未来へいく
(Towards the Future)
I. +10 years
Kai had to wait for six days, lurking in the shadows, upwind, for six long days, before he came again, bearing a fresh rose, and replacing the old one with it. When he turned to leave, Kai pounced. A tussle, and Kai was pressed against the wall, throat encircled by a Chiropteran claw and Hagi had his canines bared. The recognition came a few seconds later.
"Kai?" The claw loosened its grip, and the Chevalier turned his unnaturally handsome face away from Kai, "What do you want?"
"To talk to you."
"What for?"
"To ask you questions like, where the fuck were you the year before Saya went to sleep?"
"I…was distancing myself from her, trying to keep away from her. I saw her smiling and laughing with you. After Diva died, I was no longer necessary to her. I was her weapon, but I was no longer needed. She needed a place she could be happy and you—"
He was cut short by a sharp head-butt from Kai, the same type he'd treated Saya to when they'd first met.
"You're an idiot, just like Saya was!"
"What—?"
"Do you know she spent every night after she thought you were dead crying outside the Omoro, while acting normally in the mornings, just because she wanted everyone to think she was happy? Do you know that every night she woke up from her dreams screaming your name, in tears?"
The cellist's face blanked out with shock. "She—"
Kai ignored him and barrelled on, "I know that you think I love Saya. I do, but as her older brother! And as her older brother, I'm more than sure that she's in love with you, just like you're in love with her."
"I—"
"You're the one who can stay by her side, who has stayed by her side, unchanging for centuries, aren't you? Aren't you? So… if you think you're going to just keep leaving roses where she sleeps for thirty years and then, when she finally wakes up, not give her one personally, I'll…"
Hagi's eyes were more confused than Kai had ever seen before, and Kai chuckled inwardly. "You'll…?"
"Hunt you down and give you a real big head-butt."
Hagi started to laugh, his first true laugh in a long time. "You're… an interesting person, Kai."
Kai grinned like a wolf, "Yes, and you're going to find out a lot more about me."
"What?" He looked befuddled, and rather adorable.
"You're going to help me raise our nieces. You've got experience dealing with Chiroptean girls, I don't, and they're going to be teenagers very soon."
Hagi's voice was dry as he replied, "It seems I have little choice."
II. +30 years
Blood. Human blood. The scent of it suffuses her being, and she screams, deep in her heart, powerless to stop herself from swinging the blood-stained katana over and over again. She wills herself to stop,stop, STOP, but the beast that resides in her Chiropteran blood has taken over.
"Saya!" She hears the voice, full of despair, disbelief, "Saya, stop!"
His eyes meet hers, and they widen in shock, as she swings her katana at his hand, severing it and her eyes flood with tears as his fill with fear and he runs away from her—
-the scene shifts-
-Him, again, holding her sword in his half-clawed hand, buried in the crystallising Amshel. His eyes were sparkling with joy for the first time since she made him promise to kill her.
"Nakurunaisa." He smiles, making his beautiful face shine, "I love you."
The stone balcony collapses onto the only person she had imagined spending the rest of her life with, her new-found raison d'être.
"HAAAJIIII!!"
Saya swiped out with her hand, reaching out towards the man she would never see again, and opened her eyes in shock as they ripped through the soft-strong cotton sheath that was her cocoon. Her eyes widened, and she stared at her shaking hand as she brought it closer to her. Her throat felt parched and dry. I need blood. But Hagi...She thought she sensed him, but no—it wasn't possible. She closed her eyes in pain. Hagi—I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
The cold wind gusted through the rip in her cocoon, bringing with it the sound of birdsong, and the thrumming of heartbeats, and she shivered.The memories of the last year before her hibernation haunted her, nights of running out of the Omoro when the happy atmosphere in there got stifling, of hugging herself in the cold air, wishing for his warm arm around her as tears streamed down her face.
How can I face the world without you? Even though I have Kai, my nieces, everyone in Red Shield…They're not you, Hagi. They're not even Diva, not even Amshel. They've never seen the sights I've seen, never basked in the sun of 1833, never, never, never… they've lived for so little time compared to me… I've never felt so alone, so isolated before… You told me to live, but how can I go on without you? I don't want to wake up, don't want to feel pain again…Saya.She thought she heard his strong, deep voice speak her name, but no—it was just wishful thinking.
"Is she awake yet?" A clear female voice rang out, soul-piercing and sweet, breaking through the shroud of pain she had wrapped herself with. D-Diva? But she should be dead! Was everything for nothing--?
And then-
"Be patient, Rhea." She shot up in shock. It was Kai's voice, but older and gravelly, like a man's; no, like their father's voice, and that fact stabbed her in her heart, hurting more than she could ever have believed, but it snapped her brain in focus. Thirty years. It's been thirty years. They've all grown old as I was sleeping…They've left me behind in the sands of time.
Saya.
She covered her head with her arms against the voice, against the presence she thought she felt. Stop tormenting me; I can't go back in time, can't return to those happy times any longer. And—the cocoon shifted and slipped around her, dropping round her shoulders. The heartbeats, four hearts beating strongly, awoke the bloodlust in her further. Her sorrow turned to anger, and then inwardly, to despair. Get them out of here, Kai; get yourself out of here. I need blood, and I can't stop myself. I—The thirst burnt in her throat.
The first coherent sound she forced out of it was "Run."
A shadow blocked the setting sunlight. Saya gritted her teeth at the sound of a single heartbeat coming nearer to her. She forced herself to speak, to plead with whoever it was that came nearer to her—it is not Hagi, it cannot be Hagi, I don't want to hope—
"Please, you have to go. I don't want you to fear me any more than you already do. Please, go."
"I'm not going anywhere." The voice was strong, but soft, carved of steel and stone, yet impossibly tender, and, Saya, I've never feared you.
That voice! Saya raised her head, doubting, not daring to hope, brown eyes wide; and met with eyes she never thought she'd see again, and finally accepted what the rest of her senses had been trying to tell her for the past few minutes. She drank in every feature of his dear face in, the face which gazed at her with gentleness, understanding and acceptance. Her eyes filled with tears, mixed with disbelief and joy.
"Hagi!"
"Saya." He knelt before her in a single smooth move, offering her his throat, his life-blood, the ultimate show of surrender and trust for a Chiropteran. They could still die if their Queen chose to suck them dry. The world narrowed to him, kneeling before her, with his beautiful, perfect white throat uncovered. She wrapped her arms around him, and clasped him close, seeking out the rich throbbing stream of life in his throat. Her teeth sunk into the soft flesh, and his rich, fresh blood flooded her mouth, the taste of love and gentleness and loyalty.
As each pump of his heart sent fresh vitality into her, the scent of Hagi—deep earth, autumn, wood polish and laughter in the cool wind—, a thousand things she loved but could not place, washed away the scent of blood of the madness of her mindless slaughter. She counted the heartbeats almost instinctively, making sure she did not drink too much.
One.
Hagi… you said you've never feared me—not even back in Vietnam? When I killed Diva?
Two.
No. I didn't fear you. There was no lying when they were so intimately connected in body and mind, but Saya was still afraid, trying to understand.
Three.
Then—why did you run away? And why didn't you come back? Even she could hear the pleading in her thoughts, and she knew that Hagi could too.
Four.
His words were hesitant now, but Saya knew in her soul they were true. When you cut my hand off…When Diva died… I was afraid …that you didn't need me any longer.
Five.
Relief and mirth flooded her. That was so typically…Hagi. She shot a single word into his head. Idiot.
Six.
She felt his smile in her hair. I know.
She pulled away from him, lips still coated in his blood. She wiped her fingertips across the healing gash, cleaning away the blood residue and then licking her fingers. He smiled wider then, holding out a fresh pink rose.
"For you."
She smiled at him too, eyes meeting, awkward, but warm, holding each other ever so tenderly…. before an uncomfortable clearing of a throat made them look up. Kai—she would always know those ridiculously optimistic and brash eyes, however the face aged or changed—grinned.
"We'll be outside. You two have lots of catching up to do." Dragging two curiously staring teenage girls—they were so beautiful, Diva and Rikku's children—he left swiftly. The door to the grave slammed shut.
"Kai's… aged," Saya said sadly, "He's grown old. When I think that I could have—"
Hagi cupped her cheeks in his hands. "Saya. He would not have wanted that. Would you?"
Saya bowed her head, "No. But…Still, I wish we could have stayed as before…" Before all the madness, all the pain.
Hagi gently lifted her chin. "Saya. Everything changes. We cannot return to the past, nor make things stay the same forever. What we can do is to live today for tomorrow's sake."
Saya laughed then, her first heartfelt laugh since she let Diva out of her tower, her nose crinkling, "You've been talking too much with Kai."
"Yes." Hagi leant forward, forehead to forehead with her, his lips curved in a smile, "But, you laughed."
Saya wrapped her arms around him once more, "So I did. Hagi…" She buried her face in his neck, and inhaled him deeply. "Hagi…" Tightened the grip around him, "Don't ever leave me again."
And he whispered in her ear, "Never."
FIN
Disclaimer: Blood, its concept and characters are the intellectual property of Production IG and Aniplex. This piece of fiction was written for non-commercial enjoyment.