Crimson Tokyo

"Thank you," the patron had said as he handed me money. I bowed my
head in politeness and walked out of the building as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world to have invisibly bled hands.Looking both ways as I stepped to j-walk across the street, I pulled my coat closer to my body. Inside myself, my heart was the only thing that was I could feel pumping as my whole being felt cold and empty.Slipping across a dark alleyway, a flash from my lighter lit the pathway slightly. As I walked on, I smoked my cigarette and breathed out slowly.

She hated my habit, but I couldn't help it. I had learned it from him. And strangely, it did help my powers and my senses to be more keen. Was this also another proof of how strange my very person was?

As I exited through the other side, I stopped to find that snow had begun to fall. Unaffectionately, I held out my hand to capture a piece of ice that softly fell into the palm of my hand. Smirking, I almost laughed at myself.

Reminds me of rain.Reminds me...

of you.

Out of nowhere, I mumbled the song he had sung to me. He had told me once that he was reminded of the deeply loved because it played whenever it rained. He said the title was "Ordinary World":

Came in from a rainy Thursday on the avenue thought I heard you talking softly I turned on the lights, the TV and the radio still I can't escape the ghost of you What has happened to it all? Crazy, some'd say Where is the life that I recognize? gone away But I won't cry for yesterday there's an ordinary world Somehow I have to find and as I try to make my way to the ordinary world I will learn to survive Passion or coincidence once prompted you to say "Pride will tear us both apart" Well now pride's gone out the window cross the rooftops run away left me in the vacuum of my heart What is happening to me? Crazy, some'd say Where is my friend when I need you most? Gone away but I won't cry for yesterday there's an ordinary world somehow I have to find and as I try to make my way to the ordinary world I will learn to survive Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and greed here today, forgot tomorrow ooh, here besides the news of holy war and holy need ours is just a little sorrowed talk And I don't cry for yesterday there's an ordinary world Somehow I have to find and as I try to make my way to the ordinary world I will learn to survive every one is my world, I will learn to survive any one is my world, I will learn to survive any one is my world every one is my world

The snow began to fall a bit faster and it disintegrated onto the surface of my coat.

Once again, I began to walk towards my apartment with this thought in mind. But as much as I rubbed the already melted piece of ice in my hands, I knew that whether or not I had blood in my hands, the stain would always be there.

Once I got there, I took off my coat and went to make a phone call. It was routine procedure and I knew I couldn't do otherwise.

And so, I took the cordless phone to the balcony and dialed the numbers from there. I asked for her and then I was put on hold.Looking out the window, I touched the cold glass in front of me. The whiteness was already burying the blurry Tokyo before me.

Ha. Tokyo. A dream city to some. The core of the Earth to others when they battled for the human existence. To me, it was the Babylon in which the buildings and people try to reach the sky so they climb and climb uselessly to a never-ending journey for personal gain. Only, they fail and fall in the end.It had all come to nothing...but had the rivers of mud as if they were blood devastating the streets.

And I was no help if I contributed with making more rivers of it.

"Tokyo Babylon," he had laughed as he smoked his cigarette. Looking at me with downcast eyes, he whispered. "Maybe."

I began to cringe a bit.

I had learned to kill with no blood. But that didn't necessarily mean that cursed living dye wasn't tainting my soul...

In a trance, I almost didn't answer as she answered, "Shinta-san?"

I smiled at the phone and answered, "Hai, Great Grandmother."

But what does a soulless demon have while roaming the world aimlessly? And wasn't it more ironic that the demon had been lovingly named with something that meant 'One who has too much heart?'

To be continued.--Author's comments: This will be a slightly different format from my previous fics. The prompting are from lyrics. ^_^v

Woohoo! My first AU!

Yui Miyamoto Author Pairing Rating Subject