Fan Fiction ❯ Spellbound ❯ The Only One Who Ever Cared ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: The Only One Who Ever Cared

 

“Get out of here, you half-breed trash!” yelled a teenage boy whose face was concealed by shadows.

 

“You'll never hope to beat us with your half blood!” yelled a teenage girl before she kicked a girl who was curled up on the ground and cackled.

 

“She must be a darkkan, look at the odd clothes she wears,” whispered an adult guardian in the crowd

.

“Who are they?” a guardian woman asked the man.

 

“They're beasts of darkness, worse than demons!” answered an older man in the mob surrounding a thirteen-year-old girl covered in bruises.

 

“Look at the demon cat trying to protect its pitiful master!” shouted a man who sent his foot into the side of the small demonic cat.

 

Once the cat was down, the same man punted Kiki in the stomach. Even though the blow hurt she was too weak to cry out in pain. Instead she coughed up blood causing Okuni to growl low in warning. The man kicked her owner again as if testing her caution and she snuck her feline fangs into the flesh of his ankle. Another man who carried goad in his hands had brought it down on the small cat then brought it down on Kiki. That was when things turned grim for the horde and Okuni growled dangerously as a bright light surrounded her. She was transforming!

 

One foolish teenager tried to bring down a sword on the cat in mid-transformation. The sword broke in two as the light faded, revealing a six- foot black and white tigress. The lethal golden eyes of the tigress locked onto the adolescent guardian that made an attempt on her life and the cat used her paw to send him to the ground. By that time, other guardians in the crowd deployed purification seals and threw them at the huge cat.

 

“You shall not interfere with the half-breed's punishment!” yelled a guardian who threw three purification seals at Okuni earning a hiss in pain.

 

“Kill her!” a woman shouted as she lashed out on Kiki, drawing more blood.

 

“Kill the half-breed!” shouted another woman as she brought a broom down on the girl's half-conscious form.

 

“Kill the half-breed! Kill the half-breed!” the crowd chanted as they took turns kicking and purifying the pair.

 

This continued on until the ground was stained with blood and a few mob members were killed by Okuni. Still, the mass refused to stop. Even though Kiki could have been classified as dead and Okuni had broken most of their weapons with her powerful jaws, they kept up the beatings. This time around they used holy water, seals, and their booted feet. The beatings ceased when the headman of the village and his son arrived.

 

“What's going on here?” the headman asked.

 

“It's the half-breed, sir. She was causing trouble and we decided to reprimand her,” a lower class guardian answered while gesturing to the nearly dead half-guardian and the tigress.

 

The crowd gasped as Kiki amazingly stood from the pool of blood. She was bleeding badly and she had almost no aura. Where did she summon the strength to stand? This was answered by the slightly dark change in her energy and a slight red glow from her usually tan eyes.

 

The headman's son walked over to Kiki and gave her a swift, but hard clout to the stomach, then said to her fallen form, “Learn your place, half-breed.”

 

 

Kiki awoke in a cold sweat to find herself in a large room. The bed she was lying on was extremely soft and she was surrounded by large fluffy pillows of assorted colors. The room was lime green in color and she spotted Yuki and Okuni snuggling next to her black backpack. Suddenly, she was overcome with the feeling that she wasn't alone and turned to her left to see Shinichi lying next to her propped up on his elbow.

 

“Hello my dear, “ he began with that hypnotic voice of his, “I'm happy to see that you're awake.”

 

“Who're you?” Kiki screamed as she scooted of the bed and fell onto the floor then stood against the wall.

 

“I am Shinichi,” he introduced sexily as he moved from the bed to stand in front of the girl who was in partial shock, “the shapeshifter who rescued you from that repressive phoenix demon.”

 

“What do ya mean rescue?” Kiki stuttered as she looked up at him.

 

“You mean he didn't abduct you while you were pickin' flowers, rape you, and make you follow him against your will?”

 

“Hell no! We're traveling together in search of the evil demon Daichi. No sex included! Flowers? You've gotta be kidding!”

 

“That changes things,” Shinichi stated as he plopped down onto a floor mat with Kiki following suit. “I'd never expect a girl like you to be coming here with a guy like him.”

 

“Where am I exactly?” Kiki questioned as she got a bad feeling about where the shapeshifter was turning the conversation.

 

“This is one of the many Celestian breeding grounds, Peace Valley,” the earth shapeshifter answered casually.

 

“What!” she exclaimed while grabbing her Watazashi off the nightstand. “Dammit! It's his fault we're here! I'll kill him!”

 

“His room's the last one on the right at the end of the complex,” he smirked at her eagerness to kill the phoenix demon who he thought wronged her in more ways than one.

 

The teen nodded and took a quick step before dropping her weapons and grasping her midsection in pain while muttering something about Kenji. She took several desperate gasps to breathe as she fell backwards. With a speed that would make a cheetah envious, Shinichi jumped up and caught Kiki before she could make contact with the matted floor. His right hand supported her waist and his left was on her upper back. Kiki just stared into his deep auburn irises. He thanked Buddha as he leaned in to kiss her when she quickly ended the moment.

 

“Don't even try it.”

 

 

“Are you well enough to eat anything?” the earth shapeshifter asked while carrying in a try full of various types of food.

 

Kiki nodded while sitting up on the bed and putting the ice to the side, “Yeah, all he did was give me a small thump, no big deal.”

 

“He still shouldn't have hit you,” he commented as he took a fruit that looked like a cross between an apple and a pear and took a bite from it. Swallowing, he asked, “Why does he hate you so much?”

 

“Never given it much thought,” she answered in between bites of a soft fruit that reminded her of a grapefruit, but sweeter tasting, “but I've surely always hated him since the day we first met.”

 

“I know why I hate him, but why do you?”

 

“With that pompous discriminating attitude of his, he reminds me of the people from the village.”

 

“What happened?” Shinichi inquired turning his full attention to Kiki.

 

Kiki froze slightly. She was comfortable with talking with him up until now. Could he be someone that she could trust with her life secret? Or was he just putting up an act to get her to divulge important information regarding her weakness? Looks can be very deceiving she reminded herself. Even though he had been very hospitable so far, could he be trusted? She had to be sure he could because she couldn't afford her secret to get into the wrong hands, namely Daichi.

 

She made her choice and took a breath as she began to tell him of the events that happened three years ago.

 

 

After finally losing Fae, Kenji walked back to his room in the outdoor inn. Many sweet scents filled the night air, but not the one he was looking for. He hadn't seen nor smelt Yuki since the energetic phoenix demoness by the name of Fae had dragged him off earlier. Just then he breathed in the displeasing scent of saltwater, commonly referred to as tears. He didn't know why but, he was somehow drawn to the scent. It led him to a small window of the room far from his. He masked his scent and demon aura and peeked in.

 

To his great surprise, the salty scent of tears was coming from Kiki. He didn't even know that she could cry or that she even did. All women, no matter how strange or tomboyish they were, cried at some point in their lives. If so, what for? The thought tugged at his mind for a bit until he decided to think over when he got to his room. The question he mulled over deep down still remained: Am I the reason for this?

 

Hoping to clear his mind of such thoughts, he wheeled his attention to the land shapeshifter, Shinichi. The presence of Yuki and Okuni was understood, but not his. Why was he there? Why was Kiki still nearly stripped to her waist in that indecent garment that she called a bra? His mind became filled with things that they could have done in his absence. No, the girl had more decency than that. It looked as if Shinichi was comforting Kiki and it caused his phoenix demon blood to come to a red hot boil. Why didn't Kiki kick him across his face for looking at her bra? Was this some sort of new favoritism? That was a very low blow: showing preference of a peasant over a feared and revered lord. Why was he hugging her? Those hands of his better not slip any lower! He wanted to growl, but he knew he'd only succeed in giving away his position. So, he just whirled around silently on his heel and walked toward his room.

 

 

Fae had seen Kenji eying Kiki from outside her window from a nearby tree and became enraged with the scene. Why was he watching her? That human wench was trying to move in on her territory! It wouldn't be allowed! She also didn't like the way he was looking at the human and shapeshifter and could smell his rage in his scent. Smirking, she decided that she'd show him a demoness was far better for him instead of a mere human and she'd use all measures if necessary. She perked when she heard part of Kiki's story mentioning her half-breed status and her smirk became larger. Surely, beautiful greatness such as Kenji didn't need a dirty half-breed abomination at his side. What he needed was a full blooded demoness with power that could give him what he needs and she fit the description perfectly.

 

“Half-breed, huh?” Fae thought maliciously. “This can be used to my advantage.”

 

 

After Shinichi left to tend to other tasks and Kiki had went to her room a room down from the one she was previously in, she lay back on her futon and began to unconsciously compare Shinichi to Kenji. Unlike Kenji, he called her by her name and didn't belittle her. He was very kind and didn't even chuckle when she told him her secret of being a half guardian. In fact, he tried to comfort her when she told him her story of what happened three years ago, unlike Kenji would most likely say tears are for the weak or something like that. If Kenji were to get hold of that information, he'd degrade her even further than he already had. Learn your place, half-breed. The words just popped into her head every time she thought of him, even though he wasn't the one who spoke them. At least Shinichi was kind, he was the only person who ever cared.