I didn't see, though I was looking

Band: Nexx

Pairing: Tsukasa&Chisa

Rating: 17+

Genre: AU, angst

Warnings: major characters death, self-harm, suicide attempt, depression, blood

Note: "If our souls reincarnate, will we meet again?"

I stand in front of you and watch. I see your closed eyes, a faint smile, which froze on your face. I look at your pale skin, in this moment even more white and cold.

Blood isn't flowing. The heart doesn't beat. You're not breathing. You lie on your bed. Dead, but as beautiful as before.

You probably didn't know how to do it, because I can see a scarlet line on your wrist. Did you give up after making it? You realized that it's too much pain? Answer me!

Oh, right, I forgot. You died. And I stand in front of you, I'm looking at you and I can't see. As I didn't see, though I was looking, when you were alive. I didn't see your depression and I didn't see your despair, in which you were diving everyday.

I still hold a phone in my hand. I had to call the ambulance. I had to tell them that I found a suicide victim.

I touch you again. Cold. I can feel only cold. Sheer cold. But maybe I can save you? Maybe you'll open your eyes, even if your lips are blue? Your sweet, soft lips, ideal for kissing. So often stretching to a full smile.

Because you laughed. You had fun, you were sleeping with me and you were meeting with friends. You were watching anime and silly sitcoms, because actresses were beatufil. We were fooling around and... Why?

"Tsukasa?" doors to your hotel room opened suddenly. "Tsukasa, why are you cr..."

I cry? I didn't notice.

Hayato is standing in the silence, frozen in half of the word, looking at you, frightened. Does he also not see, even if he's looking? Did he also not see, though he was looking?

We're both standing, looking and not seeing. And you're laying and shining with whiteness of your skin and redness of your blood, which shines on your wrist.

Empty package of pills stands on cupboard next to the bed. It looks evil, as if it wants to tell us "I killed him!". But it isn't true. You killed yourself, alone in your despair, alone in your loneliness.

Why you didn't tell us anything? Why you didn't want help? Why you didn't show us that you feel bad?

Hayato falls to his knees. And I don't even have the strength to have strength, however strange it sounds. I just stand, stroking your ice-cold cheek, brushing bleached hair off your face and wiping away tears that still haven't dried.

You were crying, because you were dying or you were dying, because you were crying?

Hayato stood up. He's quiet. He didn't realize, what happened, yet.

I realize that if they take you, I will never see you again. I want to close the door and stay with you in this room. I want to hug you, to put my face in your plain shirt and inhale the scent of jasmine tea that you had to drink to swallow these drugs, because I can still smell it in the room. And you smell of it.

Instead, I just kneel by the bed and hug your hand. You have such short fingers for a man. But I always found your hands beautiful.

Wake up. Don't leave us here. Not in such a way. Not forever. Don't leave us. We need you. I need you.

Hayato is looking at me with tears in his eyes.

"Fifteen minutes ago" I say queitly.

He nods and goes out. He tries to calm down. He knows that he has to go and bring medics here. He knows that he has to tell our friends, what happened.

You don't know anything now. You drown in deep, black abyss and you won't swim out. You won't come back, you won't smile. You won't look at me with your beautiful, big eyes, you won't tell me that you love me, you won't hug me, you won't make love with me... You won't do anything.

If our souls reincarnate, will we meet again? I hope. I want to apologize to you for not seeing, though I was looking. I just want to apologize to you...

The end

A few minutes to hell

Band: Moran

Pairing: Hitomi&Hanami (OC), Soan&Zill, mentioned Ivy&Vivi

Rating: 17+

Genre: AU, angst, slice of life

Warnings: major characters death, self-harm, suicide attempt, depression, blood, psychotropic drugs

Note: Hitomi misses old Soan, who was his friends' guardian angel, but after Zill's death he became just empty shell of himself.

Past - 2008-2014

Present - 2016/2017

I'm sitting at his bedside. He's been staring at the wall in front of him and doesn't speak at all. Like he's in some kind of trance.

Hanami often says that I shouldn't come here. That she's afraid that I'm going to be sick too. I explain to her every time that he's my friend and I have to do it for him. She's always nodding and sending her wishes to him. I'm promising her that I'll pass them to him, even if I don't know, if he's going to hear them. And that's what it looks like all the time.

"Nurses allowed me to bring you chocolate" I say, pulling it out from my bag.

He looks at me. He's numb. I don't know, if it's caused by his depression or by his medicine. His eyes don't reflect the light. Like he has no soul.

"Flavour?" he asks.

He talks sometimes. But I don't remember, when was the last time, when this once cheerful man said more than half of a sentence.

"Strawberry. Your favourite" I say, giving it to him. "Nurses really allowed me to give you this. They said you're behaving well recently and you even eat everything at dinner."

"Oh" he nods, unpacking the chocolate bar with trembling fingers. "Thanks."

"You talk a lot today" I smile, gently petting his head. "Do you want to meet with Hanami?"

He's silent for a moment, slowly eating a piece of chocolate. Black hair covers his face.

"Who?" he asks finally.

I sigh. He had some issues with his memory for a long time.

"Hanami. My girlfriend" I say every world loudly and slowly to make him understand she's important for me.

He couldn’t comprehend this for a long time.

"We got together before we even had a band. Do you remember?"

"No" he shakes his head.

I don't know, what that means. He doesn't remember or he doesn't want to talk about it?

"I'm sorry. Don't panic" I put my hand on his shoulder and he just mouths something under his breath. "Should I not to mention it? I mean, Moran?"

"Yes" he looks at me with tears in his eyes. "Don't."

"I'm sorry again" I sigh. "You know, talking with you is a little difficult. You have to forgive me."

"I forgive" he smiles fakely.

Or maybe not?

"Come here."

"What do you mean?" I frown.

"With Hanami" he says, chewing a piece of chocolate. "I like her."

"You don't know her" I point out. "I mean, you know her, but you can't remember her."

"But I like her" he says. "She loves you?"

"Yes."

"So I like her" he puts his hand on my head.

His sleeve slips from his arm, showing his scars.

"For loving you."

He really is talkative today.

"IThat’s nice" I'm smiling friendly, getting up. "Do you want me to greet someone?"

"Sizna" he replies and thinks for a long moment.

Did he forget again?

"Ivy and Vivi too?" I ask.

"Yes" he nodded energetically. "Forgive me. I forgot."

"Just about their nicknames or about them?"

"Nicknames" he takes another piece of chocolate. "Ivy and Vivi."

"Yes."

"Pretty" he says. "Hitomi?"

"What?"

"Do you have to go?"

"Unfortunatelly" I'm streching lazily.

This chair isn't too comfortable.

"Shame" he puts chocolate on the night stand and lays down on bed. "I'll be alone."

"Don't worry. Maybe Sizna, Ivy or Vivi will visit you" I say, brushing hair from his face. "Can you remember their nicknames? Maybe I should tell you their real names?"

"I'll write them down" he says and his beautiful, deep eyes are closing slowly. "They're pretty."

"Good night" I stroke his head and turn off a lamp on his night stand.

I stare at him for a while to be sure he fell asleep and I leave his room.

I close the door. The sign on it tells everyone that it's Wakugawa Tomofumi's room. Everyone knows him as Soan or Towa. For me he's the best friend I've ever had.

When I leave the hospital, my cellphone rings.

"Hello, Hanami" I say, getting into my car. "Did something happen?"

"How's Soan?" she answers with a question. "Did he say something today?"

"He wants you to visit him. He wants to meet you."

"For the fourth time?"

"Forgive him. He's like that because of his medicine" I start the engine of my car. "Will you visit him with me the next time?"

"I will. I can even make a nut flavor cake."

"His favourite" I'm surprised a little. "You still remember."

"Yes" I can see with my imagination that she's smiling right now. "I like him. Still. Even if he lives in his own world now."

"Perfectly said" I admit. "I have to hang up, butterfly. I'm in a car."

"Okay~! See you home, then" Hanami probably waves her hand, even if I can't see this.

"See you" I reply and turn on my car.

* * *

I remember, when Soan and Zill appeared at the rehearsal, holding hands. Zill looked embarrassed, but Soan tried to comfort him. Velo almost fell from a chair, when he saw them. And I clapped my hands like a little kid. They took their sweet time getting together. I wanted to help them already.

Then they told us that Zill was the first, who told Soan about his feelings. I didn't expect this from this shy, quiet bassist. But sometimes things are like this.

Soan and Zill were a perfect couple. They were comforting each other, falling asleep after the exhausing day, taking care of each other and barely even quarelling (only because Soan was overprotective and Zill was too reckless). I've never seen Soan so in love with someone and I've known him for almost ten years. It was sweet looking at them and their love. Even Hanami was a little jealous, when she met them. She was my childhood friend. We realised we have feelings for each other after Velo left the band.

Zill always has been sickly. Soan tried to do everything to take care of him, but Saburou's immune system was a big joke. But despite everything, Zill was always happy, cheerfull, smiling, hard-working and first to help. He never denied helping anyone and never missed an opportunity to meet with his friends. But he had one big con among pros.

He really was the most reckless person in the world.

"Zill doesn't answer his phone" said Sizna, calling me a little worried. "Do you know, what's going on with him? We were suppoused to work on new material, but he's really late."

"Shouldn't Soan know?" I asked, stirring with a spoon in a pot.

"Soan doesn't answer his phone too. He had some leader business today, so he's probably busy" explained Sizna. "Maybe he's driving or something."

"I'll try to call them, I promise" I said to our future guitarist.

He still wasn't officially introduced to our fans.

"Thanks, Hitomi. I'm going to write my parts. I hope that Zill calls me soon" Sizna sighed and hung up.

I thought for a moment. Zill, who neglects his duties and friends? Something was wrong.

"Something happened, Hitomi?" asked Hanami, walking into the kitchen.

She wiped her wet, red hair with a towel, which she hanged on a chair.

"Is there something troubling you?"

"Zill doesn't pick up his phone" I explained. "I have bad feelings."

"Do you want to go to him?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"If he's not home, it'll be in vain. I don't have keys to his flat. And whatever happened, he's an adult man" I replied. "I'll call Soan and Shia, anyway."

"Shia?"

"Zill's brother. He's a guitarist" I called Soan, but I only heard an auto message. "Sizna is right. Soan doesn't pick up his phone too."

"Maybe they're busy with each other?" Hanami made a joke, putting on her contact lenses.

They helped her with her poor sight, but they also changed the colour of her eyes into green. I loved them. I still like them.

"Soan has a lot of work today" I replied. "He's a workaholic. Even Zill can't stop him from doing everything during one day. Besides, they don't live together, so it's a low chance they're together right now."

"They don't?" Hanami was surprised. "But they're so in love!"

"I know, but Zill's family doesn't tolerate his preferences" I explained. "Even his brother gives nasty comments and he's a musician too. I've always thought that we, artists, have more open minds, but... Well, it's not a rule."

"Some people are hopeless cases" said Hanami, looking into the pan, when I tried to reach Shia. "What are you cooking?"

"Sour-sweet chicken" I replied.

"Hello?" I heard Shia's tired voice on the other side. "Hitomi? What do you want?"

"Your brother doesn't pick up his phone" I explained. "He didn't come to the studio and he was suppoused to record new songs with Sizna."

"My brother? This workaholic?" Shia was surprised. "I'm in studio right now and I can't leave, because our leader is going to cut my head off, besides Sabu's home is far away from here, but I'm going to call our parents and brother. Shigeru is in Tokyo, I think, so he can check on Sabu. Can't you go to his flat yourself?"

"I don't have keys and if something happened to him..."

"I see. Thanks the for info!" exclaimed Shia and hung up.

"Shia is a good brother, isn't he?" asked Hanami.

"And that's the only good thing about him" I smiled sadly and turned off the oven.

We wouldn't eat anything anyway.

* * *

"Should we visit him?" asked Hanami.

"If Shigeru is in Tokyo, it doesn't make sense. Zill lives on the other side of town. It would last longer than Shigeru's getting there" I explained.

My phone rang. Shia.

"Hello?"

"Shigeru is on his way. He said that he'll be in any minute there" announced Shia. "I'll tell you later, what's going on."

"Thanks, Shia."

"I should be the one thanking you" replied Shia and hung up.

And my phone called one more time. This time I knew that this conversation won't be easy.

"Hello, Soan. Are you okay?"

"Sizna called me. What's going on with Saburou?" asked Soan, really worried. "I tried to call him, but he doesn't pick up. Hitomi, what's going on?"

"Calm down. Shigeru is probably at his place already. We'll know everything soon" I said. "Do, what you have to do and come here. We'll wait for informations together."

"Yes. Of course" Soan nodded. "I have to go now. I'll be at your place in two, maybe three hours. If you learn something new, call me."

"Of course" I promised.

I didn't learn anything else. My phone was silent.

"Maybe nothing happened?" suggested Hanami. "And that's why they forgot to tell us?"

"Whatever happened or not, they should call us" I said. "I'm trying to be calm, but Soan probably already lost his mind."

I heard knocking to the door. I opened them. And then I saw Soan for the first time in such condition.

Trembling, panicked, not able to look at me or anything else.

"He's not home" he announced, walking inside and taking off his shoes. "He's not picking his phone, Hitomi. No one called me. And they stopped picking their phones just like Saburou. Even Shia."

Hanami frowned, when Soan pulled out a cigarette from the box, but I nudged her. She immediately understood that it wasn't the best time for scolding him.

"He'll be okay" I promised. "And Shia is on a rehearsal. He's busy."

"It probably ended a long time ago" replied Soan and inhaled some smoke.

He still didn't know anything, but he looked bad already. And he was so pale that someone could think that he's not an Asian.

"We should be optimistic" I said. "Nothing wrong happened yet."

"Come to the living room. I'll bring some sake" promised Hanami. "Or maybe you want wine? We have strawberry wine, I think."

"Okay" replied Soan, stubbing out his cigarette in Maa-kun's bowl. "I'll wash it."

"You don't have to" I smiled slightly and took it to the kitchen.

My heart was beating like crazy. I didn't want to show, how much worried I was about our friend, becuase Soan was in such condition that I didn't have to feel anything.

But I felt. And it hurt.

* * *

Shia called Soan at the evening. Soan listened to him and then he dropped his cellphone.

"Soan? Soan!" I shook him and he broke free and ran towards his shoes. "What's going on?!"

"Sabu is in a hospital!" replied Tomofumi, putting on his shoes, then he left my home, slamming the door behind him.

I froze, then I brushed off the first shock and picked up my friend's phone and put it to my ear.

"Shia?" I whispered. "How bad it is?"

It was the first time, when I heard Shia's voice sounding like this.

"Very bad, Hitomi" Aki, because it was his real name, was almost crying. "He's dying."

* * *

Hanami fell asleep with her head on my lap because of stress. Sizna promised us that he's going to take care of everything. He's a good friend.

I was stroking Maa-kun's head and staring at the clock standing on a cupboard. I looked at Soan's glass.

He didn't even touch his drink. Good, because he had to drive now.

Maa-kun jumped on his paws and ran to the door, when we heard a doorbell. Hanami woke up and looked at me with sleepy eyes. I sighed, walking towards the door.

I opened the door and saw Shigeru, holding trembling and sobbing Soan's shoulder.

"He was few minutes late" announced Shigeru with quiet, emotionless voice. "Saburou is dead."

And Wakugawa Tomofumi, one of the strongest and optimistic people I know, fainted and fell on the floor. We didn't even have time to catch him.

* * *

Saburou's funeral was a nightmare. Soan's soul was practically with him, in the afterlife. He didn't eat, sleep or drink. We had to force him to drink glass of water at least. Me and Sizna were supporting him, holding his shoulders.

Hanami didn't come. She went to her parents' place. She couldn't to watch Soan in such grief. Like everyone. Like me.

* * *

Tomofumi was sitting on the balcony with a cigarrette in one hand and glass of wine in another. He was drifting in the endless darkness. He was drowning. And I didn't know, how to help him. For all our friendship he was the one, who's known all answers about emotions. And now he felt too much of them. Too negative. And they were pulling him down.

"Tomofumi?" I sat beside him and took a glass from his hands.

He looked at me with those empty eyes I saw even today. But then they were blurred with alcohol, not medicine.

"You have to live. For him."

"But he's gone" replied Soan, inhaling cigarette smoke and closing his eyes.

I knew he tried not to cry again. He always tried to not show his weakness. He was a strong and serious man, after all. But was this important, if at this moment he was just la ost, little boy? Or at least in this exact moment?

* * *

Slowly we've been collecting pieces from our shattered souls and sticking them together. We've been living, without Zill. Shia took his brother's bunny home. Sizna gave us comfort we needed. Hanami was still living with her parents, but she was calling me everyday. I was visiting her every weekend. It was hard, but we were fine.

Or at least I thought we were.

"Soan?!" I screamed, when I caught him doing that for the first time.

Blood. A lot of blood. Scratched wrists. A lot of blood, really.

I was swearing in my mind, dragging him to the bathroom. I was swearing in my mind, looking in these blurry eyes. How many pills did he take? Did he even felt this pain, which he gave himself?

I was swearing under my breath, when I was wiping his wrists with sanitizer. I was swearing under my breath, when I was wrapping his arms with bandages. Hanami taught me, how to do it.

I swore loudly, when he asked me, why I'm doing this.

"Because you're my friend! And I think that you should go to therapist" I growled. "Soan, you can't do something like this. You can't, do you understand? You have to live for Saburou. For yourself. For us. For Moran. For fans. Please."

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Hitomi. I won't do this again" he promised.

I hugged him.

"Don't scare me like this anymore" I asked him. "Never again, okay?"

"Okay."

"Will you go to the therapy?"

"I'll go."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes."

"I'll take you there."

"Okay."

"I'm glad you agree" I let him go. "Take a shower. You're dirty because of all that blood."

When he left the shower, I checked his wounds and changed the bandages, because they were wet (from water and, to be honest, from blood too). I led him to his room, made sure that he's sleeping and returned to my bedroom.

I closed the door and fell to my knees. What the fuck is he doing?!

* * *

Ivy and Vivi brought a lot of joy and positivity into our world. Soan lived alone, went to a therapist, who prescribed him antidepresants and everything was fine. Hanami often asked if everything was okay and I always nodded and said yes. What was suppoused to be wrong? People die, there are so many widows and widowers in the world and somehow they cope. They move on, start families with someone new. Sizna said the same. And Soan was happy. He was fooling around with Ivy, took care of me, when I was hospitalized because of polyps, scolding Sizna, when he spent too much time with his cat instead of work and going to a cafe with Vivi whenever the youngest member of our band wanted to. He was friends with everyone in our musical circle and spread rainbow sparkles around him. Everyone thought that the bad time was over and would not return. Sometimes I could still see the emptiness in his eyes from that day and my mind would summon images of blood dripping onto the carpet, but I knew everything was okay.

I swear everything was okay!

* * *

"Hi-san" Ivy walked to me after one of rehearsals. "Can we talk?"

"Of course, Ivy" I put the manga I was reading on the table and looked at the bassist curiously. "What happened?"

"I noticed something concerning, Hi-san" announced Ivy. "Really concerning."

"About Vivi?" I got worried. "Talk to him, Ivy. You're a couple, you should talk."

"I'm not talking about Vivi, Hi-san" denied Ivy. "So-san... I know he's from Okinawa and he's still not used to Tokyo's temperatures, but... Don't you think that it's too hot for long sleeves?"

I realised suddenly that he's right. It was summer, hot summer and Soan...

...Soan was wearing hoodies and jackets.

"Ivy..."

"Hitomi, I heard about his past. And sometimes during sunny days I can see... you know, what" Ivy gritted his teeth. "I don't know, how to talk about such things. But please, talk to him. If he's doing something like that..."

"He's not. For sure" I said firmly. "He probably got tanned and he's ashamed that scars are too visible."

"I hope so" said Ivy.

We heard knocking on the door.

"Are you going, Toshi?" asked Vivi, peeking into the practice room. "Sorry to interrupt you, but I'm a little hungry. But I can wait, if you're talking about something important."

"Not at all" I replied, silencing Ivy non-verbally.

I didn't want to worry Vivi.

"Go, Ivy. I promise I'll talk to Soan."

Ivy nodded and left, saying "goodbye" to me, before he closed the door. Vivi just waved his hand.

I looked at my shoes and pulled out a cellphone from my pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hanami? I think something is wrong with Soan. I have to visit him."

"I understand" my girlfriend's voice trembled. "But promise me I'll hear only good news!"

* * *

Doors where open, when I pushed them. It was strange, Soan always locks his door, even if he's home. His shoes were laying in the opposite corners of the hall. He's a neat freak, so it was really suspicious.

And it was definitely too queit. I almost couldn't breathe.

"Soan?!" I called him, looking around. "Soan, where are you?! Tomofumi?!"

I didn't get an answer. Quiet voice in my head told me that I should go to the bedroom. And I was right. But it doesn't change the fact that I almost fainted, when I opened the door.

Wakugawa Tomofumi, known as Soan now or as Towa before.

Happy, friendly, lovely, overprotective, caring, often panicking and sometimes arrogant man.

The one, who was laughing in the morning, when Ivy told him a joke about pugs.

The one, who bought swinging toy flower for Vivi, because he knew that our guitarist likes such cute things.

The one, who praised Sizna for half of an hour, just because he liked his new solo so much.

And the one, who comforted me after my quarrell with Hanami.

Was laying in a futon soaked in blood, clenching his fingers on the frame with Zill's photo.

I ran to him, screaming his name and grabbing his shoulders.

Veins.

He cut his veins.

And I could see older and newer scars on his limbs.

They looked like covered with spiderwebs.

"TOMOFUMI!"

* * *

They managed to save him. At least physically. But he never came back. Not mentally. And his body wasn't the same anymore.

He died in July 2010, with Zill.

* * *

I'm holding Hanami's hand, when we're walking into his room. He's sitting on the bed and he probably didn't even notice our presence.

"Soan?" I call him, but he doesn't react.

I hit my face with my hand. Right, he forgot. Stupid me!

"Tomofumi?" I start once again.

He looks at me.

"Oh, Hitomi" he smiles.

I think that his smile is even real this time.

"And Hanami."

"Hitomi, he remembers" says Hanami, surprised.

"I remember" Soan nods. "Sizna, Ivy and Vivi."

"Correct."

"Pretty" he takes the cake from Hanami. "Smells good."

"It's a nut cake. Your favourite" says Hanami.

"Strawberries?" he asks.

"I added them only to half of the cake, because I didn't know, if it's going to taste good" Hanami points on the strawberry-nut half of cake. "Something told me to do it."

"Thanks" he puts the basket on the night stand. "Will Saburou visit me too?"

It hadn't happened before. Did he really just forget about his death?

"Tomofumi..."

"So he won't" Soan looks at the window with bars behind it. "Is he waiting for me?"

"Yes" I nod. "I'm sure about it. He loves you, right?"

"Yeah, he loves me" he tries to reach the window with his scarred arm.

His scars illuminated in white light of lightbulbs.

He's quiet for a moment. And then, for the first time since years, he says more than short sentences and nods.

"I was too late to say goodbye. Just a few minutes. Do you think he'll forgive me? That Shia had to share his last words with me?" he asks, still looking at the window.

Does he see Zill in it? Maybe. I don't know.

"Of course. That's Saburou. He forgives everyone" I tell him.

Soan smiles and puts down his hand. Have I calmed him down? Maybe nurses are right. Maybe I really am the only person, who can reach him. Even his parents and brother can't.

Who knows? Maybe in some other universe we're even a couple?

I look at Hanami. I see tears in her eyes. She doesn't like this place. She doesn't like this "new" Soan.

But just like me, just like the whole world, she misses the old one, who was our guardian angel. But unfortunatelly evil fate cut his beautiful, big wings.

The end

Under the Water

Band: Moran, Matenrou Opera and Versailles in the background

Pairing: Soan&Hitomi, Ivy&Vivi and Sizna&Sono in the background

Rating: 17+

Genre: AU, fantasy, romance

Warnings: violence

Note: Hitomi as The Little Mermaid, Soan as a prince, Sizna and Sono are fish, Kamijo is a psycho and only Ivy and Vivi are just normal humans.

Storm. Big waves were hitting a ship, which started to sink. The crew tried to stop the crisis, but they couldn't do it. Handsome young man in blue coat and white shirt, already wet with sea water, grabbed rudder just before a moment, when a ship almost hit the rocks. But he couldn't change direction completely. He didn't know that the ship had actually hit one of the rocks lightly, which created a hole in the port side through which water began to pour onto the deck. And by the time the crew discovered it, it was too late.

Everyone got into the lifeboat, except for the young man. He came back for the dog that had been left on board. The animal was terrified. The man found it and gave it to his companion, but then the ship hit the rocks again. The lifeboat's ropes broke and it fell into the water, throwing one of the men right into the ocean, but fortunately he was saved by his crewmates.

Unlike the youngster in a coat, who fell into the water, when floor broke under his feet. When he reached the surface, he saw only burning wood and not even a single man. Trying to escape the rubble, he didn't notice the rubber falling from about. It hit him in the head, making him uncounscious. He fell in the water again, sinking slowly. He hit the bottom of the sea and then some days later it gave back his cold body to the seaside.

And then I woke up abruptly. The same dream again, the same since years. I sat up, breathing hard and my head really hurt.

What were these night visions? I had this dream for the first time, when I still was a preschooler. The older I was, the more recently it appeared. Dad said that maybe these are memories of my previous life. But is it possible for me to be a human in my past life?

Oh, right. I'm not a human. You know fish, right? Right. Humans too. And when you match these two creatures, you have me, my family and every Atlantis' citizen.

Yes, I know that humans think that Atlantis is just a legend et cetera. But it's better like this. At least they mind their own business.

"Young master?" I heard my butler's voice.

He was a seahorse. A very mean seahorse...

"What happened, Sono?" I asked and he sighed.

"This dream again?"

"Yes."

"Eat something and you'll forget about it" Sono patted my shoulder with his fin.

I shook my head and swam to the dining room.

I won't forget about this dream. I can't forget about something, about which I've been dreaming since childhood.

"Hi, Hitomi" black-white fish smiled to me, when I sat by the table.

I looked at it. In fact, the fish was my dear friend Sizna. He was nice, not like Sono. He was only a little too loving older brother towards his younger sister, Dura.

"Hi, Sizna" I mumbled, putting some algae salad on my plate. "Where are my parents?"

"Your father swam to the shore to make sure, if rumors about the storm are true" replied Sizna, chewing some algae. "And mrs Manako swam somewhere with her friend."

"Storm..." I mumbled, looking at algae between my chopsticks. "I had this dream again, Sizna."

"Oh" Sizna almost spat his algae. "Dura-chan had a bad dream too today. She dreamt of Sono in a dress, chasing her around."

"Hey!" Sono overheard us as always and materialised beside us.

"It was just a dream of a little fish, easy" Sizna laughed. "What are you going to do today, Hitomi?"

"I don't know" I put chopsticks on the table and sighed. "I feel a little off today, in fact."

"Is it because of this nightmare?" asked Sono.

I nodded.

"What nightmare?" my younger brother, Tooru, sat down beside me.

There was a big age gap between us, so for now he was a little annoying kid. But he was my annoying brother, so I loved him.

"The one about a storm. I've told you about it once" I explained, fuffling his blue hair.

"Oh, I remember" Tooru laughed, put the salad and algae into his bowl, then he started to eat fast. "Mum told me that dad swam to check, if there is any chance for a storm and that if she hears that you left home, she's going to pluck the scales from your tail."

"I want to swim around a little, because I don't feel right" I announced to him.

"So you want to have your tail pluckedl?"

"I want my head to stop aching" I replied.

I haven't been used to pain. I felt pain rarely and some people were telling me that something is wrong with my pain receptors.

"Do, what you want, but I wouldn't make mum mad" Tooru smiled brightly, showing his white teeth and one hollow after he lost his last baby tooth recently, then he swam to his room.

...how he finished his breakfast so fast? This kid is always an enigma for me.

"Young master, you can't..." started Sono, but Sizna interrupted him.

"Be quiet, Sono. Hitomi wants to swim to the surface and Hitomi will swim to surface" Sizna smiled and patted the seahorse's head.

"Sizna!"

"What?"

"Ugh, nothing..." Sono rolled his eyes.

I'll probably never understand these two...

* * *

When I left home, I realised that ocean really wasn't calm this day. Sizna and Sono swam with me. Sizna was talking about Dura non stop, Sono tried to persuade me to come back home. But my head hurt more and more, and on top of that my heart started to beat so fast that I thought I'm going to have a heart attack.

I reached the surface. I saw a black, ominous-looking sky and a turbulent ocean surface. The storm was real. I was about to dive back in, when I saw something that made my heart hurt so much that I couldn't breathe for a moment.

Ship! The ship from my dream! For Poseidon's, Neptun's and every god of seas and oceans' sake!

"What's going on, Hitomi?" asked Sizna, pulling my shirt. "Hitomi?"

I didn't listen to him. I was staring at a youngster in a blue coat, who at this point  ran away from the lifeboat.

Dog! He's looking for a dog! I knew he was looking for a dog!

"Young master, wait, what are you doing?!" called me Sono, but I was already swimming as fast as I could towards the ship.

This ship is going to hit rocks! He's going to die!

"Hitomi, watch out!" I heard Sizna's scream and that's why I jumped off the boat in the last moment, before it crashed me. I grabbed some brown-haired, confused youngster's sweater and threw him to his friends.

Dad won't be mad. He told me a long time ago that we should live with humans in peace. But he'll be afraid that people from land are going to eat us like some exotic meal.

I swam further. I saw this youngster just after he was hit by the rudder.

"No!" I screamed and caught him.

He looked at me and lost his consciousness.

I surfaced and looked for the lifeboat. It was already quite far away. I swam to it and handed to humans their lost friend.

"Who are you?" asked some petite, big-eyed, blonde-haired boy.

I smiled to him and dove into the water.

I heard a scream, someone tried to follow me, but...

"You don't have to. He's a merman."

"Mermaids aren't real, Ivy."

"They are. We’ve just seen one."

"You swallowed too much salt water..."

My head stopped hurting. Heart too. I felt relieved, calm and happy.

"What have you done, master?" Sono was frightened. "Humans saw you!"

"My dream was a vision" I announced. "Vision, Sono. I  h a d  t o  save him. It was his and my fate."

"But this kid in sweater saw your tail" Sizna pointed out. "Don't you..."

"I heard them talking about it and they don't believe him" I shrugged and came back home.

* * *

"Hitomi!" I heard my mum's voice, when I had a nap after this rescue mission.

I opened my eyes, a little anxious. She was staring at me, frowning and splashing water with her tail.

"Hitomi, Sono told me that you saved a human" she announced.

I sighed.

"Have I done something wrong?" I asked and then my dad swam into my room.

"Manako, darling. Don't be so harsh on him" he said.

"I didn't even start scolding him" my mum pointed out.

"So don't start" replied dad. "Do you know,  w h o  he saved?"

"No matter, who he saved, it's a bad situation!" shouted mum.

"Relax, Mana" mumbled dad. "Our son saved a human prince."

Mum blinked and looked at me.

"A prince?"

"I don't know anything about that" I announced.

"Do you see? Prince saved another prince" dad summed it up.

I didn't say that I'm a prince and my home is a castle, right? No? That's because I don't like it too. Well.

"So if a king of humans learns about this accident, we can tell him that we exist?" asked my mum.

"I'm not too sure, but they'll be grateful at least" replied dad.

"What about the second boy?" I asked.

Parents looked at me, surprised.

"Did you save someone else?" mum was surprised.

"Yes" I nodded.

"Did he see you?" dad looked at me firmly.

I nodded.

"It can be a problem" said mum. "What do you think, darling?"

"We'll see" dad scratched his head. "Hitomi, don't swim too close to the surface, until I learn more about the second boy and what is he going to do about that knowledge."

I agreed. I felt that I didn't have any other option.

* * *

"Master Hitomi, I don't like, what you're doing" said Sono, nervously flapping his fins. You have to come back to the castle, young master! Your parents..."

"Rules are meant to be broken" Sizna interrupted him.

Good boy Sizna, you'll get a worm.

"Don't worry, Sono" I said, laying down on some big, flat rock, sticking out a little above the surface. "I'll be okay."

"Master" Sono grabbed my shirt. "Master, humans. Humans!"

"Shut up or they hear you" Sizna covered his mouth and I slipped off the rock to prevent humans from seeing me.

Wait... Isn't that this prince I saved? And his friends...?

"I really saw a merman, Vivi" said Ivy. "You saw him too."

"It couldn't be a merman, Ivy" mumbled Vivi. "Mermaids aren't real."

"I saw him too" admitted the prince. "But everyone keeps telling me I had hallucinations because of hitting my head."

"And they're right" said Vivi. "You just hit your head. Ivy got scared too and imagined everything."

"I wasn't scared!" shouted Ivy. "I mean, I was, but I'm telling the truth."

"I believe you" the prince laid down on the sand. "I can even wait here for this merman."

"Well, he was handsome, in fact" Ivy thought for a moment.

Vivi nudged him in his ribs.

"What?" Ivy looked at him.

"What about me?"

"You're pretty" Ivy ruffled his hair. "So-san? What are you looking at?"

"I thought that..." the prince leaned and almost saw me, but I was back in the water already. "I saw something. Or someone."

"A mermaid?" asked Vivi meanly.

"I'm going to make a merman out of you too" said the prince. "I'll catch you and splash! You'll be under the water."

"Don't do that, please" Vivi cried a little.

"So don't be mean" asked him the prince.

"Sorry..." said Vivi. "So, are we going back to the castle?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Ivy. "There's pasta for dinner today, we can't be late!"

And happily, pulling Vivi's hand, he ran to the castle, not even noticing that the prince stayed.

The young man pulled up his throusers, took off his shoes and entered the water.

Is he walking towards me?

No, I don't think...

"Master" Sono pulled my hair. "He's walking towards us. Towards us. Us!"

"Be quiet, Sono" growled Sizna.

We were swimming back, but the prince didn't give up even, when his trousers were already wet. And even, when he stopped feeling ground under his feet.

I couldn't swim away. I would make too much noise. Besides that, fear was paralizing me. And not just fear...

The prince dived and looked at me, already under the water. He glared at my tail, then he gave me his hand.

"RUN AWAY, YOUNG MASTER!" yelled Sono. "RUN AWAY, IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"

"Shut up, Sono" Sizna smacked his head.

I gave the prince my hand and he pulled me to himself, then he swam towards the seaside. In this moment I thought that I'm stupid. What if he's going to sell me to the circus?

The prince sat on the seaside and I sat in front of him, still in water. I didn't want to let my tail dry out.

"So I was right" said the prince. "You're a merman."

"That's right" I confirmed.

"My name is Soan" he introduced himself. "What about you?"

"Hitomi" I replied. "Do you want to send me to the circus right now?"

"No way!" Soan laughed. "You saved me. What kind of person I would be, if I sent my savior to the slavery?"

"Humans are like this..." I mumbled and realised that Sono is pulling my shirt. "Sono, stop."

Seahorse glared at me and let go of my shirt reluctantly.

"Is this your pet?" asked Soan.

"DON'T CALL ME >>PET<<, YOU BIG MONKEY!" yelled Sono, trying to bite the prince, but Sizna stopped him.

"He's my butler, Sono" I replied.

"He seems to be angry. Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"You called me a pet" growled Sono.

He was quiet for a moment.

"So... Did I?" Soan looked at me, at Sono, at Sizna and at me again.

"He explained this to you" I replied, a little confused.

"Oh..." Soan laughed hysterically. "Erm... Hitomi, you know, there is one thing..."

"What?"

"I didn't hear anything" he explained.

Oh, right. He's a human. They're deaf.

"I'm sorry" I smiled apologetically. "You called him a pet."

"Oh. Is it bad?" Soan looked at still annoyed Sono. "I'm sorry, Sono. Forgive me."

Sono snorted and didn't say anything.

"Did he forgive me?"

"Of course" I poked the seahorse's fin. "Sono is a friendly fish, right?"

Sono glared at me and snorted once again. Sizna just shook his head.

"Can I ask about somethig?" Soan looked at me firmly.

"It depends, what do you want to ask about" I replied.

"Why did you save me?" asked Soan. "I'm glad that you did that, but... Why were you there? Why did you save someone, who's a different species? You talked with my friends and my crew. Weren’t you scared that they're going to discover, who you are?"

"I didn't think about me, when this happened" I admitted. "I thought about dreams I had since my childhood."

"Dreams?"

"More like nightmares. About your death" I explained. "Besides, you also risked your life for someone, who's a different species. You came back to save a dog."

"How do you know that..." Soan froze for a moment. "Wait a minute. Have you really dreamed of it?"

"Yes. Since forever" I confirmed. "You probably don't believe me."

"I believe you."

"Why?"

"You know, I'm talking with half-fish" Soan pointed to my tail. "I wouldn't believe a human. But you're a magical seaborn creature, so why not?"

"Well, in some way it's nice" I said. "But I think I have to swim back."

"Already?" Soan looked disappointed.

"If someone sees me, they can be not so tolerating like you" I explained. "I prefer not to risk."

"You're right" Soan nodded. "Will we meet again?"

"Someday, for sure" I smiled friendly. "See you later, prince."

"See you later" Soan got up and I dived.

"You're going to get yourself in trouble someday, young master" growled Sono, waving his fins agressively. "You can't trust humans that much."

"Why?"

"Because they're humans!" shouted Sono.

"Don't judge him just because he's one of them" said Sizna. "Seahorses aren't always mean just because you are."

"Hey!"

I laughed and swam home. I had to sleep. I had too many adventures recently.

* * *

Laughter. The man in golden-red outfit stood with his weapon pointed at me and was laughing like a psycho.

"If I can't have you, no one can" he said with an emotionless voice and pulled the trigger.

"Hitomi!" I heard Soan's voice, who ran to me and pushed me away.

I smelled metalic scent of blood, but not pain.

He shielded me.

I sat up on the bed, breathing heavily. Soan, why would you risk like that? And why for me? I didn't save you to be a cause of your death!

I fell on the bed again. Protect him, Poseidon. Protect him from everyone, who looks like a man from my nightmare...

I sighed. It seems that I can't fight with fate.

* * *

Soan has been sitting on the sand and looked like he was waiting for me. I was a little surprised. I was the one, who’s supposed to be waiting for him.

"Did something happen?" I asked, swimming to him.

"I hoped that I'm going to meet you one more time" he replied honestly, smiling fondly. "You’re not mad at me, are you?"

"Absolutelly not, I was just surprised that you're here" I explained. "I thought that I have to wait for you."

"For me? Did something happen?" asked Soan.

"I had another nightmare" I announced. "I dreamt that some strange man wanted to shoot me, but..."

"But?"

"You shielded me. You did it and..." I couldn't tell him that he died.

"I sacrificed myself for you? Typical me" said Soan. "Are you worried about me?"

"I saved you. I don't like the idea that you're in danger again" I explained.

"It's nice" Soan smiled. "You're worried about someone you don't know. You're really nice."

Soan leaned on the sand and looked into my eyes.

"I just wonder about one thing. Can you turn your tail into legs?" he asked.

"What about you? Can you turn your legs into a tail?"

"I can't."

"You have your answer" I shrugged. "I can't visit your world. I'm sorry."

"But my world can visit you" said Soan.

"How?"

"I can show you" Soan opened his bag and pulled out a book.

It was weird. Pages were white, not green and signs weren't forged, but put on them with black ink. But there were also pictures on pages.

"What is this book?" I asked. "Is it magical? Can I learn white magic with it?"

"Nah, it's just the atlas of the world. I thought that you're going to like it" explained Soan. "I noticed last time that you didn't want to leave water, so I guessed you probably can't. So I brought a piece of my world to you."

"You're a great observer" I praised him. "Do you have more of such books?"

"Yes, I have a los of atlases" Soan nodded. "Should I bring them too?"

"It would be nice" I smiled fondly.

I was interested in these books. If they were showing real places, it was probably some kind of human magic.

* * *

Surface land seemed to be fascinating. Books had pictures, humans made dishes in completely different way and animals were even more awesome than ours.

"Good boy" I patted Maa-kun's head and gave him a bisquit. "Is it really liver flavour?"

"Dried liver" replied Maa-kun, chewing a bisquit. "I can't even compare it to fresh liver."

"But you like these bisquits?"

"Of course! I love them!" replied Maa-kun entusiastically, waving his tail.

"I'm curious, what he replied" said Soan, sitting on the blanket.

"That it doesn't taste like fresh liver, but he likes it anyway" I explained, making Soan laugh.

"I'm glad you got along" he said and started peeling some red fruit with a small knife.

"What's that?" I asked.

"An apple" replied Soan, giving me a slice. "Taste it."

"Thanks" I nodded and bit it. "Sweet."

"Fruits are sweet because of fructose" explained Soan. "I have clementines and strawberries too, if you want. Well, clementines are a little sour."

"Why?"

"Probably because of vitamin C" Soan peeled a clementine and gave me a slice.

"You didn't use a knife to do it" I noticed.

"It has such a thick skin that I don't have to" Soan gave me both fruits. "You see? Apples have thin skin. Do you want strawberry, by the way?"

"Is it tasty?"

"It's the best fruit in the world" he said, giving me one.

"Don't you have to peel it first?" I was surprised.

"Nah, you can eat it, everything in strawberries is edible" Soan smiled brightly.

He was right. It was delicious.

"Oh gods, a mermaid!" we suddenly heard.

We turned around abruptly and I felt cold sweat on my skin. It was this man from my dream. He's going to kill Soan!

"Run" Soan snapped me out of my thoughts.

I nodded and jumped into the sea, before the man running towards us managed to catch me.

* * *

I've been avoiding Soan for a month. I wouldn't forgive myself, if something happened to him just because I met with him, but...

I missed him. I missed our conversations, atlases, fruits and Maa-kun. But especially I missed Soan himself. I think that I had a crush on him. And I didn't mind it at all.

"Hitomi?" dad sat down beside me, when I was reading a book on the sofa. "Sono told me that you befriended a human."

I froze. Why my butler can't keep any secrets?

"He told me, because you stopped talking to him suddenly. Did this prince hurt you? Should I declare a war with humans?" asked dad.

I shook my head.

"Someone saw us" I explained. "This person was a man from my dream and..."

"Dream? About this ship?"

"The other one. More... Drastic" I replied.

"Drastic?"

"So... I mean, the prince died in it. Because of me" I whispered the last words.

"Oh" dad went silent for a moment. "He got your attention, didn't he?"

"The prince? A little" I confirmed.

"Humans are fascinating for me too" dad looked forward, just like he just remembered something. "That's the reason why I married one of them."

I blinked.

What?

"What are you talking about, dad?" I asked, confused. "Mum is a mermaid."

"She's a mermaid now, but it doesn't mean she wasn't born as human" explained dad. "Her ship was wrecked, everyone died. She was the sole survivor. She was young, younger than you. And badly injured. But under our magical care she got better."

"And magic turned her into a mermaid?"

"There was no other option. Humans can't breathe underwater" continued dad. "But she never missed the surface world. She never liked her species."

"Why? Humans aren't so..."

"They're not" dad interrupted me. "Not everyone is a good person, Hitomi. And they don't understand that someone is different than them. Mermen can have pink tails and no one would make a problem out of it, but humans will bully others for even trivial things. And we're not even the same species as we are."

"So humans are bad?"

"They're different than us" replied dad. "They have other priorities. Other way of thinking. I just want you to be careful. If your nightmare is going to happen, what then?"

"I am careful. That's why I stopped swimming there" I replied.

"Be careful around this stranger, Hitomi. But don't ignore the prince" dad smiled fondly. "If you like him, if you trust him, don't end this friendship. Just be careful about others. They can hurt you."

"Or even kill me" I mumbled to myself.

* * *

"It was Kamijo" explained Soan, when I met with him again. "My annoying cousin. He's obsessed with mermaids. He won't give up so easily."

"I understand" I nodded.

I looked at Soan. Something bothered him. I could see it.

"Something happened?"

"I thought that I'm not going to see you again" he admitted. "That you got scared and you won't visit me ever again."

"I'm sorry for worrying you" I said. "You're angry, aren't you?"

"No. I understand you. I would panic myself" he laughed a little hysterically. "It would be typical for me."

"Are you panicking often?"

"A lot!" he cried. "Well, in fact, I started to worry that something happened to you."

"Why?" I didn't understand his way of thinking.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Soan smiled fondly. "I don't want to lose contact with you just because I have a crazy cousin."

"Right" I smiled back to him, but I was really worried about him.

I knew that Kamijo has going to put us in trouble.

* * *

Our friendship with Soan was flourishing like flowers in spring. Or something like that. Did I use this metaphor well? Anyway, I felt like I've known the prince since forever. And I wanted to be his friend, to be close to him and, to be honest, him himself too.

I was falling in love with him more and more. I loved his soft smile, bright and deep eyes, which were piercing my soul, and his even deeper voice. I wanted to listen to him for hours, even if he was reading some boring book about how to use some things.

And there was also his cousin. He was coming to the beach, just to check, if I'm here. If he found me there, he was chasing me and tried to kidnap me. Once he managed to catch me, but I pushed him away and Soan punched his face. I tried even to talk to him patiently, but I was left just with proofs that humans really have other priorities than mermaids. And I didn't like it at all.

* * *

I was on my way home after meeting with Soan, when I heard a loud splash. I looked up and looked around. I saw Maa-kun, who was falling down towards the bottom of the ocean. He had to fall from the ship and lost his consciousness, when he hit the water surface!

I swam to him and embraced him with my arms and then clouds of dust rose up around me. I felt something wrap around me, and after a moment, holding Maa-kun tightly to my chest, I realized that I was in a net.

I was thrown aboard a fishing vessel along with the dog, which regained consciousness and began wheezing and growling.

"This dumb asshole threw me into the sea!" Maa-kun splashed water from his fur. "Master is going to wipe the floor with his face."

"Dumb asshole?" I repeated, having hope that he's not talking about...

"Excellent" I heard a voice and then it was no one other than Kamijo, who walked to me.

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

"I knew that this trap will work."

"Don't touch him!" Maa-kun tried to bite Kamijo's calf, but the crew pulled him away. "Let me go, I have to tear apart his arteries!"

"Stupid dog" murmured Kamijo.

"Have you really risked his life to kidnap me?!" I yelled at him, furious.

"It's just a flea-bag" Kamijo shrugged.

"I don't have fleas!" denied Maa-kun.

"Let's go back!" ordered Kamijo. "To the castle! We have, what we need!"

"Aye, captain!"

Just perfect...

* * *

Kamijo brought me into the cell and chained me to the wall.

"Wait here, I'll be right back" he said, stroking my cheek.

I gritted my teeth. It was this cell. The cell from my dream, which I've been dreaming about for months. Or I should say, having nightmares about.

I sighed. My tail started to dry up. What will happen, if it dries completely?

Kamijo came back after half an hour and covered me with a blanket.

"I don't want you to get cold" he said. "And now listen to me, little fish, because I have some offer for you."

"What offer?" I pretended to be interested.

"You're going to be my lover" announced Kamijo. "Or I'm going to send you to the circus. There's also an option of killing you, if you're going to be too rebellious."

"I'm going to be your own curtisane only after my death" I growled. "I have my honour."

"I can take it from you easily" Kamijo smirked.

"And how do you want to do it, if I don't have legs?" I didn't understand, how he was going to screw me.

"You still have mouth" replied Kamijo and turned towards the door. "Think about it, if you want to be still alive."

And then he left.

...

What did he mean?

* * *

I didn't realise that I fell asleep before I woke up. Scales on my tail were almost dry. They even started to change colour.

I heard noises upstairs and some loud footsteps. Someone was running downstairs, someone else was chasing them, something broke. What's going on there?

Footsteps, these from stairs, were coming closer to my cell. Kamijo?

Gate opened abruptly and just as I thought, this horny aristocrat stood in the doorway.

"My stupid cousin is here" Kamijo grabbed my shirt and picked me up. "He's here with his sidekicks. What is your relationship with him, exactly?"

"We're just friends" I replied.

Because we were. Even if I had a crush on him.

"Do you want to be more than friends with him?"

"..."

"Answer me!"

"..."

"So I'm right" Kamijo threw me against the wall, which made me a little dizzy and nauseous, after I hit my head. "That's why you don't want to sleep with me. You chose him."

Kamijo pulled out his gun. He had golden-red clothes.

I knew, what he's going to do.

"Kamijo, no!" I yelled. "Wait!"

"Wait?" Kamijo started to laugh like a madman and pointed his gun at me. "For what?"

Right. If he shoots me, Soan will be safe.

"You're right. If you want to kill me, just do it now" I said, closing my eyes.

"Of course I want to" announced Kamijo. "If I can't have you, no one can."

His voice was emotionless. He pulled the trigger.

Door slammed against the wall.

"Hitomi!" I heard Soan's voice, who ran to me and pushed me away.

I smelled metalic scent of blood, but not pain.

He shielded me.

Damn it!

"Soan!" I leaned over him and pressed wound on his chest. "Look at me, Soan. You can't die, okay?"

"Hitomi..." he said, grabbing my hand. "Am I seething things or... Your tail..."

Soan coughed with blood.

"Legs..." he said louder.

I looked at my tail and... didn't see it.

I was a human covered with a blanket.

"It dried up" I realised. "It dried up!"

I tied a blanket around my waist and got up, picking Soan up.

At first I had trouble with keeping my balance, but then I started walking forward. I passed confused Kamijo, who probably didn't have any more amunition, because he didn't shoot again. And he didn't even try to stop me.

* * *

I ran upstairs clumsily, almost tripping all the time and almost falling from them. I hit my knees hard many times, but I had to save Soan.

"It's you!" I heard Ivy's voice. "Vivi, that's this merman!"

"He has legs" Vivi pointed out.

"And he can't use them properly. Come on, we have to help him" Ivy ran to me and took Soan from my arms.

He threw Soan's arm over my shoulders and my arm over his.

"Grab Soan from the other side, Vivi" said Ivy.

Vivi just nodded.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"To the sea" I replied.

We started to run. Leaning against Ivy's shoulder, it was easier.

* * *

On the beach I saw my dad, who also had legs and was running too. When he saw me, he stopped abruptly.

"For Poseidon's sake, Hitomi!" he shouted, then he ran to me.

He took injured prince from me and checked his pulse.

"He's still alive. Damn it, I tried to dry this stupid tail for two hours! We should go now."

Then he looked at Ivy and Vivi.

"Oh, right. I totally forgot about you two" he said. "Tell the king and queen that I'm taking their son under the water for some time. Humans can't save him."

"And you can?" asked Ivy.

"Of course, it's not a problem at all with our magic" my dad smiled brightly, putting Soan on the seaside. "Hey, prince? Blink, if you can hear me."

Soan blinked.

"Good. You can feel a little weird, but it'll take just a moment" my dad warned him and waved his hand over Soan's legs.

Crack! Soan's trousers broke immediately.

The prince had a tail. In a shade of blue so bright that it was almost white.

Ours returned in the moment we touched the water. I didn't even notice it.

"I told you, Vivi! Mermaids!" Ivy clapped his hands, excited.

"I have mindbreak, I think..." said Vivi.

"See you later" I saluted to them and jumped into the water with my dad and Soan.

* * *

Soan was sitting in the bed, reading one of our books. I swam to him, carrying dinner for him.

"Strange" he said, looking at a tuna salad.

"What's strange?" I asked. "Don't you like tuna? Should I give you something else?"

"No" he shook his head. "I just thought that, you know. Mermaids don't eat fish, because they have fish tails."

"Stereotypes" I laughed. "Do you like our cuisine, by the way?"

"Of course" he nodded. "Even if I feel like I'm eating sashimi all the time. But I don't mind."

I sat down next to him on the bed.

"Soan?"

"What?"

"How did you know, where I am?"

"Maa-kun led me there" explained Soan. "He came back to the castle with wet fur and has been freaking out, until I decided to follow him. My dad wanted to take him to vet already."

"Your mum wanted to do it too?"

"No, she wanted to call an exorcist."

We both laughed.

And then we were silent for a moment.

"Why did you protect me?" I asked after a moment.

"Really?" Soan put the bowl on the night stand. "I understand that women are oblivious. But another man? Please, come on."

"Wait, are you..."

"I fell in love with you, Little Mermaid" Soan laughed shortly. "I can be your prince Eric, Ariel."

"Ariel is my father's name."

"You're kidding, aren't you?"

"I'm not."

"Oh, Neptun" Soan kissed me briefly. "You're not going to stop surprising me, Hitomi. And one more thing..."

"What?"

"I don't want to go back to the surface" he announced. "Unless with you by my side."

"You have to stay here for now" I reminded him, taking his hand. "And then we’ll see."

Soan smiled fondly, which made me realise one thing - whatever we decide, we're going to be fine. We just have to be together.

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