On the day of Christ birth far away from Nazareth, there lived two kinds of human together in a small village, hidden in the forests of Gaul.
It was a peaceful get along, between human and those who called themselves Lucifers children.
Much later in time, those children would be called Vampires, forgotten by normal human but still hunted by a few that were more than just the average human themselves.
The chief and his wife were Vampires and they had just one son of now ten winters of age.

The chief was a tall man with spiky brown hair and even brown eyes, his skin is tanned by the sun and spans over a muscled body, trained over centuries of fighting and hunting.

His wife instead, is as pale as the moon and her hair, that is almost as long as she is tall, as white as the snow, she's about a head shorter than her husband and of a fragile but non the less graceful build. Her eyes are golden and shine like the sun.

The son of the both of them has gotten most of his looks from his mother, just the untamable spikes of his hair are inherited from his father.
But his character treats clearly come from his fathers side, since he can be fiery as a thunderstorm and malicious like a wolf.
However, that ten year old boy, had yet to learn what kind of creature he was.

The young boy, Shiro sat next to his mother at the fireplace and watched the village people who gathered around them for the dinner they always held together.
When his watchful eyes had gazed upon every single one around him, his eyes wandered to his mother and his brown knit together in a frown.
His mother noticed her sons stare and looked down to him, smiling she pushed with a finger against the knitted forehead and said jokingly.
"Don't look so stern at me my dear. You're too young to act like your father."
"Mother, why do some adults look so young and the others so old and wizened like prunes?"
Shiro asked, ignoring the lithe finger that pressed rather strong against his forehead.
His mother looked at him in slight surprise, wondering why he asked that now all of a sudden.
"That is, because those old prunes are just normal people, who live only a short life. Your father, me, you and some of the others that still look so young are something else."
The pale boy tilted his head, trying to understand what his mother was saying, and the woman sighed, seeing that her son didn't despite his efforts.

"I tell you a story, ok?"
Shiro smiled widely and nodded, so his mother began to tell the tale, how the human came to the world and how their own kind did.
"But unfortunately we and the human have to pay a price for our greater strength. We burn away our life a lot faster then them, so we need to take some of the life from those who aren't like us. Everyone in this village knows what we are, but they don't fear us like those outside of these walls. They help us and share their life willingly with us. Soon you will become turn into a full Lucifers child and then you'll understand what I'm talking about. But you are something very special among the children of the fallen angel. You are of pure blood, that means no normal human has thinned the bloodline you are born into yet. One day, when you are old enough you can choose your own family name and use a part of our all fathers one."
The boy had listened carefully, but he didn't understand all of that what had been told.

But that would change over the next years and with the understanding of his heritage, came the knowledge of the danger that lurked outside of the village.
The knowledge of a group of human that had similar powers to their own, but without the side effects, because their powers were on a weaker level.
Slayers, humans send out by god to erase all of Lucifers children, as they claimed.

5 a.D. , Gaul, a village in the forests

"Get every human out of the village, those that still count as such too!"
The chief yelled, alarming everyone in the village and a choir of voices asked what was going on and why they had to flee.
"The roman empire send warriors, mercenaries that are out to hunt everyone who isn't a human and kill them."
He explained to the crowd that gathered around them, then took one of the men he trusted most aside.
"I want you to get my son out of here. They won't notice that he's one of us. He hasn't developed so far yet."
"I understand."
The man hurried over to the chiefs hut to get Shiro.

The pale boy and his mother came out of the hut, as the chief yelled his commands once again.
Shiro heard his fathers voice and hurried over to him, past the man that should take him away.
"Father!"
The chief didn't turn around, either not hearing his sons call or just ignoring it.
When Shiro reached his side, many were already running away in a panic, chaos broke out and at the port of the village a group of armed men and women appeared.
"Father! Why do I have to flee? I want to protect the village with you!"
His father didn't turn to him, but fixed the incoming enemies.
"I said everyone counting as human has to leave the village. Now go."
"But father!"

This time the tall man turned to his son and he yelled.
"You are my only son. If you die here now, who shall continue the bloodline that my father and my fathers father fought to protect? Your mother and I may die here now, but not you. You might hate those who killed us, but don't hate humankind. Shiro, never forget the ideals that this village stood for, but fight to rebuild it somewhere. Now go!"

Shiro remained on his place, but was taken away by the man who should help him escape.
As the two hurried past the Slayers, Shiro cried out to his father.
One of the slayers noticed it and stopped the two fleeing.
The man who was with Shiro, pleaded and explained.
"No. No, sir, our chief isn't that boys father. He grew up in our village without any parents. He just sees the chief as his father figure. Please let us go. We are just some poor people, who don't know why you are after our young hunters and their wives."
The slayer grunted and send them off, so the man hurried away with Shiro, hindering him from crying out again.
Shiro looked at the Slayers and villagers who were fighting and his gaze landed on a man, with spiky blonde hair and a lithe build.

Suddenly a wave of hunger overcame Shiro, he clawed the hand that kept him from speaking away and said.
"Run faster. They'll notice me."
The man understood what Shiro was saying and increased his speed, Shiro looked back to the village, seeing that the slayer he noticed earlier killed his mother, then turned around.

His aqua blue eyes fixed Shiros gold and black ones and widened just slightly a voiceless curse falling from rosy lips.
'He noticed!'
Shiro thought panicked, but there was no need to fear, because just a moment later the blonde slayer was impaled by a spear from behind.

The pale boy turned his gaze back forward and ushered his company to let go of him.
When his feet touched the ground he ran as fast as he could, for what seemed like hours until he could no more.
He had long left the human male behind, who's strength wasn't as great as his own, but now even he came to his limits.
Out of breath and hungry he sat down on the mossy forest ground, leaning his back against a strong oaks trunk and closed his eyes.
Before he fell into an exhausted sleep the face of the Slayer who had noticed his true existence flashed before his eyes.
Then everything went dark.

...

Shiro had his right arm thrown over his eyes, that he now slowly opened.
'A dream?'
He groaned and felt movement next to him.
"Something wrong Shiro?"
A calming baritone voice asked.
He sighed, removing his arm from his face to look at his mate he said with a tired expression.
"No. Just some ghosts of the past."
Ichigo cast his eyes downward, frowning just a little.
"I see."

Then his expression lightened up and he said with a smile.
"You know. I think it's fate that we met."
Shiro began to frown now, he sat up and Ichigo followed him.
The orangette still smiling, leaned in to him and gave him a quick kiss.
"Don't look so angry. I'm not talking about that Kaien thing. Well not really."
Crossing his legs Ichigo began to explain what exactly he meant.
"There are a lot of memories I have of that life, but I have fragments of memories that just don't match up with my life as Kaien."

This pecked the albinos interest so he asked.
"What exactly?"
"They are all memories of moments just before my death. In all of them I see a pale person from my incarnations point of view and seconds later I see the scene like a bystander, like I left my body and took a last look at it before parting from that life."
Again Ichigo leaned in to Shiro and he whispered.
"I'm sure that pale man always had been you. I guess the circle got broken when you involved yourself unknowingly with me as Kaien."
Shiro silenced him with a pale finger gently pressed against rosy lips.
"It doesn't matter what has been, a hundred or a thousand years ago, Ichigo. All I care for is that you are here now with me and that you will stay were you are."
He let himself fall back on the mattress and closed his eyes.

Minutes later Ichigos voice hit his ears in a whispering tone.
"I'm sorry."
Shiro tried to ignore the constriction in his chest at the familiarity of that sentence.
"Why are you apologizing?"
The albino asked, barely keeping his voice from shivering.
Ichigo kept silent for a moment, thinking of something then he hesitantly spoke
"Maybe in a life before I was Kaien I did something real cruel that you had seen... so that's why I had apologized back when I was Kaien... Somehow I felt like I should do it again."

Shiro groaned, fixing Ichigo with his golden eyes he said.
"Stop worrying about old stories. It doesn't matter anyway."
Ichigo smiled a sad smile and laid down next to Shiro again.
"Maybe you're right and I'm thinking to much about it all."
Shiro turned onto his side and pulled Ichigo into his arms.
"That's just who you are, Ichigo and I love you with all your traits."
"I love you too, Shiro."

"Come on, let's sleep some more. We have a lot to do, later."
Ichigo nodded against his chest and snuggled a bit closer.
When his breathing evened, Shiro mumbled into his orange tresses.
"And I love it when you are right. Fate joined our paths. A long, long time ago."

Angeli Sanguis – Remembrances
End