Well, this is Princess Random! Just call me Random tho!

Default Chapter

A black haired girl ran through the Makai forest, demons screaming her name, chasing her. The green glowing portal was just ahead of her.

"Mariko! Mariko! Mariko!" the evil demons chanted as they gained on her. A small demon leapt and attached itself to her back. She fell, terrified, screaming, and burning in pain.

With a startled gasp, Mariko Utarishi awoke and sat up in her bed. She frowned, reaching around to touch her back as if the demon was still there. It seemed so real.

"Another dream," she reassured herself. She fell into a sleep filled with nightmares and things that couldn't possibly be real.

The next day at school, Mariko was miserable. She had woken up six more times the night before. Demons haunted her dreams and chased her through the confines of her own mind. Mariko was different from any other girl her age. She always had been.

Mariko was fairly short, about 4' 11". Her black hair was just a little past her shoulder blades. The tips of her hair always grew to be a crimson red. Her eyes were really only black, but she wore colored contacts that tinged her cornea green, so no one ever knew about that. She was a loner; her constant anger drove people away. Her mother was always drunk, but Mariko took care of her and still managed to take scrape by with A's and B's in Sarianki High School. She was a sophomore, about 16 years old. She had a car, but never drove anywhere, preferring to walk.

At 3:00, Mariko kicked her locker shut, cursing at the books and papers threatening to fall out. She jumped out of the 2nd floor window into a large tree, her backpack thudding behind her. She slid down the tree, her anger boiling at her teacher.

" Another essay on family" she spat with contempt, " That is so stupid. I live with my alcoholic mother who is passed out half the time on the couch and has been like that for most of her life. If I were suddenly gone one day, she probably wouldn't even notice! Sometimes I wonder if I am actually that woman's daughter!! Yeah, that will make a wonderful essay."

She walked past broken down houses and boarded up buildings and kicked open the rusty gate to her neighborhood. Cans and bottles littered the street. Every now and then a gunshot would ring out and gangs warred. Mariko stopped, suddenly felling the need to go back, away from home. She shrugged, then turned and ran.

Once she was downtown, she slowed to a steady walk. Deciding to go to work early, she turned down a back alley shortcut to get to the back entrance of the café where she was a waitress. She glanced over her shoulder, peering into the dirty darkness. As soon as she turned back around, she ran into four bulky men, their eyes gleaming. Each one carried a small, but deadly looking knife.

"Are you Mariko?" one asked menacingly.

"So what if I am?" Mariko growled eyeing them, sizing them up.

" We have orders to bring you to our master alive, but he will accept you dead if needed," another said flatly.

Mariko pulled her katana from the sheath sticking out of her backpack. Thank goodness she never left home without it. She had practiced for ages, but now. Now she finally got to use it. She held the blade steady, poised, ready to attack. The first man came charging at her. She dodged, and then sliced deeply into his chest. He gave an unearthly scream, turned into a demon from her dreams, and dissolved into ash. She stumbled back, astonished. Her anger, a deep beast inside her, roared in fury as she backed away, scared for once in her life.

The other three assassins came at her. She dodged and blocked, not able to hit them with her blows. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blurred black figure blow by. It veered toward her. She winced, hoping it was not another attacker. Handling these three was hard enough.

" Fist… of the … Mortal… Flame!!" it shouted, saying the words in gasps. It aimed the punch at the nearest assassin. The human/demon was obliterated. One attacker charged the dark shadowy figure. The other slid behind Mariko and knocked her the back of her head with the butt of his knife. The last things she saw before she sank into unconsciousness was a pair of deep crimson eyes coming toward her as the last attackers were blown to pieces.