True Happiness (rewrite version)

No more pain (Red and Black Clash 10)

AN: The next part. Hope you enjoy it!

To remind you:

"Hi!"= Talking in English

"Hi!"= Talking in Japanese

"Hi!"= Words on signs in English

"Hi!"= Words on signs in Japanese

Hi! = Narrator

Hi! = Flashback

'Hi!' = Thoughts

"Hi!" = Talking in flashback

"Hi!" = Talking on the phone

Hi! = Words on paper (unless it's at the beginning or end of the chapter /it had POV written beside it)

(Hi!) = Author-chan talking

Disclaimer: DCMK doesn't belong to me; it belongs to the great Aoyama Gosho. I only own the story and the OC~

Narrator pov. Continuing~

Irene continued to cry and apologize as she let Kuroba go treat his wound before coming back to comfort her.

Seeing the bandage that now wrapped around his hand, Irene asked, "H... How bad is it?"

Kuroba hesitated but answered, "It's deep, but the scar isn't anything big; I can say I scratched myself by accident." 

She nodded, but didn't seem that relieved.

Even if it wasn't deep, it left a scar.

Kuroba had taken her to the living room at some point away from the kitchen, but she walked back over as she could hear him cleaning.

She stared at the pool of blood that Kuroba was now working on cleaning off, which wasn't as easy as his scar still made him wince whenever he pressed his hand on the cloth he was using to clean off the blood.

He was smart enough to use Hydrogen Peroxide, so the blood on the tiles will be gone, the fizz indicating it was working being heard as he blotted the stain.

Irene stared as she saw the blood stain that she usually only saw at murder scenes, thanks to hanging out with Edogawa.

The stain of Kuroba's blood.

The blood that she caused because she attempted to do something she had never done before to herself.

She was a curse while alive, and she still hurt someone else when she tried to fix that.

She still caused something bad without meaning to.

Waves of guilt, despair, sadness, and all those overwhelming emotions she only felt when the orphanage burned down started washing over her.

'It's my fault... Why is everything my fault?!'

She started hyperventilating, which Kuroba seemed to notice as he paused in his cleaning, "Thorny?"

She didn't respond, holding her head.

'It hurts! It's not fair! Every time someone close to me died or got hurt because of me, it had to be when I could feel it! I don't want this pain again! I don't want to deal with loss again!'

Kuroba went closer to her, forgetting the cloth for now, "Oi, Thorny?"

No response, her brain was starting to get overwhelmed.

Just like back then.

'Make it stop- make it stop- MAKE IT STOP-'

Suddenly, as if answering her wishes, a familiar feeling bloomed, and she calmed down.

'It's gone...'

And so was the spark in her eyes that faded.

She let go of her head, now feeling coldly calm, and looked up at Kuroba.

His breath hitched, "Karashima... You..."

She didn't respond yet, now taking over the cleaning as she only said, "Sorry for worrying you." 

In that same cold, voice with no emotion.

Kuroba stared before he had a sympathetic, resigned expression and sighed, then replied, "It's fine... Just, you won't try that again now that you're... like this again, right?"

She nodded in confirmation, "I won't. I don't feel like it anymore." 

Kuroba looked away with a bit of frustration, but he knew that was enough for now, even if he didn't want this shift to happen, and went back over to help with the cleaning, taking a wet cloth to get ready to rinse it.

Irene felt a familiar peace as certain numbness flooded her body.

She was colorless again, but maybe that was a good thing.

Because now, she wouldn't feel any more pain.

 AN: Done! Hope you guys liked it!

Yep, colorless Irene is back. You missed her? :D

Honestly, considering this first happened after the orphanage burned down and she got overwhelmed with the guilt, you guys should have seen that coming when it was obvious Irene felt as overwhelmed again.

Losing Miyuki again during those circumstances and how Kaito got hurt after what she tried to do was more than enough for her brain and heart to default back to that state.

Especially since she started to beg for it to stop.

So yeah, back to square one. Woo! :3

At least this arc is done now. Plus, there's hope she'd get her colors back with a certain someone's help. >w>

So what did you guys think? Did you like it? Which part was your favorite? Hope to see your feedback soon!

That's all. See you next chapter!

Stay sweet, my fellow anime lovers!~

Dcfan2034~