Rukawa blinked and rubbed his eyes, the sunlight beating harshly onto them. Pinpoints of pain covered every inch of his head, and his chest and back felt as if cuts covered them. He sat up slowly and waited for his head to clear, then opened his fresh pajama top and looked down.
Well, perhaps the reason he felt as if there were cuts all over his chest was because there *were*. He ran a finger gently over one of them, which covered the area from the base of his shoulder down to his belly button. He flinched. Even that minor contact ached. He got up, pulling the shirt off completely, and walked to the attached bathroom. Kaede looked in the drawers of the bathroom and found the pain ointment, applying it readily to his chest before giving up and tossing it haphazardlessly into the sink. Walking slowly back into his room, he flopped down onto his bed, immediately regretting the action as a jolt of pain raced through him. He groaned and got up, looking around his room.
Damn, he didn't remember coming in last night. Come to think of it, he couldn't remember *anything* that had happened last night. He placed a hand to his head, as if that would help him remember, and struggled to get his mind to work.
"OK..." He mumbled, "I remember leaving the house last night in a huff and going to the liquor store. I was upset because-"
"Morning, lover!" A singsong voice broke in as a beautiful girl sailed into the room, leaving a trail of heavy perfume behind her. Rukawa flinched as his head pounded due to the strong scent. He had never liked the smell of that perfume. "Good, I see that you're awake." She smiled and walked past him, fussing with his bed covers and pillows. Rukawa watched silently, glaring at her back, his expression blank.
Come to think of it, why *was* he going out with her? Rukawa felt his head pound again and he decided to get some aspirin, if for no reason other than to get away from that smell. He turned around silently and left the room, heading for the kitchen. He searched in a cabinet, throwing out all the damn pills and multivitamins that Kiko insisted on keeping around, even though they had *never* consummated their relationship, and even though she *never* took any of those multivitamins. He had nearly completely emptied the cupboard when he found the Advil, and then nearly had a fit trying to get the childproof cap off.
"Fucking bottle." He muttered, slamming the entire thing onto the counter and feeling the shock of the impact in his hand. The lid remained tightly on the bottle.
"Kaede." She appeared behind him suddenly, her voice taking on a reproaching tone. "Now, kiobito, I am not your mother, so why do you insist on making me pick up after you as if I were?" She sighed dramatically as she looked first at him, then at the bottle on the counter. "Kaede-kun-"
"Don't call me that." He growled, hating the way his name sounded when she used it as an endearment. Her voice was so damn high. What was she, a canary?
"Kiobito, here, I'll get that." She reached for the bottle but he moved away, the thing still clutched in his hand.
"I can take care of it myself." He muttered again, finally lining up the two small arrows and popping the lid off.
She sighed again and reached for him. "You know, aspirin is really bad for your kidneys."
He glared and swallowed two of them, hoping they took effect before he scratched that mask-like layer of make-up off her face. "Leave me alone."
"Kaede-kun, you can't *still* be mad about last night."
Rukawa paused in putting the lid back on as her words sank in. They hit something inside him and he could suddenly remember *why* he had stormed out of the apartment last night.
"Yes, I can." He glared, slamming the aspirin bottle back in the cabinet and shutting it, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Honey, he didn't mean anything to me." She placed her hands on his chest, and he looked down at her blood red nails. God, they were *way* too long. Was there anything about this girl he liked?
"Didn't look that way when I walked in."
"Look, *you* were supposed to be at work until ten! You weren't even supposed to be home for another three hours! What the Hell were you doing home so early?" As quick as a snake she switched from sweet as sugar to supreme bitch mode. Girls were good at that, and Rukawa found that one of the most annoying things about them.
"Don't change the subject, Kiko."
"I'm not! I want to know why you just happened to get off work early that particular night?"
"Are you mad?" Rukawa was incredulous. "Are you mad?"
She huffed and pouted, arms crossed over her chest.
"Oh my God! *You're* mad that I came home early and screwed up your screwing, right?" He threw his hands up in the air and walked away.
"Don't you dare walk away from me, Rukawa Kaede."
"No, look. Listen to me for just one minute." He turned around, and something in his face must have surprised her, because she suddenly backed off. "You never once cherished our relationship. And maybe *my* celibacy was too much for you and I drove you into the arms of another man, but there's something disturbing about coming home from work early in order to pamper your girlfriend only to find that she is FUCKING ANOTHER MAN IN YOUR BED!" He glared harshly. "You probably don't understand, since the only thing you are is vacant, superficial, and have no sense of what it means to love another person with all your heart." He sighed and walked to her bedroom, pulling a suitcase from her closet and beginning to stuff clothes and ridiculous amounts of shoes into it.
"What are you doing?" She was standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, biting her lower lip.
"I want you outta here. Today. I don't care where you go, just get out of my apartment. Get out of my life." He finished with that suitcase, zipped it, and threw in on the floor. He looked around the room for another. "Where's your other suitcase, Kiko?"
She glared, then her expression softened. "Kiobito-"
"*Don't* call me that."
"Kaede-kun-"
"My name is RUKAWA!"
She looked stunned, as if no one had ever raised their voice to her. "But, Rukawa...I-I love you."
"No you don't." He hung his head and sighed. "No, you love that I pay your rent. You love that I take care of you." He looked up and acquired his usual stony expression. "But never me."
"Where am I going to go?" She threw up her hands, her expression stunned.
"I don't know. Why not to *his* house?" Rukawa walked away and into his bedroom, needing to get out and away from her.
"Please, Rukawa, don't do this..." She followed him, watching as he changed clothes, into a pair of jeans and a sweater.
"I'm going. I'll be back at five." He checked his watch. "That gives you plenty of time to pack and leave. Don't be here when I get back. And...just leave me alone." He turned and left, walking down the hall to the front door. Her voice made it to his ears as he slammed the door.
"Does this mean we're breaking up?"
Sakuragi paced around his room, his mind drifting from the music playing in the background. He couldn't seem to focus himself today. Hell, he couldn't even levitate the coffee cup over to him, resulting in, for once, having to do the housework by *hand*. He forgot how meticulous it was. And now he was finally finished cleaning, and was trying to think of something to do with himself. He didn't feel like going to the pub. The truth was, he didn't go there all that often. Last night was just coincidence.
A *good* coincidence. He shook his head as he began thinking of that boy again. True, it was stupid of him to just walk into the pub, but he didn't know better, and was obviously under the influence of some kind of human drink. He didn't look all that happy, either.
Sakuragi smiled slightly, brushing a hand through his soft, coppery hair. Then again, if *he* met up with super natural beings that were all-too willing to suck his life away, well, he probably wouldn't be happy either.
Still, no matter how hard he tried...he couldn't seem to push the images of the graceful, compact boy out of his mind. He was so light, easy to carry, and it had felt like he belonged in Sakuragi's arms. His eyes were so different from the others...such a clear, icy blue. He tried to think of something worthy enough to be compared to such eyes-
He shook his head viciously, trying to chase away the thoughts. It was ridiculous! He was a human, and he...well, it was impossible. The 'laws' of his 'people' wouldn't allow them to be together...
He smacked his forehead. He had never thought of himself as gay, had never really looked at other guys. But, then again...he paused and thought for a moment. Did he ever really look at *girls*? There was that one girl, the one with the pretty brown, shoulder-length hair, but she didn't know he existed and had long since given up on her. And besides, this boy...there was something about him.
Maybe it was the feeling that they were *supposed* to be together. He wanted to know more about him, wanted to know why he was so drunk, and how he ended up so far from his home that Sakuragi had taken him to. He had had to run a mind probe on him to learn his address, and had taken him there, doing the classic ringing-the-bell-and-running thing. He saw the girl answer the door and take him in, and though his mind probe had only been designed to learn who the boy was and where he lived, he had learned that Rukawa Kaede had a girlfriend.
Sakuragi gave up on trying to rid his thoughts of Rukawa and grabbed his jacket, deciding to go out tonight. To a human club, he decided. Unlike his 'people,' he could easily fit into the human world, since he didn't crave blood, like them.
*Who knows...* He thought. *Maybe Rukawa will be there.* He chuckled to himself at the impossibility of the idea and shut the door behind him.
TBC