Nando mo furete

Band: Moran

Pairing: Soan&Hitomi, mentioned Ivy&Vivi

Rating: 18+

Genre: romance

Warnings: some erotic scenes

Note: Sometimes you just want to take a bath, sometimes you want to relax, sometimes you want more.

 Soan entered the bathroom and smelled the bubble bath. He looked at Hitomi, who didn't notice him, because he was diving in his mind like in the water from the bathtub. The drummer smiled.  He took off his clothes and went into the shower. Cool water ran over his body. Judging by the fact that even the turning on the tap and the sound of flowing water didn't wake Hitomi from his thoughts, the vocalist turned off completely.

Bare, wet feet left footprints on the floor as Tomofumi made the distance between the shower and the bathtub.

Hitomi trembled when he felt cold Soan's body who suddenly hugged him - warm because of hot water.

"Tomofumi? What are you doing here?" Hitomi was confused.

"I'm taking advantage of your thoughts, Hito-chan" Soan smirked, still sitting on Hitomi's hips.

Soan's hands slid over Hitomi's warm body. Tomofumi closed his eyes. He didn't have to see Hitomi. He knew his body so well that he knew when his fingers would find a scar from reckless playing with fireworks and when he would find a scar that was left after his unfortunate fall from the scene at the beginning of his career.

Suddenly he felt Hitomi's hands on his cheeks and then his sweet lips on his. He kissed him back, pulling Hitomi to him. Soan liked the way Hitomi was kissing him. There was always more passion and desire in the vocalist's kisses than in his.

Soan's hands wandered over Hitomi's shoulders and back, then slid down onto his thighs. In fact, Tomofumi didn't know another person with legs such sensitive to the touch. The drummer just gently brushed the inner side of Hitomi's thighs with his fingertips, and the groan that he heard close to his ear indicated that he had achieved the desired result.

"You like it, don't you?" asked Soan.

"You know it" whispered Hitomi, kissing the drummer's neck.

Soan sighed and then he stopped breathing for a moment, because Hitomi bit his skin.

"I can hear Ivy's laugh already" he said, when Hitomi pulled away from him.

"Don't worry too much about it" Hitomi leaned on the bathtub. "Just don't drown me."

"I'll try" mumbled Soan, kissing Hitomi's lips.

* * *

There was silence in Moran's rehearsal room as always in the morning. Sizna sat with a mug of coffee, Hitomi was correcting the lyrics, sipping his water, and Soan set up drum cymbals.

Ivy looked at Vivi, who had fallen asleep with his head on bassist's lap, and looked at Tomofumi. A scarf with blue and golden patterns covered the drummer's neck. Ivy thought for a moment about it. Why he protects his throat in July?

Ivy kissed Vivi on the cheek, then stood up and walked to Soan.

"You can't handle a cold, So-san. Right?" he said, playing with his scarf. "I understand that Okinawa has palm trees, but it's July."

"Have you tuned the bass already, Ivy?" Soan asked, taking Ivy's hand and loosening his grip on the scarf.

His skin was still too sensitive for a bassist to play like this.

"No" Ivy replied, taking his hand away. "But judging from your slightly pink cheeks, Hi-san was playing the vampire again, right?"

Even Soan's murderous glare and Hitomi choking on water didn't stop the bassist from chuckling maliciously. Ivy patted Tomofumi on the shoulder and went to tune the bass.

Soan sighed. Maybe Ivy was crazy, but he was also a very good observer. Unless it was about Sizna. What was happening in the life of the guitarist, he probably didn't understand himself.

The end

Sweet strawberry

Band: Moran

Pairing: Soan&Hitomi, mentioned Ivy&Vivi

Rating: 17+

Genre: romance

Warnings: some erotic scenes

Note: "Isn't chocolate an aphrodisiac, Hitomi? Just like strawberries?"

"Hitomi?" Soan stood in the kitchen's doorway, looking at vocalist messing around, while wearing an appron. "What are you doing?"

"I found a recipe for chocolates with strawberry filling" said Hitomi. "I didn't really figure out how to make the filling yet, so I'm melting the chocolate for now."

"I see... I guess..." said Soan, then he sat on the table, took one strawberry and dipped it in the chocolate.

He liked strawberries. They were sweet and reminded him of one of their music videos.

"Hito-chan, why can't we just eat the strawberries?"

"Because it's boring. I need something new" said Hitomi, mixing the chocolate.

"Boring?" Soan got off the table, took another strawberry from the bowl and approached Hitomi. "We could always do this."

The drummer dipped the strawberry in the melted chocolatte and put it into slightly confused Hitomi's mouth.

"Was that boring, Hitomi?" he asked, with a mysterious spark in his eye.

"Tasty" answered Hitomi.

He wanted to say something more, but Soan closed his mouth with a kiss.

"You're right - said Soan, when he moved away from him. "Tasty. Now follow me."

Soan grabbed Hitomi with one hand, the pot with chocolate in the other, then he sat the vocalist on the table.

"What are you planning, Tomofumi?" Hitomi asked, when Soan dipped the strawberry in the chocolate.

"Isn't chocolate an aphrodisiac, Hitomi?" Soan bit off a piece of the fruit, then put the rest of it into slightly open vocalist's mouth. "Just like strawberries?"

"It is" agreed Hitomi, crossing his legs and leaning on the table. "Are you going to feed me?"

"Maybe?" Soan sat on the table. "I'm doing good so far."

"If you think so" Hitomi softly grabbed the fruit, put it in the still liquid chocolate, then put it into Soan's mouth. "Then I'm gonna feed you."

"I like that idea" said Tomofumi, wiping chocolate from Hitomi's lips with his finger, then leaned over him and kissed him.

That was expected to happen, though they didn't think about it. The table wasn't strong enough to support the weight of two adult people and both of them found themselves on the floor, surrounded with pieces of the broken table.

"We destroyed the table, Tomofumi" noticed Hitomi, chuckling.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine" Hitomi shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"So, follow me. We'll take care of the table later" Soan helped him get up and lifted him up. "We're going o the bedroom."

"You're going to the bedroom. I'm carried there."

"Don't talk back to me, Hito-chan" said Soan, leaving the kitchen.

* * *

"Know what, Heiichi?"

"What?"

"At least they didn't try that on the sink."

"What? The sink?"

"Mikaru and Syu once tried. Then they had to move in to my place for a week, because their bathroom, half of their flat and neighbours' flat got flooded."

"Do we know people, who aren't that horny?"

"Si-san has only a cat."

"And Sono."

"What?"

"Sono. Matenrou Opera's vocalist. You didn't notice?"

"No?"

"Who am I with...?"

"With me?"

"Well, actually... Toshi, what are you doing? Toshi!"

The end

Broken wings

Band: Moran

Pairing: Soan&Hitomi

Rating: 17+

Genre: slice of life

Warnings: death, based on true story

Note: We get used to the fact that our friend is no longer there. We can learn to live without him. But we can't do one thing - forget.

I frown as I slowly wake up from my sleep. I wonder what actually woke me up. After a while, quite a long moment, I conclude that it was your scream.

I open my eyes. You sit on the bed, clenching your fingers tightly on the covers. You're trembling from crying, you're shaking all over like a young tree because of the wind.

I know why this is so. It's today. Anniversary of Zill's death. You always have a nightmare this day. Always the same. Do you remember? You told me about it a year ago.

You run, when you see Zill on the edge of the cliff. He's calling you. He says he wants to talk to you, hug you, smile at you one last time. So you run. You're out of breath, but you don't slow down. When you reach out, Zill takes a step back and falls. You look down, but he's gone, the darkness took him. Then you feel the ground sliding under your feet. But your abyss isn't dark and cold. As you described it, it's just the endless sky. White cherry petals flutter around. The landscape is beautiful, but you realize that Zill has disappeared into the darkness, that you haven't had time to say goodbye to him, although you would have had the opportunity, if you had grabbed his hand a moment earlier. That is why, despite everything, you feel this huge emptiness and you can't admire what you see. It makes you fall eventually. And then you wake up screaming. Always the same day since four years.

I know that I shouldn't hug you, when you just woke up. You don't want this. The first time you dreamed about it, you pushed me away and hissed at me to not touch you, because you don't want anyone to touch you now. Then you sat huddled up in the bed and cried, and I didn't know, what to do. Your angry voice rang in my ears. I don't think you've ever spoken to me like this before, even though I've known you for many years. It hurts. And it hurt even more, because I wanted to somehow stop the tears streaming down your cheeks, and it turned out that I couldn't...

I don't know, how many minutes passed then. I just sat there and watched you cry and something was stabbing my heart, very badly. I hate helplessness.

You finally calmed down a bit. You were still trembling, but the tears weren't running so thickly down your cheeks anymore and your breathing was more calm. You looked at me. You must have seen a slight fear in my eyes, because you apologized to me. You explained that when you have such a strong nightmare, every touch makes you feel some inner pain. You couldn't explain it. But you hugged me. I put my arms around you and pulled you to me. Even just hugging you, I could feel your heart pounding. You were so scared. I never wanted to watch it again. Never hear you sob again, but...

...a year later it was the same. And the third time around, you finally found the courage to tell me about this traumatic dream. It was then that I realized how hard the death of Zill was for you. That it hit you harder than it did hit me. That to this day you blame yourself for coming to the hospital a few minutes too late.

"Tomofumi?" I look at you, very worried.

Maybe I should hug you now? Or maybe I should still wait?

"Tomofumi, do you hear me?"

You nodded. We both know that it isn't only an answer, but also a consent to touch you. I grab your hand and loose your clenched fingers. They're cold. Everytime, when you're stressed, your hands are cold.

"It's okay, Tomofumi. I'm with you" I say calmly, knowing that I could even read you some manual and you would smile gently.

You just want to hear my voice. You want to know that I didn't disappear like Zill.

"Hitomi" you say quietly.

It's strange for me. Usually you don't speak so fast. Only when you're calm, you start to speak.

"You have to live longer than me."

"What?"

"You have to die after me" you look at me firmly. "I wouldn't get over your death. You can't die before me. Do you understand?"

"Tomofumi" I smile gently, hugging you. "In fifty years, when the time comes for us, we will die together. Neither of us will leave as the first one."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

You hug me. This day, 23rd July, is the only day in the year, when it's me who has to take care of another. Your wings are broken and I can't hide under them. I am the only one, who can heal them. Nobody can do it, because you gave me this power of healing and no one else. And I won't give it anyone.

The end

Waiting for the Moon

Band: Alice Nine&Kagrra,, mentioned 168 -one sixty eight- and Migimimi sleep tight

Pairing: Tora&Akiya, Isshi&Nao, Izumi&Shin, mentioned Ao&Ryohei

Rating: 17+

Genre: romance, fantasy, drama, AU

Warnings: magic, violence, death

Note: Tora tells his student a story about him and his teacher. A long, long story.

"I realized that I've never told you about him. Not because I didn't want to tell you more than you should know. I think that memories were still too fresh and painful. But now, when I lay here and I feel the drop of water slipping over my forehead, I have to finally tell you this story.

It was a normal day, like the one before. I woke up, ate my breakfast and went to work. Clients were moody and grumpy as always. My boss too. I got used to it. It was like this for such long time, that it was already boring to me.

I looked at my watch. I didn't even know, when the time had passed.

"It's getting dark" I mumbled under my breath, wiping the table top at the bar.

Don't laugh at me. Yes, I was a bartender. And it was in an inferior pub, where usually only drunkards or other life losers visit, and those smarter clients treated me like a therapist. And sometimes even a psychiatrist.

One customer's glass toppled over the table, another tripped over the chair, falling on the floor. Standard.

At that moment, the door opened and I suddenly felt something strange. The sweet scent of vanilla spread all over my body. I looked up and froze.

In the doorway stood a man in his twenties with gentle features... Scratch that, he was all gentle and I think that if he had been dressed in a dress, after a minor makeup treatment and other wonders of today's world, he could look like a woman.

He looked around and I was still staring at him like into a picture. Stop laughing, you've never seen him! You know very well that I'm bisexual, so be quiet. Just for a while.

Back to my story. He didn't fit this place at all. He was elegant, moved gracefully, and didn't look like 90% of my clients. I wondered, what was he doing here.

He shook his head disapprovingly as he walked to the bar. He sat down in a chair and began, as if it were normal for his age, to swing his legs carelessly.

Yes, now you can laugh.

"Do you want something to drink?" I asked with an emotionless voice.

I've learned after all these years that drunkards would be more afraid of lack of emotions that of screams and anger. I could even say that I was a secret weapon of my nervous boss.

He looked at me and smiled. I lost balance for a moment, but I had to come back to my senses.

"What do you recommend?"

The question caught me off guard. Usually after the words "Do you want some drink?" the client would say "Sake, you idiot, you don't know, how shitty my life is".

Then he would proceed to tell me all about his lack of money, wife, children, work, good relationships with people, interrupted only by questioning glances in my direction, to which I answered briefly and to the point.

"You know, I worked here for ten years and I've never heard this question" I laughed, showing my emotions at work for the first time in a long time.

Regular customers looked at me as if I was an idiot, just as they had been looking at my interlocutor for several minutes.

"Ah, yes" he smiled, resting his head on his hand. "What work, such interlocutors, as you can see."

He looked at the rest of clients with disgust. It was his mistake.

"I won't let some fucking prince mock me!" yelled Kaoru, a drunkard, who seemed to have been here forever.

Two other guys literally grabbed my interlocutor from his chair and threw him to the floor. And that, my dear, was their mistake.

The vanilla scent I could still smell suddenly became even more intense. Banira Ouji, as I started to call him, hit one of the guys trying to punch him and stood up. I'll skip the little bit, where this drunkard landed on the other end of the bar, okay? Now more importantly, Banira Ouji, like Bruce Lee or some other Chuck Norris, knocked down every drunkard, who tried to hurt him. Smarter customers fled, but the drankards didn't give up. So Banira Ouji jumped on... No, not on the table. On the ceiling. Yes, on the ceiling. From there, he jumped on Kaoru, who, as it turned out later, broke his shoulder with this stunt. Everyone scattered off, and Banira Ouji just dusted himself off, brushed his hair back, and sat back down at the bar.

"Where did we left off our conversation?" he smiled slightly, but I was still in a dumb shock.

He used to come to this pub for the next several days. Kaoru was in the hospital, everyone was afraid to even approach Ouji. Only I remembered "the ceiling thing", the drunkards were either too drunk or considered it to be drunken visions.

Ah, and I almost forgot. We finally introduced ourselves.

His name was Akiya.

* * *

"I have a question for you" said Akiya, rocking the glass with a pear drink he loved. "When does your shift ends?"

"I start at twelve and finish at midnight, then my workmate comes" I said.

Akiya nodded.

"Couldn't you make an appointment with your boss that you will only work during the day?" he asked after a long moment.

"Why?" I was surprised.

At this moment one client, who wasn't a drunkard, stood up and left his table.

"I need you at night night" explained Akiya and suddenly became serious.

It was literally a moment. The customer lunged at Akiya, who took a pocket knife out from his pocket, unfolded it, and stabbed the guy in the shoulder. There were screams and when the customer turned into a wolf and whimpered, then escaped through the ajar door, everyone froze in shock.

"What the hell was that?!" I yelled.

Akiya grabbed my hand and pulled me from the bar.

"They found us" he replied, leaving the club with me, still holding my hand.

"Us?! He attacked you!"

"He attacked me, but it was your scent that brought him there. You can't hide it" explained Akiya, dragging me towards some building.

"Dude, what smell?!" I tried to tear my hand away, but I failed.

"Cinnamon" Akiya replied.

"I don't smell any cinnamon!" I screamed, when we entered some old tenement house and started walking up the stairs.

"And I don't smell vanilla" he replied after a moment, taking the keys out of his pocket. "Come in."

He pushed me into a small, two-room apartment. He slammed the door shut and pulled me into the room that contained a couch, armchair, table, a black segment and a television.

"Sit down" he pushed me onto a sofa. "And listen to me."

"I'll accuse you of kidnapping me! What were you thinking?!" I was outraged.

"Do you want to know what was that or not?" asked Akiya.

I sighed heavily and nodded my head.

"It was a familiar."

"What?"

"Animal, which can change into human" Akiya looked out the window. "The reverse of the animons. These are people turning into animals. It's easy to recognize who's who. Familiars don't talk, animons usually try to gain the victim's trust first..."

"What are you talking about?!" I screamed.

Ah, how long I haven't screamed. Yes, it was sarcasm.

"Stop yelling at last" Akiya let out a long sigh. "And control your anger, because they'll sense you again. I don't think I've ever felt such an intense aroma of cinnamon."

"I don't smell cinnamon!"

"But you smell the vanilla, don't you?"

I thought for a moment. This fragrance became my everyday life, I finally saw Akiya every day. I stopped paying attention to it.

"Well... Just... Why this..." I couldn't find words, which started to annoy me a bit. "Why was that familiar looking for me?

"He was hungry and ordinary people don't interest him, apparently" Akiya smiled.

I frowned.

"Who are you?" I asked after a long silence.

"The Key" he replied shortly.

"Yes, and I'm the keychain" I snorted.

He laughed.

"What's so funny now?"

"That's how you call the Helper, when you want to piss them off" he explained.

"And you laugh, because...?"

"Because you are."

"Who?"

"A Helper."

"And that's why I stink like cinnamon?" this conversation was starting to tire me.

"Not you, just your energy" Akiya corrected me.

I hit my face with my hand.

"Energy" I repeated. "Akiya, explain to me now, who I am."

"You're my Helper. The Key always has a Helper. When the Key dies, the Helper becomes the new Key and must find his Helper."

"So your Key is dead?" I asked.

"My Helper just died" replied Akiya, fiddling with his fingers nervously. "I've been the Key for quite a long time. For about... fifty years."

"You don't look that old" I noticed.

"The moment our powers activate, we stop aging" explained Akiya. "You are talking to seventy-six-year-old man at the moment."

"Cool" I rubbed my temples, wondering what else I will find out. "So what are the Keys for?"

"And that's the question I've been waiting for" Akiya smiled brightly. "Apart from our world, there is another one, inhabited by vampires, werewolves, demons, angels of death, chimeras, animons and familiars. There are some trolls and other ogres too, but they're usually too stupid to walk through the Door."

"What door for fuck's sake?" I frowned.

"A Door that leads from one dimension to another, of course" Akiya continued. "There are Keys and Helpers on the other side too. The Black Key dies the moment the Door opens, so it's not that easy to persuade them to use their power. The White Key locks them so that no nasty stuff gets into the world, and then chases those who did."

"If a Black Key dies opening a Door, how does the White Key return to their dimension?"

I didn't understand, what the hell he was talking about. I even didn't believe him, but I had at least something to do. My life was really boring back then.

"We're sending an astral projection" replied Akiya. "The Door can only be opened in our dimension and closed in the other."

"Are there a lot of these Keys?" I asked, laying back on the couch.

"Four per country" he replied after a moment. "Everyone has one Helper. Sometimes, though very rarely, both of them die on a mission. Then the Helper becomes active and the closest Key takes care of them. They train this Helper, then diethe first time they go through the Door after finding them."

"Why?" I was surprised.

"There must be four Keys and four Helpers, if the balance is unstable, the Door tries to fix it and the Key dies immediately as its astral projection returns to the body. This is how the girl who was my Key died."

"Were you her first Helper or her second?"

"Second one" he replied after a moment. "In fact... I'm the youngest Key ever."

"How old were you when you became the Key?" I became interested.

"Twenty-nine" he replied.

"And you had a Helper, right?"

"Yes" he nodded. "He died saving me while I was outside the Door. Well... That's what you are for. To protect us when we go there. Astral projections move very slowly. Time seems to run normally, but it usually takes about fifteen minutes to close the Door. Unfortunately, then we loose a control of scent energy and all these nasty things sense us. And they want to stop us. Although the death of the Helper is really rare. Very rare. Before my previous Helper died, such an incident had happened several hundred years ago. Not counting, of course, those times when both the Helper and the Key died."

"Do you miss him?" I asked, though after a while I realized it was a very tactless question. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Relax" Akiya smiled sadly. "He was my friend. He once confessed his love to me, but then he got over it and fell in love with someone else."

"Wait, your Helper was..."

"Bisexual, yes" Akiya sat down in the chair. "I don't know if he really loved me back then or just wanted to have sex."

He spoke about it with such calmness as if it was everyday life for him.

"I understand" I nodded. "And you really think I'll believe you? Keys, Doors, some nasty stuff from another dimension... Nonsense."

"Interesting, I've been talking here for a dozen or so of minutes, and you consider it nonsense?" Akiya frowned.

I was confused. After all, I said I understood, so how did he know I didn't believe him?

"Where did this conclusion come from?" I asked stunned. "Oh Izanami, he must be some kind of madman, I'm afraid of him, he will stab me..."

"I won't stab you up" Akiya laughed.

"Okay, Tora, calm down, everything will be fine, these are just coincidences..."

"Tora?" Akiya looked at me with slight interest. "I thought your name was Amano Masashi."

"Tora is my..." I paused.

I didn't tell him what they called me, I just...

"I thought about it."

"Something is starting to get to you?"

"You're reading my mind" I said slowly, drawing out each syllable.

"Yes, I have been doing this since the beginning of our conversation. I was wondering, when will you find out" he smiled radiantly, showing me once again that for him it is really everyday life. "So, Tora, do you want to know what we can do?"

"It would be nice. Start talking about jumping over the ceiling" I said, folding my arms over my chest.

This is how I learned that the Keys can cause astral projections, jump several meters up and into the distance, are agile, fast and can communicate telepathically, show their memories to others and penetrate the minds of others. The skills of the Helpers are the same, but weaker by half, for example, if the Key will jump eighteen meters, tthe Helper will only jump nine.

I found out that I like such a variety in my life.

* * *

"Hello?" I picked up my phone, which suddenly rang.

"AMANO!" oh shit. "WHERE ARE YOU?! DID YOU REALLY JUST LEFT YOUR JOB JUST LIKE THAT?! DO YOU WANNA LOOSE IT?"

"I'm sorry, it was an emergency situation" I said, glaring at Akiya.

"Ugh, come back here now or you can say farewell to your job. If I won't see you there in FIVE MINUTES, you can submit your CV to a brothel!" my dear boss muttered and hung up.

"I'm in trouble because of you" I announced, and Akiya only sighed. "Anything else that might be useful to me now?"

"No, but I can go and justify you," Akiya smiled brightly.

After a few minutes we were in front of the bar. My boss looked at me like he was about to murder me.

"Can you explain to me why you left your job unattended?" he asked.

I wanted to say something, but I suddenly felt that vanilla scent becoming stronger. I looked at Akiya. His eyes were glowing with golden light. My boss stood still for a while, then shook his head.

"Amano? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?" my boss turned around and stared at me.

"Tell him to change your working hours from 8am to 8pm" Akiya told me telepathically. "Don't make such a face, Tora. You have to get used to it."

"You wanted to talk to me about changing my working hours" I finally replied.

"Is that so?" my boss rubbed his temples. "How?"

"8am to 8pm" I said calmly. "You also suggested that it would be good to hire a third employee, who would work from 7am to 3pm. My shift would be between 3pm and 11pm, and Kenyo's shift would be between 11pm and 7am.

"You think well, Tora" said Akiya. "And what? Will I be the new employee?"

"New employee?"

I nodded. The boss thought for a moment, then froze again.

"Ah, yes, I remember already. I think I need to buy some memory pills. You're the new one, right?"

My boss looked at Akiya, who just nodded.

"Okay, but where is Kenyo?" asked the boss after a while.

"He didn't answer the phone" I said, smiling slightly.

"Oh yes, yes, right" the boss rubbed his temples with his hand. "Okay, Amano, go back to the bar, we'll talk to Kenyo tomorrow. Yes, yes. Drops for memory loss. And pills."

My boss left me and Akiya in peace.

"We're moving out in seven years" announced Akiya.

"Why?"

"People will suspect something is wrong if we stay here" explained Akiya. "Oh, and you start your training tomorrow."

You won't be sad, if I don't tell you about our conversation with Kenyo and events in our bar, right? It's not interesting and I don't have a time for this.

My training started exactly after I left work this day. If I knew, what was waiting for me...

"Tora! You're too slow! You won't catch up with a vampire and you'd eventually get your hand bitten off by a werewolf" Akiya looked at me.

I was already doing my twentieth lap on this goddamn track, and he still was complaing about my results.

I also couldn't deal with hitting the target with knives. I fell off the climbing wall several times. I stumbled over all these makeshift fences. Well, it wasn't much fun.

"You're in a very bad condition, Tora" said Akiya, stopping a stopwatch. "That's enough for today, we're gonna go home."

We were living at his place now. My old apartament was sold, because we wanted more money.

After a few weeks I finally heard that we're going on mission. Even if I didn't know, what was he talking about.

"So, Akiya, what we'll be doing on this mission?" I asked, when we turned onto the road leading to the suburbs.

"You probably never listen to me" Akiya sighed. "The Door is open, we have to close it."

"How do you know the Door is open?"

"I can feel it" replied Akiya as we entered some empty square.

I was expecting everything, but not that the Door would just stand there... Well, it was strange.

"Akiya, am I the only one who can see it?" I pointed to the Door.

The Key chuckled.

"Tora, meet the Door. Door, meet Tora" this time he laughed even louder.

I shook my head with a disapproval.

We came closer. Akiya sat cross-legged on the concrete and closed his eyes.

"Now the time will be frozen for normal people. Watch over me" he announced.

After a while, I felt vanilla energy almost knock me off my feet. I saw the other Akiya starting to walk slowly towards the Door.

But I didn't have time to watch it. For I heard a strange whistle, as if something had cut the air.

I turned around. I saw something looking like a demon. The creature was humanoid, with black wings, claws, long fangs, and red eyes. After a while, I also noticed a rat's tail waving. It was this thing who made that strange noise.

I took a knife out of my bag and threw it at the demon.

I missed.

I took out a second one.

I missed again.

I was successful the third time.

The creature howled and fell to the asphalt. I walked over to it and prodded it with my foot. It wasn't a good idea.

Fortunately, that day I put on military boots, which my late father left for me, so the claws of this monster didn't pierce my foot.

I killed it with my sword, which made it's body disappear. Akiya told me that when you kill a dimensional being, it automatically returns to it. Even if it's just a pile of ash.

I sat down. I thought that being a Helper wasn't that hard. You sit and kill those, who try to get your Key. You know what I forgot about, don't you?

This demon was a first one because it was the closest. And the rest that got out? Exactly.

The rest of the creatures asked to notice their presence after a few minutes. That way, I learned at the same time, what angels of death, vampires and werewolves look like, and how animons differ from familiars.

To answer this question: practically not at all, only familiars have pointy ears. Elves or what?

As already mentioned, all creatures disappear shortly after their death, so there was no trace of these two vampires left.

Angel of Death seemed a little surprised when I cut him in half. His companion, too.

The animon tried to open the Door, because he seemed scared. I felt sorry for killing him, so I didn't. He ran away with his familiar, while I was busy with three werewolves. I don't think they liked me. Especially the one who leaned over me, spitting on my face.

I pushed him away and tried to get up, but then his friend became interested in me. He jumped on me and... something I didn't foresee happened.

Two white combat boots painfully bounced off my arms. The brown-haired person shot the werewolf with a pistol and landed on their legs. Someone grabbed my shirt and helped me up.

"And what, Keychain? Dog wanted to eat you?" black-haired man laughed, staring into my brown eyes.

He smelled of cinnamon. Was he the Helper?

The second werewolf was knocked to the ground by Helper's black combat boot. The Key shot the animal and looked at me with a radiant smile.

"I'm glad that we didn't come back to our area yet. But the Door would probably open there in short time" said the Key.

"Evil never sleeps, only keeps watch" added the Helper. "Are you a new Akiya's Keychain?"

"You're also a Helper, so why..." I started, but the Key interrupted me.

"Don't even try to force him to change his behavior, I have been trying for several hundred years and still failed" his brown eyes shone with a joyful glow.

They were like yin and yang. The Key was almost petite, even if he was tall, with feminine facial features. He was constantly chuckling or smiling and his clothes were white. His hair were curly and brown. I didn't see dark roots, so he probably was in some part not Japanese. Well, so am I.

The Helper wasn't petite, though slim. His hands were slender, almost feminine. His eyes were black and so sad that it seemed to be an abyss of despair. His long, black hair was tied back with a clasp at the back of his head. He was completely serious, and even when he laughed, it seemed quite grotesque. And he was dressed all in black.

"What are you doing here?" Akiya's voice pulled me from my thoughts.

He closed the Door and now he stood in front of us, vissibly confused.

"We're saving your Keychain's ass" replied the Helper.

Akiya sighed.

"I knew it's too early for him."

"Aki, he was amazing, but you know, three werewolves are a littlle... Too much for one person" the Key defended me.

"Three werewolves? And you are alive?" Akiya walked to me and looked at my clothes.

They were a little torn.

"I'm okay" I replied.

Akiya turned around to the Key and the Helper.

"By the way, that's Amano Masashi, known as Tora" he pointed on me. "Tora, they're Naoki Yamada and Hitoshi Shinohara, known as Nao and Isshi."

"Welcome to our group, Tora-chan!" Nao laughed shortly and bowed slightly.

"You're going to be a Keychain for me, but nice to meet you" said Isshi emotionlessly, smiling a little fake, then bowed.

"Nice to meet you too" I said, bowing.

"Maybe we'll take you somewhere as a thank you for the rescue?" suggested Akiya.

"Let's get ice cream!" exclaimed Nao, jumping up and down with glee. "Shino, Shino, can you buy me strawberry ice cream?"

"Yamiyo..." Isshi's legs buckled slightly as Nao jumped onto his back. "Of course I'll buy you. Though it won't be good for my spine."

"I saw an ice cream shop nearby" I said.

"Ice cream shop? Yay!" Nao seemed delighted. "Giddy-up, horsey! Giddy-up!"

I hit my face with my hand. Akiya just laughed.

* * *

When we returned home, it was almost dawn. I left the bathroom and saw Akiya sitting on the windowsill and looking at the sunset.

"What happened, Akiya?" I asked, knowing that he's sad.

"Should I tell you or show you?"

"What?" I frowned, but quickly reflected.

After all, it was his power.

"You can show it if you don't want to talk..."

I didn't even finish the sentence, when I smelled the vanilla scent and found myself in the same square from which we had just returned. I could smell the cinnamon. I turned around, though I didn't want to.

"Aoi?" I called him.

Wait, it wasn't my voice, it was Akiya's voice. So this is how it's liike, to see someone else's memories?

Akiya ran to some young man, who was laying in the puddle of blood, unconscious.

"Aoi? Aoi, wake up!" Akiya's voice was filled with despair, which I felt.

I felt, saw and heard everything.

"Aoi!"

Aoi opened his blurry eyes and looked at Akiya.

"Chimera" he whispered, smiling weakly. "I killed it. I did it."

"You fool, you should have ran away!" Akiya picked Aoi up and stood up. "We're going home."

"Akiya?" Aoi closed his eyes, still breathing. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell Ryohei that I love him and I'm sorry that I won't be able to tell him this again?" Aoi's voice was getting weaker and weaker.

"What are you...?" Akiya blinked.

"Can you tell him?"

"Yes" replied Akiya.

"Thank you" Aoi opened his eyes again. "I'm gonna be the Key, right?"

"Yes, you'll be the best Key" nodded Akiya.

Aoi smiled fondly.

"I'm your Helper. I have to protect you. If I lose, I would become the Key. And I would have my own Helper. And they'll have to protect me."

"Don't talk, you're losing your energy" said Akiya.

Cinnamon's scent was also getting weaker and weaker.

"I'll be the Key, right?" asked Aoi, cuddling to Akiya.

He looked at him with a slight surprise.

"Shinobu..." he whispered.

Could that be the real name of this Helper?

"I'll be the Key, right, Akiya?" Aoi asked again, then closed his eyes.

Akiya then felt Aoi's breath stop hitting his chest and he stopped feeling his Helper's heartbeat. After a very short moment, Aoi crumbled, turning into brown dust. Into cinnamon.

Akiya looked up. In front of him, among the swirling in the air cinnamon, stood Aoi's soul.

"I won't be the Key" he said and started crying. "Goodbye, Akiya."

"Shinobu!" Akiya ran to him and wanted to catch his friend, but Aoi already disappeared.

Akiya bowed his head and fell to his knees. He was crying and I could feel his tears. And something else. The smell of cinnamon, but different than Aoi's and completely different than Isshi's. I figured it belonged to me.

"Today is the anniversary" announced Akiya, when I smelled vanilla's scent again. "You asked me before, if I miss him. Yes. I miss him a lot."

I looked up. I walked to Akiya and hugged him. I felt how his tears made my shirt wet. I didn't care about it. Theost important thing for me was that I could conform him.

I remember the first time, when we had to move out. It was strange. I got used to this place.

"Hey, Akiya? How are Helpers selected, anyway?" I asked, wrapping another plate in a bubble wrap.

"They must be between 20 and 29 years old, they can't have parents, the siblings must live in another city, they must be local" replied Akiya, putting Aoi's photo in the box.

"The locals?"

"Yes. Do you know, why there are only four Keys and Helpers?"

"No, why?"

"The Door open in only four places in each country" replied Akiya, smiling slightly. "So there are about six hundred in total. Aoi didn't ask so many questions..."

"It would be nice, if you finally stopped comparing me to him" I growled, standing up.

I was sick of this.

"Don't you think that if he had asked, he wouldn't have died?"

"Tora!" Akiya's expression gave me an unpleasant shiver.

The Key looked like he was about to cry.

"Do you really understand anything?"

"What am I supposed to understand?" I asked calmly.

"Do you really can't see it? Do you really think my first words about Aoi to you meant something that never happened?"

Suddenly I remembered our first conversation about Keys and Helpers.

"He was my friend. He once confessed his love to me, but then he got over it and fell in love with someone else."

"Wait, your Helper was..."

"Bisexual, yes. I don't know if he really loved me then or just wanted to have sex."

"You didn't reject him. You slept with him" I said slowly.

"Yes. I'm not straight" Akiya sat down on the floor. "But I won't tell a person I have just met, "Hello, listen, I'm bisexual, watch out, because I may fall in love with you"."

"Did you love Aoi?" I asked, crouching next to Akiya.

He looked up at me.

"I didn't love him" he said firmly. "I only slept with him twice. A few years before his death. Because believe me, he has looked innocent on very few occasions. When he met someone new, when he was sleeping and when he was dying. Anyway, I'll show you, when he had nothing to do with innocence."

I wanted to protest, but I felt that vanilla's scent got more intense and I saw things that I shouldn't see.

And then I felt Akiya's lips on my own. I didn't push him away, but put an arm around him and hugged him tightly.

* * *

I woke up in the morning, feeling warm sunshine on my face. After a while I realized that I'm naked and I should dress up.

I blinked. Akiya was sleeping next to me. He was covered with a quilt and looked as beautiful as always. Well, when I fell in love with him? At the first sight? I think so.

Strands of hair fell over his face, and his fingers were clenched on the pillow as if he were dreaming about something. I wanted to try to look at his mind. I was curious what he was dreaming about and practicing my skills is always good.

Amazingly, I made it. I was Akiya and I was standing in some empty house looking around.

"Shinobu, wake up, we have to hurry" he announced.

He was dreaming about Aoi? Why?

Akiya entered some room. There was a bed in it and two people under the white sheets. Aoi and some... Some... You know, at that point I had no idea what was a gender of that person.

"Wake up, Shinobu, or I'll kick you!" screamed Akiya, smiling.

Aoi and this second person fell off the bed to the floor. It was probably painful.

"Why you didn't wake us up more gently?" asked Aoi.

He was covered with a quilt. His partner covered himself with a sheet, but he was doing it fir so long that I finally could tell his gender.

"Always, when we're moving out, Ryohei and Yumi are running up here three days earlier, then you and he don't get out of bed for three nights and so on" sighed Akiya.

Aoi shook his head.

"We'll see, what ywill ou do, when you'll fall in love" Aoi laughed.

Ryohei laughed too and then...

...I felt a hit on the cheek.

"Are you looking into my dreams? Really?" Akiya glared at me.

"You have dirty mind" I rubbed my sore cheek.

"It was just a memory. I don't know why I remembered it today" replied Akiya, sitting up.

"Who is Ryohei?" I asked.

Akiya smiled sadly.

"Ryohei was a Key. He sacrificed himself protecting his Helper, when she told him that Aoi is dead. If Shinobu had survived, he probably would have found another way to save her. But he just wanted to be with his beloved one" explained Akiya. "Maybe I dreamed of it, because of the words Aoi said?"

"Maybe" I shrugged. "Izumi and Shin are late, aren't they?"

"No, we're not late!" we heard Izumi's voice behind the door. "But when we were looking for you, unfortunately we found you at a time, when your quilt slipped from you and uncovered you. You have no choice, but to buy Hashi tea to calm him down. But if you have one, please show me the place where you keep it, because I haven't been able to find it for an hour, although I searched though all the cupboards."

In short, my dear - Shin was the shyest, most timid and easiest to embarrass person I knew. I met Shinichirou Izumida and Shin Hashidani on one of the missions, when so many evil creatures came to us that we couldn't win with them by ourselves, so the Door sent us help in form of them, Isshi and Nao. Yumi and Adori seemed to be a bit busy as the Door didn't teleport them.

Believe me, Nao's face, when he found himself in the middle of the square, in a violet apron stained with flour, was priceless. The door had to get him out of the kitchen. I wonder what it would be like if he was just taking a bath?

Stop laughing! I'm not as perverted as you think... Or am I?

"Shin, the calming tea is in the cupboard in the bathroom" told him Akiya, pulling the white dressing-gown off the chair and putting it on that almost perfect body. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, I sometimes like to admire your beauty" I replied, stretching lazily.

Akiya shook his head disapprovingly and went to look for some unpacked items.

Already bathed and dressed, we sat down to the breakfast, which Izumi made. Ah, those Izumi's pancakes. I miss them so much.

Shin didn't look at us until Akiya stabbed him with a fork. He looked at us and immediately blushed, making me laugh. Akiya reacted by hitting his face with his hand. Izumi just smiled a little and shook his head in helplessness.

In fact, they were their complete opposite. Izumi was easy-going, always smiling and chubby. Shin was shy, often serious and skinny as a skeleton. They were about the same height, so I looked down at them.

"It's good that you finally got together" said Izumi, pouring tea into the blue cup. "We already made a bet with Isshi, who would die first, before one of you finally confesses their feelings."

Have I told you already that Shin was the Key and he was friends with Nao and Akiya? And with Yumi, ex-Helper of Ryohei.

"Isshi was sure that I would die first, right?" I asked, sipping my tea.

Yes" Izumi nodded as he placed a piece of pancake on his fork. "But not because he doesn't like you, but because he just seems to like Akiya more. And..."

Izumi sighed. I looked at him, curious. I had no idea, what he wanted to say.

"And?"

"Akiya isn't the only one, who misses Aoi, Tora" said Shin. "You know, everyone thought and even was sure that Aki would be the first one to die. The Key should die before the Helper. He was the first one after hundreds of years."

"The Key before the Helper..." I repeated and realized something horrible. "Akiya... You're gonna die before me, right?"

Akiya seemed offended for a moment, because he probably thought that I was afraid of losing my life, but then he realized that I was afraid of something else. I was afraid that I would lose... him.

"Masashi..." he whispered so quiet that we almost didn't hear him.

On one mission, we adopted a familiar. Do you nderstand? The Key and the Helper taking in a familiar - a kitten that turns into a little girl. We were like a family. Then another familiar appeared - a dog. Isshi and Nao had about eight at one point. Five dogs and three cats, as I remember correctly. Izumi and Shin had a mouse. And Yumi and Adori had so much "people" at home that I lost count. It was so cute. As if we were pretending to be a family we couldn't have.

I remember Akiya being attacked on the other side on some mission. There was no one there at the time, so I was sitting in front of him. Imagine this - you're sitting still, looking at your beloved one in a half-asleep state, and suddenly his shirt is tearing on his shoulder, and the blood is spurting on your face. It was so strange and scary at the same time that I stopped breathing for a moment.

"Akiya!" I called him finally, trying to wake him up.

I forgot that it won't work, until he wakes up himself. I hugged him and I was sitting there, frightened as much as I was afraid of even moving.

I felt the blood flowing on my fingers. So the Keys are dying like this everytime? Attacked on the other side. Without a chance to get help. We have to protect them here, there they were alone.

"Masashi, I can't come back" I heard suddenly. "I'm too tired. You have to give me more of your energy."

"More?"

"This hug helped me a lot. You're smart, I didn't tell you about it" I saw Akiya's smile in my mind. "Kiss me."

"Of course" I replied, moving away from him. I put hands on his cheeks and kissed him.

He came back after a while. He looked at me, being sorry and fainted. He was hurt, but his wound wasn't as bad as mine now. After few days he felt better. Since this day I knew, what to do, if something would attack him on the other side and how to bring him back.

* * *

Do you know, what? I should tell you about later times. And I mean times, when everything started crumbling to dust.

And it started one beautiful evening, when we were sitting carelessly on the terrace of one of our homes. Several dozen years have passed since I became the Helper. The stars shone with an exceptionally bright glow this night.

"I like this place" said Akiya, stretching lazily. "It's relaxing."

"I think that way too. It's so quiet and..." I paused, when I smelled some strange scent.

Like an opened jar with cherry jam.

In the next moment I stood in the front of unconscious and badly injured Isshi, who was laying on the ground.

"...calm here" I ended my thought, kneeling besides our friend.

It looked bad.

"Tora, take care of him! Me, Izumi and Shin will kill those vampires!" yelled Akiya.

The Door didn't bring Adori and her new Helper there. Yumi died a week earlier, torn apart behind the Door by a pack of werewolves.

I tried to move Isshi to the safe place, but then something appeared. I haven't seen this before. It was big, had a body of lion and a tail of snake. Its body was covered with violet scales. To be honest, I froze in fear. Isshi woke up and slightly opened his eyes. He looked at the monster and flinched, waking up.

"Chimera" he said with such a serious voice that he probably didn't sound like that.

"Chimera?" I blinked.

I've heard this word before.

"Chimera" he whispered, smiling weakly. "I killed it. I did it."

"A chimera killed Aoi" I said quietly, heading back. "Akiya told him that he should left him and run. Why the Door didn't send you then?"

"Aoi was counciouns and I fainted. It's your answer" replied Isshi, looking at a chimera with fear in his eyes.

Isshi stood up, trying to not lose his balance.

"Run, I'm gonna distract it or something. I am the one, who can stop it."

"Are you crazy?!" I growled. "You're hurt already, you're gonna die!"

"It's the only way to save you" said Isshi and almost lost his balance, but I caught him.

"You see? You can't even..."

"Masashi!"

"Shinohara!"

* * *

I woke up after a while. Some liquid was running down my cheek. I didn't know if it was sweat or tears or blood or something else. I opened my eyes and that's when I saw him. Nao, who has already closed the Door, with his arms outstretched, standing in front of the reclining Isshi. Before Nao there was only a stain of green substance, probably chimera's blood, which had already disappeared, and red human blood.

"Yamada" whispered Isshi, catching Nao, when he fell on the ground. "Yamada? Yamada?! YAMADA!"

Akiya ran to me and helped me to stand up. That liquid was my blood. That scar is awesome, right? I got some charisma points because of it.

"What happened?" I asked, looking at Isshi.

"That chimera attacked you just after Nao closed the Door. He protected Isshi and started to attack it with weapons, but it... pierced him through anyway."

"Pierced him through?"

"Yes. With its paw. Their favourite way of killing" Akiya's voice cracked.

We ran to Isshi and Nao. Or I should say, Nao's shadow.

"Don't cry, Shinohara" Nao smiled weakly, wiping tears from Isshi's cheek. "It's not like we won't meet again."

"But..."

"I love you, Shino. I'm going to wait for you in the afterlife. And we're going to meet again, when you'll become vanilla flowers, okay?"

"Yamada..."

"What?"

"Why did you do this?" asked Isshi.

"Shinohara, you're inquisitive and not very guesswork" Nao sighed. "I told you that I love you, silly boy. I have been telling you this for several hundred years. Such a reason isn't enough?"

"But I should have made the sacrifice! I was supposed to protect you!" Isshi hugged Nao to him.

"Shino..."

"I love you, Yamiyo. I can't imagine you won't be there" said Isshi.

I embraced Akiya, who was trembling with muffled sobs. Shin was openly crying. Izumi held him against him, stroking his head. He also had tears streaming down his cheeks.

"It's funny how you still have the same way of thinking you had five hundred years ago" Nao smiled fondly and kissed Isshi. "You're going to be a good Key, Shinohara."

Strong blow of vanilla energy almost knocked them to the ground. In the air vanilla flowers, were floating, embracing Nao's soul. Isshi looked at him and tried to grab his hand.

"Smile to me, Shinohara" said Nao.

Isshi closed his eyes for a moment and was smiling when he opened them. Maybe a little artificially, maybe through tears, but for Nao. Just for him.

Nao smiled back, turned on his heel, and walked a few steps, then disappeared.

I stopped smelling Nao's vanilla energy. There was a sharper scent, also vanilla, but not that soft. And cinnamon. Another, somewhere in town.

"Isshi, don't move, you're hurt, do you remember?" asked Izumi, running up to him.

The new Key looked at Shin's Helper and laughed weakly.

"I'm useless" he said, then fainted.

And that's how everything started crumbling to dust.

* * *

Adori died a few years later under mysterious circumstances. I never liked her Helper, to be honest. There was always such negative energy emanating from him.

Isshi's Helper had a difficult life with him. He trained her pretty well, but he wasn't niceto her a lot. Though on one occasion she told me something.

"You know, Tora..." started Sakura, sitting next to me.

She was even pretty. She had long hair, tied in two ponytails and wore Gothic Lolita clothes. She was very shy, but she had atletic body and high inteligence.

But we should come back to my conversation with her.

"What?" I asked, when she couldn't find a courage to say more.

"I noticed recently that Isshi was sad. He's always been serious, but then... He was sad, even depressed. I asked him, what happened, but he didn't answer."

"And what happened next?"

"I wanted to go to my room, but he stopped me" replied Sakura, swinging her legs.

She was very short, her feet even didn't touch the floor, when she was sitting on the sofa.

"He told me about his life. How he became the Helper, how he got closer to his Key, how he met you, how Nao died. I felt touched" she clenched her tiny hands in fists. "I started to understand him finally."

Some days later ex-Helper of Adori did something very terrible. I mean, he walked through the Door and opened it just like that, because he came to the conclusion that destroying our world is a very good idea.

I just told you that Adori died under mysterious circumstances, right? Imagine this psychopath killed her! And his Helper wasn't any better, because we found him in front of that Door that this jerk opened. And he had no peaceful intention of facing us.

"Keiyu, listen, I don't know, what Yumehito told you, but fighting with us really isn't a good idea" said Isshi calmly, slowly walking to the Helper.

The Door brought us here just after Yumehito had this brilliant idea of destroying everything.

"Do you really think that I would listen to such old man as you?" asked Keiyu.

Isshi glared at him.

"Yes, shorty" he replied.

Keiyu frowned and started to attack us immediately.

Erm... Sorry, but I should skip this scene, because this fight was really long. Keiyu wasn't so easy to beat, even though he was only a bit taller than Sakura. In fact, I would have bored you to death, if I told you exactly, how we made Keiyu pass out and we could safely think about how to defeat Yumehito here.

"I need to move there" announced Isshi, sitting down in front of the Door. "And you'll protect me with energy. Okay?"

"Isshi, but you'll only be an astral body and he..." started Shin, but Izumi cut him off.

"Hashi, I understand that you're always worried about everyone and everywhere, but that's the only way" he said, placing a hand on Isshi's shoulder.

"Sakura, make sure that this protozoan won't wake up" asked Isshi and closed his eyes.

We were sitting there, waiting for something to happen. At some point I felt something between my fingers. I looked at my hand. His blood was paiting it red. So he was hurt already?

At some point we knew that if we won't do something, he's gonna die.

"Do you hear me, Isshi? Leave him, come back, you won't make it!" called him Akiya, trying to stop the bleeding from one of his wounds. "Wake up!"

But he didn't want to give up. Even if our presence stopped helping him. Even if when Sakura tied Keiyu and put his hands on Isshi, this situation didn't get any better.

And in the end, just before the daybreak, badly injured and unconscious Yumehito materialized in front of the Door. After a long moment Isshi came back to his body and immediately fell into Akiya's arms.

"I prefered to be the Helper" he mumbled, smiling fondly. "Sakura, come here."

The girl blushed and walked to Isshi.

"Do you think that I was a good Key?" asked Isshi.

"You were the best" replied Sakura. "And you still..."

"You're going to be a good Key, Sakurako" said Isshi, smiling radiantly and... his body changed into the vanilla petals.

I turned around, when I felt familliar scent. We saw Nao, who reached out arms towards Isshi and looked at him tenderly.

"I rather expected, my dear Shino, that you would be the Key a little longer" said Nao.

"I had to sacrifice myself for my friends, Yamiyo" Isshi explained, smiling brightly. "Yumehito, I advise you to tell your Helper that he'll be a good Key before you turn into a zombie. Such a delicate suggestion."

"Forget it" growled Yumehito.

"If you turn into a zombie, Keiyu will have to kill you. Just like you killed Adori."

"You better shut up" said Yumehito, still lying on the sidewalk. I guess he was so embarrassed that he lost that he didn't even want to get up.

"Sorry it turned out that way" Isshi turned to us, putting his arm around Nao's waist.

It began to dawn and tiny rays of sunlight illuminated our two friends who waved like children, kissed and vanished into thin air.

Akiya became very depressed after this event. He was reluctant to do missions, he spent most of the time sitting in the window and staring at the starry sky. After the losing Nao, he was smiling less, now he seemed to be doing it only, when he wanted to return a smile.

"You knew they would die one day..." I started one day, when Akiya was back on the windowsill and stopped communicating with the world. "You can't isolate yourself from the world because of this. We're still alive, Aki. They both would like to..."

"Both?" Akiya laughed somehow... empty. "You're just talking about Isshi and Nao. What about Yumi? Adori? Aoi? Ryohei? Chou? They're gone too, you know?! Everyone I love is dead! Do you think it's easy for me?! I wish that now, at this moment, the Door would open and some chimera would attack me! I wish that!"

Our feline familiar turned into his animal form and ran away, terrified by Akiya's hysterical outburst.

"You'll also die" said Akiya. "You're gonna die because of the same reason as Aoi, probably because you would protect me! Because I have to live, others can die in front of my eyes! Why can't I die too?!"

I don't know, how angry I was that I slapped his face. He froze, as if he realized, what he said and what is the real reason of why his cheek hurt.

"Don't say such stupid things again" I growled, then I hugged him. "Please, you can't want to die."

"I'm sorry" he whispered and I felt his tears on my skin after a moment.

Since this day he started to be easy-going again. I thought that now everything was gonna be okay. But I couldn't forsee one thing.

Another death.

* * *

It was late Autumn. Leaves already fell from the trees. It was getting colder and colder.

We've been coming home with Akiya, when we felt strong cherry scent. Just after this we were standing in the front of the Door in another city.

I looked down. I was standing in the puddle of Izumi's blood, who was looking at me with blurry eyes.

"Tora" he whispered, trying to get up, but he fell anyway. "I beg you, help Hashidani, please."

"Akiya, Sakura, Rin and Oni are helping him. Calm down, I have to help you" I said, picking him up.

Oh, you probably don't know, who Rin and Oni were. So, Oni was Keiyu's Helper and Rin was Sakura's Helper. Keiyu was just standing there and staring at us. As if he had no reason of helping us.

"I'm going to take you home and give you some medicine, calm down" I announced, hugging Izumi.

"Forgive me, Tora. I hope that Hashidani..." Izumi stopped suddenly, when Akiya ran to us.

"Izumi, Shin... Wants to talk to you" he said slowly, carefully chosing every word. "Masashi, bring Izumi to the Door."

When we came here, Shin was sitting on the sidewalk and was looking at his fingers. I sat down barely alive Izumi in front of our always embarrased school boy and waited for something to happen.

"You're hurt" whispered Hashidani.

"I'll be okay" Izumi whinced in pain. "Forgive me, Hashi. I couldn't protect you."

"Don't blame yourself" Shin smiled fondly and put a hand on Izumi's shoulder. "You're going to be a good Key, Izumida."

Shin's body changed into vanilla flowers, which now were embracing his soul.

"You died?" Izumi put hand on Shin's cheeks.

"I'm sorry" Shin sighed and turned around.

We saw Isshi and Nao, who walked to him and helped him stand up.

"Don't worry, Izumi. We're going to take care of him" announced Nao, putting his arm over Shin's shoulders.

"I think we're going to come back here" Isshi smiled fondly and waved to us.

All of them... disappeared.

* * *

Now you probably expect a story about how Izumi trained Hanako and how he got over Shin's death, right? Well, it's not that simple. Izumi died shortly after because of his wounds.

"Hashidani" he whispered just before his death.

When he opened his eyes just after closing them suddenly, he did it because of one and only reason.

He had to tell Hanako that she's gonna be a good Key.

I remember how I felt a soft vanilla scent. I turned around and saw Shin, who walked to Izumi's bed and grabbed his lover's hands.

"I didn't have to wait for you for a long time" he said with a bitter-sweet tone.

"But what now? Hanako isn't trained at all..." Izumi looked at the girl.

"Don't worry, Izumida. The Door will figure it out. They won't let her to be a Key" Shin smiled fondly. "I didn't mean anything bad, Hanako."

"It's okay" Hanako shook her head.

"So, we should go. Goodbye, friends" Izumi smiled radiantly.

"Bye bye" Shin waved his hand and disappeared in the air with Izumi.

The Door forced Keiyu to train Hanako. They punished him like this for not helping us, when we tried to save Shin and Izumi.

And Akiya seemed to lose the abillity to smile forever.

* * *

Years passed. The new generation of Keys and Helpers wasn't as close to us as the old one. Time healed our wounds after losing friends, however... We've never laughed with Nao, eating strawberry ice cream, we've never listened to Isshi's interesting stories punctuated by sometimes malicious jokes, we've ner eaten Izumi's pancakes, who then didn't count out, who was supposed to do the dishes and we've never had to calm down Shin, when he was embarrassed by some triviality and we've never heard his shy laugh again.

We missed them very much. We knew they were probably much happier than us, but still... It hurt. It hurt that we would never see them again.

Then that day came. The one where everything lost the matter for me and I have become that grumpy Tora you know.

I remember stabbing a stake through a vampire then. I turned around and saw the first rays of sun reflected in the chimera's scales...

"Masashi!" this scream would stay in my mind forever.

The next thing I remember was me laying on the street. Akiya was leaning over me. The drop of his blood dripped on my cheek. My shirt was also all covered with his blood.

Chimera pulled out its paw from Akiya's body. He fell almost lifeless on me.

"You asshole" I growled, standing up.

Probably if I wouldn't be so mad, I would never defeat this creature.

When chimera died, I've heard clapping behind me. Akiya was sitting on the sidewalk, smiling brightly. He was almost laughing.

"Good job, Masashi. Let's go home" Akiya stood up and walked to me, then he grabbed my hand.

"But... But how?" I was shocked.

I was sure that Akiya was alive, because I didn't understand his behaviour. He laughed and put my hand on his heart.

It was... queit.

"Sorry, Masashi, but I don't want to make such emotional disaster out of you like Nao out of Isshi. It's not my style" he said, following me in our home's direction. "Come on, we'll take a bath, put on pretty clothes and go for a walk. Don't look at me like this, because I'm gonna chuckle."

When we came back home, I sat down in the armchair and I was staring at happy Akiya, who was looking for clean clothes for us. When he found both of clothes' sets, he put them on the sofa, slipped his plain shirt from his shoulders and looked at me.

"Are you going with me?" he asked, giving me his hand.

I grabbed it and I let him follow me to the bathroom as I let him follow me to his flat, when the familiar attacked us hundreds of years ago.

I closed my eyes as I stepped into the warm water. Akiya walked in the tub right after me. I could feel his smooth skin, felt that his body was much cooler than it should be, but in fact he was already dead. He wasn't breathing. His heart wasn't beating. He was like an illusion of that Akiya, who I woke up in the morning with a kiss on the cheek and then brought breakfast to bed. The Akiya, who laughed at my jokes at breakfast, the Akiya, who started another drawing after dinner. The Akiya, who fell asleep while reading the manga and the Akiya, who woke up, when he felt that the Door has opened.

"You're warm, Masashi" whispered Akiya, touching my body with his cold fingers.

"You still feel something?" I was surprised.

"I still have all senses" replied Akiya, closing his eyes.

His fingers were still touching my body and I had a feeling, where they would be in a moment.

"So, if you want to one last time..."

"You don't have to force me to it" I interrupted him and kissed him.

Let me skip the rest. Porn descriptions are probably not something you really want to hear, right? And you laugh again. And laugh, but remember that the first task you got was to clean the bathroom. It's interesting, your face somehow fell, ha ha.

Back to my story. After we got dressed, we went outside. A cool wind blew on our faces. Akiya had a briefcase with a drawing and crayons in his hand. He wanted to finish it. He never liked to leave things unfinished.

Akiya led me up the hill near our house. We sat on the grass. Akiya took care of his drawing while talking to me on various topics. However, he didn't say that sentence that he should have said sooner or later.

"Aki, are you... You know..." I started, looking at him, confused.

"No, I'm not gonna turn into a zombie" he laughed loudly, putting his art on a blanket.

It was done.

"Masashi, I just... Want to see the moon."

"What?"

"Moon, silly boy. For the last time I want to see this pale light" he said, smiling fondly.

"So we have to wait" I said.

It was early afternoon, we had a lot of time.

We laid down on the grass. We were talking, calmly waiting for the moon. And when it finally got dark and a pale glow illuminated our silhouettes, I realized the time had come.

Time to say goodbye.

"Masashi" Akiya sat up and grabbed my hand.

We stood up. I looked in his eyes and kissed him passionately. He moved away and tried not to cry.

"Tears aren't bad in a moment like this" I said quietly, stroking his cheek. "I love you, Akiya."

"I love you too" he said and broke down. "You're going to be a good Key, Masashi."

The vanilla energy wave almost pushed me on my knees. Right, I forgot how strong of a Key Akiya was and how many people told him that. I looked at him. His soul was embraced by vanilla flowers.

And then I saw Izumi and Shin.

"Akiya, my friend" Shin gave him a hand.

"It's time to go" said Izumi, doing the same as Shin.

"See you later, Masashi" whispered Akiya.

Thre of them smiled sadly and disappeared. And I was left alone on the hill, not feeling the smell that had accompanied me for ages. But I felt yours, though I wasn't ready to find you yet. In my hand I was holding a drawing of a red panda sleeping with a tiger in a cat bed. I never understood, what Akiya meant, when he created his paintings.

When I got home, I felt empty inside. I didn't hear Akiya's laugh, the bathroom was still dripping with the water we poured, the cupboards were still open and the clothes were thrown on the washing machine. Even the radio stopped playing, because a CD iside ended playing a long time ago. I laid down on the couch. I realized that I was alone. Even the presence of one of our familiars didn't help. Loneliness embraced my soul and that's why I decided to look for you the next day. You already know the rest of the story, Kyu" Tora sighed, looking at his Helper carefully. "Now what are you going to do with this story?"

"Was Isshi's story, which he told Sakura, simmilar to what I've heard?" asked Kyu, brushing blue locks of hair away off her face.

"Probably, but he said it while he was alive" Tora laughed, sitting up.

Kyu looked at him in horror.

"What?"

"You're going to be a good Key, Kiyomi" Tora smiled radiantly as his body crumbled into vanilla blossoms.

His energy nearly knocked Kyu off the chair.

"Finally" she heard a warm voice behind her and another wave of vanilla energy did, what the first couldn't.

She turned around. In front of her stood probably Akiya.

Tora was right. He was beautifully handsome.

"Akiya" Tora stood up and walked to him. "How are our friends?"

"Very well" replied Akiya. "Aoi and Ryohei want to meet you. They can't wait."

"We have this vanilla scent there?" asked Tora.

Akiya laughed.

"No, honey, this scent is the part of the world of the living" replied Akiya, then he looked at confused Kyu. "What happened, little girl?"

"You're pretty" said Kyu without thinking.

At her surprise, Akiya blushed a little.

"Thank you" he said queitly. "Erm, Masashi? We should go to meet our friends or more of young girls will start to compliment me."

"Of course" Tora embraced Akiya's shoulders. "See you later, Kyu!"

They waved their hands and disappeared in the air.

Kyu stood up and she straightened her skirt. She could smell cinnamon. Time to find her Helper. It didn't matter for her what gender they were.

"The new adventure just began" she said under her breath, throwing her red coat on her shoulders and left her flat, locking the door behind her with a key.

The end