Yuu Haise's Story

Yuu wasn't feeling especially well tonight, even after drinking nearly a pint of blood. He had sucked a blood bag dry and still the nausea persisted, so his boss had given him the night off. Yuu closed his eyes, rubbing his temples as a headache pounded inside of his skill. He had meant to run to the local convenience store to grab dinner so no one became suspicious of him and the boss. To most it seemed like father and son, working an honest business at a small store that bought and sold antiques. In reality, if you knew who to ask, you could get a few blood bags for only a few hundred yen. Yuu had just left the shop, leaving the man who posed as his father to take of business with an old human man. They only took blood from donors, otherwise normal humans came in and out at almost all hours, buying, trading, selling. They seemed to have no attachments to anything, which Yuu found particularly curious.

He was only going to the corner store, there were a few things he wanted to buy, a new sewing kit to fix a hole in his shirt, another box of pencils, and maybe some ingredients for dinner. In reality, they didn't really eat it, although they could, it was more for appearances than anything. As Yuu shopped, an ambulance, and fire truck passed the store. He payed no mind to either, knowing full well that there was always trouble brewing in Tokyo. He paid no mind to the fact that people ran into the store screaming about a fire, at least, not until he reached his house. The bags in his hands dropped, a head of cabbage rolling into the street. Flames broke through the windows, licking the sides of the building and painting the sky alight with smoke. In the intermingling sunset sky, it was frightening and beautiful.

They were speaking about a person still trapped inside, a few of the neighbors gathered to watch, hoping the fire department could put it out before the fire spread to the buildings next door. They whispered around him, speaking in what they believed to be hushed tones.

Yuu awoke with a start. It was quite often he dreamed about that dreadful night, the night he had inherited his boss's business, the night he had to start all over again for the second time in his life. This time Yuu had built a life as a premed student, becoming a certified phlebotomist and drawing blood from humans to sell to vampires. They knew what they were in for, he had used his previous Master's philosophy in never selling a lie. Humans could sell their blood, mostly they were desperate for the money, but sometimes you got a crazy or two who worshiped vampires, or fantasized about one drinking their blood and falling in love with them. Yuu always humored them, but was never especially interested in what they had to say.

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Hime stood under a street lamp, her gray hair falling in sheets around her shoulders. So far tonight her Master had only taken a few sips of her blood, saying that he was busy and they needed to leave. When they left the house, Lucy no longer had to wear the collar, but she did have to wear a child leash. It looked like a backpack and allowed the Master to keep track of his possession, Hime never getting too far out of his sight. People stared as they noticed how beat up she was, but otherwise happy and leading the man who could have been mistaken for her father around happily to each street booth, wanting to smell, and touch, and see everything. Previously she had never been allowed out of the houses she was kept in, sometimes locked in a room when they didn't want to drink from her, or in one instance, a cage.

As they walked, they past by a church. Instantly, chills ran down Hime's spine. She had never been inside of a religious monument before, but had heard of them. She stared fixated at the cross, but was soon tugged along by her Master, the two of them heading to a bar. Normally, Hime wouldn't be allowed inside such an establishment, but the ones that served food were a loophole and so the two went inside. They sat at a table near the back, Hime knew they were waiting for someone, but she had no idea who.

((I must apologize, I have no time to proofread))

They were sitting in the back, away from anyone's line of sight and hopefully smell. Hime's legs swung on her seat, she had a unique blood type, Rh-null, which accounted for less than 1,000 people in the world. It wasn't uncommon for other vampires to flutter over to check out the odd, delicious, scent that came off of her, therefore when Hiyoko came over, it was no surprise. SHe claimed to be peaceful, but Hime could sense the shift in her Master's mood. He tensed up, clearly finding this character suspicious. Hime could tell by his expression that he found her scent odd, but said nothing. She simply watched as the man looked up at the girl who had introduced herself as Hiyoko. "I am Charles Vernier, it's a pleasure to meet you Hiyoko."He spoke in fluent Japanese, which may have come as a surprise to few due to the fact that he was obviously not from around here. "This is Hime," he gestured to the little girl sitting across from him, who nodded her head in acknowledgement of the girl beside her.

"She's been rehomed in my service, but is technically still in the recovery stages." There were certain rules about touching recovering humans that the European vampires followed. You were allowed to drink from them, but it was only in limited amounts until they were fully healed and even afterwards for another weak or two you had limited access, having to give them frequent breaks between meals. Master Charles didn't mind, however, as Hime was still quite young and he figured he would get quite a bit of use out of her. "You're awfully curious for someone who is new to this area. It isn't uncommon to find European's around here." It was a frequent social spot for vampire's to gather around here, however a spike in a certain breed had made them a bit more wary. Hime had a sinking feeling that this girl was one of them and had come over to assess what she could take. Hime suddenly felt very uncomfortable, but the Master seemed unperturbed as he waited for his contact.

Suddenly a boy with blonde hair walked over, eyeing the girl suspiciously. "Mr. Vernier,"[/color] he said respectfully, nodding his head and placing a paper bag on the table. Hime watched as the Master handed over an envelope and the blonde left. The Master turned back towards the girl, Hiyoko. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?" The man asked. Hiyoko then replied: "Nope. I just wanted to let you know that despite what others may have told you, we are not the enemy. We do not wish to become involved in any factional conflicts. We may have been savages 1000 years ago, but we have grown wiser. But we warn you, any aggression towards us can have dire consequences. We don't mind you walking around in our turf, but please avoid any conflict. Also there have been rumors of "hunters" in the area, so take care of yourselves. I bid you a good evening."

Hiyoko then walked back over to the bar and said: "Well I am back again. Have you heard the drunks and their wild stories? They talk about vampires but even if they were to exist, a vampire would more likely leave a pale corpse with bite marks in their necks and not some a pile of bodyparts. I would say there is some madman on the loose killing people when they are alone. But anyways, maybe you should join me and a friend sometimes for karaoke. We intend to go tomorrow. Here is my number and name. By the way, I didn't get your name. I should at least know the name of a sympathetic face like yours."

June thought more about it, yes he was going to be finished work soon, today he finished earlier than the other days he had work. Checking his wrist watch in case he were wrong, nope it was time for him to finish up. Time certainly went by fast with his current job.

As he waited for another employee to take over and rotate, he made sure everything was tidy and what not until he noticed Hiyoko approaching the bar again. He smiled and replied "Welcome back Hiyoko." She then spoke of the conversation he had just over heard a while ago now. Perhaps more people were speaking of vampires and the murder case than he though. He listened to her as she explained what a real vampire victim would look like. "Haha you've certainly given it much thought huh? I have to say I do agree with you. However that's naturally what the human mind thinks when someone says vampire. But how would you know whether or not an actual vampire leaves behind a bloody mess or not? Things may not be like they appear in movies." There he was, rambling on again, possibly boring a potential regular customer, how unprofessional. But June hadn't realised he was rambling yet, when it came to mysteries and the unknown he couldn't help but start up an intriguing conversation on the matter. The possibilities of things that humans don't fully understand are endless. It made June seem quite intelligent when in fact he was just very curious and observant.

"Oops! There I go rambling on again." He laughed softly for a brief moment, feeling slightly embarrassed. "But um, yeah it was probably some crazy murderer. Which is a bit alarming seeing as how he'd still be on the loose." That's right the police hadn't caught him yet or even found the possible dogs responsible for it. It was a complete mystery.

The subject changed quickly as he was given Hikoyo's name and number on a piece of paper, his eyes lit up as he gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you I would like that; tomorrow? Sounds great, what time?" June pulled out a small notepad from under the bar and wrote down his full name and number also before ripping it off the pad and handing it to Hiyoko. "Suzuya June, but you can just call me June- or uh Jun." Damn, usually he lied about his first name and introduced himself a Jun because he felt his real name June was too feminine, oh well too late now. It wasn't really a big deal.

At first he was a bit reluctant to agree to karaoke simply because he usually just stayed home and relaxed on his days off, but he hadn't gone out for a long time now, didn't have any social life it was completely filled with work then sleep. Besides, he was curious about the Hiyoko, she was different and he liked that.

June noticed another employee enter the bar to take over and gave them a short wave before returning to Hiyoko. "Well looks like I can go home now, my shift is finished. It was a pleasure to meet you Hiyoko."