• CHAPTER 8 - PROTECTIVE

    When you instantly fail at your biggest responsibility you've recieved in life, you can't help but want yourself to disappear. You can't escape the guilt and the pain you've caused others, no matter how much comforting you recieve. There's always that feeling you can't erase.

    It didn't take long to convince Kai to let me out of the bedroom. It had been about 3 days and I knew Kira would be quarantined much longer than I would. At first I couldn't understand it. Kai attacked me at first because he wanted immortality but they didn't quarantine him as long as Kira. Kira needed the energy badly I guess. My blood gives Vampires more energy for longer, apparently. Maybe Kira attacked becausehe is a half Vampire and he can't resist my blood at all anymore? If it was hard enough for Kai to resist, how must Kira feel? I would ask Orihime later. Matsuda helped her into Kira's room so she could talk to him and try to console him of his guilt and anger.

    Kai would stalk me subtly in every room I would ever go in, except for the bathroom of course. I told him I was fine enough to sleep in bed by myself and he seemed to agree right away. Maybe he was embarrassed as much as I was. He cofronted that he would be watching over me, though. It almost sounds creepy, but it was reassuring. I didn't know how long this would be going on, but I didn't want to ask him; we would never stop arguing.

    I finally had my first day of work at the restaurant. That was one excuse to give Kai for my absence from the bedroom. He drove me to work and stood outside the whole time I worked from 7 p.m. to midnight. I was a waitress and had to help clean up afterwords. I have to admit, they have cute uniforms. Manager Uratada was 3 and a half months pregnant so she would need extra help around the restaurant, especially when she gets bigger. After work, some whore in a slutty dress tried to get Kai to go into the bar at the restaurant so they could get drunk and do...things. She asked right in front of me too!Kai said no, blah, blah, blah, Bride this, Bride that, blah, blah, blah, kept romancing me in front of her and all that, you get the picture. After that, he took me to the car, holding my hand tightly...

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    "Hold still, Arisa," Matsuda sounded concerned as he continued to weave a needle.

    "I can't do it, Matsuda!" the pain was unbearable.

    I was right; Kira's bite marks had gotten infected, badly. The whole right side of my neck, from the bottom of my jaw to the end of my shoulder, was tender to the touch. The holes were much larger than a normal bite mark because Kai heaved Kira off of me, dragging his teeth along with him. The holes were too big and letting too many germs in, no matter how much peroxide we would pour into it. Matsuda finally firgured it was best if we stitch the wound...and he just happened to have no supply of novacain. I felt every stab and p***k of the needle and could feel the thread pulling itself through under my skin.

    "Several more stitches and we'll be done, okay?"

    I didn't care; I wanted him to stop. Kai was silent and staring at me the whole time with a glazed and almost bored look on his face. He was probably distracting himself so that my blood didn't provoke him. The time finally came to snap him out of his daydream. I grabbed onto his hand and squeezed as hard as I could. I think I was about to break my fingers while gripping his hand. To my surprise, he gripped mine too, slipping his fingers between mine and everything, although he wasn't really squeezing. If he did, my hand would be a goner. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my forehead against Kai's shoulder as Matsuda finished up. He rubbed on more peroxide and gave me the right to leave.

    "Keep the wound uncovered for the next couple of days, alright, Arisa?" Matsuda sounded serious as he was putting away his surgical kit.

    I slipped my hand out of Kai's and nodded, "Yeah," the infection was bad. Good thing I wasn't able to see it unless I looked in a mirror. I never did see it anyways; I opted not to.
    I stumbled up the stairs, trying not to move my right arm around. Kira seemed to bite the nerve that affects the whole right top half of my body (if there is such thing). I couldn't move my arm and if I did, it would burn and send pain all over and my muscles ached something horrible. Kai followed behind me quietly as we went back into the bedroom. I glared at Kai as he shut the door behind him.

    "Go away, Kai. I'm gonna change my shirt."

    Matsuda had gotten a little bit of blood on my shirt and I wanted it cleaned right away. I had already given the bed comforter to Kai a couple of days earlier so he could give it to Matsuda to wash. I already told Matsuda about wanting to be Kai's donor so it shouldn't surprise him now that there's blood on the comforter. There were some fresh blood stains because I told Kai to bite me about a day ago. I keep forgetting how long it's been since he's fed and he's still not going into the city. Kai looked at me with a thoughtful look on his face. Not thoughtful as in nice and tender towards me, but thoughtful as in he was thinking of something malevolent and I knew it. Kai inched himself towards me.

    "Come here for a second," he still seemed in deep thought.

    I slid towards him slowly, keeping my guard up. Kai sighed irritably.

    "Just trust me, Arisa,"

    And I did. I trusted him, but I didn't know what he could do to help my wound. Kai placed his hands on my hips and pushed me back lightly so that I ended up sitting on the bed. He kneeled down and stared at the wound on my neck, "Why didn't I think of this before?"

    Think of what? What was he going to do? I watched Kai as he suddenly flinched. I heard a small stab sound come from inside his mouth. His mouth? Kai leaned up and pressed himself against me and then his lips to my neck right where the wound was. I flinched and tried to get him off but he didn't budge. I felt his tongue slip out of his mouth and rub all over my wound painfully. I held my breath and waited for the pain to be over again. In an instant, the pain had disappeared completely. I exhaled sharply as Kai continued to lick my neck all over.

    "What did you do?"

    Another moment went by until Kai pulled himself away from my neck. He had little traces of blood on his lips. That was funny, I didn't remember being bitten by him just now, "I didn't bite you. I bit my togue and rubbed my blood over your wound." I stared at Kai with a disgusted look and he chuckled a completely astounding chuckle, "A Vampire's blood is superior to a human's. When spread onto or into the wound of a human, it delays the pain."

    "Yeah, now you remember how,"

    "It's better to remember now than to remember later after you've already gone through all the pain, don't you agree?"

    I had to agree with him on that one. I'd rather go through the pain of the first attack than stay in the pain of Kira's. I pondered for a moment and came up with something somewhat random, "Hey, Kai? You know how you can read people's minds?"

    "Yeah?"

    "Um, are you able to look into people's dreams?"

    "You're wondering about your dreams, aren't you?"

    He was right, "Yeah. How did you know?"

    "I figured you would end up asking sooner or later, whether you were having nightmares or not. The day after Kira attacked you, you kept tossing and turning in my arms whenever you were in a deep enough sleep, that's why I was holding you so tight. You kept saying things too."

    "What was I saying?"

    Kai's face turned to concern when he answered, "You kept calling out for your parents; telling them not to leave you,"

    I managed to choke out the next thing I would say after pausing for a moment, "I keep having dreams about the night of my parents' murder. They've been happening a lot for the past year since they died."

    "Did you...see them get murdered?" Kai seemed to hesitate when he asked. He probably thought it would bring on too much stress on me.

    It did. But I answered anyways, "I was across the hall in my room when it happened. I could only hear them scream and then it stopped right away. I...saw the aftermath, though."

    Kai's face looked pained. I looked down and away from his face. Not only because I didn't want to see his pained face, but I didn't want him to see me cry again. It was a little too late for that. A single tear shed without a cry breaking out of my chest and Kai wiped off the tear. His fingertips touched my face lightly, "I can look into it for you,"

    I opened my eyes and smiled weakly, "I must sound pathetic, still having so many dreams each week since my parents died. Most people would have been somewhat over it by now."

    "Arisa, you're still so young. You're going through too much and I haven't been making it any better. I'm surprised that you can keep such an outgoing personality after all you've gone through." he tapped my cheek with his knuckles, "And it's not pathetic that you keep dreaming about it. You're just lost, you're trying to figure it out." and he smiled my favorite weak smile. It wasn't always the most reassuring thing, but it made him look loads more beautiful.

    My face quickly turned red at the thought that he more than likely heard. I stood up and made my way to the dresser right away when Kai started laughing at me.

    I pulled a shirt out of what used to be Kai's dresser. I emptied out all of his clothes, not wanting to touch any of them, and replaced them with my own clothes. Kai got a little irritated but I only let him threw it in his face by telling him I did it because I was so freaking bored in the bedroom. He gave up trying to convince me to put his clothes back in and decided he would get the dresser from the storage room sometime. I wouldn't help him, he could lift it with one hand if he wanted to.

    I rushed out of the bedroom and into the bathroom across the hall. I took a moment to look at myself in the mirror when I was in my bra. I stared at my wounds. Kai's first bite mark was completely healed already and only left a very faint scar behind. His second mark healed a day before and left no scar whatsoever and his most recent mark is almost heaed already. I wasn't too worried about it. Kai told me Vampire wounds heal quickly and usually never leave a scar behind. I guess it really helped them to cover up their evidence after a feeding. I knew Kira's wound would leave a scar. The scar from the 7 stitches on each mark would probably show up more than the mark itself. Now when I touched Kira's mark, I couldn't feel anything whatsoever. It's as if Kai's blood was a super novacain, but I could still move my arm. I was so thankful that there was finally a guy who actually noticed me. It's not like I really cared before I met Kai, but now I realize how important it is to people.
    I slipped on my shirt and slid into the bedroom where Kai had disappeared from.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    .:{{Kai's Perspective}}:.

    When I had first taken Arisa from that piece-of-crap orphanage, it was unbearably hard not to bite her when she was unconscious. I didn't know why I didn't go into the city to feed before I had gotten her. I wanted to sample her blood before I would city-feed again. I was being incredibly selfish. I attacked her and felt the desire to suck her dry to gain immortality, but as soon as I saw that petrified look on her face, I couldn't make myself do it anymore; I couldn't attack her for immortality. I would have tried to get away from her after she pushed me back, but the Vampire side of me took over and attacked her again and tried to attack her a third time all within the same night. In the few weeks that Arisa had been here, she's really changed me for the better. I'm looking at some things in a more positive way, like she does.

    For a human girl, I have to admit, she's pretty cute. She's too skinny, though. She's a vegetarian with no meat on her bones and she weighs, oh, I'd say around 100-105 pounds. I could have sworn the wind would have carried her away when I was running with her in my arms. Of course, it wouldn't feel that way to any normal human. Her shoulder-length dark brown hair and large deep-purple eyes really gave out the fact that she was pretty outgoing. I don't know how I knew that right away, I just did. And her neck...her delicate fragile neck. It's much too easy to detect her blood, too easy to lust for it. Her neck had looked so perfect and frail until it was penetrated and scarred twice. I can't forgive myself for that night of the attack.

    Being a Vampire, it's not horrible and it's not fantastic. It's cool that you have all these supernatural abilities and stuff, but I hate the fact that every time I bite somebody, somebody's either hurting severely or even dying just because I'm thirsty. Kira feels the same way too. We hadn't always been this way. Kira and I used to be humans until 1850 and we knew we wouldn't be able to go back (our last name is Uketomeru, by the way). The reason why I became a Vampire much faster than Kira is because I used to have hemophilia. The faster your blood runs out, the faster you become a Vampire. And since I had hemophilia, my blood wouldn't clot so I was screwed right when they bit into me. Kira could become a whole Vampire easily if he wanted to. The fangs we took from the
    Vampires who attacked us still have venom in them. I guess if we stab ourselves with the fangs, it will automatically send venom into our system. Kira hates his Vampire side so he refuses, opting to live in unbearable pain.

    I've been noticing myself feeling differently towards Arisa during the two and a half short months she's been here. She's not so incredibly as frail as she looks. She's definitely frail physically, but she's strong inside. My feelings are changing towards her...but...I can't feel any more feelings for her...it's much too dangerous for her...

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    Ah, dammit. Takeuchi was back. I groaned loudly as he came skipping though the door merrily with a novel in his hand. Wait, a novel?

    "Takeuchi, what's up with the book?" I was annoyed at the fact that the novel would go to waste.

    "I wanted to try something new, is that so wrong?"

    "It doesn't matter to me. If you don't read it, I'm ripping your head off."

    He rolled his eyes which just pissed me off even more, "Whatever, Kai. You'll just forget about it."

    "Not if you leave it laying out,"

    Takeuchi belted out a laugh, "Oh, Uketomeru, you and your OCD,"

    He skipped past me and I punched his head on the way. He probably didn't feel it. He was just about a year younger than Arisa and tough as nails. Of course, I could still beat him in a fight, stupid mutts anyways. I paused as I realized his long absence, "Why were you gone so long?"

    "Miku ended up having a family emergency and she wanted me to be with her. Sorry it took about 2 and a half months."

    Miku was his girlfriend of 6 years. He went off to a hotel with her right when Arisa arrived, claiming he was doing that to control himself better in the city and bring no harm to Arisa. That was probably part of it, but I knew he wanted to go because he hadn't seen Miku in months and he wanted to...do things to--with--her. And she's kinda sorta pregnant a little. I'm not getting into the details. She's due in about 7 months, I guess. They don't seem too concerned, not even their parents since they'd been dating so long. I assumed they would just arrange a marriage for after the baby is born.

    Yeah, that's enough talk about babies, it's weird. I shook the thought out of my head and I walked into the living room. Just as I walked in, Arisa was on her way down the stairs. I would have screamed at her to stay away from Takeuchi and his womanizing abilities, but I was already too late. By the time she had reached the bottom of the stairs, Takeuchi already had his hands on his shoulders.

    "Arisa! Nice to finally meet you!" Takeuchi was much too overjoyed. Must have had some crack (not that he does drugs. You know, it's a figure of speech.).

    "Uh, hi?" I had to chuckle at Arisa's expression of utter confusion and laughed out loud when I heard her head. She stared at Takeuchi thinking, Who the hell is he and what does he want? Kai's gonna be pissed!

    "Whatever, Arisa," my laughing calmed down a little. I had no reason to be jealous. Sure, Takeuchi was a womanizer, but not the kind that flirts with every last one. He just gets along well with them, I guess.

    Since Arisa had asked me to look into her dreams sometime, I had been kind of iffy about it. I was pretty sure what her dreams were about, but I wouldn't want to tell her what I would see in the dreams if I were too peek in. I didn't want to tell her what they were about. I hated seeing her so down whenever she would dream, and whenever I would ask her about it, she would always change the subject and become all optimistic again. It pissed me off whenever she did that; did she keep forgetting that I can see into her mind? She's only trying to make me worry less, but it's when she doesn't tell me anything that I get worried. She keeps trying to hide what she's--s**t!!

    I shoved Takeuchi out of the way and stood with my back in front of Arisa, looking up the stairs. I backed up until Arisa was against the wall and pressed my palms on the wall on each side of Arisa. I leaned forward and let a growl pass through my teeth: Kira.

    "Kai?" Arisa seemed scared and confused. Judging by my reaction, she probably had a big hint that Kira was coming down the stairs. She just couldn't see him because I was in the way.

    Kira stood at the top of the stairs with an expressionless face, looking down at Arisa and me. He was being followed by Orihime. He slid his hand down the railing as he glided down the stairs, still not taking his eyes off of Arisa and me. His face was expressionless, but his eyes showed great pain at what he had done to Arisa. Good. I hope he feels as much pain about that as the pain he feels on a daily basis. Matsuda came into the living room calmly and touched my arm.

    "It's okay, Kai. Let Arisa go."

    I growled at Matsuda, "Not a chance in Hell,"

    I could hear Arisa hyperventilating silently behind me and her heart speed up. Matsuda grabbed my arm this time, looking at me confidently as Kira stood in front of me, "Just let Kira apologize to Arisa,"

    "He can just apologize right now, whether he can see her face or not. I'm not letting him near Arisa." it kind of surprised me how suddenly defensive I became of Arisa in that short instant.

    Arisa's hyperventilating stopped and her heart slowed to normal. She lightly touched my back, "Kai, it's okay,"

    I looked back at her and she looked scared again. I only assumed that my eyes were red again; she hated them when they were like that. She gulped and continued to persuade me, "Let Kira apologize to me face-to-face, Kai. Everybody else is here so if he tries to hurt me again, you all can stop him."

    I looked in front of me at Kira. From the corner of my eye, I saw Takeuchi's beyond confused face.I heard every thought rushing through his head and really didn't feel like answering them. I slowly lowered my arms and inched my way away from Arisa, not letting my eyes off of Kira. I stepped to the side to get out of Arisa's way and she inched forward to Kira. She seemed much too confident, but yet she seemed so unsure. She looked up at Kira as Kira looked down at her. They stared at each other for a long moment in silence. Takeuchi kept asking the same question over and over again to me.

    Okay, what's going on, Kai? I ignored him. He asked again, Kai, what's going on? Why are you freaking out about Kira being near Arisa?

    I clenched my fists and ground my teeth together and locked my jaw, A few days ago, Kira...attacked Arisa.

    What? He did? Why are you so pissed about it?

    It's a long story, so don't ask questions until the end.     From the corner of my eye, I saw Takeuchi subtly nod,Several days after Arisa arrived, I...attacked her first. It was for the same reason that any Vampire would attack her, but I ended up changing my mind. When I had changed my mind, I was overtaken by thirst and attacked her again and almost a third time. Of course Arisa was afraid of me, but she kept begging me to bite her a couple of days later because she knew I had only fed once since I attacked her. She wanted to help me. She told Matsuda she wanted to be my main donor, so now she's reffered to as my Blood Bride.

    I glanced over at Takeuchi from the corner of my eye again and he looked deep in thought, absorbing everything, I didn't want that to happen, but we can't really do anything about it now. I don't know if Kira was jealous of that or if he was just incredibly weak, but he attacked Arisa several days later. Her wound is infected, not with venom, though, but part of that is my fault. I pulled Kira off of her and his teeth drug all the way out of her neck. Takeuchi flinched a little at that, Kira had been quarantined ever since until now. Arisa and I have...kind of built up a relationship, so that's why I'm protective of her.

    Takeuchi nodded subtly again, Did Kira attack Arisa for immortality?

    No, I don't think so. I'm thinking only Orihime knows why because she's been talking to him ever since he was quarantined.

    My attention turned as I saw Kira reach for Arisa's wounded neck with a pained look all over his face. Arisa looked calm, but a little uncomfortable. As soon as Kira touched Arisa's wound, I growled loudly and almost leaped at him but Matsuda held me back. I just continued to glare at Kira with my teeth beared.

    "I'm...sorry, Arisa," and he was finished. He lowered his hand and Arisa backed up slowly.

    I quickly stood in front of her and glared at Kira, "You said your apology, now leave,"

    Kira sighed, "I'm apologizing to you too, Kai. I know I've made you angry."

    "You're damn right, you b*****d!"

    "Kai, take it easy!" Arisa shouted as she grabbed the back of my shirt. She looked angry with me, "Just give him another chance, Kai. He gave in to temptation; isn't that what you did too?" I flinched when she said that, "So why should you make Kira the only bad guy?"

    I eased up but turned around and looked at her with disbelief. She still looked angered but it instantly turned to regret.

    "Oh my God, Kai, I'm sorry," she grabbed onto my sleeve and looked down, "I'm sorry...,"

    I shook my head, "Whatever," she kept on apologizing in her head. She knew it hurt me, but she was taking it a little overboard.

    Orihime finally spoke up, "I will still be watching Kira while he's outside of his bedroom. We will stay down here for a little bit while you two get some rest. You've had a long week."

    "I'll pass for now," I was still pissed off at Kira. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall and looked over at Arisa, "You should get to bed,"

    Arisa nodded and left up the stairs without another word. I felt guilty that I hurt Arisa. It wasn't severe or permanent damage, but she was still hurt that she thought I was angry with her. I'd go up later and apologize, I guess. Maybe if I got lucky, I could get the chance to look into her dream...