[NEO]n.o.c.t.u.r.n.e {AKITO}

[tithe]

Basking under the sun wasn’t as nearly as fun as basking under the moon. A summer day was already hot alone, and lying beneath on of the greatest sources was a guarantee to increase that terrible, terrible heat which acquired the power to rub itself beyond your flesh and into your mind and temperament like a sun block lacking an protection against the EDM rays, further translated into- Evile, disturbing, mind-melting rays. Such a lotion attracted those rays, because the soul purpose was wearing is to be out under the sun and exposed without EDM protection.

Obviously another conspiracy.

But moon-basking was so much better. Out in the night, whether legal or not Tithe found his place lying spine down upon somewhat dew dampened grass. The blades both tickled and spiked his back, lacking the protection of a shirt, that was to be expected. Maybe, just maybe he hadn’t just been basking. If only the Maybe had a chance, the wet state of his hair was a dead give away- Tithe had been for a ‘swim’ of sorts. By truth, that only involved him tugging off his top and leaping into the lake while Myaku Koe set off a siren in his head. And siren was to be deciphered as a fairly ferocious row or yelling and objections to getting wet and being out of the castle at night. But mostly because he got wet. Dear little Mya hated getting wet.

Just like he hated getting dirty.

Whether it was literal dirt or bad behavior.

Right now the demon had every little pinch of pepper to spice his argument. He was cold. He was wet. He was tired. He was scared. He was uncomfortable. He wanted to leave. He didn’t want to get in trouble. He wanted to beat Tithe. He wanted to strangle Tithe. He wanted to take his fist and drive into Tithe’s eye. He wanted to take a knife and stab Tithe. The wanted to tie Tithe down… get a chainsaw and-

Well you get the picture.

Mya wanted Tithe dead. Something the boy could easily cope with since Mya always wanted him dead… and too obviously never meant even with all the detailed strategies he claimed to know how to do commit kill with. It was a laughable subject, however Tithe couldn’t find himself to come to laughing. The nocturne of the over sized puddle a distance from his feet, surface softly rippled by breaths of wind and spots of lights form the castle liquidized into the water as dark as ink with the night overhead... It had lulled his into a quite dreamy mood. Even the itch of the grass across his back wasn’t irritating, and gust chilled droplets clinging to his bare upper torso didn’t beckon gooseflesh, the same went for his soaked pants which were- for once –baggy and decorated with chains and straps, clinging to his legs with a rather icy touch.

At the moment Tithe was a pale smudge of life against the green stretch of grass and dark splotch of the lake brimmed in faded pebbles, a pale, dormant, smudge of life. Not perfect. Not imperfect. No halo hovering above the wet tangles of his hair and lacking any sort of devilish tail sprouting from the base of his vertebrae. There was one blessed flaw though, on his right hip, no longer obscured by a shirt was a tattoo, a simple and fairly boring one actually. Just three, black X’s. Each the same size. Except for the one farthest forward… He swore it was a little smaller than the others.

They weren’t supposed to imply much. They weren’t supposed to be marks to stand for any big or bad thing he’d ever done. They weren’t suppose to have any deep meaning to them… They were just a trio of X’s.

Triple X. Wasn’t that the rating on life anymore?

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[akito]

Insomnia and loneliness had caught up to the Juunishi God. Slate optics cracked open for the hundred-millionth time that month and a tired anger made them glint without light. The Slytherin common room was empty, as Akki-chan always intended it to be. Everyone else was up in their respective-gender dorms. Akki-chan was all by herself. Tithe-kun wasn't there. He was probably sleeping surrounded by men anyway...

Or was he? Did he pull another Jaganshi stunt of wandering at night? She blinked, letting her tired eyes hide for a mere moment before they were lazily uncovered again, and sat up on the couch, which served as her almost permenant bed. Her wrists cracked as she rotated them, and her ankles popped as her bare feet touched the floor and she rose to an unsteady stand. Her sleepy eyes flicked to the darker-colored outer jacket that laid on the arm of an empty chair. It was slid over her shoulders weakly and Akki-chan found herself stumbling out of the Slytherin common room door.

If she hadn't been so tired, she might have seen the pale-skinned body glimmering slightly in the moonlight by Walker Lake when she glanced out of the window.

Her bare feet seemed to slap far too loudly against the floor to be reasonable. How could the school stay asleep with all the noise she made? But it was obviously too late for anyone to be in a light sleep, and she hadn’t run into any authoritative figures, so her trek to the great doors that led outside was safe and uneventful. And she didn’t get caught... yet.

The grass was already slathered in dew. It made her feet wet and nearly freezing as she padded along. Her eyes, uncomprehending, drifted on their own, sometimes staring at a point in the distance, other times at her stumbling toes that peeked their way out of the bottom of her kimono. Exhaustion overwhelmed her senses, but she continued moving forward, unable to feel the weak ache in her legs, nor how out-of breath she was already.

Her foot caught under something long, cold, hard, and wet and feeling like lots of fabric and she fell to the ground, not bothering to catch herself. The wetness of the grass already began to dampen her clothing and skin, and she could hear lapping of water... she was somewhere by the lake, wasn't she? Go to sleep... Go to sleep... she willed herself in her mind, and it was only after a moment that she realized another being was in her presence. It was whatever she'd tripped over. Maybe it was a student....

She'd probably caught on their leg, she dully thought. But as to why they were laying in the cool air with their legs or possibly entire body soaked and cold, she couldn't discern. Her eyes shut, trying to find purchase of sleep in her mind, but nothing came. She was tired, but it was like something was always keeping her awake.... No longer did the usual constant brain-chatter invade her senses, she'd gotten rid of that a few weeks ago by not "knowing" things. But what? What could it be?

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't quite become normal...

[tithe]

In a state of sinking consciousness Tithe didn’t pick up the denied verity someone else was about in the night. He believed he was merely alone. Not to be disturbed by any blundering mortal. Which applied quite well the ironic fact it was no mortal that suddenly took a tumble over his outstretched legs.

As he expected. Mya was the first to react.

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We’ve been found! Get up Tithe! Fleeeeeee!!![/size][/i]

And as to be expected. He completely ignored the wasted rants.

Instead the boy raised his head, mere curiosity pulling him toward the still being. The fact they didn’t pull themself up from their sprawled poise made the obscene wonder if they were dead pop into his head. Of course that was a little overboard. Death didn’t come from tripping, Tithe would know. He’d seen a ton of people do it in his lifetime. Each one got up. So this motionlessness was intriguing him, rather than worry.

In a quiet shuffle he sat up, propped upon his arms, head inclined forward, not being conservative on the examining query smeared all over the action. Navy eyes, already well adapted to the night’s lighting, only trapped hold of the form for a second or so before he reacted.

He beat Mya to the predictable tirade over running away from the student lying before them.

“Akito…”

He slouched forward, pulling his legs up sharply, arms dragging themselves forward. In a swift ‘flip’ of sorts the Jaganshi was perched on his bent knees. Some people might gawk at the sight of an unmoving body, some people might simply shake that unmoving body awake. The two options didn’t even cross Tithe’s present mental mulling. With darkly delicate proceedings, unhampered by hesitation, he pulled the seemingly unconscious Akito into his lap. He wasn’t dead. Wasn’t asleep. Tithe was well aware of both aspects; nevertheless it didn’t pull him away from his crooked doings, which were a promise as soon as he put on his crooked smile.

“Ah… and to wake the sleeping beauty from death… requires a kiss.”

Mya released an explosion of emotion. He didn’t seem revolted at all, but greatly disapproved of the idea. The little demon was afraid he’d be ‘abused’ again, and blatantly accused Tithe of being masochistic for so simply accepting the prospect. And by then, the boy shut out the petty voice, shoulders tensing to a small extent as he shook his head. It was easy to rid himself of the annoyance; the Noob had never been strong enough to keep a tight hold in Tithe’s immediate conscious. Fleeting bravado only resulted in a fleeting strength.

That was Myaku Koe’s disease, and it failed to reach Tithe’s unfaltering audacity.

Akito looks ill. A frown promptly threatened his bent grin. Head angling to the side, dark eyes flitting over the suspected pale skin and snagged by the dark discolorations beneath each closed, slate gray hue.

The body reflects the mind… He deserves it.[/size][/i]

Now he did frown, brow knotting bitter disapproval of Mya’s words. They seemed as bad inflicting a wound or pain themselves. Usually Tithe could withstand that. But the childish curl of his mind demon’s say-so made it… bad. Wrong. And he disapproved.

Say that again. I’ll kill you.

The sudden recoil of the mental parasite left Tithe dizzy and swaying. His grip on Akito momentarily grew tighter, the Jaganshi’s head trying to pitch forward in the sudden state of vertigo. Though it unbalanced him, a smile touched his lips again, one that now resembled a drunk’s more than his own trademark leer. There was an empty place in his head now, like the oozing wound in a gum where a baby tooth once had been rooted. Except, unlike like oral ethics this baby tooth was sure to make a come back.

Mya had places to hide still in the dysfunctional clutter of his host’s muse.

A thing such as the mind went beyond simple limits of the skull, so it was- without a doubt –entirely possible for a place to exist within the cranium that the bearer couldn’t reach. And the separate figments of that psyche? They slipped through those corridors with ease, just as Mya had done in pure, irrefutable, putrid fear. And that could easily make Tithe smile, because now, it would be only he and Akito.

Without the whimpers of his petty, psychologically housed counterpart.[/font][/size][/blockquote]

[akito]

Let me sleep, let me sleep... she thought in what she hoped was a quiet way. Her eyes were still shut, but her head felt strangely empty. She didn't want that. It made everything all crisp and easily understood, for the most part. It was bad. Anything that happened across her mind was totally trapped... And when she finally forced it out again she was more psychologically drained and no more tired than before.

She wanted a clouded, heavy head. She didn't want to be able to figure anything out. She didn't want to hear the lapped shore just a bit away from her, peaceful but far too loud. She didn't want to be able to feel the grass scratching her skin and making it itch, and she certainly didn't want the threatening headache, recently acquired from her fall. The moon was too bright, the air was too cold, the landscape was too loud. Everything was working against her and she didn't know how to escape... She just didn't want anything to happen right now...

What she didn't want the most was the person she tripped over to stare at her. Her closed eyes couldn't tell who it was, but they seemed interested in observing her. Why? Hadn't they seen a person try to fall asleep before? Obviously not... But for some reason the person didn't seem to want to move just yet, which was perfectly fine with Akito.

I want you to leave... her mind moaned, and the thought raced through, as if she'd really said it and was re-playing the sound of her voice over and over... and over... and over... and over again. It was terrible. Everything she wanted to tell him but didn't have the strength to ricoched around in her skull. This was not a good time for a headache. So guess what began its angry pounding in her temples?

She was suddenly aware that a human voice had said something... to her? But she couldn't remember what the voice sounded like, nor, while it would have been helpful, what it said. A silent sigh made its way through her barely parted lips and she continued listening as best as she could to whoever it was that was so intrigued with her.

She would have jumped from their touch if her reflexes had been working. Her peirced head shrieked in protest weakly as she felt hands slowly dragging her onto... something. It was wet and cold, but at least it eased the throbbing. And the more her head laid on whatever it was, the more her head warmed it up and the more comfortable it became; therefore, it was sort of like a rag you'd put on your forehead when you're sick.

She never really understood why people did that before. Now she did.

Another startling, incapable of making her jump, voice came from their lips, but they came in with freak clarity now. She could understand them. The voice was male. Just what she needed. Another boy to tell her what to do and how to do it. Like all of her Family. There were too many boys in the Sohma residence, and far too few bothered to treat her like she really was... Or was that because, perhaps, they didn't... know? No, they wouldn't know, she reminded herself. How could they?

And in an instant she knew it was Tithe.

She wanted to open her eyes. She wanted to see him looming over her or something like that. She felt his hold become more firm... Was it Myaku Koe? Was the emotional little parasite bothering him because of her? She wanted to see what was going on, she wanted her eyes open to take in his image. Her eye-opening muscles probably weren't quite working yet, and she wanted them to work. She wanted Myaku Koe gone (for now - she didn't know what might happen to Tithe-kun if one of his personalities were to permanently falter).

And most of all, she wanted that kiss he promised.

Her lips parted but nothing came out. Why didn't anything work for her anymore? She was probably just as useless as a rag doll. Well a rag doll that couldn't speak anyway. And in front of Tithe-kun? Any mere mortal would hate themselves. They'd have to hide forever to avoid being made a mockery by the very person they'd been hopelessly trying to impress. But Akito simply laid there. She didn't have the motivation, nor any good reason to move.

She was no mere mortal.

[tithe]

He pressed his lips together, silencing a smile, shamelessly observing the movement of the being in his arms. A being of such unbreakable fragile it was surely impossible to not be intrigued, but not to let it consume him to the point of not caring about the lingering potential of those-who-might-wander-by. Conscious of self, navy eyes drew away from lolling and busied themselves darting left and right. However paranoia wasn’t a common feature striking Tithe’s persona, catching up on the bugging sensation the Jaganshi shook off the urges and threw the blame in the general direction of Mya's absence.

Free me oh corresponding persona… Then don’t come back... The lame facade was evanescent.

For next came on an almost intimate look, which felt like more of a possession than a chosen upcoming. If Akito were ill he wouldn’t hesitate to provide an aid to hollow out away any ailing beastie burdening the student. He’d just have to put forth the hope his attempt to help wouldn’t be associated with a hostile act… That had happened before, and in a grim way, Tithe found it terribly amusing. Ah… but n’ever to fear… The corners of his mouth were curled and toying with the emotions of crooked and care. I’ll be good for real this time.

Delusional.

Mortal, more or less, would toss the accusation because a crooked care seemed to be a concoction those beyond normal could only comprehend. “And being normal is a fine thing…” He murmured in a breath, fleshy eyelids veiling dark blue as he lifting an arm, pressing his upraised index finger to his lips and lowered it nonchalantly to Akito’s forehead, then, as if to disguise the action, used the same digit to gently chase away a few renegade strands of hair off of the unopened, gray hues.

Take it as a taunt or something sentimental. Did it matter?

A tease on the behalf he hadn’t yet given the complete implied kiss, and a caress considering he was paying mind to his personal promise to care for the unwell Akito, and bearing in mind to that, the Sohma was in need of sleep. Slowly he removed the finger, and occupied that and his arm by wrapping it around the limp figure, pulling his 'sleeping beauty' closer and speaking still in his pastel of a voice.

“I'll hold you in your slumber if you'll allow it.”

[Damn that's short...]

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[akito]

She kept trying to speak; nothing came out. She finally let her neck muscles relax, stopping her head from shaking because of the effort it took to raise it with the small muscles she'd just released. Her head lolled into him, exhausted. No... This was no good... She wouldn't let him take care of her. That would be weakness... right?

Or would it be weakness to ignore him?

She could feel herself nodding off. Her limp neck would occasionally tighten to keep her splitting head from falling. And she woke up again, if she had even fallen asleep at all. She could feel the breath slowly sliding through her throat and expanding, then flattening, her lungs. It kept her awake, too. But I'm so tired... her mind moaned. I want to sleep. I have to sleep. It was as if she was convincing something, or someone...

But who or what was there to convince? Certainly not Tithe. He was there, sure, but he already knew. He already believed her true statement. She wanted to look at him. She wanted to see him smile at her. A longing that Akki-chan had felt all the time around him. She wanted him. Did he want her back? It was so frustrating. Emotion added to her headache. She felt her lip tremble and her countenance grimace as the pulsating behind her temples increased to a blossoming sensation.

Did he want her as well?

She breathed again, heard his voice. Something about being normal. Wasn't that a surprise. Tithe was some sort of mind-reader... Not like Akki-chan. She was different. Too different to be normal, ever. But she wanted to be normal, or as close to... She had to be if she wanted to be closer to Tithe-kun, Forbid-chan.. It was almost amusing that they were from the same family.

She felt a movement of Tithe. He was moving his arm. He wanted to drop her, didn't he? But he still clung on with his other arm... After what seemed like an eternity of waiting for him to do something, she felt him touch her forehead. What... was he doing? After another moment of the gentle pressing on her skin, she felt his fingers move. She felt him brush her hair away... So did he...?

And he moved again. But this time, he had his arm around her. Around Akki-chan. She felt herself being pressed into him. It made her head spin. Surprisingly, it dulled the pain in her head. She could feel his shirt on her face, and his body against hers. No... He wouldn't want her to think like that. He wouldn't like it. It would draw him away from her. She felt something stir in her nerves.

She moved her head minimally, straining just for that small bit of change, pressing herself farther into him. Heard him speak again: "...I'll hold you in your slumber if you'll allow it..." The slightest smirk twitched her lips. Yes... This was what she wanted. She wanted him to always speak to her like that, not anyone else. The stirring thing that was welling in her chest - lungs, or heart? - flew up to her throat.

"I will," she whispered, her voice finally finding purchase. She sighed once, almost a pant, as if it was tiring to speak. It was. The more times she inhaled - exhaled - the more exhausted she was, the heavier her eyelids, and the less taught her muscles. It was the first time she could actually feel it. Her senses were dulled and she didn't like it. Would Tithe leave her? Of course he would... no one enjoyed being around a helpless little witch... especially one that was too exhausted to do anything by herself.

Her lips barely parted again, but she'd lost her voice in her tumult of her mind. Could she sleep now...?