Chapter 11: B-Side of my Universe

Name: Honda Hiroto

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Nothing of any importance happened until Isis and Rashid rounded up a group of dissenters like myself. Isis had made contact with the leader of the Vampires, a guy named Yami, and we were all supposed to meet. Apparently Isis wasn't one to just sit by and not take revenge when her brother was murdered. Well, I was game, so I came with them. I was worried when I didn't see Otogi with Isis, but I sort of knew he wouldn't be coming with us.

Anyway, the meeting wasn't much to speak of. Nothing terrible important happened until the battle began.

As for the battle? I hated it. It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever participated it. It wasn't that I'm averse to killing. Hell no. I killed my first vampire when I was thirteen or fourteen. I had been raised to respect life, to term it loosely, but be willing to take it if I had to. And when someone's swinging a weapon at your head, you don't really have a great alternative if you want to see your next birthday.

What really hit me, deep in the stomach, was how easy it was. I'd never killed a person before, only vampires. But I could easily slice a fellow hunter's throat open with my sword. They were my kind, but I was killing them without a thought, and they would have killed me without a second glance. But there were other things that happened, that I hated even more.

There was fighting all around me; vampires and hunters defending and attacking everywhere. I could feel the blood splash onto my clothes and I looked around at the carnage. There was a large staircase leading to the entrance the other hunters had come through. The fighting had begun in the entrance, but quickly it had spread to include the stairs and the upper level. I tried to decide who had the upper hand, but it was impossible to tell.

After a moment I found Isis battling a hunter near the ledge. She was pressed against the glass that divided the ledge from open air, and she was desperately trying to defend herself. Slashing across her attacker's eyes and stomach, Isis winced as the blood splashed over her face and shirt, but her opponent wasn't dead yet. Plunging her dagger into Isis's stomach, the hunter collapsed into a heap. I watched as Isis sank to her knees, pulling the dagger out of her stomach.

Leaping over a hunter's back, I ducked and spun as I tried to reach Isis and avoided getting hit with a weapon at the same time. It wasn't easy, and I still got nicked with a sword, which cut my face so badly that it has since left a scar.

When I finally reached Isis, she had already died, but I didn't know it. Her eyes were wide open and their unfocused gaze was directed on the ground to her right, away from where I stood. I knelt next to her, putting away my weapons, and tried to find a pulse, but, of course, I didn't. Looking at her hand, I found a wedding band, and smiled. At least she had been happy… a little.

I scanned the surrounding battlefield, looking for Rashid. I wondered why he hadn't run over already, demanding to know about Isis's welfare; after all, they were married. My eyes soon found his body. He was slumped against a pillar. His head lolled back so that his opened eyes were staring at the ceiling and his mouth gaped like a fish. His long ponytail was soaked with blood and the blood was still dripping down his hair from his head wound into a puddle of blood on the floor.

"Is she… dead?" A hooded figure whispered from his position behind me. His voice was muffled by his hood and the noise of fighting that surrounded us, and I barely heard him, much less understood him.

I reached over and closed Isis's dead eyes, ignoring the figure for a moment. Slowly turning on the balls of my feet, I stood and moved to leave.

"Hey! Honda, I asked if she was dead!" The figure insisted, reaching out to grab my arm. Drawing my dagger, I knocked the hand away with a slashing motion. I noted, with a hint of pride, that I had drawn blood.

"Why do you even care?" I asked, my lips forming any angry snarl. My hand went for my other dagger and I prepared to attack. "It's bastards like you that killed her!"

"Honda! STOP!"

"And it's your kind that are forcing Otogi to fight! You made me chose a side! You made him choose a side!"

"Hond-"

"And you killed Malik!"

"Please, st-"

"And Rashid!"

"NO!"

"You assholes are killing everyone! EVERYONE!" I continued, slashing at my opponent again and again. I didn't notice that he wouldn't strike back or that his defense was so bad that almost all my attacks hit their marks. "And for that I'll never forgive any of you!"

"Stop! Please!"

"SHUT UP! Just… shut… up… and… DIE!" I screamed as I drove both of my daggers into his chest and quickly pulled them to the side, slicing open his torso. I watched as they cut through his skin and his blood quickly stained his cloak and shirt. I finally noticed that my opponent was bleeding heavily from the many other wounds I had inflicted all over his body.

He slumped forward without a word.

"Hey. You aren't dead, are you?" I asked, my voice mocking. "You can't be that weak."

He didn't respond, and I fought the frown that was forming on my face.

"Oi!" I muttered, nudging him with my foot, and I got a little cough in response. "Shit, man! I'm not done with you yet. Well, I think I at least deserve a look at your face."

I wiped my daggers on my pants and put them away. Bending down, I rolled the hunter onto his back and pulled back his hood.

My heart stopped.

"Hey… Honda," Otogi smiled up at me. His face was a mess; blood from a head wound and his mouth was running down his face and chin, mixing with his sweat. I sank to my knees and took his hand.

"Otogi?" I whispered, shock numbing my system.

"I… always knew… you were stronger," Otogi gritted out. "Don't worry; it doesn't hurt much anymore."

"You're going to be all right," I promised, as I tried to press his clothes against the bloody wounds. I watched as the blood quickly soaked through the material of his cloak and shirt, before staining my hands. "You're going to make it."

"I know," Otogi laughed, before stopping to cough, I closed my eyes and tried not to see the blood he spit out. "I'm just… tired."

"Then you should go to sleep," I smiled faintly. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Standing up, I squeezed Otogi's hand one more time and smiled at him. He smiled back, before closing his eyes. I let go of his hand, and turned to face the battle.

"Be careful. I love you," I thought I heard Otogi say, but when I turned around, his body was already relaxed in sleep.

"Love you too," I whispered, before I ran back into the fray.

After the battle, I returned to look for Otogi, but I couldn't find him. I asked a few of the vampires that were still patching up the wounded, but no one had seen him. A few of the vampires had medical training… and they believed that he might have died and his body might have already been removed.

However, they were lying. They didn't know anything else, so I searched the city and surrounding areas for weeks; I sent out Internet searches and discreetly called his friends to check with them. No one had heard from him.

I continued my search for a year, but I soon began to realize that if I was constantly moving around and looking for Otogi and he was always moving around to look for me, we'd never meet. So I settled down in the US, away from the hunter community I grew up in and I'm waiting for him.

If you hear from Otogi, tell him to contact me. I miss him… a lot.

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