The Beginning – Part I
.
.
Several more blood-curdling screams followed as bodies from behind rushed past him. Thankfully through his peripheral vision, he noticed the woman fleeing toward the opposite direction of two men – neither of whom were blonde - , who only bothered to spare the interloping child an irritated glance, before too, dashing away from the scene.
That must've meant that the hero of the day had been shot.
But at least the damsel was saved.
Everything had happened in a flash when his back had been - fortunately or unfortunately, he couldn't decide - facing the crime scene. His thoughts were racing and chasing each other like snowflakes in a winter storm, jumbled up and simply in a mesh of indecipherable words. His breath came out in sequences of jagged puffs and Kuroko felt as if the air around him had been completely sucked away. He hadn't been entirely able to comprehend what had just happened because no matter how hard he had tried; his mind just wasn't able to wrap itself around… what… had exactly happened?
Kuroko was after all, still a seven year old. The possibility of witnessing a murder was simply too much for him to understand.
This wasn't a game anymore.
It had stopped being a game of treasure hunt the minute he rounded the corner.
The things he did for money.
He shifted his attention to his opened palms, where they laid shaking furiously by his knees. No, this wasn't the time to panic. He still had to see if that blonde idiot was still breathing – because for all he knew, that gunshot might not have been fatal.
And Kuroko might not have just witnessed a death.
The thought pushed him on, and he decided that there wasn't a moment to lose as any hesitation could quite literally cost a life.
So as if by instinct, Kuroko felt his senses waking up, invoking a rush that glided through him and infusing his muscles with energy. He was determined to get back up - even as his heart began to hammer like a battle drum as he struggled to do so. He held on to the walls for support, just in case his knees decided to betray him, before taking a large breath and turning around.
Admittedly, it wasn't as bad as he had expected, but it was enough to make his insides churn. The opposite wall was splattered with the dark sickly color of red, and a large portion of the floor was painted in a similar color. Lying in the middle of it all was a familiar looking blonde.
Kuroko's stomach began to swirl as he bent down, emptying it on the soiled ground. He choked, wiping his mouth on his sleeves and cringing as he realized he had just stained the fabric before standing back up again. But this time with much more determination, he started walking straight towards the motionless man. The man's shirt had been stained red. The bullet had been pierced through his upper chest, and from the looks of it, it had barely scraped past his heart.
He tried to ignore the heavy smell of iron that drifted in the air as he squatted down right beside the man. Blood was already quickly soaking into the soles of his slippers. Kuroko's hands persisted to shake as he reached out to check for breathing signs from his nostrils. He placed his finger in front of his nose for a couple of seconds. Nothing.
He retracted his arms, taking another deep breath before proceeding to check for a pulse on his wrist. But still, there was nothing.
And as much as Kuroko would've liked to convince himself otherwise, the signs were undeniable, and the conclusion was definitive.
The man was dead.
The thought, and subsequently realization of that freaked him out so much he jerked his arm back and dropped to his arse, before recoiling back to the wall behind him. He felt a particularly sharp object graze through his palm as it rubbed past the floor and he knew, from the burning sensation he felt, that it was going to develop into a deep gash. But as of right now, that wasn't at the top of his priority.
There wasn't a single soul around, and he doubted there would be any for a couple of streets down. It was way past midnight and no one in the right mind would be strolling down the streets at an hour like this. But even so, he found himself taking a glance around the area, keeping silent for a few moments, in attempts to capture any signs of life.
But the only thing his ears could attune themselves to were the flapping sounds of overhead birds with the accompanying croaks of frogs hidden within the cluster of bushes. He figured that was as close to any form of life he was going to find for a while.
That is, if the man in front of him was really dead.
Kuroko was stuck frozen in place again and found his body incapable of any motion. Fear gripped him terribly hard, as he switched his attention back to the inert body lying in front of him.
But then all at once, the body wasn't so motionless anymore.
It wasn't as if he had been praying for the man to be dead - because trust him, the list of his traumatizing life events were already dramatic enough to be made into a sitcom, and the last thing he needed was an episode titled, "I buried him but he wasn't dead." - but at the same time, Kuroko wasn't sure if he liked the idea of a dead man coming back to life. At first, Kuroko spotted signs of twitching fingers, movements so subtle it had been almost impossible to catch. Then as if a switch had been flicked, the man stuck his nose up in the air sharply, neck craning off the ground in an awkward twisted manner, sniffing as he started feeling around on the floor, like a blind man looking for his cane. Except the cane, in this case, happened to take the form of a bloody glass shard, which he snatched up in his hand once it was within his reach.
Kuroko frowned once he realized the shard had been the object which had injured him. His frown eventually deepened when he recalled the more pressing matter; that not a few seconds ago, the active man in front of him wasn't supposed to be, well, active, and in fact very much dead.
He was positive he had checked for both his pulse and breathing earlier and though he was still a child, it wasn't hard for him to reach a conclusion when he failed to find signs of either. He'd heard talks of miraculous recoveries – but surely this was pushing the limit?
The deafening silence surrounding him pierced through his thoughts as a cold breeze swept past him, delivering chills down his spine. He shivered - but whether or not due to the cold he wasn't sure.
His hair started standing on ends as he watched, when the tired man started pushing himself up into a sitting position, groaning uncomfortably with parted lips, as if waking up from a long slumber.
He stared in absolute horror when the man then proceeded to bring the glass shard up to his eye level, observing, no, it looked more like he was studying, the gradual drop of blood, his blood, being pulled down by gravity and splattering on the floor, draping it with more crimson. He faltered for a second, staring at the glass shard with fearful intensity, before shoving the entire piece into his mouth, eyes fluttering shut as his face conformed into what Kuroko imagined was to be a blissful expression.
Kuroko felt his face twisting into a disgusted expression, eyes growing wide and he stared in shock. Because - What the hell? Was the only coherent thought he could piece up from the collection of thoughts speeding about in his head.
What the hell was going on?
Kuroko wavered and tried to gather his thoughts. So first, he appeared from thin air, then he came back from the dead, and now he's shoving glass (fucking glass for god's sake) into his mouth? What exactly was this guy's deal?
The man paused again - but this time holding a different air to him. His eyes grew wide with sudden realization, as he yanked out the shard from his mouth, fervidly tossing it aside with such force that it shattered the glass into many further pieces. Kuroko thought his next expression resembled pure terror, as he stuck out his tongue mid air, viciously wiping it with his sleeves for a few seconds before apparently giving up, dropping his arm to his side and staring at the ground in silence, looking completely defeated.
As if suddenly aware of his presence, he froze as the blonde swiftly craned his neck to face him. His expression changed yet again to slight bemusement as he watched wearily at the terrified boy in front of him, tilting his head in such a manner that reminded Kuroko of a lost puppy.
Anxiety struck him again for what seemed like the hundredth time that day alone. But Kuroko decided that his fear was misplaced. This man did after all, die- no, risk his life to save a stranger, and for that, he felt, wasn't something someone who was meant to be feared would do.
But before Kuroko could react, the man shook. His upper body started twisting in what looked to Kuroko to be a highly uncomfortable posture to be in. And then all at once, his shoulder blades began spreading apart from their original position on his body, pulling themselves in the opposite direction, and his joints started convulsing in an abnormal manner, cracking and twisting a hundred and eighty degrees around, in ways that made Kuroko's stomach churn as he heard the audible crunch of the man's bones. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought the man was having a terrible seizure. Kuroko wasn't able to move, but only watch in fright as the man's expression turned once more, but this time taking on a look that resembled pure physical pain as he began coughing.
And he began coughing up real bad.
And that became the last straw. Kuroko couldn't handle being a by-stander anymore.
A few minutes ago, this man was as good as dead. He neither had a pulse nor displayed any sign of life. But now the same man was (well, sort of anyway) up and about, albeit in much more pain, but still alive - and breathing. Kuroko wasn't going to watch him die a second time. No matter what was going on, it could wait till everything had been settled - until he could assure that the man's life wasn't in danger anymore.
He gathered his thoughts as they began to settle within his head and this time, with far more confidence and determination than before, he pushed himself off the floor and started walking steadily to the man, who was on the verge of sobbing. He felt his legs beginning to wobble, threatening to give way as he took in the scene. Apparently, the series of terrifying fits had only lasted for ten seconds, as the man's bodily parts had began to settle back into their original positions, grinding and sliding back, and placing a look of ultimate relief on both their faces.
Just one foot in front of the other, he breathed, calming himself down. That's right, baby steps.
Kuroko squatted down directly in front of the man and reaching out his hand tentatively, he grabbed him by the shoulder and he shook him lightly. "H-hey, can I do anything to help?" He asked, voice quivering a tad bit. There was no denying the anxiety that laced his voice.
The man didn't respond. But whether due to him being in as much pain as he appeared to be or just purely ignoring him, Kuroko wasn't able to confirm. However when Kuroko repeated his offer, the man reacted, squinting his eyes through his sweat-matted fringe as he forced them open and turning to look straight at him, chest shaking heavily.
At first when all he did was to stare, he began to question whether he made the right decision of approaching him. Because after all, Kuroko was known for making brilliant choices in his life.
But the hesitation had only lasted for a split second, before he made a conscious effort to eradicate the selfish thought from his mind. If he had left him here, per se, without knowing whether the man who played hero in his stead would die tonight, Kuroko knew that he would never be able to live it down. So if this was how he was going to die, so be it. At least he would die knowing it was for a cause he felt was right.
Because at least there wouldn't be any regrets.
The man had almost stopped convulsing by now and laid sprawled on the floor, looking deflated of energy. He focused his attention on Kuroko and looked at him absurdly, with questioning eyes so bright it made Kuroko feel dizzy.
Then as if the entire situation wasn't complex enough as it was, the man began to laugh.
But it was only for a heartbeat before he started choking out series of violent coughs again, clutching at his stomach and squeezing his eyes shut in pain. Kuroko eyed him weirdly, as he wondered why the man was clutching at his abdomen when the bullet was embedded in his chest.
In most situations, Kuroko would've found it peculiar, and might've even brought it up as a question. But this, he decided, wasn't under the category of 'most situations'.
"Hey kid, go home." He whispered lowly, laughter dying away with the words.
"Why? I want to help." Kuroko replied, "Let me help you."
"Listen kid," the man said softly. "You're adorable - but you should go, like, right now. It's not safe." He parted his lips and looked like he was about to add something else on but decided almost immediately against it as he closed them shut, stifling a cough.
"No."
"W-what?"
"I said no. You're injured, and I want to help." Kuroko insisted adamantly, giving the other party no leeway for any rebuttal as he retracted his arm from his shoulder, placing it on his knee.
The man looked so confused that if taken out of context, would have been actually pretty funny. If Kuroko hadn't been at such close proximity, he'd had definitely miss the smile that had slipped onto the man's face for a millisecond, before disappearing like it had never been there.
The man creased his brows. "Why? I'm a complete stranger and no one to you. I could hurt you, or maybe even kill you right now, and no one would ever know. I could be a serial killer and you'd never know." He paused, coughing dryly, as he continued, "This could all be a plot to kidnap you, and you'd still never know until it's too late."
"But it's not." The reply came almost immediately. Yes, he was seven. But Kuroko was astute enough to know when a man was trying to manipulate him and when a person was an honest to god unlucky chap who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And he was definitely smart enough to tell apart the good guys from the bad ones.
Probably.
"And you're not a serial killer." He finished.
The man puffed in annoyance, blowing his hair aside. "But how can you be so sure?"
"Because a serial killer would have never risked his own life like you did to save a lady that was a complete stranger and no one to you."
Apparently, that managed to crack out a laugh. "Using my own words against me huh, where'd you learn that kid?'
Kuroko had never been too fond towards the use of that age term on him – even though they were both aware that it was only appropriate for kids his age. He hadn't even reached the age where it was socially acceptable to yell "I'm not a kid anymore!" to random strangers bleeding to death on the street.
"Can I help?" He repeated calmly.
"That's not really a question now, is it? You've made that part pretty clear." The man chuckled, wincing slightly at the little effort that made his chest sting.
"And that too, isn't really a question, is it? What do you need?" Kuroko retorted, questioning him in the process. He was vaguely aware of the fact that some small, minuscule part of him still feared the man, because after all, he had witnessed him doing some pretty incredulous things firsthand, and it was literally during the first five minutes of simply observing him. But he decided to ignore that little part, and pushed it away.
Well, at least for now.
The man looked at him and his eyes dropped. A few still seconds ticked by before he decided to break the silence with a faint voice. "You can't give me what I wa- what I need. And even if you could, it wouldn't be enough." He looked away, facial expression mirroring a sad puppy. "Bleeding to death in an alley past midnight with a random blue haired kid. Well, check that off my bucket list then." He chuckled weakly, lips paling even more than before. Kuroko found it amazing how he still found it within him to be able to crack jokes even as he was actually dying.
"Don't say that, please. You're not going to die." Kuroko sighed, as he patted the man's head, causing him to flinch at the contact. "It's not the end yet. So please tell me what you need and believe that I'll get it for you. Let me help, please."
The man looked at him once more. "A-are you sure?" He replied, tone weaved with uncertainty as he fluttered his eyelids shut, energy visibly deflating.
"Yes. Please hurry, you don't seem to be doing too well." Kuroko said hastily, craning his neck to do a once over on the guy. For a while, no reply came back and the man was so still that Kuroko found himself beginning to worry whether he had been a few seconds too late, and his concern and time was all spent for naught.
"Come closer."
The sudden words cracked his concentration as he stumbled for a reply. "W-what?"
"You want to help right? Come closer. Please." It came out soft and slowly, as if he had been considering his words right up till he had spoken. His dead tone matched the life that had been slowly, but surely draining out of him. It was much akin to a handful of sand that slips through closed fingers, with an unstoppable gravitational pull exerted on them - resulting in the inevitable loss of more grains as each second ticked past, and no matter how tight the grasp on them was, the palm would soon be empty, devoid of any life. He was frighteningly pale and Kuroko felt himself beginning to truly fear for the man's life. The blood from the bullet wound was quickly seeping out of his body like a broken dam, and his face was coated with layers of sweat, rolling down his forehead and past his eyes, where he quickly blinked them away.
If Kuroko hadn't been a child, and if the previous neon colored warning signs weren't as of good enough reasons to leave, he would've probably bolted out right then. He was getting too involved, and most of the time, that was equivalent to putting himself in danger. But despite all that, it hadn't managed to change the course of his heart and of course, even knowing the risks, he went closer, complying to the man's former request.
Kuroko shifted one foot in front of the other as he bent further down in his squatting position, twisting his head in an angle such that his ear was placed directly in front of the mouth of the auricomous man, ready and prepared to catch what fading coherence of words he could manage to spit out.
But instead of spouting instructions, or even speaking at all, the older male reached out with the arm that hadn't been crushed under his own body weight and grabbed onto the back of Kuroko's neck, before forcefully pulling the boy down towards him.
Kuroko gasped as he lost his balance and found himself caught in a situation wherein he desperately tried to place his hands – which had instinctively moved forward to keep himself from completely collapsing on the ground – somewhere else other than in the pools of blood collected on the ground, because honestly, that was just revolting. It smelt of copper and fish everywhere and he knew it was going to be tough to get the stench off his hand later.
His stomach churned and he gagged as the blood splashed up when his palms collided with the ground. He fiddled around but all that did was just to soak his clothes up in even more blood than before.
He had been too lost in trying to get out of the sickly liquid that he hadn't realized the man had already manage to prop himself up with his other arm, and his head adjusted in such a way that made his lips hover slightly above the nape of Kuroko's neck. His breathing was heavy and ragged, but his grip both firm and demanding.
Not going to lie but at that moment, Kuroko was scared. The man seemed to have found brand new strength and concentration that made Kuroko wonder whether he had actually been near the brink of death a few seconds ago.
The younger boy finally stiffened as he found his breath caught in his throat. "Hey, W- wait, what are you-"
Without warning at all, the man leaned forward and bit his neck.
Kuroko froze in shock and time stood completely still for a couple of seconds, neither party making any attempts at movements.
"Um, pardon me for asking but.. Um, what, what are you doing?"
"An example." The man replied as he removed himself from Kuroko, simultaneously releasing his grip from his neck and dropping back down on the ground, where he rolled onto his back to face the starless sky.
"What? By… biting me?" Kuroko questioned incredulously as he quickly stood up, rubbing his neck confusedly. Because really, did the man literally just bite him? It had been so unorthodox, what the man did, that the child had completely lost all capabilities of word formation. He knew the man was weird but, wow. What was he trying to achieve? How a kid's fear tasted like?Who the hell went around biting a stranger's neck!
Though, at least all it left was saliva - it hadn't hurt at all so he presumed there wasn't going to be any bruises forming. "Scaring a child is a terrible thing to do. Not to mention that that was a little pedophilic as well."
"Pedophili- wha- hey! So mean! You know, if I had been one of them, you'd be dead by now." He snorted, looking offended yet at the same time slightly amused.
"One of them?" He asked, out of all the questions that had been forming.
"Yeah," he coughed, closing his eyes as he clutched his stomach again, grimacing in pain. Why did he keep doing that? Had there been another bullet that went through him? No, that wasn't possible. Kuroko only heard a single gunshot. "Though I might be, that is, if I don't die now."
Kuroko frowned at that. Initially, he wanted to pursue the entire biting matter, but he decided to keep silent as he waited for him to continue.
"I have to- well…. There's no easy way to put this across but, I sort of, um, must die." He finished abruptly. Kuroko raised his eyebrows. The man folded his lips and looked away. "I have to."
Well. That took an unexpected route. Was this guy actually saying what he thought he was? That he had to die? Kuroko found himself unable to find an appropriate enough reaction for his… declaration, and began to wonder if this man was actually even sane to begin with. He kept a neutral expression plastered on his face and he looked at the man, waiting for him to burst out laughing at his own joke.
But he didn't.
He just kept his eyes closed as his ragged breathing came out harsher. Finally deciding that he couldn't take the suspense anymore, Kuroko broke the silence. "What do you mean?"
The man coughed weakly, cringing at the strain it caused on his wound. "Tonight's the full moon. It's either… I, go or stay." The corner of his eyes went damp. "But if I do, I'll become one of…. Them. And I don't want to. I really, really don't." He whispered opening his eyes to meet Kuroko's as he crunched his nose.
He still hadn't quite been able to catch, much less understand, what the man had been blabbering about, because to him, what he said didn't make any sense. It neither had a beginning nor an end, which in most cases he presumed, would be quite challenging for most people to understand. But listening was his best attribute and if this guy's last night on earth was going to be tonight, the least Kuroko could do was to put it to full use and stay with this insane, eccentric man.
"Bless your heart, ki-" He said out of the blue, as he paused and drew his eyebrows together before offering a wired smile. "Someone just offered to save my life and I don't even know his name."
"Kuroko." He replied.
The man smiled, "Well bless your heart, little Kuroko. And thank you, for being here with me right now. I didn't know how much I needed it." He blinked, eyes unfocused as he struggled to keep them open. "I'm Kise."
A/N : Yes, I'm somewhat vaguely aware a seven year old child living in the early nineteenth century with little to completely no education would probably not know the meaning of "pedophiles", and many other vocabulary words i put into the mouth of him as well. But hey, what are stories and imagination made for?
PS . Thanks for reading my story! I had a great plot in my mind that I hadn't been able to eradicate for a long time so I thought, hey why not put them into words!
