Second chapter, yay!
I recommend listening to the song "Without You" from the musical RENT. That song has a very stong influence on this fanfiction, and it might be more obvious as the story goes on.
Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist, Kazue Kato does.
02: Unexpected Meeting
"He saved me from some bad men."
Kaori tilted her head. "What do you mean by that mom?" she asked. I sighed and started to explain.
14 Years ago
I breathed heavily as I ran down the pavement. My chest hurt from how long I had run and my legs were about to give out. I clenched my bloody right arm tightly, hoping to stop the blood loss. I stumbled as I turned into a nearby alleyway, hoping to create a shortcut.
As I got to the end of the alley, I heard footsteps behind me. Just as I was about to emerge from the alley, I felt someone grab my wrist and start dragging me back.
"No!" I screamed, trying to wiggle my wrist out of their grasp. Just as I got it back, I felt hands grab my arms and shoulders and pull me back. "Let me go!"
I heard them laugh and they shoved me into a wall. I felt one of them hold me against the wall. I bit back a scream when he gripped onto the spot on my right arm that was bleeding. There's about two men, looking at me with sickening grins on their faces.
"What do you wan' us to do with 'er?" The man who was holding me against the wall asked. There was another, a third man, standing against the opposite wall. He looked at me, taking me in. I felt my throat tighten as he grinned. He walked over to us and grabbed my face in his hand. "You are a pretty one. I suppose that we can make do with her." he said.
After speaking, the man's eyes changed to full black color, and the other two men's eyes did the same. I felt my eyes nearly pop out of my head and I let out the loudest scream that I could manage.
I felt a pain in my stomach and realized that the third man, apparently their boss, grabbing onto a piece of skin. He smirked at my scared reaction and held a finger up. I felt terror as his fingernail grew to an abnormal length. I felt tears falling down my face as he held it against my skin. "Now there girl, don't you worry your pretty little head. This will only take a-"
The man was cut off by a gunshot, and one of the other two men collapsed to the ground, before turning into black smoke and vanishing. The men turned their head to the side of the alley that I almost escaped from to see a boy standing there.
He's about my age, with ear-length brown hair and, from what I can see, blueish eyes. Beneath his eyes are two birthmarks, a third one beside his mouth. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the situation. "Let go of the girl and step away from her."
The man in front of me smiled and his hand turned back to normal. "Ah, I should have know that it would have been only a matter of time until an exorcist found us." he said, standing up. The other man released his hold on me and I felt my legs collapse from underneath me. I started to feel dizzy.
The conversation that went on in front of me dimmed to a dull murmur as I felt woozy. I leaned back until I was against the wall and looked at my bloody arm. There was too much blood there. I touched it with my other hand, slightly wincing when I touched the gash.
I heard two loud bangs, but I wasn't sure what they were. The noises around me had dimmed.
The boy who had shot the first man crouched in front of me. "Are you alright?" he asked. His eyes were full of concern and his voice sounded far away. I opened my mouth to respond, but I blacked out instead.
.
I let out a yawn as I opened my eyes. I looked around me to see that I was in a bedroom with a bunk bed, a desk and a few other objects. I looked at my right arm to see my entire upper arm bandaged. I started to sit up, but a hand gently pushed me back down. "You need to rest."
I looked to see the boy from the alley looking at me. "W-Who...who are you? Where...where am I?" I asked, my voice quiet. The boy smiled softly. "My name is Yukio Okumura. You're in a safe place." he said.
I looked at my arm and sighed, closing my eyes. "Thank...thank you." I whispered before looking at Yukio again. His soft smile remained on his face. "It's no problem. You needed help, so I helped you."
"My name...my name's Hikari...Ueda." I said. "Well...it's nive to meet you, Hikari."
The door opened and a boy with black hair and blue eyes walked in. He stopped when he saw me. I noticed that he and Yukio looked alike, with the exception of the boy not having the birthmarks on his face, and his hair being a bluish black. "...so what's going on?" he asked, clearly confused.
"Hikari, this is my older brother Rin. Rin, this is Hikari. She's going to be staying here for a bit." Yukio said. "Um...okay." Rin said, confusion still clear on his face. He turned and walked out of the room, mumbling to himself.
"Who...who were those men?" I asked. Yukio looked at me and his smile fell. "Those men...were demons." he said. "...so that explains why his eyes changed." I mumbled, covering my eyes with my left hand. "Did they do anything to you? Other than what they did to your arm." Yukio asked.
I shook my head. Yukio watched me curiously and closed a book that was before open on the desk beside him. "Do you want to call your parents? Let them know where you are?"
I swallowed. "I...I don't have any parents..." I mumbled, running a hand through my bangs. "O-Oh...I'm...I'm sorry." Yukio said quietly. I looked at him and smiled, shaking my head. "It's alright. It's not like you would have known anyway."
Yukio chuckled and stood. "I suppose not. Would you like anything to eat?" he asked, looking at me. "S-Sure...whatever you have is good..." I mumbled. "Right. I'll be right back." Yukio said, waving before he left the room.
When he left I sighed, closing my eyes.
What person would be kind enough to save a complete stranger?
Why would he save me?
I wiped a few tears that had fallen and sighed. "Why does he even care?"
As Yukio walked back into the room with a tray, I looked at him. "Yukio...why did you save me back there?"
Yukio set the tray down. "You needed help, so I helped you." he replied simply.
"I know that, but...why? I...I'm a complete stranger to you." I said, struggling to sit up. Yukio walked over and helped me sit up, making my feel slight heat on my cheeks. I sighed, closing my eyes. "I...I just...I just don't get it..." I mumbled.
Yukio sat on the desk chair and turned to face me. "I saved you because you deserved a chance." he said. "You don't even know me...for all you know, I could be some sort of criminal or something."
"Are you?" Yukio asked. I shook my head. "So what's your story?" Yukio asked.
I let out a sigh, closing my eyes. "...it's not something that I talk about a lot. Especially to people who I barely know." I whispered. Yukio sat back, rubbing his neck nervously. I looked at him, a faint smile on my face. "However, I don't think that it'd be too bad to talk about it."
"You really don't have too." Yukio said quickly. I shook my head. "I want to. I need to talk to someone about myself and my past, after all."
