All Things Beautiful and Bloody [7/?]
Title: All Things Beautiful and Bloody
Characters: Everybody, starring in particular Kenki, Mitsuya, Yukito, and Yamada Pudding.
Genre: Vampire School!AU
Chapter Rating: G or something hahaha.
Word Count: 7161
Summary: Yamaguchi and Mitsuya reflect on the previous day while the new students begin their first lesson.
Notes: I apologize in advance because it's mostly just bakappuru angst :/
--
Chapter 7
Another practice dummy split apart with a crack and the screech of metal against stone. Yamaguchi kicked it aside and cast his weapon on top of it. He reached out blindly and seized hold of the battleaxe Jinnai had given him several years ago, hewing at the next target. He cleaved it in two, then ten and twenty and a thousand more pieces until it was dust. He did the same to the following seven targets before the axe was ripped from his hand and Kamitsuru was wrestling with him. Yamaguchi found a hold and sent Kamitsuru flying across the room, then found another sword and went back to chopping at targets. He was only halfway through demolishing the next one when Kamitsuru came at him again. This time he didn’t bother with the weapon and threw Yamaguchi into the wall, knocking over a row of targets. Yamaguchi spun in midair and pressed off against the wall, tackling Kamitsuru, who rolled with the blow. Yamaguchi’s momentum sent him too far and Kamitsuru dove on top of him, pinning him down. Yamaguchi struggled to get free, but he knew that he couldn’t. Eventually he lay still, waiting for Kamitsuru to relax his guard so that he could reverse the situation.
“It’s not your fault,” Kamitsuru said, and Yamaguchi didn’t reply. What could he say to such an obvious lie? “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he went on, and while no doubt he believed what he was saying, Yamaguchi didn’t. Kamitsuru started going on about how there wasn’t any point in regretting what had happened, how in three hundred years nobody would even remember it, but Yamaguchi knew better. Even if millennia passed, he didn’t think he’d ever forget the circumstances that had led to him becoming a vampire, and that was already four hundred. He hadn’t forgotten his first meeting with Kamitsuru, or the first time he’d killed a vampire, or the first time he’d wanted a student, and if he remembered all of that, how was he ever going to forget how he had treated Mitsuya today? How could he forget how Mitsuya tasted, like sugar and saltwater, and how could he ever taste him again without remembering what he’d done?
“You don’t understand,” he said at last. “What it’s like being torn between your principles and your desire.”
Kamitsuru was silent for a long time. “You’re right. I don’t understand. But I do know how it feels to hurt someone you love.” He got up and offered Yamaguchi his hand to help him up. Yamaguchi was still for a minute, then took it. He used it to throw Kamitsuru over him, but Kamitsuru maintained his grip, and he was pulled along with him. He landed on him as hard as he could, but Kamitsuru simply wrapped his arms around him and squeezed tightly. He didn’t relax his grip until he felt one of Yamaguchi’s ribs crack. “I could have protected you better. It’s my fault.”
“I don’t need your protection. I shouldn’t need your protection.” He pushed Kamitsuru’s arms off and rolled off of him. Breathing was difficult and his chest ached even as the bone began to knit itself back together. “And anything I did, I did of my own damnably weak will.”
Kamitsuru ran his fingers over Yamaguchi’s cheek and then mercifully stopped touching him. “I don’t know why you think there’s something wrong with making the choice to do what you want. If you must, though, at least acknowledge that you’re free to make a different choice next time. The consequences of your actions are not as lasting as you might think they are.”
Yamaguchi said nothing.
“He is young,” Kamitsuru added eventually, “but you were younger. Do not flatter yourself by imagining your own problems in others. The road of eternity is a long one.” For some reason his obvious irritation was more relieving than his carefully chosen words. “Yamaguchi. You must join the Bloodfast now. If you let any personal feelings get in the way of your duty this time, you will suffer from it, and needlessly. As intimate as the ceremony may seem, it-”
“Fine. I’ll do it.” Yamaguchi got back to his feet and punched a dummy, sending it flying. It hit the wall and slid down it into a pathetic heap on the ground. “Does it have to be him, though?”
“It might.”
Yamaguchi kicked the dummy, softly at first, but with an increasing anger. “That means yes.”
“If you had come when I called and not wasted your time here destroying things like a child, it wouldn’t have,” Kamitsuru said evenly, and tossed the axe at him.
Yamaguchi caught it and lopped off the dummy’s head, which he kicked in Kamitsuru’s direction. “Let me finish this, then I’ll go, I promise.”
Kamitsuru swept out of the room, cape sweeping around his shoulders. “I trust you. You may take your time, but make sure that you receive it tonight, and pass it along to little Mitsuya tomorrow.”
“I understand.” Kamitsuru slammed the door behind him. Yamaguchi sighed, swung his axe again, and tried desperately not to think of Mitsuya. He continued to destroy practice targets until the floor was covered with a thick layer of sawdust and every last one of them had been crushed.
-
Waking didn’t come easily to Mitsuya that evening. Every time he opened his eyes, he didn’t see how he could ever possibly do more than that, and so he closed them again. Everything seemed all right when all he could see was black and he could feel Yukito’s arm around his waist. When he opened his eyes, he could see Yukito’s peacefully sleeping face, but he could also see the dark mark on his neck that had not yet healed from Mitsuya’s bite.
He was used to waking earlier than most, perhaps a holdover from his human days, and sleeping in didn’t come easily to him, but he managed to do it a few times, at least until Yukito began to stir as well. He finally gave up on giving up and drew Yukito close. “Good evening,” he said, kissing his nose.
“Evenin’,” Yukito said with a yawn. He stretched his arms out and rolled half on top of Mitsuya. His hot breath tickled his neck. Mitsuya watched his eyelids flutter open and closed until he managed to wake up fully. He inched his way forward and kissed Mitsuya. “You feel better,” he said, and before it could really register with Mitsuya he quickly added, “Not like, really happy or anything, just… more than yesterday.”
“Sorry to worry you.” Mitsuya ruffled his hair and sat up, Yukito falling into his lap. “I didn’t say anything yesterday, but apparently we have to do a Bloodfast, or something. Madame Youichirou yelled at me but I just wanted to stay here with you, so I didn’t say anything… I’m sorry. I’m sorry if you get in trouble because of me.”
“Mm-mm, I don’t mind. Who wants to have a Bloodfast anyway? Maybe if we stay here we can get out of it, and then we can drink all we want while the rest of them have to suffer.”
Mitsuya laughed. “I don’t think it works that way.”
“It should.” Yukito started playing with the buttons on his jacket and Mitsuya realized that he had slept in full dress uniform last day, minus only his shoes.
“I really was a mess yesterday, huh?” he said with a sigh. He started taking his jacket off, but Yukito’s hands covered his and started doing the work for him. Mitsuya started picking at a bit of embroidery on his sleeve instead.
“I made a bigger mess yesterday!” Yukito pulled the jacket over his head and pulled the tie off as well before starting on the shirt.
“What did you do? You didn’t hurt anyone, did you? Don’t tell me you-” He was cut off as Yukito pulled the shirt halfway over his head before starting on the rest of the buttons.
“I didn’t kill anybody, relax. So far I don’t hate any of them, even that icy creep. And you know I only kill the ones I hate.”
Mitsuya tossed the shirt off and flicked his nose. “Don’t kill people even if you hate them,” he said as firmly as he could. Yukito pouted and tried to take advantage of Mitsuya’s state of undress by biting at his collarbones, but before he could draw blood, Mitsuya pushed him away, half with magic and half with his hands. “Don’t think you’re going to distract me that easily. I know your tricks.” He threw a sock at him too, just for good measure. Yukito waited until he was struggling with his pants to sketch a few lines in the air. The sheets immediately rose up and twisted around his arms, pinning him to the bed. “Hey!”
“Just because you know my tricks doesn’t mean they don’t work,” Yukito said. He leapt back onto the bed and started with the collarbones again.
“Do they?” Mitsuya asked, a little vaguely, to be sure, but even though his throat wasn’t working properly with Yukito’s mouth in close proximity, his mind was. “You are a very bad vampire child, and you need to properly apologize to everyone you hurt.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Yukito,” Mitsuya said warningly, and closed his eyes, letting his emotions drop away and calming his restless blood.
He was about halfway to a completely empty state when Yukito finally relented. He stopped kissing his neck and curled up at the foot of the bed. “Sorry. I’ll do it, so please don’t blank out like that,” he mumbled.
Mitsuya waited until his skin had warmed up again before patting his head. “And to think everyone thinks you’re hard to manage,” he teased. When Yukito looked up, his eyes were filled with hurt, and only some of it was exaggerated. Mitsuya’s blood reacted sharply, but he calmed it and reached out to him. “I don’t think anything could make me stop loving you, but I hate worrying about you. Please don’t make me worry too much?”
Yukito slowly took his hand. “You’re mean. You pretend to be all nice and stuff but you’re actually eviler than me.”
“I think you’re underestimating yourself,” Mitsuya said, and pulled him back into his lap. “So what did you do this time, anyway?”
Yukito brightened. “Okay, remember when I burned down the old magic classroom? It was like that, only I used a dragon to do it!” He began radiating a soft glow as he continued to talk, and Mitsuya relaxed slightly. He made an absentminded gesture and a new outfit soared into his hands. He had to push Yukito off in order to finish dressing, but Yukito was shining so much that he didn’t mind. He didn’t even try climbing back on Mitsuya until he had all his clothes on. “And then I walked out really cool, and Professor Jinnai was going to yell at me or something but I was just like ‘She shouldn’t have done that to my best friend’ and he just stared at me really stupid and started helping out the kids or something, I guess. And then I came here and now I’ll never ever leave you again, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Mitsuya said, and stood up with Yukito still clinging to him. “You’re very clever and talented, you know. Would you make me a butterfly too?”
“Not a dragon?”
“I already have enough cleaning up to do without a dragon adding to the mess.” He set Yukito down so his hands would be free to create something, and started making the bed, frowning at the black ashy marks on the sheets. He’d have to get them washed when he had time. A purple butterfly with vaguely heart-shaped pink marks on its wings flew in front of his face and he gasped in delight. “Yukkii, it’s adorable!” He cupped his hands together and the butterfly landed in them, making a ringing sound that almost sounded like laughter.
“It’s a Micchan butterfly, so of course it’s adorable. Do you like it?” Yukito asked eagerly.
The butterfly walked to the tip of Mitsuya’s finger and flew around in a circle, then vanished with the sound of a crashing cymbal and a burst of affection. “I love it. It’s perfect,” Mitsuya said, and hugged Yukito.
“Aaahh, you’re smothering me with love,” Yukito complained, and Mitsuya restrained his emotions a little, but probably not as much as Yukito wanted him to.
“If I can’t smother you, who can I smother?” he asked, and swept last night’s clothes into a laundry bin with a wave of his hand before taking Yukito’s arm and heading out of the room. When they got to Yukito’s room, Mitsuya realized he had forgotten to wash his face and excused himself to the bathroom. Despite how much time he’d spent crying the night before, Yukito had done a pretty good job of taking care of that, and only a few rusty streaks under his chin betrayed the bloody tears he’d shed. He moistened a cloth and dabbed at them.
Have you recovered enough to start Fasting? Professor Jinnai asked.
Mitsuya flinched at the sudden voice and squeezed the cloth, dripping water all down his front. Yes, he replied cautiously. Yukkii’s calmed down as well, so I don’t think you’ll have to deal with any more dragons any time soon.
Have you both calmed down enough to forgive my poor, misguided Madame for her awful transgressions?
Yes, Mitsuya said without hesitation. Yukito never held grudges against people he liked, he just took out his anger on them or someone else right away and then got over it. Mitsuya had never even blamed her, really. It was mostly his own fault, after all.
Oh good, Madame Youichirou said. Dearest Ryou, I’m so sorry. The headmaster gave me the news of the Fast and that I was to be the vessel for the ceremony so suddenly, and I was so looking forward to tasting the new ones, and do you know how incredibly unpleasant it is, making the necessary preparations for a Bloodfast? It’s awful! But I took it out on you, and I’m sorry for that.
It’s all right. It’s not like I was going to have another chance to do that any other time this century, he replied, reliving the brief moment Yamaguchi’s lips had covered his with that soft pressure.
I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Jinnai said. You weren’t the only one who was too busy throwing a tantrum to join the rest of us last night.
For what it’s worth, we think you had more reason to do it than he did, Madame Youichirou added, which didn’t comfort him the way it was probably supposed to. Not a lot seemed comforting now that he realized he was going to have to kiss Yamaguchi again, particularly not knowing that the older vampire had been so badly hurt by what he’d done that he’d missed taking part in an important ritual like this. If you could go to the banquet hall, I’ll provide you with a last drink and then you can have another shot at making that foolish man understand you.
Yukito stuck his head into the room. “You okay? You’re feeling awfully sad all of a sudden.” He finished the last button on his shirt and waved his arms at Mitsuya, as if trying to dissipate the gloomy film of emotion that clung to him.
“Just got a bit upset with myself again. You don’t have to worry.” Mitsuya attempted to dry himself off and eventually gave up. “No more blood for us,” he said, turning to leave, but Yukito smiled a very evil smile and pushed him up against the wall.
“Not even a little?” he asked with the pleading face that Mitsuya had a hard time refusing. His fangs shone in the darkness before Mitsuya gave in and bared his neck to him. True to his word, Yukito drank only a little blood before he let the wound close, but he spent so much time kissing and biting at his skin beforehand that it left Mitsuya feeling as weak as if he’d taken a lot more. “Micchan’s blood tastes best, after all,” he said when he was done, and held him up until he had recovered. “I couldn’t bear going through a whole long fast without one last taste.”
“Am I really that tasty?” Mitsuya still didn’t quite understand why Yukito was so interested in drinking from him all the time, and could only assume it was his weird way of showing affection. If he were someone like Yukito, whose blood was a mix of ordinary vampire and noble vampire blood, or if, like the teachers, he was old enough to be practically indistinguishable from a member of the vampire aristocracy, it would make sense, because the more powerful the blood, the more delicious it was, and the stronger the desire for it was. But Mitsuya was still young, and any noble blood in him came directly from Yukito already. Maybe it was because he was always letting his emotions escape his inner thoughts, and that was changing the flavor. Maybe Yukito was just hungry all the time, and Mitsuya was the only one willing to feed him.
“Do you even have to ask?”
“I can’t exactly taste myself, you know. It seems normal to me.”
“You’re missing out.”
Mitsuya thought about delaying the inevitable by continuing the aimless conversation, maybe letting Yukito bite him again, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. After all, Yamaguchi hated to be kept waiting, and he didn’t think he could bear to disappoint him again. He settled for teasing Yukito about how messy his room was and throwing a heap of dirty clothes where they belonged, and Yukito quickly pushed him out before he could clean his room up any more.
Madame Youichirou was waiting for them, and she and Yukito made faces at each other until Mitsuya broke it up with an even weirder face, making them laugh. She handed them each a glass, then poured a little ordinary human blood into each of them. Mitsuya couldn’t help feeling bad that Yukito got less than he did, but Yukito didn’t complain. After they drank, she took their glasses to an adjoining room and returned with Yamaguchi. His skin seemed unhealthily pale, and he looked extra tired. While he never took particular care with his appearance, his clothes weren’t usually as stained and torn as these ones were. He was staring blankly into the air, and Madame Youichirou had to force his hands to close around a small glass vial. He seemed to realize where he was, and briefly made eye contact with Mitsuya before fixing his gaze on the ground.
Mitsuya stepped forward. “I’m really sorry about last night, sir.” Yamaguchi’s eye rolled back towards him, and Mitsuya wished yet again that he could feel his emotions the way he could Yukito’s, without having to guess at what the gleam in his eyes really meant. “I… I wasn’t strong enough to defend myself, and that ended up affecting you as well. You were...” He glanced briefly at Yukito, but could already feel his disapproval. “Thank you for pushing me away,” he said finally, and Yamaguchi seemed to straighten up and become his ordinary self again. Yukito felt angry, and he was vaguely aware that Madame Youichirou was making an expression of betrayal at him, as if he was ruining all her hard work. It was painful for him to say those words, but he knew it was what he had to say. It was… it was a way to repair the carefully-laid boundaries between a teacher and a student that Yamaguchi tried so hard to maintain. As the inferior party, Mitsuya’s responsibility was to apologize, and Yamaguchi’s was to tell him off and then gruffly forgive him.
Yamaguchi cleared his throat. “What I did was very wrong,” he said, and Mitsuya’s blood started rushing and emotions started pouring out of him. Yukito pushed back at him, but he couldn’t seem to control it. What does he mean? he wondered, half to himself, half to Yukito. Kissing me? Pushing me away? All of it? Yukito didn’t respond. “We were both wrong,” Yamaguchi continued, and Mitsuya’s blood turned to ice. “I accept your apology, and ask that you accept mine as well.”
“Y-yes, of course, I mean, you don’t have to- it was, I…” Mitsuya swallowed. “Yes,” he said again, and immediately Yukito and Madame Youichirou were both in his head yelling at him. “Of course, I intend to treat this ritual as nothing more than that,” he added, and the yelling intensified.
“Of course,” Yamaguchi echoed, and seemed to notice the glass in his hand for the first time. On cue, Madame Youichirou brought the bottle of liquid over and he filled it up.
Mitsuya fought the sudden, crazy urge to beg Yukito to let him drink from him one last time and stepped forward. “All at once is fine,” he heard himself say as he took the vial, and Yamaguchi nodded as Mitsuya raised it to his lips, then kissed him.
No, kiss wasn’t the right word for it. It wasn’t at all like what they had shared earlier, even when it was completely one-sided. Even though Yamaguchi’s arms were around Mitsuya, even though their mouths were connected and their tongues occasionally brushed together, there was no intimacy in it, no passion, and only the barest expenditure of energy. Mitsuya cursed the weakness that made him sink into Yamaguchi’s arms moments after he swallowed the liquid, and struggled back to his feet sooner than he would have otherwise, just because he couldn’t bear to have that indifferent, too-solid touch supporting him any longer. He was glad he’d gotten it all over with at once, because he knew he couldn’t have borne another kiss like that.
Madame Youichirou was at his side, under the pretense of offering him the bottle so he could complete the ritual with Yukito, but really helping to hold him up, since he couldn’t fully do it himself. Yukito came up next to him and in the second it took for Mitsuya to glance at him, Yamaguchi disappeared from the room.
“If you want to cry, you should do it now, before I can’t have any more blood,” Yukito whispered, even though it didn’t matter who heard him. His arms wrapped tightly around Mitsuya’s waist and for a second he didn’t think he could hold the tears in.
But he managed, somehow, and even though it was a long time before he could make himself leave the shelter of Yukito and Madame Youichirou’s embraces, he did it. “I’m okay,” he said, and it almost sounded true to him, so hopefully it sounded the same to them. “It’s okay. I’m okay,” he said again, and this time it felt truer. “Thank you, but it’s really more…” He struggled to pull the name out of his memory. “…The junkishu than anything.”
“That’s what makes it so sad,” Madame Youichirou said, but she took a step away once she was sure he could stand and the smile returned to her face. “Little Yukito, you had better remind him what a real kiss is like.”
“It would be my pleasure. And hopefully his as well.”
Yukito always had a stronger reaction to the junkishu than he did, and although he controlled the first kiss, it fell to Mitsuya to do most of the work the second and third times. He was softer, gentler than he had been with Yamaguchi, because it was impossible to treat the shaking, feverish Yukito with the same dispassionate disconnect, but he thought Yukito was the only one he’d do that for. He understood the basis of the ritual, the rationale behind why it had to be performed that way, something about the ritual liquid reacting with the interchange of saliva to connect the participants, but that didn’t mean it had to be performed affectionately. In fact, he almost thought it was wrong to use it as an excuse to make out with someone. If you were really meant to kiss, then surely you could kiss whenever you wanted to, and didn’t need that excuse in the first place.
But then again, two nights ago, he would have taken any excuse to kiss Yamaguchi.
He held onto Yukito as he shivered and shook, and just when he couldn’t stand to support him any longer, Madame Youichirou saved him by sweeping Yukito into her arms instead. “This child has one more act to perform in service of the Bloodfast ritual, so I’ll collect him for a while. I’ll return him once I’m done.”
Mitsuya nodded. “Come find me when you’re done, okay, Yukkii?” he said, patting his head, but he was in no real hurry to see him for a while, and he thought Yukito recognized that even through his junkishu haze. He left the room and walked through the halls, his only goal to escape. He ended up in the unused room near his own bedroom that he had converted into a practice room.
He pulled off his boots and moved to the center of the room, appreciating how the rough grain of the wood felt against his bare feet. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, and when he closed his eyes he felt the junkishu inside him, slipping into his bloodstream to purify it and return it to its base state. What it was doing for his blood he had to do for the rest of his body before he could clear his mind. He started stretching, and when he was finished, he started with the very first unarmed combat form Yamaguchi had taught them. Unsatisfied with his performance, he redid it, then moved on to the second and then the third, doing them as many times as he felt he needed to. By the time he got to the most recent one that Yamaguchi had taught him, an additional form he’d included in one of the many one-on-one lessons he’d given Mitsuya, he had come to terms with what had happened between them.
By the time he finished the last of the twenty sword forms and left the practice room, he had even started to believe that it was really for the best.
-
Yuuki squinted at Negishi, scrunching his face up as if it would help him with mind-to-mind communication. He hadn’t found anything that did yet. He’d tried frowning, and staring into space, and sticking out his tongue the way Shoutarou did. He’d thought he’d had some success when he tried mouthing the words, until he realized that Negishi was just trying to read his lips. When his latest attempt to communicate failed (he’d started off with an actual message, but now he was just thinking “NEGISHI” as loudly and angrily as he could), he slumped back against his chair. “I give up,” he said, and Negishi looked excited for a moment before realizing he’d just said it out loud.
“Well, you tried,” Professor Jinnai said, coming up behind him and rubbing his shoulder. Yuuki wished he wouldn’t do that. It made it very hard to focus on telepathy, plus it reminded him that he was not allowed to drink blood, and wouldn’t be for some time. The fact that Professor Jinnai wasn’t allowed to either also didn’t help. “Very few are able to create the mental connection on their own when they first start. Ordinarily we’d have been using other methods--” his hand moved from Yuuki’s shoulder to the nape of his neck, and Yuuki fought back a whimper “-but given the circumstances, I thought it worth a try.” He walked around the table to address all four of them more directly. “Since none of you have been able to connect to each other on your own, I’ll help by creating a bridge of sorts that you can then form your own channel with. I’ll start with these two.” He took Yuuki and Negishi’s hands. You can both hear me, right?
Yuuki shuddered. When Professor Jinnai had mentioned telepathic communication last night, he hadn’t disbelieved him, per se, because he figured there were all kinds of things other vampires could do that he couldn’t do. He hadn’t believed that it was something he was actually going to learn, though, much less that it was the first lesson. More than anything, he hadn’t been prepared for how it actually worked. It was like having his inner thoughts replaced with someone else’s voice, speaking words he wasn’t prepared for in a nasty, knowing tone, like it knew Yuuki’s mind better than even he did. It felt like being taken captive and stripped and set on display for the world, or at least Professor Jinnai, to see. He wasn’t exactly thrilled at the thought of letting Negishi, Shoutarou, or Akutsu do the same, to say nothing of Tsuchinoya, who was thankfully absent. Nevertheless he closed his eyes and thought in the direction the voice was coming from. I can hear you.
“Whoa,” Negishi exclaimed, and Yuuki opened his eyes. “I heard you too. That was weird.”
Save your voice for after the lesson, dear Negishi. Your response?
I can hear you. Both… of you. Negishi’s “voice” was faint, and like Professor Jinnai’s, slightly deeper than his ordinary voice. But Yuuki could tell it was him.
Good, we’ve established contact. Now let’s see if we can establish the connection properly between the two of you so you don’t have to hold my hand every time you want to chat or cheat on a test or whatever. However it is you’re talking to me, do that, only to the other guy.
Yuuki closed his eyes and remembered the sound of Negishi’s voice and cast his thoughts in the direction it had come from. Negishi?
Yeah? His voice sounded a little stronger and steadier and when Yuuki opened his eyes again Jinnai gave him an encouraging nod.
Um… did you sleep well yesterday?
Is it possible for vampires to do anything else? He sounded genuinely curious, and Yuuki realized he didn’t really know. He supposed it was possible everyone fell asleep as quickly as he did at dawn, and he hadn’t had trouble sleeping for fifty years, while he vaguely remembered a number of sleepless nights in his human years.
I don’t know. You know - knew - more vampires than me, so you’d know better, I guess.
From what I know… or, from what I could tell, there were some that would wake up earlier than others, and some that would fall asleep earlier than others. But I… His voice grew thinner and thinner and Yuuki strained to focus on him. …anyone ever staying awake. Even if they tried.
Good, good! You’ve done it. They looked at Professor Jinnai, who gestured down to their hands. When he saw that he was no longer holding Jinnai’s, but Negishi’s hand, Yuuki jumped up with a shout.
“Did we do it? We did it, right?” Negishi was grinning at him too and Jinnai didn’t even rebuke him for speaking out loud. We did it, he tried to think at Negishi, but when he didn’t get a response, he picked up his hand again and tried resending it. That time he got We really did! in response and he frowned. Professor, I can’t talk to him unless I’m touching him, even though I can talk to you just fine.
That’s all right. It’s a good start. When you get more experienced, you won’t need physical contact, and then you’ll eventually be able to communicate from farther and farther distances. You’ll also be able to make your own connections without relying on anyone else to get it started. Now, you two practice a bit more while I set Shoutarou and Akutsu up, then we’ll connect you too. He patted their hands and moved toward the other two, who were both staring at the ground, Shoutarou more timidly than Akutsu.
Practice, huh? Yuuki studied their hands. What if we try it like this? He let go of Negishi’s hand and turned it upward, then brought his own hand up so that only the tips of their fingers were touching. Does that work?
Apparently it didn’t. He pressed his hand flat against Negishi’s and then it did. Maybe we have to talk more so the connection will grow, or whatever, Negishi said.
So we should just chat while trying things out? They quickly worked out a system where Yuuki would try different kinds of contact and they’d make faces at each other if the conversation broke off. So wait. People tried to stay awake and they couldn’t?
Sure, people were always trying to escape, right? So they’d figure, if everyone sleeps during the day… Yuuki moved his fingers a little too much and lost a few words …could escape. But nobody ever did.
Yuuki frowned and pulled his sleeve over his hand before taking Negishi’s again. Weird. So it’s impossible then?
I guess. So they didn’t have to be making direct skin-to-skin contact then. That was interesting. I figure it’s just a vampire thing.
I guess it wouldn’t be good to get caught in the sun. I mean… He let go of Negishi’s hand and tried grabbing his sleeve instead. I assume that bad things happen if the sun hits you, but… He stopped as Negishi grimaced at him and started over with his bare hand against Negishi’s sleeve. So they couldn’t talk with two layers of clothing between them either. It seemed like it was going to be a long time before they’d be able to talk without touching at all. It seemed a lot easier to just talk normally.
It’s just one of those things you know, right? You know you drink blood, you know you have to stay out of the sun.
I guess.
We’ll join the rest of you together now, Professor Jinnai said before he could think too hard about vampire instincts. He started with Negishi and Shoutarou, so Yuuki spent a little time considering Akutsu. His dark aura had decreased somewhat when the lesson started, but now that the teacher wasn’t paying attention to him, it seemed to be growing again. Yuuki wondered if there was something really bad on his mind that he thought of whenever he didn’t have something else to focus on, and thought again of how intensely he had kissed Jun at the Bloodfast ceremony the previous night. Professor Jinnai touched his shoulder and he startled. What are you, the second coming of Mitsuya? Relax. We’ll do you and Shoutarou now.
Shoutarou? Yuuki asked when he took Jinnai’s hand.
The response came much louder and clearer than Negishi’s had. Yuuki?
Yeah! He tried to focus on Shoutarou the way he had with Negishi. When he closed his eyes, he could almost see Shoutarou across from him. Hey, is it working properly?
Yeah, it’s working. It’s not really that hard when you get used to it, huh?
Maybe… Shoutarou had a whole night’s head start on him thanks to Professor Jinnai’s blatant favoritism, which he’d made quite clear at the start of the lesson, and apparently he also had a natural talent for it. On the other hand, Yuuki was just hoping that he’d at least be decent at fencing.
It’s really not though? Well, you’ll get it, Shoutarou said dismissively.
Yuuki opened his eyes to tell him that it was plenty hard, thank you very much, when he realized that they weren’t actually holding hands or even touching at all. “Whoa, seriously?”
I told you he was good, Jinnai said, with evident pride in his voice. He flicked Yuuki in the forehead. I also told you not to talk out loud, so shut up and sit down. You and Akutsu are next.
Yuuki sat. He watched Akutsu move toward him with a little trepidation. He noticed that Akutsu hesitated slightly before taking Jinnai’s hand, and he wondered why. He closed his eyes to prepare for the connection.
Would you mind opening your eyes? I have… I can’t communicate properly if I can’t see them. Yuuki immediately reopened them, half out of surprise. Akutsu’s voice was unexpectedly soft, and while part of it was because the connection was weak, as it had been with Negishi, there was more to it than that.
Sorry, he said hastily. Is that how it works for you? Making eye contact?
Akutsu didn’t say anything for a while, and Yuuki wondered if the connection had broken. Something like that, he said finally.
Oh, cool. I was just curious, I mean, I don’t really know what I’m doing so I mean if you have a way that works that’s really great because I haven’t found anything that works particularly well yet really-
Yamada, you’re talking to me, not Akutsu. Focus. Jinnai squeezed his hand. Yuuki wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault Akutsu was intimidating and kind of scary but also kind of cool, but he figured even if he tried to keep it private he’d just end up telling Akutsu anyway. He slipped his hand out of Jinnai’s and slapped himself hard. That seemed to help, and when he next tried to connect he managed to do it properly, and without babbling nonsense either. Jinnai moved on to Negishi and Akutsu and Yuuki decided to test his connection with Shoutarou again.
So you really don’t have to touch me to hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you just fine. I don’t know how far away you can get before it stops working though.
Will it stop working?
Professor Jinnai said he was able to talk to Madame Youichirou even when they were on opposite sides of the world, but you and I aren’t married, so I dunno.
Are they? Married, I mean.
Shoutarou visibly shrugged from across the room. It seems like it. Do you want to ask one of them? Because I don’t.
Vampire marriage, Yuuki said thoughtfully, and started to imagine what that would look like before very quickly realizing that he didn’t want to think about it at all and cast around for a way to change the subject. Unfortunately his mind just kept coming back to vampire wedding dresses and bloody wedding toasts with wine delivered from the guests’ own throats and a lot of human sacrifice. Or vampire sacrifice. Probably both. Jinnai tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.
“Seriously, are you and Mitsuya related, or what? Pay attention.” He laughed. “Anyway, that’s it for this lesson and you’re allowed to talk again. Now then, homework! I want you all to work on learning how to use this method of communication. First, I want you to become able to communicate without touching. Shoutarou’s got a head start on this one, but make sure you don’t forget about Akutsu, okay? Second, I want you to find a senpai and figure out how to create a connection with them as well. Make sure you’re the one who does it, if they take pity on you and do it for you I’ll have to punish you.”
That was a terrifying thought. Yuuki raised his hand. “So when do we have to do this by?”
“I’ll check in on how you’re doing every now and then. If you’ve got it, you’re good. If you’re really struggling, I’ll find a way to help you some more. It’s when you don’t try at all that you have to worry.” Jinnai leaned down and leered at him. “The Bloodfast is in effect, so you don’t have to worry about that, but I assure you, I’m quite creative. Do your best, little Yamada.”
“I was going to!” Yuuki said indignantly. “You don’t have to threaten me.”
“You asked, I answered.” Jinnai smirked.
“Whatever the previous night’s demonstration may have led you to believe, you’ll soon discover that I’m the nice one,” Madame Youichirou said as she entered the room. The little dragon vampire -if they’d mentioned his name yesterday, he’d forgotten it- followed her in. Everyone tensed. “Hmm? Oh, don’t worry about Yukito. He’s done causing trouble for now.” She patted Yukito on the head and he rubbed against her, kind of like a cat.
“Right. Like I was saying, find a senpai, but not Yukito because he’s terrible.”
“I’m not!” Yukito protested. No one else in the room seemed to agree, however, and Jinnai ignored him.
“So, you can try Mitsuya, who’s very kind and patient, but unfortunately comes as a set with Yukito, or Maeyama, who had a hard time with this assignment and might have some suggestions if things aren’t going well, or Jun, who is very much the cutest option available to you, although he is the newest and hasn’t ever worked with people at your skill level before. Unless you have any questions…” Nobody did. “I’ll be taking this little terror away then. You have a ten minute break before your lesson with the mystical Madame.” Professor Jinnai slid his arm around Madame Youichirou’s waist briefly before gesturing to Yukito, who followed him out, looking back at them as he left. Yuuki wondered if he really had to worry about punishment, since Yukito didn’t seem to be concerned about going with him. Maybe attacking everyone in the school with a vicious magical creature didn’t have the same dire consequences that slacking off on telepathy practice did.
“Was it a difficult lesson for you?” Madame Youichirou asked, looking sympathetic. She was suddenly very close to him, but Yuuki managed not to jump this time. He nodded and she kissed his cheek. “Then I fear the next one will be even more difficult. Do try not to fall behind.”
“Are you sure you’re the nice one?” he asked, but she just laughed and ran sharp fingernails down his arm.
“What can I say? My love is a bad influence. Although I suppose I am to blame for being so easily influenced.”
“Are you guys married?” Yuuki blurted out before realizing what he had asked. He actually tried to physically get up and run away, but Madame Youichirou’s suddenly tight grip on his arm stopped him before he could go anywhere.
“Married?” she mused, either not noticing or deliberately ignoring the shaking that came over Yuuki’s body. “I suppose you could say that. I wouldn’t. Perhaps I should give a lesson on it someday, if you’re that curious. For now, you may think of us as… inseparable.” She smiled, fangs gleaming in the low light. Eventually she released him, but his body didn’t stop shivering. “Now then, are you all prepared for the next lesson? I believe sweetest Yuuki will make an excellent example for you.”
This time Yuuki really did run away.
Characters: Everybody, starring in particular Kenki, Mitsuya, Yukito, and Yamada Pudding.
Genre: Vampire School!AU
Chapter Rating: G or something hahaha.
Word Count: 7161
Summary: Yamaguchi and Mitsuya reflect on the previous day while the new students begin their first lesson.
Notes: I apologize in advance because it's mostly just bakappuru angst :/
--
Chapter 7
Another practice dummy split apart with a crack and the screech of metal against stone. Yamaguchi kicked it aside and cast his weapon on top of it. He reached out blindly and seized hold of the battleaxe Jinnai had given him several years ago, hewing at the next target. He cleaved it in two, then ten and twenty and a thousand more pieces until it was dust. He did the same to the following seven targets before the axe was ripped from his hand and Kamitsuru was wrestling with him. Yamaguchi found a hold and sent Kamitsuru flying across the room, then found another sword and went back to chopping at targets. He was only halfway through demolishing the next one when Kamitsuru came at him again. This time he didn’t bother with the weapon and threw Yamaguchi into the wall, knocking over a row of targets. Yamaguchi spun in midair and pressed off against the wall, tackling Kamitsuru, who rolled with the blow. Yamaguchi’s momentum sent him too far and Kamitsuru dove on top of him, pinning him down. Yamaguchi struggled to get free, but he knew that he couldn’t. Eventually he lay still, waiting for Kamitsuru to relax his guard so that he could reverse the situation.
“It’s not your fault,” Kamitsuru said, and Yamaguchi didn’t reply. What could he say to such an obvious lie? “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he went on, and while no doubt he believed what he was saying, Yamaguchi didn’t. Kamitsuru started going on about how there wasn’t any point in regretting what had happened, how in three hundred years nobody would even remember it, but Yamaguchi knew better. Even if millennia passed, he didn’t think he’d ever forget the circumstances that had led to him becoming a vampire, and that was already four hundred. He hadn’t forgotten his first meeting with Kamitsuru, or the first time he’d killed a vampire, or the first time he’d wanted a student, and if he remembered all of that, how was he ever going to forget how he had treated Mitsuya today? How could he forget how Mitsuya tasted, like sugar and saltwater, and how could he ever taste him again without remembering what he’d done?
“You don’t understand,” he said at last. “What it’s like being torn between your principles and your desire.”
Kamitsuru was silent for a long time. “You’re right. I don’t understand. But I do know how it feels to hurt someone you love.” He got up and offered Yamaguchi his hand to help him up. Yamaguchi was still for a minute, then took it. He used it to throw Kamitsuru over him, but Kamitsuru maintained his grip, and he was pulled along with him. He landed on him as hard as he could, but Kamitsuru simply wrapped his arms around him and squeezed tightly. He didn’t relax his grip until he felt one of Yamaguchi’s ribs crack. “I could have protected you better. It’s my fault.”
“I don’t need your protection. I shouldn’t need your protection.” He pushed Kamitsuru’s arms off and rolled off of him. Breathing was difficult and his chest ached even as the bone began to knit itself back together. “And anything I did, I did of my own damnably weak will.”
Kamitsuru ran his fingers over Yamaguchi’s cheek and then mercifully stopped touching him. “I don’t know why you think there’s something wrong with making the choice to do what you want. If you must, though, at least acknowledge that you’re free to make a different choice next time. The consequences of your actions are not as lasting as you might think they are.”
Yamaguchi said nothing.
“He is young,” Kamitsuru added eventually, “but you were younger. Do not flatter yourself by imagining your own problems in others. The road of eternity is a long one.” For some reason his obvious irritation was more relieving than his carefully chosen words. “Yamaguchi. You must join the Bloodfast now. If you let any personal feelings get in the way of your duty this time, you will suffer from it, and needlessly. As intimate as the ceremony may seem, it-”
“Fine. I’ll do it.” Yamaguchi got back to his feet and punched a dummy, sending it flying. It hit the wall and slid down it into a pathetic heap on the ground. “Does it have to be him, though?”
“It might.”
Yamaguchi kicked the dummy, softly at first, but with an increasing anger. “That means yes.”
“If you had come when I called and not wasted your time here destroying things like a child, it wouldn’t have,” Kamitsuru said evenly, and tossed the axe at him.
Yamaguchi caught it and lopped off the dummy’s head, which he kicked in Kamitsuru’s direction. “Let me finish this, then I’ll go, I promise.”
Kamitsuru swept out of the room, cape sweeping around his shoulders. “I trust you. You may take your time, but make sure that you receive it tonight, and pass it along to little Mitsuya tomorrow.”
“I understand.” Kamitsuru slammed the door behind him. Yamaguchi sighed, swung his axe again, and tried desperately not to think of Mitsuya. He continued to destroy practice targets until the floor was covered with a thick layer of sawdust and every last one of them had been crushed.
-
Waking didn’t come easily to Mitsuya that evening. Every time he opened his eyes, he didn’t see how he could ever possibly do more than that, and so he closed them again. Everything seemed all right when all he could see was black and he could feel Yukito’s arm around his waist. When he opened his eyes, he could see Yukito’s peacefully sleeping face, but he could also see the dark mark on his neck that had not yet healed from Mitsuya’s bite.
He was used to waking earlier than most, perhaps a holdover from his human days, and sleeping in didn’t come easily to him, but he managed to do it a few times, at least until Yukito began to stir as well. He finally gave up on giving up and drew Yukito close. “Good evening,” he said, kissing his nose.
“Evenin’,” Yukito said with a yawn. He stretched his arms out and rolled half on top of Mitsuya. His hot breath tickled his neck. Mitsuya watched his eyelids flutter open and closed until he managed to wake up fully. He inched his way forward and kissed Mitsuya. “You feel better,” he said, and before it could really register with Mitsuya he quickly added, “Not like, really happy or anything, just… more than yesterday.”
“Sorry to worry you.” Mitsuya ruffled his hair and sat up, Yukito falling into his lap. “I didn’t say anything yesterday, but apparently we have to do a Bloodfast, or something. Madame Youichirou yelled at me but I just wanted to stay here with you, so I didn’t say anything… I’m sorry. I’m sorry if you get in trouble because of me.”
“Mm-mm, I don’t mind. Who wants to have a Bloodfast anyway? Maybe if we stay here we can get out of it, and then we can drink all we want while the rest of them have to suffer.”
Mitsuya laughed. “I don’t think it works that way.”
“It should.” Yukito started playing with the buttons on his jacket and Mitsuya realized that he had slept in full dress uniform last day, minus only his shoes.
“I really was a mess yesterday, huh?” he said with a sigh. He started taking his jacket off, but Yukito’s hands covered his and started doing the work for him. Mitsuya started picking at a bit of embroidery on his sleeve instead.
“I made a bigger mess yesterday!” Yukito pulled the jacket over his head and pulled the tie off as well before starting on the shirt.
“What did you do? You didn’t hurt anyone, did you? Don’t tell me you-” He was cut off as Yukito pulled the shirt halfway over his head before starting on the rest of the buttons.
“I didn’t kill anybody, relax. So far I don’t hate any of them, even that icy creep. And you know I only kill the ones I hate.”
Mitsuya tossed the shirt off and flicked his nose. “Don’t kill people even if you hate them,” he said as firmly as he could. Yukito pouted and tried to take advantage of Mitsuya’s state of undress by biting at his collarbones, but before he could draw blood, Mitsuya pushed him away, half with magic and half with his hands. “Don’t think you’re going to distract me that easily. I know your tricks.” He threw a sock at him too, just for good measure. Yukito waited until he was struggling with his pants to sketch a few lines in the air. The sheets immediately rose up and twisted around his arms, pinning him to the bed. “Hey!”
“Just because you know my tricks doesn’t mean they don’t work,” Yukito said. He leapt back onto the bed and started with the collarbones again.
“Do they?” Mitsuya asked, a little vaguely, to be sure, but even though his throat wasn’t working properly with Yukito’s mouth in close proximity, his mind was. “You are a very bad vampire child, and you need to properly apologize to everyone you hurt.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Yukito,” Mitsuya said warningly, and closed his eyes, letting his emotions drop away and calming his restless blood.
He was about halfway to a completely empty state when Yukito finally relented. He stopped kissing his neck and curled up at the foot of the bed. “Sorry. I’ll do it, so please don’t blank out like that,” he mumbled.
Mitsuya waited until his skin had warmed up again before patting his head. “And to think everyone thinks you’re hard to manage,” he teased. When Yukito looked up, his eyes were filled with hurt, and only some of it was exaggerated. Mitsuya’s blood reacted sharply, but he calmed it and reached out to him. “I don’t think anything could make me stop loving you, but I hate worrying about you. Please don’t make me worry too much?”
Yukito slowly took his hand. “You’re mean. You pretend to be all nice and stuff but you’re actually eviler than me.”
“I think you’re underestimating yourself,” Mitsuya said, and pulled him back into his lap. “So what did you do this time, anyway?”
Yukito brightened. “Okay, remember when I burned down the old magic classroom? It was like that, only I used a dragon to do it!” He began radiating a soft glow as he continued to talk, and Mitsuya relaxed slightly. He made an absentminded gesture and a new outfit soared into his hands. He had to push Yukito off in order to finish dressing, but Yukito was shining so much that he didn’t mind. He didn’t even try climbing back on Mitsuya until he had all his clothes on. “And then I walked out really cool, and Professor Jinnai was going to yell at me or something but I was just like ‘She shouldn’t have done that to my best friend’ and he just stared at me really stupid and started helping out the kids or something, I guess. And then I came here and now I’ll never ever leave you again, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Mitsuya said, and stood up with Yukito still clinging to him. “You’re very clever and talented, you know. Would you make me a butterfly too?”
“Not a dragon?”
“I already have enough cleaning up to do without a dragon adding to the mess.” He set Yukito down so his hands would be free to create something, and started making the bed, frowning at the black ashy marks on the sheets. He’d have to get them washed when he had time. A purple butterfly with vaguely heart-shaped pink marks on its wings flew in front of his face and he gasped in delight. “Yukkii, it’s adorable!” He cupped his hands together and the butterfly landed in them, making a ringing sound that almost sounded like laughter.
“It’s a Micchan butterfly, so of course it’s adorable. Do you like it?” Yukito asked eagerly.
The butterfly walked to the tip of Mitsuya’s finger and flew around in a circle, then vanished with the sound of a crashing cymbal and a burst of affection. “I love it. It’s perfect,” Mitsuya said, and hugged Yukito.
“Aaahh, you’re smothering me with love,” Yukito complained, and Mitsuya restrained his emotions a little, but probably not as much as Yukito wanted him to.
“If I can’t smother you, who can I smother?” he asked, and swept last night’s clothes into a laundry bin with a wave of his hand before taking Yukito’s arm and heading out of the room. When they got to Yukito’s room, Mitsuya realized he had forgotten to wash his face and excused himself to the bathroom. Despite how much time he’d spent crying the night before, Yukito had done a pretty good job of taking care of that, and only a few rusty streaks under his chin betrayed the bloody tears he’d shed. He moistened a cloth and dabbed at them.
Have you recovered enough to start Fasting? Professor Jinnai asked.
Mitsuya flinched at the sudden voice and squeezed the cloth, dripping water all down his front. Yes, he replied cautiously. Yukkii’s calmed down as well, so I don’t think you’ll have to deal with any more dragons any time soon.
Have you both calmed down enough to forgive my poor, misguided Madame for her awful transgressions?
Yes, Mitsuya said without hesitation. Yukito never held grudges against people he liked, he just took out his anger on them or someone else right away and then got over it. Mitsuya had never even blamed her, really. It was mostly his own fault, after all.
Oh good, Madame Youichirou said. Dearest Ryou, I’m so sorry. The headmaster gave me the news of the Fast and that I was to be the vessel for the ceremony so suddenly, and I was so looking forward to tasting the new ones, and do you know how incredibly unpleasant it is, making the necessary preparations for a Bloodfast? It’s awful! But I took it out on you, and I’m sorry for that.
It’s all right. It’s not like I was going to have another chance to do that any other time this century, he replied, reliving the brief moment Yamaguchi’s lips had covered his with that soft pressure.
I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Jinnai said. You weren’t the only one who was too busy throwing a tantrum to join the rest of us last night.
For what it’s worth, we think you had more reason to do it than he did, Madame Youichirou added, which didn’t comfort him the way it was probably supposed to. Not a lot seemed comforting now that he realized he was going to have to kiss Yamaguchi again, particularly not knowing that the older vampire had been so badly hurt by what he’d done that he’d missed taking part in an important ritual like this. If you could go to the banquet hall, I’ll provide you with a last drink and then you can have another shot at making that foolish man understand you.
Yukito stuck his head into the room. “You okay? You’re feeling awfully sad all of a sudden.” He finished the last button on his shirt and waved his arms at Mitsuya, as if trying to dissipate the gloomy film of emotion that clung to him.
“Just got a bit upset with myself again. You don’t have to worry.” Mitsuya attempted to dry himself off and eventually gave up. “No more blood for us,” he said, turning to leave, but Yukito smiled a very evil smile and pushed him up against the wall.
“Not even a little?” he asked with the pleading face that Mitsuya had a hard time refusing. His fangs shone in the darkness before Mitsuya gave in and bared his neck to him. True to his word, Yukito drank only a little blood before he let the wound close, but he spent so much time kissing and biting at his skin beforehand that it left Mitsuya feeling as weak as if he’d taken a lot more. “Micchan’s blood tastes best, after all,” he said when he was done, and held him up until he had recovered. “I couldn’t bear going through a whole long fast without one last taste.”
“Am I really that tasty?” Mitsuya still didn’t quite understand why Yukito was so interested in drinking from him all the time, and could only assume it was his weird way of showing affection. If he were someone like Yukito, whose blood was a mix of ordinary vampire and noble vampire blood, or if, like the teachers, he was old enough to be practically indistinguishable from a member of the vampire aristocracy, it would make sense, because the more powerful the blood, the more delicious it was, and the stronger the desire for it was. But Mitsuya was still young, and any noble blood in him came directly from Yukito already. Maybe it was because he was always letting his emotions escape his inner thoughts, and that was changing the flavor. Maybe Yukito was just hungry all the time, and Mitsuya was the only one willing to feed him.
“Do you even have to ask?”
“I can’t exactly taste myself, you know. It seems normal to me.”
“You’re missing out.”
Mitsuya thought about delaying the inevitable by continuing the aimless conversation, maybe letting Yukito bite him again, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. After all, Yamaguchi hated to be kept waiting, and he didn’t think he could bear to disappoint him again. He settled for teasing Yukito about how messy his room was and throwing a heap of dirty clothes where they belonged, and Yukito quickly pushed him out before he could clean his room up any more.
Madame Youichirou was waiting for them, and she and Yukito made faces at each other until Mitsuya broke it up with an even weirder face, making them laugh. She handed them each a glass, then poured a little ordinary human blood into each of them. Mitsuya couldn’t help feeling bad that Yukito got less than he did, but Yukito didn’t complain. After they drank, she took their glasses to an adjoining room and returned with Yamaguchi. His skin seemed unhealthily pale, and he looked extra tired. While he never took particular care with his appearance, his clothes weren’t usually as stained and torn as these ones were. He was staring blankly into the air, and Madame Youichirou had to force his hands to close around a small glass vial. He seemed to realize where he was, and briefly made eye contact with Mitsuya before fixing his gaze on the ground.
Mitsuya stepped forward. “I’m really sorry about last night, sir.” Yamaguchi’s eye rolled back towards him, and Mitsuya wished yet again that he could feel his emotions the way he could Yukito’s, without having to guess at what the gleam in his eyes really meant. “I… I wasn’t strong enough to defend myself, and that ended up affecting you as well. You were...” He glanced briefly at Yukito, but could already feel his disapproval. “Thank you for pushing me away,” he said finally, and Yamaguchi seemed to straighten up and become his ordinary self again. Yukito felt angry, and he was vaguely aware that Madame Youichirou was making an expression of betrayal at him, as if he was ruining all her hard work. It was painful for him to say those words, but he knew it was what he had to say. It was… it was a way to repair the carefully-laid boundaries between a teacher and a student that Yamaguchi tried so hard to maintain. As the inferior party, Mitsuya’s responsibility was to apologize, and Yamaguchi’s was to tell him off and then gruffly forgive him.
Yamaguchi cleared his throat. “What I did was very wrong,” he said, and Mitsuya’s blood started rushing and emotions started pouring out of him. Yukito pushed back at him, but he couldn’t seem to control it. What does he mean? he wondered, half to himself, half to Yukito. Kissing me? Pushing me away? All of it? Yukito didn’t respond. “We were both wrong,” Yamaguchi continued, and Mitsuya’s blood turned to ice. “I accept your apology, and ask that you accept mine as well.”
“Y-yes, of course, I mean, you don’t have to- it was, I…” Mitsuya swallowed. “Yes,” he said again, and immediately Yukito and Madame Youichirou were both in his head yelling at him. “Of course, I intend to treat this ritual as nothing more than that,” he added, and the yelling intensified.
“Of course,” Yamaguchi echoed, and seemed to notice the glass in his hand for the first time. On cue, Madame Youichirou brought the bottle of liquid over and he filled it up.
Mitsuya fought the sudden, crazy urge to beg Yukito to let him drink from him one last time and stepped forward. “All at once is fine,” he heard himself say as he took the vial, and Yamaguchi nodded as Mitsuya raised it to his lips, then kissed him.
No, kiss wasn’t the right word for it. It wasn’t at all like what they had shared earlier, even when it was completely one-sided. Even though Yamaguchi’s arms were around Mitsuya, even though their mouths were connected and their tongues occasionally brushed together, there was no intimacy in it, no passion, and only the barest expenditure of energy. Mitsuya cursed the weakness that made him sink into Yamaguchi’s arms moments after he swallowed the liquid, and struggled back to his feet sooner than he would have otherwise, just because he couldn’t bear to have that indifferent, too-solid touch supporting him any longer. He was glad he’d gotten it all over with at once, because he knew he couldn’t have borne another kiss like that.
Madame Youichirou was at his side, under the pretense of offering him the bottle so he could complete the ritual with Yukito, but really helping to hold him up, since he couldn’t fully do it himself. Yukito came up next to him and in the second it took for Mitsuya to glance at him, Yamaguchi disappeared from the room.
“If you want to cry, you should do it now, before I can’t have any more blood,” Yukito whispered, even though it didn’t matter who heard him. His arms wrapped tightly around Mitsuya’s waist and for a second he didn’t think he could hold the tears in.
But he managed, somehow, and even though it was a long time before he could make himself leave the shelter of Yukito and Madame Youichirou’s embraces, he did it. “I’m okay,” he said, and it almost sounded true to him, so hopefully it sounded the same to them. “It’s okay. I’m okay,” he said again, and this time it felt truer. “Thank you, but it’s really more…” He struggled to pull the name out of his memory. “…The junkishu than anything.”
“That’s what makes it so sad,” Madame Youichirou said, but she took a step away once she was sure he could stand and the smile returned to her face. “Little Yukito, you had better remind him what a real kiss is like.”
“It would be my pleasure. And hopefully his as well.”
Yukito always had a stronger reaction to the junkishu than he did, and although he controlled the first kiss, it fell to Mitsuya to do most of the work the second and third times. He was softer, gentler than he had been with Yamaguchi, because it was impossible to treat the shaking, feverish Yukito with the same dispassionate disconnect, but he thought Yukito was the only one he’d do that for. He understood the basis of the ritual, the rationale behind why it had to be performed that way, something about the ritual liquid reacting with the interchange of saliva to connect the participants, but that didn’t mean it had to be performed affectionately. In fact, he almost thought it was wrong to use it as an excuse to make out with someone. If you were really meant to kiss, then surely you could kiss whenever you wanted to, and didn’t need that excuse in the first place.
But then again, two nights ago, he would have taken any excuse to kiss Yamaguchi.
He held onto Yukito as he shivered and shook, and just when he couldn’t stand to support him any longer, Madame Youichirou saved him by sweeping Yukito into her arms instead. “This child has one more act to perform in service of the Bloodfast ritual, so I’ll collect him for a while. I’ll return him once I’m done.”
Mitsuya nodded. “Come find me when you’re done, okay, Yukkii?” he said, patting his head, but he was in no real hurry to see him for a while, and he thought Yukito recognized that even through his junkishu haze. He left the room and walked through the halls, his only goal to escape. He ended up in the unused room near his own bedroom that he had converted into a practice room.
He pulled off his boots and moved to the center of the room, appreciating how the rough grain of the wood felt against his bare feet. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, and when he closed his eyes he felt the junkishu inside him, slipping into his bloodstream to purify it and return it to its base state. What it was doing for his blood he had to do for the rest of his body before he could clear his mind. He started stretching, and when he was finished, he started with the very first unarmed combat form Yamaguchi had taught them. Unsatisfied with his performance, he redid it, then moved on to the second and then the third, doing them as many times as he felt he needed to. By the time he got to the most recent one that Yamaguchi had taught him, an additional form he’d included in one of the many one-on-one lessons he’d given Mitsuya, he had come to terms with what had happened between them.
By the time he finished the last of the twenty sword forms and left the practice room, he had even started to believe that it was really for the best.
-
Yuuki squinted at Negishi, scrunching his face up as if it would help him with mind-to-mind communication. He hadn’t found anything that did yet. He’d tried frowning, and staring into space, and sticking out his tongue the way Shoutarou did. He’d thought he’d had some success when he tried mouthing the words, until he realized that Negishi was just trying to read his lips. When his latest attempt to communicate failed (he’d started off with an actual message, but now he was just thinking “NEGISHI” as loudly and angrily as he could), he slumped back against his chair. “I give up,” he said, and Negishi looked excited for a moment before realizing he’d just said it out loud.
“Well, you tried,” Professor Jinnai said, coming up behind him and rubbing his shoulder. Yuuki wished he wouldn’t do that. It made it very hard to focus on telepathy, plus it reminded him that he was not allowed to drink blood, and wouldn’t be for some time. The fact that Professor Jinnai wasn’t allowed to either also didn’t help. “Very few are able to create the mental connection on their own when they first start. Ordinarily we’d have been using other methods--” his hand moved from Yuuki’s shoulder to the nape of his neck, and Yuuki fought back a whimper “-but given the circumstances, I thought it worth a try.” He walked around the table to address all four of them more directly. “Since none of you have been able to connect to each other on your own, I’ll help by creating a bridge of sorts that you can then form your own channel with. I’ll start with these two.” He took Yuuki and Negishi’s hands. You can both hear me, right?
Yuuki shuddered. When Professor Jinnai had mentioned telepathic communication last night, he hadn’t disbelieved him, per se, because he figured there were all kinds of things other vampires could do that he couldn’t do. He hadn’t believed that it was something he was actually going to learn, though, much less that it was the first lesson. More than anything, he hadn’t been prepared for how it actually worked. It was like having his inner thoughts replaced with someone else’s voice, speaking words he wasn’t prepared for in a nasty, knowing tone, like it knew Yuuki’s mind better than even he did. It felt like being taken captive and stripped and set on display for the world, or at least Professor Jinnai, to see. He wasn’t exactly thrilled at the thought of letting Negishi, Shoutarou, or Akutsu do the same, to say nothing of Tsuchinoya, who was thankfully absent. Nevertheless he closed his eyes and thought in the direction the voice was coming from. I can hear you.
“Whoa,” Negishi exclaimed, and Yuuki opened his eyes. “I heard you too. That was weird.”
Save your voice for after the lesson, dear Negishi. Your response?
I can hear you. Both… of you. Negishi’s “voice” was faint, and like Professor Jinnai’s, slightly deeper than his ordinary voice. But Yuuki could tell it was him.
Good, we’ve established contact. Now let’s see if we can establish the connection properly between the two of you so you don’t have to hold my hand every time you want to chat or cheat on a test or whatever. However it is you’re talking to me, do that, only to the other guy.
Yuuki closed his eyes and remembered the sound of Negishi’s voice and cast his thoughts in the direction it had come from. Negishi?
Yeah? His voice sounded a little stronger and steadier and when Yuuki opened his eyes again Jinnai gave him an encouraging nod.
Um… did you sleep well yesterday?
Is it possible for vampires to do anything else? He sounded genuinely curious, and Yuuki realized he didn’t really know. He supposed it was possible everyone fell asleep as quickly as he did at dawn, and he hadn’t had trouble sleeping for fifty years, while he vaguely remembered a number of sleepless nights in his human years.
I don’t know. You know - knew - more vampires than me, so you’d know better, I guess.
From what I know… or, from what I could tell, there were some that would wake up earlier than others, and some that would fall asleep earlier than others. But I… His voice grew thinner and thinner and Yuuki strained to focus on him. …anyone ever staying awake. Even if they tried.
Good, good! You’ve done it. They looked at Professor Jinnai, who gestured down to their hands. When he saw that he was no longer holding Jinnai’s, but Negishi’s hand, Yuuki jumped up with a shout.
“Did we do it? We did it, right?” Negishi was grinning at him too and Jinnai didn’t even rebuke him for speaking out loud. We did it, he tried to think at Negishi, but when he didn’t get a response, he picked up his hand again and tried resending it. That time he got We really did! in response and he frowned. Professor, I can’t talk to him unless I’m touching him, even though I can talk to you just fine.
That’s all right. It’s a good start. When you get more experienced, you won’t need physical contact, and then you’ll eventually be able to communicate from farther and farther distances. You’ll also be able to make your own connections without relying on anyone else to get it started. Now, you two practice a bit more while I set Shoutarou and Akutsu up, then we’ll connect you too. He patted their hands and moved toward the other two, who were both staring at the ground, Shoutarou more timidly than Akutsu.
Practice, huh? Yuuki studied their hands. What if we try it like this? He let go of Negishi’s hand and turned it upward, then brought his own hand up so that only the tips of their fingers were touching. Does that work?
Apparently it didn’t. He pressed his hand flat against Negishi’s and then it did. Maybe we have to talk more so the connection will grow, or whatever, Negishi said.
So we should just chat while trying things out? They quickly worked out a system where Yuuki would try different kinds of contact and they’d make faces at each other if the conversation broke off. So wait. People tried to stay awake and they couldn’t?
Sure, people were always trying to escape, right? So they’d figure, if everyone sleeps during the day… Yuuki moved his fingers a little too much and lost a few words …could escape. But nobody ever did.
Yuuki frowned and pulled his sleeve over his hand before taking Negishi’s again. Weird. So it’s impossible then?
I guess. So they didn’t have to be making direct skin-to-skin contact then. That was interesting. I figure it’s just a vampire thing.
I guess it wouldn’t be good to get caught in the sun. I mean… He let go of Negishi’s hand and tried grabbing his sleeve instead. I assume that bad things happen if the sun hits you, but… He stopped as Negishi grimaced at him and started over with his bare hand against Negishi’s sleeve. So they couldn’t talk with two layers of clothing between them either. It seemed like it was going to be a long time before they’d be able to talk without touching at all. It seemed a lot easier to just talk normally.
It’s just one of those things you know, right? You know you drink blood, you know you have to stay out of the sun.
I guess.
We’ll join the rest of you together now, Professor Jinnai said before he could think too hard about vampire instincts. He started with Negishi and Shoutarou, so Yuuki spent a little time considering Akutsu. His dark aura had decreased somewhat when the lesson started, but now that the teacher wasn’t paying attention to him, it seemed to be growing again. Yuuki wondered if there was something really bad on his mind that he thought of whenever he didn’t have something else to focus on, and thought again of how intensely he had kissed Jun at the Bloodfast ceremony the previous night. Professor Jinnai touched his shoulder and he startled. What are you, the second coming of Mitsuya? Relax. We’ll do you and Shoutarou now.
Shoutarou? Yuuki asked when he took Jinnai’s hand.
The response came much louder and clearer than Negishi’s had. Yuuki?
Yeah! He tried to focus on Shoutarou the way he had with Negishi. When he closed his eyes, he could almost see Shoutarou across from him. Hey, is it working properly?
Yeah, it’s working. It’s not really that hard when you get used to it, huh?
Maybe… Shoutarou had a whole night’s head start on him thanks to Professor Jinnai’s blatant favoritism, which he’d made quite clear at the start of the lesson, and apparently he also had a natural talent for it. On the other hand, Yuuki was just hoping that he’d at least be decent at fencing.
It’s really not though? Well, you’ll get it, Shoutarou said dismissively.
Yuuki opened his eyes to tell him that it was plenty hard, thank you very much, when he realized that they weren’t actually holding hands or even touching at all. “Whoa, seriously?”
I told you he was good, Jinnai said, with evident pride in his voice. He flicked Yuuki in the forehead. I also told you not to talk out loud, so shut up and sit down. You and Akutsu are next.
Yuuki sat. He watched Akutsu move toward him with a little trepidation. He noticed that Akutsu hesitated slightly before taking Jinnai’s hand, and he wondered why. He closed his eyes to prepare for the connection.
Would you mind opening your eyes? I have… I can’t communicate properly if I can’t see them. Yuuki immediately reopened them, half out of surprise. Akutsu’s voice was unexpectedly soft, and while part of it was because the connection was weak, as it had been with Negishi, there was more to it than that.
Sorry, he said hastily. Is that how it works for you? Making eye contact?
Akutsu didn’t say anything for a while, and Yuuki wondered if the connection had broken. Something like that, he said finally.
Oh, cool. I was just curious, I mean, I don’t really know what I’m doing so I mean if you have a way that works that’s really great because I haven’t found anything that works particularly well yet really-
Yamada, you’re talking to me, not Akutsu. Focus. Jinnai squeezed his hand. Yuuki wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault Akutsu was intimidating and kind of scary but also kind of cool, but he figured even if he tried to keep it private he’d just end up telling Akutsu anyway. He slipped his hand out of Jinnai’s and slapped himself hard. That seemed to help, and when he next tried to connect he managed to do it properly, and without babbling nonsense either. Jinnai moved on to Negishi and Akutsu and Yuuki decided to test his connection with Shoutarou again.
So you really don’t have to touch me to hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you just fine. I don’t know how far away you can get before it stops working though.
Will it stop working?
Professor Jinnai said he was able to talk to Madame Youichirou even when they were on opposite sides of the world, but you and I aren’t married, so I dunno.
Are they? Married, I mean.
Shoutarou visibly shrugged from across the room. It seems like it. Do you want to ask one of them? Because I don’t.
Vampire marriage, Yuuki said thoughtfully, and started to imagine what that would look like before very quickly realizing that he didn’t want to think about it at all and cast around for a way to change the subject. Unfortunately his mind just kept coming back to vampire wedding dresses and bloody wedding toasts with wine delivered from the guests’ own throats and a lot of human sacrifice. Or vampire sacrifice. Probably both. Jinnai tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.
“Seriously, are you and Mitsuya related, or what? Pay attention.” He laughed. “Anyway, that’s it for this lesson and you’re allowed to talk again. Now then, homework! I want you all to work on learning how to use this method of communication. First, I want you to become able to communicate without touching. Shoutarou’s got a head start on this one, but make sure you don’t forget about Akutsu, okay? Second, I want you to find a senpai and figure out how to create a connection with them as well. Make sure you’re the one who does it, if they take pity on you and do it for you I’ll have to punish you.”
That was a terrifying thought. Yuuki raised his hand. “So when do we have to do this by?”
“I’ll check in on how you’re doing every now and then. If you’ve got it, you’re good. If you’re really struggling, I’ll find a way to help you some more. It’s when you don’t try at all that you have to worry.” Jinnai leaned down and leered at him. “The Bloodfast is in effect, so you don’t have to worry about that, but I assure you, I’m quite creative. Do your best, little Yamada.”
“I was going to!” Yuuki said indignantly. “You don’t have to threaten me.”
“You asked, I answered.” Jinnai smirked.
“Whatever the previous night’s demonstration may have led you to believe, you’ll soon discover that I’m the nice one,” Madame Youichirou said as she entered the room. The little dragon vampire -if they’d mentioned his name yesterday, he’d forgotten it- followed her in. Everyone tensed. “Hmm? Oh, don’t worry about Yukito. He’s done causing trouble for now.” She patted Yukito on the head and he rubbed against her, kind of like a cat.
“Right. Like I was saying, find a senpai, but not Yukito because he’s terrible.”
“I’m not!” Yukito protested. No one else in the room seemed to agree, however, and Jinnai ignored him.
“So, you can try Mitsuya, who’s very kind and patient, but unfortunately comes as a set with Yukito, or Maeyama, who had a hard time with this assignment and might have some suggestions if things aren’t going well, or Jun, who is very much the cutest option available to you, although he is the newest and hasn’t ever worked with people at your skill level before. Unless you have any questions…” Nobody did. “I’ll be taking this little terror away then. You have a ten minute break before your lesson with the mystical Madame.” Professor Jinnai slid his arm around Madame Youichirou’s waist briefly before gesturing to Yukito, who followed him out, looking back at them as he left. Yuuki wondered if he really had to worry about punishment, since Yukito didn’t seem to be concerned about going with him. Maybe attacking everyone in the school with a vicious magical creature didn’t have the same dire consequences that slacking off on telepathy practice did.
“Was it a difficult lesson for you?” Madame Youichirou asked, looking sympathetic. She was suddenly very close to him, but Yuuki managed not to jump this time. He nodded and she kissed his cheek. “Then I fear the next one will be even more difficult. Do try not to fall behind.”
“Are you sure you’re the nice one?” he asked, but she just laughed and ran sharp fingernails down his arm.
“What can I say? My love is a bad influence. Although I suppose I am to blame for being so easily influenced.”
“Are you guys married?” Yuuki blurted out before realizing what he had asked. He actually tried to physically get up and run away, but Madame Youichirou’s suddenly tight grip on his arm stopped him before he could go anywhere.
“Married?” she mused, either not noticing or deliberately ignoring the shaking that came over Yuuki’s body. “I suppose you could say that. I wouldn’t. Perhaps I should give a lesson on it someday, if you’re that curious. For now, you may think of us as… inseparable.” She smiled, fangs gleaming in the low light. Eventually she released him, but his body didn’t stop shivering. “Now then, are you all prepared for the next lesson? I believe sweetest Yuuki will make an excellent example for you.”
This time Yuuki really did run away.