I liiiiiiiive! Yes, that was a play on the fact that I attended that Zombie workshop! It was fantastic, the wounds looked so real! Maybe I'll upload a picture on DeviantArt or something. Check it out if you have a second. But the point is that I am back, I am happy and I am rearing to go! Enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think; there's a LOT of dramatic stuff in this one!
Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 9)
Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)
That girl had an irritating tendency to just simply disappear on him.
He'd entered the buildings on that Monday evening expecting to find her working in the library after class only to notice that he could not smell her at all. Taking off towards the library where she spent so much of her time, Aidou sensed right away that she hadn't entered the room since the Sunday afternoon when he'd been in there with her. When she'd kissed him.
But if she wasn't in the library, where was she?
Dismissing the fact that he should be in class, Aidou instead took off into the forest, trying his luck looking around there. He tried checking around the Sun Dorms but her window was tightly shut and he could not smell her there either. The spot under the tree where she'd fallen asleep in his arms was also empty and upon checking the infirmary he came up with a blank too.
After spending another half an hour scouring the school grounds for her, Aidou was left with a clenching worry in the pit of his stomach.
Yori was missing.
"Hanabusa," Kain's voice sounded as the taller vampire stepped from between the trees. "What are you running around all frantic for?" One glance at the terse look on Aidou's face though answered the question and Kain turned serious too. "Is she gone?"
"I don't know." Aidou's voice was strained. "I can't find her, though maybe she's just somewhere on the school grounds." Privately, Aidou thought that to be unlikely. Yori was only just recovering from a cold; she wouldn't go and put herself in the frying pan by roaming around at night again. She was more level-headed than that.
"Then let's split up," Kain suggested, turning his back. "I'll take the North Wall and we'll meet back here in twenty minutes."
Aidou briefly questioned his cousin's motives for helping him but quickly dismissed the thoughts. If Kain was going to help then it made the job a whole lot simpler so he merely nodded before taking off towards the South Wall, on his way keeping a lookout to his sides. The worry nagging at his mind returned with a fury. The dark forest surrounding him did nothing for his nerves and the shifting shadows flitting between the trees began to play tricks on him. He shook his head, trying to clear it of thoughts involving Yori in danger or hurt.
If something… anything… happened to her…
Normally the darkness of the forest would be comforting and not in the least bit intimidating to him. But now, instead of allaying his fears, his mind was throwing forth situations in which Yori could now be and the forest, usually so inviting to him, looked downright forbidding if he contemplated Yori amidst the shadows. So much could go wrong...
He never once caught her scent on the wind and, the acidic worry bubbling in his stomach, he returned to the spot where Kain had emerged from the trees earlier. His cousin was already there, standing with his hands buried deep in his pockets and his head turned to the side, surveying the woods.
"Akatsuki?"
The unspoken question behind Aidou's voice made Kain's brows furrow. "No," was the noble's simple reply, plunging both of them into silence.
Aidou allowed his eyes to close and his teeth to grit, for a moment showing his frustrations. "Shit."
The wind shifted then and the two nobles stiffened, catching the scent of the Cross Prefect. The bushes to their left rustled loudly and from them a slim figure dressed in the black Day Class uniform burst. Yuuki had a few twigs stuck in her hair but her bright eyes were focused sharply on them, her finger pointing right ahead and in their direction. "Hold it!"
Aidou rolled his eyes at her antics. As if he was going anywhere.
Yuuki furrowed her brows and walked forwards, her right hand twitching a little towards her thigh where Artemis was stashed. Aidou's muscles tightened reflexively as the bushes to his right rustled too and another figure with silver hair emerged. Aidou mentally cursed himself for not noticing the second prefect's approach. After Yuuki's entrance from his left with her scent carried ahead of her on the wind, the silver-haired prefect had snuck up on them from behind. Zero sent them a murderous scowl which Aidou returned before averting his attention back towards Yuuki.
"What are you doing out here?" Her tone was firm and demanded to be taken seriously, though neither Kain nor Aidou gave much indication of being impressed. "Being outside during class hours is against school regulations," she continued.
Zero narrowed his eyes at the two, his hand already inside his jacket and grasping his gun, the Bloody Rose. "If you two filthy vampires are out here to feed then-"
"Shut your trap, Kiryuu!" Aidou interrupted, his frustration getting the better of his calm demeanor. He was in no mood for the prefect's accusations, though most of the times they were true. This time though, not only did he have no interest in stalking a day class girl but the accusation that Zero was shooting at him struck a nerve inside him.
The two locked eyes and gnashed teeth, tension building almost tangibly between them. Zero's hand tightened.
"Relax," Kain broke the dangerous moment, lifting his hands up before reaching back into his pocket and pulling out a folded note, holding it out ahead of him. "We've got permission from Kaname-sama."
Aidou's head snapped around to his cousin at this news. "We do?"
"Yeah," Kain said calmly, "we do."
Yuuki seemed to perk up and stepped forward, all suspicion forgotten as she reached for the note, which Kain handed to her. The girl took a moment to scan the page and then reread it once more, as though not quite believing the words on paper and the signature placed beneath it. She carefully folded it again and made to hand it back to Kain, who pocketed it.
Her face spoke volumes about her confusion. "Why would Kaname-senpai-"
"We're not hunting," Kain told them.
Yuuki seemed utterly bewildered by this point. "But then what…"
Kain shot his cousin a look but the stubborn set of the blonde's jaw made it more than obvious that he was not going to say anything more around the prefects. So the taller vampire sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. Catching Yuuki's eyes he addressed her directly. "We're looking for Wakaba Sayori."
Aidou stiffened but didn't say anything to deny his cousin's words. Yuuki was Yori's best friend after all. Perhaps she could tell him where she was.
However, once the startled look had passed over Yuuki's face, her eyes dimmed and her brows furrowed in worry, her shoulders slumping and her eyes turning downcast. "Yori-chan…" the girl trailed off, her head hanging slightly as she studied the grass. Aidou had to remind himself to breathe. "Yori-chan is in the hospital."
He knew with a certainty that the world had just stopped spinning. His throat constricted painfully and made his voice turn hoarse. "Which hospital?"
"The one on Third and Allwalk Street- hey! Aidou-senpai! Get back here!"
He didn't stop though. He ran.
"Sir, please, go sit back down. You cannot just – sir!"
Aidou ignored the irritating chirping of the female receptionist who had been trailing after him ever since she had told him Yori's room number and instead increased his pace even further, drawing ahead of the woman. He had to get to Yori's hospital room quickly. He had to. Her room was approaching on the right.
"Sir, visiting hours are not – Sir!"
Disregarding the nurse's protest, Aidou grabbed hold of the door and wrenched it open. He froze. Yori was lying prone on her bed, eyes closed and her hair sticking in disarray to her pale and sweaty face, cheeks devoid of their usual endearing blush. Her chest was barely rising with her shallow breaths and her limp hands lay immobile at her sides.
Behind him, Aidou vaguely heard the nurse take two steps back and then say quietly, "Five minutes, Sir."
Not acknowledging that the woman had backed off, Aidou stepped through the door and slid it closed behind him, his eyes focused solely on the frail girl lying on the sterile white bed.
The chair beside her bed looked entirely unused and he took a seat in it after only a moment, reaching his right hand out to cradle the side of Yori's face. Tenderly, his thumb traced her cheekbone, feeling the softness of her skin.
She stirred and her sunken eyes fluttered open, blurring for a while before she tried to focus them on anything. Aidou watched as she noticed him sitting beside her and then smiled gently. That gesture made his chest clench up. "Aidou…"
"What happened?" Aidou stared at her intensely, wanting to lift the answers right from her face.
She blinked once, slowly, as her eyes once again blurred. "I guess that cold affected me more than I thought…" Aidou furrowed his brows, not quite understanding what she was saying. He didn't want to understand but nonetheless guilt drove into him, making him cringe.
Yori's face didn't change but she allowed another smile to pass her lips before she spoke. "Aidou, it's not your fault."
Those few small words made the severity of the situation crash down around him and with a force that was startling a burst of self-loathing made his temper erupt. "The hell it's not!" he spat.
Yori however seemed undaunted as she shook her head. "It's not."
Aidou's hand fisted tightly in the pillow beside her head as he clenched his teeth, frustration making his teeth sharpen. Behind him, the door slid open and soft footsteps entered the room, stopping behind him. A small hand on his shoulder made his head snap around and he came face to face with a smaller, elderly medical staff with her graying hair pulled back into a bun. Her wrinkled eyes were calm and placating and Aidou loosened his grip on Yori's pillow.
"Please come with me." Her words were spoken with an easiness that left no room for debate yet didn't rouse a defiant reaction from him and Aidou found himself reluctantly following the older woman from the room. He cast Yori one last look over his shoulder before the door slid shut behind him, cutting him off from her.
The hallway was cold and the woman's steps echoed in the sterile white passage. The blonde followed behind her, still uptight and on edge. She took only a few turns before stopping outside an office door labeled with her name and title of Doctor. So the old woman was a doctor…
"In here please," she told him, leading the way inside. Aidou followed numbly, watching as the elderly woman sat down behind her desk and gestured for him to close the door. "Take a seat."
Aidou did so and sank into the chair placed on the opposite side of the desk from the woman, his hands going to grip his knees. The doctor pulled a file from a set of trays on her desk, flipping through it and reaching for a pen in her pocket, scribbling a note on the paper there. Aidou was getting tensed even further with the wait yet the woman saw absolutely no rush to give him whatever details she could. He was on the verge of snapping at her when she looked up, folding her hands before her. "You are an acquaintance of Wakaba Sayori?"
Aidou swallowed, debating on how to answer. "A… a close friend, actually."
The doctor studied him closely and nodded. "I see." Once again she jotted something into the file before looking back up at him. "Are you aware of Wakaba Sayori-san's medical history?"
He shook his head numbly. The woman glanced back down at the file and shuffled some papers, seeming to debate something for a moment before looking back up at him, her eyes serious. "As an infant, Wakaba-san suffered from a severe viral infection. The doctors at the time were able to save her life but the virus that attacked her system was one that affected the muscles. It caused permanent damage."
Aidou was staring at the woman silently, fear constricting his chest.
"The recent cold that she suffered from weakened her body, giving the dormant virus in her system time to attack her muscles yet again. The most affected muscle right now is her heart. As she stands… we don't know if she will survive another two nights."
The floor fell away beneath Aidou's feet and he stopped breathing. Two nights… His head jerked up to meet the concerned doctor's eyes. "But… that virus," he began, "if she was saved from it once before, can't you guys use the same medicine or whatever to save her life again?"
The nurse dipped her head a little and shook her head. "No. The virus has taken the time while lying dormant in her body to mutate. It has become immune to the last treatment."
"And a new one? Don't you have a new cure?" He was getting desperate by now. If there was any solution; any way to stop her from dying…
"No."
That one word uttered from the woman's lips sprung a whole new league of terror within him. Yori was going to die within two nights because of that virus that had taken advantage of Yori's cold… that she had caught because she'd slept outside under that tree with him.
It was his fault.
His fault…
Aidou's blonde head fell into his hands and his fingers wrung through his hair. Teeth gnashed and eyes clenched tightly together, he let his shoulders slump and his muscles tense.
His fault…
"We have informed her family already, though her father is on an important business trip. Her brother though is getting here as fast as he can."
He barely registered the doctor standing from her chair and coming up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder again. "She is someone special to you, is she not?"
Aidou bowed his head further, nodding. "Yes," he whispered.
"It's safe to be around her. If you wish… you may stay with her."
He was sitting beside her bed, watching her sleep. Her face was pale and her breathing uneven. From where he was sitting, softly holding her sweaty hand, Aidou could hear her irregular and laboured heartbeats. Each one ticked away further at her fragile little life. Less and less time…
The door opened behind him but Aidou didn't bother to look up. He knew from the scent and hearing that it was his cousin. The taller noble came to stand beside him, looking down upon Yori too. All was silent in the room between the two, both listening to the girl's weak heart.
"So it's true, huh?" Kain asked, finally breaking the silence.
Aidou nodded. "Yes."
Kain assessed the blonde sitting hunched in the chair. Aidou never hunched unless the issue was truly burdening. The shorter noble's clear blue eyes were heavy with unspoken guilt.
"You… don't want her to die."
It was more of a statement than question but Aidou bowed his head further again, his hand gripping more tightly onto Yori's. "No."
Retreating from the room, Kain cast one last glance at the two figures in the room and then shut the door.
The office curtains were drawn even as the dawn approached. Just hours ago Kain had found himself leaving class with Kaname's permission to search for Aidou, only to find out that said girl was in hospital in a serious condition.
Once again the noble stood tall and straight, his hands in his pockets, though his brows were furrowed and his mouth set into a hard line. "I saw the look on his face," Kain began. "If that girl dies…"
"He'll be devastated," Kaname finished, keeping his eyes closed as he listened.
"Yes." Kain nodded.
The room's oppressive atmosphere was suffocating to the point that the three occupants found it difficult to speak. Finally, the Chairman cleared his throat. "If she dies. If. She may pull through yet."
Kain bowed his head. "The doctors that I spoke to were near-certain that she would not survive."
Cross's hands fisted slightly as he digested this news. He didn't know the girl so well yet but he would have liked to. After all, he'd taken responsibility for her and as such it was his duty to protect her. And now Yori was dying. Cross turned his head to the side, eyes focusing on the tall figure of Kaname. "You are being awfully quiet about this, Kaname. What are your views?"
The pureblood opened his eyes and studied the opposite wall for a while, collecting his thoughts. This human girl, as she was now, was a liability to him. Aidou was more devoted to her than anyone else, for whatever reasons, and should she indeed die it would cause enormous problems for all of the Night Class students. A vampire's memories and attachments were exponentially more powerful than a human's and as such, should a person so very close to Aidou disappear, the grief that the blonde would have to endure would be incalculable.
Something had to be done to prevent Wakaba's death. Perhaps a cure would be found? No, hanging onto wisps of hope would bring no results. As it was, time was of the essence and if what Kain said was true the girl would be dead within two days.
Not only would that completely shatter Aidou, but Yuuki would also suffer from the loss of her closest friend.
Kaname lifted his head. "I will go see her for myself."
Dawn was breaking through the hospital window where Aidou was still sitting on his chair, his thumb stroking over the back of Yori's hand and his intense eyes trained directly on her face. She couldn't die. She couldn't…
Her delicate features began to stir and Aidou momentarily stopped his movements before beginning to softly run his thumb over her hand again. Carefully her eyes fluttered open, blinking in the near-dawn light and shifting away from the window and onto him.
Recognition pooled in her eyes and the briefest of smiles lit up her face. "You're still here." She mouthed most of her words since her throat was dried from sleep. Aidou rubbed her hand calmingly, wishing that there were some water to give to her. She blinked a few times again, harder, and pried her eyes open more.
He allowed himself a smirk. Despite the situation, she was absolutely adorable when she woke up. "Of course," he said, allowing a little of his attitude to filter through. "Did you expect anything else?"
Her eyes sparkled as she heard his banter. "I really don't know what to expect from you," she trailed off, thinking something over for a moment before adding, "Hanabusa."
Aidou froze, his breath catching, as he heard her use his first name.
She looked completely serene as she stared up at him. "Just wanted to call you that to your face," she admitted, the lightest of blushes dusting her cheeks.
He felt his being shattering as she said that. Indirectly she was telling him that she knew the outcome of her stay here in the hospital. It pained her, he could tell that, and the spark of defiance still glimmering subtly in her deep eyes told him that she was not ready for death yet. Guilt assaulted him once more as the truth of it sunk in: He was the one who killed Yori.
His façade crumbled as he doubled over, bringing both of his hands to the sides of her face and leaning down. "Yori…" Even to himself, as he rested his forehead upon hers, he sounded broken. Her hands reached up towards him and touched his face too, her fingers brushing against his temples.
They were cold.
"Yori I…" He owed her this much. This pitiful secret was the least that he could trust her with. "I'm a vampire."
There. He'd said it. He'd trusted her with his most vital secret. Now it was all up to her. If she pushed him away then she had every right to. If she cringed from him in disgust then he'd know why. If she tried to run then he would let her – and die.
He didn't want her to push him away; he didn't want her to cringe and he didn't want her to run. He wanted to keep her to himself. That selfish impulse flared again when her fingers resting on his temples twitched and lifted from his skin.
Then she threaded her fingers through his hair and mumbled, "So that's why you're so fast." Aidou locked his eyes with hers and, to his surprise and delight, found them to be shining with something akin to… acceptance? She tilted her own head on the white pillow. "Explains a lot," she whispered.
He was still on edge, nervous and tense, not allowing himself to hope just yet. "You're… not shocked?"
"Shocked…" she seemed to mull the statement over for a while before replying. "A little, I guess. But you were never really normal; always doing things that threw me off… This just sums it up nicely."
Aidou stared into her sincere eyes for one more moment and then sagged in relief; his tense shoulders slumping as he slid his face to burrow into the crook of her neck, drowning himself in her sweet, sweet scent. "Thank you."
Yori's hands came up behind his head and held him to her, her soft fingertips tracing over his scalp. Aidou allowed himself to relax into her side, pulling his arms around her and holding her close. He was in an awkward position; half sitting on the bed but lying right beside Yori, his arms encircling her possessively but he couldn't have felt more comfortable.
As the tension of the moment faded, Yori's fingers began to move lightly through his hair, making him sigh. The feeling of having her fingers gently running over his head was soothing and made him feel sleepy. Did she do this often? Despite himself a low, feral growl began to build in his chest and he fought to keep it down. He didn't want to startle Yori but it slipped through his teeth and vibrated within his chest. Trying to muffle the sound, he nuzzled into Yori's soft neck. He could feel the frail girl stiffen within his grasp, probably unused to the strange reaction from him. To soothe her he began massaging circles into her shoulder with his right hand, trying to loosen her stiffened muscles.
It took a while but soon enough she was once more lying limply on the bed, her fingers stilling in their combing through his hair. Aidou sighed as he pushed himself into a half-sitting position, supporting himself on his arms. "Sorry if I startled you, Yori," his rueful grin only helped to convince Yori more that he wasn't at all sorry but in fact found her reaction somewhat amusing. Playfully she cuffed his arm, with less strength than she would have liked to have.
Aidou only widened his grin as her blush continued to grow beneath her cheeks. Deciding to appease her, Aidou shifted himself to sit fully on the white bed towards where Yori's head was supported by her pillow. Carefully lifting her head from the pillow he instead placed her head into his lap, gingerly weaving his fingers through her hazel hair. It was so incredibly soft and as he brushed his fingers across her scalp he noticed her eyelids drooping. So his ministrations were having the same effect on her as hers did on him. Somehow, that fact brought him enormous satisfaction.
"Hanabusa," Yori said then, making shivers erupt from his spine as she spoke his name. He suddenly found that she could give his name a whole new ring. "What are your sisters like?"
Aidou allowed himself a smile and continued playing with her hair, watching her peaceful face. "My sisters…" he smiled, remembering his three siblings that he had mentioned to her in passing. "They're a handful. The eldest one, Kasumi, is just a little older than me and she has the guts to rub it in my face all the time." He grinned, remembering his big sister's attitude. "But she's kind, at times, and ruthless to anyone who gets in her way. She's going to take over our father's business when he retires… I guess. She wants to though and she's good at it, so she's perfect for the job." He gives a dry chuckle. "I could almost feel sorry for her competitors."
"But you don't," Yori finished.
Aidou smiled and looked down at her relaxed face still supported on his lap. So the girl had a bit of a vindictive streak in her. Good.
"The other two are younger than me," he told her. "Hanabi is about two years younger and very cheeky, though Father keeps her in line. She's obsessed with human mythology and is practically a walking encyclopedia on the subject. I bet she could rival some professors if she got into an argument with them."
Yori smiled, leaning into his touch as he ran his fingers through her hair some more. She didn't want to fall asleep now. She was enjoying his attentions too much…
"And the youngest?" she asked.
"Chihiro. She only looks to be about six but has already worked her way through our library and she's addicted to a human sweet called 'Dots'. It's a miracle she hasn't gotten a cavity yet."
Yori's lips twitched. "I guess having strong teeth is a good thing then."
Aidou tensed up at her vampire-related joke but Yori opened her eyes to look at him and allowed him to see the playful twinkle there. He relaxed once more and continued to stroke through her hair.
"Just wondering," Yori interrupted. "How old are you really?" she looked at him with one eye opened whilst still enjoying his innocent touch.
Aidou gave her a cocky smirk. During the moments that he'd thought about telling her about his real nature, he'd thought over what she'd ask him. He'd been anticipating this question and had been planning on it too much to let the opportunity to tease her pass him up. "How old do you think I am?" he asked, challengingly.
Yori wanted to sigh in exasperation. Of course he'd make things difficult. "So now I have to guess?"
"If you want an answer then yeah," he told her, a hint of arrogance colouring his tone.
"I don't get any hints?"
"None."
Yori stuck out her tongue a little. "Jerk."
"Deal with it."
She smiled again and sighed, turning her head slightly and heaving a contented exhale of air before snuggling further into his lap. "You're really warm, Hanabusa."
Once again the strange thrill raced up his spine as she spoke his name from her lips. He removed one hand from her head and laid it over her body, gripping her shoulder gently. Her hands came up to hold onto his arm and pulled it closer to her, almost cuddling it. "And you smell nice," she told him.
He scoffed slightly at the irony. "That's funny, normally I'm the one saying that line."
Yori smiled too. "Yes, I suppose you would be."
She started nodding off as he continued to massage her head. Just as she was about to nod off again he leant down and whispered huskily into her ear, "Oh, and by the way," he spoke slowly and deliberately. "I'm older than you."
A/N: And that's it! I don't have much experience with a stressful situation such as a loved one in a critical condition and I don't know if I've captured the angst and tension in the right way. I hope that my imagination did the situation justice.