Butterfly Kisses Part 1

Chapter 8: Run

Thorned vines curled around every tree in sight, brambles covering the wet muddy earth. Torrential rain sounded like machine guns, endless.

'Just keep running!' She thought as her hair caught branches and got tangled, her clothes torn and disfigured. Cuts covered her body already. She had no energy to manifest her wings let alone fly. Tears swept the dirt away from her face. Constant twin waterfalls rubbed against her nature infested skin. Nothing but adrenaline kept her moving. She couldn't rely on anything else. All that kept her going was the one and only thought racing in her head.

Run.

Cold mist slowly crept forwards from behind her, snarling, almost catching her several times. Everything around her was dying. Trees, birds, deer. Even the very earth itself shivered when the mist came into contact with it. It crept closer and closer, but all she could do was run.

All she could think about were two moments in her life. Two very different moments.

~~~~

"You'd better run away good for nothing loser!" A boy shouted from behind throwing rocks at her as she ran, barely missing her.

Tears flooded her face. Sorrow, pain and fear were the only things she could feel. She'd lost the ability  to speak. Her legs were the only things that could do anything.

"No wonder your parents hate you! You're useless!" Another demon from the depths of hell shouted.

"I don't have parents!!" She screamed out of fear.

They threw more and more rocks at her head. Most of them missed but this time, one struck its target. 

Sharp jolts of pain rippled over her head as she clutched it. Warm liquid seeped out of it while she screamed in pain lying on the floor. Not only was her head bleeding, but her hands and knees were bleeding from the fall. The five year old collapsed holding her head in horror. Her nose was broken, and all over her were cuts and bruises

"Hah! You can't even defend yourself you piece of crap! Just die already." The first boy laughed, taunting her.

"You should be the ones to die." A cold voice echoed from the shadows of the woods nearby. The shadows almost moving with every word.

"You're not worthy of being human. It's pathetic." It spoke again. This time, the shadows were getting closer to the miniature devils crowding around the little girl. 

Then the shadows came alive and struck. Each one took a different form as children were being dragged along the ground, thrown into the air and smashed into the concrete they once stood on. Not a single one was left untouched.

"Who's crying now?" It spoke before stepping out to reveal a tall boy with pitch black hair, almost dead eyes and the most monotone voice anyone had ever heard.

"Tansho Fumikage, nice to meet you." He said, holding his hand out for her to take it. 

"I-I'm Hiko..." The pixie replied shivering.

'His hand...it's so warm' She thought as he took her to the medical room.

~~~~

The second memory was so much more pleasant. It was the day she stepped foot in class 2-A and laid eyes on the timid elf she would be sitting next to. At that very moment, she thought 'His aura...it's so warm. It's even warmer than Tansho's.'

Creaking trees surrounded her in a prison. Unable to sense her surroundings, she tripped over a tree branch and tumbled down a slide of mud landing in the second slide of water that carried her downstream.

'At least I'm not near that thing. I'm cleaner too.' She realised, holding her breath for as long as she could before giving up and receiving a fist full of water making her choke. She coughed and coughed but nothing came out. Torrents crashed her against the tall, rocky banks of the river and jutting branches of long forgotten trees, cutting into her like a knife against butter.

'Is this how it ends?' She thought, 'Is it part of God's plan for a sixteen year old to get attacked and drown?' 

Water constantly poured itself into her body, nearly flooding her insides. She could feel her eyes close, light fading from her field of vision.

...Nothing...

~~~~

"Hey sis! Wanna play hide and seek outside?" Someone said from upstairs, colouring on a wall.

"N-no I can't... Shuichi...I'm too scared." Hiko replied, hands covering her mouth. Anything she said could barely be heard, even by family.

"Then I'll protect you!! That's what a little brother is for after all!" He immediately replied while running down the stairs and appearing right in front of his sister.

'But the older sibling should protect the younger one' She thought as everything around her faded until all was white.

~~~~

'You left me, Shuichi. You left me just like everyone else will. They don't care about me. I should just die and get it over with.' A tear escaped her shivering eyes  as they closed tightly.

...

Suddenly, water pushed Hiko's head out of the water as something cold wrapped around her waist pulling her up onto the hard ground. As hard as she tried, she couldn't get the thing to let go. It pulled her closer to the main body, when it finally released its grasp so she could fall into the lap of him. His dignified, pointed ears stood out from the dark cloud like hair covering his face. Slight wounds were on his face, and his left hand neared his stomach as he winced in pain. Despite all that, his right hand lied peacefully under her head.

"A-a-are you okay, Hiko?" He said. Nervousness had taken over him immediately. 

"Y-yeah...thanks." She replied, not realising who she was resting on.

She shot up, hands covering the red hue that possessed her half dead, yet embarrassed face.

Kaigo (the one with the water quirk and the deep blue hair) noticed immediately and smiled almost proudly.

"What's wrong? D-does something hurt?" He asked again shaking.

'Why does he care? He hates me after yesterday.' Hiko thought, inching away from him and closer to the river. She was asking to be swept away to heaven.

The elven boy responded to the awkward silence. "Y-you're hurt. Let's h-h-head back to camp." 

"Oh, uh...o-okay." She responded briefly as he held out his hand. She reluctantly took the help and picked herself up.

'I was right,' she thought to herself as a thin smile appeared on her face, 'He really is warm.'

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Thanks for reading this chapter of 'Butterfly Kisses'. To be honest, this chapter is one of my favourite chapters I've ever written (I've written a lot of damn chapters).

It's always nice to get a little backstory on a character, no matter how big or small the backstory (or the character themselves) are.

From now on flashbacks will begin and end with this symbol... ~

Thanks again! Stay tuned for the next chapter!!