Healing isn't easy(Shadows/amoura/invite)

[sbs]

The moonlight shined through the empty and black veil as a man stood at the burned down ruins of what seemed like the middle of no where. He stood before two newly made headstones. A black rose in his gloved hands as his red eyes stared at the headstone on the left. His eyes held a solom look, a look unbecoming of a man of his 'dark' ambitions. As the wind blew past him he could still smell the burning embers, the of his master's blood, and the smell of his dying love. That sweet and lovely smell of cherry blossoms. That sweet smell that matched her sweet taste. The smells soon congered back once forgotten memories... dead memories...


"Masuki! Masuki my love what happened?" He asked as he held his bleeding wife in his arms. Tears were coming from the scarlet eyes of the pure blood. His wife looked up at him with gentle eyes as she was clutching onto her life. "Lycans... Vampires... Humans... They attacked us... they killed father and I managed to escape but I'm only holding on to my life... Animus... Please feed on me. End me of this pain and always keep a peice of me inside of you." Animus nodded as his tears rolled down his pale cheeks and fell upon Masuki. The entire temple was up in flames as they burned intensly around the two lovers. She reached up and wiped his tears away smiling gently. "Animus... My love... Please do not hate becuase of this... I... Lo.. ve... you..." she passed away. Her eyes now closed as she passed. Animus roared in anger as he drove his fangs into his now deseaced love and drew her blood into himself. As he body soon lost color and warmth her blood was drained. Animsu stood up looking around, he found a pile of ash with his master's sword in it. The katana named the Ninto-kutai... He picked it up and sheathed it holding in his hands as a rage so great that god himself would tremble before it built inside of the pure blood. He couldn't keep his beloved's request he sniffed the air. Catching the sent of the bastards who did this. He disapeared leaving the burning temple and hunting down the people responcable for this.

He kneeled infront of the head stones, his eyes now closed as it seemed he was trying to hold back tears. He slowly and with a shaking hand, placed the black rose upon the headstone. Tonight was the anevirsery of his long lost love and his master. He bowed his head towards the second headstone as stood up. Pressing his fingers agianst his lips he gently touched the headstone with his deceased wife's name on it. The moonlight illuminated the silloutte of an ancient pure blood trying to hold back the sorrow that tore at the hallow and empty shell on the outside...

[†The Blood Countess†]

Following the silence came the sound of an instrument one wouldn't even consider playing in a graveyard. Was that a Chinese Xiaxo? Indeed it was and oddly enough, guess who was playing it?

The Blood Countess herself.

Earlier, Amoura didn't seem to notice that one of the group was in this graveyard considering how she carelessly entered. With the stereotypical undead grace of a vampire, she leapt from gravestone to gravestone before stopping upon the tallest one she could find. It was on that very spot did she start playing this...sorrowful tune.

A haunting melody swam forth into the ominous place, seeming to dampen the air with a feeling not as discomforting but it would stir up emotion.

However, this song of her's was short lived for her senses told her a familiar being was here. "Vicious...?" She turned towards the male, finding him close to a grave. How strange. Why would he be here? "My apologies. I didn't know you were nearby. Would you like me to leave?"

[sbs]

For a moment he didn't anwser... all seemed to be drowned out as the focus of his sullen appearance was intent on the gravestone in which he kneeled infront of once more. His gently tracing over the name on the gravestone, almost caressing it. Masuki Neronumus As Amoura's voice shattered his empty world he sighed a bit but kept his gaze upon the gravestone. "No, you may stay if you wish." He stated as fond memories flooded his head, for that one point in time that seemed like eternity, his walls went down in his head. The great mental fortress now no longer there as the memories of he and his beloved meeting, the days and time they would spend together, the nights they would next one another.

All these Memories flooded out and into any mind that was near, the night of their wedding under the cherry blossoms, the way she looked so beautiful even in death. It was then he relised his fortress within his head had melted away and he shook his head putting the walls back up in an instant. Too much had probably flooded into the countess' mind but the damage was already done, nothing else they could do about it. He stood up, the beams of moonlight radiating his silver hair as the wind soon kicked up, as his clothes ebbed and flowed and his long strains of hair gingerly flapped within the gentle breeze.

"Come to pay the dead a visit or is there another reason you are here? It isn't a full moon already is it?" he asked with a quant smirk on his face as he turned to face the countess.

[†The Blood Countess†]

Amoura couldn't believe what was rushing into her mind. So Vicious felt love once? That was something she had trouble accepting but then again, there was a breaking point in many people's lives. The death of his wife obviously was the one that changed him forever. How tragic.

Sorrow etched her ageless features. The male was lucky to be with his wife, to hear her last words but at the same time, he wasn't. To witness the one person who he loved more than anything to...leave.

Right when he asked about her being here, she snapped her head side to side, trying to compose herself. Damn. Why did every vampire she met had a horrible past? Then again, why must all vampires suffer...?

"It's not a full moon, Vicious. If it was? I'd be at a morgue and not a cemetery...or kill some random druggie on the street." She leapt down from the headstone and pocketed her flute.

[sbs]

"A simple joke was all it was. So what truely brings you here." He spoke, his words weren't coated with their usual harsh tone, instead his tone was rather mellow and soft, much of a kind hearted person, perhaps the memory of his love congured some good inside of him? Hardly, he simply did not want to dishonor himself in his wive's eye with his current dark nature that had he had carried with him like a plauge unable to be rid of since the death of his dearly beloved.

He paused a moment, looking up at the moon and then glanced at Amoura through the corner of his eyes. "I hear things of you and Shadows, is this true? Has the blood countess once agian found love?" He asked as his position made him seem like much of a philosopher than a killer. He stood straight, legs next to one another, his head pointed towards the darkened heavens and his hands behind the small of his back.

[†The Blood Countess†]

Amoura smiled and chuckled, "Yes. I am aware, though I often times pretend some jokes really aren't jokes at all. Just part of my personality m' suppose." The Countess reached one hand over her shoulder, scratching just below her neck, "And I don't know why I'm here really. I suppose I thought it would be empty in this area but it seems I was wrong."

Right when Vicious mentioned Shadows, the Countess' cheeks took on a light red color, "Well...yes. It's all true. I was talking to him one night and he revealed his feelings to me. Apparently he fell for me and I didn't feel the same really. Somehow he won me over."

"...love. Have I found love again? I guess...you could say that. It's not love quite yet but I'm really warming up to him now. I found a reason to keep going on in life...how come you haven't? I mean...you know. If you don't mind me asking."

The vampiress winced, as if though expecting him to suddenly lash out at her.

[sbs]

"I haven't found love because, there is no more love inside of me for anyone else. I only loved one person and now they are gone forever. The memory remains yet the love is only a dimly lit candle amidst the ever pressing darkness." He stated simply shrugging as he looked towards her and then advanced towards her. It was then he pasted her and perched himself upon a gravestone serveying the area. "If things had happened differently I might not have been who I am today." He shrugged, "Fate has a funny way of creating the 'bad guys' now doesn't it?" He asked to no one in particular.

"I see, so I guess our arrangment of taking your life after we finnish this is over yes?" He sighed, "Oh well, it would've been a waste anyways." He paused looking at her, "Love is never forever, even for beings of immortality. If you truely wish to not weep then I suggest you cut yourself off before anything really happens." He stated, his voice with it carried little pleasure in what he stated. True he was cold hearted, however he knew he could never feel love agian in his life and for that he never tried to destroy 'true' love for he knew far too well how badly the pain brings upon one to loose the one you truely love.

[†The Blood Countess†]

"Yeah...it is odd." Amoura turned her head towards the tomb. "Very odd indeed." The Countess suddenly started thinking of how things turned out for her in the end. When her husband died, she lost all control of her self, succumbing to her darkest desire: her thirst for blood.

It was something she was born with and she held back...until that day. Had he not died...things might have been different. His death was avenged though and it was easier to move on...sometimes. "A waste? Feh. Whatever you say."

After his short lecture, the vampiress narrowed her eyes at the male, "In my mind one shouldn't deny love, no matter how short it may be. The pain will come, yes but as an immortal, one has to learn to accept that happiness will ALWAYS come with a price. I found a reason to go on, at least for now, how could I ask for anything less or more?"

[sbs]

"Can you honestly say without a doubt that you love him?" He asked a perplexing question, "Without a thought, without a pause, without pondering it. Can you honestly say you truely and deeply love him?" He asked another question, he understood that she was different then him, however one thing he did know about her through his months of working with her was when she was and wasn't happy.

"Even if that price means death?" He stated looking at her for a brief moment and then turning his attentive gaze back towards his wife's gravestone. The memories of happiness were suddenly cut through easily as her dead face plastered itself into his mind, he closed he eyes and snapped his head back and fourth to rid himself of her dying image.

[†The Blood Countess†]

Amoura's eyes shot open when he asked if she loved Shadows without having to think about it. Breath became still in her lungs as a cold feeling gripped her. Slowly, her shoulders dropped, the held in air escaping swiftly, "...I don't love him completely yet. That...I..." She bit down on her lower lip, eyes moistening. No.

Amoura wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, determined not to let him witness this. No one has witnessed her shed tears after the death of her husband. So...over a few hundred years... "If the price is death, then very well. At least I get to feel something again. Something other than...what I felt."

Why was he doing this? Damned sadist. He always found pleasure in another's pain and confusion didn't he?!

[shadows]

Shadows stepped from the darkness, his eyes glowing yet not their well fed color, there pissed off color. A dark crimson that seemed to pulse with a blackness. Shadows energy whipped across the area causing a small wind. "My My Vicious, put you infront of a grave and you get very...shall I say....deep?" Shadows voice was perfectly level, a robot copy of its normal self. Obviously he was containing himself. Shadows fangs were slightely elongated, his black bladed katana at his hip. "I come her to tell you of a new power I've mastered And I hear this." Shadows gestered to the two of them.

With a snarl a slash of wind sliced a grave stone in half. "I've become quite talented with controling the weather. My pet Scarlet educated me and now I add my own twists." Shadows growled low. "So tell me...you question ours and say to end it....is that from experience or have you walled yourself up out of fear?" Shadows starred as his energy slowly retracted, he struggled to remain calm. "I'm merely questioning your thoughts....as you do ours..." Shadows eyes were locked onto Vicious, awaiting any sign of even a muscle twitch.

[sbs]

For a moment it was as if Shadows didn't even exist, like he wasn't even there, he just stared down that single gravestone, there was nothing in his red eyes, no tears, no sullen look, no pain... just bitter emptiness many saw in his eyes but never in this way. "You have no clue how it is to truely love and charrish something and then suddenly have it ripped away from you... Shadows." He stated still starring at the gravestone, He didn't care what was going to happen, he'd come back from it no matter what it was.

Shadows was lucky his little 'trick' didn't touch his wife's gravestone otherwise there would've been bloodshed upon this graveyard. In the current mood this Pure Blooded Killer was in, he didn't want to fight... and if one posed him a challenge he wouldn't play his usual games sadist tourture... he'd end it quick, no mind games, no hit and run tactics, just he and his sword carving through flesh bone and muscle. Just like old times.

[†The Blood Countess†]

Amoura glared at Vicious, hatred and malice clearly etched in her eyes. ”We’ve all suffered losses in our life, Vicious. You’ve been alive for God knows how long and you have to move on. Would your wife be happy kno-“ she cut herself off and shook her head, ”Never mind. I won’t waste my breath. You won’t listen. You never listen. I don’t know how some of your allies even put up with you. I don’t know how the fuck I even stand to be around you.” Fingers curled into her palm to form tight fists. A moment later, the nails punctured her palms, sending drops of blood to the ground.

”Stop it with the whole, ‘You don’t understand my pain’ speech. It SICKENS ME! I HEARD IT ALL THE TIME!” The earth shook violently but briefly. A feral snarl shot forth from her lips, ”WE ALL HAD HORRIBLE TIMES IN OUR LIVES THAT MAKE US THE MONSTERS THAT WE ARE! I LOST MY HUSBAND! DO YOU THINK I’M HAPPY THAT I LOST THE ONE THING THAT MATTERED TO ME?! NO! YET I’M NOT GIVING EVERYONE THE ‘YOU DON’T KNOW MY PAIN’ SPEECH!”

Without another word, she turned towards Viciou’s wife’s grave. Slowly, she knelt down before it, stretching out one hand, resting it against the tombstone. What came next was something unexpected of the vampires, especially after her outburst. The aged stone became smoother; the somewhat eroded words looked freshly printed upon the object. Something else happened too. Once the years were shaved off the tombstone, she picked up the black rose he placed before it. Gently, she slid the stem into the earth and rubbed the ground around it. The stem thickened and grew in height. Leaves sprouted and a few more roses budded out.

”You should be thankful you had her when you did, Vicious. You should treasure those moments you spent together, remember the good times and accept what happened.” The Countess stood and turned towards the male, expression softer than earlier.

Not too far from the grave was a barren tree. Perhaps one more thing might make this area a little less...ominous. Hand stretched out towards the seemingly lifeless plant, resting atop the bark. Hmmm...

Now off in her own little world, she leapt up into the thick branches. Whilst walking along the longest one, green leaves started sprouted. Buds burst forth, unfurling and revealing what the tree was: a Cherry Bloosom. More followed in suit, covering the tree in the light pink flowers.

"That's more like it. Now this place doensn't look so gloomy." she muttered aloud.

[shadows]

Shadows laughed bitterly. "You're right, i don't. But that's more or less because I haven't let anything or anyone get close enough to do such a thing. It's not my fault you did." Shrugging Shadows spun and sat upon a stone and watched the two. As Amoura did her little trick and then waltzed with the tree Shadows chuckled lightely. With a sigh his eyes stayed on vicious.

Standing he cracked his neck as he glanced around. 'So.....now that we're all fucking crazy and each knows it...." Shadows toyed with his katana as his gaze drifted and rested on Amoura. They stayed there as he spoke. 'Vicious, I realize you've had a horrid past and I cannot relate, yet many can. You're not the only one who suffered. But I'll ask one thing of you now, don't fuck with this....I don't care if it kills me...I'll be sure to remove the each of us from this shit hole of a planet before i go.' Shadows smiled as he starred at Amoura before looking back at Vicious. "Don't fuck with me, i don't fuck with you...deal?"