DISCLAIMER:
I DO NOT OWN KAGEROU PROJECT. ALL CHARACTERS ARE PROPERTY OF SHIZEN NO TEKI-P/JIN, SHIDU AND WANNYANPU. I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR THIS STORY. NO COPYRIGHT INFRIGEMENT IS INTENDED. THIS STORY IS PURELY FOR RECREATIONAL, NON-PROFIT PURPOSES.
AUTHOR: ME
FANDOM: KAGEROU PROJECT (Alternate Universe)
RATING: PG-13 - HARSH LANGUAGE, SUGGESTIVE THEMES, DEATH, VIOLENCE, POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING SUBJECTS, (Alcohol use, death, blood, gun violence, gang, brief suicide mention, terminal disease mention, mental disease mention, etc.) AND SLASH (Same sex/Yaoi (MxM)) PAIRING.
Enjoy!~
The harsh summer's light filtered in through white curtains draped across the windows and into the boy's room. His dark hair contrasted deeply with the nearly all-white room. He sat up, rubbing his tired black eyes. "Shintaro!" A girl's voice called from outside of the room, muffled by the walls and door. "Ugh. What now?" The boy mumbled, rolling his eyes. Shintaro stood up, put on his red slippers, and reluctantly headed downstairs. "What do you want?" He groaned, glaring at his younger sister. "Mom wants you to go pick up some groceries for her." The orange-haired girl smiled, not looking up from her cooking. "Fine." The dark-haired boy sighed.
He ascended the stairs once more, returning to his room. "Why can't she do it herself?" He mumbled, pulling his red jersey on over his black T-shirt. The boy sighed once more, audibly, before returning downstairs to eat whatever his sister Momo had cooked. After eating quickly and thanking his sister, he opened the door and stepped out into the summer heat. Although he didn't want to run errands, it was his turn, and his responsibility.
The boy's mother had a terminal disease, causing her to have to stay in bed for most of the time. This also meant that she couldn't work, and so money was extremely tight, especially for a single mother with 2 teenage kids. Shintaro often stayed home to care for his mother. Because of this, or, at least partially, he had quit school to take care of her. That, the fact that he simply didn't care, and that he hated going to school due to a friend's recent suicide were all contributing factors.
The boy wiped the sweat from his brow, quickening his pace. A few hundred feet away was a cute girl that ran a fresh vegetable stand. Being the awkward teenage homebody he was, he approached the stand quickly, trying to avoid conversation.
The girl naturally started one, and as Shintaro was trying to keep her talking so that maybe he wouldn't have to engage in painful conversation, a girl suddenly appeared, seemingly from thin air.
She was tall, at least for a Japanese girl. The girl had green hair that was back in a ponytail and she wore a black jacket as well as green ripped jeans tucked into black, heeled leather boots. This girl had an overall punk look, and she seemed very intimidating, at least to the antsy shut-in boy.
Shintaro decided to ignore her. However, when the girl running the vegetable stand turned her back for a mere second, the green-haired punk girl grabbed a small box of carrots from the table. "Hey! Those aren't—"The shut-in was cut off when the girl disappeared into thin air, right in front of his eyes. "I must just be seeing things." He whispered to himself. "Damn this heat." The boy hissed under his breath. "What was that?" The girl behind the stand looked up, placing a box of cucumbers on the table. "S-some girl stole…y-your carrots! But uh, don't worry, miss. I'm going to go get them for you, ok?" Before the girl had time to respond, Shintaro ran off.
"Now, if I were a shady girl stealing carrots, where would I hide?" The dark-haired boy asked himself mentally.
"Ah—!" He gasped, sharply turning and running into a nearby alleyway. The sound of hushed speech could be heard coming from the dark, narrow space. The boy crept forward, afraid of making any noise. On accident, he kicked a small rock into the dark gap. "Shit!" He hissed, stepping backwards. The dark-haired boy heard footsteps, a chill running down his spine, even despite the incessant heat. He heard footsteps, holding his breath and squeezing his eyes shut. Feeling someone's presence extremely close to him, Shintaro slightly opened one of his black eyes. He nearly fell backwards upon seeing the boy standing next to him.
"Excuse you. You do know whose property you're trespassing on right now, hm? Ours." The boy scoffed.
He was shorter than Shintaro by about 2 inches. His left eyebrow and the bottom of his lip were pierced, as were his ears. He had red-tipped hair that went to black, and had blonde roots. He dressed like the punk girl, in mostly black, excluding his faded blue jeans. This boy stared at the NEET with his sharp, yellow catlike eyes. Shintaro felt the boy's gaze boring into him. It was although this kid could see directly through him.
The dark-haired boy glanced around nervously, feeling the sweat rolling down the back of his neck. His heart was pounding in his ears. The walls of the alley were covered in colorful graffiti, and it felt as though those walls were slowly closing in on him.
"N-No, I don't. You'll have to inform me." The taller boy stuttered, feeling his face get red. "Well, pretty boy." The cat-eyed boy stepped towards Shintaro. "You're in the Mekakushi Dan's territory." He laughed. "A gang?!" The dark-haired boy stared at this strange boy who had come from the shadows in disbelief. "You heard it." The boy retorted sharply.
"So, are you a snake? If not…" The boy trailed off and pulled a gun from his belt. "I'll have to blow a hole through your pretty face." He glanced at the gun. "W-What? Snake? What the hell are you talking about?" He looked at the boy holding the gun. "Red eyes." The boy with the gun seemed to echo, almost sadly. "The snakes. The snakes live inside of certain people after they die. The snakes are what give us our powers. The red eyes. Monsters. Freaks, simply put. Rejects and social outcasts. Not exactly a comfortable lifestyle, but no one chooses to be a surrogate for the snakes. The snakes choose us. Simple as that." The boy remained stoic.
Suddenly, a smile spread across his face, and he took Shintaro's form. "My name is Kano Shuuya. I'm the leader of the Mekakushi Dan. The Deceiving Eyes. The trickster, the liar. Untrustworthy. But, it comes in handy, I'll admit." Kano turned and glanced into the darkness.
"Mary!" He called. A small girl in a black frilly dress, black hair, and black dangly diamond earrings emerged from the darkness. "Is he one of us, or not?" Kano asked, putting his hands on his hips. "Wh-but..." Shintaro stared at Mary, looking shocked. "He is. I sense the presence of a snake inside of him." Mary nodded.
"Thanks." The deceiver dipped his head, and the girl returned to the darkness. "But...I never even knew...so...that means I have the red eyes too? What's my power?" Shintaro asked. "You have the red eyes, yes. And how should I know what your power is?" The liar glared at him. "Well, another snake. Welcome to the Mekakushi Dan, then." The shorter boy smirked.
"I...what? My mother wouldn't want this!" Shintaro whispered.
"This is your only chance to be with the other snakes. You can even help provide for your family, if you learn to steal things. That'll come in due time." Kano smirked, looking at the bag of groceries on Shintaro's arm.
The shut-in disliked the idea of stealing, but at least there would be more money to go towards helping with his mother's treatment, as well as possibly towards other things as well. Although it was a bit of a dirty way of getting by, it was better than not doing anything at all.
After all, the boy couldn't have held a job anyways.
He had no degree of any sort, nor had he even graduated high school. He figured he could've gotten a good job, and perhaps actually done something with his life, as he had an IQ of 168. This made him an extremely smart and gifted student. If he had cared about school, which hadn't been the case for 2 years, since his friend's suicide. Sort of a waste of a good brain.
"It can't be helped, I guess." Shintaro sighed.
"What?" Kano asked, glancing back at him.
"Nothing. It's nothing." The taller boy waved his hand dismissively.
"Alright then. Let's begin the ceremony, then." The cat-eyed boy stared into the darkness.
"What are you talking about?" The homebody boy asked, cocking his head.
"Ha! Did you seriously think we'd just accept you into the gang without doing anything? It's not every day we come across other snakes." The liar laughed. The dark-haired boy looked confused. "Come. Let's go." Kano's voice echoed down the alley, the soft sound of his boots were the only sound besides that, as the hushed voices from earlier were now completely silent.
Shintaro reluctantly followed him, because he knew he was unable to run at this point.
He heard a door creak open, and he followed the shorter boy through the narrow doorway. Inside the room, it was entirely dark, and Shintaro's heavy breathing sounded multiplied tenfold, so he assumed this room was void of any furniture.
"Close your eyes." Kano demanded. "W-What? Why?" The dark-haired boy asked, trying to refrain from showing his fear. "Just do it. Stop asking questions." The deceiver snapped. "Alright! Chill, ok?" Shintaro closed his eyes, now becoming slightly less afraid of and more annoyed towards this boy.
"Your name is?"
"Shintaro. Shintaro Kisaragi."
"Shintaro, eh?"
He heard the shuffling of cards, and Kano's voice shattered the ominous silence hanging in the room. "Pick a card." The boy's voice echoed off the walls into the darkness. The taller boy reached his hand into the darkness, feeling Kano shove the cards into his hand. Shintaro grabbed one upon hearing an impatient, frustrated sigh from the other boy. "Number seven." He heard Kano say.
Before he understood what was going on, he felt a sharp, stinging pain in his nose and mouth. He nearly fell backwards from the impact. "What the hell was that?" The boy opened his eyes, wiping his mouth and nose with his hand. There was something wet on his hand, and it smelled of iron. Most likely blood, and his own at that. "Did you just...hitme?" Shintaro asked.
"So what if I did?" Kano said as the light flicked on.
"Sorry to mess up your cute face." He winked, walking over as he firmly pinched the taller boy's cheek. "But..." The deceiver smirked. "There is a blood vow required, after all."
He handed Shintaro a card, presumably the one from earlier. On the front of it was the number 7 on it and a black snake with red eyes. Shintaro flipped the card over. On the back, there was another number 7 but this one was written in blood, and when the NEET lightly ran his finger over the number, it smeared across the card.
"Before your official welcome, there's one more thing every new member is required to do."
Kano handed the boy a knife, quickly closing Shintaro's fingers around the sharp object, almost although he wished not to see it. Without warning, the shorter boy pulled the knife from Shintaro's hand, rapidly flinging it to the floor. "Shit!" Shintaro spat. "What the hell? Seriously! That hurt, you asshole!" At this point, Shintaro had become very annoyed with this boy, and his hands hurt too. He had a headache, and the fear of this boy seemed to have melted away.
"Welcome to the Mekakushi Dan, kid." Kano gestured to the wall.
Shintaro adverted his gaze from his bleeding hand and stared at the wall. The number 7 was written quite small, although neatly, in blood, assumingly his own.
Behind him, he heard the door open, and the other 6 hooded, black-clothed members entered the room.
"So...do you guys live here...or..." Shintaro sounded confused.
"We do. But, you didn't hear that from me. Plus, we're rarely ever here, and even more rarely all at once. Call the cops and I'll blow your head off." The cat-eyed boy hissed. "Whoa, whoa, ok. I won't tell anyone, I swear of it.
"So, do you guys have families?" The shut-in asked.
"No. I don't want to discuss it further, so drop it." The liar's expression hardened. "Follow me. If you're gonna be a part of the gang, you'll need a place to sleep at the very least." He slowly walked out of the room and down a long hall, glancing back every so often to make sure Shintaro was still following him.
The hall was gray and appeared old, as if people had lived in this house before. There was nothing in the halls, save the old gray paint, which had begun to chip and fade in places. It had an almost ominous air to it, and Shintaro disliked it.
After a bit of walking in silence down the halls, Kano abruptly stopped outside of a room, swiftly creaking open the old-looking door.
"You can stay here for the time being. Or not."
"Thanks, Shuuya." Shintaro forced a smile, trying to come across as friendly.
"That's Danchou to you." The deceiver shot the other boy an annoyed glance.
"Sorry, your highness." The dark-haired boy muttered under his breath.
The liar turned around, and swiftly exited the room.