Innocent's Violence

By Kimra

Part 3

A rhythm of sickening thuds filled the antechamber, and drifted through solid wood to the throne room.

Dimando looked up casually at the doors, mildly interested by the noise. When the scent of death struck him he did nothing to hide his curiosity. Nor did the other members of his court as they became aware of the noise and smell. But he was certain as the doors flew open that more then half of his council was surprised by the intrusion.

"What can we do for you?" Dimando asked the creature casually, his eyes moving over it to quickly asses it's purpose. It was undead, and it was fresh, less then a day old because their where no signs of decay. And it certainly wasn't hostile which was always surprising, his guards at it's sides where ignored.

"A message." It hissed with a breath of air.

Dimando raised an eyebrow looking the creature over for extra clues. "For whom?" He made a motion and his guards stepped back from the creature. It stumbled forwards again, it's limbs heavy and weak.

"He who rules."

Dimando leant forwards on his throne, mocking the creature with his expression but it remained unaffected. "Very well." He stated and waved a hand at it, waiting to hear this 'message'. He was slightly amused that the lug of a creature had gotten past his sentry's without any warning being given, especially considering it's size.

"Alone." It growled, in warning.

Dimando's brow's rose at the order and he stared at the creature incredulously. "I don't talk to ghoul's especially alone." He tried to make himself sound condescending, but realised it was pointless against these types of creatures, they had less brains then a pet.

"A message." It repeated, drawing him from his thoughts.

"From who?" He growled in reply, not appreciating the interruption, or the ghoul's stubbornness, usually they didn't care who they told their messages to.

"A woman."

"Which one?" Dimando growled in reply his impatience rising.

"Usagi Tsukino." It hissed once more.

Dimando's eye brow rose again as he stared at the creature. His thoughts moving quickly through the information. It had been a week since he had destroyed her little toy, and he had never really stopped to think about it's purpose. He had been far to frustrated to think beyond it's demise but it seemed it had been going to see him anyway. A smirk played across his lips, the Tsukino girl was trying to go around the rules. "Indeed." He quipped at the creature his expression darkening.

* * * * *

The bedside light shone across her face, lighting her angelic features and leaving Mamoru a little uncertain. He watched her from across the room, carefully keeping the distance between them greater then the chains length. Her hair tumbled about her, covering delicate features and hiding malicious intent.

"Usagi." Mamoru called quietly, squatting his lean frame parallel to her. He loathed to wake her from her obvious serenity but had little choice. "Usagi." He called again, louder, his muscles tenser. The louder he was when she woke the more violent he knew the response would be. Her body shifted eyes fluttering open in vague awareness. His heart beat strangely at the image she made, waking on his bedroom floor. "Usagi." He repeated softly and tired blue eyes travelled across the room to meet his gaze.

She blinked once or twice, bordering on consciousness though not awareness.

"What time is it?" She mumbled her nose scrunching.

"Usagi." He repeated when her attention shifted to the plush carpet. "Are you listening?" She nodded in reply her attention still on the floor. "Where do you need to be?" She made a noise of thoughtfulness but her eyes didn't move from the carpet and the lids slowly began to close again.

"Asleep." She mumbled her body began to relax into sleep once more.

"Usagi!" He half shouted in frustration, keeping her in a good mood was all fine, but he needed her wake. "Where do you have to be to survive the day?" He growled, and saw her eyes open, once more facing him.

"Wha'?" She stared at him blankly, taking great effort to translate his words. "Errr…. School?" And even a she said the word her eyes lit up with realisation. "Oh my god!" Her pose changed but there was nothing in her expression that removed her from the naïve school girl he spared with daily. "Miss Haruna's gonna kill me!" She covered her mouth in horror the chains rattling with the jerky movements.

It hadn't been what he'd meant. He had been deliberating over the pre-dawn hours over which of the many vampire mythology's where accurate and had been left with the inevitable conclusion that he had absolutely no idea.

His thoughts where cut off but the screeching girl. "You put me in chains?" He heard the chains rattle before he noticed her movements. Despite the knowledge that he was out of arms reach he skittled back as she lunged at him, nails sharp and ready to claw.

It took a moment, staring at her livid expression from his sprawled form on the floor before he caught his breath at the sudden outburst. He should have been expecting something like that.

He nodded his head at her once he was seated upright again, daring her to try and pry words from him. His heart was pounding quickly at the sudden fright her attack had caused. But he forced it to calm down, he needed his strength, he was still shaken from her attack hours before.

Mamoru shuddered at the remembrance of that moment, he had felt something different in the air, but it hadn't clicked and before he knew what was happening it had been over. He didn't know why she had fainted but he wasn't one to second question luck and had been ready to leave. But he couldn't bring himself to leave her there, because the second she was unconscious she had reverted to the fragile school girl he knew. It had been a debate to take her home with him, even in his weakened state she had been light. And the chain's he hadn't been at all certain about them, but the thought of her draining his blood had been a strong incentive to restrain her.

As she glared at him, her eyes burning with hatred but still that amazing blue he realised it had been an excellent idea to put those chains on. He knew there would have been violence if she was unrestrained. Usagi as a school girl was dangerous enough to his health, Usagi as a vampire, he shuddered once more and pushed those thoughts away.

"Let me go you jerk, if I'm late for school-" She stopped mid sentence her eyes alerting on him and sliding down his features before they stopped. Automatically her tongue dipped out, drawing in the slightly dried blood that lingered on the edges of her lips. Reflexively his hand covered the bandaged wound of his neck, his body weary and prepared for another attack.

"Odango!" He snapped, and her attention returned to his face. "Where do you have to be to survive the day?" He repeated carefully. Her eyes darkened at him then a brighter expression overcame her features.

"Well I can't be in chains." She told him, holding her manacled wrists out to him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow at her incredulously.

"How stupid do you think I am Odango?" He demanded a little peeved by the response but trying to cover it with mocking. Her expression shifted into a pout and he felt himself go to frown. "Do you need to be in the earth?" He asked carefully, the little pout faded to a confused expression and he gave a sigh. "Buried, underground." He assumed even as he said it that it was obviously a no, else she would have known what he meant immediately.

Her expression shifted into disgust followed by a childish 'ewww' which he took as a definite no.

"Do you need to be in a crypt?" He tried again, sure she had tried to kill him earlier that night, but she seemed as stupid as usual which was something he wasn't in the mood to deal with.

"What?" She demanded looking horrified. "What kind of a weirdo are you?" She screeched causing him to wince.

"I don't know." He snapped and stood up glaring down at her disgusted expression. "What kind of a weirdo are you?" He growled before walking out of the room, letting the door slam behind him.

He paused out of the room and let out a sharp breath. Then carefully told himself it wasn't his concern if Odango died, after all he could guess what she was, although he would have been inclined the day before to say vampires didn't exist, so he knew that she was a killer. It nagged at him, trying to decide how long she had been a vampire, but he had seen her that day in the arcade, so maybe she was new to this. Maybe on her way home she had been attacked and turned. A feeling of guilt bit into him and he tried to tell himself it wasn't his duty to protect her. But then again, if it wasn't his duty he should have staked her or what ever it is that killed vampires in real life. After all, she had attacked him with the intent to kill and without his actions she would have succeeded.

He thumped his head against the wall in a bid to remove the thoughts coursing through his mind. He didn't need this, it was just another complication on top of all the others. He groaned, he needed sleep.

If she was dying being Odango he would probably hear about it, he would deal with it then.

* * * * *

"What would you say if I told you Usagi was a vampire?" Mamoru asked Motoki carefully, his finger ideally stirring his coffee. He had left her asleep on his bedroom floor, still chained, still alive and still splattered in his blood. Absently he realised she needed something else to wear but that was another problem for latter.

Behind the counter Motoki paused, his eyes fixed on Mamoru as he processed the question. The moment it filtered through he couldn't help but laugh, and the more he thought about it the harder he laughed.

Mamoru watched patiently, hiding his inner agitation, though he suspected if Motoki had asked him the same question the day before his response would have been similar.

Abruptly Motoki caught himself, wiped a stray tear from his eye and smiled teasingly at Mamoru. "I'd tell you to buy a string of garlic and carry it around with you, because your going to be on the top of her 'to kill' list." The smile cracked into a grin and Motoki's attempt at self restraint evaporated as his laughter remerged.

Mamoru decided not to bother paying Motoki any more attention as it would only be encouragement for several more bursts of laughter. There was no chance to make this a serious conversation, even though he wasn't sure if he wanted it to be. For some reason he wanted to keep Usagi's presence in his home a secret, at least until he decided what to do with her.

Blowing softly against his coffee Mamoru thought on Motoki's joking words and frowned a little. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" He took a long sip of the coffee, cringing at the flavour and absently ran his tongue over his lips, trying to recapture he flavour. That thought floored him and he physically jerked to try and remove it.

He felt tiered and weak and his hands shook a little with the effort of rising his mug to his lips. She had done that, come close to killing him, and he had to keep reminding himself of it. As if he didn't have enough to worry about.

"What's the topic of discussion today boys?" A perky voice asked from behind Mamoru. He turned on his seat and caught a glance of Usagi's group before his attention was back on his coffee.

"Vampirism." Motoki responded jokingly. And Mamoru physically felt the air change around him. There was something tense in the air suddenly and he turned to glance at the four uncertain expressions.

"Yeah." He added thoughtfully, realising it was not a topic that should have been flaunted about. After all, what if one of them knew about Usagi's condition. "We where just trying to decide which of the mythologise where better."

Motoki looked puzzled. "No we-"

"Motoki." Memory interrupted, looking pointedly at his friend, then brought forwards a polite grin. "Perhaps the lady's want to order." It was a barely acknowledged command for silence that Motoki played out, all the while looking slightly grumpy. It took Mina's cheerful flirting to distract Motoki, and if Mamoru was lucky his friend would have forgotten the conversation had ever existed.

"Vampirism?" Rei asked as she took the seat beside his.

"Something like that." He gave a little shrug of his shoulders, and pretended to pay attention to his coffee. An angle of attack occurred to him and he put the coffee down and faced her. "You're a Shinto Priestess right?" She nodded her eyes colder then usual. "So you'd know about vampires?" He prodded and she titled her head a little.

"A little. Why the sudden curiosity?" She accepted the drink Motoki put before her before turning her violet eyes to Mamoru again. He noticed her brows draw together sharply and her eyes flick about his body thoughtfully.

"I don't know, it just occurred to me a couple weeks ago, that if vampires really existed you'd have a hard time trying to decide which of the mythology's to believe." He gave a vague shrug of his shoulders and threw the rest of the coffee down his throat. Her eyes continued to move about him, but he ignored it suspecting he wasn't meant to notice.

"There all wrong." She muttered, her frown increasing, and he noticed her nose twitch slightly. "I'm sorry." She stated sharply looking at him curiously. "But are you okay?"

His left brow rose at the question, feeling his neck tense up with a little wave of pain but didn't react to it. "I'm fine Rei. Why do you ask?" Her eyes continued to move over him then she seemed to catch herself offering him a bright smile.

"Can't I be worried about my friend?" She demanded in a tart voice. Before he could respond she had grabbed her drink and moved across the arcade to her friends. Mamoru forced himself not to stare at the four girls and forced his hand not to rub the side of his neck. He had a strange feeling that Rei hadn't been asking out of kind interest.

* * * * *

Usagi groaned, tilting her head into her small palms as she tried to focus her pounding head. The room was dark, a few strands of daylight filtering through the thick curtains. Her wrists where cold, her body warm, and the most delightful scent played in the air around her. None of it mattered though, her head was killing her. Another groan and she ground her fist between her eyebrows trying to remove the headache physically.

Memory came all at once, swift and overwhelming. And she knew. She needed it. Needed it again. Needed him. Her veins pounded with the need her body ready to claim. She felt alive with emotions and power. His blood pushing through the depths of her system, feeding her strength as she had never felt. And all of it left her body shaking, her mind reeling with alacrity, ready to relapse into unconsciousness from the overload of it's sensors.

It was all him, driving her to new levels of awareness, driving her to insanity.

Below her was a thick layer of carpet and she felt her body sagged slightly into it, the cold of metal about her wrists and the sound of every chink in the chain as it rattled, following her movements. Beyond his room she could hear talking, through the walls she assumed, and above and below her as well. There where people talking, but she couldn't make out their words. A tap was dripping slowly, tediously and out of rhythm, their was a breeze moving through the apartment and what might have been a radio turned down in the distance.

The slight sticky texture in patch's of her skin made her hold her arm before her. Her eyes alighted on specks of blood and she tried to ignore the notion their presence brought to mind. But after only a few seconds of ignoring it she found herself licking the excess blood off every surface she could find. It was old blood, but her body made no protests to the small intake.

* * * * *

She could tell when her entered the apartment, the scent of his blood infused in the air and she knew he was still bleeding from her attack. The click of a latch as a door opened and closed and the soft thuds of shoes and bags being degraded. Her pulse jumped into overdrive, as she listened to his soft movements.

The strange buzz of the fridge as it opened, and the shuffle of feet on tiles instead of carpet. She licked her lips, her eyes closing as she focused his movements. He moved from the tiled room, his feet almost silent against the plush carpet but she could hear them, and they where getting closer. Her hands fisted and released as the door clicked open and her eyes flew to him.

He entered the room without looking at her, his hand searching out the light switch, and instinctively she clenched here eyes shut. Artificial light flooded the room, and she blinked her eyes opened and closed a few times to regain focus. When her eyes decided to let her see she found him standing across the room from her, out of arm's reach, and watching her carefully.

"How was your day?" Mamoru's smooth didn't intrude of the gentle silence of his apartment as she had expected it to, and absently she smiled at him.

Realising her mistake as his eyebrow rose she scolded herself, the smile leaving to be replaced by a tight frown. "Well I failed my big Home Economics' test, and I think I had an English test as well, but I probably would have failed that anyway." Her expression darkened considerably. "And I've been chained to your bedroom floor all day. How do you think my day was?" The bitting tone of her voice didn't do much to effect him but he did frown.

"Well I've been trying to function with about half my blood missing." He snapped, looking angry. Usagi scoffed.

"I didn't take more then a third. Besides you're a big boy, you have plenty to share." Her eyes moved over his form and she realised he was shaking. Determinedly she looked him over, her eyes taking every detail she could. He was paler then usual, black rings under his eyes, and his expression was fixed with a small frown, indicating a headache. Unexpectedly guilt came to her.

She had done that, hurt him, made him less then he usually was. Unexplainably it pained her to see him so weak. Mamoru was usually cool and in control, immaculate and unaffected. She pushed those thoughts away focusing instead on his eyes. They remained unchanged, the same perfect blue they always where.

But he did not maintain eye contact, instead she threw something across the room at her. Instinctively she caught the object feeling it squish in her fingers her eyes jumped from him to her hand. Her hand flexed about the plastic testing it and it squished between her fingers. She gasped and dropped it, horrified and entertained at the same time. She stared however, transfixed by the red package.

"What's this?" Usagi fingered the packet tentatively. It felt like a joke shop gift, the kind that squished disgustingly in your grip but you couldn't help touching.

She gave a little giggle at the feeling and poked the item again, highly amused and extremely curious, she couldn't imagine Mamoru buying her novelty toys considering the past twenty-four hours.

"It's blood." His voice was stony, and her eyes jumped away from the package to him at the words, then back to the package. Now he had said it, she could see the colour was right, but it wasn't all that uncommon a colour. But as she focused on the item she could see it was a blood sachet, from a hospital or blood bank. She had seen them in movies before, she was certain of it.

"You brought me pre-processed blood?" She asked in disgust. That he had brought her anything skipped her mind entirely at that moment.

"What's the matter? It's blood, who cares if it's fresh or packaged?" He growled in reply, a strange disgust in his voice. She wasn't used to hearing such differing tones in his voice, it was usually straight out mocking.

"I'm a finicky eater Mamoru-" He snorted at that but she ignored it "I can't eat that crap!" She threw it back at him annoyed that he caught it instead of being struck by it, then casually threw it back between them.

"Well it's all your getting." He replied stonily and left the room.

The emptiness pulled at her as she watched the door, hoping he would return thought not certain why. Catching herself she turned to stare at the package before her, contemplating the merits of surrendering to the hunger that gnawed at her. She had eaten the night before certainly, but she had also used a lot of strength to create her messenger. Mamoru's blood, still in her body was sustaining her, but she had hardly gotten enough to keep her going for long.

Staring at the packaged blood her stomach clamped in disgusted, she could think about eating it, she couldn't imagine, especially after Mamoru no blood would ever taste the same now. Resolutely she grabbed the small packet and threw it across the room, and turned her back to it.

* * * * *

Mamoru stood, staring into his empty refrigerator as he contemplated what to do next. The sun had set several hours ago, and still he had not worked up the courage to re-enter his bedroom. Cold air played across his face, as he stared, not really looking for anything but unable to think of where else to move to.

From his bedroom came the first sounds of movement since he had returned home. He ignored the noise's and forced himself to actually pay attention to what he was doing. Abruptly he slammed the fridge shut, realising the last thing he was, was hungry.

She called something out, and he ignored it, leaning against the kitchen bench, his fingers curling over the hard marble but ideas eluded him and he was left with nothing but thoughts of what to do with her.

It was his name screamed out that made him jerk away from the bench the speed of his pulse doubling instantly. There was something primal about her voice that set him on edge and he was in the hallway before his door before he could register where he was going. He hesitated, reluctant to enter the room, to face her.

He wasn't thinking straight about her. Something about the sudden shift from whiny school girl to blood sucking vampire left him off balance. He had stolen blood for her, not even sure what had prompted that, but the thought of her dying was as worrying as the thought of releasing her.

"Mamoru! Please!" Her voice was pained, and without a chance for thought pushed into his room, uncertain of what to expect but sure he had never heard Usagi use a tone of such desperation.

When he opened the door he was shocked by what he found. Usagi had stretched the chains binding her to the wall taut, her wrists bleeding as she strained against confinement. He was frozen, staring at the frantic burning in her eyes as she continued to pull against her bindings. A low growl was coming from the depths of her throat and she didn't acknowledge his presence. Her eyes where fixed burningly on the small sachet of blood that lay beyond her reach.

He was across the room without thinking, trying to push her back to calm the pressure on her abused wrists, ready to try and fix the damage. Dark blood slipped around her wrists as he pushed her another inch back, the tension on the chain lessening. Her body submitted to the pressure moving backwards.

He thought it was going well until he felt her tense beneath his grip and automatically her hands had captured his shoulders yanking him to her. Mamoru jumped back, pushing against her to release him as he realised his fatal error. She tried to keep her grip, but he could tell even as her fingers tightened their hold that she was weak.

"Just a little. Just a little." She chanted trying to fight him down, pleading lacing her voice, but he was not that foolish.

"Usagi, let me go." He growled and with a fierce show of strength pushed her off him, then scurried across the room, out of her arm's reach. Before he could blink she had flung herself after him, the chains snapping at the sudden jerk and he wondered if they would stand much abuse. A small scream escaped her mouth as she strained against the manacles and he remembered why he had been so stupid.

Approaching her however had just been ruled out as an option, and he had was still dazed by his own stupidity. His hand fell to the floor as he tried to remember how to breath, his fingers coming across plastic. He glanced and found the blood he had given her. Blood the Odango in one of her tantrums had probably thrown out of her own reach. He groaned and threw it at her. His body hurt from that little spat, he could feel scratches she had caused, and the strength he had pushed away from her with had strained some of his muscles.

Usagi expression was triumphant, her greedy fingers closing over the sachet of blood, her teeth sinking into the plastic packaging and her mouth closing over it, sucking the blood out with relish. But he could feel her eyes on him as he shifted to sit properly, his eyes focused on the blood as she gulped it down. He could feel the power over gaze burning into him, her intent obvious and again his hand went to cover his bandaged neck.

She devoured the entire package with a speed to rival her milkshake drinking and continued to suck on the pack until every morsal was gone. Her expression scrunched up in disgust.

Mamoru groaned again his head lulling back on his shoulders, his head thunking against the cupboard door behind him as he stared up at the blank room.

Usagi made a sound similar to a cat dying and Mamoru looked up at her. Her expression was white, a small trail of blood seeping out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes a little frantic.

"What's wrong?" Mamoru asked suddenly, feeling the vibrations of illness in the air.

"I'm going to be sick." She said it in such a way that he believed her and immediately he was searching his pockets for the keys to her manacles. He pulled them out and moved across the room to her, she looked too distracted to attack.

Her lips were pressed in a thin line, her skin a pasty white and the trail of blood moving down her chin seemed to be getting thicker.

He unlocked the first wrist and she snapped that hand to cover her mouth. As quickly as he could, fumbling with the keys he unlocked the next wrist.

Without a word she pushed past him and ran across the corridor to his bathroom.

It took the sound of her vomiting to rousing him from his sudden state of confusion, she had looked fine a few seconds ago. Recovering himself he jumped to his feet and followed her to the bathroom.

For the second time that day he was met with a sight he was unprepared for. Blood speckled across his usually perfect white tiles. And Usagi was curled around the toilet bowl, her hair and clothes covered in dollops of blood, the toilet's water a thick red colour.

"Usagi?" He asked carefully, unsure if she was dying or if she was going to jump up and drain him. Though the last thing he thought of after throwing up was eating you could never tell with this girl.

She looked up at him from the floor her eyes huge and glazed over with tears. If she hadn't been covered in blood she would have looked fragile at that moment, and even despite the blood he found himself able to see it.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, and the tears broke from her hold, sliding down her checks, mixing with the blood and falling to the floor. Mamoru wet his lips, staring at her intently, his uncertainly made him stay away from her, until he trembling mouth caved and she began to sob. "I shouldn't have." She continued, her eyes falling from him.

Mamoru lost his battle to keep away from her and came to the floor beside her, brushing hair away from her face, and wiping blood and tears off with the edge of his sleeve.

"It's okay." He told her softly, stroking her hair back. "I'll clean it up, and we'll think of something else. Not packaged blood, I get that. I wont do that to you again." She collapsed against his chest her sobs slowly dying away. He stiffened at the contact even though his hands went about her, to support her. When her head raised up past his neck his eyes clenched tightly. Instead of the bit he expected her lips brushed up to his ear.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She whispered, her voice weak and making his chest constrict with uncertainly. He wanted to reply but couldn't think of a reply to make. "I could kill you right now." She whispered again, her voice stronger a little warmer, and the breath against his neck made him shiver.

"I know." Was all he could breath in response, his arms still around her, still holding her.

Her head moved, her check brushing against his and she faced him, her eyes wide and awake and still so innocent that it hurt him to see their expression. "I wont." She swore and he believed her. At least he believed that she would try not to.

"I won't chain you. If you stay here." Mamoru replied his voice shaking, her breath played across his face, making him aware of their proximity. Despite the smell of blood in the air, or that this goddess had tried to kill him the night before he found himself disturbingly attracted to her. Unable to resist he pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and jumped to his feet, missing her expression of surprise. "Let's clean you up." He hastily began, as he reached out to help her too her feet, glad when she did not resist.