Note from Author: First off, dear 'Guest', thank you for your comment on the last chapter. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story and that I'm able to entertain you with the way I'm describing Natsuno and Tohru's relationship. I will definitely keep this series running as long as I can. I enjoy writing all the cute fluffiness between the two of them, and with them and their niece. I just hate that this particular story is forcing me to take it down a bit of a darker path, but such is the case. I love, Love, LOVE Tohru, which is unfortunately (for him) why I tease and hurt him so much. … But I think he kind of likes it. But, I try to make up for it with making him the comedy relief and giving him awesome moments like when he confronted the gunman. (I know I didn't write it, but was I the only one who pictured him with Bishi sparkles through that whole scenario, at least up until Kobun drew the stake?) For those of you who were wondering, yes, Toya was picturing Natsuno as Yoringal and Tohru as Florinda. Had I gone the Wizard of Oz route, Tohru would have been the cowardly lion and Natsuno the Scarecrow, with Ozaki probably landing the role of the Tin Man and Aoi as Glenda, and Lucky the stuffed rabbit as Toto. Again, Sunako would have been the Witch of the West, with Seishin as her flying monkey. Anyway, sorry, I'm digressing here, back to the story. Short Chapter, but actual plot. I'm glad people are still enjoying it. Oh, and, again, mention of nssix6's story, you actually get a character's name from it this time.

Chapter 10: Meanie Head

Toya sat huddled in a dark corner, quietly whimpering to herself. Tohru still hadn't woken up from the blow he'd taken to the head. There had been some debate as to whether or not to remove his fangs, though none of them were willing to put their hands inside the mouth of a Vampire, that was like sticking your head in the mouth of a lion or an alligator, just something you simply don't do.

"Tohru-Ojisan? Tohru-Ojisan, wake up!" Toya cried out. "Aha!?" She gave a tiny frightened gasp when the man with ears that she had seen outside the window a few nights ago picked her up by the collar of her dress, holding her above his head with a single hand.

"So…? This is Chibi Kobayashi Toya-Chan?" he smiled. "You really are a mini-me version of your Uncle Tohru, aren't you?"

"Who are you?" she growled back.

The man chuckled. "Oh, the little one's got some spunk, huh? I like that." He smiled, closing his eyes and placing his right hand on his chest. "I'm simply an old friend of your Uncle Tohru's."

"Nu-uh!" she countered, "If you were a friend, you wouldn't be hurting us. Now put me down before you wrinkle my dress!"

The man chuckled. "You're not afraid of me, Chibi-Chan?"

"Put her down, Tatsumi!" Tohru snarled, having finally opened his eyes.

The green-haired Jinrou's eyes shifted toward the bound Shiki, who clearly hadn't noticed his own situation as of yet. "And you don't seem surprised that I'm still alive?" He chortled. "Before you go making demands, I suggest you assess your surroundings. Tell me, Tohru-Chan, are your arms itching, right now? Of course, my new friends couldn't use silver, due to their own allergy issues, but well..." He gave an evil chuckle. "It works with you all the same."

"Huh?" Tohru blinked and looked around. Something was casting a shadow over him. A cold chill over took him as he looked upward to find he'd been tied with his hands behind his back, to a cross, and his legs tied at the ankles. "Gyah…!?" Tohru began to squirm, trying to pull free of the bonds holding him to the cross, but he hadn't been bound with ropes, but with chains and hand cuffs.

Tatsumi leaned in toward Tohru and caught him under the chin. "You had ONE JOB, Tohru, to rid us of the menace that was Yuuki/Koide Natsuno, and yet you screwed that up!"

"Whether I liked it or not, I did exactly as you told me," Tohru answered, "But it backfired on you. I knew he was back in Sotoba before everything fell apart, but I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone. I owed him that much."

"And in so doing, you failed to do what I told you to," Tatsumi argued.

"It's been eleven years, Tatsumi," Tohru spat, purposely leaving off the 'Kun' honorific, "Don't tell me you still hold a grudge? Even Sunako and Natsuno have made peace."

"So, Sunako is still alive?" Tatsumi smiled, pleased to hear his former mistress had survived, "I knew I could trust Muroi-Sama to protect her."

"At the cost of becoming a Jinrou," Tohru grumbled.

"Excellent," Tatsumi laughed, "There needs to be more of my kind around. Especially since Yoshie was killed. "To be honest, I'm still curious why you're not surprised I'm still alive. I certainly was surprised to find you and Natsuno were harboring the Kobayashi girls."

"If Natsuno could come back, then we realized it was only a matter of time before you showed up, too, but after eleven years of nothing, we thought either you didn't survive, or simply moved on," Tohru answered, sounding annoyed and looking away from the green haired Jinrou. He turned his attention back, Tatsumi had tucked Toya under his arm pit like he were carrying a basket ball. "Now, would you please stop tossing my niece around like some kind of rag doll chew toy and set her back on the ground?"

"All the more reason we need more Jinrou around, because I'm going to rip Natsuno's head off his shoulders with my own two hands," Tatsumi threatened, tossing the girl back in the Shiki's lap.

"Oof…!" Toya scrambled to sit up right and glared at the green haired Jinrou. "That's what you think!" she challenged, "Natsuno-Ojisan's gonna' kick yer butt when he finds us!"

Tohru blinked. His first thought was where on earth the girl had picked up such language, his second thought was how glad he was that she had such faith and hero worship for Natsuno, but ultimately, what came out of his mouth was, "Toya-Chan, don't antagonize him like that! He's a Jinrou, just like Natsuno."

Tatsumi laughed, "Still a coward, after all this time, huh, Tohru? Here I was starting to think I understood why you were the girl's namesake, but she's definitely much braver than you ever where. Really? Do you really think I'm enough of a monster to harm a little girl?"

Tohru deadpanned at him, the whole room falling silent to the point everyone present could hear the cicadas outside. "Matsuo Shizuka, Murasako Hiromi, Yasumori Susumu, Maeda Shigeki and Shihori… The list of innocent children that perished in Sotoba in vain attempts to turn them, or after having been turned goes on, Tatsumi," he reminded the Jinrou, "and I'm sure you don't even feel remorse for the loss of a single one. Of course that's the kind of monster I see you as."

Tatsumi smirked. "You're right, I'm glad Sunako's alright, and happy that Muroi-Sama's with her, so that she's not alone, but I could care less about the others who were lost back in Sotoba. It took me a long time to climb out of that damnable pit…"

"HEY!" Tohru snapped. "You can at least be civil enough to watch the language with a kid in the room, can't you?"

"…" Tatsumi raised an annoyed eyebrow, uncertain which he was more annoyed over, being interrupted, or being interrupted simply because he swore. Were these two even taking him seriously at this point? "I honestly don't understand how Natsuno got out considering the dynamite was strapped to his body. When I climbed out, my first thought was to make good on my promise to you, and go after your younger siblings. But, it took a while to track them down, since all the survivors were forced to flee during that fire."

"…" Tohru glared at the Jinrou, who was now holding his gaze with a hand under his chin. "Toya-Chan's right, ya' know?" he smirked, "Natsuno's going to kick your butt real good when he gets here."

Tatsumi growled and caught Tohru by the arm. Knowing the Shiki would heal, eventually, he dislocated Tohru's left shoulder, with a single yank, smiling as he shrieked in pain. "Tohru-Ojisan!?" Toya whimpered worriedly.

"Heh, not when I have the two of you as leverage. That proud little brat you idolize will probably lay down at my feet and let himself be beheaded if I promise to set the both of you free," the Jinrou stated, "In the meantime, maybe that'll remind you how strong I am." He gave Tohru a pat on the cheek, before snatching Toya up and tying her hands together behind her back as well. "There, should you decide you need a snack to help heal yourself, what with that cross weakening you, I'll just leave the girl here. With that kind of pain, I'm sure it won't take long for the hunger to set in."

With that, Tatsumi turned and left. Tohru closed his eyes and groaned in pain. There was a difference in the kind of pain he was willing to put up with from Natsuno and this. "Tohru-Ojisan?" Toya scooted as close to him as possible, her big brown eyes looking up at him worriedly.

He closed his eyes and forced a sigh. "It's alright, Toya-Chan," he assured her. "It hurts, but I'll heal easy."

"Why does that big meanie head wanna' hurt Natsuno-Ojisan? … Why's he mad at you?" Toya asked.

Tohru sighed, realizing he needed to stay calm for her sake. "He was one of the bad guys from Sotoba. Uncle Natsuno beat him and a bunch of his friends up really bad. Until now, we thought Sunako and Muroi-Sama were the only ones left. But, now we're finding a lot of them are coming back. He's mad at me because he wanted me to hurt Natsuno before Natsuno could fight the others," Tohru explained.

Toya blinked. "That's silly!" she exclaimed, "You love Natsuno-Ojisan, you'd never hurt him!"

Tohru chuckled. "Truth from the mouths of babes," he thought. "Toya-Chan, you're really not afraid of him, are you?" he asked.

"Nu-uh!" she shook her head. "Natsuno-Ojisan's strong enough to beat up any ol' monster. He'll come for us."

"As soon as he's able to find us," Tohru nodded. He gave a bitter hiss of pain as the nod reminded him of his dislocated shoulder. "Toya, sweetie, I want you to do me a favor, stay brave, knowing Natsuno's coming, but don't do anything to make Tatsumi madder than he already is, alright? I can't do anything to him while my hands are tied like this, and I don't have a way to feed right now, either. If I get hungry enough, I might get scary, if that happens, I want you to stay as far away from me as you can, ok?"

Toya gave a concerned nod. "O-Okay…" she agreed.

Tohru smiled. "Good girl," he chuckled. In all honesty, Tohru had lost all desire for human blood after three years of feeding from Natsuno alone. Perhaps it was just another one of those little perks from the symbiotic relationship between the Shiki and the Jinrou, that Sunako was neglecting to take advantage of with her own. But Tohru hadn't frenzied in years, and the scent of Natsuno's blood was the only thing that even remotely drove him toward doing so anymore. Sure, Dr. Dalton Dale COULD have had some of his experimental Vampire repellant stolen from his lab, that was utilized by the gunman from the night before, causing Tohru to wish he were capable of throwing up, but at the same time, it was quite possible that due to his reliance on Natsuno's blood, all humans might taste like that to him, now as well.

Either way, it had been a long time since Tohru had been driven to starvation, and especially while injured. There had been reasons Tohru had warned Ritsuko of the horrible things they would do to her if she refused to feed while locked away with Nurse Hashiguchi Yasuyo. Having been given such treatments himself, it wasn't something he'd wanted her to experience.

The first few days as a Shiki, he'd refused to feed, even turning away the glass of blood that was initially offered. Tatsumi had eventually became tired of Tohru's refusal and broke both his arms before brutally beating him. He had then left Tohru locked in a room with a live victim until the hunger took him. Tohru's body had needed the blood to heal, which only served to make the hunger worse, causing him to loose control and attack the innocent soul. It had been Tohru's first kill. He had felt that urge coming over him again, that second night he was with Natsuno. The teen's blood had been the best he'd ever had, and he skipped feeding the night he didn't go back, because Natsuno's was the only blood he'd found himself craving. So, when Natsuno had offered his blood freely, Tohru did all he could to try and fight the hunger, refusing the offer for fear of what would happen. In the end, the hunger had won out. He would have preferred Toya to never have to see him in such a predicament, but if it came down to that, he was glad he was tied down, and wanted her as far out of his reach as possible.

"Heh, 'Meanie Head' describes him pretty well," the Shiki thought.