"There's no escape from the relentless dripping." Once it begins you can't stop because it's food for them, something vital that we all have is simply taken away so easily.

Deep coal eyes looked at me from afar as I struggled to breath, my body ached everywhere and blood filled my nose. She had just finished torturing me both physically and mentally, the degree of pain wasn't as bad as I expected it to be because halfway thru I made it so that I became completely desensitized. I wasn't surprised when I awoke to find my self in Sotoba, the place where my most prominent memories came from, it looked like a war zone nothing like the way I remembered. To be more precise, we were inside the woods where the tombs of the village people who "died" that summer laid. There was a profound darkness embedded in the air but that didn't seem to conceal Megumi because she was glowing almost like a specter; Something she was supposed to be, a ghost from my past, nothing more.

She noticed me staring at her and her eyes changed from black pools to red irises, and opened her mouth slightly to reveal the long, sharp fangs inside. I tried to suppress a shiver that threatened to breakout through my body but it was useless as Megumi began to giggle at my feeble attempt. The darkness hung heavily and I felt myself begin to suffocate but as that was happening, several pairs of red irises appeared in the distance and looked as if they were coming toward us. I was horrified that there wasn't at least another survivor apart from me, a bone-chilling sensation went up my spine and I suddenly had the urge to get out of there and never come back. But I guess Megumi felt my fear because she was in front of me in a flash, so close I could smell the fancy perfume she was wearing. Her expression was of malice as she leaned closer to my ear-just below my neck- and said loud enough that even the others could hear," We just found you, do you honestly think we'd let you get out of here alive? Besides you're the only one left that's being a hindrance to the plans Sunako has, but what pisses me of most is the fact that the only reason your alive is because of Yuuki-Kun. Why did he even bother with you when im much better, yet he didn't even spare me a glance."

He voice faltered at the end and a look of hurt replaced her features. I couldn't help but to feel bad because after all this girl had been my childhood friend for a long time, even if I was the only one who thought that. I was about to say something when I heard a piercing scream that broke the eerie tranquility of the night. At first I was confused and then felt scared, not for me but for whoever it belonged to because I understood the sick feeling that gets under your skin. Soon enough I felt my throat hurt from the cold air I was sucking in through panted breaths and realized that scream came from me when Megumi abruptly bit down hard on my neck. My instincts kicked in and I began a struggle to break free from her grasp, with my body already injured that became much harder to do and I made the awful insight that I wasn't having any effect on Megumi, who instead bit harder and her once loose grip was now causing me unnecessary pain.

I didn't expect my body to feel heavy or to hear Megumi's voice in my head telling me to relax and that soon enough I wouldn't feel anything anymore. Her voice was hypnotic and I was feeling weaker as time went by, I always wondered why nobody said anything until it was too late but know I knew why: it was so easy to control someone especially in a self-sleepy state. I gave up as soon as I heard her voice but I tried to hold on to the little part of my conscious that was still awake, fighting against the frightening darkness. But it didn't matter what I did because I knew I was going to die and I was ok with that because I would just continue to suffer through life, moving around and never creating relations with people, always cowering in fear that someday my past would come back to get me.

I slowly took in my surroundings for the last time, noticing that the red irises were hovering behind the shadows not fully revealing their faces. Something told me that their sole purpose for being there was to watch my demise because I was the only "alive" link that needed to be severed. That it's self was crueler than any torture Megumi could muster for me, they were people I knew for my entire life and I knew that, in that group my parents stood watching silently much like a passer by would do. No, they weren't my familiars any more, those people were strangers who were not alive anymore and prayed on blood, they were Shiki's, corpse demons.

Red had become a color I couldn't look at without thinking of blood and death so I was overwhelmed with the fact it was everywhere, my own blood, their stare and my own memories. Through the haze that was going on in my head flashbacks played out of my life before: birthdays, eating watermelon with my brother on the porch and my parents. They were a blur and only lasted for a second before they disappeared to an unknown part of my mind before a new set emerged but this time of my life after which only contained my most horrible experiences. Those lasted painfully long and I found it ironic that even when I was in the brink of death they still came back and haunted me.

When I began to see the last batch of them(I knew because they moved much slower and happened with less frequency) I understood that once completely finished, I would be dead. The memories began to take on the outline of a body and…something violet, I felt a sudden flair of warmth go thru my body sending shivers that made me curl my toes. I didn't know why that color brought me peace but what I knew is that it made me feel nostalgic for someone, yet I couldn't remember them. I tried to concentrate on the images and began to recall back to those times but that was very hard to do now since I was slowly slipping somewhere to the deepest part of my subconscious.

After much difficulty my efforts paid off and the images became clearer and stopped on what appeared to be my last memory. I felt a bitter-sweet sensation in my mouth as I realized that once I let go, it would be as if I never existed but the sweet part was that I was finally able to remember why violet brought me such peaceful feelings. Yuuki Natsuno was definitely someone who had been important when life was bad, someone who rarely showed emotions yet cared for people in his own way. He saved us from this horrible fate, Akira and me, but sadly it appears as if you can't run away forever and now I didn't know what had happened to Akira while I was dead.

I was dead when I had killed in order to survive and I was dead once I decided to give up on myself, now this was just a sick event to make it official. I only hoped that Akira was alright because I had vowed to keep him save and if I died now when he needed me most, I could never forgive myself. I closed my eyes and welcome the darkness but not before wondering whatever happened to Natsuno in these past years, but one thing im sure of is that he isn't dead, after all he is a Jinrou one of them.

Kaori's dreams Shiki