Chapter 19: I Was Once Told...

"It's not fair... Why is nothing ever fair? Why?" Shouji whispered to himself as a singular tear fell down his cheek. He promptly wiped it away before sitting up in his young body. He seemed no more than twelve as he huffed, sitting up in the thin and sturdy bed he previously laid in. He squeezed his eyes with his index and thumb as he pushed himself onto his feet, groaning with every step he took.

"Do I have to?" he asked himself as he stared in the mirror, his hands in his shiny blonde hair, slowly going from their relaxed state into a fist, some of the strands being stretched in his grasp, "I don't want to do this anymore."

His eyes watered once more but he quickly dismissed it, taking in a deep breath as he turned toward the closed wooden door that was previously on his left.

"Shouji!" boomed a deep and commanding voice from the other side of the door, sending shivers running down his spine and piquing his anxiety and increasing his heart rate.

"Y- yes?" he responded nervously, his prepubescent voice breaking within the pronunciation of the singular word.

He walked over to the door and pulled it open with little to no hesitation. On the other end of the door stood a tall figure with thick strands of black hair hanging off his chin as if every bit that was supposed to be on his head migrated. He towered over the boy before him, his muscular build accompanied by his bloated torso making it seem impossible for him to step through the door frame before him even if he wanted to.

"Consider yourself lucky you little gully rat," he chuckled to himself, exposing a singular gold tooth as he looked down at where Shouji stood, staring back up at him, "Your father requested you have a day off today, he wants to speak to you about something important."

"He wants to speak to me?" he asked, immediately regretting his question as the man before him glared down at him as if he asked something mind-blowingly stupid.

"Isn't that exactly what I said, boy? You going daft?"

He didn't respond, but simply looked to the ground in regret, expecting some form of punishment for mistakenly asking him to repeat himself, however, he got no such reprimanding causing him to peek upward at the bearded man through his thin golden strands of hair.

"I'd suggest you go up to his chambers before I fix your daftness myself," he said, rolling his eyes at the end of his sentence.

Without saying another word, Shouji pulled his door closed and squeezed himself past the man who stood firmly in the hallway, watching his every move.

"Damnit Hanzo... I swear to god I'll kill you someday," Shouji thought to himself, suppressing his urge to have him know his true intentions, but he was smarter than that. Saying anything like that to Hanzo, it doesn't matter who you are or what your lineage was, it was as if you were wishing death upon yourself. He simply bit his tongue and proceeded to make his way through the confusing halls of his family's mansion.

The Kliver Clan was known and praised for owning and managing the city's criminals in one way or the other. If criminals wanted protection, they'd side with the Kliver Clan and continue carrying out their activities as long as the instance of crime was authorized by the higher-ups in the organization. Despite it being well known for organized crime, however, it isn't typically easy to qualify as a member, with most new recruits facing brutal death during their initiation.

After traversing through the halls for what felt like hours, he approached a large black double door that was decorated with golden highlights that formed what seemed like a tree branch. He lightly pushed the right side of the door open and made his way into the room. On the inside was a vast, empty space that had nothing but the silver-coated carpet laid on the floor. Beyond the carpet was a large glass table that had black couches placed around it to form a semi-circle, the centre of which housed Shouji's father as he held a smoking pipe up to his mouth.

"Hello my son," he said, exhaling a puff of smoke as he pulled the pipe away from his chapped lips, "Have a seat."

Confused by the welcoming atmosphere, Shouji hesitantly made his way over to the couch on the far left edge of the table, glancing between the table and his father repeatedly.

"What's the occasion?" he asked, glancing around the room as if he were looking for something or someone, "And where's Corniellia? I thought she would be in here with you."

"She's still fast asleep, let her just enjoy her beauty sleep for now. There's something important that I wish to talk to you about," he said, just before inhaling another puff from the pipe, releasing it when he opened his mouth to say another word, "You know the story of chaos and its descent upon this world?"

"If I recall correctly, it's the story of how the four ruling species of the world were made right?" Shouji asked, hesitantly glancing over to his father for some form of approval.

"Good, seems like someone's been paying attention in his history classes," he huffed in a sense of proudness, but that didn't last long, "So you're aware of the story of Yin and Yang?"

Shouji's brows furrowed in confusion upon hearing the names, "The scale by which the universe is balanced?"

"Not exactly... The physical entities that keep that balance, Yin and Yang, the first human and vampires in existence born directly from chaos?"

"Never heard of it..."

"Figures," he muttered, "Anywho, as direct offsprings of Chaos, Yin and Yang kept the worldly balance simply by coexisting."

"If Yin and Yang were the first human and vampire... then why are Witches and Werewolves around if they were the legitimate offsprings of Chaos?"

"Are you going to let me tell the story boy? Or are you going to keep questioning me?"

"My bad."

"Okay, good," he sighed as he proceeded to tell the story, "Yin acted as the first vampiric entity while Yang acted as the first human entity. They had their children and built civilizations with each other. To answer your question, by the way, witches and werewolves are mere abnormalities that occurred within the direct children of Yang and Yin respectively. Anyways, back to the point. Legend is, over the thousands of years that's passed, Yin and Yang have reincarnated into two bodies, Yin always being a vampire, while Yang would always be a human."

Shouji sat on the couch, leaned forward as he listened with his attention focused on his father's words.

"These two bodies keep the balance together for as long as possible, however, there is a prophecy." he said, relaxing in his chair, "The prophecy speaks of a witch, a powerful one too, that would come about and tilt the scales in Yin's favour upon severing the connection between the two."

"You don't believe this do you?" Shouji asked, a brow raised, which evoked a stern look from his parental figure.

"Of course I do. In fact, I believe that you, my son, are the reincarnation of Yin in this generation," he said, leaving the room in pure silence with a puff of smoke.

"You're joking right?" Shouji asked, in half disbelief and half excitement.

"I don't joke about my children's future," he said, shooting another stern gaze in Shouji's location, "I sense great power within you. A power that can only be explained if you were this incarnation of Yin... That's the only way I can see it at least."

"Why tell me this story though?... What was your goal?"

"To simply let you know of the hell you must endure my child. I will shape you to be the perfect being, worthy of being Yin's vessel, and I do apologize for the rough life you've been living from birth till now, and that you will continue to live till the end of my days... I hope you understand my child. One can only be so prepared," he said, waving a hand in the air as a subtle signal for 'take him away'.

Responding to the signal, Hanzo stepped out of the shadow of the room and threw young Shouji over his shoulder, "It's fun time again," he chuckled.

"You must make him strong enough to stand up to this 'witch' okay? He must be able to stand up to them and rule them with an iron fist so that we could finally expand our empire... That is my vision, that is the meaning of the life I have given you my boy... The prophecy that you must fulfil."

<Chapter 19: End>