Hei guys.

This is officially the last chapter of Unexpected. I know my author's notes are usually at the end, but I want you to finish the story with the actual ending and not with my babbling.

This story is, as I've been told by various people (last but not least my beta and best friend) quite the emotional turmoil. I know that. I also know that I could have written it better and I now wish that I had. Looking at your own story from an objective perspective is never easy and I only now realised while posting it that there's a lot to do better yet. Well, it can't be changed *sigh* To those two people who tried to bring out the best I could offer, thank you very much. Being subjected to my weird ideas, ever-changing storylines, mistakes due to cultural differences, grammar and spelling errors a child wouldn't make has to be annoying, so thank you, Nani, and thank you, CFF.

Anyway, despite the fact that I'm as usual irked by myself, I hope that you were able to enjoy this piece. As depressing as it is, it's only a story which I thought up. I could say that I'm sorry for not having written something romantic and happy, but actually, I'm not. Because I tried to write a story that could happen like this or similar in real life, too. Which is always difficult, because we all look at life from different perspectives. Reading this, one could come to think that my life is actually quite fucked up; but the truth is that I think some things just aren't meant to be and that, if you realise that they aren't, you should act according to this and not try to bring about a happy end with force. And such a happy end I actually did have in mind when I started writing this here.

That was before I realised just how complicated this relationship really is. Or this story, which was extremely difficult to write, and, I guess, also difficult to read for you. So thank you for having read it at all and thank you for letting me know what you thought about it, especially the ones from whom I got comments saying that the story made memories surface again. I was deeply grateful that you wanted to share that with me, as probably some of them are quite painful for you. Thank you for going through this with my dear protagonists and me.

Enaty

One Ring to Bind Them

D's eyes went wide for a moment when he stepped out of his room the next morning and found Leon already waiting for him, ready to go.

"I'll come along," he said, in his Don't-try-to-talk-me-out-of-it voice.

D was smart. He tried the sneaky way.

"I am a very fast walker, Leon, and I have to go deep into the woods. I doubt we can return for lunch. I barely make it back in time for dinner."

Leon took his rucksack. "Figured as much. I've got some food and water in here."

"I am not going to carry you back should you not be able to keep step."

The blonde rolled his eyes and followed his ex as he stepped down the stairs. "Yeah, okay. Same goes for you. So you better don't need a sugar fix like back with those terrorists. I didn't pack any chocolate, just so you know."

He suspected that D was smiling to himself. But the kami had of course turned his back on him and went in front, so he could only guess.

They went off the marked trails pretty fast, but D seemed to know where to go, and Leon trusted him anyway. For nearly two hours they made their way through thicket and trees, occasionally stopping to say hello to a bypassing animal. They all looked at Leon curiously, but didn't say anything. He tried to see them in both forms and clear his sight for D's world, but all he accomplished was to see two shapes lingering over each other.

Still, for his first try to consciously accept this stuff, Leon guessed it was pretty good.

D knew of course what he was trying, and Leon caught him smirking when he rolled his eyes in an attempt to separate the two forms of a beaver. The animal laughed at him and Leon glared. "I'm still learning how to do it, okay?" he growled.

The kami smiled as he sent the animal off with a pat and turned to proceed. "Of course, Leon, they know that. But you look very cute when you are rolling your eyes all the same."

Which was probably why he didn't offer to help him with it.

Leon couldn't discern any pattern from D's movements, it seemed as if he was just walking through the park, occasionally stopping to look at trees and such, but he suspected that the kami indeed had a plan. But since he didn't seem to spend too much attention on it, he decided that he could ask now as well as later.

"D, why is it so important for you to kill us?"

The question rang through the forest and would usually have made D mad, but he knew that Leon had had something in mind when he decided to accompany him. So he'd been waiting for it and was rather relieved that the human had finally spit it.

Scrutinising a pine tree, he answered. "I do never plan to kill anyone with a pet, Leon. I do not tell them that they are to kill their new master on that and that date. I sell them dreams, love and hope. Second chances. What they do with it is not my concern. Only when they fail the contract do I come and retrieve the pet."

"You said that you need to kill. Is this something about you being an avenger for your species?"

The red lips quirked. "'Revenge' is not always what you humans define as such. And my duty is to protect as well as to avenge." He stopped and sent Leon an earnest glance. "I – or better, the pets themselves – punish those who wrong them. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Is there something like a quota? You know, you have to kill five people a month so you don't go insane?" Leon coughed and stopped. D at once halted his steps, too.

"That is absurd, Leon. Of course there is no such quota. Why do you always accuse me of being a mindless murderer? Sometimes I think you have never really grasped what was going on around you."

Leon had caught his breath again, so he turned and lead the way, hiding his hurt over this remark.

"When was the last time one of your customers died because of a pet?"

He kept his speed down, knowing the human would otherwise soon lose his breath again. He was anyway surprisingly fit, considering his recent injury.

"Are you asking about the time in Japan or America?"

"Dunno. Both."

"Japan – shortly before you arrived in the shop. America – if you count Miss Monica, shortly before Chris left again."

"But you said it wasn't you who sold her that phoenix."

"Then it must have been Lao Tao Wei."

"That triad guy? You killed him?!"

D turned and smirked at the human. "You know, Leon, there was a time when wounds that looked like inflicted by an animal would have caused you to come running to the shop, screaming at me. I confess I always wondered why you never connected the claw marks on his body looking like a tiger's claws to me."

Leon returned the look and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I was pretty glad that he was dead, truth be told? Anyway – how many did you get? I mean, since I know you?"

D shrugged and tried to remember. "I am not sure. Ten, I think."

The look he got for that was clearly unbelieving. "Ten? Are you kidding me?"

D smiled again. "I always told you I am not half as bad as you thought."

Leon blushed slightly. "But there were a few deaths earlier. Before I came into the shop for the first time."

"Yes. But you asked me about the time since I know you."

He stood still while the human regarded him for a long time. "You know that the triad guy alone probably killed more people in a week than you got in one year?"

The smile grew soft. "Like I said, 'revenge' is often a matter of opinion."

Then he turned and they continued on their way without speaking further. D was not intent on talking and Leon silently scolding himself. Why had he never counted up all the victims? They were so few in contrast to how many lives a gang war demanded...

"So what's the deal with the pets going crazy because I was away from the shop? Did you know something like that could happen?"

D stopped to look at another pine tree and sighed softly. "No, I did not. How should I know? It has never happened before. Leon, I am not sure I can even find any explanation that will satisfy you. I do not know if there exists one. It is something you have to feel, not something you can explain."

"Try me. I'm good where instinct is needed, ain't I?"

The kami sent him a bemused glance. "I remember telling you so on various occasions, yes. However, seeing the events of the past months, I think I have to redeem that statement."

Leon just kept looking at him. D sighed again and sat down on some spot of moss.

"My pets and I share a certain connection. That is how I know when a contract has been broken. It is usually one-sided; I can feel what they feel, but we both keep our integrity, if you want to call it such. However, when I started suppressing my aggressions and feelings of insecurity, they needed to go somewhere. Since the bond is unconscious, they went through it to the pets. And of course the pets whose masters were in similar situations were afflicted the most. Each and every one was afraid of losing something. Remigio Cocuzzi was afraid of losing his status as a criminal, Cathleen Turner had lost her daughter, Aaron Sandler was getting divorced from his wife. Ali Abdoullah was having a serious identity crisis because of the war in his homeland, and Dixon Walter… I think he was losing his faith in god."

He shrugged. "And there you go. It was just a little push. A snowball effect, if you want."

Leon played with his watch. "Are you happy that they're out of the picture?"

D shook his head and gazed into the distance.

"No triumph over human stupidity?"

"In this case, Leon, it was my own stupidity that caused those events. And I regret to have made this mistake. I am sure they all would have broken their contracts sooner or later. It still should not have been me who caused those events."

Leon supposed he wouldn't get anything better. He couldn't expect D to feel about this like he did.

Instead he changed topics. "So, how will we go on once we're back in LA? How're we going to tell the public we've split up?"

D's smile mocked him. "We could put in an announcement in one of the newspapers. But I assure you it would be much quicker and cheaper to just tell Mrs. Chang or Mrs. Shao."

Leon grimaced. "Right. They'll spread the news right after having skinned me for breaking up with you."

"I doubt Mrs. Shao would do that. After all, you have done her a service. Now she can hope again to marry poor Lin off to me." D looked away. "In vain, of course, but she will never realise this."

"Why in vain?" the human asked, shuddering in the cold. "Does your species never marry?"

The kami looked at him and smiled. "We did, in the old times, yes. Not like humans, of course, but we had rituals similar to theirs. Not that those would have been necessary, mind you. It was mostly for the humans' sake. They felt much better if we did things similar to them."

The blonde shuddered again and started pacing to keep himself warm. "So what does 'not necessary' mean, then?"

D's eyes were looking at some far away distance. "You may have heard that there are some species which are indeed monogamous. Mine is one of them. Once we choose a partner, we stay with him for the rest of our lives."

He said that so casually, so matter-of-factly that Leon needed a moment to get behind the words. Then he felt a wave of guilt and fear crash down on him.

"What does that mean?" he demanded to know, alarmed. "You mean, you can't choose another mate? But – what about the pets then, and, and the customers…"

D held up a hand and calmed the human down again. "Do not worry," he said, looking at the floor. "It does not happen if we lose our mate. We mourn his loss, but we do not go insane like I almost did. That was… probably due to the fact that I felt insecure. Our emotional agitation shows, of course. But never to the point that pets start to kill when our mate simply dies. I can… tell myself that you died. It works."

Leon could hear 'human influence' in D's words. He hoped that D was right. "Fuck, D, I'm so sorry," he muttered.

"We are different, Leon. I have always known that. You are not responsible for me ignoring this fact." D's voice sounded as calm and collected as it did when he was talking about the mistake a customer had made.

"Still," the human argued. "I mean, if I am… am I your mate?"

"Of course." D actually sounded slightly amused, as if the answer had been crystal clear from the start. Leon didn't really agree with him there, but he could see why it would be clear for D.

He made his feelings known with a single word. "Fuck."

"Mind your language. I still do not approve of it."

"I didn't want to fuck this up, D. I didn't want to fuck up any of this. I mean, I want you to be happy, too… If you were human, you could just, I don't know, hook up with someone else and be happy with him or her."

D's smile was almost mocking, but something like cherish shone through. "Don't you humans have a saying? Time heals all wounds. You will feel less guilty about it in some weeks."

Leon shot him a glance. "Great, smartass. You're telling me that you'll mourn for me for the rest of your life, which will probably be very long, but that I should care less about? That's not the way it's…"

"But it is the way it shall go, at least if you ask me," D firmly cut him off.

"I don't want you to play martyr, you know. I don't need that."

"Martyrdom is relative. I always had the impression that people choose to become a martyr. If I am to be completely honest, I never chose to fall in love with you, Leon. Besides, it won't be of any use to me if you feel guilty for unchangeable circumstances for the rest of your life, too. Which is, if I may add that, anyway far shorter than mine. Are you now going to waste it on useless self-punishment?"

D had a point, and a good one, too. Like he usually did, smartass that he was.

Leon sighed deeply. "Hell, first we break up because I'm not observant enough to your feelings, and then you go at me for trying to be more sensitive? Try to understand women and you're lost."

At least he got D smiling with that one. "I am not a woman, and I doubt it would be of much use in my case to understand them. We should go now. It is too cold for you to be standing around for long."

They reached D's destination shortly after that and Leon got to know what he needed all those medical stuff for. On a small clearing animals of every size and race were waiting patiently for the kami to turn up, most showing injuries. Leon clicked his tongue, which made them jump back.

"Let nature take her course? This looks more like Doctor Doolittle to me, D."

"Do not be silly. Those injuries were all caused by humans. I would not tend them if they weren't. But again, your species has chosen to interfere in a functioning ecological system, and it is the animals who have to bear the consequences. Are you going to stand there the whole day or are you going to help me?"

Leon chose the latter. First, he was going to freeze to death if he just stood around. And second, D had caused a bad conscience with his remark. Again. He was really good at that.

But then, they both had a lot of experience with getting under each other's skin.

Darkness fell while they were still on their way home. Somewhere far off, a wolf started howling, soon joined by his pack. Leon was cold, despite the fact that he'd worked the whole time, and at that sound, he shivered even more.

A warm hand took his. "Mind your step, Leon, and do not worry about the pack. I know them. They will not hurt you."

"You said that about Kate, too," Leon answered dryly.

"And I am still convinced that I am right. She never meant to harm you. She was simply defending her young one. If you want, your maternal instincts conflicted."

Leon heard the laugh in D's voice. Silently he followed the kami through the woods.

"You know, we once had a counsellor in the precinct," he finally said. "He made us play stupid trust games. It was embarrassing, the whole farce."

"I can imagine that you would think those games useless." D's voice was still amused.

"Well, there was one game that wasn't useless. We had to pair up and one got blind-folded. Then the other had to lead him through an obstacle course, by the hand."

"I can also see why the momentary situation would trigger the remembrance."

Leon could see the first lights shining through the trees and knew they would soon be back in the hotel. Warmth, civilisation, comfort. Nothing of that was what D needed.

"Can you make a room in the pet shop where no magic works?"

D stopped dead in his tracks, but Leon had anticipated a reaction like this and immediately stopped, too.

"You'd not be allowed in there if I don't say so. None of the pets either. And I'm going to do with it what I want. You're not allowed to say anything about what I do in there."

"I – yes, of course I could make such a room… but why…?"

Leon squeezed D's hand, warm and slim in his. "Because, you know, I wasn't kidding when I said I loved you. 'Cause I do, in a way. And if your love's not like mine, well, fine, no two humans feel the same either, and if you more or less hate my species and try to kill them, so what if you still understand why I want to protect them. It's just like – I don't know, it's not like I can explain. But I won't let you out of my sight again. That's all I wanna say. And that's gotta be enough."

They were standing at the airport three days after Leon's little speech when the blonde suddenly turned and fumbled something out of his pocket. He slipped it over D's hand and then quickly turned away again, leaving the kami to gaze at the small silver ring.

"Leon, what…?" he started, and the human quickly cut him off.

"It's not a wedding ring or an engagement or anything like this, D. I just figured that, well, since you aren't going to hook up with anyone but me, you shouldn't have to worry about those damned people in Chinatown who're trying to marry you off. You don't have to wear it if you don't like, and it's no obligation towards me or anything. But it's at least going to keep you safe from the worst of it." He shrugged. "You know. A little pretence never hurt anyone."

D looked down on the ring, felt his heart not knowing what to feel about this.

Then he closed his fingers around the ring, making sure he wouldn't lose it.

I am not going to let you lose sight of me either, Leon.

-End-