Title: A Kiss and a TrickAuthor: guardianforever
Summary: Anne Rice inspired vampire vignette. Being a vampire isn't all what you think it to be. K/K pairing.
Rating: T/PG13+ suggested violence, minor suggested adult themes
Betas: Alde
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin, and its characters were created by Nobuhiro Watsuki, and is owed by Shonen Jump and Sony in their respective mediums. This is a work of fan fiction and no profits are made from it.
She was standing on the veranda looking up at the night sky. It was early spring, but the evening was warm enough that she only needed her soft white sleeping robe. Her back was to me as I walked up the hall. Although she was in partial darkness she was bathed in the moon's light and appeared to have an almost ethereal white glow along the edges of her slim form. The yard in contrast seemed only to be turned into shades of grey under the same light.
She couldn't have heard my approach, yet as I stopped to stand not 3 feet away from her she was already turned and studying my profile, as if she had somehow sensed my presence. I must have looked as pale and washed out as the yard before us. I studied the yard for a few moments, before filling my lungs with air as I would have in the life before to brace myself when something difficult was about to happen.
"This has to stop." There. I had said it.
And she did not reply.
And in my confusion, for really, who knows the minds of mortals, I turned and sealed our fates for another night. She wasn't the most beautiful woman I have ever known, but she had such a vibrant and appealing personality, even in anger, that I would never be able to resist what she freely offered again and again.
Her hair was free of its usual high pony tail, falling in dark, silky waves over her shoulders and to her breasts. I could see that they weren't bound as per her usual daytime routine, and that provided me tantalizing glimpses of bare flesh behind her sleep loosened robe. She must have tried to sleep some before abandoning her bedding to do some star gazing.
Her lips looked oh so red and delicious, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. Although this was probably caused more because of her temper rather than embarrassment, if the slight furrow in her brow was any indication. If this encounter had occurred during the daytime she would have been hitting me over the head with that toy sword of hers, complaining that I was a stubborn idiot who didn't know what was best for himself.
"You are thirsty. You need to drink." She was very matter of fact. Unfortunately, she also spoke very true. "Come." And with a small needy smile of her own she loosened her robe ever so slightly more and bared her long luminous neck to me. As if I wasn't already under her spell.
It drew me to her like sailors to a sirens song. And without realizing I had moved I was only inches away from her with my head bent, lips close but not quite touching her neck. She drew in a breath with anticipation and I pierced her perfect skin with my teeth.
No words can truly describe the feel of penetrating her so. The rush of hot sweet blood spilling into my mouth. The world becoming still, and narrowing down to just the feel of her in my arms, her neck under my mouth, body limp. And then, as the initial torrent of blood ebbs, the sound of her heart beat fills my ears, I can feel it through her skin with just my fingertips of my left hand holding her head in place.
I began to draw upon her as her heartbeat was never enough to sustain my thirst. And I knew her, as she knew herself. Better than any parent, sibling or lover ever could.
The shape of a woman, more beautiful than she ever thought she could be, but her features were undefined. The warm dark colors the woman wore (her almost forgotten mother), soft silk kimonos, beaming happy smile. Her fathers' sadness, his face full of pain and sorrow never to be filled with the same joy again. But a new joy filled his face, caused by her want and passion to practice swords. Just like him.
Her fathers' back as he walked away from her for the last time. The emptiness and still at the dojo after the classes were all finished for the day. Her first realization that her students weren't coming to classes anymore and weren't likely to ever again. The shame in having to ask another dojo if they needed an outside teacher to come and train with their students. And the police coming to question and search her home for the Battousai. Shock.
Followed by resolve. And a dark night in a small Tokyo alley when she attacked a diminutive red headed man. The smell of slightly old matting, and the feel of polished wood under her feet as she waited for his reply. Joy, she was not alone anymore. Worry, and then fear. The man with blood thirsty eyes and cold, cruel hands that took her away. "Kenshin" relief, safety. Even when that brutal fight with Jin-e caused him to reveal his true nature.
Before leaving that small clearing in front of the shrine, the first time she gave him her blood.
She gave me her blood. Her memories. Her love.
I had to make her understand. I couldn't let myself love her. I couldn't take her blood. So, finally I gave her my memories.
The image of fresh dirt under my hands as I patted the soil over the seed I had just sowed. Father and mother both proud of their little plot of land, even if they could barely feed their own family. Their bodies wasting away under the debilitating sickness. And then slavers, and walking miles upon miles.
Flashes of steel, blood splattering and screams. Then stillness and quite as a man walked through the bodies and left me behind. Digging in the dirt once more, and then finally, as I surveyed my work, a warm tear rolls down my blood and dirt covered cheek. The man returns and with him brings years of pain and harder work than I had ever done before. But what for? Curiosity at never seeing him eat, and then following him one night to see where he went. Disbelief.
Followed by understanding. Never fear. Waiting until I was old enough before he could make me like him. Intense pleasure as my world narrowed to just him and I, and then the pain of my living body dying. Loss, for I was never to know what was on his mind from there forth. Discord. He was too cautious with finding someone to satisfy the thirst. A gaping distance ever widening between us. And then I left him.
The world changed around me. It became bloodier as one warlord lost more power, and yet none of the others were able to usurp him alone. It became easier to fill my thirst without having to worry about the consequences. I was almost bathed in blood until one night. "Vampire" she whispered. She was the most exquisite creature I had ever seen. She was the first to open herself to me, and gave willingly to satisfy my thirst. I came to her night and night again. I was in love.
And then she asked me to change her, and because she had me wrapped around her, I never even stopped to think about the warnings I had been given. My body was filled with joy. Someone to share the long hours with, to hunt and to feast with. To drown myself in so utterly completely. So without a second thought I gave her my blood. It worked almost instantly. I could no longer speak to her mind, nor see what she thought. Our connection was gone. Watching her death and rebirth was painful. And within a week, my beautiful child turned feral and left me. It was only a matter of time.
Loss, pain. My grand dreams gone. What was it all for? I was heartbroken and shattered. So I returned to the earth to mend my broken heart.
I broke free from her neck. "Kaoru" Her body was limp in my arms. I had taken more than I should have from her and she would not be able to recover before the night ended. It was the longest I had drew from her, but I had to make her see.
If I changed her, we would never be as we were now. And if I kept drinking of her, one day I would kill her in my thirst.
She was barely hanging on to consciousness, her eyes heavy lidded, but studying my face.
Sleep child. And she did.
Waking only 10 years later, I was so thirsty and weak. But once more the world had changed while I slept. I still hurt, but new wonders distracted me. So once again I left. And returned to part of my childhood and walked. Learnt to sate my thirst with animals. I never wanted to touch another human again. Treacherous creatures.
I walked to Tokyo, into its streets, and into a raven haired girl's home. I should have known better. With the calm that enveloped the country, at least in appearance, other vampires had claimed their territory. Horror as I realized that this is why the kind hearted girl had been kidnapped. Blood thirst re-awakened in our battle. I would have had to return to the ground that night if she hadn't given her blood.
And I fell into her, wrapping her pure soul around me, wrapping my tainted one around hers. I fell in love once more.