Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered Illusions ❯ Tsubomi's Investiagation ( Chapter 18 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: MellyN

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Shattered Illusions

Chapter 18: Tsubomi's Investiagation

By: Melissa Norvell

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"Well, that's weird," Tsubomi commented with an arched eyebrow.

"So, he really does like her," Copernicus noted. "I figured as much, since he gave her a rose. It's his way of saying that he feels a special connection to the person, which most of the time, results in love."

"You sure do know a lot about the prince," that was a little suspicious of someone who was only in a noble court, and not in the family.

"We're close, like brothers," Copernicus explained.

"Millie seems pretty messed up about it. I don't know, though. I might be the same way if I randomly had sex with someone because I was emotional," she knew that more played into the situation than just Millie being emotional, but due to those emotions, she gave in to Prince Yale easily.

"Waking up alone in that situation must have been hard," Copernicus sympathized. "If I was confused and hurting like that, I'd at least want to know whoever I did something with was by my side."

"Me too," Tsubomi agreed. "I'd be afraid, considering I'm a virgin. I'm sure I'd want to be hold the first time it happened."

The vampire smiled at that little bit of information that was released. He would be sure to make a note of that in the future. "If I'm your first time, I'll hold you, my little Tsubomi." Blue eyes glanced to the woman affectionately. 'I'd hold you forever, until you were used to it and until you grew to like it.'

Tsubomi flushed slightly and uttered his name in a slightly emotional tone, which earned a smile from the dark-haired vampire. After a small silence from the two, the stripper looked at him with softened eyes.

"I'd hold you, too."

She could feel the man's hand being sat on hers as they continued to gaze into each other's eyes. The depths of the dark-haired man's eyes held so much emotion for her. They shone with gentility and at a moment like this, Tsubomi felt as if she could just lean forward and kiss him once more…Until Millie walked into the room and sat down in front of them, glancing at the ground.

"Hey…" Her small voice interrupted their moment, causing the two to turn their heads towards her.

"How are you feeling?" Copernicus asked, concerned with her mental health.

"Confused."

"Anything we can help you with?"

"I'll be okay. I just need to figure some things out," Millie replied. Even though he did, she didn't want her friends to worry about her too much. She was still emotional and needed to gather her thoughts. The situation was still so new to her.

"Personally, it seems like you love him to me." Why not just point out the obvious? It was Tsubomi's way of thinking, anyway. There wasn't a doubt in the stripper's mind that Millie was madly in love with Prince Yale. Otherwise, she wouldn't have done anything with him. Millie wasn't the type of girl to give herself up to just anyone. She had gathered that much from being around her.

"But…No one falls in love that fast…Do they?" Millie questioned. It just didn't seem to be possible. It seemed like something that was an unrealistic representation of love that only happened in fairytales and movies. "We only have known each other for ten days."

"I'm not one to believe that love happens at first sight, but it seems like you both did something right. Either that, or you were both really horny," Tsubomi said it so open-mindedly and shrugged at the last part as if it didn't truly seem to matter.

"Tsubomi-kun!" The school girl shouted, embarrassed by her friend's forward statement the subject.

"Just being honest."

"You're so typically male," the girl snorted and crossed her arms over her chest as Copernicus chuckled lightly before it turned into an all out laugh. The girl glared at him. "And why are you laughing, pretty boy?"

"You're amusing," the vampire replied in-between laughs.

"That was embarrassing! I can't even look you guys in the eyes!" Millie turned her head and flushed bright red. To think that she came to them for support, only to be laughed at.

"It's not like we've never seen topless women before," Tsubomi promptly reminded her of her occupation.

"Yeah but, that's not how you want to view someone you live with. Once you see someone you know with no clothes on, it's hard to look at them in the same way. I mean, what if you guys saw each other naked?" Her eyes shifted as she smiled impishly. "Or have you already?"

"What?" Tsubomi blushed.

"We're both men. I'm sure we'd be fine with it," the vampire commented casually. It wasn't as if they had anything the other hadn't seen before. It would be as harmless as being in the boy's locker room at school.

"Speak for yourself," Tsubomi hardly agreed.

"You're so self-conscious. I'm sure you're not that small," Copernicus teased, earning him a punch in the shoulder.

"Shut up, Copernicus. I don't want everyone knowing that!" She faked her anger on the subject. 'No way! I am a woman and my body isn't that manly. I don't have many curves or big breasts, but it's too obvious when I'm naked.'

Millie sat, stunned into silence for a moment before she busted out laughing. Tsubomi folded her arms over her chest as she frowned deeply at the school girl, who was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

She knew what was coming next.

"You have a small penis."

"And you're about to have a black eye," the tom boy growled.

"What if I like men with small penises?" Copernicus asked, trying to make her feel better and hopefully not earning another hit for that remark. Tsubomi's punches rather hurt.

"You have a Lolita complex. I swear, I'm surrounded by freaks and idiots."

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Hizaki walked around the town, searching through many crowds of people. He was determined to find and kill Prince Yale before Estella Nu had a chance to even spot him. The sooner he exposed that sadistic bitch, the better. The drag queen was sure that as soon as Hide found out, he'd make sure to put an end to her life.

'Damn, no sign of him yet. He's got to be around here somewhere.' Red lips curved into a smile. 'I'd better kill him off soon. That way, Estella Nu can't get one over on us. Damned little traitor, I bet she wants to overthrow Hide. The Black Knights always did hate taking orders from us.'

Tsubomi walked around the corner with a list in her hand. It was hand-written by the vampire, listing many special things that he wanted her to pick up at the market for him. Her eyes skimmed over the list of things. 'Man, Copernicus eats some expensive and strange stuff. Do they even sell this stuff in Japan.'

She pondered before something caught her eye. With a 'hm' in question, she glanced up and saw Prince Yale, walking amongst the commoners as if he were one of them. 'Prince Yale…I wonder where he's off to.'

The list would have to wait. She had some investigating to do. The stuck the piece of paper in her pocket and followed the tawny-haired prince.

'If we know where he's hiding, then I can tell Copernicus and we'll know how to protect and help him out. Besides, I want to help Millie and knowing will help her too. Still, I wonder what he's doing, lurking around in broad daylight.' Before she got too close, the girl darted into a bush nearby. Yale stopped and glanced over his shoulder for a moment, but then he kept walking, followed by the tom boy.

Soon, he came to a random path that was worn in the grass.

"Huh?" Tsubomi blinked in confusion. 'Why did he stop in the middle of nowhere like that?' She watched from behind a tree as Yale pulled up a large patch of grass that was big enough for one person to hide under and leapt into what looked like a hole. 'Damn…He's got a great hiding place. No one would ever think to look for him there. Millie doesn't have to worry much, does she? That prince is smarter than they give him credit for. Well, I'd better leave before someone notices.'

The tomboy darted off, back into town. When she was on the outskirts, she pulled out her list. "Well, this was an eventful day…Now, time to get shopping."

Suddenly, there was a flash that was bright enough to nearly blind her. It caused the tomboy to stop dead in her tracks and tremble with widened eyes. 'What? What's wrong with me? Oh no!' She dropped her list and began to stumble around. Her body felt as if it were being stabbed by a thousand knives and her vision was blurry. She felt as if she had vertigo. 'This is…Hizaki…'

With that final thought, she blacked out.

The blonde stood behind her, pointing his umbrella at her. He looked down at the unconscious girl with cold eyes. "Well, well, there's one of them, anyway. Really, they should have their defenses up. What kind of donor is that?"

XxXxXx

Tsubomi's unconscious body was thrown haphazardly at Hide's feet. She landed in a crumpled heap near the toes of his boots. The vampire gazed down at her with amusement in his eyes.

"So, that's Copernicus' donor? The boy who gave you so much trouble? I always knew he liked them young," arising from his chair, he walked over to the girl and knelt by her side, extending a long arm as his bony hand lifted the girl's chin. "He doesn't look like much."

"The only thing he's good for is a good feeding," Hizaki frowned in displeasure. If he had it his way, he'd simply kill her, along with Estella Nu and that meddling Prince who refused to die.

"I'll wake him up," Estella volunteered as she snapped her whip across Tsubomi's back. It earned her a yell of pain as the girl shot up and held her back, glaring at the purple-haired sadist with defiance.

"Who the hell are you two?" She growled defensively.

"I'm Estella Nu, head of the Black Knight Special Ops," the female vampire introduced herself.

"I'm Hide, welcome to my underground fortress. You must be Tsubomi," the red-clad vampire stood, gazing down on the stripper like the weak excuse for a living being that he considered her to be.

"Go fuck yourself," Tsubomi fumed in defiance, which earned her another lash from the whip.

"Silence, human," Estella commanded coldly, threatening her with another hit from the whip if she tried to speak again.

"You're full of spark. Too bad we'll have to beat it out of you. If you divulge some valuable information, however, we may leave you alone," it was a bargain that Hizaki knew she couldn't refuse. Normally, humans would say anything with a little threatening of violence.

"I'd rather die," the stripper protested as she was struck again. The whip seemed to cut into her skin. With every strike, it went deeper and deeper into her body and she could feel the blood surface. 'That whip has razors in it.'

"You do best to cooperate," Estella advised.

"Do you think it would be more efficient and beneficial to keep me alive? Copernicus will come here looking for me," Tsubomi replied. 'Hopefully, this will buy me some time.'

"Let me have him. It would be fun to make him scream," Estella smiled as she cracked her whip. Just the thought of the male's screams running through her head put her mind in sadistic bliss.

"Pin the boy up," Hide ordered, "after you do that, resume your current position of finding the prince. I want Prince Yale dead."

"Of course," Hizaki replied as he grabbed the stripper's arm, only to be flipped over her head. Tsubomi then flung his dress-clad body into Hide, knocking the both of them over as she darted off down the hall to make her escape.

'Did they honestly think I'd just go quietly?' She thought as she took off around the corner. 'Now, I have to find a way out of here. Since this is underground, then I'll have to look above for the exit.'

Hide sat up and pointed after the girl. "After him! Don't let him escape! Do whatever you have to ensure that he stays here!"

Hizaki agreed as he pulled himself up and held up his dress, darting down the halls after the runaway.

As she headed down the halls, the vampire sentinels looked at her and took chase.

"Damn, there really is a whole bunch of vampires who want Copernicus' head," she turned around another corner but was cut off by a vampire who jumped in front of her. Immediately, she dropped to the ground and kicked up, striking the vampire in the hands and knocking the gun across the hall. The girl then jumped to her feet and spin kicked another vampire in the face as Hizaki got the girl in his sights.

'Man, that little bastard can fight.' He stopped and watched as a sentinel grabbed her shoulder and tried to bite her neck. Tsubomi quickly pulled a gun from her back pocket and blew his face off without a second thought.

Above anyone else, no one but Copernicus would have the pleasure of feasting on her blood.

"I wasn't ready for this," she commented to herself as another vampire swung his arm around to punch her but she slid back on her butt and fired the gun again. She managed to hit two of them. Their bodies fell to the ground as another came up behind her. Tsubomi got on her hands and swung her feet under herself and behind to horse kick the vampire into the wall.

Hizaki charged at her from down the hall. His deadly parasol was drawn and promised to do a fair amount of damage if she couldn't avoid the hit. Tsubomi spun to the side and used the feminine body of the vampire to roll off of. She turned around the punched the blonde, only to have his image shatter like glass under her blow.

"Damn! It's an illusion," she cursed as she made her way down the hall.

XxXxXxXx

"Tsubomi sure is taking a while. I wonder if something happened," Copernicus was starting to worry. He had only sent her out for a short amount of time and it had been hours. He figured that the list had hard to get items, but even so, it wouldn't have taken her this long to return.

"I don't know but I sure am hungry. He needs to hurry up," Millie sighed. It had been a long time when she thought about it. What was keeping him?

"Maybe I gave him too exotic of a list," Copernicus was a little thoughtful on the subject, trying to chide his own personal worries.

"Hey, Copernicus."

"Yes?"

"Why doesn't Tsubomi-kun want to live with you?" It was always a question that ran through her mind. She couldn't help but wonder, especially since the two had been so close.

"I'm not sure. I think he's afraid."

"Of what?"

"Many things, something's bothering him and he won't say what it is or give the slightest hint. I think he's afraid to love," Copernicus could tell that something had been worrying the boy for quite some time but it wouldn't be completely wrong for him to do so, considering Copernicus was harboring a huge secret of his own. The vampire smiled. "But that's alright. He's slowly learning. So far, he really likes to kiss."

"What kind of kiss?" Millie was more than interested in this story.

"Just a peck on the lips. Well, his are quite long, not French kissing or anything," he stopped her before her overactive imagination got the best of her.

"How sad. French kissing is the best!" Millie proclaimed brightly.

"I enjoy it," Copernicus agreed.

"It's really interesting with a vampire, but it was so amazing! I think Tsubomi-kun would think so too, if you could get him over it," the school girl suggested.

"I don't want to pressure him. I like the pace that we're at now."

"Don't you think it's going too slow? I mean, hasn't it been two months since you've known each other?"

"I won't rush him. I want him to trust me," Copernicus knew that if he tried to hurry anything at this point, that it would be dangerous for their relationship. He'd worked hard this entire time to get the girl to trust him and he wasn't going to break that now. Not at such a critical time.

"You really like him, don't you? I bet that you really want him to live with you so you can get closer to him," she didn't have to see the man's face to know that he and Tsubomi were basically attached at the hip.

"Perhaps."

"Hey, I was doing some research and I wanted your opinion," Millie stated. Who else better to help her than a vampire?

Copernicus turned around. "I assume it's about vampires."

"Yeah, I read that your heartbeat and mood usually match the human you're closest to. Is that true, because you and Tsubomi are kind of alike. You're both calm, smart, you have clear but kind eyes and you're both detached. You're so detached that I feel like you guys are zombies around me, or I feel like I'm dumb or invisible or something," Millie replied. It was probably another myth knowing her luck, but it was a nice theory.

"I think you're just a little out of the loop," Copernicus replied. It wasn't a bad thing. He liked how she brightened up their atmosphere. "Tsubomi nearly knows everything I had to tell him. When we first met, Hizaki attacked him, I don't want him to be in any more danger than he has to be."

"You're with the royal court…but aside from that, I don't know much about you," Millie said thoughtfully. "Okay, I don't know crap about you. I mean, from what I know, you're an aristocrat, you're a vampire, you're an Inheritor, you and Prince Yale are friends, you like guys and you're really rich…Oh yeah, and you come from America like me…only not."

"You're right. Oh, and the thing about heart rate and mood is false. If it were true then I'd be able to figure out what Tsubomi feels. I've always wondered that about him. I want to know everything about him and I can't do that if he keeps putting up walls," Copernicus thought that it would be a nice theory, but he knew that it wasn't true. Oh, what he'd give for a power like that!

"You're really nice to him."

"I don't think that many people are," Copernicus could tell by Tsubomi's attitude that she had turned tough for a reason, and usually people turned cold due to the cruelty or neglect in their own lives.

"He seems like of harsh," Millie replied.

"He's just truthful and opinionated. He never lets me get away with anything," it was also one of her redeeming qualities. Copernicus loved that about her. Only she could tame the beast in him.

"At least he reacts around you."

"He oddly trusts me," the vampire nearly laughed.

"You seem so amused by that," Millie arched an eyebrow. That was weird.

"I don't know what it is about him but somehow, Tsubomi does something to me-"

"Above or below the belt?" The school girl cut him off.

Copernicus felt the sweat roll down the back of his head as he slumped over. "Everywhere…"

"What do you think about him?" Since he had admitted that much, she decided to see what else she could get out of him. Any juicy details were always fun to pump out of people.

"He's charming, like a prince. He's also chivalrous, something I didn't think I'd find. I think he's kind in his own way. He's loyal, but unsure of himself and damned with negativity. If he were more confident in himself he'd know that he had a lot of talent. He's a great donor, and he takes good care of me. Tsubomi is funny and trustworthy. I feel like I could do anything with him. I want to teach him how to love," the vampire admitted freely. It was what he truly felt, and nothing would be greater to him than to be the one that Tsubomi chose to be with permanently, not only as a donor, but as a lover as well.

"You're in love with him," Millie smiled. She knew it.

"I'm really not sure-" Copernicus' eyes widened a little, and his voice had a slight crack to it as the girl giggled.

"It wasn't a question, you dork."

"You love Prince Yale."

"Um…" That shut her up.

"It isn't easy to define it yourself, is it?" Reverse psychology seemed to work that time. He was glad of it.

"True, but I mean, if you had sex with him would you be?" Millie questioned, in hopes to find an answer to her own ponderings.

"I would be whatever he wanted, and…I would hold him close, so that he understood that sex wasn't anything to fear. Something like that could easily make him hate me. If it came to that, then he'd be trusting me with his body and that's something I wouldn't want to screw up. I may not know what I feel about him, but Tsubomi is a very special person to me. I cherish him," Copernicus was serious about his words, more than anything; he would not do a thing to make his trust waiver.

XxXxXxXx

Hizaki launched his parasol at Tsubomi, who managed to dodge the offending umbrella. One of the sentinels behind her managed to catch it, only to find that bars shot from the top and encased him in a trap.

The drag queen sighed to himself. "Honestly, what kind of idiots work for Hide-sama?"

Tsubomi managed to find some stairs that led up to a pair of wooden doors. She headed up the stairs, followed by the few sentinels who were still chasing her. 'I hope to hell this is it.' She thought to herself as she flung open the doors, only to be met by a variety of weapons, guns, scythes, spears and axes. 'Oh, fuck me…'

She took a step back only to have the bayonet of the parasol pointed between her shoulder blades. Hizaki had fazed through the doors and appeared behind her.

"You think you're pretty slick, boy…but what will you do now?"

…To Be Continued