Bloodlust 〳『A Vampire Yuuichi AU』

ꕥ-3-ꕥ

The harsh white light filtering through his eyes and the consistent sharp beeping sound from the electrocardiogram were the factors that made Yuuichi break up from his beauty sleep- or should I say, his beauty collapse. He passed out for a total of approximately six hours, apparently.

It was after-noon, an evening when he passed out on Kokorogi's shoulders. And now it was a little before midnight when he regained his consciousness. He looked around his presence with half-closed eyes and spotted everyone except Shibe sitting around him. All his friends were sitting around his bed with sorrowful faces, awaiting Yuuichi's resurrection.

Their jolly faces returned when they spotted the ravenette opening his dark eyes. 

But, a stinging pain radiating in his arm told him that there was something; something sharp in his forelimb. Turning his head over, he followed his gaze to a bag of blood through the IV tube. 

Unfortunately, transfusion wouldn't help. He needed to drink it. 

His eyes widened at the sight of the big, plump red bag filled up to the brim with the liquor for his life. The corners of his mouth wetted with the saliva he couldn't control.

He needed to drink it. Whatever he had to do.

His attention diverted from the plastic bag to the door, when he sensed Shibe, come along with a throw, which was Yuuichi's. It was his very favorite because that's what his non-blood-related mother, Katagiri Yuka used to keep in her last hospital days with her.

It was old and tattered, its warranty was no more than a few months, but the comfort it gave to him was unbeatable. Whenever he wrapped himself in it, he felt he was in the embrace of his kind and soft-hearted mother.

With a grin, Shibe tucked Yuuichi in with it. "Sorry for making you wait! The idea came to me quite late so I went to your apartment to get it." he rubbed his nape. "Of course because I know where the key was kept..."

"Shibe..." A grateful mutter escaped Yuuichi's dry and dusky-pink lips. "Thank you."

The others also, quite worried about him, took turns to ask him how he felt and if he was feeling better. Of course, Yuuichi did nothing else but lie with a straight face.

He was feeling worse than before. 

The attention from Yuuichi was diverted once again when a doctor with a clipboard in his hand set foot in the white room. He had a cold, menacing face and he really did not appeal to Yuuichi.

"I'm here to say," the began, checking the papers on the clipboard. "that the patient, Katagiri Yuuichi is suffering from blood deficiency. Due to our staff's immediate care, and the blood transfusion, his blood levels have risen. He'll be discharged in more or less an hour."

Without skipping a beat, he turned around and walked his way out, only to be stopped by Yuuichi's trembling voice. "Doctor... Can I take this bag of blood and the equipment home with me?" he crooned. "I don't feel very well with the harsh hospital environment here. It's making some bad memories rise."

The doctor opened his mouth for a 'no', but quickly changed his mind. "Yes, you can."

Yuuichi sighed, relieved, only to have that pleasing feeling snatched away from him. 

"You can, but with an additional thirty-thousand yen along with your hospital charges which are seventy-thousand." he held up a list of all Yuuichi's dues.

The poor boy stuttered, completely shocked. "C-can I pay little by little on installments?"

The doctor curtly refused. He really was a money-hungry scumbag.

That's when the kind-hearted blond, Shibe rose from beside Yuuichi. "I'll pay for him!" he stood up with stars in his eyes. "I'll pay even his hospital charges! Don't you see how he feels uncomfortable here?"

Yuuichi felt like he really owed something to Shibe now. "Shibe... You don't have to-"

He was cut off by the former with an energetic smile. "Don't worry! You're not in debt to me. We're friends, aren't we?"

With that, he went off behind the doctor to fill out some paperwork once again.

"Such a fine man." Tenji broke the ice, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"No doubt about that, Tenji-san." Shiho chimed in. "He's the purest version of a human. Even with all the money he has, he doesn't use it for substandard purposes."

"He's a gentleman!" This time it was Kokorogi.

Yuuichi couldn't help but participate, however it was possible for him. "Shibe really... is a great man."

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

After a few minutes, Yuuichi was escorted back home, with Shiho leading him up to the door. With a superficial goodbye to her, he pushed the door shut half-assedly, the bag of blood and the stand resting in his hand.

Throwing the stand away, he plummeted into the hallway and with a maniacal air, sank his canines into the plastic, sucking the red booze, which leaked out of the bag staining his hands, his face, and clothes a ruby-red. But he did not know. He wasn't aware of what was happening to him.

In the combined madness of drawing the blood from the bag and laughing maniacally, he once again passed out. On the cold floor with nothing to cover him at all.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

The chirping of birds and the light shining through the ventilators in the ceiling were what once again made Yuuichi wake up. His eyes opened slowly, his head pounded with pain, and his body ached more than he had ever experienced. Those were the perks of sleeping on the floor in a weird position without anything to keep one warm.

Helping himself up with the strength of his arms, he looked down on the floor to see an empty plastic bag and a junked-out stand in the corner. A few splatters of blood adorned the floor here and there and Yuuichi ran his gaze over them as the events of the past turned up in his mind. 

He turned up his wrist hastily, and to his relief, his veins were redder than ever. He could easily last five months without a single drop of blood.

Happily humming to himself, he whipped up the cleaning equipment and scrubbed away the floor, so that not a single red spot was left behind, and his floors shined like mirrors. He washed his uniform three times and took some painkillers from his stash.

It was going all too well for him. Pulling the hood over his head, Yuuichi headed for the door; he needed to deliver the morning newspapers. 

However, a shock made him halt in his tracks. He reached a hand towards the door handle and surely, to his dismay, a tiny creak was left between the doorframe and the door itself.

Scaredly, he peeked out of the door and witnessed a neatly folded paper. His hands trembling, Yuuichi bent over, picked it up, and unfolded it.

There, on the piercing white of the paper, lay words printed in black.

"I saw everything."

He was finally feeling really well and productive for once. But to his ill fate, someone had been recording him from the minuscule opening of the door he had mistakenly left open in impatience.