Kyusu

Ever since her secret had gotten out to her clan, Neirah was reluctant to visit the only place she had truly felt at home. Her feet were heavy that day as she walked through the streets with her schoolbag draped over her shoulder and her fist tugging on her skirt to keep the blustery breeze from upturning it. January is almost over, is what she kept telling herself as the remainder of the snow-speckled streets revealed themselves under the bright sun. It wasn't that there weren't chilly days in February, or any month, for that matter. She just hoped, deep in her heart, that if more time passed, her friends would forget that she had family outside of HOMRA.

Mikoto was the worst. Since the day earlier that month that he had answered Hisashi's phone call, her relentless father had been calling her almost daily, and if Mikoto noticed her phone ringing outside of her comprehension, he would answer. It had become annoying enough that she had stopped carrying her PDA altogether, which caused Izumo's lectures to intensify. All of this equated to her peaceful home straining because of a past she couldn't face. It reminded her of her first year with HOMRA, and the courage it had taken her to ask her king for his aid. But this time, she didn't want it. She didn't want anyone's help. She tried to face her fears on her own to prove that she could. Unfortunately, as she passed the time procrastinating, her patience wore thin.

"Tsukiyo! Hey, Tsukiyo!

Neirah's ears rang with the sound of Gin's voice calling out to her as Izumo's bar came into sight, and all she wanted to do was sprint the rest of the way in hopes of escaping his prying eyes. The Red Clan hadn't been nearly as hostile with him as they used to be, and she found it ironic that she only had herself to blame, but she wished they'd chase him off just once more for old time's sake.

She didn't run, but she didn't stop either, forcing him to push his limits to catch up to her. Gin had never been overly athletic, but he acted more than determined when he had his heart set on something. Gin had been that way since they'd first met. Once he set his mind to something, telling him 'no' wasn't an option. Eye contact was something else she denied him when he finally arrived next to her, clasping his heaving chest like he'd sprinted a marathon.

Gin's voice was weak with exhaustion by the time he'd finally straightened. "Didn't you hear me calling out to you?" he murmured apprehensively. Despite his interrogation, his tone remained meek and troubled by uncertainty. "I've been chasing you for quite a while."

It was clear that Neirah wasn't going to show him sympathy. "How could I have not?" she bleakly droned. She kept her tapered azure gaze locked on the sight of her home, reminding herself that every step drew her nearer to its comfort. She would take their nosy prying into her personal affairs if it meant she didn't have to face Gin that afternoon. "I think the whole block could hear you."

Gin startled to the intensity of her expression, which caused him to stagger a step behind her. With a gentle catch in his voice, he continued. "Ah, sorry. It's just… you kept walking."

Her tone was flat as she rejected his sincerity. "That's because I have somewhere to be."

Letting a half-hearted smile find his lips, Gin reached up under the ruby frame of his glasses to scratch his temple. A hostile vibe was causing his brow to sweat while he contemplated her seriousness. "Y-yeah, you're always there. That's how I managed to find you." He turned his meek expression her way and searched it for signs of mercy, turning up with nothing reassuring. "You haven't been answering any of my calls for the past week, so I was worried you might've gotten sick again."

"I can assure you that I'm quite well." Her forward statement was slow in hopes that he wouldn't get many more quips in before she had passed through the front doors of the bar. "I haven't been carrying my PDA lately."

There was genuine concern on Gin's face for a moment before he instigated the conversation, encouraged to lighten her mood with talk of her treasured friends. She always became more approachable when they were the topic. "Is Kusanagi-san okay with that? I mean, he gets worried about you, doesn't he?"

Neirah finally stopped and not close enough to HOMRA's entrance to dive through the doors in search of cover. Her final step fell slowly against the pavement, and her fists balled by her shapely hips as the fire flickered behind her eyes. "That's none of your business," she sneered under her breath. It took everything she had left that day to keep from baring her fangs and roaring her displeasure. Instead, the words spat vehemently from deep within her chest, and they came out roughened as a result. "Don't pretend like you're one of us."

With a soft whimper, Gin recoiled by her side. Her words pierced him and left his heart to ache with uncertainty as his timid expression watched her face contort with traces of rejection. It had been a while since she had been so cold. "I-I'm sorry." He wasn't sure why he was apologizing for caring, but he felt like his concern had somehow enraged her.

A sharp, stabbing pain caused Neirah to grind her teeth as she considered the abrasion to attack her kind companion, but she couldn't lighten her demeanour. All she wanted was for him to leave her alone. She pinched her curt retort through her clenched jaw in hopes of keeping her tone even, despite her blood beginning to boil like molten metals preparing to forge weapons for their clash. "Go home, Okazaki-san."

She'd always been formal with him to avoid familiarity, but something about the way she spoke his name that day filled him with feelings of detachment. The moment she moved to step away from him, desperation seized his body and dismissed all forms of caution. With a panic-stricken expression desperate to hold on to their companionship, Gin reached out with frantic fingers towards her shoulders in hopes of stopping her retreat. "Tsukiyo, wait, I-!"

With wild eyes blazing, Neirah sidestepped the contact, leaving him to stumble forward when she leapt away from where he had overstepped and nearly made contact with her skin. He knew what he had done the moment their eyes locked, but at that point, it was too late to forgive him. "What do you think you're doing?!" she thundered wrathfully. "How many times have I told you-?!"

"Not to help a friend!?" Gin was just as surprised as Neirah was when he raised his voice to her, and although he was the one to make demands, he was also the one to flee backwards a step. The force behind his words marked his passion on the subject, but it was a passion he'd never displayed before. Mild-mannered was always an accurate way to describe the man, or so he thought, up until that point.

His breathing began to tremble as he watched her seething violently in front of him. Suddenly, she had become the fierce animal that was seen by her victims, the underground hunter that always caught her prey. There was a lethal glint in the lion's eyes as she stared back at him in utter bemusement, watching him regret his decision to provoke her. A more intelligent part of him realized that a tactical retreat might have been in order, but he couldn't help trying just one more time to remind her that he wasn't going to give up on her.

"I know something is wrong," he rushed out frantically. "You were sick for a while, and then you stopped carrying your PDA, and now you're acting pretty tense. Things were going well between the two of us up until earlier this month. If I did something wrong-"

"Stop talking." Neirah's words were rigid and filled with venom as she hissed them between ground teeth. "This doesn't concern you."

Gin took a slight step towards her, growing braver with the consideration that she had yet to lash out or retreat. "Did something happen to one of your fellow clansmen? Is Kamamoto-san okay?"

"Enough!" Her livid yell was enough to petrify him in one place, causing his entire body to quake as the beast flashed its fangs. "Don't you dare talk about my life like you could ever understand!"

"That's not what I'm trying to do!" he meekly defended. "But how could I when you won't let me?! You didn't even tell me that there was more than one clan, in Tokyo, none-the-less. You didn't tell me there were more kings, or that you didn't get along with them. I was worried about you! It's one thing for you to fight with normal people like me, but those other clansmen have powers too, right?! That means they fight on the same level as you!"

"Don't look down on HOMRA," she cautioned him in a forboding hiss. "None of them could even come close to matching our strength."

Gin shook off his apprehensions in hopes that he could finally break the barrier that she'd used to lock him out. "What's keeping you from telling me what's wrong?" He threw out his arm and nervously pointed towards HOMRA, sitting not far from where they stood. "I bet Totsuka-san knows! You tell him everything!" His voice lowered with his arm. "And, I guess, I don't understand why. You weren't even sure he existed, at first, but you tell him more than you would ever tell a friend who's been by your side for far longer than he has. Someone you knew from the start was real."

He quickly retracted his arm towards his chest, watching Neirah begin to tremble with what he presumed was ire. He softened his voice, staggering just one more step forward in hopes that she would finally open her heart to him, even if it were the left side. "I promise I'm not trying to replace him. I just wish you'd tell me what I'm doing wrong. What happens if there ever comes a day when he's not there anymore, just like you were afraid of? Are you just going to go through your entire life, relying on a single person to help you through the hard times? And if so, why can't it be me?" Disappointment clouded his dark brown eyes as he lowered them towards the ground. "Is it because I don't have special powers like he does? Or-"

"Leave." Neirah's low growl was seething with intensity, and as Gin observed her ferocious switch in disposition, he swore he saw flames licking her white knuckles in preparation to extend her claws.

But he couldn't leave. He'd never been an overly confrontational man, but something about the suffering woman in front of him promised that she was worth fighting for, in the end. "I-I won't," he persisted during his unsteady approach. "Not until you finally see that there are other people here who care about you."

Neirah slammed her clenched fists down by her hips and pinched her eyes tightly shut as she raised her voice in a livid screech. "Get out of my life!"

Just as Neirah was about to lunge with her fist drawn back by her head, she felt a strong hand arresting her collar to keep her steady. The opposing set of fingers fell on Gin's chest before the kinked digits extended, the lazy effort causing enough force to result in Gin shoving backwards. She watched him tumble to the ground beneath the strength past the lick of warning flames weaving between thick fingertips, and she raised her hand to the centre of her collar to touch the immovable reassurance resisting her persistence. "Rikio…" she whispered faintly.

Rikio's expression was hard, and luckily, his sunglasses concealed the burn in his eyes as he glowered at the man daring to raise his voice to their hunter. He'd never liked Gin from the start, so he wasn't long in taking Neirah's defence when he heard elevated tones bantering in the street outside of HOMRA. "You heard the lady." His tone was a deep snarl under his breath, similar to the one he'd used on Gin the day they'd met. "Get lost."

Finally, the hesitancy returned to Gin's expression as he stared back at the defence his persistence had summoned. "B-but, Kamamoto-san-!"

"S' this guy givin' you trouble, Tsukiyo?!" When Misaki stepped out along the opposite side of her as Rikio, he slammed his anxious fist into his opposing palm with a bright burst of flame. "I knew that nerd was no good! Want me to waste him?!"

Neirah's heart was in pieces watching Gin raise his forearm with a look of fear on his gentle features, but it was hard to determine whether or not his likeness to Tatara had anything to do with her guilt. All he wanted was to consider himself her friend, and she threw it back into his face. She had never felt so cowardly as she did at that moment. Her grip on Rikio's fingers tightened as she fought her welling emotion, trying to untangle her tongue and tell her hounds to heel. She didn't know how to remind Gin that her avoidance was only to protect him because she cared to have him in her life. It was something she worried he'd never believe after she had been so cruel.

Without further command, Misaki tilted his rear heel against the ground to brace his stance in preparation to pounce. "Don't just sit there," he commanded ardently. "We said beat it-!"

A staggered gag intercepted his strike when Rikio retracted his hand from Neirah's collar to snag Misaki's sweater, keeping the unruly youth from advancing any further. Rikio had felt the tender tremor in Neirah's fingers, begging him to maintain order while she struggled to find her words, so that was what he did and without a second thought.

"Damn it!" Misaki roared. He stumbled back and straightened at Rikio's feet, stretching his body as tall as it would go to try and distract Rikio's attention away from where it carefully observed Gin from behind his shades. All he wanted to do was knock brows with the interfering presence. "What the hell's the big idea, callin' me back like that?! You just gonna let asshole's like this go around threatenin' Tsukiyo?!"

"But I didn't-"

Gin flinched when Rikio locked his forearm around Misaki's throat to keep the irritated vanguard from lurching back on the offensive. All the while, his eyes never left Gin's trembling coffee stare. "Last chance, Okazaki," Rikio rumbled flatly. "Turn tail, or I'm turnin' him loose."

"What the fuck?! I'm not some dog you can sick on whoever you damn well please-!"

"Then quit acting like it!"

Misaki startled to the sound of impatient rage that seemed to crack Rikio's generally pleasant personality with a fierce intensity. Just when he was about to squirm some more, he caught the sight of Neirah just behind them, her face twisted like she was fighting the need to scream. In an instant, he'd stopped scrambling, letting his clawing fingers still against Rikio's forearm as he watched Neirah's eyes glaze. They were beautiful eyes, filled with emotion, and none of what he saw wanted to hurt the man Rikio had knocked to the ground.

"Shit…" Misaki's brow knotted before he hissed bitterly and slithered out of Rikio's grasp. "Let go of me, fatass," he spat under his breath. Once he'd broken free, he managed to rein in his temper in respect of the wishes Neirah couldn't speak, wishes that Rikio had already heard. Part of his frustration remained with his inability to be playing catch-up to his old pal, who seemed to comprehend their hunter far better than Misaki ever could.

When he turned to lock his eyes with Gin's, his entire body stiffened with the need to attack anyone responsible for hurting his friend, and she was undoubtedly hurting. "Well, you heard him then." Turning his nose up and closing his eyes, Misaki flipped out his hand to banish Gin's nuisance. "Go on. Disappear, okay? Unless you're lookin' to leave here in pieces."

Gin's breathing faltered, and he felt the cold sting of betrayal deep within his core. He didn't take his eyes off Neirah, and although she had lost her edge, she didn't raise her voice to call off her protectors. "Tsukiyo… C-can we talk about this-?"

"Oi!" Misaki snapped to attention lividly as his short fuse rekindled. "What'd I just say, shithead!? Are you lookin' to die?!"

"Yata…" There was a tenderness in Neirah's speech that threatened to weaken further if the situation continued to escalate.

When Misaki whirled to face her, he immediately softened to consider the look of hurt on her face. "Y-yeah, what is it?" he murmured. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

She was hurt. She was in too much pain for any of them to comprehend, but she needed to face it on her own this time.

Misaki startled to the feeling of Rikio's hand on his shoulder, and when he tilted his gaze, Rikio had finally let Gin out of his sights to shake his head. Once Rikio's hand had slipped away from Misaki's shoulder, it immediately wrapped around Neirah and encouraged her to walk away from the situation that was causing her discomfort. "Come on, Yata-san," Rikio cautioned him sternly. "He's not worth it."

Tsk. Misaki turned away with a bitter sneer and snorted his retort. "Yeah, guess you're right."

Neirah wanted to cover her ears when she heard Misaki deride her friend. It wasn't what she wanted, and to leave Gin sitting on the cold ground alone after he'd just faced a bleak fate wounded her. But she didn't need anyone else. She didn't need any more friends, any more help, any more family. She just needed HOMRA, and so long as Tatara was by her side, she would beat away the cold like she had the first time and prove to everyone that she could do it on her own.

"And then the bastard yelled at Tsukiyo for no good reason!" Misaki raved. "I wanted to kick his ass, but stupid Kamamoto was all like he's not worth it, so he got away! You hear that, dumbass!? You let him get away!"

"Cut it out, Yata-san," Rikio dismally ordered. "It isn't like Okazaki's a threat to Neirah anyway!"

"That's not the point!" Misaki snapped his livid retort, whirling on his heels to face the man who had betrayed their purpose. "Only a real scumbag would threaten a girl like that!"

"So, Okazaki shows his true colours," Izumo murmured soundly. He closed his eyes with a gentle sigh as he absorbed their tall tale. "Too bad. I was startin' to like the kid."

"It wasn't like that…" Neirah's voice was mild as she interrupted the dynamic conversation with a soft sigh of her own. "It was my fault that Okazaki-san raised his voice. I said some terrible things to him today."

Pivoting to return his protective sights towards Neirah, Misaki was quick to defend her actions as if she were seeking justification. "He deserved them!" he retaliated. "Nobody should ever make HOMRA's Red Lioness feel sad!"

The entire room stilled as Neirah slowly raised her gaze and connected it with Misaki's, a stern warning in the stiffness of her expression as she spoke. "What makes you think I was sad?"

Misaki startled, falling back a step when he fell under the scrutiny of the room. "W-well, I- I saw it in y-your eyes…"

"Then you were imagining things." With her frosty rebuttal, Neirah slowly climbed to her feet and moved through the room. "Kusanagi-san, is it okay if I get changed upstairs? I don't want to wear my uniform on the train."

"Go right ahead," he calmly murmured. "Use the shower too, if you'd like. It's probably best if you don't show up after two years smellin' like a boy's high school locker room."

"Not funny," she gently retorted. "But thank you."

"The hell?" Misaki growled. "You sayin' we stink or somethin'?"

After watching Neirah depart and then spending some time considering the sight of the room void of her presence, Izumo carefully adjusted his demeanour in the address of his rowdy subordinate. "Yata." Misaki flinched to the hard tone of Izumo's voice when it elevated once Neirah had left their midst. "I want you to stay out of this."

Recoiling with anger, Misaki took a determined step towards his superior to challenge the order. "And why should I!? You weren't there, Kusanagi-san! He was yellin' at her and everything!"

"Look," Izumo humbled. "I know you're concerned, and there's not a damn thing wrong with that. But this is somethin' Neirah's gotta do for herself."

Misaki's shaking fist dropped along with his expression. "W-what do you mean? What's that got to do with Okazaki?" He turned over his shoulder to oversee where Rikio's appearance had remained tense, but otherwise, patient. "Tell him, Rikio," he meekly suggested. "That bastard, he was-" Suddenly, Misaki's chest began to ache for the betrayal when he realized that Rikio wasn't going to back him up. "What the hell's wrong with you? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Rikio's voice was low when he spoke, enough that Misaki could sense traces of impatient aggression on his words. "Because you don't know Neirah."

Misaki stumbled, his frantic gaze darting between companions. "W-wait, why not? You were- I mean, you were there to help too, right?"

With an exhausted sigh, Izumo held out his hand and offered Misaki a seat. "Take a seat, Yata-chan. There's something you have to understand before you go and become a lion's main dish." He waited until Misaki had obeyed the invitation, trying not to involve any of their other longer-standing members in the conversation. "It's pretty obvious that Neirah hasn't been herself for the last little while, isn't it?"

Misaki fidgeted uncertainly like a child scolded for drawing on the walls. "Well, yeah, obviously."

"Do you remember your birthday last year? When I told you the story about her past?" Izumo's expression dropped solemnly to recall the memories. "Totsuka wasn't lying when he said she wouldn't even shake my hand the day we met. That girl was so afraid that everything she touched would just drop dead that she actually threw herself in front of a bullet to protect our king."

Misaki's breathing hitched, and hazel eyes widened with bemusement. "S-she did?"

"She learned that night that we weren't going to go down so easily. Ever since then, she's made HOMRA her entire world with Totsuka at its centre, the one who showed her that she had a place to belong." Izumo turned to face the seating of the bar, remembering how it felt to watch her pace around the floor, knowing that she had nowhere else to turn. "Her friends, her family, everyone she knew had it rough, and she put all that blame on herself. Can you imagine what that would have been like for a young kid like that?"

Misaki bowed his head, hunching over his seat with a guilty expression on his face. "Do you… Do you think she was actually cursed?"

"Not even a little bit," Izumo quietly reassured. "But to her, it felt too real. So, when she found out that there were people out there strong enough to fight through the tough times, she latched on to it."

Izumo dropped his head and watched the warm water from the tap run over his hands beneath the suds he'd applied. "Now, she remembers that there's more to life than HOMRA. She still has a family somewhere, and Okazaki too. She knows that she has to overcome that fear, but for whatever reason, she doesn't seem to want the rest of us to get involved." He turned off the tap and grabbed a dry rag to dab the excess from his knuckles. "Okazaki's not a bad kid, but she's right. He gets into somethin' and won't take no for an answer. If he keeps it up, it'll be his own damn fault for pushing her away. It'd do you well to learn from his mistakes."

Letting his fleeting gaze scan the floor, Misaki eventually allowed his sheepish eyes to meet with the sight of Rikio's clenched fist balled in the centre of his table. Despite his anger with Gin's interference, Rikio had remained calm when all he wanted to do was protect. Yō had done the same the night that Neirah had spontaneously decided that smoking was harmful. Both of them understood her more than he felt he ever could, and that disheartened him.

"We all see it," Izumo kindly reassured. "But for Neirah's sake, let's just pretend like we can't, at least, until she gets this sorted out. Do you think you can do that for her?"

The more Misaki thought about it, the more he felt foolish. If he considered Izumo's words, he even recalled times where Saburōta and Masaomi ignored the signs, too, excusing her heartache to keep her from feeling vulnerable. And Anna might have been the most significant proof that Neirah didn't want anyone to worry. Even with the Strain's abilities connecting her closely with her big sister, the child never said a peep.

"Don't worry," Izumo added tenderly. "If she needs us, she'll ask. Until then, let her fight fate in the way that she sees fit."

Misaki quietly raised his gaze and locked it sheepishly with the barkeep. "S-should I… apologize?"

While letting a gentle laugh slip past his lips with a meandering plume of cigarette smoke, Izumo's expression brightened. "For what, caring?" he teased. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. Remember what happened last time you overthought things?" He laughed to mock the sound of Misaki's humiliated hiss. "Yeah, Neirah knows you're a hot-head, and she knows you worry. She's not going to hold it against you."

With a defeated groan, Misaki folded his arms on the top of the bar and buried his face in them. "Why are women so damn complicated…?"

But maybe he was still the one overcomplicating things. Perhaps he was looking too deep and seeing things that Neirah didn't want him to see. Sure, everyone knew that she was upset. That really was obvious. But even if they were restricting the need to help because they cared, there had to be a limit. How many tears could they watch her retain before they reached for her? How many screams did she have to lock in her chest before they begged her to hear them? That's why he hated her eyes and the way they spoke to him. He knew that one day, she'd look back at him, and he wouldn't be able to stay away. It wasn't in his nature to abandon a friend in need, no matter how complicated the circumstance, but he would try, for now.

For her sake.

As Neirah stood in the yard of her aunt's humble home, she raised her fingers to her collar to tug at it. She wasn't used to having the cotton of a knit sweater so high on her throat and concealing her only source of comfort. She said a silent curse to Tatara's name for convincing her to accept her relative's invitation to visit, but she couldn't regret standing there. Laid out before her in the form of a cracked concrete walkway was her first step.

After Mikoto had answered her father's call earlier that month, Hisashi's sister was eager to investigate on his behalf. In her defence, it had been two years since Neirah had been home, and she left without much in the way of notice. The occasional phone call was all her relatives had to assure them that she was still alive, and she could admit, that wasn't fair.

With her heart in her throat, she approached the door, her body spastic with tremors that she tried desperately to stifle. Once she was within knocking distance, she raised her knuckles and paused. She had to be careful in alerting the woman to her presence to avoid contact. She couldn't let her curse take root in another world for a second time, not after she'd worked so hard to pull the weeds. Instead, she lowered her hand to the knob and gave it a slow twist, relieved that it unlatched.

Without announcing her presence with a knock, she slowly opened the door, stepping inside with a racing heart and delighting in the realization that her aunt wasn't overly near. Acting as soundlessly as she could, she shut the door at her back and removed her boots. By that time, her concerned guardian had noticed her at the end of the hall.

Neirah winced to the sound of a ceramic dish shattering, scattering tea cakes on the floor when her aunt turned to glimpse her presence entering. Watching the emotion flood Himari's eyes caused Neirah's body to tighten immediately.

"N-Neirah," she gasped through an instant well of tears. "Y-you're here. Y-you- Oh, my Neirah!"

Neirah could feel the tension in the room grow as she fluidly dodged the open arms moving to fold around her, but she couldn't be any kinder in her rejection. "Please, Himari-san, don't touch me."

Himari slowly turned with the heartbreak visible in her teary kohl eyes as she staggered in the hallway with empty arms. She couldn't help but take responsibility for Neirah's disappearance two years prior, and seeing the cautious girl's reaction to her relief only cemented that speculation. "Was it something I did?" she whispered despondently. "Neirah, please, if I did something wrong-"

"No," Neirah rushed out curtly. It was hard for her to remain kind when everyone that day seemed to blame themselves. She knew that she remained the culprit all along. "No, please. It's not like that." She lowered her voice to a dull whisper, trying her best to provide an explanation worth denying her flesh and blood. "Please… Everyone who touches me only meets with hardship." She lowered her gaze, and her insides knotted as she reached for her HOMRA mark beneath her shirt like touching it would see her king's hand in hers. She needed his strength to face such a monumental challenge alone. "You've been doing so much better since I left."

Himari's face flushed with humiliation, but she couldn't deny that she was never fit to provide for the child adequately. "Neirah… Please, baby, that's not your fault."

"And father," she instigated weakly. "He's finally sober enough to call. Even if he's… if he's sick." Her fleeting gaze wandered the hall and took notice of how very little had changed since she'd left. "I can't imagine that it would have been possible if I was still there to remind him that she's gone."

"Honey, I-" Himari slowly retracted her fingertips when she realized that Neirah was undoubtedly not going to let her touch.

"I'm sorry," Neriah whispered timidly. "But if you can't respect this, I can't stay. It took all the courage I had just to come back to this place." Feeling a little braver, she raised her eyes to meet Himari's with a kind smile. "This isn't where I belong anymore."

The length of time they spent standing off silently in the front door caused both of them to ache, but neither of them knew how to advance. The thought crossed Neirah's mind a couple of times about running, but she remained rooted. It's okay, she thought. Everything will work out. You'll see… The stress she was causing her friends was inexcusable, and the quicker she found a solution, the faster they could return to laughing again.

"I-I regretted… to hear about my father's condition. I… wasn't sure if I conveyed that properly when we were on the phone. My roommate was being… sort of noisy." Neirah's lips began to tremble as she fought to relax her quaking muscles in the presence of a family member like Himari was a stranger. "I'm not avoiding his calls because I don't care… I just…"

"Neirah," Himari murmured mildly. "Where do you live now? Who was that man who answered your phone that night?" Maternal concern found the woman's round face as she watched Neirah close her eyes like she'd already expected the interrogation to follow. "You aren't… in some kind of trouble, are you?"

"You sound just like him," she whispered miserably under her breath. Neirah shook her head, more fiercely by the passing second. "No, absolutely not," she whispered. "I've never felt safer. As it stands, I can't explain it very well, but I hope you'll trust that your niece is smarter than to see herself in a bad situation." She immediately felt the guilt of speaking such a fictional statement, even knowing that two years ago, she had done just that. If it weren't for her king, she might have lost her life, or worse, faced relocating in possession of a strange man at the hands of the Yakuza like Himari seemed to suggest. "I have amazing friends," she continued tenderly. "Who care about me very much."

"Your family cares about you very much!" Himari denied in an elevated tone. "Neirah, you vanished for two years, and rarely call! Do you have any idea how that made us feel?!"

She could hear the thick links of chain rattling outside of Himari's comprehension, but she didn't fight back. She wouldn't be chained again. "Lecturing me for doing what I thought was right isn't going to make me want to come back." Neirah lowered her gaze and watched Himari's tears hit the ground to the sound of her sniffling. "This isn't how I expected everything to turn out, but I meant it when I said that this is no longer home."

"You're seventeen," Himari mewled with disdain. "Where do you live? How do you keep food on your table? Are you still going to school?"

"I work," she gently assured her. "And I still go to school too. I'm actually doing… really well." Without a whimper, Neirah felt her tears start to roll softly over her cheeks past the ink she didn't have the last time she saw her aunt. "I'll be in my final year soon, and I'll be deciding what I want to do after that. I'm pretty good at fixing things, and my language skills are at the top of my class. I have… a really good teacher." She began to choke on her words as her jaw locked with the need to break down entirely.

"I-I've been working… really hard so that I can go to a good university. I have money saved and everything. And m-my friends… they support me too. They help me study and take care of me when I'm sick. They make me feel like everything… is going to work out."

"Neirah." Himari whimpered frailly from the same distance she'd been since the girl's arrival. "Who was that man who answered your phone that night when your father called?"

Tears rolled thick over Neirah's cheeks, the heat far from comforting as she ground her teeth and sealed her eyes tightly over the extreme resistance. "He is… my king." Maybe she couldn't go into details, but no matter what, nothing would change how she felt about Suoh Mikoto. "He's the reason I'm safe, the reason I'm happy. He protects me, and makes sure that I have… everything I need to succeed." She shook her head repeatedly, letting her tears rain from her cheeks as her tone accelerated. "It's because of him that I'm here, facing you now after all this time. I would have been fine ignoring father's calls forever, but that night, when King-sama answered the phone, he let you in."

She wrapped her arms around her belly and tried to keep from keeling over entirely. "He let in… another world… that I was trying so hard to lock out. T-that's why I'm here."

Himari trembled just as fiercely, trying to keep an open mind with the rattled youth. Himari knew that Neirah was a smart young lady, and she knew that the child wouldn't lie about something so detrimental. She trusted her niece, but even more, she believed in the mature young woman bravely returning to face something that terrified her. Respecting Neirah's courage, she slowly took a step away and held her arm out in invitation. "P-please," she whispered. "Come sit and have some tea."

Neirah's breathing was shuddering as she opened her sad eyes and looked back at the woman like a timid stray, but when Himari offered her a kind, welcoming smile, she reciprocated. "Thank you," she whispered in a mousy tone.

"No, baby, thank you…"

It didn't take long for the water to boil, and luckily, after the ice chipped, boundaries set, the awkward silences dwindled. Instead of the cakes that Himari was carrying, currently spoiled on the floor, they had set out some crackers to dip in their tea. Neither of them was in a munching mood, though. There was too much that needed to be said for anyone to divert their attention to anything as menial as chewing.

"I think about you often." Himari watched despondently as the tea in her ceramic pot filled her niece's cup. It brought back memories of the time they were together and would share a pot of sencha tea every Sunday. The young woman across from her had changed since then. For starters, she had never seen the girl cry before. A part of her wondered if that wasn't because Neirah knew that Himari's situation was delicate enough without sharing her pain. There was also a light in her eyes that she hadn't noticed being there before, a subtle spark of vibrant life appearing almost welcome.

Himari set her kyusu down with a heavy sigh. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Shizume is becoming quite dangerous. There are all sorts of gangs causing a ruckus in the streets at all hours. Do those delinquents have nothing better to do with their lives than commit arson?"

Neirah choked on the green tea she was sipping, writing off the snort by waving her hand in front of her face like she'd burnt herself. "Hot," she coughed ruefully. Once she had cleared the fluid from her lungs, she calmed her ruckus and responded. "But honestly, Mari-san. You don't have to worry about those kinds of things interfering with my life. I'm um… careful. And my roommate walks with me all the time, so I'm never alone. We work together, too." She was becoming fond of half-truths.

There was an incriminating gleam in Himari's dark eyes as she carefully observed the flustered teen. "So, this 'king' you speak about so fondly. He is your employer?"

Neirah diverted her sheepish gaze and returned to innocently sipping her tea. "More or less…"

"And what is it you do for him?"

"I… run errands… more or less." She hesitated for a moment and met her aunt's eyes from behind her cup before diverting her sheepish attention. "It's… all I can manage around school."

Himari groaned dimly and watched Neirah deliberate from behind the fine porcelain containing her favourite green tea. "Well, I suppose, as long as he's watching over you, I won't pry," she surrendered. "He's kept you safe this long, so I shouldn't be complaining."

With a tender smile, Neirah slowly returned her cup to its corresponding saucer in the bright room. It was the loveliest room in the house, as far as Neirah was concerned. Himari didn't have a fancy home, by any means, but it was welcoming. "It's true, he does protect me," she murmured fondly. "And someday, I hope to return the favour." As her expression dampened with worry, her eyes slid away from their conversation to watch as the sun warmed the yard on the other side of the large window. "That's why I'm here. When my head fills with personal thoughts, my productivity at work suffers. I need my mind to be sharp if I'm going to be of any use to him."

Noticing that she was losing a bit of focus in concealing her actual occupation, Neirah quickly snapped back to attention with a gentle gasp. "And to look after myself, of course. I can't eat or sleep properly with all these thoughts running through my head, and I should probably be on the lookout for those… arsonists that are popping up all over the place."

Himari carefully observed her niece from behind the cup she clutched in both sets of fingers. "You're worried about Hisashi?"

Diverting her gaze sheepishly, Neirah began to fidget. "Yes," she whispered. "Even if he's been absent in my life for over a decade, he's still my father. It would be despicable of me not to care."

"I know you feel responsible for your momma's death, but you have to let that go-"

"I know." Even Neirah was surprised by how swiftly she'd interrupted her aunt's kind words. Realizing how curt it sounded, she reiterated her sentiment more amicably. "I know… That's why… I've made up my mind." She bravely raised her eyes to meet her aunts and filled her lungs with the crisp January air. "I'm going to go visit my father over the summer break."

Himari looked astonished to hear the words come out of Neirah's mouth, and it was noticeable on her expression. "Y-you are? But honey, your father lives in Nagasaki now. How on earth are you-"

Neirah slowly nodded. "I told you I saved up some money for school, right?" She didn't stammer as she divulged in her intensions. "Well, this is important to me, too. As important to me as my future." Why? Because she had a family that she had to protect, a king she needed to serve, and for all they'd done for her, they deserved her at her best. Nothing was more important than that. "I figure I'll spend about a month there if he allows it." Her brow knotted with turmoil as she wrung her forearms and begged a sense of security to return. "That is… if he…"

After catching sight of the tears falling from her eyes, Himari's sniffle redirected Neirah's attention, and when their eyes met, Himari's flushed face was dropping into her hands. "You've grown so much, and I missed it," she whined. "Hisashi would be so proud of his baby girl." With eyes drowned in sorrow, Himari raised her face with a miserable attempt at a smile. "I know you don't like people touching you, but I want you to know that my heart wants to hug you."

"Mari-san…"

Himari climbed to her feet, rushing across the floor towards the table where her purse sat. "Please, at least let me help you pay your way." She unfolded her wallet, realizing that there was an insufficient amount of cash between the leather folds. Flushed with embarrassment, she quickly pulled out a cheque book and pen. "Well, a cheque will do. Do you have somewhere to cash it?"

Neirah reached out to her aunt's trembling hand like she wanted to stop her from writing, but when she realized that she almost went against her code, she quietly retracted the touch. With the heartbroken diversion of troubled eyes, she let her aunt continue to scribe. "A cheque… would be fine…"

After thanking Himari for the tea, and for the funds required to purchase a return ticket between Tokyo and Nagasaki, Neirah excused herself back into the front yard of her relative's modest home. When she slowly closed the door behind her, her eyes fell on the sight of the degrading handwriting. It was apparent that the pain of not being able to see her brother in his weakened state was affecting Himari, and Neirah couldn't help but wonder when the vicious cycle would end.

She took a couple of steps away to approach the sidewalk, continuing to stare down at the piece of paper that she knew promised a higher value than it could accommodate. When Himari had flipped through the carbon copies to locate a fresh cheque, Neirah had noticed a vast number of the receipts addressed to the specialist that she could only assume kept her father comfortable in his final days. She could feel the determination brewing deep within her, and tightening her grip on the sight she'd narrowed her disappointed gaze on, she watched with a nervous heart as the paper combusted. When the flames were fed and began to fade, not even ashes remained. She calmly rubbed her empty fingers together before turning and heading back towards the station, preparing to countdown the days that she waited to face her most difficult challenge yet.

Destroying the barrier between worlds.