There is a peanut staring at my carpet

         A silent sigh passed through barely parted lips, the corners of his mouth turning upward slightly in a soft smile. She was so beautiful when she was sleeping. Silken strands of ebony framed her beautiful porcelain-pale face, a sharp contrast to the flawless skin. Her cheeks were shaded by long lashes, and her naturally scarlet lips were parted slightly in slumber. Though her hair was only chin-length in the front, the rest of it hung well past her hips, the soft raven-coloured strands lying spread slightly behind her as well as draping over the soft curves of her body. She was clad in nothing more than a thin, silky, white gown, and he watched every breath she took with a soft gaze, appearing almost entranced by her. To anyone watching, it would be obvious how much he cared for her.

         Anyone who saw her now would not believe that she is the same person she appears to be when she's awake, he thought silently. In slumber, she looked so... peaceful. She looked the way he knew her to be, not the way others would view her. After all, he knew her well.

         Twin demons, that's what they looked like. He was pratically a mirror image of her in every way. A slim build, perfect snow-white skin, and long black silken hair that fell past his hips, lips tinged slightly red naturally, and beautifully long lashes that cast soft shadows on his cheeks. The only difference in them besides their gender was their eye colour: while his were a dull ashen gray, hers were of a brilliant, piercing gold hue. While his were nothing special, hers had often given her a bad name, and the label of demon. As well as she knew, she was nothing more than a human with an unusual eye colour. But time and time again she'd had to defend herself against those who would take her life for that label. And so she had closed her heart long before she had met him, burying the regret of killing deep within herself.

         A cruel, heartless creature. That's what she appeared to be. Human lives meant nothing to her, or so she would have her oppressors believe. But he knew the real her. He knew what went on in her heart and in her mind. In a way, that was what had drawn her to him. The fact that he understood her.

         His smile faded slightly as he watched her. How long he had been sitting there, only Shar knew. But it was moments like this that made life worth living. He was happiest when he was with her...

         Instinctively, his head tilted to the right slightly as he leaned over her, a soft purr escaping him as he leaned forward to brush her hair back away from her face. "Aishiteru, koibito..." But as he reached out that pale, spiderlike hand to brush the silken strands of ebony out of her face, a crystalline tear fell, fractured moonlight reflecting through it, along with the other tears that blurred his vision, shattering the illusion that had kept him mesmerised there for so long. His fingers touched nothing but air, and her image faded into the shadows of the snow-covered ground. As if she had never been.


         He missed her.