It was cold. It was always cold here. Sho felt he could almost see his breath as it flowed shallowly from between his lips. He was granted a single blanket with which to wrap up, but the thin mat he slept on seemed to seep up the coldness of the stone floor.

This was one of the only rooms in the building without blazing white lights or endless tables lined with medical equipment. A single bulb on one wall encased by a misty blue glass globe was the only light source. On nights like this when the cold kept Sho from sleep he would stare at it. He tried to imagine that it gave off heat of its own, but even the light itself was faint and somehow chilly.

They kept the facility cool to prevent the spread of bacteria, and while Sho was never in danger of freezing, he was never warm. It had been like this for what seemed like an endless span of time. He didn't even know how old he was now. He recalled being close to eleven when he was taken and he could be at least seventeen now for all he knew. Even his own face was no clue to him; he had not seen it since he arrived. Even the glass in the entire building was purposely fogged. Other than a reflection of bright blond hair he knew nothing of his appearance. It was unavoidable that he was slender, almost scrawny, and short for his age, but that did little to give him any sense of identity.

His identity at the moment was a freezing cold boy who just wanted to slip away from the discomfort by falling asleep. Sho curled into a tight ball on the mat, just like every other night, and wept silently to himself. Would he ever be free of this facility? Would there ever be a normal life for him outside? Despite the education he received here, he knew he lacked experience. Though his intelligent mind catalogued all that he was taught, he simply wanted to see the world for himself. He wondered during his brief lessons what their motivation was for teaching him anything if he was just an experiment, just a body to inject with drugs for the 'good of mankind'. Perhaps it had something to do with the drugs designed to help the advancement of the mind. At any rate, he seemed to remember most if not all of what they taught him. He loved geography the best, as the idea of being able to travel away from this place and see all their riches was a dream he clung to desperately. He never let them know, for fear that they might forbid this subject.

He tightened his fist slightly as he lay in the dark, and his eyes drifted as always to that globe of blue light on the wall that was his only splash of color. He shivered but didn't even feel like pulling up the blanket to warm himself. It was as if the discomfort was proof that he really was a human being, not just an lab rat. Human. What did it mean to be human? To laugh, to share, to sing…to sing…Sho remembered a time when he could sing very well. He even performed solos at his village festivals as a boy. This made him remember an instance that occurred earlier that day; one of the doctors stepped out of the room to take a phone call, and in his eagerness he had left the speaker system on in the room. Sho was able to hear the doctor's conversation in the next room. He had been speaking to his young daughter, sounding warm and affectionate just like any other father. What a contrast to the heartless work he did. The child had laughed and told her father that she wanted to sing a song for him. She had, her lovely little voice sounding like an angel to Sho, who had not heard someone sing for years.

Sho had listened intently, learning the song and running the lines over and over in his head to memorize them. Now, wrapped in the safety of night, Sho felt as though he wanted to sing that song. He cleared his throat slightly to himself and quietly tried to sing the first line. His voice came out cracked the first few times he tried, but finally it smoothed out and he was able to sing clearly:

Kagume, Kagume

Crouch little bird inside your cage

When, oh when will he get out?

Up before the light of dawn

Crane and turtle slipped and fell

Who is behind you, can you tell?

He felt the silence like a physical presence when his voice stopped. He grinned inwardly. His voice was still pretty as ever. Rusty, but still pretty. He closed his eyes and shivered as a small gust of cold wind hit him, probably from beneath the crack of the door.

"You called, master?" Sho's eyes flew open at the sound of the voice. The room was so dark, even with the small globe of light, that he could not see who it belonged to. He strained his eyes, but even in his fear he felt too weak to try and sit up. He was certain that the door had not opened…

"Who…who's there?" He asked feebly into the darkness. The shape of a tall man stalked forward from the darkest corner of the room, the blue light doing very little to reveal much more than a regal outline. Sho began to shake, and his mind instantly leapt to the only explanation for this man's presence.

"No…" He said, finding the strength out of pure terror to sit up and draw his knees close to his chest. "They said no more tests after dark! They promised me! Please! No more tests!" The man stopped advancing, and Sho heard him chuckle.

"I am not a doctor, young one. Do not fear me; I'm not going to do anything to you." Unconvinced, Sho's body continued to shake with fear. His pale brows pulled together in disbelief.

"What are you trying to pull? If you're not a doctor then who are you? A ghost?" The man walked slowly over to the globe of light, and touched it with his hand. The light redirected to his face, and Sho's heart leapt as he saw the balanced features; the proud brow, the straight nose, full mouth, and dark eyes.

"No, I am not a ghost." Sho swallowed.

"Then…how did you get in here? You must be in league with them. That's the only explanation." The man began stepping towards him, and Sho drew his legs tighter to himself.

"You look like you could fold yourself in two, you're so thin." The man said softly, kneeling right before his mat and sitting back on his legs.

"What in the world have they been doing to you?" Sho frowned at him.

"Why do you care? You're a stranger. You don't know anything about me."

"Sho Finnian. Age eighteen. Locked up in this facility since age eleven, and experimented on with a variety of different drugs for various reasons." Sho's eyes widened.

"Who… are you?"

"You called me yourself. I am Kagume." Sho's jaw dropped.

"W-what..?"

"You sang the song with true need and humility in your heart. Very few children have the hearts that deserve the service of our kind. I have waited for you to call me ever since you were a child, but you grew up without learning the song to summon me, as most children do. Now I am here, and after our contract is established I shall be your loyal servant."

Sho's mind was too muddled to take all this in, and he just sat there, staring at the creature who claimed to be a Kagume.

"Does your arm hurt?" Kagume asked gently. Sho gave a bitter smile, and painfully turned his arm out to reveal the multitude of red needle marks littering the inside of his elbow.

"What do you think? Lovely aren't they?" Kagume reached out, and Sho stiffened, but knew there was no escape, and so he let the creature take and hold his arm. He was surprised by the gentleness of the touch. He could barely feel Kagume's hands as more than a whisper against his skin.

"You poor thing. No wonder you are dying to get out of here."

"I can't escape. I've tried." Kagume looked up at him, and Sho felt another shiver of fear move through him; his eyes were entirely black. There was no distinction between iris and pupil.

"I can help you, if you order me to. I told you, I am your servant once the contract is established."

Sho gave a small, mirthless laugh.

"You are really a Kagume?"

"Yes." Sho stared at him for a long moment, and finally realized that he did not care if the man was telling the truth or not.

"How do we 'establish this contract'?" He asked weakly. Kagume laid his large palm against the smaller one in his grasp. Sho jumped when he saw light shining between their two hands, glowing like a light bulb, but with no source.

"What are you..?" He asked, but Kagume held his hand for a few more seconds.

"This binds us temporarily until the nightly exchange of blood begins as payment for my services." The light disappeared and when Kagume lifted his palm, Sho saw a strange symbol on his wrist, like a tattoo in pale gold ink. It was a circle, with two symbols that looked like tusks arching into the center. Kagume's own palm now bore the same symbol. Sho lifted Kagume's hand breathlessly up to his face to examine it.

"It's true…you really are…" His breath hitched. "What…what did you mean by 'the exchange of blood'?" Kagume stood up, gently pulling his hand away from Sho's, and looked down at him.

"It is part of the contract; you will offer me a measure of your blood every night to sustain my own body. Without it I cannot serve you, and I will pass back into my spirit-state and be lost to you." Sho's eyes flew open wide.

"What? Blood? My…blood? Are you insane?!" He began shaking, terrible images flashing in his brain. It was all too much, too crazy and sudden. The thought of anything more being done to his body made his heart clench in his chest.

"Master…"

"No, no, no I can't do that! No! Please, leave me alone!" Sho's voice was still not very strong, but it was frantic, and his breathing had sped up to a wheezing pace. Kagume drew back, his face slightly saddened, but resigned.

"I must obey your every wish, master, but should you need me, just call my name and I shall be by your side." Sho gasped as the creature vanished, right into nothingness before his eyes. He sat there for several moments, calming down and trying to force his brain to make some sense of whatever had just happened.