Yes, I have rewritten this chapter. No, I do not own Vampire Knight. Yes, I am painfully in love with the Shikijou pairing. REVIEW.
Senri Shiki woke up thirsty, alone, and confused. His head throbbed painfully and he could feel the sticky, disgusting feeling of dried blood on his face. When he opened his eyes, he was overwhelmed by red. There was red everywhere. The moon was the brightest ruddy color he had ever seen, the normally-black sky was tinted a dark crimson, and, as he painfully adjusted his neck to glance at the ground, he saw that the grass he was currently laying on was red, as well. It appeared as if the whole globe was painted with the blood of a thousand innocent humans.
'A lunar eclipse,' he deduced absently as he attempted to figure out where in the world he was. A groan emitted from his perfectly-full lips when he sat up to fully map out his surroundings. Unfortunately, when he did so, the pain that was had resided in the back of his mind came back full-force, his vision was overrun by ebony-black spots that danced across his mind and caused him to dizzily fall back against the soft grass below him. As his back hit the ground, however, a blindingly agonizing sensation caused him to gasp raggedly and endeavor to keep his weight off his back. Nothing seemed to work, so he resolved to take his chances with sitting up rather than face the atrocious pain of his seemingly-broken back. His attempt was more fruitful the second time around, and he was able to lean forward, albeit he still had to keep himself held up by putting most of his wait in his arms.
Thankfully, he could now see more of his surroundings. He seemed to be in a large clearing in the midst of a forest. The clearing had flowers adorned across it, that would have been beautiful were it not for the bloody overcoat surrounding it, due to the eclipse. It created the effect that they were bleeding out, wilting, dying. For some strange reason, perhaps due to his disorienting awakening, Shiki almost felt sorry for those moribund flowers. After all, it was not yet winter. Why did they have to die now?
He was roughly shaken from his melancholy musings by a sudden sharp stab of pain coming from his left ankle. Apparently, now that he could see the full extent of the morbidly beauteous field, he must now recognize all of his horrifyingly brutal injuries, as well. Once again, it appears as if all good things must have a tragedy that followed.
"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," quoted Shiki as he stared at the blood dribbling down the long, deep wound stretching across almost his entire right leg and the odd, agonizing angle that his left ankle was contorted into. There was also a gunshot wound ('From a Bloody Rose gun, no doubt,' Shiki reasoned) directly below his heart that let out a constant, quick flow of that red liquid that sustained life...
'Blood,' the vampire halfheartedly reminded himself in his head, 'That's what it's called... blood.'
Perhaps it was the blood loss getting to him, or maybe it was the pounding, rhythmical torment that invaded his head ('A headache,' concluded Shiki), but he was oddly calm about this whole situation. Well, after all, he could barely remember his name, let alone think of a plan to leave the enchanting forest. His mind was so hazy, so fuzzy, like the feeling of a puffy cloud moving across a perpetually blue sky. He just wanted to sleep, because sleep was nice... it helps with everything... everything...
All of a sudden, the scent of freshly-spilled blood practically smacked the injured vampire in the face, not necessarily waking his mind up, rather, it assisted his thirsty vampiric instincts in taking control. The extent of Shiki's thought processes was mentally chanting "blood... blood... blood... blood..." throughout almost the entirety of the night after that. The unbearable burning of his throat led him across the whole forest and, as it turns out, to the doors of the Mood Dormitories in Cross Academy, where he and the rest of the group of vampires around that particular area of Japan resided. Bursting through the entrance, every single one of his senses improved drastically and tuned in to the scent of the delicious food so that he could locate the source of the lifeblood... and suck it dry!
"Shiki!"
The insane, maniacal, cat-like grin that started to emerge on Shiki's face dissolved with the calling of his name. He quickly turned his attention to the other vampire in the room, looking him over, as if weighing the tastiness of his food before a meal. During the quick scan of the "prey," as he had taken to thinking of him as, it was discovered that the smell of blood was, in fact, originating from the male standing in front of him. It was time for a feast...
Ichijou was ecstatic. He had been worried sick about Shiki because he had been missing all week. One night, the he woke up and Shiki was just... gone. It just looked like he vanished into thin air, because there was no struggle noticed whatsoever. Everyone was quite confused and distressed, but Ichijou believed that he was the one that cared the most about the auburn vampire. Despite that, the whole entire Night Class (plus Yuuki, as she was extremely close to Kaname) took turns searching endlessly for Shiki, to no avail. It was as if he had just disappeared off the face of the Earth with how little evidence was left behind. Rima, Ruka, Aidou, and Kain were out taking their rounds right now, while Ichijou stayed in the dormitories with Kaname. Yuuki was sleeping in her Day Class dorm room to the insistence of the head Kuran. Ichijou skipped merrily over to Shiki, for the sole purpose of hugging him for the rest of eternity, but was alarmed when a growl was uttered from the mouth of his lifelong best friend. He took a slight step back and gasped as he finally noticed Shiki's bright crimson eyes, illuminating the room with their glow. At his stunned reaction, Shiki smirked and darkly chuckled, taking his time to stalk his prey like a lion on the hunt, circling around the other vampire with a look of pure, raw bloodlust captured on his face.
Shiki paid no heed to the endless ramblings of "What are you doing?" and "No, Shiki, stop!" from his food as he pushed the blood-container up against the wall of the room, growling softly. After a moment of relishing the fear on his prey's face, he pounced. When the ferocious insertion of his fangs in the victim's neck was over with, all that was left was pleasure. The lifeblood that entered his system overwhelmed him and caused him to float in a cloud of bliss and ecstasy that couldn't die down as long as this moment lasted. He could feel the energy and adrenalin pumping through his veins and he moaned mentally... he wished this moment would never end.
Ichijou gasped as the quick, sharp pain of Shiki's fangs being inserted in his neck appeared, but that pain swiftly succumbed to the pleasurable feeling that overpowered and aroused him when the drug of a vampire feeding took over. Every vampire has a drug in his saliva that could be optionally inserted into a victim if they were struggling. The drug caused them to go limp with only the feeling of the moment coursing throughout their body. It was even more potent with Ichijou because, in the midst of the purely hunger-related feeding, there were passionate emotions between these two vampires, even in Shiki's state of mind. Ichijou groaned with joy and calmly accepted what was going on, giving himself completely to the other male. Much like Shiki did, he wished this moment would never end.
Kaname, who was upstairs in his dorm room, seemed to disagree. After catching a whiff of blood, he knew instantly to whom it belongs, and raced down to the sitting room of the Mood Dorm, intending to put an end to what was going on.
"Shiki!" Kaname shouted in surprise after realizing that the vampire who was currently attached to Ichijou's neck was indeed the missing student. Neither the predator nor the prey seemed to notice the newcomer to the room. Not even the lazy grin that was planted on Ichijou's neck moved one millimeter.
"Shiki!" he voiced again as he moved over to the two vampires that were currently involved in one of the most passionate actions in the vampire world. He used his full strength to rip the two apart, but it seemed that neither of them was very happy about it. Ichijou gifted him with one last betrayed gaze as he collapsed to the floor in a heap from blood loss, and Shiki gave a short growl at the loss of his food before sniffing the air a few times like a cat sniffing out the next mouse to eat. Kaname couldn't help but voice his astonishment in the form of an almost-soundless gasp when he caught sight of Shiki's eyes. They were the brightest crimson eyes that he had ever seen, even on the hungriest of vampires. They were even brighter than the eyes of a Level E.
Shiki used this moment of trepidation to his advantage. In a mere instant, Shiki was behind the Kuran, his arms wrapped around the other man's upper body, his fangs in his neck. While his first snack was more satisfying, he wasn't going to complain about blood. Strangely, though, the bloodthirsty haze covering the auburn's mind slowly receded after each long gulp of the pureblood's scrumptious life essence. Once he had full control over his actions once more and realized what exactly he was doing, time appeared to be at a standstill. His hold over Kaname weakened and the Kuran dropped to the floor, still fully conscious, unlike Ichijou, but with eyes glazed and widened with shock.
"I – I'm sorry..."
Those were the last words verbalized by Shiki before he rapidly fled from the situation and up the dormitory stairs, curling up in a ball in the corner of his bedroom.