Chapter 16

"Solidarity in Companionship"

My heart was pounding in my chest. I'm in her room, I've never been in a girl's room before, besides Yuki's. But I have no time to look around since Touya grabbed my arm and pulled me towards a small coffee table. She pushed me down onto the shaggy rug. "Stay here, I'm just going to grab something" she says.

She walked away and I took this time to have a look around her room. It was as expected of a noble in size, but it was messier than I thought it would be. Her four-poster bed was neat but clearly slept in, covered in lilac sheets and a royal purple, floral patterned, quilt. A black lace was used to drape around the bed and tie to the posts. There were magazines in a pile on a bookshelf and there were some sitting opened on the table in front of me.

I didn't get to look at much else because there was suddenly a strong smell wafting from where Touya went. I tuned to look at her and I saw her walking towards me with a glass full of what could only be blood.

"W-why do you have that?" I stutter a bit, the smell getting to me. The closer she got to me, the stronger the smell.

"You need to drink this." She said, sitting across from me and sliding the glass towards me. My fangs grow and my chest feel tight again. "It's what you came here for, after all."

"I-I can't… Whose blood is that?" I questioned, I couldn't smell or see blood on her, only in the glass.

"I can't tell you, because I don't know."

"H-How can you not know?!" I shouted. However, my body erupted in a spasm of coughs before I could continue questioning her.

"Because it came from a bag" she said it so bluntly. The next thing I know, she's moved closer to me, sliding around the table to sit beside me. Seeing this made my thirst flare again, causing me to grip onto my leg in a vain attempt to thwart the oncoming symptoms. "You have to drink this, or it will only get worse." I know she was right, I need this or else I could get worse, but the thought of drinking it sickens me. This person gave their blood for someone who truly needed it, it wasn't meant for me, I'm not deserving enough for it. Though, I can't deny the need for it much longer as it is becoming too much for me to handle. I decided that I need to leave or else I won't be able to stop myself.

As I moved to stand up to leave, Touya grabs onto my arm tightly, successfully holding me still. My thirst, I can't keep it back any longer, and as she pulls me back down, she also holds the glass closer to me. "Please, I insist." Watching her, I reluctantly take it from her, gulping once. I shakily bring the glass to my lips and taste it. It was nothing like Yuki's blood.

Perhaps the freshness makes a difference? I wouldn't know.

Before I knew it, I had drunk the whole thing and found myself wishing for more. No, bad thoughts. I can't be thinking disgusting stuff like that. So as my thoughts took over, I'd not noticed that Touya had taken the empty glass to, what I assume is the bathroom, to wash out the remnants of blood still inside the glass. She broke me out of my thoughts when she came back.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked.

"Oh, Yea. I guess so…" I mumbled out, followed by a long and awkward silence that neither of us could seem to know how to break. I wasn't about to tell her how I truly felt about it. Luckily for us, the heavy silence was broken by a loud bang, quick steps, and muffled sobs. It appears Souen had made it back to her dorm.

Seems its time for me to leave…

Standing up slowly, I scratch the back of my neck and look away. "I guess that's my cue to leave…" She just nodded and also began to stand up but I motioned for her to stay put. "It's alright" I said. "I'll let myself out." She merely nodded and watched cautiously as I walked away and opened her door, closing it behind me as I left. I continued towards the main exit as planned, but as I walked by the other bedroom door, I heard more sobs.

"Fuck it" I whisper. Already having heard some of their conversation, I could guess what she was crying about and I was feeling somewhat guilty about it.

She really is a good teacher.

With that thought, I'd stopped in my tracks, contemplating whether to at least try to fix this situation a little bit or to leave it as is. I never did like being responsible for others misery. And so, here I stand, feeling like an idiot, my hand an inch from knocking on her door.

Just as I was about to lower my hand, thinking it was probably inappropriate to stay her much longer, a small voice was spoke through the door. "Rima, you know you can just come in." She sounded a little hoarse, like shed been crying for a good while.

"Actually, I think I better knock." I said, unsurely. The door was wrenched open a few seconds later with a disheveled and tear stained Souen standing behind it, her body obscured by the heavy wood. "H-how did you get in here?! Why are you here?" She sounded panicked if not somewhat angry that I was in such a personal area of hers. Not wanting to tell her the true reason I was here, I opted for a half truth. "Touya let me in." I scratched my neck again, "I may have heard some of what Kuran said to you."

She jumped a little, startled by what I said. "You- you listened in on that?!"

"Well, it's not like I meant to, I was just walking past and overhe-" Before I could finish, she grabbed me by my arm, pulling me past the door and into her room. "Hey!"

"W-what did you hear exactly?" She whispered, as if trying to make sure no one else heard.

"Uhh," I paused, not knowing what to say at first. "I don't know if it was the start of your chat, but I heard everything between being firmer with me to trying again." I sounded unsure, mind you, a lot happened after that (though I'm currently trying to keep that off my mind) so I can only remember vague details. She looked at me, her red rimmed eyes staring at me like I had grown a second head. "It is NOT ok to eavesdrop on people's conversations! I can't believe you listened in on that. That was between Kaname-sama and myself, you had no right!" she was clearly heated now, her face reddening slightly. Looking away from me, her expression changed to one of worry. Turning back to me, she looked serious now. "You need to leave. I don't want you in here any longer. A boy shouldn't be here in the first place." She said, pushing me around to face the door. So I did as she asked, went to leave, but as I grabbed the handle, I turned back around to say one last thing. "For what it's worth, I thought you were a great teacher."

Her eyes widened and she took a second before asking "You-you really think so?".

"Well, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it." I left her dorm after that, not hearing if she had anything else to say.

I'd been on my way back to my dorm, just thinking about what Souen had said.

What a waste of time. After all, what did that really earn me? Lectures about how I shouldn't eavesdrop? Well pardon my vampire hearing, Souen. Maybe don't have secret convos in the middle of the foyer next time.

Wait, did I just really call myself a vampire? I guess I really have fallen that low. First Yuki, now some poor naive donator. That's right, I really am a monster now, tonight just proved that once again. It's no different than what I did to Yuki.

I was shaking once again, this time not from pain but from anger. Hatred even. My self-loathing skyrocketing at the thought, unable to accept what I'm slowly becoming. To me, this was a new low, another milestone in my decent into madness. It was making me sick thinking about it.

I'd arrived at my room in record time, slamming the door as I went and making my way into my ensuite. I didn't care how loud I was or if I'd woken anyone. Gripping the lid of the toilet, I open it, retching into the bowl. Blood, not my own, fills the bowl. It tasted fowl, like copper and stomach acid, having lost the initial taste belonging to the poor human.

Fuck. I'd just wasted this person's blood. Blood they donated to save the life of another human.

I glanced at my mirror, a stupid thing to do really. In the mirror I saw a monster. A creature made for taking life, for destroying it. I felt angry, at myself for falling low enough to seek help from a vampire, for accepting said help knowing what it was. I was also mad at her. She tricked me.

That's right… She lured me there when I was weak, too weak to deny her offer.

I balled my fist, my nails cutting into my palm. I was beyond mad; my body was trembling and my heart pounding. Once again looking back at the mirror, I saw my reflection and loathed it. Loathed the red eyes staring back at me and the hint of fangs hiding behind my lips.

*SMASH!*

The glass shattered as my fist made contact with the brittle reflection, causing tiny fragments to fall onto the vanity and into the basin. Pieces of it was stuck around my knuckles, slicing the skin in some areas. Seeing the blood on my hand had elicited more anger. I grabbed the closest thing to me, a toothbrush holder, and threw it hard against the tiled wall, chipping it in the process. The broken pieces on the ground satisfying my rage, egging me on to break more things. I made my way to my bedroom, kicking the laundry basket over, the lid falling off to the side and some clothes spilling out.

I reach to grab something off my shelves, my door opened as Ichijou and Shiki burst in. Ichijou looks around for a second and watches as I swipe my arm across the shelf, tossing the books standing there onto the ground. He races towards me and grabs hold of my arm, stopping me from continuing my rampage. I stop and glare at him, angry at being held back from further destruction of my room.

"Kiryuu-kun, please calm down." Ichijou asked with a hint worry. I heard Shiki ask "what's wrong?" from the doorway, but all I could manage to get out was "Touya…". They seemed to share a look and Shiki left, leaving me alone with Ichijou who was still keeping a tight hold of my arm. I tried pushing him off, not getting very far as he would adjust his grip accordingly. I was getting increasingly more violent the longer he held me, shoving him with my free arm didn't have as much affect as I'd like, but I'd swung my leg but he must have realized what I was about to do. He stepped back, letting go of my arm slightly, enough that I could slip away.

"You should leave." I glare, trying to intimidate him into leaving me alone. I wasn't in the mood to have people near me right now.
"I can't do that." He states, "Clearly something is wrong and I'm not leaving until we know you are ok."

Oh… They wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy…

For some reason, this thought set me off more. Obviously, they wouldn't be here for my sake, and… I didn't want them to be. But that didn't stop my heart from giving a painful jolt. Why? Why is my heart doing that? I shouldn't care if they aren't here for me, so why? Anger flaring, I take it out on the closest thing I can see, a coffee table. Kicking it across the room where it landed on its side. Ichijou had grabbed hold of my shoulder this time, steadying me as two figures walk into view. "He wont calm down." He said to them. "I don't know what's wrong with him."

"Kiryuu-kun." One of the figures spoke. It sounded like a girl which surprised me, what would a girl be doing here? I looked up at them, Shiki had returned with Touya. "Hey, what happened?" Ichijou used my surprise to slowly pull me down to a sitting position on the lounge behind me. I jump a little at feeling the lounge under me. My heart beating fast, still reeling from all the adrenaline. Brushing Ichijou's hand off of me, I look up at them all angrily. "I don't need your help." I bit out. He huffed a little at that.

"What's this about?" Touya asks again, looking tired and ready to leave.

"As if you don't know." I spit. "It's all your fault. If you hadn't have given me that coupon then I wouldn't have had to drink that-" I pause, thinking of what to call it. "-stolen goods!" Shiki and Ichijou look confused while Touya walked closer. "Listen here, that blood wasn't stolen! It was donated so what's the big deal?" the other two stared, finally getting a hint at what happened. "Besides, you were clearly desperate enough to ask for my help, so what makes you think you'd be better off without it? I know you can't take the tablets so what would have happened if you didn't drink that?" I glared back at her, speechless. "This is the only good option you have if you don't want to bite someone."

I had nothing else. Still heated, I glared at her. She leaned back against the wall and spoke "Unless you've got a better idea, we're stuck with this." I muttered under my breath, comparing her to a female dog. No other way came to mind. "I guess you're right…" I huff as I reach up to run my hand through my hair. Before it made it too close though, I heard a gasp coming from Ichijou who had quickly grabbed my wrist to stop me from moving.

The sudden hold on my wrist startled me, but I realized why he grabbed me and it seemed like the other two noticed as well. The glass from earlier had cut my knuckles enough for a line of blood to fall down the back of my hand. Other pieces were stuck but not bleeding as badly.

"Kiryuu-kun is hurt!" Ichijou cried out, as if it wasn't obvious already. His eyes panicked and looking towards Shiki for what to do next. His lover walks over to us and crouches down in front of where I was sitting, grabbing my hand from Ichijou's grip. "Takuma, can you find me a med kit?".

"Me?! But Kiryuu-kun needs me for emotional support!" Oh, do I now?

"Never mind then, Rima could you go get one?" She was still leaning against the wall with a sour look on her face.
"Ugh, fine. Where is it?"

"In the bathroom, under the sink and next to the spare toilet paper." I state, watching as she nodded and moved to walk around the lounge and into the bathroom, out of site. A few seconds go by and we hear a soft "found it".

Walking back into the main room, she hands the small red bag to Shiki, leaning over the lounge to do so when I notice that she's not really wearing a whole lot… I didn't get a good look, but as she wanders back to her spot against the wall, I get a good view. She is in her sleepwear, nothing but a black nightgown that only goes down to her mid-thigh, with a deep V that had some simple but pretty lace detailing. Her back was almost fully exposed by the halter style of the dress. Not something to be wearing in the male section of the dorms.

I could feel my face warming up a little so I move my eyes back to what Shiki was doing, hoping no one noticed. He was already almost finished with picking the glass off my hand, I hadn't even noticed he'd started. Ichijou perked up, seeing a slight tint to my cheeks. "Senri! He's losing blood!" He exclaims, shaking Shiki's arm.

"Stop that, Taku! I have to get this one out and its deeper than the others." He snapped, looking over his shoulder to Touya. "Rima, you going to stand in the corner all night like a voyeur or are you going to help?" I look back over to her as she begins to move around my room, squatting down to pick up some fallen items before standing back up, fixing her night gown, and moving to place them back onto the shelf.

Meanwhile, Shiki had taken my inattention as a sign to pull out the biggest piece, it was in there quite far and left a deep gash. The sudden pain had caused me to realize that I'd been staring. I turn my eyes back to my hand; some blood had leaked from the wound as Shiki grabbed a sterile needle and thread and began stitching it closed. Ichijou's voice in the background chanting a soft "You are doing so well" or "so brave". The pain isn't anything I haven't felt before so I barely flinch at the sharp pricks. When he was done, he cleaned my hand with some sterile wipes before wrapping it in a gauze.

"Ok, ok, my hand is fine, can you all please leave now?" I asked. I was getting tired and some sleep sounded really nice, but I couldn't have that with so many vampires in my room.

"Ehhh? But you aren't healed yet!"

"Come Takuma, leave the poor boy in peace. Rima already left anyway." I hadn't even noticed she'd left till he said that.

"But… what if he needs us?" Ichijou asked, getting pushed out of my room.

"Then he can bang on the wall." Was the calm reply.

I contemplate saying something for a second and it comes out as a mumble anyway, "Thanks."

I wasn't expecting it but Ichijou manages to stop his boyfriend by hanging onto the door frame. "What are friends for?" and he's whisked away, the heavy door slamming loudly behind them.

A muffled "Senri! That was so rude" could be heard from the other side of the door. "We overstayed our welcome." Was the reply, followed by a sad "Really?".

Moving over to my bed, I laid down, arms resting behind my head. The room, I knew, was still mostly a disaster area, even after Touya cleaned up some of the items littered about. Try as I might, I couldn't get what Ichijou had said out of my head. "What are friends for?"

I've never really had friends before, besides Yuki… and Ichiru…

AU: Omg guys. I spent WAY too long on this chapter. But its out! I had a bit of writing block for a while now but I'm glad I could finish this chapter off. It's a long one too! And as always, I couldn't have done it without the help of my friend EmoPissass. She really helped a lot with this chapter in particular. Please let me know what you think.