PART TWO: IMMUNE
Whoop, chapter. Yeah. Well, guess what? I've noticed that we've had a handful of new writers (or new at least to Eyeshield 21 yaoi fanfiction) what does this mean? More stuff to read! Woohoo! I think everyone should at least write one story, it doesn't even have to be long, just so we have some fresh blood to pass around. (Was that a pun? Ha, sort of.) Of course that's just me. Meh, I think I'll just start the chapter (but if you want a oneshot idea, PM me, e-mail me, whatever works for you)
cough cough. moving on...
Chapter Twenty-Five: Still Human?
"This is… different," Takami announced.
I looked up from bandaging my arm. Uh-oh, different didn't sound good.
"Well hell, I already figured that out," Hiruma snapped while typing away on his laptop, not even looking up as Takami entered the room.
I yawned and rubbed my eyes, searching around the room for a clock even though I'd already done so many times before and had yet to find one.
Takami raised an eyebrow and sent Hiruma a thoughtful look. Hiruma grunted in response before bending down in front of me. He took hold of my partially bandaged arm and began unwrapping the bandages. I started to protest, but he gave me a stern look and I kept my mouth shut.
For about a minute.
"Ouch!" I cried, yanking my arm back and quickly sucking on my new wound. The thin needle he had just pricked me with gleamed in the intense lighting. "What was that for?" I asked, turning my attention to wrapping my arm back up.
"I needed a blood sample," he explained and cautiously tasted the small amount of blood he stole from me.
"Well, you could've asked," I muttered as I tried to shake out the remaining pain. Not a good idea; it made my earlier cut start to bleed through the gauze. Sheesh.
Next to me Takami stiffened and stared intently at Hiruma, looking ready to lunge if Hiruma so much as sneezed (that is, of course, if vampires could sneeze. I wouldn't know).
Noticing, Hiruma chuckled. "It doesn't taste any different, it's kind of bland."
I couldn't help but feel oddly insulted. "Maybe it's not my blood that's the problem then," I grumbled, feeling both grouchy and a little moody. I was really tired after all.
"Impossible," Hiruma snapped without missing a beat and motioned for Takami to explain.
"Even though we're vampires we're still bound to some basic ground rules of science, expressly when it comes to blood. A vampire with type A blood can't change a person who has type B blood. A person who has type AB blood be changed by any vampire with type A, B, or O blood. If a vampire was careless and didn't check the blood type, the blood would clot and the human, well, they'd die a slow and painful death," Takami explained.
I could feel the color drain from my face. Well, that's a good way to wake someone up, Guess what? You could have just died! Painfully!
"That's why Hiruma changed you though," Takami continued quickly before I did something stupid. Like maybe, I don't know, pass out in fear. "He's O negative, so he's a universal donor. Or, well, he was. Now he's more of a universal donor of vampire blood. See, when a human becomes a vampire, a new protein is transferred from the vampire into the human's blood cells. You're the first person I've ever met who's immune," Takami said thoughtfully.
I nodded, feeling slightly insulted again. Even if he hadn't meant to, it sort of felt like he was talking down to me. At times I don't mind when it happens, mostly because I usually don't know what the person's talking about. But come on, blood types.
"So, fucking shrimp, it's your blood that's the issue," Hiruma said.
I shivered, noticing for the first time that they both had an odd gleam in their eyes. It wasn't scary, just strange. It wasn't until much later I figured out the truth.
It was hope.
--
It felt wonderful to be back in class.
After all that craziness with Hiruma, flipping through a history book felt like a privilege. I still wasn't able to completely wrap my head around Hiruma's vampire story and I gladly pushed it out of my head.
My happy bubble didn't last very long though.
Lying to Monta and Juumonji kind of made everything bittersweet. They were my first friends, and part of me was desperate to share this sudden burden with someone, anyone. But Hiruma had made it very clear where that would lead, and I doubt Monta and Juumonji have the same resistance to Hiruma's vampirism that I do.
There's no way I'd put either of them through that.
So instead I used the excuse that Hiruma had already made for me. I'd been on bed rest for the past couple days with a nasty and contagious cold, but had recovered quickly (if five days could be considered quick).
It was almost a good thing that Yuki was nowhere to be found, because I had already forgotten the name of the 'cold' that Hiruma had claimed for me. He probably would've been smart enough to want to guess from the symptoms though, and I would've drawn a blank. Other than the occasional headache I've never been sick.
When I had told Takami this he had nodded, saying that it was probably noteworthy. Then he got that scientific gleam in his eye. Just like how you'd expect a doctor to look at a patient who was dying from mysterious causes. Only it was the opposite in this case because I wasn't dying.
Whatever. Doctors make me nervous.
The bell rang and I jumped out of my seat and headed down the hall to the gym. It wasn't until I was halfway there that I remembered my schedule had changed, thanks to Hiruma. Right before I had headed off for my first class this morning he finally got around to slipping me a new class schedule. Now it looked like this: U.S History, Algebra 2, Workshop, Lunch Break, Science, English, Gym, and Computers.
"What? I don't take Workshop!" I had complained.
Hiruma had shrugged, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Well, you do now. This is more convenient for us to keep a better eye on you."
It was then I decided that I really didn't like Hiruma.
"How can you just go around and switch my schedule without any of the teachers noticing?" I had asked, but no sooner had I finished I was hit with a nasty possibility. "T-the teachers aren't-" I couldn't get the words out, but Hiruma had understood anyway.
"It's not that complex, shrimp. The principal and Apollo know, that's where it ends. Oh, but that doesn't mean you should tell either of them about this," he had snapped, stiffening as the idea suddenly came to him.
"Why not?" I had asked, truly curious.
He had frowned, debating whether to answer or just leave me hanging. "Apollo has a talent for messing shit up. The last thing we need is him getting his hands on this," he'd muttered. I had been about to humor myself and ask 'on what?' but didn't want to be late for class.
"Er, okay then. I won't tell anyone, I promise."
Keeping true to that promise was harder than I thought.
"So are we still on for Saturday?" Juumonji asked. I hadn't been able to think of a way to explain my changed schedule and luckily he didn't question it. Probably since it meant that now we were going to be in the same math class in addition to being in the same science class.
"Huh, what?" I asked thickly. I inwardly panicked when he deflated slightly.
"Um, you know Saturday?"
It took me a moment. I had to think far back, before all the crazy vampire stuff happened. I gasped when it came to me, "Oh! I am so sorry, I almost forgot!" That probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. If anything it was actually really rude of me. Oops.
"It's okay. Anyway, you just got over your cold and probably shouldn't go out anywhere," he muttered, not sounding all that ecstatic compared to a few seconds ago.
I furiously shook my head and felt my face flush. "N-no! I really want to go. Anyway, we're going to see a movie right? I'll be indoors, so there isn't much to worry about."
Juumonji gave me a curious look before reaching out to lightly place a large hand on my forehead, as if I was made of glass. "You must've really been sick, Sena. That was for last Saturday. It's already Tuesday."
"O-oh," I muttered as my heart sank. I would've liked to go with Juumonji because hanging out with friends was something that I never been able to do, what with my previous lack of friends and all.
Juumonji led us back, letting his hand drop next to mine. Feeling stupid at myself, and angry with Hiruma (it wasn't really his fault, but it had been his room that I had been held captive in), I started walking again.
Juumonji didn't have any trouble with my pace; his legs were longer than mine, and he was close enough that our hands brushed against each other a couple times. "Hey, if you don't mind, we could, um, see the movie this Saturday then go 'take pictures' on Sunday instead."
I beamed and stood up straighter. "Great idea! What- what's the expression for something like that? 'Hitting a bird with a stone'?" I pondered.
Juumonji chuckled at my expression. "I think it's 'killing two birds with one stone.'"
"Ah."
Our hands brushed again and I could feel my face heating up, which was odd because I hadn't said anything too stupid. Juumonji opened his mouth to say something and I couldn't help but smile. With Juumonji I was able to push all of that vampire stuff to the side; it was like how I felt in History. There's nothing like getting kidnapped and held hostage by vampires to make you value the simple things in life.
And there's no one like Agon to ruin the moment.
One second I was standing there smiling blissfully at Juumonji, the next I was flying into the nearest wall.
"Watch it. Anyway, you're late for class," Agon growled.
I hadn't been paying much attention, but it'd been a good couple of weeks since my last run-in with Agon. I hadn't been counting though. Like I said, I had been a little preoccupied for a while.
Agon had crashed between us and I couldn't see Juumonji's expression very well since he was on the other side of Agon, who had turned to face me. I could guess that he probably wasn't feeling all that perky.
"Agon-sa-, er, Agon! It's been awhile!" I felt tense. My mental image of Agon must've dulled over time to be less scary. He was definitely more muscular than I remembered. He had zero body fat: 95% of his body was overly toned muscles (the other 5% was the dreadlocks).
Even though we were inside, he was wearing sunglasses. This wouldn't have been strange if he had turned out to be a vampire, but as a normal human it was distinctly odd. The hallways weren't really that well lit after all. I made a mental note to press Hiruma on the subject.
I tried my best to smile sweetly, as if I didn't have the slightest care in the world. Which was pretty hard to do when facing off against someone twice your size with no noticeable remorse towards breakable things. Like bones.
"Not long enough," Agon grunted, rude as ever.
I nodded, deciding that it would be easier to ditch the smiling act and just take refuge in the math classroom. "Well, we'll just be leaving then. It was nice seeing you again." I slipped around him and grabbed Juumonji by the wrist and somehow managed to pull him all the way down the hall.
"That guy…" Juumonji growled shaking his head. I nodded in agreement. There just weren't enough words to describe the depths of Agon's rude character.
In English anyway.
"I-I don't even want to think about it," I admitted shakily before quickly letting go of Juumonji's wrist. For a moment we were both silent and I attempted to collect my thoughts, hoping to avoid anything to do with Agon.
"Maybe we should go in?" Juumonji swung the classroom door open and moved out of the way to let me go in first.
I smiled again and tried to suppress my issues with Agon, instead focusing on Juumonji. "Thank you."
My eyes scanned the almost full room. The bell was only seconds from ringing and we had somehow managed to not be tardy. My eyes locked on a boy with intense blue eyes and a sliver of abnormal gold surrounding the pupil.
Riku?!
The white-haired boy smiled and waved me over to sit in the empty seat next to him. Juumonji moved towards an empty table and nudged me to follow him.