Blood Wedding - Persist
Summary: She swore she would find him. But as she turned, it was not he she was looking at. In a battle against a beast it is hard to stay human.
Disclaimer: I don't own RK, not now or ever.
Author: Since this chapter was ready, you got a treat. Two actually since I actually sat down to correct the format of the bleach one-shot that has been sitting in my computer for a long time.
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Chapter 09: Touch me with your love
Rating: PG
My fall will be for you
My love
will be in you
If you be the one to cut me
I will bleed forever
Nightwish - Once - Ghost Love Story
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Misao tried her best to keep the smiling face of Tsu in her mind as she followed Sho. His hold of her hand was tight but not enough to force her to follow. She knew that if she wanted to, she could break free.
She felt uneasy. Part of her wanted to break free and run away as fast as she could. But she had admitted to herself already that there was no place for her to run to. All she had was Sho and he was really trying to help her.
She actually felt ashamed of her actions towards him who had tried his best to help her. She had cried, fought, complained, ran... Hit and bit.
There was a small part of her that blamed him for her current state but she knew that it was this or Eternal Dark Death. At least... now she still existed.
"I am afraid neither Gin-san nor Tsu-san will be available so when I asked Hiroshi-san, he recommended Shin-san. He is one of the five males that lives in here."
She tensed slightly.
"Men tend to fare better after feeding because of their bigger bodies."
She just nodded, this was new and she made sure to store that piece of information.
"This time, I will teach you how to gain control of human mind and also how to heal the wound."
Misao stopped and pulled Sho to stop too. He turned to her with questioning look in his eyes. "Heal?" She said quietly.
Sho nodded. "If we keep slight pressure over the wound, our saliva will close it. Depending on your power it might leave a scar or will heal completely. We all differ slightly, you see. For one, my sire is gifted with power. I am gifted with speed. Of course she is not slow nor am I weak but there is this certain balance. When you have speed, it tends to drop your power slightly. Which is strange in a way since you would think that more you have power, the more you have speed. Still it seems that power hinders speed like speed hinders power."
She nodded as she listened. He had strayed from her original question but she had learned something new again. It really was a whole another world.
Sho tugged and she continued to follow after him.
"Before when you drank, I slipped into your mind and softened Gin-san's pain in your stead. Now, I want you to connect with me to watch through my mind how I do it. There are no words to use to help you realize, you need to learn it from how I do it. After that you will test it and I will guide you and make sure you do it right. Part of the reason why a man is better, is because having two people draining him, is a tiring experience."
"Tiring? Wouldn't it then be better to choose different people?" She asked, frowning slightly. If there was possible danger to the man then...
Sho laughed. "Oh, it will not be because of the blood loss. Shin-san is one of those who love pleasure. I think the main reason he stays is because there is no better pleasure than that of our bite. And according to him, all of us have a little different flavoring in the bite so he travels a lot to be bitten by as many of us as possible. All to experience pleasure."
All this talk about pleasure and experiencing it reminded her of her own bold acts last night and she found warm sneaking to her cheeks. So she could still blush. Misao wasn't sure if she liked that discovery.
The warmth died soon, leaving only cold after it. But to her surprise, she was getting used to the cold.
Sho stopped and knocked on one of the doors.
There were sounds inside and she could hear someone walking to the door. The shouji slid aside to reveal a man in his thirties. A big man. Misao could only stare up with her mouth open. This man was almost as big as Shikijou and Shikijou was the largest person she had ever seen.
He was clean shaven, not bad to look at. Brown eyes, strong nose and chin. His black hair was cut short and his clothes were clean. He had a warm smile on his lips.
"Greetings, Sho-sama. Misao-sama." He gave them a bow and stepped aside to let them inside his room. If Sho hadn't tugged her hand, she would have stood there frozen. Seeing a man this big brought back many memories of the people she had been searching for when all this had happened.
Shin closed the shouji and turned to them, still with the same smile on his lips. Misao looked at him and could almost swear that he was excited. The anticipation was shining in his eyes. She remembered Tsu's words that the people here were here for various reasons and all of their own free will.
He wanted this? He wanted to be bitten? Sho had mentioned the pleasure of the bite before but she had only felt what it was like to bite. Well, the men who attacked her had bitten her but that had been all raw pain...
"Good afternoon, Shin-san." Sho responded to the man's earlier greeting. There was a small smile on his lips. Misao stared. It was not the same cold smile that he had shown her when they had went to Gin-san. This was warm and real.
"How have you been?" Sho asked with cheer in his voice and Misao had to wonder. Were they friends? Could it be possible?
"Great!" The man laughed. "I even got to feel Gloria-sama's bite a while ago. Now that woman has some fine tooth. Pearly white and strong. A beautiful woman."
Sho looked surprised. "Gloria is in Japan? I hadn't heard. I thought she was in Korea."
Shin sat down with a loud thump. "She said she started to miss Japanese necks." He laughed.
Misao stared at them with her mouth hanging open. They were using honorifics and yet there was a feeling of understanding, friendship in the air.
The man turned his brown eyes to her. "So this the girl you chose. Young but fine hair and clear eyes. Misao-sama if I remember correctly."
Misao could just nod, completely bewildered by the situation.
"Saw you out just a while ago. Some fines moves you got there."
"Thanks..." she answered hesitantly, not quite sure what to think.
"You ninja?" He said with his strong voice stressing the words. She blinked at the sudden question.
"..Yes. I am... I mean was." Was she still or had that changed too? How far a part this has pulled her if she knew so little of herself?
The man laughed and Sho stared at her with wide eyes. "A ninja?" He asked and Misao nodded hesitantly.
"Sho, you didn't know? Just a look at those moves of hers, those blades she hides in her... You call those clothes?" He seemed to have relaxed completely, dropping the honorifics.
Misao could just nod. "They are... easy to run and fight in."
The man laughed again and it was warm laughter, completely relaxed and completely accepting. She could understand why Sho had smiled at him warmly. He was a friendly type.
"I just love that bow at your back. It must be easy to hide those throwing knives in there."
She just nodded. "I am missing few kunai though."
She noticed Sho shaking his head before bursting into laughter. She was mesmerized by the sound., so clear, warm and cheerful.
"I noticed the blades but I though that since she was traveling alone, she had them for self-protection." He shook his head. "I am so slow." But there was nothing negative in his voice.
She found a small smile creeping on her lips seeing him so happy.
The smile dimmed as she took a look at Shin and noticed the numerous white dots etched onto his skin. Marks of those who had bitten him. Yet he had nothing hiding them, unlike the other people here who had different decorations or scarfs wrapped around their necks.
"So I heard I will be your testing piece." His brown eyes searched hers and she couldn't turn away. She nodded slightly. He just laughed. "Can't wait to see what kind of feelings a girl like you can arise."
She blinked. "You want me to bite you?" She asked in complete disbelief.
Shin nodded. "Of course. That's the whole point of me being here in the first place. This here--" He pointed at Sho. "-- assured me that by coming here I will be able get a taste of many different kinds of pleasures without bothersome worries like pregnancies or laws."
He laughed and leaned against the wall. "He was right. I have been here for few years and already I am sure I'll never leave. I am just so addicted to your bites and the feelings they give me."
Misao was stunned. She pointed at the man and turned to look at Sho with her mouth open and no sound coming out.
Sho looked embarrassed even. "Well, we happened to cross roads and I told him that this path was better than the one he was considering." There was finality in his voice that told her clearly that she shouldn't ask more questions even if she wanted to.
"Alright, let's get to business then!" The man said eagerly, like a child reaching for his favorite candy.
And she had a feeling that she was that candy.
Her eyes widened as she realized that she probably feared the man more than he feared her. The thought was laughably but true. She was his candy. And she couldn't but wonder about their innocent seeming words. What kind of path had this man been walking on?
"Misao?"
She jumped and turned to Sho. The voice had sounded in her head, not in her eyes. He smiled.
"Relax. I just touch the surface of your mind. But we do need to get a deeper connection so that you can observe me and what I do. You think you are ready?"
She took a deep breath, stole a glance at their eager donor and nodded. Sho smiled and came to her, locking their eyes. She remembered the one time she had almost drowned in them and braced herself.
Suddenly, shudder run through her. If felt as if someone had slid a finger across her mind, sending ripples all over it. Sho's eyes were clear blue, as if water. And ripples run across them.
The opening was small, tender touch and she felt herself completely surrounded by Sho. His presence was everywhere and it was steady, warm pulse that echoed through her.
She allowed it without fighting back even though it felt foreign. She trusted him.
Misao closed her eyes like he told her without words. Suddenly she had a feeling of separation from her flesh. Without opening she saw but not through her own eyes, through his.
She could feel his presence wrapping her in a safe blanket and then his, their, eyes turned to Shin who was still looking at them with anticipation.
And as Sho moved, she could feel the power, speed that was locked inside him. Even with the sun up, he had power. She could feel it and had to wonder what he could do with this kind of immense amount of power.
Not just body, mind too.
He was awesome.
She was struck by his power and momentarily almost lost her connection with him but he quickly re-established it, silently scolding her for not paying attention. He was now kneeling before Shin but since the man was so big, he had to lean forward, hand finding support on Shin's chest.
She felt the surge of power as his teeth grew out but unlike with her, there was no unfamiliarity nor burning in the eyes. He was at ease, comfortable within his flesh.
And as he sank his teeth into the man's neck, she expected to be washed away by the shear pleasure of it. But instead she found that he stopped it and reversed it. She could feel his mind taking hold of Shin's and feeding those pleasurable feelings to him.
She could still feel some but it was amount that made it possible to control how much blood was taken. Sho's mind was like a mirror, reflecting most of the feelings back to him.
And Shin was shaking, his eyes closed and mouth open. There was a look of absolute bliss on his face and she could understand it. She could almost touch the pleasure that Sho was sending to him.
Then Sho let go, and again a different twist took her attention. He was holding his tongue over the wounds and a small trickle of power leaked from his mind to Shin's neck and the skin wound itself back together.
Then he, they, pulled back. "Understand now?"
The words were clear, echoing in her mind. Misao nodded but it was the feeling that reached him.
"Good. Your turn."
And she found him pushing her from his mind, showing her how it was done so she could retreat on her own. He still maintained small control of her but when she opened her eyes again, she was in her own body.
It felt cold, weak and pathetic after she had just felt the power that run in his. He laughed in her mind. "In time. In time young one."
It still felt like cheating.
Misao turned her eyes to Shin, who was still breathing hard. His eyes were wide and the smile on his lips was predatory. She felt like she was the lamb and he was the wolf. It made approaching him easier and when her teeth grew, her eyes burned, she didn't hesitate.
Sho had shown her how to do it and Shin wanted it. And just in case she couldn't make herself a mirror, she felt Sho's reassuring presence in her mind, ready to correct her mistakes.
Misao bit down hard and felt the wave of pleasure attacking her, threatening her control. As fast as she could, she imagined a mirror in her mind, a power to reflect. She felt the wave changing direction, attacking him.
He was shivering and convulsing under her hands but she kept drinking. At some point when she had been more closely connected to Sho, he had taught her how much she could take safely. She didn't even realize it until now, as she was drinking the sweet living blood.
Misao found that now that she could control it, it was somehow easier. She knew that she wasn't hurting him, knew when to stop. She could stop now that she wasn't overrun by the pleasure. She was herself and in control of the situation.
Reaching his limits, she pulled her teeth from his flesh and he hissed. Pressing her tongue over the wound, she mimicked the twist that Sho had done. It was hard trying to touch her power and to separate a small river of it. Sho was there in the background but he didn't help. Just observed.
She finally managed to direct small amount of power to the wound and felt it knitting together. She pulled back. It would leave a scar, even she knew that. She felt slightly disappointed.
"No need to. Some old ones can't do more than that no matter how much practice they have. In some years, I think you might be able to heal without leaving a scar. It is a gift and you may have inherited it from me."
Indeed, there was no sign of Sho's earlier bite.
"Oh, dear gods in heaven!" Shin groaned and placed his hand on his neck even though it didn't bleed. His pupils were entirely dilated and Misao could smell his arousal.
She refused to look down and see his wet pants. Sho was laughing in the back of her mind and at the same time congratulating her. His wordless pride at her success made her feel warm inside. She was sure he could feel it as the following sensations felt very much like a hug even though it was entirely in her mind. Like a hug but not quite, a much more intimate connection.
"You!" Shin was pointing at her and his hand shook. "Make sure that you visit me every time you are around here. Heck, for that I could follow you and be your permanent donor."
He laughed. "You made me explode and ruin my pants."
Misao took a quick glimpse and just as quickly made sure her eyes rested on something... safe.
Sho laughed and it was not in her mind. She almost missed the feel of him there but refused to show it.
"That's not a bad idea." He said and Misao turned to him. "Sho?!"
The look in his eyes was entirely too innocent. "What? He is a man in good shape, good blood and for that he would protect you during the day when you are still vulnerable."
"Bloody bones, for that I would do just that. So if you need any help, call on me anytime anywhere. Man, that was great. Bloody magnificent."There was fevered fire in his eyes and she was uncomfortable suddenly. Their comments about his search for pleasure were clear on her mind. If he was not here... How would he go about on the quest for pleasure? She really didn't want to know.
Sho exchanged few more words with him before they left.
Misao went to their room and sat down. She buried her head in her hands and breathed calmly. She had done it.
She had bitten a human again. Yet this time... it hadn't been so bad. She knew that he had wanted it, enjoyed it and wanted more. She had been able to control herself and the amount she drank.
She felt good now. Relaxed and almost... normal. There was warmth even if it didn't quite reach her inner cold. There was power. Nothing compared to Sho but enough to make her feel stronger than ever as human.
Sho.
Hiroshi-san. Gin-san. Tsu-san. Shin-san.
They had all taught her something. None of them had rejected her, rather welcomed her as she was. She was the one who hadn't been able to accept herself. They were fine with things as they were, she was the one fighting.
But today, she had learned a lot. But perhaps the most important lesson had been just now, in Shin's room.
Her need for blood would never disappear.
There was no way around it. No way at all. She knew it now and without hesitation she accepted it. She didn't want to drown in her tears any more.
But she swore to herself there and then that she would never take blood from the unwilling.
