Twisted Reflection
Chapter One: 1984
"Hi! Do you want to buy a flower?" the boy to whom this was addressed to blinked twice, Japanese had not quite clicked within his brain and the girl had just rapid-fired it at him. He grinned a little.
"Forgive me," he said in broken Japanese, "My....talk is....poor." the girl smiled at him.
"You accent....speaks of places green," she said in slow but passable English, "Where you from?"
"Scotland."
"Will you buy flower? Maybe it remind you of far-away home," she offered her basket again while smiling her best salesgirl smile.
"Aaa....I guess..." he rummaged in his pocket and produced some money. The girl's smile widened as she reached into her basket and pulled out a tiny red blossom.
"This only grow in mountains," she explained as she leaned forward to pin it to his
jacket, "It bring good luck," she stepped back to admire her handiwork, "You like?"
"It's pretty."
"Then I glad," she leaned forward again and whispered, "I know what you are little immortal. But I am not the only one. Please be careful." she gently touched his cheek then turned and disappeared into the crowd.
"What? Hey wait!! Come back!!" the boy took off after her, trying to shove his way through the crowd. Despite his best efforts not too, he soon lost the girl amongst the sea of black haired city walkers, "What a weird girl," he muttered as he tried to comprehend what she had said to him.
"You want find girl?" someone asked. The boy looked up at the young businessman, "That my onee-chan. Younger sister. She go home for lunch. You come to find?"
"I can't I'm meeting someone."
"You want to ask why she say to you, yes?"
"Yeah...."
"Then come, I bring you to her," the young man disappeared into a space between two building and bade the boy to follow......
And that was the last thing Aaron MacLeod could remember, and only after he had given himself a migraine trying. It would have been nice to know how he managed to wake up and find himself tied up and hanging on a giant hook in a meat plant. He struggled a bit and succeeded in giving himself a lovely rope burn, but that was about it.
"HEY!! ANYONE HERE!! SOMEBODY LET ME DOWN!! IF THIS IS A JOKE SOMEONE'S DEAD!!"
"There's no need for you to shout, I am right here." someone scolded him.
"I don't speak--"
"Hai. Japanese. You speak it poorly. I remember," Aaron's eyes widened when his captor stepped into the light. She was younger than his apparent 12 years of age, still retaining a young child cuteness with her black hair tied in pigtails and bangs just touching her chocolate brown orbs. She wore a white kimono that hung off her shoulders revealing a black turtleneck body shirt. Aaron couldn't believe it, it was the flower girl gone evil, "Are you comfortable?"
"I'm tied to a gigantic fishhook!! No I'm not comfortable!! Let me down!!"
"You are only there temporarily fukyuu-chan. When it is done being constructed you will be moved."
"Moved where?" Aaron asked suspiciously, "And what's a fukyuu-chan?" the girl hit a palm stud, ignoring him completely, and he moved towards her and down to the floor a bit.
"I have a special place for you fukyuu-chan," she informed him as she turned him to face the opposite wall. Aaron paled, on the wall he now faced two guys were constructing a giant wooden cross.
"You're going to tie me to a cross?!" the girl giggled as she slipped her hands over his shoulders and across his chest.
"Not tied fukyuu-chan," she whispered then laughed again when a full body shiver ran through the young immortal. "I think crosses are beautiful don't you?" she murmured, "Unfortunately I cannot touch them; if I could I would wear them all the time....what do you think fukyuu-chan?"
"I think you're insane."
"Arigato. You really shouldn't fret so much. It's not like you can die right?"
"What do you mean?" Aaron said nervously, "Obviously I can."
"Only if I were to take your head. I know what you are."
"I don't think so."
"You're an immortal and the only way I could kill you were if I were to cut off your head. Demo I can't do that. I need you."
"N..n..need me?"
"Silly boy. Blood of the immortal is the sweetest. Especially that of a child immortal," Aaron gulped as she withdrew her arms and crossed over to face him. She placed a hand on his cheek, "Oh poor thing. Are you frightened?" Aaron shivered, when she touched his cheek on the street her touch had been warm and radiated kindness, now all was cold. She leaned in close and placed her mouth to his neck, "Don't be frightened," she whispered, "I will not hurt you to badly," Aaron felt her smile just before she bit into him.
The workers paused briefly when his screaming began....
He had passed out quickly, the fear and the shock of the situation must have gotten to him faster than Leiko had predicted. With one hand she checked his pulse, with the other she wiped the blood from her lips. She craved the blood of the Immortals. She loved the thrill of tracking it down, she loved how hard it was to get, especially that of a child Immortal. She looked at her hanging prize, she had no idea this one existed and she prided herself on knowing the whereabouts of potential prey.
"How did you slip through the crack little one?" she asked her dyeing meal, "How did you manage to evade me for so long?" the fingertips on his neck dropped to her side as one of the workers came up behind her and dropped to one knee.
"Leiko-sama all is prepared," Leiko didn't bother to look at her minion, "Shall we crucifix him?"
"Iie. Tie him to the cross and alert me when he revives himself."
"Tie him Leiko-sama?"
"Hai. I want to be the one to do it."
"Surely you would not want to get your hands so dirty," Leiko turned around and stared at the taller man until he paled, "Forgive me Leiko-sama. We will take care of everything here. Perhaps you would like to rest until he awakens?" Leiko ignored him.
"Yuki-kun," the young man was by her side in an instant, "Yuki-kun something distresses me."
"What is it Lady Leiko?"
"Why is it I was unaware of this boy?"
"Immortals are not allowed to sire children. This one is the offspring of another Immortal. He is probably not known even by his own kind," Leiko didn't answer, instead she reached forward and gently touched the flower still pinned to the boy's jacket. She pulled the flower away and with a sharp hiss dropped the suddenly burning flower to the ground. The blossom shattered as if made of glass upon impact and a tiny silver cross fell out of the petals. Leiko glared at it as she rubbed her burnt fingers.
"I see. She thought she could save him that way. Foolish angel. You should have known better than that Yukari." she looked up at Yuki. "Yuki-kun. What is the name of this boy?"
"Aaron MacLeod."
"I see," she turned back to the now dead Aaron, "I know that name. His father...the one I could never catch. To bad the son is not as skilled as the father is. I am going to rest. Yuki-kun, please inform me when Aaron-chan revives."
"Hai Leiko-sama."
"Yoru wa fushigi, honto wo kakushite....utsuutsu wo miseru tsuki ni manekare...yami ga hirogaru....."Aaron's head rolled slowly to the side and came to rest on his arm, "Yoru wa murasaki namida ga furu.....watashi no kawari ni sora ga naku no...." bloodshot eyes slowly opened as the girl's song came to a abrupt stop, "It's about time. I was beginning to think that you were going to sleep forever."
"Let me go..." Aaron pleaded weakly.
"I can't do that Aaron-kun," the girl slid off her makeshift chair, a large net hung on two hooks, and walked up to him, "I need you. You're important to me."
"Why?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu."
"What?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu," she repeated with a bright smile, "Your blood is the sweetest I've tasted for a thousand years. Blood of the child. Blood of the immortal. Both are hard to get. To combine them into one is pure bliss," she gently touched his face and smiled when Aaron rolled his head to his other arm, "You need not worry," she purred, "I will not behead you. Why would I?"
"Aren't you an Immortal?"
"Iie. While it's true that I am immortal, I am not an Immortal. I am merely an old, old girl. My time walks untouched by the human shadows, just as yours does. But where as you can be killed, I cannot. I am far to old."
"How old are you?"
"Older than you."
"What do you plan on doing with me?"
"Nothing that will hurt....too....much. A quick pain in the beginning and that is it. Who knows, you may not even feel it after a while."
"Feel what?" the vampire smiled as she pulled over a few items that made Aaron's eyes bug out.
"I wonder....." she said thoughtfully as Aaron struggled all the harder to break free of his bonds, "I wonder what it feels like to be treated like Crist....although I don't think he wore boxers...." she shrugged, "But then I am not Catholic so I will never know," she placed the nail on his hand, "Try not to move to much Aaron-kun. It'll make it worse," outside in an alley, two cats digging in the trash bolted when the sudden screams of ultimate suffering began.
Well, she was sort of right, he did forget about the pain in his hands after two days, maybe his body had gone into shock or something, he didn't know. What really hurt like a bitch was his chest, and it was getting really hard to breathe. The boredom was getting pretty bad also. Aaron wondered if that wasn't part of the torture as well. It made sense, really, he nothing to occupy his mind with so he concentrated on his injuries, which made them hurt...a lot....yeah maybe boredom was a part of it. He sighed, when had things gotten so hopeless? And hopeless things were. He didn't know where he was, he was suffocating the hard way, he hadn't eaten or drank in three days, he died at least once a day, if not more, and let's not even mention the serious lack of hygiene. In fact he was surprised that Leiko, she had told him her name at some point, could even get close to him now, yes he smelt that bad.
"Konbanwaaaaaaa!!" Aaron winced, God her voice was so loud, it was horribly cheerful too, "How are you feeling?"
"Konbanwa, Leiko-chan," Aaron knew by now to just play along with her sick games, one of which required him to speak completely in Japanese, "Boku.....boku....ano...."
" 'You um'?" Leiko asked, placing a covered basket by her feet and regarding him, "Your Japanese is horrible, Aaron-kun. Ok I'll help you out. Do you feel tired?"
"Iie."
"Hungry?" Aaron opened his mouth to deny it, when his stomach rumbled.
"Traitor....." Leiko smiled.
"Silly you. I'm not cruel. I'll let you eat," she dragged over a chair, took a thermos out of her basket and hopped up to his level.
"Could you let me down to eat?" he asked hopefully.
"But then I'd have to nail you back up."
"Ano...you could always NOT nail me back up there."
"Doushite?"
"Wh...WHY?!?! BECAUSE IT'S WRONG!! THIS WHOLE THING IS WRONG!!" Leiko's lower lip trembled just before she burst into bloody vampiric tears. Aaron blinked, he didn't think she knew HOW to cry, "Ano...ano...daijoubu?" he asked, hoping it would make her stop.
"Aaron-kun is....is....MEAN!!!" she put her face in her hands and bawled. Her second in command, the young man she called Yuki was by her side in an instant.
"What is wrong Lady Leiko?"
"Aaron is a horrible boy!!" she bawled, Aaron paled when Yuki turned to glare at him, while hugging her shoulders, "I brought him food and everything!!"
"You brought him food?"
"I thought he might be hungry!!"
"Ok ok ok ....shhh....it's ok. Do you want me to take it from here?"
"Iie. Daijoubu ka," she replied standing up and wiping her eyes, the effect only smeared the blood. Yuki hugged her again.
"Poor you. It'll be ok. Just ignore his taunts," she gave him a watery smile.
"Haaaaaai!! " Yuki smiled at her, glared once more at Aaron then left as Leiko climbed back up on the chair and raised the thermos to his lips, "After that I shouldn't be doing this you mean, mean boy," Aaron whimpered slightly then began to chug. "Is it good then?"
"I haven't eaten in days," he replied when he was done, "Anything would taste good right now."
"We feed you!"
"When?"
"....Shut up....mean boy...." she hopped off th chair and got another thermos, then hopped back up, "I don't know why I'm so nice to you...."
"Um....then why are you?"
"Ok...you caught me," she leaned in as if she was about to take his blood and Aaron flinched, "I don't expect you to trust...or believe me....but I am not Leiko," she said into his neck, "My name is Yukari and I'm here to help you," her words came out in a rush, as if she had little time to say them, "I can do nothing now, but I swear I will return to you tonight," she kissed his cheek gently and hopped off the chair to grab a third thermos, "Speak naught of what I told you," she said as he gulped, "And I will be back," once he was finished she returned to chair and picked up her basket, "Oh by the way," she said as she reached the door, "I like your Inuyasha boxers, very kawaii," Aaron turned red as the girl giggled all the way out.
It wasn't until midnight that Aaron realized that drinking all that broth was a bad idea. A really, really bad idea. It was like his bladder was on fire.
"Screw it," he grumbled, "I'm just gonna go. I mean it ain't like I smell normal anyway."
"I wouldn't if I were you," a voice called out to him softly.
"You?" Aaron asked, "Are you–?"
"Yukari. Did you forget already?"
"Well....no...."
"Good," she came into the light, "Let's get you down from there shall we?" she dragged the chair back over and climbed on it, "It's going to hurt a lot but you have to be strong for me ok?" she took hold of the nail embedded in his left hand, "I know it'll be hard but try not to cry out. And when your hand is free you have to hold onto the arm of the cross because your feet won't be able to hold your weight and you'll get hurt worse. Can you do that for me Aaron-kun?"
"I think so," she smiled at him, then yanked out the nail. Aaron bit back a yelp and wrapped his arm around the cross.
"Gomen nasai. I'm trying to be careful," she grabbed the other nail, "Ready?" he nodded and braced himself. When she yanked it out, he almost didn't close his mouth in time to keep in the pained shout, "Gomen ne, gomen ne!!" she cried out in a panicked whisper.
"I'm ok. Really," he assured her through gritted teeth. Yukari hopped off the chair and bent over to untie his feet.
"Good thing she didn't nail your feet in too," she commented, helping him down and sinking to the floor with him.
"She tried. I kicked her in the face, so she gave up and tied me down instead," Yukari giggled as she helped him to his feet, "Wait a minute. How do I know you are who you say? Can you prove it?" she paused for a moment, before a grin lit up her features.
"Hai!! I can!" she darted over and hugged the cross. Aaron, blinked, confused, then grinned.
"Good enough for me," she came back over, "But why are you helping me?"
"It's kind of a long story," she said, Aaron took a tentative step forward and nearly fell down.
"No good," he said. Yukari gnawed on her lip.
"I was afraid of that and we don't have the time needed to allow for healing. I'm just going to have to carry you."
"Um...you realize that you're shorter than I am right?"
"Oh yeah....shoot," she put his arm around her shoulders, "Just put as much weight on me as you can and we'll hobble out...or something."
"Did you put any planning into this?"
"Um...actually....no."
"We're going to die...."
"Oh no," she replied cheerfully, "I'm immortal and so are you so we really don't have a problem," suddenly the entire room flooded with light, causing both girl and boy to shield their eyes.
"You are not Lady Leiko," a cold voice drawled, Yukari lowered her hand defiantly.
"No I am not. Are you going to let us by?"
"I can't do that Yukari," Yuki stepped forward, "I have my orders."
"I know that Mr. Yuki. Really I do, but can't you see how wrong this is?"
"What's wrong with it? He cannot die. Would you prefer that she go and hunt innocent humans?"
"What's he saying?" Aaron asked.
"They won't let us by without a fight. He also says that it's better for her to feed off of you instead of some human, simply because they die and you cannot. You have to admit it's a good point."
"You're handing me over?!?"
"No! Relax would you? I know what I'm doing! Perhaps it is better. But why torture him so? What purpose does that serve?"
"Ah that. That is just for Lady Leiko's amusement," Yukari's hold on Aaron tightened a little.
"I won't give him up to you. Not without a fight."
"Without a fight is it? You said that last time."
"I mean it this time!"
"Right." Yukari stomped her foot angerly, Aaron jumped slightly.
"I really do!!" she lowered Aaron to the ground, "Stay here mmkay?"
"Sure...." like he really had any choice. Yukari took two steps forward, shaking her hair free of the two ponytails.
"What are you up too angel?"
"Nothing much...only..." she raised her arms in the air and a really, really bright light emanating from between her palms. Suddenly Aaron felt himself being lifted and rushed off.
"What di–"
"Shh! Not loud!" Yukari whispered back, "Just run. The light spell won't last long, we need to be hidden by then."
"You blinded them?"
"I'm not good at fighting."
"We're going to die..."
"Stop saying that!" he was pushed down behind some boxes, "We are not!"
"You should put more planning into your escape attempts."
"Leiko's right, you are a mean boy," she poked her head above one of the boxes then took his arm again, "Ready to run again?"
"No."
"Too bad!" she took off running, dragging poor Aaron behind her, "Move faster!"
"You try going through what I just did and see how fast you can run!" he shot back.
"I've been through worse!"
"Oh," they kept running, taking care to stay hidden behind the large columns of boxes.
"I know you are here angel!" Yuki roared, "You cannot hide forever! Lady Leiko will seize control sooner or later!!"
"What did he say?"
"Nothing," she yanked him into a room and slid the door closed, "Aaron-kun...I..." she doubled over, gripping her midsection in pain, "She's coming Aaron-kun you have to get out of here..."
"Who's coming?! What do you mean?"
"There isn't any time to explain! Here," from her obi she pulled a slim katana, "You don't have any weapons. You'll need this more than I."
"I can't take your sword," Yukari rested her forehead against his, Aaron bit back a gasp, she was clammy and as cold as ice.
"Yu...Yukari–"
"I know Aaron-kun. I know. But you have to take my sword. She will kill you if you have no way to protect yourself."
"But it's yours."
"Think of it this way. This sword is a promise," she pulled back from him and pressed the sword into his hands, curling his fingers around it, "It's a promise that you'll always have my protection. And also, that you will see me again someday, for I will eventually need it back," she kissed his forehead, "Run Aaron-kun. And kill anyone that tries to stop you. They are not human, nor are they Immortal. They are something much worse. Destroy them all. Even Leiko if you have to," she stood back up and took a step back from him, "Go. Run."
"But–"
"Onegai Aaron-kun," she clasped her hands together. Her entire body was shaking, fear and urgency were vying for first place in her chocolate brown eyes, "Be safe. Run. Live to see me again."
"I..." he bit his lip, "How will I know you when I see you?"
"You will. You'll know my voice. You'll know my song. Go now my samurai. Run," she bowed deeply to him, hair obscuring her face, "I will search for you again. I promise..." she didn't hear him leave, but when Yukari looked up Aaron was gone.
"You can't protect him forever Yukari-chan..." a voice whispered from all around her.
"Perhaps not...but Lei-chan? This is the last time...I will fight against you hold...."
"Good. You are giving up then?" Yukari's hand went to her chest, a pale light surrounding it, "What are you..what do you think you are doing!?"
"I will fight you on my own terms...Leiko-chan....And that means...that means...."
A/N: Confused yet? Well good. I'm not going to explain this until later on in the story. You see...this chapter was really nothing more than a prologue. A bit of background if you will...about how Aaron met our girls...and how he got the sword. Pay attention to this sword. It becomes important later on.