I know I said that I would update my fanfic but I am scatterbrained and forget the sheet of paper for my draft at school when I went home for the weekend. For those of you following Fate Screwed Me Over, I am so sorry, but I only have enough time to update Welcome to Leverrier's Black Order this weekend. I will do my best to get the FSMO out this week, but it may be delayed until Friday or Saturday. I am sorry. Good news for everyone else: this fic will not be delayed.

Chapter 25

Neah's POV

Dinner came, a welcome event after the long hours I spent studying the laws of the Vatican. There were so many that existed, and I was shocked by the emphasis on the punishments given to those who broke the laws concerning social differences. It seemed insane to think of all of the people who suffered for daring to mingle with those few that society considered to be 'white', pure existences. Most cases resulted in the erasure of one's entire existence, and that person would often be banished as well. Occasionally repeated offenders occurred. They were executed, or, on an even rarer occasion, cast into the Abyss. I simply could not understand the rules that bound this world's rules. It made me contemplate the odd relationship between Tyki and Red. What would happen to Red if he were to return to the world he was born in, and his law-breaking were to be exposed?

"What are you thinking of?" Tyki asked me as he took a seat by my side as we waited for the others to join us for this scrumptious feast. I looked up at him, taking note of the glow of happiness in his face and how much more gentle his eyes had become these past days. Was it because of love? OR was it because he felt contentment?

"Have you come to love Red in the time that he has been here?" I asked him. He looked surprised by the question, but then he smiled a strange smile that looked conflicted. Almost as if… "Tyki, what would you do if Red were exposed to the Council? If someone told them about your relationship with him, would you protect him?"

A low chuckle surprised me even more. It made me think that my suspicions of him creating a devious plot were well placed. People truly are never as they seem.

"I have only ever been good at making people fall for me. Did you know that?" he countered with a question of his own. "When Red brought you here, when he betrayed you, I immediately thought of all of the ways I could make him pay for his transgression. But I have no skills in elaborate plots. I can only follow a path I know."
I immediately understood what he was saying without voicing everything out loud. He had fully intended to seduce Red, then betray him. He would have gone through a slow and gradual process to gain Red's trust, friendship, and at last his love. And in that moment when Red was most vulnerable, he would have stabbed him in the back and ousted him to the Akuma waiting with open claws to tear to pieces. Figuratively, of course.

"And it is funny you mention this. I wanted Red to pay. I approached him using honesty to gain his trust, hoping that he would be a fool whose heart I could shatter into a thousand pieces," he continued. "I wanted him to taste betrayal like you did."

Suddenly Tyki's expression became bitter.

"Somehow, throughout my entire course of action, I actually fell for Red," he confessed, sounding confused, sad, and frustrated. "His very existence is something I loathe because of the things he has done. For someone to blindly follow orders, I thought it meant that he is a weak person. Yet more and more I learn how wrong I am. Red is…so very precious. My love can only grow for him."

I was right in assuming it was something that he would have done. But as far as I can tell, he intends to simply cherish Red, I thought to myself. Red's life is far more treacherous than I thought, if every bond he makes with people looks like this. How many people must he guard his heart from?

"What punishment would a Noah receive if a relationship like yours was discovered?"

Tyki's gaze was oddly hard, his jaw flexing when he briefly clenched his teeth. "The person of higher status is never considered to be the one at fault, and therefore is exempt from punishment unless he or she tries to interfere with the punishment of the other involved party. As a Noah, we cannot even be punished for that."

His golden eyes flickered to mine, a heaviness in them that made me flinch inwardly. I swallowed and immediately changed the subject to what I hoped would be a safer topic.

"I heard that you are a wonderful artist," I said listlessly, floundering through my head for anything to begin a conversation with.

"Do you have such a deep-rooted interest in me?" he asked me curiously, frowning ever so slightly. "Usually you keep to yourself and never converse with any of the others, let alone me."

"I am here in this place for the rest of my life. I have accepted that fact. Since I will never leave, I may as well learn to get along with the rest of my family. I thought that we looked alike…and maybe we have the same interests," I told him. "Mana makes bracelets and other trinkets like that. He said that you are a wonderful artist, and that your pieces nearly come to life. He says that they also evoke emotion in people's hearts the same way that my music does."

He looked mildly interested upon hearing that I played music. Artists tend to gravitate towards one another. One form of art is no better than the other; they are simply different mediums used to express the mind, heart, and soul of the one creating beauty.

"I am not nearly as skilled as he makes it seem. I cannot do work without a good muse," he said quite bluntly. "I am sure you understand. I cannot draw without something I want to draw. And the more I draw, the more I come to appreciate the curve of one's cheek, or the tilt of a hip signature only to that one…"

"I can understand. I often think of my life when I create my music, and think of whatever person I am invoking when I write or play. And as I do, those emotions I hold for them are amplified. Whether through anger, hatred, love, joy, the emotions a person can evoke from the heart are powerful and one cannot help but admire him or her for that," I agreed. "I would like to see your work one day Tyki."

He gave me a secretive smile, the glow returning to his face.

"If I were to show you my work, I would make you privy to my muses. I do not want such a thing, for I am very possessive," he responded, quite confidently. "Each muse has shown me how I see the world, has taught me a little more about myself than I knew before. If I were to show you my visions, I would feel as if you would be standing in my footsteps. It is not natural for you to see through my eyes."

"Has anyone ever seen your work?" I asked him.

"Most of the Noah here have. Even Mana has seen some of my pieces," he replied, "But I know them far better than I know you. I am sure one day I will feel comfortable showing you my art, my world."

"Would you show Red, if he could see?"

A faint smile touched Tyki's lips.

"If Red could see, I would not hesitate to bear my world and my very soul to him," he murmured. The warmth touched his eyes again, and I knew he was thinking of Red. How hard he fell in love with Red, I did not know, but he was in so deeply that I myself wanted to experience a love like that.

The door to the dining room opened, and Lulubell entered. In tow she pulled a hesitant, stumbling Exorcist. Today I could see the nervousness and uneasiness etched into his face. I had never seen him look so human before. I had noticed the gradual breaking of that infernal mask he wore. But I do not know when it had fallen off completely. Or maybe it just seemed like it was completely gone, for how use to reading him I have become. For example, I could tell he was troubled not by the prospect of eating with people, but with the Noahs. More than that, however, I knew he felt uncomfortable with the idea of sitting next to me, in the only chair unclaimed by Mana at the moment. There is…history between us. History that has not been erased nor has it faded yet.

I wanted him to sit next to me, however. I wanted to take advantage of this open seat so I could learn about him and what made him so unique. I wanted this rare vulnerability of his allow him to open up to me. I wanted to be his friend.

Behind them filed in, not discovering Red until they were at their seats. Tyki took that moment to go to his appropriate seat. Slowly, with hesitant motions they sat down.

"Lulubell, is Red eating with us today?" Wisely asked in surprise. Toraido and Maitora also looked taken aback. Jasper and David did not look entirely pleased by the encouragement, but neither one said any form of protest. Fiidora and Mashima looked completely unbothered. And the last members of the family (Road, Skin, and Sheryl), practically shimmered with happiness and excitement.

"Is there a problem with his presence at dinner?" she asked. I felt my hands curl under the table reflexively. I wondered how I would approach Red without causing him to shy away from me.

"No, there is no problem," Toraido said slowly. I unclenched my hands and forced myself to calm down. "We are simply startled since he has never joined us for dinner before. Where will he sit?"

Lulubell scanned over everyone's placement as if she truly meant to rearrange us. Only two seats to my left were empty, though Bookman would come in later, and by custom we had saved the First Apostle's chair for him. The only unclaimed chair was either Mana's or the Fifteenth's.

"He can sit next to me," I offered. "Either chair is open, and if we shift anyone, I believe that the dynamics of this family will shift. After all, the twins would fit nowhere else without causing more trouble than usual."

"Are you sure about this?" she asked me.

"I do not mind," I reassured her. "Besides, we have much to discuss."

Indeed, I want to know why he knows so much about the Vatican. He must be highly educated for the vast amount of knowledge he has stored in his mind. Were all Exorcists trained in this way? And if so, for what reason? The other Noahs' reactions upon hearing that he helped teach me the way of the Vatican's festivals gave me the impression that Red is a unique case. I want to learn more about the Exorcists and more importantly, I want to learn more about Red.

Red was led to the chair next to me, and next to Bookman's so he would feel more comfortable when the man decided to grace us with his presence. He gave me a small, awkward smile. It startled me, for his face did not seem used to this kind of action. It was saddening to see how a man could forget how to smile genuinely. I wondered briefly how beautifully he would be able to smile once he grew used to it.

"Thank you for allowing me to sit next to you," he murmured. My tongue became glued to the roof of my mouth, my mind overwhelmed by this new side of him I had never seen.

"Red, do you have any sweets?" Skin asked from across the table.

"Unfortunately, I do not," he replied in his smooth voice. Tyki chuckled.

"From Sheryl's expression, I take it you have already asked everyone else this question?"

"More than three times," Road confirmed, her golden eyes twinkling with laughter. A more natural spread across Red's mouth, and at the sight I found my tongue unglued. The band hiding his eyes aside…he looked like an angel.

Red's POV

"Let me try something," I told Tyki when we were finally alone in his room after dinner. I felt him sit down next to me on the bed, his weight causing the mattress to give slightly. He lifted my hand from my lap and placed under it a bundle of clothes to borrow since I had decided to spend the night within his room.

Amusement and curiosity rolled off of his aura.

"You are unusually bold today," he remarked. "First you made decent conversation with everyone at dinner time, even with Neah, and laughed with us. What more could you possibly venture to do?"

"Come here," I commanded simply. He gave a sigh, tugging the clothes from me and casting them to the side. He then left the bed, and moved before me, warm hands engulfing my own. "Kneel down."

He became mildly irritated, and I could not fault him. The floors of these rooms were hard and cold. Still, he did not seem too upset with me, for I knew he indulged my request when his firm and warm stomach touched my knees. Instead of nervousness and distraught like I thought I would feel, I only felt comfort and excitement at our contact. A hyperawareness, if you will. It made my heart beat slightly faster, filling me to the brim with happiness. Even my cheeks became hot.

"You are blushing," Tyki remarked. I ignored him, freeing my hands from his gasp. He began to protest. "Hey, I am just teasing you…"

I gently ran my hands up his arms, from wrist, to forearm, to bicep, up to his shoulders. My fingers trailed down his clothed chest. I felt the hard bumps of buttons meet the tips and I began to fumble with them. Tyki began to panic.

"Wait, I feel like this is too early—"

"It is not sexual," I promised him. He slowly relaxed beneath my touch, but I could still sense his apprehension. Moving slowly and gently, I finished unbuttoning his shirt and slipped my hands beneath the material. My palms met smooth skin, warm skin, live skin. A thrill ran through me. I trailed further under the shirt, hands caressing up to the shoulders as I pushed the shirt off of his shoulders and off of his arms. With that fully gone, I took his right hand in mine. I began to explore it, seeing with my sense of touch. His skin was warm and dry, the palms well calloused, his fingers lightly so. I brought his hand to my cheek, relishing the sensation. With one hand I kept his hand pressed to my cheek, and the other I used to travel his wrist, his muscles, and his entire arm. Through touch I 'saw' every bump, every imperfection of his flesh, and sculpted muscle. Tyki's breath caught as my fingertips skittered across his collarbone. I smile inwardly to myself. Who knew Tyki Mikk was ticklish?

I continued to explore him, memorizing Tyki's body, hands skimming across chest, ribcage, stomach, back—everywhere he had no clothing. At last I came to his face. Oh how wonderful it felt beneath my hand. The years had made him so very handsome.

"What are you doing?" Tyki whispered. I could sense a subtle changing of his emotions, a delicious mix that reflected my own feelings. It was something similar to lust, but far deeper, more intense, more civilized. What was this emotion we were sharing? Passion? Love? Perhaps both?

"It is not fair that you have seen all of me, and yet I have barely glimpsed you," I replied, letting go of his hand at last so that I could cradle his face. "You are so handsome. It makes me envious."

Anger and hurt flared in Tyki, and before I knew it, he was holding me so gently, kissing my breath away. He had never acted so recklessly before, nor nearly as passionate, in fear he would frighten or hurt me. But now Tyki kissed me, pulled away when I needed air, only to kiss me again. That is how intensely we connected through touch.

He finally stopped, resting his forehead against my own, panting softly as I also panted.

"I am sorry for being too forward and aggressive," he apologized. "But how could I control myself? Red, you are wonderful, and every day I see you, I feel so lucky to be with you. Every action you take, every word you say has me falling ever more in love with you."

My heart fluttered, my thoughts cluttered. His sweet kisses and touches and words made my love grow for him all the more. I knew that the time will come when I will be a slave to this emotion, at the mercy of its every whim, softened by my own heart. Who could have foreseen that we would one day end up like this? We are two passionate lovers intoxicated with one another and madly in love. Surely it is all a dream.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Tyki," I told him, wrapping my arms around him. When did I become so open, so tender?

Only for Tyki, I thought with a smile. Only will Tyki be granted this sight of me in all of my vulnerability.