Chapter 1

Content warning: underaged drinking and brief sexual assault.

"You little hussy!" Sixteen-year-old Kaia Murakami teased, hand curled into a fist over her mouth in an attempt to try and cover up her giggles. She stood in the doorway of the bathroom she shared with her seventeen-year-old sister, Maha, who incidentally was trying to put makeup over a little bruise on the side of her neck.

"Shh! Do you want Mom to hear you?" Maha hissed, her face turning red at the jesting. She blended concealer over the mark and her little sister grinned.

"I'd be more worried about Dad. If he sees that he's going to start asking for names and show up at your little boyfriend's house to kick his ass," Kaia pointed out.

Maha looked off to the side to scowl at her little sister but gasped when her eyes landed on something beyond Kaia's shoulder.

"Kaia! What the hell!" Maha snapped. She swatted her little sister on the arm and pointed to the figure lingering in the hall. "Why is your stupid curse wandering the halls?"

Kaia's emerald green eyes lazily followed the direction of Maha's finger and glanced at the curse that took the shape of a young girl with bloodied blonde hair in a dirty white dress.

"She's not wandering. She's just standing there."

"She's watching us," Maha hissed, as if the thing would hear her.

"She's not watching us," Kaia said easily. She twisted a lock of auburn hair around her ear. "She's watching me and carefully planning my death. Isn't that right, creepy little curse girl?" Kaia asked, looking back at the disturbing young girl.

The curse made no indication it heard her. It just stood there, black eyes staring at Kaia's every move.

"You're supposed to exorcise her every night."

"I fell asleep before midnight and didn't wake up until later. By then I didn't care," Kaia explained. "Why do you care? She's not hurting anyone."

"She is going to kill you one day."

Kaia huffed and rolled her eyes. She took a step away from the doorway, uncrossed her arms, and took a deep inhale through her nose. Forming her lips into the shape of an 'O' she exhaled blue fire that engulfed the curse. Moments later, it disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

The look on Maha's face said everything that needed to be said. Her dark brown eyes were wide with what was probably fear and disgust, and her upper lip curled as she watched smoke escaped from her little sister's lips.

"You're not supposed to breathe fire in the house."

"Okay, well I didn't have a cursed tool on me, and believe it not, getting that close to her isn't fun. I actually think if I get too close that she'll kill me prematurely," Kaia muttered to herself, reliving the moment where she accidentally almost bumped into the curse one night and the blonde girl clamped her hand around Kaia's arm so tightly that she'd been bruised for three weeks.

"You're crazy," Maha said. She went back to blending concealer against her pale neck. Kaia lingered, watching her older sister work. Unlike Maha, Kaia wasn't allowed to wear makeup just yet. Not at least for one more year, so she was deeply interested in watching the way her big sister blended colors and packed the creamy concealer with powder. Then when Maha seemed satisfied with the makeup, she took her dark brown hair and pulled it in front of her shoulders. She turned and faced Kaia directly, turning side to side. "What do you think?"

"Can't see anything," Kaia assured.

"Thank goodness."

"I smell smoke. Kaia, what did you do?" Ren Murakami asked, walking down the little hallway and narrowing her green eyes at the two girls.

"Nothing!" Kaia said right away, holding her hands up to show her innocence.

"Maha?" Ren asked, eyes shifting to her older daughter to see if she would rat on her little sister.

Maha gave her mother a well-rehearsed smile and said a sweet, "Kaia was just watching me do my makeup."

Ren obviously did not believe a word out of either girls' mouth, but she didn't push it any further.

"Could you both please come to the kitchen? Your father and I would like a word."

Ren didn't wait for either of them after that. She disappeared as quickly as she came strutting down the hallway, giving Maha and Kaia enough time to exchange a confused stare.

"What did you do?" Maha asked as they followed their mother.

"I didn't do anything. Mom's had me on this crazy diet and exercise regimen lately. I barely have time to sleep and do my homework let alone do something stupid," Kaia said, elbowing her sister in the ribs.

When both girls arrived in the kitchen, their father was seated at the head of the table. His light brown hair that had a tint of red in it depending on the lighting was slicked back and he wore a black sweater, black pants, and black shoes. It was all Kaia and Maha needed to see to know that their father was about to be called away on a mission.

Their mother took the seat adjacent to his and she finished buttoning up her own black sweater that covered a white undershirt. She was in a similar getup to their father and her hair, which was normally left down and unkempt, was twisted into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Yet another indicator of a mission.

"Girls," their father started once they sat down. "Your mother and I have been called away on a mission to Istanbul. It shouldn't take more than a few days to complete, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being over a week. The higher-ups have been awfully hush-hush about the mission, which tells me it might take some time to complete."

"We'll be fine, Dad," Maha assured. "Winter break isn't over for another two weeks, so we'll be able to take care of the house while you're gone."

Kaito gave Maha a soft smile, one that was often absent from their mother's face.

"I know, Maha. That isn't my concern," he said. He leveled his gaze at his younger daughter, watching the way Kaia shifted and fiddled with that auburn hair that she inherited directly from her grandfather, the last Murakami who'd been killed by the cursed little girl. "My concern is you, Kaia. You are to start at Jujutsu Tech next week."

Kaia stared, dumbfounded. She had always heard stories of Jujutsu Tech but didn't realize that she would be expected to start so soon. Then again, when she thought about it, she was at the right age. She just wasn't expecting to feel like it happened so fast.

"Oh," Maha said.

"Well, that's okay. When does it start and where do I go?" Kaia asked.

"It's a little trickier than that, Sweetheart," their father said.

"You won't be able to find it on your own. Not at first. You'll be escorted there in the next few days. The problem is that we don't know when and we don't know who will be escorting you. It might be Yaga—that would be the standard. But he is about to be promoted to principal, so we don't know if it'll be him since he might be too busy. The school is also very short on instructors these days, so it might be an upperclassman. It might also be a fellow first-year who started before you. We just don't know," Ren explained.

"So we need both of you to keep an eye out for people wearing the school's crest but we also need you both on guard. It isn't good when two sorcerers leave home at once. It can make their house and family a target for curse users," Kaito said.

"I can protect us," Kaia said right away. Her auburn hair fell over her shoulder and her green eyes were bright with determination.

"I know, Sweetheart," Kaito said. "But you aren't fully trained. I would rather you two be cautious above anything else. Understood?"

"Yes, Dad," Kaia and Maha said in unison.

Their parents left later that night, leaving the two all alone.

Kaia was sprawled out on her bed, reading a magazine about what it would be like to start high school and all the exciting things she could expect to experience. Thinking about what awaited her filled her stomach with butterflies. She hoped that Jujutsu Tech would have school dances and sporting events like Maha's school. She wanted to go to homecoming with friends and wear pretty dresses and dance with boys. Maha had been homecoming queen that year and Kaia had watched her, green with envy, as she put on a sparkly black dress and braid her hair into an intricate updo for the occasion. While Maha was crowned homecoming queen, Kaia was stuck doing strength training exercises that left her exhausted and sore for days.

But Jujutsu Tech would be different. At least she hoped it would. She wouldn't be on such a brutal schedule anymore. She'd be able to mingle with classmates and hone her cursed techniques until she was as strong as her parents.

Kaia already had more than enough practice exorcising curses. She must have already exorcised the little girl who stalked her at least a hundred times. She knew other curses were strong, but Kaia wasn't an amateur.

"Hey, I'm going out," Maha said, appearing in Kaia's doorway.

Her dark brown hair was left down in big kinky curls and Kaia felt a wave of jealousy overcome her. Her own hair was always so damn straight. She wanted to be able to curl it and have it stay that way for hours the way Maha's did.

"Where?" Kaia asked with a frown.

Her older sister wiped some eyeliner that was slightly smudged beneath her left eye and adjusted her long sleeve sweater that had a deep V-neck in it.

"To a bonfire. Riku should be here any minute to pick me up. You okay if you're alone for the night?"

Kaia could feel her lips form a pout and Maha immediately laughed.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Can I come?" Kaia asked right away.

"Absolutely not," Maha said. She didn't even bat an eye, didn't even give it a passing thought.

"Come on! I'll stay out of the way! Please, please, please," she begged.

"No! I am not bringing my little sister to a party!"

Kaia glowered and crossed her arms.

"If you don't bring me, then I'm telling Dad about Riku."

Maha's mouth fell open in a gasp. "You wouldn't."

"Watch me." Kaia smirked. "I'm sure he'd love to hear all about how you've got a boyfriend, even though he's told you time and time again that you're not allowed to date until you're eighteen."

Maha's mouth was still wide open in disbelief. Kaia felt a twinge of sympathy, a bit of guilt for blackmailing her sister. But when she would have this opportunity again? She would never be able to pretend to be a normal girl after enrolling at Jujutsu Tech. Even if the school had dances and sporting events and everything that Maha's school had, it would always be overshadowed by the fact they were all tasked with exorcising curses. She wanted to be normal, even if it was only for a single night.

"…You are the WORST!" Maha shrieked.

She stomped away, leaving Kaia still sitting on her bed.

"Soo… Does that mean I can come?" Kaia called out.

The only response she got was a loud 'UGH!' that told Kaia that yes, she could in fact come.

Kaia squealed in excitement and jumped out of bed, running over to her closet to search for something to wear. It would be cold out, so she needed to dress warmly, but there would be a bonfire, so she wouldn't need to totally bundle up. The only problem was that upon opening up her closet, she was met with her junior high uniform and training gear. She didn't have anything cute to wear out. She only had the leggings and shirts she wore while training. They were boring things, clothes that existed purely for Kaia to torture her body in, and that was it.

She pursed her lips and glanced towards her door, but Maha was long gone, probably stomping around the living room having a fit. Kaia shrugged and grabbed a nicer pair of leggings, a pair that wasn't ripped from cursed tools or sun-bleached from summer training, and slipped them on. Then she hurried over to her sister's room and dug through one of her dresser drawers until she found a cute lavender-colored top that was made of a flowing, billowy material with long sleeves. She pulled it on, fully aware that it was a little too big in the chest for her, and marched out to the living room to meet her sister.

Maha was pouting on the sofa just like Kaia expected. She had her arms crossed and was staring out the window while she waited for her boyfriend. She didn't even look at Kaia until she cleared her throat.

"First you blackmail me into taking you and now you steal my shirt?" Maha asked, still frowning.

"I don't have any nice clothes," Kaia said nervously. "It's all training clothes. I didn't have anything else to wear…"

A flash of sympathy crossed over Maha's face, at least Kaia thought it did, because a moment later Maha got up from the sofa, walked down to her room, and reemerged with some accessories.

"This shirt is a little big for you," Maha said softly. "We can make it look a little better if we put a belt here."

She slung a braided belt around Kaia's waist, cinching it tight enough to create some separation in the shirt so it didn't look like a big piece of purple fabric that hung off her frame.

"And we can fix your hair by going for a messy look," Maha added. Her hands went up to the back of Kaia's head, gathering her thick locks together and tying them into a messy bun at the back of Kaia's neck. When she finished, she stood in front of Kaia and strategically pulled out some pieces to frame her face and then proceeded to put a pair of silver hoops through Kaia's pierced ears.

"Take a look," Maha said after she finished.

Kaia walked over to the mirror that hung behind the sofa in the living room and took in her appearance. The corners of her lips tugged upwards without her permission, making her smile like an idiot at herself. She felt so pretty as she admired her auburn hair in a strategically messy style and the fact that she was in a nice shirt for once in her life and not a sweaty tank top.

"Oh! Can't forget the lip gloss," Maha said from behind her. Her sister produced a pink tube from her purse and smeared a thick gloss across Kaia's lips. When she finished, she pinched the apples of Kaia's cheeks and turned her back around to look at the mirror once again.

"I'm only doing this because I don't think it's fair what Mom and Dad have done to you," Maha said. Kaia watched her reflection from the mirror, noticing the frustrated expression on her older sister's face, noticing the crease between her brows. "I get that they want you to be strong. I get that they want you to be a sorcerer… But you should be allowed to be a normal girl too sometimes."

Kaia wasn't sure what she wanted to say to that. She had the same thoughts every so often herself, but she never said them aloud. At least, she tried not to.

Luckily though, she didn't have to say anything because Riku got there and honked his horn from the driveway.

"Time to go!" Maha said with a big smile.

Kaia grinned back and grabbed her sister's hand on the way out.

The bonfire was in the middle of a clearing in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere. Kaia had no clue where she was, had no clue which route Riku had taken to drive them there, and had no clue who anyone was.

And she didn't even care.

She hopped out of the car with Maha, her big sister wasting no time in pulling her to the side for a quick pep talk.

"I'm not gonna lie, I don't know a ton of people here. But it'll be fine as long as you don't get too drunk or anything like that."

"I'm not gonna get drunk. I'm not an idiot," Kaia said with an eye roll.

"Hey, don't give me attitude," Maha said, wagging a finger in Kaia's face. "I'm doing you a favor here. Just stick close by and don't… Don't tell these people about curses or jujutsu or anything like that. Okay? They don't know anything about that."

"I wouldn't do that," Kaia assured.

"Yeah, yeah. This is for my peace of mind, okay?"

"Yes, Mom," Kaia remarked.

Maha swatted her on the arm but then Riku was at her side, putting a hand on her low back and eliciting a pretty smile from her.

"Should be a fun night. I'll introduce you to some of my friends, Kaia. They'll keep you busy," Riku said easily.

Kaia didn't care if she was introduced to anyone or not. She was just happy to get the hell out of the house and mingle with some of her sister's friends and get a glimpse into her life, even if only for a few hours.

Riku guided them over to a group of ten or twelve teenagers who were probably Maha's age, introducing Kaia to everyone there. She knew she wouldn't be able to remember anyone's names, but she smiled and pretended that she would try anyway. They were huddled in a group a little ways away from the fire, holding red solo cups and cigarettes. Several of the girls were in skimpy clothing that Kaia thought was totally impractical, but it seemed to get attention from guys, as one of the girls wore a sweatshirt that belonged to Riku's friend while another girl was cuddled up next to a guy away from the noisiness of the conversation.

"Can I get you a drink, Kaia?" a boy with jet black hair in a black pullover hoodie asked.

"She doesn't drink," Maha said right away. "She's only sixteen."

Kaia opened her mouth to tell her sister to shut up but she was cut off by a girl in a tube top and a letterman jacket.

"You were younger than that when you had your first shot," she said. She pointed to Kaia and asked, "liquor or beer, Babe?"

Kaia exchanged a look with her sister and she immediately noticed the stress lines on Maha's forehead.

"Uh. Beer?" Kaia said with a small smile. She hoped that choosing something less harsh than liquor would ease her sister's worries, but she couldn't be sure.

"Beer it is," the boy with the pullover hoodie said. He was at her side in an instant, pressing a red solo cup into her hand. Maha looked like she wanted to say something, maybe tell Kaia to stop, but she didn't get the chance. Riku threw his arm over her shoulder and ushered her away from the group and over to the bonfire, leaving Kaia alone with the boy whose name she didn't know.

"What did you say your name was?" Kaia asked.

"I'm Reiji." He gave her a bright smile. "Maha never mentioned that her little sister was so pretty."

Kaia laughed and shook her head. She took a sip of the beer and found it bitter, feeling her nose curl in disgust.

"Yeah, it's pretty shitty," Reiji said with a laugh. "Can I get you punch instead? I swear it tastes better."

Kaia tried another sip of beer, hoping that it would taste better, but it somehow tasted worse. She coughed and handed the cup back to Reiji.

"Please," she said with an embarrassed laugh.

He did, that easy smile not once leaving his face. The punch was infinitely better tasting than the beer, so much so that she barely noticed the alcohol. It was sweet and sugary and went down without a fight. Kaia vaguely thought to herself that maybe sticking to punch was better since there clearly was less alcohol in it.

"So what do you like to do for fun, Kaia?" Reiji asked.

Kaia sat down on a tree stump towards the edge of the large group and angled herself towards the bonfire where she could see Maha curl up next to Riku with a red solo cup now in her hand.

"I like to work out," Kaia said.

"Yeah? You a runner or something?"

Kaia looked away from her sister and focused on Reiji instead. His hair was cropped so it was short on the sides and long on the top and he had big brown eyes that she found a little unnerving the longer she looked at him.

"Little bit. I also like to lift weights," she said between sips of her punch.

"You look like you're in good shape," a girl from behind her said. Kaia swiveled around her tree stump to see the girl in the letterman jacket again. She smirked at Kaia. "Maha looks a little heavy when she wears that shirt. Not you though."

Kaia narrowed her eyes.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Oh, I don't mean anything by it, Hon," the girl said. "Maha is just curvy. You? Not so much. You got lucky with the skinny genes."

Kaia could feel one eyebrow arch far above the other.

"I'm not skinny," she drawled. "I'm strong."

The girl, and the others around her, started chuckling. Kaia wasn't sure what the hell she said that was so funny, but she wasn't about to let some random girl with a bad haircut and a shitty taste in fashion insult her, and more importantly, her sister.

"Don't believe me?" Kaia asked. She purposely raised her voice up a few octaves and cocked her head to the side the way she'd seen airhead girls do in movies and finished off the rest of her punch before she stood up. She lifted the bottom of her shirt up to her ribs and made a show of it, spinning in a slow circle to showcase a body that she had bled, sweated, and cried for.

"Shit!" Reiji said. When Kaia looked at him, his eyes were wide in disbelief, glued to what she knew were her hard-earned washboard abs. Being relentlessly trained by two Grade 1 sorcerers from the time you were six had a tendency to warp one's body like that.

Kaia let her shirt fall back down over her torso as she sat down.

"Not skinny at all," Reiji hummed.

"Damn girl. The V in your hips is so deep that you could stick a quarter in there!" one of the guys whose name she did not remember said. He leaned closer to her until he was pretty much climbing over the girl in the letterman jacket. "What workouts do you do? I need to get on whatever program you're on."

She laughed and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"My mom is a fitness freak. Unless she's the one training you, I doubt you'll get the same results," she said.

"I'll call her up right now," the guy said. "'Mama Murakami, this is Haru. I'm a friend of Kaia's. Please train me. I am begging you.'"

Kaia couldn't help but start laughing with the rest of the group. She'd been so preoccupied that she never noticed Reiji refill her drink. She simply reached for the red solo cup and found it full once again. And whatever ice needed breaking, her little display seemed to have done the trick because the girl in the letterman jacket shut up and the conversation shifted to include Kaia in it after that. She'd been having a great time, except for the fact that Maha didn't come back to the group. Every so often, Kaia would look over her shoulder at the bonfire where another group was, but she couldn't see Maha. When she asked where her sister had gone, she'd been met with giggles and chuckles and condescending comments about how she was spending some private time with Riku. The comments made her roll her eyes into the back of her head. She was sixteen, not six. She wasn't an idiot. She knew exactly what kind of trouble her sister was getting into. She just hoped that Maha was smart enough to use protection and not get knocked-up at seventeen.

The night went on and Kaia must have been on her third or fourth cup of punch when she suddenly realized how sleepy she felt. She kept yawning into her hand, trying to keep her thoughts coherent as she did. She wished that Maha would come back so they could go home. At this rate, she felt like she was going to fall asleep on the forest floor.

"You awake?" Reiji asked.

Despite her drooping eyes and heavy exhaustion, Kaia could still hear the smile in his voice. He seemed to smile a lot. Seemed like nothing ever really bothered him.

"Barely," Kaia grumbled. She put her hand to her forehead when she swore the world around her was spinning. And honestly, even though the moon was full above her head and the bonfire was blazing at her back, the darkness of the forest was so all-consuming that it very well may have been spinning. "D'yknow where Maha is?"

"Sorry, no," he said. She felt a hand under her bicep. "Here, let's take a walk. It'll wake you up."

Too tired and too unsteady to argue with him, Kaia let Reiji pull her up. He kept one arm firmly around her bicep to keep her steady as they walked away from the warm fire and into the cold, dark woods.

"S'dark," she slurred, rubbing her eyes and stumbling into Reiji.

"Yeah. It's more private that way," he said.

Even in her exhausted and woozy state, Kaia felt his breath on her neck, felt his hair tickle her cheek and it woke her right up. She took a shaky step backward until her back collided with a tree, the bark rough through the thin material of her sister's shirt.

"The hell, Dude?" she snapped. She blinked slowly and tried to bring the spinning world around her back into focus. "'m sixteen."

"So? That's two years older than I was when I lost my virginity. Lighten up. You should be feeling good right now," he said, that stupid smile still audible in his voice.

He closed the gap between them again, one hand on her waist, the other palming her chest through her shirt. He kissed and slobbered on her neck. From everything Kaia had seen in magazines and on TV, this was supposed to feel good. It was supposed to feel magical.

It was none of that. She felt sick.

"Get off of me!" she snapped. She planted her hands on his chest and shoved him off with every bit of strength she could muster.

It did next to nothing.

He was pushed away for only a few moments, but he was still close enough that his hands were on her hips.

He laughed. "That was disappointing. You looked way stronger than that measly little shove made it seem."

He was right. Her push should have been stronger.

She blinked again, eyes struggling to see him through the darkness when the light of the bonfire and moon were both so far away. All she could see was his outline, a figure illuminated by a distant fire so far away that it looked like candlelight.

"You drugged me," she deadpanned.

"No way," he said immediately. For once, the smile was absent from his voice. "You just kept drinking. Maha should have told you to stay away from the punch. It catches up to you fast."

Punch. Of course. The punch was made with liquor. God, she was so stupid! She couldn't taste the liquor because that was the fucking point. Of course the punch had stronger alcohol content compared to the beer! She was an idiot! And she guzzled it down like it had been water all night!

He was on her again, quicker than her thoughts could catch up with what was happening. His hands were everywhere. On her hips, her chest, under her shirt, her leggings' waistband. His lips were on her throat, tongue gliding over her pulse point and lips on the shell of her ear.

She was still. She didn't fight back. Didn't tell him to stop.

She just… Froze.

Years of training with her parents to make sure she never hesitated were suddenly wasted during the moment that she needed her training the most.

Kaia blankly stared ahead at the bonfire, head still swimming from the alcohol. The distant hope of Maha coming to rescue her played in the background of her thoughts. She felt her eyes water, wishing like hell that she had stayed home instead. Wished that she hadn't begged Maha to bring her.

She felt his hands slip beneath the waistband of her leggings and she wanted to scream but her voice was trapped somewhere between the tip of her tongue and the back of her lungs. Where was everyone? Where the hell was Maha?

Kaia's line of sight to the fire was interrupted by something—no. By someone. There was a figure facing her, their back to the fire and looking directly at her. She opened her mouth to call out to them.

"Maha?" she squeaked.

A hand clamped down on her mouth and Reiji put his lips at her ear.

"Shh," he cooed.

The figure didn't move. It just stared at her, completely still.

That's when it hit Kaia. It wasn't Maha staring at her.

It was her curse.

The little girl with bloodied hair and a white dress. It must have just reached midnight. Kaia blinked hard, hoping her eyes would adjust in the darkness. It was the first time in her life she wanted the little girl to come closer to her. It was the first time she wanted the little girl to try and claim her prize.

What would happen if a human without cursed energy got too close to her? Would she kill him? Maim him? Throw him away?

Kaia didn't know and she didn't care because she wanted Reiji's hands out of her pants and she wanted him to get the fuck off of her.

"Reiji," she said softly so he removed his hand from her mouth. "I'm cold. Can we at least get a little closer to the fire? We can stay in the tree line."

He paused in his movements, hands coming up to wrap around her waist and press his forehead against hers.

"I guess. You gotta be quiet though."

His breath reeked of stale beer.

He slung an arm around her hips, keeping her in place just in case she did something stupid like try to run away. It was pointless because she would be doing something stupid, but there would be nothing he could do about it.

She walked straight ahead, right into the path of her curse.

Kaia then veered to the right at the last second, pulling Reiji directly into the little girl until he bumped shoulders with her.

She wasn't sure what she expected, but the little girl opening her jaw so wide that it became unhinged and screaming was definitely not it. She screamed and screamed and screamed until Kaia dropped to her knees and slapped both of her hands over her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut as the pain in her ears came to a head and she felt a warm, sticky liquid spilling out of both ear canals.

Kaia didn't dare look up until the screaming stopped, and it did a moment later. The moment the little girl grabbed Reiji by the arm and literally flung him across the forest like a discarded toy.

Kaia's mouth fell open. Reiji was crumpled up in a ball on the edge of the tree line, well within the light of the bonfire. Her eyes then flickered to the little girl who was now facing her and staring at where she was curled up on the ground.

"Was the screaming really necessary?" Kaia muttered. She squinted at her hands in the darkness to see what exactly spilled from her ears, but the pain and stickiness told her that it was blood.

Well, if the screaming was good for anything, it was that it seemed to temporarily sober Kaia up because the world wasn't spinning anymore.

Careful to stay away from her curse, Kaia moved over to the bonfire to where Reiji's crumpled form was. He was alive, evident from the way his chest rose and fell despite being unconscious, but she could see his shoulder was dislocated and that his elbow was bending the wrong way…

Kaia felt her lip curl at the sight and she looked up at the clearing where the bonfire had been, expecting to have to explain herself to all of Maha's awful friends, but she got none of that. None at all.

There were curses… Curses everywhere.

Little grotesque ones that were crawling around, attacking anyone in sight. There was a slug looking one crawling on top of Reiji. A deformed fat human with the head of a dog attacking the girl in the letterman jacket. A giant fly with a stinger the length of Kaia's whole arm buzzing around and picking up a guy who was screaming.

Kaia had only one thought in the chaos.

Maha.

Her heart pounded away in her chest and her stomach fell to the floor. Where was Maha? Was she still safely hidden in the woods with Riku? Was she being attacked?

Kaia turned around in a circle, eyes wide.

"MAHA?" she screamed.

It was useless. Too many people were screaming. And Kaia couldn't discern their screams from her sister's.

Heart all the way in her throat, Kaia ran towards the bonfire where she last saw Maha. Her instincts, the ones that left her only moments ago when she was alone with Reiji, carried her forward. Years of training snapped back into action, making it easy for her to dodge the belligerent curses that lunged at her. She could taste smoke in the back of her throat just in case she needed to use her cursed fire to attack, but she kept it at bay. Instincts or not, Kaia was still intoxicated and she did not trust her ability to control the cursed fire without a sober mind.

Fate had other plans though because a moment later, Kaia was knocked to the ground so hard that the wind went right out of her lungs.

She rolled over onto her back to see a curse looming over her. Its body was the color of the midnight sky and it had long, sharp limbs that ended with talon-like nails. Its skin hung off of jagged bones and its eyes were blood red. She tried to suck in a breath to spew her cursed fire, but air was still sorely missing from her lungs and she could feel her face turning red from lack of oxygen.

Kaia braced herself, concentrating her cursed energy around her vital organs for when she was skewered by its nails, but the blow never came.

Kaia blinked and in the next second, the curse was gone and its blood rained down on her from above.

"Oops. Sorry about that," a voice said.

Kaia wiped the blood from her eyes with the back of her sleeve just in time to see a boy who was probably a year or so older than her with white hair and circular black sunglasses. He was tall and wore an all-black uniform with a pin on the left breast. She narrowed her eyes at the familiarity of the pin.

"Just stay there. You'll get in the way otherwise," he said with a wicked grin.

In any other circumstance, Kaia's pride would have been wounded, but she didn't care at that moment. She needed to find Maha. She wouldn't feel even remotely at ease until she could put her hands on her sister and hug her to prove to herself that she was still there.

She pushed herself up from the ground and sucked in tiny little breaths in a desperate attempt to get some air back into her lungs. She needed to find her sister goddamnit.

"Maha!" Kaia tried again, even though she was fairly certain her sister was nowhere nearby.

Except a few seconds later, over the chaos of people screaming and curses wreaking havoc, she heard her sister's voice.

"Kaia! Kaia, I'm here!"

Huddled behind some trees by the bonfire were Maha and Riku. Kaia fell to her knees when she reached them, not even registering the rock that dug into her kneecap as she did. She wrapped her arms around Maha and squeezed as hard as she could until Maha was squeaking something out about not being able to breathe.

"What the hell is going on?" Riku hissed, cowering behind Maha.

Kaia glared daggers at him.

"They're curses! Why the hell are you hiding behind my sis—"

"Kaia, behind you!" Maha screamed.

Her instincts kicked in again. Just in time for her to whirl around and breathe out a wild, poorly controlled stream of blue flames at the fly curse that was getting ready to impale her on its stinger.

"Did… Did she just spit fire?"

"I don't spit it. I breathe it, you idiot!" Kaia snarled at Riku.

Her patience was gone. Between Reiji, the curses, and Maha's useless boyfriend using her as a human shield, Kaia had had enough.

She stood up and watched a curse attack the guy who'd asked her about her workout routine. What was his name again? She thought it started with an 'H'. He'd been kind to her and Kaia couldn't just stand back, hidden behind some trees while a nasty little curse tried to rip his head off.

She barreled ahead without thinking better of it.

Sucking in as much of a breath as she could, she prepared herself to breathe flames at the curse about to deliver a killing blow when a hand anchored itself onto her shoulder at the same time the boy with the snow-white hair and sunglasses exorcised the curse.

"You really shouldn't be here. It isn't safe."

A different boy, this one with long black hair that was pulled back into a bun at the back of his head, had his hand on her shoulder, forcing her to remain where she was.

"I can fight. Let me help!" she tried.

The boy looked at her for a long moment. Too long a moment it would seem because he suddenly shoved her backward just as a curse jumped down from a tree above. Had he not pushed her out of the way, the curse would have landed on top of her and would have ripped her head right off.

Which sure. She was thankful for.

But that thankfulness disappeared when she fell to the ground and the momentum forced her to roll on her side until she stumbled at someone's feet.

Or rather, something's feet.

The little girl's feet, more specifically.

"No, no, no, no—" Kaia said right away, scrambling away on all fours.

It didn't matter. It was too late. She'd touched the little girl. She'd never touched her before, only got dangerously close.

Her curse looked at her through a curtain of matted blonde hair, jet black eyes boring into Kaia's own green ones, and reached forward with a hand that was dirty with broken fingernails. It grabbed Kaia's wrist in a deadlock. Kaia gritted her teeth and tried to pull her wrist back, but the little girl's nails dug into Kaia's flesh and her grip tightened and tightened and tightened until the levee broke.

Crack!

Kaia's wrist snapped clean in half and an unbearable pain shot up her arm until it overwhelmed all of her other senses and she yelped in pain.

She could feel herself starting to slip away from the pain as she stared at the way her wrist limply hung in the curse's hold. She could feel a familiar icy coldness wash over her in response to the white-hot agony in her arm. She could feel the little girl squeezing even tighter on her wrist despite it already being snapped into two pieces.

No. No, she didn't want this. She didn't want it at all.

That terrible, recognizable coldness covered her, running through her veins, and submerging her body in a foreign chill until she could see nothing but the full moon hanging in the sky.

Maha could see it the moment it happened. She watched from afar, hiding in the brush with Riku as the two sorcerers handled the curses. She knew they weren't safe, the curses had inflicted so much damage and it would have been smart for her to run back to Riku's car and drive home.

But instead of running away, she was glued to her hiding place, watching in horror as Kaia fell at the feet of her curse. She stared, mouth dry and heart racing, as the curse reached down and grabbed Kaia's wrist so tightly that even from yards away, Maha could hear the moment her little sister's wrist snapped.

She thought Kaia screamed, but she couldn't discern her screams from everyone else's. Maha felt bile rise in her throat as the curse continued to squeeze Kaia's fractured wrist and jerk it towards her. Even from a distance, Maha could see what was happening. She could see where this was going.

The boy with black hair who had initially pushed Kaia away and saved her from another curse was quick to exorcise the little girl before it did any more damage, but it was too late.

Maha could see that Kaia was gone.

Her little sister was no longer her little sister. Instead, her eyes now glowed an uncanny white-purple and a full circle appeared in the center of her forehead, glowing brightly the way her eyes did.

The Cursed Moon Technique of the Murakami.

Maha knew very little about her family's cursed moon technique. All she knew was that it came with the little girl and it granted the user future-sight in battle and enhanced their reflexes, senses, and strength. It worked the same way a possession did, taking over until the user could properly control and harness the technique. And that was precisely why Kaia hadn't yet mastered it and why she relied so heavily on her cursed fire instead.

She was afraid of the technique.

She'd tried to use it a few times growing up, and every time it ended in her doing far too much damage to their house and training area. Every time it ended with their father calmly saying, 'come back to me, Sweetheart' and catching her limp body as whatever possessed her left.

Only this time, Kaito Murakami was all the way in Istanbul and couldn't bring her back.

"Oh no. No, no," Maha whispered to herself. Her eyes watered as she watched her little sister turn on the boy with black hair who saved her not once, but twice, and punch him so hard with her broken wrist that he went flying into a nearby tree, hitting it with such force that the roots came up with it as it went down.

She wanted to help. She needed to help. But what could she do?

Maha didn't have any cursed energy. She couldn't use cursed tools either, and even if she could, it wasn't like she had one on her. All she could do was see curses, and that was useless as her baby sister went into goddamn Hulk mode!

"Whoa," the boy with white hair said. He looked in the direction of his friend and plunged his hands into his pockets, letting out a low wolf-whistle.

Kaia was on him in an instant.

She jumped at him, ready to kick him and send him flying away as she'd done to the other sorcerer, but the white-haired boy didn't even flinch.

He sidestepped all of her attacks—which shouldn't have been possible given that her technique granted her future sight. But… He did somehow?

"Now that is just rude. Attacking the guy who saved you? Tsk, tsk," he continued.

She landed a blow finally. At least, Maha thought she landed a blow. But instead of the boy going crashing into a tree, he just stood there with her fist against his abdomen.

The thing possessing Kaia seemed confused. Her sister's movements hesitated and Maha knew that was it. It was now or never.

She ran out from where she was hiding (ignoring Riku's pathetic protests) and waved her arms.

"Kaia!" she called out.

The boy with white hair looked at her from behind his sunglasses and grimaced.

"Hey, that maybe isn't a great id—"

"Come back to me!" Maha begged, repeating her father's words and praying that she sounded somewhat like him.

It didn't work because now distracted, Kaia left the sorcerer and charged at Maha, fist pulled back to deliver what Maha knew would be a killing blow on a human with no cursed energy.

She held her arms out as if to embrace her sister and bit down on the back of her bottom lip.

"Kaia, come back to me, Sweetheart!" she cried out, tears falling from her eyes.

Maha squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the killing blow, but it never came.

The boy with white hair somehow now stood in front of her (wasn't he so far away just moments ago?), catching a now limp Kaia in his long arms.

"Kaia?" Maha whimpered, running out from behind the boy's back to look at where her sister was slumped against his chest, her wrist hanging at a sickly angle.

The boy wolf-whistled again and laughed.

"Well damn. I've never seen a cursed technique like that before."

*Author's note*

As always, please drop a review with any and all feedback! Reviews are so beyond appreciated! THANKS!