A Light In The Heart Of Darkness

Kyou’s mind raced back to the day Hyakuhei had turned him into what he was now… the day after his father’s death. Kyou had known Hyakuhei had only wanted him… and Toya had only been a small child. So to protect Toya… Kyou had left with his uncle even as his little brother had cried for him not to leave.

He could still remember the distrust shining in Toya’s big golden eyes as he glared up at Hyakuhei for daring to take his big brother away from him. It was the memory of that haunted look that had helped Kyou stay away from his sibling for several years… to protect him.

As Toya had gotten older, Kyou had found himself yearning to see him… secretly visiting him and watching from a distance… watching his brother live the life he couldn’t. Watching Toya from the shadows had been Kyou’s only happiness during those dark days. He had often snuck into Toya’s bedroom… to watch him sleep.

Had he known Hyakuhei was following him and watching him watch Toya… he would have never put Toya in danger like that. His uncle had turned Toya because he had thought that was what Kyou had wanted. It had been his fault that Toya had died the first time.

Toya had fought their uncle, during the turning and after. As their arguments became more vicious, Kyou had tried to keep Hyakuhei’s attention away from his brother. Then Toya had started talking about a cure for vampires… the Guardian Heart Crystal. He had sworn he would find it and cure them both.

Toya had found his cure… in death.

Doing his best to avoid looking at the now empty cavity where his brother’s heart had once resided, Kyou stood and carried Toya’s body away from the scene to give him a proper burial.

He could no longer feel Hyakuhei’s presence but knew he was close, watching him somehow… always watching him. Kyou understood now that he would have to leave, go into hiding until he was strong enough to defeat the evil that had stolen the only thing he held dear… his little brother. He slipped past the darkness leaving the clearing in total silence.

Kamui breathed a soft sigh of relief when the brothers were gone and lowered his invisibility barrier from around Kotaro’s battered form. Looking down at the Lycan, Kamui knew it would take a while for Kotaro’s wounds to heal… not just the wounds to his body, but the wounds that now lay deeply imbedded within his heart as well.

“Come on,” Kamui whispered, pulling one of Kotaro’s arms across his shoulders and helping him stand. “Hyakuhei has not gone far and I need to get you out of the open.” His eyes shimmered the color of rainbow dust as he tried to withhold his own tears. It was in vain for he could feel them sliding down his cheeks in hot trails.

So much had been lost in the span of only a couple of deadly hours… he now knew what darker than dark truly was. He would not lose Kotaro as well.

“I didn’t hate him that much,” Kotaro whispered, looking dejectedly toward where Toya’s body had lain just moments before. They had both loved Kyoko and she in turn held affection for both of them… never choosing one over the other when they were fighting… until tonight. The fates had only given him a few short hours… at least Toya had not known.

His hand curled into a fist and tightened. Toya would have been mad… but he would have been alive. “I would rather face his anger… not this… not this.” His voice faltered.

They had both tried to protect her but now Toya… Kotaro’s ice blue eyes swam with unshed tears, “I never hated him.”

“He knows you didn’t,” Kamui said leading Kotaro in the direction of the only safe place he knew… the wizard, Shinbe’s home. He needed to tell their friend of Toya’s fate… and Kyoko’s. Shinbe would somehow know what to do, he always knew.

“I’ll kill that bastard Hyakuhei,” Kotaro snarled as he pulled against Kamui’s restraint, his Lycan nature coming to the surface. “He killed her… he killed Toya because of her. When I find him, he’ll wish he’d been born human.”

As if the wind had been knocked out of him, Kotaro’s body shuddered. He knew Toya was a lot stronger than he had ever acknowledged but without Kyoko to protect… Toya had lost his will to fight. Hyakuhei had known that before the fight had ever started.

Toya’s grief had made him hotheaded… impatient. “If only he had waited… a few more moments. Kyou could have saved him.” Sadness hung on every syllable as Kotaro wiped angrily at the tears that silently left trails down his cheeks.

“I wanted to save them both… Kyoko,” the pain of his weakened body was too much as he closed his glowing ice blue eyes and gave in to the nothingness that would soothe the pain for a short while.

Kamui nodded as he lifted Kotaro’s limp body and carried him. “You have done enough. Rest for now.” He whispered. “It’s my turn to do the saving.”

Chapter 2

In the predawn hour, Kamui hovered above an unmarked grave. The two men standing on each side of him were all he had left. He had watched Shinbe use his telekinetic powers to remove the earth from Toya’s grave and widen it enough for two bodies.

Shinbe and Kotaro now both wore the same expression… sadness and stubborn strength. Kamui knew they were trying to stay strong for him but he could see through to the melancholy they both hid.

They all stared down at the grave… the painful reality of it all sinking in. Things were not supposed to end this way… the good side wasn’t supposed to lose… or die. Shinbe had helped them come to a decision on what to do. Retrieving Kyoko’s body, they had brought her to the grave where Kyou had laid his brother and buried them together.

Toya would have wanted it that way… it was the only thing that felt right.

Kamui had been unable to carry Kyoko’s body to the grave site once they found it. The blood surrounding her wasn’t what bothered him. It was just heartbreaking to see someone so kind and pure, once possessing so much light within her that it hurt your eyes to look… lying there in the darkness with their eyes open and sightless.

Sensing Kamui’s shock and seeing his hands trembling, Kotaro had stepped in and lifted her lovingly into his arms, trying hard to ignore the stiffness in her limbs as he did so. He couldn’t bring himself to feel anything except anger and sadness at that moment. If he had let the rest of it in… how much he had loved her, his knees would have buckled… the grief weighed so heavily on him.

Seeing the look on Kamui’s face was enough to help him control his own emotions… it also helped that numbness had set in. Kamui was not human nor was he creature… whatever he was… his heart was shattering. Kotaro decided to make it his business to watch over him from now on, even though the boy probably didn’t need it.

Kamui wiped the trail of tears from his eyes, trying to be strong like Kotaro and Shinbe. His untamed purple hair ruffled in the wind as he looked down at the freshly turned earth. He had taken off his own robe and gently wrapped them in it to heighten the power of the spell he was about to cast.

Closing his glittering eyes, he laced his fingers together as illuminated wings sprouted from his back in a flurry of feathers. They shimmered with colors so intense, they were unknown to the human eye.

Shinbe and Kotaro both took a startled step back, suddenly understanding just what Kamui was. The word angel hovered on their lips but he looked so sad. Like an angel with a broken heart… a fallen angel.

With gentle fingers, Kamui removed a feather from his right wing and held his hand out with its palm up. The sad and serene expression on his face did not waver. His eyes shone with a glimmer of hope as he quickly swiped the suddenly sharp feather across his palm causing a shallow cut.

The crimson liquid pooled in his palm and Kamui slowly closed his fist over it before reaching out over the unmarked grave. The sacred drops of his life’s blood fell to the earth making the soil glow an unearthly electric blue power.

Shinbe and Kotaro could only stand and watch in shock while this took place. They dared not move for fear of disturbing the rite Kamui was performing. Both understood they were witnessing something incredible and, no doubt, would never see it again.

The very air around Kamui swirled into a vortex surrounding him in a fluorescent blue light. His echoing voice left his lips seeming older and wiser than it ever had to their memories. It ricocheted across the skies, a frightening sound that carried for miles making all that heard it still in reverence of its power.

“One thousand years it will take…

This time we abide for your own sake…

When the blood of a guardian spills…

Is the time for this prophesy to fulfill…

Only then two souls it will revive.

Bringing them into the light…

Fated to battle the dark magic of the night…

With this promise we immortals will take up arms…

Protecting those reborn from further harm…

Into the hands of stone and marble our enemy will we give…

The only wish he desires… within the light to live.”

As the vortex circled Kamui, one glowing feather from each illuminated wing loosened and sprang forward within the cyclone… turning like two small daggers to shoot straight down, landing on the grave. The glistening feathers stayed stuck in the soft soil for a few brief moments before sinking into the ground to merge with the souls of his friends.

Kamui’s knees hit the ground as the spell dispersed, sending a shockwave out in all directions. “Until we meet again, Kyoko… Toya,” Kamui whispered as he felt the loneliness close in on him. “Maybe the next life will be in a better and far brighter time.”

Shinbe remained silent next to him, wanting nothing more than to shed tears himself... but he couldn’t afford the luxury. Hyakuhei was still out there and he knew the black-hearted vampire would eventually come for him. The enemy would know what they had done. He would erase all the traces he could for now.

Reaching into his pocket, Shinbe pulled out a small amethyst bottle filled with ageless magical powder. Lightly sprinkling the ground, he walked a circle around the grave to protect it from all prying eyes. The ground instantly turned solid to hide the location of the new grave.

Shinbe’s eyes lit up with the same amethyst color as he whispered words only he could understand.

He felt an age-old bond of brothers who had fought an eternal battle with darkness sear through his soul to become a symbol of protection upon the grave. Above the resting place of his friends blossomed flowers without any seeds being planted. Blooms of five colors appeared on thorny vines… silver… gold… ice blue… amethyst… and shimmering rainbow dust.

“I am taking my leave,” Shinbe said after a long silence. He didn’t want his presence giving away the location of the others and knew it was time to move on. His gaze darted back to the bush of strangely colored flowers. Toya and Kyoko were now protected from Hyakuhei and the spell would not be disturbed.

For now… it was all he could offer them besides sorrow.

Kamui looked up at the wizard, shocked at this new development. “What? But… why?” his eyes widened in a moment of panic… would everyone leave him now? Wasn’t losing Toya and Kyoko bad enough?

Feeling Kamui’s fear rise, Shinbe placed a steady hand on his friend’s shoulder and tried to explain, “You know as well as I that Hyakuhei will eventually learn what we have done here.” He looked over Kamui’s shoulder at Kotaro knowing the Lycan would understand his abandonment.

“You will be able to escape his ever-watchful eyes… but I do not have that kind of power. I will however be able to hide, but I am unsure as to how long.” Shinbe released a long sigh and looked up at the moon hanging low in the sky. “My days have a number on them now…” a soft smile tilted the corners of his lips as if he knew a secret. “…So be it.”

“I will board the next vessel going west, over the ocean. There, I will have a better chance of keeping my identity safe from Hyakuhei and perhaps even find a way for my own soul to reincarnate at the same time as our dear friends.” He hoped what he was saying was the truth. They would need him when the time came.

Kamui glanced down at the grave below him then back up at his friend with more calmness then he had felt since this nightmare evening had started. He did not want Shinbe to be the next victim so, yes, he understood. He gently plucked a rainbow feather from his right wing and pressed it to Shinbe’s neck.

Shinbe gasped as it started to glow brightly before absorbing into his skin. He looked down and saw the briefest outline of the feather just below the collar of his robe.

“That’ll help you when the time comes,” Kamui said with a smile and gave Shinbe a tight hug in understanding. He wouldn’t lose Shinbe for long… no matter what.

“We will see each other again my friend,” Shinbe whispered before pulling away from Kamui’s embrace. He nodded to Kotaro knowing the Lycan would look after Kamui for all of them. Shinbe gazed back at the grave then jerked his eyes away letting his bangs fall down to hide the sadness. “So be it,” he whispered again as he disappeared into the surrounding darkness.

“You ready kid?” Kotaro asked quietly as he kept his back to the grave. He knew he could not stay. Shinbe was right… the farther away they were, the better protected the spell would be.

Kamui wanted to scowl at the nickname Kotaro had just given him but didn’t have the heart. His heart was buried in the dirt at his feet and, if it took ‘til the end of time, he would see Hyakuhei pay for his crimes.

“Yeah,” Kamui said, wiping an arm across his eyes. “I’m ready.”

Kotaro placed an arm around his shoulders and led him away. The Lycan found that he could shed no more tears for the woman he had loved with his entire being. His soul felt as if someone had yanked it from his body, ripped it to shreds and only returned half of it.

If the spell Kamui and Shinbe had come up with worked, he would see his beloved Kyoko again. He couldn’t help but smile at all the antics he and Toya’s reincarnation were bound to come up with to win her affections. He would gladly fight over her once again if only Toya would come back. After all… he loved them both.

He fought the urge to look back at the grave. “A thousand years is a long time to wait but I’ll be there for you… Kyoko.”

*****

Over a thousand years into the future… Present Day.

A lone figure stood on a rooftop of the tallest building, overlooking the crowded city below. His features never betraying the heart-wrenching memory of his only brother’s body lying alone and lifeless on the cold, hard ground, centuries ago. His once warm, beating heart gripped in the claws of the sadistic monster that had created them both.

He had done everything within his power to separate himself from the evil that silently surrounded him. Just like the humans of this world, he only fed off the animals that nature provided. Even though the darkness was all he was allowed, as is the curse of a vampire, he would never become the demon his uncle had intended.

Within the last several years something within him stirred… a longing that he couldn’t understand and hadn’t felt in over a thousand long years.

Memories never forgotten replayed in Kyou’s mind of a once innocent young man that had filled his life with happiness, even within a world of darkness. Toya… He had been so full of life… with laughing gold eyes and the ignorance of a child. Once again it brought pangs of guilt to his heart for not being able to protect his younger brother.

Sun gold eyes that had grown hard from hundreds of years of loneliness, bled red at the remembrance of a promise that he had yet to fulfill. Every decade that passed by, Kyou had grown that much stronger. Many times he had come close, but the object of his hatred and wrath eluded him at every turn.

He would not rest until the vile creature he sought writhed in agony at his feet and his soul cast into hell where it belonged.

Kyou’s gaze was drawn to the only serene place in the whole city… the quiet park in the center. “Such places should not be near so much evil,” he murmured into the night. Leaping from the building, Kyou continued his search as he had for so many centuries. Hyakuhei would pay with his very life for taking the only one that ever mattered to him or ever would. His brother was forever lost and would never return.

“Toya…” Kyou whispered as he disappeared into the night, leaving behind the image of an avenging angel…

*****

The park was always peaceful this time of the day. It was still afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. Kotaro strolled lazily through the trees close to the center where a huge block of marble was sitting. He had no idea where it came from… it had been there for as long as he could remember, it was even older then the city itself. All he knew for sure was that he felt an overwhelming sense of peace whenever he was near it.

‘Who’d figure that a square rock would bring about tranquil thoughts?’ Kotaro muttered to himself.

Taking another path between the trees, he made his way over to the stone so he could look at it. Even if he’d been completely happy that day… just making sure it was still there made him feel better.

Kotaro stopped in his tracks when he entered the center where it was and frowned at the individual sitting Indian style on the top of it with elbows on his knees and chin cupped in his hands. Short purple hair swayed in the soft breeze making the young looking man seem very childlike.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Kotaro demanded.

Kamui grinned without looking at him. Instead, he nodded in the direction of the college off in the distance. “Waiting for class to start.”

Kotaro shook his head and moved on before stopping again and whirling around to face Kamui. “What are you talking about? You don’t even go to this school.”

Kamui winked before slowly fading out of existence in a flurry of glittering rainbow dust. “I know.”

Kotaro glared at the dust swirling about before it vanished completely. “Sometimes that boy is such an enigma,” he informed the now empty space then his eyes moved lower as if caressing the stone. He heard the sound of running feet hitting the pavement but didn’t really notice until someone tapped him on the shoulder. He literally jumped and spun around to see Hoto and Toki bent over with their hands resting on their knees trying to catch their breath.

“What’s got you two winded?” Kotaro asked with a smirk as he regained his composure.

Hoto waved a piece of paper in front of him. “For you… from police… important.”

Kotaro took the paper, “From the police huh? Must be really big to make you two run the marathon.”

Toki nodded before falling over onto his side to rest. Hoto merely sank to his knees and rested his head on the grass.

“You two are the biggest wimps I’ve ever seen,” Kotaro complained good-naturedly.

“Side hurts,” Toki whined. “Must get back… to… air conditioned… office.”

Kotaro sighed in resignation and left them to bake in the warm sunshine before opening the note. His hand closed, crinkling the paper he had just received from the police station not far from campus. Another girl had disappeared without a trace. He had spent a long time investigating the disappearances of many young girls, which had eventually led him to the college where he was now head of security.

His thoughts instantly turned to his beloved Kyoko. He had found her again and just as he had expected… Toya was not far away. One thing that had surprised him was the fact that Toya had been reborn normal… human, or so it seemed.

Sometimes he could feel the true Toya lying just beneath the surface… unaware of his own existence, but so far that part of him had remained asleep. “Thank God for small favors.” Kotaro ran an agitated hand through his windblown hair.

It suited him fine that neither of them remembered the past… it was a memory best forgotten. He wished he had the same privilege to forget… but for him, the memory remained… often waking him up at night in a cold sweat.

Leaving the park he found himself standing on the stone walk in front of the campus. Kotaro lifted his ice blue eyes in the direction Kyoko lived. He frowned as concern etched his features and had the sudden urge to check in on ‘his woman’.

The long part of his layered dark hair was pulled back in a band hanging low. The rest of his hair from bangs to crown was in a constant state of looking naturally windblown; giving him the appearance of a punk bad boy but that suited him just fine. This appearance had served him more than once in recent years.

His body was tall with slender muscles… but looks could be deceiving. He didn’t have an ounce of fat to spare and was stronger than fifty human men put together. The only people who knew of his inhuman strength were those who chose to give him a hard time or dared to get in his way. And those few were too scared to say a word. No one on campus knew Kotaro’s secret side and he wanted to keep it that way.

Kotaro was responsible for the safety of every person that walked on campus whether it was a visitor, student or faculty member. Young women had started disappearing from this area about a month ago at an alarming rate and mostly from the grid surrounding the college grounds.

A low growl formed deep within his chest as he inhaled the scents around him. The air had become tainted with an ancient scent… evil. He was getting closer to the one who was responsible for more than just the missing girls… he could feel it. Pushing those thoughts aside for now, he started walking briskly toward the surrounding apartments that housed many of the innocent college students.

He would go check in on Kyoko and if she would let him, his eyes darkened attractively… he wouldn’t leave her side for the rest of the day… or night. He only hoped Toya wasn’t hanging around her again today. He wanted her all to himself. After all, she was truly his woman and that ‘boy’ would have to get a life.

His steps slowed for a moment at the irony of it… he was glad Toya at least now had a life. An almost amused smirk appeared as he mentally threatened that life if he didn’t quit hounding Kyoko all the time.

Just the thought of her sitting next to him on her comfortable couch, eating popcorn, and watching some cheesy movie sounded like the perfect evening. They shared something like that at least once a week and to him… that was his favorite part of the week. He got his uninterrupted time with the auburn haired beauty. It didn’t matter whether they were watching a movie or just sitting on her couch talking… he just loved the feel of her snuggled next to him.

Kotaro smirked to himself in satisfaction as he wondered what it would be like to always be by her side… day and night.

His smirk faded at his next thought… Kyoko hadn’t actually chosen him over Toya, yet. At least not in this lifetime. “Some things never change.” He looked upward as if sending a silent sarcastic ‘thanks for all the help in that area.’ to whoever was listening. Something told him the gods had to have the most disturbing since of humor.

*****

Finals were finally over and Kyoko had been singing those words all afternoon. She had been a good girl and studied till she was sick to death of it, but it had all paid off. She just knew she’d aced those evil tests. That thought alone had made her want to do a happy dance all the way back to her apartment today.