RATING HAS CHANGED, (due to violence and implied themes) just to be on the safe side. I don't want to be accused of damaging someone's fragile mind without warning them first, lol.
"HAJI! SWORD!"
Mao had just pulled out of the driveway when the yelling echoed throughout the kitchen.
In an almost knee-jerk reaction, Kai hastily pulled his colt from his pants and ran out the back door.
"A gun?" Freddie whispered.
"You left the stove on!" Yuki shouted as she corrected Kai's error.
"Yuki, what's going on?"
"Actually, I don't know, but there's only one way to find out!" said Yuki as she walked out the backdoor and onto the deck.
Freddie stood in the kitchen for a moment before dashing after Yuki and standing beside her, watching the scene unfolding at the other end of the large yard, the view partially obstructed by the large banyan tree.
It had been invaded by at least a dozen men in black spandex masks and combat fatigues, all with curiously identical builds, and each carrying a large straight bladed sword, similar to a medieval claymore without a cross guard.
Freddie's jaw dropped down to his collarbone. "Woah -"
Yuki said nothing in response, but rather murmured to herself.
"So this is the war."
Her adoptive father was reloading his gun, having already emptied a clip into the masked invaders. As soon as he had finished, he began firing at the attackers again, hitting his targets with amazing accuracy, only unlike in movies she had seen, he was clearly not aiming for their heads or torsos, but rather the kneecaps. For an average gunmen, this would have been a very difficult target, but not for Kai – he had become a world-class marksmen over the past few decades. Shooting the knees was a trick he had learned from David – a shot to the head or chest would barely slow a chiropteran down, but if hit in the knees, they would be immobilized for around 15 to 30 seconds, enough time for Saya finish them off while they were mostly defenseless, something she was more than battle-hardened enough to do with out hesitation.
Her sister's 'cello teacher'/secret boyfriend's ever-present bandage had been discarded, exposing his hand's true, monstrous form, which he used to deadly effect, seeming to throw unfisted punches at his opponents, while using his other hand to swing his massive cello case at them.
But to Yuki, Saya was the most interesting, by far. She had never seen her sister in battle before, and though she was more than a little frightened by the violence she was witnessing, Yuki couldn't help but feel a strange, instinctual swell of pride as she watched Saya, who was, unknown to her, her biological daughter, wielding a katana with the skill of a super-heroin.
In under a minute, the majority of the attackers had been crystallized, while most of the others were on the ground, waiting to be finished off.
But before anyone could catch their breath, the second wave was sent in.
"Shit! How many of these bastards are there?!" Kai shouted.
As Saya battled with one corpse corps that must have been especially skilled (or lucky) due to it's still being alive after several seconds of fighting her one-on-one. But as she fought, a different corpse corps attacker hopped over the fence and charged her from behind.
Fortunately Haji caught sight of this and launched his cello case at it, hitting it in the chest and sending it flying several feet until it sailed through the kitchen window.
"Haji! Do you think you could hold off on that? This place's a rental!" Kai snidely shouted as he emptied another clip.
Just as Haji shot a serious glance at Kai, the aforementioned attacker flew out of the broken window towards Saya, swinging it's sword before even hitting the ground. Saya recognized the familiar sound of a sword slicing through the air towards her and whirled around, impaling the corpse corps on her own weapon, it's body sliding up the length of her blade and then resting limply on her shoulder as it began to crystallize, Saya's solid stance just barely preventing her from falling over.
Yuki seemed unnerved by this close call.
More than unnerved.
Yuki heard a strange ringing in her ears as her eyes began to glow.
Freddie noticed this. "Yuki – your eyes…"
"Saya's in danger," she said calmly as the last trace of conscious thought ceased and her body was completely taken over by instinct.
No amount of amnesia could stifle a mother's instinct to protect her child.
Yuki charged at the chiropteran that had attacked Saya.
But suddenly she was somewhere else.
It was as if she was watching a movie though her own eyes. She could hear her own thoughts as she watched, but had no control over her actions.
Crunch crunch crunch crunch.
It's like the dream.
Only different.
It's night this time.
It was colder, she could tell that she wasn't dressed for the snow.
The tendrils of hair fluttering about her face and the absence of the braids against her back told her that her hair was in some sort of rapidly unraveling updo.
Crunch ……..crunch ………….crunch ……………crunch.
There was at least twenty feet between each stride.
She didn't sense that anyone was chasing her this time, but she was running as fast as she could. Somehow, she knew she was desperate to get away from something.
The pines flew by in a blur until she seemed to reach an open field.
The sky was an eerie shade of rust-orange.
The new fallen snow seemed to glow in the dark.
She slowed down a little, now running at an ordinary human pace.
Crunch crunch.
She stopped and looked down at an object in her hand.
A slightly curved dagger, it's blade made of shiny silver, its hilt made of intricately carved mammoth ivory.
She held the dagger in both hands and raised it up over her head.
What am I doing?
…
Don't do it.
Stop.
No.
The corpse corps seemed to sense a new threat and simultaneously turned towards Yuki, ignoring their other opponents for several seconds.
Three of the attackers immediately charged at her, and the others returned to battling with with Saya and Haji, while Kai shot at them.
Yuki's expression was uncharacteristically solemn and yet furious at the same time. Her arms flew out in front of her, her fingers tense and curved, and though they were in human form, the claw like shape of her rigid, curved fingers made them look more like talons.
Her eyes glowed the color of blue flame as she slashed across the abdomen of one of the corpse corps, some of its innards falling to the ground just before the rest of it did. Another of the attackers swung it's weapon at her, and she easily avoided it just before slicing through the thing's neck, its blood spraying a speckled streak across her white blouse.
Her fighting style was completely different from Saya's. Saya's technique had come from being trained in multiple forms of classical fencing, combined with her super-human strength and speed.
Yuki was different. She was no graceful warrior out to save mankind. She was an enraged tigress protecting her last and only surviving cub.
A third wave hopped over the fence and all headed for the blue-eyed Queen.
Her foes having multiplied, her movements became more frantic, her furiously calm expression took on a note of desparation. There were so many of them, and it was clear that she was now being specifically targeted.
She madly slashed her talon like fingers at her attackers, panting and letting out a fierce growl with each breath.
Saya, Kai and Haji continued to fight the few corpse corps that seemed to have been relegated to keeping them busy, but all three of them noticed the change in Yuki's demenor.
All three of them knew from experience what was going on – Yuki was no longer in control.
The battle escalated until the movements of both Yuki and the corpse corps became imperceptible to the human onlookers, and appeared to simply to be a cloud of blue streaks.
Suddenly, the corpse corps seemed to freeze in their places as their heads simultaneously turned to the west.
The reason was hardly apparent, but the hasty retreat of the few surviving corpse corps made it clear that they had apparently been ordered to withdraw.
As the attackers made their hasty retreat and abandoned their positions surrounding Yuki, the deadly Queen became visible again.
She stood still, panting and growling as one hand instinctively covered a deep, but to her, superficial wound in her side.
Saya, Haji and Kai knew that she could be very dangerous in this state – wounded and clearly out of touch with reality.
Freddie appeared not to realize the danger and approached her from behind without hesitation.
"Are you all right?" he asked with concern.
Yuki whirled around to face him, eyes still blazing.
His eyes widened, but that was the only reaction he managed to produce before she tackled him and sunk her fangs into his carotid artery.
He didn't struggle, fear and a sudden drop in blood pressure appeared to have caused him to faint.
At first, no one moved to stop her. She was wounded, and taking a little blood would do more good for her than harm to him.
But she kept drinking.
"Yuki!" Kai shouted. "Yuki! Stop! You'll kill him!"
She didn't respond.
Saya approached. "Yuki, you have to stop!"
She still didn't respond.
Saya placed her hand on her shoulder and grasped it tightly, ready to pull Yuki off him.
Yuki suddenly released her hold on the young man and rose to her feet.
The flame in her eyes seemed to have been quenched by a calm blue ocean.
The panting turned to hyperventilation as reality faded back into Yuki's consciousness.
Her eyes focused on her sister. "Saya?"
Her gaze slowly traveled around the yard, briefly taking in the carnage that surrounded her, until she finally noticed Freddie.
She stared down at him, her own blood soaked hands in the foreground of Freddie's limp form lying at her feet like a discarded piece of clothing, his face against the ground.
"Freddie-sempai!"
She dropped to her knees and rolled him over onto his back.
His skin was sunken and ghoulishly pale, his eyes fixed and dilated as he stared off into oblivion.
He had been completely sucked dry.
She her eyes fixed on the pair of puncture wounds on his neck for several seconds before one of her hands traveled up to her face and she touched a drip of blood there.
"No…" Yuki whispered as she buried her face in her hands.
"D-did I do this?"
No one had the heart to answer her.
She suddenly turned to Saya.
"Did I do this?!" she demanded.
Saya looked away, tacitly answering Yuki's question in doing so.
"No no no no no no no…"
Yuki collapsed, sobbing violently on the ground beside her dead friend and victim, her tears carving their way through the blood on her skin, just as they had the night she had been found in Bordeaux.
Saya turned to Kai. "Can't they resuscitate him, like with Dave?"
"It's too late. He's completely drained – already gone. I don't think anything can be done for him."
Yuki suddenly looked up. "Wait, Saya, what was it that you told me about if someone drinks our blood?"
A small collective gasp rose from the group.
Saya placed her hand on her shoulder. "Yuki, I don't know if -"
"It'll save his life right?"
"Yes, but -"
"Saya, I killed him. I don't think I can live with that," Yuki wept.
Kai turned to Haji. "Is it too late?"
"Probably not," he said solemnly.
Yuki sunk her teeth deep into her own wrist and sucked up a mouth full of blood.
Saya stepped forward. "Yuki, you really should think this through carefully -"
Without even a moment's hesitation, she lowered her lips down onto Freddie's.
Saya and Haji glanced at each other, wondering how she had known to do it that way.
The column of his throat contracted as she leaned back to her previous position, kneeling beside him.
Kai voice cracked as he spoke. "Haji, get his other arm," he said as he firmly pinned Freddie's right hand against the ground.
Yuki smiled as Freddie's eyes slowly opened and briefly focused on her.
"Hold him," Kai reiterated.
The young man's body suddenly went stiff, as if every muscle in his body had a mind of its own.
He gasped deeply, and Yuki watched in horror as he writhed violently and cried out in agony.
It seemed to take all of Haji's strength to hold on the young man's left arm, grinding it into the lawn as he struggled. Not possessing super human strength, Kai quickly lost the grip of the limb he had assigned himself to, the unleashed arm clawed ferociously at the air, the initial swing narrowly missing Kai's face.
Freddie's spasms intensified in a gresome crecendo until his back arched and he let out one last paroxysmal, gutteral groan. Freddie's body suddenly went limp, some color and firmness having returned to his skin, his eyes still staring vacantly into nothingness, his pupils having contracted to tiny specks, as if he were staring into a bright light.
"Did it work?" Yuki asked, her voice trembling.
"Yeah, I guess it did," Kai answered, his voice strangely somber, his mind having wandered back to the only other time he had witnessed the transformation. He placed his hand on his chest, his palm resting just over his heart, his thumb grazing the crimson jeweled necklace he had worn every day for the past three decades.
A voice came from the direction of the backdoor.
"What the hell did you do to my house?" Mao shrieked through the shattered kitchen window.
"Shut-the-fuck-up!" Kai yelled, but not in the bratty tone usually used when he uttered that expression. He actually sounded as if he was somewhere near crying.
Mao noticed this odd tone in his voice and ran outside, soon followed by George, still in his baseball uniform. They both approached, stepping over the various corpse corps parts strewn about the yard. Apparently this wasn't a particularly new experience for them.
"Look at my lawn! And they trampled my butterfly ginger! God damn Americans, attacking us at home, the nerve… " Mao muttered until they were both standing over Freddie as well.
"Holy crap," she gasped. "Is he going to be alright?"
"Depends on what your idea of 'alright' is," Kai said dispiritedly. He paused before letting out a deep sigh. "George, go inside and call Lewis, tell him there's been an incident and we need a clean up crew. Then call Dr. Julia, tell her there's been an incident and – and she's got a new special patient."
Sorry if that was crappy, action is not exactally my forte.
Don't forget to tell me what you think!