Chapter One:

Chilled

Heart racing, thumping against her chest like a snare drum and completely in a different, faster pace than her sneakers that crashed down on the rain covered cement below her. Pale, snow-like hair clung to her face and neck; she was completely soaked in rain. But the cold didn't stop her as she ran, nor did her increasing speed stop the cedar colored canine from leaving her side. Thunder cracked above as she came upon a bend on the street, and managed to make a sharp turn, slightly sliding off her feet, as a couple of bullets whizzed past her. Ruby tinted eyes were sharp and determined as she ran down another block and then turned into an alley way. Damn, if this keeps up…

She wasn't exactly looking forward to finding out what would happen if they caught her. Though, the many scars, bruises, cuts, burn marks, and all the such on her body gave her a couple of ideas. The pale haired girl stopped up on a dead-end and 'tch'ed'. "Well, I'm fucked," She grunted, staring at the fence that got in her way. More than likely if she were to attempt to climb up it, her pursuers were bound to catch up to her a drag her down before she could get over. A sharp bark caught her attention and ruby pupils looked down and over to the brown, wolf-like mutt at her side who seemed to be alerting the girl of another route. It led to a warehouse. She looked at the building, it was old and busted up, probably a good hiding space. "You better not get me killed, Tobi," She sneered at the canine who merely barked right back at her before the two began after the building.

Upon nearing the building, she took yet another sharp turn and ran into the warehouse, only to be greeted by two unfamiliar faces. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched as her hands balled up into fists. There was a rather short red-brown haired boy who looked slightly younger than herself with baggy clothes, he held a bat in his hand and had a skateboard under one of his feet. The other was a…pudgy looking fellow, blond hair and wearing some kind of white and grey jumpsuit. Both of them seemed to be engaged in a conversation until she arrived, the two looked at her with concern. They weren't the people who were chasing her. Thank god.

"There! Get her!" But they were. Ruby eyes looked past the two strangers and to the other entrance of the warehouse where a group of men wearing suits ran into the worn down building. The girl looked back behind her and she saw several men running towards her end of the building. Ignoring the strangers she thrust her hand out.

"Go!" She commanded and with her movements the canine, Tobi, at her side let out a bark that turned into a snarl as it ran in zigzags between the strangers at the others. Tobi leapt up at the man who raised a gun and snapped his powerful jaws in the man's arm. Crying out the lackey flung Tobi off of his arm, who quickly recoiled and leapt at the man once more, this time his jaws clenched around his throat. The man gurgled and cried out his last breath as blood flew in the air.

Meanwhile, the girl dung her hand into the pocket of her hoodie-like shirt and pulled out small, handle-less switch blades, good for throwing. She turned to face the men that chased her and a cocky grin found its way onto her lips. Three blades flung from her hand as she threw them at the men, one of which was an accurate throw, hitting a brown haired man straight in his main artery in his neck, the man gurgled before falling down with a few last dying heaves. Another managed to reach a man's leg and the other fell short. She slid her body down and outstretched her leg, sweeping the already injured man off his feet and she threw other knife at his chest before picking herself up on her hands and swinging her leg to hit a man across the jaw. The girl flipped back to her feet, but wasn't kick enough to dodge a bullet that didn't just graze her shoulder.

"Ah!" She cried out and grabbed her forearm, stumbling back a little from the pain. Blood streamed out of the wound and through her red and black stripped hoodie shirt. The girl glared at the familiar man in front of her who smiled at his accuracy. If you could call it accuracy. A cry of a wounded animal diverted her attention to Tobi, and from the corner of her eyes she could see the cedar mutt being flung across the room and into a few boxes. "No!" The girl was about to charge after the man who would ever dare to hurt her dog when a strong fist rammed right into her left ribcage. She heard a crack of a few ribs and the pale haired girl let out a gasp as all the air in her body escaped from her lips. The girl tried to hold on to whatever strain she had on herself before falling over with a groan and going unconscious.

The man who managed to knock her out caught the pale haired girl in his arms and smiled with a satisfied gleam in his dark eyes. "Dumb bitch didn't even see it comin', huh, Geki-san?" He raised his voice as he looked over to his partner that had curled around with the thrashing mutt, holding it in place and keeping his muzzle shut.

"Oi!" A voice called over and the men looked over at the red-brown haired punk that glared over at them. "What the fuck are you doing chasing down a woman?"

The man glowered and turned to face the two kids that were observing the little skirmish. "It's official business of the Yakuza, run along brats and go play somewhere else,"

The man named Geki barked a laugh and smiled daringly at the two men. "Yeah, short-fuse, go play with your boyfriend elsewhere," He cooed.

The kid grinned and clenched his firsts. "Bastards…I'll teach you a thing or two about calling me short, Yakuza scum," He dragged down the neck of his shirt to show the black, flame-like insignia on his shoulder and grinned wildly at the men.

"It's HOMRA!" The lead of the men hollered and threw the girl aside, taking out his gun. The snowy haired girl lay limp in a crippled position, her chest slightly rising and falling. Barely.

"Yata-san…" The other of the two muttered. "Look at what you've done now…What should we do?"

Yata Misaki lifted up his bat and glanced back at his partner. The two clearly knew the answer. A red, flame-like aura licked up Yata's arm and lit ablaze his bat and half of his body. "Burn them,"

The movement outside and the slow opening of his bar door caught the bartender's attention when he looked up from cleaning one of the martini glasses. All he saw was the usual HOMRA boys, Yata and Kamamoto, walking in with a woman in Kamamoto's arms. Great. He'd just cleaned the place and the two just decided to bring in a soaking wet stray. And that wasn't the only stray he was talking about. He looked to the side of Yata where a low baring mutt growled at the others. "Why do you have two strays with you?" The blond glared at the two, unhappy that both strays were messing up his recently cleaned bar with their rain, mud, and blood. For some reason he couldn't shake the thought that he knew the girl, though. Staring at her he just felt that he knew her.

"Gomen, gomen, Kusanagi-san. She was being chased by some Yakuza down at an old warehouse. She was lucky we were there, and she was already this beat up before we got to her. And the mutt was with her and won't leave her side," Kamamoto spoke up first, it seemed that Yata was too irritated to respond. So instead, the red-head let out a grunt and crossed his arms.

The blond sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, setting down the rag and martini glass on his vintage bar counter. "Ah…Set her down on the couch and go get Totsuka-san; he'll help her,"

Leaving his partner to do all the work, Yata shouldered his way past and walked to the bar, sitting on one of the stools and resting his head on his fist. "Baka, wonder what she was doing messing with the Yakuza…" The younger shook his head as his partner set the woman down on the couch and hurried upstairs. The dog barked at the bartender and lackey before leaping up on the couch and curling next to his master.

"Ah! No, no dirty mutts on the-" Kusanagi gave up and waved his hands at the canine as it shot a glare a glare at the veteran and a short, threatening huff. Yata glanced at the mutt and scoffed with a half-smile.

"Mutt's got you owned, Izumo-san,"

Kusanagi deadpanned and reached out a hand to his comrade, flicking him right between his eyes. "Shut it," He said bluntly and continued to clean his bar, glaring at the small puddles of blood, mud, and rain. He swore to himself to make Yata clean that later.

"Konichiwa, Yata-san, Kusanagi-san," A kind voice came from down the stairs and a dirty blond was stepping into the bar with a smile. The bartender waved at his old friend, though his expression was still blank as he motioned towards the unconscious woman on the couch. Light brown orbs found the pale haired woman and widened in recognition. "Izumo-san, don't you know who that is?"

Kusanagi raised an eyebrow at the weakest member of HOMRA. His confusion only spiked at who this person was. "Humor me,"

"You really don't remember, huh?" Totsuka crossed over to her and steadily sat down next to her, beginning to tend to her wounds, wary of the protective canine that lay curled up by the girl's legs. "She's Kushina Reina, remember?"

Kusanagi's eyes slowly widened and he paused from his cleaning, staring at the pale haired girl whose hair hung loosely in curls around her and slid off the couch side, barely touching the floor. Now he knew exactly why he felt he knew her. She was an old friend of theirs. Actually, she was part of the Red Clan before any of them. She was raised into it, as was her sister, Anna. The blond scratched his cheek and sighed. Mikoto was not going to be exactly happy that she was back…

"You're sure?" The Red King's expression was blank as Kusanagi explained the appearance of an old friend of theirs in the bar downstairs. The second in command nodded and sighed, scratching the back of his neck. He turned his head so he didn't have to meet the dull, yet irritated gaze of his amber eyed King.

"Yeah, she's back. Though, her aura is gone. Must've lost it during her deployment and she wasn't here for when you became King," Kusanagi continued with a nervous smile. He remembered how much those two were at each other's throats. Always fighting and arguing. It was hell. Though he didn't seem to get any interest from his King, the nearby little girl stared at Izumo with wide, ruby-tinted eyes. It had been a while since she'd seen her sister.

"Onee-chan is back?" Her voice was soft and rarely heard, but it was no surprise she'd chosen to speak now. Kusanagi merely nodded to her and she quickly walked across the room over to where Mikoto sat and tugged on his sleeve, obviously asking for him to come with her to see her long unseen sister. Naturally, the King stood up and ran his hand through his hair.

"Hn." He grunted merely and walked with the gothic Lolita dressed girl out of the room and down the hall, to the stairs. Kusanagi followed at his distance, chuckling a little because he had no idea what would go down once Rei would wake up. Probably something bad involving the King and the…former Red Clansman. Ah, well, as long as they didn't do something too terrible to his building he would be perfectly fine.

"Onee-chan!" Anna gasped and ran from Mikoto's side over to the beaten and bruised woman on the couch. Tostuka did a good job at patching her up, but that didn't keep her from looking like shit with all those burns and bruises and scars. Her long hair was nearly dry and on the side of the couch was a large puddle of the water and muck from her hair. Kusanagi's jaw clenched.

"Hn…" Mikoto stared blankly at the former Clansman. "Wake her up,"

Totsuka looked up, alarmed at his King's words. "But, King, she's resting! You have no idea how many broken bones she has and how much blood she lost, I seriously think the Yakuza-"

"I said, wake her up," The Red King repeated, his deep voice cold as ice as he directed his gaze back to the dirty blond. Everything went silent in the bar with the few HOMRA members gathered. All their eyes were trained on the three superiors and the mysterious former Clansman. Slowly, both Anna and Tostuka began shaking Rei gently, the latter murmuring soft words for her to wake up to. Kusanagi saw the flicker of irritation in his King's eyes and just barely opened his mouth before the King walked over and swing his leg over, jabbing the heel of his shoe into the unconscious woman's chest.

Rei let out a gasp for air, ruby eyes wide open. Mikoto lifted his leg and it returned to his side as he stared at the pale haired girl with dulls eyes as she leaned over the couch, clutching her chest and coughing. Apparently she wasn't breathing. And it just had to be him to bring her back. Between coughs she glared up at the familiar crimson-haired King, hatred flaring in her eyes. "How'd you know she wasn't breathing?" Totsuka gasped, reaching towards the girl, worried that she'd hurt herself again whilst getting as much oxygen as she could or their lovely King had managed to break another three ribs.

"I didn't." Mikoto said blankly, causing Rei's glower to darken. Totsuka just laughed nervously, trying to wave away the tension between the King and former Clansman who glared at each other with an intent to kill.

"Fuck off," She spat and got up, snapping her fingers at the mutt whose ears perked before he leapt off the couch and walked with Rei as she made her way for the door, yanking her leather jacket off the arm of the couch. Rei was in no mood to deal with the bastard King. First thing was first; get her shit back. Then she'd deal with the HOMRA punks. Rei clutched her side where she could feel the broken and shattered ribs painfully.

"No 'thank you?'" Mikoto's deep voice made her jaw clench and she stopped at the door. Reina glanced back at the King and half smiled.

"Pfft!" She scoffed and continued walking out, running her fingers through her hair as she glanced over at her little sister who watched her with wide eyes. Rei was surprised any of them remembered her. It'd been five years since she'd seen everyone. How much has she missed? Ah, well. She didn't care anymore.

A firm hand grabbed hers and pulled her back, slamming her into the wall, causing her already ruptured body to ach. "Oh, mother-" She began, but the pale haired woman's voice was cut off by the bartender behind the counter.

"Oi! Easy with the bar!" His voice almost hit the same amount of tension and anger between Mikoto and Reina. She glared at him. He glared at her. They would forever hate each other. It was the best way to make a safety net for Rei. Stop thinking, damn it!

Ignoring Kusanagi, she reached into her pocket and pulled out…nothing. Ruby eyes widened. What the hell did they do with her knives? The glint of sun caught her eye and Rei looked over to see a pile of knives and daggers on the bar. The brunette from before sat next to it on a bar stool and looked over at her, a cocky grin on his face.

"Looking for these?" The skater said with a chuckle. Rei 'tch'ed and her jaw clenched. She soon found her gaze locked with the King who still held her arm with a painful grip. One word registered in her mind: Bastard.

Obviously Mikoto Suoh was expecting her thanks. Well, it couldn't hurt. Putting up her best, yet cheapest, innocent acting, Rei looked up at the King with innocent eyes and rested her fist on her jaw in a girly way. So unlike her usual personality. "Thank you, Suoh-kun, for saving my life, you're my hero!" The words tasted like poison coming out of her mouth. Especially with her voice raised an octave higher than usual.

"Don't push it," He grunted and let go of her arm, walking over to the bar stool and sitting down, eyeing the ceiling rather than the pale haired woman. He wasn't interested in her theatrics. Silence greeted the HOMRA gang in the bar and some didn't find it very welcoming. Totsuka cut through the silence by clapping his hands together and plastering a peace-making smile.

"Well then! Uh, Reina, you know myself, Kusanagi-san and King, um, that other there is Misaki Yata," He motioned over at the skater who nodded curtly at her. She returned the gesture. "And that's Rikio Kamamoto." The man in the white and grey clothing waved at her and she waved back.

"Yo," She greeted the two and walked over to the bar counter, picking up a few knives and stuffing them into her pockets, shoved some in her combat boots, slid some into the belt loops of her dark, torn and tattered skinny jeans and shove one in the back of her pants. The grabbed the last one which was the only one that had a correct holster that strapped to her thigh. The dagger was taken out of the strap and she spent her time adjusting and tying the holster to her thigh.

"Uhh…so aren't you incognito with the Yakuza?" Totsuka didn't dare let silence let tensions grow thicker in the bar.

"Was," Rei grunted and looked up at the man. "Bastards figured me out, I guess playing a whore and a hacker at the same time wasn't going to last long." The pale haired woman sighed and stood up, scratching the back of her neck. "It's just too good to be true; an educated whore…."

"You got it for five years, didn't you?" Kusanagi was the one to speak this time. Rei grinned and played with her damp hair, turning around in small steps to face the blond.

"Yeah, that's true," Ruby eyes found where her favorite dagger had gone, in the hands of a punk. Yata was toying with the knife and marveling at the engraved designs in the silver metal. Rei scoffed and took the dagger away. "Don't touch the goodies, kid," She said simply and slid the intricate knife in its well respected place.

"You're artillery sure did expand," Izumo grunted, crossing his arms after setting down the rag in his hand. Rei looked back up at him and grinned slyly. The last time they met she only had one dagger and that was old Hot Stuff.

"You guys know me and my sharp objects. By the way, that's Tobi, I picked him up while I was up on my deployment." She introduced the bark furred canine that was currently being adored by Anna who spent more time petting that mutt than saying hello to her sister. "Oi, Anna-chan, been a while, eh?" Her look-a-like sister glanced up and there was spark of happiness in her ruby eyes as she stood up and ran to her sister's side. Anna looked up at Rei with innocent eyes and the hem of her dress lightly touched her calf. "Has Mikoto been taking care of you?"

Anna looked at the Red King and then back at her sister and simply nodded. "Where are you trying to go?" The question caught Rei off guard and it took her a while to remember the physic abilities that she had at her disposal with her red marbles.

"I need to get some stuff at my old home," Rei's voice carried a new tone that only a couple of people were spoken to with and very few heard. It was of genuine kindness.

"Old home?" Tostuka's voice was concerned and confused. Though, it was very plain and simple.

"The home that was provided by the Yakuza. I need to get my stuff before the bastards rummage through it,"

"And you're going alone?" Rei's head turned sharply at the King and her eyes narrowed.

"I may not have the Red Aura anymore, but that doesn't mean I need your charity," She said bluntly. "I can kill the mother fuckers just finely on my own, thank you," Rei paid no attention to her foul language, even if her little eight-year-old sister was right next to her. Mikoto held a smug grin and he looked the other way, shrugging.

"I have to look after my Clansmen,"

Rei was immediately confused at Mikoto's words. She wasn't a Clansman. Nor did she intend to become of the title at all. Not under his say. Rubied eyes narrowed at the King and she took a step back, her fingers slowly curled around the hilt of her dagger, its smooth leather calling to her. She would start this. Rei wasn't afraid to challenge Suoh, she'd done it before. Just because he was King didn't make her intentions waver. "Don't treat me like a child," The pale haired woman snapped and spun on her heel, once again snapping her fingers to Tobi's attention who was, until then, enjoying the scraps of food it found behind the bar counter in the waste basket.

"I could get used to that mutt," Kusanagi said, seeing how the canine had cleaned up after himself. Reina scoffed and looked back with a haughty expression, she held herself in a proper manner. Another little act of hers.

"Oh, please, Mr. Izumo-kun, you're better off not getting too close. I wouldn't want to break your heart by taking away 'that mutt,'" She said mockingly, giving a wink and whistling to Tobi once more to get his attention before continuing on her waltz out the door. Tobi let out a sharp bark and before Rei knew what the hell was going on, she felt a hand once again grasp her wrist. The pale haired woman didn't have the time to register the palm-prints that pricked the ends of her nerves before flames writhed out and licked up her forearm and over her shoulder, engulfing her entire body. Everything was all too familiar, the burning sensation turning into a part of her being, an overwhelming sense of power and strength.

Kushina Reina gave into what was once hers and the subconscious-ness that had been calling to her for days now.

Damn him…

A/N: Ah, yes. It's a K Project Fanfiction! I felt the need to do this, after being inspired by the anime and manga itself and a couple other Fanfictions. If you like what you see here, I recommend Burn it Down by mikotohs and Red by WitchyCloudpine. These two fanfictions and some others were some inspiration for the story.

The way I plan to format this story is like…episodes… Sorta, I'll do maybe four or five chapters based on one situation and the next four or five will be on another. I'll be working my way into some parts of the manga; Memory of Red, and then soon the anime and post the first season. Hopefully by the time I get to after the events of the first season the second season will be out.

If you haven't read Memory of Red or watched K Project, I seriously recommend it. Especially if you like Durarara!. It's a great anime series that will be continuing into a second season! I'm so happy about that!

Leave your thoughts in a review, drop a favorite if you want, and hell, if you really like the story, follow it! If you have any requests or questions, I'll be happy to acknowledge and respond to them. Other than that, I'm out!

Ciao!

-Bartrice