Chapter two – Addiction

Five years had certainly been a long time. Being with Ryoma had become tiring, he had not even bothered to pretend he wanted to be there anymore. The whole time, his face said exactly what the others were thinking of him. Ryoma was there because he had to be. As soon as they finished getting the hamburgers Momo wanted and Ryoma showed them the local tennis courts – there, Ryoma was 'harrassed' by the coach to try and get Ryoma to play for the club – he had gone home, barely a word to say good bye or 'thanks for coming overseas for me'.

Eiji sighed, holding his chin. "O'chibi really is cold now," he sighed. "Nya…"

Oishi put a hand on Eiji's shoulder. "I'm sure he doesn't mean to be," Oishi smiled, though he doubted his own words. He had never met someone so outwardly rude to their friends. Were they even friends even more?

Eiji sat down on a low brick ledge. "It's like both Ryoma and Fujiko live in different worlds to us now," he sighed, no enthusiasm in his voice. His chin rested on his hand, an upset look tarnishing his face.

"Fuji has been rather cold as well," Taka said. "Ever since he started to help at Confinement, he's been very detached."

"Come on, we should go to the motel. It'd be suspicious if we never get there," An suggested, "and, unlike you all, I do need sleep."

--

Fuji Syuusuke once took pride on his rather calm and in control nature. In any situation, he'd come out on top: victorious. It had been that way for years.

He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair impatiently. Over the years, his nature had become more unconventional, impetuous, unpredictable and, on occasion, almost unruly. His patience now wore thin rather quickly. But some days, he was the same as he used to be.

"Syuusuke-kun, I was wondering if you could come fill in for Tarou-kun this weekend. He was meant to be the photog-"

"I can't do it," Syuusuke almost snapped, in one of his bad moods. Oddly enough, his voice sounded like bells, most of his spare time now with his father and he had picked up the accent. "I'm busy this weekend."

The teenager stopped silent. "Oh. Another time then." She rushed away, unnerved by Syuusuke's sharp attitude.

Syuusuke stood abruptly, heading to the nearest building. The garden had been peaceful, yes, but his belongings were inside. University was reasonable, but slightly annoying. Syuusuke already had a job; working as the warden in Confinement when his father wasn't. The degrees from a University were entirely unnecessary. But Tadashi had pressured him to excel in photography, one talent Syuusuke had had for many years. Long before tennis.

"Syu-u-su-ke-kun," a rather happy voice echoed in Syuusuke's ear as he entered the building. A darted, harsh glance in the blue-haired 'prince's direction expressed Syuusuke's annoyance enough. But it didn't seem that he got the hint. "Still bitter from Echizen leaving? I must say, I am surprised. Over the years, you've gotten worse," the blue-haired 'prince' said. "Seigaku's tensai ending up as the impetuous and unconventional, rebellious teenager like quite a lot of foreign teenagers. "

"Is there something you want, Seiichi?" Syuusuke snapped this time. He didn't have time for Seiichi's antics.

Seiichi frowned. "I was just saying 'hello'. You don't have to be such a sourpuss all the time," he frowned. "Basically, you're going to America. You have no choice in this."

Syuusuke, who had just managed to open his locker, slammed the door shut. Who the hell had the right to send him to another country without his permission?

"Why the hell am I going to America?" Syuusuke asked rather rudely. His patience was getting worse by the second. He really wised Seiichi had better timing. Like when Syuusuke wasn't unbelievably thirsty and stuck at his human University campus for the afternoon. Damn his parents for convincing him to go to a human University rather than a vampire one.

"Well," Seiichi said, "Keigo, yourself and I are meeting with most of the Elders – they do have enough power to drag you overseas by force - most, if not all of the immortals and basically a lot of other heads of things. The Yukimura, Atobe and Fuji family all decided to hand over at the same time, you see. The Elder's a very traditional, they like there to be a head of a family. So, we're going to be inaugurated with a whole lot of other people from all over the world."

Syuusuke sighed, opening the locker again. He knew his father believed in 'youth' leading. "Great," he said, rolling his eyes. "When are we going?"

"Tonight, of course," Seiichi said teasingly with a grin.

Syuusuke slung his bag over his shoulder and closed the door. "Tonight?" he hissed. "What time and for how long?"

"Um, about a week. Maybe two. It's really until the Elders say we can go," Seiichi admitted. "They have power over my family. Not many people actually like the Elders."

Syuusuke, rather bored already, walked away, fishing a lighter from his bag.

"You really should stop that, Syuusuke," Seiichi chuckled. "But, I suppose that it's better for the rest of us, anyway."

Syuusuke opened the door, intending on leaving the University for the day. He didn't care for anything but getting out of the human filled place that tortured him on most days.

--

Inui looked at his notes inspecting everything he had. There were inconsistencies naturally, but he tried to correct them. Some things weren't possible to gather, like Syuusuke's data had never been completely collected. Syuusuke continuously changed. Ryoma's was never complete as there simply never was enough time.

"Hoi, hoi! Inui, what are you recording now?" Eiji asked curiously.

Inui happily obliged to fill in Eiji's curiosity.

"Over the last six-seven years, I've been collecting data on how often everyone sleeps and how long someone can stay awake without needing sleep," Inui explained. "The data is quite interesting. Most of the data indicates that the older the vampire, the less sleep they need, though there is a single inconsistency."

Eiji tried to understand. "Like what, nya?"

"The person who slept the most in my details was Ryoma, needing sleep at least once a week, give or take two days. On average, he slept every eight point three-five days.

"Next was Momo, most likely because of his lack of time being a vampire, needing sleep every three weeks and two days on average.

"Then you, Eiji, every three weeks and six days on average."

"Really?" Eiji asked, "I never noticed…"

Inui nodded. "Close to that is Tezuka, who sleeps the fourth of each month. It's discipline rather than need.

"I follow that, every thirty five days I sleep.

"Taka and Oishi are very similar, fourty days, the only thing that changes is that Oishi is every fourty point five days.

"Fuji, when he was with us, he slept every sixty days. But his longest period without sleep was just after Natsu, where he was awake for sixty-eight days.

"The longest, by far, and the inconsistency, is Kaidoh. I still have insufficient data on him, but it points to almost two years, one hundred and fifty seven days," Inui concluded. "An was not mentioned in this data because she is human and sleeps an average of five hours per night."

Momo, who had walked into the room once he heard his name, was rather shocked. "Two years?" Momo exclaimed. "No wonder he's always in a bad mood."

The three were awake rather early, well, they hadn't slept actually, waiting for the others to be ready. Everyone was going out together for breakfast if they felt up to it. A few most likely would stay behind only because they weren't hungry.

There was a loud noises come from hall as Kaidoh walked out. "How the hell did you find me here?" he asked in rough English as a tiny, pale, sickly-looking woman walked out beside him.

"Is it wrong that I try and find you? Hozumi told Beth that you were here," she replied, her voice almost inaudible. She was probably around Kaidoh's chest height with golden brown hair and eyes. She was very obviously English and from the sounds of it, she couldn't speak a word of Japanese.

"Kaidoh, who is this?' Momo asked.

Kaidoh looked at Momo. "This is Cecilia. I met her… a while ago. She doesn't speak Japanese."

Cecilia tilted her head to the side. "What? I don't understand you, Kaoru."

Kaidoh turned back to Cecilia. "This is Momo and Eiji," Kaidoh helpfully said rough, school-taught English, "Why aren't you in England right now?"

"The inauguration is on in America this time. A lot of people from Japan decided to give over at the same time you see and we have no choice but to come. Why you are in America is more of an important question. I thought you were in Japan," she said, her voice no more than a squeak.

"We're visiting a friend," Kaidoh explained.

Cecilia was probably not taller than eight or nine year old. But, she had features that said she was definitely older than sixteen, seventeen years old. She had red cheeks and pale skin, most likely an ongoing fever. She had a slight tremor to every movement she made. She was shaking just slightly. Her balance was slightly off but she walked on her toes out of habit. Her heels were just off of the floor, but never touching. Every movement was pointed and extended, but unstable.

Tezuka and Oishi walked out into the hall. "Who is this?"

"This is Cecilia," Kaidoh said once again. "Cecilia, Tezuka and Oishi."

"It's nice to meet you," Tezuka and Oishi said almost in unison.

"The pleasure's all mine," she said in very, very rough Japanese. It didn't even come out right but the others understood what she meant. She turned back to Kaidoh and spoke in English again. "Are you going to come to the Inauguration? You really should."

"Inauguration?" Oishi asked, understanding most of what was said. "Isn't that in another two months?"

Cecilia looked at Oishi. "No, it's in about three days time. They changed it because a lot of the people were going to be here now instead," Cecilia explained. "They had to fly some people over from Japan at really short notice. We had to meet them at the airport. Thankfully, Elaine speaks Japanese."

Momo looked at Eiji. "Did you understand a word of that?"

Eiji looked back. "Someone named Elaine speaks Japanese. That's all I understood."

"Oh."

"Were you supposed to go to the Inauguration, Oishi?" Cecilia asked.

Oishi nodded. "Yeah. With my grandfather in case of an emergency," Oishi explained.

Cecilia smiled. "Oh, your grandfather is Kenji, isn't it? I haven't seen him since he was a boy. He's still alive? Isn't he about one hundred years old?"

Oishi nodded. "Yeah. How did you meet him when he was young? You look about our age," Oishi said.

Cecilia chuckled. "No, no, no. I'm much older. I'm actually about eight hundred years old. I didn't keep track much when I was younger, but it was about then," Cecilia smiled. "K-"

Kaidoh shot a glare then, a hiss escaping from his lips. "How is Beth? Still as controlling as she was when I last saw you all?"

Cecilia chuckled. "If only. She's worse, I think. Elaine doesn't like it. Bartholomew is the same, though."

Cecilia looked out the window at the rising sun. "Well, I should go. I only came because Beth asked me to," Cecilia said. "Oh, you probably won't recognise Elaine. She's taller now. A bit taller than you, actually. But not by much. You'll probably see her walking around and not notice."

Kaidoh looked at Cecilia in interest but dismissed it rather quickly. She had a tiny smile on her face. "Come to the Inauguration. It's very rare to see the Elders outside of a ceremony. Not that anyone likes then. They made it personal with Masao and then Elaine…" her voice got quieter and quieter.

Kaidoh scowled. "What did they do this time?" he hissed.

Cecilia smiled just a little. "It's alright. We've always known they hate immortal children. The feeling's mutual, really."

Kaidoh tensed up just a little. "If they're giving you tro-"

Cecilia grabbed Kaidoh's hand. "It's alright, Kaoru. Don't worry. It's under control."

Kaidoh growled, obviously upset over hearing about the Elders. "Fine," he hissed. He wasn't pleased at all and everyone could tell.

--

Ryoma sighed. Sure, he liked this new feeling he got when he saw the regulars, mainly annoyance but the tiniest amount of nostalgia, but it was tiring and utterly pointless. He wasn't the same person as they used latch onto. He wasn't the same bratty little kid anymore.

He looked at his textbooks, considering doing his homework before midnight. Knowing his luck, the regulars would turn up as he started. But that was just the way things happened to work.

A brilliant idea came to him. Ryoma grabbed a bag and threw in some clothes and packed his bag for school the next day. At least if he looked ready, then his parents would let him leave if they caught him.

He grabbed his keys and put on his glasses. With a few quick strides, he was downstairs and ready to leave. He knew his parents weren't stupid. They'd notice his car was gone and know exactly where he had gone.

Stepping outside, he almost smirked. Somehow, he felt a little like he did when he escaped from his teammates back in Japan. That self-satisfaction that they hadn't noticed he had gone and then they had no idea where he was.

His dark red car roared to life, probably a little older than him. He pulled wiped his glasses just to try and see a little clearer. He didn't actually need them to drive. He could see enough to do that just fine. But, at least everything seemed just a little clearer.

In the moments you were faced with life's decisions, clarity was always welcome.

--

(A.N: Thank you so much for the reviews. Please continue reading and reviewing this story. For all the people who asked where Fuji was, you know now. =D

Please review.
Asami-chan.)