Kurama's Spring Flower

Chapter Six

Now the sun was setting, the sky had taken on a red and orange appearance, indicating that all teenagers should probably head home, and as it was deadly quiet in the corridors with only Shuichi wandering through them he allows his thoughts to focus on the news and gossip. 'Disappearances...I shudder to think the thought, but...I can't deny the fact that the miasma around town has been dense lately.' His thoughts then come to a stop as he senses a demonic presence in front of him, making him stop and let out a small gasp as some kind of blob moves among the shadows towards the light and speaks, "Kurama...You're dead meat man." Shuichi- or now Kurama sees the blob shape into a clay like head of a demon that has two spiked horns and very sharp teeth. "This town is gonna be our turf." Kurama recognizes the face as he glares at it and says, "Hedoki...I left you near death and warned you to never come back. Or did you forget?" The demon head's eyes hold a crazed look as he growls, "I'm gonna kill you...Because now I've got the kinda help...that your scrawny ass couldn't dream to compare to!" As he says this, Kurama pulls out three leaves from his right trouser pocket and holds his arm out to the side of him before throwing them towards the head, which some how managed to dodge and laughs as he smashes out of a nearby window to escape the now angry teen.

"Such a low level demon...To have courage to vow his revenge after narrowly escaping with his life before...Whoever is on his side now must be a serious threat." Kurama speaks to himself and as he continues to do so, his shadow seemed to have taken the shape of something entirely different to how his body is shaped, for it was now showing a figure that has long hair, fox ears, a tail, and different clothing to what he was currently wearing, and seemed to be switching from that to a normal shadow. "I don't like using my demon powers if I can avoid it...But if they're after humans, and choosing this town as their hunting grounds...Then I have to fight. Not as a human, but as a demon with a claim to this town." He is then knocked out of his serious state when Maya's voice is heard behind him, "What was that? Was that...a ghost? Amazing! I could see it so clearly, too. What a shock...I never thought the first I saw one would look like that." Kurama - now having to play the role as Shuichi, turns to the girl with a calm look and says, "I believe you might be seeing things." But the calm face he was showing was the opposite to how he was feeling inside as he thinks with worry, 'She saw him? I was afraid about this. With Akina it seemed that my presence was taking no affect but...being around me is making other people more spiritually sensitive.'

Maya stomps her foot and exclaims in disbelief at Shuichi's words, "You can't brush this off! I know what I saw!" She then walks over to him with a smile as she continues, "And it's just like I thought! You have some kind of psychic powers like Akina did, right Minamino-kun?" She then goes right up in his face as she continues, "You were talking with it just now, right? You looked just like Akina did when I found her waiting for you after school a week before your birthday, and I feel foolish for calling her crazy when I couldn't see who she was talking to! This is so awesome! I knew something was different about you from the moment we met! I've always liked occult stuff, and been on the lookout for someone with powers. And to think it's my first love...Talk about dramatic, huh?"

He was shocked with many things at that moment: how energetic she was being about this, how Akina seemed to have hidden her spiritual awareness from him, how Maya can be so harsh towards the girl he cares for deeply, and how she has just confessed to loving him. He couldn't help but stare at her wide eyed as he tried to process it all. Maya watched his reaction and smiles and looks to the ground as a blush decorates her cheeks realizing what she had revealed.

🌹🌹🥀🌹🌹

The two were now walking home as Maya continued to speak to Shuichi about her feelings, "You never realized how I felt, did you?" As they walked beside the road, Shuichi kept his eyes forward, never once looking at Maya or the road or cars passing by, as the event three months ago was always fresh in his mind whenever he was near a road. But he still acknowledged what was around him, which was clear as he says to Maya, "You should really go home." The disappearances were getting worse, and with finding out demons were involved, he now had another reason to make Maya leave him alone - he didn't want her to be the next prey. But Maya wasn't going to leave yet as she says, "Well, you haven't told me how you feel. It's okay to just say it. I'm prepared...for whatever the answer is." But the air was filled with silence. Shuichi knows that what Maya was now experiencing was unrequited love, for he does care for the girl, who he befriended thanks to the encouragement of Akina to get him to socialize with others and not just herself, but he doesn't love her. He didn't know to voice this politely to the girl, but he tries, as he is imagining Akina looking at him pointedly to say that he should try and that ignoring the situation would be rude and worse, "I'm sorry, but..."

Maya stops, realizing that he doesn't love her back and is going to reject her. She hangs her head low with a sad expression as she interrupts him, "I understand. She's bewitched you." Shuichi was close to snapping at her but didn't whilst Maya turns to go the opposite direction as him and says, "I'll head home." And just as she was about to leave Shuichi senses a dangerous demon nearby, making him gasp before rushing over to Maya and grab her. She looks at him in shock for him to say with urgency in his voice as he was afraid to lose another friend, "Stay close!" He was in a protective stance and high on alert. 'I barely sensed it. He's nearby...Our level are about even. This is bad' He thinks to himself before he senses the demon about to attack, causing him to carry Maya and jump away as something crashes down where they once were. Shuichi skids to a halt and faces his attacker to see a smaller male with black gravity defying hair dressed in a black cloak, white scarf and belt to keep a hold of the sheath for the katana that resides in the males right hand. "I'm surprised you dodged that." The unknown demon says as he keeps his gaze on the red head he tried to kill. Shuichi keeps his glare on him whilst checking on the confused girl in his arms, "Are you alright?" To which she says, "Yeah. What about you, Minamino-kun? I'm pretty heavy..." This answer makes Shuichi interrupt her, "We have bigger problems than that."

The unknown demon takes this as an opportunity to leap and attack, causing Shuichi to harshly drop Maya and use his demon energy to manipulate a small weak leaf into a strong sword so he can block and fight back. "Run!" He orders the girl who continues to sit on the ground in shock even as the two leave the scene. 

Maya had made a mistake.