Title: The Truth Unveiled
Genre: Drama, Crossover, kind of horror
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Arashi, sadly, nor I own the Twilight characters...
The Truth Unveiled
Alice had foreseen that. She had a vision, and saw that their trip to Japan would have taken quite a strange turn. She didn't tell them in every detail, since it involved places and people that no one of them had ever seen, even having lived far longer than any human; anyway, they knew it was going to happen.
"An accident... a really bad accident... a boy... a hospital..."
It was the second night they were spending in Tokyo. The city's lights would have been wonderful even to the eyes of common mortals, but to them, they were much more beautiful. He had visited many places, alone and together with his family, but they had never reached Japan. It was just a short vacation: they didn't know whether they could find food there without being discovered, so they had left Forks right after hunting, and would have stayed in Japan until they started feeling thirsty again.
They were walking in the city's streets, and while everyone was doing their best to make the atmosphere more cheerful, there was a lot of tension in the air: they knew about the vision, and nobody knew how or when everything was going to happen.
They weren't used to worrying about one single human: yes, he was Carlisle Cullen, one of the best surgeons in Washington state, and it was his duty to save lives, but he never had thought too much about a single person's life.
This time it was different, and it wasn't surely due to affection: he really didn't know who the boy from Alice's vision was, but if she had seen, among all the accidents that happened everyday in the world, the one that involved the boy, there should have been something important in him, something that to a certain degree would have involved them, too.
Alice was laughing at a joke told by Emmett, holding on to Jasper's arm; however, when they reached the roadside, she looked at the boy who, together with them, was waiting to cross the street, and her delighted expression changed to a terrified look.
- It's him - Alice whispered. - It's about to happen.
Before the girl could say or do something else, the boy left the sidewalk and, running, tried to cross the road.
- We can't stop him - said Carlisle. - They'll discover us!
What happened right after that would have been too quick for any human, but not for them.
Carlisle noticed every single detail of the accident: he saw the car, coming apparently from nowhere... he saw the driver, trying in vain to stop the car, and heard the shrieking of the tyres... he saw the boy hitting the windshield, then being thrown some meters away by the collision... then, he smelt an unmistakable scent. Blood.
- Emmett, Rosalie, try to hold Jasper back. Everyone, run as far as possible. I'll go and help him - said Carlisle.
There were already some people around the boy. The driver who had caused the accident was out of the car, and was calling an ambulance.
Carlisle got nearer to where the boy was, and told some people to leave. Then he bent over the boy.
A look was enough to know that his conditions were critical. There was a high possibility that the collision had broken his spine, together with causing him a concussion; plus, the windshield's glass had wounded him.
The boy was unconscious, but Carlisle recognised him immediately. He had already seen him, and just the night before.
Alice was playing with the hotel's television. During all their travels, she always had fun watching the local tv channels, even though, not having studied all the languages in the world, she often didn't understand a word of what she was hearing. Obviously, Japan wasn't an exception.
She stopped changing through the channels only after finding a music channel, and she was watching the images on the screen.
- Oh, these look funny! - she said.
- They only look stupid - replied Rosalie.
- I may search material about them, when we are back home. Carlisle, could you read what's their name?
On the screen, five boys were dancing to the rhytm of an up-to-beat song in a colourful petrol station. Carlisle looked at the small kanji on the lower left-hand corner of the screen.
- Their name is Arashi, Alice - he said.
The boy that was lying down in a pool of blood was one of them. One of Arashi.
The ambulance arrived almost immediately. Carlisle was able to know in which hospital they were taking the boy, and called a cab to get to the place.
In her vision, Alice saw the hospital, so that meant that he couldn't leave the boy alone.
The boy looked really young, and Carlisle had seen him on tv: that meant that he had a career there, dreams, something worth living for; however things went, even if he survived he would have been stuck on a wheelchair, therefore crashing his career and his hopes. It was terrible at any age, but as teenager surely it was worse.
There was a way to avoid all that. It was a crazy idea, since Carlisle couldn't take the boy with him, or control him. But it would have saved him. He could have simply transformed him.
He reached the hospital, and went straight to the ER. He asked a nurse, and discovered that the boy had just arrived, and that he had to wait to see him.
It didn't take long.
- His spine has broken - said the nurse - and the doctors are afraid that he won't be able to move his legs anymore. The accident caused a concussion, and he is now immobilized. His conditions are critical, but stable.
The boy was lying on the bed, his head and neck immobilized. Several small tubes connected him to some machines. He was alone in the room, and that would have made things a lot more simple.
The nurse went out of the room, and Carlisle got closer to the bed. The only noises were those of the machines to which the boy was connected.
The vampire still hadn't decided what to do.
If you turn him, his life will change completely.
It would have changed anyway.
He probably won't be able to stay near humans, so he can't keep on doing his job.
But he will be able to live a better life than this, one day.
His existence might become a living hell.
Or he might become someone important. If Alice saw him, there probably was a reason.
During those few days in Japan, he could have helped him. And maybe one day he'd even thank him for what he was going to do.
Carlisle leaned on the boy's arm, and bit him.
*Arashi member's POV*
It burns. Everything burns.
He didn't remember anything of what happened. He remembered the accident, but he didn't see any flame. He remembered the collision, the pain he felt at that moment, but nothing after that.
His consciousness awakened the moment he felt his heart beating, faster than ever, but what was running through his veins wasn't blood, no: it was fire. Every single centimeter of his body was burning: surely his body was twitching with pain, but he couldn't feel it: everything was so strong that he couldn't concentrate on anything else.
He tried to scream, but couldn't hear his voice. It was like something was keeping him still.
He wanted to die. If really something was burning him, it should have happened shortly, shouldn't it?
Then why wasn't he dying?
Where was he? Why was he suffering so much? Who was inflicting him such pain? He knew that there were people who did those things for fun, but why him? Why didn't they stop, and put an end to his life?
Even death would have been better than that agony. Dead, he wouldn't have felt anything anymore...
He thought that eventually he would have got used to the pain. He was wrong. It seemed that ages had passed, and the horrible sensation of being burned alive was still there, stronger than ever, torturing his mind.
Time stopped having sense: seconds, minutes, days... he couldn't tell how much of them had passed.
Until, when he had lost all hopes, something changed.
His body stopped being one huge flame. Slowly, he started regaining self-perception.
At first they were just little things: he could move a finger, he felt his toes touching the blanket, while the rest of his body was still burning...
Then, the sensation spread: it was like the flames were retreating. He wasn't just regaining perception of his body, but also of the world surrounding him: he felt some pointy objects on his skin, and something was keeping his head still; he smelt flowers, medicines and something else he couldn't detect, but appeared delicious; he got aware of many sounds: voices, steps, the ticking of thousands of clocks...
But more than everything, he was feeling stronger. Stronger than he ever felt during all his life.
The burning sensation was fading more and more. By then, it was located only in one place: his throat.
I think I'll ask for a glass of water, he thought, but deep inside himself he knew that water wouldn't have been enough. He took a gulp of air, and again the mixture of scents filled his nostrils; that note he still hadn't identified was still there, strong as before, and his throat burned a little more.
- Can you hear me?
The voice belonged to a man. He opened his eyes.
*Carlisle's POV*
The boy had woken up. He knew he couldn't let a newborn vampire in a building packed with humans, so he had to make him escape that place. He had managed to steal some blood bags, to ease the boy's thirst. It was dark outside, and he could have got out of the window without being noticed. Obviously, he wouldn't have got hurt falling.
The young man opened his eyes. Carlisle saw astonisment in his gaze. It was normal, wasn't it? The world seen with the eyes of a vampire was completely different from the one human eyes let seeing. Unfortunately, there was no time to look around.
Carlisle took one of the blood bags, and gave it to the boy. He looked at him, confused.
- What...?
- You have to drink - said Carlisle - I'll explain everything in the meanwhile.
The boy looked reluctant, but then he sighed, and started drinking, thirsty.
- As you probably already have noticed, you've become a vampire. I am a vampire, too. My name is Carlisle Cullen, and I used my venom to save you. You got hit by a car, and even if you had survived, probably you wouldn't have been able to walk anymore. That's the reason why I chose to transform you.
The boy took another blood bag, too busy drinking to talk.
- Three days have passed from the accident, and now your transformation is complete. I persuaded the nurses to let me stay here with you, in the meanwhile. But now you have to get away from here. There are too many humans, and it would be better if they didn't notice you. I don't know if all the blood I took is enough.
The boy nodded, while keeping on drinking.
- Now, listen to me. There are a few things you should know, before going. I'll stay here in Japan for a couple of days, so if you need me, I'll be here. First, try to stay unnoticed. We vampires can survive on animal blood, but if you can't resist, try to be as much discreet as possible. Nobody must discover your nature, unless you want to get killed. Then, don't go out in the sunlight when people can see you. You won't burn, but it isn't something that humans should see. And last, be careful. You're a newborn, so you're really strong. If you don't control your energy, you may end up hurting someone, or crashing things. Understood?
The boy nodded. He had drank all the blood in a few minutes. - Where... where can I go? - he asked.
- You can jump out of the window. Now that you're a vampire, nothing will happen to you - said Carlisle.
The boy jumped out of the bed, and went towards the window.
- Thank you... but why did you do this?
Carlisle couldn't give him a clear answer. - Because... because I felt that it was the right thing to do. Anyway, what's your name?
- Ninomiya... Kazunari Ninomiya.
- Getting to know you was a pleasure - said Carlisle. Well, he didn't have the time to actually know him, but he felt that he just had contributed to something important. - Now go, before the nurses arrive - he said.
I wish you good luck, Kazunari Ninomiya, he thought, while the boy jumped out of the window.
