Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Of the Darkness: Chapter 1: Invitation Inside
Family: Ryou & Shou
Other Characters: Camula
Woord Count: chapter: 1,140||story: 1,140
Genre: Family, Supernatural||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade
Notes: It's an AU. It involves vampires.
Summary: Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.
Rain poured down from the featureless sky, coated from horizon to horizon with thick stormclouds laced with blue-white darts of lightning. Fires remained burning only by the sheerest of good luck. All travelers remained tucked into inns or wherever they could get shelter, be it in a convenient cave or anywhere they could beg floorspace from.
Which was why when there came a heavy beating on the door to the mansion, Shou hurried toward it. One thought alone rang through his mind at the sound: Big Brother!
It had to be Ryou. Who else would try to come here during this kind of storm? Four days it had raged, and five days since Ryou left in the first place. Shou had spent every one of those days perched at one of the windows that gave a view of the outside, hoping that he could get a glimpse of his brother returning home.
Servants came toward the door as well, but Shou beat them all there. He was short for his age, but he scampered along fast enough to get there first, swinging the heavy stone door open.
There in the doorway stood someone who could only be Marufuji Ryou, though on a first glance, it wouldn't have been that surprising if anyone didn't recognize him. Rain-soaked hair plastered to his scalp, every inch of his clothes soaked through, and looking pale as death itself. Shou didn't wait for a moment.
"Get in here!" Shou beckoned him in, then whirled around to stare at the nearest servant. "Get a hot bath going! And something for him to wear! And something to eat, too!"
"No," Ryou murmured, his voice drained, but still in tones of habitual command. "Nothing to eat. I'm … fine."
Shou didn't know if he should trust that, but he figured they could always put something together after his brother changed and rested. What was important was getting him out of those wet clothes before he caught some sort of massive cold. He might have already; it looked as if he'd spent ever moment of his time out there in the rain.
"Well, you're still going to get a bath and changed," Shou declared, setting his hands on his hips and giving his older brother his best look. It wasn't nearly as good as the looks Ryou could give him when he'd done something stupid, but he tried his best.
Ryou returned a small, tight smile, one that didn't show any teeth and didn't quite seem to touch his eyes. He put up no argument when it came to bathing and changing, stripping out of his soaked clothes and wrapping up in a blanket that one of the servants brought as he sat before one of the fires that still managed to burn.
Shou fluttered around him like a butterfly, toweling him off and working a comb through his hair. Shou wouldn't have dared to do this to his brother under any other circumstances, but Ryou didn't seem inclined to move a great deal, so Shou made up for it.
"The bath is ready, sirs," the maid in charge of that announced. Shou wished he were a little taller, so he could give his brother a hand.
Perhaps that wasn't so necessary, though, as Ryou rose to his feet and moved with liquid grace toward the door. He'd always moved easily, no matter how tired or injured he was, but now he seemed almost boneless. He didn't even seem as tired as Shou thought he should be after his trek outside.
I hope he tells me what happened. Ryou still seemed pale, but Shou decided that was probably from the ceaseless pounding of the rain and not nearly enough food to eat. Any supplies Ryou had taken with him likely hadn't survived the first deluge, and who knew where his horse had ended up.
A little curious on that matter, he hurried down the corridor to the stable once he'd made certain his brother was firmly sunk up to his eyebrows in hot water. He considered them lucky to even be able to get to the stable without going outside, especially in weather like this. Apparently one of their ancestors wanted to visit his steeds without having to worry about getting himself wet no matter the weather.
"No, I haven't seen your brother, sir," the stablemaster reported, turning to face Shou from where he stared out into the murky depths of the storm. "But I would be more surprised if he'd made it back with his horse in this kind of weather. All kinds of holes a beast could step in and break its neck, or worse."
Shou nodded; he'd ask Ryou about the horse later. Ryou tended to be good about his mounts and he didn't look in the slightest as if he'd had any falls. It wasn't anything to worry about. He'd rather worry about making certain Ryou got enough food before much longer.
Ryou closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the water sink into him. Or trying to let it to; he hadn't been warm in forever. At least it felt like that. He hadn't had a very good sense of time since he'd looked into deep red eyes and felt unnaturally strong hands on his arms, pulling him off his horse.
He'd lied to Shou. He was hungry. More than hungry, he was starving and yet nothing that he could imagine stirred his appetite.
Nothing he wanted to imagine, either. His neck throbbed and he breathed, letting himself spin away. He wanted to do something else, but he didn't know what. He had to fill that emptiness in the depths of his stomach, but he didn't know how.
Feed, my child. Feed.
He shook his head, looking around. "Who's there?"
He received no answer. The room was well-lit, many brightly burning candles pushing back the dark. His eyes stung at the sight of them and he looked away. He'd been outside too long, that was all that it was.
"My lord?" One of the servants tapped on the door, not waiting for him to give permission before entering. Ryou didn't care; most of them had seen him growing up anyway. He carried a fresh change of clothes over one arm and set those down on the nearby table. "Are you certain you don't want anything to eat?"
Ryou's eyes drifted to the old servant's neck. He could see a vein fluttering there. Without even realizing it, he rose to his feet. "I think I could use a little something."
"What would you like? I'm certain the kitchen can still put something good together even now."
Ryou's feet made no sound on the stone floor. No thoughts at all entered his mind. There was only hunger and need.
"My lor-"
And then the feeding began.
To Be Continued