Title: A Harmonic Existence

Spoilers: None so far if you've kept up with all the published, translated volumes.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish it was, but it isn't.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Sometimes, Sunako is convinced that she fell down the rabbit hole, metaphorically speaking.

Author's Note: Uh... sorry for not updating Juunigatsu no Unmei. ; My thoughts on that fic ran dry and I just got the idea for this one-shot when I thought about all that's happened in the manga so far. GYAAAH.

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Sometimes, Sunako is convinced that she fell down the rabbit hole and was turned into some twisted, macabre version of Alice.

She's pretty sure that it has something to do with that boy, Takano Kyohei. Fate must be picking a fight with her, because there is no such way that she can exist in the same space with such a radiant creature. That, in itself, was messing with the sheer laws of nature and she wishes that she could go back to her old weary existence out in Hokkaido.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option and she was stuck in her aunt's boarding house with Kyohei and the three other gorgeous male specimens. They blind her with their radiant light. There wasn't a place where the beams wouldn't reach--not even her own room. She is slightly put off by that fact, but she has survived so far. Nakahara Sunako won't let herself be disturbed by some mere creations of God. She will carry on with her own life, remaining uninvolved with the boys.

Or so she thought.

Several months--a year down the road--and she realizes how they're not so different from her. Especially Kyohei.

It scares her, the more she thought about it, how alike they were.

Where as she was rejected by the human population for her odd fascination with the macabre, he was rejected by his own mother because she could not handle his beauty and the hordes of obsessive strangers that appear at their doorstep for the sole purpose of stealing Kyohei. So, it tore her into bits and pieces when she realized what she did to Kyohei when she said the words "I can't stand being around a creature of the light like you!" She rejected him, just like how his mom did. Just like how the boy she confessed to did, calling her ugly.

It disgusted her, to think of all her arguments of how an individual should try to be unique instead of conforming, following the crowd so to speak---when she did it herself. Sunako judged him, just like how they judged her. Where as the human population thought of her as a waste of flesh, she thought the creatures of light were the sins of mankind.

It was around that time when she began to accept their presence. And they began to accept hers. Their relationship was a perfect balance of dark and light. But it shocked her, to think that she was now on a friendly basis with Kyohei. Some would say that their relationship was so romantic (this is where she'd hiss at them before locking herself into her room, of course). To her, she thought of their relationship as... well. She couldn't define it in words. They just existed in harmony.

Kyohei comes to her rescue whenever she's trapped in those trances and moments of insanity... and she goes to rescue him from the demons masquerading as other radiant creatures.

And all those times where they ended up in awkward situations-- her walking in on him in the shower, both undressed. She, possessed by some gaudy necklace, straddling him in the nude. And then later on, when porno scouts actually tried to recruit her--- and he stripped down to nothing, unashamed because he knew that just a tiny bit of his skin would immediately disable anyone on the spot.

She was grateful that he'd go to such lengths to save her, although neither of them would admit feeling somewhat in love with the other.

Although it was inevitable that they did, indeed, fall in love after all that they've been through. So, Sunako thought that she didn't fall down the rabbit hole. She was pulled out of it.

It didn't stop her from ridiculing Kyohei when he proposed to her, several years later.

It was true that the demon queen did love the radiant prince... but there were certain lines that shouldn't be crossed.