White Rabbit

Chapter 9: Don't Touch Her

CLATTONIA

"Hmm?" I raise a brow as I place my hands on my hips, "At this rate, you'll kill him."

"Maybe that wouldn't be so bad," Reece mutters.

"See! Clattonia gets it!" Juniper beams in a relieved manner as I scan the scene before me.

"Aeryn," I say, "Step out. Reece, continue."

"Fine," Aeryn says boredly and walks over to where Juniper is standing and Reece smirks.

"Reece," I say and he looks at me expectantly, "Go easy on him, but don't show mercy, either."

Reece grins at my words and looks back at Jace with a smirk. Reece raises his silver great sword, which has gold trim framing the sword itself and several strips of gold on all the edges of the sword in the design, forming a gold arc around a golden circle with silver rings, and from behind me, Katsuro tosses Jace his red, white, and gold circular shield -- the base being white, with pieces of red trim going around the circle the entire way around, but in patches, and the gold taking the place of the red more towards the center of the circle. Katsuro nods and smiles at Jace, who nods back, a grateful smile forming on his face. I glance back at Katsuro with approval and he folds his arms against his chest, leaning against the wall while keeping his gaze fixed on Jace and Reece. Of course Katsuro would do anything he could to help, that's just who he is. I watch the redhead whose hair is the color of a fire, almost unnaturally red, and sigh. I know what happened back then isn't his fault, and I think that deep down he knows it too. It's not his fault that Kaden died protecting him, but he feels the need to somehow repay what Kaden did for him -- what we did for him. Several years ago, when my group was just forming, Reece, Juniper, Kaden, and I were on a mission to find Misery when Katsuro ran away from home after being abused by his parents and ended up running into Misery. When we found Misery she was attempting to kill Katsuro, but the four of us ended up saving him and Kaden died in the process. To be honest, I never really thought he would get hurt because of his abilities, but seeing the one I was in love with get killed right before my eyes seemed to...change...something inside of me even more than I was already changed. You can't prepare for that. No matter how much you tell yourself you know it's dangerous, that what you're doing is dangerous, that not everyone might walk away from each mission alive, it's different when it actually happens. I remember holding Kaden in my arms and looking down at his face, his emerald eyes seemed full of sadness and love at the same time, as well as anger, frustration that he didn't have more time. But he smiled at me and reached out, pressing his left hand to the side of my face as I held him and tears welled up in my eyes as I brushed my fingers through his blond, honey colored hair.

"I love you, Clattonia," The words ghosted past his lips before his hand fell and his eyes fluttered shut.

That was two years ago, but even still, Katsuro still blames himself for Kaden's death.

My eyes flicker back to the battle and I watch as Reece swings at Jace, his great sword emitting gold rings of energy that come out in waves. Maybe it was unfair to pit Reece against Jace, but I'm curious as to what Jace is capable of. After all, he does remind me of him sometimes, and in those little moments that Jace exhibits behavior similar to Kaden Sakura, my heart squeezes in my chest and the breath seems to leave my lungs for a few split seconds.

"You're a Supernatural, aren't you?" The blond sitting next to me raised a brow and slid his empty glass of Coke down the bar for the bartender at the restaurant to collect.

My breath seemed to get caught in my throat and I paused stirring the straw around in my drink as my eyes quickly glanced over at him, wondering what to say, despite my first instinct being to say "no" immediately. I watched his inquisitive, perceptive emerald eyes carefully before deciding for some reason to actually tell him the truth.