Note from author: Nu, I haven't died. No, I haven't abandoned this story. I have simply been overwhelmed with school which ended yesterday ( the 27th of April). To make up for my long absence I have this EXTRA long chapter written up for you. Also, since I have nothing to do, more chapters are on their way. In fact I've already hand written up chapters 16-18. I just need to put them in a paragraph format and then they'll be up as well. I am so sorry for the absence: ROSEY

Chapter 15

Since the day that he had stolen a piece of her hair, Hika had kept her distance from him, despite all attempts to get them to enjoy each other's company. Hika could not thrust the feeling of oddness that she felt from him no matter how much she wished she could. Instead she found herself working harder and harder with her brother and keeping herself alert to all of her surroundings almost ninety-five percent of the time. Occasionally, Hika would find Edmund staring at her over the dinner table or from the garden through a window when no one else was paying attention. Then the moment that someone else turned their attention on him he seemed to be doing something else.

But now, three weeks later she was away from the creep for a good two days. She shrugged off her school jacket as she got comfortable in the van that would take her and the rest of the track team over to the school they were going to face in the first competition of the year. She was exciting as she listened to the humans chatting around her.

Looking out the window to the left, she missed who sat next to her until the door slammed shut and she turned to find out who she was stuck with. Dark blue-purple eyes met surprised blue-gray ones. Kuronue couldn't hide the look of horror that registered on his face as they both quickly looked away.

Why was he afraid of sitting by her? She had been very good at ignoring Kuronue during the time since their forest run-in. Any memories she dreamed of, she pushed away, focusing all her romantic nature on Charlie. She hadn't noticed anything strange from Kuronue during the five weeks either. She almost wanted to believe that he'd completely forgotten about it. Apparently not-if his face told her anything.

Kuronue hadn't forgotten it. Far from it. Once a week, if not more, he found himself dreaming of her as Hiromi or of them together in the forest. He'd awaken with Hika's name on his lips and he'd want to turn over to find her there with him. But when he turned he would find no one and would remember Inane. Shame built up so quickly that when he saw Inane he would make it up to her by being overly attentive to her wants and desires.

He'd been able to ignore Hika except when they were in track and he was forced to watch the glorious woman run to her heart's content. He found himself comparing her to a freed mustang. She was sleek and fast and when she ran if her hair wasn't slipped down it flew behind her like a mane.

And now they sat next to each other for the next two hours. They ignored one another for the most part. They spoke with the others, but never with each other unless it was the occasional "sorry" when they bumped one another.

Despite this purposeful ignoring, Hika found herself looking at him occasionally with curiosity. Had he remembered anything? Was he happy with Inane? Why did she care if he was happy with Inane? Their kiss that night had been the end of an era. But if it hadn't been the end, might they have continued where they left off in their previous life? All of these questions ran through her mind whenever she looked at the young man that sat next to her. And then she would remember Charlie and quickly look away and focus on thoughts of how Charlie was to her and she'd forget about Kuronue—until the next time she found herself looking at him.

For two hours the torture continued, unabated, until they were allowed to pile out of the van into the sunlight that glared down upon them. Everyone ran to the classroom that they would be sharing as they stayed in the town for the meet. Kuronue let Hika get there first so that they would be given different sections to sleep in.

Only it didn't work out as well as he had planned. Because they were known as friends, the rest of the team had left only enough space for him to rest his own sleeping bag and backpack next to Hika. Kuronue inwardly groaned and looked at the space next to where Hika was setting up her own bag.

Unlike the other humans' sleeping bags, Hika's was of Demon World make with designs of flying bat people, a golden eyed fox and a white rose with the demonic world scenery behind them. Artfully he was spelled to put out an image of a simple black one to anyone with little to no spirit energy. Despite this, Kuronue could see it though and his worry about sleeping near her vanished. He pulled out his own and continued to get ready until it was an hour before the meet, ignoring Hika as much as possible.

"Alright people," he called over the din of the track team. "Go get changed and warmed up. Miku, Ritsu, Hika, stay behind. We have to discuss the relay run for today and the marathon tomorrow."

The three that he had told to stay looked at each other and smiled. This year, with Miku, Ritsu, Kuronue, and Hika, they planned on winning both races. The four of them were the fastest among the team and they were ready for whatever the other teams threw at them. They quickly conversed, finishing off their plans of the relay run before going and joining the rest of the team.

The races before the relay went quickly. Hika placed first or second in any race she participated in, only placing second if Kuronue was participating as well they joked about it, but the truth was that Hika let him win simply for the sake of seeing his face after he'd won. His face lit up when he won, as if the sun had slipped into it and shown from the inside out.

Finally it was time for the relay.

Hika waited at the last spot, watching as Ritsu took off at the starting place.

You know, it is very dangerous to run with earrings on. No wonder they had you take them off.

The voice screamed through her mind, as it fought to hold onto her body. She reached up and grabbed at her head. She hadn't thought that the Demon would attack at such a time and that was why she had felt safe taking them off.

What would happen if you lost control of your wings and they popped out here? Mass hysteria? Stoning? I'm going to put my bet on stoning. Humans are so silly sometimes.

No! Stop!She had to stop it from taking her over.

Miku had the baton and was tied with team 3 for first place. She was maybe five seconds from Kuronue who would take maybe fifteen to thirty seconds to get to Hika.

The pressure on her head grew as the baton was passed to Kuronue. He was on his way, taking the lead against the team three who had dropped the baton during the exchange. He was getting nearer. The pressure was growing.

So much like your old self. You will fall to me and I'll make you kill each of these humans. Starting with that human that is so much like your old Kuronue. And then I'll take you to your family and make you kill them as well.

She gritted her teeth and cast her eyes to Kuronue. Five, maybe ten more feet separated them. Tears started to form in her eyes. No one could outrun Kuronue. He would get the baton to her and then it was up to her to get the win. She could hear the cheering from her team over the voice that kept pestering her mind. They needed her to get that baton to the finish line.

The baton was in reach. Hika should reach out. Her mind-that of it that was still her own-screamed at her body to focus-to take the baton and run, but all that her body could do was stare at Kuronue who was yelling at her to take it.

She felt a single tear run down her cheek. That must have been a signal to Kuronue for he slapped her as the other teams caught up and their members took off.

The voice in her mind vanished and she blinked. Then she woke, grabbed the baton and ran. Her body screamed at the sudden action but on she ran.

Fifth place.

Fourth place.

Second place.

Her eyes were on the leaders, Team 1, back. She could see the finish line. The gap closed. She was neck-to-neck. Just a few more steps. Their feet hit the line at the same moment. Hika slowed and looked over at the judge's table, waiting for them to announce who the winner was. There was static for a moment.

"There will be a tie breaking ran for teams 1 and 5. Will those teams please return to their position and the other teams please exit the field. We will begin the tie breaker ran when all teams are ready."

Hika looked at the team 1 player and shrugged, giving him a look that said 'what could you do?' and a smile. She put the baton she had carried down at the start line for Ritsu to pick up when she got back to the start line from where she had been at Miku's position.

She turned just in time to see a spark in the Team 1 player's eyes before he jogged off back the way they had just came. The girl didn't like that, but put it from her mind as simple human competitiveness. Instead of jogging back, she walked, taking the chance to walk out the cramps that had started to form after the good 4 hours of stop and go running she had been involved with.

As she got to her place, she focused on putting up a mental barrier against the monster that had tried to take over her mind even though the tendrils of his-her-its power no longer tickled her mind. She had become lax in her guarding and the almost take over had frightened her.

The sound of the start went off two minutes later and Ritsu was off. Hika kept her eyes on her teammate, intent on not screwing up this time. Quickly Miku had the baton. The feet were being eaten up as the teams tied halfway to Kuronue's spot. Miku was great at short spurts of running. She would have made it to Kuronue three or four seconds before the other team if this had been her first run of the day.

"You won't win, if you want this boy to live girlie," came the other boy's voice beside her. It was, and wasn't, his voice. A crackling of power rang through the vocals, speaking of a possession.

Hika turned to look at the rival team member with astonishment. How, no, why did the demon want her to lose? It made no sense. Did it simply want her to fail at the one thing she loved out of the human world? If that was the case then she wouldn't stop. But at the same time, she couldn't justify letting a young man die.

"Leave the human out of this and go suck yourself," Hika finally snarled as Miku gave Kuronue the baton.

"So be it," the voice told her and sadistic smile appeared on the boy's face and he readied to ran.

If Hika played this just right, she could still win and keep the boy from hurting himself. Kuronue passed her the baton a few seconds later and she was off. She didn't show any mercy. She just ran as fast as she could.

The human kept up with her as the demon pushed him harder than a human should be pushed. Hika zoned him out, focusing slowly on the line that she needed to cross. Closer. Closer. Almost there. Her teammates cheering 'Go Hika Go!". All of it, she blocked out. Never had a race meant so much to her as it did in these few moments.

Her foot was over the line. She had won. She turned to look at the young man she had been racing against. He was blinking and looking down at the baton in his hand as if he wasn't sure how he'd gotten there.

It had been a bluff and Hika had caught it. She didn't even see or hear the outside world until Ritsu, Miku and Kuronue pulled her into a hug as pictures were snapped of the winning team.

In a state of shock, she disentangled herself from the group and walked away. She was just about to get free of the mass of humans when a shot and then screams filled the air. She spun and stared as three more shots were fired. The boy that had ran against her stumbled back, the white track shirt he wore growing red with blood as he fell back.

I told you I'd kill him girlie. His death is on your hands now.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Hika stood on the track. It was well after lights out-almost midnight if the moon was anything to judge by. They had taken the boy's body away quickly and covered the spot where his blood had been with new dirt so the next day's running could go on without people seeing blood as they ran.

Numbness ran through the woman as she started to jog. It was the only way she could keep from going insane. The voice kept ringing in her head.

His death is on your hands.

She quickened her pace. Over and over the words played through her mind and each time she pushed herself faster until she was running far faster than any human could.

The shots had been shot by a spectator that had been so disappointed in the loss that he snapped. At least, that was what the teachers had told the frightened students when they got up the courage to ask.

Tears were falling down her cheeks as he ran blindly. Around and around she ran, wanting to outrun the terrible sound of guilt. She didn't stop until she tripped over something on the ground and couldn't get the energy to push herself up and keep going.

"So how long are you going to stay out here?"

The voice came from just over her, but she didn't move to defend herself like her training taught her. She knew it was Kuronue without having to look. The tears were still coming down her cheeks as she finally rose. She tried to wipe them away as if it was sweat but she wasn't even fooling herself.

Kuronue, though he wanted to pull the girl against him and comfort her, only stood there and watched as she dusted herself off. When she didn't answer, he repeated his question.

"Hika, how long are you going to run and cry over an incident you had no control over?"

The tears welled up again and Hika shook her head as they spilled out. "I did have control over it," she sobbed before turning and taking off around the track again.

Kuronue watched her ran. What had she meant that she had had control over it? How could she have been in control of another person's actions?

While he could have caught up to her if he had really wished to, he waited for her to make a full lap around the track. He stepped out in front of her. Pulling her tight against his body to keep her from pulling away and running again, one arm encircled her waist and the other pulling her head against his chest.

Time seemed to slow for him as she stopped struggling to get away from him. Instead she began to sob against him, her arms going to wrap around his waist as the event during the race spilled from her lips. Kuronue winced and held her tighter against him to show as much comfort as he could.

"I should have let the other team win Kuronue," she finally sobbed. "He would still be alive if I had just let him win."

"You don't know that Hika," he whispered, "He-it-whatever the force that you are against is-they might have just killed the boy anyway. They aren't afraid of killing humans Hika-they aren't afraid of us because we have been so defensive. They want to make you crazy, just like they did to Hiram."

"I'm not going crazy!" Hika replied between a sob and a hiccup.

"You aren't? Hika you are out here running laps like a demon in the middle of the night when you should be asleep," Kuronue told her. He released her head and tilted it up by placing kind fingertips under her chin and lifting up. When she was looking up at him, he wiped a few of the tears that lingered on her cheeks away. His eyes locked with hers and he froze. He knew, deep down, that he should be letting Charlie comfort her. But after weeks of memory-dreams, he couldn't let the elemental take this chance from him. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't let it go by.

"Hika, you are going to make it through this. If you don't there will be no reason for the demon to leave any of your family alone. And it might go after Inane and Charlie."

He left her no chance to argue with what he had said. He leaned in and their lips met as a memory came unbidden to his mind.

"Because," Kuronue started, before pausing to think over what he was going to say. Was he really going to say it? "I think that I'm starting to fall in love with you."

"You have to be joking." She said softly, refusing to admit that she had heard right. "You can't be serious."

Here was his chance to laugh and brush off what he had said and say that yes he was joking. But at the same time he couldn't bring himself to. It was out. Either she accepted it, or refused it. Either way, they could continue to work together.

"I spoke correctly Hiromi," he answered her.

"There is no way you can be serious. Demons don't fall in love. They can't," she exclaimed before turning and running form the room.

When he pulled from the kiss and looked down to watch her for her reaction, he couldn't help but think about the memory and how she had refused it, like he was refusing his love for her. Hika was looking up at him as if she was at a lost as to what to do with the kiss still fresh on her lips.

"We can't Kuronue. It isn't right," the young woman said, reaching up and wiping away the tears that were on her cheeks. The kiss had brought back a bit of the Hika that hated to lose and hated to cry. It had reminded her that it wasn't worth crying over something that another had done. It had brought back the woman that had sworn to take down the demon that was tormenting her. The boy's death would haunt her forever more, but she would just put it on the tab of the team when she finally found it and killed it. And then she would pay homage to the boy's death by placing the demon's head at his Spiritual Feet.

Kuronue was nodding before she had even finished her sentence. "Inane," he whispered as shame crossed his features.

"And Charlie," Hika added before slipping from his grasp. This time he didn't force her to stay against his body.

Silence filled the void between them as they met each other's gaze again. Kuronue was the first to look away. His gaze went up to the moon and he sighed heavier. "Don't stay out too late. We have a run tomorrow." With that he turned and left her there.

Hika watched him until he had entered the school again before she turned to look up at the moon as well.

"Why must life be so confusing and cruel?" she asked it before she turned and started to walk back to her starting place to begin again.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Somewhere in the trees to the side of the track stood a man twice refused. He watched the figures separate and go their separate ways. Then the girl spoke to the moon and the man smiled.

"Because," Edmund answered, "I won't let you be happy for a third time Deshiri. Not with him at least."