A month after the Akayuri incident, Claire and Kitty were finally allowed to visit Damien in the hospital.
As they approached the reception desk, he came out to greet them with a grin. Kitty felt his heart melt at the unbridled joy on his face. He appeared a lot healthier than the last time they saw him. The colour had returned to his pale face and his eyes sparkled. His hair was now slightly past his shoulders, and looked as soft as ever.
The lady at the desk checked them in, and they followed Damien into a long hallway. He lead them to a large, bright room filled with bookshelves, bean bags, tables with various puzzles and art materials, and a large TV on the wall.
The sight of the soft, plump bean bags made Kitty squeal with excitement. He skipped over to one and threw himself on it face first. He giggled, his face muffled by the fabric, and Damien laughed. Once he settled down, Claire and Damien sat on the ones next to him.
"So, did you get my drawing?" Kitty asked eagerly. "I worked really hard on it."
"Yeah." Damien said with a smile, blushing. "I loved it. It's actually in my pocket right now. It cheers me up to look at it, so I keep it with me. Y'know, for when I feel down and stuff."
It was Kitty's turn to blush. He played with his hands, smiling to himself. "That's good! I'm glad you like it!"
He looked over at Claire and saw her grinning at him like an excited child. She probably knew about his crush on Damien and was showing her approval. This made him go even more red. Was it really that obvious?
A look of worry replaced her smile. "Damien, I have bad news about Satan. He fought God and lost, and was imprisoned in the Golden Temple."
"What?" Damien whispered in disbelief. "Why did he do that?"
"He wanted to protect you." Claire said. "He didn't want you having to face Dana."
The guilt and worry was clear on Damien's face. His head bowed and his shoulders dropped. It was obvious that he felt responsible. Kitty reached over and gripped his hand, gazing into his eyes with a look of sympathy. Damien glanced back at him and stroked his hand with his spare one.
"He was trying to protect me." Damien muttered and sighed. He lifted his head with a determined face. "Once I'm released, I'll get him out of there."
Claire smiled and nodded. "There's something else that I need to tell you. Something extremely important." She let out a shaky exhale. "I'll just come right out and say it. Tova wasn't your mother."
Shock filled Damien's face. Kitty was also surprised. He'd heard a lot about Tova, all the horrible things she did. He'd never met her, but he deeply hated her, and Kenta. He was as astounded as Damien to hear what Claire had said.
"I'm sorry that I lied to you." Claire said. "I didn't know whether I should tell you. I wanted to, but I didn't know if it would be best for you. I was worried that you'd blame me, since I was responsible for bringing you to her." Tears gathered in her eyes and she wiped them away. "But I never meant for this to happen."
There was no anger on Damien's face. He looked hurt and saddened. "If she wasn't my mother, who was?" He asked in a gentle voice.
"Sumire Akamatsu. She was my friend, my guardian, and my first love." Claire smiled sadly. "She was a kind, beautiful, caring woman. She took me in when I had no one else. I was a former child soldier, enlisted in the Third World War. Back then, in my home country of France, all children over the age of 10 were made to fight. I was 11, so I was conscripted and sent to Japan, who were our allies, to aid in the war.
"It was during my time here that I was informed of my parents and unborn sibling's deaths back home. My father was unable to fight due to a serious back injury, and my mother couldn't because she was still pregnant." Claire's eyes filled with tears once more and she bit her lip. "A bomb had been dropped on our house, and all three were killed instantly. I couldn't even go to their funeral since I had to stay and fight."
She choked back a sob. Damien put his hand over hers and Kitty put his on her shoulder to show their support. She smiled and continued.
"After my time in the military was over, I saw no point of returning home. I had no one left to go back to. At the age of 15, I was homeless in a country I barely knew. That was when I met Sumire. She found me sleeping on the streets and offered me a home. I thought she was crazy and feared she might have been a predator, but I had nowhere else to go. She took me in and looked after me. She encouraged me to be myself, to be female. She loved to take me shopping for clothes and do my make-up. Over time, I fell for her, but she never saw me as anything but a little sister.
"We had been living together for a year when Satan asked Sumire to carry his child. She jumped at the chance. She was an avid follower of his, as was I after hearing her praise of him. I admired him, but I wasn't happy about her having his baby. I was jealous, though they reassured me they weren't in a relationship and hadn't been intimate. You were born through Satan regurgitating a spider from his stomach, and Sumire swallowing it. I knew this, but it didn't matter. The fact that she was pregnant by him made me upset. They may not have been together then, but they might have been in the future. At least, that's what I thought.
"In my anger, I told her that I'd never accept the baby. But, from the moment you were born, I adored you as I would my own child. I actually delivered you. The birth was unexpected and we had no blankets, so I wrapped you in my own cardigan to keep you warm."
Claire looked at Damien with a fond smile. He smiled back with tears in his eyes. Even Kitty was becoming a little emotional watching their sweet family moment.
"Sumire loved you from the moment you were born. She had longed to have a baby of her own. When you were born, she held you and cried tears of joy. She named you Aoi, which I later recommended to Tova to call you. Sumire promised to protect you forever. This promise lead to her death not even an hour later. A group of government soldiers stormed the house, searching for you. A neighbour or someone else must have tipped them off about you being born. Sumire ordered me to escape with you while she fought them off." Claire gave a sad sigh. "I wasn't with her when she died, but I went back later on and found her body. The bastards had shot her, too many times to be called a murder. More like a massacre. But her face looked peaceful, happy even, like she knew you were safe.
"I ran to the next town, Kuromori, and came upon a hospital. I went inside and found myself on the maternity ward. I saw a baby laying in a blue cot. It was obvious he was dead, but no one had even noticed. That was Tova's son. I gently took him out and swapped him with you, then buried the poor boy respectfully. A few months later, I tracked you down and and asked Tova to employ me as her nanny." Claire began sobbing. "I swear, I had no idea what sort of family I was leaving you with. I saw an opportunity to give you a home, so I took it. I'm so sorry."
Damien got up from his seat and hugged Claire tightly. "It's OK. I don't blame you."
Watching with teary eyes, Kitty wondered what Damien's life would have been like if Sumire had raised him. He would have lived in a house of love rather than a house of torture.
☽☾
After Claire had finished, Damien expressed his wish to change his surname to Akamatsu in honour of Sumire. She gave him a delighted smile and told him she would help him when he came home.
Then Damien asked Kitty to come to his room to show him something. There he was now, sitting on Damien's bed, face bright red. He prayed that he wouldn't hear his heart thumping against his chest, but it was so loud he started to panic.
Why did he ask him up here? What did he want to show him? Kitty began wracking his brain for a possible reason, but all he could think were dirty things. This excited him, which he found a little shameful. He inhaled and exhaled, and willed his heart to calm down.
Damien rose from the bed and stood in front of him. For a while, all he did was look at him with a nervous face. Then he began taking off his choker, then his gloves and shirt. Kitty swore his heart exploded, but the filthy things he expected didn't happen.
Instead, he was greeted by a pale chest littered with scars; stab marks, slashes and burns. Scars streaked across his neck from previous decapitations. He had third degree burns on his hand up to the wrist. There was a word in Japanese that had actually been carved into his forearm.
Kitty was speechless.
Damien must have mistaken this for disgust. He averted his eyes and began buttoning his shirt back up, but Kitty grabbed his hands and stopped him. His eyes darted back and met with green ones. Kitty stood up, still holding his hands. He noted that Damien had gotten taller, but was still an inch smaller than him. He looked so fragile. Kitty was overcome with the urge to protect this lovely man.
"What does it mean?" Kitty whispered. "That word on your arm?"
Damien inhaled sharply. "Monster. That's what she used to call me."
The hate Kitty had for Tova grew. Damien had always reacted negatively whenever he'd heard the word monster. It made him uncomfortable. Now Kitty knew why.
"She didn't know what I was, but she always thought I was evil." Damien said. "She called me it so many times, I started to believe it was true. That I was a-" He stopped and gulped. He couldn't bring himself to say it again.
Kitty stroked his face, smiling. "You're not a monster. You're beautiful, in every way."
His pale face went pink, and he smiled. Kitty raised Damien's hands to his mouth and kissed them, then kissed every scar he could reach, on his neck and even his chest. He pulled back and saw that Damien was staring at him with wide eyes.
"You've gone even redder now." Kitty teased with a giggle.
Damien gave a small laugh. "Stop it. You're making me giddy."
☽☾
The smile Kitty gave him took his breath away. He looked so mischievous that Damien swore he was flirting with him.
"Your eyes look thinner." Kitty said, stroking Damien's eyelid with his thumb. "Well, the one I can see does."
Damien swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yeah. I'm not wearing my eye tape." He shrugged with a nervous grin. "Ebba made me hate my eyes, but I'm starting to think they're not so bad. But if you think they're ugly, I'll put it back on."
"No." Kitty frowned slightly. "They're not ugly." He smiled. "They make you look more handsome. I mean, you always have been, but you're even more beautiful now that you're being natural, being yourself."
A slight gasp came out of Damien's throat. He averted his eyes out of shyness. The words filled his head and overjoyed him. Despite the way he acted, he'd never been a confident man. His upbringing along with Ebba's comments installed shame in him. But right now, he felt like he was the most gorgeous person in the world.
Kitty gently gripped Damien's chin and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. His heart raced and his head felt light, but he kissed back as best he could. He realised something dangerous, something that he had been hoping wasn't true.
He had fallen in love with Kitty.