CHAPTER 6

HEY GUYS AND GALS! I hope your all enjoying the story! Things still aren't as heated as I want them to be, but there's going to be a special twist at the end of the chapter that's going to cause quite a few problems. Now, moving on we have had 2 people so far vote for their preferred parings, and both of them were Rikimaro x Black Rabbit. If that's what you guys want, then I have NO PROBLEMS with writing that. This story is all about you guys having control so feel free to use it! I ended up creating a poll for you all to vote on that's on my main page. Just go to it and chose your top 3 picks! Also, please give me ideas for Gift powers and games. I'll need them when it comes time for fights and such. I have a few, so no immediate rush, but all help is appreciated. Now, I bring you…. CHAPTER 6! ENJOY!

Rikimaro was walking around, trying to find the café that Asuka and You mentioned. He wasn't in a hurry, since it was just turning noon, but he certainly wouldn't mind a bite to eat. The streets were packed with people of all types of races. From the most common of humans, to the human/cat or dog people, all the way up to flying serpents, all could be seen on this street.

"I can't believe there are so many types of beings here. Yui would really love this place." He said to himself, thinking of his friend yet again. He missed her and how annoying she could be at times, but always managed to bring a smile to his face in the end. He missed how she would, without invitation, come over to his place after school just for food and company. He really missed her. Shaking his head to dismiss these thoughts, Rikimaro looked up and saw Leticia and Pest walking down the street. Smiling to himself, he started to follow them, waiting for them to head into even the slightest shadow. Suddenly they both turned down an alleyway that had no people and had plenty of shadows.

"This couldn't be more perfect." Rikimaro said with a smile. Quickly running into an alley on the opposite side, he dropped into the shadows and appeared on the other side, completely silent. He then raised his hand and let his shadows do the rest.

Leticia was the first to notice something was happening. Probably because she tried to take a step and couldn't. Pest was only a second behind in discovering this herself. Quickly, both of them readied for a potential fight until they fell from a shadow pushing them to the ground. They were quickly restrained by shadows reaching over their arms. Realizing the trouble they were in, they yelled for help. Suddenly, they heard laughing as Rikimaro walked up to them and dismissed the shadows.

"Ohh, I got you two good. Completely frightened. Ahh that was great!" Rikimaro said as he kept laughing. Leticia and Pest both looked at each other in confusion, shock, and some fear still. Pest was the first to finally look back to Rikimaro.

"W-What was that?" Pest asked, truly confused.

"Yes, what was that?" Leticia also questioned.

"Ahh that was my [Gift]. Just learned what it was and how to use it about five minutes ago from Shiroyasha." Rikimaro said, gesturing towards the [Thousand Eyes] building with his thumb. Upon hearing this, both girls perked up, especially Pest.

"What's it called and what does it do?" she asked, stars in her eyes as her mind raced to discover new ways to play tricks on people.

"It's called [Shadow of the Night]. It lets me travel between shadows and create things with the shadows. I can also apparently take the trait of any nocturnal creature, but I can't control that yet." He replied, chuckling as Pest's eyes grew wider and wider.

"That sounds like it could be quite useful." Leticia said. When Rikimaro turned to look at her, he was shocked and took a couple steps back. Standing in front of him and Pest was a much older, more mature Leticia. Seeing Rikimaro's reaction, she let out a small laugh. "My, I forgot to tell you didn't I. This is my other form, you see, for I am a pureblood vampire.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"THAT'S AWSOME! I HAVE A FRIEND WHO WHOULD KILL TO MEET YOU AND ASK YOU ALL SORTS OF QUESTIONS!" Rikimaro shouted after the short silence, but quickly quieted down. "Err, well, I had a friend…"

"Oh, who was this?" Pest and Leticia both asked at the same time.

"Yui. Yui Asuse. She was my friend back in my world. Probably my only friend for a long time. Heh, it kinda figures that I ended up coming here instead of her. She loved everything involving the supernatural and mythology." Rikimaro answered, his voice taking on a slightly sad tone.

"You really miss her." Pest commented.

"Yeah. God was she annoying at times but I miss her all the same. Maybe one day we'll meet back up." He said, forcing himself to be optimistic. Pest started to say something, but Leticia cut her off.

"I truly am sorry. I know it's hard to talk about, especially since your still adjusting to being here." Leticia said as she walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "But know that you have friends here now too. And despite knowing you for only a short while, I'm sure all of us would miss you the same way you miss your friend. I'm certain you two will meet up again someday."

"Thanks. I'm fine, but I appreciate what you said." He said with a smile. "Now, before you two run off and do whatever you were doing, can you help me find a café? Asuka and You said they were going to be there and the three of us were to go shopping."

"Ahh, I know the place. When you walk out of the alley, take a left until you reach the plaza. It should be immediately on your right. If you can't find it, I'm sure they will see you and grab you." Leticia directed as she put on her red bow that had fallen out. Suddenly she changed back into her younger self.

"Gahh, that's going to take some getting used to!" Rikimaro said as he started to walk back down the alley. "Well, thank you for the directions. I'll see you two later!" He waived and started to walk off. The girls waved back and proceeded to their destination. Rikimaro quickly got caught up in the crowd and progress was slow.

Out of nowhere there was a loud shout and Black Rabbit came barreling through the crowd with Izayoi chasing close behind. Risking getting burned, Rikimaro quickly formed two large shadow hands attached to his own by taking the shadows of the people on the street. Immediately there was a burning sensation, but it wasn't nearly as bad as earlier during the game. He reached out and easily grabbed the two, bringing them close and setting them down gently.

"What are you two doing?"

"BLACK RABBIT HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG! BLACK RABBIT WAS JUST TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM THIS PERVERT!" Black Rabbit shouted and tried to run again, but was stopped by Rikimaro's shadows that still frightened her. Rikimaro looked at Izayoi for his response.

"Just trying to get payback for her hitting me so many times with that paper fan of hers." He shrugged. Rikimaro just sighed.

"Well then why don't you two go outside the walls and do that? So that, you know, people don't get trampled!" Rikimaro suggested.

"Fineee." The two of them said. Black Rabbit immediately took off, and Izayoi tried to follow but was stopped by Rikimaro.

"Before you go, Shiroyasha told me to tell you that if you take pictures of what happens, she'll consider that payment for earlier." Rikimaro explained.

"Heh, no argument there!" He yelled as he quickly took off after Black Rabbit. Rikimaro just sighed again in confusion.

"I can't tell if they're in a relationship or not. If this were a story and I were the writer, I'd ask people what they want to happen." He muttered and started walking. "But then again, I'd probably do something stupid like create a harem where the main character is an over powered badass and can shoot lasers from his eyes. All well."

Moving quicker now since the crowd had dispersed quite quickly in an attempt to get away from Black Rabbit and Izayoi, Rikimaro stood at the edge of the street, looking at the plaza. He was about to start walking around when he felt someone tap his shoulder. Turning, he saw a smiling You.

"Took your time finding us, didn't you." She asked.

"Sorry. Ran into Leticia and Pest, then Izayoi and Black Rabbit." He explained as she took him over to the café.

"Who's pest?" Asuka asked, overhearing him as the two approached.

"Percher. When she introduced herself she asked me to call her Pest. I'm already use to it since she is surprisingly clingy." He replied. Both girls looked at each other in surprise.

"Do you even know what she represents?" Asuka asked, still surprised that Percher had already grown fond of him in such a short time. Rikimaro simply blinked and shook his head in response. "She is the embodiment of the Black Plague. The disease that ran rampant in the dark ages." Upon hearing this, Rikimaro's eyes grew in shock but to his credit, didn't panic or freak out.

"The Black Death. That kind girl is the embodiment of the Black Death…" he said before he suddenly started laughing. "You just cant make up stuff like that! This world is truly amazing!" The girls, as well as several of the café's patrons, looked at him as he continued to laugh hysterically. Eventually, he calmed down, but still let out the occasional chuckle.

"I really don't see how that was funny." Asuka deadpanned. You was just smiling and drinking her tea.

"Is just that, this world has so much to offer! In my world, the black plague ended in 1353. I don't know what time is like here or what it was like in your worlds, but that was a full 661 years ago. There should be no way possible to have anything to do with it, and yet in this world there is a child who is the embodiment of the Black Plague!" he explained. Asuka and You both stopped paying attention when he said how many years had gone by.

"Wait, 661 years? What year was it where you come from?" Asuka asked.

"2014, why? What year are you two from?" he questioned back.

"1952 for me, but it was getting close to winter so almost 53." You chimed in.

"Same year for me, but it was summer. What's the future like where you come from?" Asuka said, clearly interested in what his world was like.

"Well probably the most amazing things are the cell-phone and the internet. The internet is a giant repository of information that can be brought up at a moment's notice, though it originally was intended for military purposes. Now it mainly used for entertainment or business. You can even make video calls to people so you can see them in real time on the other side of the world. Cell-phones are basically regular phones, but operate wirelessly and can access the internet also. When we get back to the house I'll show you mine." He offered, immediately getting nods of approval from the girls.

"So is there war?" You asked.

"There is sadly. Nothing as large or devastating as what happened in World War 1 and 2, but it's still bad. Currently the biggest threat is terrorism instead of actual war." He replied, using his shadow to raise his glass of water that the waitress provided to his mouth.

"OH THAT'S RIGHT!" Asuka almost shouted. "We forgot to ask what your [Gift] is called!"

"Was wondering when you would ask. It's called [Shadow of the Night] and it apparently has more to it than we thought." He said, thinking about how Vlad, one of his ancestors, was the original owner of the [Gift] and a suspect for the attack on the [No Names]. "Apparently it has a feature that's like your [Genome Tree] You. I can take on the aspects of nocturnal creatures. I'm not sure if it's just for animals or also for mythological creatures, but regardless I'm really interested in learning more about it."

"So are we. It sounds like it could be very useful for us." Asuka said. You smiled and nodded.

"Yes, it sounds like we have more in common now!" You chipped in happily.

"Anyway, you said that you wanted to go shopping? What were you planning on getting?" Asuka asked.

"Clothes. I only have this one outfit and I'd rather not have to burden everyone by having them be washed every night." He replied.

"Well then, shall we go?" You said, standing up at the same time as Asuka. Both of them extremely excited at the idea of clothes shopping.

"Well, that's just it, I have no idea what to use as currency here." Rikimaro said, standing up with the girls. They both let out a small laugh.

"We figured that much, especially since it's only your first day here." Asuka said, taking out a small leather pouch. Opening it, she revealed several gold coins. "I'm not exactly sure on the conversion rate, but each coin is roughly 100 dollars from where we come from."

"100 dollars!" Rikimaro exclaimed. "I've never seen so much money before! Back where I came from, I had to work multiple jobs to pay rent and get food."

"It was really that hard for you?" Asuka asked, visibly concerned along with You.

"It wasn't that bad I guess. The hardest thing to do was simply pay rent. I was studying overseas on my own then my parents suddenly disowned me. I wanted to prove myself so I got a couple jobs to pay rent, but I guess the place I had was too expensive." He said, rubbing the back of his head. "Now that I think about it, it was a bit much for a single person. Guess I should have asked my friend for rent since she was over basically every day."

"Oh? Who would that be?" You asked, her face growing somewhat red as the trio walked from shop to shop, occasionally looking in to see if there was anything Rikimaro would want.

"Yui Asuse. My childhood friend who ended up winning an opportunity to attend the same school I had enrolled in a year after I got there. She was nice. Always tried to be positive about everything and was exceptionally smart. Loved anything and everything mythological. Oh how she would kill to be here." He said as she looked through a rack of shirts, not finding anything he liked. Turning around, he saw a jacket and immediately fell in love with it. "This, this is it." He said, drawing the attention of Asuka and You.

"This?" Asuka asked, reaching out and touching the jacket in question.

"Yes. It's perfect." He said, eyes turned into stars in admiration. Asuka and You both had sweat drops on their heads out of concern for Rikimaro's sudden obsession. He quickly grabbed the jacket, some dark jeans, and headed for the changing room. A few loud crashes, and growing sweat drops for the girls, later, he popped out.

The jacket was a white and orange jacket, the same colors as his old one, but this one was primarily white with orange lines on his shoulders going down to his elbows. A few inches below that were three orange rings going completely around his arm, and orange stripe went down the center along the zipper. The rest was all a flat white. In combination with the dark jeans he wore and his haircut, the girls thought it was a great look.

"I have to say, I'm surprised it looks so good on you." Asuka said. "When you picked it out, I wasn't sure what you were thinking."

"Yeah, I'm spontaneous like that. All the more fun for me to leave everyone guessing at what I'm doing." I said with a small, evil grin. We quickly paid for the clothes, though it felt strange having the girls pay for them and being unable to pay them back at all. I really needed to get a cash flow of my own.

With my shopping out of the way for now, we stopped at a couple other shops for the girls. They didn't end up buying anything, to my knowledge at least, but they defiantly had a great time looking. Around half way through, the girls (more specifically Asuka) wanted me to be more of the kind, gentlemanly escort. In a small fit of laughter, I put on my best voice possible for just such an occasion.

"My deepest apologies young princesses," I said in my best old English voice possible, "Please forgive thy empty headedness. If you would grant me thine honor, would you permit me to escort you around the town?" I got down on one knee and bowed, one hand over my heart and the other behind my back. Upon seeing and hearing this, Asuka and You broke out laughing for a good five minutes. It was truly a sight to see them literally double over and struggle to breath from their laughter. When they finally started to stop, I let them have it.

"My ladies, Tis not proper to show such a display of yourselves rolling around and laughing in the filth. Please, do get up and permit me to be thine escort, as it is approaching sunset and two fine ladies should not be out after dark unaccompanied." I said, still with my best old English voice. The two once again started laughing, but managed to stay standing this time when I grabed the two of them and held them up. Finally, after a good couple minutes, the stopped laughing.

"Oh, that was good!" You said, still letting out occasional giggles.

"I certainly wasn't expecting that! And that voice!" Asuka said, letting loose a small torrent of laughs again, but managed to compose herself.

"Well, its good that you two were having such a good time with it." I said. "But the offer still stands." I offered my arms to Asuka and You, who graciously took them. You seemed far more unaccustomed to this than Asuka did, as You had a hue of pink on her face after a few minutes of walking. Asuka also was a shade of red, though it could have just been the light from the sunset. Suddenly I had a brilliant idea for how to end my first day here.

"Don't panic." Was all I said. The girls looked at me in question, then let out a small yelp as we dove down into a shadow that we had been walking on. Using my powers, brought us to a tall tower that I had seen earlier in the day. It had several columns supporting an old, roman style bowl top roof that cast plenty of shadows for me to pop up at. As we emerged only seconds later, the girls rapidly tried to compose themselves for being so easily startled.

"Will you give us more of a warning next time!" Asuka yelled at me. "I thought we were under attack or something!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I said, trying to defend myself. "I just figured I should show you some of my powers and wanted to end the day with a nice view."

"It's pretty." You said, already sitting down on the edge and looking out at the sunset. She seemed to not care that I had done that, though she wouldn't look at me either.

"I guess I can forgive you, seeing as you brought us to a wonderful view." Asuka said as she walked over and leaned on one of the columns.

"Glad you two like it." Was all I said as I sat down on the ledge.

"Oh-ho! So you're already making your move huh?" came a voice from above us. Somewhat startled, we all looked up to see Izayoi and Black Rabbit, sitting atop the dome. "What? Cant we enjoy a sunset without it ending up in a fight?" Izayoi said with a grin.

"No." Asuka said simply. "Your antics never allow for it."

"I agree." You added.

"Ouch, that hurts." Izayoi said, his grin growing into a smile. "And her I thought we were friends." Black Rabbit hit Izayoi with her paper fan suddenly. "OW! What was that for?"

"You talk to much." Black Rabbit said. "Black Rabbit wants to enjoy the sunset." Izayoi simply quieted down and smiled. I looked back at the sunset as it cast large streaks of colors through the sky. After a few minutes, You's head ended up resting on my shoulder. I looked over at her and discovered that she was asleep. I smiled and sat there, not wanting to wake her.

"If this is what this world is going to be like, then I defiantly have no plans of leaving." I muttered to myself, but everyone heard me anyway and smiled. Finally, the sun cast its last few rays of light and vanished, revealing a star filled sky. We sat there a while longer, looking at the stars before a couple yawns were heard.

"I suppose we should start heading back." Asuka said.

"Yup." I said, gently getting up and picking up You, who was sound asleep. "Izayoi, Black Rabbit, get down here." A quick flip later and they were standing with us. "Grab a hold of me, were going to take the express route back."

Izayoi grabbed my left sleeve and Asuka grabbed my right. Black Rabbit, however, was in front of us, trembling.

"Black Rabbit doesn't want to feel the shadows again!" she complained.

"Come on, I promise that it won't feel like it did last time." I said. "That was only because we were fighting."

"Y-You promise?" she asked, slowly walking towards me and grabbing onto You.

"Well, I can try." I said as we dropped into the shadows before Black Rabbit could respond or let go. Picturing the main gateway, I found that it hurt me to think to pop up there. A few feet back however, and we rose up from the ground.

Right in behind Leticia and Percher, who immediately sensed something and turned around, ready to defend themselves. Once they noticed it was us, however, they quickly settled down and smiled. We ended up talking for a bit as we walked in but I was still carrying You, so I took my leave early to put her to bed. As I was walking she ended up clinging to me, smiling and muttering something about warmth. I simply smiled at her current childlike appearance as we came upon her room. When I opened the door I heard a soft meow. Looking down, I saw Calico cat by my feet.

"Hey buddy, where did you end up running off to?" I asked, receiving only another meow as a reply.

"I can't understand you, though I'm guessing it probably had to do with that waitress with the cat ears. Hehe." Calico cat meowed loudly and started to lick his paw.

"Oh, so you got that lucky! Good for you." I said as I placed You on her bed, not wanting to end up changing her to her pajamas as that would be weir for a guy to do, especially with her cat here to tell her everything. Calico cat jumped up onto the bed and meowed while looking at You.

"Don't worry buddy. She was just tired and fell asleep on my shoulder while we were all looking at the sunset. She's fine." I said, scratching Calico cat's underbelly and receiving loud purring noises. "Well I'm going now. You two seep well." I said and left. Not feeling tired, I walked back to the sitting room, only to find everyone gone. After some wandering around and not finding anyone, I assumed they had all gone to bed.

'Well,' I thought to myself, 'might as well get to training. Still got a lot to learn about this new power of mine.' I slowly walked my way out of the building, making sure to turn off the lights as I went. As I stepped outside, I noticed some clouds had come in and covered the moon, leaving the landscape incredibly dark. Thankfully, my eyesight quickly adjusted, and I melded with the shadows, disappearing for a long night of training.

Starting out was a rapid tour of the city that I had already been to, jumping from shadow to shadow. Occasionally I would run a few steps and vault over some boxes, only to dive into the darkness and come flying out of some ally while quickly changing to a roll. I was really enjoying this new power of mine. If I had known about it back in my world, I would never have been late to anything. Tripping on a loose flagstone, I fell to the ground only to become engulfed in the shadows. Coming out of the top of the dome at the tower we had watched the sunset at, I landed on my feet then quickly preformed a leap of faith off one of the edged.

What I didn't expect was for there to be a lantern lighting up the ground! Panicking, I felt myself slowing down until I was floating in the air. Looking over my shoulder, I saw several shadows attached to my back, forming two sets of wings, all rapidly fluttering.

"… Didn't see that coming." I muttered to myself. "What else can I do?" I slowly dropped to the ground, not eager to keep flying as I had no assurance that I could maintain that. As I landed on the ground, I remembered what Shiroyasha said about my power and nocturnal animals. Trying to remember something that would be a nocturnal ground animal, I steered my thoughts towards mythological creatures. After a couple minutes of thinking I finally remembered a creature I wanted to try out: the Amarok. A wolf from Eskimo folklore, it was said to be much larger than normal wolves, eating the soul of anyone foolish enough to hunt alone at night.

After thinking for a bit about the characteristics of the Amarok, I started to run. At first nothing remarkable happened, I just ran at my normal speed, but soon enough I felt that I was running much slower than I could be. Deciding to go all out, I started to run through the streets at speeds much faster than I could normally run. Yet, I felt I could still go faster despite going all out. I stopped abruptly and pondered a though: if I can control the shadows and create things, could I create a shadow body of an Amarok?

Not wasting any time, I willed the shadows to form around me, creating the body of a large wolf. According to legends, the Amarok was a snow white color, but the body I had created around myself was pitch black. Then to my surprise, the shadows changed and solidified. Instead of feeling my normal body, I could feel the fur all along the wolf body I was now in. I could feel the strong, well-toned muscles throughout me adjust to their new spots, twitching with an eagerness to test themselves. I certainly wasn't expecting this, but I was having too much fun to complain. The only downside I had found was that I couldn't talk as a human anymore.

Deciding to run back to the [No Names] base, I took off, causing the tiles in the road to go flying as I reached top speed in a matter of seconds. Running at almost double the speed I had been running at as a human, I was thoroughly enjoying myself and found my way back to the base without trouble. The smells alone were quite different from that of the rest of the community, so it was extremely easy to find.

Arriving back at the base finally, I used what I was now calling [Shadow Leap] to get into my room without opening any doors or breaking any windows. Still standing, I tried to change back to my human form when I felt a sudden twinge of fear and panic rush through me.

I couldn't change back.

dun Dun DUN!

Haha! I told you there would be a twist! And yes, a cliffhanger to boot! I truly am evil! Now, as I said up top, I created a poll for you all to put in your votes for the top 3 choices for Rikimaro's girl. It is located on my profile page, and if you have any problems getting to it, let me know. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave any review you feel like leaving!