025. Gasp
This was it. It was all over. Sho had given all his courage and power to withstand the barrage of bullets that were fired his way. He was fearless, not afraid to die anymore. Everyone he had known were gone. All that was left was to kill off the betrayer.
Sho stared at the face he loathed so much. He could never understand why Son turned his back on them. He never would explain - always sloughing it off as if it didn't matter.
When the count of three was said, the sound of a gunshot could be heard ringing in the small enclosed area. The pain was lengthy at letting Sho know that he had been shot in the chest - the pain that coursed through his body from the two gunshot wounds in his arms covered it up. He didn't even realize it until he looked down at the crimson blood as it stained the front of the once pristine white shirt. Feeling weak, his body fell down to the ground in a heap.
Son, in denial as he walked towards Sho's shuddering body, shook his head and accused him of not firing. Sho lied and choked out that he did, pointing a bloody finger at him for emphasis.
Kei came out from the shadows, having dealt with the two boys who called themselves men. The front of his shirt stained with his own blood from numerous gunshots, Kei approached the area and found his friend on the ground, the white outfit pronouncing the amount of blood lost.
"How could you…?" Kei asked angrily, his eyes seething at the other man.
"This is our destiny," he explained as if it was obvious, slowly starting to hold up the gun to shoot at him, but Kei was quicker and shot multiple bullets into the torso of the man he once called a friend.
Overcome with grief, Kei staggered slowly over to his friend, almost as if he was afraid to. Deep within his heart, he knew that his friend was as good as dead, even though it was a slow one. Every breath Sho tried to take was a staggered one. Kei lifted his upper body and held him close, feeling his whole body shake.
"Sho!" he said to him, tears starting to form in his eyes.
"What happened?" he asked, trying to figure out in his mind if this was really happening or not. He tried to hold his hand against Sho's wound to see if he could try to help, but too much was lost. Suddenly, Sho bounced upwards slightly and coughed the blood that had seeped into his lungs which only made the situation even more real.
"Everyone's gone…" Sho choked out softly.
"What do you mean?" Kei asked, trying to keep Sho talking, to try to keep him awake so that he wouldn't die on him.
"Don't forget our promise," Sho said with struggling breath.
"Sho, don't die!" Kei pleaded, holding onto his dying friend. "Stay with me! Don't leave!" He could feel the burn of the sun and started to drag Sho into the shadows nearby. The sobs that came forth from Kei could be heard echoing off the walls as he pulled his dying friend with him.
Unable to take anymore of this, he instinctively rolled up the crimson sleeve on his arm and showed his naked wrist. He couldn't lose another friend… he couldn't. The emotion that filled him when he watched Luka engulfed in flames consumed him again; as if reliving the nightmare once more. He knew Sho had so much to live for even though he wanted to end it all; all he could think about was the little girl in ponytails and couldn't bear to be alone again.
As he held up Sho the best he could, he drew his wrist to Sho's mouth. It was something he swore he'd never do to anybody, especially to Yi-Che when Sho desperately pleaded to him. He said he couldn't condemn anybody to this type of life, but here he was begging for Sho to initiate the act of becoming a vampire. He noticed that Sho was slowly succumbing to unconsciousness and Kei lightly tapped his face to rouse him. Sho slightly fluttered his eyes open, the sweat glistening off of his face as he turned his head a little, seeing the wrist that Kei offered.
"Go ahead, bite it," he implied, bringing it just close enough to him. Sho's mind was hazy and he obeyed almost unwillingly as he opened his mouth slowly, still shaking, and then wrapped his mouth over Kei's wrist. Kei clenched his teeth together to suppress the pain as he felt the skin break. Sho tasted the scarlet blood and found it to be sweet so he generously suckled on it, letting the warmth of it fill his senses. After a moment, Kei started to become weak and decided it was enough as he jerked his wrist away from Sho and held it to his chest.
After Kei removed his wrist, Sho's face contorted into almost a rage as he gritted his teeth, the crimson stain pronounced on the white enamel, as his body lightly writhed involuntarily. His arms were outstretched as he squirmed almost in pain and made noises of strain as he gasped, breathing in the last breath of human life. The transformation that was happening to Sho was all too familiar to Kei as he had to go through the same ritual, but seeing it from this end was a little painful. Finally, it was over as Sho's body calmed down after the whole shock of the change and his breathing was erratic. Sho forced himself up off the ground to sit up and tried to slow his breathing. He looked at Kei as if he was confused at what just happened.
"I couldn't… lose you," Kei admitted, tears streaming down his strained face and he instinctively embraced him as a rush of relief came over him. Bewildered, Sho accepted the hug by placing his hand on the middle of Kei's back.
A/N: There are a few theories based on how vampires come to be, but I picked the one that I remembered from "Interview With the Vampire" because it made more sense to me. Sho lost way too much blood to be bitten by a vampire and his blood being sucked, so I did the alternative and made Kei offer his blood and that turned Sho into a vampire. Don't shoot me, it just made more sense to me to use that method since it was never mentioned in the movie exactly how any of them were turned into vampires.