Hikari the Magical Girl
Part 2
The Soul Gem
She was strong. She could fight her own demons, and other people's demons too. That cold never came, and she could go out and play with her brother after all. And the cold never did come back, no matter how many other days the weather turned foul, how many other days she tried to rescue a poor kitten – and this time they really were all kittens – and the rain crept past her umbrella and under her hood as a result.
And all it had taken was a little jewel she now wore around her neck to unlock those abilities.
She still hadn't realised that that little jewel was now her soul.
And now she fought other things as well. Things she hadn't even known existed before. Things Taichi wouldn't have been able to protect her from. Things she could protect him from. And his friend Sora. And other friends he made, and introduced her to. Yamato and Koushirou and Mimi and Jyou… He made friends and looked out for her and she fought the bad guys and looked out for him behind his back and it was a happy life.
And Kyubey came and went but visited, always visited her. Just like a good friend. Even more than Miko did, and Miko was supposed to be their family's cat. Miko shied from her now, though. Went to Taichi. Always Taichi. Even though Taichi wasn't the cat-lover Hikari was.
But Kyubey was still there and Hikari couldn't bring herself to mind too much.
Taichi still didn't know. Hikari hadn't shown him yet, but she expected to soon. Just as soon as she got a little bit stronger. Enough to protect him from his demons. But demons didn't seem to like Taichi. They were always strangers she saved. Not that she didn't mind helping strangers. She didn't mind helping anyone.
And she collected her spoils of victory. Little bead like things Kyubey called "grief seeds" – that made shadows go mad and become demons, and that could be used by special girls like her to become stronger, to beat even more of those bad shadows. So she collected them. And she used them. She restored her energy with them.
Not all the demons – the witches, Kyubey called them – had grief seeds. The ones with grief seeds are stronger, he explained to her. It was also only those ones that would renew her. It was like food, he explained. All the nutrients she needed to grow were in the ones with grief seeds.
Still, she couldn't just let the others run around causing trouble. So she fought them all, and often Kyubey had to caution her. 'Don't use up too much energy.' 'You don't have any grief seeds to revive your power.' 'You can't afford to battle ones that don't have grief seeds right now.'
She confessed it was a little frustrating, but when the alternative was that she'd go back to how she was, lying sick in bed every other week and slated for at least three hospital trips in a year, she couldn't disobey. Still, it wasn't a nice feeling at all. Who knew how many people would get hurt before she was recovered enough to protect them.
'Aren't there any other magical girls?' she asked Kyubey, one day.
'There are.' Kyubey bit deeply into the watermelon slice she'd offered him. 'But most of them fight only for the grief seeds.'
'But…' That sounded wrong to her. They had this power. They should be protecting people with it.
'Do you want to meet one?' Kyubey asked.
Hikari thought a moment, then nodded. Maybe it would be a good idea. And it would be someone other than Kyubey to talk about these things with. She confessed she was getting a little lonely. If only she could tell Taichi – but she knew full well Taichi wouldn't believe her until he saw for himself. And demons didn't seem to like Taichi.
Though she supposed she should be happy that Taichi didn't need protection. That Taichi was safe.
Except Taichi still tried to protect her and she didn't need protecting either.
She was old enough to ride the train on her own too, though it took a bit to convince her parents. They didn't know either. And it would be a while after Taichi if she ever told them.
And so Kyubey took her on a little trip to meet another magical girl.
