There is a feeling I always get in my chest, like there is a black hole sucking my heart into it. It's never ending, and it drags me down and makes me shake. Cold eats up the side of my face and numbs my fingertips. Fear eats me alive, and I can't think or move or breathe...

Before, the mere thought of being locked up in that damned cage for the rest of my God-forsaken life gave me that feeling. Then, slowly, that feeling expanded to falling head over heals for a cretin angel that I had the pleasure of living with for a few years until I died. That feeling changed into eating my heart when I thought I might loose her.

I was never afraid of dying. Maybe I was afraid of being shut away forever, but not dying. Death is absolute. Death is final and perfect. Death doesn't discriminate color, or race, or personality. Death would accept me for whom I was and for whatever lay inside me. Or at least...I thought it did.

I have died. To put it figuratively, I have walked up to those gates and knocked - rang the bell, all that jazz.

No one answered...well, no one that I wanted to answer.

Dammit, I was ready. I was ready and willing to be taken to...wherever, and that was yanked away too. I know whoever up there doesn't like me. They wouldn't send me back if they like me, but here I am - actually tied to this house, to these people.

In some way's it's not that bad, but in others it's torture. I can't feel, I can't train, I cant hurt.... scratch that last one. I can get hurt - and it was refreshing. In a bad way.

Being stuck alone for a year bottled up my fighting sprit that continued to grow without my knowledge. All my thoughts for that short amount of time was regretful ones, one's full of pain, one's that opened that black hole in my chest and took my heart.

And looking toward the sunrise as it bounced off my overgrown morning-dew covered field, watching the sunlight bounce off the water droplets and lighting the forest around field, the cold comes back to me. Watching the Angel sitting on that stupid destroyed rock - the light bouncing off her face and catching on the amber parts of her hair - makes me wonder if she would be sitting there so early in the morning alone if I hadn't died.

I'm scarred by regret, I know that now. It will always lace it's way through my heart and mind, it will be a long and deep mark that sits in my eyes forever, and it will sit in the middle of my soul for the rest of my existence.

That is - of course - if I don't make this second chance work. I'm sure of what would happen if I don't make it, but if the other happens...

I may have been ready to die, but I don't think I'm ready to live...

Strange Happening's

By SAL-Chan

Part Fourteen: A Conversation with Kyo

"Liar's smiles are always more sincere..."

Tohru

I have been too nervous to sleep lately. I'm waking hours before I normally do, before the sun even rises. There's a harshness that sits around my eyes, and I can finally see what theses past two years have done to me. It's not very noticeable on the outside, but...somehow, I'm different. I'm a secret keeper to a family that need's me so much more then they need each other.

The dew on the long grass sparkles with the first rays of the sun. It twinkles over the tall grass and sways with it in the wind. The sun's rays stretch with pinks and yellows over the horizon, fighting the night back to it's daily resting place. The star's still mark the sky like little pinholes in the paper doors, and it will for an hour or two before they fade altogether. The morning air is warmer then it has been in days, a sign that spring is coming.

Weariness had captivated my body this morning, making the warmth in the air very comfortable to sit in for hours. I hadn't moved in a wile, and I was not looking forward to the small walk back to the house. I shifted on top of the dented rock, folding my legs over each other again. My light pajama pants protected me for the last lick of cold the air held, and the loose fitting tank top that I wore let my arms feel the warm wings of spring. My hair floated around me with the wind - caressing my face with a warm and loving hand.

I like to think that Mother is the wind. That she can sometimes break free of the boundaries between the afterlife and the living world and just touch me for a second. That she still plays with my hair, and that she's still as warm as before. I feel a smile creep onto my face as the win whips across my lips again and moves my hair away from my eyes.

Wishful thinking...

I sighed and scanned the tree-covered horizon again, looking at all the small details that the morning ray's highlight. I was a moment away from getting up when a cold feeling numbed my fingertips and pushed though my chest. I tasted grapes in my mouth and remember the color purple. The cold was coming from behind me, and I knew in an instant that I wasn't the only one awake.

"What are ya doing up so early?" Kyo's voice is softer then normal. Somehow I felt him move toward me, my gaze still glued to the sunrise. Quiet echoes within the confines of his private training area, almost suffocating me. Inside of me I felt the morning take it's first breath, and the Earth slowly coming alive with the sun's golden rays. Shadows were shrinking back to rest for the day - I could almost see them falling away from the trees and the ground.

It felt like I was connected to the Earth, to the morning.

I let that feeling fill me; I let it capture me along with the rest of the earth. It felt like new life was breathing into me, new strength and will. The feeling of Mother's hands fell across my face again, and I smiled to the sky.

"Watching the sunrise." I finally answered him, catching sight of his eyes instantly. Slowly his hair come into focus, then the rest of him. I could almost see him glowing in the wake of the morning light, almost watch the shadows fall across his face.

For some reason, everything was slower then normal. My brain was covered in a velvet-like warmth that makes every detail of every single thing stand out. That feeling was slowly slipping away, letting me catch up with time.

"Do you have any idea of what time it is?" His voice was clearer then before. His arms were crossed over his chest, eyebrows furrowed in a worried manner. The tone of his voice doesn't give his worry away, but with the newfound feeling that sat in my head I can see it in his eyes. I blinked at him, and shake my head negative.

"I couldn't sleep." I said simply, my own voice sounding tired. He raised one orange eyebrow at me, and then shook his head.

"That's why you're out here? Just cause ya' couldn't sleep?" There's something else in his voice - in his eyes - that tells me that there might be something going on. I can read him like one of my old favorite books right now. I suddenly realize that something isn't right with me - that I couldn't normally read him this well, or see the world wake up. I was compelled to tell him that, but something stopped me. Something in the back of my mind told me 'Not yet, don't tell.'

"The view's nice." I said instead, and smile - feeling bad about keeping something from him. "I couldn't fall asleep again, so I came to see the sunrise."

I turned back to horizon, letting my eyes drink in the sight of morning. The velvet feeling that eclipsed my mind lingers lightly - I can carefully feel it in the back of my head. I don't know what it is, but it feels right. It's a soothing buzz of...something.

I felt his eyes studying my face, but I kept my head turned toward the horizon. Something, that small little voice, tells me not to let him see my eyes when I feel this. That it's not for him to know yet. It scared me deep down inside, but I agree.

Mother's hands caress my face again as morning continued to stretch over the Earth. Then suddenly, the air around me turned cold.

Sohma Kazuo

I was dreaming of the past. Dreaming of a time further back then time records correctly, of a time when I was just a child. I was one of the strongest people in the Clan, even at the age of 16. I was taller then half of the company I carried myself with but not too out of the ordinary - unlike some other people. I was the youngest of all of us by a few months, but it was enough to give me my place.

I was dreaming of when we got our gifts.

My shoulders seared with the newly place brand on each of them. My pale skin was on fire, the red-hot burns deeply imbedded into the skin - to the muscles of my shoulders. And with the pain of the branding, a new feeling flooded me. It washed my insides with a numbness that comes with having too much power, with too much of yourself inside your skin. There was a tightness around my heart and a loose feeling in my head.

My heart was beating rapidly like a caged bird, and I couldn't catch my breath. I slowly moved my hand away from my side - despite the fact that the new burns on my shoulders protested movement - and found my pale skin glowing with an unearthly aura. I was radiating pristine white power, and it fluttered around me like dust particles normally do.

Across from me stood Atsuo, his pail skin glowing with the same unearthly whiteness. His long copper colored hair seemed to shine as it floated around him, creating a cape of long golden strands. The only difference I saw in Atsuo was that his eyes were no longer their original brown, but pure and untouched white. Small black slits sat in the middle of the whiteness that was his eye, and it was the only definition on where he was looking. There was a look of wonder on his face as he stared across our circle looking at me. Then in a fluid and graceful movement he smiled, and it was then that I noticed his teeth. Two long fangs sat where his canines were, and I instantly knew who he now was.

This was what we looked like after being touched by the hands of God. This graceful and fulfilled feeling that sat in all our stomach's was one of the greatest feeling's I have ever will experience.

Then someone screamed.

And agonizing and painfully scream - a sound that wasn't human, or animal, but pure emotion. The pure white feeling washed away instantly, and the feeling was shattered. It was replaced by heat.

Fire broke over the dream, and I felt my body as it feels now - forever stuck looking like I'm 17. The thick black smoke is choking me, making tears cascade from my eyes as my lungs fought to find fresh air. I was running full speed through the flames, toward the screaming of the others when something slammed into me. I fell full force to the ground - face first- with it riding my back, knocking the wind out of me and blacking me out momentarily.

The smell of death and betrayal stung my nose with such harshness that it made gage, and then something grabbed me and turned me around - slamming me into the ground again. Three fingers dug into my shoulders and my arms, and then I spotted his eyes.

There was nothing left that resembled human in his eyes - just rage. Rage, pain, and vengeance. And staring into his dead eyes, I knew I would be the first to die.

The dream faded into the smoky abyss that the fire created. I felt the warmth of the flames lick at my body, warm and comforting. Then slowly I started to feel my body again, feel the question floating in my mind.

I woke with a start from the dream, my free hand flying to my solder. Unlike the dream, the shoulder was bare - perfectly smooth. I knew without needing to check that there was a brand on the other shoulder - one that spelled out 'Boar'. I had given part of my power to my killer without regret, thus I lost one brand. I couldn't care less. No sadness, no regret.

I reclined on my back for the majority of the time I was awake after that - I never seem to be able to sleep after I dream of the past. My mind just wraps around the dream, and it takes a long time to unwind from one. So I stared up at the stars for a few hours, letting myself unwind and not think.

The feeling had awakened with the sunrise. I felt it from my perch in the sky that let me look down on the house in the morning, and it felt like it was pulling me toward the ground. It yanked at my shoulder with a painful familiarity that it made me grind my teeth in order to move away from that feeling.

There was a connection made on a higher level down on Earth, something far beyond what my understanding of the world could be. I had never in my soul's existence felt a connection this deep - and I knew it was just skimming the surface. It was pulling at the power that I was given, calling it with a soothing mother-like voice.

I was kneeling over the cloud immediately after I pulled myself from the feeling, letting my ill-cut lime colored hair drape over either side of my face. The whips of gray tickled my nose, and I swatted them away as I stood and let myself fall through the layers between our land and the real physical realm below. I slipped through the layers like gliding through a layer of water. I felt more then saw the brand on my shoulder glow as I passed through the layers. My wings fell with me, splaying out once I reached the blue-black sky.

I let Earth's wind whip my hair away from my face as I fell toward the hazy clouds, dropping all the way down till my toes brushed the tops of the trees. I was behind the pair in the field, my wings folded behind me calmly. It was still calling me. It felt like home after a long trip, a comfort many take for granted. Something that I wished for every day...

The pull of power was from the girl, or rather the bracelet that looped around the girl's wrist. I felt my power that sat in a bead on the bracelet reach out toward me. I almost answered to the call of it before another warm power wrapped around me and squeezed my reaching power back into me. I almost choked on the force of the energy that was pushed back into me, doubling over and squeezing my eyes closed.

"I can't believe you almost did that." His voice was smooth, goose-bump rising. I was remembering how to breathe when I looked over at him, and all I caught through my bleary eyes was his copper hair. Atsuo, had to be Atsuo.

"You're a bastard." I coughed at him, my wings spreading out. I noticed that there were stress lines around his eyes, and a worried frown on his pale face. His hair was tied back till about his mid back, and from there on it splayed out behind him. His wings were ruffled, his breathing rushed.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Anger blazed in his smooth voice, and with a quick movement he grabbed my arm and turned me to face him. "You don't answer to the power! Gods, how long have we told you this?"

I couldn't believe I had done it myself. I had learned long ago what happened when you answered the power, and I had been inches away from doing it myself. I would have ended up like Taki, Hoshi, and Yawari - sucked into their own respective beads on that damned bracelet. The only people who knew what would happen if they entered that bracelet were Kyosetsu, Yukari - who both didn't talk about it-, and Hisoka - who we 't talk to.

"Did you feel that?" I asked, pushing myself away from Atsuo, who was still holding onto my arm. I had never felt that pull so strongly from any other person who wore the bracelet after the Cat's death. She was opening the Gates to us even wider then they had been thousands of times before. Atsuo was six places away from me in the death order, and he was able to come down. For the longest time the Gates were open just enough for Hitoko, Taki, and I to pass through them in one peace. And so far, anyone who took Taki's place and pushed through the Gates was sucked into that bracelet - the same fate as his. To know that the Gates have opened wide enough for Atsuo to pass through without fading is scary.

"It's the only reason I'm down here." He said, voice calmer. He released my arms slowly and looked toward our descendant and his own personal angel. I turned to look as well and I found her staring toward us. He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the trees and up toward the Gates again.

"She's the Gate Keeper." He said offhand, confirming what I already thought. If the Gate Keeper was really this Tohru Honda, then Kyosetsu's descendant will pass this test, and we will return.

'The Gate Keeper will open the Gates of the Years and release the old souls of the long dead. The Born Again will then either relive the past or forage an entirely new future. Death shall then choose its own path, for the final word of Death will create a new legend that shall be passed on through time for eternity.' It was something Hisoka said - something like a prophecy- when we all first gathered up in the Land of the Stars, the place just bellow Heaven and right above the clouds of Earth. I now truly believe it would coming true.

And looking down upon the new Sohma's house, and feeling Atsuo's steady hand wrapped around my arm, I had a feeling that it was happening. Right now...

Tohru

"What's it like....?" The question came form the back of my head, spoken toward the sunrise rather then toward him. I hadn't taken my eyes off of the sunrise since Kyo came out here, except to look over our shoulders toward the trees. I felt two somethings there as well; one green and one blue something, something cold and very old.

"What's what like?" He asked, voice growing cold and distend. There was a roughness to it that told me he did not want to talk about what I could possibly bring up.

There was a single moment of total and utter quiet that flooded his field, then the light song of a morning jay that had lived and raised a full family in the field sung out, letting her melody carry over the entire opening. I had no real idea of how I could ask him a question I knew could hurt, but I wanted to know something about what happened to him after he left that hospital room. He was the only one that didn't leave that hospital on his feet, and I knew what happened to almost everyone who did. I wanted to know what happened to him...

".... to die.... what is it like to die?" My voice was low and soft, as if I was afraid to break the golden morning hew that captivated the field. I was so scared of breaking the gentle calm that had settled between the both of us, but I found my sudden curiosity getting the better of me. He kept his mouth shut, and I knew he was both unwinding to answer and unable to answer. I wondered quickly if he would answer me, because I knew I wouldn't have.

"Cold." He answered after a few moments of quiet. "I remember being wrapped in cold..."

There was such a sadness laced in his voice when he said that, and I knew that there had to be more then cold to affect him as much as it seemed to.

"...just cold?" I pushed lightly in a quiet voice. I was slowly sinking into myself, curling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. I felt my hair fluttered in the soft morning that seamed to always sweep it's way across the field. My hair swept in front of my face, hiding the question and the need for knowledge from him. I didn't want him to know that I needed to know, that he needed to tell me to help himself.

I heard him cross his arms over his chest- a gesture he normally made when he was nervous or upset. Birds fluttered across the sky behind the house and swooped toward he horizon in front of me. The wind was warm and cold at the same time, ruffling the tops of the trees and making the dead golden grass role like the ocean. It smelled like spring, like leaves that were blooming. It was intoxicatingly beautiful, and I let myself get wrapped up in the moment - craving to know.

He let the science stretch, just thinking to myself 'Please let me know.... please open up to me again, Kyo...'

"Please tell me..." It was quiet as a whisper, but loud enough for him to hear. I knew he don't want to think about this, but he needed to. For his own sake, he needed to understand that he couldn't keep this to himself - that I was here to help him. It was one of the things Set - the angel that met me in the winter - told me to have him do.

"Why?" He almost spat it at me, letting some of his famous pent-up frustration out with that word. The look I caught in his eyes was bitter and sad and lonely. For some reason, I knew he thought that this was his punishment for his life, that this was his burden alone. His shoulders were hunched in the effort it took to carry the load of his life, never once thinking that he could ask if I would mind helping him carry some if it with him.

I was quiet for a minute, thinking of a good reason for me to really be asking these questions. I wondered - truly wondered - what it was like to die, what it must have felt like. A slow cold washed over me that no wind could create and no blanket or extra clothing could warm. I wonder for a moment if my mother felt the cold that Kyo said he felt, if all death was cold. It hurt my heart to think that she would just drop into a black void of numbness. I didn't want to believe that - I didn't want to think that at all...

I turned to him slowly, letting my eyes be the windows to my feelings. I opened myself up to him - like I had so many years ago - and I prayed that he would do the same. I trusted in Kyo as much as I trust in Yuki, or Uo, or Hana. I trusted that he would tell me because I needed to know, and would have to say the reason. I trusted that he knew me as well as I think I know him. I trusted him not to lie to me about it just because it would make me feel better.

His eyes found mine, the deep crimson eyes going wide. The dark lilac that encircled his pupil fell behind the redness of his irises, leaving this pure soft red eyes red...just red. Just Kyo. I felt the weight of his gaze and watched the total understanding come over him in a wave of sadness. I knew he wouldn't want to break this perfect understanding between the two of us, but someone had to. I gathered my life that I didn't even realize I had lost, watching him watch the truth - the need in my eyes.

"I want...I want to know if my mother felt anythi-"

"Cold and quiet." He said quickly, cutting me off. He broke our eye contact quickly, staring toward the horizon with painfully concentrating face. His eyes were swamped with emotion so raw that it left me speechless. He had opened to me - let me see the pain. At least a little of the pain...

"It's...it's dark." He continued without a push, eyes stormy. "At first you're...you're numb to yourself. Ya can't feel anything that hurts, and ya can't think. Your mind goes...blank. But when it's happening...you can feel everything. Time just.... slows down."

His hand wondered up to his face, to the gash that scared his face. His thumb brushed it, eyes distant - lost in remembering. I turned more toward him, unable to say anything. I didn't understand what it was like - I could never understand it until the day that I died.

"Then you go numb. I could barely feel my fingers..." He brought his hand away from his face and just stared at it, like it wasn't really there. "Then you realize that you're hurt, and then you can feel.... you can feel death coming."

He broke his gaze from his hand and looked at me. He eyes were sadder then I've ever seen them, and so confused like he didn't really understand what he was saying at all. That all of this was just coming from his soul, and his mind had no time to think about it.

"The last thing I remember..." His voice was feather soft, as if he was afraid to speak to loudly. "...is lying in the emergency room with you standing over me. Then...I just kind of sank into tha' dark, and....I felt my heart stop."

His hand hovered over his heart, looking away from me again. His eyes had gone quiet with a numbness that was heart-crushing to witness. He was able to numb his soul from the pain of remembering. He could numb everything. He probably had.

I wanted to touch him, to reassure him that everything would be okay - but I couldn't. There were things I could do for Kyo, but nothing would warm the numbness of his soul. I wanted to hold him and warm him myself, but I couldn't touch him - I was never able to touch him. But I could see the pain in his eyes; I could feel the cold wafting off of him - so very faint that it almost wasn't there. I had a feeling that the cold around him was the lingering fingers of the cold he talked about, and that it could take him away at any time.

"It's still cold." He added, clenching his hand into a fist and dropping it at his side. "It's always cold. They're always a little bit of pain, and it's always cold..."

Isolated.

He sound so squared away, so alone and stuck within himself. There was a cage around Kyo that no one was able to get into, and he wasn't able to get out. In a way, Akito had gotten it his way. He was locked up forever in the dead coldness that encased his very being. I could tell that he wanted out so badly, that he wanted company that I couldn't be. He needed someone who had felt what he was feeling, who already knew what he was learning, and who could help him if he ever stumbled.

I was not that person. I couldn't be that person if I wanted to be.

And that hurt. I wanted to help him, but it wasn't my help he needed.

But...I could still help him in ways he didn't need it.

I reached for him. I reached for his relaxed hand that sat half-transparent at his side. I reached to warm the cold that surrounded him - that sounded his heart. I reached through the cold and impassable cage between him and us with all my heart. I reached for him.

For a moment, or a single solitary moment, I felt the rough calluses he had on his fingers, I felt the softness that as his palm, and I felt the warmth that he hand let off. I felt the thickness of his skin over his bones and muscles, felt his hand in mine - truly and really.

I grasped his had as tightly as I could, staring at the difference in the skin tones and sizes. It took me a moment to realize that I war really touching his hand.

I felt myself gasp at the surprise of realizing it, and I felt him tense and take a breath as well. Then the cold cam back with vengeance, ghosting through my hand to his, and my hand gripped into a tight fist. He flinched back and staggered, falling backwards and landing with a not so graceful rush of air. I was on my knees and off the rock, my hand still frozen in the place his hand was.

I felt that my eyes were wide. I couldn't believe I did that. And by the total shock that captivated Kyo crimson eyes, I knew he was as baffled as I was. You weren't allowed touch a ghost - I knew it was some type of unwritten rule. But I just touched his hand, I knew I did.

"How did..." He trailed off as I brought my hand down to my lap and examined it. I stared at it for a moment, bracelet and all - and suddenly I had an idea. I extended my hand - palm out- toward him, stretching my fingers a little apart. His eyes flashed for my hand to my face, apprehension and fear lacing through his eyes.

"...Try touching my hand." I knew I didn't have to say it for him to understand what the gesture meant. I had to reassure him that it was all right. His hand rose off the ground and he looked at it, and then looked at me again.

"But I can't-"

"Just try...please." I stretched my arm out towards him more, letting my pleading voice match my eyes. I would try anything to break through the cage of cold around him. If it didn't work.... it didn't work. But if it did...." Please Kyo...don't be afraid."

His eyes hardened almost immediately, understanding showing in his face. He clenched and unclenched his hand, then slowly reached toward mine. His hand stopped a hairs-breadth away from mine, the cold following his every movement. I felt the cold wrap around my fingers and dance on the palm of my hand. His eyes flickered to mine, and stayed there.

I pushed my palm forward a little more, and I touched something. His hand was warm against mine, and the warm feeling traveled all the way from my palm to my heart and my eyes. His fingers peeked over the top of my own, and I guess his hands have always been a little bigger then mine.

As the shock of what we were doing wore off, happiness gathered me in its arms and made my heart hum in delight. I could touch Kyo. And from the look in his eyes, I'm sure that he was feeling the same thing too.

I had reached through the bars, and he had grabbed my hand in return. The cage didn't seem so cold any more, nor did it seem so hard to pass through. Maybe everything will be fine - everything will be all right.

God, I truly hoped to believe that. Please don't make a liar out of me...

(Chapter End)

Ranting: In case everyone didn't notice, I took most of the summer off. I was writing and re-writing this chapter, plus another fic, plus I did a total re-hall on the ending of this story. Planning and re-planning is not a fun activity.

There's two days still school starts again. -- # School makes me a very un-happy SAL-Chan. My brain is so tired, you would not believe. I've been working on fixing this fic for about...19 hours. I need some sleep...

I had to fight wiht the indenting for an hour on , then it ate all my info and spat it out like this. Soif i ever get around to doing this chapter over, I'll fix it. Sorry!

Favorite Line (Well...it's really a paragraph...): I like to think that Mother is the wind. That she can sometimes break free of the boundaries between the afterlife and the living world and just touch me for a second. That she still plays with my hair, and that she's still as warm as before. I feel a smile creep onto my face as the win whips across my lips again and moves my hair away from my eyes.

Favorite Character: T-Chan. Go Tohru...

Date Finished: September 5th, 2004. 9: 20 p.m.

Date Edited: September 20th, 2004. 7: 29 p.m.

Moving along...

Misaki-Sama: That's quite a good question, about if there was another cat born. I believe I can tell you that no, there have been no births in the Sohma family for over two years. -. So glad you love this story, and thank you so mush for being my Beta. I would die without your help...

yamatoforever: Glad that you were happy for him. That's a good guess about what the favor was, but do not worry - you'll find out soon. The favor will be fulfilled soon enough. Hope you like this chapter and thank you so much for your review.

Sad face... I only have two reviews... Oh well, I guess the story is dying down. Well, I'll continue writing anyway -

Bonus!! Preview of another Story: (This is the real beginning of The Collector, un-beta-ed by Misaki-Sama. You'll understandwhy i need a beta after you read this little part. Please go read it when it comes out.... Thanx)

The Collector

Chapter One: Welcome to my Life

There were small spots of drying blood on my face, and thankfully none of it were mine. It's slightly odd to think of starting the day off with dots of liquid that came from inside another person's body splashed across yours, but you get a accustomed it. Either your forced to, or you snap like a dry twig. It's an easy guess at which one I picked -I'm still here.

Truthfully, I wasn't starting the day off with blood on my face; my day was just continuing. My days were about 36 hours long, with up to 6 hours of sleep - if I was lucky. After a while you get used to living of black coffee and sleeping with your eyes open. Paranoia helps one's insomnia.

Though most of the times you shouldn't meet a cliental with dried blood spots on you face. It's not very neat, or professional. But frankly, I don't really care. My boss on the other hand...he cares a bit more then me.

My job is simple really, but it makes me stand out. It's not like I really had to study to be what I am, but it does occasionally acquire spots of blood on my face - sometimes more then that.

My life has become quite complicated under my nose, and only after a near death experience has it been brought to my attention.

Currently, the client in my office was silently examining the product of my most recent near death experience. It caused my entire left shoulder to be covered in small rivets of deep cuts and a long slash down my back, as well as my left hand being cut up quite nicely. Well, he couldn't really see my back, but my arm was another story all together. I love wearing short sleeved shirts just for this one purpose.

I extended my right hand out to the so-far nameless client, knowing fully well that people tend to not want to shake mutilated parts of your body. His paper white hand had a strong grip despite the fact the he looked very frail. The palm of his hand was still smooth even against the tough and sharp calluses of mine. A light blue colored long sleeved shirt covered his arms totally, fully reaching up his arm. His face was the same pale shade of white that his hand was, so white it made his skin seem thinner then normal. He wore a pare of black jeans that weren't faded anywhere, and a pair of black shoes that I couldn't place the name of. They looked expensive and new - unused and plain.

"Hello, um..." I let my rough voice trail off, slowly letting go of his hand.

Most people who came to me where very professional, or very regular - average Joe's. Truthfully with all the new world wide laws that are being kicked into motion, me and my crew are considered cold blooded killers. We kill the bad guy's, but we still kill. We're hired by legitimate business or other professionals - even some Joe's with enough money - and kill for them. Assassins isn't the word, but it's very close to it. Were are the secretive murders, but people still come to us for kills - or hunts.

"Yosuki. Yosuki Atsuo." His voice was as soft as I had expected it to be, but it did hold the tired scratchiness of age and experience.

He pushed a long copper colored strand of hair away for his sculpted face, letting it fall to the floor. It coiled like a snake around the chair behind him and looked as if it was tangling itself. He never took off his solid black pair of sunglasses that wrapped around to covered all of his eyes. I had the feeling that he wouldn't take the glasses off now, and that he wouldn't the entire time I would see him today. His thinly stretched skin almost blended with the walls of my office.

My office was painted endless white, and the carpet was gray - the ceiling a lighter shade of the carpet. My desk had rich black color and looked more like a architects drawing table then a desk. It was tilted flat, but it gave me enough room to lay down plans of grave yards or houses or whatever. My name plate sat in the corner next to my silver architects lamp, along with a bottle of water and a cup holder of pens. Under my desk were file cabinets that almost blended to the table to make it look like a desk - but it wasn't. They work better the regular desk draws do, but it still proves that my boss is a cheep bastard. He's the only one in the company that has a real desk...

There was a mirror that wrapped around the wall that sat behind me. It started from the bottom of my hip and came up to about three feet above my head. The mirror also stretched half way across the walls on either side of me, the same length on each side. I was protected by mirrors that could help me in more ways then one. Vampire's - for future knowledge, and a refresher for anyone who didn't know- do not have a reflection. Mirrors also reflected the real images of a person if they cast glamour or any illusion. I was very thankful for my mirror...

Other then my mirror, I was lost in a cloud of gray.

"Yosuki-San, how can I help you today?" I said, sitting down in the chair behind my desk.

"Well Mr. ..." He repeated my eyebrow lift, and I grinned. I ran my left hand thought my hair and leaned back in my chair.

"Sohma Kyo. It says it on the name plate." I gestured at the gold colored plate near the lamp, but Yasuki-san just smiled. I pulled at the bottom of my gray tank top and crossed my legs at the ankles. My legs were covered by a ripped pair of blue jeans, blood spots scattered all over my knees and along the bottoms of the legs. My black Nikes had no blood on them that the eye could catch, but I knew for a fact that I had made tracks of blood in my wake when I walked into the office. My regular silver cross hung by a thin chain around my neck, a very comfortable weight against my scared chest. Killing two birds with one stone with a silver cross. Today happened to be a dress down day...in fact, every day happened to be a dress down day.

"Sohma Kyo." He said my name, testing it on his lips - smiling slightly. I didn't like that, not one freken bit. I've learned that if someone tastes you name, they know they're going to need to remember it. I glared at him.

"Yosuki-San, I'm a busy man. I do have appointments I need to check over..." I lied. Frankly I hadn't had my coffee in the past few hours - my day wasn't over quite yet, not until after tonight. And my gut was screaming at me to get the hell away from this guy as quickly as possible. I almost always agreed with my gut.

His smile fell off instantly. "I'll try not to take up to much of your valuable time, Sohma-San."

I could feel his heavy gaze through his sunglasses, and I knew he knew I was lying. A little white lie, but a lie never the less.

"I'm looking for a shape shifter for one of my own clients - I'm a privet deceive, you see. The shifter is someone from their family, a lost family member. They want me to find him. I've been told that your company happens to be one of the best tracking company's in Japan." His voice was quite monotone

"You want to track a shifter? That's all?" I blinked at him. It's rare that I'm asked to just track a shifter and not kill them. A retrieval thing was new to me. Yasuki smiled at the blunt surprise on my face, then slowly started to laugh. His laugh creped up my arm's and raised goose bumps along then, and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. His laughter curled around my stomach, and that feeling in m chest was screaming at me to leave. Old power beat around me, making my heart beat quicken.

I turned around to check my mirror, to see if he was really there. Only old vampires - master vampires could make my skin crawl and my stomach churn. If he was a master vamp, then he must of been really old to be out in the day time...

My shaggy orange hair swung around me, cropped short in the front and slightly longer in the back. My face was paler then my normal tan, and my eyes looked even brighter in their sockets - a bright shade of gray. I knew they were really red - no, they were crimson. I've been told my eyes were crimson, the exact color of blood. I couldn't see the color of blood, so I didn't know. I've never been able to see red -any red -, and I'm kind of thankful for that. My pink was pink, as long as it wasn't too red.

My red was gray. My red has been gray for a long time...

And there in the mirror sat Yosuki, a sweet smile on his face. I slowly turned back around to face him, my face and heart uneasy...

By the way, I don't own FruBa. This plot and original characters are mine, but not Fruba itself. Any twisted, enhanced psychotic tendency, morbid reactions, deep and well deserved brooding and/or beating ones self up that happen to appear in the story are mine and I stake full claims with some help and idea's. Please review, and any flame will be laughed if not ignored.

Ja!

SAL-Chan