Seraph of the End: Within Dark Waters

Chapter 1: Satsuma and Shion Kiomi

It was a cold winter's night in the bustling city of Tokyo, Japan, and the streets were flooded with its usual crowds of people. Two of said people, were the Kiomi siblings, Satsuma and Shion. The two kids were heading to their apartment after picking up some cookies from one of the nearby shops.
"Do you think mom and dad will like the cookies we picked?" Shion asked, raising his brows up at his older sister.
Satsuma, looking down at him with a pleasant smile, nodded. "Of course they will! Wanna know how I know?"
Shion's eyes widened with curiosity. "How?"
She leaned in, and spoke in a hushed voice so that only he could hear. "Because I was snooping through their closet, and found a box of snickerdoodles on one of shelves. They'd been hiding it so that they could eat it for themselves!"
The nine year old gasped, covering his mouth. "You mean- they were sneaking food past us?"
Satsuma nodded again with a smirk. "They obviously didn't do a good job of it though!"
Shion uncovered his mouth. "Well, I wouldn't put it that way. You've always been good at finding things. They probably just didn't expect you to find it in their closet."
After pondering what he said, it did indeed made sense. "I see your point."
There was a brief moment of silence before someone finally spoke up again.
"Satsuma, what do you think of mom and dad's relationship?" Shion asked, looking down at the grocery bag he had on his arm.
Satsuma looked at the boy with a quizzical look on her face. "Why would you ask something like that?"
Shion raised his shoulders, not answering.
"Shion... Are you afraid mom and dad don't love eachother?"
There was a hushed silence as Shion nodded in response.
Satsuma sighed, looking away to the road in front of her. "I don't know what to tell you, Shion... I do get the feeling that their relationship does seem rather... How do I say it...? Stale? However I don't think they would try to divorce over something like that."
The boy was quiet while he nodded again.
There was another moment of silence before Satsuma announced. "Hey, look! A dog!" She pointed ahead of them, where a man could be seen walking his dog.
Shion gasped, eyes darting up towards the two. "Puppy!"
They ran over to the man and his little companion. "Excuse me sir! Can we pet your dog?"
The young gentleman, who seemed to be in his mid thirties, smiled softly to the two children. "Of course. She's very friendly."
With that Shion immediately started loving on the dog as if it were his own. It was clear he loved animals.
Satsuma giggled at the site. "What's her name?"
"This is Lola-" The man said, pulling out a hankercheif "-she's a three year old Pekingese." The man started to violently hack into the cloth. "Excuse me-" He apologized between coughs.
"Oh, it's fine."
Shion stood up, looking a bit worried for the man.
The man continued to cough, his face starting to turn red as if he were losing oxygen.
"Oh- sir? Do we need to call a hospital?" Satsuma asked, tension slowly building within her body.
The man didn't answer, only continuing to cough. Suddenly, a red spot began to form on the cloth, and a copper smell began to fill the air around them.
Shion gasped, covering his mouth again. Satsuma's eyes widened, and she quickly scrambled to cover her brother's eyes.
The man pulled the hankercheif away from his face, blood running down it. He gasped for breath, dropping the leash before he too fell to the ground, where his body convulsed rapidly.
Satsuma dragged the boy away from the squirming body, not wanting to get too close out of fear of contagion.
"Sh- Shion, we need to get help right now!"
The boy pushed her hand away from his face, but Satsuma, out of desperation to shield his view, got between him and the squirming body.
"Shion, go to the closet shop you can find, and get one of the workers to call an ambulance immediately. Tell him there's an emergency!"
"Wha- What about you, Satsuma?"
"I'm going to find someone who can perform first aid while we wait for an ambulance. Now go!"
Shion, with wide eyes and a ghostly pale face, nodded and took off down the road.
When he took off, Satsuma did the same, heading down the nearest alleyway to the main strip to find someone who could help.
Her heavy breathing and blood pumping seemed to block out all the sound surrounding her. However this didn't stop her from seeing the horrific scene splayed out on the main road.
As she slowed to a stop at the end of the alleyway, her already wide eyes seemed to burn as she saw what lied before her.
Blood, fire, crying children, and the writhing bodies of adults on the pavement.
This couldn't be real. Could it? How could this be real? Questions filled Satsuma's head like a river. It only paused when she heard a child call out to her.
"Please! Please help my mommy!" A young girl with braided hair yelled to Satsuma, tears running down her face.
Satsuma watched her, before slowly taking steps back away from the child.
The girl cried out again before Satsuma ran off back down the alleyway. She needed to find Shion. He was her main priority.
As she made it back to the side road they'd originally been walking down, she scanned the area for any signs of her brother. He wasn't there. He must still be at one of the shops.
With that in mind, Satsuma took off down the road, heading towards the closest shop. As she approached, Shion sprinted out the door and almost collided with his older sister.
"Satsuma!" He cried, grabbing her arms as tears streamed down his face.
"Shion! What happened?" She asked, cupping his face delicately.
Shion didn't responded, only hiccuping and sobbing, tears soaking her hands.
Satsuma looked inside the store, only to see a dead man peering from behind the counter as if he were looking at them.
Her blood ran cold before looking back at Shion.
"We're going home. Right now!"
Shion, with a word, nodded in agreement.
"Get on my back!" Satsuma took her hands away from his face and squatted down for him to climb on.
Once he was on her back, she stood back up and took off down the road, heading to their apartment as fast as she could.
They ignored anyone or anything they called out to them. They weren't going to test their luck by interacting with anyone who may potentially be contagious with whatever killed those people.
Before long they were finally made it to their apartment complex, where Satsuma ran up the steps to their floor.
When they reached their landing, Satsuma set Shion down; where they took off down the hallway together.
They burst into the house.
"Mom! Dad!" Shion called out.
There was no response.
"Mom! Dad! Where are you?"
Again, no response.
Shion began searching the house, while Satsuma locked and barricaded the door. She didn't want anyone getting inside.
Eventually she walked into the livingroom, looking around. Out of the corner of her, she saw it. The open boucany door.
Everything seemed to go silent as she stepped outside. No one was on the boucany. She found out why when she looked over the edge, only to see two bodies below. A male and a female. Her parents.
Tears slowly began to fill her eyes as she walked back inside, closing the door behind her.
"Sh- Shion... Come here..." She called out to him in a shakey voice.
The young boy trotted out if the kitchen, into the living room. "Satsuma...?"
"Shion... We're going to be alone..." She stated quietly, tears running down her cheeks.
"Wait-" The boy froze "-you mean?"
The thirteen year old nodded softly.
His eyes slowly refilled with tears and he began to sob as he threw himself into Satsuma's arms.
She held the boy close, trying to hold back her tears as she held him.
It wasn't till later that night that the shock relieved them at last.
Satsuma whipped up a quick dinner for the two using one of their mother's many cook books.
After dinner, they made up a small bed inside their parent's bathroom tub.
They didn't want to sleep in their room. They thought in case someone was to break in, the first place they'd check would be the bedrooms.
"Satsuma... Do you think we'll get sick...?" Shion asked, laying beside her amongst the pillows and blankets.
"Not if we use the proper precautions we won't." Satsuma was looking through a couple of books she brought with her to the bathroom.
"Which are...?"
"We don't drink contaminated water. We wash our hands regularly. We avoid touching our eyes, nose and mouth. We take baths regularly-"
"Okay, okay! I get it!" Shion giggled softly.
Satsuma eyed him with a smile.
"So when do you wanna go to bed?"
"Whenever we're ready to go to sleep." Satsuma set her book down on her chest.
"Okay!"
"Wanna watch some YouTube?" She asked, pulling out her Ipod.
"Sure!" Shion scooted closer to her.
"We have to keep it low so we can hear if anyone knocks on the door."
Shion nodded as she booted up the device.
Later that night, Satsuma was laying on the makeshift bed, sleeping soundly with Shion beside her; who, on the other hand, was thirsty for some water.
The boy quietly climbed over his sleeping sister and tiptoed to the door, which he opened quietly as not to disturb her.
He then quietly walked down the hard wood hallway, only to freeze when he felt a gust of cold wind rush down the hall. Why was it so cold? Didn't Satsuma close the patio door?
With this in mind, the boy silently crept to the end of the hall and stuck his head around the corner, where he was the door was indeed open. However, something wasn't right. He continued to scan the room and that's when he saw it. A tall, looming figure in the kitchen. He couldn't see his face due to a dark cloak shadowing his face out like the grim reaper.
Shion, face gone completely pale like a ghost, slowly made his way back down the hall, careful as not to step on any creaking floor boards. He needed to get to Satsuma. She would know what to do.
As soon as he made it to the bathroom, he immediately started shaking Satsuma to wake her up.
"Satsuma!" He whispered.
"H- huh...?" She stirred, looking at him with half closed eyes.
"Someone's in the house!"
She sat up with and in a hushed voice asked, "who?"
"I don't know... I didn't see their face, but they're in the kitchen!"
"Okay... Just..." She looked around quickly. "Put your socks on. It'll silence your foot steps."
Shion nodded and slid on a pair of socks while Satsuma did the same.
Once they had their socks on, Satsuma grabbed her flashlight, Ipod, and a single book.
"What are is the book for?" He asked.
"Just in case they see us, I can give us a few extra seconds to get away by throwing it at them."
Shion nodded and got behind Satsuma. "What's the plan?"
"We're going to wait for them to go by, then sneak outside into the main hallway using the front door."
"What if we make a noise?"
"Hide in one of the rooms."
Shion nodded again.
Satsuma looked out the door, and saw the man making his way down the hallway.
She ducked her head back inside, but watched him through a hairline crack in the door.
She watched him walk by to the office at the end of the hallway.
She whispered to Shion. "Let's go. Follow me."
Shion nodded and did as he was told.
Satsuma, leading the way, slowly opened the door and crept out into the hallway.
As they slowly shuffled down the hall, they made sure to take as light of steps as humanly possible as not to make any noise. The tension in the air was so thick, you could almost choke on it.
Shion, held his breath and closed his eyes, not wanting to make too much noise. This was his downfall though, as he accidentally stepped on a loose floor board, making a faint creak.
The two children suddenly froze. Everything fell silent.
Satsuma looked back at the office door, wanting to see if the man was heading towards it.
After a moment of silence and no signs of the man, they began making their way back to the front door.
After what felt like an eternity, they finally made it outside, where they threw off their socks and bolted it down the stairwell, not looking back.