Tokyo Babylon Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction ❯ Even in Death ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four

Seishirou was standing near the front window, sipping at a mug of tea and watching the sun slip below a row of houses across the street. He was certain that Subaru would be back for more blood that night, and he had prepared by eating a hearty dinner in advance. It struck him as amusing that he could say that he was eating for two now.

It was time, and Seishirou was strangely looking forward to it.

The young vampire didn't disappoint. Subaru was sure Seishirou was expecting him so he made no effort to hide his entry, sauntering into the house through the front door, unsurprised to find it conveniently left unlocked.

He came to a stop just a few steps behind where Seishirou stood. For a long moment, he stayed and listened to the slow rising and falling of Seishirou's breath, just marveling at how intensely alive he was.

Finally, Seishirou broke the silence.

"Good evening, Subaru-kun," he said before turning around. Even if Subaru didn't make a sound when he entered, he could still feel the man through the marks on his hands, especially when they were in close proximity. "Did you sleep well?" he asked conversationally as he leaned over to kiss his cheek.

Subaru couldn't stop himself from suddenly shying away with a stunned gasp. The unexpected intimacy, coming so closely upon his nightmare about Kosarou made him skittish.

"I…" he stammered but stopped, not willing to explain his skittishness. He forced his mind to return to the present and shoved his unease away, doing his best to return to a calm and collected expression.

"You seem to have accepted that I will keep returning. Don't you wish to fight me at all?" Subaru decided to say instead. Seishirou's acceptance of his state puzzled him. Who in their right mind wished to associate with a vampire?

"As fun as that would be, I'm afraid fighting you really wouldn't accomplish anything," Seishirou said, a sincere smile spread across his face. It was the same smile worn by the mild-mannered veterinarian that Subaru once knew. Seishirou hadn't realized how much he missed teasing the Sumeragi. Even after all these years, he was still able to provoke a stammer out of him. All he thought was how Subaru-kun hadn't changed, at least not much.

He was unaware of how very wrong he was.

Seishirou walked over to the sofa and sat, patting the spot next to him. "Please sit down," he said. "Unless you still want to fight."

Mind awhirl of confusion but with relief that Seishirou wasn't running or fighting, Subaru shook his head. He settled himself in the spot where Seishirou directed.

"No, I never wanted to fight you," he said at last. "But you ran." That last he pointed out with a wry quirk of his eyebrow as if to remind Seishirou just what running would mean for a predator.

He leaned closer, his instincts going into hunger mode at the sight of Seishirou's neck, bared and so close to him.

He didn't know the other man had deliberately presented himself thus. It was always a good tactic to distract a hunter, even if Seishirou didn't mind being caught at this point.

Aloud Seishirou said, "I wanted to see how powerful you had become…and if you had the nerve to kill me. You've become very interesting, Subaru-kun, far more interesting than you were six years ago. Because of that, you're always welcome in my house."

At that, he moved even closer, prompting an obvious shy shiver from Subaru. So the threads of skittish teenaged behavior from their year together remained with Subaru. It fascinated him that he could make such a powerful creature edgy with his touch. He would have to play this carefully.

Sitting so close to Seishirou made Subaru's instincts scream in demand. He gave into the overwhelming impulse to nuzzle against Seishirou's neck, darting the tip of his tongue out to lick at the smooth skin. Seishirou tasted unique, a taste no one else matched. Subaru told himself that he was probably being sentimental for thinking this way, but he couldn't help it. His eyes slid down further and he frowned distractedly to see the fading marks of his fangs marring the skin. Irrationally, he both wished to never hurt Seishirou again while at the same time to bite down and never stop drinking.

The juxtaposition of his emotions prompted Subaru to tear himself away from Seishirou, although he was careful to disguise the deep self-loathing he felt for reacting this way.

"You shouldn't welcome me," he said gruffly, looking away from Seishirou and out of the window to the moonlit garden.

"It's my house, I shall welcome whoever I see fit," Seishirou insisted. He reached out and very softly touched Subaru's cheek, the smile never fading from his face. He was having so much fun drawing out all these reactions from Subaru.

"I thought about what you asked me. You want something that only I can give you. Is it that you want to live as we did six years ago? I know that was the happiest year of your life."

The displeased half-pout on the young vampire's face was too adorable and cute, thought Seishirou. The Sakurazukamori was fully confident that he had the upper hand in this situation. He had something that Subaru wanted and he would make use of that to his full advantage, whatever it was. Now all he had to do was figure out what Subaru wanted.

Seishirou's question almost made Subaru want to cry. How could they possibly live as they had six years ago? All those people who were so happy then were gone. Two lost to death, the third who never was what he seemed. All that was left were memories. Precious, precious memories. Subaru clung to them in his unlife but no, he didn't expect to be able to return to that time ever again.

Subaru's breath was a soft hiss of resignation as he shook his head. "It's not possible. Hokuto-chan is dead. I'm dead," he said, his voice as hard as steel. He swung his head around and allowed Seishirou to see the despair in his eyes. Why couldn't Seishirou perceive what it was he wanted? Subaru knew it was partly his own fault from not giving enough clues to the man, but he couldn't. To do so would place his fate squarely in Seishirou's hands, and all previous indications of Seishirou's character showed that he didn't care.

So why did Subaru continue to hope?

"Of course," Seishirou replied, the fact of their deaths barely fazing him. He dealt in death after all, although Subaru being dead but still walking around was unique to his experience. "But you want something from me and my best guess is that you want me to feel something for you. Is that what it is?" He kept his voice even, without any hint of feeling one way or another.

Perhaps he couldn't give Subaru any feeling, but he could give him life, which was almost as good in Seishirou's opinion. Besides, Seishirou enjoyed the erotic blend of sensations that came with Subaru's bite. Subaru had grown stronger and the fact that he'd been able to overcome him initially was a guilty pleasure that he readily indulged in.

Seishirou's guess came close. What Subaru wanted, he wasn't even sure Seishirou could give him. But the Sakurazukamori was the closest person he could come to for it. Originally, Subaru had wished to force the issue, but now he could see that it wasn't to be.

"You don't care for me," he said acceptingly. His tone was laced with reluctance, but he was resigned to the fact. "But yet, you want to be in my presence. Is it because of the bite?" He hadn't expected this particular side effect from drinking from Seishirou. One part of him felt guilty for inflicting such unwanted desires on Seishirou while another part of him, the newer, more ruthless hunter, didn't care.

"The bites are very nice," Seishirou admitted, though to what degree he enjoyed them, that was still a secret. "But everyone must eat. I must kill, and you must drink blood." Slowly, he unbuttoned his collar, once again offering himself as a meal. "You haven't changed as much as you think. You drink from me because you can't bring yourself to bite anyone else."

Subaru's gasp told Seishirou that he'd hit upon the truth. However, the young vampire recovered quickly, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated Seishirou's offer. "You can't possibly know who else I've been drinking from," he growled, not happy to reveal quite so much about his situation yet.

"I'd never refuse an offer. From anyone," he told Seishirou stubbornly. It was the truth too, since no one else had ever offered. Who would?

"And since you offer, how could I refuse."

Abruptly, he twisted his body and swung himself over to straddle Seishirou across the hips, settling himself comfortably in his lap. Bending his head to a soft spot, just above Seishirou's collarbone, he nipped down, quite delicately. Drinking the blood that flowed out once more became the focus of his entire existence. It was all neatly done within a matter of seconds.

Seishirou was going to say something, but as soon as Subaru's fangs pierced his skin, he completely forgot everything. Instead, he put his arms around the vampire's waist, hugging him close, pleased with how bold Subaru had become. The pleasure melded with satisfaction from being able to provoke such a reaction from the young man. Subaru was still very much his.

Once more, Subaru did his best not to drink too much. He was glad he'd taken the edge off his hunger earlier since he didn't want to drain Seishirou entirely. If this continued, he was going to kill him-the one outcome Subaru didn't want. Subaru was dead and the last thing he wanted was for Seishirou to join him in this hell of an unlife.

With a huge effort, he pulled away, licking the last bit of blood oozing from the wound and instinctively releasing the blood clotting enzymes in his saliva to stop the flow. He held onto Seishirou to allow him to come back to himself. He knew the side effect of the pleasure from a vampire's bite was the one thing that made the victims think feeding a hungry monster worthwhile.

"I'm beginning to think you enjoy this too much," Subaru murmured while he stroked at Seishirou's cheek. It was a tender gesture but one which he figured Seishirou would overlook, particularly while he remained sunk in the throes of pleasure.

"It's not possible to enjoy something too much, Subaru-kun," Seishirou replied quietly. The sight of those pale lips stained with his own blood caught his attention. Giving in to temptation, he closed the remaining space between them and lightly kissed them.

He was slightly dizzy, from both the blood loss and the bite but he didn't care. If he had indulged this much, he might as well go further. Seishirou had always been tempted to kiss the beautiful Sumeragi and touch him in many ways that his veterinarian alter ego wouldn't have. He'd indulged while the teenager was unaware… but now, he reflected it was so much better when he was conscious. Seishirou's hands moved around to Subaru's back and attempted to make their way up his shirt…

At first, Subaru enjoyed the light kiss, somewhat caught by surprise that Seishirou wished to even show him that little bit of tenderness. However, the moment those hands wormed up his clothing and came into contact with his bare skin, something short-circuited within him. It was too much like those times Kosarou had forced him, not that there was any true similarity. But the mind is a complicated thing and Subaru was suddenly unable to tell the difference.

He yelped and threw himself off Seishirou's lap, falling to the ground ungracefully, landing awkwardly on his hip in his haste to detach himself. It was obvious from his nervous cringe and fear shining in his eyes that he expected a blow to come, his awareness lost in the grip of memory.

Seishirou raised an eyebrow at the panic attack, more surprised than he let on. He had expected the Sumeragi to be startled, but not to this degree. No, true fright from such a little gesture could not possibly be a normal reaction. It didn't take long for Seishirou to come to the terrible conclusion-- Subaru had been abused during the time they were apart.

Suddenly, a hot, boiling sensation rose up from the pit of his stomach to churn furiously inside of him. His hands curled into fists and his eyes narrowed. Someone had done something that even he wouldn't have dealt to his Subaru-kun. The Sakurazukamori was angry. Someone was going to pay. He would be damned if he'd let anyone else so much as lay a finger on what was rightfully his.

However, the wave of savage anger quickly passed as his years of training shoved the emotion aside, burying it deep within his soul. Not forgotten, though. Seishirou would go to great lengths to see the person responsible for this suffer tremendously.

Slowly, he extended a hand, doing his best not to further startle Subaru. "Are you alright, Subaru-kun?" he asked calmly.

With a great effort of will, Subaru suppressed his fear and returned to the present. This wasn't his master touching him; no, it was Seishirou-san. During his time with Kosarou, it was only the thought of someday seeing Seishirou again that gave Subaru the strength to carry on. Now that he was with Seishirou, he wasn't going to screw things up by showing weakness. No, he'd concluded that the reason why Seishirou hadn't returned his feelings six years ago was because he was too weak. So now, he had to be strong. Even if he felt as frightened as a kindergarten child before a gang of schoolyard bullies.

He picked himself up from the floor, refusing to accept Seishirou's helping hand or to meet his eyes. He dusted himself off, pretending nonchalance, while trying not to feel too silly about falling off someone's lap.

"I'm fine. I… I'm not usually so clumsy," he said, shrugging off the incident.

"Don't worry about it," Seishirou replied blandly, taking his cue from Subaru. He would hide his intentions for now, but he would pay careful attention to everything Subaru said. He would find out identity of the one who had hurt his Subaru-kun and visit his wrath on him later. There would be time.

Seishirou stopped and took a deep breath. For some reason it was harder to push this anger from his mind than anything had been before. Perhaps a change of scenery would prove a better distraction.

"Why don't we take a walk?" he suggested, figuring the air would at least do them both some good. "You know which park I want to go to," he said, his usual false smile returning.

Subaru was too busy trying to recover and cover up his panic attack to notice Seishirou's inner conflict; otherwise, he might have been enlightened. Instead, he seized upon the suggestion with relief. He too could use a distraction.

"Yes, a walk would be good," he said. He could use some cool air. Cuddling up with Seishirou was nice, but it made for heated situations that Subaru wasn't prepared to deal with. At least, not yet. Not until he could come to terms with his situation.

He followed Seishirou out of the house. Their destination, Ueno Park, held a great deal of significance for the both of them. He was subdued all during the walk, worrying about how weak he had appeared before Seishirou. Also, the issue of intimacy loomed large before him. It was becoming obvious that Seishirou might not be content with just feeding Subaru. However, Subaru had to conclude that he might not be capable of doing anything more than light kissing with him. He hadn't realized before that his time with Kosarou had left him more traumatized over intimacy than he supposed. From his reaction earlier, Subaru judged that just the slightest touch of anyone's hands was capable of throwing him into a fit of overwhelming terror. The young vampire wasn't happy with himself. He was determined to overcome this. But how?

"You haven't said a word since we left the house," Seishirou commented, attempting to bring Subaru out of his silent brooding. "Is something bothering you?" He doubted the direct approach would work, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Subaru was startled from his funk. "No, no. Nothing at all," he quickly denied. "I'm sorry for ignoring you." He gave Seishirou a weak smile but his heart wasn't in it. It did however make him look much younger, a reminder of that fresh beauty that was now forever tainted with dark sorrow.

"I know something is bothering you," the other began slowly. "But I'm not going to insist you tell me. Though I will remind you that you are mine." He reached down and grasped Subaru's hand, as if needing to acknowledge that the marks were still in place. "Mine and only mine…"

They came to a stop under the magnificent branches of the flowering sakura. Seishirou reached out and caught one of the delicate pink petals. He examined it for a moment and smiled.

"Do you remember that day, many years ago when I first met you here? I remember thinking that you were the most beautiful person I'd ever seen since my mother's death, even if you were a child. I had to study you for a moment before I was certain you were a boy." Seishirou chuckled slightly at the fond memory. He wondered if their meeting here was indeed fated.

Subaru's mind went through a `huh' moment when Seishirou took his hand. Was Seishirou playing mind games with him? Or was he sincere? At any rate, he'd have thought he could no longer blush but there was a distinct pinking of his cheeks thanks to the small amount of blood he'd drunk from Seishirou.

"Seishirou-san, I'm not a child anymore. You told me that I lost the bet, right under this very tree. And that's that. Why would you still think I am yours?" he said, trying to regain some control of the situation. He could feel it slipping out of his hands like dry beach sand through his fingers. As for Seishirou's possessive words, he couldn't believe that Seishirou still considered him his.

"Because you will be mine forever," Seishirou said with such certainty that Subaru's words of denial died on his lips. Seishirou took the hand still in his grasp and brought it up to his lips to kiss. He fed a thread of magic through the twin marks, causing them to flare brightly.

"When you died, these should have faded. There is no logical reason why these should still be here. I refused to remove them, mostly because I'm curious about this."

Subaru steeled himself not to react to the flaring of the marks on his hands. Doing his best to act as if he didn't care, he shrugged once more, refusing to meet Seishirou's steady eyes. "You should know your own magic better," he said, his tone bordering on a reprimand. He didn't know why they were still bound this way, but he was grateful, knowing that the binding had prevented him from becoming a total slave to Kosarou. Ironically, their very existence drove his sire into a frenzy of effort to claim him every time he saw them, which was also cause for Subaru to regret.

Seishirou never had a chance to reply to that provocative statement. Out of the shadows of the park, two men in dark long coats stepped forward. Subaru's instincts screamed danger.

"Who are you?" he demanded defensively. He could tell they were vampires but nothing beyond that. His stance altered to a defensive posture as he prepared to flee. His body chilled with the fear that they could be from his master.

One of the men, obviously the leader, strolled forward calmly, unafraid about the prospect of confronting two very powerful beings. "We'd like you to come with us," he said matter-of-factly, as if fully expecting Subaru to comply.

"I will have nothing to do with vampires," Subaru said tensely. If Seishirou wasn't there and holding his hands, he'd have taken flight immediately. As it was, he felt he ought to make sure that Seishirou would be fine before abandoning him. The Sakurazukamori was too confident of his own abilities and Subaru didn't have the time to warn him properly.

The man merely nodded to acknowledge Subaru's refusal. "You'll come with us, one way or another." He waved a hand casually and dark figures shuffled out from between the trees to encircle the pair.

Subaru hissed to see them. Zombies! Mindless undead creatures that were hard to defeat since they had to be cut to pieces before they'd stop moving. This was going to turn out very nasty.

Taking immediate action, Seishirou pushed Subaru behind him and pulled out a handful of ofuda. He threw them outward, setting up a perimeter around them. He folded his hands and murmured a few syllables, causing a barrier of dark energy to form around them. He then gave the lead vampire a stern look.

"He's not going anywhere. Not without me," he said in a low, defensive tone. He took out a few more ofuda, keeping them ready just in case the vampires didn't want to be reasonable.

An unhappy expression flittered across the vampire's face but he didn't back down. "We have no quarrel with you, Sakurazukamori. Our master wishes to talk to him," he said, pointing to Subaru.

"He no longer belongs to your world."

Subaru didn't know whether to be amazed that Seishirou was defending him or embarrassed that Seishirou thought him so weak as to be unable to take care of himself. But first things first, he was not going to go with these people.

"I am never going back," he declared with determination, even though his face was pale with apprehension. No matter what, he couldn't bear to be subject to Kosarou anymore. To go back would mean more abuse, and he would rather face the sun than that.

"You'll have to kill me first."

"If you insist," the vampire said dryly. Quick as lightning, he tossed something straight at Subaru. The young vampire simply had no time to react before a stake blossomed from his chest. He gasped slightly in pain. He had thought Kosarou had wanted him alive… He made a small shocked gasped before crumpling over face forward to the ground in a soft thud.

On cue, the zombies shuffled forward to engage Seishirou.

It took Seishirou a moment to actually to actually register the fact that Subaru had just been staked in the chest and there were, in fact, half a dozen zombies attacking him from all directions. Thinking quickly, he jumped straight up, leaping away from the circle of mindless thugs and landing neatly at the base of his Tree.

He folded his hands and shouted a short incantation. The wind picked up around them, thick clouds of pink petals swarming and swirling through the air, ready to do their master's bidding. Changing the position of his hands three times as he incanted his spell, the petals shot out past the Sakurazukamori and slammed into each attacker, slicing chunks of decaying skin away from the bone. Despite the massive damage done, the zombies continued to stumble forward, their intent to kill evident.

Seishirou sent another round of razor-sharp petals fluttering at the zombies while he withdrew six ofuda. He chanted a long string of syllables, the paper talismans glowing with power. Quickly, he threw one at each attacker, the ofuda sticking neatly to the foreheads of each. With one more chant, all six zombies fell to the ground, the spell animating their dead corpses broken. The wind blew the ashen remains away and the park was empty.

That's when he noticed Subaru and the other vampires were gone.

Thinking quickly, he traced his bond with the Sumeragi, trying to get a fix on his position. He couldn't tell Subaru's condition, but at least he knew where the Sumeragi was. He dampened down the wild panic of worry that Subaru was truly dead. Instead, he concentrated on reaching the Sumeragi. If he was really dead then he would be avenged.

Seishirou stretched forth his senses. Subaru was someplace protected, together with something else, something with a powerful aura. Running out to the street, he jumped up to a building top and followed the subtle magical pull that connected him to his prey.

Before long, he'd arrived at his destination, in front of a high-rise building downtown. He could feel the bond much more strongly now that he was closer. Seishirou let himself in with another spell. He didn't care that he was going to be ill with sakanagi the next day. There was no way he was going to let anyone, living or dead, take what was his away from him. Thinking that the elevator would be a bad idea, he began the long hike up the many flights of stairs.