“You don’t understand what you just walked into.”
The first hour or so of his repose was calm as it properly could be, though he could feel the other part of him beginning to surface, that one that would surely herald the coming of the beast. Hotaru was so much more like the animal they both became that sometimes, Hikaru could not be bothered to distinguish between them, though they were in fact different. While Hotaru was hardly the model of restraint and quietude that Hikaru was, he at least had control of his own faculties, and chose his actions as he wanted, rather than sue to manipulation by some outside force. The beast inside them both was not like that. It was subject to his will in only the loosest of senses. He’d crafted what control of it he could over the years of his life, but it was still a creature of instinct, wholly different in character from either of his “sides.”
He was afraid of it, and anyone with half a brain to think with should be the same, he was certain. Which was why, when he inhaled and scented her coming in his general direction, he groaned inwardly and cursed his luck. Shizuka complicated his life to a degree that he did not appreciate (though that part of him quite enjoyed it), but he’d never want to hurt her any more than he wanted to hurt anyone else, which was to say generally not at all. But the beast would not discriminate. If it felt like slaying her, it would.
He considered just running, disappearing further into the forest, but he was in the center now, and leaving would take him too close to populated areas. He definitely didn’t want that. He had to get her to go away somehow, before he transformed and ruined everything his mother had built for him. This life, where he could pretend that he was only a vampire, and that would be enough. Where he had a brother, and things to look forward to. Where his little personality issue was taken to be an interesting eccentricity and nothing more. Most of the people he knew had seen weirder things, but none of them had ever seen what he became on nights like these.
Her words were hardly a surprise. “Always the prefect,” he muttered, mostly to himself, though he did not doubt she could hear. Honestly, he had trouble figuring this girl out. In one sense, she was very simple—bound to what she saw as her duty, rude, and belligerent. She’d more than likely attempt to deck him if he straightforwardly insulted her to get her to leave, but she was stubborn enough that she probably wouldn’t go if he just asked. He pushed himself up off the grass, eyeing her suspiciously. “Would it kill you to leave me in peace, just once?”
As he spoke, his left eye shifted from purple to red in hue, and the inky-black of his hair took on definite white streaks. Well, damn. He wasn’t sure if this was the transformation proper or just Hotaru being provoked, but either way, Hikaru clamped down on the changes for just a moment, leaving him in a strange state of limbo that he imagined must resemble what he would have been like if he hadn’t rejected the Hotaru portion of his personality enough to make it an almost-separate entity. “I don’t have time to deal with this.” And he didn’t—he could feel time growing short.
He was afraid of it, and anyone with half a brain to think with should be the same, he was certain. Which was why, when he inhaled and scented her coming in his general direction, he groaned inwardly and cursed his luck. Shizuka complicated his life to a degree that he did not appreciate (though that part of him quite enjoyed it), but he’d never want to hurt her any more than he wanted to hurt anyone else, which was to say generally not at all. But the beast would not discriminate. If it felt like slaying her, it would.
He considered just running, disappearing further into the forest, but he was in the center now, and leaving would take him too close to populated areas. He definitely didn’t want that. He had to get her to go away somehow, before he transformed and ruined everything his mother had built for him. This life, where he could pretend that he was only a vampire, and that would be enough. Where he had a brother, and things to look forward to. Where his little personality issue was taken to be an interesting eccentricity and nothing more. Most of the people he knew had seen weirder things, but none of them had ever seen what he became on nights like these.
Her words were hardly a surprise. “Always the prefect,” he muttered, mostly to himself, though he did not doubt she could hear. Honestly, he had trouble figuring this girl out. In one sense, she was very simple—bound to what she saw as her duty, rude, and belligerent. She’d more than likely attempt to deck him if he straightforwardly insulted her to get her to leave, but she was stubborn enough that she probably wouldn’t go if he just asked. He pushed himself up off the grass, eyeing her suspiciously. “Would it kill you to leave me in peace, just once?”
As he spoke, his left eye shifted from purple to red in hue, and the inky-black of his hair took on definite white streaks. Well, damn. He wasn’t sure if this was the transformation proper or just Hotaru being provoked, but either way, Hikaru clamped down on the changes for just a moment, leaving him in a strange state of limbo that he imagined must resemble what he would have been like if he hadn’t rejected the Hotaru portion of his personality enough to make it an almost-separate entity. “I don’t have time to deal with this.” And he didn’t—he could feel time growing short.