Chapter 4
She was stuck with them until she could get home it seemed. Hika was being walked home by Charlie, which she supposed she might have found a tad bit romantic if it wasn't for Kuronue and Inane behind them making sounds of lovebirds. She wasn't sure why this feeling of distaste rose in her with every sound, but it did and she had no choice but to fight it back by focusing on the words that Charlie produced. She had no interest in a demon soul trapped in a human body. Charlie was much more interesting though they couldn't talk about his elemental powers while with Inane.
On their walk to her home, her mother, or whoever it was tried calling the compact device three more times. Each time, Hika paused on the sidewalk to rummage and turn off the device before joining Charlie again in their discussion. Slowly they wound their away around the town until they stopped in front of her new home. She stopped outside the doorway in the gate that would allow her to enter the old estate.
"Thank you for walking me home. It was really—" Hika started to say, her back to the doorway. She was cut off when the doorway flew open and a hand laid on her shoulder with a grip like iron. It happened before she knew what happened. Inane screamed and shrank against Kuronue. Charlie had stepped forward to push the hand away with a scowl on his face. But Hika couldn't help herself. It had been grilled into her through lessons with Yoko the Bandit Fox. The demon girl dropped her bag, grabbed the wrist and twisted, flipping the person over her hip and onto the ground.
Takji came out to see what was going on a second later, a knife in hand, ready to take care of whatever trouble there was, having come running at the sound of Inane's scream. Night showed up a second later and then last but not least, with a statelier demeanor, Hika's mother. The one on the ground groaned as he twisted, kicked the girls feet out from under her and went after her with deadly swiftness. He pushed her up against the wall and held her there. Breathing through his nose to keep calm, the man that hovered over the young woman looked down at her with pride.
"You have indeed improved, Hika." He said, before backing away from her to go to Tylia's side. "You have taught our daughter well."
Hika's body shook with anger. Not only had she let the demon sneak up on her, but he'd also bested her in front of her friends, two of which most definitely knew he was a demon. Her cheeks flushed a light crimson as Inane came over fussing over her outfit which had been scuffed and torn a little on the skirt.
"Hika who are—bright Lord Kimanu of the Changing People, it's Kuronue." Night breathed, having lost all interest in finding out the others identities when she had laid her eyes on the young man. Her eyes had gone wider than Hike had ever seen them go in all her years. Takji started to laugh and point out that there was no way that the kid could be Kuronue when she gave Kuronue a harder look and fell silent as well.
Kuronue stood with the setting sun playing over half his face, leaving the other half in shadows as he watched the two young women that stared at him as if they had seen a ghost. "My name is Kuronue, though I highly doubt I'm the Kuronue that you are referring to." He said, distant. Charlie looked between them all and noticed that people from the neighboring houses were coming out to see what the fuss was about.
"Why don't we all retire inside the wall? People are staring and if you all just arrived, it would be better not to bring up old fears among the people that live here," he suggested and ushered the family and the friends inside. Night and Takji joined Tylia and Hika's father on one side of the walkway that led to the house proper while the three friends stood on the opposite side with Hika in the middle.
"Hika, mind explaining who these people are and why you were not answering my calls?" the man who was her father asked, authority in his voice. It grated on the teenager's nerves. He was here under a day and he was ordering her around?
"Mind explaining why you haven't been home since our mutual friend died?" Hika spat back, making sure to curb her words so that none would know they spoke of Yoko unless they already knew.
"Hika!" Tylia said in anger. "Don't talk to your father like that. But do please introduce us."
Hika snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, not looking at her old man. "Mother, these are friends of Kurama, Charlie and Kuronue. And this is Kuronue's girlfriend Inane. They invited me to hang out with them after school, and since you said to try and blend in on my first day I thought that you wouldn't mind. They took me to dinner and we lost track of time and were having fun," Hika explained. "As for why I ignored my phone, I… didn't recognize the phone number. You should have warned me that… He would be showing up, or that he even had my number."
"Please, if we got Hika in trouble, it is us that you should be angry with," Charlie said, stepping forward with his warmest smile. "I insisted that we take Hika to dinner to celebrate her moving to town and to welcome her to our school."
"How much do I owe you for taking my daughter to eat?" the man asked.
"You don't owe them anything. I promised that in exchange for them buying me dinner, I'd make them lunch tomorrow. Now that you met them I'm sure you'd agree it was time for them to go." Hika snarled softly at him before turning to her friends with a small, apologetic smile. "Please, I have some family matters to take care of. I'll see you three at school tomorrow? I'll make sure to bring the lunches to you."
Without a word she ushered them towards the front door, her shoulders stiff. As she was about to close the door, Kuronue's hand stopped it. She looked up from the ground to see both him and Charlie look at her. Kuronue's eyes were filled with concern while Charlie's were full of full-fledge worry.
"Will you be all right here?" Charlie asked.
"I'll be fine. It really will be nothing soon. Water under the bridge as humans say," Hika told them.
"If you need any help, do you have a phone you can call with?" Kuronue asked. "And not just one of Koenma's compact device thingie. Kurama showed me them once. They aren't worth the material that's used to make them."
"I'll have Night and Takji here to back me up if things go south. You two really should go, Inane is waiting and I have a score to settle with my father," Hika told them before pushing the door the rest of the way closed. Kuronue had two options—let his hand be crushed between the door jam and the door, or release it and let her seal herself inside the house. He chose the latter. With the door shut, Hika turned to look at the adults watching her. Frowning she started to take her shirt off right there in front of them. Her father started to protest but the glare that was sent his way by Hika silenced him temporarily.
"I have had my wings bound against my back for almost 15 hours. I can't shield my wings from view like the two of you can. Not yet at least. And if you try and tell me that I can't undress and take my poor tender wings out then I will find some very sharp objects to throw at you while you sleep." Hika snarled at him in one of the most vicious tones she knew—she'd picked it up from Yoko one day. She finished pulling off her shirt and bindings and stood there in white undershirt, flexing the wings slowly so that they wouldn't go stiff on her or lock up.
"Dear, did I hear you right?" Tylia asked. "Did you say that human was Kuronue's girlfriend?"
"Yeah. Inane's really nice. They fit together." Hika said absently as she massaged her back and flapped her wings a few times. She missed the look of panic that the three women shared at that information. "Anyway, what does it matter? I'm only hanging out with them because you told me to blend in and a girl can't blend in without making friends. Kurama just made sure I was friends with Kuronue and his pal Charlie."
"I don't like that Charlie. He had a binding tattoo on his neck, and he felt weird." Her father told her.
"I don't really care what you think of Charlie. He helped me today and understands a lot more of what I'm going through than you would Dad." Hika snapped. She picked up her things and stomped off to her own room.
Dropping onto her bed, she closed her eyes and laid back. First day of high school—done. First fight with her father of the year? Not even close to being done. As she thought she heard words coming from down the hallway. She sat and waited for the words to enter her room. Only they didn't. Curiosity got the better of her. Whenever she'd been in trouble for yelling at an adult before, she'd follow her mother or whoever was in charge at the moment and listen for her punishment. She repeated this skill now by sliding silently to her doorway and opening it a crack to look down the hallway and allow her ears to pick up more sound.
"…What are we going to do Tylia? Lord Koenma reincarnated your mother so that she could find true happiness with the man that she loved! What if that Inane person gets in the way? Your mother will be unhappy with her draw of luck this time around too, and you heard Lord Koenma. She only has this chance. She can't come back to the living world next time she dies." Takji was saying in a hurried whisper. She, Night, and Tylia stood in the corridor.
"We will just have to wait and see. Hika has this year and next year before she's out of high school. Then she'll be a free adult to this human world. If they can't figure it out by then maybe someone else will make my mother's soul happy." Tylia answered and frowned. "Though, my mother did love Kuronue."
Hika withdrew from the door and stared at the wall in front of her. They were talking about setting her up with Kuronue. A cold wave ran over her body. She had come to like Inane as a person. She didn't want to hurt the young woman. No. No matter what Their plans were for her, she wouldn't follow them just because they thought that they knew best. It was her heart they were playing with the pretense of making her 'soul' happy. Hika would do all that she could to stay out of their little game. She'd fall in love with whomever she chose, not who they chose. IT was as if they were setting her up for an arranged marriage.
With those thoughts on her mind she changed into lighter outfit and exited the room, intent on training until the moon was at its highest point before she went for a fly. She never made it to the practice courtyard though. As she passed what was to be the living room, her father called her in. Sighing regretfully, for she didn't think she'd get that workout or that relaxing flight after this, she entered and waited for him to begin. When he didn't, she turned icy blue eyes on him. He was watching her with dark black eyes, a frown on his middle-age face. A thin and sharp nose pointed out at her while his hair was pulled back into a pig tail at the base of his neck. His hair was black with a few grey strands going through it.
"What do you want?" she asked finally to break the silence. "An apology for not wanting my friends to be interrogated by a man I hardly even know?" That seemed to hit the right spot. He winced away and motioned for her to sit.
"No. That isn't what I want. What I want is for you to accept that I'll be living here with you and your mother. Now that you'll be busy with the school and those… friends of yours, I wanted to spend some time with your mother." He said, watching her carefully.
"So? My mother is free to do what she wants. It's not like I can force her to do anything different." Hika told the man without much interest though the idea of him being there all the time gave her the chills.
"All right, if you say so. Well, I don't think I qualify as your father though. A father would have been there to train you himself. So, don't worry about our relationship. If you want you can just call me Noki." He told the young woman before him.
"Fine Noki. May I go train now or do we want to do more father-daughter bonding?" she asked, though her tone was less hostile and more of uninterest. She rose when he motioned that she could leave and practically ran from the room. She entered the court yard with a flap of her wings and began to train in air-combat. She kicked she punched and continued to do so for almost three hour before she flapped up high and floated there.
Her wings sang with happiness at being free to do what they were meant to do. Slowly, with the cover of night, she flew over the town, making sure to stay out of sight of the brighter down town area. She flew over the residential areas to look around until she found the energy signature of Charlie. Out of curiosity she flew towards it to a well-lit house with a large tree in the backyard. She landed on the tree slowly to look in the windows.
I wonder what an elemental spirit does with his free time in this weird world? She asked herself, giving her purpose behind her tree peeping. She found herself however face to face with Charlie. Her tree branch rested right outside his window and she jerked, almost falling off the tree branch when she noticed his face peering out at her from an open window. He had been sitting on his bed next to the window doing homework from the looks of it.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure to of having such a beauty peeping into my room at almost ten at night?" Charlie asked as Hika grabbed the tree branch to keep from falling over. Her cheeks lit up at the compliment to her beauty. He would have to stop doing that if she were to hang out with him.
"I was curious. I mean you supposedly have all the information of your element, which means anything that fire is used for, you would know about. What happens when you already know about the homework but can't put that down?" Hika asked, improvising quickly, gaining a soft laugh from the young man who watched her.
"I tell them what I remember them saying and then relax and wait for a beautiful woman like you to come swooping down from above on bat wings to say hello at night." Charlie joked before moving from his place next to the window. "Come in, it must be horrible for you out there."
"Are you kidding Charlie? I haven't been out in the air to fly around all day. My wings are just now getting relaxed. If you want me to join you why not come out here onto the branch? Then we can look up at the sky and wait for that beautiful woman you are so keen on meeting together? With my night sight, I'll be able to see her from miles away." Hika said with a laugh. For the first time that day she felt like she might actually fit in with these people, if she had Charlie there to lead the way. He was in the same boat as she, wasn't he?
"Oh I doubt she will come when such a beauty as you is already here. Are you sure you aren't going to fly away the moment I come out there?" Charlie asked as he joined her slowly out on the branch.
"I don't think I could get away before you got out here." Hika said with a small smile before relaxing back and letting her shoulders be mounted by her wings, which wrapped harmlessly around her. "And you really must stop calling me a beauty Charlie. I may be a demon, but I am told I look like my human grandmother. Beauty does not go to a half demon like myself. It goes to my mother or her mother. Not me."
"I don't think so. You look very beautiful with the moonlight playing off your black hair and blue eyes." Charlie insisted, "And who said that half-demons can't be pretty?" Hika didn't reply though, she was looking up at the sky and thinking about what constituted as being beautiful.
"A lot of regular demons." Hika finally said to answer Charlie's question before smiling at him and looking away. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is I'm no longer in demon world, and I may have made three friends today."
"May?" Charlie inquired, raising his eyebrows comically.
"Yes, may Charlie. There is you, which I hope to have as a friend. Inane is nice and I would like to get to know her a bit more. And last of all Kuronue, but we don't really get along that entire well." Hika told him, holding up three fingers. "So three people I would like to be friends with, but I'm not sure how they feel about being friends with the new kid on the block so to say."
"Kuronue will defrost to you as you become friends with him," Charlie said, leaning forward and putting down her middle finger. His hand, despite the chill to the night air, was warm against hers. Their eyes locked as he continued to speak. "Inane, I'm sure will be more than pleased to be your friend here." He pushed down the ring finger leaving her pinky to be the last finger standing. "And, beautiful Hika, I would be your friend no matter what you did." Slowly he pushed the last finger down. Their eyes never left one another as he spoke and Charlie's hand lingered on her hand for a moment longer than normal. His hand slipped away quickly after that and he smiled as he looked away, all of a sudden the shy human boy with little confidence around women.
Hika looked down at her legs which dangled towards the ground. "I'm glad that I have a friend Charlie. I think I'm going to need at least one with that demon that visited earlier." She said, remembering the way that Charlie had told her about the reincarnation systems.
"Your mother won't help? Your mothers' friends won't help?" Charlie asked, confused.
"I don't… I don't want their help. I want to do this on my own. I'm only one hundred and eleven years old. To them, I'm a young child. I am a teenager compared to my mother who is almost one hundred years older. I want to prove to them that I can handle this myself. And, the demon, he insulted my soul which is my grandmother's soul. She was Hiromi of the story I spoke of at dinner. She never deserved to be insulted like that," Hika said, passion filling her as she spoke of her grandmother. Charlie watched her for a moment and then smiled.
"I do think I'll help you Hika. You tell me what I can do to help you." Charlie told her with a decisive nod that brought a giggle from Hika involuntarily.