1. Hajimari
"Fuck being a princess. I want to be a vampire."
She sat with one leg crossed over the other. She wore triple high top Converse sneakers with fishnet stockings and a pink and black skirt that she got from Hot Topic, along with a Bloody Gir shirt she had made herself. Her hair was shoulder length, because she couldn't stand having long hair, and dark pink highlights ran through her straight brown hair. Her shockingly clear blue eyes glared at her older sister, Miname.
Her name was Kairi.
This was a daily routine. Kairi, Miname, and Miharu were part of a royal family that was pretty strict and big on raising proper, smart and loyal girls. Miharu and Miname were twins and had been raised in that manner their entire life, seventeen years so far. They were taught how to speak and act as a true princess would. And of course, being the little angels that they were, they obeyed and did whatever they were told.
Then there was Kairi.
At the age of fifteen, Kairi was anything but normal. When she was younger, she ripped the heads off of dolls. Her dresses always mysteriously ended up being splattered with black or red paint. Manners? Non existent. Ladylike? Not in the least.
Now Miname stood in front of her and sighed hopelessly. Kairi always behaved like this, so by now the statement that had just been emitted from the girl's mouth was nothing new. As a matter of fact, it was something Kairi said every morning when asked to get dressed in a nice, pretty, clean dress as opposed to the, er, disturbing clothing that she wore.
"Please. Why won't you just put on a dress?" the seventeen-year-old asked, already knowing the answer and mouthing it out with her lips as her sister answered.
"Because it's stupid."
"This bullshit again?" The voice belonged to Miharu. The twin walked into Kairi's bedroom and stood next to Miname. Miharu was the stricter of the twins. Both girls had waist-length red hair and ruby-red eyes. Miname always wore a pink ribbon in her hair.
Kairi popped a piece of gum into her mouth and started to listen to her iPod. She wouldn't even have to pretend not to care, because honestly, she didn't. All she wanted was to listen to music and live as she pleased. She certainly didn't want to be stuck in a sweaty dress and try to find her prince charming. Music was her boyfriend.
Miharu yanked an earpiece from Kairi's right ear and used a soft but strict voice. "Fine. Don't dress up. But you'll never amount to anything like this."
The younger of the girls put her music back on. Same speech every morning, but it never got anywhere. Blah, blah, blah, failure, loser, hopeless, blah-fuckity-blah. She turned the music up a little louder.
Annoyed, the twins left the room. Once they stood outside, Miname turned to her sister.
"It really bothers me when she says she wants to be a vampire. You don't really think she wants that, do you?" she asked, not bothering to lower her voice since Kairi couldn't hear them over her insanely loud music.
Miharu rolled her eyes. "Who cares? We have to worry about ourselves at this point. If this war continues any longer, I'm not sure what I'll do."
---
Overwhelmed with boredom, Lucia sat with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. She brought one knee up to meet with her chest and had the other leg flat on the ground. The room was freezing cold, but she remained still. She'd gotten used to it by now to the point where she'd gotten used to it.
Her two brothers, Hikaru and Shunsuke, were in the room with her, talking intensely about the ongoing war between the vampires and the royal family that lived not too far from them. Lucia's sister, Erika, wasn't presently with them. Lucia wondered why the boys had made her sit there with them. She wasn't doing anything, nor was she concerned about the war in the least. She was just waiting for it to be done and over with. Slowly, she ran her tongue over her fangs.
"Lucia. Pay attention," Hikaru demanded.
The only girl in the room opened one eye slowly to look at him. Her eyes were blood-red; beautiful and stunning. "All you're talking about is the dumb war."
Hikaru took a fear-inspiring step towards his fifteen-year-old sister. "It's not dumb. Our family is at risk here, and the future as well."
"I'm not part of the future."
"You're living it." Hikaru glared at his sister before sitting down between her and Shunsuke. "You're going to be fighting in the war, Lucia."
This time Lucia sat up, but only to get comfortable. "No thanks."
This time it was Shunsuke's turn to speak up. "Actually, little sis, you really are. I have to as well."
The brunette girl groaned. "I don't see why I have to take part in finishing something that Erika-"
"Lucia!" Hikaru shouted, gaining silence from the girl. He took a deep breath before speaking once more. "You're fighting. That's that."
Lucia sighed and rested her head back against the wall in defeat. Why bother arguing? "Fine."
She could fight and get this stupid war over with. How bad could it be?
---
Being in her room and being tuned into her iPod was like being in her own world. On the outside, she was a girl who wore pink and black and looked like she would probably have fun killing you. On the inside, Kairi was a daydreamer- though she was sure she might have fun killing someone, anyway. Still, most of her time was spent listening to music and staring out her window, wishing that maybe she could go somewhere else, see new places, and do new things.
And maybe even fall in love.
Kairi shook her head at the thought. Was she stupid? What did she need love for? She'd gotten her heart broken enough times to know that she could completely live without it, and that was what she intended to do.
Ridden with boredom, she stood up and decided to go outside. It was a beautiful day outside, the kind of weather that made Kairi wonder why she hadn't been outside earlier. The land outside of the castle was amazing, but it was sort of empty. A lot of the residents had gone off to fight in the war. A few kids were around now, goofing and playing around with sticks as swords. Kairi recognized them as Kota and Ishizeki, two boys who were always whining about wanting to go to the war, but of course, were too young. Their older brother, Yukki, who was Kairi's age, was standing watch of them nearby. He grinned as she walked by.
"Hey, freak! Doesn't it sizzle when you walk out in the sunlight?" he called out to her.
She rolled her bright blue eyes. "Get a life, loser. Don't you have some babysitting to do, Nanny Jo?"
She walked off as Yukki opened his mouth to speak, but refrained from doing so with his younger brothers around.
Kairi walked around another corner and was met with the twins practicing archery. Miname was struggling, per usual, and Miharu kept having to stop every few minutes to help her. Kairi always pretended she had no interest in archery and that she was absolutely no good at it, but in truth, she sometimes snuck out at night to practice. She was actually pretty good.
Her cousin, Hidemi, was outside as well. Hidemi had the same taste in clothing that Kairi had, and the two got along extremely well. Being the same age as the twins, Hidemi loved to poke fun at them, usually resulting in fights with Miharu. Well, they were more like arguments, because Miharu was a "ladylike princess" and would never resort to fistfights. Kairi always wondered if that would change since she was fighting in the war, but it never seemed to be any different.
"Hey, Kai. Nice outfit," Hidemi commented upon seeing her younger cousin.
"Same to you." Hidemi was wearing a dress as she was told, but she ripped it at the bottom so that it was not only shorter, but looked a lot more punk. She had added dirty handprints all over it. "But your mom is going to kill you."
Hidemi shrugged. "I don't care. I look awesome."
Kairi had to agree there. Hidemi had big brown eyes and long brown hair that went down to her waist. She was certainly taller than her, and wore glasses that she peered down at you with. Kairi wondered why she never considered modeling. Then again, it wouldn't be princess-like, it would be more of girl-looking-to-get-laid-like. At least, that was how the family saw it.
The two girls stood around and watched the twins practice archery. Hidemi seemed to like it as well, and as much as Kairi did.
"I'm not so sure I'd be good at it, though," she laughed. "I'd probably shoot somebody in the ass."
The blue-eyed girl laughed along with the older one. She wouldn't be too surprised if she actually did.
Just then, Miname looked over at the two of them and smiled. "You want to try, Hidemi?"
Hidemi blinked, then stepped forward. "Yeah, why not."
Miharu inched over. "I don't want to lose an eye."
"Very funny. Get the arrow out of your ass, please." Hidemi then ignored the annoying twin beside her and shot the arrow. It completely missed the target that the girls had been shooting at and landed in the forest.
Kairi laughed. "Nice shot. I'll go get the arrow."
She could hear her cousin laughing as she walked towards the forest. "Thanks, bitch."
It actually wasn't too far off. Hidemi hadn't shot that far. It was only a few feet into the forest when she discovered the arrow lying there on the ground. She laughed to herself, thinking about what Miharu would look like with Hidemi's arrow stuck in her ass or something.
As she bent over to pick it up, Kairi could have sworn she heard some leaves rustling nearby. Maybe it's one of the girls, she thought to herself. She had just gotten her hands around the object when this time she heard a voice.
"Word of advice-next time get down to the ground instead of bending over. I can see your panties."
Kairi stood up, flustered. Who the hell was that? She looked around frantically, trying to locate the source of the wise-cracked voice. As she did, she thought she saw a flash of red eyes disappearing behind an old tree. When she ran to the old tree, she saw that nobody was there.
"What's taking you so long, Kai?" This time it was Hidemi's voice calling out to her.
Catching her breath again, the blue-eyed girl made it back over to the girls and returned the arrow.
"What were you doing? Carving your initials into a tree with the arrow?" her older cousin questioned.
Kairi shook her head. "No, I heard a voice."
"Oh....God?"
The younger rolled her eyes. "No, not God. It was a girl's voice...but I don't know who it belonged to."
"Oh. You had a revelation?"
"Hidemi. Shut up."
That night, Kairi was awake in bed, trying to fall asleep, but failing miserably. All she could think about was what she had heard earlier that day. Who was that? It didn't sound like anybody from the castle.
Finally, she gave up on thinking about it and decided to focus on sleep.
Who cares, anyway? she thought to herself. I just need some rest.
Within a few minutes, Kairi fell into her slumber. It was going to be the last time she would sleep normally.
2. Shoukai
Lucia stared up at the sky blankly. She could see a few stars twinkling through the trees. She stood in the forest with her arms crossed and one leg hiked up against the tree she was leaning on. It was mostly dark in there. There were so many trees that it was shaded and dark even during the day.
It had been days since Hikaru's orders for Lucia to fight in the war. Since then, she had kept refusing, saying it was going to be a waste of her time. Finally, Shunsuke told her she was going to be a spy for the time being. She started the day before, spying on the castle belonging to the humans. It was boring, but it was better than fighting.
Suddenly something caught her eye. A girl was wandering around the castle. She made her way to the arrows where Lucia watched two twin girls practice archery the previous day. She picked one up delicately and shot it at the target. A perfect hit. Lucia stepped closer and examined her meticulously. She had short brown hair to her shoulders, and she was wearing a long white nightgown where you could barely see her feet, so that when she walked, she glided. The thing that stood out the most about this girl was her big blue eyes that were crystal clear in the night.
Lucia watched her shoot another arrow. Another perfect hit. The more she watched her, the more entranced she became. Who was she? She stepped forward to get another closer look. The leaves beneath her feet rustled. The noise startled the girl and she accidentally shot the arrow into the forest. It landed a few away from Lucia.
Shit! she thought to herself. I'd better get out of here.
With that, she took off before she could get one more glance at the mysterious girl.
When she returned home to her mansion, Shunsuke was awake, sitting in the living room and reading some book with the lights off. She didn't bother telling him he'd strain his eyes; she knew that they had perfect vision in the dark.
Shunsuke looked up from his book. "Spying again?"
Lucia nodded. "Yeah."
"Anything good?" He pulled the book back up to his eye level, obviously not expecting a good answer from his younger sister.
"A girl. I mean, I saw a girl, that's all. She was shooting arrows."
He didn't answer in words, only a "Hm."
Lucia stared down at the floor. "She was pretty."
"Hm."
"Pretty?" another voice chimed. Lucia looked up to see Erika, her older sister, the oldest of her and her brothers. She was tall, with long black hair all down her back and bright red eyes with a tint of black in them.
Erika scoffed. "You make me sick sometimes, you know that, Lucia?"
"What did I do?" the younger girl defended.
"Don't get too close to the humans," Erika spat. She turned and left the room. "Or you'll regret it."
---
Kairi sat in the shade, drawing peacefully in her sketchpad. Miname was shooting arrows once again, but Miharu was fighting with Hidemi. It didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary for Kairi, just another typical day. The sunlight was amazingly bright that day, making it not only a beautiful day but quite a peaceful one. Other than the screaming girls a few yards away, it was actually quiet, except for the birds singing as they flew about in the air.
Kairi put down her colored pencil and gazed admiringly at her finished piece of work. She wasn't much of an artist, but she did try her best most of the time. The rest of the time she was too lazy and just scribbled lines onto the page until she was satisfied with her pitiful-ness.
"What'cha got there?" a voice asked from seemingly nowhere. The blue-eyed teen looked up to see Yukki peeking out from behind the tree. She hugged her drawing pad closer to her chest and put in an angry face.
"Go away, Yukki," she ordered, annoyed already by his presence. She turned back the other way, hoping he would go away if she ignored him. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case this time.
A hand reached out and grabbed the drawing pad from the girl's hands.
"Hey!" Kairi shrieked. "Give that back!"
Yukki just took a step back and stared at the drawing on the page. Kairi stared into his eyes, knowing exactly what he was looking at. It was burned into her memory already-a girl in a white gown standing in the moonlight. She had both hands held out together, as if she was offering something, though her hands were empty. Up in the sky, two big red eyes stared down at her.
"She looks like you," Yukki commented.
Kairi softened up a bit. "Oh, uh, yeah, I guess she does..."
A grin grew on the boy's face as he kneeled down to the girl's level, to the point where he was inches away from her face. "She's very pretty, though it might have been nicer if she were naked."
Realizing there was a blush on her face from the distance between their lips, Kairi blinked a few times and screamed at herself in her mind. "Ew! Get a grip, Kai! This is Yukki!"
"You perv!" she exclaimed, pushing him so he fell over on his ass.
"Ouch!" he complained, sitting up and staring at her, annoyed.
For a moment, there was silence between the two of them. Kairi stared at the boy who sat in front of her, examining him from head to toe. He actually wasn't bad looking. He had black eyes and black hair, which was kind of spiked, but kept in under a hat most of the time. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a jerk, he would be really cute. But of course, the cute ones were always the assholes. She had learned that so many times before, and she wasn't going to fall for it again. Besides, she had known Yukki her whole life, and she knew that they were right for each other only in the sense that put in a room alone together, they could blow the place up in five minutes. Maybe people could hire the two of them to demolish buildings.
Suddenly, he smiled, chuckled to himself a little and walked away. Kairi tried to shake off the blush. "Freak," she murmured to herself as she watched him leave.
---
As Lucia walked around the forest, she wondered why she was even outside on such a sunny day. Sure, the forest was shady, but she still didn't like to be in the light. The light wasn't going to hurt her at all in the least, but she really disliked it so much that she tried her best not to be in it much. Just why was she spying anyway? She never really saw much, and she could have easily just snuck around the forest and sat in a tree or something. She didn't have to do as she was told.
So why was she out there again?
She felt the answer creeping up her throat, but she tried to swallow it back down. As much as she didn't want to admit it for some reason, she knew she just wanted to see the girl she had seen the night before. She wasn't too sure that it was likely, but maybe, just maybe...
"AH! Why do I care anyway?" Lucia asked herself aloud, then remembered that she had to remain silent. She moved along the trees and leaves and broken branches until she could finally see the castle. The twin girls were there, along with the girl who had no hope in a career involving arrows, and the girl who had flashed her underwear by accident. This time, she was staring down at a drawing pad that she held on her lap. At least she has her legs closed, the young vampire joked in her mind.
But as she watched, she started to feel her heart beating faster. It was like her heart was about to erupt in her chest.
What the hell? What's wrong with me? Lucia's thought were going insane in her mind. She moved a bit closer, staring intently at the girl sitting against the tree. What was it about her that was so familiar?
All of a sudden, the girl looked up. Lucia stepped back to withdraw into the shadows. But she wasn't looking at her. She was staring into blank space somewhere in the clouds. Assured, the red-eyed girl stepped forward again, this time seeing something she hadn't noticed before.
Those big blue eyes. There were shining and beautiful and she couldn't look away from them. The blue...the same blue she had seen the night before.
"No way!" Lucia said to herself, walking backwards a few steps. She almost tripped over a broken tree branch. "The girl who friggin' flashed me her underwear- though it wasn't necessarily on purpose- is the same girl who I saw last night!?"
Dumbfounded, she stared at her a bit more. She had barely recognized those entrancing eyes with the eyeliner she was wearing. And somehow, she looked different now.
The girl she had seen in the forest a few days ago looked like she was bored with her life. She had looked like she wanted to crawl away in a hole for the rest of her life, unless something amazing was to come and take her away. She looked unhappy.
The girl she saw the previous night had freedom in her eyes. She had adventure swimming in them. She looked amazing.
And the girl she was gazing at now had something else in her eyes...hope.
As Lucia thought this, the girl smiled. It was almost like a trigger, the way her lips curled up when the word "hope" crossed the vampire's mind.
Lucia smiled as she thought to herself¸ She sure is pretty when she smiles.
---
There was to be no sleep that night. It was one of those nights where Kairi probably couldn't sleep even if she took all the sleeping pills in the world. No, tonight, she would be going out.
The moon outside was so big and beautiful in the vast dark blue sky. Kairi almost wanted to lie down in the grass and fall asleep there under the moonlight.
As she picked up an arrow, she thought she heard a noise somewhere nearby. She had never been one to be brave, though she tried to at least look like she was. She whirled around and saw nobody near. Her eyes scanned the area she had had her back to before, though there wasn't much to look at. After all, it was just the castle wall.
Calm down, Kai, she thought to herself. It was probably just your nightgown brushing against the grass, so you can just- DAMMIT! I just remembered...I'm wearing my shorter nightgown tonight...it can't be that...
Still, she had to be calm. She inhaled a big, fresh breath of air and turned back around, only to be met with big black eyes and a huge grin. She gasped, and a hand flew over her mouth. She felt herself being pushed back, and suddenly the castle wall was behind her. She was completely pinned to the wall. She opened her eyes, which she had shut in fear before, to view her attacker.
Yukki!?
"Hi, love," he whispered softly and menacingly at once. She tried to scream at him a couple of times, but all the came out were muffled failures. He laughed at her softly.
"No, no," he said softly, extremely close to her ear. "You have to be quiet, or else we can't be together."
"Together?" a muffled response came from the hand.
"Oh please, Kairi. It's so obvious how much you really want me."
Oh, that's sick! she thought to herself, gagging in her mind. Of all people, why would it be Yukki?
"Oh, how sweet!" he purred. "You wore a shorter nightgown tonight- for me! Oh, you shouldn't have!"
She tried to scream again as she felt his hand slinking up her leg until one finger started to pull at her underwear. "But I'm glad you did."
Another muffled scream. It was useless.
This can't happen to me!
"Hands off the girl!" Kairi snapped her eyes open to see another figure behind Yukki. Those red eyes!
The girl's voice was one that was meant to send warning to the attacker, but he only grinned, not bothering to turn around and look at the girl. "Why should I? We're having a good time."
This time, the other girl's voice lowered and became angrier. "I said get away from her."
A hand flew up to Yukki's shoulder. With an amazing grip, she picked him up and flung him down to the ground with enormous force. Yukki cried out, stared at the two of them, and scampered off, cursing underneath his breath as he did.
Kairi had to take a moment to catch her breath. She stared at the other girl in front of her, captivated by her gorgeous red eyes. She could see the girl's expression go from a serious one to a smile. The same hand that had been used to throw Yukki to the ground went up to Kairi's cheek and caressed it gently. The other girl leaned forward, so that her face was right beside Kairi's ear. Kairi could feel the girl's breath on her neck and her earlobe. Then came a whisper:
"Nobody's going to hurt my moonlight beauty."
Stunned, the blue-eyed girl stood still. The other girl brought herself back in front of Kairi, inches away from her face. "My name is Lucia. I guess I'll be seeing you, then."
And with a blink of an eye, she was gone.
3. Namae
"Do you want to play with me, Miharu?" the young girl asked. She tugged at Miharu's dress, hoping that her sister would want to play with her.
"I'm in training to be a proper princess," the girl answered back to her.
The younger figure scampered over to the twin in the room. "Miname! Play with me, please!"
Miname looked at her sympathetically and smiled down at the small girl. "I'm sorry. But I can't play with you right now."
Sad and lonely, the little girl walked off, wondering who she could play with. As she heard a cry from another room in the castle, she walked into the room and let her eyes wander, looking for the source of the noise. She fixed her eyes on the girl in the room, who was only a year older than her at the age of six, who was tugging at her dress unhappily. "Daddy! I don't want to wear it, Daddy!" she was saying.
The smallest girl ran up to the older one and put on as big of a smile as she could. "Kairi, do you want to play with me?"
Kairi turned to the small child and put her hands on her hips. "No way! I don't play any stupid fairy princess games with you!"
"Kairi!" her father scolded, but it was too late. The girl could already feel tears forming in her eyes. She felt her father's arms wrap around her to pick her up and hold her close, as if he was her own bodyguard, ready to protect her from anything, including mean little girls.
"It's okay," he assured. "Everything will be okay, Fu-"
Kairi sat up in bed, practically flying out of her own dream. She'd been having the same dream all night. It'd been an extremely long night since she'd gone back into her room after the incident with that Lucia girl. In her numerous attempts at sleeping, she'd have the same dream and wake up again. The odd thing was, Kairi felt like she remembered seeing that scene before. She felt as though she'd lived it before. Then again, maybe her imagination was just going crazy.
But...why did she always wake up before her father ever finished the girl's name?
Kairi lowered her eyes to her blanket. Her father. She sure missed him a lot. Sometimes at night, to get herself to try to fall asleep, she would try to remember what he looked like. She tried to map out the details of his face, the way his lips curled up when he smiled, the way he laughed, the very manner in which he spoke...but she never got any results. She always got a splitting headache and a pain in her heart that made her stop. She knew one thing for sure, though.
His death was the start of this war that they'd been in for nine years now.
---
Kairi dreaded leaving the castle that day.
When she woke up for the thousandth time that night, it was already morning. She hadn't gotten a good sleep, and had decided to stay in bed, hidden among all the covers and blocked out from the world. Sometime during the time that she was enjoying her slumber, Hidemi had come into the room and left a note on her nightstand, which read:
"Kai-
Get your ass outside! It's frickin' gorgeous! You need air!
-Hidemi"
By now, Kairi knew to just listen to Hidemi, or else she might torture. Her cousin didn't torture with any chains or whips or anything else like that, noooo, she screamed in your ears until you listened to her. She was amazingly random.
When the teen had looked out the window to see what kind of clothing she should wear that day, she groaned. It was gorgeous outside. This could only mean one thing-everyone was outside, and that included Yukki. How could she go outside and face the guy who had been on the verge of raping her the night before?
She decided to play it safe that day and wear her pink Paramore shirt with a pair of ripped jeans.
As she made her way around the castle, Kairi's eyes inspected everything around her carefully as she walked. She wasn't going to let him pop up out of nowhere. Still sort of paranoid, she started to run until she reached the back of the castle, the side facing the forest, where she had been attacked the night before. To her shock, nobody was there. There was no sign of the twins or Hidemi.
She sighed. Where the hell was her stupid cousin?
"You've got a lot of nerve, you know that!?"
Kairi whirled around, only to find herself face-to-face with Yukki once again. Her heart froze, and she sucked in a deep breath. Clenching her fists tight, though, she promised herself that she wasn't going to be so weak this time. She was going to fight.
"Sending for help like that? I was going to have fun, too!" Yukki continued.
"I didn't send for her!" she defended. "Where did you see me call for help during the time you pinned me to the wall with one hand over my mouth!?"
"I know you must have done something!" he shouted angrily. "You dumbass!"
Annoyed with him already, she raised a hand, ready to slap him right across the face. Just as she swung her hand downwards, though, his hand flew up and grabbed a hold of her by the wrist. Squeezing it tight, he looked her in the eye and scowled, "Not so fast, bitch."
WHAM! A punch was thrown right across Yukki's face suddenly. He grunted and put his hand to his cheek where he was hit. Kairi's eyes sailed to the attacker, ready to hug them in thanks. Her eyes landed on...Lucia!?
"So you wanted more, huh?" Lucia asked Yukki calmly.
From the ground, Yukki looked up at her and growled. "You bitch."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked, picking him up by his shirt.
"You bitch," he repeated.
Dumbass, Kairi thought to herself.
Lucia laughed in his face and let a smirk creep across her face. "Don't. Ever. Touch her again. Or else."
"Or else what?"
With full force, Lucia threw him against the castle wall. Kairi cringed at the loud THWACK that was heard. "You really shouldn't stick around to find out."
With that, the red eyed teen turned to Kairi and smiled softly. Then she pivoted on one foot and walked back into the forest.
"Wait!" Kairi called after her, following behind and leaving the pained Yukki on the floor.
"You shouldn't follow me in here."
"But I-" Kairi dodged a low branch and sped up her pace. "I wanted to thank you."
She watched as the patterns of leaves ran along Lucia's back in the form of shadows. The other girl seemed to know every part of the forest, while there was Kairi, tripping and ducking from branches.
"Well, you're welcome." Lucia still hadn't turned around. Kairi, of course, wasn't satisfied.
"No, no. You don't get it. He's bothered me all my life. N-nobody's ever really stood up to him for me l-like y-you have, so..." the blue-eyed girl tried to explain.
Dammit! Why am I stuttering? Talk like a normal person, Kai! she screamed in her mind.
"So...?"
"S-so...I wanted to thank you. Is there any way I can thank you?"
Now Lucia stopped, but still didn't turn around. They were in small clearing in the forest where the light was shining on that one spot. Kairi guessed that maybe a tree had once been there.
"Ok. You want to do something for me?" Lucia turned around now, smiling and stepping closer to the slightly taller girl. "Tell me your name."
"W-what? My name? That doesn't seem like much of a thank y-"
"Please?" the other asked, lowering her voice to a whisper, the kind that made Kairi have to lean forward a bit just to hear. "It would mean a lot to me."
Well...what could she do? This girl had just saved her from the nuisance of her life. She had to do something in return. And...this is what she wanted, right?
"Kairi," she announced. "My name is Kairi."
Lucia seemed to take a moment to take this in. She smiled and stared straight into the other's eyes. "Kairi," she repeated, trying it out for herself. She brought her hand up to Kairi's cheek once more, running her fingers through her hair a little before saying, "It's such a pretty name...for such a pretty girl."
Almost instantly, Kairi could feel the heat coming up to her face. She tried to muster up enough denial to make it go away. After all, this was a girl...why was she blushing over a girl?
Lucia smiled once more and looked down at the floor as she stepped back. "Thank you...Kairi."
She turned and walked away, leaving Kairi in the middle of the light of the clearing, face red and all.
The blushing teen made her way back to the castle as fast as she could. Maybe if she ran, she would forget what had just happened. Maybe she could outrun the butterflies that were forming in her stomach. That didn't just happen...
Still puzzled by Hidemi's absence, she stormed into her cousin's room, only to find her dancing on her bed, listening to her iPod. She chuckled to herself. "Not very princess-like, if you ask me," she teased.
Hidemi gave her the finger and continued to dance.
"Where were you? I thought you wanted me to meet you outside," Kairi questioned.
"Eh, I got bored, so I came inside," Hidemi responded, dancing with her pillow.
"And you couldn't tell me because...?"
"I....forgot!"
Kairi rolled her eyes and got on the bed as well, jumping around with her crazy cousin. "What song are you listening to, anyway?"
" '9 in the Afternoon.' Did you know that that time isn't real?"
"Oh really? Thanks for telling me something I didn't know," Kairi laughed.
As much as she laughed, though, she still knew it was there. She could feel the heat. She knew she still had to be red. With luck, Hidemi would think it was from jumping around so much. But Kairi knew why it was really there. It hadn't gone away.
Lucia's face, her eyes, her touch, they hadn't gone away.
4. Sora
The breeze brushed the grass so it swayed softly, tickling Kairi's bare feet and making her wiggle her toes. Today she was wearing her hair in a low side ponytail over her right shoulder, tied with a bright yellow hair tie. She wore light blue jeans and a white shirt that went straight across the shoulders. It was definitely a different look for her, a more girly, down to earth look. Still, she liked it. Who said she only had to be attached to Hot Topic? She had her girly side as well.
As she sat peacefully in the grass, she was accompanied by her handy sketchpad, in which she was busy working on a drawing she had envisioned since her last encounter with Lucia. Carefully, she worked on every little detail, taking the time to make sure it looked just right and that it was perfect.
After she'd been drawing for an hour, she stopped, finally satisfied with the work in front of her. It was Lucia, standing against the castle wall in the moonlight, looking away from the light. She had her hands jammed in her pockets, and there was a slight smile on her face. Of course, her eyes stood out the most, those beautiful, hypnotizing eyes.
Kairi took the time to carefully sign her name on the bottom of the paper. It wasn't just her regular signature, no, it was a perfect one. This one looked like it had been practiced for months and months nonstop, until it was perfect for paper. And did it really matter to make it perfect for this particular drawing? Yes. It did.
She felt another blush creeping up to her face, and she knew it had to be the color of Lucia's eyes. What was the matter with her lately? Ever since she met Lucia, her mind had been flustered and crazy and she didn't know what to say or think. All she could think of was the girl who had saved her, whose touch was still engraved in her skin. After thinking it over a few times, she figured that it was just her extreme gratitude towards Lucia for saving her from the biggest creep on the face of the earth.
"Kairi."
She jumped a bit, not expecting to hear anybody, since it was so quiet out here and since she was alone. The voice, however, made her heart thump faster and faster. She knew who it was-Lucia. She could feel the smile slipping onto her face, though she wasn't quite sure why. She looked up to see Lucia standing in front of her, hands jammed in her pockets and a soft smile on her face.
"What are you looking at? Do you mind if I see?" Lucia asked.
Shyly, Kairi handed over her sketchpad, blushing somewhat as their hands brushed each other. She watched the red eyes look over the picture, biting her lip the whole time, wondering what she'd say about it. Would she think it was okay? She was relieved when she saw a smile on the other girl's face.
"It's nice. I love it," Lucia commented, handing the book back. "There's something I'd like to show you now."
"O-ok," was all the Kairi managed to get out of her mouth. She put the booklet down on the ground beside the tree and took the other girl's hand as she was led into the forest.
Walking around through the trees, she wondered why she'd never really done this before. It was peaceful. Small spots of sunlight poked through the trees and cascaded down to the ground or along the girl's bodies. It was cooler there, too. It made her feel more relaxed.
After walking for a few minutes that seemed like an eternity at the rate that Kairi's heart was beating, Lucia stopped in front of a tall tree and stared up at it with a grin. Then, slowly, she began to climb the tree. After she reached the first branch, she stopped and looked down at the other teen, who was still on the ground.
"What's wrong?" Lucia asked.
"I can't climb trees. I'm scared of heights," Kairi responded. The look in her eyes told that she wasn't lying.
Lucia smiled. "Why didn't you say so? I'll help you." She reached her hand out.
Uncertainly, the blue-eyed girl began to climb the tree. With one hand, she reached out to Lucia's hand and took it. A shiver ran up her spine as she came in contact with her. With Lucia's help, she made it up onto the first branch. As she stood on it, she hugged the tree fearfully and tried not to look down. The other girl just stood there on the branch as if it was nothing and chuckled.
"Don't worry," she assured Kairi. "I won't let you fall."
Slowly, the two continued to make their way up to the top of the tree. When they finally did, the two stared up at the beautiful blue sky residing above them. Kairi gasped. Lucia smiled.
"It's beautiful, right?" she asked, earning a nod from Kairi. Then she leaned over to Kairi and whispered, "Let's meet back here tonight. I want to show you the stars."
Kairi smiled and nodded. "Ok. Tonight."
When she returned to her room to listen to her music and get her mind off of a certain girl, she realized that her sketchpad was still outside near the tree. When she went to retrieve it, however, it was gone.
So much for a lovely memory.
---
"Where are you going?" Hikaru asked as he saw his little sister about to walk out the door.
Lucia stopped and looked at her older brother. "Out."
A one word answer that usually worked wonders on Shunsuke, but with Erika or Hikaru, it was a different story.
"It's late. You've been out all day. Why are you going out again?" Leave it to Hikaru to make things difficult.
"Because I want to."
"Jesus, Lucia, don't you ever sleep?" Shunsuke asked from behind his book once again.
"Don't you ever put that book down?" she snapped back at him. Then she turned to Hikaru. "I'm going out."
With that, she swung open the door, flew out and slammed it shut.
As she walked through the forest, she grumbled to herself about just how annoying it could be to have siblings. She was always held back or forced to do something. Being the youngest didn't help either.
Suddenly, she saw a figure standing in front of her, a few yards away in fact. The figure was in the clearing where she had stopped with Kairi the first time she'd learned her name. She couldn't make out who it was, but stepping closer, she saw clearly. Kairi.
"What are you doing here?" Lucia called out as she walked towards the girl. She almost immediately regretted it, expecting Kairi to practically jump out of her skin in surprise. That wasn't the case this time.
Kairi stood in the middle of the clearing that was flooded by moonlight, staring up at the sky in her long white nightgown. Her hair was down and the makeup was wiped off of her face. Her eyes sparkled as she turned her head slowly to look at Lucia, holding a gentle smile on her face. "I'm sorry, Lucia. I wanted to meet you here instead of up near the castle. It's not far from here, is it?"
Snapping back to reality from the trance she was in, Lucia nodded. "Uh, right. It's close by. But...are you sure you can climb the tree wearing that?"
Kairi laughed softly as she saw what she was wearing. "Oh, right."
The other girl chuckled to herself softly and stepped into the ring of moonlight that was surrounding the taller teen. "It's okay. We can see the stars from this little clearing." She took a seat on the floor, gazing up at the stars silently. Kairi did the same.
Staring at the sky was like staring into your future. There were so many possibilities shining brightly. It was almost endless, yet at the same time, it seemed so out of reach. Regardless, it was a truly beautiful thing.
Kairi leaned back and reclined on the floor, Lucia following and doing the same. It was amazing, seeing the trees looking over you and a space where the stars seemed endless and bright. She sighed with happiness and looked over at Lucia, who looked back at her and smiled.
"How about...we meet here more often?" she asked the red eyed teenager.
"Yeah," she answered to the blue eyed girl. "Tomorrow?"
Kairi smiled and Lucia did as well. The two returned their gaze to the sky. Both of their bodies were close, and Kairi could feel a heat once more, though she wasn't quite sure if it was from the small distance between them or the heavy blush that was surfacing on her face. Whatever it was, she could hear Lucia's breathing, which was getting softer and softer. Before she knew it, her eyelids were getting heavy and she couldn't keep them open any longer. She fell into a deep, peaceful sleep, listening to the breathing of the girl beside her.
---
"Kairi!" Miname called out as loud as she could as she scampered through the castle. She and Miharu were frantically in search of her sister, who hadn't been in her bed that morning and was nowhere to be found. She'd lost track of time since she'd been searching, but Kairi hadn't come up. She met up with Miharu outside, who hadn't seen the youngest of the three as well.
"Should we go look in the forest?" Miname asked, starting to take a few more steps to the crowd of trees.
Her twin sister grabbed her by the arm and stopped her. "We're not going in there."
"But Miha-"
"You know what's on the other side of that forest, Miname," Miharu interjected. "We're not talking about Kairi running to get an arrow that went only a few feet inside. We're talking about deep in the forest. We're not going."
"Don't stress the whole Kairi thing," a voice cut in. The girls turned around to see that it was Hidemi, who had a calm look on her face. "She'll be back soon, wherever she is. Trust me."
---
Her vision was blurry as she opened her eyes. She could feel the ground beneath her, and felt particularly warm and comfortable. It took her a while to realize where she was and recall what had happened the night before, but when her thoughts finally gathered, she could only remember one thing-Lucia.
She felt arms enveloped delicately around her, and her arms around someone else. She felt soft breathing on her head, and when she looked up, she saw Lucia sleeping soundly.
The two had fallen asleep in each other's arms.
Immediately, she felt the familiar heat rising to her face. This time, though, she smiled as she felt it. She liked the having the butterflies. She liked not knowing what to say or think or having her heart beat fast. She liked the feeling Lucia gave her when she smiled. Thinking about all of this, she held onto Lucia tighter. The other teen stirred a bit and opened her eyes.
Kairi sat up. "Oh! I'm sorry, Lucia! I didn't mean to wake you up."
Sleepily, Lucia blinked her eyes a few times as a small smile appeared. "It's ok...what happened?"
Kairi stared down at the floor. "We fell asleep in each other's arms last night as we looked at the stars." Suddenly she gasped. "Oh no! I fell asleep here! My sisters must be worried sick!"
"Go on home. We can meet again tonight. Of course, we won't fall asleep," Lucia assured when she saw the skeptical look on Kairi's face.
"Well...okay...then I guess I'll see you tonight." Kairi smiled and leaned over to Lucia to give her a hug. "Thank you for showing me the stars."
Sleepily, Kairi stumbled into bed, still sort of sleepy, the way she always was when she woke up in an unfamiliar place. She was still in her nightgown, after all, so she might as well have slept. It didn't take long for her to doze off.
A few minutes later, Miname came rushing into the room for what must have been the thousandth time that day. She sighed in relief when she saw her little sister asleep in bed. She walked over to her and saw that her face was slightly red. She giggled to herself.
"I wonder who you're dreaming of, Kairi?" she murmured. Silently, she slipped out of the room.
5. Kuchibiru
Days on top of days on top of days. It'd been days now, so many days that Kairi had lost count. And nights on top of nights on top of nights. The days were long and dragged on seemingly forever. And she waited and waited until the time where she could finally slip out of the jail known as home and reach the place known as, well, home.
The nights seemed to go by too quickly. Words and words being said to one another as the night sky rested above them. They talked about anything they could, as much as they could before the time came where Kairi had to return to the castle. And every once in a while, their hands would meet, a warm sensation as their fingers interlaced with each other. It was as if they held a secret there between their clasped hands.
All this time, the most Kairi could ever think about was Lucia. She felt those eyes on her everywhere, and she loved the feeling. She had her voice memorized in her mind. Her iPod didn't even do justice to the lovely sound known as Lucia's voice, her new favorite song. Every chance she could get, she tried to remember the way she said her name. "Kairi." It sent chills up her spine and a guaranteed smile on her face.
It was inevitable, the way Kairi felt about Lucia. The butterflies returned every time the other teen crossed her mind, though they'd been controlled recently. The blush never seemed to go away, more like a permanent trait on her face. And Kairi's heart never seemed to rest whenever she was around Lucia, whenever she heard Lucia's voice, whenever they touched. She would admit that she liked Lucia, but that wasn't even the case after all of these amazing nights had passed. Undoubtedly, Kairi was in love with Lucia.
This was when the fear set in. There was fear of her family finding out that she had been sneaking out all these nights to play around in the forest. She knew very well that she was forbidden in the forest, as was the rest of the family. But she didn't care; she did it anyway. There was fear for the pure fact that Kairi's heart had been taken by a girl. She'd been told by her parents about how delighted they would be for Kairi to bring a nice boy home and how they'd get married and be together forever. But they had never mentioned a single word about a girl. What would they say now?
But most of all, there was fear that Lucia didn't feel the same way about Kairi.
Now, as Kairi sat in the clearing of the forest once more under the night sky in wait for Lucia, she tried to shake away the fearful emotion. She wanted to be happy when she saw the girl. She wanted to welcome the swarm of butterflies that would be taking place in her stomach. She wanted to have a smile on her face.
"Kairi," Lucia's soft voice spoke from beside her. Kairi looked up to see her standing next to her, then finally lower herself so she had sat on the ground with the other teen.
Kairi smiled. Flutter, flutter. "Hi, Lucia."
The two sat in silence for a while, gazing up at the sky for a while, just as they always did. It was as if they took in the sky's beauty before taking in each other's.
"Did you see it today?" Lucia finally asked. "It was raining while the sun was out."
"Yeah," the other girl replied thoughtfully. "A witch was getting married," she said, even softer.
"What?"
"Oh, sorry. My dad used to say that to me when I was little and it rained while the sun was out...before he..." Kairi's voice trailed off into the darkness surrounding the little moonlight clearing.
Lucia paused before speaking. Her voice was soft as well. "Before he...what?"
"Before he passed away," Kairi answered, trying to keep her voice from quivering. The matter of her father's death was one that she never discussed with anybody. So why was she talking about it with this girl now?
"Oh...I'm sorry. W-was he sick?" Lucia questioned. Why was her voice shaking now?
Kairi shook her head slowly as she stared up. "No. He was killed by a vampire, actually."
Lucia gulped. "O-oh."
"I still want to be a vampire sometimes, though," Kairi confessed, her eyes still fixated on the stars above them.
Lucia chuckled to herself lightly as she returned her gaze upwards. The girls sat in silence once again.
"Are you ok?" the red eyed girl asked when she saw the confused look on Kairi's face.
"Yeah...," she said softly. "I-it's just...I can't help but think that my father wasn't the only one who left. I was just too little to remember much."
"You shouldn't stress it too much. At this rate, you won't get any sleep like that. Don't want any bags under those eyes of yours, do you?" Lucia said.
"Yeah," Kairi laughed softly. "I do need my beauty sleep, right?"
"No, you don't. You're beautiful as it is."
Hearing the words made Kairi almost go numb. Did she just hear what she thought she had heard? The butterflies must have been on ecstasy.
She turned to Lucia. "W-what did you say?"
Lucia scooted over a little closer to her. She brought one hand up to Kairi's neck and gently pulled her closer. "You're beautiful."
Two words spoken so softly with so much meaning, and two words that made Kairi melt inside.
The distance between their lips was rapidly closing. Kairi knew the gap would be closing any second now, and she waited anxiously. She stared at Lucia's lips as they moved nearer, and she waited so restlessly to feel them with hers...but...
Kairi turned her head to the side, feeling the butterflies inside her angrily pounding on her stomach. "Why did you do that!?" they angrily shouted into her brain. That was the point where she remembered the reason she hated butterflies.
"I'm sorry," Kairi blurted out. "I w-want to...but it's just that..."
Lucia sat and waited patiently for the girl to continue. "You...what? It's okay, you can tell me, you know."
"I-I've never had my first kiss," Kairi confessed, a little embarrassed.
Lucia smiled. "Is that it?" Kairi nodded. "That's fine. I won't hurt you, you know; after all, it's just a kiss. I won't force you to do it unless you're ready, though."
Looking up at Lucia, Kairi smiled. "No. I want to."
She sat up once more, leaning in closer to the other girl. She felt a shiver go up her spine as their lips came into contact. Time seemed to slow down and she could have sworn the stars were shining specifically for that one moment. She felt Lucia's tongue run over her bottom lip, and hesitantly, she opened her mouth to her in, practically screaming in her mind when their tongues came into contact. Oh Jesus, is this seriously happening to me? she thought to herself.
She broke the kiss and stared into Lucia's beautiful red eyes, which were lighter somehow. Lucia blinked for a moment, then spoke up. "H-how was that...f-for a first kiss, then?" I just kissed her, she thought with disbelief and happiness.
"One to remember," Kairi answered, looking up at the moon above her and then smiling back at the other girl. "And I want another memory."
The other smiled and wrapped her arms around Kairi's waist. "Of course."
Kairi beamed and wrapped her arms around Lucia's neck as they kissed once more.
So what? Kairi thought to herself as she tasted the sweet taste of chocolate on Lucia's lips. Someone had a sweet tooth. So what if she's a girl? I love her. I don't want to let go of this moment...I don't want to let go of her.
The two stayed in each other's arms until the first rays of sunlight began to peek out over the earth. Sadly, Kairi looked towards the castle. She looked back at the sleeping girl in her arms and smiled. She was so beautiful...it was too bad she would have to wait another entire day until nighttime to see her again. She silently wished for the sunlight to disappear for good. Leaning down, she placed a kiss softly on Lucia's lips. Lucia's eyes fluttered open.
"Oh. S-sorry," Kairi apologized, sitting upright once more.
"It's much better than the way my brothers wake me up," Lucia joked. She saw that the daylight was beginning to take over. "You have to go, right?"
Kairi nodded slowly. "I'll see you tonight, right?"
"Of course."
Their lips met once more, and Kairi smiled into the kiss. There is a reason for living.
---
Lucia jumped as she heard the small knock on her bedroom door. "Come in."
She kept her eyes on the notebook she was writing in when Shunsuke walked in. He was silent for a moment, perhaps expecting her to look up at him. When she didn't he walked over to where she was seated on the bed and sat down as well.
"Lucia," he said softly, almost as if his voice would affect his little sister's mood. "I'm worried about you. You're out most of the time, and when you're home, you don't sleep. I know you can't possibly be sleeping outside, so I'm assuming you just don't at all. You do need your sleep, you know, regardless of that fact that you're a vampire."
She didn't stop writing, only scribbled a little faster.
"Hikaru's not too happy about you being out a lot."
"Well, Hikaru and go fuck himself," Lucia commented calmly.
"Erika said the same," Shunsuke added.
This time, Lucia was silent for a moment before speaking up. "What's she going to do about it?" She looked up at her brother, her eyes shining with memories. "Kill me?"
The air became thick and the room became silent. The two stared at each other for those few moments, Lucia's pen still gripped tightly in her hand, either ready to write, or ready to stab if her brother decided to continue with this bullshit.
Finally, Shunsuke got up and left the room. He shut the door delicately behind him. Lucia waited until his footsteps were gone and out of earshot before she continued writing. After a few sentences, she put the pen down and stared out the window sadly.
"I'm so sorry, Kairi," she whispered sadly.
6. Himitsu
Kairi smiled as she opened the curtains wide, letting the light pour into her room and take over her floor, her bed, her dresser, everything. She stood in front of the mirror and admired her outfit-a red and black shirt with a black skirt and knee high black socks. As a matter of fact, from a distance, she almost looked like Momoko from Buono! in the video to "Honto no Jibun."
It'd been a little over a month since she and Lucia had met, and what a month it was. Sneaking out at night to see her was becoming a little easier now that the twins weren't around as often, seeing as how they were constantly off fighting in the war. With her new bit of freedom, she'd sometimes bring Lucia to the castle, but she never dared to bring her inside. They usually hung around it. Lucia didn't like the sunlight very much, so they usually pulled this little stunt at night, but it was still fun.
Today, however, would be different. The twins were fighting today, per usual, and the rest of the family was out. Kairi was too sleepy to remember the details Hidemi had given her that morning when she woke her up, but it was something about a meeting about the war. Granted that the whole family knew of Kairi's attitude, they left her behind to sleep-and with the entire castle to herself.
Now, Kairi was off in the forest to see if Lucia was hanging around the clearing like she was sometimes in the daytime. It wasn't too often, but when it happened, they hung out most of the day through the nighttime.
To Kairi's delight, Lucia was seated right in the middle of the clearing, looking down to avoid getting the sun in her eyes. She was getting used to the sunlight, but it was still taking time to get used to it.
"Lucia!" Kairi called out, causing her to look up. When she did, Kairi greeted her with a kiss and pulled her by the wrist out of the forest.
"W-what's the hurry? What are you doing? Are your sisters fighting again?" Lucia questioned, puzzled.
"Better. The castle is mine for the day!" Kairi explained as they neared the front of the castle and walked inside. "We can hang in my room! There's so much more to do there. And it's huge! You'll love it!"
Lucia laughed silently to herself as the blue eyed girl was explaining everything to her, all while dragging her upstairs to her room. She sure was excited! Lucia guessed the Kairi didn't really have many friends to hang out with here in the castle. Suddenly, she felt a small stab of pain in her heart and a bit of sympathy towards Kairi. Maybe...she was just really lonely.
"This is my room!" Kairi announced as she threw open the door.
Lucia stepped in slowly and took a look around, her eyes falling on every little thing she saw, trying to take in as much detail as she could. "Wow," she said as Kairi closed the door behind them. "It's big."
She turned around to see the other girl with a few tears in her eyes. She rushed over to her and wiped them away as quickly as she could, hoping that no more would be falling after that. "What's the matter?" she asked, concerned.
Kairi shook her head and smiled. "Nothing's wrong. It's just...I'm so happy. I've never really had anyone to hang out with or play with. Sure, I've got lots of stuff, but I have no one to share it with. Not even my cousin hangs around with me too much. We have different tastes in things."
"Oh, is that it? Well, I'm glad that I'm making you happy. I just want to see you smiling, since you have such a nice smile."
She's amazing, Kairi thought to herself. She makes me so happy...I'm glad she's here with me.
"Thank you," the blue eyed teen told her, wiping any remaining tears from her eyes. "So what do you want to do?" she asked, moving around Lucia, heading towards the PS2. "There's so much to do! We can play DDR-"
A hand grabbed a hold of Kairi by the wrist. Lucia pulled her closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "We're alone," she whispered to her, looking up at her.
"Y-yeah...we are." State the obvious, Kai! she shouted to herself in her mind.
Suddenly, the smaller girl pulled her into a kiss, which took Kairi by surprise. She felt Lucia lift her up off of the ground and walking her across the room. She felt the bed beneath her body and gasped lightly, still in the kiss. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lucia over her, carefully climbing on top of her, so Kairi was basically pinned down.
"I love you," Lucia said softly.
The other girl smiled back. "I love you, too, Lucia." She wrapped her arms around the girl's neck and brought her down for another kiss. This time, Lucia kissed a little rougher, biting down gently on Kairi's bottom lip. Breaking the kiss, she went down to Kairi's neck, biting gently and earning a light moan from the blue eyed teen. Satisfied with the sound but still thirsting for more of it, Lucia bit down a bit harder, careful not to hurt the girl. Kairi gasped and moaned once more, tangling her fingers in Lucia's hair. She gasped as she felt a hand slinking up her shirt.
"L-Lucia!" she gasped, shutting her eyes. Of course, shutting her eyes wouldn't change anything, as she felt the other girl's hand massaging her breast lightly over her bra.
Lucia removed her mouth from Kairi's neck, which now had a light red mark on it, and lowered herself down to her stomach, lifting up her shirt and placing her mouth gently on her stomach. Above her, Kairi groaned. The red eyed teen kissed her way up to the other girl's chest, slowly unhooking her bra...
"Kairi!" Miname's voice shouted from somewhere outside the room. "We're home!"
"Shit!" Kairi said, sitting up and yanking her shirt down. She frantically looked around for a place to hide Lucia before settling on the closet. "Stay here, okay?" she said as she closed the closet door. The other girl nodded.
"We're home," Miname announced once more as she opened Kairi's bedroom door.
"I heard you already," Kairi snapped, rolling her eyes and silently hoping that her sister wouldn't notice that she was fidgeting from the fact that her bra was still partially unhooked.
Her sister smiled gently at the younger one. "Just letting you know." She left the room and shut the door behind her. Kairi was finally able to breathe out. She opened the closet door to find Lucia huddled up in a ball, sweating and breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" the teen asked her, worried.
The other girl looked up at her and nodded, though she sure didn't look like she was.
"I'm sorry we had to stop," Kairi apologized. "We can't do this here."
"No...it's...can we go to the forest?" Lucia finally spoke up.
The other girl nodded. She took Lucia by the hand and led her outside to the forest. Thankfully, nobody was around in the hallways or in the yard.
When they arrived at the small clearing, Lucia sat down on the ground, still breathing heavy. "I'm glad we didn't stay," she said.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't finish," Kairi whispered, gently pushing Lucia down to the ground so she could gently bite her neck.
"N-no, Kairi...we can't keep going..."
"Why not?" Kairi asked, sitting up.
"Because...I'm..." she turned her head away.
"You can tell me," Kairi assured. "You can tell me anything."
Lucia turned back to the other teen, sitting up. "Because...I'm a vampire."
7. Kioku
A memory. A memory is something that was special enough for you to hold dear to you in your heart, something that you chose to remember for the rest of your life. It's something you chose to watch over and over in your mind until every detail that your mind circled carefully has been worn out of use. It's something to cherish, hold until your last dying breath escapes from your mouth.
But a memory doesn't always have to be a good thing. It can be a swirling tunnel of emotions and sadness that rushes through your body as the images of the event flash through your mind. It was can bring anger down your chest and into your fist until you punch the wall with fury and blind rage. It can be what causes the tears to flow with seemingly no end in sight.
And now, as Kairi took the words into her head and analyzed it word-by-word, syllable-by-syllable, breath-by-breath, she remembered the one memory of that night years ago that she had tried so desperately to forget. The painful memory of the night where two people she loved were taken away from her in the blink of an eye.
"When I grow up, I'm going to be the best princess the world's ever seen!" the little girl beamed, throwing her hands up in the air to show her sisters just how amazing she would be.
Miharu looked down and smiled. "Oh, to have a childish little dream like that," she said, with a slight giggle in her voice. Her twin sister rolled her eyes playfully.
"We're not much older, you know," Miname reminded her.
Kairi rolled her eyes as well, but not in playful manner. She turned to the youngest of the three and bent forward so she was at eye level. "Listen, I know you want to be the world's greatest princess and everything, but you don't have to be a princess. You don't have to wear these stupid dresses and everything."
The smallest tossed one of her ponytails over her shoulder and crossed her tiny arms over her chest. She fixed her big blue eyes on Kairi and pouted. "They're not stupid! They're pretty! You'll see, Kairi! I'll be the best!"
Sighing, Kairi gave up and smiled. "I see. Well, have it your way. Be the best princess you can, little sis."
Proudly, the smallest stood up and put her hands on her tiny hips, smiling brightly.
Miname tugged on Miharu's dress lightly. "Let's go play outside. The stars are all out tonight!"
Miharu looked at her sisters skeptically. "I don't know...remember when Mommy came in and said not to go outside a few minutes ago? I think she meant it. She said Daddy had to do something important."
Kairi walked along the windowsill, her gazed fixed upon the bright stars in the sky above. "But it's really pretty. Let's go play." She took the smallest girl's hand and smiled. "Right?"
She jumped up and down excitedly. "Yeah! C'mon, Miharu, let's go play!"
Looking down, the most mature of the group sighed. "Alright...I guess it's ok."
Quietly, the four girls made their way outside, around the castle walls to where they played in back during the daytime. The stars all watched over them quietly and brilliantly in the sky, twinkling and shining as brightly as they possibly could. Kairi sucked in her breath and held onto her sister's hand tighter, taken aback by the sight.
"Hey," Miname whispered, stopping the girls from walking any further. She pointed to two figures, standing about 20 feet away from them. One appeared to be a man, while the other was a girl. They seemed to be arguing about something, but the girls couldn't tell what it was.
"Daddy," the youngest of the girls whispered.
Looking up, Kairi could see she was right. Their father, Toshiki, was yelling with another girl about something. The four quieted themselves so they could listen.
"I want you to leave our family alone!" Toshiki was shouting. "They don't need to be influenced by your kind!"
"We can't help it!" the girl was yelling back, looking frustrated. "The smell of the blood draws us in! When you've got four little girls who fall and cut themselves all the time, what do you expect us to do?"
"Well, you've already influenced Kairi! She already has it in her mind that being a princess is wrong."
"I didn't say anything to any of your little girls!"
"Well, she must have seen you!"
Kairi blinked and listened in closer. Did her father just say that she had been influenced by that girl standing over there? She looked closer at the girl and her eyes went wide with realization. It was her! The girl with the long black hair and the pretty eyes. Wasn't she a...vampire? Kairi beamed. She was so cool!
"I'm ordering you to leave our family alone!" Toshiki demanded, raising his voice a little louder.
The girl grinned and stepped forward. "I don't think I'll be doing that."
He took a step back, keeping his eyes on the black-haired vampire. "I demand it, as the king of this castle!"
The other girl smirked and took another step forward. "I think I'll have to refuse that." She lunged forward, capturing Toshiki in her arms and sinking her razor-sharp fangs into his neck. He cried out and tried to push her off of him, but she had too much power over him, taking blood quickly and in large amounts. He felt his legs go weak and he sank to the floor, the girl still, drinking blood until he was too weak to stand, let alone open his eyes. She stepped back to admire her work-his lifeless body sitting on the castle wall.
Kairi stood in shock. Suddenly, everything was in black and white. Suddenly, the stars were dimmer than they had ever been. Suddenly, the words went flying out of her mind to a place unknown to her. Suddenly, her daddy was dead.
"Daddy!" the smallest girl's voice cried out, running off in the direction of their father.
Kairi blinked in a moment of realization, then saw her little sister running after her father, running towards the vampire who killed him. Screaming "Daddy, Daddy!" in the small illusion that she had as a small child that he would actually wake up. Kairi knew she had to stop her, had to run after her, had to say something. She was frozen where she was, unable to move, speak, think, and breathe. In a second, the words came pouring back into her head, but she could only spit out one word, calling it out as loud as she could-her name.
"Fumiko!"
By now, Fumiko had reached the two figures by the castle. She whirled around to look for the source of the voice. She locked her eyes on Kairi and stared, as if wondering why her name had been called. Before she could move or do anything, she heard the girl behind her speak to her.
"Well, hello there," the girl said, the same menacing grin on her face. She licked her lips in sight of the small child. "Young blood, much tastier." Before the little girl could move, the older grabbed a hold of her and sunk her teeth into her neck as well.
This time it was Miharu's turn to scream. "Fumi!" she called out, the tears almost instantly streaming down her face. She turned to Miname, who was standing in shock behind her. "Go get help!" she ordered, her voice cracking.
Miname turned to run, but was met with her mother already there, a bow and arrow in hand and a hurt, yet angry expression on her face. She pushed her way through the girls and shot an arrow towards the dark-haired girl, who had by now let go of Fumiko. The arrow grazed her arm a little, causing the girl to cry out and look up at the woman in anger. She yelped as a rock hit her in the head from somewhere behind, and when she turned she saw little Hidemi, armed with rocks and tears in her eyes.
Kairi remained frozen through it all, standing in the middle of Miname and Miharu, holding their hands tightly. All of them were in extreme fear. They couldn't understand what was going on, and why that girl had done what she did. They didn't want to grasp the fact that their father was dead, that their little sister was gone as well. They couldn't understand how such a beautiful, seemingly harmless night had turned into this nightmare. They watched as everyone from the castle emerged-family members, servants and little kids, all crowding around to either watch for fight against the girl. They watched as fire danced in front of them, yelling and screaming filling the air. Disbelief settled in the girls' minds as they watched what took place in front of them.
The dark-haired girl grumbled under her breath. "Shit...I gotta get out of here." With that, she took off into the forest. Kairi watched her make her escape sadly, wondering why she had gotten away so easily, why she hadn't been brought to justice for what she did. She watched her mother turn around and called everyone together. "At this moment, I am declaring war with the vampires who live on the edge of the forest. Nobody is to associate with them and nobody is to communicate with them. From this moment on, entrance into the forest is forbidden."
Kairi watched as her mother turned to her husband's lifeless body, taking it in her arms sadly. "Toshiki..."
She saw the twins rush over to Fumiko and their father, crying in their mother's arms. She watched as her mother comforted them, holding them close and trying to assure them that everything would be alright. She saw her mother look up at her questioningly, worriedly, wondering what her now-youngest daughter was thinking, if she was alright. But all Kairi was felt was numbness before she felt her body hit the floor.
--
Kairi sat up now, carefully getting off of Lucia, but not taking her eyes off of her. She tried to speak, recovering from the memory that had just been played in her mind. She lowered her breath, her eyes wide. "Fu...Fumiko..."
Lucia made sure her voice was gentle before she spoke. "Wh-....who?"
Kairi stared down at the floor, trying to make the name match with what she was going to say. She tried to make her head stop spinning. "Fumiko...my little sister...she died when we were little." She took in a deep breath and looked up at Lucia, trying to hold back the tears by biting her lip. "She and my dad were killed by vampires."
Lucia, not sure if it was going to be a good move, pulled Kairi closer and held her in her arms to comfort her. To her relief, Kairi wrapped her arms around the other girl and sobbed into her shirt. "Um, Kairi, how long ago was this?"
"About n-nine."
Lucia closed her eyes and shook her head as she hugged Kairi close. Erika, she thought angrily. How could you cause this girl such pain...the girl I love...
She felt her mind slip back to that night...
Lucia had been sitting in the living room innocently, putting together a puzzle with Shunsuke with Hikaru tried to read. They were all slightly confused about what was going on as the rest of the family was running about and making a fuss. Finally, Erika walked through the door, and that's when all hell broke loose. Lucia heard people shouting at her, scolding her for whatever she'd done.
"You killed someone!?" somebody shouted.
"They've declared war, Erika!" someone else added.
"How could you do this?" another voice chimed in.
At the time, Lucia couldn't understand. She just continued putting together the puzzle. Shunsuke had stopped, listening intently to everyone's yelling with the last piece in his hands.
"Shunsuke," Lucia whined, tugging at his shirt.
He didn't listen and only dropped the piece.
Now, Lucia sat with the crying girl in her arms, feeling this stab of guilt for what her older sister had started, for her older sister having had crushed the heart of the girl she loved...
8. Taizen
The ceiling was rapidly becoming one of the most familiar things to Kairi as she stared up at it. She was lying in bed, staring away her problems, hoping they'd maybe hide along the cracks in her ceiling (which wouldn't have been there in the first if it hadn't been for Hidemi's bedroom being directly upstairs and for her stupid self loving to jump on beds). She blinked sleepily, knowing that she was physically exhausted, and even though she was mentally exhausted as well, her mind refused to let her rest.
Of course, she accepted Lucia for who she was. Vampire or not, Kairi loved her, and that was something she couldn't change, even if she tried. Besides, Fumiko and Toshiki's deaths weren't at the fault of Lucia, so why should she be upset?
Upon arriving at the castle afterwards, a very stressed-looking Miname informed her younger sister that the battle would be brought nearby the castle. The war had been coming closer and closer lately, and Kairi had been sort of expecting this. She had only nodded and continued to make her way to her room, trying to ignore the rest of the family and be with herself. She felt a bit of sadness in her heart as she walked into her room, thinking about the fact that her family was in a war with vampires. If Lucia was a vampire herself, that would mean that her family was fighting, too, right? Kairi prayed that nobody in both of their families would get seriously hurt.
Now, she lay awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling, wishing to sleep but of course, this was no fairytale. It was late, and the moon itself must have been getting tired as well, but Kairi still didn't sleep. Sighing, she got up from the comfort of her bed, leaving her room and gliding around the dark castle in search of her sister. She silently slipped into the bedroom, walking past Miharu's bed and standing over Miname's. She shook her sister gently until she saw her open her eyes
Miname sat up in bed, looking at her twin sister's bed to see that she was fast asleep, then turned back to her younger sibling. "What is it, Kairi?"
Kairi shuffled her feet a little and played with her nightgown. "Well, uh, I was thinking..."
"About what?"
"About...Fumiko."
There was silence in the room. Kairi stopped fumbling with her nightgown and looked up at Miname questioningly. The two just stared at each other, holding a silence between them for a while before the older dropped her vision to the bed sheets. "Oh." That was all she said, a one-word answer that did not satisfy Kairi at all. Thankfully for her, Miname spoke up again. "What about her?"
Kairi sat down on the edge of the bed, sighing. It was as if she suddenly wanted to know why the hell she had gone to her sister's room in the first place. She wanted to say so many things, ask so many questions, find out as much as she could, but right now, the words that she wanted to say so desperately weren't coming to her. She just sat there dumbly, staring at the wall and waiting for the words to pour out. Finally, she started with only a few.
"The night she...you know, died."
Miname sucked in air through her teeth. "I thought you forgot about that. You know, like a repressed memory."
Kairi shook her head. She thought she had, too. But it seemed like Lucia's big reveal of her secret was what had triggered Kairi's memory to come rushing back to her.
Part of her never wanted to have remembered in the first place. Part of her wished that she had forgotten about it and just went on with her life without ever thinking about it, without wondering what could have been if Fumiko was still alive. She wanted to live without thinking about why it had happened, and wanted to know if she could have prevented it. Part of her thought she could have, and now that she played the memory over and over in her head, she thought that it was sort of her fault that her little sister was dead.
The other part of her, though, was glad she found out. She didn't want to live her life with a hole in her heart, with a part of her missing and not being able to find out what it was that completed it. Though she considered Lucia to be the thing that completed her complicated puzzle, knowing this little fact about her sister made her feel better in a way. It was like she knew everything suddenly, like she was a part of everybody and like she actually belonged. In a family full of princesses, a feeling of belonging was something that Kairi didn't experience very often.
"Well, it just came to me suddenly," Kairi responded, making sure to leave out the part of Lucia triggering it.
"Oh," Miname said. She was becoming the queen of one-word answers in Kairi's mind. "That was certainly a night that was hard to forget," she added.
Kairi nodded. She wondered how on earth she had managed to forget it in the first place. She guess it was so traumatizing to her that she just had to block it out from her mind. Still, shouldn't she have wondered every once in a while about her father and Fumiko? Perhaps she'd made up some lie in her mind to tell herself, a simple reassurance that everything was okay. The story she had made up was a mystery to her, though. Had she repressed that, too?
"It was really scary," Miname continued, staring at the wall as if she was talking to it instead of Kairi. "Seeing that as a little kid really messes with your head, right?"
"I think it would mess with your head at any age."
"Yeah, that's true. But when you're a kid, you're not really exposed to as much as you would be by the time you're older. Therefore, it can be a more traumatic experience, right?"
Kairi nodded. "I guess that's true." After all, look what had happened to her.
"What about Daddy?" Miname questioned.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about him, too." She chuckled. "He sure loved Fumiko. He gave her as much love as he could. At least I can sort of rest in knowing that they're still together."
The older looked at her younger sister and gave her a warm smile. Kairi smiled back. She should at least have positive thoughts and be happy with her life as it was. After all, life was what it was and you can't change what you can't change. Kairi would just have to accept that. Besides, the past was the past and it was unchangeable. She would have to look into the future with an optimistic outlook and she was sure she'd be just fine.
"Hey, what's going on?" a sleepy voice asked from behind them. The two girls turned around to see that Miharu had woken up. She was sitting up in bed on her elbows, staring at them blankly, probably still in her dream land.
"Oh, nothing," Kairi said with a smile. She got up and turned to the two of them. "I was just talking to Miname about something. I'll go to bed now."
"Okay. Goodnight, Kairi."
"Goodnight," Miname chimed.
As Kairi slipped back into her bedroom, she felt like she had gotten a lot off her chest and nothing at all. Talking to someone made her feel better, but had it even been enough? The image of Fumiko ran through her head as she fell asleep.
---
Lucia spent the night in her room. She didn't sleep, she didn't read, she didn't try to hum herself to sleep. She just stared up at the ceiling, blankly watching a fly buzzing around her room. It'd been hours and hours since she'd gotten home. Shunsuke had greeted her when she walked in; she had wiped away a stray tear or two and walked right into her room. Shunsuke never followed her. She hoped that he would stay away this time; she didn't want to talk to anybody at the moment.
After a while passed, she heard a knock at the door. All hopes of Shunsuke keeping his distance was diminished. "What the fuck do you want?" she called, annoyed.
"Don't talk to me like that," the voice responded, and Lucia realized that it was Hikaru. Before she could say anything, he let himself inside the room. "What's the matter with you?" he asked as he sat himself down on her bed.
She glared at him. "Nothing."
"Don't lie to me. What's wrong?"
"I said it was nothing! Now get out of my room!"
"Hey!" Hikaru snapped, sounding angry. "I'm trying to find out what the hell's the matter with you, that's all. So sue me for trying to be concerned!"
By this time, Lucia's anger was leading to tears falling down her cheeks. She clenched her fist tightly and tried her best to stop crying, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. "You wouldn't get it at all!" she snapped back at him.
He didn't flinch or leave the room. "Try me!"
"No! How would you know anything about-just forget it and get the hell out of my room!"
"No! I wouldn't know anything about what?"
"Nothing!"
"Tell me!"
"About love!" Lucia finally answered. She felt the warm tears running down faster now, but she didn't try to stop them now. It was useless. "How would you know anything about love?" She lowered her voice to almost a whisper, bringing her knees up to her face and burying her head in them.
Hikaru was quiet. He just stared at his sister, wondering what he should do, if he should do anything at all, even. He waited until she quieted down and looked up at him.
"I know more than you think," he responded quietly, barely enough for her to hear. "It's not as if it's impossible for me to fall in love, you know."
"It's not just that," Lucia said. "It's...you know what? Forget it. Get out of my room. Please, Hikaru."
He didn't say anything to her this time. He only got up and glided out of the room, closing the door behind him. She sat in her bed, crying silently. Why did she have to learn about Kairi's sister and father's deaths? Sure, she wanted to know Kairi more, but this was hurting her so badly on the inside. She felt guilty, even if she hadn't been the one to take their lives away. If only everything could be perfect...
She rolled her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Of course. This was life, and life was not perfect.
She rolled over in her bed and shut her eyes, falling asleep and holding her hand to her heart. "I love you, Kairi," she whispered as she fell into a slumber.
9. Bonyari
Screaming, shouting, yelling. Kairi woke up to all of these sounds and the first thing that crossed her mind was: "Are Miharu and Hidemi fighting again?" She could imagine the two outside in the hallways, fighting in the dark because one bumped into the other while they were on their way to the bathroom.
When she woke up fully and listened in closely, she could hear that it was not one of the girls' usual fights. This was definitely something else, something with much more power than two seventeen-year-old girls could have. She dragged her eyes around the room, as if the source of the fighting and yelling were somewhere in the room. She got out of bed slowly to look out the window when the bedroom door burst open. Hidemi was standing there in the doorway, sweaty and covered with dirt. She had a small cut on her arm, with blood trickling down her arm, which she either didn't care about or was too lazy to wipe away. Her usually carefree and happy face was engraved with seriousness as she stared straight at Kairi.
Kairi pulled at her nightgown. The night air was hot and humid, and her perfect white nightgown was sticking to her sweaty body. "What happened to you?" she asked softly, as if speaking up louder would interrupt the commotion outside altogether.
Hidemi looked down and saw her injury. "Fucking environment. I tripped," she scowled.
"What's going on?" the sleepy blue-eyed girl questioned, looking at her cousin with one eye open. It was a habit she had when waking up for years now.
Hidemi's face turned serious now. "The war," she said, lowering her voice to almost a whisper. Her eyes glazed over with a mix of determination and anger, which scared Kairi enough to fully wake up. "It's here."
---
"Outside the castle!?" Kairi questioned as she flew down the stairs, trying her best to follow behind her older cousin, who went down the stairs two steps at a time.
"Yes," Hidemi nodded, sounding surprisingly official. "We have to help them. Miname and Miharu are out there. And your mom is, too."
The mention of her mother made Kairi open her crystal blue eyes wide. "Mom?"
Thinking it over, she felt like if she couldn't help, if she was useless, she would end up losing her mother, too. She couldn't let that thought cross her mind without getting a sickening feeling in her stomach, one that made her want to burst out crying. The mere thought of it was enough to fill her with sadness. She wasn't going to lose her mother, either.
They ran outside, across the grass in their bare feet. Though she was aware of the event that was going on, she liked the feeling of the slick grass sliding between her toes. She liked feeling like she was running free, like she wouldn't have to turn back. Best of all, she liked imagining that she would run and run with the wind whipping through her hair, and land happily in Lucia's arms.
Her eyes widened. Lucia.
She stopped in her tracks, feeling the nightgown slap the back of her legs as the wind blew it. The war was between her family and the vampires. If Lucia was a vampire...
"What's wrong?" Hidemi asked from a few feet away in an urgent voice. "We have to keep going."
The wind brushed through her hair as she stood still, watching the moonlit sky above them. She heard the voices and shouting dying away in her mind as she slipped into a more comfortable, sweeter place. She felt the sky beneath her and above her, all around her. She felt her arms spread wide around her and felt herself engulfed in the sky's beauty. She saw the big, bright moon in front of her, and she flew towards it, feeling joy shoot through her body. She felt as though somebody was soaring through the sky beside her, and in her mind, she pictured Lucia at her side, smiling as big as she could. She could practically hear Lucia's voice saying "I love you"...
"Kairi!"
Her cousin's voice sent her entire fantasy crashing down to the floor with any hopes she'd had of everything returning to normal. She turned to Hidemi, staring at her with a blank look. The voices came rushing back into her head.
"Let's go!" Hidemi urged, motioning for her to follow.
There was fire. That was the first thing that Kairi noticed. Fire. It was all a blur, and she wasn't sure where it was or where it was coming from, but it wad there. She saw the twins, bow and arrows in hands. She saw arrows spewing everywhere. She saw people she didn't know-vampires.
And when she looked to the wall, she saw her mother fighting at the spot where her father had died years earlier.
Hidemi had taken off to join the others with the fighting. Kairi stood still and tried to take everything. The bright orange color of the flames danced along on her silky white nightgown. All she felt was fear inside her, a numbing fear that kept her glued down where she was. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she couldn't scream. She couldn't breathe as her eyes scanned the crowds for Lucia.
She couldn't breathe without Lucia.
As if something inside her had changed, she began to move her feet. She felt her heart racing inside her chest as she took off towards the forest. She knew she would find Lucia there, she just had to be there! She would find Lucia in their secret meeting spot, staring up calmly at the stars in the sky. She would run into her arms and hold her close. She would memorize her scent and the way her body felt pressed against hers and the way the breeze moved her hair in front of her mesmerizing eyes and the way Lucia said her name. She would memorize the way Lucia said "I love you." And they would kiss. They would kiss until they couldn't breathe any more, any even then, they wouldn't need air to live, all they would need was each other. And there in each other's arms in the moonlight, they would stay until the entire war was over, until the blood stopped spilling and until there was love restored everywhere. They would stay like that for as long as it would take, even if it were an eternity.
---
Kairi found that this particular night was eerily dark. There was fog wandering around the forest as she walked, and she found it extremely hard to see and navigate her way around. She wished that the fog would go away and blind everyone in the war, so they wouldn't see each other and so they would stop fighting.
Suddenly, she bumped into someone, feeling her body crash into someone else's. She looked up to see that it was Lucia. Her heart jumped and she run into her arms. "Lucia!" Her body was warm as it pressed against Kairi's, her soft skin coming in contact with her own.
Lucia smiled and returned the hug. "Kairi. Thank God you're safe."
Kairi smiled and took in a breath of fresh air. "It's near my castle."
"I know. I was worried."
"I was worried about you!"
They walked along and sat in the clearing, staring up at the night sky. It was beautiful, but there was a heavy feeling that something was wrong.
"You know, we're eventually going to have to go back to help them," Lucia sighed.
Kairi mimicked her sigh as well. "I know. We'll go soon. But not now. I want to be with you now."
The other girl smiled and turned her way. She wrapped her arms around Kairi and beamed. "I love you. Did I ever tell you that?"
"No," Kairi joked, giggling.
Lucia chuckled. "Well, now you know," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper and gently kissing her lips. Kairi sighed into the kiss, trying to memorize the way her lips felt.
When they stopped, Lucia looked Kairi over. "You look beautiful without makeup, you know."
"Are you suggesting I'm ugly with it?" Kairi teased.
"No, no. You look great either way. But this is more natural. I like it."
Kairi beamed. She had never felt special by someone else's words before, but that second, that moment, she knew she was loved. Natural. She'd never thought of it.
She could hear all of the voices somewhere outside of the forest, but she felt them fade away once again, just as they had in her "daydream." Now, all she could hear was Lucia's steady breathing as she watched her chest move in time. She held her breath for a few seconds, and started again so that the two were breathing in time with each other, in unison. She wondered if their hearts were beating in unison as well.
"I love you," she whispered. Suddenly she wanted to say it over and over. Suddenly she wanted to say it until Lucia could tell when she was going to tell her so, until Lucia had it memorized, her voice. She wanted to run her fingers along her skin until every trace of her had been covered, wanted to cover her body in kisses. She would memorize every spot on her body that made Lucia smile, every spot that made her giggle, every spot that made her sigh with pleasure, and every spot that made her hurt, so that she knew never to hurt her there. She leaned forward and kissed Lucia's lips, tasting her sweet taste of strawberries.
Lucia deepened the kiss, running her tongue over Kairi's bottom lip until Kairi let her gain entrance. Kairi let her tongue run through Lucia's mouth, another thing she wanted to remember. She felt Lucia's hands slide down to her hips, and she shivered. She couldn't help it; all she'd wanted now was to push Lucia gently down to the floor and cover her with kisses, make her feel loved.
She wanted Lucia to feel the feeling she'd yearned for all her life.
She wanted to make Lucia feel loved.
They continued the kiss, Kairi feeling like the war wasn't going on, like nothing mattered. She wondered if they could run off without anybody noticing. Maybe they could escape to nowhere; no, not nowhere. Even the most barren place was paradise with Lucia around. Lucia was everything.
"Kairi!" a voice suddenly called, sending chills up Kairi's spine. She felt as though she knew the voice, but...maybe she didn't...maybe she was daydreaming. Spinning around, Kairi felt shock run through her body as she saw who was standing behind them.
Miharu.
10. Owari
"What the fuck is going on?" Miharu's harsh voice demanded.
Kairi could feel her heart stop beating, or at least that's what she thought as she stared at her sister, trying not to look her in the eye. The foggy night was sort of breezy and cool, but she could feel herself breaking out into a sweat. She clenched Lucia's arm anxiously. Lucia squeezed her arm in return.
"Miharu," Kairi stared to say, not letting go of Lucia. "I-"
"I don't believe this," Miharu choked. "I-I don't believe you!"
Kairi twisted her body around the rest of the way until she was facing her older sister. "Miharu...what are you doing here?" Her voice was shaking. Please tell me she didn't see that, she thought to herself. Please tell me she didn't see us!
Miharu stared at the two girls, her face filled with shock, confusion and disbelief. Kairi looked in her eyes, trying to convince her sister with her mind that nothing was wrong, that she should turn back and pretend that this hadn't happened. Suddenly, the anger in Miharu's face took over her entire body.
"You're supposed to be outside the castle with us! You're supposed to be helping us! And now I find you here, kissing this girl! A girl, Kairi!? A girl!?" she exploded.
The blue-eyed girl immediately defended herself. "I don't want to fight!"
Miharu lowered her head and pounded her fist against a tree trunk a few times. "Fuck, Kairi!" she exclaimed. It was one of the first times Kairi had seen her so angry-and one of the first times she had heard her cursing. "You're a fucking shitload of work, you know that?" When she looked up again, her eyes were bloodshot. She lunged at Kairi and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back towards the castle. The younger girl yelped.
"L-Lucia!" Kairi squeaked, reaching her arm out to the red-eyes teen. "Miharu, let go!"
Lucia stood up and took a few steps towards Kairi. Miharu growled and yanked Kairi's arm over protectively, as if the connection between the girls would cause Lucia to feel it. "You stay away from her!" she warned. "Or else!"
With that, she turned and took off towards the castle again, dragging a reluctant Kairi behind her. Lucia stood in the middle of the clearing, her arm outstretched helplessly. "Kairi..."
Her voice came as a whisper as she stared into the forest. A cloud slowly floated over the moon, casting their secret spot into darkness.
---
"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Miharu demanded, screaming in Kairi's face.
Kairi backed herself up against a tree and leaned back onto it, sighing deeply before speaking. "I love her," she answered in a low voice. And that was that.
"You're talking crazy!" Miharu shook her head, as if what she just saw and heard would fall out of her ears.
"I love her," Kairi repeated.
"Stop staying that!" Miharu screamed, grabbing her little sister by the shoulders and shaking her. Tears were streaming down her face at this point. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I looked all over for you. I thought you'd gotten killed! And then I find you kissing a girl, someone who isn't even from the castle. And so deep in the forest, Kairi? You know that we're forbidden from going in here! You were so far, too! Honestly! You know that they live there, and yet you still went! You're lucky that girl wasn't a vampire!"
Staying silent, the smallest girl looked down to the ground. She bit her lip until she drew blood, then ran her tongue over it, tasting the sweet taste. Vampires. Go figure.
"Kairi...don't tell me that girl was a vampire..."
Feeling tears of her own flowing, she turned to Miharu. "But I lover her, regardless of the fact that she's a vamp-"
SLAP!
She was cut off with Miharu's hand raising and sharply striking her across the face. Shocked, Kairi brought her hand up to her already-red face, placing it gently on the spot where her sister hit. She stared at Miharu through teary eyes, stunned.
"Miharu..."
The older girl leaned forward angrily but calmly, staring straight into Kairi's eyes until they were face to face. Kairi could feel her sister's breath on her skin and shivered-she couldn't help it, her sister was scaring her. Finally, her sister spoke.
"What would Dad say?" she scowled.
There was silence from Kairi. She gazed at the older girl inaudibly, wishing she could have erased that question away from eternity. Why did she have to bring up Dad?
"Come on," Miharu said in a lower voice, turning away and walking in the direction of the castle. Kairi glanced back to the path that would lead her to Lucia. She considered going back, but leaving Miharu could prove to be a big mistake for the fifteen-year-old.
Silently, she followed Miharu back to the screaming.
---
Miharu and Kairi's words were still ringing in Lucia's head. She had no idea what to make of all of it, no idea what to think for herself. She couldn't speak, and even if she could, what would she say? Would she call Kairi to come back? Would Kairi even hear her? She felt her head start to spin, with words buzzing around inside, repeating and overlapping and not making any sense whatsoever. Over it all, she could still hear Kairi's voice saying those three words: "I love you."
She wouldn't leave her. Never.
Clenching her hand into a fist, she squeezed until it hurt, until her fingernails made little red marks in her skin that burned. She stared up at the sky and watched as the cloud overhead passed by. The moon was so extraordinarily big, she didn't know what to make of it. All she knew that was that Kairi would be looking at the same moon, and hopefully, be thinking of her.
She lowered her vision and stared straight towards Kairi's castle. She could faintly hear the yelling and commotion going on. She knew she had to do something, anything! Looking back in the opposite direction, she could see nothing but darkness. Her mansion wasn't too far off, but she knew that nobody would be inside. Hikaru, Shunsuke, Erika-she knew where they all were.
Her feet took off running towards the uproar, not stopping for breath or to glance at where she was going. She tripped a few times, feeling the dirt beneath her and sticks jabbing into her sides, but she didn't care. She just got up and continued running as fast as she could, scratches on her face and her legs beginning to throb.
It was like a headache waiting to happen. When she arrived at Kairi's castle and saw all the fighting going on, she felt her head aching with pain. It was too much to take in, but she tried her best to keep herself up. Kairi was somewhere in there, and if she wasn't careful or quick, she could end up getting hurt, the last thing that Lucia wanted.
She twisted through the crowds of fighting, dodging punches and kicks-that was the easy part, seeing as how it was only a small group who had been fighting with their fists and legs. Then she saw the flames. She felt the heat and was now ducking under arrows that were flying over her head. She heard the screaming. She listened closely for Kairi's voice, hoping she wouldn't hear it in the cries of pain.
Finally, she saw her-the girl in the white nightgown and the big blue eyes, staring at everyone. She could see the reflection of the flames dancing in Kairi's eyes, as if she was in a trance. She felt her heart skip a beat as she stared at her. Even in a situation like this, she still looked beautiful.
"Kairi!" she called, rushing towards her.
"Lucia?" Kairi said aloud, staring at the vampire in disbelief. Seeing clearly that it was who she had hoped it would be, she screamed in joy. "Lucia!"
Lucia smiled and rushed toward her, the girl she loved. Suddenly, she felt an arm coil around her neck, pulling her close to whoever had grabbed her. She saw Kairi's expression turn to anger, and heard Kairi scream, "Yukki!"
The fucker who tried to hurt my angel...Lucia thought to herself angrily. She tried to free herself, but Yukki was too strong this time.
What was with her? Wasn't she stronger than this? Why couldn't she fight back?
She saw Kairi's expression change again, this time to shock. She froze where she was and stared at Lucia and Yukki, not blinking. Lucia wondered what was going on until the blue-eyed girl spoke softly, just enough for the two to hear it.
"Yukki...put the gun down."
Lucia's eyes widened. Gun?
It was then that she felt the gun pressed to her head. Yukki's burning hot breath was against her neck as he spoke, making her flinch. "Your little hero's going to die now."
For once, Lucia felt helpless. Oh God...not now, I have to be with Kairi, she thought to herself. She felt the anger in her chest building up, but she couldn't move. She couldn't do anything but stand there and pray that he wouldn't pull the trigger.
"Don't shoot her. Please, Yukki. I'll do anything," Kairi begged.
"Anything?" Behind Lucia, the boy's voice sounded devious.
Tears forming in her eyes, the girl in the nightgown nodded slowly. "Anything," she choked, knowing well that by saying that, she'd soon be sandwiched between a mattress and Yukki's sweaty body. "Just don't hurt her."
"Aw, how cute! You love her!" Yukki teased.
Lucia bit her lip, trying not to say anything for fear that he might shoot. She wanted so badly to hurt him, to really really hurt him. She wanted to tear him apart for what he might do to Kairi. Please, Kairi, Lucia thought. Don't sacrifice yourself for me.
"Fucking lesbian," Yukki laughed, digging his nails into Lucia's neck, making her flinch and shut her eyes once more.
Why? she asked herself in her mind. Why does this have to happen? What did Kairi ever do to deserve this? She felt warm tears running down her face, to her lips, and she tasted its saltiness.
When she opened her eyes, she could barely see through her tears. She dared not wipe them away with a gun pressed to her head. When they cleared away, she saw Kairi standing with her bow and arrow in hand, ready to shoot.
It took a while, but Yukki finally noticed the fifteen-year-old, ready to shoot him. Lucia waited for him to let her go, but instead, he only laughed. "What? You're going to shoot?" He snickered and waved Lucia around a bit. "And what if you hit your little girlfriend? Do you want to take that chance, hmm?"
With dried tear stains on her face, Kairi looked over the two. She could do this. She could take one shot and Yukki would be hit and that would be the end of it. She would run into Lucia's arms, and they'd find a way to get away from this stupid war. They could get away and be together-forever.
But what if she missed?
As the thought crossed her mind, she felt her heart start to break at the thought of losing Lucia. She could only imagine it-the arrow hitting Lucia and the tears spilling. She could practically hear it-Lucia's cry of pain as she looked down at the arrow stuck inside her, the arrow shot by someone she loved. She could see it-Lucia dying.
Getting a tighter grip, Kairi shut her eyes for a second, thinking it over. Lucia watched her intently, wondering if she would shoot or if she would surrender. She hoped it would be the latter.
Suddenly, Kairi looked up. The tears in her eyes were gone, and she smiled confidently. When she spoke, her voice was loud, clear and sharp in the night air, sending chills though Lucia's body.
"I would never hurt Lucia."
TWANG! Time almost stood still as Kairi shot the arrow. Lucia watched as it, seemingly in slow-motion, sped towards them. She shut her eyes, waiting for it to hit her, waiting to feel pain shoot through her. And that's when it hit her.
Kairi was amazing at archery.
Just as the reassurance passed through the vampire's mind, she heard Yukki's voice cry out behind her. His arm released her from her hold, and she took the advantage and ran to Kairi. She heard the gun drop to the floor and Yukki coughing. She knew he was probably coughing up some blood, though she had no idea where the arrow had hit. She didn't care look back; instead, she kept her focus on Kairi, whose eyes were glazed over.
After a minute or two, Kairi turned to the vampire next to her, forcing a smile. "You're okay...I'm so glad." Her forced smile turned to a relieved one.
This time it was Lucia's turn to throw herself into Kairi's arms. "Thank you," she whispered. "So much."
"Lucia!" a voice called from somewhere nearby.
Fuck! What now!? the red-eyed girl thought angrily. She spun around to see her standing there-Erika.
Kairi froze in the other girl's arms. It was her, the girl she had seen all those years ago...the one who killed Fumiko and Toshiki. She dropped the bow and arrow, suddenly feeling weak.
"Kairi? Kairi! What's wrong?" Lucia asked, concerned. She held the other girl close to her.
"You're really more concerned about these stupid humans than us?" Erika demanded.
Lucia snapped her head up, glaring at her older sister. "This one especially."
The oldest girl looked angry, about to attack her younger sister almost. But instead, her expression changed to desperation. "Lucia, we need you. You're needed to win this war. Without you...we'll..." Her sentence faded off into the darkness.
Picking up Kairi bridal style, Lucia turned away from her sister. "I'm afraid I can't stay. I have to protect the one I love. You'd better watch out behind you, by the way."
Erika turned around, and almost immediately dodged an arrow shot my Miname (whose aim was so bad that she would have missed whether or not Erika had moved). Erika cursed under her breath and went back to fighting again, giving Lucia the chance to run off with Kairi.
The two girls sat under the biggest tree they could find in the forest. Kairi rested her head on Lucia's shoulder, and they two stared into the air blankly. In the distance, the shouts could be heard. Where they sat, all they heard was each other's breathing. Kairi got up and crawled into Lucia's lap, sitting in between her legs and resting her head on the vampire's chest. She listened quietly to her heartbeat.
After a few minutes of silence, Lucia sighed. "It's hopeless, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"Us."
Kairi's heart dropped.
"I love you to death," Lucia said quickly, pulling Kairi closer. "With all my heart. But...our families...they'd never..."
The blue eyed girl sighed as well. She knew it was true. Their families were in a war-how could they be together with a war filled with hatred going on?
Lucia gently lifted Kairi's chin and brought their lips together. It was one of those kisses that was incredibly sweet but incredibly sad at the same time. Kairi felt her heart starting to crack. "I promise you," Lucia said softly. "We're going to be together. I'm going to find a place for us to be together without anybody getting in the way." She kissed Kairi's forehead sadly. "But I need to go away for a little while. Will you wait for me?"
Kairi's head was spinning. Go away? For how long? Would she ever see her again? What would happen to her? She felt dizzy and saw the whole world starting to melt beneath her. Still, she felt the words in her heart come out of her mouth slowly. "I'll wait for you for as long as it takes. I'll wait forever if I have to."
The last thing Kairi remembered as the dizziness took over was feeling teardrops on her skin and hearing a quivery voice saying softly, "Kairi, I love you. I love you forever."
She remembered feeling Lucia get up beneath her. And she remembered feeling a hole forming in her heart when she realized that Lucia was gone, and felt it grow bigger when she realized she wouldn't be coming back so soon.
Hours passed as she sat silently under that tree. She heard cheering in the distance from the castle, specifically the twins. She couldn't care less if they had won or not. She just sat there, watching the world melt away.
---
Her room was cold when she walked inside. Looking around, she saw that a window was open, something she had probably done in her sleepy state before Hidemi took her out of the room. She walked over to it slowly, looking outside to see traces of light. It was already almost morning, and she had spent the whole night awake.
And alone, now.
As she bent over to close the window, Kairi noticed something under it that hadn't been there before. There was her missing drawing pad, with a piece of paper on top of it. The handwriting was messy, but legible. Gently picking it up, Kairi read it, feeling the tears welling up again.
Dear Kairi,Leaving you is probably one of the hardest things I've done. The next thing would probably be getting into your room to put this here. You need a room on the first floor.
All that aside, I want you to know that I love you. I can't say that enough. I love you so much it hurts, and I promise you that I'll be back one day. I'll come back with a great place in mind, and we'll leave and we won't come back. We'll forget all of this, and most importantly, we'll be happy. Seeing a smile on your face is really important to me, so promise me that you'll smile for me, even when I'm not around. I want you to live life even without me around.
Stay safe, my love.
Love, Lucia
P.S.- I gave back your drawing book. I'm sorry for taking it, but I loved the way you drew. You're amazing.
A few drops of tears fell on the page, thankfully not smudging the letters. She folded it carefully and put it down, picking up the sketchpad to look at it. There was her drawing of Lucia, only this time, Lucia herself had added something-Kairi was there as well, leaning her head on her shoulder and smiling.
Smiling as tears rolled down her cheeks, Kairi stared out the window, trying to see as much as she could. The distance didn't matter to her anymore-she would always have Lucia in her heart.
She stood in the window for a few minutes as daybreak rolled around, sending rays of light through her window and onto her floor. Kairi could have sworn she saw Lucia's face in the disappearing stars.