Yugi awoke in the morning and felt something curved into him, he rolled over slowly only to be met with a full face view of Yami. He gasped surprised but relaxed, smiling, the last time he had woke up Yami hadn't been there, so now was his chance. He leaned in a lightly kissed him on the lips wrapping his arms around Yami, and inadvertently ran his hand along Yami's smooth well muscled back. As Yugi drew back Yami's eye's fluttered open; Yugi looked into those beautiful ruby eyes as they focused in on him and kissed him again this time a bit harder,
"Good morning Yugi," Yami said tiredly sitting up slowly before wobbling and falling back next to Yugi.
"Oooh" Yami groaned out.
"What's wrong Yami?" Yugi asked he'd never seen Yami act like this,
"I'm fine Yugi I just had a bad batch of blood last night," Yami replied curling into Yugi again and pressing himself closer with his stomach. Yami smiled as he felt the little one relax a bit against him with a sigh, and he gently kissed the small lump on the back of Yugi's neck where his spine was connected to his skull sending shivers up and down his back.
"Yami you're sick, stop being a tease," Yugi said elbowing his lover gently.
"Oh but Yugi I need to," Yami whined leaning over Yugi and placing light quick kisses along the smaller's jaw line.
"Yami stoooop," Yugi said rolling over and, giggling, pushed him off.
"Are You always like this in the mornings?" he asked pinning Yami.
"I haven't done this for decades; Jou's about to hit his eighty-seventh deathday, that means close to sixty years without this," Yami said sitting up slightly and pecking Yugi on the nose.
"That long huh?" Yugi said, it had never occurred to him before that Jou was that old, and he still only looked like eighteen. A very familiar yet disgusting smell started to creep up to meet him and he sniffed, getting closer and closer to Yami's face.
"Yuck, Yami you reek!" he exclaimed pulling away from the older vampire. Yami looked at him confused before he sniffed too and realized what Yugi was smelling, alcohol. He hadn't drank the stuff, but it had been in the blood he'd barfed, and he hadn't taken a shower or a bath since then.
"Sorry Yugi, I'll go take a shower," Yami said quickly trying to get up only to fall back down.
"Yami you don't have to right now, I'll go get you some good blood," Yugi said stroking Yami's hair.
"Thank you Yugi," Yami said laying back and rolling over onto his stomach. Yugi quickly made his way towards the kitchen finding Jou there, when he realized, he had no idea what to get for Yami.
"Jou could you help me?" he asked pointing towards the large freezer door.
"Sure Yugi what do ya need?" Jou said smiling and putting down the glass in his hands.
"I need some good blood for Yami he's acting all sick and can't get out of bed," Yugi said following Jou as he walked towards the cold room they kept all their blood in.
"Bad batch, eh?" Jou replied,
"Did he tell you which bank he got it from?" he asked,
"Bank?" Yugi asked back wondering how you would get blood from a bank.
"Yeah you know 'bankA' 'bankAB-' 'bankO'," he said,
"No, he didn't say anything like that," Yugi replied realizing that he meant a blood bank.
"Oh he had a fresh batch then, probably had something wrong with it," Jou said.
"Here you're going to want this," Jou said handing him an almost parka-like jacket.
Yugi slipped it on and followed Jou into the freezer, his mouth dropped open the freezer looked like a wine cellar only it was freezing cold and there wasn't a single hint of blood in the air even though they were surrounded by bottles of the stuff. Jou gave Yugi a small walkthrough of the different types of blood before he walked up to one of the racks and picked off a bottle of O and handed it to Yugi who had to pull his hands back into his jacket sleeves to handle it.
"Jou how do you stand this? it's freezing," Yugi said trying not to drop the bottle of frozen blood in his hands.
"After the many years I've lived with Yami and Seto I've gotten used to it," Jou said shutting the door behind them and taking the bottle from Yugi.
"Jou how old are you?" he asked as Jou put the bottle in the microwave to warm it up.
"You would offend most women with that question, Yugi," Jou said looking at him out of the corner of his eye and grinning.
"Oh sorry," Yugi said looking down and shuffling his feet.
"I don't mind, now, lets see I was sixteen when I was changed so I've been a vampire for seventy-three years and on January 25 I'll be, eeerm, eighty-nine." Jou said; Yugi could almost watch the gears clicking in the older vampire's head as he did the math for his age.
"Wow." Yugi whispered, "I didn't think you were that old, Yami said you were eighty-seven."
"Tell Yami I said thanks for taking a couple years off my age," Jou said taking the bottle out and handing it to Yugi along with a glass.
"Let him drink this entire thing and if you want some you can try to get him to share," Jou told him pushing him off towards the door.
"Thank you Jou," Yugi replied as he rounded the corner. He got back to Yami's bedroom and opened the door only to be hit with the very strong scent of blood,
"Yami!" Yugi called worried.
"In here Yugi!" Yami shouted from the bathroom. Yugi ran in only to find Yami alone sitting at the edge of his bathtub, then he blushed a deep shade of red, Yami was almost totally naked and wet, with only the corner of a towel covering his lower area.
"Y-Yami what are you doing!" Yugi shouted startled it wasn't until he noticed the blood flowing from a three inch long cut on his arm, that he actually moved closer; Yami was panting like he had just sprinted a mile.
"I'm bleeding Yugi, what do you think?" Yami growled out moving very slowly as he turned his head to look at Yugi. Yugi was staring at him like he had lost it, he had never actually thought a vampire would make itself bleed for no reason other than to let the blood flow away, and he voiced it.
"Yami have you lost it!" Yugi cried.
"No, not at all, like it or not, this is how a vampire gets serious diseases among other things out of their blood system without blood lust." Yami said coolly, staring Yugi dead in the eyes as he let his arm lay limp with his hand in the tub water.
"R-r-really?" Yugi croaked out, yes, he was used to drinking blood, but he shuddered at the though of having to bleed himself out if anything happened.
"Yes now hand me whatever type of blood you got,"
"Jou helped he said you liked this kind" Yugi said quickly sitting down next to Yami and pouring out some of the warm blood into the glass Jou had given him. Yami very sluggishly grabbed it from Yugi and began downing the stuff easily emptying the first glass and giving it back. as Yugi refilled the glass Yami started to move a bit faster and wiped off his arm with the towel moving it off his lap and making Yugi blush even harder as he blindly tried to hand Yami the glass while looking away. Yami saw the blush and smirked as he licked the long wound shut and took the glass from Yugi, downing another glass in a matter of minutes.
"J-Jou told me to tell you thank you for taking a couple years off his age" Yugi said still blushing like crazy.
"Why's that?" Yami asked tapping Yugi on the shoulder to get him to look up long enough to refill the glass for him.
"Because you said he was eighty-seven and he's eighty-nine" Yugi said,
"Oh well eighty-seven sounds better than five-thousand four," Yami replied shrugging and taking another glass from Yugi and downing it. Now that Yugi was over the initial shock of Yami naked he began to watch Yami, the man did have an unusual grace about how he drank, before he handed back the glass and Yugi realized he was out of blood, Yami had drunk the entire bottle.
"You drank it all Yami," Yugi said showing him the empty bottle. Yami only responded by pulling Yugi in close,
"How much do you think you have?" Yami whispered Yugi could feel Yami's hot breath against the artery pulsing just below the skin Yugi gulped hard making the artery press against Yami's half open mouth he could feel the fangs protruding over his bottom lip. He began to back away he knew that he only had enough in his system to keep him feeling okay Yami couldn't drink from him right now.
"Ah, Yami, you can't do that," Yugi told him nervously scooting even further away but Yami pulled him back opening his mouth.
Yugi felt the tips of Yami's fangs puncture his skin, and he went on the defensive he could tell when Yami wasn't listening or was too fogged to get it through to his brain and this was one of those things. Yugi quickly pushed Yami back making his fangs slip back out and graze the skin slightly, Yami fell backwards into the tub when Yugi heard him sputtering he turned around only to be quickly dragged face first into the water. He immediately began kicking and grabbed for the edge of the tub, as his fingers slipped on the slick tile, he panicked. He felt a pair of arms encircle his waist and pull him up onto his knees, pushing his head out of the water and holding onto him. Yugi flopped down on the edge of the tub, still kneeling in the water panting and letting the little bit of water he'd inhaled dribble out of his mouth.
"Yugi, Yugi, say something!" Yami cried patting him on the back. Yugi felt his older lover pressing up against him, pressing lightly on his back as he started to remove his little koibito's shirt. Yugi let him do whatever he wanted with him the water itself had already stained the white shirt red. Yami himself was back to his senses and was helping Yugi out of the tub, wrapping the bloodstained towel around his waist, Yugi collapsed stumbling out of the tub.
"Yamiii," Yugi croaked out upon hitting the floor. Yami gave him a sad smile and gently picked him up off the floor nuzzling him as a sign of 'I'm sorry' he walked back into the main bedroom and sat Yugi down on the bed. He left the pitiful looking vampire only long enough to get him a change of clothes and returned, Yugi was emitting a saddening whimper, Yami was doing his best to comfort the little one.
"Sh, Yugi, it's okay you're not hurt," Yami cooed settling in next to Yugi a few minutes later dressed in pajamas. Yami continued to nuzzle Yugi, placing soft kisses along his neck and the side of his face, like a cat he didn't know what was wrong with Yugi.
"Come on Yugi please say something," Yami whispered holding the little vampire to his chest and rocking slightly.
"I-I'm s-s-scared," Yugi stuttered out quietly,
"why?" Yami asked softly. Yugi didn't answer, he just groaned and went limp in Yami's arms he was still breathing, but it was still kind of a shock for Yami, ever since he had met Yugi he was shocked more often.
To Yugi the world had begun to spin again reminding him that it was time for him to drink again, as if reading his mind he felt Yami push him up to lean on his shoulder and the smell of fresh blood stinging his nose again, he didn't want to drink and he began to push Yami's open wrist away from his mouth.
"Yugi you've got to drink," Yami said Yugi still pushed it away though. Yami finally took away the offered wrist and and closed the open wound.
"Yugi please tell me, what's wrong?" Yami pleaded, Yugi was scaring him; he didn't want the little one to go into the shocks that follow a vampire's body when he goes for too long without blood, he'd be screaming for Yami if those hit.
"Y-y-y-you h-hurt me," Yugi croaked out sniffing.
"I'm sorry Yugi I didn't mean to-" Yugi cut him off,
"You didn't stop," he croaked again. Yami understood slightly now Yugi was afraid of him because Yami found any of the blood that came out of him intoxicatingly good and he had threatened to drink from him even though he was low on blood. Yami ran his hand along the curve of Yugi's spine as he pulled the younger ones face closer,
"I'm sorry Yugi, please forgive me, we have eternity together please don't be scared of me, you can slap me as hard as you want if I ever try that again." Yami said pulling Yugi in for a kiss taking in his lower lip and suckling on it as Yugi kissed back gently. When Yami broke the kiss Yugi's head went back down to rest against Yami's chest Yugi weakly hugged him before letting out a small sob, Yami just patted him on the back and let him begin to cry into his chest. It broke his heart to see Yugi like this he was constantly forgetting that he was still very young, in both human and vampire years, and very vulnerable. He looked over Yugi to see that the book he had been reading still lying on the side table and reached over for it with Yugi still clinging to his chest Yami brought the book over so Yugi could see it.
"Yugi do you like this book?" Yami asked flipping it open he felt Yugi nod.
"I-I c-c-c-can't read it-t t-too good," Yugi stuttered out his voice cracking awfully he could barely see the book enough to see the pictures on the pages because he was so dizzy. Yugi finally gave in, he needed blood, he weakly tilted his head up high enough to get to Yami's neck and just let his mouth drop down onto his neck quickly driving his fangs in making Yami gasp loudly he could feel Yugi's fangs the little one had just barely hit the vain he had wanted. Yami sat as still as possible with his head tilted to the side; Yugi was hurting his neck but he was willing to sit there and let him draw off of him as long as he could.
"Yugi let go," Yami whispered after a little bit of Yugi suckling on his collar bone and drawing a bit of blood Yugi listened and slowly slid his fangs out of Yami's neck the older hissing slightly and he held Yugi out slightly.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked. Yugi nodded slightly,
"A little," he replied pressing into Yami and smiling slightly he still felt weak but at least the world wasn't spinning. He felt Yami stand up and bend over to pick him up, shaking a little. Yami began to carry him silently towards the kitchen. When they arrived both Seto and Jou were there sharing their good morning kiss with when Yami stumbled in.
"Seto, I need some help," he croaked out sitting down very heavily in a chair.
"Yami? what the hell happened to you?" Seto said wandering what happened to his former lover; Jou whispered something in the taller's ear and understanding dawned on his face.
"Yami you should know better than to let someone else feed off you when you yourself are low on blood," Seto said tisking him.
"Seto would you just please get us some blood?" Yami said feeling Yugi trying to turn his face into his chest and shut his eyes.
"Sure Yami," he responded he knew Yami could stand to go without blood for a little longer, but Yugi looked like he couldn't go much longer. It took Seto and Jou a matter of minutes to get the blood ready for the two; Yami immediately began to gulp down the sweet drink, Seto had added a little bit of vodka to Yami's to clear the short vampire's head. Jou thankfully gave Yugi a weaker drink but that wasn't to say it didn't have a tiny bit of weak alcohol they almost always kept a little bit of blood with alcohol already frozen into it. Jou had to wake Yugi up enough to get him to drink and also had to help him get started on it; they soon both got enough blood into Yami and Yugi to where they were almost as good as new.
"Thank you Seto," Yugi said leaning into Yami,
"No problem Yugi," he said ruffling his hair a little mussing up the bed hair that he had a little more.
"Yami I was watching the news this morning and they're saying there have be sightings of a mysterious shape on the roof tops of some of the buildings downtown and people have been dropping like flies due to hypovolemic shock" Seto said.
"Hypo-what?" Yugi interrupted curiously,
"It means the they are falling unconscious because if a low blood volume in the body," Yami said,
"So I guess you think we have a new visitor in town?" he added to Seto
"Yes, and I'm going to go take a look before it actually kills someone" Seto said standing from the table and grabbing his little bag of weapons from next to his chair.
"Is there going to be a new family member?" Yugi asked sweetly,
"Probably not Seto normally just takes them and sets them on a different path out of the city," Yami replied hugging the little one to his side slightly. suddenly there was a loud bang that resounded around the household all three of the vampires left in the kitchen stood and began to hurry towards where the sound had come from, the trophy room, they burst through the doors with Yugi in the back.
"I can't see what is it" he said standing on his tiptoes and pressing down on Yami's shoulder he finally got past and what he saw shocked him into silence some sort of new creature had completely shattered one of the tall glass windows and was now lying in a struggling growling heap at the bottom of it.
koibito means lover