alma 🎐

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Ruki was never one to be swayed by worldly desires. 

Mortal men were pitiable at best in that sense. No, for all intents and purposes, Ruki was as real a man as one could be. The only pleasures he indulged in were of the flesh—real, physical, raw and bloody. Fortunately for him, these pleasures were ripe for the taking by virtue of the girl who lived right under his roof and who was all too happy to coat his tongue with her saccharine blood. Even more irresistible, Ruki soon came to know, was her soft, pliable body. The sheer warmth radiating from her skin.

Strange, then, how Ruki’s thoughts could still be so shamelessly occupied by the polaroid tucked between the bank notes and stamp cards in his worn leather wallet. Its presence alone seemed to burn a hole through his pocket.

Stranger still was the fact that, on the rare occasion Ruki found himself alone, he would take the picture out of its resting place. Sink back in his chair. Scrutinise it. Palm himself through his slacks.

Relive that night the way a human—former human, God damn it—might do.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

One Friday night in late summer. The academic semester has only just started but the amount of work to be done already was clearly not for the weak, with many students flooding the local Joysound in an effort to let off steam. The Mukami brothers and Yui are, oddly enough, among them. 

Not necessarily to let off steam, though—the Mukamis had no trouble whatsoever keeping up with the curriculum. The reason why Kou had practically dragged them here was the fact that Yui had, apparently, never set foot in a karaoke booth before. Now, the idol is dead-set on giving his bona fide little sister the full experience, liquid encouragement and all.

Yuma and Azusa seem to be having a good time from the get-go, but even after an hour or so, Kou still has trouble getting Yui to come out of her shell. He decides to try a different strategy.

“Ugh, all this singing has made me so hungry…” Kou has to bite his tongue to keep from laughing when he sees Yui’s eyes widen. “Please go buy us some snacks, Ruki!”

“Go get them yourself,” Ruki replies flatly as he scrolls through the song library on the remote of the karaoke set, not looking up. 

“But I’ll get recognised!” Kou whines in response. “Besides, Yuma’s already off his face on vampire juice—”

Yuma slams a flat hand onto the table in the middle of the karaoke booth, glasses ringing and an empty bottle of vampire juice falling over. “Nah, I‘m the sanest one of all y’all, even with a couple drinks!” 

The blonde pointedly ignores his drunk brother. “Azusa would just come back with spicy food—”

“If it’s not a problem… I would like a spicy Famichiki (1), Ruki…” Azusa smiles at the thought.

“And our little kitten here…” Kou leans in close to the tipsy girl beside him, whispering into her ear in a threatening voice, “Who knows what dangers are lurking in the dark, waiting to pounce on a cute girl taking a midnight stroll by herself, huh?”

This makes Ruki finally look up. He shoots a warning glare in the direction of his younger brother.

Yui simply snorts and scoots over to the side, putting some distance between Kou and herself. “Shut up. I’m not scared of you.” 

Liquid encouragement or no, Yui really had gained the confidence over time to join in on the banter between the brothers and bite back when they teased her too much. These dimwits need a little sister to put them in their place every once in a while, Ruki thinks, somewhat affectionately, as he observes the interaction. 

“Aw, I wish you would be, though! You’re even cuter when you’re scared.” Kou leans back on the couch with a pout, hands clasped behind his head. “Well, that just leaves you, Ruki. See you in a bit!” 

With an exasperated sigh, Ruki caves and stands up. “Alright.”

The brothers cheer in response.

Yui raises her hand excitedly. “Another umeshu soda (2) for me, please!” 

“As long as you behave,” Ruki says, tapping a finger under Yui’s chin for emphasis before gesturing towards his brothers. He knows this is a lost cause. He will simply have to make quick work of this grocery trip. “Keep these three in check, too.”

“Yessir!” Yui straightens her spine like a soldier at the ready and smiles sweetly up at Ruki. “I’ll be good, I promise.”

Damn it. Ruki’s eyebrow twitches. An irksome kind of possessiveness comes over him every time she behaves exactly the way he wants her to.

Yuma groans, voice almost wistful as he tips his head back. “Picked a good girl, ya did…” 

“Hehe… I’d gladly be at Eve’s mercy…” Azusa joins in.

“Oh, come on... I wish I had a girlfriend like yours, Ruki,” Kou whines again, putting ever-so-subtle emphasis on the word girlfriend. “I’m so jealous…”

Ruki rolls his eyes and hides a smirk as he steps out of the karaoke booth, heading for the convenience store around the corner.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After only ten minutes or so, the Mukamis’ eldest strides back into the room with two plastic bags full of snacks and drinks. Azusa is in the middle of a slightly off-key rendition of The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel, though Yui, ever the good sport, cheerfully bops her head along and calls out in encouragement of the youngest brother during the instrumental parts. 

Yuma tugs on Ruki’s sleeve before he has the chance to sit, pulling his brother down to eye level. “Ya just missed somethin’, man. Didya know the little sow can actually sing?”

Ruki shrugs. “She was alright when she was singing earlier.”

“Nah,” Yuma drawls, the smell of vampire juice wafting from his breath, “that was child’s play. She’s good, I’m tellin’ ya. Shoulda seen her do that idol number just now. Dancin’ and jumpin’ around ‘n shit. Hey, Yui!”

Yui perks up at the sound of her voice, cheeks flushed with alcohol. Prone to anaemia as she is, it does not take much for her to feel a buzz—that first can of umeshu soda has already pushed her into tipsy territory—so Ruki tended to be careful to not let her drink too much. 

Putting on a whole performance for his brothers and not for her own master, though? Ruki would not have it.

Boyfriend, Ruki corrects himself in his head, that pitifully human terminology still new to his vocabulary. Boyfriend.

As if sensing his big brother’s irritation, Yuma yanks one of the plastic bags out of Ruki’s hands, rummages around for a brand new can of umeshu soda and tosses it to Yui. “Sing another one of those songs for this ol’ man here, wouldya?” 

An unabashed laugh, clear as a bell, spills from Yui’s lips as she scrambles to catch the can. “Let me drink this first! Kou still needs to help me with my singing, anyway. Won’t you, Kou?”

“Of course! The nation’s top idol is at your service.” Kou wiggles his eyebrows in Ruki’s direction and then says conspiratorially to Yui, “I know how to please an audience.”

The next half hour is filled with the discordant sounds of Kou giving Yui impromptu vocal training while Yuma ploughs his way through a variety of rap songs, Azusa absentmindedly chews his Famichiki, and Ruki sits idly by, impatiently sipping a whiskey on the rocks that does absolutely nothing to make this night more bearable.

“Yuma,” Ruki eventually snaps, leaning over the table. “Give me one of those bottles.”

Yuma snickers at this sudden command, causing him to miss a couple of lines, and hands Ruki a bottle of vampire juice from the box on the floor with an exaggerated wink. “Cheers, brother!”

The eldest snatches the bottle from his brother’s outstretched hand without a word, rips off the bottle cap with his bare hands, and downs its contents in one go.

Yui edges a little closer to Ruki, fingers poised to touch his arm but hesitating in mid-air. “Are you…?”

“I’m fine.” Ruki’s reply is curt as he sets down the empty bottle onto the table with little aplomb and immediately signals to his brother again. “Another one, Yuma.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Another bottle follows, then another, then two more, but, strangely enough, Ruki really does seem fine for the better part of the night.

The vampire juice flows freely and goes down easily for all four Mukami brothers now, the bottles quickly disappearing one by one. At the same time, Yui has only just finished her second can of umeshu soda. She feels a little woozy because of it. Her reactions are a little slower, her guard down a little lower. Her eyes drift to Ruki more and more frequently, particularly transfixed by the bobbing of his Adam's apple as he downs his drink. So that’s what it looks like when he swallows my blood…

Oh no. Yui realises with a start that the only responsible person in the room will soon be just as drunk as the rest of them. Who’s going to get us home safely now?

Kou seems to have noticed Yui’s now-empty can of umeshu soda and wastes no time thrusting a microphone in her direction. “It’s time, kitty!”

“Hell yeah!” Yuma booms, just as Azusa cheers, “Go, Eve…!”

Skin thrumming with the alcohol rushing through her veins, Yui quickly excuses herself to freshen up before she goes on stage.

You would think spending all this time as the one human in a household full of vampires would have toughened her up, but being at the center of attention like this still makes Yui want to run for the hills more than anything. Not because these men are apex predators who could, quite literally, tear her apart in the blink of an eye. Not because she is afraid of them. 

No, it is because she so desperately wants to please Ruki, and, as it happens, he is not exactly the easiest man to please.

The man has torn apart her flesh with his teeth, feasted on her blood, claimed ownership of every inch of skin over her bones many times before, and yet this is the moment Yui has never felt more like a lamb to the slaughter. 

Mustering all the resolve she can, she steels herself for the night to come and heads back. 

Right as Yui exits the restroom, though, a hand grabs her by the arm and shoves her into an empty karaoke booth at breakneck speed. 

Too drunk. Too unguarded. Too easy to catch, especially when the only ones who can save her are drunk off their faces in the karaoke booth on the other side of the floor. 

Yui curses herself internally for being so naive. Still, she intends to scream for Ruki, because she expects a cloth over her face, a gag, a sharp break in her consciousness, anything, before long.

None of that ever comes.

Relief washes over Yui when she sees it is only Ruki whose hands grip her shoulders and trap her against the wall, one leg pushing her thighs apart, only just brushing up against the sensitive area between her legs. Ruki’s hair is a little mussed, as if he has been running his hands through it. He looks almost boyish. 

The expression on his face, however, is anything but.

Yui’s relief quickly gives way to a rush of adrenaline. 

“Put your hair up.”

Yui startles, not understanding.

“Hurry up and do it, Livestock.” 

The nickname has become a rarity since the two of them established their relationship. This change is still quite recent. The only context the nickname is uttered in now—the only situation in which Ruki cannot be chivalrous enough to keep the word out of his mouth and, in turn, all it reminds Yui of—is sex. 

The command makes Yui’s back instinctively straighten. Knowing from experience she is better off not asking questions, she rummages through her purse for a hair clip, quickly twists her shoulder-length hair around her fingers and pins it back, eyes never leaving Ruki’s. “Is this okay?”

Ruki’s lips involuntarily part at this innocent need for his approval, sharp canines glinting in the neon colours of the projector screen and eyes greedily drinking in the sight of the girl’s exposed neck. 

“You should know my brothers are not exactly impervious to your blood, nor to your charms. Especially when they’re inebriated,” he says, lips ghosting over hers. Despite the drink and this thinly-veiled admission of jealousy, his voice remains unsettlingly level. “I suppose a reminder is in order.”

Ruki traces the back of his hand down the length of Yui’s neck. She cannot help but arch into his touch, even when his fingers graze the barely-healed twin wounds from a few nights prior. The delicious stinging sensation urges her body to remember every single detail of how those wounds were inflicted. Heat creeps into her cheeks, and she whimpers ever so softly.

Eager to draw out another reaction, Ruki’s cold knuckles press harder into the marks left by his teeth. “Still sensitive?” 

Yui flinches at the pain but nods, tilting her head to the side to bare her throat to him. The forbidden fruit, ripe for the taking. “Please.”

Ruki looks pleased with her offer but does not lean in, the expression on his face a strange mix between a sadistic sort of satisfaction and mild concern for her wellbeing. “I need you to make it to the end of the night, Yui.”

“You’re not impervious to me, are you?” Yui suddenly blurts out. Part of her still expects Ruki to simply have his way with her whenever he gets the chance, and the umeshu soda only exacerbates her anxiety.

These roles of boyfriend and girlfriend are still taking some getting used to for the both of them, it seems.

Ruki lets out a chuckle. “Trust me. If I acted upon my every desire, I would have drained you lifeless a hundred times over by now.”

Yui’s breath hitches. Crude though his answer is, it is satisfying enough.

“The greatest pleasures are best enjoyed in moderation, after all.” It sounds as though Ruki does not quite agree with his own wisdom. Perhaps he also sees the irony of his statement, considering the number of drinks he has had up until now, and the barely-restrained hunger in his eyes does not strengthen his case either. One corner of his mouth lifting up in a sly smile. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to miss your performance, now, would I?”

This does not settle Yui’s nerves at all.

“Just focus on me.” Ruki cradles her face in his hands. “If you do well, I will reward you plenty when we get home. Can you do that for me?”

The sheer anticipation raises gooseflesh on Yui’s skin. At last, she lets out a breathy yes. Even if she wanted to, she could never refuse Ruki with his large frame looming over her like this, nearly swallowing her whole. 

The vampire seems satisfied. “Good. And if you falter… I suppose I will have to resort to other ways of making you sing.”

Judging from the intensity of the kiss that follows, Yui can already think of a few things.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The two return to their seats in the karaoke booth as casually as they can, Yui’s lipstick reapplied and the remnants of the previous coat staining the back of Ruki’s hand. Kou narrows his eyes at the sight of them. He must have noticed the sudden change in Yui’s hairstyle, the plumpness of her lips, but he keeps his mouth shut. Azusa is just about to wrap up his performance of what is apparently his third System of a Down song in a row.

“Let’s not give him the mic next time, for fuck’s sake,” Yuma drawls, elbowing Kou in his side.

Kou takes the opportunity to snatch the microphone out of Azusa’s hands, jump to his feet and make his way to the front of the room, nearly losing his footing under the influence of the vampire juice. “Alright—good evening, everyone!” he suddenly shouts into the microphone, gesticulating wildly. “Welcome to the main event of the night. I am your host, the one and only Kou Mukami!”

Yuma and Azusa clap. Yui cups her hands around her mouth and cheers. Ruki just sinks back in his seat, running a hand over his face in exasperation.

“Thank you, thank you!” The idol-turned-announcer bows cordially. “We have a very special guest for you tonight. She's a rising star and sure to capture your hearts. It is with great pleasure that I present to you… our very own Yui Komori! Come over here, Yui, dear!” 

Yuma whoops a little too loudly, with all the subtlety of someone watching his favourite baseball team score a home run. Azusa claps again. Ruki half-heartedly cheers along.

Here goes nothing. Yui stands up, shyly waving around the room, and immediately trips over Ruki’s feet before she can make her way over to the screen. In one swift movement, Ruki catches her by the waist and saves her the embarrassment of falling flat on her face before her performance has even begun.

“T-thank you,” she stammers.

Ruki says nothing, but is evidently amused by her nervousness. 

“Hey, hey, hey! No physical contact with your fans!” Kou chides over Yui’s shoulder. The blonde grabs her hand and pulls her out of Ruki’s grasp with a sharp tug. “There’s a good girl—anyway, to commemorate this special occasion, I will not only be your backup vocalist, but also your photographer!” 

Kou whips out a pastel-coloured polaroid camera that has stickers of his own name and face all over it, earning a few chuckles and exasperated sighs from the others.

“Well, what do you say, kitty? Are you ready for your big debut?” 

Without awaiting her answer, Kou thrusts a microphone into Yui’s hands and lines up the song they had discussed earlier.

Ruki leans back in his seat with his arms folded, legs spread, a sly smirk plastered on his face as he appraises her. 

Lamb to the slaughter, Yui thinks again when the opening notes of an upbeat K-pop song blare through the speakers—one of the few she knows, the Japanese version of a doe-eyed Korean solo artist’s recent release—and she turns her back to the men for a moment, feigning utmost concentration on the karaoke monitor.

Ah, fuck it.

The beat nears its drop, and on cue, Yui turns around, raising her arms as if brandishing a bow. Most of the brothers look on in confusion. Kou, on the other hand, looks on like the proud teacher he is, wiggling his feet in anticipation. I know how to please an audience.

With a cute little wink, Yui releases the invisible bowstring in Ruki’s direction, her thumb and forefinger forming a heart.

The feedback is instantaneous and so deafening it nearly makes Yui miss the first line. 

Kou screams. Yuma whoops. Azusa claps, and Ruki… freezes. Her little gimmick has wiped the grin off his face in an instant.

Yui’s cheeks burn. Displeasing Ruki is the last thing she meant to do. She turns quickly toward the on-screen lyrics and stumbles through the first verse. She decides to focus on her singing instead, occasionally glancing over her shoulder, where Kou and Yuma enthusiastically pump their fists to the beat and chant her name throughout the song. It makes her feel a bit better.

Little by little, Ruki’s posture relaxes the longer Yui sings. She swears she even sees the corners of his mouth twitch by the end of the song. If anything, he masks his amusement by taking a long swig of his bottle, the deep burgundy liquid disappearing into his mouth. A hint of its colour remains on his bottom lip afterward. 

I wonder what it tastes like. Yui’s mind slips for the briefest of moments, but she quickly catches herself in time to finish the song with a few deep bows to her loyal fans.

The drinks finally seem to have caught up to Ruki when Yui sits back down next to him, embarrassment making the blush creep up all the way to her ears. An arm snakes around her shoulders then, pulling her close. 

“Please tell me you liked it,” she mumbles, pressing her face into Ruki’s shirt. That clean, crisp scent of cotton and herbs, so unequivocally his, envelops her. 

“I would,” Ruki says, voice low in her ear and speech a little slurred now, “but allow me the decency of saving my review for a more private setting.” 

Snap!

Huddled so close together, neither of them notices the flash of white illuminating the room just then. 

“Alright, my turn now.”

Yui barely has any time to process what is happening. She mourns Ruki’s touch as he moves away to grab a microphone, but the feeling is short-lived when Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon starts playing.

This is not the first time she has heard Ruki speak English, but she marvels at his proficiency nonetheless. Smooth, velvety English, without a trace of an accent and consistently on pitch with the music. Ruki occasionally reads to Yui from books written in Latin, French and German with the same ease. How he managed to learn all these languages in only a few decades is beyond her. When she recalls herself having to sound out the occasional loan words using the on-screen katakana during the songs she performed earlier, Yui suddenly feels woefully incapable.

Next, Ruki tries his hand at an Elvis Presley song. 

This time, Yui can tell by the uncertainty in Ruki’s voice that he does not quite know how to pull it off. He ends up putting on an unintentionally theatrical voice as if a full-on caricature of Elvis might save the performance, but this only makes Kou and Yuma double over with laughter, clutching their stomachs. Even Azusa cannot help but laugh along with them. Yui clamps a hand over her mouth, eyes widened in disbelief. 

This is the first time Yui has seen Ruki so… carefree.

Ruki fumbles a line when he notices his spluttering audience, clearly fighting a smile himself. 

A few more playful jabs from his brothers—if I were a girl, I’d have a ragin’ hard-on right now—who are now teary-eyed from the sheer bizarreness of this moment—I don’t think that’s… how that works, Yuma—as well as the many peals of laughter—I swear to God, he’s the new Matsuken (3)! I’m getting him a glitter kimono for Christmas—and Ruki breaks. 

He laughs. 

Genuine, unabashed, out-of-breath laughter that makes the last of the Mukami brothers’ defenses crumble. None of them remember laughing like this. Ever. 

For Yui, it has been a good while, too, and with it comes the realisation, striking true as an arrow: this is where I belong. The room feels suspended in momentary bliss. 

Snap!

A white flash briefly illuminates the space once more, and again, neither subject of the photograph notices, too lost in the moment.

After the laughter has subsided, Kou commends Ruki for his singing skills and convinces him to try his hand at a few pop rock songs as well. The two brothers even end up duetting them. Yui stays by her boyfriend’s side all the while, both thrilled to discover this new side of him and a little… jealous. Jealous of her future self, who must have already discovered so many more of Ruki’s little quirks and niche interests. She had no clue he even cared about popular music to begin with.

“You take your white finger, slide the nail under the top and bottom buttons of my blazer…”

Ruki’s singing voice is like butter to her ears, so much so that Yui eventually finds herself starting to zone out. A third drink, already half-empty, has appeared in her hand without her even realising. She puts her head on Ruki’s shoulder and allows her eyes to fall shut, his deep voice guiding her ever deeper into a pleasurable, drunken state of bliss.

“Find me and follow me, through corridors, refectories…”

The silence after the song ends, the sudden absence of Ruki’s voice, is almost painful. Yui stirs.

“Time to go, hm?” 

With a gentle nudge on Ruki’s part, Yui sits upright, eyes glazed over with sleepiness, intoxication and want all at once as she looks up at the man beside her. She nods.

There is a sadistic glint in his eyes when he catches her expression. “I won’t let you fall asleep just yet, though.”

“Oh, right! Ruki,” Kou suddenly interrupts in a sing-song voice, laced with feigned innocence, and reaches across the booth with a small slip of paper in his hand. “I have a discount coupon you can use. Here.”

“Thanks.” Ruki takes the coupon from his brother. The paper feels thicker than he expected—it is not just a coupon, but something else as well. A second, thicker piece of paper with a glossy feel to it. In one swift motion, he slides the two apart to reveal the one at the back.

Vampires have no need for oxygen. Still, in all his years as a vampire, Ruki has taught himself to breathe normally so as to not arouse suspicion in public settings, so much so that it has become almost as much of an unconscious habit as it used to be many decades ago. 

Upon seeing the polaroid, the habit instantly slips from Ruki’s grasp. A monstrous need inside of him takes over. 

Yui, caught mid-movement as she leans back in her seat in the karaoke booth, wholly alive, eyes crinkled with the loveliest and most genuine kind of drunken laughter. Hair up, neck bare. Cardigan slipping off her shoulders, a tight-fitting, strappy tank top underneath, the fabric barely thick enough to hide her perky nipples. Legs crossed and swayed to the side, allowing a peek of her soft, plush thighs underneath a short skirt. Ruki sits almost out of frame, but the entire right side of his body is flush with the girl’s. That is not what catches Ruki’s eye most, though. Teeth marks and love bites—all of his own making, dozens upon dozens of them—are on full display, even the ones that could easily be mistaken for piercing holes in the shell of her ear, but more salacious are the ones marring the inside of her wrists, her inner thighs, her calves. The proof of his ownership is right there for everyone to see, almost obscenely so.  And Yui looked like she would never want it any other way.

Ruki casts a quick look in Yui’s direction, but she sits beside him, unaware, eyes closed once more and a dreamy smile pulling at the corners of her lips. It seems she has neither noticed the picture nor the way the vampire’s body has stiffened beside her.

Across the room, a wicked grin splits Kou’s face as he watches the situation unfold.

Ruki stands up and roughly pulls Yui upright along with him. “Let’s go.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It is nearly 3 o’clock in the morning when the girl and her immortal entourage stumble out of the Joysound. The air is much more pleasant now than it was earlier, the last traces of the oppressive summer heat lost to the night.

Once outside, Yuma notices Yui is a little unsteady on her feet. The alcohol and the nerve-racking events of the evening clearly have clearly done a number on her. “Ya good to walk, Sow? Want me to carry ya?” He offers her his hand, though he does not look inclined to wait for an answer.

Ruki firmly grips his brother’s forearm before he can sling Yui unceremoniously onto his back. No words are exchanged between the two of them, but the glaring anger in the eldest’s eyes says more than enough.

“Jeez, Ruki,” Yuma mumbles, hands raised as he backs off. “Just tryna help. Wasn't gonna do nothin’.”

Ruki scoffs. “I’ll carry her.”

And so the five of them set off on their homebound journey, Yui contentedly piggybacking on Ruki’s back in this strange turn of events. 

From the sound of her heartbeat, the familiar thump-thump picking up in speed the longer her lithe body is wrapped around his, just like this, the vampire can tell that head of hers is still wide awake and up to no good. The way her thighs occasionally clench around him could never escape his notice.

This night is far from over. Ruki’s mouth waters in anticipation.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Grab my wallet. It’s in my front pocket.”

The request comes naturally to Ruki—the two of them are usually the ones to do the grocery shopping, after all, and his hands are full right now—but this time, the words are out before he can think them through, Yui’s small, warm hand already dipping into the pocket of his slacks. Dangerously close to something else.

Ruki suppresses a groan at the memory of her hands wrapped around the length of him. God, he is no better than those perverted mortals at this point, is he? 

“Don’t get too excited." It is meant for her ears only, his voice defaulting to the commanding tone she loves so much. This time, though, the warning comes a little sharper than usual, purely intended to make her hurry up.

A fierce blush creeps into the girl’s cheeks. In one swift motion, she fishes the wallet out of Ruki’s pocket and turns to the cashier.

Meanwhile, Ruki tries to distract himself by watching the cashier scan their groceries—cabbage, 98 yen, carrot, 80 yen, tofu, 98 yen—hoping fiercely that, against all odds, Yui would somehow overlook the polaroid nestled between the bank notes. 

“That’ll be 1867 yen, please.”

Yui clumsily produces a 2000 yen bill from the wallet and sets it on the cash tray. 

“Taking 2000 yen…” 

As soon as she has put away the change, Yui silently hands him back the wallet. Cheeks reddened, no eye contact. A giddy smile playing on her lips.. 

Shit.

The walk back home was quiet. Once they cleared the residential area and entered the woody outskirts of town where the Mukami mansion was located, Yui finally spoke up.

“You have a picture of me in your wallet.”

Play it cool. “And what of it?”

“It’s cute,” Yui laughs quietly. “A little old-fashioned, but cute.”

Old-fashioned?

“You know, my dad always kept my school portraits in his wallet. Said it brought him comfort whenever he was out doing missionary work…”

Did she just compare me to her father? Ruki cocks an eyebrow. If only she knew what that picture made do, like a filthy, lowly—

“I like this picture of me much better, though!” Yui adds quickly, gazing at her shoes with the same gummy smile made eternal in that damned polaroid. “It’s very different. Pretty, I mean. I didn’t know I could look like that, to be honest… Must’ve had a lot of fun that night.”

The memory is still just fresh in Yui’s mind as the wounds on her wrists, her shoulders, her breasts, her back—oh, the ones on her back—and she swears she can still feel the pressure of Ruki’s strong bicep curled around her neck. The way his fingernails dug into her shoulders to keep her in place, even though the small, red crescents on the skin there are barely visible anymore.

The two, drunk on a variety of substances as well as pleasure, had gone to such wicked lengths to worship one another that night that they had not brought it up since, aside from the knowing glances Ruki shot Yui across the dinner table. It had been an unusually messy tangling of limbs. Blood dotting the white satin sheets, the Persian rug. Scratch marks all over Ruki’s arms. Yui’s delicate fingers wrapped around his length, working up and down in maddening strokes. Tear-stained cheeks. Soft lips silencing pained and pleasured cries. Strong hands becoming rougher and more reckless by the second.

In a fit of drunken deliriousness, Ruki had let things go much farther than he should have. Yui’s body and mind had been pushed to their absolute limits in the process. 

It had taken her days to recover.

Ruki feels a little guilty deep down, sure, but at the same time, he knows he would not have acted differently under the same circumstances if given the choice now. He knows Yui preferred it this way, too.

A fierce blush colours Yui’s cheeks when she realises she has stopped walking, losing herself in reminiscence for a moment. “I mean, I really did have a lot of fun that night. And you, well…”

Ruki has also stopped in his tracks, a few paces ahead of her, grocery bag in hand, looking at her expectantly.

“You definitely made me feel very pretty, Ruki.” She smiles sheepishly, and then her eyes promptly widen. “Oh! You know, Kou actually gave me a polaroid too. Of you. And me, kind of. He slipped it into my purse after we came home, I think. Do you… want me to show you later?”

That sneaky fucking bastard, Ruki thinks. 

Curiosity gets the better of him, though, and he knows just the right way to make this interesting. “I think I’d prefer it if you described it to me.” 

The girl is a deer in headlights then, her smile faltering. She suddenly looks like she might turn around and bolt. “I, uh… I’m not sure if…” 

“Yui.” The voice echoes off the trees around them, deep and taunting. A snare, beckoning. “Use your words.”

Yui walks right into that trap, although it embarrasses her to admit there is absolutely nothing that she would rather do. 

And so, ever so cautiously, she starts describing the picture that has plagued her thoughts for the past few days. “It’s a picture of you, singing. You might have noticed, but… I was staring a lot, that night. At your jaw, and your throat… It kind of reminded me of, you know…”

This vague description is only met with an incredibly frustrating silence.

“It’s just… I never really get to see how you—how you look when you bite me, so…” she says, growing more and more desperate to keep dancing around the truth. “I mean—I just thought you looked… handsome. That’s… what I was thinking about.”

“Was that so hard to say?” Ruki chuckles, possessiveness flaring to life inside of him once again, but decides to egg her on a little more. “I’ll put you in front of a mirror next time, then.”

Yui ignores the chill that runs down her spine and continues her confession. “That wasn’t actually all of it, though…”

“Go on, then.”

All Yui can really think about is the memory of Ruki’s leering up at her from between her legs, sharp, pointed teeth so dangerously close to her most intimate parts… and yet the ravenous force of his tongue on the apex of her thighs while his fingers worked in tandem, sinking into her mercilessly, had practically redefined everything she knew about pleasure. By some stroke of mercy, Ruki had gotten on his knees for her instead of the other way around. This novelty did not empower her as much as you might expect, though—her wrists had been tightly bound behind her back all the while, tilting her lower body towards his mouth at just the right angle, her hands sticky with her own spend by the end of it. After all, the vampire would be nothing if not in charge. 

It had been one of the most pleasurable things she had ever experienced. With each look shared between them since, the memory flared to life inside of her. It would be akin to asking Ruki to prostrate himself before her, but if she were to be completely honest, she wanted him to do it again.

This, however, Yui cannot bring herself to say. “I… can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” Ruki coos, setting down the grocery bags. Taking a step closer. “Here I was, thinking I had finally gotten you to be obedient. You begged for every single thing I did to you that night. Remember?”

Yui takes a step back, voice wavering. “That’s not fair. I was drunk.”

“I have many ways to make you answer me without the need for substances, Yui.”

Unable to say the words without the imminent threat of pain and ecstasy, Yui peers up at Ruki, willing the look in her eyes to do the work for her. 

Then make me. 

She promptly turns away and darts off into the woods. 

Another low, taunting laugh, that ominous sound of a challenge accepted, echoes off the trees as she runs, going as fast as her legs can carry her. Ruki gives her a generous head start, if only to confirm whether Yui is serious about this. Before long, though, he can no longer fight the primal, animalistic urge deep within to follow after her. 

In a way, Ruki is glad to finally feel a desire so quintessentially inhuman. Because, chivalry be damned, a vampire could never resist that irresistible scent the girl trails in her wake. That unique delicacy that is her blood, spiked with adrenaline and pure, unadulterated arousal.

And so, inevitably, the chase begins anew.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Famichiki is a piece of fried chicken that you can buy from Family Mart (the convenience store) as a snack

Umeshu is a Japanese plum liquor, typically very sweet (and also my own drink of choice hehe)