Has anyone noticed that I haven't used the word "vampire" in this fic…at all…except in the summary…and just now? I couldn't take it anymore. VAMPIRE. Ooh. Three times. Sorry it took so long to post, too. Busy, busy. And for some reason, the fact that I knew exactly what Shizuru was going to be doing tonight made it harder to write and easier to procrastinate.
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Shizuru awoke with the usual unnecessary gasp, except this time doing so filled her throat with the disturbed earth that surrounded her. Her night was looking up already. She clawed her way back to the surface, and climbed out of the grave. A sharp intake of air caused her to look across the cemetery, feeling torn. On the one hand, she felt uncomfortable killing innocents, and this caretaker was surely innocent. On the other, she would not have to hunt for someone unclean to feed on tonight and it saved her some much needed time.
"I am very sorry you had to see that." She said clearly, and the fear on his face intensified. He finally caught up with his fear and turned to run from her. Of course, this did little for him as she leapt into the air and the wind carried her to intercept him. "I promise you, you will feel no pain." She said softly as she made eye contact and his face went slack. She did not wish to kill him, but he could not be allowed to live, having seen what he had. With a scowl she feared would last all night, she leaned forward and fed.
After she had disposed of the poor fool in last night's resting place, she took to the air. Her first order of business was, naturally, a shower. She was covered with dirt that smelled of death, and it made her stomach turn. Not to mention she looked horrible. Unfortunately, the Russian seemed to have other ideas, as he was waiting in the middle of an alley a few streets from her house. If she ignored him and went home, he too would know where she slept. She covered her frustration as she set down in front of him. He gave her a restrained smile.
"I would say good evening, but it does not seem as if yours has been such, at least thus far." He said, and she forced a genial smile. "I hope you have taken care of any problem you may have? I would, of course, be willing to help you deal with any if you have not." He offered, and she frowned.
"I can take care of myself—and have done just so." She said, and he held his hands up in placation.
"Of course—I was only being polite." He answered, and the British woman only gave him a flat look. "Straight to business, then?" he frowned, seeming put out. She nodded. "I simply wanted to ask your permission to travel in your territory as needed. I am a messenger between two Masters, and through your city is my quickest route between them." That made Shizuru think. The Russian was obviously old, perhaps even older than she was—what two Masters would have a messenger that powerful?
"Who are your Masters?" she asked. He smiled sheepishly.
"I can't answer that until I ask them if I may do so." He said apologetically. "But I will ask." The brunette did not like that answer at all, but she supposed she couldn't blame him for it. He would not be made to anger them.
"How often will you come through my territory?" she asked, moving on. He smiled in thanks to her passing over his last unfortunate answer.
"Most likely only once a week, but I can't be sure." She was satisfied with that answer.
"Have your Masters taken up permanent residence on either side of my territory?" she asked, not happy about that thought at all.
"I can't answer that yet, either." He frowned.
"Then I will grant you temporary leave to travel in my territory, until you can answer these questions—at which point I may or may not change my mind." The British woman said resignedly. She did not want to be polite here, only to tell him to stay out of her city. However, she couldn't afford to make any among her kind angry at this juncture. Something very odd was happening here right now. If they found her associating with witches at any rate, she would be marked for death.
"Wonderful." He smiled widely, and she returned his smile, albeit with a restrained and insincere one. "What are your requirements?" She fought the urge to sigh.
"Do not kill anyone who would be missed, if you must kill anyone at all. I do not want any attention drawn unnecessarily. If you could feed in your Masters' cities, that would be better for me." She said, and he nodded.
"Of course. I will respect your conditions, Lady Viola, and I thank you very much for your cooperation. I'm sure my Masters would agree." He said, and turned to leave. Shizuru frowned.
"What shall I call you?" she asked, only half-caring but deciding she was tired of calling him 'the Russian' in her head.
"Alexi." He answered shortly, and then was gone. Now the British woman did sigh. Speaking with others of her kind could be exhausting. She found that she much preferred humans' company over this. Of course, she preferred Natsuki's over all else, but that was beside the point. She wanted this night to be over with so that she could meet with the younger girl again. Perhaps this was not beside the point, after all. She should not be so enamored of the girl after only two days. What was going on? Witches, the Russian, and a ridiculous attraction to a human girl all at once—this was far from coincidental, and yet Shizuru could not understand how any of these things could be related.
In either coincidence or impeccable timing, her doorbell rang as she was drying her hair. She did not raise her guard immediately, because Mai had kindly dropped her shields so that Shizuru would know she was coming. She also did not sense Mikoto in the area, which was fortunate. She supposed it was rather foolish of the Tokiha witch to come alone—the brunette would have no trouble disposing of the redheaded girl if she was alone. Or perhaps she was simply that sure of herself. The British woman was not sure whether that irritated her or not.
"Welcome, Miss Mai." She said cordially, opening the door to let the witch in. This still seemed horribly wrong to her mind, and yet her instincts were inexplicably quiet. The redhead grinned.
"I told you, just Mai. I promise, I won't be insulted—Shizuru." She said, and frowned. "Although for some reason, I still feel like I should be calling you 'Lady Viola' or something." She muttered, and the woman in question felt a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth.
"You are not alone in that respect. I fear that many of those who know who I am—or rather, who I was—have trouble speaking with me informally. Rest assured that I do not mind." She added. "I believe we have several things to talk about, if you'll join me in the sitting room." She said, calmly leading the still-grinning girl into said room and waiting for the guest to sit before she did so.
"Don't you get tired of being proper?" Mai asked, blue eyes bright and playful. "I mean, I'm sure it was like…expected when you were growing up, but now it's got to seem eccentric to people, and it can't be all that fun to be so upright all the time." She said, seeming honestly curious. This confused the brunette, as she didn't understand herself why questions like this came into peoples' heads. They certainly did not enter hers. All right, so on occasion, they might, but she would never speak them aloud. It wasn't…it wasn't proper. Yes, she had just thought that. Mai laughed at her frown. "I wish I knew what was going through your head right now. It seems pretty entertaining." She redirected her attention at the redhead.
"Perhaps it is not questions like that which Mai should be asking." She said, and the girl in question continued right on grinning widely.
"Are you sulking?" Shizuru decided to avoid the subject at hand by returning to another.
"I do not tire of being proper, as it is how I was raised, and to behave in any other way is a stress for me rather than the other way around. I am uncomfortable when not being….'upright', as you put it. It is frustrating that now my mannerisms are considered eccentric, however—so I must sometimes pretend not to have what I consider 'proper' manners. Doing so does seem very…strange to me, even if it is necessary." She explained, and Mai laughed again. The British woman fought a smile—but my, this girl was very easy to like.
"It does, doesn't it? Okay, okay, I'll stop poking at you…I mean, it's just a lot of fun. And talking like this with a…with someone like you, it's surreal. I'm trying to make the most of it." The redhead leaned back, making herself comfortable as Shizuru nodded in understanding. "So, ah…I guess we should talk about Mikoto first." She said, and she seemed very put out by this. The brunette wondered at this, but stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. "So, I guess you already know that she's Reito Kanzaki's sister, don't you?" she started with a furtive glance toward the other woman. She nodded her assent, and Mai sighed. "Well, Mikoto doesn't know that he's alive. Well, you know, walking around alive…maybe not alive, alive. Are you alive?" she rambled uncomfortably.
"I do not suppose that is a question I can answer with any sort of certainty." She offered honestly, and the redhead shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess not." She said, and sighed. "Well, Mikoto's not exactly, um…It would be really hard for her to understand the situation. I didn't know her before she got hurt, so I don't know if she has always been like this, but she's almost animalistic sometimes. Emotionally, she still seems very young, even if she is over a hundred. I feel like I need to protect her from…from knowing some things that would cause her pain." She finished her speech as she frowned. Her eyes stared past Shizuru at something that was not there, and something about her expression reminded the British woman of a concerned mother. The brunette had least expected to hear this type of reason from the girl, but she supposed (if not empathetically) she at least understood the girl's thought process and desire to protect her.
If there was some knowledge she had that would cause Natsuki pain, would she keep it hidden or share it out of responsibility? She had a feeling that she would keep it to herself. That was an uncomfortable thought, as she knew that she should not care either way—but she would have to get used to the fact that she did care for the girl, for some reason, and could not shut whatever had stirred inside her back down. She supposed that this uncomfortable bit of humanity was exactly why she had come here in the first place—but she did not remember it being so frustrating.
"I see." She said after a moment of consideration. "I believe I would choose to tell the girl were it up to myself, but I shall respect your wishes—unless, of course, you give me reason not to continue to do so." She said, and the last was an obvious threat. Information could be more damaging than fists, after all—especially when the Tokiha witch had a protector like Mikoto Minagi that even Shizuru was not sure she would be able to defeat—at least not without lasting injury. The redhead let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you…Shizuru." She said with genuine warmth and a smile. The British woman returned it, and shifted in her seat. She would rather take care of some security issues than spend all night talking—again. She needed to go purchase some things, else she would be forced to sleep in the ground tonight as well, and that was something she definitely did not want to do.
"If that was all you needed , I have some other things to take care of tonight." She said to the girl, who frowned.
"Um, well, there's one more thing…" she said and now there was great discomfort radiating from her, and perhaps even…fear? Shizuru leaned back in her seat, her interest piqued.
"Yes?" she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her when the girl was quiet for too long.
"Well…I've kind of been inadvertently hiding something else from you that has been happening in the city for the last couple of weeks." This confused Shizuru. How in the world did someone with Mai's level of power inadvertently hide something from her? And what could it be that was it that the girl was this...worrisome?
"Yes? And what is that?" she pressed again, after too long a silence. Mai cleared her throat nervously.
"I notice you don't have a television here. You don't see the news?" she muttered the question, to which she obviously already knew the answer. She was stalling.
"I do not. I have never before needed to do so, as any activity in my city that might require my attention is sensed when I am about at night." The British woman frowned suddenly. Unless, of course, someone was blocking her senses. "What is it, Miss Tokiha?" she said, slipping back into formality.
"There have been several murders in the city just in the last couple of weeks—and not the kind that other humans commit—these people were skinned alive." She said quickly and was very tense as Shizuru stared at her for a time, expression blanked.
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Gaaaah. So much talking! There must be action, soooooon. But hey hey! Next chapter has more Natsuki! :D