Start Again (Consolidation) (KR Kiva AU)

[estirose]

This is the consolidation for the sequel to “Boxed In”, “Start Again”.

Start Again
by Estirose
c 2008

Wataru shivered and shrank into a little ball in his guest chambers at the Castle. At least the building was called the Castle by the Executioner and Hiraoka-san, and probably every Fangaire. It was the home of the Fangaire councils, maintained by the Fangaire collectively, and had a domestic staff – all human – and a small Fangaire staff. Right now Wataru’s room was blocked off from human contact, an isolation room for new Fangaire who had yet to master energy draining.

That would be him, and him alone, apparently, though that would change if the Executioner was right and there were Fangaire that were killing humans. More Fangaire being killed for killing humans meant more of the half-Fangaire being changed. And there might be half-Fangaire out there – Wataru refused to call others like him ‘Fandiri’, the human-adopted Fangaire term for them – who, like him, didn’t want to be changed.

Yuri-san had given him horror stories of what would happen if he fell into the hands of the Fangaire. And she had been right; the change had taken an agonizing forever as he’d been nearly drained and then given the energy to change him into Fangaire. He had a suspicion that he’d have hated being fed energy; he knew that he hated being drained, though he didn’t remember actually being drained when the Executioner had captured him. The drain had been terrifying in itself, and in its own way an affirmation, a reminder that he should never inflict an energy drain so strong on a human. But the actual feeding had felt like he was being burned from inside out, causing him to struggle against the head of the Council as other hands restrained him.

He had to wonder if that was because he was being changed, or if it would happen every time he drained the energy he now needed to stay alive. And then he wondered if it was possible to starve himself to death, and if the council would do something if he proved unexpectedly suicidal. He wondered if there were Fangaire out there who were fed energy by their friends and family because they refused to go out and feed themselves. Yuri-san had said that eventually those Fangaire became dangerous, so starved that they attacked humans. And then they died, by the Executioner’s hand, or by Hunters.

Wataru didn’t want to attack humans, so it looked like he didn’t have much choice in the matter. He’d have to feed like any other Fangaire.

Yuri-san would be horrified, Megumi-san too. His father probably also, but maybe not as much. Yuri-san would want to know what in the hell Wataru was thinking, and he wondered if she might have advised him to try to die in the midst of the change instead of making it through. Of course, he had the feeling he’d been somewhat restrained throughout the whole thing; he probably couldn’t have gotten away if he’d tried.

Wataru wondered how long it would take Yuri-san to find out. And if she’d yell at him first or if he’d never see her again.

* * *

After leaving Wataru in the locked room, the Executioner had discussed the growing threat of the so-called “eco-killers” with some of the council. They all agreed that the growing movement was a threat, and that he was going to have to be doing a lot of work for a few years. Since Wataru was changed, that made his job in some ways infinitely easier. There would be some kind of backup. And if Wataru for some reason got killed?

Hm. Maybe it was time to trace back Wataru’s maternal line and convince Wataru’s mother and Otoya to conceive again. Once Wataru manifested his other form, the Executioner could use records to figure out who his mother was from the form Wataru took. That part of his ancestry was in his DNA.

But in the meantime, Wataru had to be trained not to kill when draining.

He was sure that there would be some kind of celebration, and some human brought in as Wataru’s first meal as a Fangaire. Best that he had plenty of experienced Fangaire around him when he made his first drain, just in case. That’s how it was always done, and probably was better for Wataru than taking him straight home.

“Executioner,” Hiraoka Hotaru said. “Are you thinking of Wataru?”

“Well, it will be his first time eating as a Fangaire,” he said. He hadn’t considered how Wataru might react to being told he had to feed; Wataru was their first feral to be changed. Not the first feral-born, but definitely the first one that was still feral to go through the change.

“I thought he was going to struggle himself out of change,” Hotaru confessed. “I’m thankful that Ohme-san thought that it might be a good thing to restrain Wataru, given that he’s still feral.”

The Executioner nodded. He was glad for it as well, Wataru being the only viable choice he’d seen in years. “He had consented to it, and he still didn’t take it well.”

“I… I wish we’d rescued him earlier,” Hotaru said. “To have all this baggage heaped on him. He’ll grow out of it in time, but it’s going to be rough for him.”

“If you had, he wouldn’t have been as good a candidate for my apprentice,” the Executioner said. “I should have claimed his group as a helper group earlier. I was careless.”

“You, being careless,” Hotaru said, an amused note entering her tone. “But yes, you should have. Actually, it might be a good idea to pound into Wataru’s head that he needs to be less… radical.”

“You’re asking a hunter-born hopefully soon-to-not-be-feral Fangaire apprentice of mine to be less radical?” the Executioner asked.

“Yes,” Hotaru said, looking down the hall. The Executioner had to wonder if she was expecting the lucky human to show up any minute. Some of them did count it lucky to be a new Fangaire’s first drain. The Executioner didn’t quite get it, but at least it was as safe as anything. And at least it might make it easier for Wataru. He remembered how hard it was himself, newly changed, was worried that he’d drain the human to death by accident. It was probably a bit worse for Wataru.

“I don’t think Wataru is ever going to be a clone of me,” the Executioner said. “He is bright, though, and that will help him.”

“And he’s a good, obedient boy,” Hotaru said, apparently recalling when she had temporary custody of the Executioner’s apprentice. “But still a boy, and he doesn’t understand some things.”

“He’ll learn,” the Executioner said. He looked where Hotaru was looking.

Yes, it seemed that the human Wataru would feed upon was there. And being Wataru’s ‘parent’, he had to bring the boy in and help him through his first drain. “Excuse me.”

Hotaru just nodded.

* * *

Wataru looked up as the door opened, revealing the Executioner. “Wataru,” he said, “Come with me.”

“Are we going back?” Wataru asked. It occured to him that Hiraoka-san still had some of his belongings.

“Not yet,” the Executioner said. “Actually, it’s time for you to learn how to drain.”

Wataru inwardly winced. He knew he was going to have to learn how, but so soon? “Now?”

The Executioner shrugged. “Just look at it as one of those ceremonial things, and you’ll have a bunch of people around you to make sure you don’t kill your food source.”

A human. Wataru would have to drain a human, even if it was only slightly. He knew running away wouldn’t help the problem, and would make things worse. At best he’d get lost; at worse, he’d run across a human and might accidentally drain them. He nodded tentatively.

“Come on, Wataru,” the Executioner said. Wataru followed him, as obediently as possible.

He was surprised to find himself in the council chambers. Most of the council was there, and a few people he didn’t recognize, presumably all Fangaire. He wondered where the human was.

“Wataru,” Hiraoka-san said, smiling. “Welcome back.”

Wataru nodded nervously. What was he supposed to do here?

“This is Matsuda-san,” she said, indicating the young woman, maybe a little older than he was, that stood beside her. “She’s agreed to let you drain her a little, so that you are fed.”

A little? Wataru wondered how he was supposed to do that.

“Why don’t you hold Matsuda-san’s hands, Wataru?” Hiraoka-san suggested gently, and he did. “Can you feel her energy?”

“Yes,” he said. There was so much energy there, energy that he hadn’t been able to feel before. Somewhere inside, something wanted to draw all that life essence out. He resisted it, not wanting to die shortly after the change.

“You want to take only a little bit,” Hiraoka-san said. “You want to leave the rest of that there, for *her* to enjoy.”

Wataru nodded nervously. He focused, taking a small amount of the energy, hopefully enough to live on. He then let go of her hands. “That’s a little bit low, Wataru,” Hiraoka-san told him. “About half of what you need. Try taking just a little bit more.”

“Right,” he said, as the girl offered her hands to him. He took them reluctantly and concentrated again on her energy, taking a bit more, scared to pull too much.

“Good, Wataru,” Hiraoka-san said. “See? You’ve made it through your
first feeding.” Wataru had the sense that she’d probably done this before. Multiple times. He felt like he was a child learning how to eat.

Of course, in this case, he was learning how to ‘eat’, not eat.

“See, I don’t have to to send you to the Judicial Council your first time,” the Executioner said encouragingly.

He was quietly congratulated by the rest of the council, and much to his surprise, Matsuda-san, who gave him her phone number. “In case you are in the area sometime,” she said.

Wataru had the impression that she meant for more than a friendly visit.

By the time the day finished, the Executioner was driving them home. “It’s not like we need sleep,” he said. “Just nourishment. Food.”

“Humans,” Wataru said. Was he going to have to live the rest of his life drawing energy from them? Of course he was. He was a Fangaire now. And he suspected he’d much, much rather be a human.

“Right,” the Executioner said. “Be grateful, in a way. Centuries ago,before even I was born, there were other beings that weren’t… quite… as civilized as we Fangaire. And one of those kinds required humans to reproduce with as well – the Wolfen. I hear they gradually changed their children into their full kind, and they changed every child. They weren’t as discerning as we are about ours. Of course, they had no compunction about killing humans, either, when they weren’t reproducing with them. We took care of the Wolfen, but it happened at a price.”

“What price as that?” Wataru asked, knowing that the Executioner wouldn’t be talking about the subject for no reason.

“Well, there are no Wolfen, which we’re beginning to regret now. After all, there was a place in the system for them, they just needed to not kill their food supply – we took action because they were killing humans. All it should have taken was capturing a couple of changed Wolfen pups and they could be alongside us today. Nowadays, we can only watch their bloodlines, and some of those descendants don’t really want to be watched. Sometime we get lucky, though, find those lost bloodlines.”

Wataru recalled dimly that Megumi-san’s father had claimed Wolfen blood. But the man was long out of Megumi-san’s life, and he hadn’t cared for Wataru much anyway because of Wataru’s Fangaire ancestry. He’d had no idea that they’d kept track of Wolfen bloodlines – did they know about Megumi-san? Did they know about her father?

Or was theirs a bloodline that had escaped the Fangaire’s scrutiny?

—-

“What would you do if someone shows abilities like that?” Wataru asked, thinking about how Megumi’s father was terrifying, how Megumi-san needed not to come to their attention. Maybe some of those lost Wolfen bloodlines were in other hunter groups, but he’d hardly tell the Executioner that.

“If they showed signs of power, or could even transform?” the Executioner asked. “We’d breed them, get the Wolfen back into existance. We know a little of their history and transformations; we could induce full Wolfen traits in the second generation if we could get our hands on a first. Or maybe even in the first generation. There are other Fangaire that handle that; it’s not really my area of expertise.”

Megumi-san had been good at sensing when she was being watched, always. She had the talent for it, something that he’d never associated with Wolfen blood, but which made so much sense. Maybe her father had power too. It wasn’t like the two of them would be cooperative with the Fangaire.

“We occasionally breed our own children, Wataru,” the Executioner continued. “I would have bred you had I had time before you were changed. We’d do the same for humans or anything else if it was needed.”

“Bred… me?” Wataru asked, not sure he wanted to know why. The fact that the Executioner could so casually think of making him father a child on somebody was chilling; it spoke so much of the Fangaire’s mindset.

“Well, chances were that a child of yours could still use the Kiva armor,” the Executioner pointed out. “The Council doesn’t pay much attention to the children of the Fandiri. If you fathered a child now, maybe on Megumi, the child would be Fandiri… And I think that Hotaru – Hiraoka-san – wouldn’t take kindly to you leaving it with humans to raise. And being my apprentice, you can’t raise it yourself. Our job’s too dangerous.”

“Oh.” So, the Executioner had wanted to give the Kiva armor back to his father and the others. Yuri-san would be glad to hear that. But the reference to Megumi-san bothered him. If she was part-Wolfen, he probably couldn’t have children with her.

“As I’m pretty sure you know, there are ways for humans to use the Kiva armor,” the Executioner said. “It depends on whether the potential wielder has objections to having Fangaire blood in their system.” He looked over. “How many of those in your current cell would be willing to do that?”

“Father might,” Wataru said. “I don’t know if Yuri-san would and I don’t know if Megumi-san would.” If Megumi-san was part Wolfen, it was probably not a good idea to mix her Wolfen blood with his Fangaire blood. Shima-san was too important, though he was a better choice than Megumi-san, and Kondo-san? He wasn’t sure, the man was too new. If one took Megumi-san’s boyfriend’s cell into account, that was another handful of people that might be available. “Maybe a few others.”

“That cell is very small,” the Executioner said. “Are you thinking of other, associated cells?”

Wataru nodded. “There are others we trust.”

“Wataru,” the Executioner said, “The only way we’re going to be able to use the others is if you get the two cells to merge together. Then you can claim them all as helpers and we don’t have to worry about the Council and the Watcher going ballistic over hunters having access to the Kiva armor.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t considered that.

“But there’ll be time to do that, once I’m sure that you can go among humans and not feed from them more than you’re supposed to. And I have to go to your father’s house and explain about out little eco-problem to him and Yuri. Unless you trust yourself with your appetite now?”

Wataru shook his head. “I’m not sure, but I know you’ll stop me. Or Yuri-san or Father will.” Yuri tended to be armed. His father would be if he was warned.

The Executioner nodded. “After a few more times where I can see you feeding. Until then, let’s keep to phone conversations where I don’t have to worry about you draining either of them.”

“But you promised Yuri-san….”

“And I will tell her what’s going on, I promised her.” The Executioner looked over at Wataru. “I will hold my promise to my fellow hunter.”

Wataru just nodded.

* * *

Wataru, the Executioner observed, often showed what he was feeling clearly on his face. He was still very human-like and he didn’t seem convinced that breeding was a good idea.

And whenever the Executioner mentioned Aso Megumi, Wataru’s expression changed. He hadn’t acted like that before the conversation about the Wolfen. The Watcher had long supposed that some of their missing Wolfen lines were probably part of hunter cells, especially the more radical ones, and the Executioner had to wonder if those members had been partially, if accidentally, awakened. If they’d been partly awakened, then they could possibly be fully awakened. There were those among the Fangaire who would love to awaken a Wolfen pup into full Wolfen existance. And he had to look at the possibility that Megumi was such a pup, showing signs of that long-ago ancestry.

But it wasn’t something to be done immediately. After all, her mother didn’t fully trust the Executioner, and she still had to get used to the fact that Wataru was Fangaire. His change should at least bring it home to both of them that Wataru was not human, had never been human.

Just as Megumi, if she was of Wolfen blood, would not be human after her awakening. He wondered how her mother would react to two of their cell being changed to what she no doubt considered not human, including her daughter.

Maybe he should leave the intriguing possibility of Aso Megumi’s bloodline until after things became less pressing. He still needed the cell’s cooperation; there was plenty of time to point interested Fangaire in Megumi’s direction for testing. An awakened Wolfen would be an asset, but not something to worry about at the moment.

“While you get adjusted to your new self,” the Executioner said, breaking off that topic, “there’s a fair amount of research we can do. We need to spot where mysterious deaths are occuring.” Of course, probably not all the eco-killers were killing by drain; if they were smart, then they’d try another method to get rid of the ‘excess humans’ instead of using obvious Fangaire drain. “Once we figure out where, we might be able to figure out who. And if we make enough of an example, the rest of them might figure that it’s not worth the risk to kill humans.”

“Do you think it’ll work?”

“Never had much experience with it,” the Executioner said, “But a few executions would seem to do the trick for most of them, I think. Most of us like our lives too much to lose them. Of course, what I’m worried about is martyrs.” Martyrs would be *bad*, he knew he wouldn’t have to tell Wataru that.

Wataru nodded, as if absorbing that information. He’d probably contemplate it, put all the pieces together. It wasn’t like he didn’t have plenty of time. Fangaire *could* sleep, just like they *could* eat, some of them did go to bed every night for a year or two after the change, but he intended to keep Wataru up. Not only would he be able to brainstorm with Wataru, but Wataru would see the benefits of becoming Fangaire. Given Wataru’s upbringing, he probably didn’t see that there were benefits, therefore he’d struggled during his change.

Aso Yuri might have taught Wataru to hunt, but she also was probably responsible for some of Wataru’s problems. Still, Wataru was who he was because of Aso Yuri, and the Executioner had to respect that. Besides, she might soften in time. And Megumi, even if she wasn’t part-Wolfen, would be a good one to bring in closer as well.

It would be great if Megumi was of Wolfen ancestry; she’d have a Fangaire near her that she had grown up with, and maybe, hopefully, loved.

After a while, they arrived home. A few of Wataru’s belongings were in the back, from when he’d given them, along with Wataru, over to Hotaru. “Grab your things and settle back in,” he said, “I’ll start going over news reports on strange deaths.” Thank goodness for the Watcher’s suggestions; he not only owned a computer, but had a service that sent him those kinds of ‘clippings’. “You’re welcome to join me when you’re done.”

With that, he left Wataru to go upstairs while he turned on his computer. As expected, the service had come up with a few clippings and stories that it had deemed worth his while. He scanned them, not finding any obvious killings-by-Fangaire. Of course, as he’d told Wataru, some of them were going to try non-obvious things, and he could easily imagine Fangaire killing by human methods instead of draining, if they were so deranged. He hoped that if they had to kill, they’d do it the obvious way, being taught to be gentle with the humans they shared the planet with.

Mass killings, mass disappearances, would be something to watch for too. If the humans shattered after drain, and the Fangaire in question took time to shatter those forms and take away the clothes, then people might not know it was a Fangaire drain. And some Fangaire, he knew, would seek to make their victims’ last few hours as pleasant as possible before killing them. In many countries, people in teeming metropolitan areas were sure to be missed, but not as much as in a small village, where they’d notice a stranger.

If the Fangaire in question was smart, they’d stick to densely-populated areas. Urban ones. First-world countries. They’d pick up the MOs of human killers, with the added need to get rid of the clothes. If they left Japan, chances were the human police wouldn’t know what to make of the remnants of a Fangaire draining.

Wataru came down as he mused about the best methods to kill humans and how to discern them from humans killing each other. “Have a seat, Wataru,” he said. “I’m just going through some of these clippings. Our prey are likely to be subtle; it might take us a while to find them and stop them.”

“Here, or overseas?” Wataru asked, wide-eyed. Wataru had likely never been outside Tokyo, much less outside Japan. Some hunter-born tended to be very sheltered because their parents had ‘protected’ them a bit too much. Of course, some regular Fandiri had that problem too.

“Could be either,” the Executioner said. “I’ll get you a computer in your room and teach you how to sign into the clipping system so that you can start looking for patterns too. After all, you don’t have to waste any more time in sleep like you used to. Unless you want to, of course.”

Wataru nodded, reaching for a printout that the Executioner had made. The Executioner himself realized that Wataru had slept quite a bit after his change as his system remolded itself from Fandiri to Fangaire. He was probably wide awake, and his feeding had helped.

“Tomorrow, I’ll call your father, and I’ll break the news to him. And Yuri, of course.” He hoped the two would react as expected, Otoya more-or-less accepting and Yuri annoyed but reasonable. She might not believe him, of course, until she saw Wataru again.

——————

After several hours of going through leads, even the Executioner had to admit that he wasn’t precisely getting anywhere, and neither was Wataru. But he counted it a minor victory that Wataru hadn’t gone to bed, either. Of course, Wataru had gotten a nap in the previous twenty-four hours, so definitely not so surprising, and possibly helpful. He’d see how the next night went.

In the meantime, it was time to call the Wonderful Blue Sky organization, or at least Kurenai Otoya. It was really to Aso Yuri that he owed the explanation to about the rogue Fangaire, but first he had to break the news to Otoya that his son had been changed. And then he’d convince Yuri that it was a good thing. And then he’d enlist their help in finding his rogues. They were a helper group, after all, and hunters. They probably had some good ideas.

And if he could convince that group to work with him, he could keep an eye on Yuri’s daughter Megumi and see if she did have Wolfen traits. He’d never met someone with those traits, but he had some idea, since it had long been rumored that there were potentially-interfering hunter groups with Wolfen bloodlines in them.

Putting that out of his mind as something that could be dealt with later, he dialed Otoya’s home number, getting the answering machine, and then his cellphone. The Executioner was immensely grateful for each communications improvement that had happened; it made things much easier when one could just call one’s allies – or allies-to-be – wherever you were and they were. Well, almost.

“Hello,” Otoya said. “Wataru?”

Taking that as a question about his son’s state and not that his son had called him, the Executioner answered. “He’s fine. Just… he’s changed.”

There was silence on the line. The Exeutioner could hear Yuri’s voice, answered by Otoya, and suddenly there was a slight scuffle in the background. “Changed?” Yuri asked, apparently having taken the cellphone away from Otoya. “You don’t mean….”

“It was either do this or have to sever all contact with your cell,” the Executioner reasoned. “I thought Wataru would be a better person with you and the others by his side.”

“Wataru is human,” Yuri said.

“Wataru is, and was never human,” the Executioner pointed out. “You might have raised him human, true, and he does act human. Hm. In a way, yes, he is human.” Yuri had a point. Wataru had been raised human, for the most part. Of course, like all ferals, he would have been taught to avoid exposing his true nature, so he would never be completely human. The Executioner hoped that both Wataru and his cell – all of which so far had proved to be reasonably intelligent – would figure that out. “And in some ways, I think that he shouldn’t lose that perspective. Thus I didn’t want him to lose contact with you.”

“But he’s still Fangaire,” Yuri said. “When can we see him?”

“Ah,” the Executioner said, looking in the general direction of the stairs, “As soon as I’m sure he can drain properly. In the meantime, I’ll make sure he calls you – no reason for him to stay out of contact. And I’d like to have a meeting with at least some of you. I promised to tell you about some rogues, and I’d like to see what you think.”

That might or might not mollify Yuri. At least maybe if he kept her and the others busy, then she’d have less time to think about what had happened to Wataru and get used to him as he’d become instead of the boy she’d helped raise.

“We’ll come,” she said briefly.

“I’ll come to Kurenai Otoya’s residence,” he corrected, hearing the thump of Wataru’s footsteps as he came down the stairs. “I don’t want to put you at risk, and I don’t want you to let your guard down just because he’s Wataru.”

Wataru stepped into the living room, a questioning expression on his face, and the Executioner motioned for him to sit down. “When’s a convenient time to come?” he asked.

“We can be at the Kurenai residence in….” she paused, and asked Otoya in the background. Otoya gave her a figure. “Ten minutes.”

“I’ll be there in half an hour to an hour,” the Executioner said. “I want to make sure Wataru’s okay to be left alone.”

“You’re leaving a new Fangaire in your house, alone?” Yuri asked, sounding doubtful.

“Because it’s my house, and as I said, your guard’s likely to be down if you see Wataru,” the Executioner argued. “I have ways of making it safer, but it’s better for him to be here alone than near humans at the moment. And if worst comes to worst… I have manacles.”

“Right,” Yuri said, not sounding happy at all. “We’ll see you there.”

She hung up, and the Executioner did the same. To Wataru, who was sitting there looking like he desperately wanted to know what was going on, he said, “I’m going down to your father’s house to talk to him and Yuri about our misguided Fangaire.”

Wataru nodded. “And me?”

“I have a suspicion that they’ll be wanting to talk about you. To you, as well, but it’s best if we don’t do that face to face for a few weeks. As it is, I’m going to trust you not to go outside, not to answer the doorbell, and if for some bizarre reason some human, Fangaire or anything else tries to force their way in, to call the police. If you have to deal with the police and you feel uncomfortable being around humans, call Hotaru – Hiraoka-san. She’ll come and be there for you.” Wataru was still new enough that Hotaru would be there for him like he was still a Fandiri.

“Oh,” Wataru said, not looking too sure on whether he wanted to be left alone.

“And what I said to Yuri about letting one’s guard down applies to you as well,” the Executioner explained. “It’s actually less work being around strangers than your own family, at least at the start. Over the years, you’ll be used to working with them – and they’ll be used to working with you.” Especially if he could get one of those other cells they were affiliated with to merge. Aso Megumi’s status was precarious at the moment, and they did need to create second and third generation hunters – preferably soon. “So, stay here, and eat something if you need to.”

“Eat… something?” Wataru asked, and the Executioner could understand why he sounded so confused.

“Sure,” he said. “While it’s no real substitute for energy, food *will* distract your body enough that you won’t feel the urge to drain the nearest human. It works best for younger Fangaire than us old folks, but by the time it stops working quite so well on you, you’ll be able to control your appetite.”

Wataru nodded, no doubt absorbing the information. The Executioner figured that if anybody would be into not killing random – or not so random – humans, it would be Wataru, and if there was anything he could do to prevent it, he would.

The boy would make a fine Executioner someday. And his team – maybe a mix of human and Wolfen at that point – would serve him in good stead.

“I’ll be back in an hour or two,” he promised, gathering together what information was on paper instead of in his head. He was nowhere as neat as the Watcher, but he did keep his files.

* * *

The Executioner showed up at Otoya’s gate in about the timeframe he’d given them. Yuri had made sure Otoya’s place was wired for sound; who knew what he might let slip? She had to reluctantly admit, however, that at least he had held to his promise to tell them about the rogues.

He just hadn’t managed to keep Wataru safe. Wataru had not been a monster when she’d last seen him, and he was going to be a monster now. There was little she could do about it, there was no way to reverse the change. The best she could hope for was to keep Wataru in touch with his human roots, just as Naoko had wanted him to be. It was odd sharing that in common with a Fangaire, but Naoko had at least tried to keep humans’ concerns in mind. Naoko was still a Fangaire, but Yuri had to admit that she was one of the few decent ones.

None of the monsters were good. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Fangaire had killed the other monsters off so they wouldn’t interfere with their prey. Of course, she knew through Jiro that the Wolfen had ducked long enough to bring about several human-Wolfen bloodlines, and Jiro himself treasured his heritage. Yuri, after two decades of checking things out, wasn’t too sure about the good part of keeping the Wolfen bloodline from dying out, and Megumi barely knew about that part of her ancestry. Once Yuri had figured out that the Wolfen had used humans too, she was determined to let her own bloodline die out if it killed that Wolfen bloodline as well.

Otoya showed the Executioner in, and they settled in chairs around a table. Yuri kept her mind on the subject; if the Fangaire was willing to share information, information that they could verify, then she was going to use it.

“We Fangaire have a problem,” the Executioner said. “It seems like there are those of us who have forgotten our obligation to not kill humans, though they see it as the preservation of humankind in general. All of us like this planet as it is, we don’t want it to die. Some of us have taken to killing humans, especially outside Japan, to reduce the human population and to save our planet. Their view is that to save humans, they have to kill some. Needless to say, killing humans on purpose for any reason is a death sentence, but some of the more extreme ones are willing to risk death by my hand to save the world in their eyes. It’s no different than some of the more extreme human environmentalists, but in many ways, this cause is more deadly.”

Yuri let the Executioner ramble on, saving the important bits in her head. So, the Fangaire were showing their true colors, outside the normal reach of hunter groups. Their group would need the cooperation of others to hunt them down. They had some weapons they could use, after all, weapons that didn’t require Wataru and his Fangaire blood.

“So, you want us to hunt them down?” Otoya asked.

“At least help me hunt them down,” the Executioner said. “I wasn’t joking about the authorization to fight; your cell knows how to do it, and if you can track them down – and it is a Fangaire – you should have the right to hunt it. If Wataru is okay with being around humans, he can go with you. He is a member of your cell, after all.”

Nice of him to acknowledge that, Yuri mused. But it wasn’t total freedom; they’d be nothing but lackeys of the Executioner, not true hunters, no matter what the Executioner tried to hide or soften the truth.

And Yuri wasn’t sure she wanted to be a hunter on those terms.

Crossposted from Ramblings Yet Once More here.