Draco: Gods, I keep getting evil with these names. As mentioned earlier, this is going to be the first in a long string of cliffhangers and I apologize in advance. Characters, weapons, origins © Square Enix and Disney. Monsters, setting, and encyclopedia © Akihisa Ikeda.

Chapter 21: Purity Tainted

Deep into the night. The moon was nearly full. Riku was howling on the school roof. Roxas and Naminé were busy with their secret project. Sora was meditating. Xion was asleep.

Kairi wished she could say the same.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

The human girl rose with a start, gripping her neck weakly. "What the hell?" She felt around the area and came across a small puncture right on her jugular. Her fingers moved ever so slightly, brushing against another, identical puncture, and Kairi quickly got to her feet and turned on a light, stepping towards the mirror to make sure this was what she thought it was.

There it was, clear as day - two glaring fang holes on the side of Kairi's neck.

"What's going on?" she murmured. "The marks never linger." A gasp of pain passed through her lips as she inadvertently brushed the inside of the gaps. "Must've got infected. Probably got some moonshine in there somehow. Should be fine by tomorrow..."

+x+x+x+

The marks weren't healed the next morning, but Kairi only berated herself for thinking that such a thing would happen less than overnight. She quickly bandaged the marks and made her way to class, feeling strangely dizzy.

Much to Kairi's relief, the morning passed rather uneventfully - she didn't want to start something in her state - and at noon hour the six of them - her, Sora, Riku, Naminé, Xion, Roxas - gathered in the club room to get an early start on the next issue of Yokai Times. They were back to their usual routine: working on the extras and praying that a story would show up before the month passed.

Kairi's dizziness had not subsided - she could have sworn it was actually getting worse, though she blamed it on trying to work through it. The others noticed, and after a while Xion actually caught her shoulder. "Are you okay, Kairi?"

"I'm fine," she insisted. "I just... I had a rough night. I need to..." she gave a gasp of pain as she tried to get to her feet and found her legs uncooperative. "I need to go lie down. Tell Leonheart I'm not gonna be in class, alright, Sora?" she prompted, getting to her feet.

Sora narrowed his gaze worriedly. "Are you sure you're alright?" he prompted.

Kairi nodded. "Yeah-" Her hand slipped off the table, and she stumbled in place for a moment before finishing. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need a rest."

The vampire turned to Riku. The werewolf felt his gaze and locked eyes, and Sora beckoned his head towards Kairi insistently. Riku nodded, getting to his feet and stepping towards her. "Here, Kairi, let me walk you back, alright?"

"Sure," Kairi murmured. She started to fall, but Riku caught her and let her put an arm around him before stepping out the door.

All six of them had a different reason to be worried.

+x+x+x+

What's going on?

"I don't know."

There's something wrong with her.

"You think I didn't notice?"

You need to check up on her.

"She's going to slap me. You know what it's like when she slaps me."

I've been the one taking those slaps.

"Then don't question them."

She acted like this before?

"Most certainly not around me."

Have you asked Riku about it?

"Stop asking questions you know the answer to."

What's going on?

"I don't know."

It was late at night. Sora was perched in the middle of his room in meditative stance. Surrounding him were several aromatherapic candles. The cross of his rosario was shining out against the crown, and before him, if only in his eyes, was himself. But the image before him was himself with hair like fire in the dark, and eyes of blood connected to the pupil by a gold ring.

He and the clawslinger had been stuck in this loop for over an hour.

A hard, solid knock on his door caused him to break his focus, and the clawslinger's apparition vanished as he glared at the door over his shoulder. With an irritable growl, he turned back and snapped his fingers, causing the door to fly open.

Xion's voice caught the back of his ears. "Sora?"

"Sit down."

His tone was not harsh, but nor was it particularly comforting. Slowly, Xion approached him and sat down, legs crossed - just as, not all too long ago, she had during their study sessions.

Those brought very annoying memories into his mind, and he raised a hand to stop her. "Seiza position."

There was quiet for a brief moment, then a shuffling as Xion hesitantly took the requested posture. There was a single minute of silence; then Sora sighed and turned to her, pulling out of his meditative stance and sitting down normally.

"Sorry about that," he admitted. "I'm..."

"Worried about Kairi?" Xion prompted.

Sora nodded. "Yeah," he admitted. Then; "You can, er... you can drop the seiza if you want."

Xion gave a light, nervous chuckle as she sat cross-legged again. "Sora... I need to ask you a question."

"Go ahead," he insisted.

"How..." Xion hesitated, then said louder, "How often?"

"How often what?"

"The blood," Xion replied. "Your vampire blood. How often have you given Kairi a shot?"

"I don't make it a scheduled thing, if that's what your asking," Sora defended. "When Kairi is about to die, I take emergency measures. That's how it works."

Xion was quiet for a moment. "That's... that's not really an answer," she murmured.

Sora sighed. "I couldn't tell you," he admitted. "The injections are blurred in my mind - location, date, opponent, it's all a weird... stew. The shot leaves me with physical effects kind of like anemia, but it... it clouds my mind. Not like when the clawslinger takes over, where it's just misty - it honestly tears into the memories and shatters the chains."

He gripped his forehead. "And I can't fix the links."

"So you don't have an answer?" Xion asked.

"I don't," Sora admitted, raising his gaze. "I'm sorry, Xion."

Xion sighed. "Alright," she murmured. "I understand. Thanks, Sora."

She got to her feet and closed the door behind her. Sora was quiet for a moment; then he sighed and got to his feet, putting out the candles between his fingers before crawling into bed.

+x+x+x+

"Talk to me, Yazoo."

Deep in the abandoned dungeon, three brothers were gathered. Silver hair, pulsing eyes, and a jet-black wing over the right shoulder were the common traits between them. One was a gunslinger who was little more than handy with a blade; one was a bruiser who was tough in a fight and that's about it; and the other was a swordsman with twin blades in one hand.

The swordsman was the youngest, but he was also the darkest.

Yazoo only sighed. "We have no resources to fall on if we want to confront them. Kaminari is prohibited from assisting us due to constant failure with her missions. Her allies had refused to accept a mission due to the lack of received payment from our previous."

His gaze shifted to Loz, who raised a hand defensively. "Hey, don't look at me!" He turned to Kadaj and added, "Anyways, there aren't any others on the grounds who'll work with us. And Kishi's p.o.'d after you ran him through with your blade, so we can't count on him to help."

"Damnation," Kadaj muttered. There was quiet for a moment. "What about outside help?"

"No chance," Loz replied. "The school grounds are guarded - you can't get in or out unless that silver at the bus wheel brings you in. And we can't trick him into lettin' an attack party on grounds."

"Besides, that would leave us rather hypocritical," Yazoo prompted, his voice low. Louder, he elaborated; "You told off Chikai for wanting to bring in human spies. After she's proven you wrong for assuming she was human in the first place, you really think she's not going to beat you into the ground for calling in allies of your own?"

Kadaj growled. "Shut it, Yazoo," he snapped. He rolled his shoulder with a light grunt. "My wing's still sore from that hit. Leave it to Kingdom to find another vampire and then double-team my ass." He winced, gripping his forehead - something was off about his memories of that fight.

"Face it, Kadaj," Loz prompted. "If you want to go pound Kingdom, you ain't got no one to lend us a blade. We're gonna have to cut 'em ourselves."

A small smile rose on Kadaj's face. "Maybe not," he murmured. He turned to face Loz. "Hey, I want you to head down into that tunnel by the coast. The one from Kurai's first news issue. If there's no one down there, loot the place for anything sharp. If there is, knock 'em out and drag 'em here?"

Loz nodded, pulling the catch on his Dual Hound so that the handle rolled into his hand. "You got it." He turned and drove his feet into the ground, rocketing forward so fast his body glowed blue.

"Yazoo," Kadaj added, "surveillance. Let me know who and what Kioku, Chikai, and that... Shy'in girl are doing. I need when and where. I also want you to check up on their condition - have they got anything, is it good, is it bad, are they treating it, etcetera, yada yada, blah blah blah."

"Of course," Yazoo mused. He headed out the door and flared his wing before drawing his Velvet Nightmare and rising off the ground, into the night air.

Kadaj waited until he was alone, and then counted to ten. In Latin. Then he drew Souba, grasping it by the blade and glancing at the handle curiously. There was still a faint mark where Kurai had cut it in half. Though it had held up so far, the line almost looked like a seam, which left Kadaj wary.

He shook his head and drove the weapon back into its sheath before starting deeper into the dungeon.

+x+x+x+

"You sure about this?"

Naminé nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure. I don't want to lose this."

Her room looked like some kind of mythical forge. What everyone had been calling her and Roxas' secret project had required making the place fireproof. Roxas' hair was sparking like someone was scraping metal together for a living. Naminé's sketchbook was on its last pages - and she had been double-siding. Both of them had spent half of the summer holiday planning and priming and basically taking every precaution they could. The other half had been spent testing the limits of those precautions.

Roxas sighed. "You know this is going to hurt.

"I know, Roxas," Naminé insisted. "But I need this, alright? I can't..." She sighed. "Look, I've been helpless before because I'm limited by what I have, alright? That's the problem with being what I am. And this is so that I can overcome that. But to do that, I need your help. So please, stop asking questions and let's just do this."

She locked eyes with the yoko for a long while.

A sigh passed through his lips. "You're gonna want something to bite."

"No, I-" The witch blew her hair exasperatedly, scrambling around for her pencil with her left hand, and flipped her sketchbook to a new page. She tapped her pencil to the page for a few moments, thinking about how she wanted to draw this, before scrawling a crude sketch onto the paper. The image did her usual work absolutely zero honour, but she seemed satisfied as she slipped her pencil back into the rings and turned back to Roxas. "There, the room has been sound-sealed. No one will hear a thing."

"That's horrible, Naminé," Roxas murmured, gazing at the image. "Your art skills don't deserved that kind of treatment."

"Roxas, focus."

The yoko sighed.

Three streams of flame rose from his back - the blazing tails that marked him as a yoko.

"This is going to hurt. A lot."

"Begin."

Roxas raised two fingers, touched towards each other - and a haous sphere of raw, white flame blazed at the tips.

He touched it to Naminé's arm.

A piercing scream tore through from the witch's lips, and it was all she could do to resist the urge to tell Roxas to stop.

+x+x+x+

The next day, Kairi was gone the entire morning. Sora and Riku were tied for most worried, but that didn't mean much considering how worried everyone was.

Naminé was no less worried than the others, but she looked like utter and complete hell. She had tear streaks down her face, and there was a strange look in her eyes - like she was hurting. In addition, she was working with her left hand, struggling her hardest to keep her whole right arm out of view.

"You catch something?" Xion asked of the witch. "Kairi didn't look like she was sick, but if she was in a bad condition and now you're in-."

"It's not... sickness," Naminé muttered, cutting her off. "Kairi was in pain. She hadn't 'caught' anything. How I am right now has nothing to do with how Kairi was yesterday."

Sora narrowed his gaze. "You sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure, now stow it. I'm not in the mood, okay?" Naminé's protests were weak.

"Hey, guys!"

The voice caused everyone to turn to see Kairi walking towards them. Riku shot from his seat in a blur; before anyone could see where he was, he was skidding to a stop with his arms around Kairi. "You're alright!" the werewolf exclaimed.

Kairi winced from the unexpected contact, but returned the hug gratefully. "Yeah, I am," she prompted. "A bit lightheaded, but I should be good for a while still."

Sora, who was on his feet for himself, narrowed his gaze. "What do you mean 'for a while'?" he asked. Something on Kairi's neck caught his gaze. "Wait, what's that?"

Riku pulled himself away and glanced at Kairi to see a small wrap of bandages around her jugular area. "Hold on, isn't this...?"

The whole group got up and approached the human girl as Sora neared her, setting a light hand on the bandages. "That's... that's my bite area! Kairi, did something happen?"

"I'm fine," Kairi insisted, pushing Sora's hand. "That Saïx guy was swinging alchohol around yesterday, I think the bite might have got infected. I'm sure it'll be fine if I jus- Holy shit, Naminé, what happened to your arm?"

Everyone's gaze was redirected to Naminé. The witch's right arm was covered in haphazard lines that circled her arm, wound lines like cuts... or burns. Nervously, Naminé tried to cover it with her left arm, to little effect. "It's nothing," she replied. "You don't need to worry."

"Like hell," Sora retaliated. "Naminé, that looks like some kind of.. torture method. Did something happen to you yesterday while we were all-"

"It's nothing to do with you," the witch insisted. "I'm fine, alright?"

Kairi narrowed her gaze. "Does this have something to do with yours and Roxas' project?"

Everyone glance at Roxas, who gained a sudden interest in his shoes.

The witch grit her teeth, averting her gaze. "...Yeah," she replied. "It's just... miscalculations. It's not gonna last, I swear to Ifrit."

+x+x+x+

"Well?"

Loz sighed. "There was nothing in there," he replied. "No blade, no bow, no clubs, no traps, no students, teachers, outsiders, strippers - nothing."

"And what the hell implied there were going to be strippers?" Yazoo demanded.

The brute averted his gaze. "Tell us what you found, Yazoo," he snapped, changing the subject.

Kadaj and Yazoo exchanged confused glances; then they both shook their heads to clear them. "Anyways, my recon provided several pieces of info about the news club members."

"Go on," Kadaj prompted.

"Kingdom and the Shy-on girl are spending as much time as they can together," Yazoo replied. "I got little more on them, other than the fact that Kingdom seems to be treating himself with aromatherapy recently. In addition, Shy-on seems to be spending the nights... active. I'm not sure who she tells of her location. Kioku seems to be suffering from wounds of some sort on her right arm. She and Kaigara have also been growing closer. Kurai spends the nights on the school roof. He seems to be perfecting a routine, which means that he intends to follow a set pattern during battle."

Kadaj gave a huff. "Hasn't learned his lesson," he observed.

"Quite," Yazoo agreed. "As for Chikai..."

"I know she wasn't in class this morning," Kadaj replied. "Or yesterday afternoon. If that's what you're gonna tell me, then save it."

Yazoo shook his head. "She seems to be... in pain. I passed by the freshman dorms and she appeared to be ill. If she shows up this afternoon, check to see what might be wrong with her."

Kadaj tapped Souba's handle. "You know, I thought she was acting strange yesterday morning. I'll check up on her." A grin rose on his face. "If she's feeling down, that means she can't go wild on me. And if we keep her away from Kingdom... Oh, this is gonna work!"

+x+x+x+

"Hey, Chikai?"

Kairi turned to see Kadaj Jenova approaching her. It was late after classes; she had stayed behind to get the work she missed from Professor Leonheart, which meant she was alone. She was starting to regret it; whatever was hurting her was getting worse. She set her face into a glare, hoping to intimidate him; she was in no condition to fight. "What do you want, Kadaj?"

The Jenova boy pulled away, raising a hand defensively. "I just wanted to ask you something," he insisted. "You don't look too good. You catch something?"

The human girl lowered her gaze. "Maybe," she admitted. "I was in a fight a couple days ago - some monstrel who was swinging alchohol around. I think it might have been contaminated."

"Ugh," Kadaj murmured. "Gross. Who uses alchohol in a battle?"

"I... think he was washing his weapon," Kairi lied. "Must've not wiped it off afterwards. I hear alchohol is good for stuff like cleaning." Talking with Kadaj was getting constantly weirder, so she quickly excused herself. "Look, I've gotta go, alright?"

Kadaj nodded. "See ya, firehair" he prompted.

Kairi didn't respond, only continuing to walk away, stumbling as she started towards the dorms.

A grin rose on Kadaj's face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialing Yazoo's number. "We've got info. Chikai is confirmed to be in a weakened state. Get Loz and get ready to fight; then mobilize and meet me on the way to the freshman dorms."

+x+x+x+

Damn it, wake up!

The clawslinger's angry shout tore Sora out of sleep in a flash. He scrambled to the middle of the aromatherapy setup in his room and snapped his fingers, causing all the candles to light, before taking a meditative stance. The clawslinger's image appeared before him.

"You think you've figured it out?"

Figured what out?

"Kairi. Fang marks. Weakness. Dizziness? Being bedridden? Come on, that's all we were talking about yesterday!"

What I've figured out is that you were naive enough to leave Kairi alone at the school building and I've been trying to get a hold of you since you got here.

"Okay, how the hell did I keep you out?"

We can only talk like this when our minds are in sync. You clearly need to stop lazing around and practice.

"Look, do you have any idea what might be wrong with her?"

There was silence for several moments.

I don't.

That was not good news.

+x+x+x+

"Sixty-seven."

Naminé was lying across the fireproofed floor of her dorm room, tears of pain streaming down her face. There was a kind of magic in the air she had never tested before - a raw kind of arcana that she was struggling to maintain. Roxas was sitting next to her, his tails lightly brushing against Naminé's legs - though they took the form of fire, he was able to control the heat, and that left a feeling like a cool breeze across the witch's skin.

It was little comfort, given the heat that blazed across her right arm.

Roxas sighed. The shining sphere of fire between his fingers lifted the next piece of their project off the floor, and he watched as it went from cold, haous white to a deadly red-hot glow; then he swept it past his eyes and towards Naminé's arm, and pressed it against her skin.

Another tortured scream passed Naminé's lips as the flame dug into her skin, and there was a rending crack as it joined with the previous piece.

"Sixty-eight."

The witch was waiting for the point where the fire would stop hurting - the point where her flesh would be used to the heat. Stories of humans and witches taking a thousand lashes across the back, criminals who faced torture rather than death, told that the pain ceased to be painful after twenty strikes.

But each story told of a thousand lashes, concentrated on one area. This was a constant flow of pain; even as one part of her arm became used to the endless pain, the heat would arrive past that boundary, that radius the inferno treated - and the pain would never end.

The next piece connected, and Naminé's scream died halfway through as her voice faltered, tears flowing from her eyes, and the same crack sounded again.

"Sixty-nine."

+x+x+x+

"Kairi?"

The human girl spun and nearly fell over. Every step had left her feeling weaker; she wasn't even halfway back to the dorms.

Her vision was a blur, but she was able to make out the werewolf who stood there. "Riku?" she managed to call out.

Riku's arms closed around her. "Kairi, what's wrong with you? You're in pain. Tell me what's wrong!"

"I'm fi-" Kairi gasped, her vision going black, and she struggled to stay upright as her body began to give way.

Riku was freaking out; Kairi sounded like she was being strangled. "Kairi, Kairi, stay with me, stay with me, please, please-"

A single solid blow to his head sent him flying, and Kairi was torn from his arms as he skidded across the ground. He raised his gaze to see Loz standing there, the pistons of his pile bunker clicking back into place.

"That's for rippin' me off on that payjob."

At his side was Yazoo, holding Kairi with an arm across her chest, his Velvet Nightmare in his left hand. "One down," he mused. "Four to go." He raised the bladed firearm towards Riku. "Now, you're going to tell me - where is that Shy-on girl?"

Riku got to his feet. "All I'm going to tell you," he snapped, "is that you're getting her name wrong." Soul Eater volted into his hand as fur began to race across his skin.

Loz raised his Dual Hound towards Kairi, the pistons drawing back. "Ah ah ah!" he called. "You talk, or Chikai gets the Ramuh treatment six feet under.

Yazoo turned towards him with a glare. The movement caused his arm to lose its grip on Kairi, and the human girl fell to the ground, gripping her neck with one hand and her forehead with the other.

"Kairi!" Riku shot forward.

And a pair of blade strikes tore across his chest.

Riku fell back, running into a gravestone as Kadaj whirled Souba back into a backhand grip, folding his wing behind him. "Back off, Kurai," he threatened. "Chikai's mine."

"Who the hell is it you think you are?" Riku snapped. "Kairi doesn't belong to anyone!"

Kadaj smirked, angling his gaze. "Maybe not," he mused. "But if we take you all down, then what kind of options does that leave her?"

Kairi tried get to her feet, her hand twitching across the ground, but her body refused to agree.

What's wrong with me?! What's going on?! It feels like my whole body is being torn apart!

Kadaj drove Souba into her hand, tearing a scream from her lips. Then he drew out his blade, and Yazoo grabbed her by the back of her shirt, dragging her to her feet. Loz raised his Dual Hound again, and Kadaj flipped Souba to a backhand grip before levelling it on Riku.

"Talk, Kurai," he snapped. "Where's the snow fairy."

Riku set a finger between his eyes as his werewolf change shifted over him properly, his face elongating. "I'm not telling you worth shit!"

He hurled Soul Eater, causing the dragon wingblade to dagger towards Kadaj.

Kadaj caught it between the shafts of Souba and flipped it to the ground.

Loz launched the pistons, sending an impossible voltage through Kairi's body, and a tortured scream tore from her as she fell to the ground.

Riku rushed forward, but Kadaj only drove his blade into the werewolf's shoulder, causing him to shout. Soul Eater volted into his left hand, and he tried to strike out with that, but Kadaj only lashed out with his right hand, launching a shock that sent Riku flying off the end of Souba. He hit the ground roughly, his vision and his consciousness flickering.

"Loz," Kadaj called, "pound him."

The brute stepped forward, locking Dual Hound ready to strike.

And a hand closed on his helm with a grip like a vice.

A surge of pure, raw power caused Kadaj and Yazoo to turn. Kairi was on her feet - she was standing of her own volition. Her hair was flaring around her like the snakes of a medusa, the crimson fluxing between light and dark. Her fingernails were sharpened into crude claws, straight dagger points, and her eyes were trapped closed, twitching like a nightmare.

Loz tried to lash out, but Kairi actually lifted him off his feet, hurling him into the air by his skull. Yazoo swung with his Velvet Nightmare, raising it to fire; but Kairi only grabbed Loz by the leg and arced him into a spin, catching the shot in Loz's arm; then Kairi pulled a full spin before hurling the brute towards the gunslinger and crashing both of them to the ground.

Kadaj spun to face Kairi, whose hand gripped her neck in pain. A murderous growl passed through Kadaj's lips, and he shot forward with Souba arcing for a round blow.

Kairi opened her eyes.

Bloodred flooded the irises.

Kadaj stopped halfway through the flight, his feet still off the ground, and raised Souba before him as Kairi shot towards him. "No no no no no," he pleaded, "not the wing, not the wing, NO!"

Kairi didn't grab his wing.

She grabbed his neck.

Then she hurled him into his brothers, and the pile of silver and leather skidded into the tombstone setup.

A moment passed; and once it had, Kairi fell to the ground, lying in yin-yang with Riku.

+x+x+x+

That was how Xion found them, two hours later, next to the horrific crater where the Jenova brothers had been. Kairi was twitching in her unconsciousness, her eyes clenched tight, and her hand was gripping the bandages on her neck. Her movement had been enough to tear of the bandages, and now, in the bright moonlight, Xion could see what had been beneath them.

Two punctures in her neck.

Fang marks.

Xion winced, closing her eyes. "I knew it."

Draco: This is part one of this story arc. And things are about to get very dark.