Hey Guys,

Wow, this chapter was sooo much fun to write. I hope it doesn't sound full of myself to admit that I love Kenja the most and that he is my favorite character. It's embarrassing because he did come from yours truly, but believe me when I say that I love all of your characters too, honestly I do more than I love our poison duo. And I wanted to write this one for a loooooonnnnnggg time but could never figure a way to segway into it.

Anyways, something we get at the end that I really like it we have more of the dynamic of Kimiko and Kenja just being best friends. Wow, I mean a lot of couple dynamics rock, but just like characters from a once beloved RP of mine with Jac Bandit, the best friend bond between a male and female without any romantic feelings can prove to be the most admirable thing. And little to say, Kenjiko has one of those adorable dynamics, but not as adorable as Kyoko (KimikoxKyo) Setsuja (SetsunaxKenja) and Ailynn (AislinnxFlynn), more couples to come of course!

But I better go! Busy busy day tomorrow! Enjoy this chapter!

xKiha

"I can remember everything from the beginning…how miserable that boy in room D-208 was. How he had eyes of emptiness and only lived day by day because his body was strong enough to push itself through. He was in hospital too long from the moment he was born much too early. He gave his parents such a fright when he came out so small, because his brother before him had come out already gone. They would eventually tell him of the elder brother who had already disappeared to where he could never follow, an older brother that he couldn't play with like other little brothers did because his brother lived on another plain of existence.

"That boy was of course me.

"I was in the hospital for a month after my birth but everything became normal soon after and remained normal up until my twelfth year of life. I became chronically ill constantly and when my family finally grew concerned enough to take me to the hospitals, I became a permanent member of the hospital. I'd be in for a few months, out for two weeks and then in again for the remainder of the year.

"The older I became, the more I began to give in to my illness. And one year ago I finally surrendered into everything that plagued me. In technicality I was living, but in a roundabout way of looking at it I had been dead for a long time. When I had doctors visit me and they would ask how I was doing, I would always reply with one word: alive. Some would question me, because when I spoke that word, when I told them I was alive, I would always speak it as if it was a punishment from hell itself. Indeed, I was alive but I was only alive because the medications and my body decided that I was going to be alive that day. I never knew what I had wanted with myself, I was simply alive and I wasn't going to fight it. I won't deny that I questioned it though, why a body that seemed to want to die so badly, continued to fight to try and survive.

"I remember seeing myself in the mirror, only seeing a half dead man looking back at me without anything to truly live for. He wasn't alive and he surely didn't understand why others encouraged him to fight this disease. I would get so angry at myself, loathing and hating with confusion on my entire joke of an existence.

"It wasn't until something gave me some sort of purpose that I finally woke up from a premature grave that continued to swallow me up thanks to my own ignorance…that I finally allowed myself to breathe and appreciate it."

.

.

.

Fourteen year old Kenja Sedai was walking out to the courtyard of the hospital. He was feeling well enough to walk and as the nurses had proclaimed; fresh air would be good for a speedy recovery. The nurse who seemed to refuse to leave his side for more than a few hours was watching him from inside the building, something that aggravated Kenja even more.

If he really wanted to harm himself, he probably would have done it when in reach of sharp metal tools instead of the courtyard full of plants and the bank of a river. And it wasn't like he was going to try and drown himself in the murky water.

Kenja found himself glaring at the nurse before locating the park bench in the courtyard. He'd wind up sitting here for about twenty minutes before the nurse shuffled him back in because that was enough for today. He tied to contemplate his thoughts, but it wasn't like he was ever thinking about anything truly worthwhile.

No, he always questioned his existence and his body. Well, maybe not questioned but instead just hated and wondered why his body couldn't give in. What was the point of this journey?

"It's nothing but a cruel joke…" Kenja sat himself down with an aggravated grunt, blinking rather sensitive eyes in the somewhat bright light of the April sun. He found himself looking around without any focus on just what he was looking at. He'd seen it all before, hadn't he?

Hold it.

"What the hell?" Kenja Sedai was in awe of himself when he noticed something completely out of the normal in the corner of an azure eye. It seemed oddly red, as if it was some bloody animal that had washed up on the bank after being killed in some sort of fight over a potential mate. "What is that?"

He wouldn't deny that he was curious, looking back to the nurse who seemed to be engaged in some sort of conversation with a doctor Kenja had never seen before. 'He must be new to this building…' The teenager taking this opportunity to slowly get off of the bench and head over to the unfamiliar lump on the edge of the river bank.

He could hear the squishing protest of his hospital slippers against the river's bank but he paid no mind, getting closer to the lump as the red began to look less like blood and more like hair. Like bright red and completely illogical bright red hair.

He drew in a breath, not really caring much about the possible chance of infection. Apparently his white blood cell count was stabilizing, so the doctor's couldn't lecture him about easily allowing his immune system to be destroyed by scoping out some dead creature. He reached a hand over to the figure before moving some of the blood red out of the way.

What he was met with was a human face, the boy recoiling in absolute shock. "N-No way…h-human?...N-No…it's a…a child." His hand brushing more hair from his face only to see something move. Kenja hesitated for a moment before moving some of the red hair only to find a single fox ear resting on the top of the child's head. He was baffled, unable to believe this child was all the way out here with what seemed to be a fox ear on the top of his head. Kenja scoping him out only to see the child's small chest rising and falling slowly.

He was alive, likely more alive than Kenja was.

"W-What to do with him…" The teenager muttered under his breath, shaking his head with uncertainty as he noticed a broken bag clenched rather tightly in the hands of the child. It seemed to be full and Kenja found himself being drawn to the dirty thing. He wanted to open it, reaching out a shaking hand.

"KENJA!"

The teenager jumped back, turning to see his nurse was standing at the doorway. She wasn't really paying any attention to the boy or what he was doing, seeming to be distracted with what whatever she and that doctor were doing. "I've got some business to attend to, so if you could head back to your room in less than ten minutes, I'd be really grateful. I'll be back up to check on you soon enough."

She then disappeared, leaving Kenja to sigh to himself. Well, he wasn't going to let the kid pathetically drown, picking up the sopping wet child and hoping he could sneak him in without any interruptions.

.

.

.

Lucky for Kenja he had gotten what he had wanted, glaring at his hospital bed as he set the child in the small cot next to it, willing to get that damp while he wasn't going to risk laying in a dripping bed for the remainder of the night. The child was still out cold, Kenja stumbling through his room and into the bathroom where he found one of two towels hanging on a rack and headed back to the child to get him dried off.

He didn't have a problem with stripping the kid, removing his shoes, socks, biker's jacket and plain white t-shirt before removing his jeans. Kenja wasn't going to remove the child's boxers, but couldn't help but notice a damp fox's tail coming from the child's backside. He couldn't help but notice the small slit in his underwear and jeans that seemed to be specifically made for the tail. Kenja decided to pay it no mind, at least for now as he removed the dripping back from the child's firm grasp before beginning to dry him off.

He started with the child's feet and worked his way up, even drying the tail this stranger seemed to have before ending with his long and wild yet completely straight red locks. What he failed to notice were the ears beginning to move and prick up, green eyes slowly opening as the child began to trace the scent of the hospital and of the sickly Kenja.

"W-Wha?" His voice a tired grunt as the demon child felt the hard brush of a towel drying his hair, looking up and feeling the towel then brush against his skin. "O-Ow! Watch it!"

Kenja was pretty stunned by the sound of a sudden voice, removing the towel from the head of the child who stared up at him with forest green eyes. "Y-You're awake."

"Yeah, I am." The child nodded with a grunt, assessing the situation before looking at himself. "W-Why am I in my boxers?"

"You should be asking yourself why you washed up on a hospital's riverbank." Kenja said rather coldly, getting off the bed to put the towel away.

"Well…" He laughed nervously in an attempt to remember before recently fluffed ears lowered with embarrassment. "I was running from an enemy and I must have slipped into the water somewhere…" The child knowing just who had done it, clenching his hands into fists. It just wasn't fair that Haruo managed to find his bookreader way before he did. It just wasn't.

"What do you mean? Are you bullied?"

"No, it isn't like that. It's just-" The child went to say something more only for the sickly blond to break into a coughing fit, seeming to be wheezing slightly while trying to get air. A fight Kesai didn't know Kenja's body was naturally doing, something Kenja wasn't fighting for. "A-Are you okay?" His ears pricked straight up.

Kenja eventually regained his breath and voice, clearing his throat before continuing to walk to the bathroom to discard the towel. "I am alive."

"Yeah, I get that, but are you okay?" The child repeated, wanting to get up but finding his body aching too much to stand up.

"Why are you asking?"

"Because, I'm wondering if you're sick or not." He simply said, not really needing to justify his concern for the stranger.

"I am in a hospital." He replied simply, tossing the towel aside before walking back to his bed and sitting down. "I am pretty sure it's clear that I am technically sick." The child sighing, hanging his head with disappointment at how cold the stranger was. He looked up at azure eyes, frowning when he found no true trace of life inside them. Just emptiness as if he was truly dead or just completely ungrateful for everything he had.

"Hey, can I ask you somethin'?" The child asked before noticing that Kenja had his back turned to him. His ears lowered as he lay back down on the cot. "O-Okay…sorry…"

.

.

.

It was a week later when Kenja found the child, who had taken time to introduce himself as Kesai during a nervous conversation between the two mostly performed by the child, was healthy enough to manage on his own. He had been hiding the child in concern for what doctors might do when discovering the animal ears on the seemingly human child. Kenja was usually "splitting" his hospital meals with the child, or rather he gave the child practically all of it and ate only things he saw essential or particularly liked.

"You think I should go?" Kesai frowned, his ears against his hair line. "B-But why?"

"Well, you are completely healthy. And I am sure you have a home to get back to…" Kenja said, not even looking in the direction of the kid.

"But I don't…"

For the first time all day Kenja actually looked at the child, frowning. "And what, you're some orphan who ended up on my doorstep thanks to a magical occurrence?"

"Well, I'm not an orphan…"

"Then why exactly don't you have a family and a home?"

If Kesai's ears could have drooped any lower, they would have by now. "That's why I've been trying to talk to you about all week…I mean, you know I'm not a human, it's pretty obvious. But, I think…" His voice broke off with a sigh, he just felt so uncomfortable around Kenja, looking for his broken bag and opening it.

All week Kenja had pined for that bag, hungry for an answer as to what was inside it. He was desperate to know, to understand just why there was something in there he was so drawn to as if by impulse. But what Kesai removed didn't seem to be anything grand. In fact it was just an orange book.

"A book? That's the answer to all these questions?"

"No, this isn't just a book…" Kesai muttered, handing it over to Kenja who properly sat up when it was placed in his hands. The child flipping it to the first page before drawing in a breath and grabbing one of Kenja's pale palms. "We're going to try a little something here okay. I want you to read this."

Azure eyes scanned something that shouldn't have made sense as Kesai placed the sickly blond's fingertips against the page, forest green eyes widening in astonishment when he watched demon letters begin to grow a bright orange. "You…you really are it…"

"What is the first spell and what does that have to do with all of this?" Kenja asked with a frown.

"He went on to explain everything and for the first time I really listened to everything he said. What he explained baffled me. All of this talk of a one true partner in all of earth and how I was to help him reach this ultimate goal. I couldn't breathe near the end when I suddenly looked into those eyes and found somebody that needed me more than anything. Somebody that directly needed me to help and needed me to be more than just alive…that needed me to be functional and to actually live on a level I couldn't reach just yet. For the first time in my life, I had a reason to live."

"H-Hey, are you okay?"

Kesai was stunned when he finished his big speech, seeing Kenja with tears in his eyes as he nodded slowly. "Y-Yes, I'm okay…"

"Holy crap dude, did you really just answer that in the right way?" Kesai had always ended up getting sarcastic remarks when he asked Kenja this before, blinking wide eyes.

"Y-Yes…I-I guess I did." Kenja was a bit surprised himself, wiping away those tears before smiling gently. "Kesai?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"W-Why are you saying thank you?" The kitsune cocking his head, unable to fully understand why this stranger was getting all weepy on him as he crept onto the sickly blond's bed and sitting close by, facing him.

"You've given me a reason to get out…" He pulled the stunned child into a hug before breaking into sobs as Kesai felt himself instinctually wrap his arms around the shaking child. "You've given me a reason to stop being alive and actually try living…"

"And I did…I stopped running on a body that lived only because it had to. I began living alongside it and working towards living and soon enough I was able to check out for the first time in over six months. I went home with Kesai and even though I was in and out of hospital all the time, I became more willing to fight illness because of him. Every time I felt ill, I had him to cheer me on when I fought to recover. Suddenly the world didn't seem so grim and if only for him, I could fight and try my hand at living.

"For once I had a purpose, a meager one I couldn't control. But for the first time I opened myself up and let some positivity and hope in. I learned what it meant to be alive and to want to continue living in a world I was growing to love."

.

.

.

Kimiko was in quiet shock as Kenja smiled to her with tears in her own eyes. "Do you see? I had to overcome my own hate and loathing to let Kesai in because he needed me and because I became strong enough to help him with his quest."

"That's beautiful, but what does this this have to do with our sixth spell?" Kimiko whispered as she sat up.

"Well," Kenja a bit surprised this wasn't too obvious. "Think of my hatred as what Tsumi becomes and Kesai as your strength. With the introduction of your strength, having it face your sixth spell and what it does to him, you are sure to overcome it if you have the will to do so."

Kimiko looked to him in shock as she felt tears well up in her own eyes. "Kenja…" She could see him crying as she threw her arms around him, Kenja sniffling into her shoulder as she cried into his neck.

"I-I promise, if you can do that for Kesai, then I can do this for Tsumi! I'm going to get stronger for everybody, I promise!"

He patted her back as he let his tears fall. "I know you will. I have complete faith in that."