After night had fallen, Tekeshi and Utsuki lay in bed. Despite how hardy she had become, Utsuki was still sore enough to not want to go for another round at that point. Which wasn't any issue, they were both a little self-conscious now that their hormones weren't at a fever pitch. Utsuki was enjoying the contact though, and listening to the even breathing of the vampire she was laying next to as he slept.
She couldn't help but put her hand up on his chest, and look at how small it looked resting on his pectoral muscle. Utsuki was tall and lean like her mother, but she was so short when she stood next to Tekeshi. Of all the girls around him, she was the tallest. He made her feel more normal.
Snuggling down into his side, she enjoyed how cool he felt, rather than being warm. If she had to die, she would rather it be next to him like this, peaceful and content. She didn't look forward to the morning when she would have to move. Life went on though, and the sun would go down again.
"Lovely Mistress, are you awake," a voice whispered in her ear.
Utsuki scrunched her nose in irritation, "I am. What do you want Deesseedra?"
"Can we talk. I know it is late, and, you are enjoying your position. I just, need to talk," the demon didn't sound quite like herself, which made Utsuki take notice.
"Give me a second to put something on, I don't have your relationship with nudity."
Utsuki slipped out of bed, and pulled on a yukata, and a overcoat. She took a second to look back at Tekeshi before she slipped through the entrance of the tent. She walked toward the edge of their camp, which was on the edge of the larger war camp, feeling that Deesseedra most likely would want privacy for what she had to say.
As she reached a copse of dead and fallen trees, Deesseedra formed to sit on a fallen log. It was strange to Utsuki. Deesseedra still didn't wear much beyond underwear most of the time, unless she was around others beside Tekeshi and Utsuki, and right now, she was fully dressed. This made the girl think that whatever the subject, it was a serious thing.
"Lovely Mistress, would you sit down? It may take me a moment to figure out just how to say this," Deesseedra didn't look back at Utsuki as she spoke.
"Yeah, sure," she replied as she sat down next to the demon.
For a few minutes, they just sat in silence until Deesseedra finally broke it, "Lovely Mistress, I don't know how to deal with this emotion stuff."
"I don't understand," Utsuki replied to her.
"I haven't felt anything like this before. I haven't felt before. I don't know how to, function like this. I can't make sense of anything that is going on inside my head anymore. I, am so lost, and there are things that I don't know that I can want, without it causing problems for us," Deesseedra started breathing hard as she spoke.
"Calm down, just speak. I am here for you," she leaned over to hug her partner.
"I, I, I think I am in love with Delicious Bloodsucker."
Utsuki sat in silence for a moment, before she started giggling, "That kind of makes sense."
"Lovely Mistress," Deesseedra turned her head, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.
"Deesseedra, we share a part of our souls. I think that Tekeshi is no doubt, my soulmate. Which would mean, that he would be yours as well. It's kinda funny the timing of you having these feelings. Still, I'm not mad or anything, don't worry about it. It, isn't a good time to try to figure out how we will handle all this. It's fine," Utsuki smiled as she tightened her hug.
"I, didn't really expect that. I thought that you would be really jealous of him. I don't know if I am feeling surprise, or relief. Lovely Mistress, what is fear, to you?"
"Fear," Utsuki had to think about it for a few minutes before she could answer, "That is a hard one for me to explain. It is, like a coldness. A coldness that threatens to swallow me, and crush my soul. For a long time, it was the thing I was most familiar with. It wasn't necessarily a fear of anything like what is coming, it was of how people saw me. What the next day would bring. If I would be able to live with myself much longer. Some things, like what the next day holds, still hold a little fear for me. But with everyone around me, with Tekeshi, and with you, I don't have to feel like that anymore."
"Lovely Mistress, I am afraid of you dying. I am afraid of Annoying Older Bloodsucker, and Glamorous Bloodsucker dying. Of loosing the cold ones, and the slut. The little witch, and the humans. I don't care about my own life. I don't even understand self preservation. I never had to. I fear for everyone that has become so important to me. I, don't want to cause the Callous Mother, and the Short Father grief," tears streamed down the demon's cheeks as she talked, the emotions starting to make a little sense as she talked with the other half of her soul.
Utsuki sat and held her. She had always felt emotion, so this wasn't something that she could really relate to. She did know that she hadn't had anyone to do the same for her in the past, and she wasn't going to let Deesseedra go through this alone. She would never let her go through anything alone.
"Are you feeling better," she asked when Deesseedra's tears started to slow.
"A little. Having someone to talk to, seems to help. Thank you. How do you humans and yokai live like this every day. I, almost can't keep my brain calm enough to have my own thoughts. This, love, is so hard to deal with even compared to the fear."
Utsuki giggled again, "What you you like about Tekeshi?"
"Delicious Bloodsucker? Part of it is his ferocity. How, whenever he feels that one of his people is threatened, he will confront it head on, and deal with it. He won't let anyone harm you, his cousins, or his aunts. He smiles whenever things seem darkest, and never lets anyone have a chance to feel like things are lost. He can cook, I mean, even I know that men that can cook are hot. Should I even mention his looks? I think that goes without saying. And there is...," she trailed off.
"Go on, I can't find anything to disagree with yet," Utsuki smiled as she listened.
"His heart. He always treats people, like they are people. Even those he fights against, he never demeans them. He will insult them, and deride them, but he never treats them as less than a person. When he fought the fox, he didn't just kill him, he gave him a chance to, repent. He didn't tell you to leave him alone, and to let him die in pain, and afraid. He let you heal him, and talk to him. Whether it had any effect, he never stopped you from giving his enemy a great kindness. Even when he straight up hated me, he, never treated me like I was beneath him," Deesseedra had to look down as her cheeks reddened.
"His heart, is the best part of him. I am surprised you haven't said anything that would make you sound like your usual horn-ball self," she joked a little, wanting her other half to smile a little.
"He is, yours. I can't get in between you. Lovely Mistress, you are like my sister. I said before I am still working on understanding that, but..." Utsuki put her finger on the demon's mouth.
She let her smile fade a little, "You aren't my sister. You are half of me. You know what, after all of this, he is as much yours, as he is mine. If he has a problem with that, then tough for him. He either will have all of me, or none."
"Lovely Mistress, I... Are you really sure about this? This isn't some man you are just toying with. You gave this man, your first taste of womanhood, something that only one man can ever have. You gave him your heart, and pledged your soul to him. I don't want to do anything that will ever cause problems for either of you," tears started to flow from her eyes again as Deesseedra wrapped her arms around Utsuki and gave her a hug in return.
A short distant away, Tekeshi listened to them. He tried to think of a reason why Utsuki's decision wasn't right, but he couldn't. She was right, Deesseedra was as much a part of who Utsuki was, as her own skin. How could he have Utsuki, without Deesseedra. Just the awkward thought of them having private time, and her saying something outlandish and perverted from the corner of the room made him wonder. They couldn't be separated.
So, he resigned himself to a fate that many men would have dreamed of. He was going to have two smoking hot chicks for the rest of his, extremely long, life. His snickered to himself as the thought cemented himself. He also wondered how his mother was going to take it, actually his father might be the one who would have objections.
He turned and started walking. He didn't need to clear his head, he just felt like it. The night was his natural environment, even if the day wasn't more than a major annoyance to vampires. He looked at the stars as he walked. For probably the first time he could remember, he didn't have any thoughts. His mind was completely peaceful.
"Would you mind company," the voice of his grandfather disturbed his peace.
He sighed, "Do I have a choice in whether I have it or not?"
"You do. I am your grandfather, not your master. I, would enjoy a chance to talk with you, and learn who you are, personally," Issa said as he fell in beside him.
"You seemed to have a good handle on who I am yesterday. What more could you want to know," he didn't look at the older man.
"I know what I could see, not who you are. I know that you haven't developed a, high opinion of me. Maybe, it is deserved, but why I left to act as the head of your father's spies, was important."
Tekeshi shrugged, "Do I look like I particularly care about your reasons? The only thing I ever known of you, were pictures, and stories that Mom and my aunts told me. You want to just show up and be some kind of big bad bastard that everyone is supposed to love? Go screw yourself. I don't care about knowing a damn thing about you, and I don't particularly care about you knowing any more about me than you do. The only reason I haven't started trying to cave your head in, is that my mother is happy that you are around."
"I admire the confidence that you have, that you would be able to do so. Why don't you set down that sword, and back up those words. Fight with your hands, like a true vampire," Issa stopped and put forth a challenge.
Tekeshi stopped and turned toward the man, "No. I don't have the time for this. I don't have time for both of us to level this place. You think you are big and bad? Good, self-confidence is a good thing. I don't care. I don't care about the whole vampire custom shit. I quit caring months ago, because I have something, that gives me a reason to live my life. Being a vampire never did. I love my family. They have always been there when they could be, but you. You want to come into my life, you are going to have to give me a reason to let you in. So until you can, go screw yourself."
Issa should have been angry, but he was shocked at this. He was over three hundred years old, and had never heard another vampire speak as such. To not care about what you were, was ridiculous. As the shock faded, his anger then began to flare. With that, he flared up his yoki in an attempt to intimidate him into backing down.
"Are you done with your temper tantrum? Because I have things I need to think about, and you are getting in the way of that," Tekeshi was unfazed.
"You, don't even seem to notice... You are, something different than I have ever seen. You have my respect. I can see why that girl seems to have such strong feelings for you. Not to mention you have managed to make a completely emotionless demon fall for you. You make your entire line proud with such an act," Issa accepted a kind of defeat.
"Don't call Deesseedra that. I don't care what she started out as, because she is becoming so much more than that. Try to push me, and this sword, will be tickling your spleen. You are really trying your best to make me give my mother another reason to cry," Tekeshi turned on his heel and walked away.
Issa took a deep breath and looked at the boy. No, he couldn't call him a boy. He was probably more of a man than he would ever be. He wouldn't have been able to walk away from that. He would have taken the life of any man who talked to him like he had talked to his grandson. Maybe the traditions that he upheld, had run their course.
Looking to the stars he thought back to the smiling face of Akasha. She would have been proud of Tekeshi. He truly didn't care about what he was, he cared more about others. Yes, it was time to let the rule of power that vampires enjoyed end, and let a new age start. He just didn't know if he would be strong enough to stand like this mere blip of a child had, against someone his age.
"Father? What could have possibly made him that angry right now," Akua had been sitting with Moka and Kokoa, attempting to figure out a jigsaw puzzle.
Kokoa looked in the direction that the feeling had come from, "Isn't that Tekeshi's camp in that direction?"
"I think so. Moka, should one of us go check to see what is going on," Akua asked as she noticed her sister looking at one of the pieces that seemed like it should have fit, but was just a little off.
"I don't think that interrupting him and Tekeshi as they get to know each other is really proper. Why did we decide to bring one of these into a warzone? I mean, this isn't really that relaxing," she said, annoyed at the solid color piece.
"Wait, you think that is them getting to know each other? Oh no, if we were home, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but we don't need a full scale war, in the middle of a full scale war,"Akua threw her hands up in exasperation.
Kokoa looked over, "How would Tekeshi even make Father, Father, that mad? I mean, he isn't really that much of a vampire as things go. Maybe he refused to fight him or something?"
"Tekeshi has always been able to grind on a person's nerve. I should know better than anyone, I spent eight hours pushing hid head out of my crotch. Trust me, if either of you ever have children, you will really understand. Oh, I see why it doesn't, this piece needs a little bit bigger nub," Moka smirked as she reached for a glass of wine next to her.