Rigid and tense was her pose as she sat on the damp bench. Eyes were shut tight, dark eyebrows knit together, forming a scowl made of frustration, concentration and pure old fashioned stubbornness. There was nothing wrong with her wrist and yet she still grabbed and massaged at it as if there really was some pain and trauma there. But no, the problem was not with her wrist but with the searing pulses that ran rampant through her head.
But for only a momentary respite, the pulses ceased and she allowed herself this moment to towel off her short blue hair. The sides had been recently shorn and she afforded a moment to gently stroke there, smiling as she always did at the bristly yet satisfying feel as she ran her fingertips past her ears. Both hands met behind her head and she interlocked fingers there and a deep breath she took. Blue eyes snapped open and she stared at the tan skinned teen staring right back at her in the mirror. "I'm a fighter. I'm a healer. I'm a friend... but I am not a killer--"
Once more she groaned, tossing herself forward, elbows on knees, hands clutching at her face. The pulses sparked anew and burned red streaks past her eyes and into her brain. Another yelp she gave out as she spilled to the floor, writhing about until she fell upon her side, breathing ragged between sobs. For a few minutes more she lay there. When Ayami found her, the teen gasped as she saw Kokoro kneeling down still wrapped in her white towel, leaning forward, forehead kissing the moisture of the white tiles, long muscular arms stretched out with palms up.
"Koko-chan..!" Ayami tossed her gym bag aside and slid to the floor beside her best friend, "are you alright...?! Are you? Say something-- oh no...! Your hand is bleeding again! Kokoro! Your hand is--"
Kokoro rolled back slowly like a snake until she found herself in a rested and straight back kneeling position. She held that same wrist as she had earlier but she was not massaging it now. No, she was merely holding it now and not trying to stop it from sending telepathic pulses to her brain. Blue eyes reflected and glinted with a red glow that Ayami just could not see. Nor could Ayami see the wafting and wavering energy pulse away from Koko's hand. Ayami saw what looked like a cut in the shape of a crescent moon, but Koko saw it for what it really was. The sender of the telepathic red pulses. It was her other Eye. Her Daemon.
"Ayami... Yami-chan, it is okay. For this is not blood," said Kokoro in a tone of voice that Ayami did not recognize, "no, this is my birth right..."
The half-Japanese girl rose to her full height and towered over her friend but not once did she look at Ayami; in fact she did not even open her eyes. "Please miss me when I am gone. But don't cry until we are dancing together in our dreams."
"Wait. What? Kokoro, but where are you going? I don't understand--"
The tall, muscular teen walked on and turned around the corner into the next aisle of lockers, "It's not blood, Yami-chan. It is my birth-right and I am going to answer to it." Ayami did not recognize the voice from behind the wall of lockers but this really and truly was the voice of her friend; the Other-Kokoro, "My head doesn't hurt anymore..."
When Kokoro Yamato-Smithe opened her eyes next, they were the colour of an ancient glowing red star, staring into the Otherness of it all.
When Ayami got to her feet and scrambled around the corner to retrieve her best friend from the next aisle down, there was no one there.
There was only the damp white towel and a silver herringbone chain, naked without the charm Ayami had given her best friend when they first met.
~~~
The deep guttural and chuffing sound roared from high above, the sound rumbling like encroaching thunder over Other Tokyo. And finally, the tall, muscular Witch addressed the glowing red tattoo upon her hand.
{{Hey, Rei? It's cool... I won't try to 'massage out' your telepathic messages to me anymore. 'Cuz, ya know... 'EYE' still love you too...}} Red tinted eyes of the Witch rolled behind goggles, but there. She finally responded telepathically to let her Daemon know that she was over her little spat with her them. And rest assured they knew; Rei loved using that pun to death.
From beneath her fancy glove, the glowing red tattoo on the palm of her hand sprouted into crimson fiery light and the ghostly, volleyball-sized eye that was Rei, flew out and snuggled against the red-eyed witch piloting the double thruster, onyx handled broom.
{{You know, I'm still not a killer, Miss-Daemon-sir...}}
{{No, Miss Witch. You are not...
...Not yet.}}
~~~
In what amounted to a broom-rider 'skidding to a halt,' Koko finally touched ground, kicked a leg up and over the onyx handle, as she stood, her other leg heel-kicked up her broom sending it up into the air spinning once, twice before a straight arm reached out and caught it by the shaft with one hand as the other held the brim of her cap. For a moment longer she held the pose then the broom puffed into red cinders and ash and reformed as a tattoo sprawling diagonally across her back.
The empty hand then reached for her goggles then snapped them above the brim of her cap which she then tipped at a cute young witch before winking a red eye at her then she spun away towards her destination, cloak flourishing like a sailfish leaping into the air then diving back into the water. She unzipped the enchanted leather mask at her face and left it hanging at her neck splayed out like another set of teeth neath her chin. With a practiced and proper strut, Koko made her way over to the group gathering up around an unremarkable looking young man. Koko, however, knew that he was far from unremarkable. In fact, even though she had received little info on them, she figured out that none of the 176th were even remotely close to being defined as unremarkable.
{{You always land like that and wink at a girl. Do those other girls think you are cool? Do you think you are cool? Is that why you do that?}}
{{Enough with the 'why's' Miss-Daemon-sir. Look sharp, look alive and look out. I think that is my squad...? Yeah, there's that Tsukiboshi guy...}}
A quick snap salute, a tip of the cap, a curt nod she gave to acknowledge them. Rei floated at shoulder level and did their volleyball-sized eyeball rendition of a curt, yet polite bow. With a stern look upon her face, Koko blurted out: "Yamato-Smithe Kokoro reporting for duty, sir!"
Then suddenly she broke her pose and pointed at Yuta's footwear, "You didn't shine your shoes! What a disgrace! He did not shine his shoes!!" Then just as suddenly she paused, frozen in the spot. "Made ya look..." A slow curly smile broke free from between her lips. A sly wink she tossed him.
"Hey, it's just a joke, Mister Witch!" exclaimed the tall Witch. Without thinking, she reached out with one gloved hand and pulled Yuta into a very forward, yet friendly hug. As soon as she realized just how forward... and awkward that hug was her grin faded and her eyes popped wide open. Both cheeks turned a nice heated shade of pink as she released the smaller teen. A long sideways step she took away from Yuta.
With one hand behind her back now and eyes lowered to the ground, she swept her other hand towards her red, glowing eyeball-shaped Daemon familiar, "Ahem. And this is Rei-san. They may not communicate with all of you vocally, only telepathically with your Daemon Familiars, but rest assured they respectfully greet you as well--"
{{Should I attempt to quickly hug the nearest Daemon next to me too? Or is that embarrassing? Your cheeks are red. Are you embarrassed? Is that why they are red?}}
{{Enough with the 'why's' Miss-Daemon-sir...}}
Koko just kept her eyes low and sighed.
