Disclaimer:I do not own the anime, manga, or novels of K. K is offically owned by GoRa/GoHands. I do not own any of their characters... but if I did, then I'd definitely have a tad more romance in it.

Author's Note: I'm trying to update as much as I can before school starts because I'll be extremely busy then (college apps-how fun..) but this might be the last chapter you'll see in a long while. Though, I've already made an outline for the next chapter so the next one will most likely be the last one to read in a long while.

K: Preserving the Blaze of Your Red

By: TCOOKIES777

Chapter 7: Red VS Blue

RECAP/THE STORY SO FAR...

"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, Gotō 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. Hand her over."

"You… Are you out of your fucking minds?!" Yata yelled with great enmity. His eyes were ablaze with fury and incredulity. "Are you joking? Why the hell would we give Anna to you Blues?!"

Anna shut her eyes and, curling into a fetal ball on the ground, she covered her ears with her hands. No, not this again! I'm… I'm not going back there. They're going to take me… away from Mikoto and the rest! No, I don't want to! Someone rested a hand on her shoulder and she realized it was Tatara.

"This child is my clansman." Mikoto said coolly as he got up to hold a leveling stare with the Blue lieutenant. The voluptuous woman cautiously stepped back slightly and for good reason. "She belongs with us now. Your king has no say on this matter so you can't expect me to just hand one of my own over to him."

"Well, I am sorry to tell you this but a very recent report has informed us that there was a massive release of power here in this exact area." Seri spoke with justification. "It was enough to be considered harmful and so we were sent here to investigate."

"I thought you came here to help Anna?" Shohei asked them through gritted teeth.

"The Blue clan may be a police-based organization but its main concern regards Strain cases. After all, we can't deal with all the crimes around this city—that's up to the real police." Seri explained with an exasperated sigh. "However, coincidentally, your call for help coincided with the report we received as both pinpointed to this location. So, we took it upon ourselves to both investigate the report and provide assistance to the party in need of help. We didn't realize it'd be… you."

"And you think it's Anna who is behind this power release?" Mikoto stepped forward and the men behind Seri automatically reached for their sabers. The lieutenant held out a hand to stop her clansmen.

"We know it could not have been you or any other King since a Sword of Damocles did not appear on sight. And none of your clansmen have enough power to match the one in our report." Her eyes flickered over each and every one of Anna's clansmen, lingering slightly on Izumo and Tatara. "And it is quite evident that they didn't do it anyways. Otherwise, this park would be… well, simply, no longer a park."

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult." Bandou muttered.

"All of this is based solely on a report." Mikoto nonchalantly shoved his hands in his pocket as if he wasn't affected by the tense situation that was slowly heating up. "You can't accuse Anna—or any of my men—of something you think they did when you have no evidence at all."

Frowning in irritation, Seri placed a hand on her hip to lean on her side. "You honestly think I enjoy accusing cute little girls of such atrocious deeds?"

"Well it's not surprising considering you're known as 'The Cold Hearted Woman'!" Someone from the King's side shouted. Seri turned to glare at Izumo who replied with a sheepish smile.

"Anna is a Strain. Despite all of you possessing powers to some degree, Anna is still different from you." Seri explained. "Her Strain powers make her extremely dangerous. And none of you even understand how it works so I can assume she hasn't been taught how to control them either."

"Anna didn't hurt anyone." Tatara firmly said aloud. "She wouldn't hurt anyone at all so please stop blaming her for something she never did."

His gaze was serious and unrelenting; if Anna didn't know any better, she would have suspected him to even be irked. Her cheeks reddened just the slightest as she felt touched that Tatara was standing up for her—that he had faith in her.

But… what if she was the cause of that supposed power release? She didn't know what was going on out in the real world when the Silver King had pulled her into his own dimension. Did she really do it…? No, Anna tried to tell herself, I wouldn't do that sort of thing! I'm different from back then! …. Am I?

"But with powers of the Red King in addition to her own? She's even more dangerous and unstable than she was before. You're lucky she has not been locked away in a ward."

The subject of the conversation, Anna, stilled and the men around her evidently tensed at the crude comment as well.

Speaking for the rest of his comrades, Chitose furiously spat out what they were all feeling: "Even if you're a woman, we don't take threats so lightly."

"You hear that?" Mikoto cocked his head. But the crease between his brows had noticeably deepened. "You just threatened a clansman of mine. And as her King, I don't think I like that one bit…."

"We have a number of reasons as to why we need to take her in." Seri insisted. She pulled out a PDA and quickly scanned what was on display. "For one instance, she was apparently involved in an incident that endangered the lives of almost a dozen civilians several years ago."

Beside her, Fushimi shifted uncomfortably and he rested his gaze on the ground, missing the look Yata shot at him quickly. Meanwhile, Anna continued to tremble under Tatara's comforting hand. She couldn't tell if she was shivering from the bite of the cold or from the fear seeping into her bones. I don't want to go! I don't want to be by myself again! But she could feel the tenseness of the situation continue to rise further.

"Seri-chan, you've gotta believe me. Nothing happened." Izumo held out his hands peacefully. As a gentleman towards females, he really didn't like to see the ladies getting hurt, especially when it was Seri, a generous customer of his and a good… acquaintance. "We were simply having a picnic. That's all."

Fushimi, who'd been keeping quiet all along, scoffed beside his lieutenant who cocked an eyebrow in disbelief. "In this weather? It's winter—why would you be having a picnic out in this cold? Geez, you must really be a bunch of idiots after all."

They're not idiots; Anna wanted to tell the mean woman. But her voice refused to come out and so all she could do was whimper. Why? Why is it like this? Why am I so… weak?

"Ah, now that you mention it, it is getting really cold." Tatara stood up, carrying Anna in his arms. Mikoto's coat was still wrapped around her figure but she was starting to shiver due to the weather steadily decreasing in temperature as the afternoon dragged on. The sun was almost setting, casting eerie shadows stretched across the ground which was beginning to pile up with snow.

Dewa was the only one who picked up Tatara's hint and he chuckled nervously, stepping in front of Tatara to hide Anna from view. "Yeah, yeah! This isn't exactly the best place to talk so maybe another time…"

"Then, I'll be leaving now." Tatara drawled out. He shared a quick glance with Mikoto as he crept away with Anna.

"Lieutenant!" Fushimi said sharply.

"Hold it!" Seri shouted to Tatara who froze as he was caught red-handed with trying to sneak away together with the target at hand. "Did you really think I would let you and the girl go just like that?"

"Um… yeah?" Tatara tried to charm her with an innocent smile. "Look, it's Anna-chan's birthday tomorrow."

Seri's expression remained the same; impassive. "Yes, I am well aware of that. I did read her report after all.…"

"Then you don't want to ruin the celebration of her special day over something as trivial as this, right? Can't you just let her off?"

Seri paused in thought shortly before shaking her head. "As much as I'd like to let her go, I cannot disobey the orders of my King."

"Think about it, we can't just let a potential threat to the public's safety roam around scot free." Fushimi spoke up suddenly, catching the direct attention of Homra's vanguard.

"Bastard! Anna is a girl—not a threat!" Yata's hands shook as he tried to contain his rage. He glared murderously at the former red clansman. "The next time you call her a 'Strain' or a 'threat', I'll fucking kill you!"

"I didn't mean it as an insult, you fool." Fushimi pushed up the glasses on his nose.

"Suoh Mikoto," Seri straightened herself. "I will ask you one last time. Please hand over Anna Kushina… now."

The Red King stared Munakata's right-hand man down. "You are asking for the impossible. I already made a promise to the brat once and I'm not looking to break it anytime."

"So you will not comply with our request?"

He gave a quiet 'hmph'. "What do you think?"

Izumo walked to Mikoto's side and shook his head. "Seri, it doesn't have to be like this. We're not looking for any trouble. You know that."

For just a few seconds, there was a look of hesitation on the Lieutenant's face. But then that look transformed into that of disappointment.

"No, Kusanagi-san. Seeing as your King refuses to give custody of Anna Kushina to the Blue King, he leaves me no choice…." She sighed and raised her hand up. "We will advance… for our cause is pure! Men, draw your swords!"

"Akiyama, ready for battle!"

"Hidaka, ready for battle!"

"Dōmyōji, ready for battle!"

"Fuse, ready for battle!"

"Gotō, ready for battle!"

"Hayato, ready for battle!"

"Akito, ready for battle!"

"Fushimi… ready for battle!"

As the members of the Blue clan unlocked their sabers one by one, Izumo glanced uneasily at his King. "Mikoto?"

Mikoto closed his eyes briefly in response. When he opened them, they were shining brightly with the color of his light red Aura which had cloaked itself around his body. He tugged his hands from his pocket and fired them up with flames. "They leave us no choice either. Burn them."

Izumo nodded and then turned to the gang who were already readying themselves for the fight to come. "You heard what your King said! Don't let them lay a single finger on our princess!"

"No blood! No bone! No ash!" As the gang cried out their motto, Anna saw that they had no weapons with them including Yata who only had his skateboard. It's impossible, she cried silently to herself. They're going to get their selves hurt… and it's all because of me!

"Lieutenant Seri Awashima, ready for battle!" The Blue second-in-command pulled out her own saber and used it to lash out criss-crossed strikes towards the red clan. Mikoto stepped forward and effortlessly deflected the powered blow by thrusting out a red barrier of Aura.

Red and Blue Auras clashed against each other as the two clans met in battle. Red fisted flames versus burning blue sabers.

No more! Anna continued to tremble in the arms of Tatara. No more fighting! I don't want anyone to get hurt anymore!

"It's going to be all right, Anna." Tatara smiled reassuringly at her and then pulled her closer in to his body to shelter her. Clasping hands over her ears to block out the sounds of explosions and fighting, Anna pressed her face against Tatara's warm chest so she wouldn't have to watch. But she could still hear the mixture of cries and screams of anger… indignation… frenzy… pain. Memories of the battle at the Ashinaka high school, of Tatara dying alone on the rooftop, of Mikoto's blood coloring the falling snow with his pretty red… Anna saw them as if they were one of Tatara's videos on continuous playback.

I'm scared… I'm so scared! Please, make it stop!

As she was on the brink of tears, she gasped at the familiar sensation of her King's power. Tatara's grip on her tightened slightly as the two stared up distressfully at the Red Sword of Damocles which was evidently in bad condition. Power crackled uncontrollably up and down the breaking structure hovering precariously over Mikoto. She remembered watching it fade away into the sky upon the death of her King… and she was helpless to stop it… to save him….

Anna's hands slowly curled into fists. She clenched them so hard she could feel drops of blood being drawn out.

NO. I refuse to be a coward—always being protected by the ones I love but helpless to protect them in return! I will not stand idly by as the people important to me risk their selves!

With great will, Anna forced herself to pull away from Tatara who yelled her name. She went on to run to the center of the conflict but those she passed didn't mind her as they were too absorbed into the fighting.

"Stop! Stop it, that's enough!" She called out to those around her—both Blue and Red—but they didn't notice the little girl in their midst. From the corner of her eye, Anna could see Tatara trying to get to her through the fray.

Not knowing what else to do, Anna was about to cave in when she suddenly felt power surge throughout her body. It felt strange… but not exactly foreign either. Hearing something sizzle, she glanced down to find that the snow around her feet had melted.

"Agh!" Tatara's cry caught Anna's attention and she glanced up to see a blade sticking from his shoulder where red bloomed on the sleeve. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of Tatara's injured form. Again, the vision of Tatara lying in his pool of blood stained her sight and that was all she saw.

Anna shut her eyes and, letting out all of her emotions, her power was unleashed. "STOP!"

…. …. …. ….

Utter silence.

She was reluctant to open her eyes—scared of what laid before her—but the absence of sound stretched on, making her feel extremely uncomfortable and even more worried. Slowly, Anna peered through the hands she splayed across her eyes, only to find a sight more horrifying than she expected.

"What have I done?" Anna whispered to no one in particular. With her mouth slightly open, breath vapors were released into the air. They floated skywards in puffs and, besides her, they were the only things moving.

To her right, Yata was still in midair on his skateboard as Fushimi, smirking, was prepping to block the force with one of his throwing knives. Izumo was behind Seri who was facing off with a tired looking Mikoto; he seemed like he was going to grab Seri's arms and restrain her, knowing she was no match for his King and not wanting her to get hurt.

In front of Anna laid Kamamoto on the ground with his shades off. Chitose was in the middle of covering him from the twins who had their swords raised to strike in sync.

The young girl slowly turned around to find the same result behind her; nobody was moving.

Everyone... everything is frozen!

"Did I… did I do this?" She took in a shaky breath. "Did I… stop Time?"

No! She couldn't have! Her powers were of empathy…. But she didn't sense the power of another Strain either…. Even if it'd been someone else, she would've been affected by them too and suffer the same fate as her comrades. Besides, stopping Time is impossible…. But then again, she did leap back about a year….

Collapsing onto her knees, Anna hugged her legs to herself and pulled Mikoto's coat closer around her body. "Just what… am I?"

She waited… and waited… and waited. And still, nobody moved.

If I don't know how to control my own powers then how can I fix this?! What if… what if everyone remains like this forever? And then I'll be by myself again… alone and helpless to do anything….

No! Anna shook her head furiously and then slapped her cheeks with her palms. No, I've got to do something! I can't keep sitting around, crying over every problem I cause! I want to be just like Mikoto, Izumo, Tatara, and everyone else someday! Strong and proud to face come what may.

Anna wiped away the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. And then she focused on the blood she had drawn from herself earlier. Using her power, it rose up and formed into a crystal marble slightly larger and distinctively harder than the other six kept in her pocket. I swear on this marble—no, on my own blood—that I will protect my family… and save their future no matter the costs!

Rising on her legs, she traipsed towards her King, stopping right between him and the Blue lieutenant.

"Mikoto…" Anna whispered his name softly. She reached over and gently laid her hand on his own. "Mikoto, it's all right now. You don't have to suffer by yourself any more. I will take your pain… and bear it myself. Don't worry, I know how. You say you're worried about hurting others… but, in truth, you're actually hurting yourself."

She leaned forward and pressed her cheek to the back of Mikoto's hand, imagining him patting her head with hidden kindness and love just like he always did. "I'm going to save you, Mikoto… you, Tatara, Izumo… I'm going to save everyone. Because I love you."

A few seconds later, she felt the hand move. "…. Miko..to?"

"Ah? What are you doing?" The hand touched the top of her head.

She could hear sounds all around steadily increasing as, one by one, everyone was beginning to be released from whatever had fallen upon them. Glancing around, Anna noticed they all had a look of confusion on their faces. Due to the disorientation, they were pulling back the strikes that they had been preparing to do at first.

"Agh, damn it…." Yata brought a hand to his forehead. "What… what was that?"

"Yata," Kamamoto groaned. "I feel a bit stiff somehow…."

She couldn't help it; an elated smile graced Anna's lips. Peering up at a confused Mikoto, she was about to tell him that they didn't have to fight anymore when she felt something touch her back. No, it wasn't a touch—it was more like a slash. At first, it felt wet… but then the pain came just as soon.

"Uh…." She gasped.

"W—what…? What just…." Behind Anna, Seri gasped in horror. She lowered her saber which was tinged with blood. "I—I didn't see her! She just appeared out of nowhere!"

It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Anna gritted her teeth at the excruciating pain emanating from behind her and the tears came on once more.

"Anna!" Someone shouted her name but it was if they were speaking through water. Dizziness rocked her off of her feet and she pitched forward. Someone giving off the familiar scent of smoke caught her in their strong arms.

"Anna's hurt!" She faintly heard Yata yell.

Blurred figures rushed to Anna's side as numbness tingled at the tips of her fingers.

"She needs help!"

"Can we do anything?"

"I… I don't think we can…. We don't have the right equipment."

"Damn it! The wound is pretty deep."

"She's losing a lot of blood—what do we do?!"

"Fushimi, ready our vehicles!" Anna managed to distinguish the Lieutenant's voice through the haze.

"B-But—"

"Hurry!"

"Y—yes!"

"What are you doing?! We're not letting you bastards take her!" Yata's voice cut through the pain muddling Anna's senses.

"Yeah, you're the ones who did this to her!"

"And I will take full responsibility for my actions but right now she needs to receive emergency medical treatment. The hospital is too far from here—you'll never make it. At our headquarters we can assist her!"

Hearing a certain word, panic gripped Anna's heart briefly. "H—hospi… tal?"

"Anna! Anna, can you hear me?"

"Mm…."

"We need to do something now!"

"…. Mikoto? What do you want to do?"

"If we put her in their hands… we can't trust them to treat her right. There's no telling if they'll experiment on her or something."

"But at the same time we need their help…."

"What now, Mikoto?"

In the arms of her King, she could sense his hesitation; he didn't want to put her in the same situation she had been in years ago. He was conflicted over her well-being and also her feelings on the matter even though he knew it was supposed to be an easy choice to make. Just give her to the Blues, right? But Mikoto didn't want to do that because he knew how Anna would feel about it; scared and alone in a facility with no one she knew.

"Anna, can you hear me?" Mikoto's soft but deep voice was the only clear sound Anna could hear properly.

She nodded mutely in understanding of what he was asking her. Touching a hand to his cheek, she smiled gratefully up at her King and his eyes softened minutely in response. "It's okay. I'll… I'll go with them."

"But Anna…." Yata started when Izumo cut him off with a shake of his head.

"Is this really what you want?" Mikoto asked her firmly.

"Yes…." She gave him one of her rare smiles for reassurance. "This is my decision."

Mikoto stared at her tenderly for a moment before gingerly handing her to someone else. "All right then. Hurry up and get better… I'm an impatient man."

"Yes." She chuckled quietly to herself and the Blue clansman, who she sensed was Saruhiko, began to carry her away from her gang. "And Mikoto?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you… for letting me decide for myself."

"Hn…."

"Anna!" Izumo called out to her. "I'll make your favorite food when you get home!"

"Get well soon, Anna!"

"We'll send you some flowers!"

"Don't mind those stupid Blues!"

"Hey, Saru! You better take good care of her, you hear?!"

Anna heard Fushimi only click his tongue in reply.

"Come home soon, brat." Mikoto stuffed his hands into his pockets once again. "I'll be leaving my coat with you until you return…. So I'll be awaiting then."

She waved weakly at her clansmen who were slowly becoming smaller and smaller as the distance between them expanded. Just as Anna was about to enter the car, Tatara's gaze caught her eyes. He wasn't waving or tearing up like the most of the men but his hand was raised up to his shoulder and he was smiling softly. Anna didn't need to delve into his mind to know what he was thinking; she could read it in his caramel eyes.

It's not 'good-bye' Anna… because your family will be waiting for you… always.

Thank you for reading!

Reviews please? :) What did you think of Anna taking action herself, running into the fray and accidentally getting hurt by Seri, and then choosing to leave with the Blues despite not wanting to?

Replies to Reviews (and for those wanting to know if I've seen the movie)

amechan87: Oh my gosh, I'm so ecstatic to know it was on your birthday! And I hope you were occupied with having so much fun celebrating it that you couldn't read this fanfic till later ;) Ahaha, I really enjoy planning and writing out cliffhangers. It's so fun to tease the audience hehehe (evil laughter in the background). I'd like to thank you for being such a wonderful reviewer. I feel as if you're a companion of mine on this 'journey' (the making of this fanfic). 3

snowbunny: Thank you for taking the time to review! It seems you're a guest so I'm not sure if you'll see this but, no, sadly, I have not seen the movie :( I reside in California so it's difficult to find theaters close by my area that show anime movies. BUT, I do know the plot of the movie basically... and by accident, unfortunately... A few weeks ago, I went on the K Wiki for info reference to help with my fanfic and then I read a spoiler on one of the character pages. At first, I didn't believe it... hoping someone was just trolling readers... But then I rewatched the trailer like 5 more times... and everything pieced together with what I saw in the trailer and what the spoiler read. I was so devastated by this unfortunate accident :'( From what I know and can infer based on my analysis, the movie is awesome. I can't wait to actually watch it _ I'm just frustrated over the fact that I know what happens since I read the spoiler. By the way, Anna is my favorite character in K as well! But you probably knew that since she's the protagonist in this fanfic haha!

funni neko: For some reason, your name reminds me of... NEKO! Hahaha, I guess cause it does have 'Neko' as her name. Anyways, you got the reference right! Yaaaaay! I was really worried if anyone would get it, thanks for helping me there ;) Other people have also asked me if I've seen the movie. The answer lies... in my reply to snowbunny (right up there^). It's such a tragic story (sniffs) haha.

IMPORTANT: I WILL NOT BE INCLUDING ANYTHING FROM THE MOVIE (K: MISSING KINGS) IN THIS FANFIC SO YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SPOILERS. If you've seen the movie already and a scene from this fic seems similar to something that happened in the movie, it was purely out of coincidence and in no way intentional.

THANKS GUYS (AND GUESTS) FOR THE REVIEWS.