Yuu wandered into the abandoned convenience store hoping beyond hope that Mika had decided to take shelter there while healed. They had just been reunited, and there was no way Yuu would let him leave him again. Sure enough, he found his wounded friend slumped over a box of food stuffs. "Mika?" he called. Mika's eyes snapped toward him, sharpening to deadly slits. "Oi, Mika! What exactly—"

"Blood…Human blood…" His voice sounded foreign. Like a wild animal, he pounced. "Blood!" he shrieked. "I want blood!"

Luckily for Yuu his attack was stunted due to his injuries making it easy to dodge. "Oi, Mika! It's me! Don't you recognize me?"

Mika clutched his chest, eyes wide, mouth jerking "Gwahh! It hurts! I can't take it anymore! Let me drink blood!"

It made sense. Whether he wanted to accept it or not, Mika was a vampire now, and vampires needed blood. He looked at the blood dripping onto the floor, realizing the reason for his sudden madness. "If it really hurts, then go ahead. Drink mine." He let Mika pull him down. His friend's mouth hovered mere inches from his throat, and he could feel his hot breath on his skin. "Sorry," he began, wrapping an arm around Mika's shoulders, "for leaving you alone."

Mika blinked, eyes clearing. He stared down at Yuu in awe before shoving himself away. "What did I—?"

"Does it really hurt that badly if you don't drink blood?"

Mika clenched his teeth. "Yuu-chan," he muttered, voice low, "get away from me. I don't' want to drink you blood."

"But, Mika," Yuu protested, crawling toward him on the dirty floor, "it hurts when you don't drink blood, right?"

"I don't care."

Yuu's anger flared. He'd already watched Mika "die" in front of him once before. He'd die himself before seeing that happen again. "You're on the verge of dying! How can I help your pain? Will drinking my blood heal you? Then, come on and drink it." His hand found its way to the collar of his shirt, exposing the soft skin of his neck.

"Don't be like that, Yuu-chan. I won't…be able to resist…I haven't drank human blood before." He really did sound close to losing control of himself. Good. Yuu would rather deal with a ravenous Mika than a dead Mika.

"I don't care. I want you to drink my blood and live on." He lifted a piece of broken glass, using it to slit a line across his right palm. There was a stinging pain followed by crimson fluid forming on his skin. He saw the way Mika's pupils dilated upon seeing it, eyes shifting to follow the droplets as they slipped down his arm.

"You are absolutely sure?"

As soon as Yuu nodded, arms wrapped around his neck. "Welcome home, Mika," he said, hugging him before dropping his arms and tilting his neck to the side.

Mika lowered his face to his exposed skin, and Yuu swore he could feel the proximity of his fangs. He felt hot breath hit his neck before a sharp pain ran down his nerve endings. Blood oozed out the puncture wounds, and Yuu could feel the warm liquid hit his skin only to be caught on a lapping tongue. Mika had barely begun yet his head was already feeling woozy from the venom. Though Mika was making primitive sounds and Yuu was losing more and more of his lifeblood with each second, he somehow felt peaceful in Mika's arms. He stroked the vampire's hair, whispering softly, "Don't stop. It's okay. Everything is okay now."

That is, until a chill prickled at his skin and his breathing became labored. He clamped his mouth shut, feeling his throat constrict. It was growing dryer each second, and his chest was beginning to ache. His hands ceased their stroking, tugging at blond strands instead, trying wordlessly to let Mika know it was time to stop. That he needed to stop.

Mika's mouth left his neck, eyes shining red slits, fangs elongated and spotted with crimson drips. A howl whipped from him as he threw his head back. Chest heaving, he latched back onto Yuu's neck, teeth digging and ripping with abandonment.

Yuu cried out automatically, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. This was not his best friend. This was a vampire.

His mind was growing hazy, eyesight blurring at the edges. He tried in vain to tug at those blond strands once again but his fingertips no longer had any feeling to them. A shiver coursed through him, making the fangs in his neck pierce his vein further. "Mika," he gasped.

The vampire stilled. Slowly, so slowly Yuu barely realized movement at all until the fangs were extracted from him entirely and it was Mika staring at him once again, gentle disturbed eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Yuu-chan!" he cried, hands flittering over him as if they could do something. Yuu sagged, and his friend caught him in a cradling hold.

Despite himself, Yuu laughed. Pain slit through his insides. A fully formed tear ran down Mika's face. Yuu caught it on his thumb, unsurprised when he was unable to feel its moisture. "Stupid, don't cry."

"But I—" he heaved a sobbed, "I've killed you."

"And I saved you."

Mika's head drooped. "I really am a monster."

Yuu traced the underside of his left eye. "Red. They're beautiful."

Mika sobbed again, and Yuu found his hand, squeezing it, or at least trying to. It was getting hard to feel anything at this point.

"Yuu-chan, you can't leave me. Not when we just found each other again."

"I—" He was so cold. He smiled weakly. "Goodbye, Mika."

"No! Wait, Yuu-chan!"

Yuu closed his eyes. He couldn't feel anything anymore.