Chapter 5: Flames

Disclaimer: More scenes from K: Side: Red. This helps put into perspective Tatara's role in HOMRA. I do not own K Project or any of the mangas/spin off stories.

October 18, 2009

From Tatara's perspective:

Tatara was charmed by the color of Mikoto's flame.

He knows that he's the stopper. It's his role as the only one who has almost no combat ability within HOMRA. However, sometimes, there were moments when he thought it would be bliss to just stand and watch that back go forth, without holding it back.

Tatara smiled bitterly for a bit. Then he looked down at Anna who was being carried in Hana's arms. Her eyes were wide and she was looking around at the fiery floor. The light of the flames danced on her white skin. Her large eyes reflected that fiery shine and sparkled. She seemed to be fascinated by the flow of power from Mikoto.

Anna let out a small sigh, "It's pretty."

"Yeah." Tatara responded.

"...but." Even Anna noticed that Mikoto was losing control of his flames.

"I know." Tatara smiled. Hana watched their exchange and placed Anna gently on her feet.

"Stay close." Tatara gave a look to Hana. Hana nodded and looked down at Anna.

Hana held her hand open, and Anna looked up at Tatara, then Hana. Then, she reached out her hand and grasped Hana's much larger one.

Hana and Anna followed Tatara as he approached Mikoto from behind.

It was so hot that if a defenseless civilian had been here, they would have died with their blood boiling within an instant, but Tatara walked right through it. Right as the waves of heat were about to touch him, they lost their danger and became a soft warm breeze. As he approached Mikoto's back, he directed his consciousness towards the small ember within himself. His sanctum was small, and it was weak. But it was a flame he had received from Mikoto.

If the rest of HOMRA held bonfires within their bodies, then the flame held by Tatara was but the light of a candle. Tatara wouldn't be able to become drunk on power.

Even though Tatara wouldn't be able to control Mikoto's flame, he was able to reach him.

"King." Tatara called out as he placed a hand on the center of Mikoto's back.

At the same time, the waves of heat that flowed from Mikoto's body quieted, and then they vanished. Mikoto easily held back the dangerous flame that seemed like it would destroy them all.

(Line Break)

Hana's POV

I watched in wonder as Tatara was able to calm Mikoto's flames. Just from that glimpse, I realized that Mikoto was in more danger than I thought if I didn't do something about it soon. But how would I go about healing his sanctum? I know that I'm not affected by the flames and intense heat, but I don't want to do more harm than good.

Tatara is able to get Mikoto to reel back his power and place a lid on it. But the power from Dresden isn't something you can just place in a container and not worry about the consequences. The pressure will shatter the container from the inside out. And in this situation, Mikoto's body is the container.

This sort of power.

I wished that the Silver King and Gold King had left it lying dormant all those years ago, never to be discovered by humanity.

I guess that's the situation in my world too. In fact, maybe this world has it right. The Sword of Damocles. A testament to the idea that those with power need to be held in check or else they're likely to abuse it. A constant sword hanging over the wielder's head, an imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power.

Even in my world, we still have our fair share of violence and cruelty. But these people who abuse and abuse and abuse their power get away with it.

Let's not get into a philosophical debate when my life's a mess. I don't even know how I will go about telling the Red Clan the truth about myself.

I felt a squeeze on my hand. Anna looked at me innocently. She must've felt my inner turmoil. I let a smile grace my face and I lightly squeezed her hand back.

I turned and faced forward, becoming serious. I can't daydream now. Let's handle these things as life throws it at me.

As I was distracted, it seemed like Mizuchi attempted to get Senkouki to finish Mikoto off, it seemed like Mizuchi thought Mikoto ran out of power. Idiot. But Senkouki knew the truth. That he wouldn't be able to defeat Mikoto, even when Mikoto reeled back his powers. Instead he had tried to kill himself. Mikoto, understanding Senkouki's self-determined fate, placed his fist against Senkouki's heart and left no blood, bones, or ashes.

As Mizuchi yelled nonsense at Mikoto, Mikoto walked towards him, most likely planning to leave nothing behind of the pathetic human. But at that moment, Mizuchi's body floated into the air.

A dozen of the Gold Clan's Usagis had appeared. I guess our Usagi that was fighting the Strain realized more manpower was needed and called for backup.

"Seems like they came for the cleanup." A familiar voice came from above.

We looked up. Izumo, who had probably been behind the Usagis, stood at the edge of the hole and looked down.

"Yo, good work." Izumo waved one hand at Mikoto from where he stood. It seemed like his shoulder and arm was injured, but had a bandage around it.

Mikoto frowned at the bandage, "What's with that look?"

"... ya don't need to point that out first thing in a situation like this. Leave me be. It's actually pretty embarassin'." Izumo looked at Mizuchi and smiled wryly. "The chief layin' over there is done for. Ya don't need to deal with him anymore. Let the Usagis have him."

Mikoto didn't reply, but he didn't try to stop the moving Usagis. They surrounded Mizuchi as Izumo jumped down. Totsuka ran over to him and I followed a few steps behind, holding Anna's hand.

The danger passed and I loosened up my hand, but Anna shook her head and refused to let go.

"You okay? You hardly ever get hurt like this. What happened, seriously?" Tatara prodded for information.

"... like I said. Don't ask…" Izumo looked awkward, then suddenly glared at both Tatara and Mikoto. "More importantly, I told ya guys not to go overboard, right? What's this?"

The building was full of huge fissures and was beginning to fall apart as it burned. Even now, small fragments were falling from above, and unpleasant noises indicating destruction could be heard. Tatara smiled as if to change the subject.

"Aahaha… looks like we're gonna get buried alive if we don't get out quickly."

"Jeez… the Strains above ground have already run away. Those two weirdo Strains, Grasshopper and Pyrote-whatever are in the Gold Clan's custody. Right now, SCEPTER 4's leader is sending out evacuation orders to workers and blues still inside. Everyone else is waiting for us above. Oh and, Hana, the Gold King said he wants to talk to you soon." Kusanagi's expression as he said this was complicated.

"Hai." I turned and called out to a nearby Usagi. "Usagi-sama, it's been a long day. I'll stop by the Timeless Palace tomorrow, please tell Kokujoji-sama that I'll visit then." The Usagi nodded and continued with his job.

"Let's get on out too." Kusanagi said while looking down at Anna who was holding Hana's hand. "You're with us, right?"

Kusanagi spoke to Anna as though treating her as an equal, not a child. She nodded.

"What about you, Hana?"

I looked up at Kusanagi, and said, "I still owe you guys an explanation. I see my promises through to the end."

I tried to pull the hand connected with Anna away again, but she was still reluctant to let go. I kneeled down and told her, "Everything is going to be just fine. Here, Pepper will help you feel better. She's my friend, she can be your friend too right?" Anna nodded shyly as Pepper slowly came out of her hiding place on my shoulders and walked towards Anna. Anna reached her hand out to Pepper, who sniffed it once, then jumped onto Anna's shoulder.

Anna let out a small giggle in surprise. We all looked shell-shocked since it was our first time hearing Anna laugh. Even the boys, who had spent some time with Anna when she came to visit with Honami, hadn't heard her laugh. She was like a doll back then, but now… Now she's opening up again.

Pepper settled down around Anna's neck, her face nuzzling Anna's. I smiled to myself. It seems like they're going to get along really well. Animals always make everything better.

For a few seconds, Anna looked up at Mikoto in an unsure way… then she gently took his sleeve.

(Line Break)

Honestly, everything after that was a bit of a blur. We made it back to HOMRA and the boys decided to have a party to celebrate saving Anna.

"Ma ma guys, before we get started, I think Hana-chan has something she wants to tell all of us." Tatara said with a gentle and welcoming smile. "But! Before that, you girls should go ahead and take a shower. We don't want Anna-chan becoming sick. Also, Hana-chan, it's bad to go around covered in soot."

Eh? I looked at my arms. Oh yeah, there's a lot of dust on my jacket. Might as well as change into new clothes. "Arigato Tatara-san."

"Follow me, I'll show you the shower." Anna grabbed my hand as we followed Izumo up the stairs.

"Ah, arigato Kusanagi-san."

"Arigato." Anna copied my response.

As we walked up the stairs that was behind the bar, Anna placed her red marble up to her left eye and looked around. Izumo gave us a mini tour of the upstairs.

"The first door you see as you come up the stairs is Mikoto's room." I could see Anna's eyes sparkling, her curiosity shining through.

"Anna, we can't walk into someone's room when he's not there."

"So we can walk in when he's there." Anna smiled confidently.

"Ah, that's not the poi-, nevermind." I shook my head.

We had passed by two empty rooms, apparently Mikoto was the only one who lived on the second floor. Izumo, who I thought would live in his bar, had an apartment a few blocks down. Even Tatara, who spent most of his time at the bar, didn't live there.

"Okay, here we are. This is the shower. Here are two towels. You can throw your clothes into the washing machine there." Izumo handed me the towels and I thanked him again.

It was a normal Japanese shower. There was a room with a sink and a washing machine which opened up into a room which was completely waterproof. There was a bathtub in one corner and the washing area, with a shower head, which is outside of the bathtub.

I locked the door and helped Anna out of her flowy blue dress. Pepper, who I almost forgot Anna had, jumped off of Anna's shoulder and shook herself in the sink.

"Guess you need a shower too, don't you girl?"

Pepper looked up at I cooed to her and licked her paw.

Looking back down at the blue dress, the color annoyed me because it reminded me of what that bastard Mizuchi wanted to do to her. I took the red marbles in her dress pockets out and placed them on a nearby shelf, next to the towels.

As a swimmer, I wasn't shy about undressing in front of other females because in the women's locker room, everyone undresses in front of each other. No one really cares.

As Anna sat down on the small stool in the shower, I noticed a few cuts on her arms. It must've been from the glass, when Mikoto destroyed the container those bastards had put her in. Nope, I'm not gonna grace them with a name, they're "those bastards" to me in my head.

"May I?" I asked Anna calmly, allowing my aura to flow and gather in my hands. "I won't hurt you, they do resemble Mizuchi's powers, but I promise I won't ever hurt you."

"Un." Anna nodded, holding out her injured arms. It seemed like she wholeheartedly trusted me.

I slowly placed my hands on her arm and before our eyes her cuts started healing up. When they finished, Anna poked at her arms.

"It's different from Mizuchi's aura. Yours is warm, and such a pretty pink." Pink is technically a shade of red, no wonder Anna was okay with it. Maybe it reminds her of Mikoto a bit.

I twisted the water knob and made sure the water was warm before I handed Anna the shower head so she could wash herself. Anna helped spray Pepper down and we rubbed a bit of soap into her fur to wash out any soot that had accumulated.

I helped Anna place shampoo and conditioner in her hair before I also washed my pink hair. As I helped bathe Anna, we chatted a bit.

"Anna."

"It's okay Hana, I know."

"You know?"

"Yeah, I can tell that you're not from around here. But it's okay, you don't mean to harm any of us. Mikoto trusts you too."

My eyes began to mist over and I gave her a hug. "Thanks Anna. But I wanted to let you know that there are going to be moments when you want to look for me. But you can't. Don't tell the boys my location, even if you want to. I'm going to have to go off and get some things taken care of okay? But I promise I'll stop by every so often."

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise." We intertwined our pinky fingers. After soaking in the bathtub for five minutes (it's a Japanese thing), we walked out and I toweled her down. After drying myself I used my towel to dry Pepper off too.

Our clothes still weren't done so I grabbed some spare clothing out of my backpack. What? My backpack has a lot of necessities okay. You never know when you need a change of clothes. I had thrown out my textbooks a while ago, who needs gen chem at this point? But I kept some of the medical journals that I had picked up at school in my backpack because I had a feeling they were going to come in handy sometime soon. When I was at the Family Mart, along with some food, I had also grabbed some generic clothing.

They were way too big for Anna, but at least she was covered up and warm. We were definitely going to need to go shopping the next day. For her and myself.

(Line Break)

We walked down the stairs together, with Pepper on my shoulders this time. It seemed like the boys had already begun drinking a bit as we heard loud laughter fill the bar.

When we made it down to the first floor, Anna ran over to Mikoto and sat next to him on the couch he had sunk into. A glass of… whiskey, maybe?... in his hand.

I took a seat on the red bar stool.

"And for you mademoiselle?" Izumo practiced his French.

"Ah, just water please. I don't drink." I replied in English. If he was going to try out his languages, I'll show him what I have too.

Surprise crossed his face, "So you speak English, huh?"

"It's my native language, I'm from America."

"You don't look American."

"I'm not native, I'm Japanese but raised in America."

"It did seem as if ya had a slight accent that I couldn't place. Your Japanese is really good." Izumo slid a glass of water with iceberg-like ice cubes towards me.

I caught it in one hand. "Hm. Speaking of which. Time for some story-telling guys." I called out to the bar.

My voice commanded the room and everyone quieted down, turning towards me.

I took a deep breath. "I'm from the future. But not your future."

A/N: Ah, so I just realized, after re-reading K: Memory of Red for the fifth time that Shohei joined later. Ah well…. It's okay. He helped save Anna.