Disclaimer: I am sad to say that no I do not own Junjou Romantica despite the amount of pennies I tossed into that wishing well.

Nowaki stared at the intruder from his position on the floor. He was tall though not as tall as him, and in the way that he leaned so casually against the doorframe, Nowaki could see that he was a man of sophistication and luxury. His eyes were cold, like the stone that they took their color from, and the look they gave when they surveyed the two men on the floor was akin to a look one might give to a pair of clowns who had just finished their comedy sketch.

"I'm sorry, but…who are you?" The man's smile widened, and Nowaki gave an involuntary shudder.

"Usami Akihiko. I've come to retrieve some property of mine. If you would be so kind as to hand it over, I promise to leave you to go about your business in peace." For some reason, despite his words, Nowaki doubted that anyone would ever be left to 'go about their business in peace' after meeting this man. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Hiroki give a small shudder.

"Pardon, but I'm not exactly sure of what you are talking about. What exactly is it of yours that I have?" Before Usami could answer though, Hiroki spoke up.

"He means me."

Nowaki's head snapped to the side at the sound of the other's voice. He watched in shock as Hiroki slowly rose to his feet. Except for the small wince when he first applied pressure to his injured foot, the man's face was eerily blank. Even his eyes had lost all emotion, resembling more a pair of glass marbles than the former clear amber depths. Just who was this man? And why did he have this effect on Hirosan? Nowaki rose too, questions swimming around his confused brain.

"What's going on Hirosan? Do you mean that you're this man property?'

"Just drop it Nowaki." The way he said it was as good as any confirmation. Nowaki was panicky now, along with confused. This was the 21st century. One person can't own another.

"But Hirosan, how can he own you? You can't own a human be-" He stopped when he realized his mistake. Hiroki wasn't a human being. He was far more than that. He was an entirely different species, one that Nowaki knew nothing about. Maybe it was normal for one vampire to own another. The very thought immediately filled Nowaki with a sense of disgust and revulsion.

"Just shut up Nowaki. It's none of your business." Hiroki's voice matched his face now, both of them flat and dull, devoid of all expression. Nowaki found it almost painful to look at the emptiness he saw there. He wanted to man to begin shouting again. Even the tears were preferable to this.

Nowaki watching with a growing sense of horror as Hiroki hobbled over to the door and stopped in front of Usami.

"Are you going to be a good boy now, and not run away anymore."

"Shut up Akihiko." Even these sharp words were flat. This monotone was becoming torturous to listen to.

"Is that how I taught you to speak to me Hiroki?"

"Shut up." Upon hearing this the tall man bent down until his face was even with Hiroki's, and though he was whispering his deep rich voice traveled to Nowaki's hearing loud and clear.

"Are you that eager for your punishment Hiroki?" The words filled Nowaki with a deep fury, and without thinking about what he was saying, he opened my mouth to shout.

"Hey! Don't talk to Hirosan like that!" Usami's head snapped up and his cold amethyst bored into Nowaki's sapphire ones. An involuntary shiver ran down the tall man's spine, but he squared his shoulders and stared back. Usami chuckled.

"It seems you've found your very own knight in shining armor while you were away, you bad boy. I was thinking of going easy on you, but it seems that now you really will have to be punished." It was with a jolt in the pit of his stomach that Nowaki realized his attempt at defending the smaller man had produced the opposite effect. The tall man suddenly found himself being filled with a feeling of self-loathing.

"Hirosan, I-"

"Just Shut Up!" The malice was back in Hiroki's voice as he directed his words at Nowaki. Nowaki smiled at the little vampire, but it was not a smile that contained any semblance of joy.

"I'm sorry Hirosan. I didn't mean to-"

"SHUT UP!" Before Nowaki could blink, Hiroki was had made his way back across the room and was scowling up at him from his position in front of the giant.

"Hiro-!"

"SHUT UP!" Nowaki never say the hand speeding towards his face, and in no way was he prepared for the pain that exploded on his cheek when it connected with the tender flesh. For a second the tall man lost his balance and stumbled backward and that was all Hiroki needed. The second Nowaki took his eyes off him, the smaller man was gone. Nowaki managed to right himself and looked around in panic, but was greeted only by the empty silence of his compact apartment. Realization settled like a rock in the pit of his stomach. He was alone.

+.+.+.+.+

"Who was he Hiroki?"

"None of your business!" Usami looked in amusement at his servant as he stormed ahead of him through the dark hallways of the mansion. His smirk grew wider.

"That's where you're wrong Hiroki. Until you manage to free yourself, everything that has to do with you is considered my business." Hiroki froze and slowly turned to look at the man behind him sporting his signature devilish grin. The look he directed at the silver haired man poorly concealed the overwhelming loneliness he constantly felt when in his presence.

"Look, he was no one, ok? Just some idiot I managed to trick into letting me in. Nothing to concern your high and mighty self about, oh Lord Usami." The sarcasm dripping from his voice was almost tangible.

"Hiroki, Hiroki, Hiroki, what ever shall I do with you."

"You could just leave me alone."

"You know I can't do that. You're my main source of entertainment."

"I highly doubt I can be that interesting. Why don't you go kidnap a clown or something? Hell, go make yourself another servant."

"Maybe I will." Hiroki had resumed his hurried passage down the dark hall, but something in the other's voice made him wheel around and scowl at his master.

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, that human. You seemed so fond of him. Surely you want a companion." His feigned innocence was enough to make Hiroki retch.

"You wouldn't da-!" He stops himself. Just what is he saying? What does he care what happens to a measly human. The memory of Nowaki's sapphire blue eyes flashes across his brain and he realizes that his cheeks had suddenly turned and embarrassing shade of pink. At the same time, the memory of the giant's goofy smile fills his stomach with a foreign sense of warmth. He turns his back to Akihiko, attempting the hide the effect that these thoughts were having on his body.

He was too late though. The silver haired male had already notice his pink tinted cheeks and the strange faraway look that had come into his amber eyes. The taller vampire was silent for a second as he gazed in wonder at his servant, a man he considered his friend. Should he be concerned? No, he decides, whatever it is, it will pass. Hiroki was a smart vampire, he would never…Akihiko stops himself in the middle of that disturbing train of thought. Such things, he decides, are to impossible, not to mention atrocious, to be mentioned, even in the sanctuary of one's own mind.

Still, a little teasing wouldn't hurt. And he did need to deal with the seed of the potential problem before it had a chance to take root and sprout into something uncontrollable. And after all, he had promised a punishment, something he was very much looking forward to.

"Oh wouldn't I? I thought the human looked like fun, an enjoyable toy to briefly distract me from the prospect of an eternity of boredom. Don't you think so Hiroki?" There was no answer from the shorter male, only a low grumbling and an angry gnashing of teeth. Usami finds himself pleased to see that Hiroki still could not disobey him. It was good to know that the contract was still in place. Good to have one constant in this ever changing world. After a thousand years, the constant cycles of life and death can become tiring, and if one wasn't careful, one could find oneself falling into a state of melancholy and depression.

Choosing to think of something else, preferable a subject of a much brighter composition, Usami began to contemplate the next game he could play with his little vampire subject. He had not expected the man to run away, after all they had been living together for the better part of the last half a millennium, and would most likely continue to live together until the taller man decided otherwise. He did not know why Hiroki had chosen now of all times to leave, when he had been presented with so many opportunities in the past, although he suspected it had something to do with the events of last night.

It had been somewhere around midnight when the knock had sounded at his bed door. He had been startled, not by the fact that there was a knock, but the nature of the knock itself. It had been hesitant, almost nervous, causing him to rise from the couch he had been reclining on, and go to answer the door himself, as oppose to his usual reaction to the sound, which was to just give a brief grunt of acknowledgement, before going back to whatever literary piece he would be composing at the time.

He remembered the look on Hiroki's face when he had opened the door. The fierce determination contrasted dramatically with the expression he had left with. Akihiko didn't think he would ever forget the look on the others face as he had excited the room. It had been so empty, the look of a man who had lost everything and couldn't find the will to get it back, a man who had fallen and couldn't find any reason to stand up again. When he had seen that face, Akihiko had realized that for the first time in centuries, he had been scared, scared that is, for the future of his longtime friend.

The silver haired vampire realized his mind had begun to wander down another path that he had no desire to see the end of. He had no idea why Hiroki had left the way he had. It had been a good fuck, and in it Akihiko had accomplished what he had set out to do. He had successfully managed in the heat of passion, to replace the feel of Hiroki's body with that of another male. A much softer kinder male, the vampire mused. He could not fathom why Hiroki had suggested the act, and for some reason, in contemplating it, he found he had no desire to find out. Whatever it was, it was in the past now. Best left there, never to be brought up again.