Nat’s POV:
“So her name is…”
“Hoshimi! Hoshimi Mai’s my name!” The younger girl giggled as she looked around the vast house, clearly fascinated in the animals, playing with the kits and pups that bounced around her.
“I’m going to enroll her into True Cross.” I state with a determined face, and everyone looks at me, including Hoshimi.
“W-what?!” They all shriek, blinking out of surprise.
“I mean it. I’m going to pay for her to go to our school, and I’ll enroll her into cram school too.” I state with a smile.
"O-Onee-chan it costs a lot of money to-”
“Which is why I’m going to get a few jobs. I came to True Cross for special conditions, and I want to help her.” I then get tackled in a hug by Hoshimi, who buries her head in my chest.
“A-Arigatou, Onee-chan!” She cries, causing Rin’s eyes to narrow as he huffs, storming out of the room. I frown slightly, confused by his behavior. “Onee-chan, who are Rin and Yukio-onii-chan?” She then asks, causing everyone to stare at her confused.
“What?” Shima grabs a piece of her creamy silks of hair, making her yelp and squirm, her cheeks flushing. “They don’t look much ali-” He stops, seeing her eyes that were cerulean, the bluest of blues. “Oh.” He states in a small voice.
“D-don’t tell me…” Izumo mumbled, her eyes wide.
“G-Guys-”
“I-I knew it!” She then yowled, wiping her eyes from the tears that were now running down her face. “I-I knew that Exorcists-who hate demons- w-would hate me too...but...but I didn’t do anything!! I don’t know what I did wrong!!” She starts to wail, turning on her heel and running out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
“Hoshimi!” I called after her, then turned to them. “I-I can’t believe you guys!” I huff, and cross my arms. “She’s a child!”
“She’s a demon!” Yukio argues, and my eyes widen as my face starts to contort into disgust.
“You-You’re judging her-judging her because of her blood, because she’s a child of Satan?!” I screech, and stomp my foot in frustration. “Yukio-you’re also a child of Satan! You should- should at least...understand her.” I mumble, then shake my head. “I don’t care what you guys think. She’s a child...just a child. She needs someone. She needs a family.” I cry out, then shake my head. “You can judge me all you want. But you do not judge a child because of her family!” I close my eyes, then just open the door, pulling on my shoes and slamming the door behind me as I ran after the silky strands of white.
Konkemaru’s POV:
I looked after both of the girls had left, then stood up, grabbing a coat.
“K-Konkemaru?” Shima asked, clearly surprised. I didn’t say anything as I pulled my arms into my sleeves, closing my eyes trying to think of a logical place where she might be. “Konkemaru what’re you-”
“Nat’s right.” I mumble, opening my eyes. “She’s right, and...and… now I feel horrible for judging Rin and Okumura-sensei. We’re all as bad as demons if we judge them like that.” I state with more firmness and more confidence.
“K-Konkemaru.” Bon looks at me with something in his eyes, and then nodded slowly. “You’re right.” He muttered reluctantly, then sighed. “I guess we should apologize to the squirt.” He scowled. “But she better not be as much as a show off as Okumura.” He chuckled softly, then frowned.
“I’m off. Ja ne.” I state as I finish slipping my shoes on, and I run out the door, closing it behind me. I remember on our way here, there was a playground...could she have run there? She’s a kid, hell, I’m still a kid. I would go there. I nodded, deciding where to look first as I ran blindly through the woods, another coat in my hand.
When I had reached the playground, I noticed a soft glow of white and blue as I entered the clearing, near the swing sets. I turned to my right, and saw the girl sitting there, her strands of creamy white hair blowing gently in the breeze. “U-Um, Hoshimi-”
“S-Stay away from me...I-I don’t want to hurt you!” She whimpered, gently pushing herself on the swing. I frowned slightly, and sat down on the swing but facing sideways, so my legs were straddling the swing.
“You’re not going to hurt me. I promise.” I assured her, placing a soft hand on her head. When she turned sideways to face me, tears were filling in her eyes.
“A-Are you sure?” She whispered, her eyes glowing like the blue fire of her father’s symbol, but instead of hatred and lies, they held warmth, love, care. When she slowly looked at my face, tears dripped from her eyes as she swung forward on the swing-us both being sideways- and wrapped her arms around me, her head in my shoulder, on her tiptoes so she didn’t fall back. I wrapped my arms around her, my cheeks burning as I let my head fall into her neck.
"I promise.”
Shima’s POV:
I excused myself after Konkemaru left, and slowly looked over each of my shoulders and around myself as I pressed a button on my watch. I tried to look casual, and tried not to gape at Izumo-chan’s legs as I walked past her, and sat on my futon in the boys’ room.
“What is it, Shima?” The raspy voice commanded, and I chuckled softly as I leaned back onto the soft pillow.
“I found some exciting news, but it was kinda a bit… too hectic for me to tell you then. So I’m gonna tell you now.” I announced with a low voice, then frown as someone knocks on the door. “Who is it?!” I call out to the person standing on the other side of the door, but by the sound of his voice, I could tell it was Rin.
“Yo.” He greets me glumly as he flops onto his futon that was closest to the lamp.
“Hey. I was leaving anyways so you can do what you want.” I muse, and wave before trotting quickly out of the room and down the dark hallway.
“You Baka, why are you notifying us when there are others around?” The voice hissed, and I only sighed before walking further down,before I saw a slight glow of gold catch my eye.
“Sorry, this was the most easygoing time.” I whine back, and frown as use the watch’s light to go over the frame. When I finally saw the whole picture, I could see that it was Nat’s family. There was a date; March 21st, the year was over 13 years ago, when Nat was probably three years old. The group of people had dark hair, with various colors of eyes, some blue all the way to a soil brown.
I look at the children next, noticing how one child that seemed like the youngest was crying, her stomach to the ground and her frame being sat on by another kid, this one a boy with dark hair and blue eyes, though he was tan and had freckles on his face. For a moment there, I thought that the boy on the girl was Rin.
Looking closer at the girl, I saw she had the same skin and same freckles dappled over her nose, and emerald green eyes with golden rays emanating from the pupil. Her face was happy, and there was no sadness in her eyes. I knew for certain that this girl was Nat.
“Well?” The voice on my watch muttered, causing me to jump.
“S-Sorry, boss. I was just looking at a picture.” I look under the date, to see that there was a title on the plaque: The Earth Guardians- Reunited. I frowned lightly. “Anyways, I have a question to ask. Do you know of the ‘Earth Guardians’?” I ask, blinking in confusion, but also curiosity. I heard a sharp intake of breath, and cleared my throat. “I found this picture. It says the ‘Earth Guardians Reunited’ or something. What’s it supposed to mean?” I ask.
“What was the date?” The voice of my commander questioned, seeming now very curious.
“March 21st. Now that I think of it, it’s-”
“It’s the date of the massacre of a whole clan.” He finished for me.I frowned, then shrugged.
“Whatever you say. I think of it as Nat’s birthday.” I smile a little, then frown. “When were the Earth Guardians massacred?” I ask, cocking my head to the side.
“On March 21st, 13 years ago.”
