Luuka: Soo much editing went into this chapter! I also changed the title because the old one was temporary and lame- still not sure about this one, but as they say: whatevs.

This chapter leans into horror territory and there's a lot of dark 'body worship' (uh) and the mixing of blood between sex, which I guess is a sensitive issue- I'm marking it because you can never be safe enough.


It was still early when Haru climbed into bed on Sunday night- barely seven p.m.- but he couldn't manage to settle. Rin had been outside of his bedroom window, staring up at him again... Haru didn't know if he couldn't sleep because Rin had unnerved him, or because he still felt aggravated about the way Rin had behaved; either way, he was restless. He needed to pull himself together.

Haru felt as if he were in the dark with Rin- literally and metaphorically. He knew next to nothing about Rin's situation, and felt a degree of unfairness toward the way Rin approached their 'romance;' Rin had formulated his own idea of love and wanted Haru to mould around that concept. Rin's idea of togetherness came with a different degree of dedication: Rin needed Haru now and forever, he needed Haru to love Rin and Rin alone, and he needed their loyalty to be written in blood instead of ink. Haru did love Rin- with all of his heart- but he didn't want to be pushed around and live in fear of Rin's teeth for the rest of his life.

Haru had also slapped Rin that evening: he doubted Rin had taken that well. Not only was Rin hypersensitive, but he was also hyperemotional- Haru knew that Rin would take a slap around the face with the same degree of seriousness as Haru plunging a knife into his stomach; Rin would see it as an admission of war against everything that he was. Haru ran his fingers through his fringe- he couldn't leave things the way they were. He climbed out of bed, poured himself a cup of tea and made his way to the living area.

Rin lay curled on the rug with his head resting against a pillow, playing with his hair. He showed no indication of noticing Haru, but would occasionally roll into a different position. Every so often, Haru would glare at him.

'Got a problem?' Rin asked, after five minutes.

'No.'

'You're glaring at me.'

'You're easy to glare at.'

Rin laughed.

'Something gives me the feeling that Haru-ka doesn't like me as deeply as I like him right now. Still mad about earlier?'

'Yeah.'

'Fine.'

'Fine.'

Rin had obviously gotten bored with Haru because he walked off into a different room. Hardly five minutes passed, then he came back-

'Haru-kaaaa,' he nuzzled into Haru's neck, murmuring gently. 'How long are you gonna be like this? You're casting me away…'

'I'm not.'

'You are.'

'Not. You're the one who walked out of the room...'

Rin buried his nose in the back of Haru's shoulder, circling his arms around his waist.

'Haru,' he breathed. 'Apologise to me.'

'What?'

'I love you more than anyone else, so I'm going to give you a chance to say sorry. I want you to apologise for hitting me, and saying those cruel things about me earlier.'

Haru felt riled at this- Rin's behaviour had caused the disagreement between them, so Haru saw no incentive to take responsibility.

'You need to apologise to me,' he replied. 'I won't let you push me around.'

'That's a shame,' Rin swept Haru's hair behind his ears. 'Oh, well.' He kissed Haru's face. 'Don't blame me when you agonise.'

Agonise?

Haru's chest seized.

'If that's a threat...'

'It's not... I'd never hurt you, Haru: you know I'd never bring harm to your body. I'm going for a run. See you later.'

'Rin-!'

Haru barely registered the end of Rin's sentence before he heard the front door slam shut... Rin could move fast when he wanted. Haru stared down hard at the carpet in frustration, thoughts panning through his head. Rin had said he wouldn't hurt Haru, but he'd also told him: 'don't blame me when you agonise.' Did that mean he would hurt Haru indirectly? Make someone else hurt him?

Rin wouldn't...

Unthinkingly, Haru stood; the room had become freezing. It wasn't even eight p.m., yet Haru decided to give his bed another try; sleep was reluctant to come and when it did, it didn't last- The ringing of Haru's cell phone woke him before 3a.m., displaying an unknown caller on the screen.

'...Hello?'

'Um, excuse me... is this Haruka Nanase?'

It was a young woman on the other end of the phone- Haru didn't recognise her voice but judging from her exhausted tone, she hadn't gotten any sleep tonight, either.

'Excuse me for calling at such a terrible hour. I'm... I'm one of Nagisa's sisters. I got your number from my Mother- I hope you don't mind- I just had to ask... Nagisa isn't with you, is he?'

'Nagisa isn't home?'

Now Haru was wide awake. And cold- he felt so cold...

'N-no... I heard he went fishing with you and Tachibana but Tachibana's family hasn't heard from him, either. They live some distance away from each other, so after fishing they separated... Tachibana got home before eleven but Nagisa still hasn't come back yet. None of us can reach his phone... none of us have any idea where he is...'

Haru flung open his curtains and looked outside. Rin wasn't out there: of course. He took off down the stairs, calling out as he ran-

'RIN?'

Silence. Rin obviously wasn't in the house. Breathing heavily, Haru pulled out his phone, tapped in Rin's number and placed the speaker to his ear.

One ring... two rings... Rin obviously had taken his phone with him but deliberately chosen to ignore Haru's calls, because Haru couldn't hear Rin's phone ringing in the house. On the third call, he picked up.

'Third time lucky. Aren't you eager to reach me, my Haru?'

'Where's Nagisa?'

A soft laugh.

'Calm down. Haru, humans shouldn't be awake this time of night... you're going to give yourself heart palpitations-'

'If anything's happened to him... I won't forgive you...'

'Ohh, it's too late for that. Haru, you're not being very cooperative... Nagisa is still okay. You could save him- maybe. I don't know. But definitely not with that attitude.'

'I'm sorry,' Haru's jaw felt stiff. 'Rin... I'm sorry I hit you. I need to know where he is-'

'You know where the wind turbines are, right? Last time I saw Nagisa he was sleeping in a hedge, leaking blood all over the place... but I wouldn't go after him, if I were you.'

'Why?'

'Because,' Rin 's tone was serious. 'Haru, it's him or our relationship- only one of them can survive. Make a decision... oh, and hurry.'

The line clicked and the phone went dead.

Why is he doing this?

Anger coiled in Haru's stomach- he'd thought that he and Rin had connected with one another, then Rin had done something like this...

Haru instantly grabbed his keys, allowing the thoughts to dissipate. He had to focus on Nagisa- finding Nagisa alive.


Immediately after his conversation with Rin, Haru called an ambulance to the wind turbines and left on his own by foot. By the time he reached his destination, his face was pink from sprinting and his lungs felt as if they were going to collapse; it was pitch black and the hill was stained with shadows... just as Haru took out his phone to use it as a makeshift flashlight, the device vibrated with a text from Rin:

'Haru. There's something you should know: Nagisa saw me attack him. If he survives, he's going to tell other people about me and this will be the end. There's a knife by Nagisa's body. If you really love me, you'll know what to do. All the best.'

Rin, you've lost it... you're crazy...

Haru tore the bushes apart with his hands, until he found...

Nagisa was curled in a fetal position on the grass with his eyes closed, blood leaking from a slit in the base of his neck. His pink zip-up was stained with dark, sticky patches which Haru made out to be blood in the darkness... there was a flip up knife beside his body which Haru ignored. He dragged Nagisa to the centre of the hill and laid him down on his back before dropping to his knees, pressing an ear against the younger man's chest.

Breathing: Nagisa was still breathing and he had a pulse- it was faint but it was there. Haru didn't know anything about wounds other than the knowledge that he needed to stop the bleeding so he set his hands on Nagisa's neck to apply pressure. Blood slipped between Haru's fingers as he held his palms down, determined to keep Nagisa alive.

'It's okay,' he breathed. 'Nagisa...'

Nagisa was unconscious, but Haru felt the irrational need to speak to him. Nagisa was fading... dying in his arms... where was the ambulance?!

Sirens blazed as an ambulance and two police cars pulled up beside Haru, drowning him in red and blue light. Nagisa was laid down onto a gurney and wheeled into the back of the ambulance, its doors snapping shut before the vehicle drove away. Haru tried to tell the officers that he needed to accompany Nagisa, but they didn't want to listen to him- it got to the point where Haru was handcuffed and forced by the back of his neck into a police car, driven away down the hill towards the local station.

'How did you know Hazuki's whereabouts?' One of the officers demanded, during an inquisition.

Haru had lied at this point: even after what had just happened, he wasn't about to tell the police about Rin.

'Nagisa's sister called me to say he was missing...' he looked away. 'I guessed he was on that hill. Nagisa has gone to the turbines to think since we were kids.'

The police seemed satisfied with this 'explanation' regarding Haru and Nagisa's history, as they allowed him to go- one of the female officers even offered to drive him to the hospital where Nagisa was being kept.

'It seems to have been an attempted mugging,' she explained to Haru, as they drove- 'if Hazuki does go that hill frequently to brood as you say, then he would have been in a very vulnerable position and easy to attack. We found a knife in the nearby bushes, although it doesn't appear to have been used on Hazuki... which means the weapon that made the wound in his neck was likely something else.'

Haru knew- Rin had used one of his teeth...

'Although,' the officer kept going. 'Something about Hazuki's situation doesn't add up. Clearly, the perpetrator was in possession of a knife yet they used something else to wound Hazuki... and the wound on Hazuki's neck wasn't immediately fatal- it more closely resembles a slit than a stab, and it's too precise to imply it was sudden or violent. It's almost as if they wanted him to be found... not to mention that nothing on Hazuki's personage appears to have been stolen...'

Haru looked down at his lap. Although the police appeared to be having a difficult time trying to wrap their head around what had happened, he knew perfectly well what had transpired:

Instead of biting Nagisa's neck, Rin sunk one, fanged tooth into Nagisa's skin and dragged the point along so that the mark resembled a slash wound from a knife- a small town like Iwatobi neither had the equipment nor the money to look into the mark further. Rin had been clever: Rin had been careful. He'd chosen not to kill Nagisa deliberately...

But he'd left a knife by Nagisa's body and told Haru that between Nagisa and their relationship, only one of them could survive. And that message which Rin had sent him... 'if you really love me, you'll know what to do...' had Rin blindly expected Haru to kill Nagisa, without any chance of rebuttal?

Haru shivered involuntarily, and the officer turned to him with soft eyes.

'It's awful what happened,' she said to Haru, gently. 'But try not to let it play on your mind. This is usually a very safe area- it's unfortunate that one of your friends happened to be involved in such an incident. Well, we've arrived...'

But the hospital receptionist wouldn't let him see Nagisa- she'd informed Haru that he was in the middle of surgery and only close family members were admitted attendance.

'It's a very precise wound,' a nurse explained. 'One of the boy's arteries were sliced in half... thankfully not a main one, although he's losing blood at an alarming rate. An operation is being held to close the gap as we speak and he'll need time to recover afterwards. It's better that you go home.'

But Haru didn't want to go home- he didn't want to leave Nagisa and he didn't want to face Rin, so he stayed in the waiting room. It had been 5a.m. when Haru arrived, and by 7a.m. he was asleep over the arm of one of the chairs, having stayed awake the previous night. When he woke up, he bought a bottle of water from a machine and waited- determined to see Nagisa alive- until, finally- at 7p.m.- Haru was allowed to go in and visit.

'Nagisa...'

Just looking at the younger man was enough to cause Haru pain. Nagisa was unconscious and had never seemed so fragile; his face was pallid and arms were bare, with two IV leads sticking out of each one. Nagisa's limbs were limp and his throat was covered in bandages- several other members of his family were crowded around him on plastic chairs, all wiping their eyes or gazing at Nagisa with faces clouded over by grief.

'He's going to be alright,' a nurse informed them all later. 'We've stopped the bleeding, so all he has to do is rest. He'll get better- young Mr. Hazuki will recover.'

Haru left the rest of Nagisa's family crying in happiness around his bedside- feeling as if he didn't belong- returned to his house and curled up in his bed. Rin was probably downstairs, but Haru didn't want to speak to him: he was too overwhelmed to argue. To empty to ask why.

Agonise... was this what Rin had meant?

Haru pulled his duvet over his head, closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come.


On the second night of Nagisa's hospitalisation, Haru went back to visit him. He'd chosen to go at night as to avoid crossing paths with Nagisa's family- whilst he didn't have anything against them, being around them made Haru feel uncomfortable.

Haru knew it was his fault Nagisa had been attacked: he had been the one to challenge Rin's temper and he had been the one to push Rin's boundaries, which why he had to ensure that Nagisa saw this through... he cared for Nagisa. If Nagisa died, his death would be Haru's fault.

He'd bought Nagisa some chocolate bread and strawberries as well as a get well soon card, which he placed atop Nagisa's bedside table. There was also a card from Makoto so Haru assumed he must have stopped in at some point, as well as several other brightly drawn ones from various classmates. Nagisa was popular. Nagisa was loved.

Haru must have been sitting by Nagisa's bedside for around an hour when his phone displayed a call from Rin. He didn't want to speak to Rin, but knew it would only make things worse if he didn't; it was heavily he picked up the phone.

'...What?'

'I'm very concerned. Haru, I heard that Nagisa is close to waking up and you still haven't proven your dedication to me.'

'Dedication?'

'I stopped in earlier and left a present for you underneath Nagisa's bed. Go ahead and take it.'

Haru reached underneath the bed until his fingers grasped around the handle of... something. He grabbed the object and pulled, to discover that it was a meat knife.

'No,' Haru breathed. 'No.'

'Haru,' Rin's voice remained calm. 'I have everything planned. Nagisa's room doesn't have cameras... isn't that just convenient? That's what you get in a small town clinic. I also signed you out at the register ten minutes ago, so you have an alibi for his time of death. The nurses make rounds every hour to check on the patients, which means you have...' Rin paused on the other end. 'Eleven minutes until they discover his corpse. Go ahead.' Rin's voice dropped to a whisper. 'Sacrifice Nagisa for us.'

'I won't.'

'The first one is always hard, but it gets easier after that. Take it from me: Haru, I know. Just plunge the knife into his heart and Nagisa won't even know that he died. He won't feel anything. He'll just... slip away.'

'You're crazy.'

'This happened because of you!' Rin sounded restless. 'After what happened last night, I need proof of what you told me- Haru, I need proof that you're mine like you said! Me or other people: I've told you to make a choice. Nagisa is expected to wake up before dawn and by then, he'll have told everyone who attacked him which means I'll have to go away. If he lives, I'm not safe in Iwatobi.'

'I won't kill my friend.'

'Then this is goodbye. I love you, Haru.'

'You don't have to go,' Haru's heartbeat became harder in desperation. 'Nagisa won't say anything... I'll make him understand-'

'Which one of us means more to you?' Rin murmured. 'Me or him?'

'It's you,' Haru replied, firmly. 'Rin... you know it's you, but I don't want to kill someone because I can! If he lives, I won't speak to Nagisa or Makoto-'

'You don't understand,' Rin mumbled. 'Haru, you don't understand- I'm doing all of this for you! I'm trying to make you understand that it's wrong for you to get attached to other people when they're just going to die and leave you behind! If you can't adapt to my lifestyle then I'll have to leave you, too. Will you kill Nagisa or won't you?'

'I...' the pounding of blood in Haru's body felt thick- he couldn't think. 'I'll do it.'

'You've got eight minutes until the nurse comes back to check on him. Haru, hurry.'

Haru looked down at his phone in one hand then up to Nagisa's bed. As he gripped the knives handle, his palms felt strangely numb... didn't he say that he'd hold Rin's hand through Hell? Didn't he say that throughout everything which happened to them both, he'd continue to protect Rin? Haru cared for Rin deeply, but how much blood was he willing to wade through to get to him- how far was he willing to go?

He took a breath and watched Nagisa.

Nagisa, if you wake up, you'll tell the world about Rin. They'll take him away, cut him open and experiment on him and I can't allow that to happen. Rin said you won't feel anything... he said you won't know...

Haru raised the knife over his shoulder-

...I can't.

The knife fell out of his hands, clattering as it hit the floor.

'Haru... chan?' Nagisa stirred feebly.

'Nagisa...'

Nagisa's eyelids fluttered and he gave a weak smile; when he smiled, as happily as he did, Haru felt horrified with himself for what he'd been about to do. Then- as if remembering something-Nagisa's eyes glazed over and the blood drained from his face-

'Haru-chan,' Nagisa breathed. 'This is going to sound crazy, but you have to believe me. The person who attacked me- I saw them- it was Rin... H-Haru-chan, he bit me on the neck-'

'Nagisa...' Haru begun. 'You can't tell anyone about Rin. If you do, they'll hurt him and I-' his voice broke away. 'He's our friend,' Haru finished firmly, when what he'd been about to say was: I love him, although he knew that didn't justify all of the murders that Rin had committed. 'Please.' It wasn't Rin's fault he was the way he was.

'Rin-chan is a vampire, isn't he?'

The –chan was back on Rin's name again, Haru noticed. He nodded.

'Okay,' Nagisa reclined against the sheets. 'I'm not going to tell anyone. Say, Haru-chan... will I become a vampire, too?'

'No.' Haru answered, because Rin had said that wasn't how it worked. 'You'll get better.'

'I'm glad,' Nagisa paled significantly. 'Hey, Haru-chan... I really think I need some sleep. Will you bring Mako-chan and visit me again tomorrow?'

'Yeah. Tomorrow.'

Haru felt significantly lighter as he left the hospital- Nagisa was going to live. He was almost home when he received a text from Rin:

'Buy some chicken with your DEBIT CARD. Leave the RECEIPT in your wallet and don't throw it away. DO AS I SAY.'

The text made Haru immediately suspicious. He didn't understand why he had to buy chicken now when they had enough in the freezer at home, but if Rin had made an effort to text then it was obviously important. Haru went to the nearest 24/7 and bought the chicken as instructed before going home and climbing into bed, burying himself between the covers and falling asleep.


Haru skipped school again the next day- he knew that his attendance was suffering, but he didn't care. One of his best friends had been hospitalised and Haru had promised to visit Nagisa again.

Makoto didn't go to school, either- when Haru got to the hospital, he was already in the waiting room. Crying: he was crying. Blood pounded thickly in Haru's ears as every pore on his skin turned to hard ice. Haru already knew what had happened before Makoto explained it to him.

Nagisa had died in the deeper hours of the night and his body was currently undergoing an autopsy. His bandages had 'come loose,' his bleeding had suddenly worsened and his heart had collapsed from shock due to the blood loss. He'd been confirmed both brain and cardiac dead. Nagisa was gone. He was never coming back.

Rin hadn't been there when Haru had gotten home that night- Haru knew how to put the pieces together. He'd failed to kill Nagisa, so Rin had finished the job. Rin had never been about to allow Nagisa to live: he'd even said as much himself, and Haru had been stupid to leave him unattended. No, Haru told the nurse- he didn't want to apply to go and see Nagisa's body. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be sick.

Haru felt strange and empty as he walked: as though he were floating- as though his feet weren't quite touching the ground.

It wasn't my fault Nagisa died... was it?

A happy face... always smiling... Nagisa had been the last person who'd deserved to get caught up in the mess that he and Rin had created, and the last person who deserved to die as a result. Even after being bitten by Rin, Nagisa had chosen to remain loyal to his friends... Haru's remorse quickly turned to frustration as he found himself running, breaking into a sprint.

There had been police at the hospital, too: police who had spoken with Makoto and Haru, asking them in-depth questions about their whereabouts. The chicken which Rin had asked Haru to buy that night had turned out to be Haru's alibi- naturally, the police suspected Haru since he went to the hospital to visit Nagisa and signed out under an hour before his death: although- due to the courtesy of to Rin's text- they had no evidence which they could use against him.

At 10:11p.m, Nagisa's bandages had 'come loose,' his wound had reopened and he'd died... however, at the same time- in a convenience store 45 minutes away- Haru had bought chicken with his debit card which required his own personal PIN; the store even had camera footage of him. Rin had constructed the perfect alibi for Haru.

Most of the officers had bought this easily regarding Nagisa and Haru's past and were sympathetic. Others, however, were far more cynical:

'How convenient,' one of them said, to Haru. 'That you just happened to be out buying meat at the same time your school friend was killed... at 10p.m., on a school night.'

Haru explained that he'd bought something to cook for the next day on his way home from visiting Nagisa at the hospital. He didn't know if the officers believed this entirely- or why he was protecting Rin- but he'd been allowed to go after several hours. When he arrived home, he went straight to the basement-

'Why did you kill Nagisa?'

Rin was lying on his back atop his futon, sucking on a rib of pork. Despite everything which had transpired, Rin had kept his promise not to eat any more humans... not that Haru cared about that, now. The bones of the two people whom Rin had previously killed had been picked dry and were propped in a corner.

'Because.' Rin answered, tonelessly. 'Haru, you asked me to do it.'

'I didn't-'

'Haru, last night when I phoned you, I asked you to make a choice: I asked you to choose between Nagisa and me. You chose me: you told me that you chose me. So, I assumed you didn't have the guts to kill Nagisa and took the liberty of finishing him off myself.'

'You didn't have to do that,' Haru clenched his fists tightly. 'Nagisa said he wouldn't tell anyone-'

'Do you really believe that?' Rin snapped. He tossed the rib of pork aside and sat atop his futon, his eyes flashing dangerously as he spoke. 'Haru, are you willing to risk our entire relationship on the basis that Nagisa said he wouldn't tell anyone? I did this for us- to protect us! Why is that so hard for you to see?'

'We wouldn't need 'protecting' if you didn't bite Nagisa!' Haru responded, surprised to find he'd begun shouting. Haru hadn't killed Nagisa, and neither had Rin- the two of them had both murdered their childhood friend between them.

Rin didn't make any attempts to comfort Haru, and neither did he argue against what Haru had said. His face showed no signs of compassion: he simply watched, with an expression which resembled... indifference.

'Haru... this happened because of you.'

'Me?'

'Yeah, you failed: your loyalty to me failed, and that was why Nagisa had to die- these feelings of grief are your punishment. Haru, all I want is to have a relationship with you, but you insist on letting things get in the way and that's why you're getting hurt... you only have yourself to blame. I think you should punish yourself.' Rin slid a small knife across the floor. 'Haru, stab yourself in the leg- I'll take some of your blood for payment.'

'What?'

The words were terrifying- Rin grabbed Haru's arm, pulling him down onto the floor.

'Haru...' he smoothed a finger across Haru's face. 'You know, the kind of relationship we have won't survive if we can't trust one another… that's why I'm asking these things. If you gave yourself to me, you'd never have to feel loss or fear... I would make you so happy, Haru. But you don't want to be mine yet, do you? It doesn't matter- I love you. I always will.' He pressed the knife into Haru's palm. 'Now, show me how much you love me, too.'

Haru shook his head. There was a melodic- almost hypnotising- quality to Rin's voice that tried to lull him into obeying, but Haru didn't want to obey... he wasn't going to bleed. The knife slid from his lap as Haru sprung to his feet- he didn't even manage to stand before Rin pulled him back.

'Haru,' Rin laughed. 'You didn't try to run away just now, did you? You're not faster than me- you should know that better by now. I think you should stay here and do some thinking; I'll be back in the morning to let you out.'

'No-'

By the time Haru registered that Rin had let him go, Rin was nowhere in sight- he ran to the basement door and begun to pull on the handle. Locked: Rin had locked it from the other side. Haru thumped on the door with his fists, once, twice, five times... eight times but it was the same: the heavy wood refused to budge even an inch.

'RIN!' He called. 'Are you still there?'

Silence.

'Open the door! Rin...'

The basement was tiny- the size of a small bathroom- and close to pitch black without the light from the doorway, yet Haru could distinguish outlines, the musky, almost-burnt smell of decayed flesh hanging thick in the back of his throat. The white of the two skeletons seemed to shine in the darkness, and skin that had obviously decomposed before Rin had been presented with the chance to eat it lay discarded across the floor among streaks of dried blood; Haru pressed his eyes shut, determinedly banishing the images from pervading his brain. He could close his eyes but couldn't escape the smell: rotten, putrid- it was getting stronger by the second. It was getting stronger. It was. GeTTIng. StRonGeR-

The enclosed room had begun to make Haru claustrophobic. It was closing in on him until he was convinced that the walls were trying to suffocate him in his own flesh; it had become hot- so hot, his breathing faint yet ragged as it became harder to draw in air. The skeletons were staring at Haru and thinking about how much they missed their families, how scared they'd been when Rin had taken them- they blamed Haru for doing nothing about it and wanted to make Haru feel their pain, too. They wanted to scream at Haru, but didn't have the vocal chords or lungs to do it because Rin had eaten them. So, they screamed at him silently.


As Rin sat with his back against one of the hallway walls, he fidgeted. Haru had thumped on the door but Rin hadn't offered any response- it had taken every ounce of restraint in his being for him not to respond. Shutting Haru in there had plagued Rin with anxiety.

When Haru had called out his name, his voice had been close to pleading: his second-hand distress made Rin feel as if someone were dragging the point of a knife along Rin's arms and the back of his neck, peeling away his skin until he was raw, pinching every nerve in his body with long, sharpened fingernails- plucking at his resolve. His Haru was suffering: his Haru felt distressed. His Haru didn't understand that Rin was putting him through this for his own good.

Rin loved Haru to the very recesses of his core, but he was afraid of so many things. He was afraid of losing Haru, afraid of scaring Haru away or of Haru changing his mind, afraid of someone else coming to try and take Haru away, and afraid, because- eventually- Haru would age and die. They couldn't stay in Iwatobi; Rin wanted to take Haru back to Australia and find out how to preserve him, but he needed to make sure Haru was ready... he needed to make sure that Haru could endure their lifestyle impending. Rin wanted Haru to choose their eternity of his own accord and be certain, with no regret.

Physically, Haru was Rin's idea of perfect. He had slender muscles with powerful legs and a healthy body: the body of a swimmer. His slim face was emphasised by neat, dark hair, and his eyes were a clear blue- coloured like a spring river- with light points swimming in their depths, framed by thin, black lashes. His lips were very soft-looking, which made Rin want to bite them; all in all, Haru was very natural- Rin liked that: it was his favourite thing about Haru. Rin was careful to control himself so that when he became passionate he didn't mark Haru, because he felt very protective towards Haru's body. Haru had given himself to Rin, and it was Rin's job to treat him with care and respect.

There was silence now- a deafening silence- which made Rin feel uneasy. What if Haru had fainted, or started taking out his fear on himself? He'd left no weapons in the room, but Rin could never be careful enough when it came to Haru's safety...

...An hour.

Just an hour, then he'd let Haru come out.


Haru felt as if he were going crazy- everything was hot. He'd buried himself in Rin's futon to try and build a closure between the basement and himself, to find that the bedding smelled like Rin; Rin didn't smell like anything in particular, but his own individual scent was familiar and Haru found that comforting. He turned his nose into the pillow to find that it was hard: a book had been buried inside the case. Haru took out his cell phone and used it as a makeshift light as he read.

Rin didn't have any personal possessions- he kept his clothes upstairs in the drawer with Haru's- and had come to Iwatobi empty-handed... or, so Haru had assumed. The item in Rin's pillowcase was a yearbook from the elementary school that the two of them had attended, and for a moment, Haru wondered if Rin had taken it from his shelf upstairs. Then he read the nametag inside:

Rin Matsuoka

Rin brought this with him? A book with some photographs of when we were kids?

It seemed out of place with its pink and blue cover in a room filled with dead bodies, but that was why Haru liked it; he sat in the bedding, absorbing himself within the photographs. They were... nostalgic... they depicted a world where everything was colourful- where he and Rin were happy, and didn't have to kill people... it was a better universe. For some reason, one of the photographs from where he and Rin had won a swimming relay together had been cut out of the book... just as Haru noticed this, he looked up to find Rin opposite him.

'Hey... how do you feel?'

The door was wide open but Haru knew better than to try and run: Rin could move faster than human perception and sickness made Haru sluggish.

'Let me out.'

'Very soon, my love. Very soon.'

'Sorry I hit you. ...Sorry I yelled at you-'

'Sssh.' Rin kissed Haru's neck and ears. 'Haru, this isn't about that.'

'I want to come out-'

'I know.'

'Rin-'

'Haru, sssh. You're repeating yourself.'

Had Rin pushed Haru too far? He stroked Haru's hair comfortingly.

'Haru, I didn't mean to scare you- I just wanted to try and make you understand. I worried about you the whole time and I'll make it up to you- I promise.'

Rin unzipped Haru's pants, causing Haru to make a noise.

'You're tense…' Rin rubbed his thumbs along Haru's ribcage. 'Haru, I feel everything you feel- I know you feel sick and tense. I know you're angry, but that you still love me... Haru, it's going to be okay: I'll make you feel good now.'

Rin lifted Haru's shirt and begun to thumb one of his nipples, his other hand massaging Haru's thighs and balls through the fabric of his pants. He kissed Haru's neck and lips, the hand at his crotch undoing the zip and reaching inside- Haru wriggled and resisted until eventually he gave in, shivering with pleasure and shutting his eyes, laying his head back against Rin's shoulder.

'Don't you feel better, now?'

Haru grasped the fabric of Rin's clothes, panting as Rin continued to move his hand up and down Haru's member, quickening his strokes in time with Haru's accelerating breathing. Haru shivered as his orgasm ripped through him and a jet of thick liquid shot up from his dick, across Rin's fingertips and onto the basement floor.

'See? That wasn't so bad. Haru, you came so much... taste.'

Rin tried to slip his fingertips into Haru's mouth but Haru refused to part his lips, so Rin licked Haru's sperm from his hands himself. He held Haru until he calmed down, waiting for the rise and falls of his chest to slow.

'Let me out,' Haru's voice was hoarse.

'No... not yet. Haru, there's just one more thing I need you to do for me.'

Rin dug a small knife out of his pocket and pressed it into Haru's palm.

'You'll trust me now, won't you?'

Just a cut... Haru stared at the knife. A cut will keep Rin happy, won't it? Rin isn't healthy: he's obsessed with me. But if Rin's crazy, aren't I the same?

Aren't I the same, for not being able to let him go?

Haru didn't want to stab himself in the leg, but he didn't want to stay in the basement, either, so he squeezed his eyes shut in resolve, raised the knife and brought it down... then with the point a fraction of an inch from his thigh, Haru's hands were caught by Rin's.

'That's what happens when you put your trust in me. Haru, I told you I would always protect you, and you believed me this time: thank you.'

'You're insane.' Haru said, bitterly. 'Rin... you're crazy.'

'I love you.'

'...Stop it.'

'I love you, Haru.'

'Rin, stop it!

Rin stroked Haru's leg.

'I know you love me, too- you're still coming around. It will take time- I understand. Haru, it's okay... you can come out now, if you'd like.'

Haru didn't hesitate- he saw his chance and he took it. He staggered up from the basement floor and dashed out of the room, leaving without looking back.


An hour- just one hour. It had felt like forever, but he'd been in the basement for only sixty minutes; Haru didn't know what Rin had hoped to prove or achieve by locking him in a room with dead bodies but the experience had certainly done something- Haru felt drained.

Rin had left him alone after letting him out: he'd given Haru his own private space, which Haru had chosen to spend lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Rin didn't come in or try to bother him and neither did he make any noise downstairs. It was quiet- Haru was alone with his duvet and his thoughts.

He hadn't called the police to tell them who'd killed Nagisa. A part of the reason 'why' was because Haru didn't think that going to the police would be worthwhile- he had nothing to prove his case. Rin had been declared missing in Australia four months ago, and- whilst it was true they did used to know one another- if Haru explained this to the authorities, it would simply seem as if he were shifting the blame, without actually indoctrinating a nearby person. To say that his childhood friend had come back to his house as a flesh eating-vampire and dragged corpses to his basement was unbelievable, in its best regard; if Haru tried to explain that to any officers, he'd be locked up in an asylum and they'd throw away the key. As well as that, Haru had now orgasmed in a room filled with corpses. His sperm was on the floorboards in the basement of his house, mingled among the dried blood of two dead people- that wouldn't go down well in an investigation. No: there was no way the police would be helpful, because there simply wasn't anything Haru could hold against Rin.

Yet even if Haru did hold a believable case, deep down, he knew that he wouldn't have told anyone what had happened to Nagisa, because he didn't want anyone to take Rin away. Presently, Haru was frustrated with Rin but he still loved him... despite everything. Haru felt ripped apart and confused: the right thing to do as a human being would be to leave Rin behind or order him away, but that wasn't what Haru wanted... he wanted to be with Rin.

He picked up his phone, scrolling to Makoto's number before he stopped. Had Rin killed Nagisa because he'd been jealous? Upset that Haru didn't accept him for what he was?

Haru set down the phone and thought.

He'd asked Rin to starve himself because he didn't like Rin eating dead bodies and, against his own nature, Rin had: even though he'd attacked Nagisa, he hadn't consumed any blood, keeping his promise to Haru. Rin was hungry and insecure, inundated by the belief that Haru couldn't see beyond what he'd become; he wanted evidence of Haru's commitment. That was the reason presiding his actions.

There were so many things about Rin that were ambiguous or didn't make sense, but thinking about them had brought Haru to a realization:

He didn't have to understand Rin in order to be with him.


'You're up... I thought you'd gone to sleep. Haru, are you hungry? I can make something.'

Haru said nothing- he didn't know what to say. After coming into the living room, he sat beside the low table.

'How do you feel?'

The question was spoken gently- even with a pang of regret. Rin made no moves to get up or touch Haru, but observed him from a safe distance. Worried- he seemed worried. Haru stood and undressed, walked over to Rin then climbed onto his lap, kissing him deeply on the lips. Rin closed his eyes, allowing Haru to run his fingers along his cheeks and ears. His own arms slipped around Haru's waist, holding him.

'Haru... what is it? You're feeling so many things... I can't-'

'I want you to hurt me,' Haru cut across. 'Can you hurt me?'

'...I can't.'

'I see,' Haru looked down. 'Then, I want to try something else- Rin, make me so numb with pleasure that I can't feel a thing.'

Rin swallowed.

'I might be able to do that.'


Haru wanted to feel pain- he was overcome by the urge to be hurt, because the idea of bleeding seemed attractive. He felt guilty for what had happened to Nagisa and wanted punishment... he wanted to suffer for what he'd done, whilst bringing pleasure to Rin. Blood was rushing to his head and his length was straining against Rin's thigh: he'd laid down naked on the floor of the living room, not bothering to go upstairs. Rin's red eyes shone with desire as he tore away his clothes and climbed down on top of Haru, using his body to press Haru against the floor.

'Haru... you're sure about this?'

Moist lips planted themselves on Haru's neck and sucked. Rin's incisors scraped Haru, digging gently into the surface of his neck, careful not to penetrate the skin. The way Rin licked his skin was tantalising... Haru felt a pulling sensation deep in his hips as a thin trickle of blood ran down his collarbone.

'Hey, Haru... can I taste you?'

'Yeah.'

Rin nursed the little scratches with his tongue, panting in exhilaration as he cleaned the streak of blood from Haru's neck. His tongue demanded access to Haru's mouth. Haru granted it. Happily.

As Haru licked and sucked on Rin's tongue, he could taste his own blood mixed in with Rin's saliva. Rin seemed to enjoy Haru's shivers, in the same way that Haru enjoyed allowing Rin to bring them to his lips; his body writhed underneath Rin's own, begging wordlessly for the other man to enter his body.

'Haru, wanna bite you more...'

Rin bit down on Haru's collar as he thrust into him, tearing a layer of the skin in his mouth as he entered Haru in one, sharp movement. Rin looked down and examined the marks: the flush on Haru's neck and chest was admirable, he thought. It looked as if red roses had blossomed on the white of his skin; passionate roses that sprung up whenever Haru was bitten or kissed- Haru looked so perfect, in this way. Fit to be adored.

'Does it hurt?' Rin whispered, regretting how hard he'd dug in his teeth. He didn't want to mark Haru but upon Haru's permission, Rin had gotten excited... lost control-

'Yeah.'

But it was incredible, too: Haru loved the way his blood glistened as Rin's teeth pierced him like hot needles, biting the skin until it felt raw. It excited him-so much the tips of his fingers prickled. He gasped as he ran his hands down Rin's ribs, moaning softly as Rin's member hardened inside his muscles.

'How do I taste?' Haru asked. 'Do you like it?'

'Disgusting,' Rin laughed. 'I could never eat you, Haru. You'd better look for other ways to start showing your devotion...'

'Yes... uhh...'

Haru dug his nails into Rin's back, making pink and red streaks which instantly healed over. Deeper and deeper, Haru dug his nails... Rin whined and growled with every thrust in an effort to control himself, but Haru didn't want him to hold back- he wanted to arouse Rin's anger- he wanted to see what happened when Rin lost control. He wanted to be Rin's newest victim every night, the vessel of his anger, frustration and lust... because Rin's lust was a bottomless lust...

Rin's back arched in surprise, quickening his pace as he slammed into Haru, pounding him hard against the surface of the floorboards. Haru's body throbbed in exaltation, the heat he felt becoming intensive- Rin didn't just send sparks through him: he set Haru's whole body ablaze. Haru's legs quivered and his desire heightened as everything seemed to get hotter, sharper, faster and his heartbeat became erratic-

'Haru,' Rin rasped, through breaths. 'Cum for me-'

Haru tugged on his cock and felt his orgasm arrive, semen dripping out from the head- it's entire length quivering from Rin's thrusts. Rin came moments after with a hiss and set his head on Haru's shoulder, rubbing his damp hair against Haru's collarbone, slowly moving in and out to exhaust his orgasm. Blood and semen spilled over Haru's chest and slipped down in-between his thighs; Rin leaned in to give Haru a long, passionate kiss.

'Masochist,' Rin accused.

'Sadist,' Haru countered.

Rin grinned, his panting slowing.

Rin is the sadist and I'm the masochist...

Yeah.

Haru liked the way that sounded.


*=it's not written because I couldn't fit it in, but you have to assume that when Rin went to kill Nagisa, he pocketed the meat knife Haru couldn't use and took it back with him so the police couldn't find it. (owo)