Chapter Three:
…
Why was this taking so long? She was pulling out papers and placing them in front of Ayato like she was writing a novel. And how long did a vampire have to stand naked somewhere before someone brought him some clothes? These people honestly didn't care. Even his female was almost oblivious to the fact that he wasn't wearing anything. It bothered him that he sensed no physical attraction from her at seeing him bare. Did she even make a passing glance towards his groin or was she almost as inhuman as he was?
Did she feel nothing about his physical self? Did a flesh and blood body mean that little to her? He'd never met any other humans who didn't at least have to put an effort in to look away, or keep their eyes on his face when he stood there. But he could feel that she wasn't bothered by it at all. How strange…
He wondered for a moment if she was the same way with her own body…
"How long is this going to take?" he asked, exasperated. She looked up at him with a tight frown.
"You could start filling out the ones I've already put in front of you if you're bored. The pens are in the cup to your right."
Ayato frowned back, but played along.
"There was an issue with your name, so if you could just fill out this form for us to keep on file here and send to other hospitals if need-be. It's just the information on you birth certificate—that's what it's asking for, but you don't need your birth certificate on you."
Shit. How old did he look? He had to look like he was in his twenties, so he counted backwards the years until he could say that he was twenty-four. He noticed that she was watching him intently as he filled out the age sheet. He didn't appreciate the scrutiny.
"There," he said when it was all signed and filled out.. He slid the papers back across the counter, and noticed the bastard male coming up to the desks. He looked Ayato up and down and then made a disgusted face.
"Can someone get this man some clothes, please?" he shouted back to the women behind him. And then the bastard turned to his female. "The nurse that was in the room with him is fine. She's a little shaken, and she's saying some weird stuff, but physically, she's fine."
"That's good," Yui Komori replied, filing the papers away.
A woman came up to him and blushed as she handed him a neatly folded pile of rags. Ayato frowned and grabbed them from her. He opened it up to find a basic t-shirt, and a pair of khaki pants hit the floor. He threw on the shirt, and then leaned over and pulled on the pants.
"He needs shoes," his female said, and the nurse kept her eyes on the floor as she nodded and hurried off. Then, Yui Komori turned back to him. "Are you sure you're okay to leave? It's definitely a miracle that you can stand, much less walk, but I'm worried that you won't come back if you need to. If you get dizzy, or your head starts to hurt, you need to come back here right away. Or just call 9-1-1 and an ambulance will come get you and bring you back."
"You want me to stay that badly, huh?" Ayato asked with a smirk. He idly wondered if she was getting annoyed yet.
"It's only because I don't know how you're able to stand right now. I don't know if your blood allows you to heal at a fraction of the time it takes a normal person to recover in the same way. You may be perfectly fine—I have no idea. But I'm concerned if something goes wrong when you leave. That's all. At least if you stay here so we can run a few final tests on your vitals, I can feel more at ease letting you go. But right now, I have no idea what your body has been doing over the past few hours, and the last time I saw you, you could barely open your mouth to speak, much less get out of bed on your own."
Ayato frowned at that. Did she really think he was so weak? Not that she could understand his healing capabilities. She was only human, after all. But it still bothered him that she expected him to recover so slowly, for whatever reason. It wasn't like anyone else would think any differently. Unless, of course, they knew the truth.
The woman from before approached him slowly with a pair of overly-used sneakers. They would have to do until he got home. She handed him a pair of black socks and he slipped them on, then tied the laces on the sneakers. He stood upright again and gave a quick nod to his female before heading for the exit.
"So," he heard the bastard male say behind him, "You've got an answer for me, Yui?" He stopped dead in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. His female was still watching him, but the male was in dominance mode, and he didn't like it one bit. As soon as he left, the male would start bothering his female with his disgusting sex-driven scent, and Ayato felt his own anger bubbling up a bit.
He was bonded, after all. He didn't know how or why, but he'd bonded to this frail human doctor when she'd saved his life, and he didn't like how the feeling made it hard for him to leave.
But he knew that he couldn't have anything to do with the human female or this place. He didn't belong here, and it was a miracle that he got a doctor whose first intention wasn't to pull him apart and inspect his insides for fun. She was just letting him walk out.
Still, he didn't like the idea of leaving her behind, especially with the male here getting all excited again. But bonding wasn't something he'd been waiting for, either. Some vampires lived hundreds of years waiting for find their bonded mates, but in all his years, Ayato never really cared if he ever bonded or not. He figured it wasn't impossible to bond to multiple people, so why did he have to choose this one? And a weak human, at that. He couldn't have bonded to a vampire, could he? Of course not. Well, whatever.
He heard the male say a few more words as he turned back to the door, and his female's sense of discomfort washed over him, making him shudder and grit his teeth as he forced his body to walk away from her.
…..…
"It's really not that hard, Yui," Misaki said, showing her two rows of white teeth.
"I… I gave you my answer yesterday..."
"I thought you said you'd think on it."
"I did."
"And what did you think about?"
Yui paused. She actually hadn't really given it any thought after he brought it up the first time. Her answer was still no, but somehow, saying that to him was more difficult than she expected. There was something in the back of his voice that seemed threatening to her, as if he would jeopardize her position in the Trauma Division if she flat-out told him that she wasn't interested. But how was she supposed to give him a "maybe" at this rate? Especially if she never intended to say yes later on.
Her patient had left the building a few minutes ago after filling out the proper paperwork and getting some clothes on. She almost wished he had stayed. Misaki only brought this stuff up when they were alone together by chance.
"What did you think about last night, Yui? Did you think about our dinner? Did you picture coming to my place after work tonight? Did you think about me before you went to sleep?"
"Doctor Sansu," she said softly, trying to stay formal as best she could.
"Come on, Yui. It took me so long to get you to call me by my first name and now you're going back to that crap? I'm your boss, but I'm your friend, too. And I'd like to be a little more than friends, actually. What's there to be afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid… I just not interested..."
"If you're not afraid, then prove it to me," he said with a wink. Was he not hearing her? "Just one night out. That's all I'm asking. Are you really so close-minded that you won't even give it a try. I'm sure you'd like me even more once you get to know me." He smiled confidently and Yui forced a small smile in return.
"I'd just really like to keep my relationships away from my work life."
"And what if you didn't work here anymore?" he asked, deadpan, and Yui froze. There was the catch. But he couldn't actually mean that… He wouldn't seriously get her fired if she refused him…right? That was just ridiculous. He had no good reason. He couldn't just fire her for no good reason like that. The company's higher-ups wouldn't allow it… right?
"If I didn't work here..." she said slowly, "Then I would probably look for a job outside of the city, very far away from here." Maybe this would help… "This job's the only thing keeping me in Manhattan, to be honest with you."
"You think you're being funny?" her boss asked, his face dropping. He looked like he was getting angry. "You think I'm joking?"
"I… I wasn't laughing, Doctor Sansu..."
"I think you're not feeling well, Yui."
"Excuse me?" she asked, confused by his comment.
"I think you should take a short leave and get your thoughts together. That's a direct order from your boss, too. I don't want you in here when you're head's not in the right place. It could affect the way you perform in surgery and how you handle my patients."
"But… I'm not… I'm fine." She frowned.
"Yui, take at least a week off. You need the break. That's an order."
"But, I'm fine!" she said, creasing her eyebrows. Why was he doing this? "I want to work!"
"Do you need me to take this to management, or are you just going to cooperate with me?"
Yui opened her mouth, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She looked down at the ground and just nodded. There were so many ways he could get her in trouble if he wanted to, and if she disobeyed him, then that was good cause to get fired… She was cornered.
"Take your things and go home. Enjoy your break."
That was it, then. There was nothing else to do.
"Yes, sir."
So she just packed her things and headed home, holding in the tears until she got to her car.
…..
The female's anxiety and sorrow had been washing over him for the past hour, and it felt like he'd just taken a shower in his clothes. They felt heavy, as if they were soaked in her negative emotions. It dragged him down, and made him angry at the same time, like someone had to pay for what they were doing to her. To him. To them.
Ayato hated it.
It was such a burden. How did anyone actually live with this shit? He'd gotten home recently, and his brothers, as usual, hadn't even noticed that he was gone for over a day. He wondered when they would have noticed, had the human not saved him. It would have taken at least a few more days before they started looking for his body.
He wanted to find Reiji. Reiji would know about the bonding and how to make it go away. He was such a nerd, reading books and playing silly IQ games with every free moment he had to himself. If there was anyone that knew too much, it was that arrogant bookworm.
The first stop was his only stop—the mansion's library. Of course he would be in there, sipping fancy tea from a fancy cup and saucer, in silence on his fancy red-velvet armchair… Ugh.
"Reiji!" Ayato called, already irritated from his female's constant sadness. He wasn't in the mood to beat around the bush. "I've bonded! Get rid of it!"
The dark purple-haired man pushed his glasses up his nose and continued reading his thick, hardcover novel.
"Reiji! Did you hear me?"
The older man sighed and closed his book with one hand, looking up slowly with narrowed, bright red eyes. He snarled once, composed himself, and set the book on the small table next to his armchair.
"What is it that you want from me, Ayato?"
"I said I bonded. To a human. And I want to get rid of it."
The older vampire just rolled his eyes and reached for his book again.
"Stop wasting my time, Ayato."
"Oi! I said get rid of it!"
"You're annoying me now," his brother replied, a threat in his voice.
"Are you going to help me or not? I can feel her and it's pissing me off!"
"You can't get rid of it," Reiji sighed angrily, pushing up his glasses again. "You're bonded. That's it."
"There has to be—"
"There isn't. The bond breaks if she dies, but your physical body wouldn't allow you to kill her, and if you managed to harm her, your body might punish you for it, so I would advise against that. Just live with it."He paused, picking up his book and opening it. "I'm sorry it was a human," he quickly added. "These things do happen sometimes. It's unfortunate."
"Well, how can I not… feel her?"
"Impossible."
"What can I do to—"
"Nothing. It's unavoidable. Stop trying to go around it, Ayato. You've bonded to a feeble human, and now you have to live with yourself."
"But… I can feel her and it's annoying."
"Learn to live with it."
"Couldn't you kill her for me?"
"I wouldn't chance it. If you felt her dying, you might come and kill me for harming her."
"No, I won't."
"You would." He paused and glared at the pages in front of his nose. "Trust me on that."
Ayato narrowed his eyes at his half-brother.
"I can't live with this. She's upset and it's putting me on edge. My body feels weirder the further she is from me."
"Then, by all means, go to her."
"She's human," he spat.
"And you bonded to her."
"It's not like I had a choice!" Ayato snarled, baring his fangs. Reiji glared up at him, over the top of the pages of the book, his upper lip twitching instinctively.
"I don't want to hear about your bonding problems anymore. Take them elsewhere."
Ayato crossed his arms and turned away.
"Yea, whatever."
….…
The only other option he had was Laito, who seemed to pride himself on how much he knew of mating and bonding. But his blood brother was strange, to say the least, when it came to sensual endeavors.
"Ayato… What a pleasant surprise."
Ayato frowned. Was he being expected? Laito turned up behind him, standing erect as a statue against the far wall of his bedroom.
"And what can I do for you today?" he said, and his voice was as erotic as ever. Ayato spat once onto the floor to show his disgust.
"I bonded, and Reiji won't help me get rid of it."
"What? The female? Why would you want to?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking. "Bonding is something that keeps our species alive."
"Yea, well, I can't exactly reproduce with a human."
"Oh, no. A human? I pity you."
"Don't pity me. Help me figure out how to stop it."
"Well, even if you can't have children with her, she's still your mate now. I'm sure you've felt that in your blood. Did you drink from her yet?"
Ayato cursed under his breath. "Why would I do something like that?"
"It would make the bond stronger."
"Exactly. Why would I want to do that?"
"Stop thinking of ways to get rid of a bond, because it's impossible. And start thinking of ways to enjoy this rare opportunity. After all, you may never bond to another for as long as you live, and humans… well, they expire after a few years. Take advantage of what's happened to you."
"It seems more like a curse."
"Oh, but it's a blessing indeed. I wish I would bond. I don't care who it's to, either. Just the feelings..." Laito started to make sensual sounds and squirm where he stood. "It would be... exquisite," he moaned, rubbing his chest and stomach, and reaching down to caress his thighs. Ayato spat on the floor again.
"They're not that great. Don't get your hopes up."
Unfortunately, his brothers were right about one thing—his mind was telling him to go to her. It was the most annoying feeling in the world, especially when, consciously, he wanted to stay in the house and make takoyaki or something else to pass the time until the sun went down. But then she would cry or something, and his body would jerk, sometimes scaring him as if he was about to get into a fight. His adrenaline would spike whenever he felt her get defensive. She was one hell of a human, feeling all these things within a single hour. Did all human females do that?
Another thought that kept him on edge was the sex-driven male. What had happened after he left the hospital? For some reason, his psyche kept making him regret leaving her there with him. Granted, he knew how the bonding thing worked when two vampires were involved. Vampire females bonded back, so they would have both realized that they were bonded, and they probably would have mated then and there.
But bonding to a human… They didn't even bond back. He'd heard stories of how vampires would be stuck their whole lives being bonded to a human who hated them, and the bond did nothing to change that. It was supposedly endless misery. He knew that bonding to a human was practically like bonding to a tree. There was nothing in it for him, and it was just a useless burden. He didn't need that in his life. He needed to find a way to get rid of the sensitivity he had towards her. There had to be some way to lessen the encumbrance. It did him no good. It was just a headache.
And yet his gut was still trying to draw him to her. He could feel her enough to be beside her within ten minutes, and find where she was in a fraction of that time.
He didn't want to go to her. He didn't want to waste his time. It was pointless. But bonds were strong. And before he knew it, he was standing in front of the door.
He snarled at his own weakness, turning and heading back to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up...
….
She couldn't stop crying. She always hated that about herself.
Ever since she was a child, her parents told her that she cried to much. She cried all the time as a baby, and over every little squabble back in preschool. She cried when she got a bad grade on her tests in elementary school, and when no one would play with her during recess. She would cry when she saw someone else getting bullied in middle school, and she would cry just because the day was ending when she was a teenager.
She always saw herself as weak in that regard, but ever since she started saving people's lives, she'd stopped crying. She never cried in surgery. She'd seen the worst of the worst and she'd seen people wake up from things that they never should have. She'd seen miracles and deaths many times over, but she never cried about them. She felt sad or happy to a great degree when treating people, but no one at work had ever seen her tears. And that was the way she liked it. She felt strong when she worked. Stronger than she'd ever felt in her life.
Now, she cried. Yui Komori let the waterfalls run for the first time in a long time. And as always, once she started, she didn't know how to stop. She couldn't imagine having to start over again. Not after working so hard to get where she was.
Misaki wasn't being fair. This little game of his was her life. Being a doctor was what she was, and she'd made the Care Unit her home over the years. The other employees, the nurses and everyone else, was her family now. And he was going to threaten her with that? How could he do something so cruel? Did he not know how much it meant to her?
Or maybe he did, and that was why he was using it as leverage. He knew he would win if he held this over her. But how was she supposed to fight back? She could agree to a date, but then what? If she still said she wasn't interested, he would just hold it over her again until… until he got tired of her and fired her anyway…
Yui quickly grabbed some clothes from her small dresser and headed for the master bedroom. She needed a nice, hot shower, and them some much-needed rest. She would go back to work tomorrow and try to talk to him again, although she wasn't sure what good ti would do her at this point.
Her home was a one-story flat house. She'd been renting it for years, and it held up quite nicely. There were no major problems, and the minor things were easily fixed so far. The front door opened up to a small laundry room and then a tiny kitchen. She had a living room attached and a hallway leading to her single bedroom and master bath. It was small and homely, and she didn't need anything more than that anyway. She'd been putting the extra money away for vacation trips in the future. She'd saved up enough to get the hell out of this city if she had to. But she didn't want to...
There was a set of sliding glass doors in the back of her bedroom that opened to a small backyard. Fences surrounded the property, but she could still hear the hustle and bustle of the city around her when she stepped outside. But the feeling of the dark green grass was better than stepping out onto a sidewalk and seeing the fake trees along to road as your nature for the day.
Yui was used to the sound of the city. The honking taxis and shouting people and the occasional bright light flashing in her window never caught her by surprise. She lived in the countryside as a child, but she knew that going back to that kind of silence at night would freak her out. She would never be able to sleep without her white noise now. She was ruined for life, but she loved it here.
She turned on the hot water for the shower and undressed before stepping under the running water and letting it wash over her.
How was she going to survive if she lost this job? She would have to move to find somewhere new to work, but that was the worst part of it all. She would have to leave her friends behind. She would have to leave her life behind. Sure, she could do it, but she was established. And to be honest, she knew that she'd been planning on spending the rest of her life here, for the most part.
She wanted to be a surgeon. She wanted to help people. She wanted to save lives and make a difference. There was nothing wrong with that. She loved her job. She enjoyed her work. How was it that one man could ruin her life without blinking an eye? All because of what? He wanted to take her out for dinner?
She knew that wasn't it. Sometimes she was a little naive, but she knew what was going on. Yui could tell a man like Misaki from a mile away. He was a leech. He wanted to take her to dinner, yes, but then he wanted to take her home and have a fling. And then he wanted to do it again, and again, until it was a routine, and she was disposable. And she hated that. She feared that, even. That wasn't even a relationship. That was just plain cruelty to another human being—expecting a show of love without reciprocation. People like that made her angry.
And of course, when she got angry she got upset.
Yui ran her fingers through her wet hair a few times before dumping shampoo in her palm. She rubbed her hands together a little too hard and then stood there staring at the bubbles dripping into the tub.
She was going to lose her job.
She lifted one hand and ran her soapy fingers through her hair a couple times.
There was nothing she could do about it.
Her eyes blurred as the tears came back and ran with the shower water, dripping off her chin and flowing down the drain. Soap dripped down one side of her face and landed in the tub with a foamy sploosh before catching the nearest rivulet of water to the drain. She looked down and watched it go, the water dripping off her nose and getting in her eyes. She squeezed them shut.
She had no one to go to. Her family was gone. Her friends were all here. She would have to start over, and the idea of it frightened her. She would have to move somewhere else—would it be quiet or loud? Either way, it wouldn't be the same. She liked living here. This wasn't fair.
How was she supposed to talk to Misaki about this? All that would do is make her look weak and frail and he would know he had her in a corner. Clearly, he knew it already.
Before she knew it, Yui was on the floor of the tub, wiping her face with the back of her soapy hands, sobbing like she used to when she was a child. She cried like she did with her parents for the first time in a long time. She missed them, and when her world felt like it was crashing down around her, it was all she could do but cry.
"Help me," she whispered to the cloudy steam surrounding her.
But no one replied.
