| / _

He grinned back at me, pointing to the sky, and I followed his finger.

"Look! Those are God's fingers! He's watching over us! He's holding us."

"..." I chuckled, "You're such a fool, Tenshi. Everyone knows there's no God. And there's nobody holding us or watching us," I knocked him to the ground, smirking slightly over him. His blue eyes were wide with surprise. "It's just us.. I'm the only one holding you.." I kissed him.

--------------------

When I finally let up my affection, he had a certain look in his eyes.

A frown I didn't often see.

"... There is a God, Null."

"Your family is the last to believe THAT, Tenshi," I replied before I could stop myself. He rolled over away from me. "Uh-! I--I'm sorry, Tenshi! Please forgive me! I didn't mean that! Besides, I'm sure we can adopt plenty of kids or something and make Christianity widespread again!"

He didn't respond.

Little did I know, that was the day everything changed.

------------------------

I'd been dating Tenshi for a while. He was bright and optimistic while I was more pessimistic. Or logical, as I called it.

I never knew my father. As far as I knew, he walked out on us, and my mom became.. well, she became disgusting and vile. She was depressed, I get it, but that's no reason to turn to drugs and sex..

Tenshi's parents both died in a car accident, along with his older sister. That was only a little bit ago, so.. I try not to mention them..

We started dating only a few weeks before they died.

I have a little brother. Half-brother, but I still treat him like he wasn't the child of some pervert my mom hooked up with for a night. He doesn't know that though.. I try to block him from our mother's activities..

It's more like me, Tenshi, and my little brother are a family. Rather than me, my little brother, and my mom.

Tenshi had rubbed off on my little brother a little. While he did have the same, ahh.. what would you call it? Spunk? Well, anyway, he's energetic and playful and stuff. He's also cheerful and practically always smiling.. But I know he's gonna grow up to be submissive to his urges like me. I can already see it- he's a teaser, and he likes to prank people. I don't really look forward to when he reaches puberty, honestly..

He really looks up to me and Tenshi. He's seven years old. My mom named him Spike Jr. or something (supposedly the name of his father, but we all know that name was fake.), but I call him Kiseki. That's the name everyone calls him at school, too. I made sure of it. He doesn't even know his real name. That birth certificate is invalid. And it's not like Mom remembers naming him that..

I hope to truly, legally change his name soon..

Kiseki has red hair, like me, and he has spiky teeth. His eyes are green.

Tenshi has blonde hair and blue eyes.

My mom has purple hair, but she probably dyed it. Her eyes are greenish-brown, like mine.

------

"Aniki!!!" a blur of red ran towards us, and I laughed as he locked onto my waist. I looked up at Ms. Saki. She had brown hair with a red tint and brown eyes.

"Thank-you for taking care of him, Saki."

"It's no problem."

Kiseki had gone to Kindergarten last year, but it failed miserably. As if we even had the money to pay for it..

So we went back to the daycare. He trusts them, and it's less to pay. Plus, if he ever DOES act up, they make sure to scold him rather than crying to mom.

I was nineteen now, so I'm not in school. I'm not going to college. We can't afford it.

I was able to go to Kindergarten through second grade, but the middle of third grade, mom started using the money for me to go to school for drugs.

When I was twelve, I started doing jobs like mowing the lawn and such, to try and pay for Kiseki's daycare. I worked nonstop until I slept. I wanted to go back into school.. and I knew Kiseki would have to go to school, too. That's why I chose the cheapest daycare-- to be able to save money for that kind of stuff.

In the middle of tenth grade, I was able to start school again. I'd been studying on my own, so I'd been able to test into it.

Obviously, my hard work was why I was able to meet Tenshi.

I've laid off a little since I started dating Tenshi, but to make up for it, I work really hard at a good-paying job. FastTrip is where I work. They pay you 10 bucks an hour, and your pay increases steadily. It pays weekly, too. I've been working there since I was sixteen-- part of why I could afford to go to school again.

"Come on, buddy," I lifted Kiseki, putting him on my shoulders.

"See you tomorrow, Null-kun."

"See ya."

The three of us walked towards the appartment.

Just like I try not to talk about Tenshi's parents, Tenshi tries not to talk about my mom or anything.

The two of us pay for an appartment together, and Kiseki and Tenshi live there. I do, too, most of the time, but I check up on mom to make sure she doesn't think I'm missing or dead.

She thinks the baby from seven years ago died, too.

That's how I can really avoid Kiseki knowing about mom's behavior.

He thinks his parents are in the hospital, so he only ever asks if they're alright.. to which I respond they're still the same..

----------------------------------------------

I set Kiseki down, moving towards the kitchen. Our appartment was cheap but small, but it was bearable and livable.

We had one sink, one oven, one microwave, two counters, four cabinets, two drawers, one fridge, and one pantry. It's about two meters by two meters. It's a little cramped. We eat in the family room, which is a little bigger. We have a couch with two bedtables. We do practically everything on the couch- eat, sleep. We bought a little bookshelf a little while back. Our place is pretty bland, and it mostly just has necessities. I've almost got enough for some phones.

Our bathroom consisted of a sink, two cabinets, a toilet, and a bath/shower.

When you entered the place, you would be in the family room. The bathroom is to your left, and the kitchen is in front of you. There's a little window above the sink in the kitchen, but that's it.

There's a laundry room downstairs, and you pay 25 cents to wash a big load. Me and Kiseki wear the same clothes two or three times without washing. Tenshi tries to tell us to wash our clothes, but I won't have it.

"What do you guys want tonight?" I asked, taking four plates out.

"I'll make dinner tonight," Tenshi offered, but I shook my head.

"I want an omelet!" Kiseki grinned, and I nodded.

"Omelets it is then." I got out the eggs, noticing that we only had three more left now. "We'll have to go shopping soon.." I mumbled as I took out a bowl to stir the eggs in. I cracked one of them on the edge, pouring it in and starting to stir.

Once Tenshi had dragged the truth about my living conditions out of me, he'd started working at FT himself. We were slowly getting out of complete poverty, but we still had small meals and such.

Still, we're stable.

Eggs are good to buy because there's four meals in that dozen.

I like to get a lot of eggs. Kiseki has learned to love eggs, too. I guess it's in our genes.

Tenshi, however, doesn't like eating the same thing over again, which is troublesome..

"Null, we had omelets for breakfast today.." Tenshi complained, a worrisome expression on his face.

"It's fine, Tenshi. What's so bad about eating the same thing every day?"

"I don't want eggs, Null.."

"Then what do you want?"

Tenshi still doesn't understand the whole 'poverty' thing.

"... Maybe.. um.. Lil' Lamb has cheap food."

I sighed heavily. "Tenshi, we can not buy from restaraunts. Even if it is fast food."

"Their cheeseburgers go for one dollar!"

"We get 12 eggs for two dollars!" I argued back, "One meal for one dollar versus four meals for two dollars! The better choice is obvious!"

"We cannot eat that every day, Null!"

"I always do. And so does Kiseki."

"..." Tenshi turned around, looking in the pantry for food to eat. I frowned.

"Aniki?" Kiseki looked up to me, worried.

"It's fi-" I started, but a flash of lightning interrupted me. I glanced up, blinking at the window beside me. "That's strange.. Isn't it still early? Why is it so dark? And if there's lightning, where's the rain?"

"There can be lightning without rain, Null," Tenshi commented, "And it's probably dark because of the clouds. I can't see.."

The lights suddenly turned on, and my head jerked to the lightswitch. Kiseki had wandered over there to turn it on, relieving me.

It was just Kiseki..

I gulped, feeling uneasy. There was a lump in my throat.

Kiseki wandered back over, grabbing my pants. "Aniki.. I'm worried.."

"... It's fine, buddy. Everything's fine," I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, setting the spoon on the plate I'd prepared earlier. I stared at the darkness outside.

"Null?" Tenshi was beside me, blinking at me. I blinked and looked over at him. "... Null? Are you okay?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"... Your.. y-oh my gosh!!" Tenshi brought his hands beside my face, "Null!! Null!!"

"Huh? What's wro- eh?" I blinked as red dripped like blood down my vision. "Tenshi? What.."

Everything went completely red.

Kiseki's P.O.V.

Upon hearing Tenshi-aniki shout Aniki's name, I looked up at him in time to see his eyes turn bloodshot. Then they started to go completely red, and I quivered.

Why had his eyes been red when I looked up? His eyecolor is green and brown! A--And now they're completely red!!

"A--Aniki!!" I cried, desperately grabbing his shirt. "Aniki, what's wrong?!! Aniki!!"

I gasped when something started to not feel right. My eyes went wide, and I ran over to Tenshi-aniki, pushing him away from Aniki.

"Huh? Kiseki?- oh my gosh! Kiseki!!" Tenshi grabbed my cheeks, "Y-Your eyes.."

Huh? The same thi..

"My eyes are red like Aniki's?" He nodded, worried.

Oh no.

I looked back at Aniki, who had punched the air where Tenshi-aniki had been. A tail started to sprout out of his butt, and he leaned his head back, staring at us with those blank red eyes.

"P..Pure.. P..Pure.. Pu.."

Then something smashed its way into the wall. A tail. A tail like Aniki's..

It twirled around before shooting back out as quickly as it came. Tenshi-aniki shrieked when there was a red eye peaking through the hole. There was laughing, and the wall was broken with a bigger hole-- from a fist. The stranger crawled in, and I was barely able to drag Tenshi-aniki out of Aniki's next blow.

"T--Tenshi-aniki! You need to ru--"

Eh?

R..Red?

Red dripped down my vision like blood, and I felt fear flood my being.

What happened to Aniki.. Th..The same thing's happening to me..

Everything went completely red.

Tenshi's P.O.V.

"Kiseki!!" I shouted, holding his shoulders.

Ru.. Was Kiseki trying to say 'run'? But.. but what about him?!! And Null?!!

"N--Null!" I looked back at my boyfriend, my eyes widenining when I saw a tail shooting towards me. I barely got out of the way, getting knicked in my arm. I cringed, looking at Null, who licked his lips. He brought his new tail up to his lips, licking it lewdly, staring at me with lust. "N.. Null, please snap out of it!!" I cried, "Please!! Null!!"

"Pure.. taste.. good.." Null mumbled huskily, smirking.

"Pure.." I heard Kiseki mumble. I looked down to see him clawing at my pants, as if trying to climb onto me. "Pure yummy.. Tenshi..ani..ki.."

My lip quivered.

Wh-What's going on?!!

"P-Please, snap out of it, you two!!" I begged, sobbing.

Squirt!

I looked up. Null was in front of me. A tail had pierced his stomach. I screamed.

"NULL!! NULL!!"

"Mi..ne.. Le..Leave, forei..gn.."

"Leave, foreign.." Kiseki repeated his brother's words, also stepping in front of me. The stranger's red eyes furrowed.

"You're newbies. You can't even speak right yet. And yet you have the odacity to order me around?" the stranger scoffed, "I am in charge here. You follow my commands. That's how it works, newbies. Then, you'll be able to speak again and do all of that stuff. If you stray from the normal habits, you'll just be an insane mess. Do you really want that?"

"Leave, foreign.." Null and Kiseki spoke.

"... Fine then. But you really will go insane.. Both of you. You can't learn on your own."

The person flew away.

"N-Null! Kiseki! Daijoubu?!! Null, we need to get you to a hospital!!" The two turned, red eyes glowing. Smirks were on their faces. "..." I was horrified and frightened, but I wouldn't just watch my boyfriend and his brother become victim to.. whatever this is. "Null! Kiseki! Snap out of it!! You're better than this!! Please, Null! Kiseki!"

"Pure.. taste.. good.."

Another crash came through our place. ( QoQ Null's going to have a fit when he gets out of this trance.. After all, WE'll be the ones paying for the damage..) "You haven't been infected yet. And here I thought, everyone on Earth was doomed. I guess that's why the Lord made me go to this section.."

I glanced at the new intruder, and I couldn't believe my eyes.