The Accursed
Chapter Five

"Excuse me," the soft, sweet voice said, "but are you lost, Sir?"

He turned to face the small, pink-haired girl. She smiled at him. Her lavender eyes were glowing with innocence. In one hand she held a messy, obviously self-made bouquet of flowers; the other hand fidgeted almost nervously at her side, trying to fix something amiss abouther lacy dress that only she could see.

He simply stared back at her, uninterested. The only thought to fill his mind at that moment was: human, filthy human. His lip curled in disgust.

"I am not lost," he growled at her.

The child just smiled sweetly. "Oh. Okay. I just thought you looked lost." She laughed at her own mistake. "I'm sorry."

She held her bouquet of wildflowers up to him.

"I was picking them for my mommy, but please accept them."

He turned away from her now, muttering something under his breath. When he finished, he said, "just get lost, kid."

"So... you won't take them?"

Klaus gazed up lazily towards the sky. He was sitting in a bush near the Cafétricot. Miya had just started her shift and would be busy for the next few hours. Other than going to see Cin about the ritual again, he had nothing left to do, except to sit back and wait. Normally just sitting back and waiting was never a problem for Klaus. He had possessed a feline body so often that some of the habits--like being content to just sit around in the warm sunlightfor hours at a time--seemed to be rubbing off on him.

But today he could feel a strange presence hanging in the air. It was near. Watching. And there was something familiar about that presence, something strange and unfamiliar altogether. He did not like the mixed feelings.

"I'm sooo nervous about this test..."

He perked his ears and inched towards the edge of the bush he was hiding in. There were three teenagers walking towards the of the tricot. He recognized all of them, Kotarou and his friends. He hadn't seen much of them as he watched Miya, but he remembered them from his time with Shia.

"Kotarou-chan, are you ready for it?" the blond woman asked.

He shook his head. "Not really."

"It's not a hard test," the other blonde laughed. He remembered this one the most clearly. The entire time that they had been around here, that boy had been after Shia. He was a hard-worker that hid his problems and efforts from everyone around him. Shia had been the only one that he confided in at that time.

Thinking about that angelic power enduced love confession tore a low growl from Klaus' throat.

There was a hushed silence within the café, and everyone seemed huddled on one side. It only took a moment for Kotarou to realize that he could not see or hear Misha. As if she had had the same thought, Koboshi said,

"Where's Misha?"

Panicked, Kotarou yelled, "Misha?"

Someone from the huddled crowd perked up and pushed herself toher feet. She was a slightly older woman, with hazel eyes and brown hair. She was smiling pleasantly.

"The café is closed right now." Her voice was soft, and slightly reminded Kotarou of Shia. "I'm sorry, but you should leave."

"S'okay, s'okay," Misha's voice, tired and shaking, emerged from the crowd. Her nervous laughter soon followed. "I told you guys, I'm okay now."

"Misha!" Kotarou exclaimed, rushing towards her.

The crowd reluctantly parted to give him a path to her. She was sitting on a chair, holding a coffee mug in her hands. Her face lit up when she saw him, and she smiled somewhat sheepishly. A fine tremble shook her hands. She glanced down at the mug calmly and stared at it for a long moment, before quickly placing it on the table.

"I, um... I just sort of felt a little dizzy," she said softly.

He dropped down to his knees in front of her and looked at her.

"What happened?"

"I--"

"The young miss had a bit of a fainting spell," a customer, a man, hurridly explained.

Misha looked up at the man who had spoken and nodded. "Thank you, again, Sir." She tuckeda few strands of hair behind her ears. "Heh. I think everyone's overreacting..."

"Oh, so you work here, too?" The woman's voice could be heard as she spoke with Takashi.

Takashi nodded. "Yeah. My uncle owns this place."

You were pushing yourself again, Kotarou thought glumly. He frowned at Misha, who, oblivious to his thoughts, just smiled back and laughed a little. Why are you pushing yourself so hard?

Miya laughed softly, a nervous reaction to the frown that she was recieving from Kotarou. Koboshi was standing near Takashi, and hadn't said a single word since entering the café, but she wore an expression similar to Kotarou's. Both told her that she was taking this much too lightly.

"In that case, I suppose that all of us should clear out," the woman that had been talking to Takashi said, loudly enough that everyone in the café would hear her.

There was a murmur of agreement and the crowd slowly dispursed. Miya tried to get up as well and say 'thank you' to everyone who had helped her, but Kotarou pulled her back down. It was Takashi and Koboshi who gave their thanks and led the customers out of the café. Miya could only watch everyone go and nod her own thanks to them, while she pretended that she could not feel the weight of Kotarou's gaze.

"What happened today, Miya?" Klaus asked as he, still possessing the tabby's body, jumped up onto her bed.

Miya sat with her knees drawn to her chest, on her bed. Her room would have been in absolute darkness if it hadn't been for the faint light drifting in from the streets below. She closed her eyes and pressed her face to her knees. Even if it was only an illusion, she wanted to hide herself alone in this darkness, alone.

Miya... hiding me has become a burden on you, Klaus said softly. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

She didn't move, didn't say a word. She tried to ignore his voice. It was surprisingly easy for him to pretend that she was unaffected by his voice this time, and by the worry she could hear in it.

He sighed heavily.

I saw Cin again today. He said that all of his preparations are going smoothly.

Miya finally lifted her head to stare at him.It was hard to understand the expression on that cat's face. She couldn't figure out how he felt about the ritual, about returning her to her angelic self. That annoyed her more than she thought it should have. Still, she knew that even when he assumed a more human form, he hid his expressions--all but anger--well behind a perfected, bland mask.

That tended to annoy her even more.

"Everyone... They just want Misha back," she hissed venomously. "I'm... I'm not... good enough..."

Hot tears welled up in her eyes and a loud sob tore itself from her throat. Everything that everyone dear to her was doing was just to get Misha back. Even Kotarou, who claimed that he loved her so much, refused to call her by her name. Even demons wanted her to become an angel again...

"I'm just an inconvenience."

"Miya..."

She did not see it, but rather felt the bed give under the weight of a heavier body. Suddenly pale skin glowed in the moonlight, less than a foot away from her. Lilac eyes glittered like purple ice. He kept his distance from her, but it felt more different from usual. Not cold, but hesitant, as though he really did want to get closer.

"Klaus-san?" she qiestioned. Then sniffled.

"Miya, do not cry." He reached out and gently patted her head. It was the closest thing to afection that she had ever recieved from him. "I will not let you be lost. You have my word. I'll protect you."

She blinked and stared at him a while longer, open mouthed and in shock. That was definitely more than she thought he was capable of offering. That was more than he could say to anyone, much less to her. It brought a blush to her cheeks.

"Wh-What are you saying, Klaus-san...?"

"It's bad, I can't sense him. Again," the demon that had assumed Kotaroh's form complained. He turned to Kotarou and stomped his foot impatiently. "She's helping that filthy thing to hide! Why won't you do anything?"

Kotarou sighed heavily and rolled his eyes as the demon continued his rant. It was his second visit that night, and both times had escalated into yelling and screaming about Misha hiding a demon. And he was not about to do anything simply because the demon told him to. He had no proof that there was a demon involved in any of this. In fact, he was almost certain that this was just a trick by "Kotaroh".

Even if there was a demon, what was he supposed to do? He had no idea how to clease a demon, and Sasha wasn't going ot be back for another few days.

"I said it before--'no'," Kotarou snapped. He stared hard at the demon from across the livingroom. The distance wouldn't make a difference if things got out of control, but he felt a little better with it between them.

"Misha's been passing out, right?" he nearly bellowed. "Well, that's because she's feeding him just enough to lower his demonic energy--so he can hide!"

Kotarou clenched his fists and fought the urge to yell something back. Misha had always been a bit anemic after feeding Shia. What the demon was claiming made absolute sense, but...

I won't believe it, he silently screamed a "Kotaroh". In a low voice, after what felt like an eternity of thought, he finally said, "if it's such a problem, then deal with it yourself."

The demon's eyes grew round. He looked as surprised as he might have if someone had struck him. Maybe something inhis words hit a nerve. But whatever it was, it worked to shut him up. The demon suddenly seemed timid and shy--exactly what Kotaroh had been in his life.

"Don't you care about her?" he asked, obviously upset.

"I do. I love her," Kotarou quietly confessed. "But there's nothing that I can do without Sasha, or without real proof that what you're saying is true. I'd do anything to protect Misha, but not because you say that this is what has to be done."

The demon snarled at Kotarou. "Fine."

Kotarou blinked, and the demon had suddenly vanished.

"A powerful demon," Kotarou murmured to himself, staring at the balcony windows, where the demon had been standing. "Why won't he do something on his own?"

Well, hello again to everyone. It's about time I got this chapter up, isn't it? You know, I have almost the entire story plotted out now. I've barely started on chapter six, though. From now on, I'm going to focus on this story. I want to get it done, and to work on Chocolate and The Deepest Shadows after that.

By the by, if you like shounen-ai, or "boy's love", you may want to take a look at Chocolate and Chocolate Kiss.

At the beginning of this chapter, you saw it, didn't you? That little bit with Klaus and the little girl... that's what Pink Rose is based on... I am suddenly reminded that Pink Rose needs to be worked on, too. Hee hee. I'm hopefully going to get a computer next week--finally! I keep saying that I will!--so I will be able to work on my fanfiction more often. I write better when I can type it in. Pink Rose is intended to be two chapters long when it's finished. What I have posted up at this moment is just the first scene. While I'm writing it, scene by scene, that's what I'll be posting on there. When it's done, I'll put everything together, and there'll just be the two chapters.