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thirtyforthree for Kira Sakuya/Mudo Setsuna/Mudo Sara from Kaori Yuki's Angel Sanctuary. There will be spoilers in nearly every theme -- given the characters, it's nearly impossible to avoid them! -- and a lot of potentially objectionable content. This is because the source manga has a lot of potentially objectionable content. If incest squicks you, or you know you'll be bothered by some strange and/or negative interpretations of Judeo-Christian theology, you're probably better off not reading these stories.
With that said...
Theme: #1 - Bloodlines
Warnings: spoilers!
Note: A few months pre-manga, Kira and Kato have a conversation. Minor speculation about Kira's level of available power, but given Setsuna's earrings, I think I'm justified in my interpretation.
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Bloodlines
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Whenever Kato missed school more than two days running, Kira tracked him down and hauled him back. Kato wasn't hard to find; he never got more than a half hour's walk from home, as if he were tethered by his memories and self-hatred. This time he'd ended up in a condemned warehouse that someone had converted into a flophouse and drug bazaar.
The first thing Kira did, after he stared down the yakuza watchdog and found Kato's room, was make sure the idiot hadn't overdosed, dehydrated, or otherwise killed himself. Then he went back out, poured a glass of water, and found a plastic wastebasket in case Kato vomited later on.
Kira set the wastebasket by the futon and sat down in the sagging armchair by the door. He didn't mind doing this -- Kato was his and he looked after what was his -- but Kato owed him some amusement for his trouble. Some days he brought a Discman and played enka on high volume right into Kato's ears. Other days he went the easy route and dumped cold water on his friend. Today he settled for something deceptively simple: talking.
"You know the weird thing about Setsuna and his sister?" Kira said, pitching his voice just loud enough that Kato couldn't ignore him.
"Everything about Mudo is weird. Leave me alone," Kato mumbled, too tired or apathetic to open his eyes or turn over on his futon. That was all right; Kira didn't expect much reaction at first.
"I don't feel like leaving. The specific weird thing I'm talking about," Kira said, lighting a cigarette, "is that if you look past their coloring -- and it's eerie how similar that is, down to the highlights in their hair -- they don't actually look related. Sara's got a round face, soft, pretty like a flower. Setsuna's all angles." Setsuna had Alexiel's face, Alexiel's androgynous beauty. "They have different body types, too -- Sara's short and I'll bet ten thousand yen she won't grow more than another couple centimeters, but I think Setsuna's going to hit one hell of a growth spurt soon."
"Mudo's sister is pretty," Kato conceded, "but why've you spent enough time looking at that punk to know his face by heart? You turning gay on me, Kira? You watching pretty boys' asses?" He cupped his hand into a circle and poked the middle finger of his other hand through it in illustration.
"You think you're cute enough to tempt me?" Kira asked, amused.
"Fuck you," Kato said, without heat. "Anyway, why's it weird that Mudo and his sister don't look alike? Lots of people don't look like the rest of their families." He opened his eyes, holding his hand up to shade out the naked light bulb's glare. "You think Mudo's mom cheated on her husband or something?"
Kira waved his hand, trailing smoke. "No. It's weird because nobody ever notices it. Mostly that's because of the coloring -- all gaijin look alike, right? -- but they act similar too. Same tilt to their heads when they're pissed off, same quirk in their mouths when they're trying to hide a smile, stuff like that. We ran into a fortune-teller once who swore they had the same aura, like their souls were singing the same note." He tapped ash off his cigarette and shrugged. "It's like they were family in a past life, too, or from one of those tiny jungle tribes -- the ones with maybe three hundred people where everybody knows everyone else for twenty generations back."
It was like they were both angels, except that was impossible; Sara was an ordinary girl with no trace of astral power.
"You've been reading college textbooks again," Kato grumbled, closing his eyes and flopping back onto his futon. "Those things will rot your brain."
"That's drugs, dumbass. Drugs will rot your brain. Books, on the other hand, are good for you. You should try doing the assigned reading sometimes; you'd be surprised what you can learn if you pay attention."
"The last time I got curious and learned something, it smashed my life to pieces," Kato said. "Fuck paying attention. I have what I need -- what do I care about the rest of the world?"
"You don't care about anything? I'll go, then," Kira said, standing and reaching for the doorknob, "since you don't need me around."
Kato rolled over, stretching his arm out. "Hey! That's not what I meant. Stay, Kira. Just shut up about Mudo. I see enough of that jerk at school -- I don't need you making me think about him here, too." Kira shrugged and sat back down, taking a long drag on his cigarette.
"What do you see in that punk anyway?" Kato asked as he pushed himself upright, ending cross-legged with his back against the wall. "Seriously, are you gay for him? 'Cause you're always hanging out with him, talking about him, checking up on him, and that's creepy. You're like an obsessive stalker."
"And if I did say I loved him, what then? What would you do?" Kira asked. He thought he did a good job of hiding the frozen anger Kato's words stirred -- of course Alexiel was the most important person in his world -- but Kato shivered, clutching his dirty sheet off the futon and around his shoulders.
"Damned if I know," Kato said. "But it wouldn't do you or Mudo any favors. If you really like him, you'll stay the hell away before you drag him down to our level."
Given the terms of Nanatsusaya's pact with Sakuya, perhaps that was good advice. But Kira couldn't leave Setsuna, couldn't leave Alexiel to the nonexistent mercy of Uriel's curse. He'd short-circuited one path to destruction by locking down Alexiel's fury and battle-lust, but there was nothing he could do about Setsuna's love for Sara, and all the futures he could see for those two were bleak.
"My presence makes no difference," Kira said, quietly, not talking to Kato anymore. "Setsuna is damned no matter what I do; he was born damned, born cursed. All I can do is slow the cycle and give him some happy memories to hold at the end." If he was extraordinarily lucky, maybe he could give Alexiel a clean death this time as well.
"Cursed?" Kato asked, blinking in confusion. "Mudo's not cursed. He's just a jerk who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."
He shouldn't have brought up Setsuna in the first place, Kira thought. He should have realized how easily he could let things slip. Still, he'd have to erase this conversation anyway; he might as well tell the whole truth for once. Perhaps telling Kato would stifle the irritating human urge to reveal his secrets to Setsuna.
"Setsuna has no impulse control; I don't deny that," Kira said, tapping ash off his cigarette. "But he is cursed. He's cursed, I'm cursed, and for all I know Sara may be cursed as well -- she certainly shares his fate. They're in love with each other, no matter how hard they try to deny it, and incest is a sin. There's no happy ending to that story.
"It's ironic that after millennia of chasing Alexiel, when I finally have hands to touch her and the time to win her trust, she's still looking past me at someone else. The most ironic part is that even if Setsuna did turn to me -- if he decided I'm the lesser of two evils -- that wouldn't solve his problems. As you said, people don't like homosexuality either. And he'd never forget Sara, just like she'll never forget him. We're all trapped.
"God," Kira concluded, grinding out his cigarette on the concrete floor, "is a bastard."
Kato stared. "Whatever shit you smoked before you came here, I want some. Hook me up with your dealer. And then go see a shrink, because you are not right in the head."
"That's why I never tell people the truth," Kira said, walking across the room and sitting down beside Kato. "Don't worry; you won't remember this. I still have that much power." He grabbed Kato's hand, pinning him against the wall, and pressed his fingers over Kato's eyes.
Whatever blocked his memories blocked most of his astral power -- he couldn't even tell what his strength should have been, only that he hadn't been powerless in his first life -- but a trickle seeped through, enough for minor spells. Kira wove that trickle into Kato's soul, blocking the past half hour and drawing a thin curtain of sleep over his mind.
Then he laid Kato back on the futon, covered him with the blanket, and sat in the stained and sagging armchair, waiting for his friend to wake up so he could take him home.
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End
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Cross-posted here onthirtyforthree.
thirtyforthree for Kira Sakuya/Mudo Setsuna/Mudo Sara from Kaori Yuki's Angel Sanctuary. There will be spoilers in nearly every theme -- given the characters, it's nearly impossible to avoid them! -- and a lot of potentially objectionable content. This is because the source manga has a lot of potentially objectionable content. If incest squicks you, or you know you'll be bothered by some strange and/or negative interpretations of Judeo-Christian theology, you're probably better off not reading these stories.With that said...
Theme: #1 - Bloodlines
Warnings: spoilers!
Note: A few months pre-manga, Kira and Kato have a conversation. Minor speculation about Kira's level of available power, but given Setsuna's earrings, I think I'm justified in my interpretation.
---------------------------------------------
Bloodlines
---------------------------------------------
Whenever Kato missed school more than two days running, Kira tracked him down and hauled him back. Kato wasn't hard to find; he never got more than a half hour's walk from home, as if he were tethered by his memories and self-hatred. This time he'd ended up in a condemned warehouse that someone had converted into a flophouse and drug bazaar.
The first thing Kira did, after he stared down the yakuza watchdog and found Kato's room, was make sure the idiot hadn't overdosed, dehydrated, or otherwise killed himself. Then he went back out, poured a glass of water, and found a plastic wastebasket in case Kato vomited later on.
Kira set the wastebasket by the futon and sat down in the sagging armchair by the door. He didn't mind doing this -- Kato was his and he looked after what was his -- but Kato owed him some amusement for his trouble. Some days he brought a Discman and played enka on high volume right into Kato's ears. Other days he went the easy route and dumped cold water on his friend. Today he settled for something deceptively simple: talking.
"You know the weird thing about Setsuna and his sister?" Kira said, pitching his voice just loud enough that Kato couldn't ignore him.
"Everything about Mudo is weird. Leave me alone," Kato mumbled, too tired or apathetic to open his eyes or turn over on his futon. That was all right; Kira didn't expect much reaction at first.
"I don't feel like leaving. The specific weird thing I'm talking about," Kira said, lighting a cigarette, "is that if you look past their coloring -- and it's eerie how similar that is, down to the highlights in their hair -- they don't actually look related. Sara's got a round face, soft, pretty like a flower. Setsuna's all angles." Setsuna had Alexiel's face, Alexiel's androgynous beauty. "They have different body types, too -- Sara's short and I'll bet ten thousand yen she won't grow more than another couple centimeters, but I think Setsuna's going to hit one hell of a growth spurt soon."
"Mudo's sister is pretty," Kato conceded, "but why've you spent enough time looking at that punk to know his face by heart? You turning gay on me, Kira? You watching pretty boys' asses?" He cupped his hand into a circle and poked the middle finger of his other hand through it in illustration.
"You think you're cute enough to tempt me?" Kira asked, amused.
"Fuck you," Kato said, without heat. "Anyway, why's it weird that Mudo and his sister don't look alike? Lots of people don't look like the rest of their families." He opened his eyes, holding his hand up to shade out the naked light bulb's glare. "You think Mudo's mom cheated on her husband or something?"
Kira waved his hand, trailing smoke. "No. It's weird because nobody ever notices it. Mostly that's because of the coloring -- all gaijin look alike, right? -- but they act similar too. Same tilt to their heads when they're pissed off, same quirk in their mouths when they're trying to hide a smile, stuff like that. We ran into a fortune-teller once who swore they had the same aura, like their souls were singing the same note." He tapped ash off his cigarette and shrugged. "It's like they were family in a past life, too, or from one of those tiny jungle tribes -- the ones with maybe three hundred people where everybody knows everyone else for twenty generations back."
It was like they were both angels, except that was impossible; Sara was an ordinary girl with no trace of astral power.
"You've been reading college textbooks again," Kato grumbled, closing his eyes and flopping back onto his futon. "Those things will rot your brain."
"That's drugs, dumbass. Drugs will rot your brain. Books, on the other hand, are good for you. You should try doing the assigned reading sometimes; you'd be surprised what you can learn if you pay attention."
"The last time I got curious and learned something, it smashed my life to pieces," Kato said. "Fuck paying attention. I have what I need -- what do I care about the rest of the world?"
"You don't care about anything? I'll go, then," Kira said, standing and reaching for the doorknob, "since you don't need me around."
Kato rolled over, stretching his arm out. "Hey! That's not what I meant. Stay, Kira. Just shut up about Mudo. I see enough of that jerk at school -- I don't need you making me think about him here, too." Kira shrugged and sat back down, taking a long drag on his cigarette.
"What do you see in that punk anyway?" Kato asked as he pushed himself upright, ending cross-legged with his back against the wall. "Seriously, are you gay for him? 'Cause you're always hanging out with him, talking about him, checking up on him, and that's creepy. You're like an obsessive stalker."
"And if I did say I loved him, what then? What would you do?" Kira asked. He thought he did a good job of hiding the frozen anger Kato's words stirred -- of course Alexiel was the most important person in his world -- but Kato shivered, clutching his dirty sheet off the futon and around his shoulders.
"Damned if I know," Kato said. "But it wouldn't do you or Mudo any favors. If you really like him, you'll stay the hell away before you drag him down to our level."
Given the terms of Nanatsusaya's pact with Sakuya, perhaps that was good advice. But Kira couldn't leave Setsuna, couldn't leave Alexiel to the nonexistent mercy of Uriel's curse. He'd short-circuited one path to destruction by locking down Alexiel's fury and battle-lust, but there was nothing he could do about Setsuna's love for Sara, and all the futures he could see for those two were bleak.
"My presence makes no difference," Kira said, quietly, not talking to Kato anymore. "Setsuna is damned no matter what I do; he was born damned, born cursed. All I can do is slow the cycle and give him some happy memories to hold at the end." If he was extraordinarily lucky, maybe he could give Alexiel a clean death this time as well.
"Cursed?" Kato asked, blinking in confusion. "Mudo's not cursed. He's just a jerk who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."
He shouldn't have brought up Setsuna in the first place, Kira thought. He should have realized how easily he could let things slip. Still, he'd have to erase this conversation anyway; he might as well tell the whole truth for once. Perhaps telling Kato would stifle the irritating human urge to reveal his secrets to Setsuna.
"Setsuna has no impulse control; I don't deny that," Kira said, tapping ash off his cigarette. "But he is cursed. He's cursed, I'm cursed, and for all I know Sara may be cursed as well -- she certainly shares his fate. They're in love with each other, no matter how hard they try to deny it, and incest is a sin. There's no happy ending to that story.
"It's ironic that after millennia of chasing Alexiel, when I finally have hands to touch her and the time to win her trust, she's still looking past me at someone else. The most ironic part is that even if Setsuna did turn to me -- if he decided I'm the lesser of two evils -- that wouldn't solve his problems. As you said, people don't like homosexuality either. And he'd never forget Sara, just like she'll never forget him. We're all trapped.
"God," Kira concluded, grinding out his cigarette on the concrete floor, "is a bastard."
Kato stared. "Whatever shit you smoked before you came here, I want some. Hook me up with your dealer. And then go see a shrink, because you are not right in the head."
"That's why I never tell people the truth," Kira said, walking across the room and sitting down beside Kato. "Don't worry; you won't remember this. I still have that much power." He grabbed Kato's hand, pinning him against the wall, and pressed his fingers over Kato's eyes.
Whatever blocked his memories blocked most of his astral power -- he couldn't even tell what his strength should have been, only that he hadn't been powerless in his first life -- but a trickle seeped through, enough for minor spells. Kira wove that trickle into Kato's soul, blocking the past half hour and drawing a thin curtain of sleep over his mind.
Then he laid Kato back on the futon, covered him with the blanket, and sat in the stained and sagging armchair, waiting for his friend to wake up so he could take him home.
---------------------------------------------
End
---------------------------------------------
Cross-posted here on
thirtyforthree.