Once upon a time, there lived a vampire and a werewolf. The creatures lived just opposite each other, with their territories separated by a wide stretch of dry land.
As with all vampires and werewolves, the two immortal enemies fought often. As soon as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, both of them would meet in the adjoining land to engage in the deadliest of battles. Claws against claws, teeth against fangs, the vampire and the werewolf fought throughout the darkest hours of twilight, for they were creatures of the night, you see, and when first light peek out did they grudgingly return to their domains, only to repeat the entire process the following night.
It was a terrible, terrible never-ending cycle of hatred and bloodshed.
Once, the vampire and the werewolf engaged in their usual deadly dance, which turned steadily bloodier as the night wore on. The vampire held one hand against the hole in his chest, his lifefluid cascading out in red waterfalls, while the werewolf's left foreleg hung limply, connected only by a thin strand of tissue. The creatures glared at one another, conveying their hatred through eyes alone. Tonight, they knew, would be the end to their centuries-long struggle, tonight they would bath in their enemy's blood and watch as it drenched the earth red-
"What are you two doing?" The vampire and the werewolf turned in surprise to see a human boy standing in the moonlight. This human boy had been told by his grandfather to find the white Cracker Plant which grew only late at night in the area the vampire and the werewolf resided. The human, who was not very smart and therefore did not know this, had happily agreed.
The human ignored the stench of blood scenting the air and walked towards the vampire and the werewolf, both of whom were astonished at the human's lack of fear. When he stood between the two creatures, the human bent down, picked a small Cracker Plant growing there, and left happily after thanking the vampire and the werewolf (for what, they knew not).
The appearance of the human had thoroughly confused both creatures. Though they resumed their fight, their minds were occupied with thoughts of the strange boy, and the battle was called to an end before the first cock's crow even sounded.
A few days later, on a silent night when the moon was full, the werewolf received a visitor in the form of the same strange human boy. "Hello, Mr. Wolf," said the human with a smile, as if he talked to wolves the size of bears daily. "I am looking for a vampire. Do you know where I might find one?"
The werewolf, already irritated due to the full moon, flew into a horrible rage. He chased after the human furiously all the way to the borders of the vampire's territory, where he could go no further, for no creature ever stepped into another's domain without permission.
Wandering further, the human eventually met the vampire, who had caught the boy's scent as soon as the other had entered his grounds. "Hello, Sir," greeted the human. "My grandfather told me to find a werewolf. Do you know where I should look for one?"
The vampire hissed in anger, sharp claws and sharp fangs elongating at the mention of his immortal enemy. He chased the human out of his territory, coming face to face with the werewolf who still prowled at its borders. Both creatures immediately flew towards each other, ready for another red, red battle-
"So you are the werewolf and you are the vampire!" the human's loud voice rang in the air, halting their movements. The human smiled, happy he had completed his grandfather's task. "Are there any others around here?"
The vampire and the werewolf hesitated for a long moment, shaking their heads only after. "Here, we are the only ones," the vampire said.
"You two must be good friends then, if all you have are each other."
The vampire and the werewolf stared at the human, this time in astonishment at his stupidity. "He is not my friend," growled the werewolf, his blood red fur rippling along strong muscles. "For I do not keep company with bloodsuckers."
"Nor he mine," sniffed the vampire, leveling a poisonous glare at the werewolf with glowing yellow eyes. "Associating with wild mutts is not something I am wont to partake in."
"How lonely it must be, to be alone all the time," said the human sadly, before brightening. "From today onwards, I shall come visit you each night!"
And so it was that the human kept to his promise, and his nightly visits at the vampire's and the werewolf's became a frequent occurrence. Sometimes he would pay a visit to the vampire, where they had tea (though the human declined the red ones) and engaged in conversations of a nature that left the supernatural creature speechless at the boy's blatant idiocy. On other nights the human stopped by the werewolf's, where he annoyed the other with incessant chattering, and where they roughhoused together, for this human was strong, and did not injure as easily as the rest of his kind.
Slowly but surely, the vampire and the werewolf grew from tolerating the human's presence to becoming genuinely fond of the young boy, and both looked forward each day to the time when they could enjoy the human's company.
They were possessive creatures, the vampire and the werewolf, so it didn't take them long to start entertaining thoughts on Turning the human, each wanting to spend more time with the boy. Neither liked that the human also spent time with the enemy, and the green-eyed monster reared its head with a frightening ferocity each time it happened.
Both creatures pounced upon the human one night while he still stood in the adjoining land, undecided on whom to visit this time. It was a nasty shock for the human when the werewolf attempted to bite him, all the while trading blows with the vampire who had latched onto the boy, trying to draw blood from this neck. The two creatures' eyes were half-crazed with desperation, driven with instinct as they were, and the incident forever remained the boy's most terrifying memory.
"What is wrong?" the human asked, when both creatures had calmed down. "Why did you two do that?"
"…I want you to be a vampire," spoke the vampire, his normally sharp voice soft. "For I enjoy your company, and wish for us to spend time together, side by side."
"…I want to Turn you into a werewolf," the werewolf said, piercing red eyes for once imploring. "So that we may live together, and keep each other company always."
The human was silent. "But if I become a vampire, the werewolf will be alone," he said. "And if I am Turned into a werewolf, the vampire shall be lonely." He looked at the creatures, all three unhappy.
Suddenly, the human smiled. "I know!" said he. "Let's just all be friends!"
For all of half a second, the vampire and the werewolf stared at the human, questioning his intelligence.
"He is a werewolf." said the vampire.
"He is a vampire." said the werewolf.
"And I am a human," said the human. "But that does not mean we cannot be friends, right? This way, none of us will be lonely." There was a faraway look in the human's eyes as he spoke, for this human, you see, had no friends other than the vampire and the werewolf, and understood the pain of being alone.
"But…" the vampire and the werewolf protested.
"Why do you two always fight?" asked the human.
The vampire and the werewolf stiffened, for they knew not the answer. Both had long forgotten the cause of their never-ending feud, fighting only because it gave them a reason to live out the grey monotony of silence and loneliness-though they were not aware of it.
"I was really afraid," the human said, his round black eyes wide. "Afraid you both would kill each other, and I would lose my friends. Please, don't do that again. Can we all not be friends?"
The vampire and the werewolf looked long at the human's anxious eyes, then glanced at their sworn enemy. Both sighed.
A daunting task as it was, the vampire and the werewolf tried. Whatever murderous intents they had towards each other, they quelled them when the human came. Fight they did not, instead making attempts to get along, if only to see their human friend be happy. Never before had the vampire's and the werewolf's self-control been so severely tested as when they spent time together, drinking tea and roughhousing and having conversations with the human that both exasperated yet amused them.
And as time passed, the vampire and the werewolf found themselves feeling less antagonistic towards each other, to the point where they could go without fighting even in the absence of the human. Little by little, the vampire felt himself less like challenging the werewolf, and the werewolf less like killing the vampire, and with their human friend as their anchor, the hatred between them slowly vanished to be replaced by a sense of companionship, warm and easy.
None of them were ever lonely again, and the vampire, the werewolf and the human stayed the best of friends, living happily ever after.
The End
"…Nico-ya, remind me never to listen to your 'stories' again."
"Wow! That was a really great story, Robin! Shishishi!"
"You look tired, Kid."
"Yeah well, had some weird dream last night about me being enemies with Trafalgar, and then we became friends because of Straw Hat. Trafalgar was the vampire and I was the werewolf."
"…What."