BLOOD STAINED ROSES

Blood Stained Roses

Chapter 11



A soft, single knock on the dark, rosy wood door signified that Kisaki was outside of Saki\'s room. He had waited to go see her until it was the time he would usually go out, not wanting to cause any alarm. If he had left immediately after he had heard Chuu’s story, he knew he would have caused worry.



"Who is it?" called Saki. At the time, she had been laying on the bed, her long, slender body stretched across the soft mattress as she held a thick, hardbound book over her head, taking in the words. As she heard the light tap on the door, Saki slowly set down the book on the small wooden nightstand, the same color as the door, and turned curiously to the door.



"It\'s me: Kisaki."



The door swung open and Saki stood just inside the room, looking only mildly surprised, obviously not in complete shock to see Kisaki standing outside her room. She must have thought he might show up after the little conversation that she had had with Chuu earlier.



"Well, this is rare," she said. "It\'s not often I get vi-"



"Cut the crap, Saki, you know why I\'m here." said Kisaki angrily; he did not like how she was playing coy with him.



"No, actually, I don\'t believe I do," Saki answered coldly with a stare of ice to match. Her actions made it clear that she was not about to admit to doing anything wrong. The truth was that in her eyes, she had done the right thing.



"Then are you trying to say that you weren\'t in Chuu\'s room yesterday, trying to convince him to break up with me?"



He watched her expression, looking for the slightest change. There wasn’t one. Though her eyes still held that hint of annoyance, her expression was still mainly calm and collected, even as Kisaki looked as though he was about to explode in outrage. She was really annoying him… annoying being an understatement.



"I thought it would be for the best," she said simply.



"Since when is it your job to decide what\'s best for me?" asked Kisaki. "Did you even stop to think of what you were doing? Did you stop to think about what I wanted?"



"Yes, I have thought about it quite a bit, actually, and I can\'t help but think that you\'re making a mistake. Think about it. He\'s obviously going to die so..."



She trailed of, noticing that Kisaki looked like he was going to kill her. Though he had obviously looked angry before, he looked even worse now. There was a slight manic spark in his eye, almost murderous in his outrage. Even Saki found this to be frightening enough to quiet her. Something that almost never happened. Though she was quiet for the most part, when there was something on her mind, Saki never thought twice about expressing her opinion.



"I am well aware of the risks," growled Kisaki. "I think of them a lot more than you do."



"Then why are you allowing yourself to get so attached to the boy? Why don\'t you stay away from him?"



"You don\'t think that I tried? Believe me. I did. I didn\'t want for any of this to happen, but it did. Whether you like it or not, I will not leave Chuu. I suggest you stay out of other people\'s business… especially when they don\'t ask for your help."



"Fine, but I don\'t want to see you after he\'s gone! I know how it\'s going to be! You\'ll just end up falling apart! Not only that, you’re going to bring us all down with you!"



After that, Kisaki left, afraid of what he might do if he stayed in that room much longer. It was pointless to sit there and listen to her arguments, knowing that they would not change anything. He had fallen in love with Chuu even though he had wanted to be unattached to the world outside these walls as well as anyone that still had a connection to it. What good would it do to leave him now? Even if he tried, Kisaki was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to stay away for long. He knew it would hurt way too much.



Really having no other choice, he left the house. It was hightly likely that Chuu would wonder what was taking him so long, but he never went a night without blood and he did not know what would happen if he did. Now didn’t seem like the right time to find out, either. So he decided he would spend as little time outside as possible so he did not attract too much attention from his lover. Kisaki did not want him to know that he had been to see Saki about what had happened the night before.





***





Outside the mansion, in one of the large surrounding trees sat Ryou, waiting. He had actually come back about three days earlier, but had decided to give Chuu and Kisaki a little more time alone for the first two days. The day before he had been prepared to go in, when he realized that Chuu and Kisaki were... busy. As much as he would have loved to ruin it for them, he thought it would be much more pleasing to allow them their night of passion and bliss before snatching it all away from them. In his eyes, it was the theatrical way to do things… and he did love theatrics.



This particular evening was planned to demonstrate just that. He would go in unannounced, something unheard of by anyone that knew him since he always liked big, dramatic entrances. But this was a special occasion, one that required him to give up his usual loudly announced arrival for something much bigger and more exciting and satisfying... The climax of his well thought out play that was going exactly as planned. It would be a night to remember.



His plan in mind, Ryou jumped lithely down from the tree, landing perfectly on his feet before going to Chuu\'s room, making his entrance by materializing in a corner of the room where Chuu, who was lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling with a small smile on his face, could not see him. He did not notice the other presence in the room until the raven-haired beauty\'s head was hovering above his own and he felt the slight dip of the mattress from the hand Ryou had rested on it.



"You look awfully happy today. I wonder why that is," he said, mockingly. Obviously he did not need to wonder. He already knew.



At the sight of the vampire only inches away from him, Chuu’s turquoise eyes widened in shock and fear. His mouth opened slightly, though he could not find his voice to say anything. He could only stare at that eerily beautiful face in complete horror and try not to think about what would most likely happen next.



"Honestly, you don\'t have any manners at all, do you?" asked Ryou. "You don\'t even say \'hello\' to me. Oh, well, I guess I can\'t blame you... After all, you must think that I\'m ruining your life... and I do know that you didn\'t heed my warning. Well, I guess it\'s more like Kisaki did not heed my warning considering he was the one I warned, but it\'s all the same to me. It all comes down to the same thing: I know everything that\'s happened here... Well, I know what\'s happened here during the last three days at least..."



"You...!" gasped Chuu, though he could not think of anything to say after that. He was too stunned and angry. This definitely shouldn’t surprise him as much as it did. After all, Ryou had hinted that he had been spying on them before, but... he had thought that he had been bluffing. This whole time, Ryou’s vampire eyes had been watching him and Chuu was completely ignorant of it. Well, more like vampire ears listening, since not even Ryou could see through the thick stone walls of the mansion, no matter how old, powerful, or clever he was.



"Now, now, don\'t look so surprised. I told you that I\'m keeping an eye on you. So, tell me... Did you enjoy it when Kisaki made love to you? I have to say that I was genuinely surprised. Who would have expected that he of all people would do something like that? Not I, that\'s for sure, even if he is completely in love with you. I mean, up until now he\'s been almost completely isolated from the rest of the world! Oh, well, what\'s done is done, no matter how surprising or stupid. The question is: What will I do now. I\'ve been thinking long and hard about what exactly should be done about this and I think I may have come up with the perfect thing..."



He traced the side of Chuu\'s face with a cold finger as Chuu squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out everything that belonged to Ryou. This was not happening.

Not now, when everything had seemed so perfect.





***





It was time to eat. Well, it was for Chuu at least. Nobody else within the mansion would have any nourishment for at least a couple more hours, but Chuu got to eat three times a day... Then again, he was also human and was more likely to become sick if deprived of his three meals a day, although sometimes he only did have two if he wasn’t hungry…



Anyway, since it was time for Chuu to eat, Yami and Yuna were just down the hall with a tray of food when they realized that Chuu was not alone and that it was definitely was not Kisaki that was with him. The fear seemed to emanate from the room making his visitor obvious. Not only a full minute later, they heard a shriek from inside, confirming that their fears were real.



"Go get Kisaki," Yuna whispered urgently.



Yami nodded, handed her tray to Yuna and disappeared. She had a problem. Well, more like two, actually. The minor one was the fact that she would probably have to starve that night since she was taking whoever\'s turn it currently was to leave and was not even hunting, but she’d live. Her real problem was trying to figure out how she was supposed to find Kisaki. She wasn’t sure if he even went to the cemetery anymore since he got back so early now. That was the only place that she knew she could find him so she decided to go there. Having no other choice, she sat and waited, hoping that he might show up despite her doubts. She did not want Kisaki to show up in Chuu\'s room without having any idea what was going on.



This was not a plan to stop him, though. It was actually just the opposite. Yami knew that if Kisaki did not go back, something horrible would happen. Yuna must have known it, to because she herself had told her to go. Even if Kisaki could not do anything in the end, they both knew that he had a better chance at saving Chuu than anyone else.



She had never been so relieved to see the glint silver at the cemetery\'s painted black gates or to hear a velvety voice come from that same direction. Against her expectations, Kisaki had come, though he only stood outside for a moment, staring in. Relief quickly flooded her and she automatically jumped up, heading toward him as he walked away. The voice she heard was only him talking to himself. He had not noticed her yet, though she knew he would most likely hear her foot steps soon. She was so overjoyed to see him that she would have hugged him, but that would have been awkward and now definitely was not the time for that kind of thing. She listened to what he was saying.



"Why am I coming here again?" he asked himself. "I’m not even going in, but I feel like I have to at least glimpse it… Like it’s going to tell me anything.. It\'s not like the damn grave talks! But for some stupid reason, it\'s become a habit. A really pointless habit. Like I have to come here, or..."



He continued on with his self-scolding. As he did, Yami began to grow impatient. She was only wasting time by standing there, listening to his rants about his pointless trips.



"Kisaki-san!" she yelled, running toward him, now.



"Yami-san... what are you doing here?!" he asked, startled.



"You need to get back now," Yami told him. "Ryou\'s back..."



She trailed off, seeing Kisaki start to walk past her, as though he had just decided that he should go see his empty grave up close after all despite Yami’s proposal of returning. It was the only thing he could think to do, as usual, not wanting to be there as Ryou had his way with Chuu.



"And what do you suggest I do about it?" he muttered.



"I don\'t know... but, Kisaki-san, if you don\'t do something Chuu\'s going to die!"



He turned back around and stared at Yami. What did she mean? How could she know if Ryou meant to kill Chuu tonight? Ryou was not exactly someone who would let anyone read his thoughts, and Yami wasn’t exactly someone who could read thoughts.



"I overheard him talking to Chuu," she explained. "He knows... about yesterday. You know he\'s not going to take that lightly. And think about how hard he\'s been on Chuu since he got here. It doesn\'t seem like he ever planned to keep him around forever."



"But..." mumbled Kisaki, hanging his head, "What can I do? How can I save him?"



"You have to try! Could you live with yourself if you didn\'t even try?" argued Yami.



There was a pause before he simply nodded, not really trusting himself to speak. Though he did not know what, he had to do something. He could not just sit back and watch as Ryou took Chuu away from him forever. He needed to prevent this at all costs. Failure could mean both of their lives, but trying and failing was better than not trying at all. After all, he did not plan to go on living another hundred plus years alone.



***



The smell of blood greeted Kisaki when he arrived in Chuu\'s room, just as it had the last time Ryou had been there. Although he was a vampire that drank blood on a regular basis, the smell sickened him, bringing his attention automatically to the direction that the scent was coming from: the bed. Much of the white silk sheets were stained red with blood... Chuu’s blood. Kisaki could not remember the last time he had seen so much blood and he purposely tried to avert his eyes from falling on the small, fragile figure from which the blood came. However, he could not do this for long and he finally looked. The sight of Chuu caused him to stand motionless in the middle of the room, feeling as though he had forgotten how to move. Chuu was dying.



"Well, well, I\'ve been waiting for you, Kisaki," said Ryou, sitting in the chair beside Chuu\'s bed. "You are just in time... actually, I would have to say that any later and... well, I think you can figure it out."



"You... killed him..."



He walked toward the bed slowly and knelt next to it, a shaky hand reaching out to stroke Chuu’s hair, his slender fingers brushing gently through his blond and brown locks. As he did, tears that he would usually fight to hold in fell freely from his crystal blue eyes. There was no reason to restrain them now. Ryou knew the damage he had done and nothing Kisaki did would convince him otherwise.



"No, he\'s not dead, yet," Ryou told him, getting up from the chair and walking to Kisaki\'s side. He leaned over to whisper in his ear, "You can still save him."



Even in his obvious state of distress, Kisaki seemed to know exactly what the older vampire was talking about. He turned and stared at Ryou in horror.



"No, I can\'t!" he insisted.



"Of course you can. It\'s not very hard... not even really painful either. All he needs is some of your blood and..."



"But... Then he\'d be..."



"Exactly! He\'d be a vampire, just like you. Think about it: You could be together forever!"



Or at least until I finally decide to get rid of him for good... thought Ryou, and believe me, Kisaki, when I decide that I really want someone dead, they die.



"No, I can\'t do that to him!" refused Kisaki.



"So, you\'ll just let him die? That\'s it? Honestly, I expected more from you."



Through his tear-blurred vision, Kisaki looked at Chuu\'s face again. He did not have much time left. If Kisaki did not make up his mind now, he would lose him.



Still unsure of whether he was doing the right thing, Kisaki bit into his own skin, just above the wrist and put it to Chuu\'s mouth so some of his blood flowed in. Although he was quickly losing strength, the younger man swallowed as a reflex before going completely limp. Kisaki watched him intently. How was he supposed to know if Chuu was dead or not? He looked like he was, but Kisaki had seen this happen before and they woke up again as vampires.



"He\'s alive," whispered Ryou. "Trust me."



"Why the hell should I trust you?!" growled Kisaki, spinning around. "This is all your fault!"



As he slowly recovered from the shock, Kisaki had realized that anger was the most prevalent of the confusing blend of emotions that bubbled beneath his surface. He had never wanted Ryou dead as much as he did now… had never been so inclined to actually act on his desires to kill him.



"No," breathed Ryou, a twisted smile upon his face, "this is not my fault. It\'s yours. You may not know what I\'m talking about now, but you will remember soon enough."



"Remember what? How the fuck is this my fault?! You brought him here. You did this to him. If it weren\'t for you, he would be living a normal life right now!"



"Yes, I suppose this is my fault, but why do you think I did this?" he said calmly at first, then his voice and face got firmer and almost sinister and he repeated himself. "Why do you think I\'m like this? Who do you think made me how I am now? You\'re going to have to face the fact that it was you. Whether you remember it or not, I am like this because of you."



"How can you blame others for your... twisted-ness? How dare you blame it on me?"



The only response that Kisaki got was a raised eyebrow before Ryou left Kisaki without another word. It seemed like the perfect time to make his exit. It took three days of a dead sleep to turn into a vampire meaning that it would be at least three days before Chuu awoke. When he did, he would be a vampire.



After much deliberation, Ryou had decided that he would not fill the gaps in Kisaki\'s memory until then for one very simple, very significant (to him at least) reason. It was that he wanted to see Chuu\'s reaction when he found out that the reason Kisaki was in love with him was because of his lover from almost two hundred years ago.



***



As Ryou had predicted, it took Chuu three days to awaken from his sleep. During this time, Kisaki faithfully stayed by his side, wondering every second if Chuu had died or if he would open his jewel-like eyes and look at him. Even though he was beginning to feel the need for blood nagging at the back of his head, he didn’t leave. It had been three days since he had fed. Once a day, someone would come in and offer to watch Chuu so he could go out to hunt, but he always refused. He did not want someone else there when Chuu finally did awaken.



At first, Kisaki didn’t even know Chuu was awake. He had fallen into a plagued sleep with only his head on the bed and his hand on Chuu\'s. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but, then again, he didn’t exactly get a stiff neck, either. It was like viruses or other various diseases vampires really didn’t get… However, they weren’t immune to some little things like headaches or the occasional stomachache from either lack of blood or exceptionally disgusting blood…



"Ki…sa...ki?" whispered Chuu uncertainly, trying to figure out if he was dead or not.



Gently, he pulled his hand out of Kisaki’s grip, placing it on his head. When he did so, he noticed something strange. When did he get so pale? As he pondered this, he moved his hand again, placing it on Kisaki\'s, which had held it only moments ago, taking in the difference, or lack there of, between their skin. It was then raised above Chuu\'s head and he continued to study it in his confusion. The movements woke up Kisaki and he softly took the hand in his own, slowly bringing it to his lips.



Chuu was alive! Sure he was a vampire, which may not technically make him alive according to some myths, but he was moving! He was breathing! Kisaki almost couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream. Then he noticed the look of confusion that had appeared on Chuu\'s face and his joy receded a little as he worried about what must be going through Chuu\'s mind at that moment.



"Kisaki," he said quietly. "What happened to me?"



There was silence as Kisaki was too stunned to speak. How was he supposed to tell him that he was a vampire now? Was he supposed to just say, "Oh, hey, guess what? You were dying so I decided to make you a vampire without your consent!" That just did not seem right.



"Chuu..." he said slowly, "you were dying. I had no other choice... I had to..."



"What are you talking about?" demanded Chuu. "The last thing I remember is Ryou coming in here and biting me really hard. Then there was this really long dream..."



"Yes, after Ryou bit you I came in here and found him here and you dying... Chuu," Kisaki took a deep breath before continuing, "You\'re a vampire now."



"Oh... so, that\'s why I\'m so pale," muttered Chuu.



"That\'s all you have to say?"



"Um... I\'m sorry, but I really don\'t know how else to react. I\'m a vampire, sure, but at least I\'m not dead. I can stay with you, now. I really don\'t mind..."



And that was the truth... He really saw nothing wrong with it. Anyway, Kisaki was a vampire. Most of the people he knew now were vampires. So, what was the big deal? It wasn’t like he would be completely alone for eternity.



"Idiot..." muttered Kisaki.



"Why am I an idiot?" asked Chuu. "What is so horrible about being a vampire?"



"I… You... We... drink blood, Chuu! Human blood!" Kisaki pointed out.



"So? I don\'t care! I\'ll just have to get used to it! I mean, I\'ll have forever to!" Chuu said stubbornly.



Kisaki sighed as he realized how little Chuu really understood about this. He would be crying after the first time he killed someone, that was for sure. That would be when all of this really sunk in; nevertheless that time was not now. He would deal with that when it happened, but now he did not feel like arguing, still overjoyed to see Chuu open his eyes.



"I give up," he said, not wanting to press this any farther. "I\'m just glad you\'re still with me."



As if to demonstrate his point, he climbed onto the bed, gently pushing Chuu so he was flat on his back and kissed him passionately. The hand he held shifted slightly as he laced his fingers with Chuu\'s as he had only a few days earlier, feeling the little warmth that was left in him. It was sad for him to know that soon there would not be any left at all.



"I\'m sorry to ruin the moment, but I thought I should pay Sleeping Beauty here a visit," said Ryou who had just entered the room unknown by Kisaki or Chuu.



It did not take them long to split up as Kisaki automatically jumped off Chuu and Chuu shot upright. Ryou laughed quietly. This reminded him of something off of a sitcom... or soap opera when somebody finds out that his or her significant other has been sleeping with somebody else.



"Well, Chuu-chan, welcome to life as a vampire. I\'m sure Kisaki will show you the ropes." said Ryou smugly, "that is if the two of you ever stop making out or fucking for long enough..."



"What we do is none of your business." Chuu muttered bravely, glaring at Ryou as he walked a little closer.



"Keep believing that," said Ryou absently. "It seems that I need to point out that you are living under my roof. What happens here is my business, no matter how much you hate it."



He laughed again to himself. How he had said his last couple of statements made him sound like a father talking to a disobedient child. It was a very strange thing for him.



"Anyway, I have a story for both of you.... A story from nearly two hundred years ago that has to do with a certain boy named Sorahito Izumi and his lover..."





~~~



A/N: So, this is now over halfway done..

There are 20 chapters in all.

I hope you\'ve enjoyed this so far and will enjoy the rest.

Reviews are always appreciated ^.^



~Yume Itsuka