Chapter 34
It wasn't until Azusa had nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck that Yui realized how tired she truly was. Though the pains she had experienced during her human life seemed to be erased over the course of her transformation, even after the traumatic experience of giving birth in such a way, she still found herself drowning in the dull feeling of exhaustion that stung the innermost part of her eyelids. She didn't hurt but rather sulked in a vibrant aching. Part of her expected to not feel anything at all if she ever were to join the brothers in their lives as a vampire but quickly remembered Azusa's obsession with pain; he would probably go insane if he weren't able to experience it. She came to the conclusion that perhaps, it just took much more to achieve what he would describe as the most precious feeling life had to offer. "You're quiet," Yui whispered. So much time had passed without any words exchanged that the baby had already drifted into a peaceful sleep, his wide blues shielded by delicate eyelids and lips parted ever so slightly to show off his newly sprouted fangs as he exhaled. The only sound exchanged between the three was the soft sounds of their son breathing. Azusa didn't reply and instead remained silent as he hid his face against her neck even deeper, inhaling her new yet equally sweet scent and attempting to disappear in her atmosphere.
The newborn cooed softly as he slept soundly in his mother's arms, not even flinching once at any of her involuntary movements as she drifted in and out of consciousness herself. Despite his entrance into the world, the baby seemed to be as soft and sweet as a child could ever be in Azusa's eyes. It wasn't until Yui had fallen asleep that he finally allowed himself to look at the boy, a part of him wanting to touch it but not daring to. The baby was a clean canvas that only started to be painted hours before, a scene that Azusa had never seen with his own eyes before. But he knew that probably no one had ever seen such a thing with their eyes either. A child that was born neither vampire nor human, but rather a mixture of the two. Only Adam and Eve could create such a being.
"Where is he?"
Azusa awoke to the sudden panic of his beloved as she leapt from her sleeping position and turned to him, shaking him awake violently and crying out, "Where is the baby?" His sleepy eyes scanned across Yui's fear stricken face and drifted towards the door to the kitchen, a door he remembered to have been previously closed before he had fallen asleep. "How could I have fallen asleep so easily?" Yui sobbed. Her mind was racing and immediately had jumped to the worst of thoughts. Perhaps everything had just been an act and Ruki decided to take action to make the pair suffer the worst consequences, or maybe even Ayato had come to put an end to the precious child's life himself after the first failed attempt! "Relax," a voice called over from the next room. Yui froze and didn't move until Azusa grasped onto her hand, preparing to meet the voice head on hand-in-hand.
The picture painted in front of the couple was a view they didn't expect to see in all their years. At first, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. Yui was relieved to see that all of the Mukami brothers were in the kitchen, gathered around the dining table, with Ruki's back to them. A bundle was balled up in his arms and as he turned, the new mother was met by a horrific scene. Those large blue eyes fixated on her and seemed to be smiling, something that would normally warm her heart, but not even the sweetness of her own child could distract from the gore and blood smeared across his mouth. Gentle suckling sounds rang through the air as Ruki swaddled the child in one arm and held the stump in the other, which the baby was sucking on and closed his eyes in a blissful concentration. "What are you doing?" Yui cried as she immediately plunged forward, only to be caught by both Kou and Yuma who held her back by each arm. She was alarmed for them to touch her in such a way and realized that suddenly, she felt strong enough to fight against them. She only gave up when she felt Azusa's secure arms slip around her waist and cocoon her in a soft grip. Yui could feel the warmth of tears rushing to her eyes and she attempted to hold them back as she watched her baby boy suckle at the unrecognizable piece of flesh being held by her previous captor. "What were we supposed to do? Let the kid starve to death?" Kou clucked as soon as Yui had stopped struggling against his grip. Both of the older brothers let go of her arms, which now hung limply at her sides, leaving only Azusa who was still holding her and buried his face into her back. "He's just a c-child," Yui hiccuped, "how could you d-do such a thing?" Her head hung in shame as she continued to listen to rhythmic suckling sounds and realized that beside her disgust, the smell of the flesh was intoxicating. Through her struggle, Ruki didn't even look up; his eyes were glued to the precious being that was drinking in his grip.
It didn't take much arguing for both Yuma and Kou, eventually followed by Yui, to convince Azusa to go to sleep. He refused to budge from his position of being nuzzled up to the girl until she finally said told him to rest, which he finally obliged. The man was walking around like a living zombie; his eyes were bloodshot and haunting, even as he finally left the room and wandered down the halls to his bedroom. After his exit, the kitchen slowly began to filter out until only three remained. Yui, Ruki, and the baby. The air was thick with a deadly awkwardness that Yui refused to acknowledge and instead allowed herself to become sick to her stomach at the sight of her innocent baby gnawing on a piece of a corpse. "I know you'd like some, too. You don't have to be ashamed." Ruki was usually the one to break the silence but this time, it shocked Yui to the point of being speechless. It wasn't until he slowly turned and met her with his blue eyes that her jaw dropped and tears began to fill her eyes. The sight of him holding the baby boy was morbid - morbid and absolutely breathtaking. She could never picture Ruki being so gentle but somehow, that's how he was with the baby. It reminded her of one of the first nights that he had bathed her; his touch was so soft and each touch was carefully planned, just as it was now with her son. "Come," Ruki said. And without another thought, Yui did so.
"It tastes good, doesn't it?" The man softly teased as he watched the once mortal girl sink her newfound fangs into the flesh of who he knew to be one of her previous classmates, a whore he knew would come with him outside of school without a second thought and had met a grizzly end. The same sounds that had poured from the infant's mouth were now coming from her, an innocent slurping now and then. "Fresh blood is much better," he continued, his voice now a whisper, "when the blood is still pumping, nothing could compare. You'll find that to be true sooner or later." His words flowed throughout Yui as the warmth of the sweet blood trickled down to fill up her once empty belly. It was nothing like she had ever had before as a human; when she drank then, it was for fuel rather than pleasure but now this sensation, nothing could possibly compare. She forgot about everything except for the gentle whispers flowing through her as she absorbed the blood into her own stream. She didn't raise her head until the whispers turned into something frightening. "You know he's mine. You do, don't you?" Ruki said smugly, "It couldn't be anymore obvious. Azusa knows. I know he does."
Yui dropped the stump to the ground, the splat erupting into a puddle of now cool blood that splattered across their feet. Her fingers trembled as they reached her lips, which were smeared with crimson, and her wide red eyes pinned onto Ruki's blues. He was smiling, as if he was mocking her, and then her eyes slowly drifted down to the baby. The child hadn't even been named yet and they were already speculating where it came from. "No," Yui whispered past her pointed fangs. Her entire being began to tremble and again, their eyes locked. "Yes," Ruki whispered. He rose to his feet and held the baby to his chest, which was now drifting into another nap, and used his free hand to caress the girl to him as well. She froze in fear and couldn't even scream.