Don't Let Go, I Need You

~12~

CRUSH!

"Crap..." My body collapsed on the ground.

Thud!

Everything felt heavy from head to toe. Moving a muscle felt like I needed 1000x strength which I didn't have at the moment. I know if a paper was thrown onto me at this state, I wouldn't be able to remove it. Laying down made everything worse. Drowsiness began drowning me, trying to take my mind off of my domain expansion. If I didn't focus all my last droplet of energy into this, then I would fail to eliminate my enemy. I can't be a disappointment. All my hard work of becoming what I am shouldn't go down the drain. This wouldn't have happened if I was more cautious about the branch spirit.

As my eyelids grew tired from the restless poison killing me, a familiar voice popped in my ear. "I'm glad you're not too badly beaten, my little niece." A blurry image of Gojo sensei stood in front of me. I didn't have to see his face crystal clear when his iconic white brush hair popped out in my pixelated vision. My body and mind really was falling asleep, feeling my eyelids getting heavier each second. Then my body was lifted over his shoulders. "I'll take care of the rest. You did your part well enough." His hand patted my head as I blacked out.

For some reason during my black out, I had a tucked back memory of 9 years ago re-emerge...

After a few months of discovering my predicted tragic life and befriending Megumi, I sat at a riverbank alone as I waited for Megumi to get off from school. My bare feet touched the icy cold water in the river, thinking about what to do with Megumi before I had to run back home. Me and him don't really do much since we're kids, and we don't have the ability to do adult things but go to the playground. Also, if we did go to the playground, Megumi wouldn't want to socialize with other kids since he's gloomy and shy. It's no fun for the two of us to play but Megumi doesn't understand that. He liked to be a loner which was fine but kind of boring.

As I was consumed in my thoughts, I didn't realize a person's figure was shown in the reflection of the water. I jolted in place while my eyes widened from this sudden event. Although it's dangerous for children to be out alone without any adults, I still risk it anyways because I liked being with Megumi, and he liked being with me. He was the only person who actually knew what I was talking about unlike other kids.

In the reflection was a tall man with long black hair. He wore casual clothes as he had a concerned look on his face. "Hey, where's your parents? Little kids like you shouldn't be out." He lightly scolded me, placing his hands on his hips.

Oddly enough, he seemed suspicious right off the bat. I should leave.

Chewing the inside of my cheek, I quickly put on my shoes and jumped away from the stranger. "My parents say never talk to strangers! That's how kids go missing!" I furiously said, glaring at the mysterious man. He might want to sell me because no one really goes near the riverbank. It's a hidden part where most adults would ignore.

His eyes widened as the man chuckled before me. "Sorry, where's my manners? I'm Geto Suguru. You don't have to tell me your name if you don't want to, but do you mind if I stay here until my taxi car arrives?" The man politely asked, making me curious on why he would want to stay with a child instead of being by himself? But I knew where this would end on my part. Instead of dying by the hands of a cursed spirit, I'm going to be taken away by him.

Shaking my head, I flatly refused his offer. "Nope! I don't know a single thing about you, you stranger! You may be a scary man who wants to hurt me!" Then I marched up the stone staircase which led to the familiar area I live in. The concrete road and sidewalks, and small buildings of neighborhoods and convenience stores. People will witness everything if I made myself visible to the public eye.

Before I could fully leave the area, the man blurted something out like his life depended on me. "I'm going to see my daughter today, and you remind me of her!" I looked over my shoulder to see him sticking his hand out as if he wanted to stop me. "I'm just shy to see her. It's been many years since I last saw her... I don't know what to say to her if I do see my little girl." He then rambled on about how his daughter may not remember him, or he's not sure how she's like and all that stuff. It didn't quite process in my head of why he was telling me this, but I listened because he looked and sounded desperate by the strained voice and fiddling fingers.

If I'm going to hear his life story, he has to stay down there and I'll stay up here. It's dangerous if he moved any closer without Megumi by my side. "So why'd you leave her?" I simply couldn't understand why a parent would leave their child? I had both of my parents while growing up. They never showed a weak face in front of me except when they told me about my short life, that's when they broke down crying. Other than that, I have a good life. "Did you not love her?" Sometimes at the park, I would hear adults whisper about how abandoning a child meant a parent didn't love them anymore.

He paused for a brief moment, inhaling before he replied back to my questions. "No, I did love her and her mother. It was hard to look at my child without being reminded that she looked like the person I loved since her mom died a few years later. I'm just a bad dad who couldn't take care of my own kid. I let her mother's relative take care of my daughter as I did my own thing, trying to forget that I had a kid."

Hearing his words made me pity his daughter. She doesn't deserve a dad who wanted to forget about her. Perhaps her life is better now that she's surrounded by people who love her. "Maybe you shouldn't see her. I think you'll cause her pain because you didn't want her in the first place." My heart clenched from the thoughts of my own parents trying to abandon me because of my looks. I wouldn't know how to move on with my life. It would be very hard because it might haunt me everyday. "I feel sorry for her, and I guess it's good that she might not remember you."

Right as I was about to leave, I caught a glimpse of his visible tears streaming down his face. There was a broken smile as his lips quivered from my honest words and nodded his head. I don't understand adults and their feelings. "I see..." His heart may be torn, but I believe his daughter's heart will be crushed upon his return. Nonetheless this doesn't relate to me so it doesn't matter what he feels.

"Kana!"

Shooting my head over at the familiar voice, my facial expression and emotion changed, and I happily smiled at Megumi who got off from school. Seeing his spiky black hair and glum expression swelled my heart as I skipped over to him. "Megumi!!"