Transition

"Sakuraba?!"

"Here, sir!"

"Bito?!"

"Yo!"

1st Lt. Kariya laughed. His orange hair bounced with each movement. He lifted up his glasses. "What kind of greeting is that?"

Bito, known as Beat, clenched his fist. "An awesome one!" He had blonde hair covered by his black beanie with a skull etched into it.

"Daisukenojo!"

Beat jumped. "That's not my name!"

He twirled around to look at the woman speaking to him. She scowled.

"Don't yell at your superior!" 2nd Lt. Uzuki growled. Her anger turned her cheeks into a similar colour to her pinkish red hair.

Beat turned stiff, scared to annoy the woman further.

Kariya, who started licking a lollipop, grinned at Uzuki. "Stop scaring them, I'm literally just about to tell them their mission."

She huffed, walking over to stand next to him. "Shut up! If they can't handle me then they clearly aren't ready for vampire hunting!"

He shrugged. "True."

Beat's shoulder's sagged. "C'mon bro, you gotta admit that she can be scarier than the vampires."

Kariya laughed at Uzuki's reaction. "True."

Before she could yell at them both, Sakuraba Neku cleared his throat.

"Excuse me but, the mission?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

Kariya sighed. "Fine, we'll save the fun for later. Now for your mission."

Beat and Neku stood side by side, eager to hear their first ever hunting mission.

"You both are the best of our students in the academy. So the higher ups decided to test your skills with this mission. If you aren't careful though…" He looked at them with a serious look. "You will die."

Beat gulped while Neku shivered. Their first mission could kill them after all.

Kariya then broke out into a lazy grin. "Good luck boys! Visit the armory for your weapons. I want you two to come back in one piece, got it?"

They both nodded.

"Yes, sir!"

"Yeah!"

With a simple wave, he left with Uzuki following behind him. Beat and Neku nodded to each other before walking towards the armory.

Beat walked up to the large wooden door and knocked. "Shiki! Rhyme! Open up!"

The door was opened by a young girl with blonde hair. Her beanie was similar to Beat's.

"Hey Beat! We were wondering when you'd show."

Beat followed his sister, Rhyme, into the room. She took him to a corner to give him his gear. Neku went to the opposite corner where his friend worked.

"Hey Shiki." He muttered.

She smiled at him. "Heya Neku! Excited for the mission?"

He shrugged. "Whatever. Where's my gear?"

She giggled. "'Whatever' he says! Not every student gets to go on a mission 2 years before graduation!" She then gestured to a shelf next to her. "Your gear's over there."

She helped him into his gear. His belt that holds his sword and crossbow, a thick jacket to prevent scratches, secret throwing knives, etc. Once Beat was ready also, they all walked out the front gate.

Shiki and Rhyme smiled sadly.

"Good luck big bro!" Rhyme waved weakly to Beat. She did the same for Neku.

Shiki smiled at the boys. "Be back soon, ok?"

Beat posed courageously. "Ha! We'll be fine. We're only in the forest it's no big deal."

Neku sighed. 'It is a big deal moron. It's the place where most vampires hunt.'

Leaving their friends and family, Neku and Beat started walking towards the forest.

"So, the mission was to kill some kid-vampire?" Neku asked.

"Apparently so." Beat nodded. "He's around our age but kid-vampires can be even more deadly."

Neku grunted. "Because they are more childish and torture their victims for fun."

Beat stayed silent. Vampires could be sickening.

Neku froze. He then whispered. "Beat, we've walked far enough in here I think he should be around here."

Beat stopped walking as well, carefully taking in his surroundings.

All was silent.

Their breathing was the only sound they heard.

"Neku, should we go further in?" Beat whispered.

"But if we do, the more dangerous vampires will sense us!" Neku whispered back, frantically.

'There's no vampire. What do we do?!' Neku thought to himself. 'We can't go deeper into the forest or we'll DEFINITELY be in trouble!'

Before they could discuss on what to do-

"Howdy."

Beat twitched and threw a knife straight behind him. It only hit a tree. 'Where did he go?!' Beat thought.

"Well, that was rude." a voice said behind Beat.

Before he could turn around, he was slammed into the tree where his knife was. He slumped to the ground.

The vampire smiled, picking up Beat's knife. "I should give this back to you, huh?"

He raised his arm high, readying to strike. Beat was losing consciousness.

"NO!"

Neku screamed and aimed his crossbow. The vampire disappeared before he could shoot.

Neku stood his ground, listening very carefully. He never imagined that fighting a vampire would be like this!

His crossbow got knocked out of his hands and he was pushed to the ground.

He got a good look at the creature above him.

His ash-blonde hair swayed in the wind. His brown eyes pierced through Neku's. He had a mischievous smirk on his lips.

The vampire pinned Neku and was too strong to be fought against.

He chuckled. "Sorry, dear. But it's just you and me now."

Neku glanced at Beat and felt sick as he realized that Beat was unconscious. He had no back-up.

The vampire grabbed Neku's chin lightly and moved his head to look into his eyes.

"Don't look at him. You'll make me jealous." He purred.

While the vampire had his hand on Neku's chin, he used his free hand to swipe his sword and aimed it next to the vampire's neck.

The vampire merely smiled. "Oh, bravo Mr. Hunter. I appear to be defeated."

He released Neku's chin and grabbed the sword, not caring about the blood trailing down his arm.

Neku paled. One arm was still held by the vampire while the other held the sword against the smug-looking bastard's neck.

The vampire chuckled. "This is what happens when the academy sends in children." He then threw the sword away, out of Neku's reach. "I feel quite sorry for you actually."

Neku tried to push him away but the boy didn't budge an inch.

He just kept smiling. Watching his prey being terrified and weak until the very end.

"You ready to give up dear? I could wait all night you know."

Neku's eyes widened. Give up? So this is really the end?

Then Neku did something the Vampire never expected.

He started crying.

The vampire was shocked, he was confused. He was intrigued.

Every hunter that he's killed would glare at him with all their might and curse at him until they take their last breath but this human…is crying? In front of his enemy no less.

Out of curiosity, the vampire asked. "Why are you crying?"

Neku didn't hear him. He was too busy trying to stop his tears. He was failing though. He tried his hardest to glare at the boy with all his might but in the end, he knew he couldn't.

He hasn't lived his life to the fullest yet! He only did the stupid hunting academy because his family forced him to.

He'll never see his friends and family again…

He felt something stroke his cheek. He opened his swollen eyes to see the vampire, looking uncomfortable.

The boy didn't have a smug smile on or evil eyes. He had a sincere hurtful look on his face.

Neku refused to move a muscle, just watching the vampire as he lightly but caringly caressed his cheek.

The vampire then smiled. A happy smile. "You feeling better?"

Neku then realized that he stopped crying.

The vampire got up, smiling down on Neku.

"I'm sorry for making you cry. I wasn't planning on killing you two in the first place. You're just kids, like me."

And after that, he was gone with the wind. Neku sat up, placing his hand on his left cheek.

"What…just happened?"