sky blue
dark water: chapter one
sky blue
Mikagami went through his exercises, the familiar moves giving him a peace of mind. One, two, three, four; one, two, three, four.
But as he was going through his fourth set, he heard an unnatural rustle of leaves from behind him. He whipped round, his sword up at the ready. And he got the shock of his life.
A figure stepped out from the shadows; long hair swinging, a sly smile playing on his lips. The thing was, he looked exactly like Mikagami.
Mikagami tried not to let his agitation show. "Who are you?" he said, as expressionless as possible. The other Mikagami smirked. "I see you have realised my presence, Mikagami-kun. Very very good." He clapped his hands as he walked over the green grass towards the slightly panicky Mikagami. "Don't you recognise me, Mikagami-kun? I am your darker side." He stopped a little while away from Mikagami, with his arms crossed, watching him with a piercing gaze.
Mikagami took a closer look. His clone wasn't exactly similar, he realised. For one, everything about him was darker. His clone had black hair to his silver-gray, black suits to his white, deep dark blue eyes compared to his ice-blue ones. But his skin, instead of being just fair like Mikagami, was white. The unhealthy pallor of his deathly-pale skin was accentuated by the shadows which clung to him. He gave an involuntary shiver. Death.
To get away was Mikagami's first reaction. Get yourself out of here. Mikagami thought as calmly as he could, calling upon Ensui to release mist. Under the cover of the thick vapour, he sped away from the clearing to the edge of the forest where he would be relatively safer in company.
But before he had gone more than 10 metres, another figure slid down from the branches of the tree before him. "Well well well, and where would we be going to? Mikagami-kun?"
K'so. cursed Mikagami mentally as he held Ensui up at the ready. The dark Mikagami smiled sweetly at him. "Well, I see someone's mind needs to be washed out!" He stood with his hands on his hips, his weight on one leg, his voice in a relatively higher lilt.
He can read my mind. Mikagami thought a little worriedly. "Rightly so," his image said, before walking towards him with a decidedly feminine sway to his hips. "You aren't the one I met just now," Mikagami suddenly accused.
The dark Mikagami stopped dead in his tracks before giving a tinkling laugh. "Very clever, Mikagami-kun." He crossed his arms and cocked his head at Mikagami, a sultry smile playing on his lips. It unnerved Mikagami, and he was about to send Tsunami Hebi hurtling through this perverted version of himself when the other dark Mikagami appeared.
The three Mikagamis stared at each other. The first dark Mikagami glared at Mikagami with a steely gaze. The other remained smiling, and the original decided that this was a good time to release Tsunami Hebi.
"No," The first one said, as he stepped forward, with a slight smirk on his face. The water snake dashed through him and crashed onto the tree behind him, causing the tree to fall heavily onto the ground. "As you can tell by now, Mikagami-kun, we aren't exactly solid."
And this time, Mikagami panicked.
The second dark Mikagami suddenly disappeared. Mikagami spun around, casting his ice-blue eyes frantically around to catch sight of this hidden enemy. What can be a stronger shield than concealment? Have you ever defeated an enemy you didn't know exist? This thought wormed its way through Mikagami's mind. He flicked his gaze to the first dark Mikagami who merely watched his frantic victim.
"Who are you?" Mikagami whispered, as he slid down to a sitting position, with his back to a tree. The dark Mikagami smiled, a cold evil grin that sent shivers down Mikagami's spine. "My name is Kurai. Your darker side." As he said so, the shadows swirled about him, like the mists of the morning. He approached Mikagami, who stayed frozen to the ground, watching each step like he was hypnotised. Mikagami shut his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. But nothing came. He opened them, to see Kurai standing before him. "Then who's the other one?"
"Oh. That's Kage. Your feminine side."
From all around him, a light tinkling laugh resounded while Kurai chuckled at the look of distaste on Mikagami's face. "No. Not really."
Kurai held his gaze and deliberately, he raised his hand to sweep his dark hair out of his eyes and behind to reveal three earrings on his left ear.
Mikagami stared in shock. How did he know? I never... he can read my mind.
A corner of Kurai's mouth twitched up in a half-smile. "Not always. Only if your mind is open to mine. Like now." He bent forward, and trailed a finger down Mikagami's cheek. "Not only the sleeping should fear dreams, Mikagami-kun. Especially if you are a victim of the darker side. We shape our weapons from the fears of our chosen ones." His breath played lightly on Mikagami's face.
Half of Mikagami wanted to scream, but the other half still thought logically. "How come you can touch me? And how come I am your 'chosen one'?" he spat out between clenched teeth tersely.
Kurai straightened, laughing gently. "I can be solid when I wish to, Mikagami-kun. And you are my chosen one, purely because it is in you to be dark. Don't you ever feel that you are responsible somewhat for your sister's death? That you are bound to kill, because someone dear to you has been killed, BECAUSE of YOU? You found out yourself that Mikagami Mifuyu was murdered because of something that her killer wanted. You." He stood back and cocked his head, watching Mikagami, waiting for a reaction.
"You can control my mind."
"Not really. Are you talking about the panic that is washing through you now?" As he said so, another wave of fear coursed through Mikagami.
"We aren't exactly responsible for that. I only place a little thought inside you. Whether or not you actually continue panicking, is up to your mind and your body." Kurai chuckled at the look of distaste on Mikagami's face. He stepped back, and waited.
"Tokiya!" A lovely lilting voice danced through the trees, and a shadow flitted through the trees. A young girl appeared before the duo, with tears running down her face, but a joyous smile on her lips.
"Nee-chan!" Mikagami exclaimed, and suddenly found it in him to leap to his feet.
"What are you doing here, Tokiya? Run, run, far far away!"
"What? Nee-chan, what are you saying?"
"Go, I'll try to keep them away from you!"
"Who, what?"
And before he could leap to his sister's defence, the other Mikagami had jumped forward, calling to him. "Is this what you've been dreaming of? Mikagami-kun? That you killed your own sister? Did it look like this?" Mikagami could only stand with widened eyes and watch as blood blossomed across the front of his sister's dress. "Tokiya!" His image bent to wipe the bloody knife on the grass.
The dark Mikagami stood beside his sister's body, the earrings glinting in the gloomy forest. The scene replayed in Mikagami's mind again and again. A Mikagami dashing forward. A splash of red across the floor. A woman screaming his name. The glint of earrings. The sound of laughter, in his own voice.
An agonised scream, a strangled sob. And thankfully, the darkness took over.
Author's Note:
How did this turn out? What will happen to Mikagami? Comments appreciated. Please, mail me.