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 Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:18 pm
Looking back up, he was startled. He had never thought of it the other way around. That maybe it would not just hurt him to know, but to know it had been all those years. His heart jumped, hands clenching his arms, eyes flickering. Did it bother him to know? Was he truly unable to comprehend this wondrous ideal that Daniel wished to share? Coming slowly to his feet, he took a slow step to Kaoru. Passion ignited. His soul yearned and begged for its mate to be met.
Cursed...
Daniel shuddered. He had no idea the depth that word had to him. The weight it carried. How his entire life rested on that single word. But it was his heart that called for Kaoru now. Reaching a hand out slowly, afraid to terrify this beautiful creature with quick movements. His strong hands were gentle and soft now as they at first felt a few strands of that sweet hair before cupping his face carefully.
"How could I ever think you're cursed. You're so beautiful, like an angel. I have always loved you." Suddenly, he pulled him into his arms, their lips meeting. The suns fire reached out to the skies in its final awing moments of life before the moon would have its turn, its shape nearly full and pregnant with night's hauntings.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:41 pm
Maybe if Kaoru had known, he could have felt closer to the young man beside him. He had held the secret of forbidden love in his heart for years, had felt like an outcast as he watched couples happily taking to the park after school.
But Daniel had always been there with him...
Always distracting him... always getting him involved in something to, maybe unknowingly, get his mind off of the heartache of not being able to be loved.
Brown eyes softened as Kaoru smiled, reaching one hand up to gently place over the hand which cupped his cheek so tenderly.
"Daniel, I..." but before he could get the words out, his friend's lips were on his own.
It was sweet... filled with a passion just waiting to burst. Like a dam barely holding back the river.
Kaoru couldn't fight it... not because he 'loved' Daniel in the same sense... but because the emotion was so pure, so genuine... that he wasn't going to deny his friend this one... simple... moment...
When the kiss ended, half-lidded brown eyes filled with confusion looked up into the most beautiful amethyst gaze.
"I'm sorry..." Kaoru whispered softly. "I didn't know... all this time and I... I didn't know..."
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:53 pm
As it ended, he gently pulled away. But still, he held the other in his arms. He looked into those confused eyes. It didn't matter anymore. Now Kaoru knew. Whatever happened next, he would persevere, he would survive. He had to, all for Kaoru.
Placing a finger on those full lips, he smiled reassuringly, "It's okay...that doesn't matter...now you know." The sky began to darken around them, but not into total blackness. Rather, a gentle and soothing calm. The moonlight beginning to reflect off the waters surface, its infinite mirrors dancing with the light.
"Kaoru, I-" His soft words were cut off suddenly by a horrific pain that beat from the dark corners of his soul, clenching his heart. He felt it pound and with each beat, he could feel the beginnings of what may soon awaken within him, become alive. Stepping back from the other suddenly, he winced and leaned over, one of his hands gripping his chest. What was this? Now? Could he be changing now? No! He had two days. Daniel had heard that the warning signs may become, that they may be very real...but he never expected this. Air caught in his throat as he grit his teeth. Why now?
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:10 pm
There were fireflies starting to flit around the river, and Kaoru's warm brown eyes were drawn to their serene movements.
Looking back at Daniel... well... he knew he would need some time to think on that confession. After all, they were best friends and they knew so much about one another...
But Daniel wasn't Kazuya...
As much as Kaoru wanted him to be...
But it was okay. Daniel wasn't expecting an answer right them it seemed, and Hayashi couldn't help but smile at that.
Then everything took a turn for the worst.
His friend was in pain, terrible pain. Seeing the young man clutch his chest...
Well, naturally, Kaoru could only assume the blond was having a heart attack.
"Daniel!" the lithe man dashed forward, catching his friend in his arms and trying to keep him on his feet. "Hurry, lets get you to the hospital." he spoke quickly, worried brown eyes falling on his form.
Kaoru would carry the young man if he had to.
After all, it seemed rather serious!
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:26 pm
When he was able to speak again, "Take me...home...to Nina. She'll know what...to do..." Panting, a tingle of fear twisted its way up his spine. What if he really was turning tonight? What then? Did this mean the curse would no longer follow its guidelines? But how! A demon's curse was absolute.
Then it hit him.
He had admitted his love and upon that, the curse rose up to its silver lining, glinting and laughing at him.
And have all his happiness lost then...
Daniel could hear those ringing words in his mind. And for a moment, all he wanted to do was laugh at that fact. Though the pain prevented him from doing such. The chances of someone, particularly of the Vinarr bloodline, finding their true, one and only love before the age of manhood was extremely unlikely, nearly impossible. But that minute chance remained. And he made it happen. If Kaoru had turned him away in that moment, everything would have been fine. If he had waited just two days longer, none of this would have started right now.
Hissing, he began to take the first couple of steps back to the city. Lucky for them, the river was nearby and so was their home. Glancing up at the sky, he calculated they had maybe an hour, two at most before the sun would be completely under and the moon would have her time to rule.
Closing his eyes, the purple orbs disappeared, and speaking softly, "I'm sorry..." Onward, they walked. Slow, steady steps. He wondered what Kaoru was thinking right then. Having just been told his best friend was in love with him and now denying what would normally appear to be the correct response to his current condition.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:37 pm
Kaoru bit his lip, arms around the young man as he tried to take most of his friend's weight. "Daniel... just take it slow." the archer spoke.
The worry was plain to see in his brown eyes.
Never before had this happened. Daniel was the healthiest kid in the entire town! The strongest and fastest and...
"Don't worry. I'll get you home." he whispered.
Minutes ticked by as the two walked in silence. One foot then the next... one foot then the next... over and over again until finally they were back in the populated part of town.
"Just another block. Hold on, Daniel..." Kaoru whispered, not really thinking much of anything except that he had to get his friend home.
If Nina would know what to do... then this had happened before and...
Shaking his head, Hayashi banished the thought, not liking the idea that his best friend might have had a serious medical condition that he simply neglected to mention to anyone.
Finally, about half an hour after the initial attack, the two were standing in front of Daniel's front door... Kaoru's lithe hand knocking incessantly. "Nina! Nina please open up!"
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:54 pm
The pain had subsided for the most part. But this was only the calm before the storm. And he knew this. Still, it left him weak and unable to focus entirely. What kept him awake in this world now were the fervent whispers of the only one he loved. It gave him the strength to keep walking. To make it through that half hour until they reached his front door.
As soon as Kaoru finished his frantic statement, his knuckles just leaving the wooden door, it swung open. Before them stood a tall and proud woman, whose sharp blue eyes instantly analyzed the situation. Grabbing his other side on her shoulders, she brought them both quickly. Sitting him at the kitchen table, she turned quickly and locked all five locks on the door.
Rushing back over, she placed a motherly hand on his forehead and placed her ear against his chest. Suddenly she stopped, her eyes widened. Slowly she stood back up. Looking to Kaoru and then back to her brother, Nina's strong voice was finally heard, "What happened?"
Weak, Daniel tried to speak, "Never mind...noth-"
Gripping the edge of the collar of his shirt, "Never mind!?! You mean to tell me nothing! Kaoru, what happened? I need details!" She was sharp with him, but there was a loving tone to her voice. She had raised her brother but he had grown up together with Kaoru. Many times had she also raised him. Nina knew he would be terrified. Though her voice was sharp, he eyes softened. She just needed answers.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:00 pm
Details... Nina needed details...
"I... I don't know." Kaoru started, feeling suddenly very foolish.
If there were one person he was every scared of... it was Nina Vinarr when she was angry.
"We were talking by the river and..." blushing slightly, Hayashi's long hair slipped over his shoulders, as if to try and hide the young man's embarrassment. "And Daniel kissed me and then he just... grabbed his chest in pain. I said we should go to the hospital but he wanted to come here."
Pausing for a moment, Kaoru asked one simple question. "What's wrong with him?"
Okay, so the archer felt very out of sorts and vulnerable right now. After all, his best friend had just confessed love, then kissed him, now was having severe chest pains, and his friend's sister was angry.
"He didn't DO anything... I didn't DO anything. It just... just came out of nowhere, Nina." the young man tried to explain, confused beyond reason as to what was truly happening.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:13 pm
Hearing Kaoru's panic, she moved her hand and looked at him, speaking quickly and reassuring, "It's okay. It's not your fault, Kaoru...it's complicated..."
Wincing, Daniel spoke up, his voice filled with intervals of gasps, "Tell him."
"What!?!"
"Tell him...the truth..." There was a tense silence as the two siblings looked at each other. It was broken as suddenly lurched forward gripping his chest and gasping. This was far worse than he had imagined...and the worst of it hadn't even begun.
Turning quickly to Kaoru, "I will tell you exactly what's going on. But I need your help."
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:19 pm
There was a secret...
One that apparently the Vinarr siblings didn't want him or anyone else to know.
But secrets aside, Daniel needed help. Fast.
So, pushing his own curiosity away, Kaoru nodded. "Of course I'll help, and you can tell me everything AFTER Daniel's better." he replied, thinking it some kind of fit.
He had no idea of curses... at least not real ones anyway, and if someone had mentioned them to the young man he would have shrugged it off as nothing more than superstition.
Because Kaoru saw no magic in the world. Beauty and grace yes he saw without a doubt... but magic? There was nothing magical about how a leaf turns it's colors in autumn. Nothing magical about a butterfly's first flight from it's cocoon.
Kaoru saw things as a realist would. Though... perhaps still in a different sense because he saw things as beautiful even when they were distorted or disfigured.
After all... he had seen his love of Kazuya as a beautiful thing to be cherished indeed.
"Daniel..." Hayashi whispered, looking to Nina. "Okay, what do we need to do first?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:33 pm
Looking down at her pained brother, a wave of great sadness swept across. Her eyes like the turning tide looked much like the disdained sea. Leaning over, she murmured reassurances in Daniel's ear before slipping one arm under one of his. Looking up, she nodded with her head to his other side, "Help me get him upstairs to the attic. Don't ask, just do." When they were all ready, Nina forced them to move quickly, practically dragging all of them up the two flights of stairs and into the attic.
It was a sight so unreal, it even made Nina blink twice to look at it again. The wood around the door was covered in an arch way of ancient looking symbols of some unknown language. Within, the walls on the left and the right were lined with shelving units and smaller tables that were covered in instruments and oddities. Some seemingly out of some fantasy...or horror. The opposite wall of the long room had a large octagon window, its frame creating a haunting shadow on the wooden floorboards. And in the center, so perfectly in place and yet as though it shouldn't be there at all, was a metal bed. Its center beam bolted into the floor and even seemed to go through it. There were several belts and chains hanging off its side, each covered or etched in with the similar symbols as those on the door. Three circles of the same symbols were on the floor as well, circling the metallic bed.
Nina inhaled and looked to Kaoru.
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:15 am
As Nina moved, so did Hayashi. He went to Daniel's other side, helping the young man up just as the woman had requested.
He didn't ask.
He only did.
Besides, what could he ask?
The attic obviously wasn't Daniel's room. Kaoru had been in the house more times than he could count. Maybe the attic was darker? Maybe he needed an absolute darkness that not even a moonlit night could give? He knew it worked with bad headaches but... chest pain? Or maybe this had happened before and everything she needed to help ease her brother's agony was up in the attic, and rather than bring it all down to Daniel's room... it would be best to just take the athlete to it?
Steadily the archer walked, helping support his best friend as they ascended the stairs.
It hit Kaoru all at once.
An ominous feeling, brought on maybe the symbols on the door, he didn't know. But Hayashi stopped at the threshold, just looking into that dark room for a long moment.
But then he felt Nina moving... Daniel moving... and the young man's feet could only keep going, pulling him into a space that caused his soul to scream out.
He should run...
Should just turn around and leave...
This wasn't right...
Was it?
He saw the symbols on the floor, the bed and the belts and chains. Saw the window letting in the first eerie rays of moonlight. Kaoru couldn't bring himself to look at the shelves, afraid of what he might find.
But Hayashi never said a word.
Since there was no other furniture in the room, he carefully helped Nina get Daniel to the bed, letting the young man sit on it for a moment... as brown eyes flashed toward the woman.
A gaze that demanded an explanation.
But still... Kaoru was silent.
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:36 am
So it seemed to Nina.
She only nodded, a sign that an explanation would come very soon. But first, everything must be set up. Time was running out. Glancing quickly at the higher moon, she set her jaw. Much work was ahead for them. Its duration would encompass the entire night. And the pregnant crescent laughed at them now. Quickly bringing herself back to focus, she laid Daniel out on the metal bed, who groaned as she gently pushed him down.
He hated this. Appearing so weak to the one he loved. A puppet to the instruments of fate. What was worse, is he knew this terrified Kaoru on some level, that he was worried. And Daniel never wanted anyone to worry for him...ever. A searing pain exploded in his chest. Sitting up, he leaned forward and wheezed, hacking and coughing. Blood hit the floor. Soon, it would truly begin.
Nina returned from one of the shelving units, ignoring the blood. She had seen worse and would soon still. Laying Daniel back down, she ripped his shirt open. Opening his mouth. she poured a vial of some green liquid into it. He simply swallowed it down. He focused on breathing, on everything they'd worked on and talked about.
As she worked, she spoke, "Do you remember the curse? One of the superstitions? The curse of the Moon's Kiss cast upon the Vinarr bloodline. I don't know how much you know. But what you need to know is that everything about that legend is true."
Pausing, she dipped her hands in what appeared to be a blue, almost like paint, liquid. Whispering mystical unknown words, she drew a triangular symbol on his head and then one above his heart. Uncorking a flask, she poured the contents out over his entire body, saturating into his skin and clothes. It was a strong smell that reeked of swamp water.
Continuing, she began to tie the straps around his wrists, arms, legs, and ankles, "Every first son of the Vinarr family shall upon their day of manhood, become a demon. From then on, every full moon, they will turn. And I don't meant werewolves. God, if it were only werewolves, I wouldn't be so worried. But no, this is worse, much worse. The only loop hole to the curse, the silver lining if you will, is that he will turn if he finds his one true love. Define it however you want. But by demon definitions, this means whoever destiny has called him to and that is who his heart and soul desire the most."
She looked up and held those brown eyes, her blue ones swirling in the way that Vinarr eyes do, "Tonight, Daniel will have to fight the change. This is a battle he must fight and win but we can help him. And if you really are the one he loves, then it is you that can aid him the most."
The image was haunting. The moon's light shone through the window, casting its cold light and reflecting off of the various surfaces. Nina stood to ones side, one hand on the metal bed, the other clenched to her side. Her eyes were dancing with a determination that no one could put out, her blond hair cascading over her shoulders. And Daniel. Bound to the bed, symbols on his body. His eyes were closed. It was clear he wasn't in reality in this moment, lost in the sea of pain and preparing for the battle of his life.
There was nothing here forcing Kaoru to stay, it remained his choice...
((Bwahaha, one last post of suspense before I go on vacation. XP))
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:01 pm
Kaoru found himself standing just out of the way, though his brown gaze watched everything.
Every movement of Nina...
Every twitch of Daniel...
The archer wasn't about to miss anything that could help explain just what the hell was happening.
"Curse? It's just a rumor. Started by some p***k who..." but then his soft voice trailed off as Nina began to explain.
It... wasn't a rumor...
True?
Impossible!
Such things were just children's tales or... or the imaginings of mean spirited kids!
Nina was strapping Daniel down... pouring foul smelling liquids over his body... but Kaoru's gaze was focused solely on that woman.
She had to be crazy!
This was all crazy!
Right?
He'd stepped into a dream!
That's it, Kaoru had fallen asleep at the river!
This was a nightmare... it had to be...
Lithe hands raised and Hayashi found that he was hugging himself, fingers clenching tightly to the white material of his shirt. "I... I don't know if I'm Daniel's true love, Nina... I... I still don't know what to say about that but..." he shook his head, brown hair falling over his shoulders to hang low in front of him. "But I want to help him. Daniel's my friend. My best friend. I..." he stopped.
It went without saying that he didn't have very many friends...
"I want to help him, Nina. But he's in such pain..." those brown eyes were now fixed on his friend.
Worry... pity... a sense of helplessness creeping through his every vein.
"What must I do?"
(((OOC: I'm gonna be out of town Fri-Sun. Just to let you know, hehe.)))
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 5:09 pm
And at last Kaoru spoke, answering her and putting some of her own worries to rest. Smiling reassuringly to him, she explained, "You won't be forced to do anything unnecessary or anything you can't do. But what you can do is be here for Dan. Stay at his side. It's all we really can do. Cheer him on, lend our support and our positive energies to help empower his own. If all goes well, he will overcome this and will be able to do so easier in the future. But once it begins, it will take the entire night." With that, she nodded to him. Walking to the other side, she stood on Daniel's left. One hand rubbed his shoulder, the other gripped the edge of the ice cold metal.
Looking out the window, it appeared like a gateway almost. Its frame encompassed the moon now, its almost full figure seemingly gigantic as its light filled the attic. The air was thick with buzzing energies, alive and writhing in the air. Blue orbs looked back to her only blood relative, a strong feminine jaw set.
Suddenly, indigo eyes flew open. Daniel bit down, clenching his teeth and tightening his own jaw. His hands curled into fists. It felt as though he was holding a gate closed. An onyx gate. And behind it was a horror. One no one should see. He wanted nothing more than to keep it closed, to hold the demon back. Nothing more than to confirm that his sister...and the one he loved stayed free from harm. For all of them to live.
Exhaling sharply, his back arched slightly. His skin appeared to ripple. For a brief moment, one could see charred scales. Or was it tight skin, dark like ebony. And then there was nothing. Only Daniel's flesh. He lowered back to the bed again, panting.
"You're doing great...just remember what we talked about. Be prepared. This is only the beginning." Nina ran her fingers through his blond hair, exactly the same as hers. Her voice was soft and rewarding.
Daniel nodded and looked to Kaoru, sweat rolling down his forehead, "I'm sorry...I never told you..."
((Okay, no worries. ^^ Have fun!))
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