.
.II.
Catalyst

Red eyes.
I am
LOST
Without you.
Never leave me
or
DIE

"Calm down, you're making me more nervous than I should be," she hummed, closing her large navy blue doe eyes and flicking a curl of her hair out of her face. Her cheek was propped up by her arm, other hand in the pocket of her jacket.

"How could I not be nervous?"

"That thing is alive!"

Elise rolled her eyes. Honestly she'd been talking to the large scaly creature that liked to follow her everywhere, but as he was invisible to most humans, her fiance had instead taken his own panicked spluttering as what was bothering her so intently.

She'd known beforehand that she was pregnant (wonderful things, they were, pregnancy tests), and Vile's reaction was probably more amusing than anything. For a creature of death … he was pretty intimidated by babies.

Elise Jones was pregnant. Yeah, it was pretty wild.

She watched as Vile drifted through the walls as he floated/paced. If this was really how he was acting now, when they were about to hear the baby's gender, she wondered how he'd take it when the baby was actually born. Then she thought about what he would do during the birth itself – the vision of the large shinigami sitting in the waiting room twiddling his thumbs immediately came to mind.

Her fiance took her laugh as an insult. "Don't laugh at me!" he nearly shouted, earning glances from the other occupants of the room. He looked close to tears in his hysteria, face blushing red in embarrassment. His short black hair was ruffled and stood up where he'd been digging his fingers into it.

"Tsuki … everything's going to be fine," she stressed, glancing over to the shinigami who was shifting his weight from one foot to another (which would have been understandable if he'd been on the ground).

The pregnancy hadn't been planned. It wasn't well received either. Tsuki's family had just about disowned him, and her own family wasn't too pleased either. Not that she honestly cared if they disapproved. This was her baby, and she would protect it. Tsuki was still having trouble adjusting to the idea what he was going to be a father. He was pretty freaked.

As soon as she told him she was pregnant, Tsuki had proposed to her. He'd sort of blurted it out, but it hadn't been on a whim. He'd been saving a ring he'd gotten from his grandmother for her, but he hadn't counted on being married so soon. He'd confessed that he was planning on waiting a year or three. Because of the rushed circumstances, half of his family was convinced that she was marrying him for money, which was bullshit, but they couldn't accept that.

Still, their ray of hope came in the form of their child. At the end of the day, no matter how anxious the two of them were, her slowly growing belly brought smiles to their faces. It was kind of corny when she thought about it, but some people cried because of it (happy tears, which she couldn't exactly understand). Elise wasn't exactly the most expressive of women – in their relationship Tsuki tended to be the more high-energy of the two (he could give a damn good massage though, which she was endlessly thankful for at this point).

She smiled at the skinny man fondly as he fidgeted in his seat. Everything was going to be all right.

They both turned their heads as the nurse called them in. Hands clasped together and exchanging nervous grins, they walked past the doors out of the waiting room. The shinigami followed them closely, unusually giddy along with the human's he'd claimed.

It was a girl.

"I can hear her heartbeat."

Elise stopped in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder at her ever present companion. "What did you say?" she breathed. He watched her out of the holes in his skull, wings extended out his back as he floated next to her much smaller form. Vile had taken to following her everywhere she went, as though to ensure that she was still there, still alive.

If it had been anyone else, they would have taken it as a bad omen. Elise thought that it was sweet of him.

"The baby … I can hear it," his voice had a raspy quality to it that she only heard when he was being sappy and hated himself for it. She felt a smile cross her face as she regarded him. "Wherever you go, a double heartbeat … it's so tiny…"

Elise turned fully to face him and set her tub of laundry at her feet. She was glad Tsuki wasn't home or else he would be freaking over her reaction. Vile hardly said anything when he was around these days anyway. When he did speak, it was because he wanted an answer. "Are you afraid that one day you won't be able to hear it?" she said bluntly, to which the shinigami ruffled his scales at.

"No, never … It's none of my business whether a human child lives or dies," he sneered.

"I think you're lying," Vile hissed at her and made to leave. Elise frowned at him, "Are you running now?"

He paused. "I'm not running," he growled. It would have been threatening, and the first time he got like this it certainly was, but now she just smiled patiently at him. He was only having a temper tantrum because of his stupid pride.

"Let me show you something," she said, approaching him. He stood at nearly twice her height; her head up to what she assumed would be his rib-cage. She took one of his clawed hands in her own, pulled her shirt over her belly and pressed his bony fingers to her skin. His teeth clicked together, which was his equivalent of a sharp intake of breath – as a death god, he had no need to breathe.

"What are you–?" he started, but stopped when the baby kicked. Vile's eyes widened and his whole body shuddered. "I can feel it …" he said in awe. She stared up at his horned skull and let her hands rest on his jawbone. His gaze flicked her own dark blue eyes, and he let his other hand gently rest on her swollen stomach.

"I think you do care, Vile," Elise whispered, "I think you care a lot if she lives or dies."

"Shut up."

She laughed, smiling brightly.

Elise had never felt anything quite like childbirth before in her entire life, and she was no stranger to pain. Here and now, she couldn't give a flying fuck about the pain. Her baby girl was cradled in her arms, tiny mouth wide as though to say 'feed me, dammit'! Her skin was all wrinkly and purple – in movies they had to use babies several months old, but she hadn't been expecting this fleshy little thing to pop out of her.

The baby was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Tsuki sat in a padded chair next to her bed, an overwhelmed expression on his face. His eyes were wide as he gazed down at their daughter – our daughter – and she couldn't help but giggle at his moonstruck-calf impression. His greenish-copper eyes flicked up to her before he scooted closer and let the baby grasp his finger in her tiny hands. She hadn't yet figured out that she had a body and could control it, so she flailed her stubby arms around and squirmed in her mother's grip.

"She has your eyes, Tsuki," she said, amused. He let out a laugh before squinting down at the baby's face.

"I think they're more like yours," he said softly, stroking her large head, which was covered in tuffs of dark hair.

"Mine?" Elise looked closely, "Maybe in the right light, her pupils are rather large … but look at the color."

"She definitely has your face though," he beamed at her, and she nearly regretted letting him look at her baby pictures when they were collecting her stuff for the move. "She's gorgeous." The chubby little baby let out a noise similar to a cat's mew.

Elise's stomach rumbled loudly, to which Tsuki laughed at. "Are you feeling hungry?" he asked, to which she snorted to.

"Starving, actually, I haven't eaten since Wednesday, if you can recall."

His eyes sparkled in mirth as he stood, "Well, do you want anything in particular?"

"I want a goddamn cheeseburger and a milkshake," her stomach growled again at the very thought. Tsuki continued to laugh at her dreamy expression.

"Very well then, I shall be back with your deep-fried comfort food."

"Hey, don't get snarky with me. I just gave birth, if you hadn't noticed," his laughter rung through the room as he left to fetch their meal. The room grew quiet again and her attention turned to the purple thing swaddled in her arms. The little girl stared right back up at her. "Come here, Vile," she said gently, glancing over at the shinigami that had been lurking in the corner. He hesitated, before padding towards them, his feet on the ground for once.

The lizard loomed over her bed, bone washed white in the morning light. His beady red eyes stared down at the infant in absolute fascination. "I've never seen anything like it …" Vile said quietly, almost too softly for her to hear. It was as though he was afraid of scaring the baby.

"Meet Kurai Moira Itsoku," she said and adjusted the child in her arms so that her face was pointed towards the lizard. Elise could have sworn that the baby was staring right up at the shinigami, as though she could see him.

"Hello, little one," he said softly, touching her temple with his knuckle. The baby sneezed.

Kurai was two.

Vile watched the toddler closely as she picked up one of the colored blocks that had been left out for her. He lounged along beside her, floating three inches above the ground and letting his head rest against his hand. The little black haired girl leaned over and plucked another off the ground and set it on top of the first one. She then reached for a third.

The woman's mate nearly tripped as he sped towards the door, obviously late for his boring nine-to-five work day. Vile nearly rolled his eyes; humans were such strange creatures.

A moment later Elise came out of the kitchen, looking flustered and exhausted. She let her weight fall on one leg and watched as Vile lay sprawled next to the kid. "Could you watch her while I go take a shower?" she pleaded. He searched her face and found dark circles under her eyes.

"Sure, take as long as you need," he said, and she flashed him a grateful smile before disappearing up the stairs. In front of him Kurai's tower (at five blocks high) fell. "Well kid, congratulations, you have just discovered gravity," he snorted in amusement as she stared at her fallen tower. "Luckily for me, I can ignore its rules. Too bad for you though."

In all the time that she'd been alive, she hadn't spoken a word. At two years she should be saying coherent sentences and generally making a ruckus. Vile found that her silence suited him just fine – he wasn't too keen on crying children. Kurai hardly ever cried, but she did a lot of it when she was still in the baby stage though. He hadn't been prepared for all the noise they made.

Kurai's chubby little hands clasped around one of the blocks and she began stacking them again. "That's right, stupid gravity is not the boss of you," he chuckled as she reached for another block, but leaned over the tower to do so. Vile's hand reached out to steady the thing, and she placed a third block on it. They continued on like that for several minutes until the tower was taller than she was. At this point he collected the rest of the blocks and stacked them up high – she gave one of her chubby-toddler smiles when he finished.

Vile moved back to where he'd been lying, but her dark eyes followed his movements. Stopping like a deer caught in headlights, he stared right back at her. Tilting his head to the side, he eyed her with some confusion, "Can you … see me?"

When she didn't reply and looked back at the tower, he gave a sigh and settled down, closing his eyes. "I must have been imagining things. There's no way you could see me," he muttered, just a little disappointed. After a few moments he felt something on his nose, and he opened one eye to see the toddler standing in front of him with her hands pressed against his skull. He blinked at her in shock, riveted, and she stared right at him as though to reassure him.

If he could smile, he would have.

Kurai waddled back off to the tower, which collapsed when she pushed it. The blocks scattered around her feet, and she sat down in front of them. This time she started to stack a pyramid. "You really are something, aren't you, little one?" he mused, "How interesting."

Elise returned shortly after, her hair still wet but looking a lot more relaxed. She scooped up Kurai to head off to breakfast. "Did anything happen?" she asked as she walked back to the kitchen.

"Nothing," he replied, watching as the little girl observed him over her mother's shoulder, "Nothing at all."

A/N: There's more on the characters on this website a friend of mine introduced me to: Charahub. A compilation of character sheets, and it's actually pretty clever. A lot of interesting questions that really force you to flesh out characters. I really recommend it - gives you a uniform tool that you can access anywhere, and isn't reliant on your hard drive (though you should probably back them up anyway). I wrote down some things on my characters that I probably wouldn't have addressed in the story. Minor facts and the like. Link to my account on my profile page.