How we met:

We met in the strangest way, if I say so myself. I was running away from my mafia household when it happened. I had jumped down from a roof, not looking at what—or rather who—I could land on. I had landed right on top of you.

"What the fu—" you stopped short when you looked at me. It seemed as if an eternity had passed before I heard the voices of men in the mafia.

I had gotten up and started to dash off, but stopped and turned back to you. I don't know why I did it but something came over me. "The names Yuki Shepherd! I'll say sorry next time we meet!"

Then I was gone without a trace. I'm guessing you had no idea what just happened, but I could hear your voice shout back at me: "I am the vanguard of HOMRA, Yatagarasu!"

Who would've thought we would've actually have met again after that? Rather, who would've thought that HOMRA would dissolve too?

Our one sided meeting:

It had been two months since our first meeting and only a month since HOMRA dissolved due to their Kings death. There were rumors going around about who the next Red King would be, but I was never interested. The only thing on my mind was the fact that my parents wanted me to inherit their mafia.

Now, I never wanted to participate in the mafia affairs, but what choice did I have? If I didn't, then they'd make my little brother do it and he actually had a bright future ahead of him. What did I have? Nothing.

And oddly, I was okay with that.

It was this moment when we bumped into each other again. You probably don't remember this, since it was mostly a one-sided meeting. When our shoulders hit against each other, something started to burn within me; something so hot that I felt like I was suffocating. When I looked at the person who bumped into me, I recognized you, Yatagarasu.

I knew you were in HOMRA and I could tell by your lifeless attitude that you didn't know what to do with your life, almost like me, yet so different.

All I remember after that is that I wished I could give you something worth living for, like the Red King must've. A few hours later, when I was alone, I got the Red Kings powers.

When you found out:

I didn't know how to control my powers quite right and some punks were picking on these little kids around my little brothers age, so of course I had to protect them. I wanted to solve things peacefully, but it ended up being the total opposite. The little kids had run away when visible flames started surrounding me.

I don't know how I did it—I've never fought in my life before—but somehow I managed to beat the two teenagers. It was weird, but I think I enjoyed it.

"You…" I turned around to see you staring at me, mixture of pure hatred and confusion.

I grinned—I don't know why I did—and freely showed my flames. "Nice to see you again, Yata. I'm the fifth Red King, Yuki Shepherd." I don't know how I knew I was the fifth Red King. It just seemed like this information was there from the start, like the ABCs.

It was obvious how upset you were at the fact that I was the new King—maybe you had wanted to be it?—and so I just left, tuning down my flames to the best of my abilities.

Meeting my family:

Only two weeks later, my mafia family found out the power I had received. My mother, who ran the mafia, was ecstatic, and seemed to plan all the things "we" could do with my newfound power. My father and little brother were a bit scared and refused to be near me.

I didn't know whether to be angered or hurt by their reactions.

I disappeared at noon one day to escape my mother's planning and my father and brother cowering. That's when we saw each other again. Instead of talking to me, you just followed me around so obviously. In fact, someone asked if you were stalking me.

I wonder what would've happened if I had said yes?

Soon enough, I went back home with you still following me. When I walked inside my house, I left the door open for you so you could get in without having the hassle of opening it back up. When my parents saw you, the instantly questioned what "a child" was doing here. I didn't understand why they thought Yata was a child; he looked older than nineteen at the very least.

Before he could answer, I answered for him. "He's an acquaintance of mine."

My mother still didn't accept him and my father didn't care from the start, or rather, he was too scared to comment. "What if he wants you for your power?!" she had questioned harshly.

All I could think of was "like how you're doing, even at this very second". Yata said something very different.

"I'm here to make sure she doesn't go crazy with Mikoto's power. She has to respect what he left behind."

I grinned and finished my juice—when I grabbed it, I had no idea—and shrugged to my mother. "That's it."

That's how you began to live with me, sort of.

When the Blues called me:

We were walking down the streets, like every usual day, when two members of the Blues appeared in front of us. When I noticed you getting defensive, I stepped in front of you. I don't know exactly why I did, but I guessed it was because I didn't want you to get taken into the custody of the Blues; I had thought they were here for you.

Boy, was I wrong.

"The Blue King wishes to speak to you, peacefully," one of them stated, glancing behind me at Yata.

"If I refuse?" I asked, not entirely interested.

They looked at each other. I knew that I had no reason to be arrested, so I was curious to see what they would respond with. "The Blue King has prepared snacks for your arrival."

Of course, I agreed then. I had a large weak spot for snacks. They opened their car for me and when I tried to get Yata to follow, they refused, saying that the Blue King wanted only me.

"I'll meet you back at home, okay?" I waved to him, but I could already tell that he would follow us. Somehow, that made me a bit nervous, knowing that he would follow us.

When we finally got there, they led me into a room on the top floor and told me to wait at the table full of snacks by the window. I waited a few minutes before he came out. "You haven't touched the snacks, yet," he commented.

"Not hungry." I pushed the bowl of chips away and stared at him. "Now, what did you want from me?" I didn't know why I was so hostile. Maybe because of the way Yata acted towards them?

"No need to be hostile, after all this is a friendly meeting." He seemed to strain the word 'friendly'. "The reason I asked for you today is because I don't want you to use too much of your power like—"

"Like Mikoto did?" I finished, remembering the name from Yata. I started to munch on the chips. "Don't worry about it. I plan on doing nothing with these powers."

"Oh?" He seemed genuinely surprised. "No clansmen?"

"No, I'd rather just do nothing with my power." I stared out the window, gazing at the sky. "Such a shame this power came to me," I murmured.

"Everything is supposed to happen for a reason—" there was shouting outside. "Is that… Yatagarasu? What is he doing here?"

I looked towards the ground to see Yata shouting at the two Blues who brought me here. "He's been following me around for the past few days, actually."

"Oh? Does he want your power?" the Blue King asked, curious.

"No, he just wants to make sure I live up to Mikoto's reputation," I inform, laughing. "Too bad I'm going to disappoint him." I stood up and opened the window. "Tell your men to leave him alone, or else I will cause trouble."

"… Fine," he turned on his phone and made a call. While he did that, I jumped out the window. I had no idea what possessed me to do it, but it was thrilling.

"Yata!" I shouted as I came closer to the ground. He stared at me surprised. I landed unharmed and started to leave the Blues headquarters. "Let's go home, Yata."

I don't think I realized how much I didn't want to displease you and that's why I decided to do nothing with my power; I don't think I could've handled you being even more disappointed in me.

My unwanted mafia heritage:

I didn't think you were listening, let alone you replying. I had just come back from talking with my mother and she wanted to use my power to make other mafia's submit to our mafia. I was tired of this talk, as it happened every day, and I soon realized that is was all we talked about nowadays.

So, I went in my room, where you were 'sleeping' and tried to control my rage. My room was getting increasingly hot and I think that's what woke you. I didn't notice that. I just paced and ranted to no one about how they were using me; how my own father was scared of my; how my adorable little brother was terrified of me; how much I didn't want to be a part of the mafia.

I turned when you started talking out of nowhere. It had been a few months since we've been together and I guessed that we warmed up to each other, enough for you to suggest that we should just leave this place.

And I listened to you. Not because I had always thought about it, even though I did. It was because you didn't mind helping me escape my small world. I was excited to go and explore the world with you.

Though, I realized later, that we wouldn't be going far, and I was oddly okay with that. I was just happy you stayed with me.

My Clansmen:

Throughout the whole year we spent together, we didn't do much, just a few odd jobs here and there, but nothing big, like Mikoto would've done apparently. That's when you asked me to let you become my clansmen.

At first, I was against it full heartily. I didn't want you to only stay with me for my unruly power. I was also afraid you would leave me after you received them.

You convinced me otherwise, when we got into fight with a few gang members and they promised to come back. You were practically useless during the fight, which caused me to fight for both of us. You told me that you didn't want to be useless and that you wanted to protect me.

So I decided to give you some of my power. I gave you a kiss on the cheek and watched as my fire began to spread over you. I was a bit nervous, but I knew you wouldn't be hurt by my flames because they weren't going to hurt you, ever. They were going to protect you.

When you looked to see where the mark was placed, you smiled and said "right where it should always be".

I could tell—like it was general information—that the mark was in the same spot the last King's mark was. I can't deny that I was just a bit jealous that you still thought of Mikoto, but when you brought me into a deep hug, it all faded. Yata Misaki was someone I cherished very much.

And that would be my downfall.

The day I left you:

Another year had passed and we ended up in a fight with the mysterious Green King and his plentiful followers. It was just you and I fighting them and we were winning too, but he used his power and continued to heal his clansmen.

It had been hours of nonstop fighting and I didn't think we could hold out much long, but we couldn't stop either. The Green King had gone crazy apparently and had been trying to destroy Japan. The Blues were knocked out like the useless things they were and so you and I were the only ones left.

I knew we had to stop or else we would definitely fail. We had to take out the Green King. I didn't stop to give the plan a thought and instead just went in head first towards the Green King. I could hear you calling out to me but I didn't look back. If I did, I knew I wouldn't go through with my plan, my suicidal plan.

When I finally got to the Green King, I let out all of my energy around us. Any normal person would've died inside there, in fact, I almost died inside there. The Green King had been around longer then I had and therefore, knew more tricks then me.

He caused the ground under us to open up. I lost my concentration and tried to get out of the way, but failed. The Green King and I both fell into the hole. I grabbed onto a rock and tried to climb my way back up when you came to my rescue.

For a moment, I thought that the 'good guys' prevailed and had won. You and I could live together happily from this moment on, because that would be our 'happy ending' right?

I find it ironic how wrong I was. As you tried to grab my hand, I felt something grab my foot. Looking down, I had seen the Green King, latching himself onto my legs.

"Let him grab you, let him grab you, so I can pull him down with us!" his laugh is something I'll never forget.

You were still trying to reach for me, oblivious to the Green Kings presence. I knew you could never lift us both up and that if you tried, you would fall too.

Misaki, you are my weakness. The whole reason my life got a purpose was because of you. I couldn't let me whole world fall into the darkness with me. I'm sure you felt my decision because you called my name more frantic then before.

"I'm sorry, Misaki." That was all I could say before I let go and fell into the black abyss with the Green King.

I'm still alive, Misaki:

I am still alive. I don't know how he did it, but the Green King pulled us into some kind of force field where everything is so slow. My thoughts, my actions, my speech. All I know is that we're still fighting down here, an endless fighting between two should-be dead Kings.

The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I might make it back to the surface somehow. That I might get to see you once more. That's the reason I continue to fight, not some noble reason like wanting to make sure this guy doesn't try to destroy the world.

I hope you still notice the mark you have so much pride in is still there on your chest. I hope you realize that I am alive.

Or maybe I'm dead and this is what the underworld looks like and once I'm done fighting the Green King, nothing will change. I try not to think like that and just hope that you're looking for me right now. I just hope that once this is all over we can have our 'happy ending'.

That's the only thing keeping me going and every day it's slowly disappearing. The hope that has kept me going for however many days we've been in here. I'm scared it'll disappear and I'll have nothing to live for.

Because every day I don't see you or the sun, I lose the will to live just a little bit more. And that, more than anything, terrifies me, Misaki. I hope I can see you soon…

~End~