estirose

"Are you all right?" Imari-san asked, leaning in a little.

"You were raised human, weren't you?" Koji-san asked after a moment. "I guess… if you were used to being human, then…."

"He would have still needed Life Energy," Kaori-san argued. "He wouldn't be alive if he didn't."

"Um, no," Wataru said, straightening up. "I don't ever remember being fed."

"That's impossible," Kaori-san said. "I need it, even if I don't need it as much as a full Fangire. And I don't have a Checkmate Four member for a parent. Wouldn't you need more?"

"That makes sense," Imari-san responded. "Wataru-san, if I may ask, how did you not know?"

Wataru shrugged. "I didn't. I don't know how, but I didn't. Maybe mother stopped something in me."

"It's not any of our business," Satoshi-san interjected. "If he doesn't know, he doesn't know." Taiga swore he shrunk a little after looking at Kaori-san.

But Kaori-san just sighed. Imari-san put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to know everything, Kaori."

"It's helpful if I do," Kaori-san said. Shaking her head, she looked at Wataru. "We don't hunt friends, and we don't hunt enemies. That's calling attention to yourself."

"And if you do, you shatter the bodies so nothing's found," Koji-san added. "If it's close enough to them, it'll shatter with them."

Wataru was turning a little pale at the whole discussion. "I had to figure that out for myself," Taiga said. "I learned to hunt from a very young age – probably younger than most of you." It would do Wataru good to know what normal Fangire attitudes were and what he'd be dealing with as he tried to get the Fangire people to exist on something other than Life Energy.

"What if there was another source of Life Energy than humans?" Wataru asked. "You wouldn't have to eat Humans, then."

"Or even an alternative," Taiga said, trying to make Wataru's argument less shocking. Neither he nor Wataru knew how to exist in Fangire society, and Wataru could be passionate about this. "We have the technology – we can start looking at diversifying food sources. Not that humans will be extinct any time soon, but we should have options... just in case."

"Humans are our food." Kaori-san shook her head. "But I'm not opposed to finding alternatives."

"Me neither," Koji-san said. Imari-san just nodded.

"I think it's a good idea," Satoshi-san added. "Things are changing, and I know this isn't a popular opinion or anything, but... maybe it's time to find a food source that isn't an intelligent being."

Taiga didn't have to look at Wataru to know that his little brother was brightening a little at that. Probably the attitudes of the other three were telling him it was a futile effort and that he should maybe think about his own people and how ready they were for change. After all, if people their age were resistant, that meant that the rest of the population was even more so.

But he knew that Wataru wasn't going to give up. Wataru never did, in the things that were important to him. Once more, Taiga wished that Wataru had embraced his Fangire blood.

"But that's what makes us Fangire," Imari-san said, apparently having forgotten that she was having lunch with her King. Taiga didn't interrupt, because this was what having people around him was like, people who were there not to curry favor, but to just be together.

"Imari's right," Kaori-san said. "That's what my mother always told me." There was a fierceness in her tone, that softened with her next words. "But that part can change. He's right, finding an alternative food source isn't going to hurt us. After all, Humans die, and this could keep our people nourished until we can get the population back up."

"Fangire have been behind a lot of attempts to get Humans to have more children," Taiga explained to Wataru. He was glad that Bishop had told him about it, because he always wanted to know more about his people. It made sense to do that, because he could be a more effective King that way. Sure, King was a weapon, but he preferred being an educated weapon. "To some extent, the other Races were too - the only thing we agreed on - but we spent a lot of time preaching that children were better."

Kaori-san nodded, and smiled widely. "My brother likes history, and I picked up the interest from him. I could tell you more about it if you want." It seemed, Taiga noted from the gleam in her eye, that she was the go-to person for history. Of course, some of the Elders had lived through it, but Kaori-san was his own age.

And he was liking the whole idea of lunch with his peers, being with them.

"Mio-san didn't have a problem with me," Wataru said. "When she thought I was human."

Koji-san shrugged. "She didn't tell us you were human."

"Would it have really mattered?" Imari-san asked. "Some humans are special. I never got why someone shouldn't marry, if they were really in love. I mean, there are some really tragic stories out there, but...."

"Besides, Kaori is Fangire." Koji-san shook his head. "If the kids are Fangire, it's okay."

"There's something else I have in mind." He regretted cutting the discussion short on that, but he didn't want Wataru to put his foot in it. Not when he needed to be making friends and finding a wife. "I'm sure Wataru and Kaori-san aren't the only ones who were born to Human and Fangire while there wasn't a Queen." Mio had taken care of a few offenders, enough to scare most people off of trying it, but there were still those from before. "And like Wataru, there were probably some that weren't raised Fangire. Mio did a good job, but she can't do anything about the kids already born."

He saw pain on his guests' faces, quickly covered up. Kaori-san was the fastest at it, but the others were pretty quick.

"I miss Mio," he said. "She died saving me." That was the story he wanted to project. Mio might have been a lot of things, might have tried to kill him, but he wanted the world to think well of her, no matter what. She was his Queen, and he'd gladly carry on her legacy.

"I never thought to ask Mio if she was dating a Fangire," Kaori-san shook her head. "And then she became Queen and she stopped talking to us. I worried a lot about her."

"We all did," Imari-san said softly. "We were so happy she was chosen to become Queen and marry King, and... I felt sorry for you, Wataru-san, but nothing could be done about that. Kings marry Queens."

Kaori-san reached over to touch her friend's arm gently. "We all miss Mio. I'm glad she died for a good cause."

Taiga wished she had, instead of the stupid death she'd had, being shattered for being an undesirable Queen in love with a Human. But he would let the illusion stay, because he didn't want to hurt Mio's friends.

And he didn't want to hurt himself.