EN AU: part seven

[shattermelt]

* part one * part two * part three * part four * part five * part six *

Eventually Kippei roused himself, pulling away from Shinji who might have been asleep or just dozing, and sitting up. He looked over at Shinji and couldn't resist reaching out to let his fingers drift through the soft black hair strewn across Shinji's pillow. Soft, beautiful, sexy hair. He smirked faintly, winding his fingers in the ends of it and lifting it to his mouth, purring softly in his throat as he crushed a kiss against the silky handful and then let it fall, shining dark strands collapsing in graceful swirls on the sheets.

He got up, sliding off the edge of the bed and finding his pants where they'd landed on the floor. He pulled them on without worrying about underwear or shirt or shoes, padding out of the room and into the office to stare at the map again. The little red dot mocked him, and he growled at it. Not a failure. Not a loss. The biggest win ever. But he still didn't have a color for it. He pulled open the drawer and poked through it, looking for the pins. Yellow, black, orange, green... no. He smiled faintly, and pulled out a white one, one of the few colors he had never used. Reaching up to pull the red one off of the map, he replaced it with the white one and stood back to admire the effect, nodding once. Perfect.

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[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji woke as soon as Kippei left the bed, groggily sitting up just as Kippei disappeared though the door. He sighed and realised he was hungry again and wondered how long it would be before he didn't feel the hunger so frequently but figured it didn't really matter yet; it would be days before the hunger grew unbearable, and then he could get Kippei to take him hunting again. He dressed quickly in his discarded clothes, then ducked through the doorway and wrapped his arms around Kippei's waist, peeking over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He tilted his head curiously at the white pin. That hadn't been white before.

"I'm the white one?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei looked over his shoulder at him, grinning. "You're the white one," he agreed, purring in contentment. His hand found Shinji's arms where they were linked around his waist, and he closed a possessive hand over the top of them. Red was for hunting, blood, hatred. Blue was home, comfort, darkness. Green was for active, live, targets. Yellow for weak, cowards, fools. Black was for death, completion, victory. And white.... white was bright and shining and Shinji.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji snuggled in against Kippei, delighted, nuzzling his jaw before tugging him down so he could kiss him properly. He pulled back and looked at the map, frowning at the variations of colours and the complete lack of any kind of pattern.

"It was the only red one...what does red mean?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei raised an eyebrow at him. Shinji had overreacted the hell out of himself when Kippei had mentioned his hobby before--he was fairly certain that Shinji was not going to like anything that the map represented.

"Red means current," he answered. "That was where I was going when I left."

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji frowned, contemplating that.

"Current what?" There were an aweful lot of pins on the map. Whatever they were, they were like a disease! But then, Kippei had lived a long time so it he had a long time to collect that many pins. Still...lot of pins.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei looked at him. Not jumping to easy conclusions then. Too bad. It wasn't like Shinji wouldn't figure it out eventually anyway, and he'd have to face it sometime, what Kippei did. He was vaguely amused that it freaked Shinji out so much, not understanding it at all. It was fun, challenging, entertaining. A bit dangerous, to be sure, but that was part of the appeal--and it had been a long long time since there had been a hunter who was a real match for him. He almost wished he could remember what had happened in Japan. That must have been impressive.

"Current hunt," he explained, baring his fangs in a fierce smile.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji froze, staring wide-eyed at the map in horror. All those colours...dead ones, useless ones and red...the current one. But there weren't any red ones at the moment. It was the only reason Shinji could relax enough to move at all, and when he did it was only to lunge past Kippei with the intent of ripping the damn map off the wall and burning the hell out of it. The room glazed over with a cold film as anger and fear warred in Shinji. Kippei had been hunting in Japan; was injured so badly he had been asleep, for how long before Shinji came? What if the Hunter had killed him?

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no you don't." Kippei growled, catching Shinji as he went past and dragging him back, strong arms locked firmly around his waist. "Don't even think about it. You do not touch the map. Ever." Unless Shinji eventually came around and decided to join him, but Kippei was highly doubtful of that.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"But you'll get hurt again!" Shinji complained and more ice built up on the walls, glazing everything in place and making it impossible to get to the map anyway. Damn it! Where was ice coming from anyway and why was Kippei so obsessed with hunting when it was dangerous.

"You'll get hurt and leave me alone," he elaborated miserably.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei stared down at him, then looked around the room at the ice covered walls. Well, damn. He laughed delightedly, tilting his head back to let loose the rich, full throated sound. Shinji was ice and Shinji was worried about him and Shinji didn't want him to leave. Yeah, it was a pretty good day to be Tachibana Kippei.

"You insult me," he told Shinji, his eyes dancing with pure amusement. "I would never leave you alone. Not one of them can kill me," he asserted with absolute confidence.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"I don't insult you, you nearly died last time. They're stupid and I hate them, but some of them get lucky. I saw Akutsu nearly die, lots of times! I dont want to watch you bleeding and get mad and I just don't want to!" He turned to jelly in Kippei's arms and started sliding to the floor, only Kippei holding him up as he stared hatefully at the map. So many chances Kippei could have died before they ever met.

"Stop hunting hunters, they're scary and they're evil and I hate them, and why is it so damn cold in here!?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei just snorted, unimpressed with the tantrum. "They don't get lucky. I've never almost died before and I didn't that time, either. I was only there to find you. I wasn't going to die," he said impatiently, all of which made perfect sense to him. He picked Shinji up in his arms and carried him out of the room--not back to the bedroom, but into a comfortable sitting room beyond it.

"You most definitely insult me," he repeated, but he didn't sound all that insulted. "Comparing me to that fledgling? Please, spare me the weight of your regard. I am much better than that." He deposited Shinji on a small sofa and went over to a large fireplace, poking around to see if there was still any wood here that would burn. "Hunters are fools," he said over his shoulder, "and most of them aren't even a challenge anymore. I've been hunting them for longer than you can imagine, and they are no serious threat to me."

He found some wood stacked in the bin beside the fireplace, and started building a warm blaze, lighting it himself with a brush of his fingers. He could get away with having fire down here because of the huge main chimney that ran down the center of the house. "About the ice thing," he added, turning around and dusting off his hands. "That was you."

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji was ready to lash out again, get angry, argue and tell Kippei exactly what he thought of anyone insulting his Master, but then he just blinked at Kippei, completely stumped.

"Me?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Yes, you," Kippei repeated, looking amused. "Or did you forget that you have powers now?" He came over sit beside Shinji, pulling him into his lap and purring softly, watching the fire over the top of Shinji's head. "Mine is fire. Yours is ice. When you lose control, stuff happens."

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"...oh." Shinji lay still, watching the fire. Kippei had started that just by...touching it. That was pretty cool. And the ice in the other room...he hadn't touched anything, just...got mad. Oops.

He frowned suddenly, turning so he could glare up at Kippei.

"You did not go to Japan just to find me, you didn't even know I existed! You got your butt kicked. Admit it."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei shrugged at him. "I didn't have to know. That's why I was there." He was absolutely convinced of this, having decided that it all made sense now. He'd lost to the humans and been injured almost to death because some cosmic force had known that he would need to be there when Shinji came along over a hundred years later. He was completely satisfied, even thrilled with this explanation because it meant there was a reason for him to have lost, a reason why mere humans could have, as Shinji put it, kicked his butt.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji stared at Kippei, and then frowned, because maybe Kippei knew things he didn't. Whatever. At least Kippei was here now, and if he so much as looked like he might go off hunter-hunting again Shinji could tie him up and lock the door.

"It's good you were there." He snuggled into Kippei's lap, enjoying the heat from the fire and the feel of Kippei's body. "I wasn't kidding. If you get hurt hunting, I'll hurt myself."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei looked irritated. "Your faith in me is touching," he said dryly. It was fairly rare that he actually got injured in any serious way, beyond the simple scrapes and bruises that were pretty much unavoidable in a good fight. He was hundreds of years older than any hunter, with more experience in every kind of trick they knew than any of them could hope to imagine. Even the smart ones weren't enough of a threat to be any real danger.

He would never admit to Shinji that the hunts he enjoyed most were the ones that were a bit dangerous, a bit of a challenge, that ended up in actual injuries that took longer than a few minutes to heal. He liked having battle scars, even if they still lasted no longer than a few weeks or occasionally months. It made him feel alive, and blood, whether it was his own or someone else's, was always fun.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji felt bad, that he might have actually hurt Kippei's feelings and he wanted immediately to make it up to him, so he sat up and draped himself against Kippei and licked at his mouth, whispering apologies as his hands massaged the back of his neck.

"I think you're the strongest vampire ever...even stronger than Master." But even Master made mistakes, and so had Kippei. Still... "You're sexy and handsome and you taste better than anything else."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei was amused that Shinji was apparently worried about hurting his feelings, and slightly impressed that Shinji was willing to put him in front of his master to make him feel better. But if it got him attention like that he wasn't going to complain. He hummed contentedly in his throat as he kissed Shinji back, putting his arms around Shinji's slender waist and pulling him closer.

"Not as good as you," he corrected, but he was amused that Shinji thought the same of him.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"Better than everything!" Shinji argued, feeling that bite of hunger again as he licked at Kippei's throat and he couldn't resist sinking in his teeth and letting the blood flow into his mouth, lapping at the two holes in Kippei's neck, sucking at the blood.

"You really like the way I taste?" He hoped so. He wanted Kippei to like him more than anyone else.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Nnnn," Kippei answered intelligently. What? Talking? Shinji was biting him, how was he meant to think? He made a soft sound of pleasure, pressing into Shinji's teeth and slipping his fingers into Shinji's hair to cradle his head. Shinji had the most beautiful sexy mouth. He dragged it up to kiss it clean when Shinji was done, licking in and around and sucking on Shinji's lower lip, and then he bit down, letting Shinji's own blood fill his mouth with it's blaze of silver sweet fire.

"Best thing ever," he said finally, lifting his head to grin lazily down at Shinji's upturned face. "You taste like sex."

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"Mmm..." Shinji sucked his lower lip into his mouth, tasting the thick well of blood before the wound healed and then lifting a hand to touch the unmarred flesh of his lip, marvelling at it. Being a vampire really was cool. He felt a hot blush creeping over his cheeks at Kippei's words. He tasted like sex? Okay, Master had never said that. Smirking, Shinji rubbed a hand against Kippei's groin, amused it was hard, and he licked at Kippei's mouth, tasting both their blood, and the taste that was just Kippei.

"You like it, daddy." He laughed at the endearment, because damn that felt weird, and dirty, and kind of like he was five again with Master before he realised Master was definately not daddy.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei growled at the annoying word, tugging at Shinji's hair, pulling him up to kiss him hard. He wasn't anybody's daddy, for damn sure, although technically he was Shinji's sire, but that small fact was far less important to him than Shinji being his mate. Sire sounded cold and hard and distant, like his own that he barely remembered. He was nothing like that to Shinji. Shinji was a tiny little inferno that set him on fire without even touching him, he didn't even have to be in the same room to sense Shinji's presence and get overwhelmed by a firestorm of hunger and need.

"Don't call me that," he ordered, his eyes glittering with hunger and annoyance.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"Why...it's true, and I like it. Daddy." He knew he was pushing Kippei's buttons, but he didn't care at all if he got hurt, or if Kippei hurt him and he was having fun, so whatever. He liked the hunger in Kippei's face, even if he did look a little bit mad. Shinji was used to people being mad at him. "You don't scare me."