Chapter Text
Never let a human see a witch performing the magic arts.
Yuuichiro Hyakuya had this deeply ingrained within his brain. His father was a significant part of the Directory of Old Witches, after all - and anything shown to ordinists would instigate another genocide of witch society, or so all of the elderly witches would say. ("Take 1692 and 1693 for example," they declared. "Yes, worthless members of mankind were slaughtered, but their casualties are far less if you look at the deaths of our witches, our brethren." )
Yuuichiro was an intelligent witch. He picked up skills quickly and knew many intricate spells. However, he had no idea what to think about humans because of his sheltered life, safe from all the problems a witch could encounter (humanity being 90% of them) because of his overprotective father. In his household, his father, Guren Hyakuya-Ichinose, a strong-minded, stubborn, pure-blooded witch from the Hyakuya family, was the strongest and most influential of the current Hiiragi-Hyakuya circle. His other father, Kureto Hiiragi, a close second, only falling short of controlling the family because he was a half-blood. Shinya Hiiragi became a dutiful brother-in-law as well as the butler of the house after the arranged Hiiragi-Hyakuya marriage. (He was also in an affair with Guren, and this Yuuichiro knew from the lingering hands on shoulders and their hushed conversations and all the other things that were commonly shared between witch and human alike with their special significant others.)
Shinya also came to be one of Yuuichiro's only 'friends', since the young witch was only ever allowed to go out of the Hyakuya house if he was accompanied by the butler. Even when he went out with Shinya, his father still had his Eyes out to watch him in the neighborhood adjacent to the Hyakuya estate. (Yuuichiro hadn't a single clue why, but he didn't mind it so much. It wasn't so bad to have a father (although he was more of a mother figure next to Kureto) that cared so much for your safety, although from time to time his Eyes proved to be very irritating.)
One of Yuuichiro's friends was not an actual witch (and definitely not a human), but a broom. Her name was Mitsuba (she hadn't received a proper human name until Yuuichiro came along - everyone had just labeled her as 'Sanguu'), and she belonged to Shinoa Hiiragi. The abnormally short, lilac-haired girl wasn't exactly someone he was happy to be around, what with her weird jokes and annoying personality, but she was part of his family, so of course he almost always had to be around her.
Shiho Kimizuki wasn't necessarily his favorite person, either. Every time they met up, it always ended up in a brash argument, which included the usual threat of spark spells on Yuuichiro's part and swinging punches to make Kimizuki's point (since Kimizuki was less than advanced in magical matters, to say the least).
There was also Yoichi Saotome, a brunette who had been shorter than Yuu for his first year of middle school before finally catching up to and surpassing him around the second and third years of middle school. Yoichi was a sweet soul, and while Yuuichiro was irked at being the second shortest in the group (since Mitsuba was a broom and, therefore, could alter her human form a little bit at a time), he enjoyed hanging out with the brunette. Of course, these 'hang-outs' happened quite frequently (because Yoichi was actually the 1% of Yuuichiro's friends that both of his fathers trusted), and Yoichi and Yuuichiro cultivated a tight friendship.
Presently, Yuuichiro was standing stock still, engaged in a serious staring competition with an unexpected visitor.
A human boy, to be exact.
(No, Yuuichiro was absolutely not shaking in his shoes.)
A human boy with gorgeous azure eyes that shined brighter than the most polished sapphire in the young brunette's circlet and blonde hair that could rival the gold ore used in his potions.
If Yuuichiro was such a careful, intelligent, sheltered child, then how was he locking gazes with this dastard angel Guren worked tirelessly to keep away from him? How could anyone, any human, find him in his secluded place in the woods on the edge of the borders marking 'Human' and 'Witch', reserved for him and his time, his freedom, serving as his escape from the pressure building up on him from parents, expectations, school?
All Yuuichiro had done was practice a novice smoke spell he had learned from Shinya the day before. The spell was a quick incantation with a simple hand gesture, created for an efficient, easy getaway that didn't take too much energy. The witch contemplated using it now, since he had taken the time before he was caught by this Adonis to perfect it.
He missed his chance by a mile.
The boy, prior to Yuuichiro's inner rambling, had a face set in a permanent grimace. Now he had a face of utter confusion, and the witch was not in an understanding mood. However, the human took no heed of the other's state and grabbed Yuuichirou's hand, to which the witch tried to resist, only to find that the grip he was captured in was quite strong. The boy was clutching at Yuuichiro's spell hand, and he couldn't do anything to defend himself, to his horror. He didn't hear the words dropping out of the human's moving lips, couldn't feel the boy's skin against his own, couldn't take in the information that he was trapped.
(However, Yuuichiro did hear one word with three syllables that he almost tested out on his own tongue.
"Mikaela." )
He should have listened to Shinya when he said that the border between magic and dreary normality was not to be settled in. "Yuuichiro, that area is dangerous," the platinum blonde butler had said with stern eyes.
And Shinya was right. It was indeed dangerous.
Mikaela Tepes was utterly confused. He had been sent into the woodland behind the summer cottage belonging to his aunt, Krul Tepes, to observe the natural flora of the refreshing landscape. He had hardly been delighted at the request, content in staying inside of his room and relaxing along with the reading the occasional book, but seeing as his aunt wasn't in the mood for playing games at the time, reluctantly went out the door after being shooed outside hastily. Only, halfway through his trek of following a trail leading to the inside of the woods, he saw smoke crawling between the branches of trees. Its trail flickered in the wind that blew through, pushing through lengthy, skeletal limbs. Of course, having a curious nature, he had to go explore it.
He couldn't comprehend that standing in front of him was another child, a girl, probably, since she had a golden headband-like accessory in her night-sky hair styled in a way he'd never thought'd be so pretty on a girl, flashing viridescent eyes that could rival emeralds, and skin overthrowing the burnished color of the sand on the beach near his aunt's cottage. Mikaela had expected a small roaring fire that someone just forgot to put out, flaming arms grabbing for the nearest tree to destroy. Although he was confused with the fact that there was no flame, the blonde was mesmerized by the beauty in front of him. Before he knew it, he was proclaiming the impossible whilst clasping the girl's left hand in both of his –
And was surprised to find that his hands felt like they were burning, and withdrew them quickly.
"S-stay away from me!"
When Mikaela heard the pitch of the voice, he realized that she was actually a he, and instantly felt embarrassed. With his porcelain cheeks stained red, he dropped his head with apology, and felt his chest become impossibly tight at the rejection. He muttered a weak 'sorry', but looked to see that the boy had run away from him (and with good excuse too, since Mikaela guessed that he had sounded kind of creepy), his slim figure blending into the trees.
Although their interaction was only a few minutes long, Mikaela Tepes felt his heart squeeze every second the mysterious boy fled. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in when he finally, finally lost sight of the stranger.
("Because that boy was just a stranger," he realized.)
Mikaela stayed in his spot until nightfall, until he noticed that the sunny woods had become dark while the trees became sullen and boring in their sedentary graves, and trudged back to the cottage.
Only then did the blonde with crystallised cyan eyes realize that that beautiful boy was probably now lost in the woods.
There was nothing behind his aunt's cottage except for trees.