estirose

A followup to "In Love With Your Ghost". Leo is ready to court Kaoru. (Warnings for mentioned major character death; speculation as to the idenity of a major villain.

Like all Makai priests Leo was in some ways very conventional. Sure, he liked his gadgets, but he knew that it was their holding to tradition that had led to their success. They were doing a good job in replacing the Makai Knights, and he was glad that some of the Senators had seen reason and at least delayed finding new weilders for the powers, at least until his faction could prove that there was no more need for them. Leo himself had to keep quiet, because he knew they were still looking for Jyaku, and he didn't want them to realize what he had done. No matter how much the world needed him to erase the Makai Knights, the Senate had yet to see reason.

Besides, he had other worries. Kaoru was starting to move on from Kouga's death; it was time for him to court her. At least he'd been able to argue that Kaoru deserved to stay where she was and to keep her from being evicted. He'd taken her to meet his parents, and they'd gotten along fine.

It didn't hurt that his mother had taken him aside and asked him if he was intending to court her. He'd been noble, of course, waiting for Kaoru to get over Kouga, and told his mother that. But Kaoru couldn't mourn Kouga forever, and Leo waited quietly for her. He regretted having to take Kouga from Kaoru, and he knew he had to make it up to Kaoru somehow.

Kaoru's parents being dead made things a bit harder for him, because he would have wanted to ask their permission. But it wasn't an impossible hurdle, since his parents would surely approve of the match. Kaoru had been close to marrying a Knight, and while he hadn't sought their formal approval, he was sure that his parents would agree that Kaoru would make a good wife for him.

And he could protect Kaoru, too. He knew that she had a knack for attracting strange things, even before she'd become splashed with Horror Blood. In some ways, Kaoru had needed Kouga's protection, and Leo had taken over for Kouga.

There were obligations one made to the dead that couldn't be broken, after all. And obligations to the living.

It probably didn't hurt that he loved Kaoru. Wished he hadn't had to do what he'd done. It wasn't her fault that she and Kouga were a near-perfect match, that they belonged together, that Leo had to break it up because Kouga had to die.

Because it wasn't her fault, it was Leo's. And therefore, he had to support her. Court her, date her, become her husband and do what Kouga couldn't do anymore. Because he loved Kaoru, and had things been any different, he was sure that he and Kouga could have been true friends.