Chapter 2
All she remembered was falling asleep, and even that was littered with torn fragments of uncertainty, gaps and fuzziness that accompany food and sleep deprivation. It wasn't anything unusual; she'd been living this way for so long…she couldn't remember anything better. She could, however, remember far worse, and those memories often served to remind her how lucky she was to remain free and undetected by her 'father'.
Danielle—Danni couldn't suppress a shiver at the thought of that man, burrowing deeper into the warmth that wrapped around her. It was because of him that she was on the run, that she was hundreds of miles from 'home' (of course, her home was tentative at best and wasn't even her's. It was her cousin's.) She curled her small frame into a ball, her sleepy mind wondering absently where the surrounding warmth was coming from, or when the cardboard box got so soft and comfy. For the first speculation, she supposed she could have grabbed an old blanket from the pile of junk during her sleep (It'd been known to happen, she subconsciously knew how to take care of her body, and warmth was near essential). The second wasn't quite so straight forward, but plausible. Danni supposed she could be so used to the hard ground, that even cardboard felt as soft as a bed.
Her consciousness settled down again, suspended somewhere near the realm of dreams. It wasn't often she wasn't awoken by something or another, random pedestrians, police officers, or just the sounds of a city during the day, so her body relished the chance to replenish more of the energy she'd been so sorely lacking lately. It had been hard to grab the amount of sleep she'd needed for the past few days, not after the long sleep on the flight over a week ago. But it wasn't just her screwed up schedule, but the police had been running all around her current haunt these past few days, and she really was considering searching for a new one. She didn't know what was going on, and to be frank, there wasn't much she could do if she did know. The slightest bit of ghost related news (or Pariah-forbid, a picture) and she would have at least three old geezers flying down to Tokyo, Japan along with a little green blob inside a large metal suit. Her father wouldn't let the loss of an expensive (not to mention infuriating) cloning experiment go if he could help it.
Her dream-muddled mind suddenly perked up, her nose twitching as a tantalizing aroma drifted toward her. It wasn't far away, and the smell of food was like the alarm clock to wake the beast—her poor neglected stomach jerked awake, demanding that she fill it with the source of the smell. As her conscious mind worked on shrugging off the dregs of sleep her body moved on its own accord, turning intangible and phasing through the blanket draped over her. Her feet touched down lightly on the floor and she stabilized, ignoring the woozy sensation that always came with using her base powers when she was running on fumes. Completely unaware of her surroundings—she would realize later that such a state was NOT a smart idea to be in, but for the moment she was too tired and hungry—she navigated through the area, using nothing but her nose to guide her to the blessed food.
A middle age woman hummed softly to herself in the kitchen, cleaning up the small mess made by the light lunch she'd just prepared. She was planning on checking on their guest, and if she was awake, to offer the newly crafted lunch. If not, she'd just set it in the fridge for later, it was no big deal either way.
The thought of the child brought a halt to her humming, making Hiromi pause in her cleaning of the pan. The poor girl…She looked half starved when her son brought her home. Judging by the state of her clothes and, well, her overall appearance, she'd been on the streets for some time. It sent pangs to her heart to think of such a young kid alone in a large city like Tokyo, which was why she didn't put up much of a fuss when her son brought her home and asked to let her stay for a while.
Hiromi shook her head, picking up the plate containing the lunch and moving it to the table so she could wipe off the counter. The towel soon glided effortlessly across the table top, wiping up droplets of spilt broth as well as crumbs left behind by the half of toast. She wrung the towel dry over the double sink, before folding the dish-rag in half and letting it hang dry on the faucet. Finished with the household chores she turned around and blinked twice—the food was gone.
A faint smile played across her lips as she moved quietly toward the table, placing a hand on the warm cloth-covered wood where the bowl of soup once sat. Hiromi gave a quick glance to the floor around the table, but didn't notice any spills, no matter how minute. That left only one hiding place.
She bent her knees and sunk to the floor, using one hand to slowly life the edge of the dangling table cloth which allowed her to peer underneath the furniture. She bit off an amused laugh as she caught sight of the scene beneath the table, the sleeping girl curled around the empty soup bowl, and small toast crumbs sprinkled across her cheeks and the floor. It was a cute scene, and would have been cuter if the girl's face wasn't so gaunt from lack of food, a sharp reminder.
She must have been hungry. Hiromi mused, gently extracting the dishes from the girl's loose grip and placing them in the sink to be washed once she returned the nameless one to her room. I never even heard her come in.
And she must be exhausted to fall right back asleep. Her thoughts darkened with worry, the faint possibility that the child might be sick hovered in her mind. She'd have to arrange a doctor's appointment; just to be sure that everything was all right.
Hiromi sighed and went about collecting the sleeping body, taking a quick glance at the clock and wondering if the girl would wake again before Kaito got home from school. She knew he was worried; she nearly had to push him out the door to get him to leave her side. As Hiromi tucked the child into the guest bedroom's bed she let a small smile flicker to life, she was glad that her Kaito was such a kind boy.
A white cape…
Vlad?
It couldn't be.
Right?
He can't have found me.
Impossible!
…Right?
The next time of waking went far differently from the first, instead of slow and gradual it was abrupt. It was most likely a result of the seemingly boundless energy coursing through her, the fruits of decent food and sleep ended up reenergizing her despite the constant drain caused by her unstable form. She nearly sprang awake, clear blue eyes snapping open as she fully realized the implications of the warm, not tattered, blanket wrapped around her, as well as the near feather soft bed beneath her.
Danni could not remember her earlier state of half-waking, and she acted accordingly, with suspicion and mistrust as she scanned the bare, but homely bedroom. Her hair was unbound, and her clothes had been changed from her normal rags to a slightly larger set of navy blue silk pajamas. Her normal outfit and hat were hanging on the back of a simplistic, but elegant looking wooden chair, the worst of the grime and dirt washed off, but the ware borne of constant use still remained and most likely always would.
Cautiously she slipped out of the covers, not daring to use her ghost powers for fear of hidden surveillance. The ghost girl crept 'round the room, combing every nook, cranny, and piece of furniture for something, anything that would scream out 'Vlad's Plan's!' and free her of the suspicious uncertainty. Surely, it wasn't Vlad's normal style, she was fairly certain that should he capture her she'd be waking up in a vat of green liquid goo, in the middle of her 'father' vivisecting her to discover why she held together for so long when all the other clones failed.
Eventually she gave up pacing about the room, heading over to the chair and near snatching the clothes from the back-rest, feeling slightly more secure out of the strange, foreign pajamas. She adjusted the red hat nervously, leaving her hair unbound for lack of a tie. It was just too weird, too quiet. If it weren't for the fact that her developing paranoia was insisting that there was something wrong she'd just turn intangible and walk right out of the room, leaving behind all fears of crazy, fruit-loopy, half-ghost millionaires.
She had her back turned to the door, giving the room one more sweep and to see if there was anything else she might have missed, when there was a prickling sensation on the back of her neck much like the feeling that always accompanied her ghost sense. The only difference was the lack of light blue mist among her short, harried breathes. It made her whirl around, trailing hair momentarily blinding her until it settled over her shoulder.
Standing in the doorway was someone she'd never seen before. He was tall, forcing her to crane her neck to get a good look at him. He didn't set off her ghost sense, didn't look threatening or evil with his slightly roguish looks and the normal Japanese high school uniform (she'd seen many of the kids in similar uniforms while on her own, one of her favorite hobbies was people watching.) But she remained wary, Vlad was not beyond using human pawns his little games, Valerie was case and point of that.
"Calm down little kitten." The youth held out his hands, revealing that he wasn't hiding anything from her, and to prove that he meant her no harm. Warm blue-violet eyes shone good-naturedly from beneath wild dark-brown bangs, tempered a little with concern and minute amounts of relief. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Danni didn't find any of this reassuring; instead it merely confused her even more. Her lips thinned, her eyes narrowed before she snapped out, "Oh? Then what would you do with a kidnapped kid?"
If her comment angered him, he didn't show it, the smile not wavering. He leaned back against the door frame, crossing his arms against his chest before reply calmly, as if discussing the weather with someone his own age, and not discussing kidnapping with a child, "I wouldn't quite call it kidnapping. Normally I leave runaway kids for the police to handle."
She froze at the mention of police, her mind grasping just how close she'd been to discovery. Even the Japanese police would be able to dig up the 'Missing Person' notice Vlad had circulated after her escape, and they would surely update her 'father' on his 'runaway daughter's whereabouts. Her safety in Japan would be gone, which was one of the reasons she had snuck aboard that airplane and smuggled herself into the country. Vlad's influence wasn't quite international yet.
She knew her frigid silence and sudden lack of breathes had been noticed by the teenager, so she slowly forced herself to breathe, trying to lessen the impact of her sudden halt. A sad, knowing smile spread across the teenager's face before he continued the thread of conversation as if he hadn't noticed "But it was raining last night if you don't remember—" Of course she did, it was why she had decided on sleeping in the handy-dandy nearby box. "and you know full well that box wouldn't have made it through the night."
Her glare didn't let up, and after a short few moments of staring contest he finally sighed and stepped out of the room and into the hallway, gesturing down the hall, "If you really can't accept my concern, then you can go if ya want. The front door is just down the hall."
Danni couldn't help the expression of dumbfounded surprise, the wide eyes and raised eyebrows easily indicative of how she felt about his statement. What was he playing at? At this point, it didn't really matter; he was offering her what she wanted, freedom, without making her look like anything but an ordinary, distrustful runaway. The ghost girl scrutinized him, before making a dash for it, her unbound hair trailing behind her like a dark plume of smoke. As she made her escape, she heard his words again, following her, "If you change your mind, don't hesitate to come back."
She craned her neck to see over her shoulder, checking to see if he had followed her around the corner of the hall leading to the front door. With the coast clear she willed herself intangible, barreling straight through the wooden door and onto the freedom of the street. She didn't turn back as she kicked herself into the sky, maintaining her cover of invisibility as she headed back into the heart of the city, where she was just another face in the crowd. Where no one would pay her any mind, where no one would see her any differently from one of the hundreds of other street strays that wandered the alleys of Tokyo.
But one of them had. One now glowing green eye glanced over her shoulder, at the house that was now indistinguishable from the others in the neighborhood. Now that the unbridled wind soothed her, she thought back over the entire incident, replaying it in her mind. It really was a shame she never even learned his name.
But in the end, did it matter? It wasn't like she'd ever see him again.
Kaito palmed his face as he lay back against the wall, turning the motion seamlessly into a faint kneading of his temples as he considered everything that had just happened. The poor girl was definitely freaked over something, and was far more afraid of being found than most of the others of her nature. Seeing the pure, unbridled fear was what had made him decide to let her go so easily, but in the end, if you really thought about it he couldn't have kept her here if she really wanted to leave. His mother wouldn't be happy, she'd gotten over-protective of the little girl during her very short stay (Kaito figured it was because she'd always wanted a daughter) and would probably skin him alive once she found out that he'd let her go back to the streets.
The teenager pushed himself away from the wall, and he (much slower than the child's near run) made his way to the front door of the house. Peering out onto the street, he could see neither hide nor hair of his temporary house guest, but all in all he wasn't surprised, children were a lot more adept at hiding in plain sight than adults were.
With a shrug and a final glance down the road he turned back inside, locating his school bag for the homework he needed to do for tomorrow. Maybe he'd check up on the missing person's list later, just to see if he could find a name to match to the defiant face he remembered. He didn't really know why, but he had a feeling he'd end up seeing her again. Not by his design, but whether by accident or her choice he wasn't quite sure.
A/N: Thanks for the four people who reviewed! A friend of mine bugged me to put up this chapter, and since she's in the same room as me /eyes Shiko/ it's kinda difficult to say no. Thank her for the chappie being so soon. Next chapter, the Kudou home gains a new resident.
Oh yeah, before I forget. I have no pairings in mind for this one. Whether that'll change in the future all depends on what the characters decide to do. I'm keeping an open mind with this one. Drop a note if you have a suggestion, though no promises.
TBC
