Sacrificial Doll
Part 3- So I Let Him Eat Me
A Ryvius fic by Elise
Rating: R
Warnings: Vampires, blood, Yaoi yaoi *yaoi*…. Oh, and AU. With slight spoilers. Maybe.
Pairings: Ikukou (IkumixKouzi), Kouzi+Aoi?, Ikumi+Kozue?
Disclaimer: Ryvius is property of Sunrise Entertainment. Or something. Anyways, not me. I make nothing from this.
Summary: Piloting student Kouzi Aiba is bitten by a vampire, and his friend Ikumi promises to protect him- against himself, if need be.
Notes!:
Caring for and feeding a would-be vampire. Calming the public. Researching religion. Assembling an arsenal. Making sexual innuendo's in front of someone's brother. All in a day's work for Ikumi Oze, Vampire Hunter!
****
When Kouzi and Ikumi reached their room, Ikumi put Kouzi to bed, despite his protests, and started on his back-logged email. Regular students didn't have access to the comlink channels, not even the elite VG team like Ikumi, so they relied on their room computers and good old e-mail. Ikumi sat at he and Kouzi's shared machine and went to work.
There were three messages from Kozue, his nominal girlfriend. The first one complained that he hadn't been to lunch, the second was concerned about the rumors about the attack, and the third one yelled at him for disappearing when she was worried about him. Ikumi made a face at the monitor. Kozue was a sweet girl, but very temperamental. At least, that was the accepted term. Spoiled was closer to the truth, but Ikumi liked her anyways. She was cute, and liked him a lot.
Then was the message from Housen, who never wrote to him. She was Kouzi's childhood friend, and seemed to view Ikumi as "Kouzi's roommate". That was okay. He thought of her as "Kozue's friend" most of the time. She was only writing to him because he would know when Kouzi was out of the infirmary.
He also had a message from Graham McDaniel, telling him that they were adding a couple people to the Vital Guarder program. Ikumi nodded to himself. Training back-ups was good; things happened, and when you only had four students running a machine that required four people to function, anything that happened would be bad. He sent a quick reply to Graham saying that he didn't care, just mail him when his next training was.
Then he cracked his knuckles and got to work.
Ikumi grinned to himself. That should sufficiently embarass all involved, and get the message across. He hit send.
He glanced over at Kouzi. The boy was propped up on some pillows, asleep, with his head lolled onto one shoulder. His mouth was open and he was starting to drool.
"Oh, Kouzi," Ikumi murmured. "This is too good! You're lucky I'm not that type of guy... Otherwise, I'd have my camera out so fast..." He paused. "Who am I kidding? I AM that type of guy!" And he went for his camera.
****
"Stupid Oze!" Aoi yelled at her computer. Kozue peered up at her from where she sat.
"Ikumi? What about him?"
"He sent everyone an email, saying not to go see Kouzi because he was napping and he didn't want him disturbed."
"So?"
"SO?! Read the thing!"
Kozue got up and stood behind Aoi to read over her shoulder. "Ikumi~!" she whined. "That's embarassing! How could you? Ooh, I'll boot HIM in the head!"
"I thought you liked him?"
"Of course," Kozue huffed. "But that doesn't mean I can let him get away with embarassing us like this. Make an entrance! Ikumi, you moron!"
****
Kouzi poked at his dinner. After his nap, Aoi and Kozue had insisted on joining him and Ikumi for dinner. But he didn't want to eat. The sight and smell of steak turned his stomach.
"Kouzi, you're not eating!" Aoi scolded. "You need your strength."
"I'm not hungry."
"KOUZI!" He shoved some of the meat into his mouth and chewed, trying not to gag.
"I think he needs juice," Kozue said.
"Whatever for?"
"Well, when you give blood, don't they give you juice? I think Aiba-kun should have juice, and not that fatty steak." She looked at him, tilting her head. "You look kinda green, Aiba-kun. Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine... I just want to go to sleep...." He stood, leaning on the table to steady himself.
"I'll go with you!" Aoi announced, and hurried to his side as he walked back to his room.
"Hey, Ikumi?" Kozue said hesitantly after they disappeared out the doorway. "What's really going on?"
Ikumi sighed. "I wish I knew..."
****
Yuuki glared in his brother's direction all through dinner. Cullen eventually gave up talking to him, and turned her headphones on. His eyes narrowed as he watched Kouzi and Aoi leave. "Baka aniki," he muttered.
"What?" Cullen asked, blinking at him. "Did you say something?"
"No," Yuuki snapped.
"Oh. Good. Because I was ignoring you."
****
Ikumi opened the door quietly. He'd stayed behind, talking with Kozue, and he didn't want to wake up Kouzi.
His roommate was asleep, tucked securely under his blankets. Ikumi smiled to himself. He looked so young, like he was still a little boy. Like someone Ikumi could protect.
Goodnight, Kouzi
, he thought, and pulled back his own blankets.****
He rubbed absently at his eyes and sat up. What time is it? and he reached for his ID card, thumbing the pad to display the time. 2:47 AM. Kouzi groaned and flopped back onto his pillows. He was wide awake, and very hungry. He rolled over on his side and tried to go back to sleep.
It didn't work. He couldn't even keep his eyes closed. So he stared.
Ikumi had left the computer on, and it's glow lit the room slightly. He could make out Ikumi's sleeping face, looking pale and drawn in the light. The grey-haired boy stirred in his sleep, turning his face away and exposing his neck. Kouzi swallowed roughly. The sight of Ikumi's bare neck reminded him that he was hungry. There was a vein just under that tanned skin... A vein full of warm, coppery blood, much better than that over-cooked steak from dinner...
Kouzi slid out from under his blankets and crossed the room, ignoring the cold floor under his feet. He leaned over Ikumi, his lips brushing his neck softly, savoring the warmth.
"Ko... ji..."
Kouzi started at the sound of his name. His eyes widened. I just... I almost... Ikumi! But he fancied that he could see the vein, the warm blood just out of his reach... He leaned down again, his teeth bared. He felt the skin give under his teeth, and tasted the skin.
Ikumi pulled away and struck him at the same time. He pulled off his eyemask that he habitually slept in and put a hand to his neck. "K-kouzi?! What are you doing?!"
"Ikumi.... I..."
"Shit!" Kouzi jumped backwards even more than when Ikumi slapped him. "I should have known!"
"Wha-what?" Kouzi blinked. Ikumi turned his deep green eyes on him, pulling his hand from his neck.
"I should have known! The vampire bit you, didn't he? I should have known you'd be turning..." Ikumi drew his knees up to his chest. "We'll have to find him, and make him tell us how to stop it. I'll destroy him, if I have to." He said this sadly, like he regretted what he may do. "But we have to keep you from turning into one of them before you start getting hungry."
"I'm already starving," the other boy laughed nervously. Ikumi just stared at him, thinking. After a long pause that made Kouzi squirm under his gaze, Ikumi tilted his head away and pulled down his collar, exposing his neck.
"Ikumi, what are you doi-"
"Shhhh..." Ikumi said softly, keeping his head cocked. "Go ahead, Kouzi. I'll give you enough so you won't starve. Do you think you can drink just a little?" He looked at Kouzi out of the corner of his eyes. Kouzi paused, nodded slowly, and stepped forward. He crawled onto Ikumi's bed, leaning over the offered neck. He ran a hand under the collar, pushing away Ikumi's hand. His lips brushed his neck and he felt him tremble. Ikumi... His name ran through his thoughts as he bared his teeth.
His instincts led him to the veins, but his brain reminded him 'Not too deep. Don't hurt Ikumi too much.' Ikumi hissed in pain as Kouzi used his incisors to break the skin, and he almost drew away. But he could taste the first drops, hot and coppery on his tongue, and he moved in closer. He didn't know when he yanked on Ikumi's pajama top and popped the first button off, or when he pulled him into his arms, but it seemed all too soon when Ikumi started murmuring "Okay, okay. Stop. Kouzi, stop. I'm dizzy, and it hurts. Kouzi! Kouzi, stop!"
He raised his head with a disappointed whimper. Ikumi seemed tired and pale already. He made a small sound in his throat and rested his forehead against Ikumi's cheek.
"I'm sorry," Ikumi said softly. He put an arm around Kouzi and stroked his hair. "It hurts really bad. I got scared."
"No, don't be sorry. It's me."
"Not for long," the grey-haired boy said with a sudden anger. "We'll get him. We'll get him Kouzi, and then you can eat something besides me."
Kouzi sighed. "It sounds dirty when you say it like that...."
"What?! You pervert!" But his hand never stopped smoothing his hair.
****
Ikumi leaned against the wall, waiting patiently for the person he wanted to exit the bridge. He pulled at the neck of his sweater. It was making his bite-mark itch.
Finally she walked out, ignoring him and walking down the hall. He fell into step beside her.
"Hey, Shinozaki," he called to her after a moment.
"Oh, Oze-kun!" She turned to him, startled. "I'm sorry. I didn't notice you!"
"Preoccupied?"
"A little," she admitted. Fina started walking again, giving him room to stay beside her. "Everyone on the bridge is out of their minds with worry about Kouzi."
"He's sleeping alot," Ikumi said quickly. He didn't like the way Fina said Kouzi's name. It was too much like an embrace.
"That's good." She smiled softly. She was pretty, Ikumi admitted, but Kouzi had him- and Aoi, of course. He didn't need anyone else mucking things up.
"Look, Shinozaki, I came to you for a reason," he said sharply. "We think it's a vampire, and I need some... you know... religious stuff. You were the first one I thought of."
"Vampires are an Earth thing, Oze-kun. You know, Christian. I'm from Titania. We follow the Sacred Mother Arne there. It's a bit different."
"You mean, you don't have crucifixes and holy water and crap?"
"No. Just prayers and guidance."
"Fuck."
"Oze-kun!"
"Ah, sorry! I forgot I was in a lady's presence. Forgive me?" And he smiled winsomely, his green eyes sparkling. Fina laughed softly. That smile never failed him.
"All I can do is teach you our litany again adversity," she finally said. "But with all the people on this ship, someone's bound to be a Christian, right?"
****
"This is pathetic."
Kouzi nodded in agreement. Ikumi had come back to the room that afternoon with an armful of paraphenalia collected from the other students. None of it was useful. He'd set out hoping for crucifixes and holy water, and got-
"A cross made of popsicle sticks from Nicks' little brother, a kid's version of the Bible, a bottle of fairy dust... How the heck are we supposed to fight a vampire with glitter?!" Ikumi growled. "Doesn't anyone on this ship have a blessed crossbow!?"
"This isn't Sunnydale, Ikumi. We aren't supposed to NEED things like crossbows. I think they're illegal."
"Whatever. How are we supposed to kill a vampire without tons of wooden weapons?"
Kouzi just looked at him sadly. "I don't know..."
"Oooohhhh, don't look like that! There has to be something I can do!" Ikumi started fidgeting with the popsicle stick cross. "Well, at least this is a start. Here," and he shoved it towards Kouzi. "I want you to keep this on you until I get a better one from somewhere."
"Ikumi...."
"Don't argue! I've got to protect you somehow, right? Well, this is step one."
"I don't want you to protect me!"
Ikumi blinked at his sudden outburst. "What?"
"I said I don't want you to protect me," Kouzi said, a little sullenly. "I want to protect myself. And... and I don't want you getting hurt."
"I won't get hurt," Ikumi assured him. "Because neither one of us is going near that thing until I get some massive weaponry!" He grinned.
"Ikumi...." Kouzi sighed, his shoulders slumping. He wasn't going to win this one. How could he admit that he was afraid? For the both of them.
++++
VG training was boring. Graham was giving the basics to the newbies, so the original team sat around and talked. Well, Ikumi, Marco, and Rally talked. Yuuki sat there with his arms crossed over his chest and glared at the rest of the room.
"You know I don't believe that you don't care," Ikumi said casually, sitting next to Yuuki. When Yuuki didn't reply, he continued. "About Kouzi, I mean. You may be able to pretend you don't care to everyone else, but you put too much effort into hating him to not care completely. Got me? So stop pretending."
Yuuki turned to him, the full weight of his glare falling upon Ikumi. Ikumi didn't flinch. He was getting used to it.
"Go away."
"No. I know you're dying to ask if he's okay."
"I'm not."
"How can anyone with a Brother Complex not want to know about their Aniki?"
"Go away."
"Give it up, Oze," Rally sighed. "Aiba doesn't want to talk."
"Understatement of the century," Marco said. Yuuki glared at them, and them went back to staring at the room in general.
"So what happened to your neck, Oze? You and Kozue finally getting somewhere?"
"Hm?" He touched his neck, feeling the scab. "Oh. That. Forgot about it," he laughed.
"You guys can go for the day!" Graham called suddenly from the pilot's chair. The back-up operators were all getting up and heading for the locker rooms.
"Free at last," Marco grinned.
Just before they reached the locker room, Yuuki grabbed Ikumi's arm.
"Did Kozue really do that?" he demanded, pointing to Ikumi's neck.
"No," he admitted. "Why?"
"She isn't the biting type. I want to know what's going on."
"How do you know she's not a biter? You barely know her name." Ikumi scowled at him.
"I know her type. They blush and giggle and pretend to be embarassed before they blab to their friends the day after. They don't leave marks like that." He let go of Ikumi's arm and stood up straight. "Besides, that's not a love-bite. That's a fucking gnaw-mark."
"You are only partially right," Ikumi said coldly, his eyes narrowed. "This is indeed a real bite mark. But I let him do it, because I love him. Therefore- love bite. And Kozue may giggle and blush, but she doesn't blab!"
"Way to get defensive, Ikumi!" a girl's voice laughed. Cullen stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips and her eyes twinkling.
"How long have you been there?" Yuuki growled.
"Just for the last part. Why? Am I interrupting something good?"
"We were just talking about my love-bite!" Ikumi said, suddenly happy again. "It turns out Yuuki is insatiably curious about my extracurricular activities."
"Oh really?" She turned a level gaze on the dark-haired boy. "Trying to live vicariously through your brother's friends, Yuuki?" He glared at her. "Oh, stop that! Your face will freeze that way. Well, Ikumi, tell your girlfriend to stop being so mean. It'll leave a scar if she keeps breaking the skin."
"But that was the point...." They both stared at him in disbelief.
"What, is she a vampire? I thought you were dating that cute little girl with the pigtails." Cullen cocked an eyebrow at him. "You're not a two-timer, are you?"
"We're not dating officially."
"She seems to think so. I suggest you wear a turtleneck. You certainly have enough of them."
"You said 'him'." Yuuki interrupted. "'Him' who?"
"Kouzi," Ikumi said simply. "He was hungry. So I let him eat me."
Yuuki's eyes widened. Cullen just grimaced. "Waaaayyy too much information... I'm out. I'll see you later, Yuuki." She shivered. "Gross..."
"Yuuki? Anybody home?" Ikumi peered into Yuuki's eyes.
"Stop that," he snapped. "Aniki did that to you?"
Ikumi nodded. He grinned inwardly. Antagonizing Yuuki was fun, but getting him actually interested in something was hilarious.
"You made my brother gay? How could you do that?! He belongs with Aoi!" Yuuki suddenly slammed him up against the wall.
"Whoa! Calm down there!" Ikumi yelled. Yuuki was NOT amusing when he got physical. "I said I let him eat me! He got bit by a vampire! He drinks blood!"
"You're insane."
"Sometimes I wish I was. But it's true." Yuuki stared at him. "The Zwei are trying to keep it quiet until they know what's really going on. But I know. He was starving, so I let him drink from me the other night."
"Like a fucking Anne Rice novel."
"This is no Lestat, Yuuki. I saw the vampire. This is no romantic Child of the Night, no Brat-Prince or whatever. It's a killer. And he's turning Kouzi into one."
"Fuck."
"No thank you."
"Can't you be serious?!" His fists clenched Ikumi's shirt tighter. He looked like he wanted to shake him. "Aniki... You tell me he's turning into a monster, expect me to believe it, and then make jokes?"
"Don't judge the way I am," he said cheerfully.
"You're insane."
Ikumi stared into his eyes for a long moment, his face sober. "Okay, maybe I am. But at least I'm trying to protect him. At least I can admit I care. That's more than I can say for you. And you call yourself a brother... I thought you'd want to know. I've told you. Now let me go. I have to go check on Kouzi." He brushed Yuuki's hands off of him, and strode down the hall, leaving Yuuki staring after him.
"Aniki..."
++++
-next-
