[Fanfiction] Moon Children Chronicles 02 (Moonchild)
Title: Moon Children Chronicles 02: Treasure
Warnings: fluff, some dirty language
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Kei, Sho, Toshi
Disclaimer: The movie Moonchild and its characters are sole property of their creators. I have no rights to them whatsoever. This story merely borrows them. I make no money with this story.
Note: Just like "Calamity" this is a stand-alone short-story in my MCC-verse. You don't need to have read Part One, they are not really connected... but if you haven't read Part One, please, please, please do so ;o)
Summary: "So", Kei drawled, "want me to tell you about the treasure?"
MCC Part 01: Calamity
Moon Children Chronicles
Part 02: Treasure
~*~
The sky above Mallepa had been ripped open, pouring rain on the defenceless city as though there would be a flood. The inhabitants had wisely chosen to remain inside, sheltered from the downpour. Families huddled together with blankets and soup to warm them. It was a day made for curling up on the sofa with a good book or a cigarette or your own thoughts. No wind guided the rain. It just fell straight downwards, heavy droplets forming a thick, cold curtain, the finger droplets creating a misty aura around it. The clouds had given up any pretence of strange formations, covering the city with a dull grey blanket instead.
In this weather the playground in the park was probably even less a cheerful place than the deserted streets. The rain beat a monotone rhythm on the plastic slides. The once cheerfully painted ducks and cars fastened on horribly creaking coil springs remained motionless without potential rider, emitting a melancholic kind of silence. Soaking up the rain for hours the sand had become muddy and dull. The swings were immobile, frozen in silent apathy, not caring to seem inviting on a day like this.
Kei sat down on one of them anyway. Suppressing a shiver he pulled the fabric of his red hooded jacket closer around himself, seeking warmth that was not there. His clothes were already completely drenched and clung to his pale skin in the most uncomfortable way possible. Blonde strands of hair were plastered to his face where they had escaped the hood. With a sense of uneasiness the vampire looked up at the sky. Despite its efforts the grey veil above could not conceal the fact from him that the sun was lurking just beyond. Still he was confident that he was safe for now. He had to be.
A small smile forming on his tired face he looked over at Sho. It was hard to believe the boy had never been to a playground in his short life. Then again, he had grown up on the streets after all. Still Sho was running around, filling the deserted playground with laughter and the innocent joy of a child as he tried out all the possible and seemingly impossible uses one could put this sort of environment to. Kei felt a bit sorry for him that he had to discover the joys of these games all on his own, but both Toshi and Shinji had refused to join them straight away. Shinji was obviously glad to stay inside when the monster was finally out. Toshi on the other hand was the sort of boy made of sugar, afraid of melting away with the first drop of rain on his skin. His best friend Sho loved being out in the rain, and Kei shared that feeling, though for different reasons. Grey though the sky might be, he was still out in what could be called daylight.
After an hour or two Kei saw Sho's excitement wearing off. Playgrounds were much more fun when you were not forced to play all on your own.
“Sho.”
At the call of his name the boy's head whipped around, wet hair flying. He grinned and rushed towards Kei. Once there he wrapped his tiny arms tightly around the cold body with a laugh. The vampire smiled and brushed the wet hair out of Sho's face.
“Are you cold?”
As expected Sho beamed and shook his head. It was an obvious lie. Wordlessly Kei pulled a thermos flask from his backpack and poured some of the still steaming tea into the lid, using it as a cup. Resting their foreheads against each other they shared the hot drink.
“So”, Kei drawled as he watched some warmth return to Sho's face. “Want me to tell you about the treasure?”
“Treasure?” the child piped up, eyes going wide. Ah, children. And Sho was so easily manipulated into happiness.
Keeping his expression straight and even a bit bored, Kei nodded. “Yeah. You have to follow all the clues, pass every test and overcome every obstacle. In the end you will find the treasure. It's... you know. An adventure.”
The tale was this: Years ago this had not been a playground at all but a battleground instead. The Yakuza and the Triad had waged a most bloody and horrible war. Those were different times. Whereas now gang wars were fought out in back streets and dark alleys, were power was gained through money and clever ploys, back then everything had been decided in open battles. Gangsters had not withdrawn to hideouts, had not planted traps and set up ambushes. You came here armed and courageous, and you either walked away alive or you never walked anywhere again at all. Heroes were made and destroyed here, their lives measured in valuable trinkets that never left the battleground again, for each side would claim it from the other through victory and defeat over and over again. Those were the old days, though. Nowadays things were handled differently and the battleground had been deserted. To commemorate what had taken place here, though, memorials had been erected to remind people of the glorious battles. These days people barely remembered these grounds for what they had once been and had made it a children's playground. The old treasures had been all but forgotten too and still lay buried somewhere beneath the sand.
Sho's eyes were impossibly wide as he clung to Kei's words. Of course, he did not mistake the tale for truth, but as it is with children he simply allowed himself to be dragged into the fantasy, his imagination running wild. “Kei, do you really think we can find the treasure?”
“That depends”, the blonde explained, “on whether or not we are able to revive the past. We can certainly try - that is, if you are up to it.”
During the next few hours it occurred to Kei that maybe he should feel stupid. After all, he had spun a most ridiculous tale about treasure and battles and whatnot, and now he and Sho were chasing across the playground, re-enacting fictitious battles and adventures born from their imagination. However, he was enjoying himself far too much to care. They clutched each other tightly as they tumbled down the slide (Kei didn't tell Sho how badly he had hit his head there until years later when they argued about doing the dishes again), invented heartfelt valedictories for each other before they jumped from the swings as far as they could (of course, they really jumped off a cliff in order to escape their pursuers), crawled through the wet sand upon realising they were still alive (Kei would later curse himself because someone had to clean their clothes and that someone would be him) and when they were both too exhausted to continue either because of the physical strain or because of being awake too long during the day they took shelter beneath a bright red climbing dome.
As Kei pulled the sandwiches he had prepared for Sho earlier from his backpack he watched the boy out of the corner of his eyes. In the end they did not find the treasure, but Kei swore that they would come back. There were still many adventures of the past to dig up, so maybe they would be successful some other time. After all, Kei had seen how much Sho enjoyed his time here and thus had sworn to himself to take the kid to the playground more often no matter what.
On the way home Sho stumbled too often and put on too brave a face until Kei was fed up and let him ride piggyback. Sho quickly fell asleep with his chin on the vampire's shoulder, their cheeks touching and Kei felt his heart melting for the boy all over again.
~*~
„I said back off and I meant it, midget!“
The man was nearly two heads taller than Kei and probably sported about thrice his weight. There literally was no neck between his chiselled chin and broad shoulders. His muscles were bulging. In fact, the man rather looked like he ate three steaks for breakfast and threw tree trunks as a warm up usually. Judging by the way his trousers were bulging he also had a knife hidden beneath the fabric. Of course, there also was the knuckleduster. His slanted eyes betrayed his short temper and the hot, blazing fury lurking behind.
Kei failed to be impressed by the brute. The vampire looked rather bored, which only served to infuriate his opponent further. The man's tiny eyes bulged when the blonde proceeded to light a cigarette with all the calm in the world. The lighter flared into life, basking them in an eerie glow that enhanced the harsh shadows cast by the flickering electric lights instead of softening them. After a few seconds the glow faded into a tiny red prick of light. Kei inhaled and let the smoke escape his mouth in utter peace until a hand grabbed the front of his shirt.
The vampire merely frowned.
„Remove that, will you?“ he said, gesturing faintly towards the fist. The fact that this fist was nearly as large as Kei's own head floated up from the scene, waved cheerfully and was quite disappointed when it was pointedly ignored.
The angry, red-faced man made his last mistake of the evening when he lifted Kei up by the collar of his shirt. A cold hand clamped down on a wrist as thick as the vampire's arms. The man managed to hold on for only a few seconds, his face a mask of pain when he finally let go. He meant to stumble back and clutch his wrist in pain, but Kei was quicker. Now it was his time to grab a fistful of the man's shirt, sweat soaked and disgusting though it was. He jerked the guy down forcefully until they were on eye level.
„Listen carefully. I will only explain this once. You will make sure that this walrus you call your son hands back what he took at once and then you'll drag him off and never come back here again. If you fail to comply there will be hell to pay. I don't care if you'll lose your face in front of your kid, but I'll kick your ass from here to feudal Japan. Understood?“
The man snorted in Kei's face. „You want to hit someone twice your size, midget?“
The vampire sighed. Some kinds of humans just didn't learn. It did not matter how reasonable or how frightening you were. They would only believe the truth when it literally hit them in the face and punched out a few teeth along the way. Kei growled.
„I'm prepared to do a lot more to those who make my children cry.“
The night had started out wonderfully. All three children had behaved themselves for once, which was surprising in itself. Kei suspected that they had done something bad again but he had not yet figured out what that might have been.
Still he wanted to reward good behaviour and encourage it for the future. Should he notice they had done something wrong he'd just make sure they'd regret it later on anyway. Seeing as the night was pleasantly warm and all three children were still pretty energetic he offered to take them to the playground. Sho jumped at the idea at once, remembering the treasure hunt they had not finished yet. Toshi had been excited ever since hearing about it earlier, so the prospect of joining in this time excited him to no end. Shinji, of course, wanted no part of this trip whatsoever once more for the simple reason that Kei would be there.
Sho and Toshi had rushed into the adventures of the battleground with much joy and dedication under the vampire's watchful gaze. When they charged around on horseback with imaginative blindfolds he used the moment to slip away and hide a small wooden box for them to find later on.
But then this brute and his son had shown up. The boy was older than Sho and Toshi. Just like his old man could easily cast a shadow on Kei, the son had towered over the vampire's cubs.
The situation had smelled of trouble the minute those two had appeared. Kei had nodded to the guy and received a snort in reply. Someone was feeling superior here. In his long years the vampire had met people like this often enough, people who needed to control others with violence and fear and disdain. It really was a pity that neither Kei nor his two little ones were in any way inclined to play the victims.
Sho and Toshi had continued playing. Soon enough the older boy had started to take an unhealthy interest in them. But even when he had shoved Toshi, Kei had not interfered. He knew the two boys could very well hold their own; you didn't grow up on the streets and came out soft, after all. Without losing any of their excitement and drive, the children soon managed to discover the tiny treasure chest. Their cries of delight and joy went straight under Kei's skin and cuddled up with all the other fond memories the children granted him. Finding a treasure usually invoked jealousy in other people, though, and this was no exception. The the tall boy had punched Toshi and took the treasure chest. Toshi wailed and Sho was frightened enough that he started crying.
The sound was like hot needles through Kei's contentment and made his more animalistic instincts flare up. It was the need to protect his pack, his family, and he could just barely keep himself from snarling with his fangs out in the open.
The following discussion with this bull of a man had been anything but pleasant. Kei had demanded the chest back, to which the other man only laughed and said this was life, after all. If you weren't strong enough to hold onto something, it would be taken from you. And while Kei found that statement to be somewhat true he was far from believing it should be seen as the right way to live. Nor should it be applied to his children. It was obvious that diplomacy wouldn't get him anywhere, though, so the vampire had allowed cold fury to settle within him, exuding an air of arrogant disinterest which in turn angered the other man. And now here they were.
The guy had the nerve to laugh at Kei's latest statement. A second later he stood with his back to Kei and gave some rather unmanly and high-pitched yelps as his right arm was twisted at a more than uncomfortable angle. The vampire restrained himself with an effort. He did not want to break the man's arm. Not yet, at least, and certainly not in front of Toshi and Sho - it would have put all those lessons about proper behaviour to an early deathbed.
„The chest, if you please.“
With gritted teeth the man gestured towards his son. Grudgingly, the boy shuffled over to Sho and handed him the stolen toy. Curiously enough, he stayed out of arm's reach as if fearing this small boy could do to him what the short blonde man did to his father.
„I will release you now. You will take your son and you will fuck off. You won't ever come back. If I see you or your son so much as breathing in the direction of my boys, I will nail your balls to the top of the highest tower in Mallepa and push you off. Understood?“
He understood.
Kei watched them hurry away. Only when they had disappeared from his view did he relax his shoulders. Sighing he dropped the cigarette and turned back towards Sho and Toshi. The children stood rooted to the spot. Crouching down, Kei wiped away Sho's tears and gently examined the black eye forming in Toshi's face. It wasn't all that bad fortunately, and just a few minutes later the incident seemed all but forgotten. Obviously the contents of the treasure chest were far more interesting than anything else that had occurred.
As Sho and Toshi cheered and laughed in delight at every lollipop, bouncing ball, yoyo, candy and all the other tiny gifts Kei had put in the chest they discovered now, Kei settled onto one of the old swings once more. He allowed himself to swing backwards and forwards slightly, his moss-green eyes fixed on the children.
He knew that when the night was through and they went home he'd have to treat scraped knees, bloody lips, nasty bumps and stinging bruises, for Sho had not been more careful in his antics than last time and Toshi probably didn't even know the word cautious. Kei's stomach gave a little flutter and he realized he was actually looking forward to that. The normal wounds of a happy childhood.
As the violently protective instinct from earlier slowly faded he pondered how they had grown on him so quickly, worming through his defences so easily and melting the ice around his heart with such ease.
With a tiny smile Kei lit another cigarette. Foolish children, so easily delighted by such a meaningless thing as a treasure chest packed with worthless junk, when it was the vampire who had found the greatest treasure of all.
~*~
Fin
Warnings: fluff, some dirty language
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Kei, Sho, Toshi
Disclaimer: The movie Moonchild and its characters are sole property of their creators. I have no rights to them whatsoever. This story merely borrows them. I make no money with this story.
Note: Just like "Calamity" this is a stand-alone short-story in my MCC-verse. You don't need to have read Part One, they are not really connected... but if you haven't read Part One, please, please, please do so ;o)
Summary: "So", Kei drawled, "want me to tell you about the treasure?"
MCC Part 01: Calamity
Moon Children Chronicles
Part 02: Treasure
~*~
The sky above Mallepa had been ripped open, pouring rain on the defenceless city as though there would be a flood. The inhabitants had wisely chosen to remain inside, sheltered from the downpour. Families huddled together with blankets and soup to warm them. It was a day made for curling up on the sofa with a good book or a cigarette or your own thoughts. No wind guided the rain. It just fell straight downwards, heavy droplets forming a thick, cold curtain, the finger droplets creating a misty aura around it. The clouds had given up any pretence of strange formations, covering the city with a dull grey blanket instead.
In this weather the playground in the park was probably even less a cheerful place than the deserted streets. The rain beat a monotone rhythm on the plastic slides. The once cheerfully painted ducks and cars fastened on horribly creaking coil springs remained motionless without potential rider, emitting a melancholic kind of silence. Soaking up the rain for hours the sand had become muddy and dull. The swings were immobile, frozen in silent apathy, not caring to seem inviting on a day like this.
Kei sat down on one of them anyway. Suppressing a shiver he pulled the fabric of his red hooded jacket closer around himself, seeking warmth that was not there. His clothes were already completely drenched and clung to his pale skin in the most uncomfortable way possible. Blonde strands of hair were plastered to his face where they had escaped the hood. With a sense of uneasiness the vampire looked up at the sky. Despite its efforts the grey veil above could not conceal the fact from him that the sun was lurking just beyond. Still he was confident that he was safe for now. He had to be.
A small smile forming on his tired face he looked over at Sho. It was hard to believe the boy had never been to a playground in his short life. Then again, he had grown up on the streets after all. Still Sho was running around, filling the deserted playground with laughter and the innocent joy of a child as he tried out all the possible and seemingly impossible uses one could put this sort of environment to. Kei felt a bit sorry for him that he had to discover the joys of these games all on his own, but both Toshi and Shinji had refused to join them straight away. Shinji was obviously glad to stay inside when the monster was finally out. Toshi on the other hand was the sort of boy made of sugar, afraid of melting away with the first drop of rain on his skin. His best friend Sho loved being out in the rain, and Kei shared that feeling, though for different reasons. Grey though the sky might be, he was still out in what could be called daylight.
After an hour or two Kei saw Sho's excitement wearing off. Playgrounds were much more fun when you were not forced to play all on your own.
“Sho.”
At the call of his name the boy's head whipped around, wet hair flying. He grinned and rushed towards Kei. Once there he wrapped his tiny arms tightly around the cold body with a laugh. The vampire smiled and brushed the wet hair out of Sho's face.
“Are you cold?”
As expected Sho beamed and shook his head. It was an obvious lie. Wordlessly Kei pulled a thermos flask from his backpack and poured some of the still steaming tea into the lid, using it as a cup. Resting their foreheads against each other they shared the hot drink.
“So”, Kei drawled as he watched some warmth return to Sho's face. “Want me to tell you about the treasure?”
“Treasure?” the child piped up, eyes going wide. Ah, children. And Sho was so easily manipulated into happiness.
Keeping his expression straight and even a bit bored, Kei nodded. “Yeah. You have to follow all the clues, pass every test and overcome every obstacle. In the end you will find the treasure. It's... you know. An adventure.”
The tale was this: Years ago this had not been a playground at all but a battleground instead. The Yakuza and the Triad had waged a most bloody and horrible war. Those were different times. Whereas now gang wars were fought out in back streets and dark alleys, were power was gained through money and clever ploys, back then everything had been decided in open battles. Gangsters had not withdrawn to hideouts, had not planted traps and set up ambushes. You came here armed and courageous, and you either walked away alive or you never walked anywhere again at all. Heroes were made and destroyed here, their lives measured in valuable trinkets that never left the battleground again, for each side would claim it from the other through victory and defeat over and over again. Those were the old days, though. Nowadays things were handled differently and the battleground had been deserted. To commemorate what had taken place here, though, memorials had been erected to remind people of the glorious battles. These days people barely remembered these grounds for what they had once been and had made it a children's playground. The old treasures had been all but forgotten too and still lay buried somewhere beneath the sand.
Sho's eyes were impossibly wide as he clung to Kei's words. Of course, he did not mistake the tale for truth, but as it is with children he simply allowed himself to be dragged into the fantasy, his imagination running wild. “Kei, do you really think we can find the treasure?”
“That depends”, the blonde explained, “on whether or not we are able to revive the past. We can certainly try - that is, if you are up to it.”
During the next few hours it occurred to Kei that maybe he should feel stupid. After all, he had spun a most ridiculous tale about treasure and battles and whatnot, and now he and Sho were chasing across the playground, re-enacting fictitious battles and adventures born from their imagination. However, he was enjoying himself far too much to care. They clutched each other tightly as they tumbled down the slide (Kei didn't tell Sho how badly he had hit his head there until years later when they argued about doing the dishes again), invented heartfelt valedictories for each other before they jumped from the swings as far as they could (of course, they really jumped off a cliff in order to escape their pursuers), crawled through the wet sand upon realising they were still alive (Kei would later curse himself because someone had to clean their clothes and that someone would be him) and when they were both too exhausted to continue either because of the physical strain or because of being awake too long during the day they took shelter beneath a bright red climbing dome.
As Kei pulled the sandwiches he had prepared for Sho earlier from his backpack he watched the boy out of the corner of his eyes. In the end they did not find the treasure, but Kei swore that they would come back. There were still many adventures of the past to dig up, so maybe they would be successful some other time. After all, Kei had seen how much Sho enjoyed his time here and thus had sworn to himself to take the kid to the playground more often no matter what.
On the way home Sho stumbled too often and put on too brave a face until Kei was fed up and let him ride piggyback. Sho quickly fell asleep with his chin on the vampire's shoulder, their cheeks touching and Kei felt his heart melting for the boy all over again.
~*~
„I said back off and I meant it, midget!“
The man was nearly two heads taller than Kei and probably sported about thrice his weight. There literally was no neck between his chiselled chin and broad shoulders. His muscles were bulging. In fact, the man rather looked like he ate three steaks for breakfast and threw tree trunks as a warm up usually. Judging by the way his trousers were bulging he also had a knife hidden beneath the fabric. Of course, there also was the knuckleduster. His slanted eyes betrayed his short temper and the hot, blazing fury lurking behind.
Kei failed to be impressed by the brute. The vampire looked rather bored, which only served to infuriate his opponent further. The man's tiny eyes bulged when the blonde proceeded to light a cigarette with all the calm in the world. The lighter flared into life, basking them in an eerie glow that enhanced the harsh shadows cast by the flickering electric lights instead of softening them. After a few seconds the glow faded into a tiny red prick of light. Kei inhaled and let the smoke escape his mouth in utter peace until a hand grabbed the front of his shirt.
The vampire merely frowned.
„Remove that, will you?“ he said, gesturing faintly towards the fist. The fact that this fist was nearly as large as Kei's own head floated up from the scene, waved cheerfully and was quite disappointed when it was pointedly ignored.
The angry, red-faced man made his last mistake of the evening when he lifted Kei up by the collar of his shirt. A cold hand clamped down on a wrist as thick as the vampire's arms. The man managed to hold on for only a few seconds, his face a mask of pain when he finally let go. He meant to stumble back and clutch his wrist in pain, but Kei was quicker. Now it was his time to grab a fistful of the man's shirt, sweat soaked and disgusting though it was. He jerked the guy down forcefully until they were on eye level.
„Listen carefully. I will only explain this once. You will make sure that this walrus you call your son hands back what he took at once and then you'll drag him off and never come back here again. If you fail to comply there will be hell to pay. I don't care if you'll lose your face in front of your kid, but I'll kick your ass from here to feudal Japan. Understood?“
The man snorted in Kei's face. „You want to hit someone twice your size, midget?“
The vampire sighed. Some kinds of humans just didn't learn. It did not matter how reasonable or how frightening you were. They would only believe the truth when it literally hit them in the face and punched out a few teeth along the way. Kei growled.
„I'm prepared to do a lot more to those who make my children cry.“
The night had started out wonderfully. All three children had behaved themselves for once, which was surprising in itself. Kei suspected that they had done something bad again but he had not yet figured out what that might have been.
Still he wanted to reward good behaviour and encourage it for the future. Should he notice they had done something wrong he'd just make sure they'd regret it later on anyway. Seeing as the night was pleasantly warm and all three children were still pretty energetic he offered to take them to the playground. Sho jumped at the idea at once, remembering the treasure hunt they had not finished yet. Toshi had been excited ever since hearing about it earlier, so the prospect of joining in this time excited him to no end. Shinji, of course, wanted no part of this trip whatsoever once more for the simple reason that Kei would be there.
Sho and Toshi had rushed into the adventures of the battleground with much joy and dedication under the vampire's watchful gaze. When they charged around on horseback with imaginative blindfolds he used the moment to slip away and hide a small wooden box for them to find later on.
But then this brute and his son had shown up. The boy was older than Sho and Toshi. Just like his old man could easily cast a shadow on Kei, the son had towered over the vampire's cubs.
The situation had smelled of trouble the minute those two had appeared. Kei had nodded to the guy and received a snort in reply. Someone was feeling superior here. In his long years the vampire had met people like this often enough, people who needed to control others with violence and fear and disdain. It really was a pity that neither Kei nor his two little ones were in any way inclined to play the victims.
Sho and Toshi had continued playing. Soon enough the older boy had started to take an unhealthy interest in them. But even when he had shoved Toshi, Kei had not interfered. He knew the two boys could very well hold their own; you didn't grow up on the streets and came out soft, after all. Without losing any of their excitement and drive, the children soon managed to discover the tiny treasure chest. Their cries of delight and joy went straight under Kei's skin and cuddled up with all the other fond memories the children granted him. Finding a treasure usually invoked jealousy in other people, though, and this was no exception. The the tall boy had punched Toshi and took the treasure chest. Toshi wailed and Sho was frightened enough that he started crying.
The sound was like hot needles through Kei's contentment and made his more animalistic instincts flare up. It was the need to protect his pack, his family, and he could just barely keep himself from snarling with his fangs out in the open.
The following discussion with this bull of a man had been anything but pleasant. Kei had demanded the chest back, to which the other man only laughed and said this was life, after all. If you weren't strong enough to hold onto something, it would be taken from you. And while Kei found that statement to be somewhat true he was far from believing it should be seen as the right way to live. Nor should it be applied to his children. It was obvious that diplomacy wouldn't get him anywhere, though, so the vampire had allowed cold fury to settle within him, exuding an air of arrogant disinterest which in turn angered the other man. And now here they were.
The guy had the nerve to laugh at Kei's latest statement. A second later he stood with his back to Kei and gave some rather unmanly and high-pitched yelps as his right arm was twisted at a more than uncomfortable angle. The vampire restrained himself with an effort. He did not want to break the man's arm. Not yet, at least, and certainly not in front of Toshi and Sho - it would have put all those lessons about proper behaviour to an early deathbed.
„The chest, if you please.“
With gritted teeth the man gestured towards his son. Grudgingly, the boy shuffled over to Sho and handed him the stolen toy. Curiously enough, he stayed out of arm's reach as if fearing this small boy could do to him what the short blonde man did to his father.
„I will release you now. You will take your son and you will fuck off. You won't ever come back. If I see you or your son so much as breathing in the direction of my boys, I will nail your balls to the top of the highest tower in Mallepa and push you off. Understood?“
He understood.
Kei watched them hurry away. Only when they had disappeared from his view did he relax his shoulders. Sighing he dropped the cigarette and turned back towards Sho and Toshi. The children stood rooted to the spot. Crouching down, Kei wiped away Sho's tears and gently examined the black eye forming in Toshi's face. It wasn't all that bad fortunately, and just a few minutes later the incident seemed all but forgotten. Obviously the contents of the treasure chest were far more interesting than anything else that had occurred.
As Sho and Toshi cheered and laughed in delight at every lollipop, bouncing ball, yoyo, candy and all the other tiny gifts Kei had put in the chest they discovered now, Kei settled onto one of the old swings once more. He allowed himself to swing backwards and forwards slightly, his moss-green eyes fixed on the children.
He knew that when the night was through and they went home he'd have to treat scraped knees, bloody lips, nasty bumps and stinging bruises, for Sho had not been more careful in his antics than last time and Toshi probably didn't even know the word cautious. Kei's stomach gave a little flutter and he realized he was actually looking forward to that. The normal wounds of a happy childhood.
As the violently protective instinct from earlier slowly faded he pondered how they had grown on him so quickly, worming through his defences so easily and melting the ice around his heart with such ease.
With a tiny smile Kei lit another cigarette. Foolish children, so easily delighted by such a meaningless thing as a treasure chest packed with worthless junk, when it was the vampire who had found the greatest treasure of all.
~*~
Fin