Nightshift 38: M51-M60 Hallway
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Kenshin probably wasn't even going to be expecting him this early. Perhaps he should wait around a bit? The idea of waiting around in these halls, however, even those inside the patient blocks, didn't sit well with him. It would be just as he was trying to be courteous that something nasty popped out of nowhere and bit him in the ( Read more... )
Kenshin probably wasn't even going to be expecting him this early. Perhaps he should wait around a bit? The idea of waiting around in these halls, however, even those inside the patient blocks, didn't sit well with him. It would be just as he was trying to be courteous that something nasty popped out of nowhere and bit him in the ( Read more... )
It was rare for Aidou not to have settled on a course of action when the night dawned.
After dinner, he was careful to shed the bland uniform with one eye on the boy in the room--asleep, vulnerable, but still an interloper in Aidou’s privacy. He’d never allow someone to watch him change if he could help it. He dressed in the darkest colors he possessed--the pants taken from his box of ‘belongings’, the black shirt belonging to his Night Class uniform--and absently considered the contents of his closet while he did up his cuffs.
So much left to do, and another ex-human to put up with. If he weren’t forcing his composure with such single-mindedness, he was apt to break something out of irritation. Give way to the brief flickers of annoyance he’d felt during the chess game, which he’d had to call a draw. (Draws were also annoying.)
He closed the closet, carefully sealing it shut. At the same time, he turned his thoughts to the present: he could always drain his “roommate,” couldn’t he? A dozing body wouldn’t miss it. Aidou, on the other hand, could always use the blood, if only to brighten his mood… A humourless smile touched his lips as the vampire left the cell and paused long enough to scope out the corridor. He debated locking the door with Kaito still inside, but that would only be so entertaining, and not nearly as beneficial.
What Aidou did do was brush a hand through his hair, and headed up the hallway towards Sasuke’s cell. “Come out, come out,” he called tonelessly, pausing beside M58’s door. It was too late to consider the Arts and Crafts route, but not too late to find someone other than Kaito to dine on. Of course, even that plan depended on what Sasuke was thinking--or likewise not thinking, since he hadn’t yet informed Aidou exactly what he was up to with that bulletin board post.
Either way, he had no reason to refuse a trip to the basement, even wounded. Killing whatever got in his way (and such things usually happened) could be just as rewarding as revealing the answers to some of Landel’s secrets.
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Sasuke was more than a little annoyed by the nebulous state of his plans when the vampire's voice came through the door. If he hadn't already had incentive to extricate himself from the mess of dealing with his former teammates and find some new allies, today would have provided more than enough. One person he knew nothing about responding on the bulletin board was not quite the planning he was used to, even if he was somewhat less picky about temporary companions than Aidou.
Hopefully the vampire wouldn't complain overly much about having to deal with an as-yet untried person in the basement. It wasn't like they needed someone to protect them -- the third was really just the extra body required to open the doors.
Stifling an irritated sigh in case the vampire could hear it from where he was, Sasuke grabbed both the silver sword and the more functional one and opened the door.
"We have a third if they manage to find us," he informed Aidou, disliking the way it sounded but finding no better way to put it.
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At least Allen Walker seemed to have left ahead of Sasuke.
"So I read." With his free hand, he touched his chest, lightly tracing the edge of the wound where it lay beneath his clothes. Aidou didn't like the tone of the night. He wasn't healed completely yet, and although last night's feeding had done wonders for a high-strung vampire's more unpleasant instincts, he wasn't at his best, even by these new repressed terms. The fact that there was someone out there who had spoken as though they would be hunting Sasuke down touched him the wrong way.
He didn't like not knowing who or what or how. And he hadn't liked the overall message at all.
"That means we either dawdle by your room, or assume they know their way to the basement."
And if there was no third person to play door tricks with? Aidou still had the shield, and Sasuke still had the sword, and there was still a promising doorway in the ballroom. Maybe Aidou wouldn't need anyone else.
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"It's not ideal," he admitted, but hefted the sword up into a more useful position and started down the hallway. "But unless this person is completely incompetent, they'll serve the use we need."
With luck, they'd be something like Naruto; irritating and not the perfect candidate, but strong enough to survive and even be of some help here and there.
... whatever the case, this was what they had to work with. Sasuke wiped any lingering annoyance about Naruto's absence from mind and moved lightly, waiting for the sound of the vampire's footsteps behind him. "I told them we were going to the basement, not where my room was. If they're capable of finding us, they'll be on the way."
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Or maybe they were even somebody annoying, like a murderer or a cannibal, and no one would miss them if they didn't return. That would be... nice.
Food and vermin extermination were different variations of progress.
And there was the issue of strangers and their big mouths... Naruto had been bad enough, but with two 'rewards' and the possibility of answers in their reach, the last thing he wanted was someone spreading information around at Aidou's expense, lessening its worth when the other prisoners held their cards close to their chest, as well. So many problems in trying to ally with others... Wolfram's change in status was fresh on the vampire's mind.
Although it made little tactical sense for the night creature to linger behind the blind human, Aidou did so. They were more his private, enigmatic thoughts, but he said aloud, "Whatever, things won't go the same as last time," so as to show he was following, when he moved too quietly to be heard.
They'd gotten Sasuke's bauble in the end, but ungracefully. That had to stop.
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And if the agreement wasn't followed, he was more than sure either he or Aidou could be counted on to make sure it was regretted. Despite his life goal, Sasuke wasn't one for retribution when it came to people he couldn't care less about, but he would do the job if it was required.
"If they can't locate us after I told them where we were going, they're not going to be useful enough to be worth working with anyway," Sasuke said, straining his ears for traces of the vampire's movement. There was a moment's irritation when it became obvious that he was moving every bit as subtly as a shinobi, but then Aidou's voice came from behind.
Not happy with the situation but following, which was good enough.
"We'll deal with problems as they arise," he added, before picking up speed. Improvisation was something every shinobi had to learn, even if the circumstances were somewhat different than usual. It was good to have plans in place, but Sasuke didn't think more than a few steps ahead by nature; there was no telling when the situation would change.
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