Chapter Eight: Remembering

I attempted to use my mangled key to open the door, but it refused to work with me. Even you. I sighed and broke open the door with a kick. When I had left Kagero's house, it had been mid afternoon, and upon opening the door of my apartment/room, the moon feebly attempted to light my room up with a pale glow, with the shadows dominating every corner.

I flicked the light switch and sent the shadows scurrying back to whatever place they had come from previously. Gripping the kougon anki in both hands, I scanned the room briefly and not noticing anything out of the ordinary, dropped into a chair and rested my madougu on my knees.
"Why the hell…why the hell am I so nervous?" I mumbled out loud, eyes still scanning the room. I shook my head and blinked my eyes a bit. "Like that'll fucking clear my head? I got things to do.? Other than school, I got nothing to fucking do. No wait, beating up punks, that too...can't fucking forget that can I.?" A sudden movement made me swivel my head in that direction to see a shadow change due to the movement of my head.

"Stop being so freaking nervous! What the hell, that shadow bastard won't come after me. I'm not protecting Yanagi anymore!"

My room was silent, attempting to be neutral in this stupid argument I was having with myself. Dammit, it's too quiet. I stood up, resting the anki on the arm of the chair as I walked over to my small stereo. Music blasted my ears and stole away my thoughts as I wandered over to my bed and fell asleep immediately upon laying down.


~~~~~~~~~~~

I stood covered by shadows as Yanagi ran down a corridor towards me. "Y…Yanagi?" I asked. I grinned then at waved at her. "Yanagi-nechan!" She stopped suddenly and hung her head, sand colored hair shading her eyes from my view. "Ya…Yanagi-nechan.?!" She looked up swiftly as I took a step towards her. I coughed out a lungful of air as the look of pure fear on her face hit me like a punch from the gorilla in the stomach. I took another step forwards, holding my arms out to her. "Ne…Yanagi-nechan…what's wrong?"
She stumbled backwards, eyes growing wide and tears forming in their corners. The shadows that surrounded and moved with me suddenly lifted into the air and floated weightlessly above my head. "Wha?" The shadows swept down upon Yanagi and swallowed her in total blackness, dark and evil, her scream ringing in my ears.
"YANAGI!!!!"
A violent ringing sound shattered my restless nightmares. I smashed my alarm clock off the table and heard it crash to the ground. Bright sunlight glared in my eyes and blinded me momentarily and I looked out the window to a bright blue sky, white fluffy clouds, and a shiny yellow sun.
"Dammit…" I had thrown my blanket halfway across the room, so I stood up groggily to pick it up and toss it back on my bed. Yawning, I brushed my hair back with a hand and looked out the window. 'Why the hell does the weather have to be so freakin' happy when I'm not...?' I blinked and looked at my watch. "Fuck! I'm late!!"
I changed my pants, grabbed my school shirt and my bag, then paused as I past by the kougon anki. 'Should I...bring it? But…that bastard won't be following me.' I shook my head and grabbed the kougon anki and wrapped it up in a sheet. I looked to my door that I had kicked in last night. "Geh..." I quickly moved and barricaded the door with my bed and then ran towards the window, kougon anki wrapped up in right hand and bag in left, my school shirt shoved inside of it.
"Wahoo!!" I jumped out of the window, forgetting to look out before.
"What the~???" another voice shouted out before I landed on top of them.
"Holy crap…that fucking hurt…" I said, rolling off of the person. "Sorry about that." I looked at the person I had flattened and realized it probably didn't hurt them that much. A punch flew at my face and I stumbled backwards to dodge it. "You're up early ^^."
The guy that I had flattened was from my school also, his spiked up bleached hair had also been flattened slightly. I grinned at him when he stood up and gave me the finger.
"What the fuck was that for??" he bellowed. "Jumping out of a freakin' window?!" I scratched my head.
"Ah…gomen Koji-sempai…" I apologized quickly and not very truthfully. "An...so…why you up so early man? You usually come to school at lunch time." I grinned and dodged another punch from him.
"Bastard. I'm tryin' to improve my record!" Koji replied, looking at his watch. "Fuck! It's already nine!" He bulled his way past me, knocking me over in the process. I rolled up to my feet and ran after him.
"What the hell was that for??" I shouted at him, as I caught up.
"You were in my fuckin' way!!" he bellowed back at me as we sprinted down the street, making people dodge out of our way. He looked at me when I rushed up to get ahead of him. "What the hell's that?"
"What the hell's what?"
"That thing you wrapped in a sheet!" he shouted, pointing a finger at the kougon anki. "What the hell is it??"
"Hi-mi-tsu!" I shouted back, grinning at him and nearly running into a lamppost.

"Wahaha!! Idiot!!"

"Shuddup!!!"
We arrived at the school and ran over a class of girls in PE uniforms that were jogging their way around the outskirts of our school.
"Iiiiee!!!"
"Aaaahhh!"
"What do you boys think you're doing???"
"I'm sorry! I didn't see them!" I said, bowing and hitting Koji in the shin with the kougon anki.
"Fuck!! What the hell was that for bastard???" He grabbed me in a headlock and swung me around a few times, making the girls giggle at us. I caught the teacher glaring but she couldn't get to us because Koji was using me like a deadly weapon. I blinked as words tried to spring out of my mouth. Taskete Yanagi-nechan! Domon-niichan let go!!.. Why the hell did they have to come back into my life? I saw Yanagi being swallowed by the shadows and gritted my teeth, my fang showing.
"Don't hurt Yanagi!!" I shouted, grabbing Koji's arms and getting my feet on the floor.
"Huh?" I planted my feet, stopping him from swinging me, and then flung him over my shoulder and nearly into the teacher. I panted momentarily then realized I had dropped my bag and the kougon anki in the process of throwing Koji. I looked around quickly and saw it lying in the dust, half of it showing through the sheet.
"Ah!!" I ran towards it but two girls were already kneeling down to pick it up for me. They struggled to lift it and stared at the shiny madougu.
"What's this?" one asked, putting her hand on kougon anki. The other one nodded and stared at it some more.
"This...? Well...it's…" I started to explain, but I doubt they would believe me. It's a madougu, a psychic device that I received from Kurei. He worked for Mori Kouran and I worked for Kurei, part of the Uruha. Images passed through me, when I met Kurei and he saved me, kidnapping Yanagi, winning the Urabutosatojin as one of the Hokage...and how I had become isolated from them. They still think that I'm a kid…because that's how I always had acted with them.
"Kaoru-kun, you okay?" the first girl asked me, holding out the kougon anki out to me. "Ne…it's getting kind of heavy." I nodded and took my madougu back, seeing Yanagi being swallowed by the shadows.
"Why the fuck should it matter how I act."
"Kaoru-kun?"
"Cheh. I'm not here to help you, nii-chan, I'm here to save Yanagi- nechan. Isn't that right, Recca?" I said out loud to myself, getting weird stares from the girls, the teacher, and Koji.
"You okay Koganei?" A smirk appeared on my face, similar to my fanged grin.
"People die sometimes, but if you love someone, you want them alive as long as possible, fuck the possibility that they could die from disease or accidents. You just want to keep them with you, safe, for as long as you fucking can." I finished, smirking and dropping my book bag onto the ground and wrapping the kougon anki up again.
"Koganei-san stop that this instant!" the teacher said, swinging a paper fan at my head. I caught it easily with my free hand as I pulled out my summer school shirt from my bag and put it on unbuttoned over my sleeveless undershirt.
"I agree with you, sensei." I said, looking at her and grinning. "I should stop acting like a fuckin' idiot and go help my friends, ne?" I smiled at her as she gaped at me. I rushed past her while she stared, still surprised by my weird actions.
"Koganei??" Koji shouted at me as I dodged past him also. "Where the fuck you going?!" I ignored him and jumped over a group of girls who were standing together. They gasped as I flew over them. I rolled to the ground and was right back onto my feet, rushing out of the school.
"Wait for me Yanagi, I'll protect you as one of the Hokage, and if that shadow bastard tries to fuckin kill you, I'll stop him!" I shouted, raising the kougon anki and nearly hitting a passerby in the head with it.

TBC

I changed the title of this chapter a few times. Kind of seems that the story went into a more…happy tone? So I'm thinking about koganei is just gonna act however he wants…just to protect yanagi. Not sure if the story is going in good direction but…thanks for the reviews! ^_^

(yami-no-tenshi honto ni arigatou for making me continue the story :P)