Chapter FIFTEEN: Changing Tides
Dawn approached the city of Kyoto, yet still the clouds refused to part and the sun was left unseen. The streets were untouched by anything but rain and lightning. Not even the creatures that prowled during the gloomiest of hours were outside, none daring to go up against Nature's fury. Only the sound of the thunder's roar, the rain's footsteps, and the wind's howls were heard. It seemed that Nature was unrelenting in allowing this part of Japan to see its kindness.
Hours went on and on, but still there was no sign of the bad weather giving way. The Heavens weren't at all happy.
The moment that the rain began to drizzle lightly, five figures stepped out of the Aoiya, each one holding an umbrella. Of the five creatures that left, the largest of the group stopped short a few meters away from the Aoiya's entrance.
"Hyottoko, you'll be the one to stay and protect our headquarters?" asked the Okashira as he turned and stared up at one of his most trusted men.
"I will not let you down, Lord Aoshi," said Hyottoko with a bow.
Nodding, the lycan leader turned to the other three werewolves behind him and motioned for them to follow.
When the three nodded in return, he led their small group towards the closest temple where they would find Genzai Oguni, the priest suspected in aiding the demons.
xXoXx
Deep within the forest, the spiraling blackness of smoke from a chimney floated into the sky, catching the eye of a certain brother of the immortal Battousai.
Soaked through and through, Seta Soujiro stumbled toward the small hut where the smoke originated. The coldness of the storm didn't bother him, but the lack of results in finding his mate was threatening to choke him. His immune system was faltering as his brain began to process that he would never find the vampire he grew to care so much for. The thought of losing her as well as his sister ate at his will to go on. The cause of his depression and weakness was his failure. He had failed the two of the most important people in his life.
Eyes going unfocused in the storm, Soujiro forced his legs to move toward the silhouette of the wooden house. The closer he got, the weaker he felt. It wasn't until he was suddenly thrown back that he finally realized his lack of power was caused from being so close to the holy barrier around the only form of shelter in the whole forest.
With no will and no strength left to fight, Soujiro was content on just staying on the ground where he was thrown. If worse came to worse, at least he would soon see his wife and sibling again.
Before he fell into unconsciousness, he vaguely made out the form of a woman stepping out of the house. His world went completely black just as he heard his name being screamed out.
xXoXx
The shape-shifter watched her patients silently from beside the window as they slept and smiled when she noted the two women would get better within a few short hours. What bothered her though was that she'd have to explain to the vampires how she found them and brought them back here. She was certain that they would be confused as to why they were here instead of at the Aoiya. If she didn't make up a good excuse soon, they were most likely going to accuse her of attacking them. Life was so difficult sometimes.
Eyes moving over toward the kettle over the fire, Megumi stood up and carefully took the whistling item off its hook with a cloth dipped in cold water.
Cautiously, she placed the container of boiling water on the small table toward the back of the hut before trudging over to the one of the cabinets that hung on the wall to her left.
Opening the cabinet at the farthest end, Megumi took out the tea bags before walking back toward the low end table where a tea set was placed in the center.
Upon hearing one of her guests stir, Megumi turned around just in time to see a figure collapse on the ground through the window. Her eyes widened as her heart began to pound at seeing that someone had found out where they were. She cursed herself when her eyes saw the smoke rising from the flames in the fire place. The hut might have been protected with a barrier, but the smoke would still be visible to the outside world.
Walking back over to Shura, who was now groaning, Megumi replaced the cloth over her forehead before she walked over to the door.
Quietly, she opened the door and quickly shut it behind her so that the temperature in the hut wouldn't drop. Megumi stared at the fallen figure and knew that she was protected so long as she remained the barrier. Even so, she couldn't help but feel a sickening twist in her stomach as she kept her attention on the creature.
She let out a gasp when the vampire lifted his face, and even through the curtain of rain, Megumi could make out the unmistakable features of her old savior.
"Soujiro!" cried out Megumi as she raced out of her barrier, uncaring that she was getting wet as she knelt beside her pale friend.
Touching his face, she noted just how cold he was and knew he had been in the rain for hours on end. At this rate, he would have ended up drowning or simply dying because of his condition if he had remained in the storm any longer.
Once again, she used her powers and forced the vampire to go into bat form. When the deed was done, she shielded the limp bat from the falling rain and raced back into the house after rebuilding the barrier she had so carelessly broken earlier.
"Oh, Soujiro," cried Megumi as she made him turn back into his human form. The task was too easily done and it could only mean that he was on the brink of death. His strength was depleting and he was hardly breathing.
Racing to the back of the hut, Megumi gathered the rest of the blankets and quickly began to undress the Vampire down to his undergarments. In a few minutes, she had a make-shift futon close to the fire with the other two vampires and Soujiro's shivering form tucked in with the last of the blankets she possessed.
She was grateful to find that Soujiro had not been injured in anyway, but had instead exhausted himself a bit too much. Even if she wasn't a vampire, she knew that from Soujiro's complexion, he had obviously not fed all night. Without a good collection of blood in his body, Megumi was sure that it had left him completely weak and unable to move when he had came in contact with such a powerful barrier.
Megumi simply shook her head as her mind came to the conclusion that he had gone out into the storm to look for his mate. If there was one characteristic that placed Soujiro apart from others, it was his loyalty.
After making sure Soujiro would be all right, Megumi padded back over to her low end table and finally made her cup of much needed tea.
xXoXx
After five attempts of falling back to sleep without seeing the face of her captor, Kaoru sat up in her futon and rubbed the temptation to sleep out of her eyes. No amount of rest was worth having to see Battousai smirk every time she reopened her eyes.
Looking around the black room, Kaoru cocked her head to the side in confusion when she saw that Battousai was no where to be seen. She couldn't even feel his unmistakable presence anymore. It was as if he had just disappeared. All that was left that was his was the ever present barrier.
A nice blush crossed her face as she heard the grumbling of her stomach. The distraction reminded her that she hadn't eaten since she left the Seta Residence and the poison she had drunk had most likely dissolved the little amount of food she had gotten into her system in her last meal.
Hand on her abdomen, Kaoru sighed. The chances of her getting food was slim to none and there was no way she was about to ask Battousai to bring her food. There was only so much someone would go through with and begging wasn't one of the things Kaoru was about to do to survive.
Her head jerked to the sound of the shoji door opening and bit her lower lip as the smell of rice reached her nose. She forced herself to look back down at her hands in her lap and ignore the vampire as he walked over to her, but she couldn't help but stare up at her new "master" as he placed a tray over her folded hands. Why would he bother to feed something that he saw as nothing but a tool? Sure, he needed her alive, but why did he give her a meal so properly?
"You can either stare at me or eat. We'll be leaving the Aoiya as soon as Yumi and Soujiro's mate are found. You'll need the strength and I'm not going to drag or carry you back to my castle," stated Battousai as their eyes met before he walked back over to his corner and sat down again.
At hearing Battousai's words, Kaoru sighed once again. She should have known better than to get her hopes up about him acting civilized to her for a reason other than his own self gain. Then again, who act civilized without a hidden agenda these days?
After staring a bit at the bowl of rice, shrimp, vegetables, and a side dish of sushi, Kaoru finally picked up her chopsticks and began to eat.
The moment that she swallowed the piece of shrimp and rice, Kaoru frowned in distaste. For some reason, the food before her didn't exactly taste…normal? Even though the meal looked completely delicious and smelled wonderful, it tasted stale.
Trying a piece of sushi, Kaoru almost threw up all that she currently held in her stomach. Nothing looked wrong on the tray, but after tasting a bit of everything, Kaoru lifted the tray off of her lap and gave up on eating. There was no way she could stomach such a foul tasting meal without becoming sick. She didn't even try to take a taste of the tea.
"Not hungry?" mocked Battousai from his corner, his amber eyes glittering as the two locked gazes again.
"What did you do to the food?" demanded Kaoru angrily as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
When Battousai raised a brow in questioning, Kaoru took the bowl of rice in her hand and threw it at him. She knew that the vampire was going to catch it and asked, "Then do you mind telling me why it tastes so stale and…unappetizing?"
Kaoru watched as the vampire looked at the bowl in his hand and threw up his hands when he looked back at her expressionlessly.
"There's nothing wrong with this rice. I haven't eaten it in nearly 1000 years, but I know good rice when I see it. The problem isn't the quality of the rice, it's your new sense of taste," said Battousai in a matter-of-fact tone, making Kaoru slightly twitch.
"There is nothing wrong with me! The only time I did anything to alter my innards was when I drank the poison, even then it shouldn't have changed the type of food that I like," protested Kaoru as she wrung her hands in her lap uncomfortably and refused to look back up at the vampire.
Her breathing stopped slightly when she saw the rice return back to its place on the tray and a hand forcing her chin up. She gasped when she met Battousai's face and saw his white fangs as clear as day.
"You're wrong, my little sorceress. The poison changed you dramatically. My blood forced the poison out of your blood, but how do you think you had enough of my blood to get it out of your entire system? Your body made more, your heart pumped more. When the venom had completely vanished, your heart was so use to pumping out more of my blood than yours that it still continues to do so. A vampire, once turned, has his or her innards destroyed except for the heart and brain. Your organs are dying and the rest is being transformed. You sped up the process of becoming like me," smirked the Vampire.
Taking advantage of Kaoru's confused state, Battousai brushed his fangs lightly against her lips before pulling back and letting go of her chin.
"The only substance a vampire bothers to drink is blood. You won't feel satisfied until after your first kill," said Battousai as he stood up and went back toward his corner to grab his katana.
Kaoru snapped out of her thoughts and her denial when Battousai lifted her up by her left shoulder painfully enough to leave a good bruise.
"We're going to solve your own hunger problem before we leave. You're lucky I haven't fed yet," said the Vampire as he practically dragged Kaoru toward the shoji door. He only stopped when Kaoru broke free of his grip.
Annoyed, he turned around and faced her once again.
"It's either you feed or die," stated Battousai.
At seeing Kaoru shake her head from side to side, the Prince of the Night growled. She wasn't going to make it easy and he knew she would rather die than become what he was.
"I refuse to be like you," said Kaoru as she pointed an accusing finger at him while tears streamed down her face. She knew that she couldn't possibly stop the process, but that didn't mean that she would give into it.
Instead of rolling his eyes, Battousai sent her a well pointed glare. She was taking up valuable time where they could be catching a prey, and if she didn't hurry up, he'd end up feeding off of her.
Suddenly, Battousai grinned as an idea came into his mind. It was this grin of reassurance that made his possession shudder while backing up. With every step she took, he took two until he had her cornered into another corner of the room.
"Please don't," begged the teenager she slouched down against the walls until she could properly move her arms around her knees.
Getting down on both knees, Battousai simply lifted her head up from her knees and captured her lower lip with his fangs. If he hadn't interfered in the girl's dreams, he would have never gotten the idea to feed the girl in such a manner. Dying wasn't an option for the sorceress at the moment.
Feeling Kaoru hitting his shoulders and trying to get him to let go, Battousai sank his fangs deeper into her lip until blood poured like a river into his mouth. He didn't even let go when Kaoru bit down on his upper lip, but instead he grabbed onto her back and forced her onto her feet when he felt her begin to suckle. The feeling of having blood leave his body in such a manner was so odd and unfamiliar that it made him pull back when he felt more blood leave him than all of his battles combined. Kaoru had managed to take more blood from him than any of his opponents ever did, even altogether they had never come this close.
Battousai stared into Kaoru's red brimmed eyes and licked his own healing lips when he saw the girl's two visible fangs. He slowly began to lap at the sorceress's lower lip where he had bitten until it had completely healed. If Kaoru wasn't satisfied, he was certain she would have bitten him again.
He pulled back once again after he had licked the last of the blood away and couldn't help but stare at the bundle in his arms. The feeling that he had actually transformed the woman standing against him made him smile. Of all the things he had done before, this was the first time he had bothered to make another into something like him.
"Warm," whispered Kaoru as she unconsciously wrapped an arm around Battousai's neck and leaned her head on his chest before closing her eyes in content. The sensation was awkward--albeit very much enjoyable--and all that she wanted to do at the moment was sleep like a baby after suckling on a bottle warm milk.
"You're delusional," said Battousai as he stroked her hair with his right hand, the other holding her to him.
"Mmm," was the simple reply as Kaoru nuzzled her face deeper into his chest until she met flesh.
"You'll need sleep for tomorrow my precious vampire sorceress," soothed Battousai as he carefully picked her up and walked back over to the futon.
When he had securely tucked her in, Battousai shook his head as he watched Kaoru sleep. If things went on this way, he was going to have to feed enough for both of them.
Once satisfied that Kaoru was sound asleep, the immortal walked back toward his corner and leaned against the wall with his katana propped up on his shoulder. In a few seconds, his eyes closed and the barrier around him began to glow with power. The darkness of his barrier mingled slightly with a shade of midnight blue until those outside were actually able to see the barrier that was meant only to protect those within. Its power seemed almost unlimited.