Natsumi was running toward her house when she sensed the presence of someone nearby, and it was closing in. The woman stopped where she was and looked around. She noticed a pair of red eyes, and she tensed. She then realized out that the person was Vincent. "Hey," Natsumi said.
"Yo," Vicent replied in greeting.
"What is it?"
"I saw a strange person heading into your village. A woman." Vincent looked ahead while Natsumi considered the information he had given her.
"Hm...it may be a ninja from another village," she figured. Vincent shrugged, and they continued the rest of the way back to the Niikyo-Uchiha household. When they reached the house, Natsumi stopped just outside the garden gate. She looked at Vincent. "Are you coming inside?"
"Nah; I don't trust myself with humans that well yet."
"I could help you practice."
"Alright, some other time. See ya." Vincent waved and was gone in a flash. Natsumi walked through the white gate and walked to the front porch. She pulled out the house key, unlocked the door, and walked inside.
"I'm home," she said. She walked into the living room and saw that no one was there. "Guys?" The woman walked throughout the whole house -- no one. She tried to lisen for them, sniff them out, sense their chakra.....
Nothing.
"MAYUME!! YIN!! YANG!! NHAMO, HUNTER, SASUKE!!" Natsumi called.
Silence was the only reply. A knot formed in the woman's stomach. Could it be?
Did that vampire find her family and abducted them?
Natsumi ran around the house again, with her vampire speed this time. No one was there. She stood in the middle of the living room, shaking. Where could they have gone? she thought. They wouldn't be outside for fun; at least Mayume wouldn't. Where are they?!
She tried to thought-speak, but there was no reply. Her surroundings disappeared, and she cursed at herself. Genjutsu. How did she...? Right...she saw red eyes earlier. Then does that mean....Itachi? Suddenly, a man appeared before her. His red eyes were staring directly into her eyes.
Itachi Uchiha.
"What do you want with me?" Natsumi asked.
The man did not reply. Instead he vanished, and then Natsumi was watching her memories:
Natsumi was standing in front of the vampire that changed her. The man was crouched, ready for battle. He ran toward her, and she cartwheeled to dodge.
Why is Itachi showing me this? Natsumi thought. She still watched the memory, and then something caught her eye. The vampire still had the bite wound she gave him on his hand. It should've healed a long time ago.
She was now hiding in the trees, closing in on the villager. She glanced at the vampire.
The vampire had other wounds too. There were even scars all over him. Is that why he needs blood? To heal himself?Natsumi saw the memory vanish. The woman was still confused, and she wanted to get out of the genjutsu.
Itachi appeared in front of her once again, his katana at the ready. "Let's see how being a vampire helps your skills, Natsumi," he said. He sped over to her in a blur, but Natsumi saw the motion and blocked it with a kunai. She held her knife out while she reached behind her back to grab her fans, but Itachi was too fast. He got behind her and grabbed her wrist. He threw her down into the snow. Natsumi slammed her fists on the ground and caused ice spikes to jet out of the ground and make Itachi jump back around five meters.
Natsumi grabbed her fans from her belt and flipped to where she was standing up, facing Itachi. She flicked her wrists, opening her fans and positioning her arms to where they cross. "That's it?" Natsumi taunted. Suddenly, the world went from its natural colors to negative. "Crap."
"This is my world remember?" Itachi asked. He made three clones, and all four Itachis ran toward her.
The woman moved her fans, and a gust of fire flew out toward them. "Then why are we doing this in genjutsu? Why not fight for real?"
"Who says that as we are fighting, our real selves are not?"
"Hm...it is impossible."
"Really? People and things do have flaws you know. Everything always has a flaw."
Natsumi thought about that. "Are you actually helping me?"
The man's clones disappeared, and the real Itachi stared at her. "Now what makes you think that?" He did not let her answer, instead he vanished. The world went black, and Natsumi felt the ground vanish from beneath her, and she was on her back.
"Ugh..." Natsumi mumbled. She cracked her eyes open, and the night sky was clear. She slowly sat up, and then she saw Vincent.
"You finally wake up," the boy said.
"You didn't wake me?" Natsumi asked.
"I didn't know how." He then gave her a questioning stare. "Why the hell were you out here in the cold all knocked out for? You're warm blooded for heaven's sake."
The woman stood up slowly and replied, "I was trapped in an illusion. Damn Itachi."
"Who?"
"I'll tell you later. It's a long life story." A question popped in her head. "Hey Vincent, how did you become a vampire, and where are you from?" When the vampire looked at her, she reasoned, "You've been stalking me and know most of my background, so tell me yours."
After some thought, Vincent sighed, "Fine." He looked up at the sky as if the stars would help him tell his story. He began to tell his life.
"I used to live in New York, in the United States. I had both parents, and they were the best. One night, I was walking home from a friend's house when I heard a scream from an alley. I walked by it and glanced inside -- I saw a woman being thrown into a wall by a man.
"At first I disregarded it -- stuff like this happens a lot in New York city. I thought about it for a little bit, listening to the woman shriek 'Help!'. Then I decided to go help. Quickly, I grabbed a pipe and ran into the alley. I whacked the man on the back of the head with my weapon, but he did not fall unconscious as I hoped. Instead, the pipe bent and the man turned away from the woman to glare at me. I was creeped out by his looks.
"He had a pale face, dark, long black hair that covered most of his face, and blood-red eyes. His fangs were what made me scared...they looked about three centimeters long. He punched me in the gut and slammed me into a wall, and I blacked out." Vincent looked down at the ground like he was hanging it in shame at the defeat. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and continued.
"When I woke up, the man was gone, and the woman was lying on the ground dead. When I saw the blood, I craved for it, but I pulled myself away. I had noticed that my vision was sharper, and my speed was greater. I stopped running and looked at my shirt. My own blood was on it. I touched my neck, searching for the wound, but I didn't find it. Pulling up my jacket and zipping it up, I ran to my house.
"My parents freaked out when they saw the blood on my head. I told them I got into a fight and left into my room. I locked myself in my room, keeping the wall between me and my parents, whose pulsing blood was tempting. After several days, I let myself out into the world. Though my yearning for blood was strong, I resisted all of school. I thought I could take on anything, like I would never attack anyone....
"I found out that I was wrong." Vincent's voice grew a bit soft, and Natsumi took a step forward but she stopped herself. She waited for him to finish his story. Vincent took a deep breath and finished his story.
"I was hanging out with my best friend in the park one night. We were both staying away from the our houses since the place was having a block party, and we didn't want to get drunk and act foolish. He was climbing a tree and got this cut on his hand, and my instincts took over. I drained most of his blood, and when I realized that he was dying, I wiped my mouth on my sleeve, ripped the sleeve off, and wrapped it around his hand. I picked him up and used my speed to get him to the hospital. I told the doctors that my friend bitten by a dog and went home while they took him to a room.
"I found out that he died later on, and I was in agony. I killed my best friend....and that was all because of that one vampire who changed you and me."
Natsumi walked over to the Vincent and stopped when she was only a meter away. "Well, that's some story," she commented. "Did you manage to locate the vampire, Vincent?"
"He's still around the village somewhere," Vincent replied. "And you can call me Vince for short if you'd like."
"Alright. I was going to call a friend of mine to help out with this problem."
"Who?"
Natsumi opened her mouth to speak, but she didn't utter a word. Her mouth closed, and she listened to the silence. Was there a faint knocking sound? Who would be at her house at this hour? The sun was starting to rise, and the sky started turning from dark bluish black to a purple. "Speak of the devil," Natsumi said. "I think that's Semira."
"Semira?" Vince asked.
"Yes, come on. You're going to meet her." Natsumi grabbed him by the wrist and jogged toward the house.
Vince was dragged behind, and he said, "But I don't trust myself with your family! What if I --"
"Don't worry! We have ways to restrain you." The woman then used her vampire speed to pull him to the Niikyo-Uchiha household.
Hope you like this chapter. You finally get background on Vincent, yay!
Semira's over at the house? What will she do when she hears that Natsumi is a vampire? What will she do to Vince?
Find out next time: Chapter 11. [I suck at titles so I settle for the numbers. xP]
R&R for this chapter. please? This one took a while 'cause of the Itachi thing; didn't know what to do with him.