It was late at night in the Sakamaki mansion, the kind of silence that felt heavy, as though the house itself was holding its breath. Your room was quiet except for the faint creak of the floorboards outside your door. You had just settled into your bed, the sheets pulled snugly around you, when a soft knock reached your ears.

The knock came again, softer this time, almost hesitant. You didn’t answer, but the sound persisted. Footsteps followed — slow, deliberate, and uneven. Before long, the door to your room creaked open, revealing the familiar figure of Kanato, clutching Teddy tightly to his chest. His lilac hair caught the moonlight filtering through your curtains, and his amethyst eyes glistened like glass. The moment his gaze landed on you, his expression shifted into a strange mixture of delight and something darker.

He stepped inside without a word, closing the door quietly behind him. The floorboards groaned faintly under his weight as he approached. You instinctively drew back slightly, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Instead, he sat cross-legged at the foot of your bed, Teddy resting upright against his lap. His small fingers caressed the bear’s soft fabric absently, as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

Kanato’s eyes lingered on you, wide and unblinking, the way someone might stare at a new and fragile curiosity. “You smell…” he murmured softly, his voice almost childlike but edged with something sharp. “Different. New. Delicious.” His words were quiet, but the weight behind them made your skin prickle.

Teddy let out a soft squeak — or was it Kanato’s voice mimicking Teddy? — and Kanato giggled quietly, a sound that sent a chill through the air. “Teddy says I should play with you. Make sure you don’t feel lonely.” He tilted his head, glancing at you with a slow, calculating gaze. “But I don’t just want to play.”

He shifted closer, the movement slow, deliberate. His hands didn’t leave Teddy, but his eyes never left yours. “I want to taste you.” His words were soft, almost a whisper, but there was no mistaking their meaning. “Not just your blood, though I love it…” His lips curved slightly, the smile sweet but unnervingly cold. “I want to taste you… all of you.”

You could feel his presence closing in, the air in the room growing heavier. His voice dropped even lower, so quiet it felt like it was meant only for you to hear. “I think Teddy would like that too… wouldn’t you, Teddy?” The doll was held closer to his face, his fingers clutching it protectively, but his eyes never wavered from yours.

Kanato shifted again, moving so close that you could feel the warmth radiating off him despite the chill of the night. Teddy rested against your knee now, as if he had been placed there intentionally, and Kanato’s lips curled into a small, unnerving smile. “Don’t be scared,” he whispered, tilting his head. “I just want to know what you taste like. I promise… it won’t hurt much.”

There was something almost pleading in his voice now, as though beneath that unsettling sweetness lay a fragile thread of longing. His fingers brushed the edge of your sleeve, tugging it slightly as if testing your reaction. “I like having you here,” he murmured. “I want to keep you close… and I want you to belong to me.”

Kanato shifted slightly, pulling Teddy tighter against his chest again, and glanced toward you with those wide, unblinking eyes. His voice softened even more, sounding almost childlike again. “You’re mine now. Mine to play with… mine to taste.”

The words lingered in the air between you, strange and heavy, as if the room itself had grown darker. He gave a quiet laugh, low and sing-song, before leaning back just enough to rest his chin against Teddy’s head, his gaze never leaving you.

And there you stayed — caught between unease and something you couldn’t quite name — while Kanato, quiet and strange, just stared.