Story Title: You should know this now so this is going to disappear soon

Chapter Title: Bonding Time

Rating: PG-13/R (chapter/story)

Chapter: 9/?

Warnings: fillery, cussing...

Disclaimer: Gackt owns Moon Child right? (I guess that means he own Kei too huh? *wiggles eyebrows*)

Pairings: Kei/Sho, Kei/Yi-Che, Kei/? ...?

Jaded's fore-words: I haven't put anything out for anyone who is still reading this for a while so I thought I might as well just post this fillery chapter while I am still working out the next chapter. Damn it to hell, it's got me stumped. Anyway. Enjoy this bit of bonding between Sho and David.

Over the course of the next week Kei began realizing that he stared at Sho a lot without knowing he was. He also started to feel the influence of the things the tall man did. Things he never quite noticed since he was forcing himself to remain oblivious. But with his new-found discovery that he was, honest-to-whatever-god-out-there, attracted to Sho (and possibly in love with him - because he was still choosing denial over the repercussions of that) Kei had found himself barely managing to suppress the urge to jump the man with braids before he forced himself to run away from the man and calm down (usually by hiding somewhere like the shower or an alley or a locked, disgusting public bathroom where he could wank in peace).

Often, Kei couldn't even fathom how some of the things Sho did would cause Kei to get hard, or feel the burning stir of arousal in his groin and abdomen. Things like Sho smiling a certain way or walking around shirtless or touching Kei's shoulder to get his attention or pouting or laying on the couch or staring at Kei… The list could go on and on since, when Kei really looked, almost everything about Sho could arouse desire or turn him on. For almost absolutely no reason. At the worst of times. An example being that one night they were hanging out with Toshi, Son and Yi-Che in the park as Yi-Che painted at night and Sho had snuggled up to him, claiming he was cold. (He had fallen asleep five minutes later.) But the point was, Kei thought Yi-Che might have noticed. But he couldn't be sure since she just went right back to painting with a soft smile on her face.

Other times the things Sho did could be so blatantly taken sexually Kei wondered at his own control over not jumping the man and potentially knocking things like bowls of cereal or vases or Bob onto the floor in the process. Like when Sho bent over to get something from the fridge and perfectly showed Kei his ass as he stood in the doorway and David slurped up a bowl of some kind of chocolatey cereal drowned in milk. Or when Sho straddled a chair and was smirking at some perverted joke Toshi had made. Or when he walked around the apartment naked except for a towel after he got out of the shower.

Anyway, what Kei was trying to get across, was that Sho made him unbearably horny all the time now.

And he knew what he'd decided to do to would probably hurt the man but Kei felt better knowing that he could just brush it all off as a misunderstanding, say he was actually hunting more, and play it up so Sho didn't feel like Kei was pulling away from him to hurt him. Because really, Kei decided to pull away to protect Sho from himself and his libido worse than a hormone-crazed teenager's.

Speaking of teenagers, by the time a week had passed Kei was practically going crazy and had realized the perfect way to get Sho out of his hair for a while.

David.

He kicked them out of the apartment after Sho had done almost everything Kei had on his slowly, ever-increasing list of "Things Sho Should Never Be Allowed To Do" with the excuse that David needed to feed and that they were running low on groceries and it was Sho's responsibility to take care of David's needs, since he'd been the one to insist the teen stayed with them.

Before they'd left, David had suspiciously sniffed Kei's shoulder as he was pushed out the door and had raised and eyebrow as Sho followed and the door was slammed in their faces.

Kei added that to his "List of Things to Ask David About."

Then he leaned against the wall and dropped his forehead into his palm.

He'd never made so many long lists in his life.

This upset him.

He vowed to make them shorter….

Somehow.

"So…" Sho started, scratching the back of his head above his braids while frowning sideways at David as they walked. "Uhm, should uh… Should we go to the grocery store first or uhm, should I uh… take you somewhere to feed?"

"I've been feeding this whole week," David stated, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Not much, since I only glut on blood when it's absolutely needed, but enough to keep the thirst from being painful. I'm not as defenseless as Kei plays me out to be with his actions and words. I can take care of myself."

Sho chuckled. "I know what you mean."

"Don't get me wrong, though. Being taken care of, well it's the best feeling in the world. Knowing somebody cares can't compare to anything. And to be perfectly honest, I'd rather someone took care of me," David said softly and sighed. He glanced at a colorful stall selling small clothing accessories, like scarves, with a smile, his eyes squinting from the sun. "But I'm not infantile."

"What do we do now then?" Sho questioned, amused and looked directly at the short teen.

"I'm not sure but one thing I do know is, I need some SPF now. I'll be redder than a lobster in half-an-hour if I don't get some sunscreen," David casually announced with a smile, strolling along in the hot sun. "I am still part vampire. I do burn. Just not in an instant."

Sho rolled his eyes but put his arm around David's shoulders to steer him in the direction of a convenience store.

They were on the beach standing with their shoes off and their toes dug into the damp sand barely touched by the lapping waves of the ocean. David was on the right and Sho was on the left. Sho's hands were in his open jacket's pockets and David had one hand in the back pocket of his jeans while his other was thrown over his shoulder, fingers lazily curled around the handles of a white cloth bag that carried a bottle of sunscreen, a brimmed black hat and an energy drink. Both of them were staring blankly out at the waves, listening as they crashed into one another and rolled the distance to touch their toes.

"Kei used to bring me here as a kid . . . when it was cloudy of course," Sho said and David blinked, life shining back into his eyes before he glanced at Sho. He waited and Sho didn't disappoint.

"We don't do much of anything anymore," Sho continued, sounding a little forlorn. "Well, except for heists and when I can persuade him to tag along somewhere with me. He usually does everything he can to push me out of the apartment. And if I don't leave then he finds a way to."

"What is Kei to you?" David questioned curiously, voice light as he turned to stare at Sho.

"Everything," Sho answered quickly. He realized what he said and a blush crawled across his cheeks. David's lips split into a teasing grin and Sho laughed.

"Not like that," he said and dropped himself onto the sand. David plopped down next to him in a similar fashion, paying close attention to Sho without showing it. "What I meant was that he's always been there, ever since I found him and he saved Toshi and my brother and I. He's more than best friend and he's more than a brother and he's more than any parent ever could be."

"Is he a lover then?" David asked innocently, easily able to play on Sho's words to direct the conversation.

Sho gave him an incredulous look that hinted at surprised. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head, directing his gaze back to sea. He seemed to think for a moment before responding.

"No. I've never thought of him like that before. . . Not including that one time when I was sixteen and dreamt of him. That confused me for weeks."

David grinned, knowing the experience. Too bad weird shit like that would keep happening in dreams if you let it. (David liked letting it. It gave a new perspective on life for a bit after he would wake.)

"But since then it's never happened again. No weird dreams. No straying thoughts. Although I had plenty of those about girls. . ." Sho blushed then. "And maybe a couple guys then. About Kei though? It just wasn't like that."

"So you're relationship is basically undefined except for the simple constants of your lives," David mused aloud and Sho nodded.

David picked up his discarded shoes, now with sand stuck to their damp sides, and examined them, brushing the sand off with a thoughtful frown. He put each into the bag he had when they were sandless and loosely tied the handles closed.

"I'm going to guess that you're comfortable with the fact that Kei's distant closeness doesn't bother you except when you remember how close he was before you grew up," David stated and glanced at Sho for confirmation.

"Not exactly but yes in some ways. I miss when we used do things together, like come to the beach. And when he would braid my hair for me, too. I miss him and it's annoying sometimes because he's right there; same as always, yet so different."

Sho sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He frowned in annoyance when his hand caught on his pony tail holding his braids together and with a yank he snapped the stretched elastic and the braids were free. He looked at the broken band before tossing it over his shoulder, taking a deep breath and relaxing.

"I'm not usually this talkative, especially about emotions," Sho said quietly, leaning back and staring at David.

"Every person is multifaceted. We all show different sides to different people. I tend to bring out the more emotion-sharing trait in others," David stated with a shrug.

"You're a weird kid, you know that, David," Sho said and chuckled.

"I'm very much aware of the fact that I'm not average or normal in a lot of ways but what makes you say that?" David inquired with a tilt of his head.

"Growing up after I found Kei, all Toshi and I thought of was girls, guns, and having a good time. Heists - we found - were a crazy, interesting, adventurous way to get money in Mallepa and help Kei survive. Kei was against it but we practically forced him to teach us how to live by pulling heists and slipping around gangs. But with you. . . Well, everything's just a bit off. You act like a kid once second and then speak like an old man then next. You blur lines between being a woman and being a man. Sometimes you seem completely naive and others it's like you're a hundred and fifty. And you just think oddly, like a philosopher, and I'm just not used to it in a place like this, I guess," Sho explained, frowning in confusion and shaking his head a little.

"That's okay. Most people in a place like this confuse me. So if I confuse them and they confuse me I believe everything is just fine," David said with a couple nods as if it made all the sense in the world. It did.

They were silent for a while and David stood up, leaving his things on the beach before taking off at a mad sprint into the sea. He hit the water and kept going. When resistance kicked his knees, he dove straight into a small wave and kept going. From where Sho was watching him, David looked like a puppy playing in the water for the first time, diving and jumping and paddling around hyperly.

When David came back seven minutes later he was drenched and dripping but satisfied and grinning. Without a word, and still grinning, he walked over to Sho, gathering the front of his soaked t-shirt in his hands, and he wrung the salty water right onto Sho's face. Sho, eyes closed and unsuspecting, flew up from the sand wiping the water from his face and spluttering a bit. Upon noticing David cackling like a madman he grabbed the teenager by the legs and yanked him down, pinning him in his lap with a headlock as he grabbed a handful of sand. With an evil grin of his own he smushed the tiny grains into David's wet hair, rubbing his hand around to ground it in.

David cried out and struggled against him, tugging his head back and pushing at Sho's sensitive sides. Sho released him on reflex, feeling an unwanted giggle bubbling in his throat. He coughed to clear it out as David furiously swiped his hands through his hair in a futile attempt to rid it of the sand. He raised his gaze and glared at Sho, looking more like he was pouting with his bottom lip sticking out just slightly more than usual, and Sho couldn't contain the laughter that tickled him.

"Payback's a bitch," he said and David's eyes gleamed angrily for a second before he sighed and resigned himself to his payback. He did, after all, get Sho first.

"I think you're burning," Sho stated after his laughter died down. "Your arms look a bit pink."

David blinked owlishly, not comprehending, before examining one of his arms. It did look pink. He poked it and it stung just the slightest. Then he shielded his eyes with a hand and glanced up at the sun's position. It looked to be about three-in-the-afternoon-ish.

"We should get somewhere shady. . . Or indoors," David stated as he reached for his bag. "It's bad enough I've been out in the afternoon sun, but I'm almost out of sunscreen and I've already started to burn."

Sho nodded and grabbed his shoes, slipping his socks back on so he could fit his feet into them as David did the same with his sneakers. He stood up and David followed him, opening the bottle of sunscreen and quickly rubbing as much of it as he could onto his skin. His brow furrowed at the slight burn his nerves experienced from the sunscreen. That wasn't a good sign. He definitely needed to get out of the sun for a while.

His stomach took that moment to clench painfully and growl as loud as possible. Sho gave him a funny look as he stumbled slightly while they walked through the sand, heading towards the car and the city.

"Lets do that shopping Kei mentioned when he kicked us out eh?" Sho suggested and David nodded, pressing his arm into his stomach as if it would help the twisting ache and occasional sharp pain there.

This was bad.

They were back in the flat as five o'clock rolled around and David was sitting on the couch eating a sandwich with his second bag of chips since they entered the grocery store earlier. The tv was on and droning something uninteresting but colorful. Kei was gone. Neither he nor Sho knew how but the vampire was gone. And David's stomach wasn't cramping anymore.

"Feel better?" Sho asked as he came from the kitchen, sitting down carefully next to the teen whose mouth was full. David's legs were crossed and he balanced a plate in his lap as he munched on his monstrous sandwich.

He nodded in answer to Sho's question, accepting the can of orange soda he was offered.

"What was that before?" Sho demanded as David swallowed before taking a drink of the soda.

"My body getting pissed at me for not taking care of it," David answered simply, taking a smaller bite of his sandwich.

"You mentioned before about blood and food having to be balanced in your diet. . . Was that it?"

David nodded, chewing thoughtfully. He wondered how he could explain what exactly had happened to Sho.

"Yeah the side effects of not having enough food to. . . carry out the tasks fueled by the blood I drank last night," David answered once he swallowed. He placed his sandwich back onto its plate and set the plate aside, seeing that this would be a difficult conversation to have while eating.

"Food is fuel for the human body right?" David asked rhetorically. "Blood fuels a vampire. My parents were vampires and since vampires are. . . humans with altered DNA- You know how babies are made right? And I'm not talking about the sex aspect of it. Like the scientific way."

Sho nodded. He may not have had schooling but he did have Kei, who had been around for a long time.

"So uhm when you get half your DNA from both your parents, certain traits are recessive and others are dominant, et cetera, et cetera. When vampires have children they pass on the human DNA with traces vampirism in it and when everything comes together the vampiric traits are like one of those genes that are mutually expressed. Like in flowers if you mix red ones with white and you get pink ones. So instead of getting an exclusively human or exclusively vampire child, you get a mix.

"Because of this mix, my body needs the energy and amino acids and nutrients and et cetera that food provides to keep everything functioning. Without food, I'd starve to death except for the fact that I am also part vampire and vampires can't truly die from starvation. So I need blood to keep my vampirism-run . . .goings-ons in my body healthy. Because I'm part vampire, I heal faster and see better and move quicker and live longer and all that other stuff and without blood things like that become severely impaired. But I need food for it all to work. Like at the beach when I started to burn. I'd had the blood to aid in healing it and keeping the burning effect of the sun at bay but without food I didn't have the energy to do it. That's why I got the cramps. . . and why I felt dizzy until I drank the energy drink.

"If I were to ever go without one or the other for too long my body would basically begin shutting down. If I didn't have blood and I was trapped somewhere I couldn't get food I would actually starve to death. It would take a long time and be extremely painful but it would happen. I can survive with only one or the other for a while but it would be a painful, miserable, coma-like existence since my body would be attempting to shut down one way while trying to stay alive another. I'd have no energy and be in all kinds of pain until I was either turned into a vampire or drank copious amounts of blood while eating a whole feast by myself to return me to normal.

"But even then I'd have to have a little bit of . . .will to do that. I'd have to be able to work past the pain or something. At the-" David paused and Sho frowned, knowing David had been about to accidentally reveal some secret but he let it slide in favor of hopefully hearing some solution in case David ever ended up in a position like they'd just barely avoided. ". . .We've found that the easiest thing to do when that happens is just drink another part-vampire's blood. Doing that lessens the pain and gives a window to being able to eat and feed without being curled up because of the vicious pain. Not to mention it's a little boost that can jump you from point-A-hopeless to point-B-eating-feeding."

Sho nodded understandingly.

"Have you ever been there, in that pain?" He asked curiously and David nodded.

"A few times," David said. "Before I knew my other friends I was. . . acquaintances with a couple other part-vampire children who would help me out. Gabe has only ever had to give me blood once."

"Could Kei give you blood too?" Sho inquired hopefully. It'd be a great simple solution if David ever forgot to eat or feed. Or he couldn't for some reason.

But David shook his head, his colorful hair swinging a little.

"Not unless everyone, including myself, decided that I should be a full-fledged vampire. Do you know why a vampire's blood is valuable?" David questioned, looking Sho in the eyes as though the answer to that was grave.

Sho shook his head. He didn't even know vampire blood was valuable. Kei never told him and Sho had almost never even seen Kei bleed.

"It's because vampire blood is what changes a human. The venom injected when a human is bitten is just a prep for the actual change. Vampire venom can mess with the nervous system a great deal when it's in a body, which is why some people can find a vampire bite the worst or best experience they've ever had. What they don't know is that the pain or pleasure they're feeling directly corresponds with how well the venom is preparing their body for change. Pain means the victim probably wouldn't survive being changed because the venom isn't reacting well with their body and pleasure usually means they would, since their body is easily accepting the preparations and letting the venom 'tap into' the nervous system."

"What happens if you don't drink vampire blood after being bitten?"

"The venom is absorbed by and combined with special antibodies that commit suicide once the venom is gone from the body. There have been instances when the antibodies aren't created and the person gets a vamp's blood into their system and turn. There are also cases where the antibodies don't die and a person can never be changed because the antibodies get rid of the vampire blood in the person's system also."

"You make it all sound so scientific. What happened to vampires being mythical creatures and no one knowing how or why they exist?" Sho asked with an incredulous laugh.

"Welcome to the twenty-first century," David said with a wry grin. "But still, technically vampires are still mythical ...and mysterious. There are always surprises and unexplainable things happening."

There was a stretch of silence in which Sho frowned intently at the wall and David eyed his sandwich sadly, wanting to eat it very much. But when Sho showed no signs of opening his mouth again to spew more questions David asked a question of his own.

"Can I eat my sandwich?"

Sho gave a small jerk of surprise and looked at David blankly in confusion. An airy "huh?" left his mouth.

"Can I eat my sandwich now?" David reiterated. "You've been asking a lot of questions that require big answers and I'm hungry and very much tired of talking. So can I eat my sandwich now?"

"Is that a complicated way of asking if I'm done asking questions?" Sho said with a quirked eyebrow that made him look a little cocky.

"Yes."

"Eat your sandwich, dork. I won't bug ya anymore."

"Thank gods!" David exclaimed and pulled his sandwich back onto his lap like Sho had just sent him a godsend or something.

Sho just chuckled and pretended to watch tv while really mulling all the new information on vampires around in his head. He subconsciously wondered about how he might use it against Kei in one of their next arguments.

Sho was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming. He knew because it was one of those dreams that are a lot like life except for the time frame seems just a little off and everything is like a blurry, old video with fading sound.

In his dream he was walking through Mallepa with his hands in his pockets. Completely normal except he was about seventeen and his unbraided hair was longer around his face and his braids had yet to discover the confines of a hair-tie. The sun was hot as always and Sho wasn't wearing his customary jacket, the one he didn't start wearing until he was eighteen, almost a year later. The only shield his torso had against the elements was a fitting, white t-shirt to keep him cool and prevent major sunburn.

He was strolling through the stalls and storefronts of the overtaken side streets too crowded for cars. He had absolutely no cares in the world. And the breeze in his dream was welcome and cool.

Sho spotted a flash of pink and suddenly David was there, jumping onto his back yelling out "Mush" as if Sho were a dog. A younger, teenager Toshi jogged over out of breath from having been chasing David and glanced around curiously.

"Where's Kei?" He asked and Sho saw his mouth moving, knew what he was saying, but didn't actually hear Toshi's voice. Sometimes it was the way of dreams.

He shrugged.

"Hiding maybe, from you," Sho teased and Toshi pouted, turning away with a grumble. David bounced on Sho's back, babbling while knowing no one was paying any attention to him. And they continued walking, Sho now carrying the surprisingly-light teenager.

Hot day turned to cool evening and yet they were still walking. But now it was through a park. A park with a big familiar mural of a woman and trees and kid's toys.

'Isn't that your brother?' Toshi said and even though there was no sound and Sho didn't see his lips move he knew that's exactly what Toshi said.

Sho looked where Toshi was looking and indeed saw his brother. He was sitting at a picnic table with Yi-Che, smoking from a bong while Yi-Che smiled a little awkwardly at him. Toshi raised his hand, ready to call and get Shinji's attention when out of nowhere Kei strolled into the park and Shinji glared at him as he approached.

Kei suddenly grabbed Yi-Che and yanked her head back, sinking his teeth into her neck with the typical allure of a vampire. She gasped and Shinji froze, shocked at what was taking place in front of him.

Soon Yi-Che had fainted and Kei let go of her before turning on Shinji who changed to look like an unfamiliar man, someone Sho didn't know.

Toshi appeared next to Kei and the other man, his mouth moving as no sound escaped before he fainted as Kei practically devoured the other man's mouth in a kiss. David hollered approvingly from a tree, no longer attached to Sho's back. He was a monkey-human now. Sho just knew this.

Suddenly Sho was in the man's place, being kissed by Kei. Except he wasn't really there. His mind was in the man's head. His body was still over by the edge of the park. But yet Sho was the man.

An eruption of tingling in his groin and along his spine made him jolt excitedly against Kei. Kei growled and Sho shivered, feeling Kei's teeth against his tongue.

He opened his eyes, staring unfocused at the clock next to his bed. His heart was thumping furiously in his chest and he tried to recall why. He remembered dreaming and walking in the dream. He remembered Kei biting Yi-Che and then he was kissing Kei.

He groaned in annoyance and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head.

Jaded's after-words: Lame. I know. Fillery, except it explains shit and Sho bonds better with David. Bonding is fun. Admit it. (Random question to be answered if you're bored: If you could, would you?)