I'm Nothing Without You - Part 1

In the deep color of the night sky, the bright moon shined down; surrounded by hundreds upon thousands of stars. The luminous moon’s light glistened off of the surface of the lake, causing it to shine like precious crystals. This lake was on the outskirts of a city, surrounded by a large park.

In the city near the park, a figure moved swiftly along the rooftops. The method he was using was parkour, and he was quite skilled at it. His large, cat-like claws indicated that he was not a human, but a demon. Clad in black pants and hoodie, along with white gloves, a black and white scarf, and a black and white mask; the demon made his way out of the city and into the park.

The demon slowed slightly when he entered, but still made his way through the tree branches using diligent parkour. He finally reached the edge of the sparse forest, if one could even call it that, and was now looking at the large body of water before him.

Perched on a tree bough, his breath caught slightly as he gazed out at the beautiful scene. There was an expression on the black side of his mask which was of joy and love. But even with the stunning view of the moonlight shimmering off of the water’s surface, that sight was not what he was gazing at.

Standing beside the lake was a woman. Her hair was a lovely flowing blond, and she had fair skin. She was also dressed in white. Upon observing her, you could tell that she too was not a human; or at least, not anymore. Her forearms were scarred with gashes, as well as her neck and other areas; and one of her eyes was gone, leaving only a blood streaked socket. However, even with these cruel wounds; she was a sight to behold.

The demon jumped silently down from the tree and onto the grass. He approached the woman, who was looking over into the surface of the lake, into her own reflection. Soon the demon’s reflection joined hers on the surface of the water.

“Your pale reflection glows bright, just like the moon; it's so mesmerizing that I just can't help but get closer to your luminance presence.” The demon broke the silence with a soft tone.

The woman blushed and looked over at him.

“Oh Kage,” She giggled, “You’re so sweet” She reached over and put a hand on his mask. Lifting it up slightly to reveal his mouth, she gave him a kiss. She readjusted his mask to how it was before. Back in place, Kage’s expression returned to the black side of the mask; a smile.

“So, Sadie,” Kage inquired, “What would you like to do tonight? Maybe go out and find someone to play with? That’s always such fun”

“Hmm,” Sadie looked around, “It’s a beautiful night; how about just a nice walk?”

Kage looked around, and then smiled, nodding his head slightly in agreement. He stepped forward and then turned, holding out his hand. Sadie reached out and took his hand in hers, and together they started walking.

It truly was a beautiful night. Walking along the side of the lake the two of them could gaze out at the beautiful sights the night beheld. The stars were like a numerous army around the stunning moon in the clear sky. The calm wind rustled the leaves in the trees. Although it appeared that there were no animals about; the trees around them were full of life. A rodent or two scampered out of its hiding place and dashed quickly to another; an owl gazed around with its large and observant eyes. The night seemed perfect.

Kagekao and Sadie walked along, hand in hand. They continued on and stopped atop a small wooden bridge that went over a small portion of water. Looking over the edge, they could see their two reflections in the calm surface of the lake.

They gazed at their reflections for a while. Kage looked out across the surface of the lake; like a reflection in a mirror, he could see the moon and stars along with the tops of a few trees in the water. When he looked back at his and Sadie’s reflections, he noticed that she was no longer looking at them; she was looking at somewhere behind them.

Sadie nudged Kage and pointed towards where she was looking. He turned and looked as well, seeing what she was concerned about. In the distance stood a figure; because of the dark and how far away the person was, it was hard to see any details on him. Sadie looked at Kage, slight worry showing on her face.

“Don’t worry,” Kage put his arm around her to comfort her, “Humans aren’t a big threat to us, remember? I’m sure he’ll go away.”

Kage turned to ignore this person, but Sadie nudged him again and looked back towards the person. Kage turned and saw her concern. The person was closer to them now. In his hand he was holding a large weapon; it was a massive scythe. The moonlight glinted off of its menacing blade.

A low growl escaped Kage’s throat as he turned and lead Sadie off of the bridge; in the opposite direction of the mysterious person. Sadie gave a small gasp and Kage looked to see; the person was slowly walking towards them now.

Suddenly two large, black feathered wings sprouted out of the person’s back. Their slow walk became a stride, and then a quick gait. Closer now, their features could be seen. They were clad in a hooded black robe that covered their whole body, and their face was covered by some sort of demonic variant of a Jacob’s Ram skull. Through the large and empty sockets of the skull’s face, glowing crimson eyes shone through. It was obvious now that this person was not a regular human; and very likely a threat.

Seeing him get nearer at a quick rate, Kage stopped walking and stood in front of Sadie; facing this person. An aggressive glare appeared on the white side of his mask; and he emitted a hostile hiss of warning to this winged figure and quickly showed his claws.

The winged figure, now only a few feet away from Kagekao, stopped. Seeing Kage’s warning display, a growl escaped his own throat and his black wings outstretched; showing off their impressive wingspan and making him appear larger.

“おまえ,” (You,) He spoke, “おまえ　みた, 都市にみた” (I’ve seen you, in the city)

Kage was a little surprised at how he spoke Japanese, but held his hostile stance.

“そう? 何?” (So? What?) Kage growled.

“同様にこの女” (As well as that woman) The winged one rasped and motioned towards Sadie slightly with his scythe. Kage hissed.

“All you do is kill people.” The winged one continued with an angry hiss.

“何? 殺すためにしたいですか？” (What? Did YOU want to kill them?) Kage snarled, “残念! おまえ遅い!” (What a pity! You’re just too slow!)

“バカ、黙れ！” (Idiot, shut up!) He snarled, “I don’t want to be like you despicable people,” His red eyes seemed to glow bright with disgust. “Just running around and ruining lives of innocent humans!” He drew his scythe back, “You don’t deserve to live.”

Kage snarled aggressively and drew his stance to an attacking one.

“おれ わ 死神 黒魂.” (I am the shinigami Kuro Tamashi) He rasped, “おまえの殺人者！” (Your killer!)

The shinigami swung the scythe towards them. Kage hissed and jumped backwards, missing the deadly blade by mere centimeters. Seeing the danger, Sadie produced a knife that had been hidden in her gown.

Tamashi swung the scythe again, rapidly moving forward. Kage grabbed Sadie and pulled her back, again dodging the blade. He then let out a demonic snarl and jumped to a tree, and then pounced on top of the shinigami; landing on his shoulders. Kage immediately began raking his claws across the shinigami’s neck.

Tamashi snarled and swung the scythe over his head, aiming for Kage; who ducked and continued clawing, causing his hands to become red with blood.  This distraction gave Sadie the opportunity to run forward and stab their assailant several times. Tamashi roared and flew backwards rapidly, slamming Kage into a tree. Kage gasped and coughed, stunned and temporarily stopping his claws.

The enraged shinigami, seeing that Kage had been slowed down, drew his attention to Sadie. With a beat of his wings he sped forward at an alarming rate and whacked her with the side of the blade. The suddenness of the attack left her little time to prepare, and she was sent flying backwards.

Seeing the success of the attack, Tamashi gave a hiss of approval and went forward to finish her off. Kage, regaining full mobility, saw what he was trying to do and reached his claws down and sunk them into Tamashi’s neck. The shinigami roared in pain and then swung his head back rapidly several times; the ram horns on the skull he wore pummeled Kage and caused him to fall to the ground.

Tamashi snarled and moved towards Sadie who was stunned on the ground, drawing back his scythe for a final blow.

“Sadie!!!” Kage cried as he got to his feet and ran forward. Tamashi smirked and swung the scythe towards her, aiming for her neck; which would most likely take off her entire head.

Kage grabbed Sadie and got her out of the way, but a bit too late. The scythe came down across his back, leaving a deep gash. Kage gasped and fell against a tree, trying to bear the pain. Seeing his advantage, Tamashi swung the scythe again, this time getting Kage across the chest; leaving another deep gash.

Choking up blood, Kage fell to the ground as warm blood poured from him and soaked into his clothing. Tamashi moved forward with a flap of his wings, now standing above Kage. He was losing a lot of blood quickly from the deep gashes across his neck, but he wanted to come out victorious in this battle.

“Not so tough now, are you?” He rasped as a bead of crimson blood dripped down the side of his mouth. He rose up the scythe and brought the other end down towards Kage; it was sharp like a spear. Kage cried out in agony as the sharp end impaled his abdomen.

“K-Kage!?” Sadie stuttered, looking over as she regained mobility. She saw him on the ground, bleeding heavily. She saw the shinigami towering over him and stabbing him, his red eyes gleamed with malicious joy.  

Something inside her seemed to snap. Sadie’s hands began shaking as she picked up her knife. She slowly stood up, her entire body twitching in an odd fashion. Her one remaining eye seemed to glow with rage and hatred.

“You . . .” She took a step forward, her head jerked upwards to look at Tamashi, who noticed her and stopped stabbing Kagekao to look. “Mother . . .” Sadie drew her hand back, “FUCKER!!!”

She jabbed the knife forward, stabbing him quickly and then yanking the knife away. He stumbled backwards from the sudden shock of attack and she ran forwards, slashing at him again.

Kage reached up a bloody hand and grabbed a low hanging branch. He coughed; blood spattered the inside of his mask. He started to get to his feet slowly by leaning against the tree.

Tamashi flew backwards, avoiding Sadie’s attacks. He then held down his scythe, the blade forward, and drew it back. Sadie ran forward, knife held back and ready to stab. Suddenly, Tamashi swung the scythe forward, and Sadie stopped.

Kage managed to stand up, and then looked up. He gasped in horror at what he saw. Sadie was right in front of Tamashi, who was holding up his scythe. Sadie was a few inches off of the ground; she was held up by the blade of the scythe, which had gone all the way through her torso and was sticking out of her back.

Tamashi reached forward and put his hand on her forehead, and then yanked the scythe back, ripping it out of her torso and causing her to fall to the ground.

“おまえ . . . お-おまえ. . .” (You . . . Y-you . . .) Kage stuttered, frozen in horror. “Sadie!?”

“何？” (What?) Tamashi looked over at Kage. He quickly swung the scythe towards the ground, causing blood to spatter to the grass. “死好きじゃない？” (Don’t you like death?)

Kage stared at him, paralyzed in shock, fear, and rage.

“Now you know how it feels,” Tamashi glared at him, “To lose a loved one to a monster.”

“殺す!!!” (I’LL KILL YOU!!!) Kage ran forward, claws fully extended; ignoring the pain screaming across his chest and back.

“マジ？” (Seriously?) The shinigami scoffed, “Just give up.” He swung the scythe towards Kage, who dodged to the side and jumped into the branches of a tree. Tamashi waited for him to jump down again, but Kage stayed there.

“Well,” Tamashi chuckled, “I guess you’re just gonna hide up there?” He swung the scythe upwards towards the branches. Kage jumped and kicked out towards the scythe, slamming the blade into the trunk of the tree with his foot.

He landed on Tamashi’s back again, and sunk the claws on his feet into the shinigami’s back and jabbing the claws on his hands into his neck. Tamashi snarled in pain and started trying to yank the scythe’s blade out of the tree. Kage reached up and adjusted his mask, revealing his mouth. He snarled viciously and then sank his teeth into Tamashi’s neck, and then ripped out a chunk of flesh.

Tamashi cried out in pain and fell to the ground; Kage jumped off before he slammed into the grass and prepared to attack again; but a sound from behind made him stop. He could hear Sadie’s harsh breathing.

Kage turned and saw her on the ground, a huge gash in her torso that went all the way to her back, surrounded in a pool of her own blood. He ran over to her side and held her.

“Sadie! Hang on! Don’t worry; I’ll get you help!” He cried.

Sadie looked at him; the moonlight glistened off of the blood she was covered in.

“No Kage, I . . . I can’t . . .”

“お願い . . .” (Please . . .)

“Kage . . .” Sadie weakly reached up one of her hands and put it on his mask. She lifted it up, revealing his face. She looked into his tear filled silver eyes as tears ran down her own face.

“Please don’t go, Sadie; I’ll get you help . . .” Kage held her close to him, “Just don’t go . . . I love you . . .”

Behind them Tamashi slowly got to his feet. He reached over and yanked his scythe from the tree, and then began to approach them. Kage noticed him get up, but stayed over Sadie. Tamashi drew the scythe back, and then stabbed the spear end towards them. Kage held Sadie in his arms and blocked the attack with his own body, all the while staring into her eye.

“Sadie! It’s alright, I’ll protect you! I promise! Just don’t leave me; it’s going to be alright!”

Tamashi drew back the scythe again weakly, and stabbed it forward again; wounding Kage.

Kage gasped in pain, but stayed with Sadie.

“It’s okay Sadie; I’m here, just stay with me!”

Tamashi drew back once more, this time to deal the final blow. Suddenly he felt too weak; he was losing blood at an alarming rate due to the wounds Kage had given him. The shinigami stepped back, lowering his weapon.

Sadie’s eye began to slowly close.

“No, no no no no no no no! Sadie!” Kage cried to her, “Don’t go! Don’t close your eyes! Don’t leave me, Sadie!”

Sadie looked at him; she opened her mouth to say something, but was silent.

“Sadie . . . Please don’t go . . . Don’t leave me alone . . . I love you . . .”

“I love you too, Kage; I’ll always love you . . .” Using the last of her strength, Sadie kissed him one last time.

She looked at the sky, at the stars and the moon.

“It’s such a beautiful night, Kage. So beautiful . . .” They both gazed out at the moon together, just like they had done before all of this had happened; when the night was perfect. “I wish I could go on more walks with you on nights like this but . . .”

“Sadie . . . Don’t . . . Please don’t . . .”

“I guess, death is possible . . . twice . . .” She closed her eyes, and was silent.

“Sadie . . . No . . . You can’t be . . .” But Kage knew she was. “Don’t leave me alone like this . . .”

Sadie’s body began to disintegrate, turning into a sort of mist. Kage was still holding her hand, but her fingers slipped away from his as she drifted off into the wind.

Kage watched as she disappeared. He turned his head slightly; Kuro Tamashi was gone.

Kage was left bleeding heavily in a pool of blood; completely alone.