Crimson Love

Chapter Three

By KellyQ

Jack walked into the training room, to hear several gunshots and the sound of a whip slashing through the air. He made it around the corner to see his boyfriend practicing. He was target shooting. The shots were coming rapidly out of his handgun, small puffs of smoke rising with each one.

"Yusei!" Jack yelled, but to no avail. Yusei's large ear muffs covered most of the sides of his head, and there was no way he was going to hear anything, let alone the sound of one man's voice. But Jack persisted. "Yusei! Hey! Yus!"

Yusei just kept firing, unaware that Jack had come to the training room to tell him something important. Jack sighed. He walked over to the far wall where there was another set of large ear muffs. He placed them over his ears, and made his way over to Yusei. He stood next him, pulled out his own gun and fired at the same target.

Yusei blinked a few times. He turned his head to see Jack standing there waiting for him to take off the ear muffs. They pulled their ear muffs down at the same time over their shoulders.

"What you are doing here?" Yusei asked Jack in a slightly off put manner. "How did you know where I was?"

"That's easy. You always come here when you are having trouble deciding what to do," Jack asserted confidently. "You have to blow off steam while you think, so you come to do some target practice."

"I'm that easy to figure out, huh?" Yusei responded. A small frown made its way to his lips. He was sad by what he was going to have to do.

"This is going to be a rough night, isn't it?"

"You're telling me."

"What did you decide? Are you going to kill Kiryu tonight as he comes out of hiding?" Jack asked. He didn't know how else to ask the question they had both been thinking about for the last week now.

"I don't think I have any other choice, do you?" Yusei said quietly. "I mean, if I don't, Kiryu is just going to keep biting more and more people, turning them into vampires."

Jack studied him for a moment when the door opened. They turned their heads to see Akiza and Crow walking up.

"There you are, buddy!" Crow said, folding his arms, not looking thrilled. "Akiza and I have been looking all over the place for you."

Yusei lowered his gaze so that no one could see his eyes. "Sorry."

Crow ignored it. "So, What's the plan? You have a plan I hope."

Yusei did have a plan, but just the thought of having to kill Kiryu made his heart ache. He hoped that he would never have to do that.

"We'll divide into two groups," Yusei explained. "Once we have gotten enough vampires, that will lure Kiryu here." They all nodded their heads. "We'll leave in one hour."

Crow and Akiza turned and walked out. Yusei pulled the huge ear muffs over his ears, and continued his target practice. Jack sighed, pulled his large ear muffs off and hung them back on the wall. He spared his boyfriend one last glance before walking out.

Once he was outside, Jack slammed his fist against the wall imagining that it was Kiryu. Damn you! He thought, feeling anger and sadness grow. It took Jack a while to get Yusei back on his feet, and snap him out of his depression after they thought Kiryu had died.

The first few weeks were unbearable for Jack to watch. Yusei plunged himself right into hardcore training and hardly got any sleep. He looked out of it and sad. It came to the point that Jack couldn't take it any more; he had to do something.

Jack walked into the training room to see Yusei target practicing, but kept on missing. Upon further glance, he wasn't even wearing large ear muffs to keep his hearing safe. Yusei tried to ignore Jack's presence, but it was hard.

After a moment, Jack finally spoke up. "If you're going to practice, at least wear ear muffs."

Yusei lowered his gaze and continued to shoot, the last bullet making its way successfully to the target. Yusei sighed and lowered his gun. He turned and walked over to the wall and pulled off one of the ear muffs off the wall. Yusei then pivoted and tossed the ear muffs to Jack. The blonde-haired teen caught it. It took a moment for Jack to figure out what was going on.

"How about we practice together?" Jack suggested.

"I need some space, Jack," Yusei finally said, his voice soft but stern. He made his way past the blonde-haired teen.

Jack lowered his gaze, too. He reached out and pulled Yusei back. The spiky-haired teen stumbled, but he kept his footing.

"Yusei, look at me," Jack ordered calmly.

It took a moment him to lift his head, and when he did, Jack wasn't ready to see tears sliding down his cheeks. Jack sighed and pulled Yusei close. He wrapped his arms around the blond-haired teen's neck. It felt nice to be held again. Yusei missed human contact, the feeling he got when he was so close to Jack. Deep down, though, he missed Kiryu and couldn't believe he was dead.

"It will be all right," Jack said. "I promise."

"I'm not sure I believe you. How will this hurt ever go away?" Yusei asked, genuinely unable to get over the fact that his boyfriend was gone forever.

"I don't know," Jack answered honestly, "but it just will. I'm here for you, if nothing else."

Jack didn't know how he was was going to comfort Yusei again with the fact of Kiryu's passing. Especially considering that this time, Yusei was going to have to kill his former boyfriend himself.

To be continued...