Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Yuichirou rose his eyes from the stack of forms on his newly organized desk, courtesy of Yoichi’s pestering, and looked at the other’s face. Irritation tugged his lips down in a grimace.

“You can’t be serious?” Yuichirou said, not hiding the undercurrent of anger that slipped into his tone.

“It just feels wrong.” Yoichi began, and Yuu was still amazed at how the other could keep his voice light, soft even. He couldn’t tell if it was pity or sympathy. Both of those options made his stomach turn in revulsion. 

Yuu stood from his desk, pushing the chair against the wall with a resounding bang.

“After all the shit you’ve seen, all of the death; Guren, Shinya, Shinoa, your sister. All of them! How can you—how the fuck can you stand there and say that?” Yuu was aware of how loud he was being, of how his chest was heaving with the effort it took him not to cry out in frustration. His hands were clenched into fists, almost trembling at his sides. Irrational anger boiled in his veins as painful memories flashed in his mind. 

Yoichi looked away from him, his own hands balled up. Yuu couldn’t decipher the look on the man’s face. 

“Sorry.” The word was barely above a whisper, but Yuu knew it was all he was going to get out of him. Yoichi had gotten stubborn after the war, a trait that normally would have strengthened their already close friendship, but their views often clashed. 

“Like it or not,” Yuu said after calming himself. “You still have a job to do. Let’s go.”

Yoichi nodded without another word of protest as Yuu led the way to the eastern part of the military base.

After the war had declared the human side its victors, Yuichirou had assumed the need for a heavy military presence would be reduced. Instead, it seemed as if new bases were cropping out all over the country every day. A security measure , Kureto Hiiragi would say in every meeting after announcing a new base. Yuu used to question the man’s motives, but Kureto had been the one to lead them to victory, his dislike and mistrust of the man could easily be ignored. Even if Kureto was still a complete and utter bastard. If General Tenri had ruled over them with an iron fist, Kureto’s was pure steel.

“I spoke to Mitsuba last night.” Yoichi’s soft voice broke through the dull sounds of their footsteps. Yuu hummed in reply, already knowing were the conversation was heading. They had it every few weeks. 

“She’s worried, you know. She wants to come back, but she says Hiroshima was hit the hardest with this past storm. The rebuilding process is going slow, and they don’t have enough hands to help move everyone to a safe house and—”

Yuu cut him off before he could go any further.

“I already told you, if you want to transfer then go, but I’m not leaving.” Yuu didn’t slow his pace even as Yoichi stopped mid-step. He kept walking toward the heavily guarded doors just up ahead. One of the guards inclined his head as he made way for Yuu to pass through. He didn’t need to turn around to see that Yoichi had hastily followed him in, frown even deeper than before.

The large room was buzzing with activity, and Yuu couldn’t help the surge of excitement that settled on his chest. He saw a group of men that he recognized as servants for the Hiiragi family. They were clad in pressed suits and carried with them an air of superiority. Yuu fought the urge to scoff. Each time they made off with most of the merchandise, leaving only scraps for the rest of the buyers. Yuu had never been interested in buying, though, so he didn’t join in the looks of hostility that were being thrown at the men.

No, he was here to do his job, not waste time choosing out a pet .

A door on the other side of the room buzzed open then, the murmurs increasing in volume. Yuu felt his blood flare as the first monster stepped through, his hand immediately coming to rest on the hilt of his sword. The first one was a young woman, hair almost as wild as her burning red eyes. The next one was a man, his furious snarls chilling Yuu’s bones. After all these years, the fact that they still managed to ignite fear in Yuu was ridiculous. It made him hate them even more.

Another three came through, all of them wearing the heavy, black Collar around their neck that kept them…tamed. It was the only word Yuu could use to describe the attributes of the Cursed Collar. Kureto had claimed that after many long hours of work and experiments, he had invented a way to control the vampires. A cursed weapon that curbed the vampire’s strength and power and allowed them to be easily manipulated by any human with enough power of their own. It had taken the man three years to perfect the Collar, and another year to showcase it. Of course, it didn’t work on noble vampires, but as soon as they had wiped each and every one of those out, they’d begun to round up every single other stray vampire. Now, many of the surviving noble families kept vampires as slaves, often offering a public viewing of how they tortured them. 

Yuu has never attended such a viewing, he’d much rather dispose of every single remaining vampire than keep them alive, but he doesn’t begrudge those that partake in it. 

“There’s one more.” The gruff voice pulled Yuu away from his thoughts to the soldier by the open door. “Little bastard’s a feisty one.”

Yuu felt laughter bubble in his chest, but it died as soon as the last vampire was roughly pulled into the room. His eyes widened, mouth parting, as his breathing became jagged.

“Keep your filthy hands off me!” Jeering followed soon after the vampire yelled those words.

Yuu felt as if his world was spinning out of control, moving so fast he could not grasp it.

No, that couldn’t be. 

Yuu looked away, squeezing his eyes shut, before returning his gaze to the struggling blond.

No, there was no mistake.

Years of war taught him how to keep his head cool, his emotions in check. A harsh lesson Guren had drilled into him until the man’s final days.

He watched, torn between running toward the blond and running out of the room. Yuu swallowed his anger as one of the soldiers backhanded the blond, easily throwing him to the ground in his weakened state.

He kept his expression blank as another man, a superior with whom Yuu often spoke to, began the customary introduction. He named off each vampire on the list in his hand, pointing out the rank of each one, and the necessary precautions any potential buyer should keep in mind.

“This last one, don’t let his size fool you, is quite a handful. He can do no severe damage but is easily excitable and prone to outbursts. He was only recently captured and has no proper training, all of that will be left for his future owner.” The man ended his discourse and proceeded to the bidding.

In all of the years that he had witnessed this, Yuu had never felt an inkling of remorse or disgust. Not like Yoichi, who couldn’t even stand to look as the vampires were restrained and pushed to the ground so their potential buyers could fully examine them. Instead, Yuu had felt a sick sort of thrill run down his spine at the display. The words, who’s the livestock now? repeating themselves over and over in his head.

Now, Yuu had to fight the wave of nausea that swirled inside of him.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring the wary glance Yoichi sent his way, Yuu walked forward, squaring his shoulders. He hated using the leverage his name had gained for being a hero during the war. He’d done the things he’d done out of loyalty to Guren and in order to protect the people he loved. Never for fame, never for glory. He’d gained all of it nonetheless.

“I want the blond one.” His voice rose above the stir of the crowd, loud and commanding. A few pairs of incredulous eyes stared up at him, but he blocked them out, his eyes focused solely on the seething blond on the floor.

Before anyone from the Hiiragi servants could speak up, for Yuu knew they would have something to say, Yuu tore his eyes away from angry blue eyes to address them properly. He had also learned how to be diplomatic.

“I’ll explain my reasons to General Kureto alone, if he so wishes it, but this one is mine.” Yuu kept his words clipped, not intimidated in the least when one of the men turned to him with a harsh glare. No one said anything, and the bidding resumed as normal, except his own purchase was pulled away from the line.

“What the hell are you doing, Yuu?” Yoichi hissed in his ear. He hadn’t noticed the other coming to his side.

“Later.” Was all the reply Yuu gave as he stared at the blond. His hair was longer, almost reaching his back, and it was dirtied with filth. His body was too thin, Yuu noted, his chest aching. Those eyes, however, were unmistakable. The purest blue shined in those eyes. Without realizing it, Yuu’s lips curved into a soft smile.

He’d found him. After all of these years, he’d finally found him.

At last, he had his Mikaela back.