A/N
Just a notation: I'm still young and evolving; as a result, so is my writing style, as my wonderful readers who've been, well, reading since the start of Time of Dying already know. This being a forewarning, I'm inputting some new structures to my style. From now on, I'm trying to show something in writing (ex: an email) with the Japanese punctuation for speech (「、」), and a now obsolete piece of English punctuation (‽) because FF's getting rid of my exclamation-point-question-mark exclamations -_-
*thoughtful* I'm also considering going more mainstream-style with sound effects by italicizing them, instead of quoting (i.e. from "swish" to swish), so that'll show up, too

Also, last chappy I wrote Nishi's gangsta friend's name as "Douryon". Ah… my bad ^^' That's the Japanese spelling, and I should've done the Chinese "Do Leong", so that's how I'll be writing his name hence forth, by the way. And Nishi's… lab-guy-friend's name'll be written "Zhao" (online spelling = Zau, don't remember Dark Horse publication spelling)


Xuѐ Jiā: Huá Chéng Zhī Yè
Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to...

Èr Wǎn (Two Night)

A lonely traveler under the moonlight. Searching for the whereabouts of his lost master. In Jiǔlóng Chéng (Kowloon City) where there is no signs of human life, in the deep of the night, only the sound of his cello exists…

Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong). One of the world's largest economies, booming even when others suffer in a recession. Sparkling glass and radical steel structures arc into the sky, threatening to pierce the murky blue heavens with their lightning rod tips. An overwhelming populace crammed onto this island with their minute living quarters and simple lifestyles, Nishi peered out the window of his downtown apartment to spy the narrow alleyway, buildings so tightly packed, it seemed as though he could reach out the window and his fingertips would graze the adjacent structure.

Instead, however, the officer was occupied rereading a note of which he'd read what must be nearing thousands of times. He'd long since memorized the scribbles, the photo, the grief. Even so, he found himself reviewing the paper scrap once more.

Knowing that his remnants have been delivered safely into the hands of his family, I feel relieved as a person who had gone through a lot with him on the battlefield.

But, with regards to your questions about how he died…. Actually, there are a lot of unanswered questions about his cause of death.

His body had wounds that looked like he was bitten by a monster.

Furthermore, he had lost quite a lot of blood.

Nishi held in his hand that same photo of his gēgē (brother) sitting with his unit, stern-faced David by his side. Forevermore was that smile pasted on his gēgē de (brother's) countenance. It was eerie, that smile. He sat there smiling, ready to ship off to the Gulf to fight in others' war, totally unaware that he was destined to death alongside the rest of his unit, David being the only survivor. What had happened? How could his gēgē sit there so calm, smiling when he was a ghost‽ Bible clutched so assuredly in his left hand, as though confident everything was to work out for the best. But it hadn't been for the best! Nishi's gēgē had been killed—murdered on that mission. He hadn't even been armed, being nothing more than a simple military chaplain. The blood spattered across the back of the photograph was such an atrocious reminder of this fact, making it ever unfeasible for Nishi to convince himself that his gēgē smiled because he was still happy and fine, just delayed on the flight back from his mission.

Xuè (Blood).

Those three victims at Jiǔlóng (Kowloon) had died of blood loss.

Xuè (Blood).

The arc of crimson from that mysterious man's slash so many stories overhead, so easily splicing the creature into a piteously gruesome death, face so cold and apathetic, as though he were far, far away.

Speaking of which…

Nishi's eyes shifted to gaze at the same man from that night. There the latter lay, dead to the world.

'I didn't think much at that time and just brought him home, but… What exactly is this guy? Is he human? Or…'

It was then that Nishi spied the bandages swathing the mysterious man's right hand.

'…Bandages?'

Such an unsettling discovery. Someone who had so easily slaughtered something so mighty, frightening, merciless, and brutal… was injured? Human—inhuman. A human would be in pieces. A monster would be scot-free.

'Is he injured … are there other wounds …'

"Nh…" The man let off a low unconscious moan as Nishi unzipped his coat, exposing pale flesh to the cool room.

He was ostensibly pale, rail-thin. How could someone so lanky tear that creature apart with their bare hands?

Thump-thump.

Nishi's heart raced, although he didn't know why.

'Zhège (This) … What the hell was I thinking…?'

He quickly pulled the blanket back over the man.

Next caught his eye was that coffin-like case, leaning absently against the edge of the bed.

'—This cello case must be his; it was found near the scene, and I brought it back just in case…'

So clearly he recalled the haunting melody strung from that cleanly polished instrument, those spindly fingers.

'Let me have a look at it, maybe it'll give a clue—' With a heavy thump! and a light creak, Nishi managed to slide the massive case onto the floor, opening it to reveal… "…Yí (Huh)? A katana…?"

Yet a katana there was! Tucked safe and sound in a secret compartment built into the lining of the case. Amid soft blue velvet and polished decorative steal plating, the obsidian-smooth sheath shone in the sunlight, gold hilt-guard sparkling more apparently, more riche. The hēisè- hé lánsè- (black and blue) lined hilt looked worn and used, yet not a single thread stuck out of place as though, with great care, someone had moved to keep this glorious weapon in its most pristine state. It was also odd to find such a deadly saber resting right alongside the elegant cello which lay in its velvet casing below. Blood and beauty hand-in-hand.

Couldn't help but move to remove the sheathed blade, to see if the silver metal was coated in blood—he didn't know why, but blood simply came to mind.

"Don't touch it!"

The voice was deep and abrupt.

He spun around to face the man in black who'd sat up so suddenly his long hair still swayed from the motion, receiving a hard glare like a parent to a misbehaving child.

Déjà vu.

Nishi couldn't repress a grimace.

"…. Is this … yours—?"

"No, it belongs to Master." An answer swift as the wind, sharp as a slap to the face. His tone was less severe, though, as if the man had realized he'd gone over the line with that perturbing cry.

Another sudden move, the young man snatched his trench coat from the end of the bed, sliding it on with practiced efficiently, and grabbing the cello case in the same motion as he bypassed an outraged Nishi.

"Hey, hey! Wait! I have some questions to ask you!"

But his cries were ignored as the door swung open, the man leaving without a second glance back even as he labored with each breath.

Nishi refused to subside.

"Who the hell are you? It seems that you are pursuing those strange monsters; is it because you know something about them‽ How is it—hey!"

"Hmph." The man leaned against the wall, gate unsteady as he wobbled. It was then that Nishi finally noticed the labored breathing.

"Say… where the heck to you think you are going swaying like that?" Panic struck as the man ignored his own weakness, continuing down the hall. "Don't tell me you are going to Jiǔlóng (Kowloon) in your condition‽ Hey!"

'The same thing… has happened before. —Right…!'

The man turned to give Nishi a scathing glare, greatly annoyed at his persistence and resistance. Only… that wasn't whom Nishi saw. Another face overlaid—of a sad, hopeful smile, stark-night locks swaying as he turned to give what would be his last look at his gēgē (brother)…

Thump-thump.

Not again!

Rash, thoughtless—!

"I said…" Nishi huffed, the man caught in his strong embrace, "wait and listen to me!"

Soaring through the air, the young man slammed down onto Nishi's bed, suppressing a cry at the unexpectedly rough treatment.

"Listen carefully‼ You said that you were hungry, then fainted! Like hell will you walk out of here swaying like that! I'll prepare something for you to eat, so now, sit there and wait obediently!"

An astounded face stared back.

"Here."

Nishi placed the dish before his… unexpected guest, who in turn stared down at the plate in mild annoyance. The man sitting on the bed, TV-tray his dining table, Nishi leaned against the adjacent window sill.

'Without thinking about it, I stopped him from leaving, but what exactly am I doing…..'

Stare, stare, stare—all he did was stare at the food, as though confused as to why Nishi had placed it before him.

'He chopped that monster apart so easily. That means he might be a bigger problem than that monster, but—'

His thoughts were cut off as the man scooped up some of the white rice. No hesitation, he ate it.

'…Yí (Huh)?'

He moved to take another bite!

There was absolute indifference in his features, as though he'd given up on even considering a way to get out of this… not that there was really that much to "get out of", but still. It was like he'd decided the only way he could escape Nishi's persistence was by simply being a good little drone and doing as he was told. Then he'd be free to do as he pleased.

It was still odd, though.

'Eating the food without being wary at all. I had thought that he would be more cautious… —Ah, well. He doesn't seem like a bad guy…'

No sense pestering him when he wasn't doing anything wrong.

Well…

"You said that… the sword belongs to your master." Instantly, the man dropped the indifferent façade, turning starkly defensive. But Nishi's curiosity was genuine. "Who is your master? Because it seems that you are working on your own."

Truthfully, he wasn't really expecting an answer, considering how the guy had only spoken, like, two sentences.

Quiet, forlorn: "….I don't know. Master went off somewhere else. That's why I'm now searching."

Shock painted Nishi's every pore. 'This guy…'

The man's brows were furrowed with disquiet, loneliness, self-disappointment. He looked genuinely lost and sad—odd to see on someone whose face had betrayed nothing other than indifference or wariness.

It was a familiar expression.

A smile played at Nishi's lips. "I see… There is an important person in your life, too."

A crimson splash painted the air—

The man turned to face Nishi as if with new eyes. He spied the bandages swathing the officer's left arm, loose and unwinding… except it wasn't as much the bandages as what lay beneath them which caught his attention…

Nishi caught his gaze. "Yí (Huh)?" Ah, the bandages. Apparently they'd unwound when he wasn't looking. Might as well get some fresh ones, he concluded, unwinding the medical cloth. "A, zhège (Ah, this)… well, it's bleeding, but it's not bad enough to require stitches."

Without warning, a hand caught his wrist like an iron shackle.

"Yí (Huh)?"

It was the man, tongue lapping up the copper-scented lifeblood, eyes almost seeming to glow eerily of the same crimson shade. Droplets dripped off his chin as he concentrated on nothing other than the cut on Nishi's arm… and how delicious it was in his parched throat.

Thump-thump!

"—‼‽"

He couldn't believe his eyes—!

"—Uh… Uwa‼"

Nishi ripped his arm away with a cry. Those crimson-flecked orbs gazed at him like a lion to a gazelle, already locked tight in its jaws, as he licked the blood pasted to his lips.

This was an entirely different person from the forlorn young man who'd been in that body but a moment ago.

This was someone who could easily tear a monster to shreds with his bare hands.

'Shénme (What)… What the hell just happened‽'

Just like before, the piiii! of his phone interrupted the unbelievable moment, throwing the stunned officer back into reality.

"Ay… Ah! Nín hǎo (formal "Hello")‽"

"It's me~,"an overly-cheerful voice sang on the other end. "There're results out for the tests you asked me to run."

"Zhao, is that you?"

"Well, the results are pretty surprising—You're not on duty tonight, right? Come straight to my place and see for yourself. See you!"

Just as suddenly as he'd called, Zhao hung up without allowing Nishi to get a single significant word in… like usual. So Zhao.

Except, something other than his annoyance at Zhao persisted.

'…This is making me anxious…' Forebodingly, warily, he couldn't resist taking a glance back at the man, recollections of that horrifically confusing moment flashing across his psyche in warning. 'What exactly… was that—'

Something he hadn't expected to see, most certainly, awaited his gaze.

'… Shénme (What)…? He's acting like nothing happened at all.'

This was just getting unsettling. There the guy sat, back to the emotionless mask, seeming entirely unaware of the world around him.

Where had the… …from earlier gone?

'I really don't get this guy.'

Nishi pulled on his jacket. "Hey, I'm going out now, and will be back very quickly…"

'But…'

The man's eyes followed Nishi's progress towards the door with an unsettling… apathy? No, there was something there, something indecipherable.

"You'll just stay here."

'…why am I still feeling so worried?'

Hearts flouncing about, nyaas bouncing off the walls like lovey-dovey bullets, smiling, hands-clasped Zhao greeted Nishi with an inappropriately ecstatic, "Hi! Sai~. I haven't been seeing you lately and I feel so lonely." His words moved like a bullet train, so fast, almost impossible to catch.

"…"

Come on and give a guy a little mercy here! It was always so exhausting even so much as thinking about Zhao. Nishi's shoulders were slumped already. Call off the fire department, there wasn't even hope 'cause he was already here. Maybe he should've pretended to be incapacitated, and forced the lab tech to state his findings over the phone…

"Sigh, since that blonde called Isaac took away our jobs, it's so empty over here. With this, you'll owe me a favor."

On and on! When did it end?

"You haven't changed at all, Zhao… And didn't I tell my name's Nishi, not Sai…"

He couldn't even protest more vehemently, it was too exhausting.

"Well, you have the blood of both flowing in you, so isn't it fine to call you the Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong) way? You're such a rigid and strange person."

Okay, now he was indignant! "I identify myself as Rìběn Rén (Japanese), that's why I don't care for it. —Anyway, what are the results?" Might as well get the torture over with…

Uncharacteristically serious, "Hey… I'll make it brief. The thing you picked up at the crime scene. It's a scab."

"—Ah‽ What nonsense is that? Isn't it as hard as a piece of rock‽"

Nishi did kind of have a tendency to yell at Zhao (every time they were in a room together), so it didn't dampen the tech's mood. He continued as though Nishi had never interrupted. "To be more accurate, it's something formed after part of the body fluid and skin had mixed and hardened." He held up a microscope-photo. "Enlarge the image and you will see what I mean… This is similar to human cells." The cell structures were unmistakable.

"….‽"

"I can't confirm it without doing a DNA test, but I'm pretty sure it's part of a human. … But for a human part, this is impossibly hard. Almost as if it's the scab of some monster."

Teeth clenched, Nishi glowered at how right Zhao unintentionally was in his second, more offhanded assumption. "…"

'Monster… I wonder if it's… a part of that thing?'

Do Leong's words echoed.

"What if they really are Xīxuѐguī (vampire)‽ Going in might get you killed!"

Do Leong—what were the odds of him being so sure the killer was a monster—and being right‽ He knew something…

"Right, Do Leong, that guy…"

"You mean Do Leong, the young informant?" Zhao asked absently while pouring himself a cup of coffee (was this where he got all that annoying energy?).

"Aaah…" This stuff wasn't exactly rational.

"He's mixed up with the Huang family, right? I've heard some bad rumors? Something about the Huang family amassing funds for research into drugs for everlasting life… Since Jiǔlóng (Kowloon) collapsed into ruins, it seems that selling marijuana is not enough for the mafia, and they have to dabble in such strange stuff, too…"

He held out a cup to Nishi. "Coffee's ready."

But Nishi wasn't paying attention, dialing quick as he could on his cell. His worried expression seemed to break through Zhao's thick head. "What the matter?"

"Nothing. Hopefully I'm just being too suspicious…"

Deep within an ancient compound lay a bed with hand-carved flowers and vines and birds on its bamboo posts. Sheer silk enwrapped the high class chamber within with its goose feather pillows and downed comforter. The ceiling was a fine brocade of Victorian tiles and painted support pillars.

Amid all this refinement, a cell phone's high pitched ring was out of place.

Do Leong absently checked the caller ID, his eyes heavy from disturbed sleep.

「SAI」 it read.

Panic struck as he shoved the device under his pillow.

"~Oh. Not answering the phone?" a smirking voice commented snidely, cheongsam hanging open loosely on his chest.

"It's no one important, Huang-shīfu (Master Huang)," the blonde boy stammered nervously.

"Huang-shīfu" gazed at him with a knowing smile and cruel eyes.

He rose, that sly smirk still apparent, as he buttoned his cheongsam's simple frog buttons up to the traditional Mandarin collar.

"Do Leong. Do you… dare to drink this?"

Château Duel in hand, the green glass sparkling in the dim light, Huang gave his blonde friend the most sadistic expression humanly possible. He held the bottle towards a man held fast within a steel cage. A circle of painted characters encircled his prison, ancient charms written in black ink, seals hanging from the ceiling. The man hung by his wrists, chained to the cage, cage chained to the ceiling, his ribs jutting like a Holocaust victim, head hanging. Researchers and bodyguards stood around with sharp gazes, carefully observing the trapped man with clipboards and pens in hand.

Do Leong saw none other than that wretched bottle, instantly foreboding the caged man's fate with a mortified shudder.

"The drug… Drug…!" the man moaned. An addict through and through, lusting for his crutch with the desperation of a drowning man to dry land.

"What a pity," Huang sang, his voice entirely devoid of said pity as he began to pour the red liquid into that needy mouth. "Just one sip, and you can have a superb dream." The elixir was red like blood.

Screaming devoid of hope, existing only to show how they shan't for much longer—

Huang smiled.

Back to modern society, Nishi worriedly dialed and redialed and dialed again the same number on his cell. "… Damn… Do Leong's not answering the phone…"

"I don't know what happened, but I'll be depending on you. You're not the only one that's vexed by this matter," he recalled Zhao warning earlier.

'I understand his feelings, but how can I explain about that thing? Let alone… about that guy…' He was antsy just thinking about it, blood spattering across his psyche.

The prideful footsteps of polished black dress shoes interrupted Nishi's eulogy.

"Sai-xiānshēng (Mister Sai), it seems that you have not been listening to my advice."

"…Isaac!" Nishi was immediately defensive, not even snapping about being called Sai yet again today.

"You should have seen them at Jiǔlóng Chéng (Kowloon City). 'Those things'."

—Shénme (What)‽ How could he have—

"—‼ Were you there at that time‽"

Without pause, cool and smooth as the bastard was, "Yes, for my investigation. … However, I am not planning to talk with you about your imprudent actions right now. What I want to ask you about is him, the one who was fighting with them."

"…!" Defensiveness doubled tenfold, and Nishi bit back a yell.

The mysterious man in black.

"At the plaza, I was sure that you had chased after him. What a pity that I lost you… I want information about him."

There was certainly something going on with that guy. First killing that monster with his bare hands, next… …and now Isaac? And Isaac seemed pretty unsurprised at the existence of such a monster, too. Plus, the man in black clearly knew how to kill it.

Were the two men related in some way?

"… Now that you know about it, what are you planning to do?" Nishi asked cautiously, trying to tamp down his outrage enough to get some information, at least. Isaac obviously knew something—he just had to get it outta him.

Stone-faced: "I'm not obliged to tell you."

Okay, that's it!

"Well, I'm not going to tell you, either! The investigating is already in your hands. How you want to do it is up to you!"

His retort was sharp and topped with a glare and a stiff stalk past Isaac.

An eerie wind swept by.

"You'd better be careful."

…? Isaac's manner was… different. For once, his tone wasn't condescending, but genuinely foreboding. Warning.

Just as abruptly, the prissy façade resurfaced. "He might be a more dangerous being than those things."

Nishi only glared in reproach, his rage thankfully suppressing the shiver that fought to run down his spine.

Late dusk. Earlier, the skies had been painted an eerie red-orange, but now the colors had dampened down to blue and purple; dark and depressing, but at least not red. The blue seemed to add to Nishi's mood as he climbed the steps up to his apartment, lost in thought.

'…A dangerous being. Am I… doing something stupid….? Indeed, he might be something more frightening than them. But…' So clearly could he picture the man with his back turned, blocking Nishi out, the background dotted with lurid blood spatters. He snapped his eyes shut, trying to erase the picture, instead moving to the photo of his brother and his unit, and how similar they—

'…Never mind. He might already be gone by now. No matter how much they look alike, he is not my gēgē. I don't even know his name.'

His final decision ran through just as he opened the front door… 'Even if we never meet each other again, it can't be helped—' …except he wasn't expecting the sight before him.

Nishi's eyes were wide as he took in the dark room, the man in black sitting in the shadows. Yet he was there! Sitting on the floor against Nishi's bed like it was the most natural thing to do (even though there was a chair right in from of him).

At first, expression so empty, body so relaxed, Nishi thought he was asleep.

That illusion was quickly dispelled when the man looked up.

"…Nǐ (You)... Wèishéme (Why)?

Why hadn't he left? Ample opportunity had been given—Nishi'd been gone for hours—and the man had even tried, and failed, to leave earlier. This would've been his chance, yet he'd stayed.

"Didn't you tell me to stay right here?"

Oooookaaaaay…?

The man seemed confused that Nishi was confused.

"…Aaah… yeah… I did say that—"

Now that he thought back, earlier, when the man had tried to leave, Nishi had just yelled at him and been ignored—'til he put his foot down and ordered the guy to sit and eat. And then he'd "ordered" him to stay right here while he was out, and he'd stayed.

So he didn't like being yelled at—who did, other than Zhao (assumptions…)?—but was excellent at following orders. Well, that counted out being a soldier, who wouldn't have ignored the yelling, most likely.

What an odd person…

"… …Your name; I haven't asked for your name yet. My name is Nishi Tatsuyoshi. How about yours?"

"Haji."

Keys clicked and clacked quick as a sonata, Isaac's eyes focused on the computer screen as he typed up his report.

He paused, holding up an ancient photograph. It portrayed Haji and a black-haired girl garbed in traditional aristocratic Victorian garb, she in a poofy dress, he in a well-cut suit.

There was no doubt in Isaac's mind.

"I'm definitely right. He is… Haji—Saya's follower."


A/N
This prob'ly confused you, but I didn't wanna give it away. The italisized sentences encompassed in dashes? Hm, it was a pretty random idea I'd planned on incorporrating last chappy (and forgot to) about telling the dead brother's story based on correlations in the book, um, story. It won't go into specifics, instead describing his death and what was goin' on 'round him at the time. This's the beginning of the story, so those two little interruptions were the beginning of the Chiropteran attack on the brother and his unit
Honestly, I'm a bit worries about the whole idea and whether or not it even makes sense... so I'd be quite grateful for feedback concerning this matter especially ^^

Also, sorry this chappy's so much shorter ^^'

Thoughts? Comments? Confusion? Review, please~!