FFOmega
Part I: Bitter-Sweet Dreams
Chapter 12
Draco stood there as the music stopped as he came out. And he looked up to see everyone looking down at him. Standing, he looked to his mother immediately. "Mother, I have been searching everywhere for you. What have you been doing! We were supposed to be working on the revisions for some of my assignments today, and I use the locator spell in the earrings I gave you, and find you here?" He seemed mildly outraged, and also thoroughly shocked.
"Do not concern yourself with my affairs, young man. I will do as I please, as I am a grown woman. Now, if you please, either return to the Manor, or get off your prissy trip and have a dance." And then cuing the music again, Narcissa continued her dance with Harry.
Draco stood in shock, and was in such a state that he didn't realize that, during the entire talk, Luna had stumbled in. Nor did many others, as the girl had appeared and shaken off the soot and had simply stood to the side. Seeing no one moving to dance with Draco, she grabbed his arm, and began to dance with him. At first he was appalled, but the drivingly addictive rhythms got to him, and he found himself soon immersed in the dancing with the other blonde. Luna was too far spaced out at the time to really care about who she was dancing with, but aware enough to smack him in the head once, fairly hard, when his hands began roaming a bit too much.
When Harry made no issue about his enemy being there, no one else did. However, what freaked Neville out was when he saw a girl moving to the beat alone, and moved to dance with her, and she acquiesced and began to dance with him. Neville had recently began to question many things, but knew a pretty girl when he saw one. She wasn't his immediate type, as she wasn't Ginny Weasley, but she was pretty and he was dancing with her, and not making an ass of himself.
And as he looked into her eyes, he felt a draw from deep with him. Like he had seen those eyes. At another point in his life, he had seen them, and they had been burned into him. Not the eyes so much in color, shape or anything physical, but the nature behind them, the person behind them. However, he reasoned, there was no way he could have met her before, so he shrugged it off and continued to dance. And the song changed and people changed partners.
Harry found himself dancing with Blaise. He told her his idea, and she nodded her approval, knowing that if Bella opened up to anyone, it would be Harry. She was fine if the romantic displays were non-existent between her and Bella, if they weren't needed or anything, and understood that they couldn't be avoided between Harry and Bella. Overall she approved, and then shut Harry up with a solid 2 songs of making out in the middle of the dance floor. When the separated, Harry went to go dance with Bella.
As he did, he spoke the idea, and then that Blaise had agreed, and Harry felt it might keep her even safer. Bella almost cried again, before agreeing and thanking him. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead before stepping back and smiling down at her as they danced. He locked eyes with Blaise, and nodded, and Blaise caught Bella's eyes and smiled brightly at her. Blaise herself was dancing with Padma actually, and both having a great time about it, switching back and forth between one acting as the "guy" during the dance and the other the girl, and then switching, laughing all the while.
Draco Malfoy had actually gotten a dance out of Parvati. Harry could tell, oddly, because he noticed small differences between the two twins, even though they had dressed exactly alike for what seemed the express purpose of confusing people. However, Parvati seemed to smell of apple blossoms, faerie dust and ginger, while Padma smelled more of cinnamon tea mixed with the refreshing scent of cedar or pine.
When the music paused for a moment, Harry worked Bella over toward Draco, and began speaking to him. "Where's my present, eh, Draco?"
Draco actually looked flabbergasted at this. "Draco? Since when have you called me that, Potter?"
"Since I figured I hate your father more than I hate you. So he deserves to be called 'Malfoy' more than you at this point. Besides, you are at my party, dancing with my friends. I was dancing with your mother a bit ago, no need for old unpleasantness for the time being. Just came to ask if you were having fun, and why you stayed."
"I stayed because I have nothing better to do, truthfully. I was going to do some revisions on school work. Nothing more. And since you have stolen my mother away and everything, I could not do them on my own, and unlike you, I do not have know-it-all friends. I am the smartest person in my group of friends." He seemed almost resentful. Harry didn't like the boy, but was connecting things better than before. The boy was raised to hate the things he hated, because he obviously had no connections to Muggles or Muggleborns, so it was all unfounded hate. And Harry figured, he could at least try and give the little blonde bastard some showing of the good of the other side, a nice view of the other side, and if he was still being an ass, then it would be clear it was of his own accord.
"Is this supposed to make us friends, Potter?" Draco asked. He almost seemed scared of the answer.
"I doubt it, who knows. We'll figure it out, I suppose. Doesn't matter. Regardless, I am dating Blaise right now, and if all things go as I feel they will, I will be spending a good deal of time around some Slytherins. So we are going to have to at least work out some kind of working relationship, as I refuse to get into some kind of verbal sparring match with you every time I go to see someone. Maybe something mutually…beneficial." Harry said this as he tracked the blonde's eyes to Lavender, who was dancing alone. Whispering something to Bella, who had stayed silent during the whole dance/conversation, the girl walked off, and Harry took Parvati, and then waved Lavender over.
Draco had been watching the girl who was dancing alone, as there were more girls than guys at the time. Harry smiled as Neville was dancing with Ginny again, and Dean was dancing with Luna and laughing like old friends. Lavender began dancing with Draco, due to Harry's insistence, and soon Harry was leaving to go to the girls in his life. Hermione, Blaise, and Bella were all sitting to the side, talking. Hermione had been told all about Bella's story, and this lead to Bella crying silently again.
Harry came over and sat down on the floor with them, and Blaise helped place Bella in Harry's lap, as she continued crying. Blaise leaned over and pressed her lips to Harry in a soul-searing kiss that made Hermione fan herself as she watched, before Blaise stood to go off to her mother, who had gotten a hold of Neville, and had the boy about ready to pass out from the sensual dancing of the woman before him.
"Harry…I'm proud of you. The maturity of this all, all of these decisions, it's admirable. And I can feel it coming from you. This change. And I felt it before all of that," she glanced around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard, "Demon stuff. I can feel it. This is all you, and I thank you for this. It was hard being the only reasonable one in our group. Now it's what, 2 to 3?" Then Hermione smiled as Harry was running his hand along Bella's back. "Well, more like Ron is the minority now. But Daphne is good for him. They work." They looked and saw Ron and Daphne both doing incredibly dumb dances that looked very endearing with them doing it together as they were. "And Blaise is good for you."
She was silent for some time, and Harry sighed. "And what about you, Hermione. What's good for you? When do you put me behind you in priorities? Its like, it comes in order, your schooling is before, followed by me, and all the other problems in your life..."
"You aren't a problem." She interrupted him, then she grinned playfully, "And neither is my schooling, Mr. Potter."
Harry smiled, shaking his head while chuckling before becoming serious again. "Off the subject, and you know it. When are you going to come first? What do you want to do with yourself, Hermione. I want to know."
The girl smiled solemnly, sighing gently as she sat back some. "When we had career counseling this last year, with McGonagall, you know what I said I wanted to be for a career? 'Harry's friend.' That is my career choice. Being there for you when you need me is the most important thing to me right now."
"But why…"
"Harry, when this is all over, I can think about that. I love you. Not sure how right now, but I know that above all, you are my priority. You are my best friend, and I feel either brotherly love for you, or something else. And either way, I am going to be with you until the end."
"Hermione…you can't put me over your happiness."
Here Hermione laughed. "Harry…being with you and Ron over the years, that has been my happiness. Even in the middle of a scary adventure, saving a convicted mass murderer while surrounded by werewolves and creatures that eat souls, the like, something illegal and scary as hell, that makes me happy. Because my whole life, I never got that. My parents are dentists, Harry! My idea of fun is reading Hogwarts: A History again and looking for typos! Being with you all is the kind of fun I need. If nothing more than to make sure I don't become sime tired old had with nothing but my books and my multitude of felines to keep me company, and only the stories I've read printed on paper by others who actually lived them with which to live vivariously through."
Harry looked at his friend, and knew she was determined. And he nodded once, resolutely, at her. She repeated the action and a ghost of a smile appeared on both of their lips.
Bella's tears stopped soon after the conversation ended, and the 3 of them stood up. Bella wandered off to find Blaise, and Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's neck as a slow song began. "So, living every man's fantasy and having 2 girlfriends that know about each other. How does it feel?" Hermione asked. Harry laughed heartily.
"I don't know. Truthfully, it wasn't really my dream. But I'm not the most normal of people, now am I?" They shared a laughed over Harry's "abnormality" and danced some more. "At the moment, Hermione, you are one of the few women I trust completely. One of the few people I trust. I need you with me. My older sister at times. My conscience at others. And even at times, as someone I am scared to disappoint. I need you, Hermione, and if you are there for me or not, I'll be there for you. That goes for Ron too, but I don't think I could be having this conversation in this setting with him, as the situation might make Daphne jealous." Here they laughed, easing some of the tension.
"You and everyone who know about the change, don't know how much it means to me that you all didn't go running off because of the whole Demon thing. Thanks." And he hugged her, before being pulled away to dance with Lavender. Halfway through the dance, he ended up dancing with her and Parvati at once, and then he was dancing with Padma.
He found her a very pleasant person, and every bit as commanding over the male body as her sister, but with an understated elegance to it. She wasn't the type to walk up and start grinding herself on someone, instead she would be the type to draw a guy into a conversation, and even as they spoke about something, she would ease her way into dancing with him, and soon it would get to the point that his brain shut down halfway through, while they were talking about a subject the guy knew a lot about. Harry knew from personal experience, finding himself at a loss for words in a conversation about Quidditch as the dancing died down for some ice cream outside.
Soon the party was over, and everyone not stayed the night lined up at the fireplace, the girls all giving Harry kisses on the cheek and the guys hearty slaps on the back, before the room was empty outside of Harry, Bella, Blaise and Hermione. With a tired smile, Harry climbed the stairs up to Blaise's room, where he passed out on the bed. Blaise did the same, and Hermione went into the guest room, leaving Bella to Harry's old room.
Halfway through the night, however, she awoke, and Harry could hear the whimpering and the slight screams, as she had just awoken. He went into the room, lifted her form and carried her into the room with him and Blaise, and got in, laying to the outside behind Blaise, and placing Bella in front of Blaise, so both of them could reach her.
And that night, Bella Black, formerly Bellatrix Lestrange got the best sleep she had ever had since her time at Hogwarts.
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Hermione stayed at the house for the few days until Harry's actual birthday, as the party couldn't be had on his actual birthday as the OWL letters came. Harry awoke on his birthday and walked down the stairs, to find Bella sitting at a table reading through the notebooks Harry recognized as Hermione's present to Blaise, while Kyoto and Blaise were in the room with all other furniture cleared out. Blaise was watching Kyoto, as the white-haired Demon was doing some kind of movements.
"So let me get this straight. A straight kick to the stomach bends the other person over. An immediate knee to the nose followed by a leg-sweep and a stomp to the sternum?"
"Yes. And if they are not staggering after the knee, then hit them under the jaw with either a punch or a high kick, depending on how tall they are, and which you think will do more damage."
Harry wandered in, and looked around. "What's going on? Teaching my girlfriend here how to effectively kick my ass?"
"Not just yours, but anyone taller than her. A few moves for when you are fighting someone bigger, in both senses, than you." Kyoto replied, while stretching his back. "That was the last one now that you are awake. I was just staying around long enough to drop off your present, and then I have to be on my way." This entire statement sounded grave, before, once again he pulled out the large metal case. Harry was glad Hermione had gone home, because as the energy was projected, he could literally feel Demonic energy from the box, and he didn't need Hermione trying to analyze that at the current time.
He opened the box, and there was a long black sword. The hieroglyphs on the bottom of the blade were pulsating a gray color, and the curve in the blade caught the light just perfectly to let a deadly glint to the blade. Lifting it, he felt an aura from the blade, and the very energy of the weapon seemed to melt into him. The blade got significantly lighter, enough that he could use it with one hand should he need to, and wield it with considerable power with both.
"Wha…"
"It's a little something I made." Kyoto said, smiling.
"How? It's…I…it's a Demon!"
"Remember how we made the setting for Blaise's gifts? And how we have been working with Blaise's…yeah? Well, that's how."
Harry stared down at the sword, before looking to Kyoto again. "What am I supposed to do with this though? I can't carry around a sword at all times, especially a sword that was a Demon. And what will I need a sword for?"
"Who knows? Not I, that's for sure. But let me tell you one thing, Harry. This is war. And a lot of people are going to try to use you for their own purposes, even people you wouldn't expect. And a lot of people can stand to make money, and power, off of you depending on when and how this war is ended, so they will try and make it end in their own time and on their own terms. Eventually you are going to have to take it all in your own hands. And people are going to have to die. So, I figured I'd give you something to kill them with."
"But I don't know how to use a sword…"
"Then you had better start learning, I suppose, Little Brother. But I must go. Never could stay in one spot too long, even when I so longed to be there. Tell Jamie I said goodbye, and give her a handshake, or hug, or whatever you people do to say bye, Little Sis-In-Law." Here he was speaking to Blaise, and he walked by, grabbing up a simple black backpack. He put it on and then ruffled Blaise's hair for a moment. He turned to Harry, and hugged the boy tightly, and Harry hugged him back, wondering the next time he would get to see the man. "Be safe. Life is hell, and, lucky for you, you should get a lot more of it than everyone else you know. And if it gets too hard, and the bastards start getting on your back too much, I'll be there."
And with those words, Kyoto turned and left the house slowly, and before the door even closed all the way, he had started running, disappearing before the door even closed all the way.
Jamie pounded down the stairs and as she looked around, and saw Blaise and Harry standing there, staring at the door, and Bella looking around the room, looking fairly lost, she realized who was missing. And that he was gone.
Harry sighed and put the sword back in the case, before he slammed the top shut and then curled up on the couch and drifted off again.
-----
Footsteps.
He heard them again, and she was soon there. And she looked to Harry and sighed, before going to him and hugging him. Rocking him slowly, the both took a seat.
"The world is unfair to you, my love, I know it is. And truth be told, it is time it stopped being like that. But sadly, I can not promise that. Tough times are ahead, and with them…I do not want to be cliché, but what doesn't kill you here, is going to make you stronger."
Karma looked at Harry, before drawing him to her. She could feel the power in him, and the anger. "Yes Harry. Store the anger. Push it back. Feed that which is deep within you. Because the more you do, the sooner it is going to explode out of you. And when all dualities become one, that one is more powerful than either alone. But the question is if you want to deal with the repercussions."
And after some time of silence, she stood and walked away from him. And he heard the clicking of her feet walking from him, getting more faint by the second, and then he was alone.
"You are never alone…"
"…Who…Who are you!"
"You may call me…Knight."
"What are you doing in my head!"
"Let's just say I live here. Kyoto's part of the reason I'm here."
"Why would he do that? Are you some kind of power?"
"I am more power than you could ever dream of. You as you are at the very least. Just know that, when everything gets too much, give control over to me. You will survive it, I promise."
And then the presence was gone, and the darkness faded away.
-----
Harry awoke to Blaise stroking his hair. And there was the flapping of wings, and 3 owls came and dropped off the letters. And one of them was a snowy owl Harry himself recognized. It was Hedwig. He greeted his owl and smiled, before he took the letter addressed to him. It was a long letter, the length of the envelope the length of a regular length of parchment.
The OWLs.
Ordinary Wizarding Levels
Results for Potter, Harry J.
Course: Charms
Teacher: Filius Flitwick
Theory: Exceeds Expectation
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Course: Transfiguration
Teacher: Minerva McGonagall
Theory: Exceeds Expectation
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Course: Potions
Teacher: Severus Snape
Theory: Average
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Course: Divination
Teacher: Sybil Trelawney/ Scorpius Firenze
Theory: Outstanding
Practical: Outstanding
Course: History of Magic
Teacher: Reginald Binns
Theory: N/A (due to circumstances)
Practical: N/A
Course: Astronomy
Teacher: Ellen Sinistra
Theory: Average
Practical: Average
Course: Care of Magical Creatures
Teacher: Rubeus Hagrid
Theory: Exceeds Expectation
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Course: Defense Against the Dark Arts
Teacher: Dolores Umbridge
Theory: Outstanding
Practical: Spectacular
Total Ordinary Wizarding Levels: 10
Harry stood, staring in complete and utter shock. He had heard that a 12 was the highest one could get, and that was what Voldemort himself had gotten as a student, and Harry was sure he wouldn't have gotten near that many OWLs.
He looked over to Blaise, who switched Papers with him.
Ordinary Wizarding Levels
Results for Zabini, Blaise G.
Course: Charms
Teacher: Filius Flitwick
Theory: Average
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Course: Transfiguration
Teacher: Minerva McGonagall
Theory: Exceeds Expectation
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Course: Potions
Teacher: Severus Snape
Theory: Outstanding
Practical: Outstanding
Course: Arithmancy
Teacher: Keily Graves
Theory: Outstanding
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Course: History of Magic
Teacher: Reginald Binns
Theory: Exceeds Expectation
Practical: N/A
Course: Astronomy
Teacher: Ellen Sinistra
Theory: Average
Practical: Average
Course: Muggle Studies
Teacher: Brian Silver
Theory: Outstanding
Practical: Outstanding
Course: Defense Against the Dark Arts
Teacher: Dolores Umbridge
Theory: Exceeds Expectation
Practical: Exceeds Expectation
Total Ordinary Wizarding Levels: 9
Harry smiled and both shared a hug. Looking to Bella, who seemed to have received her OWLs as a refresher, as well as a packet on who she was to be and everything. Seeing them looking at her, she replied, "I got 9." And then she went back to reading. "Apparently my cover story is that I am one of Sirius' relatives, who couldn't go to Hogwarts because of his illegal actions. Now that he has been cleared, I can go, and will be starting my 6th year. Have to go through the whole sorting, sadly, but its damned near guaranteed I end up in Ravenclaw."
"Ravenclaw…" Blaise asked.
"Yeah. I was in Slytherin, but more than likely I will be in Ravenclaw, that or Gryffindor. Dumbledore is going to want less things connecting me to my former self. Says right here. And I am not the Gryffindor type. And if I end up in Hufflepuff, someone dies."
Harry and Blaise laughed, before moving over to the table by Bella, to chose their classes. Harry saw from the score he got in potions, that he wasn't going to be able to be an Auror. And he voiced this, and then realized that, because of the prophecy, whenever the entire thing was rectified, he doubted he would want to be any type of law enforcement at all.
So he marked that he would be taking Transfiguration, Charms, Defense and Care. Blaise marked the same, outside of adding Arithmancy instead of Care, Muggle Studies was not offered, which made her frown, and Blaise also opted to take Potions as well, while Harry himself decided he had no want to, or an ability to, but placed that in his letter to the school, that if possible, he would be willing to be added to the class.
Bella took the classes Harry took, but chose to take Ancient Runes in addition. There seemed to be a class on something called "Light" magic offered as well the school, but Blaise's letter recommended she not take it, and Harry and Bella's outright told them they would be better off not learning, considering their dark nature.
Marking everything off, they went off on their own for the rest of the day, Bella continuing her reading, and Blaise heading up to the knife room to organize everything, as well as practice some in the training area, which she directed Harry to first. It was one of the smaller houses on the property, and upon entering, it was gutted, and just a large room basically.
There were enchanted wooden figures shaped as people that would regenerate body parts taken off when left alone for several seconds. Harry went with the sword, and began to attack to figure. And he found himself doing well, but also impressed with the weapon. It was hard as anything he had ever seen, and sharper than any blade he had seen before. Its Demonic energy would radiate, and Harry caught himself losing himself several times, and blinking almost as if regaining consciousness, to see the wooden structure destroyed almost past repair. One of the moments, he seemed to sink into his mind, and when he looked up again, the wooden opponent was laying in chunks of wooden before him, and even after a good deal of time, they didn't pull back together. And looking down at the wood, it seemed to be decaying slowly.
-----
Blaise wandered in, with two knives held in her hands, and she stared at Harry, and he held the smoking blade in his hand. His very body was smoking, and he was giving off pulses of dark energy that were making a ripple effect to the world around him. She walked over warily, walking around him so she could see his eyes.
They were closed, and his hand was holding the handle of the blade in a death grip. Suddenly, his eyes opened, bright green shimmering, and the smoking stopped. Harry didn't look at her, but dropped the weapon to the ground as if it all of a sudden burned him, and he stared down at it. He looked to his hands, seeing them just as they were before. But there was an energy to them. One not his own.
He had become accustomed to his personal Demonic Aura. His was a deep black, with slashes and mixes of sky blue throughout, something he didn't understand completely. Kyoto's was a deep, all-consuming black, that seemed just a bit darker than should have been possible. But there was something about the sword. He could feel the energy coming off of it. And he didn't like it very much. As much as Kyoto, and in some ways, he himself, signified darkness, this sword seemed like the embodiment of death. Or disease. Of sickness.
Staring at the weapon on the floor, Harry picked it up cautiously and walked by Blaise, nodding to her with a faint smile on his face. But it was a haunted smile. She followed him at a run as she saw the destroyed wooden figure. He watched as he placed the sword on top of his trunk and went over to the bed. He got in and pulled the comforter over his head. She dropped the weapons she was carrying and ran over to him. She jumped into the bed to find him with his back to her. Wrapping her arms around him and scooting closer to him from behind him, she grasped his hand, and kissed his cheek.
-----
"What can I do for you…" his body language was that of someone who did not care regardless of the answer. He was actually hanging by the back of his knees from a stoplight, doing sit-ups. But she persisted anyways.
"Who are you? What are you. I want to know what that night a while back was all about." She stared up at him as he folded up from his dangling sit-ups and grabbed on either side of his legs with his hands. He pulled himself up to sit on the light, facing away from her.
"Does it matter?" He swung back incredibly quickly all of a sudden and flipped backwards off the light. He landed with his back to the woman, but he didn't land in a crouch, instead, he landed standing straight up. "Because regardless, the next time you go hunting me down like this, I will kill you. Which is a shame, since you are sexy as hell in that leather cat-suit you seem to find the need to wear."
All this was said while he wasn't looking at her. And when he turned around to look at her, she saw the veins all along the left side of his face visible and pulsing. He was paler than she had seen him before, and there was dried blood coming from under the sunglasses he wore that almost gave the appearance of him crying blood.
Maternal instinct caused her to gasp and reach out. He was in pain, that was clear, but as she made to touch him, he seethed and flinched back from her touch. "Do not touch me. Ever." Were his words. They were pain-filled, but there was some other tone underneath.
"What the hell happened to you?" She was asking that, but knew he wouldn't answer. And he didn't. He turned from her, and his hair slapped into her face.
She grabbed a hold of his hair, and pulled his head back so his back was bent nearly parallel to the ground and he was looking up at her. "You bastard. Do not turn your back on me like I will not kill you. I show a bit of concern for you, and you turn away from me like that. Remember, I was in a position to make your life forfeit. And if you forget that, you will die."
Suddenly he was standing and her scythes were to her own neck. "Look, bitch. I don't give a quarter of a shit what life you forfeit, it will not be mine. Do not think you know me, and do not give me that mothering shit. I didn't have one, and at my age, I don't need one."
"Your age. Ha! Don't give me that, 'I'm a grown-up' shit. Fucking 20-something half-breed I bet." He dropped her weapons to the ground and turned away from her.
"20 years ago, I was living in Kyoto, Japan. 200 years ago I was in a holding facility for mental patients in this accursed country, 2,000 years ago I was a thief throughout the Roman Empire. I am one of the oldest damned Demons this side of Hell itself, and I am perfectly capable of killing you. I don't want to. But don't mistake me. I will. And if you keep poking, a…darker side of my personality might be less inclined to mercy." and he added as almost an afterthought as he turned from her, "If he even knows the meaning of the word..."
He began to walk off. However, suddenly there was a cackling laughter. And a thin figure dropped from some unseen location. The figure landed and furthermore moved in a crouched, languid position, moving slowly almost like a jungle cat on its fists and feet.
But slowly "it" stood, revealing incredibly long claws, more than a foot in length, and very clown-like attire, with a gothic edge to it. Instead of frilly parts on the clothing, there were spikes and atop the head of the creature was a jester's hat that looked incredibly sharp and dangerous in its own right. Standing, "it" might have been of moderate height, if not on the slightly short end of the spectrum, and was in no way imposing physically.
As "it" stretched to an unnatural angle, bending backwards perfectly in the middle, it cut the image of a nightmarish clown. And as "it" stood, "it" smiled. "Darkness…it has been a long time, old friend, and I fear it shall be much longer in fact. For it is time that you die." It sounded rehearsed, but even so, said as if mocking the lines themselves.
"It's Kyoto now, my dear sweet Irony." Kyoto spoke. And it took Lulu a moment, but she placed it. There was smile in his voice, and she realized that the "creature" she was seeing was, in fact, female. "Its been a while, Rony, it has."
"You know, in thousands of years, you are the only one I let get away with calling me that. And, babe, it has been a while. I suppose it is time we get this over with. I do, after all, have that Key you need so badly. You seem to be on a bad run, eh lover? First your sister, and now me? That has to suck. Well, I always loved being in your hands, hopefully I'll be able to die in them tonight, let that be my last moment on earth, if at all possible, alright Angel?" Kyoto winced at being called "Angel", but smiled nonetheless. She walked over to him and literally nuzzled his neck like a cat before pulling back and standing on her tip-toes and kissing his bottom lip. Turning and walking a distance away from him, there was a sadness in her eyes as she smiled weakly once more before her face got stony and hard as she began to bounce on her feet, ready for a fight.
He nodded slowly, before cracking the knuckles in his hands and then mimicking the backbend that the woman had done only not to the extreme she took it, before putting his hands down and going into a slow back-flip. And, breathing deeply, he stepped back into a sideways fighting position Lulu recognized as the basic fighting form to Tae Kwon Do.
And "Rony" attacked first. Running forward with a weird light style that was incredibly fast and light on the feet, she rushed him. And leaping into the air, she spun around in a circle with her arms out, and then slashed down at him. Kyoto jumped backwards in a much faster flip, and leveled a fast kick out as soon as he landed. The woman did a no-handed cartwheel over his kick, which he altered in mid-flight and brought back the other way. She grabbed his leg and pushed off of it to leap over him. The literal milli-second she landed, her leg was out to leg-sweep him. It seemed like she had tried to kick a wall, as he didn't moved, and he spun around to kick her face.
As he did, however, she lashed out with her hands, and slashed into his chest before jumped over his body, her vertical leap more than her very height, even his, seemingly. She laid a kick to his lower back that sent him forward. He recovered, rolling into a somersault, but laid there, staring up at the dark sky, holding his stomach. Lulu listened closer, he seemed to be arguing with himself.
Instead of pursuing the attack, the woman known as Rony made her way over to Lulu. "Are you the new woman in his life?"
Shaking her head, Lulu looked at the woman in front of her. Her eyes were a crystal blue, and her vibrant red hair was visible in wisps under her maniacally deep green, black and vivid, blood red spiked hat. She seemed pretty, was it not for what seemed to be vivid attempts to tone that down by herself, with the make-up she wore and the clothing that seemed to literally downplay the good things about her body.
"And you were?" Lulu asked. The woman's speed was impressive, and the claws were glinting sharply. She assumed that this Rony was a Demon as well, but she wasn't overly impressed. What Lulu was, was concerned that Kyoto had yet to get up.
"Yes, I was. And I know what's going through your mind right now. He's not hurt, too badly at least. Those scratches are nothing compared to the ones he used to get on his back, if you get the meaning there. He's trying to…hold onto himself. I guess Shadow has gotten more of a grip on his personality. That's too bad, I was hoping to at least die in one piece tonight." Rony said all of this looking over as Kyoto seemed to struggle to his feet. He had an X-mark across his stomach of 4 lines each, and they were a bright reddish color.
Looking over to them with a slight grimace, he chuckled, which seemed to hurt him a bit, but he persisted. "Not to seem too 'Bruce Lee'…" And with those words he proceeded to rip the tattered and ruined shirt from his frame. Looking over to Rony, he smiled softly. "Care to try this all over again?"
She smiled at him and nodded, adjusting the hat she wore before looking over to Lulu. She gave a nod before jumping over, a skip in her step as she moved. She was close when he leapt up into the air, nearly disappearing into the overcast and near black night sky, before he came down next to her, cracking the cement beneath him. He kicked her in the stomach, and she was launched backwards toward the streetlight he had been working out on previously. She twisted in the air like only an acrobat could and swung around, grabbing the pole and using the momentum to swing around and launch back toward him, feet-first.
Moving out of the way just so, he gripped her around the midsection and literally stopped her forward progress by slamming her to the ground. She bounced back up slightly, and he caught her in a low kick to the side with the toe of his boot, sending her spinning off and to the front of a parked car. The fiberglass bumper bent in, and she laid there for a moment. She stood shakily, and as she did, he crouched and jumped straight up, disappearing into the night sky again.
And she was off like a cat with prey in sight. She rushed the streetlight and ran up it about 6 steps to the split where the light turned from the vertical pole to go over the street, and she leapt up and out to the side just a bit. She caught him midair in a tackle, and as they both fell toward the ground, she released him and did a turn in the air and slammed both of her feet into his middle, kicking him toward the ground.
She flipped back to land on the streetlight again as he fell, however he rolled at the last second and hit the ground feet-first and rebounded like a ball of rubber, bouncing up where he caught the horizontal bar of the streetlight below where she was sitting, swung under, and kicked her in the back. However, she copied his spin on the lamp pole, and kicked him in the back. He fell and into the windshield of another car, and she jumped down, slashing with her claws.
Rolling out of the way just in time, he kicked to the side of her thigh, which sent her to the ground on one side of the car, and he rolled off the other side. And as she stood, Lulu got to witness exactly how strong he was. He kicked the car, and it literally flipped up into the air. Rony stood there as if intending to watch it flip over her and possibly land on her. And faster than the car could fall, which was flipping in the air and aiming to come down on her, Kyoto did something very odd and Lulu watched it all in what seemed like slow motion.
Kyoto kicked up, knocking the hat the woman wore up and into the spinning monster sure to crush them both, and he grabbed her by her hair, and like a boomerang or a ball of some sort, he threw her by her hair and the nape of her neck out of the way and into the side of a car on the other side of the road before he himself jumped after her. The car landed and crunched before it exploded.
Kyoto had leapt next to Rony, and had picked her up and ran clear of the scene. Clear enough for both to survive, but both took some shrapnel damage. Lulu took some herself, but nothing more than a few scrapes.
Laying her broken body on the ground, he kneeled next to her. She coughed weakly and smiled up at him with her fiery hair framing her face. "Why did you save me?"
"Because the last time I get to see you, I refuse to let you be completely smashed and unrecognizable." He smiled softly at her, kissing her forehead gently. "Goodnight, my love. Sleep well, and tell the only other woman I ever loved that I will see her soon, but hopefully not too soon." He smiled before leaning down and barely brushing his lips to hers before with a fast move, he snapped her neck and placed it back straight again. Closing her open eyes, he sat down tiredly by her body, running his fingers through her hair absentmindedly.
Her body seemed to be rapidly decomposing or something, as it broke down into dust before Lulu's very eyes. She watched him reach out to her neck and grab something that seemed to be a necklace of some kind and remove it from her body and slip it into his pocket. People were running from their houses, but Kyoto wasn't watching them. Instead, he watched as Rony's body blew away in a random gust of wind, breaking up into seeming infinite particles of dust, as if that was all her body was in the first place. Nothing remained of her but an impossibly black key. And picking it up, he turned away and walked down the street, turning a corner.
Lulu caught him leaving a 24-hour store. He was wearing a new black t-shirt and he was fiddling with a shining silver Zippo lighter. And pulling out a cigarette from a box he held, he placed it between his lips and lit it.
"You smoke."
"Not until now. Maybe it'll kill me, eh? I seem to be too good at staying alive." And turning away from her, he walked off, the picture of depression. His shoulders were slumped and his hair out of place for once. As he was almost out of her sight on the street, he crouched and jumped up onto the top of a large office building, before leaping from there and disappearing from her sight.
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