Just another random story, this time it really is a one shot. Featuring Subaru and Shin. I plan on doing a couple more of these two in the future, whether as pairing or just random fluff time, who can tell? Either way, I hope you guys will enjoy this story, nothing but fluff and humor I promise. If you think it's something more, then go ahead, but I'm not going to agree or deny.
Attention: If Shin seems a little OOC, I'm truly sorry. There's little of him to go on so I tried my best to make him as accurate as possible. Please don't fault me for this. Thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Diabolik Lovers or it's characters. Thanks to any friends who helped me with this.
Clomp, clomp. A tired sigh follows the sandals clomping as a certain vampire walks around in a crowd. It was summer time, which often comes with dreaded heat, noisy cicadas every day and night, warm evenings and noisy, wild summer festivals. Normally the vampires of the Sakamaki household wouldn't come to such ridiculous festivities but with immortality came boredom. The triplets were very bored and tired from the heat, so Raito made the idea to go to the summer festival, Ayato only agreed so he could eat as much takoyaki as he pleased, Kanato wanted as many sweets he could handle, and Raito, well to check out the pretty girls of course. Though if the three went alone, to think of all the trouble they would have caused. Reiji refused the suggestion to go to the festival at first, but then with all the begging and blackmail the triplets suggested to him, Reiji finally allowed them to go, only if 'everyone' came with them, all six siblings were forced to go. It was only one night after all.
And that's how Subaru was unlucky enough to come to the summer festival this year. It was crowded as well, just his luck. Well, at least no one he knew would see him tonight, even if he was dressed for the occasion. Raito had insisted upon everyone to wear a yukata and sandals, it would fit well with the summer theme, he had said. So the reluctant albino was dragged along on this family trip to try and have some fun, and forced in a yukata. He wore a navy blue color yukata with a silver sash, with a pair of sandals, simple and plain. He begins to walk around, carefully avoiding the humans as he roamed the street. Subaru didn't have any place in particular he wanted to go or see, maybe just walk up the hill towards one of the temples for some peace and quiet, at least until the fireworks.
The albino left the street and headed out to the forest, he didn't feel like going all the way up to the temple, maybe just halfway and sit with one of the statues nearby. Well that was his original plan until he heard something. It sounded like a dog yapping. 'Probably a stray,' was his first thought until he heard some talk behind the yapping, it sounded like someone was scolding the dog. 'Why does that voice sound familiar but also make my skin crawl with irritation?' Normally he would have avoided but he went off to find the source of the noise anyway. Curiosity got the best of him.
He found the noise was in front of a temple on the mountain and saw a crouched figure in front of the temple steps, holding something. Surprisingly a dog, a puppy as it looked like to Subaru from his distance. The puppy was small enough to carry, though the stranger seemed to be struggling to hold it, almost like it was a few months old. The pup had gray to ash colored fur with some white under the tail, yet the pup was rowdy. He watched from his spot behind a tree, a few yards away and noticed that the figure was a vampire based on the smell. 'Pureblood but has the scent of dog all over him. Is it because he's messing with a puppy right now?' He watches until the pup started squirming out of the vampire's hands, the vampire scolded the puppy as he held it.
"Quit squirming runt. I'm only trying to help." The vampire moved to stand and face forward, so he could be seen from Subaru's point of view, and with that, Subaru was able to recognize the founder, Shin Tsukinami, also in a reddish brown yukata with a cream sash. Subaru gripped the tree that he was hiding behind, so this mutt lover was the reason he felt so irritated. Subaru had a mind to leave as he wasn't like Ayato, who picked a fight with almost everyone he came in contact with. But the yapping turned into whimpering, making Subaru look back over at the puppy in Shin's hands.
Though what was causing the whimpering? Was Shin bullying the little guy? If that was it, Subaru decided he wouldn't stand by or leave the puppy to suffer at the hands of a founder. Normally the albino wasn't a people person, but he didn't mind animals much, in fact he did have a soft spot for the creatures that looked cute and adorable. But he wasn't going to tell his siblings that, those idiots would hold it over him for centuries of blackmail. His grip on the tree became louder as it cracked partially through at the thought. That got the attention of both vampire and dog. Both looked over at Subaru, who in turn flinched as he was found out. His dumb luck tonight. At first Shin was surprised before his face turned into annoyance.
"The hell you doing here brat? Come to pick a fight with me or something?" He yelled out to his rival. The creature in his hands just looked at the albino and stayed silent. "Hey! Are you even listening to me punk?!" Shin called out again. Subaru grimaced before making eye contact with the pup. 'It's so cute.' Subaru thought without thinking, looking at it's big eyes and fluffy fur, the rough tempered vampire was soon entranced by one little animal. Shin noticed this fact and held the pup away from Subaru's eyes.
Subaru glared at Shin before asking, "Where you think you're going with that?"
"That what?"
"The puppy. Where you going with it?"
"Why should I tell you? Heck why do you even care?"
"I heard it yapping and whimpering. There's no way I'll let you take it away and abuse it." Subaru said defensively.
"I won't abuse this creature. It was only yapping to say it was lost and the whimpering was because it needed help." Shin states matter-of-factly.
"And how do you know that?"
Shin rolls his eyes before explaining proudly. "Because for us elite founders, unlike you low ranked vampires, we have wolves as our familiars, not bats. Plus we can transform into wolves, so we can understand our fellow canines. Just like this little wolf pup." He raises the pup in the air to show it off.
Subaru raises an eyebrow. "How do you know it's a wolf pup and not some stray dog?"
"Because, wolves are attracted to us, mere mongrels like dogs normally stay away and cower in fear of us." Not exactly the truth, but Shin wasn't going to tell him that he found the pup just on accident and wanted to help because he was bored. "I am the expert on wolves themselves."
"Tch. Okay. So why- " Subaru started to ask where the rest of the family was until the pup squirmed it's way out of Shin's hands and landed on all four paws. 'Like a cat, so dogs can land good too I guess?' Subaru questioned his thought as he watched the puppy trot it's way over to him. It stood in front of him, sitting back and looking up. "The heck do you want?"
"It's hungry. You probably have some food on you or had food from the festival." Shin answered his question as if he were talking to a child.
Subaru scowled at the tone of voice before reaching into his robe to pull out some warm takoyaki in a bag. He had bought them for a snack later, since these were some that Ayato didn't like, coated with too much sweet sauce, but he kept them hidden from his annoying brother anyway. Once the pup had heard the crinkling sound of the bag, it's tail waged and started barking.
"Whoa what you think you are doing?" Subaru froze from feeding the dog as Shin interrupted them. "Feeding it of course. This is all I have on me."
"Hey, you don't feed wild animals human food. They'll get attached and start attacking people. Which probably be good since there's too many filthy and tainted humans around anyway. But if humans are killed, others will kill the creature trying to kill them in return." The founder concluded in his prattle before going back to the point. "So that's why I have some good ol' bird meat here. It would be better for the pup." Shin showed off his plucked birds in a bucket for the other and sat it on the ground. The pup heard the bucket hitting the stoned walkway and turned to look with perked ears.
"See, he likes it."
"How do you know it's a 'he'?"
Shin sighed, "Always with the questions brat. It's a 'he' because he has an attitude problem with me being another male and bigger."
Subaru cocked his head in confusion. "He seemed alright with me."
"Yeah well you can't transform into a wolf now can you? You lower rank vampires don't have the power to use transformations."
Subaru grits his teeth in annoyance, true there but still. He watches as the puppy goes back across to where Shin stood and knocks the bucket over, allowing the meat to fall to the ground. The pup sniffs then starts to gnaw on the tender meat. Shin looks up at the other vampire with a smug face, only to notice he wasn't there anymore and neither was the bucket. A splash was heard nearby and Shin turned to see Subaru scooping up some water from the temple.
"Hey! You can't take water from there!"
"Hm? Why not?" Subaru pauses as he holds up his bucket of water.
"That water's sacred! You're only supposed to use that stuff for cleansing and drinking."
Subaru shrugs and walks back over to Shin and the puppy with his bucket. "If it's for drinking, I'm sure they wouldn't mind this dog having the water to drink. You sure do know a lot about the human world for a sheltered founder."
"Well that's calling the kettle black. Brother made sure I was knowledgeable about the culture of this world." Shin looks with his eye, giving the albino a serious look. "But what I'm wondering is why you're not attacking me right now."
"Hmph. If it wasn't for this pup you were mistreating, I wouldn't waste a single moment to knock your lights out. You did take our blood bag after all."
"Oh you haven't heard? It ran off to the home of the half breeds. So we don't have it anymore." Shin answered pointedly.
"Guess that means I don't have any reason to see you then."
Shin tisked, "Then leave. You don't need to be here. What makes you so interested in an animal anyway?"
"Don't know." Subaru tilts the bucket enough for the puppy to lap up some water. "Guess the lazy sloth came to memory." He simply said.
"Hm?"
"Nothing."
The founder thinks about whether or not he should attack the albino now or wait, or just suck in his pride and let the brat help out with the wolf pup. It's not like it would kill him, just irritate him a little. He gave a loud sigh before making up his mind. "Oh fine. Stay and watch over the little rascal then. Not like you need to join the festivities down there right?" Shin walked over to the temple and sat down on the steps to watch, holding his head in his hand.
"Not really. Just the triplet's wanted to go so badly they were bored. The rest of us were dragged along for the ride. It's so loud and unappealing to me so why should I go?"
"True. It is very noisy and crowded." First thing the two agreed on, but no one was going to admit it.
An hour had passed, the two vampires were still playing with the wolf pup until Carla arrived. "Shin."
Like a dog hearing it's favorite master back in it's sights, Shin perked up and looked excited at his older brother. "Brother! You're here! Look what I found." He picks up the wolf pup from Subaru's hands, who was petting him, and showed the puppy to the older vampire. "I found a lost wolf pup. I was taking care of him for a while, hoping his family would come back and claim him but so far nothing. Will you help me with him?"
Carla's face was blank, the white haired vampire looked at the pup, then at Subaru, then back to the pup. Questioning why was a Sakamaki here but the creature seemed like a more important matter, his little brother was still naive about the world. He sighed as he made up his mind, "Shin, that's a full grown wolf. I thought I taught you better than that."
Shin blinks in confusion, his happiness died quick at his brother's words. "Huh..?"
Carla repeats his statement so both vampires could understand. "That is not a wolf pup, it is a fully grown adult *Honshu wolf. They are relatively small in size, miniature wolves you could say, yet I never expected to see one way out here in the open. Humans believe them to be extinct, but just a minor size still wanders these lands. Must have been due to the human food that caught this creature's attention."
Shin looks at the pup- wolf in his hands before looking back at his brother. "Seriously? I found an extremely rare creature?"
"Hmph. So the know-it-all cyclops isn't such a brainiac after all."
Growling sounds were heard as Shin turned to Subaru, "What was that brat?!" He spats.
"You heard me, sounds like you don't know everything about wolves as you claim." Subaru repeats cooly, arms folded. He didn't dare try to say anything that may seem as a challenge to Carla, it would look bad for either family.
Shin growls, attempts to go over and beat the albino to death and back for his insolence but was stopped by Carla.
"That's enough Shin."
The younger founder stops in haste, "But brother-"
"You mustn't worry about the lesser vampires Shin, I shouldn't even think calling the lower ranks vampires is appropriate anyway. The important thing is to send this Honshu back to it's pack."
Shin's shoulders dropped in disappointment, "Yes. You are correct brother." He puts the wolf down and allows Carla to summon a couple of their familiars to help guide the young wolf back to the pack. After the wolves set off into the woods, Carla didn't see it necessary to stick around and disappeared from sight. All who were left were Subaru and Shin in front of the temple. Not saying a word to one another, just a glance, they both headed down the mountain, towards the festival below.
Extra:
"So, you're not so tough in person I noticed."
"What do you mean?"
"Well I mean," Shin stops to take a bite out of his candy apple before responding. "The way you acted tonight, you're pretty soft."
"Tch. Yeah the hell right."
"No I'm serious." He licks the red candy in between speaking. "You're nothing but a big softie underneath that tough skin of-" He dodged a swing to the face, grinning at the fuming albino.
"No I am not. Leave me alone." Subaru growls.
Shin chuckles, "Then why are you following me then brat?"
"Shut up. I just happen to be headed in the direction away from my siblings."
Shin nods, "Oh yeah, you guys do seem to be at odds a lot." The two walked in silence for a little bit, only sounds were of the crowd, sizzling meat, and the crunching sounds of Shin eating his candy apple. "Hey, you wanna watch the fireworks?"
"Huh?"
Shin scowled, he expected more of a nicer answer than that. "Do you want to watch the fireworks with me?" He asked more bluntly.
"Why should I do that? Fireworks are lame." Subaru replies.
"Maybe but we did call a temporary truce so might as well let it last until the fireworks are over."
Subaru raised a brow at the older vamp's comment. "Yeah right, when did we call it truce?"
"Right now." Shin points the now clean candy apple stick at Subaru. "Or rather when I let you help me with the wolf earlier. Never mind, we should just enjoy the truce of no fighting for the night, then go back to fighting tomorrow."
"Why?"
"It seems simpler that way."
Subaru groaned inwardly before sighing with a nod. "Fine. But if I see you again, I'm putting you in the grave."
"Fine with me." Shin reaches out his non-sticky candy hand to Subaru, who responded to shake on the deal. "Now, let's go find a good spot to see the show. I suggest back up near the mountaintop and-" The vampire stopped when he noticed his companion had froze. "Hey, brat is everything alright?"
Subaru shook his head, "No, I was just hearing things."
"What things?"
"Like some idiot was calling my name."
Shin was puzzled, what could cause this tough guy to freeze in terror. His answer came sooner than he had hoped.
"Hey~ Subaru-kun~! Over here!"
And with that, Subaru sprinted off towards the exit in the opposite direction. He was headed home, even if he was going there alone, out of all the blonds around, anything was better than being near crazy and annoying blonds like that guy. Though Shū was the only exception to this personal rule of his. With this, he left Shin standing alone and baffled. The older vampire looked off towards the noise and saw it was the little blond half breed waving and calling for Subaru's attention over his fangirls. Shin shook his head in disappointment.
"You stood me up, you little brat. I'll make sure you pay for that one of these years." Shin's eye glistens as he states his vow, before turning around and disappearing within the crowd. The fireworks sounded in the sky overhead, a promise abandoned, but not forgotten as the sky lit up in colors for all to see.
Did you enjoy? Please leave a review if you want to. Thanks for reading!
*Honshu Wolves, are extinct in Japan. Only reason I chose an extinct creature to be part of this story, this wolf could just be a ghost or memory of one of the old Honshus just coming by to hang out with a couple of legendary creatures, vampires. Seems to be a perfect fit.