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

Hibana helped me to my feet with all the tenderness of a forklift.

My kidney still sang opera.

The Asuka matriarch dismissed the crowd with a flick of her fingers, like shooing pigeons. Hotaru lingered long enough to shoot me a look that promised a thousand paper cuts, then flounced out.

That left the three of us: the matriarch, Hibana, and me.

"Enough for today," the old woman said, and her eyes never left me.

Then she adjusted her glasses and looked at my side.

"Show me," she said, with surprising tenderness.

Hibana helped me to a bench in the corner of the room.

Yuki floated nearby.

"I don't like this," she said softly. "I don't trust them, Ryu."

The old woman huffed, offended.

"What would you have me do? Tie him back up? Chain him to the wall?"

Yuki's mouth dropped open.

"Yes, I can see you," the old woman said flatly. "The Asuka clan are no slouches when it comes to sensing the supernatural."

Hibana silently rolled her eyes.

I sighed, and lifted up my shirt, letting her look where Hibana punched me.

Yuki floated closer, watching the old woman as she examined my side.

"He'll have a hell of a bruise but he'll live."

She turned away.

"Hibana, escort our guest—"

I spoke up, a little louder than I intended.

"No! I'm not staying here!"

I was ready for a fight, but instead the older woman looked at me like I was a petulant child.

Hibana's eyes grew wide, and she refused to meet my gaze.

The matriarch's lips drew into a straight, thin line.

"I was going to suggest that she escort you to the apothecary, and then you can leave," she said sternly.

I felt like I was about two inches tall.

"Yeah," Hibana added. "It's not like we want you here either, baka."

Guest.

Yeah right.

The old woman walked silently towards the exit, only speaking before she left.

"You are not here to like or to trust, dragon boy. You are here to learn, or you'll be a danger to yourself and everyone around you."

Hibana sat with me for a few minutes after the old woman walked out of the dojo.

"If you didn't want me here, then why the hell did Hotaru bring me here?" I asked.

Yuki nodded in agreement.

Hibana just scowled.

"Okay, first, I don't need to explain clan politics with you."

I spat blood on her clan's clean white floor.

"Bullshit," I said without bothering to wipe my mouth.

She looked at the glob of blood and drool as formed a small puddle.

"You're an ass," she said.

Yuki folded her arms.

"Your cousin stuck a dart in his neck earlier, Hibana. Don't act like he's the one being out of line."

Hibana didn't acknowledge Yuki, but I could tell she was considering what she'd said.

After a few seconds, she took a breath and nodded.

"Fine, but only because…"

She shut her eyes.

"Gods, I must be as crazy as you are, baka…"

Then she opened them and stared daggers into my soul.

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"You tell no one, got it?"

The way she said it, I knew it wasn't a question.

"No one," I said. "Not a soul. Um, Yuki might hear, though."

Hibana didn't smile.

"Not funny. And Hotaru messed up when she stuck you with that dart, okay?"

I rubbed the spot where her dart landed earlier that evening.

From my point of view, that was at least a month ago, but it happened a few hours ago to Hibana.

"Why'd she do it?" I asked.

Hibana crossed her arms. Then she sat beside me on the bench and stared forward hard, like she was trying to split the wall with the force of her gaze.

"A little bird told us that you'd snuck out of Shin'yume-sou. Matron Urazome Asuka-sama was furious that you couldn't wait a single day before fighting the Yuki-Onna, and she mentioned that she wanted to talk to you."

Hibana let out a sigh, and Yuki nodded, as though catching what Hibana was implying.

"Oh, I think I get it," Yuki said.

Hibana looked away, but then she glanced back at Yuki for a second.

"What?" Hibana asked. "What is it that you get about Hotaru?"

Yuki's eyes lit up.

"She was trying to impress Matron Urazome, wasn't she?"

Hibana just leaned back, letting her breath out slowly.

"Yeah. She does that a lot. Ever since she was little, she's always been trying to one-up me."

Hibana looked over at me from the corner of her eye.

"She treats everything like it's a competition."

I looked around me at the dojo we were in.

Mats on the floor. The smell of blood and sweat in the air.

"I think I can see how she might feel that way."

Yuki giggled, but Hibana's eyes narrowed.

"Shut up," she said. "You don't know what it's like here."

Then, Hibana flinched, like I'd just insulted her.

"Sorry," she muttered quietly.

She turned and looked at the wall beside the bench, pretending to look at the kanji painted on the Asuka clan's walls.

"You've been here, what? Like all of two hours. Just, don't act like you know everything about it."

The way everyone acted around Matron Urazome, it was like I didn't need to be told what it was like growing up here.

"No wonder you stay at Shin'yume-sou," I said.

She scratched the back of her neck.

"Yeah," she muttered. "That's one of the reasons, anyway."

No one said anything for a few awkward minutes.

"You're not the only one who's been through hell," I said.

She rolled her eyes.

"All you had to do was wait, baka. You were a complete idiot that evening. What, with the damn succubus breaking down Rinko's door, and then you and Natsumi getting into a fight with a dangerous yokai!"

I stood up from the bench.

"What's the big deal with waiting for you anyway?" I asked.

Hibana crossed her arms but said nothing.

"If that yokai were so dangerous, then why not just have your clan take care of it? Huh? Why'd if have to be me?"

Yuki gasped.

"Ryu," she said, slowly. "It was supposed to be you for a reason."

I looked at Hibana suspiciously.

She finally met my gaze.

"You stupid, reckless…" she muttered as she got to her feet.

I wasn't going to let her deflect though.

"Shove it, Hibana, and answer the question! Why did it have to be me and you who fought the stupid Yuki-Onna?"

Hibana flicked her long ponytail over one shoulder.

Then she looked at Yuki.

And I wondered about something.

"Were you going to try to make me think that the Yuki-Onna was Yuki or something stupid like that?"

Yuki's eyes grew wide as she looked at Hibana.

"What?" she asked quietly. "Hibana… is that true?"

Hibana shook her head.

"No!" she said. "Well, not entirely true."

I took a step towards her.

Hibana crossed her arms, glaring at me like she wanted to finish what she started.

Then her tone softened, almost too much for her own liking.

"You're in no condition to fight anymore," she muttered.

It should've sounded smug, but it didn't. Not the way she said it. She was looking at me too hard, her jaw too tight.

I was struck by the thought that Hibana was concerned, and she hated it.

"Don't sound so disappointed," I said.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Have you even considered what's going to happen to Yuki if she stays here? On this side without passing on?"

That made Yuki perk up, her glow pulsing faintly, but Hibana didn't even look at her.

She kept drilling into me.

"Did you think about how you used her earlier? You dragged her into that fight. She became a damn blizzard because she's anchored herself to you. Don't you realize that those kinds of actions have consequences?"

Yuki gasped softly, almost ashamed, but Hibana didn't stop.

"If you're selfish, if you keep insisting she cling to you, then she won't just become like the Yuki-Onna. She'll become something worse."

I clenched my teeth, my whole body stiff.

Hibana's voice dropped lower, dead serious now.

"If you love her as much as you act, then do the right thing. Even if it hurts you. Do it for Yuki as much as for yourself."

I didn't answer right away.

My ribs hurt too much.

My thoughts hurt worse. I looked at Yuki, her worried eyes, the way she folded her hands in front of her, and I thought about it.

But then I turned back to Hibana and rasped, "What's it to you, huh?"

She scowled instantly, like she couldn't believe I asked.

"Mind your own business, Ryu."

I wanted to laugh, but my side hurt too much.

"That's rich, coming from you. Maybe the Asuka clan should stop getting involved in my business," I shot back.

Her sigh came out long, tired, like she was carrying the whole damn dojo on her shoulders.

"You probably think you're clever, right? Like I'm some kind of hypocrite?"

I nodded.

That's exactly what I thought.

"Think about it for five more seconds, Ryu. We can't butt out. That's impossible."

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Why's it impossible?"

Her shoulders slumped.

"You're a dragon. You've got a black dragon spirit tied to you, and the Asuka clan can't ignore that."

I raised an eyebrow, blood running from the corner of my lip.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

She stepped closer, right in my face, her fire burning through me.

"Stop being a damn child, Ryu. You're a dragon. You don't get to sit this out. You're going to get involved, or else you're going to get used like a chess piece."

I felt my cheeks burn a little bit.

She had a point whether I wanted to admit it or not.

"Used by who?" Yuki asked suddenly, her voice small but sharp.

I nodded, eyes locked on Hibana.

"Yeah. I want to know too."

Her answer came like a blade between my ribs.

"You think you're a Highlander? You're not the only dragon. There are other clans. Many other clans."

Her mouth twisted as she said it.

"And one of them, Ryu, is the Red Dragon Clan. And they've already heard whispers about the black dragon of Shin'yume."

I froze, the words hanging heavy between us. She looked at me like she was trying to hammer it into my skull.

"So stop acting like an idiot. For your own sake."

I wiped the blood from my lip with the back of my hand, swallowing down a hundred things I wanted to say.

I had no idea there was so much happening around me that I felt like I was walking into a larger world.

"I'm… sorry," I muttered.

She stared at me for a long beat, then slipped a hand into her gi.

When it came back out, she held something plain, white, and folded.

She shoved it toward me.

I blinked.

"What's this?"

Her cheeks flushed, and she gave me a look like I'd just failed a math test.

"It's for your lip, baka."

Before I could argue, she crouched down in front of me, cloth in hand, and began tending to my wounds.

"Just… hold still, okay? And for once, try not to say anything stupid."