Crystal Spark

Chapter Three: The Ears

Keomi walked through the hallways of the Port Mafia Headquarters trying to remember a better time. She had known she would be expected to kill people and for awhile she had made peace with it. It was to find out what happened to her family, after that flash of green light. She had thought that was more than enough to keep her going on her path. She had thought that perhaps it would be awhile before she had to kill anyone with this... ability.

This 'Gift'.

She would scoff if she was talking allowed, this was all madness. She didn't belong her, but where else could she go? She needed to get her family back and she would most likely have to kill in order for that to happen. Keomi would have to learn how to survive in this world, even if it was to see her father. Her brother. Her Sister. Her mother, she supposed.

The Boss had asked to come to his office to prove that her training with Akutagawa was ready for the next step. She wished Akutagawa or even Chuuya had warned her what would be awaiting in that office. What she would have to do, what she had to force herself to do.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway the blood dripping down from her arm to her fingertips. She glanced down at it, the life force that had been previously keeping a man alive. She had thought her 'gift' was beautiful, the crystals moving with her body as an extension of herself.

Now they were a crimson red, stained to only her eyes and the blood would haunt her forever. Because she had no anger with the man who died, he was not her enemy. He had done no wrong to her, but he had done wrong to her place of work. He was their enemy therefore her enemy.

The blood slide down from her middle finger and, plit-plat, the blood dripped onto the floors. Where darker shades meet the lighter, leaving its stains on the floors for the rest of their time. Plit-plat. Plit-plat.

The Boss had said she was ready to start going out on missions with Akutagawa. He had placed his hand on her head with a soft smile. The kind of smile that one would for a faithful and good dog. He had said, "Good job, Keomi-chan."

She was glad at the very least that Akutagawa would be her 'partner' for missions. Even if he was still training her in a way, even if he wasn't supposed to be her friend. She felt safe with him, even if he had been obnoxious during their first meeting.

"Oi. Why are you just standing in the hallway Shizuka!" She couldn't help but smile when she heard his voice in front of him. There he was, Akutagawa, in the flesh staring at her with those angry eyes. Waiting for her response, impatiently.

"Sorry Aku, won't happen again." Akutagawa let out a small 'ch' sound shaking his head with his eyes closed at her. Still, that didn't stop him from walking up to her and ruffling her hair fondly. He didn't spare a glance at the blood, but she knew he saw it. She wondered if he was proud.

"You ok?" Akutagawa was not stupid he knew that this kind of life was not what the girl had expected her life to be like. He had read her file from the Boss, her father was in Hunting Dogs unit of the military. He worked with an ability user that the military had deemed 'safe'.

Her mother was the other side of the coin, not much was known about her though. Her information scrubbed off of the earth making her look all shiny and new. Akutagawa doubted that Shizuka knew anything about it though. Still she grew up in an upright home and was plucked from it abruptly.

She would leave him to one day.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She looked at him trying to muster the best smile that she could hoping he wouldn't see through her stupid lies.

Akutagawa had two options with how he could proceed, he could tell her that was the right answer. Destroying any hope of her actually ever sharing anything with him. Or he could tell her that it was ok to not be. But that didnt sound like him and he didn't care what his Protege thought about him. He just needed to get her through this stage of her life to prove to Dazai that he could.