Chapter 10: The End
"This will be properly settled once we reach the mainland. And I trust that there will not be a word spoken of this."
With those words, Rido had walked out of the hall, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her devastation as the two remaining men watched.
Ichijo was the one to speak first. "Shiki-chan, what-"
Kai glared at them. "This is none of your business, Ichijo-san, Shiki-san. I'd appreciate it if you just left me alone."
She acted as if they hadn't heard the things they did and after they left, she really tried to fool herself into believing that. The door shut and she shed off the persona of Kai and sat on the floor. What they must think of her... Ha, probably nothing good after what she just said.
She would make things right, she just needed one more chance with Rido and everything would be okay.
Toya Rima shut her eyes tightly, clasping pale hands together. It was a long while until she gathered the courage to walk off the ship and back into the confines of her room. Fortunately, she had met no one along the way. She laid herself down atop the bed and gazed upward at the blank ceiling. She could expect no sleep today; instead, Rido's promise of ending this occupied her mind.
The days passed quickly on the islands. Starry nights and moonlit celebrations played out for the remainder of their stay, those of which Rima avoided like the plague. She holed herself up in her room and refused to come out, ordering in her meals and water. It was only an amount of time until the severity of this behavioural change was caught by the rest of her friends.
"Kai! Can you please come out? It's been two days already! Kai!" Ruka frowned and turned to face the rest of the group. "What happened?" She complained.
"Maybe she doesn't want to see you." Aido said, earning him a slap over the head. "OW! What-!"
"Why don't you try then?" Ruka flicked her hair into his face and stepped aside.
"I will!" Aido politely knocked a few times. "Hey Kai! Do you mind stepping out for a bit? We're planning on going swimming!"
There was no answer but Aido was not going to leave it at that. He knocked a couple of more times.
"Kaiii! Come on! Friggin' little…"
"Ahem…" Kain coughed and eyed Aido, pointedly noting his rudeness.
Taking the warning, Aido sighed and hit his head on the door. On a last ditch effort, he whined again, "Kaiiii….my pride depends on you."
Turning to Ichijo who was uncharacteristically quiet, Aido was struck with an idea. "Hey, you mind getting her out of there? Ichijo, you smooth talker?" He approached Ichijo and slapped him amiably on the shoulder. But in a manner unlike himself, the young blond barely cracked a smile. Instead, he shrugged the hand off and shook his head without offering a reason.
A little crestfallen, Aido faced Shiki. "Hey Shiki, buddy, ol' pal. Your cousin's holed up in there, come on….get her out."
Nudge, nudge.
No response.
Nudge, nudge.
Shiki's eyes snapped to Aido's face, disturbingly heated.
"No."
Aido fumed. But Ichijo intervened before he could say another word.
"Aido, sorry but Shiki's not feeling well. I'll take him back to his room. Maybe we should just leave To-...Shiki-san alone." The two of them disappeared and the three vampires left behind stood, with one last look at the door, decided to move on and respect her wishes.
"Maybe Kai's not feeling well either." Kain muttered.
The moment Ichijo shut the door on Shiki's room, the younger man gravitated towards his bed and laid down, his eyes closed. Ichijo, concerned, sat beside him and stared at his feet. They sat like that, brooding over the peculiar situtation that had been laid on them the night before.
"What are you thinking about, Shiki?" Ichijo finally asked.
It took a while before Shiki replied. "Why?"
Beneath that word, was a string of many.
'Why did Toya Rima pretend to be his cousin?' Ichijo grasped at straws to try and give an answer.
"I've heard about her...or her family at least." He offered. "It was in the news a while ago. The last of the Toya family, Toya-san's mother was murdered but afterwards, I never heard of an investigation or anything. It seems questionable."
It had to have been a cover-up. But at that time he hadn't given it much thought. It didn't concern him.
"No."
He turned to face Shiki who seemed to have trouble forming words.
Slowly, he spoke. "I wonder why he let her come here at all. Even Mother... She's not that weak."
'True.' Ichijo thought. 'He must be planning something. Yet why tell us?'
"What do you plan to do?"
"Me?" The voice held no emotion. Hard eyes stared back at Ichijo. "Do what?"
"You and Toya-san, you two were...are close."
Shiki turned on his side, evading the statement. He buried his head in his pillow but his muscles remained taut.
"You can't hide from this, Shiki." Reluctantly, Ichijo stood. "Look, I'll try and see what else I can find out. It'll be okay."
With that, Ichijo patted his friend on the head and left the room.
"I'm going to miss the spa..." Ruka said, miffed that their stay had finished already.
"You'll live." Kain replied, adjusting the strap of a heavy handbag that Ruka had handed him to carry.
"Do you think Kai's okay?" She asked as they climbed up the bridge. He hoped so.
"Hey, guys! I'm over here! Here! Here! Hey look up!"
The two vampires didn't even bother looking up. Kain sighed and did a facepalm. It was undeniably...
"AIDO! Get off the railing you idiot, you're embarrassing me!" With the intention of an angry whisper, Tsubaki, Aido's older sister, all but screamed. Following that was a yelping of sorts as Tsubaki then proceeded with forcefully pulling Aido away by the ear.
"Anyone must be doing much better than that guy." Kain said.
Kai found herself carried away with the flow of the crowd when she reached the dock. A push and shove there allowed her to make her own way up and into the her room without much incidence. On the way there, she thought she had caught a glimpse of Ichijo or heard the arguing of Ruka and Aido. Not that they had anything to do with her anymore. She huddled herself up in her bed, laying her head on the back board.
Knock knock.
She looked at the door, wondering if her ears were playing tricks on her.
Knock knock.
It happened again. Rima got up and passing the mirror on the way, she saw how much she has disregarded her appearance. But she still went up and opened the door...and saw darkness.
"After everyone kindly drops off their things in their rooms, Rido-sama has arrived and will address all in the Grand Hall. Thank you and have a nice day."
The genial voice announced all over the ship. The ship's mouths were set alight, all discussing the secret arrival of Rido-sama, the head of the pureblooded Kurans. Bags and packages were quickly dropped off at rooms and streams of vampires entered the Grand Hall. Soon it was full and the centerpiece of it all made his appearance. He came down the stairs majestically, raising a hand to greet his subjects.
"I'm glad to see you all. I hope that you have all been enjoying your time here. Unfortunately, Amaya is up in her rooms dealing with something else, but this allows me to deal with something as well." A slightly groggy Rima was suddenly pulled out behind a curtain at the bottom of the stairs and stumbled clumsily to Rido's side. "As all of you know, this is Amaya's niece, Kai Osawa. But if truth be told, she is not who I have claimed her to be."
The silent crowd retained closed expressions, and Rido continued. "Amaya was quite adamant about recovering her brother's daughter and I assisted her with whatever I could. However, I discovered that the girl had perished long ago and, with Amaya's best interests at heart, I took it upon myself to take Toya Hana's daughter under my wing. The poor girl, Rima, who lost her mother so horribly, we discussed terms that suited both our needs...and then..."
Rido kept on talking but after his disclosure of her identity, Rima let his voice slip from her consciousness. How smooth of him to incorporate her presence with Amaya-san's issues and come out as the saviour. Already, she could see the faces of begrudging respect and some of open admiration for the venomous snake. At the same time, she saw sympathetic eyes looking in her direction. She imagined that they thought she looked familiar and were comparing her to her mother. She could almost laugh, they thought they knew her predicament. But no one knew. Not even the half of it. She lowered her eyes...settling on her surprised friends, standing in the wings. Ruka, Kain, Aido. The ones who hadn't known. She had avoided them for this exact reason. And they tried to conceal it but she had spent enough time with them to notice that they were a bit bothered by the revelation.
Shiki and Ichijo on the other hand were unfazed. They had known already her identity but did they also believe the false circumstances of her deception as Rido had said? Somehow, she doubted it.
"...But please, treat her well. I promised Hana that I would take care of her family."
Rima's ears perked up at the last word before he turned and left the hall with a brilliant smile on his lips. Family. What did he know? He only knew how to take hers away. And what of Miyako? She had never gotten the chance to ask but knew that she might not like the answer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ruka coming at her with graceful speed. Rima couldn't face her, not now. She passed older vampires going up the stairs and into the halls and they gave her meaningless words of consolation and sympathy. She ignored them all and rushed back to her room where she knew the silence as a friend.
More days passed afterwards, the journey ebbing to a restless conclusion when the cruise reached its final destination to the north of Boston in a secluded port. The crew and passengers thanked the other for such a successful maiden voyage and departed, each their separate ways. Since the arrival time was early in the morning, most of the vampires were tired and did their best to cover themselves with layers of clothes to avoid the sun. Umbrellas were brought out, and some of the more eccentric, skin-weary members resorted to wearing full face masks. Amidst those dissipating crowds was the small group of friends packing their things into a spacious Mercedes Benz SUV.
"Are you sure you guys don't want to come with us? We still have room for more." Kain asked, pushing a pink duffel bag into the stuffed trunk of the vehicle.
Ichijo shook his head. "It's ok. We've got something to do before we leave."
Shiki merely nodded and raised a hand to wave. "Bye bye." And then a yawn.
"Okay then. Give us a call later." Ruka called out from the shotgun. "Oh, and tell Kai that she can come over anytime." A moment's pause made Ruka realize her mistake. "Ah, it's Toya-san now isn't it? Anyways, just tell her."
"You still want to be friends with her?" Aido asked from the open passenger's seat in the back, fully extending his arms and legs across the width of the comfortable seats.
Ruka glared at him and folded her arms. "Why not? We all liked her as Kai, what difference does her name make if it's still the same person? There was a good reason."
Shiki looked up at Ruka who was defiantly staring at Aido, threatening him to oppose, and he saw in her a conviction that he himself was lacking.
"Hmph."
"Ok guys...that's enough. We've gotta go. See ya, Ichijo, Shiki." Kain waved and got into the driver's seat. Ichijo was all smiles and waves and then the two vampires watched the SUV drive off onto the highway.
Ichijo stopped waving when the others were out of sight. Still staring forward, he quietly asked, "Do you think you can believe in her as much as Ruka does, Shiki?"
"I don't believe her 'reason'." Why? There had been no reason to doubt Rido. But he knew his father. There was something more. His shoulders heaved in tension. "I'm hungry. I'm going back to my room."
Ichijo did not push the topic any further. "I guess I have to go with you then, I've got to pick up some of my stuff there too and pack."
They walked back up into the ship. However, before Ichijo could enter the room, he was stopped by a firm, wizened hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw his grandfather, stern as always.
"Grandfather...What brings you here?"
"You must come with me, Takuma. We have some business to attend to." The older Ichijo demanded.
"Okay." Ichijo complied, hardly in a position. "Shiki, I'll be right back. Please do something productive."
Shiki nodded and watched Ichijo follow Ichio. When he was sure they were gone, he closed the door and laid on his bed, arms and legs spread out as if he was making a snow angel. His eyes drifted off, heavy with sleep. It was the proper time to knock out for a vampire anyways, in the brightness of morning. He was only going to sleep for a bit, just a nap...Ichijo wouldn't mind. No, he hadn't slept properly since Kai became Rima...he didn't want to think about her anymore...Ichijo would take care of it... Zzzzzz...
Knock Knock.
Hmm?
Rima's eyes opened and they searched for the alarm clock she had set out. It read "9:04". But that was not what had woken her up.
Knock, knock.
Not again. Rido's men had done this before and had dragged her off to be drugged last time. Did they think she would fall for this a second time without being prepared? She was ready to spark a bolt here and there at any given second. She opened the door cautiously, quietly, tensely and peered outside. There was no one. But she kept herself wary. She looked down and saw a slip of paper with a wilting rose attached on the floor. Looking around, she quickly reached out for it and brought it inside, locking the door with her one available hand deftly.
She opened the note and read, understanding that her time to get revenge had not passed and her wish would finally come true. The note read:
Toya Rima,
We will finish this in the hull. Your sister's waiting.
Rido Kuran
She would destroy that guileless smirk of his and save her sister. She was out the door before the paper touched the ground.
Meanwhile, it was Shiki's turn to be awakened from his sleep. A knock came from his door and Shiki feared that Ichijo was checking up on him. He hurriedly threw clothes about and stuffed some in his suitcase. It was the least he could do, he thought, momentarily inspecting his handiwork. Then, he moved to the door and opened it.
His guess was affirmed.
Ichijo stood on the other side of that door and uncharacteristically, brushed past the boy without so much as a word. Not extrememly observant by nature, even Shiki was able to notice a subtle difference. Ichijo seemed paler, quieter...
Changed.
"Is something wrong?" Shiki asked.
"Nothing." Ichijo replied shortly. Shiki now observed that his fists were gripped, indicating otherwise. "Do you think you can come and walk with me for a bit?"
Shiki wanted to ask why but thought better; deciding to play along until he knew what was going on. "Okay."
Ichijo exited, beginning to walk away. Shiki closed the door behind him and followed, matching his pace.
Curiousity made him say something that he thought Ichijo would have a reaction to.
"Ichijo, I'm gay."
Pause for a few seconds. Shiki peered up at his face and found nothing. There was definitely something wrong.
"Great." Ichijo replied simply.
Shiki raised an eyebrow but followed nonetheless. However odd, he was his best friend. But..
A/N: R&R please! Going to be finished soon in a couple more chapters! Yay! :3