Disclaimer: I do not own 'Free!'

Guh! Look at me. Being so irresponsible as to start another story.

Apologies in advance if the characters are not spot on.

Warnings: Graphic violence and gore.

Bloodlust: Part 1

The first thought Haru had when he woke up was how stupid he was to have fallen asleep on the floor. Followed by wondering what had looked so enticing about the floor to begin with to had fallen asleep on it. Then trying to think back to the events leading up to his bizarre decision to lose consciousness in the bathroom of all places. In the end Haru gave up questioning on such pointless thoughts with a simple whatever and heaved himself up into a sitting position. Immediately his head swam at the action and his neck stung painfully. It almost left him breathless.

Granted, that's what you get when you decide to camp out in the bathroom. If Rei ever finds out about this he'll surely cough up some statistics or recite a textbook about how bad it is for your spine or some other intellectual bullshit.

Hissing, his hand flew instinctively to his neck. As soon as his hand touched skin, flaring pain ignited like a fire. Spreading throughout his neck and up to the back of his skull. Pain pulsated through his veins in a heartbeat, muffling every sound he could hear. Yelping, Haru drew back his hand and grumbled curses in his foggy mind.

Just what he needed on the first day back to school. Tch.

Haru made a note in his mind to never sleep on the floor again. God, his neck hurts. Just as his hand came back into his line of sight, Haru ceased movement and blinked.

Blood?

Blood?!

Touching his neck again Haru ignored the pain and double-checked to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Yup. His neck was bleeding. Jumping to his feet, Haru's knees shook with unease. Erratically, he made his way over to the sink. Leaning against it for support because holy hell his entire body felt weak as a kitten. Blinking to clear the sudden spots appearing in his vision, Haru looked at the mirror.

He gasped.

Blood covered his body like a fine sheet. It was matted in his hair, covered the left side of his face, splattered like a child's painting on his clothes, (he's sure he'll never be able to wear these pajamas again) there was so much of it; it made his stomach feel queasy he had to look away. A sour taste filled his mouth and Haru too take deep breaths to keep himself from throwing up.

Calm down. Calm down.

Quickly turning the tap on he grabbed the hand-towel, soaked it in water and started to rub it against his cheek. His skin trembled at the cool touch. By the time he got to his neck he hesitated. Then as gingerly as he could, almost like he was petting a newborn baby, Haru dabbed his neck. Pain flared, this time spreading down his spine. Haru cried out and gripped the sink to keep himself from falling.

"Goddammit!" Haru cursed through gritted teeth. What happened last night? All he remembered was going home after meeting with the swimming team -

He felt himself being pulled forward forcefully by his jacket collar. The scent of rotting meat attacking his nostrils and making his head swim -

Gasping, Haru felt his mind tug and pull at the dormant memory. Carving itself out.

An arm so white and skeletal Haru shivered.

He groaned in agony as his brain throbbed trying to pul the shattered pieces of a memory back together.

This time there was a hand: Pointed fingers that resembled more beast than man, reaching out towards his neck. Wrapping themselves around it, tugging him forward. As the shadow of a figure lifted, Haru felt his insides shrivel. He almost gagged at the sight. Its long sharp teeth buried themselves into his throat. The figure was a-

"No!" Haru panted, not realizing how out of breath he felt when surfacing from the memory that now fell out of reach. His hands grasped his neck. Body shivering in fear at how wrong this all felt. "Not true. No such thing." Immediately his mind began to come up with plausible reasons.

He must have ate something weird at Makoto's. Maybe Nagisa put something in his drink? But then how did his neck get hurt—No. Stop it. A hysterical giggle bubbled up his throat as he stared at his neck in the reflection. Two small puncture wounds just barely visible amongst the flaky dried blood.

"I wasn't attacked by a vampire!"

They don't exist.

Then…how does he explain that grotesque creature he remembers? Hollowed cheeks, chalk-white skin, horrible dead looking eyes, and that smell. Haru almost gagged. There was no way of reasoning it. He was attacked by a vampire.

. . .

No. No. No.

He can't accept that. This was more Makoto's area of expertise than his. He doesn't believe in that crap. Ghosts, werewolves, santa, the easter bunny, vampires, they're campfire stories told to little children to keep them from being naughty. For example: the boogeyman. Mothers told their children that if they misbehaved in anyway the boogeyman will come up from under their bed and take them away to his land of the damned. Yet, when they did misbehave nothing of the sort happened. Thus, the big bad boogeyman was just a story told to a child.

Haru isn't a child. So there's only one explanation left to what happened to him.

He was attacked by Satanists.

. . .

He sighed. Nope. That sounds worse. Groaning in exasperation, he slid down to hide his head against his knees and hugged himself. He didn't like being afraid or feeling helpless. It kept him from feeling free. He's trapped.

After some moments of wallowing his stomach growled.

As soon as a slice of mackerel was in his mouth Haru spat it out. Retching and heaving at the texture of paste, some bits were still stuck in his teeth like glue. The oil he used to cook the Mackerel on was similar to engine oil instead of the slick salty taste it should be. Glancing at his plate that lay a whole cooked fish of mackerel, Haru suddenly felt disgusted. What did he just try and eat? Maybe…maybe it was only that bit. He loves mackerel.

Cutting off another piece, Haru wearily chewed it.

Revolting!

"Ugh!" Haru chocked and spat out the fish. His stomach churning and gurgling in a threatening manner.

It was like eating pigs fat!

What in the world?

Review if you would like another chapter.

I also accept helpful criticism.