1 Sweet Fruits

He woke up...stunned.

Head cloudy with so many questions. Somehow, in his room. As if all was a dream...

Things slowly popping up in his head, now hearing voices outside of his door.

Standing up in his still hazey state. He took a look through the crack of his ajar door and saw Mariko sitting with his mother on the porch...

Waking up in a haze, still piecing what happened together. He still wondered if all was just some sick dream he had had...

But finally, after some time sitting for what seemed like hours, he started to remember what happened.

A lump in his already sore throat grew... hearing voices, outside his door...

dizziness still makes his eyes blur and ears ring as he took stand to hear the voices outside his door. Kazuki got closer...and heared the silent sobbing of his mother...

'~Fath..er ~' he silently croaked as he realised where the sobbing was coming from, not being able to imagine how she felt.

Kazuki's bones felt loose with every movement like a steel gate slightly unhinged, as if the pain... His knees felt weak, wincing as he inches and silts his way further into the doorway.

Gentle sobbing and words of comfort is all he could hear. The lump in my throat gets bigger with every step he took to steady himself...but just before he passes through his doorway... He smelt something sweet in the air and suddenly he was hungry.

Stumbling back to this wild feeling...this...thirst. It felt like his throat was closing or rather as if he could breathe fire.

A burning sensation to end this new pain.

It hurt, it boiled and no mater how hard he swallowed it only got worse as he moved away.

A physical fight with himself as he coughed and wheezed.

Kazuki had smelt something... It smelt...good. So very good. Like no food or dish he'd ever tasted before.

It made him bite on his lower lip, so hard that it made it bleed;

'Now, why would that happen?', he thought, licking his lip he swallow hard...the fire died down...

"It can't be..." He whispered in shock. My breathe intake shortening as I tried to comprehed my current situation.

I stare at the door...to the point of not being able to see anything but the door.

Mariko...

The name has so much meaning in so little time, to him. Kazuki didn't know her, a complete stranger to her and yet, she's willing to help him, to safe him...silently thinking about it like a prayer, but a blessing with now obvious consequence. She was all alone, she must have been strong...

He sat there for what would feel like another forever... it could have been a second, but felt like a lifetime. Paralysis, Catatonia, him not wanting to move.

Not wanting to see the next thing that could come their way... how short a time that they have come to this mess. He cursed against Buddha's wish for peace in anger as he put his head in his hands and prayed, but before he could think any further, a sight for literal sore eyes appeared.

Mariko, walks into Kazuki's room to not only see him awake but also such a stressful and sorrowful look in his eyes. She thought she saw him mouth her name, she thought she saw his face soften, she thought she saw a mirror.

She sat next to him, he says nothing.

"I sent her to go rest..." breaking the silence as if solid like ice. He furrows his eyebrows in an attempt to fight tears...a loosing battle...

"Th-thank you..." is all he can manage to say, he leans on her shoulder. Their hearts drowning in sorrow, sinking with every tear I feel of his. Drowning in his tears...

"I'm sorry..." She said reluctantly, fearing those words as they came out of her mouth...hopping they weren't what he didn't want to hear.

"Don't be..." he said lifting his head to smile at her, Mariko couldn't help but cry, smiling back.

They sat there untill midnight. Not wanting to know what was supposed to happen next.

The world never felt so empty.

"What did you-" he began, wiping his eyes and sniffling. Curious, she wanted to ask but, before he said it, she knew.

'Oh no...', she thought.

"What did you...at shore, what did you do...to me...?"

She froze...

Things needed to be said. Unfortunately, Mariko had answers to questions. Only imaging how many questions he now had... scared her.

She simply froze... what is it she's not telling him? As Kazuki waited for a response, he tried to put all that he could remember together. With many pieces of the puzzle still missing, he came to an assumption.

'...They were just scary stories...', he thought.

He thought about it...just wishing it weren't true, truly wanting to hear it from her.

"Do you...remember anything..?"

She said cautiously, Breaking the ice thick atmosphere.

"I remember mostly..." Kazuki couldn't finish his response, but he believe that he remember what he needed to.

"Do you remember...when I found you?" Her voice, unsure about what to say next, cautious of his emotional state.

"You bit me. Didn't you? This isn't some scar from driftwood, is it?", Kazuki said blandly, his tone seemed to have physically hurt her as he saw in his perifrial view.

She closed her eyes as if bracing pain.

"I had no choice, you were going to die." Justifying her actions and reassuring Kazuki that his assumptions were true.

"I know...and now I am.", His words sounded harsh but the thought of all his nightmares coming to life in the form of a friend, he couldn't comprehend, not in an emotional manner for that matter, trying to make logical explanations in his head but only one came to mind as he continued to confess;

"I, am more mad at myself..."

"W-why?" Her honey voice mixed with surprise, a strange concoction.

"How did you find...me?" Evading her question. Silence fell as they both surrounded themselves with their own selfish thoughts.

"Just tell me!" He snapped, tired of all these questions with no answers. Raising his voice made them both jump and stiffen toward one another.

"Just tell me what you really are! Tell me why are you here!And if you are what I think you are why not just kill me! Just...just tell me this is a dream! Is there a way to fix this!?! What do I do!?" He started to sob shamelessly.

Kazuki wasn't thinking, he simply asked all the questions he had, Mariko seemed to hold all the answers.

He then realized that his mother was asleep, Mariko spoke with a calm voice as if in control of the situation. And even so decided it would be better for his mother not to know, so he calmed.

"I am...an Akuma.I was sent here with a part of my clan by my father to...destroy Hairi and take over your village. We migrated here to hide from the troubles we brought to ourselves in Tokyo and to find more ground...but I didn't want this...so I ran away...I don't have the answers to most of your questions...I'm sorry, I wish I was nothing but a nightmare.."

Kazuki looked at her.

His face was numb, her expression was unknown to him, for the girl he came to know claims to be the monster he was told to avoid in dreams...a childish fear?

"Why are you doing this?", was a new question from his now book of queries.

"My persuite of serenity... But I never thought it would come to this.", He believed he could understand. Born with the blood of a demon, serenity was a luxury and now he felt guilt for being angry at her for being what she was, as if she asked for it.

"Remember when I told you about the sun; the moon and the truth? You see because of this I can't live without losing something or someone I care for...they all either run and hide from me...or they die. And the truth of this world is that it's so beautiful...but just as dangerous, I was born for war, the innocence of childhood was a fantasy to me and all who formed the clan...and I apologise for taking what was left of it away from you... You, are now my responsibility."

"You must be thirsty. Come."

"What..?",

She didn't answer him.

She seemed distant and serious, but why was he then following her, my mother asleep and sound and as Mariko gestured for the windows with her eyes, they seemed dead.

But he was still willing to follow.

Feeling lost...

So... He follow her...

She was soon gone out the window before he knew it - waiting for Kazuki to tail her.

And so, he quietly climbed out and into the open and surrounding woodland and followed. He followed for what seemed like for hours, the night got darker and the sounds of distant howls caught his ear. And as he was about to open his mouth, she swung her arm to my chest- signaling him to stop and forced his breath out of his mouth in a huff of shock.

"Here it should be.", she whispered. Kazuki looked passed her towards a short corridor of trees and in the moon- lit atmosphere that revealed an opening as well as a few figures in the distance.

"These are the others..."

Kazuki tensed, realising how much bigger this was than him. They moved swiftly in the moonlight and throughout the trees to their shortly reached destination and as soon as they set foot in the opening - eyes bored into his soul.

The eyes that belonged to the surrounding darkness stood still, like dears focused on the sound of an unexpected russel in a bush but unlike the dear their demeanour spoke volumes to kill whatever made that sound.

Something kept telling Kazuki to run the opposite direction, apart of him giving into this human instinct.

"Don't.", Mariko hummed, she could see his lip quiver - something he'd never done before. The fear of meeting a childhood creature of nightmares, face to face and seeing how human they actually seemed stunned him, knowing that these creatures could disguise themselves as someone close to you and although they are many dangers in this world nothing seemed more terrifying than a shiki at least to the people who know of such a demonic creature.

fear never dies.

He bit his lower lip.

There stood four others and of the four a tall and lean figure moved towards Kazuki and quickly placed a cold sharp metal object under his chin. Kazuki - as stiff as the wood that surrounded him and Mariko in the dark glared at the figures in vein as his eyes could not yet see through the darkness.

"Who...is this?" spat the figure that threatened Kazuki's life. it's voice deep and menacing and felt unwelcoming to the new comer. His eyes, just as the others - a constant flame. Each move he left a residue, like the embers of a dying fire in darkness, even Mariko's eyes held such a dying flame.

"Kazuki, that is Hanzo."

She darted a look at him and he raised his weapon above his head in heeding her command and walked away giving Kazuki the impression that he had left a bitter taste on his new acquaintance's pallet.

"He's name is Kazuki Hashimoto..." a dainty voice from behind Kazuki uttered, he spun with much surprise to find himself facing a girl half his size, wide-eyed with short white hair.

"He has joined to hunt.Yes.", Mariko nodded;

"Nayoko."

"He can bearly see, what good is he to us? Can I not just kill him." And as Hanzo said those words through a vicious yet subtle growl, two blades already rest at Kazuki's throat, Mariko interrupted.

"He's gaining sight, if he proves useless then you can kill him." She looked straight at Kazuki as she said that. He turned to his would be executioner and a smile had made its way around this grim reaper's face.

'What twisted game was this.' Kazuki thought as if it was a game to begin with.

"Twins, aren't you gonna introduce yourselves?" Hanzo cooed with sarcastic courtesy as he put away his blades, and with that the two hat-wearing strangers simultaneously nodded. This obviously a sign of kazuki's eyesight adjusting and their signal to move on to catch prey.

"Just follow. And stay quiet. " Mariko's demeanour had changed, from caring to complete stranger throughout the entire night not a word was said or exchanged between any of the new strangers. Untill..

"Shhh...do you hear that..?" Hanzo whispered and everyone stood still. They had noticed the light not to far away, Kazuki was confused, why go towards the light? No animal would wander near it knowing that humans would follow. But no...it wasn't animals they were after. Mariko was the first to dissappear from the group. Then one by one they spread themselves out into the wood's dark interior, pursuing the village.

Kazuki just followed the closest to him of the four- the smaller one of the four, who had no weaponry of any kind.

"I knew you would follow me." Said Nayoko, as they stood at the edge of the woods.

"How?"

"I can see..."

"What..?"

"Everything." Nayoko looked up at Kazuki and he saw that she was completely blind. This innocent little girl was waiting for the others to bring the food he thought...

But no...

Then a young man ran past them, away from a scream they heard not too far away.

He looked scared and pale and when he turned to look behind him, Nayoko moved out of the woods and stood in his view as casually as time stood still.

Kazuki panicked, she couldn't possibly take someone his size down alone. The man looked at her and started to beg for help, sobing like a scared child. She looked at him passivley as if she saw right through him, passively rolling her eyes all over his soul. And then, without warning Nayoko charged him with such speed, that the grass and shrubs that Kazuki hid in shook and it shocked him so that he flinched.

Wide eyed and cold, he watched as soon the man was pinned down by this somewhat innocent girl, who furthermore dove her dainty hand into the man's chest and with the other hand, closed his mouth as he thrashed and attempted to scream.

Never has Kazuki seen so much blood or so much pain in a man's face before, crimson seeping through her hand by his mouth even after his body went limp. She took her hand away and kissed the young man passionately - the blood being what she wanted. As for the heart, she bit into it like a succulent fruit it being forbidden, Supposedly made it all the more sweeter.

She looked at Kazuki, who was standing with his mouth agape - confused between temptation but mostly in horror.

The moon shon on the scene it almost felt sireal she looked at Kazuki and gently smiled with a warmth that contradicted her previous actions.

"Come..." she said.

"Come and feast."

Kazuki's mind could not comprehend what just happened. He stood there, trying to find the voice for his words...but what exactly was he wanting to say?

He felt sick... But it was as if they where the pains of hunger and indeed Kazuki hadn't eaten in some time. His stomach ached and churned...

Was he one to say this was wrong and that this is not what he wanted?

Fate seemed to have other plans, what's the point of fighting a now instinct of his own and how long will it take for it to consume him? Holding back because he wanted to live out his life as normally as possible but...what good is that when he himself was no longer normal by any standard anymore?

What is normal to the spider could be chaos for the fly... And was to be a spider...

His thoughts came to a stop once she turned to him and smiled ever so gently.

'Come .' she said

'Come and feast.'

There's nothing wrong with the way she had said it. Sounding as casual as one could possibly put it...she said it with the innocence of a child. For all he knew, she was in fact a child. About half his age and size, she could've been a sibling younger than him.

And still he stood in contemplation, holding back for kami would know.

Where would he stand if he apposed? Would she kill him or will he be killing himself holding back? How long will it take before it consumes him?

"Ha! Don't be shy, the first bite is always the sweetest." She said it in a humorous fashion. Holding the heart in one hand like a plucked fruit, waiting for Kazuki to reach out and grab it...

And so... he did. And as soon as he did he could not stop to think of anything but the heart in my hand.

"Quickly, he's drying up.", Nyoko cooed.

And with that, Kazuki grabbed it and held it to his mouth, he could smell the sweat from the stranger's blood the iron that would once sting in his nose was now...intoxicatingly sweet, he licked, and a lick turned into a nibble before a bite and reluctance turned into relish.

What a sweet taste.

"Hhmm, this is gomfff..." He said as he dove into the heart with his teeth first... But that wasn't his thoughts, Kazuki simply phased into another world and a creature took the opportunity to say what he was thinking, to do what he wanted to do. Thanking him for being so weak-willed, but that realisation was far too late and in no way could he stop himself.

Yet the sweet girl simply smiled and said...

"I knew you would like it."

And he did indeed...the shame that that realisation brought was unbearably crushing as he wiped his mouth with his free right arm; this wide eyed stranger was teaching him to kill, to hunt for man no less. Noticing Mariko in the distance eyes shamefully wandered away from blind eyes.

The others were coming back and so happened to see Kazuki hovering over the now dead young man whose heart he held as his body twitched from under Nyoko's bare foot.

And now, the tall menacing figure from before now had a face to Kazuki. His voice led him to believe he looked just as menacing but instead he looked no older than Kazuki with a chonmage filled with long black hair. His ember eyes rest apon dark rings and his full lips turn down by the corners only adding to his even darker scowl as he glares at Kazuki passed a scar on his left eyebrow. But instead of a scowl - this time the tall stranger smiled, broad enough to reveal a set of sharp white canines.

"It's a good thing you took the time to think about this, or your mother wouldn't have survived to see day break." Hanzo chuckled.

"You don't know me for you to make that assumption.." Kazuki said it sternly and the stranger's chiseled jaw clenched at the sound of his voice as if it irritated him. And he had never seen someone move just that fast, but as soon as Kazuki finished his sentence he had another blade to his throat once again and leaned in at an angle as he whispered in Kazuki's ear;

"You're not that special for it to be an assumption...", He pushed the blade further cutting the better part of the skin, "You're not the first one to think so."

"Hanzo-kun!" Nyoko called out;

"Not now Nyoko!", He hissed.

"He is stronger than you, even if he doesnt know - don't be foolish." She doused his flame calmly and looked at Kazuki gently, they could be siblings that could be one reason why he didn't dare threaten her. She refered to Kazuki as stronger and that was strange to him...which couldn't be possible, there was no way that he wouldn't have known and even if that is the case, then he was taking chances with him. Meaning that he only saw Kazuki as weak still.

He was no child to them, not even to the smallest and youngest of them and he had no shame in admitting that he doess indeed need help in finding ways to deal with this new part of himself.

"Let us move to the nearest shadows, we don't have much time."

The sun was coming up and Kazuki feared the events of the day and what the sun would bring. What kind of pain would come next what more was he to feel amongst the pain before, he would ask himself. He has heard of what it can do to a Shiki but have never seen it before for him to truly know the outcome.

"What do we do...how do we hide from the sun?" He briskly asked Mariko in whisper.

"We don't, we blend in."

One would believe that which is said about the vampire, that their skin cannot be touched by the sunlight, because it is a weakness in this stronghold of fear...even if it doesn't exist. We need a sense of security in order to keep us sane, in order to keep us from tearing ourselves apart with fear. And Kazuki was not sure what was more terrifying, knowing we can believe lies so easily or that the once creature of the night he so feared long ago as a child has told you that it is just that...a lie...

'We don't, we blend in.'

"We must move, and fast. As much as this on itself is a lot to take in...it is your father's funeral today...Kazuki.", all ember burning eyes were on me as she said this, she said it in the voice of the Mariko he had met on the ocean front - soft and heartfelt, the sympathy much needed for such a heavy subject.

He felt simple for forgetting, his heart wrenched for remembering, but so they pressed on and separated from the others.

Kazuki had to head home, his mother had no idea je was even... wherever they were here, but knowing where he needed to be made it harder to leave, even if he was nowhere in particular. It had been an entire night and he was tired, he wasn't even entirely sure if they could sleep at all even if he wanted to. The sun was making it's way to the horizon only to be blocked by clouds that threatened to rain, an otherwise dull day with just the colour of this cruel world adding to the feelings. And as Kazuki hopped back into the house through his window, he had noticed that his mother hadn't attempted to wake him just as of yet - as she usually would and it made him to panic and question if something was wrong but as he walked towards the door and reached out to slide the door along, his mother walked in and was surprised to see me up so early or up at all for that matter, holding a bowl of soup. Kazuki was just as surprised to see her for the same reasons, frozen for just a moment expecting her to be in tears trying to scan her face, not noticing that Mariko was right behind him until she had slipped her hand into his now shaking one as his mother gently placed a hand on her son's face and asked if he was okay...

He couldn't answer, he thought 'I'm fine' was a good answer but it didn't quite feel right saying so. That question had been asked so many times that day that he swore he fell asleep hearing it and throughout the day he had never left his mother's side.

They had no body to bury so they made a shrine in another opening in the woods near the ocean, a place we felt he would rest well. And although it pained Kazuki, he never did cry and figured it was because the pain was so deep that it felt unreal and it frustrated him that he believed that he did not know how to feel such an impact.

Mariko helped with everything and comforted his mother as well as notifying him that she couldn't have him leave her sight, so she laid rest in Kazuki's small room.

"How do you feel?" She had asked once we were alone and his mother was asleep.

"Hungry." he said plainly, avoiding the emotional depth of the question, indicating that he was in no mood to talk about it and that he was indeed hungry.

As she silently made her way towards his window once again Kazuki stopped her, She stopped but never turned around to face him.

"Last night...were you being serious about...killing me? Is that- would you really kill me if I proved to be useless?" There was a pause before she spoke and what she said was bewildering.

"Yes, you would be dead weight - especially if you refused to feed. We can't reward weakness.", She said it as she turned around to meet a surprised expression on Kazuki's face before looking down and soon relaxed once he had realised the logic behind the madness and nodded in exception.

"...I see.", He said thoughtfully.

"So, I've wanted to know, what actually happens to shik- us when we stand in sunlight?", He queried.

"Well, the sun seems hotter to us than to humans beings, many of us can be seen with umbrellas or strawhats. But can easily be mistaken for normalcy in Summer or on hot days... That which are fearcely more intense then that of a " normal" day.

"Where are you going?" He asked as he already assumed she was going to hunt again, referring to his hunger but seemed unlikely especially because it was broad day light, and as she turned to him from the foot of his window and he saw her face soften as she answered and in all this time which felt like a lifetime - he had forgotten how heart warming her expression of sympathy felt, or how beautiful she looked when she smiled. This sad little doll face...

"I have something to show you.", She said now under the heightened corners of her mouth as she leapt out of my room and into the woods once again almost gleefully. Kazuki had whispered after her strangely interested in what it was she would show him and although he smiled he still felt empty.

He had called after her again and again but soon stopped once he realized he had never really paid attention to the woods ever before and once he was in he was taken. Kazuki never was allowed to go into the woods especially at night for fearing the worst but now he could see that it was just as beautiful as it was dangerous, now less dangerous as he was the danger - he would state that with pride, standing underneath a wisteria tree and lost in thoughts to the silence of the wood apart from birds and bugs alike. Lacing his fingers amongst the willowing purple plush flowers that hung from the tree and decorated his vision with pastel purples amongst the black pines. Amongst the pines and the few Sakura trees that he could see, he then finally spotted Mariko leaning on the bark of a large maple tree picking at some leaves that hung and placing them -along with cherry blossoms in her hair. Kazuki then picked up an Azalea amongst the wild blooms and blossoms that littered the ground and made his way to her. When she noticed him she smiled again and disappeared behind the maple, which unbeknownst to him hid yet another clearing surrounded by maples that filled the clearing with bright fiery colours, some laced with lanterns unlit.

He sat beside her as she sang a song he had never heard before, her koto- which was by a tree stump, weeped sorrowfully as it danced with her soft yet slightly cracking voice.

What transpired in the days before still seemed a bit surreal, the calm was numbing as if Kazuki couldn't feel it, almost as if he was waiting...

Perhaps waiting for something to go wrong...