Hi guys and gals, WhitB back with another update. This story probably will be continued as I am currently rewatching Shiki, but it will be updated very sporadically. I honestly just decided to write this on a whim. Anyway, this is a longer chapter so enjoy. If you like it be sure to leave a comment. P.S. I've got a FMA Ishvalan war AU in the works but I don't plan on posting any of it until this fic is done. Also this Shiki fic really doesn't have a plot, so please give me some suggestions for where you'd like to see it go.
When Natsuno came back to his senses, he noticed three things.
The first of which being an alluring scent that seemed to permeate the air of his cell.
The smell seemed to be originated at the second thing he noticed; a decimated body in the middle of the room.
Upon discovering the body Natsuno had wanted to be sick so badly, but not because he felt sickly. This was because he wanted to keep a semblance of any humanity that might remain in his immortal shell of a body, and he happened to know that it was unusual for a human to be unperturbed at the sight of such a gruesome death.
Try as he might though, he could not make himself regurgitate any lifeblood that may have been digested.
The third thing Natsuno noticed was that he was alone. Nothing but the scuttling of rats (surely closing in on the remains of the poor soul that he had devoured) could be heard in his cell.
He sat scrunched up in a corner, looking at the corpse, watching the rats claw at the remains, for several moments frantically searching his brain for any recollection of what had just occurred.
To his dismay, none arose.
He knew what he had done, If not by the taste of blood in his mouth, then by the fact that he was covered in it, down to under his fingernails.
He could even remember the events leading up to it, further securing his guilt.
He just couldn't remember doing it
It was almost as if some predatory instinct clawed out from beneath his consciousness and acted on behalf of his body, preventing him from starving.
He began to wonder if being a Jinrou was the equivalent of having a parasite that acted to insure its own survival while granting the host benefits like super strength, or great amounts of resilience.
Too bad Ozaki probably didn't survive the purge, otherwise he would have been all over this.
There also was the fact that even if Ozaki was alive that Natsuno had no way to reach him.
Rattle*
Natsuno's head snapped up in search of the foreign noise,
Rattle, Rattle*
His glowing eyes finally land on the metal door at the edge of the room, which then opened with a horrible screech.
He instinctively flinched away from the loud overbearing noise. A little light enters his cell from the outside, but that is soon replaced by darkness again (not that he couldn't see in the darkness.) as someone entered his cell.
This someone had gray hair, and was wearing a monk's uniform.
"Hello Natsuno" he greeted.
Natsuno remained silent, not gracing him with a response.
"I see you're finished with your meal" he continued despite Natsuno's lack of an answer. "Shall I call Tatsumi to clean up?"
"I need you to answer a question of mine Mr. Muroi." Natsuno sulkily says with his hair shadowing his eyes
"Why work with the okiagari when they kill countless number of people!" Natsuno says with growing intensity "Doesn't that go against your beliefs!"
Mr. Muroi sighed and then started to walk towards Natsuno whom recoiled like a snake waiting to strike.
"Yes and no" he responded "My beliefs are that killing, no matter what the cause is not okay."
"-But the okiagari kill to survive, killing is ingrained into their very being." Natsuno interjected.
"I know, but what if I change that!" Mr. Muroi raises his voice for the first time that Natsuno's ever heard. "What if the Shiki don't have to kill to feed" he continues "what if they got blood willingly from people, jinrou, or from a blood bank."
"You're living in a dream Mr. Muroi that'll never happen as long as okiagari like the very ones that you're protecting exist." Natsuno retorts bitterly
"Maybe so, but I believe that it'll eventually come to fruition, even if it takes a millennia, you'll just have to wait and see." Muroi says, blank facade remaining strong like a stone wall.
"Yeah whatever, Natsuno ground out, "but I don't plan on being around any longer than I have to."
He then proceeded to bum rush the door, right into an irritated Tatsumi who caught him by his arm.
"I thought ya were past this faze kid, but I guess I was wrong" Tatsumi said as he swung around and threw Natsuno into the wall, leaving a Noticeable indention in the stone. "Anyway, I came to tell ya that yer needed in the parlor"
Internally Natsuno debated whether or not Tatsumi was talking to him, or Mr. Muroi.
"-And try notta break anything, or launch another half baked escape attempt" Continued Tatsumi
"Otherwise, I'll have those Tanaka children's heads on a platter for ya to personally dine on."
Yep, Tatsumi was most definitely talking to him.
"Very well, I'll humor the bitch"
That insult wasn't received too well by Tatsumi who backhanded Natsuno into the same wall leaving yet another imperfection in the dented wall.
"I forgot to mention something" Tatsumi says "If ya insult, or hurt Sunako in any way, I'll personally skin one of the Tanaka brats and force ya to watch. I'll then make ya eat the other one while keeping them alive for as long as possible. Ya understand?" Tatsumi asks grabbing Natsuno's head, and forcefully twisting it to put them eye to eye.
They remain staring into each other's eyes for several minutes until Natsuno inevitably lost the battle of wills, and looked away.
"Fine, now fuck off." He mumbled looking away.
"Alright, follow me kid, and Seishin, you can return to your room." Tatsumi says as he had already bounced back to his usually snarky personality. "Let's be quick because we only have about an hour before the sun rises."
Tatsumi then walked out the metal door of Natsuno's cell. Natsuno followed him through many twisting hallways into an underground foyer with a set of stairs that he assumed led to the surface, a long corridor, and several different doors.
Tatsumi pulled Natsuno through one of the doors, by his scruff.
"Here we are" Tatsumi mumbled
The room was painted purple and black and the ceiling was a conical shape compiled of wood planks. The floor was also made out of the same wood planks.
In the center of the room sat a table and three chairs, one being donned by Sunako Krishiki.
"Hello Yuuki-kun, I see you enjoyed your meal." Sunako said making a quip about all of the blood on his clothing.
"Can't say I did being as I don't even remember having one." Natsuno snarked back.
"Ah sorry about that." She giggled into her hand, "The Jinrou's body will do anything to survive when being starved. This even includes overriding the conscious. It would be such a shame if that happened around someone whom you care about, eh Yuuki-kun?"
Natsuno stayed silent at that.
Sunako frowned a little at Natsuno's apathy towards her statement, but that frown turned into a smile worthy of the devil himself. She knew one thing that would get a reaction out of him, and she knew exactly what cards to play in order to use him to achieve her agenda.
Natsuno saw the gears turning in her head, and he didn't like it one bit.
"What if I told you that Tooru-kun is alive."
