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Comfort
by Trismegistus
Kaerichi. Bloodstain. Splash of blood. Bloodbath. It was his name. He'd been proud of it, once. Proud of the fear it inspired, the awe it commanded. Kaerichi. It was what he was.
That had been changed after he'd met Ishuca. No, that wasn't true. That had been changed by Ishuca. He, Kaerichi, Blood, the strongest demon, the purest demon, had been...
Tamed.
Hard to believe that, now, with blood drenching his shirt, splattering onto the ground from the blade of his sword, staining his golden hair red. Hard to believe that now, when the mound of slowly disintegrating demon corpses surrounding him at the moment was no less impressive than other mounds had been a century ago.
And yet, there was one vital difference.
Ishuca, his mind whispered. Ishuca, his heart told him. Don't let Ishuca see this. Don't let Ishuca see you like this.
Ishuca.
Blood leaned against a boulder, chest still heaving from the exertion, and tried to wrestle unfamiliar thoughts into something more manageable. This is what he had wanted. This is what he had dreamed of doing all of those years spent frozen in a block of ice.
This heat. This heat, rising off of his body in waves. This heat, from the hot blood drenching his clothing and skin, cooling now. This heat, the excitement of taking another's life and ending it, of being stronger than any twenty other demons. He'd lived for that. He'd lived for the promise that he'd be able to do it again, feel it again, once he was free.
Ishuca.
Ishuca, who looked at him with large, guileless eyes. Ishuca, who had never hurt anything, who couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt something, the same way that Blood hadn't been able to understand why anyone wouldn't want to.
Ishuca, who was waiting for him now, safely hidden a ways down the trail on which they'd come. Hidden, by Blood, as soon as Blood had sensed the presence of other demons.
...Tamed.
He passed a hand over his forehead and brow, squeezing, and it left a smear of blood across his skin. Each breath drawn into his lungs brought with it the stench of death.
But there was something else...something not quite right. There was the hot, spicy, coppery scent of blood, so strong it made his mouth water in sympathy. But there was another tang, older, sour, hiding just at the edge of his senses.
Blood moved, stealthily, catlike, down the trail, pausing as it narrowed to a bottleneck between two large boulders, alert for the slightest movement, sound, indication of an ambush.
He sensed no more demons. But there was something else, some other scent, riding in on the cool breeze, that kept him on his guard. The breeze strengthened, whistling mournfully through the pass between the boulders. And now he knew what it was.
Death. Death, but no longer fresh death.
Blood emerged from the pass into a small, hidden valley. A farmhouse sat in the center of a grassy lawn, hen coop, sty, and vegetable garden clustered protectively at its feet. A small apple orchard lay beyond the house, its trees in bloom, the delicate scent of the open blossoms mixing with the stronger scent of the carnage.
Blood took a few more steps down the path, toward the first corpse, that of a young girl, no more than seven, laying face down in the grass and flowers. Her mother lay a few paces beyond, two other children clutched protectively in her still arms.
The demons had almost finished eating the father's corpse.
The demons who had slaughtered this family, who had been slaughtered in turn by Blood.
Blood. Kaerichi. The blood that splashes onto the slayer.
The demons were dead. It was once again safe to pass along this trail. Blood turned, headed back toward the woods, and Ishuca.
Ishuca. What would Ishuca think, if he saw this? The question was sudden as a knife stroke, a sharp, hot pain in his chest. What would Ishuca think, what would Ishuca do, if he saw these people?
You can not take Ishuca along this path. You can not allow Ishuca to see this. You must keep Ishuca safe.
You must keep Ishuca safe. Safe from the demons who would hurt him, safe from anything that would hurt him. And if Ishuca were to see this, it would hurt him as surely as any demon's claws.
People could be wounded in more ways than physical ones.
Blood staggered back up the path, made it to the clearing where he'd fought the demons, then sagged slowly against a rock. What was happening to him? Tamed, his mind told him. You've been tamed.
You must keep Ishuca safe, his heart told him.
He sank to the ground, rested his head in his hands, and his elbows on his knees. What was he going to do? What was happening to him? He sat there, head in his hands, and the sun crept slowly toward the horizon, shadows lengthening along the ground.
"...ood? Blood? Blood!"
His eyes snapped open, heart jumping at the shock of being awakened so suddenly. He must have fallen asleep.
Ishuca was crouched before him, one hand clutching Blood's shoulder, gently shaking. "Blood?" Ishuca asked again, brow creased in worry. Blood stared for a moment, not comprehending, into Ishuca's eyes.
"Oh, thank goodness! I thought something had happened to you!" Ishuca's brow smoothed, and a smile spread across his mouth, his cheeks, chased the worry from his eyes.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Blood demanded. "I told you to stay in the woods until I came for you, didn't I?"
Ishuca started, blinked. "But you were gone for so long," he said. "I got worried." A lock of red hair slipped across his brow. An oak leaf was tangled among the auburn strands, and Blood had a sudden, inane urge to brush it away.
"I'm sorry," Ishuca said again, a plaintive, pleading tone creeping into his voice. "It's just that... I thought... What if you'd been hurt, while I was..." His voice trailed off, and his gaze dropped, eyes widening as he took in the bloodstains on Blood's shirt, the dried blood flaking from his skin.
"Oh," said Ishuca, "Oh... Oh no. Blood, what, where? Let me heal it." His hands reached, twisted frantically at the fabric of Blood's shirt.
He was suddenly very tired. "Ishuca," he said weakly. "It isn't my blood."
Ishuca stilled, raised large, worried eyes to his face. "But then why are you here, on the ground by this rock?"
If Night or Geiß or any other demon could see him now. Tamed. Tamed. Must protect Ishuca. You've been tamed, Blood.
He had the sudden, irrational urge to laugh. "Because it hurts," he gasped through bitter laughter. The mighty Kaerichi, laid low by a human boy.
His head cracked against the rock as Ishuca pressed his full weight against Blood, hands fisting in the cloth at Blood's shoulders, mouth pressing against Blood's own.
He jerked his face away. "What are you doing?" he gasped.
"Blood, please," Ishuca said. "Let me help..."
"Help?" he echoed weakly.
"It's just, I thought, you said that this blood wasn't yours, so that must mean they're internal injuries... I'm sorry, I'm slow sometimes, I didn't catch it at first, but I thought that since my saliva can heal, and since I've healed you by licking before, I thought it might work if I got some inside you..." Ishuca was babbling, realized that that was what he was doing, and stopped.
Blood stared, unable to speak. Internal injuries. Hurting internally. Hurting inside. He finally understood what that meant.
He had been Kaerichi. What was he now?
"They aren't small wounds," he told Ishuca. "It would take a lot of time to heal them that way."
Ishuca smiled, eyes wide and innocent and pure. "That's all right. I want to help."
Blood felt his own lips part in a smile, such an unfamiliar sensation, then leaned toward Ishuca and started to kiss him.
I wanted to write a fic for Pam, who hasn't had the best week. I'm not sure that this fic is the best remedy for that, but I hope it helps. (Oh dear, I can't write straight fluff, no matter how I try..) Anyway, it's dedicated to her. Feel better:-)
これで以上です。
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wow. i never even read this series? but i was hooked by amparo bertram's summaries, sadly enough. (i swear we talked about this once.) not sure if she ever finished them, but WOW, bloodxishuca = one cliche i can totally live with, over and over. thank you so much. *kisses*
and YAY for momoxryo!
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And you should definitely read the series proper. I know it's available in Chinese, and it really is not to be missed.
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Spit out that other fic you're working on, pleeeease!
One of these days, if there were world enough and time and my brain could come up with the teeniest smidge of fic originality, I'd write Wild-Rapunzel drabbles. But no promises. Believe me, if I ever do write anything, it'll most likely suck. :-P
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And drabble away - you will not 'most likely suck' and besides, no fair if I'm the only person writing KnM fic!