Home with You

A cold mist filled the entire room, accompanied by the loud, trembling pants of a boy, his fists left burn marks on the walls he clenched against, his gaze fixed on his own reflection. "Aomi, calm down. We can talk about this," Mizuki approached cautiously "It's not your fault," 

He turned his glare onto her, before a sharp icicle rose from the ground, almost hitting Mizuki's chin. The little boy: Kinaki, hid behind the sofa, trembling with the broken toys in his hands. Aomi had a quiet moment, he took a glance at his hands and saw only bloodstains, turning his attention to his surroundings, discovering what he had done during his episodes. 

"I-I'm sorry," he left the scene with tears falling onto his eyes, the ice began to melt, with Kinaki approaching her

"Why is he like that?" he asked,

She answered "It's because of his past, little one, blaming himself for everything…" she pats his hair, "How about you get some sleep, little one," He nodded his head, running off to his room with his own little two feet.

Mizuki sighs, placing her undivided attention to the room in front of her, she could hear the "Silent" sobs of her brother, and harsh words being thrown at someone. She knows that 'it' will hunt them when she leaves, but without a choice, she has to warn him about the threat, and subdue his behavior. Mizuki knocked on the door, putting on her smile

"What do you want?"

"To talk? What else?"

"You think you're so smart!"

"Heh… What if I told you there's a monster lurking within this world, feeding off hatred from humanity, It finds its host from those who are vulnerable, and steals their body,"

"I know what that is, and you can't scare me! Unless, what you're saying is that—"

"Heh! Look who's smart now!"

"Shut it!"

Mizuki chuckles to herself, before her tone shifts "Remember to take care of Kinaki for Elysia," Aomi heard her footsteps slowly fading out. He heard the entrance door being shut. He breathes in, with only one thing in his mind, how can he take care of him?

A brand new day has started, Kinaki was first to wake, washing his face before heading downstairs expecting a meal. To his horror, he never smelled food, nor the sight of it on the table, his stomach grumbled. He put on his thinking cap and stared into the metal fridge. He entered the cold domain, scavenging through multiple ingredients and recalled a memory when he spotted a soft cube with a strong scent. Kinaki took it out along with some vegetables and began chopping them into thick bits. 

Time passed and he had finished preparing some old-fashioned soup for breakfast, Aomi exited from his room and followed the aroma. Kinaki saw him pass by and froze. His companion sat down across his own spot, and tried enjoying a bowl of soup. The air around them began to get colder, he could feel his body starting to tremble. Kinaki attempted to take a sip from his bowl, only to realize his portion was solid.

"Apologies," Aomi uttered, with the air slowly returning to its natural temperature. He took the other bowl and continued to hold it in his hands. Smoke escapes through the bowl and not for too long, the soup was returned to its fresh state. Neither too hot, nor too cold. 

"Where is she?" Kinaki questions

"She's visiting a friend," Aomi sat up from the table and threw his bowl at the sink, before attempting to return to his room. Seeing him in such a calm state, he gathers the courage to ask him for company in playing with his toys "Wanna play with me?" Aomi stared into his eyes, he opened his mouth but no words came out, before turning around and shut the door.

Disappointed by the result, Kinaki slowly walked back into the living room and played with his toys alone, doubt creeped into his mind until he stepped out of his room and hid from his sights while observing his every action, making sure he was safe from harm. 30 minutes have passed and nothing happened "Why am I even worried? It's not like something's going to come out and eat him, right? Am I right?" Just then, he noticed something run past in the windows. He couldn't get a glimpse of the creature he saw running, he opened the windows and found footsteps as huge as a lion's, running towards the forest. 

He turned back to Kinaki, he laid motionless on the floor, with his hands and legs spread. He recalled a memory that flashed in his eyes. In that same spot, his sister would be smiling and playing with the kid's toy, just to accompany Kinaki. Watching in the distance, he'd smile to himself, seeing how fun they were having, but chose not to interfere. 

During those fun times, he recalled a lesson from his sister in creating objects. He applied those lessons, creating a figure of ice mist, a mirage as what he'd call it. A part of his subconscious was inserted into creating the figure, it flew onto Kinaki and poked it with his toys. 

"Aomi?" he asked, with the mirage shaking its head "Wait, then how did you get here? You shouldn't be here, what if my guardian gets mad? She does not welcome uninvited guests,"

Aomi began speaking through it "I'm nothing but a mirage, only you can see me, but I am able to interact with physical objects,"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"To make it simpler, only you can play with me,"

"Really? What do we play?" Kinaki eagerly asked, and the mirage flew upwards and began displaying its sparkly display of abilities to him. He replicated the art and is able to perform it with relative ease. Aomi smiled, finding a solution for his predicament, but then realized that it was his companion's bathing time. He sighed and came out of the corner with Kinaki still distracted, he called out to him, purposefully making the mirage run away and disappear.

"It's bath time! Get ready, I don't wanna waste my time!"

"Y-yes!" he left the room, Aomi snickers to himself silently before following his companion to the bathroom. The little guy could not clean himself, and someone always has to do it for him, however from past observations, he doesn't look forward to it one bit, but it was a requirement from his sister. He entered the room, and found the little guy sitting in a tub filled with water and bubbles, confused on how he achieved it, until he saw the bottles of soap on the floor. 

Aomi took a pair of gloves and a chair, poured some shampoo on it and began scrubbing Kinaki's hair, he took deep breaths, and gently scrubbed, the little one hadn't felt relaxed whenever someone touched his hair. 

"Wow, I thought I would have to fight you if your scrubbing were as bad as your sister's" He remarked, and Aomi laughed as a response

"Tell her,"

"I will not! It'll hurt her feelings," Aomi began rinsing his companion's hair, and threw him a towel to dry. Kinaki went away as Aomi cleaned everything inside the bathroom before exiting it. Only to find his companion still wearing the towel. Mizuki hadn't done the laundry for the week, and all of his clothes were inside. Aomi groaned, took his arms and dragged him to his room to make him borrow his clothes. He searched deep into his wardrobe and found a set of clothes his companion could wear. He went out of the room and waited for him to change.

Minutes passed and he was finished dressing up, Aomi came in and his eyes went wide as he saw Kinaki wearing his orange hoodie that was oversized. He took it off of him "You can't wear this!" He screamed

"Why not?" Kinaki asked, with no response from his caretaker, only staring at the hoodie as red stains still hadn't disappeared on it, however the eyes of his companion were too irresistible and he ended up giving it to him

"Fine! You can keep it, I never use it anyway,"

"Thank you!" he tried reaching out for a hug, and Aomi dodged to the left, nearly causing him to fall to the ground, then caught afterwards.

"No hugs" he pulled his arms away and took a step back, 

"Oh, I forgot, you kind of hate me, you're only doing this because of your sister… I'll go away, and you can have this back," He returned the hoodie to him, before exiting the room and gently closing the door behind him. Aomi blankly stared at it, standing motionless, replaying those words. He turns to his room, still filled with scratches and burns from his previous tantrums, yet the room was neatly cleaned, and no shard was sitting on the floor. When he left his space, it's as if something important, other than his sister had left him, something that made his space more bearable to stay in.. 

He swiftly opens the door, "Wait!" he shouted, grabbing the little one's hand and pulling him closer "There's something I want to tell you," he wrapped his arms around him. At that moment, all the ice in his heart started to melt, flooding his eyes with tears. He gripped tighter and tighter, memories flooded his eyes as he could see the blood stains in his hands. "I didn't want to ruin you, you're perfect!"

Kinaki returned his gesture and wrapped his arms around Aomi "You never ruined me," There was a word within the depths of Aomi's mouth that he could never say, however in his gestures, even Kinaki could understand what he wanted to say. He smiled and enjoyed his warm embrace. Aomi smiled, still sobbing from his memories. "Does this mean you'll play with me?" Kinaki asked, and he could never refuse. He dragged him into the living room to play with his toys, and Aomi introduced something new to his dearest companion. He took him outside and channeled a large amount of his powers to transform the area into a battlefield for snowball fights. He instructed on what he should do, and gave him time to prepare. Even reaching the depths of the forest together while they played with their powers. 

They laid in the grass, staring into the sky while gasping for air. However, something from the bushes caused unrest from both boys. They were deep within the forest, and no one to protect them but themselves. Aomi took charge and walked in front, holding Kinaki's hand as he tried to guide him back to the house, while bushes rustled, as their predator was watching them from the shadows.

Both of them pressed forward, while turning left and right, swearing to each other that they saw something from the corner of their eyes, watching them. When they saw the house, He made Kinaki run for it, who used his vines to swing himself towards safety, following behind he turned back and caught a full glimpse of what was following them. He ran faster towards the house, and both boys escaped safely.

"What was that?" Kinaki asked, 

"An abomination, it has multiple deformed faces for its body, arms, and legs,"

"What should we do?"

"We survive," he said bluntly, with Kinaki nodding his head, retreating to the safest room he can think of, which was his friend's room. He entered as well, seeing him hide at the corner that was covered by his bed, Aomi had the great idea of relocating the tv into his room, as well as the playstation for the both of them to pass the time. Even when it was in an enclosed space, they managed to make it a little happier, even after the incident that had happened. 

Night approached them, and Kinaki was feeling the thirst for water, he turned to Aomi, "Can I grab some water?", still hesitating on the decision, he thought he could trust his friend to get a glass of water. He continued waiting for him to return, while thinking about what to do about the creature lurking within their house.

 He came out of the room as well, to grab some water… He had forgotten to lock the door. The monster bursted, heading straight for Kinaki, in an attempt to kidnap him. Aomi got a hold of his hand and tried pulling him away from the monster.

"AOMI HELP!" He cried to his friend, he had thought about freezing his hands to send it into the body of the monster, but the risk was too major. Without much time, the monster overpowered Aomi, managing to escape with his friend. He watched as it ran off into the woods.

An air filled with somber, with the winter breeze brushed through him. He fell to his knees as tears escaped through his eyes, followed by violent sobbing. "Why! WHY HIM?" Aomi clenched his fists, with a burst of flame wrapping around his arm. With the remaining traces of the monster visible to him, Aomi stood up and dashed towards the trails, leaving behind burn marks in each step, causing mass destruction on the trees of the forest, until he had reached a clearing.

He found the body of Kinaki hung in a tree, blackstones had already eaten most of his flesh, and the monster awaits his arrival "YOU!" Aomi growled at the abomination, only to get a disembodied voice that resembled a laugh, he lifted his palms and aimed it at the monster above the tree, but found Kinaki's head profusely shaking. Over time the blackstones have begun to engulf his body. Crawling into its face until it has entered inside his eyes. A loud pop went off, he could only witness the sight of what occurred.

The body stood up on its own, opening its hollow, magenta eyes for the first time. It sharpened its claws and maniacally stared at Aomi lunging itself for combat, the former parried the incoming strike pushing back the claws of his companions.

"YOU COWARD!" He pushed him away, taking up a defensive stance,

"Already scared? But the game has just begun, Aomi," the abomination stated, still fixing his gaze into his target. His hands were shaking, memories flashed before his eyes. Bloodstains on his hoodie, the same flame and Ice that took everything away from him. 

The abomination discovers the opening, attempting to strike Aomi. He began dodging the flurry of slashes from the monster. He refused to fight back, not wanting to repeat the same fate that his family has faced. It resorted to using its strings, wrapping around the sword and snatching it away from his grasp, the abomination dashed forwards and stabbed Aomi in the stomach, wrapped him in strings and threw him in the air, before firing off a large magenta spike at him. Aomi was impaled from the spike.

Yet, even though it was his own blood, he still recalls the memory of his past. "A cursed child! Your flames never belong in the land of ice!"

"What an embarrassment from such a high class family!" He smiled at those words accepting that he is such from the words his people described him-cursed. Yet, deep from his mind, a gentle voice spoke with him.

"You're more than that,"

"Sis?" he called out, recognizing the voice

"Yes, it's me, Aomi,"

"How can I free him? He's—"

"Already succumbed with your own hate. The curse, your flames, all stem from that hatred, just as we can use poison for medicine, perhaps you could use that to fuel your life." He opened his eyes, seeing himself already at the ground, his blood stained the grass. Aomi stood up fixing his sights at the abomination.

"You will regret not finishing me off!" He remarked, pulling out the spike from his stomach and swiftly summoned the sword from his hands and dashed to the side of the abomination, knocking him against the giant tree. It got up, and jumped on him, before its strike was blocked, before receiving slashes and a kick. 

The abomination laughed, as he slowly approached the monster, analyzing ways in freeing Kinaki from its grasp. Cracks began appearing on its body, it could not keep up, He devised a plan. Survive until it disappears. It reshaped its hand to form a blade, and charged at Aomi. Ice and steel clashed with the former emerging victorious, he stomped the ground with ice emerging from below. Its right hand was impaled from the attack, only then it had a brilliant idea of summoning Kinaki's plants against Aomi.

He dodged every projectile whilst charging at his opponent, before leaping at the skies, slashing the air and creating ice projectiles that rained down on the abomination, creating an explosion, followed by a smokescreen. It laughed while emerging from the impact. Cracks were all over the abomination, but also damaging Kinaki's body. His eyes widened, as the expression from its face. The life inside it has returned, tearing up from the pain he had caused

"Aomi! It hurts! You have to kill me, now!"

"I won't! There's some sort of way to free you! I can't kill you!" He felt his heart skip a beat, he stared into his hands and saw his companion's blood. They began shaking, as he heard snickering to his front 

"He's in pain he said, have you stopped and asked your family if they were in pain when you cold-heartedly killed them?" The blackstone began to spread all over his body, the abomination continued its assault, leaping everywhere while Aomi parried its attacks "Have you asked your sister, how she felt?" it threw remarks left and right as its speed increased. The blackstone spreads, Aomi, not only fights in the body, but mind as well. Parrying the demons and attacks away from him. 

Its hands began firing off the strings, "We both know that you never were enough! With your body in my control, I could show you what you're really made of!"

"LIES! MIZUKI WILL NEVER FORGIVE ME WHEN I LISTEN TO FOOLS LIKE YOU!"

"Your sister never cared about you, if she did, how come she left you even after knowing that there was a lurking threat?"

"SHUT UP! YOU NEVER DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!" It continued laughing as he pitifully struggles to free himself from the strings, he felt his hands wear out from him, the blackstones reached his neck already. He let out a sigh, and closed his eyes. 

He found himself in a sanctuary. A temple in the middle, surrounded with nothing but water. He sat there motionless, tears in his eyes and accepting his fate as he saw the sky being swallowed by blackstones. Somehow, someway. He retained his consciousness. Just as he was about to accept his fate, a smile formed on his face. 

A burst of light appears in the sanctuary, eradicating the corruption that leaked into his mind. Just then, a figure, similar to his own, approached the sanctuary. He opened his eyes once more, and saw the sunrise on the horizon. Kinaki's body was filled with cracks. He wondered where it went until he saw his sword and came to pick it up. There on his neck, a mark was left on it, leading up to his shoulders. 

He turned his attention back to Kinaki, came close to him and wrapped his arms around the little guy. Deep within his heart, sparked something he has never felt before. The words of his sister stuck to his mind. "I'm sorry, for you, i'll take care of myself, it was my fault it went for you. That whole shtick doesn't bother me anymore, what's important is that you are safe," A part of the corruption was stuck to his person, instead of freezing it in place, for him, it was better to let it flow like water. 

Kinaki opened his eyes, he felt Aomi's hands were wrapped around him, he turned his sights into his eyes, then down to his neck where he saw the flesh of that abomination. "Aomi? Are you still you?" He asked, the other replied with a smile and a nod. 

"Did you have a nice rest?"

"Nope! I'm still tired!"

"Let's get you home, i'll sing you a lullaby until you sleep,"

***

Months have passed, and Mizuki's trip took longer than expected, lasting until the day after Kinaki's birthday. She managed to enter back into the house, with everything fixed and cleaned after the attack from the monster. 

She placed the groceries in the kitchen "Oh my stars! I'm finally home, boys! I'm so sorry for the trouble I have put you through!" Mizuki ran up to the boys and gave them kisses, only then she noticed the tattoo on Aomi's body, from the neck to his hand.

"Sis, quiet down, he's sleeping," he whispers gently, continuing to caress Kinaki's hair "He had a fun day today in the city, it's only fair he gets some rest,"

"The city?" She turned her gaze to the table. Two distinctively designed Talismans were sitting on the table, a green one designed with plants and waters, has Aomi's name, with 情人 written on it, and a blue one, designed with flames and wind, has Kinaki's name with 亲爱. She gave him a cheeky smile and joins in on them, only then a certain woman enters the house "How is he?"