I don't need it. Mikaela-san lasted four years.
I need it. I'm not Mikaela-san. I'm weak.
The friendly brunette shook and cradled his head, trying to block out his own thoughts and the sound of that precious liquid he craved, all around him. His new canine teeth throbbed and his heart constricted. He wheezed and coughed, clutching at his chest.
He knew very well what he needed, or rather, what his body was crying out for. But he also knew that he would never indulge himself.
He pressed his tongue against his fangs, trying to alleviate the throbbing. He sat in the corner behind the door, close to the window. It had only been two weeks since the battle that had killed him, and he was filled with guilt and self-hatred and thirst.
It would be so simple. Someone's coming now.
"Yoi-kun?" (Y/N)'s slightly worried voice drifted through the door, and he froze, fingers twitching. "Are you okay?" Yoichi Saotome sniffed deeply, drawing in her scent. She smelled like fall, almost as crisp as winter with the warmth and comforts of summer. She smelled of apples and mint and pumpkin pie and everything comforting, and something else. Something deliciously and dangerously inviting. His gaze turned dark and heavy as he looked to her shadow under the door, darkening with his need. "I'm coming in, okay?" She asked cautiously, already turning the knob.
In a flash, Yoichi was up against the door, pushing it closed again. "No!" He called, voice wobbling. "I'm fine, just leave me alone."
The hurt silence was almost painful for him. He finally heard her take a shaky breath. "Yoi-kun...I'm coming in. Let me in." The door rattled, but he pressed against it gently, wary of his new strength. "Yoichi, she said in a scarily calm voice, "I'm not leaving. So you may as well let me in." He shook his head vigorously. She sighed when the door didn't open, and he heard her cloak rustle and bunch together, and he understood that she had sat down against the door, as well. She laid a hand on the floor, next to the crack in the door, and he put his hand over the crack in the door, needing to see her, smell her, taste her.
Against his better judgement, he stood up and opened the door, and she nearly hit her head. (Y/N) craned her head to look up at him and smiled, revealing her own pearly-white fangs, but his forest green eyes focused on the curve of her throat.
"There he is~!" she crowed truimphantly, and her pupils dilated with her pleasure in seeing him. She stood, brushed herself off, and embraced him, warming him.
But it isn't enough. I need more. I need to drink.
Yoichi flinched back, out of her hug, and cold air surrounded him once more. "(Y/N), you shouldn't be here," he said lowly, fingers trembling imperceptibly.
"I know," she admitted, and her pink lips curved into a shy smile, "but I wanted to see you, and make sure you were okay. You've been cooped up here ever since the battle." His fatal encounter with the vamp that had killed his sister, she meant. "It's not healthy."
"It's not healthy for you for you to be here," he said, on the verge of tears as he strode forward and hugged her again, putting his cheek in direct contact with her neck, where her pulse should have throbbed temptingly, just below the surface. He pressed his cold nose against her neck, and he became hyper-aware of his fangs, mere millimeters from her throat.
"Yoi-kun, what ar-" Yoichi finally gave in to the beast within him and clamped his fangs down on her pulse point. "Ow!" She hissed, and instinctively tried to shy away from the source of her pain. She couldn't, because his arms still encircled her in an unbreakable hug.
She tasted similar to how she smelled. The brunette vampire gulped down homemade chocolate chip cookies and refreshingly cool breezes and hot chocolate and marshmallows in front of a fire. Yoichi tightened his arms around her when she wriggled and started to fight back, then dropped them and stepped back in horror, withdrawing his fangs from her neck.
Tears flowed freely down his face, and he wanted to throw himself forward and hug her and beg for her forgiveness, but he knew if he did that, he'd bite her again, so he retreated until his back hit the wall. She looked...surprised. There's really no other word for it. Her hand brushed the two holes in her throat, and she winced, fingers coming away bloody. "(Y-Y/N)-chan..." he started, voice hoarse with grief, but also rejuvinated, "I'm so sorry..."
After everything he'd put her through, she surprised him, then, by smiling gently. "What're you apologizing for? Dummy. Why didn't you tell me that's what you needed earlier?"
"W-What...? (Y/N)-chan, what do you-" Yoichi dared to hope, hope that the one person whose perception of him mattered still liked him, hope that she hadn't rejected him because of his transformation.
"Well, you need blood, right?" Yoichi reluctantly nodded, tearing up again. "I owe you my life. Lacus was fighting me, and you stepped in front of me. You took the slash meant for me. I would be very badly injured if it weren't for you, and so this is the least I can do." She smiled at him, then, as if he were still human, still deserving of her love. "Besides, this is what we do for each other." She walked forward slowly, knowing he was in a fragile state, and hugged him again, stroking his hair comfortingly. "C'mon," she told him. "That couldn't have been enough blood." He shook his head, still unwittingly crying. Now that she mentioned it, the thirst was back...and worse than ever now that he'd had a taste. "Well, c'mon then." She told him. "You need human blood."
Yoichi jerked back and shook his head vigorously. "No!" He exclaimed vehemently. "I-I-I don't wanna be a vampire," he said, tearing up again.
She sighed, seeing that he was going to behave like Mika had when he was first turned. It looked like she would have to play the role of Krul, then.
"Well...Yoi-kun...if you don't desire to complete your transformation just yet, you can subside on vampire blood, on mine, instead of drinking human." This was hard for her to offer, because to let a fellow vampire bite you was to admit they were more powerful and had direct dominion over you for that moment. Letting yourself be bitten means you mark yourself out as prey.
He moved forward and sat next to her almost as if in a trance. "A-Are you sure, (Y/N)-chan?" He asked again, giving her a chance to back out. When she nodded, he grabbed her shoulders carefully, leaned forward, and buried his fangs in her throat. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, and it disgusted him that he thought so.
What frightened him even more was that he found her blood to be more delectable than just a moment ago. She tasted, if such a thing we're possible, of acceptance and love. Of support and patience. Strange as it sounds, Yoichi could taste her love and affection in her blood, and it tasted wonderful.
After half a minute had gone by, he still hadn't pulled back. She tapped his head, trying to get his attention, and failing. "Yoi-kun..." she muttered, before physically grabbing his head and wrestling him off her.
He teared up immediately and backed off. "I'm sorry..." he muttered again, choking on the words, lips coated in her blood.
(Y/N) sighed again and placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. "Yoichi Saotome," she stated firmly, and he flicked uncertain forest green eyes up to her's nervously. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. I volunteered to give you my blood, Lacus was the one that injured you, and your bloodhunger is something every vampire goes through. I'm here for you, okay?" He reluctantly nodded, ceding those points to her. "Good. Now...I've always wanted to do something..."
He nodded hesitantly, brown curls bouncing gently, and she pressed her lips to Yoichi's in a sweet, blood-tainted kiss.
He pulled back immediately, turning bright red. She smiled brightly and threw her arms around him. "Thank you, she said quietly in his ear before rushing back of the door, closing it behind her.
Leaving a bemused brunette vampire flushed and flustered in his room, the feeling of her lips and fangs lingering on his own.
Maybe becoming a vampire wasn't such a bad idea, after all...