Oh look, it's an unoriginal vampire fic. The fanfiction world really needs another one of these. >_>;; Oh well, shut up and read. Or not. =3 Free world and all. Thanks to Meimi and Kay for the lovely encouragment--you're the main reason the second part is almost done! *glomps*
I began this with the intention of it ending as a kind of lime-ish PWP, but I thought myself out of it. Erm.
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I grunt and shift the clunky grocery bags in my arms. The word "paper" came out of my mouth before I could remember that there was three blocks between the store and home. And stairs, too--four flights of them--if the elevator isn't fixed yet. It hadn't been working this morning, and it hadn't been working yesterday, or the day before yesterday, so there was a fat chance that it'd be working now.
My parents wonder why I want to quit school. Most kids think about it when they're in high school because they want to start making money early, or they think that they don't have enough brains to even try graduating. I guess both of those could apply to me. I could always use the money--I mean, we're not poor, but dad doesn't make much with the odd jobs the company gives him, and all the salary mom makes at the register goes into the two shitty paper bags that I'm heaving around right now. Jun gets a part-time job every once in a while, but she usually saves the money for her own magazines and make-up and crap.
So the money wouldn't be bad, even though nobody would hire an 11-year old that hasn't even finished elementary school. And it's not like I'm smart. Maybe I am, or I could have been, but I think I've missed so many homework assignments in the past few years it'll take me all of middle school to catch up to the fifth grade. I guess I could be exaggerating. That's what Jun or mom or dad tells me when I say stuff like that. It just seems kind of pointless, especially when the fate of the world rests on my shoulders (on top of school and family and social life and all that).
Didn't that sound like some cheesy video game? But it's true--almost every minute that I'm not at school or eating dinner at home (and I don't get to do that much anymore either), I'm in the Digital World, cleaning up the Digimon Kaizer's latest mess, or on the really lucky days (note the sarcasm here) I get to fight him face to face.
You'd think that with a rival like Ichijouji Ken, the Digimon Kaiser, I'd feel even stupider than I already am. Not only did he trip me up over who the hell he was--and he tripped me up bad; as stupid as it seems now, I hadn't even seen it coming--he degrades me every chance he gets, tossing words and phrases over my head that I probably couldn't repeat a minute after hearing them. But I don't. I don't feel stupid at all, sometimes. Because even though he insults me with words that I couldn't begin to figure out, he insults me like I'm an equal, which is strange as all hell. Motomiya Daisuke, future drop-out, equal to Ichijouji Ken, boy genius and aspiring ruler of two worlds.
Sounds kind of funny, doesn't it?
But when he gets angry I'm the one he looks at while ranting his creepy head off, and when he has a new super-evil plan he's itching to carry out, I'm usually the one that gets the brunt of it (I'm avoiding going over the times that he's kidnapped me, if you hadn't noticed. If you know anything at all about those horror stories you know more than enough). All in all, it's enough to make me wonder how many times he was dropped on his head as a baby.
It's kind of amazing when I realize that I haven't died (or at least become a cripple or an outpatient) yet. It makes me tired at the same time--dealing with all the fighting and strategy right after school and even better, having to think about it while I'm walking home, eating dinner, and sleeping. I'm still alive, but there's so much stuff to do sometimes I think I'll die of exhaustion just by thinking about it all.
I'm usually like this (all moody and disconnected and PMSing) when I leave school, finished with soccer practice or the digital world or both. It's nothing different tonight. Heavy as a rock and feeling just as smart, I hear the noise when I stop to hike the bag in my left arm a little higher.
At first I think it's an animal or something--stray cats and dogs usually come out later in the day, when there are less people around, and rummage around the garbage bins in the alleys. But I stop and listen for it again anyway, being Stupidly-Curious Motomiys, and the second time I hear it I know that it has to be a human, because it's crying. He or she sounds really pitiful, something that isn't really helping my mood any.
Let it never be said that Motomiya Daisuke leaves well enough alone, no matter how pissy he is.
I open my mouth to say something before I notice that the alley I'm looking into is really dark, and that's about the same time that all of those horror stories parents and teachers tell you when you're really young and stupid shoot through my head. But I can't just leave, because whoever's in there sounds really scared and helpless, and young too, if I'm guessing right.
So I put one of the bags down and take a step forward. For some stupid reason I hold on to the other. Maybe it'll double as a shield, I don't know.
"Hey," I call, and the crying stops. I'd been pretty quiet up until now, so I guess I must have scared him. I think it's a him. "Are you alright?" I hear something like a whimper. "What?" I ask. I can't find where the person is; it's too dark. Why doesn't that scare me as much as I think it should?
I move forward a little more, and I hear him this time. "Hungry," and he starts to cry again.
"You're hungry...?" That's not so bad; something can be done about that. The two bags are our groceries for this week, but I'm sure mom won't get too pissed if it's for something like this... "I've got some food." I don't hear anything for a minute, and I wonder if he's still there. "Do--do you want some?" Damn, I'm getting nervous. Maybe I'll back out a little bit, closer to the street light...
"You'll... help me...?" He sounds really pathetic, the poor guy.
"Yeah, of course I will!" I try to sound sure of myself.
"I'm so hungry..." The voice sounds closer. I try to stay where I am.
"Then I'll feed you. I've... um, got food…" I think I've convinced myself. I'm carrying the bag with the milk and orange juice and everything in it, but if I need to I'll just go and grab the other one real fast. Giving some food to a kid like this couldn't be bad...
Then he's right behind me--I still can't see him but I feel him, and he's cold--and that's when I feel something prick into my neck, like a needle. It's strange, but suddenly I feel really, really warm all over, like I'm wrapped up in a blanket with a bowl of hot soup on a cold day. I don't think I'm holding the grocery bag anymore, but I feel so good I don't even care. Some part of me is yelling, telling me to get the hell away because this can't be the best of things to happen in a dark alleyway, luckily, that part is really hard to hear over the soft voice in my head.
You're safe. You're warm. You're safe, here with me.
I feel him take a step back and I open my eyes (I don't remember closing them). Slowly, I turn and stare into two glowing blue eyes that are inches away from mine. We're standing closer to the streetlamp, so I can pick out the faint lines of his face and his long, sleek hair. I'm breathing quickly, each little burst making his hair sway slightly.
I didn't... he didn't... bite me? I try to move hand to my neck but I feel so heavy and comfortable, the idea doesn't even stick in my head for a second. So I stand there and stare at him, feeling very light and hippie-ish, trying to figure out why exactly the person in front of me looks a little familiar. He doesn't move.
It's maybe a minute or so when the warmth slowly starts to leave me and the buzz in my head dies down a little. Almost like he can tell, he takes a step back and brings his hand up to his mouth, where I can see something dark and wet shining on his lips. He looks kind of wild-eyed, like he's about to run off at any moment, so I do the only thing I can think to with my head still a little fuzzy and warm and further away than usual.
I sock him on the head, hard.
He falls immediately, and it's when I hear the meaty thud announcing his contact with the concrete that I snap out of whatever the hell I was in. I feel my neck, but there's nothing there to feel. There's a little bit of wetness that I assume is blood, but under that there's nothing.
It's only after I roll his body over that I realize that this unconcious boy sprawled under the streetlight is Ichijouji Ken.
Part 2 soon to come... Review and such fun things, yeees?
