Chapter 7: Harry

My name is Harry. I know that that's short for some kind of beast, a type of tiger, I believe. But really, did my mistress have to cut the name so short? Harry is just not a very fierce name.

Oh well, whatever my mistress Akane wants.

I feel that when it comes to mistresses, that I got a very lucky deal. Many other Childs before me had abusive or neglecting mistresses.

Julia, Kiyohime, and Yataragetsu as I understand it, all have mistresses that treat them as nothing more than tools, pieces of power to fuel their desires. Gennai, and Miroku are just seen as a means to an end by their mistresses.

Kagutsuchi, and St.Vlas's mistresses fear their Childs powers. Are terrified of their Childs powers, and dare not unleash the powers under any circumstance.

Gakutenou, Diana, Duran and myself are the lucky ones. We have mistresses that respect us, but don't fear us. Trust in our powers but don't abuse our powers to their desires.

Akane is one of the most gentle people I know. It's strange really. I am a Child, yet Akane often summons me and lets me sit down on the ground, and she sits down next to me and talks to me about things as if I'm another human being.

I know many of my brothers and sisters would be offended if they were treated like humans and not proud Childs, and I was angered by this treatment at first too, but now I can't complain.

It seemed disgusting, that I, a powerful Child, feared all over our dimension would be treated as a human would be. Duran and I had been inseparable demonic beasts, we had struck fear in all of the lower Childs, defiant Orphans and humans, so the fact that a mere human girl could worm her way into my steel, cold, unfeeling, wild heart amazes me to no end.

We often sit somewhere in the forest, which is one of Akane's loves, besides that human boy Kazuya, or Kazu as Akane calls him sometimes.

I'm pleased that Akane has the type of relationship. I don't feel any jealousy towards him for having Akane's affections. True, I wish it were me that she showed such need and companionship with, but I'm a Child and she's a human. Sort of a problem. And she's happy with him, that's all that matters to me.

Akane is very decent, she has followed the Hime rule of defending the earth from our brother and sister Orphans.

I've taken down at least seven Orphans in her name. The eighth I wasn't able to get. It attached itself to a bus and Akane and I had to fend it off. Unfortunately it got away.

There is, however, something that disturbs me about that incident. There was a girl there that had blue hair and red eyes. Akane confided in me, telling me that the girl's name was Miyu Greer.

Akane is afraid that this Miyu girl, who seems to go to the same school as my mistress will tell Kazuya that my Mistress is a Hime.

But that's not the reason why she makes me uneasy. There's something unsettling about this Miyu girl. We Childs have very good senses of smell. Especially Duran and myself, and every human has their own individual scent.

What disturbs me about that girl, Miyu, is that…………she has no scent.

I wish I could tell Akane this, but I don't know how to speak the human tongue, and it's against the rules of the Childs to speak to their mistresses telepathically.

Akane……I'll protect her as hard as I can, but I fear what the presence of this Miyu may mean.

Presently, I'm watching her inside her mind. She is with Kazuya at the moment, they're walking through a forest of bamboo. I'm rather relieved that Akane can have some peace and quiet away from all the Orphan battles.

Usually, after a fight, Akane can't handle her own abilities and cries into my steel body. I don't know why. Maybe it's because she can't stomach the fact that she's killed, or maybe the power is too overwhelming.

She's talked about Kazuya a great deal to me. About how he's become her world and she wants to marry him. I'm afraid of this claim of hers……because her wishes may not so easily fulfilled, considering what will happen soon.

The Festival.

I'm afraid of what will be taken from her when another Hime comes to fight her. My brothers and sisters, Gennai, Julia, Duran, myself and all the others are under rules to protect our mistresses against all, and kill the Childs of the enemy Himes, which means I will be fighting one of my brothers and sisters if it means to protect Akane.

I just hope beyond all means that one of my siblings that I fight with will not be my dear friend Duran.

My troubled thoughts are distracted when I suddenly hear a cry through the forest. It's Miyu!

"Akane, help!" She cries fearfully, "It's the same monster from before!"

It seemed that the "girl" was right, the same beast that had attached itself to the bus, it had followed Miyu.

Well, as much distrust as I felt for Miyu, I wouldn't defy Akane's wishes of protecting others.

As Akane summoned me, her head down as she apologized to Kazuya for not telling him sooner, I faced my brother.

(Brother,) I hear my Orphan sibling call, (You know this is dishonorable. Siding with a human against your brothers and sisters.)

(Silence.) I spat, (You know nothing of my mistress. You'll understand in three or more centuries when you're compatible with another Hime later on.)

There was a hissing of telepathic rage from my brother as he attacked.

Akane summoned her weapons, within a few seconds we clashed.

Akane sent her elements at my brother, my powers surged and my fangs bared. The next few minutes resulted in my brother's scream of agony and the green particles that are left behind when one of our kind are defeated.

As Akane turned to face the stunned Kazuya, I narrowed my deep orange eyes at where my defeated brother had been. Was this the fate that Duran awaited? Or me? Or Kiyohime? True, I shouldn't be surprised, since after all I wasn't compatible with any of the previous Himes before I was summoned by Akane, so I suffered this fate continually for centuries, as had Duran, Miroku, Diana and all the other Childs that are Childs now instead of Orphans have suffered what my brother suffered just now for centuries.

But now it's different. I have Akane in my life. I have come to see her as more precious to me than any part of my life. Which was a great difference from my former life throughout all those centuries.

Because back then, I cared for no one except myself, with the exception of Duran, my hunting partner.

My thoughts are cut off when Miyu suddenly acts. I try to pull away in time, in fact I manage to jump when she lunges at me, but then a blade is unsheathed from out of no where and stabbed right through me!

Pain shot literally through me as the blade passed through my metallic body.

"Harry!" I heard Akane scream. Oh, god…..is this it?! I'm not even going to fight in the Festival?! Centuries and centuries of fighting and this…..thing that I can't identify is stabbing me and it's over with?! How could this be so disgraceful!

I wouldn't even get to see my brother and friend, Duran again. I slowly faded away, my body disintegrating, the image of my precious Akane standing there, her hands against her face in horror at my defeat.

(I'm so sorry, Akane.) I thought to myself, (I'm sorry that you'll lose Kazuya. And I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you better…….I'm so sorry.) then everything went black, my last thoughts were of Duran and Akane.

Author's Note:

In case you didn't notice, this was of when Harry was defeated by Miyu, in episode 8.