Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kamishiro Rui stared out into the village up high, through the red-stained glass, watching as the thick forest tumbled out from his secluded castle to meet the settlement. The familiar feeling of need was there again, and Rui was ravenous. He hadn’t fed in weeks. Yet, as the sun managed to lightly peek through the special glass, lightly burning his pale, pale skin, he knew he couldn’t go out yet. Rui stepped from the glass, and sighed against a bookcase. A few weeks ago, he had went out by the cover of night, searching for prey, eventually finding some house not so far from the church. Though, hunched over and mid bite, he was interrupted. There stood Tenma Tsukasa, the local priest, and as Rui stood up in shock, he fled. Since, the clergy now knew of his presence certainly, and Rui was hunted.

Making towards the door, Rui left the watching room, and begun down a hall towards his workshop. He wasn’t in the mood to reminisce, or, in the mood to do anything else much either. Nearly forgetting his strength, he slammed the door open to an absolute stop, and picked out some puppet he was making recently. This one was troublesome, it refused to move at all, instead sitting flat after Rui threw it back onto the table, exasperated. He really needed blood. This wasn’t helped when Rui noticed Nene walk in, by the scrape of the cobblestones,

“Y’know, you should just kill that priest.”

Rui fiddled with the broken puppet around his arm, taking out some yellow hay from the drawer beside him,

“I can’t do that. He’s a priest. He’s always beyond protected” near growling, Rui began to stick some of that hay onto it’s head,

“You’re a mess. You have to do this.”,

Rui began brushing out some pig’s blood, which he had set out earlier as an ‘alternative’ to human blood. It didn’t work. He tried Nene’s before, too, but she wasn’t exactly a human either. This blood lightly tipped the golden bits of hair now upon the doll. His head pounded.

“Fine! Fine. Fine..”,

And with that, Nene walked straight back out the door, scraping exactly how she had before. Rui looked down at the before broken puppet, now clambering out of his hands- but a bit slowly. It looked like Tsukasa. He slammed his fists upon it, watching it break apart. A mere few seconds later, as his head was laid on the table, he thought to himself: “Why exactly did that happen?”. He was tired, starving, and had a considerable headache, but despite all this, the question begrudgingly took hold of him, and he started reconstructing the puppet.

It was strange that a puppet could animate without some ritual. Even stranger that it happened out of nothing. As Rui’s fingers worked with faux fluffy golden strands, careful to not red the wrong parts of the hair, he set out the puppet made anew, watching. The puppet, however, did not move. Rui was certainly not in the mood for this, crashing his fist down and destroying it. Maybe, when Nene had walked in, he was distracted. Thus, Rui tried to distract himself again. Clapping twice, a theater to the side of the room opened up, revealing a little troupe of various animated figures. A crow’s skeleton sung-cawed out of seemingly nowhere, thin reeds twisted and bent around in the shape of some gymnastic, a fairy in a jar threw themself around, doing tricks. As Rui was watching this, he stuck on the gold hair, painted red the ends, and looked again. Would the puppet move this time…? No. It stayed completely lifeless. Rui let out a half scream as he broke apart this one again. Hearing this, the circus act closed up- nobody would want to be on the bad side of a thirsty vampire.

As the room settled, Rui was panting, sighing, almost sadly. Then, he reminisced (which he thought he wouldn’t be open to doing again earlier), on Tsukasa, letting his fingers move about themselves. Despite their obvious differences- Rui being a vampire, Tsukasa a priest -Tsukasa was still quite pretty. His hair was quite fluffy, and he had overheard some villagers once say that his hair was ‘the softest material in the existence’. He might have to check that out for himself. Then, as he would fiddle around with his hair, he would feel some light warmth off his cheeks. Blushing. With that, came blood. Such a lovely thing, and he’d love to see it on Tsukasa. He’d love Tsukasa. Well, it wasn’t a really secret that no vampire is straight. Beginning to pull out of his thoughts, he looked at his hands. On it stood that same puppet, recreated how-many-times, yet now moving again. Still in his thoughts, he murmured,

“Now what might you be, hmm?”, playing with its hair, “Quite the pretty boy, if I’d say so myself… fuhuhu~”

He almost smiled, before the temporary solace that came out of his thoughts wore off (Or was it from Tsukasa?). Now, he was ravenous again, as his head pounded. Looking at the puppet again, it felt like it was mocking him. It met the others, in a pile of hay, pig’s blood, and wooden bits and pieces. Perhaps his lack of blood made him sloppy, but as he continued tinkering, he didn’t notice the short pink haired village girl peering in at him through the window in his workshop.

-

The sight was incredible! As Kamishiro worked, Emu watched as figures danced and walked around all about him, and the room around him was also so cool! There were two tables in the middle, far away from the walls, and there were lots of really old tapestries and bookshelves everywhere, just like the various tools… if only Kamishiro wasn’t a vampire, then maybe her family could come and use this space for the circus, they could make so much wonderhoy!

She let out a little squeak as she heard some rustling from behind her, nearly tumbling off the ladder she used to see through the little circle window. She called out,

“Hello!! I’m Emu Ootori!! Emu is mea-”

Before getting pulled quickly to the ground by someone, letting out another squeak.

“Let’s not have Rui see you’re here.” said the figure (although he probably wouldn’t have the energy to care).

Woah… she was really pretty… her hair probably felt really soft and was a super light green, and her ears made little pointed tips at the ends…

“Woah… you’re really pretty… can I feel your hair?”,

“I… yes, but I’ll have to take you away from here. Rui is very irritable lately.”

Emu reached up to the other girl’s hair, running her hands through it,

“Phwoahh! It’s really soft!”,

Her expression could’ve changed for but a moment, before she picked up Emu and begun leaping between the trees quickly.

“Woah!! We’re going so fast!! Wait! I forgot to ask you what your name was!!”,

branches breaking by their sides, the other girl seemed to pause for a bit, a bit hesitantly, before responding,

“… Kusanagi Nene”,

“Wah!! It’s super duper wonderhoy to meet you, Nene-chan!!”,

Nene-chan seemed to look away for some reason, before dropping down onto the floor, walking towards the village. Setting Emu down, she walked away.

“Wait!!”,

“What is it?” Nene-chan turned around,

“You were so deep in the forest, you have to be hungry, right? It’s dinner time! You should come have dinner with my family!”,

“I- I don’t think-”,

“C’mon, let’s go!!!”,

As Emu gripped Nene-chan, Nene-chan realised that she was surprisingly strong, as Emu thrust them both towards her house, skipping excitedly.

It was very common for Emu to just bring strangers around for dinner, and her parents always had a spare plate out. Her brothers didn’t really like this idea, but as the owners of a grand circus, her parents were always cheerful and ready for whoever Emu would bring in. As Emu walked up with Nene-chan to the front door, through a cobbled garden path, all these bright flowers and little metal windmills and ornaments were placed throughout. Running through the front door, Emu brought Nene-chan to the dining room.

-

As she was brought in by the girl- by Emu -she was seated at the table,

“This is Nene-chan! I met her in the forest today and she has really really soft hair!”,

At this, Nene waved slightly, a bit awkwardly

One of the siblings- she couldn’t tell -spoke (albeit a bit hesitantly),

“Your ears are pointed, and you two are covered in leaves… are you an elf?”,

“Yes, I am.”,

“Interesting, so where do you live? In the trees?”,

… well, Rui was still being hunted by the church. When he was out hunting one night, he found his crush (Who Rui might not even know is his crush), and he stumbled over himself. It didn’t help that he was the local priest, Tenma Tsukasa, and that the entire village was now after him, by order of the church. She simply couldn’t say that she lived with Rui…

Well, even she didn’t know why she still lived with him. As a child, she met Rui while training her magic with little puppets and sigils, as every elf. She’d seen Rui beyond the treeline, constructing his own mechanisms and works with twigs and leaves. Back then, he was still a human, he didn’t even know what magic was, and was alone to himself. He’d found Nene’s tricks absolutely incredible, and made her do the same things again and again just to see what would happen. One day turned into two, two to seven, a week to two, a month to three, a season into a year, until they were young adults, just two years before now. Rui was crushing on the local priest boy…

=

“Rui? You’re going to church? You’ve never done that before.”,

“Ah, well, I just have some very important business to see… to… mmhm!”,

“Is his name Tenma?”,

“Ngh!” Rui had thrown a saw he was holding at Nene, but due to her elf-ness, she dodged,

=

There, they had told the congregation about a myth of an ancient vampire who lived in a tall castle just out of view from the town. Now, he was forging weapons and armour and traps, hoping to slay the vampire just to impress Tenma. However, when he went out one day, he was missing.

=

Nene cracked open the door to the castle. It was one of these massive gates, with thick iron welds across. She slipped in. In the main hall, she looked around her. The braziers were still running, some freshly fueled, which meant that either Rui failed to kill the vampire, or he failed to get here at all. Her feet smooshed down a thick, red carpet, which Nene was about to amend on its stainless condition, before realising that most stains a vampire would have are red already. Resting her head to her left, all the rooms were left near spotless, with various functions- an apothecary, a greenhouse, a library, another library, a ballroom, a tea room, all with their torches lit. Still no signs of Rui. Obviously, he wouldn’t be here. She’d need to check for a more important room. Finding some stairs, she threw herself around to try find the highest place- maybe they’d be in the watching room? (every good vampire castle needs a watching room)

On her way, she found a little blackened kitty in the halls. They weren’t that much of a kitty, or little, but it was the thought that counted. Nene pat them a bit, and then they ran off. Right after leaving that room, she spotted a door suspiciously ajar. Walking up to it, she peeked around the corner. As her head was moving around, she noticed a trail of black blood. Following it with her eyes, she eventually met the window. Overlooking the town, standing above the corpse of the late vampire, was Rui himself. It seems she’d found the watching room.

“Rui…?”,

Rui turned around with speed she’d never seen from a human before.

“Oh! Nene! Hahahaha! Hello! I’ve just been sitting in this castle for the last bit… ”,

“The town’s worried about you. Come back with me.”,
“Hah! I’d love to but… this castle really has it all for me! It has this massive workshop with all these tools…”,

If this was happening completely isolated, Nene would completely expect this from Rui. Yet, in context, this is incredibly strange- especially with him standing right above the vampire’s corpse.

“You’re lying. Come out”,

“Well… ah… not in the daytime.”,

“WHAT?”,

“You see, when I killed the beast… it threw up blood all over me. I passed out. When I woke, I felt some pain from the window- it was from the sun…”, Rui beared his fangs, “and then I felt these. But this can’t be real, right? It’s just a dream. Surely, it is fake! I wonder what might lead me to have such an absurd dream, no?”,

“You know… I’m still feeling quite hungry… I… no… I couldn’t do it to you. Kusanagi, I- I think you have to leave.”,

“I’m not going t-”,

“Leave.”,

With that, Rui threw her outside of the room, slamming the door stuck. Nene tried to live in the village, but without Rui, she just didn’t really have anything left. Her parents were in chrysalis for the next 50 years at least, and she was still so young for an elf- 14 -basically a toddler. So, with nobody else left, she went back to see if Rui was still living in the castle. She mostly knew that Rui was still in the area, though, due to her heightened elf senses. She just felt him around. Eventually, Rui let her stay in the castle, and it has been such since.

=

Nene realised she was zoning out a bit, and hoped that the others hadn’t noticed it too much,

“Oh, I just dig little burrows in the dirt… yeah…”,

“...I see.”,

Chapter Text

Tsukasa was pouring little drops of water into Saki’s mouth, making sure that she wasn’t overheating. For her whole life, Saki had been sickly, but just now, when that vampire came, she had become incredibly worse. Now, she was near completely unresponsive, only moving her eyes. She was basically dead, except for her eyes. The only thing telling Tsukasa that his sister was alive were her eyes. It maddened him. Maybe, when he had ordered the congregation to hunt the vampire, it was not entirely because of his faith. Either way, their pantry was running low, and he had to go out to the market.

As flagstones gave way to whirling carts, infinite little coloured triangle strips ran across and above his head, and the air filled with the waving of vendors in their endless constructed stalls. To the left, hundreds of foreign jewellery pieces and strings all glistened individually. To the right, cheese was stacked to sizes higher than some actual people walking by. Feet made a thick ocean of liquid movement-noise, and Tsukasa imagined performing in front of all of these people. He quickly relished in the thought of being a world famous star, before acknowledging that he couldn’t anymore, due to his priestly duties. He felt a bit sad at this, but it was an important job to have, the church was practically the center of the town. It did remind him a little bit of when he used to perform plays for his sister, when they were much younger. There was this boy who helped him with the props, maybe, but he’s long since forgotten.

Tsukasa remembered that he needed broth, for his soups. He was a little soup boy, after all. Asides for that, soups were the best option for when Saki was feeling particularly ill, as they could be administered so easily, just like liquids. Throwing his head up, letting himself be partially blinded by the movement around him, he searched for the sign of that familiar stand, eventually finding his way to Hoshino Ichika,
“Hey Tenma, need something for Saki, right?”,
The news about his sister spread quick, it was their first actual confirmation of the vampire, the one they've all heard rumours of. Besides, Hoshino knew that whenever Tsukasa came to get broth, Saki was having another episode.
“Yes! I’ll surely do the best I can for her!” Tsukasa exclaimed,
“Yeah, alright.”, she smiled lightly, yet knowingly,
Hoshino brought out some jars of broth that Tsukasa used to always ask for. Since then, she now knew what he wanted each time. It was pleasant. Tsukasa paid and was off.
"Tell her I said Hi...!",

On the path home, he noticed a row of ducklings walking into the pond. However, one of them was lost. He simply couldn’t resist. He set down his broth, clearing his throat dramatically,

“Fear not, distressed citizen! I, Tsukasa Tenma, World Future Star, will save you!”,

and gently caressed the duckling in his hands, before spinning around in a gentle yet wild manner, before finally plucking them down. The duckling seemed a little frazzled,

“… quack?”,

before hurrying off to their family. Tsukasa let out a little laugh, arms on his hips, proudly standing. He didn’t know what came over him, but he would always enjoy acting. Just a little bit. Priesthood came first.
“Woah!! That was so wonderhoy!!!!!”,
Immediately, Tsukasa felt a wave of embarrassment fall over him. He shouldn’t be seen doing this, especially not during the vampire situation. His priestly duties always came first.
“I… I’m sorry, Ootori. My fatherhood should always come front. I didn’t want anybody to see this side of me… certainly not…”,
“Eh? Why so ashamed? I think it’s really awesome!! C’mon, lets go say Hi to Saki-chan together! I’ve been meaning to go since the past few weeks, anyways!”,
Tsukasa was a bit shocked. This girl was dragging him along to his house? He barely had the time to pick up his jars before Ootori got impatient, dragging him along almost by the red in his hair. Maybe some fun would do Saki some good. As Tsukasa was running along, struggling to hold the jars, he didn’t notice the blur in the trees and foliage besides him.

As Ootori barged through his door (which still confused Tsukasa, how she was so quick to act), she ran over to Saki, somehow knowing exactly where she was. After Tsukasa stored the broth, he went over to Saki also. From where he was standing, it almost seemed like her eyelids were going up gleefully, as Emu was making puppets with her hands, with sound effects to match,

“Wgoah… pfeww pfewww pfewwww…!”,

"pfwoosh…. Bulwoomp…",

"sssstrrashhhh…. Hooray!!!!",

"Pew popopopows powpows… the end!!",

Tsukasa decided to leave them there, as he had to start making soup. He was, in fact, a little soup boy- but it was still his sister for who it was for. The kitchen felt warm, and garlands of garlic hung from most knobs. He always had one or two, because Saki liked garlic quite much, but now he had gotten a few extra in case he needed to protect the house. Tsukasa noticed the oven was empty, so he headed to the backyard to grab a batch of firewood. As he opened the door, he felt a second breeze- different to the one from opening the door in the first place -yet looking around, he saw nothing, or, nobody. He refused to entertain that thought much longer, though, as the vampire still couldn’t get out. It wasn’t completely dark yet. However, if they wanted to, they might be able to fly past a light burn. On his way back inside, Tsukasa made sure to hang a strand of garlic on that door.
Lighting the oven with the new firewood, he poured the broth into a large pot, along with some miscellaneous vegetables and dried meats he found laying around. Taking a head of garlic above him, he peeled and mashed it up, also scraping it in. He watched the soup for a while, before coming up to sit with Saki and Ootori, having a generally good time, not feeling the sun slide past his neck.

At about four hours, a few bits before dawn, Tsukasa was still chatting with Ootori. They had arbitrarily taken turns sleeping, about thirty minutes a time, talking through the night. What shocked Tsukasa was that she had already asked her family if she could stay the night with Saki, and was already planning on doing this. He couldn’t really mind too much, as he needed someone to talk to someone outside of the church… even though it was mostly his life, it was mainly his work, too, and it would eventually get boring. Saki had begun sleeping a while ago, though, and he couldn’t blame her. (But certainly not before she had her soup. Tsukasa was a soup boy at heart, and he will impose it onto everyone around him. Especially his sister, soup was really easy for her like this.)

“Ah, Tsukasa-kun, I still really, really, REALLY liked your performance back there! Where you saved that little ducky?! You have to join our circus, pleasee?”,
“Ootori, I must tell you that my priestly duties are a HUGE deal!! I could not go back on them for ANYT..hing… no, I couldn’t.”,
Tsukasa could’ve sworn Emu pouted,
“Aw, but you’d be so good at it!”,
Tsukasa considered… maybe he could participate in the community in different ways… but he still had to focus on his sister, and the vampire,
"I must tell you, there are lots of very important duties and services I must perform as priest. If I were to… simply stop, what would become of everyone, hmm?",
"I- but, Tsukasa-kun, you just gotta!! You can balance your work easy!",
Tsukasa didn't know what to think anymore, especially not with this girl in front of her, but she was too determined, and he was so tired, so, he caved in- maybe, he would just play along instead,
“I… VERY WELL THEN!! I shall be the GREATEST STAR the circus has EVER SEEN…! Right after I sort out the vampire problem, 'tis all.”,
"YAY!!!!!!!!! HUEUHEHEEHEEUEHEUEUEUEHEHE!! THAT'S SUPER DUPER WONDERHOY!! mmhemhmehemmhm… hey, Tsukasa-kun, can we go make more soup?! I really, really liked how you made it!!",
Tsukasa looked over to Saki. She was sleeping peacefully. She could stay that way,
“ALRIGHT THEN!! We will go and make the GREATEST SOUP EVER!!” (He was a little soup boy, after all),
Then, they went off to the kitchen, kicking up the oven fire, spending the rest of night’s soon-to-shrink cover under the warm ashy glow.

-

Rui, at this point, was completely and entirely sick of this. As a bat, he was careening over the forest. He’s done this almost every night for the past month, and it has never worked. At all. That was why he felt so sick, he could feel the aura of the past month-or-so’s failures weigh down on him, yet the promise of blood was so infinitely large and all-consuming that he had to continue. He had to. His head threatened to kill him then and there, and if he wasn’t a bat, he’d be screeching out of pain. Not just the physical pain, which was getting quite bad, but the anguish of being from his food for so long. Not long after, he saw those closely packed stones and thatched-down roofs below. He could nearly throw up. Blood. Blood. Human blood- not that pig crap - sitting prettily inside all of those little houses below. He has needed this for what felt like so, so, long- even though it was but a few weeks. But now, he can’t even fly too close to the ground, lest he risk having stakes thrown at him so horribly. He couldn’t take it. But he had to. Just this night. This time he'd get his fill.

Finding the, quite honestly, immaculate and infinitely interesting stained glass windows, as well as that grand rusted tin bell of the church, he was able to pinpoint Tsukasa’s house exactly, dropping in through a window which was just conveniently opened beside Saki’s room.

It was perfect. He could finally feed, and she wouldn’t even care. Getting back to where he was, before he was interrupted the last time, he bit into her neck. She woke up, but when she bit her last, it paralysed her, so she was unable to scream, only look around. The effect is only meant to last for the duration of the bite, but he was unable to finish it, so he couldn’t retract his fangs properly.
The whole world basically turned black as his focus was on one and one thing only. The absolute euphoria from blood, finally felt again. This was it. His release from this last month’s eternal, infinite, unchanging, unendless suffering. He dare not call it hell, for understatement. What was pouring down his mouth was his absolute pure and ultimate essence, his very own ambrosia, greater than anything he could ever imagine. This. was. it. However, he began to feel his mouth burn a bit. Looking around, he noticed garlic peels. Immediately pulling out, he laid the dazed Saki unto the bed (It appears he took too much), realising that Saki had ate garlic. He had no idea how it got in her blood so quickly, or why it was in her blood at all. He might’ve researched it, if he then realised that he was also hungry.
Himself, a bit dazed and drunk off the blood, stumbled up to the door, bumping a few bits and pieces over along the way. It was all fine when he saw Tsukasa. His special, golden boy. Could he move to the side just a bit? He wanted to get to the kitchen. Why was he so scared? Doesn’t matter, he was hungry for real food now.

-

Tsukasa and Ootori were walking towards Saki’s room, so they could get the soup bowls and clean up, but as Tsukasa went through the door first,
“…?!?!”,
He was in shock. That was the vampire who hurt his sister. They were oddly familiar, but he couldn’t wait. His face coloured with fear, before instinctively running over to his sister,
“Saki?? Saki??? Are you well???”,
He nearly chastised himself for speaking to her while she was in an episode, but miraculously, her head tumbled around a bit,

-

Rui was now tumbling down the hall, on his way to the kitchen, after His Tsukasa ran by him. To his side, he blearily spotted a little pink blur, shivering. Leaning down, he looked at her clumsily,
“Hemph… you look tasty… heehehehee”,
She made some strange noise, Rui couldn’t tell. He just pat her on the head, and kept going down the hallway. When he saw the soup, he paced a bit quicker towards it, before grabbing large handfuls of it, not caring about any burns that’d heal just as easily with his vampiricism, letting the faux drunkness wash the pain away. He had to keep away from the cupboards, though, he probably felt some garlic on them, and just didn’t want to risk it. He couldn’t bother to look up to check. He was in his soup zone.

-

Tsukasa was cuddling Saki, as she was slowly coming to,
“SAKISAKISAKISAKI!!! I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE BACK!!! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!! WAIT THE VAMPIRE-”,
Tsukasa came to a crashing realisation, as he grabbed the stake he stuffed under Saki’s pillow, (he made sure to do this after the vampire situation started), and ran towards the kitchen, finding the vampire pouring out handfuls of his soup with his bare hands…

“I am Tsukasa Tenma, and I will be the priest to end your life!”,
The vampire blearily tried to stand up, before bumping his head on the garlic and falling over in pain, their mainly-purple hair thrashing around. Their 'blood' run pure black, and looking down to his fingernails, he could see the wretched shade poke through, even there. As they vilely rose again, skin pale enough only to match the stars behind him, through the window- so radiant, shining and beautiful-, Tsukasa watched the beast completely sober and still themself, eerily, and through eachothers' eyes, they drew daggers, Tsukasa, stake drawn, the vampire, menacingly unarmed.

Chapter Text

The two boys didn’t dare move an inch, not even blinking, to make sure that they were the one who was in control of the situation. The priest was standing just a few bits away from him, and Rui was already feeling his strength replenish. He watched as that golden cascade tumbled down into that very same red he surely made himself familiar with earlier that day, almost melding into the warm shadows tumbling out from the cooker behind him, casting long shadows in the shape of Rui’s parted legs. Nevertheless, day would be coming dangerously soon, and he would have to retreat. He could deal with the priest later. He had fed. Rui laughed, and threw a smug face, feeling infinitely better,

“Oh, Tsukasa-kun~, I’ve been wanting to see you for a long, long time.”,

“That would be Tenma to you, monster.”,

Rui would notice the dramatic tone in his voice any day. He would notice anything about him, really,

“That’s such, such a harsh way to treat your husband, mm~?”,

Despite everything, Tsukasa was still a nervous mess, no matter where he was. Rui could start laughing at his little, trembling face, barely even holding on to that stake now. Laughter half of mocking, half of adoration.

“I... husband- t-that’s it! Die, beast!!”,

Tsukasa leapt towards him, but Rui quickly sidestepped, due to his vampire-ness. That was enough banter for today. Trying to sneak out of the back door, he hit a garland of garlic, hissing. This allowed Tsukasa to gain on him, and he had to quickly crawl past, underneath, still feeling the garlic repulse him. Finally, he was out, but Tsukasa was right behind him, he couldn’t just turn into a bat now, Tsukasa would just as easily catch him. Smashing through some odd wooden fence, the two ran past a small vegetable garden, basil leaves smooshing under their boots, tomatoes wildly swaying in the wind, the soil beneath moist-feeling and softly packed. Some got covered by the shrapnel of the blast which was the fence, as it lay broken in a way showing the two boys' running.

Even though it was night, some villagers were awake now, some at their farms, some still at home. These ones, with the houses showing little orange lights and warm fires, watched curiously for what His Tsukasa-kun was running for- him. Not having felt the wind under his wings like this in quite a while, Rui almost shrieked, laughing, as Tsukasa shouted out,

“It’s the- the vampire! F- Help me here!!!”,

“Oh, Tsukasa-kun, I’d love to help, oh, so much, but I’m merely caught in some exercise right now. I’d always love to see you some other time, though~!”, Rui called back at him. It didn’t help that Tsukasa seemed quite unpracticed, out of breath and nearly panting, but he couldn’t say no to a good chase. One villager ran out of their house, then another, and another, forming a small riot, chasing behind Tsukasa, who was chasing behind Rui.

=

As Rui was running through those soft grass reeds, he laughed as he felt the sun splash over his now wind-swept hair. His wings were strongly roped to his arms, and Tsukasa was running with him. Well, not exactly with him,

“Rui! It’s not going… to work! You’re … going to get hurt!”,

“Oh, Tsukasa, trust me! It’ll be amazing! I just need to have this big running jump, then I’ll SOAR!”,

He almost shouted, before leaping off the small overhang he was aiming for. For just a moment, it worked. He could feel his wings pop out behind him. As for Rui, he was less aerodynamic, falling flat onto the ground, scraping his leg on the rock which he had jumped off, and hitting his head on a tree root. Tsukasa caught up to him,

“… pant… Rui! What did I say? Stay here, I’ll… get someone”,

­Rui’s leg hurt a bit, sure, quite a bit, but he was more humiliated by his failure. That humiliation, though, quickly turned into curiosity. Staring up at an old tree, one of the only ones in this clearing- which he hoped he would’ve been able to fly over -he began to wonder how he could make that lift greater, the wind he felt when he spread his wings, he knew he could be the first person to fly.

✝

He was left there, contemplating, until Tsukasa came back with someone- the local priest, holding some bandages,

“Ah, Fagashiro, hurt yourself again with that boy? Hold still.”,

Rui first felt himself pull away from his thoughts, to that real pain in his legs, before he felt a new curiosity,

“…? Fagashiro? What does fag mean?”,

“Oh, don’t worry about it too much. I’ll just get you patched up.”,

Rui would argue, but honestly, he was still too into just how he could fly again. Dimly, in the corner of his view, he noticed Tsukasa repeatedly try get closer to him, the priest pushing him away, chuckling each time. His face was strange, hard to read- which was normal for Rui -, however, it was especially strange this time. His laughter felt like it had some mix of disgust. Rui didn’t want to think too deep into that, though. He was busy.

✝

After the priest had patched him up, he pulled away, letting Tsukasa run up to Rui,

“RUI!! Are you better now!? Is everything alright!?”,

“Hehe… sure, sure. I’ll have to try again sometime though.”,

“Arghh!!!”, Tsukasa made a sound of frustration,

=

Rui and Tsukasa had, now, a small crowd chasing with them,

“Tsukasa-kun, don’t you remember when we used to do this? My little star~”,

Tsukasa was too busy panting to hear Rui.

As the two were running, Tsukasa slowly falling behind Rui, due to Rui’s speed, the gravel and cobbles beneath them slowly turned into the signature flagstone pattern of the markets. Wooden stands and barrels surrounded them now, and not all of them were going to make it out alive. Rui jumped through a stall full of spices, and turned threw his head back, watching Tsukasa burst through in an explosion of warm spice cloud, and cool wood tones- from the debris after he burst through that stand -, Rui cooed,

“Oh, Tsukasa-kun, you look so dramatic now, just like the old days! You couldn’t possibly forget us, right~?”,

Tsukasa’s face changed for a brief moment, and Rui thought it was adorable… but, does this mean that he had forgotten him…? Or was he just catching his breath? He seems to be remembering quickly, anyway. Rui was certain of that. His Tsukasa wasn’t feeling so talkative, and seemed to be falling even further behind, so he didn’t bother talking back for now. Now, he was too occupied, making sure he didn’t bump into any of those barrels and stands around him, lifting out his arm to tip over a barrel of bones. These came from the broth store, which was run by Hoshino ever since he and Tsukasa were children,

=

“Hm? What are you getting today, Tsukasa?”,

“Just some soup…”, Tsukasa’s head was down, and Rui could feel something was wrong,

“Eh? What for?”,

“Saki’s been feeling really ill lately… liquid food is easier to get through her, now.”,

“Oh. That’s… sad.”,

“Yeah.”,

“Maybe… I could try make her feel better? I’ve got some good working contraptions, still-”,

“RUI!! THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!! WE WILL PERFORM AN EXTRAORDINARY SHOW!!”, quickly returning to his excitable nature. It made Rui chuckle.

Tsukasa walked up to the stall,

“Hello, Ichika!! what is the absolutely most nutritious soup you have available?!”,

Walking back to Tsukasa’s home, plenty of broth jars in hand- probably too much -the two boys set them down and ran quickly to Saki’s room, feeling the squeak of floorboards under them that just weren’t so loud yet, in their youth.­ Saki coughed weakly, before barely sitting up to face the two,

“SAKI!! Do NOT overexert yourself like that!!”, he cried, running towards her and propping her up to sit against the wall himself,

“It’s not- cough -too bad, you don’t have to do all… this… ooh, is that soup broth, over there?”,

“Yes, it IS!! Wonderfully simple, yet so DELICIOUS!! It’s AMAZING!!”,

“Hehe, Tsukasa is a little soup boy~”, Rui laughed,

“I- HEY!! I AM NOT A LITTLE SOUP BOY!!!”, but it was too late. Saki was also laughing, along with Rui. The two laughed along, at Tsukasa’s expense.

-

✝

As the priest of the local church, he was often called out to do exorcisms and the such, which he wouldn’t mind too much- if only it wasn’t that he always had to wait until night. That was when the spirits were most active, they said. Sure. With the guttural sigh of a tired man, he knocked on the door of the Tenma residence. According to her parents, their daughter (who was often ill, anyway) was ‘getting much worse’. He supposed it was part of his duties, but he just couldn’t really care all too much about it. It was all appearances, really. Maybe, he could go fix that Tsukasa child he saw before, with that boy. Now that was something which interested him.

Knocking twice, he stepped in, finding his way towards the only sounds in the house. Throwing the door open, he wasn’t interested by what he saw. Saki, obviously, sat in the bed in front of him, propped up to the wall. She was looking down to the floor in front of her, smiling, where there was that Rui queer, the Tsukasa kid, and some sticks, flailing about by themselves- through some dark magic, likely. He really hated that purple kid. He half considered getting the tribe to exile him, he was always so strange- queer -, he never fit in with the others. Never. Not to mention, he was always with that other kid, Tsukasa. He was a bad influence on Tsukasa- who would’ve been a good boy, if not for that -and from that one time in the clearing, he knew he was already rubbing off on him. He wondered what other rubbing they were doing. Now, they were all looking up at him,

“… Hello, children. I’ve been asked to come here by Saki’s parents to heal her. If you were to give us some room, it’d be appreciated.”,

“I… I don’t think it’s a good idea…”, Slight worry clouded Saki’s face,

“Nonsense, Saki! Rui crash-landed in the clearing once, and he was PERFECTLY HEALED by this man! Very well, sir! We shall take our leave. AMEN!!!”,

“Thank you, thank you.”,

Rui and Tsukasa went out of the room, with the little twigs following after. The priest didn’t see them, though. Shutting the door behind them, he mumbled under his breath,

“… I’m glad those fags are gone…”,

✝

Turning back around to Saki, the priest began his work. He grabbed a pouch of salt, walking up beside Saki. Then, he poured it in a circle, by her sides, and waited. In turn, Saki coughed a bit. It failed, great.

Next, he took out a small vial of water by his side, capped with a silver stopper- Holy water. Holding it out to Saki,

“Drink.”,

“What is this…?”,

“Do as I told you.”,

He watched as Saki reluctantly took it, pouring it down her throat. She immediately hacked it back up. At the least, it was a sign that there was some actual demon here. He grunted, snatching the vial back

to his belt. Holding out the cross by his neck, he tried to bring it to Saki, but it immediately started getting hot,

“Argh!”,

He dropped it, now picking it up by his coat- so that it wouldn’t burn through his shirt -, and went off to the window to cool it. Taking a step back, to the door, so that the necklace wouldn’t heat back up again, he stared at the floor. He was basically out of ideas. He took out his bible, and started erroneously flipping through it, seeing if there was anything for this situation. He wouldn’t know, anyway, he didn’t even read that thing. With his head down in the book, he almost didn’t notice the slight slip of a coat. Looking up, he saw that through the open window, a woman had crawled in. An older woman, with purple hair which was down. He watched in terror as she bit into Saki’s neck, before immediately pulling away, sputtering out black vile, hacking and spluttering. The priest didn’t dare approach. Then, the vampire fled back out the way she came, through the window, as her bat-wings carried her over.

Staring at Saki in shock for a few seconds, the priest ran over to the window, closing it, and began mopping the black liquid with some rag, careful not to touch any. As he was busy with that mess, Saki spoke,

“… I feel better.”,

Instantly, the priest rose, towering over Saki, and leaning towards her,

“Nobody will know about what just happened.”,

“But-”,

“Listen here, you stupid child. If anyone in the village knows at ALL that you were healed by some beast of the dark, you would be exiled. You’ll never see ANYBODY you loved or cared about ever again. Then, if that thing doesn’t come back and finish you for supper, you will starve and thirst and bleed out in some ditch.”,

Saki trembled,

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”,

“Y-yes, sir.”,

“Good.”,

It would’ve been terrible if word got out that some object was better than him. He’d keep this a secret- the next priest can deal with it. After making sure all the evidence from its vomit was mopped, he wordlessly went back out through the door. On the way out, he noticed the two boys from before playing with the strange sticks. They can dance on their own however they want, he was too angry to deal with any more dark arts,

“Saki has been healed.”,

He didn’t bother to listen to what they had to say, as he spun back out, to his own home, for some rest.

-

As the priest went out through the door, Tsukasa made sure to shout one more thanks,

“THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!”,

before excitedly running off to Saki’s room. Barging in, he found she was already up and walking, already halfway through the room. Albeit, she was still limping, but she’s always had that limp. Tsukasa leaped up to her, and gave her a tight bear hug, nearly knocking the both of them over,

“I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU, SAKI!! YOU’RE HEALED!! Well… not fully… BUT YOU’RE HEALED FROM WHATEVER THAT NEW THING WAS!! HOORAY!!!”,

Saki smiled, a bit weakly, but Tsukasa assumed that was normal, being recently healed and all. They both stayed in embrace, before pulling apart,

“Hmm… you know, Saki, I’ve always wanted to be a priest when I grow up!”,

“Oh, why is that?”,

“Well, then I can help everyone! Just like our priest did with you and Rui!! Mwahaha!!”,

“But I thought you loved acting?”,

“It’s fine! That can come later, but I swear, I will find a way to heal everyone! Even you, one day!”,

Saki laughed, and they embraced once more.

=

As Rui was still running from Tsukasa, he reached the end of the markets, and now found the harbour before him. The freezing air which was whipping around him was slowly warming still, and his skin started to prickle. He was about to burn up. His luck had run out. Beginning to turn desperate, he stood on the side of the bridge, just above a walkway, and some long barrels. Spinning to face Tsukasa,

“Tsukasa-kun, I’m ready for you~”,

Barely a moment later, he was tackled, and they tumbled down into those barrels, placing a hole right through some of them. His skin was now starting to get warm, and while he tried to shuffle around, there was still quite a noticeable patch of sun- shaped like a star, with its left arm on his right eye, but he didn’t notice the exact shape back then. The rest of the sunlight was either covered by Tsukasa, or the various barrels and wood shrapnel. In the distance, he could hear Nene call out,

“Hey! He’s over here!”,

Far away from him, likely to distract the villagers. He was thankful for her, sometimes. Looking Tsukasa dead through the eyes, he smiled smugly, as his right eye reminded him that time was limited.

-

Staring face down into the vampire that had poisoned his sister, Tsukasa was conflicted. Just why would he now save his sister? He was, though, aware that the other villagers were now running off in some other direction, after that shout. A bit annoying, but he didn’t care too much. He had the vampire right here, and he could watch it die. Yet, looking closer at them, he saw something. This wasn’t just anyone. He knew this person. This was… Rui, no? Kamishiro Rui, from his childhood. He went missing, along with any signs of the vampire. Now, he thought that maybe the vampire had returned, but he wasn’t like the vampire’s description at all, and he remembers playing with him outside in the sunlight all those years ago... maybe there were two vampires now? Either way, his face softened, if not but a bit. This was Rui. The Rui who helped Saki just then. The Rui who tried to fly, smug as ever,

“Oh, Tsukasa-kun, now you know who I am, hmm~”,

“I… Rui…? What happened to you?”,

His face started sizzling,

“I killed the vampire for you! Are you impressed~?”,

“I…”,

“Sure, I might’ve had some accidents, yes,”, Rui bared his fangs, just a bit,

“But I’m still the same old Rui. Your same old Rui, Tsukasa-kun.”, with a hint of sardonicisim,

Smoke started rising around him,

“B-but… you’re a creature of the dark… how could this even happen?”,

“I…”,

“It’s alright to have questions, my little star.”,

Bubbles started rising around where Rui’s face was hit by the sunlight. If he was in pain, he was hiding it well,

“I don’t know what to do…”,

“I think, what we have to do, is make out.”,

His face started gaining a mark, exactly where that patch was. A little star was blackening onto him. Rui would likely be dead soon,

“Huh?? I can’t do that… it’s wrong…”,

“Don’t worry, Tsukasa-kun. I won’t make this quick.”,

As he looked like he was near bursting from the sunlight, Rui reached his arms out, forcing the other boy onto him, simultaneously covering the last spot on his face which was exposed. In the heat of the situation, definitely, Tsukasa found himself submitting instantly. He always found Rui very pretty… and his new vampiricism didn’t help, either. Maybe, as Tsukasa’s lips became parted, the feel of his fangs, and the taste of rich iron, was what he wanted for a long time... Rui made sure to take his time, as Tsukasa got woozy from the sensation. He let out a muffled noise, and he could’ve sworn Rui chuckled. He felt himself fall into Rui, pushed about by his head, all tension instantly leaving from his body. He could’ve fallen asleep there, if it wasn’t for the moans that penetrated the tight space. If he listened closer, he would’ve heard that they were all from him, but he was too far gone for that now. He was just content with letting Rui take hold over him, his pretty little purple strands brushing his eyes to a close. Eventually, Tsukasa started running out of breath, yet Rui was still pushing their heads firmly together. Just as he felt himself slip out of consciousness, Rui let go, and slipped into the form of a bat. If he had done that earlier, Tsukasa might’ve stopped him, but now, he was far too dazed. Mostly, he was dazed from the intense love which Rui had just given him, yet also, he was physically dazed, gasping for oxygen. He couldn’t make out what Rui had said to him, as he felt him slip out of their coffin-shaped area. It wasn’t until it was too late that Tsukasa tried to grab Rui, but he was already far, far out of reach.

-

As a bat, he was much faster, and nimble, but he only had a minute at most before the sun took him, and that was if he was flying perfectly. He made sure to fly through the trees, moist and fresh with the new morning’s dew, songbirds and bunnies and woodpeckers rattling about, as he threw himself against the castle door, scrambling to slam it shut after grinding himself inside. Rui was exasperated. As for the running, he could’ve done that for far longer. His body was in no need of rest. However, his heart was beating an absolutely maddening tune. Not only had he managed to get away perfectly, with the sun on his tail, but he had Tsukasa-kun all to himself. When he had pressed Tsukasa into him, it was like he was one of his puppets, just falling asleep instantly. He loved the feeling. He was his. His little star. HIS. TSUKASA-KUN.­ Rui fell to his knees, and fell backwards, thankful to be caught by that soft, thick, red carpet- which was red JUST like the tips of Tsukasa’s little hair -as he let out a long and unrestrained exhale. As he was staring up at the castle ceiling, infinitely interesting cobbles joining and breaking together, he saw Nene walk up to him, staring from the floor,

“Have you had your happy times, now?”,

“… Why… Why yes! I certainly have… Tsukasa-kun is simply... too cute…”,

“… and also, ‘Thank you for saving us two lovers back there’, yes?”,

“Yes, yes, of course. Of… course…”,

“By the way, you have a little mark.”,

Remembering the patch of sunlight that was so close to ending him in front of His Tsukasa, he cringed,

“Ah, so it seems. Let me see.”,

Nene just stared at him, bluntly,

“Oh, right... vampire… no mirrors… I might have to work on that, one day…”,

“I’ll just trace it for you… it’s quite visible.”,

“Very well.”,

Rui kept laying down as Nene traced what felt like a star over his right eye. It was slightly to the right. He’d get some puppet to draw him later, to get a better look. He probably had one like that. If not, he could just make one. Either way, he was exhausted. It seemed like Tsukasa-kun truly was his. He’d have to meet him again, soon. Staring up, as he let himself wander, he chuckled.

Chapter Text

That night, Tsukasa slept in Saki’s room. After everything that had happened that morning- that previous morning, now -, he was too frazzled to let her out of her sights, and in turn, he was calmed, knowing that she was safe. He stayed up all night, (at least, he thought so, not remembering how the moon moved across a fairly large stretch of the sky, as he was tracking the time), but nothing had happened. As he noticed Saki stir, he ran over to the kitchen, and brought her slightly soggy breakfast in bed- which he had prepared an hour ago or so, in his boredom (Still keeping a close eye on Saki through the hallway). A tired Saki spoke,

“...mm? Tsukasa? You stayed here… all night?”,

“Believe me, Saki, I had QUITE the ADVENTURE this morning! I just... wanted to know you were safe, is all.”,

“I… thanks. Weren’t you meant to go over to that circus, today…? Did you even get any sleep?”,

“I… maybe?!”,

“Hurry! You don’t want to be late to your own audition…”,

“I… OKAY!!”,

He rushed out the door, stealing a coat from the coat-rack, before hitting the tight cobbles of the garden path. Barely fitting it around his arms, it billowed out behind him. He had given up his acting years since, ever since he realised how much priesthood could help the people he loved. However, he still felt quite giddy. Still, he was thinking about the vampire- no, Rui -, from yesterday. He had kissed him. It was so wrong. A boy. But he fell for him, nay, fell onto him. He just let himself go limp… the thought excited him, a little, a bitter-sweet disgust. Tsukasa’s mind kept dwelling over Rui, as the sound of clapping, cheering, and popcorn rose. He had arrived at the circus. In the distance, a little pink blur was rapidly approaching, to the sounds of what sounded like someone shouting: ‘WONDERHOY~~~!!!’. This was Ootori. He felt her tumble into his chest, nearly knocking him off his balance,

“TSUKASA-KUN!!”, Tsukasa stirred a little, hearing that, “ARE YOU HERE TO AUDITION?? QUICK, QUICK, THIS WAY!!!”, as she ­started running back off, towards a large tent. This was where the auditions were, he presumed.

Quickly chasing behind her, he pushed past some pinwheel curtains, where the room then became completely dark. He joined a line, full of a dozen other people, waiting.

-

Rui was snuggled in between the rafters of some grand tent he found at the circus.­ A circus, naturally, was the best place to find people, and he was here all night, out for blood. Sure, people were alert- especially after last night -but, he was just feeling so… elated- no doubts still reeling over Tsukasa. Either way, all the rides and games of the park, with all their little moving parts of their own, did well to obscure Rui, and now, he was napping lazily, watching people walk by, act, then leave.

One person went past, then another, and some more, and even more, until his eye was caught, his breath hitching. On the stage, there stood a boy with bright orange hair. He then calmed, realising that the flash of orange-red he saw was not Tsukasa. Lazily squinting again, he could’ve sworn he saw a tomato thrown at the boy, before he was ushered off, squeaking against a warm, dark, oak stage.

As much as he loved him- need him­-, he didn’t want to see Tsukasa just now. He wasn’t in the mood for running. That was, in fact, another reason, why Rui had come to the circus. Tsukasa gave up on acting a long time ago, this he knew- despite Tsukasa’s former love for it. That was fine, though. He was still his little, nervous, repressed boy. Rui’s eyes threw themselves open again, as he saw the actual Tenma Tsukasa walking onto the set,

“NEXT!”,

“YES, Yes… it is I! TENMA TSUKASA!! I’ll be having my job, now, please!”,

“You’ll have to audition, first, Tenma.”,

“Oh, OF COURSE I CAN!!”,

“… for this scene,”, the shuffling of papers, “… you’ll be playing Juliet.”, the judge flashed a script at him, for but a few seconds, then pulled it away,

“Ah… I see! Yes… who will be Romeo, now?”,

Rui knew who. It would be him. He imagined himself, jumping down from that high-up place, so gracefully,

“Hmm~, maybe I can help you, Tsukasa-kun?”,

“Oh, Rui, I love you so much! Yes!”,

Then he would laugh a little, and laugh a lot more, when he felt his Tsukasa-kun jump down into his arms, his little backup puppet dancers streaming around them. His. His shining little star, whom he loved with all his heart. Rui would tussle his golden hair around, tracing it down to the tips, which slowly went red- the exact colour that his blood would be. Now that he wasn’t starving anymore, he didn’t know what he loved more about the colour red. Tsukasa-kun’s hair, or blood. He’d have to think on it, as he was so much more busy now. Cradling him, Rui stared into Tsukasa’s eyes- so close to being exactly Rui’s shade- as he mumbled,

“mm…? What was that, dear?”,

“Shinonome, thank you for the help.”,

Rui instantly snapped back to reality, staring at the stage, seeing that the ginger from before was back on stage. Was he playing Romeo? Was he taking away HIS. Tsukasa-kun??

He simply couldn’t do. Tsukasa was busy, it seems they liked his acting- they better -, so Rui silently followed the ginger when he slipped into another dark room, presumably the same as all the other applicants, sneaking by the shadows.

-

Tsukasa-kun was taking a really long time to audition, so Emu was going to get him some really tasty popcorn when he does come up! Skipping over a soft, yet solid dirt road, she whirred past lots and lots of colourful faces, waving at everybody she could. It did make her feel dizzy, though… so she threw herself under a tree, a flowy, weeping willow tree. All the little soft, thick, muted green reeds reminded her of someone…

Nene-chan! Who she met yesterday… was she in the park? As for what elves did in their spare time… Emu didn’t know… Maybe, she could find her in the forest? As all the wonderhoy sounds and sights of the carnival wore off, over the cobbles of the village, she was skipping once again, meeting the biting cold-freshness of the forest. Pine needles bent underfoot, and desaturated mint filled the air. As she looked down, Emu could see the wildlife running everywhere, and they were really cute. She couldn’t help herself. Bending down to a little doe, she began petting them, only for them to run away. Flailing her arms and giving chase,

“Hey!! Come back here!!!”,

-

Nene could feel the rustling in the forest from twice the distance away. On leisureful days like this, with so many people at the circus, she should be undisturbed. Still, she didn’t want to be around Rui’s puppets when he was gone- one of them tried to bite at her, once, even. As the trees around her trembled again, Nene sighed as she ran towards the noise, pretrubing some scurry of squirrels, as she entered the trees.

Despite growing up in this forest, it still amazed her. Jumping through the trees, the leaves grew healthy and thick, from any range of colours- deep emeralds, to near-yellow lemons with but a hint of green -although the day’s glow and fog gave it more a desaturated appearance. Underfoot, wood-chips and bark littered a moist, unpressed floor, which would spring heavily with each step, any animal you’d expect to be in a forest, and a bit more- she swore she’d seen a white snake -were bustling about in the cavernous scope. As Nene waded towards the crying she heard, she saw a little pink blur. Was it really her…?

“Aah!! Please, Deer-kun!! Just let me cuddle you!!!”,

Nene sighed, reassuring herelf that she didn’t feel a slight smile creep onto her face,

“That’s a stupid idea.”, watching Emu whip around instantly,

“Oh!! Nene-chan!!! I’ve been looking for you!!!”, Nene subconsciously watched with care as Emu’s arms flailed around in the air. A bit cute. Emu grabbed for Nene’s arm, “Let’s go!!”, but Nene’s feet were planted firmly in the floor. She’d been dragged about by this girl once, and once only. Still, there was a good bit of markings in the dirt through where Emu had tried to drag her,

“Let’s go- but a bit slower. I could hear you from a great stretch away.”,

“Oah… okay…”, still dragging Nene through the dirt. Now, Nene picked her feet up, walking with her,

“Do you know where I’m taking you, Nene-chan~…?”,

“No.”,

“Oh! Well… my new ride opened up! Hehe…”,

“Your new ride?”,

“Yeah! I’ve been working on it for a few weeks now! I’ve been really bored, waiting for all the auditions… so I came to get you…! Snacks, mostly, but also you!”,

Nene wondered what such a small person could do. Either way, she was curious. Eventually, as Nene reached the treeline, she felt the aura of the circus come onto her, thick laughter- which a knife could cut -, and the erratic skyline of various coasters, wheels, and other tall rides- contained by a long, themed, spiked log fence. As they snapped, Nene made sure not to slip over the pile of twigs they were then walking on, looking down. Doing this, she found that her hand was holding Emu’s. She pulled it away quite a bit quickly. Walking up to the ticket booth,

“Wah!! This is it, our circus!!”,

“Tickets, please…? Oh, Ootori Emu, I see.”, a ticket booth inspector glanced at them for a bit, before lowering his gaze. Emu seemed to not even notice him,

“It’s this way, Nene-chan!!”, pointing to some mountain off in the distance,

“Are you sure? That’s a hill.”,

“Don’t you want to see…? Come on!!”, Nene could’ve sworn that Emu was pouting, for but a moment.

Eventually, the two made their way to that very hill, which actually had a small queue lined up at it. Making their way to the end of the line, Nene now realised what it was,

“You dug a tunnel in the hill?”,

“Nope! I used dynamite! Hehe~”,

Inside, a water stream pushed little swan carriages down the tunnel. Nene didn’t know how long it even was, but judging by how fast the line was going, it wasn’t short. As her eyes adjusted to see in the tunnel, looking past the red stained glass, and red hued candle-light, Nene saw hearts painted over the walls,

“It’s a lovers ride, Nene-chan! Hehe… fresh teenage romance… all in the air...”,

Nene was partially shocked. She didn’t really know how to feel about this, either. As they reached the front of the line, Emu pulled them down into a swan, and shrugged awfully closer to Nene. Emu felt warm, some bundle of energy, wrapped by short-pink blanket. Nene felt pulled to it. As the boat ran down the river, it wasn’t just the candles which warmed Nene’s cheeks.

-

Emu was silently kicking her feet on the seat, filling the float with the sounds of shuffled fabric. She felt really happy around Nene. Pulling on her shoulder, Emu felt Nene recoil a little, but still pushed against the boat. Emu planted her head on her shoulder… uwa… so wonderhoy… so soft…

-

Nene was, internally, a bit panicked. She felt Emu’s head reach into her shoulder, brushing their hair together, and sending little shivers down her body,

“I… like how you were able to do this, Emu.”,

“…mmmheheh… yeah…… Oh! I should probably show you around!”,

Emu jolted to an upright stop, wonder in her eyes. Nene felt a bit cheated, embarrassingly. She then watched as Emu pointed to various points of interest,

“Those are some of the hearts I painted! I used rope to make sure they wouldn’t leak…”,

Nene shifted closer towards Emu, now pressing- when before, they had at most a few inches from them. Nene moved her hand to her outer left thigh, brushing against Emu’s,

“Ooh! Nene-chan! Over there, I hung up some mistletoe~… hehe~!”,

Nene sized up Emu, moving her left arm around her waist to grab her from the other end, moving closer, now pushing her weight onto her left thigh with her right arm. Maybe, she could do something like this.

“Over there, I was mining, and I found a cave-bee nest! I made lots of mead that day… hehe… you wouldn’t like to see me when I’m drunk...”,

With that last line, Emu smiled directly at Nene, and she couldn’t control herself anymore. Nene pinned down Emu’s left thigh with her left hand, and cupped her head in the inner crook of her elbow, handful of hair, pressing herself onto Emu, and Emu onto her. The kiss went on slightly longer than it should, and Nene pulled back,

“I think your attraction worked well.”,

Yet Emu was too stunned to speak.

-

“We’ll be considering you, Tenma. NEXT!”,

After Tsukasa’s performance, he was quite relieved to step off the stage. This one was long, and he had no rehearsal, and his cross-necklace had also started to get uncomfortably warm. Heading back to where all the other actors went, however, he saw something new. In front of him, the corpse of Shinonome, the actor who had just went out that door, a few minutes ago. His blood painted the walls and floor. Standing next to him, nay, above him- Rui,

“Rui? What are you doing?!”,

Slowly unsheathing a stake, Tsukasa didn’t know whether to walk forward or back, so he awkwardly stood still,

“Oh, Tsukasa-kun, he was trying to take you away from me. I just couldn’t have that, could I?”,

“He’s… he’s dead!”,

“I’m just a little thirsty boy, fuhu~”, wiping some blood of his face.

Now taking steps towards Rui, brandishing his stake,

“This wasn’t out of love. This was out of greed.”,

“Don’t act so brave, my Tsukasa-kun~…”, he smugly lift his arm to point at his right eye. “You see this scar? It means my love for you. My, little, star.”,

Tsukasa shivered a little. It reminded him of when he was right above Rui, watching him burn alive. Now, he think he had the answer to what was plaguing him ever since that hunt. He… had to kill Rui. Lunging forward with the stake, Tsukasa was caught by Rui, and pinned to the wall,

“Look at my eye. This was for the better of both of us~”,

“...and, Tsukasa-kun, if you needed more help, I could always build some backup actors… fuhu~”,

On cue, Tsukasa watched in terror, as Shinonome’s ribcage cracked free from itself, his arms twist off, his feet-bones separate cleanly, as they all danced a semi-circle around the boys. They walked, with blood sickly dripping off them, cracking and scraping across the floor…

“His bones were very interesting! I had fun working with them...”, almost absent-mindedly,

“but I shouldn’t focus on that. After all, I have you all to myself, again. I’ve been wanting you for a very long time, you know? Just once wasn’t enough…”, Tsukasa could see Rui pout mockingly, as he loomed above him, slamming his arms into the sides of the back exit. His body wanted to go limp again, but he tried to resist, trying to lift his arms out of the hold. He was too stunned to speak. His cross was smoking. Rui brandished his fangs, almost making the sound a sharp sword would when unsheathed,

“Silly, silly Tsukasa-kun~, I think I’ll have to show you what we both need.”,

Rui opened his jaws wider, and Tsukasa realised that he was about to bite into his lips. He could only let out a silent yelp, as Rui drew closer. Then, Rui instantly whipped around, throwing Tsukasa’s stake, towards the light which illuminated the audition stage, plunging the area into complete darkness. Tsukasa hadn’t even thought about crying for help. He felt Rui jolt off him, and felt the curtain reel open, pouring daylight into the room, his clothes slightly flew back. In came running Ootori Emu, dragging the tall elf girl he had sometimes seen about,

“TSUKASA-KUN!! Aww… I missed your audition… that’s ok! I was bored waiting so I got snacks! How did it go!?”, holding a bunch of popcorn,
“I… they said they would consider me! Hah…! Oh.”,

“Eh? Tsukasa-kun? What is it?”, Emu said, as she broke eye contact to gaze across the room, quickly finding Shinonome’s corpse. Her face was mortified. She knew what was going on. Tsukasa nervously pushed the elf, and Ootori, outside,

“… maybe if Kamishiro is out of his castle, we can go look for clues…?”, she was obviously terrified- seeing a corpse did that to people -, but still speaking cheerfully. Tsukasa, however, was shocked- for another reason,

“You… you know where R- Kamishiro lives?! You know his name, too?!”,

“I… yeah! I went there a few days ago… that’s when I met Nene-chan!”,

Tsukasa shot a look at Nene, and she stared coldly in response. She was looking suspicious,

“I… you will take me there, now.”,

“I… yeah, okay…”,

As they were off, it was hard for Emu to even notice that a little bat had made their way into their jumper.

Chapter Text

Spreading his bat-wings across the pink haired girls jacket, he felt the three jostle along. They had been walking for a while, and he was starting to forget his place, but as soon as he felt the feeling of moist, bitingly cold air, and the gradual, slow spiral of the walkway, he knew that the village girl had known where his castle was. He felt a stop, peeking out at the cobbles which spread out under the castle-gate,

“… Tsukasa-kun… this is scary now…”, feeling the vibrations of her voice,

“… I’ll go in, then.”,

Rui heard Tsukasa walk inside. So, he positioned himself, ready to throw himself. He pulled in his legs and pushed forward. At an instant, he flew through, forming back into a human, watching as the girl rebounded,

“He’s here!”.

Slamming the door behind him, he watched as Tsukasa whipped around, where Rui stood once again. This time, it annoyed him- now, he had to finish this, or the town would overrun him- Tsukasa now knew where he lived. He didn’t have time to make any entrance, as Tsukasa lunged towards him.

-

Rui slipped through his hands, like the sickeningly blood red carpet under his feet. He felt it squelch, or rather, he imagined it. What was certainly quelching, was his heart. Before, his knees were already weak, but, maybe, the lightness beating with every ring of his chest, was not entirely out of fear. Tsukasa ran after Rui- skipping to try catch him -, as he watched him skirt away from him every single time. He knew Rui was laughing at him- mostly because he was,

“Fuhuhu~”,

“… quit… running… you twink!”, every word punctuated by some jump which forced the air out of his lungs, leaping after Rui,

“Hmm…. No.”,

He wasn’t fond of his joking. He was here with a job to do. He tentatively followed Rui into a stairwell, yet minimally slowing down. The spiral pattern bore holes into his head. Above him, Rui was just floating upwards the center. The stairs below him lightly crumbled.

-

Nene watched as Emu pounded on the door,

“No!! Tsukasa-kun!! C’mon!!”,

Dust and dirt falling through those uniform trenches which lined the gate. Her fists resonated solidly. Tears peeked out through her face, and she slouched down. Nene watched, with some faint melancholy. She sadly went up behind Emu, and grabbed her,

“Nene-chan!! No!! Tsukasa-kun can’t be in there all by himself!!”,

“… I think it’s safer away.”, Nene looked down with weary eyes. Her arms encircled Emu’s front, forming some band, with Nene standing behind her. Nene picked her up, watching her kick and flail. Nene was out of range, and felt Emu deflate in her arms slowly. It didn't feel right.

-

Rui watched as Tsukasa-kun leapt through the door to the stairwell, which he was stood behind. The stairwell had clearly took it out of him, and Rui was just as exasperated to see him again,

“Climbing a decrepit stairwell in your Vampire Fiancé’s house all by yourself, handsome~?”, he winked with his burnt eye.

Tsukasa-kun seemed unfazed. Rui was happy enough to settle back into their routine. Tsukasa lunged, and Rui ran. So they did. Honestly, he was growing less annoyed, as they were getting closer, closer, to the viewing room. Every good vampire needs a viewing room, after all. The castle banisters were cracked and old, and he ran his hands under them. He had time, beginning to have some paced stroll, as Tsukasa-kun was beginning to puff. There were a few cobwebs place to place, but he could hardly describe it as decrepit. Maybe he could make something to fix that. Either way, the watching room was up ahead. He purposefully ignored it, right until the last moment, where he flashed to the left, his cloak flowing out behind him. He heard slapping up the stairs. Just like that other day, he stood with his arms out, as Tsukasa-kun raised his stake, finally with a line of sight to Rui’s heart.

Rui stepped to the side, and threw Tsukasa-kun down against the wall. Tsukasa-kun’s arms were above his head, and he slumped down. The room around him was dark, and angled, gloom slowly lighting from above- the window didn’t let much light through, as per design -, dust particles flying about, lazily.

However, the walls watched another point, silently. Rui was grating Tsukasa-kun’s body against a corpse. His back was squishing against a pool of blackened liquid, maggots running quicker at the touch, barely contained by what little meat remained left, and the sickeningly pale skin which contained it. In some fully ruptured, leaving long, deep troughs, revealing those festering swaths of what now grinded and protruded.

-

Tsukasa was dazed. He had managed to fall for the exact trick as before, coming to his senses, feeling himself bound. Rui was above him, again. He tried to squirm back, for footing, but he was held up. However, his legs pushed against something soft. He felt himself sink, slightly. His cross was burning twice as much as it ever was. Dizzied, he tried to shift his gaze downwards. He was on a corpse. He flailed, trying to kick himself away, but he was powerless by Rui. He slumped back down, and felt two sharp teeth scrape down his neck. Purple hair. Unlike Rui’s- darker -yet that was probably from that pure black, oily ‘blood’ around him. Maggots wriggled around Tsukasa, Rui had a feverish grin in his eye,

“I believe we got off on the wrong foot, Tsukasa-kun.”,

Tsukasa grunted, and flailed once, fully wordless,

“Do you like the setting? I prepared it just for you~”,

Tsukasa took a sharp inhale,

“I’ve been obsessed for a long, long time.”, Tsukasa felt Rui’s finger run across his chin, the weight on his hands shifting, yet his vision was beginning to fail,

“… mm, My Star doesn’t want to talk?”,

Tsukasa found himself shaking his head, for some reason.

“Then I’ll force it out of you.”,

Immediately, Tsukasa felt the hand on his chin grip, far too hard, and yelped in pain. His neck was forcefully wrenched to the side, fully exposed, as Rui fully crashed his jaw around it. He tried to scream, but was frozen. He could only stay perfectly still as he felt the blood drain out of him, quickly. His vision was laced with stars, and the dark tones of the room began to blend together. He was about to fall unconscious, as Rui wrenched himself out of Tsukasa, and Tsukasa weakly slumped over himself. Rui threw Tsukasa’s head up against the wall, which he wasn’t even able to feel at that point, and drew his attention to Tsukasa’s lips. He felt a dim pressure, as Rui’s face brought itself into his vision.

Tsukasa drifted asleep, for the last time, in his lover’s arms.

Content.