Log - Yuushi, Shishido (cameo by Akutsu)
Date: Shortly after Shishido finds out that vampires exist from Gakuto
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Shishido wants Yuushi to confirm that he is or isn't a vampire.
Shishido poked his head around the corner looking for any movement of student council members or staff, not seeing anyone, he slipped into the hallway and headed towards the rooms with their lights still on. He needed to talk to Yuushi and find out if he was really a vampire. And he still wasn’t sure how he felt about that or if he believed it was possible. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to reach any sort of conclusion until he spoke to Yuushi about it. And no, he wasn’t going to think about why talking to Yuushi about this was so important to him. He had bigger things to worry about. Like if Yuushi was a blood sucking demon of the night and planning to suck him dry.
Even if talking to Yuushi meant really stretching a promise he made to Gakuto about not telling people he knew he had to do it. He would just have to get Yuushi to promise never to mention it and then it wouldn’t be an issue. And it’s not like he was breaking the promise. He wasn’t emailing Yuushi about it or broadcasting it to the world.
In fact, he couldn’t email Yuushi or call him since Gakuto still had his phone. And that’s why he was forced to break curfew to seek Yuushi out instead of asking him to meet somewhere. He just hoped that walking into middle of all the Eclipse Academy’s possible vampires wasn’t as stupid an idea as he was starting to think it was.
He just needed to keep his cool and find Yuushi. If he was to believe Gakuto than nobody here was going to eat him anyway. Not that he was sure he believed anything Gakuto had said in the past few hours but he was desperately clinging to that truth as he neared the classes. He stopped at one of the classrooms and peeked through the window on the door to see if he could spot Yuushi but there was nobody who even resembled him in there. He slipped on to the next classroom before he was noticed.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” Akutsu’s voice snarled behind him. The white haired Guardian was clearly pissed, having had to haul himself out of his seat and excuse himself when half of his class had twitched, swearing they felt a human nearby. Finding out it was true only soured his mood all the more.
“Get your idiot ass back to your dorm,” he growled, going to grab Shishido and haul him back personally. Yuushi beat him to it, however, yanking the brunette away from him. “I’ll handle this,” he told Akutsu calmly, pulling Shishido back against his chest. Perhaps it had been that his thoughts were lingering on his friend, for him to have heard him so clearly outside the door. However, any second lingering here was potentially putting Shishido in danger.
Akutsu growled again, glaring at him. “Not your job, Asshole,” he shot at him with his usual nickname for him and Kenya both. Not that it phased Yuushi in the least. He arched a brow at the turned vampire, giving him a cold, condescending look. “He’s my responsibility. You may be on the Student Council, Jin, but don’t think I’ll bother listening to someone like you. Even if you’re sleeping with my cousin.” That last point was thrown at Akutsu with a knowing smirk, enjoying how the other actually flinched. Did he really think no one else knew he was screwing Taichi and that Hirakoba person? While the other vampire was reeling, he took the opportunity to spirit Shishido away quickly, until they were outside and out of sight.
“Now,” he said once they were alone. “What prompted such an upstanding young man as yourself to break such a big rule, Ryou-kun?”
Shishido thought his heart was going to beat right out of his chest when Akutsu had discovered him. Akutsu was a night class student so according to Gakuto that meant he was a vampire too. And definitely not the friendly type in Shishido’s mind. He had never been so happy to see Yuushi even if he had to be in the middle of a fairly weird conversation about Akutsu’s sex life.
But now that he was away from Akutsu and the other night class students the cool air quickly brought him back to reality. The person he was so happy to see could very well be a vampire. “I had to talk to you and it couldn’t wait,” Shishido answered and then looked around just to make sure that they were really alone. “Are you a vampire?” He asked not wanting to stall or ease his way into the question. He really hoped the answer was no, even if that meant that Gakuto had gone around the bend.
“...Gakuto.” Yuushi breathed the redhead’s name with a disappointed lilt to his voice. Having heard it from Shishido’s own mind, he didn’t need to ask who had told him. This wasn’t good at all. He never thought he would have to suppress Shishido’s memories. Or have someone else do it, because he wasn’t always good at wiping minds. Something about it clashing with his telepathy, he thought.
“Just because we take class at night is no reason to listen to rumors, Ryou.”
“It wasn’t the stupid rumours, Yuushi. And that’s not an answer. Yes or no?” Shishido wasn’t sure what to make of Yuushi’s joking. Was he joking because he wasn’t a vampire and found it amusing or was he joking because he was and didn’t want to admit it?
He had to say that Gakuto had some fairly damning information and had never appeared crazy before. But still, he needed to hear it from Yuushi’s mouth, one way or the other before he completely believed it. Once he knew, then he could worry about his next step, actually, he found his eyes flicking to the sides before moving back to Yuushi’s face, this time he wasn’t looking for people but for quick getaways. Gakuto had been so convinced that Yuushi would be completely pissed off if he found out that he knew about vampires. And well, if Yuushi was a vampire and was pissed off, Shishido didn’t plan on sticking around for it. Not without one of Gakuto’s awesome guns anyway.
“I’m not pissed off,” Yuushi sighed, missing the fact that Shishido’s lips hadn’t been moving. He rubbed at his eyes a moment; he was pissed, but not at Shishido. He was pissed at a certain hunter who was going to pay for this...
“And would you stop looking so paranoid? No one is going to jump out of the bushes at you.”
Shishido stared up at Yuushi with large eyes. “I didn’t say that,” Shishido said. “I thought it, but I didn’t say it.” He had teased Inui about reading his mind and doing Vulcan mind tricks but he didn’t think it was really possible to read his mind. But if Yuushi was answering things he knew he hadn’t said than he had to be reading his mind, right? And he still hadn’t answered the damned vampire question even if he wasn’t denying it.
“And you still aren’t answering my question, damn it.” Shishido gave Yuushi’s shoulder an annoyed push and then instantly regretted his burst of anger. Maybe he shouldn’t piss off the potential vampire who might still get annoyed and eat him.
Damn. He really had to watch himself. He was too used to Shishido not catching his slips. “I don’t see why I should answer it. Have I given you some reason to not trust me? You’re acting like you’re afraid of me, Ryou.”
“Maybe it’s because you don’t trust me enough to answer my question,” Shishido shot back. It didn’t really make sense, but the longer Yuushi put off answering one way or the other, the more nervous Shishido was feeling. He didn’t want to play games right now.
“Ryou....” He was torn. The right thing to do was to deny the whole thing and reassure Shishido that his kind didn’t exist. But his feelings for the human had changed to the point that he no longer wanted to lie to him. If there was a chance that Shishido would accept him regardless, he didn’t want to screw it up by lying to him right off the bat.
He was all kinds of stupid. He knew that. Instead of patting the brunette’s head and making him feel better, he pulled Shishido into his arms and kissed him soundly. When he let him back off, he murmured his hopeful answer against his lips.
“...Yes. I am.”
So used to being held by Yuushi and kissed, that Shishido relaxed into the hold, at least until Yuushi spoke. Then he froze, his muscles tensing in a fight or flight reflex. He had, if he was being honest to himself, known before he came to find Yuushi what he would hear, but that little piece of denial had kept him going and now it was gone and he knew without a doubt that he’d been hanging out and making out with vampires and he wasn’t sure at all how he was supposed to react. “You were supposed to say no,” He eventually said.
“I’m sorry,” the vampire told him sincerely, arms still wrapped tightly around his waist. “I don’t want to lie to you, Ryou.” He sighed. No matter how this ended up, it was a futile endeavor anyway. The ‘authority’ would take care of that. “You won’t remember this anyway.”
Shishido had a million things he wanted to say to that apology but couldn’t think past the fact that Yuushi said he wouldn’t remember this. That was the line people used in movies right before they killed people, he was sure of it. And just because he’d spent tons of mornings in a private space with just Yuushi or Yuushi and Kenya with nothing happening didn’t mean things wouldn’t change now that he knew. “Are you going to kill me to keep me quiet?” He asked fear and shock in his voice. If he was going to die he was so coming back to haunt Gakuto who got him into this mess in the first place.
“Never. And I’d rather you haunted me. He doesn’t deserve your ghost; its too good for him.” No sense in hiding everything now. And yes...he was still rather irritated with the loudmouthed hunter. The headmaster, not to mention Atobe, was going to want to know how Shishido had came by this knowledge. Gakuto was surely going to be penalized, and right now, faced with Shishido’s fear, he had no sympathy for him.
He held onto the brunette tighter, afraid he would bolt otherwise. “No one is going to hurt you, I swear it. But...its not a good idea to let you keep this knowledge. If I can’t do it myself, Atobe or one of the others is going to have to erase it from your memory.”
“You’re doing it again,” Shishido said as he squirmed in Yuushi’s hold. He wasn’t completely sure he believed Yuushi saying he’d never hurt him in the same breath he was telling him he still had to forget things. It was way too shady and the mind reading wasn’t helping. “You’re answering things I haven’t said.” Had Yuushi always done that and he’d just never noticed before? He must have looked so stupid in front of them. And now Yuushi wanted him to go back to that. No, not wanted. Was saying he had to and that he had no choice. “And why do I have to forget anyway? Is this some big joke to you? Do you sit around with Kenya going all ‘Oh hahaha Poor dumb Ryou doesn’t know we’re vampires, let’s play with the little mortal, he’s such a fun toy to tease’?”
“Ryou just calm down and I’ll explain.” He managed not to flinch at that last part. Parts of that had been true, at least on his part. But Shishido wouldn’t appreciate hearing that it had been more endearing to Kenya and him that he never suspected, that Yuushi at least no longer thought of him as a toy.
“It’s not a joke. I’d rather you knew the truth, but its the rules, and I can’t go against them. It’s too dangerous for you to know right now. We’re here to learn how to live with humans, not hurt them. And...I’m answering what you think because I can hear some of it. You tend to think rather loudly.”
Shishido huffed in irritation but stopped struggling against Yuushi’s arms, though he was still tense. “Since when do you care about rules?” Shishido questioned, annoyed at having even more rules in his life and saying that after everything he went through tonight that he’d have to forget it all. And he still wasn’t sure how that was going to work but he guessed that if vampires could read minds than fiddling about with them wasn’t that big a deal...
If it wasn’t that big a deal had Yuushi ever fiddled with his mind before? He ran through his memory trying to think of things he was missing but knew it was a futile move. And because he just thought all of that, did Yuushi know that he was now thinking about other times his memory was altered and what could have happened when they were all alone. Well that sucked. “Do you always read my thoughts? And don’t go putting the blame on me and my loud thoughts. That’s just lame.”
He was trying to be patient, he really was. But Shishido’s thoughts were getting more and more paranoid, and it was irritating. “Believe me, I try not to hear them. Sometimes its fun, but on the whole you end up knowing things you don’t want to know.
“Like how Tachibana has slept in the same bed with you.”
Anger, shock and embarrassment swept through him immediately at Yuushi’s comment. Shishido didn’t even know he was capable of feeling so many things at once until just then. It was almost enough to take his mind off of vampires and mind wipes. But despite Yuushi being a vampire and possibly working his way up to eating him or whatever, he still felt the urge to correct him on what he was probably assuming. “It was just sleeping! And it just started because it’s warm and it’s comfy.” And he wondered why he even felt the need to defend himself, it’s not as if he believed that Yuushi was always alone in bed in the Dusk dorms. Especially when Kenya was around. “And I bet you learn a lot of useful things you’re happy to hear too.” Like the one time that Shishido couldn’t stop thinking about how good Yuushi’s butt looked in those jeans he wore into town. Vampire or not, those were hot as hell.
“Sometimes...” He sighed but had to smile. That was the Shishido he adored; all over the place. He brushed aside the issue of An, even though he could tell it was the truth, if a bit less innocent. “Does this really scare you, Ryou? Even though you’ve been around us for so long already, and no one has tried to hurt you?”
Shishido was glad the An issue had been dropped but that just left him with no distractions from the main issue. “I...” He started and then realised he didn’t know exactly how he felt. He was terrified when Gakuto first told him and he actually believed it but he’d had a bit of time since then and he wasn’t sure if he was more angry that Yuushi hadn’t told him or freaked out that Yuushi wasn’t human and potentially out to eat him. And how was he supposed to figure anything out when he potentially couldn’t trust his memories? “If you can do weird mind voodoo, how do I know that you haven’t done stuff and then just made me forget about it?” He asked in what he thought with a perfectly logical manner.
“It’s not mind voodoo, it’s telepathy,” the vampire corrected. “And it doesn’t work that way. All it allows me to do is hear your thoughts in my head. Nothing else. I usually keep it blocked as well as I can. It’s the only reason I haven’t gone mad by now...probably.
“Mind erasure is different, though. Many of us can do it, to varying degrees. My own ability is about fifty-fifty...so I don’t think I’ll be attempting it myself. I won’t lie...we could meddle with your memories if we wanted to. But here, Atobe would know and it would be punished. The only reason we ever do so is for everyone’s protection here. That’s the rule.”
“Can all of you hear my thoughts?” Shishido asked a little nervous about that and the thoughts he’s had about various night class students. “And are you saying my thoughts are making you crazy or that you’re probably crazy and going to snap any day and go on a crazy rampage?” Shishido didn’t like either option. He was also having a bit of an information overload and wasn’t sure if he wanted Yuushi to back away or hold him tighter. So uncool. He really needed to sort himself out and get some facts.
“Atobe’s a pureblood right? Gakuto said that. And that you’re a noble. And that level E’s eat people. What the hell does all that mean? Can you become a level E? And why does Atobe know everything? What’s stopping him from being evil and snacking on us? And you think you have to wipe my mind to protect you and your millions of cousins?” That last thought stung. Okay, it was hypocritical to be hurt that Yuushi didn’t trust him when he didn’t know if he could trust Yuushi but that didn’t make it be less lame. And it wasn’t like he knew all there was to know about vampires. Most of what he knew was from video games and movies and he was pretty sure most of that was totally wrong since Yuushi didn’t catch on fire in the sunlight or balk at his garlic breath that one time. He was sure that if he got the weird ranking system and understood all these crazy powers and so called vampire rules that he could be a lot more relaxed about it. Though secretly, he had to admit he was pleased that if Yuushi had to be a vampire then at least he was a noble one.
Yuushi took the barrage of questions with an ironic twist of his lips. Shishido didn’t know if he should be amazed or repulsed...would he understand that it was this kind of reaction that made it impossible for his kind to ‘come out’ to the rest of the school? Half the school would fear them and panic, which was dangerous. The other, in all likelihood, would come to them with requests to be turned or fed from. He was certain from the way they flocked to them now. It was way more dangerous than if they panicked.
One person wasn’t that dangerous. But a whole school of them? Besides...this was Gakuto’s fault, and he’d apparently told Shishido a lot without explaining it. “Which question should I answer first?” he asked.
Shishido let out another huff at that and was rethinking all his questions to pick out the most important one when he realised it didn’t actually matter. “Does it matter?” He asked, “No point in explaining things to me if you’re going to wipe my mind,” He shrugged and made to move out of Yuushi’s hold deciding that he needed some space. “But can I trust you? Like seriously, no bullshit, just straight up, can I trust you?” He didn’t know why it mattered to him so much. Yuushi, no matter how human he looked, was a vampire, technically some type of monster and possibly lacking in any and all morals if he was at a school to learn how to behave around humans and not eat them. But even if he was still freaking out about the whole vampire thing, some idiotic part of Shishido still saw Yuushi as Yuushi. A bastard who didn’t respect personal space, could get as sappy as hell if left to his own devices, not to mention sleep forever and was the best kisser Shishido had ever known. That had to count for something. Maybe.
Shishido may have moved back from his arms, but Yuushi caught his hands before he could pull away completely. He held them simply, not tight or hesitantly, just enough to keep in contact with the brown haired swimmer. Yuushi might have laughed off such a question before, or tossed back some glib, teasing comment had it been anyone else other than Shishido Ryou, or the question have nothing to do with his identity as a vampire.
Without a flicker of his usual amusement, he stared down into Shishido’s eyes unflinchingly. “You can trust me, Ryou. I swear it on my life,” he nodded solemnly.
Shishido stared into Yuushi’s eyes and after a moment decided that if nothing else he could trust Yuushi to not do anything too awful to him. Though the swearing on his life thing did bring up some questions. “Are you like really alive? I mean how does the whole vampire thing work? Do you age? Are you like 510 or something?” Making out with someone that old might actually freak him out more than the vampire thing. Though the thought of his family’s face when he introduced Yuushi as his 510 year old vampire boyfriend would be damn funny.
Shishido’s thoughts stuttered to a halt. Boyfriend?! He jerked back physically as well as mentally and ended up tripping on his own feet to fall on his butt. Where the hell did that come from?
“Would that be so very bad?” Yuushi asked him softly as he bent down to offer him a hand up. The age thing he wasn’t going to answer right away. He had a feeling Shishido would be uncomfortable with any age that was older than his own...even if Yuushi’s actual age wasn’t that much over. But Shishido accepting him as a boyfriend sounded more than appealing.
“I don’t think being your boyfriend would be a horrible thing in the least...”
Shishido unthinkingly took the offered hand in front of him and was almost on his feet when Yuushi spoke again. It was only Yuushi’s hand on his that kept him from tumbling again. “Yuushi! Don’t be lame. And would you get out of my head.” He was completely embarrassed that Yuushi had picked up that stray thought and then seen his physical reaction to it. And the fact that Yuushi thought that now was a good time and a place to talk about dating made him roll his eyes. “You’re supposed to be telling me about vampires.”
“Well, what else do you want to know? It’s not exactly an exciting topic for me. I already know all about my kind. I’d rather know if you’d go out with me even knowing what I am.” He kept his hold on Shishido to prevent him falling over again.
“I’d rather know more about vampires before making any hasty decisions,” Shishido countered. Partially because he did want to know more about vampires but also because it gave him a chance to put off answering Yuushi who was all but asking him out. “Like what do you eat? I’ve seen you eat food... I’ve even seen you during the day. Did the movies get anything right?”
“Blood, fangs, powers, turning humans into one of us,” Yuushi rattled off, more and more bored by the topic. At least Sadaharu had known the basic so that their conversations were more interesting. “That’s about it. Though that last part only applies to purebloods. Nobles and commons can’t turn anyone into more than a tasty snack.”
Shishido shuddered lightly as Yuushi listed off aspects of being a vampire and then mentioned that he’d be nothing but a tasty snack. “Geeze, so sorry I’m boring you with my freaking out and not knowing everything about you,” He said sarcastically with a light glare. “The whole vampire thing is still new to me remember? And I’m still trying really hard not to freak out here.”
“Wouldn’t you be just a wee bit bored too if you had to explain everything about humans to me?” Yuushi asked him with a wry smile. “Getting back to that. Our heirarchy starts with the purebloods. They’re not common at all. Very few, in fact. But more powerful than anything. Then come us, the aristocratic families. We typically have an extra, unique power, while the Commons don’t. Then, below the Commons, you have the Turned vampires. If the pureblood that creates them feeds them, they stay as one of us, though no better than a pet Common. If they’re abandoned...they eventually succumb to insanity and must be taken out.
“That, along with watching us, is why Gakuto and Sadaharu are here as well. As Hunters, they’re supposed to deal with these creatures too...our so-called Level E’s. There’s been an outbreak of them in town before. It’s another reason for the curfews. And why the Student Council patrol the school.”
“Wouldn’t if it was for you,” Shishido mumbled. He might not enjoy it but he would do his best to explain to Yuushi what he needed to know. Though at least Yuushi was finally explaining the whole pureblood level E thing to him. “But if purebloods are so rare, how can there be so many level Es? Wouldn’t they be more careful about randomly biting people?” He shivered at the thought of being bitten and then turned into not just a vampire but a crazy vampire that humans and vampires alike wanted to hunt and destroy.
“Some don’t care. To some, humans are just food.” All he could do was give Shishido a helpless shrug. “Unless its deliberate, but even in that case, there’s little we can do but stop the ones that succumb. We can’t fight a pureblood. But you don’t have to worry, Ryou. No one will ever bite you.”
Shishido gave a small nod as he digested this information. “Not even you?” He asked after a moment. Not that he was in anyway volunteering to be Yuushi’s snack. But It did seem like the natural progression in his mind. “And like you say you won’t hurt me but have you, you know, eaten other humans? Or killed any?” He thought he could handle the snacking on humans but he so did not feel comfortable adding murdering in front of 510 year old vampire boyfriend. And why was he thinking about that again?!
“I’ve fed from humans before. We don’t kill them.” At least, not in his family. It was considered wasteful, on top of which...well, that was something Ryou didn’t have to hear about. “I’ve sworn off, however. I haven’t had a drop of human blood in a very long time. Besides, all of us here are given these.” He flashed a couple of blood tablets from his pocket at him. “Synthetic blood. You’re perfectly safe from us.”
Shishido leaned towards Yuushi to get a better look at the pills. “They look gross,” He said. But definitely thought they were an improvement on going around snacking on humans. Even if it had to be tough on a vampire to do. “I guess the headmaster wouldn’t let us have overlapping curfews if you guys were really dangerous.” He was feeling more at ease around Yuushi but he still wasn’t sure what to think about vampires on a whole. Was he happier with the knowledge? He didn’t know but he wasn’t sure he wanted to forget everything again either.
“Correction. They are gross. Hopefully Sadaharu and I can change that.” He repocketed them. Shishido’s doubts were buzzing around his head, but he was still trying to not call attention to them. “Does any of this help, Ryou?”
Shishido gave a small chuckle at Yuushi’s confirmation that they were gross and didn’t move back from Yuushi’s personal space even after the pills were once again hidden in a pocket. “A little. Not as freaked out that you’re going to go all Dracula on me anyway. Guess that was a little uncool of me, huh?” He asked trying to shrug it off. “You still gonna memory wipe me?”
“I’d rather not,” the telepath admitted. “I’m very relieved knowing that you like me despite knowing all this. But it’s not an easy secret to keep, Ryou. Tachibana wasn’t even allowed to remember, when she quit the Student Council. Inevitably, the decision isn’t mine. It’s up to the headmaster and Atobe.”
“An knew?” Shishido asked in surprise and then frowned. “Why do we have to tell them? If we all just keep our mouths shut then they won’t find out, right?”
“She doesn’t know now,” Yuushi stressed. He could just envision Ryou wanting to compare notes with her. “And it’s not exactly something we can keep quiet for long. Atobe would find out soon enough.”
“Yeah I got that. Human doesn’t equal idiot you know,” Shishido pointed out. “And how would Atobe find out? It’s not like we hang out.” He didn’t get why Yuushi would rather just go straight to Atobe then even try to keep things a secret.
“I know you’re not an idiot. And I hang around Atobe. I won’t lie to him.” Yuushi ran a hand through his hair, knowing they were going to go around and around on this. “I’ll do my best to convince everyone otherwise, but I don’t think it’ll do much, Ryou.”
“Not talking about something isn’t lying about it,” Shishido pointed out with a huff. He didn’t like the thought of people messing around in his mind or forgetting about how dangerous the night class could really be. He also felt it would be really not cool to forget that he vaguely thought of Yuushi as his boyfriend in passing and that Yuushi knew about it. Or that Yuushi knew that he knew at all and then had to forget about it. It had to suck remembering when someone forgot almost as much as it sucked forgetting.
Shishido gave Yuushi’s hand a squeeze and then looked up at his eyes through his glasses. Which instantly made him wonder why vampires needed glasses. But before he could get too sidetracked by that thought he brought his mind back to the memory wipe topic. “If you can’t save my memories, then I want you to forget about this too,” He said boldly.
“You mean...have my memory of this altered too?” Yuushi asked as he slipped his glasses off. It seemed like a strange request. “Is this because you don’t want me remembering how you reacted?” he smiled.
Shishido tilted his head as Yuushi took off his glasses and wondered if Yuushi was still picking up his apparently loud thoughts. “It’s called keeping things on an even playing field. If I get my memories wipes you should too. I mean it’d be lame if you were thinking about something that happened now and I didn’t know about it so couldn’t act in the right way and stuff. Or maybe you wanted to bring something about now but couldn’t because I didn’t remember and it slowly drove you insane until you went on a crazy killing spree!” Shishido seriously wanted to avoid giving Yuushi any reason to go on a crazy killing spree. Especially since Yuushi was not only a vampire but also pretty kick ass at fencing.
“I’m sure I could repress the urge,” Yuushi said dryly, thinking it over. Personally, he wanted to keep this memory. Purely for the fact that now he knew Shishido would accept their kind if the time ever came to reveal themselves. “I don’t know, Ryou. I’d like to remember you like this.“
“You want to remember me freaking out about a million different things? Are you some sort of sadist?” Shishido asked not sure why Yuushi would want to make this version of him some weird cherished memory. If it would mean not having to revisit parts of this conversation anytime soon he was beginning to feel that they should both willingly get wiped.
"Given the subject, I think it would make me more of a masochist..." Yuushi's forehead dropped against Shishido's gently. "But I would like to remember that you accepted me. What I am...what we are. I would like to remember that very much."
Shishido huffed, "I don't think now's the time to be picking at word choice Yuushi," Shishido complained. He raised a hand to cup the back of Yuushi's neck and played with the soft strands of hair covering it. "And I think you're giving me more credit than I deserve." He was willing to do his best and accept that Yuushi was a blood sucking non-dead creature of the night but he wasn't sure he was really ready to accept vampires as a whole.
"Or you're not giving yourself enough credit. But...if its what you really want. I have a hard time saying no to you," Yuushi admitted.
Shishido rolled his eyes at that. "Way to make me feel guilty about it. Geeze," He complained. " I just think it's better if we're on an even playing field that's all. " He was getting tired of trying to explain why he wanted both of them to get it done. Maybe it was really just because it'd be less scary if he could see it be done on Yuushi first. But that would be way too lame to admit.
Though since he just thought about it, Yuushi probably knew already. Ugh, dating a mind reader was so uncool... wait, dating?! And suddenly he no longer felt guilty about them both forgetting the last few hours. "So, how does this mind wipe thing work?" He asked hoping to change the subject and that Yuushi wouldn't comment on how red his face most likely was due to his wayward thoughts.
Smiling at Shishido's thoughts, Yuushi pressed closer to him. "Keigo will isolate all your thoughts since Gakuto spoke with you and erase them. That's how it works. It doesn't hurt..you might wonder why you have a blank spot in your memory later, but you'll never recall what it is."
"And Keigo's good at this?" Shishido asked thinking that it sounded too easy and that anything to do with messing around in someone's head had to be more complicated than that. "And I'm sort of stubborn. What if this blank spot drives me batty or something?" He didn't see himself just brushing off a huge gaping blank spot in his memory, at least not so recent a memory.
"That's rare, in my experience. People tend to ignore it after awhile. Keigo is the best of us, honestly. You'll be in good hands, Ryou."
"And will you ignore a blank spot in your memory?" Shishido asked deciding it was probably best not continue questioning Keigo's ability.
"Unlike you, I'll know my memory has been tampered with, most likely. I'll probably choose to ignore it. If Keigo does it I'll know it was done willingly on my part."
Shishido gave a reluctant nod, that made sense. "Okay. So... I guess we should do this soon?" He leaned back from Yuushi to look around but again didn't see anyone, not that he really expected Keigo to appear out of nowhere just because they needed him.
"Can we still date when its over?" Yuushi smiled down at him, a touch teasingly.
"What?!" Shishido squeaked as he jerked in surprise nearly bashing his head off of Yuushi's. Well at least it confirmed that Yuushi had heard his thoughts. So uncool. "Don't be lame. We're not dating now," He pointed out in what he hoped was a logical manner. Obviously if they weren't dating now they couldn't still do it after.
"I'll rephrase," the vampire chuckled, unable to resist. "Can we still make out?"
"Oh," Shishido said calming down, "Well that's okay. Why wouldn't I still want to make out?" Yuushi was an awesome kisser and apparently, come tomorrow morning he wouldn't even remember that Yuushi was a vampire so he'd see no reason not to keep making out with him.
Close enough, Yuushi thought, and nodded. "Then I'm satisfied. You're sure about this, Ryou?"
"No, not really," He admitted after a moments thought. "But I don't want anyone to get in trouble because of me knowing." He'd feel really bad if Gakuto was punished because people found out he knew or if somehoe him knowing got Yuushi hurt. "Atobe won't get Gakuto in trouble, will he?" Getting his memory wiped would be for nothing if Gakuto still got punished for telling him.
"Since you're willing to have your memory erased, I don't think Keigo will be too put out. However, Gakuto is a Hunter, and he doesn't answer to us. If he'll be punished, it will be from his own kind. It won't be your fault, Ryou. He's the one that chose to tell you when he knew that he shouldn't."
“Willing enough,” Shishido agreed though he was still a bit freaked out by the process of memory erasing. But Yuushi agreeing to do it too helped take some of the edge off that fear. But if losing his memory wouldn’t protect his friends what would be the point? “But if Keigo doesn’t say anything and we don’t remember how would they know about it?” Shishido asked really not liking the thought of Gakuto being in trouble. And just the term ‘Hunters’ sounded scary. Even if Sadaharu and Gakuto were awesome he didn’t see the Hunters as a super friendly bunch. He vaguely wondered what the vampires on campus thought about hunters living with them.
"It depends on Gakuto. And if they're watching him," Yuushi shrugged. He didn't know all that much about the rules of the Hunter society, nor did he care. But it didn't mean he hadn't picked up bits and pieces, having delved into Gakuto, Sadaharu and even Akutsu's minds. "There isn't anything we can do concerning the Hunter Society. If Gakuto wants to hide it from them, they won't find out from us." At least, he didn't think so.
“Guess we just have to hope they haven’t been watching the last few hours. But wouldn’t your spidey senses tell you if someone was nearby watching?” That’s how it worked in the movies anyway, right?
"My....what?" He wasn't familiar with that phrase. "They don't have to be here, I'm sure, to watch everything..."
“Don’t be lame. You can’t watch something without being somewhere. Unless they have the place bugged.” The thought of video cameras and microphones on them almost made him pull back but if they were around, they would have already seen everything. So deciding to be stubborn and defiant he shifted closer into the vampire’s hold. The Hunter society was sounding more uncool by the second.
"Not to worry." Yuushi held him close, running fingertips over Shishido's hair. "Despite everything, you're safe here Ryou. I'm sorry if I'm making you more paranoid. I'm just theorizing out loud."
“It’s fine. And you shouldn’t hold what I think against me. I think like a million things a minute, doesn’t mean it’s what I’m really feeling or whatever,” Shishido said assuming that Yuushi had picked up on his errant thoughts. He was going to say his thoughts didn’t mean what he was really thinking but the idea of trying to explain his thoughts against his true thoughts was enough to give himself a headache and totally overrated.
“So... I guess if we’re ready we should find Keigo...” He paused and looked back at the way they came from and where Akutsu was. “Actually, maybe you should get him and meet me somewhere... Hey, I’m not gonna get in trouble for breaking curfew am I? You can’t punish someone when they don’t remember they broke a rule, right?”
"I think they'll be lenient with you, considering the circumstances." Yuushi was reluctant to let him go, but they were wasting time, he supposed. He wouldn't put it past Akutsu to come stomping out to find them. And he wasn't quite in the mood for the surly turned vampire. "Stay here...I'll find Keigo." Before he let him go, he kissed him, the last time he'd be able to kiss Shishido Ryou without hiding what he was for awhile. So he had to make it count.
“Here?” Shishido was in the middle of questioning when suddenly Yuushi’s lips were on him. He quickly found himself clinging to Yuushi in a completely different was from before as their tongues caressed sensitive areas. It was weird knowing that it was fangs his tongue would occasionally glide over. He was careful not to poke at them as often as usual, but beyond that, their kissing was as breathtaking as usual. He was more than a little reluctant to let it end, and not just because it was bringing some well needed heat pumping into his body. Once they finished, Yuushi would leave to go find Keigo and they’d both have to forget about everything they’d talked about tonight.
When Yuushi let him go, it was with a great reluctance, holding onto Shishido's hands against his chest. "I wish we didn't have to forget," he murmured. "....Stay here. I'll be right back." Pulling away, he stepped back towards the building to find Atobe.
“Here?” Shishido asked again before Yuushi could dash off. He totally agreed about it being lame that they had to forget but being asked to stay outside, in the cold, on his own was even stupider. “In case you haven’t realised you idiot, it’s cold!” Clearly vampires were all stupid and forgot that temperature mattered to humans. “Let’s meet somewhere instead.” Preferably somewhere indoors and well heated.
"You won't last a couple of minutes?" Yuushi tossed him back a little smirk. "In that case find a warm place Ryou. I'll find you."
“No,” Shishido answered bluntly. Now that he wasn’t moving about or being held by Yuushi, he was really feeling the cold and he wasn’t liking it one bit. “And you’ll find me? Ha, I knew it! You do have Vampire type spidey sense.”
The vampire smiled and tapped his temple, the answer obvious. "I'll find you. All I have to do is follow your thoughts..."
Shishido frowned and thought that he should be insulted by Yuushi once again implying that he had loud and easy to spot thoughts but decided it wasn’t worth arguing over. “Fine. You cheater. But just so you know, spidey sense sounds cooler.” Not that his advice would do Yuushi any good in another hour when they’d both forgotten but he couldn’t resist correcting him anyway.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Shishido wants Yuushi to confirm that he is or isn't a vampire.
Shishido poked his head around the corner looking for any movement of student council members or staff, not seeing anyone, he slipped into the hallway and headed towards the rooms with their lights still on. He needed to talk to Yuushi and find out if he was really a vampire. And he still wasn’t sure how he felt about that or if he believed it was possible. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to reach any sort of conclusion until he spoke to Yuushi about it. And no, he wasn’t going to think about why talking to Yuushi about this was so important to him. He had bigger things to worry about. Like if Yuushi was a blood sucking demon of the night and planning to suck him dry.
Even if talking to Yuushi meant really stretching a promise he made to Gakuto about not telling people he knew he had to do it. He would just have to get Yuushi to promise never to mention it and then it wouldn’t be an issue. And it’s not like he was breaking the promise. He wasn’t emailing Yuushi about it or broadcasting it to the world.
In fact, he couldn’t email Yuushi or call him since Gakuto still had his phone. And that’s why he was forced to break curfew to seek Yuushi out instead of asking him to meet somewhere. He just hoped that walking into middle of all the Eclipse Academy’s possible vampires wasn’t as stupid an idea as he was starting to think it was.
He just needed to keep his cool and find Yuushi. If he was to believe Gakuto than nobody here was going to eat him anyway. Not that he was sure he believed anything Gakuto had said in the past few hours but he was desperately clinging to that truth as he neared the classes. He stopped at one of the classrooms and peeked through the window on the door to see if he could spot Yuushi but there was nobody who even resembled him in there. He slipped on to the next classroom before he was noticed.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” Akutsu’s voice snarled behind him. The white haired Guardian was clearly pissed, having had to haul himself out of his seat and excuse himself when half of his class had twitched, swearing they felt a human nearby. Finding out it was true only soured his mood all the more.
“Get your idiot ass back to your dorm,” he growled, going to grab Shishido and haul him back personally. Yuushi beat him to it, however, yanking the brunette away from him. “I’ll handle this,” he told Akutsu calmly, pulling Shishido back against his chest. Perhaps it had been that his thoughts were lingering on his friend, for him to have heard him so clearly outside the door. However, any second lingering here was potentially putting Shishido in danger.
Akutsu growled again, glaring at him. “Not your job, Asshole,” he shot at him with his usual nickname for him and Kenya both. Not that it phased Yuushi in the least. He arched a brow at the turned vampire, giving him a cold, condescending look. “He’s my responsibility. You may be on the Student Council, Jin, but don’t think I’ll bother listening to someone like you. Even if you’re sleeping with my cousin.” That last point was thrown at Akutsu with a knowing smirk, enjoying how the other actually flinched. Did he really think no one else knew he was screwing Taichi and that Hirakoba person? While the other vampire was reeling, he took the opportunity to spirit Shishido away quickly, until they were outside and out of sight.
“Now,” he said once they were alone. “What prompted such an upstanding young man as yourself to break such a big rule, Ryou-kun?”
Shishido thought his heart was going to beat right out of his chest when Akutsu had discovered him. Akutsu was a night class student so according to Gakuto that meant he was a vampire too. And definitely not the friendly type in Shishido’s mind. He had never been so happy to see Yuushi even if he had to be in the middle of a fairly weird conversation about Akutsu’s sex life.
But now that he was away from Akutsu and the other night class students the cool air quickly brought him back to reality. The person he was so happy to see could very well be a vampire. “I had to talk to you and it couldn’t wait,” Shishido answered and then looked around just to make sure that they were really alone. “Are you a vampire?” He asked not wanting to stall or ease his way into the question. He really hoped the answer was no, even if that meant that Gakuto had gone around the bend.
“...Gakuto.” Yuushi breathed the redhead’s name with a disappointed lilt to his voice. Having heard it from Shishido’s own mind, he didn’t need to ask who had told him. This wasn’t good at all. He never thought he would have to suppress Shishido’s memories. Or have someone else do it, because he wasn’t always good at wiping minds. Something about it clashing with his telepathy, he thought.
“Just because we take class at night is no reason to listen to rumors, Ryou.”
“It wasn’t the stupid rumours, Yuushi. And that’s not an answer. Yes or no?” Shishido wasn’t sure what to make of Yuushi’s joking. Was he joking because he wasn’t a vampire and found it amusing or was he joking because he was and didn’t want to admit it?
He had to say that Gakuto had some fairly damning information and had never appeared crazy before. But still, he needed to hear it from Yuushi’s mouth, one way or the other before he completely believed it. Once he knew, then he could worry about his next step, actually, he found his eyes flicking to the sides before moving back to Yuushi’s face, this time he wasn’t looking for people but for quick getaways. Gakuto had been so convinced that Yuushi would be completely pissed off if he found out that he knew about vampires. And well, if Yuushi was a vampire and was pissed off, Shishido didn’t plan on sticking around for it. Not without one of Gakuto’s awesome guns anyway.
“I’m not pissed off,” Yuushi sighed, missing the fact that Shishido’s lips hadn’t been moving. He rubbed at his eyes a moment; he was pissed, but not at Shishido. He was pissed at a certain hunter who was going to pay for this...
“And would you stop looking so paranoid? No one is going to jump out of the bushes at you.”
Shishido stared up at Yuushi with large eyes. “I didn’t say that,” Shishido said. “I thought it, but I didn’t say it.” He had teased Inui about reading his mind and doing Vulcan mind tricks but he didn’t think it was really possible to read his mind. But if Yuushi was answering things he knew he hadn’t said than he had to be reading his mind, right? And he still hadn’t answered the damned vampire question even if he wasn’t denying it.
“And you still aren’t answering my question, damn it.” Shishido gave Yuushi’s shoulder an annoyed push and then instantly regretted his burst of anger. Maybe he shouldn’t piss off the potential vampire who might still get annoyed and eat him.
Damn. He really had to watch himself. He was too used to Shishido not catching his slips. “I don’t see why I should answer it. Have I given you some reason to not trust me? You’re acting like you’re afraid of me, Ryou.”
“Maybe it’s because you don’t trust me enough to answer my question,” Shishido shot back. It didn’t really make sense, but the longer Yuushi put off answering one way or the other, the more nervous Shishido was feeling. He didn’t want to play games right now.
“Ryou....” He was torn. The right thing to do was to deny the whole thing and reassure Shishido that his kind didn’t exist. But his feelings for the human had changed to the point that he no longer wanted to lie to him. If there was a chance that Shishido would accept him regardless, he didn’t want to screw it up by lying to him right off the bat.
He was all kinds of stupid. He knew that. Instead of patting the brunette’s head and making him feel better, he pulled Shishido into his arms and kissed him soundly. When he let him back off, he murmured his hopeful answer against his lips.
“...Yes. I am.”
So used to being held by Yuushi and kissed, that Shishido relaxed into the hold, at least until Yuushi spoke. Then he froze, his muscles tensing in a fight or flight reflex. He had, if he was being honest to himself, known before he came to find Yuushi what he would hear, but that little piece of denial had kept him going and now it was gone and he knew without a doubt that he’d been hanging out and making out with vampires and he wasn’t sure at all how he was supposed to react. “You were supposed to say no,” He eventually said.
“I’m sorry,” the vampire told him sincerely, arms still wrapped tightly around his waist. “I don’t want to lie to you, Ryou.” He sighed. No matter how this ended up, it was a futile endeavor anyway. The ‘authority’ would take care of that. “You won’t remember this anyway.”
Shishido had a million things he wanted to say to that apology but couldn’t think past the fact that Yuushi said he wouldn’t remember this. That was the line people used in movies right before they killed people, he was sure of it. And just because he’d spent tons of mornings in a private space with just Yuushi or Yuushi and Kenya with nothing happening didn’t mean things wouldn’t change now that he knew. “Are you going to kill me to keep me quiet?” He asked fear and shock in his voice. If he was going to die he was so coming back to haunt Gakuto who got him into this mess in the first place.
“Never. And I’d rather you haunted me. He doesn’t deserve your ghost; its too good for him.” No sense in hiding everything now. And yes...he was still rather irritated with the loudmouthed hunter. The headmaster, not to mention Atobe, was going to want to know how Shishido had came by this knowledge. Gakuto was surely going to be penalized, and right now, faced with Shishido’s fear, he had no sympathy for him.
He held onto the brunette tighter, afraid he would bolt otherwise. “No one is going to hurt you, I swear it. But...its not a good idea to let you keep this knowledge. If I can’t do it myself, Atobe or one of the others is going to have to erase it from your memory.”
“You’re doing it again,” Shishido said as he squirmed in Yuushi’s hold. He wasn’t completely sure he believed Yuushi saying he’d never hurt him in the same breath he was telling him he still had to forget things. It was way too shady and the mind reading wasn’t helping. “You’re answering things I haven’t said.” Had Yuushi always done that and he’d just never noticed before? He must have looked so stupid in front of them. And now Yuushi wanted him to go back to that. No, not wanted. Was saying he had to and that he had no choice. “And why do I have to forget anyway? Is this some big joke to you? Do you sit around with Kenya going all ‘Oh hahaha Poor dumb Ryou doesn’t know we’re vampires, let’s play with the little mortal, he’s such a fun toy to tease’?”
“Ryou just calm down and I’ll explain.” He managed not to flinch at that last part. Parts of that had been true, at least on his part. But Shishido wouldn’t appreciate hearing that it had been more endearing to Kenya and him that he never suspected, that Yuushi at least no longer thought of him as a toy.
“It’s not a joke. I’d rather you knew the truth, but its the rules, and I can’t go against them. It’s too dangerous for you to know right now. We’re here to learn how to live with humans, not hurt them. And...I’m answering what you think because I can hear some of it. You tend to think rather loudly.”
Shishido huffed in irritation but stopped struggling against Yuushi’s arms, though he was still tense. “Since when do you care about rules?” Shishido questioned, annoyed at having even more rules in his life and saying that after everything he went through tonight that he’d have to forget it all. And he still wasn’t sure how that was going to work but he guessed that if vampires could read minds than fiddling about with them wasn’t that big a deal...
If it wasn’t that big a deal had Yuushi ever fiddled with his mind before? He ran through his memory trying to think of things he was missing but knew it was a futile move. And because he just thought all of that, did Yuushi know that he was now thinking about other times his memory was altered and what could have happened when they were all alone. Well that sucked. “Do you always read my thoughts? And don’t go putting the blame on me and my loud thoughts. That’s just lame.”
He was trying to be patient, he really was. But Shishido’s thoughts were getting more and more paranoid, and it was irritating. “Believe me, I try not to hear them. Sometimes its fun, but on the whole you end up knowing things you don’t want to know.
“Like how Tachibana has slept in the same bed with you.”
Anger, shock and embarrassment swept through him immediately at Yuushi’s comment. Shishido didn’t even know he was capable of feeling so many things at once until just then. It was almost enough to take his mind off of vampires and mind wipes. But despite Yuushi being a vampire and possibly working his way up to eating him or whatever, he still felt the urge to correct him on what he was probably assuming. “It was just sleeping! And it just started because it’s warm and it’s comfy.” And he wondered why he even felt the need to defend himself, it’s not as if he believed that Yuushi was always alone in bed in the Dusk dorms. Especially when Kenya was around. “And I bet you learn a lot of useful things you’re happy to hear too.” Like the one time that Shishido couldn’t stop thinking about how good Yuushi’s butt looked in those jeans he wore into town. Vampire or not, those were hot as hell.
“Sometimes...” He sighed but had to smile. That was the Shishido he adored; all over the place. He brushed aside the issue of An, even though he could tell it was the truth, if a bit less innocent. “Does this really scare you, Ryou? Even though you’ve been around us for so long already, and no one has tried to hurt you?”
Shishido was glad the An issue had been dropped but that just left him with no distractions from the main issue. “I...” He started and then realised he didn’t know exactly how he felt. He was terrified when Gakuto first told him and he actually believed it but he’d had a bit of time since then and he wasn’t sure if he was more angry that Yuushi hadn’t told him or freaked out that Yuushi wasn’t human and potentially out to eat him. And how was he supposed to figure anything out when he potentially couldn’t trust his memories? “If you can do weird mind voodoo, how do I know that you haven’t done stuff and then just made me forget about it?” He asked in what he thought with a perfectly logical manner.
“It’s not mind voodoo, it’s telepathy,” the vampire corrected. “And it doesn’t work that way. All it allows me to do is hear your thoughts in my head. Nothing else. I usually keep it blocked as well as I can. It’s the only reason I haven’t gone mad by now...probably.
“Mind erasure is different, though. Many of us can do it, to varying degrees. My own ability is about fifty-fifty...so I don’t think I’ll be attempting it myself. I won’t lie...we could meddle with your memories if we wanted to. But here, Atobe would know and it would be punished. The only reason we ever do so is for everyone’s protection here. That’s the rule.”
“Can all of you hear my thoughts?” Shishido asked a little nervous about that and the thoughts he’s had about various night class students. “And are you saying my thoughts are making you crazy or that you’re probably crazy and going to snap any day and go on a crazy rampage?” Shishido didn’t like either option. He was also having a bit of an information overload and wasn’t sure if he wanted Yuushi to back away or hold him tighter. So uncool. He really needed to sort himself out and get some facts.
“Atobe’s a pureblood right? Gakuto said that. And that you’re a noble. And that level E’s eat people. What the hell does all that mean? Can you become a level E? And why does Atobe know everything? What’s stopping him from being evil and snacking on us? And you think you have to wipe my mind to protect you and your millions of cousins?” That last thought stung. Okay, it was hypocritical to be hurt that Yuushi didn’t trust him when he didn’t know if he could trust Yuushi but that didn’t make it be less lame. And it wasn’t like he knew all there was to know about vampires. Most of what he knew was from video games and movies and he was pretty sure most of that was totally wrong since Yuushi didn’t catch on fire in the sunlight or balk at his garlic breath that one time. He was sure that if he got the weird ranking system and understood all these crazy powers and so called vampire rules that he could be a lot more relaxed about it. Though secretly, he had to admit he was pleased that if Yuushi had to be a vampire then at least he was a noble one.
Yuushi took the barrage of questions with an ironic twist of his lips. Shishido didn’t know if he should be amazed or repulsed...would he understand that it was this kind of reaction that made it impossible for his kind to ‘come out’ to the rest of the school? Half the school would fear them and panic, which was dangerous. The other, in all likelihood, would come to them with requests to be turned or fed from. He was certain from the way they flocked to them now. It was way more dangerous than if they panicked.
One person wasn’t that dangerous. But a whole school of them? Besides...this was Gakuto’s fault, and he’d apparently told Shishido a lot without explaining it. “Which question should I answer first?” he asked.
Shishido let out another huff at that and was rethinking all his questions to pick out the most important one when he realised it didn’t actually matter. “Does it matter?” He asked, “No point in explaining things to me if you’re going to wipe my mind,” He shrugged and made to move out of Yuushi’s hold deciding that he needed some space. “But can I trust you? Like seriously, no bullshit, just straight up, can I trust you?” He didn’t know why it mattered to him so much. Yuushi, no matter how human he looked, was a vampire, technically some type of monster and possibly lacking in any and all morals if he was at a school to learn how to behave around humans and not eat them. But even if he was still freaking out about the whole vampire thing, some idiotic part of Shishido still saw Yuushi as Yuushi. A bastard who didn’t respect personal space, could get as sappy as hell if left to his own devices, not to mention sleep forever and was the best kisser Shishido had ever known. That had to count for something. Maybe.
Shishido may have moved back from his arms, but Yuushi caught his hands before he could pull away completely. He held them simply, not tight or hesitantly, just enough to keep in contact with the brown haired swimmer. Yuushi might have laughed off such a question before, or tossed back some glib, teasing comment had it been anyone else other than Shishido Ryou, or the question have nothing to do with his identity as a vampire.
Without a flicker of his usual amusement, he stared down into Shishido’s eyes unflinchingly. “You can trust me, Ryou. I swear it on my life,” he nodded solemnly.
Shishido stared into Yuushi’s eyes and after a moment decided that if nothing else he could trust Yuushi to not do anything too awful to him. Though the swearing on his life thing did bring up some questions. “Are you like really alive? I mean how does the whole vampire thing work? Do you age? Are you like 510 or something?” Making out with someone that old might actually freak him out more than the vampire thing. Though the thought of his family’s face when he introduced Yuushi as his 510 year old vampire boyfriend would be damn funny.
Shishido’s thoughts stuttered to a halt. Boyfriend?! He jerked back physically as well as mentally and ended up tripping on his own feet to fall on his butt. Where the hell did that come from?
“Would that be so very bad?” Yuushi asked him softly as he bent down to offer him a hand up. The age thing he wasn’t going to answer right away. He had a feeling Shishido would be uncomfortable with any age that was older than his own...even if Yuushi’s actual age wasn’t that much over. But Shishido accepting him as a boyfriend sounded more than appealing.
“I don’t think being your boyfriend would be a horrible thing in the least...”
Shishido unthinkingly took the offered hand in front of him and was almost on his feet when Yuushi spoke again. It was only Yuushi’s hand on his that kept him from tumbling again. “Yuushi! Don’t be lame. And would you get out of my head.” He was completely embarrassed that Yuushi had picked up that stray thought and then seen his physical reaction to it. And the fact that Yuushi thought that now was a good time and a place to talk about dating made him roll his eyes. “You’re supposed to be telling me about vampires.”
“Well, what else do you want to know? It’s not exactly an exciting topic for me. I already know all about my kind. I’d rather know if you’d go out with me even knowing what I am.” He kept his hold on Shishido to prevent him falling over again.
“I’d rather know more about vampires before making any hasty decisions,” Shishido countered. Partially because he did want to know more about vampires but also because it gave him a chance to put off answering Yuushi who was all but asking him out. “Like what do you eat? I’ve seen you eat food... I’ve even seen you during the day. Did the movies get anything right?”
“Blood, fangs, powers, turning humans into one of us,” Yuushi rattled off, more and more bored by the topic. At least Sadaharu had known the basic so that their conversations were more interesting. “That’s about it. Though that last part only applies to purebloods. Nobles and commons can’t turn anyone into more than a tasty snack.”
Shishido shuddered lightly as Yuushi listed off aspects of being a vampire and then mentioned that he’d be nothing but a tasty snack. “Geeze, so sorry I’m boring you with my freaking out and not knowing everything about you,” He said sarcastically with a light glare. “The whole vampire thing is still new to me remember? And I’m still trying really hard not to freak out here.”
“Wouldn’t you be just a wee bit bored too if you had to explain everything about humans to me?” Yuushi asked him with a wry smile. “Getting back to that. Our heirarchy starts with the purebloods. They’re not common at all. Very few, in fact. But more powerful than anything. Then come us, the aristocratic families. We typically have an extra, unique power, while the Commons don’t. Then, below the Commons, you have the Turned vampires. If the pureblood that creates them feeds them, they stay as one of us, though no better than a pet Common. If they’re abandoned...they eventually succumb to insanity and must be taken out.
“That, along with watching us, is why Gakuto and Sadaharu are here as well. As Hunters, they’re supposed to deal with these creatures too...our so-called Level E’s. There’s been an outbreak of them in town before. It’s another reason for the curfews. And why the Student Council patrol the school.”
“Wouldn’t if it was for you,” Shishido mumbled. He might not enjoy it but he would do his best to explain to Yuushi what he needed to know. Though at least Yuushi was finally explaining the whole pureblood level E thing to him. “But if purebloods are so rare, how can there be so many level Es? Wouldn’t they be more careful about randomly biting people?” He shivered at the thought of being bitten and then turned into not just a vampire but a crazy vampire that humans and vampires alike wanted to hunt and destroy.
“Some don’t care. To some, humans are just food.” All he could do was give Shishido a helpless shrug. “Unless its deliberate, but even in that case, there’s little we can do but stop the ones that succumb. We can’t fight a pureblood. But you don’t have to worry, Ryou. No one will ever bite you.”
Shishido gave a small nod as he digested this information. “Not even you?” He asked after a moment. Not that he was in anyway volunteering to be Yuushi’s snack. But It did seem like the natural progression in his mind. “And like you say you won’t hurt me but have you, you know, eaten other humans? Or killed any?” He thought he could handle the snacking on humans but he so did not feel comfortable adding murdering in front of 510 year old vampire boyfriend. And why was he thinking about that again?!
“I’ve fed from humans before. We don’t kill them.” At least, not in his family. It was considered wasteful, on top of which...well, that was something Ryou didn’t have to hear about. “I’ve sworn off, however. I haven’t had a drop of human blood in a very long time. Besides, all of us here are given these.” He flashed a couple of blood tablets from his pocket at him. “Synthetic blood. You’re perfectly safe from us.”
Shishido leaned towards Yuushi to get a better look at the pills. “They look gross,” He said. But definitely thought they were an improvement on going around snacking on humans. Even if it had to be tough on a vampire to do. “I guess the headmaster wouldn’t let us have overlapping curfews if you guys were really dangerous.” He was feeling more at ease around Yuushi but he still wasn’t sure what to think about vampires on a whole. Was he happier with the knowledge? He didn’t know but he wasn’t sure he wanted to forget everything again either.
“Correction. They are gross. Hopefully Sadaharu and I can change that.” He repocketed them. Shishido’s doubts were buzzing around his head, but he was still trying to not call attention to them. “Does any of this help, Ryou?”
Shishido gave a small chuckle at Yuushi’s confirmation that they were gross and didn’t move back from Yuushi’s personal space even after the pills were once again hidden in a pocket. “A little. Not as freaked out that you’re going to go all Dracula on me anyway. Guess that was a little uncool of me, huh?” He asked trying to shrug it off. “You still gonna memory wipe me?”
“I’d rather not,” the telepath admitted. “I’m very relieved knowing that you like me despite knowing all this. But it’s not an easy secret to keep, Ryou. Tachibana wasn’t even allowed to remember, when she quit the Student Council. Inevitably, the decision isn’t mine. It’s up to the headmaster and Atobe.”
“An knew?” Shishido asked in surprise and then frowned. “Why do we have to tell them? If we all just keep our mouths shut then they won’t find out, right?”
“She doesn’t know now,” Yuushi stressed. He could just envision Ryou wanting to compare notes with her. “And it’s not exactly something we can keep quiet for long. Atobe would find out soon enough.”
“Yeah I got that. Human doesn’t equal idiot you know,” Shishido pointed out. “And how would Atobe find out? It’s not like we hang out.” He didn’t get why Yuushi would rather just go straight to Atobe then even try to keep things a secret.
“I know you’re not an idiot. And I hang around Atobe. I won’t lie to him.” Yuushi ran a hand through his hair, knowing they were going to go around and around on this. “I’ll do my best to convince everyone otherwise, but I don’t think it’ll do much, Ryou.”
“Not talking about something isn’t lying about it,” Shishido pointed out with a huff. He didn’t like the thought of people messing around in his mind or forgetting about how dangerous the night class could really be. He also felt it would be really not cool to forget that he vaguely thought of Yuushi as his boyfriend in passing and that Yuushi knew about it. Or that Yuushi knew that he knew at all and then had to forget about it. It had to suck remembering when someone forgot almost as much as it sucked forgetting.
Shishido gave Yuushi’s hand a squeeze and then looked up at his eyes through his glasses. Which instantly made him wonder why vampires needed glasses. But before he could get too sidetracked by that thought he brought his mind back to the memory wipe topic. “If you can’t save my memories, then I want you to forget about this too,” He said boldly.
“You mean...have my memory of this altered too?” Yuushi asked as he slipped his glasses off. It seemed like a strange request. “Is this because you don’t want me remembering how you reacted?” he smiled.
Shishido tilted his head as Yuushi took off his glasses and wondered if Yuushi was still picking up his apparently loud thoughts. “It’s called keeping things on an even playing field. If I get my memories wipes you should too. I mean it’d be lame if you were thinking about something that happened now and I didn’t know about it so couldn’t act in the right way and stuff. Or maybe you wanted to bring something about now but couldn’t because I didn’t remember and it slowly drove you insane until you went on a crazy killing spree!” Shishido seriously wanted to avoid giving Yuushi any reason to go on a crazy killing spree. Especially since Yuushi was not only a vampire but also pretty kick ass at fencing.
“I’m sure I could repress the urge,” Yuushi said dryly, thinking it over. Personally, he wanted to keep this memory. Purely for the fact that now he knew Shishido would accept their kind if the time ever came to reveal themselves. “I don’t know, Ryou. I’d like to remember you like this.“
“You want to remember me freaking out about a million different things? Are you some sort of sadist?” Shishido asked not sure why Yuushi would want to make this version of him some weird cherished memory. If it would mean not having to revisit parts of this conversation anytime soon he was beginning to feel that they should both willingly get wiped.
"Given the subject, I think it would make me more of a masochist..." Yuushi's forehead dropped against Shishido's gently. "But I would like to remember that you accepted me. What I am...what we are. I would like to remember that very much."
Shishido huffed, "I don't think now's the time to be picking at word choice Yuushi," Shishido complained. He raised a hand to cup the back of Yuushi's neck and played with the soft strands of hair covering it. "And I think you're giving me more credit than I deserve." He was willing to do his best and accept that Yuushi was a blood sucking non-dead creature of the night but he wasn't sure he was really ready to accept vampires as a whole.
"Or you're not giving yourself enough credit. But...if its what you really want. I have a hard time saying no to you," Yuushi admitted.
Shishido rolled his eyes at that. "Way to make me feel guilty about it. Geeze," He complained. " I just think it's better if we're on an even playing field that's all. " He was getting tired of trying to explain why he wanted both of them to get it done. Maybe it was really just because it'd be less scary if he could see it be done on Yuushi first. But that would be way too lame to admit.
Though since he just thought about it, Yuushi probably knew already. Ugh, dating a mind reader was so uncool... wait, dating?! And suddenly he no longer felt guilty about them both forgetting the last few hours. "So, how does this mind wipe thing work?" He asked hoping to change the subject and that Yuushi wouldn't comment on how red his face most likely was due to his wayward thoughts.
Smiling at Shishido's thoughts, Yuushi pressed closer to him. "Keigo will isolate all your thoughts since Gakuto spoke with you and erase them. That's how it works. It doesn't hurt..you might wonder why you have a blank spot in your memory later, but you'll never recall what it is."
"And Keigo's good at this?" Shishido asked thinking that it sounded too easy and that anything to do with messing around in someone's head had to be more complicated than that. "And I'm sort of stubborn. What if this blank spot drives me batty or something?" He didn't see himself just brushing off a huge gaping blank spot in his memory, at least not so recent a memory.
"That's rare, in my experience. People tend to ignore it after awhile. Keigo is the best of us, honestly. You'll be in good hands, Ryou."
"And will you ignore a blank spot in your memory?" Shishido asked deciding it was probably best not continue questioning Keigo's ability.
"Unlike you, I'll know my memory has been tampered with, most likely. I'll probably choose to ignore it. If Keigo does it I'll know it was done willingly on my part."
Shishido gave a reluctant nod, that made sense. "Okay. So... I guess we should do this soon?" He leaned back from Yuushi to look around but again didn't see anyone, not that he really expected Keigo to appear out of nowhere just because they needed him.
"Can we still date when its over?" Yuushi smiled down at him, a touch teasingly.
"What?!" Shishido squeaked as he jerked in surprise nearly bashing his head off of Yuushi's. Well at least it confirmed that Yuushi had heard his thoughts. So uncool. "Don't be lame. We're not dating now," He pointed out in what he hoped was a logical manner. Obviously if they weren't dating now they couldn't still do it after.
"I'll rephrase," the vampire chuckled, unable to resist. "Can we still make out?"
"Oh," Shishido said calming down, "Well that's okay. Why wouldn't I still want to make out?" Yuushi was an awesome kisser and apparently, come tomorrow morning he wouldn't even remember that Yuushi was a vampire so he'd see no reason not to keep making out with him.
Close enough, Yuushi thought, and nodded. "Then I'm satisfied. You're sure about this, Ryou?"
"No, not really," He admitted after a moments thought. "But I don't want anyone to get in trouble because of me knowing." He'd feel really bad if Gakuto was punished because people found out he knew or if somehoe him knowing got Yuushi hurt. "Atobe won't get Gakuto in trouble, will he?" Getting his memory wiped would be for nothing if Gakuto still got punished for telling him.
"Since you're willing to have your memory erased, I don't think Keigo will be too put out. However, Gakuto is a Hunter, and he doesn't answer to us. If he'll be punished, it will be from his own kind. It won't be your fault, Ryou. He's the one that chose to tell you when he knew that he shouldn't."
“Willing enough,” Shishido agreed though he was still a bit freaked out by the process of memory erasing. But Yuushi agreeing to do it too helped take some of the edge off that fear. But if losing his memory wouldn’t protect his friends what would be the point? “But if Keigo doesn’t say anything and we don’t remember how would they know about it?” Shishido asked really not liking the thought of Gakuto being in trouble. And just the term ‘Hunters’ sounded scary. Even if Sadaharu and Gakuto were awesome he didn’t see the Hunters as a super friendly bunch. He vaguely wondered what the vampires on campus thought about hunters living with them.
"It depends on Gakuto. And if they're watching him," Yuushi shrugged. He didn't know all that much about the rules of the Hunter society, nor did he care. But it didn't mean he hadn't picked up bits and pieces, having delved into Gakuto, Sadaharu and even Akutsu's minds. "There isn't anything we can do concerning the Hunter Society. If Gakuto wants to hide it from them, they won't find out from us." At least, he didn't think so.
“Guess we just have to hope they haven’t been watching the last few hours. But wouldn’t your spidey senses tell you if someone was nearby watching?” That’s how it worked in the movies anyway, right?
"My....what?" He wasn't familiar with that phrase. "They don't have to be here, I'm sure, to watch everything..."
“Don’t be lame. You can’t watch something without being somewhere. Unless they have the place bugged.” The thought of video cameras and microphones on them almost made him pull back but if they were around, they would have already seen everything. So deciding to be stubborn and defiant he shifted closer into the vampire’s hold. The Hunter society was sounding more uncool by the second.
"Not to worry." Yuushi held him close, running fingertips over Shishido's hair. "Despite everything, you're safe here Ryou. I'm sorry if I'm making you more paranoid. I'm just theorizing out loud."
“It’s fine. And you shouldn’t hold what I think against me. I think like a million things a minute, doesn’t mean it’s what I’m really feeling or whatever,” Shishido said assuming that Yuushi had picked up on his errant thoughts. He was going to say his thoughts didn’t mean what he was really thinking but the idea of trying to explain his thoughts against his true thoughts was enough to give himself a headache and totally overrated.
“So... I guess if we’re ready we should find Keigo...” He paused and looked back at the way they came from and where Akutsu was. “Actually, maybe you should get him and meet me somewhere... Hey, I’m not gonna get in trouble for breaking curfew am I? You can’t punish someone when they don’t remember they broke a rule, right?”
"I think they'll be lenient with you, considering the circumstances." Yuushi was reluctant to let him go, but they were wasting time, he supposed. He wouldn't put it past Akutsu to come stomping out to find them. And he wasn't quite in the mood for the surly turned vampire. "Stay here...I'll find Keigo." Before he let him go, he kissed him, the last time he'd be able to kiss Shishido Ryou without hiding what he was for awhile. So he had to make it count.
“Here?” Shishido was in the middle of questioning when suddenly Yuushi’s lips were on him. He quickly found himself clinging to Yuushi in a completely different was from before as their tongues caressed sensitive areas. It was weird knowing that it was fangs his tongue would occasionally glide over. He was careful not to poke at them as often as usual, but beyond that, their kissing was as breathtaking as usual. He was more than a little reluctant to let it end, and not just because it was bringing some well needed heat pumping into his body. Once they finished, Yuushi would leave to go find Keigo and they’d both have to forget about everything they’d talked about tonight.
When Yuushi let him go, it was with a great reluctance, holding onto Shishido's hands against his chest. "I wish we didn't have to forget," he murmured. "....Stay here. I'll be right back." Pulling away, he stepped back towards the building to find Atobe.
“Here?” Shishido asked again before Yuushi could dash off. He totally agreed about it being lame that they had to forget but being asked to stay outside, in the cold, on his own was even stupider. “In case you haven’t realised you idiot, it’s cold!” Clearly vampires were all stupid and forgot that temperature mattered to humans. “Let’s meet somewhere instead.” Preferably somewhere indoors and well heated.
"You won't last a couple of minutes?" Yuushi tossed him back a little smirk. "In that case find a warm place Ryou. I'll find you."
“No,” Shishido answered bluntly. Now that he wasn’t moving about or being held by Yuushi, he was really feeling the cold and he wasn’t liking it one bit. “And you’ll find me? Ha, I knew it! You do have Vampire type spidey sense.”
The vampire smiled and tapped his temple, the answer obvious. "I'll find you. All I have to do is follow your thoughts..."
Shishido frowned and thought that he should be insulted by Yuushi once again implying that he had loud and easy to spot thoughts but decided it wasn’t worth arguing over. “Fine. You cheater. But just so you know, spidey sense sounds cooler.” Not that his advice would do Yuushi any good in another hour when they’d both forgotten but he couldn’t resist correcting him anyway.