Chapter 7
"Please, go ahead and run away little Hika. I look forward to taking your mind and devouring it like I was unable to do to your grandmother." The student said with a sick and twisted smile. "See, I always thought that a chase was more interesting than a girl simply standing there." The human boy drew nearer to the stock still young demon girl.
Hika couldn't move. She kept screaming at her body to run, to kick to do something, but it wouldn't obey her. She felt grimy hands filtering through her mind, trickling through her thoughts and the attempts of throwing up a shield. Then the boy was pushing his body against hers. She dropped the lunch box which spilled its contents onto the floor next to them. She felt her arms being lifted and then grasped by the hand of the boy that kept pressing his body against her.
"Or maybe I'll just keep you still while I have my way with you." The demon said through the boy before the human boy leaned forward and smashed his lips against Hika's.
No! she screamed as this person who was possessed stole her first kiss. This shock seemed to awaken her senses and she started to struggle to get her wrists away from the grasp that tightened. The boy was laughing at her maliciously.
"Your first kiss huh? Well, don't worry Hika. I will steal more than just your first kiss when I'm through with you," the voice said as the girl continued to struggle. "Anyway, I like a girl that struggles." The lips smashed down on Hika's again with the ferocity as before. A cough broke the two apart, much to Hika's joy. She looked for the source of the cough and shrank a little from fear.
Standing there, glaring at the young man, was Kuronue carrying the three lunch boxes that he had gone to fetch after their 'debate' on what the girl should do with her life here in human world. Behind the tall young man, stood an equally angry Charlie and stunned Inane. It was not the anger that was scaring Hika though. It was the amount of power coming off Charlie in waves and the high amount of spirit energy sweeping off Kuronue. Her demonic senses were overloading from the amount of energy that was filling the area.
Only the young human started to laugh instead of cower in fear of the energy. "Well if it isn't Kuronue. I hear that you've given up on Hiromi here and that you want nothing to do with her in this life time. So I bet you wouldn't mind me taking a little time with her would you?" the boy said with a wicked laugh.
"How about I kick your ass and then we'll see if you are in any form to take advantage of her?" Kuronue asked, slowly handing the lunch boxes back to Inane who took them as she stared between the young girl and man that were in the situation. "Inane, take these back to Hika's locker please. We'll be along soon. I'd rather you not see what I may have to do to this young man if he does not release our friend Hika."
Inane followed his suggest with a look back at the other girl, as if she didn't want to leave her. But then she saw that Kuronue was rolling his shoulders as if getting ready to fight. That sent the girl running to stand around the corner to make sure that no adults interrupted the fight. She knew her job. Kuronue had been in fights before; though if you asked the teachers, they had never seen a fight between Kuronue and anyone else.
"That was very stupid of you Kuronue. You kept me away from Hiromi before by giving her those earrings. Now you don't want her and you've let that human go and stand watch. Maybe I should drop this boy and take over her and make her kill some children." The boy over Hika said.
Hika's heart slammed to a stop and then she acted without thinking. She slammed her knee up into the young man at the same time as pulling her wrists. As the young man doubled over to hold onto his family jewels, she brought her elbow down on the back of his neck. Hika didn't need any more warning. She turned and sprinted around the corner where she found Inane juggling a knife that had appeared near her.
Hika came to a halt as Charlie and Kuronue joined her. Kuronue didn't wait for long, he dashed forward. He had to stop this demon from making Inane do anything dangerous. The knife slipped. A scream. Kuronue came to a halt and stared at the scene before him…
Hika had halted only for a moment when she saw Kuronue fly forward to keep the young woman from hurting herself. She had broken her bindings on her wings and literally flown forward, getting there before the human could. She shoved Inane out of the way as the knife came down…
Charlie sent forward a wave of heat that pushed Hika forward at a faster pace. He couldn't do much with his powers sealed, but he could manipulate heat. Only the knife he didn't have enough time to move. It came plunging down…
Inane didn't understand what was going on. She had been standing guard to make sure that no teachers came up upon the fight around the corner. And then she had found a knife and picked it up—only it wasn't her. Someone was chuckling in her mind that she would be wishing she'd never gotten into anything with Kuronue and someone named Hiromi. Then she saw Hika and the two guys come around the corner. Kuronue started running at her as she started to flip the knife up and down. Then curiously Hika had bat wings and was flying forward. The last she remembered was being pushed and seeing the knife plunging down towards Hika…
Hika writhed on the ground, pain blocking out every other part of her mind. She couldn't see where the knife had landed. She couldn't see at all. Her vision was full of black and white stars that danced before her as her mind tried to comprehend what had happened only to find that it was pain that controlled her mind. She could hear two guys asking questions.
"Hika, oh my gosh are you okay? Should we take you home? Who should we call?"
"Inane are you all right? Inane, wake up! Come one don't do this to me please, wake up!"
In a numb understanding, she slowly turned her head and looked at where the pain emanated from. Her stomach rolled. Between two of the ribs on her right wing there was a gap the length of her arm. The membrane that created her wing had been sliced clean through by the knife that Inane had been playing with. She stared at the torn wing and felt like she was going to lose her cookies. Her mother had told her about demons that had lost the ability to fly because the membrane of their wings had been destroyed. She was sure that it would never happen to her whenever her mother had talked to her about it.
Unconsciousness fight for her attention, but a voice in her mind kept her from falling into the welcomed unconsciousness where pain wouldn't bother her. So I steal your first kiss and your ability to fly. My my, today was my lucky day. And then the blackness of her unconsciousness took ahold and the pain stopped…
Voices. That was what woke Hika from the painless sleep she had been in.
"The likelihood of her ever flying is very slim. I wasn't able to get the membrane stitched up before it began to heal. If we had been able to do that, then it would have healed as one rather than two separate pieces." That was a male speaking.
"Are you sure there isn't anything you can do? Cut it anew wand then sew it back together?" that was her mother's voice. What were they talking about? Had someone with wings been attacked? Why was she just waking up? Didn't she have school?
"I could," drawled the voice, "But if something happened, then she might have to have the whole wing cut off. I'm good, but I'm no expert in bat wings."
Memories of being kissed, of pushing Inane out of the way of a falling knife, of seeing a wing torn pushed into Hika's mind as she slowly opened her eyes. She was staring up at the ceiling of her own bedroom. Only she wasn't laying on her bed, but on the floor with a blanket thrown over her. Hika didn't move at first. Maybe it had all been a dream?
Slowly she tilted her head to look at the wing that lay out next to her. There wasn't any pain. There was however an overwhelming sadness as she saw the two pieces of wing where the tear was. Closing her eyes she looked away from the wing, realizing that in a wave of irony she was now living out the same thing she had yelled at Kuronue about feeling.
She silently listened to the voices as they continued to talk about her chances of ever flying again. It was like listening to someone talk about the likelihood of there being fish for dinner. Finally she pushed herself slowly into sitting position, huddling the wing close to her body. When she felt that she could, Hika pushed herself up and walked around her room, pulling on a pair of jeans and a tank top from one of her drawers on top of the underwear she had found herself in.
Looking at the door that would lead out to the group that was talking about her wing, Hika tried to decide if she wanted to go out and show them that she was awake or not. As quietly as she could she went to her window and climbed out, being careful to not touch her wing against anything.
When she was out onto the roof of the building's lower story, Hika looked up at the darkening sky. So she had been out since almost one o'clock? Sitting down on the roof, she pulled her wing carefully around so that she could examine the tear.
"So I won't ever fly again huh?" She asked the wind quietly as she continued to look at her wing. She closed her eyes and then looked over towards the west as the sun dipped down below the horizon. She leaned back on the palms of her hands and signed, looking up as the first few stars began to show.
Watching the stars, Hika made up her mind. She pushed herself into stand and flexed her good wing and then slowly the bad wing. When she could move it without it hurting, she jumped. She fluttered her wings in an attempt to gain altitude. No matter how much she flapped her wings though, the wind wouldn't get caught under the right wing. She landed back on the roof with a thud. Growling, Hika decided that something else would have to work. Looking around, she braced herself. Running towards the edge of the roof, she launched herself into the air and started to beat her wings.
Hika floated for a moment in the air as her left wing flapped faster and harder than her right one. But no matter how hard the left one flapped, Hika landed on the ground hard not a minute later. She lay on the ground for a few minutes, glaring at it. Then she started to push herself up as she heard the door behind her open and a gasp. Pausing on her hands and knees, Hika tried to sense who it was, only there was no energy from the doorway.
Finally she pushed herself up to stand and turned to look at the doorway. Hika paused as she saw Inane standing there with Kuronue behind her and Charlie behind him. She might have considered trying to hide her wings if it hadn't been that her mother stood behind the three high school students with her own wings out. In the back of her mind she noted that Inane was taking the sight of bat wings very calmly for a human. She had to give that point away though for she had been with demons for who knew how long that day since she had passed out.
Seeing the four of them looking at her, Hika looked away and went to climb a tree that was nearby. Determined to show them that she wasn't going to give up flying, Hika stood one of the highest branches and launched herself into the sky. She could hear Inane cry out as she tried to beat her wings in unison only to find herself plummeting to the ground again. She braced herself and hit with a painless thud. It occurred to her that the only reason she could not feel the pain was that they had given her some form of pain medication from demon world to cut the pain out.
Footsteps neared as she pushed herself up again. She was about to get up when a hand rested on her shoulder. It was a hand that was heavy with understanding. Slowly Hika turned her hand to look up at Charlie who knelt next to her. Their eyes met and finally Hika's eyes filled with tears that she'd been refusing to cry.
As they fell, Hika launched herself into the awaiting arms of Charlie, hiding her face in his shirt. He understood. He couldn't be what he was made to be. He couldn't join the fire any more than she would be able to fly with her mother and father, or for her own enjoyment like a bat should be allowed to do.
As the tears ran out she picked up on the hatred that was starting to form. She would kill that demon that did this. He had done more than insult her and stolen her first kiss. He had killed any chance of her flying again.
She was led into the house after she had quieted. She had not said a word as they tried to get out of her what had happened. Inane asked questions about demons. Hika remained quiet, staring out the window in the dining room where they sat. Her mind was on ideas about how she would find the demon and kill him without killing an innocent host.
While her father was explaining to Inane about what had happened to Hika's wing, Hika rose and left the room to go back out into the backyard. She wrapped her wings around her and winced as the pain pill started to wear off.
"What do you want Kuronue?" Hika asked when she felt him near her. When he didn't answer she turned to look at him with cold, unemotional ice-blue eyes.
"You had no reason to save Inane. You could have left her safety to me. Instead you risked yourself and now you'll never fly. Why?" Kuronue asked, frowning at her.
"Why indeed." She muttered and looked up at the star filling sky. "I did it because she was an innocent bystander that got mixed up in my fight. She shouldn't have been involved but that blasted demon decided that no one was out of bounds. And, Inane was really nice to me. She made me feel welcome. I couldn't see someone like that getting hurt because I was trying to be friendly."
"Most demon's wouldn't think like that. They would be selfish." Kuronue pointed out.
"Well that's the weakness I must bare since I'm only 3/4ths demon," Hika said as she rolled her eyes.
"3/4th demon? How is that possible? Both of your parents are demons." Kuronue asked, frowning even deeper as he watched the girl before him.
"Wrong. My mother is only half demon. A half demon breeds with a full demon and you get a three-fourths demon with one-fourth human DNA. At least that's what ma says. Who knows how much I am demon and how much I'm human. It doesn't matter either way really. And it shouldn't matter to you. You, nor Inane, were hurt, which is what I was aiming for. It's my fight and I will make sure that that demon bastard gets what he deserves for including Inane, you and Charlie in this fight," Hika said loudly so that the ones hiding behind the door could hear. She had sensed them near a few minutes after Kuronue had joined her.
"Now hold on!" Charlie said, stumbling out, unable to help himself. "I promised you that I'd help you! I don't plan on letting you out of that agreement. And you'll need me even more now that you only have one wing."
Inane joined him too, looking appalled. "And you think that I'm just going to let you go off on your own you are nuts Hika! You saved my life from the story that Charlie and Kuronue told me! And I wanna give this demon a piece of my mind! I may be able to help bandage or take care of wounds. I don't have to fight, but I can definitely be helpful. After all," Inane paused and looked sheepishly at Hika, "I thought we were friends."
"And if Inane and Charlie are going to help you, then maybe I can help you too," Kuronue said, putting hands in his pockets as he went to stand next to his other two friends. "And I was hoping we were friends too—despite our bickering."
Hika stared at the four young people that stood there looking at her as if expecting her to try and refuse them so that they could start arguing with her. It would be nice, she noted, to have someone to rely on.
But all you have done is hurt them said the darker side of her that hated to rely on others. It was almost like a dark Hika that wanted to do everything herself.
"Hika, dear, I think it would be a good idea if you told us everything from the beginning. The Real beginning, if you please," Hika's mother said, as she, Hika's father, and the other demons came out to join the group standing in front of Hika.
Hika considered this. She had wanted to prove that she could handle a demon by herself. Maybe she was wrong. With a sigh, Hika looked back up at the sky. As if answering her questioning mind, Hika saw a star wink out and not return. "I'll die if I don't get help," she told herself before looking at her friends and her parents.
"What do you know about a demon that can control minds and knew Grandmother Hiromi?" Hika asked and noticed the look of worry and horror on the faces of Night and Takji.