Shadows From The Past chpt1

Shadows From The Past, a Black Blood Brothers Fan Fiction

I have to rate this one more of an older audience, fyi.


Disclaimer:  I do not own Black Blood Brothers or its characters.  I'm just going with the flow of other story tellers, with my own flair and style so if you like it, go ahead and fave, if not, just ignore.  No flaming, k?

Chapter One


Clouds scudded across the night sky, covering the half moon as they passed.  Somewhere, a clock struck the hour, three loud gongs that reverberated through the chill autumn air.  Jiro Mochizuki stared out the window from the second story of the warehouse turned apartment that he shared with Mimiko Katsuragi and his little brother, Kotaro.  He held his long, silver katana to one side, the blade about an inch out of its sheath.

He could hear Kotaro's soft snoring coming from the next room, something he was very glad for.  And if he let his senses roam a little further, he could hear the soft breath of Mimiko, followed by the occasional groan as she dreamed.  But those were not the sounds that had piqued him this night.  He let his senses roam again, listening, smelling for the faint scent that had woken him in the first place, a scent he didn't know, followed by the most peculiar sounds.

He heard it again, the slight, quiet banging of something hitting metal.  Judging from the direction, it was somewhere on the street level, near the back of the building.  There was a door down there, old and disused.  He and Mimiko had talked about it once before, but it had been dismissed merely because it did not seem to want to open when the young woman had tried it.  The hinges were apparently rusted shut, and though Jiro was sure any Black Blood, or anyone determined enough, could have forced it open, he'd let it be, for Mimiko's sake.  Now, he wished he hadn't.

The sound came again, along with the faint sound of metal slowly being bent.  Whoever was down there could not be a normal human.  Red Bloods, as they called themselves in the Special Zone, did not have the strength to bend steel.

The moonlight glinted off of Jiro's exposed teeth, fangs protruding past his lips as a low snarl issued from them, a warning and a challenge.  "If I were you," he said, speaking clearly but quietly.  He didn't want to wake Mimiko or Kotaro.  "I would rethink what you're doing.  I don't think either of us want a confrontation tonight."  If it truly was a vampire down there, and he was fairly sure it was from the smell, he knew they would be able to hear him.

There was a moment of silence, followed by more faint scratching and the moaning of already abused metal.  Jiro let out a slightly louder growl.  "This is your last chance to leave while you still can."

After another long pause, there was the sound of quick footsteps in the ally, then silence.  Jiro strained to hear, closing his eyes as he sought out any other sounds, but the night was silent.  He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, the leather of his gloves protesting slightly at the strain.  He waited a moment or two longer, then let his grip relax, the blade to slide back into the sheath.

With a sigh, Jiro let his shoulders sag momentarily before leaning against the window's large frame.  A slight breeze came through the window.  The scent was clean.  In the back room, Mimiko murmured in her sleep.  It was time he went back to bed as well.  He slid the window closed and headed to his coffin.

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Mimiko yawned hugely as she headed for the kitchen, her eyes only half open as she stumbled around.  She felt like she hadn't slept a wink and figured her dreams were to blame, though she couldn't remember what they were.  Something about a vampire she felt sure she didn't know, but that was about it.

Without realizing where she was going, she found herself knocking into the corner of the table, jabbing herself just below the knee.  "Ouch!"  She looked up in surprise, realizing that she'd overshot her mark and gotten a bruise in the process.

"Mimiko," Kotaro piped up in the background of her muddled thoughts.  "You okay?"  The young vampire tugged at her robe, trying to get the distracted girl's attention.  "Hey, Mimi!"  Jiro was always reminding him of how fragile Red Bloods were.

Mimiko let out another huge yawn and turned towards the stove, subconsciously waving him aside.  "Morning, Kotaro," she said out of habit as she fumbled to fill the kettle with water and set it to boil.  It didn't even strike her that the young vampire was usually still asleep when she got up.

Figuring that his human friend was probably okay, even though the sound of her running into the table had been rather loud, Kotaro zoomed happily around the kitchen, chattering a million miles a minute about his plans for the day.  "And don't forget that Sei and I are going to play today," his words interrupted the murky depths of her thoughts as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Sei, right," Mimiko almost parroted as the kettle began to steam.  She stared absently at the patterns of the evaporating water.  "Where's Jiro?"

Kotaro stopped to blink.  "He's still asleep," he stated.  "Maybe you are too," he added.
Mimiko reached for a mug on the countertop and poured hot water in, dropping a tea bag in with it.  "Just another long night," she tried to assure him as she dipped the bag up and down, one elbow resting on the countertop.

Silence filled the air as Kotaro watched Mimiko bob her tea, practically falling asleep as she stood.  He glanced over to the clock and wondered if the compromiser realized the time, not that it really mattered to him.  He liked hanging out with Mimiko, but then, her boss would probably get mad if she were late.  His brother might get mad too, especially if he knew that Kotaro could have done something about it.  He deliberated for a moment, one finger on his chin as he thought about.

"Um, Mimi," he hesitated.  "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"  He looked up at her with his large blue eyes, blinking questioningly at her.

Mimiko blinked back at him.  "Huh?"

"You know, you're usually gone to work by now," Kotaro said in a slightly worried voice.  "You wouldn't want to be late, right?"

Mimiko glanced at the clock, taking a moment to focus on the numbers.  She suddenly jumped.  "CRAP!  Is that the time?!"  She ran to her room, robe trailing behind her as she slammed the door, had to reopen it to pull in the garment, and closed it again.

Kotaro stared after her.  He didn't know she could move that fast.  Less than five minutes later, Mimiko was flying past him again and out the door.  "Wow.  She sure can move when she's in a hurry," he thought to himself, then looked around.  The tea she'd been steeping was getting starting to get cold in the forgotten mug.

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Jiro woke to an empty apartment.  Outside, he could hear the sounds of people walking, vehicles moving, the usual banter of the day.  Their current schedule was messing with his sleep pattern.  He put one hand over his eyes, as if he could just ignore everything and go back to sleep, but the events of last night nagged at the back of his mind.

He sat up and looked around.  Kotaro was gone.  Not hugely surprising, considering he'd been hyper most of the previous evening because he'd been invited over to Sei's.  He smelled the air to get a sense of the hour, sometime in the afternoon, he decided.  And with that, he got up, walking slowly through the apartment and down the stairs to the main level.

The sounds from last night definitely had come from the direction of that sealed door and so he headed in that direction, deep in thought, trying to place the scent that still lingered in the back of his mind.  Definitely not someone he knew.

Scents from outside found his nose, drifting in on a faint breeze from the direction he was headed.  And, after skirting a few more boxes, he found himself looking at the door in question.  Upon initial inspection, nothing seemed out of place, at least not to a human's eye.  But Jiro noted that there was now a slight gap to one side, where someone had tried to peel the metal away from the outside.  

He stared at the small crack for a while, then absently went out and around, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, silently berating himself for not grabbing his umbrella.  The faint imprint of fingers met his inspection as he looked at the door from the other side.  Any normal vampire could have easily taken the door with a swift pull, probably making more noise than they wanted though.  Whoever had tried to break in was careful.  After all, throwing a door would cause a lot of attention.

Jiro mused in the shadows, one hand to his chin as he thought.  He'd have to do something to reinforce that door while Mimiko was out.  If she saw the activity, she'd definitely want to know what was going on.  He didn't know what to tell her, and for the sake of protecting her, he wasn't about to tell her until he knew more.

"I'll have to find someone to fix this," he finally decided and headed out to find someone to do just that, stopping to pick up his umbrella on his way.

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"Earth to Mimiko.  Earth to Mimiko."

The brunette girl moaned and tried to wave away whoever was trying to wake her.  Why couldn't they just let her sleep?

"Hey, Mimiko, time to get up," the same voice continued, its owner bending over the dozing girl.  "Wake up!"

Mimiko raised her head from her desk and blinked.  "Hey Hibari," she said groggily.  "What are you doing here?"

Hibari Kusunogi glared down at her senior compromiser.  "I work here," she retorted.  "And so do you, unless you don't get up, that is.  Jinnai's coming!"

"Jinnai?"  Mimiko's face was blank as she stared at her junior.

Hibari changed her glare to a scowl, hands on her hips.  "Oh come on!  You really need to stop staying up so late with that Silver Blade!"

Something stirred in Mimiko at the sound of Hibari's tone.   She sat bolt upright, blushing, eyes wide at what the girl was implying.  "You know it's nothing like that!"

Hibari gave her a smug look.  "Right!  As if anyone could believe that face of yours!"
Mimiko turned away, face still burning.

"Good afternoon ladies," Jinnai said as he entered the room, ignoring the awkwardness of the situation he'd walked into.  A chorus of "good afternoons" from around the room followed his greeting as the various compromisers turned to give him their attention.

"I don't want to take long," their supervisor assured them.  "We've had reports of strange activity in the Special Zone, nothing to really worry about, but I thought I would give you the heads up in case you're called in to mediate.  So far it's just minor things, but one never knows if that will change.  Just keep your eyes open and let us know if you see anything out of the ordinary."

Murmurs filled the air as Jinnai left, various compromisers talking amongst themselves.
"Did you hear that, Mimiko," Hibari practically squealed in her senior's ear.  "What do you think could be happening?  What if the vampires rise up in rebellion?  What if we have another Kowloon infiltration!?"

Mimiko let out a low growl of frustration.  "Aren't you forgetting that there's no easy way another Kowloon child could get in," she hissed through her teeth.  "And why would the vampires rise in rebellion when we live in harmony with them!"

Hibari stopped briefly in her ramblings, looking up at Mimiko like she was stupid.  "But it was so easy the last time!  What if it happens again!  I don't think I could take it!"  And with that, Hibari was off in her own world of imagining, leaving Mimiko out, which was just fine with her, even though the younger girl's wild imagination was overflowing verbally.

Mimiko took a look at the clock.  The day was almost over, finally.  Having longer and later shifts was definitely messing with her schedule, but they were necessary to get her used to being able to be up and about at night.  But the day had dragged on and on from the moment she'd made it to work, an hour late.  And it dragged now that she only had another half hour until she could call it good, unless an assignment came in, something she hoped didn't happen.

"I'm going to get something to eat," she stated, her stomach reminding her that not only had she not had breakfast, but she'd somehow managed to skip lunch.  "Want something?"  She didn't really expect an answer from her chattering companion but had to ask all the same.  She blinked a few times on her way to the vending machine.  She stumbled over her own feet, wincing as the bruise she'd gotten that morning was jarred in the process.  Maybe she'd be wise to skip the last half hour and go home early, she thought as she stared at the vending machine.  There was no way she had enough energy to deal with anything else today.

Abandoning the idea of just getting a quick bite, Mimiko headed towards the main doors, pushing out into the dying sunshine.  She tried to block the last rays from blinding her as she walked towards the nearest taxi stand.  Jiro would probably be less than happy with her if she tried to walk the distance back to the apartment, especially as tired as she felt and with night coming on.  It would leave her defenses way too open for the Black Blood's liking, she decided.

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Jiro heard a car door slam outside the apartment just as the repair crew was cleaning up.  The door was now safely welded shut from both sides.  It may not keep a determined vampire from entering, but it wouldn't make it easy on them either.

He could hear money being exchanged.  Taxi cab.  The repair crew opened the main door to leave, letting a slight breeze enter the large room, bringing in Mimiko's scent with it, ginger and oranges.  He blinked a few times in confusion.  The brunette was decidedly early.  He went swiftly to the door before she could reach it from the other side, the taxi driving away as he reached the opening.

"Mimiko, is everything all right," he asked, his voice a bit tight as he looked at her from top to bottom, trying to find anything visibly wrong.  She had shadows under her eyes, he noted, and she was walking slower than her usual pace.  He took the last few steps towards her, trying not to look too worried.

Mimiko looked up, hearing Jiro's concern, her eyes opening wide.  She blinked a few times to clear her tangled thoughts.  "Fine," she finally managed.  'Everything's fine.  I'm just tired."

He stepped back to let her inside the building.  "Long day," he asked solicitously.

"You could say that," she replied as she rubbed at her temples and tried to stumble up the steps at the same time.  Jiro reached out a steadying hand for her, which she took without thinking.  "Where's Kotaro?"

Jiro kept her steady as they climbed.  "He's at Sei's house," he replied.  "I believe they decided to make it a sleepover."

"Oh."  She let go of his hand as they reached the top of the stairs, where she kicked off her shoes and headed for the kitchen.  "Who were those people I saw leaving?"

Jiro followed after her, ready if she should need him again.  "There was a leak.  I had them repair it," he said matter-of-factly.  "You needn't worry about it.  It was very simple to have repaired."  He hung his hat.

She nodded absently as she searched in the cupboard for something to nibble on.  She settled on a box of graham crackers, heading to the fridge for some milk.  "Thirsty," she asked over her shoulder.

Jiro smiled, wondering if she'd realized what she'd asked him.  "Not at the moment."  He felt the heat of her blush as she realized her error.

"You know what I meant!"  She quickly closed the fridge, milk in hand, her back to him.

Jiro tried not to laugh.  "Of course, Mimiko.  But you left yourself wide open for that one." His eyes narrowed as he caught the shadows under her eyes once more as she turned around.  "Are you sure you're all right?"

She sat at the table, dipping crackers into her cup and eating them slowly.  "Aside from a lovely bruise from this morning," she began but stopped at his expression.  "Jinnai mentioned that there was the possibility of some restlessness among some of the Black Bloods," she amended, trying to distract him.  He could be rather fussy when she hurt herself.  "He didn't use those exact words, but that's what he meant."

"Hmmm," Jiro pursed his lips, arms folded.  "Did he say why?"

The compromiser shook her head. "No, just a general warning that we might be called in to help mediate if something comes up.  Why?"  She looked up.

Jiro looked thoughtful as he replied.  "No reason.  I just hadn't heard anything about it."
She waved a milk sodden cracker.  "It's not like he'd give us any details unless we're called in anyway," she continued.

"You're probably right," he conceded, wondering if Jinnai had brought that up with the compromisers because word had reached his ears of the vampire who had tried to break into their apartment.  Unlikely, but still possible, he decided.  Mimiko was draining the last bit of her milk when he looked up again.

"You mentioned something about a bruise…?" He let his words dangle in the air, eyebrows raised with the question.

He did miss much, Mimiko sighed to herself.  She stood up, heading over to the cupboard again.  "It's fine.  I just bumped into the table this morning," she said, brushing it aside.  "No big deal."

Jiro gave her a doubtful expression.  He was all too aware of her tendency to downplay any injury.  "Mimiko…"

Mimiko resisted the urge to scowl as she reached for something on a higher shelf.  She wasn't quite tall enough without doing something to give her a boost, even going on her tiptoes.  Grumbling under her breath, she sprang lightly to lunge at the box she wanted, not bothering to ask the much taller Jiro to get it for her.

A loud thump announced her knee hitting into the countertop, followed by a low outcry of pain.  No more than half a second later, Jiro was by her side, hands around her waist to keep her from doing any further injury by banging something else or falling backwards and cracking her skull.

Mimiko was taken by surprise, her hands still raised as if to reach the box that seemed to stare back at her tauntingly.  Her knee stung and she had to blink a few times to be sure that no tears had come because of it.  She grit her teeth.  She suddenly found herself turned around, sitting on the counter, the cupboard closed behind her.  "Wha..?! Jiro!"

Jiro ignored her protests as he gently pushed her skirt up to rest just above her knee.  The deep bruise stood out against her pale skin.  Jiro frowned.  "Mimiko, what have you been doing to yourself?"

The girl laughed nervously.  "Does it really look that bad," she asked.  "I hardly felt it!"

He looked up at her with an expression she couldn't read.  "Mimiko, it's turning black and blue."

"It is?"  She bent to look for herself.

Jiro sighed.  "Must I look after you every waking moment," he asked under his breath.

Mimiko put her hands on her hips.  "Sorry, I didn't catch that."

He ignored her.  Instead, he began to gently probe at the discolored skin, noticing when she winced.  "It hurts more than you're willing to admit, doesn't it," he said matter-of-factly.

She tried to slide off the countertop but he stopped her.  "Jiro, it's just a bruise," she complained.  "It will heal."

"It will heal much more quickly if you put some ice on it," he countered.  "Now stay there."  He turned to the fridge, opening the freezer compartment.

"Yes mother," Mimiko muttered.

"I heard that," Jiro said as he rummaged with an ice tray.

She rolled her eyes but made no further comment as he brought over a bag filled with the frozen cubes, wrapped in a dishtowel.  She took it with a sigh, placing it over her knee.  "You know, I feel kind of silly sitting on the counter," she said.  "It's not exactly sanitary."

Jiro let out a laugh.  "Then we'll have to move you to somewhere a little more appropriate."  Before she could protest, he had her in his arms and was carrying her to the main living area where he set her on the low couch.  Surely she couldn't protest about that.

"Hey!" she protested, though the deed was already done.  "Could you at least warn me before you do that again?"

He eyed her critically.  "Do you plan on having this happen again, Mimiko," he asked.

"That's not the point!" she spluttered.  "A girl does like to have some warning!"

Jiro sighed heavily.  He wasn't sure if he'd ever completely understand her.  One moment, he thought he had a pretty good grasp on that, the next, he was thrown for another loop.  If nothing else, humans were very complex creatures.  "My most sincere apologies," he said while bowing.

Mimiko couldn't stay mad at him, especially not since he'd apologized.  "Ugh," she finally uttered.  "Just no more drama tonight, okay?"

"As you wish."