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Chapter 2

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A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry about the mistake last chapter. The sign in the subway station was actually “Yun-Yun” not “Lum-Lum”. I’m glad that some of you guys actually read my author notes. It tells me that you’re all good readers and pretty attentive! Thanks to those who reviewed my last chapter! So here’s chapter 2 for you!

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I don’t know how long I’ve been unconscious and unknowing of my surroundings, but the first thing I did was sit up. The black darkness was thick all around and the only source of light was the dim glow of white mists floating low to what I guessed was the floor. All I knew was that I felt so alone, and so cold.

I could barely think at the moment. Standing up, I walked about; my feet trailing in the cold misty vapor and the mists trailing after my heels. But the more I became aware that I was all alone; I began to realize more about myself. I would have guessed that my teeth had been chattering and that goose bumps on my legs and arms had risen from the temperature drop, but before now, I could think only of the deep core of the darkness and coldness that enclosed me.

My feet were becoming numb and the bare skin on my arms were sprouting with more goose bumps if that were even possible. Did I say bare skin? I looked down and realized that I was BARE all over! I felt so exposed wearing only my birthday suit! Ie!

I could feel heat crawling up my cheeks and ears as I wrapped my arms about me. Actually, I didn’t feel all that solid, which was kind of weird. Looking closer at myself, I didn’t look too solid either since I was the smallest bit translucent. But my senses felt sharper as I felt a presence lingering by.

“Who’s there?” I called out. I was frightened and my voice broke as it betrayed me, “H-Hello?”

“Ah, you’re finally here.”

I whipped my head to the side and saw the outline of a well-built man walking towards me. I guess it was too dark to see him clearly anyway…. But don’t get me mistakened. I saw his eyes. They were beautiful, handsome, and glittering like rich burgundy wine behind crystal glass. I don’t know, but they were compelling. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see him quite clearly otherwise. Though I felt awake enough, I still felt as if I was in a cold hazy dream of some sort.

He closed the distance between us as I continued to stare up at him and into his captivating eyes. Before I realized it, I was literally trapped in his gaze. I just froze and my control over my body was like control over lead. I was feeling tired and more tired by the second. I had become so weak that I couldn’t pull away from him when he held my bare shoulders. My knees were so weak; I thought I was going to collapse.

How could I become so tired in a dream? If it really were a dream, wouldn’t I have already woken up from realization? But yet here I stood, half awake and not even understanding where I was. Suddenly, I realized that his head was dipping down slowly towards me. Was he…? Was he going to kiss me?

“Please…. Stop….” It was no use. My voice was absent and my lips barely even parted.

But he was too far to the edge of my face to be kissing me. He was going straight for my neck! I heard the quick beating of my heart inside my exposed chest thumping frantically. With him coming dangerously close to my neck (which was rather sensitive), I literally felt as if I had a faint heart located right at my jugular. I was scared. I could see light colored hair drifting gently on my cheeks and teasing my vision against the pitch-black darkness beyond. It was like I was a mere spectator through my own eyes, unable to look anywhere else. I swallowed and felt the pulse at my neck become even more distinct.

The man’s soft lips met the skin on my neck as he nuzzled softly at it.

Stop it…. Please….

I felt his smile against my sensitive neck as his tongue grazed the area above my jugular. He then blew on my damp skin. My heart fluttered from the sudden cool breeze.

I felt the touch of his hand glide up my shoulder where it had found its way around my arms and mid back. His warm hand held the side of my head to the other side so he could have better access to my neck. To tell the truth, I was frightened beyond belief. Though I never believed in fairytale creatures after the age of seven, this was different. He couldn’t be, could he?

My nightmare was confirmed when I felt his mouth open. I could feel the sharp points of his canines rest against my skin, ready to puncture the surface to drain my blood.

It made sense though. I remembered something that I had tried my hardest to forget in the past. The very thought of blood draining made me think of my father. I was seven at the time, but I remembered how much I adored him. He used to pick me up in his arms and twirl me up high in the air like I had angel wings. He always had that daddy smile for me and always said I was his little angel. I used to love hearing that. My dad always said that angels watched upon us and protected us whenever we needed them to. I used to believe there were angels. I used believe in all the stories he told me including ones about vampires.

I couldn’t tell if I had begun crying, but I felt my emotions clench in despair. The doctors said that his blood was drained, but they couldn’t tell if the cause was from the way his body was ripped all over because to be quite honest, the crime scene didn’t leave much blood behind. They told my mother how he lacked about a liter of blood after the investigation. The case was never solved. Whoever it was had covered their tracks well enough that my father’s death had gone straight to the unsolved mysteries pile. And forgotten.

I claimed that it was a vampire just like the ones in the stories that dad used to read to me. I was so sure it was. I was still living at my old home back then when it happened. The bedroom door had been slightly ajar and I saw the dim kitchen lamplight through the crack. I stared at the light, as I lay snuggled beneath the covers. My dad had tucked my little brother Mamoru, and I into bed that night, but I hadn’t had the urge to sleep right away. I heard the back door open from the kitchen downstairs. Thinking that it was probably mom, I remember pushing my door open a bit more and tiptoe slowly down the stairs.

A raspy yell from my dad stopped me dead in my tracks. There was a furious struggle and a crash as the lamplight broke, a strangled cry, then silence. All was followed by a hollow thud of something large and heavy falling against the floor, like a body. I was close enough to the bottom to see a shadowy figure. It was too dark, but I saw deep wine red eyes boring into my own. Then as suddenly as it had been there, the eyes and the figure vanished when I blinked. I never saw it again. Nor did I ever see my father alive again.

My mom tried her best to make me forget, but I always believed in whatever dad said and whatever I saw. So she sent me to a children clinic somewhere downtown where I was “treated.” I tried never to believe in vampires again. And I now believed that angels didn’t exist either. How could they let my father fall to his death? Some protection they offered. Poor mother…. The best protection she could offer for us was our move into the busy city of Tokyo, leaving the horrid experience behind in our old suburbs.

The man, no, the vampire’s teeth were so close to penetrating my neck. I could feel that if he pushed the tiniest bit more, his fangs would sink through my skin as if it were butter. My half-open eyes showed an unfocused scene before me of the dancing black background as I waited for the sharpness to present its pain.

Suddenly, the vampire step back and let go of me. My knees collapsed from under me and I sunk to the ground. My hands clenched together and I tucked my arms towards my chest. My head was bowed. The presence of his fangs against my neck still had not left me. I shivered since the cold had been reintroduced to me again. My eyes were wet when I closed them. I wasn’t really crying, but I knew I was on the verge of doing so.

I blinked again. The mist surrounding me was clearing up and mixed with the black darkness. Everything was spinning and tumbling and shaking around me; me included. I felt like I was on a crazy roller coaster ride within a tornado…. My eyes swam as I felt as if all the confusion and tremendous dizziness were being drawn to my mind. I thought I was going to go crazy as all my senses swam with my vision! I heard the roaring of something like a typhoon as my head pounded from the inside out when suddenly--------------

Everything stopped.

I blinked.

What happened? I couldn’t remember much, if nonthing at all.

Hitomi…. Hitomi….

Hitomi…!

What’s a “Hitomi”? Was it a person? If so…. Who?

Hitomi!

There it was again! Was it calling to me? Was I Hitomi?

“HITOMI!!!!!” Slap! Ouch.

I gasped as my eyes snapped open from the sharp pain. My vision was still swimming and I could only see blotches of distorted colors. At first, I couldn’t even pinpoint where the pain was until I was able to concentrate a bit. I brought a hand up to my cheek and felt my heated skin where the slap was the delivered. My eyes were wet from crying whether for the stinging, or from… from….

I couldn’t remember.

“Yukari, don’t,” said a voice, “I think she’s okay now.” “You know I wasn’t doing that to hurt her, Amano! She didn’t look ‘okay’ to me,” there was a short pause, “Hitomi? Hitomi, what’s going on?”

I blinked away the stinging tears as everything began to clear up. I was sitting on a smooth glossy white floor. It was sort of humid and I felt a bit damp on the skin. I looked up to see a red headed girl with a brown haired guy before me, looking at me curiously with concern etched into their faces. Friends. Yukari. Amano. School. Words began clicking inside my head. But the last thing I remembered…. I was on the train to school. I don’t remember getting off.

“Maybe she’s not as ‘fine’ as she said she was, Amano. I think we should bring her to the infirmary,” I heard Yukari say. I blinked, “Wh-What? I thought we were on the train.”

Yukari looked at me oddly and caught Amano’s eyes with a side-glance before taking my hands and pulling me up to my feet, “Infirmary. Now.” I jerked away from her, “Yukari what’s going on? Why am I here?” “Hitomi….It’s okay,” Yukari’s earnest brown eyes were flickering with worry, “We’re going to take you to the nurse. Maybe you could get some rest there. After what happened on the train, I don’t blame you.”

“What going on?” A new voice. It sounded familiar.

I turned around to face someone right behind me. Red brown eyes caught my gaze and held me there. I began to shake. They looked familiar too. I was afraid of them and I backed away shaking from head to toe. I tore my eyes away from him and recognized his face from the train station. He was the same dark-haired mysterious youth of whom I ran into, “You!”

He grinned a slightly lop-sided smile as if he recognized me too. It was a friendly and I relaxed the tiniest bit. But I couldn’t get the images of blood lusty eyes from my memory. I couldn’t remember where I got that impression, but….

“Oh hey, Van,” Yukari said from behind me as she and Amano approached us, “Sorry. It just seems like this morning’s incident on the train finally caught up to her.” I backed away from them all, “What are you saying….” My mind began to race. Two men. Train. Fear…. Pepper spray? But that was all I could remember. I had no impression of anything from the time in between then and now.

I saw Van’s eyes trail over me briefly as if to confirm whom I was. His gaze lingered at my neck. His handsome grin faded away only to be replaced with a small frown. Was there something wrong with me? But as quickly as it appeared, the frown disappeared and he spoke to me in a clear rich voice, “Hitomi, right? I bumped into you at the subway station.” A pause. “You were pretty quiet during class. And even during role call, you didn’t say anything,” he added somewhat plaintively.

I didn’t know if he was waiting for a response or not, but what should I have said? After the long silence that issued from my bewilderment, Yukari said something for me to break the awkwardness, “Oh, she’s not usually like that in school! Something bad happened on the way here. I think Hitomi’s just been shaken up a bit….” Van didn’t say anything and continued looking at me casually but with a glint of suspicion I guess. Slowly, I began to open my mouth to voice confusion, but Amano didn’t give me a chance at the moment, “Hitomi and Yukari just met some ugly thugs on the train.” He glanced at me quickly, “But let’s drop it. Morning classes are over now and it’s lunch break. Do you guys want to go eat on the roof? I think my brother’s up there with his friends.”

I hate my slowness these days, but I finally jumped at the chance to say something, “Wait! We were on the train! How did we get here?” I looked from Yukari to Amano begging for an explanation. What was going on here? “School didn’t even start---!” “Hitomi!” Yukari looked at me worriedly as if I was a lunatic, “Calm down. Are you okay? After you blanked for about a minute or two this morning, you were quiet when we got to school and….” Yukari stopped briefly with a thoughtful expression, “I hate to say this, but you seemed so vacant. I had to do something! I’m sorry if my slap did anything, but I was worried Hitomi! Don’t scare me!”

My feet continued to back away from them, “No…. You’re the ones scaring me! I’m going to wake up after this! School hasn’t even started! I’m still in a dream!” I’ve never lost control like this before, but just mentioning something about a dream triggered a certain fear inside of me. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it but….“Go away! Just leave me alone!” Being the sprinter I was, I ran away from them and through a door where I knew would lead me upstairs to the roof.

When I arrived, I knew that not many people would be up here after the storm. It also happened to be spring and the heat was beginning to climb. I searched for my spot in the northeast corner of the school’s giant roof. Apparently, the rain had stopped, though the cement was still a bit wet and the air was still thick with damp humidity that clung to my skin. I felt clammy, but the feeling of being left alone was welcoming. It gave me time to think. It was just what I needed at the moment anyway.

What Yukari and everyone else said had completely contradicted my thoughts. What did they mean that I was in class and stuff like that when I’m positive that I had been out at la-la land from the moment I fainted on the train after seeing…?

Well, I couldn’t really remember what I saw. But…. Van had reminded me of something. Other than the fact that I met him at the train station earlier, I had feeling I saw him another time. But whatever I dreamed of… Van wasn’t in there. Well, the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t remember. But other than that, Van reminded me of something else in the past. I had a foreboding feel that someone had been watching me and scaring me. Oh my thoughts were such a mess! God, I----

“Hitomi?”

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A/N: Wow guys! Thanks for supporting my last chapter! I hope you like this one! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, minna-san!

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