Hi! My Name is…

Am I interested in love? Well, that depends, I suppose.

You see, there are different types of love. There is romantic love, for starters, the kind typically shared between bonded partners physically attracted to each other. There is self-love, something I've struggled with for a long time. That is a love that considers your own needs, allows you to forgive yourself when you blunder, which we do, sometimes. There is obsessive love, which I'm given to understand is pretty toxic and leads to unnecessary complications. You might have been the victim of that one once or twice, I'm sure.

There are many different types of love, but I believe that ours is special.

It didn't start that way, to be sure, but what we found along the way could probably be best described as affectionate love, or platonic love, if you will. Now, I'm not a philosopher, by any means, but through our ups and downs, that's probably where I would let us linger.

Since the day we met, the progression has peaked and dipped like a roller coaster, but what's important to note is that we kept moving forward, and enjoyed every minute. Today, it's quite apparent that the trust between us has grown to the point that we feel comfortable enough with each other to reminisce on those bizarre days at the beginning with smiles on our faces.

I can confidently say I love you, and I need you to be a part of my life.

Maybe our love is a little strange, a little awkward, but no matter what type of love you choose to call it,

it means the world to me.

April 26th, 2008

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

But our introductions were rocky…

Neirah's teeth ground and her posture stiffened to the feeling of somebody's presence lingering close enough to hers that she could feel the heat radiating against her skin. Something deep inside her wished that she had classes that day, but it was Saturday, and she didn't feel right staying alone at Tatara's apartment while he was out. Naturally, she tagged along to Bar HOMRA, toting her schoolbooks to get caught up on her studies and distract herself from the pass of prying eyes. A young woman didn't have much of a place at a bar, much less in a dangerous gang of supernatural beings, though, she could have done without them overlooking that part. She still wasn't quite sure about how eager they were to accept her.

"If you're going to offer to walk by me again, don't overexert yourself," she quipped frigidly. "I'm not interested."

Yō seemed stricken by her unapproachable demeanour, locking him out with utter rejection. She was a pretty little thing, but she was frosted through-and-through. He tried to appreciate the fact that a hard life made her that way, but now that she was looking at the world through a red lens, he was hoping she would start to warm up to them. At the very least, he was hoping she would soften to him.

Masaomi snorted from where he was lingering behind his partner, ready to moderate the situation should conflict arise. But, comprehending that Neirah seemed to be one savage beauty, he purposely allowed Yō to poke the beast in hopes that he would get mauled. In his opinion, he speculated that Yō might learn better not to play with fire if he got burned a couple of times. "See? I told you," he instigated. "Now quit pestering her before you end up in the hospital."

Yō's defeated gaze tapered on the sight of the woman who refused to raise her eyes from her textbook. Even if she wasn't interested in the pursuit, she could have been friendly with him, at the very least. They were clanmates now and expected to work together. Unfortunately, she was an assassin at heart, it seemed, and it looked like she was willing to work alone for the foreseeable future.

With a sudden urge to defend his wounded ego, Yō reached out and took the cover of her distraction beneath his palm, gently folding it over the woman's lean fingers. "Hey, come on, I'm just trying to be friendly."

Masaomi's teeth ground as his lips curled up into a disgusted grimace. "Oi, turn down the creep factor, or I'm gonna send you to the hospital."

Neirah continued to stare at the book, even though Yō forced her to view the glossy cover in place of her last lesson. Her breathing began to tremble as she voided her expression, her fingers clenching as they lingered trapped beneath the cover Yō flopped on top of them. They felt like chains restricting her, caging her beneath his persistence.

Laying on the charm, Yō cocked his head to one side and softened his gaze, watching her fight to deny his tenacity. He reached out with his free hand and touched the black wristlet she wore, feeling the row of bright diamonds lining the one side. "I heard you're bunkin' with Totsuka-san," he started. "Is there somethin' goin' on between you two?"

Neirah snapped her lethal glower into her peripherals to observe his casual curiosity. She felt insulted just to receive such an oblivious question. "I've known the man for a total of three days. Don't be ridiculous."

Yō didn't seem threatened, but behind him, Masaomi's brow began to sweat. "Seriously, you need to back off," Masaomi cautioned his tenacious cohort. "That's not a friendly face."

But it was a pretty face. "So, he just let you move in?" Yō seemed doubtful of her intentions for a moment. She was their first female clansman, and he couldn't help but feel like she'd prodded her way into their lives somehow. He couldn't imagine his king willingly welcoming a woman into their ranks when just having her near was a liability. "Just like that?"

Neirah's lips tightened to retain her hiss. She was a clever girl and knew all too well what Yō was insinuating. "He insisted," she spat.

Yō flopped his head to the opposing side, bravely capturing her bracelet between his fingers to give the smooth band a gentle tug. "In exchange for…?"

"My. gratitude."

Masaomi took a sudden step backwards, unwilling to involve himself any further in Yō's condemning scheme. If she lashed out, he was on his own. Any moment, the repressed rage bubbling to the woman's surface was going to spill over and leave him with a bloodied body to hide from their king. "Okay, Chitose. That's enough," Masaomi sternly scolded. "Leave Tsukiyo-san alone."

But Yō insisted. The dangerous beauty to join their ranks had mesmerized him since the day she'd taken his hand, and he was curious to know what remained concealed from their interest. Maybe the infatuation was only skin deep, but he wasn't unwilling to go deeper if she'd let him, and so long as she wasn't claimed by one of his superiors, there was no reason why he couldn't try. "Do you want me to help you study?" When Neirah turned her flushed expression away, he craned with a small smile in an attempt to chase it. "Then maybe once we're done, we could go for a coffee somewhere. I know this great place that-"

Masaomi raised his voice wrathfully. "You're gonna try to take a girl out to the place with the cute waitress you always harass?! What is wrong with you!?"

Suddenly, Yō whirled to face his companion to counter his instigation. "Oi! They have good coffee!"

"I have never seen you finish a single cup when we're there!" But he'd seen his friend walk away wearing a couple of cups.

"You're not helping!"

"Good!"

Puffing an exasperated sigh, Neirah jerked her hands from the bar and slammed them on the top of her textbook, climbing out of her seat in the process. The sudden burst of defiance attracted Izumo's attention from where he was tending to a customer on the opposite side of the room. When he noticed the uproar, he politely dismissed the conversation at hand.

"I'm leaving," Neirah commanded. In the end, all she wanted was the respect she was due. She was eager to prove her worth to her clansmen, and king, but that seemed difficult when no one offered her work like the rest of them. Maybe, in part, when she said she was leaving, she considered running from the bar, the clan, the world that had welcomed her.

But then she remembered Tatara's kind dedication to her salvation, the way her king held out his hand for her. She stilled. It caused her to raise her hand in front of her, folding her fingers as she touched her balled palm to her HOMRA brand. Neirah had to remind herself that she was a woman, and she was going to stand out. There was no way to combat that. All she could do was focus on her mission and serve Mikoto to the best of her well-honed abilities. She didn't have time for Yō's games.

Yō panicked the moment he saw Izumo's brow crease nearby, and in a moment of dread, he reached out to grab Neirah's wrist to prevent her retreat. "Wait! H-hold on, don't go!" he begged. "If you leave, Kusanagi-san's gonna blame me for scaring you off!"

There was a deadly flash in Neirah's eyes as she whirled in place, her hair fanning around her sudden burst as she showed bared teeth. She tightly grasped Yō's wrist, dragging him out of his seat and into her knee, and once she'd stabilized his weight, she raked him over her head with a defiant war-cry.

Masaomi watched through wide eyes as the scene unfolded, his friend left winded on his back against the floor as Neirah panted her fury. If she had persisted, he might have stepped in, but she didn't seem to have any intentions of hitting him while he was down. This was only a warning.

But he didn't stay down.

To the commotion making his patrons feel uncomfortable around the loitering hooligans, Izumo rushed towards the scene and hissed his impatience under his breath. "And just what exactly seems to be the problem here?" He glowered at the sight of Yō stumbling to his feet and hacking on his rushed breaths. "Chitose? Would you care to explain?"

Yō clutched his aching temple as he stood behind Neirah with a slight grin. "A-ah, nothing, Kusanagi-san," he prattled nervously. Then, the condemning action came in the form of him draping his free arm over Neirah's shoulders. "I was just asking Tsukiyo-san to show me some of her cool moves. No biggie."

Neirah's eyes hadn't left Izumo's as she snapped her elbow almost reflexively right up into Yō's nose without shifting any other muscle in her body. Her gaze didn't falter as she watched the barkeep, even after Yō yelped in agony and muffled his pained moans behind the palm catching the blood to stream from his nostrils.

"Idiot!" Masaomi barked. "When are you going to learn!?" He rushed to his friend's aid to stabilize him, demanding a tissue from Izumo as he helped his partner into a seat. He was less than gentle as he dropped Yō at one of the tables, nearly suffocating the man with the rag provided to clean up the mess dotting the floorboards. "I warned you, didn't I? You've got no one to blame for this but yourself."

"Maybe you should've tried harder," Yō scolded.

"She's an assassin!" Masaomi raged. "What the hell did you think was going to happen!?"

Izumo's sigh was heavy as he lowered his head, closing his eyes as he combed his fingers through his bangs. "Good grief. Mikoto leaves for ten minutes, and all hell breaks loose." Still notably bitter that Neirah had become a permanent fixture in their lives, Izumo couldn't help but fault Mikoto for going back on his word. "I blame this one on him."

He slipped his observation towards where Neirah reclaimed her seat, opening her textbook back to the page she'd been reading to return to her lesson as if nothing had happened. Upon letting the room settle for a moment after the ruckus had chased his customer's away, Izumo growled his impatience towards the woman. "Aren't you going to apologize?"

Neirah calmly shook her head.

Her denial caused a bleak moan to rumble in his throat. "At least you're honest…"

"Wow! She got you good, didn't she?"

Izumo startled to the sound of Tatara's musical voice joining Masaomi and Yō at the table, which marked the return of their king. "Oh, Totsuka, you're back." He instantly flooded with relief. Neirah seemed to be far less aggressive when Tatara was around keeping an eye on her.

Tatara playfully giggled as he raised his eyes from where he was catching the blood on Yō's face. "Yep. And just in time, too, by the looks of things!"

Humiliated, Yō quietly cut his sheepish gaze to where his king was observing the mess he'd become after provoking their hunter. Mikoto hadn't spoken yet as he lingered over the sight, but Yō could feel the disapproval radiating from his sharp amber eyes. It made him lower his gaze, utterly defeated by their newest addition. "I'm sorry," he surrendered. "I was just trying to be nice."

"Bullshit," Masaomi growled. "You knew what you were doing."

"I said I'm sorry, okay?!"

Neirah slowly peeked her tapered peripherals over her shoulder, watching her king snort over his entertained smirk before he passed by the scene without another word. He was very unlike her previous employer, which helped her heartbeat to settle while she watched Tatara tend to Yō's face. None of them were terrible people, but to her broken heart, human interaction still wasn't within her comfort level. What she never told Yō was that she felt sort of flattered that he seemed interested. She'd never had a boy persist quite like he had. Unfortunately, until she learned to trust those around her, she would continue to hold those feelings deep in her heart.

From nearby, Izumo peeked Neirah subtly before scoffing and redirecting his attention towards Yō with a mischievous smirk. "So, this is bonding, huh?"

September 22nd, 2010

The last thing they could hear on the digital clip was Rikio's quiet laughter as the screen wobbled, and he stopped the transmission on his phone like he was afraid he'd get caught recording two years prior. That lively sound in the present had caused Neirah to laugh next to a hostile Yō, who was blushing madly with embarrassment.

"You seriously recorded that?" Yō grumbled his words around the filter of his cigarette before he diverted his gaze with a bitter scoff. "Tsk, I can't believe you had nothing better to do back then."

"I can't believe how casually she just took you out," Misaki devilishly cheered. He folded both forearms before snapping one forward, throwing his shoulder into a lively punch. "Like BAM! And then blood all over the place! When you hear people talk about guys gettin' nosebleeds over chicks, I don't think that's what they meant."

"What the fuck would you know about it?" Yō's cheeks ignited as he whirled to face the animated vanguard walking on the other side of Rikio as they crowded the sidewalk. "From what I heard, your first meeting was pretty lame too! Kusanagi-san said she scared the shit outta you back then!"

After instantly drowning in humiliation, Misaki's teeth snapped around his retort as he diverted his flushed face. He wanted to refute the truth, but he already felt his tongue go numb as it stammered over his defence. "Ch'ye w-whatever," he growled. "I-it wasn't that bad." Growing a little braver, he raised his fist and shook it across Rikio's chest towards Yō, forcing Rikio to raise his PDA in both hands to keep Misaki from knocking it free of his grip. "And at least nobody recorded it!"

"You say that, but it's pretty vivid in my memory," Saruhiko droned. "It's funny, isn't it? Chitose tried to talk to her and got his nose broken. You couldn't say three words to her, and now she's your girlfriend."

"Oi! Monkey!" Misaki howled with ruby cheeks. "I'm gonna break your nose right now if you don't cut it the fuck out!"

"Sor-ry, but spineless yammering just isn't my style," Yō muttered arrogantly. "Besides, we're fine now."

"Man, I thought she was gonna kill you," Rikio chuckled. "And if it came down to that, I'm pretty sure Dewa wouldn't've helped you either. Even Mikoto-san looked pretty entertained."

"Damn right, I wouldn't," Masaomi hissed. "He had every bit of it comin' his way, that's for sure."

Yō bowed his head with a soft sigh. "You guys suck, you know that?" Then, he slowly tilted his chin towards the feeling of someone tugging the smoke from behind his lips. Hm?

After Neirah had stolen his cigarette, she raised it to her smiling lips, letting thick lashes meet as she recalled the memories. "Love is hard work, isn't it, Chitose-kun? You win some, and you bleed some." She pursed her lips to one side and exhaled the toxin she borrowed from his light. "And this is where we are after years of blood, sweat and tears."

With a bitter hiss, Yō reached out and snatched his cigarette out of her hand to return it to his face. "For the record, I never cried over you."

Neirah twisted up her impatient pout as she locked dark eyes on the way his cheeks coloured with defiance. "Excuse me, but I wasn't done with that."

Yō clenched his bared teeth around the end of his smoke and captured her wrists as she raised on her toes and scrambled to reclaim the burning stick.

"Give it back," she commanded. "You were supposed to be cutting back anyway."

"Says who?!" he barked intolerantly. "You still smoke, so why can't I?"

"I only smoke when I'm with you or Ri-chan."

Yō gasped as if she'd just pierced his heart. "You're cheating on me!?"

"Oh, and Dewa-kun, I suppose."

"With my best friend?!"

"That's being generous," Masaomi grumbled.

Finally, Neirah reclaimed the cigarette and popped it back behind plump lips with a playful wink. "What can I say. I do what I want."

"Ouch," Masaomi purred delightedly. "I felt that one. Get ready for those tears." Yō forced Masaomi to pinch his hat tight to the top of his head beneath his palm as Yō dropped his arm around his neck like he had every intention of wringing it.

"You're still a shitty friend. You know that?" Yō growled.

Masaomi couldn't restrain his wicked beam. "Yeah, I try."