TADAAAA! The first straight Moon Child fanfic on fanfiction dot net!
Ahh, heck let's just be on the safe side: THE FIRST STRAIGHT MOON CHILD FANFIC EVER! BWAHAHAHAHAAH!
...Let the flames... BEGIN!
P.S. Please do not mind the inane rantings of the crazy fangirl authoress. She just turned 18 and we only keep her for her story writing. Thank you and don't blame us.
Signed, The FAC: Fangirl Administration Council
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
BEST KEPT SECRET
By: Emiri-chan
(Dedicated to all my fangirl friends and to the Supreme Hotness himself, Gackt-sama. And of course, Mr. Bishie HIMself: Hyde-san.)
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The apartment was empty save for him: a colorful, luxurious but quite spotlessly sterile environment. That was normal and not really depressing; he'd always stayed behind when the boys were out playing. Now that they were young adults, things were no different. As soon as the sun set he'd be out with them; drinking, laughing, perhaps pulling a job.
Even if it was normal though, Kei didn't have to be patient about it.
'Where are they?' the vampire thought irritably. 'They said they'd be back by two. Morons.' The blond took a deep breath and laid back down on the couch near the window, taking a drag from his cigarette. Even with the heavy drapes blocking out the light, he usually stayed away from windows. 'What the hell. Live dangerously once in a while.'
That nearly made him laugh aloud at himself. Most nights he was facing droves of men with high-powered guns and limitless bullets in a group of only two... and he considered sleeping next to a window during the day to be living 'on the edge'.
His wards were certainly taking their sweet time. The guys were just out partying, he knew; visiting Shinji at the pet shop, probably just so they could ogle his scantily-clad coworker, picking up some cigarettes and probably a little booze. Kei smiled unwittingly; he knew better than to trust Toshi in a situation like that. Come to think of it, the delivery boy was the one who had suggested they go out, and they'd taken Son with them.
Son was the new addition to their little family, but he wasn't really complete in the relationship. Toshi and Sho both knew well what Kei was, and Shinji did too, even if he never saw him any more. But both Son and his sister Yi-Che were blissfully unaware of what kind of a monster he was. They would need to know sometime, though. Even her...
'Ahh, not again! Don't think. Just leave it alone.' Kei abruptly crushed the end of his cigarette on the table ashtray and made up his mind to sleep, lying back on the couch and waiting for his eyes to close. His energy was severely depleted from going so long without a feed, but lately he just couldn't let himself do it, not when he thought of Yi-Che looking at him with that pure, beautiful face.
Besides, there would be another job tomorrow, a little voice sneered in his head. He told it to shut up and tried to go to sleep.
The vampire was a picture of deceiving innocence. His sandy-blond hair had grown just long enough to be able to spread messily over a few inches of the leather cushion, his red muscle shirt hugging his lean, fairly sinewy body and just revealing the tips of two black angel wings tatooed across his shoulder blades. He wore his loose black trousers he used for lounging around the house, and his feet were gracefully bare, legs pulled up so he could lie comfortably on his side, facing away from the window.
One arm draped lazily over his chest the other lolled gently over the side of the couch, and he sighed deeply. His chocolate-brown eyes drifted into mere dark slits, the childish, fair features relaxing, mouth opening slightly to reveal pointed canines as sleep crept over him, his breath evening...
Then Kei slipped away into dreams of a beautiful beach, darkness, the ocean... and a dark-haired man crouched on the sand, waiting for the sun.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Dammit, Toshi, that's the last time I listen to you on something like this," Sho growled angrily, shoving him with his shoulder as they walked down the sidewalk back to the apartment. "Idiot!"
"Hey, we almost got her attention!" Toshi tried to defend himself.
"How could we not! -I'd- react if some drunken dude plopped down into -my- lap!"
"I think the point was to get her to talk to us, not leave," Son suggested, hiding a smirk. He ran a hand through his dark hair and shook his head to get a few wayward strands out of his eyes.
"Getting noticed is the first step in making it with a woman," Toshi announced, doing a little skip as he walked. "We made progress."
Sho nearly slapped his forehead but thought better of it. It'd ruin his image.
He settled for rolling his eyes and threw his cigarette onto the concrete. "If you mean progress backwards."
Toshi smacked Sho upside the head and Son stepped between them quickly to prevent any bloodshed. It was quite disconcerting how fast Sho's hand moved to his hip holster. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Whoa, come on you guys," Son admonished in rapid Mandarin, hoping that if he struck a tone like an adult they'd actually listen to him. "Stop messing around before you draw someone's attention. What if the guys for tomorrow night's run see you and recognize you later? We won't be able to pull the job."
"They'd rid me of an annoying pizza boy," Sho muttered.
Toshi merely laughed it off, sticking his tongue out at him and trying not to think about how un-kidding Sho sounded. He could seriously kick some butt if he wanted to nowadays; not like when they were kids.
When he was young, Toshi had replaced his lack of parents with bugging the crud out of Sho and Shinji and busting a gut laughing every time. Back then he could've bothered them all day and not had to worry about anything but a light smack on the head. The three of them had run away from the orphanage together, taking it upon themselves to make a living in Mallepa... by any means necessary, legal or otherwise, but more often then not it was the former. It wasn't like they had much of a choice. Not many people wanted three brats to work for them legitimately; at least, no one they cared to work for. But even if they had, they were far too small, scruffy, and troublesome to be desirable.
Now, Sho had gotten a -much- more desirable and 'professional' look, so to speak. His hair was a messy sandy-blond with a set of rattail braids in a ponytail, blue eyes, strict leather attire: tight black pants, black T-shirt, a jacket in white-and-black, and of course, additional gun holsters. He'd grown much more handsome as he got older, but still sported the delicate baby-face he'd had as a kid. And to top it off, his looks were backed with exceptional skill in firearms and hand-to-hand combat, thanks to Kei.
Toshi had merely kept his infatuation with scooters and his eternally backwards hat. But now he had a legitimate day job, so he supposed he wasn't too bad off himself. (Not if he could still get Sho's temper going like when they were kids.)
"What time is it?" Sho asked suddenly in Mandarin, looking at Son.
"Huh? Oh, it's... about three," the Taiwanese answered, dropping the wrist he'd raised to check. "Why?"
Sho cursed profusely. "I promised Kei we'd get back by two, so we could hang out and get some lunch. Come on, let's go."
"Well, wait a minute, why can't he just meet us at a cafe?" Son inquired, raising an eyebrow. "We could grab a table and wait for him."
Toshi and Sho exchanged a quick look. "He's... not feeling well," Sho lied. "It's nothing contagious. He was wondering if we could bring him something, then maybe you two could come over and spend some time with him."
"That sounds good to me," Toshi supplied quickly. "Let's meet him there. You said he didn't look too good yesterday."
Son shrugged. "All right, whatever suits you guys."
Sho breathed an inner sigh of relief. They were going to have to tell him soon; Son was getting to be too close of a friend for him not be observant of Kei's living patterns. "Okay, let's go find some food."
"How about some pizza?" Toshi suggested.
"Toshi? Lay off the antics around the women we meet, -then- maybe I'll think about helping you get a raise."
"Aww, man!"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
(The colors on the horizon were growing lighter and more vivid. The sun was coming, second by second, inch by agonizing inch.
("Yugure ni... kimi to mita..."
"No, Luka!"
"Orenji no... taiyou..."
"Come on! Let's go!"
A hard shove. "Go, by yourself!")
That had hurt. That had hurt so badly, when his mentor told him no. Luka wanted to die, and nothing he said was going to stop him. He wanted to stay, -needed- to stay, but he could already feel his skin growing hot. The light was almost there; if he stayed he would die. Fear overrode his desire for Luka to live, and it shamed him to this day. Terror spiked through him as his skin began to burn with horrible pain, and his choice was made against his will. He was running, fleeing from the poisonous sunlight.
Once out of range of the sun's destructive rays, he stood back and watched as the figure on the shore went up in flames.
Singing.
"Luka!")
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Come on, you stupid- AGH!" Sho rattled the key in lock and slammed it with his palm, balancing the bags of food in his other arm, and the door swung open.
"Nice place," Son commented as they stepped inside. "Business mustn't be too bad, huh?"
"Not too. We still need to make up a couple hundred from last week." Sho dropped the take-out onto the counter and threw the keys into a nearby chair, his boots echoing slightly on the polished wooden floor. As Toshi wandered in and plopped down into a chair next to the TV, stealing the remote (and Sho's cigarette packet, slipping it into his jacket), Son simply took in the set-up, watching the wall of electric lamps as they shed color onto the walls and a rainbow spiral of cloth dangled from the ceiling, turning slowly. It was obviously an old children's toy.
'Still so boyish in nature, those two,' Son thought impishly.
"I'll be back in a second. Don't touch anything." Sho's tone was dead serious. He gave Son a quick glare to make sure he'd understood him, then disappeared into the bathroom in the back, shutting the door firmly behind him. The dark-haired man grinned and rolled his eyes.
'Paranoid pretty-boy.'
Son went to the main room where a coffee table, a few couches, two lamps and a rug completed the furnishings. From the sound of rushing water in the bathroom, Sho was either showering or washing up in the sink. Casting a glance toward the window, the Taiwanese was drawn by a flash of red amidst the black leather of the furniture, and looking closer into the dim corner he realized that Kei had fallen fast asleep on the couch.
Smiling as he watched the smaller man turn in his sleep, Son stepped over to the couch and bent to talk to him.
"Hey, Kei?" There was no answer.
'Wow. He must be exhausted. He really didn't look good that night on the bench.' Son intended to put a hand on his shoulder and wake him up, but then he looked closer. The blond man's face was creased in a troubled expression, sweat beading on his cheeks and forehead as he twisted, murmuring something in his sleep.
'Nightmare. And a bad one by the looks of it; I'd better wake him.'
"Hey, come on Kei. Wake up." Son shook him slightly, but he only fisted one hand. Sighing, Son looked around the room. 'Well, sunlight is supposed to help people wake up. No wonder he's feeling so down; he's probably got SAD syndrome." Son walked casually over to the first set of curtains along the wall beside the couch and opened them, letting streaming sunlight pour into the darkened room, then the next set closer to the couch.
Finally, he pulled the cord on the curtains above Kei.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Sho shook his head violently to rid his face of excess water, then reached for the towel on the rack near the door. 'So. How do I tell him?' he wondered, completely baffled as to where he should begin. 'I'll wait 'til after dinner I guess, but... Geez, I mean, how do you tell someone something like this? "Yeah, I meant to tell you earlier, but Kei drinks people's blood and turns into a piece of bacon in sunlight. Sorry for not mentioning this sooner.'
Sho nearly winced at the thought of his best friend turning to ash in the blink of an eye. 'No. That's not gonna happen. You're just getting an overactive imagination. Kei'll tell him tonight, anyway. He'd probably want to let him know himself.' The young Japanese' nicotine craving kicked in and he searched the bathroom counter for a packet. He found none.
'K'so. If Toshi took my cigarettes again I'm gonna--'
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!"
"Kei!"
Sho pulled up short, his features drawn and stark white as the sound of Kei screaming reached his ears, followed by Son's worried yell. Sho slammed the bathroom door wide open, making it bang against the back wall and skidded out into the living room with the force of his dash, dressed only in his pants and T-shirt.
Kei was writhing on the couch, smoking as if he were on fire. All three sets of curtains were wide open and Son was standing in horror at the foot of the couch, eyes wide; shocked and afraid for the man lying in front of him shrieking with pain.
"NO!" Sho screamed. The younger man threw himself on top of Kei as the vampire struggled, rolling onto the low table to escape the sun, and he swung his head up in Son's direction, trying to cover as much of Kei's vulnerable body as possible.
"Close the drapes!" he shouted. "CLOSE 'EM!"
"Wh-what!" Son was staring transfixed as Kei continued to steam from the bright sunlight, his skin blackening visibly.
"SHUT THE DRAPES, DAMMIT!" Sho thundered in Mandarin as Kei cried out in agony beneath him. "NOW!"
Toshi leapt forward and snagged the edges of the drapes, ripping them shut and cutting off the light from the window. Son followed suit, shutting the other two pairs with shaking fingers, and they were left in consuming darkness with only Kei's ragged breathing filling the silence. A few moments later their eyes adjusted to the electric lamps and the sheet of smoke could still be seen hanging in the air. Sho was completely fixated on the man beneath him, sliding off the coffee table (and Kei) to grab a set of clothes-pins from the kitchen drawer and tossing them at Toshi.
"How many times have I told you to keep those pinned shut, damn it?" Sho snapped furiously. "He could have died!"
"I-I'm sorry, Sho, I forgot," Toshi stammered. "I never open them, I didn't think anyone else would--"
"Damn right you didn't think!"
Son was still staring shakily at the blond man on the table. He was still smoldering. 'What the hell just happened? He was -burning-.'
Sho was trying desperately to revive Kei, who had basically passed out from the pain. The blond vampire's entire left side had been horribly burned and his face was black and shriveled on whatever parts had been touched by the light. He was still breathing pretty heavily too, and shaking. He;d probably been scared out of his wits, waking up to something like that. Sho was equally scared; for a few moments he'd actually thought Kei was gone.
"Kei, are you all right?" Sho questioned, holding him by the arms as the smaller man's eyes snapped open. He reached for a sort of medical cream that Toshi had brought and started spreading it over his friend's shoulder.
"Just terrific-c, thanks," Kei snapped, shivering from the pain. "What the h-hell h-happened?"
"Son opened the curtains; he didn't know. I think he was just trying to wake you up."
Kei's eyes snapped wide, and he grabbed Sho's wrist. "Son is here?"
Son swallowed uncomfortably, stepping into the injured vampire's line of vision. "Yes."
"What about Yi-Che? Where's your s-sister?" The question sounded surprisingly desperate. "She isn't here too?"
"What? No, she's not," Son answered confusedly.
Kei released a huge, deep breath and sank back onto the table. "Thank God." Kei winced and bit deeply into his lower lip as Sho continued treating his burns.
"They aren't healing," Sho cursed. "Kei, why aren't these burns disappearing?" The tall Japanese sounded angry, but Kei could hear the frightened tone beneath the harsh question. Sho lifted Kei's arm gently, pulled up the side of the shirt and began dabbing at some of the skin on his stomach. Kei curled into himself with a sharp hiss.
"I... haven't fed," Kei admitted tersely. "Not enough blood... to heal..."
Sho closed his eyes for a brief moment. He knew that was what had been ailing him for so long. Before this Kei only had to conserve energy and he wouldn't have needed blood so desperately, but now he had no choice. They would have to find someone.
"Wait, what do you mean 'not enough blood'?" Son asked, frustrated and upset that he had hurt Kei so badly and he didn't even know how. "What the hell is going on?"
Sho searched Kei's eyes, asking for his permission silently. A nod and a lowered gaze were all he received. Sho turned and looked Son straight in the eyes, his face grave and pleading with him to understand. "Son... When... When I was young... When Toshi, Shinji and I were all just three orphans living alone together... something terrible happened..." Sho took a deep breath. "A man we'd stolen money from found us and pulled a gun. I had just met Kei on accident and saved him from burning to death in the abandoned building we lived in. The guy shot Shinji in the leg and told me he'd kill him if I didn't bring him Toshi. I ran off, but a few seconds later Kei had taken care of the guy with the gun... We used the money to buy our first real apartment and things went from there."
Son was still looking at him uncomprehending. "Okay. What does that have to do with Kei burning?"
"Son... Kei is... is a vampire."
Silence.
"What."
"A vampire. He burns in sunlight, he never ages, and he... needs blood to survive. Human blood. That's what happens to the guys Toshi drugs. Kei feeds, we take the money. That's how it works."
"...You're telling me that Kei is a fairy-tale immortal who can't live in daylight, and drinks... b-blood?"
"Yes."
"And you expect me to believe this?"
"Yes." After all, the evidence was right in front of him.
Sho watched Son's reaction carefully. He looked freaked, that much was for sure, but he didn't look panicked. The Taiwanese looked more like he was weighing the implications of this than trying to figure out how to make a run for it. Kei was watching too, but an unfortunate glance in the wrong area had led him to stare at Son's neck, and the man's jugular was pulsing tantalizingly. His sensitive ears heard every quickened beat of the new human's heart, every rush of blood through his veins... Such sweet blood...
"No!" Kei snarled at himself, drawing the trio's attention as his grip tightened, fists vibrating with effort. Finally the smaller man jammed his hand into his mouth and bit down hard, immediately drawing blood and revealing pointed, elongated canine teeth.
"Kei?" Sho asked in concern. The vampire was staring at a wall, turning his head away from the direction of Son's neck.
"Get him out of here," Kei snapped at them in a distorted, gravelly voice that was definitely not his own. "-Get him out-!"
'Oh shit.' "Son, I think you should leave now," Sho told him quietly, seizing the man's arm and practically dragging him to the door. "I'll see you later. We'll need to talk." Son took one last look at Kei lying prostrate on the coffee table, his skin burned to a crisp, then ducked out of the doorway and down the concrete staircase.
Sho slammed the door and bolted it, then turned back to Kei. Toshi was sitting on the emptied couch with his head in his hands, obviously feeling responsible. Kei moaned in pain as the burns smarted again; he tightened his hold on his hand, drawing as much blood as possible into his mouth and downing it quickly. Sho Gently reached around his right shoulder and leg, and hefted him up into his arms, making damn sure not to touch any of his left side, supporting his weight against him. The younger man carried him to his usual leather cot-sofa and laid him there, taking up a pair of scissors and carefully cutting the red shirt off of him.
The damage was extensive; Sho could barely look at Kei without his gut aching in sympathy. The sun had cut right through the shirt and burned the left half of his torso. Sho caught a glimpse of the blood soaking Kei's hand and knew it was deadly serious. Kei never fed on himself, -never-.
"Kei," Sho said softly, trying to grab his attention away from his hand. "Kei?"
He didn't answer, but Sho knew he was listening; he could see it in his posture, in the way his eyes were roaming the wall.
"You need blood." It wasn't a question. "Where do you want me to find some?"
Kei looked directly at him, his dark eyes glowing from smooth skin and blackened husk. Sho's gaze was unshakable and completely honest. If it meant Kei could live, he'd gladly kill someone and bring them to him. Kei was almost frightened of the devotion he saw there. He knew he was Sho's only family and parent, not to mention his best friend, and that made him indispensable under any circumstances in Sho's mind. Hell, Sho was the same to him. But still, to make him do something like this...
"Sho," Kei began, not sure how he should say it. "No. You can't...do that. I..."
"Kei." The word was a threat, ordering him to understand that he wasn't going to let him say no.
Kei's eyes locked with his for a long while, neither of them moving a muscle. The silence was harsh, but not enough to break either of them. Finally, Kei's wounds were becoming difficult, and the bloodlust was too much to be contained. He turned his head to the side once again, avoiding his crystal blue gaze.
"Fine. Make sure it's someone who deserves it."
Sho nodded and without a word walked towards the door, snagging his keys and jacket on his way out.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Well... Stupid? Kool?
I don't have ANY idea where I'm going with this. Suggestions will be helpful. If I like 'em. HAHAHA- Ahem.
Reviews make the plot bunny go "WHEE!"
I'm leaving for Japan for six weeks on June 16th, so try to get me before then. If I don't update by then I will update this and/or my other fics in August. WAH! I'M GOING TO GACKT/HYDE LAND! SQUEE AN' POCKY STICKS!
If anyone is wondering if I need a strait-jacket, I just checked my IQ online and it's 133. Does that constitute me being an insane genius?
Probably not, just an arrogant wench.
Just got back from a pirate gig in Alabama, paid 100$ to do two days and a night being a "pyrate for hyre" with a group, one of which worked on Pirates of the Caribbean and is gonna try for sequels 2 and 3. I just found out they might be filming close to where I live/joined a casting agency, so I might be able to get in as an extra! WAH!
See ya soon!
Em
a.k.a. "Emma the Fiddler"