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Following in the trend of many other authors, From a Dusty Attic is a series of could-have-been & just-might-be stories. Some will be epic in sheer length and might be moved to their own one-shot, others just short enough to be called a chapter. All are open for adoption on the condition of asking first and if some garnish enough popularity, I may flesh them out into longer stories or at least add an additional scene or two. In any case, the dust and cobwebs have been wiped away so without further ado, I hope that you all enjoy:

From a Dusty Attic

By Corvus no Genmu

"A Shadowed Heart"

A pair of shining eyes blinked slowly in the darkness, candle flames wavering in the harsh winds. A flash of fire and light illuminated the once grand village. A gleam of obsidian fangs and midnight claws as the lanky form slinked forward, soft as a snake, to tower over the babe resting not far from the protection of the village's newly reinstated leader. A faint rustling of incorporeal materials and the claws were suddenly at the boy's chest, ready to tear past the soft flesh and grasp the beating heart beneath but stopped within a hair's width of slicing into the babe. Eyes of burning amber had taken notice of the babe's quiet breathing and with startled realization, discovered the child did not care for its presence there but the boy was asleep!

It stood back in contemplation of this. It climbed around the crib until it stood resting on the head board, long antennae twitching behind its hunched back. A claw gently stroked the naked torso, watching in mild fascination as black symbols of the arcane drew themselves on the young flesh. Its empty eyes seemed to blink as similar symbols stretched themselves out along its lanky arms and for the first time it felt something akin to fear. The strange yet alluring lack of hunger was a pleasant yet not unwelcomed surprise but these spells that tied it to the boy disturbed its sense of purpose and the symbols were a great wound to its pride as a Pureblood.

For as long as it remembered, the hunger had ruled supreme, the desire to feed too great to ignore and it fed, fed until it was the strongest of its brood and yet here it was, finally free of the hunger yet somehow tied and marked to this little thing, this human baby with not one but two hearts residing in his young body. A fanged frown deepened into confusion as a claw tapping inquisitively at the symbols upon the babe's stomach. Perhaps not in the physical sense but there was no denying this child was Two-In-One, it could sense it.

Its frown changed, its claws gripping deep enough into the crib to gouge large holes when it realized that it could not recall fully how it came to be here, on this star. The glow of its eyes dimmed considerably as its concentration seemed to fall upon itself. It remembered… the Soul Half… but… nothing more than that… It seemed to sigh, looking once more at the child, wondering if it would be better off taking the child's hearts now and be done away with him.

However… the idea of going back to before… of the constant hunger, the constant pain of needing to consume… Its head shook, antennae twitching. If this boy was the… key (how ironic to use that word) to ending its hunger, it would gladly keep the child safe. Still… it was alone here and strong as it was, the creature was no fool. It would need… friends… It slid down until the shadows melted with its dark skin, sinking itself into the inky blackness until all that was left were dying ripples in the darkness.

It was a dark night, the shadows seemingly endless with the occasional flame bringing forth the light. It was only hours after the terrible attack and the destruction around the village was an obvious testament to how terrible it had truly been. Empty eyes looked about the damage without a drop of concern or care. With the bodies dead, the hearts were vanquished back to the Kingdom, beyond its reach. Strangely, there was some kind of… it did not recall the word, but it knew it didn't like the feel of it.

A sudden flash of light and pain unlike anything before assaulted its form. Had it any lungs, it would have screamed from the agony, as it was, it could only writhe along the ground until, mercifully, it fell once more into the shadows. Safe within the darkness of the Between, it looked to its arms and saw its marks, once barely seen, were now aglow with vibrant intensity and it realized instantly what had occurred, was occurring now. Something was hurting its key! The Two-In-One!

It moved faster than before, no longer holding back its strength as it moved past the speed of light and into the darkness of the candle-lit chamber where the child resided, unknowingly awaiting judgment of his fate. One of the elders, a member of the civilian side of the council, had raised their voice loud enough to scare the child awake and had earned his tears.

And through those salted waters, the council earned its wrath!

It exploded forth from the shadow beneath the babe's crib, climbing along its wooden surface until it rested once more at the head in a defensive crouch. Its antennae twitched for any small sign of movement as long nimble claws stretched out and golden eyes glaring at any who dared a step closer to the boy.

Their reactions were not surprising and their startled actions were a humorless joke to it. None dared to strike it when the Elder made his will known with a loud declaration. It stood, still crouched protectively over the boy, antennae twitching as the Elder slowly made his way closer. It stopped just beyond what he assumed would be its reach and simply waited.

It cocked its head in sudden confusion. It saw the Elder's heart, as it could to any that held such a precious thing, and yet there was… something else. It stretched a hand out and gently grasped the red-tinged light, careful of its claws, and took note of how strong it appeared. It looked down upon the babe and saw the string connect to the First Heart and understood. Whoever this Elder was, he was no enemy to it or to the Two-In-One. It looked once more to the Elder before gently touching a paw against the babe's torso, lighting the symbols adorning his navel, its own lighting up along its arms.

There was that feeling again, not its own but it could sense it in the hearts of those around them. It delighted in the taste of that feeling for it was strong and bitter to the tongue. Were it still consumed by the fierce hunger, it would have leapt at the chance to feed.

"Surely this is a sign! The Kyuubi still lives in the boy; we should kill it now before it—" The woman was silenced, her eyes wide with fear at the sight of its claws tearing deep, past mundane cloth and mortal flesh. She gasped in pain as it slowly began to squeeze the life out of her. The Elder made no move to stop it nor did anyone else dare to move in any way lest they earn a similar fate. The pink-haired female would have had her heart devoured then and there, were it not for the gentle hand tugging upon its antennae. It stopped and looked down upon its key and saw eyes of a shining blue.

A very familiar shade…

Its hand withdrew and the woman collapsed onto the floor, her strength gone. Satisfied that none would dare to lay a hand against the Two-In-One, it started to sink back into the darkness when the Elder stopped it with a single question.

"What are you?"

It blinked its glowing eyes, and slowly slunk forward so that it crouched over the Elder's shadow. It slowly sank away into the darkness until all that remained were its golden eyes, devoid of heart's light. The shadows in the room warped and stretched into a single, large mass along the floor before they slithered up along the wall. If the Elder wanted to know it, what better way was there then to use the symbol of the Marked Ones?

A burning red light emanated from the center of the shadowed mass, stretching along a line to form a shape like that of a heart before a barbed X appeared above the heart's center like a bloodied wound. The whispers of the wind gave a name to both the symbol and the monster who gave idea to its creation.

"Heartless…"