Chapter Text
Tatsumi still hadn’t released from Natsuno from his bonds. In a way, it was a relief. Natsuno was getting hungry. The restraints kept him from giving into temptation. They kept him from getting up, going out of this apartment into the night. They kept him from searching for a victim. One particular victim.
Ozaki-sensei was here in this city. Natsuno could smell him, even through the walls of the apartment. The memory of the doctor’s blood burned within his mouth, leaving a faint aftertaste of tobacco, withered dreams, and fierce disappointment.
From the first time he’d seen the doctor, kicking a post, Natsuno had been unable to look away. The older man seemed the embodiment of the rage and frustration which coiled up, hissing within the boy trapped in a small village. Only Ozaki-sensei’s pain was far worse. He’d loved that village. He’d done everything in his power to save it. He’d ended up burning it to the ground.
The sympathy, the sense of kinship was overpowered by the memory of the man’s blood. Its smoky taste ran down his mouth, coating his tongue, filling up his nostrils.
“That’s my boy,” Ozaki-sensei whispered from his memory. Only he didn’t offer his wrist to Natsuno as he’d offered it back in the village. He tilted his head, exposing a tantalizing expanse of bare neck. It cried out for fangs. Even the stubble glistening on his chin had an appetizing gleam. “You know I’m still alive, don’t you?”
“Don’t,” Natsuno growled. He looked away from the doctor in his memory, even as he stared down at his wrists. “You’re already in my power.” Blood trickled down his arms, but the cuffs were weakening. All he had to do was squirm a little more. They’d snap. “Do you want to be completely helpless? Ready to squirm in anticipation of my bite, even though you’re too tired to squirm?”
As I was, when I lay in my bed, waiting for Tohru-chan. Completely unable to resist. Begging him to come away with me, to leave the village. I never asked him to stop. I never wanted him to. To this day, I don’t know if it was because of his bite or because it was Tohru-chan. Only once did I offer him my wrist, of my free will. He went straight for my neck, shoving me down as if he meant to ravage me. Not that I protested or even wanted to protest.
“Go ahead,” Ozaki-sensei said. This fevered little blood dream was becoming too real. Ozaki-sensei was entirely too real. There was a predatory gleam in his golden brown eyes as if he was the vampire, not Natsuno. “I’m waiting for you. I want this as badly as you do.”
“No, you don’t,” Natsuno muttered, waking himself up from his daze. Awareness of the chair and the restraints came back full force. Yes, his bonds were weakening as they bit into his wrists. He welcomed the pain. Anything to distract him from the thought of Ozaki-sensei’s blood. He pulled on his wrists, pulled against the restraints, concentrating on the ripping sensation….
….his wrists torn through the cuffs as if they were paper. He was free. He could escape. Flee from the apartment Tatsumi was keeping him in.
Natsuno reached down to work at the ties binding his ankles. Leaning forward made him dizzy. He ignored the dizziness. He started pulling at the cords around his feet.
Tatsumi had left. He’d gone out to ‘get food for both of them’ before striding out the door in an outfit Adam Lambert could only envy. Confident his restraints were tight enough to keep Natsuno prisoner. The more fool him.
One of his legs was almost free. With desperate strength, Natsuno yanked his foot loose before his fingers started working on the ties binding the other ankle. Once he was loose, he’d break down the door. Or crash through the window. He’d get out of this apartment and…
…and what? What would he do, once he was alone in the city?
The taste of Ozaki-sensei flooded his mouth, sending dark laughter throughout the back of his brain. As if there was any doubt what Yuuki Natsuno would do. As if there was any doubt which victim he’d seek out.
“No,” Natsuno whispered, trying to deny the hunger knotting within his stomach, crawling out of his throat at the very thought of Ozaki-sensei. At the thought of sinking his fangs into the doctor once more.
“I’ve got to think of something else,” Natsuno muttered to himself. What else was there? The urge to escape wasn’t strong enough. It had mingled with the desire to find Ozaki-sensei, to wrap his arms around the doctor, and allow his mouth to find that artery in his neck which he’d never sought out before. Natsuno had tried so hard to be respectful, to only drink from his arm. He hadn’t wanted to violate Ozaki-sensei the way Tohru-chan had violated him. He hadn’t wanted to get that close to anyone ever again or to let anyone else get that close to him.
He was alone, as a result. There was no one, nothing to concentrate on. He couldn’t, wouldn’t let himself think about Kaori and Akira. Not even for a moment. They were safe from him. They were going to stay safe.
The idea of seeking out his father was ludicrous. Natsuno had already driven the man mad with his resurrection. Let him find some peace, free of his rebellious troublesome son. His mother had walked out on them which was fine. Natsuno was more than happy to let her go. No, he couldn’t turn to his parents with this. They hadn’t been able to handle him even when he’d been a grumpy, sullen teenager. No way could they deal with a newborn jinrou.
Jinrou. The memory of Tatsumi’s lips, wet with stolen warmth exploded into his mind, chasing away the taste of Ozaki-sensei. Still leaning over his chair, Natsuno’s hands went limp as he pulled away the last of the cords, freeing himself. The memory of Tatsumi’s tongue, thrusting its way into his mouth as the blood flowed between them invaded his mind, paralyzing him in a way the restraints could not.
“You’re mine, Natsuno,” Tatsumi said, after his mouth and lips had invaded Natsuno’s. Claiming him completely.
“No,” Natsuno said as he sat up. He rose from his chair before he turned to kick it. The poor chair couldn’t take another blow. It shattered, breaking into jagged, wooden chunks which fell to the flood.
The young jinrou stared at those chunks. A calculating part of his brain began to work even as the rest of his mind shuddered.
Tatsumi said I was his. He considered this as he studied a long, sharp piece of wood. Can I use my enemy to distract myself from my hunger?
No! The rebellious, angry part of Natsuno screamed its defiance. Not that anyone had ever listened to its screams. I won’t let Tatsumi have me! Not ever!
Would you rather have Ozaki-sensei? You will, if you don’t figure out a way to distract yourself from the urge to seek him out. You know he’s alive. You can smell him. The vampires in the village probably smelled their victims, too, the ones they fed on and fed on until they died.
That was a small village. It was only too easy to find the same victims. I refuse to be bound by some universal vampiric compulsion to suck someone dry I fed on a few times in order to help him resist the shiki.
Exactly how are *you* going to resist? The scent of Ozaki-sensei is literally pulling you towards the door!
Natsuno turned, jerkily, forcing himself away from the door which should have been further away. He’d already walked half way toward it. He willed his legs to move back toward the bits of chair on the floor. The still air of the room was as heavy as syrup. It was an effort to kneel, to pick up one of the sturdier chunks of wood from the ground. It made a very good stake.
“I promised him,” Natsuno muttered out loud. “I promised all of the shiki would be dead, including myself. I have to keep that promise.” He’d offer the stake up to Ozaki-sensei himself. Give the doctor every chance to destroy him.
Just like Tohru-chan gave you every chance to destroy him? The coldblooded, calculating part of Natsuno’s brain wouldn’t shut up. You could have staked Tohru-chan. He cowered away from the stake when you threatened him with it, but he didn’t try to stop you. Only you didn’t go through with it, did you?
“Shut up,” Natsuno told that part of his brain. “It was different. I…it was Tohru-chan. The doctor doesn’t have the same attachment to me which I had to Tohru-chan.”
Are you sure about that? Are you willing to gamble Ozaki-sensei’s life on that? The inner voice jeered in a way which was starting to remind Natsuno of Masao. You’re cold, aren’t you?
Natsuno growled, as his hand tightened around the stake. It dug into the sides of his hands, as his feet started moving. Towards the door, leading outside.
The door chose that moment to open.
“Honey, I’m home!” Tatsumi sang out with ridiculous cheer. He stopped, took in Natsuno standing there with a stake in his hand, the pieces of broken chair behind him.
“Once more, I underestimated you, Natsuno-kun,” Tatsumi said. His eyebrows came together as he dropped the bag he was carrying on the floor. “We’re really going to need to buy or steal some sturdier furniture.”
“I made him a promise,” Natsuno growled. The other jinrou had fed. His cheeks were flushed. The color trailed down his bare neck, infusing the exposed chest visible through his outfit. The urge to run his fingers down that chest was strong. It distracted him from the memory of blood in his mouth. “Every single shiki would die, including me.”
“Only you’re not a shiki, Natsuno-kun,” Tatsumi said. His voice had gotten huskier. “I’m not even sure if you’re even a jinrou like me.” His blue eyes were darkening with stolen blood.
“Come,” Natsuno said. The husky challenge in his own voice took him by surprise. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered other than taking down this damned vampire and keeping his promise. Certainly not the sight of his bare chest!
Tatsumi let out a low growl and tackled him. Natsuno let himself be tackled. He meant to bring the hand with the stake down on Tatsumi’s back. Instead his bare hand ripped Tatsumi’s shirt. It tore, so easily.
Before Natsuno knew what was happening, Tatsumi was tearing at his clothes, just as Natsuno was tearing at his. Natsuno’s fangs popped out, responding to his own arousal. He struck at the other jinrou’s neck, seeking his teeth into it.
Tatsumi let out an angry, purring sound, but he didn’t try to shake Natsuno off. He pulled the younger jinrou closer to him as intimate parts of him rose in hard happiness at their closeness. Their clothes were shreds, exposing their nakedness. Offering up their bodies to each other.
Arousal, anger, determination to live; all the emotions which coursed through Tatsumi exploded onto Natsuno’s tongue. He felt them, shared them even as Tatsumi began to thrust into him. His hands clawed at the jinrou’s back. It was such a broad back. Broader than Tohru-chan’s. Certainly broader than Ozaki-sensei’s. It took him back to his very first time, before he ever left the city.
Don’t think about that. Don’t think about him. Only Tatsumi was rearing over him, fangs exposed.
“Two can play at this game, Natsuno-kun,” Tatsumi growled as he lunged at Natsuno’s neck, even as he thrust into him.
Natsuno might have screamed if his mouth hadn’t been filled with blood. Tatsumi drank even as Natsuno drank. Images of Natsuno’s life were being snatched from him even as images filled his head.
A young girl with pale skin and dark hair filled those images. Dressed in a steampunk fashion that Shimizu would have envied.
“This village is perfect!” she cried, as she pirouetted in front of a window. A view of the place Natsuno had tried so hard to escape surrounded him.
Tatsumi didn’t like it any more than Natsuno had. It was in the middle of nowhere. No, there was no escape for the villagers, but there was no escape for Sunako either if she had to run.
“Are you sure about this, Sunako?” he asked. Those dim lights below in the darkness made him uneasy. He didn’t like small towns. He didn’t like the way everyone knew everyone else’s business. He didn’t like how they looked at you strangely if you dressed a little different than everyone else. If you had any secrets, this was a place where they’d be ferreted out.
“It’s a village surrounded by death,” Sunako said in a dreamy, distant voice. Once more she was going somewhere far away, somewhere she could only visit in her mind. No matter how Tatsumi might try, he couldn’t follow her. “Besides Muroi-sensei is here. I’ve always wanted to meet him.”
“Good thing he’s a fairly obscure celebrity,” Tatsumi muttered. Yoshie, Chizuru, and Seishirou were all giving him critical looks. They wanted to please Sunako. Besides they were excited about the prospect of a shiki village. “Otherwise we might attract even more attention than we’re going to.”
“Tatsumi, don’t be such a sourpuss!” Yoshie exclaimed, giving Tatsumi a sharp nudge. “All you’re doing is dwelling on the danger instead of seeing the potential.”
“Dwelling on the danger is my job,” Tatsumi said, but he flashed his brightest smile at the rest of the Kirishiki household. He didn’t want to dampen everyone’s spirits, but he’d have to keep a careful watch on this village. Keep any peril it might pose to Sunako at a distance.
*This is why you went after Ozaki-sensei and myself*. There was no hiding Natsuno’s thoughts from Tatsumi, not now. Not with the blood flowing between them as his body arched. The other jinrou filled him in every sense.
Part of him was screaming in protest even as that part drowned. Awareness of their bodies grinding at each other even as their memories intersected.
Fangs withdrew from his neck. Natsuno swallowed while Tatsumi spasmed within him.
“Is it that surprising?” Tatsumi asked. Unguarded tenderness was in his eyes as he looked down at Natsuno. “We’re not that different, Natsuno-kun. I suspected as much, but now I know.”
Natsuno was acutely aware of how naked, sticky, and vulnerable he was as Tatsumi withdrew his body from his. It brought back memories of lying on the floor, like this. His very first time.
“Don’t tell anyone, Natsuno-kun,” he’d said. His face had been as kind as Tohru-chan’s, but his eyes had the dangerous hardness of Ozaki-sensei or Tatsumi’s own. They gleamed with a silent warning not to cross him. “I’m a married man as well as a teacher. As for you, well, things could go badly if someone found out, couldn’t they?”
Natsuno shut his eyes, trying to shut out that memory. It wasn’t as if he’d been unwilling, but something turned cold in him at his sensei’s words. His beloved teacher, who’d always done his best to encourage Natsuno, even when his parents had not.
“I saw that human, Natsuno-kun,” Tatsumi said. His voice was as cold as the professor’s had been. “What he did was a crime as much as anything a shiki does.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Natsuno growled, trying to pull together his shattered composure. Why did they have to discuss him? His teacher, whom he’d left behind in the city. Natsuno had tried so hard to keep that little affair a secret. Not hard enough. “I kissed him first.”
“After he grabbed your wrist and backed you into a corner,” Tatsumi said. His eyebrow raised. “I know all about excuses for attacking someone, Natsuno-kun. I’ve heard quite a few myself.”
“I let him attack me,” Natsuno admitted. Just as he’d let Tohru-chan attack him. He’d tried so hard not to get close to anyone in the village so it wouldn’t happen again. Touching someone was dangerous. All he’d done was think his teacher’s smile was attractive, that his voice was compelling. Their fingers had touched when he was handing in a paper. A spark had entered Sensei’s eyes as he looked up at Natsuno’s face. A hungry spark.
“What have you done to me, Natsuno-kun?” his teacher had growled, as he blocked Natsuno’s way out. The nearness of his body made Natsuno aware of it like he’d never been. “Ever since you touched me, I can think of nothing but you!”
“Sensei,” Natsuno breathed as he leaned forward. His lips gently, shyly caressed his teacher’s. A moment later, his own mouth and neck were being ravaged as his school uniform was ripped open.
“What happened to you?” his father had demanded. His eyes had been wide with fury.
“Nothing,” Natsuno had said, knowing his father wouldn’t believe him. There were reddish marks all over his neck, plus his uniform was torn. “I fell.”
His father had raised a hand as if he meant to slap him. “This is the problem with the big city,” he said in a conversational tone. “Danger is everywhere. Children grow up too fast.”
“Father,” Natsuno had said, more frightened by this conversational tone than he’d been by his anger.
“We have to move away from here,” his father had said, nodding. “Go somewhere quiet. Somewhere safe.”
“Father, no!” Natsuno had cried. “I’m perfectly safe in the city, as safe as I’d be anywhere else.” Swallowing his nervousness, he said. “Nothing happened to me which I didn’t want.”
“You’re a child. You have no idea what you want!” his father had snapped. “You don’t know anything!”
“I know that I’m happy here!” Natsuno had retorted. “I don’t want to leave!”
“You don’t know what you want!” his father had roared. “I’m your father! I know what’s best for you! We’re leaving!”
His father had taken him away, to his so-called safe village. Natsuno had tried so hard to keep his distance from everyone. He remembered only too well how his teacher had reacted, before he left.
“It’s good that you’re going to a small village,” Sensei had said. He wouldn’t meet Natsuno in the eye. “People can keep an eye on you there.”
“What do you mean?” Natsuno asked uneasily.
“You’re dangerous, Natsuno-kun. All you had to do was touch me and you turned me into a ravening beast.” His teacher had turned to look at him with severe eyes. “I’m a married man. You shouldn’t play with people’s emotions like that.”
“I wasn’t playing with your emotions!” Natsuno had said hotly. “I meant it, when I kissed you!”
“Well, I didn’t,” his teacher said. Severely. “You’re a very pretty boy, Natsuno-kun. Perhaps I’ve been reading too much Plato lately or not enough. I shouldn’t have let you get to me like you did. Hopefully your next victim will be more careful.”
She hadn’t been. His next victim had been Shimizu. She’d been handing him a book. Her fingers had brushed against his. Natsuno had jerked his hand away as quickly as possible. He’d avoided looking at her, even speaking to her. She’d still ended up lurking around his bedroom window even after her death.
“Interesting,” Tatsumi said. He was still leaning over Natsuno, eyeing him as if he were contemplating devouring him. “First, this closet case pervert of a teacher, followed by Megumi-kun, followed by Tohru-chan? Perhaps even Ozaki-sensei is among your conquests?”
“You’ve had a big taste of me,” Natsuno said, managing to make his voice steady. “Are you all that impressed?”
“You have no idea.” Tatsumi’s tongue darted out of his mouth. It moistened his lips. Before Natsuno could protest, Tatsumi moved down. His head positioned itself over Natsuno’s groin. His tongue descended.
It was some time, before Natsuno could do anything else other than try not to moan and writhe, beneath the other jinrou’s ministrations. Tatsumi wasn’t new at this either.
*********
“You destroyed one of my best outfits,” Tatsumi complained. He cuddled up next to Natsuno as if their hearts were as intimate as their bodies. “Fortunately, I think your welcome home more than paid for it!”
Natsuno lay stiff against him. His cheek was lying against the other jinrou’s chest. He made no effort to cuddle back, but neither did he move away.
“You’re an Adam Lambert fan, aren’t you?” Natsuno asked. He tried to make his voice as dispassionate and dry as possible. “That’s the second outfit you’ve worn which makes you look like his cosplayer.”
Tatsumi smiled as he looked straight into Natsuno’s eyes. One of his hands started stroking the younger jinrou’s side as he hummed, “I’m Here for Your Entertainment’ in a husky voice.
A hint of something which might have been a smile crossed Natsuno’s face. The tiny folds at the corners of his eyes spasmed as if the expression hurt him.
“Don’t pretend to be something you’re not,” he said. The boy’s words lacked their usual coldness. He closed his eyes. “Don’t pretend we’re something we’re not.”
“Don’t give you any illusions I’ll shatter?” Tatsumi asked. “Like your teacher did?”
Natsuno’s entire body stiffened. Any trace of a smile disappeared from his lips. “I know better than to create them.”
Tatsumi’s hand shot up to seize Natsuno’s chin. The younger jinrou was surprised into looking straight in the elder’s eyes.
“I may not love you. I’m not going to pretend I do,” Tatsumi said. His grip on that small delicate chin tightened. “I may very well kill you myself eventually.” The skin beneath his fingers was so soft. No trace of a beard clung to Yuuki Natsuno’s chin. No beard ever would. “I do want you. I’ll never deny the fact that I want you ever.”
For a moment, a trace of what might have been vulnerability gleamed in Natsuno’s eye before he shut it.
“No promises,” he whispered. “Make them and I’ll feel obliged to do the same.” A shudder ran through the boy’s slender frame. “I’m not very good at keeping them.”
Tatsumi released Natsuno’s chin. He knew the boy was thinking of Ozaki-sensei.
“Who needs promises when there’s blood between us?” He meant to say the words lightly. Instead, they came out far more tender than he’d intended. “The taste of blood binds two enemies together more tightly than anything except vampire and victim.”
“Vampire and victim,” Natsuno said. He opened his eyes, stared at Tatsumi. “Who’s truly the vampire and who’s the victim? Especially when a vampire feels as enslaved as his victim does?”
“It’s a very good question,” Tatsumi answered. One of his hands reached out to push a lock of hair from Natsuno’s forehead. “However you can answer that as well as I.”
“No,” Natsuno said. He shut his eyes again.
“No, you can’t answer that?” Tatsumi asked. His voice was still gentle. “Or are you lying about what you truly want?”
Natsuno swallowed. He tried to still himself, but the taste of Ozaki-sensei was filling his mouth with the memory of its smoky, anguished, yet courageous flavor.
“Vampires have tried to drink from a variety of victims, but they always need to go back to the ones they’ve bitten,” Tatsumi said. His hand was still on Natsuno’s cheek. “What you’re feeling is perfectly natural for us.”
“It won’t end until he’s dead,” Natsuno whispered. “If I give in, if I go to him, I’ll keeping going until I kill him.”
“Yes, you will,” Tatsumi agreed. He withdrew his hand. His bushy eyebrows came together in a frown. “What are you going to do about it?”
“I refuse to give in to this,” Natsuno said. The words came out as a hiss. He drew away from the older jinrou. “I’m stronger.”
“No, you’re not,” Tatsumi said with a weary sigh. He reached out for Natsuno. “However you can pretend you are. I’ll humor you for now, if you’d like.”
Natsuno let himself be embraced. Swallowed by the bigger man’s arms, he climbed into them as if he was willing to be comforted by them. This surprised him until he felt the younger jinrou’s sharp teeth, digging at his skin.
“Minx,” he said mildly, but he let Natsuno bite.