"Kyuuuuuuuu, where aaaaare you?" Sarah’s voice echoed down the halls.
Ketsuki remained hidden behind the statue, watching her lovingly from his hiding spot as his dear sister searched for him.
Sarah laughed and stomped her foot. "No fair, Kyuu! Come out and let me win, for once!" she pouted.
The man couldn’t resist and finally stepped out of the shadows, grinning at her adoringly. "Consider me found." He knelt down and opened his arms invitingly. Sarah raced down the remaining distance between them and flung her arms around his neck tightly. "Gotcha, Kyuu!" She squealed delightfully.
Ketsu wrapped his arms around her in return and picked her up in a warm hug, letting her dangle from his arms. "Are you happy now, Sarah? You’ve won!" he said in mock wonder.
She giggled and nodded firmly. "Uh huh."
He couldn’t help but smile at her face. She meant the world to him and he treated her like it. Since their parents’ death, he had been the only parental figure in her life. He would do anything for her. She was his life.
The clock rang out from down the hall. He grinned at her with narrowed eyes. "You know what that means…"
Sarah whined. "But it’s too eeeeeearly to go to bed! And it’s Christmas, Kyuu! Please let me stay up." Her voice and eyes pleaded. "I promise I’ll be good."
He shut one of his eyes and looked at her, knowing that she knew full well what she was doing to him. "Sarah, you have to learn to respect the rules." He forced himself to look at her cute pout, then whined himself. "Don’t look at me like that, Saraaaaah!"
She giggled again. "Please, Kyuu?" Using the tactic that worked best, she added, "I love you."
That was all it took. His heart gave out and he squeezed his eyes shut, knowing she had won. "…Fine."
"Yay!" she squealed and kissed his cheek, still dangling. "Thank you, Kyuu!"
He mock grumbled. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," grinning all the while. He walked her back out to the main room and sat her on the couch, walking toward the kitchen. "I suppose you’ll want to steal some of His cookies and milk?" he asked knowingly. He tried not to smile when her face lit up and nodded.
"Oh, but she won’t mind. She wants me to be happy, just like you, Kyuu." Sarah said innocently. "As does Santa Claus! So it’s okay."
Kyuu couldn’t hold back the snort that rose to his lips, before holding a hand over his mouth. "If you say so, Sarah." And he walked out of the room chuckling.
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Ketsu thought back to those years together. They were so close, and as selfish as it was, he had dreaded her growing up. He glanced over at Sarah and Gilbert and felt a pang of sadness hit him. She was in love. She looked happy. He should be happy too, then, right? But he wasn’t. It wasn’t just that she was growing up. It wasn't just that she didn't need him anymore. Ketsuki’s eyes lingered on Gilbert for a moment. It was that man on the couch with his beloved sister that brought on his grief. The man Ketsu had fallen in love with. He lowered his eyes and turned back around the corner, not liking to spy on the couple.
He had talked with Gilbert for hours on end, mostly about Sarah, granted. But it had been Ketsu who had first introduced them. It was Ketsu who had first fallen for him. Sarah didn’t even know of his feelings. It was better that way. But Gilbert knew. Gilbert knew, and had admitted to feeling something for Ketsuki as well. But neither of them had wanted to hurt her. And in the end, Gilbert had chosen Sarah. Ketsu hoped that the man really did love her more than himself. Guilt would be more painful than watching their affection for one another. This is for the best. Sarah’s happy, and that’s all that matters, he told himself. But why did it hurt so much? His first love. Weren’t first loves always supposed to hurt the worst?
He couldn’t help himself, he had to bring his head around and see them again. When he did, Gilbert’s eyes were focused on him with an expression that Ketsu couldn’t place. He winced and quickly hid again, pressing himself against the wall and swallowing back the pain that filled him. Will this feeling ever pass? He asked himself.
He had watched Gilbert and Sarah the past two years. Their love had only grown for one another. Ketsu grew used to his own suffering and learned to live off of it. Noting how happy they made each other made the pain bearable. As long as they were both happy, he could be happy.
When Anne was born, he couldn’t have felt more joyous. He had a niece. She was the most beautiful little girl that was ever born, in Ketsu’s opinion. A mixture of the two people he loved most in the world, there was nothing more perfect. Ketsu treated Anne like a princess, more so than he ever had treated Sarah.
"It’s time you had a child of your own, Kyuu," his sister’s voice echoed in his ears. Ketsu played back that sentence a thousand times over in his mind. First, one has to have a love… he relayed silently. No one, since Gil, had made way into his heart. Not like that. And it wasn’t as if Ketsu hadn’t tried. He had seen men and women alike. But no one brought him that joy that those two always had. No one gave him that comfort he needed.
And so he lived off of taking care of the three of them. He took it as his personal duty to make sure they were all well off. He knew his constant presence in their lives must have been an annoyance, but not one of them ever said or made as if they were bothered by it. He was eternally grateful for this. Maybe they knew that he needed to do this, to be near them.
Maybe that’s why it killed him when they all died. Maybe that’s why he gave up on life so easily, choosing instead to be the monster he is today. One night destroyed his entire life in an instant. It had been an accident, so he had no one to blame for their deaths, and he had no one to turn to and talk about it with. It all just happened so quickly, that his life was torn apart in one painful motion.
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Ketsu lived his life in death. He wandered aimlessly for the next two centuries, hoping that one day he might find someone to fill the void in his soul, if he had one. Perhaps there’s still a chance for me, he thought as he walked, bumping into a girl absently.
"Excuse me," she said with a smile.
He glanced at her, wondering if he should just kill her tonight, not caring if she was innocent or not. He’d killed thousands, the majority of them pure souls. Why should this one girl matter? He flashed her his most charming smile. "Pardon me, I wasn’t looking."
"You look lost," she said with a tilt of her head. "Are you okay?"
Ketsu blinked at her manner. Lost? If only she knew, he thought with a silent snort.
"If you’re lost or have no where to go, you’re more than welcome to stay with me," she said trustingly.
Ketsu stared at her in shock. What kind of girl, in the nineteen nineties, was this stupid? Nonetheless, he found her naiveté to be refreshing and …intriguing. "Stay with you…" he echoed.
"Mmm hmmm! I have a nice and cozy place with others that would be more than happy to help you, should you need it." She shrugged.
All thoughts of killing her vanished. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She was offering him a place to stay? She… He blinked and needed to answer her. But what could he say to such a thing? After no real contact for hundreds of years, how could he suddenly just mingle with human beings? He couldn’t possible say "yes" to her.
Go with her, Kyuu. A voice told him softly.
Ketsu flinched as if hit. Sarah… "I… I’d like that, Miss," he replied, shocked at hearing it said.
The girl held out her hand, after brushing back her long brown hair. "Name’s BellaMaria," she said cheerfully. "Welcome aboard!"
He shook her hand and followed it up with a kiss on its back, blinking continuously. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Bella. My name is Kyuuketsuki. Or Ketsu for short."
"Great name," she said with a smile, swooning slightly at his gentlemanly gestures, and motioning her head in a direction. "Right this way, just follow me."
Ketsu glanced around, nervously, and anxiously, before nodding and following close behind her.
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