Chapter 9: Temptation
"Baki! Baki, hurry! You're moving too slow! I don't wanna miss it!"
He laughed.
"We have plenty of time, Luna—the beach isn't far from here, and the sun is still setting. We'll get a great view."
She whined.
"I don't care! I wanna get there NOW!"
Baki smirked.
"Did you say now?"
The girl, her name only known as Luna, backed away.
"God no."
Baki laughed.
"You asked for it," he smugly said, flashing a grin at her.
"Baki, n-"
"Too late."
With one swift scoop, she was now in his hands as he ran at a pace of thirty miles an hour (which, to him, was quite slow). The girl in his hands shrieked, grasping onto his neck as if it were her only chance for survival.
"I hate it when you do this! It scares the heck out of me!"
He could only chuckle every time a scream erupted from her throat, begging Baki to stop and just walk like a regular human being.
"I'll have you know," he began to say, winking at her, "that I'm not human."
She pouted.
"You know what I mean, Baki! Put me DOWN!"
"No means NO, Luna—you're going to stay in my arms for as long as I feel like it."
"Can't you at least run slower? I'm getting dizzy."
He rolled his eyes.
"Humans. Luna, to me, this is WALKING. You're asking me to go slower now? Hn. I always knew you were never the type for action."
Poking his forward, Luna stuck out her tongue.
"Oh lookie here," Baki said with fake innocence in his voice, as if this were a surprise to him,, "we've arrived."
"You did that on a purpose, didn't you?! You were trying to distract me all along so that-"
Lips met lips as he caressed her figure, kissing her with all the passion he could. He was on the edge of losing control—already his veins began to thump and images were flashing through his mind as he thirsted for the day that he could take her, claim her, and bond with her to make sure that she would always remain his. He growled at the thought of someone taking away his one and only mate.
"Baki?" Luna questioned. She ran her fingers over his temple, leaning into his chest as she giggled. "As usual, we've made it right on time."
"Hn. Which means," his forehead touched hers, "you should stop doubting me."
"Very well then," Luna said, rolling her eyes—"from this day forward, I will never question your ability to arrive right on time to see the sunset."
Baki flashed a smirk.
"Happy?" she grunted.
"Much."
With her head resting on his chest and an arm around her shoulders, they were both silenced by the beauty of the sunset before them, the soft ocean waves gently being pushed onto the sand.
They could hear birds, but no other sound was able to penetrate the peace that dawned over the too. Luna's fingers wrapped themselves around Baki's wrist as she sighed contentedly.
"Baki?" she whispered, shattering the silence.
"Hm?"
"When…when will I have to change?"
He frowned.
"I would prefer it to be before I bond with you to give me a better chance at controlling myself, but if you want the change afterward, it's perfectly fine with me."
She blushed at the mentioning of 'bonding'.
"I'd prefer to do it after," she quietly said, looking up at him to read his expression.
Baki sent her a serene smile.
"Your wish is my command."
Damn it, he cursed at himself. This should be the least of my worries right now. Someone's trying to kill this girl, and I think…I think of…
"Baki?"
"Hm?"
"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked, worry evident in her voice.
Baki blinked.
"And what is it exactly that makes you think something's wrong with me?"
"Your eyes are watering."
At that response, he was surprised. He hadn't even noticed! And when he brought his pinky finger to check, he was baffled. He still wasn't hardened enough to prevent himself from crying?
Damn it, damn it. Damn it all! Why are all these memories coming back to me?!
You should know why, Baki, a smooth, whispering voice said, ringing in his ears.
"You should honestly know why, Baki!"
"Why you're obsessed with seeing the sunset everyday?"
"Yes! It has meaning to me!" Luna exclaimed.
"'Meaning'"? Baki asked, not fully understanding where this was going.
"….Do you not remember?"
"Remember what?"
Luna grew upset. Baki could tell, as she bit her lip, stomped her foot on the ground once, and turned away from him.
"Then I am not going to tell you," she hissed bitterly.
After all this time…his eyes softened, I still remember her voice.
Damn it, Baki. This isn't the time to think about this. We've got a high-ranking monster out there chasing after us. What happened, happened. That's the past. This is the NOW. Don't ruin the future because of your memories. They are to be forgotten!
There came the logical side of his mind. Great.
"I'm going to head to the ocean," Baki said, his feet gaining more speed as he said this. "It's the farthest away from our area at the moment, and though it's going to take a while to get there, I think it will be worth it. On the mean time, Ichigo, you and I are going to lay fake scents that will deceive him from our direction. In others words, I need you to…"
I hope I can control myself.
"Draw blood."
Luna was exasperated. He knew it. And he tried, really, really hard, to figure it out.
Uhm…I just assumed she came to see the sunset every day because it was pretty. Isn't that what most humans do, anyway? It's not like they have any real logical meaning behind it. It's merely a source of comfort, a sight of beauty.
You should remember, BakiLuna's smooth, whispering voice said, much gentler than the first time she had said these words.
Well…I guess I'll just start with square one: how we met.
"I think I remember now, Luna."
"You do?" she positioned herself to see him, her face lit up with warmth.
"Does it have anything to do with how we met?" he asked.
"It has everything to do with how we met," she breathed in excitement. Placing her head on his shoulders, she sighed. "I knew you'd remember…"
I remember! Baki screamed with inner excitement. On that day, he paused, looking at the half-awake girl in his arms, when I met Luna…there was an extravagant sunset. I had originally planned to go through the beach as a shortcut to get ready for hunting, but what I saw…was beautiful. Breathtaking. And it wasn't the sunset…it was the girl. With the way the colors of orange, yellow, red, pink, purple were hitting her…it was as if her hair was sparkling, her figure illuminating towards me, literally drawing me into like a fly to a spider web.
I couldn't hold my curiosity longer. And when she turned to me, her soft, emerald eyes dazed, and her hair a pastel pink, I knew immediately that this creature would forever draw my attention to her. She was the most beautiful thing I had seen in years.
But especially, when she smiled at me… I felt the coldness in my body warming up. It was a strange feeling to me. I had never experienced it before. She made me feel different. And because of that…
Baki, taking her chin, pressed his lips against hers, tasting her, and breathing her scent in and out.
It was because of that, Baki remember, as he held Luna in his arms, that I fell in love with her at first sight.
"I remember," he hissed.
Ichigo looked at him with questioning eyes.
"Damn it, I know…I know…"
I know why I'm attracted to this girl, he hissed. Her hair…looks almost identical to Luna's hair on that day. And Ichigo, too…emits that strange warmth that just seems to literally…caress me.
"Damn it!"
Must I always be the one in reach of temptation?!
She honestly didn't know why he seemed so furious with himself. His expression was constantly changing, and his emotions ranged constantly. What exactly was going on?
"So…I must draw blood?" she asked to distract him.
Baki, his eyes looking strangely cold, nodded. "Yes." His voice hissed out, as if it were a snake.
Ichigo flinched once before taking her thumb to her lip and bit as hard as she could, in result, breaking the skin.
It dripped with blood.
More temptation, he roared. What next?! She's gonna announce her undying love for me?!
"Done. What now, Baki?" He seemed so…distracted.
"Here's what we're going to do: I'm going to head I'm going to head east for a while and let you keep dripping blood here and there to leave as a false trail. Eventually, I am going to stop at a dead end to confuse him.
Maybe an alley way, or something of the sorts. I'll then leave one last clue over the dead end, and then leave it at that. After that, I am going to sprint as quickly as I can west, but we're going to have to clean your wound and cover it with a bandage before we do that.
Once that's done, I will head towards the ocean. Even if it does manage to follow us, the scent of the ocean will disorder it, and hide our trail quite well. After that, once we're along the border, I'm going to head South, with the ocean still covering his scent, which, to me, would be the best route because it's so obvious. He would think we're going North, since we want to avoid being anywhere we previously were. In other words…we're going in one big—"
"Circle," Ichigo finished for him.
"Correct. Now…let's get started, shall we?"
And they did.
Every now and then, Ichigo lowered her thumb and pinched it (to draw more blood) and let the wind take it as it landed on the ground. They continued this for about an hour an a half, leaving trails and dropping blood in such a complex matter. He first traveled straight, then in zig-zags, and then went forward really quick and then downward again, making an up-and-down zig-zag of the sort.
Baki was just trying to complicate things, really. And it was okay. Despite all that they had done, it wouldn't seem obvious to it that they were trying to leave a false trail. It could easily figure that Baki had lost control and simply attacked Ichigo. It wouldn't be surprising, really, with the amount of attraction Ichigo's blood held.
Baki had to constantly calm his nerves down just so he wouldn't turn around and attack the one person he was trying to protect. It was quite complicated. Only one with a strong-willed mind would be able to pull it off.
And, going along with the assumption that Baki had lost control, the weird manner the way the blood was dropped wouldn't uphold suspicion, either, for when vampires lost control, they tended to go wild. Baki himself had witnessed it many years ago. It was usually newborns, ones that weren't able to control themselves well; just the slightest scent of blood in the air was enough to make them go mad. They sprang in crazy directions that didn't make any sense, and didn't even have a sense of mind. When things got that serious, other vampires were sent to keep things in control and clean up whatever mess they had created so that humans still stayed ignorant of their existence.
Humans and vampires needed to co-exist, have some kind of balance, and the best way that could be is if one stayed unknown to the other. To humans, they were just a figment of imagination, a creation of one of many Hollywood affects.
If a mortal were to discover their existence, the two different ways to dealt with them was to: erase their memories, or simply kill them on the spot. It depended on the desperation of the situation, but at times, the latter choice was chosen. Erasing one's memory was a long, difficult task, especially when the person did not cooperate.
Only chosen, experienced, hired vampires, whose specialty was to do such, were given a task like that. It took many hours, maybe even days, and there was always a risk that they could somehow regain their memories if they were to see something, or come to the area, that had some significance and could register in their mind.
Though this happened rarely, for the chosen ones were always very careful of their work, it was still something they had to wary of. Humans brought such unnecessary complications. But it was necessary. Without humans, vampires would cease to exist. Humans were their prey, they quenched their thirst, they fed them, and so they were of great importance.
That was probably the only reason why such creatures even took the time to deal with such beings that they felt were much lower than them. But no matter—they had a purpose. And so humans had to stay.
In a strange way, it was as if one depended on the other. The humans were so ignorant to the many tasks vampires had done for them. When newborns were out of control and on killing sprees, they were immediately eliminated. If a new pack of vampires were to approach and not follow the set of rules the ruling one, the one that had been there first, has, then they were to be erased as well.
In a twisted way, vampires protected humans from their own kind, because humans always ended up paying a mighty fair fee in the end, correct? Their blood was more than enough for a payment.
To sum things up, humans were needed.
But it was forbidden to fall in love with a human.
Absolutely.
It would bring complications, and there always a chance of betrayal. The human population, as it is, was in danger, because of the constant killing sprees caused by the newborns, humans-just-turned-vampires, in other words.
Alas, they felt that they should stick to their own species.
Baki never understood that. Weren't vampires and humans one in the same? Vampires came from humans, and vampires depended on humans. Vampires themselves were once humans. To be honest, he felt that being a vampire was just a "souped up human"!
But no one ever agreed with him, even thought that what he said was obviously correct. Vampires were growing arrogant, thinking they were better than humans. Even hatred was growing for them.
And that's why…that's why…SHE isn't in this world anymore. Baki's eyes grew even colder. It's forbidden..., he hissed to himself, and I knew that. So…why couldn't I stop myself?
Wow, everyone. It's a miracle. I seriously remembered to update. O.o I'm sorry, but I seriously forgot about this fan fic…school had started, and I was just going nuts. But, it's Christmas break at the moment, and I'm enjoying just lounging around and being lazy!
Anyhow, I'm really sorry. Happy holidays, everyone!