Stare of the Moon

Crescent Moon Rising
Kounaki sat in her room, it was late in the evening and she was doing her usual homework - for japanese that is - and simply stared at the clouds in the sky while doing so. There was something strange in the sky today, it was tinted a dark red, much more than the standard sunset, though she didn't mind it.

Moving her gaze downwards, there was a small little charm on the ground. She saw it and found that it wasn't part of the house. In fact, there was an entire track of these small little charms that lead out of her room.

So she followed them, step by step until she reached to the back door of her house. "What are these?" Kounaki asked out loud, before she noticed some strange engravings on the fence of her house. "Come to Karakura High grounds if you want your family alive..."

Kounaki dismissed it as a joke...but regardless, she thought about it, and realized none of her family were home. Perhaps there were a bunch of criminals that were pursuing her? The thought made her shudder, and she quickly entered the house once again.

Navigating through some chambers, Kounaki had found her father's secret katana, a weapon she had trained with upon entering high school, and two other wakizashi which she had also trained with. Equipping them on her being, Kounaki had headed out towards the school grounds.

"My family...shall not suffer!" She thought as she raced across the street to get to Karakura High.

A bunch of men were prowling the school grounds, most armed to the teeth with swords, axes and other deadly impliments. A few didn't seem to carry weapons, but perhaps they were hidden well. Each one turned to look at their guest, grins plastered on their faces. One of the pack walked up. "Are you seriously the kid our boss wants to meet? Heh, you even came prepared. Smart. It's our rule to let 'guests' stay armed, just in case."

"Where are my family? And what do you thugs want with me?" Kounaki asked, bitterly staring at each one of them in their evil green eyes.

"Your family is fine. I promise. As for what we want, well, our boss didn't tell us. He just said capture you, nothing more. I'd say my job is complete." the man pointed over to his right, where the shadows were dispelled by lights, revealing Kounaki's family. "See? I'm a man of my word. Now, we just gotta wait for one of these jerk-wads to go get Boss so we can finally get the party started."

One of the men in the crowd scampered off, probably to find whoever the Boss might be.

"Huh? You people disgust me. Capturing me on the orders of a superior? Do you not have minds of your own? Could you not think a minute before accepting this task? Deplorable, honestly. You call yourself men? Hah! I puke at your atrocities!" Kounaki told them right at their faces, despising their actions.

"Oi, girl. Shut it." A brutish voice said to Kounaki from her back. Turning around, she noticed a blue-haired man with strange eyes looking at her.

"Don't provoke me, or bad things will happen." He said to her, not hesitating to lift up the axe near him.

"Oh? What can you do, be a bully and intimidate me? Sorry, those tricks don't work on me." Kounaki drew both her wakizashi, and stilled in a battle stance.

Another member of the goon squad lept forward, aiming to pin the girl to the ground. Dispite their orders, he already had enough of her yammering. "Shut up!" His hand was clenched into a fist, he didn't seem to care she was armed with swords and he was bare-handed.

In the matter of a second, Kounaki drew her wakizashi, spun around 180 degrees and slashed him from both sides at his abdomen, causing blood to gush out of him and him immediately collapsing in pain.

"What!?" One of the other goons said as he charged towards her. Kounaki immediately parried one of his blows from the right before smashing the butt of her wakizashi into his skull, causing him to fall back in agony.

"Is that it?" Kounaki asked, looking at the remaining gang members while concentrating on her family's safety.

Naiō took a few steps forward. "Girl, no one disrespects my men so easily. I'm going to teach you what it means to screw with Wolf Rain!" He swung his hammer to the side, part of him wondering how strong the girl really was. He loved the rush of battle, and easy fights did bore him, but the girl, Kounaki, according to his leader, proved to be a greater challenge than he has anticipated.

Kounaki's strength was minor in comparison to the man she faced here. The hammer struck her wakizashi which blocked the side of her abdomen enough to let her fly over to the other side of the building with minor injuries. Shrugging off the debris around her, she sheathed her wakizashi and drew her katana. It was an entirely black katana, forged out of a precious meteorite's metal, and its hilt was a strange illuminating gold, with a spiral pattern as the guard.

"Oh? A nice weapon you have there." Naiō commented.

"Well, thanks. It's name is: Koraikinji." Kounaki told him, immediately side-stepping her way towards the figure whilst using a small rotation to get at his side. Immediately she slashed at him with a Kendō grip, hoping to move him off balance. However, exactly the opposite happened.

Naiō used her own weight against her and pushed her back further. "Leave it, you're no match for me."

"I don't care!" She responded with fury, "All I want is my family. And you're going to give them to me!"

Her struggles were all fruitless. It had been over half an hour and all Kounaki got were bruises all over her body. Blood split from her arms, torso and mouth, and she finally collapsed onto the ground, whilst she thought within her mind, "I am...sorry..."

"Tch. Finally. I don't like doing that to people, but it's all I'm really assigned to do, aren't I?" He told the rest of his workers to go back to their stations, before suddenly, there was a massive explosion at the center of the auditorium!

The sound of many bats screeching broke the reigning calm after the blast as a young woman walked out of the smoke. "Smells like death and wet dog. I'm sorry, am I interrupting something? I was hoping I could ya know, have a good fight."

In seconds, she tensed up and jumped over to the door. "How about we play a game? If anyone can get passed me, they can live. Otherwise, every last person is going to die."

Most of the goons decided to attack the newcomer, treating her as if she were nothing but another target. Weapons drawn, hands pulled into a tight fist, anything that could be used to injure.

"You obviously don't get it." The first member reached the doorway, only to be launched back by an elbow to the gut. "I'm a vampire, and you...are my meal for this evening. Name's Myst Kagekyo, Queen of the Reikon Kyuuban. I suggest you understand, you're nothing but little worms on a big hook."

The remaining members decided to attack all at once. Myst blocked each attack, not wasting any time countering. Anyone who got close was knocked back by an assortment of punches and kicks. To anyone else, it would be nothing but a blur, but to Myst, it was a typical fight against a human, predictable and boring. "Who's next? How about the big guy with the hammer?"

Naiou was grinning, with glee of course. "Hehehe, ahahahaha!" He laughed hysterically, and swiftly attempted to attack Myst front and center, his hammer attempting to strike her at the head with a powerful and almost unblockable blow.

"Oh my~ We have a reckless one here~" A voice echoed throughout the hall as the black bats moved about, causing a distraction for the other wolves while keeping Kounaki in check. " It appears as if she won't survive for too long...you must hurry, Myst" A thought told Myst.

''Protect her, you dolt! I'll get to her in a second.'' Myst mentally yelled back at Kain. She charged at the beast of a man, twisting around to dodge the hammer, but she was too slow, the heavy blunt head of the hammer crashing into her shoulder. Darn it!

Myst fell to the ground under the massive weight of the blow. Her vision swam as her head tried to recongnize the fact she just got nailed with enough force to kill a normal human. "Alright, fine you over-grown pile of fur. Wanna play rough, I'll play rough." She began chargeing the Kyūketsuki Ga Satsuei, a beam of bloody energy, hell bent on killing whoever was in front of her. The hammer guy just so happened to fit the bill. The light could blind anyone in the darkened room, making evasion even harder.

Naiou was startled, and was immediately blown aback with the powerful blast of energy. He struggled to stand, smirked and looked at Kounaki. "We've done our task here, boys. Let's move!"

The entire gang immediately disappeared, with Naiou giving a wave to Myst as he left.

Myst stood up and walked over to the flood of bats she knew as Kain, and the bloody mess that was Kounaki. ''That was strange. 'We've done our task'.'' "Kain, is she coherrent at all?" Myst didn't need to hear Kain's answer, she already knew that the poor girl was probably senseless at the moment.

"My Queen, she is nearly dead...her injuries are far too great. Will we have to...?" Kain had a slightly solemn look on his face. The prospect of turning an innocent was...just horrifying for him. He had done it once, and changed somebody's life. But would this person have the same reaction?

"E-excuse...me?" Kounaki stuttered, shocking Kain who couldn't describe how she was even speaking! "C-could...y-you...h-help...m-me?" Her words were at a loss, and her skin was becoming paler by the second.

"Myst! You'll have to do it, now, before she loses it all!" Kain pleaded to her, he couldn't bear to see this girl in pain anymore.

"Child, you're going to recieve my gift, the gift of blood." As much as it made her stomach turn, Myst knew what had to be done. There wasn't enough time to ask permission. Forgive me, for breaking my promise, just this once. She knelt down and cut open her palm, letting the blood flow. Lowering the cut down to Kounaki's mouth. "If you want to live, drink!"

Kounaki was ready to accept this offering. After all, she had to stay alive, not for herself, but for the preservation of her family. And thus, she drank. The blood that rolled down her lips was sucked up by her, going through her trachea and entering her system.

"A-a-a-aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" Kounaki screamed, the pain was untolerable! Within her cells was an unusual, supernatural energy that attempted for dominance. No, there was two! This catalyst brought about the Oni blood that slept within her. Her heartbeats increased in intensity, and her entire body spasmed continually while her eyes, left open had simply stared into the sky. There was no pain visible, and it was as if she entered an inescapable coma.

"W-what is this strange reaction? D-did the transfer not work...?" Kain wondered, before realizing what the problem was. This girl had more than one supernatural form of blood flowing through her, and Kain had to let her deal with this. "Myst, we'll have to watch her through the end. If she cannot find a form of peace within the entities of her newly born soul, then she shall die. Remember, this will not be your fault, for her heritage has nothing to do with you." Kain told Myst, looking at the girl in pain.

"I pray she makes it out alive. Whatever the case may be, I gave her the blood, and now it's causing some sort of reaction." Pull through, I know you can. Myst stood upright again and began to massage her aching shoulder. It was better than sitting still, anything probably could have been.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" The spasms stopped almost abruptly, and her heartbeat went quiet. The sound of silence broke through the noise that had occurred before.

Inside her mind, Kounaki looked at two different entities. One was an enormous bat, and the other was an equally gigantic Oni. Both had been fighting against each other, while she spectated with two awe-struck eyes. Finally, she took the resolve to stand, and exclaimed, "STOP!"

Immediately both entities looked towards her, puzzled at her reaction. "''This, is my body. It's neither yours," Looking at the Oni, "or yours!" She said pointing at the bat. "If both of you don't stop this idiocy, my body will probably crumble before you have a chance to exploit it!" Kounaki breathed out, and then finished, "I shall form a pact with both of you, I'll accept both of you running in my veins and arteries and your blood pumping in my heart, but please, stop this fighting!"''

The entities looked downwards, and the Oni said, "Fine, lady! I'll let my soul into yours as a separate entity. But I will not be controlled by you!" The bat continued, "I agree with the barbarian. We will both stay in your soul. However; you must be able to control us...as a single entity." Both nodded towards each other, and suddenly, there was a fusion! The two bodies joined together, their spirits melding until there was a new hybrid formed. He appeared as a young man, with a lean build - rather surprising - long red hair, a slight feminine visage and clad in a simple black coat. His wings were tainted an unusual black sheen at their edges, whilst the rest were red, and he had a large claymore sheathed to his back. "I shall see you later, Kounaki-chan." The man stroked Kounaki's face as his visage disappeared from Kounaki's vision.

"U-urgh!" Suddenly Kounaki's spiritual energy materialized and exploded surrounding her, causing a massive spherical explosion to engulf her. She was momentarily stuck, but then was used to the sensation. Her body began to grow and mature on its own: her legs became curved, her hips more prominent, her bust-size grew and her hair lengthened and changed color. Though she was stark naked, Kounaki showed a grin as she came out of the sphere. Her arm took a cloak that was sprawled out nearby and she covered herself as she would cover a towel.

"Thank you very much..." She spoke, though her grin wouldn't indicate it, she was still the same Kounaki that she was some five minutes ago.

Myst was shocked. That was...different. She knew that wasn't supposed to happen in the process of a Turning, but she couldn't argue with the fact it worked as planned...mostly. "I didn't do anything, child. All I did was give you life, you did whatever it took to keep it." Dispite her shock, it was obvious that she was glad nothing worse had happened. "Now all we gotta do is explain your growth spurt. You went from tiny as can be to...teenage size in a matter of seconds. I think you seriously just set a record."

"Well, before that. How will we explain this to the family?" Kain asked Kounaki, who responded solemnly, "It seems...that I have to erase my existence...won't I?" Kain felt sorry for this girl, and remembered another situation similar to this. "Well...I could take you to someone who could possibly help you?"

"Wait, really, Kain? Who?" Myst wondered, she didn't know of the person who Kain was speaking of. Kain responded with a slightly joyous tone, "The last Elder, and the youngest as well, Hisashī..."

"Hisashī?" Kounaki wondered, and Kain responded, "Yes. The last Elder who I myself Turned a few centuries prior. Her skills were enough to be inclusive into those ancients who made Reikon Kyuuban civilization, which you, my dear, are a part of."

"Well, shall we leave?" Myst asked, and Kounaki affirmed, "Sure thing!"

Fin.