~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Day one~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
prologue

I opened my eyes, slowly realizing it was still dark. 'Great', I thought, slowly sitting up,'That was my sleeping for today...'
Once awake, it was impossible for me to go back to sleep. When my eyes had gotten used to the dark, I stood up and went over too the window, just too see that everyone but me was still sleeping. Slowly I got dressed and left my little apartment, walking down the road. The town was as peaceful as always.
I slowly wandered down the streets, heading for the beach, to watch the sunrise. It was just a great sight.
Suddenly I saw something moving and quickly turned to the right, only to realize, it was just a boy, about ten years old, selling newspaper.
"Want a paper?", he asked, looking up in my face.
I just nodded, searching my pockets for a coin although I hadn't much money left, and the next rent for my flat needed to be payed soon ...
Finally I found what I had looked for and handed the little coin to the boy, who handed me a newspaper in exchange and smiled, thanking me and wishing me a good day. Then he left and I continued walking while reading the paper I had just bought.
When I finally reached the beach, I thought about throwing the useless thing away. While I was approaching the next wastepaper-basket, someone bumped into me, not even bothering to say sorry or something. I stumbled and the paper fell out of my hands. As it landed on the ground, a page flipped open and I, finally falling too, landed right on it, staring at one specific ad. It was written in beautiful letters, looking completely different than the rest of the paper and seemed to be ... well ... somehow better than the rest. I stared at it for a while. It said:

Help needed!
We wish for a young man, about 20 years old, preferably tall.
Needed skills: Cooking, cleaning
The candidate should own a good sense of humor and energy
Full-Time-Job
A nice big room with bathroom included
The payment will make up for every inconveniences that might occur.
Everyone who is interested, might come to Takarai-mansion at 3 p.m.

Was this ... a dream? A job with included place to live, well payed? No this couldn't be real ... I read it another three times, then I kissed the paper, making the people around me stare, picked it up again and rushed home to get dressed for the interview.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Takarai-mansion

Some hours later I found myself standing in front of the huge mansion, owned by the Takarai-Clan, the most powerful and richest family in the whole country. Not even the king was able to mess with them. If they wanted, they could just send over their private army and take over the throne. But for some reason they didn't want to.
When I went over to the door slowly, I realized, that there was no one but me. I wanted to back off, but then I remembered how urgent my need of a job was right now, so I knocked. Nothing happened for some moments. I could clearly hear my heart beating, as I listened to the perfect silence.
'Great, I bet no one's home', I thought, just a second before the door opened, and an elderly man looked at me in surprise.
"I- I'm here because of the ad", I explained, showing the paper to him.
"It's okay, let him in", a lady's voice called from inside. Had she heard me?
I walked inside, the man closed the door behind me, while I followed the voice that had called me.
A lady, about maybe thirty or forty years old was sitting in a huge chair in front of a huge fireplace, from where I could hear soft sounds of burning wood. She smiled, when she looked at me, while resting her hands on her lap.
"Good ... so what's your name, young man, and how old are you?", she asked, her voice was soft and friendly.
Yeah, name ... good question to begin with. I smiled friendly.
"It's Camui, ma'am, but for my last name I don't know exactly. I'm an orphan", I explained.
She nodded, looking at my with a lot of sympathy in her eyes.
"Good, Camui. Do you know anything about your parents?", she asked.
I sighed, my hope fading.
"My ... father was a soldier from a country I don't know. That's why I have those blue eyes", I almost had to spit that words out. I hated how I looked.
"And ... my mother was just a daughter of a poor farmer. When I was born, she left me somewhere in the city, where a priest found me, giving me my name. And that's about it", I ended my story, looking at her.
She nodded again.
"Ah yeah, and I was 20 years last Monday", I said.
"Good, and you're able to cook I suppose?", she asked, looking pleased when I nodded,"Good boy. Fine. I'll leave with my daughters to our castle in the mountains. We'll take the servants with us, so it will be your job to look after my oldest son, Hideto, who's not coming with us, due to his weak health", she finally explained,"Don't worry, it's not much, just be sure he eats enough"
I nodded again.
"Good, then I'll prepare the girls to leave"
"Does that mean ... I got the job?"
"Sure", she said, finally getting up, I quickly bowed to her, then she left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hideto

It was about one hour later, when I had gotten all my stuff up to the mansion. To be honest, it was just one bag, filled with some clothes and books and one or two other things.
Misses Takarai had already left. Luckily, she had showed me my room before. It was huge! In fact too big for me, so instead of putting my stuff into the giant wardrobe, I didn't bother with unpacking and went over to the kitchen instead, when I heard something from behind. I returned to my room, just to find my stuff lying all over the bed, and a small guy with dark brown hair sitting in between the things, throwing the rest out of the bag as well.
He didn't seem to have noticed that I had returned. Either that, or he just didn't care.
I looked at him in confusion. Was this Hideto? Wasn't he supposed to be older then me? What did she say? 23? He looked that young ... and fascinated by my clothes.
"That's not much you have there ...", he suddenly said - so he HAD noticed me - while reading something I couldn't see,"... Gakuto"
I froze.
"That's not my name!", I said louder than I had wanted to.
He gave me a smirk.
"It is, Gakuto Camui", he said,"You lied to my mum, black hair. I just don't get why. Because your dad loved your mum and told her he'd be back soon? Or because that warrior named Gakuto tried to murder my dad?"
I stared at him in horror. No ... no please ...
"Don't worry, my dad is not what one would call a nice man, so I think it's okay. He's in battle again, while your dad got killed ... By the way, that's what he did, not you.", he gave me a smirk before standing up again,"Hey, your bed's a mess! How are you supposed to keep the house clean when you can't even keep your own bed clean?"
"But you ...", I started, but he wouldn't give me a chance.
He rushed past me, leaving me alone with the chaos he had caused.
At least that explained that strange good sense of humor thing ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about seven p.m. when I ended up knocking at his door. At first, there was no reaction, then he opened the door and looked at me. He hadn't changed his clothes or something, but he looked different somehow ...
"What is it, black hair?", he asked, appearing to be not too happy about my presence.
"Supper is ready", I told him while smiling as friendly as possible.
He looked unsure, but then he smiled and followed me to the kitchen.
"So ... what did you cook?", he asked snuffling, but being unable to find out on his own.
I gave him a smirk as he sat down by the table in the kitchen.
"Hey you! Answer me!", he commanded.
"You'll see, little one", I teased, putting a bowl in front of him and handing him a spoon.
He just stared when I put a big pot on the table, then he leaned forward to look inside, snuffling again.
"That smells good ... soup?", he asked, ignoring my teasing perfectly, while he put some in his bowl.
"Soup. My own creation", I said, smiling proudly as I watched him eat.
He seemed to have a good appetite, so I wondered why his mom was worried about him not eating enough. After a while, the pot was empty and Hideto looked very satisfied.
"You're a very good cook, Gacchan", he said smiling at me happily.
"What did you call me?"
"Gacchan. You can call me Hyde if Hideto is too long for you", he said, before kissing my forehead,"See you in the living room"
Then he was gone again.
I blushed. Had he just kissed me? While shaking my head in order to get rid of that thought, I stood up and started washing the dishes.

Soon I was done and went to the living room as he had commanded. But yet he hadn't ordered me to, although I was his servant sort of ...
Still I did as he said and soon I entered the quite big room, where his mother had talked to me earlier. He had put her chair in some corner and sat on a carped in front of the fireplace. There was a puzzle in front of him, and he was trying hard to continue it. While he looked quite unpleased, I had the feeling he had gotten far in the short time he had been alone in the living room.
"Looks great", I said, but he didn't even look up, when I sat down on the other side of his work, looking on the image. It was something with wings ... an angel?
"Nah ... It's not great enough", he murmured, but I could hear he was smiling,"So help me, will you?"
Smiling as well, I took up some pieces, and after a while started working on it too.

I guess we worked about an hour on it, both too lost in his puzzle to notice anything. When our work was finished, I looked at him, smiling, but when he looked up as well, I froze and kept staring at his face in shock.
It was his left eye. Everything around it was just swollen and red, looking terribly painful. When he had interpreted my looks, his hand immediately got up to his face, touching his red, also swollen cheek but wincing immediately.
"Ow!", he whined, when I got up, seeing tears welling up in his other eye,"Ow ow! It hurts!"
"Calm down ... has this happened before?", I asked, looking at him with worry.
He got quiet and nodded.
"It's just some allergy ...", he murmured, looking away.
"Hey look at me, puffy eye", I said, sitting down in front of him. I was surprised when he really did what I had told him. His eye really looked horrible, but now that I was closer, I could see that there where tears coming out of this as well, so it was just the eyes surroundings ...
"You got some medicine for this?", I asked, standing up again.
He barely nodded, pointing towards a little box, standing on the table.
"I thought I wouldn't need them", he whined, looking at me with tears running down his face.
I quickly went over to the box, picked it up and handed it to him. Then I got to the kitchen and looked for a glass. It took a while, but I found one, filled it with water and went back to the living room with it.
"Here you go ... no please take whatever will help you", I said softly, smiling. He just frowned, picking up a quite big blue tablet, put it into his mouth and swallowed it, together with the whole water in the glass.
"Good boy, now we get you to bed", I decided, helping him up. He said nothing, just grabbed his pill-case, and looking to the floor. Suddenly he looked at me, smiling again.
"I can't sleep with that puffy eye!", he said, seeming almost happy about it,"Let's go watch a movie! Something with lots of blood in it!"
Now it was me frowning. I wasn't feeling like watching a movie ... I just wanted to go to bed and sleep ... forgetting about my life ... But then I looked at him and directly into his deep brown puppy dog eyes, looking at me still filled with tears ... So I started smiling again.
"Alright, whatever you want, Hyde", I said, patting his head softly, but only for a short moment, then he rushed off to get a movie for us ...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day two ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened my mouth in need of air. It was hard to breath, for a reason I didn't know yet.
We had been awake almost the whole night, watching whatever he felt like. Actually, we never watched a whole movie, because he would just randomly skip scenes, saying things like "this scene is so boring" or "I hate that guy ... let's go to the scene where the zombies get him". Somehow his comments made me laugh, although most of the time the scenes he commented weren't funny at all ... It seemed like he couldn't take anything seriously.
Most of the time he would put in another movie before the one we where watching had ended. Somewhere in the Lord of the Rings I finally gave in to my sleepiness and closed my eyes.
Now it was already day again. I blinked a few times, looking down at whatever that heavy thing on my chest was. I only saw something brown resting on me. Once I was able to see clearer, I realized it was Hideto. He had wrapped his armes around my chest and he was lying on me completely, appearing to be totally lost in his dreams. Now that I was focused on him, I noticed that he was breathing softly and whispering something in his sleep. But it was not clear enough to understand. I didn't want to wake him, because he just looked too cute and peaceful when sleeping, so I closed my eyes again.

I was surrounded by huge trees that went together somewhere above me, hiding the sky from my sight. Turning around again and again, I slowly realized I was trapped. I could hear whispers and evil laughing, but I couldn't catch any words out of the whispering. Not knowing what to do, I started running, just to be stopped after a few steps by a shadow, moving strangely and appearing to grow taller and broader every moment. Unable to turn around, I tried to walk backwards, but there was something in the way. I couldn't move. My heartbeat echoed in my ears. It was loud ... but it was not beating as fast as I could feel it in my chest. I felt my pulse, when I realized that what I could hear wasn't my heartbeat...
The shadows and the forest disappeared, and instead of it a blood red ocean and a sky of the same color just a bit darker, filled with black clouds appeared. The heartbeat was louder, but slower now, while my own heart raced. I turned around, looking at my surroundings. I was standing in that red ocean, and if that hadn't been weird enough, I had to notice, it was as hard as stone and made my think of the rubies I had seen once. But this was different. As if there was a darkness inside. I wanted to turn and run away, when I saw someone lying on the ground. I ran towards him, but I couldn't see who it was, until ... I saw brown hair.
'Hideto', I immediately thought, running faster, but I couldn't get near him. I wanted to scream, call his name or anything, but I stayed silent.
I could hear laughter that sounded more evil than before, and a black shade approached him and picked him up, holding the small and terribly thin man in his arms. Suddenly he was in front of me. I looked into Hideto‘s face only for a moment - he was terribly pale, his eyes shut - when I heard the heart beat once again, then it suddenly got silent and ...

I woke up, trying hard to breath, my eyes immediately searching for Hideto. At first I didn't find him, but then I realized he was sitting next to me, looking at my quite worried.
"You okay?", he asked. His face wasn't swollen anymore. The sight of his face, fine again and healthy colored made me smile.
"Just a bad dream", I said, "Don't worry"
He nodded and smiled a bit, but then he pouted.
"Hell, you scared me!", he said, now appearing to be quite angry,"And besides that I'm hungry! Go make breakfast"
'So there he is again. Why did I even worry? He's fine ... damned dream', I thought, getting up, still breathing fast. My heart was slowing down again, but still I was quite upset and afraid.
Suddenly I stumbled, not even knowing why. I tried to catch myself, but there was nothing to grab within my reach. Then I felt a hand grabbing my arm, holding me back and preventing my fall. Then another hand joined the first, and he pulled be back, so I could stand again.
"You're trembling", Hyde said softly, still holding my arm and leading me to a chair, "Was the dream that bad, hm?"
I just stared at him, blinking a few times. I was surprised by this action.
"Hey you! I'm talking to you", he said, starting to shake me.
I looked at him, then I smiled and he stopped the shaking.
"Thank you for catching me", I said.
"Nah ... You're heavier than you look, blacky. So now calm down and then make breakfast, will you?", he said, looking away from me, although I didn't know why.
"My name is not blacky", I said, trying to sound angry, but it was quite difficult, for I was still thinking about the dream.
"Nah, as if you'd care!", he teased,"Alright, then Gacchan it is."
I frowned, but only a bit, for I started to like it. To be honest, I never had a nickname before, so it was quite nice somehow ...
So I smiled and nodded.
"So ... what are you making for breakfast?", he asked.
Wow ... he couldn't wait for his food ... but he was so thin ...
What had I gotten myself into? And what was this dream about? Was something in my mind worried about him? But why? Because of that eye-incident, maybe? Or ... because of his - considering his size and figure - huge pill-box?
"Ouch!", I screamed in surprise, when he suddenly poked me,"What was that for?!"
"For not answering my question, stupid. I'm hungry", he said, pouting.
I rolled my eyes, then I got up and went to the kitchen. He followed me slowly, watching me.
"So ... what are you cooking?", he asked, sitting down by the table again.
"Can't we just eat some cereals? I mean, milk is good for your health anyway", I said, opening the fridge and staring inside. Weren't they rich? Why wasn't there nothing but milk and eggs and a bit of butter inside?
"... We don't have cereals home. Besides, I like a warm breakfast"
Hideto looked at me, a frown on his face. He definitely didn't like my idea ...
"Sorry, I'm afraid you're the wrong one. Of course you'll get paid for the day and ...", he started, but I stopped him.
"Please don't do this! I'll make you breakfast! The best you ever had!", I almost shouted and turned to the fridge again. No he couldn't fire me ... I needed this job. It was the only one I could get ... If I had lost this ... maybe I would just find a hole and die in it ...
While cooking, I could look at him sometimes, but only for a short moment. I saw him smile happily and slowly got the feeling, he had never planned to fire me. He just wanted to test me or something ... Or the brat just wanted his food ...
"So ... what are you cooking?", he asked. I could hear he was doing something, but I had no time to look.
"Breakfast ... toast, eggs, milk", I explained.
"Mmhmm", he said, while appearing next to me and filling a glass with water, drinking it immediately, then refilling it again and returning to the table.
What had he just done? Had he taken any pills or something? Wait ... was I worried??
This was just another job, so why did I worry about him? My job was cooking and cleaning for him, not making sure he was well. I just had to clean and cook. Not much, and it was earning me money I really needed. He was only a spoiled brat, unable to take care of himself.
While I was lost in my thoughts, I didn't pay attention to what was happened around me.
Just a job. Nothing more. A way to get along. A good and easy way.
Once I had finished cooking and put everything on the table, before I looked at Hideto ... and couldn't help smiling, when I saw the excited look in his eyes.
"I hope you like it", I said, before walking away to clean the kitchen, when he suddenly grabbed my arm.
"Wait ... you should eat something too", he said, pulling me back,"I mean, you'll have to work today, so you might need something to give you strength."
I stared at him. Work? What did he mean? He smiled at me, when he noticed my confusion.
"We'll be working in the garden today. I somehow feel like it", he explained, when he started eating.
Great ... that sounded like a lot of work... But he said he would work as well, so ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I should have known.
After breakfast, we got changed in some working-clothes - yeah, he had some - and went outside. The sun was shining brightly, and the weather was fine. No wind, no rain, nothing. Just a few white clouds where moving slowly over the light blue sky. Still it wasn't hot or anything, the air was nice and fresh and the grass was a bit wet, but not much.
The garden looked quite nice, but soon he showed me what we needed to do: There were some trees and bushes that needed to be cut, old plants and dead grass had to be removed and other stuff no one had done for quite a while. Or it just looked so bad, because of the snow that had been everywhere for the last few months.
Soon we started to work. At first he helped, but then he was only standing next to a tree, giving me orders for about three hours, before I allowed myself to fall into the grass and take a rest.
"I should have known", I murmured, when he walked over to me.
"Hey! Who said we where taking a break?", he asked, glaring at me.
I just wiped my face and looked back at him. It had gotten hotter, and I had been working for hours while taking orders from him and getting scratched by dead or half alive plants. My armes and torso where bloody, because I had taken off my shirt in order to protect it from being scratched as well.
"I did", I told him,"I need a break, please ..."
He barely nodded, before sitting down next to me. The strange thing was, that he looked almost as exhausted as I was feeling, although he hadn't done much ...
"Let's call it a day, okay?", he asked and smiled at me.
Was he honest? Just a moment ago, he was giving me orders like there was nothing else for him to do, and now he would allow me to stop?
"You're kidding me, right?", I dared to ask.
He gave me a smirk, before looking around.
"Why should I be? We did a lot today, so why shouldn't we do something else today?", he asked and smiled even more, when he saw the irritated look on my face,"I mean, there are also things we can do inside ... like doing another puzzle or something like that ..."
I smiled at the thought. The puzzle had been fun, and he seemed to enjoy them very much.
He seemed to read my mind immediately and got up again.
"But we need to get the stuff away ... We can't just let the branches, leaves and the other dead plants lie around here on the grass. Let's put the plants on the compost heap, and the branches inside to dry, so we can use it for making a fire later.", he said, picking up some dead plants and carrying them to the said place.
I followed him, doing the same.
We worked like this for quite a while, until I noticed he was breathing heavily. I didn't do anything about it, for it seemed he wanted to continue working. Besides that, he ignored me, whenever I tried to talk to him. So I would let him have his way. He seemed to be used to that, so why not? This was just a job anyway. I told myself not to worry about him. This wasn't what I was supposed to do at the moment ...
Soon we had put everything where it should be, and I went outside once more to collect the last branches, when I noticed that something was wrong ...
I started running towards Hideto, who was lying on the ground, obviously unconscious. Kneeling down next to him, I noticed that his face was terribly pale and little drops of sweat had formed on his forehead. Immediately the image of him in my dream returned to my mind again, and I quickly picked him up, realizing that he was terribly skinny despite the huge amount of food he could eat. He was still breathing heavily and quite fast. His small body was shivering, and his eyes were shut.
Quickly I carried him inside and up to his room where I laid him onto his big bed, that seemed to be very comfortable. I kneeled down next to him an put the soft blankets over his small body.
I got up again, rushed to the bathroom and got a cloth to wipe the sweat off his face. When I returned, he looked at me, his eyes half lidded and smiling sadly, as he saw me. I sat down next to him, cleaning his face, when he closed his eyes again and drifted off to a not too peaceful sleep, as far as I could judge this. He had a fever, and I got the feeling he knew ...
He was murmuring in his sleep again, and again I was unable to understand something, until some words got to my ears quite quite clear, although I didn't understand what he was talking about ... and at whom his words where addressed.
"I'm sorry ... Ashita-sama"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~day 3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ouch...", I murmured, when I woke up because of something poking me. When I realized who the only person near me was, I looked up, right into Hideto‘s face. He looked better again, although he looked tired ... but he gave me a smirk.
"I thought you'd never wake up", he said, before standing up and pulling me with him,"Come on, sleepy head!"
Before I knew what was going on, we were in the kitchen. I could smell fresh coffee. Birds were singing outside and the sun was shining brightly, illuminating the table and the cups filled with coffee, standing on it, next to some bread, butter and jam.
He had ... made breakfast?!
He smiled as he noticed the look on my face.
"For worrying you so much yesterday", he said,"So eat. We'll go swimming today"
He couldn't be serious ... But he seemed to remember what had happened ...
"Haido ... you broke down yesterday! You should get some rest", I said, sounding more worried than I had wanted to.
He just shrugged, a neutral look on his face.
"As if it would make any difference. You have clothes to go swimming? If not, you can swim naked. There are usually not many people around the lake", he said, giving me a smirk and rushing off.
I just stared, looking at his back until he disappeared.

What the hell was he thinking? He had broken down just some hours ago and now he wanted to go out?
I had been by his side the whole night, just to be sure he was okay. His body had been so hot, but he had been shivering at the same time and sweat had formed on his forehead again and again, no matter how often I had removed it. He had been miserable, talking in his sleep and mistaking me for this Ashita person whenever he opened his eyes for a moment - and even when his eyes where closed. He had been clinging to me so tight, that after some hours I must have fallen asleep, because of his warmth affecting me.
To be honest, it was me feeling miserable now. Because after what had happened, it would be so hard not to worry about small, fragile Hideto...

"What are you staring at?", he asked when I just stood by the water, as he said, staring,"Take off your clothes and go into the water!"
Why wasn't he staring? The surrounding was so beautiful ... everything around the lake was blooming, butterflies were flying around. I had never been here before, although it was just a few minutes away from the town. It was easy to reach it on foot, or using a horse. We had just walked, because Hideto wanted me to see the landscape after I had mentioned that I had never before been outside the town - what was actually nothing unusual. For simple or even poor people like me, there was no way to leave the city. We only had our feet to move on. Horses were to expensive. Sure, I wanted to see the world, and I sure would, if there had been anything fast to visit other places quickly ...
I turned to face him after finishing my thoughts to answer him, when I felt my eyes grow wide.
Hideto was wearing some very short pants and nothing else ... I could see his almost white skin clearly, reflecting the sun a bit. He looked so pure and beautiful ... and fragile ...
"Hey blacky, you've been staring like this since breakfast!", he teased, throwing a towel at me. Somehow I managed to catch it, still staring at him.
"Wake up, silly!", he commanded, walking over to me, taking the towel and dropping it. Then he started removing my clothes slowly, with a smile decorating his innocent face ...
His tone was angry, but his actions where not. He was gentle ... soon, I was almost naked, still standing in front of him, looking in his deep brown eyes. He seemed to be amused, while he looked at me, now just wearing nothing but short pants as well.
Before I knew what was happening, he had his hands on my shoulders, pushing me back.

I was shocked, unable to think or move, when I was suddenly surrounded by something cold and dark. All air was being pressed out of my lungs, and when I tried to breath, it felt like darkness was flowing inside me. It took me quite a while to realize where I was and what was happening. This felt familiar, but not in a positive way. More like a far off memory being pushed back into my mind brutally.
I could feel panic and fear growing, when I somehow was unable to get out again.
It got darker and darker ...

"Please wake up Gacchan", I could hear Hideto‘s voice reaching me,"Please ... I'm so sorry ... I had no idea you ..."
He was holding my hand ... he was cold ... I slowly opened my eyes to meet his. He ... had he been crying? Or was it my mind playing tricks on me?
"See, he's okay after all", another voice said,"So no need to worry, Haido. He's lucky I had watched you"
I turned my head to see a brown-haired man, looking at me with a friendly smile.
"Whatever", Hideto just said before standing up and jumping into the water.
The other man shook his head.
"He's worried about you", he explained, still smiling,"I'm Tetsu, a friend of him"
"What's wrong with Hideto?", I asked, before I could think about my words.
The man called Tetsu tilted his head a bit.
"What do you mean?"
"The way he acts. Plus he passed out yesterday and today he acts as if everything was okay. He's just all teasing and getting his way ... I can't see what he feels, or when he's being serious and when he's joking or fooling around.", I said, still not really thinking.
He just shook his head.
"Haido is a difficult person", he explained, "But ... well he has his reasons ... whats your name, by the way?"
I just stared at him for a while. Difficult, hm? Nah, that was explaining nothing at all ...
"Camui ...", I said, but as he had heard the nickname, it didn't matter at all,"Gakuto Camui ..."
"Gakuto?", he asked, eyes widening in surprise.
I nodded, giving him a confused look, while he just stared at me with a look, like he had just realized something obvious and was clueless why he hadn't noticed before.
"Well, it's late, I got to go", he said, waving goodbye to Hyde who was approaching me, then rushing off.
"What the hell did you do to Tetsu?", he asked, sitting down next to me.
"Nothing. Just told him my name, thats all ..."
Hyde just nodded.
"You're not able to swim, are you?", he asked, looking at my - and changing the topic.
Oookay, he was hiding something from me. Something big ... and if I was guessing right, it was more than one secret ...
What was wrong with my name? And why had he passed out?
I felt his finger poking me again.
"Ow!", I protested, glaring at him, "I can swim ... I was too surprised ..." And thinking of something else ...
He barely nodded.
"Alright, then relax. You can stay on the towel Tetsu put you on", he said, pointing at the white towel I hadn't noticed although I was sitting on it.
"Okay", I said, still confused, when he left again to go swimming. He seemed to enjoy this ...
'I just hope he'll not collapse in the water', I thought before drifting off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're getting too used to poking me", I commented, blinking a few times.
"Is it my fault you fell asleep? It's already getting dark again, and I'm hungry", he said, looking at me with his puppy dog eyes pleading me to feed him.
I couldn't help smiling. This was just too cute ...
"Alright little one, let's get home to get you some food", I said while slowly getting up. When I looked down at him, I had to realize, that he was shivering a bit. He immediately noticed my worried look and got up as well.
Before I could say something, he had grabbed my hand and started walking back to his house, pulling me with him.
So he didn't want me to be worried ...

As soon as we had arrived - the lake was about only ten minutes by foot from his house - he rushed off to the bathroom. Sighing I went to the kitchen and started making some noodles with vegetables and some soup.
When he came back, he snuffled immediately and gave me a smile.
"Smells good ... what are you cooking?", he asked, peeking into the pan,"Looks tasty..."
"Just noodles", I said, returning the smile, before putting bowls and the other things we would need on the table,"Just take a seat, will you?"
He looked a bit confused, but then he did what I had told him to. I was sure he hadn't noticed it , but he looked very pale. I wanted to tell him he should rest, but I got the feeling he wouldn't listen ... Was it just me, or was he not willing to trust me? He acted so ...
"Gacchan?", He suddenly asked very sweet, standing right in front of me.
I just stared back at him for a while before saying something.
"What is it, Hideto-san?", I heard my self asking, before he frowned.
"Call me Hyde, stupid ... or at least spare the san", he commanded, before smiling again and suddenly hugging me,"Thanks for being here, Gacchan"
I couldn't help hugging him back. He seemed to be so fragile ... and helpless ... although he had pushed me into the cold water earlier ... and wouldn't trust me.
"Never mind, Haido", I almost whispered, smiling gently, before he let go off me and went back to the table, sitting down.

"This was good", he said, looking quite satisfied,"Want to watch a movie?"
I just nodded, then started washing the dishes. He watched me for a while, before he went to the living room.
Soon I was done again and joined him.
"You know this one?", he asked, showing a thin plastic box with a picture on it to me. It showed some people and a ... thing I couldn't identify. I shook my head, and he laughed at the funny expression on my face.
"Never seen a DVD-box before, have you?", he asked before taking out a small flat and round thing and putting it in a machine. Wait ... he had already done this the last time we had watched ... why had I not noticed it back then?
After starting everything, he pushed me on the sofa and sat down next to me.
"It's about a girl who is cursed by a witch, after falling for some wizard, and suddenly is about 90 years old. I like the wizard though ... I can somehow identify ...", he explained.
I didn't say anything. Perhaps I could learn something about him this way ...

We watched the whole movie and I paid attention as good as possible. He had wrapped his arms around my chest again and his eyes were closed. The atmosphere was peaceful, and after the end of the movie, it automatically started again.
Somewhere during the movie, I suddenly got a strange feeling, because they kept saying the wizard - a first blond then black haired guy - had no heart ...
I slowly put one arm around Hideto, feeling his pulse without him noticing. It was very slow and irregular ... but it was there. I felt somehow relieved. It's not possible to live without a heart ... but still ... I had a strange feeling ... we were living in a somehow magical world after all. I had never experienced it myself, but I had seen the house of a wizard once, and heard of a guy who was being cursed by a witch for taking her child away. Stuff like this. Not to mention the old forest that followed the suns movement, and the weird accidents whenever someone tried to build machines for faster movement or some that could be used in battle ...

I found myself standing in a forest again. This time, I could see the sky, but it was blood red, stained with black stars. Rain fell down slowly, and I could hear an irregular heartbeat somewhere far away. When I looked down, I noticed, that my clothes where stained with blood, but I had not enough time to be shocked about it, because I heard evil laughter behind me. When I turned round, I was staring at a person as tall as myself. It had red eyes, staring at me, but that was the only thing I could see. The rest of it was just pitch black and without any forms or other colors.
I took a step backwards, attempting to run, but I couldn't move anymore. Just staring at the oddly familiar creature, I kept standing there, my heart racing again.
"Without a heart, there is nothing", the creature laughed at me, it's voice echoing in my ears. It was horrifying and sounded not like one, but like at least three voices at the same time ...
I wanted to ask what this was supposed to mean, but I couldn't say anything. I was stunned ...
Suddenly I looked down again. There was water around me, although I was still in the forest. 'The rain must have caused this', I thought, before the water reached my face. Then I was suddenly caught under water. I tried to reach air again, but I couldn't move.
I could hear the slow heartbeat grow louder, before I felt myself slip into darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, it was dark all around me. The movie had been turned off, and Hyde was sleeping peacefully, armes wrapped around me tightly and head against my chest. I smiled, immediately calmed by the sight.
"I don't know what's wrong with me lately", I whispered,"And I have no idea who this horrifying person is ..."
"I possess his heart", I heard the voices of said person from my right side. I froze immediately and started to shiver a bit. After a while I managed to turn my head, staring into darkness. I calmed down again, when I realized that there was nothing. Just my imagination ...
There really was something wrong, and somehow I was afraid ... afraid of this thing taking Hyde away from me ...
"Who is Ashita?", I dared to ask with a low voice.
"The one, who tried to safe him", the voices answered.
"And why are you talking to me?"
I felt myself shaking with fear, when the voices came to me from different directions. What was going on? There was no one here, except peaceful sleeping Hideto and myself. Still I was talking to someone ...
"Because you care for what is mine"
I froze, pressing Hideto a bit closer to my chest. He didn't notice, he kept sleeping, holding onto me tightly ...
The creature laughed evilly, before the voices started to fade.
"You can't win", where the last words I heard from it...

Imprint

Text: Disclaimer: Gackt, Hyde, Tetsu and Sakura belong to themselves Claimer: Ashita, other characters and the story are mine
Publication Date: 04-21-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
This story is for Gackt and Hyde and all people who's writing inspired me.