Slowly Yuletiding (and random ficcage)

[estirose]

I hit over the minimum for Yuletide! Looks like my fic might be 4-5k, just by looking at what has happened vs what needs to happen. I had to canon review, and still might need to do some more of that review.

And just randomly, here is fic because I need a happy ending, not related to my Yuletide fic.


Koutarou's father looked grim. "There's something I need to explain to you before a very important guest comes." The emphasis on the word "important" made Koutarou straighten up and listen. "Have you ever heard of Fangire?"

"No." Koutarou was sure he hadn't. Maybe the term sounded familiar, somewhere, but he wasn't going to waste time thinking about it.

His father sighed. "Energy vampires. They're energy vampires. Or rather, we are energy vampires."

Koutarou wanted to laugh, but he knew all too well that there were some weird and interesting things out there that most people didn't know about. "Oh."

"My mother - your grandmother Mio - is one of them." His father shook his head. "You were supposed to know this from when you were little, but I didn't obey the law. I'm considered Fangire, even though my father is human, and you're still considered Fangire even if your mother is human."

Leaning back, Koutarou let his father talk.

"Mother is the current Fangire Queen. Her ex-husband is the Fangire King. I was supposed to marry a Fangire, but I fell in love with your mother. Needless to say, Uncle Taiga - the King - was not happy with me and even with the revised laws I'm breaking them. Fangire used to be forbidden to love humans, now we just have to try not to have any and if we do, raise the kids Fangire. I've gotten away with it because Uncle Taiga doesn't know, but he's going to pay a visit to us in the near future and now I have to give you a crash course in being a Fangire before we get in trouble."

Koutarou didn't want to really be an energy vampire, but he listened anyway as his father gave him as much information as he could. He was careful to retain what he could, and when Great-Uncle Taiga came, he and his father were able to convince the man - vampire - that yes, Koutarou was fine, Koutarou just fed off of his father because his Life Energy needs were so low. Taiga touched Koutarou briefly, nodded, and suggested he might want to go anyway, the techs could set it to a low enough level. Besides, maybe Koutarou could find a spouse while over there.

Finally, the Fangire King was gone, and both of them relaxed, relieved. "Mom will tell me if we were successful. I hope he really doesn't go farther than suggesting you start looking for a wife."

"I know, Dad." Koutarou leaned back. He had enough to do and didn't have time to worry about marriage, so perhaps he would be lucky. He hoped.

Comments

[reka]

Yes, successfully fooling Taiga! What a great accomplishment. It's probably easier than it seems, but any slipup will mess everything up.

I'm glad to hear that your Yuletide is going well!

[estirose]

Yeah. Kotarou and his father are so glad that they didn't screw up. Though Taiga visited Mio and talked to her about encouraging Koutarou about both going in for feeding and finding a spouse of the correct species.

[reka]

I assume some angry teenage relative of Taiga's once angrily retorted "well, I don't see you getting remarried anytime soon!" And then nobody spoke to them for at least a week.

[estirose]

Which might be why Mio has 3/4 human grandkids. That she's given up on convincing Taiga that they are not related.

[reka]

Unfortunately, I doubt Mio is terribly optimistic about Taiga or Fangire culture in general, and I wouldn't be surprised if her kids picked up on that.

I'm not sure Taiga would lash out at the offending relative, but I can see his reaction causing other Fangire to give them the cold shoulder or something. Mio is a very sore spot for him, but a violent reaction would probably end poorly for him. Mio can put her foot down.

[estirose]

Mio is okay with Fangire culture, but she's still kind of not happy with Taiga and she basically did tell her half human kids to go their own way. Taiga didn't lash out, but he definitely wasn't very happy with his nephew.

And now Taiga's putting *his* foot down on Koutarou's spouse. Because he refuses to let Mio's bloodline get any more diluted than it is. *headdesk*

[reka]

I think Taiga would really do a lot better if he stuck to getting them Fangire friends and stuff. That would probably get a lot less resistance.

[estirose]

Yes. That would help. Thing is, Koutarou's father did have Fangire friends when he was growing up, but Koutarou really didn't. (That he knows of.)

---
"Mom." Koutarou's father was talking to someone that Koutarou couldn't see, his grandmother. If she was anything like King Taiga - Koutarou refused to use the family title for him - she'd be very young. "Here, come meet Koutarou."

She was as young as Koutarou expected her to be, and it felt odd to think that she was his grandmother. "Koutarou," she said, smiling at him. Her voice was soft and gentle.

"Hi, grandmother." Koutarou smiled back. He felt he had to, even if he wanted nothing to do with that side of his family.

"It's nice to actually have you remember me." She took a chair. "Your great-uncle Taiga contacted me, and he was a little worried."

"Still?" his father groaned. "Really?"

"I was talking to Ryoutarou - your grandfather - and I think you do need a little more Life Energy than you should - Rintarou, please take him every so often so that Taiga doesn't get suspicious, okay?"

Rintarou sighed. "I will. Once every two months, if that's enough."

"It should be. If we can keep Koutarou on the rolls, we don't have to deal with Taiga. And if I can convince Taiga that all is well with you, he won't start trying to arrange a marriage." She shook her head. "He was asking me a lot about Koutarou, what kind of spouse he'd like."

"Tell him I'm gay." He wasn't, but it might save him some grief.

"I don't think that would help." Koutarou's grandmother shook her head. "But I have been around Taiga long enough to know that he forgets when he's not worried. So we'll go with that."

Koutarou's father nodded. "Knowing Uncle Taiga, that sounds like a plan."

[reka]

Yeah, there are male Fangire and many ways to pass down genetic material.

Yes, of course! Quite possibly he had Fangire friends who lived an assimilated life and stuff. And yeah, it doesn't mean he'll marry one of them, but it would do a lot to say to him "hey these are people you like and are okay spending time with." Because Taiga, for all that he is King and very into promoting his people, is a really terrible example of Fangire in general.

[estirose]

Yeah, and Taiga thinks that Koutarou might just not be good with girls. He's presuming that Koutarou was around Fangire. Rintarou grew up around "his people", after all. Fortunately for everybody's sanity, Mio kind of put her foot down and told Taiga that she could handle this.

[reka]

I wonder what Taiga interpreted "this" as. It's probably relieving for him, though— he's scared of leaving his family alone, of course, but he does have plenty of other responsibilities.

[estirose]

And this is what Mio is hoping - that he won't pay attention.

(She did introduce Koutarou to a few kids of her friends, and Koutarou did apparently fall for one. The only reason the parents approve is because of his bloodline.)

[reka]

Taiga does have a tendency to gloss over irregularities.

Hopefully the kids are also interested. Taiga keeps messing up by introducing the concept of marriage too early, I think. Koutarou grew up around humans, after all. And presumably any girlfriend of his didn't grow up thinking she'd get married quite so early, either.

[estirose]

Yes. Taiga is not good at certain things.

--
Taiga sat back in his chair. Mio smiled sweetly at him, and he smiled right back. Mio was right; the whole situation with his great-nephew Koutarou had just needed her touch. Certainly, he'd needed to go down there and make sure everything was more or less all right - Koutarou just got fed by his father, as Mio predicted - but it made Mio step in and take things in hand. Koutarou had a girlfriend, who might someday be his wife. Sure, she was twice his age, but that didn't really matter with Fangire.

Even if their parents had gone a bit astray, Taiga was cheered by the fact that his great-niece had instinctively found her own kind and his great-nephew just had needed that little bit of prodding. After all, they were family, and his family just eventually found its way home.

[reka]

Happy Taiga is such a pleasure to read.