Azumanga Daioh Fan Fiction ❯ Kyuuketsuki Yomi ❯ A Change of Life ( Chapter 1 )

KYUUKETSUKI YOMI
An Azumanga Daioh DarkFic
by Michael Hopcroft

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Azumanga Daioh. It is owned by Kiyohiko Azuma and his representatives. I am using (and possibly abusing) the characters in the Great Doujin Spirit.

WARNING: This is Not a comic AzuFic. It is dark, violent, sensual and deals with difficult moral issues. It is obviously not part of standard continuity.

Part 1: A Change of Life

“This was a rotten time to run out of Green tea,” Koyomi Mizuhara said to herself as she crossed the park. In her intensive studies for the college entrance exams she had been neglecting her household duties, one of which was to take care of some of the shopping. When her mother looked for green tea and failed to find it, her natural response was to send Yomi to the convenience store.

Crossing the park was no big deal to Yomi – she was a big girl, and the park wasn't all that dangerous. The worst she thought could happen was a purse-snatcher, and she was only carrying just enough money to buy the tea and a snack.

So when she heard footsteps behind her, she thought nothing of it. People walked thought he park at night. No problem.

The the footsteps behind her quickened; That made her look back. A tall man was walking towards her, with what seemed like a very determined pace. Going somewhere in a hurry, she thought. No problem. I'll just let him pass.

But when he grabbed her arm, she panicked. She fought, scratching his hand. Before she could scream, the hand covered her mouth. She felt a sharp pain at the side of her neck, and then nothing.

The next thing she saw was an alarm clock blinking 7:22.

“Huh?” Yomi wanted to bolt up in the bed – she realized she was in her bed, but couldn't lift herself up.

She heard a familiar voice. “Easy, Yomi. Take it easy.”

“Tomo?” Yomi looked around, but her vision was blurred. A moment later it cleared a bit, as Tomo placed her glasses on her face. “Thank you. What happened?”

“That's what everybody wants to know. I've been waiting here for sixteen hours for you to wake up. Your mother was really worried, you know.”

“Then why isn't she here? And how did I get here anyway?”

“It was the cop from the police box in the park. He carried you here, and you were out cold. You'd passed out in the park, but the paramedics didn't have any idea what happened and decided not to put you in the hospital.”

“Lucky me. Wait – I've been out cold for sixteen hours?”

“Seventeen hours. I got here an hour after you got back.”

“Tomo! Baka! What about school?”

“I called Yukari-sensei, and she knew you weren't coming. And Chiyo-chan came by a couple of hours ago to drop off a copy of the lecture notes. We didn't miss anything. So, what happened anyway? Latest diet go horribly wrong?”

“Don't joke! I don't know what happened, really!”

“Sorry, sorry. I know this is serious. Your mother even told me “If you want to go ona death-watch or something that's fine, but I;m not gonna join you. I don't have that capacity to handle pain.” I thought that was a bit cold, but....”

“WHAT? Mom thought I was dying?”

“That's why the paramedics brought you here, she told me. Your pulse was so weak and your breathing was so shallow that they thought it would be kinder to let you die in your own bed than in a hospital. I don't see how it matters, but it wasn't my decision. All I can say is I'm really, really glad you're still with me.”

Yomi smiled weakly. “Thnaks. I just noticed something odd – there's this taste in my mouth.”

Tomo looked surprised. “taste? You mean you did eat something?”

“No, not like that. It's sort of, I don't know, but it tastes like – blood.”

Tomo gulped. “Blood? Creepy!”

“Probably no big deal, Tomo. I must have just cut the inside of my mouth when I fell. Nothing to worry about.”

“Are you hungry?” Tomo asked.

“Yeah. But I don't know i I'm strong enough to eat, though.”

“I'll make you some miso soup. Be right back.”

“Your cooking? I'm not that hungry, Tomo!”

“Don't be so picky!” Tomo exited to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a small bowl of soup. “Here, drink up.” Tomo placed the bowl to Yomi's lips, and she sipped down some of the soup.

Suddenly Yomi's stoamch began to churn violently. “Ack!” she gurgled. “Tomo, get a bowl, a pan anything!”

“What's wrong?”

“Just do it!” Tomo grabbed the nearest object that might possibly act as a container, and Yomi leaned over it and violently threw up. When she was done, Yomi sad “Tomo, what the hell was in that soup?”

“It seemed fine to me. I even had some myself. It's just miso soup. You must really be sick. I'm calling a doctor.”

“No, that's OK. Just let me rest, Tomo. You're been awake for sixteen hours, you can't function like this.”

“Yomi, baka! Don't you know how scared I am? I don't want you to die on mje! Don't you dare die on me!”

“I won't die, Tomo. You need to sleep. Go home.”

“No way, I'm staying right here. No way am I letting you out of my sight until this is over.”

“Fine, grab a blanket and sleep on the floor. But for God's sake, sleep.”

The next day after school, Tomo heard a knock on the door. She opened up. “Hi, guys, thanks for stopping by!” Chiyo, Kagura, Sakaki and Osaka were standing at the doorway to Yomi's house.

Chiyo held out a notebook. “I brought the notes for Yomi, Tomo.” Tomo could tell that Chiyo's usual good cheer was strained to past the breaking point. “Is she getting better?”

“Sure! She's cheerful, alert, ready to --” Tomo looked out at the gang and coule tell that it wasn't work. “No, it's really bad..”

“What's happening?” Sakaki asked calmly, but with a tone of fear of the answer in her voice.

“She sleeps almost all the time. When she's awake she can barely move, and I can tell she's in a lot of pain. Everything I try to feed her goes right back up – even water. It's been more than two days she's taken anything.”

“Then she definitely needs to go to the hospital, now.” Sakaki said. “If she doesn't get some fluids and nutrients into her system, she won't make it.”

“You mean....”

“Yes. Yomi is dying, Tomo. It doesn't matter what she says or does, she needs to go to the hospital now and get an IV put in.”

“But she says she doesn't want to...”

Kagura ran up and smacked Tomo across the face. “You asshole! She has to be delirious from dehydration by now! How do you think we would feel if Yomi died? How would you feel? She's your best friend, dammit! Friends don't let friends die! Call the goddamn ambulance already!”

“You think I haven't tried?!? I've called for help every fifteen minuets for the last two damn days, and nobody came! Not the paramedics, not my family doctor, nobody. It's like the whole damn world has given up on Yomi! Even her own mother has vanished into thin air! Do you think this isn't ripping out my guts, Kagura? You know what the hospital told me? They told me they'd already signed Yomi's goddamn death certificate!”

Kagura swallowed hard. “Damn, Tomo, that's harsh. I can't believe anyone could possibly be so cruel.”

Tomo was fighting through tears, but there was look of grim determination on her face. “Well, I'm not giving up. No matter what happens, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how much it hurts, I'm going to fight to the end. Yomi won't die! She can't die!”

Chiyo took her by the hand. “I wish we could stay. And I'll come back right away. I'm going to get some stuff. Maybe we can find a way to get Yomi some fluids even if the doctor won't help.”

“Don't give up, Tomo.” Osaka said. “We'll be right back.”

“We're not giving up either,” Sakaki added. “we're sticking with her no matter what.”

“To the end, whatever that is.” Kagura concluded. “Yomi will come back to us no matter what!”

“Thanks, guys. I'm going to check on her again. No, don't follow me. I mean it. It breaks my heart to see her like this, and I don't want you guys to remember Yomi this way.”

Sakaki nodded. “I understand. We'll all be back as soon as we can.”

“OK,” Tomo said, “please hurry.”

As she watched them go, a dread filled her heart. The paramedics were right, she realized it, it was pointless. No matter how heroic an effort she made, Koyomi Mizuhara was already dead. It's was just that her body hadn't realized it yet. She slunk back into Yomi's room and saw Yomi lying on the bed. She felt for a pulse and found it very weak. “Damn, Yomi, what am I gonna do now? I'm nothing without you, you know. Without you to goad me on, I never accomplish anything. And now I’m so worthless I can't save you. Please, Yomi, don't leave me! I'd give anything to see you rise up out of that bed!”

Suddenly Yomi's eyes fluttered open. With a Herculean effort, she pulled herself up off the bed into a sitting position.

“Yomi! Thank God! Can you speak? Can you say anything?”

“I'm thirsty.” And she was, a thirst she had never felt before was tearing her up inside. “I'm thirsty, Tomo.”

“You recognize me. That's a good sign.” Tomo offered her a glass. “Here's some water, see if you can keep it down this time. The gang is coming back to see if can find some other way to get you fluids.”

Yomi reached out to the hand that offered the glass – and grabbed the wrist, causing the glass to fall to the floor and shatter. Tomo noticed it was a really strong grip – she tugged and tugged and could not get free.

“Yomi? What's wrong? It's me! Tomo! Don't you know me?”

“I'm thirsty, Tomo.” Yomi looked at her friend hungrily, and somehow she could see the pulse of the veins in Tomo's neck. It was drawing her attention like a beacon. Involuntarily, her mouth was opening.

”Oh my God, Yomi, what happened to your teeth!” Tomo screamed. Yomi's smile revealed that her upper canines were substantially longer and sharper than they had been before, coming to points as thin and precise as sewing needles. “What's happened to you, Yomi?”

“The thirst, Tomo. I can't make the thirst go away.” Suddenly she grabbed Tomo's shoulder with her other hand and pulled her close. She released her wrist but placed the hand against the side of Tomo's neck.

“No! Yomi, what are you doing? What's wrong with you?” Tomo writhed and struggled against the grip but nothing could budge. Yomi reached out with her head, as if some invisible radar were guiding her movements. Her mouth opened wide and, as it closed in on Tomo's throat, Tomo screamed in primal terror.

Then, in an instant, Yomi's canines – one could call them fangs -- pierced Tomo's skin. At that moment, Tomo's struggles ceased. Yomi found a little taste of something warm and salty. She cupped her lips around the wound she had made and pulled out the fangs, and that taste washed over her tongue and down her throat, shot in again and again with each beat of Tomo's panicked heart. Yomi swallowed greedily with each pulse, drinking in what seemed to her the most delicious flavor in the world, to greatest flavor she had ever tasted in her life. Yomi felt a surge of adrenaline and energy as she drank this incredible liquid, this super-food, this blood, Tomo's blood....

Tomo! With a flash of horror, Yomi realized what was happening. Involuntarily licking the wound, she released her grip and pulled away. With a thus, Tomo's limp body fell and lay splayed on the floor. Yomi wiped her lips with her hand and looked at it. It was blood, blood staining her hand and her soul.

“Tomo!” she cried in despair and sorrow. “What have I done? Kami-sama in Heaven, tell me -- what have I done?” Feeling her strength return almost as if it had never gone, Yomi got out of bed, and lifted Tomo's body with her arms. “Tomo, I'm sorry. I wish – I wish I were dead. I wish I were dead and burning in Hell for doing this to you.”

At that moment, Tomo started to stir. Arms began to move, and she began to roll her body.

Yomi cried tears of relieved joy. “Thank God, Tomo! Thank God I didn't kill you!”

Then Tomo dreamily opened her eyes and looked into Yomi's. “More.” she said weakly.

“What?”

“I still have more, Yomi. You're thirsty, right? You need more?”

“Tomo, what are saying? I almost killed you!”

“And it would have been fantastic, Yomi. I would have given everything I had and perished in the arms of my best friend. You can still to it, Yomi, you can still have more. Come on, Yomi, Drink some more. Drink it all.”

“Do you have any idea what you're saying, Tomo? Do you have any idea what just happened? Are you totally out of what passes for your mind?”

“Come on, Yomi, one more bite. Don't you want that taste again? Didn't it taste good?”

Yomi threw her onto the bed and, weeping tears of grief and terror, ran from the room. She made it to the bathroom and saw her face – for some reason she was thinking she wouldn't be able to – and frantically washed away the blood that still clung to her mouth and dribbled down her chin. She filled a glass with water, took a sip, and spat the foul taste back out. She opened her mouth and looked at her new teeth, sharp and, in her eyes, terrible. From her own room she could hear Tomo moan semi-deliriously, continuing to plead, to beg for the stroke that would surely kill her. Yomi buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly. “What happened? What did I just do? What in the world have I become?”

She heard a knock at the door, but couldn't bring herself to answer it. Instead, she went over the door and locked it. If someone were to see her like this, to see Tomo on the bed weak and babbling, she knew it could never be forgiven.

After a moment Yomi returned to the room. Tomo, a little bit stronger now, looked up and smiled. “Ready for seconds after all?” she said.

“Dammit, Tomo, this isn't funny! What the hell just happened! Why was I drinking your blood?”

“You kept saying you were thirsty.”

“And why would I be thirsty for blood? I'm not some kind of vampire, you know!”

Tomo smiled indulgently. “Of course. That's exactly what you are. A vampire. And lucky me, I get to be your first victim.”

Yomi fell to her knees in fear and shame. “No. God in Heaven, no.”

“That must why you couldn't drink water or eat the soup. All you can handle now is blood.”

“But why? What happened? I wasn't like this before....” Yomi was struck with a sudden realization. “the park! Oh my God, that man I the park he attacked me, and I struggled, and I couldn't stop him, and he – No, it can't be. I can't be undead! I didn't die!”

“Maybe you did die, Yomi. Maybe you died and something about what happened changed your body.”

“My God, Tomo, the blood! The blood in my mouth! I thought it was mine, but it wasn't! It was his!”

Tomo smiled weakly. “There you have it, then. In the struggle you swallowed some of his blood. Maybe that's why you got so sick – it was changing your body, turning you....”

“Turning me into a vampire. An undead creature who can only survive by drinking human blood. A creature who can only survive by killing human beings.”

“Not necessarily, Yomi. You haven't killed me yet. Although it would be kind of nice if you did, because it'd be a great way to go.”

“Baka! Didn't that hurt?”

“Yeah, but it also felt really good. Like one of the most incredible good feelings you can imagine. Come on, come to bed and drink the rest of my blood. Be a good little vampire and finish your meal.”

“No! Don't you understand, Tomo? I nearly killed you! You almost died! You're my best friend, and I came within a hair's breadth of murdering you!”

“Are you....”

“No, Tomo! For the last time, I am not going to kill you!

“Aww, you're a spoilsport, Yomi. Ruining my big dramatic sacrificial exit.”

Yomi sighed heavily. “Anyway, we have to do something. I can't stay like this.”

“Why not? Vampires are wicked cool, you know.”

“That's not the point! What if I did kill you? What if I attacked Sakaki or Kagura? My God, Tomo, what if I were to suddenly get really thirsty and kill Chiyo-chan?”

“That's a problem, but I won't have to worry about it 'cause I'll be dead.”

“That's no help!”

“Well, don't you know any other vampires you can ask for advice? What about the guy who killed you?”

“He was a complete stranger. I have no idea who he is.”

“Darn. Well, I’m going to sleep on it. Let know when you're ready for seconds.” Yomi saw that Tomo had drifted off to sleep. She filtrated on Tomo's neck, where a trickle of blood dried from two small punctures down her neck and there was crimson stain on the shoulder of her shirt. Yomi left the room and closed the door behind her to avoid the temptation.

At that moment, she heard a key turn in the lock. Her mother, dressed in black entered the room and looked up. “Koyomi-chan!” she said. “You're all right! Thank God, I was so worried!”

“Worried enough that you couldn't stand to see me, mother?”

“We can talk about that later. Are you hungry? I can whip up something. What are you in the mood for?”

Yomi, almost outside herself, smiled showing a glitter of sharp teeth. “Seconds.”

TO BE CONTINUED