Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse somewhere on the outskirts of the city. The moonlight fragmented as it entered the building through the holes spread over the area of its rusted rooftop. The sounds of the city were distant, leaving only the whistling wind.
Rubble littered the warehouse's grounds, clearly marking it as a location whose demolition was long overdue. In the centre of it, a piling of rubble. Atop the mountain of rubble, their makeshift throne, a figure sat with legs crossed in a figure-four shape whilst their black cloak billowed in the wind. A peculiarity of note regarding that cloak, were the reflective crimson clouds embroidered across its surface.
Their eyes stuck out, just above the robe's high collar. Ink of the void, the blood, of hell. The veins closed in on those perpetually bloodshot eyes.
"I hereby title this organisation," They took in a breath, exhaling the following word as if disappointed. "Akatsuki." His deep voice reverberated throughout the room, seemingly rattling the metal shutters opposite himself. This is merely a means to an end, he leaned onto his fist, puffing a breathy sigh which condensed into a cloud of vapour.
Beneath him, a gathering of faceless individuals adorned with identical robing.
So this is the so-called Itachi of the Sharingan. Kurahara looked up to the man above him almost with a gleam of reverence in his eyes which was, in actuality, a scientific interest. Ciel said he was a high profile target for a reason.
Itachi casted his hand sheathed by his baggy sleeves over their heads, pointing his index finger towards the sky. "I won't bore you with a lengthy platitude. We have not gathered to 'save' the world in any capacity. This is an association of mutual interests, and this is a means of facilitating such interests."
Another intake of air cut into his speech as he looked upon them with weary eyes. "I dismiss you."
He stood up. As he did, pieces of his body began to crumble and break off as if he were being bitten into. Crows. A flock of crows spewed from his body as it broke down before... nothing, nothing was left of him on the mountain of rubble on which he had stood.
A few of the prospective members gasped, some admired, and others were indifferent. A variance which would naturally appear from a collection rogue Magi.
Kurahara's usually narrowed eyes widened.
When did he put me under?
Kurahara's foot was moist. A puddle beneath his feet, reflecting the position where Itachi sat. Kurahara's square-rimmed glasses rose slightly when he grinned. Excellent, excitement preceded reason. No wonder the Church wants to execute him. Aside from being detested by the Mage's association, the Church, in religious fashion, granted the Uchiha the title of 'demons'. A title aptly owed to the colour of their Mystic Eyes. It was as if the heretic status of 'Magus' was not enough for the clan.
Itachi's distance from the clan did nothing to dissuade the Association's, Church's, and the clan's victim's decision to pursue him. As such, his activities were monitored by various parties. Before Kurahara, who thought Shigure was the last of his kind, there were others, none of which being alive. It wouldn't be difficult to guess their fates prior to death.
Akatsuki, how poetic, Itachi. Kurahara looked to the others standing beside him. All of these guys are on the run from the Association and the Church. He exhaled through his nose. Well, I'll have to report back to Ciel before I make a move. Kurahara looked back into the puddle by his feet, noticing a plume of smoke wafting over in the jittery reflection.
An aloof looking red-haired woman stood with a cigarette burning between her lips and letting off a wispy thread of smoke. She wore rimless glasses. Mature and regal, an incongruity in the environment. Beside her stood a blonde-haired youth with sleek emerald-eyes.
The pair of bangs attached to her pony-tail tilted to one side as she looked down to the youth by her side. "Lugh, you won't have to wait much longer." A crooked one-sided grin creased her face. "Many 'mysteries' await us." She finalised the sentence with a drag of her a cigarette, expelling the smoke through the side of her mouth.
"I hope so, Touko." The youth replied in an oddly low voice. "You promised after all."
As the organisation was based on self-interest, and consisted of Magi, albeit rogue ones, the obvious result was the ironically collective pursual of the Magi's ultimate goal, the 'Root'. How they'd go about it was another curiosity of Kurahara who had a front row seat to the events unfolding.
Over at the shrine, and still at the station's entrance. The trio walked across the street.
Despite its proximity appearing to be close, the shrine was deeply recessed in and surrounded by a dense thicket.
Arcueid strode with her arms hung and swaying by her side, Asuga shuffled along with crossed arms, Shigure ambled with his hands tucked into his pockets. They moved along the length of the shrine's walls' sides until they found the shrine's gaping entrance where a massive red Torii gate stood. Its sprawling grounds were tiled with cement slabs.
Shigure moved to grab Arcueid's shoulder. He grasped air as Arcueid moved aside. "Arcueid, what are we walking into?" Nothing good, I'm sure of that.
"Since I promised to answer your questions," she turned back to him briefly "I will." Arcueid leant on one of the Torii's pillars.
Why would she promise him that? Asuga cocked her head.
"Before meeting you, I'd been investigating the occurrences you people call 'Vampire Killings'." She scratched her cheek. "Not really investigating, just sitting around. I needed a larger sample size to evaluate the distribution of deaths in the surrounding areas."
Asuga interjected. "To cut this short, more people are getting killed here than anywhere else." Naturally a vampire would coldly refer to human deaths as a 'sample size'.
"Bin-"
Arcueid playfully pointed her fingers at her, winking as she did.
"Go." Shigure finished her sentence and Asuga finally smacked him upside the head, an act which was long overdue. That was satisfying.
His head rocked forward. "Violence is never the answer, Asuga." She didn't bother gracing that reply with a response.
Shigure rubbed his head before he looked to Arcueid. "So, we should expect to encounter the vampire itself?"
She nodded. "That's right."
He weighed the odds. We've got her with us, so we should be alright.
They crossed the boundary, walking onto the shrine's desolate grounds. Rows of towering trees closed in on them from either side, swaying and snapping back into position in a cycle. A chilly wind rolled through.
Moving across the grounds, they eventually reached a rocky and uneven staircase, the top of which being masked by a menacing darkness.
"After you, Arcueid." I'll be damned if I'm the one to die first. He shamelessly gestured to the steps with a hand. "I insist."
Asuga's body trembled as she chuckled. Better her than me.
Arcueid flashed a wry smile. "How gentlemanly of you, Shigure."
She led the charge, setting foot onto the first step of the staircase.
As if the punchline to a joke, an eerie groan echoed. Not long after the groan layered with another, and another before the sound became a mass of indistinguishable voices. A glowing charred corpse stepped out from the trees lining the sides of the staircase.
"Scheiße!" Asuga let out a shrill scream. I've heard of these things in textbooks, but seeing them in real life is entirely different. She covered her nose with her hand, shielding it from the stench of burnt flesh.
She's afraid of this but not the vampire she just met? To be fair, Arcueid is a much more pleasant sight. Shigure looked to Asuga.
"Scheiße? Is the fatherland calling?"
"Shit." Asuga hissed.
"Disgusting things." Arcueid spat out in a low voice before disappearing. Crunch. Her image flickered in and out of existence as her clawed fingers dug into their necks, cleanly decapitating the few which showed themselves. The corpses exploded shortly afterwards in a delayed sequence. Hm? A peculiar effect.
Meanwhile, a paralysing foreboding struck Shigure. I can't breathe! He clutched at his chest, and dropped to his knees. It was another flashback. I remember… those things.
He was stood in a dim hallway, peering into a bedroom whose door was ajar. They were there, and I couldn't do anything.
"Eh?" Arcueid looked down from the staircase and raised an eyebrow while Asuga was startled. However, there was no time for the pair to deliberate as another wave of the creatures closed in from all corners.
Asuga staggered forward as a thought ran through her mind. This place. If all the distribution locations are pre-determined and used in rotation, couldn't they be booby trapped?
"Das Schließen Soundproofing. Vogelkäfig."
She put up a magic field around herself and Arcueid, keeping the creatures at a distance. The field was modified such that any external sounds were rejected.
Asuga swung her head to the woman beside her. "Arcueid, was it?" It wasn't the best time to build rapport. "Did the killings all happen in the same places each time?"
Arcueid's eyes darted about as she thought. "Huh? Now that you ask, I think so."
Either they're here or they've intentionally misled us, no, her. But I can't know for sure. Asuga furrowed her brows.
She dispelled the field, letting Arcueid loose on the creatures once more.
At the same time, a hoarse voice rising in volume halted Asuga's thoughts. "Chidori…"
An emotion unseen on him before appeared. Anger, not at the deaths of his peers, but at his own weakness.
Shigure wobbled when he stood, his electrified hand hanging loosely from his shoulder.
Arcueid had finished dispatching the creatures. That appeared to be the case until, a lone one strayed out from the trees, ambling down the staircase, casting its eerie orange glow into the night air. It seemed to move with intent, unlike the others which staggered, it had posture and what seemed to be deliberation in its steps.
That one is strange... I'd heard they could be programmed, but to do what? She reached out to Shigure who began to move. Is this idiot going to do what I think he's about to do? He's usually sharper than this.
"Shigure, wait!" An unheeded warning. His body flickered and stopped, jittering as his hand embedded itself into the a familiar's chest, unloading current into it and the surrounding area. "Nagashi!"
His voice cracked. It was more of a scream than an incantation.
More creatures leapt out from the trees with a human like fervour, expending all of their energy for this one move, a suicide bombing.
He had inadvertently barrelled straight into the heart of the crowd on the staircase in a naive attempt to prove something to himself.
He's never acted out before, ever! Never mind that, they're about t-
Asuga stopped thinking and handed control over to instinct.
Boom. The ground quaked, a warning courtesy of the explosion making its way towards them. The initial explosion triggered a chain reaction between the densely packed familiars. From above, the ground would appear to be a serene constellation of twinkling stars which lit up the sky.
Arcueid's face briefly drew an uncharacteristic expression of concern before one of excitement. Just who am I hunting down? Arcueid made no effort to evade the incoming wave, standing her ground with a cross-shaped guard.
"Es ist groß. Es ist klein! Vox, Gott Es Atlas." Her lips rapidly fluttered as she incanted. Asuga's body became patterned with thick blue markings resembling circuitry before she vanished, leaving only the imprints of her feet on the earth.
Shigure grimaced as his demise approached. I lost it. Noticing Asuga's incantation a fraction of a second later, he began his own. "Shunshin no Jutsu." His body lightened and turned into a fog as he leapt up to a nearby tree, the flames singeing his feet before he barely caught hold of a branch from which he now hung.
The rate at which his former emotions assimilated with himself had begun to hasten.
Asuga stood above him on the branch, her feet by his hands. She looked down at him with a hint of self-satisfaction and worry.
The pair watched as the rippling wave of flames consumed Arcueid whole.
Asuga sneered at Arcueid. Is that woman out of her mind? Asuga used the brief period of time before the flames let up, a few seconds at most, to continue her questioning.
"Nice one, Dummkopf." It seemed she couldn't get the taste of German off her tongue. "What was all that about, Shigure?"
"Right back at you, whatever that word meant." And he couldn't seem to restrain his quips.
"I remembered something unpleasant." A flat and dismissive reply.
Seeing as he gave another of his signature vague responses, she knew she wouldn't be able to pry an answer out of him on the matter so she moved onto the other pressing matter.
"Okay then. Who is she?"
"Asking 'what is she?' would be a valid question too." Shigure unveiled a rare but slight grin. "A regular vampire would've avoided that at all costs." His expression gradually faded. "And to answer your question, I don't completely know either."
She stepped on his hand before grinding her foot against his fingers. "Can we skip the games?"
Shigure winced slightly. Now isn't exactly the best time for this, Asuga. He then softened his expression.
"She helped me to partially regain my memories, but there was a condition." He swung himself onto the branch with a backflip. "I have to travel with her, and this is what that means." In hindsight, I should've stipulated a better condition for myself, ah well, she doesn't have to know.
The roaring flames ran out of breath. The scarred earth below took on a molten glow, sizzling and smoking. A silhouette could be seen in the fading curtain of smoke.
It was Arcueid standing amongst charred limbs scattered across the terrain, her clothing somehow being intact and impervious to the onslaught. The staircase was nothing more than a crater and the explosion's shockwave triggered the screeching alarms of nearby vehicles in the area.
"Shall I give you guys a moment?" Arcueid looked up at the pair standing on top of tree branch, brushing her hair aside with the same amount of effort it took her to shrug off the blast.
She moved her hands behind her back and put on an innocent demeanor before kicking a nearby rock. "Geez, I guess tonight was a bust." Keep in mind, she was stood in a crater which appeared to have been carved into the Earth by a meteor.
Asuga leapt down from the branch in response. "Not exactly. Now we know we're not just dealing with some mere vampire. Whoever it is, they're the real deal." She hesitated before continuing.
"It was just a theory, but this explosion supports it. They're intentionally obscuring their movements by disproportionately distributing their familiars. And it's likely the other locations are set up in the same way but with less familiars."
Shigure followed behind her in tow, his feet clapping against the ground upon landing.
I never took her for the intellectual type. But that was before I found out she was a fellow Magus. He was impressed by her deduction, but didn't show it on his face.
"Since when were you so invested in this? I thought you were only going to tag along just this once? Or I must've misheard."
"Are you going to contribute something to this discussion, you fool?"
"Alright." Shigure tucked his hands into his pockets. "Say this vampire is doing what you said he is. If so, it's likely they'd expect us to concentrate on those areas, and so if that's the case..."
The gears turned.
"So if that's the case..." He repeated, pointing his opened hand to Asuga who slapped his hand away. "If that's the case, what!?" I refuse to give him the satisfaction.
"I was waiting for you to finish my sentence, like in the movies." His hand was quickly tucked back into his pocket, and he continued.
"We shouldn't be looking in those places at all, rather the places within the radius of those locations."
I made the right decision asking this guy to travel with me, I wouldn't have figured that out so quickly. Arcueid stood in the middle, taking in the conclusions of the two who were meant to be high school students. His friend is particularly useful too.
"Not bad, facility kid." Asuga locked eyes with Shigure. He held her gaze.
"You're not so bad yourself."
The sound of police sirens, ambulances, and fire trucks interrupted the exchanged.
"Same time tomorrow?" Shigure looked to Arcueid.
She folded her arms. "You promised after all."
"Asuga?"
"Well, since there's an ominous being claiming lives somewhere in the area, what do you think? Hazard a guess."
Shigure only nodded before turning away, prompting
the trio to split off into separate directions, bounding the walls of the shrine.
Later during the night, Asuga arrived at her home, entering through its doors at an ungodly hour. Stood in the doorway was Touji who had also just arrived.
"Hm, Asuga? You don't usually arrive at this time. You must've been out seeing that Magus boy again." Touji walked over to her, reaching out to her hair. She flinched.
He pulled a stray twig from her hair and rolled it between his fingers.
"Seems you were up to something interesting tonight, do tell, my dearest sister." His teeth shone in the dim light as he did his best to form a convincing smile, even going as far as to crinkle the corners of his eyes.
"Quit it, Touji." She shoved by him, and headed to her bedroom. I'm equally curious as to what he gets up to at night.
To Asuga, Touji was a chameleon, to the world, he was just Touji. Touji was the true heir to the position of family head. As such, a 'certain' disposition was required.
Meanwhile, Shigure performed his nightly ritual of slipping in through the window. Kawai had stopped bothering to close the window and left it open for him as if it were some sort of dog flap. He landed with a soft thud before shooting back into his upright position. There's finally something to look forward to in this dreary city. His lips formed a smile, one of genuine content rather than one of amusement.
As for Arcueid, she sat in one of her many hotel rooms, peering through the windows which overlooked the city. Big things are happening in this city, and I'm glad I'll be around to witness them.