The night was eerily quiet. Without the moon casting its silvery glow on the surroundings, the sky seemed almost naked, stripped off its usual lightbulb. Clouds were hiding the stars from sight and the scent of damp earth and grass hung heavy in the air, tickling my nose. It had rained earlier, but it was a warm night. An owl hooted in the distance.

"Ready?" Sakura appeared by my side, but before I could reply or even acknowledge her presence, she had left and brushed past me. A door slid open behind me. I turned around and heard the rustle of her too-wide sleeves as she peeled them back, exposing the paleness of her forearms and tying them back with a ribbon.

She made me sit on the floor. Outside the wind chimes tinkled to the melody of the lazy spring breeze but I barely paid it any mind when Sakura settled down in front of me, knees bumping against mine as she sank onto the floorboards, her fingers reaching out for my hands and grasping them, sending a pulse of awareness through me. I couldn't tell what made my heart rate pick up more, my nervousness about this... procedure or finally having her so awfully close after watching her from afar for so long.

Shadows flickered across the thin walls when she moved, reaching for something on one of the counters. I heard the light sound of metal, her eyelids fluttered closed, lips moving and whispering words under her breath in a dialect I failed to understand. She leant towards me and slipped a chain over my head.

I hissed, but not at the bite of cold metal on my skin. It burned. "What is this?" I asked.

Sakura's eyes shimmered in the candlelight around us, deep and dark. "Silver," she simply said and I looked down, noticing the tiny glass container hanging around my neck.

"But why does it burn?" I fought the urge to rip off the chain and throw it to the ground.

"That's because of him," she said in a whisper. "Demons don't like silver, they're vulnerable to it." And with that, she sat down in front of me again, her hands reaching for mine and she continued to whisper more foreign words.

I lapsed into silence, my mind fading out at the sound of her murmuring voice until suddenly, I felt a tug at my chest, a jerk in my joints. Something — someone — awoke from their sleep. I growled, without wanting to. It sounded low and menacing and I didn't know my throat could make such a noise. It was like it was forced out of me.

Sakura's voice grew steadier, her intonation increasing in intensity as shivers started to wrack my body. My hands cramped underneath hers, fighting to break free, to lash out and rip her apart. I didn't know where that last thought came from, but it scared me. She tightened her hold on me, determined but her thumbs caressed the back of my hands gently as if she was trying to calm me down.

My lip pulled back and without me ever deciding to do so, I snarled. I didn't want to, I didn't mean to make these sounds that were more animal than human, but something was ripping these responses from my body. Something was taking over my being bit by bit. Thick black smoke filled my brain, pushing my conscious thoughts and everything that was me into a corner of my mind and trapping them there.

And there was nothing I could do to prevent it.

My body broke free from Sakura's grasp, the muscles in my arm flexed and shuddered underneath my skin, I could feel them tremble as I tried to stop them from moving, from pulling my arm back. But it raced forward, throwing her to the ground. It wasn't me.

Notmenotmenotme...

A scream tore itself from my lungs, slicing the eerie silence of the little room. I fought but I was powerless to stop my limbs from moving. My body rose slowly to its full height. My head felt... funny as if filled with clouds. Every time I tried to form a thought, it seemed like something was in my way. As if I was walking through dense white fog.

The girl on the ground looked up. Blood was seeping from the corner of her mouth, trickling down her chin in a tiny rivulet of crimson, but her eyes were still so damn determined. Her lips pulled into a grim line when she launched herself at me. The back of my head hit the ground hard when her body collided with mine. I growled and bared my teeth at her but she held me down with surprising strength.

"Not so strong without the moonlight, are we, oni?" she hissed at my ear.

I hit her again, hoping to throw her off, but she was straddling me, her body digging into mine mercilessly. Until I managed to free my hands. I pounced, fingers curling around her slender neck, closing and pressing hard. I was gratified with a choke and it was time for me to grin.

"Strong enough to end a little wench like you."

My body chased her down as she fought to break free, clawing and pulling at my arms, but her strength was failing her, draining away along with her oxygen until she was lying on the floor, her grip slackening and her hands falling away from mine slowly.

But her eyes, those eyes were wide, staring at me defiantly still, even though her face was slowly turning a lovely shade of purple.

Nonono. The boy's voice screamed in my head and I felt him stir again, starting another futile attempt to overthrow me.

I grunted, shutting him up and pressing harder, wanting to end the little miko then and there, stop her from interfering. But then she moved. Her hand shout out, lightning-fast. The glint of metal flashed before my eye and something hit my chest, slicing shirt and skin.

And it burned, it hurt like a bitch, wrenching a scream from me.

She hit me, again and again, until hot blood began to stream down my chest and I lost it, lost him over the mind-numbing pain that followed.

In a flash, I was me again. I fell, bleeding and groaning, coming face to face with Sakura. Her chest was heaving with the effort to suck air into her lungs. She coughed and something clattered to the ground, falling from her limp fingers. I stared at the bloody scissors, before my eyes snapped back to her face, catching her gaze.

"Why are your eyes so wide?" My voice was hoarse, strained as I fought to stay awake. My view was tinged red and I wasn't sure why, I wasn't sure what had just happened. I just felt pain ripping through me, splitting my chest open and I felt tired, so tired. My strength seemed to be seeping out of me with every pulse.

Sakura sobbed and it sounded strange to my ears. Why was she crying? Her hands were covered in blood — my blood, I realised with a start — as she reached out and pressed them to my chest. I couldn't fathom what exactly she was trying to do in that moment. Stop the bleeding maybe? I was too far gone to care, my eyes were threatening to fall close. But I felt another pull at my being, it passed through me like electricity.

I clutched my chest and another scream, another groan escaped me, blackness pulled at the seams of my consciousness, trying to take over my body again. The demon was trying to tear me back from the edge in a last effort to pull me back to life, to save its vessel.

Hands grabbed the collar of my shirt, a mouth covered mine in a sloppy kiss and I was burning up again. My eyes were pressed shut but it didn't stop the light behind my lids from blinding me. Something slithered up my throat, making me gag and cough. My blood felt like it was boiling in my veins and the pain yanked at me violently until I felt something inside me disintegrate. But it didn't break... it was as if something was finally growing back together again.

I gasped, my eyes flying open. Sakura's head fell back against the floorboards with a thump. Her face was ashen, the veins around her eyes were dark and purple. She looked like a ghost.

"What did you do?" My hands shot out, grasping her shoulders, shaking her softly. But she only smiled at me tiredly,

"I couldn't let the bastard win," she said, her voice cracking and breaking. A tear slid from beneath her lashed as she inhaled one last shuddering breath and went still. Her fingers were clasping the vial hanging around my neck, but as they fell away, the tiny bottle was no longer empty.

Bright red and murky black fire was swirling inside of it.