26,645 Days Lost
Asura faded into consciousness, reluctant to wake from such peaceful sleep even more so due to the sharp pain he discovered in his head. Long dark lashes rose like curtains over blooming crimson orbs as he sat upright, his hand on his head, his fingers running over the top of his long violet locks as he yawned, and ran his tongue over his fangs.
He blinked a few times, clearing his vision of its groggy blur, then his eyes widened slowly as he realized he wasn't in his normal bed chamber. His head snapped back and forth as he looked about the foreign area and found hardly anything to be familiar to him.
What was happening where on earth was he?!
"L-Lord Tepes!" He looked to the rooms entrance to find a woman, sporting crimson eyes and fangs of her own, dressed in black and white. A maid? "I didn't expect you to be awake just yet. Shall I call on Motoko? You must be hungry."
"Who? Wait a minute what's happening?" Asura questioned as the pain in his head intensified a bit, the woman only nodded.
"Yes, I'll get her now!" She left the room swiftly.
What was going on? Who was that vampire just then? He stood from his bed, his hair just barely grazing the floor as he went to the balcony, opening the double doors a warm wind blew in as he stepped out onto the veranda and looked on the scenery.
A city, shiny and new sat before him with surprisingly little noise coming from it, he studied the area as he tried to figure out where it was that he'd ended up. After a long moment of inspecting the view he determined that he was still in Japan by way of the mountains he always gazed at beforehand. He also guessed that where ever he was he would surely not have to worry about his safety, due to the maid from earlier calling him 'Lord' he was certainly among his own kind.
"Aaaaasuuuraaa-kuuuun~!" A spirited voice called, he turned but before he could complete the action someone came crashing into him causing him to take a few steps back, he caught a waft of their scent, a human. "Decided to wake up finally?" A girl questioned as she stepped back from him and grinned, "it's about time! You slept all yesterday and left me completely bored!"
"Just who are you to speak to me this way, Human?!" He growled as he looked directly into her indigo eyes, she blinked a few times as confusion settled on her face.
"Huuuuuh? Are you playing with me? This is a weird game I don't think I like it." She stated with a frown, Asura was quick to wrap a hand around the girl's thin throat, she yelped as he lifted her inches off the floor.
"Why on earth would I play with your kind? Tell me who you are before I drain you dry!"
"Mah-Motoko I-Ishimura!" She choked out, "the Mean Maid said you were hungry!" She cried in a panic, Asura lowered her back onto her feet, so she was there to provide him sustenance. He released his grip on her throat and she lurched forward. "What the hell's gotten into you all of a sudden?!" She shouted at him, Asura was taken aback as he'd never known livestock to yell at him in such a way, "you've never treated me so harshly before, I don't like it!"
"What gives you the right to raise your voice at me?!" He shouted back as he too took a step forward.
"I yell at you like this when you piss me off! It's a known fact!" Motoko screeched, Asura opened his mouth to yell again but stopped as he thought on her words.
"Wait a second… You talk as though you know me, but I've never met you before." He stated as his brows creased and his frown deepened, then the pain in his head flared as it felt like a knife stabbing into his brain. Asura grasped his head as he gritted his teeth, his expression contorted into one of pain. Motoko blinked a few times and her anger faded into concern.
"Asura-kun, are you okay? Are you sick? Wait, can vampires get sick? I've been your meal ticket for over a year now."
"No you haven't!" He cried, "and what happened to this place?" He questioned as he gestured to the city, "it was in ruin only yesterday!" Asura found the girl placing a hand on his shoulder, an action he would otherwise find infuriating but for whatever reason found it incredibly comforting at that moment.
"Why don't you come inside and drink, we can talk more about this after you've satisfied your hunger, yeah?" She cooed lightly as she lead him back to his room.
"Who are you to Mother me in such a way?" He mumbled as she closed the doors behind them.
Asura wiped at his mouth, content with the meal he'd just finished, as it had eased the pain in his head. He watched as Motoko began to apply a bandage to the wounds on her neck. She then grinned to him childishly and he raised a brow.
"I've never met a human who's so willing to give up their blood." He stated flatly, she sighed.
"There you go again, acting like you don't know me." She said as she stood from her seat on the bed, "it's a real downer 'cause you seem pretty genuine."
"You said you'd answer my questions." He stated, and she nodded, willing to play along for the moment. "Where am I? How do you know me? And why do you so willingly give me your blood? Normally blood slaves are incredibly reluctant."
"Okay, first: I'm not a slave. I give you my blood of my own free will, while slaves do such against their will, so there." Asura growled at her.
"I KNOW WHAT SLAVES ARE YOU DON'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!" Motoko shrugged, a mischievous smile creeping onto her face.
"Whatevs. Anyway. You're in Tokyo at one of your compounds, you and Krul-chan have lots of 'em." Asura felt his eyebrow twitch, did that human really just refer to his sister in such a cute way? How creepy. "And you know me because… Well… You kinda just showed up at my school one day and was all like:" she deepened her voice in a mocking way. "'Motoko Ishimura, become my human and give me your blood.'" She returned to her normal tone. "It was really weird because I didn't know you, and you knew my whole name, not to mention where I go to school." She laughed at that.
"I'm guessing you just went along with it didn't you?" He questioned as he felt his frown deepen again.
"Well, you seemed to know an awful lot about me, and the determination in your eyes was convincing enough for me to go along with it. Besides, it's not really uncommon for that sort of thing to happen. Noble's usually pick out a human they want to enter a contract with, they pick by what type of blood the human has, and how close the human's located to them. Then they conduct all kinds of research before deciding - oh! Wait! I should probably tell you about our contract yeah?" Asura's head snapped up.
"Contract? We have a contract?!" She nodded with a grin.
"Yep, humans and vampires live together in relative peace. Now a day's vampires can get blood in public fairly easily. Humans sign up to allow vampires to feed from the source, nobles, like yourself, can get blood in public too, but most seem to like the method which is our situation."
"Would you get to the point already?" He growled only to have her giggle.
"We both signed a contract, one that stated I would give my blood to you and only you, and you would not drink from the source of anyone other than myself. The contract also states that you can't kill me, blah, blah, blah, oh! And it's also illegal for another vampire to drink my blood."
"This sounds far too complicated for something so damn simple." He mumbled, Motoko laughed once again.
"Yeah well, it makes humans more willing to give their blood freely. I honestly didn't care about signing any stupid papers, but you insisted." Asura stood then as he turned his face away from her.
"That doesn't sound like me at all."
"You said it was because you wanted my blood all to yourself and this way other vampires would," her voice deepened again, "'keep their filthy fangs off my dinner!'" she transitioned to her normal voice. "That sound more like you?"
"Shut up." He huffed, "how would anyone even know about this stupid contract? It could be easily broken by anyone."
"We're both marked, Dummy." He turned expectantly then, she sighed as she stood and raised her hand. On the back of her hand was a tattoo of a barb ridden chain wrapping around a rose. Asura shared the same exact mark on the same spot as she.
"What the hell?"
Yet another giggle, Asura growled.
"Would you stop laughing like that?!" As he snapped his head back in her direction, he noticed then that her tattooed hand was playing with a silver necklace. A small scythe on the end of a chain, before she could say anything he leaned closer to inspect the object. "A scythe?" He questioned as he stared at the ornament.
"You bought it for me when we first met." She explained slowly, he looked from the necklace to her, blinking in confusion as he leaned back.
"I actually went to the trouble of buying a human a gift? What is happening?" He questioned quietly.
"Asura-kun… You're not joking are you? You really don't remember anything?"
"Of course I don't'! Why would I be so confused otherwise?!" She jumped up in a sudden panic.
"Wh-what do I do?!" She cried, "who do I call about this?!"
"Would you sit down and shut up?" He growled, "geez, why would I ever pick you to be contracted with. You're so annoying." She stepped before him then placing her hands on his head, feeling around for any injury.
"I won't sit down, and I never shut up. I'm really worried about you Asura-kun," she was suddenly taken aback, "you're not gonna die are you?!" As he looked at her, slightly, watering eyes he discovered that she was sincerely worried for him and was surprised at her genuine concern for his life. "Asura-kun! Answer me! You won't die right?!"
"Tsk! Of course not! Get off me!" He exclaimed rudely as he swatted her hands away, she was quick to immersed her hands into the tangles of his hair again.
"You don't have a bump do you? No brain damage?" He took hold of her wrists, pushing her arms away from him.
"Idiot, I'm a vampire. If I had either they would've healed as soon as they appeared."
"…Are you sure?" She looked down at him with such innocence, such concern. It reminded him of a puppy trying to comfort its master, Asura narrowed his eyes as he came to the only conclusion that made any real sense to him. That girl was his pet.
"I'm glad you called me." Krul said as she sauntered into Asura's room, only hours afterward. "Motoko." Asura stood at the sight of his younger sister.
"Why would you call her for? It's not like she'll be useful." He growled at his human. Krul scoffed.
"I'm more use than you are in a situation like this!"
"Krul-chan, he's scaring me. He doesn't remember anything; I don't like to pry into political matters, or whatever… But… Can I ask what happened to him the other day? You know when you guys went out on that classified assignment…" Motoko questioned as she stood, looking from Asura to Krul, who sighed.
"Well, it's not like I can leave you in the dark after my Idiot brother's worried you so much, right?" Asura growled, Krul continued before he had the chance to bark an insult at her. "I can't go into detail for obvious reason. But during the mission, something happened. Asura received a head injury from a cursed weapon, I'm honestly surprised he's still alive. Due to the fact that Vampires can't heal as quickly when injured by cursed gear, I'm willing to bet that's why he doesn't remember anything."
"But I checked his head for any injuries, and there aren't any." Krul raised her chin at that.
"Huh? You went to that much trouble for him?" She smirked, "well if anything I know he's got good taste in Humans!"
"Would you shut up!" Asura shouted, Krul responded by making a face at him.
"Anyway, like I was saying. He received a serious head wound, however we had medical staff on hand. Due to our advances in medical technology we were able to heal him without any problems. Though I was warned that some memory issues may surface, since the drugs they used to speed up his regeneration are still in beta." She turned to Asura. "What year is it?"
"Obviously not the year I thought it was." He responded sourly, "I thought it was the year 2020." Motoko appeared to become even more fearful of his response. Krul chuckled, thinking of how stupid her brother sounded.
"You're living seventy-three years into the past!" She exclaimed, "you see right now it's 2093."
Asura was unable to speak at that moment. He'd lost that many memories? Not that he didn't have an abundance of memory, thousands of years' worth was more than enough, but even still… He was so far behind, and he still had so many questions.
"W-will he ever get his memories back?" Motoko questioned as she took a concerned stepped forward.
"I'm not a doctor, so I can't say." Krul answered with a shrug of indifference, "besides, all that matters now is that he's alive." He watched as Motoko nodded, still appearing quite worried. Asura noticed Krul inspecting Motoko from the corner of her eye, before raising her nose. "But, I suppose that doesn't mean we shouldn't have him looked at again." Motoko brightened. Asura roared.
"WHAT?!" Motoko flinched away from him, "YOU DON'T GET TO MAKE DECISIONS LIKE THAT FOR ME KRUL!"
"Now, now, Brother, calm down. You're scaring the child." She said as she gestured to Motoko.
"SINCE WHEN DO YOU CARE ABOUT SCARING HUMANS?!" Was the last shout he got out before being dragged off to be inspected.
"Much has changed in the day's you've lost, as I'm sure you already know." Krul said quietly as she and Asura sat in a cold examination room, waiting for results. "We perceive humans differently now." Asura scoffed.
"Obviously. How stupid, their nothing more than livestock." Krul shook her head with a sigh.
"Listen to me. You're very important to her, and trust me when I say that she is even more important to you." She leaned back, "I only hope you end up regaining your memories and coming to your senses… Otherwise, you might never understand just how special you are to each other, and that would truly be the saddest thing I've ever witnessed." At her finishing words Asura flinched. The saddest thing she'd ever witnessed? Krul was never one for exaggeration, and she had thousands of years of sad memories to compare his situation to.
Once the exam was over and the tests came back, saying that he was fine. Asura and Krul joined Motoko in the waiting room. As Krul explained to the human that it was unclear whether or not Asura's memories would return, he studied her for the first time. Seeing then that the girl's appearance alone was enough to peak his interest in her.
She was all white, short white curls, cropped to her face, framing her milky skin. White lashes shadowing indigo eyes, a frown on pinked lips. Her whiteness being exaggerated by her bleached sweater, and shorts. She was like an apparition, whimsical, looking at her left him with an almost haunting feeling. She turned to him, raising a brow at his staring.
"Do I have something on my face?" Motoko questioned as her hands began to touch the area.
"Tch." Asura scoffed as he looked away from her.
"Hey, come on! Do I have something or not?"
How could such a whiny little thing be anything more than a pet to him?