Part 13
!!The Savior Unwanted!!
I rose from Yuko's floor, hazel eyes dull and blank.
My short spikey hair caught stray drops of rain as I poked my head out the sliding paper door, blinking when the porch was barren.
I set my hand on the slot and turned back to the witch Watanuki worked for,
"He's not out there."
Her eyes fell to the floor, face a bleak smile,
"Then he's done it."
I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, stepping towords her. My Kimihiro sense was never wrong.
"Done what?"
She shook her long black hair,
"He heard you. Sitting out there. Now he's gone, run away."
A feeling of dread washes over me.
Watanuki's gone. Vampire coming for him. Death.
My wish to take the hit for his death. How could I save him if he kept pushing it away?
I clench my fists, angry determination flaring in my chest, but not showing on my face,
"I'm going after him."
Without waiting for an answer, I start out the door and jump from the porch into the garden.
"Hurry, Domeki. For he has little time left,"
Yuko calls after me.
I take off at a run, clearing the fence in a long leap and landing gracefully in a kneel on the other side on the street.
Pulling myself up, my shoes tap the wet asphalt as I run straight into the dense part of the city.
Overhead, clouds refuse to let the stars shine, and the moon glow brightly.
Pouring rain creates a barrier around me.
I am Shizuka Domeki,
and I will save Watanuki.
Whether he wants me too or not.
Part 14
!!The Lost Cat!!
I dodge people shoving passed me on the crowded sidwalks, rain pouring all around and glasses blurred with droplets.
"ACHOO!"
A sneeze racks my body, sending me stumbling out of the group of moving citizens into the park with overhanging weeping-willow trees behind two-foot tall cement walls and dirt paths amoung them.
I hug myself and steady my steps, wandering around the paths until I reach the center of the fenced-off area under the biggest willow of them all, towering over twenty feet high and it's leaves almost touching the grass beneath it.
Lowering myself onto the smooth wall surrounding it, I slide my glasses off to clear them.
It had been almost an hour since I had run away from Yuko's magic shop, and the park was on the edge of the city of Japan, near the East coast.
The concrete is cold and hard under me and the wind chills my wet form into shudders.
I wipe my glasses with a dry hankercheif, sliding them back on.
Watching people walk by, couples with umbrellas, makes my heart ache for human companionship.
My shoulders slump as I gaze at their happy faces, laughing and chatting about anything and everything.
Domeki's looking for you,
says a voice in my head.
I sigh,
I know.
But I can't let him find me.
Not until I'm dead, that way he won't be punished too.
My head tut-tuts,
But he loves you so much.
How can you deny his help?
It's obviously made him like this, so overprotective.
I blink through the mist beggining to settle around the trees,
W-What?
It's turn to sigh,
He knows you won't volentarily accept his help, so he doesn't offer.
He just does.
I shake rain from my drooping silk-black bangs,
I can't just stand by and let him take the blow for my destiny,
I think firmly.
This is my burden, not his.
The voice softens,
It is not just your burden now.
You heard his wish, he is involved, and nothing can change that.
I pull one of my legs up on the wall with me, leaning my chin on my knee with a weary expression,
Involved...
The voice shrugs,
From the second you took the punishment for the grudge the spider had against Domeki when he knocked down it's web and he gave you half the sight in his right eye, you and him were intwined in destiny.
I sigh heavily as the voice fades,
He's coming... Better hurry up and run if you intend... to lose him...
"What's this?"
I whirl around to see a tall black figure hovering over me in the willow's thick branches, black hair wild and untamed under a pointed, worn brown hat with sliced edges and narrow red eyes as endless as a black hole.
He grins with white fangs and a sharp chin, black stubble where his morning shave should have left smooth skin, and a deathly expression on his pale face.
He was white-skinned, with a black cloak over a sleeveless undershirt, same in color, and black cowboy boots planted firmly but gracefully on the thickest branch where he must've been hiding.
His lack of color hit the eye hard as if an arm or a leg had been missing, and made him seemingly glowing in the gray night, amoung all those light green leaves.
My eyes widened as the man chuckled cruely, his voice like an echo of the devil himself with a hint of poison,
"A lost cat has decided to take refuge under my tree? How conventient, though I'd hoped for a female. Oh, well. Beggers can't be choosers, can we?"
I sat speechless under him, staring up in awe, mouth gaping open.
My instinct screams, RUN, YOU MORON!
But I can't move, my heart pounding behind my rib-cage.
I can't even breath.
He swoops down over me and envelops me in his cloak, sinking his fangs into my rapidly pulsing neck, and began to leak his poison into my bloodstream as blood spills over his pure white fangs...
Part 15
!!My Destiny, Not To Be Suffered By Others!!
I sprint down every alleyway, bash through every store, Yuko's words ringing in my head,
He has little time left...
By now, I should have reached the opposite side of town, where the biggest park in Japan resided.
My feet skid to a stop in front of it's gates,
Oh, duh! The park!
I turn sharply, the rain long since let up as if to guide my way, a cool mist settling around weeping willow trees overhanging benches and concrete walls.
Hazel eyes peeled for any sign for Watanuki, a sickening sound catches my ears.
SLUUURRRPP...
My heart stops for a split second.
Oh, no.
I power my legs towords the sound and leap from the fog, landing in a fighting pose before the center of the park with a determined look making up my features.
My eyes fall onto the two figures bent over on the dirt path, one seeming to be sitting on the wall surrounding the huge drooping tree.
The blood drains from my face.
A tuff of black hair confirms my worst fears.
"Watanuki!"
I cry out, the thing cloaking him looking up with blood running down his chin and eyes a wild red,
"Oh, I'm sorry, was this yours?"
It tossed the teenager at me and I caught him, pressing him tightly to my chest as if my blood could fill his white body from there.
"What did you do to him?!"
I shout at the top of my lungs.
Panic grips me as I jerk my head down to see Watanuki twitching uncontrollably in my arms, glasses gone.
The thing sweeps himself up to a standing position, licking the blood from it's face,
"He was quite delectible, actually. A spirit-seer is rare for such a human. A nice treat."
I am speechless.
My hands tremble as I hold Kimihiro's writhering form and the thing chuckles darkly,
"Such a shame I had to transform him, he'll have a rougher time with spirits attacking him now. Oh, well."
I lay Watanuki on the wet grass, taking my bow from my back and aiming it at the creature.
A giant red arrow forms as my face twists into the cruelest scowl I can manage,
"Say good-bye, creature!"
I release.
But it's already gone.
Vanished, into the city.
And leaves me with my fallen lover.
Part 16
!!It's My Responsability!!
My head I hang, my fists clenched on my folded knees, at Watanuki's bed side the next morning.
My eyes are hidden in the shadow bubble cast by the many white candles scattered a out the dimmly lit room, unmoved for countless hours.
The door slides open.
I do not stirr.
I don't even flinch as a long-nailed hand sets neatly on my shoulder,
"Domeki. You must go home. Your parents are looking for you everywhere."
"I will not leave him."
Yuko kneels at my side, her shadow covering Watanuki's white body cloaked in a black kimono,
"He's not going anywhere, just go and tell them your alright."
I look up slowly,
"Alright? Alright?!
The person closest to my heart has been out for days after being attacked by a vampire. My family ca-"
"I know that's how you feel, but they're your family. Go, and see them. Get out for awhile. I'll have figured out what to do about Watanuki until then."
I fall silent.
She is right, I can't stay here forever, which is as long as Watanuki might take to come out of the coma.
Rising to my feet, I brush gently passed her and glide out the door.
Don't you dare die on me, Watanuki.
I knock on my temple's front door, eyes blank as my mother opens it, flinging herself around me in a hug.
"Shizuka, where have you been? I was so afraid you were gone forever!"
I hug her back stiffly.
My thoughts never waver from Watanuki.
The rest of my family, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpa, swarm me and pull me inside, interrogating me for an hour.
"Watanuki needed me," I answer calmly to every question, "And still does."
My mother's younger sister, Kagome, sits beside me, setting a hand on my shoulder,
"I've never seen this air about you. Is Watanuki the cause for such distress in your eyes?"
Her green eyes lock on mine, her long flowing black hair neatly askew across her forehead.
I stare back at her,
"He is extremely ill. He needs me."
She looks so serious, and it makes me nervous,
"Domeki. Shizuka Domeki. Don't lie to your mother's sibling. She knows you less than I do. Tell me, what is ailing Kimihiro so?"
I feel my shoulders tense.
"He has a rare disease. It's serious, and being by his side means the most to me right now."
Kagome nods,
"Then you should be there with him now, right?"
I turn my gaze to the chatting room of warm voices, all the people I've known and loved since I was born,
"But this is my family. They always come first."
Kagome hands me something, closing my fingers around it.
I open my hand, peering down at the ring with a purple stone in it resting in my possesion.
It had a beautiful silver band with feather carvings on it.
"What's this for?"
Kagome whispered in my ear,
"Go to him, and use this when the time is right."
My mother walked in as Kagome slipped away to the bathroom, holding the phone,
"It's for you, Shizuka. Some woman named Yuko. Is there something we don't know?"
I have the phone in my hand before she has time to say something else,
"Yuko? What is it?"
"He has awakened."
I drop the phone on the floor, and it clacks, me already out the front door, family staring after me.
Part 17
!!Watanuki!!
I open my eyes slowly, my long coma of pain ebbing away, and black hair flat against the pillow under my head.
Yuko touches my shoulder lightly, and I gaze up at her, vision sharper and clearer, glasses gone.
I see dust particles drifting around my head, hear heartbeats, and smell three other beings in the household.
"Watanuki."
Yuko's voice sounds afraid. Something I'd never heard before.
I sit bolt-upright, worry creasing my features as I take her face in my hands to study her eyes.
My hands jerk back to my chest.
She's as hot as coals.
I blink in confusion, though my eyes don't feel the least bit dry,
"Y-Yu... ko?"
My voice sounds like a knife blade, slicing through the air around me.
I flinch and clamp hands over my mouth.
That is something my ears aren't used to.
Yuko shakes her head,
"Watanuki, you are such a foolish child. That vampire stole your humanity. You are one of them now."
Panic grips me suddenly.
I spin around to face the mirror, jumping at the handsom boy staring back at me.
It was me, definitly, but sharper, more chisled, like a forever teenager.
Yuko sits behind me, I heard her puff onto a cushion, but my hair stands on end at my form.
I refuse to open my mouth, but still crawl up to the reflective glass.
My knees land hard on the wooden floors, but I feel like it's made of feathers, pressing my fingers to meet my reflection's.
I study myself.
I still have Domeki's hazel right eye, thankfully, but my other eye is a blood red.
Usually I can feel my heart beating in my chest, but nothing comes to my sharpened senses.
My body feels graceful, agile, and cold.
It feels as if I don't need to switch positions at all, so I let my legs stay curled under me as I examine my slender arms and hands.
I look like a skinny swimsuit model.
Not a hair in sight, not a fainting feeling whelling inside me, not even a warmth in my cheeks.
Footsteps in the distance. A fifth beating heart.
I whirl around as Domeki bursts in, faultering at me sitting at the mirror.
His eyes widen.
I smile happily, releived my love is finally here, and rise, bare feet gliding across the cool steam-slithered room--
He recoils.
Backwheeling, he stumbles back out the door into a wall and falls to his knees.
I freeze.
He scrambles back up, eyes staring at me unbeleivably then turning to Yuko,
"I-Is this...?"
She nods sadly.
He looks back at me.
My crest-fallen expression suprises him further.
I look down at my hands again. Paper white. No pulse.
I'm a vampire.
Domeki recovers himself, taking a step forward,
"Watanuki, are you alright?"
He reaches out to me.
I'm still staring, wide-eyed in horror, at my hands when his burning fingers brush my wrist.
My turn to jerk away this time, darting to the corner by the mirror and cowering in fear as the searing pain faded from my hand.
"Do not touch him, you'll burn his skin."
Domeki snaps his hand back to his chest, looking at Yuko for a second.
He crosses the room over to me,
"What about his clothes?"
Yuko shakes her head,
"You'll be fine touching them, but make sure not to brush any exposed skin. Hair is ok too."
I squeeze my eyes closed.
No, no no no no!
I love Domeki, how can we be together if he hurts me?
I cover my face with my hands.
Strong fingers gripping my arm through the kimono sleeve makes me look up.
Domeki's face is relaxed into a sad, tender gaze,
"Watanuki. I'm sorry, I couldn't save you in time."
I feel immense saddness inside my dead chest, but tears don't come.
He lets me lean my forehead to his cool shoulder,
"Yuko, can he talk?"
I close my eyes, not wanting to see sad faces anymore.
She sighs,
"Yes, but the sound of his words frighten him. He sounds like an angel with a knife as a tounge."
Domeki's hand presses onto my back,
"Watanuki, can you say something?
Please?"
My teeth grit,
"N-Not... your... faul... t..."
I croak, cringing again as my voice rings out in the room above the other two dull ones.
My ears catch his shocked pause,
"You don't sound so different. 'S alright, hey, look at me."
I lift my heavy head and look into his eyes.
After seeing me, his imperfections hit my eyes hard.
But I still love him,
I think.
He forces a small smile,
"Are you hurt?"
I shake my head.
He sets a hand on the side of my head in my hair, fingering black locks,
"How about your personality? You still a blithering moron?"
I lean into his hands, a smile forming on my own lips,
"Ha...ha..."
I almost reach up to set my hand over his, but think better of it and let it drop.
Part 18
!!The Girl!!
Midnight.
I'm wide awake.
No anxiousness, no heart beat.
Just silence.
Mental-tearing silence.
I sit on the roof of Yuko's shop, staring out over the full moon. My red-and-hazel eyes train on the glowing white round thing, grey clouds drifting close, then vanishing slowly.
A cat gets chased by a fox three blocks away, a bird swallowed by a spirit flies with restraint, and the stars refuse to shine.
My senses are on high alert.
A whoosh of air to my far right makes me turn my head, unsure why it's so recognizable until the Zashiki-warashi lands softly on the opposite end of the pointed red roof, long straight black hair swishing and pale face, cute as she was, creased with worry.
My eyes flashed.
She had grown precicely one-and-a-quarter centimeters last time I'd seen her, features sharper, but now she was exactly his age.
I smile wearily, rising swiftly as she floated closer,
"Watanuki?"
Her voice is as mature as Himiwari-chan's now.
I nod,
"Hello."
She wrings her hands on the small black purse, matching the slender black dress and high heels,
"I-I heard about you and Domeki yesterday, by my Warashi."
I dip my chin,
"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
She shook her head, dampness whelling in her eyes,
"I-It's just... I-I..."
She burst into tears.
I startle.
She keps sobbing until it softens, me standing shocked before her.
My expression changes kind, sad, confused, and I glide over the bright red shingles to her.
I stop, asking softly,
"You what?"
She looks up, eyes damp and sniffiling,
"I-I love you!"
I lean back a bit.
She startes crying again, shoulders shaking.
All in one swift moment, I reach out with black-gloved hands and long-sleeved arms, pulling her close to my protected chest and press her head gently to my shoulder as she weeps.
I close my eyes, dipping my chin into her sweet-as-rain hair,
"I'm sorry."
The Zashiki-warashi struggles to control her sobs,
"W-Watanuki, you're the most wonderful man I've ever met, and I'm g-glad you're happy, but... b-but..."
I open my eyes, swinging her slightly to the left as a small spear flies by my ear,
"They've come."
She tears away from me, leaping from the roof and disappearing into night, the little men on snowboards following her shouting,
"You better not make her cry again, or we'll get you!"
I watch them go, face blank as I glance back at the moon.
It has vanished as well.
