Sweet Blood
2. The day after
Furihata opened slowly his eyes because of the sunlight that was creeping from the window.
He mumbled something incoherent and sat straight on the bed, but he winched when a spark of pain went through his body. Not understanding what was happening, he brought a hand at the side of his neck and whimpered after pushing too much against his wounds.
Then he remembered everything.
Groceries, the dark alley, Kise, red eyes, pain, blood.
Furihata felt a shiver ran down his spine. Looking at his hands he saw them shaking, he brought one to his mouth to muffle the sob that he had stuck in his throat. And it wasn't like he could tell to someone "Hey, yesterday evening Kise Ryouta, the famous model and basketball prodigy, attacked me and drank my blood". Yeah, that would be a very bad idea.
Furihata looked at his cellphone with tearfully eyes, considering the idea of calling Kuroko, but he tossed it immediately aside for the same reason. Who would believe him? He was such a plain boy...
He tried to stay straight but he felt dizzy and he had to lean a hand on a mobile for supporting his body.
"Ugh...", he winched, but he began to walk on the direction of the bathroom, stopping every ten steps for catching his breath. Kise said something the other evening about "taking too much blood", but his mind was foggy and Furihata had a hard time staying concentrated.
Finally he reached the bathroom, grasping the sink with all his strength (that it wasn't much) and realized that he was breathing like when he was practising with one of Riko's crazy schedule.
"Why... they... don't put... this things... in the books...", Furihata said with gritting teeth and swallowing hard, cursing all the writers that didn't write about how it sucked the morning after a vampire made you into his dinner.
He looked at the mirror above the sink and he let out a short cry. He was a mess: his eyes looked deadly (thankfully he didn't had black bangs under them), he was much paler than usual, his hair seemed to go in all directions and his lips were full of little teeth-wounds (maybe he bit them when he was asleep).
But the real deal was when he took off the poorly-made bandage (Kise seriously needed to practice at that): his neck was raw and sore, red and purple adorned it, two half moons were carved there and they looked like a tattoo if it wasn't for the stinging pain that he felt every time he grazed them.
Furihata decided to take a quick shower, trying to not let the water touch his neck. It was a hard task, since he had to wash his hair. After nearly burst in tears and ten agonizing minutes, he ended it feeling slightly better.
He re-did the bandages (and this time in the right way) and put on his uniform with a loosely tie (he didn't want to feel too much pressure against his neck).
Furihata then he remembered the homework that he had to do and looked on his desk with terrified eyes.
"How could I forget something like that?" he asked to himself then he realized. "Ah, right, vampire...".
It felt strange saying it. He thought about the word "vampire" many times the other evening but saying it aloud made all his experience true. He was terrorized by the thought that something like that happened to him, he didn't want to go to school but he had to: his grades weren't exactly good and he couldn't effort an absence.
After sighing, he brought all his homework into his bag and went out of his house.
It wasn't until he reached the street that he realized that the fear started to rise inside him. What if Kise was behind the corner and attacked him once again? What if someone grasped him and brought him in a dark alley? What if he saw that electric red again? What if?! WHAT IF?!
Furihata's heart was pounding so fast into his ears that he didn't hear any sound, before he realized it he was running and every time he saw the red colour he felt like he was going to pass out.
Without noticing it, he stood in front of the school gates and his breathing was fast, like he ran a marathon. The fear was so strong that his legs brought him to school in half the time he usually took.
Fukuda and Kawahara that were there, were surprised to see him there (since he was always late) and walked to him with worry written on their faces.
"Furi, are you okay?", Fukuda was the first one that spoke and Furihata looked to him with widen eyes. He didn't realize that he was already at school, he was just catching his breath but he ran faster than he thought.
"Yes... sorry...", Furihata felt his legs throbbing and his heart resounded in his ears, plus his neck stung so much that it was like he had a sword there and, most of all, his dizziness was stronger than before. Maybe he didn't realize this things when he was running because of the fear ant the adrenaline, but now everything was coming back to him at full-force.
"Are you sure?", this time it was Kawahara and he looked agitated for his friend. "It seems like you were running from a demon!".
Furihata, at that words, took an unconscious step back with a scarred face. What happened the other evening came back into is mind and he shuddered. No, he didn't want to remember!
"You're trembling...", Fukuda noted approaching his friend and grasping one of his shoulder.
"Ah... maybe I have a cold...", Furihata said looking at his toes and evading Fukuda's worried gaze.
"I never heard that someone with a cold could run like that... and what about that bandage around your neck?", Kawahara asked arching an eyebrow, pointing at Furihata's neck. There was something strange about their friend... but didn't know what it was and Furihata didn't seem like he was going to tell them about it.
For pure luck, the bell rang seconds after and Furihata let a relived sigh escape from his lips. He didn't want to answer to those questions, even if he knew that his friends were only worried about him.
While they hurried to not be late for class, Furihata thought about what Kawahara words.
"A demon...", he whispered under his breath. Ah, his friend had to say that word...?
Furihata still didn't understand much about the situation, but he was sure of one thing: that day was going to be hell.
/Sweet Blood/
The bell rang, indicating the end of classes.
Never in Furihata's life did he felt so relieved after hearing that sound. He couldn't take another minute.
His neck continued to throb for all his classes, so he had to bit his tongue to not scream and he had an hard time to not fall asleep while the teacher was reading a book (he didn't remember what was it's name). Not counting the worried gazes of Fukuda and Kawahara that seemed to pierce a hole into his back. But what could he say to them? "I found that Kise is a vampire and he drank my blood! Ah, I forgot to tell you that now I'm so scarred to even walk in the street!". Not a good idea... even if he showed them the bite they would probably think that it was a secret girlfriend or something like that...
Furihata managed to avoid them during lunch break hiding in the library, saying something about "having to reorganize the books" and disappeared quickly. Obviously he didn't eat anything, even if he had brought his lunch (a simple bento), but every time he looked at the food he couldn't help but remember his blood leaving his body and when his gaze fell to his bento he only saw red. He knew that hallucinating wasn't good but there was nobody to talk to... maybe, with time, he hoped that things would return to normal... he didn't know how much he could take, and that was only the day after the attack...
Clearing his mind, Furihata slowly stood from his desk and proceeded to go at the gym, where there was practice. Since he didn't want to pass out and have to explain why a mark of teeth was on his neck, he decided to ask Riko to let him go home for the day. He didn't really have the strength to play basketball at the moment.
Obviously Riko wasn't happy about it, but seeing how Furihata barely stood straight, she let out an exasperate sigh and patted his shoulder.
"Fine, you can skip practice for today", she said glancing to the other members that were running in the gym, making sure that they weren't slacking off. "But only this time!", she added bringing her hard gaze to him, and Furihata could only shutter at the punishment if he skip another time.
"I-I understand! T-Thank you very much!", he smiled a little to his coach and she sighed again, bringing a hand to her forehead.
"But really, has something happened, Furihata-kun? You seem strange...", Riko said looking at him from head to toe with worried eyes.
Furihata was taken aback by that question. How many people were going to ask him the same thing? He wanted to reply that no, he wasn't fine. He was attacked by a FREAKING VAMPIRE the other evening...
But he didn't say that, he just pursued his lips and shocked his head without saying a word.
Riko didn't seem satisfied with his answer and tried again. "Did you hurt yourself? There's a bandage on your neck".
Furihata instinctively brought a hand to his neck and flicked at the pain. "Ah, yes... It just that I fell yesterday", he laughed nervously. It was a poor excuse but it was better than the truth. However that didn't fool Riko who narrowed her eyes more.
Suddenly he felt a new wave of dizziness going through his body and he nearly lost his balance, but at the last moment he leaned a hand to the wall and managed to stay straight.
"Furihata-kun?!", Riko shouted approaching the boy and seeing him brought a hand to his mouth, like he was going to puke. "Do you fell like throwing up? Go to the bathroom at the locker room!", she hurried him, pointing to a door behind his shoulders.
Furihata, with his head down and stumbling steps, went to the direction previously indicated by Riko.
In the meanwhile, the team stopped their practice and looked at the scene with worried eyes.
"Is he going to be all right?", Fukuda asked seeing his friend in that condition. The rest of the team brought their attention to the coach with the same worried eyes and nervous murmur.
Riko sighed and gave them a warning gaze that made them shudder. "Furihata-kun doesn't feel good... but you're all full of energy! I'm sure that if I double the training, nobody is going to complain!", she chirped happily, giving them her most innocent smile.
The team immediately realized that she wasn't joking and hurried to resume their practice. They didn't want to die!
However, after they gave their back to Riko, a dark shadow covered her eyes. She was worried too, but Furihata didn't want to talk... and she hated that but the only thing she could do was hoping that the boy would tell her what was wrong.
"Wait...", Hyuuga's voice shook her from her thoughts. "Where is Kuroko?"
/Sweet Blood/
Furihata washed his face with cold water, but the nausea kept getting stronger. However he didn't feel like throwing up, it was probably the loss of blood and because he didn't eat anything at lunch.
"Furihata-kun?"
Furihata jumped when he heard a voice calling him. He thought that he was alone!
Turning around, he saw the familiar face of Kuroko who was looking at him with curious yet worried eyes and the poorly wear t-shirt implied that the other boy had just finished changing. Those eyes were different from the usual dull and, if Furihata wasn't feeling so sick, he might have laughed at that sight.
"Furihata-kun, you're very pale", Kuroko noted approaching the other boy. "Maybe you should go to the infirmary".
Furihata shook his head. If he went there, the nurse would probably see the marks on his skin, and she would start asking question, so it wasn't an option.
"I'm fine, Kuroko, real-", however, before he even managed to finish the sentence, a suddenly wave of dizziness mixed with nausea shocked his body so hard that he lost his balance. Why was he feeling so weak? He didn't understand, he didn't understand anything...
Kuroko, seeing his team-mate's face going to meet the floor, reached faster than the usual and grabbed him from the shoulders, avoiding a bruise on Furihata's nose.
Maybe it was fate or maybe it was pure coincidence, but the bandage around the brown haired male loosed a bit, allowing Kuroko to see what was under it.
The light blue teen suddenly grew pale and moved Furihata so that he was with his back on the floor, with the head turned aside giving a clear view of his neck.
Kuroko traced the marks on the pale skin with a finger and Furihata let out a pathetic whimper. The brown haired boy tried to move but he was so weak that he could only blink and see blurry colours and figures.
"Furihata-kun, who did this?", Kuroko's voice was beyond angry. He seemed furious at the aura that he was emitting could literally kill someone.
Furihata couldn't think straight and he seemed like he returned at the other evening, when he was attacked by Kise, like a flashback.
"Please... don't... hurt me... any more...", he whispered with a weak voice, completely surrendered at his memories.
"Furihata-kun, I won't, so please tell me-"
"No... don't... come... closer...", a silent tear crossed Furihata's cheek and he dared to look to Kuroko. Furihata's eyes lighted up and he seemed to recognize the light blue teen, ending in part the reminiscents of the previous evenening.
"Ku... ro... ko...", Furihata voice was barely audible however it could still be heard the fear that the boy was experiencing. "Don't... let... him... get... me... again...", then, because of anaemia and lack of food, his mind went black and he slowly fell to unconsciousness.
The last thing Furihata's saw were Kuroko's eyes turning from dull light blue to dangerous electric red.
Author's note: yup, new chapter so soon! Sorry if you were expecting the GOM, but I needed to write this chapter because of Kuroko and Furihata's feelings, but don't worry they will all (and I mean ALL) appear in the next chapter! Ah, and update aren't going to be so fast... I had already pallned this so I just had to write it down...