Blood Bonds

Prologue: Part One

Author's Note: I'm trying something different. Everything will connect in time so please give it a chance. And I'm giving the warning now, this will be higher T rated, so steer clear if you can't handle it.

The air hung heavy in the Yagami Manor, creating a thick blanket that immersed the room like a corpulent weight. The summer heat had come early this year, making the atmosphere sticky and humid. Yagami Taichi lay atop his bed, sprawled out across the length of the ruffled silken sheets, his body pushed down by the summer breath. His abandoned nightshirt lay across the floor in a crumpled heap, and he was quite indecent in only his sleeping pants.

There was silence in the room, save for the slight snoring emitted from the wild haired brunette. He slept lightly though, for his dreams were troubled by his aching heart. He was plagued by the memory of his deceased wife.

Taichi had been married little more than a year to a young maiden by the name of Akemi. She had within her Taichi's first son, but the pregnancy had been difficult and both had died on the night she gave birth. Taichi returned to his parents' manor to escape the reminders of his own home, to escape the solitude of the empty rooms.

Taichi was roused from his sleep when the silence was sliced through—by the sound of a table falling, perhaps. He threw his feet over the side of the bed and took a moment to rub the weariness from his eyes and wipe the sweat from his brow. Whether the perspiration was from the heat or from his thoughts, he did not know.

Grabbing his night shirt and pulling it over his body, Taichi made his way to the doorway. He heard muffled sounds of—something—and it piqued his curiosity. The brunette made his way down the hallway, running his fingers against the wall like he did as a child when he went to check up on his sister.

Passing the doorway of the master bedroom, Taichi stepped in a warm, sticky substance. He jumped back, grabbing onto his foot and hopping about for a moment. "Mother?" he whispered doubtfully against the door, "Father, are you alright?"

There was no answer and Taichi fought down the panic gathering in the pit of his stomach. He turned from the door and towards the hallway table, finding a candle in the darkness. He lit the candle and sent his gaze towards the puddle forming in the doorway.

"Mother, I'm coming in," Taichi whispered, pressing his face against the door. He was unnerved by the liquid, from which a sickening odor was wafting up into his senses. He pushed the door in, but found some resistance.

Pushing with all of his might, Taichi forced the door open. His father's body fell sideways in front of him. Taichi gasped and fell onto his knees, soaking his pants with blood.

Yagami Susumu moaned painfully as his son grasped onto his shoulders. "Tai-chi," he began weakly.

"What happened to you?" Taichi murmured, holding back the bile that snuck into his throat as he looked his father over. Susumu's face had been peeled nearly skinless and blood poured freely down his throat. His clothes were falling off they'd been shredded so badly, exposing long gashes along his chest and back.

Susumu raised a fingerless hand towards the bed. "Yuuko," he said, his voice weak. Taichi released his father gratefully and stood upon shaky knees. He stumbled forward, candle held out so it might cast light on the bed.

Yuuko lay on her back, hands folded neatly over her breasts. Her stomach had been sliced open and her innards were set around her like decorations. Taichi wretched and released the bile onto the floor.

"Who did this?"

Susumu stayed silent, saving his remaining strength to inhale sharply. "Hikari," he managed finally.

Taichi, horrified, ran from the room and down the hallway. "Hikari!" he screamed as he slid down the hallway. He stopped at the doorway, extending a shaky hand towards the knob. "Oh Gods, please be well."

He paused for a moment after opening the door, eyes searching over her body for movement. She lay perfectly still, turned unto her side with her knees pulled up close to her chest.

He walked in silently, moving to set the candle upon her bedside table, but the table lay on its side.

"Hikari?"

He shook her shoulder gently in an attempt to awaken her, but she would not be stirred. The flame of the candle flickered against the skin on her neck, casting light upon a trail of blood leading from two puncture wounds.

"It's tragic, isn't it?"

Taichi whirled around towards the intruding voice. He stared into the empty space. No one else was in the room.

"She was a beautiful young woman. Had her mother's eyes."

"Show yourself," Taichi demanded, turning in a circle to cast light in all the corners.

"Would have made a lovely wife," the voice continued.

"Who are you?" Taichi shouted.

A hand was suddenly around his throat and Taichi was pushed against the wall. The attacker lifted him off the ground so that the tips of his toes barely scratched the floor. Taichi clawed at the hand hard enough to draw blood, but it did nothing to loosen the grip.

Taichi met the dark blue eyes of the man strangling him. It made him shudder to stare into those deep, menacing orbs. The man's face was framed by his dirty blonde hair; he had paler skin than anyone Taichi had ever seen. His lips were blood red and pulled into a smirk.

"W—why?" Taichi choked out with the last of his breath.

The man threw Taichi across the room and into the dresser against the opposite wall. The candle fell and rolled under the bed, catching the skirt on its way along. "Because," he said, taking long strides towards the coughing brunette, "your mother's betrayal was worth more than just her pathetic life."

His mother? He couldn't imagine what Yuuko could have possibly done to this man.

"And now you too will die." He lunged forward with more speed than Taichi thought a man was capable of. Pain flared up like a fire catching his skin, sinking down into his gut. Blood began to stain his shirt, which drew a smile from the attacker's lips. He pulled the knife out and struck again, this time slicing between two ribs.

The bed skirt caught fire. The man stood, leaving the blade in its new home. He walked over to the bed and gently picked up the limp body, pulling her close and staring down at the young girl. "The beautiful ones always seem to taste the sweetest," he explained when Taichi reached his arm out in protest.

He ignored the growing flames as the man walked away carrying his sister's body as if it was some sort of trophy. Words failed him. Movement seemed an impossible task. He was going to die while the fire reduced his body, his home, his parents to little more than ash.

His run looked more like a drunken stumble to those who casually glanced at him as he made his way towards the center of the town. His vision was beginning to blur. His heart was ready to pound itself straight out of his chest. He was losing more blood than he could afford to with each agonizing step.

Finally he reached his destination. Taichi left bloody footprints on the stairs as he made his way up to the building, and smudged the doorknob with a fresh crimson coat as he forced the door open.

The building was still lit with a row of candles on either side of the walkway in the middle of the room. Priests sitting at both sides of the room forgot the prayers they were reciting at the sight of Taichi.

Some of them gasped, some cried out in horror. One or two jumped up to try and help, but Taichi began walking down the center of the room.

In front of the wall opposite the entrance was a statue of the Earth goddess. Taichi all but ran into the life-sized stone object.

"Hear me!" he screamed, beating his fists against her, leaving splotches of blood with every strike, "hear me Goddess!"

The priests cried out in outrage and quickly tore Taichi away from their goddess.

Taichi fell to the ground. He struggled to sit up. Blood was still flowing freely from his wounds. "He killed her! He killed her!"

The statue began to grow brighter and shake slightly. At first Taichi thought it was just his head tricking him, but the priests were gasping and backing away in a tense huddle. The trembling was now a violent shake.

A crack burst down the middle. The light that shined out of it was blinding. The men used the sleeves of their robes to shield their eyes. Taichi could only lower his head and use his bare heels to try and push himself back. He was unable to stand.

The statue burst into innumerable pieces of stone. The small bits rained down on the awe-struck men. As the light dimmed down to something they could look at, the form of a woman took shape.

The sound of the priests falling to their knees and bowing their heads to the ground was not registered by Taichi. All he could focus on was the woman hovering in front of him. The Earth goddess slowly moved down until her feet found the floor.

He gazed upon her unblinking. She was beautiful yet terrifying at the same time. Her skin was a soft brown and her hair a dark green that blew around her face in wild tangles. Small leaves pressed against her skin only where it would be inappropriate to be without clothing. There was little left to the imagination, however, as Taichi could easily see every curve of her body.

"Rise, Taichi."

Taichi had no strength left in his body. The last ounces of his life were leaking out of him and pooling around him. But somehow, no doubt with the help of the woman in front of him, Taichi found his way onto unsteady legs.

"Why have you disturbed my slumber?" she demanded. Her voice was only a whisper but somehow it echoed around the room.

It took a moment for Taichi to find his words. "A man broke into my home and murdered my family. He took my sister from me."

"And do you wish for me to kill him?"

"No," Taichi answered boldly, straightening himself as best he could, "I want to kill him."

"There is much sorrow in your heart. And now so much hate." She stepped forward, gliding across the ground. Her hand reached out and touched Taichi's sweat dampened cheek.

His body felt like it was on fire. He could feel intense heat running through his two stab wounds, piercing as deep as the knife had. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

"You will not die," the goddess said, backing away again. "You will live until you have killed the man who murdered your sister. But be warned: you are not immune from injury. You cannot die, but you may be on the brink of death many times. You may wish for death to claim you, but it shall not."

Taichi felt the wounds on his stomach. They were shrinking rapidly, and the burning sensation in his wounds was being drawn out of his body. They were closing up, but he still had little blood to circulate through his body. It would take weeks for him to regain his strength.

"In return?"

The Earth goddess smiled down at him. "When you have killed this man you will become my servant for the rest of eternity."

"Very well," Taichi agreed.

"The rest of eternity," she repeated.

"I understand. I would spend eternity burning in the fires of Hell if it would mean I could avenge my family."

Her hair blew backward as if a wind had traveled into the sanctuary. She began to glide back to where she had exploded out of the stone. "If you should fail before the World Change," she warned, her voice carrying on the wind that was not there, "you will leave the world at the mercy of his kind."

"World Change? His kind?" Taichi whimpered weakly, his body now responding to the severity of his injuries. "But I don't understand…"

The world faded away from Taichi. He did not see that the goddess had already returned to her statuesque self. It was as if she had never appeared before him, save for the crumbled bits of stone that had littered the floor. He did not see that there now was a soft smile playing at the edges of the gray lips.

For a long while, he saw nothing.