Chapter One: Curiosity and Cats
Rin had been foolish to think she could just walk a tourist with cash to burn across London. Sakura was the sole heir of the Matou family fortune, plus the money from selling their estate, plus access to Shirou's own fairly strong finances. She had plenty of money, and she was more than interested in spending it. And so it was that lunch was delayed by a pursuit that appealed far more to her little sister...
"What do you think?" Sakura said, twirling to show off her purchase.
Rin looked upon her sister's... well, it was on her chest, so it was probably a shirt. It looked a bit like someone had melted down a Union Jack and poured it onto a shirt-shaped piece of fabric, only not as classy and with more glitter. Rin sighed. She knew that Sakura hadn't travelled much, and had not wanted to discourage her tourist impulses. Dutifully, she had stayed silent through giant hats, postcards that Sakura would certainly never send, and roughly 10,000 photos of everything that caught her eye, which was everything. But as a good sister, the line had to be drawn somewhere.
"Sakura, that shirt looks like the British flag threw up on you."
Sakura raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Why, hello there, random person who clearly can't be my sister because she's too rude. My name is Sakura, and I'm the girl who isn't judging you based on appearances."
Rin stayed firm. "You just don't want to admit I'm right."
"... ... well, it... erm... does clash a bit with... every skirt I own."
"... you already paid for it?"
"Yes..."
"Maybe we can get you some pants." Rin said with a sigh.
"Oh! I saw this great pair of sequined..."
"Stop right there! I meant jeans."
"But... those other pants are shinier."
"And they look like the 1970's attacked your legs."
"... some nice men in the store said disco was coming back..."
"Sakura."
"... I'll get some jeans."
“I know a place we can get a pair. Pretty cheap.”
Sakura stared. “Nee-san…”
Rin squirmed. “What?”
“You wear pants?”
“Sakura!”
Sakura snickered as her sister blushed and stammered. Really, she knew it was a little mean, but Rin was far too entertaining when she was all worked up.
"Take me to the jeans, then, Nee-san. Maybe we can get you some while we're at it."
"Oh, shut up."
**
It hurt.
It hurt.
It hadn't been like this before. The 'morning after' had been fine the first two nights. No problems at all; Hell, he hadn't even felt tired. But this time...
The sun hurt. It felt like walking into an oven just to step outside. His whole body ached. He felt impossibly sensitive, to the point that even the most basic stimulation felt like being rubbed down with steel wool. But that was almost welcome distraction from what he felt on the inside...
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
I killed someone.
He didn't want to believe it. The whole thing seemed like a nightmare now, in the light of day. The thirst... the hunt... how sweet her blood at tasted.
But it wasn't a nightmare, was it? The blood was on my shirt this morning. I could still taste it on my breath. I... I ripped that girl's throat open and I...
He'd thrown up upon realizing it. Somehow, he doubted that was a huge comfort to his... his...
Say it. My victim.
His victim.
This… this had to be the effect of the high wearing off. Yes. That was why it hurt more than it had before, during the first two nights. Maybe he had overdosed, or maybe his body needed more to maintain the same feeling as before.
And his body was already beginning to develop a tolerance for just this dosage…
He felt a chill run down his spine, an icy cold finger.
… He needed more. God help him, he couldn’t fight it. This sensation was too… too everything. He couldn’t go back to how he’d been before. How normal he’d been before. Not when he could now be considered some kind of god.
Or some kind of monster.
He remembered her dead, dull eyes and shuddered.
... It had been an accident. His control had been low. It wouldn’t happen again.
He was certain it wouldn’t.
And deep down, he knew it was a lie.
**
Sakura looked far too proud of herself. In her defense, the jeans did look better than her skirt had with the shirt, but the shirt itself remained a crime against fashion.
Maybe she likes the attention. Rin thought. After years of trying to stay under everyone's radar, it could just be she just... loves having all eyes on her. And they... Rin tried hard not to snicker at the sight of yet another pedestrian openly gaping at her sparkly, sparkly sister. They certainly are...
"You really won't consider putting your other shirt back on? Please?" Rin asked, despite knowing it was futile.
"You're just jealous of my amazing style." Sakura said. She was practically skipping, despite the weight of far too many shopping bags.
"Jealous. Really."
"That I've only been in England for five hours, and I already look more British than you." Sakura said.
"Because you have a giant sparkly Union Jack plastered across your chest!"
"And I make it look good."
"No, you make it look like you're colorblind. The only reason nobody is outright laughing is that the shirt is skintight and the Boob Fairy decided to be extra nice to you when she handed out the genes." Rin said with a smirk.
"Green is not your color, nee-san." Sakura said primly.
Rin's smirk became a genuine smile. Despite her fatigue and her company's blatant touristness, she had to admit she was kind of having fun. "Hey, we got so caught up in your shopping spree, we kinda skimmed over lunch. You hungry?"
Sakura practically squealed, "Fish and chips?!"
Rin chuckled. "Oh, fine. We'll do all the stereotypes. But you're in for an unpleasant shock if you're expecting it to be gourmet cuisine. The Clock Tower is still technically a school, and most of the cafes and pubs around here are student quality."
Still, there were a few places in walking distance Rin liked well enough, and it didn't take long to find one where Rin was vaguely sure the chips weren't just a pound of liquid grease molded to look food. Just to be safe, she got a cold turkey sandwich for herself; ever since the unpleasant discovery that 'black pudding' was not actually pudding, she had learned to stick to food that was simple and that even a bad cook couldn't easily screw up. Sakura can be the brave one, I want my stomach to survive this.
Sakura leaned in to take a big whiff of her deep-fried abomination. "Mmmmmmm... smells wonderfully unhealthy. Perfect vacation food."
"All the calories go to your chest anyway.".
"Oh my! Two boob jokes in one day. You really are jealous. Well, we can't all be as healthy as I am." Sakura said, eyes glittering.
"More like I just missed having you around to tease." Rin said, returning the jab in good cheer. She took a small sip of her tea, then a somewhat larger bite of her sandwich (She was hungrier than she'd realized).
"I've missed you too, nee-san. And senpai, of course," Sakura said. Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, "And Rider."
Rin almost choked.
**
Well, that certainly got a reaction.
As a general rule, Sakura liked it when the people she loved were happy. She herself was happy, far happier than she had ever dreamed she would be, and it only seemed fair that her loved ones should be just as happy as she was. And it had not escaped her notice that lately, Rider was not happy.
And Sakura was a smart girl; she’d seen the looks Rider and Rin had been giving each other when her sister had come home from school during break. She had left it alone, figuring that the two of them would figure it out themselves.
Except then Rin had gone back to England, and Rider… was not happy.
In the meantime, Rin had managed to prevent choking. “Well,” she said weakly. “Um. I’m… glad to hear that.”
“Mmm.” Sakura popped a chip into her mouth, rather liked the flavor. “When do you plan on coming home again? I think she’d like seeing you.”
Rin stumbled over her words. It would have been entertaining, if not for how clearly obvious it was that she was utterly out of her element. “I wasn’t planning to come home for awhile, actually. The training’s been more intense…”
Sakura gave her sister a look.
Rin slowly wilted into her seat.
Okay. So clearly, trying to dance around the subject in the hopes that Rin would talk about it wasn’t going to work. It was time to be a little more direct.
“Nee-san, be honest with me. What do you think of Rider?”
Rin blinked, caught off guard by this. After a moment of thought, she shrugged and bit into her sandwich again. “Well, I think she’s very pretty.”
“… And?”
“Her hair is nice.”
“…. Anything else?”
“She has very lovely eyes. Looks quite fetching with those glasses.”
“….. Nee-san,” Sakura growled.
“I’m answering the question!”
"I was not asking for a physical description!"
"Then you should have been more specific!"
"Nee-san, you're acting like a child. Something clearly happened, but I can't help if you won't tell me what it is!"
"I told you I don't want to talk about it." Rin said, anger starting to leak into her own voice.
Sakura blinked, briefly taken aback by the emotion in her sister's voice. "... fine. But this isn't over."
Rin sighed. "I'm... look. I'm sorry I snapped at you, it's just this whole thing is... very complicated. And personal."
"I'm supposed to be your sister. You should be able to trust me." Sakura replied.
"I do trust you, I swear. It's just... I'm still getting some things sorted out in my head. And I just... I really don't want to think about it right now. At all."
Sakura sighed, smiling a bit sadly. "All right. I'll leave it alone... for now."
"I promise that when I'm ready to talk about it, it will be to you."
"... as long as you also promise that you'll be ready to talk about it sometime within our lives."
"... ... ... ... oh, hey, look! Someone left a newspaper!" Rin said. "Oh no, a murder made the front page headlines! How awful!"
Sakura sighed again. Such a twit.
"... ... ... this actually is pretty awful..." Rin said, her voice suddenly thoughtful. "Ugh... poor girl. They're saying she was mugged, but the description of the wounds sounds more like a vampire attack to me. But... if she was bitten, then why didn't she rise... this doesn't make sense." Rin reached into her coat pocket and removed a pair of glasses, balancing them on her face.
Sakura blinked at this. "You wear..."
"Only when I'm working." Rin murmured. "This... hmmmmmm. This doesn't add up. Maybe I should try to sneak a look at the crime scene. Or..."
"Isn't that illegal, nee-san?" Sakura asked.
"...well, technically. But..."
"And you aren't the Overseer here, Nee-san."
"... true. But..."
"And she didn't rise as one of the Dead, so it couldn't actually have been a vampire anyway."
"... ... ..." Rin sighed in defeat. "Fine. You have a point. It's probably just a crazy who took a weird knife to her throat."
"Good girl." Sakura said primly. "... now, about this store I saw on the way here..."
Rin sighed. That headache was coming back strong.
***
He stayed to the shadows.
He hadn't exactly been subtle in his... accident...
Murder, call it what it is you weakling
... the previous night. He didn't know what kind of evidence he had left, but he had to assume it was enough to find out who he was. He couldn't go home, couldn't access his bank accounts, couldn't look for anyone he knew.
And he found, oddly enough, that the second was what mattered most to him now. He needed that money. Needed enough to get by, enough to... he just needed more. As much as he could get. Any way he could get it. He just needed it, an aching, unspeakable desire coursing through his blood...
He needed more. Just a bit more.
But for that, he needed money. Quite a lot of it. And even in his twisted, fragmenting mind, he knew that the best place to find that was... on someone else.
He stayed in the shadows, and watched her. It wasn't the same effortless stalking of last night when he had pursued...
Murdered, you murdered her you psychotic animal
... the other woman, but it was similar enough. She was bright and shining and chipper. Quite obviously a tourist and quite obviously one with a good bit of money, judging by the shopping bags. She was unaware, off her guard, not a care in the world. She was safe and secure, in the middle of a thousand people on the busy streets of London Town.
He wouldn't even need to hurt her. She wasn't paying attention, and he could see the bulge of a wallet in her jeans pocket. He could just slip up behind her, slide it out and run. He was falling apart, but his body was still strong enough for that.
He wouldn't hurt her at all. That made up for something, he was sure. That proved he was still a good person, at heart. He couldn't help what he needed to do in order to survive, but he wouldn't hurt someone he didn't have to.
You already have
He wouldn't lose control again. Wouldn't hurt anyone else. He was still a good person.
Right?
**
"So! I'm thinking shoes, are you thinking shoes?" Sakura asked.
"... shoe shopping. You're really thinking of getting shoes to bring on an international flight with you." Rin asked in disbelief.
"No." Sakura said with a slight pout. "... yes. But they're European shoes!"
"You still have to carry them." Rin said. "The Europeanness doesn't make it weigh less."
"... I know. It's just that they're... new." Sakura said with a sheepish smile. "I like new things. Seeing them, feeling them. I want to experience all the things I missed, all the things the world has to offer! Is that wrong?"
Rin's smile turned from teasing to genuine. "No. Not in the slightest."
And then a man jumped out of the alley. His movements were erratic, inhuman, but shockingly fast. Without a word, he passed behind Sakura like a wraith...
And she got the new experience of having her wallet stolen.
She didn't enjoy it.
For a few seconds, the girls were silent, wondering if they had just seen what they'd seen.
"Um... nee-san, that man, I think he stole my..." Sakura said, a bit flustered.
"Stay here, I'mma kick his ass," Rin said simply, before breaking into a sprint.
Sakura considered the situation briefly, looking at her many bags. She couldn't just leave them, but clearly if Rin didn't want her to follow, she needed to follow.
Picking a random person from off the street, she patted him on the shoulder. "Are you trustworthy?"
"... um... yes?"
"You look like you are, so I'm going to believe you." Sakura said. "I need you to do something very important. Life and death."
"... okay...?"
"Watch these bags, please. I'll be back shortly." And with that, she sprinted after Rin.
"... ... ... ... huh?" The hapless young man said.
**
He ran, the blood pumping in his ears, his heart beating so hard he thought it would burst.
God. This was why he needed more, didn't they see? He couldn't take this. Couldn't experience the thrill of running straight up the side of building on pure speed alone, then go back to being so... so human.
It was better to be a monster. Nothing hurt when he was like that.
Not even the guilt.
And so he ran. He ran until his muscles burned, and cursed them for burning. He dodged among the crowds and cursed himself for being so painfully slow that they could see him. He ran because at this point, that thrill, that sensation was all he had left in the miserable wreck of his life.
He had to have more.
There would be more. He knew there would be more. He ran towards the old, derelict warehouse where he had, a few days...
A lifetime
... ago paid a lot of money to a group of smiling young man with worn clothes and shiny guns, and been handed the crimson vial that had ended his life.
**
Rin was getting annoyed.
She was fast. Very fast. Using magic to reinforce her legs, there was no way a normal pickpocket should have been able to keep ahead of her. Much less losing her in this damnable crowd! She wasn't even sure which way he'd gone at the last intersection, and...
"He went right!" Sakura shouted, coming up behind her.
"... I told you to wait behind!"
"I didn't listen!" Sakura said.
"... Dammit." Rin couldn't be angry when she just admitted it like that.
"We should run after him!" Sakura said helpfully.
"Just... stay behind me in case this gets ugly, okay?!"
"It's my wallet! You should stay behind me!"
"... Let's just see if we can even find him." Rin said, noticing they had started to attract a small crowd of spectators even as they sprinted. Maybe this wasn't the best time to argue.
"... it is my wallet though." Sakura muttered.
"Just run!"
**
The crowds thinned. The streets grew dirtier, the buildings older. And still he ran. Not for any fear he was being followed, no... his mind had degraded to the point he could no longer feel anything but desperation.
More, more, I need more...
Oh, of course, on some level he was aware of being followed. Even with the distance between them and his fading senses, he could faintly hear the footsteps that told him he was being pursued. Had he still been his old self, he might have worried about how well two beautiful young women would fare in this kind of neighborhood.
But he hadn’t been his old self in what felt like an eternity.
So he didn’t care.
When he saw it, his heart jumped. The old, crumbling warehouse was to him a dear friend, the gateway to everything that he had come to love about himself in the past few days. Forcing himself to slow down in spite of his desperate need to go faster, get it now, hurry, hurry, hurry, he knew that his dealer wouldn’t take kindly to him just bursting in like a beast.
His dealer gave him what he wanted, so he always did his best to behave.
He slowed to a trot, still moving quickly, and stepped through the sagging doorway.
There was nobody inside... and there wouldn't be. At least not at first, not when it might be unsafe. There wasn't much of his mind left, but he recalled this. He rapped his knuckles against a rusted pipe, three times. Then a pause, and two more knocks.
He waited ten long, agonizing minutes.
The door in the back of the building swung open, and a man entered. He was the very definition of non-descript... medium height, medium build. Brown hair, brown eyes. He wore a simple gray shirt, jeans, and a brown coat; nothing that would catch the eye. Without a word, he set down a briefcase, drew a key from his pocket and in a very, faint clipped accent that might have been Scottish, or Irish, or Welsh, or... anything, really, said, "Product and dose. Cash only."
"... B-Bloodlust. One hit." He said. He wanted more, desperately, but the girl's wallet didn't have enough to be going crazy. One hit could get him the money to get another, and another, and...
The nondescript man paused. "Expensive. Street value's gone up in the last week."
"I can pay! Just... I need it, give it to me...!"
The man in the coat nodded, putting the key back in his pocket and drawing a cell phone. He sent a text message, and waited.
Another ten minutes passed. He was swaying on his feet, his blood burning, he could barely see, he needed this why did it have to be so long...
Five more men entered the warehouse, and unlike the first, they were very much a standout. Mostly because each proceeded to reach into their coats and draw a large, black, and rather effective-looking handgun. Illegal as Hell in Britain, of course, but then these weren't exactly 'nice men'.
The man with the briefcase unlocked it, and drew a small red vial. "One dose, 3 milliliters. That will be two hundred pounds. No Euros or US dollars, this isn't a bank. And if you even think of taking the shot here, you die where you stand."
The man smiled, his entire being utterly consumed by the sight of that tiny vial of red liquid.
"That will be fine..." He whispered.
**
“I think we’re seeing something we shouldn’t be seeing,” Sakura whispered, her eyes glued to the transaction that was taking place in front of her.
Rin nodded, trying to think fast and keeping one hand gripping her sister’s shirt collar in case she needed to yank her along. She wasn’t surprised to see gangs doing drug deals in an abandoned warehouse like this; a little disappointed that the movies got some facts right, but not terribly surprised.
No, what worried her was the drug itself. It was only from a distance, so she couldn’t be sure, but it had a name like ‘Bloodlust’ and she could have sworn…
It… it looks like blood.
Shit. What the hell had they stumbled into?
“Sakura.” Her voice was low, her eyes on the men in front of her. “We’re leaving now. Quietly. I’ll buy you a new wallet, but we need to go. If they see us…”
Sakura nodded and swallowed, wincing only a little as Rin gently tugged her closer to her side. The door wasn’t too far, thankfully, only a few feet, they just needed to be careful in how they moved and pray the men stayed focus on their business. They hadn’t been noticed so far, so if they just managed to keep quiet…
At that moment a shrill, almost disgustingly cheerful little tune sounded from Sakura’s jean pocket, shattering the silence.
Several pairs of eyes swung around and focused on the sisters.
“… Dammit, Sakura.”
Sakura laughed weakly.
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It is very possible Moczo and I had too much fun with this chapter.
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Originally Posted by Moczo
