Daiki, Part 1

by Geri ([email protected])

My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/geris_petshop_fics/index.html

Rating: R (actually, mostly PG-13, but R for one steamy scene in Part 1, and for Leon's bad language throughout)

Pairing: Leon/D

Author's note 1: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Matsuri Akino and Yumiko Kawahara. No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.

Sequel to: This can be considered a continuation of my earlier series of stories (Revenge, The Day After, Spirits, Blodeuedd), but it can stand on its own as my version of what happens after Book 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Contains spoilers for Book 10 and the Shin Petshop of Horrors series currently running in Japan.

Author's note 2: "Keiji-san" means "detective" in Japanese (literally, "Mr. Detective"); this is how D addresses Leon in the original version of the manga. And yes, I know that D is actually Chinese, but I wanted to keep that original reference in the story (and besides, I know more Japanese than I do Chinese), so I explained things in the earlier story "Spirits" by saying that D spent part of his childhood in Japan.

Author's note 3: I know that the jaguar girl from "Discovery" is called "Tina" in the Tokyopop version, but I had originally written it as "Teina" when I was working on a fan translation before the series was licensed in the U.S. I'm not saying that Tokyopop was wrong, because romaji spelling doesn't always translate perfectly into English, but I prefer "Teina" because it sounds a bit more exotic. And you'll also notice that I'm sticking with "Tet-chan," which was shortened to "T-chan" in the Tokyopop version.

Summary: A crossover between Petshop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino and Dolls by Yumiko Kawahara. Leon finally finds and confronts D in Tokyo two years after the Count has fled L.A. A child results from their reunion, but this is not an MPreg fic. If you want to know how this is possible, please read on...
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"You have a customer, Count!" Pon-chan announced as she skipped into the office where D was sipping a cup of tea and halfheartedly going through some paperwork.

D frowned, a small wrinkle creasing the smooth white skin of his forehead. "I thought I told Ten-chan to close up the shop early today. It has been a long week, and I am feeling rather tired..."

The raccoon girl just shrugged, then bounced up and down impatiently. "I don't know; maybe Ten-chan forgot. But the customer's here now, and he has sweets!"

"It is past teatime, is it not?" D mused. Then he smiled and patted Pon's head indulgently. "Very well, little one. Let us go see what sort of sweets this customer has brought."

He rose to his feet and glided towards the lobby of the shop with his usual elegant grace, but there was a certain weariness in his face and his movements that a stranger would not have noticed, but which Pon-chan most certainly did. Besides, the mere fact that the Count had missed tea time was proof enough that something was wrong! It was about time that the detective had finally shown up...

The Count fixed a cool, pleasant smile on his face as he stepped into the lobby. "Irasshaimase--" he started to say, uttering the usual ritual phrase of welcome for a Japanese shopkeeper, then his jaw dropped open and he stared in shock when he caught sight of the "customer": a tall, blond, blue-eyed Caucasian man with a very angry look on his face.

"I finally found you, you bastard!" Leon Orcot shouted.

"K-K-Keiji-san!" D stammered, then turned an accusing gaze on the pets assembled in the lobby. "You deliberately let him in here against my orders, didn't you?! Ten-chan, Pon-chan..."

"Heh, sorry, boss," Ten-chan said, grinning sheepishly and looking a little nervous but not particularly contrite.

Pon-chan just tossed her curly blonde locks back defiantly and said, "Well, you were being so stubborn, Count! I miss Leon and Chris!" She added brightly, "And he did bring sweets!" And Leon was indeed holding a cardboard pastry box decorated with the logo of a Tokyo bakery.

Meanwhile, a large gray wolf was running in circles around Leon's feet and barking excitedly, "He's back! He's back!"

Leon was still obviously very tense and angry, but he bent down and patted the wolf, who wagged its tail happily and licked Leon's hand. "Hey fella," he said, managing a small, if slightly strained smile. "Say, aren't you Lupin? You were a lot smaller the last time that I saw you."

D glared at the wolf, who whined softly and reluctantly backed away from Leon. "I will deal with you later," D said, including Ten-chan and Pon-chan in his gaze. Then he turned to Tet-chan, who was leaning against the wall, observing the scene passively with his clear golden eyes, making no move to attack the detective as he had always done in the past. "Even you have betrayed me, Tet-chan?" D asked despairingly.

The Tou-Tet looked a little hurt by that accusation. "I don't like him," Tet-chan said gruffly. "He's loud, obnoxious, and uncouth. But it's obvious to all of us that you've been miserable without him. And Chris." Tet-chan smiled sadly. "I would gladly have comforted you, but I've finally had to admit that it isn't me you want. We have done this for your sake, Count. You may punish us if you wish, for disobeying your orders."

For a moment, D was tempted to do just that, but then Leon said coldly, "Punish them for disobeying your orders? That sounds like something dear old Daddy would have done. That's something you do to slaves, to servants who are nothing more than your tools, not to people who are your friends, people who care about you and are trying to help you."

That touched a nerve in D, who recalled the way that his father had created his "sister" for the sole purpose of becoming an organ donor. "How dare you mention my father!" he shouted.

"I've got every right, don't I?" Leon retorted. "Considering that Daddy dearest did his best to kill me, not to mention the entire human race!"

"Is that why you've followed me all the way to Tokyo?" D demanded. "To exact revenge for my father's crimes?"

Leon dropped the pastry box to the floor and crossed the room in a few long strides, then grabbed D by the front of his cheongsam and shook him vigorously. "No, you stupid shit!" he shouted. "I came to ask you why you ran away from us! Why'd you leave L.A. without so much as a goodbye, you selfish bastard?!"

"I did say goodbye, Keiji-san. I told you--"

"Yeah, yeah, humans haven't earned the right to board this ship, yada yada," Leon said impatiently.

"I was weary of dealing with humanity and its selfish urge to use up and destroy the resources of the earth--" D started to say.

"Yeah, so weary that you plunked yourself down in one of the most populated cities in the world!" Leon said sarcastically. "If you were really that sick of humanity, you'd be off in the desert or jungle somewhere, far from civilization. Yet here you are again, selling love and dreams and death to us worthless humans. You could have done that just as well in L.A. as in Tokyo!"

"But the F.B.I. would have had some difficult-to-answer questions about the explosion and Agent Howell's death," D argued.

"Bullshit!" Leon snorted. "I know you have friends in high places, D. And for once, you were innocent, at least of any part in Daddy's psycho plan. You could have made any charges against you disappear, and you damn well know it."

"It was time for a change, Keiji-san," D said, in a voice that tried to be cold but trembled just a little.

"So it's back to 'Detective,' now is it?" Leon asked, now looking hurt as well as angry. "What happened to 'Leon'?" The Count looked away, not answering. "I thought we were..." Leon started to say, then hesitated. "I'm not sure what the hell we were, but I thought that we were friends, at the least."

D flinched at the quiet, accusing tone of Leon's voice, which somehow cut more deeply than when he shouted and raged at the top of his lungs. "Your kind and mine cannot be friends, Keiji-san," D said softly. "We exist to pass judgment on humanity, to avenge those that humanity has destroyed."

Leon glared at D. "Don't tell me that you really buy into all that crap that Daddy and Grandpa were spouting. Yeah, I admit that we humans have made a mess of things, but there are humans who care about the environment. Look at Greenpeace and those PETA freaks--"

"The fact that you refer to them as 'freaks' proves that they are an anomaly among your species," D retorted.

"So I'm not the most politically correct guy around," Leon said, with an impatient, dismissive wave of his hand. "I think some of their methods are a little out there--like the anti-fur campaign with models posing naked...well, actually I kind of liked that one. But anyway, they do care about saving animals, just like you. They don't even eat meat. And some of those activists are willing to put their lives on the line, you know. The French government blew up a Greenpeace ship back in '85, but they didn't let it scare them off."

"A few humans do care about the earth and seek to live in harmony with it," D conceded reluctantly. "But that does not change the fact that the vast majority of humanity is the same as it has always been--greedy and self-centered and destructive."

"But people can change," Leon argued. "Like that guy Will, the pickpocket that you bailed out and sold a kitten to. Did you know that he's turned over a new leaf? He's been working hard at a legit job; says that he has to take care of his 'Lady'. And that girl Maggie? The one who was picking on that stray dog with a bunch of other kids? I don't know what you said or did to her, but it turns out that she's been taking good care of that dog--"

"Daisy," D murmured.

"Right, Daisy," Leon agreed. "She's even started volunteering at the local animal shelter. And even that terrorist Cesar--he gave up on violence and started trying to change things through more peaceful methods. Because of you. Because you made him realize that he cared more about Teina than about resurrecting El Dorado." Leon glared at D, with a hint of his old threat and bluster. "And you know, I still haven't forgiven you, for letting me think that you were planning to sacrifice me instead of the jaguar!"

D almost smiled at the memory of the detective's outrage, then felt a pang in his heart, a kind of wistful ache for those bygone days. "I knew that Cesar wouldn't be able to kill her," D murmured.

"Aha!" Leon said triumphantly. "So you did have faith in a human being, after all!"

D stared at the detective in consternation; how on earth had he let himself be manipulated by this crude, brash human? But then, Leon had always been more perceptive than he had seemed on the surface. It was that instinct which had led the young detective to his petshop in the first place, after all. D had been able to charm the Chief and the Mayor and other government officials into thinking that he was harmless, but Leon had known that D was behind the mysterious deaths linked to the petshop, even if he couldn't prove it. And he had known, just as instinctively, that D would never hurt Chris--or he would never have let an alleged murderer and drug smuggler baby-sit his little brother.

"One good human does not redeem the entire species," D retorted. "Besides, one might say that Cesar has yet to redeem himself, even if he has given up his violent ways. He and his companions were responsible for hurting and killing many innocent people."

"But what does that matter to you?" Leon shot back. "You hate all humans, so what does it matter to you if we kill each other off?"

"It matters nothing to me!" D snapped. "I did not care how many people Cesar and his companions killed; the only one that I was concerned about was Teina."

"Then it wouldn't matter to you if Chris happened to be in one of the places that those terrorists blew up?" Leon asked softly.

The Count's already pale face turned sheet-white. "Keiji-san!" he gasped. "Is Chris--?" His throat seemed to close up, and he was unable to speak the words out loud.

"Oh, Chris is doing fine," Leon said casually. "I was just speaking hypothetically." D slapped him hard across the face, his long nails scoring four bloody scratches along Leon's cheek. Leon just grinned smugly and asked, "What, did I worry you?"

D fumed, his slender fingers clenching into fists, his long nails digging painfully into his palms, and he could feel his face growing hot, turning an unbecoming shade of red. While D often grew angry at humans in general for the way that they thoughtlessly destroyed plants and animals, Leon was the only human he knew who could infuriate him to the point of losing control. And judging by the smug smile on his face, the detective was deliberately trying to provoke him, so D gritted his teeth together, fighting the urge to start screaming at Leon.

"But all this talk about hating humans is bullshit and you know it," Leon said accusingly. "Oh, I know that you don't think very highly of humanity, but that isn't why you left L.A."

"Enlighten me, then, since you seem to know so much, Keiji-san," D said sarcastically.

"You were running," Leon said quietly, meeting D's eyes with a steady, strangely sympathetic and yet somehow implacable gaze that unnerved D.

"Running from what?" D asked.

"From me, from Chris--from everyone who cares about you," Leon replied. "From everyone that you care about." He glanced at the pets, then clarified, "Anyone human that you care about, I mean."

"I...I...I am not...that is, I do not..." D stammered.

"Because you were afraid of being hurt," Leon said, still in that quiet, implacable voice. Then he grabbed D again and shook him, shouting, "Damn you, you stupid selfish bastard! Do you think that you're the only person in the world who's lost someone that he loves?! Don't you think I know what it feels like to lose a parent?!"

"He's surprisingly perceptive," Ten-chan whispered to Tet-chan.

"For a stupid human," Tet-chan grudgingly acknowledged. "But it did take him two years to figure it out."

"No, I think he figured it out way before now," Ten-chan disagreed. "But it took him all this time to track down the Count. Actually, that's pretty impressive, for a human to have tracked down a kami who doesn't want to be found. I mean, it took Howell twenty years to find the Count's father."

"Well, he is a detective," Tet-chan growled. "That is his job, after all."

"Howell was an F.B.I. agent with far more resources at his disposal than Leon," Ten-chan pointed out, then smiled. "But our dear detective is very tenacious." Tet-chan just grunted.

"They're fighting," Pon-chan observed, looking worried.

Lupin scratched behind one ear with a hind paw, apparently unconcerned. "I think it's a pack dominance thing. They'll work it out."

"I don't think that's quite what's happening," Ten-chan said with a smile. "But yes, I think that they'll work things out."

"Ke...Keiji-san," D stammered, feeling tears well in his eyes, although he didn't know why--or at least he didn't want to acknowledge the reason behind them.

"I lost my mom when I was a teenager," Leon said, and there were tears in his eyes, too. "I admit that I handled it pretty badly. I couldn't deal with it, so I handed Chris over to my aunt and uncle, and didn't have much contact with him for six years. But I thought that you were smarter than me, D."

"Leon," D whispered. He could handle the detective's rages with ease...but tears...that, he didn't know how to deal with. He wanted to reach up and caress and kiss those tears away...

"But the wise, all-powerful kami is just as emotionally screwed up as a human, it turns out," Leon said with a crooked smile. In a very gentle voice, he said, "You lost your father, and you were afraid to lose anyone else that you cared about, so you ran."

D shook his head. "My father and I have been at odds for years," he said in a trembling voice. "In some ways, we were enemies. What he did to my 'sister' was horrible..."

"To Nue Ehr?" Leon asked, confused. D had told him that his little sister had returned home to their father, but then Leon remembered finding D holding the mangled corpse of an orangutan around the time that the sister had supposedly "gone home". That gave him a sudden dark and crazy suspicion...only it was not as crazy as he would once have found it, not when he had boarded a flying ship and seen D's pets take the forms of people. But he shrugged it off; after all, D's father was dead and beyond punishment or vengeance.

"It doesn't matter," Leon finally said, when D did not explain or elaborate further. "Even if he was a psycho bastard, even if he did horrible things, he was still your dad, and you must have loved him. It must have hurt to lose him."

And then the tears were spilling from D's eyes, and he wept as he remembered his father gently cradling a baby bird in his hands, saying, "Ah, such a lively little chick." Then he had handed it over to a young D and said, "This must be the life you saved...when you stretched forth your hands. Here...lose sight of it no more."

"Father," D whispered.

"I thought at first that maybe you didn't want to be near me because I was the one who shot your dad," Leon said.

"No," D wept. "I don't blame you, Leon. You were only defending yourself."

Leon nodded. "Yeah, I figured that. The way you looked at me on the ship...it wasn't a look of hate or resentment. Besides, if you don't wanna see me anymore, I figured you ought to at least have the guts to tell me to my face. So I went looking for you."

"How did you find me?" D whispered.

"At first, I used the department's computer system to search for violent animal-related deaths across the U.S. Then I took some vacation time to follow up on a few leads, but nothing panned out. Finally I figured you must've left the country, so I quit my job and cashed in an insurance policy my mom had left me. I was saving it for Chris's college fund, but..." He laughed harshly. "I'm a rotten brother, huh, stealing my kid brother's college money? But my aunt and uncle have enough money to put him through school, and besides, I told myself that he'd rather see you than go to Harvard. Not that I could've afforded to send him to an Ivy League school, anyway. It was a small policy, but it was enough for me to live on while I searched for you, and I stayed in cheap, fleabag hotels and worked a few odd jobs to stretch the money further. I had no idea to where to start looking, so I tried Germany first because I remembered seeing that picture of your grandpa that was taken in Berlin. I even saw a copy of that same photo in the window of a portrait studio in Berlin, but the owner couldn't or wouldn't tell me anything about you." Leon scowled. "Couldn't, I think; I leaned on him pretty hard. Eventually I did manage to track down your shop, but by the time I found it, you had already closed it and left town. So I had to start all over again."

Leon glared at D, then continued, "I didn't have the L.A.P.D.'s resources anymore, but I searched on the internet for news stories about exotic animals and people who had been killed by animals. And whenever I could find a Chinatown or a Chinese community in a city, I'd ask them if they'd heard of a Count D who ran a petshop. I finally got a lead, and I almost caught up with you in Venice, but once again, you managed to escape before I got there."

D flushed guiltily as he remembered those close calls. He had stopped by that same studio in Berlin, and had been told by the shopkeeper that he had been questioned quite persistently by a young American who claimed to be searching for a man who looked like the one in the photograph. D had immediately closed up shop and fled the country. Some time later, after he had set up shop in Tokyo, he had traveled to Venice in order to obtain a rare animal for his shop. He had heard that an American detective was looking for him, and managed to flee the day before Leon arrived.

"After awhile, Europe turned out to be a dead end," Leon said. "So I headed for Asia. You said your people originally came from China, so I looked for you there, although it was kinda hard since I don't speak Chinese. Jill taught me a few basic phrases in Cantonese and Mandarin, and I got some language study cassettes, but those tourist guides don't tell you how to say 'I'm looking for an effeminate guy who sells killer bunny rabbits'." D made a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a sob.

"When China didn't work out, I came to Japan," Leon continued. "And finally, a girl in a hostess bar told me about this petshop in Neo-Chinatown, where it's said that you can buy any animal, no matter how rare. She said one of the other hostesses had visited that shop just days before she was killed by her ex-husband. So...here I am, D."

"Keiji-san," D whispered. "I cannot...my kind and yours...do not mix."

"Bullshit," Leon said.

"You are human, Leon," D said, his voice trembling. "You will age, and I will not. You saw how my father looked no older than I, even though he and Agent Howell attended college together." His normally dispassionate voice turned a little shrill. "Someday you will die and leave me alone."

"I could get hit by a bus tomorrow," Leon said bluntly. "Or I could live till I'm ninety. There are no guarantees in life, not even for a kami, D. Did you ever stop to think that I could outlive you? Some cop or F.B.I. agent or crazed customer could put a bullet in your head. Or your weak heart might give out. Have you forgotten that you nearly had a heart attack that night we hatched the dragon? But I'm willing to take that chance. Because I'd rather be with you for whatever time we have--be it twenty years or one year or even just one day--than not be with you at all."

"L-Leon," D said, his whole body as well as his voice shaking now.

Leon gave him an almost pitying look. "Don't you see, D?" he asked quietly. "It's already too late. You care about me--and Chris--whether you want to or not. Even if you go flying off on your boat again and leave me behind, you won't be able to leave the pain behind." He grabbed D by the shoulders and pushed him up against the wall. "No more running, D," he said, then clamped his mouth over D's, kissing him fiercely.

D struggled briefly, pinned between Leon's body and the wall. If he really wanted to, he could have pushed the detective away from him, could have slashed Leon with his long nails, or ordered the pets to attack him. Except that since their little mutiny had resulted in the detective being here in the first place, they probably wouldn't obey him. Because they knew what D finally admitted to himself--that he didn't really want to push Leon away.

Leon pulled back for just a moment, just long enough to growl, "I'm never letting you go again, D," his eyes glittering with the same look of intensity and determination that they used to hold when he was tracking down a suspect. In fact, D had often been the recipient of that stare in the past, since he had been Leon's number one suspect in a number of murders. But there was a slight difference to it now--hostility and anger had been replaced by hunger and possessiveness. It was like staring into the eyes of a wild beast about to claim its mate. And then D had no time to contemplate the matter further, because Leon crushed his mouth over D's again, so hard that D felt his own teeth press painfully into his lips. But the pain was swept away in a wave of passion, and D returned the kiss with just as much force. As a sign of how far gone he was, he did not even object when Leon grabbed the front of his robe and ripped it open without even trying to undo the frog closures, tearing the priceless silk.

"Jesus, get a room, you two!" Tet-chan cried indignantly.

As the Count grabbed the detective by the hand and pulled him into the back corridors of the shop, in the direction of the bedroom, Ten-chan snickered. "Since when does a mythical Chinese beast swear by a Christian deity?" he asked. "You know, I've noticed that you've picked up a lot of bad habits from our dear detective--including the way he swears. Could it be that you've missed him, Tet-chan?"

"Oh, shut up, you stupid fox!" Tet-chan growled, bopping the kitsune on the head with his fist.

"Ow!" Ten-chan protested, rubbing his head, but he kept grinning.

Lupin wagged his tail happily and said, "They have finally accepted each other as mates. All will be well with the pack now."

"It must be nice to have such a simple-minded view of the world," Tet-chan said sarcastically, giving the wolf a sour look.

"The world is simple for a wolf," Lupin agreed, unoffended by the Tou-Tet's words. "We hunt; we eat; we fight; we mate. Humans make themselves unhappy by thinking too much. Even the Count is more human than animal in that sense, though he is our pack leader. He knew in his heart that Leon was his mate, but he could not accept it, and the same was true of Leon. But...the fact that they are mates simply IS, that is all. Wishing it were not so is as pointless as wishing the sun would not rise in the morning."

"Out of the mouths of babes," Ten-chan chuckled, patting Lupin on the head. The wolf wagged his tail and licked the kitsune's hand.

"Aren't you even insulted by that?" Tet-chan asked disgustedly. "Don't you care that he called you a baby?"

"Nope," Lupin replied cheerfully. "I am still young, and have much to learn. I am still a cub compared to you and Ten-chan."

Tet-chan sighed and gave up. "Come on," he said in a resigned voice. "I'm sure that they'll be hungry when they finally emerge from there." He gestured vaguely in the direction of the bedroom. "Not that I give a damn about the detective, but I should have a meal waiting for the Count."

The trio headed towards the kitchen, with Lupin asking, "Can I have a bone?" and Ten-chan teasing, "Aw, you really do like Leon, don't you?" Tet-chan aimed another blow his way, but this time the kitsune was quick enough to dodge it. Pon-chan picked up the pastry box that Leon had dropped and looked inside. The small cakes inside were slightly squashed from being dropped, but still edible. She smiled and ran after the others, calling, "Let's have some tea and cake while we wait!"

"A good idea, little one," Ten-chan said with a smile. "Since I'm sure that we'll be waiting a very long time."
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Leon and D almost literally tore the clothes off each other's bodies and tumbled down into the bed, sinking into the soft, plush mattress. Leon gave D another bruising kiss, and D's lower lip bled slightly from the force of it. A tiny droplet of crimson blood fell onto the white sheets, but neither man noticed.

D impatiently shoved a small bottle into Leon's hands; it was actually a very expensive brand of lotion that he used to keep the skin on his hands smooth and supple. (Looking after a shopful of animals, particularly the younger ones, could be a messy proposition at times, which in turn required a lot of hand-washing afterwards. It just would not do for the Count's hands to be red and chafed like an overworked housewife.) In any case, necessity required one to be creative at times, D thought almost smugly, then lost his train of thought and moaned out loud as he felt Leon's slick, lotion-coated fingers slide inside him.

D's need proved to be too great, though, and he did not give Leon much time to prepare him. Before long, he was urgently begging--with both his voice and his body--for Leon to enter him.

There was nothing at all tender or gentle about their lovemaking; Leon abruptly shoved D's legs apart and slammed into him with a swift, hard thrust that made D cry out in mingled pleasure and pain. Leon hesitated for just a second, but then D wrapped his legs tightly around Leon's waist and raked his long nails down Leon's back to urge him on. And then Leon lost control and resumed thrusting, hard and fast, pounding into D at a breakneck pace, with all the passion and urgency and hot-blooded need of a short-lived mortal man. D's grandfather had always viewed humans with scorn, saying that they wreaked such havoc and destruction upon the earth because their short lives did not permit them to see the consequences of their actions. Because there were still enough resources to satisfy their greed in the present, they deluded themselves into thinking that it would always be that way, and did not worry that they would be leaving behind a polluted and despoiled world for future generations.

But that short lifespan cut both ways; D was now forcibly reminded that humans could be passionate and intense precisely because their lives were so short. They were filled with impatience, with the need to have their desires satisfied now, because--relatively speaking--there would not a be a "later" for them. Some humans, it was true, frittered their lives away, but Leon was the sort who lived in the moment, perhaps because of his dangerous occupation. He never knew when his life might abruptly end, so he savored it fully--indulging in liquor and greasy food and (in the past) his lust for women. (Although D got the impression that in the last department, he was more talk than action, or at least that he had less luck with flesh-and-blood women than he did with his poster pin-ups.)

D's kind were able to be dispassionate, were able to wait years to see a plan come to fruition because of their long lifespan. After all, what was a year or a decade or even a century to someone who was nearly immortal? But now D found Leon's mortal urgency and passion contagious, and he moaned wantonly and shamelessly, raking his nails down Leon's back again, hard enough to draw blood.

And then, as if the pain had driven him over the edge, Leon shouted D's name, thrust hard into him one last time, and his body shuddered violently as he came inside D. Almost simultaneously, D let out a wail of mingled triumph and terror--because even as his own body convulsed with ecstasy, he was frightened by how good it felt, by the knowledge that he had passed the point of no return with the detective, not so much physically but emotionally. But then a wave of pleasure swept over him, as relentless and all-consuming as a tsunami, temporarily obliterating all trace of fear or doubt or rational thought, leaving only the pleasure in its wake.

Leon and D both collapsed together on the bed, limbs entwined around each other, and almost immediately fell into a deep slumber. And as they slept, vines began to sprout from their mingled body fluids--blood and sweat and semen--on the sheets. Tiny thread-like tendrils at first, gradually lengthening and thickening until the bed was obscured by a tangled net of lush green vines.
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"What the fuck--?!" Leon shouted as he woke up in what seemed to be the middle of a jungle. For a moment he thought he was back in the prehistoric jungle that D had dreamed up in the museum, or worse, in the jungle that D's crazy father had placed him in, to be hunted down as prey by Papa D's vicious pets.

"Leon?" gasped a startled D.

Leon was relieved to find D with him, and something less than relieved to find that they were both naked, because that meant that he didn't have his gun on him. No, wait--his mind still fuzzy with sleep, he had almost forgotten that he had quit his job at the L.A.P.D. and so no longer carried a gun.

He gradually realized that while he was surrounded by vines, he felt a soft mattress beneath him, which meant that they were still in D's bedroom and not in a jungle, which was somewhat reassuring. But only somewhat.

"D, what the hell is going on?!" Leon demanded. "Why is there a jungle growing in the middle of your bedroom?!"

"I do not know, Keiji-sa...I mean, Leon," D replied in a mild voice, although he looked almost as surprised as Leon did. That was not a good sign, when something was drastic enough to wipe that serene, smug smile off D's face. "When my kind are wounded, flowers and vines spring forth from our blood, but..."

"Oh my God!" Leon exclaimed, a horrified look on his face. "Last night...did I hurt you, D?"

"No, Leon," D replied calmly. He touched a graceful, long-nailed finger to his lower lip. "I think perhaps I did bleed just a little when you kissed me with such vigor." He gave Leon a coy and yet somehow provocative smile that made the former detective blush. "But not enough to account for all this." He indicated the vines with a sweeping gesture of his hand.

"Freaky shit always happens around you, D," Leon grumbled, but he was actually relieved that at least this time, it was only harmless vines and not a saber-toothed tiger looking to turn him into kitty chow. He pushed aside the vines, and they gave way without resistance, allowing him to climb out of the bed. D followed suit, then gasped again, his hands flying up to cover his mouth as his mismatched eyes went wide and round with shock.

"What now?" Leon groaned, and followed the direction of D's gaze. And then he gasped too, when he spotted a large pod growing from one of the vines. It wasn't so much the pod itself that shocked him, but the fact that it was pulsing rhythmically, like a heart beating, and there seemed to be a light shining within it, giving off a golden glow through the green husk of the pod.

"What is that, D?" Leon whispered, but with his detective's intuition, he was afraid that he already knew the answer. He couldn't help but notice that the pod was about the size of a human infant, and he had a sudden vision of D's grandfather lifting the reborn baby D from the vines that had sprouted from the body of D's father.

"This is how we reproduce," D whispered just as quietly, his voice trembling slightly. "We are born from the vines...but it is not supposed to happen now...not like this..."

"Holy shit, I'm a dad?!" Leon exclaimed, not knowing whether he should feel thrilled or horrified. Then he began to laugh, a touch hysterically. "Jesus Christ, of all the luck...I was always careful to practice safe sex and use condoms with my girlfriends, but then I go and somehow manage to knock up a guy! Or is it actually the vine that I knocked up?"

Leon's laughter started to grow shrill and manic, and D slapped him across the face. "Thanks," Leon said, calming down as he rubbed his stinging cheek. "I needed that."

"It is impossible for you to 'knock me up,' Keiji-san," D said, sounding like he was teetering on the brink of hysteria himself. As Leon pondered whether he ought to slap D (and whether he would be risking life and limb by doing so), the Count solved his problem by taking a deep breath and then exhaling slowly, managing to get himself under control.

"As my father explained to you, our offspring are genetic duplicates of the parent," D said. "So the child should contain only my genes, not yours." But then he hesitated and said uncertainly, "Only, things are not happening as they should..."

And then the pod began to quiver, and split along the seam down its middle, the two halves falling open to reveal a golden-haired infant curled up inside it. D reached out and lifted the baby out of the pod, but his hands were shaking so badly that Leon was afraid he might drop it, so he gently took the baby from D and cradled it in his arms. He didn't have a lot of experience with holding kids, but he had held Chris and his cousins Sam and Josie this way a few times when they had been babies.

"Well, I guess this answers my question," Leon said with a wry smile. "The kid obviously didn't get...uh..." He paused and looked down at the infant; it was definitely a boy. "...his blond hair from your side of the family. So I guess I did knock you up, after all, D." It was strange; D was the one who dealt with mythical beasts every day, and accepted miraculous events as a matter of course. After hatching a dragon, fighting off a vampire, jumping out of a plane and surviving, and exchanging bodies with a mermaid, you would think that a blond-haired baby being born out of a pod would be no big deal for D. Yet Leon seemed to be handling it better than the Count, when he ought to be the one going out of his mind. Then again, nothing much shocked Leon anymore, not after he had fallen through the air onto a flying ship.

The baby's golden lashes fluttered, then he slowly opened his eyes and smiled up at his father, making a happy gurgling noise. Up until that moment, Leon Orcot had never believed in love at first sight. Even his feelings for the Count, as deep as they were, had taken time to grow, and even more time for him to acknowledge them to himself. But as soon as the baby smiled at him, Leon was instantly and hopelessly smitten.

"There's part of both of us in this kid, D," Leon said tenderly. "He's got my hair, but your eyes. Well, half of your eyes, anyway." Because the baby's eyes were a clear golden-yellow, the same color as D's right eye. Leon also noticed that the baby had D's porcelain-fair complexion, and there was a certain fineness and elegance to his features, even as young as he was. Leon had no doubt that the kid was going to grow up to be as beautiful as D, and that made him smile with pride, and then gave him a moment's pause. Did that mean that his son was going to have as many crazy suitors chasing after him as D did? Dominatrix dentists, mafia bosses, and bloodthirsty vampires, just to name a few. Leon envisioned himself waiting by the door with a shotgun when their son grew old enough to start dating. {Dammit,} Leon thought to himself in consternation, {I'm not supposed to have to worry about these kinds of things with a son! It's almost as bad as a having a daughter--especially when I know from experience what horny teenage boys are like!}

"Leon?" D asked anxiously, apparently concerned by the sudden change in Leon's expression. "Are you...upset? Are you angry?" He looked as worried as a teenage girl who had just told her boyfriend that she was pregnant.

"Not at all," Leon said reassuringly, touched by D's uncharacteristic insecurity. "Shocked, but not angry." With a mischievous smile, he added, "I'm a man of honor, D, so don't worry; I'll make an honest...er...man out of you." And still holding the child in his arms, he leaned over and kissed D soundly on the mouth.

"I noticed that you hesitated before you said 'man,'" D retorted, sounding a bit more like his old self. "However, I suppose that I will have to put up with you, as the baby will need both his parents, even if you are an uncouth, ill-mannered American." He glanced over at the bed, and Leon saw that the vines were quickly withering and falling to the floor, their purpose apparently having been served now that the baby had been born. And with the vines out of the way, he now noticed that the sheets were stained with blood...and other things.

"Your blood and mine mingled," D said softly, echoing Leon's thoughts. "Along with other...ah...fluids of our bodies. It should not be possible, not with a human, but somehow they merged together to create this child." He stared in awe at the baby in Leon's arms. "It is truly a miracle." He held out his arms and whispered, "May I?"

"Of course; he's your kid, too," Leon said, placing the baby in D's arms. And this time, D held him securely, with an air of familiarity. After all, unlike Leon, he did have a great deal of experience with taking care of babies--or at least, baby animals. And since the animals seemed to be human within the bounds of the petshop, Leon couldn't see that it made all that much difference.

D very gently and reverently ran a finger along the baby's smooth cheek. "He is beautiful, Leon," D whispered.

"Of course he is," Leon said, wrapping his arms around D from behind and kissing his cheek. "He's got two good-looking parents, after all!" Then Leon found himself unable to repress a grin that stretched from ear to ear. "Man, I can't believe that I'm a dad! I can't wait to tell Jill and the Chief! I'll pass out a bunch of cigars--"

"Smoking is bad for your health, Keiji-san," D said with mock-sternness. "You should pass out chocolate cigars instead."

"You just want an excuse to eat more chocolate!" Leon laughed. "But yeah, we could do that. They've got those candy bars too, the ones with the pink or blue wrappers that say 'It's a boy!' or 'It's a girl!' But you have to promise not to eat them all yourself!"

D smiled up at Leon, a look of wonder in his eyes. "You really are happy about this, Leon?"

Leon hugged D again. "Yeah, I am," he admitted, a little surprised himself. "I didn't expect things to turn out this way...but yeah, I'm happy. Thrilled, even." He kissed D on the mouth, then kissed the top of the baby's head, on his soft, golden curls. "I wasted enough time lying to myself. I wasted years that I could have spent with Chris, and with you. I told you before, I'm not going to waste any more time. I love you, D, and I love this kid. I want to spend the rest of my life with you both."

"I love you, too, Leon," D whispered, for the very first time, and there were tears shining in his eyes.

They kissed tenderly, and when they pulled apart, Leon said, "You know, we can't keep calling him 'the kid'. What are we going to name the baby?"

"Hmm..." D said thoughtfully.

"And we are not calling the kid 'D,' family tradition be damned," Leon said firmly. "It's just too damn confusing with three of you already!"

"Well..." D said.

"And please don't give him some weird-ass Chinese name that I won't be able to pronounce," Leon groaned.

D sniffed disdainfully and pretended to give him a miffed look, but then the baby cooed at D sweetly, and the Count couldn't hold back his smile any longer. "Perhaps a Japanese name, then?" D suggested. "Let me think...what about 'Daiki'?"

"Daiki," Leon said, rolling the word around on his tongue. "Daiki...it's kind of unusual, but it's not hard to pronounce. Hmm...Daiki. Kinda has a nice ring to it, and it starts with 'D'." Leon grinned. "So we're not totally abandoning the family tradition. What does it mean?"

D handed the baby back to Leon, wrapped a robe around himself, and headed over to a desk in the corner of the room. That reminded Leon that he was still naked, but he couldn't really get dressed while holding the kid. Besides, it wasn't like he was showing off anything that D hadn't seen before, and the kid was too young to care about modesty. So he bounced the baby gently in his arms, making goo-goo noises that Daiki seemed to find highly entertaining.

D glanced over at them for a moment, smiling in an amused manner at Leon as the baby gurgled with laughter. Then he dipped a brush in a bottle of black ink and sketched out two Chinese characters in elegant calligraphy on a sheet of blank paper. "This character is 'dai,' which means 'big' or 'great,'" D said, pointing at the first character. "'Ki' has many meanings, depending on how the kanji is written, but written this way--" He pointed at the second character. "--it means 'valuable'."

"So it means he's of great value?" Leon asked, smiling down at his son. "Yeah, I think that's appropriate." He crooned to the baby, "Because you're my precious treasure, aren't you, Daiki?" He kissed Daiki's cheek, and found the baby's skin incredibly soft and smooth. And it smelled sweet, like flowers. Not a cloying perfumey smell, but a faint sweetness that made you think of wildflowers and spring.

"Daiki already has you wrapped around his little finger, Leon," D laughed. "I will have to take care that you do not spoil him rotten."

"Don't you worry, D," Leon said with a grin. "Daiki's gonna turn out just fine...aren't you, buddy?" The baby cooed happily in agreement. "That's right, you're Daddy's little boy," Leon crooned, then he suddenly fell silent and frowned.

"Is something wrong, Leon?" D asked.

"I was just thinking...what is Daiki gonna call us?" Leon replied. "I mean, it would get kinda confusing if both of us are 'Daddy,' don't you think?" He scowled at D. "And I am not being the mommy this time!"

"But you were such a good mother to Shukou," D teased. "You gave birth to a beautiful baby dragon."

Leon growled at D, and Daiki laughed delightedly, apparently unfazed by their arguing--which was, after all, only meant in fun. And Leon smiled proudly, pleased that his son was so perceptive, even when he was less than a day old. "You're a smart fella, aren't you?" he said, chucking the baby under his chin.

D laughed as well, then said, "Well, you can be the daddy this time, Leon. And I can be 'Papa'. That is what young children call their fathers in Japan--the equivalent of 'Daddy' in America."

"Papa?" Leon echoed incredulously, and D smiled sweetly at him. D certainly didn't look like a "Papa"--but what the hell, the kid had to call him something, and all joking aside, he didn't think that D would take kindly to being called "Mommy"!

"Okay, Daiki," Leon told his son. "I'm Daddy, and this is your Papa." The baby smiled, then began to squirm and fuss, not crying yet, but he was definitely working up to it. "What's wrong?" Leon asked anxiously. "Is he sick?"

D smiled in a rather condescending way. "Your daddy is not a very intelligent man, is he, Daiki?" he said to his son. "Nothing is wrong, Leon--save that Daiki is a newborn baby who has not yet been fed. All new babies come into the world hungry, Detective."

"Oh!" Leon exclaimed, feeling too relieved to be irritated with the Count. "Well, come on, then, let's go get him some milk." Carrying Daiki in his arms, he headed for the door, asking, "Baby Ds do drink milk, don't they?"

"Keiji-san!" D shrieked. "Put on some clothes first!"

Leon stopped in his tracks, looked down at himself, and grinned sheepishly. In his rush to take care of his son, he had almost run out into the shop buck-naked!

"Here, let me hold the baby," D said firmly. "Daiki can wait a few minutes while you get dressed."

Leon hastily pulled on his t-shirt and jeans, then followed D through the maze-like corridors of the petshop to the kitchen. They found Tet-chan, Ten-chan, and Pon-chan sitting at the kitchen table, while Lupin lay on the floor, happily gnawing on a large bone.

"Ah, so the two lovebirds have finally emerged from their nest," Ten-chan said with a grin.

"I have a meal ready for you, Count," Tet-chan said, rising from his seat. "Salad to start with, then a tofu dish for the main course, and for dessert--" And then his jaw dropped in mid-sentence as he caught sight of the baby in D's arms. "HOLY SHIT!" he screamed.

"You know, you really are sounding more like the detective every day," Ten-chan mused. He smiled and made funny faces to make the baby laugh, then said, "What a cute little guy. I don't remember seeing him around before, though. When did you have a time to find a new pet while you were...?" He leered at D and Leon suggestively.

"Y-you don't understand, you stupid kitsune," Tet-chan stammered. "Th-that isn't a pet..."

Lupin got up, bounded over to them, and sniffed at the baby curiously. "The pack leader and his mate had a cub!" he exclaimed. He cocked his head to one side and gave them a puzzled look. "Boy, that was awfully fast! It takes months for a she-wolf to give birth to her pups."

"A CUB?!" Ten-chan and Pon-chan chorused, their eyes going comically round with shock.

"But...but...but...that's impossible!" Pon-chan protested. "You're both boys!"

"Time for another sex-ed talk with the kids?" Leon murmured to D in amusement.

"The cub smells like both Leon and the pack leader!" Lupin insisted.

"You're absolutely right," Leon told him, patting the wolf on the head. He noticed that he could now understand Lupin's speech, along with that of the other pets, but he didn't let it worry him. He briefly wondered why Lupin still looked like a wolf while the others looked human, but he could ask the Count about that later. Right now he had more important things to think about. "D and I had this cub...er, I mean, this kid...together."

"I will explain everything," D said, "but first, could you please warm up some milk for the baby, Tet-chan?"

"Yes, Count," the Tou-Tet replied meekly, his eyes still looking dazed, but he set about warming a bottle of milk quickly and efficiently.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ever practical despite his shock, Ten-chan had fetched some diapers and clothing for the baby while Tet-chan heated up the milk, and nearly every pet in the shop was now clustered around the couch in the lobby, watching in awe as D nursed the baby. Leon sat beside him, his arm around D, beaming like the proud father he was.

"So that's how it happened," Tet-chan murmured, still looking a little stunned, when D finished his explanation.

"Your grandpa is going to blow a gasket when he hears about this, Count," Ten-chan said, grinning widely, looking not at all perturbed by the prospect. But then, all kitsune loved nothing better than to stir up a little mischief, and Ten-chan was no different, although he was a good deal more responsible than most of his brethren.

"He will be upset when he hears about this," D admitted. "He will be outraged at the idea of our blood mingling with that of a human."

"Grandpa can just kiss my American ass," Leon said dismissively.

"Please watch your language around the baby, Leon," D scolded, but a small smile played around the corners of his mouth.

Then Leon frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Your grandpa...he wouldn't be mad enough to hurt the baby or anything like that, would he?"

D shook his head. "No, he will be angry, but at worst he will disown me and cut off all contact with me...with us."

Leon sighed in relief and leaned back against the couch. "No loss."

"And besides," D said fiercely, "I would never let anyone harm our child, not even my grandfather!"

The assembled animals in the lobby growled and hissed, exposing sharp fangs and claws. "Neither will we," they chorused.

Leon was gratified to see that even Tet-chan looked murderously protective of the new baby. "Thank you," he said.

"I'm not doing it for you," Tet-chan growled, and turned away, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm only protecting him 'cause he's the Count's son."

"Oh?" Ten-chan asked innocently. "And is that why you protected little Chris with such determination? You even took a bullet for him once, as I recall..."

Tet-chan pounced on the kitsune, and D and Leon laughed like indulgent parents as a nine-tailed fox and a small sheep-like creature rolled across the floor, wrestling with each other. Daiki laughed and clapped his chubby little hands together.

"I miss Chris," Pon-chan sighed wistfully. "How is he doing, Leon?"

"He's doing fine," Leon assured her. "He's getting along with his sisters, and he's made a lot of friends at school." The raccoon girl pouted, looking a little put-out that Chris didn't seem to be missing her, and Leon smiled. "He does miss all of you guys a lot, though," he added. "Especially you and Tet-chan and Shukou." Pon-chan smiled, then frowned jealously at the mention of the dragon-girl's name. Leon chuckled, then said, "Hey, that reminds me...I have something to return to you, D."

"Something for me?" D asked curiously.

"Yeah," Leon replied. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, then pulled a folded-up piece of paper from the wallet. He handed it to D, then took Daiki and the bottle from the Count so that D could unfold and smooth out the paper with his trembling hands. It was a much-creased sheet of paper, still ragged along the edge where it had been torn from a spiral-bound notebook. It was a childish sketch of a cartoonish Chris, Leon, D, Tet-chan, Q-chan, and Pon-chan. It was the drawing Chris had lovingly made of his family, which D had carried with him when he first fled the petshop in L.A.

"I thought it was destroyed in the explosion," D whispered, tears trickling down his face.

"Your suitcase somehow survived the blast," Leon said, smiling at him tenderly. "Jill found it and gave it to me. I promised Chris that I would return it to you."

"Then I must thank Miss Jill," D said in a shaky voice, setting the paper aside so that his tears would not fall on it and stain the sketch. "And we must visit Chris and introduce him to his new nephew."

"Are we going back to America?" Pon-chan asked eagerly.

D looked at Leon, who shrugged. "I'll live anywhere you want, D," Leon said. "But it would be nice to go back home. The department's shorthanded, and the Chief told me unofficially that I could get my old job back if I wanted. Jill would love to see you, too. She's engaged now, you know, to a Chinese-American detective in Vice named Terry Hu. She already knew a bit of Chinese from watching kung-fu movies, but she's gotten pretty fluent since she and Terry hooked up. He speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin."

"Then I look forward to conversing with Miss Jill and her fiance," D said with a smile.

"Hmm," Leon said, suddenly beginning to get a little worried. "I might have to learn Chinese, too, just so that you guys won't be able to talk about me behind my back."

"So are we going home?" Pon-chan demanded.

"Yes, Ponta," D said softly, allowing the girl to climb onto his lap. "We are going home. Daiki should grow up in the United States, where he will be able to visit his uncle more frequently."

"That could be a problem," Leon said, frowning. "Even a baby needs a passport to travel abroad, and Daiki will need a birth certificate in order to get a passport. We didn't exactly have a physician in attendance at his birth, and it's going to be rather difficult to explain this to the authorities...including the fact that he has two fathers and no mother. Or would the vine be his mother? But we can't exactly put that down on the birth certificate."

D smiled. "I know some government officials who can help us obtain a birth certificate and passport, no questions asked."

"Of course you do," Leon muttered, wondering why he had bothered to worry.

"But my dear detective," D continued, "we do not need to travel on an airplane. Surely you have not forgotten that my ship can travel without regard for human borders?"

"But I thought you said that humans haven't yet earned the right to board that ship," Leon reminded him.

"Well, just this once, I believe that we can make an exception," D said, winking at him playfully. "You are, after all, the father of my son. And I do not wish to take Daiki on an airplane--it is so noisy and crowded, and in such close confinement, germs spread easily. Babies are susceptible to illness, and we would not want Daiki to catch a cold."

"Of course not," Leon agreed promptly. He certainly wasn't going to complain about not having to stand in long lines at the airport and worry about lost luggage! "Hey, can I use your phone, D, to call Chris and Jill?"

"Certainly, Leon," D replied. "I believe that we should stop by the East Coast first, to visit Chris, before returning to Los Angeles."

"Great!" Leon said, and dialed the number of his aunt's home. "Hey, Auntie, it's me, Leon! Yeah, it's good to hear your voice, too. No, don't worry, I'm fine...in fact, I'll be coming home soon. But don't say anything to Chris yet; I want to tell him myself. Can you put him on the line? Hey Chris, it's me! Guess what--I found D, and we're coming back home!" He had to pull the phone away from his ear for a moment as Chris shrieked loudly with delight. "And guess what, buddy, we're bringing home a surprise with us! No, I can't tell you what it is, silly, because then it wouldn't be a surprise. You'll just have to wait and see..."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Afterword: The shopkeeper in "Dolls" (whom Daiki will eventually grow up to be) is never referred to by name, so I felt free to make up an appropriate name for him. And I don't know what his real eye color is, so I decided to make them gold, so that he'd look partly like D.

Part 2

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