****Valuable Japanese translation: Oji-san-Uncle, Otou-san-Father,

Hitomi-Eyes

Thank Azure-chan for telling me it doesn't suck and for Miriya-san

and Minako-san for beta reading of the first chapter.

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Mystic Eyes Chapter 1

My name was originally supposed to be Setsuka, after my father's mother, but my uncle somehow stopped Otou-san from writing that name

down on the birth certificate. I don't know how he did it. Oji-san was only a teenager at the time, and my father, who was nine years older, was much more powerful than he was then, and didn't give my uncle much credit for his opinions. However Oji-san came about it, Otou-san agreed to drop Setsuka and called me Hitomi instead, Sakurazuka Hitomi.

The name was a joke. I was born blind.

Oji-san, naturally, was ticked off when he found out about it and held it against my father for years.

"I don't know why you're still upset over her name, Subaru-kun," Otou-san said one evening, his voice full of amusement. "I never thought you cared much about the significance of names. I remember you taking my suggestion once to call yourself after a dog."

I chortled when I heard this. I could feel Oji-san's surprise when I did so. Oji-san always gave off an aura of surprise when I laughed, which was often. Years later, he told me it was because I sounded so much like my dead mother.

"Did you really?" I asked, turning my attention to my uncle. He was sitting on the couch beside me, watching the news on TV. Otou-san sat on the floor at my other side. I could feel his weight brushing lightly against my ankles and feet as I rested my back against Oji-san's side, reading a translated version of "Interview with the Vampire".

"Don't you think you're too young to be reading that?" Oji-san asked, above the voice of the anchorwoman announcing another trip the Mori made to Europe.

"It's Otou-san's fault," I said, running my fingers along the paragraph where Louis talks to Babette after Lestat had killed her brother. I was hoping that Babette benefited from his words, but not for her sake. I couldn't care less about her. It was Louis I sympathised with. I always like Louis more than Lestat. "He started to read it to me a week ago and I have to know what happens."

"Let the child read the book," Otou-san said, turning the volume of the TV up, as if it was a way of ending the argument.

"You turned the volume up for the commercials," I complained. "I've heard this commercial a millions times."

"Seishirou-san," Oji-san said, ignoring me, "she's nine-years-old. Isn't that a little young for vampire books?"

"I'm turning ten in two week," I reminded him, as I had endlessly for the last month. It's not every year you turn a decade old and I thought the occasion warranted some serious present buying.

Otou-san lowered the volume and, much to my relief, starting flipping channels. You can only listen to Playstation commercials for so long before you start wanting to murder half the characters on Tekkan. "I

believe Lady Sumeragi made you read about demons and death when you were nine," Otou-san retorted.

"Uh..yes, but that was factual... and it was for practice and..."

"I'm doing this for practice!" I objected. "You never know when a vampire cult will crop up and I'll have to- Otou-san, stop it stop it! Go back, go back! They're playing GLAY!"

Otou-san flipped the channels until I heard Teru drawl, "Oh, you're my everything" and then turned up the volume for me. Oh goody! It was "Zutto futari de...", my absolute favourite song from GLAY. GLAY was my favourite band. I had all their CDs and singles, and I listened to them until Otou- san and Oji-san knew every word to every song. Neither one was very fond of GLAY, although they did remark that Jiro was pretty damn adorable, but they indulged in my infatuation anyways. They spoiled me rotten, really.

"You have this song on your CD. You can listen to it whenever you want," Otou-san remarked, and as if to further his point, he started singing the words.

"I know," I told him. "But I like it when other people play it on TV

or the radio for me."

"There's no such things as vampires in Tokyo," Oji-san told me, returning to the point that was momentarily dropped. My uncle was not easily distracted.

"I'm sure there's blood sucking monsters out there somewhere," I insisted. "I might as well know about them now instead of waiting

until I become the next head of the Sumeragi Clan."

Oji-san was the current head of the Sumeragi family. With the way he sighed over it, you'd think he rather attend a funeral. Since I was the closest blood relative to him - my dead mother was his twin sister - I figured I was the next in line, or my children. For some reason, I never thought of Oji-san as having kids of his own. Young as I was, I had an inkling that he had very little interest in women.

My father laughed. "You might want to change your last name to Sumeragi before you become the head of the clan, Hitomi," he said.

And just like that, we entered into the forbidden territory of our domestic lives.

I think, had my father been different, I would have asked what was wrong with Sakurazuka, but I knew what was wrong. I felt Oji-san grow tense beside me. On the floor, my father remained nonchalant. Blind as I was, I could tell these things. It was a gift from my dead mother, heightened by the hunter instinct from my father.

Oji-san spoke quietly. "She's a Sumeragi."

"Yes, I guess she is," Otou-san replied comfortably. "Even with Sakurazuka for her last name."

"It's just a name," Oji-san said firmly.

"Is it?" Otou-san turned to me. GLAY was singing the chorus, which was my favourite part of the song but I didn't hear it. My attention was completely focused on my father. I felt his gaze on me and I knew he was smirking. I never liked it when him when he regarded me like that, like I was something to entertain him. I regarded him back coolly. "Tell me, Hitomi, are you willing to change your name to be head of the Sumeragi family?"

"Quiet, Seishirou-san," Oji-san snapped, although I knew deep down inside, he wanted to know my answer. "It's late. It's time for her to go to bed anyways."

I ignored him. "If I have to," I responded to my father crisply. "But I can't say I want to. Sumeragi Hitomi doesn't sound as nice as Sakurazuka Hitomi."

"So you do want to be the next Head of the Sumeragi family," Otou-san persisted.

"Of course," I lied, and Otou-san knew it was a lie. I could feel

his satisfaction in knowing that I was lying and knowing what I was really like. It was so him. Always making assumptions about people,

predicting what they were like and what they would do, and then creating scenarios around those people to see if he was right. He usually was. At the time, I resented him for playing those games. I was too young to pity him for it, like I do now. It was must have been a tedious existence for him.

I felt some of the tension leave Oji-san beside me. Oji-san had no idea what a great liar I was, and he believed me. Up to a point. He didn't relax completely. My mother may have been the more perceptive one, but Oji-san was no fool. Not after what my father did to him before I was born. No one could be completely ignorant after that. Oji-san was well aware of my apathy towards most people. I loved my father and uncle, but anyone else, including my great-grandmother and her disciples, I had no particular feelings for. And more and more, these feelings of indifference seem to grow and stay with me.

We were silent for the next couple of minutes, except for Otou-san who continued to sing the words to "Zutto futari de..."

Oji-san shifted beside me, drawing his legs underneath him, scuffling my bottom in the process. "What's that book about?" he asked.

I gave him the obvious answer. "An interview with a vampire."

Otou-san burst out laughing.

"I figured that much," Oji-san muttered sulkily, but I heard a faint smile in his voice. "I was just wondering, if there was a lot of killing in the book..."

I knew he was really asking how were the killings depicted in the novel. Were they glorified? Romanticized? Made to look attractive and satisfying in a perverse sort of way? Were the killers given more credit than the victims? Would his child niece with all the blood of the Sakurazukamori in her veins see beauty in the taking of a life, and therefore fall in love with the idea and go on a killing spree after reading the book?

Actually, Sakurazukamoris usually didn't go on killing sprees until they're about fourteen or fifteen. I still had a good four or five years before I would be let loose to scamper across the world, slaughtering anything that crossed my path and leaving a trail of dead bodies behind me.

GLAY had finished the song now and the person on TV started interviewing people on the street, asking them random and really stupid questions. My father turned the channel again.

Otou-san answered Oji-san's question for me. "It's about two vampires, one who likes to kill and the other who doesn't. Vampire life is hell for the second one, I'm afraid. I'm sure you'll like him, Subaru-kun. Anyways, later on in the novel, the two of them adopt a vampire child, a little girl."

Well, that was news to me. I hadn't gotten that far yet.

"Do they really?" I queried as Otou-san finally stopped flipping the channels. He seemed content with the 11 O'clock News.

Oji-san stiffened beside me and then reached over to take the book from me.

"Hey!" I cried, reaching up to grab it and of course, I only felt air. "I haven't finished that chapter! Don't lose my page!"

He ignored me. "The vampire child, the little girl," he said, "Does she kill?"

My father brought it up, so I already knew the answer. In panic I opened my mouth to answer but Otou-san answered before I could get a sound out.

"Of course she does. She loves to kill. She kills efficiently and beautifully."

"Otou-san!" I yelled, moving over to shove his large shoulders. He laughed good-naturedly and pulled me down to his lap. I broke free and stood beside him. "I haven't gotten that far!"

"I hope you never do," Oji-san said quietly. But he gave me back the book. He knew he could never stop me fro me from reading it. If I wanted to read the book, Otou-san would see that I did, even if meant him having to go out and buy another copy. He allowed me to do whatever I wanted, and in a way, I hated him for it.

I didn't like where the conversation was going, so I decided to

change the topic. "I won't read it tomorrow if you promise to take me to the animal shelter tomorrow," I said to Oji-san.

I felt him relax. My love and interest in animals was reassuring to him. It wasn't false either. I had always genuinely loved animals. Oji-san used to take me to the animal shelter and we'd spend whole afternoons petting dogs and cats and birds and other animals. Dogs were especially my favourite. I couldn't wait for a seeing-eye dog, even though I didn't need one.

Most people don't realise I'm blind until I tell them. I can sense the placement of stationary objects around me so I never bump into anything when I walk or swim by myself. And I can also detect movement, no matter how fast it was going or from what direction it came from. Had I been able to differentiate where the goalpost was or tell which moving body belonged to my team, I would have been able to play soccer.

Even though I hardly qualified for "handicapped", I wanted a seeing-

eye dog anyways. I once asked Oji-san and Otou-san how long I would

have to wait for a seeing-eye dog. Their reaction caught me off

guard.

"I was going to get a seeing-eye dog for someone once," Oji-san had said that day. He spoke in a voice so soft that I was not supposed to hear, but due to the heightened sense of hearing my blindness caused, I did. I was surprised to hear the touch of sadness in his voice.

But it was my father's reaction that really threw me off. He remained unusually silent for a short moment, like he was mentally reliving some old memory. It was the first time I knew him to be so lost in his thoughts, and one of those few times I had made an impression on him. I loved him for it and savored the moment, short as it was. He then suddenly broke into his usual cheerful expression and told me casually it would be years before I would be of legal for a seeing-eye dog, but if I wanted one, he would get it for me anyways.

Just don't be surprised if the dog disappeared one day.

As I had expected, mentioning the animal shelter reassured Oji-san. I knew he was smiling as he shifted in my direction and reached his hand out towards me. I grasped it and we shook hands. "It's a date," Oji-san agreed.

I grinned, happy that the tension was dissolved.

"Are we going to look at the puppies?"

"Of course."

"Did Otou-san really make you call yourself after a dog?"

"I'm afraid he did. Your father has a very strange sense of humour."

Yeah, and I inherited it.

"What name did he chose?"

"Poochie."

"Poochie!" I laughed my mother's laugh and turned my attention to my father. "That's a ridiculous name! Otou-san, why did you come up with the name, Poochie?"

"It sounded like a good name for a pet," Otou-san replied amiably.

I was only nine at the time, but the comment still sounded unsettling to me. I was going to write it off as "grown-up humour that kids don't get" and laugh anyways, when I felt Oji-san grow taut and rigid with what I thought was either anger or indignity. I now realise it was both of those, with a touch of hurt.

"Yes," he said quietly, getting off the couch. "It was a good name for a pet."

From the tone of his voice, I knew someone said something wrong.

Naturally, I blamed myself.

Oji-san picked me up. "It's late," he said, and his voice was tired. "It's time to go to bed. Kiss your father good night."

I obeyed wordlessly. Otou-san kissed me on the cheek. It felt cold and impersonal, but all his kisses, hugs, and caresses with me felt that way.

As he carried me to my room, Oji-san whispered in my ears, "Your

father says the cruelest things sometimes. No one knows what he's going to say next."

"I know," I said, though I didn't understand what happened in the living room. I was unaware of their history, unaware of the true nature of their relationship.

He stopped by the door and held me close. "Hitomi-chan," he said gently, "don't ever feel guilty for anything your father is responsible for."

I didn't understand that either. How could I? I was only nine. How was I supposed to understand that was talking about himself? I doubt even Oji-san knew he was talking about himself. "I won't," I promised.

"Good," he said in weary voice. Then he opened the door and carried me to my bed.

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End of chapter