Zetsubou no Amai Kiss Shite?
(Won't You Give Me a Kiss of Despair?)
Last Chapter Summary:
Half-Werewolf Antonio Carriedo, the lover of the werewolf Lovino Vargas who was killed by Kiku, comes to claim his revenge. But he does not yet realize that he himself was used as a chess piece to make Lovino betray Kiku.
IMPORTANT! Read this! DL, DR!
Warnings: Violence, Language, Mentions of Blood, Black!Kiku, Black!XiaoChun, Android!Sadık, more crazy characters in the next few chapters
Pairings: mortal!AlfredxBlack!Kiku
Genre: Horror & Supernatural
Chapter Summary: Kiku's younger brother Xiao Chun shows up in the town, proposing an alliance against their other siblings. Kiku refuses, but Xiao Chun's goal from the start was to plant a large array of fireworks near the house to attempt to burn it to the ground.
Disclaimer: I will never own APH, guys. All rights reserved by all concerned parties.
Fourth Drop of Blood:
Alliance
"So this is the town where my older brother currently lives…"
The Chinese boy smirked to himself and beckoned at his android, a sullen Turkish man with a mask over the upper half of his tanned face.
"Come Sadık!" the teenager exclaimed impatiently, the sleeves of his oversized black duanghua flapping in the wind. "By the Blood of the Purple Orchid, I'll have you replaced if you don't hurry up!"
The android grumbled, but his walking sped up a little faster.
Xiao Chun's smirk widened when he saw the house on the distance.
"I'm near, onii-sama…"
Antonio was watching Kiku give Alfred a dose of his Blood on the front lawn when Xiao Chun and his android walked into plain view and enter the front gate as if they owned the place. Kiku withdrew his fingers before he could even give Alfred a taste of his Blood and looked around at the newcomers, his brow furrowed.
"Hello, onii-sama!" was Xiao Chun's not-too-enthusiastic greeting to Kiku.
"Kiku!" Alfred grumbled when he sensed Kiku pause from giving him a drink. He had been feeling lightheaded all morning because of the wearing off of the Blood's effect.
Kiku ignored him. "Xiao Chun? What an unpleasant surprise!"
Xiao Chun laughed mirthlessly. "Come on, Kiku-nii-sama. You're getting much too cold to your little brother now!"
"Your brother?" Antonio asked Kiku, rage flitting in his features. His arms transformed into the paws of a Werewolf. "One of the infernal princes who set up my Lovi!"
"Antonio—!" Kiku was about to say, but with a bound and a snap, Antonio was lunging toward Xiao Chun, who looked bored.
"Sadık," Xiao Chun said lazily.
Sadık went before Xiao Chun and held out a palm to Antonio.
Antonio roared. "That masked man is nothing to me!"
Xiao Chun smirked evilly. "Whatever you bloody say, halfbreed."
Sadık received both of Antonio's paws without so much as a flinch. Antonio's eyes widened. This guy was strong!
Xiao Chun whistled shrilly, and Sadık threw Antonio far into the trees, hard.
Kiku sighed, putting his clean hand on his forehead. "Antonio, it's not Xiao Chun…"
"Picking fights with an android… what a fool…" Xiao Chun chuckled, then glanced at Alfred, who was looking hungrily at Kiku's fingers, which in turn were dripping a lot of Blood. "Oh, is that guy one of your Blood warriors, onii-sama?"
Kiku finally let Alfred lap up the Blood from his fingers. "I wouldn't call him that. He's much too useless for that honor."
Alfred made a face at Kiku after drinking. "Oh, am I?"
Xiao Chun snickered. "This is… an interesting house."
Kiku knelt at the low table, Herakles cross-sitting on his right side, and took a sip of the green tea standing in front of him. Xiao Chun was kneeling opposite him at the table, a cup of black tea in front of him.
"Xiao Chun." Kiku finally spoke as he set his cup down and directed his words at Xiao Chun, who was drinking black tea with a bored expression on his face. "You know that all of us siblings are currently engaged in a battle for the Throne, and because of that, we are virtually enemies." He glanced at Xiao Chun with a perplexed look in his dark eyes. "So what are you doing here?"
Xiao Chun calmly put his teacup back on its saucer and looked into Kiku's blank eyes. "Onii-sama, do you really want me to answer that question?"
"Hoy, why are you peeking, amigo?" Antonio asked curiously as he sat on the engawa outside with Alfred, who was opening the shoji behind them to peek into the room where Kiku and Xiao Chun were talking.
"Quiet, dude… But is that really one of Kiku's siblings?" Alfred inquired in a quiet voice, eyebrows drawing together as he watched the people beyond the paper door.
"Si… Xiao Chun of the Purple Orchid, the third son of the Royalty…" Antonio leaned lazily against one of the huge wooden posts that held up the roof.
"Oh…" Alfred grimaced. "So he's one of those aiming to kill Kiku?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Antonio said in an irritated voice. "Kiku told me that that bamboo stick isn't the one who… you know…" He sighed heavily. "But I still don't like the aura of that kid. After all, he's just freaking sixteen or something… he shouldn't be participating in this kind of battle or he'll end up blowing his opponents with himself if he's not careful."
"He's sixteen already?" Alfred asked, openmouthed. "He looks more like fourteen or something…"
"Yup. Let's see…" Antonio ticked names on his fingers. "There's the oldest son, Yao of the White Peony, who's already twenty years old… and then the oldest daughter, Kim of the Red Lotus, nineteen years old… and Kiku of the Golden Chrysanthemum, the second son, comes next at eighteen years—"
"He's actually older than me?" Alfred's eyebrows had risen dramatically.
"Yup," Antonio replied, sniggering at Alfred's expression. "Don't sweat it. All the members of the Royalty look younger than they really are, ha ha. And to continue the list, there's our man, the third son, Xiao Chun of the Purple Orchid, sixteen years old… Immediately after him is the youngest son Yong Soo of the Pale Sharon, fifteen… and finally, the youngest daughter, Xiao Mei of the Plum Blossom, at fourteen. There now." Antonio scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "Out of all of them, only Kim was already eliminated, so all of the others are still probably running about."
"Why do they have flowers tacked onto their names?" Alfred asked, confused.
"I dunno, but I know that the one who wins this bloodbath will use the flower tacked on his or her name as the symbol of the Kingdom." Antonio said, shrugging.
"I see…" Alfred frowned, running a hand through his blond hair. So things were getting more complicated than when he first met Kiku…
"An alliance?"
"Yes, onii-sama. An alliance." Xiao Chun drained his cup and smiled at Kiku slyly. "From what I've heard, our two youngest siblings had already entered into one because they know that they are too weak to stand separately."
"If Mei entered into an alliance with Yong Soo…" Kiku narrowed his eyes. "That would make her my enemy too."
Xiao Chun's smile widened. "Indeed."
It was Kiku's turn to smile slyly at Xiao Chun. "But I don't know… are you really okay to be under my patronage? As the elder of us two… Do you really want to be my ally, or are you perhaps planning on backstabbing me once I feel secure with you?"
Xiao Chun's smile turned into an amused smirk.
Kiku sighed and smiled sweetly at Xiao Chun. "Whichever your motives might have been, it doesn't matter." He drained his cup and stared into Xiao Chun's stoic eyes. "My answer will never change. I say no." He put down the cup with a gentle thump as it hit the surface of the table. "You may leave."
Xiao Chun suddenly stood up and leaned forward, his smile replaced by an outraged expression in his eyes. "Onii-sama! Are you really going to abandon me and let them tear me up into pieces!"
Kiku was unfazed. "Those words, coming from someone who had the strength to practically bomb my house to the ground, are not very convincing, dear Xiao Chun. So stop your acting and get out all those fireworks from my house."
Xiao Chun's outraged expression instantly relaxed into a scornful smirk again. "You really know me, onii-sama. I'm impressed!" He sighed. "But it really is too late now. I must go. Oh, and enjoy my little housewarming gift! Take care lest you burn your precious little feet, Kiku-nii-sama."
He stood up and exited the room. Kiku let him go and looked at Herakles.
"I really underestimated Xiao Chun, Hera-chan," he said. "Those fireworks. Can we get them all out?"
"Not in time… Kiku-sama…"
"I thought so too… So that's the reason why his android wasn't here with him before while we were talking. Sneaky devils." Kiku stood up and sighed heavily. "We'll go out of the house! Call Alfred, Antonio and Matthew before this house blows up!" He narrowed his eyes. "I may have called them fireworks, but I know that they have the strength of dynamite. Knowing Xiao…"
The sound of the fireworks exploding was music to Xiao Chun's ears as he listened at a small distance from the house, with his android back by his side.
"Lovely," he murmured. "Sadık, d'you think they're dead already?"
"I wouldn't be too complacent, Xiao Chun-gōng," Sadık replied sternly.
Xiao Chun smiled with an evil glint in his eyes. "You worry too much, Sadık."
"I thought you've run away already," said a voice behind them. Startled, Xiao Chun turned around to see Kiku's shadowy form, accompanied by Antonio, Herakles, and Alfred. "You're more reckless than I've thought."
"Oh, I wouldn't do that, onii-sama," Xiao Chun remarked. His eyes blazed red. "Of course… I wouldn't give up on my victory…!"
Kiku instantly dodged out of the way as Xiao Chun got out firecrackers from under his shirt, lighted them up, and threw those to them, all in a blink of an eye. Antonio wasn't too lucky—he received an angry burn on his left arm.
"Ay, that's not nice!" he howled.
Kiku's eyes widened as the ground exploded beneath him anywhere he walked. His eyes were enraged. "So you planted a hell of a lot of mines here in this hill? What a sneaky child!"
"Oh! Gotcha!" Xiao Chun snickered as one of the mini-mines near Kiku exploded, singeing his sleeves. "Poor kimono… that must have cost onii-sama a fortune!"
Kiku grimaced inwardly as he rolled his sleeves around his arms to prevent them from getting any worse. "Antonio! Grab your bike and let's go!"
Antonio grinned, even though he was sore all over from the mines. "Aw right!"
Xiao Chun laughed out loud. "Onii-sama, run away all you want! They'll still get you!"
Kiku's lips broke into a creepy smirk that rivaled Xiao Chun's evil laugh. "You wish, my dear little brother—!"
Antonio mounted quickly on his bike, Kiku leaping up to ride behind him.
"Go, Antonio!" Kiku said as more mines began exploding around them.
Antonio whooped as the bike shot off with them into the gathering darkness, mines exploding after them.
"There's nowhere safe for you, onii-sama!" Xiao Chun called out after them.
Kiku laughed as he gripped Antonio's shoulders to steady himself. "Oh, there is," he said quietly. "Just one place…"
Xiao Chun's brown eyes looked amused as he saw the pair speed back to his position after a while, the mines too slow to prevent them from nearing. "Silly onii-sama!" he said loudly. "Sadık, get them!"
Sadık drew a pair of large knives from the sheaths strapped on his belt and hurled one at Antonio. It scraped his shoulder.
"Ow!" Antonio winced, but he kept the speed up. "That guy throws knives hard!"
Sadık raised the other knife.
"Here comes another, señorito!" Antonio shouted with a grimace.
"It'll be fine," Kiku said with a straight face. "Androids of the Royalty will never attack a family member."
Antonio wanted to face palm, but he was driving a motorcycle. "O Dios mio! Then that means he'll be aiming at me—!"
Just then, to Antonio's relief, something rushed and smashed into Sadık, knocking the android over. Xiao Chun was shocked.
"How—! Sadık weighs at least a few tons!" he said in disbelief.
"Hm. That must be my Hera-chan to your rescue, Antonio-san," Kiku remarked with a slight smile.
"Ah, gracias, Herakles!" Antonio whooped. Then he breathed deeply. "Ready to go, señorito?"
"Yes!" Kiku braced himself as the motorcycle neared Xiao Chun.
"Uno, dos, tres!" Antonio roared, and Kiku gracefully leaped from the bike, his sleeves unfurling and giving him the likeness of a nightingale in flight, and launched himself in Xiao Chun's direction, who didn't realize what was happening until Kiku's arms were already wrapped around him. The force of the hug knocked both of them from the safety zone and into the territory of the mines.
Xiao's eyes widened as he realized what Kiku was trying to do.
"Onii-sama!" he screamed.
"Together, my dear," Kiku merely replied, arms tightening. "And I do want to join in an alliance with you, after all…"
The mines exploded all around them, engulfing the silence of the night.
Kiku sighed as he sipped at his tea the next morning. When he set it back on the table, he watched Alfred as he bantered back and forth with Xiao Chun, who seemed to take an interest in him from the first sight.
"What if you become my Blood warrior instead of my onii-sama's?" Xiao Chun asked curiously, as Alfred's jaw dropped. "I haven't any Blood warriors as of today…"
"Xiao, I had agreed to an alliance with you," Kiku interrupted coldly. "That does not mean that you can carry my Blood warrior away from me."
"Ah, but my onii-sama… I have no one else but my stupid Sadık to protect me—!"
"I'm not stupid…!" Sadık piped up.
"No one… believes it… I'm sure…" Herakles said snappily.
"Shut up, you stupid cat-lover!"
"You too… Zorro-wannabe…!"
"Why you—!"
"I think this is the end of the discussion, Xiao."
"So unfair as always, Kiku-nii-sama…"
A/N: Aww cute…:)
Anyways, I'd like to see what you think of this chapter! And maybe hazard a guess on what will be Arthur's role in Kiku's life the next chapter…:))
Next Chapter Summary: The student council president Arthur Kirkland was actually concealing a terrible secret that can put Kiku in danger. And Alfred, in turn, can put Kiku in danger or in safety because of this secret. Kiku can only use his wits to help him escape this new threat.