I seriously need to take a nap. Took me two days to type this chapter, but it took forever for me to start it. Thanks for your reviews!
CHAPTER 7
Just a Touch
Grayson pulled Kira into the kitchen. He folded his arms at her, his frustrations resurfacing. "Really? You just had to be stubborn." It was weird to see him like this. "You risked you and your friends' lives!"
Not liked being scolded, Kira bit back. "I don't want to be under house arrest! At least I wasn't alone!"
He groaned, reeling his head back as he collected his thoughts. "You're missing the point! I asked you to just tell me where you were! Sure, you did at the last minute. And bringing more people into this will only make things trickier! How can you be so sure you can trust them? And now we have to tell Souji."
"Excuse me?" She hissed. "I've known those two ever since I was little, I'm pretty sure they can keep a secret! And you were the one who said he deserved to know!"
Letting out a breath, he shook his head, admitting defeat. "Yeah, yeah, just text him to get over here."
It took five minutes to carefully explain what happened to Okita over text, and it took him two minutes to get to Grayson's, nearly bounding through the front door. Kira had a feeling that he went fury-mode and ran. He certainly wasn't too happy when he saw the two in the kitchen, Grayson standing close to Kira. Through the dull light from a nearby lamp, she could see the ends of his hair turn from silver to light brown.
"Way to keep me out of the loop." He grunted as he gave Kira a look. She held her hands up in defense. "We just escaped with our lives, give me a break!" She was getting tired of this.
"You could've just stayed home!" He exclaimed.
Maya called out, "Hey! At least she's telling you now." She muttered to herself, "I need to lock that front door…" Okita cut off his icy stare with Kira and then looked at Grayson.
The other male arched a brow, "What?"
"Were you with them when that happened?" He gestured to Bryn, still knocked out on the couch.
"No. Kira doesn't tell me everything either." By then she was getting cold gazes from both guys. She furrowed her brows and finally told them the entire story. The two's expressions softened slightly, but she could tell they were still annoyed with her.
"So now she knows too." Okita finally said. Casy looked up. "I said I promise I won't say anything. But...what about Bryn?"
"You want more people in on this?" He asked Grayson.
"Well we can't exactly lie to her. That adds more problems." He admitted, although he didn't seem too crazy about the idea.
Meanwhile in Kira's brain, everything was a mess. At first she was so sure that her reasons would justify what she did, but after facing the two, she wasn't certain anymore. It was obvious they cared about her, but she didn't want that to control her life. Sure, she survived Edo, but technically that was because she had a bunch of people protecting her. And now she felt guilty for dragging her friends in on this. Were they going to be targeted too? What happens if they get attacked again?
She didn't even want to get started on what the media would concoct out of this. The fury was certainly knocked out cold thanks to Maya. Man assaulted in stairwell? Something would come up by tomorrow that's for sure.
Ugh! What's wrong with me? Kira didn't have time to recede further into her mind as a groan came from the couch. The room went still as Bryn scrunched up her face and blinked a few times. A hand went to rub her eye, but she yelped in pain and took her hand back. Fingers gingerly touching the bruise, she slowly pushed herself up with the help of Maya. "What happened?" Her voice sounded distant. And then a bit clearer. "I have the biggest headache…"
Casy tried to add humor to her relief, "Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty. We uh…" she looked at the other three for help. "Need to tell you something."
It seemed like it was Story Telling with Kira-day since she was automatically picked to explain what happened. First she showed the shiner Bryn got, and she looked ready to go for a rematch, but was quickly shot down. More questions lead to another as Kira finally got to her original story with the Edo Period and her time travel. She felt like she needed a glass of water after explaining for a solid hour.
Apparently Bryn laughed everything off at the end, claiming that they were all screwing with her, or this was some sort of dream. "Nice try. I appreciate the story though, really creative; I give you ten points."
"You two, show her." Maya piped up.
The two guys looked at each other, but Grayson replied, "I'll do it. I have better control over it than you do." Okita raised his eyebrows, ticked. He didn't say anything though and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Grayson narrowed his eyes as a mysterious blue flame sparked near his foot. It flickered before it race around him in a circle before ribbons of blue fire flew from the ground. Bryn's eyes widened. "What―what's going on?!"
The ends of his hair turned to a silvery white, his eyes flashed a brilliant gold...and horns protruded from his forehead. It took a while for Kira to process it; he was a pureblood? She tried not to look as surprised as her friends.
The flames evaporated and left him in his final form. He didn't seem bothered by the stares he was getting, but he somewhat avoided Kira's gaze. Bryn stared in disbelief, Casy in shock, and Okita unimpressed.
"Okay...okay, okay." Bryn flopped back on the couch, covering her face gingerly with her hands. "Wow."
Maya was silent for a moment, and then said, "You should've done that before she told the story." She earned a glare from Grayson. His piercing gold eyes gave him an even bigger aura of danger. Kira could sense Maya's slight uneasiness. Heck, she was getting a little nervous the more she realized the extra power Grayson had inside. Purebloods were creatures she didn't want to mess with especially...considering everything that happened to her.
"Get an eye full?" He asked Bryn. She nodded and he fluidly shifted back to his human form.
"So that was the thing that attacked us?" She asked, voice muffled by her hands.
"Not quite, but yeah. A fury."
Sitting up, she pointed at the two guys. "Both of you are…"
"Yep. And there's more of us coming." Okita finished.
She didn't like how he was making it sound like some sort of war. She went through one a few months ago, and she wasn't so sure if she was ready for another one...considering how bad it would get in a matter of hours. Everything was getting so complex.
Her relationships with everyone were overlapping each other, knotting up in the center of the web. The two guys were obviously connected somehow, something she had yet to figure out, and they were connected to her. Casy and Bryn were dropped in the middle of the mess and were now relying heavily off of her to explain what was going on, since they seemed tense around the guys after discovering their dark secret. And then there was Maya...all she knew was that she was the sister. No known powers...but she could kick butt.
Maya found herself bored of the conversation and dismissed herself to her room, punching her brother playfully on the shoulder before she trudged upstairs, leaving the five in the living room.
Bryn was told the plan for tomorrow, and she was more than happy to go along with it...hopefully her parents wouldn't be too shocked to see her walk through the door with a bruise covering half of her face.
"I think we should call it a night." Grayson suggested, noting the dazed looks on both girls. "It's been a long day…"
"Way ahead of you." Byrn nodded as she stood up. Casy took out her keys, and Kira gave her a look. "Are you okay?" She asked.
Casy replied with a small grin. "My brain's been screwed with, but I'm fine." Grayson followed them out, including Okita. As Kira ducked behind his arm, which was holding the door open, he stopped her. "Please for the love of god, text me when you get home. Please."
She nodded, wondering if she should say something else. Apologize maybe? "See you tomorrow." He gave her a small smile and eyed Okita.
He simply brushed past him and bumped into Kira, silently telling her to move along. Kira gave Grayson a shrug and went to the car. Okita asked for a car ride home, Casy, albeit hesitant, agreed. The car ride was silent.
The next day, Kira walked up to a table with Bryn wearing a smug grin and a few extra friends listening to the big story of last night. It was nice to see how well her friends adjusted to their new discovery, but the long-simmered anger she had towards Okita and Grayson had turned into a dull throb of guilt.
In speaking of Okita and Grayson...she didn't see Grayson at the table―not that she expected him to drop by every morning or anything. She texted him when she got home, and she got no response. Maybe it was payback for how she was treating him the past few days.
Okita would be someone she would definitely see today. She had English with him. Sure enough, she found him sitting in his usual spot, and he greeted her with a wave. A few minutes after the bell rang, their class migrated to the library to fill out some survey in the computer lab. The day she wanted to just talk and she couldn't until after she finished the survey. Her teacher said they could just hang in the library for the rest of class when they were done.
When the two finished, they found themselves wandering through the tall bookcases. A middle aged woman had her glasses perched on her nose as she was putting books away in one of the aisles.
"I'm sorry." She finally said.
Okita casually looked through the rows of books and stared at the titles on the spines. "For what?"
"Last night," she added, "it was really stupid of me."
He feigned confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Making a frustrated noise, she yanked him back by his backpack. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. I totally understand why you're pissed, but be at least more mature than me!" It was hard to keep her voice quiet. She collected her thoughts and continued softly, "I should've just told you where I was going."
Okita looked at her, torn. "It wouldn't've hurt to just tell me before you got there."
"So…" she paused, "are you mad about my friends knowing?"
He sighed. "I think humans should be Aware rather than our existence being a secret. It makes things easier; we won't have to lie all the time." Okita paused. "How's your friend?"
"Oh, Bryn? She's taking advantage of the glory. Did you hear anything on the news?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. He must've left before anyone else showed. I'm kinda glad; one less thing to worry about."
One less thing to worry about was right. If the media jumped in on this, who knows what could happen in the future...not that she knew what was going to happen anyways. She hated keeping secrets, and this one especially she had to tiptoe around and try to not hurt anyone's feelings; obviously failing.
Casy wasn't mad at Kira for keeping her secret. She texted her when Kira was about to go to bed the other night, encouraging her that she did the right thing in not telling them first thing. She didn't want to endanger them so quickly, and Casy understood that. Thank god for Casy.
Her friend then went off and tried to educate herself with furies, but found nothing...probably thanks to D.A.R.A.'s expertise in destroying evidence over the years. Kira had given her all the knowledge she had about furies to Casy, who seemed to get more and more excited about it with each question.
The trick was to keep everyone safe.
"Are you listening?" Okita's question brought her back from meandering too far in her thoughts.
"No," she admitted. "sorry; was thinking about stuff." Okita continued where he left off and burned up ten more minutes. His bitterness towards her had tapered, and she thought it was safe to say he forgave her. Getting hungry, Kira decided to go to the vending machine sitting outside the library doors. Fishing out her wallet, she looked at her options and went with a bag of chips. Fumbling around to find a quarters, she accidentally let a nickel slip from her fingers and it made a small cling! on the tiled floors before clattering on a face side. "Crap, could you pick that up?" She asked. Her arm was holding a water bottle against her side and the other her backpack.
Okita bent down and plucked the nickel off the floor, immediately jerking his hand back and letting it fall to the floor again. She looked at him strangely as he stood back up, shoving his hand into his pocket. "Here, I can put the quarters in for you, you get the nickel."
She pursed her lips, confused why he was being so childish now. "You just had it!" She exclaimed as she put her coins in the slot, punching in the numbers. As the bag was slowly being released, she watched him as he hesitantly reached for the nickel again, this time with his hand covered by his jacket sleeve.
She scooped the nickel off the floor before he could reach and she examined the coin. It glinted at her as she moved it around. "What, you can't touch nickels?"
He instinctively looked away. "Certain types, yes."
"What, like silver―you can't touch silver." She stated; realization dawned on her. "How? Why didn't you tell me this?" She grabbed his covered hand and examined the small burn on his index finger and thumb.
"...you can get your food now." He said, jerking his hand back. She gave him a surprised look and snatched her food from the machine, putting the bag and wallet back. "When was this?! The silver thing!"
"I dunno, ever since the beginning?" He scowled. "I thought you already knew, since you lived with a bunch of us before. Aren't you supposed to be an expert?"
She glared at him, not liking his sudden change in tone. "Why are you getting so mad? I never said I was an expert! They...they must've figured that out until after I left! Maybe you or Grayson could've told me something so I could protect myself! Last night, for example!"
"Should I just give you a list of all my weaknesses while I'm at it then?" He snapped.
She groaned, rolling her eyes. "So all furies don't like silver."
"Yes," he huffed. "If it wasn't obvious enough for you." She realized that the bracelet Maya wore was silver...or it looked like it at least. That was why the fury was easily knocked down, not because of her strength, but the silver. "It's like a werewolf thing I guess. It also slows down our healing rate to a human's." He explained, trying to calm down.
"Maybe I should just wear a silver necklace or bracelet then everywhere I go. That'll give you two some relief." She made a mental note to tell her friends too.
"You don't have to wear any silver around me. I won't do anything." Okita's voice lowered.
She hated this. Both of them, both guys, would get so worked up about whatever she had to say, and then they go on like she plunged a knife into their backs...might as well be silver. Okita was being strange, and she hated this feeling of not being able to read him like her old Okita. Old Okita kept on flirting and making jokes with her, and this one…this one rarely flirted and seemed so tense about everything.
"Does that apply for purebloods too?"
"As far as I know. Try poking his arm with a silver spoon and see what happens."
Kira's phone went off, making her gasp with surprise. She must've forgotten to put it on silent. She took out her phone, realizing Grayson finally texted her back. "Mr. D.A.R.A., huh?" Okita inquired.
"Seriously, what's with you two?" She asked absentmindedly as she read his text:
Hey, sorry for not responding. Had to tell dara about what happened last night. They had some people check out the scene and now one agent is keeping an eye on his movements. They haven't said anything about casy n bryn so I think we'll be fine for now...please...just tell me where you're going now xD
She lowered her phone and looked up at Okita, giving him a half smile. "His higher ups haven't said anything about Casy and Bryn, and they're keeping an eye on the fury from last night. The world hasn't exploded yet, Souji."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You obviously don't like D.A.R.A.. What did they ever do to you?"
He stood there, face guarded. "I promise I'll tell you later." She looked at him and finally dismissed the subject. She shot Grayson back a response and put her phone aside. "Sorry...it's been a long week." She said lamely.
What she didn't expect was being brought into a hug. She froze as she heard his voice resonate through her entire body since her head was resting against his chest. "Stop apologizing. You're the first human to know about my secret. I keep on forgetting you aren't always in the loop." He said quietly. With a sigh, his hand squeezed her shoulder before he let go of her.
The spot where his hand touched her shoulder buzzed, and it lingered for a moment. Okita avoided her gaze, and she avoided his. Nodding, she fumbled for her bag of chips and opened it, nibbling on a chip. Suddenly feeling awkward, she offered the bag and he refused with a wave of his hand. The two went back inside, Kira sneaking in her food, and they claimed a table near the windows. By now, most of the class was let out, so the library was filled with soft chatters of students.
Okita looked at the small burns on his fingers and then hid them back inside his jacket sleeve. Maybe telling Grayson she could walk around with some silver objects would get him to ease up on the whole 'text when you leave' deal.
Grayson missed the entire day of school. After English, Grayson told her that D.A.R.A. had to give him further instructions. He had to stay home, which disappointed Kira. She at least wanted to apologize to him in person. She figured she might as well, since she already said her apology to Okita.
She later got a text from her dance instructor for school, saying she couldn't coach today's practice due to a last minute emergency. Practice on their own time was encouraged but after school practice wasn't on for today. She mentioned it to Okita nonchalantly, and he asked her:
Wanna hang for a few hours before kendo?
She tried her best to not make it sound like she jumped to say 'yes' and decided to meet him at their usual spot. This time, it was crowded, so it was hard to spot Okita until he was in arm's reach. The two hurried to the car to avoid the rush, and managed to get to his house in a decent amount of time.
"Just a warning, my sister is a huge slob." Okita said as they made it to his front porch. She had never seen his sister before, even back in the Edo Period. He opened the door, and a head poke up from the couch. "Hey, you finally found a friend?"
He rolled his eyes. "Good to see you too. Kira, this is Mitsu."
"Hi, nice to meet you," she smiled and Mitsu returned the same. She was well into her late twenties. She shared the same reddish-brown hair, which was tied up and her bangs framing her face. "You're home early." She stated as she turned the volume down from the TV.
"Kira's dance practice was cancelled. We have nothing else to do." He said as he kicked off his shoes, and Kira mirrored his actions. He had her follow him into the kitchen and he opened the fridge. "Want anything?"
She took out a water bottle and some snacks from her bag. "I'm good." She wandered around in the kitchen, finding a seat at the kitchen table, which was home to a few stacks of mail and a set of car keys. Okita lived in a newer house; appliances were new. Boy, her mom would die for this kitchen. It was a large, open kitchen which flowed into the living room, which had high ceilings. The foyer she walked through to get to the kitchen had rooms branching from the sides and it had an extra room filled with opened boxes and power cords scattered along the laminate floors. It seemed like they had a majority of the things unpacked, and they just needed a place to put the extra stuff. Not bad for two people in a house.
She looked on ahead to Mitsu, who was now searching through channels and wrapped in a blanket. She wondered what she was like back in Edo...she knew she had to give up Okita since she couldn't support him back then, so how come she could do that here?
And what about the others? Heisuke, Saito...everyone else? Were they also reincarnated? Or was only Okita involved? Kira mulled over the possibilities, shivering because of the draft that came from the kitchen window. "Hey, wanna go to my room?" Okita asked, taking a sip of a smoothie, probably found in the fridge. Kira furrowed her brows and it took him a while to process what he just said. He widened his eyes, scrambling to fix his answer, "No―wow, sorry, that was creepy. I meant like, it's warmer in there? Damn," he laughed under his breath, "I won't do anything, I swear."
She couldn't help but laugh. "No, you're fine. The old you wouldn't do anything like that, so why would you?" He nodded, eyes not meeting hers. He led her to his room, down the hall. He ushered her inside and left the door open. She had been with Okita alone many times when she was in Kyoto, but she had never been alone with the current one. The car didn't exactly count. Kira claimed the rolly chair and he flopped on his bed. She looked around a found a katana propped up on a shelf. Of course. "You were in kendo in Japan right?" She asked suddenly.
He looked up at her. "Yep."
"Did you...have any friends named Saito, Heisuke...or Sano? Or even Hijikata?" She smiled at the memory of him constantly pestering the Demon Vice Commander. Okita snorted and tried to cover it with a cough. "Nope. Those guys only exist in history books." She smiled wryly. "Too bad, I thought they could've been reincarnated. I'm surprised I saw your sister."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, she apparently gave up old-Okita when he was nine, and Kondo took him...you in." Technically it was him...but not 'him-him'. "I never saw her when I was in Kyoto."
"Huh, maybe the fates wanted to change things up a bit." He rolled on his back, looking up at the ceiling. "Mitsu is the best. She took care of me since our parents died." Kira was silent. "We still had American citizenship, so when they died in Japan we went back to America."
"When was this?"
"Few years ago," he shrugged. "My folks worked under the same company, so they had some work they had to do in Japan. We had...some run-ins with rogue furies and D.A.R.A.; they got killed by one. I was fifteen when this happened."
Kira stared at him with a very surprised look on her face. "What?! God...that's...that's horrible." Her heart lurched. "Did D.A.R.A. do something?"
He shook his head. "Not exactly...they housed us and sent us money while we were trying to cope with everything, but they stopped doing it after…" his voice faltered.
"You don't have to tell me," she said hurriedly, "you can tell me later if you want."
"No," he insisted, "I might as well tell you. I'm not a fan of keeping things secret for too long. A few days after the attack, I was walking home from school and some kid had kicked a soccer ball off the field and it rolled up to me. I picked it up and lo and behold, it was Grayson." he did an attempt at jazz hands. "So then we started to play. He was fun to hang out with, and turned out he lived just a few houses down from where I lived. I didn't know his family was affiliated with D.A.R.A. at the time. Few years later, I decided to tell him my secret." His lips formed a scowl. "And he promised he would keep it a secret. You know what happened after that?" He sat up, facing Kira. "The next day, I had D.A.R.A. agents at my front door trying to take me away from my sister! She fought back and convinced them to let me stay with her for one more night. And then we left." He smiled bitterly. "And that's it."
She stared at him, horrified. He had a messed up life! That was...that was so unfair! "That wasn't that long ago…" she murmured. It was hard to imagine how quickly his life changed after the attack, how he was nearly taken away from what was left of his family.
That's why he hated Grayson so much.
"Now you know. I was less than happy when I realized he found his way here. You can't trust him, Kira. He'll screw you over like he did me, and I don't want that to happen to anyone else." Kira slouched against the chair, saying nothing. Okita noted her silence and added, "Sorry, didn't mean to make everything so depressing."
"No, no...it's just...wow. You've been through a lot."
He reached over the gap they had in between and pinched her cheek. "Okay, just don't feel bad for me. I'm fine now." He smiled slightly. "Still don't like the guy. Just saying."
She smiled and swatted his hand away playfully. "Yeah, I can tell why...so what do you wanna do?"
Ugh, I really hated typing this chapter. But geeze, writing in a library is easier than at home! I think it's just the atmosphere or something. I've been listening to library background noises when I'm not in one and I managed to get through this chapter in a few days! Took me a while to start it though. Thanks so much for your reviews! I hope I didn't bore you to death with this chapter :'D
Let me know what you think! I'll be back with another one as always.
-Jen
