BLOOD STAINED ROSES

Chapter 6

The air was tense around the mansion. It was a huge change from the happy attitude that almost everyone usually had when Ryou was coming home. The only people that were not nervous were Saki and Ichirou who were the only ones who had not met Chuu. They were also the oldest - with the exception of Kisaki and Ryou.

Everyone, with the exception of Kisaki, was in their rooms. Chuu did not have a choice but to be in his room since no one would let him out and the door was locked from the outside. He had worn himself out with the running he'd done around his room earlier so he sat on his bed with his head resting on his arms. Kisaki was in the library, trying to read the books he had pulled off of the shelves, but it was pointless. He could not concentrate at all. Yami blasted music from little speakers in her ears, singing along to the haunting melody. Yuna laid outstretched on her bed, staring at the wall, which to her displeasure was still painted yellow. Several times the thought that 'whoever had painted this room must have had some serious issues' crossed her mind. After he'd woken up and been told the news Miku had begun to make paper ducks. He did this for fun as well as stress relief. Because of this he had made thousands over the years, all of which he kept in a small closet in his room. Even Noriko was worried, though she acted no differently. She sat quietly in her room, reading a book and wondering what would happen.

Finally, the door swung open (this was only done for dramatic effect considering doors were obviously unnecessary) and Ryou came whirling into the front room. The long black coat he wore twirled around him as he spun in his usual manner. He stopped and waved a hand. Bags materialized around the room, one for everyone in the house.

One by one the vampires had left their rooms to gather around him when he was spinning. Now there were six surrounding him while Kisaki stood at the top of the steps as usual, watching the commotion (He was usually in the library when Ryou came home.)

"Hello, I missed everyone so much that I couldn't possibly stay away any longer! How has my darling Chuu-chan been?" he asked.

He climbed the steps as if to go to his room... or Chuu's room. He paused at the top and turned to Kisaki. The smile that had already been on his lips changed to a smirk.

"My dear Kisaki, you look troubled. What's the matter?" Ryou said with mock sincerity.

The glare that appeared on Kisaki's face would have frightened most people, but Ryou just laughed at it. Why should he be afraid of something as simple as a look? It was not as though Kisaki would actually do something. Even if he tried, the slightly younger vampire would be able to leave no more than a couple of scratches.

"I do hope that you've been a good boy," Ryou said; he was standing so close to Kisaki that the silver haired beauty could feel his breath on his face, "I hope you've kept your hands off of what doesn't belong to you."

Kisaki could not take Ryou's knowing gaze any longer. He walked downstairs and down the hall that led to his room Ryou watched him leave, laughing softly.

"Well, well, well... it seems that I was right," he said to himself.

Everyone heard the statement even though it was barely a whisper. Yami gave Yuna an uneasy glance. They saw Ryou begin to move again. Yami quickly tried to think of something she could say to give Chuu more time.

"Ryou-sama, are those gifts for us?" she asked.

"Ah, yes! How could I forget?" Ryou said turning around.

He went to the pile he had conjured against the wall. After sorting through everything he began to distribute the bags. Mostly they were clothes and some jewelry. Amidst his normal clothes, Miku found a short, black skirt, a deep crimson, sleeveless shirt, and high-heeled black sandals. It had been a request from some of the female vampires (a.k.a. Yami and Yuna). Miku blinked with an amused look on his face.

"Thank you, Ryou-sama," said Yami.

"Yeah, maybe this will actually fit him right. He's so skinny that everyone else's clothes are too big for him," added Yuna.

"Yes, well, these should fit him," said Ryou.

"Come on, Miku-chan, you should change and model for us!" said Yami as she and Yuna grabbed his arms and started dragging him away.

"How about not..." muttered Miku.

"You always say that!" said Yami.

She glared at Miku who glared back. Yuna was glaring, too. It was obvious that no one was really seriously mad, they were just trying to see who would give in first. Finally, Miku gave a sigh of defeat.

"Fine!" he said.

"Yay!" said both Yami and Yuna.

"Maybe you could do it tomorrow. As much as I would like to see this, I'm tired," said Ryou. "I think it's time for me to go to bed."

"Don't worry, we'll wait until tomorrow!" said Yuna.

He nodded and turned to go to his bedroom. Meanwhile, the mask some had had to hide their worry evaporated-- none of them had mastered it as well as Kisaki, anyway, so Ryou had probably seen through them all-- and most of the vampires left formed a small circle in the middle of the room. It consisted of Yuna, Yami, Miku, and Noriko, who was only there because Yuna had grabbed her arm and dragged her into the circle.

"He's messing with us," said Miku, "that's the only reason I can think of for him not to have gone into Chuu-kun's room."

Yuna nodded and said, "He's especially after Kisaki-san. He knows that something's up."

"He loves his mind games... It's not like this is the first time he's done something like this," added Yami, "but I still wish there was something we could do."

"There's nothing we can do... we just have to hope for the best," said Noriko softly.

Everyone went quiet for a minute, turning their heads toward the usually silent Noriko. Yuna was the only one there that had heard here say more than maybe two words in one day. She was shocked that this was the second time she had spoken.

"She's right," she said, breaking the awkward silence, "Maybe we should just go to bed."

No one objected so they left down the hallway that led to their rooms. Behind the group was Ichirou. He was taller than most of the others with dark blue hair that just reached his shoulders. He had dark emerald eyes that had a good-natured look about them.

"Wait, do I really have to wear a dress tomorrow?" asked Miku.

"Yep! It might help cheer Chuu-chan up!" said Yami.

"Hey, Ichirou-kun, any chance you wanna put on a dress and help us out?" called Yuna.

"Sure, it's not like I have anything to do. Anyway, I still have to meet this Chuu that everyone's been talking about," he said lightly.

"Alright, we'll find you something to wear, then!" said Yuna.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," said Ichiro, going into his room.

Everyone went to their rooms. That was, everyone, but the beauty with firey red hair that had stayed behind. Instead, she went down the opposite hall that Kisaki had disappeared down earlier; it was also where her room was. She stopped at the farthest door and knocked softly.

"Who's there?" called Kisaki.

"It's me, Saki," she answered, "I just though you should know that Ryou went to bed, so you can go see Chuu-san."

"I already heard, but thank you."

"Well, good night, then, Kisaki-kun."

She left and so did Kisaki, though as she walked to her room, he went to Chuu's without so much as standing up. He appeared sitting at the edge of Chuu's bed, causing the younger man to let out a yell in surprise and fear.

"Chuu, calm down, it's just me," said Kisaki in a low, urgent voice.

The yelling died away and Chuu just sat, giving Kisaki a curious look. It was obvious that he was confused. He had expected a visitor tonight, but this was definitely not who he had expected.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" he stammered.

"I'm always here around this time..." said Kisaki, raising an eyebrow.

"I know that... but are you sure that this is okay considering..." Chuu muttered.

"I don't think it makes any difference whether I'm here while he is or not. It's obvious that he knows that something's going on. Right now he's just trying to make us nervous. It doesn't matter if I'm here now. He already knows that I've been here every day since he left," explained Kisaki.

"Do you think he'll be here tomorrow?" asked Chuu hopefully, obviously wanting the answer to be 'no.'

Instead Kisaki sighed and answered, "Most likely he will be here tomorrow. It's probably taking a lot of self control for him not to come in here right now. Tomorrow, though, he'll be here for sure."

Chuu looked away from him. They both knew what would happen when Ryou visited Chuu. Just the thought of it gave Chuu a chill. He began to shake violently.

"Are you alright?" asked Kisaki in alarm, "Chuu, what's wrong?"

He only shook his head, but he would not look at Kisaki. Instead he tried to look past him at the door. Even when he felt arms surround him and pull him against Kisaki's chest, he stared at the black cloth that covered it.

"Damn it," muttered Kisaki, "I've never felt so helpless... I want to do something, but..."

"There's nothing you can do," whispered Chuu.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize... It's not your fault."

It went quiet. This was not really an awkward silence... they were just too caught up in their own thoughts to speak.

"You should go to sleep," said Kisaki. "You're going to need your rest."

He pulled away from Chuu who just nodded and lay down. Kisaki turned off the light before lying down next to him. He gently stroked Chuu's blonde and brown hair.

"I love you," he whispered.

Chuu moved closer to Kisaki, putting an arm around the silver haired man and snuggling into his chest.

"I love you, too," he answered.

***

For the first time in almost a week, Chuu awoke alone in his bed. It did not actually surprise him. Kisaki had told him that he had planned to leave until Ryou finished his 'visit.' No one knew when that would be, so he had left early. Though this plan made sense, Kisaki's absence made Chuu feel lonely.

A knock on the door caused Chuu to start. His body began to shake. He had to take a few breaths to calm himself before he called for whoever was outside his door to come in. The chance of Ryou actually knocking was low, anyway, so there really was not a reason for him to get excited.

"Hello, Chuu-kun."

Instead of Yami or Yuna, it was Miku who walked in with a tray of food... but Chuu had to look twice to comprehend what was going on. It was normal for Miku to have two ponytails, but today he was wearing the clothes that Ryou had bought him. The crimson, sleeveless shirt was paired with the black skirt that came just above his knees. There was a black choker around his neck and a couple silver bracelets on his right arm. Chuu could not help but wonder how he could walk in the high-heeled black sandals.

Behind Miku was someone that Chuu had not yet met. He had a bow in his dark blue shoulder length hair that covered one of his green eyes. He, too, was dressed in girls clothes. He wore a black dress that, like Miku's, reached about an inch above his knees. He wore high heeled black boots that went up to his knees. When Chuu saw him, he thought that he was a girl. It was not until he spoke that Chuu realized that it really was a boy.

"Hello, Chuu-san, my name is Hiromi Ichirou. I thought I would come meet you and, as you can see, got talked into dressing in girls clothes, just like Miku-kun," he said with a friendly smile.

"Um... hi?" said Chuu, unsure of how to react to the amount of cross dressing that was going on in this place.

"We didn't have to talk you into anything. We just asked," pointed out Yami who had just walked in behind him.

"I guess that's true."

"Um... why are you cross dressing?" asked Chuu.

"We wanted to cheer you up!" said Yami with a huge smile. "Well, that and there is the fact that both me and Yuna wanted to see them cross dress because we're both crazy fan girls..."

Miku, Ichirou, and Yami moved farther into the room so Yuna could get out of the doorway. Behind him, Chuu noticed Noriko. She also walked into the room. Even though the room was large, it seemed a lot smaller when there were six people in it. After handing Chuu his tray of food, Miku moved to a corner of the room that was closest to the bed, probably to free up space in the now slightly cramped room.

"So...um...why is everyone here?" asked Chuu, ignoring his food and wondering how cross dressing was supposed to make him feel better.

He really did not understand how this was supposed to cheer him up. Sure, it was a little amusing --and a little disturbing considering both Miku and Ichiro looked a little too much like girls -- but it was not that amusing. It only proved his theory that everyone in this house was completely insane.

"We were all worried about you," said Yami.

Chuu lowered his head, feeling slightly embarrassed to have cause concern. Unsure of exactly what to say, he looked at the food in his lap. It included his favorite foods and looked very good. It was too bad that he really did not have an appetite.

"You really should eat," said Yuna, noticing that Chuu's food had not been touched. "You'll need your strength."

"I'm not sure my stomach can handle it..." muttered Chuu.

"I understand that, but you really do need all o-"

"I'm sorry, but I can't eat," said Chuu cutting off Yuna's sentence.

"I'll take it back then," offered Yami.

He nodded and she took the tray. Everyone else stayed behind. Chuu began to feel funny, he knew they were watching him. Each had a nervous look on his or her face as though they expected him to do something crazy.

"Um... you were worried about me?" he said, breaking the awkward silence with the first thing that came to mind.

"We don't want Chuu-kun to be depressed!" said Miku in a strange little voice.

A small smile appeared on Chuu's face. It was a nice thought, but nothing could stop him from being depressed or scared. He could not escape it for more than a minute before it all came rushing back to him. He kept wishing that Kisaki would do something to stop Ryou, though he knew it was impossible. If Kisaki were to do anything, it would only make things worse.

"Thank you," he muttered.

"Who's thanking who for what?" asked Yami as she walked back into the room.

"I'm thanking all of you for worrying about me," clarified Chuu, "but I'm sorry for being such a burden."

"You're not being a burden," said Yami. "We like having you around. That's why we're worried.

She sat next to Chuu and patted his head. They all had seen Ryou kill far too many people. Most of the people who had stayed in this room did not make it. They did not want to see Chuu added to that already incalculable number.

They wasted time talking about random things -- so random, in fact that it included Miku saying that he wanted a moogle, Yami saying that she wanted a chocobo, and Yuna saying that she wanted Asagi in a box -- that they thought would cheer him up. He was just happy that they were there to keep his mind off of everything, even if it did not last very long. They stayed for about an hour before finally leaving. They all told Chuu that they would see him later before walking out the door. And Chuu was alone again.

***

"And where are you going?" asked Ryou in a soft voice.

He had found Kisaki in his room, dressed in a leather coat, black jeans, and a plain fitted white shirt. It was the coat, which was rather heavy to just wear around the house, as well as the money that he was taking from the table that told the older vampire that Kisaki was going somewhere.

"Out," said Kisaki simply.

"So you're running," said Ryou with a sadistic smile, "You want to be as far from here as you can be when I have my way with Chuu. You think that by leaving you can escape his screams."

He moved closer to Kisaki. Ryou gently stroked Kisaki's face, though the other man looked away.

"You can't, though," Ryou whispered. "The screams will follow you wherever you go... just as Izumi's did."

Kisaki turned his head so he could see the twisted smile on his face and backed away as a thousand questions filled his head. Was he referring to the person in his dreams? The person he'd been trying so hard to remember. Did this mean that he was real?

"Ah, that's right, you don't remember him..." said Ryou as though it was something he had just remembered. "Oh well, I'll just let you live with your ignorance and delusions for now... You may go and see for yourself how leaving can be just as horrible as staying.

He walked to the door only to pause for a moment. He turned to Kisaki.

"I suppose I won't see you before I leave, then, since I am planning to leave after seeing Chuu. I am very busy after all. That being the case, I suppose I'll say goodbye for now and remind you once again to heed my warnings," he said before finally leaving.

Seeing that he was gone, Kisaki sighed. He did not want to admit it, but he knew that what Ryou said was true. The only reason that he was leaving was so he did not try to kill Ryou -- something he knew was pointless because he had tried to do so before -- and get both him and Chuu into more trouble.

***

Contrary to Chuu's expectations there was a knock on the door that did not come from anyone who visited daily. A second after the sound was heard, the door opened to reveal the person -- if he could even be called a person, more like 'thing', really -- that he had been expecting and least wanting to see. Ryou walked in with that smile that Chuu hated so much playing across his beautiful face. Chuu's body began to shake uncontrollably as it had earlier as well as the night before. As much as he tried to fight it, there was nothing he could do but let the trembling continue.

"My dear, what is wrong?" asked Ryou. "You're shaking."

His response was silence. Chuu only stared vacantly at the ground, watching as the shadow moved closer and closer to his bed.

"How have you been?" asked Ryou, not expecting an answer. "Has Kisaki been here to see you today? From what I can tell, you two have become quite close in my absence."

Chuu still didn't so much as look at Ryou. He tried as hard as he could to stop the vampire from invading his mind. He knew it was pointless, though. Ryou had already gotten all of the information that he wanted

He sat at the edge of Chuu's bed and put his face close to the younger man's. Ryou kissed him, roughly biting Chuu's lips and tearing the skin, causing him to bleed. When he pulled away there was a malicious spark in his amethyst eyes.

"You have been very bad, haven't you?" he whispered. "It's only right that you and Kisaki are punished."

"Wh- What are you going to do to him?" asked Chuu in a shaky voice.

"Nothing to him, personally. I'll just take everything out on you and watch as he falls apart."