(no subject)
Title: Familiar
Rating: 18
Band: Malice Mizer
Pairing: Gackt X Kami
Summary: Familiar, a shape-shifter in service to a witch. It was never something he had planned, or had even wanted, but it was his life all the same.
Chapter One
~New Chapter~
Chapter Two
They say time heals all wounds, but for Gackt the decades in Mana's service had gotten no easier. The pent up rage he had felt the day he had been enslaved still burnt deep inside him. Made no easier when the hope that Mana might someday die of old age began to fade away. Mana hadn't aged a single day since they had met, his magic keeping his beauty and youth as constant as Gackt's own. Witches weren't immortal, but every time he looked at Mana he felt that flicker of doubt. What if Mana was? Would he be stuck like this forever? His own immortality had never felt as much as a burden as it did now.
There was no pattern to what Mana asked him to do, no limits to his master's cruelty. He had hunted and killed many innocents, even two other shape-shifters, but perhaps the hardest orders to follow were the ones that made him feel like a cheap whore.
At least today was one of the better days. He had been sent to spy on a man until he found a way to get into his home and steal a family heirloom. It meant that he could be away from Mana for days, without any risk of harming others. It was tasks like this that he hoped for every time Mana gave him orders.
He'd taken on the smallest of his three forms, a black cat that looked no more out of place in a human town than any other domesticated animal. It was only his blue eyes that marked him as different and humans, with their ignorance to the world around them, would never spot this as a sign that he was anything but a cat.
He paced along a wall, watching the child out of the corner of his eye. He knew who she was, even though she had never seen him before. He was only easy to spot when he wanted to be, the rest of the time he might as well have been nothing but a living shadow.
“You're a beautiful kitty aren't you?” the girl asked, as she reached over to stroke his fur. He hated been touched, especially by humans, but instead of hissing, at her he let out an affectionate purr. Mana's control over him was so strong now, his orders so precise, that he could only make actions that involved keeping himself alive or focused on the main goal.
As the girl picked him up, holding him close, he rested his head on her arm. She was the daughter of the man he was stalking and his access into their home. He'd been lucky that this young girl loved cats, but it made him a little more wary. He liked this girl despite his general dislike of humans, he didn't want to do anything that might upset her.
“What's your name?” the girl asked, reaching around his neck for a collar only to find Gackt didn't wear one. Perhaps that was the one nice thing Mana had done for him. He was a wild animal, and Mana liked him that way. “Oh, you're a stray? Maybe Daddy will let you be my kitty. You can be Princess Black Star.” The humiliation just wasn't going to end.
“Daddy look I found a kitty!” Mari informed her father excitedly, the moment she got home. “Can I keep her?”
“Where did you get that cat?” the man asked looking up. From what Gackt had seen he was a good man, who loved his daughter more than anything in the world. The exact kind of person that he really hated to hurt. Why couldn't Mana send him after a horrible person for once?
“I found her.” Mari announced “She has no collar. Nobody loves her, except me.”
“She doesn’t look like a stray.” Her father commented taking Gackt away from his daughter to give him a closer inspection. “And this is a male cat.”
“Really?” Mari asked, her smile fading in disappointment. “But I’d already named him Princess Dark Star!”
“Well I suppose he’ll have to be Prince Dark Star now.” Her father replied. Perhaps he wouldn't be so hard to hurt after all. He deserved a good clawing for such a horrible suggestion.
“I can keep him?” Mari said, all smiles once more. She was clearly the kind of child who's natural personality was a happy one.
“For now.” Her father replied. “We need to make some posters in case his real owner shows up, but should nobody claim him you can keep him.”
“Thanks Daddy!” Mari said excitedly taking Gackt back of her Dad. “I’m going to look after him all the time.”
“You’d better.” The man replied looking back don at the paper he had been reading, as his daughter busied herself in pouring a bowl of milk for Gackt. Watching he sniffed the air, loving milk as much as any normal cat, but before he could drunk a ginger cat appeared in the room. Their eyes met, sapphire blue and emerald green. The ginger cat hissed at him, his fur on edge.
“No Marmalade that’s Prince Black Star’s milk.” the girl scolded but even this sweet child couldn't resolve the tension in the mood. Like Gackt, this cat was no domestic house pet. The purple aura around him marked him as another supernatural creature. A leopard shape-shifter just like himself. It was more than he could have ever hoped for, everything forgotten as he stared into the emerald eyes that watched him back with scorn. For the first time in many centuries, he had found proof that he wasn't alone.
“What's wrong with your aura?” Marmalde, as the poor cat had been named, demanded after it became clear they wouldn't be able to fight it out. The girl, not even realising it, was acting like a shield for both of them.
“Nothing,” Gackt responded. Not even attempting to tell the truth because he knew from experience it was impossible. His aura had once been as blue as his eyes, but now was tinged with browns and murky greens. As much of a mess as he felt inside, as Mana's magic tainted who he was.
“That's not nothing, you're a demon.” the other cat accused. “I won't let you hurt these humans.”
“Why? Do they provide you with an easy meal?” Gackt demanded. Why else would a shape-shifter want to protect a human? They just weren't made to be social with any species other than their own. If the Goddess story was true, she was the exception. “You're too lazy to hunt, so you'd rather be pampered.”
“You take that back!” the ginger cat hissed, his whole body ready to fight as the girl between them tried to keep them apart.
“What's the matter, don't you enjoy being this human's pet. Marmalade?” Gackt mocked as he waited for the cat to attack him. He wasn't directly thinking it, because that would prevent his actions, but if he got kicked out for not getting on with this shape-shifter his job would become harder. Which meant he'd be away from Mana for longer.
“Kami, and my reasons for being here are my own.” the shape-shifter answered before leaping up onto the back of a chair and watching him closely. Kami wasn't looking for a fight then. What a disappointment, though if he was lucky Kami wouldn't let him out of his sight. Perhaps the other shape-shifter would delay things for him without even realising that it was exactly what he wanted.
Kami couldn't understand this demon at all. His intentions were a complete mystery, though he was beginning to think it had nothing to do with harming these humans. Gackt, as he had later found out his name, seemed to spend most of his time just watching him. Their days ended up in long times of staring at each other across the room. Barely saying a word as they waited for each other to react.
Some days he wondered if he could just leave Gackt alone. He was no longer so sure he was evil, though his aura was wrong. Every time he saw the murky colours tainting the blue he had to question where they came from. Ugly colours were a sign of an ugly soul, every supernatural creature knew that. Blue though, that was intelligence and wisdom. The kind of creatures that strived to know more, to do better, to over achieve. Just like he didn't appear evil, he didn't seem to have any goals either. Who was Gackt, and why he was so strange?
“Can I see the real you?” Gackt asked one day, when they were home alone. It was the first time he had shown any interest and despite his mistrust Kami didn't hesitate to agree. He hadn't worn his true form from the day the man had saved him from drowning. He'd been a cat for weeks, indebted to these people and determined to protect them from harm.
Growing felt like falling, but it was a sensation that no shape-shifter had ever feared. It was natural and they would always land on their feet. Within seconds he was large enough to take up the entire couch, his long tail falling over the armrest and trailing down to the floor. He stretched before stepping down onto the floor, watching as the other shape-shifter took on a darker form of his own. A leopard, but an unusual one. He wasn't at all surprised to see that Gackt had become a panther.
They were equal in size, Kami noted. Both young and physically fit with strong healthy teeth and soft fur. It was good that it hadn't come to a fight yet, on the surface they were both equally matched.
“You're the first leopard I've seen, unless you count my mother.” Gackt remarked, pulling on Kami's heart strings despite himself. How lonely Gackt must be, to be so separated from their own kind. He didn't know many leopards, but the few he did know had kept him more or less content. He just wished he could find someone to be his mate.
“Why are you so alone?” Kami asked. Could it be because Gackt was a monster, or was it something else entirely that had kept him apart?
“I've just never met one.” Gackt replied. Kami supposed that was possible, he had never met a leopard that wasn't part of the small community he had grown up in. He was lost for words, should he show sympathy and support? Would that make them friends? Gackt was far too dangerous to be his friend, but he wasn't sure that he wanted him to be his enemy either. “Shall we hunt?” the panther asked. Now that was easy to respond too.
Gackt ran through the forest, as silent as a shadow as the other leopard ran beside him not too far away. He doubted they would catch anything today, neither of them were hungry, he just wanted a chance to be able to run free. He was befriending Kami, to be allowed time alone. That was the thought process that provided him this freedom. Mana had a tight control over him, but it wasn't absolute.
They bounded over a stream, pushing their muscles to their limits. As fast as he could run, Kami could match without any visible signs of struggling. Yet the other leopard hadn't overtaken him once. Were they so closely matched in strength and speed, or was Kami holding back?
“Are you even hungry?” Kami teased. He wasn't, but he didn't answer. Choosing instead to pounce on the other leopard's back. He didn't bite, just used his strength to push the other cat down. In seconds he was human, smiling down at the annoyed leopard beneath him. It was dangerous to be so weak with a predator, yet their human form was a submissive one. He was letting Kami know that he wasn't really a threat.
Green eyes watched him for a moment, before the leopard beneath him shifted into a man. Kami was beautiful in all his forms, Gackt realised, as he brushed a strand of red hair away from the other man's face. Feeling overwhelmed with emotion he bent down and kissed the man beneath him. Lips meeting his own, soft and warm. When was the last time he had been kissed by someone that he wanted to be with?
“If you attack me again,” Kami warned. Gackt didn't even let him finish the sentence before their lips were rejoined. He would have gone further, had Kami not pushed him away. The moment was lost then, the other shifter would never accept him while he had this tainted aura. How was he supposed to make it go away? He was trapped in Mana's service, he'd been a fool to try and forget that.
“You want me, I can tell.” Gackt teased, removing himself from the other man who still lay on the floor beneath him.
“Don't flatter yourself.” Kami replied, returning to his true form and bounding off into the forest. Gackt should have chased after him, but what was the point? In the end, he belonged to Mana, his will meant nothing. The sweet kiss was painful now. A memory of something he could never have. A memory of a man he wanted to claim as his own. If only Kami could be his mate, but that was a dream of a fool.
“In another lifetime, I would have made you mine.” Gackt called out into the forest, with no idea if Kami had even heard him.
Rating: 18
Band: Malice Mizer
Pairing: Gackt X Kami
Summary: Familiar, a shape-shifter in service to a witch. It was never something he had planned, or had even wanted, but it was his life all the same.
Chapter One
~New Chapter~
Chapter Two
They say time heals all wounds, but for Gackt the decades in Mana's service had gotten no easier. The pent up rage he had felt the day he had been enslaved still burnt deep inside him. Made no easier when the hope that Mana might someday die of old age began to fade away. Mana hadn't aged a single day since they had met, his magic keeping his beauty and youth as constant as Gackt's own. Witches weren't immortal, but every time he looked at Mana he felt that flicker of doubt. What if Mana was? Would he be stuck like this forever? His own immortality had never felt as much as a burden as it did now.
There was no pattern to what Mana asked him to do, no limits to his master's cruelty. He had hunted and killed many innocents, even two other shape-shifters, but perhaps the hardest orders to follow were the ones that made him feel like a cheap whore.
At least today was one of the better days. He had been sent to spy on a man until he found a way to get into his home and steal a family heirloom. It meant that he could be away from Mana for days, without any risk of harming others. It was tasks like this that he hoped for every time Mana gave him orders.
He'd taken on the smallest of his three forms, a black cat that looked no more out of place in a human town than any other domesticated animal. It was only his blue eyes that marked him as different and humans, with their ignorance to the world around them, would never spot this as a sign that he was anything but a cat.
He paced along a wall, watching the child out of the corner of his eye. He knew who she was, even though she had never seen him before. He was only easy to spot when he wanted to be, the rest of the time he might as well have been nothing but a living shadow.
“You're a beautiful kitty aren't you?” the girl asked, as she reached over to stroke his fur. He hated been touched, especially by humans, but instead of hissing, at her he let out an affectionate purr. Mana's control over him was so strong now, his orders so precise, that he could only make actions that involved keeping himself alive or focused on the main goal.
As the girl picked him up, holding him close, he rested his head on her arm. She was the daughter of the man he was stalking and his access into their home. He'd been lucky that this young girl loved cats, but it made him a little more wary. He liked this girl despite his general dislike of humans, he didn't want to do anything that might upset her.
“What's your name?” the girl asked, reaching around his neck for a collar only to find Gackt didn't wear one. Perhaps that was the one nice thing Mana had done for him. He was a wild animal, and Mana liked him that way. “Oh, you're a stray? Maybe Daddy will let you be my kitty. You can be Princess Black Star.” The humiliation just wasn't going to end.
“Daddy look I found a kitty!” Mari informed her father excitedly, the moment she got home. “Can I keep her?”
“Where did you get that cat?” the man asked looking up. From what Gackt had seen he was a good man, who loved his daughter more than anything in the world. The exact kind of person that he really hated to hurt. Why couldn't Mana send him after a horrible person for once?
“I found her.” Mari announced “She has no collar. Nobody loves her, except me.”
“She doesn’t look like a stray.” Her father commented taking Gackt away from his daughter to give him a closer inspection. “And this is a male cat.”
“Really?” Mari asked, her smile fading in disappointment. “But I’d already named him Princess Dark Star!”
“Well I suppose he’ll have to be Prince Dark Star now.” Her father replied. Perhaps he wouldn't be so hard to hurt after all. He deserved a good clawing for such a horrible suggestion.
“I can keep him?” Mari said, all smiles once more. She was clearly the kind of child who's natural personality was a happy one.
“For now.” Her father replied. “We need to make some posters in case his real owner shows up, but should nobody claim him you can keep him.”
“Thanks Daddy!” Mari said excitedly taking Gackt back of her Dad. “I’m going to look after him all the time.”
“You’d better.” The man replied looking back don at the paper he had been reading, as his daughter busied herself in pouring a bowl of milk for Gackt. Watching he sniffed the air, loving milk as much as any normal cat, but before he could drunk a ginger cat appeared in the room. Their eyes met, sapphire blue and emerald green. The ginger cat hissed at him, his fur on edge.
“No Marmalade that’s Prince Black Star’s milk.” the girl scolded but even this sweet child couldn't resolve the tension in the mood. Like Gackt, this cat was no domestic house pet. The purple aura around him marked him as another supernatural creature. A leopard shape-shifter just like himself. It was more than he could have ever hoped for, everything forgotten as he stared into the emerald eyes that watched him back with scorn. For the first time in many centuries, he had found proof that he wasn't alone.
“What's wrong with your aura?” Marmalde, as the poor cat had been named, demanded after it became clear they wouldn't be able to fight it out. The girl, not even realising it, was acting like a shield for both of them.
“Nothing,” Gackt responded. Not even attempting to tell the truth because he knew from experience it was impossible. His aura had once been as blue as his eyes, but now was tinged with browns and murky greens. As much of a mess as he felt inside, as Mana's magic tainted who he was.
“That's not nothing, you're a demon.” the other cat accused. “I won't let you hurt these humans.”
“Why? Do they provide you with an easy meal?” Gackt demanded. Why else would a shape-shifter want to protect a human? They just weren't made to be social with any species other than their own. If the Goddess story was true, she was the exception. “You're too lazy to hunt, so you'd rather be pampered.”
“You take that back!” the ginger cat hissed, his whole body ready to fight as the girl between them tried to keep them apart.
“What's the matter, don't you enjoy being this human's pet. Marmalade?” Gackt mocked as he waited for the cat to attack him. He wasn't directly thinking it, because that would prevent his actions, but if he got kicked out for not getting on with this shape-shifter his job would become harder. Which meant he'd be away from Mana for longer.
“Kami, and my reasons for being here are my own.” the shape-shifter answered before leaping up onto the back of a chair and watching him closely. Kami wasn't looking for a fight then. What a disappointment, though if he was lucky Kami wouldn't let him out of his sight. Perhaps the other shape-shifter would delay things for him without even realising that it was exactly what he wanted.
Kami couldn't understand this demon at all. His intentions were a complete mystery, though he was beginning to think it had nothing to do with harming these humans. Gackt, as he had later found out his name, seemed to spend most of his time just watching him. Their days ended up in long times of staring at each other across the room. Barely saying a word as they waited for each other to react.
Some days he wondered if he could just leave Gackt alone. He was no longer so sure he was evil, though his aura was wrong. Every time he saw the murky colours tainting the blue he had to question where they came from. Ugly colours were a sign of an ugly soul, every supernatural creature knew that. Blue though, that was intelligence and wisdom. The kind of creatures that strived to know more, to do better, to over achieve. Just like he didn't appear evil, he didn't seem to have any goals either. Who was Gackt, and why he was so strange?
“Can I see the real you?” Gackt asked one day, when they were home alone. It was the first time he had shown any interest and despite his mistrust Kami didn't hesitate to agree. He hadn't worn his true form from the day the man had saved him from drowning. He'd been a cat for weeks, indebted to these people and determined to protect them from harm.
Growing felt like falling, but it was a sensation that no shape-shifter had ever feared. It was natural and they would always land on their feet. Within seconds he was large enough to take up the entire couch, his long tail falling over the armrest and trailing down to the floor. He stretched before stepping down onto the floor, watching as the other shape-shifter took on a darker form of his own. A leopard, but an unusual one. He wasn't at all surprised to see that Gackt had become a panther.
They were equal in size, Kami noted. Both young and physically fit with strong healthy teeth and soft fur. It was good that it hadn't come to a fight yet, on the surface they were both equally matched.
“You're the first leopard I've seen, unless you count my mother.” Gackt remarked, pulling on Kami's heart strings despite himself. How lonely Gackt must be, to be so separated from their own kind. He didn't know many leopards, but the few he did know had kept him more or less content. He just wished he could find someone to be his mate.
“Why are you so alone?” Kami asked. Could it be because Gackt was a monster, or was it something else entirely that had kept him apart?
“I've just never met one.” Gackt replied. Kami supposed that was possible, he had never met a leopard that wasn't part of the small community he had grown up in. He was lost for words, should he show sympathy and support? Would that make them friends? Gackt was far too dangerous to be his friend, but he wasn't sure that he wanted him to be his enemy either. “Shall we hunt?” the panther asked. Now that was easy to respond too.
Gackt ran through the forest, as silent as a shadow as the other leopard ran beside him not too far away. He doubted they would catch anything today, neither of them were hungry, he just wanted a chance to be able to run free. He was befriending Kami, to be allowed time alone. That was the thought process that provided him this freedom. Mana had a tight control over him, but it wasn't absolute.
They bounded over a stream, pushing their muscles to their limits. As fast as he could run, Kami could match without any visible signs of struggling. Yet the other leopard hadn't overtaken him once. Were they so closely matched in strength and speed, or was Kami holding back?
“Are you even hungry?” Kami teased. He wasn't, but he didn't answer. Choosing instead to pounce on the other leopard's back. He didn't bite, just used his strength to push the other cat down. In seconds he was human, smiling down at the annoyed leopard beneath him. It was dangerous to be so weak with a predator, yet their human form was a submissive one. He was letting Kami know that he wasn't really a threat.
Green eyes watched him for a moment, before the leopard beneath him shifted into a man. Kami was beautiful in all his forms, Gackt realised, as he brushed a strand of red hair away from the other man's face. Feeling overwhelmed with emotion he bent down and kissed the man beneath him. Lips meeting his own, soft and warm. When was the last time he had been kissed by someone that he wanted to be with?
“If you attack me again,” Kami warned. Gackt didn't even let him finish the sentence before their lips were rejoined. He would have gone further, had Kami not pushed him away. The moment was lost then, the other shifter would never accept him while he had this tainted aura. How was he supposed to make it go away? He was trapped in Mana's service, he'd been a fool to try and forget that.
“You want me, I can tell.” Gackt teased, removing himself from the other man who still lay on the floor beneath him.
“Don't flatter yourself.” Kami replied, returning to his true form and bounding off into the forest. Gackt should have chased after him, but what was the point? In the end, he belonged to Mana, his will meant nothing. The sweet kiss was painful now. A memory of something he could never have. A memory of a man he wanted to claim as his own. If only Kami could be his mate, but that was a dream of a fool.
“In another lifetime, I would have made you mine.” Gackt called out into the forest, with no idea if Kami had even heard him.