Family Heirloom

By: Teno Hikari
email: [email protected] / [email protected]

* Disclaimers: Yes, Muraki and Tsuzuki are mine! ::runs from lawyers::

* Summary: AU again (I like being original!) - What if Tsuzuki Asato had never died?

* Warning: yaoi (m/m) pairing between Tsuzuki and Muraki - my favorite couple, teehee!


********

The first time I saw him was the day Grandfather had died. Dressed completely in all black, he was leaning against grandfather's dying body whispering last words to the old man. A gnarled and shaking old hand reached out to caress a smooth and youthful face and asked for something of the young looking man. The request was granted as the young man leaned down and kissed grandfather before snapping his neck.

Black gloved fingers closed those dead eyes and the man rose to his full height and then turned around to face me. The long black coat he wear swished with his movements and I was frozen with shock as he towered over me. He was perfect. Strong, graceful, and more beautiful than any woman ever could be. He kneeled down so we were at eye level and I was entranced by those sparkling amethysts.

"Hello," he smiled at me. He had a beautiful smile. "Your name is Kazutaka, right?"

"Yes," I whispered. By the Gods, even his voice was beautiful! Soft and gentle yet powerful. "Who ... who are you?"

"My name is Tsuzuki Asato," he answered and then slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses. It was a shame really since his eyes were to beautiful to cover up. The door creaked open and father entered the room and walked over to grandfather's bedside.

"It is done," Tsuzuki told him before rising up to see father cover grandfather with a blanket.

"Wonderful," father purred as he then gazed at Tsuzuki like a starving man would a buffet. Father slowly walked over to the dark haired man and placed his hands around his waist, pulling him close. Tsuzuki did not fight as he was pulled against my father who gripped his chin. For some reason such an action made me mad ... maybe jealous at my father who gave me an 'Are you still here?' look.

"Kazutaka," he said to me but his eyes did not leave from the young man in his arms. "Your mother and brother are waiting for you in the limo. Go now."

"Yes, father," I obeyed and before I stepped out the door I saw my father claim Tsuzuki's lips in a fierce kiss.


********

Mother had called Tsuzuki my father's doll. She told me that he had belonged to my grandfather and when he died, my father had claimed him. When my father would die, he would belong to either Saki or me. I didn't understand at the time because I thought Tsuzuki was not a doll but a human, and humans didn't live forever.

But when I saw Tsuzuki on certain occasions, he had not aged. As my father grew older, his doll remained the same and that was when I finally believed my mother. Tsuzuki was indeed a living doll, a family heirloom that was kept a secret from the public. I don't know what father did with him at nights; but, during the day when father was at work Tsuzuki was either in two places: the rose garden outside or in the kitchen eating something sweet.

He couldn't have been human at the way he ate and it startled the cooks as they watched him devour a whole six layer cake and not gain a pound. Honestly, where did it go? A very fascinating doll ... but I was not the only one interested; my brother, the bastard of the family, looked at Tsuzuki the same way my father did. It made me angry at him ... hate him ... and I knew I was jealous this time.


********

I saw him out on the balcony one night when the moon was full and red. His sunglasses were off, dangling from one hand, and I was thrilled to see those amethyst eyes once more. Feeling my gaze on him, he turned around to face me.

"Kazutaka?" I love it when he says my name. "It's late, why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep," I answer truthfully as step closer to him. "What about you?"

"Ah," he smiled. "I was doing some work for your father."

I could faintly see blood on his gloves and on the front of his coat. A very useful living doll indeed. He then turned his head away from me and gazed at the moon.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" he asked gently, his dark hair and coat swaying in the breeze. I shiver slightly and pull my robe tighter around my fourteen year old body. As I grew older, he stayed the same, and soon I would be older than him ... taller than him, powerful as him. I couldn't wait.

"Tsuzuki?" I step closer. "Why do you wear sunglasses all the time?"

The smile on his face widened slightly as he looked down at the glasses in his hand. He then placed them back and it upset me. I wanted to grab them off his angelic face and break them in my hands, stomp on those dark lenses that hid those beautiful violet eyes.

"At your father's request," he answered simply before he headed back inside. "Goodnight, Kazutaka."

I understood now. Father cherished those eyes, so much that he wanted to be the only one to see them. How selfish of my father. But Tsuzuki showed them to me on his own free will. I wonder if he wants me to become his next owner more than Saki. The thought pleases me and I can't help but smile.

'Someday he would belong to me.'

********

Later that year, my parents were murdered. The police had no suspect but I knew Saki to be guilty, he was angry with father one day. My bastard brother had dared try to kiss my father's doll and was punished. It surprised me to see father hit him since Saki had been his favorite son, and it made me want Tsuzuki Asato even more.

Tsuzuki said nothing about father's death, there was no trace of emotion on his face as he gave us gifts of condolences. He left, closing the door behind him and my brother I were to open our presents alone. Saki looked confused when his present was an empty hat box. When I opened my present, I understood clearly ... and finally Saki as well.

He launched at me with a sharp letter opener but I was faster with the silver dagger in my hand. Blood splattered across the pristine floor and I walked into the empty kitchen and brought and a large butcher knife with me. His head fit in the hatbox perfectly and the servants buried his corpse out in the back by the rose garden.

Tsuzuki returned the next night and did not ask about Saki but merely if I wanted to go out for ice cream. I had smiled but the first thing I did was remove those sunglasses and then kissed him. He tasted so sweet that I wanted to devour him right then and there. But I stopped myself, I was not ready to have him yet and he agreed. I left home to study abroad and we made promises to meet each other again. I also swear to myself that I would become worthy to be his owner... I would be as good a killer as Tsuzuki if not better.

"We'll meet again, Kazutaka," he said to me before he vanished. "On a full moon just like this. I look forward to it."

********

Almost twenty years go by and I am content with my progress. I've become a respectable doctor in Tokyo during the day and a hunter with a blood lust at night. I had pushed myself to the limits to learn black magic, to learn how to become immortal.

Taking the lives of humans thrilled me. It excited me to have their energy pulsing through my veins and blood on my hands. Is this how you felt when you killed, Tsuzuki? Do you know I still have the dagger you gave me? Do you know I use it to kill? I do this all for Tsuzuki... I want to bathe him in blood and pile corpses at his feet.

The boy screams beneath me under the full red moon and I smile as I watch his green eyes become dull and glassy. Such beautiful eyes, but not as pretty as Tsuzuki's. I can hear footsteps approach when I put my white clothing back on.

"The color suits you, Kazutaka," says a gentle and familiar voice. I turn my head and see him leaning against a tall sakura tree where my first victim lay. He has not changed at all, nor had I expected him to. He still wear black and I realized how ironic it was for me to be wearing white. Yin and yang. He offers me a warm smile, one that I have missed dearly over the years. "It's been awhile."

"It has," I walk towards him, ignoring the writhing body that lay close to my feet.

"You didn't kill him," Tsuzuki began to walk closer and I smile as I tower over him, looking down at those amethyst depths.

"The curse will let him live another few years," I say as I step closer to my doll whose eyes were focused on me. Only on me, as it should be.

"The scent of death is all around you," he says as I take him into my arms like my father had. "You kill for pleasure now?"

"Yes," I pur as I kiss his exposed throat, sliding a hand underneath his shirt. A wind with swirling sakura blows and I could smell the scent of blood and roses perfume around him ... such a sweet scent for a hunter. He shivers when I kiss him and hold his body tightly against my own. I will become immortal for I will never pass my doll down to another Muraki. I would not share Tsuzuki, not with family or anyone else ... he will be mine forever.

* owari *