Chapter 1
It's a silent night in a sleepy town. Surrounded by a deep and dangerous forest populated by demons, it's seldom someone comes to visit. Despite that, a young woman has traveled for days to return to her former home. She walks down one of the dimly lit streets lined by two- and three-story concrete buildings that leads up to the town square, seeing only the fountain in the middle of the square and two teenagers, one dressed in red and white and the other in all black. She scans the area and closes her eyes in disappointment. "Why am I even bothering to look here," she thinks to herself. "He wouldn't come back to such a miserable place." Just then, a loud voice shatters the silence.
"It really is you." The girl opens her eyes in surprise. She finds out the voice is coming from one of the teenagers near the fountain. "I'm surprised you aren't crying or trying to run away," the teen in red says to the other, who tries to ignore him. The first boy cracks his knuckles and remarks, "Six years must really change a person, not that I care."
The young women thinks to herself how similar the voice to a bully from years past. She then notices the first teenager has a prosthetic left arm, just like her childhood tormentor. "That's Hiro, one of the kids that made my life hell back then!" She then made assumptions about the other male, wondering if he's the one she was looking for.
At that moment, Hiro pivots and unleashes a fierce kick at the second boy, only for his leg to be caught by him. The second male grins and whispers, "You're right." He then kicks Hiro's ankle, breaking it. Hiro falls to the ground, but the other teenager shows him no mercy as he snaps the leg he caught earlier. He stands up and brushes himself off. "Six years does change a person. I've been shunned and beaten by full-blooded humans. I've been chased by full-blooded demons. I've seen my family destroyed." He stamps his foot on Hiro's face and shouts, "Do you know what it's like to see your mother slowly die from an incurable disease? How about seeing your only sister fall into a ravine, huh?!" He stomps on Hiro and kicks him against the fountain.
"Fall into a ravine," the girl thinks to herself. She also notices a very familiar cross embroidered on the boy's shirt. "That cross! He always wore shirts with crosses on them! It's Kai!"
Kai grabs Hiro by the shirt with one hand and throws him onto the fountain's edge, still holding on. Flames then gather around his other hand as he confronts a frightened Hiro. "Why so scared? As if you've never seen my flames before....oh, wait. YOU HAVEN'T! I made sure nobody ever saw this!" He then delivers a downward elbow strike into Hiro's stomach. "This is why everyone else was so scared of me and my sister! This is why you and your little white-haired buddy terrorized us!" You bastards didn't know us or what we were capable of, just that we were half-demons!" Kai elbows Hiro again, this time making him cough up blood.
"Please...stop," grunted Hiro.
"Don't worry, it'll be over soon." Kai then raises his flaming fist, ready to strike when the girl jumps out of the darkness.
"Kai, stop! He may be a prick, but he doesn't deserve this!" She then pushes him away from the downed Hiro.
"Who the hell are you," growls Kai, "and why do you care?"
"It's me, brother. Kasumi."
Kai reels back and looks at Kasumi like he had just seen a ghost, and for good reason. Six years ago, Kai witnessed her fall into a deep ravine after the rope bridge they were traveling on broke. "How? How did you survive?"
"That's not important right now. What is important is the fact that you're trying to kill someone who can't even fight ba---"
"Screw you, I can still fi----," interrupts Hiro before he's knocked unconscious by Kasumi.
Annoyed, Kasumi finishes, "TRYING to kill someone who can't fight back."
"But---"
"But nothing. Nobody deserves to die defenseless, even if they made your life miserable." Kasumi then grabs Kai by the arm and leads him away from the fountain. "Besides, we have other things to discuss."
"Like how you showed up at this hellhole looking for me?"
"Among other things. Like, when and why did you learn martial arts? I thought violence made you cower in fear like a little baby," teased Kasumi. Kai only response is a menacing glare. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't do that anymore."
"Maybe you shouldn't."
Kasumi smacks him in the back of the head and scolds, "Okay, what gave you the right to be a smartass to your older sister?"
"OLDER?!" shouts Kai. "Only by a few minutes and who the hell cares?!"
Kasumi then grabs Kai's right hand and twists it behind his back and scolds again, "Will you lower your voice? I don't to wake up everybody else and have a repeat of what happened earlier."
"I do."
Kasumi twists his hand more, making him wince in pain. "I DON'T want a repeat, do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am." She releases his hand. A few seconds pass when Kai asks, "So, where did YOU learn that?" Kasumi gave him the same glare he gave her earlier, prompting him to say, "You copycat."
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In case anybody is wondering, this is a novelization of the comic I'm planning on making one day. And if you think I'm ripping off any established manga or anime series, go fuck yourself even though you're probably right.
