Shouta frowned as he looked over at Toshinori's bedroom door, the man hadn't left it once in over a week. It was as if Inko's fear had caused the blonde man to shut down. She told him to stay away, and so he has. Though, Shouta himself, had taken it upon himself to look out for the green woman in Toshinori's stead. Yet, he felt as if Toshinori had just given up all hope, all hope to ever feel as if he had no chance to feel like a human being again.
Yet, he knew that he had to do something to help his father-figure. As for what that was, he had no idea what it was.
Letting out a soft sigh, Shouta made his way over to the door and gently knocked on the door. "Toshi? Come on, you need to feed or else you'll just starve yourself." Shouta said, hoping to encourage the man to feed on something, even if it was small.
"Go away." Toshinori groaned. His hunger was getting the better of him but he refused to leave his bedroom in order to feed. It had Shouta concerned, worried for the man as he tried to think on what he should do for him. Yet, it seemed that no matter what he just couldn't help himself but to give up on his own life, regardless if it was the life of a human, or as a vampire.
"You need to feed Toshi. Come on, let me in." Shouta said, worry reaching his voice again.
"Not hungry."
"Bull shit, you're starving yourself Toshi. Is this what Inko would want?"
"Inko is terrified of me! She wants nothing to do with me Shouta!" shouted Toshinori, only to groan in pain and discomfort from his own hunger. Shouta sighed softly, he knew that the man was hurting. He had no idea if it was different for a vampire compared to a human about losing their loved ones, but he knew that it still hurt regardless.
It made Shouta wonder, if he would feel this kind of pain if it was him in Toshinori's place, and Hizashi's in Inko's place. Frowning a little in confusion, Shouta knew that he had to do something. Though he wasn't sure what it was that he could do to help Toshinori at this point. He felt as if no matter what he did, nothing would be done to get the man to change his mind.
"Toshi, please will you just feed on a little bit of blood?" asked Shouta, hoping that even just a little would help the poor man from everything that was wrong with him.
"No."
Ugh! He was nothing but a child throwing some kind of temper tantrum at this point. It seemed that if he couldn't have Inko, that he couldn't have her in his life than his life was worthless to the blonde. "I saw Inko today." He thought that he heard Toshinori shift from his sheets. God, why did he even have sheets in the first place? He didn't even need sleep! "She was fine, safe at the very least. The murders had for the most part stopped for now. I think your threat had reached their leader but I still can't protect her at all times of the day like you can Toshi."
Toshinori seemed to have made it to the door, as it opened a crack and what Shouta saw almost made him want to cry.
The man's hair was frazzled, pretty much flying everywhere but where it should be. His cheeks were sunken in, cheeks hallow and even his eyes seemed hidden under shadows of darkness. His blue eyes though, dull and void of all feeling but emptiness. Shouta looked at Toshinori's frame and frowned as he saw that Toshinori had all but lost his muscles and was nothing more than a stick with arms and legs.
"What are you doing to yourself?" asked Shouta with a frown on his face.
"I'm just not hungry Shouta. I've done everything I can to keep her safe, no matter what, it was all in vain. Inko won't love me after all, just like I thought she wouldn't." He whispered, his eyes full of deep emotional pain that Shouta knew that no human could ever possess. It was a pain that would have easily killed any man should he have to go through such a thing, yet here was Toshinori, still around and kicking so to speak. Though, he was already dead in the first place and may as well die again at the rate he was going.
He was slowly killing himself. All he had to do was step out into the sunlight at this rate and he would burn and most likely get himself killed.
Seeing Toshinori in this state made his eyes water at the sight of the man that he had called his father. Clenching his teeth tightly, Shouta said "Come on Toshi! Stop doing this to yourself! I've already lost one father, I won't lose you too!" Shouta felt his body shake and tremble, he didn't think that he could feel something so overwhelming and powerful in his entire life. To see the man that he had looked up to as his father all this time, something that he had come to terms with that at some point in his life, that he would have to leave his father but not the other way around. "I can't lose you Toshinori, I won't lose you!"
"There is nothing you can do Shouta, you should know that better than anyone. People won't understand what they fear the most. Inko, fears me, she will have nothing to do with me. So long as she is safe, and happy then I will be happy for her. That's all I want." He whispered softly before closing the door. Shouta of course, slammed his hands on the door, digging his fingernails into the wood until he slid down onto the floor.
"Toshi…" Shouta whispered before narrowing his eyes into slits. He knew what he had to do, it may be crazy, but this was the only thing that he could do to save Toshinori. If that meant doing something stupid, then so be it.
Shouta looked up at the café with a soft sigh. He loved this place, no doubt about that as he did love cats. But he knew that today he wasn't here just to enjoy the coffee, but he knew that he had to talk to Inko. He just hoped that she was working today as he figured seeing him at her doorstep would just cause her to slam the door in his face.
Taking a deep calming breath, Shouta made his way into the building and looked around. As usual, all the girls wore the usual outfit as a waitress, but the only difference was that they had cat ears perched atop of their head. If it wasn't for the fact that he already had a boyfriend, he would try to pick up on one of these girls but nope. Hizashi was the one for him, that much he knew.
Walking up to the counter, Shouta saw the locks of the green haired woman and knew that it was her. Making his way over to the counter, he calmly said "I'd like to place an order." Plus, he'd love to have a chat with her.
"Of course sir, what can I get for you today?" asked the woman as she turned around and stared with wide eyes. Just as she was about to scream, he held his hand up and silenced her.
"I'm not here to cause a scene, but I must speak to you." Seeing her confused green eyes staring at him, he calmly said "It's about Toshi, please… I do need to speak to you about him." Inko was about to reject the offer, he knew that much, but he had to do this. This had to be done. Closing his eyes, Shouta bowed his head a little as he whispered "Please, I'm afraid if I don't do something he'll die."
Lifting his head, he saw her eyes widened in shock and tears pooling in her eyes. "I'll be on my break soon, we can talk but that's it." It seemed that she was still scared of Toshinori, that was a given, but her heart was far too kind for her to leave the man alone it seemed.
Yet, for that Shouta was grateful.
Placing his order, he went and sat down in the dining area where no one would bother the two of them, he hoped that his speech to Inko would reach her. To get him to see Toshinori and convince him to feed again. If this kept up, he had no idea what would happen to the blonde vampire. Would he merely starve until he was dust like those vampires they had killed over a week ago or would he just starve until he ended up as a mindless blood drinking machine?
He had no idea, and he didn't want to find out.
Looking up, Shouta couldn't help but wonder what he should say to her really. He knew that he had much to tell her, so much so that he wondered if she would even listen to it all.
"I'm sorry I took so long." Inko whispered, sitting in front of the raven haired man with a cup of tea in her hands. Most likely to keep herself calm. "What is wrong with Toshinori that you had to come to me? How can he die? He's a vampire… he… he's immortal right?"
"He is starving himself." Shouta whispered, Inko seemed to frown and was about to speak until he held up his hand to silence her. "He feels guilt for scaring you, he is sad that you rejected him because of what he was." Inko was about to speak until he shook his head. "He knew you would reject him, he knew that you would hate him once you found out what he was." Shouta said before he sipped at his coffee. The only thing that was keeping him awake right about now. He needed all of this energy in order to survive the daylight hours with how long he worked at night. "Answer me this, did you care for him at all? Or did you just use him as a means of protection because he's saved you three times?"
"Three? But… he only saved me twice."
"Answer my question first Miss Midoriya." Shouta glared at her slightly. So it seemed that Toshinori also never mentioned that he had saved her once before as a child, then again she would think that the man that had saved her was an old man or dead.
"I wasn't using him, I did and still do care but… I… I guess I was scared of him attacking me or drinking from me." Inko whispered, her body trembled at the thought. She had only been scared of him attacking her in the end. Understandable but, at the same time rather stupid.
Shouta took another sip of his coffee before leaning over on the table, his hands folded together on the table top. His eyes narrowed into a serious stare as he asked his question. "Answer me this, has he ever once gone for your neck? Have you once seen his fangs until that night? Or his eyes changing colour for that matter?"
Inko winced at his tone of voice and shook her head. It seemed that Toshinori had made sure that he was properly fed before he went to her, or at the very least had a lot of control around her. Shouta could understand that at least, the man was rather attached to this woman, and didn't want to mess things up until that night. But, that was for a different reason, he was trying to protect Inko, to make sure that she was safe from the vampires that would have captured her and took her to their master, whoever that was anyway.
"Because he doesn't feed from humans at all." Shouta whispered. Inko blinked in confusion. "Toshinori made a promise to himself years ago, long before you and I were even born, that he would never feed from humans. He drank from animals until blood could be stored much like it is now, now he just drinks my blood that I keep stored up from him unless I can't provide him the blood nessacary for him to live off of so he feeds off of animals or starves himself."
"He… he doesn't feed from humans? At all?" Inko whispered in shock.
"He only has once during his promise and that was due to him drinking tea."
"What?"
"He can't ingest food like we can, for us, it would digest and go into our systems to give us energy, for him, it just sits in his stomach and does nothing but makes him sick. He has to throw it up then feed again. But liquids is harder for him to remove from his stomach so when he threw it up, he went into a bloodlust and bit me."
Inko winced and shuddered a little. "It doesn't hurt as much as you think, really when a vampire bites a human they feel pleasure." Shouta muttered before sipping at his tea before looking over at Inko. Giving her a bland stare as he let out a soft sigh and ran a hand through his shaggy bangs. "Toshinori knew that revealing himself to you would have caused you to fear him, but he did it in order to keep you safe." Shouta said as he stared at Inko.
"But why? Why keep me safe? He didn't have to…"
"Of course he does, he's always felt the need to protect you ever since you were a little girl."
"Huh?"
"You really don't remember that? How about this, do you remember me at all?"
"I remember you giving Toshi a sword but-"
"No, from before that."
"No, I don't remember you…"
Shouta shook his head as he said "Must have been the shock from back then." Letting out a soft sigh, the young man looked at Inko as he calmly went on. "Years ago, you befriended a little boy, you saw that he was lonely and his father was there as well. Someone tried to kidnap you as no one was really looking but myself." Shouta sighed softly as he scratched the back of his head as he tried to think his words carefully. "Before they could get far, a tall blonde man came in and rescued you. He was badly injuried physically but he just smiled down at you and made sure that you were okay. As did the little boy, they took you back to your parents who were searching for you and that was the last you saw of them, am I wrong?"
"You were the little boy…" Inko whispered with wide eyes. She looked down for a moment with a frown on her face as she whispered "The man… that… that couldn't have been Toshi could it?"
"He was, he's five hundred years old, it is possible for him to be that man that saved you all those years ago." Shouta said with a soft sigh before he leaned back on his seat as he stared at the woman with a blank look on his face. "Think of it like this, every moment in your life where you were either almost kidnapped, almost attacked even it never happened right? You are from a royal family but you haven't been attacked again…"
"Yeah but, that's because no one bothered to try again right?" Inko said with a frown.
"No, because Toshi has been protecting you your whole life. The attack in the alley was just him having to reveal himself in order to stop that attacker. After that, he couldn't stay out of your life and he had grown to care for you a great deal." Shouta mumbled before draining the last of his coffee. Yawning, he looked at the green haired woman as he looked down at her for a moment. "I want you to think about what you feel for Toshi. If you know that you care for him as much as he does for you, come to the apartment, I will only wait for you a couple days and then I'll know that you don't care for him at all." With that Shouta pushed himself up and was about to leave until Inko stopped him.
"Wait."
"Hm?"
"How will I know where you live?"
Right… she's never been to the apartment yet. Sighing softly, Shouta grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down the address and handed it to her before he gave her a bland stare. "Just walk in, no one ever comes to the building with where it was, but I suggest that you take a cab." With that, Shouta walked out of the café, he hoped that his words would have reached Inko.
That was all he wanted to do, he just wanted to make sure that she would think of his words carefully, that she would listen to him and see Toshinori. Dear lord, he hoped that she did indeed have feelings for him, why else would she want to thank the man so much for saving her. Why else would she have been concerned for his health to the point that she would make him drink tea even though Toshinori knew that he couldn't consume human food.
Shouta let out a soft yet sad sigh at the thought of losing his father figure. Toshinori was a stubborn man, but he knew that should something happen to the blonde looking after Inko and keeping her safe would fall on Shouta.
He let out a soft sigh as he looked at the sky, it was a bright and sunny day, and he'll have to get back to the apartment before Toshinori got the idea to open up the curtains and burn in the sunlight. He was thankful that he had his capture gear on him so he could hurry up and make a mad dash home. Narrowing his eyes, the young man quickly made his way home.
