Disclaimer: I do not own the anime, manga, novels, songs, or the characters of K. K is owned by GoRa/GoHands.

K: Preserving the Blaze of Your Red

By: TCOOKIES777

Chapter 6: The Kiss of Life

CHAPTER 5: The Candle of Life (RECAP/The story so far...)

Suddenly, an electric sensation ran down Anna's body and she jolted her eyes open, wary of the familiar disturbance she was feeling. She wildly looked around in search of the source. Pinpointing it in the direction of the lake nearby, she froze as she met the cold eyes of the boy. A psychotic grin started to stretch across his face.

It was him.

The one she saw in her nightmare.

The person who had murdered Tatara the night before her birthday.

Snow white hair just like hers but brighter… and the face of a killer.

The Colorless King.

"That boy…." She whispered hoarsely to no one in particular. Tatara stopped singing and everyone turned to look at her.

"Anna?" Izumo asked almost unsurely. Her eyes were as wide as saucers but what stunned him the most was the determined look in her face; he had never seen it before.

Mikoto, sensing her uneasiness, peered at her from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?"

Her whole body was shaking uncontrollably but it wasn't from fear. There was this raw energy surging throughout her but Anna didn't know what it was. She stood up on trembling legs but held her ground, never taking her eyes off the young man directly across from her. "He's the one…."

"Ah?"

Before anyone could understand what was happening, Anna broke into a mad dash with speed they had never seen her use before. She didn't spare a glance back. She wouldn't dare.

"Anna?!"

She couldn't control it. She couldn't stop. Not now! Not now when that person is standing right in front of her! Not now when she is running out of time to save Tatara and Mikoto. Not now while the future of Homra—the future of her family—lies in her hands.

And with her hands, she will..!

….

She will what?

The flame within her—the one she had difficulty taming for years—let loose out of her with a raging roar...

Chapter 6: The Kiss of Life

Winter.

Out of the four, it's the season of death and tragedies—known to be cold, unforgiving, and merciless.

Anna had often asked herself why she was born during this time of the year. To her, it seemed like an omen of ill will which evidently held true so far. She wondered, is this the destiny that awaits me? To suffer loss after loss until there is nothing left for me to lose?

But even so… she thought to herself, I can't help but love winter. Yes… despite how life seems to wither away at the cold touch of frost, I love the way how it becomes so still… as if the world is holding its breath for one individual—for me. It's like life and time itself are suspended in motion, waiting… waiting for that one breath of life. The colors didn't matter to her—no, it was more about the sensations; the minty air kissing her skin. Sometimes it'd be freezing to the point that it felt like a burning kiss instead. Or when crystal flakes of snow danced through the crispy air only to disappear at a single touch. In that moment, everything was just beautiful to her. And then when winter finally comes to an end, that's when little buds of life sprout anew once more; the cycle of life and rebirth as she knew it.

However, the number one reason why she appreciated such a poignant season was because that was when she could feel the intense heat of her beloved King's aura all the more. She was especially sensitive to Mikoto's aura during the winter since the frigid weather left her seeking the delicious heat she so cherished. And that was her little secret.

Anna would always love winter. It acted as a white background and made what she valued most pop out even more. Even though two of her most important people died in that season, she would still love it no matter what. Because it vividly reminded her of both her king's warmth and the precious memories Tatara had gifted her.

Always….

"You're Anna Kushina, aren't you?"

What? Anna opened her eyes to find herself in the same place where she had first made contact with the Dresden Slate—only this time it was not a spectrum of colors coloring her surroundings. Anna felt almost colorblind again but the girl knew she was truly looking at the color of dead white as she floated amongst the thin brushes of grey clouds. Where am I? Is this a dream too? I know that only my consciousness is here… so where is my body?

"Are you lost, little girl?" Anna snapped to attention at the derisive voice. Following where it came from, she turned and met face to face with what appeared to be a white fox-like entity. His ears pointed up sharply and he had huge, slanted eyes with dark linings as red marks streaked across his face. Limbs were replaced with stubbed arms and legs including a long and thick tail, giving him the appearance of a whisp.

He flourished his hands out in dramatic fashion with a painful grin stretched across his face. "Welcome! Welcome to my world! Do you like the colors? I do! BECAUSE IT'S COLORLESS OF COURSE!"

"You…" Anna could only mutter in response.

The soon-to-be killer suddenly shot her a look of panic before covering his distressed face with a hand. Surprisingly, he next spoke in a small, trembling voice, "Yes… it's always colorless here…. But you understand my pain, right, Anna Kushina?"

He knows I'm colorblind—but how? Extremely confused, lost, and not knowing what to do exactly, Anna could barely hold herself from collapsing in fear of the maniacal king before her. She didn't know where she was, what was happening, or what she could do right now. Anna just couldn't help it; remembering all the chaos that had gone down during the clan's invasion of Ashinaka High School, she was terrified. "I-I never told you… my name."

The sly fox twisted his face into one of psychotic mockery. "Yes, yes! I know you… but do you know me? Heeheeheee!"

Why does he know me? This should be our first time meeting. She tried to hide her shock behind her blank mask of emotions but the slightest widening of her eyes gave her away. She tried to compose herself lest the trickster take advantage of her vulnerable state. "Yes, actually, I do know you. You're the… the Colorless King."

"But of course you do! And of course I am!" The entity howled with uncontained excitement. "Ah, I see! You're not just a clansman of the Red King; you're an empathic strain—oh, and an extremely strong one too…"

"So then are you planning to kill me too?" The question slipped out of her mouth automatically without a given thought. For a split second, she almost regretted it as it might encourage the monster. But just as soon, she felt something else deep in her chest.

What is this feeling?

I feel uncomfortably… hot.

Her chest ached and throbbed with a burning need and Anna grasped at it in response.

"Now why would I kill you when I can make use of you instead?" Giggling, the silver specter flew right up to her face, too close for comfort. "After all, there'd be no fun in that! Yes… I can sense it; you are not only powerful but you've yet to live to your full potential."

Ah, she finally knew what this feeling was.

Rage.

"I am going to enjoy using your body." Unbound mirth was evident on his wispy expression and Anna felt her body grow hotter like a reaction. "Imagine the faces of your king and his men when they come to think you've deceived them. I'll kill them all! Nice and slow… I'm going to love it."

Red tinted her vision even though she hadn't pulled out her marbles at all.

"First to go will be the weakest executive of the three; that foolish man with the camera."

Tatara's lifeless body from Izumo's nightmare (A/N: refer to chapter 1) flashed in her mind.

Tell Anna… I don't think I can wish her… 'happy birthday'

"Following him will be that mindless bartender and then the rest of the clan!"

Izumo… Misaki… Rikio… Shohei… Bando… Chitose… Eric… Fujishima… Dewa… Fushimi….

Anna remained motionless as the crazed king whispered his plans straight into her ear as if they were close buddies swapping secrets. "Until only your King is left… He'll be at his most vulnerable once he realizes he is all alone. And after he's given up hope… after I've eaten his delicious aura… I'll take my time torturing him right before his death. And it will all happen by your hands."

Sorry, Anna… I won't be able to show you that lovely red anymore….

"…. …. …."

Irritated at the lack of a reaction, the cunning fox peered up at the girl's face which was obscured since she was hanging her head low.

"What, nothing to say?"

"You… must be a fool." Anna tilted her head up, shocking the silver wisp with her blank expression. But it was her wine red eyes that really threw the deranged entity off guard. They were burning so bright with determination it was almost as if a fire was reflected within them. For the first time in his entire life, jumping from one body to another, the fox king shrunk back with great unease.

"Eh? Wh-what?"

As the red rage pounded against Anna's chest, she could feel the power of flames coursing through her veins. They ached to escape and decimate everything around her and, for once in all of her five years as a clansman, Anna struggled to control her Aura. She clenched her hands and went on to glare at the king with great enmity as she raised her voice. "I said, you must be a fool if you think I'm going to let you stand by and hurt my most important people! Use me? I can almost laugh!"

The Colorless King squirmed in agitation. "W-what?! You… you impudent child! You think you have the power to change fate?!"

"Watch me." Anna spoke with cold cut confidence. "Because that's what I came here to do."

The King was silent for a moment before cracking up in hysterical laughter. "Oh, I'm watching you all right! But are you watching me?!"

He threw himself at her full-body and he seemed to be shrinking in size as he sped towards her face in preparation to possess her. Too quick for Anna to react in time, she could only widen her eyes in astonishment. Suddenly, the fox came to an abrupt halt right before making contact with her eye. He shuddered uncontrollably and hissed out a curse as something seemed to burn him.

He stared at her as his body began fading in and out. "So, you say you're going to stop me? Then remember this, you fatuous strain: only a king can stop another king."

The next thing Anna knew, he was gone just like that.

And still she continued to float in this dreary dimension she seemed to be caught in. I seem to have fallen into his trap, Anna thought to herself. I should've asked him how to get out… but I doubt he would've told me. He probably would've just given me some kind of cryptic answer.

"Maybe this is all just a dream... It wouldn't be the first time…." Anna thought for a moment before releasing a sigh. Just as quick, that sigh became a choked gasp as she suddenly lost all of her breath.

What's going on?!

C-can't… breathe…

Her surroundings then transformed into a mass of dark water she continued to sink into as if she were a powerless diver. Wa… water? NO! Not water! Anything but that! She instinctively opened her mouth to gasp for air but only sucked in the liquid. Anna could feel the cold pressure crushing her petite form but she wasn't sure if it was from the weight of the water or the panic that was seizing her up from the inside out as memories of torture clouded her mind.

"Hmm, it seems that pain stimulates your powers, Anna." Mizuchi scribbled into his observation notebook as the young strain shivered, still recovering from her recent experimentation which left her soaking wet. "Isn't that great news? With this, you can save your aunt."

Yes, I'll… protect Honami-san….

He tugged her towards the prison of water but the doll-like girl pulled back in hesitation. "Please, no more…. It really hurts…."

"It hurts, does it? Well then, you just need to try harder." The man turned to stare down at the young strain with his cold, emotionless eyes that Anna couldn't seem to read. "So hurry up and become a King already, Anna."

Just as she was on the brink of unconsciousness, Anna felt a hand grab hers. It was large compared to her tiny hands but comfortably warm. Darkness webbed across her vision as she struggled to stay awake.

This hand… it feels so familiar. Wait, I know this hand… I've held it numerous times before….

Mikoto….

That was her final thought before the darkness claimed her.

"Mikoto!" Izumo ran over to his King's side as the man hauled their princess out of the lake. "Mikoto, is she all right?!"

Dripping wet, Mikoto gently set Anna down on the ground. Izumo leaned in towards the little girl's face before glancing up at Mikoto in alarm. "She's not breathing…"

The King's face blanched the slightest but that was enough to tell the bartender that Mikoto was extremely distraught. The other clansmen were beginning to crowd around as well as other curious people.

Yata, being the smallest amongst the men, pushed through to the front. "Hey, what's going on? Why'd Anna run off like that… oh no…."

"Is she all right?!" Kamamoto demanded.

"Obviously not!" Chitose snapped. Everyone was too stunned to respond. It wasn't like their precious girl to just do something as crazy as jump into a lake out of a whim. And knowing that she was traumatized by deep water only made them question her unusual behavior. So that begged the question: what prompted Anna to do this? What had she seen?

It was Shohei that pulled them out of their stupor. He yelled, "Well, someone do something and help her already!"

"Help… Call an ambulance." Mikoto growled as he cradled the unresponsive strain in his arms.

"First, we need to apply emergency treatment to prevent her from going into shock." Izumo said with a grim expression. "Find someone who knows CPR!"

Immediately, Yata started grabbing people from the sidewalk, shaking them hard and shouting, "Hey, you know CPR?!"

All the other clansmen were about to follow suit when someone spoke up in a soft voice. "Let me."

Everyone turned to find Tatara hurrying to Anna's side. The young hobbyist nodded to Izumo and Mikoto. "It's okay; I know what I'm doing."

Tatara set Anna flat on her back and placed his hands on her breastbone. If it wasn't such a dire situation, Yata would've been stammering and asking Totsuka where he was touching the little girl. But everyone was too busy holding their breaths in anxiety to even think of cracking a joke which would've been extremely inappropriate anyways.

No one said anything when Tatara straddled himself over Anna's body and began pumping her chest. He completed 15 compressions before touching his mouth to Anna's and breathing into it two times. This cycle went on for about two minutes and what all the others could do was wait and pray that their precious girl would open her eyes.

After a while, their vanguard became impatient and he kicked at the ground in frustration. "Damn it all! What the fuck is taking so long?!"

Right on time, a strangled sound came from Anna and her body convulsed for a moment before she coughed out a mouthful of lake water. Mikoto and Izumo respectively sighed and smiled in relief as everyone else did so as well.

Anna's eyes slowly opened as she regained consciousness. She found herself looking straight into Tatara's eyes as he loomed above her with subtle drops of tears running down his cheek. "Ta—Tatara..?"

Despite feeling weak, she reached up and brushed the tears from his eyes with the tiny pads of her fingers. "Please don't cry, Tatara."

He closed his eyes and, leaning into her touch, he breathed. "I thought… you were going to leave us. God, Anna, you scared me there."

A small smile tilted Anna's lips up. Strangely, they felt a bit bruised but she ignored the weird feeling. "Tatara, I would never leave you guys…. I promise."

Moving off her, Tatara fell to his side and buried his face in his hands. "I'll hold you true to that then, princess."

Her limbs felt like noodles but she managed to sit upright only to meet the eased faces of her clansmen. Yata was kneeling on the ground, staring at her with wide eyes, teary with torment, similar to the time when Fushimi informed him of his betrayal. He blinked out of his shock when he realized Anna was looking at him and angled his face down to discreetly rub at his eyes. "Th—there's just some dirt in my eyes… is all. Geez, Anna… don't scare me like that."

She was about to say something to comfort the captain when a large hand gently grasped her head and turned it. Mikoto did not look happy at all and Anna could only guess that it wasn't because he was soaking wet in the middle of the frigid weather. "Oi, you brat… don't ever do that again, you hear?"

Anna nodded. "Sorry, Mikoto… everyone."

Mikoto released a burst of red Aura to dry himself before shrugging off his jacket and draping it over Anna's shoulders. "Just as long as you're okay…."

"Still," Izumo was frowning slightly at her. "Anna, why did you run off like that? And what happened? One second, you were running in the direction of the lake, and then the next second, you were drowning. Did you… see something?"

Her lips pressed together just the slightest and she stole a look at Tatara before facing Izumo once more. "I saw… a boy."

"A boy?" Izumo's frown deepened further and both him and the king shared a subtley confused look with each other.

"Anna, do you know this boy?" Tatara inquired with some concern showing through his uneasy smile.

For a moment, she was as silent as a doll. Then, she nodded slowly, gripping at the edges of Mikoto's warm jacket. Residue from his aura lingered on the cloth, warming her to her chilled bones. "…. Yes, I do know him."

"What's his name?" Mikoto asked her softly. Beneath his tough exterior behavior, Anna could sense his desire to protect her swelling up. But she froze in response to Mikoto's question. She didn't know the true name of the fox-like entity. And she couldn't just tell them it was the Colorless King himself, either, as that would only spur more questioning along with panic.

Noting her hesitance, Izumo went on to ask her in a tender manner. "Can you tell us his name?"

Disinclined to have her clansmen anymore involved in her mission than they already were, Anna stayed quiet for a few more seconds and then presented a soft smile to the three men. "Don't worry… I'll protect every—ah… achoo!"

"Ah, maybe we should bring her back to the bar first so she can warm up and get some rest. It's not good for her health, sitting here in the winter cold when she's this wet." Tatara told his two other friends. "Come on, we can talk about this once she's feeling better."

"Ah, but Eric and I have already called for help." Fujishima rubbed the back of his neck. "It seems they'll be here any—"

"Indeed. My apologies for our tardiness. Now, where's the Strain? Where is Anna Kushina?" A feminine voice confident with authority cut in. Everyone turned to see who it was and Yata growled at the sight of the Blue King's right hand; Lieutenant Seri Awashima. Fushimi stood by her side with an irritated expression marring his face. Several other Blues including Akiyama, Hidaka, Dōmyōji, Fuse, and two other men who looked similar to each other, stood at attention in a straight line in front of their vehicles.

"Ah, hey, it's them!" Yata shouted with sudden vigor. "Look, Kamamoto, it's the Minato twins! Damn, they're still part of the Blue clan, huh."

Fushimi clicked his tongue aloud when he noted that Yata was preoccupied paying attention to someone else without even acknowledging his ex-best friend.

"Seri, what are you doing here?" Izumo cautiously asked his close acquaintance. For the first time, his face was completely serious; it lacked the usual flirtatious look when it came to the busty woman.

"We are here to take Anna Kushina, a high-level Strain, under our custody. We ask for your cooperation. Please hand her over."

DID ANYONE CATCH THAT NARUTO REFERENCE IN THIS CHAPTER? LOOOL!

Review pretty please? :) I also take requests for certain scenes. Remember, I don't intend to have any romance within this fanfic-HOWEVER, there may be some hints and suggestions here and there because when writing some scenes that demonstrate the close bonds between Anna and each individual clansman, I realized it sometimes looks... suggestive *cringes*. Oops, can't go back now.

THANKS FOR READING-YOU'RE ALL BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE :)