Blood Stained Roses Chapter 6
Name: Blood Stained Roses
Chapter: 6
Rating: M [overall]
Summary: What do you do when you're stuck in a house full of vampire's and there's no way out?
Notes: Heyyyy, under a month this time! Improvement, ne? Anyway, as usual this has been edited several times, but I'm not going to say that it's perfect. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave 'em~ Enjoy!
Also, cross dressers make me smile xD
Blood Stained Roses
Chapter 6
The air was tense around the mansion. The difference was significant from the cheerful curiosity that usually emanated from most of those who resided there. Today, the only ones that were not particularly nervous about that night were Saki and Ichiro who had had little to no contact with Chuu or Kisaki since this had begun. They were also the oldest - with the exception of Kisaki and Ryou.
All but Kisaki was in their room, doing their best to pass time. Of course, Chuu had no choice since he was not allowed to leave his room and the door was locked from the outside. Having worn himself down awhile ago with his pacing he now lay on the bed with his arms crossed behind his head, his eyes closed giving him a relaxed appearance despite the anxious thoughts that continuously moved through his mind. Meanwhile, Kisaki sat in the library, trying to read the books he’d pulled from the shelves to distract himself, but it was pointless. He couldn’t concentrate at all. In her room, Yami blasted the music into her ear from the tiny earbuds she had in them as she lowly sang along, trying to make sure no one else heard her. Right next door, Yuna laid outstretched on her bed, staring at the wall, which to her displeasure was still painted yellow. Several times the thought that 'whoever had painted this room must have had some serious issues' crossed her mind and at some point she had drawn a small smiley face in permanent marker on the wall. After he'd woken up and been told the news, Miku had begun to make paper ducks. He did this for fun as well as stress relief and had made thousands over the year, many of which he now kept in a closet. Even Noriko was worried, though she didn’t show it. She sat quietly in her room, reading a book and wondering what would happen.
Finally, the door swung open (this was only done for dramatic effect considering doors were obviously unnecessary) and Ryou came whirling into the front room with a yell of “I’m hooooome!” The long black coat he wore twirled around him as he spun in his usual, graceful manner. As his he stopped, a hand reached out and waved as though to present something to another, and when it did, bags and boxes of various shapes and sizes appeared everywhere.
As Ryou had made his entrance, the vampires had left their rooms one by one. Now there were six surrounding him while Kisaki, who often spent a lot of time in the library, took his usual place at the top of the stairs, looking down at the commotion, taking no part in any conversation.
"Hello, I missed everyone so much that I couldn't possibly stay away any longer! How has my darling Chuu-chan been?" he asked.
He climbed the steps as if to go to his room... or Chuu's room. When he reached the top, Ryou paused and looked at Kisaki. The smile that had already been on his lips changed subtly a smirk.
"My dear Kisaki, you look troubled. What's the matter?" Ryou said with mock sincerity.
The glare that appeared on Kisaki's face would have frightened most people, but Ryou just laughed at it. Why should he be afraid of something as simple as a look? It wasn’t as though Kisaki would actually do something. Even if he tried, the worst he figured Kisaki could do to him was leave a couple scratches that would heal themselves in no time.
"I do hope that you've been a good boy," Ryou said; he was standing so close to Kisaki that the silver haired beauty could feel his breath on his face, "I hope you've kept your hands off of what doesn't belong to you."
Unable to take Ryou’s knowing gaze any longer, Kisaki walked off quickly downstairs and down the hall that lead to his bedroom.
"Well, well, well... it seems that I was right," he said to himself.
Everyone heard the statement even though it was barely a whisper. Behind Ryou’s back, Yami and Yuna exchanged uneasy glances. They saw Ryou begin to move again. Looking around the room for a moment, Yuna quickly tried to think of something she could say to give Chuu more time.
"Ryou-sama, are those gifts for us?" she asked.
"Ah, yes! How could I forget?" Ryou said turning around.
Descending the stairs, he moved to the gifts he’d conjured up earlier. After sorting through everything he began to distribute the bags and a few boxes. For the most part, they held clothes and jewelry which were, of course, expensive as Ryou hated the thought of anyone in his house wearing anything cheap. Amidst his normal clothes, Miku found a short, black skirt, a deep crimson, sleeveless shirt with a little bit of decorative lace, and high-heeled black sandals. It had been a request from some of the female vampires (a.k.a. Yami and Yuna). When he found these items, he stared at them a moment, his expression amused.
"Thank you, Ryou-sama," half squealed Yami when she saw the clothes.
"Yeah, maybe this will actually fit him right. He's so skinny that everyone else's clothes are too big for him," added Yuna.
"Yes, well, these should fit him," said Ryou.
"Come on, Miku-chan, you should change and model for us!" said Yami as she and Yuna grabbed his arms and started dragging him away.
"How about not..." muttered Miku.
"You always say that!" said Yami.
Turning back, Yami glared at him and he glared back. Yuna was glaring, too. Through the glare, the corners of their lips turned up a little as they tried not to smile. Still, they kept going to see who would give in first. Finally, remembering he was outnumbered, Miku gave a sigh of defeat.
"Fine!" he said.
"Yay!" said both Yami and Yuna.
"Maybe you could do it tomorrow. As much as I would like to see this, I'm tired," said Ryou. "I think it's time for me to go to bed."
"Don't worry, we'll wait until tomorrow!" said Yuna.
He nodded, bidding everyone goodnight and turned to go to his bedroom. When he was out of sight, the façade some had had to hide their worry evaporated-none of them had mastered it as well as Kisaki, anyway, so Ryou had probably seen through them all-and most of the vampires that still remained in the room formed a small circle in the middle. It consisted of Yuna, Yami, Miku, and Noriko, who was only there because Yuna had grabbed her arm and dragged her into the circle, while Ichiro stayed off to the side, leaning against the wall as Saki continued sitting by her gifts, pretending the others weren’t there.
"He's messing with us," said Miku, "that's the only reason I can think of for him not to have gone into Chuu-kun's room."
Yuna nodded and said, "He's especially after Kisaki-san. He knows that something's up."
"He loves his mind games... It's not like this is the first time he's done something like this-waiting until the next day, I mean," added Yami, "but I still wish there was something we could do."
"There's nothing we can do... we just have to hope for the best," said Noriko softly.
Everyone went quiet for a minute, giving Noriko a surprised glance. Out of the group, Yuna was the only one there that had heard here say more than maybe two words in one day. Even she was a bit shocked; that this was the second time she had spoken.
"She's right," she said, breaking the awkward silence, "Maybe we should just go to bed."
No one objected so they left down the hallway that led to their rooms. Behind the group was Ichiro. He was taller than most of the others with dark blue hair that just reached his shoulders and fell over one of his dark emerald eyes. Something about his face gave off a likeable impression and he often socialized with the other vampires, unlike Saki who kept herself off limits in her room.
"Wait, do I really have to wear a dress tomorrow?" asked Miku.
"Yep! It might help cheer Chuu-chan up!" said Yami.
"Hey, Ichiro-kun, any chance you wanna put on a dress and help us out?" called Yuna.
"Sure, it's not like I have anything to do. Anyway, I still have to meet this Chuu that everyone's been talking about," he said lightly.
"Alright, we'll find you something to wear, then!" said Yuna.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," said Ichiro, going into his room.
They parted ways here, each heading into their own room. That was, everyone, but the beauty with fiery red hair that had stayed behind. Instead, she went down the opposite hall that Kisaki had disappeared down earlier; it was also where her room was. She stopped at the farthest door and knocked softly.
"Who's there?" called Kisaki, his voice weary.
"It's me, Saki," she answered through the door, "I just though you should know that Ryou went to bed, so you can go see Chuu-san."
"I already heard, but thank you."
"Well, good night, then, Kisaki-kun."
Before Saki had even left the door for her own room right across the hall, Kisaki had left his room without so much as standing. He appeared sitting at the edge of Chuu's bed, causing the younger man to let out a yell in surprise and fear as he had been expecting only one visitor that night, and it wasn’t the welcome kind.
"Chuu, calm down, it's just me," said Kisaki in a low, urgent voice.
The yelling died away and Chuu just sat, giving Kisaki a curious look. Having not expected to see Kisaki until Ryou was gone, Chuu was completely confused and his face showed it.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" he stammered, his heart thudding loudly in his chest.
"I'm always here around this time..." said Kisaki, raising an eyebrow.
"I know that... but are you sure that this is okay considering..." Chuu muttered.
"I don't think it makes any difference whether I'm here while he is or not. It's obvious that he knows that something's going on. Right now he's just trying to make us nervous. It doesn't matter if I'm here now. He already knows that I've been here every day since he left," explained Kisaki.
"Do you think he'll be here tomorrow?" asked Chuu hopefully, obviously wanting the answer to be 'no.'
Instead Kisaki sighed and answered, "Most likely he will be here tomorrow. It's probably taking a lot of self control for him not to come in here right now. Tomorrow, though, he'll be here for sure."
With a slight nod, Chuu looked away from him. They both knew what would happen when Ryou visited Chuu. Just the thought of it gave Chuu a chill and his whole body gave a shudder that seemed to continue as he shook violently, his eyes closing tight and his hands balling into tight fists as he couldn’t help but remember what happened last time.
"Are you alright?" asked Kisaki in alarm, "Chuu, what's wrong?"
The words sounded stupid to even himself. Of course he wasn’t alright and what was wrong was quite obvious. However, Chuu didn’t seem to notice the pointlessness of the words and just shook his head, turning away from Kisaki. His eyes fell past him, watching the door as though someone was about to come through it. Even when he felt arms surround him and pull him against Kisaki's chest, Chuu only stared at the black cloth that covered it.
"Damn it," muttered Kisaki, "I've never felt so helpless... I want to do something, but..."
"There's nothing you can do," whispered Chuu, his arms wrapping around Kisaki and his hands taking hold of the fabric of his shirt.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize... It's not your fault."
It went quiet. This wasn’t really an awkward silence, though... they were just too caught up in their own thoughts to speak.
"You should go to sleep," said Kisaki, finally. "You're going to need your rest."
Gently, he pulled away from Chuu who just nodded and lay down without saying a word and Kisaki flicked off the light before lying next to the boy. He gently stroked Chuu's blonde and brown hair, easily seeing his turquoise eyes in the dark though they had to strain to see him.
"I love you," Kisaki whispered.
A small smile creeping onto his lips, Chuu moved closer to Kisaki, putting an arm around the silver haired man and snuggling into his chest.
"I love you, too," he answered, planting a soft kiss on the vampire’s chest.
***
For the first time in almost a week, Chuu awoke alone in his bed. It didn’t actually surprise him. Kisaki had told him that he had planned to leave until Ryou finished his 'visit' while they’d laid there in the dark. No one knew when that would be, so he had left early. Though this plan made sense, Kisaki's absence made Chuu feel lonely. It had been his plan to wake up in time to catch the vampire, but it had taken him so long to fall asleep that he completely overslept.
A knock on the door caused Chuu to start and his body to quiver again as it had the night before. He had to take a few breaths to calm himself before he called for whoever was outside his door to come in. The chance of Ryou actually knocking was low, anyway, so there really was not a reason for him to get so excited.
"Hello, Chuu-kun."
Instead of Yami or Yuna, it was Miku who walked in with a tray of food... but Chuu had to look twice to comprehend what was going on. It was normal for Miku to have two ponytails, making him look a little more girly than he would without, but today he was wearing the clothes that Ryou had bought him. The crimson, sleeveless shirt was paired with the black skirt that came a bit above the knees. There was a black ribbon tied in a bow around his neck and a couple silver bracelets on his right arm. When Chuu saw the heals that Miku wore, he couldn’t help but wonder how he could walk.
Behind Miku was someone that Chuu had not yet met. He had a bow in his dark blue shoulder length hair which had been made to flip out a little. He, too, was dressed in girl’s clothes. He wore a black dress that, like Miku's, reached about an inch above his knees with high healed black boots that reached them and laced up and when Chuu saw him, he really did believe that he was girl. It wasn’t until he spoke that Chuu realized that it really was a boy.
"Hello, Chuu-san, my name is Hiromi Ichiro. I thought I would come meet you and, as you can see, got talked into dressing in girls clothes, just like Miku-kun," he said with a friendly smile.
"Um... hi?" said Chuu, unsure of how to react to the amount of cross dressing that was going on in this place, almost a little afraid that the girls would come in with a dress for him.
"We didn't have to talk you into anything. We just asked," pointed out Yami who had just walked in behind him.
"I guess that's true."
"Um... why are you cross dressing?" asked Chuu.
"We wanted to cheer you up!" said Yami with a huge smile. "Well, that and there is the fact that both me and Yuna wanted to see them cross dress because we're both crazy fan girls..."
Miku, Ichiro, and Yami moved farther into the room so Yuna could get out of the doorway. Behind him, Chuu noticed Noriko. She also walked into the room. Even though the room was large, it seemed a lot smaller when there were six people in it as any room would. After handing Chuu his tray of food, Miku moved to a corner of the room that was closest to the bed, probably to free up space in the now slightly cramped area.
"So...um...why is everyone here?" asked Chuu, ignoring his food and wondering how cross dressing was supposed to make him feel better.
It really didn’t make much sense. Sure, it was a little amusing-and a little disturbing considering both Miku and Ichiro looked a little too much like girls-but it was not that amusing. It only proved his theory that everyone in this house was completely insane.
"We were all worried about you," admitted Yami.
Chuu lowered his head, feeling slightly embarrassed to have caused so much concern. Unsure of exactly what to say, he looked at the food in his lap, noticing that it included most of his favorite foods and looked like it would have been delicious… if he had an appetite. However, he could feel his stomach turning painfully from the anxiety he felt.
"You really should eat," said Yuna, noticing that Chuu's food had not been touched. "You'll need your strength."
"I'm not sure my stomach can handle it..." muttered Chuu.
"I understand that, but you really do need all y-"
"I'm sorry, but I can't eat," said Chuu cutting off Yuna's sentence.
"I'll take it back then," offered Yami.
Once he’d nodded, she took the tray off to the kitchen. Everyone else stayed behind. In his crowded room, Chuu was beginning to feel a little self-conscious; he knew they were watching him. Each had a nervous look on his or her face as though they expected him to do something crazy, though he wasn’t quite sure what it was they were waiting for, except for maybe him bursting into tears.
"Um... you were worried about me?" he said, breaking the awkward silence with the first thing that came to mind.
"We don't want Chuu-kun to be depressed!" said Miku in a funny little voice.
A small smile appeared on Chuu's face. It was a nice thought, but nothing could stop him from being depressed or scared. It felt as though he could not escape it for more than a minute before it all came rushing back to him. He kept wishing that Kisaki would do something, anything that would stop Ryou, but he knew that that was completely impossible. If Kisaki were to do anything, it would only make things worse. That was why he had left.
"Thank you," he muttered.
"Who's thanking who for what?” asked Yami as she walked back into the room.
"I'm thanking all of you for worrying about me," clarified Chuu, "but I'm sorry for being such a burden."
"You're not being a burden," said Yami. "We like having you around. That's why we're worried.”
With a kind smile, she sat next to Chuu and patted his head. They all had seen Ryou kill far too many people. Most of the people who had stayed in this room didn’t make it. Nobody wanted to see Chuu added to the already incalculable number… or what Kisaki would be like if he was.
They wasted time talking about random things-so random, in fact that it included Miku saying that he wanted a moogle, Yami saying that she wanted a chocobo, and Yuna saying that she wanted Asagi in a box-that they thought would cheer up Chuu. He was just happy that they were there to keep his mind off of everything, even if it did not last very long. The group stayed for about an hour before finally leaving. When they left, they all told Chuu that they’d see him later before walking out the door. And Chuu was alone again.
***
"And where are you going?" asked Ryou in a soft voice, conversational voice.
When he had gone to Kisaki’s room to taunt him, he had found the other vampire dressed in a leather coat, black jeans, and a plain fitted white shirt. It was the coat, which was rather heavy to just wear around the house, as well as the money that he was taking from the table that told the older vampire that Kisaki was going somewhere.
"Out," said Kisaki simply.
"Well that much was obvious, I was looking for specifics… though I suppose they don’t matter much. You’re running," said Ryou with a sadistic smile. "You want to be as far from here as you can be when I have my way with Chuu. You think that by leaving you can escape his screams."
His lips kept the same smile as his eyes glinted maliciously and he walked into the room, closer to Kisaki. A finger gently stroked Kisaki's cheek, caressing it gently in a way that could be misinterpreted as loving. The other man simply looked away, glaring at the wall.
"You can't, though," Ryou whispered. "The screams will follow you wherever you go... just as Izumi's did."
At the mention of a name, Kisaki’s head whipped back around so he could see the twisted smile on Ryou’s face and he backed away as a thousand questions filled his head. Was he referring to the person in his dreams? The person he'd been trying so hard to remember? Did this mean that he was real?
"Ah, that's right, you don't remember him...” said Ryou as though it was something he had just remembered. “Oh well, I'll just let you live with your ignorance and delusions for now... You may go and see for yourself how leaving can be just as horrible as staying.”
That being said, Ryou began to head for the door, finding amusement as he knew the other vampire was about to finally let out that breath he’d been holding. He turned to Kisaki again.
"I suppose I won't see you before I leave, then, since I am planning to leave after seeing Chuu. I am very busy after all. That being the case, I suppose I'll say goodbye for now and remind you once again to heed my warnings," he said before finally leaving.
Seeing that he was really gone now, Kisaki sighed. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he knew that what Ryou had said was true. The only reason that he was leaving was to stop himself from trying to kill Ryou-something he knew was pointless because it was something he had tried years before-and get both him and Chuu into more trouble.
***
Contrary to Chuu's expectations there was a knock on the door that did not come from anyone who visited daily. A second after the sound was heard, the door opened to reveal the person-if he could even be called a person, more like 'thing' or ‘monster’, really-that he had been expecting and least wanting to see. Ryou walked in with that smile that Chuu hated so much playing across his beautiful face. At the sight, his body began to shake uncontrollably as it had the night before. As much as he tried to fight it, there was nothing he could do but let the trembling continue.
"My dear, what is wrong?" asked Ryou. "You're shaking."
His response was silence. In an attempt to ignore him, Chuu’s head fell forward and he stared at the ground, seeing the shadow of Ryou move closer and closer. He tried to take a deep breath to maybe calm himself, but found it caught in his throat instead.
"How have you been?" asked Ryou, not expecting an answer. "Has Kisaki been here to see you today? From what I can tell, you two have become quite close in my absence."
Still, Chuu didn’t so much as look at Ryou. Instead, he tried as hard as he could to stop the vampire from invading his mind, throwing out pointless words mid thought. He knew it was pointless, though. Ryou had already gotten all of the information that he wanted
Without making the slightest sound, Ryou sat himself on the edge of Chuu's bed, startling him even more, and put his face close to the younger man's, feeling the shuddering, hissing breath that escaped through his lips. The sight made him smirk and Ryou kissed him, roughly biting Chuu's lips and tearing the skin, causing him to bleed. When he pulled away there was a malicious spark in his amethyst eyes.
"You have been very bad, haven't you?" he whispered. "It's only right that you and Kisaki are punished."
"Wh- What are you going to do to him?" asked Chuu in a shaky voice.
"Nothing to him, personally. I'll just take everything out on you and watch as he falls apart."
~Previous Chapters~
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter: 6
Rating: M [overall]
Summary: What do you do when you're stuck in a house full of vampire's and there's no way out?
Notes: Heyyyy, under a month this time! Improvement, ne? Anyway, as usual this has been edited several times, but I'm not going to say that it's perfect. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave 'em~ Enjoy!
Also, cross dressers make me smile xD
Blood Stained Roses
Chapter 6
The air was tense around the mansion. The difference was significant from the cheerful curiosity that usually emanated from most of those who resided there. Today, the only ones that were not particularly nervous about that night were Saki and Ichiro who had had little to no contact with Chuu or Kisaki since this had begun. They were also the oldest - with the exception of Kisaki and Ryou.
All but Kisaki was in their room, doing their best to pass time. Of course, Chuu had no choice since he was not allowed to leave his room and the door was locked from the outside. Having worn himself down awhile ago with his pacing he now lay on the bed with his arms crossed behind his head, his eyes closed giving him a relaxed appearance despite the anxious thoughts that continuously moved through his mind. Meanwhile, Kisaki sat in the library, trying to read the books he’d pulled from the shelves to distract himself, but it was pointless. He couldn’t concentrate at all. In her room, Yami blasted the music into her ear from the tiny earbuds she had in them as she lowly sang along, trying to make sure no one else heard her. Right next door, Yuna laid outstretched on her bed, staring at the wall, which to her displeasure was still painted yellow. Several times the thought that 'whoever had painted this room must have had some serious issues' crossed her mind and at some point she had drawn a small smiley face in permanent marker on the wall. After he'd woken up and been told the news, Miku had begun to make paper ducks. He did this for fun as well as stress relief and had made thousands over the year, many of which he now kept in a closet. Even Noriko was worried, though she didn’t show it. She sat quietly in her room, reading a book and wondering what would happen.
Finally, the door swung open (this was only done for dramatic effect considering doors were obviously unnecessary) and Ryou came whirling into the front room with a yell of “I’m hooooome!” The long black coat he wore twirled around him as he spun in his usual, graceful manner. As his he stopped, a hand reached out and waved as though to present something to another, and when it did, bags and boxes of various shapes and sizes appeared everywhere.
As Ryou had made his entrance, the vampires had left their rooms one by one. Now there were six surrounding him while Kisaki, who often spent a lot of time in the library, took his usual place at the top of the stairs, looking down at the commotion, taking no part in any conversation.
"Hello, I missed everyone so much that I couldn't possibly stay away any longer! How has my darling Chuu-chan been?" he asked.
He climbed the steps as if to go to his room... or Chuu's room. When he reached the top, Ryou paused and looked at Kisaki. The smile that had already been on his lips changed subtly a smirk.
"My dear Kisaki, you look troubled. What's the matter?" Ryou said with mock sincerity.
The glare that appeared on Kisaki's face would have frightened most people, but Ryou just laughed at it. Why should he be afraid of something as simple as a look? It wasn’t as though Kisaki would actually do something. Even if he tried, the worst he figured Kisaki could do to him was leave a couple scratches that would heal themselves in no time.
"I do hope that you've been a good boy," Ryou said; he was standing so close to Kisaki that the silver haired beauty could feel his breath on his face, "I hope you've kept your hands off of what doesn't belong to you."
Unable to take Ryou’s knowing gaze any longer, Kisaki walked off quickly downstairs and down the hall that lead to his bedroom.
"Well, well, well... it seems that I was right," he said to himself.
Everyone heard the statement even though it was barely a whisper. Behind Ryou’s back, Yami and Yuna exchanged uneasy glances. They saw Ryou begin to move again. Looking around the room for a moment, Yuna quickly tried to think of something she could say to give Chuu more time.
"Ryou-sama, are those gifts for us?" she asked.
"Ah, yes! How could I forget?" Ryou said turning around.
Descending the stairs, he moved to the gifts he’d conjured up earlier. After sorting through everything he began to distribute the bags and a few boxes. For the most part, they held clothes and jewelry which were, of course, expensive as Ryou hated the thought of anyone in his house wearing anything cheap. Amidst his normal clothes, Miku found a short, black skirt, a deep crimson, sleeveless shirt with a little bit of decorative lace, and high-heeled black sandals. It had been a request from some of the female vampires (a.k.a. Yami and Yuna). When he found these items, he stared at them a moment, his expression amused.
"Thank you, Ryou-sama," half squealed Yami when she saw the clothes.
"Yeah, maybe this will actually fit him right. He's so skinny that everyone else's clothes are too big for him," added Yuna.
"Yes, well, these should fit him," said Ryou.
"Come on, Miku-chan, you should change and model for us!" said Yami as she and Yuna grabbed his arms and started dragging him away.
"How about not..." muttered Miku.
"You always say that!" said Yami.
Turning back, Yami glared at him and he glared back. Yuna was glaring, too. Through the glare, the corners of their lips turned up a little as they tried not to smile. Still, they kept going to see who would give in first. Finally, remembering he was outnumbered, Miku gave a sigh of defeat.
"Fine!" he said.
"Yay!" said both Yami and Yuna.
"Maybe you could do it tomorrow. As much as I would like to see this, I'm tired," said Ryou. "I think it's time for me to go to bed."
"Don't worry, we'll wait until tomorrow!" said Yuna.
He nodded, bidding everyone goodnight and turned to go to his bedroom. When he was out of sight, the façade some had had to hide their worry evaporated-none of them had mastered it as well as Kisaki, anyway, so Ryou had probably seen through them all-and most of the vampires that still remained in the room formed a small circle in the middle. It consisted of Yuna, Yami, Miku, and Noriko, who was only there because Yuna had grabbed her arm and dragged her into the circle, while Ichiro stayed off to the side, leaning against the wall as Saki continued sitting by her gifts, pretending the others weren’t there.
"He's messing with us," said Miku, "that's the only reason I can think of for him not to have gone into Chuu-kun's room."
Yuna nodded and said, "He's especially after Kisaki-san. He knows that something's up."
"He loves his mind games... It's not like this is the first time he's done something like this-waiting until the next day, I mean," added Yami, "but I still wish there was something we could do."
"There's nothing we can do... we just have to hope for the best," said Noriko softly.
Everyone went quiet for a minute, giving Noriko a surprised glance. Out of the group, Yuna was the only one there that had heard here say more than maybe two words in one day. Even she was a bit shocked; that this was the second time she had spoken.
"She's right," she said, breaking the awkward silence, "Maybe we should just go to bed."
No one objected so they left down the hallway that led to their rooms. Behind the group was Ichiro. He was taller than most of the others with dark blue hair that just reached his shoulders and fell over one of his dark emerald eyes. Something about his face gave off a likeable impression and he often socialized with the other vampires, unlike Saki who kept herself off limits in her room.
"Wait, do I really have to wear a dress tomorrow?" asked Miku.
"Yep! It might help cheer Chuu-chan up!" said Yami.
"Hey, Ichiro-kun, any chance you wanna put on a dress and help us out?" called Yuna.
"Sure, it's not like I have anything to do. Anyway, I still have to meet this Chuu that everyone's been talking about," he said lightly.
"Alright, we'll find you something to wear, then!" said Yuna.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," said Ichiro, going into his room.
They parted ways here, each heading into their own room. That was, everyone, but the beauty with fiery red hair that had stayed behind. Instead, she went down the opposite hall that Kisaki had disappeared down earlier; it was also where her room was. She stopped at the farthest door and knocked softly.
"Who's there?" called Kisaki, his voice weary.
"It's me, Saki," she answered through the door, "I just though you should know that Ryou went to bed, so you can go see Chuu-san."
"I already heard, but thank you."
"Well, good night, then, Kisaki-kun."
Before Saki had even left the door for her own room right across the hall, Kisaki had left his room without so much as standing. He appeared sitting at the edge of Chuu's bed, causing the younger man to let out a yell in surprise and fear as he had been expecting only one visitor that night, and it wasn’t the welcome kind.
"Chuu, calm down, it's just me," said Kisaki in a low, urgent voice.
The yelling died away and Chuu just sat, giving Kisaki a curious look. Having not expected to see Kisaki until Ryou was gone, Chuu was completely confused and his face showed it.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" he stammered, his heart thudding loudly in his chest.
"I'm always here around this time..." said Kisaki, raising an eyebrow.
"I know that... but are you sure that this is okay considering..." Chuu muttered.
"I don't think it makes any difference whether I'm here while he is or not. It's obvious that he knows that something's going on. Right now he's just trying to make us nervous. It doesn't matter if I'm here now. He already knows that I've been here every day since he left," explained Kisaki.
"Do you think he'll be here tomorrow?" asked Chuu hopefully, obviously wanting the answer to be 'no.'
Instead Kisaki sighed and answered, "Most likely he will be here tomorrow. It's probably taking a lot of self control for him not to come in here right now. Tomorrow, though, he'll be here for sure."
With a slight nod, Chuu looked away from him. They both knew what would happen when Ryou visited Chuu. Just the thought of it gave Chuu a chill and his whole body gave a shudder that seemed to continue as he shook violently, his eyes closing tight and his hands balling into tight fists as he couldn’t help but remember what happened last time.
"Are you alright?" asked Kisaki in alarm, "Chuu, what's wrong?"
The words sounded stupid to even himself. Of course he wasn’t alright and what was wrong was quite obvious. However, Chuu didn’t seem to notice the pointlessness of the words and just shook his head, turning away from Kisaki. His eyes fell past him, watching the door as though someone was about to come through it. Even when he felt arms surround him and pull him against Kisaki's chest, Chuu only stared at the black cloth that covered it.
"Damn it," muttered Kisaki, "I've never felt so helpless... I want to do something, but..."
"There's nothing you can do," whispered Chuu, his arms wrapping around Kisaki and his hands taking hold of the fabric of his shirt.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize... It's not your fault."
It went quiet. This wasn’t really an awkward silence, though... they were just too caught up in their own thoughts to speak.
"You should go to sleep," said Kisaki, finally. "You're going to need your rest."
Gently, he pulled away from Chuu who just nodded and lay down without saying a word and Kisaki flicked off the light before lying next to the boy. He gently stroked Chuu's blonde and brown hair, easily seeing his turquoise eyes in the dark though they had to strain to see him.
"I love you," Kisaki whispered.
A small smile creeping onto his lips, Chuu moved closer to Kisaki, putting an arm around the silver haired man and snuggling into his chest.
"I love you, too," he answered, planting a soft kiss on the vampire’s chest.
***
For the first time in almost a week, Chuu awoke alone in his bed. It didn’t actually surprise him. Kisaki had told him that he had planned to leave until Ryou finished his 'visit' while they’d laid there in the dark. No one knew when that would be, so he had left early. Though this plan made sense, Kisaki's absence made Chuu feel lonely. It had been his plan to wake up in time to catch the vampire, but it had taken him so long to fall asleep that he completely overslept.
A knock on the door caused Chuu to start and his body to quiver again as it had the night before. He had to take a few breaths to calm himself before he called for whoever was outside his door to come in. The chance of Ryou actually knocking was low, anyway, so there really was not a reason for him to get so excited.
"Hello, Chuu-kun."
Instead of Yami or Yuna, it was Miku who walked in with a tray of food... but Chuu had to look twice to comprehend what was going on. It was normal for Miku to have two ponytails, making him look a little more girly than he would without, but today he was wearing the clothes that Ryou had bought him. The crimson, sleeveless shirt was paired with the black skirt that came a bit above the knees. There was a black ribbon tied in a bow around his neck and a couple silver bracelets on his right arm. When Chuu saw the heals that Miku wore, he couldn’t help but wonder how he could walk.
Behind Miku was someone that Chuu had not yet met. He had a bow in his dark blue shoulder length hair which had been made to flip out a little. He, too, was dressed in girl’s clothes. He wore a black dress that, like Miku's, reached about an inch above his knees with high healed black boots that reached them and laced up and when Chuu saw him, he really did believe that he was girl. It wasn’t until he spoke that Chuu realized that it really was a boy.
"Hello, Chuu-san, my name is Hiromi Ichiro. I thought I would come meet you and, as you can see, got talked into dressing in girls clothes, just like Miku-kun," he said with a friendly smile.
"Um... hi?" said Chuu, unsure of how to react to the amount of cross dressing that was going on in this place, almost a little afraid that the girls would come in with a dress for him.
"We didn't have to talk you into anything. We just asked," pointed out Yami who had just walked in behind him.
"I guess that's true."
"Um... why are you cross dressing?" asked Chuu.
"We wanted to cheer you up!" said Yami with a huge smile. "Well, that and there is the fact that both me and Yuna wanted to see them cross dress because we're both crazy fan girls..."
Miku, Ichiro, and Yami moved farther into the room so Yuna could get out of the doorway. Behind him, Chuu noticed Noriko. She also walked into the room. Even though the room was large, it seemed a lot smaller when there were six people in it as any room would. After handing Chuu his tray of food, Miku moved to a corner of the room that was closest to the bed, probably to free up space in the now slightly cramped area.
"So...um...why is everyone here?" asked Chuu, ignoring his food and wondering how cross dressing was supposed to make him feel better.
It really didn’t make much sense. Sure, it was a little amusing-and a little disturbing considering both Miku and Ichiro looked a little too much like girls-but it was not that amusing. It only proved his theory that everyone in this house was completely insane.
"We were all worried about you," admitted Yami.
Chuu lowered his head, feeling slightly embarrassed to have caused so much concern. Unsure of exactly what to say, he looked at the food in his lap, noticing that it included most of his favorite foods and looked like it would have been delicious… if he had an appetite. However, he could feel his stomach turning painfully from the anxiety he felt.
"You really should eat," said Yuna, noticing that Chuu's food had not been touched. "You'll need your strength."
"I'm not sure my stomach can handle it..." muttered Chuu.
"I understand that, but you really do need all y-"
"I'm sorry, but I can't eat," said Chuu cutting off Yuna's sentence.
"I'll take it back then," offered Yami.
Once he’d nodded, she took the tray off to the kitchen. Everyone else stayed behind. In his crowded room, Chuu was beginning to feel a little self-conscious; he knew they were watching him. Each had a nervous look on his or her face as though they expected him to do something crazy, though he wasn’t quite sure what it was they were waiting for, except for maybe him bursting into tears.
"Um... you were worried about me?" he said, breaking the awkward silence with the first thing that came to mind.
"We don't want Chuu-kun to be depressed!" said Miku in a funny little voice.
A small smile appeared on Chuu's face. It was a nice thought, but nothing could stop him from being depressed or scared. It felt as though he could not escape it for more than a minute before it all came rushing back to him. He kept wishing that Kisaki would do something, anything that would stop Ryou, but he knew that that was completely impossible. If Kisaki were to do anything, it would only make things worse. That was why he had left.
"Thank you," he muttered.
"Who's thanking who for what?” asked Yami as she walked back into the room.
"I'm thanking all of you for worrying about me," clarified Chuu, "but I'm sorry for being such a burden."
"You're not being a burden," said Yami. "We like having you around. That's why we're worried.”
With a kind smile, she sat next to Chuu and patted his head. They all had seen Ryou kill far too many people. Most of the people who had stayed in this room didn’t make it. Nobody wanted to see Chuu added to the already incalculable number… or what Kisaki would be like if he was.
They wasted time talking about random things-so random, in fact that it included Miku saying that he wanted a moogle, Yami saying that she wanted a chocobo, and Yuna saying that she wanted Asagi in a box-that they thought would cheer up Chuu. He was just happy that they were there to keep his mind off of everything, even if it did not last very long. The group stayed for about an hour before finally leaving. When they left, they all told Chuu that they’d see him later before walking out the door. And Chuu was alone again.
***
"And where are you going?" asked Ryou in a soft voice, conversational voice.
When he had gone to Kisaki’s room to taunt him, he had found the other vampire dressed in a leather coat, black jeans, and a plain fitted white shirt. It was the coat, which was rather heavy to just wear around the house, as well as the money that he was taking from the table that told the older vampire that Kisaki was going somewhere.
"Out," said Kisaki simply.
"Well that much was obvious, I was looking for specifics… though I suppose they don’t matter much. You’re running," said Ryou with a sadistic smile. "You want to be as far from here as you can be when I have my way with Chuu. You think that by leaving you can escape his screams."
His lips kept the same smile as his eyes glinted maliciously and he walked into the room, closer to Kisaki. A finger gently stroked Kisaki's cheek, caressing it gently in a way that could be misinterpreted as loving. The other man simply looked away, glaring at the wall.
"You can't, though," Ryou whispered. "The screams will follow you wherever you go... just as Izumi's did."
At the mention of a name, Kisaki’s head whipped back around so he could see the twisted smile on Ryou’s face and he backed away as a thousand questions filled his head. Was he referring to the person in his dreams? The person he'd been trying so hard to remember? Did this mean that he was real?
"Ah, that's right, you don't remember him...” said Ryou as though it was something he had just remembered. “Oh well, I'll just let you live with your ignorance and delusions for now... You may go and see for yourself how leaving can be just as horrible as staying.”
That being said, Ryou began to head for the door, finding amusement as he knew the other vampire was about to finally let out that breath he’d been holding. He turned to Kisaki again.
"I suppose I won't see you before I leave, then, since I am planning to leave after seeing Chuu. I am very busy after all. That being the case, I suppose I'll say goodbye for now and remind you once again to heed my warnings," he said before finally leaving.
Seeing that he was really gone now, Kisaki sighed. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he knew that what Ryou had said was true. The only reason that he was leaving was to stop himself from trying to kill Ryou-something he knew was pointless because it was something he had tried years before-and get both him and Chuu into more trouble.
***
Contrary to Chuu's expectations there was a knock on the door that did not come from anyone who visited daily. A second after the sound was heard, the door opened to reveal the person-if he could even be called a person, more like 'thing' or ‘monster’, really-that he had been expecting and least wanting to see. Ryou walked in with that smile that Chuu hated so much playing across his beautiful face. At the sight, his body began to shake uncontrollably as it had the night before. As much as he tried to fight it, there was nothing he could do but let the trembling continue.
"My dear, what is wrong?" asked Ryou. "You're shaking."
His response was silence. In an attempt to ignore him, Chuu’s head fell forward and he stared at the ground, seeing the shadow of Ryou move closer and closer. He tried to take a deep breath to maybe calm himself, but found it caught in his throat instead.
"How have you been?" asked Ryou, not expecting an answer. "Has Kisaki been here to see you today? From what I can tell, you two have become quite close in my absence."
Still, Chuu didn’t so much as look at Ryou. Instead, he tried as hard as he could to stop the vampire from invading his mind, throwing out pointless words mid thought. He knew it was pointless, though. Ryou had already gotten all of the information that he wanted
Without making the slightest sound, Ryou sat himself on the edge of Chuu's bed, startling him even more, and put his face close to the younger man's, feeling the shuddering, hissing breath that escaped through his lips. The sight made him smirk and Ryou kissed him, roughly biting Chuu's lips and tearing the skin, causing him to bleed. When he pulled away there was a malicious spark in his amethyst eyes.
"You have been very bad, haven't you?" he whispered. "It's only right that you and Kisaki are punished."
"Wh- What are you going to do to him?" asked Chuu in a shaky voice.
"Nothing to him, personally. I'll just take everything out on you and watch as he falls apart."
~Previous Chapters~
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5