-Sorry it took so long to get this chapter finished. My grandparents came to visit for the first time in about 8 years so I've been making sure everything was perfect for them. Please enjoy this chap (I personally think it's the best one so far)-
Each day Natsumi would practice fighting an invisible figure. She watched more action and sports movies than before. She would inquire with her teachers and they would show her books and research styles. She never let any other kids know what she was reading about. She bound book covers with paper and only used a computer when the only other person in the room was a teacher. Natsumi would beg each teacher she asked not to tell her mother when it was brought up. She even worked harder on school projects and homework to make up for her strange obsession.
After many close calls and not nearly as many birthdays, Natsumi was now twelve. All of her friends were starting to have cellphones and mostly talked about crushing on or hating the opposite gender. Natsumi wasn't too focused on romance even if it was the only fantasy she had left.
The faded memories of a red monster drove her mad. She spent years training against it without any information. She knew she was extremely lucky it hadn't found her again. Last time it only took a couple of years for him to find her but now it had been five. Half of a decade wasted only on basic physical strength and absolutely no knowledge for how to actually beat it.
Natsumi cradled the old faded crystal in her hand. Grandma Akina had said it would help but it didn't do anything. She tossed it onto the bed with an annoyed groan and kicked the edge of her bed. She knew it could find her at any moment and it would. She remembered the determined eyes to crush her. She glanced at a rough sketch of the creature she made over the years and took a stance. I won't be child this time. I won't let him get to me. I won't let him have what he wants.
"I knew it. This is where you've been." A deep voice Natsumi could only remember in her dreams reached out from her window. Natsumi turned quick to find the red monster climbing into her room. His full figure exposed in the sunlight. The bone antlers and exposed skull under the scar on the left side of his face. A barely stitched scar over the flesh of his right cheek leaving the muscle open to the world. There were two metal rings clipped into his left clavicle, bones encased over the right side of his ribcage, the skin over his left arm was a darker red, as if stained. His legs were shaped like a horse's but covered in fur, complete with hooves. He wore a belt made from scraps of leather holding up a frayed and torn piece of cloth and a band of leather over his arm.
The sight was far from what Natsumi expected. She thought back to her drawing and how inaccurate it was. Now that she could see him as more than a shadow, it made him more real. The situation grew heavier, the air more thick now that he was here and unavoidable; no longer dismissible as a nightmare.
"I-it's you. You're here." Natsumi felt her heart jammed in her throat. Her knees became weak but she quickly held her arms up in defense. "Don't come any closer or I- I will stop you."
"Stop me?" The monster looked closer at her position. He chuckled and looked down with a crooked grin, revealing many thin but extremely sharp teeth. "You think you can fight me? You're just a little girl."
"I'm not a child any more. I'm not weak anymore." Natsumi spoke clearly. She bit back when provoked or mocked, even when she was afraid.
"And how would you fight me?" The monster crossed his arms over his chest. He was growing even more curious by her responses.
"I'll... I'll just have to corner you. Then I'll have to find your weakness and beat you." Natsumi felt strength returning to her knees as she thought it out over and over.
"Don't forget about the window behind me that I just came through. How will you corner me when I have an exit right there?" The monster questioned her further.
"I'll wait till you attack first like last time. Then I'll have to fight you into a corner without the window or the door." Natsumi explained her plan easily. She knew her room like the back of her hand and had pictured this visit hundreds of times for combat.
"Good, you're thinking about your surroundings. Now I wonder what you think my weakness is. How will you beat a monster Natsumi?"
"Don't say my name and I'll just have to try everything until I find out how to easily beat you." Natsumi tried not to shout but her anger bubbled when he called her by her name so casually.
"What else can I call you? It is your name after all." The monster enjoyed making her angry. Every other human he met was no where near as fun as she was becoming. No one fought back, even the fully grown humans just screamed in fear. Now here was a girl who was telling him what to do and not to even speak her name. She planned to win even if she didn't know how.
"You're not my friend. I didn't give you permission to call me by my name. You're not even human." Natsumi felt weird actually speaking harsh words but she couldn't afford to be nice to a monster.
The red creature tilted his head back and released a roaring laughter. Natsumi covered her ears from the deep sound. It rattled through her with the most unsettling feeling. "You're the most fun I've had in a very long time human. I might not even kill you, but I do want to figure out how you've managed to escape me twice now. Then I'll decide what to do with you next."
"Escape?" Natsumi was confused. "I never escaped, you just vanished each time. Turned into mist and poof, gone."
"I can't do that, human. I don't have vapor or teleportation abilities. How did you send me away?" His smile vanished. He was serious about finding out what stopped him. His stance slowly changed with aggressive intent.
"I didn't do anything. I told you that last time." Natsumi argued back at him. "Humans don't get powers."
"Some do but they usually don't get much more than slight persuasion of luck or the weather or some other minor things." The monster relaxed his arms and sighed but continued to stare at Natsumi. "You had to have had help-"
"NATSUMI!" Fuyuki's voice screamed through the house from the floor below. Natsumi turned to the door before glaring back at the monster before her.
"What did you do to him?" Natsumi clenched her teeth and fists.
"Nothing. I'm only here for you." He tensed up. Even he was alert to the strange commotion below. Natsumi didn't wait any longer. She grabbed a baseball bat sitting right beside her door and ran for her brother. She should at least be able to defend her brother but the scene she found in the living room was not one she could be prepared for.
Fuyuki was holding his phone, recording the gundam model in front of him floating around. Pieces were being removed and put back on. It twirled in the air as paint and stickers were applied. Natsumi nearly dropped the bat to the floor. Her eyes were wide, she didn't know how to react. "Fu-Fuyuki... get behind me."
Fuyuki started walking backwards to her. He kept his phone focused on the mysterious events and nearly walked into the wall.
"I told you. I was right. Supernatural beings are real." Fuyuki whispered to his sister. His voice was strained through his excitement. "It's gotta be a ghost."
Slowly a body formed behind the gundam. It was a young man, no older than sixteen. His short hair was tied back in a messy tuft. He wore a simple white yukata with the sleeves tied back with a tasuki.
"There. Now it's perfect." The ghost smiled brightly as he set the gundam on the table.
"Kurse! What are you doing here?" The red monster stepped down from the stairs. Natsumi quickly dragged her brother behind her and held the bat out to the monster. Fuyuki was stunned by his presence. He never pictured anything like it and he was intimidated to say the least.
"Hey~!" Kurse, the ghost, waved with an even bigger grin. "Where ya been the last couple years Ganrougel buddy?"
"You know exactly where I've been." Ganrougel crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes clearly annoyed.
"Still chasing that girl? I thought you hated humans?" Kurse scratched his head.
"I do." Ganrougel replied easily.
"Sis, do you know these guys?" Fuyuki asked cautiously into Natsumi's ear.
Natsumi's mind was buzzing with uncertainty. She knew she lied to him for years but she had a hard time admitting the existence of monsters to herself let alone her brother. Now the monster was in their living room and having a friendly chat with a ghost. She wasn't ready for any of this. She clenched her hands over her head and closed her eyes. "All monsters need to leave now!"
Fuyuki protected his ears from the scream and crouched low to the floor. After a moment of silence they both opened their eyes to see a suddenly empty room. Both monster and ghost were no longer present. Fuyuki stood up slowly and looked at the gundam model once more before turning to his sister. "Natsumi, what just happened?"
Natsumi felt a dry lump in her throat. She looked behind every door in the house. Maybe they just went to another room. They can't just be gone. He's targeting me so why would he just disappear, again.
"Natsumi~!" Fuyuki called out to her, annoyed by her silence. He followed close behind as she inspected the house.
"Get out and face me you stupid monster!" Natsumi shouted through the house. She was frantic with frustration, eager to finally face him and now having no idea where he went.
"You... you knew, didn't you?" Fuyuki felt his heart stop. He never felt like this before, like the world stopped and nothing was right. His trust was dying inside and he wasn't prepared to face that from his sister. He clenched his fists, the only reaction he felt was normal was the rage seething from him. He looked down as his face turned blank. The space around him seemed to darken. "How long?"
Natsumi's shoulders sunk, her foul mix of emotions overcame her as her eyes stung with tears. She dropped the bat and turned to her brother. Her chest heaved with hiccups. "I- about six years. He first came when we were really little. I don't know why but he did and then he was just gone. He even showed up and grandma's house; that day with the deformed deer and he-" Natsumi held her hand to her throat. She chocked on the words about his violent nature and the scratch.
"Today was the third time and I spent the last five years training. Researching whatever I could on what kind of thing he was. I wanted to stop him. To not be a weak child." Natsumi's words were chopped and broken with quick breaths.
"Why did you tell me all of my life that monsters weren't real, when you clearly knew I was right?" Fuyuki's words were empty. Devoid of reaction and emotion. "Why did you lie to me?"
"I wanted to protect you." Natsumi wiped her tear stained cheeks with her sleeve. Fuyuki looked at her surprised. "I met a real monster and he was dangerous... scary. If I couldn't handle a real-life monster what would you do other than get really excited only to have it kill you? I couldn't feed your obsession and let you run right up to one. What kind of big sister would that make me?"
Fuyuki instantly wrapped his arms around Natsumi's shoulders. "I'm sorry. Thank you, for thinking about what's best for me."
They cried together for a moment, their hearts slowly healing from the revealed lies. "Natsumi? Will you promise not to lie about supernatural stuff to me again?"
"Alright." Natsumi gave a small smile. "But whatever we do we can't tell mom."
"What? Why?" Fuyuki complained.
"Because she already hates animals, how do you think she's going to react when she finds out monsters are real. She'll probably try to move us all to another planet and then I'll have to try making friends with aliens and there's no way I'm doing that." Natsumi walked confidently up the stairs with her bat over her shoulder. She would keep that close by, just in case.
Fuyuki looked once more to the gundam. "He did a really good job. I don't even think he was bad. Maybe Natsumi is just afraid of monsters and 'thinks' they're bad." Fuyuki chuckled to himself at the idea of his sister being afraid in a silly manner.