Last time on: Clouded Innocence!
The three shared a look before Kain darted out, sprinting down the hall. She quickly stopped causing her to slide. Immediately, she began to barrel-roll to her destination, being the other end of the hall, just before class ended.
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The man only stared after her before pulling out a photograph out of his pocket.... A demented smile grew across his face. He was definitely at the right school.
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"I'm surprised you don't remember me, chickadee. I mean, I practically raised you!" he guffawed, his dark hazel eyes glimmering with fondness. Kain lost what little color she had as she stared up at him in shock and horror.
"Jon?"
Back to the show...
Footprints in the snow, tears freezing on her face, and emptiness. That's all she remembered of that last Christmas with the Jon that raised her. Not the monstrosity that possessed him.
A happy couple laughed as they walked down the street. The man had short, cropped black hair, expressive hazel eyes, and was bundled up in a puffy black coat that was bought in a thrift store. Beside him, a teenage girl with unmistakably silver hair and heterochromatic eyes drank in the Christmas lights. It was her favorite time of year, the holidays. Everyone was so happy and she didn't have to be her father's puppet for a short while. Plus the lights and decorations were beautiful in the night.
"I think it's about time we head back, Kai," the older man said. In the middle of the square, a clock was striking one. Kain let out a yawn, nodding to her quasi-father.
"I'm good with that. Sleep sounds pretty nice right now," she told him, running on ahead to the apartment the two shared. What she missed, however, was the important bit: the hardened look to his eyes, the gaze of a murderer without a soul.
By the time Jon had arrived, Kain was already in the living room. The two foot Christmas tree filled the dark room with specks of white light. Kain's eyes were trained on the bloodstains coating the floor. Absolute silence was all there was as Jon closed the door. He ignored the frozen girl in living room, passing her form and shrugging off his coat.
"Jon...?" came the girl's cold voice. It was calm, unyielding, yet soft as a whisper. She looked to him. The priority wasn't the death under the Christmas tree right then. Finding out why Jon wasn't reacting was.
"Your father said you're getting too attached," Jon said. He approached her with heavy steps. His eyes were cold. Then she felt the familiar chill of steel at her throat, her eyes widening. "That's weakness, Kai. You have two choices. Be killed. Or kill me."
All too suddenly, Kain could feel a burning in her chest. Her instinct kicked in as her body recognized it was endangered. Skittering back, she felt all the helplessness being flushed out by the animal. That's when she blacked out.
When she finally came to, she ran rather than face Jon's body. Ran and ran until she felt her lungs burn with the December air. The tears froze painfully on her face as her chest was coping with the lack of something important. She was only thirteen then.
Her mind screamed at her to move and she tried so hard, she did. But she was frozen by the memory of Christmases past.
"I'm glad you remember me, Kai. I thought you killed and forgot. That's not very good," Jon clicked his tongue. He was clearly enjoying her confliction. "I find it best to write every name on my heart."
Kain's face was blank by this point, her defenses slowly building back up after the shock. White hot anger slowly beaded up in her chest. This bastard was not going to get her mercy again.
"Oh, wait. I'm sorry, Kai. I forgot that you don't have a heart anymore," he laughed at her relapse of flushing. Her eyes glowed with an unseen light. Jon's nose met with a fist. Crying out, he fell back. When he looked up he saw a livid Kain. Deep down, he felt a cord of fear being plucked. It resounded with a 'twang' as he got up. "Wow, that's one punch you've developed."
"Shut the hell up, you fucker," she hissed, head tilted up a bit lopsided and eyes aglow with something nasty. Twang. Jon slipped a hand into his pocket and bowed his head.
"See ya later then, chickadee. I'm looking forward to it,"
With that, Jon showed a dazzling grin. His black-clad figure turned a corner and Kain was left to silence once more. But this time, it wasn't comfortable at all.
For the next few days, no one saw Kain. She just vanished. But none of the host club decided to ask questions. After all, it wasn't too long ago that she had exploded on Renge. They thought it best to leave her be rather than risk her snapping at them too. If only they knew how much she needed someone to rein her in again.
Small blots of water painted the world a dark color. Kain didn't care. She welcomed the rain. Anything to make the world numb. She was tired of all the emotions weighing on her like concrete in her lungs. Maybe I should just relocate.... She thought, ignoring the small voice in the back of her head saying But being away from the idiot club would hurt more...
Pin pricks of rain barraged her skin as she curled into a fetal position outside some building.
Suddenly she couldn't feel the rain and there was an umbrella above her head. Her eyes glanced over to the hand holding it over her. A guy with longer red hair and a mean face was standing there. He stood there silent. The two stared at each other, willing the other to look away. Their staring contest ended when Kain toppled over.
She was out like a light, snoring softly on the wet ground. Ritsu Kasanoda recoiled in shock before picking the girl up and taking her inside. Who was he to leave someone out in the rain?
"You know, they'll miss you too," a voice whispered in the dark. Kain's eyes shot open and light filled her vision. A pale face hung over her.
"What are you on, dude?" she asked incredulously, slapping at a chilled hand placed on her cheek. Her hand slipped right through. Spluttering, she stared at the phantom and repeatedly swiping a hand through his face. The phantom only stared at her duly.
"You done now?" the ghost- we'll name him Phantom- questioned. With a couple blinks, Kain slowly nodded. "Good. Now, I want to get this over with. You're coming with me before you make a stupid choice."
Phantom gripped her wrist tightly and shot straight up. Kain shivered when the two phased straight through the ceiling of whatever building they happened to be in. A blue glow had begun to form in the sky as they flew upwards.
"What the hell are we doing, you fucking ghost?!" Kain shouted against the wind. She didn't get an answer from Phantom, seeing as he was concentrated on the blue portal which they soon slipped through.
The world had dulled down, not one color to be seen other than the globs of thick blue putty on the two. Kain's mouth thinned into a disgusted frown, her hands wiping the blue on her shirt.
"Any explanation now?" Kain hissed. Damn you, you stupid fucking tight-lipped ghost, she thought as the ghost turned to face her. He opened his mouth for a second before bursting into laughter. "What now?!"
"Sorry, sorry. It's just your... Your hair!" he laughed, pointing at the blue blobs that made her hair stick up wildly. Kain stared at him. Phantom had one weird sense of humor. "But this is your present."
"Really now? Never would have guessed, seeing as you're a ghost and just threw me through a pool of ectoplasm or some shit like that," she said. "What is this really?"
"Exactly as I told you, now shut up and watch. Bitch."
"Jerk." She mumbled before looking down at the grey scene below them. They were in the third music room at Ouran Academy, the host club seemed to have just finished club activities and were now cleaning up for the day. But it was slightly strange. None of them seemed to be talking, not even Honey. Kain narrowed her eyes. What's up with them?
"Guys! CHEER THE FUCK UP! It's really disturbing. Did someone die in here?" she shouted at them. Beside her Phantom jumped at her sudden yelling. He rolled his eyes.
"They can't hear you, so shut up,"
Kain glared at him before looking back at the scene. The hosts had finished up and were starting to walk out of the room. "Hey guys..." Someone- Kain believed it was Haruhi- spoke up. Those two words made all of them stop in their tracks and turn around. Everyone, save Mori, looked at Haruhi in confusion.
"Don't you think we should look for Kain? She's been missing for a couple days now... And she did leave in a very bad mood..."
The boys all shared a look before the twins spoke up, shrugging. "She might not want us to. Like you said, she left in a bad mood." Haruhi glared at them, which was very unusual for her. She huffed before speaking quietly, "Fine. You all can just ignore the possibility that Kain may or may not be out there, struggling when we could help." That made all of them silent for a while. Then Mori and Honey walked over to her and offered to look for Kain. The other four only stood there, unwilling to do the same.
With wide eyes, Kain tried to make herself speak up. They were creating a divide in their friendship because of her? That's not right, she thought. They should just forget me. I'm not even that close to them... Just forget me.
Phantom watched Kain's face turn over with various expressions battling for dominance. He knew she wasn't sure what to feel about her friends (no matter how much she denied it, they were her friends) arguing because of her.
"Hey, come on. We have another stop to make before you can go home," he told her. When she tore her eyes away from the scene below, she blanched at the sight of another blue portal. Great, more goop. Kain sighed before following him through the portal. But this time, the scene was unfamiliar. It was a large, empty room with mounds of blankets covering the floor and other objects littered about the room.
"Where are we?" she wondered as she began to float around, trying to figure out why she was brought here. Phantom didn't respond as his white eyes followed her. In the corner of room, something stirred.
A silver head popped out from underneath a pile of blankets. It was... Me? No, I don't have an eye patch or that many scars... The ghostly Kain stared down as her other self started to scream.
"Shit! Go away, you monster... Just go away and leave me alone!" the battle scarred Kain shouted, thrashing about. It was like she was fighting an imaginary foe. And losing against whomever it was. A punch hit the wall there, a kick slammed against the air here, and more often than not, the other Kain fell to the ground. Screaming and shouting, she got up again and again to attack the invisible advisory. The transparent Kain, watching this display, was silent; her stony face breaking off one chip at a time. Until there were no defenses left and she watched with a gaping mouth.
Then light filtered into the room as a person walked in. The person was a tall, thick man with beady eyes that she didn't recognize. The man grabbed onto her other self's hair and lifted to her feet. A loud smack resounded in the room, scarred Kain silently whimpering.
A smirk flicked onto the man's face as Kain watched him shake her doppelganger. Phantom put a cold hand on her shoulder, but didn't attempt to move the shell-shocked girl.
"You're so pathetic, girlie. Should have stayed in Japan,"
It was then that Phantom led her out of the room. Kain's eyes never left her other self.
With an abrupt shout, Kain sat straight up in an empty room.
"Dammit!"
She slammed down a fist, accidently breaking right through the wood. A man with long light brown hair hurried in. He stared at Kain in shock as she pulled her hand out of the floor. Kain glared at him while he slowly walked closer and took her now bloody hand into his. She snatched it back from him.
"Let me see," he said firmly, reaching out a hand to her. After a couple minutes of staring, she held out her injured arm and hand. He looked over it before standing up and walking out. "I'll be right back, don't try anything funny."
Kain sat in the empty room, mulling over her strange dream until he came back with the boy from earlier. Kasanoda. She noticed that his uniform was that of Ouran. So he goes to my school.... The two men sat down beside her and the man from before opened a first-aid kit he came back with. He started to bandage her hand.
"Why?" Kain asked the two, her voice rough. They looked at her startled, making her repeat herself. "Why are you doing this for me?"
"Because you looked lost and in need of help," Kasanoda told her. That voice... Phantom? Kain thought briefly, recognizing the voice. But she passed over the thought as she said, "I'm not."
"Not what?"
"Lost."
"Yes, you are."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"Not."
"Are."
"NOT."
"ARE."
The two hot-headed teenagers slowly started to yell at each other, before the whole exchange blew up into a full blown argument about nothing at all. The man with brown hair sweat-dropped and watched his young master yell at this strange girl. A nervous laugh escaped his lips. This will be interesting.
A/N: WOOH~! I think I'm getting this update thing in the bag now. This chapter was meant to be a Christmas special, but it works with the plot so... Anyway, I hope you liked it!
Thank you everyone who voted for the poll and reviewed, all of you are lovely! I wanted to especially thank those of you gave me wonderful inspiration for the events in this chapter.
Here's the current poll:
Hikaru- 2
Kaoru- 2
Kyoya- 2
Tamaki- 0
Mori- 6!
Honey- 0
Kasanoda- 1
Imagine my surprise to find Mori is winning! Totally didn't see that coming, but it works!
Okay, so I have two more things to address before I end this ridiculously long A/N that no one will really read. ONE- I am thinking about making a sister fanfic to Clouded Innocence, in which Kain is actually a boy (in reaction to that lovely guest from before) with a hopefully fun twist and wanted to know who'd be up for it! And TWO- the poll/vote should be ending in another chapter or two, so get those in there if you desperately, desperately want YOUR pairing to come out on top!
That's all, my dear readers. I hope you have a wonderful day/holiday/whatever. Thank you!
o