Title: To Stand Against the Sun
Genre: romance, drama
Rating: M for language, violence, and sexual themes
Pairings: JohanXJudai (spiritshipping); very, very mild ManjoumeXJudai (rivalshipping); other minor pairings
Summary: Judai Yuki was not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen when he moved to live with his Dad in Copenhagen, Denmark. But this where his life truly begins. There he meets Johan Andersen, a mysterious and captivating student at his new high school. Judai soon discovers that Johan is hiding a secret, after he impossibly saves his life from a van with his super-human strength and speed. Judai is determined to unravel his secret, but the truth is more terrifying than he realized. Johan is a vampire. Any normal person would just keep away from him, but Johan and Judai have fallen passionately and unconditionally in love with each other. And so begins their forbidden relationship between a human and a vampire. But the young lovers soon discover that their troubles are only just about to begin.
Me: The next chapter, one of our favorites!
Lucy: We loved this chapter in Twilight, because it was one of the times where Edward truly showed how much be cares for Bella, so in this one, it is a way in which Johan shows how much he cares for Judai!
Me: We hope you'll enjoy this one!
Lucy: Please enjoy this chapter, you guys!
Chapter Eight: Greve Strand
Rei drove faster than my dad did, so we were in Greve Strand by four o' clock. It had been a while since I had gone out with any of my friends- it was kind of hard when you didn't have any friends. Back in Ribe, I had no one. Everyone thought I was too happy and too kind and they all were too afraid to approach me because people were either jealous of my appearance- which I could never understand. I wasn't attractive(1)- or they were all too afraid to come near me because they thought my nice, kind, sweet behavior was a cover-up and that I was really a delinquent.
We listened to whiny rock music that we all had fun screaming to. Rei talked about how Hayato and she had gone on a date yesterday and how it seemed like Hayato liked her as well.
I smiled at that. Momoe was quiet the whole time. When she did talk, she said that she was happy to go to the dance, but she was a bit nervous about going with Kenzan, as well as his group of friends. She said that it seemed like they would be better as just friends, because Kenzan thought that as well. Rei tried to get her to confess who her type was, but I interrupted with a question about what type of dress Rei was looking for to spare poor Momoe. She shot me a grateful smile.
Greve Strand was a beautiful place, and it seemed somewhat like Copenhagen, at least to me. But Rei and Momoe knew this place well, so Rei did not waste time marveling at the shops and the boardwalk like I did.
She drove right to one of the massive department stores, which was a few blocks away from the giant boardwalk.
The dance was supposed to be semiformal, and we had no idea what that meant. Rei guessed that it meant formal, but nothing fancy. I agreed with her. Momoe thought it meant formal with a casual flare to it. Rei and I decided that Momoe was right, so that's what we went for. Momoe was blushing and smiling shyly when we both called her a genius for figuring it out so fast.
In the store, both Rei and Momoe were shocked- no, they were more like horrified- to find out that I had never been to a dance.
"No way!" Rei shook her head. "You never went with a girlfriend or anything?"
"Really," I told her. "I'm not into girls. I'm kinda... gay, so-"
She flashed me a reassuring smile. "Judai, it's fine. Don't worry. No one cares who's straight or gay in this place," she told me. I instantly felt a bit better knowing that no one would ever judge me. "Then, you never went with a boyfriend? Seriously?"
"Nope," I admitted. "I have never had a boyfriend in my life."
"Why not?" she asked.
"No one ever asked me," I answered honestly.
Rei looked a bit skeptical. "People ask you out here," she reminded me with a stern expression. "and you tell them you're not going." We were in the junior's section now, scanning the racks for dresses.
"Well, except for Mituso," Momoe piped in.
"Pardon?" I asked, looking at her with wide eyes. "What did you say?"
Rei looked partially confused at my words. She blinked her brown eyes innocently. "Mituso told everyone that he was taking you to the prom," she informed me with suspicious eyes.
"He said what?" I must have shrieked, because Momoe giggled at how high my voice went.
"See?" she said to Rei. "I told you it wasn't true."
I was shaking, furious, and I was contemplating all the horrible things I was going to do to Mituso when I saw him. My thoughts were broken right when we found the dress racks. There was no time for me to be angry anymore. We had work to do. I was here to help them, and that was what I intended to do for them.
"That's why Seika doesn't like you," Rei finally realized, understanding that Seika must have hated me.
I ground my teeth together. I thought I heard one snap. "You think if I ran over him with my truck he'd peg us even for him nearly running me over a few weeks ago?" I pawed through the dress racks and picked out some that I thought would look good on Rei and Momoe. "You think he'd stop trying to make it up to me and just call us even?"
"Sure," Rei winked. "If that's why he's doing it."
The dress section wasn't large, but Rei and Momoe found dresses that they liked. They laughed when I made a face at some of the ones that they chose, and they went with the ones I picked.
I sat outside the dressing rooms, sitting in a chair, trying to control my fuming.
Rei was torn between three dresses- one a long, strapless, basic black dress, the second a knee-length crimson dress with spaghetti straps, and the third a longsleeve green dress with pale yellow spots and fur around the collar, hem, and the sleeves. I groaned when she walked out in the neon green dress. Rei wore it with long Greek sandals that wound around her legs and ended at her knees, just where the fur of the green dress, which reminded me of the color of throw up, ended.
"What's wrong?" Rei asked.
"You look like an endangered species," I pointed out.
Rei laughed and looked down at the dress. "It is disgusting, isn't it?" she asked.
I realized by this point that she put on the dress just to see if I would lie to her about how she looked in it. But now she was certain that I would be honest with her about what I liked and about what I didn't like.
I encouraged Rei to go with the crimson dress. Crimson went well with her pitch black hair, and her brown eyes reflected the red color, making the color in them sparkle and shine. Momoe chose a pale pink dress that draped around her tall frame and brought out the color in her hair. I told them both what I liked and disliked about each of their dresses, and they both took my compliments and my critique to heart. They talked and then asked if I would take back the reject dresses and see if there was anything else that I liked.
Once we were done there, we moved on to shoes and accessories, something that I figured was going to be interesting.
I critiqued and helped them pick out things that went well with their dresses, and if they didn't have enough money to pay for something, I gave them whatever they needed. Rei told me that I didn't have to do that, it was too kind.
"It's all right," I grinned. "I don't mind."
Halfway through, the anger that I felt towards Mituso returned. I sat down in another chair and sighed.
Momoe and Rei were too busy trying on shoes and getting rid of ones that they didn't like to notice my sudden depression. I was happy- I didn't want them to see me upset and feel bad. I wasn't going to ruin their good time.
"Momoe?" I asked.
"Yeah?" She had on a strappy pink heel and had her leg out, rotating her ankle to get a better look.
I sighed. "Those look good on you."
"I think I'll buy them- though I don't think I'll ever be able to wear them with anything but the dress I just bought," she mused with a grin. I gave her a smile that must have made her feel better. She wasn't nearly as shy as I thought.
I tried to ask her something else.
"Momoe?" She looked up curiously. "Is it... normal for the Andersens to be out of school a lot?"
I must have failed trying to sound casual.
Momoe nodded slowly. "Yes, when the weather is good, they go hiking in the woods all the time- even the doctor. They're all really outdoorsy, it's good that they do things as a family." She told me this while examining the shoe, having taken it off. She didn't even ask why I wanted to know, as apposed to the mountain of questions I would have gotten if I asked Rei. I smiled. Momoe was a good person to talk to.
We planned to go to dinner in a little Italian restraunt that was around. It seemed strange- an Italian restraunt in Denmark.
The dress shopping didn't take as long as we hoped, so we weren't ready to go eat yet. Rei and Momoe were going to bring their dresses back to the car and then go take a walk around the boardwalk and window shop. I said I would meet them at the restaurant in an hour- I wanted to go look for a bookstore or something else. They were both willing to come with me, but I encouraged them to go have fun- they had no idea how I got when I found a comic book or a dueling magazine (something that I secretly enjoyed- Duel Monsters, a Japanese/American card game). It was something I preferred to do alone. They walked off to the car, chatting happily as I went in the direction that Rei had pointed me in, telling me how to get to the bookstore.
I had no trouble finding the bookstore, but it wasn't what I intended to find.
The windows were full of crystals, dream-catchers, and books about spiritual healing and the supernatural. Mostly it was about the Pagan way of religion, not that I minded. I didn't even go inside. Through the glass I could see a twenty-year-old woman with long blond hair that was wavy and fell to her shoulders, clad in a dress right out of a gypsy caravan, smiling with her eyes closed. For a moment, I thought it was Asuka Tenjoin, one of Johan's adopted siblings, but when the woman opened her eyes, they were a bright blue. Asuka's eyes, like all the other Andersens', were a bright golden color. I sighed and continued to walk. There had to be a normal bookstore somewhere in town.
As I walked, the roads were filled with traffic from the end of the work day.
I hoped I was heading towards downtown and not in the wrong direction. I had never been in Greve Strand before, so I hoped that I wasn't lost somewhere. That would be embarrassing.
In the back of my mind, I worried about whether or not Johan and I were going to be going to Dragor together this Saturday or not.
I was worried that he might cancel. After all, he hadn't been in school for a few days, and I hadn't heard from him. Couldn't blame him- he didn't know my phone number or anything, and I didn't exactly have a cell phone, not yet anyway. I wanted to believe that he would come to school in the morning and that I could ask him then, but something told me that tomorrow would be exactly like today and yesterday- his Volvo wouldn't be in the parking lot, and his lunch and Biology seats would be empty.
I was a bit on the edgy side, until I spotted someone's bright, shiny, silver Volvo parked far on the end of the street.
It can't be, I thought, shaking my head.
It dawned on me that there must be a million Volvos in Denmark, and among them, there must be at least a couple thousand that were silver. It wasn't like his Volvo was the only one in the entire world.
Stupid, unreliable vampire, I found myself thinking.
I walked along in the southerly direction, trying to avoid looking at the shiny Volvo. It probably belonged to some business man. There was no one even in the Volvo, so I couldn't walk towards it and see if it really was his. Besides, what were the chances that he would be here anyway? It was just a coincidence, and I was being paranoid.
I turned towards a corner and tried to head back north to another corner when I realized I was heading in the wrong direction.
A group of four men turned around the corner I was heading for, dressed too casually to be heading home from the office, but they were too grimy to be tourists. As they got closer, I realized that they were only a few years older than me. They were joking loudly amongst themselves, laughing and punching at each other's arms as a joke. I scooted as far to the inside of the sidewalk as I could get. I walked as quickly and as casually as I could, trying to avoid eye contact with them.
"Hey there!" one of them called as they passed.
He must have been talking to me, since there was no one else around. I glanced up automatically. Two of them had paused, the other two were slowing down. The closest, a heavy-set dark-haired man in his late teens, probably nineteen at best, seemed to be the one who had spoken. He was wearing a flannel shirt over a dirty gray T shirt, cut off jeans, and sneakers. He took a half-step towards me.
"Hi," I mumbled.
Then I quickly looked away and walked faster towards the corner. I could hear them laughing at full volume and mumbling behind me. They must have been talking about me. I hated it.
"Hey wait!" one of them called after me, but I kept my head down and rounded the corner.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
I found myself on a long sidewalk leading past several warehouses, each with large doors for loading trucks. The south side of the street had no sidewalk, just a chain-link fence for keeping people out of a restricted area. I'd wandered far past the part of Greve Strand that I, as a guest, was intended to see. It was getting dark, I realized, the clouds finally returning, piling up on the western horizon, creating an early sunset. The east sky was still clear, but graying. I'd left my red hoodie in Rei's car, and a sudden shiver made me hug myself tightly to keep warm. A single tan van drove by me, and then the road was empty.
The sky suddenly darkened further, and, as I looked over my shoulder to glare at the cloud that blocked out the setting sun, I realized with a shock that two men were walking not twenty feet away from me.
They were from the same group that I had just gotten rid of moment ago. Neither was the dark-haired one who'd spoken to me. I turned my head forward at once, picking up speed. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather made me shiver again. My hand slipped into my jean pockets, feeling my wallet. I remembered exactly where my pepper spray was- under my bed, never unpacked.
I still had over $150, and I thought about "accidentally" dropping my wallet and running away. But a small, frightened voice told me that they might be something much worse than thieves.
I listened to their footsteps, which were much quieter than they had been when they were with the whole group.
It didn't sound like they were getting any closer to me.
I remembered to breathe and remain calm. If I panicked, then they would most likely catch me. I hurried as quickly as I could without running, my eyes on the corner that was coming up soon. They were still behind me, walking slowly and quietly. A blue car passed by, and I contemplated a quick jump out in front of the car to grab its attention. But I didn't. I wasn't even sure if they were pursuing me.
I reached the corner, but a quick glance told me that it was a blind drive.
I realized I was stuck. I focused on the footfalls behind me. I turned and tried not to run away. I saw another corner, where the street ended with a stop sign. I looked back and saw that they were forty feet back, but they were both staring at me.
It seemed to take forever before I finally reached the corner. I kept my pace steady, so I didn't go sprawling forward. The people behind me had slowed down with each step. Maybe they realized they had scared me and were sorry about it. I saw two cars heading north past the intersection I was heading for, and I exhaled in relief. There would be people around. I walked around the corner with a sigh.
And skidded to a stop.
The street was lined on both sides by blank, doorless, windowless walls. I could see in the distance, two intersections down, streetlamps, cars, and more people, but they were all too far away. Because lounging against the western building, midway down the street, were the other two men from the group, both watching with excited smiles as I froze dead on the sidewalk. I realized that I wasn't being pursued.
I was being herded into the alley.
I paused only for a brief second, and then I turned and tried to dart out of the long alley way I had found myself in. It was a wasted attempt, the footsteps were louder and closer now.
"There you are!" a voice boomed. It was the dark-haired man.
"Yeah!" a voice called from behind me, making me jump as I tried to hurry down the alley. "We took a little shortcut!"
My pace had slowed now. I was closing the distance between me and the two others two quickly. I had a good, loud scream in me, and I sucked in air, preparing to use it. But my throat was too dry. I wasn't sure how much volume I would manage. I reached into my pocket and felt for my wallet again, ready to surrender it or use it as a weapon- a very weak one- if necessary.
The thickest man shrugged away from the wall as I slowly came to a stop, and walked slowly toward me.
"Stay away from me," I said in a firm voice, trying to contain my fear.
The thick man smiled. "Oh, come on," he said. "Don't be like that, babe." He practically yelled this to me, and the laughter from the two men far behind me made me jump once again.
I braced myself, feet firmly planted, spread apart, trying to remember through my panic what little self defense I knew. Heel of the palm thrust upward, hopefully breaking the nose. Finger through the eye socket- try to hook around the eye and pop it out. And the standard and every one's favorite move, the knee to the groin. A man's worst nightmare. I shuddered when I thought that, but it would help me now. The same weak voice in the back of my mind told me that I probably wouldn't be able to fight them, even if we were all guys. The four of them would be too much for me, the voice continued to tell me.
Shut up, I thought. They aren't low enough to... do that to a guy, are they?
The men surrounded me. Apparently, they were low enough to do something like that, whether it was to a guy or not. They wanted someone who was attractive and who couldn't fight them, and that apparently was me. But why? I wasn't attractive(2)! I gripped my hand into a fist. I wasn't going out without taking someone with me. I tried to swallow so I could build up a loud scream.
Headlights suddenly flew around the corner, the car almost hitting the stocky one, forcing him to jump back toward the sidewalk. I dove to the middle of the long alley- this car was going to stop or have to hit me.
But the silver car, which was strangely familiar to me, unexpectedly fishtailed around, skidding to a stop a few meters away from my shocked form, the passenger door wide open.
"Get in, Judai," a furious voice commanded.
It was amazing how the fear inside me vanished when I heard his voice. It was amazing how a sudden sense of security washed over me- even before I was off the street. I jumped into the passenger seat, slamming the door behind me.
It was dark in the car, no light had come on from the opening of the door, and I could barely see Johan's face in the glow from the dashboard. The tires squealed as he spun around to face out of the alley, accelerating too quickly, swerving towards the stunned men. I saw them diving out of the way as we straightened out and whipped out of the alley and sped down the road.
"Put on your seat belt, Judai," he commanded.
I realized that I was clutching to the seat with both hands. I quickly obeyed; the snap of the belt connecting was loud in the darkness. He took a sharp left again, racing forward, blowing through stop signs without so much as a single pause.
But I felt completely safe with him. At the moment, I didn't care where we were going. I stared at his face in profound relief, relief that went far beyond my sudden deliverance. I studied his flawless features in the dim light, waiting for my breathing to return to normal, until it occurred to me that his expression was murderously angry.
"J-Johan?" I whispered. He stiffened, but didn't look at me. "Are you okay?" I was surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded.
"No," he said curtly, and his tone was deadly.
I sat in silence, watching his face while his blazing gold eyes stared straight ahead, until the car came to a sudden stop. I glanced around and saw that there were tree surrounding the road. It was too dark to see anything else. I realized now that we were no longer in Greve Strands. I didn't know where we were.
"Judai?" he asked, his voice tight, trying to contain his anger.
"Yeah?" I was surprised at how soft and timid my voice was. I cleared my throat to get rid of the jagged edge.
"Are you all right?" He still didn't look at me, keeping his eyes on the road, and it was hard to see him, in the darkness, but I could see the mix of fury and of concern on his face.
"Yes," I croaked. "I'm... I'm fine, Johan. I'm all right."
"Distract me, please, Judai," he ordered.
"Pardon?"
He exhaled sharply and refused to look at me. "Just... ramble on about something unimportant until I calm down. Please." He closed his eyes and lowered his head to the steering wheel, trying to calm himself down, I imagine.
"Um." I racked my brain for something. "I'm going to run over Mituso tomorrow, if that's any consolation."
He was still squeezing his eyes shut, but I saw the corner of his mouth twitch.
"Why?"
"He keeps telling people that he's taking me to the prom- either he's insane or he's trying to make me ram him with my truck," I said. "I think he's trying to make up for almost killing me last... well, you were there, and I guess he thinks that prom is the correct way to do this. So I figure if I run him over, then we'll be even and ge can leave me alone. Then maybe Seika will back the fuck off! I might have to run over his new car too, though. If he doesn't have a car, he can't take me to prom, and there's no way I am letting him behind the wheel of my truck." I pouted and folded my arms over my chest, the way a child would. "It's my truck."
"I heard about that," Johan murmured, a bit more composed than before.
"You did?" I asked in horror. I glared at nothing. "If he's paralyzed from the neck down, then he can't take me to the prom, either..."
Johan sighed and slowly opened his eyes. They looked black with fury, but the golden color with the green tint around the edges slowly seeped in and made me feel better. His black eyes startled me.
"Better?" I asked.
"Not really."
I waited, but he didn't speak again. He leaned back against the seat and looked at the ceiling. I thought for a moment I heard him counting back from ten, a common thing to do to control your anger.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I have... a problem with my temper sometimes, Judai." He whispered this. He was staring out the window, his eyes narrowed into slits. "But it wouldn't be helpful for me to turn around and hunt down those-" He didn't finish his sentence. He looked away, struggling with his anger for a few minutes, as if he was trying to keep me from seeing him furious. "At least," he continued. "that's what I keep telling myself."
"Oh." It seemed like a simple answer, but it was all I could manage.
We sat in silence again. I looked at the clock and saw that it was way past six-thirty. Rei and Momoe were gonna panic if I didn't show up. I was already forty-five minutes late.
"Momoe and Rei will be worried about me," I murmured, more to myself than to him.
He started the Volvo without another word, turning around smoothly and speeding back toward town. We were under the streetlights in no time at all, still going way too fast for my liking, weaving with ease through the cars slowly cruising down the street. He parallel-parked on the curb near the Italian restaurant that Rei, Momoe, and I had planned to eat at. I looked over and saw Rei and Momoe just leaving, looking anxious and worried. They hadn't seen me or Johan's Volvo.
"How did you know where...?" I began, but I just shook my head.
I heard the door open, and I looked over to see Johan climbing out of the silver Volvo, his expression more composed than it had been just a few moments ago when we were out of town.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Taking you to dinner, what do you think?" He smiled, but his eyes were dark and hard.
The yellow was overwhelming, taking over the majority of the emerald green that I liked in his eyes. He stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind him. I fumbled with my seat belt, and then hurried to get out before Johan could get over to my door. He was waiting for me on the sidewalk with a small smile.
He started before I could. "Go catch Rei and Momoe before I have to track them down," he told me. "I don't think I could control myself if I ran into your other friends again tonight."
I shivered at the threatening tone he used when he mentioned the group of men.
"Rei! Momoe!" I called, waving when they turned toward me.
They rushed back to me in a hurry, worried and relieved expressions on their faces. The relief changed to shock and surprise when they saw who I wad standing beside. They hesitated when they got close to us. Rei latched onto me and hugged me.
"Where were you?" she yelled. I could hear that she was almost crying. "You scared me so much, Judai!"
"I got lost," I confessed with a smile, not telling the whole story. I didn't want to worry them even more. "And then I ran into Johan." I gestured with another smile over towards him.
"Would it be all right if I joined you?" he asked in his irresistible voice.
I could see by Rei and Momoe's shocked and awed faces that he had never unleashed his talents at dazzling people on them before. It almost made me burst out laughing.
"Er... sure," Rei murmured, trying to hide her blush.
"Um actually, Judai," Momoe blushed and looked away, as if ashamed. "We kinda ate while we were waiting for you." She frowned. "Sorry."
"It's okay- I'm not hungry." I smiled.
Momoe seemed relieved and flashed me a smile. Rei was staring at Johan, and then she looked at me with another relieved smile. She was happy that I was okay, but she stared at Johan again, curiously.
"I think you should eat, Judai," Johan said, his voice low and commanding. "Do you mind if I drive Judai home tonight?" He spoke to Rei in a voice that was a bit louder than the one he used with me. "That way you don't have to wait for him while he eats."
"Yeah, sure," Rei smiled.
She flashed me a grin and winked at me. I smiled. I wanted to be alone with him. There were things I had to ask him when no one was around, it was something to do with what Manjoume had told me.
"Okay," Momoe said. "We'll see you tomorrow, Judai."
She took Rei's wrist and dragged her away, throwing me and Johan a smile. She and Rei climbed into the car, both of them flashing me a smile and a wink. Rei rolled down the window and shouted, "I want details tomorrow!" and then she sped off quickly before I could yell at her. Johan tried to not laugh at the blush on my face.
"Honestly, I'm not hungry," I told Johan.
His expression was unreadable. "Humor me," he said.
He walked to the door of the restaurant and held open the door, an obstinate expression on his face. I realized that there was obviously not going to be any further discussion on the subject. I walked past him and into the restaurant with a loud sigh. He smiled and closed the door behind him as he followed close behind me.
The restaurant wasn't crowded- it was an off season in Greve Strand. The host was female, and I understood the look in her eyes as she assessed Johan. She welcomed him and I a bit more warmly than necessary. I was surprised by how much it bothered me. She was several inches taller than I was, and she was an unnatural blond. Her hair was too blond to be normal. She had a huge chest as well, and the shirt that she wore was designed to show that off.
"A table for two?" Johan's voice was alluring, whether he was aiming for it or not.
The woman's eyes flickered to me and then away, satisfied by the aura of plainness that I had around me. She was happy by the no-contact area between Johan and I. She led us to a table big enough for four people, in the middle of the most crowded area in the place.
I was about to sit, but Johan shook his head at me.
"Perhaps something a bit more private?" he insisted quietly to the woman.
I wasn't certain, but I thought that I saw him hand her something. Money maybe? I hadn't seen anyone refuse a table before, except in movies. It seemed like he had done it all his life, the way he saw smiling as he did it.
"Sure." She sounded as surprised as I was. She led us to a section of small booths- all of them empty. "How's this?"
"Perfect." He flashed her a dazzling smile.
It dazed her for a moment, I could see it in her eyes. "Um"- she shook her head to try and regain her composure- "your server will be right out." It took her a moment to walk away from the table, her eyes never leaving Johan. She looked enchanted.
"You really should stop doing that to people," I scolded, sitting down as he did. "It's hardly fair."
"Do what?"
"Dazzle them like that- she's probably in the kitchen having a heart attack."
He seemed confused.
"Oh come on!" I said, pointing after the blond woman, who had long since vanished. "You think that's a normal reaction that people have to any other person? You have to know the effect you have on people. You think everyone gets their way so easily?"
He tilted his head to the side. "I dazzle people?" I nodded. He seemed to frown. "Do I dazzle you?"
"Frequently," I said.
Our server arrived at that moment, her face expectant. The blond host must have been telling her about Johan. The server didn't look in the least bit disappointed when she arrived at the table. She flipped a strand of black hair out of her face and smiled. I noticed that it was mostly aimed at Johan, and I couldn't blame her. I was so plain compared to him. But I wasn't jealous or anything. Beauty never meant much to me. I didn't care how I looked to others.
"Hello. My name's Sarah, and I'll be your server tonight. What can I get you to drink?" I didn't miss the fact that she was only speaking to Johan.
He looked at me.
"I'll have a Coke." It sounded more like a question.
"Two Cokes, then," Johan smiled.
"I'll be right back with that," Sarah smiled, another unnecessary action.
But Johan didn't see her smiling at him. He didn't even see the enchanted look in her eyes as she started to leave. Johan was staring at me. Me and just me. No one else caught his attention, no matter how loud they were or how attractive they looked.
"What?" I asked when Sarah left.
His gold eyes with the emerald tint stayed locked on my face. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," I answered.
"You don't feel dizzy, cold, sick...?"
"Should I?"
Johan's face twisted up into that perfect, crooked smile that sent a desirable chill down my spine. "Actually, I'm waiting for you to go into shock," he said it as if he meant it, but he also said it as if it were a joke.
"I don't see that happening," I told him. "I'm good with surprising things."
"Be that as it may," Johan smiled. "I'll be more apt to believe you when you have some sugar and food in you."
Right on cue, the waitress returned with our drinks and a basket of breadsticks as an appetizer. She stood with her back to me as she placed the items on the table. I had to stretch to get my Coke, which Johan handed to me.
"Are you ready to order?" she asked Johan.
"Judai?" he asked. The waitress turned unwillingly towards me.
I picked the first thing I saw on the menu. I wasn't in the mood to keep Sarah around much longer. "Um, I'll just have the mushroom ravioli," I said, though in my mind, I wondered just what that was. I had heard of ravioli, call me an idiot if you don't believe me, but I had never seen not eaten it in my entire life.
"And you?" She turned back to Johan with a smile.
"Nothing for me," he said. Of course not. I hadn't seen this guy eat since the first day I saw him.
"Let me know if you change your mind." The coy smile was still on the waitress's face, but Johan wasn't looking at her, and she left dissatisfied with the lack of attention he was showing her.
"Drink," he ordered me.
I sipped the soda obediently and then drank more, surprised by how thirsty I was. I stared down at the empty glass with a pout, but Johan gave me his glass as soon as I finished mine.
"Thanks," I nodded.
The cold from the nearly frozen soda was radiating through my chest, soon racking my entire body, and I shivered. Johan looked up at me, and I saw the worry in his eyes.
"Are you cold?"
"It's the Coke," I held up his half-empty glass and shivered again.
He gave me a disapproving look. "Don't you have a jacket?"
"Yes-" I looked at the bench beside me and saw that it was empty. I frowned, wondering what happened, and then slapped my forehead. "Ooh, I left it in Rei's car. Crap."
Johan was shrugging out of his jacket. I suddenly realized that I had never noticed what he was wearing- not just tonight, but ever. I just couldn't seem to look away from his face. I made myself look now, focusing. He was removing a blue leather jacket; underneath he wore a long-sleeve off-white shirt with purple trim around the collar. It fit him snugly, emphasizing how muscular, though not too much, his chest was.
He handed me the blue leather jacket, breaking my train of thought.
"Thanks," I said again.
I slid my arms into the jacket. It was cold- the way my tight crimson hoodie felt when I picked it up in the morning. I shivered again. Johan's scent lingered on it. It was amazing. It was an icy scent; ice with a mixture of something from nature, a flower maybe? I couldn't be certain. I inhaled and tried to identify the scent. It wasn't a cologne, I knew that. His scent was always like this. I remembered when he had given me his jacket in the office when I had fainted in Biology. That jacket smelled the exact same way. No one put on cologne every single day just to go to school. The sleeves on the jacket were too long; I shoved them back to free my hands.
"That color red looks good on you," he said, commenting on my shirt, which was exposed under the jacket he gave me.
I was surprised. I looked down, trying to hide my blush.
Johan pushed the bread basket to me.
"Really, I'm not going into shock, Johan, I promise," I protested.
"You should be- a normal person would," he said. "You don't even look shaken." He seemed unsettled. He stared into my eyes and I saw how light they were, lighter than I had ever seen them. They were a mixture of gold and of a pale ivory, and they stood out like two burning stars. The rims of his eyes were a dark emerald, and the emerald color would sometimes shift, moving to just around his pupil to the outside of his iris, like it was right now.
"I feel safe with you," I told him.
This seemed to surprise him. He looked up at me, his face confused and relieved. He shook it off, and then he looked unsettled again.
"This is more complicated than I planned," he murmured to himself.
I snatched one of the bread sticks from the basket and bit down on it a bit too hard. It was almost as hard as a rock. I groaned and took it out of my mouth, seeing him staring at me. I smiled as best I could with my teeth now in agony. I took it slow and just nibbled on the end, trying not to hurt myself again. I watched him for a minute, trying to figure out when would be the best time to start questioning him.
"You seem to be in a better mood when your eyes are light," I commented. I meant to distract him from what was bugging him.
He looked at me, stunned. "What?"
"You're always crabbier when your eyes are black- I expect it then," I went on. "I have a theory about that, too."
His eyes narrowed. "More theories?"
"Mm-hm."
I chewed on the end of the bread stick, trying to look casual. I looked at him. The image that clashed with his golden-green eyes now, the one from my dream, the Johan with black eyes who had protected me from the wolf, filled my mind. If he was willing to protect me when his eyes were black and when he was crabby and hungry, then what would it be like when his eyes were gold? I remembered when he saved me from Mituso's van. His eyes had been gold then, and he had been worried about me.
"I hope you're more creative this time," he joked. "Did you steal more ideas from a comic book?"
"No, not from a comic book," I said. "But I didn't exactly come up with it on my own."
"And?" he prompted.
But before I could tell him anything, the waitress strode around the parathion with my food. I realized then that Johan and I had been unconsciously leaning toward one another, because we both straightened up when she arrived. She set the plate in front of me- it looked good- and then she turned her attention back to Johan.
"Did you change your mind?" she asked. "Is there anything I can get you?"
"No, thank you, but some more soda would be nice." Johan gestured with his long, pale white hand towards the two tall and empty glasses that once held Coke in them in front of me.
"Sure." She removed the empty glasses and walked away.
"You were saying?" he asked.
"I'll tell you about it in the car. If..." I paused.
"There are conditions?" He raised a fine blue eyebrow at me.
"I do have a few questions."
The waitress came back with our drinks. She set them on the table without a word this time. She didn't even look over at Johan. She turned away and vanished around the corner.
I took a sip.
"Well, go ahead," he pushed, his voice cautious.
I started with the most undemanding. "Why are you in Greve Strand?"
He looked down at the table, folding his hands together on the table. His eyes flickered to my face, a hint of a smirk on his face. I felt the strong power that he had to dazzle people working its magic on me.
"Next."
"But that's the easiest one!" I complained.
"Next," he repeated.
I looked down, annoyed. I unrolled my silverware, picked up my fork, and carefully speared a ravioli. I put it in my mouth slowly, still looking down, chewing while I thought. The mushrooms were good. I swallowed and took another sip of my Coke before I looked up.
"Okay then." I sighed. "Let's say, hypothetically of course, that... someone could... know what people are thinking, read minds, you know, with a few exceptions."
"Just one exception," he corrected. "hypothetically."
"All right, just one exception then." I was thrilled that he was playing along, but I tried to seem casual about it. "How does that work? What are the limitations to it? How would that someone find someone else at exactly the right time? How would he know that the other person was in some sort of danger?" I wondered if my question made sense.
"Hypothetically?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Well, if... that someone..."
"Let's just call him 'Jo(3)'," I smiled.
He smiled back at me. "Jo, then. If Jo had been paying attention, the timing wouldn't have needed to be quite so exact." He shook his head, his eyes rolling. "Only you could get into trouble in a town this small. You would have ruined their crime rate statistics for a century, you know." He was still smiling at me.
"I thought we were speaking hypothetically," I said coldly.
He laughed again, his eyes warm and kind. "We were," he agreed. "Shall we call you 'Ju'?"
"How did you know?" I asked.
He seemed to be wavering now, torn by some internal dilemma. His eyes locked with mine, and I imagined that he was making a decision on if it was the safest thing to tell me the truth or not.
"You can trust me," I told him.
"I don't know if I have a choice," Johan whispered. "I was wrong about you, Judai. You're much more observant that I gave you credit for."
"I thought you were never wrong."
"I used to never be wrong," Johan said, shaking his head again. "I was wrong about one other thing, as well. You're not a magnet for accidents- you're a magnet for danger! If there's anything dangerous within a ten mile radius of you, it'll flock to you like a half-starved wolf to fresh meat! An accident prone person? That's too broad a classification for you!"
"And, let me guess. You fit yourself in that category of dangerous things?" I guessed.
His expression turned cold, serious. "Absolutely."
I reached my hand across the table- seeing his body tense as I did- to touch his hand. His cold skin made me shiver, but it was comforting to know that he wasn't going to draw away when I did this. Now that I got a better chance to keep my hand on him, I noticed that his skin was almost as hard as a rock, maybe even harder. It was like laying my hand on a brick wall, without the sharp edges. His skin was smooth, almost like glass in the winter, and just as cold.
"Thanks for saving me," I murmured with a smile. "That's twice now."
"Let's not try for a third," Johan said, his expression softening.
I nodded slowly.
He drew his hand from under mine and placed both of his under the table. He then leaned forward. I had been a bit upset when he drew his hands away, but leaning forward made up for it.
"I followed you to Greve Strand," he admitted. "I have never tried keeping a specific person alive before, and it's more troublesome than I could have ever imagined. But that's probably because it's you. Ordinary people seem to make it through a single day without almost getting a one-on-one meeting with the Grim Reaper."
He paused. I wondered if it should bother me that he followed me.
Instead, I felt a surge of happiness. He cared about me enough to follow me around and see if I needed protecting. He stared, maybe wondering why I was starting to smile. He started to smile as well, I'm not sure why.
"Did you ever think that my number was up the first time, with the van, and that you're screwing with fate?" I asked.
"That wasn't the first time," he said, and his voice was hard to hear. I stared at him, but he was looking down, at the ground. "Your number was up the first time I met you."
I felt a twinge of fear at his words. I remembered his black eyes; full of confusion and fear; when I looked at him. By the time he looked up to see my eyes and read what I was feeling, there was no trace of fear. I felt a strange sense of security when I was around him, and that canceled out any small ounce of fear that grew inside me.
"You remember?" he asked, his angelic face grave.
"Yeah." I stayed calm.
"And yet here you are." There was a hint of disbelief in his face as he said this.
"Yeah, here I sit... because of you." I paused. "Because you managed to save me from being smashed in Mituso's van. And because you somehow knew how to find me today...?" I prompted him to tell me.
He pressed his lips tightly together, staring at me through narrowed eyes.
His eyes flashed down at my full plate of food.
"You eat, I'll talk," he bargained.
I quickly scooped another ravioli and popped it into my mouth. Johan watched with a small smile as I shoveled the food in my mouth. I wondered if he was afraid I would start to choke on it.
"Its harder than usual- usually I can find someone by hearing their thoughts, once I've heard them before." He looked at me anxiously, and I felt that I had stopped breathing. I inhaled and swallowed and tried to chew a little slower. He continued. "I was keeping tabs on Rei, not carefully- like I said, only you could find trouble in a place like Greve Strand- and at first, I didn't notice that you had taken off on your own. Then, when I realized that you weren't with her anymore, I went looking for you in the bookstore I saw in her head. I didn't see you there and I waited, trying to search through the minds of random people to see if they had seen you so that I could locate where you had gone. There was absolutely no reason for me to be worried... and yet... I was insanely anxious. I was scared."
He was staring past me, as if seeing his memory flashing behind me.
"I drove around in circles then, still listening. The sun was beginning to set, and I had contemplated following you on foot, and then-" He stopped, a dark look crossing his face. He made an effort to calm himself, as to keep from scaring me.
"Then what?" I asked.
"I heard what those men were thinking," he growled, revealing his teeth. "I saw your face- your scared, worried expression- in his mind." His arm went up and covered his face, trying to hide his anger from me. "You can't imagine how hard it was for me to just pick you up and let them live. I could have let you go with Rei and Momoe, but I was afraid that if you left me, I would hunt down those..." His voice had gone to a whisper, as if he was ashamed of what he had almost done.
I tried to keep my thoughts calm.
Even if Johan couldn't read my mind, my thoughts, maybe he could read the emotions passing through my mind? If that was the case, then I tried to keep my thoughts as calm as possible to make him feel better.
Johan drew his hand away from his face and seeked out my eyes, his filled with his own questions.
"Are you ready to go?"
"I'm ready to go," I told him. I was excited that we had an hour-long ride home together. I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to him yet. There was still so much that I wanted to ask him, so much that I still wanted to know.
The waitress came over as if she had been called, or as if she'd been watching and waiting for us to finish.
"How are we doing?" she asked Johan. She was starting to piss me off.
"We're ready for the check, thank you." Johan's voice was quiet, irregular, rougher than usual, still reflecting the strain of our conversation. It seemed to confuse the waitress. Johan looked up at her, waiting.
"S-sure," she stuttered. "Here you go."
She drew a small leather folder from the front pocket of her black apron and handed it to him. There was a bill in his hand already. He slipped it into the folder and handed it back to her with a soft smile.
"No change." He stood up, and I scrambled to my feet.
The waitress smiled at him again, her smile inviting. I narrowed my eyes. She was starting to piss me off- the way she was trying to get Johan to notice her by fluttering her eyelashes and making her expression and her movements as playful and alluring as she could get them. It was so hard to keep from laughing out loud when a look of dejection crossed her face when she noticed that Johan's eyes were on me- plain old me- and not her.
He didn't look away from me as he thanked her. I tried to suppress another smile as the look of shock at her failed attempt at flirting on the waitress's face.
Johan walked close beside me to the door, still careful not to touch me. I remembered what Rei had said about her relationship with Hayato, how she had hoped that one day they might get to the first-kiss stage. I sighed softly. Johan seemed to hear me, and he looked down curiously. I looked at the sidewalk, thankful that he wasn't able to hear what I was thinking.
He opened the passenger door, holding it for me as I stepped in, shutting it softly behind me. I watched him walk gracefully around the front of the car, amazed. I probably should have been use to that by now- but I wasn't. I had a feeling that Johan wasn't the type of person that everyone got use to. I already knew that he wasn't the type of person that people in our school thought he was- cold, unapproachable, god-like, untouchable.
He was still god-like, but to me, he was someone much kinder. He wasn't unapproachable and he certainly wasn't cold. Well, physically yes, but not in his personality. He had his moments, but overall, he was an amazing person to be around.
Once inside the car, Johan started the engine and turned on the heater. It had gotten very cold, and I guessed that the good weather was at an end. I was warm inside his jacket, though, breathing in the scent of it when he wasn't looking. His scent was comforting, in a way, though it was both cold and alluring to me.
Johan pulled out through the traffic, apparently without a glance, flipping around to head into the freeway.
"Now," he said with a grin. "it's your turn."
Me: Yes! Johan came and rescued Judai before those bastards did something to him! (1) Yeah, don't let Johan hear you say that, Judai! (2) Judai, you have to stop thinking that, it's not true! (3) This is pronounced "Yoh", and if you noticed, it's the first syllable of Johan's name.
Lucy: Because we all know what they would have done to Johan's precious little Ju-chan!
Me: And now, Judai is going to question Johan about what he is, and hopefully, things will turn out for the better! To find out, read on as soon as we update again! We're going on vacation for a week, so we might not update for a little while, but we will certainly try our hardest!
Lucy: Please review and we shall update soon!