Lange

An intense heat filled Kotaro's body as his consciousness flickered in and out. It felt like a boulder was pressed against his chest. In one second, Kotaro could taste something similar to blood, while in the next he tasted absolutely nothing. Not even his own bland saliva.

Seconds pushed into hours, or so it seemed from Kotaro's perspective, and the taste of blood became increasingly common. A voice, a small, buzzing voice, began to slowly emerge from the darkness of Kotaro's consciousness.

Kill…Destroy…Flesh…Delicious flesh…

The voice started as a whisper, but it soon became so loud and so overwhelming that Kotaro felt compelled to respond to its beckoning. Deeper and deeper Kotaro fled into his own mind and he desperately sought a way to keep the voice away. It's sweet, tantalizing words hanging over his ears.

The darkness around him shifted and swam as it formed a scene that was all too familiar. The long, dark, narrow halls with their wooden tiles and dark gray walls. The flickering light at the end of the hall showing a large, hunched figure standing over the bodies of his mother, father, little sister and older brother.

Suddenly, he remembered the old katana that his father had kept hanging up over the fireplace. Before he even knew it, the katana laid in his hands; its blade baring cold steel. The saya was a deep black with an oni mask engraved in the middle.

The blade, however, was something rare. His father had shown it numerous times, and he never understood how it worked. Though the katana's blade was usually like any other piece of steel, it was now blood red.

The oni mask engraved near the bottom of the blade shone with a hatred unlike any other before as Kotaro bared his teeth toward the Demon smiling over his families dead bodies. A cold, mocking smile.

Without any conscious action of his own, Kotaro's body began to settle into a low stance as he held the katana, its edge facing behind him, angled at his side. With a deep snarl that came from his gut and tore at his throat, Kotaro began to slide his foot back and get ready to attack.

"Astral Breathing: Third Form. Hollow Strike."

With a push of his legs, Kotaro had leapt forward and reached the Demon in the blink of an eye. With a single, sharp rotation, Kotaro's katana sliced through the Demon's neck, decapitating it and killing it instantly.

---

With a choked cry, Kotaro flung himself into a sitting position. His chest heaving and his lungs burning for air. The dream hung over his eyes like a veil. Haunting. Tormenting him for what felt like ages.

He could feel a dark, sickening taint in his very soul. It felt like he had tossed himself inside of a trash bag full of vomit.

Kotaro looked around the small room he was in, its polished wooden floors and white painted walls giving it a normal look. There was a door at the other end of the bed Kotaro was laying on, and only a single desk at the side of the bed with a small bookshelf on the side wall next to the door.

He lifted himself up out of the admittedly comfortable bed and shook off any remaining knots in his arms and legs before cautiously walking toward the door and cracking it open just enough to see into the narrow hall.

It was dark. No light shone down on the floor, but Kotaro could feel, smell, and hear the people all around him. They lurked in the halls, waiting for him to walk out. Kotaro gently shut the door and looked around the windowless room before settling his gaze on the desk.

A small note folded neatly into a square lay behind a book bound in a dark leather casing. Kotaro walked over and began to unfold the note.

'Time can only tell what you truly are. Man or Monster, we shall see for ourselves. If you manage to slip past the guards stationed outside of your room, meet me at the fountain in Central Plaza.

L.L.'

Kotaro scrunched his brows together in confusion as he mouthed the word 'monster' before shaking his head. It makes no sense, he thought as he glanced back at the door behind him. Without even realizing it, he was sniffing the air. There were thirteen men outside of his door, hiding in the shadows of the hall.

They were all over thirty, combat veterans most likely as well. Back when Kotaro was a kid, he used to steal food and jewelry from people passing by in the streets, or run away from the police when he was caught. But he knew he couldn't make it out of here, not without being seen.

His dark eyes began to shift, changing from a deep brown to a resplendent gold with red slits for pupils. Kotaro was able to make out the shapes and locations of every man outside of the door through the walls. They were like a mass of heat, flickering in the wind.

When Kotaro blinked, however, the images were gone. So too were his golden eyes. The feeling of being tainted had grown even stronger. With a short sigh, his curiosity had gotten the best of him. With deft hands, Kotaro snapped a piece of wood off of the leg of the desk and fashioned a makeshift shiv out of it.

With a quick inspection, he was able to deduce that it would last him only once. If he was spotted, he had only one chance to escape. He couldn't hesitate.

He quickly made his way to the door, the smell of the men outside getting stronger by the second, almost as if they were working up the courage to draw closer to the door. As quiet as a shadow, Kotaro slipped the door open wide enough to squeeze through.

He shut the door without making a sound, his ears picking up slight movements in front of him. It seemed like the closest man was sticking to the left wall. He would be easy to avoid. Deft feet spun circles around the alert guard, making Kotaro's form seem like nothing but a passing breeze.

When he passed the guard, his hand instinctually tightened around the makeshift wooden shiv in his hands, and he felt a passing disappointment that he didn't kill the guard. Kotaro realized that he felt like a completely different person. He no longer felt like his old self.

Slowly but surely, Kotaro was able to slip past guard after guard, however, before he was able to fully get out of the hall, the first guard raised an alarm. He must've went in the room, Kotaro thought as he hid behind a corner and listened to the guards run by.

When he turned and began to make his way through the hall trying to find a way out, a man dressed in a SWAT uniform opened a door beside Kotaro, his pistol's flashlight shining in the hall. With a quick dash, Kotaro was right on top of the man, his wooden shiv high in the air.

The shiv came down as Kotaro grabbed the man's wrist and pointed the pistol in the air away from him. The man stepped aside and cocked his leg back, but Kotaro beat him to it. He reversed the flow of the shiv, flipped it around in his hand, and stabbed it through the man's bicep.

The man let out a stifled yell as Kotaro swept his feet out from under him before yanking the shiv out of his arm and plunging it in his neck. Kotaro quickly grabbed the pistol, the man's belt that held the rest of the mags, and the nice military grade combat knife and its sheath.

Kotaro placed the body inside of the room it had come out of before closing the door and continuing on under the deafening sound of thumping boots and muffled yells.

After what seemed like hours, Kotaro reached the end of the hall and quickly peeked over the sides of the corners. Once he confirmed that there were no people nearby, he began to sprint down a series of winding hallways until he came across a large window divided into four squares.

He began to slide his hands across the sides of the frames, looking for a latch to slide the window open, when a sudden shout made him about leap out of his skin. "Over there! He's down the hall!" A bullet whizzed past Kotaro's face, and he leapt back before running forward and crashing through the window.

After several seconds of falling, he braced himself for impact, one which a normal Human would have never of survived, but when he hit the ground he was perfectly fine. A cloud of dust and debris shot out from the paved cobblestone walkway leading toward the large, golden lined, polished wooden doors behind him, obscuring him from his pursuers.

Kotaro kept his back to the wall of the large mansion as he edged his way closer to the fence near the left side of the building. Once he got there, he was able to hop the fence and escape into the woods beyond. It felt like he had been running for years once he made it to the rural Karah District. Central Plaza was just in site...

I have to get out of here, I have no time for meeting whoever it was that wrote this letter, Kotaro thought as he shook his head vigorously. He sprinted off down an alley and leapt over a multitude of trashcans before making it to a chain-link fence and clearing it with a single jump, much to his own surprise.

Muffled shouts and cries came from behind Kotaro as he sprinted down a long, winding road, the voices soon lost as he began to run further and further away. Kotaro had a sense of security despite not knowing where he was going, and the memory of killing that man with a splintered shiv was still fresh in his mind.

No, Kotaro thought as he tensed his neck, I had no other choice. I had to get out of there...

Kotaro rounded a curve in the road and dodged a car speeding past. He turned and watched the car round the curve and disappear with a roar of its engine before turning back around and getting ready to sprint off once more.

"I knew you would do this," a familiar voice said with an irritated sigh. Kotaro spun around, looking for the owner of the voice, but there was no one in sight. "Don't bother looking for me too hard. I won't reveal myself until I decide that you're in control."

Kotaro grit his teeth as he took a slow step backwards. The ground behind him cracked and burst open, revealing the intricate layers of pipes and lines underneath. "Don't try to escape either. It will only get harder for you."

An echoing shift, like someone moving their feet, danced around Kotaro as the person spoke once more. "I should have known that you would have ignored the letter. Thankfully, I had enough common sense to not trust you…"

Kotaro clenched his fists as he yelled out, his voice edged with panic and frustration. "What the hell do you want from me!? Come out! I'm getting tired of this hiding shit! Come out!!" He heard a stifled laugh echo around before the voice spoke again.

"I always thought that you were a quiet guy that had issues displaying emotions, but I guess I was completely wrong. You have free written all across your face…"

A girl about Kotaro's age with elbow-length golden-red hair, bright crystal blue eyes, delicate and soft features with a toothy grin that seemed to know everything about him, and mocked it too. Kotaro's fingernails dug into his palms as he looked at the pristine white katana in Lise Lange's hands.

"You," Kotaro said through clenched teeth, "Were you the one that put me in that room? Surrounded me with guards that were ordered to kill me at first sight!?"

Lise shrugged, her hands gripping her katana tightly, before saying, "That was the work of my father, so no not directly. You were the one who attacked me after all. You can't blame my father for detaining you…"

A shiver coursed down Kotaro's spine as he tensed his legs and slightly arched his back. "Come with me, and I can protect you, Kotaro. Teach you how to use your powers. Protect you from those who would use you…"

"You would use me all the same! You and your damned father! You don't care about me, only whatever the fuck it was I turned into. Don't try and honey your words with me." Lise sighed and sheathed her katana, her eyes squinted with a faint trace of sympathy.

"You are right, my father will want to use your...power, to bring the Angels to their knees, however, I want to see your rights as a Human protected. I want to see you thrive, Kotaro, can't you see that!? You have to come with me before it's too late. Before you go out of control and I am forced to kill you..."

Kotaro snorted and turned to face away from Lise. "I think I would prefer being killed than forced to do someone else's bidding. If you ever find me again...well, let's just pray you don't." Kotaro leapt through the air and landed on a tree branch before leaping onto the large hill bordering the roadside, leaving Lise to stare after him with her jaw firmly set.