Just another Dance

Sudden new life

When Kaito awoke the next time down in his cellar prison he couldn't feel his body at all so he could only cry silently when his captor came back and administered another dose of whatever they were drugging him with via injection, then the drug dragged him back under again.

Vermouth fought hard but successful to keep the smile off her face as she looked at the stack of official papers that were adorned with her signature. Finally. It almost felt like a boulder had been removed from her chest. She'd have to go through some of Toichi's, may he rest in peace, training routine again to return to a state of emotional stability in order for things to work out, the boy's presence in her life was doing a number on her. She'd have to get a grip to keep him and herself safe. Secretly taking a deep breath, she got up from the chair. It was time to proceed as planned, they'd made it to the next stage. Still she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from bouncing out of the room. She had never been this excited as far as she could remember. There was a lot to be done.

Almost as if someone had pressed a button, Kaito awoke jumping into a sitting position in an unfamiliar bed. His alarmed gaze swept over the room. It was spacious, the walls were void of decorations of any kind and painted a soft grey, the door to his left as well as the floor, the frame of the bed, both bedside tables and the wardrobe at the wall opposite from the end of the huge bed he'd awoken in were made of some dark brown wood, in fact so dark that it almost seemed black if the sun hadn't been shining through the white almost see-through blinds that covered the wall to his right that was entirely made up of windows from floor to ceiling. His mind was sharp and racing with fear and confusion. Where was he and how had he gotten here? A black digital clock, that displayed the humidity, weather forecast and date additionally to the time, on the bedside table caught his eye. He wasn't good at the letters of the English alphabet yet, but he could read their numbers. It was early in the afternoon- a little more than a week after the day of... Panic rose in his chest and nearly drowned out the grief as he realized that he didn't remember anything since his parents' death, only a pang of terror and panic erupted in his chest every time he tried to remember what happened in that timespan. He threw back the dark grey covers and stumbled as he tried to jump out of bed, hitting the hardwood floor stomach first. His fall had been caused by his limbs feeling unexpectedly heavy and his head feeling dizzy, as if they hadn't been used properly for some time. It added to the fearful worries swirling around inside Kaito's mind as to what had happened to him during the week since his parents' death. The sound of footsteps outside the door made him freeze in his position crumpled on the floor for only a second before he pulled himself up through grabbing onto the bed and stumbling over to the windows, pressing his back against the pane of glass with only the thin blind and the grey pyjamas someone had put on him in between. His instincts had urged him to get himself as far away from the door and the person that was probably about to come through it as far as possible. Just as he thought that it opened and a familiar woman stepped into the room. "Sharon Vineyard.", the eight-year-old blurted out before he started suffering from a brutal coughing fit as his throat and vocal cords disagreed with the fact that the boy was suddenly making use of them again.

Vermouth looked up from her notebook when she heard a thump coming from next door. So, the boy was awake. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth before she fought it down as she got up, closing her notebook and placing it on the coffee table. She heard his graceless stumbling footsteps as he probably acted on instinct and tried to hide or escape. It awoke the predatory side of her mind that wanted to chase after a target and bring it down. The assassin in her. Vermouth locked it away at the back of her mind, pasting a carefully neutral expression onto her face. Scaring the boy first thing wouldn't do. She opened the door and took a step inside. He stood with his back pressed to the window opposite the door and stared at her with the fearful expression of an escaped prisoner caught by the headlights of those chasing him for a second before realization bled into the scared look in his eyes and he blurted out her name in a scratchy voice, followed by violent coughing. She disappeared into the bathroom next door and returned with a glass of water in less than a minute, just as expected finding the boy still coughing helplessly where she'd left him. He eyed the offered glass with distrust and confusion for a second as she held it out to him, probably subconsciously remembering being drugged in a similar way, before he took it and downed it in one go, handing it back as he gulped in deep breaths once the coughing ceased. He was an open book, almost embarrassingly easy to read. Had Toichi never taught him to use a Pokerface? The boy stared at her for a moment when she didn't address him directly, regaining his bearings and trying to put his thoughts in order. She could see it in his face that he was struggling with what he was going to ask her first. "You can ask me anything you want, okay? Take your time.", she urged in the softest possible voice while the predatory side of her scratched at the inside walls of her head wanting nothing more than to break out and be openly displayed on her face and in her eyes. She wanted to scare the vulnerable boy, longed for the kick that seeing his terrified face as he realized that he was prey right in front of a dangerous predator would undoubtedly bring her, but she'd learned to control urges like this. They were solely for work purposes. She was solely for work purposes. A multifunctional tool and right now she needed to be the comforting caretaker not the terrifying hunter.