Takao noticed of a dull throbbing in his head as he began to slowly float into consciousness. He felt like he was floating in a warm ocean, gently swaying from side to side with a cool breeze flowing over his face. He sighed at the pleasant sensation.

Suddenly the swaying stopped.

What?

Why did it stop?

It felt so nice…

Takao's eyebrows twitched into a slight frown at the absence. As soon as he did, the warmth around him stared to move around. A large chunk of it disappeared altogether.

That was strange to say the least.

Takao slowly became aware of a noise that was becoming increasingly clearer.

No, it wasn't just a noise. It was a voice.

It was relatively deep, and seemed to be repeating something.

A warm object brushed against his forehead, sweeping over his frown, almost like a medical assessment.

"Takao."

Ah, it was his name.

Takao forced his eyelids upwards so he could see. His vision was strangely blurry but he could make out enough in the darkness.

The first thing he noticed was that he was nowhere near the paradise he envisioned. He could barely make out the blurry forms of the buildings surrounding him.

The face floating above his own probably belonged to Midorima, if the green blob surrounding it was anything to go by.

Midorima gave a relieved sounding sigh and another dark object hovering over him withdrew itself. Takao felt himself being shuffled around as the warmth returned to completely encasing him.

Ah, the object was Midorima's arm.

Wait, if that was the case then he was being… carried?

Takao tried to speak, to ask what was happening, but the swaying sensation returned and the shapes around him started to move by.

Midorima was taking him somewhere.

The drowsiness returned along with the swaying and Takao found that he had no strength or will to keep his eyes open. He shut them and let himself drift back off into sleep.

He would deal with things when he had to. For now, he was too tired to do anything.


Takao felt something light drift across his face.

It tickled.

It really tickled and it smelled like green tea.

Hell, now it itched!

His bug-swatting instincts jumped into play and he practically flew into a sitting position.

Bam!

Instead of reaching his intended position, Takao collided with something solid almost immediately.

He winced as he fell back and felt something catch his head. What was going on?

He opened his eyes and fuzzily saw Midorima's face a few inches away.

That's probably what just hit him.

He blinked a few times to clear his vision and the memories from yesterday flooded back into him.

Takao felt his fear return at full strength and he started shivering.

Midorima's face showed a flicker of pain, then nothing as he placed Takao's head down on the pillow underneath him.

Eyes darting around the room, Takao looked around frantically for an escape route and was surprised to find the familiar walls of Midorima's bedroom surrounding them. From this vantage point he was probably lying on the bed.

Midorima stood up and walked to a chair in the opposite corner of his room, probably sensing Takao's unease. After sitting down, he crossed his arms and stared back with his usual glare, though it seemed slightly nervous and more of a mask then it usually did.

Hah. Midorima? Nervous?

That's impossible.

Takao sat up slowly, fighting the sluggishness in his body, and gathered the blankets around his body, trying to stave off the chill his fear was giving him. Having the source of his panic staring straight at him wasn't really helping.

"Takao."

Takao almost yelped in terror when his name came from Midorima's mouth.

Oh god, why was this happening to him?

"You're probably wondering about what happened so I'll do my best to explain."

Some of Takao's fear started to ebb away when he really listened to Midorima's voice. It sounded pretty normal, but there was definitely a tremor to it. It seemed like Midorima was pretty upset about the situation as well.

"When I was a child, around 3 or 4 years of age, I was in the hospital over a long period of time for a severe case of pneumonia. I woke up one night and started wandering around. I found my way into a restricted area where they were doing some testing though, to this day, no one knows how I managed it. There were many levels of security but I seemingly bypassed all of them."

Takao sat silently, listening to the flow of Midorima's words. It felt kind of therapeutic and the lull of it soothed his frazzled nerves a bit.

"They say that it must have been something in the air because the other members of my previous team all had the same illness, resided in the same hospital and experienced the same situation. We somehow met up, formed a group, and then ventured deeper into the restricted area. I vaguely remember it being very dark, cold and silent. It felt dead."

Takao shivered. The other members had the same thing?

"I cannot remember much about the actual event but one of the vampires they were holding there to conduct tests on got loose and attacked us. There was a lot of blood and screaming. It was horrible. When we all came to, this is what we had become."

A vampire.

Takao knew that Midorima wasn't joking, though he wished it were so, because he could still feel the sensation of teeth sinking into his flesh.

"I can usually stop my urges, but I have a different problem now. It has to do with your scent."

Takao was confused. His scent? What about scent? Seriously though, who even uses that word in real life anymore?

"I am undeniably drawn to your blood. It is not something I can control with ease. After our game, you got too close to me and I was tempted to grab you right there and drain you."

Midorima ran a hand through his hair and his voice became increasingly more agitated.

"I used that girl to satisfy some of the urge because she looked kind of like you. I could pretend I was actually sinking my teeth into your flesh. But now, things will be different."

Midorima's voice grew even more serious and he stopped fidgeting.

"Now that I let myself go and I have tasted your blood, I know that I will not be able to satisfy myself by using another source."

Takao felt the fear that had ebbed away creep back up into him when Midorima's eyes seemed to glint with his intent.

"Neither of us have any choice in the matter. I am not lusting after your blood by choice. Granted, it is better than some fragile girl, but this is not a pleasant situation for either of us."

Midorima abruptly stood up, making Takao jump in alarm.

"I won't touch you. Stay here and don't get up. You lost a lot of blood. I will get you something to eat."

Takao waited until Midorima was gone before he collapsed back down on the bed. What had he gotten himself into?

He noticed his bag by the foot of the bed and slowly stretched himself out to grab it.

Midorima was right. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, definitely not in any condition to walk around. It was a challenge to simply hold his head up.

Takao grabbed his bag and dragged it back with him into the blankets. He rifled through it until he came across his cell phone. He flicked open the device and paled at the time.

It was 11 o'clock in the morning.

Morning.

He had spent the entire night at Midorima's house.

Strangely, there were no calls or messages from his parents. Midorima had probably taken care of it.

He looked through his contact list and selected someone he knew was trustworthy.

After a few beeps, they picked up and a polite voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kuroko. I'm kinda hoping you could help me with something."