The Virus [Multiple Pairings] - Chapter 20 [Update 04/17/14]

[LoyalFlutist]

Hello all. A new member here~ Finally had the guts to stop lurking and come out of my shadow. Hope I won't be a bother here.

Anyway, I have other fictions posted on Tumblr, but I wanted to share this fiction on here. (even though.. it only has one part at the moment, which is probably a good start since the other fictions already have at least +2 chapters)

It's a fiction centered in Yui's First Person POV. Multiple pairings will be seen here.

I don't know if it's good or not, but I enjoyed writing it.

Hope you all enjoy it though and I'll just.. go... to the corner... and dig a hole... and hide in there...

[edit: This will be in Yokoyama Yui's POV]

[Chapter 1]

I was briskly walking my way toward the head captain’s headquarter. In my green military uniform and short black hair that bounced off from the back of my neck, the combat boots made clumping sound on the hard wooden surface of the floor.

“Ah, Yuihan! General Takahashi needed to see you right away!” one of the many soldiers from the side, Ichikawa Miori, reminded me as I dashed my way past her group. I gave her my thanks before increasing my pace.

Inside of the huge and wide ten story building protected by high fences and walls from outsiders, I was located on the first floor and headed straight toward the elevator. The silver doors slid open after I pressed the button with the arrow pointing upward. I stepped inside of it as the door closed. Quickly punching the ‘9’ button nearby, I felt the elevator making its way up with my lonesome self.

To my right and left, I saw the electronic display showing both the layout map of the building and schedule for certain events this week. ‘There’s going to be new recruits hired soon? That’s new.’ My trip to the ninth floor was halted for just a moment as the elevator had a quick stop at the fifth floor. When the door opened, in came two young soldiers. Upon closer inspection, I identified the both of them. Watanabe Mayu and Matsui Jurina. The two were chatting quite loudly, giggles and laughter heard every once in a while as we progressed upward.

“M-Mayuyu!” the taller of the two, Jurina, exclaimed as she gave a light slap to Mayu’s back. Mayu simply responded with a giggle. “I’m being serious! When the weak zombies came running at my direction, they literally slipped on the carefully placed BANANA PEELS I planned.”

“Man and I thought they couldn’t be dumber than I had expected…” They were in their own world as I smiled at overhearing their conversations.

At this era and time period, we live in a world where corruptions and destruction had arrived much sooner than many predicted. A strange and viral disease has gotten out, infecting both the innocent and corrupted lives around the world. In a couple weeks after the first person had been infected in the province of Australia, the world might as well be considered done for. The infected became inhumane. Creatures that was thought only to be in horror films and stories soon came to life.

Especially the walking dead. There are other creatures, but so far here in Japan, we had only encountered these foul creatures. We don’t know much about the other types other, but we didn’t bother wanting to find out. Those that ventured out into the outside world just to be able to witness the true horror never came back. That’s when the Elimination Forces were created globally in hopes of bringing humanity some hope. In this base, I am a part of Akihabara Elimination Force, served to protect the innocent and eliminate those that were far beyond saving.

“Ninth floor,” the low automatic robotic voice announced. My mind snapped back to the present time. I then was out of the elevator along with both Mayu and Jurina, who the two were dashing away to my left and up the stairs to the rooftop. I couldn’t help but form a small smile on my face when I saw the two members run off like little kids. But refocusing back to my goal, I quickly walked forward.

Faced with a pair of huge wooden doors, I knocked gently before pushing one of the doors slightly forward. “Yokoyama Yui desu. I heard you need me, General Takahashi?”

“Ah, yes yes! Come in, come in, Yuihan!” a strong, firm voice responded back to me as I pushed the door further. Upon entering inside of the room, I was met with a huge office-like setting. Two bookshelves filled the walls both the right and left with  a couple portraits hanging high on the wall. Tables were also seen on the side accompanied by furnitures with a female figure sitting on one of the sofas. In the center, near the huge glassed window that fully covered the wall was Takahashi Minami and Maeda Atsuko.

“Come in closer, Yuihan! No need to be shy!” Minami happily exclaimed as she rised up from her seat. I did as what she requested and came closer till I was up in front of her desk. I heard a faint chuckle escape from the general’s mouth as she walked around her desk.

“Yokoyama Yui, I have a mission for you.”

“Oh, okay then. What is the mission this time-”

“A special mission my dear.”

‘A special mission?’

I was confused with what she meant by ‘special’ mission. So far from the missions that the members including I had gotten were to exterminate some zombies in the surrounding area. (Thus where the name Akihabara Elimination Force came from) So what exactly could this special mission mean?

“Yui, I entrust you with this so-called special mission because not only will others not be able to do it but it’s too dangerous for any ordinary member.” Minami had her hands behind her back as she slowly circled around me. She then stopped once she was on my left side, still not looking at me. “Before I let you off on this mission though, I have a partner that will accompany you with your trip.”

She then turned to look to her left and waved over to the lone figure that I saw earlier. “Yuihan, I want you to meet Kitahara Rie,” she said as the female walked over to me. Her black hair tied in a ponytail and the look of honesty reflected in her dark eyes. She looked like a worthy, trusted member of the force. “Kitarie, this is Yokoyama Yui as you may have heard already.”

The person, Rie, extended her hand out as a form of greeting toward me. In response, I too extended my hand out and we both shook. “It’s nice to meet you, Kitahara-san.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Yokoyama-san. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”

I smiled at the politeness of this girl’s attitude after we separated our contact. Minami, who oversaw the entire introduction seem to wear a proud expression. Her hands still behind her back, she nodded in approval. “Good good! I’m glad you both got along quite easily!… unlikeJurinaandMayugoodgrieftheymadesomuchchaosthefirstcoupleofdays.” She spoke the last part so rapidly that nobody in the room got other than the name ‘Jurina’ and ‘Mayu.’ Just when I was about to ask what she was trying to say at the end, she quickly moved onto the subject at hand.

“Yui and Rie, I want you both to investigate this unnamed village in the forests. A couple of our members who had missions that involved tranveling through this village never came back to us. I am worried about what sort of danger lies within the village and the forest surrounding it. I’ll have the helicopter drop you both off in the location. Though it may seem foolish of me to drop off only two members at the site, I believe that having a group running around isn’t safe let alone cause great alarm to the enemies whoever they might be… Just remember that if you are in any danger and require back-up, use your transmitters. Are you all cleared on this?”

The both of us nodded and saluted. “We understood it all, General Takahashi,” Rie pronounced.

There was a small smile that crossed on Minami’s face. “Good. I entrust that this mission will go fairly well with you two taking this on. Tomorrow will be the start of your mission, so rest well tonight.”

----------

I scratched the back of my head as the both of us were quickly shooed out of the room by Minami. ‘So our mission starts tomorrow, huh? And with another member too…’ Usually I would be one to work solo on many of my work in hopes of not burdening anyone if there was ever a problem. But if Minami gave me a partner for this mission, then it must be serious.

“I heard that you were General Takahashi’s favorite,” Rie’s voice snapped me back in reality. She was standing right beside me, looking over at my direction. “Is that true?”

I tore my eyes away from her and stared into space. “I don’t know if that’s true, but she has been treating me like a younger sister…. Maybe it’s because she’s saved me before… Or it might be that I am always working constantly without a single complaint….”

Rie was silent while I spoke. So I ceased my little outspoken thoughts and simply smiled. “Let’s not talk about this but rather let’s focus on our mission tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” We both waved off to each other since Rie decided to stay behind. I went ahead of her and headed straight toward the elevator. Soon I was greeted by another member, Minegishi Minami when the doors opened.

“Ah, Yuihan! I’m guessing that Takamina has given you another mission?” she asked as she exited out of the small enclosed space with a boxed package. The other Minami held the door opened for me as I entered inside of the elevator. I nodded my head in response. There was a small chuckle coming from her. “I see then. Well, I must deliver this to Takamina, so I wish you luck then!”

----------

[1 year ago]

“Mother! Father! Where are you?!”

The burning flames that once represented my home was brightening the dark sky high above my head. Flames flickered wildly with sparks flying in the air. Smoke shamelessly rise from the building as the many bricks that held up the house crumbled down within seconds.

Coming home late from school due to being a member of the student council, I came to regret my choice the moment I saw my home. Many individuals were running in all sorts of directions. Such huge commotions were made, making me dizzy from the craziness. I didn’t know what exactly was going on and what caused the fire. No firetrucks, ambulances or even police cars were seen at the scene.

“Mother! Father! Can you call out to me if you’re there?!” I hollered out again, only to receive no response. Then before I knew it, the houses near mine exploded into flames, sending huge fragments of the house at those down below. Shrieks and screams were heard accompanied by the shaking ground. I lost my balance and fell backward, hitting my back hard against the concrete street.

Wincing, I rapidly scrambled up to my feet as the pedestrians and citizens roughly brushed their way past me. Flames now surrounded the entire area, seeing my beloved town being destroyed. I called out to my parents again, shaking my head in disbelief. ‘No, this can’t be happening. This can’t be!’ I almost made up my mind to dash straight into the burning entrance of my house when I heard my name being called out.

“Yui! Yui!” the familiar voice was none other than my mother. Relief ran through my body. The voice came from within the entrance as two figures emerged from the flaming house. It was my father and mother, their clothes torn and burnt yet unharmed. Happy, I rushed to them as fast as possible. Tears of relief threatened to escape the corner of my eyes when I saw them. I gave them a tight hug when I was close enough. ‘Thank god they’re okay! Thank god-’

“Oi! Get away from your parents, girl!”

“Eh?”

I turned around to see a short, brown-haired girl standing from a couple feet with a rifle at hand. In a military uniform and a general red cap on top of her head, she was aiming it at my direction. “I said get away you fool! They’re not really your parents!” I was shocked when I heard what came out of her mouth. Unable to process the words into my brain, I shook my head slowly in denial. “W-What are you talking about?” I stuttered my words.

“Yokoyama Yui,” I heard my father say my full name. Before I got the chance to turn and face him, I felt a strong grip placed on my two shoulders. Something was off when I heard his voice. Fear suddenly then struck against my mind, my panic mode activated. Slowly turning my head so I was able to glance over my shoulder, I saw my father’s hands on it. His eyes were not normal. It was green. Bright greed as though neon lights were intentionally placed behind his eyeballs. Father’s iron grip then tightened, the sound of cracking bones heard clearly in the night. My eyes widen.

“NO!” I struggled against his grip, the delayed pain sending signals up to my brain. But the more I moved around, the tighter his hands were on my shoulders. I was screaming out in pain. “PLEASE! Why are you doing this father?!” Tears ran down my face from the intense amount of pain I had to bear. I felt his face nearing mine on the side, opening his mouth painfully slow. Though from the corner of my eyes I saw that his face and teeth were perfectly fine, dark blood dripped down from his upper jaw. Frightened, I squeezed my eyes shut when I heard a monstrous growl coming from his throat.

Gunshots rang out into the air. Then I felt the figure behind me froze in place. My father’s hold on me was still there, but he ceased increasing the pressure any further. With my eyes still closed, I heard a couple more bullets whizzing past my face and the strangling screams of my parents heard. The presence near me was now gone and left me all alone with the throbbing pain of my possibly broken shoulders.

Without any warning, I felt my body fall forward only to be caught roughly by someone’s arms. The person then flipped me around so I was facing upward in their grip. Barely able to open my eyelids, I saw a blurry girl’s face hovering above mine. There were some red spots on the side of her face and wet droplets coming down from above on my face. “I’m so sorry you have to lose your parents like that. I’m so sorry…” she whispered in a sad tone to me. Though I was very aware that I am not going to die, I knew sooner or later I was going to pass out. So before I let darkness welcome me with open arms, I asked, “Who… are you?”

There was a small pause.

“Minami. Takahashi Minami of the Akihabara Elimination Force.”

----------

My eyes snapped open. Cold sweat was running down the side of my face, my breathing abnormally rapid. Flicking my eyes left and right, I noticed that I was only in my dorm room.

‘It’s that dream again…’ I wondered to myself as I sat up, the white comfortable blanket slipping down to my lower body. My eyes wandered over to my right, the digital alarm clock showing that it was only a couple minutes past midnight.

In this single-person bedroom, the room was simple and merely had a closet for all of my clothes and a small bathroom nearby. Having a small lit lamb and alarm clock near my side, my mind slowly accustomed itself back to reality.

I sighed loudly and laid back down on the bed. ‘It’s just the past. There’s nothing you can do about it. Focus on the mission tomorrow with Kitahara-san. Just concentrate on the mission. Your past does not matter at this point anymore.’ My eyelids then closed. Though despite wanting to rest, I wasn’t able to go back to sleep after awakening.

[Llyloo]

I already comment that chapter but I don't care I'll post .

Happy to see you here **. Really ! -fangirl-

I really love the first chapter and I can't wait to read the next ** !

[LoyalFlutist]

@Llyloo: I'm glad to see you too. Now I can properly comment on your fiction and the others~ 

Here's chapter 2. I did forget to warn that this fiction is dark and don't really have many (or any?!) comedy moments (since I can't even make lame jokes...  )

And I wonder... Should I also post my Wandering Ship story on here too? I'm not sure if you all prefer to read it on Tumblr or something, haha. 

Okay, I'll just stop talking and resume hiding.

[Chapter 2]

"We're about a couple hundred meters roughly from where your destination will be," one of the female pilots announced as we travel to our designated area.

Sitting in an army-like helicopter, only Rie and I sat in the back with our weapons and luggage at hand. Two pistols were on both sides of my pants with my trusty old rifle given from Takahashi Minami resting on my heavy backpack. An extra pair of knife was attached to the sides of the bag. Though many members on mission were recommended to carry light loads consisting only of their weapons, transmitters and some emergency first-aid kits, this mission only had two members participating. Me and Rie. And due to how long the walk is from where we are soon to be dropped off, it wouldn't be surprising if it took us at least three days to reach to our destination.

Rie from across me was rubbing her black gloved hands on the side of her silver metal revolver nervously. She must either be new to these sorts of missions or had gotten use to being safe in a group for her missions. She carried almost the same load as me, excluding the fact that she also carried a sniping gun. Her eyes were flicking left and right, then up at mine. "Yokoyama-san? Are you nervous about this mission?" she asked me. I shook my head in response.

"No, I'm not. I've gotten myself into many dangerous missions and situations that could end my life, but came out alive from them. So I'm use to it." Leaning back against my seat, I felt my eyebrows scrunching together into a frown. "Tell me, Kitahara-san-"

"You can just call me Kitarie and drop the 'san,' Yokoyama-san."

"Okay then.... If you also will drop mine too."

A smile finally crossed her face since we got on the flying vehicle. I then continued my sentence. "Tell me, Kitarie, why did you decide to enlist here in the force?"

Could I have hit upon a sensitive topic to her? Rie doesn't seem to answer better yet only remained in silence. After a couple long agonizing minutes of silence hanged between the two of us, she finally opened her mouth. "I joined because I want to get revenge for those monsters who killed my family." When she saw that I didn't comment, she moved on. "I didn't have a good relationship with my parents. We fought since who-knows-when. We three never looked on the same page together. But there was my younger brother, Ko. I really do love him. Even though I was a university student the last time I was having a normal life, I still kept in touch with him. But..." A sad smile formed on her face. "He died along with my parents when those... monsters came and went."

I frowned. "Do you know what those 'monsters' exactly are?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I heard news that my family was killed and when I returned to our home, it was destroyed. I know for a fact though that the force is something inhumane."

I looked up at her to see her hand waving wildly in front of her face. "I rarely tell anyone of my past aside from the general herself. Funny how I barely met you and managed to spill this much out of my mouth." If I'm not wrong, I felt my heart inside stop for just a second before resuming its normal activity of keeping the blood pumping inside of my body. There's this feeling of 'fuzziness' within my body once she spoke of those words. Does this mean she trusted in me already? My eyes trailed away from her face and instead, focused on the clear glassed window on the right of her body. The blue sky and white clouds from above could be seen clearly thanks to the sun shining through them. Blue, watery ocean from below was seen, extending far beyond what my eyes could see.

"What about you, Yui? What's your reason to being in the force?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

I was quick to decline talking about my past. I know it seems wrong and Rie in front of me looked slightly disappointed at my answer. But honestly, I don't want to talk about it. Not yet at least. "I see then," I heard her mutter to herself before turning her attention away from me. I flicked my eyes back at her for a split second. Then back to the scenario outside of the window.

After some time has passed by us, the setting outside changed from a deep blue ocean that sparkled from the sun's reflection to the greenery of the lush forests. Multiple trees stood high above the ground with birds every now and then flying away from the sight of the flying copter.

"We're ready to land in 3... 2... 1..."

The vehicle came down to the wide and clear enough ground. The tree leaves, branches and grasses were blown around violently due to the rapid movements of the rotaters of the helicopter as it lowered itself. Lower and lower we went till it rested on the solid surface of the earth's ground. I grabbed my supplies and with Rie, we both hopped out of the vehicle. My two black boots came down on the ground with a solid thump. Straightening my posture, I looked up to see the two drivers watching us.

"Make sure to give us a call when you need back-up or when you're finished with the mission."

"Hai, wakarimasu." Rie beside me gave a thumbs up toward them as the helicopter ascended from the ground. Huge gust of winds were blown at our face, prompting us to bring our arms up to shield our face from any flying bits of derbies. In a matter of minutes, we were now on our own.

With the sun beating down upon us, sweat began to immediately show up on my forehead. I wiped it away quickly with the sleeves of my uniform. "It's hot, isn't it?" Rie commented as she readied her revolver. Placing a couple of bullets inside of the device, she gave me a nod of confirmation that she was finished. I too took out my rifle, loading it with bullets. I gave her a nod back in understanding and confirmation also, beginning to walk onward.

The forest had quite an abundent amount of species and plants contained. And we've only traveled barely a mile on foot. Many colorful canaries landed on branches of the trees as lizards crawled up on the barks. To our surprise, there were also sights of wild cats, the panthers. But in dismay, we weren't able to get a better look at the magnificent creature other than a few spare seconds.

Pushing aside a long strip of vine out of my face, we've managed to now trend farther than what we would've managed if we were in a group. I peeked over my shoulder to see Rie right behind me. She shot me a smile in reassurance that she's alright. I smiled back and moved on forth. Soon enough, we were met with some climbing to do. It doesn't seem like a mountain but rather a steep hill to get across.

Both Rie and I tied a long, thick strip of rope around our waist so if one of us falls, at least the other is able to soften the landing at the very least. I tugged on my end, making sure that the knot I've tied wouldn't loosen at any crucial moments. After we're certain our ropes are ready, we began climbing.

I grabbed ahold of the rock's edges, pulling myself up. To my luck, I didn't have to hang around and wait impatiently for the person down below. Rie was very fast at climbing and even though she did lose her footing a couple of times, she managed to catch up. Higher and higher we ascended, we've reached the top and finally emerged from the forest.

"Don't you think we should take a quick break, Yui?" she asked me as she tried to catch her breath. I glanced at my watch to see that it was almost six o' clock. Now on top of the hill, I was able to see the surroundings around clearly. There the both of us are faced with a huge surrounding of greens. There was a huge mountain from the far distant and would take us a couple long weeks if we were to ever walk there by foot. 'It's much better than being unable to tell what exactly is going on under the many tree leaves big enough to block out the sun's direction.' The sun from the distant I saw was beginning to set, causing me to glance at my digital black watch at hand again. "I think we should. We should wake up before nightfall descends upon us."

I didn't want to sleep during the time daylight won't shine upon us. Though it seems strange for one to not sleep through the night like any normal human being, we were in the middle of the forest. And Minami did warn us about the danger of the village. Since we might possibly be close to the village, who knows what lay in these bushes and shadows?

"We should rest up here at the very least. I don't trust being anywhere on ground-level in this location."

Rie then settled down her huge bulky backpack, the sound of the luggage making heavy contact with the ground below. I too took off mine, stripping off the straps from my shoulders. We then sat down on the grassy top of the hill, sitting casually and leaning backward slightly with our arms keeping us in balance. I look up above toward the sky. The sky has darkened with one part showing the nightly sky as the other showing faint lights from the setting sun beyond the mountain. Words alone won't be able to describe such sight my eyes are able to witness.

"Isn't the sight beautiful?" Rie smiled as she closed her eyes. She sat across from me, a peaceful expression shown on her face. I watched her in amusement. Then with a smile of my own, I too closed my eyes. For some reason, just being with Rie makes me feel extremely grateful for being on this mission. And seeing her smile makes me feel... happy. I don't know why I'm feeling like this, but for the moment I'll just focus on resting. We both probably wasted quite a lot of energy on traveling for the first half of the day.

----------

I snapped my eyes open once I heard the crickets chirping from down below. My head was resting on my bulky, uncomfortable bag. Sitting up from my spot and rubbing my eyes from the short-lived nap, I soon became alert once I knew where I was. In front of me was Rie. She was still asleep soundly like a baby. Gentle breathing could be heard with every inhale and exhale exiting through her respiratory system. Without wasting any time, I crawled over to her.

"Hey, wake up Kitarie," I called out to her as quietly but audible to ones ears as possible. She turned to her right and muttered a couple of incomprehensible words. No other words were spoken and she laid still in her position. Again, I made another attempt to wake her up. "Wake up I said, Kitarie. It's already nightfall." Though it took me a couple minutes to wake up this stubborn sleepy individual, I managed  to awaken her.

"Man... This sleeping pattern for the next day or so is going to kill me," she grumbled to herself as she flung the straps of her bag over her two shoulders. After we both fixed and adjusted our bags and weapons at hand, we were ready to continue forth.

I looked downward at the hill and saw that we're not going to easily be climbing downward. "We'll have to slide down in order to reach ground-level."

I heard a soft sigh coming from behind. "I guess we have no choice then, eh?"

No hesitation was made once I extended my right leg out on the edge of the hill. I gently pushed my body forth and trained my body weight on the two legs. Soon I was sliding down roughly with dirt and grasses brushing against my clothes from behind. I kept a strong grip on my rifle as my speed increased. A couple seconds later and I finally landed on my two feet. I glanced back to see Rie landing on her butt. "I-Itai..." she winced as she got up from the ground, rubbing her behind in pain. A chuckle left my closed lips when I saw her acting like that. 'She's a reliable, yet comedic partner.'

Going forth into the dark night, we trended carefully through the forest. Since it was nightfall and thanks to the many huge leaves from above, it was hard enough to see through the night. "I think we should use our night vision goggles," Rie suggested. I paused for a bit in my track and agreed to her suggestion. "I can't believe I was so stupid to forget wearing this when we were up on the hill..." I muttered as I pulled out an attached gadget from my belt.

I placed it on top of my forehead and after brushing aside my bangs, it now rested securely on my face. My fingers were pressing a couple of buttons on the side of the goggles, soon showing me the green-colored view. Blinking a couple of times, I slowly was adjusting to the sudden visual change.

"Are you ready?" I heard Rie asked me from behind. I gave her an approval of my condition and so we moved onward again.

At this time of the day, there were many noises that could spook one who had a faint heart. Examining our surrounding as we trend forward, we both were silent for in fear of alerting any nearby enemy appearance. It's common sense for there were only two members out in this expanded area near the targeted destination. Anything could happen.

'Let's just hope we don't run into any creatures at this time of the day. I'm getting a slight shiver from just the noise alone.'

----------

Two full days has passed and we managed to cover a lot of distance from where we were dropped off. It was past midnight and the third day had just begun for the two of us. "I'm getting a bit exhausted with this sudden sleep schedule change," Rie murmured to me as she pushed aside a huge grassy patch for me. I gave her my thanks first before giving her a nod. "It is tiring, but we don't really have a choice."

True, the two of us were beginning to feel slightly fatigue from the sudden schedule change of our normal sleeping pattern. This should be normal for any soldiers going on such a dangerous mission so it's not like we have a choice if we want to remain safe.

A quiet yawn came out of my mouth, forcing me to cover it with my right hand. "I hope we reach the village in a couple hours-"

My sentence was cut short when I heard a growling sound from nearby. I froze in my spot and Rie beside me raised up her revolver. I also raised up my weapon into the air, aiming at the source of the sound. "Is it a wild cat or something?" Rie questioned me as we both aimed at the bush to our right. I shook my head. "I don't know."

One second passed by. Five seconds passed by. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. A full minute passed by and the growling was not heard again.

"Huh. Must be a wild cat then," I said as I lowered my weapon. What a wrong move I have done. Before I knew it, bullets were flying at the sudden approaching living dead in front of me. A loud, agonizing and inhumane scream echoed loud and clear into the air from the man in front of me. His hands reached up to the middle of his forehead, dark substance spurting out from the very spot he touched. I didn't waste any hesitation to give him a kick, sending him down on the ground a good distance away from me. 'Zombies. These must be the creatures that haunt around the forest. This must mean that they're also in the village....'

"Yui! There's more of them!" Alert, I raised my rifle up to see a pack of zombies in front of me and on my right. I began to back away slowly to the left, dragging Rie into it. "We can't stick around and make so much noise. We need to get to a clearer and more spaced-out area to deal with this." I can't bear to see ourselves stuck, trapped and killed due to the environment objects limiting our movements.

We both then dashed off to the left, thankful that these creatures aren't able to run. Farther and farther we got away from them, their moans and growling were heard from behind. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Rie pulling out a handheld bomb with a key in it to keep it from exploding. I saw that she was going to pull it out. I was alarmed at what she was going to do and slapped her on the shoulder. "Don't do that! We don't want to start a forest fire and trap ourselves, right?"

She took my word of advice and placed the bomb back on the side of her bag. Then to our luck, we found ourselves in a wide, open area as we wanted. The moon shined gently down below from above our head. Now ready to kill those zombies, I aimed my rifle at the direction we burst out from. The moans and noises were getting louder as they got closer. My index finger are itching to pull the trigger back, wanting to let bullets fire without holding back. But we both then heard their screams.

I shot a glance at Rie and saw that she pulled out her rifle, but didn't fire yet. Curious as to who could've killed those foul creature, I turned my attention back in front of me to be thrown back by such a great force. My back slammed against the bark of a tree from behind. Massive pain ran through my body as I slid down to the ground.

"Y-Yui!" I could hear Rie running at my direction, only to hear her two combat boots skid to a stop. I lifted my head and saw a couple of big, brown wolves in the area. Two were circling around Rie as the other two were walking toward me. From my viewpoint, I saw Rie wildly aiming at the two dogs that circled her, unsure of who to shoot first.

Werewolves. Though they aren't those kind of wolves that would stand up on its hind legs like one in the movies and scary stories, they do possess supernatural abilities of great strength. Able to transform between human and wolf, both forms possess great power. 'So these are the creatures that caused the disappearance of the members!' I assumed mentally.

Not wanting to stay down for long, I felt my rifle still at hand and rapidly aimed it at one of the approaching wolves. I pressed the trigger down and let a storm of bullets do its work. The targeted wolf yelped loudly and retreated back from the range of the gun. But the other one beside it charged at me. I tried to aim at it but was too slow for it bit my wielding arm.

I clenched my teeth in pain and punched the wolf's face in multiple progression. Its teeth sunk deep into my skin and tightened its jaw around it whether or not I hit it. Quickly I scrambled to grab my pistol from the right side of my pant and blindly shot it at the wolf. It squealed out pain and winced constantly at the wound I had just inflicted upon its head.

The jaw loosened around my arm, prompting me to knock it away with the butt of the pistol. Ignoring the wound despite how much it stings, I got up and saw Rie was in no better shape. She was on the ground, fighting to keep the one wolf from biting her face off with its vicious teeth. She had her rifle as a blockage between her face and the wolf's hungry mouth. I rushed over to her place and gave it a kick of its lifetime, getting it off on top of her. Without hesitation, I shot at the wolf's direction.

To my dismay, the wolf was smart enough unlike the other three and dodged my bullets. It swiftly moved to its left and right before pouncing on Rie, who was just getting up. I was about to pull the trigger again when I noticed it ran out of bullets. Not wasting any time, I threw it back on the right side of my pocket and pulled another from my left. Aiming it at the wolf again, I pulled the trigger a couple of times and down the wolf came.

I gave it a couple minutes to see if it was still alive or not. It didn't move from its spot, so I ran over to Rie and kneel down before her. "Are you hurt anywhere, Kitarie?" I asked as I checked for any wounds. To her luck there were only a couple scratches on her face and arms that could easily be healed with the right treatment. She from below smiled at me and shook her head. "Nothing serious, Yui..... H-Hey! Look out behind you!"

It was a little too late for me for I felt something bit on my right shoulder. Surprised, I dropped the gun I had at hand. Through my goggles, there seems to be a couple of wolves as back-up for they came out of the shadows. Growling and showing their teeth at the both of us, I saw saliva dropping down on the edges of their teeth. But like I have that to worry about. I have a wolf on my shoulder, biting on me.

Screaming out in pain, I threw myself backward on the ground in attempt to release its hold on me. It didn't and sadly was much stronger than the previous four wolves we dealt with, shaking its head left and right in order to cause more damage to my body. Tears formed on the corner of my eyes and blurred my vision due to the pain. I struggled, but didn't dare roll over for the wolf would pin me on the ground with its heavy weight and lead to its advantage. I soon heard Rie scream out in pain followed by the howling of one of the wolves. I wasn't able to see due to being limited on the ground, so I prayed that Rie wasn't instantaneously killed. That would've killed me from the inside if it ever happened.

My struggles became weaker and soon, I completely stopped. 'I wonder why the werewolves were suddenly targeting us? Did we come into their territories?' I didn't bother thinking anymore for my eyelids were getting heavy. My vision was blurring as I stared upward at the dark, empty sky. Possibly due to the heavy blood loss or maybe the intense pain I have to bear.

But the pressure on my shoulder stopped. Wincing and yelps from the wolf was heard and soon all of the other wolves were heard running away. I didn't bother lifting my head to see who it was for darkness was ready to steal my vision. A female's face suddenly hovered above mine. Such short black hair and piercing eyes that could stare deep into ones soul. She said something, but I wasn't able to hear. She must be the person that made all of the wolves go away. Or killed them.

She shook her head and looked as though she had just sighed. Her mouth moved on some more before my eyelids couldn't take it anymore and shut itself.

[Llyloo]

Wow, it's dangerous like area. Yui and Rie ** Aaah, I'm really happy to read fanfic with them ~~

Aaaah~~ my comment are poor çwç sorry. D: I wan't the next~~

[ChuuuPuffss]

Ah, this is awesome! Dark fics are always great!

Hope you update a little faster than before since I think I know your Tumblr or something :3

Thanks for the update though~

[LoyalFlutist]

@Llyloo: Your comment isn't poor. It made me happy reading them. ^^

@ChuuuPuffss: Ah, once I saw your Tumblr link, I instantly knew who you are. xD Yeah, I'm the animefans12.tumblr.com that barely speaks. I wish I could update faster like right now (because I'm on Winter Break right now from school), but once school starts again, I'll be littered with schoolwork. ToT

Chapter 3 is here and introduction to two characters! Hopefully the next chapter will have some scenes of MayuJuri-*stabbed*

[Chapter 3]

"Damn it! Thomas was so close to ripping her shoulder apart!"

"Yeah. That vampire surely came in the way."

"Heh. More of those annoying humans, especially those part of the... what's it called? Akiba?"

"Akihabara Elimination Force, John."

"Oh right, haha! At least those from before added some spice to the fun. The villagers were way too boring."

"If you exclude that vampire girl."

The three remaining werewolves were running through the woods as they spoke to each other in their native human tongue. They were shaken after seeing the so-called 'vampire girl' from the scene. Especially after she ruthlessly killed their friend, Thomas. They way she ripped off him from Yui and tore off his head was gruesome enough. Blood was everywhere. Literally everywhere. Her eyes-no. Her red eyes to be precise engraved deep into their memories. The way she glared at them. It made them so scared to the point they retreated. Dashing through the wood, they were ready to return back to their territory base.

"I never expected her to come out truthfully. She never came out once when we killed the other squad members. Just why these two?"

"Shut up, Samuel. You ask way too many questions."

Their progress was cut short when they were faced with a sudden creature crashing on the area in front of them. Dust and derbies flew up into the air, causing the wolves to halt in their tracks. They skid to a stop, the heels of their paws digging deep into the soft soil of the grassy ground. After the cloud of dust has subsided, one of the three wolves growled at the creature.

"Who's there?!" John barked out loudly.

Emerging to them, they all gasped when they saw who it was.

"A-A-Akimoto-sama!" they all winced once they saw her form. The brown wolf stood in front of them. Despite her strong exterior, her black eyes produced both gentleness and great power behind the pair. The aura surrounding her could make most all werewolves bow down upon her. Akimoto Sayaka, the leader of her infamous pack and overviewer of this piece of territory, frowned at the three individuals.

"I hear you three were making quite a lot of commotions with the human society," she calmly spoke through her teeth. They remained silent, afraid to speak. This ticked her off and she decided to go on a more harsher approach. "I demand to know why there's been so much bloodshed in this area specifically between the forests and the village!" she snarled.

They immediately spat out their answers. "W-We did it! We killed those filthy members from the force!"

Sayaka's pupil in her eyes grew wider from their words. Growling low from her throat, she's shaking her head.

"Filthy?"

Without any warning, she grabbed ahold of the nearest wolf, John, and swapped her paw against the side of his face. He flew from her left, crashing into a nearby tree with a sickening cracking sound echoing loud into the air. The wolf screeched and winced loudly in his animal voice before becoming silent. Shocked, the remaining two wolves stared horrifyingly at Sayaka's sudden violence. They were scared, their tails tucked in between their hind legs.

"Samuel and Tom."

Hearing their names, they began shivering. Who knows what she would do to them? She's already killed John in seconds.

"Don't you dare mess with the human race. We have to maintain peace with not only the vampires but also with them too." She walked over to them slowly and lifted her head up into the air. She dangerously eyed the two wolves. "If I catch a whiff of any one of you or the other wolves in this area breaking the treaty, I'll be sure to kill you all in a much more gruesome style than John over there. Consider this a warning."

----------

Something wet yet soft came into contact with my forehead. Upon contact, a moan was heard from my throat. Suddenly I felt my body being very sore and aching once I felt the soft object. Especially on my right shoulder. Taking some effort, I cracked open my eyes to only be met with the dark ceiling from above. It took me a couple of seconds to comprehend that I am laying in a comfortable white mattress on the wooden boarded floor. I noticed that the white blanket covered my hot, sweaty body. Stripped down to my white t-shirt and black shorts, I blinked for a bit, trying to remember what exactly happened. ‘I was with Kitarie… on a mission Takahashi requested for us to do… and what exactly happened?’

"I see that you are awake now."

That voice. My eyes trailed over to my right and saw a young female down on her knees. There was a bucket filled with water by the side of her body. The short black hair. The smooth skin. The sharp piercing eyes. My eyes widen from the familiarity. All memories from the night came flooding back into my brain.

“Are you… that girl who saved me?” my voice cracked as though I haven’t spoken in days. She nodded her head.

“I suppose you can say that.” She removed the cool white cloth that was on my forehead and dipped it within the bucket. The sound of water rapidly dripping back into the bucket was heard when she squeezed its excessive liquid out. “You’ve been out for a full day.”

‘Out for a full day?’

Then I noticed that Rie isn’t near by my side. I remember her last scream followed by a howl of the wolf. Assumptions and paranoia came to mind. I’m scared that she isn’t here anymore. Panicked, I looked over at the girl. “Where’s Kitarie?” I suddenly asked as I tried to push my body up. Surprised at how weak I am at my current state, I used all of my remaining strength to push my upper body up. Sharp pain flashed across my shoulder and I winced. The girl beside me placed her hand on top of my chest and pushed me back down on the mattress. There was a frown on her face.

“You shouldn’t be moving since you haven’t healed yet. And to answer your question, your friend is in another room.”

I had my suspicion on this girl since I don’t know who exactly she is and why she took the both of us in.

“I know you don’t trust me, but to answer any more future questions, you are inside of my house within the village nearby the forest you were in. I'm the only resident in this house, let alone this entire village.”

‘So I’m inside of her house…’

“Specifically one of the many guest bedrooms,” she added.

I slowly nodded my head as she placed the wet cloth on top of my sweaty forehead again. “Who are you?” I asked.

A soft sigh left her small open mouth. “I’m Shimazaki Haruka. And you…?”

“Yokoyama Yui.”

“Yokoyama-san, huh?” Her eyebrows raised from hearing my name. “I see that you’re some part of a special force? Normal human beings don’t walk around during this time.”

She does have some sort of clue to who the both of us are. “We’re part of the Akihabara Elimination Force.” Haruka doesn’t seem to have known what exactly that is since she looked confused.

“I’ve never heard of that name before, but I suppose you’re out to kill some of those zombies and werewolves?”

I shook my head. “My partner and I were on an investigation to find the cause of the members disappearances through this village. I guess we already found our answers from the wolves themselves…” A chuckle was heard from Haruka, whom covered her mouth with her hand. “I see then. Well, just rest here for a bit. I need to get some new bandage for your injured arm and shoulder.”

She got up from the ground and brushed her black skirt she had on. Fixing the white collar of the buttoned shirt, she began heading out of the room. The door was heard sliding open and then closed. Her footsteps were then heard leaving the room, every step getting softer and softer till no sound came. There was a small pause before I examined the room I was in.

It wasn’t practically a huge room, but neither was it small. I was located in the middle of the room with a wooden closet on the right side of the sliding door. A couple of frames containing landscape paintings were hung up on the wall. A window from behind was seen, showing that it was dark outside with the moon shining gently down toward the Earth. I squinted my eyes.

‘I was out for a whole day… I wonder what General Takahashi would say about this….. wait a minute.’

Once that thought flashed across my head, I suddenly started to worry. Where is my equipment? I scanned the area around me to find, luckily with relief, my bag, belongings and clothes that were removed from my body placed in the far corner of the room. Despite Haruka reminding me to stay down and not move, I decided to push myself up again. Though it took me a while, I managed to sit up. Slouching forward, I was panting from the amount of strength I’ve used up.

‘I wonder how Kitarie is doing…’ 

That thought stayed in my mind for a bit as I tried to catch my breath. Sweat ran down the side of my head as the cloth that once was on my forehead now dropped down on the blanket. I eyed the dropped white cloth and with my shaky hand, picked it up. I kept it in my grip and glanced at the bandaged area of my body. My wrist was wrapped tightly with the gauze as my shoulder had a huge pad placed in between my skin and the white wrap. 

“Ah, I told you to stay down Yokoyama-san!”

The voice snapped my attention over to Haruka, who was standing in the now-opened entrance with a first-aid kit at hand. Her eyes widen at my action. Then it closed when she shook her head. “You’re an impatient girl…”

“I’m not impatient.” She opened her eyes to just to it at my answer as she walked over next to me. Down on her knees, she placed the kit on the floor and opened the lid.

“Said the person who disobeyed my advice,” she mumbled as her hands scoured in the box. The sound of plastic and metal could be heard shuffling around while she pulled out a brown bottle. Placing it aside, she also was taking out a couple of cotton balls and the gauze in a bundle together. “Since you’re already sitting up, stay like that while I take off your shirt.”

A blush crept on my face when she said that. It took her a while to understand the reason to my face that turned pink. "We're both girls.... How else am I going to clean your wound and check its condition anyway?"

There was a pause between the two of us. Then I finally agreed to her. She got uncomfortably close to my right side and advised me to keep my arms straight in front of my body. I followed her words and did as she told me. I felt her small hands tug at the end of my t-shirt, soon feeling it slip off. My body was soon naked to her eyes.

This doesn't feel right. I've never let anyone seen this much skin in my life truth be told. The heat on my cheeks felt slightly hotter than normal. 'I could die from embarrassment any moment now!'

Haruka next to me doesn't seem to be affected let alone even look surprise at my naked figure before her. It looked as though she had experience this multiple times before and it was nothing to her. Removing the bandages and pad on my shoulder slowly, I felt stinging pain when the wound felt the outside air from being under the pad for long. My eyes caught the pad on Haruka's hand. It widen when I saw just how much blood was on it. The pad might as well be literally soaked in a pool of blood.

She shook her head. "Your wound is very deep and will leave a visible scar despite my attempt at stitching it." A long sigh was heard from her. "I sometimes wonder why you humans walk out to the wilderness. It's very dangerous out here."

I winced when I felt a cotton soaked with antibiotics come into contact with my wound. My body instinctively jerked forward to avoid the cotton. Haruka knew I had to bear it, so she placed her other hand on top of my uninjured shoulder and held me still. Trying my best to stay still and bearing the pain with assistance of the girl, I suddenly thought about her words. 'What did she exactly mean by 'you humans'?'

"Shimazaki-san? What did you mean by... 'you humans' in your sentence there?" I had my suspicions on who exactly this girl is. The cotton that was dabbing against my gash paused momentarily. A giggle. Then a short-lived laughter.

"I'm not human like you two."

I twisted my neck so I could get a better look at her. She sat there with a dimpled smile at my direction. I frowned slightly at her. "What do you mean? Are you like those werewolves?"

More laughter. Only this time, it was a little louder. "Silly, I'm not those savages. I'm a vampire."

"A... v-vampire? Like those blood-sucking creatures?"

"Well, to be specific, I'm just a neutral vampire... Once a human being before being infected by the Z-Virus."

'The Z-Virus?' What could this exactly mean? I understood that there was the famous virus that caused epidermis around the world: the X-Virus. The very kind of virus that transforms all living beings into terrifying creatures. But there were more than just that one?

Questions swarmed inside of my head like buzzing bees getting honey. And now discovering that Haruka is a vampire, I glared at her. "So that means I'm in danger if I'm hanging around like you."

"No, you're not. I don't HAVE to drink blood like those dark vampires."

"What? There's even different types of vampires?"

"Well, sort of. There's the light and dark vampires. Light ones giving blood and are creatures for the greater good as the dark vampires are just about everything opposite of the light ones." She flicked her eyes at me and gently placed the pad on my shoulder. "Though I guess you humans don't know much about our kind... I think it's best to carry around these knowledge the next time you see us."

"I see then." Wanting to change the subject, I remembered earlier that she stated she lived alone. "You did say you were alone in this village. What happened to the rest of the villagers?"

I was met with silence. A long silence to be exact that almost made me think that I had said something wrong.

"Everyone else died due to the werewolves except me."

"Is it because you're a vampire at that moment?"

"No. I became one on the very fated day when my villager was destroyed by another vampire."

Now it was my turn to become silent. Noticing how uncomfortably quiet it was, Haruka flashed a cheap smile at my direction and scooted up to my left side to treat my wrist.

Taking apart the gauze, I couldn't help but flinch at the wound. It was as though some took a kitchen knife and stabbed it through deeply. Blue and purple colors surrounded the holes from the wolf's fangs and veins were clearly visible on my broken skin in the area. Haruka had this strange expression on her face when she saw it. "At least it doesn't look half as bad as your shoulder..."

I chuckled bitterly at her comment. "I'm glad I don't have the ability to see my shoulder easily."

----------

My wounds were cleaned and dressed in new bandages. The wound doesn't seem to hurt as much as before and here I am, still laying on the mattress. Haruka had already left me to tend to Rie. She told me of her conditions that she wasn't in any worse state than I am in. Rie's still unconscious though, so that worries me.

Looking up at the window, I'm viewing through to still see the moon shining high above. Awake, I gave permission to my brain to let my mind wander on its own. Letting it think about life for once. My job. My mission. Kitahara Rie. Takahashi Minami. Shimazaki Haruka.

'I should report to General Takahashi about our current status tomorrow morning.'

To be honest, I don't understand why Haruka would want to save us from the werewolves. She didn't give any explanation about the village other than she resides in it alone. No history was explained neither anything about the residents. Why did she save us? I yawned quietly, feeling slightly sleepy.

'I wonder how Kitarie is doing?'

Ever since last night's incident, I slowly grew to hate myself for Rie's condition. She's injured and still not awake. What could I have done to at least keep her from being in this state? My heart pounds loudly and hard against my chest every single time I think about her. It aches when I begin to vividly picture her on her resting spot, unmoving. What could this feeling really mean? Why am I this worried about her? Usually when it comes to other members, I do worry but not to this extent.

Bringing my left hand up to the center of my chest, I started gripping weakly on the shirt.

'Kitarie... Please be alright tomorrow morning.'

----------

The next morning, Rie had awaken just as I had wished.

"Y-Yui! Are you alright?!" she suddenly asked me once she entered through the room. I'm still stuck in my spot as the girl walked over to me. A couple band-aids were placed on her face and arms, but I could see her left arm in a cast. I frowned when she kneel near by my side. "I should be asking you that, Kitarie."

"Oh this?" She waved her arm that had the cast in the air. "It's nothing really! Just broke it, but Shimazaki-san said since it's a clean break with the bones still alined correctly, it'll heal in a week if treated and cared properly."

I smiled when I heard the news. I'm glad that she's alright better yet awake. So glad to the point I just want to give her a random tight hug. But I kept myself in spot. Besides, I can't move around much either way since I'm limited to this one spot.

"Man Yui... With your shoulder and wrist like that... I heard from Shimazaki-san that you've lost a lot of blood compared to me." Her uninjured hand was placed on top of my hand. She gave it a light squeeze. When I looked at her eyes, I could tell that there were worries behind it. Somewhat just knowing that I'm being worried makes me feel slightly... happy. Again, I don't know why I'm feeling this. Just what exactly is causing me to feel this strange emotion?

Quickly shaking the thought off of my head, I resumed to the situation at hand. My smile instantly dropped to be replaced with seriousness. "Do you think we should contact General Takahashi about our current condition? We might as well already have the answer to why the members went missing."

Rie nodded in agreement and removed her hand from mine (to my dismay). "By the way Yui, you know that the girl taking care of us... is a vampire, right?"

"Yeah. She told me."

Her expression slightly darkened. "I think we should be careful around her. Even though she did so much to care for us and I am thankful for that, I just don't trust her enough still." I can't blame her for her suspicion. I too don't feel like I should trust her too much. But at the same time, I feel comfortable with the girl and don't sense any danger coming from her. Rie got up from her seat and pointed at my luggage in the far corner of the room. "I'll be using your transmitter if you don't mind. I'm too lazy to get mine in the other room."

I told her I didn't mind and soon, she was speaking to Minami over the communicator device.

"What!? You and Yuihan are injured!?" Minami's worried voice boomed through the speaker. Rie, who had it near her ear, quickly pulled it away in a safe distant from such loud volume.

"Shhhhh! General! We're in a household with the owner! Don't be so loud!"

Despite her pleading, the general was still raging over the device. Her loud and worried voice could be heard from where I was even though Rie was neary where my bag is.

"Kitahara Rie and Yokoyama Yui! So you're telling me that those fucking damn werewolves-I-ITAI!!! Acchan! What was that for!? E-Eh? O-Oh... Okay then... I'm sorry about the foul language-.... Huh? It's not that? Oh. It's how loud my voice is?"

There was a small pause before Minami spoke again. "I apologize for that, Kitarie. I'm just really worried about the both of you. But I'm glad that you two are safe at the very least. Do please fill me in on the details."

Rie came over to me with the transmitter and we both reported our current status. The general seems to be in very deep thought, constantly 'hmm...' and 'I see' heard from her.

"Well, it's true that certain vampires and werewolves that were sane signed a treaty with us humans when we knew it was all going downhill from there. Though I'm guessing the werewolves you met aren't those who obligned to their words or weren't part of the treaty, I'm sure Shimazaki Haruka is someone that won't do harm for the moment at least. But please do be careful. Anyone can backstab anyone if they wish." There was a loud sigh coming from the other side of the connection. "I'll send in two members to pick you both up and Miyawaki Sakura as the emergency medic just in case right now. We should be arriving at your area in a couple hours."

Another pause. When she spoke again, her voice became softer and smaller. "It's such a grave news to hear that those missing members might possibly be dead... It's tragic."

[Llyloo]

Yaaaay. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT *w*. Paruru/Yui *w*

I wonder who will be the two persons that Takamina will send for help them **.

[LoyalFlutist]

[Chapter 4]

I sat outside on the wooden bench alone. With the help of Haruka, I managed to relax and enjoy the scenario the back of the house had. There was a small, but well decorated lake before my eyes. The water could be seen through clearly due to the cleanliness. A small, gray rocked bridge crossed from one end to another at the center of the area. Little yellow ducks and green frogs on lily pads were seen. A small smile crossed my face when I saw the small creatures. At least they aren't mutated into some sort of deadly killer.

"Yokoyama-san? Are you doing alright so far?" Haruka's voice was heard from behind. I turned my head to the right just slightly to see her approach up to my side with a tray. On the tray was an old-style teapot with two same style tea cups right beside it. "I'm doing fine so far, thanks," I replied back as I watched her gently set down the tray on the small table next to my spot.

Pouring the tea into the two cups, she then responded, "I'm guessing you're interested in the village's lake." She must've seen me stare at that one specific area for quite some time now. I smiled.

"It's a beautiful lake, Shimazaki-san."

She smiled back at me and handed me the tea. I gave her my thanks before receiving it. Sipping from it, I paused for a moment to capture the taste. It tastes good. No. That word doesn't seem to describe the entire drink itself. It tastes great? "Wow. This tea taste great. Though I wish I could use a better word to describe it for my vocabulary is limited." Haruka giggled at my comment. She too took a sip from her own cup.

"It's an herbal tea I grew with my own hands. It's very healthy and is known to help one with a speedy recovery."

"Really? Wow."

There was a short-lived silence between the two of us. We both were just staring at the lake. Gazing in a peaceful manner. I leaned back slightly with the hot tea cup in my right hand. It's been a couple hours since Rie and I contacted General Takahashi. She's sent a helicopter at this place, but we don't exactly know when they're arriving. So for the moment, the both of us decided to stay put with the owner in the house.

I glanced over at Haruka and saw her closing her eyes. The steam from the tea gently rise up from within the cup. She had a small smile on her face, soon opening her eyes them at a slow motion. It was staring straight ahead at the view in front of her. The pair of eyes then flickered over to mine. An eyebrow was raised from her face. "Yokoyama-san?"

I snapped my attention back to reality to find myself staring at her. I turned it back to my tea, drinking and pretending that I didn't hear her. Another giggle was heard by my side. “It’s nice being here with some company.” I shot another look at her. “It gets a bit… lonely here sometimes when there’s no one but those annoying wolves and zombies in the forests.”

For a split second, a frown crossed her face. But then it was immediately replaced with a casual smile. Looking at my direction, she said, “It would be nice if we got to meet again in the near future.”

I paused. Then smile back. “Yes it would be. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon in the future.”

“Under normal circumstances perhaps?”

“Maybe.”

We both stared at each other for a moment. Then we both broke out in laughter. It would be nice to meet with Haruka again. She doesn’t seem like a bad person during the time we’ve spent being with her.

“Yui! Yui!” I heard my name being called out multiple times from behind. After our laughter died down, we saw Rie approach to the two of us. “They’re here to pick us up now!”

“Right this instant?” Haruka asked. Rie nodded. Haruka then sighed and settled the cup down on the tray. “Alright, I’ll be helping Yokoyama-san get over there then.”

“I’ll head out first then.” And with that said, Rie disappeared from our view. Turning my attention to Haruka, she extended her hand out to me. I took her hand with my uninjured one. She brought her other hand and placed it on my back, gently and slowly rising me up from my seat. I gave her a quick thanks and stabilized myself on my two own feet.

“Are you alright so far? You can lean on my shoulder for support if you must in order to reach to the vehicle.”

I shook my head. “I’m alright. It’s just my upper body that received the damage, so I’m able to walk on my own.” I felt Haruka slowly retract her hand from my back, soon letting me free to move around. Left and right I looked at my surrounding to make sure I won't be tripping. I saw her take my tea cup from hand and told me to go on ahead. “I’ll catch up with you before you leave. Let me take care of this tray,” she told me before walking inside of the house with the tray, disappearing once she turned left.

My legs moved on its own, both arms barely swaying on my sides. Through the house I went and soon, I was outside in the front. In my viewpoint, I saw the helicopter had already landed. Two of the same pilots we were riding with a couple days ago were there again. Only this time they brought three extra members with them.

Out came none other than Matsui Jurina, Watanabe Mayu and Miyawaki Sakura. “Y-Yokoyama-san! Kitahara-san!” Sakura exclaimed when she saw the both of us. She was dressed in a white military uniform with a large red plus sign on the back of her shirt. With two big white suitcases by her side with a red bold plus sign, she hurried to our spot. “How are you both feeling? You both need to be examined once we get into the helicopter.”

That’s one of our many nurses. Sakura was a part of the emergency group in the medical sector of the force. So it wasn’t much of a surprise she’s chosen to be here by Minami. She may be younger than the many members in the force but she has the skills that made Minami choose her multiple times for assisting the picking up of members after missions. Both Rie and I nodded our head at her. Quickly Sakura understood that we weren’t in any dire situation that risked our life, so she dropped the two case down on the ground with a thump. “So who was the one that treated you?” she asked us.

“That would be me,” Haruka answered her as she appeared by my side. Her hands were together in front of her body in a polite gesture. She bowed down to Sakura. “I’m not the best when it comes to healing but I was able to at least close up their wounds.”

Sakura nodded her head at her direction as Haruka raised her upper body. “I thank you for that. At least you’re able to patch them up before their life extinguishes, so that’s more than enough I could ask for.” Turning her attention to the two of us, she picked up her cases on the ground. “I’ll return back to the vehicle. When you both are ready, please come inside so we can go back to our base.” With that said, she walked off toward the opposite direction from us.

Leaving the three of us alone, the two other figures looked over at us. “Well, I see no danger around here,” Jurina proclaimed as she rested the rifle on top of her shoulder with one hand. A sigh left her closed lips. “I guess we’ll just escort you and Kitarie back to the copter.”

Mayu right next to her made her usual cyborg expression. The smile that can easily be told that it’s fake yet one can’t read what’s behind that curved lip of hers. A girl that’s emotions can’t be read. Surprising enough, only Jurina is able to read the fine thin lines between her robotic expression and her actual one. She gripped the handle of her rifle lazily, examining Haruka with curiosity. Mayu then broke her gaze and focused on the gun in her hand.

“Yui, I’m going ahead first,” Rie told me. Looking over at Haruka, she gave her thanks to the smaller girl before running off toward the vehicle.

‘I guess I should be going too.’ I turned to Haruka. “Thank you so much for helping us two. Hopefully we’ll meet again in the near future under normal circumstances.” I extended my hand out to her. She paused for a bit. Instead of giving me a firm handshake though, she gave me a hug. The small body of hers. It was… warm. Her arms were wrapped around my body in a gentle movement, the face buried on my uninjured shoulder. I could only blink. ‘She must be really lonely if she’s going to be left alone here.’ Separating, I placed my hand on top of her head and ruffled it. “I’ll come back and visit you, okay?”

The way I’m talking to her seems to be like a father going off to the army and leaving his kid behind. Haruka had a small smile. “You promise? Though we have only met for barely two full days, it has been a pleasure to have some guests within the lonely house.” I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I promise.”

“Oh come on, Yuihan, hurry up.” The moment between the two of us were suddenly interrupted by Jurina. She stood in her spot, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground with a frown on her face. It doesn’t seem like she likes to wait for others for long. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Mayu elbowing her roughly. "That's rude, Jurina," I heard her scold at the taller girl. Jurina merely rolled her eyes and sighed.

“You should go now, Yokoyama-san,” Haruka said, pushing me gently forth. I could tell that she doesn’t want me to leave, but I have to get back to base and report everything in full details for the general. I then walked onward without glancing behind me.

I got inside of the vehicle with some help and soon the door slammed shut once the two remaining figures entered in. I sat next to Rie, looking at her. She looked back at me and flashed a grin. “We’re finally done with this mission, survived for another part of our life and heading back to the base.” A grin also came on my face at her words. Nodding happily, I placed my left hand on top of hers. Just being next to her makes my heart beat rapidly against my chest. Could it be that I really like Rie? No, that might not be it. Or maybe it is? Either way, I felt fuzzy inside when I had my hand on top of hers.

----------

Haruka watched the flying vehicle take off from the ground. It blew huge gust of winds in many directions, forcing herself to stay rooted in her spot so she wouldn't lose her balance. After a couple seconds though, they were long gone.

She then sighed once the sound of the helicopter faded away into silence. Peace. Haruka was now left with the peacefulness of the village and nature around her again. Now she wouldn't be bothered with those humans. Unconsciously she brought her right hand up to her chest. She felt her heart beating. It beat against her chest with a tinge of pain when she thought of Yui.

Ever since she rescued Yui from the wolves, she felt as though her heart has been captured. No… It wasn’t just the looks that captured her attention. She could sense that there was something in Yui that wanted her to just be close to her. Is this what they call true love at first sight?

Sadly, Yui had already left.

‘I can tell that we’ll be meeting once more in the future. I’ll be waiting for you, Yokoyama-san.’ 

----------

“Yuihan!”Takahashi Minami immediately hugged me tightly when I returned back to her room. Stuck in a bear hug, I struggled within her grasp. “I-I can’t breath and I’m hurt, General! Itai!”

Minami realized that she was hurting me, so she immediately released her grasp on me. Unintentionally I sucked in a huge breath in attempts to relieve my lungs of some oxygen. She smiled nervously at me while scratching the back of her head. “I’m so sorry, Yuihan. It’s just I’m so worried about you when I heard you were attacked.” I couldn’t blame her though. Minami cares for everyone deeply, but she seems to be worried the most over Atsuko and I. Of course she was worried about me. I’m like her right hand as Atsuko is her left hand.

Coughing into her hand, she then said, “I’m glad to see that you’re okay. Sakura did report to me that both you and Rie didn’t sustain any fatal wounds thanks to Shimazaki Haruka, the person that tended to your wounds.” But her expression slightly darkened. Her finger then tapped the bottom of her chin. “She’s a vampire… Interesting.”

‘Interesting?’ I stared blankly at her while she process her thoughts. What could she possibly mean by that? From the corner of my eyes, I saw Atsuko with her arms crossed. She was staring blankly at Minami as though she too didn’t understand what she meant. The two of us were watching her till she finally noticed our eyes trained on her. She shook her head, her smile erasing any trace of her previous darkened expression. “Forget what I just said there. I want you to rest right now, Yui. I won’t send you on any missions for a while. Your health is more important than the mission itself.”

I bobbed my head and gave a salute to her. She chuckled and walked over to her desk. Her back facing me, she flicked her hands up in the air. “Now move along, Yuihan. Enjoy the rest of your day.”


I felt like this is a boring chapter. And short too. Hopefully the next one won't be like this.

[Llyloo]

It's not boring D: I like it ** Paruru is alone now D: -patpat-

[fffff]

Such a good story!  I'm glad I found it!

Poor Paruru... All alone now... But she's so cute with Yuihan. (I ship those two soooo hard but Rie and Yuihan are cute as well... Nope YuixParuru is more awesome)
And Takamina is super-awesome. Just because she's there and she's the general. And Jurina and Mayu are there too! 

[LoyalFlutist]

Thanks for the comments~ And I'm sure Paruru and Yui will meet up just like they both promised~

Alright now, this shall be another update on my final day of my Winter Break. School's starting tomorrow so the fictions update are going to slow down DRAMATICALLY (including the Wandering Ship one).

And when I mean dramatically, I mean there's possibly going to be only an update once/twice a month. 

I'm praying I might be able to have more time than last semester with writing my fictions. (but considering SAT/ACT, AP Exams, Finals, etc. in this semester.........)

[Chapter 5]

A couple weeks has already passed since I last was on a mission with Rie. The mission where I met Shimazaki Haruka. I did promise her that I would return to see her soon enough. But that moment didn't come yet. Forced to stay inside of the base to recover for a full week along with Rie, we both soon recovered. Since I've recovered at a faster rate than Rie, Takahashi Minami allowed me to partake in missions with a couple other members. The missions that I took on within the groups weren't dangerous. Particularly it was more like labor work, helping guard transportation from one area to the next at the most three full days. Soon Rie was healthy enough to go out on missions. To my dismay though, we both weren't put in the same mission together.

With each passing day, my feelings for Rie has gotten stronger and stronger. What could that mean? Does it really mean that... I like her? I tried to deny that fact and told myself that I was just having a strong friendly relationship with the other girl. But the more I look at my actual relationship, the less convincing it was with the entire 'friends-only.' I want to be with her. I want to stay by her side. I want to hug her. I want to do just about everything with her.

Though I hid my feelings for her. Rie seems oblivious to my emotions and feelings towards her. Or maybe she isn't but is acting like friends-only just like me to hide her thoughts? I don't know what she's thinking about and neither does she.

I didn't want to bother Minami and ask her to have Rie be a part of a mission together, so it never did happen. Or so I thought.

"Yuihan, General Takahashi needs you," the girl, Miyawaki Sakura said as she stood in the front entrance desk with Ichikawa Miori. I just came back from an afternoon stroll outside and here I'm suddenly needed. Sakura and Miori are both receptionists. Though Miori mainly holds up the front line here, if Sakura isn't busy, she would volunteer to help out. Maybe she doesn't want Miori to be all alone in the front by herself? I gave them my thanks as I headed my way straight toward the elevator.

'Just when I thought I could get some rest,' I thought to myself. My plan for heading straight toward my dorm room crumbled. A sigh left my lips when I think about it.

I pressed the 'up' button and waited for the elevator to descend down from the eight floor. It seems as though it was taking its time for it paused at a couple floors. Fifth. Then Fourth. Second. Then the first floor. A dinging sound could be heard, alerting me that it has finally reached. It opened to reveal Itano Tomomi.

She was wearing a gardener's clothing with a shovel in one hand and a green hose in another. Her light brown hair was tied in a ponytail. The lips of hers. Those duck lip of hers are known to be a cute feature of her facial feature. Not to mention how stylish she is, always painting her nails and fixing her hair. At a first glance toward this girl, one would see her as a walking fashion model who doesn't care about anybody. Put it simply: A bitch.

But honestly, once one gets to know her, she's completely different from the image she gives off. She's a real natural air head (not as much as Kojima Haruna as everyone knows) and a nice person. A friendly person to be exact.

I waved to her a friendly greeting when I passed by her. She smiled with her teeth, showing one cute fang sticking out like a sore thumb. She acknowledge my presence and greetings, walking ahead and humming the song, 'Dear J.' That song use to be really popular back in the old days and Itano used to sing it before this entire mess came.

My finger jabbed the ninth floor's button, watching the door slide shut in front of my face. I leaned back against one of the three metal railings inside of the compact space. I glanced over to the electronic announcement board. It seems as though there is a break for all members in a couple weeks for a couple full days. I guess every single person within this base is working hard, so that break would be rewarding.

The elevator halted its way upward on the fifth floor for a moment. Not so surprisingly, two figures came into view once the door opened.

"Jurina, it's only been a day since we last played soccer in the training room together. I don't wanna play another one!" Mayu's whining could be heard as the two entered into the same breathing space as I. I scooted to my right as they fit right into the left side of the elevator. The elevator then closed the doors, resuming its ascension. 

A long sigh was heard from the taller, but younger girl. "Mayuyu, please~? You know how bored I get in a short amount of time."

"But I don't have the stamina like you. I'm not THAT physically fit to do sports and the such almost every single day."

The two were busy in their own world as I stared straight ahead, lost in my own thoughts. After a floor, it suddenly decided to stop at the sixth floor. The door opened and in came Kitahara Rie. I was expecting someone else to be honest, so when she was seen in front of the elevator, I felt my heart racing. She saw me and flashed a smile at my direction as she stood next to my side. Just being this close to her might make my heart jump out from my throat. I swallowed from the high tension I was feeling by being near Rie.

"I see that you're here, Yuihan," she said as the elevator continued to its assigned destination. "Did General Takahashi call for you?"

I managed to nod. Her eyes and mouth widen slightly. "Same here."

"You can make that the four of us," Jurina's voice could be heard piping in. I then scratched the back of my head. 'I wonder what exactly General Takahashi need the four of us for? Another mission?' Either way, I was happy to be with Rie again. It's been a while since we last went on a mission together. A smile was on my face the entire way up.

----------

Inside of the general's room, us four were aligned in a straight row. Minami was up from her seat, standing on the right side of her desk. She leaned against the wooden desk. From the right side of the room, Atsuko could be seen busy cleaning and keeping the books organized on the bookshelves. She was silent during her job. Then Minami finally spoke.

"I'm here to call upon you four to take on this mission," Minami announced as she touched the paper on her desk. It contained full detailed information on the mission that was dropped on us. "It's a fairly simple mission. Investigate the shrine up in the mountains a couple miles from here." Her expression darkened. "We have a relationship with the shrine maidens and monks up there and they usually send words down to us weekly." Then her jaw stiffened, the hand on the desk clenched into a fist. "No words had been heard in the past couple weeks, so I wish for you all to investigate what exactly happened."

A pause.

"I want you all to be in a group of four. I'm somewhat nervous about how dangerous it could possibly be, so please be careful." Minami was looking down, a sad expression crossing through her face. She didn't utter another word. An uncomfortable silence in the room. She must be stressed and upset about the amount of deaths and disappearances recently. I can't blame her; nobody can blame her. Being the General bears a lot of responsibility. And she, chosen to be the general from the previous person, had the weight of Japan along with the other generals on their shoulders.

She then lifted her head up. Her expression did not alter let alone brighten up. "Your mission will start tomorrow. Be sure to be prepared for it. A light load is recommended for the short trip."

Another pause. Then before we all knew it, she shooed us out of the room with a wave of her hand. None of us hesitated to get out of the room. We knew Minami was not in the mood to speak to anyone at the moment.

----------

Once the members have left the room, Minami exhaled loudly through her nose. Her hand came up to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm so stressed..." she mumbled quietly. Atsuko, who was busy organizing the bookshelves, glanced over her shoulder at the general. She quickly stopped her cleaning and came over to the shorter girl from behind.

"Minami..." she softly spoke as she placed her hand on top of the general's shoulder. Minami didn't seem to notice, her eyes closed. "I'm just getting headaches with all these events occuring. When are they going to ever stop?" She's been stressed ever since she's been in charge of the Akihabara Elimination Force. With Atsuko by her side by ever since the creation, she knew how much pressure Minami's been under despite her cool exterior to others. And today, her stress must've gone overboard due to the shrine. Atsuko knew that Minami had very good relationships with the people residing there and they frequently sent each other messages about their status.

The shrine was where one can find peace in their life. Though it was strange of them to still be active due to the chaos created from the viruses, at least they can offer some peace in mind for a short amount of time for many individuals. Atsuko would always accompany Minami when she wanted to visit the place. The place gave Minami at least some peace from her work, so she's always grateful for the people working there.

Now that no words had been heard from the shrine maidens and monks for a long period of time, Minami has been worried greatly. Not because they might not be able to offer their services anymore of of course. She's worried about those within the shrine.

Atsuko then pulled her into her embrace from behind, bringing her two hands up to the side of the shorter girl's head. "You'll be okay, Takamina. You have me here." She massaged her head, the fingers moving in a slow circular movement with a slight pressure pressed against. Minami opened her eyes slowly and removed her hand from her nose.

"I guess you're right... It's just.... I sometimes feel so overwhelmed..."

----------

Another mission has been assigned to us. And here I am, visiting the medical room for another check-up. Right after Minami had shooed us away, I had an appointment with Kojima Haruna on the seventh floor for a quick check-up with my health and healed wounds. Ever since I came back from that mission with Rie, Sakura told me to keep checking back often just to be sure.

Down the hallway I walked, there were a couple of rooms that is used to hold patients. There were a couple members passing by me. I saw that some were holding flowers. In and out of a couple rooms they went, it sent a message to me that some were resting from their conditions. At the very end of the hallway was two room. One was the check-up room and another was the emergency room. Above the double metal door was a small, but bright white sign. It signaled that there wasn't any operations or situation to handle at the moment that is needed for this room.

I came upon the room on the left next to the double door.

"Kojima-san?" I called out as I peeked my head into the room. The smell of the entrance room wafted with sterilization and a hospital-like atmosphere. In the room were a couple of soft, white chairs against the wall to the left and right with two telephones on the wall in both ends of the row of chairs. In the back of the room was a door and a windowed office room. Computers and printers were seen surrounding a figure. On the window, it contained a couple of attachment taped for the visitors.

Through the clear window, I saw Haruna sitting in her seat and leaning against it. She had a cell phone by her ear, busy talking. 

Kojima Haruna is one of the few doctors that reside here in the base. She is a true natural air head. Who knows how she even got her license and certification of being in the medical field let alone even passing medical school. But we all know that Minami trust in Haruna with all the operations and check-ups. It's strange since she's known to be... how to put in gently: a very very very VERY dense person. Though ignoring her dense personality, she's actually very sweet and knows what she's doing. At least with her job.

"Yuko, I told you to please be more careful! Jeez, you and your crazy stories..." I heard her grumble loudly.

I raised my eyebrows high. She must be talking to one of her close friends, Oshima Yuko.

Yuko was once a member of the AEF until she got transferred over to the England Elimination Force. General Takahashi didn't choose for her to be forcefully transferred and neither expected it. Europe, especially in England, was in dire need of help. They were low on the numbers and made Minami force someone to take their leave due to the high numbers of members in her base. No matter how much Minami tried to persuade them, they wouldn't budge from their choice. So Yuko volunteered to stay in Europe. She did state that she wanted to visit European countries anyway.

So with every spare moment she has at hand, she would give a call to the base. Especially to Kojima Haruna. Though I have never seen her physically since she had already left when I joined within the force by Minami, I could tell that she was emotionally attached to Haruna. The same with go for Haruna.

"A bomb?! You nearly got killed because of your recklessness?! Baka!"

Haruna was scolding on her line. I could barley hear laughter coming from Yuko through the speaker. She then turned her rolling chair around in a full circle before noticing my presence in the room.

"There's someone that I need to tend to Yuko. I'll give you a call back-....no. I'm not cheating on you, geez! It's just a patient! Stop making such crazy assumptions you squirrel!" After a couple more words in their somewhat farewell message, she hung up. Standing up from her seat, she brushed her white lab coat. "So you're here for your weekly check-up, Yokoyama-san?"

I silently nodded at her.

Soon Haruna was now holding one of the two doors opened for me. "Right this way, Yokoyama-san." Once I came into a long hallway within the door, she closed it behind. Walking ahead of my pace, she urged me to come into the nearest room she could find.

I entered into the room and saw that it merely held a white patient's bed with a desk attached to the wall nearby. Haruna walked over to the desk and pulled up a wooden stool for her to sit. As I made my way over to the bed, I saw her hand grabbing a clipboard from the side. "Alright, I'm going to check your right shoulder and left wrist to be sure that it won't be a hindrance," she told me while I sat on the edge of the bed.

Taking a pen out of her jacket's pocket, she scribbled on the clipboard. Then she placed it on the desk, standing up from her seat. She approached toward me and stopped once she was standing right in front of my body. "Let me see your wrist first." I did as she told me, bringing up my upper left arm up into the air. Haruna gently took a hold of my wrist. Her fingers trailed on the barely marked wrist where the injury was located. It was slightly red, but no scar was left behind on it. "It seems that your wrist is fine. Just make sure not to overdo it since your muscle might need another week or two to completely heal."

She then straightened her body and pointed at my shoulder. "Take off your t-shirt. I need to see your shoulder." Though with some slight hesitation, I listened to the doctor. I slipped off the t-shirt and placed it next to my body. I twisted my body to the left as she examine the injured shoulder. When her fingers touched the very spot the gash once was, I could tell she's touching the scar. The long scar that was left behind after the wound has closed and healed. Haruna was pressing against it light in different parts of my shoulder before retracting her hand.

"Your shoulder seems to be alright too. But just like your wrist, don't put too much stress on it."

I grabbed my t-shirt and put it back on my body. While I adjusted my shirt, I saw her walk back to her desk. She stood over it, staring at the clipboard for a few seconds. Scribbling was heard from where she was. Then with a click of her pen, she looked over at my direction. "You're free to go now. I'm just filling out your chart."

I gave her my thanks before taking my leave.

Once I got out of the doctor's office, I immediately went straight to the second floor. I was a bit hungry and I might as well get something to eat. It seems that I had spent quite a lot of my time in the doctor's office for the sun was setting from the view through the windows on the second floor. This floor seemed to be like a small mall excluding the cafeteria. There were an abundant amount of shops and stores open for business. A place where one can get what they need. Though there were some shops that could be found anywhere like the market and the cafe, this floor also included shops that only was available to the members.

As I walked on my own pace through the floor, I saw a couple stores and shops holding weapons and ammo. Couple groups of girls were coming in and out of the many shops. Some were holding onto their new shiny rifle and pocketknife while others simply bought some fruits and vegetables for their own usage. From the corner of my eyes, I saw one girl speaking to the vendor about the latest new magazine.

"Oh, Yuihan! I never expect to see you here today." That voice alerted me from within a shop. I stopped in my track and turned to see that it was Minegishi Minami. There was also a taller girl standing right next to her, Shinoda Mariko. Minegishi had a brown box in her hand and waved to me with her other. I waved back and looked up at the shop's sign.

'Minegishi Transporting Service'

This small shop is cramped at first sight. There's so many boxes, cubbies and a desk littered with paperwork seen. But when entered upon, it's actually more spaced out than it's seen. Probably once you take a step in, the entire left side of the room is junked up while the right side is neatly organized with the boxes in their respective spot.  The owner of the small service shop, Minegishi, takes care of all the transportation and delivery, which constantly keeps her busy.

I decided to side-track for a bit and approach the two figures. Minegishi smiled at me as she walked over to the counter. "So how's the General's one of her two favorite girls doing?" she asked me as she placed down the box. I merely smiled back at her. "I'm doing fine, thanks for asking."

"So I've heard that you, Kitarie, Mayuyu and Jurina are going on another mission," Mariko said. Crossing her arms, she had one of her hands touch the end of her short brown hair. She breathed out loudly from her mouth. "Just make sure that Jurina doesn't get into trouble if that's not too much to ask."

Mariko is the eldest from all of the members here in the force. Working in the Flight Sector of the force, she's always lending a helping hand to those that needs help and most of all, keeps an eye on the hyperactive Matsui Jurina. Though she's tolerant of Jurina's actions, she's very worried about her when she goes out on missions without her guidance. The last time Jurina went on a mission without Mariko or Mayu, her close friend, she nearly blew up her entire team mates.

A chuckle left my mouth as I covered it with my hand. "I will, Shinoda-san." Mariko smiled back at my response and nod her head in approval. "Very well then. Tell me how she's doing so I can decide whether I should lecture her or not."

Oh dear. Mariko's lecture. The last time Jurina came from Mariko's lecture, she literally holed herself up in the library and forbid herself from doing anything other than learn from her mistakes. It must be torture for the poor girl for she's a very out-going individual.

"I'm going to grab some dinner before I head back to my dorm," I informed them.

"Alright then. I'll see you later then Yuihan. It's nice to see you around here!" Minegishi waved at me while she's in the process of picking up another brown box. Mariko too waved to me as I left the shop.

Scratching the back of my head once I left, I decided to just hurry toward the cafeteria. My stomach's growling and the volume is only increasing for every minute I'm hanging around without food. 'Then once I'm done eating, I'm heading straight to bed,' I planned to myself mentally in my head as I entered into the room that is filled with the smell of delicious food. 'I wonder what Kasai-san is making today?'

----------

Up on the rooftop was both Mayu and Jurina. It was already late in the night, an hour away from midnight, their curfew. The two girls had already eaten their dinner and decided to stay up on the rooftop for their daily stargazing. They were leaning against the safety metal railing, observing up at the sky.

"Look over there, Mayu!" Jurina exclaimed. She was pointing up at one part of the sky with her finger. The shorter girl next to her looked at where she was pointing. Her eyes widen when she was what Jurina was pointing at. "Wow! That star seems to glow much brighter than the other stars," Mayu commented.

Jurina next to her giggled and bobbed her head happily. "Yep! Just like you!"

Mayu quickly turned her full attention to Jurina now. "What? Like me?"

"You heard me! You're like the brightest star in my life!"

A blush crept up on Mayu's cheeks. Thankfully for the darkness, the other girl won't be able to see her blush that easily. Keeping a robotic expression on her, she returned to gazing up at the dark sky, ignoring the other girl. To be honest, Mayu didn't have any sort of feelings toward Jurina. The two were close, yes, ever since they met each other a year ago. Though Mayu was on her third year as a member of the force, it was Jurina's first time. The two instantly connected like puzzle pieces as friends. They always hanged around with each other and they would nearly go on every mission together. Little did she actually know that Jurina is starting to have feelings toward the older girl. Wanting to be more than just friends. Possibly even more than that?

Jurina simply grinned with her dimpled smile at the other girl. "Anyway," she attempted to change the topic at hand. "I heard that Yuko gave another call back. Did you talk to her?"

"Yes I did," Mayu answered, sighing loudly. "She's always energetic as always but... Sometimes I worry for her." Indeed Mayu is worried about Yuko. The two are also close together. Almost like sisters. 'Oshiri Sisters' to be exact is how they call each other. After Yuko had left for England, Mayu always received phone calls from Yuko aside from Haruna.

Jurina watched Mayu as she stared out into space. Then without thinking, she hugged the older girl from behind. The cyborg was surprised at such act, but didn't push Jurina away. Resting her head on Mayu, she then said, "Yuko's a strong girl. If someone can go through an impossible mission and make it out alive, that would be Yuko."

Mayu stayed silent. Instead of replying back, she focused on the warmth Jurina is giving to her. With a small smile on her face, she relaxed her body as the two continued to watch the stars from above.

[Llyloo]

*w*... Thanks.

Why... Why Yuko is so far away D: Come back. èwé.

JuriMayu ~~ They're so cute.

I want moaaaar. çwç !

[cisda83]

Just come across this story... is great story... Thank you

Yeah... minami is the main character...

Can't wait to see what happen next

 

[LoyalFlutist]

Thank you for the comments! 

Here's chapter 6 of the story. First week of school and I'm already bombarded with homework, quizzes and planned tests.... Thank god it's the weekend. 

[Chapter 6]

"Jurina, can you please slow down!"

I looked above and saw the younger girl climb up the many stone steps of the stairs. She was going at a much faster rate than the rest of us; a couple feet ahead from where we are. The younger girl halted in her track for a moment and glanced over her shoulder. There on her face was a smirk. "You all should speed up! I'm not slowing down for you all!" she proclaimed and resumed walking up ahead.

Mayu and Rie from both sides of me sighed out loud. "That girl sure is energetic," Mayu muttered under her breath. She shifted her hands' position on the black metal machine gun. Then she sped up slightly, trying to catch up with Jurina and keep her in her viewpoint.

We were on the mountain where the shrine was located. It wasn't too far to the point we needed any sort of vehicles to transport us. Walking at an average human pace only took us about twenty minutes. The stairs that we were on; it was made out of stones that lead up to the top. From our view, we could see the red three-story building standing high and safely beyond the walls of the rocks. As we traveled upward, there were an abundant of plants and trees that grew in the surroundings. Birds heard chirping within the greeneries. The smell of nature and the steady, but slow drop of oxygen with each couple steps taken increased. Adjusting the straps of my light backpack, which merely contained a first-aid kit, some extra ammo and a spare pistol, on my shoulders, I loosened my grip on my rifle at hand.

Higher and higher we climbed, I could see from the open gap of the trees to my right the distance. I couldn't help but just stop and intake the beauty of the scenery. Mountains and the sun barely touching its tip could be seen. A couple isolated clouds lazily passed up above in the orange-yellow sky. My eyes looked downward to see many upper parts of the trees sticking out in groups. 'The view from here looks peaceful.'

Excluding the noisy Jurina and Mayu from above. The sound of Mayu calling out Jurina's name over and over was heard faintly as they gained their distance between where I was located.

I snapped my attention back to the path and continued moving forth. From the corner of my eyes, Rie was seen waiting for me a couple steps ahead. "It's pretty nice and calm here," she commented and resumed walking once I caught up.

"It is."

"No wonder why General Takahashi comes here every now and then."

Rie stretched her arms up into the air, a yawn slipping past her opened mouth. The face she makes. The sound that came out of her mouth when she yawned. She's cute. It makes me somewhat feel the need to giggle. But I managed to keep my cool exterior as I watched her. Lowering her arms, she shot a look at my direction and grinned. "Let's catch up with Jurina and Mayu."

The two of us then followed suit after the two girls. But despite how briskly we climbed up the stairs, we can't seem to catch up to the two figures. They're fast. It seems that they-no, more like Jurina surely like to rush into things headfirst. No wonder why Mariko requested for me to keep an eye on her. Or was that two? Two eyes?

Once the two girls reached to the top, they stopped in their track. 'Thank god they've finally waited for us,' I mentally thought as we arrived closer. "Hey, what should we-" Rie's words were cut short when she and I came up to Jurina and Mayu from behind. I was about to ask Rie what was wrong when I knew exactly what was the cause.

In front of us was the shrine that we were to investigate. The shrine that Minami visited many times. The shrine that holds both the shrine maidens and monks. There was bloodshed within the holy ground. Despite the protective red gate that would block off any uninvited intruders, its strong wooden double doors were knocked downward to the bloody dirt. Dead bodies could be seen randomly located on some parts of the ground.

Who knew what was inside of the building if the outside was like this?

The stench was getting to all four of us as we tried to resist the temptation to hold our breath. Smell of death and the metallic blood mixed with dirt. Jurina gulped and tightened her hold on her rifle. "D-Damn! W-What was the cause of this great massacre?" she nervously asked. We all quickly raised our guns to firing position with caution. Whatever this force is inside of the gate and within this ground, it's something we wouldn't like.

Rie shook her head. "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this." She glanced over at her watch and tossed back her revolver at hand to the side of her pant. Quickly she reached behind her back to pull out her sniping gun sticking out from her bag. "General Takahashi won't like what had happened here..."

Mayu, with her machine gun still raised up, slowly approached to one of the many dead bodies. She came upon a shrine maiden. The deceased woman's body was faced downward, the face unable to be seen. Straight black hair were tangled all over the back of her head. From what I can see from my spot, a huge red splotch resided on the center of her back. Mayu bent down and barely brushed her finger tip on the main wound of the body. "It seems recent," she mumbled, brushing the fingers of hers on her pant.

"Alright, I think Yui and Mayu should go into the shrine while Jurina and I stay here and make sure no one comes in or out of this place," Rie suggested after unloading her sniping gun completely. The long gun in her grasp, she looked ready to shoot in a hunting game. Known for her near 100% accurate precision, she's a worthy soldier for taking down any distant enemies one by one. Jurina from beside her stared at Rie in disbelief. "What?! I'm not going to let Mayu go in there! Let me go in there instead!"

Jurina tried to persuade Rie to trade spot with Mayu. Sadly for her, Rie didn't budge from her decision. "This is the best choice, Jurina," she spoke in a quiet voice. Her grip tightened when the girl continued to be stubborn. "Kitarie, you know why I have to-"

"Jurina." Mayu, who had just returned from examining the body, placed her hand on top of Jurina's shoulder. Feeling the touch, she turned around to face the shorter girl. Her mouth open to spit out more words when Mayu poked her on the nose. "Jurina, listen to Kitarie. I'm not weak, you know. Besides..." Her hand trailed down from her nose to Jurina's shaking hand that was gripping the gun's handle. Once contact was made, Jurina doesn't seem to be able to stop her trembling. Mayu's eyes were still trained on Jurina's. "You're not stable. I have Yui by my side, so rest assure that I won't be in any sort of danger that will get me killed."

I nodded at Jurina's direction in agreement. "You can count on me on Mayu's safety. I'll be sure to keep her safe."

We could tell that Jurina was clearly unhappy, but she stayed put. However, she sent me a glare. "If Mayu returns back with a scratch, don't expect me to be a happy puppy," she grumbled. I waved my hand in the air in understanding. Jurina was very protective of Mayu whether they were in a mission together or not. She'll always make sacrifices and will take the bullet any time for just this person alone. Of course, it doesn't mean that Mayu here agrees with that loyalty in mind for Jurina. Next to me she rolled her eyes. "Alright, we get it Jurina. Now you stay here or else I'm not going to be playing sports with you for a week."

Jurina simply grumbled even more under her breath, looking away from Mayu's direction and at the ground. I on the other hand looked at Rie. "Make sure this girl here doesn't do anything reckless. And..." I had one of my hand pat her shoulder. "Be careful, okay?"

I'm worried. I'm worried that Rie might be in danger like before. I know for a fact that Jurina can get out of any situation without too much trouble, but Rie is known to be a bit... slow in terms of speed. Thanks to carrying a sniping gun, it decreases her running speed from normal. So if she has to run, then I hope she doesn't mind abandoning that piece of equipment.

She nodded and smiled at me. "You don't have to worry about me, Yuihan. Now go! I'm sure Mayu doesn't like waiting." I chuckled and removed my hand from her shoulder. Then with a wave, both Mayu and I left both Rie and Jurina behind.

----------

Entering within the door of the shrine's building might as well enter one's nightmare realm. Blood was literally EVERYWHERE. On the wall; the golden Buddha statue; the beautiful wall scrolls; the straw-made floor. The strong scent of blood mixed with sweat, incense and vomit nearly made me want to puke up what remaining lunch I had today in my stomach. Dead bodies were seen. The way each was killed was inhumane. It was gruesome.

"I can't believe anyone would do something like this on such a holy ground," Mayu muttered as she walked on forward. I blinked. She didn't even flinch at such sight before her eyes. 'No wonder why she's nicknamed a cyborg.' Either she is incredibly good at hiding her emotions or she isn't affected by the scene.

Walking around the bodies while walking straight forward, we saw a red staircase ascending upward to our left. 'There was a second floor here?' A thought ran through my mind. It processed into my brain and soon I shuddered. 'I don't even want to think about what happened up there...' We then arrived on the bottom steps of the stairs. It lead upward and though with some hesitation, we climbed up. Every step I took made my heart pound against my chest heavily. I gulped. I have to keep my nerve calm. Maybe because this is my first time seeing such a gory scene. Missions I have taken before never had this much death toll.

The two of us reached the middle of the stairs, which was on the second floor. Same scenario from down below. Blood and dead bodies all over the place. Trying not to flinch, I bit the bottom of my lips while we walked ahead in the straight, simplistic hallway. Sliding doors were all shut. Or more like they were broken down. Through the torn parts of the doors, there was only the strong scent of death and darkness awaiting for us.

"I wonder what the killer motive was?" I asked.

Mayu simply shrugged her shoulders. "Probably it's only out for some bloodshed." Her expression then darkened. "It's sickening."

Silence crossed between the two of us as we closed the distance between us and the end of the hallway. At the very end, there was a large, broken window that let in the remaining sun's rays into the room. From the distance, one could see the upper part of the wall of rocks and the setting sun. Shadows were produced behind our figures. Each step we take in the silent hallway made loud, clomping sound from the boots.

Then there was a sound. Moaning. There was the sound of a man moaning to our right. The two of us halted in our spot and quickly raised our gun at the source of the sound. It came from within the room next to us, its door just barely cracked open. Inside it was dark, but the moaning continued to be heard.

"....elp......he......lp......"

This person seems to be crying out for help. I looked over at Mayu and saw her look back at me. A short pause came between the two of us. Then we nodded to each other in a mutual understanding. "I'll go first," I told her. She agreed and stayed right outside of the door as I pushed it open.

True, the room was dark. I wasn't able to see for a couple long seconds. My left hand released its hold from the gun and fumbled around with a nearby light switch within the room. It touched and brushed on the wall to my left. As I tried to find the switch, there was a small, cube-like object felt on the fingertip of my index finger. Nearly retracting my hand away, I resisted the action and got my fingers around the foreign object. It felt as though it was pointing at an angle upward, so I flicked it downward.

The lights in the room brightened immediately. It blinded my sight for just a mere second, forcing my eyes to squint from the sudden brightness. But once I've adjusted to my lighted surrounding, I quickly examined the room. It consisted merely a flat table and a sitting pillow on both ends of the furniture. Incense and a slight smell of nature could be somewhat sensed excluding the metallic blood and scene of the blood splatter.

The moaning we've heard came from a monk of the shrine on the far corner of the room. He was in the right corner of the room, leaning his back against the wall. His orange uniform and brown cloth wrapped on his shoulder and waist were soaked with blood. Without wasting any moment, I quickly ran over to him. Kneeling down on my knees, I studied his condition.

He wasn't doing well. Sweat ran down from his bald head and slid down rapidly on the side of his face. His left hand was clenching on his right side of his body. From what I was able to see without removing his hand, there might possibly be a severe and critical wound due to the massive blood coming from the specific area. His face was pale from the huge blood loss, mouth slightly opening and closing in attempt to gasp for air. No sound came out of his mouth when I began talking. "Sir, you're going to be alright. I'll make sure that help will be on the way. I just want you to tell me what exactly happened here while I call for the medics."

While I flipped out my transmitter, I felt Mayu's presence come up from behind me. "Yui, you know he won't be able to speak in that state." She's right. In his current condition right now, he's even lucky enough to be still alive with his heart pumping the barely ignited fire of his life. To our surprise, he widen his eyes when he saw Mayu. "B-Be........ind....... B......e..... you....."

'Be-ind be-you?' I didn't understand what he meant but the next moment made me quickly realize what he was trying to say.

----------

I quickly glanced over my shoulder to see a man standing just right outside of the door. He had extraordinary figures and looks. Black short hair greased back and a huge bang covering one dark black eyes of his. The ears were pierced with a black stud on each. He was wearing a black t-shirt that managed to still outline his interior toned, smooth body structure and black pants were worn with a black belt. But then there was his grin. A devilish grin that could rival the devil himself.

"It seems that today is my lucky day then," he spoke in a somewhat gentle, but natural dark tone. Then he licked his lips. Opening his mouth, he showed us that he had perfect white teeth aligned on the inside of it. But I wasn't paying any attention to how straight it was. I became horrified when I saw the fangs. Four white fangs, two on the upper and lower part of the jaw were long and sharp. He closed his mouth and smirked. "Just when I wanted to have some fun and cause some destruction within this shrine due to boredom, I now run across two very beautiful ladies."

Vampire. This man was a vampire just like Shimazaki Haruka. Only this time there was something definitely off about him. Unlike the aura when I first met Haruka, all of my danger senses were high on alert and screamed at my body to run away as far as possible from this guy. Mayu next to me probably felt this way too for her body slightly trembled at the sight of the creature. 'Was this the dark vampire or something Haruka had told me a while ago?'

"Run......"

The man behind us managed to speak the one word clear and loud enough to the two of us. Both Mayu and I instantly got the message and knew we were in very grave danger. Our guns were raised into the air, all aimed at the man. I flicked my eyes over at Mayu. She too shot a look at my direction without moving her head. Though no words were uttered, we both knew that we have to escape from this place. Even if we were to try to take down this man, we have very bare minimum hope of winning against this creature. Two normal human soldier against a vampire that had wiped out the entire shrine is predictable enough (unless Mayu or I turned into some sort of goddess).

"Fire!" Bullets were flying rapidly at the guy. The shells were being scattered and bounced all over the floor beneath them as we continued to fire. The man was hit by them all, his body flinching with every moment the bullets went running straight through his body. It shuddered and he stumbled backward. Blood was seen on his black shirt, shot mainly at his front upper body. Glancing back at the monk from behind us, it seems that he had closed his eyes and stopped breathing. He's now dead.

A scowl written on my face, I yelled at Mayu, "Let's go! We don't have time to waste!"

We ran right out of the door and quickly planned to run down the first floor and out. Maybe if we're lucky enough, Rie and Jurina might help us stall for more time with an appropriate escape plan. I ran ahead and lead the way for Mayu, almost reaching to the steps when there was a yelping sound from her. I skidded to a stop and turned my head back around in a quick motion. The man grabbed a hold of Mayu's arm and held her up into the air. The girl was struggling in his grasp, pointing her machine gun at his face. But before she could even pull the trigger, he knocked it out of her grasp.

Then in one movement, he disappeared. No, not disappeared. To be exact, he leaped upward and crashed through the ceiling. Shocked, I ran over to where he once stood and looked up. He seem to have jumped up to the rooftop of the shrine. A couple pieces of the wooden part of the ceiling in both the second and third floor fell down upon where I stood. Exhaling in a forceful manner, I was then sprinting up the staircases.

This shine may have three stories in total, the stairs still extended up till one can reach the rooftop. Though it is dangerous for even a normal person to stand on the uneven surface of the roof, monks and shrine maidens usually come up here daily to tidy up the area. I was panting as I was forcing both of my legs to run faster and faster. "Jurina is going to kill me once she finds out," I dryly joked to myself.

Finally, I burst out to the rooftop. I steadied my balance for a short moment before I glared at the man before my eyes. He still was holding onto Mayu, who was also still struggling in his grasp. An evil grin was plastered on his handsome face.

"Hm~ I wonder... What would you do if..." He then had his other hand make a throwing motion as though he was throwing a baseball to a far distance. "I threw this little girl off the mountain here? I'm sure this shrine may be protected by the rocky walls but it doesn't mean that one won't be able to be thrown off of this mountain. Especially considering my strength."

I gritted my teeth and tightened my hold on my rifle. I raised the gun and aimed it straight at the center of his forehead. I could just pull the trigger and know that he'll drop Mayu. But considering that one, he's a vampire and two, he survived a bullet storm from barley five minutes ago proved that he wasn't going to go down with just a headshot. Truly I didn't know what to do other than ponder with my thoughts. They were tossed back and forth in my scrambled and panicked mind.

Mayu ceased her struggling and was held up in the air like a ragged doll. She wasn't hurt, thank god, but she could be dead if I make one small fatal move. The man grinned wildly like a clown able to scare little children naturally. He teased me by swinging Mayu left and right in his grasp. This made her panic from his action, screaming out for his to stop. A growl left my lips. 'What am I to do?! I can't risk Mayu's life with any possible options I have in mind right now!'

Just when all hopes felt like they were slipping away from our hands, it was soon put back with some help. A couple gunshots were head loud and clear in the air. The man was somewhat surprised to know that it wasn't coming from my gun but rather another. A hole immediately were formed on the center of his forehead and blood spurted out from it. I knew immediately that it was Rie from a safe distant shooting at the man. His right arm was riddled with holes, making him drop Mayu.

She shrieked when she fell from his grasp, but gasped when Jurina ran to catch her with her weapon on one hand. "Mayuyu! Are you alright?" Jurina immediately asked as she easily carried the girl away from the dangerous creature. Mayu nodded. "Un, I'm fine Jurina-DUCK!!!"

Jurina quickly heeded to her advise and ducked. If she hadn't listened or even was late to respond to Mayu's warning for a split second, Jurina might've been knocked down by the creature. Still alive, no surprise, he retracted his right fist that tried to swing at Jurina's head. The holes were still in his arm and blood was dripping, but he ignored it. Especially his forehead. Blood ran down and split to both sides of his nose and down to his chin. Cocking his head to the left and right, he cracked his knuckles.

"Another girl! Boy, today really IS my lucky day!" He cackled out a laughter than sent chills down to our spines. Jurina ran over beside me and slowly let Mayu down. From the corner of my eyes, I saw her hand Mayu her spare pistol before focusing her attention on the man with her rifle. The two then lifted their weapons up at the vampire, their fingers ready to pull the trigger at any given time. His laughter then stopped when he saw what we were doing. "You girls are so foolish. No matter what you do, I will win. How about you all just surrender? It'll be much easier between us."

There was no answer or reply coming from us. Disappointment flashed across his face for a short moment before he shook his head. "You're just making this harder on yourselves..." In a flash, he was gone from our sight. The next second, I heard Jurina being tossed aside. I quickly turned to my left and saw her skidding dangerously nearly on the edge of the rooftop. The vampire stood in between Mayu and I. We then opened fired at the guy. But to our dismay, he threw two punches, one to each of us.

We both stumbled backward in opposite directions from each other. More gunshots were heard firing from the background, but the man, despite being shot at, ignored the new wounds that formed on his body. "Such annoyance..." He bent down and tore off a piece of the rooftop. Throwing it up and down in the air as though it was a rubber ball, he quickly threw it at a straight linear line to my left. The object flew at a dangerous rate, zipping past into the air with the sound of air being cut through. It soon landed within the top of a nearby treetop and into the green leaves. A muffled 'gah' was heard and the firings then ceased.

'Was that Rie? That can't be... No...' Anger quickly filled in my mind as I regained my composure. Whether that was Rie or another member, I was quickly angered. I decided that since bullets won't have any affect on the man's body, I should try to get up close and attack him physically. My body ran up to the creature, the gun still at hand. He looked prepared when I tried to slam the butt of the rifle at his face. With just one step, he avoided my attack completely.

Another attempted attack. Another dodge successfully made. No matter how many attempts I throw at him, it all failed. Mayu soon joined in with my attacks, but it did not make any improvement. Rather, it just made it easier for this man.

After jumping up into the air, both Mayu and I accidentally slammed into each other. Dizzy, we both tried to shake it off when he picked up Mayu again from the back of her shirt. Instead of keeping her in his grasp though, she threw her right at Jurina, who was just getting up from her spot. My eyes widen when I saw the two figures suddenly disappear from the edge of the rooftop, their screams heard followed by a loud crash. I barely had time to glance over at the male figure when he soon vanished from my sight again for the nth time. Trying to find him, I nearly dropped my weapon when I felt his breath on the back of my neck. "I'm right behind here, miss," he breathed, followed by a slight chuckle.

The vampire placed his hands on top of my shoulders, inhaling in my scent. "After fighting with you ladies, I feel a little... thirsty." My body instantly freeze in my spot. I knew exactly what was going to happen and I didn't like it. I struggled in his grasp, but his hold only tightened. The old wound on my right shoulder soon began to ache from upon the stress he's putting on. His breath. It came closer and closer to the area on the side of my neck. Sweat ran down on my face due to the fighting and the predicament I'm placed in.

Unable to see his face during the process, I felt something sharp stab into my neck. Pain registered to my brain and weakness suddenly fell upon my body. The weapon at hand fell from my grasp and landed loudly on the surface of the rooftop. My breathing became rapid and I tried to speak, but no words were able to be produced let alone even leave my mouth. Despite how much pain I was in, my body was unable to cooperate with my mind. The multiple thoughts that usually ran through my mind soon came to a stop and I, for once, blanked out.

I didn't know how long he was on my neck, but once he retracted his face away from my neck, my body invonluntarily shuddered. Weak and unable to think straight, I fell down to my knees and down to my side. Eyes were half closed on my eyes and darkness clouded around my vision. My breathing slowed down dramatically when I felt my body temperature dropping. Through my view, I could barely see the blurry male figure standing above from my body. "If you live, I expect for you to come after me." Then he slowly faded away from my vision. Then the background. Then everything around me.

[Llyloo]

Aaaah ~~ What's a intense battle *w*.

Jurina is so cute... *w*.

[cisda83]

Wah... great action there....

What's going to happen next.... is she going to get infected by the virus?

Looking forward to the next update...

Thank you for the interesting fic.

 

[Crossing Crossroads]

Whatwhatwhat OHLORDILOVEIT. Is Yuihan going to turn into what I think she is going to turn into?~ oh dear, this is perfect~

Through this, I realized that I really like AKB-soldier fics. ;3

I read Wandering Ship too~ I like them both. ;3

[Suicchin]

ASKDJHASD! Such a great fic! Really! It's awesome!! I like the plot and the characters and you write very very well!

And it have MaJuri <3 Points extra

Looking forward for next chapter

[LoyalFlutist]

Thanks for the comments! Ahhhhh, you all motivate me to writing my stories. 

And fast update for a weekend I guess. I'm happy for that~ (Probably because I already wrote a plan out with this compared to my other fictions) But at the same time, I hope it's not lame.

Usually school would eat up my time, but then again... I'm only finished with the first week of school. Who knows what awaits for me in the next couple weeks. 

[Chapter 7]

I had awaken, eyes still closed, with a slight groan escaping from with my lips. My consciousness has returned to my mind and so was the pain. A dull ache resonated within the right side of my neck. Without thinking, my hand quickly reached up and touched the area. My fingertips felt two small, but deep holes on my skin. Confusion ran through my mind as I retracted my hand.

'What exactly... happened?' I wasn't mindwiped. No, not at all. I couldn't remember what exactly happened that could've caused those holes. My eyes fluttered open and was met with a blurry version of my sight. The pair squinted, examining my surroundings with curioisty.

I was met with the dark sky and the eerie silence hanging in the air excluding the crickets chirping faintly in the background. I soon figured out that I was laying down on top of the shrine's rooftop. 'Why am I on top of here?' I pushed myself up with some difficulty and soon was barely able to stand upright. My hand touched the side of my head and swayed side to side as the world in my view was twisting at certain angles.

'Why am I so dizzy?' It was getting on my nerve how difficult it was to stand up straight without any problem. Left and right I looked in the rapidly moving world around me, I managed to see stairs leading downward. I didn't have to think twice for my body operated on its own. It headed straight toward the staircase and my feet took each step downward. It was as though I'm watching myself move around in this area.

The sense of smell wasn't operating as well, so I barely flinched when I saw blood on the steps. Going through the dark stairs, I now was located on the first floor. It was dark and difficult to perceive where I am apart from being on the bottom of the staircase. Lazily examining my surroundings, I dragged my feet over to the opened entrance that showed the outside world. I tripped a couple times over something soft on the ground. My body stumbled forward and soon I fell straight down on top of the soft object. My hands luckily reached out to brace for the impact, so I didn't receive much damage. However, it took me a while to push my body up once more from it. Little did I know that it was a human being that I had just fallen upon. After a couple long minutes of running into some distractions, I finally got out from the shrine building.

I was out alone here on the holy ground. My head then began ringing, bringing forth a headache. Scrunching my eyebrows, I saw a dark figure coming from the shadow. A familiar figure to be exact.

"Y-Yokoyama-san!" That voice. It was too familiar. The figure soon showed itself. The short black hair. Those sharp eyes. Despite my blurry vision, I was able to identify those facial features. I squinted at her when she approached in front of me. It was definitely familiar yet my brain wasn't registering any of her features. "Yokoyama-san! Are you alright?!"

I frowned at the volume of her voice. "You're loud..." My voice cracked as though it had never spoken before. But before I knew it, my vision soon became darker; the world around me spinning faster and faster. I then reached out to the girl with my hand in hopes of keeping myself from falling. She was fading rapidly from my sight and was getting further and further away from my spot. I too saw her reach out to me, but I blacked out.

----------

"YOKOYAMA-SAN!" The girl, Shimazaki Haruka, screamed out when she saw Yui fall forward. Luckily in front of her, she caught the weak girl in her arms. "Yokoyama-san..." she muttered when she saw the figure in her arms unconscious. To her surprise, when Haruka touched Yui's skin, it was deathly cold. The heart beating that once beat against her chest was beginning to weaken and was pumping blood at a much slower rate than normal. Her eyes overlooked the sleeping figure. 'What exactly happened that caused her to be knocked out like this?'

A while ago, Haruka decided to take a nightly stroll in the forests, gathering some vegetable seeds for her backyard when she heard that a dark vampire was on the loose from some passerbys through the forest. Curiosity got the best of her and she exchanged a couple words with them. She soon found out that the vampire was heading toward the direction where the shrine near AEF base. Remembering that Yui was also there, Haruka panicked and decided to head straight to the area. She wanted to at least warn her about the presence of such creature.

It took her a couple days to travel by foot. She isn't quite a strong person let alone her weak vampire powers. But she did manage to travel at a faster rate than normal human beings. Once she arrived at the scene though, never did she expect to meet Yui under this sort of cirumstance.

From her viewpoint, she saw something that caught her attention. Something dark stood out from Yui's skin on her neck. Haruka felt a bad omnius feeling from it. 'I hope it's not what I think it is...'

Slowly, she brushed aside Yui's black hair that concealed most of her sweaty neck. Then a gasp from Haruka. There were the two holes that represented bite marks on the skin. It wasn't any natural bite marks though. The skin around the bite marks were purplish and blue; bruised to be exact. Vampire bite marks. 'Did the dark vampire that I have heard of bit her?' Haruka's blood boiled with the damage placed on the girl that she haven't seen in quite a while. She examined it closely and gravely mentally confirmed that it was indeed that creature she has heard of had bitten her.

"S-Shimazaki-san?" The familiar female voice was heard weakly spoken from behind Haruka. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Rie slowly approaching at her direction. She carried a sniping gun in one hand and the other was covering one of her two dark eyes. In the dark night, Haruka's eyes widen when she saw blood dripping slowly down from her covered eyes. "Is that really you?"

Haruka wished she could run over and help Rie out, but she's already full with Yui at hand. She bobbed her head slowly up and down. "Yes, it's me. We meet again." It took some time for Rie to reach to her. Once standing by her side, she trailed her eyes from Haruka to the unconscious figure in her arms. Her lips stiffen at the sight. "Is that Yui? I'm sorry I'm asking such stupid questions here. I can't see well from my injury."

"No need to apologize, Kitahara-san." Haruka easily lifted the girl up in a bridal style as she stood up. Looking over at Rie, she shook her head. "Yui's in critical danger. Her blood pressure is dropping and she doesn't feel... quite alive." Haruka's expression darkened while she spoke. It tore her heart to know that the person that she wanted to see once more is in this state near death. Rie bit her bottom lip and exhaled weakly. "I'll give a call to General Takahashi about this. Since we're close to the base, hopefully the medics will be here at a very fast rate."

Rie quickly lowered the gun down from her hand and grabbed the transmitter from the side of her pant. While she gave a call to the base, Haruka saw two more figures coming from the left side of the building. Jurina and Mayu was coming at their direction with Mayu lending her shoulder to the younger girl. They limped their ways over to their direction. Haruka's blinked.

"W-Who are you?" Jurina panted while her face grimaced from the pain. From what Haruka could see, there were a couple bruises on the two girls. She eyed Jurina's hand placement on her left side. The only difference was that Mayu's expression was calm compared to Jurina. "I'm Shimazaki Haruka, an acquintance of both Kitahara-san and Yokoyama-san."

"Oh right... You're that girl... who I saw a while ago when we came to pick up them," Jurina breathed out her reply.

Mayu near her adjusted the weight on her shoulder. For such a short girl to walk and help the taller one walk must be a lot of effort for her. Then she shot a glare at Jurina. "You're so stupid to try to save me from the fall. Using yourself to soften the blow for me is only going to make it worse for you." A very quiet and weak chuckle left Jurina's mouth. "I didn't want my star to get hurt."

Mayu just sighed loudly. "I've never really liked how much of an extent you try to protect me..." Never one to agree with Jurina's overly protective attitude, she both viewed it as an act of bravery and foolishness. Turning her attention back to Haruka, she squinted her eyes. "We definitely need to take Jurina, Kitarie and Yui back to the base as fast as possible."

"What about you?"

"I'm alright. A couple bruises won't hurt. Jurina here most likely broke a couple bones of her ribcage while trying to save me from my fall."

Haruka nodded in understanding at her answer. Then she glanced over at the figure's sleeping face. Yui's face looked peaceful yet at the same time, she looked as though she was in pain. The girl gritted her teeth at the sight. "You're going to be okay, Yokoyama-san. Please don't give up on me."

----------

To their luck, the emergency medic took away the injured and helped bring back Mayu and Haruka to the base. However, Haruka wasn't greeted in a friendly manner from the general herself. It was one in the morning and Minami wasn't too pleased to hear the news from Rie not too long ago.

"You had something to do with this, didn't you?" Minami growled under her breath as she grabbed Haruka's collar of her shirt. They were right outside of the emergency operating room where Yui, Jurina and Rie resided in. In one movement, she slammed the girl against the white wall in anger. Despite Atsuko's and Mayu's plea to tell her to stop, Minami kept focus on the girl in front of her. Tears welled up from the corner of her eyes as she spat out each and every one of her words. She was horrified to have found what had descended upon the injured members. Especially Yui, one of the few that she cared the most like a relative.

The girl in her grip simply remained calm. Her eyes made connection with Minami's and darkened. "I didn't do anything, General Takahashi-"

"You vampires did this. I saw those bite marks. You had something to do with this, huh?" Her grip tightened. "HUH?!"

"Minami!" Thankfully for Haruka, Atsuko finally managed to tear the angry general away from the girl. She had to lock Minami in a holding position, her arms restraining her movement. It took all her strength to keep the short girl at bay. "Minami! Listen to me! I said listen to me!"

"Atsuko! Yui is hurt, Rie is hurt and Jurina is hurt! The only person at the massacre is none other than Mayu and this girl over there!" she snarled. Minami was known to be linear with her thoughts when anger takes control of her mind. Unable to think straight, she snaps at almost everyone around her and makes reckless actions. If it weren't for Atsuko by her side, who knows what would've happened?

"Listen to me, Minami." Atsuko brought her face close enough to Minami's right ear so she was able to get her words across. Struggling to keep her in hold, she spoke out each word in a calm, but forceful manner. "This girl here did not do anything. Rather, she's the one that helped bring Yui back here along with the medics. Control yourself."

"But-!"

"There's no buts here, Minami. Stop placing the blame on someone else."

The words coming from her mouth slowly sunk into Minami's brain. Then she dropped her struggling, leaning against the taller girl. Her eyes that was once flared with anger now diminished into the look of nothing. More tears fell down upon her face, each droplet falling down upon the floor. Her body trembled with mixture of fear, regret and shock. One cannot blame her for not only was she told about their conditions but also the many deaths in the shrine she visits all in a short amount of time.

"Why is this happening?"

----------

After the operation, Haruka sat inside of the patient room where Yui laid resting. Minami had already visited Yui privately by herself and left Haruka alone. She planned to visit Rie. Jurina was with Mayu, so she decided to visit her last. Oh, how Haruka remembered how angry Minami still was when she passed by the general. It seems that the general still has yet to trust her. She understood why she felt that way. It's natural for most anyone to be angry when they receive such horrid news in a short amount of time. Not to mention that Haruka is considered a vampire and Yui was bitten by one, so assumptions being made toward her is not surprising.

Messing with the wooden white stool that she sat on, she sadly watched Yui on the bed. The pale skin due to the loss of blood. The white guaze wrapped around her neck. The shallow breathing coming from within the oxygen mask, barely showing her exhales. The painful expression on her face every now and then as though someone was torturing her. It tugged on Haruka's heartstring when she saw how bad of a state Yui's in. "Yokoyama-san..." Her hand reached over to Yui's and touched it. Soon she cupped her hands with the frail, bony hand. Her thumbs rubbed gently against her skin as she tried to keep a calm composure.

Kojima Haruna had told the condition of Yui. Since the Z-virus has entered into her body, who knows what will happen. She wasn't able to give anymore explanation for it was her first time encountering with this case with one of their own members. However, it wasn't her first time encountering a patient being bitten by one. It was the dark vampires' bite that she has first encountered with.

"When will you wake up?" Haruka whispered, biting the bottom of her lip. Her heart ached so much that it might as well stop beating. She breathed heavily at the sight. Haruka's head then hanged, the chin touching her chest. Shaking it slowly left and right, she didn't know what to do.

Haruka knew that once a dark vampire bites any creature, the creature will either be left to die or go insane and become another part of their kind. It was complicated. When for Haruka's case, she was merely bitten by a neutral type vampire. Thus she wasn't affected in a negative way and was still able to live a normal life without trouble. But for Yui's case, it's different. There is no known cure for these viruses let alone know how to treat it. Will Yui cease to exist in this world? Or will she soon awaken and become dangerous to the society? Either way, a transformation from a human being to a vampire will be a painful process and require many days for them to fully become that creature.

"S-Shimazaki-san?"

That voice. Haruka immediately snapped her head up and saw the figure on the bed with her eyes barely opened. "Y-Yokoyama-san?" She couldn't believe it. Was she really awake that fast? It was strange, but Haruka didn't care at the moment. Happiness filled within her when she saw the figure examining the room. Her gaze soon fell upon Haruka and widen. Then the pair of eyes turned from the dark black pupils to the color red. Bright red that resonated a glow.

Warning signals rang into Haruka's mind when she knew what exactly was going on. "Y-Yokoyama-san!" She knew that the bite from the dark vampire would transform Yui but not at this dangerous rapid rate! Confused, she got up from her seat and retracted her hand when Yui too sat up from the bed. Yui got up easily as though she wasn't injured in the first place. Then there was a grin on her face. Laughter came from the figure.

When her mouth opened, Haruka stared in horror to see fangs within her rows of teeth. 'How did she change so fast!' In a split moment, Haruka was pinned on the ground with Yui on top of her. Her hands held down Haruka's arms as she stared at the younger girl. The pair of eyes on her face brightened. No words came out of her mouth as she brought her face near Haruka's.

"Yokoyama-san! Yokoyama-san!" Haruka tried to snap Yui's senses back. "Yokoyama-san! Please snap out of it! Yokoyama-san!"

She stiffened when she felt the tip of her fangs just brushing against her sensitive skin. Unintentionally, she let out a soft, strained moan from the touch. Her breathing was rapid as she struggled to escape out of her grasp. "Yokoyama Yui, please!" When she felt the fangs place their pressure on her skin, Haruka prepared for the worse and squeezed her eyes shut.

But nothing. She felt the fangs on her neck not moving. One seconds. Two seconds. Five seconds. The fangs on her neck still did not move. Then it disappeared.

Unsure of what exactly happened, she opened her eyes to see Yui's eyes return back to their natural color. Her eyes widen when she saw what she was doing to Haruka. "S-Shimazaki-san..."

----------

I was staring in horror when I found myself pinning Haruka down on the cold white hospital floor. My hands were holding down her arms and I was right above her face. I was placed at such a close distance between her face and mine that her breath could be felt with each exhale. "What... was I doing?" I whispered out in a quiet voice. Soon I scrambled away from her and felt dizzy from the sudden fast movement. Pain then registered within my brain as I winced. The pain didn't just come from my neck but internally in my body. It was as though someone had lit a fire inside of my system. But bearing with the pain, I felt something off within my mouth.

Unconsciously, I brought my shaky left hand up to my mouth. Fangs. I felt them within my fingertips. The sharpness as though it came from a tiger's mouth. A shudder ran down my spine. "What's going on?" A headache also came along, forcing me to squint my eyes at such crushing pain. 'What kind of headache gives me this much pain?' The pain came in waves, each one making it less bearable.

Haruka in front of me, who was now sitting up, had her eyes widen at my direction. Before I knew it, my consciousness soon began slipping away from my body due to the pain. "Yokoyama-san!" I heard her call out my name and crawled over to me in a fast pace.

Whatever happened after I blacked out was unknown to me.


I guess it was somewhat expected that Paruru would appear again here? 
And I suppose some explanation will help clear up some questions on what happened to Yuihan here on the next chapter by Doctor Kojima (and a new character too) 

[Llyloo]

WOWOWOWO. Minami is scary when we touch to Yui ~~

I want Yuko with Doctor Kojima ( yay I still complain because Yuko is far away èwé )

Thanks you !