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Bound by blood	By : Cynthia Category: M through R > Moonchild Views: 984 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own "Moon Child" or any characters therin, and I make no profit from writing this fanfiction. This is for non-profit entertainment, only.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
"Bound by blood"
Chapter 2
A "Moon Child" fan fanfiction
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Disclaimer: I do not own "Moon child" or any of the characters. This is strictly a non-profit endeavor, written for entertainment purposes only.

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He approached the beach slowly, wondering how he'd even gotten there. He didn't remember driving, walking or riding to the location, but he must have. Kei didn't find it all that strange, because he had been known on rare occasion to walk in his sleep. It usually happened when he was dealing with a lot of stress and angst. The only question on his mind was how in the world he'd managed to make it all the way to the beach before sunrise. By the look of the graying horizon, the sun was on its way up now.

Kei looked around and tried to decide whether he was better off trying to run back to the street and call a cab, or hole up in the beach cave where he and Sho took refuge the last time. Calling his partner on the cell phone wouldn't do him much good, because even if Sho made it there in his convertible on time, they'd never make it back home again before the sun finished cresting the horizon. Still, he thought maybe he should call him anyway, to let him know where he was in case he awoke before Kei made it back and wondered where he'd gone.

"He's going to be pissed," predicted Kei as he shook his bangs out of his eyes. The salty breeze blew them back in the way again. Maybe it was time for him to consider another hair cut. Shrugging, he put it on the back shelf for now and he dug for his cell phone. It didn't occur to him to wonder why he was fully dressed and carrying the item on him, if he'd really walked here in his sleep.

Just as Kei was about to dial the number to the apartment, he noticed something on the beach that gave him pause. Two men were standing there in the sand, by the water. As the sky lightened further, he began to recognize them and he stumbled forward with a severe frown on his lips.

"Luka," he murmured, shaking his head. "It can't be."

Standing beside the older man was Sho. They were both dressed in their favorite ensembles and they began to sing the dawn greeting, taught to him by Luka long ago. Their deep voices complimented one another and the haunting melody carried over to Kei on the breeze.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he called out as he started toward them. The sun crested the horizon at that moment and he was forced to squint against the intensity of the glare. It shouldn't be so bright this early, but it was rising fast.

"Sho! Luka! Come away from there! There's time to find shelter!"

Kei almost tripped in the sand, and he found it difficult to move through the gritty substance. It seemed to cling to his feet and ankles, hampering his movements like quicksand. Up ahead of him, backlit by the orange sun, both of his beloved companions began to catch fire.

"Nooo! Don't just stand there!" Kei hardly noticed or cared that he too was beginning to smolder. All that mattered to him was that he had to save these two vampires from the sun. Friend…brother…ally…lover…both Luka and Sho were everything to him, and they were about to go up in smoke.

Both of them began to turn, their burning profiles appearing almost angelic in the harsh morning sunlight. "You should have burned too," Luka told him. "You lack conviction, Kei."

"I was ready to leave the world with you," Sho said. "And join our friends in the afterlife. You lost your nerve."

"I'm sorry," Kei apologized in a tortured voice, "I was afraid! Please…don't go! Don't leave me!"

"Burn with us, Kei," commanded Luka, "and we'll never leave you."

"It's what you really want anyhow," added Sho, "otherwise you wouldn't have been asking for the death penalty when they had you in prison. Stop fighting it and just let go, like we are."

"N-no," moaned Kei, his teeth clenching in pain as his skin began to burn. He couldn't move his feet and he yelled helplessly as both his mentor and his best friend burst completely into flame. "Noooo!"

~**********************************~

"Kei, what the hell are you doing?"

Kei felt the heavy impact of a body against his, followed by the painful slam of the floor beneath his back. He hissed in pain as he felt some of his skin peel off on the floor where his arm pressed against it, and he looked up in confusion at the fine-structured face and livid blue eyes hovering over him. He recognized Sho and he parted his lips to speak, but the smell of his own burning skin made him sneeze, instead. He had time to notice that smoke was curling up from Sho's naked back, where a sunbeam shone through the window onto it. He was rolled swiftly but carefully toward the wall, beneath the angle of the light, before Sho got up and yanked the curtains closed.

"What…happened?" Kei clenched his teeth against the pain of raw, blistered skin and he looked up at his companion warily.

"You tell me," Sho muttered, squatting down beside him. "I woke up from a dead sleep to hear you shouting my name in the living room, and when I came out to see what was happening, I found you standing in front of the window with the curtains wide open, about to catch fire in the sunlight."

Kei looked up at the now shut curtains, wincing. "A dream," he said, his voice tense with pain. Funny, he'd dreamed that he sleepwalked to the beach, and in reality he had sleepwalked to the big window in the living room and subconsciously tried to fry himself.

Sho sighed and squatted down next to him, the long muscles in his bare legs bunching with the motion. "Was it the one you usually have? The one about Luka?" His eyes stared straight ahead and his expression was carefully neutral in that detached, inhuman way he'd adopted during his isolation.

Kei sat up gingerly and shook his head. "It was different, this time. You were in it."

Sho looked at him sidelong, his blue eyes subtly curious. "I was?"

"Yes. You were…burning with him. I was yelling for both of you to seek cover, but you just stood there together, and I couldn't get to you to stop it."

Sho's cool expression softened, and his gaze swept the blond up and down, revealing a touch of worry. "So you weren't trying to greet the dawn without me?"

"Of course not," assured Kei. His breath shivered with lingering pain as his body began to heal from the close call—though not fast enough to suit him. "I wouldn't beg you not to go and then try to sneak out of this life without you."

Sho lowered his eyes. "I wondered. You said you couldn't watch me burn, so I thought…maybe…you wanted to go first, so that you wouldn't have to see it."

"No," insisted Kei. He reached up slowly and gingerly to brush his pale bangs away from his eyes, and he looked at the other man with sincere warmth. "I would never do something dirty like that, Sho."

Sho's mouth quirked briefly. "I hope not, because if we're going to fry, I want it to be together. I think that was why I never went through with it on my own."

"Me too," agreed Kei. "I don't know what drove me to pull those curtains open, except for maybe guilt. I promise you though…I wouldn't want to face the sun without you at my side."

Sho looked at him sidelong. "Promise?"

Kei nodded again, despite the pain it caused him. "I swear. I'll never willingly burn without you."

Sho looked away for a moment, then looked back at him, and for the first time since Toshi's death, he gave him an open, white-toothed smile and he burst into soft laughter. Completely missing what was so funny, yet distracted and affected by the other man's laugh, Kei began to smile back.

"What did I say?"

Sho bowed his head and dragged his fingers through his mussed, half-braided hair, still chuckling under his breath. "Nothing. It's just…we're both so fucked up. Who makes promises like ours?"

Kei found himself starting to laugh as well. "I don't know…maybe other vampires, like us?"

"I’m pretty sure there aren't any other vampires like us," Sho remarked, snickering. "They wouldn't survive long, if they were."

The remark made Kei start to snicker too, but the motion unfortunately caused him substantial discomfort and he vocalized it helplessly. "Ah…stop. Laughing hurts."

Sho sobered a bit, his gaze softening now that his shell had once again cracked. "Put your arms around my neck," he offered, "and I'll take you into the bedroom. We have the whole day ahead of us and if you get enough rest, you should be healed by nightfall."

Kei agreed with that and with a bit of effort, he put his arms around Sho's neck as instructed. The other vampire carefully slipped one arm beneath Kei's knees and supported his shoulders with the other. Kei hissed in pain as the cotton sleeping pants stuck to his skin when his companion lifted him, and Sho impulsively brushed those velvety-soft lips over his sweat-beaded forehead.

"We can get you undressed once I have you back in bed," offered Sho.

He lifted him gently and carried him out of the living room, through the hallway and into the main bedroom. He eased him down on the double bed carefully, and he started trying to remove the pajama bottoms. When Kei groaned in pain and shook his head, Sho stopped. He regarded the blond silently for a moment, before stretching out beside him onto the bed.

"I'll be okay," promised Kei softly. "I'll just need to shower and wash these pants when I wake up later."

"You're healing too slowly," Sho remarked, his deep voice soft and concerned.

"I need to feed again," sighed Kei. "We both do. It's been over a week."

Sho seemed to absorb his words for a moment, before propping himself up on one elbow and brushing his braids away from the side of his neck. He looked down at Kei as he leaned over him and he stroked his side with one hand.

"Let me share with you," he offered softly. "It will help your skin heal faster, so you can rest."

Kei hesitated. There was no "nutritional value" to biting another vampire, because they all suffered the same deficiencies that caused them to require human blood in the first place. However, there were healing benefits to sharing blood with another vampire who had recently fed, if no human blood was available.

"Like you said," coaxed Sho, "we need to feed again tonight, anyway. I'll get back whatever I share with you, Kei. Go ahead."

Kei looked at the tempting column of his lover's throat and he couldn't resist. He clutched Sho's arm to urge him closer and he lifted his head with his help. He reveled in the smooth texture of the other man's skin as he tasted it on his lips and tongue, and then he extended his fangs and bit down. Sho gasped and tensed, but he didn't pull away. He stroked Kei's hair and murmured to him, hardening in his briefs as the blond's bite put him in a state of pleasure. Kei fed gently on him and he caressed his body as he did so, grateful beyond measure to have him at his side.

~************************~

The next evening, Sho's contacts got back to him with more details about the sort of work Hanyu did within the Mafia. Kei listened quietly to a one-sided conversation while his partner paced back and forth over the floor of the living room.

"No drugs?" Sho asked. "Good. I want to know the minute anything changes, understood? Yes. I'm satisfied with that. Goodbye."

Kei raised an eyebrow at him when Sho hung up the phone and sighed. "Well? Is he going to survive dating Hana or not?"

Sho went to the big window and looked out at the cityscape, wearing that dreadfully impassive expression that troubled Kei so much. Sometimes he felt like Sho was more inhuman than he was, despite his younger age.

"For now," answered Sho softly. He reached out and smoothed the curtains. "I'm going to see about having special shutters installed on these windows."

"We could move," suggested Kei hesitantly. "There are places in the city with basement levels, and we could definitely afford it."

Sho gave a brief, single nod—one of acknowledgement, not agreement. "I like it here."

Kei looked around at their surroundings. The apartment was nothing to brag about and the building was older, with plumbing problems. Still, they had made the place into a home in Sho's youth and he had to admit, it felt like home still. That was why he'd bought it, after Sho left.

"You're sure? The memories don't bother you?"

Sho gazed up at the night sky, visible through the streaked glass of the window. "I cling to them. The memories of this place are from a happier time, when everyone was alive and young, and we were all together." He turned and looked at Kei, revealing emotion in his glittering eyes, if not his face. "Tell me I’m torturing myself."

Kei lowered his gaze and shook his head. "It isn't torture if it comforts you. I understand, Sho." He raised his eyes to him again and tilted his head gracefully, in that thoughtful way of his that he wasn't even consciously aware of. "It's important to remember the best things from the past. We had fun, didn't we?"

Sho glanced out the window again, and his reflection stared back at Kei. That was another false supposition concerning vampires; the idea that they didn't cast reflections. "We did. We had a lot of fun." He turned to look at him again and he considered him for a moment. Sho held a hand out invitingly to him. "Come here."

Kei looked at the outstretched hand, before unfolding his legs and getting up from the couch. He approached his companion with a quiet smile, and he put an arm around him as he joined him at the window. Sho pulled him close and brushed his lips against his temple, closing his eyes.

"I'm glad you're here, Kei. I'm glad you stayed."

The shorter man was somewhat taken off-guard by the endearment. When he was mortal, Sho tended to make it regularly known that he valued--or even needed--Kei's company. Since being turned, he'd been conservative about it, and the tables had turned. Now it was usually Kei who expressed his dependence on Sho's companionship. Feeling like the relationship was again drifting back into something familiar, Kei rubbed his head against Sho's and he sighed.

"I'm always going to be here, Sho. I promise." Sensing that they were on the verge of getting hopelessly mired in drama, Kei changed the subject. "What information did they have for you on Chan?"

"He deals mostly with laundering, smuggling imports and gambling," answered Sho. "I'm not crazy about it, but he could be doing a lot worse as a Mafia player in Mallepa. For now, we'll watch him. Even without being involved in the violent, more risky parts of the trade, he could make enemies."

"I agree," murmured Kei, "and his family still has enemies, too."

"We have to stay sharp." Sho stroked Kei's hair and stared out at the evening sky. "Never let our guard down, until we know Hana is safe from being a target."

"I'll stay diligent," promised Kei. "You know I will."

Sho nodded in agreement before pulling away from him. "Let's hunt. We're both getting weak."

~*********************************~

A couple of nights later:

Kei looked around at the carnage, shaking his head. "Well, this didn't go as planned."

He grimaced at his companion, still sucking away at some hapless guy's throat. It probably didn't matter now if he drained him to death, but they'd made a pact to try and help each other control their bloodlust. "Sho…you need to stop."

Sho didn't seem to hear his half-hearted warning. Kei bit his lip and approached, prepared to try and pull the other vampire off of his prey physically, if he had to. This gang had opened fire on them in the middle of negotiations, so they had brought this on themselves. Still, it was for his and Sho's sake that they learn better self-control.

"Sho…" Seeing the blank, staring eyes of the young man, Kei gave up with a resigned sigh and a shrug. He combed his fingers through his hair to get his long bangs out of his eyes, and looked around. The goods they had come to barter for were supposedly in the crate by the old truck, at the other end of the warehouse. He walked over to it, trying to ignore the bodies he stepped over. One young man had died halfway strewn over the crate, and the blood from his bullet wounds seeped sluggishly in death, trickling over the battered wood.

Kei stared at one life-giving, ruby drop as it dripped from the tip of the dead man's middle finger and struck the floor. He still tasted the other man he'd fed on. Like his companion, he hadn't stopped in time, but this situation was different from a deliberate hunt. They didn't come here intending to kill anyone or to feed, but these men forced their hands. They had paid the ultimate price for their greed.

Kei lifted the corpse away from the crate and set it down on the floor with ease. He drew his gun and shot the padlock, before forcing the crate open. When he looked inside, he sighed again. He felt Sho coming up behind him and he grimaced, bracing himself.

"No watches?" guessed Sho.

"Not unless watches look like empty air, these days. They didn't even bother to put fake containers in here to give the illusion that they had something to sell us."

Sho peered over his shoulder into the empty crate, and he dug his pack of cigarettes out of the back pocket of his trousers. "Hmph…big surprise." He tapped one out of the pack and put it between his lips. "They had no intention of selling us anything. Looks like I need to have a talk with their boss."

"I'll call your people and let them know what happened," offered Kei.

Sho nodded, and the blond took out his cell phone. Miraculously, it hadn't fallen out of his baggy black pants during the firefight. Though this night didn't go as planned, Kei had to admit he enjoyed the old thrill of fighting at Sho's side again as a business partner. The little smile that the other man gave him as he prepared to make his call too indicated that Sho felt the same.

"It's Kei," said the blond in Japanese when their go-between answered the phone. "It was an ambush. They just wanted to lure us here and take our money. Put the word out not to trust Clan Xu. The boss is dealing with it and he'll get back to you when he decides what he wants to do."

"You screwed us," Sho was saying in Mandarin to the person on the other end of his call. "Your people came with an empty box and they opened fire on mine." He nudged the body by the crate with his black suede boot and it rolled limply onto its side. "You've lost nine guys. If you don't want to find out how many more you can lose, you'll send compensation to my people right away."

Kei finished his call and he stood waiting while Sho listened to whatever the man on the other line was saying. He watched his partner take a drag and frown, and he guessed Sho didn't like what he was hearing. The blue eyes met his briefly and a silent signal passed between them. This wasn't going to end well for the Xu clan and some of Sho's people, he could tell.

"I gave you a chance to make amends," Sho said in a low, dangerous voice. "Be careful of where you step from here on out."

Kei sighed and looked down at his feet. More enemies…great. At least he couldn't say they were at fault for this one. Sho took a gamble in trusting these people to make good on their bargain, and the Rolex market was lucrative in Mallepa, right now. It would have turned enough profit to keep their people well paid for months, if they had been able to get their hands on the sought-after merchandise to re-sell it.

"What's your decision?" Kei asked when Sho put his phone away.

The taller man absently checked the barrel of his pistol, before holstering it at his hip again. He spread his hands and shrugged. "I leave that up to them. We aren't doing business with their district anymore and if they give us any shit, we'll make them pay for it."

Kei relaxed a little. He'd half-expected Sho to announce that they were going to war against Clan Xu, after such a stunt. "I think that's a good idea."

Sho tapped his ashes onto the floor and he looked at him knowingly. "You just don't want more conflict."

Kei shrugged. "I've never enjoyed conflict. I don't go looking for it, like you do."

Sho's expression was stone. "While we're protecting Hana, I won't look for it. If it happens to find me, though…" He shrugged again, meaningfully.

"I understand," sighed Kei, "and I'll be right there at your side, teaching the troublemakers a lesson." He walked over to his companion and looked at his cigarette. "Give me a drag, would you?"

"No." Sho pulled away from him when the blond reached out. "You quit."

"Maybe I want to start again. Come on, give me a drag."

Sho cracked a bare hint of a smile and jerked aside as Kei tried to nab the smoke from between his lips. "Too slow."

"Don't be an asshole." Kei tried to snatch the cigarette again, smiling in spite of himself.

Sho ducked and lunged away. The playful spark ignited behind his eyes again, and he dug out a fresh cigarette from the pack in the breast pocket of his shirt. "You really want one?" He waved the object teasingly with one hand, while taking another drag from his already lit cigarette with the other.

"Yes, I really want one," insisted Kei. "You're a bad influence. Give it to me, already."

"Hold your hand up like this." Sho demonstrated, holding his cigarette up between his first and middle finger.

Remembering the little trick they'd worked so hard to master back in the day, Kei grinned and shook his head. The one single time he'd managed to toss a cigarette between Sho's fingers from a distance had been a fluke. They had never been able to duplicate it again, vampire reflexes or not. "You'll never make it."

"Yes I will," insisted Sho, "you'll see. If you could do it, so can I. Just hold your fingers out, so I have a target."

Looking around at the mess in the building, Kei thought they could be doing more important things right now than testing whether Sho could aim a cigarette between his spread fingers. He almost said so aloud, but that part of his mind that had been agonizing over how cold his companion could be reminded him that games like this were the key to keeping Sho remotely human.

"Fine. If you think you can do it, then go for it." He obligingly held his hand up with the first two fingers spread, and he looked at Sho expectantly. "Whenever you're ready."

Sho closed one eye and measured the distance, while reading his projectile of choice. Kei was hard put not to snicker when he noticed the tip of his companion's tongue poking out one side of his mouth in concentration. He started to tease him again, positive that Sho wasn't even aware of the face he was pulling. Before he could do so, the other man flicked the cigarette across the distance and because he was so distracted by the look on his face, Kei failed to dodge it in time. It hit him in the forehead and Sho's deep, resonant laugh was like music to his ears.

"You did that on purpose," accused Kei, bending over to pick the item up. Unfortunately, it had landed in a small pool of blood and it was ruined. Kei sighed.

"No, I didn't," denied Sho, "but it was fun to watch you in that position, for a change. Here." He pulled out a fresh cigarette and closed the distance, holding it out for him.

Kei took it with mumbled thanks and he cupped his hand over the flame when the other man produced his lighter to fire it up for him. He took a slow, deep drag and shut his eyes, savoring the burn as he inhaled the smoke. Perhaps he couldn't get addicted to it the way mortals did anymore, but he admitted to himself that he'd missed the act of smoking. Like Sho said; it calmed the nerves and mellowed the mind.

"Better?" asked Sho.

Kei nodded and tilted his head back to blow the smoke up into the air. He looked around at the evidence of their encounter with a frown. "We should probably go. I think I can here sirens in the distance, and we can't be sure it isn't related to this."

Sho listened and nodded in agreement. "Stick to the shadows and move fast, like we did when we came in."

"Meet you at the car."

Just like that, both vampires were gone. Sho had taken the precaution of parking his car a few blocks away, so that it wouldn't be anywhere near the scene of the exchange. He'd gone into this negotiation expecting trouble, and Kei thought it was a smart move to avoid the risk of any witnesses identifying his vehicle near the warehouse. It seemed that Sho was becoming more adept at predicting conflicts, before they happened.

~******************************~

Two nights later, in the North district of Mallepa:

Hana stepped outside of her family home, intending to get some fresh air. She smiled at the ring on her finger, admiring it. Hanyu had given her just what she asked for: a simple but elegant design, not too expensive. He'd wanted to give her something more extravagant, but the silver and jade twist ring was more suited to her than a big, expensive diamond.

"Hana, we're opening a bottle of the good wine tonight," her foster father called from inside the house, "to celebrate the good news!"

She looked over her shoulder at the screen door. "Okay!"

She could see the dining room through it and she smiled at the sight of her foster mother lighting candles on the table. She smiled at the sight, and she sighed. She was truly grateful to them for taking her in. They lost their natural daughter at birth, and could no longer conceive after that. She loved them very much, but she had never forgotten her birth parents. She still thought of the last time her father bought her cotton candy in the park. It was the last happy moment they had together, though it was laced with sadness because her mother lay dying in the hospital, at the time.

She sensed eyes on her and she took a wary step toward the front door, looking out from the porch onto the street. Even in the suburbs, Mallepa could be a very dangerous place. She narrowed her eyes when she spotted the familiar figure of a man with shoulder-length, feathered blond hair. He wasn't particularly tall and his slim build wasn't intimidating by itself, but something about his stance and his eyes warned that he was a very dangerous man—and yet to Hana, he was an honorary uncle, and not at all intimidating.

"Kei?"

He stepped out of the shadows and beneath the street lamp, giving her one of his quiet, reserved little smiles. "Hello, Hana. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, you didn't startle me," she assured him with a little bow and a smile. She stepped down off of the porch to greet him at the sidewalk, casting a quick look over her shoulder at the house. "I know it sounds strange, but I can tell when you're watching me. I think I'm just so used to it now, I can sense your presence."

Kei stuck his hands into the pockets of his loose black pants. He wore a button-down, long-sleeved crimson shirt and a pair of black oxfords with the outfit, and the top three buttons of his shirt were undone. A silver crane pendant hung from his neck and rested against his clavicle, and it glinted in the yellow light.

"I'm sorry for coming by unannounced," he apologized softly, "but I didn't exactly plan it. I was coming through this part of town on business, and when I realized I was close to your home, I came by. I just wanted to check in on you."

Hana smiled at him. Uncle Kei was always checking in on her now and then, as he had done since the day her father left. "Thank you. Everything is fine."

Kei looked her up and down, as if assuring himself that she wasn't injured. She found that odd, until he told her why he felt compelled to come and see her tonight. "I heard about the attack on you and your friend, earlier this week. I just wanted to be sure you're okay."

"How did you hear?" she asked.

Kei shrugged and looked down at his feet, scuffing his shoes on the sidewalk. "I have some friends in the police force."

"Oh. Well, it was scary, but they only took our purses. My friend Sandra hit her head, but she went to see a doctor that night and they said it was only a minor bump."

Kei nodded. "That's what I heard, but I wanted to be sure. You may not have been physically hurt, but I know an experience like that can really scare a person."

She smiled again and shook her head. "I grew up in Mallepa, and though my family has sheltered me more than kids living in other parts of town, I know how to handle myself. I have you and father to thank for that, Kei. Please, don't worry."

He smiled back at her and gave her a nod. "Okay. I still wish you would let me buy you a little hand gun to carry with you."

"I don't like guns," she reminded him gently, "and I don't have the temperament to shoot a person. It would just get taken from me and used against me. Father always said people who aren't willing to shoot someone should never own a gun for anything more than target practice."

"True, but I think he'd prefer you to have one, all the same." Kei sighed, and his eyes caught sight of her new ring. "That's pretty. I don't remember ever seeing it before."

She looked down at the ring and she smiled, spreading her fingers delicately to show it off. "Chan gave it to me. It's…an engagement ring."

Kei's expression froze briefly. "Hanyu Chan? You're…engaged to him, now?"

She nodded enthusiastically, blushing. "We've been seeing each other for months. I know I only recently told you about him, but I wasn't sure how serious it would get, until recently."

"It's okay," soothed the vampire. "I'm just a little surprised."

"You aren't angry?" she pressed, uncertain. Kei could be difficult to read at times, often seeming dispassionate about things on the surface, though very protective of her. She wanted his approval. He was her Uncle Kei, after all—the last link to her old life and her father still available to her.

"No, I'm not angry," he answered. Under his breath, he muttered something that sounded like: "I'm not the one to worry about."

Hana frowned. "Kei?"

He looked up and he shook his head, forcing a smile. "It's nothing. I know this is probably a stupid question, but do you love him?"

She nodded, smiling. "Of course. He's very good to me, and he supports my art. He wants to see me get my own gallery, some day."

"That's good," approved Kei.

"Hana? Dinner is ready," called Hana's foster mother from the house. "Come inside and tell us how he proposed!"

She blushed as Kei grinned at her, and she turned to call out to her mother. "I'll be right in!" She turned to face him again, biting her lip. "I should go. You could…join us…if you want? I know food is useless to you, but you're always welcome in this house."

He reached out and patted her on the head—his way of giving her a hug without actually giving one. "Thank you, but I have somewhere to be and I know your foster parents aren't comfortable around me. This is your special night, so go and enjoy it."

She smiled and gave him another bow. "Thank you, Kei." She hesitated, wanting to ask him the burning question on her mind. Someone had chased those robbers down and gotten hers and Sandra's purses back single-handedly. He'd vanished as soon as he dropped the recovered items before them, and Kei was the only person she knew that could do something like that.

"Is something the matter?" Kei asked her softly.

"Were you there, the night we were assaulted? Is that really how you knew it happened?" She held her breath, waiting for his answer. It would explain some things, and she reckoned she could even presume Kei sometimes wore her father's brand of cologne—though she'd never smelled it on him before.

"No," he answered, shaking his head. "I wasn't there. I wish I were, so that I could have protected you."

She accepted his answer, feeling a strange sense of relief. If he had said "yes", then she would have had to accept the fact that her father wasn't responsible for the unexpected help she and Sandra had gotten, that night.

"Not even you can be everywhere at once," she reminded him gently. "I just wondered, though. Someone stopped those men and brought our purses back, but he moved too fast for us to thank him. I thought…maybe…it was you."

Kei blinked and stiffened a little. "I'm sorry. I wish I could say that it was. Whoever he was, I'm grateful to him for intervening."

"He must have been like you," she reasoned, looking him up and down. "No regular man could do what he did and just…vanish."

"You were in shock," excused Kei, "and you were scared. Sometimes the mind plays tricks with us, under those circumstances. He probably had a friend or two with him, and you just never saw them. There are plenty of reasonable explanations, Hana."

"Maybe." She watched him suspiciously; unable to help but feel he was keeping something from her. "Kei…if he came back and you knew it, would you tell him? I would…like him there for the wedding."

A flash of emotion crossed his face before he quelled it, and he sighed. "I would be sure to tell him, Hana. I promise, I would extend the invitation to him for you."

"Hana?" called her foster father from the house. "Dinner is going to get cold! What are you doing?"

"Sorry, Otousan! I'm coming!" She gave Kei one last, tremulous smile and a bow. "I really have to go now, but thank you. I trust you to keep your word, Kei."

~****************************~

Kei watched as the young woman climbed back up the steps of the porch and went to the door. Her foster father had come looking for her, and he opened the screen door for her to go inside. Hana gave Kei one last glance before going inside. For a moment, her foster father stood there looking at Kei with an uncertain expression on his face. Unlike Sho, he had aged over the years. He now sported a matching set of silver wings at his temples—an attractive and graceful mark of his years. His eyes met Kei's and he gave the vampire a polite, reserved nod.

Kei nodded back, and he took his cue and turned to go. There was no need for an exchange of words between himself and Mr. Narita. It had been an understanding since Sho relinquished Hana to him and his wife that Kei was to be allowed to be involved, even if it was from a distance. Narita and his wife honored that agreement, while Kei honored the promise he'd made to Sho to watch over her.

Thinking of that promise and the vampire he'd made it to, Kei groaned. Hana was engaged…that was a difficult enough thing for any father to face. Her being engaged to the nephew of the man who had taken so much from Sho just made it so much worse. Kei was certain that Hana didn't realize the connection; even if she did know her fiancé was involved in Mafia activities. She had been a mere child when her uncle got gunned down after drawing a weapon on Hanyu's uncle. Sho only told her that there had been a horrible accident, and that her uncle had gone to be with their ancestors. Now his one and only child was promised to a member of Chan's family.

"He's not going to like this at all," predicted Kei unhappily.

~**********************~

"Did you stop by to see Hana?"

Kei nodded, not meeting Sho's eyes. "Yes. She was about to have dinner with her fam—I mean, her foster parents."

"You can say 'family'," Sho told him, a sliver of ruefulness creeping into his voice. He stared at the television screen without any real interest, hardly paying attention to the late night news. "I chose them because I knew they would be the family she needed. I don't resent them."

Kei sighed. "That isn't what worries me. Sho, I think it's more important than ever that you try to re-connect with Hana. She's engaged to Hanyu Chan, now."

Sho immediately muted the television. "If that's a joke, it isn't funny."

Looking warily determined, the blond shook his head. "It isn't a joke. She told me after I noticed the new ring on her finger. He must have just recently proposed."

Sho flipped the remote around in his hand for a minute, before putting it on the coffee table and getting up out of the couch. He walked over to the window and he crossed his bare arms over his chest. He wore a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of gray jeans. Kei had picked the outfit out for him, and it was more the blond's style of garb than Sho's. He'd worn it because Kei thought he looked good in it.

"Does she love him?" He wouldn't look at his companion as he asked the question. Instead, he stared through the window at the neon advertisement sign across the street.

"I think she does," Kei answered, watching him from the couch with his hands resting on his spread knees. "She says he's good to her, and I believe her. Hana isn't lacking self-awareness, Sho. She knows what she wants, and we should trust her with her decision."

Sho closed his eyes. What could he do? He'd chosen to make his fortune and start his family with Yi-Che in Mallepa. He'd considered taking his wife and daughter and moving away from this place more than once before, but Yi-Che didn't want to be separated from her brother. Despite the way Son had virtually abandoned them to side with Chan and the Taiwanese Mafia, he was still her brother and in the end, Sho couldn't bring himself to try and split them apart so completely. His precious daughter didn't have many options for "honest" men, in a city that thrived on organized crime.

He was so preoccupied with his disturbed thoughts that he didn't sense Kei coming up behind him, until his breath caressed the side of his throat.

"Don't withdraw," murmured Kei. His hands reached out, and one of them stroked Sho's hair while the other rubbed his shoulder. "This doesn't have to be a bad thing, Sho. From everything we've learned about this guy, he isn't bad. He could be a lot worse."

Sho nodded silently, unable to refute that. He laid one hand over the one squeezing his shoulder and he turned his head to look his companion in the eye. Kei had one of those subtly desperate looks on his face that always made it nearly impossible for Sho to refuse him anything. He reached out to brush aside the long bangs that had half-fallen over the blond's left eye and he watched the sensitive lips curve into a self-depreciating little smile.

"I know," murmured Kei, "I need to get it trimmed. I've never been good at styling it, the way you do with yours."

Sho shook his head, looking at the unruly style with a quietly admiring gaze. "No, I like it. This longer style suits you. Just don't let it turn into a complete mop, okay?"

"I'll try not to." Kei looked at him pensively. "Are you going to give any further thought to my suggestion about Hana?"

Sho lowered his gaze. "I…can't keep putting it off. You'll still help me, right? I don't want to scare her."

Kei nodded without hesitation. "I can set up the meeting, whenever you're ready. I'll sit down with her and explain it before you come in, but I honestly don't think you have to worry about her getting scared. I think she already suspects you were the one to stop the purse-snatchers. She didn't see your face, but the way she talked about it, she knows her benefactor was more than human. I tried to play it off on shock, but I don't think she went for it."

Sho huffed a sigh. "It's too late for that. Like you said: Hana is too bright to be fooled for long. I have to stop lying to my little girl, and I have to stop expecting you to do it for me, too. Call her tomorrow and set up the meeting, whenever it's most convenient for her. I know she won't ask for daylight hours, since she knows what you are."

"She won't," agreed Kei. "Is there somewhere in particular you want me to set it up for, Sho?"

The taller man thought about it. The answer was easy, and it came to him in a flash. "The park," he murmured. "At the painting. I think it's fitting."

"I think so too. I'll see when I can arrange it."

Kei studied him unblinkingly, until it made Sho want to squirm. "What?"

Kei ran his hands over Sho's chest and shoulders. "I'm proud of you."

Sho looked away uncomfortably. "There's nothing to be proud of. I'm only agreeing to this because I'm trapped."

"You could take off again instead, if you really wanted to," answered the shorter vampire. "You could tell me to shut the hell up and never mention it again. Instead, you're willing to try, and I know how hard it's going to be for you. That gives me a reason to be proud."

Sho sighed and put his arms around the other man, drawing him close. He rubbed his back and laid his head on his shoulder, surrendering once again to the warm, encouraging comfort that was Kei.

"If this blows up in our faces, I'm holding you responsible," Sho murmured.

Kei wasn't intimidated. He stroked Sho's hair and shrugged. "It's a risk I'm willing to take."

~*****************************~

-To be continued
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Bound by blood