• CHAPTER 43 - A CLOSE ENCOUNTER

    You're lost. You're confused. You don't know what to do anymore. How can you function right, especially in the time of need?

    My head had been up in the clouds for the past couple of days since Kai removed my engagement ring. Sure, the ring used to freak me out, but I didn't realize how truly important it was to me until he removed it. I couldn't believe he took it off so casually. I knew he really wasn't trying to hurt my feelings, but I was crushed inside. I would walk around the house now in a daze, fearing about what Kai was doing with the ring. Was he going to melt it and make something else out of it but not for me? Would he make a weapon out of it? Was he going to throw it away?

    I refused to allow myself to think such frivolous things, but I couldn't help being pessimistic. It'll be the death of me. I was unsure of what to think of everything. I almost felt as though I were at a loss. I was questioning whether or not I was truly falling in love with Kira as well. The fact that my ring was gone only put more of a burden on me, rather than lifting it off. I really needed some excitement in my life.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    "Get the ball!" one student called out to another.

    One girl ran up to the volley ball net and spiked the ball high. Another player on the other side hit it back as well and the battle brewed. Watching the ball being spiked back and fourth made me dizzy in the heat of the gym, so I opted to daydreaming while standing towards the back. Of course, our school is actually too cheap to have a gym of its own so we need to walk two blocks to use the city gym. Even in the middle of winter. That's all it was was a gym, there was nothing to it.

    "Kurabashi!" I heard the teacher call out to me.

    I looked up in time, but my reflexes didn't kick in at the same rate. The volley ball shot down and hit me smack in the left cheek. I fell right off my feet and onto the ground, followed by many students laughing and pointing. One jock rushed to grab the ball that was rolling away from me and he sneered at me.

    "Nice going, Kurabashi," he hissed and left.

    Mr. Mahari helped me up and I rubbed my sore left cheek. It didn't hurt enough to swell, but it was still tender to the touch. Mr. Mahari helped sit me down on one of the cheap folding chairs.

    "You okay, Kurabashi?" he crouched over to examine my cheek.

    "Yeah, I'm fine," I sighed, "But I am getting a little nauseous." I lied. I also could have sworn those people did that on purpose, I'm just a waste of space.

    "You're such a priss, Kurabashi! Tough it out!" a prep called out to me, followed by the laughter of everybody else in the class.

    "Who wants to help Kurabashi to the nurse?" Mr. Mahari called out.

    Of course, nobody volunteered. I only sighed and looked away. I stood up and smiled at the teacher weakly, "It's okay, I can go by myself,"

    "Arisa, you can't," he informed me.

    "It's only two blocks. I'll take the back way. It's shorter." I offered, "I won't tell anybody you let me go alone."

    Mr. Mahari pondered for a long moment and sighed in defeat, "I suppose you may, but don't tell anybody I let you go alone," he lectured me while filling out a pass.

    Of course, that shows how protective my school is. Letting a student leave in the middle of class during a day from the gym they borrow to walk two blocks back to school by herself. I took my pass and made my way out of the gym while the preps and jocks were laughing at me again.

    And, as promised, I took the back way and started heading back to the school. It was still pretty cold outside, but it was a little warmer than it had been. It was pretty stupid of me to walk to that gym when class started without a coat. And how retarded of a dress code we have for gym. Red spandex in the shape of underwear for girls and only a white t-shirt too. It was ridiculous.

    So there I was, making my way down the alley while rubbing my arms to keep myself warm. A sudden and unexpected shock through my body froze me where I was and kept me from taking another breath. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was a frozen hand that stopped me in my tracks. A frozen hand that was cupped against my neck from behind me. I felt a cold face press against the other side of my neck and only one word of all other words in my head was the loudest; Vampire.

    "Hey there, beautiful," teased the voice of the Vampire.

    Dammit, don't tell me I was being stalked again. Why does this always happen?? Oh, duh, Arisa. You've got blood that can grant goddamn immortality for pete's sake!

    "Don't you think it's rather irresponsible for somebody as cute as you to be walking through an alley alone?" he chuckled.

    I pushed him away and turned around to face him. Just like any other Vampire, he was beautiful. His hair was black and just as long as Takeuchi's and he was as tall as Kai and his eyes were a mix of brown and red. I backed away from him, but was nowhere near the end of the alley. He stalked closer to me, inch by inch.

    "Go away," I managed to squeak.

    The Vampire smirked again and he vanished. I gasped out of reflexes and backed up and when I did, I ran into the hard body of the same Vampire only he was right behind me. I ran forward without looking back at him, ran deeper into the alley. My goddamn feet always have to find something to trip over. There was a giant pothole in the alley darkened by the overcast sky and my foot fell right into it. My left ankle darn near twisted all the way around, spraining it badly and I skidded a few feet on one of my knees and both of my elbows, cutting them badly. The dirt and mud from the melting snow in the alley didn't help the cuts any.

    "s**t!" I cried out, reaching for my ankle rather than trying to stop the bleeding in my cuts.

    I heard the Vampire inhale the air deeply and a sinister grin sprawled across his face, "Wow, that's amazing," he stated, "You obviously have things just as amazing as your body."

    "What?!" my body??

    I tried to scramble onto my feet but as soon as I turned back around to stand up, he tackled me after he teleported. He landed right on top of me, holding me down onto the cold and wet ground. I struggled ferociously to elude him, but I knew better than to think I could still try to fight off a Vampire. He turned me onto my back and looked down at me with a smile on his face.

    "Where are you going?" he teased again.

    "Get off!" I protested, hitting his chest.

    He only chuckled in amusement at my failed attempts to remove him. I pushed and punched and everything, only worsening the pain in my wounds and only enticing him more. Then came the moment where I finally pissed him off. I went with my intuition and slapped him across the cheek and ran the ball of my hand onto the bottom of his chin, knocking his head slightly backwards by surprise. He gripped my wrist a little too hard for comfort and he hafway glared down at me.

    "You're a feisty one," he huffed, "You're going to be funner than I anticipated."

    "No!!" I was about to punch him again, but my body went limp and my voice turned off.

    s**t. s**t, s**t, s**t!!! He was using that charm! No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't thrash around anymore. I couldn't move to save my life...which was exactly what I was trying to do. He held my one wrist and my other wrist above my head on the ground and examined me from head to toe.

    "Yes, yes, very nice," he smiled.

    He unhanded one of my wrists and locked my jaw in his giant frozen hand. He turned my head from side to side, still examining me. He inhaled my aroma and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for him to bite. At least, that's what most Vampires do. I knew this Vampire was different from the start, but I couldn't put my finger onto it as to why. That is until he grabbed the bottom of my shirt and pulled up, nearly tearing it off. I about lost it. Tears welled up in my eyes and I would have been screaming loud enough to penetrate the alley walls if I wasn't under that retarded charm.

    "Not what you expected, eh?" he chuckled.

    My blood obviously wasn't his first priority. I was even questioning whether or not he knew my blood was special. Apparently my body was more important to this Vampire. He grabbed my shirt with both of his hands and swiped it right off of me over my head and tossed it aside. I was losing it. I was crying like crazy, only the sobs barely came out. I didn't want it to end like this! I had already betrayed Kai by accident, I can't let this happen!!

    "I love the emaciate ones because they break easier," he sneered, trailing his index finger down my stomach and to the waistband of my spandex.

    He leaned over and pressed his face against my neck while running one hand up and down my left thigh. He grasped my sprained ankle and wrapped my leg around his hips and he twisted his fingers of his other hand in my hair. I couldn't breathe from all of my crying and fear. He was starting to get carried away. He was pressing himself against me harder, ready to make his final move of trying to steal my innocence. A Vampire, of all people, would be the one to force himself on me.

    He gripped the waistband of my spandex and my underwear and was on the verge of ripping them to shreds until he froze where he was with his fangs halfway in my throat, right where it would have killed me. He didn't look back, but he raised his face to mine and frowned.

    "Looks like we're not alone," he complained humorously.

    "Let the girl go," the voice was familiar, but I couldn't think straight as to figure out whose it was.

    The Vampire sighed and rolled his eyes, "Look, I just started. You can have your turn with her when I'm done."

    "Let. Her. Go." he demanded. I still couldn't figure it out, but I was getting closer.

    It wasn't Kai. It wasn't Kira or Matsuda or Takeuchi. I heard something click faintly and the Vampire sighed again, "I told you that you can have her when I'm done. Put the gun down."

    Kai!! I kept calling out in my head, Kai, I'm sorry!! The Vampire grabbed my jaw again and smiled at me while licking the few drops of my blood off of his mouth. He started lowering himself again while lightly tugging at my spandex and my underwear, ready to make his final tragic move. He was stopped short by a bullet whizzing through his right arm and he collapsed. He propped himself back up on his left arm and glared at me. He grabbed the back of my bra and started unhooking it and just my luck, the charm was wearing off from his loss of concentration and I was at least able to speak again.

    "No!!" I cried out.

    One more bullet made its final blow through the Vampire's head and blood flew everywhere, even on me. His corpse instantly fell on top of me and the charm vanished. I cried loud enough to nearly shatter the nearby windows and I covered my face. I rolled onto my side after pushing the Vampire corpse off and curled up, unaware of the approaching boy who saved my life. He crouched next to me and shook my shoulder. I screamed and knocked his hand away.

    "Arisa?" the voice sounded worried and freaked out.

    I opened my eyes and looked over at none other than Akatsuki. The bullets were from his Anti-Vampire gun. Akatsuki's hands hovered over me, afraid to touch me again. I managed to sit up and I threw myself at him into his torso and sobbed even more. Akatsuki carefully held me halfway close to him and he rubbed my back in small circles, throwing in a few quiet hush's every now and then.

    "Akatsuki! Akatsuki!" I couldn't have been happier to see him. If he wouldn't have done what he just did, I'd have been broken and dead with stolen innocence.

    "Arisa, are you okay??" he held my face in his hands and examined my shaking and cold body.

    I shook my head and cried more. We sat with each other for another several minutes, allowing me sob until my eyes were dried out. It wasn't until I was almost done crying that I notice the throbbing pain coming from my ankle and my cuts.

    "Arisa, we need to get you to the hospital or the police or something," he was still a little panicked.

    "No, no, anywhere but there!" I pleaded.

    "Arisa--"

    "Just take me home or wherever!" I freaked out.

    Akatsuki reached over and picked up my shirt which was now covered in mud and melted snow. He helped me slip in on while I was still sobbing and sniffling. Akastuki examined my cuts on my elbows and knee and he glanced at my sprained ankle which was now swelling.

    "Let's go back to the school so we can get your stuff," Akastuki offered.

    I shook my head, "I don't want to go back,"

    "It won't take long, trust me," he reassured.

    Before I could protest anymore, he already lifted me up off the ground and into his arms. I looked behind him at the Vampire corpse and I cried a little again. I was slipping into a state of shock and I couldn't cry anymore. He strapped me into the passenger seat of his 1991 gunmetal Honda Civic and hopped into the driver's seat and sped off to my school. It only took several seconds, but he seemed to be in a big hurry.

    "I'm going in," he parked the car, "You're coming with me."

    He grabbed my wrist and I yanked it away, curling up in the blanket I found in his car on the way to the school, "I'm not going outside,"

    "I'm not leaving you in here," he hissed.

    "Just get my stuff and sign me out," I protested, "I'll be safer in here."

    "No you won't, Arisa,"

    "I don't want to hear what everybody will say," I sighed.

    Before Akastuki could argue with me anymore, I covered my head with the blanket and reclined my seat as far back as it could go. Akastuki pulled out his Anti-Vampire gun and placed it on the armrest between the driver and passenger seat.

    "Use this if another Vampire comes around," that wouldn't be a bad idea, seeing as I was still bleeding.

    "I'll be right back," he mumbled and climbed out of the car, locking it after he shut the doors.

    I shivered from the cold, seeing as Akatsuki's heat in his car was broken. I watched him as he shrunk in size while walking away and into the school until he disappeared. I knew I would be getting in trouble for having somebody else sign me out for me, but I had other things to worry about. What's going to happen now? Will there be more Vampires like that? What will Kai think? What will he do?

    If I can ever get things straight, when will it happen?

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    "Arisa?" Akastuki whispered while shaking my shoulder, "Arisa, phone."

    I cracked my eyes open to the dim lighting of Akastuki's living room. I had refused to be placed on the bed so I forced him to lie me on the couch. I didn't really remember arriving in the apartment since I was slipping into shock even more with every minute. I sat up wearily and grabbed the phone.

    "Hello?" I whispered into the phone.

    "Tell me what happened," I could hear the tension of Kai's clenched jaw and the roar of the car engine in the background.

    I stared wide-eyed at Akatsuki and covered the speaker of my cell phone, "You told him??"

    "You can't let something like that pass by,"

    "Arisa," Kai hissed.

    "Kai," I was on the verge of breaking down again. I curled up and buried my face in my bandaged knees which were covered by a fleece blanket, "Kai, just get here quick." I cried.

    "You're telling me everything, no matter what. Got it?" he hissed and then took deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

    "Kai, I love you. Please come get me." I asked him between sobs.

    The last thing I heard was the accentuating roar of the engine and the cell phone shattering in Kai's hand.