The House

Ch. 10

Co-Authored By Azuril Noir Raine (it's been too long since i've decapitated someone!)

Co-Authored By Anshi-chan (i have a kitten!)

Date's eye opens suddenly, and he seems to spring awake, one hand over his mutilated eye. He was breathing heavily and beads of sweat started appearing on his forehead.

"Shit! What's wrong?" Mars asked, eyes wide and surprised. Date slowly calmed down and flopped back against his pillow.

"It's nothing…just a few bad dreams. Don't worry. I'm fine." He insisted.

"You lie."

"Yes I do but I don't think you're gonna blow me up."

"…I hate you."

"Love you too hon…sure your guardian won't come in and kill me during the night?"

"Uh…maybe?"

"Oh THAT fills me with confidence."

Mars gave a tiny laugh, the first genuine laugh since they'd returned from the mansion. Date took some pride in knowing that.

"He won't kill anyone here. Though I wouldn't mind him making my life a tad less agitating and bumping off Ranmaru, but, out of my overwhelming sense of gratitude and respect for Xun, I will refrain from putting his bitchy boyfriend into a position that may compromise his physical well-being."

"How thoughtfull."

"Isn't it though?" he hesitated but brought up the odd situation downstairs, "it seems Mitsuhide's out for my head, Sheik called it wounded pride, I call it jealousy or envy...what would possess anyone to be jealous of a pitiful little creature such as myself, I don't know, but that's what it seems to be."

"Do you really think of yourself as negatively as you make it sound?"

"Why not? It's the truth, isn't it?" Mars said quietly, obviously well convinced that what he thought of himself was the obvious truth for the issue. "I really can't think of a more pathetic creature than myself...let's look at me for chrissake. I'm a whore on forced retirement, I'm a tool, my purpose in the group I started in was to find the pieces of a demon sword, it took pity to move people to be nice to me, plus the long history of being abused in oh so many ways doesn't help my lack of self esteme any in the least."

"Abused? The group you're with now doesn't...?"

"Oh, no. no, they don't. But before them, aside from when my family was still alive, I don't remember anyone ever giving a shit at all about me...aside from repeat customers but we won't go into detail there. I prefer to attempt blocking those memories out." he fisted a bit of his robe, the poor fastenings on it from his knees down were undone, leaving at least that much of him exposed, the rest of the robe carefully covered him, aside from the sleeves fastened on by loose stitching, hanging down solely by the thread woven through it half-hazardly. One of the benifits to being able to heal any injuries he may have acquired was that no scars or hint of any damage ever having been done to him could be seen, pale skin that should have been littered with scars of varying sizes from wounds of varying severity was flawless instead. He knew to some he was very eye-catching, and he hated it. It was because of that that he'd been hurt in the past, and he wondered if any attraction to him anyone had as of late had anything to do with any traits besides a pretty face that he might have. He quickly wiped at the tears he was cursing the presence of, "hell, what else is there?" he muttered as a continuation to his thought process.

"Eh?" Date cocked his head to the side a bit. Mars shook his head, but spoke up nonetheless.

"Whenever I'm hurt, I can heal it without leaving a scar or mark of any kind, so I look far better than I should...I should be littered with scars, markings, all sorts of memerobilia from past exploits...and I've been told I'm not exactly unattractive, so I'm wondering, any interrest anyone has in me, if I was to scratch up my face, become far less attractive to people, would that attraction to me still be there? Or am I only a pretty face to people?" he closed his eyes, giving up on stopping the tears, "or am I thinking far too highly of myself?"

Date sighed, slowly sitting up. He reached up and removed his eyepatch, revealing the grotesque and mutilated eye socket---the eyelids having been ripped away in the latest encounter with Raphael.

"Look at me. I'm not a pretty face to anyone. I'm like…the less beautiful version of you." He reaches over and gently hugs Mars. "You shouldn't concern yourself with such trivial things. I know it's somewhat difficult to push the past away, and trust me…I know…I was fucked in the eye by a man I had defeated once in my real life…But somehow…even with that, I still don't know how the hell I was able to make it this far. I should have been killed a long time ago. From what I've noticed, Nightmare does care for you. He won't admit it, not in a million years, but look in his eyes. I've noticed it. The little glint of compassion in his eyes." Date suddenly fell silent, clapping his hands over his mouth as if he's said too much. He returns his eyepatch to its rightful place and looks away sadly. "I'm sorry…I overstepped my boundaries…" He said softly.

"No," Mars said, softer than he'd spoken yet, somehow gentler, "No, you...you didn't overstep anything. You..." he just shook his head, then leaned lightly against Date, "you didn't do anything wrong. Don't think you did. Honestly, I think I can see where everyone's coming from when they say we're so similar. I seem to hunt down all of my negative traits, just like you did. There's more than just those bad experiances though...I don't think I'd still be sitting here if you were limited to just those nasty memories. I tend to enjoy the company of people I gain respect for. You're one of the few and proud believe it or not." he paused for a second, taking a deep breath, "and, if what you said, about Nightmare, if that's true, then maybe it is worth my time being a tool...as long as someone cares..." he stopped talking, hiding a yawn behind the back of his hand, "if...if I fall asleep on you, will you at least wake me if you decide to leave me here?"

"Go ahead and sleep...I think you deserve a rest." Date said quietly, Mars made a tiny noise, then closed his eyes, after a moment, Date knew he was sleeping. "Now what do I do with this?" he muttered, not sure how soundly Mars slept, afraid of waking him...and of getting blown up for his transgression.

Being already confined to bed, Date couldn't really move. Eventually, he fell back asleep, one hand resting somewhat protectively on Mars's back. He didn't hear the door open, and he didn't see Mitsuhide watch them for a moment before he stormed back downstairs.

Neko was asleep on the couch, with her head on Link's lap. The elf in question was gently petting her with one hand, and reading with another.

"Look! He reads!" Sheik teased.

"Ha ha, I love you too."

After a while, Neko woke---when she fell off the couch and hit the floor.

"Ow…hey…good morning everyone. Sheik, make me breakfast."

"No."

"Please? I could be pregnant and you wouldn't know it."

"But you're not."

"How do you know?"

"Because no one has done the 'I got laid' dance."

Xun couldn't help but laugh at the conversation. When met with odd looks, he fessed up.

"We had an 'I got laid' dance a while back. It involved many amounts of pelvic thrusting."

"…You're weird."

"Thanks."

"Hey, what's with...?" Neko started but she just pointed at Mitsuhide when he returned to the group, fuming.

"Mitsuhide went to check on Mars and Date again." Xun said, "and I'm thinking someone else should go make sure their alive still...maybe we should send someone else to check on them from now on."

"Yeah, maybe." Link said, not looking away from his reading.

"You should go, Darling." Neko said, he shook his head.

"Busy."

"Sheik?"

"Busy."

"You're just sitting there!"

"I'm busy watching dust particles."

"Neko, why don't you go." Link said, "Mars won't eat your head off if you catch him at an off moment."

"Yes he will!"

"Would you prefer we send Nightmare?" Sheik whispered carefully, she jumped to her feet.

"Ok, up we go!"

Neko growled and trotted upstairs. Upon peeking into the room, she smiled faintly and closed the door again. She looked at the stairs, and then at the banister before her. Stairs were no fun. So…with a minor running start, she launched herself over the side and dropped the two stories to the floor, landing gracefully on her feet. She returned triumphantly to the group.

"Mars and Date are just sleeping." She said.

"Nice show." Sheik said sarcasticlly, "and they're just sleeping? What is his problem then?"

"I dunno." Neko said with a shrug, jumping over Link and landing on the back of the couch, looking over his shoulder at whatever he was reading. "Jealousy is an icky thing though." she added. "We'll send someone up to check and see if they're up later on...then I think we should get this whole messy romantic ordeal sorted out for good."

"Most defiantly." Nightmare said, looking at the stairs the entire time.

"Speaking of romance...there are spare rooms upstairs...we could be doing the 'I got laid' dance soon." Neko said suggestively, making Link turn bright pink at the thought.

"Save it for later, you two." Sheik said, Link pointed to Neko.

"It was all her how'd I suddenly get blamed?!"

"Never blamed you, just informed you."

"And you call yourself my friend."

"Yes, I do."

"Ok, ok, that's enough." Mitsuhide snapped, "if we're going to sort this out then we're doing it now."

"Ok, we'll send someone who isn't you to get Mars." Neko said.

"Why don't we send people upstairs to get the sorting done with?" Sheik said, "Date's bedridden so he can't come down here and Mars is being oddly clingy so I have a feeling he won't come down here either. Send people that both trust to the best extent, unless we have volunteers instead of voting on some poor individual."

"Well, let's see..." Neko said, "who does Date trust the most? We know Mars trusts nightmare the most, though I don't know about anyone else..."

"He trusts you." Link pointed out.

"Ok, so Neko and Nightmare will be Mars's reps, and who else? We need people for Date...let's just make it two for him as well." Sheik said, Xun looked thoughtfull,

"well, I think it should be at least one person Mars trusts as well. I have a feeling he won't say anything around people he doesn't trust, no matter how many people he does trust are around him. Someone he wants off his back should go, he'll want to, well, get said person off his case."

"I nominate Xun and Mitsuhide." Neko said, "Xun's cute and I like him and Mars is cool with him too and Mtsuhide is being an ass to Mars so Mars will want him gone, thus making him give honest answers faster."

"Ok, bye, guys." Sheik said.

"Funny." Nightmare said, following Neko and Xun upstairs, Mitsuhide grudgingly following.

"Do you want to wake them or should I?" Neko asked. Xun sighed and pushed past her walking into the room and gently shook Date's shoulders. The boy purred a little and slowly opened his eye.

"Good morning." Xun said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed. Neko was the next in, gently waking Mars up and not getting blown up. Brining up the rear was Mitsuhide and Nightmare. Date yawned and slowly sat up, setting a few pillows at his back to keep him from falling over.

"You lying little bastard." Mitsuhide hissed, his sword suddenly drawn and pressed against Date's throat, waking him instantly.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Neko growled, flicking her wrists. The blades of her cat claws slid from their little sheaths.

"What the fuck?!" Mars yelped falling back away from the bed, then getting to his feet quickly. "Neko, what the fuck's going on?!"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Mitsuhide, what the hell?! Don't make me use these, because I won't hesitate to!"

"Mitsuhide, what's wrong with you?! Stop it!" Xun said.

Date tensed, looking at the blade with a certain amount of unease. He looked up the blade to the angered eyes of Mitsuhide. "I thought you'd at least have the decency to confront me and tell me that you felt nothing for me." Mitsuhide growled.

"I thought I would have too…but I didn't. Live with it." Mitsuhide growled, pressing the blade against Date's throat, watching as blood slid down the metal. Neko had to intervene, catching the blade in her claws and snapping the sword into tiny pieces. Date slowly reached up to touch his wound, wincing and looking at the blood on his hands as if it was new to him.

"Date!" Mars quickly moved back to the young warrior's side, healing the wound, "there." then he glared at Mitsuhide, "obviously you have a thing for him, and being turned down is defiantly no excuse to try to kill him, no wonder you're single. There's no point in getting mad at him because he doesn't care about you the way you want him to. And, obviously, now you have a thing against me now, I honestly don't care about your opinion of me by the way. If you pull one more stunt that invloves injuring him in some way, then you can deal with me...and I am more dangerous than I look." then he stood up, and headed for the door, "I need a time out before I blow someone's head up."

"Go. Be free. Blow something up." Date said somewhat wearily. Xun sighed and trotted after him, ready to take whatever explosions that may come his way.

"Hey, Mars, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"How do you really feel, about Date?"

Mars stopped walking, blinking a bit.

"Uh..."

"You don't know?"

"I...thought I did. But I don't think I really know now."

"What about Nightmare?" Xun asked, following Mars when he started walking again. He stopped when they were outside by the tree Mars had been perched in when he first met Date. Mars sat down under the tree, pulling his knees up to his chest, mindful of his robe's position, then he hid his face from view against his knees. "Mars?"

"I don't know. I really don't. I-I know how I feel about Nightmare, I know that all too well. But now I dunno. Date's...gone through so much, and all of it was for me, or so he says...Nightmare took me off the streets, he's kept me safe, and I'd do anything to keep that. But, Date...I just...I don't know. I don't even know if he's doing and saying all of this because of a strong friendship or because he's in love with me. I guess it depends on that. It depends on what it is he honestly feels for me. Though that could just lead to more complications and more stress in the end, but I'm leaving it as it depends on him."

"It depends on Date? He decides this entire thing for you?"

"If that's the way you wanna put it, then yeah I guess he does." Xun didn't have anything to say to that.

"Date," Neko said, Nightmare and Mitsuhide had cleared out, and it was now only Neko and Date, "can I ask you a question?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"Funny. Alright then, I say I can."

"Fine then. What?"

"It's about Mars..."

"Uh-oh."

"Date, how do you really feel about Mars?" Neko asked. Date smiled sadly, looking away and out the window. He reached up and touched the spot on his neck where he had been cut.

"Do you want my honest opinion or just something to make you feel better?"

"I want the truth." Date let his head drop, pulling his uninjured leg up to his chest.

"Then I guess you could say that I'm in love. Mars is the first person who I feel like I can actually talk to, who I can open up to. I've been more honest with him than I was when Lu Xun and I were going out…I don't know…I don't think I'll ever be able to tell him though. He's got Nightmare to protect him, and I know he doesn't want to stay here…but while he is here I want protect him, do something for him, LIVE for him. I wanted to protect him, and possibly love him from the moment I saw him. That's why I continued to take his place when Raphael was continuing to torment us. I don't want anything terrible to happen to him. Never again. So I fought, I struggled, I bled, I broke and I gave in because I found myself in love with Mars…" Date's voice trailed off, hiding his face in his hands as if he was ashamed of suddenly spilling what he felt. Neko smiled and reached over, petting his head. "I just…I don't think I'll be able to tell him…"

I wonder... Neko mused to herself, what would happen if we left him here for a bit longer? Who would he kill first and who would he fall for for real? I'm tempted to find out...but something tells me I shouldn't.

"Let's go back inside. Your guardian is probably worried about you." Xun said, holding out a hand to Mars, who stared at it for a second, then grabbed it and allowed Xun to help him to his feet. "You're causing quite the stir here. I must commend you for that much. Let's go inside."

"If I get skewered, you're the first one my ghost's coming after."

"Of course."

"I think I heard a door close downstairs." Neko said, looking towards the door, "I'll go check it out. Take it easy ok?" then she headed downstairs, finding Xun and Mars joining the group still seated downstairs. "Hey, strangers, how's the dust collection going?"

"Funny." Link said, "how'd it go up there? Obviously without casualties."

"I don't really wanna talk about it." Mars said before heading for the stairs.

"U-Um, Mars, can I, uh, talk to you for a minute? In private?" Neko said quickly, he gave her an odd look, "ok, no, I am not going to profess my undying love for you like everyone else around here seems to be, I just need to converse a bit."

"You scare me." Mars said following her out into the kitchen. "Ok, what?"

"Um, well, this is gonna sound kinda nosy of me, I know...but..."

"What?"

"How do you feel about Date?"

"Whoa, deja vu!" Mars said, "I don't really know. Like I told Xun outside, I guess it depends on him. I know how I feel about Nightmare, but Date's kind of worming his way into my brain too now...and the worst part is that the whole thing's just getting me so flipping wound up that I feel more at ease just hiding from it all...by Date...the whole thing's got my brain tied in a knot."

"Mars..." Neko hesitated, debating on whether telling him Date's standpoint or not was a good idea, then she nearly fainted at his next confession.

"In all honesty, I think I might just be falling for him...but...I..."

"Mars, Date, he, well, he..." she fumbled with her sentence, trying to weigh the different outcomes. Nightmare was still on Mars's mind, but Date was worming his way in. Mars was becoming more and more lost in the entire thing, and she was afraid he'd snap. "Maybe we should leave before this whole thing goes too far. Or someplace you don't want it to."

"No, I-I don't want to leave...at least, not until I know he's ok for sure...and not until I can figure this whole thing out a bit more..."

"Mars, you might end out making a mistake that you can't take back. Then what? You're still a kid, you've got a whole lifetime ahead of you to live. Don't fuck it up now just because you're confused. Come on, let's go tell them we're leaving."

"No. No, I want to stay. I don't know why. I just..."

"Mars-" she stopped when he left the room, heading for the stairs. "Shit!"

"Just leave it alone, ok?!" then a door slammed closed.

"Neko-"

"Don't ask." she said, cutting her fiancé off quickly. "It's not safe to tread on ice that thin, hun."

Date looked up when he heard the door to his room slam closed, a few seconds later, he had a very upset Mars latching onto him and bursting into tears.

"Mars, what's-what the-damn." he tried his hand at comforting the mage, "what's wrong? What happened?" after a minute or so of nothing but incoherant babbling, he was about to tell him to forget it, but nearly choked on his own tongue when Mars finally pulled himself together.

"Date, I-I think I...I think I might...be falling for you."

TBC...

A/N: uh-oh. Now what?

Mars: I feel so used.

ANR: oh, get over it.

Zykan: hey, I'm surprised you haven't fucked anyone yet...or are you more of the 'be fucked' kind of person?

Mars: shut up. I'm not one for any kind of fucking.

Zykan: that'll change with her at the helm. (Points to ANR) she has a thing for sex.

Mars: though she's never been laid before. How odd.

Zykan: no, it isn't.

ANR: hey! Watch it! I'm eighteen, it's perfectly logical for me to still be a virgin!

Zykan/Mars: no, it isn't.

Mars: most eighteen year old chicks today have a mile long list of times they've been fucked. You're a virgin and it's sad.

ANR: that's it! Next chapter's strictly an orgy!

Mars: o-o meep!

Zykan: haha!

ANR: I'm adding you too!

Zykan: o-o meep!

Bobby: haha!

Zykan/Mars: shut up!

ANR: next chapter coming up soon.