Author's Note: Oh geeeeeeeeez...
Let's see what I can do.
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The Night Life: Round 12
Aoshi stared at Misao's startled form, shocked she was broken from his trance. He figured she would be out of it for at least another hour.
"Welcome back, Weasel. It's been a long time." Saitoh remarked.
Misao blinked and stood up, feeling woozy.
"Who...what are you people?! What is going on?!"
Aoshi closed his eyes and sighed. He didn't want to tell her so soon, not until after he claimed her but...
"He's a vampire, I'm a werewolf. Explanations may be made in due time."
Misao backed up, her body feeling numb as she slowly sat back on the couch. A dream...this had to be a dream....
"Look Weasel, this is no time to sit around and panic. Things are as they are and no amount of denial will change it. Yukishirou wants you for his plans, Shinomori here wants you for...well I never quite understood why he ever wanted you, and I want my revenge."
Her eyes lifted to Aoshi's, which for a moment seemed warm and apologetic.
"Saitoh, leave."
Saitoh smirked, crushing out his cigarette on the floor.
"As you wish, but I will return tomorrow night so we may carry on this unpleasant business. I can assure you being in your presence isn't the highlight of my night either."
Aoshi glared, thankful when the former Mibu Wolf left.
He made his way toward Misao, who looked up at him with wide eyes. He could smell fear and it angered him.
"You do not need to fear me, Misao."
"How do I know that?! Perhaps what that Enishi said was true! You want to use my pure soul because of my brother and the others? Isn't that so?! You'll probably just drain me dry and then use me for your plans!"
Aoshi grabbed her by her forearms and lifted her swiftly, trapping her in a steel embrace.
"Listen to me and listen well, I have waited decades to be with you again and if you think I am going to kill you...you are wrong."
She trembled, watching in fascination as his eyes seemed to warm a bit more...almost glowing.
"What do you want from me, Aoshi?"
He did not reply with words, but swiftly planted his mouth over hers once more, weaving another spell of seduction as she soon melted into his embrace and he could no longer smell fear but only desire.
Misao felt like her skin was burning as his lips trailed back to her neck as she felt a quick pinch and then a wonderful feeling throughout her body. She moaned, leaning into Aoshi who in the blink of an eye moved them into the bedroom, laying Misao on a bed of black and blue sheets.
He was before her again naked, and Misao held no hesitation when all layers of her clothing were stripped away and then there was the wondrous sensation of skin against skin as he took her mouth again, hands moving all over her body, stoking the fires raging within her.
"Be with me Misao...be with me always..." he murmured against her ear.
"Aoshi...I...." she couldn't speak, pressing her hands more intently on his back and pleading with him to keep going.
He complied, making them one at last as the completion to the ritual commenced.
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Saitoh lit up a Black Clove cigarette as he walked down the dimly lit street, guessing it was about 2 am. It had gotten chilly, not that he could feel it. As he passed some late-night wanderings he had to smirk at their ignorance. If he chose, they were food.
What a mess everything was becoming.
It seemed like Yukishirou Enishi was never going to cease to be a problem until he was dead. Now the Weasel was a factor once more and the others would inevitably get pulled into it. Old ghosts never seemed to rest.
He would ally with Shinomori to finish Yukishirou once and for all, and finally have vengeance for her death. The only woman he would call his equal: Tokio. His beloved wife.
He had watched as her throat was slit as she called out his name, watched as Yukishirou ripped out her heart and feasted on it, watched her corpse was mutilated and then thrown aside like a dead animal. He would never EVER forget....he would bestow upon a death to Enishi three-fold to what was done to Tokio. Done to her to simply get to Saitoh.
He would receive his due.
Aku. Soku. Zan.
The motto he would live by for all eternity.
As he walked past a bar with a pale blue sign he caught a scent...a familiar feeling. He entered the bar slowly, his amber gaze sifted through the crowd as he followed his senses to the bar. He sat, looking around...
That scent...
"What can I get you?"
He looked ahead, and for the first time in a century he was in utter shock.
The voice, the scent...those soft amber-gold eyes so like his...all the same.
"Tokio...." he murmured, his voice low but her eyebrows raised meaning she had heard.
"Do I know you?" she asked.
"Perhaps in another life." he drawled, putting out his cigarette and ordered a bottle of warmed sake.
It took a mass quantity of alcohol for immortals to get inebriated, so he liked to indulge in a bottle of sake now and then. He remembered in the past when he had given up on sake, for being drunk made him want to kill something or someone.
She returned with his bottle and smiled.
"Pace yourself, last thing we need is a drunken wolf."
He raised an eyebrow at that.
"I'm a wolf, am I?"
"Aa, most definitely. You have eyes like a wolf and you just remind me of one. If I offend you I'm sorry."
"No, you're quite on the mark."
She nodded and went to other customers and he watched her.
Her hair was different now. It was once dark brown, falling in soft waves to her lower back. Now it was a deep burgundy, almost violet looking and was straightened and fell to just past her shoulders.
She still wore it half up, and still smelled like magnolia.
She wore charcoal grey eyeshadow that accentuated her eyes well and blood red lipstick.
She was still the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.
And she would be his again.
"So Wolfy, what's your name?" she asked, leaning a denim clad hip against the bar. She crossed her arms over her violet tee-shirt.
"Saitoh Hajime."
"For real? Famous name! Are you related to the Shinsengumi Saitoh?"
Saitoh smirked.
"You could say. Are you a Shinsengumi fan?"
"Quite. I think I've read every book about them. I don't know why but I find them so fascinated. Perhaps I was one in a past life."
"Or married to one. Did you know Saitoh Hajime was married to a woman named Takagi Tokio?"
Tokio nodded.
"My parents are historians so it never seemed odd to me, but now that you say it...perhaps it was fate that we should meet." she said with a smile, one he knew so well.
It was almost painful.
"I think it was. You look just like her. Except her hair was dark brown."
"Oh? So is mine, this is just dye. I get bored with my hair easily."
Saitoh chuckled, remember how she used to lament that she wanted to change hair colors.
She truly was the same.
Perhaps there was hope.
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Aoshi wrapped his arms tighter around Misao's naked form, as she cradled her head more into the crook of his neck.
It was done, she was his.
The ritual was complete, the exchange of body and blood had bonded their souls.
He looked down at her, and she gazed up at him with a small smile. There was a soft glow in her ocean blue eyes.
"Do you regret this, Misao?" he whispered.
She sighed.
"No, I only regret that you lacked the drive to make me yours when we were alive, Aoshi-sama."
He blinked, and she laughed at his expression.
"You remember?" he asked.
"Everything."
"Misao...I'm sorry. I couldn't protec..."
She placed her fingers on his lips, shushing him.
"That's in the past. This is a different era for us. Aoshi-sama, what is really going on? What about Hannya and the others?"
Aoshi sighed.
"Enishi lied to you. I do not want your pure soul to resurrect Hannya and the others. I only wanted you for you. I do intend on bringing the others back, but there is another way."
"How?"
"They've only recently died. Their bodies have not yet rotted. You are blood kin to Hannya in this time. You can call to his soul to return. I intend on making them one of us."
"Aoshi-sama...what if it doesn't work?"
"It will. Let us not think of this. The sun will be up soon and we must retire for the day. Are you sure you do not regret this?"
"No. As long as I am with you I can forgo the day."
He smiled.
"It's nice to see you're capable of that after all this time."
"Only for you, Misao."
The two vampire lovers embraced as across town a wolf watched his former love.
"It is all coming together...the threads are falling into place."
"Then it is almost time."
The two figures sat on the railing of Tokyo Tower's observation desk, watching the city.
"The wolf and his mate have been re-united...and so have the lovers. Only united can Yukishirou Enishi be destroyed. He must not be allowed to resurrect Tomoe, she must never walk again."
Sanosuke sighed, unfolding a large set of dragon-like wings.
"I'm surprised Shinomori didn't sense what we were."
"Baka, he wouldn't. Our kind are undetectable. Only other shinigami would know what we were." Megumi scoffed, stretched out her own wings.
"Che, playing dumb with them all is hard."
"For you? I doubt it."
"Hey now. That was mean."
"Sano, after over one hundred years of being partners it amazes me you are still bothered by my teasing."
"Perhaps I thought things would be different since..."
Megumi sighed, scooting off the railing and landing back on the deck floor.
"Sleeping together isn't going to stop me poking fun at you."
Sanosuke sighed.
"Does Shinomori know?"
She shook her head.
"No. He does not."
"We should tell him. He has a right to know that he can become human again and Misao as well."
"No. There is only a fifty percent chance for that. It's best to wait."
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Enishi looked at the set of bones laid out on the marble altar.
"Soon onee-sama, soon. You will be with me again." he murmured, brushing a hand over her skull.
He had stolen her bones and brought them to this cave.
Everything was for her.
He winced as he cut his hand on a sharp piece of bone, watching as his blood dripped onto her skull.
"Onee-sama!"
He watched startled as the blood seeped into the skull....and then the bones moved. Whispers filled the air...but it was one voice speaking many things.
The bones re-joined, moved, stood up and Enishi watched in horror.
"O..nee...sama..."
In a flash the bones attacked, teeth sinking into his neck and draining him as he screamed out in pain.
The pain stopped as he numbly pressed a hand against his neck and watched as a smoke surrounded the bones, forming flesh.
Pale skin, black hair, plum colored eyes.
She stood before him naked.
"Onee-sama, what....how?"
She smiled at him, brushing cold fingers against his cheek.
"Enishi...my little darling...thank you for feeding me. I've been so hungry. Rest now." she whispered, and clutched his head she snapped it, breaking his neck and then plunging a hand through his chest and ripping out Enishi's heart, eating it.
Enishi fell to the floor, in shock, the last thing he uttered before turning to dust...
"Why?"
Tomoe smiled, grabbing one of the linen draperies and covering herself as she walked out of the cave and into the night.
She had waited so long to rise again, waited for a change to regain flesh...
Her body had been destroyed before she could complete her plans, but luckily she had ensured Enishi would be turned.
And so her spirit bided its time.
Such a foolish boy, she did not need a pure soul or another body to return. She hadn't died as a mortal to begin with.
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My head hurts...and I get my braces off on Wednesday.
Zerianyu, you're up.
And ENISHI IS DEAD FOR GOOD! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!