• CHAPTER 29 - JEALOUSY

    Jealousy can be an ugly thing, but could it ever save you? Is there jealousy in no matter what you know or hear?

    .:{{Dream in Arisa's Perspective}}:.

    I was running, running away from something...or someone. The fields of Hokkaido were turning swampy and sticky underneath my feet. My pace was slowing down gradually, but I had to keep running. I gasped and struggled for air as I kept running away from my pursuer. I never turned around to see the face, I never turned around to see how close I was to my death.

    The strange thing was, I couldn't hear anything behind me except for the wind blowing against me. So maybe I was running     towards something. Or perhaps both. I was running away from the enemy and running to the one I know I'm most secure with. No matter how far or how fast I ran, there was nothing ahead of me except for planes that grew flatter and flatter, like most of Hokkaido is. I commanded my legs to run faster, try to escape my death.

    After another long moment of tiring running, a forest appeared out of nowhere and I ran right into it without hesitating. I didn't question how the forest appeared when I was running through an empty field a few short seconds ago--I needed to reach him. I searched frantically, still not pausing to take a breathing break, just constant running. I saw something glowing in the woods up ahead so I darted towards the light. What I saw next was infallible.

    It was him, he was standing there with his back towards me and for once, I stopped. It was strange, though, when I stopped, I didn't have to gasp for air, I was breathing normally. His back was towards me, he was against a tree, but he was distracted by something. I could hear deep gulping at it wasn't from him, it was from whoever he was with. I saw two slender pale hands slide onto his shoulders and a girl's head appeared at his neck. She was also distracted, her eyes closed and relaxed.

    I stared for another long moment until they finally noticed my existence and the girl looked over at me before he did. She was absolutely beautiful. Her long, black, wavy hair fell to her waist and her figure was thin, slender, strong. Her skin shined like porcelain in the moonlight and at the corners of her mouth were blood remains. Then he turned around. He was just as beautiful as ever, still tall and slender and his hair was still the same black with spikes at the back. His accessories hadn't changed a bit either. His mouth was also stained with blood...with her blood. I froze at the sight of the two Vampires, the two Vampires who had fallen in love so long ago, the two Vampires who almost had a future, a familly.

    The boy I had fallen so in love with curled the corner of his mouth up in a snarl and a growl creeped up his chest. He darted his red eyes to me, on the verge of attacking. His cuspidated fangs gleamed like pearl in the moonlight and the girl's fangs shone just as bright as she growled at me too. I felt no fear, I felt no pain at losing him. I felt jealousy. Jealousy of the girl being able to stay with him for hundreds of years if she had stayed with him, how she would be able to stay young for the rest of her life and would never grow old or sick. That should have been true love. He changed her into what he is and they could have stayed together for so long.

    He released his grip on his lover and stalked towards me with fangs bearing...

    I snapped my eyes open and woke myself with a loud gasp rather than a scream like I had expected. Even though I gasped, Kai still woke up and stared at me with the usual concerned face. I panted heavily and it took me a while to notice he had taken his shirt off and unbuttoned mine so he could slip his arms around me under my shirt to cool me off. I could feel something wanting to crawl up my throat and I covered my mouth to suppress it.

    "Arisa?" Kai propped himself on his elbow.

    I couldn't answer, I was afraid that if I would talk that I would get sick. I rolled out of the bed as quick as I could and sprinted into the bathroom across the hallway, getting a little sick on my hand. At least I was able to get to the toilet before the worst came. Kai sped in after me, shutting the door and tying my hair back in a bun and he rubbed my back.

    "There you go," he whispered as I hacked once again.

    Kai ripped off some toilet paper and wiped off my soiled hand and tossed it into the garbage beside me. He continued to rub my back and pressed his lips against my shoulder to get some cold onto my skin so I wouldn't burst into flames.

    "I think I've got a bug," I groaned.

    "Probably," Kai agreed. The tone in his voice seemed as though he were expecting me to wake up and get sick.

    I sat hunched over the toilet for another five to ten minutes as Kai continued to rub my back and wait patiently. I brushed my teeth for another continuous five to ten minutes while Kai kept one arm around my waist and supported me. I told him I was too weak to make it back to the bedroom and claimed motion sickness when he offered to carry me. We sat on the bathroom floor against the wall. Kai pulled me over so that I could sit between his legs and he slipped his arms into my pajama shirt again and I breathed heavily while pressing my forehead against his neck.

    "What was your dream about?" Kai whispered after a long moment of silence.

    It felt weird, the awkward silences since our argument last night. I was honestly surprised when I woke up abruptly from my dream and he was still there in the bedroom.

    I was hesitant to tell him about my dream, but I know he would want to know, since he figured it was a different dream since I didn't scream myself awake, "Um...,"

    He stared at me patiently and I took a deep breath, "It was just," I shook my head, "Nothing big."

    "Your heart was racing like crazy. Tell me what happened." Kai played with my bangs.

    "Um," I started hesitantly, "I was running through Hokkaido and it was as flat as ever, of course." I started out lightly, "And out of nowhere, a huge forest appeared and I kept running as if I hadn't noticed the dramatic change in my surroundings.

    "I kept running and running until I saw something glowing in the distance. When I finally reached it, I stopped and there you were with your back towards me. You were distracted by something or someone and it turns out you were with this girl. This Vampire girl." I looked up at Kai, "Kai, I think it was Ayame I saw."

    Kai stiffened for a few minutes in silence and leaned his head back against the wall, "What did she look like?"

    I didn't know how to start. She was much too beautiful, "Um, well, she had a slender and perfect figure...long, black, wavy hair--about waist high...and blood at the corners of her mouth." I finished, "She was beautiful. I can't describe her exactly." It's just like describing Kai's appearance; much too beautiful for words.

    Kai took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I left the part out where him and Ayame were about to kill me without clemency, "Yes, that was Ayame," he sighed.

    It was strange, but when he said her name, jealousy unexpectedly flowed through me, just like in my dream. I was jealous of Ayame? Why? I had Kai all to myself right now and she decided to run off with other men while she was with him, so why should I feel jealous?

    "Don't think about her right now, you're sick enough as it is," Kai sighed again and rubbed my head with one hand.

    "I'm sorry, but...," I coughed, "I can't stand her. I hate her."

    "I do too, Arisa," he confessed.

    "Truly?" I looked up at him, "Most exes still have feelings for each other, don't they?"

    "Not me," he hissed.

    "I'm sorry. I'll be quiet." I shied away from conversation.

    Kai's cold arms felt so good around me stomach. I was sure it wasn't changing my fever incredibly, but still. I loved being in his arms, despite how cold they were. The image of Ayame I saw in my dream kept haunting my mind, but not increasing my jealousy. Kai chuckled lightly and rubbed his hand up and down my spine.

    "Your skin is even making mine warm," he chuckled again.

    "How does it feel?" I asked quietly.

    Kai thought deeply for a moment, "Human,"

    It was quiet for a moment until I looked up at Kai again, "Are you thirsty?"

    Kai shook his head and closed his eyes and sighed. How stupid of me to ask him a Vampire question when he just said he felt a little human once again. Way to ruin the moment, Arisa, I thought to myself. I felt absolutely sick to my stomach and I hacked into the toilet once again in the nick of time.

    "I'm so pathetic," I complained with a groan and an arm wrapped around my midriff.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    It was a little harder for me to get the thought of Ayame and Kai out of my head than I thought, but I was able to forget about it after another day and I'm pretty sure because of that, I was starting to recover a little better from my sickness. I kept poking and prodding Kai, asking him when Takeuchi was coming back; I needed another friend to talk to.

    "I don't know when he's coming back," he growled with a twitch of his eyebrow.

    I stabbed Kai's spleen with my chopsticks, "Go get him,"

    "He's probably on his way back now," Kai sighed, trying to distract me or get my hopes up only to land in disappointment after I would realize he was lying.

    "Whatever," I turned my attention back to my himadura noodles.

    "Why are you so desperate to talk to Takeuchi?" Kai asked curiously, adjusting the blankets wrapped around me from the chest down so they wouldn't fall off.

    "It's boring to talk to you all the time," I admitted.

    "That kind of hurt," Kai frowned but chuckled right away.

    Kai wrapped one arm around my bare shoulders (seeing as he removed my pajama shirt completely) and held me close to his side. He was much too cold, and now that my fever was declining gradually, I was actually getting goosebumps. He didn't want to let me go until my fever was way down. I was probably around a hundred and one degrees, but it wasn't that big of a shock for me.

    "You're overprotective," I complained.

    "It's only to be expected after all the crap that's happened,"

    And that was when my attention shifted completely, remembering when Kai and I saw Kira a couple of days ago, eating that poor girl alive. Kai panicked; he believed that girl would have been me. I turned my train of thought again to waiting for Takeuchi. He wasn't supposed to be back for another day. I guess he wanted to talk to Miku a little more before the full moon came again. Full moon...

    "Kai? When is the next full moon?" I looked up at him.

    He raised one eyebrow and his face was drowned in confusion, "I honestly have no idea," he confessed.

    "You're as pathetic as you are overprotective," I sighed.

    I flinched as I heard hard knocking at the door, frantic knocking. Matsuda answered the door right away and before he was able to say anything, Takeuchi was already standing in the living room, out of breath and...panicked?

    "We need to get Arisa away from here," Takeuchi panted.

    My breath stopped short and Kai stiffened, "Why?" he whispered.

    "Werewolves," Takeuchi started, "Werewolves are coming for her again, tonight."

    Takeuchi looked over at me with the same panic in his deep purple eyes, "I'm sorry, Arisa,"