Hello everyone! :)
As this is my first time posting something on , I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading the product of this… well, rather scattered idea that's been brewing around my mind for awhile. ^^ Please feel free to point out any mistakes or places for improvement that you find; constructive criticism is accepted with open arms here.
(Note: Although I've posted this story as KandaXOC, please remember that it's eventual KandaXOC –Kanda doesn't make an appearance in this chapter, and I don't want to jump straight into things if I can avoid it.)
Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray Man in any way, shape, or form.
.
Ch 1: Changes in Edo
.
The darkened sky above was completely blanketed by a thick layer of gray clouds, clouds that seemed to glow ever more ominously with that eerie film of ghostly blue seeping out from the precious few patches where they thinned out ever so slightly. It was almost oppressive, the way that the sky itself seemed to loom over the small town, crushing the tiny, insignificant buildings in its spectral embrace. Frosty winds swirled through the empty streets wildly, sending the crumbling leaves that were strewn all over the ground tumbling into the air once more.
"Good evening, Earl."
Yagari Hoshino was a shrewd man. And like all shrewd men, he was an opportunist. However, Yagari differed from the average opportunist in the way that he had a… an instinct, of sorts, that led him to make deals that constantly gave him the upper hand; deals that always, always managed to benefit him in the end.
… But this time, Yagari wasn't so sure about his intuition. His hands felt cold and sweaty under the smooth texture of the silken gloves, and he clasped them together tightly as he sat down in front of the Earl. Whether that was a subconscious effort on his part to calm himself down or to prevent his hands from trembling, though... that was debatable.
"Ah… hello there, Mr. Hoshino."
If he played his cards right, then the rest of his life would be completely assured: money, riches, fame, whatever he wanted. It most certainly wasn't the first time he'd found himself in a situation like this, one where he had to lay everything on the line, but…
…
It was definitely the first time his heart had pounded like this, with fear swirling at the forefront of his mind. Yagari hastily dropped his eyes away from the Earl as the suffocating pressure in his chest became almost too much to bear. Was it, perhaps, the sensitivity of the information he had come upon? Or was it due to the constant doubt that his sources were incorrect, that something like this couldn't happen? Or maybe, maybe it was because of her…?
…
… He hadn't made the deal yet. There was still time for him to back out of this, to make some excuse and never come back again… to continue living his life normally as if he'd never heard of any of this, as if nothing had ever happened… yes, yes, just go back home and take up his usual job, never contact the Earl again…
But…
Never let it be said that Yagari Hoshino has backed down from anything.
"Earl," His throat had never felt so dry and raspy, and it had never been this hard for him to talk during a round of sensitive negotiations. Yagari swallowed hard, steeling his nerves and hardening his resolve for what he was about to do, "I… I have a proposition for you…"
…
The last leaf fluttered down from the wilting branch of the tree standing outside, barely alighting on the wooden floorboards before a polished leather shoe stomped down on it, crushing it completely. The nimble wind darted over as the footsteps gradually faded, gingerly gathering up the remains of the leaves and flitting away with it, scattering the tiny pieces of the leaf to all four corners of the world.
"Yee-haw! Now this is the life, I'll tell ya'!"
Bright sunlight shone down warmly upon the small ship that was cheerfully bobbing up and down on the waves, its white sails pulled taut by a gusty breeze that had decided to lend a hand to the boisterous sailors. The waters of the sea stretched on for as far as the eye could see, before finally vanishing at the faraway horizon… without as much as a speck of land in sight.
It would've been awe-inspiring, really, if this boat wasn't shaking so much…
The raven haired girl let out a pitiful whimpering sound as she flopped back down into her hammock, the sickish green tinge to her skin prominent as ever. Groaning, the young woman blearily lifted a hand over her forehead, trying to block out the intense glare of the sunlight that was beaming through the blurry glass of the window fixed to the side of the cabin.
"Not feelin' so well, lassie?"
'Lassie' rolled over onto her side, curling up as best she could in a swinging hammock to appease her traitorous stomach that was still in the middle of rebellion, "Sh-shut up, Hisoka…"
The rugged man made a 'tsk'-ing noise, scratching at his stubby beard, "We've on'y been out 'ere for a couple 'a hours, and yer already like this? China's a long way off, lassie… Man, the cap'n is gonna be mad if he finds out someone who can't earn their keep is on board."
The girl twitched, "Maybe…" she gritted out through her teeth, "Maybe you lot would prefer it if I... alerted the authorities to your… ahem, cargo?"
It was almost comical, the way the blood swiftly drained from the man's face and left him with a shaken, pale look, "… How… how the hell didja know-"
"I have my ways," She blanched when the ship suddenly hit a particularly rough wave, being bounced up by the sudden force, "Crap. This… urg, I swear, I'm never… never, ever… going to get on a boat again… when we get to China…"
The man shook his head at her pityingly, "Lassie, if ya get seasick this easily, ya shouldn't even be on a boat in the first place."
The girl made a frustrated sound, keeping her mouth shut for a brief moment as the urge to vomit came over her… again. When it passed, she let out a long breath, "… How was I supposed to know? None of… none of the other trips I've been on were this bad…"
"They were probably short 'uns, then." The man shrugged, although the girl couldn't see from her current position, "Well, the waters 'ere are pretty feisty by any standards, I guess… but still. How didja know what we're carryin' ta China…?"
The young woman wiped away a few strands of ebon hair sticking to her sweaty forehead, taking in a shuddering breath as her stomach felt like it should take another shot at doing a bout of somersaults, "I… know that… no ships… go to other… countries… from Edo… illegal. Only reason… profit… illegal profit… drugs…"
Hisoka nodded, figuring out what the seasick girl was trying to say from piecing together her scattered words, "I see… not bad then, lassie, blackmailin' the cap'n inta takin' ya along-"
BOOM!
The entire ship sudden shook violently as it tipped over dangerously, coming frightfully close to flipping over in the waters. Hisoka stumbled, his large frame crashing against the doorway with a thud and causing a spectacular purple bruise to bloom over his back as he loosened the string on his sailor's tongue, biting out a string of profanities. The girl, on the other hand, was unceremoniously dumped out of her hammock altogether, rolling across the ground until the blankets and pillows, combined with the various possessions of the other sailors, finally stopped her momentum.
"What the fuck is goin' on out there?" Hisoka barked out, his temper irritable no thanks to the pain sprouting in his back, "There 'ere absolutely no signs of any storm comin' on!"
"M… m-m-monster!"
The girl, whose mind had simply been hazed over by a pounding headache when she'd been tossed out of the hammock, suddenly became rigid at the word 'monster'.
Hisoka didn't pay any more attention to the disheveled young woman sprawled in a heap on the ground, instead turning heel and sprinting outside as fast as he could, his gut telling him that there was something seriously wrong out there. A ship never, never tilted like this unless it was caught in some titanic hell of a motherfuckin' tempest, one which they would've noticed coming a long way off. Getting snagged in a giant godforsaken whirlpool was another possibility, but last he checked, giant whirlpools didn't spring up in the ocean out of the blue.
… The girl was still sitting in the room, listening mutely as the mummer of voices outside slowly gained an edge of panic to them… and that was when the screams started. Those haunting shrieks of horror and pain, combined with the sickening crashes of bodies breaking through wood. The terrifying, horrifying noises sounded closer and closer to her, accompanied by the loud snaps of breaking bones.
Trembling, she slowly pushed her body upright, the sudden numbing coldness in her own bones making her limbs feel like lead and making her dread what she would find once she stepped outside the safety of the cabin… no. No. If… if those monsters outside right now… if those monsters were really the ones she'd ran into just mere days ago…
… then there was no place safe. No place safe…
The silver chain around her neck felt frostier than ever, the necklace digging into her skin as she convulsed uncontrollably again. A single strand of chains hung down on her front, from her throat to her chest, the links clinking ominously as she struggled to drag herself outside, as she neared the cabin door... Was it just her imagination, or was the necklace… quivering?
… She opened the door.
-and immediately hit the ground, a flash of light singing the tips of her raven hair as the deadly beam soared into the cabin room with a deafening 'bang!' Her breath suddenly hitched in her throat, her previous seasickness all but forgotten as her amber eyes involuntarily locked onto the grotesque figure of a grayish rounded creature, her eyes glossed over the cannon spikes that jutted out from its body and fixated themselves on the creepy, unnerving mask-like face on its middle… a face that was all too familiar for her liking…
Dust. The girl blinked as the wind abruptly picked up and she received a face full of the powdery substance, almost causing her to sneeze until she remembered and she froze. If her memories were accurate, if she remembered correctly… if she remembered correctly, then when that monster's attacks hit someone, then-
"AAAAAAAAAGH!"
Unbidden, her amber orbs were drawn to the horrific sight of a man falling down as one of those lights hit him straight on in the chest, and those black stars were sprouting all over his face, his arms, and then… and then…
…
The human-shaped mound of dust was quickly swept away by a black wave that leaped over the edge of the boat and reached as far as it could onto the deck. It retreated as quickly as it had come, sliding back over the railings in a flash and leaving absolutely nothing in its wake.
Bitter liquid rose in the back of her throat before she gagged, stomach heaving and automatically throwing up on the deck as everything became too much for her. The trauma of the past few days, mixed in with the sight before her hit her at that moment, and salty tears prickled in her eyes as she felt herself being consumed by fear, by pain, by hate…
Loosely, from out the corner of her of her peripheral vision, she could see that there were at least a dozen other monsters floating around in the air as well, adjusting those cannon like protrusions, aiming and shooting out their pink-tinged jets of destruction at various sides of the ship…
Why…?
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as her eyes finally caught the grisly silhouette of one of the monster floating right over her, twitching its cannons so that all of them were aimed directly at her. Light began to materialize at those tips, growing larger and larger as the monster gathered energy for another of its attacks, another of those deadly blasts that held the power to reduce her to dust. The back of her throat was burning again, and everything in front of her eyes swam together for a moment as it was overlaid with another similarly devastating and macabre scene…
… A time of when she was still in Edo, sitting in her parlor, and those same monsters had appeared… destroying everything within their path with no trace of mercy or hesitation… She remembered… oh, she remembered, alright… she still remembered her mother's shattered cries under that heavy blanket of fire and smoke billowing over her home…
A pair of amber eyes watched listlessly, hazing over as the burst of light expanded and swelled in epic proportions directly on top of her. The wind thrown from the force of the energy rippled through her hair, whipping it back and sending it snapping around her face in all directions...
I never wanted to know about any of this… I just wanted to… get away from it all…
The stinging sea water splashed over her body as another wave sloshed aboard the ship messily, hungrily lapping away at everything its reach could encompass, trying to drag everything into the darkness and depths of the ocean forever.
… I wish none of this had ever happened…
She could still see it within her mind's eye. An explosion. The screams that had immediately followed. Demonic flames flickering in the background, consuming everything with a blood-red blaze, torrents streaming everywhere, licking away at the wood until it was reduced to naught but ashes. Running, stumbling, everyone scattering, trying to find her mother in that chaotic mess, except –except there was nothing left, nothing but-
The chain-necklace around her neck was as cold as ice against her clammy skin.
A burst of light rocked her world as the monster released the energy it gathered at her, and suddenly everything turned white. The young woman slowly blinked at the strange sensation crossing over her body, making her feel like she was floating, floating in nothingness, but somehow comfortable at the same time… was this what death felt like? Tendrils of warmth overflowing in her body, rejuvenating her frozen body-
I wish none of this had ever happened.
Her eyes flew open as something rushed through her, the surge hitting her like a ton of bricks. It was on a completely different scale than the warmth that had been softly seeping through her before, it… it was wilder and more powerful, for lack of a better term... She aware, as if she'd been half-slumbering through everything for the first half of her life, and had finally woken up now...
The chain that was wrapped around her neck glowed brightly, angry red marks appearing on pale skin under the silver links laced together.
"I…" The light around her suddenly cleared away, leaving her slightly dazed and disoriented, but no less aware to the presence of the horrendous monsters around her. The hideous monsters were still circling the ship and bringing death with each blow, bringing death with each vivid shot from its cannons. Dangers. Her mind immediately kicked into high gear, and words, words that felt so right yet she had absolutely no inkling of before, sprung to her automatically, just like the liquid fire that was burning through her veins right now, "First Day: I reject!"
As soon as those words left her lips, black lines immediately flared into existence around the monsters, rapidly tracing out the tall frames of giant cubes that encased them in less than a second. A clear, shimmering barrier flickered lightly, acting as the sides of the cube as soon as the black lines had connected, and then–
The girl jerked back, a flash of searing pain razing through her body, and she dropped to the deck, panting, her breath coming out in short, erratic gasps-
–a scream. A gruesome, guttural scream that started off a low wail at first, but quickly turned into a shriek, a howl of pain, a bellow of excruciating torment and endless suffering…
It took a while for her mind to discern the fact that the monsters were screaming.
The monsters. Screaming.
… It took even longer for her to realize that her mouth was open, and that she, too, was screaming.
It was with morbid fascination that she watched, watched as the outer layer of those monsters were peeled away only to reveal a shiny black surface underneath, which unraveled and disintegrated just as the armor-like outer layer did. She watched them writhe, writhe with unparalleled agony as they swiftly lost their bulky figures and their hulking bodies, their obsidian flesh and pitch-black blood being stripped away and whittled down to gleaming white bone–
–She almost threw up again when more and more of its bones became visible as the monsters continued to crumble in their cubes, revealing the skeleton of a human.
The steady stream of dark particles flowing from the monsters' blood, flesh, and armor disappeared as they were sucked into the shimmering walls of the cubes, but the skeletons…
… the skeletons…
One of them, the girl duly noted, wasn't merely thrashing around in pain. One of them… the bleached-white jaws on the skull were moving.
"Thank you…"
Her eyes widened at the unexpected message, and the skeletons exploded into fine white dust. Was she hallucinating? The monster, why… why would it thank her? It was confusing, it was… was…
… Something was rising in the back of her throat again. Something sweet.
The girl coughed harshly into her hand, feeling a warm liquid splatter onto her palms and fingertips. When her coughing fit receded and she pulled away-
Blood.
She was coughing up blood.
A sudden wave of dizziness hit her, hard, at the sudden realization, and she slumped down again, another bout of coughs hitting her once more as a piece of wood sticking out roughly jammed into her side. There were so many black spots dancing in front of her eyes, and she felt so… unusually… detached…
"-ng on! Guys, get o'er here, it's alright! 'S all over now!"
Something loomed in front of her eyes, and, try as she might, she simply couldn't find the strength to struggle or fight anymore. The flames that had been fueling her re-encounter with the monsters were gone now. Was this how she was going to die…?
… No. Wait.
A still-functional, more perceptive section of her mind secretly whispered that something was familiar about the one standing before her right now, the person that was bending down and gathering her up to –ow!
Blood filled her mouth from her body being jostled by the harsh movement, the ship rocking dangerously again. She did her best to ignore the cascade of scarlet droplets that flew out from her lips.
"-ssie? Lassie, ya still 'ere?"
… Hisoka.
"Hi…" She licked her lips, swallowing, trying to ease the scratching and tearing in her throat and the pain that twisted inside her body as she tried to talk, "Hi… so…"
"Ya saved us, lassie," The man's bass voice barely penetrated through the thick fog that seemed to surround her mind at the moment. It was… soft. Hisoka was rarely gentle… "Ya saved us all. Don't worry, we've got some med'cine onboard, so ya ain't gonna die… you ain't gonna go 'round dyin' on me now, ya hear?"
His voice… it was drifting farther and farther away. And there were so many more blurry faces in the background…
… she was so very, very tired right now… and her body hurt like hell…
…
The girl's amber eyes fluttered closed as her body reached its limits, and she finally let go of the iron grip she had on her consciousness, spiraling into darkness until she knew no more.
… And so the little ship, beaten and battered, ragged and worse for the wear… bravely sailed on in the waters, in the treacherous waters. They never knew that, soon after their near-death encounter, no other ships would dare to sail upon these waters again. They never know that no other ships would ever survive this same voyage… until many years later.
Yagari was a troubled man. First, his negotiations with the Earl didn't go well. He'd even stubbornly stormed off in the middle of their meeting like an idiot, which, in hindsight, was a stupid move. An extremely stupid move. Come to think of it, why did he do that, anyways? His temper hadn't flared up in a long time…
… Considering everything, though, he was lucky to be even alive after that stunt. It was all by the grace of the magnanimous Earl, of course.
But being alive was probably the only positive thing in his life right now. His wife, his dear Yume-chan, had been dead and buried when he returned from his latest negotiation. His daughter was gone as well. His house was in shambles, almost looking like it had been torn apart violently and burned down. None of the servants he'd employed were left.
… Surely this would have nothing to do with his meeting with the Earl that went terribly wrong?
Thick clouds of cigarette smoke curled around his messy ebon locks mockingly as he took an especially long drag and sighed, worries and troubles cluttering his mind. Leaning back, he tried to relax against the horribly scratched cloth of his velvet chair in a futile attempt. The mahogany desk that usually stood proudly in front of him had been overturned and broken in several places, and his eyes somberly wandered over the smoldering wreckage that remained of his –once– great mansion.
Was this his punishment for those underground deals he'd made to get his hands on that information?
Sitting there in the smog-filled ruins of the former Hoshino estate, Yagari made an important, life-changing decision. He'd just lost everything. He had nothing left. He was going to go back to the Earl and re-negotiate, hope that the Earl would accept his heavily lowered terms this time. The Earl was the only one he could strike a deal with now, so… no matter what the cost, he was going to earn back everything he'd lost… and much, much more.
This he swore he was going to accomplish, or his name wasn't Yagari Hoshino.
"Hey, hey, was there really any need to send Akumas to take care of that broker's family? I thought that backing people into a corner wasn't your style."
Tyki shrugged. Or rather, his shoulders twitched a little… well, as much as they could when Road draped her arms around him and clamped down tightly. "He had some rather sensitive information. Honestly, I'm pretty surprised that he managed to get his hands on it at all... He would probably make a good asset; not all brokers have the same connections he does, and he has somewhat of a… reputation around these parts. That should make it easier for him to get things done his way around Edo if we provide him with the proper finances. According to our instructions, that is."
The gray-skinned little girl pouted cutely, swinging her body over the plush sofa the tall Noah was reclining in, "I don't like him~" she whined in a sing-song voice.
The older Noah's eye twitched at her response, "… Never, ever say that in front of Sheril when he's around. We still need some brokers around, and your instant dislike of over half the ones we employ isn't exactly helping."
Road openly laughed, shuffling around so that one of the fancy plush pillows was resting in her arms as she made herself comfortable next to her 'uncle'. "Alright, alright... Still, I don't see what's so special about that broker."
Tyki made an absent-minded 'hm'-ing sound, crossing one leg over the other, "I only know a few things, since the Earl hasn't disclosed to us all the details yet, but… My impression… is that he only sees the wealth in front of his eyes and is easily manipulated."
"So…" Road cocked her head innocently, dark eyes shining brightly, "By that, do you mean that he's just another broker?"
It was Tyki's turn to laugh now, and he ruffled the top of her head affectionately, ignoring the small squeal that came from the little girl and the ensuing 'whoosh' of the pillow that flew towards his face.
"Yes. That's exactly what I mean."
.
.
I'm not very sure if my portrayal of Tyki and Road at the last bit ended up 'in-character', so I'll gladly accept all the help and the tips I can get on keeping characters… well, in character. o_o" Some things are left deliberately a little loose-ended and vague here, but those will be exploited later on in the story.
I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review and tell me what you think about this so far! Thank you for reading! :D