Disclaimer: I don't own Furuba.
Vampires
By: Twilight Kitsune
Chapter the First: Rebirth
It was late, and the rain was just starting to fall. Kyou was standing under the eaves of the building Tohru worked at, scuffing his foot in the pavement.
"Why?" he muttered to himself, "Why the hell does it have to rain?" He slid into a sitting position at the base of the wall, his energy washing away with the rain. With any luck, the rain might have gone away, but Kyou wasn't exactly known for his luck. The rain started coming down in sheets, and pretty soon he was totally out of energy. He'd been waiting for Tohru for almost an hour, and it was taking its toll. Before he knew it he was asleep, and not even the fact that he was being lifted up and carried away stirred his slumber.
Tohru bustled about the kitchen cooking breakfast. It was a gorgeous Saturday morning, and the birds were chattering happily. Dew still rested on the grass from the night before, and as Tohru set breakfast on the table, she stopped to admire the beautiful weather. She'd been up for a few hours, and undoubtedly so had Shigure, according to the constant clatter of his keyboard. Only one thing had been wrong with the perfect day she was having; Kyou hadn't gotten up yet. Yuki usually slept in, that Tohru was used to, but Kyou never slept in. Usually he was up long before Tohru, and even when he did sleep in he was always up before noon.
"Tohru!" cried an all too familiar voice. Tohru turned her gaze from the backyard into the house where Kagura was coming forward, her arms out ready for a hug. Tohru accepted the hug gratefully, went into the kitchen to grab another plate for Kagura.
"Tohru, where's Kyou-kun?" asked Kagura.
"I think he's still in bed."
"I'll go wake him up!" said Kagura as she bounced up the stairs past Yuki, who was his usual cheery self.
"Yuki, you're up!" said Tohru as Yuki entered the room, "Have a seat, I made you're favorite for breakfast." Yuki sat down and Tohru served him breakfast before taking a seat of her own. The two sat mostly in silence, with only the birds talking and Kagura slamming around upstairs, but soon Yuki was awake enough to talk and he and Tohru started discussing plans for the Secret Base. They were thinking of expanding the base, but weren't sure what to put in it. As they were pondering the possibility of planting another row of strawberries Kagura came stomping down the stairs.
"Tohru, you said he was still in bed!"
"I haven't seen him yet today," Tohru answered, "I just assumed he was still sleeping."
"Kagura, did you try the roof?" asked Yuki.
"Yes," said Kagura, clearly frustrated, "and he wasn't there." Shigure wandered in and sat beside Tohru,
"Did he come home with you last night Tohru?" he asked as he helped himself to breakfast.
"What do you mean Shigure?"
"Kyou went to your work to pick you up, didn't he?
"No, he didn't."
Kyou woke with a shudder in a cold, dark room. There was no light, not the slightest crack of sunshine, and the dank, dark walls were giving off a moldy smell that was enough to make anyone sick. Sitting up, Kyou brushed off some excess mold and looked around. There wasn't much to see, what with it being pitch black and all, but Kyou got up and wandered around anyway. In a few minutes he heard the door creaking open, and saw the soft glow of a lamp as a tall dark figure stepped into the room. It was tall and lanky with cold, eerie green eyes and long greasy dark hair. It's bony, emotionless face was bathed in a yellow light from the lamp, giving it the look of some horror story monster, only much more real. Reaching a pale, bony hand out it beckoned Kyou forward. Wary, he stepped forward, unsure of what else to do. The creature leaned forward and spoke, his voice sending shivers up Kyou's spine,
"Are you human?" it asked.
"What?" asked Kyou, who shuffled backwards instinctively.
"You don't smell human." It repeated, stepping forward and bringing itself closer to Kyou again, who was backed up against a wall. Kyou tried to slide away, but he soon found himself backed into a corner, with nowhere to go. The creature leaned forward turning his head as he sniffed at Kyou again, then with lightning speed he sank his teeth into Kyou's neck.
Kyou stood paralyzed, half in shock and half in fear. This thing was, well… it had to be a vampire. Kyou felt his life draining slowly into the vampire and he felt his strength sliding away again, much like it had in the rain. As he started to slide to the floor another creature, he was guessing another vampire, stepped into the room and pulled the vampire off of him. Grateful, Kyou collapsed and put his hand to his neck to stop the bleeding.
"Mijimesa, get out of here." said the newcomer, as he walked over and kneeled in front of Kyou, blocking his view of the door.
"You're quite strong, boy," said the Vampire, handing Kyou a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding, "few even survive the site of Miji, let alone his bite." The Vampire stopped and sat for a moment in thought before continuing, "For that I will give you a chance; you can stay as you are and die, or you can become my apprentice."
Kyou thought for a moment. His mind was clouded with exhaustion, and the only thing that really rang in his mind was the choice of stay alive or die. In the end his fear of death won out and he agreed to become an apprentice. The vampire smiled slightly as he grasped Kyou by the head and shoulder.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
"Are you sure no one has seen him?…Okay, thanks…Yes… thank you Kazuma." Shigure hung up the phone and turned toward Tohru.
"He wasn't at the Dojo."
"But where else would he be? If Master is here, then Kyou hasn't run away to train, and he isn't even at Sohma House. There's nowhere else for him to go, is there?" asked Kagura. She and Tohru had been on a mad search of the house since they had discovered that Kyou was gone, and so far they hadn't found a trace of him.
"His coat is gone," said Hatori, who had come to help look, "I doubt he came back from going to pick up Tohru last night."
"It rained pretty hard last night. Perhaps the baka neko collapsed somewhere and hasn't woken up yet." suggested Yuki.
"That's right!" said Tohru, almost hugging Yuki, but catching herself at the last moment, "Let's go look for him!"
Kyou woke in yet another dark room, this time on a bed. Heavy drapes hung over the windows, and he only light was a small fire lit on the hearth of the western-based room. He knew something was different, wrong almost, but he couldn't put his finger on it. As the memories of the encounter, and the deal he had made with the vampire came to him, he reached up to his neck and found it fully healed. It puzzled him. How could he be healed when the injury was only a few hours old? Sitting up, Kyou found something else that was wrong. Around his left wrist, right were his bracelet should have been, was a burn mark. The burn traveled all around his wrist in the exact place his bracelet had. The bracelet no longer resided around his wrist, and yet he was not in his true form. Rising carefully from the bed, he stepped onto shaky feet and walked around the room. It was almost as though he was walking for the first time, his legs were unsteady beneath him.
After a few minutes Kyou got bored and meandered over to the door. He found it unlocked, and as he pushed it open and found his way into the hallway he realized that he was barefoot, and wearing only his pants. Not thinking about how cold he should have been, Kyou continued down the hallway. It was dark and gloomy, and the never ending line of doors that Kyou passed seemed to go on forever. Every now and again there would be a lamp, but mostly the hall was unlit.
He wasn't sure how he knew, but he could tell that there was a vampire coming down the hall. Stepping into a nearby room, he watched as the vampire, it was the one named Miji, passed by. Once he was sure Miji had gone by, he opened the door and was about to step into the hall when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Whipping around, Kyou found himself face-to-face with the other vampire.
"You have adjusted well." he said.
"What do you mean?" asked Kyou.
"You mean you don't know? Come now, surely you realize what you have become." the vampire said with a bit of a laugh. "Haven't you noticed the absence of your breath, the sharpness of your sight? Did you not see where your prayer beads burned into your flesh?" Kyou swallowed hard as the truth hit him. It made sense, in a twisted sort of way. On day he was just your average cursed Sohma who thought Vampires where just horror stories, the next day he was one. Well, if curses existed, vampires certainly could.
Tohru lay awake listening to the pattering of rain on the roof. She, Yuki, and Kagura had searched for hours for Kyou. In fact they would still have been out there if it hadn't started to rain. Being as cold as it was, Yuki could easily have had an asthma attack and Tohru was determined not to let that happen. Kyou would be fine until morning. Surely they'd find him then.
Kyou sat listening to his new master. All the rules of being a vampire were being explained to him, but he couldn't focus; there was just too much going on. His mind was swimming in a mix of new sensations and knowledge. This vampire, Shibo was his name, had sired him and in doing so, broke his curse. Now he was a vampire, and he had no idea what to do next. Shibo had told him he was going to have to eat soon, and Kyou could tell that he was hungry. Somehow the fact that he was going to have to kill, or at least injure a human to eat, didn't bother him.
All too soon he found himself following Shibo through the shadows of the city. They were in the darker areas, looking for some unsuspecting human to kill. Soon a man walked into the alley. The black mask he wore hid his face, but also dimmed his vision. He never saw Shibo swoop down and press him against the wall of the alley. Shibo beckoned quietly for Kyou, who silently came forward.
"Drink." he said, holding the struggling man still for Kyou.
Hesitantly, Kyou stepped forward and sank his new fangs into the man's neck. The flow of the man's blood into Kyou's veins exhilarated him, and he couldn't tear himself away. Soon he found the man he was holding was dead, and he drew back.
"Well done." said Shibo taking the man from Kyou, "You are quite good at this." He pulled a knife from his boot and slashed the man's throat open, hiding the bite marks. Turning, he dropped the man on the ground and lead Kyou away. "We shall have to get you some decent clothes. People could get suspicious about a boy walking half-naked around the streets as though it was summer." Shibo said, rambling to Kyou. Kyou found himself listening to the vampire, and soon he forgot all about his old life. He became Shibo's apprentice, and no longer the cursed cat of the zodiac.
Dedication: This is my newest story and I wasn't actually planning to post it until later, but I wanted to dedicate something to the memory of Ebony. Tomorrow she, my dog and best friend of thirteen years, is going to be put down. I dedicate this story to her.
