Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was very late the night Yoshiki was attacked.

Warm, summer air carrying the scent of fried street food, the buzzing sounds of humanity in his ears, and the brightly lit, bustling streets of Tokyo faded as Yoshiki Tsujinaka took a wrong turn. He stayed long after his last class had ended, choosing to study for his bio-chem exam in the library until it closed. He was distracted and exhausted, his back aching from the two textbooks he had stuffed in his backpack, and his favorite band's new album (Maki would have called them emo, but Yoshiki thought they were more nuanced than that) was blasting in his headphones. It was only after looking up from his phone that Yoshiki realized he had no idea where he was.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath. He took out his earbuds and stuffed them into his pocket, quickly pulling up the navigation app on his phone. Damn it, have ya learned nothin'? Yer askin' for trouble.

He set the map to guide him back to his tiny apartment, which was not far from campus. He turned away from the alley, towards a single streetlight along the bigger street he had accidentally strayed from—a beacon, flickering once.

Yoshiki…

He froze. A whispered voice, barely there at all. A trick of the mind, given life by his overactive imagination and chronic anxiety. There was nothing in this alley, and certainly nothing that knew his name. He should ignore it, like he usually did when he heard voices calling to him. He took a step forward, toward the light, and it flickered again, as if blinking at him.

Yoshiki…

He whirled around, gasping sharply. Yoshiki shined his phone light in front of him, and, as expected, there was no one there.

He laughed, a shaky breath of air escaping his lips. An' what if there had been someone behind ya with a knife? What wouldja have done, huh?

The alley was the kind of dark so dark that it was easy to start seeing shapes within, uncanny forms that could not be human. Yoshiki had never liked the dark. His imagination had too much power in the dark, and he was no good at fighting it.

Something moved off to his right. Something fast.

A crackle, like the spark of fireworks. There and gone in an instant.

Yoshiki cried out, stumbling back. When he blinked, he saw nothing but empty darkness. The light behind him flickered again, and for the split second it went out, he was in a void of nothingness. His heart was pounding, his breaths heavy.

Why am I still here? Why ain't I runnin' this time?

It was like the idiot character in horror movies, going exactly where you don't want them to go and never running away when they should.

Yoshiki… Yoshiki… Yoshiki!

Yoshiki cried out again, the whispered sound of his name seeming to come from all directions, whipping around his head like a buzzing swarm of bees. Close, impossibly close. He stumbled backwards into a trash bin, catching himself on it and wielding the light from his phone like a shield. Still, he saw nothing.

"Who— Who's there?" Just like in the damn movies, Yoshiki thought, cursing himself.

A rush of sudden wind barreled down the alley. It was a gust so violent it seemed to rip right through Yoshiki, and though it was summer in Tokyo, it was unnaturally and agonizingly cold.

"Gah—!" Yoshiki's cry caught in his throat as his entire body went rigid. The wind seemed to pass through him, pushing into his chest and out his back, slow and arduous as if his body were molasses. Every aching second it seemed to be inside him, his veins turned to ice. His phone clattered to the ground and he stumbled backwards again, sending the trashbin clattering loudly to the pavement. Yoshiki wrapped his arms around himself, his heart hammering in his chest, as he doubled over and gasped for air.

A sharp cry—like the piercing wail of a small animal—sounded over to his right, the same place he had seen the strange, crackling movement in the shadows. Yoshiki tried to move his legs, but he was so damn cold, his muscles were too stiff and aching to listen. There was a flash of light where the cry came from, like the blue of scorching fire, and then another from off to the left, followed by the same ear-splitting cry. The wind rushed again, blowing something into Yoshiki's eyes that made them sting. He coughed, blinking rapidly.

And suddenly everything was quiet.

Everything was still.

I needa get outta here. I got class in the mornin' and it's gettin' late and stayin' here is askin' fer trouble…

Why the hell ain't I runnin'?

At the other end of the alley, the darkness took on a shape. It was his eyes playing tricks again. But something about it…

… made him take a step towards it.

A burst of fire erupted in Yoshiki's face, twisting and taking shape. Yoshiki screamed, but he was not fast enough to move. The thing, a floating, shadowy visage of a small, wolf-like creature opened its maw in Yoshiki's direction. Within its rows of sharp teeth, blue flames lit to life and shot out in a fiery stream—right at Yoshiki.

He cried out again, raising his arms helplessly to shield himself, right as something heavy and solid collided into him so hard that he was thrown to the ground, his back slamming into hard concrete.

"Haah," Yoshiki gasped as the wind was knocked out of him by something—no, someone—hovering their body over his, pressing their weight into his chest. "Who the hell—? Look out!"

The wolf-like creature opened its flame-lit jaws and rushed its teeth into the neck of the person pinning Yoshiki to the ground. They grunted, as if more pissed off than hurt, and pried the creature off of them with one hand. The other, Yoshiki noticed belatedly, was digging into his shoulder, holding him in place.

The wolf-thing screeched, and the person tightened their grip.

In a flash of blue light, the creature exploded, bursting into ash that fell like snow on Yoshiki and the figure on top of him. Yoshiki stared at the hand flecked with white ash, as white as the skin it fell upon, and the figure gasped, shifting suddenly.

Yoshiki jumped as both of the person's hands slammed to the ground beside Yoshiki's head, trapping him between them. In a sudden burst of movement, their eyes—wide, and bright red—were level with his. And their face, suddenly so close, was impossibly familiar.

"Yoshiki!" cried Hikaru Indou. "You can see 'em, can't ya? That ain't good. Ain't good at all."

And then Hikaru Indou collapsed, unconscious, on Yoshiki's chest.

Yoshiki had seen a lot of strange things since coming to Tokyo.

His mother had tried to warn him that it would be different. She had even used the term "culture shock." But Yoshiki had been so adamant about going to university that he had brushed off her concerns. Had been too excited to see the big city. There was nothing he wanted more than to leave Kubitachi.

After Hikaru left, there had been nothing there for him anymore.

But Tokyo had not been nearly as exciting as it had been terrifying. The public transit system had nearly given him a panic attack on his first day, and if it had not been for the extremely sweet admissions girl that led him to all of his classes, he might never have found them. He had seen all sorts of people doing all sorts of strange things in the year he had been here—and strange, to Yoshiki, could mean anything.

It was not always a bad thing. In fact, when he saw young people wearing outfits he could never have fathomed before seeing them, or singing and dancing in public and not caring that others were watching, he considered that to be strange. But only because it was foreign to him, not because it was unwelcome. Yoshiki found himself smiling to himself on his commute to class nearly every day.

But there were also strange things he tried not to think about.

Those had only started recently, in the last two months or so. A random cold chill, like walking through the freezer section of the grocery store on the middle of a sunny, summer afternoon. A whisper on the wind, like a howl, far away but close at the same time. A feeling like a tugging in his chest, like someone was pulling on it.

Yet none of those strange occurances compared to tonight.

Yoshiki cradled Hikaru's head in his lap, doubled over and pressing his hand into the gaping wound on his neck. His hand was soaked in blood.

"H-Hikaru?" Yoshiki whispered, and his voice shook as much as his hands did. Hikaru's eyes were closed and he was not moving. When he felt at Hikaru's face, his skin, Yoshiki's panic intermingled with horror. "No… That's impossible…"

Hikaru's skin was as cold as ice.

Hikaru gasped suddenly, his eyes shooting open as his hand, too fast, caught Yoshiki's wrist. Yoshiki cried out, and Hikaru's red eyes—why the hell weren't they green?—softened on Yoshiki.

"Yoshiki," Hikaru said with a smile, as if his neck was not gushing blood. "Ah. Ya look all panicked. It's gotta be bad, huh?"

"Yer—yer bleedin' out," Yoshiki choked out, pressing his hand harder into Hikaru's neck. "I—I tried to stop the bleedin' but— We gotta call the police or somethin'."

"Nah, they can't help me. Plus, this ain't blood."

Yoshiki blinked. "Wh—what? The hell are you talkin' about?"

"Look at it," Hikaru laughed. "Yer seein' what ya wanna see."

Yoshiki stammered in panicked exhasperation, but found his eyes drawn to Hikaru's neck before he could form a real reply. The ichor coating Yoshiki's hands was darker than night itself, as black as pitch. It was thicker than blood, almost syrupy in texture. Growing more horrified the longer he stared at it, Yoshiki instinctually flung his hand in the air, as if to shake the stuff off of him.

It splattered on both his and Hikaru's face, and Yoshiki cried out. "The hell is comin' outta you?"

Hikaru laughed.

Even in his horror, something about the sound of it made Yoshiki's chest ache.

Catching his breath, Yoshiki leveled his gaze on the red eyes looking up at him. "Hikaru. Yer… here. That's really you."

He shrugged. "Think so. It's all a bit fuzzy."

"What do ya mean? How—how are ya here? Where'd ya come from and how didja find me and how did ya—that thing! And—!"

Hikaru grabbed his wrist again, and the shock of his cold fingers stilled Yoshiki instantly. "Calm yerself, ya big baby. Ain't ya happy to see me?"

Yoshiki stared at him. Then, he laughed, and his eyes suddenly stung. "Yeah."

"Come on. I know ya got me all cozy 'n yer lap but we gotta move 'fore more of 'em come," Hikaru said, pushing himself up. When Hikaru turned to look at him, Yoshiki realized with a painful heat in his cheeks how close their faces were. "But I'm glad to see ya, too."

Yoshiki looked away, blinking rapidly. "Ya… said more of 'em? Just what exactly were them things?"

Hikaru stood, and for a guy with blood—or whatever that stuff was—pouring out of his neck, he didn't seem too bothered by it. He held his hand out to Yoshiki. "Oh, them? They ain't nothing. Just some low-level hell hounds."

Yoshiki took Hikaru's hand. "What? Yer not makin' any—"

Yoshiki's remark was cut off by Hikaru pulling him to his feet in one, swift motion. It was as if Yoshiki weighed nothing to him, too fast and too easy. Yoshiki stumbled, the weight of his body not making sense to him, and Hikaru caught his arm.

"Whoa. Hey, ya can't be the one fallin' over when I'm the one bleedin' out," he said. Then, he grinned in a way that Yoshiki knew very well—it was the grin that meant Hikaru was about to dig into him. "Already hadta save yer ass once tonight 'n look where it got me. Least ya could do is stand up straight."

Yoshiki laughed, balling his shaking hands and looking down at his feet. None of this made any sense. He was drenched in sweat, covered in blood, his back stung from his impact with the rough pavement, he had almost died a few minutes ago, and something was really, really wrong with Hikaru.

An' yet here I am, laughin' with him. Like nothin'.

"Come on," Hikaru said, waving. "Follow me."

Yoshiki looked around and spotted his phone, still lit up, a few feet away. He pocketed it and jogged to catch up with Hikaru. "You know where yer goin'?"

"Nah."

Yoshiki sighed. "I got 'n apartment. We'll go there, but—" Yoshiki stilled, looking at the wound on Hikaru's neck and the strange, inky substance leaking out of him. Yoshiki imagined the lady in the lobby of his apartment seeing them walk in like this and cringed. He took off his backpack and dropped it to the ground. He pulled off his black hoodie—it was always cold in his classes, even in the summer—and handed it to Hikaru. "I dunno what the hell's goin' on but ya can't walk around lookin' like that. Put this on and pull the hood up."

Hikaru grinned, taking the sweatshirt from him. He pulled it on over his head as Yoshiki put his backpack back on. Hikaru pulled the hood up, hiding his wound, and pulled the drawstrings tight enough to cover his eyes.

Yoshiki sighed. "Stop goofin' around, wouldja?"

Hikaru pulled the hood back, revealing his red eyes and the tips of his white hair. His smile fell suddenly, his brows furrowing. He raised the neck of Yoshiki's hoodie to his nose, breathing in deeply, and his eyes softened. "Oh. That's… familiar."

Yoshiki scrunched up his nose, looking away. His cheeks grew warm as he scowled. "Don't—smell it like that."

In an instant, Hikaru's smile returned, lopsided. "Why? Smells like you."

"I— uh…"

"Come on! For real, we're 'n big trouble if we don't get a move on. Which wayta yer place?"

Yoshiki blinked rapidly, shaking his head as if to clear it. He did a full 360 degree turn, trying to get his bearings. "This way, I think."

"Whoa," Hikaru breathed, as they found the main streets bustling with life. So different than the darkened alley, which was still heavy on Yoshiki's mind. "The city's so beautiful. I wonder how it looks on the other side."

Yoshiki shook his head. "Nothin' you've said tonight has made any sense. When are ya gonna explain what the hell's…?" He stopped.

Hikaru glanced at him. "Yoshiki?"

"Shh." Yoshiki froze, his heartbeat racing. "I hear somethin'."

Hikaru's face hardened, following the direction of Yoshiki's eyes. "Gotta be more of them hell hounds."

"No, it sounds different," he whispered. "They're not… sayin' my name the same way."

Yoshiki… Yooooshiki…

"Hey."

It was not until Hikaru stepped into his path that Yoshiki realized he had stepped in the direction of the voice. Hikaru's red eyes, trained on Yoshiki, hardened.

"Don't go chasin' voices that call yer name."

Yoshiki looked down, laughing through the trembling of his body. "Might notta found you if I hadn't."

Hikaru narrowed his eyes, cocking his head. "That wasn't me callin' yer name. I was followin' ya and saw ya get yerself 'n trouble. Come on."

Yoshiki…

"Uh, right. Let's get outta here."

After a few minutes, Yoshiki felt confident he knew where they were. He guided them towards the direction of his apartment, and the streets quieted. They were only a block away when Hikaru froze and stuck out his arm. Yoshiki ran into it.

"Wha—?"

"Shh," Hikaru whispered. "I think…"

A body dropped from a balcony above them, and Yoshiki cried out. The man landed on his feet like someone from a manga and slowly rose, all without making a single sound. He had pale, porcelain skin, and long black hair that fell over his face. He cocked his head, and his eyes—bright, unnatural red—settled on Yoshiki.

"Yoshiki… that is your name, isn't it?"

Without turning around or lowering his arm, Hikaru murmured, "Don't answer."

"Hikaru," Yoshiki breathed, "what is that?"

"I'm a friend," the man said. His voice was smooth and buttery, warm and welcoming. "You can see me, can't you, Yoshiki? Oh, it's been so long since a human could see me. Come here, so I can get a better look at you."

Hikaru laughed. "That ain't happenin'."

The man whipped his head towards Hikaru, as if only just noticing him. "Oh. How disappointing. I would really hate to have to kill one of my own." He took a step forward, his red eyes running up and down Hikaru's body before widening. "But you aren't, are you? You're… not finished."

"Yoshiki," Hikaru said under his breath. "Stay behind me."

"Wait, what?" Yoshiki said, his voice pitching high with panic. "What are ya gonna—?"

"I would really hate for things to get ugly with you, strange little demon," the man said. "Perhaps an arrangement could be found. Perhaps you would be willing to share your human?"

Hikaru laughed again, pulling his hood down. "Nah. This one's mine."

And then Hikaru moved.

He was a blur so fast that Yoshiki's brain could not process what he had seen until Hikaru was on top of the man. In an instant, they collided, Hikaru swiping his hand across the man's face.

The man cried out. Then he laughed and burst into motion.

Their blows were too fast for Yoshiki to keep up with. One moment, Hikaru was at the man's back, then at his front, then on the ground, then in the air. He could not even tell what they were fighting with, wether it was fists or claws or something else. Yoshiki stood helplessly frozen, unable to even process Hikaru's movements, much less help him.

It was not until he heard Hikaru's cry that he felt his legs move.

And suddenly he was running.

"Hikaru!" Yoshiki screamed. The man had Hikaru pinned to the ground, his knee digging into his chest. His hand was on Hikaru's throat, right where he was already wounded. "Hey! Hey!"

Both heads whipped in his direction. The man's face contorted into a smile, while Hikaru's eyes widened in horror.

"Yoshiki…" he choked out. "Don't!"

"Get offa him, you freak," Yoshiki cried, barreling into the man with black hair. They both fell to the ground, rolling, and the man laughed again. Yoshiki groaned from the impact, his head spinning, and then the man's black hair was swinging into his face, tickling his skin.

He jolted, and the man's weight settled over him. His hands, unnaturally strong, pinned Yoshiki's arms to the ground. The man laughed, bringing his face close to Yoshiki's. As his smile broadened, Yoshiki realized something that filled him with fear.

His teeth were very, very sharp.

"Oh, Yoshiki," the man cooed as Yoshiki squirmed beneath him. "You must be new here, if you haven't been devoured yet. Oh, but now that you've connected with the other side, you won't last long at all. But don't worry, I'll go ahead and take you now, before the others even get the chance to hunt you. I cannot say it will be painless, Yoshiki, but once it's over, it's over forever. Do not fret, Yoshiki…"

The man dug his nails into Yoshiki's arms, so deep he knew the man had drawn blood. Yoshiki screamed, and the man's eyes lit up with excitement. He took a deep breath, his eyes rolling back in his head.

"Oh, Yoshiki—"

Hands suddenly wrapped around the man's neck, ripping him backwards and off of Yoshiki.

Hikaru stood over him, gripping the man by his neck. He looked down into the man's red eyes, his voice nothing more than a murmur. "Get offa him, you freak."

Hikaru's red eyes began to glow. And then he pulled the man towards him, and bit into his neck.

Yoshiki cried out as the man screamed, his arms clawing at Hikaru's face. But Hikaru did not stop, only sunk his teeth deeper into the man's neck.

Hikaru pulled away, and his mouth was covered in black ichor that dripped down his chin and onto his neck.

"Ugh," he spat, making a face. "Nasty."

The man screamed again as Hikaru bit into the other side of his neck, his limps twitching helplessly. Yoshiki covered his mouth with his hand as bile stung the back of his throat.

Hikaru gasped coming off of the man, his open, bloody mouth inhaling deeply. The man was limp in his arms, and Hikaru dropped him to the ground. His hands, covered in black blood, were frozen before him, as if he was trying to figure something out.

Hikaru inhaled again, a hand going suddenly to the black hoodie he still wore. He gripped it, pulling it up to his nose. He inhaled deeply, his face going blank.

Then he turned his glowing eyes on Yoshiki.

"Hikaru…" Yoshiki choked out. "Wha—what are you doin'?"

Hikaru was a blur of motion before he was upon Yoshiki, pushing him onto his back and climbing over him. Yoshiki cried out, trying to shove Hikaru off of him but finding no purchase on a body that felt like a wall of stone. Hikaru, his face a blank mask of emotionlessness, stared at Yoshiki, breathing heavily.

"H-Hikaru! Hey…" Yoshiki shoved his chest but Hikaru did not budge. "Hey! It's—it's me."

Hikaru's head cocked, like an animal trying to understand. He seemed completely unphased by Yoshiki pushing and shoving him, as if he felt nothing.

"Hikaru!" Yoshiki cried. "Are ya even listenin'? It's me!"

Hikaru's face twitched, his eyes blinking once. His lips parted and he dropped his head so his forehead met Yoshiki's. His red eyes were all Yoshiki could see, his nose cold against Yoshiki's, his breath hot on his face. Hikaru's hand, with its unnatural strength, reached up and grasped Yoshiki's jaw, pinning his head to the ground.

"Yoshiki…" he whispered.

"H-Hikaru!" Yoshiki shouted. "Lemme go!"

Hikaru gently pushed into Yoshiki's jaw, turning his head. He shifted his gaze to Yoshiki's neck, and Yoshiki panicked as he realized what was about to happen.

He's gonna kill me. Oh god, he's gonna kill me.

"Yoshiki…" Hikaru whispered again.

Yoshiki strained against him, but he could not move his head. He twisted and writhed, shoving and beating his fists into Hikaru's chest but he was as unmoveable as the earth itself. Finally, unable to suppress his animalistic need for survival, he screamed a bloodcurdling scream.

"Hikaru! Stop!"

Hikaru's red eyes blinked.

And then he was gone.

Yoshiki could see the night sky overhead. He inhaled sharply, palming at his neck. He was uninjured. His whole body was trembling. His cheeks were wet with tears.

He bolted upright. "Hikaru?"

About fifty feet away, Hikaru was on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest. His face was buried in his arms.

After a few moments, Yoshiki got his legs to move. He stood shakily, then slowly walked towards Hikaru, who did not look up.

Some part of Yoshiki told him he should run. That he should be afraid.

He knelt down in front of Hikaru. "Hey."

Hikaru's head shot up, his eyes wide and wet with tears. "Yoshiki?"

No way, Yoshiki thought. He's cryin'?

Nothing about him was the same as a few moments ago. The emotionless, trancelike expression was gone, his eyes no longer glowing. Tears streamed down his cheeks, his lower lip trembling like a little kid's.

"Yoshiki, I'm so sorry," Hikaru choked out. "I… would never do that. Not to you. Please… please don't hate me."

Yoshiki had never seen him cry before.

"I don't hate ya," he murmured. "I… couldn't hate ya."

Hikaru sniffled, blinking as fresh tears fell. "But I… I almost…"

"But ya didn't," Yoshiki said quickly, his brain overstimulated. "Hey, I wanna get the hell outta here. And then ya got some explainin' to do. Yeah?"

Hikaru sniffled, his eyes wide. He nodded, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand.

"'Nough of that," Yoshiki said softly. He brought his hand to the top of Hikaru's white head, and dug into his hair, ruffling it.

"Hey!" Hikaru whined, laughing. But he did not dodge Yoshiki's hand like Yoshiki had expected. He just stayed there, and Yoshiki's hand stilled in his hair.

"Uh…" Yoshiki pulled his hand away, his cheeks warming. "Pull yer hood back up. Apartment's just up the way."

Hikaru nodded, staring hard at Yoshiki with an expression he could not place.

Yoshiki had to look away, and found his eyes drifting towards the dead body a few paces away. Every muscle in his body seemed to tighten as he walked towards it, his hands trembling. The man's neck was a mess of black ichor, but even through the strange substance coating his skin, Yoshiki could see the bite marks left in his flesh. His long, black hair covered his eyes but not so much that Yoshiki could not tell they were still open, frozen in a tableau of horror. His lips were parted in a scream.

Yoshiki felt paralyzed there, unable to look away.

"You… killed a person," he whispered.

Just as he spoke, the tips of the dead man's fingers began to turn black. Yoshiki gasped as the blackness crawled up the man's hand, his arm, his chest. His blackened fingers cracked and dissolved, turning to ash before Yoshiki's eyes. The dust blew away in the wind, and in mere moments, the man had completely disintegrated.

"That wasn't a person, Yoshiki," Hikaru said, suddenly standing beside him. Yoshiki turned, and Hikaru gave him a grin, his cheeks still wet from his tears.

Yoshiki's apartment was small; it was all he could afford with his scholarship. There was only one bedroom and one bathroom attached to the main living area. There was a tiny kitchen with a stove and a minifridge, but no dishwasher and no laundry. He still did not have a couch or a TV like the other students in his classes, but he did not really mind. He was only ever here to sleep and eat takeout; the rest of his time was filled with classes and work and studying on campus.

His room was sparse. No posters or pictures hung on his walls, save for a mirror above his dresser. His desk was stacked high with his textbooks and notebooks, but he rarely used it. There was a pile of clothes on the floor from yesterday. On his unmade bed sat Hikaru Indou, who watched him closely.

Yoshiki approached with a wet towel. He sat next to Hikaru, whose eyes followed his movements, and Yoshiki gestured to his neck. "Turn yer head."

Hikaru blinked, then obeyed. His eyes had a lost puppy dog look to them. Yoshiki had never seen them look that way before. "Yer… not mad?"

Yoshiki brought the towel to the black ichor on Hikaru's neck, gently wiping it away. "I dunno what I am. But yer gettin' my hoodie all bloody."

Hikaru side-eyed him, smiling warily. "Heh. Sorry. It's… a really good hoodie, too."

Yoshiki folded the towel over to find a spot that had yet to be soaked through. Without looking up, he said, "It's all over yer mouth."

He reached out with the towel, and Hikaru's eyes widened. Yoshiki tried to ignore them as he brought the towel gently to Hikaru's mouth, wiping away the black ichor still dripping from his lips.

His hand stilled as he stared at Hikaru's mouth. He thought about how sharp the black haired man's teeth had been and wondered if Hikaru's—

Hikaru's lips turned upward in a smirk. "Whatchu starin' so hard at my mouth for?"

"Ugh, I—wasn't," Yoshiki said, horrified and blushing fiercely. He scowled into the towel in his hands. "If you'd stop talkin' and movin' I could finish this quicker."

Hikaru laughed half-heartedly, his smile falling away. He nodded and stilled.

Yoshiki sighed, bringing the towel back to his neck. After a few moments of tense silence, Hikaru cleared his throat, fidgeting again.

"Suppose yer all kinds a curious."

"Mm."

"Yoshiki, come on," Hikaru said, turning his head and gently stilling Yoshiki's hand. "Yer… yer makin' me nervous."

Yoshiki breathed a laugh. "I'm makin' you nervous?"

Hikaru's lost puppy eyes blinked helplessly at him, and he bowed his head.

Yoshiki sighed. He put the towel down next to him and stared into his hands. "Yer different."

"Yeah."

"Yer… not human."

"Not anymore."

"Are ya… dead?"

Hikaru looked up, and so did Yoshiki. Their eyes met. "Technically, they're callin' it undead, I think."

Yoshiki breathed another laugh, shaking his head. "Ya gotta be kiddin' me." He ran a hand through his hair, laughing again. When he looked up at Hikaru, Hikaru was watching him with big, wary eyes. Yoshiki dropped his hand, his mirthless smile falling. "Show me yer teeth."

Hikaru opened his mouth.

They were as he had expected.

Yoshiki laughed again, doubling over and burying his head in his hands. "Ya gotta be fuckin' with me."

"I ain't," came Hikaru's soft voice.

"Yer a fuckin' vampire."

"Think so, yeah."

Yoshiki peeled his head up from his hands. "And… and that other guy?"

"Also a vampire."

"And… he was gonna…"

"Suck yer blood, yeah."

Yoshiki froze, his eyes fixed on his bedsheets. His voice, barely a whisper, trembled. "And you were gonna…"

"No," Hikaru said forcefully, leaning into Yoshiki's face. His eyes somehow got even bigger. "I would never."

Yoshiki blinked, his cheeks warming at Hikaru's sudden closeness. He shook his head and got up from the bed, moving across the room. He laughed again, his hand covering his mouth.

"Yoshiki?"

Yoshiki laughed. Then, he bolted into his bathroom, doubled over the toilet, and threw up.

It was three in the morning when Yoshiki's takeout arrived.

He had taken a shower, cleaned the cuts on his arms, and ordered food from one of the local college spots that stayed open all night. He sat on his kitchen counter, digging into the paper box with his chopsticks, and staring at Hikaru, who sat on the counter across from him.

"Can ya eat?"

"Yeah, I can eat. Doesn't really do much fer me though."

"Can ya sleep?"

"Same answer fer that."

Yoshiki hesitated. "Can ya die?"

Hikaru blinked. "Yeah. I can die."

"Again, you mean," Yoshiki grumbled, picking at his food. He sighed. His hands still had not stopped trembling, but at least he had some food in his system. "Why the hell are ya here?"

"I told ya I'd come bother ya in Tokyo if ya ever went to college," Hikaru said with a grin. "Told ya I'd always be hangin' around yer place so you could never bring girls home. Didn't I say that?"

Yoshiki blushed, like he always did when Hikaru brought up girls. He scowled into his food, suddenly not hungry anymore. He could not hide the irritation in his voice when he said, "Ya never did though."

Hikaru's smile fell. "Huh?"

"Ya never came like ya said ya would," Yoshiki muttered. "Been here a whole year and ya never came. Then, when ya finally do, ya show up dead."

"Undead," Hikaru corrected meekly. When Yoshiki did not laugh, Hikaru cleared his throat, awkwardly tugging at the strings of Yoshiki's hoodie. "Look Yoshiki, all I know is I've been tryin' to find ya since I got like this. I know that ain't enough but it's the truth."

Yoshiki looked at him. His face was so open, so sincere in its vulnerability. Yoshiki scowled again, looking away. "So how'd ya get like this, then?"

"Uh, I don't exactly remember. But I been rememberin' bits 'n pieces the more I exist like this. I dunno, maybe it takes time?" Hikaru shifted uncomfortably, and he looked nothing like the monster Yoshiki had seen not an hour ago. Neither version of Hikaru he had seen tonight felt like the one he knew. "But I can answer yer other questions. I'll tell ya anythin' ya wanna know, Yoshiki. Anythin'."

Yoshiki sighed. "So there're vampires in Tokyo. And that's somethin' I just gotta accept as real."

"Yeah, pretty much," Hikaru said cheerily. "They've always been there but you only just started noticin' 'em. And it ain't just vampires, it's all sorts of demons."

"Why? How?"

"'Cause Tokyo overlaps with the underworld."

Yoshiki choked. He set down his takeout box on the counter next to him, coughing. "Yer messin' with me."

"I ain't," Hikaru said. "The entrance to hell is here in Tokyo. Apparently, there's a whole alternate version of this city on their side, fulla demons and ghosts and ghouls. That's why there's so many more here than anywhere else."

"Hell," Yoshiki echoed. "Yer sayin' hell is real."

"Think so, yeah! I haven't seen it yet but I think I'm supposed to be there. Ya know, bein' a demon 'n all." He scratched at his hair, as if pondering something as trivial as the weather. "I dunno why but I feel called to it. Like there's somethin' there fer me."

"So that's why ya came, then," Yoshiki muttered, looking away. "Ya came to go to hell."

"Nah, that's just a lucky bonus. I came here fer you."

Yoshiki's head shot up. "Fer… me?"

"Uh, yeah," Hikaru said, fidgeting again and rubbing awkwardly at his neck. "I mean, not to kill ya. Just to see ya. But, heh, now I probably gone 'n scared ya away."

Yoshiki stared at him for a long moment. "Why'd ya attack me, Hikaru?"

"Yer blood," he whispered.

"My… blood?"

Hikaru looked down at his hands, and Yoshiki wondered if he was going to cry again. "Yeah."

Yoshiki nodded, his heart suddenly hammering. "Well, whatever. I ain't scared."

Hikaru looked up, stilling. "Ya ain't?"

"No. Not of you."

Hikaru's eyes widened, his lips parted like he was going to say something.

"What?" Yoshiki prodded.

Hikaru shook his head. "Yoshiki, it ain't good that you can see me."

"The hell does that mean?"

"Humans can't see us. Demons, I mean. The humans that can, well, they're special, I think. Usually they got some sorta power or somethin' most humans don't. And usually…" Hikaru looked away, running a hand through his hair. "Well, I haven't met any other special humans but you got a real pretty soul, Yoshiki. 'N I think demons are drawn to that. I think that's why they attacked ya."

Yoshiki blinked, his cheeks warming. He stared at his hands. "Wha— What do ya mean? You can see my soul?"

"Sure, all demons can see souls. We all got different ways of consumin' 'em, but that's what we want. Human souls. Fer me, I…"

"You drink blood," Yoshiki breathed, his heart pounding. "Ya… killed people fer their blood before?"

Hikaru looked embarassed, then his eyes grew wide. "I won't do it ever again if ya don't want me to, Yoshiki. I'll do anythin' ya say."

Yoshiki shook his head, dumbfounded. "I…"

Hikaru jumped off the counter and closed the distance between them, standing right between Yoshiki's legs. Yoshiki tried to stop his face from warming, but the sudden proximity felt far too intimate.

"Yoshiki, there's gonna be more of 'em is what I'm sayin'." Hikaru looked up at him, his face full of concern. "Ya ain't safe now that you can see 'em."

Yoshiki's panic returned. "But—"

"But if ya let me hang around with ya," said Hikaru, his eyes hardening, "I'll protect ya. I won't let anythin' hurt ya. I promise."

"H-Hikaru…"

His eyes suddenly filled with tears. "And I know I gone and scared ya, I know it. But I ain't ever gonna hurt you, Yoshiki, I swear it." He hung his head, pressing it into Yoshiki's chest. "Please, I ain't ready to go to hell. I wanna be here with you."

Yoshiki's heart, pressed against Hikaru's head, pounded mercilessly. It somehow had nothing to do with the threat of demons consuming his soul, and everything to do with those words, still echoing in his ears.

"I already told ya I ain't scared." As if moving in slow motion, he lifted his hand and placed it gently on the back of Hikaru's head. At his touch, Hikaru's cries ceased. "Yer different," Yoshiki whispered. "Yer not the same as… when you were alive."

"I'm not?"

"Ya don't know?"

"No," Hikaru sniffled into Yoshiki's chest. "The truth is I don't remember bein' alive at all. I don't know how I died, and I don't know how I lived. I woke up like this and couldn't remember nothin' about my past save for one thing."

Yoshiki's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

Hikaru picked his head up, and their faces were so close that Yoshiki's breath hitched. He inched away, but Hikaru seemed unphased by their proximity. He studied every inch of Yoshiki's face before finally looking in his eyes. His voice was a whisper. "You. All I can remember is you."

Chapter Text

Yoshiki never meant to fall asleep.

He had not slept well since he left home, but the past few weeks in particular had been worse than normal. He slept in fits and starts, restlessly tossing and turning through nightmare after nightmare. Sometimes they were strange, filled with problems he did not understand and dangers he could not fathom. Other times, they were the familiar, normal stress dreams of an anxiety-prone college student who did not get enough rest.

After the events of tonight, Yoshiki had not intended to find out what trap his unconscious mind might lay for him if he dared shut his eyes. Visions of demons with sharp fangs chasing him, a cold chill filling his body and suffocating him, the smell of the hell hounds turning to ash above him. His mind had been frustratingly creative before the events of a horror movie had actually happened to him, so he had propped himself up against the wall that met his bed, burying his nose in his textbook and trying to ignore the heaviness of his eyelids.

But at some point he must have lost his battle against them. He dozed, and dreams found him.

Dreams, not nightmares.

He dreamt of warmth and sunlight. His hand, shielding the rays from his eyes. His chest heaving with laughter. His hand lowering into the grass, plucking a few strands as his eyes honed in on a hand resting near his own, palm turned up to the sky. He inched his hand closer, feeling his stomach burst with butterflies as he made a decision. His fingers wove themselves between the other person's, his body blossoming in warmth at the sensation of touching skin. Warm fingers entwined with his, touching him back.

When Yoshiki woke, that warmth was still with him.

His eyes were still closed, his breathing even. Sunlight filled the room, lighting the backs of his eyelids. His back was against the wall, and he was practically sinking into the space between it and his mattress. He must have slid down after falling asleep propped up. His heavy eyelids fluttered open, slowly focusing.

There was a body curled up next to his. There was a head sharing his pillow. Hikaru Indou, the vampire that killed someone not twelve hours ago, was sleeping like a baby so close to Yoshiki that they were almost touching.

Yoshiki jumped, crying out and instinctively pushing away. Unfortunately, he rammed the back of his head into the wall in the process, and the commotion jolted Hikaru awake, his red eyes bright and full of alarm.

"Wha—?" Hikaru cried, clawing onto all fours and looking wildly about the room. "Vampires?!"

"Yeah, there's one right here," Yoshiki shot back breathlessly, shoving Hikaru's shoulder. He tried to catch his breath, ignoring the unsettling coldness beneath Hikaru's wrinkled t-shirt. "I—I thought ya didn't need sleep."

Hikaru righted himself, his eyes widening when he saw Yoshiki's expression. His hands fell into his lap. "Oh, uh. I don't. I dunno why I did it. Force a habit, I guess?"

Yoshiki settled onto his knees, balling a fist into his sheets. "Why were ya—?" He stopped abruptly, looking away. "This is my bed."

"Oh," Hikaru said softly. "I got memories of us havin' sleepovers before. Did we… not sleep in yer bed before?"

"Not—that close." Yoshiki's cheeks warmed, and he could not look at Hikaru. His mind was suddenly filled with the memory of his dream, and the feelings of warmth and butterflies he had felt while completely unaware how close his body had been to Hikaru's. His cheeks burned even hotter.

"Oh. Yeah, yer right," Hikaru laughed, bringing a hand to the back of his neck. "Probably just rolled over in my sleep. Sorry 'bout that."

"It's… fine."

"Didn't mean to make yer face all red," Hikaru laughed again. "Didja think I was a girl or somethin'?"

"What?" Yoshiki hissed, staring horrified at his hands. "No. Shut up."

"Were ya havin' raunchy dreams or what?"

"I said shut up." Yoshiki flung his pillow at Hikaru's smirking face. "I wasn't havin' no raunchy dreams."

The pillow bounced off of Hikaru's body without even a flinch. He, and his smirk, were completely unphased by the attack. "Heh. Whatever ya say."

There was a knock at the front door.

Yoshiki blinked. "Shit. What time is it?"

Hikaru shrugged, and Yoshiki flung himself off of the bed. He picked up his phone off of his desk, cursing again when he realized he had not charged it. He headed for the door, then froze. He turned back, peering through his open bedroom door at the mess of white hair that stared back at him.

"Uh. Stay there. 'N don't say anythin'."

Hikaru nodded, watching him curiously.

Yoshiki turned back to the door and opened it. Asako, dressed in a short denim skirt and a cropped t-shirt, smiled at him. She gave him a once over.

"Didja forget?"

Yoshiki blinked. Shit. "No, of course not. We're walking to campus together today."

"Yer still in yer PJs."

"Oh." He glanced down at himself. "Right."

Asako had joined Yoshiki at university this semester. She transfered from her previous school after their music program had not been all she had hoped it would be. She ended up with mostly general education courses her first semester, and those credits transfered over to her new school, so it had not felt like a complete waste. Though she had still been so disappointed that her dream school had not been what she thought it would be, a few months after transferring to Tokyo, Asako seemed much happier. She seemed to love her classes and had naturally made far more friends than Yoshiki. She, in all honesty, was the only college friend he had, and since he had not met her at college, he didn't think she counted.

But Yoshiki had been happy to have her in his life again. Even though their schedules often conflicted, they met up sporadically and texted often. Yoshiki had been so grateful to have a friend, he could almost ignore the ache her presence brought him. The reminder of home, and the friend that had left him.

The friend that had returned as a vampire.

Yoshiki felt a rise of panic as Asako laughed. "Ya look like ya just woke up. Long night?"

"Uh… yeah."

"Well, I'll wait for ya, but be fast 'cause I've got a 9AM…" Asako trailed off as her eyes drifted over his shoulder. Yoshiki instinctively adjusted the door to hide more of his apartment, then instantly cursed himself as her eyes widened knowingly. "Yoshiki," she whispered. "Do ya—do ya have a girl over?"

"No," Yoshiki hissed, blushing for the second time this morning. "I'll be right back, just wait there." As she began to laugh, he shut the door in her face.

Yoshiki trudged back into his room, shoving books hurriedly into his backpack. Hikaru was an unmoving statue in his periphery, still perched on Yoshiki's bed.

"Where ya goin'?"

"Class."

"Can I come?"

"Yer a vampire, Hikaru."

"So?"

Yoshiki sighed, grabbing his phone and charger and putting them in his bag. Asako could navigate for them, and he could charge up during his classes. A shadow fell over him and he jumped, startled by the sudden Hikaru standing in front of him.

"Hey, Yoshiki…" Hikaru said, smiling nervously. "Was that yer girlfriend or what?"

"I don't got a—" Yoshiki cut off his frustrated retort with a sigh. "Hikaru. That was Asako."

"Asako…" Hikaru's brows scrunched together. "Wait, I know her."

Yoshiki's hands stilled in his backpack. He straightened. "Ya don't remember her?"

"Well, now that ya mention her… I kinda do." Hikaru looked deep in thought, like he was reaching out for something and not quite grasping it. "But, uh, not really, no."

"But ya got memories of me, don't ya?" Yoshiki asked. "She was there for plenty of 'em."

"Yeah… She was, huh?"

Yoshiki blinked. "I don't got time for this. I'm gonna miss class 'cause of you."

"Heh," Hikaru smiled nervously again. "Sorry."

Yoshiki took his clothes into the bathroom, changed, and brushed his teeth. He flattened his straight, black locks with the palm of his hand, sighing softly to himself. The bags under his eyes looked even worse than usual.

When he opened his bathroom door, his heart threw itself against his ribcage.

Hikaru leaned one shoulder against the doorframe, his hands in the pockets of Yoshiki's black hoodie. The hood was up, and the ends of his white hair jutted out from beneath it. His eyes, bright red, bore into Yoshiki's with a seriousness he had not seen since last night's attack.

"Yoshiki." Hikaru's voice was low as he stepped up to Yoshiki, seeming to somehow tower over him despite them being the same height. Hikaru must have grown taller in the time between when Yoshiki saw him last and when he… changed. Yoshiki swallowed hard, his heart hammering at the sudden feeling of unease building in his chest. Something like fear. "I ain't gonna let ya go out on yer own after what happened. So I'm comin' with ya."

"But—" Yoshiki argued, shaking his head. "Ya can't just—"

"Yoshiki," Hikaru said again as he suddenly grabbed Yoshiki's wrist. The jarring coldness of his fingers seemed to pin Yoshiki in place. Hikaru's voice softened. "If ya ask me to stay, I'll stay. But if ya ask me to stay, I can't protect ya."

Yoshiki blinked. Then, he huffed a laugh. "It's that bad, huh?"

"You can seem 'em now, Yoshiki. And they can see you." Hikaru's face seemed to darken, even in the light filled room. "It's worse than bad. But if I'm around, they ain't gonna mess with ya as much."

Asako. Would he be putting her in danger? What about his classmates? Was there no going back to the life he had only just started to get used to?

And besides… is this not what he had been waiting for? Hikaru, here in Tokyo with him? Even if he was not the same, was he not still the one Yoshiki missed more than anything?

"Fine," Yoshiki said. "But… but what are we going to tell Asako? She knows ya, and she'll be able to tell…"

That yer not the same.

"Heh… Guess that's up to you, Yoshiki. If ya wanna tell her the truth…" Hikaru's eyes softened. "I trust ya."

Yoshiki breathed an incredulous laugh. "Me? Yer tellin' me it's my call?"

"Sure," Hikaru said easily. "I'm here fer you, not her."

The intimacy of those words crawled up Yoshiki's skin like goosebumps and sent warmth to his cheeks. He was suddenly painfully aware that Hikaru still held onto his wrist, his cold fingers pressed tightly against Yoshiki's skin.

"Okay," Yoshiki choked out. He managed a smile. "Then… welcome to college, Hikaru the vampire."

"Of course I know vampires're real," Asako said cheerily. "They're all over Tokyo!"

"W-what?" Yoshiki choked. "You knew?"

The three of them walked side-by-side through the bustling city streets on their way to campus. Asako had squealed when she smelled hot food and pulled them over to a nearby vendor to grab breakfast. Food in hand, between a large bite, Asako spoke, looking completely unphased.

"Sure," she said, shrugging. "I gotta sense for those kinda things. Runs in my family. Never expected to see so many of 'em in one place though."

Yoshiki had barely touched his food, staring down at his feet. "And yer… not scared of 'em?"

"No more than any other person, I 'spose," Asako said. Then, she grinned, jabbing Yoshiki in his side with her elbow. "Though, none of 'em have tried to suck my blood yet."

She laughed, and Yoshiki swallowed hard. He glanced to his right, at Hikaru, who was bundled up in Yoshiki's hoodie, despite the hot morning. Hikaru was already looking at him, a pensive expression on his face, like he was lost in thought. He blinked when Yoshiki met his eyes, then grinned.

Yoshiki looked away, his heart hammering. "Asako, there's somethin' else…"

"I guess it's good that it's a cloudy day today," she said, peaking over Yoshiki, "huh, Hikaru?"

Yoshiki froze.

Hikaru blinked, then he laughed. "Heh. It's just like ya said, Yoshiki. She could tell straight away."

Yoshiki felt short of breath. "That's why you were trynna peak into my apartment… You felt somethin'."

Asako's cheery expression was gone, and she fiddled with the remnants of her breakfast. "Yeah. Though I hadn't been expectin' it to be Hikaru. Thought you mighta ran into a girl not knowin' what she really was and…"

Hikaru laughed. "Nah, he'd be dead by now if that'd happened. Vampires ain't exactly gonna let ya walk away after they got ya beneath 'em."

Asako cocked her head. "What about you, Hikaru? Ya don't exactly seem like yer about to drink our blood."

"I'm… kinda different, I think. I don't really know." Hikaru shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, looking down at his feet. His face fell, and his voice suddenly lost its playfulness. "But I could hurt ya just the same."

"You wouldn't," Yoshiki said evenly. The words were out before he could really consider if he meant them. He remembered the way Hikaru had pinned him to the ground, the way he had tilted Yoshiki's head to expose his neck…

He had no reason to put such blind faith in this version of Hikaru. This Hikaru was something completely unknown, something powerful, something dangerous. Only a fool would be stupid enough to trust a vampire, even if that vampire was his best friend.

Perhaps Yoshiki was a fool then.

He could feel Hikaru's eyes on him, but he could not bring himself to turn his way. Not with Asako right there. It felt weird, somehow.

"So how'd ya get like this anyhow?" Asako asked, picking up their steps again as the others followed her lead.

"Don't remember," Hikaru said around a mouthful of food. "And… I kinda don't remember a lotta stuff. Pretty sure that ain't normal, but I dunno."

Asako rubbed her chin. "Do ya remember me?"

"I do now, kinda," Hikaru replied easily. "Like bits 'n pieces. It's weird. Ever since I found Yoshiki, things've started to feel familiar. Like a smell that takes ya back to a time ya can't quite place."

"Aw," Asako teased, elbowing Yoshiki again. It kind of hurt, and he rubbed at his ribcage after swatting her arm away. "That's so sweet, you two."

"Yer elbow is sharp, ya know that?" Yoshiki grumbled.

After a few more minutes of walking and talking about otherworldly things far too casually for Yoshiki's liking, they slowed at an intersection. Asako pressed the 'walk' button and leaned against the post, watching the cars fly by. Her bangs were clipped to the side with a cute little barrette. Hikaru stood next to her, looking the other way with his hands in his pocket. For a moment, Yoshiki could almost pretend he blended in.

Hikaru had always been pale, but now the whiteness of his skin matched his hair perfectly. Everything about him was cold, as if he was coated in snow. Pale skin, pale hair, even his lips were pale. But only his eyes, unnaturally red, made him look inhuman. Dressed in Yoshiki's black hoodie and blue jeans, his eyes downcast and his bedhead messy and ruffled, he really did look like a normal college student.

Hikaru caught Yoshiki staring, but, surprising himself, Yoshiki did not look away.

Hikaru smiled, and Yoshiki amended two of his prior thoughts.

First, that Hikaru could pass for a normal college student. Until he smiles, Yoshiki thought, his own amusement creeping onto his lips. The fangs're a bit of a giveaway.

And second, that everything about Hikaru was cold.

Because that smile held nothing but warmth.

Yoshiki looked away, suddenly remembering his dream for the first time since waking. That sensation of warmth, the feeling of entwining his fingers with someone else's, the blossom of butterflies in his stomach…

Someone ran past Yoshiki, shoving their shoulder into his.

Yoshiki stumbled with the impact, and though he was in no danger of falling, he felt cold, strong hands catch his arm. Hikaru was upon him instantly, looking over Yoshiki's shoulder at the man running past them, a look of fierce anger in his red eyes. "Hey! Fuckin' asshole, watch where yer goin'."

"It's fine, Hikaru," Yoshiki muttered, brushing Hikaru's hands away. "Big city's like that."

"Mister?" Asako cried. "Mister, the light ain't changed yet!"

Yoshiki whirled around just in time to see the man who had run into him, wearing a long coat and holding a briefcase, dash into the busy road.

"Hey! Stop!" Yoshiki cried out.

But the man paid them no mind, and as he ran directly into traffic, the cars slammed on their brakes with a cacophony of screeching tires and angry horns. Asako gasped, covering her mouth with both of her hands. Hikaru grabbed Yoshiki's arm, as if to stop him from running out into the street, too.

Halfway across the street, the man glanced over his shoulder at the three onlookers watching in horror. He smiled lopsidedly. "Sorry about that!"

Once he had made it across the street and the cars began moving again, Asako huffed. "What a lunatic! Almost gamme a heart attack."

"Seriously. What could ya be in such a rush for?" Yoshiki shook his head, then noticed Hikaru was still tightly gripping his arm. "It's alright, Hikaru. We see stuff like that all the time here. People're weird and they ain't as thoughtful as back home. I don't mind it. I was tired of people thinkin' about me so much anyway."

But Hikaru did not seem to hear him. His eyes were still trained on the intersection, hard and serious, his brow furrowed.

"Hikaru?" Yoshiki wrapped his fingers around Hikaru's wrist, gently prying Hikaru's cold fingers off of his arm. "It's okay. I'm fine, look."

Hikaru blinked when Yoshiki touched him, as if so lost in thought he had forgotten where he was. He met Yoshiki's eyes, and the hardness there seemed to soften and melt away. "Man, that guy was a real freak, huh?"

"Yeah," Yoshiki said with a nervous laugh, relieved to see Hikaru smile. "Weird."

Hikaru let go of him, and Asako started telling Hikaru about her classes. Yoshiki's eyes were drawn back to the intersection, and he stifled a gasp when he noticed the man was still there, unmoving on the other side of the street, and staring right at Yoshiki.

He could not make out the strangers eyes, because, even on a cloudy day like this, he was wearing a pair of darkly tinted sunglasses.

As the trio finally made it to campus, the sun was finally starting to peak out from behind the clouds. The air was warm but not so scorching as the summers in Kubitachi. Students were all around, walking with their backpacks and coffees, chatting with each other or listening to music. In the quad, there was a huge grassy lawn shaded by leafy trees where many students louged on blankets with their laptops, doing homework or dozing off. As the sun passed through a gap in the clouds, Asako perked up.

"Say, Hikaru," she said, putting a finger to her lips, "the sun ain't gonna burn ya?"

"Naw," said Hikaru with a grin. "That's just a myth, I think. Demons can be out whenever."

Yoshiki blinked. "I thought that's why you took my hoodie. To hide yer face from the sun."

Hikaru laughed, leaning back casually against a lamp post. "I took yer hoodie 'cause I like it. It smells good."

Yoshiki scowled as a blush crept into his cheeks. He looked away, feeling Asako's eyes on him.

"Yoshiki, ya got a break around 11:30, don'tcha?"

He nodded. "Yeah, fer an hour or so."

"Okay, let's get lunch then!" Asako turned on her heel, then spun back around, her face thoughtful. "Wait, Hikaru, you can eat people food, can't ya? We don't need to stop by the blood donation bank, huh?"

Hikaru matched her smile, rubbing at the back of his neck. Despite his easy air, there was something about the gesture that seemed nervous. "No, nothin' like that. I can eat same as before."

"Great!" she said, clasping her hands together. "Well, I'll see y'all in a couple hours!"

As she turned and headed in the opposite direction across the quad, Yoshiki nodded in the direction of his class, motioning for Hikaru to follow him.

"We like Asako, don't we?"

"'Course," Yoshiki said. "But don't ya got an opinion of yer own?"

"I'm sure I did," Hikaru said softly. "But I don't remember it now."

Yoshiki felt a chill of goosebumps run up his spine, even in the warmth. "Well, I don't wanna just… tell ya how to feel."

Hikaru glanced at him. "I guess I just wanna care about the things you care about."

Yoshiki stilled. He looked at Hikaru. "Why's that?"

Hikaru smiled nervously, looking away and shrugging. "Well, 'cause the only thing I care about right now is you."

Yoshiki blushed fiercely, his mouth practically falling open. He snapped it closed, swallowing hard and looking down at his feet. He opened it again to say something, but no words came out.

"Heh," Hikaru grinned, "I made ya go all red again."

Yoshiki scowled, turning completely away from Hikaru. "Well, stop sayin' weird stuff. Ya never used to say stuff like that before."

Hikaru's voice was suddenly soft. "I didn't?"

"No," Yoshiki muttered. Then he walked ahead without waiting for Hikaru.

"Good morning, Tsujinaka," said Professor Kana, "and… I've never seen you before, have I?"

"No, ma'am!" said Hikaru cheerily. "I'm new!"

Yoshiki tried to suppress the rising panic assaulting his nervous system. "Uh—Professor, this is Hikaru Indou. He's not a student. Would it—would it be alright if he attended class with me? I promise he won't be a bother."

Professor Kana looked over her glasses at Yoshiki. Kana was an ancient woman, but spoke with a voice so commanding she did not need a microphone even in a lecture hall this size. She was a tough teacher; Yoshiki had heard many of his classmates complain about flunking her exams. Some students even refused to take her classes because of how hard they were. She ran the lab like a drill sargeant, and was ruthless with her grading.

Yoshiki had already learned so much from her. In all honesty, she was one of his favorite professors. On his first day, someone had warned him that he would never get on her good side, and that he had better transfer to another class before the grace period for switching classes was over. For some reason, that had made Yoshiki decide to do well in Kana's class, no matter how hard she was on him.

And he had. Yoshiki could not speak to whether the old professor actually liked him, but he had managed to keep his grades well above the average in his class.

"Mm," Kana hummed, her lips thinning. Yoshiki felt a bead of sweat gather on his forehead. "I trust you would not bring a distraction to my class, Tsujinaka. Go on, find your seats."

Relief flooded him. "Thank ya, professor."

Yoshiki guided Hikaru up the steps to the very back of the lecture hall, which was slightly raked like a theater. He slid silently into a desk, and Hikaru followed suit, sitting next to him.

"Ya sit all the way in the back?" Hikaru whispered.

"The less eyes on you the better."

"Heh. Probably right about that."

"Now, look," Yoshiki whispered, "I really gotta focus, okay? Don't be distractin' me 'n stuff."

Hikaru nodded, his expression serious. He said nothing further, just peeled back his hood and crossed his hands over his desk.

As Professor Kana began her lecture, Yoshiki tried to take notes like he usually did. He tried to listen avidly to what she said, copy her equations from the whiteboard, and keep one eye on his textbook. But try as he might, Yoshiki Tsujinaka could not focus.

Hikaru did not say anything the entire lecture. In fact, he did not even look Yoshiki's way. He did not fiddle with the strings of his hoodie, or doodle on the desk.

Of all things, Hikaru seemed to be sitting there and… listening.

In high school, Hikaru had hated school and homework and everything that was not soccer practice or clubs after the school day was through. He had always passed class time by doing anything other than pay attention. But as Yoshiki stole what had to be his tenth glance at Hikaru, he could tell that the vampire's attention was rapt on every word out of Kana's mouth.

When class finally ended, Yoshiki looked down at his notes in complete dismay. They were pitiful. He would have to go back over this chapter in his textbook tonight and try to make up for his slacking.

"Yoshiki," Hikaru said, leaning over Yoshiki's desk and making him look up. "Ya think I could ask yer professor some things?"

"W-what?" Yoshiki stuttered. "Ya… wanna ask her about biology?"

"Sure," he said. "Ya know, bein' alive is so fascinatin'. I never… Well, I never really thought about all the things happenin' in my body when I was alive."

"Ya can't just… If ya ask her weird things, she might catch on that ya ain't alive anymore, Hikaru," Yoshiki whispered, his heart hammering. "Plus, ya ain't a student. She's busy, ya know?"

Hikaru nodded, running a hand through his hair and messing it up even more than it already was. "Right, yeah, I figured."

Yoshiki stood. The rest of the class had already filed out of the hall, and it was silent. "But, I know some things. Ya know, about biology. If ya got questions… I could try to help ya."

Hikaru looked up at him, his face completely still. Then, in a blink, he was smiling. "Yer so nice to me, Yoshiki."

Yoshiki frowned, looking away. "Well, it's my major so it'll be good practice fer me. Why do ya wanna know about bein' alive, anyhow?"

"Well, yer alive," Hikaru said softly. "I wanna understand ya. And me, I… I know I ain't alive anymore but… I don't really feel dead either."

"Undead," Yoshiki amended wryly. "Right?"

Hikaru glanced at him, one corner of his mouth perking up. "Yeah. Undead. But still, I don't exactly know what I am. I know I'm a vampire but I'm not like the others. I'm… different."

"And ya think understanding biology might help ya understand yerself?"

Hikaru stilled. For a moment, he was silent. "Maybe. Or maybe it'll just help me understand the difference between us."

Yoshiki's heart started to pound. He heard himself say, "Us?"

Hikaru looked up, stepping closer to Yoshiki. Yoshiki's eyes widened instinctively, feeling the urge to back away from him. Hikaru's face gave nothing away, and his voice was no more than a murmur. "Ya think we can still be friends, Yoshiki? Even though yer alive and I'm somethin' else?"

It was hard to remind himself that this Hikaru was the same one that saved his life last night, shoving Yoshiki out of harms way and savagely tearing apart the demon that was going to take Yoshiki's life. It was hard to remind himself that this Hikaru was the same one that almost sunk his own teeth into Yoshiki's neck, driven into some sort of stupor by the scent of blood.

It was also hard to remind himself that this was the same Hikaru he knew.

Could this person—this vampire—before him, really be all of those things in one? Was it really so black and white as all that? Or was he, like Hikaru said, something else entirely?

Yoshiki took a breath, and realized none of that mattered.

"Yes," he murmured. "I don't care what ya are."

"What's yer major, anyhow, Asako?"

Hikaru sat next to Yoshiki at a round table in the dining hall. He picked at his food, but seemed uninterested in it. Yoshiki and Asako had both ordered the same thing (and in huge proportions) and were greedily making their way through it as only starving college kids could. It was a fairly busy day in the dining hall, but they were early enough to beat the real lunch rush.

"Music," she said, swallowing. "Don't ya remember singin' in choir together? Technically, I'm majoring in music education, but I specifically study piano and voice."

Hikaru scratched his head, like he was trying to remember. "Singin', huh?"

"Yeah! You always had a good singin' voice, too, Hikaru."

"Mm." Hikaru seemed to be lost in thought, staring down at his fingers absentmindedly thumbing a napkin.

He gets like that a lot, Yoshiki thought. He's here one moment and then he's thousands of miles away.

"So, Hikaru," Asako said, cocking her head at him, "if ya don't burn in the sun, what other myths ain't true about ya?"

Hikaru blinked, seeming to remember where he was. He grinned. "What do ya wanna know?"

"Hm!" Asako thought hard, hiding a smile behind her fingers. "Do ya gotta be invited in to enter someone's home?"

Hikaru laughed. "That one's dumb. No, that ain't true."

"What about garlic? Can I fend ya off with a pizza?"

He grinned at her. "Depends on how good ya are at weildin' it."

It was Asako's turn to laugh. "I think I could do some damage with a pizza. Considerin' I was the reignin' champion of arm wrestlin' back home. Say…" Her eyes widened, like she had a really exciting idea. "What about super strength?"

"Oh," Hikaru said, sounding surprised. He laughed sheepishly, running a hand through his white hair. "Uh, yeah. I got that one."

Asako's smile became a bold, cocky sneer as she slammed her elbow onto the table, proferring her arm to Hikaru.

"Asako," Yoshiki said. "Yer not serious."

"I'm deadly serious."

Hikaru raised a brow at her. "Ya… wanna arm wrestle me?"

Yoshiki remembered how his body was immobilized beneath Hikaru's, how he could not move his head when Hikaru's fingers pinned it to the ground.

Yoshiki suddenly had a terrifying vision of Asako's arm coming clean off and Hikaru staring at it in horror.

"Absolutely not," Yoshiki blurted. "Asako, no. I'm serious."

"He's probably right," Hikaru said. "I could really hurt ya."

Asako raised an eyebrow, as if challenged. She smiled. "You can try. Come on!"

Hikaru glanced at Yoshiki and Yoshiki shook his head. Hikaru shrugged, laughing. "Sorry, Asako. No-can-do. Yoshiki said no."

Yoshiki scoffed as Asako harrumphed. She teased, "So, ya do everythin' Yoshiki tells ya to?"

Hikaru shrugged again. "Yeah, pretty much."

"That ain't true," Yoshiki said, feeling that dreaded warmth in his cheeks. "Ya gotta be yer own person, Hikaru."

Hikaru opened his mouth to say something, then stopped himself, looking away. Yoshiki blinked, trying to think of something to say.

Asako gasped. "Do ya sleep in a coffin, Hikaru?" Then, she doubled over with a fit of laughter.

"Heh. Nah. I sleep in Yoshiki's bed."

Asako's laughter came to an abrupt halt, as did the beating of Yoshiki's heart. He choked on his own saliva, which turned into a coughing fit.

Asako's eyes narrowed, as if she were waiting for Hikaru to finish his joke. She smirked. "Together?"

Hikaru matched her grin. "Yeah. Real close, too."

She squealed, right as Yoshiki found his voice. "Hikaru!"

"What?" Hikaru said innocently, his sly grin disappearing. "I wasn't lyin'."

"Yeah, but yer makin' it seem like—" Yoshiki's face was beet red now, he was sure of it. It was hell on earth. "Like—somethin' it ain't."

Hikaru blinked, and for a second, his brow furrowed—not in confusion, but in what looked like agitation. Silence fell suddenly, with the buzzing of tension.

Asako's voice was warily cheerful as she stood from the table, like she was pretending not to notice the tense silence. "Well, I gotta be off to my next class. But I'll see y'all tomorrow?"

Yoshiki blinked, looking up at her. He could feel Hikaru's eyes still on him, as if Asako were not there at all. "Yeah, of course. See ya tomorrow."

She smiled at them both, and Yoshiki could have sworn her eyes lingered on Hikaru, who still stared at Yoshiki. As she turned and strode out of sight, Yoshiki scowled, gathering their trash. Hikaru had hardly touched his food. Yoshiki left the table to toss their trash in the bin, and when he returned, Hikaru leaned against the table, his hood drawn. His red eyes bore into Yoshiki's for the entirety of his approach.

Hikaru seemed to study Yoshiki's face, pondering over it as if it were a puzzle to figure out.

Yoshiki cleared his throat, his irritation and embarassment suddenly abandoning him, leaving him feeling cold. "Hikaru?"

Hikaru's eyes stilled on Yoshiki's. "Yeah?"

"Let's go."

Hikaru nodded, pushing off of the table and falling into step beside Yoshiki.

Yoshiki guided Hikaru through the halls towards his next class, passing all kinds of different students, professors, janitors, administration, and more. No one seemed to take any notice of Hikaru, despite the fact that he carried no books or backpack.

"Hikaru," Yoshiki said under his breath. "Didn't you say that humans can't see demons?"

Hikaru looked up at Yoshiki, catching his eye. His red eyes narrowed as he grinned. "Wonderin' why they can see me?"

"Yeah. I thought ya said I was the only one who could see demons. But Asako and everyone else have seen ya just fine."

"Ya sound jealous," said Hikaru. "Wanted me all to yerself?"

Yoshiki elbowed him in the side, which was cold and hard and completely unaffected by his jab. Hikaru laughed at the sad attempt, and Yoshiki rolled his eyes. "Would be nice to be special, I guess."

"You are special," Hikaru clarified. "And it ain't a good thing."

"Ya keep sayin' that, but do ya even know what ya mean by it?" Yoshiki stilled, leaning against the hallway wall as other students walked past him. "What do ya even know about demons?"

"Not a thing," Hikaru said with a sigh, collapsing against the wall next to Yoshiki. "Demons can be seen when they wanna, but only fer a short time. Like vampires'll lure in their prey before they suck their blood. But I know I ain't like the rest, so I don't got the same rules as 'em. People can see me all the time, fer some reason. But Yoshiki, you can see all demons. And I may not know much, but I know most ain't as friendly as me. You should know that too, considering how many tried to kill ya just last night."

Yoshiki's stomach rolled over at the mention of last night. Sweat began to collect on his brow. He leaned his head back against the wall. "Hikaru. How do ya know you ain't like the rest of 'em?"

The sound of idle chatter and footsteps all along the hallway was a buzz of background noise, all bundling into one wall of sound. Still, Hikaru's silence felt heavy between them.

"Don't feel like a demon."

Yoshiki breathed a laugh, surprised by that answer. "Don't feel like a demon, huh?"

"Nah."

Yoshiki turned his head towards Hikaru, still leaning it back against the wall. He studied him, the way his red eyes followed the passerbys as they moved across the hall, his arms crossed over his chest, his white hair peaking out from his black hoodie. "Do ya feel like a person?"

Hikaru tilted his head, looking over at Yoshiki. "Not really."

Yoshiki pondered that for a moment. When he could think of nothing better to say, he said, "Ya look like a person."

"Oh, yeah?" Hikaru said, grinning. "What about now?"

He crossed his eyes and scrunched up his mouth, looking like a complete fool. Yoshiki laughed, shoving Hikaru's head with a ruffle of his hair.

Hikaru let Yoshiki mess up his hair, then grabbed Yoshiki's wrist and playfully shoved it out of the way. Hikaru smiled broadly, his sharp teeth on full display.

"Glad that still works," he said, eyeing Yoshiki's smile. "Thought I had lost my charm."

Yoshiki flushed at the attention on his smile, and he looked down at his feet. "Whatever. Yer still a doofus."

"And yer still gloomy," Hikaru said. "Gotta pull a smile outta ya every now 'n then or ya might forget how to." Hikaru leaned over and tugged Yoshiki's cheek.

"Stop it," Yoshiki laughed, swatting his arm. "Yer embarassin' me."

Hikaru narrowed his red eyes, grinning slyly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Then why're ya laughin'?"

"'Cause," Yoshiki said, shoving his shoulder.

Hikaru's eyes followed Yoshiki's hand as it touched him, then his gaze trailed back up to Yoshiki's eyes, bouncing from one to the other with a goofy grin on his face.

"What?" Yoshiki asked, feeling his cheeks warm again.

Hikaru shook his head, still smiling. "Nothin'."

"Damn, it's three 'til," Yoshiki said, only just noticing the clock on the wall. "Yer gonna make me miss my class. Come on."

"Ha! I can't wait," Hikaru said. "Learnin' is so cool."

Yoshiki laughed again, shaking his head. "Yer such a—Hikaru?"

Hikaru had frozen in his tracks, still as a statue. His eyes were wide, staring down at the floor. Students hurried around him, eager to make it to their classes in time, and irritated at the guy who decided to stop in the middle of the hallway. Yoshiki paid them no mind, hurrying back to Hikaru's side and grabbing his shoulder.

"Hikaru? What is it?"

Hikaru blinked, raising a brow. "Yoshiki… You might be goin' to school with a demon or two."

Yoshiki's pulse spiked with alarm. "W-what? Yer not sayin'…"

Hikaru nodded. "I think there's one nearby."

Yoshiki whirled around, as if the demon would be right behind him. "But—shit. What do we do?"

"We?" Hikaru straightened, giving Yoshiki a grin. "This is my job. Yers is goin' to class 'n bein' a good student. I'll see ya after."

Then, he turned on his heel, shoved his hands into his pocket, and walked away.

"Hey!" Yoshiki called out, running after him. He grabbed Hikaru's arm, spinning him back around. "Absolutely not. Yer not goin' after it on yer own."

Hikaru's eyes hardened. "That's what I'm here to do. Protect ya, like I said I would."

"By splittin' up from me?" Yoshiki argued.

"If I bring ya straight to the demon," Hikaru argued back, raising his voice, "how the hell would that be any better?"

"'Cause—I could help." Yoshiki hated how pathetic it came out, and tightened his grip on Hikaru's arm as he gritted his teeth.

"You could help?" Hikaru laughed, his eyes suddenly cold. He stepped closer, and Yoshiki realized with a start that the halls had emptied, and they were completely alone. "And what wouldja do against a demon, Yoshiki?"

Again, he seemed to tower over Yoshiki, as if casting a dark shadow over him and shrouding him in darkness. His eyes, for a single moment, began to glow.

Fear—that's what it was, wasn't it?—burned Yoshiki's veins like fire.

"I ain't scared of you," Yoshiki whispered.

Hikaru huffed, tilting his head and inching even closer. "Yer hands are shakin'."

"That's 'cause I'm pissed off," Yoshiki growled. "And I wanna hit ya."

Hikaru laughed. "Go ahead then, if it'll make ya feel better."

"Stop patronizin' me!"

"Stop patronizin' me!" Hikaru's smile was gone, his eyes flaring. "I came all this way to find yer ass, and now ya wanna hand yer ass over to a demon. I said I would protect ya, and ya can't trust me to do that?" Hikaru shoved a finger into Yoshiki's chest, which somehow threw him completely off balance. He stumbled back into the wall, catching himself. Hikaru moved like lightning, pressing his hands against either side of Yoshiki's head, pinning him there. "I dunno the first damn thing about myself or why the hell I'm here except fer you. And the only thing I know I wanna do of my own fuckin' will is keep ya safe. Who are you to tell me I can't?"

Yoshiki's arguments died on his tongue. All he could do was stare into Hikaru's angry, red eyes, suddenly short of breath.

Hikaru's face fell. His voice lost all of its fervor, coming out weak and small. "I don't wantcha to be brave, Yoshiki."

After a moment, Yoshiki heard himself laugh.

Hikaru's head popped up. He still pinned Yoshiki against the wall, but his face was soft and confused. "Huh? Why ya laughin'?"

"I ain't brave, Hikaru," Yoshiki muttered. "I'm selfish. If ya died trynna to protect me, I'd never forgive myself."

Hikaru blinked, studying Yoshiki's face, as if not understanding.

"Don't ya see?" Yoshiki laughed again. "I'm not even thinkin' straight 'cause I would do anythin' not to lose ya again."

Hikaru's eyes widened. His lips fell open in the smallest 'o' shape. His voice was little more than a whisper of breath. "Yoshiki."

"I ain't gonna patronize ya anymore," Yoshiki murmured. "Yer allowed to do what ya wanna do, and what ya think is best. I don't want ya to just do what I tell ya."

"But I would, ya know?" Hikaru pled softly. "Ya know that right? Anythin' ya say, Yoshiki. I'll do it."

Yoshiki's face warmed as he realized how close their faces were, and in how public of a place they were. He stammered, all of his composure suddenly gone.

Hikaru smiled, shaking his head. He pushed off of the wall, putting space between himself and Yoshiki again. He whispered, "I'm bein' selfish, too."

"What do ya mean?"

"I think if I can protect ya," Hikaru said, looking down at his hands, "then it'll make me feel like I got a reason to be here with ya."

Yoshiki's chest clenched with a dull, painful ache. Without thinking, as if moving of its own volition, his body closed the distance between them with a sudden ferocity. Hikaru's eyes widened as Yoshiki stormed him, grabbing him by the neck of his hoodie.

"Hikaru. You think ya need a reason?"

Hikaru's lower lip trembled, his eyelids fluttering once, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by a low, gravelly moan from their left, at the end of the hall.

Yoshiki gasped as Hikaru, in less than a second, pushed Yoshiki behind him with both arms.

Yoshiki peaked over Hikaru's shoulder at what seemed to have once been a man, but now, flesh rotting off of his bones, was little more than a corpse. It watched them with wide, lidless eyes, and a jawless smile.

Hikaru, still holding Yoshiki at bay behind him, barked a low laugh. "Together?"

Yoshiki steeled himself, digging his fingers into Hikaru's hard arms. "Together."

Chapter Text

The corpse charged them. And it was far faster than it should have been.

Yoshiki cried out as it moved, and suddenly Hikaru was no longer attached to him, but was a blur of movement sprinting straight at the corpse. Yoshiki winced as Hikaru collided with it, its gritty moan coming in fits and starts.

Yoshiki shivered as he realized it was laughing.

It seemed to be a match for Hikaru's strength, the two demons at a sort of stalement in each other's arms. The corpse tilted its head, and Hikaru bared his teeth.

"You… " came its grating voice. "Something isn't right about you."

Hikaru laughed, looking revolted. "Ya know, that's really rich comin' from a guy without a jaw."

As the corpse laughed, Hikaru was able to swipe its leg out from under it, sending it careening to the ground with a slam. Yoshiki winced at the loud sound, then his whole body turned to ice as he heard a voice from behind the door to one of the classrooms.

"Did you hear that? What was that sound?"

Yoshiki panicked. Humans could not see demons unless they wanted to be seen, but humans could certainly hear the sounds of fighting. The hall was filled with classrooms, each holding a bunch of innocent people; if anyone walked out to see what the commotion was about, their lives might be at stake. Yoshiki had no weapon, no training, and no way to fight a demon.

But he could at least try to keep these people safe.

He sprinted down the hall, past the demon that Hikaru was wrestling with, towards the men's restroom. "Hikaru!"

Hikaru's head whipped around, landing on Yoshiki. Though he wrangled the corpse beneath him, Yoshiki could tell he had Hikaru's full attention.

"In here!" he cried, holding open the restroom door.

Hikaru nodded, gritting his teeth in determination. He lifted the corpse by its neck, and barrled past Yoshiki and into the men's restroom. Before seeing the aftermath of the collision, Yoshiki slammed the door shut and locked it. He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned around.

The corpse had its hand tightened around Hikaru's neck, pinning him to the floor.

"You're supposed to be in hell, friend!" the corpse cackled. "Though I'm not here for you, I don't mind being the one to send you where you belong. He's looking for you, you know!"

"Hikaru!" Yoshiki cried, helplessly looking around the room for something, anything he could use.

Hikaru strained against the corpse's grip, clawing at the hand around his neck. He ground out, "Who?"

The corpse laughed its grating, choking laugh, tightening its grip on Hikaru's neck.

Fuck it, Yoshiki thought before barrelling forward and shoving his foot as hard as he could into the corpse's head.

It was hardly enough to stop the thing, but it was enough to get it to loosen its grip on Hikaru, who used the split second of release to pry the corpse's arm away from his neck and twist it behind its back.

The corpse moaned in pain, breaking free of Hikaru's grasp with a jerk. As the corpse turned its jawless smile on Yoshiki, he realized, far too late, that he was in arm's reach of the thing.

It lunged, tackling Yoshiki to the ground.

"But you," the corpse laughed, "oh, you were worth the journey. I saw you from miles away, and your soul is even prettier in person. Oh, how delicious you will be…."

Hikaru's foot collided with the corpse's head, and his much more effective version of Yoshiki's move was enough to throw it clear across the bathroom. The corpse flew, slamming into the sinks at the other end of the small room and crashing to the ground.

Hikaru stalked towards the demon. "Don't talk about Yoshiki's soul."

The corpse rolled over, wheezing and coughing out a long laugh that grew in hysterics. Goosebumps ran up and down Yoshiki's arms at the sound of it. Its hands clawed at the tiles, stretching towards Hikaru as its mirthful face tilted up at him.

"Pardon me, but it's just so funny," the corpse cried. "There were rumors about you, of course, but I didn't truly believe them until I saw it for myself."

Hikaru knelt, his hand shooting out for the corpse's neck in a blur of motion. He dragged its face to his own, sneering into its jawless, open mouthed smile. "What do ya mean?"

"A demon! Trying to be human!" it cackled. If tears could well in those lidless eyes, Yoshiki thought they might start crying from the hysterical laughter. But the laughter abruptly stopped as the corpse sunk both of its claws into Hikaru's chest. Hikaru cried out, instinctively loosening his grip on the thing's throat. It brought its disgusting face close to Hikaru's, its gravelly voice like a dagger. "A demon, protecting a human… Turning against his own kind. Refusing to change. Trying to play both sides."

Hikaru strained against the corpse, baring his gritted teeth at it in a snarl. Thick, black ichor began to well through the holes it had torn in Yoshiki's hoodie, coating its rotting fingers as they dug into Hikaru's flesh. "Ya don't know nothin' about me. And I don't care what a buncha demons think of me, anyhow."

The corpse tightened its grip, twisting its fingers inside Hikaru's skin. Hikaru cried out and Yoshiki's insides turned to mush with panic. He leapt into one of the stalls, grabbing the only thing that was there.

Yoshiki raised the toilet plunger over his shouder like a baseball bat, glowering at the corpse. "Stop! P-put him down. Now!"

The corpse's head whipped in Yoshiki's direction, its matted, greasy hair flapping into its lidless eyes. It cackled with riotous mirth. "It just gets funnier and funnier! A human, protecting a demon?"

Yoshiki tightened his grip on the wooden stick. Through gritted teeth, he managed, "If ya want me, it's got nothin' to do with Hikaru, does it?"

Hikaru strained against the corpse's grasp, twisting towards Yoshiki. Black ichor dripped from his lips as he cried, "Yoshiki! Don't do somethin' brave. Don't."

I ain't brave. I'm just selfish.

"It's my soul, isn't it?" Yoshiki choked out, swallowing hard. His heart was pounding, adrenaline and fear rushing through his veins, and sending shakes through his entire body. He could hardly hear over the rush of blood in his ears. "Ya don't need Hikaru to get my soul. Isn't that what yer here for?"

"Yoshiki!"

The corpse laughed. "You would willingly let me devour your soul?"

Yoshiki steeled himself, raising the toilet plunger higher. "Let Hikaru go."

The corpse twisted its fingers in Hikaru's flesh again, causing him to writhe and stifle a cry, before releasing him to the bathroom floor. Hikaru landed with a thud, black ichor pouring out of his chest. Yoshiki's heart sank with dread, but Hikaru's eyes were open and moving. Alive.

The corpse flung itself towards Yoshiki, who stumbled back with a gasp, his head knocking into the wall behind him as he lost his grip on his useless, improvised weapon. The corpse breathed its foul breath into Yoshiki's face, pinning his shoulders to the wall at his back. He cringed in both revoltion and fear, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

"Yours is going to be better than most," the corpse groaned. "And I'll have you all to myself. And I'll make your friend watch."

Shit, shit, shit. Yoshiki had not thought this far. All he had cared about was getting this thing off of Hikaru, but now that it was upon him, he had no way to stop it from doing what it came here to do.

Was this it?

The end?

Did he only get a single day with Hikaru before his life ended?

"Oh," the corpse cooed, its disgusting mouth pressed against Yoshiki's cheek. "Are you going to cry, pretty soul?"

Yoshiki opened his eyes, snarling back at it. "Go to hell, ugly."

It barked a laugh that turned into a fit of hysterical, wracking coughs. It sputtered, shooting a mess of black ichor from its mouth, directly into Yoshiki's face.

Yoshiki cried out, more in shock than disgust, wiping the demon's blood from his eyes. When his vision cleared, Hikaru, blood pouring from his mouth, his eyes glowing with red, hot anger, had jumped on the back of the corpse, sinking his teeth into its foul neck.

It screeched, stumbling backwards and slamming Hikaru into the bathroom stall repeatedly to try to throw him off of its back. But Hikaru was like stone, unmoving and unrelenting.

Sputtering more of its black blood, the corpse seemed to see its death on the horizon. Yoshiki saw it in its lidless eyes, the need for survival activated like a switch. He had seen it in animals, that instinct for preservation. It was in that moment that Yoshiki's eyes widened with the dread-filled panic that comes with realizing what was going to happen a second before it does.

"H-Hikaru!" he screamed. "Look out!"

The corpse screeched, a cry filled with fear and outrage, as it reached over its shoulders to dig its claws into Hikaru's neck, flinging him over its shoulders and slamming him hard onto the floor.

"Hikaru!"

Just then, though Yoshiki was certain he had locked it, the door to the men's restroom swung open, battering hard against the wall. A figure in the doorway, standing tall, weilded a katana.

"Ha!" the stranger said. "Thought I smelled something foul."

The man stepped over Hikaru, and with one, clean whish of his blade, sliced straight through the corpse's stomach and out to the other side.

Yoshiki watched in horror as the corpse screeched, looking down at its middle cut clean open. Around the wound, its rotting flesh turned black and began to flake away. Just like the vampire Hikaru had killed the other night, the corpse demon slowly blackened and charred, its ashes falling like snow on the bathroom floor. In moments, it was nothing more than a pile of dust.

"Hikaru!" Yoshiki fell to his knees, taking Hikaru's head gently in both of his hands. Blood. There was so much blood. All over his neck, his mouth, his chest. His hands shaking, Yoshiki brought Hikaru's head into his lap. "Hikaru? Can ya hear me?"

"Yoshiki…" Hikaru slurred, his eyes only slits. "Ya idiot… when I… get my strength back, I'm gonna…"

Yoshiki laughed, feeling the hot, prickly sting of tears welling in his eyes. His fingers, covered in black ichor, rubbed gently against Hikaru's cheeks. Yoshiki laughed again as a tear fell down his nose, mingling with the black blood all over his face, and he stifled a sob. "Yer gonna give me hell for that, aren't ya?"

Hikaru smiled weakly, licking up the blood on his lips as he nodded. "I told ya… not to be brave… dummy."

"Hate to break this up," said the man in the doorway, "but we really can't stay here all day."

Yoshiki finally looked at their savior, wiping more of the black blood from his eyes as he did. He gasped as he recognized the man before them. "You! Yer… that man. The man from this mornin' who ran into traffic."

"That's right," the man said, still wearing his sunglasses, even though they were indoors. "Sorry about running into you. I had to get close to confirm my suspicions about your friend."

Yoshiki's pounding heart skipped a beat, his hands frozen where they still rested on Hikaru's face. "Ya knew…? Ya—ya know what he is?"

The man scratched his forehead. "Not exactly. That's no normal vampire." He smiled down at Hikaru, whose eyes widened. "I may be able to help, though."

Hikaru tried to push himself upright, gritting his teeth through the pain. Yoshiki stifled his alarm and put his arm around Hikaru's shoulders, using all of his strength to help guide him upright. Hikaru's weight settled into him, leaning into Yoshiki's arm. Yoshiki concealed any reaction he may have had to the feeling of Hikaru's body leaning against his, as well as the cold touch of Hikaru's skin, frigid even through both of their clothes.

Hikaru spat blood off to his left before leveling his gaze at their savior. "Who are ya?"

"Oh. Tanaka," he said with a lopsided smile. "Not really a professor or a student, but guess you could say I study and specialize in demonology."

Yoshiki glanced warily at Hikaru, who raised a suspicious brow back at him.

Tanaka chuckled, like he had expected that reaction. "My office is on the third floor. End of the hall on the left. Clean yourselves up and get rid of those ashes. Then, come straight to me."

Yoshiki collected the last of the corpse's ashes into his hand and brought them over to the trash, brushing both hands together over the bin. It had taken quite a few minutes to get all of the ashes off the floor, especially because they kept sticking to Yoshiki's bloody hands. And each minute had passed in tense silence.

Hikaru still sat on the floor, leaning back against the bathroom stall with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked better than he had a few minutes ago, but he was still covered in blood and seemed very weak. He was not too weak to look pissed, however.

Yoshiki sighed, gathering some paper towels into a bundle. He quickly ran them under the sink, just enough to get them damp. Then, he trudged over to Hikaru, and knelt in front of him.

"I know yer mad, but ya gotta let me clean up the blood."

Hikaru huffed, glaring at Yoshiki. "Ya don't get off the hook just 'cause I don't got the energy to yell."

Yoshiki breathed a laugh. "I know."

He held out his hand, glancing at Hikaru's crossed arms. Hikaru obeyed, sluggishly, unraveling his arms and dropping a bloody hand into Yoshiki's.

His skin was as cold as ice. Yoshiki gently ran his makeshift towel back and forth over Hikaru's white, bloodstainted hand.

"What was that thing?"

"Higher-level ghoul," Hikaru mumbled, leaning his head back against the bathroom stall. "Stronger than anythin' we faced last night."

Yoshiki felt dread sink like a brick in his stomach. "Why?"

"Dunno. Told ya it would get worse, didn't I?" Hikaru held back none of his sass with this remark. Then, he sighed. "I shoulda been able to stop it."

"Is it 'cause ya ain't like them that ya couldn't? Are ya… not as strong?"

Hikaru looked away, shrugging. Yoshiki wanted to press him, but he did not seem to be in the mood to share.

Yoshiki rose, throwing away the bloody paper towels and gathering another bundle. He returned, kneeling closer to Hikaru this time. "I gotta… get yer neck."

Hikaru glanced at him once before looking away again, leaning his head back against the bathroom stall and tilting his chin, exposing his bloody neck.

Yoshiki inched closer, gently wiping the blood splatters along the white curve of Hikaru's neck. Yoshiki cringed when he saw the gashes beneath, still leaking black ichor.

"Yer still hurt," he breathed. "Don't ya heal? Last night, ya seemed to bounce back real quick."

"Yeah, I heal. I'm fine. Just… takin' longer this time."

Yoshiki furrowed his brow. "Why?"

"I dunno, it just is," Hikaru snapped.

Yoshiki sighed, then continued his gentle strokes along Hikaru's neck. After he finished, he again threw the bloody towels into the trash and returned with fresh ones.

This time, Yoshiki said nothing as he reached out, taking Hikaru's chin in two fingers and turning his face towards him.

Hikaru's anger seemed to disappear as his eyes widened.

"Yer face looks awful," Yoshiki murmured.

Hikaru cracked a smile, his eyes still wide as they took in every inch of Yoshiki's face. "You should see yers."

Yoshiki felt absently at his own cheek, then looked down at the wet blackness left on his fingertips. Oh, right.

"Gimme that," Hikaru said softly, snatching the paper towels out of Yoshiki's hand.

Yoshiki froze as Hikaru placed a steady, cold hand on the back of his neck. His other hand brought the towel gently down Yoshiki's cheek, gathering up the black ichor. Hikaru's low lidded eyes traced the lines he drew down Yoshiki's face as if lost in them. He smiled weakly. "It threw up all over ya, Yoshiki. Nasty."

Yoshiki breathed a laugh, startling himself. "Yeah. It did."

"You were gonna fend off a high-level ghoul with a toilet plunger."

"Yeah…" Yoshiki laughed softly. "I was."

Hikaru shook his head, but a soft smile still played on his lips.

When he finished, Hikaru dropped his hands, balling the towels in his fists. His eyes hardened and his smile fell. "Were ya gonna give that demon yer soul, Yoshiki?"

Yoshiki swallowed hard, his heart suddenly pounding. "I… dunno. I mean, no. I didn't wanna give it my soul, I just…"

"Ya didn't think it through, huh?" Hikaru did not seem to have the energy to lift his head, but he managed a stern tone to match his stern expression. "Ya just said the first thing that popped into yer head."

"I…" Yoshiki's mouth fell open, at a loss. He blinked rapidly, feeling defensive and embarrassed and like he might cry. "I couldn't just let it kill ya!"

"I'm supposed to be the one protectin' you," Hikaru cried, his eyes brimming with tears. "I got all this strength n' stuff and what good is it if I can't keep ya safe?"

"Ya did though," Yoshiki said, his throat tight. "I'm okay 'cause of you."

Hikaru's lip twitched. "Yeah, and yer soul almost got eaten up in the process. And I almost couldn't—"

"Somethin's wrong, isn't it?" Yoshiki blurted, seizing Hikaru by the neck of his hoodie. Hikaru's eyes widened at the sudden move, but he hardly had the energy to react, which only confirmed Yoshiki's fears and sent more panic bubbling up within him. "Yer not healin'. And ya said ya couldn't fight that thing properly. What's wrong, Hikaru? And don't lie!"

Hikaru blinked, his mouth falling open as he shook his head. It was as if Yoshiki was pulling the truth out of him, and Hikaru did not want to let it go. Blood still dripped from his lips.

And the sight of it, the blood on Hikaru's lips, made everything click.

The realization hit Yoshiki like a train, and he felt like an idiot.

"Blood," he breathed. Yoshiki tightened his grip on Hikaru's hoodie, dragging his face closer. "When was the last time ya drank, huh?"

Hikaru looked like he was going to be sick. He looked guilty, as if he had been caught red handed after a murder. "I told ya I'm fine, Yoshiki. Please, don't do this."

"Liar!" Yoshiki cried, shaking him. "Tell me the truth!"

"Just a few days," Hikaru choked out, his eyes welling. "It's fine, Yoshiki. Please."

"A few days," Yoshiki echoed, incredulous. "You've been in multiple fights since then, havin' to heal yerself from 'em. You need blood, don't ya? That's why yer too weak to heal and yer too weak to fight a ghoul. Isn't it?!"

"Yes!" Hikaru yelled, looking close to hysterics. His chest heaved like he might hyperventilate. "But I told ya I wouldn't hurt nobody, I promised ya I wouldn't kill—"

The second he heard the word 'yes,' Yoshiki let go of Hikaru. His face went blank, and in one, fluid motion, Yoshiki dragged his sleeve up to his elbow, and put his exposed wrist in front of Hikaru.

"Then don't kill," Yoshiki murmured, his voice deadly calm. "Just drink."

Hikaru stared at his wrist. Then, his gaze, in complete and utter horror, looked up at Yoshiki. Tears fell freely from his eyes now as he shook his head rapidly. "No," he whispered, choking on the word. "Never."

"Stop bein' a crybaby," Yoshiki said evenly. "Drink my blood."

"No!" Hikaru cried, slapping Yoshiki's arm out of his face. "I won't! Not to you. Not ever."

"Why the hell not?"

"'Cause I'd kill ya!" Hikaru screamed, shoving Yoshiki.

Yoshiki fell back on his ass, palms flat on the dirty floor. It had not hurt, but the shock of the sudden shove had stunned him. Silence fell, with only the sound of their ragged, heavy breaths filling the space between them. Hikaru's face was a mess of terror, like he was living his own personal nightmare.

Yoshiki found his voice, though it was not much more than a whisper. "You wouldn't do that."

Hikaru pushed himself to hit feet, far faster than he should have. Yoshiki reached out to help him, but Hikaru was already up the next time he blinked. Hikaru crossed the bathroom in two strides, leaning over and lifting Yoshiki to his feet with a single hand. Face to face, bewildered, Yoshiki took in Hikaru's face, only inches from his. Though his cheeks were still wet with tears, Hikaru's horror was gone and his red eyes were hard and cold.

"I wouldn't be able to stop myself," he whispered. "Not with you."

And then he shoved past Yoshiki and out the door.

"What's your name, vampire?"

Hikaru wiped his nose with the back of his wrist (on Yoshiki's hoodie, to be precisie, which also had a bunch of holes punctured through the chest and was crusty with demon blood), as he sat back in his chair, looking dejected and weak. "Hikaru Indou."

They sat in the office of the strange man that had come to their rescue, the man called Tanaka. Upon first glance, the small, cube-shaped room could have been the office of any normal professor—walls lined with tall bookshelves which were stacked high in a cluttered disarray of books, a single window draped by dusty blinds, a large, wooden desk that was a mess of notebooks and papers, and a trash can that was full of empty energy drink cans. Upon closer inspection, however, the illusion of 'normal' started to fade.

The books on the bookshelves had strange titles and looked nothing like textbooks or anything based in academia, and those were the titles that Yoshiki could read; many of them were in a language he did not recognize at all. Tucked in the nooks and crannies of these shelves, used as bookends, were an assortment of peculiar objects. Gross looking things floating in jars, the large bone of an animal, an oddly cut crystal, a jagged knife. Behind the desk, resting on stacks of more weird books, was a wooden stand displaying the katana that had killed the ghoul with one slice. Next to it, on a taller stack of books, was a small, portable hamster cage. Yoshiki leaned closer from where he sat next to Hikaru, in the two chairs before the desk, trying to get a better view of it.

Tanaka, sitting behind the desk in a comfortable, worn office chair, smiled. "That's my TA. She does all the grading."

Yoshiki blinked at him. He could not tell if that was a joke or not.

Tanaka had a mess of long, blonde hair that fell flat against the sides of his cheeks. He had just a hint of blonde scruff on his chin and jaw, patchy and unevenly shaved. His white, collared button-up was wrinkled, and the buttons on his wrists were not fastened. He still wore those sunglasses, too.

He looked about as normal as the rest of his office did.

"Hikaru Indou," echoed Tanaka, fiddling with a pen. "You aren't meant to be here."

Yoshiki balled his fists. "What's that s'posed to mean? Ya saved him from that ghoul just to threaten him?"

Tanaka's sunglasses settled on Yoshiki as he cracked a surprised smile. "Ha! Easy, kid. I'm not going to take him away from you, if that's what you think."

Yoshiki flushed, immediately embarassed of his outburst. He scowled, looking into his hands. "I ain't a kid."

Tanaka leaned forward, elbows on his desk. "No, I suppose you're not. Yoshiki, right? You're in the university's system. Good student. Hard worker. Look, Yoshiki, all I did was state a fact. Your friend here is a demon, and demons are supposed to be in hell. Am I going to do hell's bidding for them and waste my time sending him back there myself? Ha!"

As Tanaka laughed, Yoshiki glanced at Hikaru. You think this guy's a nutcase too, right?

Hikaru crossed his arms over his chest, nodding. An amused smile danced on his lips.

"So how'd ya know I was a vampire?" Hikaru asked.

"Like I told you, I study demonology," Tanaka said, leaning back in his chair and twirling the pen in his fingers. "I know what to look for. Your kind are all over this city. Though, they usually don't flock to such large crowds of people. I've never seen a ghoul on campus before."

Yoshiki shivered, thinking of how close that thing had been to hundreds of innocent students. "It… it was after me, I think."

Tanaka nodded. "Yes, it was. Demons need human souls, and some shine brighter than others."

Hikaru unraveled his arms, digging his fingertips into his knees. "But why all of a sudden? I don't have any memories of Yoshiki gettin' attacked by demons before. What changed?"

Yoshiki nodded. "Yeah, I only started hearin' 'em like two months ago. Only started bein' attacked by 'em… well, yesterday."

"Interesting," said Tanaka. "Hikaru, you knew Yoshiki in life? Before you turned?"

"Well, yeah," Hikaru muttered. "He's the only thing I got left of my life."

"Hikaru doesn't have all of his memories," Yoshiki explained, his stomach turning. He did not trust this weirdo as far as he could throw him, but Tanaka had saved their lives. Plus, he seemed to know far more about demons than they did—which was approximately nothing. "But we've known each other since we were kids. We've… been best friends since then."

Tanaka nodded, looking between the two boys. "And you were very close?"

Yoshiki's cheeks warmed. "Yeah."

"And, Hikaru, you clearly haven't forgotten everything. You remember Yoshiki?"

"Yeah, second I woke up like this," Hikaru answered. "I had no idea what was goin' on or who I was but the only piece that wasn't missin' was Yoshiki. So I tried to find him straightaway. Now that I have, it's like… I kinda remember myself."

Yoshiki looked at him. "You mean ya didn't feel like yerself before?"

"Not really." Hikaru was staring into his lap, as if seeing something miles away. "I was just kinda driftin', tryin' to remember who I was 'n gettin' mad that I couldn't. But every time I thought of you, it was like I could almost reach myself. So I kept chasin' it 'til I found ya. And when I did, it's like… I woke up."

Yoshiki blinked hard, his eyes wide. His heart was thudding in his chest. "Oh."

"Hmm," Tanaka hummed, long and low, drawing the pen cap up to his lips. "Hikaru, when did you turn?"

Hikaru blinked, then squeezed his eyes shut. "Uh, I dunno exactly. More than a few weeks ago." He peaked an eye open and smiled sheepishly at Yoshiki. "Took me a while to find ya."

Tanaka leaned over his desk. "More than a few weeks. Would you say it was more like two months?"

Yoshiki and Hikaru shared a wary glance.

"Here's the thing, kid," Tanaka began, slouching over his desk, "when a human is turned into a demon, by whatever method that may be, the newly made demon will wake up in hell. You see, demons are bound to hell. They lose their human soul, and in place of one, get a sort of tether to hell. Which is why most demons end up staying in hell, because there, they hold some kind of resemblance to the person they were in life. By being tethered to hell, they have a tether on the soul they lost, if only a little bit. It grants them some tiny semblance of memory—of who they were, the life they lived, who they loved. And the farther they are from hell, the less human—for lack of a better term—they are. Which is why Tokyo is such a hotspot for demons! The entrance to the underworld is here, so they don't have to travel very far to feed on souls, and can easily retreat back home after they're done."

Tanaka straightened, as if excited by his own train of thought, chasing it down the path that was unfolding in his mind. He cocked his head, seemingly eyeing Hikaru from beneath his sunglasses. "But you… You woke up in the human world. You woke up and still remembered someone from your past. And you seem to be remembering yourself more and more the longer you're with him. Am I right?"

Hikaru was like a statue in his seat, his eyes wide. He nodded once.

Tanaka swung his gaze over to Yoshiki. "And you started hearing demons about two months ago. If I had to guess, it was probably right when your friend died and turned into a vampire."

Yoshiki's stomach churned, and sweat had begun to wet his bangs. He white-knuckled the chair under his thighs. "But—but what does that mean? Why?"

Tanaka rose from his chair, looking down at them, and laughed. "I haven't got a clue."

Yoshiki scowled into his lap, squeezing the chair even harder. This guy was really starting to piss him off.

"But…" Tanaka said softly, as is sobering. The change in his voice made Yoshiki look up at him. "Come back, if you want to find out."

Hikaru perked up. "You'll help us?"

Tanaka nodded. "If today's ghoul attack was any premonition of the future, I believe you two are going to need it. Plus, I'm curious."

"W-wait," Yoshiki stammered. "Who even are ya? Are ya even a real professor or even, like… allowed to be here? Are we gonna get in trouble fer doin' demonology or whatever you do? How do we know yer even who ya say ya are? Why should we trust you?"

Tanaka laughed again, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "You're thorough, kid. You'd do well in my line of work." Yoshiki scoffed, not sure if that was really a compliment. Tanaka smiled lopsidedly, shrugging. "Look, I can't promise you anything. But I guarantee you I'm the only one in Tokyo who could help. No skin off my back either way, but if you're going to be attracting more demons here, I'd rather keep you close. And if you want to learn what's going on with your friend and possibly learn enough to keep your soul uneaten… I'm your best chance."

Before Yoshiki could stutter out a response, Hikaru stood. Though he had been bleeding out on the bathroom floor only a few minutes ago, he stood tall, his eyes focused and jaw set with determination. "Deal. And… thank ya."

"Hikaru Indou, the vampire…" mused Tanaka. "How'd you like to be my first unofficial student in demonology?"

Hikaru beamed. "Sounds cool!"

"Sounds like it ain't a real class," Yoshiki mumbled under his breath.

"Great," Tanaka said, extending his hand. Hikaru took it, and they shook. He turned his smirk on Yoshiki. "And you?"

Yoshiki frowned. This guy reeked of trouble, and Yoshiki figured they had enough trouble on their hands as it was.

But Tanaka had saved them. And he might be able to help them figure out more about Hikaru.

Yoshiki looked at Hikaru, who had his hopeful, puppy dog eyes trained on him.

Yoshiki sighed. Then, he stood and stuck out his hand. "Fine."

Tanaka smiled, taking Yoshiki's hand in his and shaking it firmly. "Fantastic. I'll see you boys again soon. Until then, I've got my own research to do."

Yoshiki stood, grabbed his backpack, and paced to the door with Hikaru on his heels.

"Oh, and boys?" Tanaka called from his desk. Yoshiki and Hikaru turned around, and the strange man in sunglasses gave them a lopsided grin. "Try to stay out of trouble."

After Yoshiki's last, late-afternoon class, he and Hikaru began their walk back to Yoshiki's apartment. Normally, on a day like today, Yoshiki would have spent a few hours in the library working on his assignments or studying. But after a completely un-normal day like today, he wanted nothing more than to be in his bed.

"That last professor of yers was cooky," Hikaru laughed, pulling up his hood. "I liked him."

"Oh, Richter? Yeah, he's weird. Good teacher, though."

"Kinda like Mr. Hara, huh?"

Yoshiki glanced at him, startled. "You remember Hara?"

Hikaru sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck beneath his hood. "I remembered today. I guess goin' to class with you 'n stuff, bein' in school again… made it kinda come back."

Yoshiki felt a smile tug at his lips, somewhat in awe. "That's… great."

"I remember his stupid face, too," Hikaru said, narrowing his eyes slyly. He puckered his lips, just like Mr. Hara.

Yoshiki laughed. "Yer so dumb."

"Nuh-uh, he really looks like that!"

"He does," Yoshiki agreed. Just as quick as it had come, he felt his smile fade as the gears in his mind started to turn. "And ya used to do that exact impression of him when you were alive, too. I wonder… what causes ya to regain memories? Is it things that're familiar, like goin' to school now reminds ya of goin' to school before? Or is it just time slowly bringin' everythin' back? And ya seem to be rememberin' yerself, too, things ya used to do before…"

"Heh." Hikaru was smirking at him. "Yer thinkin' face is funny. I'm waitin' fer a lightbulb to pop up over yer head like a manga character."

Yoshiki elbowed him. "Stop makin' fun of my face when I'm trynna help ya out."

"I ain't makin' fun," Hikaru laughed. "I like yer face."

Yoshiki blushed as his train of thought left him. He coughed, looking down at his feet and feeling grateful for his curtain of bangs to hide behind.

He keeps sayin' stuff like that, Yoshiki thought. Things that feel… like things he'd have never said before. I wonder if that'll fade, the more he remembers himself.

Yoshiki stuffed his hands into his pockets, no longer in the mood to talk.

They stopped at the small grocery market near Yoshiki's apartment for dinner. Yoshiki had yet to really figure out how to cook for himself, since he was usually too wrapped up in his school work to have time in the kitchen. But this place had a lot of healthy, home-cooked meals, so he ate here often. Hikaru seemed excited about what he had found, and Yoshiki wondered if he would really eat it, since it was human food. Yoshiki did not have an apetite himself, so he put both of their containers in a to-go bag, and headed for his apartment.

"Ya know…" Hikaru said warily, "that Tanaka guy seemed to know a lotta 'bout demons."

Yoshiki blew air. "Hikaru. Don't tell me ya took anythin' he said serious."

"'Course I did. If he hadn't bust in with that katana, we woulda been toast," Hikaru said, dragging his feet along the pavement. "He clearly knows how to stop 'em more then we do. If nothin' else, shouldn't we be prepared for 'em?"

"Yeah… Yer right. I just don't trust him, Hikaru. He's weird."

"Yer weird," Hikaru laughed, poking Yoshiki's cheek. "Yer always frownin' and walkin' around with yer bangs in yer eyes. Yer all quiet and ya like lookin' at bugs."

"Hey."

"This is my Yoshiki impression," said Hikaru. He frowned, lowering his half-lidded eyes. "I'm Yoshiki… I only like bugs and Hikaru… Everythin' else sucks…"

"Hey," Yoshiki said louder, unable to stifle his laughter. "I don't sound anythin' like that."

Hikaru laughed. "Yeah huh."

Yoshiki reached over and tussled his hair, knocking his hood off. Hikaru did not try to fend him off, and when Yoshiki glanced at him again, Hikaru was already looking back at him.

He looks at me so much, Yoshiki thought, his heart skipping a beat. It feels… different than it used to.

Yoshiki looked away, clearing his throat. His smile had long disappeared before he murmured, "Ya really think this guy can help us, huh?"

"I think he's our only lead, Yoshiki," said Hikaru. "And… I wanna know who I am."

Yoshiki looked at him.

Hikaru, who never cried. Hikaru, who hated school. Hikaru, who never looked at Yoshiki the way he was looking at him right now.

He's different now, thought Yoshiki. And it ain't just that he's a vampire.

"Alright," Yoshiki said.

Hikaru's face lit up. "Really?"

Yoshiki matched Hikaru's smile. It was as contagious as laughter.

"Yeah," Yoshiki said. "I wanna know who ya are, too."

That night, Yoshiki insisted on staying up to go back over the chapter from today's biology lecture. He had missed so much of it, being too distracted by Hikaru, so he told Hikaru to go sleep in his bed and not to disturb him.

"But—" Hikaru whined, looking like a pouty child. "I don't gotta sleep like you do."

"You were almost killed today," Yoshiki said evenly, placing his books on the kitchen counter. "Ya need rest. Since ya refuse to drink my blood—"

"Fine, fine, I'll go to bed," Hikaru said in one frustrated rush of breath. "But ya told me you'd teach me biology so tomorrow I wanna help ya with whatever yer workin' on."

Yoshiki gave him a look. "You wanna do my homework with me?"

Hikaru was already making his way to Yoshiki's bedroom. He stopped in the doorway, resting one hand on the frame as he looked over his shoulder at Yoshiki. "I wanna do everythin' with ya, no matter what it is."

And then he closed the door behind him, leaving Yoshiki speechlessly staring at where he had been.

Hours passed. Luckily, Yoshiki was able to focus, going meticulously over today's chapter and taking diligent notes. He finally got hungry around eight, and took his grocery store meal out of the fridge. He ate it cold, reading from his textbook while he did.

At some point he swtiched over to some of his other classes' assignments and tried to catch up on the work he normally would have done yesterday, but had been too busy running from demons to do. All in all, he got a lot accomplished, and by midnight, he was hardly able to keep his eyes open.

He crept into his dark room as quietly as he could. The curtains on his window were open, so the dim light of the moon guided his soft footsteps. He paused at the foot of his bed, staring at the bundle of blankets curled there, rising and falling with the slow, measured breathing of sleep.

Hikaru's pale, sleeping face was the only thing peaking out from the mountain of blankets he had rolled himself into. His face was nestled into Yoshiki's pillow, practically buried in it. He looked like he could not be further from consciousness.

Yoshiki smiled. I guess that's somethin' that hasn't changed. He still sleeps like a baby.

Yoshiki crawled across the foot of the bed and into the space Hikaru had not claimed, the side nearest the wall. He lifted the sheet and carefully tucked himself under it. Unfortunately, Hikaru had claimed his pillow, so Yoshiki laid his head flat on his mattress, staring up at the ceiling.

I was so tired a second ago, he thought. Now my heart won't stop racin'.

Yoshiki closed his eyes and willed his body to find rest. After a few moments, he felt Hikaru's weight shift and then disappear off the mattress.

Yoshiki opened his eyes, propping himself up. "Hikaru?"

Hikaru's head popped up over the side of the bed, buddled in at least two of Yoshiki's thickest blankets. "Yeah?"

Yoshiki blinked. "Why are ya on the floor?"

"Well, I felt ya come to bed and…" His voice was just above a whisper, and his face, shrouded in shadow, turned away. "It's yer bed, so. I didn't wanna take up space or anythin'."

"I… didn't mind."

"It's just that when I told Asako this mornin' that I slept in yer bed with ya, you seemed really uncomfortable, and—" He said in a nervous rush. "I don't wanna make ya uncomfortable, Yoshiki, yer so nice to let me stay with ya at all, and—"

"Hikaru, hey," Yoshiki interrupted, sitting up and raising a hand in deference. "I… I didn't mean it like that…" He faltered, feeling guilty. To make matters worse, a hot blush crept into his cheeks as he realized he needed to explain himself. "It's just… don't ya know what it sounds like when ya say we sleep together?"

Hikaru hugged his knees to his chest, resting his head on them. His entire body was covered in blankets. "Yeah. Guess I just didn't think it mattered what anyone thought."

For some reason, that stopped Yoshiki in his tracks.

"But it's okay!" Hikaru said quickly. "I don't mind the floor, plus I—"

"Yer right," Yoshiki breathed, almost inaudibly.

"Huh?"

"Yer right," he said again, lying back down and gazing up at the ceiling, if only to avoid meeting Hikaru's eyes. "I only just got ya back. I don't want ya out of my sight."

The silence that followed made Yoshiki's nerves fray. Hikaru was as still as stone in his periphery.

"Hikaru," he said softly. "Please get in the bed."

Hikaru, eyes wide and lips parted, stood and unraveled himself from the blankets. His hair was in disarray, flipping out in all directions, and he had discarded Yoshiki's torn and bloody hoodie, opting for a t-shirt and shorts. Yoshiki felt his blush deepen as he recognized the shirt Hikaru wore.

"Is that… my t-shirt?"

"Oh," Hikaru said, glancing down and bundling the fabric in his fingers. "Yeah. Mine got all ripped and bloody, so I… Is that okay?"

"… Yeah."

Hikaru fluffed out the blankets he had claimed and laid them back over the bed. Then, his eyes trained on Yoshiki, Hikaru crawled in beside him.

Hikaru pushed the pillow towards him, but Yoshiki shook his head. "Take it."

"No, it's yers."

Yoshiki decided that 'who gets the pillow' was a silly thing to argue about, so he relented, putting it under his cheek and laying on his side. Hikaru did the same, resting his face on the crook of his arm. "Sorry I only got one pillow."

Hikaru snickered. "Why the hell ya only got one pillow anyway? Yer such a boy."

"Well, I ain't had anyone but me sleepin' here before," Yoshiki said without thinking. The second the words were out, he regretted them.

Hikaru's smile fell into a soft 'o' shape. "Oh. So… there hasn't been a girl or anythin'…?"

"Nah." Yoshiki hoped the darkness would be enough to hide the red in his face.

"Oh. Not even…?"

"No."

"Oh." Hikaru flipped onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "Good."

Yoshiki's heart spasmed as if lightning had struck it. "G-good?"

"Yeah," Hikaru said, shooting him a sly grin. "I'd hate to have to share ya with a girl."

Yoshiki choked out a laugh. His heart was beating too rapidly to think of anything witty to say.

"Are ya sure this is okay, Yoshiki? I already slept most of the evenin'. I'm feelin' okay now."

"Shut up with that," Yoshiki muttered. "I told ya I want ya here."

Hikaru turned back on his side, meeting Yoshiki's eyes. His red ones were bright even in the darkness. "Yoshiki… Didja miss me?"

"Yeah," murmured Yoshiki. "A lot."

Hikaru smiled. As if the moon had come out from behind a cloud, his whole face brightened. Yoshiki felt a bead of warmth within him, like coming inside from the rain. "I missed ya too. I mean, I can't actually remember what I felt or what I was doin' before I died, but I'm sure I musta missed ya. I don't know why I'd ever leave ya in the first place."

Yoshiki looked down at his fingers, trailing the line of his sheets. "Doesn't matter. I'm just glad to have ya back."

"Doesn't matter," Hikaru echoed, his voice sounding far away, "'cause I ain't gonna leave ya ever again."

Yoshiki's chest throbbed with ache that brought stinging tears to his eyes. He looked at the ceiling before Hikaru could notice the wetness there, controlling his voice so that it would not shake. "Promise?"

He could feel Hikaru's eyes on him like pinpricks in his skin. "Yeah," Hikaru whispered. "I promise."

"Good."

"Can ya promise me somethin', too, Yoshiki?"

Yoshiki looked at him, blinking away his tears. "Anythin'."

"Don't give yer soul to a demon, Yoshiki," Hikaru said. "Not fer me, not fer anyone."

The seriousness in his gaze stunned Yoshiki. He nodded, speechless.

"Promise me," Hikaru insisted. "Please."

"I promise ya. I mean it."

Hikaru smiled, bright and radiant, then he turned over, cuddling the blankets up to his neck. "Goodnight, Yoshiki."

Yoshiki released the breath he had been holding. "Goodnight, Hikaru."

"Hey, Yoshiki?"

"Hm?"

"That makes me the first, doesn't it?"

"The… huh?"

Hikaru peaked over one shoulder, smirking his narrow-eyed grin. "The first girl ya took to bed?"

Yoshiki groaned into his pillow, his cheeks practically bursting into flames. "Please stop talkin'."

Hikaru burst into a fit of laughter, and Yoshiki felt every bit of its vibrations through the mattress. When he finally stilled and quieted, the silent air between them was the familiar, comfortable sort. Yoshiki drifted into sleep before he could even realize how tired he was.

Yoshiki woke with a terrified start.

Hot. It was hot. Way too hot.

Yoshiki cried out in horror when he opened his eyes to the sight of fire. The end of his bed was smoldering with tiny, orange flames catching and spreading on his blankets. He lept for them, instinctually trying to smother them with his hands. He hissed when the heat met his skin.

It was only then that he thought to wonder where the fire had come from.

"Hell hounds!" Hikaru yelled from behind him. "A whole pack of 'em!"

Yoshiki saw them then, a group of those same wolf-like creatures he had seen the night he found Hikaru. There were four of them, and they were only about the length of his forearm, but Yoshiki remembered the way the small demons spat fire from their mouths like it was nothing.

"Shit," he cursed, dampening the last of the embers on his bedding. "Hikaru—"

But Hikaru was already in the middle of the fray. The hell hounds surrounded him on all sides, arcing through the air at his face, his arms, his torso. He moved like the wind itself, snatching one out of thin air and launching it across the room.

It yelped as it hit the wall so hard that Yoshiki felt the reverberations through the floor. The other hell hounds surrounding Hikaru screeched and growled at him.

"Hikaru! Ya pissed 'em off!"

"Ha!" Hikaru bared his sharp canines. "Good."

He burst into motion again, too fast for Yoshiki to keep up with. The fourth hound, the one that had been thrown, was slowly making its way back to join the others.

Yoshiki whipped his head around the room, his eyes landing on the singed blanket. He swept it up off the bed and tossed it outward, straight for the wounded hell hound. Shocking himself with his own speed, he caught the hell hound within the blanket, quickly snatching the other end and trapping the demon within. It tugged and pulled against the blanket, but it did not seem to be strong enough to tear free.

Yoshiki blurted out a laugh, in sheer awe and disbelief. "I—I got him!"

Hikaru, who had three hell hound jaws locked on his arms, smiled broadly at Yoshiki. "Whoa! Good catch, Yoshiki!"

As the two boys smiled at each other, the blanket in Yoshiki's hands erupted entirely into flames.

"GAAAH FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Yoshiki screamed as he dropped the burning lump of hell hound blanket onto the ground. The hound darted out, heading straight to join the rest of his pack, which was currently trying to eat Hikaru's limbs.

Hikaru cried, "Yoshiki! Get oughtta here, run!"

"Fuck you!" Yoshiki frantically cried back as he ran into the kitchen.

He practically collided with the kitchen sink as he ripped open the cabinet door beneath it. He shoved his hand all the way to the back, knocking out bottles of cleaning supplies in the process, to grab the fire extinguisher he knew was back there. He tossed it over in his hands, trying to calm down enough to remember how to use the damn thing.

He ran back into the room, the scorching blanket blazing on the floor. He shot it with the extinguisher, and a burst of white foam doused the fire and coated the floor.

Yoshiki had only just exhaled his sigh of relief when Hikaru cursed.

Two hounds had their jaws locked on his neck.

"Hikaru!"

"Stay back!" he cried. "They'll burn yer skin, Yoshiki."

Yoshiki stammered, dumbfounded. "They got their teeth in yer neck and yer worried about my skin?"

Hikaru laughed, as a single drop of black blood dripped from his lips. "Ain't the first teeth been in my neck."

He grabbed one of the hounds with both of his hands, prying it off of him and revealing the row of gruesome bite marks left in his flesh. He leveled his gaze at it, his expression hardening. "I bite, too, asshole."

Hikaru sunk his teeth into the small hound's side, and it screeched in agony. In a burst of fire, it exploded in Hikaru's face, coating his pale skin with gray ash. The other hounds let go of him long enough to howl in anger, and he snatched one out of the air, launching it across the room and into the wall behind Yoshiki.

It hit the floor and bounced once before landing. It picked up its head, and Yoshiki watched with growing anxiety as the wounded hell hound noticed him.

It seemed to cough, sputtering blue sparks out of his snout. Then it pointed itself at Yoshiki, who was clearly its new target.

It launched through the air towards him, and like a fool, Yoshiki raised the fire extinguisher over his shoulder.

He swung as the demon flew into his reach, and it collided with the hard aluminum of the fire extinguisher. Yelping, it flopped onto the floor, and Yoshiki stumbled back from it, gasping.

It growled, shaking its head like a dog tearing into a pillow. It opened its mouth, blue sparks igniting.

It's gonna shoot its fire breath at me, Yoshiki thought in a panic. It's gonna—

Oh. Wait.

As the hell hound opened its maw, sparks catching into hot, blue flames, Yoshiki pointed the fire extinguisher's nozzle straight at it and squeezed the release.

The hound, and all its fire breath, were coated in white. The demon screeched, then gurgled, sputtering and flopping like a fish on land. Then, in a flash of light, the hell hound disintegrated, its ash mixing with the fluffy white mush on the floor.

Yoshiki choked on his laughter. "It worked… That really worked…"

"Yoshiki!"

Yoshiki whirled. Hikaru was on the ground, bleeding profusely from his neck. He had one hell hound in both hands, but the other one was latched onto his neck, tearing as savagely as it could.

"Hikaru!" Yoshiki bolted across the room, aiming his fire extinguisher at both hounds. He pressed the release, but nothing happened. It was empty. "Shit!"

He tightened his grip on the aluminum can, steeling his resolve. With a war cry, he barreled forward, swinging the can as hard as he could at the hound lodged in Hikaru's neck.

It collided with a hard smack and the tiny demon flew free, sliding and skittering across the floor. Yoshiki chased it down, determined to keep it from Hikaru, and lifted his improvised weapon once again.

But it was too fast. It shot out in a flash of light, and sunk its desperate teeth into Yoshiki's forearm.

Yoshiki screamed.

The pain was nothing like a dog bite. It was like fire in his veins, burning him from the inside. It was agony down his entire arm, clouding his vision with dark spots and paralyzing his body with fear.

Surely, this had to be the end. Pain like this was not survivable.

Yoshiki fell to his knees, crying through his screams. All he could do was watch the thing tear into him and feel his flesh burn.

A shadow fell over him. Something hard and cold wrapped around him from behind.

Arms. Hikaru's arms.

Pale hands sunk their nails into the hell hound attached to Yoshiki. With a gutteral cry, Hikaru tore the demon's head from its body.

It exploded into ash, releasing its teeth from Yoshiki's flesh. In their wake, cold, wonderfully cold, hands wrapped themsevles around the place the hound had bitten and burned him. The coolness was a shock to his system, and the hot sting of the burns ebbed.

Yoshiki turned his body, and Hikaru's head fell onto his shoulder, his cold hands still easing Yoshiki's burns. Hikaru's shoulders shook with sobs.

"Yoshiki… No, this was never s'posed to happen… You were never s'posed to get hurt… I was s'posed to protect ya!"

"H-Hikaru?" Yoshiki felt something hot and wet coat his neck, right where Hikaru leaned into him. Dread washed over him like the sun's eclipse, dark and all-encompassing. "Hikaru?!"

Hikaru lifted his head, and it lolled to one side. Tears streamed from his red, glowing eyes and Yoshiki's mouth fell open in horror. Hikaru was covered in more of his own blood than Yoshiki had ever seen him. "Yoshiki… I'm so sorry."

Then, his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed.

Yoshiki was reminded of a memory.

He was barely tall enough to reach the dinner table. He was supposed to be waiting upstairs like his mom told him to. Instead, he hid amongst the table legs and watched his father cry.

Yoshiki did not understand. Tears fell from his dad's eyes but his face was contorted in rage. Was he angry or sad? How could he be crying and yelling at the same time?

Yoshiki did not understand but he could not tear his eyes away. He had never seen his father like this. Even without knowing why, Yoshiki's own eyes brimmed with tears.

"Yoshiki!" His mother had cried, snatching him by the arm when she found him.

"Why is daddy crying?" he had asked, sniffling. "Why is he mad?"

It was only when his mother had knelt down to sweep Yoshiki into a hug that he noticed her eyes were red, too. "There was nothing he could do… " Her voice broke. "Hikaru's daddy… Oh, my baby, come here."

Yoshiki understood now. In this moment, straddling Hikaru's unmoving body and shaking him violently, Yoshiki understood.

"Hikaru!" he screamed. Sobs wracked his body, tears falling off his face and onto Hikaru's. "Hikaru, wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!"

Hikaru groaned, coughing up ichor.

"Hikaru! Don't ya dare die," Yoshiki sobbed. "Wake up, damn it. Wake up!"

"Yosh…" Hikaru slurred, eyes fluttering.

"Don't ya dare die!" Yoshiki cried. "You told me you'd never leave me! Don't break yer fuckin' promise!"

Hikaru coughed again, his head lolling. His eyes peeled open as much as they could muster. "Yoshiki… I'm… sorry…"

"Shut up! Don't gimme that shit." Yoshiki bent himself over Hikaru's face, taking it in one hand and holding himself up with the other. "Ya gotta heal, Hikaru. Ya gotta heal!"

He coughed again. "I… don't think… I can. I'm… hurtin' bad."

"No. Yer gonna die if ya don't heal," Yoshiki sobbed over him. "Don't break yer fuckin' promise!"

There was nothing he could do… his mother had said.

Yoshiki understood now. Helplessness. His father had been feeling helplessness.

But Yoshiki was not helpless. Not yet.

"Listen, Hikaru. 'Cause I'm only gonna say this once." Yoshiki waited until Hikaru's weary eyes focused on him before holding out his wrist. "Yer not healin' 'cause yer refusin' to drink blood. That's why yer weak. And if ya don't drink right now, you'll die."

Hikaru's eyes filled with tears as he shook his head. "No… Yoshiki, I already got ya hurt…"

"I ain't finished yet," Yoshiki snapped. "If ya don't drink right now, you'll die. And if ya die right now, you break yer promise to me. You remember what ya promised?"

Hikaru squeezed his eyes shut with a wave of freshly fallen tears.

"Hikaru!"

Hikaru shot up so fast that Yoshiki jolted. Yoshiki fell back into Hikaru's lap as he righted himself, jerking Yoshiki by the collar of his t-shirt. Suddenly woozy from the movement, Hikaru's head lolled like he was going to fall unconscious again. He held himself aloft by Yoshiki's shirt and shook off his daze. Steeling himself, staring hard and cold into Yoshiki's face, he spoke in a low rasp. "And what if I can't stop myself?"

Yoshiki met his challenging gaze with one of his own. "I trust ya."

Hikaru's eyes grew wide, his brow knitting. He dropped his head, pressing it into Yoshiki's chest and taking a long, shaking breath. When he rose, his cold fingers gently pressed into Yoshiki's arm, lifting it. Yoshiki watched with growing terror as his wrist was brought to the lips of a vampire.

Hikaru watched him closely with low lidded eyes. "Are ya scared now, Yoshiki?"

"Yeah," he breathed.

Hikaru nodded. "Me too."

Then, he lowered his gaze to Yoshiki's wrist, took a deep breath, and sank his fangs into flesh.

Pain. White-hot and sharp as daggers. That's what came first.

Yoshiki stifled his cry, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut. It was not a burn, like the hell hound's bite had been. It was somehow nothing like that at all.

It was a flash of razor-blade needles in his skin, quick and sharp. Then, as fast as the sensation came, it changed.

The initial pain faded, and something else filled its place. Yoshiki's gasped as a roll of warmth washed over him like a wave, from head to toe. The edges of his vision turned black, as dark tendrils of shadow seemed to frame his view in a twisted vignette.

Darkness seemed to surround him, slowly closing in. Yoshiki tried to inch away from it, his instincts telling him to run from the darkness closing in around him. But he remained motionless, helpless to it, like in a nightmare where his body would not move.

The darkness seemed to beckon to him, and Yoshiki found himself letting it in.

Another wave of warmth roiled through his entire body. He gasped again at the indescribable sensation, unable to control the way his body shook from it. His pulse, the beating of his heart, crescendoed in his ears and in every vein, every blood vessel, every arterie.

He could feel his blood moving within him. Coursing through his veins with the ferocity of life. Pumping adreneline and dopamine through his heart and back again. Pounding with the beat of his pulse, driving it forward and forward, again and again, faster and faster, every beat a reminder that he was so, so alive.

Yoshiki's eyes flew open with a sharp gasp.

And there was Hikaru, his lips pressed to Yoshiki's skin. His eyes, wide, wide, and glowing red, watching Yoshiki. Watching him feel it all.

Suddenly, another wave of warmth rocketed through his body, and this time it lingered low in his belly, bursting with delight, and lowering to other parts of him he had not expected.

Oh, god… Yoshiki thought with creeping horror. Why does it… feel good…?

A sound escaped Yoshiki's lips. A sound that would have left him mortified at any other moment but this one. It was not the sound of a person in pain.

Hikaru's eyes widened even more, almost manic. His arm frantically shot out to grab a fistful of Yoshiki's shirt, pulling him closer.

Yoshiki could feel the blood leave his body with every suck. It was slow and even like the tide. Rolling in, pulling out. Rolling in, pulling out. He felt every cell in his blood rushing through his body and down his arm towards Hikaru's mouth. Slow and even, Yoshiki's blood left him, rolling in, pulling out, and it ached.

Yoshiki grabbed the back of Hikaru's neck and pressed his wrist into Hikaru's teeth.

More, he thought.

In one fluid motion, Hikaru shoved Yoshiki backwards off of his lap, slamming him back into the wall. Yoshiki's ass hit the floor, his legs flat out in front of him, and then Hikaru's body, impossibly fast and effortlessly graceful, towered over him. Kneeling, Hikaru's thighs straddled Yoshiki's hips, and he pressed Yoshiki's wrist into the wall above his head. Hikaru sunk his teeth in deeper, pinning Yoshiki's arm to the wall as he groaned into his flesh.

That sound… thought Yoshiki's addled mind. Hikaru… You sound like… It sounds like we're…

The slow and even sucking grew rapid and erratic, in time with Hikaru's labored breaths. What was once the slow ache of the tide became something monstrous. The wave of warmth crashed over Yoshiki like a tsunami, rushing his belly with pleasure and flooding downward, between his thighs. The blood that had not yet left him seemed to move twice as fast, racing around his body and working it overtime—flushing his cheeks, fluttering his heart, hardening him. Perhaps it was the delusions of bloodloss, or perhaps there was some kind of drug coating Hikaru fangs, but Yoshiki's body, his senses, felt supernaturally heightened—and the result was pure, unbridled ecstasy. Darkness enveloped Yoshiki's vision entirely, leaving only Hikaru, Hikaru, Hikaru…

Yoshiki's breath escaped in a hot gasp. His eyes rolled back in his head as another sound, low and gravelly from the back of his throat, was pulled from his lips. "Hikaru…"

Hikaru pressed Yoshiki's wrist harder into the wall, bringing his other hand down into Yoshiki's hair. He grabbed a fistful of it in his fingers.

This is how I want to die, Yoshiki thought.

The darkness closed in, taking everything with it. Sight, sound, touch, warmth. Hikaru.

Wait… he thought. Oh god.

Yoshiki's arm shot out, deperately clawing at Hikaru's shirt. "H-Hikaru… stop…"

But Hikaru did not seem to be able to hear him. Or maybe Yoshiki had not spoken at all. It was impossible to tell in the all-consuming darkness.

"Hikaru," he tried to say, louder this time. "Yer… killin'…"

But the blood continued to leave his body, as did the warmth. Cold crept in, and his blood seemed to turn to ice in his veins.

Or maybe he did not have any blood left.

"Hikaru… too… much…"

He reached out. To feel something, anything. His hand longed to find purchase. To find something to hold onto.

Hikaru. Hikaru. Hikaru!

"Hikaru!" Yoshiki cried. "Too much!"

Everything stopped.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Colors returned. Shades of black and grey and bright red. Sound returned. Heavy breath and the hum of the air conditioning. Touch returned. Hard floor beneath him and the wall against his back.

Yoshiki's vision swam. It cleared as he blinked, and his dark bedroom came into focus. Ash all over the floor, mixing with demon blood and the remnants of the fire extinguisher. His blanket, burned to a crisp. Hikaru, his back to the wall opposite Yoshiki, as far as he could possibly be from him.

Even in the darkness, Yoshiki could see his that his lips were drenched with bright red blood.

My blood.

"Yoshiki?"

Yoshiki's vision swam again. "I'm okay," he slurred. "I'm…"

His head felt too heavy. The floor seemed to rise up to meet him as he toppled over.

Strong, cold arms caught him before he hit the ground.

Yoshiki collapsed into them, dropping his head onto Hikaru's shoulder. Those arms wrapped around him, picking him up like he weighed nothing.

The next thing he knew, Yoshiki was horizontal in his bed, bundled in blankets. He blinked hard, trying desperately to stay conscious.

Hikaru sat at the edge of the bed, looking down at him. His expression was pained. His lips were still wet with redness. "Yoshiki…"

"I'm… okay," Yoshiki croaked weakly, his teeth chattering. "C-cold."

Hikaru moved.

In the blink of an eye, Hikaru had unraveled Yoshiki's cocoon of blankets and crawled inside, pressing his body into Yoshiki's. He swept Yoshiki into his arms, cradling him against his chest and pressing a gentle hand against the back of Yoshiki's head. Despite the position they were in, Yoshiki did not have the energy, nor the blood, to blush.

"Yoshiki…" Hikaru murmured into his hair. "Yoshiki…"

And, somehow, though his skin had only ever felt cold to the touch, Hikaru radiated warmth. In his arms, Yoshiki's body slowly ceased its tremors, and heat returned to him as he sunk into unconsciousness.