TeniPuri: (FIC) In Shadows Yagyuu/Niou NC-17
Title: In Shadows
Pairing/characters: Yagyuu/Niou, Sanada/Yukimura
Rating: NC-17
Warning: AU, bloodplay, vampires (It was the request, I swear.)
Summary: Niou never could imagine to what fucking up his job would lead.
Betas: djin7 and r05km.
Notes: Written for giving_ground for the balls_it_up exchange.
Niou knelt in the cold dark room. He didn't care that it was dark, because he could see perfectly anyhow, and he didn't care that it was cold, because the cold never bothered him. It was the kneeling. He hated having to kneel before his boss. It was meant to show respect, and that was something Niou hadn’t felt for anyone for a very long time.
The man in front of him smelt like death and semen, an odd heady mix that set his teeth on edge. The swirl of both life and death on his boss' skin sharpened his hunger. He hated that, too. There was nothing he hated more than being a slave to that base need that sunk beneath his very skin.
"Niou-kun, I am pleased with your performance on the Tachibana case.”
He glanced up briefly and saw the lips of his boss curl in an unpleasant smile.
"I have another job for you."
Yukimura always had work for him. There was no end to the list of people that Yukimura decided were irrelevant, or just in his way.
Niou couldn't really complain because Yukimura provided him with the perfect excuse to fulfill his own needs without the added guilt. Well, that’s what he kept telling himself.
There was an odd scent in the room, and it was distracting him. He could hardly concentrate on what Yukimura was saying, because he couldn't help but try to follow the scent to its source. Merely trying to ignore it, and sit still, made him fidget.
"Someone needs to be reminded that what's mine is mine." Yukimura said, voice cutting through the fog, and bringing his attention back on his task.
Yukimura fell silent, closing his eyes. It made Niou grin as he looked back down. No one else would ever be so vulnerable in his presence after knowing what he was, but his boss didn't fear anything, least of all him.
"Sanada," Yukimura called out, tapping a folder on his desk. There was a shift of cloth, and then Sanada stood up from behind the desk. Niou forced himself not to react, even as he saw the wet glisten on Sanada's lips. "Give this to Niou-kun."
With a quick nod, Sanada picked up the folder from Yukimura's hands, not showing a reaction to the way Yukimura let his fingers drag down his own. Niou found this whole display amusing. Yukimura had nothing to fear from him. There was no human that had garnered his interest that way, and if one had, he certainly wouldn't start with someone so clearly owned by someone else.
Sanada curtly shoved the folder into his hands, and went back to stand next to Yukimura's side. Niou looked up, and fully looked at the both of them. Yukimura's smile was still far from pleasant, and he noticed that Sanada's yukata was slightly disheveled.
Knowing he’d been dismissed, Niou got to his feet and bowed before disappearing into the dark of the room, leaving through a window. Yukimura never changed, but then again, neither did Niou so it really didn't matter.
The place he was staying was little more than a half-burnt out hovel mainly used by drug addicts and diseased whores. He didn't mind it, though, because it kept him safe. He didn't drink tainted blood, and they were too stoned to notice him at all. No one was apt to open a window in the daytime, most were either boarded up, or covered with thick cloth.
Niou paged through the first few papers of the folder, mainly checking to see who was to die, and where he lived, and then tossed it under his pillow. He'd do it tomorrow night. He hadn't eaten in a few days, and couldn't hold out much longer.
"Hey, hey, Haruka, Haruka," yelled a slurred, frightened voice from the opposite corner of the room. He could see the figure of a man bent over a still body on the floor. Niou took one sniff, and grimaced. Another dead junkie. Great. After everyone was either gone or passed out, he'd get rid of the body. He couldn't stand the smell of rotting whore.
*
It was just barely twilight when Niou stumbled out of what he affectionately referred to as "the nest". He hadn't bathed in over a week, and only bothered to change into his least disgusting clothes because he didn't want to be too conspicuous when tracking down that rich asshole.
Two hours later, he was sitting on a low tree branch watching Atobe Keigo, his newest target, walk out of his mansion. Atobe was talking on a cell phone with an arrogant smirk on his face. Niou disliked him immediately. There were very few people that Yukimura wanted dead that ever made him pause upon their only meeting. This one was not one of those. He clearly reeked of spoiled, rich brat.
Annoyed, Niou waited no more, leaping from the tree limb and onto Atobe. Niou's teeth were bared, saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth, and he gnashed his teeth deep into Atobe's throat, tearing the skin away as he did. Blood spurted from the wound, gushing into his mouth, and onto the street.
Niou just barely began to feed when something heavy landed on him from behind, nearly knocking him out. He turned around only to find a great hulky man glaring at him. If he weren't too physically drained, he would have stayed and killed that man as well, but he could feel the weakness in his limbs. He wouldn't win this fight, and he knew when to cut his losses. He growled, biting into the nearest bit of flesh he could find, until the man loosened his grip enough so he could escape.
After running for some time, Niou slumped down in the middle of an alley, finally taking a break. He rubbed the back of his head, feeling the lump.
"Shit," he swore under his breath. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, he'd just heal himself. However, lately he'd been more and more resistant to taking more than just enough blood to survive, only feeding when Yukimura had ordered a hit, and now he hadn’t had the chance to take enough to sustain himself. "Shit."
Idly, Niou wondered if that ape-man would have been in the folder's notes. Probably. It was his own fault; this wasn't the first time that he didn't bother to read beyond the name and location, causing complications. Somehow, it seemed too much like work if he actually put that much effort into it. His association with Yukimura merely justified his existence.
Leaning his head back, he contemplated just hunting this time, and not waiting for Yukimura's next summons- if there was one after this mess. He had damaged the target pretty severely, but he hadn't confirmed his death, and people had survived worse. He hoped that bastard was dead. It was only a pity that he hadn't killed that freakishly large beast he kept as a pet.
"Maybe I should just…"Niou said, trailing off when he heard a loud noise from the opening of the alley.
"Leave now," said a man with a cold voice, cutting through the din of the streets. Niou inched forward, peering out to see a tall, slim man with glasses surrounded by five nasty-looking guys, brandishing weapons and irritated expressions. The man with glasses seemed unaffected by the threat to his life and merely repeated to them, "Leave now."
One of the men swung his arm back, and before he could lunge with his weapon, Niou found himself jumping in front of the bespectacled man, tearing the attacking man's neck apart. Something sharp pierced his side, but he ignored it in favor of quickly snapping the neck of the next.
"Rin, Kai, kill him" A tall, unpleasant man wearing unflattering glasses yelled at his comrades. Niou charged at the one who, apparently, was named Rin, and dug his fingers into his flesh, gnashing at his neck, spilling the blood onto the streets. The blood made his stomach curl, and he spat it out into Kai's face.
Niou briefly looked to see the slim man watch him with a cold disinterest, as if it were a common sight. Another sharp jab and he returned his attention back to the rest of the men. He took two more stabs to his torso before he dealt the final blow to the tallest of the group, Kite. He had a smirk similar to Atobe's, and he gladly took him down.
The group of men lay at his feet, dead and bloodied, and he finally looked over at the man he had rescued. He smiled at him, smelling no fear, and walked towards him.
"Yes?" The man asked, shifting on his feet. His expression never changed.
"I saved your life," Niou replied, amused. He thought he heard the man laugh, before he passed out at his feet.
*
Niou slowly felt himself being pulled from a dream. Struggling, he tried to stay asleep, not wanting to wake just yet. His dream was red, warm, and enticing. He normally dreamt of food, gorging himself on blood until he finally felt sated. Niou never dreamt of sex, until now. The taste of blood and come was on his tongue, and he couldn't get enough.
"Am I that delicious?" A voice asked, ringing through his mind, fully pulling him from sleep. Niou opened his eyes, and saw the face of the man in the alley staring back at him. They were on a large, soft bed, which certainly wasn't his-there were no piss stains or roaches-and in a room that could have been at a fancy hotel, but the pictures on the walls said otherwise.
As he made to answer him, Niou found his mouth attached to the man's wrist. Slowly, he retracted his fangs, and shifted so he could sit up in the bed. "Passable."
The man raised an eyebrow at that. "Now that you've had such a mediocre dinner, surely you're able to leave."
Niou smirked at the annoyed expression on the man's face. "Nah. Don't feel like it yet. I'm Niou, by the way."
The man's lips were pressed in a straight line, but he replied anyhow. "It's a pleasure, Niou-kun."
He was lying, Niou was sure, but he let it pass. He never had the experience of talking to one of his meals before. This man was unlike any of the worthless scum Yukimura asked him to kill, and he wasn't some low-life hell bent on raping or beating some helpless fool, which were the only people Niou ever came into contact with anymore. This man made him wonder.
The man got up from the bed, walked over to his closet, and picked out a pair of slacks and a shirt. "I'm going to work. I expect you to be gone when I return."
"Whatever," Niou replied, sinking back down on the pillows. The man continued to change his clothes unabashedly, as if he weren't there, so Niou decided to watch just as unabashedly, not even bothering to blink. He noticed, then, that there was more than one set of bite marks on his skin. Niou, apparently, did find this man to be delicious. Though, it was strange that none of the bite marks were in locations that would do his normal level of damage. One was on his wrist, another was on his chest, and the other on his lower torso. Niou wondered how the hell he managed to bite him there and why the hell this guy even let him.
"I don't suppose you work."
Niou looked up from the man's waist, and back on his face. "What makes you sure I don't?"
"Aside from the fact your clothes looked as if they'd never been washed, you were filthy, and smelt as if you used the urine of fifty men as cologne."
"Oh, that," Niou said, waving him off. "I work."
"A reputable job, I'm sure."
Niou found that funny, more than he should have. "Far more reputable than yours."
"You know what I do for a living?" The man, for once, actually looked curious about his answer.
"You," Niou said, surreptitiously taking in the general scent of the room."You're a pimp."
The man smiled. It reminded him of Yukimura. Too much like Yukimura. "You're a killer."
Niou didn't bother denying it. "And?"
"Well, the people I come across in my job generally still live afterward."
"And that's the better deal?" Niou asked, remembering dragging out yet another dead corpse out of the hovel at which he resided. "I guess it depends on who you ask."
"Hmm," the man walked over to the bed, and sat down next to him. "I'm not afraid of you or what you are."
"I know. I never once smelt fear on you," Niou replied. "I'll leave the day I do."
The man got up again, and busied himself with placing his wallet, keys, and other things in his pockets. "Is that so?"
He didn't reply. His eyes felt heavy again, and he found himself closing his eyes despite still wanting to talk. He hadn't talked to anyone beyond the usual with Yukimura, which boiled down to being told to kill someone, and replying in the affirmative.
*
When he woke again, the room was dark, and the man was gone. There was a slip of paper on the table beside the bed, and it was addressed to him. It told him, once more, to be gone when the man got back, whose name, according to the signature at the bottom, was Yagyuu.
Niou got out of bed, then, but had no intention of leaving. It was far more interesting than watching his housemates shoot up, fuck, and die. He found the bathroom, and decided that a shower would perhaps be a good idea. Under the hot spray, he watched the clear water pour down, and realized that he was already clean. Yagyuu, that pervert.
*
It was a little past three in the morning when Yagyuu returned. Niou was in the bed, again, watching television, changing the channel whenever he got bored, which happened to be every five minutes.
"Didn't I tell you to leave?" Yagyuu asked, unbuttoning his shirt. There was no trace of surprise in his voice, however, and Niou didn't think Yagyuu was expecting him to listen.
Niou shrugged. "I suppose you did. I told you when I'd leave."
"Is that your way of telling me you're going to be staying for a while?" Yagyuu asked, sounding amused, despite the bland expression. Niou looked over at him, and watched as he stripped out his pants.
"You don't seem uncomfortable with the idea," Niou replied, turning his attention back on an infomercial.
"Should I be?" Yagyuu sat on the other side of the bed, lay down. He took off his glasses and set them down on the stand.
"I haven't been human since…"Niou closed his eyes as he thought, but couldn't put a figure on it. “Well, for a while, but I don't think most people share their beds with strangers without ulterior motives."
"Hmm," Yagyuu rolled over, facing Niou again. "Who says I don't?"
"Don't what?" Niou turned off the television. The room was dark now, and only a sliver of light from came through the window.
Yagyuu smiled. "Who says I don't have ulterior motives?"
Niou didn't reply, but he let out a short laugh. Yagyuu was good, and knew it. Niou hadn't had this much fun since he could remember.
*
Four weeks had passed, and Niou still hadn't contacted Yukimura. There was probably a nice wooden stake with his name on it in the hands of another hired shadow. Niou would be surprised if Yukimura didn't actually know where he'd been staying.
"You're still here," Yagyuu said, as he always did, when he got back from work.
"Where else would I be?" Niou was on the floor this time, playing a game of Solitaire.
Yagyuu walked over to him, just on the edge of where his cards were. "I was under the impression that you worked."
"Hmm," Niou looked at the spread, and realized he'd lost the game. He collected the cards and began shuffling them again. "I did."
"What exactly do you do, then?" Yagyuu asked, taking the cards from his hands, and placing the deck on the dresser.
Niou leaned back, looking up to Yagyuu. "What sort of job do you think someone like me could get?"
"No address, no family registry, can work only the night-shift, and permanently seventeen?" Yagyuu mused. "I can think of a few."
"Do many of your whores fit that description?" Niou asked, an edge to his voice. "Plus, I thought you knew what I did for a living."
"I own a club not a whore house." Yagyuu explained this point many times, and just as many times, Niou failed to see the difference. He also noticed that Yagyuu didn't respond to the latter half of his comment. That…that was interesting, too.
Niou got to his feet only to flop down on the bed. He glanced over at Yagyuu was still was looking down at the floor in silent contemplation. When he finally spoke, Niou was almost surprised. Almost.
"Isn't it time for your daily meal?" Yagyuu asked with a seemingly casual tone. Niou wanted to call him on it, only he didn't want Yagyuu to get pissed off enough to cancel meal time.
"Yeah," Niou replied, watching as Yagyuu began to remove his shirt. He could see the different places on Yagyuu's upper body that he had bitten. Some were starting to heal, and others were still fresh. He wondered where he would feed from today, not that he drank all that much from him most days, most of the time, it barely a few sips. It was Yagyuu's choice, always Yagyuu's choice, but he didn't care so long as he had what he wanted.
*
Niou panted, fangs bared, and saliva slipping out the corner of his mouth. He arched his body, pushing back against Yagyuu's cock. He could barely think, nearly mindless with need. Before, he couldn't understand it. The only want he had was for blood, but Yagyuu, that bastard, made him crave something else. Yagyuu thrust again, hard, and he could hear the echoes of his own begging in his ear. He felt shameless, pleading with Yagyuu to just give him what he wanted: the blood, to come, either, both, so long as it was now.
"So impatient," Yagyuu breathed in his ear, chest pressed against Niou's back. Niou fell forward, pressing his forehead against his arms when Yagyuu slid his own arm between his mouth and the mattress.
Without a second thought, he sunk in his teeth, moaning as he swallowed the blood that gushed into his mouth. It was delicious, making his mind swim. Whether because Yagyuu drank too damned much or just because it was Yagyuu, he didn't know, didn't care, because it was his either way.
Every swallow of blood caused Yagyuu to pound into him, making him barely able to stay on his knees. Niou closed his eyes when he felt Yagyuu's hand on his cock, and he finally pulled his fangs away from Yagyuu's wrist, their signal. He licked at the blood around the wound, moaning when he felt Yagyuu's teeth on his skin, and came. Minutes later, Yagyuu slumped down on his back, finally causing Niou's legs to give way, falling together in a messy pile on the bed, nearly asleep
Dinnertime always made him tired.
*
Niou made it a full six weeks before he ventured outside to see his boss. It was only after Yagyuu placed a copy of the key to his home in Niou's hand that he went. Not that he couldn't have found another way in, but the key...the key meant something he couldn't even explain.
He wondered if it would matter that he had the key, in the end, as he knelt in the familiar old room. Surely, he was a dead man. Well, a dead dead man.
"How nice of you to show up," Yukimura said, voice colder than usual. "Any longer, and you would be no more than a pile of dust needing to be swept. However, you did manage to kill Atobe, for all the sloppy work you did on that job. As a bonus," Yukimura added, "his shadow followed him."
Suicide, Niou supposed. There was no way anything he did to that beast could have killed him.
"I do have some good news," Yukimura said, then. "The group of men you killed happened to be the next job you were to receive."
Niou had a feeling that there was a connection somewhere that he was supposed to see, but he couldn't. He just wanted to get whatever this was over with so he could leave and go back home.
"Where have you been staying?" Yukimura asked, though it was clear from his tone that there was a right and wrong answer. "You no longer smell as if you'd been rolling in the sewers."
It was funny, him just thinking of Yagyuu's place as home. The hygiene thing, too. He just never cared before. Niou looked up. "With some guy."
Yukimura stared at him for a moment. Niou didn't know what else to add. He only knew slightly more than that, and there was no way he'd ever reveal everything to anyone in one shot.
"I see." Yukimura leaned back in his seat, and tapped his fingers against the desk. After a few minutes, he handed a file to Sanada to be brought to him. "This is your next job. Remember, I do not accept failure."
*
For the first time since he'd started for Yukimura, Niou actually read through the file. This time, he was to kill three men: Tezuka Kunimitsu, Fuji Syusuke, and Echizen Ryoma. Niou tossed the file onto the bedside table when Yagyuu finally got home. Yagyuu was more interesting than work any day.
"Decided to go back to being an upstanding member of society, I see," Yagyuu commented, nodding toward his "work" folder.
Niou laughed. "Yes, I couldn't allow you to be such a gentleman all by yourself."
"You're working again. I guess it would be remiss of me not offer you a celebratory meal." Niou took his shirt off before Yagyuu could even finish his comment. He didn't want to seem too eager, but he was. The mere thought of Yagyuu's cock in his ass or Yagyuu's blood in his mouth made him almost tremble.
Niou canted his hips, sprawled over Yagyuu's lap. It had been twenty minutes, and Yagyuu still hadn't let him bite yet, instead slowly thrusting up into him, over and over. They kissed, too-for the first time- all hot and messy. Niou almost lost all sense as Yagyuu dragged his tongue down the length of his fangs, enough to tease, but not enough to draw blood. He was near begging, too wound up to care about pride or anything else but the blood.
Then Yagyuu tilted his neck to the side, rubbing it against Niou's mouth. Yagyuu, Niou thought as he pierced through the skin, was such a fucking bastard. And, Niou thought as he came, he just didn't care.
*
The job was easy. Almost too easy. Niou had barely had to work at all. He had found one half asleep, soaking in the tub. That one was dead before having a chance to make a sound. The other two, he had found in bed together, too caught up in each other to even notice him before it was too late.
This was one of those jobs that Niou questioned. Yukimura had strange ways, and he rarely understood them, especially when the only crime that family might have committed was taking the trash out at night.
*
Yukimura, contrary to his habit, hadn't needed him for the next two months. Even though he didn't need to work, it unsettled him. Yukimura never did anything without cause, and his causes usually were nowhere near pleasant.
"Quit," Yagyuu suggested. They were in bed, lights off, and Niou, for some reason, felt like talking. Normally, Yagyuu would fuck him near exhaustion, and he'd fall asleep right after. Today, however, he couldn't sleep.
"As easy as that?" Niou asked, knowing very well that it was nowhere near as easy as that.
Yagyuu turned on his side. "You could always work for me."
"And do what, exactly?" Niou asked. Yagyuu's offer wasn't really an offer, but it didn't matter because he wasn't really considering it.
There was a strange smile on Yagyuu's face. "You can't sleep. It would be rude of me not to offer you a midnight snack, I suppose."
Niou was about to ask about it, when Yagyuu's words finally penetrated his mind. That fucking bastard. Next time, Niou swore to himself, he wouldn't let himself be distracted so easily.
*
"I suppose this can be considered your last assignment, if you wish." Yukimura's smile seemed twice as unpleasant as the last time. That unnerved him more than the wait between jobs.
"Why?" Niou had asked before he could stop himself. Sanada's jaw clenched, and he wondered if he'd be backhanded for the insolence.
"I'm one step away from accomplishing my goal," Yukimura replied simply. Sanada brought the folder to him, glaring all the while.
"Seiichi," Sanada said. It was the first time he heard him speak with such a tone. "Your lunch should be ready now."
Niou doubted that was what Sanada really wanted to say, but it didn't matter because Yukimura smiled in a way that Niou would have claimed impossible for the man.
"You may go," Yukimura said, not even looking at him as he followed Sanada out of the other door in the room. Niou snorted to himself, grabbed the folder, and left.
*
His amusement only lasted until he opened the folder. Niou sat on the bed, shocked, and stared at the first page. Angrily, he tossed the folder onto the table, missing it, and scattering the contents onto the floor. He didn’t even bother picking it up, instead sitting there, staring at the blank television, which was how Yagyuu found him, hours later, when he returned home from work.
Yagyuu didn't mention the mess or the paper with his photo on it. He didn't mention Niou's silence or anything about dinner. Yagyuu simply removed his clothes, glasses, and fed him everything he wanted, needed, and didn't say a word.
*
The next day, Niou found himself kneeling once again in Yukimura's office. This time, it was empty. Yukimura emerged a few minutes later, smelling of sex and Sanada; Niou fought not to scrunch his nose in distaste.
"I didn't expect you back so soon." Yukimura's voice was like steel.
Niou looked up, tilting his head to the side. "I quit."
Yukimura was silent for a moment, before he got out of his seat, and walked over to him. "There is no quitting."
"That's too bad, because I'm not doing the job," Niou stated plainly. A year ago, he would have never been so flippant to this man. Now, he didn't care.
Yukimura's hand shot out, grabbing him under the chin, and forcing Niou to stare him straight in the eye. "You will do the job or…"
Niou never did get a chance to hear what would happen, because without a thought, he darted forward, clamping his fangs down on Yukimura's throat. He pulled away, leaving Yukimura staring at him in surprise, before falling down. Niou looked down only for a moment, before escaping out the window. He had to go home.
He felt restless. He had killed Yukimura, his boss, his justification for so long. Niou wished Yagyuu would just get home. He didn't know what to do, and when he didn't know what to do, he usually did something stupid.
There was a knock at the door, and he rushed to open it without thinking, hoping Yagyuu would be on the other side.
"You killed Seiichi," Sanada said, gripping a wooden stake in his hand. Niou didn't have a chance to react before something whizzed by his ear, and straight into Sanada's chest, and then again. Sanada fell to the floor in a heap, and didn't move.
Niou looked over his shoulder to see Yagyuu standing behind him, gun raised, and smoking. It was faint, almost so faint that he couldn't smell it, but it was there. Niou thought back to his first promise to Yagyuu, and decided that this time didn't count.
"When have I ever knocked at my own door?"
*
"I had a feeling I was next," Yagyuu said dryly after Niou had explained, briefly, what led to Sanada showing up on his doorstep.
"What?" Niou asked, surprised, "you knew?"
Yagyuu gave him that infuriating grin that told him that he had missed something obvious. "Of course. We used to work together."
"Doing what?"
"This and that." Yagyuu replied vaguely. "When Yamato, the old owner, died, he split off his business empire amongst his top employees. Yukimura didn't feel like sharing. A pity his plan backfired."
Niou looked up at that. "And yours didn't."
"No," Yagyuu replied calmly, removing his clothes, "it didn't."
Pairing/characters: Yagyuu/Niou, Sanada/Yukimura
Rating: NC-17
Warning: AU, bloodplay, vampires (It was the request, I swear.)
Summary: Niou never could imagine to what fucking up his job would lead.
Betas: djin7 and r05km.
Notes: Written for giving_ground for the balls_it_up exchange.
Niou knelt in the cold dark room. He didn't care that it was dark, because he could see perfectly anyhow, and he didn't care that it was cold, because the cold never bothered him. It was the kneeling. He hated having to kneel before his boss. It was meant to show respect, and that was something Niou hadn’t felt for anyone for a very long time.
The man in front of him smelt like death and semen, an odd heady mix that set his teeth on edge. The swirl of both life and death on his boss' skin sharpened his hunger. He hated that, too. There was nothing he hated more than being a slave to that base need that sunk beneath his very skin.
"Niou-kun, I am pleased with your performance on the Tachibana case.”
He glanced up briefly and saw the lips of his boss curl in an unpleasant smile.
"I have another job for you."
Yukimura always had work for him. There was no end to the list of people that Yukimura decided were irrelevant, or just in his way.
Niou couldn't really complain because Yukimura provided him with the perfect excuse to fulfill his own needs without the added guilt. Well, that’s what he kept telling himself.
There was an odd scent in the room, and it was distracting him. He could hardly concentrate on what Yukimura was saying, because he couldn't help but try to follow the scent to its source. Merely trying to ignore it, and sit still, made him fidget.
"Someone needs to be reminded that what's mine is mine." Yukimura said, voice cutting through the fog, and bringing his attention back on his task.
Yukimura fell silent, closing his eyes. It made Niou grin as he looked back down. No one else would ever be so vulnerable in his presence after knowing what he was, but his boss didn't fear anything, least of all him.
"Sanada," Yukimura called out, tapping a folder on his desk. There was a shift of cloth, and then Sanada stood up from behind the desk. Niou forced himself not to react, even as he saw the wet glisten on Sanada's lips. "Give this to Niou-kun."
With a quick nod, Sanada picked up the folder from Yukimura's hands, not showing a reaction to the way Yukimura let his fingers drag down his own. Niou found this whole display amusing. Yukimura had nothing to fear from him. There was no human that had garnered his interest that way, and if one had, he certainly wouldn't start with someone so clearly owned by someone else.
Sanada curtly shoved the folder into his hands, and went back to stand next to Yukimura's side. Niou looked up, and fully looked at the both of them. Yukimura's smile was still far from pleasant, and he noticed that Sanada's yukata was slightly disheveled.
Knowing he’d been dismissed, Niou got to his feet and bowed before disappearing into the dark of the room, leaving through a window. Yukimura never changed, but then again, neither did Niou so it really didn't matter.
The place he was staying was little more than a half-burnt out hovel mainly used by drug addicts and diseased whores. He didn't mind it, though, because it kept him safe. He didn't drink tainted blood, and they were too stoned to notice him at all. No one was apt to open a window in the daytime, most were either boarded up, or covered with thick cloth.
Niou paged through the first few papers of the folder, mainly checking to see who was to die, and where he lived, and then tossed it under his pillow. He'd do it tomorrow night. He hadn't eaten in a few days, and couldn't hold out much longer.
"Hey, hey, Haruka, Haruka," yelled a slurred, frightened voice from the opposite corner of the room. He could see the figure of a man bent over a still body on the floor. Niou took one sniff, and grimaced. Another dead junkie. Great. After everyone was either gone or passed out, he'd get rid of the body. He couldn't stand the smell of rotting whore.
*
It was just barely twilight when Niou stumbled out of what he affectionately referred to as "the nest". He hadn't bathed in over a week, and only bothered to change into his least disgusting clothes because he didn't want to be too conspicuous when tracking down that rich asshole.
Two hours later, he was sitting on a low tree branch watching Atobe Keigo, his newest target, walk out of his mansion. Atobe was talking on a cell phone with an arrogant smirk on his face. Niou disliked him immediately. There were very few people that Yukimura wanted dead that ever made him pause upon their only meeting. This one was not one of those. He clearly reeked of spoiled, rich brat.
Annoyed, Niou waited no more, leaping from the tree limb and onto Atobe. Niou's teeth were bared, saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth, and he gnashed his teeth deep into Atobe's throat, tearing the skin away as he did. Blood spurted from the wound, gushing into his mouth, and onto the street.
Niou just barely began to feed when something heavy landed on him from behind, nearly knocking him out. He turned around only to find a great hulky man glaring at him. If he weren't too physically drained, he would have stayed and killed that man as well, but he could feel the weakness in his limbs. He wouldn't win this fight, and he knew when to cut his losses. He growled, biting into the nearest bit of flesh he could find, until the man loosened his grip enough so he could escape.
After running for some time, Niou slumped down in the middle of an alley, finally taking a break. He rubbed the back of his head, feeling the lump.
"Shit," he swore under his breath. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, he'd just heal himself. However, lately he'd been more and more resistant to taking more than just enough blood to survive, only feeding when Yukimura had ordered a hit, and now he hadn’t had the chance to take enough to sustain himself. "Shit."
Idly, Niou wondered if that ape-man would have been in the folder's notes. Probably. It was his own fault; this wasn't the first time that he didn't bother to read beyond the name and location, causing complications. Somehow, it seemed too much like work if he actually put that much effort into it. His association with Yukimura merely justified his existence.
Leaning his head back, he contemplated just hunting this time, and not waiting for Yukimura's next summons- if there was one after this mess. He had damaged the target pretty severely, but he hadn't confirmed his death, and people had survived worse. He hoped that bastard was dead. It was only a pity that he hadn't killed that freakishly large beast he kept as a pet.
"Maybe I should just…"Niou said, trailing off when he heard a loud noise from the opening of the alley.
"Leave now," said a man with a cold voice, cutting through the din of the streets. Niou inched forward, peering out to see a tall, slim man with glasses surrounded by five nasty-looking guys, brandishing weapons and irritated expressions. The man with glasses seemed unaffected by the threat to his life and merely repeated to them, "Leave now."
One of the men swung his arm back, and before he could lunge with his weapon, Niou found himself jumping in front of the bespectacled man, tearing the attacking man's neck apart. Something sharp pierced his side, but he ignored it in favor of quickly snapping the neck of the next.
"Rin, Kai, kill him" A tall, unpleasant man wearing unflattering glasses yelled at his comrades. Niou charged at the one who, apparently, was named Rin, and dug his fingers into his flesh, gnashing at his neck, spilling the blood onto the streets. The blood made his stomach curl, and he spat it out into Kai's face.
Niou briefly looked to see the slim man watch him with a cold disinterest, as if it were a common sight. Another sharp jab and he returned his attention back to the rest of the men. He took two more stabs to his torso before he dealt the final blow to the tallest of the group, Kite. He had a smirk similar to Atobe's, and he gladly took him down.
The group of men lay at his feet, dead and bloodied, and he finally looked over at the man he had rescued. He smiled at him, smelling no fear, and walked towards him.
"Yes?" The man asked, shifting on his feet. His expression never changed.
"I saved your life," Niou replied, amused. He thought he heard the man laugh, before he passed out at his feet.
*
Niou slowly felt himself being pulled from a dream. Struggling, he tried to stay asleep, not wanting to wake just yet. His dream was red, warm, and enticing. He normally dreamt of food, gorging himself on blood until he finally felt sated. Niou never dreamt of sex, until now. The taste of blood and come was on his tongue, and he couldn't get enough.
"Am I that delicious?" A voice asked, ringing through his mind, fully pulling him from sleep. Niou opened his eyes, and saw the face of the man in the alley staring back at him. They were on a large, soft bed, which certainly wasn't his-there were no piss stains or roaches-and in a room that could have been at a fancy hotel, but the pictures on the walls said otherwise.
As he made to answer him, Niou found his mouth attached to the man's wrist. Slowly, he retracted his fangs, and shifted so he could sit up in the bed. "Passable."
The man raised an eyebrow at that. "Now that you've had such a mediocre dinner, surely you're able to leave."
Niou smirked at the annoyed expression on the man's face. "Nah. Don't feel like it yet. I'm Niou, by the way."
The man's lips were pressed in a straight line, but he replied anyhow. "It's a pleasure, Niou-kun."
He was lying, Niou was sure, but he let it pass. He never had the experience of talking to one of his meals before. This man was unlike any of the worthless scum Yukimura asked him to kill, and he wasn't some low-life hell bent on raping or beating some helpless fool, which were the only people Niou ever came into contact with anymore. This man made him wonder.
The man got up from the bed, walked over to his closet, and picked out a pair of slacks and a shirt. "I'm going to work. I expect you to be gone when I return."
"Whatever," Niou replied, sinking back down on the pillows. The man continued to change his clothes unabashedly, as if he weren't there, so Niou decided to watch just as unabashedly, not even bothering to blink. He noticed, then, that there was more than one set of bite marks on his skin. Niou, apparently, did find this man to be delicious. Though, it was strange that none of the bite marks were in locations that would do his normal level of damage. One was on his wrist, another was on his chest, and the other on his lower torso. Niou wondered how the hell he managed to bite him there and why the hell this guy even let him.
"I don't suppose you work."
Niou looked up from the man's waist, and back on his face. "What makes you sure I don't?"
"Aside from the fact your clothes looked as if they'd never been washed, you were filthy, and smelt as if you used the urine of fifty men as cologne."
"Oh, that," Niou said, waving him off. "I work."
"A reputable job, I'm sure."
Niou found that funny, more than he should have. "Far more reputable than yours."
"You know what I do for a living?" The man, for once, actually looked curious about his answer.
"You," Niou said, surreptitiously taking in the general scent of the room."You're a pimp."
The man smiled. It reminded him of Yukimura. Too much like Yukimura. "You're a killer."
Niou didn't bother denying it. "And?"
"Well, the people I come across in my job generally still live afterward."
"And that's the better deal?" Niou asked, remembering dragging out yet another dead corpse out of the hovel at which he resided. "I guess it depends on who you ask."
"Hmm," the man walked over to the bed, and sat down next to him. "I'm not afraid of you or what you are."
"I know. I never once smelt fear on you," Niou replied. "I'll leave the day I do."
The man got up again, and busied himself with placing his wallet, keys, and other things in his pockets. "Is that so?"
He didn't reply. His eyes felt heavy again, and he found himself closing his eyes despite still wanting to talk. He hadn't talked to anyone beyond the usual with Yukimura, which boiled down to being told to kill someone, and replying in the affirmative.
*
When he woke again, the room was dark, and the man was gone. There was a slip of paper on the table beside the bed, and it was addressed to him. It told him, once more, to be gone when the man got back, whose name, according to the signature at the bottom, was Yagyuu.
Niou got out of bed, then, but had no intention of leaving. It was far more interesting than watching his housemates shoot up, fuck, and die. He found the bathroom, and decided that a shower would perhaps be a good idea. Under the hot spray, he watched the clear water pour down, and realized that he was already clean. Yagyuu, that pervert.
*
It was a little past three in the morning when Yagyuu returned. Niou was in the bed, again, watching television, changing the channel whenever he got bored, which happened to be every five minutes.
"Didn't I tell you to leave?" Yagyuu asked, unbuttoning his shirt. There was no trace of surprise in his voice, however, and Niou didn't think Yagyuu was expecting him to listen.
Niou shrugged. "I suppose you did. I told you when I'd leave."
"Is that your way of telling me you're going to be staying for a while?" Yagyuu asked, sounding amused, despite the bland expression. Niou looked over at him, and watched as he stripped out his pants.
"You don't seem uncomfortable with the idea," Niou replied, turning his attention back on an infomercial.
"Should I be?" Yagyuu sat on the other side of the bed, lay down. He took off his glasses and set them down on the stand.
"I haven't been human since…"Niou closed his eyes as he thought, but couldn't put a figure on it. “Well, for a while, but I don't think most people share their beds with strangers without ulterior motives."
"Hmm," Yagyuu rolled over, facing Niou again. "Who says I don't?"
"Don't what?" Niou turned off the television. The room was dark now, and only a sliver of light from came through the window.
Yagyuu smiled. "Who says I don't have ulterior motives?"
Niou didn't reply, but he let out a short laugh. Yagyuu was good, and knew it. Niou hadn't had this much fun since he could remember.
*
Four weeks had passed, and Niou still hadn't contacted Yukimura. There was probably a nice wooden stake with his name on it in the hands of another hired shadow. Niou would be surprised if Yukimura didn't actually know where he'd been staying.
"You're still here," Yagyuu said, as he always did, when he got back from work.
"Where else would I be?" Niou was on the floor this time, playing a game of Solitaire.
Yagyuu walked over to him, just on the edge of where his cards were. "I was under the impression that you worked."
"Hmm," Niou looked at the spread, and realized he'd lost the game. He collected the cards and began shuffling them again. "I did."
"What exactly do you do, then?" Yagyuu asked, taking the cards from his hands, and placing the deck on the dresser.
Niou leaned back, looking up to Yagyuu. "What sort of job do you think someone like me could get?"
"No address, no family registry, can work only the night-shift, and permanently seventeen?" Yagyuu mused. "I can think of a few."
"Do many of your whores fit that description?" Niou asked, an edge to his voice. "Plus, I thought you knew what I did for a living."
"I own a club not a whore house." Yagyuu explained this point many times, and just as many times, Niou failed to see the difference. He also noticed that Yagyuu didn't respond to the latter half of his comment. That…that was interesting, too.
Niou got to his feet only to flop down on the bed. He glanced over at Yagyuu was still was looking down at the floor in silent contemplation. When he finally spoke, Niou was almost surprised. Almost.
"Isn't it time for your daily meal?" Yagyuu asked with a seemingly casual tone. Niou wanted to call him on it, only he didn't want Yagyuu to get pissed off enough to cancel meal time.
"Yeah," Niou replied, watching as Yagyuu began to remove his shirt. He could see the different places on Yagyuu's upper body that he had bitten. Some were starting to heal, and others were still fresh. He wondered where he would feed from today, not that he drank all that much from him most days, most of the time, it barely a few sips. It was Yagyuu's choice, always Yagyuu's choice, but he didn't care so long as he had what he wanted.
*
Niou panted, fangs bared, and saliva slipping out the corner of his mouth. He arched his body, pushing back against Yagyuu's cock. He could barely think, nearly mindless with need. Before, he couldn't understand it. The only want he had was for blood, but Yagyuu, that bastard, made him crave something else. Yagyuu thrust again, hard, and he could hear the echoes of his own begging in his ear. He felt shameless, pleading with Yagyuu to just give him what he wanted: the blood, to come, either, both, so long as it was now.
"So impatient," Yagyuu breathed in his ear, chest pressed against Niou's back. Niou fell forward, pressing his forehead against his arms when Yagyuu slid his own arm between his mouth and the mattress.
Without a second thought, he sunk in his teeth, moaning as he swallowed the blood that gushed into his mouth. It was delicious, making his mind swim. Whether because Yagyuu drank too damned much or just because it was Yagyuu, he didn't know, didn't care, because it was his either way.
Every swallow of blood caused Yagyuu to pound into him, making him barely able to stay on his knees. Niou closed his eyes when he felt Yagyuu's hand on his cock, and he finally pulled his fangs away from Yagyuu's wrist, their signal. He licked at the blood around the wound, moaning when he felt Yagyuu's teeth on his skin, and came. Minutes later, Yagyuu slumped down on his back, finally causing Niou's legs to give way, falling together in a messy pile on the bed, nearly asleep
Dinnertime always made him tired.
*
Niou made it a full six weeks before he ventured outside to see his boss. It was only after Yagyuu placed a copy of the key to his home in Niou's hand that he went. Not that he couldn't have found another way in, but the key...the key meant something he couldn't even explain.
He wondered if it would matter that he had the key, in the end, as he knelt in the familiar old room. Surely, he was a dead man. Well, a dead dead man.
"How nice of you to show up," Yukimura said, voice colder than usual. "Any longer, and you would be no more than a pile of dust needing to be swept. However, you did manage to kill Atobe, for all the sloppy work you did on that job. As a bonus," Yukimura added, "his shadow followed him."
Suicide, Niou supposed. There was no way anything he did to that beast could have killed him.
"I do have some good news," Yukimura said, then. "The group of men you killed happened to be the next job you were to receive."
Niou had a feeling that there was a connection somewhere that he was supposed to see, but he couldn't. He just wanted to get whatever this was over with so he could leave and go back home.
"Where have you been staying?" Yukimura asked, though it was clear from his tone that there was a right and wrong answer. "You no longer smell as if you'd been rolling in the sewers."
It was funny, him just thinking of Yagyuu's place as home. The hygiene thing, too. He just never cared before. Niou looked up. "With some guy."
Yukimura stared at him for a moment. Niou didn't know what else to add. He only knew slightly more than that, and there was no way he'd ever reveal everything to anyone in one shot.
"I see." Yukimura leaned back in his seat, and tapped his fingers against the desk. After a few minutes, he handed a file to Sanada to be brought to him. "This is your next job. Remember, I do not accept failure."
*
For the first time since he'd started for Yukimura, Niou actually read through the file. This time, he was to kill three men: Tezuka Kunimitsu, Fuji Syusuke, and Echizen Ryoma. Niou tossed the file onto the bedside table when Yagyuu finally got home. Yagyuu was more interesting than work any day.
"Decided to go back to being an upstanding member of society, I see," Yagyuu commented, nodding toward his "work" folder.
Niou laughed. "Yes, I couldn't allow you to be such a gentleman all by yourself."
"You're working again. I guess it would be remiss of me not offer you a celebratory meal." Niou took his shirt off before Yagyuu could even finish his comment. He didn't want to seem too eager, but he was. The mere thought of Yagyuu's cock in his ass or Yagyuu's blood in his mouth made him almost tremble.
Niou canted his hips, sprawled over Yagyuu's lap. It had been twenty minutes, and Yagyuu still hadn't let him bite yet, instead slowly thrusting up into him, over and over. They kissed, too-for the first time- all hot and messy. Niou almost lost all sense as Yagyuu dragged his tongue down the length of his fangs, enough to tease, but not enough to draw blood. He was near begging, too wound up to care about pride or anything else but the blood.
Then Yagyuu tilted his neck to the side, rubbing it against Niou's mouth. Yagyuu, Niou thought as he pierced through the skin, was such a fucking bastard. And, Niou thought as he came, he just didn't care.
*
The job was easy. Almost too easy. Niou had barely had to work at all. He had found one half asleep, soaking in the tub. That one was dead before having a chance to make a sound. The other two, he had found in bed together, too caught up in each other to even notice him before it was too late.
This was one of those jobs that Niou questioned. Yukimura had strange ways, and he rarely understood them, especially when the only crime that family might have committed was taking the trash out at night.
*
Yukimura, contrary to his habit, hadn't needed him for the next two months. Even though he didn't need to work, it unsettled him. Yukimura never did anything without cause, and his causes usually were nowhere near pleasant.
"Quit," Yagyuu suggested. They were in bed, lights off, and Niou, for some reason, felt like talking. Normally, Yagyuu would fuck him near exhaustion, and he'd fall asleep right after. Today, however, he couldn't sleep.
"As easy as that?" Niou asked, knowing very well that it was nowhere near as easy as that.
Yagyuu turned on his side. "You could always work for me."
"And do what, exactly?" Niou asked. Yagyuu's offer wasn't really an offer, but it didn't matter because he wasn't really considering it.
There was a strange smile on Yagyuu's face. "You can't sleep. It would be rude of me not to offer you a midnight snack, I suppose."
Niou was about to ask about it, when Yagyuu's words finally penetrated his mind. That fucking bastard. Next time, Niou swore to himself, he wouldn't let himself be distracted so easily.
*
"I suppose this can be considered your last assignment, if you wish." Yukimura's smile seemed twice as unpleasant as the last time. That unnerved him more than the wait between jobs.
"Why?" Niou had asked before he could stop himself. Sanada's jaw clenched, and he wondered if he'd be backhanded for the insolence.
"I'm one step away from accomplishing my goal," Yukimura replied simply. Sanada brought the folder to him, glaring all the while.
"Seiichi," Sanada said. It was the first time he heard him speak with such a tone. "Your lunch should be ready now."
Niou doubted that was what Sanada really wanted to say, but it didn't matter because Yukimura smiled in a way that Niou would have claimed impossible for the man.
"You may go," Yukimura said, not even looking at him as he followed Sanada out of the other door in the room. Niou snorted to himself, grabbed the folder, and left.
*
His amusement only lasted until he opened the folder. Niou sat on the bed, shocked, and stared at the first page. Angrily, he tossed the folder onto the table, missing it, and scattering the contents onto the floor. He didn’t even bother picking it up, instead sitting there, staring at the blank television, which was how Yagyuu found him, hours later, when he returned home from work.
Yagyuu didn't mention the mess or the paper with his photo on it. He didn't mention Niou's silence or anything about dinner. Yagyuu simply removed his clothes, glasses, and fed him everything he wanted, needed, and didn't say a word.
*
The next day, Niou found himself kneeling once again in Yukimura's office. This time, it was empty. Yukimura emerged a few minutes later, smelling of sex and Sanada; Niou fought not to scrunch his nose in distaste.
"I didn't expect you back so soon." Yukimura's voice was like steel.
Niou looked up, tilting his head to the side. "I quit."
Yukimura was silent for a moment, before he got out of his seat, and walked over to him. "There is no quitting."
"That's too bad, because I'm not doing the job," Niou stated plainly. A year ago, he would have never been so flippant to this man. Now, he didn't care.
Yukimura's hand shot out, grabbing him under the chin, and forcing Niou to stare him straight in the eye. "You will do the job or…"
Niou never did get a chance to hear what would happen, because without a thought, he darted forward, clamping his fangs down on Yukimura's throat. He pulled away, leaving Yukimura staring at him in surprise, before falling down. Niou looked down only for a moment, before escaping out the window. He had to go home.
He felt restless. He had killed Yukimura, his boss, his justification for so long. Niou wished Yagyuu would just get home. He didn't know what to do, and when he didn't know what to do, he usually did something stupid.
There was a knock at the door, and he rushed to open it without thinking, hoping Yagyuu would be on the other side.
"You killed Seiichi," Sanada said, gripping a wooden stake in his hand. Niou didn't have a chance to react before something whizzed by his ear, and straight into Sanada's chest, and then again. Sanada fell to the floor in a heap, and didn't move.
Niou looked over his shoulder to see Yagyuu standing behind him, gun raised, and smoking. It was faint, almost so faint that he couldn't smell it, but it was there. Niou thought back to his first promise to Yagyuu, and decided that this time didn't count.
"When have I ever knocked at my own door?"
*
"I had a feeling I was next," Yagyuu said dryly after Niou had explained, briefly, what led to Sanada showing up on his doorstep.
"What?" Niou asked, surprised, "you knew?"
Yagyuu gave him that infuriating grin that told him that he had missed something obvious. "Of course. We used to work together."
"Doing what?"
"This and that." Yagyuu replied vaguely. "When Yamato, the old owner, died, he split off his business empire amongst his top employees. Yukimura didn't feel like sharing. A pity his plan backfired."
Niou looked up at that. "And yours didn't."
"No," Yagyuu replied calmly, removing his clothes, "it didn't."