Chapter Text
Air was chilly and the wind was getting stronger. It was still early in the spring and the temperatures were near freezing at the night time. Takumi curled into his jacket as he waved to the hotel employee that had received the daily tofu delivery. He was glad to get back in the 86 and dreamed of a good sleep he would have when he would get back home. Bunta had gone for a fishing trip with the owner of the gas station, and it was Sunday so there wasn’t need to wake up early for school, nor anyone to wake him up. A small smile rose into Takumi’s lips as he sped away from the hotel and down the mountain.
The road down was as dark as ever, with the sunrise still just a thought under the horizon. A small crescent and some stars gave an eerie light to the heads of trees bordering the serpentine road. The 86’s headlights swept the road and the only noise besides the engine was the small beeping of the speed limitation warning. Takumi kept his eyes in the road and tapped the gear switch gently with his left hand. Everything seemed to be just as any other day.
Until it wasn’t.
Suddenly a figure in yellow staggered from the bushes straight into Takumi’s line. Only the experience he had with driving allowed him to avoid the crash. He turned the wheel sharply right and straight away back to left, braking at the same time and letting the 86 make a turn so that the head now faced the way he had come from. The headlight showered light into the figure that caused the situation. It was a human who weakly shadowed his eyes in the bright light, crouching in the road. Takumi sat in the car with his heart pumping in the sudden adrenaline rush. His hands held the wheel and just when he started to grasp the situation, he saw the figure collapse into the road, seemingly losing his consciousness. There was no time to think any longer. Takumi rushed out of his car and towards the figure. There was no way he could have just left him lay there.
“Are you okay?” Takumi asked in a loud voice as he hurried towards the figure. The mystery man gave no answer. Takumi leaned over to shake him gently. “Oi, are you awake?” he asked again. The man felt very cold to his touch. His hair was blond, probably dyed as it seemed to have a yellowish tone. It was shaped to stand up in the top. He was wearing a bright yellow hoodie, black leather pants and some kind of brown leather loafers, quite a strange combo as Takumi momentarily thought, and also hardly the right attire for a stroll in the mountains at a spring night. He was starting to get seriously worried for the man, noticing that he had some bruises in his face and didn’t seem to be breathing. Takumi stretched his hand to feel if there was a pulse in the man’s neck as the man suddenly took a deep breath and half-opened his dark eyes. Takumi froze in his place, glad that the man seemed to be alive but also starting to think that he should probably be taken into a hospital as soon as possible. “How do you feel? Can you tell me your name?” Takumi asked to get the man’s attention. The man slowly raised his head a bit, shifted his glaze into Takumi’s eyes and opened them fully, at the same time muttering “So sweet…”. Takumi’s eyes widened with surprise. The man’s eyes weren’t dark brown as he had thought. They were red. On the dark side but still undeniably red.
There was no time for Takumi to process this, as the man suddenly gripped the hand Takumi had stretched out. In a moment that seemed incomprehensibly short the man yanked the wrist near his face, opened his mouth and bit it. “Wait what” went on Takumi’s head as he desperately tried to understand what the hell had just happened. He was undoubtedly somewhat sleep deprived, but this still seemed too weird to be a dream. The sharp pain that followed the bite, and the unpleasant feeling of bleeding shook him back to the earth. He looked at the man, who looked like he had starved for days, drink the blood. The man started to suck the blood with even more force, and Takumi felt a strong blush rising in his neck and face. “Stop” he said, and as it didn’t seem to have any impact, he gathered all of his force and kicked the man straight into the stomach while yelling “STOP!”. The force of the kick made the man release his grip and growl back. He put his hand on his face, feeling the fresh blood near his mouth, standing still for a moment while his eyes widened. He seemed to finally reach full consciousness. Takumi sat on the ground, holding his bloody wrist with the other hand, staring at the stranger.
The silence and staring seemed to go on for a small eternity. The moment was broken as the man moved his hands to his hair, holding them franticly, now staring the ground and whispering “No, no, no… I didn’t mean to, what have I done.” Freed from the trance, as it has felt, Takumi started to feel pain in his bruised hand and inched in pain. The man’s eyes moved back to Takumi and to the mess he had caused. “The bleeding, it must be stopped” he muttered and raised the helm of his hoodie to reveal a basic white t-shirt. He tore a long strip from it and stand up. Takumi could do anything but stare the man. He had never seen anyone do that in real life, only in movies. “He must be strong” Takumi thought. He also now observed that the man was taller than him and in good shape. He moved somehow gracefully as he took the few steps towards Takumi, before grouching and giving out his hand, saying “please let me stop the bleeding, I won’t hurt you anymore”. In his mind Takumi thought that he really shouldn’t trust someone who had just caused the injuries, and still had blood, his blood, all over his hands, face and hair. But still, Takumi felt like wasn’t in condition to move or run away so he held his hand for the man to bind it. The man spoke again “I’m so sorry I did this, I never meant to hurt you” he was clearly in agony over what he had just did. Takumi was silent for a moment before he gathered his courage and asked: “who or what on earth are you?”