Bitten By Love

Six

Three days went by. Akiko spent her days at the beach, interacting with the locals, and exploring.

Uruha, on the other hand, slept for most of the day, waking up only for lunch. He would wake up again in time for the sunset, take a walk along the beach, come back for dinner, and then lock himself up in his room again.

Akiko could hear the faint sounds of an unplugged electric guitar coming from the next room at times. Uruha must be very passionate and dedicated to the guitar, she thought. He practises regularly even while on holiday.

Akiko admired people who were passionate about something. She herself didn't have a passion, so she wanted to support the passions of other people.

One thing bothered her, though. She wondered why Uruha always wore sunglasses, even at night.

Perhaps he had an eye infection, she thought. It was not uncommon for people in her town to have it over the summer. There were days when all the schoolkids would rub their eyes under their sunglasses, and the smaller children would start fussing or crying if they were infected. Luckily, it wasn't highly contagious, and everyone was back to normal in about two weeks.

But he was wearing them even in the spring. That was two and a half months ago! A voice in Akiko's head reminded her.

The sun was quite bright that week. She tried reasoning with herself. Also, the café windows let in a lot of sunlight, that's probably why he left them on.

Admit it, Akiko! This guy is suspicious no matter how you look at it.

You're jumping to conclusions too soon, Akiko told herself. And anyway, I shouldn't interfere too much in other people's matters.

But that evening, she asked Uruha anyway. "Um, I was wondering...why do you wear sunglasses at night?"

Uruha jumped in his seat at the sudden question, nearly spilling his food. "Oh...sorry," Akiko said, "I shouldn't have asked."

"N-no, it's fine," he assured her. "It's just that I have a bad eye infection right now, and I'm generally very sensitive to sharp sunlight, so I wear sunglasses most of the time."

"I see. Well, I hope your eyes get better soon! If you want any advice on how to treat your eyes, you can always ask me."

Uruha smiled gratefully. He'd panicked when she had asked him about the sunglasses, but had managed to find an excuse. He figured that revealing himself to Akiko would frighten her, and for some strange reason, didn't want her to be scared of him, or of anything, for that matter.

These few days, he had seen Akiko run to the beach in the mornings and spend the whole day there. She looked so happy, and that made Uruha happy too. He liked seeing her happy; it made her look really cute.

Woah, hold it right there, Uruha! His mind yelled. You barely even know the girl, and you've already got a crush on her!

I do not, he argued back. I just...want to keep an eye on her. She's from a very rocky background and district, after all.

Bro, you may be a vampire, but as far as emotions are concerned, you're worse than a teenager.

Uruha continued this little debate with his mind all night. There was one other thing he had trouble keeping out of his mind: what would Akiko's blood taste like?

He was losing his self-control over the days. Once or twice, Akiko had returned to the house with bleeding feet, and Uruha had to shut himself up in his room to block the sweet smell of her blood. Not that it worked very well.

To numb his senses, he went out drinking at night, and then going and feeding on unsuspecting drunk tourists. The blood satisfied him a little, but not much.

He wanted Akiko's blood. No, he needed it. He wanted to hold her in his arms while he drank his fill.

But at the same time, he didn't want to hurt her. She was so precious to him, even though they didn't speak much. He was content seeing her from afar, keeping an eye out for her.

What's happening to me?? Uruha wondered.

After a few days of this, he decided to call up his best friend, Reita, for advice. Reita was biking all over the country during the holidays, Ruki was in the capital, Aoi was also at the seaside (but in another part of the country), and Kai was abroad.

When Reita finally picked up his phone, Uruha told him the whole story without a pause.

"...and I want to drink her blood, but at the same time I can't bear the thought of hurting her," he finished. "What should I do, Reita? I don't understand what's going on!"

He heard a deep chuckle at the other end. "It's obvious, isn't it?" Reita said.

"What's obvious?"

"Uruha, you're in love with her."