Chapter Text
Toge sniffled miserably as he fingered the fresh garlic garland handing around his neck. The strong, sharp smell of it was getting to him. Perhaps he should ask Ichiji to lower the windows in the car to allow fresh air to circulate - the night breeze would be good to clear the stench building up in the vehicle. The teen glanced at the rear view mirror. The man is equally suffering too.
"Just a little protection," his teacher had said with a grin as he looped it around his student's neck. He could remember Maki and Panda laughing as they made bad vampire jokes while walking him to the car.
Vampires.
Well, vampires don't exist.
Toge huffed softly at the thought as he flipped through his mission notes once again. A village town just bordering the edges of Chiba Prefecture had reported livestock being drained fully of blood. Twin puncture wounds had been found all over their corpses, evidence of the nocturnal attacks.
Higher-ups had estimated dozens of smaller bloodthirsty low grade curses at play, and first year Inumaki Toge was the perfect sorcerer to exorcise them - for his speciality rests in taking down multiple curses from afar in an instant.
It should be an easy mission. The garlic was an overkill, for they could just be giant fleas instead.
"We're here, Inumaki-kun," Ichiji had said, stopping the car. Toge filed his notes away, tucking the slim folder safely into the pocket of the car seat before climbing out of the vehicle. Giving the unsavoury garland a hard tug, the string broke and he threw the necklace of garlic onto the back seat. He's not going to bring that to the fight. No idiot will. Only Gojo sensei would. Maybe.
Stretching his arms in light warm-up, he turned to the suited man and gave him a wordless thumbs up. He was ready to start the mission.
Yuuta Okkotsu sighed as he sat up in bed. He had been tossing and turning restlessly in the dark ever since Toge had left campus. A stir of worry fluttered in his gut. Could it be the pull of full moon that seems to be keeping his nerves heightened.
The platinum-blond teen had been given an almost comical send-off just about half past nine in the evening by the entire class. Yuuta could not help but keep his gaze on the teen as he left once again to conduct exorcisms on his own. The special grade sorcerer knew and trusted on Toge's abilities that he would always return back safe and sound, but he couldn't help but worry for his safety.
He already missed the shy glances the shorter male would direct towards him, the little warm tingle as the back of their hands gently touch when they sat next to each other during communal mealtimes, the soft blush just barely dusting on his cheeks smartly hidden beneath the high collar of Toge's gakuran uniform.
"Yuuta..."
Rika stirred, her voice cutting through the silence of the night in his mind.
"Yuuta worry..."
"I'm alright, Rika. I'll go back to sleep in a minute." The special grade sorcerer replied, trying to calm down the curse. He relaxed as he felt her presence lift and the ominous weight disappeared from his mind.
Yuuta sighed again, eyes sliding to the digital clock on his bedside table. In the darkness gently illuminated by the rays of moonlight, the digits read ten minutes past midnight.
He really should sleep.
The teen closed his eyes again, surrendering himself to the comforting pull of sleep but soft lavender eyes continued to haunt him instead.
Toge coughed as he spat out another mouthful of blood, slapping his hands cover his ears to block out the shrill chatter of the curses. Dozens of bat-like wings flapped in frenzy, stirring the soil and grass beneath his feet, causing him to stumble from the force of the wind.
Too many.
There were too many of them.
He thought he had successfully exorcised the swarm that was draining a poor bovine dry in a farm field, but more kept coming from the dark forest of tall cedar trees framing the little town.
It was supposed to be a simple mission.
The higher-ups had miscalculated the risk again. This should have been a mission for two.
Toge gritted his teeth as he focused on channeling cursed energy to his lips, the energy crackling as they swirled around the Snake Eyes and Fangs seal on his tongue, rippling across his marked cheeks.
Blast away!
Explode!
The teen choked as the energy recoil pummelled back at the double cursed speech commands and tore against his worn throat; the whiplash felt as if he had smashed his head against concrete. The rush of wind died down along with the hypersonic screeching of the curses, leaving dust settling in the still night air.
Tired violet eyes scanned carefully at the scene in front of him, spotting lumps of partially congealed curses splattered all over the field, dissolving and smoking into the air.
Shakily, he pushed himself to a stand, his hand searching for the bottle of throat spray in his pocket but finding nothing. He must have dropped it earlier. Swallowing thickly against the pain in his throat, the teen coughed again to clear the coppery taste of blood.
This should be the last of it. They've stopped coming for him. Toge lowered his guard. Nodding to himself that the area is clear, he turned towards the direction of where Ichiji had dropped him off, ready to step out of the veil and back into normalcy.
A soft rustle caught his attention. Before he could turn to trace the source of it, he was slammed to the earth. Hard. Sour acrid energy enveloped him as if it was a heavy blanket of wrongness, and his instinct was to fight back, claw, kick, punch at the strong force pinning him down.
Toge screamed in pain as sharp canines sank into the column of his neck, puncturing through his skin, ripping through his trachea and crushing his larynx.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!
Survival instincts took over as the young sorcerer twisted and jerked against the heavy weight above him, trying to throw the monstrous curse off him. Dark spots were already dancing in his vision as his feeble attempts to break free from the curse's sudden attack weakened with each passing second.
He was not going to stay awake much longer.
He couldn't breathe.
He didn't want to die out here, alone. He needed to get back to school. He wanted to be with his friends. Maki, Panda, Yuuta...
Yuuta...
Toge choked in pain, bloodied lips parting for air as the curse began to drink deeply from his crushed neck, its hot tongue lapping up rivulets of crimson blood hungrily. Consciousness ebbed with each violent suck and pull of liquid lifeforce from his body.
Ditching a last attempt to free himself, bloodied fingers moved to the top-most button of his uniform, pressing hard against it to activate the hidden SOS tracker. The school has been alerted. A sorcerer is down.
Through the thick haze of fear and agony, his ears picked up a soft voice in the distance. As the crushing presence lifted off him, his head swam again, reeling against the effects of acute blood loss.
"Now now. Be gentle."
The teen strained.
Help...
In his pained haze, he felt soft fingers weaving through his hair, stroking him gently. It felt nice.
" Wake up, young one. "
The command had startled him. Cursed energy was infused in those words. The familiar current coursed through his veins as he was forced to stay awake.
Toge blinked. Had he passed out? He did not remember it. He felt so cold. The pain in his neck had dulled to a low throb at this point. Blood bubbled up his mouth as each strained breath rattled against his severed throat.
Please...
There was something wet being held against his lips. Dripping. Hot liquid. Toge's vision blurred once more, cursed energy or not, his system was shutting down.
" Here. Drink."
Lips part as cursed energy took hold of him once again, forcing him to accept the forbidden liquid into his mouth. Toge choked, he could barely swallow through the torn flesh of what was left of his neck. The pain was back again in full force. Whatever he had attempted to ingest had started burning its way through his body - from his chest down to his toes, forcing a strangled cry, or what inhumane sound he could produce from his devastating injury.
Toge writhed in agony. His heartbeat tripled in intensity and its frantic beating was all that he could hear. He could not breathe. He could not think. He could not scream. He could not ...
" Now, go back to sleep."
Cursed energy rippled through him again as the teen gave in to the looming darkness and gratefully sank into the cold void.
Yuuta trembled he sat by his friend's bedside in the campus infirmary. Faintly through the hallways, he could hear his teacher shouting into his phone in anger at the screw up.
Toge's been hurt, bad.
Even though it looked as if he was fast asleep, there was no mistaking the chalky parlour in his cheeks, and the clean bandage wrapped around what was just minced gore of his neck. The constant, rhythmic beeping of monitors hooked up to the teen and the slow rise and fall of his chest was the only indicator that he was alive. But barely.
The emergency SOS had startled Yuuta from sleep. It had sent a shrill alarm straight to his phone to avail any nearby sorcerer to assist. He had jumped out of bed, grabbed his katana and ready to rush out to battle before being stopped by one of the directors. Gojo Satoru will be handling the rescue, they had said.
A single tear spilled down his cheek.
Trembling fingers caught it, bringing it to eye level. Ah. Was he crying?
Yuuta hugged his knees to his chest tighter, eyes never leaving the sleeping teen's figure.
Their teacher had returned back, carrying the limp Inumaki Toge in his arms, barking orders at the staff and hollering for Ieiri to prepare the surgical room. He had never seen Six Eyes that worked up before.
Yuuta only had a brief glimpse of the bloodied heap in his teacher's arms before the adults pushed him away, swarming over to assist.
A call for urgent blood donation had been sent out that night. Six bags of blood had been given to him.
The seventh bag hooked up together with the IV drip, the last bag of blood they could get for the emergency transfusion.
Yuuta felt another teardrop spill from the corner of his eye and down his cheek.
He really wanted to see those lavender eyes again.
Platinum blond hair fell back as he tilted his head back, giving the dark figure more access to the slender column of his neck. Soft sighs punctured the air as he felt cold lips pull away, fangs sliding out of his throat sweetly and painlessly. It felt almost sensual, the way the dark figure held him and drank from him.
Toge groaned softly as he opened his eyes, meeting face to face with...himself. Crimson eyes glowed and swirled in the dark, energy crackling around the Snake and Fangs seal on his double's cheeks as he parted his lips.
Wake up.
Toge stirred. There was a rhythmic beeping. Lavender eyes blinked slowly as the blur in his vision cleared, revealing the familiar room. Ah, the infirmary.
Someone got him out in time, it seems.
Hands flew to his throat as memories of the attack flooded his mind. What was supposedly left of his throat before he blacked out was all patched up. That must have been one hell of a reverse cursed technique.
Then, his senses narrowed. There was a sweet smell in the air, and it made his mouth water, distracting him from toying with the bandage around his neck. Toge groaned softly as he struggled to sit up in bed, feeling slight vertigo hit him.
He needed to get to the source. The delicious scent was calling for him. His vision blurred.
Toge blinked. Had he blacked out?
The sweet, almost saccharine scent was overpowering. He felt something wet, and looked down.
There was red staining him, his nightgown, his hands, the hospital sheets. Dark. Crimson. Metallic.
Blood.
The teen blinked again, his vision clearing a little more for him to realise that he was gripping a crushed blood bag, its contents had erupted and bled all over him. The rich scent of blood engulfed his senses. In the midst of it, a deep hunger stirred, eliciting a pained gasp from his lips.
The cursed speech user felt his chest tighten. His head pounded, heart racing. He remembered the stronger curse tackling him to the ground, tearing into his throat and drinking deeply. Then, there was a deep voice, commanding him, compelling him to drink. Cursed speech. There was someone with cursed speech. But what was it that he had drunk? In his dream. Blood. Was it blood that he had put to his lips?
Faintly, he heard the shrill alarm of the monitor going crazy and the sliding doors to the infirmary slamming open. Then, panic set in.
"Inumaki-kun, what-!?"
"SHOKO!"
"I need someone in here NOW!"
Toge writhed in pain as strong hands pushed him down into the bed. His heart was hammering so painfully in his chest, that he couldn't breathe.
"Hold him down, he's going into shock!"
The shrill alarm grew even louder, matching his pained gasps. Someone muttered a soft apology before sending something sharp slamming into his thigh. Toge moaned, feeling his body weaken as the wave of nothingness pulled him under.
Gojo Satoru cursed again as he slammed the case file on his desk. He could not understand why his student had been found with severe injuries to his throat, drained of almost all his blood in his body and on the brink of death.
It was supposed to be a simple mission.
He had given his very strong feedback to the Elders, just stopping short of threatening them. Anger coursed through his veins as the older male fell back into his armchair, throwing an arm over his uncovered eyes.
A speck of blood on his watch caught his eye, his gaze hardened. He had found Inumaki Toge awake, clutching at the burst blood bag, lips bloodied as if he had consumed the crimson contents like a...
Satoru stood up, grabbing the case file.
Vampire.
So this what they were dealing now?
Well, fuck.