Yo! Thanks for all the favs, follows and reviews! Glad to know you guys like this story~
I feel the need to warn you all about something, though. When Mikoto finds Misaki, it isn't instantly going to be all sunshine and daisies. Misaki will feel safe with him, yes, but she won't immediately love and trust him. And as for Mikoto… he lost her once, and he doesn't want a repeat, so he's going to be rather possessive and obsessive with keeping Misaki close to him. He remembers her as a small, fragile and cuddly toddler. Obviously, she isn't just going to take being treated like that lying down. But don't worry. Above all, Mikoto wants to keep Misaki happy and safe (with him of course), so he isn't going to force her to do anything besides staying beside him.
Also, Project Fantasy isn't just rated M for future smut. There will be other reasons. It will have rather dark bits later on.
Friendly reminder; the Colourless King is capable of possessing people and absorbing both their personalities and powers. This is important.
-I-AM-A-LINE-IGNORE-ME-
"Misaki-san!" The twelve year old Crow Demon ran up to her caretaker. A blinding smile lit up for face as small black wings fluttered behind her.
'Misaki' looked up from the book she was reading on the couch. A tiny upturn of her lips made her otherwise cold features approachable. Her eyes, a beautiful pink colour, were sad. On the top of her head were two white fox ears. A matching tail curled up behind her.
The two lived in a small abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. No one could find them here. The reason for this was because the house wasn't actually a house, but a secret underground bunker that only Misaki knew the location of. Not even the young child could lead someone to this place, for she had never once left.
That child's real name was unknown, so Misaki named her Yatagarasu after the great bird in mythology, sometimes calling her Yata for short.
Yata didn't have a concept of time while staying underground. Neither did Misaki. Both slept when they were tired, ate when they were hungry, or otherwise spent time doing anything they could think of to pass time. Misaki was the one who raised and took care of her. She taught her how to read, write, talk, and even helped her learn how to fly (well, as much as she could in such a confined space).
What Yata loved, though, was stories about the outside. Misaki told her everything she could think of, and when she had to leave get resupply food and water, she always brought something back with her, whether it be flowers or leaves or insects. Anything that could easily be picked up off the ground and carried back.
Yata loved all of it.
Despite that, the one thing she wanted most was to fly through the open air. To fill the void that no amount of stories or souvenirs could make disappear. In Yata's own childish reasoning, she figured soaring between the clouds like a proper bird demon was the only thing that would make her truly happy.
"What is it, Yata?" Misaki had a soothing voice that was somewhat at odds with her appearance. Bedtime stories always had the crow demon nodding off in seconds.
Yata steeled her nerves. "Can I go flying outside?" She asked hopefully.
Misaki gave a sigh, and the child's expression fell. "You can't, Yata. It's too dangerous. You know that."
Every day, without fail, Yata would try her luck. When she was younger, she used to throw a fit and yell at the fox demon. Not once did she get angry. Eventually Yata realised the tirades only made Misaki sad and herself guilty.
Yata had never told her caretaker about that void inside her. It was bothering her more than usual to the point of being painful and before she could stop, she found herself blurting out her frustration.
"But flying outside is the only way I'll be happy! And being in the sky will make me feel better, right?" She wrapped her arms and wings around her, tears appearing in the corner of her eyes.
"What… do you mean? Feel better?" For once the woman sounded and looked completely lost. At any other time, Yata probably would've found it funny. She finally managed to make her lose her composure! Realisation crossed her face.
"Y-yeah. It's like… something is missing, all the time. I need to fill it up. Flying will do that, right?" She sniffled. Misaki looked even sadder now. She pulled the girl into her lap, curling her tail and arms around her.
"No, it won't, Yata. Nothing you find will; someone will. That someone looked after you for a short while before I got you. That person loves you, but if you stayed, it would have only put you both in danger. Maybe… maybe when you're older, the two of you might meet again."
"NO!" A scream rang though the air-
-And Yata Misaki jerked awake. Her eyes snapped open.
Beneath the tree she laid upon, a little boy ran past chasing after an equally young girl. Dangling from his hand was what appears to be a worm. The boy laughed while the girl shrieked at him.
Misaki huffed out a breath, her panic subsiding and heartbeat returning to normal. She slumped back against the tree trunk.
Perhaps sleeping in a park with a school nearby wasn't the best idea.
She thought about going back to sleep – because it was still way too early – but she was didn't think she'd be able to after that scare. And she was hungry, too.
She leapt down and casually made her way out, ignoring the startled looks she received. She thought about the dream she had of the past, of back when she'd lived so innocently with Misaki the fox demon in their faux life of peace. She could never repay the woman for taking her in even if it meant endangering her own life.
For staying behind and giving the crow demon enough time to escape.
Appetite gone, Misaki disappeared into the crowd.
As harsh as it sounds… she hoped the fox demon died quickly.
-LINE-BREAK-
Despite it being so early in the morning, HOMRA was bustling with life as various members popped in and out to get orders from Izumo of what to do, where to patrol, report in or other such things.
The King merely watched from the couch with Anna by his side, surprisingly not still sleeping. He'd woken up rather agitated earlier, but calmed down just as quick; apparently something startled his mate badly enough to affect him.
Tatara noticed all this even as she cheerfully chattered to those who came up to her to say hello. The only ones to stick around were the 'regulars'; Kamamoto, San-chan, Dewa, Fujishima and Chitose. The others (and Tatara struggled to remember all of their names, unlike Izumo who somehow managed too) usually didn't drop by the bar, preferring to only come in when called.
To Tatara, it showed that even if they weren't around much, they still respected the red-headed werewolf, putting off everything (even school, jobs, holidays and family gatherings) to help find the King's mate.
She'd even heard a few refer to her as 'Queen', reasoning that until they learnt what her name was, it was a lot better than calling her 'the crow demon' or 'Mikoto-san's/King's mate' all the time. The nickname was catching on pretty quickly. It seemed to amuse the King, too.
"Ne, once we find King's mate, we'll have a King, Queen and Princess!" Tatara strolled over to Kamamoto and spoke to him, seeing as Izumo was still busy and probably wouldn't appreciate her going over to bother him about something so trivial.
The other looked bemused. Tatara kept chatting. "Hmm, I think Izumo would be a Knight, because he's the King's trusted right hand. Ah! We need a Prince, too."
"Err… what would Totsuka-san be?" Kamamoto was too polite sometimes. Most of the others would've scolded her for bringing up something so stupid. Like when she compared HOMRA to chess. Which was similar to what she was doing now. "Totsuka-san? Are you alright?"
Tatara blinked. "Ah, I'm fine, I'm fine! You know, I'm totally into music right now! I'm learning how to play the guitar."
The man allowed the subject change. The two talked – with Tatara doing most of the talking – before she drifted away when the others came over and drew the large man into a conversation about the latest game in the arcade.
The nineteen year old fiddled with her earring absently and took a seat at the far end of the bar to look out the window. She really couldn't wait to meet the crow demon, and not just because she was the King's mate. The few girls that had joined HOMRA were a bit too boyish to have proper girls days outs or sleepovers with (Anna didn't count; she was still a child, no matter how mature), and Tatara hoped the young demon would at least agree to hang out with her. Not that she wouldn't like her any less if she turned out to be a tomboy like the others.
Tatara pouted slightly. She really wanted to meet her!
(And convince her into helping kidnap all the girls to go on a shopping trip. Or maybe a movie night. Or both. Tatara hadn't decided yet.)
-I-AM-A-LINE-IGNORE-ME-
I threw that last line in just before posting it. It was my sad attempt at humour. Feel free to ignore it.
This turned out to be more of a pointless filler than I was going for. Hmm. I'll try to make up for it next chapter.
San-chan is Bando for those who haven't read K: Memory of Red. It's a nickname some of them call him by. Mikoto is constantly referred to as King and not by name since it's in Totsuka's POV.
Jeez, though. I hadn't expected to have this written up so soon. I need help though.
Q1. Should I genderbend any other characters? If yes, out of these characters, who? (Dewa, Shohei, Eric.) If genderbent, these will be their pairings. If not, they will only be friends. (Chitose/Fem!Dewa, Bando/Fem!Shohei, Fujishima/Fem!Eric.)
Q2. What the hell do I do with Fushimi? Should he remain a red-turned-blue traitor, not have been part of the Red Clan but joined the Blue Clan instead, or something else (please make a suggestion yourself)? Or should he still be just a middle school student at this point?
Q3. What species should other K characters be? Mikoto is a werewolf. Yata is a crow demon. Kusanagi is a vampire. Totsuka is a human. The Colourless King is a fox demon. I need ideas of what to make the others, please!
Bye-bye baby!
Shikikaze09~