Title: Retrieving Darkness
Anime: Nightwalker
Pairing: Shido x Cain
Author: Sanyu-Kumiko
Rating: R

Part Three:

Shido awoke to the sound of a voice on the intercom in the hospital waiting room. His eyes cracked open. The waiting room was filled with patrons all sitting nervously in anticipation for new of their loved ones. How did he get here? Where was Cain? What happened?

The panic must have been obvious in his eyes. The patrons in the waiting room stared at him as if he were a psychiatric patient on the loose. Shido figured it was best to leave now before he drew too much attention to himself. He found his paperwork from the night before neatly settled on the end table as he had left it before. Perhaps the situation with Cain had been a dream? He didn't feel any different.

After a few minutes of deliberation Shido concluded that the Cain encounter had indeed been merely a nightmare and set off to the patient Funakida's room to check on his progress. When he arrived at the door he was surprised to meet a hoard of investigators and Tokyo police. Anxious to see what was going on with his client he pushed through a few cops to meet another private investigator.

"What is this? What is going on?" Shido demanded of the man. The other man, a tall and lanky detective in a wrinkled brown coat, simply ignored Shido for a long moment before acknowledging him.

"Who are you?" The skinny man asked.

"Tatsuhiko Shido, Private Investigator. This man is a relation to my client, Funakida." Shido explained. The man didn't seem impressed.

"The patient is dead."

Shido's mind raced. How could that be? According to his watch only three hours ago he had checked up on Funakida and saw that he was stable and in relatively good condition.

"The breed?" Shido asked frantically. The skinny man's brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Perhaps, but not the breed that infected him."

"What do you mean?"

"I can not release this information to you, Mr. Shido." The skinny man snapped. Shido was determined to know. It was his responsibility to his client to find out. With a polite bow Shido retreated from the rude investigator with intent on finding an alternative report on Funakida's death. A registered nurse that he had seen checking up on Funakida sat in a bench sipping tea with her friends. They were murmuring small comments here and there about the mysterious death of the breed patient. Shido stood at the corner of the hall and eavesdropped, utilizing his vampiric hearing to hear clearly what the main nurse said.

"It was horrible, he was so pale when we found him."

"His life support machines were ripped from him."

"Yes, the catheters were torn..." "What?"

"No kidding!"

"Yes! It was amazing. There were two holes in his neck."

"No... what from?" "Punctures... His blood was drained-"

Shido's heart jumped into his throat. It couldn't have been, it just couldn't have. It was just a dream. Cain couldn't have been there.

Out of the corner of Shido's eyes came a small shimmer of light. It caught his attention. The detective tilted his head and a gloved hand rose to caress the glowing thing from his hair. He snagged it and held it up to eye-level to better inspect it.

A long, golden blond hair curled around his finger.