A/N: Hey everyone, so here's the final chapter in Laito's story! I just want to say thank you to everyone who commented and favorited/followed and encouraged my writing. If you loved this story or my writing style, I will be working next on Shu's story. I intend to follow through with all of the brothers and maybe end with an AyatoxYui continuation, a sort of season 2 for them. As always, Please enjoy and comment, favorite or follow. See you again very soon! Keep an eye out for my other stories! Thanks! ~Nique
CH. 10: THE AFTERMATHI woke up with my cheek pressed against Laito's cool, bare chest. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I couldn't figure out what had woken me up. I listened for the grandfather clock in the hallway; it was only eight, I didn't need to get up for night school for another two hours. Laito's chest was so smooth and cool, and his arms wrapped around me were so inviting, I never wanted to move. But again, a strange sound kept me from drifting back off to sleep in Laito's arms. Muffled moans broke the silence of the house, and I realized what had startled me awake. With my new, accelerated hearing, I was listening to Ayato and Yui getting it on from three bedrooms away. With a blush, I realized that meant that everyone else in the house had heard every moment of my lovemaking with Laito over the last two months. Shaking Laito awake, I blushed as I asked,
"Laito-san, have your brothers been able to hear us like that the whole time?" I was totally mortified. Laito yawned, exposing his sharp fangs as he stretched and then pulled me closer to him, cuddling me close. He pressed his lips to the top of my head in a good morning kiss as he listened quietly to the knocking of the bed against the wall and the soft moans coming from down the hall. He giggled.
"Of course, Neko-chan," he smiled down at me, "We are all vampires after all. But not when we made love in my special room, nfu~. I made sure that room was soundproofed, so no one would hear any of the bitch-chans scream," he murmured calmly. I was sure my face could have rivaled the coloring of a tomato, but I stretched up to press a kiss to Laito's lips anyway.
"You're just lucky I love you, silly boy," I teased, in a playful mood. Laito's face immediately sobered.
"Neko-chan, you promised you'd tell me more about this 'love' thing, right?" Laito asked, looking down at me seriously, even as he stroked the inside of my thigh soothingly. I moaned at the contact, having trouble focusing on the task at hand. The poor boy just couldn't help himself.
"Laito," I reprimanded, moving his hand away from my bare thighs. He tensed momentarily, looking down at me in awe.
"That's the first time you've said my name without the honorific, Neko-chan," he murmured, pressing his forehead to mine. I blushed. He tilted my chin up and pressed his lips to mine in a surprisingly chaste kiss this time.
"I really do love you, Neko-chan. I don't understand how, but I know that I can't think about anyone but you. When I look at your beautiful face, I want to ravage you until you can't sit, stand or walk for days... But I also want to be gentle, to cuddle you in my arms and kiss your soft, sweet lips forever. Your blood," he murmured, nipping at my bottom lips gently, "Your blood is the most intoxicating thing I've ever tasted, and it drives me wild. What is this feeling, Neko-chan?" he asked, his eyes expressing deep confusion. My eyes teared up at his tenderness but I smiled anyway.
"Boy, aren't you sappy today, Laito-san. I think, in order for me to explain love to you, I need to hear about what happened with your mother," I said cautiously. He drew in a sharp breath and I felt him shut down on me, as if a wall had gone up in his heart. But then he slowly exhaled, and he looked away as he began his tale.
"I don't... I don't like to talk about her, Neko-chan, but you deserve to know." He sighed, moving away from me and sitting up on the edge of the bed, his pale back to me as he sat hunched in the moonlight.
"My mother was the first and only other woman that I have ever loved the way I love you, Neko-chan," he began after a moment, "She was... a horrible person. She and I had a relationship that... I don't really want to explain. But she told me she loved me when I did what she wanted, and I believed her. But when I found her with other men... She could never be faithful to just me. When she burst into my piano room saying that Ayato was coming for her, that he was going to kill her, I promised her my protection... And then I finished what my brother had started. Officially, by the time Kanato-kun got to her she was already dead, but he lit the flames that erased any trace of my mother's existence. We each had a hand in her death, and my brothers have nearly forgotten her... But I haven't. I don't know if I ever can, Neko-chan," he said sadly, turning to meet my eyes.
In the moonlight, I saw the pain in his eyes and heard his silent plea for forgiveness, for comfort, for love. What could I do but wrap my arms around him? I knew that what his mother had done was a dark shadow that might always hang over our relationship, but I was willing to love Laito not in spite of his demons, but because he understood that I had my own, and loved me anyway.
"It's okay now, Laito-san. Your mother... I'm so sorry. You never had any parents who could teach you what true love meant. At least I had my mother, and I'll always carry those memories of her with me, but your memories of your mother... They haunt you even now. Laito-san, she didn't love you. Not the way a mother should love her child, or even the way a woman should love her lover. Will you let me explain what that love looks like to you?" I asked softly. Laito kissed me just as gently and nodded. I wiped away the tears he didn't realize had begun to flow and followed me to the bathroom.
I stopped in front of the double sinks, smiling at how messy one side was, and how immaculate the other appeared.
"Laito-san, love is when both sides of the bathroom are messy with dried toothpaste, hairspray and make-up stains on the counter top." Laito looked confused, but I simply turned on the shower and stepped inside, dragging Laito along with me.
"Love is when you shower together and neither of you finish until the water is cold because you've been messing around for so long," I continued, helping him bathe first me and then himself. Laito was surprisingly good, only begging for one round of shower sex. We dried off and dressed quickly, though we lingered in the closet.
"Love is when both sides of the closet are filled with clothes, and half of the drawers are filled with underwear and socks and the other half with accessories she can't live without," I explained, dragging him by the hand until he followed me down the hall, stopping outside of Ayato's bedroom, where we could perfectly hear the happy couple arguing affectionately about making another batch of takoyaki.
"Love is about arguments that end in kisses when you make up, not daggers, because you realize that the problem is never so big that you two can't work it out together."
We continued on past Kanato's open door, where the lilac-haired brother clutched Teddy tightly to his chest as he hummed a little tune and stared out the window.
"It's when you can't imagine life without the other person, and you never want to be separated from their side," I whispered this time.
We walked quickly past Reiji's laboratory, in case he decided to experiment on us.
"In love, each person has their own hobbies and interests," I explained, leading Laito out into the garden where Subaru was plucking roses and staring up into the empty tower where his mother had once been held.
"But everything reminds you of the other person."
Near the lake, Shu slept underneath a shady tree, his headphones stuck in his ears, as always.
"It's when your favorite sound is your lover's voice, and you want to hear it on repeat every moment of every day," I murmured.
Back inside, we sat down at the piano bench and Laito began to play softly. He looked like he was thinking about a lot of things. He paused.
"Was that how my mother was supposed to love me?" he asked. I shook my head, settling my hands on top of his.
"Your mother should have smiled when she saw you play with your brothers, and praised your poorly-drawn pictures, just because you made them for her. She should have treated you to ice cream and read you all bedtime stories, and sung to you when you were sad or scared. She should have brought you soup and kissed your brow when you were sick, and cuddled you close when you fell and hurt yourself. She should have celebrated your accomplishments and kept you in line when you were naughty. She should have taken the time to know you and all of your gifts and talents, and thought of you before herself. She should have been willing to put her life on the line for you... But she didn't. And I'm sorry you never knew the real love of a mother," I whispered the last part, my eyes filling with tears. Laito sighed and began to play again, silent for a long moment.
"I wrote this one for you, you know," he said finally, his fingers stroking the ivory keys like none I had ever seen, his eyes closed as he played from his heart for the first time since I had moved into the strange house.
"I wrote it because I love you, Kimi-chan. Truly, I do. And I wanted to see you smile," he added, gazing into my eyes once again as the song ended. I smiled up at the man I loved.
"And this is true love, Laito-san... That I get to spend every day for the rest of my immortally long life with you. And just being with you makes me so happy," I murmured, reaching up to kiss him softly, moaning as he deepened the kiss.
"Neko-chan? Can we go make love again?" he asked, already carrying me back up to his bedroom. I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Only if I get to top this time," I teased back. A wide grin split Laito's face, making his eyes brighten as he resembled the Cheshire Cat.
"Just the first time, Neko-chan. You still need to be punished, nfu~" he giggled.
It turns out, sex is even better when you're both in love.