Chapter 13
She had locked herself in her room for a whole day, except for silently go to the bathroom - at last her period had done it's vile and merciless appearance as if she hadn't had enough sufferings, aggressively sketching and writing frenetic words on her diary, or running around into circles and looking out from the window as she rubbed stole her fingers; frustration, helplessness, rejection, panic: these were her feelings, her torments.
Her sleep, though it had lasted long, had been disturbed several times by her new nightmares that had temporarily suppressed the old ones, who were still threatening to return; and, because she had kept on rubbing her eyes to get rid of the tears, they had become swollen and red like too ripe tomatoes.
At last, Mary was sitting at her desk with her face sunk in a pillow, thinking about how pathetic she had been during that time, with her hair scattered across the wooden surface.
Instead of reacting vigorously, she had bowed her head to surrender.
She was feeling so ashamed...
Aneki, everyone is allowed to make mistakes.
What's important is that you are aware of it and you reflect on it.
And you're doing this for sure.
Merp... Anikiii... my fingers... they're transparent... and it was just the tips yesterday...!
Have patience and be strong.
Everything will turn out fine.
You have me, Theo, and the others.
You have Yui-san. You have the vampires.
The vampires don't really care, eh ...
It takes time...
Someone knocked on the door.
Mary quickly got up, grabbing the gloves she had prepared to wear in front of other people; as a reason based on the truth, she would have said that her skin would tend to get easily chapped because of the cold weather.
When she opened the door she had to raise her head to face the person in front of her, stiff and with his arms folded; in just three days she had got used too much to lower her eyes...
- Oh, Ruki-san, what a pleasure.
The vampire's right eyebrow twitched for a millisecond and his stern expression took on a threatening nuance.
- You feel like being sarcastic, Kachiku. I don't approve this behaviour - he said coldly.
- You could at least show a bit of joy since you're back to normal? – Mary exclaimed, rubbing her shoulder nervously – You know, it's not nice showing up with that sullen expression after a bad day...
She stopped, stiffening at his icy fingers touching the skin near her eyes, reddened and sore; he observed her carefully, frowning, then looked into her eyes, smirking.
- I demand an explanation for your recent behaviour, Kachiku. Otherwise I could punish you... I think you do want to go to school tonight, to see someone...
The girl widened her eyes.
Ruki wasn't really the kind of person to use whips like Reiji; he would hit a nerve, the most painful one, and not in the physical sense: he would attack someone's feelings, someone's attachment to people, objects, or anything else. Surely it was a much more "efficient" treatment than Reiji's, but it was also more unpleasant.
Bastard.
Mary smacked the vampire's hand from her face, giving him a hostile look; irked by that gesture, the young man grabbed her wrist.
- Oi, what the hell are you...
His eyes fell on her hand covered by a glove, getting curious about it; the girl had in the meantime blushed violently, bothered, and she tried to get away from that iron grip, in vain: after a rapid movement inside the room, he pushed her against the wall, blocking her with his forearm on her neck and pressing her legs with his; Mary, whining in pain because of the impact on the wall, tried in vain to push him away with her free hand, while Ruki was placing her other hand near his face to remove the glove using his teeth.
The young man widened his eyes.
If he was to describe in a book what he was seeing, he would have probably used the image of a rose-coloured glass statue: the girl's hand had become transparent; he could perceived the shape of her fingers, her nails, but the colour had faded both on the surface and internally, since he was able to see through it the white of the wall behind.
- What... - Ruki started, without words; certainly, he would have never expected such a thing. He fell silent as her sobs reached his ears and turned to look at her face: her messy hair was framing her face, crimson because of who knows which emotion, a mixture of embarrassment, frustration and despair; her tears slid along her cheeks, dropping on his suit jacket's sleeve.
He sensed a thorny feeling within his chest, but he ignored the it, loosening his grip by shifting the arm to grab her hand pressed against his chest to push him away from her.
- Explain – he ordered her in a voice which didn't allow rebellion, bringing her wrists next to her head, and resting his forehead against her to intimidate her (or perhaps to avoid a headbutt? He couldn't tell the reason, but he had guessed something similar...).
Mary bit her lips, making them whiten; she kept her eyes on the floor, trying to find her boots and his shoes interesting; Ruki, on the other hand, tightened the grip on her wrists and shifted his head so that the girl's neck was two centimetres from his lips, ready to bite on it aggressively.
- Iza... nami... - she whispered with a faint voice; the vampire came back with his forehead against the girl's one - It's a change... occuring... to those becoming Izanami...
Ruki smiled, satisfied: this proved that the girl was without doubt Izanami; but why did it seem to frighten her? He had noticed from the beginning that she was averse to it.
He heard steps approaching and loosened his hold, not after whispering in her ear:
- We're not over yet.
Mary breathed deeply, slipping to the ground, touching her chest to make sure her heart hadn't slipped away; meanwhile, Azusa came in, glad to be back to his original size and enthusiastic to meet her, then worrying and crouching next to her and ask if she was ok.
When Mary finally entered the classroom, the first person she noticed was Reiji, sitting at his desk, lost in thought, elbows leaning on the wooden surface and hands clasped in front of his face; she bent an eyebrow at that sight and approached him, kindly encouraged by a push from Ruki, whom she was blocking from reaching his own desk.
- Reiji-san?
The bespectacled vampire didn't reply, absorbed in God knew which thoughts; the other one had focused his gaze on him, after sitting, curious by his strange behaviour.
- Reiji-san - Mary called him again, raising her voice a little.
- Oh - the young man looked up at her, at first surprised then serious – It's you... - a few minutes passed while silently staring at each other, waiting for one of them to speak - Maybe... No. It's nothing. The teacher is here, go back to your seat.
He got up, imitating his other classmates, and Mary did as well, confused about how suspicious his attitude was; Ruki also felt that there was something different from usual, but it didn't matter much to him: he didn't care at all.
The hours passed, during which the vampire behind the girl had repeatedly caught himself staring at her back or hair for no reason, analysing them in the slightest details: the shades, the light spots, the uniform's folds, the shapes wrapped by her clothes; he noted that he should have been careful in case Kou had been in the vicinity, since he would have probably poked in.
At the sound of the bell for the break, Mary headed at the speed of light towards the yard where she would meet with Yui and eat something with her; Ruki's irritated and Reiji's severe voices faded in the air like smoke.
- Yui-chan! - she called her as soon as she saw a blond hair-head behind a bush; the girl stood up calmly and turned to her, smiling a bit. The brown-haired one, as she saw her appearance, slowed down her pace and halted to stare at her better, and at last she started to approach her until putting her hands on her shoulders.
- You're a vampire! - she exclaimed in a low voice; she could see a few signs of fatigue, especially in the raspberry-coloured eyes: probably the final process had been quite exhausting. Yui widened her smile and put her hands on her arms, affectionately.
- I'm glad to see you again, Mary-senpai! - she said, then looked at her with a perplexed expression - I see you're a bit... "devastated", as you would say - she added giggling.
- Let's say... these last three days have been pretty... intense - she murmured vaguely, wobbling back and sitting on the bench, sighing; she didn't go into detail: before leaving the limousine, the three vampires (Azusa obviously had been too busy sticking to her arm, needing attention) had kindly requested her not to speak about the small accident.
The neo-vampire sat down, exhaling a stressful sigh.
- I suppose it was a heavy experience, the last stage... - Mary said; Yui nodded with a slight nod of her head, then she shake it.
- Physically yes, especially for the thirst; mentally, not so much... living with six vampires for several months must have helped me – she briefly laughed - The problem is another...
She then fell silent, pointing her eyes everywhere, clearly undecided whether to continue or not; the girl was observing her in the meantime, pondering about Reiji's behaviour and making logical links between what she was seeing and what she knew; she came to the conclusion that it was likely about Laito, who she had almost forgotten after discovering that Yui had finally become a vampire.
- How is Laito? - she asked blankly; she saw the blond stiffen, tense: Mary sighed - He forgot me, didn't he? Don't worry, I knew this was one of the possible side effects...
- He didn't forget you - she said, interrupting her; the other looked up but didn't cheer too soon, seeing the new-born vampire's uneasiness – He recalls meeting you... but... - she hesitated a moment - After solving the problem with the triplets' mother, I told you that everyone seemed to have changed a bit for the best. This was also true for Laito. However... it seems he's almost back to who he was before...?
Mary didn't have time to record and analyse every word; she was distracted by a familiar voice calling for Yui; she heard just those words, that playful tone, nothing else, as her heart went up in her throat.
- Oi~ Bitch-chan, I was looking for... Oooh! - two emerald green eyes stared at the half-witch figure and he smiled at her, fixing with a gesture of his hand the hat on his reddish-brown hair - What a pleasure to see you again, Bitch-chan!
"Micchan ~!"
The memory resounded in her mind at the same time as Laito's nickname for the both of them; then Mary comprehended what Yui had been trying to tell her, and for a moment she was amazed at Reiji's unusual attitude, as if it had touched even him, well knowing that the brothers weren't used to worrying about each other.
She didn't react at that awareness, not yet; she merely smiled at him.
- Welcome back, Laito-kun - she greeted him, gazing at his figure with melancholy.
- Nfu~ Ne, Bitch-chan, you look sooo exhausted! Don't you feel like spending some time with me? This way you'll relax - he suggested, winking at her a mischievously and emphasizing the key words; Mary raised an eyebrow, faking a sigh of exasperation.
- No, Laito-kun, there's no need. Thank you for the generous thought – she ironically replied, cracking an amused smile.
- Eeeeeh, boooring~ - the vampire replied with his pursed lips, feigning a disappointed voice – That's really a pity. And I can't have fun with the other Bitch-chan, otherwise Ayato will skin me alive... Bye~.
Yui looked at her friend silently watching the vampire leaving; they didn't talk anymore, and they were unaware that a pair of lavender eyes had had seen everything.
Mary was slowly drawing, trying to impress Laito's image on the paper, as she had saw him last time before his coma.
"You have brighter eyes".
It didn't matter how many times she cancelled and sketched, no matter how meticulously she traced the various details: she couldn't get them, she couldn't retrieve them back. The cold and distant eyes of that morning had replaced them.
The girl brushed her hair abruptly, tearing off some, and kept on stressing the pencil on the sheet, rubbing the rubber on it, more and more frantically, until a hole appeared on the paper; Mary suddenly stoop up and crumpled the sheet in a gesture of exasperation, throwing it against the wall.
The crumpled paper rolled close to the slowly opening door, and Azusa peered from it, questioningly observing the girl leaning on her desk with her bent elbows and her face in her hands, massaging it in the attempt to appease a nervous crisis.
The vampire came in silence, closing the door, and approached her, hugging her shoulders as he heard her suppress her sobs; she jolted at first, but quickly adjusted, moving her hands to grab those limbs which were comforting her.
Azusa rested his head against hers, without speaking a word, and held her hand in his; a few minutes later, perhaps instigated by her scent, her proximity or the particular circumstance, he had got wrist close to his mouth and bit on it.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Sorry for updating so late, I had chicken pox T^T
