"Rima ... Rima, where are you?" Shiki called out in distress, desperately looking for the girl whom he cared so deeply and so secretly about.
"I'm up here," said a faint voice. Shiki looked up. Rima was standing high up on a very thin tree branch.
"Rima! That branch is gonna-!" SNAP! The branch had cracked, sending Rima flying down to the ground. Shiki had been too far away from where the tree was standing to make it in time to catch her. She fell directly on her head. It was as if she wasn't even trying to save herself from such a deadly impact. She just ... fell ...
Shiki stopped in his tracks. Rima began to cough blood, spit blood, and cry blood. The smell was overwhelming. He fell to his knees.
"Rima ... You ..." He was clenching onto his knees, breathing heavily. So ... Thirsty ... Then, it happened. Rima's head slowly began to rise. It was as if her face was painted red. Her eyes shot open. No, that's incorrect. These weren't HER eyes, these were the eyes of the same man that had almost led Shiki to the edge. Almost made him kill Rima in the past. Almost consumed him ...
These were the eyes of Rido.
"What's wrong, Senri?" Rima said wickedly, a twisted smile curling her lips ... "Feed." and at that moment, Shiki had pierced his ravenous fangs into the one girl he swore he would never hurt.
"RIMA!" Shiki yelled falling right out of his bed, covers coming with him. "Ow ..." He had bumped his head on his nightstand. He steadied the palm of his hand on the smooth wood to help himself up. His legs were shaking so much, they permitted him from standing straight. He could do anything but sleep now. He had just realized that his face was drench with sweat as he went to clasp his forehead. He was panting like a dog.
"I need a tablet ..." he whispered as he stumbled to the door of his room. By the way he was walking, panting, sweating, and thirsting for blood, you would think he had fallen to Level E, even if that fate was impossible for an aristocrat.
He shifted down the hall, keeping a safe hand on the wall for support. Just as he was passing by Rima's bedroom door, he stopped. His hand hovered over the doorknob. He grabbed the tiny sphere and twisted it. There was a slight creak as the hinges allowed the door to open. There she was. Peacefully sleeping in her bed without a wrinkle of distress on her forehead. She was like a princess. Correction. She wasa princess. Not a damsel in distress waiting for her knight in shining armor, but a strong, royal-blooded leader. Shiki envied her at that moment. She wasn't sweating, she wasn't trembling with fright, she wasn't even so much as moving her limbs. At first glance, you'd think she was dead, but as you got closer, you could visibly see the gentle inflating and deflating of her chest in slow, carefully timed segments.
Shiki was now at her bedside. He looked down at her sleeping face with his tired one. He didn't really understand why, but he began to gently trace the back of his hand against her soft, ice-cold cheek. When she breathed in quickly, he pulled away rapidly and backed away a step or two. When her breathing was even again, he slowly strolled back to her bedside. Then, his body moved without his control. He sat down on the bed, causing the springs to squeak slightly. He began to trace every feature on her face with the edge of this thumb. Once he had traced her every feature, right down to her earlobes, he moved down to her neck, and then her collar bone. He was now tracing her features with the tips of his index, middle, and ring fingers. What if Rima had been awake through all of this? Would she still let him touch her body so freely? Would he even attempt to do so? These questions questions were about to be answered as Rima's eyes fluttered open.
"S ... Sen ... Senri ... ?" Her voice was so quiet and calm. Smooth like silk.
Shiki's head was laying on top of Rima's chest, listening to the rhythmatic beating of her ever-so perfect heart.
He exhaled deeply. "Let me stay here for a few more minutes ..." Rima, completely confused, gently placed her delicate hand on the top of Shiki's still damp hair.
"Did you shower ... ?"
"It's sweat." Rima didn't pull her hand away even after she heard this. Something was definitely wrong. It was not like Shiki to sweat so much, or ask anything of anyone, or to even enter Rima's room when he knew she was sleeping.
"What happened?" Rima asked, gaining more and more consciousness.
"I ... I had a nightmare ..." he confessed. Rima was taken aback. A nightmare, she thought, that's the reason why he seems so scared out of his mind? "It was really scary ..." he whispered.
"What was it about?"
"You."
Rima seemed a little enraged. "Okay, so now I'm scary? I'm so scary that I give people nightmares that scare then out of their mind? This is great. Thank you for sharing. I would have never-"
Shiki placed his free hand that wasn't clenching onto Rima's waist over her mouth. "That's not what I meant."
"Well den, wat di yoo ean?" Rima tried to question, mouth still under Shiki's damp palm.
"My nightmare was about you, not because of you. I dreamt that you fell down from a really high up tree branch, but I couldn't get to you in time, and you fell on your head. There was blood ... Blood ... Everywhere ..." Shiki swallowed hard as he was reminded while explaining this part of his dream, he was thirsty.
"Why did I fall on my head?" Rima spoke clearly. Shiki's hand had retreated from her mouth and moved down to lightly clasp onto her shoulder.
"I don't know. I was telling you to get down from the branch, because it was thin and not stable, and it snapped. You didn't even try to land on your feet. You just fell freely. And then landed straight on your head."
"How much blood was there?"
"Too much. There was so much, that I felt as if I were a Level E, trying desperately to not attack. You were crying blood, and coughing blood, and blood was seeping into your hair, and trickling all down your face. It was even a trickle, more like a flow."
"What happened next?"
"Just as I was desperately holding myself back, you looked up at me."
"Was my face scary?"
"It wasn't your face, well, at least, it wasn't your eyes ..."
"Whose eyes were they?"
" ... Rido's."
Rima gasped slightly. She was expecting maybe the eyes of a Level E, or of Aidou when he was upset, but never Rido's. She quickly composed herself after that, and calmly told him to continue.
"Your smile was wicked, and you looked like you were overjoyed that something as freakish as falling from a tree, was like a miracle to you. You then spoke. You said, 'What's wrong, Senri?', your smile was intensely growing larger. Then, you told me ... you told me to ..." Shiki really didn't want to continue. He and Rima were both sitting up now. He had head hung low, and his hands clenching onto his knees, just the same as he did in his dream. Rima's legs were tucked behind her, still on the bed, her head swooped slightly to try to meet Shiki's gaze. He refused to look at her. She put her hand over his.
"What did I tell you to do?" she whispered.
"To ... 'Feed' ..."
Rima looked down and then quickly back up again.
"Did you?"
"Y-Yes ... A lot ... I couldn't control myself ... I'm so disgraced."
Rima gently placed her hand on the side of Shiki's face that was further away from her, causing his head to turn to meet her eyes. He looked down a bit, but she lifted his chin with her smallest finger and he looked at her. Directly into her eyes.
"It was just a nightmare."
"But I couldn't restrain-"
"It was a nightmare."
"I felt like a-"
Rima pulled his face very close to hers. "Nightmare."
They both sat back. Now they were sitting, side by side, their legs dangling down off the edge of Rima's bed. Rima confessed that she was starting to get a headache from being woken up. Shiki confessed that he was still scared.
"Senri, if it will help," Rima started, "you can sleep here tonight."
Shiki's eyes widened and he turned his face away from hers. He was blushing, there was no doubt about it. Rima slowly reached out to Shiki as she hugged his shoulders.
"If fear if you leave now, I'll be the one with the nightmares," she whispered.
Shiki placed his hand over her's and closed his eyes. He smiled. "I wouldn't want that to happen, now would I?"
"No, you really wouldn't."
They both giggled.
*knock knock*
"Rima, Kaname sent me to take orders for tomorrow night's festival's dinner, and I can't find Shiki to ask him-" Ichijou smiled. "You sleep tight now, little love birds," he whispered as he closed the door behind himself.
Rima and Shiki's foreheads were touching, faces were at peace, breaths were in sync, minds were clear, and hands intertwined underneath the warm sheets of Rima's bed.
~ Goodnight ~