• “Over there, Kaeru.” “HIM? You’re sure about this? He looks like a pansy…” “Shut up and follow him, you fuzz butt.” “…Someone’s grumpy today.”

    “What do you think you’re doing boy!? Hold the bat with the hand you write with, stupid!” the coach was screaming loudly, motioning with his hands how to hold a bat but Jiro wasn’t listening. His short choppy black hair was whipping about his face in the sudden gust of wind. He had broken out in a cold sweat only moments earlier and the hair had plastered itself to his cheeks and forehead. Squinting in the sun and dirt, Jiro glanced over his shoulder at the coach and sighed, turning back to face the pitcher calling “I write with both of them. Idiot.” The last he added under his breathe, gaining a chuckle from a few boys in the dug out. The pitcher, Amasu, set up the pitch and Jiro took a tighter hold on the bat focusing on the ball. Amasu threw and someone whispered ‘Huh. You’re not so tasty after all, are you little boy?’ “Coach! Come quick! The ball hit Jiro in the face! COACH! Kedamono-san is bleeding!!!”

    The nurse leapt from her desk when the window slammed open, sending papers and the sheers around the beds fluttering. “What is with this weather?!” she exclaimed, slamming the windows shut, almost catching the tail of a small dragon as he slipped in through the opening. Light pink in color with a deep red ruff along his spine and neck, he was slightly see-through. He slid across the air peeking at each bed as he did and paused when he spotted the boy he was searching for. Narrowing his eyes, the dragon slipped in to hover over the sleeping boy and examined the nasty blow to his forehead ‘Idiot child. Duck next time a large object is flying at your head!’ he snarled silently before gliding away, out the door and down the school hall.

    Jiro sat bolt up right, startling the girl reading by his bed “H-Hakari-san?” he blinked in surprise at the youngest niece of the local monk. Long brown hair and bright blue eyes, Hakari Sharin was half Japanese, half French and all book worm. She pushed her glasses up and scowled at him, “What? I’m the youngest so I had to wait here while everyone else went home. I have your stuff.” She stood and motioned to the bags at her feet, shoving the English book in her own school bag as she did. Jiro blinked at her then at his stuff before putting on his ‘mask’ as his teachers called it, the emotionless expression he wore when he was avoiding something. ‘Sis is right. Jiro-san is a weirdo.’ Hakari frowned as he moved to sit at the edge of the bed, slipping his shoes on before grabbing his bag and standing. At 6 foot nothing he towered over Hakari and most of the other students at school. With his dark hair and pale skin many thought him an oddity and avoided him, thinking him stand-offish. “Yeah I’m-” Jiro froze a strangled look on his face as a small dragon cruised by the door. “Jiro? What’s- Hey where are you going!?” Hakari shouted as he shoved past her and out the door, knocking her down. “JIRO?!” she scrambled up and shouted after him “Is that anyway to treat someone who got your crap for you!?”

    Jiro sprinted down the hall the small dragon ahead of him, a determined scowl on his face. Dodging students and teachers he crashed through several crowds of people before the dragon glanced back to see what was going on. Immediately it sped up, zipping down halls and through joined rooms, Jiro racing behind it. ‘Oh no you don’t!’ Jiro thought, hopping over a desk ‘I know what you are and there is no way I’m letting you get away! Not after the last one got away!’ he sped up, shoving past people ignoring the cries of the teachers behind him, rounding a corner in time to see the dragon slip out the window “Hey!” he grabbed the window sill, one foot on the edge before a teacher grabbed him, dragging him back and to the floor “Let go! I have to- LET GO, DAMN YOU!” He shouted struggling with the teacher as more hands grabbed at him “DAMN IT! LET ME GO!!!”


    “Yes, I understand he still suffers from the lose of his family but losing his temper like that? He sent 3 teachers to the hospital! You must understand, sir, that if you can not control him we must have someone else appointed to-” “Enough, Principle Shiboru! I understand your concern but Jiro is not going anywhere. He is…” The voices faded into the background as Jiro sat in the waiting room. Both voices where all to familiar, the first Principle Shiboru always looking for some new way to get him expelled and the second, his father’s 4th brother monk Shika. Almost 10 years ago, in a horrible accident, Jiro’s parents and twin brother burned to death when their gas fireplace exploded. Shika had been the only relative willing to take in the boy, even with the 7 other children he was already taking care of. A large smiling man, Shika was not smiling when he came to take Jiro and Hakari, who had waited as well, home that day.

    After several arguments with Principle Shiboru, Jiro had been allowed to leave the school with only a week of suspension. “Jiro, what where you thinking? You could have been suspended or worse arrested! You must stop this senseless fighting and rough housing.” Shika frowned at the boy walking beside him, trying to figure out what made Jiro so unhappy and sporadic in his actions. When Jiro had been a child he had been all smiles and joy, running about with his brother Kuroi, always causing mischief. Shika shook his head “Really, Jiro, I am not sure I can keep protecting you. You are almost of age to be an adult an-” “So don’t. I didn’t ask for your help or anyone else’s. None of you believe me anyway and I can live by myself.” Jiro snapped, trying to keep the frustration from his voice. Hakari looked up from her book glancing up at her uncle, who was usually unmovable when it came to his temper. She could see the stress on Shika’s face and snapped “Believe you? What don’t we believe? That crap about your parents being killed by demons and that they stole your brother? You sound like a little boy trying to say the cat ate the cookies! How foolish!” she sniffed turning a scornful look at Jiro.

    He wasn’t there and she glanced back, stopping when she saw him standing in the road. Shika stopped as well, giving Hakari a fierce look but before he could repair the damage her words most likely caused, Jiro looked at them. The hate, loss and utter despair of life that she saw in his eyes drove the breathe from Hakari’s lungs and before she could speak, Jiro turned on his heel and fled through the undergrowth around them. “JIRO!” Shika roared racing to where he had vanished, trying to see him “JIROOO!”


    ‘What the hell gives her the right!? Damn it! I don’t care if no one believes me, it’s the truth! I know it is and when I find Kuroi, everything will be all right again!’ branches whipped past his face, sending small cuts across his cheeks, Jiro sprinted through the forest ignoring the cries behind him. ‘I will find him! I-I have to find him!’ tears made the cuts sting and he rubbed at them, closing his eyes for a moment. The ground beneath him gave way and he fell crashing through an old well with a cry. He splashed down into the cold, smelly water and went under, before struggling back up to grab hold of a small indention in the wall of the well. Gasping, Jiro shivered trying to get his bearings, glancing around the round hole. ‘Well you’ve got yourself into quite a hole haven’t you boy?’ Jiro almost slipped back underwater when the dragon poked its head through the walls of the well. “Ahh! What-You’re from the school! I’ve got you now!” Jiro snarled grabbing hold of the dragon by its red fur ‘What are you doing you fool! How- let go! Let go now! You’re messing it up!’ the dragon wailed trying to shake Jiro off as he hung tightly, then shot out of the hole and straight up. Jiro shouted wordlessly and clung tighter as they soared upward, his legs banging into the side of the well. They exploded out of the well sending old wood flying and sped for the sky ‘Let go you stupid brat! If you don’t let go, I’ll go higher and vanish so you fall!’ screamed the dragon as he sped upwards, spinning to try and shake Jiro off. Jiro had his eyes tightly shut but shouted “You can’t! I have you and I’m not letting go!” ‘We’ll see about that!’

    The dragon slid through space, appearing over an empty lot and almost choked as Jiro squeezed tighter ‘H-how the h-hell did you s-stay on m-me!?’ he choked, withering in mid air. Jiro’s ears were filled with a screaming voice and he saw black spots filling his vision “Wh-what was that place w-w-we just…” The spots finally filled his vision and he slipped from the dragon. The last thing he heard was the screaming and woman’s voice that cried ‘YOU FOOL! Catch him! Catch him!’

    Hakari sat on the steps of the monastery as police moved in and out of the doorway, listening to her uncle’s choked voice once again describe what Jiro had been wearing. They had gotten home late last night, expecting an angry but apologetic Jiro waiting for them. But he hadn’t come home last night and he hadn’t been there this morning when Hakari had rushed to his room to check. The police had been called and a search had begun. Hakari sniffled loudly and put her head on her knees, shoulders shaking “Hakari, they will find him!” Taking a seat next to her, Hinagiku gripped her in a one armed hug. The middle sister, Hinagiku was smaller than her youngest sister but had a fierce temper and was often likened to a komodo dragon. Short spiky hair dyed a multiple of colors; Hina was freckled from to much time in the sun, wore a pair of old jeans and a tee shirt that had seen better days. “Jiro’s tougher than that old steel sword on papa’s wall! Remember that time he broke his leg but walked all the way back here by himself? He’ll be fine. Just you wait he’ll walk up here, all grumpy faced as usual and laugh at you for getting so worked up.” Hakari blinked at her sister and cried harder, hiccups making her gasp and cough. Hina sighed, handing her sister a water bottle and shifting out of the way of a coming police officer. But when the officer stopped in front of them, both girls looked at him scooting back when he knelt down in front of them. “Hey there, I’m Detective Kesshin. I’m in charge of finding your,” he flipped through his little note book, short blond hair falling to just below his eyes as he did, “He’s your cousin right?” both girls nodded silently and he smiled comfortingly “I overheard you talking earlier and has he done this type of thing before? Running away and not coming back for a long time?” Hakari took a deep breathe and shook her head “N-no he always comes back after a few hours and never stays out after it gets dark! He- he’s afraid of the dark, see? He thinks-” “Jiro’s family got killed at night so he thinks that if he stays out at night, the things that killed his family will get him.” Hina finished as Hakari started to cry again. Detective Kesshin frowned slightly “Things? I read the file before I came here and it said they died in a fire.” “Jiro says that his parents were murdered and his twin taken by…” she paused wondering whether she should tell him then decided it wouldn’t matter “He’s sure they were murdered by demons. The doctors think it’s a way for him to cope with the loss but Jiros always saying it’s true and trying to find Kuroi. That’s his twin.” She provided. Kesshin stood, hand on his chin frowning when a call came in over his radio “SIR! We found a boy in the 6th quadrant of the search grid! He’s unconscious and bruised up pretty bad but it’s him, sir.” Hakari almost passed out and Hina shouted, racing off to find everyone “Good job, everyone. Get him to the hospital and let-” “Sir. There’s something else about how we found him.” Kesshin frowned and Hakari looked up at him “Sir, we- we found some strange foot prints around his body and…well he was in a cave about 500ft above the ground sir.” “How is that strange? Maybe he crawled up-” “It’s impossible, sir. That ‘ground’ I mentioned? It would be more proper to call it a sliver of dirt. Not even the dogs could get across.” Kesshin stared at his radio then at the girl “You said he talked about demons, didn’t you?” She nodded mutely eyes wide and he scratched his forehead “Well………well.” Was all he could say.


    ‘This…is not Shika’s house.’ Jiro stared blearily up at a blank white ceiling with 2 fluorescent lights on either side of his view. Moving made his head hurt so he glanced around as best he could without to much movement. There was machinery and a window to his left and he followed the tubing down to his chest and arms as a red line beeped ‘Heart monitor…so hospital then.’ Glancing right he saw nothing but curtain, a small sliver giving way to a bustling outside confirming that he was in a hospital. His hand hurt something fierce and he glanced down to see the cause. Hakari had his hand in a grip and was fast asleep on it, glasses askew and eyes red and puffy. ‘Finally woke up have you? Now I won’t have to listen to that brat girl sob for another hour.’ With a jolt, Jiro realized that the space in front of his bed was occupied by 2 of the weirdest looking things he’d ever laid eyes on. One was the dragon he’d been chasing, floating slightly above the bed but the other is what drew his attention and made him sit up, ignoring the pain. Long blonde hair framed what would have been a cute face if not for the thick black dots under her eyes and the dirty, soot encrusted horns that graced her forehead. She smiled baring sharp teeth at him ‘Now, now. Don’t want to be upsetting the little girly do we?’ “Jiro?” Hakari stared up at him, glasses hanging off one ear “Hakari, you-” “J-Jiro, I-I am s-so s-s-sorry!” she wailed, tears pouring down her cheeks. Jiro stared at her for a few seconds then reached out and pulled her into a one armed hug. The demons, if that what they had been, where gone from his bed. “I-I-I…” “Shut up, stupid. You’re gonna make yourself sick. I’m fine ok? So just- just stop crying now.”


    “So why haven’t you released him to me yet?!” Shika’s indignant cry echoed through the hall ways of the hospital a few days later. He had come to collect Jiro only to find several police blocking him from even going down the hallway. “I’m sorry but our main concern is your nephew’s safety and your apparent inability to take care of him has come to our attention.” Det. Kesshin tried to explain as politely as he could but the words enraged Shika “I-Inability!? I am the only one who has been willing and able to take care of that boy for the past 10 years he’s been with us! If not I who can take care of the boy then who?! And what gives you the right to tell me I can no longer take care of my own nephew, a boy who has become more like a son to me!?” Shika’s fists were clenched at his sides as he tried not to scream or lose his temper. ‘It is not this detectives fault. He is only trying to do what is best for Jiro but the audacity! Who would dare say I am not a fit parent?’ Kesshin cleared his throat, frowning unhappily “As I understand it, Jiro recently sent 3 of his teachers to the hospital for numerous broken bones?” Shika’s face went slack, becoming blotchy with shades of grey and pink as he sat heavily in one of the chairs. ‘It’s true then… I thought perhaps that principal was over exaggerating the whole thing’ Kesshin rubbed the bridge of his nose before sitting down beside the larger man “Mr. Sharin I have no wish to remove Jiro from your custody but things must change! One of the teachers suffered a massive concussion and could have died if not for immediate help. I’ve been assigned to evaluate Jiro’s home and school life so I will need your cooperation. Please, sir, I will take Jiro from you if I feel it is in his best interest to be separated from you.”

    The small leaf was still green when it landed on Jiro’s book as he read. ‘1st leaf of the season to fall.’ He glanced up, squinting at the light shining through the branches ignoring the ever present Kesshin. It had been a little over a month since the accident and still the detective remained, driving Jiro up the wall with his questions. Snapping his book shut, Jiro gave Kesshin a dirty look and headed for a more private spot in the garden. Kesshin raised an eyebrow but returned to the inside of the house with a smile. Jiro paused glancing back then returned to the tree sitting again beneath it, only on the opposite side. Another leaf fell and he watched it fall, then another and then 3-4 more. More began to fall all around him in a spiral shape ‘Cool it’s like the wind is… ‘ eyes widening he leapt to his feet as hundreds of leaves swirled around him in a spiral, never touching him but keeping him enclosed. “HEY! Who’s doing this?!” he shouted, punching out with his book. With a sudden explosion the leaves attached to his book, surging upward and covering his fingers before he flung the book away. Ripping at the leaves, Jiro panted staring around him in a rage. A sticky wetness on his fingers had him glancing down at the billions of tiny cuts on his fingers where the leaves had wrapped around them. A shiver ran up his spine and Jiro cried out “Someone! Hey let me out damn you!” Inside Kesshin heard his cry and rushed out, flicking his glance around seeing nothing but empty ground. Another cry brought his attention to the tree and racing around to the other side he stared in horror at the swirling vortex of leaves that surrounded Jiro. “s**t!” he jabbed a hand in and howled yanking it away as his fingers were almost stripped of flesh by tiny mouths. Gritting his teeth, Kesshin looked around for anything to use to get Jiro out of there, his own safety forgotten as he spotted an old branch. Grabbing it up, he shouted “Jiro! Duck right now!” Not waiting for a response he swung, swatting at the leaves sending them flying uselessly to the ground even as the swarmed the branch. Then, spotting an opening, Kesshin reached forward dragging Jiro from the spiral the leaves attaching to both of them. The leaves suddenly stopped their spiral, settling to the ground as Kesshin brushed them from Jiro and himself. “W-What the hell was that?” Kesshin finished brushing off the leaves still attached to him. Jiro rubbed at his face, staring at the now innocent pile of leaves “Demons. I told everyone they existed but none of you would listen to me!” He turned fiercely on Kesshin “Do you believe me now?!” he shouted. Kesshin stared at him then at the pile of leaves “I’m not sure what to believe right now, kid. But I’m thinking it would be wise to go inside, right now.” Jiro, still angry, turned and stalked into the house, leaving Kesshin outside. Staring at the leaves, he bent down taking one in this hand to examine it. A small pain, like a spider bite, started in his thumb and he turned the leaf to see a small smudge of blood on his thumb. Dropping the leaf he went inside, carefully dusting himself off before entering and glanced outside as he did. And froze. All the leaves that had fallen from the tree, leaving great bare spots, had returned like nothing had ever happened “Demons” he whispered and shut the door quickly.