Raven

D walked through the crowded streets quickly, seeming to glide along the concrete, ignoring all the stares and jeers he got. Being a teenager and running around in traditional Chinese garb wasn't a normal aspect of life in such a relatively small town. Though no one who knew him would have dared imply that D was normal.

The son of one of the world's leading bio-geneticists, the future count was the wealthiest young man in the state, and people gave him some leeway for the eccentricities that were supposed to come with money. D smirked as he brushed past an elderly lady who flinched back from him as if he carried some dreaded disease. Where does eccentric end and insanity begin? He mused to himself.

"At birth." The raven on his shoulder whispered the words softly, since humans weren't supposed to know of its abilities. D patted the raven and felt his smirk fading. It was true. Once you entered his grandfather's petshop, you either lost your mind or became...overly eccentric. D wasn't sure what option had been chosen for him. But he didn't give a damn to begin with.

"Be still, Ebony. I want to remember these last moments of your presence in silence." Though he said the words with an icy coldness, Ebony wasn't fooled, and she pressed her beak to his cheek in mute sympathy. Ebony had been purchased by a young woman who was recovering from a debilitating accident. She had wanted a bird, and though it was a mystery to her parents, D understood why Ebony had appealed to her. Ebony had been born in Count D's Petshop crippled, but proud and fierce. That was why D was comfortable carrying her on his shoulder without a leash or clipped wings. The new owner's wings had been clipped in a way.

The owner was a seventeen year old girl, incredibly intelligent, and a talented writer. The car accident almost a year before had taken the things that were nearly irreplaceable: her hands and voice. The drunken driver had taken her words, and so she empathized with Ebony, who had been denied the one thing all her instincts told her was necessary. If the raven ever thought about flight, D wasn't aware of it. Why long for something you had never tasted and simply could never taste?

"Master...I do not know this girl. Will you visit to ease my pain?" D sighed and frowned, Ebony had a way of seeming direct without actually being so. Or at least that's the way it always appeared.

"You know what will happen if I am around her too much. She will become infatuated and her condition will worsen for love of me. And the guilt of her death could very well kill me. Unless that's what you want?" He felt the bird withdraw from his blatant lies, but he had no choice. Ebony's affection had to be broken by any means necessary. Truthfully, he didn't care one way or another if the girl lived or not. But he wanted Ebony to have the best chance at happiness, and that was most easily attained by making her so angry she would bond with the girl to make him jealous.

Such a ploy would never make him jealous, were the tables to be turned. D was too in control of him self to let such petty humans emotions reside in him. He was a little insane, a little brilliant, and more than a little wrong.

Eventually they reached the girl's home, and D rang the bell, waiting for the parents or maid to open the door, readying himself to give away one of his closest friends. It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last that a sliver of his heart fell away into the darkness of his soul. But, the door opened, he went upstairs, and for the first time laid eyes on the girl. Her hair was black and long, her eyes a clear, bottomless, intelligent blue. As he looked into those depthless eyes, D felt the darkness of his fate lift, and a part of his heart being replaced. It was the first time, and seven years later, it would be the last. After all, a jealous raven and a crippled girl are poorly matched enemies.

fin