Rising Vision

Two

"Nn?" I murmured, opening an eye. I saw only blackness. Groaning, I tried to move, and a hand clamped down suddenly on my arm. "Eh?"

"Stop drawing attention to yourself," Gin's voice snapped, and my blood turned to ice in my veins. My sides were heaving suddenly, and his grip tightened.

"Where'm I?" I stuttered, my eyes widening. I realized I was wearing a sleeping mask. I reached up with my free arm to pull it off, and I blinked at my surroundings. We were on a plane…I distantly remembered Gin telling me not to make a scene on it before I had passed out. The lights were out, and almost everyone was sleeping.

"Idiot," Gin hissed, and I could tell how much he hated the idea of not killing me.

I shivered suddenly, and I heard him sigh. I glanced at Vodka on my other side, watching his deep breaths. He was asleep, I finally decided. It was difficult to tell through his sunglasses, which he obviously wore when he was asleep, but I managed to deduce the difference.

"Hey," I said, looking at him. I really didn't want to talk to him, and my expressionless mask had more difficulty keeping in place at the prospect. I needed to know what would become of me, though, so I held back my hatred, my fear. "What do you want me for?"

"Hn?" he glared at me, and I stared straight ahead.

"Well?" I murmured. "You could have killed her, making me watch, and then killed me. Yet you kept me alive. What's the point?"

"Why do you think you deserve to know?" he snarled, his voice barely rising above an annoyed whisper. I gave a small chuckle, then I looked over at him.

"Because this is my life. I want to know why you decided to turn it completely upside down and then leave me to figure it out for myself," I said. "Do I not have that right?"

"You talk too much. You'd better watch the way you address me, by the way," he added in a growl. I was silent, waiting for his added response. He met my silence stubbornly, though, and I knew that he was plenty dangerous, even if we were on a plane.

But then he surprised me. "I'm not telling you because of your reasoning," he muttered, and I could hear the unmasked hatred. "But the organization seems to need your skills."

"You're telling me you can't beat up a junkie off the street?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. His eyes narrowed in a harsh glare, and I gave a half smile.

"You were trained in martial arts, am I right? With those skills, you could make a thief for our purposes," he growled.

"A thief…" I trailed off. I wasn't opposed to the idea, since it seemed I had no other options. Then I gave a soft huff. "You couldn't just recruit the Kid?"

"We wouldn't want someone whose identity we don't even know," he muttered, as if it was obvious. I felt my face darken with indignation, but I let out a humorous snort.

"With your assets you can't even figure out who he is?" I rolled my eyes. "Here I thought I was supposed to be afraid of you. All I have to do is go buy a disguise at a costume shop to get you people off my back."

Turning the tables on him and his syndicate, I watched his reaction out of my peripheral vision. He was trying to mimic my cool mask, but successively failing. The perfect moment to shout fail, but…I don't want to die after all I've been through… I thought with a crooked nervous smile.

"What?" he muttered, and I glanced over, narrowing my eyes.

"My thoughts are my own. No matter what you do to me, don't think for a moment that I'll tell you." My reply was cold, and the change in my voice confused him. It was impossible to read him as easily as most people I encountered, but I could tell that the change in my voice, the open hostility, wouldn't just go away. He thinks I see him as an equal, I guessed. Crap. Now it's gonna be worse for me when we land. But…while I have this fearlessness…

"Did I not tell you to watch how you address me?" he snarled in a whisper. I glared evenly back.

"I wasn't able to warn you last night…but if you want me to work with you willingly, you have another thing coming," I hissed back, my eyes flashing. "You just made a major mistake, and I promise you this- if I decide to work with you then I have reasons other than my loyalty to your cause."

He seethed, and I realized I had just pushed way over my limit. He wanted desperately to kill me right now, and I could see the fury plainly on his features. Now that I looked closely, though, and knowing what I knew about the 'vampire' blood, I was mildly impressed. I had no clue how long he had been alive, but he had gotten a hold of the drug in his early twenties. Yet, I wondered, he has silver hair. Did the drug do that?

"Hmph," I muttered. "I'm going to use the bathroom." I moved to the aisle, surprised that he let me go. I moved fluidly, making no sound as I found the restroom, and I closed the door in relief. I was away from them, even if only for a moment. I shuddered as I played back what I had just said, and I shook with fear. I had always been told that I was too blunt, that I needed to think before I spoke, however clichéd that was, but now I realized how true it was.

"Crap," I breathed, moving to the mirror, gripping the counter to steady myself. I looked at my reflection and almost fell over with amazement.

I touched my face, and the girl in the mirror moved in time with me. She had clear perfect skin, arched black eyebrows, and short silky black hair, with no frizz or split ends. Her eyes were wide with thick eyelashes, and they were such a deep blue that it was difficult to comprehend. I glanced down at my arms, which had always been freckled and different tones and hissed with surprise. Simple one toned skin covered them, and I blinked.

My memory flashed back to Vodka's comment, and I blinked in astonishment. I had thought he had been sarcastic, but it seemed he hadn't been lying. Other than that, my hair was mussy from sleeping on it, and I ran my fingers through it, combing through it and putting it into a very tiny ponytail.

I was still shaky, though. I glanced at the clock balanced on the wall. It was morning, yet the people were sleeping? I ignored that and massaged the back of my neck. I was tired, and still in my pajamas. I found it interesting that no one had noticed that, either.

Coughing suddenly, I sank to the ground, overwhelmed by a sudden sickness as the plane twitched in the air. I held my side and coughed again. I had forgotten that I had airsickness.

"Nngh," I gasped, my eyebrows pulling together, as I tried to calm myself. Obviously, Gin had posed as a distraction against the inevitable, and obviously having the changed blood didn't help at all.

"Hey, hurry up," his voice came in an annoyed whisper, and I doubled over as a new wave crashed over me again. He was trying to force the door open silently, but it was too strong for him. He cursed with anger, and I gave a soft moan, feeling my face turn hot with the sickness.

"Mika," he growled, and I knew he was sure I was doing this to get away from him. But I couldn't move, the same as that day when I had gotten sick…it felt the same. The same dizzying feeling, the same…

"Nn," I gasped as the wave muted suddenly. I struggled to stand, and I glanced at my reflection. The same, except a little strained. I fumbled with the lock, finally getting the door open against Gin's struggles. "Calm down, I've only been gone for two minutes," I muttered, my breathing a little harder. His green eyes flashed with obvious anger, but I ignored that and walked back to my seat, collapsing into it.

"Mika?" Vodka's voice slurred, but I ignored that, too, closing my eyes and focusing on breathing calmly. I didn't want them to know anything was wrong. I could tell Gin was suspicious, though, which I couldn't help.

"Hey, didn't you have a bruise here?" Vodka asked, and I opened an eye. My forehead was damp, and I rubbed it absently. "Yeah, you did, right here," he caught my arm, and pointed to my wrist. I paused, my eyes widening. This was a distraction that could take my mind off flying.

"Hey, you're right," I said, opening my other eye to look at my wrist. Even in the darkness last night, it wouldn't have been difficult to notice the bruise. It had covered my whole wrist almost, as the result of blocking a swing of a pipe in one of my struggles with Rick, a few days before I had ever seen Gin or Vodka.

"So, what?" Gin growled. "Can she heal herself, then?"

His voice rose the hairs on the back of my neck, and I turned to glare at him.

"Hm…" he muttered, then caught my other arm, pinning it to the armrest without my being able to move. I hissed with indignation, and he moved his other hand in a blur, stabbing something through my soft skin and withdrawing it so as not to cause suspicion.

"H-hey!" I cried in a whisper. He silenced me with a harsh glare, and then stared down at my arm. I looked, too, sulking, and watched in amazement as the cut faded, and soon disappeared completely, leaving only a drop of blood to show that it had truly been there.

"She can heal?" Vermouth's voice startled me, and I looked over. The stewardess, I thought, narrowing my eyes.

"It seems her blood reacted differently with the drug," he replied. I frowned in thought.

"You guys can't heal?" I asked, forgetting my airsickness and my distaste for talking to them. Vodka shook his head, and Vermouth smiled at me.

"Ah, so you're different, eh? That probably wasn't the best thing for Gin to find out," she grinned, winking at me. Then she walked away. Gin seemed to be annoyed by her presence, but he looked back at my arm.

"That means that you would be able to do anything as a thief," Vodka murmured. "Get shot, or anything else."

"Thanks, but I'm not going to try, it does still hurt when it happens," I said. "But I'm flattered that you're willing to sacrifice me."

"Hmph," Gin replied, seemingly annoyed by the direction that the conversation was taking. "We're almost there, probably," he muttered.

"Where're we going?" I asked, returning to my nonchalance.

"You haven't guessed?" Vodka asked. "Japan."

"Hn?" I asked, my eyes widening. I had noticed their dialect…but leaving the United States completely? I would never be able to return?

A/N: Okay, I had to end it early today, and I probably won't get to updating as often as I want, but I will try. I'm balancing this and my DeviantArt account, plus some other things, too. Please rate, and remember that I'm still in high school, so be kind. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. By the way, I promise, this will be a romance, just…it will take awhile. Thanks again! :D