A Carnival Comes to Town.

He was far from safety, very far indeed. Dressed in a snow white kimono and hamaka with wooden geta on his feet. Purple under kimono and ribbons at the sleeves. A red braided cord around his slender shoulders with a diamond bead holding it center of his chest. around his left wrist were onyx beads and around his right wrist was a golden bracelet. Thanks to a transparent scarf that covered his head and face one could not see the piercings he had in his ears or in his face. The color of his eyes or his face in general. Which perhaps was a good thing. He had gone out this morning early this morning setting out from home to come here because here was were it was. He had been searching on line board looking for inspiration for a painting and instead saw something else. Something that made him want to get up and leave the confines of him.

Normally he would have said something to his beloved or another in the castle but he could not let even the thought of it cross his mind or it would ruin everything! He had been such a rotten little thing lately so terrible to the one he loved and so he sought to surprise him to make it up to him. He just hoped it didn't back fire on him like it always did when he tried to do something like this. The reason he left was carefully wrapped up and slung over his shoulder as he paused before what appeared to be a a carnival. But it was this that caused him to pause. He had planned on being back before lunch but something about this made him pause....made him....he turned and walked into the carnival seeing others milling about. The wooden getta clicked against the ground as he walked through seeing the booths and rides before walking up to a large wooden warehouse. A man dressed funny with an over-sized hat stood there shouting for people to come. And see the wonders of the world....

He walked in with the crowd into the building the first sight was a woman covered in massive amounts of hair and his heart went out to her. It was a rare medical condition but she was being made a show of, as he walked through the next behind bars was a creature that made him hitch and bring his hand up as did many others but him because of the....smell.....two people had been torn apart and stitched back together as the man with the funny hat spoke.

"Amazing isn't he? He and his twin sister born together joined as one person. Two heads one body....one of the amazing wonders of the world.." He said glancing at the crowd at the veiled figure...

And he felt like he was going to be sick...the stink was insane, the infection that poor twisted creature had...he could see the puss at the stitch marks, the fowl scent of the blood the man and woman's head side by side half a woman's body half a man's four arms and four legs....mashed together....it was all he could do to not be sick...they were human. Human blood always made him sick to is stomach but this....this was beyond disgusting, this was down right horrifying. His focus was on the poor twisted creature that he didn't see the carnival master behind him licking his lips....as he was wondering no doubt what was hidden beneath the scarf....something he could make a show piece out of?

He left the warehouse finishing the tour there it didn't get better there was a human with pointed sawed teeth eating flesh....a twisted human it's head on backwards moving on all fours. It was sickening. He managed to get out of the warehouse and although he wanted to leave this Carnival of horrors he could not leave them like this. Not now that he knew. He wandered through the carnival grounds. He knew he couldn't leave these poor creatures like this and yet he also knew the Ringmaster was following him at a distance, he made a few turns before ducking into a tent slipping into it the flap closing soundlessly behind him and paused seeing the man inside his breath caught if he yelled or anything he would be caught by the Ringmaster who he was trying to avoid right now.

He turned, swords in hand as his white clown makeup covering his beautiful features. His face looked more like a sad creature's than a happy one. "The dark clown", he was advertised as these days. A small black dot on his nose and marks made to look almost like claw marks going over his eyes and down his cheeks. Two piercings on either end of his mouth in his cheeks as well as a piercing in the center of his bottom lip and heavy black makeup making his mouth seem like it had been split open.

He looked at Kira as he turned, heavy combat boots and all black circus attire made him seem like a dark, cruel creature. He put all of the swords in one hand and tilted his head to the side. Black eyes stared back at the lovely effeminate being before him. "Excuse me, you've come into the wrong tent...." he said lowly, his vice low and rich in dark tones as he stared at Kira with the light barely making his purple hair become visible.

Kira looked at this man this dark looking clown before him. He scented human to him. This carnival full of so many humans. And some so cruelly twisted. "I.." he breathed but paused as he scented the Ringmaster passing as he moved gliding across the ground away from the tent flap looking back a moment before looking again at the clown. "I don't meant to intrude." he spoke his low dark sultry voice barely heard in the room. Kira was trying so hard to not get caught by the Ringmaster. Upon leaving the Warehouse he became aware of the man following him, of his hungry gaze and eyes on him. He looked back at this dark clown before him holding the swords. "Please....just a moment...." he asked.

Kira shook his head and looked back at the flap. "It's....he's been chasing me since I left the warehouse...."

Ningyo sighed, but nodded all the same. He didn't really mind company it didn't bother him at all really. He had gotten himself captured after working for so long to move away from his parents, so company other than the ringmaster was a welcomed thing every now and then. "He'll chase you as long as he thinks you're easy to get his hands on...it's how he gets all of his acts,,," he told Kira lowly as he sat back down and began to polish the swords one by one.

Kira flinched shaking his head that was terrible. He moved further in towards the shadows of the tent looking back at the flap. "That's terrible...." He said lowly. "And what he's done to those people.." He said lowly. The one's he twisted into creatures caged in the warehouse this one trapped here in this carnival as well. Kira looked at him as he polished his swords. But before he could speak the Ringmaster spoke outside of the tent.

"Ningyo your on in thirty minutes make sure your ready. OH and have you seen an Effeminate beauty come your way? He's small and beautiful....would make a lovely addition to our.....family." the Ringmaster said lowly but the way he said it sent an unpleasant chill down Kira's spine.

Ningyo paused in polishing his swords to look up at the tent flap and sighed before responding lowly, "I'll be ready in a few more minutes master...I haven't seen the one you're looking for. If I had, I'd have called for you..."

When he was certain the ringmaster was gone, he returned to his swords and spoke lowly, "He wasn't the one who did the work...he was the one who had me do it...thanks to my magic, those monsters or 'circus freaks' are alive still..."

Kira looked at Ningyo who told him that after sending the Ringmaster away. He closed his eyes a moment. "Trapped here and made to obey him...." He spoke lowly. "Is there no way to escape him for you? For them? There's is a tortured existence but surely there has to be a way to get you out of here and away from him. This is horrible."He said lowly. Being made to twist others into freaks of nature. Even if Ningyo enjoyed preforming being made to use his powers in such a way what sort of power did the Ringmaster have?

Ningyo paused and looked up at Kira with those cold black eyes of his. "I don't want to escape him...this is where I work, how I make my living..." he said lowly before he looked back down at the sword he was polishing and began to finish cleaning it. "Besides...if I did try to leave him...he'd have me hunted down and would beat me until I died..."

Kira looked at him quietly a moment or two before sighing and sitting down. "I can understand performing and wanting to make a living but isn't there other places that would appreciate your art just the same without the dire consequences?" Kira asked to be in a situation like that. "I suppose I'm trying to understand why you'd want this life instead of one of freedom of choice?" He said looking at Ningyo. "One where you were made to use your magic on others like that. To be able to do such things means you must possess great power. So why then?" He asked trying to understand why this boy chose this life?

He sat the sword down with the other clean ones and looked back up at Kira. This being didn't understand? "I don't know what freedom means...I've been here for two years now...the ringmaster caught me when I was 18 and I've been here ever since..." he explained lowly. A slave to a cruel man, a human slave who was used for his magic and athletics. "I don't know anything else. The circus has always been my life and I'm here paying for my own actions...that's the reality I live in..."

Kira closed his eyes as he reached up and gathered the scarf in his hands pulling it down around his shoulders. When he opened them his pale ice blue with violet tint eyes looked into Ningyo's dark black. All of his piercings showed. "Slavery in any form is wrong Ningyo. You should not be a slave to this man or any other. You are not a thing or a possession to be owned. A piece of property. You are a living breathing person with a will of your own." Kira spoke as he stood up looking at this boy who had been hurt and broken by this Ringmaster.

By other Ringmasters before him. He closed his hand and looked at the tent flap. "This ends today. I will not stand idly by and watch as you or anyone else is made to wear the collar of a slave." He said firmly.

"I will never accept it. You have the right to your freedom. You have a right to choose your own path right or wrong. A right to walk freely. Your only master should be yourself. You should have the freedom to make friends and find your own way. If you must have a master then be your own master. Take control of your own leash of fate." Kira looked at him and smiled a warm gentle smile.

"It's alright Ningyo, I will end this today you need not worry stay here stay safe. I won't let him punish you or harm you....this island, these lands slavery in any form is not allowed." Kira turned looking at the tent flap."I will end this then I will help you realize what freedom means you and anyone everyone else Ningyo." Kira began to move towards the tent flap....to find the Ringmaster and end this Carnival of nightmares it never occurred to him that Ningyo might try to stop him....

Ningyo moved, grabbing Kira's wrist and shook his head no. "I like things the way they are....I have enough freedom here. I have food, clothes, money, and a place to sleep at night...." he began before he let go of Kira's hand. "If you change it...I won't have anywhere else to go...I won't have a job or a family...they'll..." he looked down then. The Ringmaster had power over him not because of magic or a curse or anything, but because he held the lives of his parents.... "He'll kill them if you try to stop him..."


Kira paused when Ningyo grabbed his wrist, listening to him and regarded him quietly. Won't have a job, won't have a family. Like it here. No such things were trained statements the truth. The final statement was the source of why a child like Ningyo stayed. A boy like him who had immense power. Had the power to alter the forms of others. Had the ability to preform and do such things. By holding the threat of his parents lives over his head this man held Ningyo who obviously loved his parents in check. "It's alright Ningyo. The Ringmaster is just a mortal man. He holds no power over me and will not be able to get past me to harm your parents Ningyo." Kira placed a gentle hand on Ningyo's shoulder.


"The Ringmaster is a man who works on fear and intimadation he wants you to fear him. To fear what he might do. Or a threat of what he can do. You have incredible gifts Ningyo and he's made you use them on others. You combined two people. Twisted the form of another at his command or he would harm your parents? You have the power to stop him but you've been made to fear him. That ends today." Kira said gently. "Today I will set you and your family free. Your welcome you and your family to come to the castle with me or go where-ever you like. The point is, your life is yours to choose. But you must be willing to fight for it and not willing to let anyone take it from you." Kira said gently as he looked at him. "I know Ningyo....because I was a slave once too." He said softly. "The one I love set me free. Now I will do the same for you." Kira smiled gently at the frightened and worried teen before turning towards the tent flap once again....he would find the Ringmaster and stop this madness once and for all.

Ningyo wanted to say no, wanted to fight back, but he was frozen in place. The sheer horror he was feeling at this made him freeze, unable to say anything else. This being...he was about to make his entire world come crashing down.

Kira walked towards the tent flap and out pushing the material up and away he paused looking back at the child who stood there frozen. Kira knew this sorta man all too well. "Ningyo....your free to follow me if you wish to learn the truth. Learn what it is this man really has done...." Kira said gently this place the horrible shadows and twisted energy to it. His gift's allowed him to see truths. "It's alright to follow me....I think it's best if you learn the answers to many things today....and don't worry no matter what happens...I will allow no harm to come to you." Kira said gently looking at him.

Kira paused at the tent flap looking back at Ningyo his gaze gentle as he took in the teen behind him wondering if he would stay here or go with him. Part of him knew that chances were the teen would stay here. There was a knowing in those dark eyes of his a sadness there that wanted to stay in the dark illusion he was in. But it was not a healthy one and while Kira could leave him there it wasn't healthy for the boy. They boy would suffocate here. He would grow stagnate in such a false illusion. "Are you staying here Ningyo?" he asked him gently. "Either way, I have to stop the Ringmaster. No one here is a slave he does not have the right to make a slave out of anyone....perhaps one day you'll understand you'll find someone...that you need to save from a cruel master."

Kira looked back though as Ningyo shook his head no. He was not going to go. He was going to stay here in the tent. Honestly....Kira could not blame him. Kira knew he was about to topple his world but he had to. He could not leave it this way. Simply couldn't. He walked out of the tent knowing what he was doing and with a simple flux of power caused all the innocents to leave the Carnival. Once they were gone he found the Ringmaster who laughed at him.

"You can't stop me. I have a black mage who can do wonders to you...."

"Or you'll what? The stench of death reeks heavily here. The twisted forms of those poor creatures. You killed his parents. You threaten him with it but you've already done the deed. I look at that boy and I know his parents would would never want this life for him. There feelings for him echo around him." Kira retorted and the Ringmaster laughed.

"And who are you to stop me?" He said and Kira sighed as he pulled his gun a fancy long barreled hand gun a show piece really.

Kira let go of his power and began to glow his hair everything the robes....floating off the ground. Although it was mid day one could see the moon in the day sky directly behind Kira. "Who am I? I think you know full well who I am." He countered and the man went to run. A human who used bullying and fear to control others. A human who worked with such things stood no chance against a vampire, a deity like him and Kira knew it. It was....sad in it's own right but he had to end this Carnival of darkness. This nightmare circus....Kira knew he would have to answer to Aoi when he finally returned home for fighting even as he laid waste to the man ashing him into noting as earth and sand rushed up to swallow him whole.

Kira closed his eyes as he set down and moved through the carnival, he put to rest to the twins....ending their suffering. The flesh eating beast who had no sense of self anymore and the poor man whose body was twisted into a mess....all of them he sent on. He could call Zero but knew Zero would go after the boy who had had no choice in the matter at hand. Ningyo had done all of this to hold onto his parents to an Illusion. Out of fear no doubt, believing himself to be trapped in this nightmare. No doubt taught since he was a small child to obey or be punished. he knew all to well the effect that could have on a person. Aoi had saved him countless times from the darkness that would have consumed him. Kira had stumbled across this...he had to save this boy....or at least try.  

Having finished in the warehouse sending on the poor twisted creatures he found there one by one until he leveled the building itself to the ground. Those poor people sent on the building no more now smoothed out earth and ground leveled and gone....Removed....it was the least he could do for them...there wasn't much more nothing could undo what was done to them. The hacking apart and putting together of there bodies the black magic that held them together. Kira moved through setting the circus hands free one by one some ran some cried the answers were mixed each one. The performers some seemed lost for a moment others came to collect others and they left without looking back. Some to return to a prior circus they were with some to go home having run away from home to join the circus now running back home hoping they had a home to return to. Others still running not knowing where they were going but not looking back. All throughout the carnival it was like this....and yet in the end liberating the carnival from a corrupt human had been for the most part rather dull no powers being thrown nothing but fear of his threats of a man who controlled others since childhood. That was how he had them trained ingrained fear since a young age. Kira had done what he had known he had to do although he knew for a fact Aoi would be less then pleased. It was still something he had had to do. He would accept being punished by his lover for disobeying his one rule the one promise he made to Aoi. That he Kira would not fight ever.....

Kira moved through to the Ringmaster's tent looking through his things and then found the steamer trunk he closed his eyes before opening it. There....preserved as one would a prized catch were....they looked more like wax figures folded up or dolls then real people. It was horrible. Eyes sewn shut....lips. Kira brought a hand to his mouth and closed his eyes as he closed it and then with strength not uncommon to a vampire lifted the trunk and walked out of the tent. He began walking back to Ningyo's tent. Even if the face was covered in face pant and they were dead dolls now...he knew who they were. He knew where he had to go now. It was the last place to go and although the Carnival was now almost devoid of life he could still sense Ningyo there waiting. Unmoving as if waiting for the hammer to fall on the last nail of the coffin of the illusion. AS if silently wanting for the end to come and as if he was silently asking Kira to not end it. To leave the illusion in place.

Kira closed the trunk his hand resting on the wood his eyes closed as his fingers bent he would make proper coffins for these two he would bury them and he would offer there son a home. A place to go. Somehow Kira had known at the end of this what he would find but he had had to do this anyways. It was no different then if Aoi had left things with Tsuki in the past or with Lilith when Kira turned away then wanting to be left in the dark illusion trapped under her spell. Aoi had known the spell had to end for Kira's sake and as much as it pained Kira to do this to the child to make him open his eyes to the truth he knew he had to. He had to get Ningyo for his own sake to wake up and see the truth. To be a slave to the darkness around him no more. With a heavy heart Kira sighed softly and steadied himself for this next step.

The least he could do for the boy was give them a proper burial. He set down the trunk just outside setting up a barrier so nothing happened to it and then walked into the tent looking at the boy who was in there standing where he had left him. "Ningyo.....there is something....you must know." Kira said gently sadly as he held out his hand to the boy. It was painful and he hated to do this to bring this boy to see this. But he had to wake up, he had to stop drowning in this dark fantasy. He had to stop being a slave to people like the Ringmaster and his magic. He had to....wake up. Or he would be lost forever. Kira reached out and gently took the boy's hand.

Kira hated doing this, didn't want to do this as he gently took Ningyo's hand into his own and looked at the 'dark clown' before him. "There is something....you need to see....Something you need to understand..." Kira said gently sadly his heart was breaking for this child. For this child whose parents he could not save because there had been no saving them, they had been killed a year and a half ago.

Ningyo looked sadly at Kira. He felt the tears threatening to fall. He shook his head and withdrew from Kira. "No...no..." he whispered lowly, almost hoarsely like the words wouldn't come out.

Kira looked at Ningyo, looked at him as he could see the burning at the corners of the boys eyes could see the clear threat of tears. "Ningyo..." He said gently said, and this was where Kira....with years of being a parent, with years of being a 'mother' to so many of his children was about to come in handy reached out and placed a gentle hand on the side of this child's face.

"I'm so sorry Ningyo, but there was nothing either of us could do. The Ringmaster Lied to you Ningyo,. Your parents, they loved you they didn't want you hurt and used by this man and sought to free you so he silenced them forever a year and a half ago." Kira spoke gently looking into this teenager's eyes. "He lied to you, No matter what you did you couldn't save them, he already took them from you....he did more then take them from you Ningyo. I will give them what he did not." Kira spoke gently, "And I offer you a home Ningyo, you are welcome to come with me to the castle after I take care of your parents properly I will give them a proper burial....I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." Kira said softly keeping it together for him, he'd allow himself to break when he returned home to Aoi.

Only then would Kira break until then he would be the strong parental figure Ningyo needed him to be.

Ningyo shook his head again as he felt the tears begin to fall, tearing lines through his white and black clown makeup. The scream, he didn't even realize it was him, ripped through him as he fell down to his knees in complete agony. He had known it, but hadn't wanted to face it all of this time...all of this time his parents...

With those thoughts, he screamed again, the tears falling and smearing his makeup. He hadn't been able to do anything for them...hadn't been able to protect them, to save them...

Kira looked at him as the screams tore through this small human boy as he cried and screamed and broke. He had been holding onto the illusion that he had been doing this to save them and Kira had to break it to save him...now....Kira moved dropping to his knees wrapping this breaking child up in his arms and began singing no words just a soundless lullaby, One hand on the back of Ningyo's head as he pulled this breaking child into him holding him and stroking his hair, he would just do this as long as this child needed him to, one arm around him in a hug the other petting the back of his head as the wordless song echoed through the air Kira rocking him gently as he sang for him. As he would for any of his children who suffered and cried like this.

The pain Ningyo was going through was great and Kira knew it, and it broke his heart that he had to be the one to make him go through this. To break the illusion that he had been holding so desperately to. That so long as he just obeyed the Ringmaster his parents would be alive and waiting for him. As long as he was a 'good boy' everything would be fine. Kira closed his eyes as he kept it up. He had to shatter that false illusion because that illusion was destroying this child. At least this way this child even if he made mistakes would be whole. He just hoped this child could forgive him for being the one who ripped apart the illusion of his parents still being alive.

Ningyo cried and screamed himself hoarse, until his voice was nearly gone, and when he couldn't cry anymore, he fell silent and just moved back from Kira's arms and looked at him silently for a while. His makeup was gone all down the sides of his cheeks from crying, and his eyes were puffy and hurt, but even this wouldn't stop him from saying what he was about to say.

"I'm going to leave this country...going to go and find another place to work in a new country...I'm not going to return until I can look at you and say that I've found my home on my own..." he told Kira lowly, his voice barely a whisper. "I'm not going to come live with you, that's not my place...I'm not like you or the people there...so I'm going to make my own way..."

Kira looked at Ningyo having stopped singing and waited listening and waiting for this child to speak, but when he finally spoke it was not the words of a broken hateful child but one determined to live and prove himself. Kira smiled a warm gentle smile. "I'm sure you'll find our place Ningyo, when most would shatter and break you were shook but pulled yourself back together. You have a strength here" Here Kira paused to touch him in the chest above his heart.

"That will take you very far. My home may not be your place, but there you will always find a friend me in Ningyo should you ever need someone to listen or simply want someone to talk to. I will always be there." Kira said as he lowered his hand. "I will await the day we met again and you can tell me you've found your place, that you can call your own. But don't ever forget Ningyo, that YOU are no one's slave, no one has the right to own you. Today on this day I KIra Chitsuki-Rei have cut last false ties of slavery that bound you to that life. You have your freedom let no fool try to take that from you fight for it. No matter what." Kira said looking at him and smiled gently warmly at him.

"Make your own way, I'm sure you'll find it, there's an inner fire in your eyes a strength there..." He said and pulled out his wallet getting out enough money to last him a year working for the carnival meant most of his things were taken care of be what he was given by the Ringmaster. "Here take this and consider it a gift to get you started." Kira said handing it to the proud boy and closing his hand around the wallet there was just cash in it enough to carry him many years if he spent it wisely it would last him for the rest of his life really if he was reckless a year or two. But to Kira it was pocket change.

"Ningyo...take care of yourself. I will see to it that your parents are properly buried. And that is a gift but if you feel like you can't accept it....then pay it back by someday by saving someone who needs saving. " Kira smiled gently at the teenager before him.

Ningyo had wanted to say no, but he looked sadly at the wallet. It was all he had now. Without his job here, he was homeless and broke- a poor orphan living on the streets. He looked back up at Kira after a while and nodded. "I will never make enough money in my lifetime to pay you back, but I will remember you for this always...I'll never forget the man who paid for my freedom with his tears..."

Kira smiled gently at Ningyo shaking his head. "It's alright. I would shed a thousand tears and more to save the life of a child who didn't deserve such a fate." he said softly. "I could never turn my back on you. That wallet means little to me it's nothing more then cloth and paper....what holds the most value to me is sitting before me holding that cloth and paper." Kira said gently. "Your life your freedom mean more to me then all the money in the world. I could be penniless but so long as those around me are free and happy that would be all that mattered to me." Kira smiled gently at Ningyo.


"Take that, use that find yourself a home, clothes and food. Whatever you need. May it see you through where you go and further. Take care of yourself Ningyo." Kira spoke gently looking at him.

"Never forget Ningyo is Ningyo, you are not a possession you cannot be replaced or bought or sold. No one can have you. Your life is yours and it's up to who you share your time with. No one take that from you and if they try you fight them. You'll find your place in this world Ningyo, you have good eyes there strong. and clear."

After that Kira parted ways with Ningyo certain that the child would be alright taking the steamer trunk with him so that his parents would be given a proper burial once he returned to Tokyo as well as Aoi's gift which was still on Kira's back. Once at the castle he handed the trunk to the guards with full instructions for care and walked in seeing both an irritated and upset Aoi at his disappearance and Neikan....who at the moment he ignored. Kira moved giving no time for arguments across the throne room to Aoi setting down his gift to Aoi his reason for leaving for what should have been half and hour and collapsed into the taller vampire breaking down at that moment into heart broken tears clinging to his shirt front for dear life. Everything he had seen and dealt with there...he had not called for Aoi he could have but Aoi was so tired lately and that Kira felt was his fault for being so hard on Aoi so he had dealt with it....but....he wasn't built for handling such darkness without breaking.

Aoi had been angry at Kira for not telling him where he was going or that he was leaving, but when his little lover fell into him in tears, his gaze which had been harsh, softened and he looked down at Kira's head in concern. "Kira, Kira what happened? Did someone hurt you? Did they touch you? What's wrong?"

Kira shook his head no to did someone touch you. Taking a shaky breathe he whispered. "I went out to get you a gift for our anniversary I expected to be gone no more then half an hour...but along the way back I came across a carnival....it had such a terrible dark aura to it..." Kira whispered clinging to Aoi as the tears continued to fall. "The Ringmaster he had made this child do terrible things Aoi he made him tear people apart and put them back together to turn them into living freaks, he made them perform, he had various other things going on. He promised the child so long as he did what he was told he would not harm his parents he would get his parents back....but that sick man had already killed his parents long ago....and stuffed them. Then stuffed them in a steamer trunk. I sent the trunk with the guards to have them properly buried for the boy." Kira whispered. But the tears continued to fall.

"I ended the Ringmaster I had to....and those creatures I sent them on...that boy he cried when he learned the truth, he cried and cried and then he promised me he'd find his way and his place so that he could face me one day but that it wasn't here with me." Kira was trembling. "They were all human's Aoi the infectons...the darkness.." Kira buried his face in Aoi's shirt front crying usually this was the sort of thing his beloved dealt with and Kira had no idea....but Kira had found it.

Aoi fell silent as he listened. Kira had finally witnessed the darkness he had been sheltering his little lover from all of this time, had finally bee there to see it first hand. "I know..." he said lowly as he looked down at Kira with sad, mix-matched eyes. "I had already gotten reports on that place...I had hoped you wouldn't go there to see it...so that I could deal with it to spare you this because I knew what it'd do to you..."

He put a gentle hand on Kira's head and looked at him sadly. "The reports had been coming in for two years now...but the circus moved around so much I could never find it in time...I had hunted them for so long that I had to give up for awhile...I never thought you'd go out and find it...I had hoped to go and rid the world of them before you could see..."

Kira shook his head as he cried he didn't understand at all. "How..." he breathed as he curled into Aoi. "How can they justify doing that to another person....they call us cruel and evil because we live on the blood of others but that's just..." He whispered clinging to Aoi he knew not all of humanity was like that just like he knew there were some truly evil vampires out there. But that. Kira continued to cry as he held onto Aoi. "Thats why your always so withdrawn and tired isn't it....because your always facing things like that...and worried I'll sense it feel it around you..." Kira said lowly softly aware suddenly, Aoi knew how sensitive Kira was to such things how fragile he was how he managed to hold it together until he got back to the castle he didn't know but he did.

Kira looked up at Aoi as he curled against him. "I found it by accident....it was near the music shop I went to in Hiroshima....where the Order Eri and I had made for you was finally finished....they called this morning so I went to make sure it was right and pick it up....today is the day....you...married us all those years ago...so we wanted to give you something special. I found the carnival by sheer accident. I....something....I think....that the child caught up in the middle of it all was what called me there....it was my finding him that made me want to save him and end it instead of calling for you instantly to put it end to it all..."

Aoi closed his eyes and sighed. Kira had finally learned what he had been doing for so long now. Always tired, always trying to keep Kira from getting so close to a darkness that he couldn't handle... "I've been protecting you from it for all of these centuries...only now have you found out..." he answered lowly as he opened his eyes to look sadly down at Kira.

Kira looked sadly at Aoi as he said that as he reached up and brushed at his own tears. "Because I'm not strong enough to handle this." He said lowly. Even now with Eri forcing him to accept his sacrifice and become one with him KIra still wasn't strong enough to handle the darkness that Aoi must deal with. Kira looked down at the wrapped package. Closing his eyes feeling sorry for himself would not help. "I...I'm sorry I'm not stronger Aoi....I'm sorry I've made you carry this weight all alone for so long." He whispered. How could he be so weak and justify it? How could he continually make Aoi carry this by himself.Even as Kira leaned against Aoi still shaking still trembling slightly still needing desperately to feel his strength to feel his closeness. "I'm so weak without you...I can't handle anything...I need you always."

Kira took a deep calming breath after a moment or two wiping the tears from his eyes and reached down to pick up the carefully wrapped package. He lifted it up it was so important this got to Aoi. "Here...Eri helped me design it last year we wanted you to have it this your today on our anniversary....I had thought Eri and I would give it to you together I didn't know at the time that he was fading and wanted to give you one last gift from the both of us." Kira said as he held out the gift to Aoi resting on both of his hands.

Somewhere forever deep inside of Kira was the part of him that had once been Eri. But...now. Kira looked down at the leather wrapped around the gift. "Today...was the day you made certain the world knew we would never bear the mark of slave to anyone that we would walk forever as your treasured husbands...and defy the vampire council who disapproved of us." Kira said softly to Aoi.

Aoi looked at Kira and took the gift from him. "I didn't know he would be leaving me the way he did...I miss him..." he told Kira lowly as he looked down at the gift. "I know you two were so close...and we were all so happy together," he said as he opened the leather wrapped around the gift to reveal a beautiful, hand crafted, custom guitar. Aoi put his hand on the strings and ran them over the metal cords and then smiled as he looked up at Kira and told him with all of his heart, "It's beautiful...just like you both..."

Kira looked at Aoi and smiled sadly. "Yeah...If I had known I would have tried to heal him tried to save him...I think he knew that..." He said softly lowly looking at the guitar. Kira took a deep breath taking half a step back.

It had been centuries since he last sang until Ningyo, and when he sang for Ningyo it was because he realized at that moment what it was that Aoi protected him from and what it was that Kira....protected Aoi from.

Kira bowed his head he had lost it his reason for singing....and now...he had found it again. Head bowed he took a deep breath but as Kira brought his head up and opened his eyes a pure solid sound left him a note unlike anything he let out before. From the heart, Kira sang a song a full song one saying so much he was sorry for forgetting his reason for singing, how deep and how much he loved Aoi....and the weight of his voice of his song was directed at Aoi.


His song was for Aoi. Kira who had not truly .ng for centuries, was singing again, today Aoi's s gift from Kira was his phoenix song pure full of his deepest purest feelings form his heart....directed purely for Aoi and filling the entirety of the castle.....with the sound of Kira's voice.

Aoi looked at Kira as he sang and couldn't help but smile. Kira had forgotten his voice for so long, left his song behind and kept himself distant for so long...it was so relaxing and reassuring to hear him sing, to see him realize now the things he had went through to keep Kira safe.

Kira continued to sing his voice raising even more higher and higher as it carried on currents of emotion. Waves of feeling pure feeling for Aoi. Love. He lowered his gaze and looked at Aoi as pure sound left him. He stepped forwards walking towards Aoi and up to him standing before him as he sang before Aoi letting the melody convey his feelings as he swayed slightly with the wordless song, so long ago had he last sang, he had forgotten this, his reasons for singing this feeling deep inside his heart. He found it again, Everything Aoi did to keep him safe to make certain Kira always had a reason to sing and yet Kira himself lost sight of it.

Even though Aoi sought to keep the darkness from putting out the light Kira needed. He found it thought. He found what it was Aoi was doing he understood now what his Dragon didn't have the heart to put to words not fully for fear of it breaking Kira.

And it nearly had when he did learn of it. If he had not clung to Aoi and cried it out heard Aoi speak about knowing and trying to find it before it found Kira that this was what he did, what he tried so hard to keep from him. Kira sang until the raw current of emotion left him and once again he was leaning against the taller dragon hugging him.

"Forgive me....for causing you such sorrow....please forgive me for forgetting my song..." Kira asked as his head rested against Aoi's chest his hand against his strong frame....for forgetting his reason to sing.

Aoi wrapped his arms around Kira and he looked down at him. So fragile was his little bird, and yet so strong. "Forgive me, for not being able to explain what I've been working so hard for..." he asked lowly and kissed Kira's forehead.

Kira smiled. "Forgiven." He answered as he rested happily in Aoi's embrace. He looked up at him being held lovingly in his arms as he hugged him back. "I lost sight of how I could help you Aoi. You who always seem so strong. I wanted to stay by your side and somewhere I something happened and I felt like I was no longer needed there....even though you never pushed me away." Kira said softly.

"I needed you to need me but I don't need you to be broken. That's not what I want so I was afraid to say what I was feeling inside because I didn't want anyone thinking that's what I wanted.for you..." Kira spoke gently. "I realized today....that what I lost sight of...was the fact that I was always needed at your side as much I need you at mine" Kira looked up at him. "Every time I sing...every time in the past when I sang I would see such peace come around you as if all your troubles went away and somewhere I forgot that." Kira reached up to cup his cheek..."I realized today....that what I thought I lost I always had, you where always right here waiting hoping I'd realize what you couldn't say...." Kira shook his head but smiled and leaned up and brought his other hand up not pulling away from Aoi and kissed his beloved dragon with all of is love with everything he felt for the dragon before him on the lips...he kissed Aoi as he had the first time he kissed him so long ago to make it clear through that half mask he had been wearing....Kira loved and adored this man more then anyone.