The Beast Underneath: A Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction

Chapter Sixty-Two: Her Life

Kiria didn't want to. She really, really hadn't wanted to. But she couldn't resist when it seemed that they had become all he'd had left.

Kiria pulled the jacket more tightly around her, the baggy sleeves providing comfort to her in the way only baggy sleeves could. The front door to their apartment was wide open. Kiria stepped within and saw Harune sitting with various people sitting in the chairs around him or standing. The table had been piled with dishes of food.

"It's just horrible, Harune-sama," a woman whispered, dabbing at her eyes with a cloth. "First my son, and now your daughter."

"Not to mention all the others that have died in this building," one man perked up. "We're moving out, Harune. This building just doesn't seem safe for a family anymore. I suggest you do the same."

Kiria could tell he was angry but he lacked the energy to direct it in any way more than a simple, infuriated, "Get out."

"But Ha-"

"Get. Out. Of my house."

The man rose to his feet. "Yes, Harune." The man pushed past Kiria on his way out, which was when Harune finally seemed to look at her. Kiria's stomach turned over so harshly when he regarded her with those near-lifeless, broken, dull orange eyes. Almost as dull as Shizira's had been.

Kiria felt tears coming again. She'd never seen Shizira's eyes gleam at the prospect of showing her the greatest world of magic. How they'd become half-lidded as she stared with knowing or annoyance at any of them. When they rolled up slightly as she blew her bangs. How they shifted to the right side slightly if she were uncomfortable talking. How she'd roll them if they all got into some kind of antics.

A pair of hands pressed down on her shoulders. Kiria contemplated Harune's face, which also dripped with tears, and he contemplated hers back before suddenly dragging her into the deepest and tightest hug she'd ever felt. Was this how he'd hugged his daughter, all that time ago, at the end of their vacation? Was this his grief, turned into a search for comfort, as he nearly crushed Kiria's ribcage?

"Thank you for coming," he sorrowfully said, withdrawing from the hug. Kiria could swear crow's feet and lighter gray-brown hairs at the corners of his eyes and his temples had sprung up overnight.

"No problem," Kiria ran her fingers along the sleeves and played with her jacket cuffs.

"I'll let you get to it then."

Kiria didn't want to. She really, really hadn't wanted to. But her feet began moving toward the closed door, taking slow, shaky steps. Her anxiety at opening this door - at disrupting what Shizira had so carefully built in the entirety of her life - became so painful everything about her started shaking. Something ran soothingly over Kiria's hair and she turned around, surprised by Anzeka standing there.

"Surprised to see you here, Little One. I take it this is her room?"

Kiria nodded, biting her lip to try and withhold from shedding more tears. Her eyes felt constantly damp yet dry, and her nose burned.

"No need to be scared or anxious, Kiria," Anzeka took the doorknob. "You know that she's left all her belongings to any friends she might gain to be picked through. All you do not take will be sold and the money given to Fresh Homes."

"H-How do you-"

"Shizira was a very smart little lady. Even with her discreet efforts to keep her CEO-Daughter status hidden, she knew if anyone found out she might end up becoming a target. She's actually drafted a will several times. Harune chose to go by the most recent, considering none of them were ever entirely finalized."