My Patch of Ice and Blood

Chapter 3

Under the Ladder

"PUT ME DOWN YOU CREEP!" I punch Ikuto's back with nearly everything I have.

He has me slumped over his shoulder, only one hand on my back while his right is stuffed in his pocket. I kick at his ribs meekly since the fists are practically my power users at the moment. I'm screaming my head off and hitting with as much might as I can store. Nana is bickering with Yoru and she's trying to get to me, but he's not letting her. These two are total JERKS! Eventually, in the middle of a cuss I learned from Step (step-father), I feel his cheek nudging my hip. I freeze altogether and my body grows hot, my head pounding. Jeez not again! Nana gasps and shoves Yoru with all the force she has at the back of Ikuto's head and tugs some of my hair, my heart snapping into ice and instantly glaring at her.

"Ouch, stop that," I whisper. "Ouch!" Louder. "OUCH!" Obvious. "JEEZ DO YOU GUARDIAN CHARACTERS ALWAYS HURT SO MUCH! OW, OW, OW!"

That's when I feel my ribs ache and blink to see I'm face down on the ground. I blink and push myself to my feet, seeing that Ikuto is holding a rib. I raise a brow and see it's where one of my feet were. Serves him right if you ask me. I stand up and Nana scoffs at them, laughing to me and twirling around my head. I guess she's one for that 'serves them right' as well. I smile. That's like the real me, not the one people take me for. She half-five's my thumb and we start walking away before Ikuto grabs the back of my dress, the middle of the back that is. I gulp and chop my arm down upon his elbow, making him slightly loose grip and tear out of his grasp, running a bit and turning back to glare.

"What do you want from me?" I demand.

Nana sits on my head, smiling. "Relax, you don't have to be demanding."

I blink and take deep breaths. "Alright, Nana. Speaking of which who do I want to be?"

She giggles, a tiny little hand covering her lips. "Creative in the many arts."

I blink and grab her tiny body, her head bulging out of the fist. "Is that supposed to mean anything?"

She grunts and I release her from the fist cage. She takes a whooping inhale and twirls around, then doing the splits in mid-air. That'd explain a bit. When I see Yoru goggling, I hiss at her and she does a military salute. "You want to be noticed," she whispers. "Believed in."

I huff and I look up to see Ikuto is no longer in front of me. I feel someone's hand on my shoulder and yelp, jerking back, but the hand not removing itself. It's Ikuto and I try to kick, but let's just say he's persistent. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" I scream.

He huffs. "Stop, before you commit suicide."

I grow red in the face and scream. "I'M NOT YOU STUPID SON OF A-"

I see Nana grow pale and cover my mouth. She smiles slightly. "Good catch."

I shake my head and cross my arms. "Whatever," I mutter. "I just want to know why he thinks I'd want to commit suicide…"

Ikuto smirks a bit. "Easy, your X-Negative."

I freeze and look up with a raised brow. "Wait, it's actually called that?"

He nods, hands in pockets. "There are multiple types of suicide. Doing something reckless, X-Negative, and finally the actual killing yourself."

I bite my lip. I've done all three. I clutch my fists and face him with my bravest expression. "Did you practically molest me just to tell me that?"

He chuckles, making my eyes glint with crimson. "Why would I waste good techniques doing that?" he wonders. "I'm supposed to be watching you."

I yelp, jumping back and holding my head. It's hot, but not X-Negative hot. I'm just SO embarrassed. "Great, first the dad, now I have a stalker on my as*?"

Nana giggles and hugs my thumb. "Cheer up, all you have to do is do some simple stretches and you'll feel better, even energized!"

I stare at her. Now that she said that, I have a F*CKING good idea that I somehow want to be…athletic? I huff and start walking away, but Ikuto grabs my shoulder again. "What?" I mutter. "Just leave me alone. I don't this CR*P now…"

When he doesn't let go, I jerk my shoulder away and push myself forward, Nana laughing for the fun of it. "Character Change: To a girl who loves racing!" Suddenly, a necklace with a light purple rose pendent matching her wraps around my neck. I feel…energized, ready for anything! I race off, Nana kind of cheating since she can fly. We laugh and I end up smacking int something hard. I shake my head and side-step, walking forward and looking back to what I slammed into. I scream. I just walked under a ladder. It's still the thirteenth, Friday! Oh no! What am I going to do? I run in circles with panic and Nana giggles out of nervousness. "Calm down Miss Kia…"

I freeze. What's with these formalities? I huff and remember the other egg, lifting it to my face and seeing it was in my hands this whole time. I squeeze it. It's practically metal! I raise a brow and huff, leaning in and whispering. "Hello, my name's Maki. I want to be your friend." I look over to Nana. "Yours to."

They smile and I hear a small 'meow'. I scream and scramble up boxes. Nana huffs and flies up next to me, crossing her legs and cocking her head ever so slightly. We hear laughing and I glare at Yoru. "That's not nice, Kitty," Nana shuts her eyes and stiffens.

He freezes in a mid-air roll and straightens his spine, upwards and clutching paws. "I'm not a kitty-nya!"

"Nya?" I blink.

I hear creaking and the boxes shatter under me, seeing they're just aged, hollow wood. I shriek and someone catches me, so I stop and look up to Ikuto, now beating at his chest. "LET-ME-GO!" He chuckles once again and I smash his nose under my fist, just P*SSED. "YOU'RE F*CKING WITH THE WRONG PERSON, B*TCH!" I knee his chin and kick his chest back, landing and noticing I still have the necklace on. It vanishes instantly. I gulp and nervously laugh, looking up to the very annoyed Ikuto. "Uh…" I offer some bandages, "…need this?"

He slaps me across the face. "Stupid!" he yells.

I'm wide-eyed, left cheek stinging with the back slap. I'm not crying or anything, it's more like I asked for it. I stumble back a bit and huff. I bend down to lift up some broken glass bottle and smirk, holding out my left arm and looking up to the sky. I try to scratch it, but something's holding my right hand back. I gap, my eyes shaking and filled with confusion, so I look down to Yoru and Nana, holding back the hand with all they can. I blink and Nana faces me. "What…are…you…doing?" she pants.

I smile kindly. "Being me."

Ikuto jerks the bottle out of my hand and tosses it. "That's not you. You're better than that."

I gasp and grit my teeth, looking down. "Who says?"

"Uh…" I can see eggshells closing in on Nana. "What are you doubting, Miss-I mean, Maki?"

I blink and smile to her, the eggshells disappearing. "A lot. It's complicated," I catch my fingers in each other behind my butt, "but it's actually how all this started…"

I look down and I feel Ikuto's hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off and start walking, freezing when I hear him following me. I huff and keep walking, him following. Oh well, this beats X-Negative. But…since when is that suicide?