Chapter Two

The moon was full and large. The largest he had ever seen it. The books called it a "super moon". Kazahaya couldn't look away from it.

"Nee, Kazahaya?"

He smiled and looked over his shoulder. "Konbanwa, Kei."

His twin took a seat beside him on the grass. He was in pajamas but she was in her usual white kimono. She hadn't gotten ready for bed yet. Her hair was loose and had fallen into her face. "Shouldn't you be in bed, Kazahaya? We have lessons tomorrow."

"But you're here, too," he responded teasingly. He reached out and took her hand in his. "Let's skip the lessons tomorrow, okay? I want to see that lake the crow saw."

Kei giggled softly, and squeezed his hand in response. "You're bad, Kazahaya."

Kazahaya laughed in response and looked towards the moon again. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked instead of answering her.

"Nee, Kazahaya," Kei said suddenly. She tilted her head towards the moon.

"What is it?"

"Who is Kaguya-hime?"

"Kaguya-hime?" Kazahaya's face twisted in confusion. "Isn't she…that's the princess who came to Earth from the moon, right? She was born from a bamboo stalk and lived amongst humans for a long time before going back home. Remember, Kei? The elders taught us that story some time ago."

"The elders were talking about Kaguya-hime today," Kei said.

"Really?" Regardless of her tone, Kazahaya was curious. "Why? Have they forgotten that they already taught us about her?"

"They said WE are Kaguya-hime." Kei's tone was suddenly blunt, and void of curiosity.

"EH?!" Kazahaya exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and standing over her. "They said—b-but that can't be! We can't both be Kaguya-hime! I can't be Kaguya-hime! I'm a boy, Kei!"

Kei giggled. "Well…they didn't actually say that WE were Kaguya-hime. But…But they did say that we were her children."

Kazahaya felt his heart in his throat. He swallowed, but his throat still felt tight. "That…That can't be right, can it?" he whispered. "Kaguya-hime…that was just a story! Kaguya-hime isn't our mom! And we aren't from the moon!"

"Of course we're not!" Kei's giggles turned into full-blown laughter. She hunched forward and her body shook as she laughed. "We're not the children of Kaguya-hime! Only an idiot would believe that!"

Kei's laughter was not reassuring to Kazahaya. His discomfort grew with each passing second. "W…Why do they think we're the children of Kaguya-hime?" he whispered.

Kei's laughter slowly subsided, and she wiped away her tears of laughter with both hands. "I don't know. But we're not."

"We're not?"

"No, Kazahaya." Kei tossed her head back and looked up at him. She was smiling, but her eyes were cold. "We're more frightening than that."

They both felt it immediately, but it impacted Hisui more harshly, like a bolt of electricity had shocked his body. His gasped, he vision vibrated violently, and he began free-falling in the night sky.

"HISUI!" Kokuyo swept down, beating his wings to catch up to the former Archangel before he hit the ground. Thankfully Kokuyo caught him in time and clung to him tight in his arms. "Are you all right?!"

Hisui struggled to catch his breath, burying his face into Kokuyo's chest. "We…How…What happened?"

"Our shields were penetrated," Kokuyo rasped. He glared over his shoulder in the direction that they came. Tokyo was on the horizon behind them. "But it's impossible! How could they break our shields?!"

Hisui slid his arms around Kokuyo's shoulders. "…They are strong," he said, his tone surprisingly calm. "We should have expected it, though. After all…they were strong enough to hide Tsukiko-san from the Archangel of Wind…and the son of Satan."

"Damn!" Kokuyo cursed, shaking his head furiously. He looked down at Hisui in his arms. "Are you okay to fly?" he asked, naturally softening his tone.

"I will be all right. I was just taken by surprise is all." Hisui was reluctant to leave his arms, but not because he wasn't confident in the strength of his wings. He always found too much enjoyment out of being held by Kokuyo. But he slid away and tested his wings, floating beside his lover with slight unsteadiness. "I'm okay," he reassured Kokuyo. "But we…we need to go back."

"Yeah," Kokuyo said. He looked towards the horizon. "We were so close…we nearly had her!"

"I know," Hisui said quietly. "But we need to protect those boys. It is our duty."

Kokuyo nodded and raised his hand and sniffed at it. "We need to know how—"

His voice abruptly died in his throat, and he snapped his teeth shut. "Kokuyo?" Hisui asked hesitantly.

"I know how they penetrated the shield," Kokuyo snarled. "They used Rikuou."

Rikuou had seen many crazy things in his life, but seeing a headless crow sitting beside them cawing at them was beyond weird and unnerving. The crow stopped for a moment, and abruptly shook itself off. Rikuou quickly realized that the crow was wet, and specks of fluid splashed onto the ground and onto them. Rikuou glanced down and saw that the fluid had hit his bandages. The fluid was red.

Red?

Kazahaya sat frozen, a small noise rumbling in his throat. The headless crow began cawing again, but Rikuou looked at the dark droplets of fluid on the floor. He reached out and smeared it with the tip of his finger. It left a small smear of red on the floor.

Blood.

The realization hit Rikuou swiftly and he retracted his hand, quickly scrubbing his fingers on his pants. He looked at the headless crow again as the fear inside of him quickly rose. The bird…it's covered in blood! But whose blood?!

It was then that Kazahaya screamed. The sound was full of fright, panic, and pain. It was a sound that ripped straight through Rikuou and shook him to the core. He looked towards Kazahaya, only to see the other young man scrambling across the floor on all fours towards the door still screaming. At the threshold he launched himself to his feet and burst out of their apartment and outside, not even putting on his shoes.

Rikuou sat there stunned for a moment. Beside him, the headless crow took flight and flew after Kazahaya.

I know that Hisui is genderless in canon, but I'm using male pronouns for Hisui in this fanfic because Kakei is a man. Kokuyo is referenced with male pronouns anyway in canon, so no change there.