Author's Note: Hi guys, I would have updated sooner except my computer broke T_T It still is broken except I managed to resurrect it for a little while so right now im like a chicken running around with its head cut off, so please excuse the delay x I know I suck! I really should update faster!
Chapter 10: A Partner
I was on a mission, and – to Ikuto's discontent – it was a very dangerous mission. I'd been working for Easter for a month now. I'd also been with the Guardians and I'd kept the secret of Kukai being a werewolf. He and I worked together occasionally. I was surprised to learn that lycanthropy is like a disease and is spread through biting and scratching. When I heard this I was inspired to ask Ikuto about vampirism and it turns out vampires are more like a snake with venom covered teeth that paralyzes their victims, but a side affect is that if the vampire hasn't killed you by drinking all your blood then you become a vampire.
I was snapped from my thoughts about the differences between werewolves and vampires when a sudden jolt of pain shot down my spine. Then I felt the pain weighing my legs down. My legs became so heavy that I was unable to walk. There was no feeling of numbness, just heavy pain. The weight crept up into my stomach and I almost threw up. Then I had a vision.
At first it was just a greenish mist but then it became more than that. The mist grew into more of a gel substance and I could feel it – it was like slime and it oozed around me. Again I nearly threw up.
The pain had crawled into my arms by then and was working its way to my neck. I tried to scream but my vocal chords had already been paralyzed. Closing my eyes and relaxing my muscles, I tried to figure a way out of my paralysis. Then the slime became fog once more as I heard a ghoulish whisper. It was taunting me. Mocking cackles echoed in the confines of my head. Then my body was freed. It was so sudden I felt pained from the shock of it.
As soon as I was free I gripped my ears, in the back of my mind I realized it was not me doing this, but someone who was either dead or dieing. I knew that I had never even stopped running. The ears of the dead person were drenched in blood as if they'd exploded. There were no ears anymore, just pain and holes in the side of the person's head. But the echoing crows of laughter could still be heard. The person shrank with fear while I bubbled over with anger and a longing for vengeance.
Then the person's entire face started to gush blood. Blood – thick and red and the signature of death – spewed from his eyes and flooded from his nose. He started drooling, but he did not drool saliva, it was –of course – blood.
Black filled the person's head, and I dimly felt just how heavy the darkness was. Suddenly there was searing, piercing pain that made me want to scream. I wanted to rip my hair from its roots and tear at my flesh. I wanted to disembowel myself just to distract my self from that one tiny moment of horrible pain.
Suddenly I was back on the sidewalk. I was running beside a long fence that caged in a construction sight. I shook my head to keep me focused, but my head felt heavy and numb from the vision. I sucked in a deep breath, filling my lungs with the biting cold of the midnight air. I was on my own that night because there was no moon and therefore no werewolf.
I reached to the hilt of my sword just to comfort myself. I might have been an Easter operative, and I might have visions of death, but I was still only twelve, and evil ghosts scared the fuck out of me.
That's what had killed that person, and that was my mission. It was a ghost that had gone rogue. It haunted anyone that passed by until the person was drowning in their own fear and blood.
I jumped the fence and ran through the gravel of the construction yard. With my hand hovering millimeters above my sword I dashed towards the smell of blood. It was thick and I could feel an aura of fear surrounding me. It wasn't hard to find the body.
The blood had spread feet away from him. The victim had been a boy younger than me. His glasses were stained with blood and his school uniform told me not only that he'd been dieing since that afternoon or earlier, but he also went to my school. His hair was soaked with blood and his face was unrecognizable. I couldn't look. Tears filled my eyes and I struggled to find the will to keep them back.
A will for revenge surged through the essence of my being. I clenched my teeth together and whipped out my sword. As it sparked with magical energy, I searched the blackness for any sign of the evil ghost. My other hand grabbed at the latch in my belt pouch. Inside was a special elixir that I'd been given specifically for this mission. If I put it on my sword it would be able to kill the ghost, but it only lasted five to ten minutes.
A wicked snicker echoed around me. I started to see mist as a vision tried to overlap my normal vision. The ghost was trying to haunt me. It was really too bad that I was used to hauntings by now. Too bad for it I should say.
"This isn't hide-n-go-seek bastard, now come out and face me if you're really such a powerful being!" The cackle grew ever louder, until the sound nearly crushed my eardrums.
I waited until I could smell blood that wasn't coming from the dead boy, and then speedily dumped the magic liquid over my sword. The mist that was trying to bury me evaporated. I knew that the ghost was trying to run. It was obviously no fool.
With long and fast strides I chased the ghoul until it was starting to flee up the side of one of the construction beams. After clicking my heals together – thus activating a magnetic mechanism in the bottom of my shoes – I dashed up the side of the beam, rushing after the thing. I could see it now. It glowed slightly red, but the night sky shone through its transparent body.
Cackling madly it rushed towards me. Though surprised by its swift suddenness I still hacked off a good chunk of the horrible ghost. Writhing with pain, it wrapped itself around my shoes. I heard a "click" as the magnets disabled and I hurtled towards the ground. I curled my head in and started somersaulting in mid air. The metal of beams grazed across my skin for a moment, but at that moment I uncurled myself and used my feet to push off from the beam. I was lucky that I wasn't too far from the ground by that point. My gloved hands skimmed the gravel and I pushed off the turf. After a second mid air somersault I landed in a crouch position on my feet.
The ghost's bloody smell told me that the ghost had stopped to watch me fall. I laughed with morbid humor as I thought of how disappointed it must be now. I jumped up, but once I did the ghost vanished. I followed its distinct scent around the soon-to-be skyscraper. But – to my misfortune – there was a ditch in my path.
I fell, hitting the ground hard. I knew I was going to be sore all over tomorrow. Looking up I realized the ditch's walls were twice my height. Gritting my teeth, I dug my hands into the soft dirt and tried to climb, but the ground gave way too easily and I fell on my butt again.
There was a terrible cry. It was like the daunting howl of a ghostly creature as it warded people from its favorite haunt. Swallowing, I wondered what had happened. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of human footsteps. They drew closer to me, and as they did I put my hand against the earthen wall and focused on the vibrations of each step. They were light and careful. I assumed the person approaching was a girl.
I saw a blonde girl about two years older than me peek over the rim of the hole. Her eyes glinted with humor, but she pressed her lips thin with disapproval. Offering me her hand, I was pulled from the ditch.
"You all right?" She interrogated. Her beautiful voice was stern.
"Yes." I answered. I curiously wondered who this girl was and why she was here. I had memory-erasing potion in my bag so I asked the most important question. If the girl had nothing to do with supernatural occurrences then I'd be able to erase her memory of my question, while if she was the ghost's new haunt I would get the chance to kill the ghost, and if she was part of Easter then I was going to find out someday anyway.
"What happened to the rogue ghost?" I inquired.
"I finished him off. He's gone for good now." answered the blonde girl. Her hair was in two extremely long pigtails and she was sickly thin. Her eyes were cold and blue. I looked at her uniform. It held the same cross-like symbol of Easter.
"You work for Easter too?" I wondered.
"Yes. If you are Hinamori Amu then I am your new partner." I gasped in surprise. I was not unhappy about having a partner; it was just unexpected is all.
"Right. Well good work with the ghost. I'll see you on our next mission." The girl – with a tired and bored look – waved a hand at me and walked away into the darkness. Suddenly I realized I was very cold. My sleeveless shirt and fingerless gloves may have been good for some things, but certainly not keeping me warm. I ran back to my house, wishing I knew what time it was.
I arrived back in my room well after midnight. I'd left when I'd gotten the call at ten. I changed back into my pajamas and was about to get back in bed when I notice Ikuto sitting on my porch. His eyes were closed and he was looking away. I blushed as it occurred to me that he had probably been there all along.
Sliding open the screen door I muttered,
"Perv." Ikuto looked up at me. With humor sparkling in his eyes he said with mock indignantly,
"At least I would check before changing if you showed up on my balcony everyday." he chuckled, then I noticed that his eyes flashed red.
"Are you thirsty?" I inquired in a growl. Ikuto looked away, but I knew he wasn't about to lie. With a sigh I got on my knees and shoved my wrist in his face.
"C'mon, I'm tired and I don't want to fight you on this." He carefully held my wrist, and with sharp nails, cut the skin like it was paper. While Ikuto drank my blood I nearly drifted to sleep which scared the living heck out of Ikuto, because when he was done he thought I was suffering from blood loss.
I yawned and crawled into my bed. Ikuto – maybe he was feeling grateful, or maybe he realized how cold I was – pulled my blankets around my shoulders for me. I whispered my thanks to him and dozed into a restless slumber.
The next morning I felt sweat on my forehead and Ikuto's arms wrapped around my in a steely grip. He had realized I was awake. Pressing his cheek to my neck he wondered,
"You had another bad dream didn't you." I was shaking. The dream had been worse than that horrible vision. I dimly remembered having seen the death of the evil ghost at some point in my nightmare, but I could no longer remember.
"Y-yeah." was my shaky reply.
"I don't like your missions, Amu, they practically scare you to death."
"I'm fine." I lied, getting out of bed. It was before sunrise. I groaned, I hadn't been sleeping for even four hours. I knew, after my nightmare, that I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so I decided to take a quick shower.
When I came back Ikuto was gone. I shrugged it off. He did that sort of thing all the time. While I packed my bag for school my ghosts drifted into my sight.
"You had more visions last night didn't you?" Ran asked solemnly.
"I don't get why we have to haunt you," Miki grumbled, "You do a good enough job haunting yourself."
"Miki-chan, be polite, desu." Suu mumbled. Miki snorted.
"Oh!" I suddenly remembered that I had a partner for Easter, "I forgot to tell Ikuto-kun!"
"You forgot to tell him what?" Ran asked curiously.
"I got a partner for Easter!" I stated. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. I decided I should feel happy, so I smiled lightly.
"Really? What's his or her name, desu?" Suu asked.
"Um... well she's a girl... two years older than me about... but I forgot to ask her name." I bit my lip, feeling like a retard.
At school Kukai sat with me and we ate lunch together. I felt sorry for Yaya, because he'd left her alone, but after a couple laughs with Kukai she was forgotten. While I nibbled on a sandwich Kukai devoured the contents of his bento box.
"Stho yoo haf a parthner nyow?" he asked with his mouth filled with rice. I'd told Kukai that I was part of Easter a long time ago. He was surprisingly okay with that, and he had even kept it a secret for me.
"Yeah, but I'm such an idiot, I didn't even ask her name." Kukai laughed.
"Smart." he commented.
"I just regret not having finished off that bastard myself." I muttered half-jokingly. Kukai burst into a second fit of laughter. After settling down a bit he mumbled,
"You're hilarious you know that?"
"Thanks, I'm sure all those creatures I've slaughtered think the same thing." I answered. He chucked,
"No I'm serious, you're really funny. I really like you."
"Eh?" I asked. Kukai leaned forward.
"I really like you, Amu-chan." I blushed crazily. His face was inches from mine. Suddenly he jolted back to his original sitting position, and watched me blush. He laughed, hitting his hand against the trunk of the tree.
"Um..." I didn't know what to make of what had just happened. Kukai's eyes became serious as he said,
"I just confessed to you Amu." I sat in silence. It wasn't as if no one had confessed to me before, its just no one had ever confessed to me the way Kukai had done. My eye twitched. Kukai could be insane sometimes.
The bell rang and I jumped to my feet.
"K-K-K-Kukai, I'm sorry, I'm going to be late for class! I can't give you an answer."
"Don't worry Amu, I don't need one." Kukai said, he stood up, "Just let me give you this. He grabbed my face between his strong hands and crushed his lips against mine. He let me go and strode away without another word. I stood there, and was ten minutes late for my next class.
When I arrived at home Ikuto was seated at the edge of my bed. He was sitting stiff as a board with his nose tilted in the air. He sniffed delicately. His eyes glittered with rage.
"You smell strongly of werewolf. What happened?" He stood up and walked closer to me. I could tell he knew exactly where the scent was the strongest. Blushing I looked down, scuffing my feet against the floor.
"K-K-Kukai he confessed to me... and he kinda kissed me... but I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say..." I mumbled wishing he wouldn't hear. There was a large snap as a chunk of my dresser fell away under Ikuto's mighty grip. I looked into his face, but found his eyes were shut tightly together and his lips were pressed into a thin line.
I bit down on my lip. I bit so hard that my lip started bleeding. Ikuto's eyes shot open. He advanced with supernatural speed. His face hovered an inch from mine. I stood perfectly still – like a stone statue.
"You said I could drink your blood when I'm thirsty, yes?" he questioned. I wondered if he was actually looking for an answer. By the tone of his voice I doubted it. Leaning even closer towards me, I felt his tongue lick the blood from my lip.
"Eep!" I squeaked with shock. Then his lips attached to mine. First he sucked on my lip, and then something distracted him from my blood. He started kissing me fervently. Then he jumped clear back across the room.
"Amu..." he muttered apologetically, but I didn't want an apology, it had been an amazing feeling. I remember Dia used to kiss boys. I had never understood why she wanted to, but now I did. Kukai had merely pressed his lips against mine, but Ikuto had kissed me. With the passion of that kiss, I was a little surprised that he hadn't tried tongues; then again I was still young.
I gasped as my lip started to burn. I recalled that it stung when vampires sucked blood from someone. But then my whole mouth was burning. I realized this probably had something to do with the venom that passed on vampirism to humans.
Ikuto was across the room again. He hugged me closely, letting my headrest on his chest. I heard the slow beat of his vampire heart pick up. He sighed heavily,
"Amu, I'm not sure if this is right."
"What?" I asked. It felt perfectly right to me.
"I know you have feelings for Kukai. Or at least you will grow to have feelings for him. Give him your answer tomorrow, please don't take any of this in consideration." Was he saying to forget about him? How could I forget about Ikuto? Especially after the way he had kissed me.
"Ikuto..."
"I'm not saying I don't want this." his muscles tightened at his words, "Because, Amu, I do want it, but we're just going to put this on hold okay?"
"You mean pretend you never kissed me?" I asked distressed.
"N-no. Just let's not try to move any further in this relationship."
"A-alright." I agreed. Ikuto was very gentle when he wanted to be. His consideration for me seemed to have no limit. Ikuto put his head on my shoulder and let out a heavy sigh.
I woke up. Sun streamed through my window. I searched my room for Ikuto, but he was nowhere to be seen. The only evidence of the night before was the unlocked balcony and the covers on the other side of my bed that were tossed aside.
Sighing, I sat up. Suddenly pain shot through my neck and I became very cold. I wrapped my comforter around me and went to my mirror. On my neck I saw two little holes, like fangs had bit me there. I gasped. Looking into the mirror I saw a pale, red eyed, pink haired girl staring at me.
Then Ikuto was behind me. His breath made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
"Amu, you're a vampire now. Kukai can't have you. Only I can have you." he said.
Suddenly I jolted upwards. Clouds covered the sky and sweat dripped from my forehead. Ikuto had left. I closed my hand around my throat. It had just been a dream, but it had been an interesting one. I wondered if Kukai was planning to turn me into a werewolf, and then I thought about how I might like being a vampire more.
Author's Note: LONG CHAPTER!!! AND THE EPICNESS CONTINUES
OMAHGOD IM SUPER PROUD OF THAT EVIL GHOST MURDER SCENE THINGY AT THE BEGINNING. TEEHEE EMO AWESOMENESS.
omahgod my computer just completely died so i got a new one. :D its shinee. its one of those new macbooks. its black and silver and yay!