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Colour Me Blood Red	By : DragonBlade Category: Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Ohjisama > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 2324 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own prince of tennis, characters or ideas, and I am making no money from this

Chapter List
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CHAPTER 27

Shiraishi sat at the head of the long conference table next to Tezuka, six members of his team filled the side of the table next to him. Ishida Gin sat next to his younger brother, Ishida Tetsu of Tachibana Kippei's team. They were the only family to survive the Fledglings attack.

Shiraishi tilted his head towards Tezuka, lips parted slightly as he studied the Captain. His full bottom lip gave him an almost permanent pout; heavy lidded eyes framed with long black lashes added a seductive edge. “I don’t know what to say Tezuka, this was completely unexpected.” He rolled up the sleeves of his dark button-down dress shirt, tilting his head back. “We weren’t needed at the moment, but some of mine wished to visit families, that was the only thing that kept us here.”

“We just thank our good fortune that you and your team decided to stay in town.” Tezuka leaned forward on his elbows, eyes scanning over Shiraishi’s team. “What happened?”

Ishida Tetsu shifted uneasily in his chair, eyes darting repeatedly to Tachibana. Gin sat with his back straight and his dark hands clasped on the table. Every Hunter was called in to hear their story, to see if anyone could make heads or tails of the situation.

“I had heard from Shiraishi that a Fledgling threatened one of your Hunters, but I did not know the full situation. Since I was in town I decided to visit my family and speak with Tetsu about it,” Gin explained, his deep voice was the kind that seemed to come from the big toe.

Tetsu nodded, “our parents were retiring for the night when we heard a scream. We ran upstairs and found the Vampire in our parent’s room. He had crept in through the window.”

“I have never seen a Vampire deteriorate like this, his skin was paler, sunken. You could see the veins under his skin.” A fine tremor ran through Gin’s shoulders, eyes distant as he remembered staring into the face of the creature. Could it even be called a Vampire any more?

“He wakes up too early, so he’s been out in the sun, indirectly of course.” Kirihara piped up from his position in the corner of the room. The crowd parted in front of him, giving him a clear view to the table.

“What was that Kirihara?” Tezuka lifted his head to see him better.

“When he approached Jackal and me, the sun was still up, but he was moving around and conscious.” He explained.

Shiraishi nodded, dark eyes flicking to Kirihara, “I’ve heard about that, some Fledglings, the young ones mostly, wake before the sun sets because their bodies are still transitioning.”

Kirihara shivered, he wasn’t sure if Shiraishi-san was just looking at him, or trying to undress him with his eyes. The older male blinked slowly before turning his attention back to the Captain.

“There were two that attacked you, Kirihara?” Tezuka asked.

He nodded, “yeah, the second one was awake before the sun went down too, but he didn’t seem insane.”

Tezuka frowned before looking back at the Ishida brothers, “continue.”

“He was fast, faster than any Fledgling I’ve ever seen. Aniki, ah, Gin managed to shield our parents while I got my weapon drawn,” Tetsu continued his story, eyes downcast. His lip curled slightly, as if bitter about having to resort to using a weapon.

Ah right, Kirihara mentally slapped himself, he probably was. He remembered hearing something about that before. Shiraishi specifically chose people with psychic talent for his team, and psychic talent didn’t always run in the family.

“My shield didn’t stop him; it more confused him for a moment, distracted him for long enough. Tetsu shot him several times before he turned and fled back through the window.” Gin finished.

“Faster? What would increase a Fledglings power?” Tezuka glanced around the room.

“Blood from an Ancient,” Yuuta stepped forward, Hunters parted around him as well to give him room.

Tezuka’s eyes softened as he regarded the telepath, he had forgotten Yuuta was in the room, “the Vampires he is around aren’t classified as Ancients. Akutsu is strong; stronger than a typical Vampire, but he is no Ancient. Sengoku is just out of his Fledgling stage, so he would not be strong enough either.” This was getting him no where! With the Vampires being around more often, Sanada and Atobe were able to gather scraps of information on them, but it was still not enough to be useful.

Shiraishi suddenly sat up straight in the chair, “wait!”

Everyone turned to look at him. The smallest teammate to his side jumped, Tooyama Kintarou gently touched his leaders arm, “Shiraishi?”

Shiraishi patted his hand, eyes still on Tezuka, “When we were at the club, I was following the source of that energy we all felt when a Vampire actually stopped me! It was right before the Witch threw that spell at me, I was confused by something so I lost the Witch’s trail, and then the Vampire stopped me. He was old, very old.” He turned to face Tezuka fully, “plus you told me about that power that pushed out your telepath, who ever did that would be able to confuse both myself and a younger Vampire. Maybe it was their blood that strengthened the Fledgling? If not the leader directly, perhaps the Ancient I met?”

Every lead brought them further into the Vampire world than any of his Hunters had been. Only Shiraishi’s team and the Shape-shifters had seen the darker sides of the Vampire community. They were getting no where skimming the surface. He needed his Hunters to get right into the thick of the underworld to find what they were looking for.

But was the risk worth it?

He would need the cooperation of both Atobe and Sanada; he would need their directions to get to the entrances that led to the underground clubs and blood banks. He would need Shiraishi to get him into the human friendly places, and Shinji to get him into the covens. It was only chance that led them this far. If Kaidoh had never been taken, if they never had Dan to barter with, they never would have found out about the other Vampires, never would have gotten that close to the Witch.

Would it even work?

Tezuka ran his fingers through his hair, “FUCK!”

The chatter that had been starting in the room silenced, startled and wide eyes all turning to stare at the Captain. Did he just swear?

“Tezuka?” Shiraishi whispered cautiously.

“This is getting us no where,” he slapped his hands on the table before standing abruptly. He grabbed the marker off the white board cradle and spun the board towards himself. His mind was too jumbled; he needed to get it all out so he could see what was going on. “Fledgling, linked to some leader, sent out to test the Hunters.” He scribbled it at the top of the board, talking more to himself than the room. He muttered to himself as he drew branches between his words.

The room fell silent as everyone watched him, did the Captain finally snap?

A Hunter inhaled deeply and stepped forward, “another Fledgling was put with them, he was seen with them but when the other twin was killed he took his place creating zombies.”

“Right!” Tezuka pointed his pen over his shoulder and scribbled down the new information.

Like a rock being rolled down a hill, voices picked up one at a time from around the room. Voices gradually rose in volume and excitement.

“Rookie Hunters started to get cursed, Kirihara-san and Fuji-san were first!” Aoi Kentarou added, the tall Hunter towered over the majority of the crowd.

Tezuka scribbled it out, “witch.”

“The Witch is believed to belong to a coven in the Southern islands,” Oishi leaned against the wall behind Tezuka’s chair, “but not their leader. It has to be strong enough to confuse a young Vampire and a strong psychic, as well as scare everyone associated with them.”

“Don’t forget about Kamio, Tachibana, and I getting attacked by Humans before that, and then Atobe getting attacked by Humans as well!” Kirihara cupped his hands around his mouth to throw his voice to the front of the room.

Voices started to erupt from all over the room, first from the table, “Cursed Rookies getting attacked in the middle of the night by Vampires with zombies!”

“Sanada’s lair attacked!” A voice near the windows.

A yell from the far back, “catching that kid!”

“Kaidoh kidnapped!” Momoshiro threw his hand in the air to make sure he was heard. He leaned heavily on his crutches, he couldn’t help on the field, but that didn’t mean he had to be completely useless.

Tezuka’s hand scribbled furiously, his normally perfect block writing turning cursive – a quick flow that would make any Doctor envious. He glanced at Oishi and Shiraishi, “what does this look like to you guys?”

“A test.”

“A test of strength.”

Tachibana shook his head, “this was a test for us, so where do these attacks on Atobe come in? Assuming everything was related, it makes no sense to test their strength.”

Tezuka tapped the board with the pen, “a Vampire would be testing us humans, we’re unknown to them. But, you’re right, the Vampire world would know about Atobe and Sanada. Why attack them?”

“Unless it wasn’t a test of strength?”

Tezuka turned to Shiraishi, “son of a bitch, that’s why Atobe was attacked by humans first, and Sanada was attacked by Vampires …they are being tested, but to find their weaknesses!”

“Why? I thought that for a Vampire to challenge a Master, they had to formally challenge them, not just this underhanded testing,” Oishi shook his head.

“Unless they’re not playing by the rules! Someone is trying to get rid of the Vampires here, and they’re trying to see how strong we are.” Tezuka stared hard at the board as if willing the answer to jump out at him. Nothing made sense, why were they being tested? What was the point at all?

“Maybe they’re trying to get rid of the Vampires because they are too strong?” Kirihara shouldered around Hunters to get closer to the conference table, he would never forget what it felt like to have Yukimura’s power flow over him. That was frightening power.

Everyone fell silent.

“And to see if we are too …” Tezuka turned back to the board, “why? Why eliminate the strong and test the strength of those who are left?” He sighed, “this is why we need to get into their world, find out who the hell is behind all of this and what they want. I wonder if Sanada and Atobe realize what’s going on?”

Saeki, who had been quiet through all of it, stood up from the table, “what about the Rogue attacks before all of this?”

Tezuka nodded, how could he forget that? “What were you attacked by?”

“Vampires, but none that I knew,” he tilted his head, blond hair falling into his eyes, “I think Amane and Kurobane were attacked by humans?” He looked to his team.

“And one big fucking werewolf,” Kurobane nodded, “he stayed back though, kind of watching more than anything else.”

“Were they tested to see if their human tactics would work?” Oishi looked to Saeki, “did you guys fight back with the humans?”

“Would we have looked that beat up if we did?” Kurobane raised an eyebrow.

Tachibana cursed softly, “that’s why we were attacked by humans, they knew from attacking the Rogues that we wouldn’t fight back. They used the humans to separate us and set up a trap.”

“I think we need to warn Atobe and Sanada that their day time attacks may not be through, these attacks so far seem unfinished. They’re testing the waters, but to what end?” Tezuka sat back down at the table, looking back over his shoulder at the white board.

Shiraishi leaned his chin into the palm of his hand, “something about the Fledgling murders bothers me, they don’t fit either pattern. Everything else was done in quiet, done where only we would find it. These murders are obvious; they’re less of a test and more of just a random slaughter.”

“He wanted revenge against me for killing his brother; I think he’s acting alone.” Kirihara leaned his hands against the back of a chair. Ann glanced back over her shoulder at him. Tachibana threw a heated glare at him but was ignored.

Tezuka tapped his bottom lip, thinking, “if he’s working apart from the leader, how is he finding Hunters? I thought he was attacking Elite’s, but the two other families murdered were not, and neither was Ishida.”

Itsuki Marehiko pushed away from Saeki’s side and weaved through the crowd, “I live two houses down from one of the families, yet mine wasn’t attacked. The next house was two blocks away.”

Tezuka turned, frowning. So the Fledgling wasn’t attacking by opportunity, he had set victims.

“Yeah! And there are two other Hunters in the same building as me, but he ran three blocks away to do the first killing!” Kirihara leaned back from the chair and crossed his arms, fucking Fledgling made no god damn sense.

Tezuka frowned in confusion, “then what the hell is the difference between the houses he attacked and the ones he didn’t?”

The room fell silent, the murders were so different. The only similarity was really that they were all Hunters.

“I don’t have a police record?” Itsuki shrugged. He couldn’t think of anything else, so he threw out the first thing that came to mind, not intending on it being taken seriously.

The voice of the Older Hunter that lived in the same building as Kirihara rose over the crowd, “neither do I.”

Tetsu’s eyes widened, “I have one.”

“Fucking Christ, so did everyone that was killed.” Tezuka’s eyes widened in fear, “there’s a leak in the Police, there’s no other way.” He rubbed his hands over his face; this was the LAST thing they needed.

“Is that how they found the Rookies?” Oishi pushed away from the wall.

“I don’t have a record and Dan didn’t recognize me,” Ryoma shrugged.

Momoshiro shook his head, “Kaidoh doesn’t have a record, but he was attacked.”

“But never cursed, I do believe only Kirihara Akaya, Fuji Yuuta, Aoi Kentarou, Amane Hikaru, Ishida Tetsu, and Kaneda Ichirou were cursed, and they all have records.” Tezuka leaned on his elbows; he was getting tired, this was just too much.

All mentioned Hunters nodded – they had records.

“Kaidoh must have been attacked because of what was seen in Dan’s head!” Yuuta exclaimed, remembering what he had seen that day.

“So this means the Fledgling is getting files from the Police, and using those to find the families.” Tezuka raised his head, “I’ll take care of it from the Police end. I’d like to know who the fuck is leaking information. In the mean time …” Tezuka paused to look around the room, “there are new Ancients coming into town, their power is probably being disguised so no one notices or else Sanada and Yukimura would be all over them. We need to find Akutsu and who he’s working with, and the only way to do that is to get into their world.”

A collective hush fell over the crowd, Shiraishi’s eyes narrowed. “Tezuka, you don’t mean …”

Tezuka held up a hand to silence the other man, “do we have a choice? We’re not finding out anything, and you just don’t have enough man-power to hit every spot.”

Shiraishi couldn’t argue that, his 7-man team was just not big enough to search every underground. It was also getting harder to coordinate everyone, even that day he was one person short. He pressed his interlaced fingers to his mouth, “you better talk to Sanada and Atobe about this, I can only get you in so far, but there are places even I can’t go.”

Tezuka nodded, “I know, but we need to find these Vampires.”

Shiraishi shrugged, “I’ll help where I can, but you’re asking to give your Hunters the secrets that have kept these beings safe. I can’t see Atobe or Sanada allowing that.” He brushed his hair back, “and it’s a risk to your Hunters as well, if they go in these places with weapons they’ll be sniffed out.”

“They’ll be partnered with either one of your team or a Vampire; several of mine with one of yours, that way they won’t be suspected. All steel, no guns, most vampires won’t stir at the smell of metal.”

Hunters shifted uneasily, no one liked the idea, but they were all getting sick and tired of being useless.

“I’m open to suggestions if anyone has a better idea!” Tezuka stood and threw his arms out, looking around the room.

“We’ve checked files for similar situations for the past, I don’t know how many years,” Oishi rubbed his hands over his face, “we’ve checked files from all the surrounding cities to see if anything similar has happened. We’ve checked the logs from Sanada-san to see what kind of Vampires are coming and going, we’ve spoken to pack leaders to see if they’ve heard of anything …what’s left to do? No one knows anything; these Vampires just appear and then disappear once they’re done destroying something. We’ve exhausted all our resources and still can’t come up with anything.”

No one could offer a better idea.

Tezuka sighed heavily, “I really don’t want to have to do this, there aren’t a lot of us to begin with, and I’m about to stretch our resources very thin. If anyone doesn’t want to do this, let me know, I won’t force anyone. For now I’ll set up negotiations with the Masters and everyone can just do what they can to protect their families. The upper floors are open if anyone feels the need to bring their families here.” He rested his palms on the table again, pale face pinched around the eyes, showing how weary he actually was. No control, no idea, no where to go.

“I thought Akutsu was supposed to keep an eye on him?”

A lone figure crouched in the centre of a large circular room. There were no lights in the room save for a small window far up the wall, they needed no light to see anyways. He bowed his head in servitude, dark hair falling into his eyes. “He was supposed to be, my Mistress.”

“We knew when his brother was killed he would be dangerous, now look what has happened.” The feminine voice drifted around the room, coming from no where and everywhere at the same time. Power danced along the walls like static, and crawled along the skin.

“Yes my Mistress.”

“If this continues he will ruin my plans!”

Flinch, “what would you have of me?” His bowed head never rose but the white fist against the ground to keep his balance clenched.

“Go there.”
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Colour Me Blood Red