Fighting for what is lost

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor felt a burn behind her eyes as she walked the path she had run all those months ago. It felt so foolish to still be upset about such a thing, but her entire being ached with the desire to go back to before it all happened and prevent it. The blonde approached the place where she had fallen and Raff had held her. A familiar clench in her chest began squeezing the happiness-that used to be so second nature to Taylor-out. She examined the gravel with a frown before noticing a chain half buried under the surface. Her frown increased as Taylor bent down to retrieve the object. As she pulled, she revealed a Gryffindor Necklace. Her Gryffindor Necklace. She had no idea she had lost it here. She had just thought it symbolic that she had lost the necklace Scorpius had given her after the break-up. She didn't know what emotion was surging through her. It didn't feel like sadness, it wasn't anger, it was a sort of confusion. As she examined the Gryffindor crest, she didn't feel Gryffindor at all. She wasn't acting brave, or loyal. She was acting afraid and pathetic. Letting out a sigh, she closed her hand over the necklace, not really wanting a reminder of how ridiculous it was to hold onto false hope. She hadn't spoken to Scorpius in months. Why couldn't she get the boy out of her head?

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

Blue seemed to be Hoshi's flavor today as she lounged on one of the benches in the gardens. Normally she wouldn't have been caught outside like this but felt that the sun was weak enough not to damage her skin while still giving her a bit of color. Haven knew that she was starting to look a bit like a vampire with the lack of sunlight she was getting lately. Her feet where bare under the kamono as she stretched out on the bench with the book she had gotten from her father's library in her hands.

The markings that she had placed on herself where hidden by clothes and she could feel what they where doing to her. Once they where all there she could tell her father that it would no longer be required for him to bind the other side of her because it would no longer be a part of her. As she came back from her thoughts the young Ms. Koshiba spotted a person coming up the walk. Taylor she remembered her name was. This was only because the girl she had once been knew her well enough. This didn't make the young Ms. Koshiba sneer any less when found Taylor the stupid thing on the ground. "We all know you Gryffendor either clean the disgusting pendent and ware it or leave it on the ground for some other big headed lion cub to find." She said not really knowing what she was saying. The emotions that where written across Taylor's face where irritating her though.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor glanced up, startled a little by the voice. It was familiar, but strange at the same time. Hoshi was standing in front of her, but it wasn't Hoshi that Taylor saw. And the words, said with a sneer, cut deep at the friendship that they once had. What had happened to Hoshi? Since her party, she hadn't quite been the same. Where were her goth clothes? Where was the striking Hoshi that had once matched the crazy colours she wore in her hair? Taylor frowned and shoved the necklace into the pocket of her jeans. "It was mine." She said stupidly in her defence, not really sure what else to say. This new Hoshi was intimidating and Taylor found herself wanting to snap back at the girl, but... it was still Hoshi, right?

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

The young Ms. Koshiba rolled her eyes. "Clearly, and clearly you still want it. I doubt it has anything to do with house pride and all to do with a certin Ravenclaw Casenova." She said her voice faiding as if she where already boared with this. In reality she having a bit of fun. It wasn't everyday that she got to mess with the life of the girl that had once been herself. But she still could think of things she would have reather been doing. There was so much to do planing a good murder Hoshi had found out and all of it was starting to become a hassle. It was truly, as her father would have said, bad for buisness.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor wrapped her arms around her in a self conscious movement. Why was Hoshi being so nasty? Taylor knew she had changed, but she hadn't expected her to change so much she would be rude to someone who used to be her friend. The mention of Scorpius made Taylor's heart clench painfully and Taylor felt the tears prick in her eyes again. "So what if it is Hoshi?" She said her tone a soft mixture of confusion and a hint of anger. Taylor didn't know how well she would take it if Hoshi said something bad about her and Scorpius. Taylor remembered back to how horrible she had felt after Henric had brought it up.

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

Hoshi pursed her lips. "Oh don't cry for the love of the gods. The boy left you for his own foolish reasons and I'm sure this depression is getting on even your own nerves." She said at more of a hiss than anything. Hoshi was no longer seen crying over Henric Lee then again not saw any true emotion coming from the porsiline doll that had become Hoshi Koshiba. She snapped the book shut finally to add an exclamation point to her own irritation. She couldn't really care less about her or Scorpius for that matter. Not anymore. What she cared about the most was written across her skin for anyone who would care to look. Power was Hoshi's only friend and lover now.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor blinked away the tears that were forming. Her stubbornness to prove that she was stronger than how Hoshi had described her, was keeping the tears from falling. Instead, the tears morphed into anger. An anger at Hoshi for being so insensitive and for being so different. "Don't pretend you know anything about what happened between me and Scorpius." She said defensively, cringing a little at the Ravenclaw's name spilling from her lips. "The Hoshi I knew wouldn't be this uncaring about two people that care about her." Taylor spat, not meaning to act so unlike herself, but if Hoshi could do it, Taylor would too. All her emotions over the past few months came spilling forth into pent up rage. Taylor wished briefly that it was someone else besides Hoshi she was taking it out on, but the Slytherin had started it and now Taylor couldn't hold it back. She almost didn't want to.

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

A breath like laugh came from Hoshi then as she gave Taylor a harsh look. "Pah-lese don't act like you haven't noticed that the Hoshi you once knew is dead and gone. She had been for the last year and for you to expect me to care about what happens in your trivial little lives is beyond moronic." She said tossing a hand up like the proper girl she had been expected to be. She could see Taylor's anger and Hoshi was laughing on the inside. How easy it was wind up emotional fools with a few harsh words. "I did at one time know then it would have been all the same to me." She said shaking her head. "I has nothing to do with me or my business so again it is none of my consern." She added while leaning back on the arm of the bench she was sprawled across.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor's hands clenched into fists at her sides at the harsh look Hoshi sent her way. Taylor didn't quite understand where this anger was coming from, but she could barely contain it. She wanted sympathy, even though she didn't need it. But she didn't need Hoshi being like this either. "If it's none of your concern then why did you have to say anything to begin with?" Taylor said through gritted teeth. Scorpius was still a sensitive topic and Taylor's nerves were ending thin with Hoshi getting under her skin to poke at the issue.

[Okay, now Hoshi should say something really mean, so Taylor can hit her, yes? ]

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

Hoshi rolled her eyes. "Because it somehow amused me to do so to see how you defended him and pathetically so I might add. Keep it up and people might start thinking your a pathetic girl. For a Gryffendor that would quite devastating no matter how worthlessly hopeless there devours may be." She said hitting both her, Knight, and her house in one blow. Something inside her told her that she would maybe stop at one point but Hoshi was not listening. She could see why the Glam Squad got a bit of joy from pocking like this at people did make things quite entertaining indeed.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Hoshi's words pierced Taylor's skin like shards of ice. At that moment Taylor didn't care who Hoshi was, or at least who she used to be. Taylor let out a frustrated shout and the fist's that were clenched at her sides came up to swing at Hoshi's jaw. She didn't care if it connected, she simply continued to throw her fists into the girl that she used to call her friend. All her emotions seemed to pour into her punches, causing Taylor to strike harder with each move of her arm. All her confusion and sadness morphed into anger as Taylor shut her eyes, trying to stop the tears that began to fall in her rage. "I can't believe you Hoshi!" She screamed, feeling her world dissolve beneath her feet.

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

The first blow struck Hoshi in the jaw but the next was blocked by Hoshi's wrist. After that Hoshi brought out the speed that she had been known for when she practiced her marshal arts. She blocked or dodged what was being thrown at her though it was until Taylor actually spoke that she had a chance to get up off her seat. Her wooden shoes had been under the bench but she didn't bother getting them out. "Can't believe what that I could actually say something like this?" She said in a falsely sweet voice. She was going to strike Taylor not because she somehow felt for her used to be friend but because it was beneath a Koshiba girl to actually get her hands dirty.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

The satisfaction of the first hit soon turned into frustration when Hoshi continued to block Taylor's next punches. Taylor stopped when Hoshi got up, knowing that if the Slytherin girl chose to hit her back, Taylor probably wouldn't stand a chance. She had never been violent. Taylor's brain caught up with what she had just done and she was filled with shame, but with her fists still clenched tightly by her sides and her chest rising and falling from her rapid breathing, it was easy for Taylor to push aside that shame.

Taylor narrowed her eyes at Hoshi's sickening words. "Exactly." She spat, before feeling her wrist twitch with the urge to strike again. Deciding that it would be better to leave now than be caught by a Professor later, Taylor turned and walked away, her head held high with false confidence. As she walked, she noticed her anger didn't diminish. It still surged through her, not allowing itself to be ignored.

When she was out of the garden and knew Hoshi wouldn't see her, Taylor wiped the tears off her jaw furiously with a growl. Her friends meant everything to her. And Taylor felt as though she was losing them. Grinding her teeth, Taylor stomped back up to the Gryffindor tower, hoping she wouldn't bump into anyone on the way. She seriously needed to let off some steam.

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

The young Ms. Koshiba touched where Taylor had landed a hit. Had she been truly herself at the time Hoshi would have thought that of Ti-kun and how he would have been ashamed of her for letting even that hit slide by her. This was not Hoshi though this was the young Ms. Koshiba. The only thing she felt now was a slight discomfort from the hit and was already thinking of how she was going to hie it if this pathetic Gryffendor had left a bruise. She watched as Taylor walked away with her hands crossed under her then took her place on the bench again.

What just happened did affect the young Ms. Koshiba in the least. It was not in the nature of a doll to feel anything other than what was required of her. There was a small sense of amusment but that was it. She went back to the book in she had been reading before Taylor came and bothered her all the while this persona was unaware of the note that had been slipped into Taylor's pocket. It read simply Help me