she allowed her mind to wander. Ever since her parents died in that fire last year, she was constantly on the run. She ran from the people who wanted to put her in a foster home, from the people who wanted to enroll her back into school, and from everyone who kept trying to feed her those idiotic phrases. Things like "Come with me and everything will be fine, honey." And "Oh, sweetie, everything will work out in the end. Just you watch." Yeah. Right. She liked it better when people got upset with her. When they talked about how "difficult and sneaky" she was.

All the same, there she sat, huddled in the corner farthest away from the outside world, watching as the rain turned from a torrent of water to a light drizzle and as the sun began to glint through the clouds. Figuring that it was safe to come out, she crawled out of her box. She wondered where she went from here. Stretching her arms above her supple body and arching her back, much like a cat would, Rima headed towards the alley opening and paused once she got to the weed covered sidewalk.

"I could actually go down to that stupid school and enroll myself today," she mused to herself, "Or I could go scope out the back of the bakery to see if Ms. Rachel left me anything. She typically does." She ran a small, porcelain hand through long white hair, grabbing a piece and bringing it up to her topaz colored eyes for inspection. She grimaced at the lines of golden blonde that had started to break through. She despised her blonde hair. Blonde hair was for her old self. The old self that was happy and living the cushy life with "Mama" and "Papa". She was no longer called "Reems" or anything of the sort. There was a reason that Rima dyed her hair white. It's because white was devoid of all color, and that's what her life had become.

"Or I could go nab some more hair dye from that store next to the apothecary." She shook her head, deciding that touching up her hair was her more important than eating or education, Rima spun to her right and took off.

She was halfway to the store and passing yet another alleyway when the sound of breaking glass drew her attention to that very alley. How, peculiar. Following the sound, the natural blonde found a broken mirror; jagged pieces of glass covered the dull, gray cement. She clucked in disapproval, speaking as if someone could hear her.

"7 years of bad luck for you." Rima said her voice a sharp contrast to the almost deathly silent alley. She had always believed in bad luck. Rima was born with bad luck. Her current situation just reinforced the point. "I wonder where they went, the person that did this."

Slightly interested brown eyes scanned the area. There was nowhere to escape to. If anyone had wanted to run away they would have had to run out of the alley. Wait. Right there. Rima spotted a box that bared a considerable resemblance to the one that she had waited out the storm in. Forgetting the glass, and the fact that she had no protection for her legs or her feet, she dropped to all fours to get a better look into the box. An especially sharp shard of glass penetrated her fair skin, cutting deep and wedging itself in. Allowing a small cry of anguish to pass her lips, she peered inside the cardboard box to find a boy, he must have been 9 or 10, huddled in the very back. His knees were drawn up to his body and he had his arms locked around his legs, making him appear weak and vulnerable. Well, Rima had no patience to deal with weaklings. Her first thought was to stand up and leave the boy there, and she was just beginning to rise to do so when something about the boys' eyes caught her attention. They were black. Completely black. That was interesting.

"Hey." The blonde's voice came out more harsh and demanding then comforting and relaxing. She cleared her throat and tried again with great effort. "Hey. Will you come out? It's okay if you broke that mirror." She said, trying to coax the little boy out. After thinking that he might have heard her comment earlier about the bad luck, she added, "You know, I was just kidding about that whole bad luck business, right? Come on out, alright?" Her efforts proved useless. She sighed, annoyed and her patience was wearing considerably thin. She was seriously considering just grabbing the stupid box and dumping the child out onto his butt.

"You better get out here, or I'm coming in." This prompted actual movement from the boy. He started to edge out of the box, cautiousness still clear in his beady eyes. Rima moved back a few steps so that she wasn't invading his personal space.

"Alright, I'm out. What is it?" the boys' dainty voice caused Rima to start. His voice didn't sound uncertain like his eyes suggested. Nor did he sound afraid. He sounded rather miffed that Rima had bothered him and forced him out of his nice little box. Well, he didn't have to act like it was some huge annoyance that someone was trying help him. Surely the stinking box wasn't all that comfy. Plus, Rima didn't really want to help the stupid kid.

"Well, I just wanted to know what's up." She wrinkled her nose and rolled her brown orbs at how stupid that sounded. Obviously the boy had the same thought because he raised his eyebrows dubiously. "What I mean is, why are you out here in this dark alley, hiding in a box? It seems kind of suspicious if you ask me. You're not some kind of…juvenile delinquent are you?" Great. There was that accusing tone that she used with anyone and everyone she came into contact with.

"Nobody asked you, though. Also, it seems kind of suspicious that a teenager like you is out of school at this time. I do believe that I have the right to ask you the very same question." The boy responded, his voice devoid of emotion. Oh, he was a mouthy one. That didn't sit well with Rima. She had to bite down hard on her cheek to keep herself from saying anything snarky back to him. He was just a little brat, anyways..

"You never answered my question." The brown-eyed girl stated blandly. An idea seemed to occur to the strange boy, because just then his face lit up and his voice took on a new tone. It was more persuasive and innocent than the snarky one that Rima had just heard.

"It's really nice of you to be worried about me, miss," Rima opened her mouth to make it clear that she really wasn't worried, but he kept going on in the same tone. "-but, I don't really need someone to worry over me. I wouldn't want to trouble anyone. However, if you really wanted to help, you could do something for me. It's really simple, I promise."

Oh, God, Rima would have done anything to get the little boy to stop talking to her like that. It seemed so condescending and fake. She wanted to just squash him down into the ground right where he stood. She saw right through his little front he put up, however, she saw no harm in doing him a favor. After all, once this was behind her, she could leave him back in that alley and continue on her trip to snag some hair dye.

"Sure. What do you want me to do?" she asked while examining her nails and thinking that maybe she should change her hair color. Perhaps she should dye her hair blue. Yes, an electric blue would be nice, but noticeable. Plus, it also had a color. Black, she thought, was a good bland color. Seeing as she wasn't really listening when he said what he needed her to do, she only caught the word "blood". That definitely sparked something within her. What would he need blood for? Was he sick or something? If he was, that wasn't her problem. Rima couldn't just go around donating blood to people. "Sorry, could you repeat that?" she requested coldly.

"I said, you got some blood on the cement. I just wanted to know if you'd give me your permission to clean it up?" he asked this question as if it was a perfectly normal question when it was about as normal as asking Rima to dress up in a banana costume and parade around town. Why on earth would he need her permission to clean up some blood that she had gotten on the ground? Was he just over-formal or something? She figured that she might as well humor him by "giving her permission".

"Um, yeah sure." She said, playing idly with a curl of her hair.

"Can you say it? Say that you give me permission to do what I will?" the boy asked of her. Geez. This whole process was becoming tedious quickly. All Rima wanted to do was get some hair dye dammit and she was stuck with some weirdo little kid.

"Yeah, yeah. I give you my permission to do what you will. Okay? So, can I go now?" For some reason a sudden feeling of foreboding had crept up on her and she desperately wanted to get away. That desperation doubled when the kid gave her a slow, extremely creepy smile. The look in his eyes was just plain sinister.

"Yes, you may go. Thank you very much, Rima Mashiro." Rima stirred restlessly at that. How did he know her name? She never gave him her name. She turned on her heel, the hairs at her neck prickling. The boy spoke again. "Oh, and I do ever so hope that you're happy with your choice to willingly give a demon permission to do what he pleases. I hope you'll enjoy watching your world deteriorate."

That stopped her. She froze, her muscles locking up. What? What did he just say? She whirled around and started to ask just then when she realized that the boy wasn't there anymore. Shivers racked her body and she was suddenly overcome with the desire to find shelter. That event with the boy disturbed her to the point that she just chalked it up to a twisted child's imagination and sprinted away, leaving everything behind her.

It would be dark and shadows would flicker and dance across the walls before Rima would come to terms with the fact that she had just released the unthinkable into the world.

Alright, guys! So, I'm not dead! Some of you who I've been PM-ing know that, though. I just wanna say sorry for completely dropping of the face of the Earth. For all of you guys who are reading and waiting for "The Sight" to be updated, just know that I'm in the process of working on the next chapter and it will be posted within 1-2 weeks. I know that's a while to wait, but it's the best I can do at the current moment, I'm sorry! I hope that this (at least a little) quenched your annoyance at my not updating. For all you guys who are new to me and have no idea what "The Sight" is, go to my profile and read it! It's a Rima/Nagihiko along with various other pairings.

Actually, this was written as a project that I had to do for school, but I changed around some things and made it center around our dearest Rima. I really like where this went, and I was thinking that maybe I should continue? If you'd let me know your opinions, that'd be great!

Thanks, guys! Also, thanks to Evidence of Rain, one of my dearest online pals. You're encouragement and PM's have made me decide not to put "The Sight" on hiatus.

Reviews=Love