Dawn of Terror
Chapter 17: Blood on My Hands
Mariah sighed as the sun peeked in the window, grinning mischieviously at her. She had just been drifting to sleep too...She pulled herself up off the bed, sleep still tugging at her eyes. Getting no sleep wasn't a good idea any more. She padded down the sunlit hall, her wrapped feet making a muffled sound against the stone. She walked out of the kitchens, into the hallway. She walked out into the foyer, to the front door.
She unlocked the door and pulled it open, getting the paper from the stoop. She paused and listened to the early morning birds. She inhaled deeply and found the air smelt like daffodils and tulips. Ah yes, spring was here at last. She turned back and went inside, closing the door as noislisly as she could. She glanced at the paper.
"EMPEROR ASSASINATED BY REBEL" stared back at her, in bold type-face font. She blinked. Hadn't Tala said something about a gun...and the Emperor? She shook her head. She was over-tired, that was all. She turned the page and started to read the articles. Another bolded title caught her attention -"Local Millionaire Goes Looking For Neko-jin". And the names in the article stared back at her and she felt faint. The names were Hiwatari Kai and Rei (A/N: Simply Rei.)
She read on. The article slandered her master, calling him a "neko-jin lover", a supporter of "interracial relationships" and a supporter of "inferior creatures." The article told that Hiwatari "employed" neko-jins and housed them. It even went so far as to say that "Hiwatari's mother wa a neko-jin herself, and he is a mongrel, belonging to neither race, a product of some hideous interracial scandal."
Mariah fumed, clenching her fist angrily and tearing her eyes away from the horrible words. "How can they write this...these lies?!" she asked of no one imparticular, save for the banister. She set her mouth in a firm frown and set off to find Kai.
~*
Kai blinked, coming back to conciousness after sleep. The cotton of the blankets tickled him and he blinked in confusion. That wasn't cotton, nor was it the blankets. He grabbed hold of the material in question. He studied it, finding its texture to be almost silk like in his hand. It was Rei's hair. Rei squirmed beside him and opened an eye. "Letgo," he said sleepily.
Kai dropped the fistful of hair he'd been pulling on and muttered an apology. Rei got up, turned around and lay back down, curling up like a cat. He curled his tail up about his nose. "Oh, look who's sociable today," Kai said, reaching over and petting the 'sleeping' neko-jin.
Rei opened an eye and smirked, purring coyly. "Now, get up," Kai said, tugging on Rei's tail a bit.
The neko-jin hissed and bared his teeth. Kai rolled his eyes. "Oh, you know you like it."
Rei hissed again and buried his face in his front "paws". Kai patted him on the head and sat up, yawning.
The door was suddenly flung open and both occupants of the bed jumped. Mariah stood in the doorway, obviously furious. She stalked across the floor and thrust the daily newspaper into Kai's face. "Read!" she commanded.
Kai scanned the article quickly. "What the-"
He glanced up at Mariah. "Who told them this?!"
She shook her head. "I don't know! I don't know! I-It's horrible!"
As an after thought, she added, "I bet it was that dispecable Tala!"
"Tala was with me the entire time! How could he do anything?"
Mariah was crying. She buried her hands in her face. "I don't know, I don't know!"
Kai threw the paper to the floor. "I'm going to have a word with that blasted editor! I'll see how he likes slander then!"
Kai got out of the bed and sought out his shirt, muttering about 'editors from hell.'
~*
Tala sat, eyeing Junsui as she paced the upstairs parlour. A small smirk played on his lips, behind the cigarette he was holding. The copper-haired girl was obviously frantic.
"You didn't kill him!"
Tala drew on the cigarette and rolled his eyes. Junsui paced faster, watching him now. "You didn't kill him and you didn't kill Taiyou, either. Do you know what this meanS?!"
She stopped and placed her hands on the arms of the chair, thrusting her face into Tala's so that their eyes met. "You idiot!" she shrieked. "You can't even kill a neko-jin!"
She backed away. "And to top it all off, you killed both the EMPEROR and his army commander!"
Her face was beat red and her eyes were wild. Tala grew serious. Junsui started to laugh. "You said you could kill anybody! ANYBODY!"
She laughed harder, then suddenly stopped. "You couldn't even kill that pitiful neko-jin!What kind of assasin are you?! INCAPABLE?!"
"I'm capable of many things, Miss Ukiya," Tala said quietly.
"Killing obviously isn't one of them!" Junsui shrieked, throwing her hands up in the air. Tala didn't reply. Junsui stamped her foot in frustration, then stormed out of the room.
Tala smirked and removed the pistol from it's holster. "You have me all wrong, Junsui..."
~*
Rei followed Kai down the hall, pleading to go with him to the editor. "They shouldn't be allowed to slander you like that! And they were insulting neko-jins too!"
He grabbed hold of Kai's arm and the bluenette quickly threw him off. "No! You can't come Rei, and that's final!"
"They were insulting me too!"
Kai whirled on him, eyes blazing. "Do you know how fucking redundant that would be?! to go down there and say that their article is incorrect, because I don't like neko-jins, I hate them, and then to have brought you there with me?!"
"I'll go on my own behalf!"
"They know who you are, Rei! And besides, they'll just laugh at you!"
"They won't laugh long!" Rei said, tears falling from the corner of his eyes. "I-I'll make sure they won't! I'll slit their throats, I-"
"You will not go down there and commit a murder, Rei!"
"I will if I want to! You can't stop me!"
"Kon Rei-"
"Don't call me that! It's not my name!"
"REI!"
Footsteps in the hall silenced them both. Kai took his hands off Rei's shoulders. Both of them watched the hall. Someone walked into the kitchen where they were standing. And that someone was all too familiar to Rei.
Taiyou smiled. "Hiwatari-sama," he said poisonously. "I believe you have something of mine."
He looked directly at Rei. Kai gritted his teeth. "How did you get in here?"
Taiyou waved his hand. "None of that matters. Now, give me the neko-jin."
His expression turned violent. Kai frowned and crossed his arms. "No."
Taiyou gritted his teeth. "Hiwatari, we had a deal-"
"I said no, Ukiya! Get out of my house!"
Taiyou frowned. "You low-down, good-for-nothing....SON OF A BITCH!"
With the last words, he launched himself forward and caught Kai by surprise, wrapping his hands firmly about the bluenette's throat. "Die, you fucking bastard!"
Kai grabbed at the man's hands, trying to pry them off, but to no avail. Rei stood there, shocked, eyes wide. Without thinking, he grabbed the knife sitting on the kitchen table. Closing his eyes, he stabbed the nearest thing to him, quickly, three times, then pulled the knife back.
Taiyou stumbled backwards, letting go of Kai, who placed a hand tenderly on his bruising neck. Taiyou grabbed at the bloody wound, falling to his knees. He screamed in anguish, then flopped over onto the ground with a sickening thud. Blood pooled about him, flowing out of the knife-wound to the heart.
Rei and Kai stood dumb-founded for a moment. The sound of someone running brought them back to life.
Junsui ran into the room. Her shoe stuck to something on the ground. She looked down...and screamed. On the floor lay her brother, dead as a doornail, his blood flowing all over the stones. He was clutching his chest. She shrieked and screamed. She felt sick, she felt faint. Her dead brother....the stench of blood was nauseating. She held her hands to her head, then clasped one over her mouth and pointed with the other. She moved backwards, pressing herself up against the door frame, her eyes staring wildly at the corpse. At last, she found her voice. "He-he..."
She glanced over at Kai and Rei, eyes wild. And her eyes fell upon the bloody knife Rei was still holding in his hand. "You!" she screamed.
Rei blanched and dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor. "You!" she screamed again. "You killed him! You killed Taiyou!"
Tyson dashed into the room. "What's going on in her-"
He paused when he saw the dead body. Junsui was glaring at Rei. "You! You son of a bitch! You disgusting creature! You shouldn't be allowed to breath-"
Tears flowed down her face as she screeched insults at the horrified neko-jin. Kai could only look helplessly between them, then pleadingly at Tyson. The blue-haired boy took the hint.
Junsui had sank to her knees, still spitting insults at Rei. Tyson got down and put an arm about her shoulders, helping her up. She obliged, but never broke eye contact with Rei. "Come, MiLady. You need to lie down-"
Tyson lead her off, but not before she had given Rei a final glare. "I'll see you hanged for this, neko-jin," she spat, then turned and let herself be led off down the hall.
Kai turned back to Rei, who was still frozen in shock with what he had done. The bluenette got to his feet and hesitantly put an arm on Rei's shoulder. Rei snapped back to life. "Kai!"
"Shush, Rei. It's okay-"
He glanced back at the body. Rei looked at him, terror showing up in his eyes. Kai turned back to him. "This will pass. Go lie down. I'll be along in a moment or two."
Rei nodded and turned, walking down the hall. Kai curled a lip in disgust at the corpse on the floor. "MARIAH!" he shouted.
The pink-haired neko-jin poked her head into the kitchen. "Hai, Hiwatari-sama?"
He pointed at the body. "Get somebody to clean that up."
Mariah nodded. "Of course."
Kai turned and followed Rei down the hall.
Chapter 17: Blood on My Hands
Mariah sighed as the sun peeked in the window, grinning mischieviously at her. She had just been drifting to sleep too...She pulled herself up off the bed, sleep still tugging at her eyes. Getting no sleep wasn't a good idea any more. She padded down the sunlit hall, her wrapped feet making a muffled sound against the stone. She walked out of the kitchens, into the hallway. She walked out into the foyer, to the front door.
She unlocked the door and pulled it open, getting the paper from the stoop. She paused and listened to the early morning birds. She inhaled deeply and found the air smelt like daffodils and tulips. Ah yes, spring was here at last. She turned back and went inside, closing the door as noislisly as she could. She glanced at the paper.
"EMPEROR ASSASINATED BY REBEL" stared back at her, in bold type-face font. She blinked. Hadn't Tala said something about a gun...and the Emperor? She shook her head. She was over-tired, that was all. She turned the page and started to read the articles. Another bolded title caught her attention -"Local Millionaire Goes Looking For Neko-jin". And the names in the article stared back at her and she felt faint. The names were Hiwatari Kai and Rei (A/N: Simply Rei.)
She read on. The article slandered her master, calling him a "neko-jin lover", a supporter of "interracial relationships" and a supporter of "inferior creatures." The article told that Hiwatari "employed" neko-jins and housed them. It even went so far as to say that "Hiwatari's mother wa a neko-jin herself, and he is a mongrel, belonging to neither race, a product of some hideous interracial scandal."
Mariah fumed, clenching her fist angrily and tearing her eyes away from the horrible words. "How can they write this...these lies?!" she asked of no one imparticular, save for the banister. She set her mouth in a firm frown and set off to find Kai.
~*
Kai blinked, coming back to conciousness after sleep. The cotton of the blankets tickled him and he blinked in confusion. That wasn't cotton, nor was it the blankets. He grabbed hold of the material in question. He studied it, finding its texture to be almost silk like in his hand. It was Rei's hair. Rei squirmed beside him and opened an eye. "Letgo," he said sleepily.
Kai dropped the fistful of hair he'd been pulling on and muttered an apology. Rei got up, turned around and lay back down, curling up like a cat. He curled his tail up about his nose. "Oh, look who's sociable today," Kai said, reaching over and petting the 'sleeping' neko-jin.
Rei opened an eye and smirked, purring coyly. "Now, get up," Kai said, tugging on Rei's tail a bit.
The neko-jin hissed and bared his teeth. Kai rolled his eyes. "Oh, you know you like it."
Rei hissed again and buried his face in his front "paws". Kai patted him on the head and sat up, yawning.
The door was suddenly flung open and both occupants of the bed jumped. Mariah stood in the doorway, obviously furious. She stalked across the floor and thrust the daily newspaper into Kai's face. "Read!" she commanded.
Kai scanned the article quickly. "What the-"
He glanced up at Mariah. "Who told them this?!"
She shook her head. "I don't know! I don't know! I-It's horrible!"
As an after thought, she added, "I bet it was that dispecable Tala!"
"Tala was with me the entire time! How could he do anything?"
Mariah was crying. She buried her hands in her face. "I don't know, I don't know!"
Kai threw the paper to the floor. "I'm going to have a word with that blasted editor! I'll see how he likes slander then!"
Kai got out of the bed and sought out his shirt, muttering about 'editors from hell.'
~*
Tala sat, eyeing Junsui as she paced the upstairs parlour. A small smirk played on his lips, behind the cigarette he was holding. The copper-haired girl was obviously frantic.
"You didn't kill him!"
Tala drew on the cigarette and rolled his eyes. Junsui paced faster, watching him now. "You didn't kill him and you didn't kill Taiyou, either. Do you know what this meanS?!"
She stopped and placed her hands on the arms of the chair, thrusting her face into Tala's so that their eyes met. "You idiot!" she shrieked. "You can't even kill a neko-jin!"
She backed away. "And to top it all off, you killed both the EMPEROR and his army commander!"
Her face was beat red and her eyes were wild. Tala grew serious. Junsui started to laugh. "You said you could kill anybody! ANYBODY!"
She laughed harder, then suddenly stopped. "You couldn't even kill that pitiful neko-jin!What kind of assasin are you?! INCAPABLE?!"
"I'm capable of many things, Miss Ukiya," Tala said quietly.
"Killing obviously isn't one of them!" Junsui shrieked, throwing her hands up in the air. Tala didn't reply. Junsui stamped her foot in frustration, then stormed out of the room.
Tala smirked and removed the pistol from it's holster. "You have me all wrong, Junsui..."
~*
Rei followed Kai down the hall, pleading to go with him to the editor. "They shouldn't be allowed to slander you like that! And they were insulting neko-jins too!"
He grabbed hold of Kai's arm and the bluenette quickly threw him off. "No! You can't come Rei, and that's final!"
"They were insulting me too!"
Kai whirled on him, eyes blazing. "Do you know how fucking redundant that would be?! to go down there and say that their article is incorrect, because I don't like neko-jins, I hate them, and then to have brought you there with me?!"
"I'll go on my own behalf!"
"They know who you are, Rei! And besides, they'll just laugh at you!"
"They won't laugh long!" Rei said, tears falling from the corner of his eyes. "I-I'll make sure they won't! I'll slit their throats, I-"
"You will not go down there and commit a murder, Rei!"
"I will if I want to! You can't stop me!"
"Kon Rei-"
"Don't call me that! It's not my name!"
"REI!"
Footsteps in the hall silenced them both. Kai took his hands off Rei's shoulders. Both of them watched the hall. Someone walked into the kitchen where they were standing. And that someone was all too familiar to Rei.
Taiyou smiled. "Hiwatari-sama," he said poisonously. "I believe you have something of mine."
He looked directly at Rei. Kai gritted his teeth. "How did you get in here?"
Taiyou waved his hand. "None of that matters. Now, give me the neko-jin."
His expression turned violent. Kai frowned and crossed his arms. "No."
Taiyou gritted his teeth. "Hiwatari, we had a deal-"
"I said no, Ukiya! Get out of my house!"
Taiyou frowned. "You low-down, good-for-nothing....SON OF A BITCH!"
With the last words, he launched himself forward and caught Kai by surprise, wrapping his hands firmly about the bluenette's throat. "Die, you fucking bastard!"
Kai grabbed at the man's hands, trying to pry them off, but to no avail. Rei stood there, shocked, eyes wide. Without thinking, he grabbed the knife sitting on the kitchen table. Closing his eyes, he stabbed the nearest thing to him, quickly, three times, then pulled the knife back.
Taiyou stumbled backwards, letting go of Kai, who placed a hand tenderly on his bruising neck. Taiyou grabbed at the bloody wound, falling to his knees. He screamed in anguish, then flopped over onto the ground with a sickening thud. Blood pooled about him, flowing out of the knife-wound to the heart.
Rei and Kai stood dumb-founded for a moment. The sound of someone running brought them back to life.
Junsui ran into the room. Her shoe stuck to something on the ground. She looked down...and screamed. On the floor lay her brother, dead as a doornail, his blood flowing all over the stones. He was clutching his chest. She shrieked and screamed. She felt sick, she felt faint. Her dead brother....the stench of blood was nauseating. She held her hands to her head, then clasped one over her mouth and pointed with the other. She moved backwards, pressing herself up against the door frame, her eyes staring wildly at the corpse. At last, she found her voice. "He-he..."
She glanced over at Kai and Rei, eyes wild. And her eyes fell upon the bloody knife Rei was still holding in his hand. "You!" she screamed.
Rei blanched and dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor. "You!" she screamed again. "You killed him! You killed Taiyou!"
Tyson dashed into the room. "What's going on in her-"
He paused when he saw the dead body. Junsui was glaring at Rei. "You! You son of a bitch! You disgusting creature! You shouldn't be allowed to breath-"
Tears flowed down her face as she screeched insults at the horrified neko-jin. Kai could only look helplessly between them, then pleadingly at Tyson. The blue-haired boy took the hint.
Junsui had sank to her knees, still spitting insults at Rei. Tyson got down and put an arm about her shoulders, helping her up. She obliged, but never broke eye contact with Rei. "Come, MiLady. You need to lie down-"
Tyson lead her off, but not before she had given Rei a final glare. "I'll see you hanged for this, neko-jin," she spat, then turned and let herself be led off down the hall.
Kai turned back to Rei, who was still frozen in shock with what he had done. The bluenette got to his feet and hesitantly put an arm on Rei's shoulder. Rei snapped back to life. "Kai!"
"Shush, Rei. It's okay-"
He glanced back at the body. Rei looked at him, terror showing up in his eyes. Kai turned back to him. "This will pass. Go lie down. I'll be along in a moment or two."
Rei nodded and turned, walking down the hall. Kai curled a lip in disgust at the corpse on the floor. "MARIAH!" he shouted.
The pink-haired neko-jin poked her head into the kitchen. "Hai, Hiwatari-sama?"
He pointed at the body. "Get somebody to clean that up."
Mariah nodded. "Of course."
Kai turned and followed Rei down the hall.