Title: Fades Away
Setting: AU
Characters: Misao, Aoshi
Type: oneshot
Genre: Supernatural, humor
Word Count: 839
She shivered and stared at the man, who stared back, his ice-blue eyes nearly glowing within the shadows of the windowless room.
"What do you mean, I can't leave?" she asked. Her eyes flicked briefly away from him to check her immediate surrounding for anything she could use as a weapon.
"It is daylight. The sun is inimical to our kind."
Her eyes snapped back to him. "Our kind?"
He shifted in the shadows, and she wondered if she could maybe take him out with a flying kick to the head. But that would probably require some measure of surprise, or else he'd just dodge or block it, and he was staring at her unblinkingly.
…Maybe his eyeballs would dry out and he'd go blind.
"Vampires." His deep voice intoned. She blinked out of her contemplation.
"Huh?"
There was a heavy silence, and she'd almost swear that he was annoyed that she hadn't been paying attention. "Sunlight will burn vampire flesh."
"Ugh, don't use the word 'flesh'. It just sounds gross," she wrinkled her nose. A beat. "Wait. Vampires?"
The eerie almost-glow of his eyes disappeared; he'd closed his eyes! She carefully edged toward the door.
"Stop."
She froze, then forced herself to relax. "Yeah, um, this was interesting and all, but I really need to get going…"
"You cannot leave," he repeated. "It is daylight."
"Look, Mister… whatever your name is… Maybe you're a vampire, but I'm not, and unless you're planning on Turning me—which I will remind you is illegal—that means that I can definitely leave even if it is daylight."
"Do you not remember, or are you simply being foolish?" he asked, pinning her with that icy stare again. She bristled.
"Hey!"
He emerged from the shadows with a rustle of his long white coat, looming over her. As he advanced, she backed up, keeping herself out of his reach, maintaining the area around her she'd need if she decided to rough him up with her mad karate skills.
"You were attacked," he said, voice even and implacable. "A man in red and grey. He came at you from behind, and you could not break his grip. He bit you. Nearly drained you dry."
"W-what?" she stammered, cotton-mouthed. He advanced further, and she ran up against the wall. She pressed herself against it, eyes wide as he stepped into her personal space.
"Do you remember?"
She swallowed thickly. Yes, actually, she did remember someone grabbing her from behind, and struggling futilely as fangs pierced her throat. She also vaguely remembered growing weaker and weaker, until…
"But you stopped him," she said. "You stopped him before…"
She trailed off, but he did not try to reassure her. She stared up at him.
Her pulse should have been thundering in her ears.
She had no pulse.
"Oh, god," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. She felt sick.
"I was too late to save your humanity," he told her. "But I was not too late to save your life."
"I'm… I'm a…"
"Vampire," he finished with the same almost-impatience. She slid down the wall to sit dazedly on the floor.
"Vampire," she echoed. "But…"
"The law against Turning humans has a conditional clause for saving a life. It will be simple to invoke in your case."
"M-my attacker…"
"Dead."
She struggled with everything, hardly knowing what she wanted to do or how she should feel.
He seemed to understand even though she didn't say anything. "Fledglings are taken under the protection of the one who Sired them. You will come with me, and learn the laws of our kind."
"Do not feed on the unwilling," she recited, still dazed. "Do not Turn a human… unless, apparently, it's to save their life."
He was shaking his head. "Those are the laws derived from social constructs. As you understand what we are, you will understand the basic laws which govern us."
"Huh?"
He turned his head to look at the room's door. "Sunrise has long been regarded as cleansing to those who Practice, and we are creatures of magic. This is why the daylight dissolves our corporeal forms."
"Oh." She thought that she should probably be freaking out a little more, but actually she was feeling a little dizzy. And numb.
He looked down at her, regarding her with a steady gaze. After a long moment of careful inspection, he said: "I am Shinomori Aoshi, Lord of the Oniwaban Seethe, of which you are now part."
"I'm Makimachi Misao," she replied automatically. She looked up at him, at his angular, handsome face. He nodded at her once.
"Rest, Makimachi Misao. You have a full day until you will have to join our world in the shadows. Tomorrow, you will meet your brethren of the Oniwaban."
The Oniwaban. A seethe. She was a vampire, and she was part of one. Her world was shattered, and yet… all Misao's dazed mind could dredge up was the relieved thought: At least I won't be alone anymore.
"Thank you, Lord Aoshi..."
