Inai Ni Yami ((Within Darkness)) {{FINISHED}}

Inai Ni Yami ((An Original Story)) Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Days went by like minutes, hours passing like seconds. I'd easily jumped right into the group, my first real friend -surprisingly enough- being Keisuke. The guy was really quite nice after getting to know him. But there were quirks, as everyone in the world was bound to have one. I liked shooting for no reason, even if it wasn't a target or if it was a by-stander... say a Kurai.

Keisuke liked what was called "Korean Dramas." Korean... the word made no sense to me. It could be a language... it could be a country, continent, piece of land. It also could be a swear, but I didn't know that. And drama. I, for one, knew drama was something people should avoid. Apparently it was a frequent thing for females anyway. Sure, I myself was a female but the customs outside of ShiroTech were alien to me. I only knew my guns and shadows.

Ares tried to change that. Of course, his version of a normal day was setting people's foods on fire while they weren't looking and then stealing some proportions of food from others, ignoring the scathing glare I'd send him. And then Takeyama - the merry leader of his gang- would only laugh and stuff some stolen food into my mouth. As if I needed to be hand fed!

The action inflamed Yuki though - who was also known as Yu- so I let it pass. The girl had had a grudge against me from the moment I'd 'joined' their group, saying my type of stray -I'm a certain type? That's so flattering- would never change to accustom myself to them. Well then, is that why the guys already like me? Though I guess it could also be jealousy that I'm an actual woman compared to her small body.

Daisuke had also pickled up on my hacking skills and decided to teach me some more tricks other than hacking radio signals. Like, say, hacking into the computers that had shut down my powers and abilities without my consent.

The moment I'd learned it well enough myself, I'd gone almost to the point of wiping everything clean and leaving ShiroTech is a disastrous situation. Keisuke and Ares brought me down, Keisuke with his weird, magical chains -how did they pop out of nowhere?- and Ares with multiple flames surrounding me to the point that my head literally went on meltdown.

From there, Daisuke hacked into my head again -something I found very disconcerting- and told me that if I were to do that to the system, every single kagami within the building, including us, would immediately be taken to bits and pieces and sold so that ShiroTech could somehow refinance themselves while rebuilding the files I would've wiped. Grudgingly, I gave up the idea. After that came Yuki...

Sure, I said earlier that she was a little annoying to me, and I knew she had a puppy love thing with Takeyama -the girl practically drooled simply at the sight of his side of the room- but she went overboard one week. It was during lunch when she started her conniving ways.

The moment Takeyama kissed Yuki on her forehead, I knew something was wrong. An hour after that, I'd just gotten out of the shower -fully clothed when I exited the bathroom- only to find Takeyama on his bed, Yuki lying next to him while batting her eyelashes. The violet color to her eyes made me curious, but I pushed the thought away, deciding I'd hit the training room again and shoot some more, even if I had showered. Anything to get me away from the two.

But of course, after the shooting and everything -shadowing too, doing exercises in being sneaky that Keisuke had taught me. Apparently the guy was more than juts chains and an electric shock. He could literally mold his body into lightning and travel through electrical devises for as long as they were on. If ever they turned off, he just needed to have them either powered back on or connected to a power source to leave, else he'd be trapped in there. It was interesting story to learn how he'd found that out in the first place.

Getting on to the main point. By the time I'd finished my training with both guns and shadows and walked back to my room -all which took a time span of about two hours- I found the two still on Takeyama's bed. The only difference from after my shower and right then? Yuki was giving Takeyama commands, saying he had to do this or that to piss me off. Her eyes were also violet again. I'd had it. Not even hesitating, I pulled the girl off Takeyama, pulled Shadow Cape around us and brought her to the training room, dropping her non to gently on the ground while I landed gracefully- practice did make perfect.

"Mirror Minion," I'd growled, feeling my conscious separate and then two sets of eyes become mine. It was like being in a control room, the controls to two people right in front of you. The only hard part was controlling them perfectly. Which I'd learned to master with time. "Shadow Manipulation," one said while the other murmured, "Obscured Light." Expertly, I weaved the shadows around Yuki, making it so that all the girl would see was nothing but black around her. That included me. She tried to stay on tip, tried to keep her composure but I knew she was scared. The girl never knew how to deal with my powers. Weaving shadows was a tricky thing, and there was no way to turn a gun on someone with magic. You either got shot or you didn't.

I went on to twisting the small amount of light left inside the abyss like room, forming what looked like a distorted image. It looked that way in my mind as I pictured it. Slowly, I added long white hair, blood coating it completely and causing some ends to stiffen. Black, metallic bones jutted from wrong angles in her limbs, while a pale face lay limp on her shoulders. Black ooze was everywhere; it left her lips in a steady dribble; certain parts of her that were hollowed out oozed with the stuff. And her violet eyes cried the stuff out. The image appeared before the real Yuki, and not before long she was screaming violently, her body thrashing about as she faced what could be her future.

I only watched from one set of eyes, weaving the shadows back into me when I knew it was enough. When it was all completely gone, leaving the training room spotless and without a trace of what happened, Yuki stiffly stood, her eyes on the ground. I walked up to her, not bothering to lean in as my shoulder met hers.

"You may have your abilities," I said coldly, staring at the mirror opposite me, one that showed a girl with long, magnificent white hair and violet eyes as bright as Yuki's had been when she'd manipulated Takeyama. "But you need to realize I have my own and know how to use them to their full extent... but I don't need them -nor do I use them- to get what you seem to need so desperately..." I paused, thinking of what to say next when two icy blue eyes peered at me from the ceiling. They narrowed before shaggy hair fell over them. Chains wrapped around his limbs, keeping him suspended as he watched our exchange.

I smiled. "And you certainly don't need to. Not when you have a stalker watching you." That said, I shouldered past her and grabbing a towel to get rid of the sweat on my forehead before I Shadow Caped my way back to my room. Takeyama lay still in bed, his book over his eyes while his chest rose and fell peacefully, a sure sign the guy had passed out after he'd been released from Yuki's hold.

Shallow breaths left my lips as I stumbled around the room, not sure what to do. Take a shower again or pass out in bed and shower tomorrow? My body demanded that I showered now. It needed the heat, the calming feel of having a thousand warm fingers stroke down my body and eat away at the day. Regenerate the energy I'd used up when I'd brought my shadows upon Yuki. With a shake of my head, I decided the shower it was. I needed it, and I knew it. By then, everything was covered in shadows to me.

Dizzily, I made my way to the bathroom, adamant to get in the shower. My body failed me as the image I'd used earlier on Yuki struck back at me full force. There I stood, long white hair... violet eyes... and alive. With a beating heart. That was my weakness. The thing I feared the most. My need... to have a real, living body and not just be a machine. Gritting my teeth, I braced my arms on the sink and stared at myself in the mirror, not exactly seeing as 'tears' formed and blurred the image standing behind me. Not putting much thought into my choice, I took a pair of silver scissor from the bathroom drawer, bared my long hair to them and slashed away...