No one ever paid attention to the dirty, haggard teen living on the streets. No one ever noticed her. No one would pay attention to the young girl living on the street wearing nothing but a tattered black shirt and long pants. Either they didn't care enough to notice, or by the time they did, it was far too late. Because they would have been dead by then.
Their deaths were always quick, but painful. She had learnt from the best, combining the skills she learnt with her innate abilities to make a living wandering alone on the streets every day. Killing simply to survive, that was the way she spent all her days. With every kill, her hair became whiter, but the rest of her body remained the same. The mysterious power enabling these efficient kills would remain an enigma to everyone, just like the girl was.
She never cared who she had to, or wanted to kill. But she was not just cold hearted either, she did not kill for fun. Ruthless as she was, she did have some compassion in her heart. She did it only because it was a necessary means of survival, the only way she knew how to live. She didn't desire to take out her hatred of humans on them, simply avoiding them instead, as that was easier to do.
All that changed the day she met someone who understood. Someone equally special, if not more, who knew what her power was. Someone who could see through the enigma that was the unknown girl. Someone who could see past her tragic history to find what was inside. Someone who didn't hate her the same way everyone else did.
The special someone who changed her life forever.
It was the twilight evening of an uneventful, perfectly ordinary day. A shopping district in one of the more upscale cities of Western Europe. She did not know the name of the place, nor did she care. All she knew, was that the location was perfect for sniping rich, defenceless folk whose money or pawned jewellery could be used to help her get by for more than a day. Usually the expensive items they were carrying would last her a week, maybe two if she decided to be thriftier in her spending.
As usual, no one had noticed the dirty, un-aging teen lurking in the shadows, albeit out of place in a clean and beautiful city, waiting for the perfect prey of the night. No one had suspected the white haired girl with a simple pocket watch and knife to be of any threat whatsoever. But her targets always learned, far too late, that she was far more than met the eye. And that night's target was just approaching the corner.
A petite girl, shorter than her, no more than 1.3 meters in height. She wore an expensive looking silk dress and a necklace with a large amber pendant in the centre. Those would probably sell for a hefty sum, easily enough to go on for several months. That girl made a big mistake coming out alone on this night.
Yes, she thought. This brat would be the perfect target for tonight.
And so she waited for the girl to pass the alley she was hiding in. To walk past and ignore her like everyone else, only to learn far too late that it was a mistake. She waited and waited, but that time never came. That brat was only interested in taking a stroll along the other parts of the street, walking in and out of shops but never buying anything.
Enough! This brat is so indecisive, she's wasting my time! I'm not going to wait any longer!
The girl's impatience got the better of her, gripping the metal watch in her pocket ever so tightly, feeling the dried blood on it from all previous victims, and stopping the clock of the world once more, stepping out into the lifeless street filled with people.
An enthralling scene as always. That showed how fickle the concept of time is. It passes at the same pace for everyone, waiting for no one. People come and go, moving on with their lives, stressing over everything, or living without a care in the world. To time, none of these things matter. Time will keep running regardless of who you are. Unless you are someone who can control time itself.
It always amazed the young girl how meek even the strongest warriors seemed in the instant where everything was stopped. Where no one could move besides her, where it's her own world to control, to stop and start time as she pleased. Sometimes if she was bored before moving in on her target, she would go up to a frozen person and stroke their skin, to feel the touch of another human. Sometimes she would see families with children frozen in time, laughing amongst themselves, walking down the street without a care in the world. She would gaze longingly at the sight, remembering that there was never anyone to embrace her with the love and care that she saw. No one ever wanted her. But she killed only out of necessity, never jealousy.
Remembering what she was here for today, she tore her eyes away from the loving family, focusing on the tiny girl who had just left yet another store without buying anything. It would be a little more difficult to get the pendant off her while she was in that location, but she would have to make do. After all, beggars can't be choosers.
Now to get down to work. Pulling her knife out from her pocket, she readied the blade, moving in for the kill, a quick and deep cut of the throat. Standard procedure. All valuables would be taken from the corpse afterward. Ready, 1, 2, 3.
She made the slice, cleanly as always, ending with her standing behind the victim, expecting the blood of her victim to spurt out onto the blade just like always. The blood never came. That had never happened before. None of her kills had ever failed. What's going on? What is this?
"I never would've guessed someone else holds this power. Well, this is an unexpected turn to a boring night." The girl could not believe her ears. Spinning around, her supposed target for the night was… nowhere to be seen. So, this brat could move around freely in her world? Blasphemy! This is my world to enjoy, my world to live in! No one is free here except me.
"Who are you? Show yourself, you coward!" a bold declaration, spouted out of pure anger, no rational thought whatsoever put into it.
"I'm no coward. Here I am." The smaller girl stepped out from behind the alleyway next to the shop she was previously at. Not a scratch was on her, yet the assassin clearly remembered slicing through flesh previously. The feeling of the knife slicing through solid mass could not be mistaken.
"I never thought another in this world could possess the Watch of Chronos. Much less a measly human." The girl inched forward ever so slowly, her voice becoming more and more menacing with each step. "What is your name, may I ask?"
"I do not have a name. You may simply know me as Sakuya." The assassin confidently steeled herself against the approaching target, feigning bravado as much as she could, disregarding the fear slowly creeping up from the pits of her stomach. Sakuya was the name she gave herself. The name of a beautiful flowering night, a heart-breaking sight to see in her victims' final moments. She'd decided on the name one spring night after her first kill, as the Sakura petals of nearby trees fell on her victim, illuminated by the light of the full moon, beautifying the otherwise grisly corpse in front of her.
"Sakuya, huh. Such a beautiful name. Such powerful blood for me to feast on." The girl's lips turned up into a sly smile, slowing down her steps until she was face to face with the now shaking assassin. "I might almost regret killing you."
The girl opened her mouth, revealing a set of 2 very sharp fangs. The assassin finally realized how grave the danger she was in, gripping her knife tighter than ever, jumping back to create distance between the two. "Don't you dare!" she shouted the most convincing threat she could with her heart beating like a bullet.
"Why don't you make this fun for me, Timekeeper? It's been a long time since my food has ever given me a challenge." The girl spread her wings behind her back, revealing her true form as a vampire. Bat wings, sharp fangs, and the desire to feed on her? This girl was most definitely a vampire.
Timekeeper? What is she talking about? Regardless, I can't keep my hold on time any longer. It was true that freezing time always took lots of energy out of the assassin, and that's why she could never make more than 1 kill a day. Freezing time for extended periods took even more energy, that's why her kills were always fast. It was never a problem until now, when she found an unlikely match of an opponent in a frail-looking girl. It was turning out to be an interesting night indeed. Releasing her hold on time, she sprinted into a back alley, through the crowds of unsuspecting passers-by. She could only hope the crowd would conceal her enough to make her escape from the vampire. A naïve and foolish thought for a young assassin.
"Did you really think you can escape me that easily?" that same girl's voice echoed around the walls of the dead-end alley. Looking around her, the assassin found time stopped once again, everyone besides the two of them frozen in time. "I'm a Timekeeper too, just in case you forgot."
How? That fear was rising once again. Sakuya knew now, that there was no escape from the situation. She would have to fight. Kill the target, or die trying. Just like a true assassin. "Well, I'm right here. Come and get me." Sakuya steadied her form in the narrow alley, shifting her feet to prepare for a jump at any moment. The narrow walls of the alley would make Sakuya's life a little easier, if the vampire had decided to have an aerial battle.
"Try to make this fun for me at least. Little girl." The vampire made her move, descending upon the alley from the skies above, fangs bared wide, ready to bite.
She did NOT just call me a 'little girl'. Sakuya's rage overtook her fear, jumping aside just as the vampire would touch the place she was standing. Gripping her knife, she charged forward, ready to strike. A direct hit, slashing the vampires face. That should keep her down for a while.
"Is that the best you can do? I expected better from the one who has been killing so many nobles in this area over the years." She lashed forward, completely unfazed by the slowly fading slash to her face. "Show me more, child."
"You're not too bad yourself, little girl." Sakuya shot back, tired of being mocked by the girl so obviously younger than herself. Jumping between the narrow walls of the alley, slowly rising above her target, Sakuya stared down. The vampire hadn't bothered to follow her, simply standing at the spot Sakuya was previously at on the ground, eyes following her every move.
"This is the end!" Sakuya gripped her knife in front of her chest, pointing downwards, releasing her feet's grip on the walls to transcend into a headfirst dive towards the ground. Her desperation to kill her target had turned into sloppiness, all technique long gone. A fatal mistake for any assassin.
"Naïve, young girl." The vampire spread her majestic bat wings once more, rising above Sakuya, who realized her mistake far too late. With no knowledge of flight and insufficient time to stop her free fall, Sakuya smashed headfirst into the ground, her position and the vampire's now reversed. Her sloppiness had caused her own defeat.
"You've been beaten, young assassin." The vampire floated nonchalantly just about two meters over Sakuya's unconscious body. There was no way Sakuya would be able to get up anytime soon, with that bad of a concussion from the direct hit she'd inflicted on herself. More than enough time to feed and leave.
Descending slowly on her target, the vampire folded her wings back into her dress through the hole just big enough for her wings to pass in and out of. It was regretful to have to tear the back of every single dress for her wings, especially her more exquisite silk dresses, but things had to be done. Such a shame to have to kill such a powerful human. Releasing her hold on time, the vampire contemplated her thoughts and the sight laying in front of her. She had found and lost the Watch of Chronos almost 200 years ago, gaining the power to manipulate time in the process. To think a human could find her lost watch, and meet her again was simply a strange, yet funny twist of fickle fate.
She stared at the human hesitantly, one hand on her neck, crouched down so that she was on the ground with her. Sakuya, was it? The more she hesitated, the more she became intrigued by the enigma that was the young human. How had such a young human managed to harness the power of time? Stopping time was no mere feat, yet she had managed to do it almost effortlessly and move freely within the vampire's time space as well. Her skills as an assassin were no slouch either, she had clearly been trained. By who, that was the mystery. And just how old was the girl? Her face seemed to suggest that she was no more than 20 years old, but her almost pure white hair suggested otherwise. Which begged the next question: how old was the girl when she first used the power of time? How old was she when she picked up the watch?
All the questions could only be answered by the unconscious human girl laying in front of her eyes. With new resolve to find answers to her questions, the vampire was no longer interested on feeding on the girl. Sakuya wouldn't be able to answer any questions if she died. Gingerly picking Sakuya up in her arms and placing her knife back into Sakuya's pant pocket, the vampire spread her wings once more, soaring off into the outskirts of the city where a large mansion stood, unbeknownst to many. She would travel out again later into the night to find another human to feed on.
"Mistress Remilia, you have returned." The head maid greeted the vampire on her return to the mansion, bowing in her usual fashion. "What… or who is that?"
"Nothing to worry about Meiling, I'll take care of this girl." Dismissing the maid back to her duties with a curt swipe of her hand, Remilia went straight up to her room to take care of Sakuya. She needed a place to lay the girl's body, to rest her arms and cast some healing magic. Remilia doubted any human could have survived the free fall Sakuya had made. She would need to work her healing magic fast if she wanted Sakuya to live. While its nature was of dark magic, it usually got the job done for Remilia's own injuries, and sometimes that of Meiling's.
Laying Sakuya down on her bed, Remilia removed Sakuya's knife, placing it in the bedside table drawer, just in case Sakuya woke up suddenly and tried to attack. Resting her right hand on top of Sakuya's head, brushing away the stray strands of pure white hair, it was only then that Remilia noticed how… innocently beautiful Sakuya looked. Outside the heat of battle, completely unconscious without a killer instinct, Sakuya looked like any normal human teen. Someone who was forced into the harsh realities of the world at too young an age. Pulling up Sakuya's shirt to check for any more injuries, it was evident the girl had gone through far more than she would let on. Scars were everywhere, probably from many battles fought, and a severe lack of medical treatment whatsoever. Remilia wanted so badly to help heal those scars, but she knew she had to deal with the more serious injury first. She knew where her priorities lay.
Slowly, a light purple glow shone where Remilia had placed her hand, the glow getting darker by the second. Remilia could only pray her powerful healing magic worked on humans just as effectively as it worked on the youkai. After a minute or so, Remilia noticed Sakuya's eyelids fluttering open. Remilia took that cue to remove her hand from Sakuya's head, ceasing the healing magic, and letting the purple glow disappear almost instantly. Stepping back a little, she let Sakuya wake up on her own in an attempt to not frighten her.
"Ugh…" Sakuya's eyes slowly fluttered open, adjusting to the bright white light of the room. Not having fully recovered from her earlier concussion, she was still half unaware of her surroundings. One obvious thing though, was the soft surface she was lying on. It was clearly not the hard ground she was used to sleeping on every night. Something was clearly wrong. Shooting up from the soft surface, she was now 100% aware of everything around her, her killer instinct reactivated.
"Good evening, little girl." Remilia's voice was not scathing or scorning as it originally was, but this time more of genuine concern. "I'd take it easy if I were you, you just recovered from a bad concussion. If you strain yourself too much, you'll collapse again."
Sakuya didn't want to admit it, but the girl was right. Her head WAS still throbbing from the earlier injury. "Where am I…?" rubbing her head, and sitting up against what she thought was a wall, Sakuya looked to her right, only to see the vampire from before standing firm, arms folded across her chest.
"…! You! What's going on? What have you done to me?!" Sakuya screeched, a response only natural for someone who had lived all her life in constant danger. Sakuya made no move to attack, and Remilia did nothing in response either.
"I would appreciate if you called me by my name. You may call me Mistress Remilia." The vampire scoffed, clearly annoyed, but somehow amused with Sakuya's initial reaction. "I brought you to my home to heal you and let you recover. Welcome to the Scarlet Devil Mansion."
"You… you didn't kill me…?" certainly confused, Sakuya was too embarrassed to think of a better response. "Why would you do that for me…?" No one had ever bothered to do anything for her before. No one had bothered to care for her. No one had ever taken any interest in her.
"I did it simply because I was interested in you." Sakuya felt her face blush a little, but also something more inside her heart. For the first time in her life, someone had bothered about her. Someone had cared for her. Someone was interested in her.
"Remilia… was it? Did I get that right…?" Sakuya began hesitantly, unsure of how to respond to the first person in the world who had bothered about her. Remilia nodded, a sign that Sakuya had gotten her name right. "Thank you… for saving my life."
"You're welcome." Remilia moved to sit on the bed, Sakuya folding her knees towards her chest to make way for her. "I don't usually do this, but would you like me to treat your wounds? I'd like to use that time to talk with you as well."
Sakuya released the vice grip she had on her legs. Not only had Remilia treated her injury and given her a safe place to lie down for a while, she was offering to treat all her previous scars as well, all in exchange for a talk? Sakuya nodded her head, gingerly pulling off her shirt to reveal the many scars hidden beneath. Scars caused by the multitude of battles she had with humans, scars caused by people who had tried to kill her for being "different". She was an outcast in the human world, but this vampire seemed to see something more in her. Sakuya decided, it would probably be worth talking to Remilia. She was after all, not human, and had accepted Sakuya's strange power.
The purple glow from Remilia's healing magic provided a warm feeling in contrast to her ice-cold hands. A warm feeling Sakuya had not experienced in a long time. "Now, one important thing I need to ask you: when and how did you get your hands on the Watch of Chronos?" Remilia began, as she worked on the scars on Sakuya's chest.
"Well… I stole it off someone who apparently did not have the power to control time…" the truth was she'd robbed a pawn shop owner about 5 years ago who was leaving his shop for the day, taking his key to steal anything of value from the shop. She only took a few gold necklaces, and what looked like an ordinary pocket watch.
"Is that so…" Remilia did not sound convinced at all. "Did you know I used to own that watch over 200 years ago? Did you even know what it was when you first obtained it?"
"I didn't know what it was at first… but I swear I'm telling the truth!" Sakuya raised her arms in defence, causing Remilia to flinch backward a little. "I believe the man I stole it from was not aware of its power either." Remilia let out a light bemused laugh, amused by Sakuya's antics. Relieved that Remilia was not actually angry with her for anything, Sakuya lowered her arms again, letting Remilia continue her work on her scars.
"Sakuya, who trained you in killing?" another question. Remilia certainly did know the right questions to ask to make Sakuya feel uncomfortable. But she had no choice but to answer all the questions. After all, it was the least she could do after Remilia had given her shelter for the night. "You certainly have some form of technique that cannot be self-taught, yet I can't think of anyone who wielded similar killing techniques in the past." Having lived several hundreds of years, Remilia knew all sorts of people. Killers, politicians, royalty, even leaders of underground criminal gangs.
"He did not have a name, but everyone called him Jack." The only 'Jack' Remilia was familiar with was a serial killer in the late 1800s. Known as 'Jack the Ripper', he was notorious for killing women by slicing open their throats. "He took me in as his successor after I tried to kill him once. The one thing we shared was our common hatred for humans and their society. We were both outcasts from the world. No one ever bothered about us." Sakuya looked down at her own hands, sighing in the emptiness of her own memories. "We lived in an abandoned warehouse not too far from that shopping district. He would train me to steal and kill, and buy food by myself. Jack died about a year after he took me in, and I was left to fend for myself up until now." While Jack may have taken Sakuya in, he never cared for her. He never showed any form of affection to her. He was more like a teacher than anything else. A psychotic, killer teacher.
"I see. I'm sorry, Sakuya..." Remilia lowered her hands to fidget with the hem of her dress, having finished clearing all the scars from Sakuya's front body. Sakuya looked up, surprised with the sudden change of attitude.
"What for?" Sakuya could not think of anything Remilia would have a reason to apologize for. She took her in, healed her, was willing to talk to her. If anything, Sakuya should have been the one to apologize for being a bother.
"I think I killed Jack." Remilia whispered almost emotionlessly, and Sakuya could feel her heart shatter. The death of the only other human she'd ever cared about, was caused by the vampire sitting right in front of her eyes. She didn't feel hurt nor upset, simply empty.
"How… Why…?" was all Sakuya managed to mumble out as her mind was spinning through inner turmoil, unsure of how or what to feel.
"I knew of him during his killing spree." Remilia began, guilt creeping up in her heart. "He tried to attack me one day while I was out hunting for humans to feed on. He tried to attack me, and we got into a fight. I still remember he possessed a silver knife, knowing full well what I was and tried to kill me." Remilia clutched her chest at the statement, remembering where Jack had stabbed her all those years ago. She would never forget the one human who had managed to harm her. To think that the girl sitting next to her was somehow related to that human, could only be a cruel twist of fate. Ironic, for the girl who could manipulate fate.
"He always told me to carry silver knives. But I never listened, instead choosing to sell the silver since it fetched more money." Sakuya stated, in a cold monotone voice.
"I fought back, and killed him out of self-defence. I took his body back to my home to feed on, too exhausted to continue hunting after my fight with him that night."
"I see… so that's why his body was never found…" Sakuya mused, twiddling her fingers, staring at the floor to avoid eye contact with Remilia. She had spent a week searching for any news of him after he didn't come back to the warehouse that night. Scouring alleys where she knew he liked to frequent, reading newspapers, nothing yielded any result. She gave up not long after, knowing full well she would never be able to find him. And she finally got her consolidation as to why.
"Sakuya, I don't normally say this…" Remilia stood up from the bed, turning to be face to face with Sakuya, bowing her head to the ground. "I'm truly sorry. Sakuya, I know this isn't much, but I can offer you a place to stay with me from now on. Would you like that?"
Sakuya was taken aback by the offer. All of a sudden, the vampire she had tried to kill mere hours ago, was offering her a place to stay, in the same house? Remilia certainly seemed to care about her, taking the bother to heal her wounds, and even apologize for an incident that had happened so many years ago. "Why… why would you do this for me…? I just tried to kill you, to steal from you…"
"You only tried to kill me because I was just a target to you, nothing more. But you interest me, Sakuya. I know you have the potential to do much more than just live a life of thievery and murder on the streets. You long for someone to care for you, right?" Remilia smiled, speaking in a calm, serene voice, filled with hints of remorse.
Sakuya's eyes widened. Remilia could see right through her heart, for her deepest longings, her real intention of killing and stealing. "Sakuya, I can give your life purpose. You've been living without a purpose up until now, would you really let my offer go to waste?" Remilia stretched out her hand to touch Sakuya's, placing both their hands on Sakuya's lap.
"What do you want me to do for you in return?" Sakuya spoke hesitantly. She did want to have a purpose in her life, but she needed to be sure of Remilia's intentions before agreeing to live with the vampire. She was already leaning towards saying yes, but she just wanted to be sure.
"You can be my maid. I already have a head maid, she will teach you everything you need." Sakuya frowned. A maid was fine, but didn't sound all that great of a life. Remilia could see her distaste. "You can join me on my weekly hunts for humans, would you like that as well?" Sakuya looked up. Now, THAT had caught her interest. An outlet for her hatred of humans, and a purpose in life just by agreeing to live with this vampire? All this was too good to be true.
"Will you kill me?" that was the last thing Sakuya had to be sure of. She did want to live with the vampire, but she did not want to become one herself. Living with a vampire was going to be strange indeed, but she figured she would get used to it.
"Of course not, Sakuya!" Remilia jumped back in fake shock. "Why would I ever want to kill my friend? I don't wish to force you into anything you don't want to do, Sakuya." Sakuya could feel her mouth growing into a smile. Remilia treated her as a friend. Remilia cared for her. It was then, that Sakuya decided, she would want to live with Remilia for the rest of her human life. Away from humans, where she truly belonged.
Getting up from the bed, she towered over Remilia, yet she bent on her knee in servitude as a sign of respect to the smaller vampire. "Mistress Remilia, I'd be honoured to accept your offer."
"Get up, Sakuya." Remilia rested a hand on her head, signalling her to stand up straight once more. "Today is a day of new beginnings for you. Today, your life with me begins." Sakuya smiled through her eyes, the two looking at each other with newfound purpose.
"And your first task as my servant: is to get changed and go hunting with me. I'm still starving, you know?" Remilia's smile turned into a playful smirk, materializing a maid outfit in her hands. "Oh, and before I forget, here are your knives. You can have them back." Remilia reached into the bedside table drawer behind her, pulling out Sakuya's two knives, and handing them back to her. Both had nearly forgotten about it during their long conversation.
"Yes, Mistress Remilia!" Sakuya stripped of her ragged clothing on the spot, putting on the maid outfit right then and there, without a shred of decency.
"My goodness! Sakuya! Have you no shame?!" Remilia shouted at her, flabbergasted by the sight of the indecent girl stripping and getting dressed in front of her eyes.
"I'm sorry Mistress Remilia." Sakuya bowed at 90 degrees, fully dressed once more.
"It's okay. Next time, please do not change your clothing in my presence." Remilia waved her hand, spreading her wings and floating slightly above the ground. "Now, let's go hunting."
"Yes, Mistress Remilia." Sakuya gripped her knives once again, but with a different sense of determination this time. Now, she had a purpose to kill. She had found a purpose in life. And finally, her real life was about to begin. All thanks to her one fateful encounter with an unexpectedly nice vampire.
A/N: And, i'm done. Longest one-shot i've ever written, at 5264 words. There isn't much fanfics out there detailing Sakuya's early life before meeting Remilia, so this was my spin on it. Zun didn't give any lores for me to work on, so most of this is from my own imagination. I hope you guys enjoyed, please review!