Chapter Text
Something was wrong with Kuro today.
It felt like something was lurking beneath the man’s skin, waiting to protrude out and pierce the other if they touched him for far too long. It honestly felt as if there was a ticking time bomb inside the man at the moment that could explode at any given point in time and that was extremely rare, considering Kuro’s poised lazy attitude to all walks of life.
Mahiru had begun noticing this worsening mood the moment Kuro had woken up and he dragged him to the Alicein mansion for a discussion with the Eves. His posture looked even more haggard than usual and he was even more quiet towards others lately. A crease in his eyebrows made itself pretty prominent whenever someone got too close to the both of them— say, a maid from the Alicein mansion and Hyde, with his lack of awareness for a bubble space.
What’s even weirder about this all aside from Mahiru not knowing the reason why as for Kuro’s change in mood is the fact that Kuro’s only behaving like this towards others— not him.
When Mahiru had woken up, Kuro was actually in his bed, slinging an arm over him. Now, this usually wouldn’t be weird since Kuro always went to sleep in his bed, but here’s the catch: he went to sleep in his cat form and would usually awake in it as well, never shape shifting since he deemed it ‘a pain’ and secretly quite embarrassing to wake up in human form in bed with Mahiru.
Today however, he woke up with a very human Kuro who for some reason, was nuzzling his face against his bare nape and a tough arm around his waist that didn’t seem capable of moving when he tried to nudge it away. Mahiru had all but struggled with every strength he had to try to pry himself off of Kuro’s body.
That was the first weird part.
The second was how displeased and reluctant Kuro was to come with him to the Alicein mansion today when he clearly remembered Kuro nonchalantly agreeing to go two days ago.
Kuro had actually growled and asked why they had to and Mahiru could only grow even more perplexed at his answer. They both knew why they had to— after they came back from London with Kuro’s newly found power from the demon within, they all agreed to frequently hold meetings and discussions with the Eves and the Servamps in the Alicein mansion to talk about their next course of action, only this time it would now be their last as they round up their strategy and prepare to finally fight Tsubaki once and for all.
Mahiru explained why to him since he jested that maybe Kuro just forgot but Kuro spat back that he knew the textbook answer as to why, but was now questioning whether they really had to. Mahiru was understandably confused at his answer but merely shrugged it off to him being problematic and thinking that it was just troublesome to participate in the war and dragged him with him.
Realising it now, maybe he was being too optimistic.
And the third abnormality… well, the third abnormality was probably the weirdest and most troubling one.
While Kuro had no problems basically hanging off Mahiru’s frame the entire duration it took to get them to the mansion, he was becoming increasingly irritable to any others that tried to approach them.
When Dodo came up to him the minute they stepped into the mansion’s doors and asked whether he should remove his coat for him and reached out to grab it from his shoulders, Kuro had shockingly swatted the man’s hands away. Kuro then proceeded to give a glare towards the man and glowered,”Don’t even think about touching him.”
Both he and Dodo were shocked by the Servamp’s act and Mahiru rushed to apologise for his behaviour. Dodo merely stood there aghast for a couple of seconds before sheepishly nodding and apologising, saying that it was kind of rude of him to touch someone else without their permission and decided to lead them to the discussion room hands-free. Mahiru reprimanded Kuro for such a rude act and Kuro merely shrugged, ignoring him and placing his head on his head as they walked.
Things only got worse when they entered the discussion room where all of their plans were laid out in front of a huge long table with chairs placed in front of it.
Lily greeted them with a smile and went forward to hug him as a casual greeting but was promptly blocked by Kuro who deflected that hug off. Mahiru was appalled by his behaviour and called out his name, telling him to stop it. Lily looked confused at Kuro, but seeing the angered glare of the male he promptly surrendered and instead led them to their seats. He however gave Mahiru a worrying glance to which Mahiru reciprocated since he didn’t know what happened to tick Kuro off like this.
Maybe it was the stress? Kuro was the star of the show in their plan due to his newly acquired strength, allowing him to be the only one who could face Tsubaki at the moment, so maybe the stress was eating at him inside out and making him all agitated like this.
If that was so, then maybe he could understand.
But what was even weirder to him that made him think that maybe this wasn’t because of the stress was that when Lily led them to their usual seats, Kuro didn’t sit down at his own seat. In fact, he actually sat down at Mahiru’s and patted the empty space on his chair, signalling to Mahiru that he should sit there— on his lap. Mahiru flared up in embarrassment at that and told him that there was a free chair in front of him that he’d rather take so it was fine.
Kuro’s frown deepened even further at his rejection and his stare became harder. Sensing his sensitive mood, Lily had bent down and whispered to Mahiru that he should probably do as what Kuro wants for a while lest his mood sours to an incredibly low point throughout the meeting and stirs something undesirable up.
Hearing that, Mahiru contemplated it hard (embarrassingly hard) for a few seconds before sighing with a red face and promptly sat on Kuro’s lap, bemoaning his entire existence when the rest of the Eves and their Servamps stared at him incredulously. He seriously wanted the ground to just open and eat him up to whisk him away at that instance due to how exposing it was.
At least Kuro’s mood was lifted, with him immediately brightening up and putting his arms around his waist and laying his forehead on his shoulder blade. Kuro wasn’t bothered at all about their current predicament of him on his lap and the rest staring at them as if they were zoo animals at an exhibit— he even looked slightly happy. He heard him sigh contently into his nape and relax entirely, as if Mahiru’s existence brought peace and tranquility to his mind.
Mahiru almost felt that he wasn’t treating a semi-adult vampire that’s lived for several centuries at that point but an attention-seeking child who just wanted his working mother’s eyes for a few minutes.
In a way, it was amusing to him to say the least as he went up to pat Kuro’s head during the meeting and discussion with the rest on how everything was going to play out against Tsubaki. It was rare for the vampire to show affection after all and if this was all it took to lift his mood, then it was fine. He’ll just talk to him later about what was troubling him.
Although Kuro’s mood today was much more sour than the rest, he guessed that everyone had their ups and downs once a while. It was much more understandable seeing that Kuro’s one on one fight with Tsubaki was soon and this would be their last discussion before it. He’ll give him leniency for today.
Something may be wrong with Kuro today, but he won’t question it. He’ll pamper him just for today.
Little did he know, that would be his first mistake.
~{&}~
“The meeting went well today, didn’t it, Kuro? We’ve now got all of the plans double confirmed and set! Are you ready for it?” Mahiru cheered with a cheeky smile as they crossed the pavement through the dimly lit secluded road that was another route to their house.
The meeting they had with the Eves lasted far longer than he thought it would since they did need to wrap everything up from top to bottom over and over again to make sure that nothing was missed out during it. By the time they all had to go home, night had already fallen and the moon cast it’s reflection of light back to the Earth’s surface.
Sensing how late it already was, Mahiru suggested using a much faster route than their usual one. Albeit it was secluded and not a single passerby was seen on this road, Mahiru felt that it was fine since Kuro was with him. Kuro could protect them from whatever danger lurked their way and he was confident in his and their strength combined.
Together , they could protect themselves and bring down any enemy that thought of coming their way.
Kuro merely shrugged at his comment as he followed beside Mahiru with a contented face. The silence was comfortable and with both of their presence combined, they felt that nothing wrong could happen.
Mahiru proceeded to walk with a smile until he squeaked when he felt something snake around his waist. He looked down to see Kuro’s arm around it, holding him protectively against his own. Although he knew that Kuro only did so in order to be able to spring into action immediately at the slightest sense of danger, a light blush painted Mahiru’s facial features at Kuro’s unusual amount of affection and skinship today but found himself not caring much about it.
It oddly felt comforting to him, having someone he could trust ( and secretly loved ) close to him at all times.
He found himself blushing even further at that thought but he couldn’t push it away.
That was right, he secretly had feelings for the Servamp himself. Although the feelings he had for him were immense, he kept it hidden deep underneath his core, deeper than where the contract could reach in and dig out to expose it. Kuro had always protected him from danger and had always been by his side these couple of months and with the amount of time they spent together, bonding together, opening up to each other and helping one another, it was merely impossible not to fall in love with him eventually.
Even though his feelings for the Servamp were this grand, it was just that he was too afraid of Kuro’s rejection to properly confess to him that kept him from showing it outwardly. That said, his efforts to conceal them also couldn’t be foolproof as Kuro’s habits of sticking close to him and sharing more skinship than normal best friends usually would would always bring forth the wrong idea in him and cause his heart to bounce crazily.
And it was particularly hard today after all of Kuro’s shenanigans. He was surprised he hadn’t fainted yet from the number of times his heart leapt out of his chest.
Mahiru sighed at that as he continued walking down the pathway with Kuro’s arm protectively wrapped around his waist. He wondered how much longer he had to deal with these not-so-simple feelings of his. Kuro always gave him the wrong idea and raised his hopes every single time and it was becoming heart-attack-inducing at this point.
Kuro seemed to notice the displeasure written on Mahiru’s face. “Is something wrong?” Kuro questioned with concern.
Mahiru paused as he turned to look up to him. He debated his question before internally shaking his head and deciding to give a sarcastic remark instead. Better to say something else than accidentally spill my feelings out , he guessed.
“I could ask the same for you,” he joked as he looked up at Kuro’s face. He noted the change in emotions in those crimson red orbs, from concern to… confusion?
“What do you mean?” Kuro replied to his question.
Mahiru tilted his head as he wracked his brain up for an answer. Could Kuro really not see the change in attitude he had the entire day? The rest definitely did, so how could the perpetrator not? “You don’t know? You were acting weird the entire day, getting angry over the littlest of things. Everyone noticed it but you.”
Something swirled within those red eyes,”I—”
“Ah but whatever, it’s fine, it’s fine. Everybody has their ups and downs and I get that, you don’t have to talk much about it today. C’mon, let’s just go home. Let’s take this route here, it’s shorter,” Mahiru chuckled as he cut him off with a wave of his hand. He separated himself from Kuro’s grip and pointed at an alleyway, devoid of much obstruction and led to a very familiar looking road at the end of it.
Kuro stared at him for a while as Mahiru threaded on to the alleyway with a carefree air around him. The cold air the night wind provided put Mahiru’s sense of worry at bay as he continued to walk through the alleyway and with Kuro by his side, nothing could scare him.
He didn’t exactly know why he was in such a good mood today although Kuro was the opposite of him. If his mood were to be any different than his right now he would have probably pushed to understand why Kuro had been acting out like that but for today, he felt like being lenient to him.
It was Kuro after all— he believed with his entire heart that the Servamp would open up to him soon after today, so he didn’t have any reason to rush him.
A fond memory from the discussion they had earlier popped into Mahiru’s mind while walking and he chuckled at it. “Hey, remember earlier on when Hyde accidentally dropped the can of juice on Misono’s head?” he called out as he placed his hands in his hoodie’s pockets, listening to how the gravel squashed beneath his feet.
“Don’t remember. I was sleeping,” Kuro replied from behind him, softer than his voice was previously.
Mahiru gave him a childish whine,”Aw come on, Kuro! You should’ve seen it! Misono literally burst out while screaming—”
“Mahiru.”
The tone in that one word catches Mahiru’s attention.
Hearing his name being called out, Mahiru stilled in his walking. Slowly, Mahiru turned around to the now still Kuro with a questioning gaze. “Yes, Kuro?” he asked with a tilt of his head.
Kuro slowly raised his head from its former position and gave him a stare that Mahiru swore would engrave itself in his memory forever.
“Why… do you notice everyone else but me ?”
Now this— this catches Mahiru’s worry.
Something’s wrong , a voice called out from the depths of his heart as he scanned Kuro’s features, who now looked something like an indecipherable puzzle to him with him not being able to catch onto what the Servamp may be feeling— not even with the contract, it seemed.
“H-Huh? What do you mean?” Mahiru questioned out of pure confusion and concern. Something’s been bothering Kuro the whole entire day and he didn’t know quite what it was. Whatever it was, it must’ve been really pressing to disturb him the entire day and ruin his whole mood for him. “I don’t really get what you’re saying, Kuro—”
“You talk with them incessantly, continuously giving them your attention. You’re wasting your energy on them. Why do you do that?” Kuro intercepted Mahiru’s statement with a frown that wasn’t there before when they were peacefully walking down the pavement.
Mahiru felt his sweat thread provokingly down his temple at that question,”W-What? Why would I do that, you say? Why, of course I would! Why shouldn’t I? Kuro, they’re our friends and they’re your siblings! What on Earth are you talking about? We even came here with the purpose to discuss the plan, remember?”
Kuro remained quiet for a few seconds, presumably digesting Mahiru’s words.
Mahiru hoped that what he said could finally snap Kuro out of whatever was in his mind but that hope was immediately crushed when Kuro replied,”But why do you need to? After all, they can’t protect you like I can. You shouldn’t be wasting your energy on people like them who are only using you, Mahiru. I’m the only one here worthy and strong enough to protect you. So don’t talk to them anymore, okay? Just talking with me is enough.”
A cold shiver throughout Mahiru’s body as he heard how monotone Kuro’s tone was and the way he phrased his words. Doubt and apprehension began to rise within him as he tried to pacify the situation,”H-Hang on, Kuro, I think you’re getting a little too ahead of yourself here. They’re friends , not shields . Is that all they are to you? Do you even understand what you’re saying right now?”
Tumult was starting to take over now because he wasn’t even able to see Kuro’s eyes anymore as they were shadowed by his bangs. Even though they were just a couple feet apart, right now, it felt as if they were each on the North and South pole respectively with how different their perceptions were.
Feeling restless from the silence, Mahiru called out the other’s name,”Kuro, you—”
“I see… It’s troublesome but you leave me with no choice. I guess I’ll just have to make you understand it… by force .”
A flash .
That’s how Mahiru could describe it.
In a flash, something instantly whisked by the side of his cheek, cutting something. It took a few seconds for the flaring pain to register in and for him to realise that his cheek had just been cut and that there was a trail of blood on his face right now. With wide eyes, he slowly turned around to get a glimpse as to where that ‘thing’ landed up on and to his horror, it was lodged deep inside the wall of a building with a large crater around it.
His eyes trailed from the building to the long part that was connected to it before reaching Kuro’s frame, with his skin paling even further at the realisation.
Kuro’s… Kuro’s jacket tail almost stabbed him.
What.
The.
Fuck.
“K-Kuro?!” He screamed as a hand went to caress his now pierced and bleeding cheek and he instinctively backed away from his current position. His breathing was now getting laborious as the realisation on what the fuck just happened dawned on him.
Kuro just attacked him. He attacked him ! If his head was just a centimetre or so closer to the right where his cheek had been pierced, he might’ve been dead meat by now, bleeding out on the sidewalk!
Furthermore, for what reason did Kuro even have to attack him?! What in the actual hell!
His frightful eyes turned to the culprit himself, hoping to seek an answer or a reply out. However, air was sucked out of him when he saw Kuro’s face— they were devoid of emotions with only his crimson orbs glowing menacingly and threateningly under the shadows of the night with a hidden message within being blanketed by his corneas.
He… looked like what someone might assume of an actual cruel vampire to be right now.
Fear rushed through his veins at that realisation. For the first time in a long while, he actually felt fearful of Kuro with the last time being when Kuro bit his neck in that confrontation with Sakuya when he became unhinged. But he didn’t do anything wrong this time, did he? He kept his emotions in check, so why was Kuro acting like that?
A sigh escaped from the vampire’s lips, bringing Mahiru’s attention back to him. “I really didn’t want to do this, Mahiru… I wanted you to just agree with me easily. Then maybe, I wouldn’t have to sign a deal with that asshole again,” Kuro mumbled with a sigh as if he was the one being burdened by this situation, not Mahiru.
Mahiru’s lips began to quiver as he spotted more shadows appearing beneath Kuro’s feet, slowly rising up to their owner’s waist. They moved in a sickly manner, taunting the brunet greatly.
Mahiru felt like vomiting in the atmosphere. Out of fear, he didn’t really know. Kuro wasn’t himself and he didn’t even know why.
The Kuro he knew would never try to attack him, so what was going on? He would always—
… Wait.
Something clicked in Mahiru’s mind as an idea as he thought about that idea.
‘The Kuro I know would never try to attack me… so is he being possessed by his demon? The one in the rose?’ Mahiru pondered as a possibility as he regained some of his strength in his knees that looked like they were going to buckle soon.
Right, Kuro would never try to attack him in a million years. He said so himself just now when he said that only he could protect him. So maybe it actually wasn’t Kuro who was in front of him right now? Maybe it was his demon taking command instead like how he did back when they were in London with Gear and Youtarou? That would make the situation a lot more sensible, considering the sudden change in mood and the weird mannerisms he had since this morning.
With a conviction and a resolve flickering once again in his heart, he stood up properly and gritted his teeth. He could do this. He just needed to bring Kuro back to him. He may be at a disadvantage here right now but he could do it. Like what Youtarou said, a promise between two individuals is far stronger than any blade that would try to break them apart. All he had to do was call Kuro’s name out with as much will and determination as possible and then he believed that Kuro would come back to him.
He just had to.
Because if he didn’t, then what else could he do?
Gathering his courage, Mahiru gritted his teeth and faced Kuro head on with narrowed eyes. “Kuro! Snap out of whatever that demon is doing to you right now! Wake up from his spell!” he announced with a fiery passion deep inside his chest, unwavering to the ends of time as he desperately begged for Kuro to not lose the fight against the demon.
Kuro didn’t reply. He merely tilted his head at him as if he was asking ‘what are you saying’ to him, but Mahiru was not deterred. He knew it must’ve been that demon that was playing with the puppet strings right now since there was no way Kuro would do this out of his own volition. Kuro was merely not that type of person.
He had faith in him.
Summoning his lead, he cried out,”If that demon isn’t going to stop controlling you, then I’ll force him to!”
The inkling of understanding finally seemed to appear in Kuro’s head,”Mahiru, I’m not—”
Mahiru though decided not to hear it. Whatever that comes out of Kuro’s mouth next, he deemed, was not to be trusted since it could just be the demon saying it to taunt him. Thus, with a roar, he charged straight at Kuro with his lead in his hand with the ambition to at least force the demon out to confront him directly.
Kuro cursed beneath his breath as he skillfully dodged the onslaught of attacks by the brunet, using his tails to deflect them. “Mahiru, stop this—!” he gnarled out loud as he continued to get backed into a corner, never once trying to exchange an attack with him.
A slice in the air, a close shave and a kick in the ankles that sent the Servamp tumbling down and barely receiving another attack with his jacket’s tails was delivered by the brunet, but much to his confusion and frustration, Kuro seemed adamant on not trying to fight back against him and only tried to restrict his movements. This felt less like a fight but more of a ballet dance where the instructor tried to guide their student to the wanted position and it irked Mahiru off.
“Why won’t you come out?!” Mahiru growled in frustration as Kuro dodged another attack.
“I don’t want to hurt you!” Kuro cursed back at him.
Anger and irritation started to bubble beneath Mahiru’s skin. “Stop treating me like a porcelain doll already! You know clearly that I am not! I’m not some child that would be scared to receive a couple bruises, I’ve grown from that. So stop trying to dodge my attacks and come out already!”
Feeling his resolve boil, he charged the energy all the way down to his lead and quickly transformed it into his other weapon, his key.
Kuro’s eyes widened as he saw exactly what Mahiru had in his hand and for the first time, raised his guards up. “Mahiru, stop—!” the Servamp shouted loud as a warning to Mahiru, but Mahiru wasn’t taking it at all.
From the top of his lungs Mahiru cried out,” Elpis! ”
His key finally transformed into its final stages, shining a bright light from it. Mahiru charged at Kuro with the prime objective of striking it into his chest once and for all so he could drag the demon out from the depths of his mind. He gripped his key as hard as he could and thrusted it forward, hoping to end all of this.
“Shit, Mahiru, you leave me no choice!” Kuro growled as he watched the charging Mahiru come closer and raised his right leg up. Mustering half of his leg’s strength into one powerful blow, he slammed his foot down onto the ground, instantly creating shockwaves that broke the ground beneath it and sent it towards Mahiru. Mahiru yelped as he lost his footing and fell back.
Mahiru yowled in pain as the force of the fall hit his back and sent a barrage of flaring pain throughout his body. He groaned as he turned to his side to try to ease it and immediately saw his key next to his side. Painstakingly, he tried to reach out for it but got his hopes crushed when a pair of familiar boots made themselves appear before his eye level.
Kuro knelt down before him and then looked towards his key. With a touch of his fingertips and a mumble underneath his breath, Mahiru watched aghast as his key started to dissipate into thin air, leaving him unarmed.
Kuro turned back towards him and gave him a pained look. “I told you I didn’t want to do this. I don’t like seeing you in pain,” he reminded Mahiru with a forlorn face and Mahiru groaned in response.
“I… I will definitely g-get him out of there… I’ll s-stop him from controlling you,” Mahiru managed to cough out a reply through the pain as he blinked the forming black spots and the lethargy that came from the fight and the fall out of his system but to increasingly no avail.
Kuro sighed as he heard Mahiru’s answer. “And that, Mahiru, is where you’re mistaken.”
“…H-huh?” Mahiru questioned with narrowed and knitted eyebrows, his eyes hazy as they barely fought on to maintain consciousness.
Kuro paused for a minute as he overlooked Mahiru’s fallen figure and then back to his eyes. “Your second mistake is … you assumed that my actions were not out of my own volition because of how uncharacteristic it was of me and blamed it on the demon in the rose.”
Even through the searing pain in his back and the inability to remain conscious, Mahiru groaned back,”W-what does… that mean…?”
“It means, Mahiru,” Kuro answered as he went to slowly pick Mahiru’s limp body up bridal-styled,”that you were wrong . I am not being possessed by the demon in the rose.”
Before Mahiru’s world went dark, he felt Kuro’s breath on his ears as he heard him speak these words:
“For this is merely who I truly am.”