Had he really just opened his eyes? They refused to focus. Attempting to look around, all he could tell was that he was in a wooden building. Slowly, he raised himself to a sitting position. Everywhere felt dull, like his entire body slept. No, that wasn't right. Something was asleep, but it wasn't his limbs.

He could hear the scraping sound as someone roughly wrote with chalk in another room. Tilting his head, Raidou could just make out a traditional sliding door. The trickle of light which came through made the wooden door highlighted the lack of any light within the small room. Gently, he rose to his feet, not entirely sure they could hold him.

The sound of chalk stopped.

Clenching his hands into fists to ensure they were still there, Raidou walked unsteadily towards the door. He could hear some sort of movement in the next room.

Reaching towards the harness where he kept his tubes, Raidou became suddenly aware that he didn't have any of his combat equipment on. A quick glance around the room didn't reveal it either. He still wore the same clothes though, and that offered at least a small level of comfort. He hadn't be stripped down at least.

He slammed the door open, not even physically capable of sliding it gently.

The smell of rotting flesh and formaldehyde greeted his nose.

"Wha...?"

"Surprised? I thought you might be," a familiar voice called out.

Raidou looked across the room and found himself leaning against the door frame for support. A young man, likely in his mid-twenties, stared back at him. His eyes blazed an eerie yellow, and he sat comfortably upon a pile of corpses in various states of decay.

"What have you done to them?" Raidou choked. At the base of the pile he could see Doctor Victor, but towards the top were faces far more harmful to his psyche. Vincent lay recently dead, clearly killed by the katana would across his chest. Narumi-san lay on the other side, a bullet in her head. Daisuke looked as though he had been ripped apart, and the body this individual sat upon..."Grandfather."

"What do we care?" the person asked in his eerily familiar voice. Raidou looked at him properly once more, taking in his ragged pi t-shirt and carefully trimmed sideburns.

"Why did you do this?"

"Why do you care?" The young man stood up, revealing a weapon belt with a Katana and handgun. The white of the belt stood out in the darkness more than the weapons themselves.

"You killed them."

"Are you referring to the top layer, or the ones underneath?" He strode down from among the bodies to stand at the base. "The ones on top killed themselves and I am only responsible for the ones on the bottom." He kicked the corpse of Doctor Victor to accentuate his point. "This man was supposed to live forever, but he overstepped his bounds and so, friendship or no," he glanced up to Vincent's corpse, "he had to be eradicated." He batted his long eyelashes innocently.

"What do you know about that?"

"I know that seeing you insecure and frightened makes me smile."

"You look like me," Raidou commented, trying desperately to get a foothold in the conversation, or at least an explanation.

"If you ignore our mannerisms, dress, and eyes I suppose I do." The strange individual stepped closer.

"Who are you?"

"I am Akira Takahashi." He bowed. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Raidou Kuzunoha the Fifteenth." He spat on the floor.

Raidou slid to the ground. "That's my-"

"You gave it up! You tossed it out like some garbage, but what made you think it was destroyed? What made you think the person you were before would stop?"

Raidou looked at the corpses again. "Why do you target me as a Devil Summoner then?"

Akira rushed up to him and leaned down so they were face to face. "You are willing to kill, and to maim, and to lose. Why these people? They have never been your true targets."

"Then tell me who my true targets are."

"You tell me. What do you want most in the world?"

Raidou looked at him blankly.

Akira leaned in and whispered, "Vengeance on those who hurt us."

"What are you?"

Akira stood, revealing himself to be quite tall, and said, "I am a Shadow."

"Sha-?"

"Raidou!" a voice called. "Raidou, can you hear me?"

"Seta?"

"Izanagi," Akira hissed, casting his gaze quickly around the room.

"Raidou, you have to get out of there now, before your Shadow appears."

Akira snarled and drew his gun. His motions were fluid as he pointed it at Raidou's head.

"Think about your bonds over here, and all the things that make you Raidou," Souji continued, seemingly unaware of what was happening. "I'm sorry. I didn't know this could happen. It didn't occur to me you could absorb pieces of the shadows themselves."

"Are you going to shoot me?" Raidou asked.

"Unfortunately, I do not fully understand the consequences your death could have on me."

"Raidou, if one does appear, don't speak to it. I've never seen anyone handle their Shadow alone," Souji pressed.

"Bit late for that," Raidou muttered, very aware of the gun barrel on his forehead.

Akira smiled, pressing the gun tighter. "Well? Go home. I don't want you here."

"Just think about your friends here and follow my voice. That should guide you back."

Raidou looked Akira in the eyes. "We'll meet again, won't we?"

Akira pulled the gun away. "Of course. Until you come to terms with who you really are, I will always exist."

Raidou nodded and closed his eyes, thinking of Vincent, and Daisuke, and Narumi-san.

"Just follow my voice."

Raidou's eyes snapped open to a familiar hospital interior. Souji leaned over him and someone Raidou didn't know peered over the young man's shoulders.

"Thank goodness," Souji muttered, stepping away.

The person behind him came forward and examined Raidou. His eyes, while blue, held a similar light as Akira's had.

"Raidou's conscious," Gouto announced. Raidou wanted to look towards his friend and mentory, but those eyes held him in place.

"Who are you?"

"Currently? Butterfly."

"Were you at the park?"

He nodded and stood up straight. Seeing Butterfly framed with Souji in the background it occurred to Raidou that this odd individual, seeped with power, was physically very small.

"You were the hairpiece," Raidou concluded.

Butterfly nodded again.

"What are you?"

"Why don't we save that for somewhere more private?" Souji commenting, coming up beside Butterfly. He gently rested his hand on the man's unruly dark blue hair. Butterfly nodded and seemed to fade away, his center becoming a blue butterfly for just a moment before he solidified into the hairpiece Raidou was familiar with. Souji placed it in his hair.

The door slammed open and Vincent charged into the room, breathing heavily.

"Raidou, what happened? I couldn't find anything wrong with you."

"Vincent?"

Gouto jumped on the small table beside the bed. "As usual, he's pulled through when you get yourself into trouble."

Raidou nodded. "Vincent, I'm sorry."

"For what?" the doctor demanded, coming up to Raidou and taking his pulse.

"For always being such a burden."

"You're not a burden."

Raidou smiled. Vincent may have responded somewhat harshly, but he suspected the message had been understood.

"You seem fine, but we still don't know what made you pass out."

Raidou glanced at Souji.

"Heh. He should be fine, at least for a while."

Vincent looked at both of them. "For a moment there, it almost looked like you were coming down with Apathy Syndrome."

"Huh?"

"Make sure you're home when I next come back so I can take another look."

"Sure. Can I go now, though?"

Vincent nodded and turned to regard Souji. "I don't know what you got him involved in, but make sure he comes out of it okay." With that he stood and left the room.

"You have a good friend," Souji remarked.

"I guess he's good enough."

"Should we leave?" Souji inquired, glancing nervously around the room.

"Yeah." Raidou looked at Gouto. "We should discuss what happened."

Souji sighed. "We're fairly near my home, and my parents shouldn't be back for a while." His eyes widened. "Never mind. They may not be back, but there are those who already know about me."

"Let's go to the Narumi Detective Agency then. Even if we can't get away from Narumi-san, she'll make sure no one else hears, and she'll stay out of it unless we need her."

"Good call, Akira," Gouto commended.

Raidou winced, but stood up without saying anything.

Author's Note: Yay, I introduced Akira! It could have gone better, but he's at least seventy percent of why I wanted to write this story. He'll be fun to travel with too. I know about where he'll end up, but I have very little idea of the journey except for a few key points. Actually, it's about like that for everyone.

You've also no met Butterfly. What do you think of him and Akira? How am I doing with Souji? This story is kind of hard on me because I'm used to writing lots and lots of verbose dialogue, and none of these characters talk a whole lot. They have a good vocabulary, but they rarely use it and when I'm playing with more established characters in the cannon I'll have to try and talk like them. That should be interesting.

I'd like to thank domshneider (I think I spelled that right) for editing for me and helping me clarify not only the story on paper, but my own thoughts and ideas. I'd also love to share a bit of trivia she shared with me: "food for thought: i found out today that "butterfly" in Korean is "nabi" which, coincidentally, is also how they would pronounce the name "Navi."

Hope you guys keep reading and please, review! There's a lot of ideas going on in here and it's all pretty amorphous, so I'd love input.