Previously Married (Kamen Rider Kiva) (Consolidation)

[estirose]

Consolidation for “Previously Married” parts 1-7, off of estorise.

Previously Married
by Estirose
c 2009

Wataru dreamed sometimes of when he was a little boy. He hadn’t been alone, not like he was now, he had a companion and a love and someone who understood him implicitly.

But with Taiga gone, he was alone. Oh, it wasn’t so bad nowadays, with Nago-san and Megumi-san and Shizuka-chan. And he even had Mio-san, who wasn’t anything like Taiga at all, but he supposed was someone that he *should* be in love with, because Boys loved Girls and that was it, and Taiga was just a nice dream.

Okay, Taiga was more than a nice dream; Wataru knew that he existed, had pictures and pictures to show for it. But they had been silly to think that boys could marry boys, and Wataru had grown up to realize this.

He cradled his cellphone in his hands, catching sight of the ‘wedding ring’ that he’d worn ever since he’d ‘married’ his adoptive ‘older brother’. Because, of course, he was neither related to Taiga nor married to him, so of course, the ring didn’t mean anything.

Except, of course, when it did.

Taiga had disappeared one day when he was maybe eleven, and Wataru had never known what had happened to his missing ‘brother’ and ‘husband’. He’d been too shy to ask, not wanting to let the authorities know that he and Taiga had been living alone with no parent to guide them ever since his adoptive mother had vanished all those years ago.

Wataru twisted the ring on his finger, and gathered up the courage to call Mio-san and see how she was. After all, Mio was nice and sweet and he was lucky to know her.

Making a decision, he did call her. She answered on the second ring, breathless as always, and he blushed at what he might have interrupted her from doing.

“Wataru-san!” Mio-san proclaimed. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Would Mio-san like to go on a date?”

“Ah… yes… I…” She sounded like she was blushing. “With Wataru-san, I’d be glad to. Where should we go?”

“Um….” He had to admit, he hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Mio-san and I could have a picnic.”

“That sounds great,” Mio-san said breathlessly. Wataru blushed as he thought of how great things were going to be, if he did them right. “Um. Tomorrow?”

“I can do that, around two?” His time was clear; it came down to hers.

“I’ll see you then, Wataru-san,” Mio said, before she hung up the call.

“Were you talking to Mio-chan?” Megumi-san said, taking a seat across from him. “Did you two arrange a date? Oh! I know you’ll be fine, with my advice…..”

“Thank you, Megumi-san,” Wataru said. Megumi-san could be the greatest friend, but sometimes she was a bit too much when it came to his love life.

Megumi-san chattered off advice on how he should approach things and how to treat Mio-san properly and all kinds of things like that. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he’d already made up his mind on how things were going to be.

He finally got free of Megumi-san’s clutches when Nago-san invited him to lunch. Megumi-san had made a face and protested, but Nago-san had insisted that it was important, and had made it clear on the way that this was not just lunch… this was training. At least it got him free from Megumi-san’s advice, so Wataru didn’t complain.

Not even when it involved chasing a robber into a playground and being beat up by him, before the robber ran off. Wataru was left retrieving his shoe and being lectured at by Nago-san before returning back home.

There was an unfamiliar man sitting on his couch when he got there. Wataru couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering who he was and how he’d gotten in. At least until he got a good look at the gloved hand, realizing who the owner was. “Taiga?” he asked, dumbfounded. Taiga had to be twenty-two, and Wataru desperately wanted to know where the first love of his life had been.

“Wataru. I’m home.” There was a twinkle in Taiga’s eyes that reminded Wataru that he had missed Taiga, and he ran to him, cuddling up instinctively in his older ‘brother’s’ arms.

“Taiga….” He felt Taiga hugging him.

“Wataru. We’ve been separated too long.” Taiga’s voice was soothing. “But I’m not going to let that happen any more.”

“Taiga, what happened to you?” Wataru asked. Despite his resolve to move on with his life, there was something comforting about Taiga being there. Being there for him.

“I was abducted by this idiot,” Taiga said, scowling a little, “And sent to boarding school. I just got free. And learned a little bit in the meantime.”

“What did you learn?” Wataru wanted to know. Boarding school and being separated had always been one of his biggest fears.

“Things,” Taiga said. “But I was always thinking of you, Wataru, and as soon as I got away from my most recent guardian… I came home.”

“I knew you would,” Wataru said, while thinking of a way to break the news to his ‘husband’ that he’d grown up and fallen in love.

There was a hand stroking his hair now. “We won’t be separated again, Wataru,” Taiga promised. “I won’t let us.”

“I know,” Wataru said. “It’s….”

And then his cellphone rang. He hurried to answer it, aware that Taiga was watching him and it.

“Wataru-san,” Mio-san said breathlessly, “I… I guess I have to meet someone tomorrow. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, Mio-san,” Wataru said, feeling sorry for her; she didn’t sound too happy about it.. “Don’t worry. We can get back together sometime.”

“I’m sorry,” Mio-san said. “We will.”

“We will,” Wataru echoed, a smile on his face, and it wasn’t until the connection dropped that he realized that Taiga was still there, and he’d just… possibly been unfaithful to his ‘husband’.

“So, who was that?” Taiga asked casually, though there was an edge to his voice.

“That was Mio-san,” Wataru confessed, showing Taiga the picture he’d snapped on his cellphone. “She… I thought I’d lost you, forever….”

“Oh, Wataru,” Taiga said, holding him some more. “You should have had more faith in me. In *us*.” He squeezed Wataru tight. “But I have to confess that my guardian is insisting I meet a girl too. It’s like the world doesn’t want us to be together.”

“But we *are* together,” Wataru protested. “It’s just….”

“It’s okay, Wataru,” Taiga said. “We belong together. We’ll be together. For as long as you or I live.”

Wataru let him cuddle while he tried to work out how he was going to deal with a ‘husband’ and a girlfriend, at the same time.

“As soon as I find out more, I’m going to make us married in a way that’s *really* binding,” Taiga promised. “We can be married properly, Wataru!”

Wataru wasn’t too sure about that, but he didn’t want to lose Taiga, so he remained silent.

“Wataru, I’ll never leave you again,” Taiga promised. “We’re both adults now, and I have a job that can support both of us. You can do your violins and be my wife, and I’ll bring in money for both of us.”

“You… have a job now?” Wataru asked, unsure of how to take that. “Weren’t you looking for one when you… disappeared years ago?” Taiga had left the house to look for a job to support the two of them, and never come back, and Wataru had never been able to find him, being too terrified to ask the police and reveal that he and Taiga had no guardian.

Taiga nodded. “I’m the president of a financing company,” he said. “My Guardian got me the job.”

“The same guardian who wants you to meet this girl?” Wataru asked. Maybe it would be better for his ‘husband’ to find a real wife, one that could have his children, instead of Wataru.

“Yes.” Taiga sounded glum, and Wataru automatically moved to comfort him, just as he had when the two of them were younger. “He says that the marriage has always been arranged and he doesn’t understand that you and I are already married. He says that it’s not *official*.” Taiga almost
spit the word out. “You and I know that it’s real and true, so it really doesn’t matter, however. It doesn’t matter who this girl is.”

“How did you get stuck, anyway?” Wataru asked, wanting to know who was responsible for taking Taiga away from him in the first place.

“I went to this cafe to find a job,” Taiga said. “The owner didn’t have anything, but this man, a friend of his, asked me a lot of questions and then he offered me a job. I didn’t find out until I got into his car that he had kidnapped me… and took me to a boarding school because I was apparently *too young* to work. I told him that I had a wife that I had to support, but he ignored me. He apparently thought you were older, no matter how much I told him that you were younger than I am.”

“Oh,” Wataru said. “What was his name?”

“Shima Mamoru,” Taiga said darkly. “But I left him when I was old enough… and then my second guardian spirited me away. I’ve spent the entire last two years learning to be what I was born to be… which still doesn’t make me any less your husband. It’s just that I have more responsibilities now.”

“But your second guardian says that we can’t be married either,” Wataru lamented.

“Because I have this stupid arranged marriage, of course we can’t be married,” Taiga said. “They don’t understand. They just don’t understand that we were meant to be together, not like mother did. She hid us from the world for a reason, Wataru. And I intend to keep you safe just like I always did, like she always did….”

Wataru nodded. “But you said we could be bonded forever.”

“My second guardian told me all about this ceremony,” Taiga said. “A ceremony that’s real and means something. We’ll go through it soon, and then you’ll be my wife for reals, and then I just have to pretend I’m marrying this girl. I don’t know who she is or anything, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll just pretend she’s my wife and we’ll live that way.”

“What kind of ceremony is it?” Wataru asked curiously.

“Well, we dress up, and we go to a sacred place, and I bind you in chains, and we promise ourselves to one another, forever,” Taiga said, a little awkwardly. “It really is a big deal. I’ll get the words and then we’ll do it like we did it when we were kids.”

“I’ll have to stop dating Mio-san,” Wataru said. “But… I guess it’s for the best.”

Taiga smiled. “It was never meant to be, Wataru,” Taiga said. “I should have found you and come back for you before you lost hope.”

Wataru nodded again. “I did lose hope,” he said. “But now that you’re home, everything will be better.”

“Everything *will* be better,” Taiga said. “Because we’re together.” He clasped Wataru’s hands. “There’s something you should know, however, Wataru.”

“What’s that?” Wataru asked, curiously.

“I’m not really human,” Taiga said. “Neither was our mother.” He looked thougthful. “I’m sorry. I’ve always meant to tell you….”

“Are you…. Fangire?” Wataru asked tenatively. If Taiga was, then he was in trouble. He fought Fangire, and if Taiga was one… he wouldn’t know what to do.

“Yes,” Taiga said, relieved. “But, Wataru, how did you… know?”

“Kivat told me about Fangire after you left,” Wataru said. “He
thought… that it was important that I know.” About why the Bloody Rose always sang occasionally, but he didn’t share that with Taiga.

“Mother was Fangire, too,” Taiga said. “I don’t know why she adopted you, Wataru, but she knew we belonged together, somehow.”

“Mother… was Fangire?” Wataru asked, staring at his ‘husband’. “Mother was….”

“Fangire, yes,” Taiga said, searching his face. “Wataru, what’s wrong?”

Wataru’s mind was racing. He didn’t know what to do with the fact that both his adoptive mother and his ‘husband’ were Fangire, especially since it had been his mother who had given him the Kiva powers. At least that’s what Kivat had told him.

“Taiga… I….” He didn’t know how to break the news to his ‘husband’. “I….”

“Yes, Wataru?” Taiga asked, puzzled. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“I… I have the Kiva powers.” He could never lie to Taiga. Taiga had been practically the entirety of his life ever since their mother had abandoned them.

“You… have the Kiva powers?” Taiga asked, puzzled. “But Wataru….” He took a deep breath. “The Kiva powers belong to the Fangire King. Humans can’t wield them without dying.”

“But I’m still alive,” Wataru said. “And… Taiga….”

Taiga was turning white as he seemed to recall what else was going on with the Kiva powers. “Wataru. Stop killing my people. Now.”

Wataru shook his head. “Whenever Fangire attack humans… the Bloody Rose sounds. In my head. It doesn’t stop sounding until I fight or the human dies.” He found it easier to fight the Fangire than let humans die, knowing that if he ignored it, a human would die. “So usually I fight….”

“There’s a simple answer to that, then,” Taiga said grimly. “I’ll stop it from sounding so you don’t feel you have to fight.” He got up and crossed to where the Bloody Rose sat in its display case, bringing it to the table to smash it.

Kivat was suddenly in his way. “No, you don’t!”

Taiga dropped the violin, grabbing the bat and throwing him against the wall. “It’s for the good of the Fangire,” he growled, as Wataru rushed to rescue the violin his father had made. Taiga tossed him aside too, and Wataru could only watch helplessly as Taiga smashed the Bloody Rose against the table repeatedly. “And the good of our marriage. And for your own good, Wataru.”

“Taiga!” Wataru proclaimed, getting up. “The Bloody Rose….”

“It won’t bother you, anymore.” Taiga gathered up the pieces with a grim satisfaction. “You’re safe from it, Wataru. You won’t have the compulsion that you had.” He smiled, guiding Wataru back to the couch. “I can’t put my wife at risk, can I? This way, you’ll be safe.” He put his arm around Wataru, drawing him closer. “Now all I have to do is figure out how you can wield something that belongs to the Fangire King… but I’ll figure it out, don’t worry.”

Wataru nodded, still staring at the splintered remains of the Bloody Rose and wondering if it was possible to repair it. He hoped it was possible; it seemed impossible that his father’s violin, really his only legacy, would be destroyed.

Taiga ran his hand through Wataru’s hair. “It’s okay, Wataru. I know that meant a lot to you, but it’s better this way. This way you can concentrate on your violins and make an even better violin than that that won’t make you chase after Fangire….”

Wataru knew that Taiga was right, but he couldn’t help but mourn the loss of his father’s violin, the violin his father had made and put heart and soul into. He left Taiga’s embrace and crossed woodenly to where the splinters of the Bloody Rose sat.

And then he started crying.

Wataru felt strong arms grasp him from behind as he sorted through the pieces of the Bloody Rose. “It’s all right,” Taiga said soothingly. “It’s really all right. You’re free now.”

“But the Bloody Rose,” Wataru moaned. “It’s… It’s….”

“You’re free of its curse,” Taiga said, holding him tight and kissing his hair. “I know it was your father’s violin, Wataru, but it had cast a terrible spell over you.” The lips were replaced by a hand, stroking through his hair. “Let’s go downstairs, Wataru. I’ll make us some tea….”

Wataru just continued crying, but he was pulled away from the table by Taiga’s strong grasp, and walked downstairs, where Taiga sat him down at their dining room table. Taiga fetched a blanket from the storage area, and then walked into the small kitchen for some of the tea. Wataru couldn’t help but shiver as he dared peek up at where his workroom area was. Somehow, he’d have to fix Bloody Rose, but he wasn’t sure how.

Taiga came out a few minutes later with two mugs of tea and the teapot. Wataru knew, numbly, that Taiga didn’t need the tea and didn’t really like tea, but Wataru always bought the kind he liked best just in case Taiga ever came home.

Which he had.

“Drink this, it’ll make you feel better,” Taiga said, placing one of the mugs in front of Wataru. “Really.”

Taking a cautious sip, Wataru put the tea down as Taiga sat down across from him. He looked up at his workshop again.

“I’ll be here for you,” Taiga promised. “Sure, I have to be away for a while tomorrow to meet my… well, fiancee, but I’ll be here for you otherwise. It’s okay, Wataru. We’ll fix this. *I’ll* fix this. Things will be all right.”

Wataru shivered under the blanket, knowing that Taiga was watching him, concerned. Taiga couldn’t understand, but should have, on what his father’s violin had meant to him, and he’d destroyed it anyway.

“I… didn’t mean it to be this way,” Taiga admitted, sipping at his own tea. “I was hoping that now that we were together again, that all of our problems would go away. Now I’ve had to smash your father’s violin, and you’ve gone on without me.”

Staring down at the table, not looking at the tea, Wataru wiped his tears away. “I had to grow up alone….”

“I know. I’m sorry, Wataru,” Taiga said. “I should have been here to take care of you.” He reached over and placed a hand on Wataru’s. “I could have freed you much earlier. But I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Abandoning you and then destroying the Bloody Rose. I can’t say how sorry I am….”

“But the Bloody Rose,” Wataru said, still mourning the loss of the violin. Taiga got up, moving to the chair next to Wataru, taking him in his arms.

“We’ll be together for as long as one or the other of us lives,” Taiga said. “It won’t hurt forever, Wataru, I promise.” He squeezed Wataru close to him. “I’ll try to find a replacement as soon as possible.”

“But it won’t be the Bloody-”

“Rose, I know,” Taiga interrupted. “It’s okay, Wataru. It really is. In the end, if it had remained intact, I would have had to kill you, wife or no. It’s a small loss, really, Wataru. I’ll find a good violin for you, the best I can find….”

Wataru resolved to remake the Bloody Rose, but didn’t mention this to Taiga, instead trying not to break out crying again at the loss of his last real link to his father.

“Cry,” Taiga said, “I’ll make you feel better. Then have some tea. I’ll take us to a restaurant for dinner; we can have your favorite foods, or whatever you want. I wish I could feed you energy, you’d feel better….”

But Wataru knew he wasn’t going to feel better, not until he could get a good look at the Bloody Rose. And knowing Taiga, he wasn’t going to be able to do that until Taiga was pulled away to meet his fiancee. Taiga had always gone into hover mode when he was upset before, and he really didn’t see it changing for him now.

Taiga was stroking his hair now, as if that would calm him down or comfort him. But he knew it wouldn’t, not until he could get the Bloody Rose back.

* * *

True to form, Taiga didn’t let Wataru much out of his sight until he had to go leave for lunch with his ‘fiancee’ that his guardian had imposed on him. They even shared the bed that night, and even if they could both fit on, eventually they’d have to get a bigger bed if Taiga intended to keep sharing it. They weren’t small boys anymore; they were both adult men and even if Wataru had spent the night being held like a teddy bear, it was still a little small for the both of them.

But once Taiga was gone, Wataru gathered what was left of the Bloody Rose, attempting to assemble the pieces. It didn’t look good for the violin; the neck was intact, but parts of it had splintered everywhere, and it would be a harder repair than when that Fangire violinist had gotten a hole in hers.

He was surprised that Taiga had not trashed or burned the violin, but he was glad that the other man hadn’t. He’d have to hide it somewhere so Taiga didn’t think to do so. Gathering the bits up in a bag, he started identifying pieces and gluing them together.

Wataru hadn’t gotten that far when Taiga returned from his lunch with the girl. “Oh, Wataru,” he said, a frown in his voice. “Don’t. I know it hurts, but don’t.”

Looking up, Wataru stood up tall. “It’s still my father’s violin, Taiga. I feel I have to….”

“Is this the same compulsion, or because it was your father’s violin?” Taiga asked, joining him at the table and idly manipulating a piece in his fingers.

“Because my father made it,” Wataru said. “I… it hurts me to see a violin in this shape. I feel I have to fix it….”

“Oh,” Taiga said. “I guess I can let you try, then. Maybe breaking it broke the curse. If you want to do that, go ahead.” His voice was flat, but he handed the piece back to Wataru. “I can’t really stop you from trying, Wataru, even if I don’t think you can do it. But if it curses you again, Wataru, it’s going to the flames, and I will personally burn it.”

Wataru shivered at that. “But it’s my father’s….”

“That’s the only reason I’m letting you try to fix it,” Taiga said
firmly. “Because whatever it is, it is really the only thing you have. But I can’t let you kill my kind.” He stripped the glove he always wore in public off of his hand. “I am the King, Wataru. I am obligated to keep my people safe. Even from my wife.”

Wataru caught Taiga’s hand, examining the mark he’d seen so many times. Taiga had always had the double mark on his hand, one on the front, one on the back, the only difference being the red rose on the palm side. “So, that’s what that means….”

Taiga smiled. “It’s why I’ve got the mark,” he said. “As mother said, it’s very important. I’ve been born to take care of my own kind… even if they don’t understand certain things and need to change….”

“Change what?” Wataru asked curiously. He knew little about the Fangire and how they acted.

“Fangire can’t love humans, pain of death,” Taiga said. “But you’re my wife; I know that unlike most humans, you won’t betray me. You won’t betray mother. I feel safe around you.” He stroked Wataru’s hair. “I managed to talk to Queen, my fiancee. She believes the same thing that I do; if you find a truly magnificent human that won’t betray you, why should you not be permitted to love?”

Wataru nodded. “What’s her name?”

“Suzuki Mio,” he said. “Same as… wait, Wataru, you have a picture of yours?”

Blinking, Wataru turned on his cell phone and showed Taiga the picture. “This is my Mio,” he said.

Taiga smiled. “Trust my Queen to find a magnificent human,” he said. “Too bad you’re already married….”

Wataru scratched his head. “But what will happen now?” he asked. “I like Mio-san, and yet….”

“We’ll get remarried. Properly,” Taiga told him. “I know the ceremony, all we need is the proper place.”

“Proper… place?” Wataru asked, not sure if he’d heard Taiga correctly.

“Well, usually someplace with stained glass, but not a human church… I’ll have to find us someplace.” He smiled. “We can go through the ceremony, and you can play your violin, and then we can have a real wedding night! And then it won’t matter if I have to marry Suzuki Mio, because she won’t be my real wife.”

Wataru wished he could tell Taiga that he loved Mio, too. But that didn’t seem wise, ever since Taiga had destroyed Bloody Rose. Taiga just didn’t *understand* sometimes about Wataru. At least now that they were grown, he didn’t.

“At least I know that my Queen will get along fine with my wife,” Taiga said, holding him once more. “We’ll all be together… but we’ll all also know who the true spouses are.”

Wataru wasn’t sure if he wanted to marry – well, re-marry – Taiga at that point. He had to admit that it was good to have Taiga back in his life – it made it less lonely – but he had still spent about half of his life without his ‘husband’.

Plus, Taiga had destroyed the Bloody Rose.

Wataru was not quite ready to forgive him the loss of the Bloody Rose, even if Taiga didn’t mind him remaking it. Though he did have to admit that the Bloody Rose might be gone for good, and even if he fixed it, he wasn’t sure if it would retain the Fangire-detecting properties that it had originally. He had no clue how to fix those, either, but he’d try.

But he knew that he had to fix it. Even if he was married to the Fangire King, he still had to do his best to save humans.

“Wataru, do you know of any places with stained glass that aren’t churches?” Taiga asked.

Wataru shook his head. “Not really,” he said. It wasn’t like he wandered around places like that anyway.

“Hm.” Taiga looked thoughtful. “I’ll have to find a place for us to wed… and soon.”

“We could do it in here,” Wataru offered. “If we could find some stained glass….” He didn’t want the world to know he had married the Fangire King, so their place seemed the safest. And then Taiga could marry someone who could truly give him children. Like Mio.

“I like the place… but somehow that doesn’t feel right to me,” Taiga said contemplatively. “And we have to do it soon. Before I get married off.” He smiled. “And then you can be with Mio all you want… as long as it doesn’t interfere with being my wife, of course.”

Wataru nodded, wondering if he did still want to marry Taiga.

“But in the meantime, apparently my guardian doesn’t want me to sleep in strange beds, so… I’m going to have to get myself a marriage bed somehow.” He cuddled Wataru some more. “Officially I’ll have one, but it’s proper for husbands to sleep with wives.”

“We’ve been married since I can remember,” Wataru said, twisting the ring Taiga had given him. “We shared a bed until you got taken away.”

“And we’ll share a bed again,” Taiga said. “Though that one is a bit small….” He was thoughtful. “I’ll find a way to fix it.”

* * *

Wataru barely saw anything of Taiga for the next few days, not even having to share the bed with him. On the fourth day, Taiga still hadn’t shown up – though they had talked via phone – but the furniture people did, to bring in a larger-size bed to replace the one downstairs. Wataru still didn’t know what to make of it, but he put up with the installers taking out his bed and replacing it with a new, large one, even if he did have to move the dining room table.

Taiga showed up that evening, violin case in hand. “I found you the very best violin I could,” he said. “It’s a violin made by a Fangire artisan, made a century ago. I understand the creator’s dead, but he made some of the finest violins.”

Wataru watched as Taiga put the violin down on his worktable, and then he carefully undid the latches. He wondered if the violin was of Oomura-san’s making, or somebody else’s. He picked up the violin, checking out the quality, rosining up the bow, tuning the violin.

It was an excellent violin, he concluded after playing it. But it still wasn’t the Bloody Rose.

“Well?” Taiga asked anxiously.

“It’s not the Bloody Rose,” Wataru told him, looking up at him.

“Well, of course it’s not the Bloody Rose,” Taiga said, gently taking the violin from Wataru. “Nothing will ever be the Bloody Rose, Wataru, but that’s gone now, and you have to accept that. I’d rather lose a violin than someone I love.” He examined the violin. “Is it a good violin?”

Wataru nodded. “Yes,” he said. He had to agree that it was a very good violin and he shouldn’t be so rude to Taiga, but it still wasn’t the Bloody Rose.

“Play for me, Wataru,” Taiga said, sitting down on the couch
expectantly. Wataru sighed and started playing his father’s signature song, the song that their mother had taught him, and then segued into a second piece.

It was a very good violin, probably one of the best money could buy. Taiga had probably gotten it less expensively if the maker and seller were Fangire, but it had definitely cost money. It would never replace the Bloody Rose – which Wataru would repair if it killed him – but it would make Taiga happy and distracted while he fixed his father’s violin.

“You’re excellent, as always,” Taiga said, smiling and getting up. “Doesn’t it feel good to have a violin of your own in your hands? And someday, you’ll surpass mother in violinmaking. You’ll have a line of your own.” He looked around. “I know you’re making them, or at least repairing them. With time, you’ll be a well-known violin maker.”

Wataru continued to play the violin. It was good, the more he played it. Very good. Maybe he could live with it for a while. “I don’t know about that,” he said.

Taiga clasped him on the shoulder. “You will be, Wataru. Now you can concentrate on violin making rather than repair; you can get your business off the ground. While Development and Pioneer doesn’t invest in this kind of thing, I can… personally.”

Wataru nodded, reverently putting the violin back in its case. Even if it wasn’t the Bloody Rose, Taiga was right; he could live with it. It still made music, excellent music. It just probably wouldn’t alert him to Fangire, which was the whole point of Taiga destroying it.

He hoped he wouldn’t end up destroying Taiga because Taiga wanted to destroy him for killing Taiga’s people.

“I’m going to take some time off from work and find us a place to get married,” Taiga said, hugging Wataru. “I’m sorry I don’t get to share the bed with you, but that’s okay; we’ll just wait until the wedding night. Then we can become man and wife. I promise.”

Wataru nodded numbly.

“Cheer up, Wataru,” Taiga said. “I’ll make you dinner. I still remember how. Why don’t you keep playing for me?”

Before Wataru could object, Taiga was downstairs bounding into the kitchen. Wataru wasn’t sure of what to do, so playing for Taiga seemed best, and he kept at it until Taiga returned from the kitchen with a plate of food and water for Wataru, and water for himself.

Wataru looked at the portion, and realized it was very small. The amount of food for a child, really. A small child.

“Is something wrong?” Taiga asked, looking at Wataru and the food.

“I haven’t eaten this little since mother lived here,” Wataru admitted. “As I got older, I had to eat more and more.”

“This amount is good for you, Wataru,” Taiga said. “I’ve seen other humans eat. Even kids. You ate so little when we were kids, and the other kids ate so much. Gluttons.” He frowned at the plate. “I hope you haven’t gotten into that bad habit.”

Wataru made a note to not let Taiga do any cooking. “I do need more now,” he said, not wanting to sound ungrateful, but he couldn’t really live on the small portions. “Because I’m bigger.”

“I guess I’ll remember that you do need a little more,” Taiga said, reddening a bit. “Even if you don’t need to eat as much.”

Sighing inwardly, Wataru wondered how long it would take for Taiga to realize that now he needed a full meal, before Taiga starved him to death.

Crossposted from Ramblings Yet Once More here.