I Fell In Love With A Girl Who Died Before I Was Even Born

Hotaru and Hibana didn't waste time.

They moved in perfect sync, wands flashing, voices spitting Chili Peppers lyrics like scripture.

And as they sang, an aura of fire sprang around Hibana.

Pink and green energy pulsed from Hotaru like neon-colored electric.

Fire snapped, shadows lashed, and every beat of their song hit harder than the last. My "Stop the Rock" began to fizzle like a wet firecracker.

I tried swinging wide with a right hook, but Hibana caught my arm with a wand slash that crackled like static and burned like a hot iron.

Pain ripped through me, and Hotaru swept my legs. I hit the floor so hard the song in my chest stuttered.

Yuki darted to my side, panic in her voice.

"Ryu!"

I rolled, coughing, and dragged myself upright.

I couldn't quit, not with both of them staring me down like wolves about to pounce, but I couldn't fight them like this either.

My mind ran, trying to think of anything that could help, and I thought of all the grime, muck, and filth that inhabited every corner of Shin'yume.

The lyrics tumbled out of my mouth, desperate, manic.

"Get down and dirty, baby!"

And my hand filled with dust.

I scooped my hand and hurled the conjured dirt straight into Hibana's face. She staggered back, eyes squeezing shut as dirt clouded her lashes.

"You dirty cheater!" she shouted, coughing.

I grinned like a lunatic.

"I'm the dirtiest player in the game! Nature boy! Wooooo!"

For all of three glorious seconds, I had the upper hand.

Until I saw Hotaru spinning in the corner of my eye right before she brought her foot across my face and I went reeling.

Hibana recovered, and it was open season on my ribs.

She came back with fury, Hotaru swept cold fire across the floor, and I was backpedaling, blocking, gasping.

Every strike was faster, sharper, louder. I couldn't keep up.

Obviously they were winning.

"Give it up, baka!" Hibana yelled. "I beat your friend, Inego, and you're not half the magician he is!"

That was true. I wasn't.

She beat Inego fair and square, but I had an advantage.

I wasn't alone.

"Yuki!" I roared, voice cracking. "With me!"

Her glow flared.

"Ryu? What can I do?" she asked.

I turned towards Hibana and Hotaru.

"You think you know the Red Hot Chili Peppers?" I taunted.

The song changed in my head to something softer, colder, and deeper.

I drew a ragged breath and sang, my voice rough but steady.

"Come to decide that the things that I tried were in my life just to get high on…"

Yuki reacted as soon as she heard the first note.

She froze mid-air, startled, then leaned toward me like she'd been waiting for that call her whole life.

Snow.

Her name. Her song.

And Yuki felt it.

Her whole body thrummed like she'd been struck by lightning and her blue eyes flashed..

"Ryu…" she whispered, voice trembling with joy. "I hear you.. You're calling me! Yes and for you, I will become a storm… a gale!"

Her form stretched, sharpened, grew into a whirling blizzard. She looked like a small whirling white cloud for half a second, and then she grew until the entire ceiling vanished behind a snowing storm that filled the room.

Wind screamed, frost exploded across the walls, and the temperature plummeted.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"No one shall dare touch my Ryu!" Yuki bellowed, her voice mixing with the wind and freezing rain.

The blizzard howled around me, snow biting into my face, but for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I wasn't scared. I felt… safe.

Yuki's storm wrapped around me like armor, like the world itself had decided I was untouchable. Every icy gust screamed her loyalty, her fury, her love.

Hotaru yelped, teeth chattering as frost rimmed her sleeves.

"It's too cold!"

She backed up, shaking, eyes clenched shut with her teeth chattering.

"I can't even see! I'm out, I'm out!" And just like that, she bolted, her comfort shattered.

But Hibana didn't flinch.

She sliced her wand through the gale, snow whipping around her like it didn't dare touch her.

Her eyes locked on me, fire and fury both.

"Enough!" she snarled. "Call off your ghost! This ends one on one."

Yuki's storm raged, but I lifted a hand.

"Yuki," I yelled.

A moment later, the wind and whirling clouds died down. Then I saw Yuki's familiar shape floating in the middle of the room.

"Thank you. But this final fight is mine," I said.

Her spectral glow trembled.

She didn't want to let me go, but she nodded, fading just enough to give me space.

Around Hibana and me, the snow began to melt into small, wet puddles.

Hotaru picked herself from the floor. She shot me an angry, embarrassed look, then she looked at the old woman who was standing with her clan to the side.

The old woman had a stern look on her face, and she shook her head.

Hotaru grunted angrily, huffed, and stood up.

She bolted for the door, cursing all the way, like someone just unplugged her from reality.

I clenched my wand tighter, my chest heaving and looked at Hibana.

She looked at the door Hotaru had left through, once, with a concerned expression. Then she turned back towards me and curled her left hand into a fist.

The corner of her mouth tugged into a grim smile

"Win or lose," I muttered, meeting Hibana's stare.

"We finish this."

She spoke through clenched teeth, spitting her reply at me.

"Oh, you don't have to tell me twice."

Hibana pointed at me.

"You're so damn arrogant, Ryu," she muttered. "You can't just act like you know everything! You don't have a clue what's going on!"

I just sneered.

"I know your damn little cousin shot a poison dart in my neck before I woke up on your basement floor,. Does that cover it?"

She charged in fast, and I barely had time to jump backwards.

I expected her to say something, but instead she answered with her fists.

The first exchange was all Hibana.

She dropped low, sweeping for my legs.

I felt her shin connect with my ankle, but I didn't fall.

She gasped, surprised as I stood there, solid, looking down at her like she'd just tried to knock over a brick wall.

"Bitch," I muttered, grabbing her collar before she could roll away.

I yanked her up and slammed her flat onto the floor with every ounce of strength I had. "You trying to make me look bad?"

She yelped as her body collided with the floor.

For the first time since I'd met her, fear flickered in Hibana's eyes.

And then, just as quick, it twisted into something else.

Something darker.

She grinned as she pushed herself back up, her voice breathless, her moan riding the edge of something that made my skin crawl.

"Oh," she gasped. "Ryu! I didn't know you had it in you."

Her wand gleamed in her hand.

She straightened her gi and smirked, wild light dancing in her eyes.

"That's good," she said to me as much as to herself. "Very good. I don't have to hold back."

I took a sharp breath, ignored my stinging ribs and pain on the side of my face.

"Then you're better come at me with everything you've got," I said.

She pointed her wand at me and began to sing something I didn't recognize.

Something Japanese.

I pointed my wand at her and answered with something American.

Something powerful.

"Say your prayers, little one. Don't forget, my son, to include everyone…"

We collided like a storm breaking.

Hibana was faster, darting in, landing sharp, precise hits that rattled my ribs and cut the breath from my chest.

She would land four for every one I managed.

But my blows… when they connected, made her entire body shake.

Her guard faltered.

I could see the strain in her eyes, the tremor in her stance every time I planted a hit.

"You'd better not stop, you bastard!" she roared.

She launched into a jump kick, graceful as it was brutal.

I reeled back, dodging, then surged forward before she could recover, my arm sweeping across her chest in a clothesline that knocked her flat.

Mid-fight, the realization hit me like a sucker punch.

She was enjoying this.

So was I.

"You bastard," she hissed between strikes.

Blood dripped from my lip as I spat red onto the floor.

"You know what, Hibana?" I said between breaths "You can get bent."

Her foot lashed out, but I was ready.

I caught it on my arm and threw it aside, my knuckles cracking against her shoulder.

She stumbled back, laughing like she'd been waiting for this.

The dragon stirred inside me.

That pulse in my chest, the urge to shift, to let scales and fire overwhelm her. One breath, and she'd be done.

One breath, and the fight would end.

But I knew I wouldn't do it.

And she knew it too.

"Look at the destruction you're leaving in your wake!" she shouted.

Her fist cracked against my jaw.

"What the hell do you want with me, dragging me here?" I roared back.

I swung wide, smashing against her guard.

"Why didn't you wait for me with the damn Yuki-Onna, Ryu, you-you, goddamn baka? You could've been killed!"

Her eyes burned. Not with hate.

With something worse.

Concern.

"You didn't have to poison me!" I yelled, fury spilling out with every word.

Then she stopped as though I'd connected with a devastating blow.

She blinked, then looked at me, her anger burning fresh.

"I didn't!" she screamed, her voice breaking. "I NEVER would've poisoned you! How… how DARE you! You… absolute idiot!"

I didn't understand why that bothered her so much.

She charged, teeth bared, and I met her head-on.

The dojo rang with every strike — fist, wand, bone.

"Goddamn it!" Hibana shrieked, blocking my elbow with her forearm. "Why do you have to fight so damn well?"

From the sidelines, the silver-haired matriarch's voice cut sharp as a blade.

"Finish it, Hibana."

She looked at the old, grey-haired woman and nodded.

Then she looked back towards me, and I scoffed.

"Like it's going to be that easy," I growled, swinging for her head.

But Hibana ducked.

She slid under my punch like smoke.

Before I could even react, she side-stepped, pivoted, and drove her fist straight into my kidney.

White-hot pain exploded in my side.

I staggered, blinking hard, about to swing again, and then everything inside me changed.

My knees buckled.

My gut twisted like I was about to vomit molten steel.

"Ryu?" Yuki's voice trembled by my ear. "Are you okay?"

Somewhere behind her, Hotaru had come back to the dojo.

She whooped like a cheerleader.

"Way to go, Hibana! Nice kidney punch!"

Hibana exhaled, shaking her hand out, her chest heaving. She shrugged, but her eyes never left mine.

"Fight's over, Ryu," she said.

I looked up from my knees, vision blurring, every breath jagged.

"Yeah," I muttered, blood still dripping from my lip. "I know…"