Karasu no Tengoku

Chapter Nine: Calm Before The Storm II

(Gin was walking near his café, pondering upon the possibility of leaving Japan for real, which he’d done several times before, though he always came back, without noticing, he’d reached a part of the city that was quite far away from the café and was near an old, run-down mansion that could’ve been pretty in the past, he wasn’t really sure it was a mansion, maybe it was just a big house…he stepped into the garden, and saw it was just as abandoned as the rest of the property…he began walking through the sides of the house, the windows…the crystals were shattered, white and stained curtains waved with the wind that didn’t seem that strong where he was…he entered the first story through the back door, and what he first saw was a big room, with tatami on the floor, it seemed like it could have been a parlour or a living-room all the same, he opened the door that took him into an even bigger, empty room, there were several windows on the walls, some of them faced the garden, other the front yard, and then…)
“Gioga-kore…”
(He stopped contemplating the insides of the run-down mansion and turned to the window very slowly, that voice, here, he didn’t expect, much less the artificial language…sitting up on the ample window-sill, hiding behind the curtains and apparently giving its back to him, was a man dressed up in a kimono he knew all to well)
“Oh god…”
(The figure turned to face Gin and stepped out from behind the curtain, walking towards Gin)
“It’s been a while…Sakamoto Gin…or shall I say…Heike Gin??”
“Makoto…”
“Ah…I see you remember my name, don’t you?...”
(Gin’s gaze was fixed on the kimono, he didn’t want to look at Makoto’s face, the later one came closer, slowly, step by step, until he was right in front of the shorter man, Makoto took Gin’s head in his hands and raised slowly, Gin’s eyes were closed and he seemed tense, Makoto smiled a little while stroking his cheek…)
“You remind me of your father…you two are so alike…”
(Gin’s eyes opened slowly, Makoto kept staring, Gin’s stare was intent, like asking ’what the hell are you looking for in my eyes????’, Makoto’s thumb caressed Gin lower lip, opening his mouth…)
“Only the eye colour is different…you’ve got your mother’s eyes…”
“You’re not going to kiss me, are you??”
“No…I thought about it…but no…”
(Makoto embraced Gin, tightly against himself, though Gin disentangled himself quickly…the atmosphere in the run-down mansion had become as cold and as foreign as if it was another dimension, Makoto sat on the windowsill upon which he’d been stepping upon formerly…)
“Why are you wearing that kimono?? Dad never thought it suited you…”
“I know…”
“So?...”
“Um…I don’t know…”
“Doesn’t matter anymore…but why are you wearing it then??”
“Because I’m going back to All Souls’…”
(The surprise Gin felt wasn’t kept from his face as he stood there in front of Makoto)
“Why?? Wait, can you? Weren’t you exiled to this world?”
“I AM…but I’m going back anyway, there are ways in which I can infiltrate and they wouldn’t even notice…was I a spy for them in vain?”
“I suppose not…but…why??”
“I have a favour to repay…”
“Favour??”
“Oh yes…”
(Makoto grinned as he said this last thing, Gin was…confused, so he looked at him a bit oddly)
“Favour?? Of the ones which I can hear of or not??”
“…of course you can…”
“Good…then tell already…”
“I’m going to make the Council remove the ban that forbids you and the rest of your clan from returning to All Souls’…”
(Now Gin’s face nearly fell off with surprise…he couldn’t believe it, he’d always thought Makoto was a selfish vampire who wouldn’t care for anyone even if he got paid for it…)
“Wha…wha…why would you go through that trouble????? Wasn’t it my own father’s fault???”
“Yes it was…but you and everyone else don’t have why to pay for it, don’t you agree with it??”
“Yeah…I suppose…thanks…”
“Is the least I can do…I wasn’t…exactly good to your father either…back then…so…I don’t feel good at all about it…”
“Thanks anyway…”
“You’re welcome…I have to go now…”
“So soon??”
“The sooner the better…”
(Gin smiled, they walked out into the garden, and Makoto went through the back door into the back alley that was right behind the door, Gin went out of the run-down mansion through the front door and wondered if the Council will really remove the ban…he felt a kind of threat approaching because of all this…)

(Due to having been part of the Matori, Kaito had several friends in high ranking positions, especially one, Kaito couldn’t remember at all the rank he held, but he knew he had access to almost every detail of every place and every person in Japan, if not the world, but for that he had Hideki, this friend was Kurosaki Ryuuichi, yeah, it was a weird name, but hey, his wasn’t less…he decided to introduce Hideki to him, though of something he didn’t think, was of not doing so while Hideki was in one of his caffeine trances…)
“Hideki…WAKE UP!!!!!”
“I…am…awake…Kaito…who is he??”
“That’s precisely why I need you to be awake stupid…”
“You two sound like-“
“Don’t say it…just…don’t…”
“Alright…”
(Ryuuichi sat on the couch, in front of Hideki, next to Kaito and waited, amused, to see how the scene will develop…then, when Kaito saw that Hideki was quite aware of what was going on, he went on)
“Hideki, this is a friend of mine, from when I worked in the police, he’s Kurosaki Ryuuichi…Ryuuichi, he’s Iwamoto Hideki, my ’partner’…”
“Nice to meet you…”
“Same here…”
“Partner??...”
“Yeah…we’re investigating something…”
“And what is it??”
(After greeting Ryuuichi, Hideki’d gone to the kitchen and now he came back with a bunch of cookies and answered the question, he didn’t bother in sitting with them again, he just passed by while talking, and went to Kaito’s room…)
“The recent murders in Shinjuku!! Oh, by the way, it was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kurosaki!!”
“Aja…so that’s why you called me??”
“Yeah…I know you’re practically a VIP in the police to the population data-bases…so I want to ask you a favour…”
“What is it??”
“Can you look for all the people in Tokyo and Kyoto that could be related with underground activities, such as cults and all that, but not the typical cults, vampiric cults specifically…”
“Have you lost your mind?????”
“Why do you say so??”
“Vampiric cults?!?!”
“Oh, didn’t you know?? The bodies are drained COMPLETELY of their blood…not a single drop left…”
“I knew that…but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a vampire Kaito…”
“But it’s a possibility….so, will you look for those people??”
“Yeah…well, I’m off Kaito, if I find anything interesting about the case I’ll call you…”
(The walked to the inner door, Kaito opened the door and Ryuuichi left)
“See ya…”
(After Ryuuichi left, Kaito went to his room and found Hideki on his bed, sleeping, as usual…he decided he’ll go talk to their ’sponsor’, Hideki didn’t know him, and HE had said he didn’t want Hideki to know him after all…)

(The sponsor was on the 50th floor of the same building in which they carried out their investigations, Kaito was let in by the secretary immediately, she closed the door behind her, and the man sitting behind the desk smiled lightly when he saw Kaito)
“Mr. Minagawa…it’s been a while, hasn’t it??”
“Yeah…”
“Please, have a seat…”

(The man motioned him to a comfortable chair in front of him, and Kaito sat down slowly…)
“Thanks”
“May I ask…what have you come here for??”
“Of course…I’ve come here to inform you of how our investigations are going…and of how are we spending your money…”
“Oh…about the money, you don’t have to mind nor tell me, I know Hideki’s quite a good administrator, isn’t he?”
“He is…then, I’ll only tell you how have our investigations been, is that ok??”
“Perfectly…”
“Well, the first investigation, which was to find the shinigami, it’s currently in hiatus, because of lack of leads, and we’re beginning a new investigation, on a serial murder in Shinjuku that we believe has something to do with a vampire…I believe that’s all…”
“I like it…by the way, how’s Hideki??”
“He’s alright…actually; right now he’s in one of his caffeine trances…”
“That’s funny!!”
“I know, but it can get troublesome…”
“Yeah…I won’t keep you any longer…”
“Ok…then I’m leaving Herr von Neithart…”
“Good-bye…”
(Kaito came out of the office and into a completely solitary story, that’s how that building was, each and every floor was independent and at the same time, wasn’t, only the 50th and 100th floors were completely restricted to everyone else, he went into the lift and pushed the button for the 1 basement, he suddenly remembered he’d come by metro, so he changed the button to the lobby…meanwhile, Hideki was awakening slowly, his head was spinning and he wasn’t at ease, he was beginning to consider leaving caffeine, he felt just like a drug addict, he didn’t like it and what he liked less was that he’d begun to feel like that, every time he drank coffee, ever since he went to Moscow…he reclined slowly upon the bed and then his brain remembered he was at Kaito’s house, he began sitting on the edge of the bed, and then slowly made his way to the bathroom, he splashed water on his face, but his brain was still a bit cloudy, he went downstairs and dropped himself upon the big sofa, as he saw it was obvious Kaito wasn’t there, he decided to wait, he was feeling a bit dizzy…)

(Kaito arrived home two hours later, 9 p.m. and saw Hideki half-dead upon his sofa, he left the bags on the kitchen and then came back, he was still half-dead, so Kaito went near him, kneeled, and poked him on the ribs, Hideki squirmed a bit, but didn’t wake up, poked him harder, he woke up and because he thrashed a bit, fell upon Kaito, then, slowly, VERY slowly, kneeled, still upon him…)
“Ah…you’re back…just WHERE did you go that took you so long?!?!?!?”
“Hi…deki…get…off…me…”
(Hideki realized that somehow, him sitting upon Kaito’s chest was causing him to be out of breath, so he stood and stepped aside, Kaito tried to gain back his breath and sat on the sofa…)
“I went for something for dinner…I didn’t want to cook…”
“Oh…well…and what did you bring??”
“Ramen…”
“Really?!?!?!?!”
“Yeah…I brought you a shrimp-flavoured one…”
“Great!!”
(Hideki ran to the kitchen and pour his and Kaito’s, which was a beef-flavoured one on a pair of bowls, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, just in case, and went back to the living-room…)
“I suppose it’s ok if we eat it here, isn’t it??”
“Yeah…I don’t mind…”
(They ate without talking much, Hideki finished first and took his bowl and stuff back to the kitchen and left them in the sink, after he came, Kaito’d finished too, and he said something)
“You really should leave caffeine…”
“Yeah…I’ve been thinking about it too…”
“I’m serious…”
“So am I!! I’m beginning to not like how I feel when I wake up…it’s all been since that damn time we went to Moscow…”
“Then something tells me that coffee did have drug in it…”
“I don’t like the sound of that…”
“Ah well…seems like you’ll really have to leave caffeine behind…jeje…”
“He~~y…you’re cruel…well, I’m leaving…I’ve been here all day, and I don’t know if my house is still where I left it yesterday…”
“You’re so stupid…”
“See ya Kaito…”
(Hideki went to the door, he knew his way through Kaito’s house just too well, Kaito heard the click of the inner door as it closed, and then the outer door too…he finally could sleep…he was really tired, but he didn’t recall it being that stressful a day…he went upstairs, undressed, didn’t bother about taking a bath or brushing his teeth, he only crawled into his bed and fell asleep….)