A/N: Okay...this comes as a request from a very special author, soon-to-be birthday girl, SweetLiars. She gave me only two parameters for this request. That it be a vampire tale with Kyo...and...she also made me promise NOT to abuse him. So this should be interesting.

But a fair warning, my friend. Just because I promised to leave him unharmed...does NOT mean that I wont make him cry. I made no such promise.

That being said...this story comes as a prequel to "Love Like Death." Though the readers of "Love Like Death" may not know this...in my head I had a complete back story that would explain the Fruits Basket cannon view of Kyo being ostracize by the other members of the vampire family like Haru and Yuki.

This...is that story.

He wanted to scream out in anguish. To release the tormented shrieks maliciously trapped along his dried, cracked lips, unwilling to leave him. Taunting him.

No one would help him now.

And...the pain was far too great for him to bear for long.

He was dying.

Tears silently trailed down his cheeks as he coughed and sputtered up blood, causing excruciating pain throughout his broken body as the vile taste of it filled his mouth. His fading vision flitted for a moment. Desperately seeking out help he ready knew would never come.

He...didn't want to die. And this thought alone blurred his vision with the tears that followed.

Staring at the vast expanse of the sky above him, he suddenly felt so very small. And scared. He felt...scared. Where would he go...when he died? His mother had always told him of a wonderful place. Heaven. Nirvana. Paradise. She had called it so many things. All of them sounding so very beautiful. And...when she had passed away...he had spend endless days on his back...staring at this same sky. Imagining that she had finally made it to the beautiful place she had always described.

Would he see her...when he died?

Would she approve of the person he had become?

...he...didn't know... And the pain made it so very difficult to hold tight to this unanswered question.

Every bone in his body had been shattered. Like glass as he had fallen. And...he could feel the anguish of his soul leaving his broken body. Heavy, weighted gasps began to rock his chest. He couldn't breathe. Cold panic washed over him with this new sensation as he tried to draw in a labored breath, only to cough up more of his own crimson life.

His vision began to fade and dim, and...at first...he hadn't even noticed the gentle face lingering above him. The quickly fading light played against the shadows of this being. A face so startlingly beautiful that he wondered, for a moment, if he had actually moved on to the life beyond.

...the one his mother had spoken of...

But, there was still so much pain. Everywhere. This couldn't possibly be the Eden foretold in his youth. Nothing so beautiful could possibly carry this much agony. And fresh tears found their way to paint his face as the ethereal being continued to gaze down upon him in silent pity.

If...he had died...

And...he wasn't in Heaven.

...then...

"Have you come to end my pain?" These words came barely whispered along his blood stained lips, yet the phantom remained silent.

Intensely beautiful sliver hair came radiant against the fading sunlight, creating the softest of halos that matched equally soft, warm gray eyes. Like the sky just before it would rain. Tears of the angels. That's what his mother had always called the rain...to make him less fearful of the approaching storm. And, these eyes held such sweet sorrow. For him? For his pain? An angel. Was...this creature an angel? But surely Paradise was not this cruel. And...this being before him was only proof that he was no longer among the living.

"What are you?" This question came pained under the weight of the breath used to produce it...yet silence still followed, the entity that lingered above him remaining unmoved.

"An angel?" He whispered, only to watch the beautiful creature furrow their brows, their grief only seeming to deepen.

"A demon then...?" This breathless question followed, and the gentle eyes gazing tenderly down upon him gave the slightest flicker of recognition.

"I am." The gently murmured response came unearthly in its celestial, chime-like quality, and he began to sob.

The sobs came pained and horrifically marred by sputtered gasps and bloodied expiration. He had wanted to see his mother again. Had hoped. A fanciful dream that had been completely shattered with the brokenness of his body and appearance of this beautiful creature. And he couldn't stop the helpless tears.

He was damned.

"Ssh..." The voice came comforting, soothing his distress as gentle fingers quickly followed suit to brush away his tears. "Peace."

"Do you want to live, child?" The beautiful chime-like question floated through the space around them as he watched the entity patiently wait for his response.

'...do you want to live...'

He didn't understand. What this meant. What this ethereal being was offering him. He had already entered into the world beyond, hadn't he? How could this creature ask such a question of the dead?

"I don't understand." He whispered, this action only drawing him closer to his end.

"I will give you life...if you wish it." Bloodless lips murmured quietly before twisting in a grim expression. "But it will be a life of darkness and torment, child." Soft gray eyes stared intently at him, gauging his awareness. "...and...there will be pain. Pain the likes of which you have not yet experienced."

His chest became weighted and dangerously heavy. And he worked so furiously to draw in the air around him in desperation. With each breath came new pain. Jagged shards shredding him into oblivion from the very inside. Or maybe those were simply the very real blades of his broken bones ripping him to pieces. He didn't know. But...he imagined that there couldn't possibly be a greater pain than this. His chest heaved under the agony as more blood spilled up over his lips. Though the sight must have been disturbing, the celestial creature never turned away, their gentle gaze remaining steadfast and intent.

"Know that if you do not desire this fate, I will take mercy on you and end your suffering, child." The expression came soft and filled with compassion before drifting towards him. "Do you accept?" This question came in a whisper of warm breath against his ear, causing his breath to painfully hitch in his broken body.

"I don't want to die." Was the only response...a breathless sob of concession.

Before he was even able to protest, he felt his shattered body wrapped up and lifted from the ground. But...the action had been so warm. So tender that there was barely any pain at all. Helplessly resting his head cradled against this phantom, he wished that he could stay like this forever. Feeling himself drifting further away from consciousness, he scarcely registered the gentle lips that lingered along the cold flesh of his neck.

"Forgive me..." These two words were mouthed in anguish against his skin through parted lips.

And then...

Then...there was pain.

A violence to his body so excruciating that, despite his brokenness, he screamed. And the arms that had wrapped him in safety and comfort now held him too tightly. The flesh of his neck had been violently broken and penetrated as once gentle lips now greedily drew out what little life was left in him.

Through his tormented screams came befuddled anguish. He didn't understand. This creature had promised him life. Yet these lips now drew his very life out in time and rhythm to his failing heartbeat. He...didn't understand.

Cradled in the very arms of Death itself, he was far too weak and frail to protest as the same lips met his own in a sudden kiss. A tongue gently beckoned entrance into his mouth as the sudden rush of hot, metallic liquid washed up and over his own tongue and down his throat. And as he feebly tried to cough it back up in rejection, a gentle voice soothed in his ear.

"Do not resist, child." The entity gently murmured to him, continuing to coddle him as a parent would an infant. "Your fight is almost over."

'...your fight is almost over...' This thought lingered in his mind as the last of his breath freed itself from his body. And as the moment stilled and gently fell into an eery silence, the angelic being continued to hold on to the boy turned corpse. Waiting in patience, the celestial entity held fast. Knowing... Anticipating...

A breath drew itself into the lifeless body unbeckoned as shrieks and screams suddenly marred the silence. Writhing in a renewed sense of anguish, he felt arms wrap tighter around him to still his panic.

"What have you done?!" This tormented scream wrenched itself from his lips as he continued to twist in the arms that held him.

"Ssh..." This same voice lulled comfortingly in his ear. "It is finished...my son."

'...son...' This word reverberated in his mind. Over and over as his now crimson gaze stared back at soft, gentle gray. '...son...'

"...what...am I?" He whispered as the arms gently released him, his hand unintentionally drifting towards his own neck.

"You...are my son. My beloved." The contours of beautiful perfection shaped themselves in warmth along the face that gazed upon him.

"I know you have questions." The voice of his savior continued to lull tenderly to him as a hand placed itself on the top of his head to ruffle his disheveled orange hair. "You will have your answers...in time. But for now, you must come with me." A tender smile shaped the creatures expression. "There is much for you to learn."