Brightest of Shadows Chapter 6: Fight For Life

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This chapter has been updated to fill in a small plot hole I found. There is no major change to the story, and should be ignored if you are a first time reader.

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"Yes! I knew Sachiko-san could do it! We're home, we're home!" Seiko squealed in joy as she ran mindlessly around class 2-9 of Kisaragi Academy like she had just been through hell, which in all fairness, she had basically experienced the closest comparison of hell that anyone could ever imagine beyond hell itself. Turning to Naomi, who was silently hugging Satoshi, Seiko began to grope the hair with her hands and a disturbing smile on her face. "Give me a kiss Naomi-chan!"

"What? AHHH!" Naomi screamed as she was sent to the ground by the overwhelming force of Seiko's hug, causing Satoshi to laugh as he observed his crush and her best friend rolling around on the ground, the former desperately attempting to claw away from the latter's grasp. "Get off of me Seiko! Stranger danger, stranger danger!"

"I... I don't believe it... We're actually home..." Yoshiki sighed happily as he took in the sweet sight of the classroom. Every single day he would always dread showing up in school and being forced to spend a whole day there for 5 days a week. God knows he would never complain about such things ever again after spending time in Heavenly Host.

"So this is what they built on top of Tenjin Academy huh?... Wow... The world has changed a lot since I've last seen it..." Sachiko marveled as she strolled over to the whiteboard, gazing around the modern style classroom all the while. Upon arriving at the whiteboard Sachiko used her powers absentmindedly to pick up a marker, drawing on the whiteboard at the end of the classroom.

"Why; how long has it bee-... Oh my God... Sachiko-san! How are you still using powers?!" Satoshi cried out in surprise when he saw that the markers that normally rested on the bottom of the whiteboard were floating around in the air,

"I am?" Sachiko asked, finally noticing what she had absentmindedly been doing, having grown so used to the benefits of her powers over the years. "Oh, well would you take a look at that... That's a good thing I guess..."

"Yeah, it's useful, but you can't let anyone that isn't present in this room know that you have powers okay?" Satoshi instructed with a hint of nervousness in his voice, a sense of apprehension that no one in their right mind would blame him for. After all, if someone saw Sachiko floating around or possessing markers, then it could turn into a really serious issue.

Surprisingly though, instead of protesting the brown haired young man, or outright ignoring him, Sachiko instead nodded and said, "Yes Satoshi-sensei."

"Alright, well as much as I would absolutely love to stay here and risk getting transported back to that place by your new little friend since she still has her powers, I would much rather head home... Would you like to come along Mayu? Your house is on the way." Morishige asked as he turned his gaze to the girl that was his best friend and secret crush, before holding out his hand with a gentle smile adorning his features.

"Okay! Guys, I'm headed home with Shig-nii, have a good night! Welcome back to the living Sachiko-san!" Mayu happily waved at the newly revived Sachiko before taking Morishige's hand, letting him lead her out of the classroom into the cool, and more importantly peaceful, school hallways and out onto the streets below.

"Okay, goodnight!" Sachiko waved happily, surprising everyone but Yami with her humane behavior. Had merely being brought back to the world of the living honestly changed Sachiko to such a degree with such speed? Seemingly it had.

"Wait... I just had a thought..." Satoshi muttered as his face tinted to a bleached white, thoughts running through his brain at nearly a mile minute as he realized a serious issue that, up until that point, either no one had thought of, or had bothered to bring up to the rest of the group. "We never actually thought about something really important..."

"What? Is everything okay?" Naomi asked with growing concern, her palms becoming sweaty as she approached her, rather obvious, crush. She would never admit it, but whenever Satoshi was scared by something, Naomi had the instant reaction of wanting to protect him, although she knew that if there was a true danger lurking around, the roles would most likely be reversed.

"We never actually thought about where Sachiko-san will be living..." Satoshi muttered into his hands which he had slammed in front of his face, although nearly everyone heard him plain as day, causing a pit to form in both Yami and Sachiko's stomachs.

"Oh damn it... What are we going to do?..." Naomi whispered with worry dripping from her words. Meanwhile everyone in the room began to think frantically on where on earth Sachiko could reside, although strangely enough Yoshiki seemed exceedingly calm, especially considering the situation at hand; something that Satoshi noticed immediately. Satoshi knew his best friend rather well, and he knew that whenever Yoshiki was so calm he had an idea. Before Satoshi could point this out however, Ayumi spoke up.

"Wait!... My family will take her!..." Ayumi blurted out, causing everyone, including Yoshiki to snap their gaze towards her in both surprise and suspicion; not so much because they thought that Ayumi was lying, but rather Ayumi's family lifestyle. If anything the group wanted Sachiko to be exposed to spiritual influences as little as possible if it could be helped.

"A-... Are you sure Ayumi-chan?" Satoshi asked frantically, unsure that Ayumi was even in her right mind. "Is it really a good idea to keep Sachiko around spiritual stuff?... Not to mention won't your parents get mad that you just brought home some random 7 year old girl expecting to be cared for just like that?!"

"You're right..." Ayumi sighed in worry, unconsciously biting at her nail which had been nearly worn down to the root since the night had started. "But I'm pretty sure that no one here can claim that their parents will just freely accept a brand new member of the family; that means they would have a whole new mouth to feed without even a small explanation as to why!"

"Well then what do we do?... We certainly can't put her in a group home, we never found Yui-sensei again after you and Yoshiki-san got seperated from her, and besides even if she were still here, she only had a 1 bedroom apartment... What other options do we even have?" Satoshi asked dejectedly, his shoulders slumping considerably as regret washed over him, his mind ripping him apart for bringing a 7 year old back into the world without even considering her living arrangements.

"...I could take her..." Everyone turned to the sound of the voice to find that it had been Yoshiki speaking for the very first time since they had arrived back in Kisaragi high. "I live alone in an apartment with a spare bedroom, and I have a job; plus I used to help my sister babysit a few years back so I could probably handle taking care of Sachiko-san..."

Satoshi stared at his friend as if he had grown a second head for a few moments before he let out a breath that he wasn't even aware that he had been keeping in. "Okay, but what are we going to do about things like paperwork and stuff? As far as parents are concerned we have a problem... Could anyone's mother vouch for-..."

"My mother!" Yami cried out as he jumped up to his feet and dashed towards the door without even giving the slightest warning before he was already running. "I forgot! My mother is in danger, she needs help! Dad was hitting her and she wasn't moving! I need to help her!"

Without uttering a word, Sachiko was immediately in pursuit of her friend, pushing anyone who stood in her way to the ground with her power, which resulted in Naomi and Seiko both falling to the ground, the latter squealing in happiness when she landed on the former's chest.

"Shit... Come on guys we have to follow them!" Satoshi yelled, receiving a nod of understanding from the rest of the group before they followed Naomi to Yami's house, since she and Seiko were the only ones who knew where it was located.

Naomi just prayed that they would be able to stop Yami before he attempted to face his father...

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Sachiko had honestly forgotten just how hard running for an extended period of time was. Sure, she could probably just take to the skies and fly after Yami, whom she had almost lost sight of once or twice as she chased him through the town that Yami resided in, but it was almost certain that the moment both her feet left the ground one of the many passersby would witness the event and chase after her, and possibly even Yami.

After what seemed like hours of running, Sachiko noticed Yami making a sharp right at the street ahead, and when Sachiko took the same turn, she nearly dropped to the ground in fear at what she saw; the same fear that she had ruled the halls of Heavenly Host with for decades.

Instead of yet another street, which was what Sachiko had been expecting, was a small ornate house. That was not what had caused Sachiko's fear however; that honor rested on the two individuals outside of the house. A man stood there, angrily shaking a small boy, holding him up by his neck, and by the looks of things, also choking the life out of the boy. It was Yami in the man's grasp.

"How's it feel you damn parasite?... You fucking ruined my life when you were born... I should have killed you so long ago... Does it feel good to have the life seeping out of you?" The man, presumably Yami's father, asked in a mocking voice, tightening and loosening his grip at a rapid rate in order to force all the air out of Yami's lungs all that much quicker. "Your mother never answered me... Maybe you will, hmm?"

"S... Sa..." Was the only answer that drifted from between Yami's lips, his eyes beginning to roll into the back of his head.

"What was that my boy?... Are you begging? Come on! Beg!" Yami's father cackled maniacally, shaking Yami around in the air like a rag doll, although for a reason that he couldn't quite figure out, the gaze of his son fought to focus on an area over his shoulder.

"Sa... Sachiko... H... Help... Me..." Yami whispered, before fully losing consciousness, letting the dark veil of serenity take him into its grasp, putting him into a sleep where he would hopefully feel no pain.

"Sachiko? Who the fuck is Sachiko?" Yami's father asked his unconscious son, swinging him back and forth unceremoniously in hopes of receiving an answer, an answer which he eventually got, although not quite in the way he was expecting to receive it.

"...Me..."

"Huh-... AAAUUGHHH!" Before Yami's father could turn around, a sudden unbearable pain shot through his side as he felt a foreign object being thrust into his flesh at such speed that it caused him to drop his unconscious son into the dirt as he moved his hands to the wound that had been inflicted to his side, only to have the object get ripped out when he attempted to move.

"You deserve to DIE!" At this, the object was thrust into Yami's father once again, this time at the backside of his knee, instantly causing him to fall to the ground with a haunting wail of agony. Even the influence of alcohol was not enough to repress the pain that was taking over his senses, soon to be replaced by a sense of numbness that stopped his body cold. "Never touch Yami... NEVER!"

The only thing that Yami's father could hear anymore was the continuous thunk, thunk, thunk of whatever his assailant was attacking him with as it made contact with his body. He could only beg more mercy one last time before his mind slipped into unconsciousness as well.

"STOP!" A sudden cry from another voice suddenly halted Sachiko as she was about to bring the sharp stone that she wielded down onto Yami's father's head in order to finish him off. When she turned around, she was surprised to find the rest of the group, minus Mayu and Morishige of course, running towards them, with Satoshi in the lead. Once said brown haired boy saw that Sachiko was looking at him he continued to speak. "Don't do this! Killing him isn't the answer!"

"Why not?!" Sachiko growled, wiping the blood that had splashed onto her hands on Yami's father's shirt. "He hurt Yami... He deserves to burn in hell! Give me one reason I shouldn't tear his goddamn throat out!"

As if to further prove her point, Sachiko thrust the stone into the man's chest one last time, causing his breathing to become even weaker than it had already become.

"Because... That is Yami-kun's father... Come on... Just spare him... I know that Yami-kun would want you to..." Satoshi reasoned. After a while, Sachiko finally glanced down at the heavily breathing man, before vaporizing the rock in her hand with her powers.

"Fine... But only because Yami would want him to live..." Sachiko explained as she walked over and sat next to Yami's unconscious form, before pulling his head onto her lap, letting him use her as a pillow until Yoshiki came up and picked Yami up in his arms.

"Come on... We'll take him to the hospital..." Yoshiki instructed before turning to the rest of the group. "Alright... Ayumi-chan and Seiko-chan, you girls come with me... Satoshi-chan and Naomi-chan, can you two look for Yami-kun's mother and bring her to the hospital as well?"

Everyone in the group agreed with their particular roles, prompting Yoshiki to nod and, with a flick of his head, directed Sachiko, Ayumi, and Seiko to the hospital, where someone would be able to help Yami.

"Don't worry Yami..." Sachiko whispered as they all ran towards the town hospital. "I'll always protect you..."