Wow, I'm evil. You guys must hate me for this. What the hell am I doing? I'm supposed to be working on Sinful City! Yeah, well, I just couldn't wait to write this. Soooo yeah. Don't get all RAWR on me, because I think this is actually already better than Sinful City (Author bashing her own story. Wow.). Anyway just read it and don't question me, okay? You can never get too much MikoKuro! Am I right?
Let's get this show on the road! (P.S. This story is told from Mikoto's first-person view! I seem to be better at writing that way.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, or the like. All rights go to J.C. Staff and Kazuma Kamachi.
Blood-Stained Roses Chapter 1: The White Rose Painted in Red
A tiny drop of wetness fell onto my cheek softly, and when I looked around me, I noticed that snow was falling. The sudden gust of wind pushed the white precipitation towards my body, and I pulled the scarf that hung loosely around my neck up to my nose in attempt to keep my face warm.
As I walked, children ran past me, throwing snowballs at each other. A little boy accidentally ran into my leg, startling me. I gasped. "Ah! S-Sorry, Miss!" He apologized, and quickly moved on to catch up with his friends. I smiled and kept on walking. If I had to admit, winter in Academy City was one of my favorite things.
Until one event that made me dread it.
Academy City, 2.3 million inhabitants. 80% of which are students. There are seven level 5 espers, which I am one. The third strongest, the Railgun. Misaka Mikoto. This, of course, causes me to get a lot of attention, whether it's good or bad. And sometimes, it can get pretty ugly.
But I always have my friends there to help me through it. Uiharu Kazari, Saten Ruiko, and-
"Onee-Sama!"
-Speak of the devil. Shirai Kuroko.
I turned to the source of the voice, of course, already knowing who it is. I was greeted with something between a pounce and a hug. I almost fell over. Kuroko wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my torso, nuzzling my cheek with hers. Is it strange that I felt my cheeks heat up a little? I grabbed her shoulders, trying to pry her off, to no avail.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Kuroko admired. "The snow?" I sort of nodded and mumbled, "Can't-Breathe." "Oh, sorry." She said, jumping off me. When she landed, she wrapped both her arms around one of mine.
"I've never seen you so happy over something so little." I commented. She frowned at me. "Onee-Sama, you're wearing those dreaded shorts again, aren't you?" I felt my skirt lift up a little, and I smacked her hand away. "How is that relevant?!"
As if on cue, a gust of wind blew by, lifting up my skirt in its path. I held my skirt down as much as I could, and scowled at Kuroko when I saw the grin on her face.
If there was anyone I could classify as my best friend, it'd be Kuroko. She is my roommate and partner, after all. Kuroko is all in all a good person, however, her pervert side really gets to me sometimes. I always questioned whether she was actually in love with me, or if she was just one of the fangirls. but that couldn't be true. After all, she was my best friend.
"Shut up, idiot." I snapped. She simply smiled at me and grabbed my hand. "We should get back to the dorm, it's quite cold out here." I nodded and let her teleport us both away.
Well, a certain event one day would change my questioning into a solid answer: Kuroko is in love with me. And it's sad that I didn't notice this until this event.
"Onee-Sama, is it so hard for you to see?" Kuroko asked me with an obviously serious expression. "See what?.." I hesitated to ask.
She clicked her tongue at me and turned away. I gripped my skirt nervously. What was she talking about? "Kuroko?"
I noticed her hands, balled into fists, shaking. They were pale, too. Her whole body started shaking. I longed to step forward and hug her, ask her what was wrong, but I didn't. I would wait until she was ready to speak rather than force her to.
Her body heaving and the sound of sobs was hard to miss. She turned her head around to look at me with her wet, red eyes. Her cheeks were stained with tears.
"Onee-Sama, I love you." She choked. My eyes widened, and my body froze. How was I to respond? Did I love Kuroko? Maybe as a friend, but... Did I love her more than that? Too many questions circled throughout my mind, and it started to hurt. I gulped.
"Um... I'm sorry, Kuroko... I don't..." She stepped towards me, taking my hands in hers. They were soft, yet cold. "You don't love me, do you, Onee-Sama?" The way she said it as if it was obvious to her made me angry, made me want to yell at her that I did.
"No, it's not that... I don't know how I feel towards you, Kuroko." I said softly.
Kuroko had always been there for me. She was always worried about me. Like during the experiments. I wish I could have told Kuroko about that, and gotten her help, yet... I didn't want to get her involved in something that didn't involve her in the first place. Maybe I could tell her in the future. Right now I was struggling with how to respond to an "I love you" from someone you only claim to be a friend- no, best friend.
"How can you not know?..." She mumbled softly, looking down at the floor. Her tears dropped from her cheeks and made small puddles on the floor right near my feet.
"How can you not know?!" She repeated, much louder this time. I felt tears well up at the corner of my eyes, as well. "I... I..." Why couldn't I come up with a response? I had to say something!
"Kuroko, I..." But before I could say anything, Kuroko was gone. I looked around, stunned. Then I looked down to a large puddle of blood at my feet. I gasped and jumped back, horrified. In the middle of the blood lied a single red rose.
I woke up sweaty, panting heavily. A dream, it was just a dream.. I assured myself, bringing a palm up to my forehead. I could feel my heart pounding throughout my entire body unpleasantly. Kuroko! I jerked my head in the direction of the latter's bed, where she was sleeping. Her whole body was covered by the covers, but her stomach moving up and down and her soft murmuring of my name assured me she was okay. I sighed.
What kind of dream was that? I wondered. Why did I dream of Kuroko confessing her love to me? Why did she... die? I shook my head. It was just a dream. Nothing to get fired up about.
I didn't sleep after that, though. I lied there with my eyes closed until the sun started to peek in through the curtains. Kuroko immediately jumped on me. "Good morning, Onee-Sama!" She said happily.
"O-Oh. Good morning.." I said, yawning.
"Hm?" Kuroko leaned in closer to my face, causing me to blush. "Onee-Sama, your eyes... They're red." She said.
That was news to me. Had I been... Crying in my sleep?
I managed a fake laugh. "O-oh! You know how it is when you just don't get enough sleep an night, right?" I said as cheerfully as possible.
"Right..." She said, but I don't think she believed me at all. Figures. I'm such a bad liar.
She jumped off me and headed towards the bathroom, closing the door. I sighed. It's hard to act normal around her after that dream.
After that, Kuroko had Judgment work, so we said our goodbyes and I walked on. Where was I going, exactly? Wherever I could clear my head. I walked by the park and admired all the happy, playing children. in the future, once they learn the darkness of this city, they won't be that happy. One of the girls noticed me and stopped, waving at me with a smile that showed all of her teeth. Well, the ones she had. I smiled and waved back.
"Ah, Biri-Biri!" A voice behind me startled me, and I turned around to see him. By "Him" I mean that idiot, Touma. He was grinning, waving his hand around in the air at me. I stood there confused. Does he want me to go over there? I wondered. He stopped waving and gave me a confused look. Guess so.
I stomped over to him. "What?!" I snapped. He winced. "Geez, just wanted to talk." He flung his school bag over his shoulder and smiled down at me. "How are you, Biri-Biri?" He asked.
"You see," I said. "That's the reason you get on my nerves so much!" I jabbed a finger to his chest. "My name is Misaka Mikoto!"
"Alright, alright, Misaka," he said, causing my heart to flutter. Why did that happen every time he said that? I was the one that always complained about him calling me by that stupid nickname! "How are you?" He asked again.
I put my hands on my hips and frowned at him. "Fine," I huffed. "Y-You?"
"Alright." He said. "What are you doing here?"
"What, am I not allowed here?" I retorted. He raised an eyebrow. "No, just wondering."
"Yeah, you wonder a lot of things." I said rudely, starting to walk away. "Hey, wait!" He called, running to catch up with me. I looked at him through the corner of my eyes.
"I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay," He said. "After the experiments and stuff..." That part he whispered softly.
"I-I'm fine, okay?" I lifted my hand and slightly pushed him away from me when I felt my face heat up.
He smiled. "I'm glad." He said. I scowled at him. "You know, someday, I will beat you in a duel." I challenged.
He blinked, then grinned. "Alright, just tell me when." With that, he walked off, leaving me dazed and confused.
I'll never understand him. I thought. It was probably true.
Somehow, I ended up wandering through the mall with Saten-San.
"Uiharu and Shirai-San are so boring, always having their Judgment stuff..." She complained, looking around the store eagerly. "Is there anything you need, Misaka-San?"
I shook my head. "Actually, Saten-San, can I talk to you about something?" She tilted her head at me. "Sure."
We sat on a bench eating crepes, a common occurrence among us. "What was it you wanted to talk about?" She asked through the food in her mouth.
"Well," I started, pausing to take a bite of my crepe. "I had this dream last night, and I really just need to talk to someone about it."
"Shoot." She said.
"Well..." I leaned in closer to her so that I could whisper. "In the dream, Kuroko said that..." I bit my lip. Did I really want to say this? It would be okay. Saten-San wouldn't judge me, I'm sure of it. "That... She loved me."
Saten-San simply nodded, urging me to continue. I felt relieved, it lifted a weight off my chest.
"And... I didn't know how to respond to her.. Then... She died." I started choking on the last two words. She died.
"She died?" Saten-San asked.
"Well... She was nothing but a puddle of blood," I explained. "With a rose in the middle."
She brought her hand to her chin, obviously thinking. "Misaka-San, could this mean you love Shirai-San?"
I choked on my crepe.
"Wh-What are you saying?" I laughed once I regained my composure. She shrugged. "Well, what else could the dream possibly mean? You're confused about your feelings towards Shirai-San, and it's trying to tell you that... You don't want to lose her."
I blinked. She just might be right. I said nothing and finished off my crepe.
Once she had finished hers, we departed. "Take it into consideration, Misaka-San!" She called as she walked away. I nodded.
I walked my way back to the Tokiwadai Dormitory. The sunset was beautiful and relaxing, great for taking my mind off of things. Yet, it wasn't. The images of the blood and the rose, as well as Kuroko's teary-eyed face, kept popping into my mind over and over again until it started to hurt.
I collapsed on my knees, holding my head with both hands tightly in attempt to get rid of the pain. The images kept flashing. "Make it... Stop..." I pleaded. But who would make it stop? It was my mind, therefore I assured myself that I was the one who was capable of "making it stop". But I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. I dug my fingernails into my scalp. It only caused more pain. "No..." I mumbled.
I shut my eyes tight and tried to relax my body. I released the tension in my fingers and made my body feel loose. But the images kept going. And it hurt like Hell. Why? I thought. Why is this happening? I said aloud, "What is the meaning of this?"
I opened my eyes when the vibration of my phone snapped me back to reality. The images stopped playing. I flipped open the phone. "H-Hello?"
"M-Misaka-San!" Called Uiharu's voice.
"U-Uiharu-San," I said. "What's up?"
"Meet me at the branch," She said. "Th-there's something we need to show you." The panic in her voice told me whatever it was, it was not good. "Okay, I'm on my way." I said, hanging up and immediately taking off.
When I got there, Uiharu was waiting for me. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me without saying anything.
She led me to an alleyway where Konori-Senpai along with two Anti-Skill officers were hovering over something. I noticed tears streaming down Konori-Senpai's cheeks. I wanted to ask her what was going on, but that question was answered before I could ask it.
They were standing over a body. Kuroko's body. Kuroko's eyes were dark and lifeless. Blood was pooled around her and stained her uniform. On top of her chest laid a single red rose.
And at that moment, I knew I had lost everything.
Whooooaaa... Just, whoa. That's dark. I think. Am I the first one to write a fic where Kuroko dies? If so, yay! Now you're probably wondering how the hell this is supposed to be a MikoKuro fic if Kuroko dies in the first chapter. My answer: You'll see..
Question: Do you all think I was good at doing Mikoto through first-person? I felt like maybe she was a little OOC.. That's the problem with first-person fics, they tend to be kind of off...(I also felt like Touma was off, too, considering I've never really written him before..)
So, when will I continue this? Well, I should probably go ahead and finish Sinful City first... Just to piss you guys off with suspense. Muhahaha.
Maybe I just WON'T continue it at all! Lol just kidding. Well, leave a review and let me know what you all think.(P.S. tell me about any weird typos or anything you see, okay? I didn't really read over this well due to my utter laziness.)
Chapter 2 might get here before I finish Sinful City or not... I don't even know.