Nighttime had always been Kiera's favourite part of the day. It was comforting, in a way. When the sun was up and the sky was blue the entire world rested on her shoulders. The burden of that thought was too much to bear. So she relied on everything else, everyone else, to get herself through each morning. 

But when the moon was out and the sky was a dark void...there was no end. The stars reached as far as she could see. And they only kept on going. In the grand scheme of things, she was insignificant; a relief. It was at night she could understand three key things:

She was only one person. There were billions of other people. She didn't matter.

And thank god for that.

Harsh winds whipped her short hair as she rode her bike. It stung her face, flushing her cheeks a bright red. Her old and ratty Toman uniform flowed behind her, the engine roaring as she maneuvered herself through traffic.

It was a nice night for a meeting. Clouds sprinkled the sky and the crescent moon shone. Warm, but not too warm. The kind of day you could wear just about anything you wanted. Her brother and Chifuyu said they'd make their way to the meeting later on, so she left without them.

After her "little" break down, Chifuyu had made breakfast for the twins. He'd known something was wrong, but he didn't press her. So it was a strawberry pancake kind of day. Her arms were covered in bandages, but neither boy paid much mind to this. It was normal.

To quote herself, they, "helped her bruises from training heal, were fashionable, and made good hand wraps." Of course those were true, but she left out the biggest reason why she wore them.

Once they'd eaten, Chifuyu had stuck around to help Baji and her with homework. It went a lot smoother than the night before with his added guidance. Instead of breaking down and throwing it across the room she actually managed to get a few questions done.

In any case, it'd been a few days since then. Breaking from her memories, Musashi Shrine began to come into view, so of course she revved the engine. Speeding up with a horribly loud motor, once she arrived nearly all eyes were on her.

Parking beside the leaders, it looked as if Draken and Mikey were talking to Hinata and Takemichi. So instead of interrupting she barely gave a second glance, jumping off her vehicle and rushing straight for Mikey's little sister.

"EMMA!" She yelped, grabbing her in a hug. Although they were around the same age and sex, Kiera still overtook the girl by about five inches in height. Meaning the blonde nearly collapsed from the pinkette's loving attack.

Emma gave a closed-eye smile, carefully giving a small laugh. It wasn't unusual for her to be a bit more guarded with showing emotions. Mostly around people she didn't really know. "Hey, Kiera."

The young Sano didn't have a uniform. Instead she was dressed in a small school skirt. A blue sweater was tied around her waist, wearing a pretty white-button up and beige sock warmers to finish the outfit; dirty blonde hair tied in a side ponytail.

Letting go of the girl, they didn't get a chance to talk before being summoned. "Hey Emma!" Draken yelled, getting their attention. "Kiera too, come introduce Takemichi's wifey. Make sure to take good care of her."

Meandering over, Kiera gave the couple a crooked grin and wave, but Takemichi didn't return the sentiment. He seemed shocked; almost appalled. And Emma gave an even bigger smile than what she'd granted Kiera mere moments before.

"Hey, what's up wussy boy!" Emma called. Uh oh. Knowing Emma meant knowing exactly where this was going.

Around a year and a half ago Emma had wanted to make a certain someone jealous. Having just gotten her heart broken, Kiera had almost said yes. But it would have been for all the wrong reasons. Plus the Sano's were like family to her — it wouldn't have been right. She doubted what happened with Takemichi was much different.

And she'd been right. In the end, it left Draken unbothered, Hinata angry (rightfully so), and Takemichi rather beaten up. Hinata ended up leaving the meeting.

The interaction seemed off to Kiera though. Takemichi had said he didn't remember what happened. A cheap excuse, but something in his words didn't sound like a lie.

Pulling out her phone, she quickly sent off a few messages before making her way up to the shrine.

🩷 Hina 🩷

Me
which is y i nevr let penguins eat fruit loops
|3:32 AM|

Today, 8:43 AM

🩷 Hina 🩷
I-
That surprisingly makes sense
|8:43 AM|

Today, 10:32 PM

Me
hey, text me when you get home sade!
*sage
**safer
***safe
don't be two hard on takemitchy, byt definetely dont let him off the hook. I'll talk to u later bbg <3
|10:33 PM|

It might be rather selfish of me, she thought, taking the stairs up two at a time. But I'm glad Hina left. The topic today is pretty grim, I don't really want her exposed to that...

Instead of joining the other's lining up in front of Mikey, she stood with Takemichi so they could watch the meeting from the side. No one had asked her to, but she didn't feel right leaving him alone. Especially considering he'd never been to a meeting before.

"I brought you all here to talk about Moebius. If they go against us, it'll mean war." Mikey's words, an instigation that it was beginning.

Before Kiera could explain anything to the confused blond, someone approached them from behind. Their leg lifted to kick Takemichi— but instead of connecting with him, it was her own kick that made contact.

Her normally bright eyes were dark, glaring at the two at fault: Pah and Peh. There wasn't a flicker of emotion on her face, nothing but ire. The three of them had never really gotten along, but with Pah she'd held a close bond. They might never have shown it, but they'd always been there for each other.

That didn't mean the two of them weren't on thin ice after the Kiyomasa incident though. And yet they had the audacity to try and hit the boy she stood beside?

Not on her watch.

"Pah. Peh. You need to back off." Her words were brusque as she spoke.

"That's the Hanagaki punk. The one who got our guy Kiyomasa put out of commission," Pah said, barely needing to look down. They were almost the same height.

Kiera just smiled. "Actually, I'm the one who beat that shithead up. And if you don't knock it the fuck off, you two are gonna be next."

"Stop it you guys, you know full well we're supposed to drop the Kiyomasa stuff. He was using Toman's name to promote his little fight club." It was Mitsuya who'd spoken up, hands in his pockets. He'd left the group to come and talk to them instead.

His hair was cropped close to his skull, a shining silver that reminded her of the moon. Like everyone (aside from Takemichi) he was in the Toman uniform.

Mitusya wasn't as broad as Pah, who stood short and tough like a bull. Intimidating to some with stitches over his lip, blond hair pushed off to the side. But Mitsuya was still broader than Peh, who was lanky and tall, with dirty brown hair sitting on his head like a mop.

"Guess I'm stupid 'cuz I don't know what that means," Pah growled.

"Yeah, remember Pahs got the brains of a sand flea!" Peh defended. 

It took three people telling Pah to shut the hell up for him to actually do so.

"Pah, keep your mouth shut," Draken said, and with muttered complaints he listened, apologizing. Again, people respected Draken's words more than her own. That kind of shit really got on her nerves. "Don't hold it against him, Takemichi. Kiera you know he's pretty worked up right now."

"Yeah," she mumbled, and honestly she couldn't really be angry at him. Not after what happened. To know your friend got the absolute shit beaten out of him, as well as his parents and siblings, his money stolen. And then the fucking sicko's raped his girlfriend. In front of him nonetheless.

She didn't even know the people who'd been hurt, but she was full of anger for them. If they decided tonight not to have war with Moebius, the fuckers who did it, she would take them on herself.

Mitsuya explained the situation to Takemichi, and the boy looked just as sad as she felt mad. "They're two generations older than our gang, and basically run Shinjuku. It's just how their gang operates."

"It's sickening though," Kiera butted in, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's not what a gang should be about."

With a sigh Mitsuya agreed, rubbing the back of his nape. "Which is why Mikey and Pah need to tell us what we're gonna do about it."

"Hold on," Takemichi said, "I thought Toman ran Shinjuku?"

"No, we run Shibuya. Shinjuku is separate," Mitsuyu elaborated. "That, and we're still a pretty new gang."

As they'd been talking, Pah was now kneeling in front of Mikey. The three paused conversation to give attention to the scene ahead of them.

"Well Pah, war?"

The man in question ground his teeth, glaring at the cement as if it would out of hat turn into the person he hated most. "Moebius are experienced fighters...some of our guys won't survive...and you'd be fighting my battle..But I'm just too pissed off to let it go!"

"That's not what I'm asking," Mikey said. "I'm asking you if we're gonna fight or not."

"YES I WANNA FIGHT. I WANNA MURDER ALL THOSE SONS OF BITCHES!" Pah yelled, tears pricking his eyes. Kiera's lips moulded into a grin at those words. Moebius wasn't going to stand a chance.

Mikey too smiled at that. "Anyone here think that Pahs beef with Moebius is too much to deal with?" A chorus of nos from the crowd. "Anyone here scared to get beat up? Anyone here scared of Moebius? There, you see! Moebius is gonna fall! August third, at the festival, it's all going down!"

And with that the meeting concluded, Toman singing their cheers, arms raised high. Teeth glinting in a wide grin, she said to the blond beside her, "We're pretty cool aren't we?"

The sparkle in his eyes, gazing at Toman in awe, didn't flicker as he looked at her. "I never knew Toman was like this... you guys are awesome." Throwing his arm up in celebration, like the others had, all Kiera saw was something moving in her peripheral. Close, dangerously close to her neck —

She flinched, eyes wide in panic.

On instinct she brought her arms up, as if to ward an attacker off. But her breath caught in her throat once she realized there was no threat. No danger. Just a confused and concerned Takemichi.

The boy paused, mouth open in surprise. His bottle blue eyes scoured her face before locking on her throat. Caught there like a fly in a web, just like during the fight with Kiyomasa. In all honesty, she couldn't blame him, especially after her violent reaction. The flesh there was a ragged line, convexed and twistedly healed. That was something that was never going to change.

Lowering her hands to run one over the keloid scar, there was nothing pretty about it. A little deeper and she might never have spoken again. Maybe that's why she had such a smart mouth, always choosing to speak up.

Feelings of residing grief overtook her whenever she dwelled too much on the topic. Wincing, the horrifying sound of bones snapping, cracking, filled her mind. Of the minute that turned into forever. Again, and again, and again...

Crack.

Crack.

C R A C K.

Forcefully pushing it away, drowning the memories, she refused to let her mind dwell in the past.

I wish I'd just died that day...

Mikey and Draken must have seen what happened, coming down the short steps, because Mikey chirped, "KeyKey, right here." Slowly looking away, Kiera saw Mikey pointing to his eyes. A signal to her he was there, she was ok, and to just look at him and breathe.

"Hey Takemichi, let's make our way back down," Mitsuya said, placing a hand on the aformentioned's shoulder to gain his attention.

"Uh, yeah sure, okay... See you later Kiera."

All she could do was hum a goodbye, not wavering from Mikey's eyes. Eyes so much like his it was nostalgic.

The flinching whenever something fast came close to her neck was something she had yet to get over. It had been two years just about, yet it was instinct. Instinct to fight anything that dared try and do what happened before. She never wanted to be in that much fear, or pain, or grief again. She couldn't take it.

Finally breathing again she closed her eyes, smiling to the two to show she was fine now. "I'm okay, thanks guys. It just took me off guard is all..Takemichi has no idea."

"If you wanted to tell him, we'd support you. But don't think you have to," Draken reassured with a smile.

"Maybe one day," was all Kiera said on that, her own smile on tenterhooks.

I don't think that story... is something Takemichi would want to hear.

.

.

.

❦

"ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕤?
𝕎𝕙𝕪 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕀 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣... 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕖?"

A/N: I rubbed my new piercing and my soul ascended. Then I bumped my other new piercing and holy mother fucker that's not ok. Send help.

! Incorrect Quotes !

Chifuyu: *studying with Kiera* If you get it right I'll reward you ;)

Kiera: *concentrates on the chemistry problem and solves it*

Chifuyu: good job! here's a candy for you :D

Kiera: *staring* oh- this is not what i was expecting to get

Chifuyu: what did you want??

Kiera: I was thinking something...a bit more i guess

Chifuyu: oh, course! *gives kiera another candy*

Kiera: *screaming internally* he'ssocutehe'ssocutehe'ssocutehe'ssocute