Th Sacred Night, Chapter 16
I drank the sweet substance my wife allowed me to take nightly for the third time since her internment in the lair of the hunter. I drew it out hungrily, but made sure she didn't hurt for it. That wasn't too difficult, considering no matter what I did, she probably wouldn't feel it unless I wanted her to do so, but I didn't want to injure her in any way that would last beyond my feeding. She lay beside me in a pleasant embrace, not moving, but not totally limp, either. She was in a perfectly fine state of health, but she didn't perceive where she truly was at the moment, compliments of my common vampiric abilities.
I had taken enough for one night, so I pulled away from her, releasing the mental charade and savoring the last drop. She didn't look up at me immediately, but held her head a moment as if she was dizzy or had a headache. This didn't usually happen to a bound person, so I was concerned she was hurt. I realized only a second later that a subtle silver line had crept into her hair while I wasn't looking. She was over one hundred forty years old, so a gray hair or two were excusable, but I worried all the same.
"Kaoru-dono, are you all right? Did I take too much?"
"I don't know. This has never happened before... it didn't seem very long, so I don't think... but I'm not supposed to get sick, right?"
"That's what my father said. You've never been sick before now, have you? Since we were married,"
"No, but don't worry. It's passed now. I feel fine," she smiled to assure me of the truth of her statement, but I wasn't convinced.
"I'll ask Aoshi about it," I finished noncommittally.
She frowned at my mention of Aoshi, because she still believed he was cheating on her friend. I had not bothered to correct her when she brought it up, since he had not actually told me outright that he was not, but I had shared with her the fact that I really didn't think he was. Misao was not a liar, to be sure, but she herself didn't know as much as I did about the situation according to Aoshi. If he chose not to tell her for whatever reason, I respected his decision because it was not really my business unless I was asked to help and because I could understand the desire to let the woman one loves remain happy if there is any way of preserving it without danger to her.
I decided to visit a few people to inquire about this strange ailment that seemed to plague Kaoru in the meantime. First, I chose the woman Aoshi had bound, partly because she was the closest of all the people likely to know what it was, and partly because if Aoshi knew about it and it had to do with bound humans, he had probably told her. I wasn't flashy about it and just walked, never having been overly impressed with vampires' unique abilities.
"Sazuko-dono? Are you busy?" I asked when she opened the door for me.
"No, Himura-san. How are you?"
"I'm all right, Sazuko-dono, how are you and Shinomori-san?"
"We are all right. Did you want to discuss something with me?"
"I have a question, Sazuko-dono. Do you know of any sickness that affects bound humans?"
She looked surprised at the question, but more surprised that I would have expected. "Is something the matter with your wife?"
"I think something might be. After I fed on her, she had a little bit of gray hair I'd never noticed before,"
"Bound humans do age, Himura-san, just like vampires do- slowly, but it still happens,"
"She's only one hundred forty four,"
"And she's getting gray hair? How old was she when you bound her?"
"Nineteen,"
"Oh," she said emotionally, as if I'd just told her someone was dead.
"Do you know what is wrong?"
"No, Himura-san. It's just that... the same thing happened when Aoshi fed last night," she swept up some of her strands and showed me a sliver of white in her otherwise charcoal-colored hair. "He said he would ask some people he knew if they had ever seen it before,"
I darkened at this news. If Aoshi didn't know about something, it was highly unknown by the rest of the world, generally. Information had been his business when he was alive, and he had never given it up. I politely left her house and went back home to Kaoru with a significantly heavier heart. I didn't see the benefit in looking for the information on my own if Aoshi was also looking. I was slightly cheered by this, since I was sure Aoshi would find a person who knew these things if any existed, but I was haunted by wondering what would become of my wife and possibly others if no such person did exist. When I returned home, I was surprised but not alarmed to find Misao sitting with Kaoru in my living room and chatting amiably. I didn't mind, especially since it was entirely likely that Aoshi had sent her here because he felt it was safer than her own home.
"Yeah, and when I finished feeding on him, he had this gray streak right here," Misao pointed to her own hair to illustrate her point. "Oh, hi, Himura," she waved to me as she noticed my presence.
"Sudara-san has the same... whatever it is... that happened to me tonight," she said to fill me in.
"Sazuko-dono said Aoshi was looking into it,"
"And he wouldn't let me go along! He said I would be better off staying here with you two! Why does he never seem to remember that I was part of the Oniwabanshuu just like he was?"
"Calm down, Misao-dono. There isn't necessarily much two people can do on this. He's probably going to talk to people you don't know, and he could find them faster,"
"I don't care. This information is important to me and I want to help!"
"None of us has the authority to tell Aoshi to let you go, so it doesn't matter. Besides, you could go anywhere you wanted on your own, right? He just said you couldn't go with him," Kaoru interjected helpfully.
"I don't think that would be helpful, Kaoru-dono, that I don't,"
"Why not? Misao can help find out what's going on and put her mind at rest. It's not as if it's any more dangerous for her than it is for anyone else, right? If it makes you feel better, I can go with her,"
"No! Please don't do that, Kaoru-dono. Aoshi told me what the situation with Misao was, and it really is more dangerous for her-"
"Wait a minute, he TOLD you?" Misao interrupted incredulously.
"Yes, and I respect his choice not to tell you because-"
"I don't care what you respect; you're telling me everything right now!"
"I can't do that, Misao-dono, that I can't,"
"Aoshi-sama is hiding things from me. I think he's seeing another woman, so if you know anything, so help me you better spill it!"
"Aoshi is not seeing another woman. There is a problem, and I don't think Aoshi would appreciate it if I told you what it was, that makes it more dangerous for you to go out than it is for the rest of us. I'm sure Aoshi just doesn't want to worry you, Misao-dono, nothing more,"
"But stii-iiilllllll!!!!!" She whined, knowing by this point that I was not surrendering any information, but judging it worth a shot anyway. I turned away from her and sat back, quietly retreating into my thoughts.
I hadn't known bound humans could fall ill. There seemed to be an epidemic among them, and many had not had any experience dealing with illness in hundreds of years. Vampires certainly wouldn't be of any help- we had as little knowledge of current health practices. This particular illness seemed to deteriorate their ability to withstand our feeding, and vampires were not exactly known for our patience or restraint. If this wasn't rectified soon, there would be blood-drained bodies all over the world soon.
I myself could and would hold out longer than most, but there was no telling what would happen if I was overwhelmed with temptation and my survival instinct took over. I thought I had found a way to exist peacefully in the time I had known Kaoru, but perhaps the slayers were correct when they said my nature was inherently murderous and that I could not exist in a world safe for humans. Maybe as long as I survived, this was unavoidable. There were solutions, such as binding humans, but they were clearly only temporary.
I had spent one hundred twenty five years feeding on one woman- a thing I would have thought impossible, and a cruel irony, in the wake of my first wife's death. I had met Kaoru shortly after I met Misao, and it hadn't taken us long to fall in love. I hid what I was from her for awhile, but when she was threatened by someone physically stronger, but less honorable, than she was, I had to intervene or watch her die. I chose to protect her at the cost of exposing my nature to her, and didn't expect our friendship to last after that, but she miraculously did not care.
It was not really fair to say she didn't care, because she did care. She had compassion for me and allowed me to bind her because she held, like Misao, that it was not my fault I was what I was. I assured her there were more grave things that were indeed my fault, but she could not be persuaded that I was not worth her while. She was the only human I could recall meeting in awhile who had known whom and what I was and not shied away. From the very beginning, she had shown curiosity and interest in me, and it didn't wane when she discovered the truth.
Occasionally she seemed disturbed by something in our marriage and expressed this to me, but I never had an insight. She was highly disappointed at the revelation that we would never bear children, but had told me she never regretted her choice afterward. I myself had been somewhat saddened by it, but had been too young to care all that much about it when I first found out and accustomed to it by the time I was mature enough to understand the loss.
A new presence manifested itself in the house, and I looked up into two resigned, blue eyes. He announced his failure to find a cure or person who possessed such a thing for the strange malady plaguing the humans, but allowed only me in on the news of his other failure. Still not planning to tell Misao-dono? I asked.
She would go looking for him, and I don't know if she can handle this one. If he's hidden himself from me this long, imagine how good he must be.
Agreed. Would she even be able to find him, provided someone was with her to prevent him attacking?
Maybe. He might just reveal his ki- that Misao is an excellent tracker, and she'd find him if it were possible. I just don't want to think about what might happen after that.
She is a vampire, Aoshi. She's stronger than any human.
I don't care. I don't want her to bother with it, even if she could handle it. She might be more merciful than I would be inclined to be.
That's a bad thing?
With a slayer who chooses targets that feed on bound humans, yes.
You want to kill him, and you think she'd spare him.
I wouldn't go that far. I want to handle this myself, and that's all I'm saying now.
I just hope you know what you're doing.
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Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: I'll be glad to answer any questions you have. Yes, this is my best fic, and the one that's most consistently gotten reviews.
Chibi Yuushi: thanks, I was afraid my action wasn't good. Really, my forte is angst. So glad I could be inspiring! I've started reading SL, but it keeps getting deleted from my computer every time I save it to read offline. I will get it all read, though, I promise. I know when and essentially why enishi's hair and eyes changed, but I meant I wanted to know how that is physically possible. You don't happen to know, do you? Glad there is a good plot movement, I was afraid I wasn't going anywhere. I have steadily tried with the detail- truly, that makes or breaks a story. Glad to know also that everyone is IC. That is one of the most important things to me in fanfics- my hugest pet peeve with them is OOC. I mean, if they're going to be OOC, why even make it a fanfic, why not just create original characters and make it regular fiction? The only place I know where vampires exist, Ry, is in my own and several other authors' minds, and sorry, you can't go in and get one. Chi, though, doesn't really have to test any 'theories' since with fictional creatures, they are however you want them to be, so your theories are automatically correct. I don't know that PETA would care too much about it, though, since vamps would not exactly be considered animals, but more like fellow humans, dead people, or even superhuman by humans, and thus their treatment would not be much of an issue (especially to those who consider them as dead!).