------------------
Notes/Disclaimer: Vampire Hunter D/Petshop of Horrors crossover. I own neither. Vampire Hunter D meets Count D. Believe it or not, this isn't a humor piece. The name thing was only the inspiration for the piece. It takes place just before the final scene in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and contains spoilers for that and the end of the Petshop of Horrors manga. It contains mild D/Leon slash, and is also rather depressing. You have been warned.
------------------
The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly...
- Bladerunner
"Their lives are so short, aren't they?"
The vampire hunter whirled, immediately on his guard. He had not heard anyone approach, which quite probably meant that the strange owner of this voice was very dangerous; not just anyone could sneak up on the Dunpeal Hunter.
The man who stood calmly behind him was slight, feminine even, with straight dark hair that came down to just around his chin. Swirling oriental dragons chased each other over the exquisite silk of his robe, hissing at each other across the divide of the sleeves into which his folded hands disappeared. From beneath his bangs, two eyes glittered at the vampire hunter. One was violet, the other gold.
"What are you?" the vampire hunter asked.
The stranger strode forward with the careless ease of someone who was not afraid of being harmed. He did not look at the vampire hunter, but instead came to a halt next to him, his gaze fixed on the humans that clustered about the fresh grave.
"Did you know this human?" the stranger asked.
The vampire hunter frowned and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. "I asked first," he murmured.
A small, fractional smile graced the stranger's exquisite lips. "So you did. And 'what,' you asked, not 'who.' Very perceptive of you. I am a nature spirit, of this earth. I have been gone a great while. And you. You are half vampire, are you not? I knew a vampire once. Long, long ago. Long before they became plentiful, and long before they again dwindled."
The vampire hunter stared at this strange man, not sure what to make of him. But he did not smell human, that much was certain. Perhaps he was telling the truth. At any rate, he did not seem to be an immediate threat. The vampire hunter removed the hand from his sword, but remained wary.
"She was a friend of yours?" the stranger asked again, his gaze still on the humans. "A lover, perhaps?"
"No," said the vampire hunter firmly. No, he would never curse the world by continuing his blood. That could not be permitted. "We were not lovers. We knew each other once. I promised to bring flowers to her funeral."
The stranger seemed somehow sad, although it wasn't his blank, neutral face that betrayed the emotion. The vampire hunter wasn't even sure how he knew that the stranger felt that way, but it was an irrefutable fact, like the presence of the sky.
"I had a human love, once," the spirit said. "Long, long ago. But our kind, with our long lives… we are not suited to them, are we? We are not permitted to have lives of our own, at least, not the sort of lives that they could possibly understand, or join. No matter how much we may wish it, we may never truly connect with them."
The vampire hunter looked from the stranger to the funeral, then back to the stranger again. There was something terribly controlled about him, like a steel container full of broken glass. What was inside would cut you to pieces, but there was no way it could possibly leak out through the wall that housed it. It was kept in such tight check that it might as well have not been there at all.
Despite himself, the vampire hunter felt curious about this stranger. "What happened to your love?" he asked.
Without his appearance changing outwardly at all, the steel walls seemed to double in strength, as though the stranger was clutching himself desperately, holding something in with all his might. "I left. He searched for me. He spent the rest of his life searching for me. I watched him, constantly, but I could never reveal myself. He was frantic, desperate. I kept hoping – humans have such short lives, you know. I kept hoping that he would realize this and not waste what little time he had left. But no. Until the end of his days, he kept trying to find what had become of me. So desperately. It was… it was so very human of him."
That controlled, stoic face was too painful to look at any longer, and the vampire hunter turned back to the funeral. "They do make such a terrible waste of their time sometimes, don't they? This one was on that path when I met her. Eager to throw her life away in violence. But she learned."
From the corner of his vision, the vampire hunter saw the stranger lift his hand. As he watched, the meadow behind the humans, unseen by their down-turned eyes, exploded abruptly into a sea of yellow and white blossoms, flowers covering the hills up and down like a blanket. The sunlight seemed to double in brightness as it reflected over and over from a thousand blindingly pale petals.
"For your friend," murmured the stranger, "who did not die alone. And for mine, who did. Take what ease in this life you can, friend. Perhaps you and I will meet again some day."
The vampire hunter did not watch, but he felt the stranger leave. His eyes remained fixed on the stranger's gift. Flowers indeed. He reached over to his horse's reigns and mounted slowly. His eyes never left the meadow.
Her wish was fulfilled, then.
- THE END -