Kokoa had sprinted almost all the way from the newspaper room to the library. She had planned on just walking there, telling herself that it didn't matter all that much if she did not get the foreigner's blood that night. After all, she was going to have several more chances to get it later as they were working on the project together. Then, she happened to see a clock on the wall, and saw that it was ten minutes past eight pm. Next thing she knew, her legs were pumping like her life depended on it.
She finally reached the library door and was about to throw it open, if not rip it off its hinges entirely, when she caught herself. She realized that she was panting like a dog, her uniform was disheveled, and her face was probably flushed bright red from her exhaustion. The mere thought of her, a member of the vampire elite, being seen in that state was enough to make her feel sick. She took a few seconds to calm down a bit and straighten out her skirt and vest. Then, she calmly, in a manner befitting a vampire, opened the door. She ignored the loud thump as the door hit the wall.
She went into the library, weaving her way around the long tables meant for group work and the enclosed desks where students were meant to work on their own, going past the two or three easy chairs and looking down each row of bookshelves for the foreigner. Then, she made her way through it all a second time. And a third. Kokoa told herself that the reason for the faster pace of her heart was because she was angry at the prospect of being held up by such a nobody.
As she was looking through the length and breadth of the library for the fifth time, she heard footsteps approaching the library door. Kokoa's eyes widened and she quickly composed herself, again, making it look like she was just casually browsing the bookshelf she was in front of. She looked at the door as it slowly opened.
It took Kokoa a little bit to realize who was coming in, they had changed out of their uniform and into a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, but she soon recognised them as the foreigner.
"You're late!" Kokoa yelled irritably, louder than she probably needed to. She realized who she was yelling at and switched languages. "You are late!" she yelled in english.
"Oh, so you did come," said the foreigner. "Cool, now we can get to work." He went over to one of the long tables and sat at the side about three feet away from the wall.
"What took you so long?!" Kokoa asked. "You are so lucky I'm still here! I should've left as soon as I saw you weren't here at eight on the dot!" Even as she berated him, she moved over to the desk the foreigner had selected, placing her bag on the ground and sitting down across from him.
"Yeah, well, I'm sorry," said the foreigner as he reached into his bag. "But I wasn't exactly going to rush to meet up with someone who had told me they might not be there." He pulled out a textbook and a notebook. As he did so, Kokoa caught sight of the hand he had cut open, its palm now buried under a layer of bandages. Her eyes lingered on it as it reminded her of why she was going to all this trouble. The foreigner noticed her gaze. "Oh, yeah. It wouldn't stop, so I figured I should go the nurse and get it checked out. She bandaged it up for me." Kokoa offered no response, but he didn't seem to expect one as he reached back into his backpack. "Now," he said as he pulled out a water bottle and placed it on the desk next to him. "Let's get to work on this thing." He opened the bottle up and took a drink, allowing Kokoa to remember that there was a reason he had wanted to meet with her.
She groaned as he opened up the textbook and they got to work.
-Two Hours Later-
"Okay," said the foreigner, responding to Kokoa's idea on how to simplify the formula. He looked into his notebook. "I'll have to check if that works- Oh, wow." He looked at the wallclock above him. "Tomorrow by the looks of it."
"What?" Kokoa asked, forcing the grogginess from her voice.
"Well," the foreigner pointed at the clock, "it's past ten, for one. And for two, I just noticed that for the last five minutes, I've been drawing smiley faces in my notebook instead of what we were talking about."
"Yeah, sure." Kokoa was only barely paying attention to him. Throughout the discussion, she had only been contributing enough to keep him from getting the impression she was a slacker while she tried to think of a way to convince him to give her his blood. After constant covert glances at his cut and sharp reminders of the smell that had driven her to this point, she had finally come up with an idea. Will he go for it? she asked herself. Don't be stupid! Of course he will! How could he possibly refuse a deal like this from a vampire elite like you!
Thus bolstered, Kokoa put her plan into action. "So, what are you gonna do about them?" she asked as she gestured at his bandaged hand.
"Check my desk before I stick my hand into it from now on," said the foreigner.
Kokoa knew it was coming, but she still couldn't believe her ears. "And that's it?" she blurted out. "If someone had tried to do something like that to me, pieces of them would be found all over the dorms!"
"Yeah, well, I don't exactly have that option!" he snapped. "What do you care anyways?" he went back to packing his bag.
"Hmph," went Kokoa. The vampire pulled a face like a mildly interesting idea had just struck her. "You know, I might be able to help you."
The foreigner looked at her skeptically.
Kokoa explained. "The frozen blood packs this school provides me are garbage, unfit even for a leech, let alone a vampire, let alone a vampire of my standing. I deserve warm, fresh blood. If you give me yours, then I'll deal with the people who bother you." She suddenly realized what she sounded like. "D- don't think I'd do this kind of thing normally!" she hastily added. "Be thankful the school's food is so terrible, otherwise I'd never even consider taking blood from you!"
The foreigner looked unimpressed by her offer and Kokoa felt a pang of worry. Oh shit, what if I insulted him? Stupid, stupid, what are you thinking! Who cares if you insulted him! It doesn't matter, he'll still- Kokoa's thoughts were cut off as she saw him open his mouth in a way that made it clear he was about to reject her. Kokoa thought quickly.
"In fact," she said, trying to sweeten the deal. "Since I'd have to be seen around you to do that, I'll probably have to teach you a little japanese. It wouldn't do for me to be in the company of someone who can only barely speak to anyone else!" I hope that was enough.
The foreigner still looked unimpressed and Kokoa tried her best to look as unconcerned as possible while her mind raced to try and think of anything else she could offer him. She had hit a brick wall when suddenly the foreigner spoke.
"Alright. You deal with the assholes who bug me, and help tutor me, and I'll give you some of my blood."
Kokoa hid her sigh of relief. "Good choice," she said, forcing an aloof tone. "Let's say, I take blood from you whenever you need me to protect you."
"No." Kokoa kept her panicked reaction away from her face as the foreigner spoke. "I can't give up that much blood a day. How about, once a day, anytime after school."
"...Fine," Kokoa said. "And I'll take my first payment right now."
Now it was the foreigner's turn to look shocked. "Now?"
"Yes!" Kokoa said grumpily.
"Uhm… Okay. Do you want me to get a needle from the nurse or someth-"
"What?!" Kokoa screamed. She saw the foreigner step back a bit and calmed herself down. She couldn't screw this up, not when she was so close. She just had to taste the blood once, see that it was nothing special, and forget the agreement ever happened. She controlled her voice and spoke. "I am a proud vampire of the Shuzen line. I do not! Take blood from a needle." The blood packs didn't count. They were barely food. "I take it straight from the source." Kokoa stared at his neck, ignoring the saliva building up in her mouth.
"What? I mean..." the foreigner shifted around nervously as he saw her gaze. He rubbed his neck. "Isn't that going to hurt?"
Kokoa rolled her eyes and suppressed a growl in frustration. She quickly reached out and pinched him, making him flinch. "It hurts less than that. Now, stand up and come here!"
He got up and walked over to Kokoa's side of the desk. Kokoa stood up as well, nearly throwing her chair back in anticipation. It was only now, standing directly in front of him, her eyes level with the bottom of his chest, that she realized exactly how tall the foreigner actually was.
A couple of awkward seconds passed. "Is… there a problem?" asked the foreigner.
"No!" Kokoa snapped through her teeth, unable to hold back her irritability at this new obstacle when her goal was all but in hand, well, in mouth. "You're too tall!"
"I'm five foot eleven, you japanese are all just really short!" he said in defense.
Kokoa forced down the urge to hit him for calling her short, even non-specifically. Your blood had better taste like the nectar of the gods!
"Do you want me to bend down a bit?" he asked.
"Don't patronize me." Kokoa stretched her neck out as high as it could go, but it wasn't enough. She slowly stood up until she was on the very tips of her toes, only to find that she was less than a centimeter out of reach of his vein. The foreigner bent down very awkwardly, covering the remaining distance. As soon as it was in range, Kokoa pounced.
*Capu chuu*
The instant the blood touched her tongue, Kokoa's eyes shot wide open. Her every nerve was on fire, pleasure rushed through her body like electricity as she gulped it down. She began to lean on the foreigner's body as her knees slowly gave way. She was distantly aware of the fact she was being yelled at, but she didn't care as she took more and more blood into her system. Then she felt a very painful shock on her leg, making her teeth release their bite.
As soon as she had let go, the foreigner leapt over to other side of the table and pressed himself against the wall. With no more support, Kokoa fell flat onto her ass, only barely registering the drop as she swished the last mouthful of blood around in her mouth.
"What in the hell was that!" yelled the foreigner as he quickly reached out to stand his water bottle back up. It had fallen over when he was moving around, yelling at Kokoa to let go. some of its contents had landed onto her leg. As soon as it was upright, he went back to leaning against the wall to compensate for his wooziness due to having just lost a pint and a half of blood. He clasped one hand over the bite marks on his neck as he shouted at Kokoa. "What is wrong with you?!"
Kokoa could barely hear him as she gulped down the last of the blood. "That was… Really… Really… Really," she said in between gasps as she waited for her eyes to focus.
"What!?" Kokoa had started speaking japanese again.
As her mental haze began to clear up, Kokoa became acutely aware of what kind of state she was in. She leapt to her feet and turned her nose up to hide her blush. She took a step towards the table, making the foreigner recoil and press himself further into the wall.
"Stay away from me!" he said.
Kokoa looked at him condescendingly and sat back down at the table. "Oh, calm down." She had gone back to english. "It's not like I'm going to jump you." It's not that the urge wasn't there, to throw the table out of the way and attach herself back to his neck, but Kokoa knew she had to play it smart.
"It feels like you nearly drained me!"
"Oh please." She flipped her hair. "If I wanted all your blood, I'd have it right now."
This realization made the foreigner calm down a little, though he still didn't sit back down. Kokoa could feel his nervousness, but now that she had tasted his blood she wasn't going to give it up so easily. She tried to make him feel comfortable.
"Look, you're already so much weaker than me, that I can't tell when you get weaker," she said. "So, from now on, if you feel I'm taking too much, just push me off." Kokoa laughed briefly as a thought struck her. "You should be happy, not many men get to put their hands on me."
The foreigner made a sarcastic face at her. "I'm flattered, but I can't," he said.
"What? Look, I'm giving you permission-"
"It's not a matter of permission, I just can't!"
"What?" Kokoa loudly said. "I won't even put any force into staying on, are you so weak that-"
The foreigner cut her off angrily, finally peeling away from the wall and advancing towards her. "Look, if I wanted to, I coul-!" He took a deep breath and stopped in his tracks. He clenched his eyelids shut and turned his face towards the ceiling. After another deep breath, he began explaining his predicament. "If I perform any physically aggressive action towards another student, faculty member, or otherwise sentient being, for any reason whatsoever, up to and including self-defense, it will result in immediate expulsion from Youkai Academy and its campus."
Kokoa was shocked. "What? Why on earth would-"
"It was the only way the school would accept me! Well, that and one other thing," he said to the side. He tried to change the subject. "So, yeah, me pushing you off won't work. Any other ideas?"
Kokoa was lost. She couldn't believe it. To be in Youkai Academy, where the average student got into at least five fights before the end of their first year, and not be allowed to throw a punch. But, even worse that that, that stupid rule was keeping her away from blood that made her feel like she was turning into a goddess as she drank it. Her neurons fired faster than they had ever fired before as they tried to think of a way around it. Her eyes slid to the foreigner's hand.
"I think I have a idea," Kokoa said. "If I bite open your wrist, I can suck on that. That way, when you think I've taken too much, you can just pull away from me and not worry about doing anything that seems like you're attacking me."
"Do you think that'll work?"
"Of course it'll work! It's my idea, isn't it?" Kokoa got up and walked over to the foreigner. "Come here, let's try it." Kokoa tried not to sound too excited by the thought of drinking his blood again.
The foreigner looked at his wrist. "Can I trust you?" he asked, looking Kokoa in the eyes.
Kokoa tried to put as much sincerity as she could into her voice. "Yes."
He glanced at his wrist one more time before extending his forearm out to Kokoa. She grabbed it and tried to bite it, but found that she couldn't from her current position.
It took a little while, but eventually they found a way to stand and angle his arm in way that may have looked awkward, but at least Kokoa could drink from. As soon as the foreigner had agreed that it would work, Kokoa lunged forward and slit his wrist vein open. She attached her lips to the cut and began sucking, feeling her eyes start to roll back into her skull as the blood hit her tongue. Then, as quickly as she had attached herself to it, the wrist was gone. Kokoa couldn't stop the small whine that escaped her as she was denied her treat.
"Okay, it looks like that'll work," said the foreigner. "Sweet!"
"Of course it worked!" Kokoa turned her nose up, only to turn away when she realized that this meant she was now looking right into the eyes of the foreigner.
"Well, I guess all that's left is for you to hold up your side of the deal." The foreigner picked up his bag and began leaving. He spoke loudly so Kokoa could hear what he said from behind him as he walked out. "If somehow, someway, no one bothers me tomorrow, then I'll see you here at seven. That should give us a couple of hours to work on the project and then an hour for you to tutor me a little. See ya." He waved over his shoulder and left.
Kokoa took a couple of seconds to pack her bag and then ran out of the library. She had one last thing to take care of.
-At Kokoa's Dorm Room-
From entering her room, to emptying her mini-fridge, to standing in front of her toilet, the vicious grin never left Kokoa's face. May I never, EVER have to so much as look at you, again, you subpar bags of slop! she thought with glee as she ripped all her blood packs open and poured them into her toilet, cackling all the way. Drown! Drown, you pathetic excuse for food! Droooown!
A/N: The only resource I could find put Kokoa's height at 147 cm, or roughly 4 foot 10.
So, I've only got one more chapter of this written up and another outlined. I've had them for a long while, and would love to write more but I need a good beta reader to help me, and also for motivation. If any of you know a good one, especially one who's good at keeping characters in character, could you tell me?