alexc123: I know I love them!
sarge1130: That's a pretty accurate theory!
Yuki Suoh : Suoh! Thank you!
Aliathe: Yeah, I don't like sticking OC stuff, especially things like this, into actual cross over categories ^^' plus, I'll be explaining everything at some point so it's not really... necessary? It just makes more sense right off the bat if you know K.
"Are you sure you won't put it off for a few more years?" Ace asked Kari for a the hundredth time.
She had her arms crossed over her chest, her legs crossed under her and a frown firmly in place. Luffy was sniffling next to her, tears in his eyes. The girl softened and opened her arms to him. He launched himself into her arms, hugging her tight. She held one arm open to Ace, who frowned but crawled into her embrace.
"I'm sorry. I want to, but I've put it off too long. I'm supposed to find the Kings. I have to protect them."
"You don't even know where they are," Ace objected, frowning at her.
"Yeah," Luffy agreed. "Stay here! Stay and leave with me when I go become a pirate. You can find them then!"
"Didn't you say the Silver King is immortal?" Ace added. "So what could possibly happen to him?"
Kari frowned, looking at her wrist. The Silver King had manifested years ago, and so far none others had shown up. They were making good points…
"Please? We don't want you to leave!"
She made the mistake of looking down and meeting Luffy's eyes. Shit. Wide, doe-eyed innocent, begging for nothing more than her own companionship.
The words of her grandfather echoed in her head, warring with the words of her boys.
At last, she sighed.
"Fine. I'll wait. Four more years, Luffy, and not a day soon."
It was dark when she woke up. There was only minimal light filtering in through the curtains, spilling across hardwood floor. The flash of city lights, only just dimmer than the sun, illuminated discarded clothes on the floor. The room had little more than the bed, just a chest of drawers and a stool in one corner where a laptop sat. A phone charger hung out of the wall.
Kaida breathed in the familiar scent of smoke, cardamon and cedar.
"Mikoto."
She sat up slowly. The distinct feeling of wanting to throw up but not having anything in her stomach came with a wave of vertigo.
Right, she'd been drugged. By Mizuchi. The last thing she remembered was stumbling into an ally while her former subordinates hunted her down at the word of a madman. She had fallen, onto the ground and into darkness.
Anger flared red hot inside her until she could hardly breath. How dare he? What kind of sick son of a bitch would torture a child for their powers? How much pain had Anna already endured at his hands? She had seen burns, bruises, she had walked in on her being nearly drowned. What else had he done to her? So many questions. Such unpleasant answers.
Kaida grimaced. She at least knew why the Reds were interested in the girl. Honami, her aunt, her been a teacher at their school. She, Mikoto and Izumo had been close to her for years. After her… falling out, with the boy she hadn't seen much of any of them. Intentionally. He didn't think she could face Mikoto after she'd hurt him so much.
Now, she didn't seem to have a choice.
Kaida sighed heavily and pushed the blankets off of her. At some point someone had taken her out of the black robes, the uniform for Rabbits. She was left in just her underwear, and the bandages on her shoulder.
Someone had folded her pants and a shirt and laid them on the nightstand next to her, the gold mask gleaming on top. Just the sight of it made her sick. Her whole family was a part of the Gold Clan, her brother worked with Mizuchi. The idea that they had let someone like him have that power was disgusting. Even worse was the knowledge that her grandfather had to know about it. Her knew all that happened in his clan. Something like this wouldn't slip by him.
Kaida took her pants out of the pile, trying not to think about who had been the one to undress her in the first place. The shirt wasn't hers, it wasn't her size and she had never owned anything in this shade of vague purple.
It would do.
Kaida picked up the mask, holding in shaking fingers as she looked over the red blaze that swept between the eyes and the black markings that phrased the eyes. It was more familiar than her own face nowadays.
She grimaced and roughed a hand through her hair, spiking it even further than it had been. When she had left school she had shaved it all off, and even two years later it wasn't much longer. A couple of inches, at most.
With nothing else to do she made for the door, mask swinging from her fingertips. The hallway outside lead her down the stairs. The living room was deserted but she could hear people talking on the other side of a door.
Silent as the grave Kaida pushed the door open and stepped into a bar. It was spotless, every surface gleaming softly in the low light. The peaceful ambiance clashed horribly with her choking feelings. Guilt, regret, fear. She hadn't been able to beat Mizuchi. She was supposed to be the strongest of the Rabbits, the best of the best. Yet, she had lost. When it mattered most, when a child was on the line, she hadn't been able to save them. Was good was all of her power if she couldn't used it-
Mikoto sat at the bar, where Izumo was polishing fine wine glasses. More faced scattered around the room, boys of Homra talking, bickering, eating. She catalogued their faces mechanically. Misaki Yata, Rikio Kamamoto, Saruhiko Fushimi and more.
Kaida's heart squeezed tight in her chest. She shoved the mask onto her face, hiding her wet eyes behind it.
"You're awake," Izumo said. The activity in the bar stopped and all eyes turned to her. Tatara was watching her, a placid smile in place. A video camera was aimed towards her.
Kaida nodded stiffly.
"That gash on your arm was pretty bad. You scared Yata, when you wouldn't wake up he brought you here." It was nice to at least know how she had arrived. She swallowed thickly. Her mouth tasted like chalk all of a sudden.
She crossed with the room with mechanical grace. Mikoto turned to look at her. She was devastated to find that now she, to, couldn't read his face.
They stood there like that for an eternity crammed into a few seconds, Mikoto staring straight into the blackness of her eye holes.
"Please," his face blurred before her eyes, "Please, Mikoto. You have to help her."
Izumo put down the glass. Mikoto's brows drew together.
"Who-"
"Anna!" she choked. "He's hurting her. I don't understand why. I-I couldn't save her. I didn't have the power. Please!" She dropped her head, squeezing her eyes shut as the tears over flowed and raced down her cheeks. "Please help her."
Mikoto's boot clacked on the floor when he stepped down from the barstool. He stopped just in front of her.
"Sure. We'll get Anna. But you have to do something too."
Kaida's head snapped up. She stared, wide eyed, at the man that stood before her.
Mikoto had grown. He stood a full head higher than she was, maybe more. His hair spiked up around his head, besides a couple of bangs that fell in his face. His eyes caught her. Tiger's eyes that glowed red instead of shining amber.
His fist was offered to her, fire wrapped around it. It flickered in front of her face.
"Never be afraid."
Kaida's heart throbbed. She tapped the back of her hand against his. Even if it burned her, that was fine. If she could make it up to Anna, for failing her… If she could make it up to Mikoto, for betraying his trust… She would let her skin smolder right off.
It wasn't as hot as she thought it would be. It didn't burn. Red stretched across her arm, wrapped around her whole body in a warm embrace that lifted her spirits and soothed her heart. The heat pulsed around her in a heartbeat. The gold mask on her face splintered and turned to ash, falling off around her shoulders.
Fire washed across her, freeing her from her golden prison.
Kari stared down at the grave dispassionately. She scattered seeds of queen anne's lace on the overturned earth, so perhaps some good could come from all this. She had no place in her heart for Chevy, and truthfully she hadn't so much as seen him since she practically moved in with Ace and Luffy after Sabo's 'death'.
Chevy was her uncle, yes, but she had no attachment to him. She was grateful that he had kept her fed and clothed for a few years, but that was it.
Did that make her a callous bitch?
Kari brushed her pants free of grass. A few strands of a long hair fell in front of her eyes, both black. She shook her head, sending it flying around her shoulders. It was too long now. It was getting unmanageable.
"You okay?" Ace asked. He and Luffy had been standing behind her while she offered a few respects to Chevy.
"Yeah," she smiled at them and held out her hands, one to each boy. Ace kissed her right cheek, and Luffy her nose. Her left cheek was for Sabo.
With one boy holding each hands she started walking back to the forest, where they belonged. Just the three of them, until Sabo was back in their fold. Sunlight dappled the forest floor, shimmering across tall grass and bushes. For once it was quiet in the woods, a few birds sang overhead but the massive beasts that usually plagued their travels stayed away. It was a nice day. A good day.
The three of them walked out of the forest, to where a cliff overlooked the sea. It was the same place that Ace had brought her to tell her about his lineage, all those years ago. Time had a funny way of passing.
Kari sat on the ground, dragging her boys with her. Luffy was just as big as she was these days, and Ace was taller by almost a full head. She would be tiny here as well.
Here, she would be no rabbit. Here, she was something else. Something more.
She was not the Red Queen of Homra, she was not Mikoto's bride or Anna's mother. She was not the granddaughter of the King of Timeless Palace.
She didn't know what she was. Not yet. She was Kari, she was Luffy and Ace and Sabo's girl.
That was enough.
"You guys… you know that you're my best friends rights?" she swallowed past words they deserved to hear. Why was it so hard to say it now? She had been able to do it before…
Luffy laughed and threw his stretchy arms around her and Ace, dragging them into a tumbling pile of awkwards limbs and indignation.
"Of course we know, Kari! You have to be friends with your future wife!"
"I never said yes! "
