Chapter Four

[amylan.livejournal.com]

Title: Greyscale
Author: amylan
Beta: N/A
Rating: K+
Genre: Shoujo, Fantasy
Notes/Warnings: Some language, some sensuality
Summary: There's a reason why Magical Girls are rarely grown up.
Length: 3947



A few weeks after the incident with Mr. Tanaka, Aya was looking out the window as usual when she heard the usual sound of Selphi taking her seat. “Morning, Aya-chan,” Selphi greeted cheerfully, her usual ready grin on her face.

Aya glanced over. “Good morning.” She looked out the window again, then returned her gaze to Selphi, her eyes narrowing. “Are you feeling all right?”

The American nodded. “Of course, why do you ask?” The blonde noticed that the girl spoke just a bit too quickly for a casual dismissal.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “For someone as… energetic as you, Miss Waters, it strikes me as being unusual when you seem to be tired.”

“We’re all tired at some point or another,” Selphi pointed out. “It’s no big deal, Aya-chan.”

Aya made a small noise, indicating neither agreement nor disagreement. She dropped the subject, however, and returned her attention back to the window.

It had been six months since Selphi had moved to Kyoto and entered Five Mountains Academy. Six months was more than enough time for Aya to notice some things about her partner in the supernatural. Like the rather obvious fact that she preferred to use ‘-chan’ and ‘-kun’ with everyone just to get a rise out of them.

Something much less obvious that she had noticed was that a few days every month, Selphi seemed to be exhausted. It was a very slight thing – just a small tightening around her eyes, along with her skin paling a bit. It was enough for Aya to notice, though, and that was enough.

It wasn’t likely to be anything serious. Surely, if it was something to worry about, Selphi would have told her already. There were plenty of everyday causes for fatigue, and one in particular that had a tendency to affect women. So Aya set the matter aside and waited for class to begin.

***

For once, Aya didn’t attend cram school that day. Upon arriving at the building, she found out that the classes had been cancelled for the day due to a chemistry accident. All students had been assigned to other cram schools until the matter could be cleared up. As the cram school she was assigned to was on the other side of the city, and since she didn’t really need the studying, Aya found herself walking back to her family’s mansion.

As she continued on her way, she was mildly surprised to see Selphi cross the street in front of her. From what she knew of Selphi’s personal life, her penthouse was in the opposite direction that she was coming from, which brought up the question of where Selphi was headed, then.

Glancing at her watch, Aya noticed that she had quite a bit of free time. There was only a moment’s hesitation before she began to trail after the other girl.

Sometime later, when Aya began to wonder what exactly Selphi was doing this far across the city, the American turned and disappeared behind a wall. Once the Japanese girl had caught up again, she saw that Selphi was walking up the stairs of a temple.

She looked around and found the temple’s sign. Stone Fox Temple…

This is Miss Aomori’s family temple, she realized. What is Miss Waters doing here? Does she need another reading?

It finally occurred to the Japanese girl that perhaps Selphi was keeping something important a secret, after all. This called for further investigation…

***

The next day, Aya took note of Selphi as she entered the classroom. She seemed to be even more tired than usual, her eyes fluttering shut for a few seconds every now and then.

“Are you sure that you are all right?” Aya asked after the usual exchange of morning greetings. “If you have become ill, I would rather you tell me so I know to cover the city on my own for a while.”

Selphi gave a tired laugh. “No, I’m not sick, Aya-chan, don’t worry. You’ll know when I am; I wouldn’t be coming to school if that were the case.” The last part was, as usual, mostly to herself.

“If you say so,” the blonde replied, looking the other girl over dubiously. “Still, you ought to try and get some more rest tonight.”

“Will do, mon capitan,” Selphi replied flippantly.

Aya watched over the girl for a few moments more, then looked at the window. Was Miss Aomori the cause of this? After all, the two girls hardly get along well together… Yes, perhaps that is it. Then again, if that were the case, then why would Miss Waters willingly go to see her? So many questions that needed answers…

Glancing around the room, Aya’s gaze caught on Hitomi. From what Miss Waters said earlier, Miss Yamino and Miss Aomori were previously close acquaintances… Well. If I want information, I suppose that Miss Yamino is my best lead.

Following this train of thought, Aya cornered the other girl after the Phys. Ed. class. “Miss Yamino,” she called, glancing around surreptitiously to make certain that no one was watching.

“Hm?” Hitomi turned around to see Aya and blanched. “Ah… Miss Arashi…” she said. Aya watched with some satisfaction as the red-eyed girl glanced around, looking for other people. “Can I help ya with somethin’?”

“Something like that,” Aya replied. “You and Miss Aomori were close acquaintances at one point, correct?”

“Where didja hear something’like that?” Hitomi asked. Her shoulders hunched, as though she were trying to make herself smaller.

“From Miss Waters,” Aya said curtly. “Is it true?”

Hitomi hesitantly nodded. “Sort of, yeah. It was a long time ago, though. Why do ya ask?”

“Because,” the blonde began, “I do remember that… skill that you have with dolls. If you and Miss Aomori were well-acquainted at one point, it seems reasonable to assume that she would have know about your tricks.” Looking at Hitomi thoughtfully, she continued, “Which brings up the question of why you did not try to avenge yourself on her sooner.”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Hitomi replied. “Because she would have beaten me within an inch of my life!”

“But what would you have to fear of that?” Aya asked. “You could just invoke a curse on her and killed her before she could do it.”

“No, I couldn’t,” Hitomi protested.

“Why?”

“…Because.”

“’Because’?”

“Because she’s stronger than me,” Hitomi confessed in an undertone. “I don’t mean physically, either.”

“You mean she has magical ability as well?”

“Hello?” Hitomi rolled her eyes. “She’s a member of the Aomori family. Nearly everyone in that family has magical ability. Ya don’t pay very much attention to the magical people around the city, do ya?”

“Yes, yes, I am extremely dense when it comes to the magical community,” Aya snapped. “Get to the point, would you?”

“Well, what’s yer point?” Hitomi asked.

“Mmm…” Aya thought for a moment. “How could she have beaten you in a non-physical way? Does she have the same ability as you?”

“No, no. She’s just… Well, she’s a onmyouji,” Hitomi explained. “A yin-yang magician. She can use the spirits in the world to call all sorts of hell down on me.”

“…Right.” Shaking off any comments that she wanted to make about ‘spirits in the world’, she turned to walk away. “You have been most helpful; thank you,” she called over her shoulder.

“Oh, don’t forget, Miss Arashi!” Hitomi called after the blonde.

Aya stopped and half-turned toward the other girl. “What?”

Hitomi smiled creepliy, as was her wont. “I still have your doll,” she said quietly.

Aya eyed the girl for a moment, then continued on her way, shaking her head.

***

“Miss Aomori!”

Aya saw Ami roll her eyes as she approached. “You took a lot longer than I thought ya would,” she remarked.

“Yes, yes, you know everything. What are you doing to Miss Waters?”

Ami’s eyebrows shot up. “What now?”

“I saw Waters go to your temple yesterday,” Aya replied. “And today, she is more tired than she normally is. From what Miss Yamino has told me, it would be easy for you to wreak some kind of revenge on her… Now what are you doing?”

The blue-haired girl continued to stare at Aya. “Do you actually hear yourself?” she asked. “Seriously. You really aren’t makin’ any sense.”

“Why did Miss Waters go to your temple yesterday?”

“Sorry, no tellin’. Client confidentiality, you see,” Ami replied easily.

Aya glowered. “Miss Aomori…”

“Now don’t try pullin’ that ‘evil eye’ crap on me, Arashi,” Ami warned. “It’s not goin’ to work.” Picking up her bookbag, she added, “Still, if you wanna know so badly, why doncha come for a visit tonight? You’ll see everything that’s going on and it’ll make sense then, I promise.”

Aya continued glaring at Ami, who easily shrugged it off and walked away.

***

“I cannot believe I am doing this,” Aya muttered to herself as she stalked up the steps of the temple. It was nearly midnight; the staff had taken longer than normal to get to bed. “There is no guarantee that this visit will tell you anything,” she continued. “This could just be some sort of elaborate hoax just to irritate me.”

Aya was about to continue on this vein when she heard the sound of a guttural scream – the scream of a voice she knew very well. “Miss Waters,” she murmured to herself. In seconds, she was charging up the steps and across the grounds of the temple, trying to locate the source of the scream.

It wasn’t a long search. Aya soon stumbled into the center of the temple grounds, where she was met with the sight of Selphi tied up in chains. Ami stood nearby, seated in a praying position. “Yer late,” she said once more.

“What are you doing to her?” Aya demanded, watching Selphi in horror. The American’s body was smoking and Selphi herself was continuing writhing against her bonds.

“Keepin’ the beast at bay,” Ami replied mildly. “She’ll be fine, don’t worry about it.”

“You… What is wrong with you?” The blonde glared at Ami. “This is torture!”

“No, this is a bindin’ spell,” Ami corrected. “The torturin’ is just a side effect.”

“Just a…” The blonde growled. “I will not stand for this sort of behavior; not when I can prevent it,” she snapped, stalking toward the bound girl.

“Ya don’t know what yer doin’,” Ami protested, hurrying to block the other girl’s path. With an impatient glare, Aya sent Ami flying through the air with a burst of flames. Then she resumed her movement to her partner’s side.

“You’ll be free in a moment, Miss Waters,” Aya soothed. “Just hold on…” Taking hold of the chains, she began to heat up her hands. The metal weakened beneath her palms, melting away. As the metal heated and fell away, Aya noted in some distant part of her mind that it had a yellowish cast to it, but dismissed the detail as being unimportant.

“Thank you,” the bound girl said, wincing as the last of the chains fell away. Her skin was burnt when the metal had touched her, but already the flesh was beginning to lighten and heal. Wordlessly, she pulled Aya into an embrace.

“Miss Waters?” Aya was disconcerted by the action. Certainly, Selphi was always touching people, but never were the touches anything particularly intimate.

“Thank you,” the brunette replied, before wrapping a length of chain around Aya’s neck. She gagged, throwing a wave of fire at her attacker to try and get her to loosen her hold, but Selphi took no notice and simply tightened the chain.

Aya was already losing consciousness when she felt herself lifted up by her neck and suspended in the air. Too much of her attention was diverted to trying to breathe for her to pay any more to her surroundings, and she only barely registered a soft pressure on her lips.

As the world went black, all Aya could do was wonder if this was it. Was this how she was going to end her life? She had so much life left to her, though…

Whatever philosophical rambling had began in her mind, they were quickly cut short. From far away, Aya’s hearing registered the sound of metal grinding, and the chain abruptly loosened its hold around her neck and let her drop to the ground.

“M-Miss Aomori?” Aya asked between coughs as she fought to regain her breath. The onmyouji was standing nearby, arms crossed. After a moment, Aya had recovered enough to push herself into a sitting position, which Ami promptly took advantage off by slapping the other girl hard across the mouth. Aya fell back to the ground, cursing. “What the hell was that for?!”

“You are an idiot,” Ami snapped. “A total and complete idiot! I told ya ya didn’t know what the hell you were doin’, and look – I was right! Imagine that!”

“How was I to know that Miss Waters was actually evil?” the other girl hissed, touching her mouth gingerly. Pulling her hand in front of her eyes, she grimaced at the sight of blood.

Ami sighed, handing the other girl a handkerchief before answering. “She’s not evil. Don’t go tryin’ to look for a simple answer when there ain’t none,” she scolded.

“What are you babbling about now?” Aya grumbled, only halting when Ami held up her hand warningly.

“I mean that… hmm…” Ami was obliged to stop as she tried to figure out how to explain things. “Mmm… Well, that is ta say… Well, Waters ain’t the only person in that body.”

“…Excuse me?”

“She’s sorta got a split personality,” Ami continued further, pointing to her own head to drive the point in. “’Cept that the personality isn’t just a separate personality, she’s also demonic, or so I understand.”

“And that’s why Miss Waters was smoking like that?” Aya eyed the chain. “What is that?”

“Just regular iron chain,” the onmyouji answered with a shrug. “It has gold mixed in it, though.”

“Gold?”

Ami nodded. “Yeah. Waters and I’ve been doin’ this for a while now. Apparently because of that other person, she can’t abide the touch of gold on her skin.” She paused, then added, “Which makes sense, kinda…”

“What?” Aya shook her head. “Never mind. Is the situation at hand a bad one?”

“Considerin’ what that other person is like, I would say so,” Ami replied evenly. “You’d better hurry and find that girl, before she causes too much trouble for us all to hide anymore.”

“You’re not helping?” The blonde raised an eyebrow.

“I have something more important to take care of,” Ami said before walking off. “Oh, and ya might have some luck if ya try the docks!”

Aya shook off any remaining light-headedness and decided, for once, to do as Ami suggested.

***

Sometime later, Aya found herself skulking about warehouses by the docks. That girl better not have been mistaken, she thought to herself as she looked around, keeping her senses on the alert as she explored the dark area. Selphi wasn’t her only concern – it was quite likely that she would run into an over-friendly dockworker.

Speaking of over-friendly… Aya caught the faint sound of speech, and one of the voices sounded more than a little familiar. Locating the sound, she crept closer, seeking confirmation.

It wasn’t long before Aya was in range to see Selphi – or rather, the person wearing Selphi’s body – speaking with one of the dock workers. The demon was stroking the worker’s arm lightly, and fluttered her eyelashes a few times. What was worse was that the worker actually seemed to be falling for the gestures.

Rolling her eyes, Aya tapped her foot against the ground hard enough to make her presence known. If Selphi had sensitive hearing, it wasn’t much of a stretch to realize that the demon would have the same.

The brunette looked over in Aya’s direction, then smiled slightly and said something to the dock worker that Aya was too far away to make out before sticking her hands in her pockets and strolling over in Aya’s direction. The dock worker stared after her for a bit, then seemed to shake himself and run away as fast as possible

“You got here a lot faster than I had expected,” the demon remarked as she came within Aya’s range. “Let me guess: that shrine maiden helped you?”

“Something like that,” Aya said in response. “Who are you?”

“Oh, she didn’t explain?” The brunette’s lips pulled back into a amused, but vicious grin. “How lazy of her. Allow me to introduce myself.” Pulling her hands out of her pockets, she made a mocking curtsy. “The girl calls me her shadow, and I suppose that’s what I am – I am everything that she chooses to reject and leave in the darkness to fend for herself.”

“I can see where Miss Waters gets her tendency to be cryptic from,” Aya noted dryly. “I suppose that you just want to be free of whatever moral qualms Miss Waters has?”

The girl’s grin widened. “Oh, she has quite a few of them, actually… But, yes, being free would be nice. Unfortunately, I have certain… limitations when it comes to when I can come out and play, so I try to make the most of what time I have.” With a snort, she continued, “Not that they’ll let me, of course.”

Pushing aside the question of ‘they’ – because the answer was fairly obvious – Aya asked, “What were you going to do with that dock worker? Seduce him, murder him…”

“Oh, what, you’re looking for the evil mastermind to start telling all of her plans for world domination and the like?” The demon rolled her eyes. “Don’t mock me; I’m not nearly as amenable to that as that idiot girl is.”

She paused, then giggled. “Although if you must know, I thought that he would make an excellent lunch, that’s all.”

The blonde decided that she honestly didn’t want to know what the demon meant by that. “Whatever your plans are, I intend to bring you back to Aomori for bondage.”

That provoked a hearty laugh from the demon. “Really, now! I admit, I didn’t peg you for the type, girl… But then, I suppose that we all have our interesting hang-ups, don’t we?” Her smile had changed from being vicious to perverse.

Said smile only widened as the demon was forced to hop away and avoid the angry girl’s attack. “You… How you dare say such things about me, you vermin,” Aya hissed. Summoning more flames to her hand, she added to herself, Miss Waters may be an idiot, but she has knowledge enough not to say something so… lurid.

“Awww, did I hurt widdle Aya-chan’s feewings?” the demon said, pouting slightly. “Or perhaps I hit too close to the ma-“ This time Aya’s attack hit the mark, exploding against the brunette’s chest and knocking her off of the roof she had been standing on. Aya moved closer, not wanting to allow the demon a chance to recover.

But recover she had, and as Aya approached, the demon growled low in her throat. “I think I ought to show you the full extent of this body’s capabilities,” she said aloud, her voice almost conversational and her body language contradicting it in every way.

Before Aya could take another step, the demon sped in front of her and took hold of her arms. With seemingly little effort, she began to twist them, grinning in delight at the sight of pain on Aya’s face. “You look so pretty this way, Aya-chan,” she cooed. “You would look even better in your own blood.”

Aya looked at her torturer, struggling to stay conscious amongst the waves of pain running from her shoulders and through her body. There was a slight glint and she noticed something for the first time, something that had only been revealed in the bright moonlight and the creature’s penchant for obscenely wide grins – Selphi had fangs.

“Yes,” the creature said to herself thoughtfully. “Yes, you would look better in blood.” Her grin finally toned down into a straight face as she leaned in to softly kiss Aya’s neck. Her grip tightened to keep the girl’s wiggling wrists in her grasp, nearly breaking bones in the process.

“How da—“ Aya began to say before crying out in pain as the demon’s teeth sank into her neck.

“Don’t you just love the jugular?” the brunette murmured breathily against Aya’s skin. “You’ll bleed out soon enough, but I think that I’ll make you into a tasty meal before then.”

The demon was about to continue when she felt her captive’s throat vibrate under her lips. Frowning, she realized that the girl was laughing. “What’s so funny?”

Aya smirked slightly. “All this talking… You should have just ripped my throat out,” she choked out, coughing up blood.

“But that would be too fast,” the brunette replied, pouting slightly.

The smirk widened by a fraction. “Idiot.”

There was only a second for the creature to try and figure out what the Japanese girl meant before Aya activated the spell. The tetrahedron’s she had traced around her hands flared, then exploded, scorching her captor’s skin and flesh.

The demon let out a loud cry as she jumped back, cradling her injured hands to her body. “You Japanese whore!” she shouted. “Pig… Worthless pig, so wrapped up in your own sense of importance from this despicable culture. That’s just like a person of your breeding to use a low trick like that.”

“Say what you will about my ‘low trick’,” Aya replied coolly, pressing a blue flame against the wound in her neck. “I doubt that Miss Waters shares this hypocritical view of yours about fighting using underhanded tactics, and more importantly, the trick worked in my favor.”

“Talk, talk.” She watched as the burns on her hands healed without a scar – there really were some distinct advantages to using the body of a water witch. “Are you just going to talk me to death?”

“Oh, no,” Aya said conversationally. She dug around in her pocket, eventually coming up with a short black bar. As she took a hold of it and twirled it, the bar extended into a full staff. “I intend to beat you into submission.”

There was something almost comical in how large and round the demon’s eyes became as the blonde approached, the staff in one hand and a flame in the other.

***

The next morning, Aya was hardly surprised that Selphi had stayed home from school. When school was over, she pulled out her cell phone, dialing a certain number and waiting for the city bus to come.

“Hello?” A cracked and tired voice answered.

“Miss Waters?”

“Oh, hey, Aya,” Selphi responded on the phone.

“How are you feeling?” Aya asked.

“About as well as anyone who’s been beaten within an inch of their life and given a bunch of concussion-induced headaches,” Selphi replied as cheerfully as she could. “I ought to be back in class in another day or so.”

“That is… good to hear.” Shifting a bit uncomfortably, the blonde continued, “Ah, will there be any more trouble from that annoying person?”

“Not for this month.” There was a soft groan of pain before Selphi resumed talking. “We’ll have to worry again around the next full moon.”

“I see.”

“…Oh. I forgot. Aya-chan?”

“Hm?” Aya looked up to see that the bus was approaching.

“Thanks for holding me back,” the American said, her voice belying the grin on her face. Aya looked at her phone for a moment, then hung up quietly before boarding the bus.