A month and a half later, it was officially summer, and the class was finally sent out on their first mission. Her, Bon, and Konekomaru had been sent to Tamagawa to hunt for Bariyons while the others in the class were sent off to other places for their own missions. The three of them, along with their Supervisor Mr. Neuhaus were standing in the lobby of a hotel.
"Alright everyone, rest up as much as you can tonight. Tomorrow we'll spend the day hunting for Bariyons." Mr. Neuhaus said. "Miss Pheles, I'm afraid that you'll have to share a room with Mr. Konekomaru and Mr. Suguro. We were unable to get enough rooms to get you your own separate room."
"Wait, what did you say?" Bon asked, his eyes widening a bit.
"Why so freaked out, Bonny?" Kiara asked, "I'm just sharing a room, it's not like we'll be sharing beds."
"I know that! It's just—"
"Are you shy? I would of never guessed that you of all people would be shy." Kiara teased, watching as Bon's cheeks turned red and he covered his mouth and looked away.
"That's not it." He muttered.
"Let's head up." Konekomaru said, trying to defuse the situation.
Kiara laughed, and the group walked up to their hotel rooms and stepped inside. She saw that there were three twin sized beds on one side of the room, and a small tv and desk on the other side.
"Not too bad." She said, walking over to the bed furthest to the left and placing down her backpack. She sat down on one of the beds, watching as Bon placed his stuff on the middle bed and Konekomaru placed his stuff on the furthest right bed.
"We should get to bed. We don't want to be at our best while searching for Bariyons tomorrow." Bon said.
"Right." Konekomaru said.
"I'll take the bathroom." Kaira said, then looked towards Bon, "Unless you don't mind changing with you guys."
Both of them looked at Kiara with flushed faces.
"P-please change in the bathroom." Konekomaru said.
Kiara smiled as she got her clothes and stepped into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She changed from her uniform into a sweatshirt and some pajama shorts. Before she stepped out of the bathroom, she unraveled her tail and stretched it out, knowing that since she was sleeping in the same room as Bon and Konekomaru she'd need to keep it hidden while she sleeps, so the more she could stretch it now the better it would be in the morning. After wrapping her tail around her waist once again she unlocked the bathroom door and stepped into the room. To see Bon and Konekomaru already changed and sitting in their beds, the only light being the lamps turned on beside their beds.
"Well, goodnight you two." Kiara said, getting under the covers and turning off the lamp between her and Bon's beds. She laid her head on her pillow, and after a bit of tossing and turning to get comfortable she finally drifted off into sleep.
***
Kiara soon found herself in a void, a dark fog swirling around her feet.
"Irajah! Come the fuck out and face me." Kiara shouted, pulling off her necklace and turning it back into a sword.
"Now now, is that any way to talk to your father?" He asked, stepping out of the fog.
"As far as I'm aware, you're not my dad. That spots taken by someone who actually deserves it." Kiara said, lunging forwards and aiming a punch at him, though before she could make contact there was a sudden pressure around her neck as a clawed hand wrapped itself around it.
"You brat!" Irajah seethed, tightening his grip on her neck. "Is that how you thank the man who took away your fear?"
"What're you talking about?" She spat through gritted teeth. She reached up to the necklace around her neck and summoned her sword, grabbing it with both of her hands and reached over her head, moving to bring it down on him before she froze up, a sudden feeling running through her. "W-What did you do?" She asked.
"What am I talking about?' You ask." He stated, "Have a taste of what you've been missing throughout your life."
Kiara started shaking, her hands falling to her sides and dropping her sword, the clattering of it hitting the ground echoing around the darkness and making her flinch. Her heart was racing and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get her body to move. "W-what did you... what did you do?" She repeated, not being able to think clearly.
"Fear is such a delicious emotion, is it not?" Irajah asked, licking his lips.
Kiara blinked the tears away, and forced her hands to reach up and grab Irajah's face. She clawed at him until he let go. She stumbled back and started coughing, holding her throat.
Irajah looked at her, his form wavering. "Damn you... Next time we have a little talk, you won't get off so easily." He said before disappearing.
Kiara woke up gasping to someone shaking her shoulders. Looking through teary eyes, she saw Bon looking at her with a concerned look on his face. Reflexively she grabbed onto his shirt, her hands still shaking.
"Kiara? Are you okay?" He asked. "You were crying out and gasping for air in your sleep."
"I... I yes? No? I don't know?" Kiara said, looking at her shaking hands as they clenched tightly onto his shirt. Her heart was still racing but the emotion she had felt, the fear, was slowly dying down.
"Bad dream?"
"I guess you could say so." She muttered, and felt as Bon started to pull away, only for Kiara to grip harder to his shirt.
"I don't think I've ever seen you this scared— actually, I don't think I've seen you scared at all." Bon said, grabbing her hands and removing them from his shirt only to hold them gently in his. "You sure you're okay?"
Kiara's breathing had finally gotten back to normal and her fear had died down— but for some reason her heart was still beating quickly. she looked up at Bon, "I'm... I'm fine now. I've never been scared before. This is... a first to me." She let out a weak laugh and wiped the stray tears that had stated dripping down her cheeks. "Hey, uh, can we... not talk about this again? I kinda have a reputation to uphold."
Bon chuckled and glanced at Konekomaru, "Yeah. This'll stay between us, once Koneko is asleep he's out until the morning."
"Thanks." Kiara said. "We should... get back to sleep, we have a busy day tomorrow."
"You sure you'll be fine without me?" Bon asked, a smirk making it's way to his face.
Kiara laughed and pushed him lightly. "I'll be fine, you don't have to worry about me."
"Alright, but if you need me—"
"I'll be fine. Just go to sleep Mr. Mohawk." She said.
Kiara watched as he moved to his bed and laid down, his back to her. She stayed seated for a minute until she felt her eyelids start to droop. She didn't want to go back to sleep again, but she eventually felt herself laying down. She laid on her side and looked at Bon's back. She felt her eyes slowly start to close and eventually she fell asleep.
***
The next morning, Kiara found herself standing at the head of a hiking trail.
"All Right everyone, keep your eyes open for any Baryons. The bags you've all been given have been warded to prevent the weight of the Bariyons to affect you as you're holding it. Now, let's go, we have until this evening to collect as many Bariyons as we can find." Mr. Neuhaus said.
"Yes sir!" Everyone said, and with that they started down the path.
A little ways up the trail, the group diverged from the path and walked alongside a river, each of them keeping an eye out for Bariyons. Kiara had been tasked with looking near the river, Bon looked nearby in an area a bit further from the river, and Konekomaru was looking In the area furthest away from the river.
As Kiara walked near the edge of the riverbank, she spotted a Bariyon not too far away from where she was, a bit closer to the edge of the river bank. She started heading towards it and when she reached it she shifted her weight ever so slightly to pick it up, only to feel the ground below her fall away. Before she knew it she had fallen into the river, the Bariyon in her hands.
"Kiara! You alright?" Bon asked, walking up near the edge of the riverbank with Konekomaru right beside him.
"Yeah, I'm fine, no need to worry." She stood up, water dripping from her, "I'm all soaked through." Thank god I chose to wear a black shirt today, but my tail... her shirt was clinging onto her which meant her tail could easily be visible if she wasn't careful. Shrugging it off, she placed the Bariyon in her bag and climbed out of the river, shivering slightly as a small breeze blew past her.
"You're sure you're okay?" Konekomaru asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine! It wasn't that big of a fall, and the river was deep enough so I didn't get scraped along any rocks." She looked from Konekomaru to Bon who, for some reason, was avoiding looking at her. "You good there, Bon?"
"I-I'm fine." He said.
"Then why aren't you looking at me? Something on my face?" She teased.
Bon looked at her, and she could of sworn that there were traces of red on his cheeks. He scoffed and grabbed something out of his backpack. "Just change into this. You're gonna catch a cold if you keep that shirt on."
Kiara grabbed onto what Bon was handing her— it looked to be one of his sweatshirts. "Oh, thanks. I'll change into it now." She grinned and headed behind a tree. She didn't waste any time in changing, taking off her wet tee shirt— and shaking out her tail to dry it off slightly before wrapping it back around her waist and and quickly slipping on the hoodie.
"Holy shit." She said after slipping on the hoodie. It was very big on her, and by very big she meant it went to just above her knees. She wasn't aware of how big the height difference between the two before she had put on the hoodie, but thinking about it Bon was probably almost 6', while she was only 5'3. He's really tall. Kiara thought.
"Kiara, you alright over there?" Konekomaru called.
"Oh, yes! I'm fine!" Kiara said, stepping out from behind the tree, holding her soaked shirt in her hands. "Thanks for lending me your sweatshirt."
"Not a problem." Bon said, "Now lets find more Bariyons."
***
By the time the sun set the three of them had collected a good amount of Bariyons, enough for Mr. Neuhaus to allow them to head back to the hotel earlier than they had originally planned. The three of them had gone to their hotel room and were just lounging around.
Once they got back, Kiara had taken a quick shower and changed into some pajamas, and now she was lounging on her bed with her face down into the sheets and a book laying open on the back of her head. She was slowly drifting off to sleep.
"You know you can't read like that." Bon said.
"I'm not an idiot." Kiara said, her voice muffled through the bed sheets. "I'm reading it through osmosis."
There was a small silence before Bon spoke again, "That's not how that works."
Kiara lifted her head and the book slid off of it and onto the bed. "Look at what you've made me do. I've lost my place. Now I gotta osmosis through the entire page again."
Bon looked with a deadpan expression before he stated to laugh, causing Kiara to start laughing. She sat up and wiped a small tear from her eye. "I think... I think I need to get to sleep."
"That might be fore the best. After last ni—"
"We agreed to never speak of it again." Kaira interrupted, her cheeks warming up slightly as she thought about the night before.
"What happened last night?" Konekomaru asked.
"Nothing." Kiara said, placing her book in her backpack before adjusting and getting under her covers. "Now, I'm going to sleep, I'll see you guys in the morning."