16. Shared Secrets (1/2)

title: of the darkness||chapter: shared secretscharacters: ryou, shou, camulachapters: 16-25||words: 1,148||total: 17,985genre: family, supernatural||rated: pg-13challenge: diversity writing challenge, ygo gx, j6, multi-chapter with 15-25 chaptersnotes: it's an au. it involves vampires.summary: shou invites his

other in after ryou returns from a long trip away. that is his first mistake. it only gets worse from there.

the ojamas hadn't returned by the time a servant called fubuki, yuusuke, manjoume, and kenzan to dinner. like those seen before, this one was quiet and a trifle nervous, quite unlike what yuusuke recalled seeing on visits here in the past.

he didn't try to waste words cheering them up. he wanted to help things, but until he knew everything he could about what was going on, then he didn't want to make rash promises.

shou wasn't seated at the table, though ryou sat in his usual place at the head. an excellent feast stretched out on the table, but with places set only for four. yuusuke raised one eye

ow.

"not eating?"

ryou's shoulders lifted and dropped. "not hungry." his eyes touched yuusuke's for a moment, and the shadow mage knew that he knew.

there was no point in trying to pretend as if he didn't, then. he took his place, the usual one at ryou's right hand, and nodded. "i thought you would. it's not something that you want other people to see, is it?"

he was not surprised to see tension leak out from ryou. what did surprise him was how much didn't. "it isn't a pleasant sight," was all that the marufuji clan leader said. "even for people like all of you."

kenzan waved only

iefly at ryou's passing glance before he started to tear into the portion of beef set in front of him, teeth sharp and ripping. he seldom actually changed in order to eat, but his nature always showed.

yuusuke politely nibbled on his own food. at least this lack of dancing about could mean they could get answers instead of more questions. "how long ago did it happen?"

"not that long," ryou replied at once. "i met the one who changed me while i was on a trip to answer a village's cry for help."

fubuki leaned forward, eyes

ight and curious. "were they the one the village needed help from or was it something else?"

was that a moment of hesitation? yuusuke took mental notes on it all. perhaps they would end up with a few new questions after all.

"they were the one," ryou replied, resting his long-fingered hands on the table. "but after she changed me, she hasn't bothered them."

yuusuke noticed very clearly this time that ryou drew in a

eath – perhaps not necessary for life but for speaking – but then his lips crashed together and he said nothing else on that matter. yes. there were definitely questions being raised here.

"what happened to her?" manjoume asked, a little quieter than the others, though that was to be expected. he didn't know the marufujis like yuusuke and fubuki did.