Dance of Night, Death of Morning; Chapter 4: The Child and the Sun over the Horizen
She didn't know why but something did not seem right. Koari couldn't understand what she was filling, as she sat at the table she couldn't help feel something was off. Across from her was her brother who was laughing with their father as mother sat next to her. Over the past few days Kaori had noticed something different about him.
Suddenly a rapping noise broke her focus,
"I'll get it" she said moving from the table towards the front, as she stood by the door she knew she had to be cautious, if it was Megumi or one of the undead she would tell them to go away or not open the door.
"Um, who is it?" she asked
"Kaori, it's me" recognizing the voice she gave a sigh of relief before opening the door reveling a familiar head of purple,
"Good evening Natsuno" she greeted the teen, "Is something wrong" Natsuno moved to the side and motioned for her to come outside. She looked to make sure her family wasn't watching,
"What's wrong?" she said closing the door
"We need to talk" he said
"About what?" she said
"It's about the boy…"
"Boy?" she thought for a few moments, "You mean Alex?" she said thinking about the little boy
"What about him?"
"I can't say for certain, but…I keep getting this feeling" he said, "Alex is too strange. For one thing he's always out in the random times of the day. Always when dusk is coming, plus the fact that he lives deep in the woods alone is also strange for a child"
As they continued to talk, from the darkness red eyes peered at the two
Alex's POV
Now it's not like I don't like the sun, I love! It's warm and keeps everything alive, well not everything most things can't stand the sun. Anyway I'm getting off my bases, it's high time I meet who it is that's causing all this commotion in this village and I think I know just who it is...
Looking up at the castle on the hill a thought forms in my head, I need to find away into their hideout without showing my hand. All I need to do is use my best resource
End of P.O.V
Deep in the forest that surrounded the village, Alex walked through the forest, his bright red eyes and long black hair shining in the night. Suddenly there was a snapping noise, looking back swiftly Alex didn't have time to act when he felt a pressure on his head and he fell forward, flashlight thumping to the ground flickering wildly before it light shined on a figure behind him. Golden eyes piercing from the darkness as a wicked smiled graced his face as he peered down at the body on the ground.
When Alex woke up again, he found himself no longer in the forest floor but now he was laying on what felt like a wooden floor. Looking around he found himself in a small room, it was barely lit but he could clearly see the cage to the cell he was him.
He had been captured
"Well Well" a voice said, looking up red eyes saw a very familiar figure standing in front of the cell door, "Not so tough now are you" another voice mocked, looking over he saw a long male with black hair standing next to her,
"Your acting like you caught him" she said making the male sulk more
"Anyway serves you right brat" she mused her eyes flashing as she smirk at Alex, "Oh what's wrong you scared"
Alex blinked for a second, "Not really" he said and the smile fell from the girls face
"What's up with this kid?" Masao said he didn't like the kid, no not one bit
"I know you" Alex said, "Your Hiromi's uncle right" Masao's eyes widened at the mention of his dead nephew, "H-how do you know him!" he demanded though he could see the fear in his eyes and the tremble in his voice
"Oh I know him, he's my friend" Alex smiled as Masao trembled, "Liar!" he yelled grasping the bars, "Hiromi is dead! He's rotting in the ground with all the others!" he yelled, "Yeah, he wasn't special like me, he didn't get to come back! And now he's nothing more than rotten skin and bones in the ground!" he laughed nervously
"Oh" Alex titled his head the same smile of his face; "If that's what you think you're a bigger fool then I thought" he giggled
"W-what the hell are you talking about you little brat!?" he yelled, baring his fangs and eyes widened as he glared the boy.
"It's a quite simple; you see I know so much about Hiromi is because we're friends"
"Stop saying that!" he yelled but the boy kept smiling
"Be quite Masao" a voice groaned with an annoyed as the male gasped in a hurt tone, looking over he saw some more people enter the room. One was a male with light blue hair that looked like dog ears, and the other was another girl with dark purple hair in two ponytails and wearing a yellow kimono.
"But...but Megumi" he said with a pitiful groaned being talked down too
"Masao you need to lower your voice we heard you yelling from all the way outside" the purple haired girl said as Masao frowned
"It's all this brats fault!" he yelled pointing an accusing finger at the boy in the cell leaving the three lost, "I don't like that kid!" he growled
"Funny I don't like you either, no wonder your family liked Hiromi best"
"What did you say!?" Alex just laughed childishly, "I made you mad!"
"You little brat!?"
"Be quite Masao!" Tatsumi groaned annoyed by the other male, it was days like this he wished he could just kill this Shiki,
"But...but..." Tatsumi growled shutting the male up as he slinked off allowing the blue haired werewolf to walk up to the cage door, his yellow eyes flashing in the darkness as he looked into the cell at the boy,
"Sorry about that, Masao's not really good would children" Masao grumbled to himself as he stood on the wall, "I hope you remember me" he said smiling as the boy nodded
"Yep! You're Sumi-Sumi!" Alex smiled then his eyes looked over to the pink haired, "And you...I don't really remember you..." he said with a confused look
"You little brat, I'm Megumi!" she yelled annoyed that the child didn't remember her!
"O!" he said, "You're the girl Nasu-su is always talking about" he said and Megumi's eyes lit up with joy,
"Yuki-kun talks about me!" she said with much delight as Alex nodded
"Yep, it was on the lines of some crazy girl who kept following him around and gives him nightmares" he said with a smile making the girl seethe and her cheeks red with anger
"You damn breath! I'll kill you!" she hissed
"Megumi!" a voice yelled
"Y-Yoshie?" she said to the purple haired girl, "Calm down" she said and Megumi pouted but knew not to disobey the purple haired girl.
"Alright now that we have the kid out of the way, we can focus on the other loose ends" Tatsumi said, though Megumi did not look happy knowing what he meant by loose ends.
"What should we do to him" Yoshi asked
"Oh will let the newbie's deal with him" he smirked, "He's no threat to us" he said and Yoshie only sighed before following the blue haired male out of the cabin, followed by the other two Shiki, not before sending the boy condescending looks before shutting the door leaving him alone.
'I wonder what he meant by newbie's" he thought as he sat on the floor in the cell, behind him in the room shrouded in darkness red eyes pierced through the darkness.
Later that Night...
"Guess it's time to greet the new blood" Tatsumi said as he walked toward the hut, "Why so glum" he grinned as the figure behind him held a sad look,
"I don't see why I have to come" Tohru said as he walked behind the sadistic werewolf
"Stop being such a wet blanket" Megumi said as Tohru frowned over at the pink haired shiki and his murderer,
"Anyway you're both coming to help train the new meat, so quite complaining" Tatsumi said, "Besides now that we've gotten rid of one the loose ends we can..." he stopped walking
"Tatsumi-san? What's wrong?" Megumi asked as the male suddenly halted, with a quick sniff eyes furrowed
"Something's not right" he said, "I'm smelling a lot a blood" he said eyes flashing. The three made it to the cabin where they left the boy in a cell with the ones getting ready to rise and become Shiki. As he opened the door the pungent smell of blood hit him and the other two who covered their noses
"So strong" Megumi said covering her nose, even if they couldn't breathe their smell was heightened so it was stronger to them.
Walking inside Tatsumi looked into the cell as the other two eyes widened as they looked at the gruesome sight. The walls and floor were painted red in blood as the bodies or rather what was left of the bodies lay on the floor soaked in blood as well.
Tatsumi growled at this,
'The kid had escaped'
"Man what a night" a tired voice said, Ozaki leaned against his chair finishing the last of the days paperwork.
"Tired" a voice said
"Oh hey Seishin" he greeted his monk friend, "Yeah, finally finished this paper" he groaned rubbing his temples
"Maybe you should get some sleep, your mother tells me you haven't been sleeping so well" the man said
"I'm fine, it's just..."
'knock knock'
"Huh?" Ozaki blinked, "Is someone at the door?"
"Who could be out at this time of night" Seishin rose from his seat and made his way toward the door, "I'll get it" he said though he knew he had to be careful, it might be 'them'. Carefully opening the door he peeked out and his eyes widened
"Hey is it then" Ozaki called slowly rising when the other remained quiet, with a swift pull of the door it opened revealing a small child, a child covered in...Blood
"Excuse me mister can you help me?" the boy said, his eyes welled with tears as he stood on the porch of the clinic. The monk quickly brought the child inside, Ozaki looked to see his friends and his eyes widened when he saw the black haired boy and what looked like blood all over him,
"What happened?" he said as Seishin brought the boy in,
"I found him outside, I think he might be hurt" Ozaki ran and bent down to examine the boy, he looked like he had taken a tumble and he some bruises on his skin and a few cuts, plus there was the blood coming from his head,
"We need to get him bandaged, he might have a concussion" he said and Seishin nodded as he helped bring the boy to the examination room. Placing him on the bed, the monk cleaned the boys cuts with disinfected as Ozaki carefully bandaged the boys wounds and stitched his wound on his head before wrapping it.
"Alright should do it" Ozaki said finishing the final wound,
"Are you feeling any better?" the monk asked and the boy smiled and nodded
"What exactly happened to you?" Ozaki asked boy
"Well I was walking out in the forest, when I fell off a cliff" he said a little shyly as the two men looked at him,
"You fell off a cliff?"
"It was an accident really, my flashlight went out and I got lost in the dark and well" he hummed a little.
"Well your very lucky you found this place" Seishin said, "By the way I'm Seishin Murou, the village monk" he introduced himself
"I'm Alexander, but people call me Alex" he said with a friendly smiled, "Thank you again for helping me" he said
"It's no trouble at all"
"Anyway, you should probably get some rest" Ozaki said, Alex just nodded as he watched the two men leave his room before relaxing onto the bed and finally drifting asleep.
He appeared to have fallen asleep as soft snores excited his lips, Ozaki watched the boy closely, in his mind he thought there was something off about the strange child who had moved to the village in the dead of night. He had to admit the first time he saw the boy and actually spoke to him, there was something…abnormal about him. He had often heard rumors surrounding the mysterious boy and thought it was nothing more than crazy superstition and paranoia.
"Aside from being strange, the child has a pulse and though I could defiantly feel a fever when I touched his forehead" he said lighting a cigarette.
"I'm glad to see he's fine" Seishin said with a breath of relief as Ozaki just exhaled a stream of smoke, "I gave him some medicine to help with the pain and though kid didn't make it easy for me" he sighed as Seishin gave a amused laugh.
"Though I must admit I had some suspicions about the young boy" he admitted as the doctor looked at him, "Suspicions" the monk nodded
"Yes I was hearing rumors about a young child who had moved into a house somewhere out in the forest, alone, no parents really. Often being seen out in the latest of nights and how only seems to see him when the sun's going down" he said
"Hmm, I heard the same thing, just paranoid gossip" he said as the monk just sat there, "But you have to admit, something rather odd is happening"
"Especially with all the recent passing that have occurred" he said in a worried tone, "Do you think it's safe for the child to be staying at the clinic, especially with the vampires possibly returning"
"I don't know…in all truth I believed the boy was possibly one of the Okiagari, especially considering the circumstances that surrounded him" he sighed, "He has a pulse, I felt a fever, besides being a little pale, he's normal in living perspectives" he chuckled at the misunderstanding about the boy. Though he had to admit with all the death's happening, especially the fact that the vampires might return to the hospital to claim another victim.
"Anyway you should probably get home" Ozaki said
"What about you?" he asked as Ozaki put out his smoke
"I'm going to spend the night here and keep an eye on the kid" it was understandable,
"I understand" he said with a nod, "I'll stay as well" he said
"Seishin?"
"Toshio I would feel better if I was here to keep an eye on you as well as young Alex" he said and Ozaki shrugged, but nodded.
And so the two men, the doctor and the monk, spent the night watching the strange boy with questions when the morning came.
To Be Continued…..