~Ch.6~
Smoke surrounds Noriko, causing her true form to be revealed. As the smoke clears Norikos' new form can be clearly seen. She is in a shrine maiden type outfit, hair is in a high ponytail, and she is holding a giant staff with a knife blade at the end of it.
"This is where you meet your end. Prepare to atone to your sins! Now die beast!" yells Noriko as she charges towards Mikita.
A single scream. A scream of pain. Then nothing but silence.
Thoughts run through Mikitas' head, at first slowly then suddenly she can't stop thinking of memories. Without any control Mikitas' fox instincts kick in and she breaks out of the chains that are binding her. She remembers the pain, the suffering, that she endured all through the years. From when she was bullied as a little girl to where she was looked down upon by the other fox spirits. All the pain and suffering made her grow stronger. She looked over at Noriko menacingly and before Noriko can get her bearings back Mikita rushes towards her, claws extended. Before Mikita reaches Noriko the man that chained her up blocks her way.
"Get out of my way!" yells Mikita as she rushes towards the man. Before she can get too close to the man she is tackled to the ground by Ryo.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ryo angrily yells at Mikita. Suddenly terrified she gets up and rushes away from the whole scene, leaving Ryo kneeling on the ground and Noriko off to the side almost dead.
As she's running, Mikita suddenly senses someone nearby. As she's running along she looks over and notices a girl about her age is running right alongside her. Startled she trips and almost falls, causing the other girl to start laughing.
"What's so funny!" yells Mikita, trying to wipe her tears from earlier away.
"Why are you running around town looking like that?" asks the girl. At this remark Mikita looks down and realizes why the girl said that. Mikita is still in her original yukata, now all ripped and torn all over, ears and tail still showing, and barefoot. She jumps, covering herself so that nothing embarrassing (ie. Bra, stomach, chest, ect.) is showing. The girl in the meantime shrugs off the jacket she was wearing and reluctantly hands it over to Mikita.
"Here. Where this, it'll cover you up for the most part." States the girl looking in the other direction while holding out the jacket for Mikita to take. With a sigh of relief Mikita hastily puts on the jacket and zips it up.
"Thank you so much. You're a life saver! I'm sorry, I never caught your name."
"My name is Yui. Nice to meet 'cha!" said the girl as she stuck out her hand for Mikita to shake.
"Why are you following me?" asked Mikita as she takes Yuis' hand.
"You looked like you were in trouble so I thought I would see what was wrong."
"Well I'm fine, thanks. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get away from here."
"Wait! I need to ask you something!"
"Um, what do you need to know?"
"Why do you have ears and a tail?"
Scared of being found out she quickly thinks of a way to get out of the odd situation. "Well I really should be going, meet me at the park tomorrow afternoon around 3 or so and I'll give you back your jacket. See ya!" yells Mikita as she ran away. Yui in the meantime just stands here confused and watches as Mikita rushes down the sidewalk.
"What the hell just happened?" Yui whispered quietly to herself.
~Back to where Ryo is at~
Meanwhile Ryo is still kneeling in the same spot as before, still looking in the direction Mikita ran off. Suddenly someone punches him across the face, causing him to fly a few feet back. As he looks up he sees Ren standing there, with a single tear falling from his eye. Before he can say anything Ren yells at him.
"You dumbass! What are you doing sitting here while Mikita is off on her own? Go after her already you idiot!" yells Ren as he stands there panting, since he had to run 4 blocks over from the convenience store.
As he listens to Ren he realizes how stupid he was to let Mikita run off on her own like that.
"I'll go to her now. And Ren?"
"Hm? What."
"Thanks. If you hadn't shown up I'd still be sitting there." At this he runs off in the same direction as Mikita.
"Baka." Whispers Ren as he watches Ryo run off after Mikita.
Not too far down the street Ryo realizes the park is coming up. He stops at the gate for a moment before heading towards the playground. As he nears the little dome structure he stops and listens. Suddenly he hears the sound of someone crying. Mikita to be more exact. He ducks down and looks inside the little structure and notices Mikita sitting with her knees tucked close to her chest and her face resting on her knees while she cries. Quietly as possible he sneaks in and sits across from Mikita. Without realizing what he is doing he leans forward a gently kisses the top of Mikitas' head.
"Baka." Whispers Ryo as he leans in and gently hugs Mikita close.
"What are you doing here…" whispers Mikita as she shakily wraps her arms around Ryo.
"I came to find you. I was really worried about you you know. I've been looking all over for you."
"Why didn't you just leave me be? I'm a monster aren't I?"
Ryo quickly grabs Mikitas' shoulders and pushes her away so that she is face to face with him. "Don't you ever say that again. You are nowhere close to a monster. To me you're just a normal girl. I love you and I'll always be here to help and protect you."
"I'm not as great as you make me seem. Didn't you see what happened to me earlier? My true self came out. I couldn't control it!"
Before she could say anything else she is gently pulled into Ryo's warm embrace. With tears running down her cheeks she wraps her arms around Ryo once again and cries her heart out.
~A little while later~
"Okay, now that you've calmed down let's head home." Ryo whispers as he extends a hand to help Mikita up off the ground. After a few moments he notices she isn't taking his hand and has no intention of getting up. "What's wrong?"
"Um…I kinda can't stand up…" Mikita states, obviously embarrassed.
Before she can say anything else Ryo crouches down in front of her with his back facing her.
"Hop on, I'll carry you home."Ryo says as he turns his head to face her.
Hesitantly she looks at him for a moment, then gently climbs onto his back and wraps her arms loosely around his neck. After a moment Ryo stands up slowly and hooks his arms around Mikitas' legs so that she won't fall off. Mikita of course gasps as he touches her legs, but calms down moments later. As the two are walking Mikita carefully tucked her tail under the edge of her kimono and flattened her ears against her head for the time being. Since it was dark it was easy to hide them. As they are walking Mikita slowly starts to get sleepy, obviously warn out from all the events from the past few hours. Slowly she drifts off to sleep, her grip around Ryo's neck loosens slightly and her tail comes untucked. By the time the two get back to Mikitas' apartment she is fast asleep. Ryo notices this so he decides to just take her back to his apartment instead. Not long after that Ryo enters his apartment quietly as to not wake the sleeping girl on his back. He takes her to his room and gently lays her down on his bed. He quietly covers her with the bed sheet. Careful as to not wake her he gently kisses her forehead and walks out of the room.
~A few hours later~
Mikita slowly starts to toss and turn in the bed, slowly she opens her eyes and sits up in bed. Suddenly she realizes she's not in her own apartment. She starts to look around franticly before looking down and seeing Ryo asleep beside her. A thousand thoughts rush through her mind before she blushes, jumps back, and falls backwards off the bed causing a loud thump. As soon as she hit the floor Ryo immediately woke up. He looked around before settling his eyes on Mikita's foot, which is resting still on the edge of the bed.
"Mikita? What happened? Wait, how the hell did I end up in my room?" Ryo starts to ask.
"Why were in bed next to me! Do you have any idea how badly you caught me off guard!" yells Mikita as she climbs back onto the bed.
"Sorry, I guess I just sorta wandered in here late last night."
"Well…I need to go freshen up. Oh, and by the way."
"Yeah?"
"You look so cute and defenseless when you're asleep." Mikita teases as she walks out of the room and to the bathroom. Immediately following that remark Ryo's cheeks turn a light pink. Ryo regains his composure and walks to the kitchen area to get some food. He cant decide on anything so instead he got a glass of water and walked around the apartment for a few moments before he heard a knock at his door. He stops for a second and just looks at the door like an idiot. Whoever it is knocked again and this snapped Ryo out of his little stare into space long enough for him to walk to the door.
"Ryo-kun! Open the door. Its Yuuki~" She yells as she knocks on the door, this time with more force behind the knocks.
Slowly the door opens a few inches to reveal Ryo's face. "Sorry, can't let you in t the moment so please go away." He says quietly. At this Yuuki puffs up her cheeks and pushes past Ryo and into his apartment.
"Sooooo, why can't I be here? Did a girl, well let's face it Mikita is the only other girl you know besides me, spend the night here last night or something?" Yuuki asked as sly as possible. She looks over in time to see Ryo turn bright red and look down at the floor as quickly as possible.
"Yuuki just listen to me, it was for a good rea-" before he can finish his sentence the bathroom door opens up to reveal Mikita in a shirt and shorts of Ryo's and dripping wet hair. Mikita walks into the living room area and sees both Yuuki and Ryo staring at her.
"What's the matter with the two of you?" she asks cautiously, confused by the current situation.