Chapter 15: "Neapolitan Blues"
I arrive home around 5:30 in the evening. The sun is just setting, and it gives a pleasant orange glow to the surrounding grasses and the facade of the Tohno Mansion. I fish my keys out of my pocket, but the door is opened before I am able to open it.
I am greeted by a rather interesting sight.
That sight is of Hisui cleaning the mansion. This in and of itself is not unusual, as that is what Hisui always does.
What is unusual is that of Yumizuka Satsuki having opened the door. It looks like she has borrowed one of Kohaku's old kimonos.
I blink at it. I never really thought about it until now, but seeing her like that... I realize that Yumizuka Satsuki is the perfect kind of girl to wear a kimono. Even though she wears one of Kohaku's, it looks as if it was made – no, destined – for her to wear.
Hisui looks up from her mopping. "Ah. Good evening, Akiha-sama." Yumizuka-san nods head her head after hearing Hisui's comment. I notice her eyes are brown at the moment. She smiles. "Yes, good evening, Akiha-san."
"Good evening," I say to the two without much emotion in my voice. It is not that I am feeling emotionless tonight - rather, it is that I am shocked to see that Yumizuka-san would take to such work readily. One look at her and it is almost like she was here for years.
...Then again, considering the alternative, I think even I would do such work if it meant I gained what I have given her.
I snap out of my stupor soon enough.
"Right. Ah, I think I will go prepare something for us to eat. Hisui, you are surely hungry." I look to Hisui.
"Yes, Akiha-sama." She bows slightly, while blushing. Hisui is still rather afraid to cook, so often Nii-san or I do the cooking for us. It must be a bit embarrassing for her, a maid, to defer to cooking in favor of her mistress, generally.
However, as it is usually only me and her, with Len and Nii-san only occasionally, it is not much of a bother. The alternative are plum and vinegar sandwiches... well, not really. Hisui's cooking has improved, at least, to the point where it is palatable, if unremarkable. Although occasionally, she will still manage to surprise us with her, shall we say, otherworldly sense of taste?
However, we now have a new face in the mansion. One who I am quite sure would even eat what Hisui would prepare... which is actually rather terrifying, when you think about it.
Yumizuka Satsuki has had to run from everyone and everything she knew and loved, and had to deal with the very real possibility that she may never have it back again. This includes simple things like safety, shelter, and, yes, even food.
"Yumizuka-san? Are you hungry as well?" I look to the brown-haired girl standing just a few feet away from me.
"Well," she begins, standing up fully and stretching. "The only thing I ever really hunger for is blood, but I would still like to eat normal food... if that's no problem, that is." She speaks the last part somewhat timidly, as if to say it is okay to refuse her simple request.
Nothing further could be from my mind.
"It is no problem at all, Yumizuka-san. Very well," I say with a smile as I throw some of my hair behind my shoulder. "Hisui, has Len been around lately?"
"Kuro Neko-san?"* Yumizuka-san asks me before Hisui can answer.
"Ah, yes. Len is... well, she is a bit different as well." Then again, life in the Tohno mansion is a different life from the lives most lead.
"She didn't seem that different to me," Yumizuka-san replies. "Anyway, I caught her staring at the strawberry shortcake that was sitting out, and so I cut her a small slice and put it on a plate. She seemed quite happy to eat it." She smiles happily.
Why? That is simple. Yumizuka Satsuki was finally able to help someone, instead of hurt them for a change. Such a simple thing as granting a familiar a few moments of happiness is enough to help along her own healing.
...It is rather sad, when one thinks about it subjectively, that for the last year, Yumizuka Satsuki has been forced to do some very bad things just to survive. Even if she did not drink from people or animals, she would have needed blood in some way, shape, or fashion. There is no avoiding this state, as she is a vampire. If she does not procure blood, she will eventually enter a state called a "feeding frenzy." In this state, she would attack the first warm-blooded creature she could find, and she would drink it dry.
Sanity would return only to be staring into the face of an ashen, pale corpse.
...The image of Hisui from my nightmares returns. White skin. Maroon lips...
…...I quickly shake it from my head.
"Yes, Len is fond of strawberry. She will likely be fine, then." Regardless, I will make a little extra just in case. It is always better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. "Very well. Then please clean hard so that you may earn your dinner properly. It should be done in about..." I look at the clock in the foyer. 5:37 PM. "...6:45 PM. I will inform the both of you when it is prepared. If you will excuse me, then." I smile, politely nod, and walk off towards the kitchen.
I am still in my school outfit, but that is fine. It is easier to cook in this than my regular clothing. Plus, while I have spare school uniforms, replacing my regular dress will not be so easy. I am too fond of it. At least with my school uniforms, I have several spares in case something happens. My favorite blouse and dress... not so many. I only have two of those, and for some reason they are extraordinarily difficult to find in my size.
Lasagna, I think it is called. It is a fairly simple dish. Simple enough for me to construct, anyway. It is merely layers of pasta, cheese, and some sauces. I decide I will put a little bit of ground beef into the tomato sauce, as that will probably be a little more nutritious and give it some additional texture and flavor compared to just cheese and pasta.
I roll up the sleeves on my uniform, and get to work.
An hour later, I pull it out carefully, having put the oven mitts firmly over my hands. I quickly place it on the counter, before the intense heat can permeate the gloves. I may enjoy heat, but there is a difference between a nice, hot bath, and an oven at 190 degrees centigrade.
"...Haa." I breathe a sigh of relief.
So far, it looks about as it should and smells about as it should. It smells cooked, and steam wafts off of the top of it.
Well then. I should dish it out.
Carefully, I cut squares out of the large pan, lifting them out. Well-cooked meat, cheese, and sauce in layers greet my eyes.
Absolutely perfect. I silently smile with pride.
Kohaku would likely be very proud of the job I did on this. Successfully making this dish means that I have placed the right amounts of ingredients inside. There is not too much cheese to reduce it to a stringy mess. There is not so much meat that it is spilling out, but instead it remains nicely compacted in its own layer. The noodles are cooked enough that it is able to withstand the weight of the various layers above, and none of them are undercooked, nor overcooked.
With this, I put servings on three plates that I pulled down about ten minutes ago, and then I bring them out to the dining table. I put Hisui's in her usual seating place, and mine in mine, but as I do not know where Yumizuka-san will like to sit, I put hers across from me for now.
"Hisui and Yumizuka-san, please stop and have some food. Dinner is ready." I call downstairs.
I can hear their footsteps approaching, but Yumizuka-san literally runs up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Ironically, the one who should no longer hunger for food appears the more hungry of the two. Keeping in mind her situation, as well as the fact that this is her first "human" meal in the last year, I decide to be tolerant of this for now, as well as the fact that she so recklessly ran up the stairs, but I will not allow it to be a regularity.
"Ah. Yumizuka-san, I have placed your plate here for now, but if you would like to sit elsewhere at the table, please feel free to move it." I offer her the choice, so as to be accommodating to her.
"No, this is fine, Akiha-san. Thank you." She smiles slightly, and sits carefully in her chair at approximately the same time Hisui does.
Hisui looks at me. "Lasagna, Akiha-sama? Your cooking is beginning to progress." Hisui blushes slightly in embarrassment. Perhaps she realizes that, of all of the regular inhabitants of the house, Yumizuka-san aside of course, as she is new, she is the only one whose cooking is not quite as nice as she would like it to be.
"Hisui, if you wish to learn to be a better cook, all you have to do is learn alongside me when Kohaku teaches me. You are not going to become a better cook by simply desiring to be one, you must learn it." I place the forks down for both Hisui and Yumizuka-san. "It would not trouble myself for you to be there, and I seriously doubt Kohaku would mind teaching you how to be a better cook, either. After all, someday you will leave my employ, and you will want to be able to cook for your husband, will you not?" I smile slightly.
"...Yes. Of course, Akiha-sama." Hisui blushes deeply as she bows her head slightly. "I will consider it." She claps her hands. "Itadakimasu." With this, she begins to eat.
I turn my attention back towards Yumizuka-san. "And you, Yumizu–"
Yumizuka-san is staring at her plate like it is a five-star gourmet meal. Like she had died and gone to food heaven, perhaps.
...Seeing her with a hungry look in her eyes, and knowing it is my food that is causing that, makes heat and blood rise to fill my cheeks a little.
"It looks so good..." I hear her softly say. For some strange reason, I believe I can hear her mouth watering.
I know for a fact I just heard a stomach growl. And I know it was not mine, or Hisui's.
I smile, and laugh a little in embarrassment. "W, Well then, Yumizuka-san. Please, go ahead and eat. You do not need to wait for me to begin." I swallow hard, and try to will the blood from my cheeks.
"I-I don't? Well then... Itadakimasu!" And she digs in eagerly.
No... eagerly is too weak of a word. Ravenously?
…...No, that will not do either.
How do I put this then...? Ah, I got it.
The way she begins eating it, I think it could have been burnt, smoking, gray, tough as old shoe leather, smelled like a corpse, and tasted probably as pleasant... and Yumizuka-san would have still eaten it.
"...Itadakimasu," I say quietly to myself, and I begin to eat in kind, before I lose my appetite. I cut a small corner off of my piece of lasagna, lift it to my lips, and enclose my mouth around it.
...I chew a few times, and evaluate my own cooking.
...It is actually quite good. I think I would have preferred slightly more cheese, but it is far from inedible. I will have to remember this the next time I prepare it. On the whole though... far from inedible, and certainly something I can be proud of making.
After a few moments, Hisui starts up a conversation about how quickly Yumizuka-san and she had been able to clean the house. Apparently, Yumizuka-san took to cleaning quite well, and Yumizuka-san comments how Hisui made things a lot easier on her, as well. The conversation is polite and warm. It seems that Hisui and Yumizuka-san get along quite well.
"Yumizuka-san, are you adjusting well to here?" I ask before I insert another forkful of lasagna into my mouth.
She swallows hers before speaking. "I am. It is a large place, Akiha-san. If it is just you and Hisui-san, and occasionally Kohaku-san and Tohno-kun, why is it so large?" Her brown eyes blink a little. She is curious about this place... but well, I cannot blame her for this. It IS a little unusual for such a large place to house so few people, is it not?
"Ah, well, before Otou-sama passed away, a lot more people and servants were here. When he passed on, I desired some more privacy, so I sent all of them away and reassigned the servants, keeping only Hisui and Kohaku." I state truthfully, and matter-of-factly.
"I see," she says as she takes another mouthful of Lasagna into her mouth, as if it was the most precious thing in the world right now.
...I feel a little proud that it has made her a little happy, at least.
"What about you, Yumizuka-san? What was your life like before your... well, your change? Ah, but please do not answer if it is too painful." I inquire. I do not want to pressure the girl into divulging herself. Even though I felt that I should be open towards her so that she knows what she is getting into, I should not expect similar standards from such a person.
Yumizuka-san shakes her head. "No, I've... accepted it now." She sighs sadly. "Well... mom worked as a nurse, and dad died some time ago." She sighs. "I've left her alone now." For a brief moment, a pang of sadness and regret crosses her face.
A look that makes me feel very bad about asking her such a question. This is making me a little sad.
...I do not want Yumizuka-san to be sad like that. It makes my heart wrench firmly inside my breast.
"I will try to inform her that you are okay, but she might not want to see you, due to your... affliction." I quickly and firmly state. "Though, I am trying to do something about that, too..."
"Eh?" Yumizuka-san blinks at me.
"Well, vampirism is really just a disease like any other. The tricky aspect of it is that it changes your body's genetic structure, similar to other diseases. It makes it sensitive to sunlight and changes your body's nutritional needs. If we can reverse that, then it is possible we can cure you, but this is no guarantee. If given the–"
"I'll do it," she says before I can even offer.
"–choice..." I finish. "...Well... alright then. I shall see what I can do." I look to her, as if seeking approval.
She blinks for a few moments, before she speaks.
"Thank you, Akiha-san." She smiles happily. It is a contagious smile, much like Hanei's.
After dinner, it is time to groom myself. I take care of bodily needs, shower, and change, before going through the mail. Nii-san should have sent a letter today, but it is unlikely that it will get here until tomorrow. Still, I look.
…...No, there is nothing. Just the usual letters from branch families...
I sigh.
I have no interest in reading them, but read them I must. It looks like another long night of signing papers for Tohno Akiha.
Really... how could you forget, Nii-san?ǃ You know I was waiting for your letter most of all! You ignorant... argh! I cannot even think of a good thing to call him right now! That idiot...
I will have to give him a stern talking-to when I get home. If he must go with Ciel-san on these missions to help her out, then that is fine, but... I would really like for him to remember that he has SOME people in this world who care about him, even if Curry-senpai does not.
I walk over to my desk and set the stack of papers down on them. At least I shall get to try out my new fountain pen. I look at it for a moment, and note that it is well-made. It fits my hand well.
...Well then. I should uncap it, and begin.
I get to work. I give a cursory glance of perhaps ten or fifteen second per paper before I settle the issues simply.
Signed, Tohno Akiha. Assent. Signed, Tohno Akiha. Assent. Si– wait. "Permission to eliminate known plotter?" This one, I do more than glance over, and read.
…...This is ludicrous. Signed, Tohno Akiha. Rejected.
A knock interrupts my working. I turn to the door slightly. "Enter."
Yumizuka-san walks in. She is out of Kohaku's maid outfit now, and is in her cleaned school outfit. It seems it has been repaired by Hisui, as well. It does not look so bad, although obviously, not as good as new... although I doubt she will ever get a new one.
"Ah. Yumizuka-san. What is it?" I set my pen down.
"Akiha-san... did... you really mean what you said?" The brown-haired girl blinks before me, and asks this question as if she were a lost child.
"About?" I inquire.
"...About a cure." She pushes her fingers together.
"...Of course, Yumizuka-san," I reply. "I would never dare to insult you by kidding about something like that... and truth be told, it would benefit us, the Tohno, as well, for it would be the base for an attempt to cure our genetic predisposition to the Inversion Impulse. I do not know if what we have will work for you, but I shall try."
Yumizuka-san looks like she is about to cry. "...I don't know how to repay your generosity..."
"Do not worry about that," I tell her. "If I had killed 'him' as I planned on doing originally, you would have never been bitten, so it is partially my fault that you are what you are." I sigh, looking away slightly in regret. If only I had been able to get to him sooner... "...Also, having an ally such as yourself can be useful if things go sour. Hisui is not exactly a fighter. Kohaku is only okay at it. Nii-san is wonderful, but he is not here very often. Therefore, we both benefit from this."
Yumizuka-san simply blinks. She looks like she is thinking, but about what, I am unsure. She bites her lip slightly.
…...Did the suggestion I just made offend her?
"...Sorry. That was not right for me to do. I will not involve you in our own petty squabbles or things like that. Forgive me, Yumizuka-san." I apologize wholeheartedly to her, and turn back to my papers.
"...Hey, Akiha-san...?" I can hear her as she walks over to me.
"...Yes, Yumizuka-san?" I turn slightly in my chair to look at her as she walks over.
...And just like that, she springs with frightening speed...!
...Into a hug...?
A tight embrace...
...Yumizuka's clothing is still warm from coming out of the dryer. As is her body. Strange. Are not vampires supposed to gain body heat from the blood of others? It is why I drank Kohaku's, partially...
I blink slightly as she presses me against her body. Why...? Why would she want to embrace someone who she has barely even met, who she barely even knows...?
"...I can't thank you enough, Akiha-san. Tohno-kun was right about you... you're tough on the outside, but inside, you're kind to those who you want to be kind to." She says this in a tone of sincerity, one that can only come from someone speaking from the very bottom of their hearts.
...I blink. Nii-san... said that about me?
But, I am sharpest of all to Nii-san. He is older than me by approximately 11 months, so why...?
I do not realize it, but Yumizuka-san holds me close to her for quite some time. I am not sure of exactly how long before she pulls away.
With a smile, she says "Thank you, Akiha-san" once more, and departs, leaving me aswirl in my thoughts.
That night, as I laid down in my bed, that scene continues to replay through my head, over and over.
"Tohno-kun was right about you... you're tough on the outside, but inside, you're kind to those who you want to be kind to." Her honest, heartfelt feelings.
...It was nothing, really, just simple human compassion. It was hardly something to be making such a big deal out of it, so...
...Why is she? Is she really that happy over what I said I would do? It is a simple thing for us, really, especially talking with her mother, but...
…...It is like she is wholly accepting and trusting of me now. Of a stranger. Of someone whom she did not even know twenty-four hours ago.
...Is she really that lonely? Is this all that Yumizuka Satsuki needed, someone to treat her with simple dignity and kindness?
...And she could find nobody to give it to her?
How... horrible. How simply horrible, and unfair.
Yumizuka Satsuki certainly has not asked for anything that has happened to her to happen, but the simple fact is that, with only a few exceptions, even monsters have some humanity inside them.
The key element, then, is not to treat them as monsters. Do not dismiss them in that way. No. Think of them as simply "lapsed humans" for lack of a better phrase. And if you do that, the humanity may come right back to the surface.
That is why it worked so easily and simply on Yumizuka-san. She does not want to be a vampire... therefore, I simply will not regard her as one. I will simply consider her as a human teenaged girl, similar to myself, who just so happens to need a little bit of blood every day to live and function.
Yes. That is the plan I will follow. Because Yumizuka Satsuki is a vampire in name only, certainly not in action or thought.
I sigh as I turn over in my bed, my mind preoccupied in my thoughts and my emotions, even as I laid down.
As I begin to drift off to sleep and my eyes close, I make myself a promise.
That promise is a simple one, but one I swear by and will hold myself to at all possible costs.
"...I will help you the best that I can, Yumizuka-san."
It is the last thought that goes through my brain before my consciousness switches off for the next several hours.
* Kuro Neko-san: Literally means "Black Cat", but said in a polite manner. This is what Satsuki calls Len.
...How could Yumizuka-san become so close to me that quickly?
We... are both monsters. She should know that just as well as I.
Is simple compassion and empathy truly a rarity in this world...?
Next week (9/19/10) – Chapter 16: "Rainbow Sky"