I'm so sorry this took longer than I promised! But now it's up, the promised RenxPirika chapter, longer than the others, and grins my personal favorite so far. I think I'm seriously taking a liking to this pairing...so that means that I might start putting up random oneshots with those two now. You never know. Thank you all for those lovely reviews! I never thought this story would end up being so popular...but it's got more reviews in four chapters than my other story that has five chapters. I am duly flattered. THANK YOU! Anyway, on to the story right? Right? Of course.

Tenri Kage

A Castle's Hospitality

Eye of the Storm


Ren felt his breath catch in his throat, and he forced his lungs to take in air as the light, as well as the beautiful maiden before him, dazzled his eyes. There was something about her, perhaps the regal way she held her head, or the waterfall of cerulean that reached her waist. But whatever it was, it made him stop and watch her. The high collar of her dress accentuated the pale, slim column of her throat, and the shortness of her sleeves left her arms bare. She was a fine-boned lady, her arms white with just a touch of color, her fingernails glinting in the light with a faint coating of the palest clear blue. The dark, black silk hugged her body in a sensuous way, the embroidery pattern of roses creeping over her, subtle in his eyes. No matter how hard he tried not to let his eyes be caught by the way the material clung to her chest or hips, he could not help but look. He averted his eyes lower, and instantly regretted it when he caught a sliver of pale thigh before it disappeared behind the curtain of her dress.

"Follow me Ren-san, the tower is in this direction."

Her words jerked him out of his reverie. He inclined his head slightly to her and followed her delicate steps out of the dining hall. Though used to the sight of women in fancy clothing from a young age, as well as because of his current job as a vampire hunter, there was something about this beautiful, cerulean haired girl, clothed in garments so familiar to him, that captured his mind. It was only several staircases and hallways later that he realized how deeply into the castle they had gone.

"Where exactly are we going?" he queried.

"Up to the central tower of the castle. It has the best view of the forest. It does happen to be up a high set of stairs, which is strenuous at best for those who aren't used to it, but I'm sure it'll be no trouble for you. You are a vampire hunter after all," she informed him. The challenge was subtle but evident by the playful and mischievous glint in her eyes.

Ren raised an eyebrow. If the bewitching woman wanted to play, that would be that. He inclined his head slightly. "Perhaps it is no problem. I suppose the travels we have had might have trained me enough," he told her, letting his own golden eyes tell her that the challenge had been accepted.

Pirika's lips curved into a smile and nodded. She led him higher, up a spiral staircase to four doors of polished wood. Mahogany, ebony, black cherry, and amaranth wood, made up the four doors. Each one had the owner's name engraved in flowing script and filled with gold. "Mahogany, Tamao's rooms, a medium-textured and mostly straight grained wood. The door is heartwood of the red-brown kind. Ebony," she continued, as they passed each door, "Lady Anna's rooms, a fine-textured and straight, wavy, or irregularly grained wood. The door is black heartwood. Black cherry, Jeanne's rooms, a straight grained and fine-textured wood. We used red heartwood for the door." She flashed Ren a grin before gesturing to the last door. "Amaranth wood, also known as purpleheart, my rooms, is usually straight grained and varies from a fine to medium texture. The heartwood is a peculiar purple shade which fades to a rich brown hue from oxidation."

Ren glanced at the smiling Pirika surreptitiously, impressed in spite of himself. "Your knowledge of woods is extensive," he commented, trying not to let his amazement at her informed manner show.

She inclined her head to him graciously, her grin now a little more evident. "It is in my nature, to love nature," she told him, the curve of her lips twisting into a light smirk of satisfaction. "I am pleased to be able to impress you, Ren-san. There are things about you that interest me. Particularly, the fact that you will not kill every vampire you meet," she said bluntly, pushing open the heavy doors to the central tower.

Stairs curved from the door to the left, arching up into the distance, high above. Ren could barely make out the landing that was their destination. A very…challenging staircase. But Tao Ren does not back down. Especially when an alluring woman decides to play games. A determined grin flashed across his features, and the amber of his eyes darkened in anticipation. With an almost careless gesture, he offered Pirika his hand, and together they began the assent.

Several turns later, Ren had to admit that the staircase was more daunting than he had imagined. It wasn't that he was fatigued, but that he knew he owed it to the long training sessions of the past that he was not feeling aches in his calves. More than that, he was surprised that Pirika was not weary. She was so slim and delicate looking, beautiful and refined, that he had difficulty imagining her as someone who could tirelessly climb such a wearying set of stairs. Unless she were a vampire. An uncertain part of his mind declared the statement completely unfounded, but looking over the evening, he was slowly getting more and more suspicious.


"What so absorbs the great Tao?" Pirika asked teasingly. She knew she was acting flirtatious on purpose, but she had seen the look of concentration cross his face, and she wasn't particularly interested in finding out if the thought had contained anything about vampires.

"I was wondering how often you come up here. This staircase obviously doesn't fatigue you," he stated.

Pirika nodded in assent. "It is very soothing to be up there. Every one of us goes up there at least every other day. With Jeanne, it is to read books, with Tamao, it is to feed the birds that sometimes roost there. With Lady Anna, she just comes up to look out over the land and feel the wind, so she says. I go up there because I need to tend the plants up there, and the view is wonderful. The sunsets are a marvel on their own," she said, half to him and half to herself.

"And what of sunrises?" he asked.

Pirika stiffened slightly. As a vampire the sunrises was a little tougher to stand than the sunset, because of the pain it caused the eyes. It wasn't so much the intensity of the light as it was the newness of it, and the way it shone directly into the eyes. Pirika had often found it much harder to stand than daylight, which was easy for them to stand because of a variant aura cloaking spell that Jeanne had found in the library. "I have never been able to see one clearly. I am usually much too tired so early in the morning," she told him lightly, her laughter at her own self-pointed joke meant as a distraction.

"Is that so? It's a pity, for sunrises are as beautiful as sunsets in my opinion," Ren replied, mentally noting how she had seemed to freeze for a millisecond before answering.

"I would like to see that," she mused quietly, glancing over the railing of the staircase to measure the distance from the ground.

Ren was surprised at the unholy urge he had to scare her by jerking her towards the railing and catching her before she could be hurt. Fighting down the blush that threatened to override his cheeks, he contented himself with stepping closer to her and making an offer. "I could wake you tomorrow and let you see the sunrise before I left."

She started, hearing a voice so close, and gave a squeak of surprise to find him next to her. Stumbling backwards, she almost bumped into the railing before Ren's arms took her by the waist and pulled her from the dizzying edge. But this had her against his chest and in his arms before she could realize what was going on. Indignation rose in her throat and burst out in her words. "Ren-san! Please, what are you doing!"

He was understandably surprised at her forceful cry. "I'm saving your life woman!" he told her in irritation, pulling her away from the edge.

"I'm FINE thank you," she said hotly, slipping out of his grasp. She turned away and continued up the steps at a faster pace, furious at Ren and furious at herself. Her cheeks were flaming with her blushes, and her mind seemed to want to keep only on the comforting solidness of Ren's embrace. Baka, whatever happened to being on your guard? she chided herself. You could have fallen off the stairs, and when you DIDN'T die, Ren would know you were a vampire. Pirika sighed as she slowed down, her hand pressed against the racing of her heart. She didn't know why her heart was beating so quickly, but it was a wonderful and yet horrible feeling, like the way her eyes burned when she watched a sunrise. Beautiful and yet painful all at once.

Lifting her foot for the next stair, she was surprised to find that it was not there. She had already arrived at the landing without realizing it. Ren was only a step behind her. To her admiration and slight consternation, he was hardly breathing heavily.

"A very lovely set of stairs indeed Pirika-san," he told her. "It was quite a workout, though not a match for some of the worse trainings I have had while traveling with Yoh and the others."

Pirika said nothing, quietly contemplating how one man could be so different. There were times like now where he was a touch arrogant, though it made her a little more intrigued with him each time, and times like when he had pulled her from the edge of the staircase where he was rude and yet concerned. But what occupied her mind the most was how, for the moment where he had her in his arms, before she had cried out and pulled away, she had felt as though she had found herself and become whole. It scared her with the magnitude of feeling that had swept her up in its waves.

Ren stepped onto the landing and gazed about appreciatively. Inside there were chairs and couches, tables and even a desk. Potted plants from which bloomed various flowers flourished in odd corners. Tucked between some plush seats was a medium sized fireplace that was well used. "You must come here often," he remarked, noting the fireplace. Without waiting for a reply, he stepped out onto the balcony and stopped. It circled the tower all around, shielded from the rain by the wide shingles that jutted out for that purpose. Stretched out below was the forest. As far as he could see through the pouring rain, there were trees in all directions. We are stuck in the middle of the largest forest I have ever seen in my life…he thought with a sort of dread.

"Does the sight satisfy your curiosity Ren-san?" Pirika asked as she stepped outside, her voice taking on a teasing lilt.

"Someone should have told me we were in the middle of a gigantic forest. Is there a single map that will assure that we won't get lost? I don't trust my companions with maps. Especially Yoh. He's the one who got us lost in the first place," he muttered to her in explanation.

Pirika's lips curved into a smile. "Your friends are indeed very interesting. You aren't like other vampire slayers." She walked over to the railing and leaned against it, her back to the rain behind her. "Why is that?"

"Experiences," Ren told her as he leaned his elbows against the railing next to her, staring out through the rain.

The smile had faded from her lips, but she managed to keep her voice light. "Care to explain?" She was startled by how concerned she sounded, but Ren didn't seem to notice. He was already deep in thought, remembering why he became who he was.


"Ever since I was young, I was taught that vampires were evil. I know they aren't now," he said softly, glancing over at Pirika, "but before, I believed what my parents told me. But, my sister, Jun, didn't always agree. And when I was eight, she disappeared. One day she was at home like always, learning various lessons with me and cheering me up, and the next day, my parents told me she was dead. Moreover, that she had been killed by a vampire by the name of Li Pyron."

"My parents had never been close to me, and for a long time I had considered my sister the only family I truly had. The fact that she was now dead was enough to drive me to the brink of insanity." With a sigh, Ren turned over to copy Pirika and rested his back against the railing, bracing himself with his elbows. "For days I let hatred consume me until all I could think about was revenge, and when I could finally think about vampires without screaming out my rage, I trained myself with the goal of wiping out all vampires." He glanced surreptitiously at Pirika, trying to gauge her reaction, but her eyes were trained on the glass doors that separated them from the indoors, and their dark-blueness was unreadable.

"For four years I trained myself under my parents' tutelage so that I could one day rid the world of vampires, but before I gave myself that chance, something happened that changed my outlook on vampires forever. Our house caught fire."

"What!" Pirika was shocked out of her silence by the awkwardness of Ren's statement. "How does your house catching fire have anything to do with vampires?" she asked matter-of-factly.

Ren threw her a grin. "You're talking again."

She blinked in surprise. "You said your house caught fire to get me to talk?"

"Only partly," he told her. "Our house really did catch fire one night. I found out when someone crashed through my window." He caught her gaze with his own and said quietly, "Jun crashed through my window that night. Before I knew what was happening, she had paralyzed me using certain pressure points, and flew me out of the house into the surrounding forests. She was bleeding from a lot of cuts, but she managed to get us both to relative safety. I, of course, demanded answers as soon as we touched the ground. And what I found out was something I would never have imagined, even if it made perfect sense."

Pirika was silent as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, moving a little closer to the thoughtful vampire-hunter beside her. Ren took no notice as a bittersweet smile crossed his face. "When I was six and Jun was eleven, she had befriended a vampire named Li Pyron. Two years later, she became his mate and let him change her into a vampire. My parents could not accept this and disowned her. They told me she had died and when I trained, they planned to have me kill her and Li for who they were. They wouldn't let her see me and placed powerful wards around the house so that she would never manage to speak to me. She managed to spot me once, a month before the fire, and seeing how hard I was training to kill her kind, she was determined to tell me the truth. But things had gone horribly wrong. As the fire blazed in the distance, she told me that Li was dead and she was dying. All because my parents could not accept the race of vampires or my sister's love for one."

A cool hand rested on his own for a moment, the faint weight of it comforting. "Love is a noble reason to die for. There is no shame in what your sister did," Pirika told him earnestly before she pulled her hand away. Ren nodded in agreement, smiling a little from her words of condolence.

"I realized that, but I couldn't forgive my parents for how they had lied to me and planned to have me kill those who were innocent. So, after a year of intense training, I returned and murdered them both." He ignored the way Pirika's gasp seemed to echo in his mind, though the discomfort was hard to forget. "Afterwards, I took what I could, and set out to wander. I had no plans for the future, but I knew I couldn't stay in that house or even near it. Several months later, I ran into Yoh and, after many fights, became a vampire-hunter like him. I'm certain it was a good choice now that I look back."

Pirika was silent. So this is how Ren became who he is…and it's all there, under the quiet, calm exterior… She tried to erase the inexplicable feeling that she ought to comfort him, but it persisted. Breathing deeply to calm the emotions within her, she turned to Ren, pasting a fake smile on her face. "A most interesting history you have. But, I must be intruding. I will be inside, watering the plants." Without giving him a chance to answer, she disappeared behind the translucent glass of the doors.

Fakery…Ren thought to himself, gazing at the point where Pirika had disappeared from his sight. That wasn't the Pirika I know. Pirika wouldn't have smiled like that or said she must have been intruding. Pirika would have stayed and tried to have been comforting…I wish I knew what was bothering her… Ren sighed, reaching back and undoing the clasp of the silver chain around his neck. The chain felt heavy in his hands, and he ran his fingers over the engravings in silence, contemplating Pirika. Jun…when we were little, just before you became a vampire…remember how you said I should tell you if I ever found someone I cared for as much as I cared for you? Ren glanced up and tried to see through the misty glass, but all he saw was his own reflection. He looked back down at the finely crafted silver. I think I've found her.


Pirika sank down into a leather upholstered seat, her heart pounding. She was drawn to the person on the other side of the clouded glass behind her, drawn to the amber-eyed one, and hated the thought of hurting him. She knew it wasn't the physical act of inflicting pain that bothered her, for she was certain Ren had experienced more than that, and she knew that a vampire bite didn't necessarily change the person. It was just the fact that he would have no choice. The Ren she knew was a quiet, emotionally strong person who liked being able to choose his destiny. Freedom was one of his greatest possessions as a vampire-hunter… I'm so hungry…and yet, I can't bring myself to bite him. Wouldn't he hate me? Would he kill me? I don't care…I wouldn't mind dying because I bit him…because I'm hungry…She could feel the hunger taking over her thinking. She wasn't completely in control…I'm sorry Ren… She glanced back and noticed his chain no longer around his neck. Without giving herself a moment to think, she burst through the glass doors and lunged for his neck.

In a matter of seconds her back was pressed against the rough stonework that made up the outer walls of the tower, the silver chain pressed against her bare throat.

"Pirika." His voice was carved with betrayal, and she flinched against the harshness of it. This is not a good turn of events… She was still battling with the darker half of her vampire instincts, which urged her to sink her fangs into his throat and drain his blood from his body, while her heart cried out that she couldn't hurt him because she didn't have the will to do it. "Why…" His voice was soft, asking for answers. Answers she almost felt she couldn't give, and her control snapped.

"Because I can't help it! Because I'm hungry! Because the craving for your blood is driving me insane! Because you like having choices! Because I can't hurt you! BECAUSE I CAN'T!"

Ren stood still as Pirika screamed out her agony at the helplessness of her situation, her cries swallowed by the hammer of the rain around them. He could feel her agony like a physical wound, and it cut deeper than he imagined possible. It was like being drowned in fire and ice. He let the chain slide down from her throat as he pulled her into his arms, letting her shrieks die down into muted sobs of pain, murmuring soothing nonsense into her ears. Her nails, now sharp from her lapse into her darker half, tore the fabric of his clothing as she clung to him, but he paid no heed. Finally, a shudder wracked her body as her tears drew to a close and she relaxed into the curve of his arms. It was a little while before he realized she was muttering something under her breath. He strained his ears to hear the words.

"I'm sorry, I…I just couldn't…couldn't help it." Her words were trembling, she knew she was rambling, and she was past caring. "I'm so sorry…I know you like choices, and…and I…and I tried to…" The words were caught in her throat, so painful that they seemed to make her bleed as she forced them out. "I tried to bite you, and take that away…and…" her tears soaked into his silk vest as they rolled silently down her cheeks, "and…" she searched for the right words, "and I was afraid you'd hate me."

"You could have just asked."

Pirika's head snapped up, her eyes a clear, liquid blue, her cheeks tearstained. "What?" The golden amber in his eyes held no malice, no taunting, only honesty. In that moment, her whole world was focused on the one before her, the dark side gone from her being.

Ren peeled back the collar of his shirt, baring to her eyes two perfectly round scars embedded in his skin. "Did you think I didn't try to keep my sister alive by donating my blood?" His lips curved into a slight smile as something akin to affection flooded his eyes. "It didn't make a difference, but I do not mind the thought of it as some might." Her hesitation was evident, as well as the disbelief and surprise in her eyes. "Go ahead."

For an eternity, Pirika stared at the twin marks that dotted his pulse point, before aligning her fangs exactly over them and biting down hungrily. Ren's only reaction was the slightest flinch as her fangs drove into his skin as she drank the nourishing substance that kept her whole.

To him, the pain was secondary as memories of trying to save his dying sister filled his mind. But this time, it was different. There was no helplessness, no feeling that he was working for nothing as his sister's soul slipped away from him. When Jun had taken his blood, he knew it was because he had insisted, even though she knew it was no use. Pirika's partaking in his blood was deeper and more intimate, emotionally as well as physically. The shorter girl was pressed against his body in her efforts to comfortably feed upon his blood, and he tightened his hold upon her, savoring the sensations. He knew mating was an extremely intimate bonding process for vampires, and as Pirika's body pressed against his own, he thought he could understand why it was so serious. The emotions running through him were powerful and intoxicating.

Pirika pulled away, sated and warm, her fangs retracting as she lapped up the blood that remained around his fresh wounds and her lips. Sleepiness and contentment flooded her body even as she realized that she was pressed against Ren, her hands gripping his upper arms as the shredded tatters of his sleeves lay around her feet. Manners demanded that she thank him, but her tongue was having a hard time processing what her brain demanded, the lingering taste of rich, sweet blood in her mouth.

"Enough?" Ren asked, the teasing edge returning to his voice.

"Yes, thank you," she slurred, her lips forming the words sluggishly.

The smile that tugged at his lips was neither taunting, nor arrogant, but assured with an edge of possessiveness. With the girl for whom he felt such powerful emotions in his arms, instinct drove him to lean down a little, seeking her lips with his own.

At the last moment, Pirika turned her head, his lips brushing instead against her cheek. "The man who steals a vampire maiden's first kiss is the one who must become her mate," she told him, her eyes and lips smiling at the pout that threatened to override Ren's lower lip.

A mischievous grin appeared as Ren leaned down again, his lips barely brushing her ear. "Would that be so bad?"

The crimson-cheeked Pirika had no answer for such a question.


Yup, Pirika has nothing to say... Probably because she's speechless from shock... But you'll find out what happens when chapter seven comes out. I'm working on the sixth one at the moment...the one that stars YohxAnna! Soo...REVIEW PLEASE!

Tenri Kage