(A/N: Yay! Thankies for the loverly reviews! ^O^
Desi: XD So I did mention death! Well, there certainley will be plenty of it...I've already consdered starting to kill off charas. O__o;;; Rei needs drugs...heh...Good ol' druggie Rei, ne? XD And yes, Max does feel very, very, very bad in the morning. Thing sdon't look good now, but hopefully they'll look better. @_@ I'm working as fast as I can! And things are starting to look better around here...I can drive! WOOT! look out roads, Abee can drive! XD I'm glad you like the story! ^O^
Neko Oni: Yay! You signed in! Yay! Clones! He's not o'd'ed yet. ^_^ That comes later! And yes, Mari is a druggie. That shall all be revealed later...mwha...later...Maybe they'll rape him, maybe not. Depends on how I feel. ^_^ lmao I was contemplating having Kai stay and watch. XD A little bit of voyuerism never hurt, ne? And as long as Rei-chan stays under the couch, everything will be okay...*backs away from the couch slowly* O.O
Now, on with the fic!)
"And No Birds Sang"
Chapter 7: Trouble Begins
The blood throbbed through his veins, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Groaning, he rolled over, trying to block out the sounds. His temples thumped in time with the drum.
A blue eye peeked open, then shut again promptly as the strong sunlight filtered in through the dusty window. Max lurched up, the twisting feeling of his stomach becoming too much to bear. It crept upwards. He groaned again and flopped back against the bed.
A door creaked open, much to Max's dismay. The sound was caught by his over-sensitive ears and amplified sixteen times. It sounded like a thirty-thousand tonne truck rolling over and crushing itself, the metal of its frame cracking. Max grabbed a pillow and shoved it over his head.
"Max?"
The voice boomed, even though it was only what would have normally been a whisper. Max whimpered, then winced, the noise in his throat making the headache even worse.
"Max-chan?"
Thud, thud, thud, went the footsteps as Tyson's stupid voice boomed out across the room and shook poor Max's head about. A hand on his shoulder - oh, wonderful. The bluenette was shaking him violently by the shoulders. Max swore his cranium shifted.
He opened an eye, wincing as the sunlight poured in. His head screamed in protest. Tyson smiled. He was too bright to look at - the sun had illuminated him so that Max could barely see him, save for the blurred edges of his sillohette. He closed his eye again. "Go 'way," he muttered, wincing as again the vibrations of his vocal chords ground on the nerves in his head.
He buried his head back under the pillow, hoping Tyson got the drift and left. The bluenette didn't leave though. Instead, he stayed where he was. Max could tell by the steady breathing that rung in his ears. Or maybe that was his own and his mind was skewed enough to duplicate the sound. He didn't know. He didn't care.
He was going to be in shit when he got home.
~*~*~*~*
Boom!
The sound rang out across the train station, echoing for miles around. The catostrophic noise was followed by another of its kind, and another.
Trains screeched to a halt as the tracks before them bent and twisted in the heat of the inferno. Smoke billowed from between their wheels. People dove from the coaches in droves, handerkerchiefs, coats, scarves wound up about their noses in an effort to keep out the smoke and ash. They skirted the flames, rushed into them, in some sort of mad chaos. Panic shone brightly in their eyes, reflected by the flames that daunted them.
Here, there, the little fire sprites sprung up, catching a woman's skirt, a man's trenchcoat, searing them and sending them up in flames. They were too panicked to notice, continued walking, running, struggling.
The flames crackled and licked at the building, widing their way across the support beams in the roof. Amid a cascade of embers, sparks and burning metal, a rod came crashing down. People screamed, leapt back. Some recoiled in disgust. Others shrieked for help, suffocating themselves with their cries.
A child had been crushed under the falling support, blood and bones spattered across the floor. The corpse fell victim to the flames, burning and smoldering as the Bible depicted the sinners would in Hell.
Sirens screeched outside, tires crunched upon gravel, brakes squealed. Gravel was flung up in showers by frantic feet; long, thick hoses were drug through it.
Another defeaning boom caused everyone to pause for a split second. One of the engines had toppled, its fuel tank exploding into the fire's fuels. Several seconds later, another engine followed. Everyone paused, too scared to move, to frantic to help. A rip-roaring sound started, low at first, then higher and higher until it rent the air like a jet plane. Plaster fell out of the ceiling.
Cries of shock, of horror and of pain pulled at the air. Then the voices choked on the thick black smoke. Electrical wires unwound, falling to the ground like rescue ropes and with them, a shower of searing sparks. The roaring continued and then, the ceiling caved, plunging toward the ground.
In the aftermath of the fire, when all the flames had been stomped out and the ashen mess let steam rise into the grayed air, nobody could tell what had happened. Nobody knew how many had died; who had been in there. The twisted corpses of the trains lay on their sides, the fire having melted their bodies, twisting them into gruesome new shapes that held some sort of sinister foreboding.
There was no indication of who had been, what had been done. Not far from the ruins of the station, the army found something hastily scrawled on the dusty gravel of the rails. It was sprayed-painted, the airy-ness of the blood red paint giving it away. "Long live the Revolution!"
What did it mean? Nobody knew. Who were "the Konekos", the ones who hastily left their mark on the railroad here? Nobody knew. But they had to be caught! They had to die, they had taken the lives of the innocents!
But who were they? If they weren't caught, would they stop at this?
One thing was for sure, this wouldn't be the end of it. Soon enough, everyone would know who the Konekos were. And everyone would be afraid when they heard that name.
This wasn't the end of it.
"Long live the Revolution!"
~*~*~*~*
"And in other news, the train station was bombed by an unknown terrorist force. Police are investigating the site as we speak and the special miltia has been mobilzed. We will have further information later."
Kai turned off the television, ending the endless stream of babble that the news reporter was spouting forth. "Train station bombings," he muttered. "What next?"
He sat down on the dingy cot in the dusty, grey hotel room. The blinds were shut. Only slivers of streetlight crept in from between the cracks in the broken blinds.
It was a dreary place, it was a dreary time. It was a time of war, of revolution, of hate and prejudice and intolerance. The wind of change was blowing through the streets of this very place...
But Kai had more important things to worry about. Things that were closer to him personally, things that were joined to him at the hip. Like the money for instance. If he didn't get that money back, he was going to loose his estate and the neko-jins under him were being sent off to slave labour.
Speaking of neko-jins, Rei was currently his biggest problem. He was furious with the neko-jin and so disappointed in him. He wanted to slap Rei and scream at him until his throat bled and his voice was hoarse. Part of him wanted to forgive the neko-jin and just get on with life. Just get on with the way things were before.
They'd fought before, true. But somehow...somehow this act hadn't seemed forgivable and somehow, this fight had changed the dynamics between them. Nothing would ever be the same.
Kai sighed deeply and rested his cheek in his hand. He dully surveyed the room. There was nothing here to do, nothing here to see. The clock struck three and Kai knew downstairs, the bar was beginning to empty out.
He lay back on the bed, looking up at the cracked ceiling, contemplating. His life was slowly coming apart at the seams, much like this building. In its day, it had surely been glorious and rich - probably one of the finest around. But now it was forgotten and run-down. Would he be like this someday too? Forgotten and falling apart?
For now, it sure seemed that way.
~*~*~*~*~*
Mari went back down the hall. She could hear the music playing in the club. Luiz was probably preforming at high speed, as he always did. His act was the closing - the grande finale, if one could say so. She sighed as she padded along the worn carpet. There were burn holes in the rotting rug, probably from cigarettes of preformers long forgotten.
She stopped at the dressing room door. Noticing it was slightly ajar, she raised an eyebrow. Maybe Rei had left? Cautiously, she peered into the room. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in surprise. Pale light crept out into the hallway, but her complexion was pale as the moon.
Rei...he was lying on the floor....someone...
Leaning over him. Who was that? She couldn't tell, their face was covered in a cloak and...
Was that gun?
She felt faint. Her heart tripped in her chest. No, no this couldn't be happening! Not now, not after she had spent so long seeking out her brother! No!
With a savage cry, she hurled herself into the room, startling whoever it was with the gun. She sprung upon him, teeth and claws bared.
He was in mid-turn when she was upon him. Gold eyes faced green. She knocked the gun from his hand and sank her teeth into his flesh, hard, but she tasted no blood.
Instead, she was flung into a nearby wall, her head connecting hard with it. The room danced about confusedly and now she tasted blood, the coppery tang reminding her it was her own. Dully, she heard footsteps and the swing of the door. The room vanished into black.
~*~*~*~*~*
The clock struck two. A shadowy figure made his way down the back alley. He was garbed all in black, blending in perfectly with his surroundings. A few silver strands of hair hung down about his face. His blue-grey eyes darted about. His movements were cautious and careful, and full of grace.
He made not a sound as he crossed the thin thread of wire that served as a clothes line about sixty feet above the ground. He did not look down. Instead, he scrambled onto the ledge and in through an open window.
He put his feet on the floor and stood up. His body ached from having been curled in a crouching position so long. Sighing, he removed his mask, shaking loose his hair.
He turned and shut the window, then drew the curtains, blocking out the outside world.
He was a pleasant-looking man of about twenty-five. His skin was pale, currently flushed with the cold of the city night. His eyes were a curious blue-grey colour, obscured by his spiky silver hair. He was tall and lean. He appeared nothing like a neko-jin, yet his entire presence gave one the idea of a cat.
He smiled suddenly. Two pure white fangs poked from between his thin lips, identifying his neko-jin heritage. He flopped down on the sofa, picking up some disregarded magazine. It was 'Cosmo', one of the stupid girly ones Mari read. He rolled his eyes.
The clock struck three. He glanced at the clock and raised an eyebrow. Mari should have been home a long time ago. Yawning, he rolled over and got up, starting for the bedroom.
Tomorrow was another day and he had things to do in the sunlight hours. He couldn't stay up forever, waiting on a stray neko-jin.
He pulled the black gloves off his hands. He glanced at his palm. Printed in bold, black ink was "Koneko" along with a half-moon. He smiled venomly. By day, he was one person and by night he was another.
In the living room, the magazine lay on the floor, its pages lying half across an old photo in a broken frame. The pciture displayed two happy neko-jins, one with beautiful green eyes and flowing dark hair; the other with blue-grey eyes and silver hair. The frame had been inscripted 'Mari & Jin', but the names were obscured with blood and the faces of the people in the picture marred by broken glass.
~*~*~*~*
[A/N: ....I could write more. I should write more. But I want to update before I go to work, so I won't. Plus, I dunno what to write now. @__@ R&R please? It might inspire me.]
Desi: XD So I did mention death! Well, there certainley will be plenty of it...I've already consdered starting to kill off charas. O__o;;; Rei needs drugs...heh...Good ol' druggie Rei, ne? XD And yes, Max does feel very, very, very bad in the morning. Thing sdon't look good now, but hopefully they'll look better. @_@ I'm working as fast as I can! And things are starting to look better around here...I can drive! WOOT! look out roads, Abee can drive! XD I'm glad you like the story! ^O^
Neko Oni: Yay! You signed in! Yay! Clones! He's not o'd'ed yet. ^_^ That comes later! And yes, Mari is a druggie. That shall all be revealed later...mwha...later...Maybe they'll rape him, maybe not. Depends on how I feel. ^_^ lmao I was contemplating having Kai stay and watch. XD A little bit of voyuerism never hurt, ne? And as long as Rei-chan stays under the couch, everything will be okay...*backs away from the couch slowly* O.O
Now, on with the fic!)
"And No Birds Sang"
Chapter 7: Trouble Begins
The blood throbbed through his veins, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Groaning, he rolled over, trying to block out the sounds. His temples thumped in time with the drum.
A blue eye peeked open, then shut again promptly as the strong sunlight filtered in through the dusty window. Max lurched up, the twisting feeling of his stomach becoming too much to bear. It crept upwards. He groaned again and flopped back against the bed.
A door creaked open, much to Max's dismay. The sound was caught by his over-sensitive ears and amplified sixteen times. It sounded like a thirty-thousand tonne truck rolling over and crushing itself, the metal of its frame cracking. Max grabbed a pillow and shoved it over his head.
"Max?"
The voice boomed, even though it was only what would have normally been a whisper. Max whimpered, then winced, the noise in his throat making the headache even worse.
"Max-chan?"
Thud, thud, thud, went the footsteps as Tyson's stupid voice boomed out across the room and shook poor Max's head about. A hand on his shoulder - oh, wonderful. The bluenette was shaking him violently by the shoulders. Max swore his cranium shifted.
He opened an eye, wincing as the sunlight poured in. His head screamed in protest. Tyson smiled. He was too bright to look at - the sun had illuminated him so that Max could barely see him, save for the blurred edges of his sillohette. He closed his eye again. "Go 'way," he muttered, wincing as again the vibrations of his vocal chords ground on the nerves in his head.
He buried his head back under the pillow, hoping Tyson got the drift and left. The bluenette didn't leave though. Instead, he stayed where he was. Max could tell by the steady breathing that rung in his ears. Or maybe that was his own and his mind was skewed enough to duplicate the sound. He didn't know. He didn't care.
He was going to be in shit when he got home.
~*~*~*~*
Boom!
The sound rang out across the train station, echoing for miles around. The catostrophic noise was followed by another of its kind, and another.
Trains screeched to a halt as the tracks before them bent and twisted in the heat of the inferno. Smoke billowed from between their wheels. People dove from the coaches in droves, handerkerchiefs, coats, scarves wound up about their noses in an effort to keep out the smoke and ash. They skirted the flames, rushed into them, in some sort of mad chaos. Panic shone brightly in their eyes, reflected by the flames that daunted them.
Here, there, the little fire sprites sprung up, catching a woman's skirt, a man's trenchcoat, searing them and sending them up in flames. They were too panicked to notice, continued walking, running, struggling.
The flames crackled and licked at the building, widing their way across the support beams in the roof. Amid a cascade of embers, sparks and burning metal, a rod came crashing down. People screamed, leapt back. Some recoiled in disgust. Others shrieked for help, suffocating themselves with their cries.
A child had been crushed under the falling support, blood and bones spattered across the floor. The corpse fell victim to the flames, burning and smoldering as the Bible depicted the sinners would in Hell.
Sirens screeched outside, tires crunched upon gravel, brakes squealed. Gravel was flung up in showers by frantic feet; long, thick hoses were drug through it.
Another defeaning boom caused everyone to pause for a split second. One of the engines had toppled, its fuel tank exploding into the fire's fuels. Several seconds later, another engine followed. Everyone paused, too scared to move, to frantic to help. A rip-roaring sound started, low at first, then higher and higher until it rent the air like a jet plane. Plaster fell out of the ceiling.
Cries of shock, of horror and of pain pulled at the air. Then the voices choked on the thick black smoke. Electrical wires unwound, falling to the ground like rescue ropes and with them, a shower of searing sparks. The roaring continued and then, the ceiling caved, plunging toward the ground.
In the aftermath of the fire, when all the flames had been stomped out and the ashen mess let steam rise into the grayed air, nobody could tell what had happened. Nobody knew how many had died; who had been in there. The twisted corpses of the trains lay on their sides, the fire having melted their bodies, twisting them into gruesome new shapes that held some sort of sinister foreboding.
There was no indication of who had been, what had been done. Not far from the ruins of the station, the army found something hastily scrawled on the dusty gravel of the rails. It was sprayed-painted, the airy-ness of the blood red paint giving it away. "Long live the Revolution!"
What did it mean? Nobody knew. Who were "the Konekos", the ones who hastily left their mark on the railroad here? Nobody knew. But they had to be caught! They had to die, they had taken the lives of the innocents!
But who were they? If they weren't caught, would they stop at this?
One thing was for sure, this wouldn't be the end of it. Soon enough, everyone would know who the Konekos were. And everyone would be afraid when they heard that name.
This wasn't the end of it.
"Long live the Revolution!"
~*~*~*~*
"And in other news, the train station was bombed by an unknown terrorist force. Police are investigating the site as we speak and the special miltia has been mobilzed. We will have further information later."
Kai turned off the television, ending the endless stream of babble that the news reporter was spouting forth. "Train station bombings," he muttered. "What next?"
He sat down on the dingy cot in the dusty, grey hotel room. The blinds were shut. Only slivers of streetlight crept in from between the cracks in the broken blinds.
It was a dreary place, it was a dreary time. It was a time of war, of revolution, of hate and prejudice and intolerance. The wind of change was blowing through the streets of this very place...
But Kai had more important things to worry about. Things that were closer to him personally, things that were joined to him at the hip. Like the money for instance. If he didn't get that money back, he was going to loose his estate and the neko-jins under him were being sent off to slave labour.
Speaking of neko-jins, Rei was currently his biggest problem. He was furious with the neko-jin and so disappointed in him. He wanted to slap Rei and scream at him until his throat bled and his voice was hoarse. Part of him wanted to forgive the neko-jin and just get on with life. Just get on with the way things were before.
They'd fought before, true. But somehow...somehow this act hadn't seemed forgivable and somehow, this fight had changed the dynamics between them. Nothing would ever be the same.
Kai sighed deeply and rested his cheek in his hand. He dully surveyed the room. There was nothing here to do, nothing here to see. The clock struck three and Kai knew downstairs, the bar was beginning to empty out.
He lay back on the bed, looking up at the cracked ceiling, contemplating. His life was slowly coming apart at the seams, much like this building. In its day, it had surely been glorious and rich - probably one of the finest around. But now it was forgotten and run-down. Would he be like this someday too? Forgotten and falling apart?
For now, it sure seemed that way.
~*~*~*~*~*
Mari went back down the hall. She could hear the music playing in the club. Luiz was probably preforming at high speed, as he always did. His act was the closing - the grande finale, if one could say so. She sighed as she padded along the worn carpet. There were burn holes in the rotting rug, probably from cigarettes of preformers long forgotten.
She stopped at the dressing room door. Noticing it was slightly ajar, she raised an eyebrow. Maybe Rei had left? Cautiously, she peered into the room. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in surprise. Pale light crept out into the hallway, but her complexion was pale as the moon.
Rei...he was lying on the floor....someone...
Leaning over him. Who was that? She couldn't tell, their face was covered in a cloak and...
Was that gun?
She felt faint. Her heart tripped in her chest. No, no this couldn't be happening! Not now, not after she had spent so long seeking out her brother! No!
With a savage cry, she hurled herself into the room, startling whoever it was with the gun. She sprung upon him, teeth and claws bared.
He was in mid-turn when she was upon him. Gold eyes faced green. She knocked the gun from his hand and sank her teeth into his flesh, hard, but she tasted no blood.
Instead, she was flung into a nearby wall, her head connecting hard with it. The room danced about confusedly and now she tasted blood, the coppery tang reminding her it was her own. Dully, she heard footsteps and the swing of the door. The room vanished into black.
~*~*~*~*~*
The clock struck two. A shadowy figure made his way down the back alley. He was garbed all in black, blending in perfectly with his surroundings. A few silver strands of hair hung down about his face. His blue-grey eyes darted about. His movements were cautious and careful, and full of grace.
He made not a sound as he crossed the thin thread of wire that served as a clothes line about sixty feet above the ground. He did not look down. Instead, he scrambled onto the ledge and in through an open window.
He put his feet on the floor and stood up. His body ached from having been curled in a crouching position so long. Sighing, he removed his mask, shaking loose his hair.
He turned and shut the window, then drew the curtains, blocking out the outside world.
He was a pleasant-looking man of about twenty-five. His skin was pale, currently flushed with the cold of the city night. His eyes were a curious blue-grey colour, obscured by his spiky silver hair. He was tall and lean. He appeared nothing like a neko-jin, yet his entire presence gave one the idea of a cat.
He smiled suddenly. Two pure white fangs poked from between his thin lips, identifying his neko-jin heritage. He flopped down on the sofa, picking up some disregarded magazine. It was 'Cosmo', one of the stupid girly ones Mari read. He rolled his eyes.
The clock struck three. He glanced at the clock and raised an eyebrow. Mari should have been home a long time ago. Yawning, he rolled over and got up, starting for the bedroom.
Tomorrow was another day and he had things to do in the sunlight hours. He couldn't stay up forever, waiting on a stray neko-jin.
He pulled the black gloves off his hands. He glanced at his palm. Printed in bold, black ink was "Koneko" along with a half-moon. He smiled venomly. By day, he was one person and by night he was another.
In the living room, the magazine lay on the floor, its pages lying half across an old photo in a broken frame. The pciture displayed two happy neko-jins, one with beautiful green eyes and flowing dark hair; the other with blue-grey eyes and silver hair. The frame had been inscripted 'Mari & Jin', but the names were obscured with blood and the faces of the people in the picture marred by broken glass.
~*~*~*~*
[A/N: ....I could write more. I should write more. But I want to update before I go to work, so I won't. Plus, I dunno what to write now. @__@ R&R please? It might inspire me.]