Karasu no Tengoku

Chapter Nineteen: Potassium Cyanide

(Hideki’d left Berlin three months after telling his cousin about the transformation, the trace of Kaito’s life energy had taken him this time to Dublin, the flat he was staying at in Berlin was a property of Fritz also, it was on a tall building near the Trinity College, it was well known that from there, you could see a good portion of the city, and after all, he didn’t know how much time he was going to stay in there, it was late night already and Hideki was watching silently the city, he still couldn’t tell how did Kaito’s life energy could move so quickly from place to place without him noticing, he used the All-Seeing Eye as frequently as he could, which was every third day, and still it drained too much energy out of him, he decided he’ll try it today, he began reciting the Gitas and the All-Seeing Eye was fully activated, he sat on a sofa near the big window that took into a terrace and an image began to form itself in his mind, this time, he didn’t see Kaito, he only felt him, he saw someone pouring some powder into a drink and then giving it to a girl he didn’t know, after that he began to feel drained and closed the chakra, he slumped further into the sofa and let a sigh out…)
“When will I be able to find you…Kaito…?”

(Further into the night, near dawn, the curtains closed and all, he sensed a presence in his flat, near his bedroom, or, rather IN his bedroom…so he went inside and saw something he didn’t expect, a guy, it had long black hair and was very pale, he wore a black yukata, but he was clearly NOT Japanese, Hideki was weary about coming near or not, so he didn’t, it was obvious the stranger had already noticed him, it stood from the bed and smiled to him as he walked towards him, lilac eyes, just like Eiji’s, piercing through him…)
“I see…so it’s YOU…”
(The stranger was leaning on a hand, towering over Hideki…)
“What do you mean??”
“The one who has been looking for that Minagawa guy…”
(Hideki pushed him and grabbed him by the front of the yukata…)
“Minagawa?!? How do you know that surname?!?! Answer!!”
“Wow~~, calm down…how do I know of that surname?? I’m not entitled to tell you that…”
“What?!?! Says who?!?”
“Someone…”
“That’s nonsense!!”
“Oh really??”
(The stranger hooked his leg around Hideki’s and bent his knees, effectively making him fall with himself on top…)
“Wha?! What the hell?!?!”
(The stranger caressed Hideki’s cheek and undid the ponytail that he’d been wearing with his fingers, Hideki’s hair had grown down to the middle of his back and the stranger grabbed a thread of hair and toying a bit with it in-between his fingers, Hideki was FUCKING FREAKED OUT AND MAD…)
“For being able to use the All-Seeing Eye at such extent you’re quite a weak vampire…”
“You are one too…aren’t you??”
“Oh yes…I am…you know…you seem quite like the feminine part of vampirism…jeje…you’re just my type…”
(The stranger leaned upon him and was just about to kiss him when Hideki pushed him and now the stranger was kneeling between his legs and Hideki was quite mad…so he pushed him further and the stranger fell on his back…sitting rapidly again…)
“Hey…don’t get so mad…just because I complimented you-“
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?!?!?! I don’t like guys you know…”
“…how awful…because I think I’ve fallen in love at first sight with you…”
(Hideki crawled towards him…)
“Oh really?? Then…if you tell me who sent you and how do you know about Minagawa…I’ll give you anything you want in return…”
(The stranger grabbed Hideki’s waist and began to nibble on Hideki’s neck…Hideki was getting annoyed and grabbed him by the hair, pulling his head back…)
“Hey!! First do your part, will you?!?!?!?”
“Agh!!...ok, ok, ok…I know of Minagawa Kaito because I’ve been ’taking care’ of him…but I don’t even know myself who sent me…”
“What?! How is that even possible??”
“Aren’t you forgetting a little way to communicate, typical of vampires…??”
“Ah…telepathy…”
“Right…”
(With that said, the stranger kissed Hideki’s neck again…Hideki pulled his hair in turn again…)
“Ugh…would you stop doing that, please??”
“Whatever…”
(Hideki stood up, effectively releasing himself from the guy’s grasp and sat on the bed…)
“So…if you can’t tell me where is Kaito and neither who sent you, you’re of no use for me…”
“Hey…don’t get so down…how do you know I can’t tell you where he is…”
“I only figured that out…it’s true, isn’t it??”
“Yeah…”
“By the way, what do you mean you’ve been the one taking care of him?? Why??”
“Orders from that person I don’t know of…”
“Ah…and, why did you come looking for me??”
“I wanted to meet the one whose constant energy has been bothering us…”
“What?!”
“You know how to conceal yourself…but the All-Seeing Eye, if not used wisely, will give out your energy eventually, so anyone clever enough to track that down or feel it will notice…”
“So…am I that obvious??”
“Actually it took me quite a while to find you!! As I said, you’re perfect concealing yourself…is like if you’d been born just that way…”
(The stranger sat by Hideki upon the bed and wound an arm around Hideki’s shoulders…Hideki was beginning to feel very sleepy and placed his head on the stranger’s shoulder…)
“Hey…you’ve not even told me your name…what’s your name??”
“Kurt Weck…”
“Weck???””
“Not like that! It’s pronounced ’Veck’, like a ’v’, ok?”
“Ah…so you’re German…”
“Yeah…”
“Hey…tell me something…how’s he doing??”
“He’s perfectly fine…why do you want to find him so much? What is he to you??”
“My partner…and a friend…”
“Ah…”
(The day was approaching, and without even thinking or noticing it, Hideki eventually fell asleep still using Kurt as a pillow…)

(The phone was ringing and it woke Hideki up, he didn’t know what time was it nor when did he fall asleep, he thought it might still be daytime because his body was too stiff to be night, he didn’t remember either changing into a night yukata and getting himself under the covers, he decided he’ll worry about that after answering the phone because the ringing was beginning to get to his nerves…)
“Ugh…what time is it??”
(He grabbed his cell-phone and flipped it open, 10:15 am….)
“Great…”
(He decided to ignore the phone and try to sleep, but then, 20 minutes more went by and the ringing just wouldn’t stop, so he finally moved as quick as he could with stiff muscles and answered…)
“Hello?”
“What the HELL took you SOO long to answer?!?!?!?! Hideki!!!”
“Ah…Fritz…it’s you…why are you calling during day-time!?! Don’t you remember what I told you?!?! It’ not easy for me to wake up during day-time, you know?!?”
“Well sorry!!! But there’s an emergency!!”
“What happened??”
“It’s Juliette…”
(Now Fritz was beginning to sound a bit anguished…)
“What happened to her??”
“She was…she was poisoned…”
(Hideki ACTUALLY dropped the phone…a bit after recovering from the surprise he picked it up from the floor…)
“Sorry…what did you say again??”
“Juliette was poisoned…”
“And how is she??”
“She…she didn’t make it…”
“Oh god…how did it happen??”
“She was drinking something at her office…and then…her secretary said that she heard her say she was feeling weird…”
“Explain weird…”
“She said she felt dizzy…when they found her, they said she was unconscious but still was alive! So they took her to the hospital and in the way there she had a heart failure…”
“Who found her??”
“Her secretary and a co-worker…I went there as quickly as I found out…”
“That sounds like potassium cyanide…”
“What?...”
“…I said it sounds like potassium cyanide poisoning…”
“Ho-how did you know??”
“I…I…I just figured it out…”
“How?!”
“The symptoms…it’s classical potassium cyanide poisoning…”
“Ugh, Hideki…my sister is dead…I just can’t possibly begin to imagine who MIGHT have done it…”
“Don’t worry…I know they’ll eventually find it out…”
“I hope so…I really do…ah well, Hideki…thanks for listening…I’m leaving…I’ll send you an invitation for the funeral…see ya…”
“Yeah…bye…”
(Hideki hung up and laid on his back again…he began musing in his head of who could have something against Juliette, strong enough to kill her, but he couldn’t possibly think of anyone at all…)

(He’d left the window open behind the curtains and a gust of wind moved them and reached him, letting him see the day was cloudy, which was only normal in Dublin, he stood to watch the day outside and then remembered he was wearing the yukata, and it was a black yukata he didn’t even remembered owning! And then it hit him, he remembered Kurt and everything else, he figured out it was him who’d tucked him under the covers and all, but the yukata…wasn’t it Kurt’s?? Hideki’s eyes widened for a bit a then he sat back on the bed…)
“He undressed me…and not only me…damn him…”
(And then he laughed nervously and decided that it will be better for him to sleep and forget…)