As Kaori had introduced Haruhi to the whole clan before her, nobody could make any sound for some minutes. They took the time to process what she had said into their brains. By the time everyone was able to complete doing so, Yukine had fallen down on his knees the very first. Following him, Yamaken also knelt down before the dumbfounded Haruhi. Even Kaori was surprised by their actions. Soon enough, most of the others had also knelt down before the new girl who was still looking as clueless as ever.
It was as if Yukine was trying to clear out all the doubts in everyone's mind when he recited loudly with his head also bent downwards, "We humbly welcome you to the Power Clan, treasure guide Tsugumi Haruhi! All hail, long live the guide of the headmaster!" Choruses followed his voice as he finished, leaving Haruhi looking flustered right now.
Kaori's lips bent upwards as she finally understood what was going on. All the ones who had kneeled down were the shinki(s), not any masters. The way she was being shown respect, meant that Haruhi's position was way higher than that of shinki(s).
𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪(𝘴)?
Kaori looked sideways at Haruhi to see her fiddling with her hands. She then decided to help the girl with words.
"Rise up to your feet," She ordered all of the kneeled ones. "Haruhi doesn't know English.. So please use Japanese when she's around."
Kazuma came forwards to look at Haruhi properly. She had crooked up behind Kaori under his stare but when he gave his most handsome smile, she had eased at an instant.
"Nice to meet you," He stretched out his hand to shake hers, "I am Kazuma, Sakagami Kazuma. Kaori's uncle and also her teacher."
Haruhi shook his hand with enthusiasm, "Nice to meet you, too, Kazuma-sensei. I have heard a lot about you."
"You did?" Kazuma asked in surprise.
"Yes," Haruhi replied simply with a smile.
Taken by her graceful act, others also forwarded towards her to converse with her. Kaori broke out to a wide smile at this.
After all the greetings and clearing up the misunderstandings of her being the outsider everyone was talking about earlier, Yamaken thought that he ought to request something special of her.
"Haruhi," He called, gaining everyone's attention easily, "Please take care of our master. From now on, we are in your hands of her proper safety."
Although Haruhi felt pressured, she decided to reply his request with dignity. So she said back wholeheartedly, "I will do my best to keep your request."
Hardly had she finished her sentence when a light began to sorround her figure. All the presents were left out in surprise and amazement.
"What's going on?" Kaori murmured as she took a step back from her treasure guide.
After a moment, the light had dissolved just as randomly as it had appeared as soon as she asked this.
When it was gone, Haruhi asked the same question as her own master, "What just happened?"
Yamaken took the initiative to answer her question with a slight one-sided smile that wasn't clearly visible, "It seems that you have sealed the vow. You are now, a true part of the Power Clan."
**************************************
Since Haruhi was totally new in the world of abilities as far as Kaori knew, she decided to ask Yukine and Yamaken to help her out on everything while Yamaken and Yukine, gladly obliged her request.
Upon finally getting rid of all the commotions, Kaori strictly ordered everyone to go back to their work. And so, another day of the clan residents, began.
When she was about to depart from the scene, too, she was stopped by Yamaken who was the only one to stay behind even after her strict order.
Kaori was surprised by his sudden appearance before her, "What do you want?" She asked, straight forward.
He didn't say anything in reply but leaned forwards toward her. This time, she didn't step back at all.
And he smiled at this, "I don't want anything. But your change of behaviour towards me in the morning and now is quite different."
Kaori's eyes slightly widened at the statement, "What do you mean?"
𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵!
"Kaori," Yamaken began, "Could it be that you had forgotten about me? Is that why you were acting totally defensive against me back in the morning?"
"What?" Kaori muttered in fake disbelief, "No way! I'm fine, see?" She gave a cheeky grin.
Yamaken eyed her suspiciously once more before saying, "It's okay even if you had forgotten about me... As long as you recall everything back again, it's okay."
**************************************
Kaori spent the rest of the day with her friends. Since she couldn't give them any time nowadays made her feel very guilty and sad. So she took them to look around the whole headquarters this time and talked with them a lot. She also took another class on combat skills of the younger students. Her friends had went there to watch her and they were totally left out in awe by her. After enjoying the whole day, Kaori decided to take them back to the dining hall in the building for dinner in the late evening.
The seven were laughing at a joke that Tom had said as they entered the hall through the entrance. Kaori was also smiling but she stopped when she saw Kazuma waving at them from a table.
Most of the other residents of the clan was already there to have dinner so the tables were almost full of people. The chattering sound had filled the whole dining hall.
She walked to Kazuma's table with her friends. "Are you alone?" She asked as soon as she reached him.
"Yes," He chirped, "I kept seats for Yamaken, Haruhi and Yukine, too!"
Kaori smiled at his childish behaviour, "Thank you." She told her friends to take seats.
Kazuma immediately started chatting with Wood, Willia, Dylanthy, Robin and Tom. All of them even seemed to be enjoying the conversation, so Kaori decided to stay out of it.
She was looking for Yamaken, Yukine and Haruhi but none of them were coming yet. When almost quarter of an hour had passed, the food had began to be served but still, there was no sign of any of the three of them.
Kaori was about to tell Kazuma that she was going to look for them when Yamaken entered the dining hall hastily. He looked around the tables when he caught Kaori and the rest. He hurried to them and pulled out a chair as soon as he reached the table, sitting down on it.
"Sorry, I'm late," He apologized smoothly.
Kazuma nodded in return since he couldn't talk with food filled in his mouth. The six friends were enjoying the food as well without anything to worry about.
"Where is Yukine and Haruhi?" Kaori hissed at Yamaken.
"They are still in the training room," Yamaken replied as if he was devastated, "Those two are beyond my ability. So I decided to grab the dinner than waste my energy with them."
"Hey!" Kaori growled, "They must be hungry! Why didn't you bring them along?"
"As if I didn't want to," Yamaken scoffed and grabbed a fried chicken leg.
"𝘈𝘩, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳," Kaori decided in her mind.
**************************************
After dinner, maximum of the people went back to their dormitory to rest until the next morning - well, that's how life was in here.
Kazuma walked the eight to the exit of the dining hall. "I shall take my leave from here," He informed the other eight, "You guys should rest, too. It has been a long day."
"Um, Kazuma-sensei," Wood asked away as he called Kazuma by the name everyone else uses here, "What about our school?"
Kazuma smiled assuringly at the question, "Don't worry. You guys are on leave from school for now. You can go back before the end of third term or anytime else as you like."
"We're on leave?" Robin asked, surprised.
Kazuma nodded, "I had asked the principal of your school, my old friend, to help me cover Kaori's true identity from the others. He had given me his words then and afterwards, according to that, he permitted all of you a leave from school for the time being due to a sudden matter that lays unknown from everyone. Don't worry, the school authorities, the staffs and the rest have also taken the bait as he had informed me."
Wood sighed in relief, "Thanks for everything."
Tom nudged him at this, "See? I told you everything will be fine. Now let's enjoy our free time!"
"Free time?" Willia scoffed, "We've got to study. The third term exam is coming up."
Melissa whined at her, "Willia, you should stop being with Wood. You are literally turning into him!"
As they bickered and walked away from the entrance to the dining hall, Kazuma, Kaori and Yamaken watched the group of six with small smiles visible on their lips.
Kaori quickly turned back to Kazuma, "Thank you for the help, sensei. If you would excuse me now, I should head over to the training room to meet Yukine and Haruhi."
Kazuma gave a nod promptly, "Go on ahead."
"Then, have a good rest tonight. See you tomorrow," She bowed to her teacher before running to catch up to her six friends.
However, Yamaken stood there beside Kazuma and kept glancing at him from the corner of his eyes. He wanted to leave with Kaori, too but he couldn't just leave like she did.
"She looks happy," Kazuma muttered audibly.
All of Yamaken's attention was snatched away by this. He awaited more words from Kazuma as he looked fully at the older's face.
"Don't let that happiness ever leave her," He ordered quietly. "She deserves this happiness more than anyone. But unfortunately, I couldn't give her that. So I wish to keep that happiness that she has now, intact. Help me, will you?" He now turned to meet the eyes of Yamaken that has been watching him even before.
"I will," Yamaken replied lowly as he looked down.
Kazuma smiled sadly at the boy who was looking downwards and said, "What gappened in the past wasn't your fault, Yamaken. So, it's alright. Stop feeling guilty about it." He then gave some caring pats on the younger's shoulder before starting to walk away from him to head towards the dormitory of the clan's residents.
Yamaken watched quietly from the back as the elder walked away from him until he couldn't see the figure in the darkness anymore. He let out a sigh and then began walking towards the way that was taken by Kaori and her friends.
**************************************
Kaori parted ways from her seven friends on the way since she had to head to the training room.
As she reached the doorstep, she heard Haruhi's exclamation, "𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩!"
Kaori peeked through the crack of the door to see Haruhi swishing her hand against Yukine who had tried to attack her. But now, he couldn't move any longer since he was paralized by the other.
Haruhi smiled and forwarded to Yukine, "𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚."
"Whoa, you really progress so fast," Yukine smiled slightly, "Good job. Let's learn another move today, then we can call it a night."
"Okay," Haruhi replied enthusiastically.
Yukine threw her a towel, "Let's take a short break first."
Haruhi began wiping her sweat using the towel while Yukine went to the washroom to freshen up.
This was Kaori's chance to enter.
"I see you two are working hard," Kaori commented, making the helpless girl jump in fright.
"Oh my God!" She screamed in bewilderment, "It's you, you scared me!"
Kaori apologized with a smile before handing out two small packets, "I brought them for you guys."
Haruhi took them from her, "What are these?"
"Dinner," Kaori replied shortly, "You weren't there at the dining hall. But since you are working hard, you should be hungry. Eat them together."
Haruhi stared at Kaori for a moment before thanking her quietly. "Is there something in your mind?" She asked Kaori, "You sound as if you do. If there is, you can tell me."
Kaori gave it a thought if she should just tell her. Then she decided it was better to tell her, "Haruhi, I took you in as my treasure guide and also as my shinki.. But I had to do that in order to regain my memories again by receiving your help. That's why, it's okay if you don't force yourself to take all the responsibilities to protect me or whatever. I'm fine on my own."
"What are you saying?" Haruhi asked even if she could clearly understand what Kaori was saying. She was hurt by those words, but she pretended not to be.
"I mean, don't strain yourself for me," Kaori said straightly, "Enjoy your new life in the clan."
The room fell into silence at these words. After a couple more of minutes of this lingering silence, Kaori decided to leave the room.
"I'll be heading back to my room then," She said to Haruhi, "You two should go and sleep, too."
"Kaori!"
Kaori turned back to the girl who had called out to her strongly, "Hm?"
"I'm not doing this because I took all those requests from the others nor because I took those responsibilities seriously," Haruhi spoke out desperately. She needed to make the misunderstandings in Kaori's mind to wash off.
"I am doing this because I myself want to help you. Because I decided to be your server, I allowed you to take me in," She said, determined, "I'm not taking you as a burden.. So you shouldn't take me as one, too."
Kaori couldn't say anything back in reply for a moment. She didn't know about Haruhi's true feelings. She had thought that maybe Haruhi was doing all these because everyone had asked her to do so.
Thinking of this now made her smile. "Okay," She said to Haruhi lowly, who looked as if she was glad to be able to make Kaori understand.
Then, Kaori turned to leave again, before Yukine came back.
**************************************
Yukine walked into the room again, with his face and fringes wet. He saw the packets in Haruhi's hands, "Did somebody come by?"
Haruhi turned around at him to give him a small smile and a nod at his question. "Yes," She replied simply as she walked over to the side bench and put the packets on it.
"Who was it?" Yukine asked again with curiosity.
"Kaori," Haruhi smiled again, "She came by because she was worried that we didn't go to the dining hall to have dinner."
"Ooh," Yukine nodded at the answer he was given. Then he ended up smiling, too.
"She's cute," He grinned at Haruhi who nodded with a bright, smiling face.
"I love how she cares for everyone," Haruhi said as she recalled the memories of Haru and the personalities of Kaori that she had seen in such a short time.
"Yeah, me too," Yukine agreed. "That's why I want to give my best to her just the same."
"Me, too," Haruhi agreed back with a grin.
**************************************
Not being able to sleep, Kaori was stirring on her bed from this side to the other side time to time for the past half an hour. Finally, she couldn't bare it anymore that she sat up straight on the bed.
"Why can't I sleep?" She grumbled to herself out of frustration. "I was sleepy just a while ago!" She pulled her hair and threw her legs around as she whined.
After staring at the ceiling for alomost five more minutes, she decided to go to the balcony and enjoy the midnight nature than just sit on her bed and stir around with nothing to do.
Now, the apartment she used to live in at the dormitory was for both the cursed blood section and the mixed blood section since the residents of these two sections are rare. For that reason, this apartment was pretty big and spacious. There was a dining room, a kitchen, literally ten seperate rooms and a balcony at the living room.
The living room had no entrance door. It was just on the other side of the dining room while the balcony was at the other side of the living room. For these use of extra space, the dining room was also enormous just like the whole apartment.
The door to Kaori's room was on the left side of the living-cum-dining room while Yamaken's was on the right side.
Then again, Wood, Willia, Dylanthy, Robin, Tom and Melissa didn't have any place in the clan to stay. For that, they have occupied six rooms of the same apartment for the time being. On the other hand, Touma had been moved to the water section's apartment already when Kaori wasn't present.
Coming out of her room, Kaori closed the door silently behind her and tip-toed towards the balcony, trying her best not to make any sound and awake the others living in the apartment.
As she slid the sliding door off behind her, a strong gush of cold wind slapped on her face and made her short hair flow back in the wind. Smiling, she leaned on the railing and stared upto the sky afar, it had so many stars tonight.
With nothing else better to do, Kaori started counting the stars in the sky with a smile still plastered on her face. She liked strong, cold winds, She liked starlit night, she liked to stare up at the vast sky like this at midnight.
While proceeding to do what she was, it felt like the more stars she counted, the more there appeared to be in the sky. That was when she noticed the brightest star of the sky. It looked so beautiful to Kaori at the moment that she gaped at it.
"Can't you sleep, too?"
Kaori almost yelled out in fright if she hadn't turned around to see Yamaken standing at the sliding door. He then entered the balcony to stand next to Kaori, leaning on the railing.
"You, too?" Kaori asked him.
Yamaken nodded in reply, "Yes. That's why I thought I should get a breather."
Kaori smiled away, "We sure are alike, aren't we?"
Seconds of silence passed by when Yamaken decided to ask what Kaori was doing before he came here.
"I was counting the stars," She replied in a daze, "It's such a beautiful night here. I rarely have this kind of alone time back in America."
"You live alone," Yamaken said blankly.
"I often have nightmares," Kaori said straightly, "I can't enjoy the night back there."
"Oh.."
"Do you know about The Future Star?"
"The what star?" Yamaken asked back, not certain of what she was talking about.
Kaori smiled again at his reaction, "The Future Star. It is a star that lights up the path of the lost people. It guides them to their life. A star that gives people hope, to live until the end."
"Heh?" Yamaken said, still confused, "Does that kind of star even exist?"
"Yeah," Kaori said surely, "If there isn't such a star, then there will be.."
"Is that so.."
Again, minutes of silence followed before Kaori said somethings that made Yamaken look at her as if he was lost in memories.
"Now that I remember, the night Haru died was just like tonight," She said, still looking at the sky, "It was starlit, cold wind was blowing and the night was truly beautiful. Who would have thought that such tragedy would take place in the cover of beauty?"
[Flashback]
!Clang!
!Stab!
!Slash!
Kaori was in a mission that day. The black wolf was sent to finish off a clan of the corrupted spirits along with her two teammates - Fujinuma and Yukine. Haru and Yamaken weren't assigned with her, so they couldn't come.
On the way to almost finishing the clan off, or so they thought, Kaori faced the most powerful corrupted spirits of all - the Shadow Reaper.
As it approached her with heavy steps, it roared out loudly and swung its enormous hand horizontally when Kaori ran forward to stab it using Yukine as a sword.
"Kaori!" Fujinuma shouted as he saw her being flown over to the other side by the blow and landing on the ground with a thud as she rolled away.
He ran over to her, "Kaori! Are you okay?"
Kaori's eyes were firing up as she watched her target, "I'm fine."
"Revert, Yukine-kun."
As soon as Yukine came back to his original form, he yelled, "Why? You need me right now!"
Kaori simply gave him a 'shut up, I know what I'm doing' type of glance, "I can't use you against that," She pointed at the giant spirit which was changing its shape now.
"You'll die if I do."
"So what?! I vowed that I will protect you risking my own life and name!"
"I said, no!" Kaori yelled in two tones higher than Yukine, "Consider my feelings, too."
Yukine froze at her words and was not able to argue back.
"Fujinuma-san," Kaori called the silver haired male who looked at her in return, "We can't stop the tide of spirits if I don't finish off the Shadow Reaper, right?"
"For now," Fujinuma gulped, "That's what my knowledge is saying. The Shadow Reaper is controlling the other spirits of this clan."
"Okay " Kaori made up her mind, "You two focus on finishing everything off that comes in my way. I'll be focusing on finishing off that thing and getting us out of here."
"Kaori," Fujinuma warned, "You do know that the Shadow Repear can change its shape and form to confuse its attacker, right?"
"I do," Kaori moved her hands and two sharp knives came out of her sleaves, "After all, I'm Izumi Kaori. I've been trained for this."
"Alright then, assemble!" Kaori ordered and the other two stood with their backs on her back as they took out their weapons to face the attacks of the spirits coming their way.
And then, the fight began.
⭐🌟⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐❤⭐🌟⭐