~O~

Shun stood in front of the massive building that Marucho lived in, and where his friends more than likely resided at the moment. But he knew for a fact that Alice was inside. If she wasn't, then the only thing he could figure was that she packed her things and went back to Russia when the mass killings broke out in the city. He didn't blame her for that.

It was no longer safe in the city at night thanks to the rouge Vampires that Shun had been told about. So, he completely understood her leaving if she did. But he had also found out that a couple days prior, the city had been closed down to all access and entry; nobody got in, and nobody got out. Simple as that.

But Shun couldn't help but think that this little safety precaution the people used to find this 'killer' only doomed more of the clueless citizens that were now trapped inside. They were sitting targets for the creatures that prowled at night, unable to leave and seek safety elsewhere. Shun shook the thoughts away and approached the door to the massive home before him. Much to his surprise, the door was locked.

They never lock the door during the day, Shun thought to himself. He then began to look around for a doorbell or anything that might signal he was standing outside. And quite frankly, he hoped that he found it quick, for the heat was starting to turn unbearable beneath his hoodie again.

He was also growing rather tired as well. After a bit of searching, he found a keypad near the door and pressed the Call button. There was a buzz for a moment, and somebody on the other side answered. Shun instantly recognized the voice as Kato's. "Yes?" the butler asked through the little speaker.

Shun leaned closer to the keypad so he could be heard clearly on the other end. "Kato, it's me, Shun. Let me in, please." There was a long moment of silence before Kato replied, "Of course. Be right there." It didn't take two minutes before the locked doors opened, permitting entrance into the mansion.

Shun hurried over to them, and found Kato standing there, holding the door open. Once inside, the butler closed the door behind the raven-haired teen and locked it back tight. "Stepping up security, aren't you?" Shun asked sarcastically and immediately pulled off the insufferable hoodie, which was thoroughly soaked through with sweat.

He was starting to think that going out in daylight would have to be a winter or late fall thing; summer was definitely out of the question now. Shun turned around and looked at Kato. The butler was staring at him, surprise on his face.

"Kato?" Shun asked cautiously. The butler's silence and reaction was starting to make the raven-haired teen worry a bit. He didn't somehow know that Shun had changed, did he? He couldn't possibly see a difference that would raise a red flag, right?

Kato shook his head and said, "Oh, it's nothing, Master Shun. It's just that Master Marucho and his friends have been rather worried and concerned about you since your sudden disappearance." Shun chuckled humorously. "Yeah," he said, "With all of the chaos going on in the city, I don't doubt they've been worried. It's not exactly like I called up and told anyone where I was going. Guess that's my fault."

Kato waved his hand, as if deny Shun's statement. "No, no. It's not your fault, and I doubt that the others will think it is either. Please, do go upstairs and see them. I'm sure they'll be very surprised and relieved to see you again, Master Shun. They're on the usual floor." The raven-haired teen nodded, thanked the butler, and headed towards the elevator that would take him upstairs to see his worrying friends.

~O~

Alice hated the silence that had taken hold of the others. Since her little scene several days ago where she had pretty much admitted that Shun was gone, nobody had really said anything. Every now and again, somebody would try and make a lighthearted joke, or try desperately to strike up a conversation, but to no avail.

They all knew that Alice had been right, that Shun wasn't coming back, that nothing was right, nor would it ever be right again. And because of that, the reality had been too much for all of them to handle. "Maybe we can go to the park or somewhere today," Julie suggested.

Marucho shook his head and told her flatly, "No, we can't, Julie. Remember? It's not safe out in the city right now." The silver-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest and said quietly, "The killers have only been working at night, though." Marucho shook his head again.

"We don't know if they'll start working in broad daylight, and my parents don't want us taking any chances. I know that we're all getting tired of being holed up in this place, but it's for our own good." Alice hadn't argued when Mr. and Mrs. Marakura had ordered them to stay within the safety of their mansion until the killers were caught, but even she was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

Suddenly, the speaker in the room blared to life with Kato's voice. "Master Marucho, there's a guest for you and your friends coming up. He should be there shortly." The intercom then went dead, leaving the room in slight confusion.

They hadn't been expecting any guests, so who could it have been? A knock sounded from the door, and Marucho called out to whoever was on the other side to come on in. When the door opened, it was like time froze. Shun. There was Shun, and he was alive.

He smiled sadly and said, "Hey, guys. Sorry for not-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence before he was surrounded by the others. Alice continued to sit though, for she was still unable to register that this was real, that she wasn't dreaming. Marucho, Julie, and Dan had the raven-haired teen surrounded, and had just begun to break their hugs.

"We were worried something might have happened to you when we called up your grandfather and found that you hadn't returned home one night," said Marucho with a detectable hint of relief in his voice. Shun walked into the room and set a black hoodie down on the back of a chair. "Sorry to make you and Grandfather worry. I ran into a bit of trouble several nights ago, but everything is fine now," Shun said.

Dan's eyes had fallen on the black hoodie that his friend had just set down, and asked, "What's up with the jacket? It's like, almost a hundred freaking degrees out there. Is it some kind of new ninja training the old man's got you on? If so, then that's a bit overkill, even for him."

Shun chuckled and shook his head. "No, it's nothing. Don't worry about it." Dan didn't seem to want to leave it at that though, but he did and didn't pry the topic again. The brunette then grabbed his friend's wrist and said, "Sit. Tell us what the hell happened to you. Where'd you vanish to?"

Shun sat down in the chair he had draped his jacket over. All eyes were now on him as everyone waited to hear his story. "Like I told my grandfather when I went and saw him earlier, I was coming back from getting his medicine and got jumped by several guys. They got the better of me and knocked me out. When I came to, I woke up in some stranger's house that had found me and gotten me off the streets. I've been there while I recovered," he explained.

Alice narrowed her eyes at the raven-haired teen. She didn't believe him. The others might, but she didn't. Unlike them, she knew when Shun was lying, and for the most part, he wasn't the best liar. Whenever he wasn't being truthful, he wouldn't look people in the eye.

And since he began his story, his eyes had either been locked on the floor or the coffee table in front of him; never once did he look up at the faces of his friends. Dan crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Well, that would explain why you don't look so good."

Shun glanced up at his friend, obviously surprised that the brunette had said that. Alice had to agree with Dan; Shun didn't look to exactly be in the best of shape. It almost looked like he might have lost a bit of weight, and his skin was a bit paler than usual. Not to mention the dark circles that were trying to form underneath his eyes.

Shun ran a hand through his jet-black hair and said calmly, "Yeah. Those thugs did quite a number on me. Grandfather wasn't too happy to find out that I got beaten down so easily. He might end up increasing my training regiment now."

Shun chuckled, as if to lighten the mood, but Alice could easily tell that there was no humor in his mild laughter. Something was wrong, and she wanted to know what it was. "You might want to stay the night here. It's starting to get dark outside, and I know how far away your grandfather's house is. And I know you probably know about the killings going on at night. It's not safe out there."

Shun shook his head to decline the offer, which surprised not only Marucho, but everyone else. "No, I'm sorry, but I can't. The guy that helped me….I promised him I'd repay him for helping me. I have to run by his place and take care of that…..I'll probably just stay at his place until tomorrow or stay in a nearby hotel….."

His voice trailed off at the end, as if he had more to say, but couldn't think of it. Alice narrowed her eyes at him again, and shook her head. Shun was lying through his teeth, and she was surprised that the others were too blind to see that their friend wasn't telling them the truth, that something was very, very wrong.

The raven-haired teen stood up and grabbed his hoodie from the back of the chair he had been sitting in. "I guess I'd better get going. I just wanted to drop by and let you guys know that I was alright. My grandfather told me how worried you all had been the past couple of days," he said and draped his hoodie over his arm.

Marucho was biting down on his lower lip, then finally said, "Alright. Get Kato to unlock the doors before you leave so you can get out. And be careful out there." Alice couldn't believe that they were letting him go. They should have made him stay, regardless of what he said.

It wasn't safe out there, and she knew that his story had been a lie. Shun turned and left out of the room, and Alice had half a mind to follow after him and demand the truth, but somehow she knew that he wouldn't tell her. Not now, at least. But he would be unable to keep his lie forever, and when he was ready to tell them what really happened, Alice was going to make sure she was there to hear it herself.

~O~

Shun had Kato unlock the door like Marucho had told him to, and was walking out into the streets again. The sun was starting to fall behind the city's skyline, taking away the light that would hurt him now. Because of this, Shun didn't put on the infernal jacket again.

There was no need for it now, and he wasn't about to burn up in it again for the hell of it. As he walked along the sidewalk, Shun brought his hand up to the side of his head. Before he had left Marucho's, he had started to develop a bit of a headache.

He thought it might have been from a combination of the heat and the hoodie, but instead of getting better now that the temperature was dropping, it was only getting worse. He stopped walking and sat on a bus stop bench for a moment, thinking that sitting would help with the pain.

It didn't do a thing for him. The pain spread from his head to the rest of his body, leaving dulls aches in its path. What now? Shun thought to himself. I thought I was done with all of this pain when I survived that damn Transition or whatever. He clenched his teeth together with the pain that now radiated from him. His ears pounded with the sound of his own blood pulsating through his veins.

Shun then shook his head in an attempt to gain some focus. It was obvious that something wasn't right with him at the moment. What if Sinclair's blood was somehow turning against Shun and was trying to kill him? He had to get back to the enclave before things got worse.

Shun forced himself up to his feet, surprised to find they were as weak as when he was fighting through the Transition. They nearly buckled beneath his weight, and the only reason he didn't fall was because he caught himself on the back of the bench he had been sitting on.

Shun found his balance and forced his weakening body to walk back towards the secret enclave. But something stepped out of the shadows ahead of him. Shun's vision was trying to blur at the edges, so he wasn't really able to make out any details of the mystery person before him, despite them being no more than fifteen feet away.

The figure then stepped out of the shadows and into the light of a streetlamp that had turned on with the falling sun. It was a man with long, waist-length blond hair and wire-framed glasses. The man's face turned up into a scowl, and his eyes blazed with fury.

"You reek of Sinclair," the man snarled. Suddenly, the shadows around him started to move, and highly-emaciated figures appeared around the blond-haired man. The creatures' eyes glowed red and were filled with rage and what appeared to be hunger.

Shun stumbled back, nearly falling backwards. The blond-haired man pointed at Shun and said briskly, "Kill him. He's one of Sinclair's dogs." Moving like a wave of black, the creatures followed orders and charged.

i think that this chapter turned out pretty good. in other news, i finished my state test yesterday and my dad allowed me to stay home today since the freshmen are taking their state test today, so we wouldn't have done anything in class anyway. so, i consider myself lucky. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~