Chapter two here. A lot of background-setting conversation. Not a very exciting chapter, I'm afraid.

Chapter Two - Confiteor

When he awoke, the priest - Hanagata, he remembered - was in the room. He sat up among the covers that he did not remember employing...the young priest's doing, he gathered. Useless, being undead, he never felt cold...but nonetheless thoughtful.

A single candle illuminated the close stone walls. He stayed there, unmoving and unblinking in the near-darkness, watching the priest at his work. His sober features were sterner still as he scrutinised the voluminous bible in front of him, transcribing verses into a nearby sermon-to-be. The long, dark hair, caught up in a binding tie behind his nape slipped smoothly across his shoulders as he worked, a few stray locks escaping the tie - only to be pushed away irritably by an absent hand.

Studying him like this, it was more obvious that he was only a boy - he could not have been twenty. He could not have been more than his own age when he was turned.

...Such a melancholic expression for one so young. He never remembered having such an expression on his own face.

Of course, he was never one for grief.

"Expecting a crowd?" He finally spoke, his voice echoing slightly off the thick stone walls.

The priest started in surprise, looked up to see his lazy smile and relaxed.

"No," he replied, closing the tome, "they never come. But I write the sermons all the same. Just in case they come one day."

"Great faith."

"There is nothing else for me to do here. I cannot leave the church."

"Why...Afraid of the vampires?"

The priest cast a sharp glance over at his mocking tone.

"No. Afraid for the people. They hate me, perhaps enough to kill me. It would be fair hard for murderers to pass through the Pearly Gates."

"I should think so," he laughed, "why do they hate you so?"

The priest dried his quill, laid it aside. He propped his chin upon his fine-fingered hands, giving him a reproving stare.

"You have my name, Fujima-san," he recriminated, "you hardly need my life story as well."

"What if I want to have it?"

"Then you'll just have to be disappointed."

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he quipped wryly, surprised at his own light jest and willingness to impart a tale he hadn't looked back on for fifty years, "I have no plans to leave this refuge just yet...not while the mob is still nigh. You might as well keep me company - come! Warm me with your story...or you could warm me with your flesh." A sharp grin.

The priest shook his head, hiding a smile.

"My story then," he yielded, shifting back to settle more comfortable in his hard wooden chair, one leg over the other and his hands over them, "After all, it is hardly a secret here."

The priest hitched in a breath to start, but hesitated and stopped short. Turning troubled eyes on him, he shook his head.

"I don't know where to start. Why don't you ask me what you want to know?"

"But I want to know everything." He persisted.

"You do not," A small, sad smile, "you are merely curious. You will leave soon, will you not?"

He had to concede. Taking a moment to ponder, he finally remarked :

"You seem to know a lot about vampires."

The priest was silent for a moment. Deliberately, he unbuttoned the high cleric collar, pulling it down to reveal a smooth, pale neck...save for a marked scar area, where a rougher, darker flesh clearly branded two once-puncture holes.

"Your...lover?" He finally conjectured.

"My father, actually." The old wry smile.

"What happened?"

The priest lowered his eyes as he buttoned up the collar again, starting his narration in a low voice.

"My birthplace...is Japan. Kanagawa. You might not have heard of it - it's just a little village -"

"I've heard of it."

"Really?"

"My grandfather was from Kanagawa."

"Aa? Hontou? Have you ever been there?"

"Regrettably, no. Someday I shall be, if I can."

The wistful smile.

"I wish I could go with you."

"Why not, then?"

"We shall see."

"Do continue."

"My father, he was an actor. An onnagata. One of the best. It runs in the family, this trade. My mother was just a little serving-girl. It was a great honour for her family when my father married her. But she died very soon."

"Natural causes?"

"Not quite. Being an onnagata...my father attracted a lot of attention from...strange patrons. One of these was an European lord...who only ever watched his night performances."

"He was a vampire."

"He was. And soon, so was my father."

"Did he take the change well?"

"Too well. He cared naught for us once he turned. He killed my mother. She would never have expected it. To the last, she believed he loved her."

"...And you?"

"Almost. Had not my master come, I would have -"

"Master?"

"The old priest of this church. He passed away late yesteryear."

"I see. Go on."

"My master had been a rather reputable slayer in his time. But when he...saved me, he was already seventy-nine. Fortunately for me, he'd been on one last hunt before retirement - a hunt that brought him to Kanagawa."

"The European lord."

"Precisely."

"Did he find him?"

"No. He found my father."

"Ah."

"Indeed. He took me in after that. Brought me to this place."

"How old...were you?"

"Eight."

"It's been..."

"Ten years already."

"He died last year?"

"December. He always thought winter the finest season of the year. It was his last season, in the end."

There was a silence.

"...It's been hard, hasn't it?"

A pause as the priest struggled for words.

"Yes. It has."

"Why do they hate you so?"

"Perhaps they fear me. They know what I am."

"What are you, then?"

"A Japanese. A vampire's son. Nobody."

"Hanagata."

"Ah, you do remember my name." He sounded faintly pleased.

"Did you love him?"

"Who?"

"Your master."

"No. I was very grateful. I respected him deeply."

"Why didn't you love him? You seem the sort to love."

The sweet, sad smile found it's familiar place once more.

"You see, Fujima-san. After a while, you forget how to love."

"Really? I wouldn't know," He leaned back against the stone, "I don't think I ever learned to love."

"Why not?"

"It just didn't happen. I don't seem to be missing out on anything in particular, at any rate."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Fine words, coming from one who's forgotten how to love."

"I know. I won't cast stones." The priest settled with his head cushioned upon his arms, arranged carefully on the table. "But I'm trying to remember how. Perhaps you should learn."

"Perhaps." He laughed. "This doesn't seem to be a fitting topic for two men to talk about in a dimly-lit room...sex, I would think, is much better..."

What seemed a slight flush traced the priest's cheekbones. He laughed once more.

"Let us talk about other things then," the young priest hurriedly said, "What about you, Fujima-san? You promised to tell if I told."

"True, true," he drew his knees up and rocked lightly, "my story is hardly as spectacular, though."

"Fine words, coming from a vampire."

"Oh, my turning was quite unexciting."

"Nevertheless."

"If you insist. My grandfather, as I've told you, was from Kanagawa. He was brought back here as a manservant to one of the ambassadors. Luckily for my father, a noble's pampered daughter took quite a shine to him. My father, amazingly, turned out conscientious. I, on the other hand, was a spoiled brat." A sharp laugh. "I fell in with some ill-advised company, a vampire being one of the cohort. And look where I am now."

A sad sympathy shimmered in the priest's eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Well, I'm not. Not at all." A fierce, fang-bared grin. "I've never been more alive than when I was undead. All the treasure in the world, they're nothing compared to living off your own quick wits and the thrill of the hunt."

"Your own quick wits nearly deserted you last night, Fujima-san."

"No they didn't."

"Didn't they."

"They led me to you, didn't they?" A mischievous glint in his feral eyes.

"So they did," a warm chuckle, "so they did."

"But, jest aside, why did you save me? Was it because of your...past?"

"No, it was because I fell madly in love with you the moment I laid my eyes on you."

"Then lie with me tonight."

"I was jesting!" A quick alarm.

"Ah, but I said not to."

"How is it that you can jest and I cannot?" Indignant, yet amused.

They laughed then, two young men - one eighteen and too old, one sixty-eight and yet no older - and smiled at each other in company.

"Finish your story, Fujima-san, before daybreak. You slept longer than you're used to, I warrant."

"Hai, hai. I rampaged cities and countries alike, building a reputation for myself, and eventually ended up being outnumbered in an insignificant town such as this."

"How degrading."

"Precisely. Won't you come over here and soothe my injured ego?" A suggestive baring of fangs.

"No, I won't, Fujima-san." The flustered priest looked away nervously, "But that does remind me...do you need...to feed?"

He took a second to contemplate this - he'd completely forgotten that he hadn't fed tonight, nor last. But he didn't feel the bloodlust, not even where it usually tore at the fraying corners of his consciousness.

And the mob...He shook his head.

"It isn't necessary, not yet. Besides...what could a priest like you do, hunt me down a virgin sacrifice?"

The priest dropped his awkwardness and shot him a reproving glare.

"...Or are you the virgin sacrifice?" Another lustful flash of fang.

The priest shook his head, trying to hide an irrepressible smile.

"Are you always like this?"

"I should say. Get used to it." He laughed.

They bantered thus for the rest of the night, he growing fonder of the priest's half-smile than the perpetual melancholy he'd thought was a permanent occupant. The hours flew fast, faster even than when he was on his beloved hunt. It was only when his eyes grew weary that they knew the sky outside was blazing with sun. He retired for another night then, bidding the priest good day as he slipped back into the covers, the other leaving the room to tidy the altar.

Many things drifted past the murky depths of his consciousness as he lay in the stupor between sleep and wake that even vampires possessed. Many things that he had said, had done, particularly these past two nights.

...dependable...

...The blood of this one would be sweet.

And it disturbed him, and he wondered, drowsily, irritably, why.

He wondered.

to be continued...

Coming up next : Chapter 3 - Caeli Enarrant Gloriam Dei
Reality starts to intrude upon the sanctuary, and hidden emotions are close to being uncovered.

This chapter was draggier than I planned. The conversation here just went on and on and did not listen to me. >.< I'm not sure if that's good or bad. ^.^;;

Translations/Explanations :

Confiteor - I confess

onnagata - 'Woman form.' A kabuki term. As women were not allowed to take to the stage, specialised male actors known as onnagata took the female roles.