Ravens Can be Shot Down (Paused)

From the very beginning, Harutora wasn't alone, and that may have made all the difference for him, when things boiled down to it. Waking up in a hospital, bandaged heavily and without any memories beyond his name and age of seventeen years... it was terrifying, and caused his heart to thud angrily against his ribs. He knew, though, that it wouldn't be a good idea to get up and take off like a madman in a movie... so he only lay there, even as she surprised him by appearing beside the bed.

She, was a young girl with a shoulder length, white bob cut. Her skin was pale as alabaster, and the girl possessed round, luminous blue eyes, thin, pink lips and a healthy blush to her cheeks. Her eyebrows were small and blob shaped, a cute trait that societal norms dubbed unattractive. This girl wore something reminiscent of a traditional Miko's outfit, themed blue and white, with small shorts instead of a skirt or pants... and, from her hair rose a pair of triangular fox's ears. Similarly, between her waistband and top's hemline, a large, bushy tail protruded.

She looked familiar, but...

"I can't remember anything, so I'm sorry, if you're a friend of mine... honestly, I'm kind of trying not to panic right now." He spoke dryly, casting his eyes up to the ceiling. His throat was hoarse and ragged... it felt like Harutora hadn't spoken once in the past several weeks. What had happened, to put him in a hospital like this...? Looking down at himself, he saw that his unclothed torso was crossed with bandages, and his left arm was also lightly bandaged.

"The doctors... they healed your head wounds, but they said that to save your life, th-they had to regenerate entire pieces of your brain. They said that your memories may be lost entirely... but, that doesn't change what I am to you, master Harutora... I'm Kon, your familiar!" She seemed to be saddened by the loss of his memories, but at the end, she tried to sound upbeat and cheerful, as if introducing herself to a new classmate. Her name didn't ring the slightest of bells...

"Kon... it's nice to meet you, I guess that's all I can say right now. What happened, to put me here?" He exhaled slowly and sat up, looking around. There was an IV in his arm, and a softly beeping heart rate monitor beside the bed.

"Y-You were in a subway accident, master Harutora, and you were one of only a few survivors toward the back of the train. Your best friend was there, but he survived as well, and with a lot less wounds than you, I'm sure you'll be glad to know!" Kon pumped a fist, grinning... but it was half hearted, and there was sadness in her eyes.

"Kon, come here," Harutora muttered, and gently pulled her against his torso as he sat up, wrapping his arms around her.

"M-Master Harutora!?"

"Just Harutora, alright?" He spoke quietly, releasing her after a long moment. "I think we both needed a hug, given the circumstances. I'm just... glad to be alive," Harutora spoke, feeling like he genuinely meant it, but tired, drained and in some pain.

"I... Mah... Harutora, I'm going to go and tell the nurses that you've woken, you should eat some food!" She was blushing darkly, now, and her blue eyes shot to and fro like something out of a cartoon.

"I don't want to stay in this room, you know? It'd be better if-"

"Mast- Harutora, stay here, please! As your familiar, I want to make sure that the doctors approve your leaving before you do so, the health of my master is top priority! Besides, your friends have been coming by every day after school to visit you, a-and they'll be here soon!" Her tail flicked about anxiously, but when he didn't argue, only smiled weakly at her, Kon turned and rushed off, out of the room, letting the door click shut behind her as her typical wooden sandals clicked on the floor.

"This is... going to be a mess," Harutora muttered. No sooner than he had, two people walked through the door; and the both of them had very different reactions upon seeing him. In fact, Harutora didn't have any time to react before a mess of pale skin and blonde hair was hugging him tightly... his eyes widened as he felt their soft lips mesh with his own for a moment.

"Mm?"

"Harutora~!" The girl grinned, standing back. She was petite, young, maybe a year younger than him... she wore a gothic black and pink outfit, which contrasted strangely with her bright blonde curls and blue-green eyes.

"He's lost his memory," muttered Kon, who'd just returned. Harutora looked at her... the kitsune looked a bit downtrodden, still. Was she really so upset for only his sake, or was there more to it? The blonde girl, whoever she was, stiffened, something in her eyes cracking.

"H-Harutora... you must remember me, right? Suzuka? Dairenji Suzuka?" The look in her eyes made Harutora himself want to cry... but, he had to get through this hard initial waking phase, if he wanted to get a life back.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember anything..." Harutora looked away guiltily, observing the other person who'd entered the room; a boy, with neat, dark hair, and a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

"It's good to see you awake, Tsuchimikado. I'm Momoe Tenma, and this is your... girlfriend, Suzuka Dairenji, though I understand you must not recognize anybody in here. We brought you some snacks, also; trust me, they're a lot better than the hospital food."

He and Suzuka sat on either side of him at the edges of the bed, each rooting through a small backpack, while Kon smiled to him, said that she'd be nearby, and vanished into the air.

"Well, you can't tell somebody that they love you, but let me at least prove what I'm saying," Suzuka said uncertainly, pulling out a smartphone and pausing in her backpack rummaging suddenly. In a moment, she turned the phone to face Harutora and handed it over. "Swipe, will you?"

Slowly, Harutora looked through. First, there was a picture of the two of them awkwardly sitting in a fast food restaurant booth, with him unwrapping a burger for her while she blushed furiously. The next showed the two lying in bed together in a school dormitory, judging by the looks of it, their arms and legs tangled up in a mess. Luckily for his dignity, here, both of them were clothed in that picture.

The next was a video.

"If you think you won't be too embarrassed, go ahead and click it," Suzuka said, blushing lightly and glancing away. Curious, Harutora did... he didn't know who was holding the camera, but Tenma, a girl with brown hair and a guy with red hair were all chuckling and jeering at Harutora and Suzuka, who were sitting together on a couch in what looked like some sort of common room.

"Come on, Haru, just do it!" The redhead laughed. "I mean, you want to, don't you?" As he said this, the Suzuka in the video laughed and pulled Harutora into a kiss; after a moment, he sighed and melted into it, looking both happy and embarrassed enough to drop dead on the spot... he looked like any normal teenager, having a good time, and others around them, in the video, looked pleasantly surprised or simply embarrassed.

The video ended, and Harutora tried to swipe, but there was nothing else. He didn't remember any of this, of course... but it did make him feel a vague spark of recognition when he looked at Suzuka.

"Do you... remember anything?" She raised a hand as if she was going to cup his cheek, but seemed to think better of it just a second later and let her hand rest against the bed again.

"I'm sorry, no... but, I feel something," Harutora muttered abashedly, sighing. "I remember... nothing, but I feel like I know you, like that's right," he tried to explain, sighing quietly. Suzuka smiled slowly and leaned back, a bit.

"Yeah..." Tenma chuckled softly, adjusting the position of his glasses. "Suzuka changed a lot after she met you, Harutora, and no offense to you, Suzuka, but for the better. It's good that you feel any kind of remembrance at all. If only I had some cool pictures to show you... but then, they probably wouldn't be as effective as hers', huh?"

"Ah, that's right, we have a message for you!" Suzuka grinned. "Two other friends of yours, Touji and Kuroko; they're the redhead and the brunette in the video. They wanted to come with us really badly, but Touji has to get weekly checkups at this time and Kuroko went with him just to make sure he didn't get into any trouble. They're going to be upset that they didn't get to be here for your first day awake... but, if the doctors okay it, we'll come and get you, all of us, tomorrow. How does that sound?" The blonde girl leaned forward a bit, smiling warmly. Harutora stared, for a moment; this girl was obscenely pretty, in a youthful way, and he felt slightly intimidated.

"Harutora, it's really good to see that you're awake," Tenma said brightly, grinning. "Why don't I leave, and let you and Suzuka have some time together? It might help you to go over some memories of your short time together... not that I'm not glad to see you awake," he added, slowly standing. Harutora smiled and nodded, his mind wandering to wonder where Kon had gone.

"I'm glad to see you, too, Tenma. It's nice to have friends here so shortly after I wake up..."

"Alright, I'll leave for now. Sleep well, Harutora, it's going to be a rough night if you're just waking up now, in the evening." Tenma patted Harutora's calf and turned, leaving the room, leaving a handful of wrapped snacks and candies behind. Once the door clicked shut, Harutora sighed and turned to Suzuka.

"I'm sorry, but I feel kind of guilty. Kon, come out, you don't have to stay hidden." With a small puff of off-white smoke, the kitsune appeared, blushing. Judging by the look on her face, she was debating whether or not she wanted to say something... within a few seconds, Suzuka said it for her.

"Harutora," she whispered, giggling. "We weren't exactly... well, we were dating, but Kon was sort of, also dating you. It's a massive, enormous, super huge taboo to date your familiar, so most people only know about you and I... but the truth is, we both agreed we don't really mind sharing you with each other, for now." Suzuka's giggle turned into a laugh, then, and Kon's blush intensified deeply.

"I um..." Harutora sighed quietly, rubbing his temples. "I don't really... remember much, but I don't... I don't feel like there's a problem with what either of you saying, or anything like that. I just... I think I'm going to need a bit of time to get used to things, now, you know? I mean... just, everything is mostly dark." Harutora felt color rising to his cheeks once more as the memory of Suzuka's initial kiss spun behind his eyes.

"No, no, of course we understand that, Harutora!" Kon was the one to answer, flicking her tail around quickly.

"We do," Suzuka agreed. "Though it pains me some to leave you here... wait, actually. If you want, Harutora, I could check with the nurses, see if I can take you back to the dorms at school. I could just text everyone and let them know where you are, and you could sleep in a comfortable bed." Harutora though about this, for a moment.

"Speaking of, Kon, didn't you tell somebody I was awake? I'm surprised none of the staff have come in, yet..."

"They said they'd be along in a half hour, when your visitors were gone! Visiting hours are over, but for the heir to the Tsuchimikado name, I guess they're willing to make an exception..." Kon grinned sheepishly, looking away.

"I see... Tsuchimikado, Tenma called me that. I'm... heir to the family?"

"It's a very distinguished family," Kon said happily, swaying her tail around in half circles. "I've been guarding your family for almost a hundred years! At least, that's what your father said... I've become something of an amnesiac myself, and my memories only go back about eight months..."

"The nurses also said," Suzuka changed the subject, sensing some discomfort. "That there's no reason to keep you here, and that they weren't even sure why you weren't waking up. You've been in a coma for almost two weeks..." Suzuka sighed quietly. "Now, do you want to come back to the dorms, and sleep with some real blankets over you?"

"Of course I'd love that..." Harutora laughed quietly, feeling a little of the color return to his flesh.

~~~

Half an hour later, Harutora, Suzuka and Kon were walking toward Onmyou Prep together as the moon rose in the sky.

"So, I'm a student at Onmyou Prep, heir to a rich and distinguished family, and I've got two girlfriends who are totally out of my league... have I ever had any problems in life at all?" He laughed, not uncomfortably, but confusedly to be certain.

"You've had no more problems than any other spoiled rich kid~" Suzuka teased, casting a bright grin his way.

"We'll help you through any problems that do come up, though!" Kon said immediately after, eyes determined. "You'll need to hit the gym, after lying without moving for two weeks, and you'll probably need help catching up with the classes!" Kon was right on at least one of those fronts; because already, after just this short walk, Harutora was struggling to get enough air, and his legs burned.

"Not all that much help with school, though," Suzuka said with a smirk. "You're not very talented with magic yet, but you have an... interesting style, and you work hard to memorize everything."

"An interesting style?" Harutora angled his head, somewhat confused. He understood the basics; Onmyou Prep was where exorcists, or Onmyouji, were trained to battle the demons that had long plagued Japan. Wouldn't they teach a uniform style, though?

"You use a staff and beat the absolute shit out of demons," Suzuka answered, the dirty word contrasting with her appearance but still sounding quite fitting, somehow.

"I, what?!" Harutora laughed, caught off guard.

"I'm not the most powerful of familiars," Kon admitted. "I'm getting better, stronger with practice, but at first, you never wanted to let me fight alone during mock battles..."

"So, you fought with her," Suzuka stated, as though this were the only natural conclusion to such a sentence. She was leading the two of them into a large, rectangular building with a thosand and six windows.

"What kind of a crazy..."

"My kind of crazy," Suzuka shot back, smiling, but innocently. "Harutora... I tend to sleep with about twelve blankets, it's comfortable that way. What do you say you, Kon and I go to my room? I know you don't remember either of us... we can just curl up on the floor with a ton of blankets, and watch TV. There's this dumb anime you love, do you remember it? It's about a girl with tiger ears going on all kinds of wacky adventures..."

"No, I can't say I remember," Harutora frowned, slowly climbing the stairs with Suzuka and Kon.

"Harutora, there is no pressure to sleep with the both of us," Kon started out sweetly, but her intentions became clear all of a moment later. "If you choose to sleep in your own room, I, as your familiar, will of course watch over you and keep you safe!"

"It'll be fine, the three of us... but are you two really okay with that kind of relationship?" Harutora kept his voice soft as they walked down a hallway in the dormitory. "I assume you're headed to your room now, Suzuka, so, please do just lead me in."

"Will do, darling~" Her voice was teasing and exaggerated, and Harutora found himself chuckling softly as he entered a medium-sized bedroom with the girls. It was simply decorated, with a bed in the corner and a television set against one wall... but as Suzuka had said, the bed was topped with a bona fide mountain of blankets. Walking over to the bed, Suzuka winked his way and then sent the blankets, which were all thick, soft looking quilts, flying to the floor. Her four pillows came next, and then she paused.

"Kon and I are going to change into night clothes. If you want to look away, you can, but don't feel pressured... and I assume you don't want to be shirtless just yet~" Harutora felt himself blushing, and he nodded.

"Two adorable girls telling me I don't have to look away, and here I am about to do exactly that... kind of makes me wonder what's wrong with me," he added, mostly as a joke. There was silence for a moment, and then Suzuka hugged his back, and Kon came at him with another hug from the side. "What...?!" Together, they gave a sharp tug and push, Harutora collapsed sideways, right into the mound of pillows.

Kon, wearing some sort of lacy band around her chest and small shorts, and Suzuka, fuzzy shorts and a thin T-shirt which made it quite clear that she wasn't wearing a bra, anymore.

"H-How the hell did you two change so quickly?"

"Magic!" Kon's answer was swift and proud, making Harutora laugh genuinely in spite of the fact that his head was still spinning, a bit, with the speed of this night and all it contained.

"Don't worry, we won't seduce you quite yet~" Suzuka said lowly, leaning in to kiss Harutora's cheek. "For now, I'm curious if you'll remember the anime, when you see it!"