Ozaki stood in the bathroom atop the mizobe apartment he'd been forced to relocate to. It was nearly evening, nearly time for him to, once again, continue the dark experiments he had begun several days before. He took a look at himself, the mirror was sparklingly clean, unusual for someone as disorganized as the doctor. The amber light from the sunset just beyond the window glared in his eyes.

"I definitely need some sleep. Maybe the monsters can wait until midday for me to resume…..no, if I want to try anything invasive its probably for the best that they aren't turning to ash while I slice into them…I suppose I could just move them up like I planned." Ozaki gave himself one last look. He was getting crusty. His facial hair had progressed from his normal stubble to a scraggly patchy mat of a beard, not unlike something a teenager would grow to try to look older. His eyes were bloodshot too, along with black velvety bags that sagged from either corner. He licked his lips to try and get rid of the dry sticky feeling in his mouth. He drew a glass of water and carried it over to the small cot in the corner. He reached into a small backpack lying underneath and pulled out a small bottle of sleeping pills. Without even glancing at the label he popped the cap and poured a few into his hand. He grabbed the water and downed them just as carelessly as he poured them. "what im dong is not healthy…but its just temporary, once I finish with them I can put an end to this dark chapter of my life." He thought as he slowly drifted out of consciousness. The peaceful black veil of sleep enveloped him for the first time in a long while.

*DIIIIIIING*

The first thing the doctor noticed after the alarm rang was the pounding in his head, every time his heart beat it was like someone increased the pressure in his skull. The second thing the doctor noticed was the bright light shining directly into his eyes. He squinted out of reflex and moved out of its path. He clutched his head when the headache flared at his movement. He looked around the room. All he noticed was a blurry picture of what he could only remember as his studio apartment. The doctor reached for the glass of water and drank it quickly. It lessened the headache by a small modicum, but did nothing to clear his vision. He squinted and rubbed his eyes vigorously. A bit of clarity finally found its way to him. After he pulled out the bag from under his bed he decided it would be best to give himself another shot from an epi pen. He felt a shockwave rush over his body as the needle pierced his skin and the hot chemical leaked into his bloodstream.

"Ahh! Alright. I'm good to go!" he said enthusiastically as he twitched his head.

An hour later

Ozaki staggered into the clinic. The adrenaline was wearing out of his system and his hangover was creeping back. But he shrugged it off. First, he made his way back into the surgical room. He glanced around the place and winced at the smell. Burnt flesh, blood and urine. Courtesy of the nightly experiments hed been running.

"First…the data I collected." He said aloud. He walked over to the video camera and ejected the tape, placing it in the sack he kept his other supplies, the same for the notepad. Then he glanced at the spilled blood on the table.

"Oh right, almost forgot about that…I should still have two samples of Natsuno's blood. I'm definitely going to test that reaction first today." The doctor shivered as he reached his hand into the freezer that the blood was stored in. He grabbed the two vials with Natsuno's name on them and placed them in the bag as well. Finally the doctor took a deep breath as he walked into the cell that the Shiki were sleeping in. He saw them all sitting in a pile, Masao noticeably distanced from the other three, and Tohru in the center, between Megumi and Ritsuko, both of whom had their arms wrapped around him. Megumi had a peaceful smile on her face, and the doctor couldn't help but feel a pang of warmth looking at it. Ritsuko however only looked distressed and upset. He even saw her twitch, perhaps it would have been a grunt if speaking came naturally to them, as opposed to being a skill in the state they were in. He pondered that theory, but shrugged it off when he remembered that Megumi could still speak even after her amnesia. His thoughts whipped back to Ritsuko. He noticed her even more closely, she was sweating too. Shiki couldn't produce sweat at the same volume that a living person or a Jjnrou could, but their bodies still seemed to operate normally and produce fluids all the same.

"Blood, sweat, and saliva at least…." He glanced at Ritsuko, and lost himself in her beauty for a moment…."Perhaps….other fluids…as well….but that's a subject for a different day." He cautiously approached her. He grabbed her and flipped her off Tohru, hoisting her up and walking her up to the top room, keeping careful not to expose her to sunlight. He quickly remembered the uteral fluid he had sampled from her the night before and backpedaled to the cooler to retrieve it. "This is certainly worth examining as well…" Ritsuko started to shift and move around again. The doctor checked his watch. "1 in the afternoon…..not nearly time for them to wake…..could she be having a nightmare?" he hoisted Ritsuko over his shoulder and sat her down face up on one of the operating tables. He restrained her arms and legs, but noticed how she continued to shake and squirm. He set the video camera up and retrieved the other Shiki, placing them in similar restraints. Ozaki took a moment to look over the Shiki, all sprawled out and restrained on the operating tables. He walked into the other room and retrieved the machine he used to read brain activity. One by one he checked each Shiki for a short duration. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement as the machine scrawled up and down revealing the graph of their thoughts.

"I wonder if they can remember what they dream of in this state or if outside suggestion can affect their behaviors. It seemed to work with Ritsuko, so I should try it once more"

The doctor looked over each of his subjects, carefully. He nervously drummed a finger on a nearby counter top as he tried to decide which Shiki to experiment with, and how. His eyes settled on Tohru. The blond was surprisingly still and quiet for one who carried so many burdens on his shoulders. "Perhaps his regrets weigh on him so bad while he's awake," the doctor pondered, "That he's drawn into an even deeper sleep than the others?" It was a weak explaination, but when Megumi was smiling in her sleep, Ritsuko was showing signs of nightmares, and even Masao having flinched at least once while the doctor had carried him into the room, it seemed odd that Tohru was so still. "If I were able to blame this on rigormortis, then Megumi would be just as still," the doctor muttered aloud, "after all, she did die before Tohru. This whole ordeal simply seems to leave the boy emotionally drained, and it's been taking a toll on his usual happy-go-lucky personality."

Toshio reached into his pocket and clenched his fist around his pack of cigarettes. Feeling the pack crunch in his hands, however, he stopped, took a deep breath, and fought back the urge to pull them out. "Not now," he told himself, "Let me finish this up, then I can have an uninterrupted smoke."

He started toward Tohru, but stopped, his eyes focusing on Masao. He smirked and his eyes flickered with a quick sadistic glea as a thought passed through his mind. "You first," he said as he slipped up next to the lanky dark haired male. He hooked Masao back up to the machine, wanting to collect any and all data he could on the boy's brainwaves. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Masao," the doctor whispered. "You came back, when Hiromi didn't. How many bruises did I tend to oon that boy while he was alive, that were caused by you, I wonder? Your sister-in-law couldn't prove it, but she was certain it was you." Masao twitched. Toshio stopped and blinked, he hadn't expected a reaction, especially not so quickly. "Pretty selfish of you, if you ask me. So jealous of a child over your family, and of Natsuno over Tohru and Megumi, even though they were already dead or dying, that you came back? Did your concence even take a single moment to grieve for your nephew when you learned he was gone?" Another twitch. Masao's head jerked, as if he were turning away from the person 'scolding' him. There was a flash of movement in the teen's throat, suggesting he'd attempted to make some sort of noise.

The doctor licked his lips before he continued. "I understand you went back to your house, once the Shiki came under attack? I heard Chizuko telling one of the villagers she'd clobbered you with a lead pipe. Did you honestly think she'd be happy to see you, knowing what you are? Knowing what you did?" Masao's body thrashed about a bit more frantically. The doctor raised an eyebrow. These weren't the results he was expecting, but he couldn't deny they were intreauging. He tucked his hand into his pocket and clenched his pack of cigarettes again. He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Perhaps you should reconsider your way of doing things if you ever want a chance with Megumi, huh?"

Toshio lost that bit of self control he'd had before starting this experiment, and felt the beginnings of another headache. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag off of it. His hands shook and fumbled as he tried to light the fag. He breathed in and held it for a breife moment, before exhailing and letting the smoke blow into the air. It instantly cleared his head and took the edge off. Toshio leaned against the wall and took another drag off the cigarette, his eyes scanning each of his subjects. "It's not like the second hand smoke will kill them, after all," he mumbled.

He walked over to the machine and looked over Masao's graphs. As expected, the line started out flat, no movement whatsoever. However, there were small ripples from when Toshio started talking, spiking at the moments that had caused movement, violently so at the mention of Masao's run in with his sister-in-law, then returning to flat for every moment the doctor had fallen silent. "Instantanious? Intreauging."

The doctor removed the machine from Masao, then hooked it back up to Tohru. He leaned in and began whispering to the blonde. At first, he brought up Torhu's mother and father, mentioning they were both still alright, but both deeply distraught at loosing all three children. There was no motion from Tohru, but what had been a flat line on the paper gave quick spikes in reply. Toshio went on to mention that he was uncertain if Aoi or Tamotsu had risen, but for the sake of peace of mind for everyone, he hoped they had not. This caused a twitch of an eyebrow on Tohru's face and another spike on the machine. "You've suffered enough, Tohru," the doctor sighed, "I'm going to tell you something, but I don't know if you'll remember it when you wake up or not." The doctor leaned in and whispered into Tohru's ear, as quietly as he possibly could, "Natsuno came back." The line on the graph jumped and spiked. The amount of brain activity recorded surpased Masao's most violent results, yet Tohru still remained unmoving.

Toshio stood and stared at the blonde for a moment, then turned and left the room. Stepping outside for the fresh air, he placed a fresh cigarette in his mouth and lit up. The doctor finished his new cigarette before returning inside, deciding he'd played with their minds enough for one day.

"Interesting results." The doctor sighed as he put his equipment away. Starting with Ritsuko, he carried the Shiki down back into the cell he had retrieved them from. There was a cold draft flowing into the room, something almost supernatural in origin. The doctor shivered and held his sides as he locked the door. He could feel his head starting to pound again, something much more intense than in the morning. Without even thinking about it, he grabbed a bottle of pain medication and downed a handful, swallowing them dry. Each pill felt like a stone slithering down his throat, but he powered through the ordeal, shaking off the awkward feeling. "Now for the blood samples…and the fluid…." He picked up the bag containing the precious samples and walked over to the microscope. The first sample was a vial of Megumi's blood. He carefully lowered the syringe, difficult beause of the fatigue in his hands, and transferred a drop onto the slide. The blood was dark red, a color like a rich wine, or a coagulated scab, depending on the perspective of the viewer. The doctor was staunchly in the latter camp. He pressed his eye to the glass. He focused in and out, looking at all the minute details of each layer.

"The red blood cells look strange, something akin to sickle cell samples, and there aren't any immune cells to be found. But….." Ozaki looked at what seemed to be purple strings laced in and out between the cells. "Are these…viruses? They seem to embed themselves inside of the cells, but usually viruses abandon their myelin sheaths once they enter a host." He took a closer look at the small coils that were burrowed into the nuclei of each individual cell. "That's odd…." He watched in awe as one of the cells expanded, it swelled to enormous proportions and burst, leaving two viruses in its place to swim off. "They look more like parasites. I wonder what would happen if I put fresh blood in…just like Kyoko's sample…." Ozaki plunged a fresh syringe into his finger, siphoning a drop of blood, he kept the slide in focus and produced a small portion of the fresh drop under the lense. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed the fresh cells migrating around. Suddenly his face turned pale. The red cells from Megumi began to writhe and burst just like the first one, leaving the virus, or parasite, Ozaki wasn't sure what to call it, to seek out new cells. He watched as they embedded themselves into his own cells.

"That's….beyond belief! I've never seen anything like this, it enters the host cell similarly to a virus, but seems to feed off of it like a parasite. perhaps it can disrupt gene activity to suit its own needs, reactivating cells only when it needs to use their functions. I've heard of parasites altering the minds of their hosts as well, making mice frequent cats territory or causing ants to climb to the highest branch of a tree. This must be what causes the hunger Shiki are prone to, they need the blood to feed the pathogen, as well as to help it breed." He watched as two of the pathogens encircled one another, touching for a moment, then embedding themselves into host cells… "What's this? They reproduce sexually…so they aren't viruses…..but parasite isn't exactly an apt term either…..they behave differently…perhaps this is a whole new kingdom of life….these things can manipulate genetic material so fluidly and skillfully…..they must also be able to cause biochemical reactions, that's probably why the Shiki grow fangs and black eyes.. it must not be able to turn on a resistance to intense light however, or simply doesn't need to. And they reproduce sexually….they must be able to adapt to circumstances shockingly fast…..No, going in without an invitation and the fear of religious artifacts, probably defense mechanisms adapted within the last few hundred years….That also raises the question…..is the host still alive? Moreover, what other kinds of creatures are like this? Maybe things like werewolves and zombies are real too, I could imagine different strains of this creature producing results like that….."

Ozaki dawned a large smile "I've discovered a new species….That means I get to name it….. sanguinem ozakia…..no, it would be kind of pretentious to name it after myself…..sanguinem pugnae…..yeah…it means fighting blood, that should do. Though I wonder how im going to publish my findings…. It doesn't matter right now I guess…I should look at Natsuno's sample." He cleared Megumi's slide off of the table careful to bathe it in medical alcohol, a safety measure just in case the creature was highly contagious.

He lowered the slide into place, looking deeply at Natsuno's blood sample. "What makes Jinrou different?" He could still see the purple threads drifting about in Natsuno's blood. But when he took a look at the red blood cells he noticed something different. "I see immune cells, but they have no interest in these creatures…and the red cells….." he looked on and saw the red cells, it differed from cell to cell, but they all seemed to have the threads latching on to the outside of the cell walls, as opposed to burying themselves within like they did in Megumi's sample. He even saw them splitting and mating outside of the nucleus. "Amazing! This must be a different strain, or a mutation. It seems to act more symbiotically than the kind Megumi and the other Shiki carry. Jinrou mst be able to keep their warmth and not suffer any of the weaknesses of the other shiki because they are only under limited control. This mutually beneficial relationship also seems to make the viruses more successful than the ones the normal Shiki have, I can see dense clusters of them in Natsuno's blood, whereas, in Megumi's there were only a few spaced far apart…. I suppose this could be considered a new species as well…I'll call this one sanguinem operans….working blood. Since this one seems to cooperate with the body, as opposed to fighting for its control like the older strain…that only leaves one last thing. I saw an interesting reaction when Natsuno's blood mixed with Megumi's…." Ozaki took a drop of Megumi's blood and placed it on Natsuno's. He immediately noticed a violent reaction. The viruses that were embedded in Megumi's red blood cells seemed to writhe away when exposed to Natsuno's strain. As the viruses from his blood began to coat her cells, it must have produced an environment on the inside that the older strain was not able to survive in. "This….this truly is amazing…..and….my god…Megumi's red blood cells are getting their vitality and color back!" Ozaki was hit with another fierce migraine as the excitement overtook him. He clawed at his head until he settled down. "That gives me an idea…I have no clue how fast this reaction is, or if it will even work…but I have to try." He filled the syringe with Natsunos blood and walked back down into the Shiki's cellar. He grabbed Megumi's wrist and plunged it into a vein.