SEEING YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME

Chapter 4A: Wakana's Book of Memories

Disclaimer: Nurarihyon no Mago characters are not mine. Also, the last name of Wakana is just a fictional name that was added for the purpose of the story. There are also some original characters created for the purpose of the story.

Please read and review, keeps me motivated to write. Thank you!

Author's note: The story is slightly different than usual. However, I will not move away so much. The overall plan is to end up in the same story. About the onmyoji characters, wait and see.

Note for the chapter: Sorry to the readers that it took a while, been a little busy, but here goes the next chapter. Again, it will be divided into three, hope you'll be patient with me.

7-year old Wakana sat at in the playground hiding behind the view of the students leaving school. As someone who has always been able to see demons or paranormal beings since she was a little girl, it came a little too late for her to realize that it was not really helpful to share it to others. It's not as if she's different to the point that she's not human, its just that she's able to see them. It perhaps came from her father, the one who was pretty obsessed with paranormal creatures.

"Neh, I saw an old lady outside. She's angry." 4-year old Wakana looked at the direction of the door in the kindergarten.

"Eww…Waka-chan, don't say scary things. There's no one there." A fellow student responded, moving an inch away from her.

"But she's really there, see! She's by the door!" Wakana pointed, she could really see the spirit of an old woman staring at them

"Sensei! Wakana-chan is saying things again!

These things were a regular occurrence to her. As a child, she didn't really know the difference between the things that are seen by everyone and the ones that she can only see by herself. But, for years and years, she understood. Before she had friends, until one by one, they started to leave. One by one, they started to talk about her. One by one, she lost the people she had lunch with before. But this was not something that she couldn't talk about at home. Scenario at home is totally different.

Wakana's father was a writer. But he was not any ordinary writer. At a very young age, he became very passionate with the thriller, suspense, and paranormal genre. Being a popular writer, of course with a pen name known only to his editors, he wrote twelve books wherein he created an entirely new plot where humans and demons existed in parallel universes, the discovery of aliens and how they can mingle with humans, and so on and so forth. Having such books, he did a lot of research. Their home has been full of books about these. Unlike, regular kids who grew up reading books about Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, or Cinderella, Wakana grew up reading books about the snow demons, UFOs, or haunted stories.

In the beginning, it was something that was interesting, until she felt how utterly ostracized she was in school, and experiencing being called 'weird' and people avoiding her because they can receive WAKA-GERMS. A term that they created just for her.

Wakana's mother is a regular woman, except that knowing she married her father, it means they have something in common. Yes, you guessed it, she also appreciated the paranormal. Although it did not go to the point of obsession and being able to write a trilogy about demonology, but it's because she grew up in a very strict Shinto background. She was exposed to being traditional, with aunts as priestesses, and uncles as exorcists. Definitely, when she and her husband met, it was a match made in heaven.

So, in reality, Wakana never had the heart to tell them that she was going through a lot in school. She never really told them that her classmates have been calling her weird since the start of the school year and to add to that, she didn't have any real friends in class. She eats lunch alone, she goes home alone, she can't even clean with anyone in class duty because they're all freaking out. She was basically the 'other' girl they refuse to get to know. But whenever she gets home and her parents ask her about her school day, she'll smile and say…

"It's great mom. Have a lot of friends, we play in the playground a lot." Wakana smiled reporting to her mother.

She didn't have the heart to tell them that their unusual hobby is causing her the social life she would have preferred to have. But, for her, at the end of the day, family is still the most important thing in life. So despite the bullying, the pain, the hardship, she knew and understood that she had to persevere.

Then again, it's not as if she's really alone in life, in the sense that no one is really getting to know her. There was this one guy; his name is Sakuya. She knew that he was somewhat different from the rest, but he never imagined that they could be friends. She sat at the corner of the seesaw and remembered the day they met. It was a fairly simple meeting, she was alone, he was alone, he introduced himself, and then bam. They became friends.

Wakana was so deep in thought that she did not realize the older guy standing behind her.

"Bah!" Sakuya slammed his hands on Wakana's shoulder, making her hair stand on the edges and her eyes almost popping out of its sockets.

"Kya!" Wakana screamed. She stood up and looked at Sakuya who was laughing very hard. "Sakuya-san!"

Sakuya, a boy who was about 5 years older than her, but studying in the same school surprised her in this late afternoon. He jumped up the swing, standing on it, and proceeded to move it forward and then backward.

"Sorry sorry, couldn't resist the temptation of surprising the lost in thought. What's up?" Sakuya gazed at her as she continued to glare at him. "If I were a piece of paper and your eyes was some sort of fire, I'd be dissolved into ashes."

"Sigh…" Wakana breathed a sigh of discomfort. "Well, you see..."

Wakana paused. Sakuya noticed the pause, he jumped off the swing with a graceful thump beside the little girl and knelt down to listen to her more intently. She looked at him gracefully do his act and settle beside her. He quirked his brow and stared at her.

"What happened?" Sakuya asked, looking at her checking if she had bruises.

He was pretty aware of the bullying scenario in school, so he got pretty worried thinking that the other kids in class are bullying her again. But after careful inspection, she was not injured. There were no bruises, no cuts, or anything of the sort, at least none in the visible part of her body.

"Neh…Sakuya-san…" Wakana started, sitting back on the seesaw looking at the sunset. "I wonder why I had parents who were so obsessed with the paranormal. Sometimes, I really wish that I could just be like anybody else."

"Anybody else?" Sakuya asked.

"Yes, like those people who don't see what I see…" Wakana remarked. "I've been called names because of this and no one in the family sees them except me."

"Hahaha! Let's just say, the gods grated the wish of your parents when you were still in the womb of your mom." Sakuya placed his index finger in his forehead. Checking if she bought the joke, it seems that she didn't. She just stared at him as if he grew another head or something.

"You don't understand." Wakana muttered almost incoherently. Sakuya had to strain his ears to hear her say those words. "I wanted friends. I wanted to play with the other kids in class. But…"

Sakuya looked at the other group of kids who were happily playing at the other side of the room. Wakana on the other hand, was sitting alone in this part of the school. He looked at her with a soft smile.

"Well, you have me." Sakuya smirked, looking arrogant. "I won't leave you."

"Sa…" Wakana was about to say something but she was interrupted by a set of older kids in who came towards them.

"Hey Tsuchiya, how come you like hanging out with freak chicks like her." One of them said in a teasing manner. "Come on, man! You'll get infected with freak-o germs!"

"Hahaha! He's right man, everyone in class has been wondering why you would even like to be around a crazy weirdo of a kid." Another one loomed over Wakana suddenly grabbing her hair.

Wakana slapped his hand away with a glare.

"Kya! Kya! Help! Help! I've been infected by freak-o germs!" The guy who got his hand slapped went on jumping around like a sissy. Then turned to glare at Wakana. "You brat!"

He pushed Wakana to the ground causing her to stumble and fall on the sand. The five guys kept on laughing and laughing. The third guy sat on his heels a few inches from Wakana, who was still lying on the ground.

"Go call for help from your demon friends!" The guy laughed so hard that he did not notice that Sakuya was standing beside him. "Or better yet, your freak parents!"

Sakuya was seething in anger. He thought that they would just talk crap and then leave, but when he saw the violence, there was something in him that snapped. Right now, there was nothing in his mind but…

"I'll kill you." Sakuya glowered. His voice was dripping with blood lust, his eyes were dark, his hands were formed into fists, and he was trembling.

Sakuya grabbed one of the guys and held onto his throat. He lifted the guy up in the air clutching his throat as hard as he could. The guy tried to struggle but to no avail. His grip was so strong that he could not even bulge. Sakuya threw him as if he was a piece of paper. Little by little, there were some changes that were happening to his body. His previously calm gaze changed into a killer's eyes. His skin that was light but normal, now became pale as snow.

His eyes became red as blood, shining brightly in the afternoon sunset. Her hair is starting to grow longer, his fangs starting to expose itself and in one fatal swoop, he disabled his opponents. His targets were all lying on the ground, helpless, wounded. One guy with a broken arm, another with a dislocated leg, the other guy who he threw helplessly was unconscious, the rest of the two guys were in his hands, one in the right and the other in the left.

"Tsu…tsu…chi…ya…." The guy stammered…

"Let…go…ple….assee…" The other pleaded.

"How dare you. How dare you. How dare you." He repeated as if he didn't even hear what they said. He was in a black out, focused only on his anger. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill."

He just kept on repeating and repeating that threat. His body now firm, his physique fully transformed. It was no longer Tsuchiya. It was something, someone else. And for the first time, he felt he completely snapped.

Wakana's eyes were closed in fear. Her body was trembling, afraid that she might be hurt once again. Suddenly, a warm touch landed on her head. She flinched but slowly opened her eyes slowly. Her sight was filled with a smiling Sakuya. His soft warm smile was so welcoming that she felt comfort. He was sitting on his heels just in front of her. Tears welled in her eyes. She could not help herself but launch towards Sakuya in a heartfelt embrace.

Sakuya lost his balance and fell on his behind on the sand. His right hand rested on the ground to stabilize himself. He was a little surprised when Wakana suddenly embraced him. His other hand went to her head and he muttered assurances. Wakana nodded and pushed herself out from the embrace.

"Neh, Sakuya-san, where are they?" Wakana looked around seeing nothing in the area.

Sakuya was silent. Wakana looked around the place leaving him sitting in that area, quiet.

"I don't see them. Did they run away?" Wakana asked, looking back at Sakuya.

With his back turned he simply nodded. Wakana sighed and the almost tripped on some sort of black stone near her. She looked at the area and then shook her head.

"The playground has gotten dirty…" Wakana sat on her heels looking around.

In the playground there were black sand. There was no proper order but there it was. Black sand was all over the place. There were some bits that were bigger than the other, there are some that looked like it's so small and it just covered the brown sand. She was about to reach to touch it when Sakuya spoke, this time around, he was also sitting on his heels beside her.

"Yes, Wakana-chan. This place really has gotten dirty." Sakuya responded.

Wakana failed to look at him as he spoke which actually made her unable to see the smirk on his face and the glint in his eyes. He was laughing in his mind. He was squirming in excitement. He didn't know how it happened to him, but for him, black sand…or should he say, black ash has never really been that beautiful in his eyes.

To be continued.

Please read and review.

Thank you very much!