Chapter 14--Shojo Characters

I AM SO SORRY! I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN TWO MONTHS!! AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE AN EXCUSE!! I was only in the hospital for a week out the two and a half months I haven't updated! (If you care, I had to have my appendix removed. It didn't burst, but it was scarred and chronically enflamed. But don't worry. I'm having a good recovery. :) ) It's just that it took forever to piece this chapter together! And then it's not even that long! T-T I'm truly sorry.

I whipped my head around, trying to decide before everybody lost. On a whim, I chose to try and stop the fire. I charged toward my brother and the tenkai. I raised my hand and some water from the river flowing beside the farm rose at my command. I threw it at the fire, and it died a little bit, but Skye kept it going.

I cursed under my breath, and leapt at the battling pair. Kurt still had Skye pinned down, and they were right at the centre of the growing flames.

I stepped on Skye's hand with all of my force, but he only winced in pain. If he had been human, his hand would have been severed.

I glared at him. "Put out the fire."

He shook his head.

"Put it out now," I growled.

"I'm doing it for you," he whispered.

"Doing what?!" I shrieked. "Destroying the life I've created to try and get away from you?! You're doing it for me?! Gee, thank you so much! I really appreciate it!"

Skye clenched his teeth. "I'm also doing it for your parents."

That stabbed me. I looked away from him.

"You don't know anything about them," I muttered.

"They asked me personally to ensure that you became a tenkai," he said slowly. "Do you want to put them through the same pain your mongrel brother here put them through?"

Kurt growled, his tail flicking in rage. Our parents were never a good subject for either of us.

Our parents are both full tenkai. Kurt and I both inherited their traits, and as babies we should have been converted right away, but mom and dad wanted us to be normal for a while, since they were living among humans and didn't want their children to be blowing holes in the walls and causing the neighbours to call the police. (But we were still abnormal children anyway.) By the time I was born, they still hadn't gotten around to converting Kurt, so they decided to do it when I turned sixteen, when we would both fully understand how to act normal. But when Kurt turned fifteen, he had met a group of other people that weren't human. He had never liked the idea of being a tenkai, and so he went ahead and turned himself into a lion.

Mom and dad were devastated; dad hit the roof and mom cried for days.

And then they found out I wanted nothing to do with being a tenkai.

They tried to convince me it was better for me, blah blah blah. But I had made up my mind. After living like I am forever, I was already weird enough. I was super fast but super clumsy. Ultra strong but frightened easily, yet I was never injured. A loser that was good in gym class, basically. They told me I'd be even more beautiful and such if I switched over, but I just didn't want to.

But soon after, I met Skye. He had me on the brink of converting.

But then I found out he had been ruining all of my dates, and my reputation at school, and who knows what else that could make me miserable. As if to say, 'your life sucks. Change into a tenkai.'

I moved out when I was seventeen. I got phone calls from my parents all the time, but got used to letting it ring. And I didn't even tell them I had moved out here.

"Just…stop the fire," I hissed, trying to recover.

"If you convert, right here, right now, I will stop the fire and none of your friends will be harmed in anyway," Skye said calmly.

"That's not fair. You know I won't…"

He smiled. "It can be an easy choice, or a hard one. Let your new found friends die or become superhuman. You'd have to be retarded to not see the clear choice."

I clenched my fists. "You don't understand…!"

"What don't I understand, Hozumi?" he asked in that silky smooth voice.

Before I knew it, I was tearing up. I tried to rub them away, but it was useless. "You know I love…shojo manga…"

He looked at me like I was a toaster. Yes. A toaster.

"What the hell?" he said. "I mean, yes…"

"I was always admiring the heroines…they could make a guy fall in love with him no matter what their personality…" I continued, feeling like an idiot. "By being themselves."

"Why are you bringing fictional characters into this?" Skye sounded confused.

I gave him a cold look. "Stop the fire, and I'll keep going."

He clenched his teeth. He glanced at the match, and flicked his wrist. The flames dispersed into a little ball, lingering close by.

"I wanted to be like those girls. Just do whatever and make guys love me. But I couldn't. I was just…too weird."

"Then becoming a tenkai--"

"Shut up! I'm not done," I interrupted his interruption. "I wanted to be myself! Not some fake demon thing! I don't want the looks that come from being something I don't want to be, and the powers that shouldn't be mine, to get a boyfriend!"

Skye shoved Kurt off; Kurt growled, but stepped back, allowing him to stand. But he was ready to leap at Skye at any time.

Skye brushed himself off, laughing. I braced myself for whatever he was about to do.

"You think people wouldn't love you for you? Your personality?" he asked.

I frowned. Not really expecting a question. "That's…right."

"You're so stupid," he muttered.

"Hey! Shut up!" I retorted.

Suddenly, he stepped forward and embraced me. I gasped. "What are you--?!"

"You think people don't love you?" he whispered. "Have you looked around? Do you know how many guys have fallen for you? By you being you?"

I couldn't respond--even if I could, I don't know what I would have said--because Skye kissed me.

Caught off guard, I tried to step away, but he just pushed me back against the tree and continued kissing me.

His lips were so familiar. They fit mine so perfectly. His scent was so enticing, his skin so flawless, his taste delectable. I loved it, but I hated it. So much.

Finally putting my foot down, I bit his lip. He winced and stopped for a second, but quickly recovered and tried again.

For some reason, that was when I remembered the villagers were all watching closely. They were really confused, I could tell. Why does she have a lion on her farm? What the hell happened to that fire? Why is a beautiful guy kissing her? And why the hell is she resisting?

"Get off of her this instant, Skye."

He froze at the voice; it was clear, powerful, and beautiful.

He took his lips away from mine, and we both looked to the sky. Two alluring figures with the same wings as Skye landed on the grass gracefully.

My throat was dry. "Mother…father…" The back of Kurt's throat rumbled, and he shifted uncomfortably.

My mother smiled at me bitter sweetly. "Hello, my precious children."

--

I HOPE YOU LIKED IT!! I'M SORRY AGAIN!!!! Please review...and please tell me which boy you want to be with Hozumi/Skye/Naomi, or I'll pick for you!!!!