Thought I'd try a new direction! If you liked 'Curse of Curves' from my other fic 'some things never change' you'll hopefully like this!!
It was a dark, cold, dreary night on the Alice Academy campus; most people were staying inside, except for one – Mikan Sakura (who else?), who was walking home alone.
"Dammit Hotaru!" she shouted angrily. "How could you forget we had plans to go out because of your inventions again?!" She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her big boys' hoodie and stormed down the dark tree-lined pathways. She loved Hotaru, but she was always so busy with her inventions that sometimes it was like she forgot she had a best friend at all. Not to mention they had been moved to separate building blocks in the Academy too.
Even if she did look like a boy, that was no reason to put her in the boys dormitory! But apparently there had been some kind of mistake because Mikan was such a tomboy, always wearing boys' hoodies and pants – she'd never worn a pair of high heels in her life – that in their last year of Alice Academy she had been put in the boys' Dorm... and she was still a no star.
Yes, Mikan didn't have much going for her at this time. Her grades were shaky at best, she lived with all the boys – most of which ignored her or thought she was a boy. Not that she cared, Mikan didn't want to be just another one of the stupid girls at Alice who wore heaps of makeup, rolled up their skirts and flirted with all the hot guys to find a boyfriend. She didn't believe that she needed a guy to prove her self worth, that was just a stupid lie propagated by magazines and tv shows.
All the guys at her school were idiots anyway, so she was better off being ignored by everyone and called 'Mikan-kun' by even her teachers. She only needed her best friends Hotaru and Ruka by her side, they'd been friends since they started the Academy.
Mikan kicked a can with the toe of her sneakers as she walked between two old classroom blocks, and it clattered down the alleyway loudly and then came to a stop; however, after a few moments it came bouncing back down the alley towards Mikan... just as if someone had kicked it back.
"Hello?" she asked. "Is someone there?" She heard no voice of response, but instead a low hiss and then a growl. She thought at first it was just a cat, but then a dark shadow stepped out from the walls and came toward her.
"Funny," he said in a hypnotic purr. "You don't even look like a girl..."
"Who are you?!" Mikan yelled. "And... so what if I look like a boy! That's none of your business!"
The figure walked up to her, close enough that she could see he was a boy about her age, wearing an Academy Uniform, only Mikan had never seen his face before. His features were half-shadowed, but even then she could tell he was a very striking person. Large, crimson eyes lined with sharp thin eyebrows dominated his face, they seemed to pierce he very soul. But there was darkness in them too, a terrifying darkness.
"You may dress like a male," he said seductively. "But I can hunt you down all the same – your scent is unique to me." He grinned and dazzling white teeth flashed, as if they gave out their own light. It wasn't until he took another step forwards that Mikan realized something was very wrong.
"Who are you?!" she screamed, trying to step backwards away from him, but she tripped on a water pipe and went crashing backwards onto her ass. "OW!!" she yelled. "That hurt!"
The boy before her laughed, and now Mikan caught sight of the razor-sharp points on the teeth further back in his mouth; his fangs.
"Not very graceful, either," he sneered, and then in a flash – faster than her eyes could follow – he grabbed her by the front of her hoodie and pulled her to her feet before him, lifting her as if she weighed no more than a feather.
"Get away from me!" she whimpered, trying to pull his hand off her hoodie, but his fingers were ice cold and like steel, she couldn't budge even one.
"But we hardly even know each other," he said darkly. "Don't you want to get to know me a bit?"
"Why would I want to know a creep like you!" Mikan screeched. "Let go of me! Help! Help someone!" He reached out with his other hand and sealed her lips closed.
"Shhhhh," he hissed. "We'll have no more of that." He tipped her head back and bore her soft pale neck. "You may not want to get to know me," he whispered seductively as he inched his mouth closer and closer towards Mikan's neck, and she tried to convince herself this couldn't be real and she was just having a bad dream.
"But I want to know you..." As he hissed the last words, he closed his mouth around her soft virgin skin and began to dig in with his sharp teeth. Mikan couldn't process this; she had just been walking home, there was no way she was now being attacked by a vampire, no way this transfixing, captivating boy had his fangs digging into her neck and was going to drink her blood. She thought all the rumours were just talk, she never expected them to be real!
Just as she tried to scream for help again, Mikan felt dizzy, and became aware that he had punctured her skin now and was sucking the blood from her neck. His hands were now tight around her shoulders and to a normal passer-by it might have looked like they were lovers. Mikan fought the haze closing in on her and tried to do something, but her head became too heavy, and her eyes too sore from drowsiness, and soon she passed out; limp in his arms.
As he finished feeding, the vampire pushed his raven-black hair out of his eyes and grinned, his lips reddened from his bitter nectar. He wiped his mouth and allowed Mikan to slump over one of his arms, still bleeding heavily from her neck.
"Can't have that," he chuckled, and then craning down his head he drew the tip of his tongue across her puncture wounds and they instantly began to heal. She would have no memory of this when she woke up tomorrow. "Where shall we leave you, hm?" he said to her sarcastically, knowing full well she could not hear him. "I know just the place," he muttered, and then shifting her onto his back he slipped back into the shadows – passing silently between the dark buildings, to leave her on a bench outside the infirmry. He took one last look at her before leaving, and licked a trace of her blood off one of his fangs – there was something odd about her blood, but he couldn't place what.
Never mind, it mattered not now. The boy laughed; she wouldn't remember a thing.
"Farewell," he whispered, reaching out to toy with a lock of her hair that had fallen over her face, "Mikan."
The next morning Mikan awoke with a blood-stained t-shirt and a hell of an ache in her neck, but she couldn't remember what on earth had happened to her. She still had what little money she owned and although there was blood she wasn't cut anywhere; although she had a killer headache.
"What happened to me...?" she murmured, and then she saw the infirmary clock and realzied she had half an hour to get to class. "AH!" she screamed. "I can't go to class covered in blood!"
After rushing back to her room, at the jeering of a few of the boys she passed for being late as usual, Mikan showered and pulled on one of her old band t-shirts and a clean pair of uniform trousers – her last clean shirt was now covered in blood, as was her blazer. She couldn't turn up to class like that without being questioned, so she just went as she was, and to hell with Jinno for yelling at her. He needed a good excuse every now and again.
"Sorry I'm late!" she yelled as she shouldered open the door of her classroom fifteen minutes after the bell went. "I had a...OOF!" she ran into the classroom and crashed straight into the back of a dark-haired boy, who pushed her back hard enough to send her tumbling down to the floor in front of everyone.
"Watch where you're going," he snapped, and Mikan was about to get up and yell at him for blocking entrance-ways when she saw his face. Piercing red eyes, midnight black hair and a face that was almost perfect to look at... why did she recognise him?
Stunned into silence, Mikan didn't even hear the rest of her class laughing at her, or the girls at the back conspiring to get her for bumping into the hot new transfer student so rudely.
"Get up Mikan-kun," her teacher growled, and Mikan scrambled to her feet. "Not only are you late and not in uniform, but you missed the new student being introduced and instead attacked him." Mikan blushed a little, especially as the new guy wouldn't stop staring at her.
"Sorry," she muttered, getting up and brushing herself down. "I'm Mikan Sakura, nice to meet you." She held out her hand to him awkwardly, but he didn't bother shaking it.
"Natsume," he clipped. "You're in my way... Mikan." Mikan's memory flashed and flickered, but she couldn't work out what it was trying to tell her. Natsume's eyes also never left her as he walked down to take a seat.
"Sit next to me Hyuuga-san!" Sumire said girlishly. Natsume ignored her, and instead sat down at the back next to Ruka: Mikan's friend. She was about to go up and take her usual seat at that desk too when the teacher stopped her.
"Mikan-kun, if you can't wear your uniform properly, don't bother coming to class at all," he sneered. Mikan didn't say anything, because she could hardly tell him there was blood all over her uniform, that had even soaked through her usual massive hoodie. Now all she had to wear was her faded heavy metal band t-shirt, and that was never going to go down well with her classmates or teachers either.
And for some reason Natsume still wouldn't stop staring at her.
"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I had to leave in a rush and..."
"Never mind," the teacher snapped. "Just sit down and try not to cause any more disturbances."
"Hey Mikan," Ruka said, as his best friend and long-term crush took her seat between him and Hotaru as usual – Natsume, for some reason, was sitting on the end of their four person desk without saying a word, but occasionally glancing over in Mikan's direction.
"Morning, Ruka-Pyon," she said cheerfully.
"You didn't come back last night, Mikan," Ruka said worriedly; their rooms were right next to each other, so he could hear when she opened and closed her door. "What happened?"
"Oh... I..." Mikan said vaguely. "I... uh... stayed over with Hotaru! Then I was late in the morning and I left all my clothes there! Ahahaha!" Ruka stared at her quizzically, but Mikan knew if she told him the truth he'd get all worried. She felt fine now, so it was probably nothing to worry about.
The rest of the day passed without trouble, and Mikan managed to sneak her clothes out to be washed without raising any suspicion.
"Yo, Mikan-kun," a few of the lads teased as she walked down to the laundry room with her washing in her arms. "No one wants to see your dirty washing!" They all laughed, but Mikan just kept walking. The boys in her dorm either treated her like one of the guys or an outsider, or both, but it was easy to get used to in the end and it was probably better than the girls dorm, where there would be squealing all the time and all those airheads running around swapping clothes and makeup and doing their hair.
She fitted in best here, if she fitted in at all.
"What was up with that Natsume guy, huh?" Ruka said to Mikan on the way back to their rooms after dinner.
"I know, he sat by us but didn't say anything all day," Mikan mused.
"Maybe he's shy?" Ruka suggested.
"I don't know, he seems more arrogant than shy. Maybe he just didn't want to sit with Permy," Mikan laughed, and Ruka chuckled along with her. They parted at their respective doors.
"Goodnight, Mikan!" Ruka said brightly.
"Night Ruka-pyon!" Mikan returned, and then strolled into her room.
Undressing, she pulled off her t-shirt and put on another larger one to sleep in, slipping off her sports bra and underwear putting them in a laundry bag. They were about the only things that made her different to the guys here.
It was another cold night, and Mikan thought she had locked her windows to keep out the wind, but her locks were faulty and cheap so if a particularly strong blast hit the frame the window could burst open. Mikan was just about to get into bed when this happened, she jumped as the windowpane flew open and clattered noisily against the wall, but as soon as she realized what it was she calmed down.
"Stupid window," she laughed to herself, but when she got up to close it she discovered that there was hardly even a breeze up tonight. What made the window open.
"Still in boys' clothes," someone cackled from across the room, and Mikan whirled around to face the source of the voice.
"YOU!" she yelped. What the hell was Natsume doing in her room? And how did he get in, for that matter?
"Me," he said with a smirk, and as he grinned his teeth flashed again – like last time... as the memory vaguely came back to Mikan. Perhaps this was why he didn't smile at school. People would see his secret.
"What do you want with me?!" Mikan asked in fear, and as he answered her, Natsume slowly crossed the room towards her.
"I wasn't going to visit you again," he began to explain. "Not so soon at least... but there is something..." he trailed off, and his eyes became distant. "There is something in your blood," he murmured hypnotically, baring his teeth unashamedly once more and closing in on a petrified Mikan. "After seeing you today... I have to find out more." He held out his hand to her.
"Come to me," he commanded.
"To hell I will!" Mikan retorted. Natsume snapped his fingers, and then in a blink he had Mikan's neck in his hands.
"I will find out what is in your blood," he said threateningly, twisting her head around to gain access. "Why... it's driving me crazy." The last thing Mikan remembered before she passed out was the oddly familiar feeling of lips against her skin.
Natsume drank deeper from Mikan this time; he accessed more of her thoughts and memory. A vampire drinking the blood of a human can access their memories and feelings, with the same power by which they can then erase the memory of being feasted on. He needed to find out why ever since tasting her blood he felt almost weak, underpowered, like she had sapped his energy instead of supplementing it with her blood.
It could damage him even more to drink any more from her, but he had to find out more about her.
However, when he did, the shock of what he saw nearly knocked him out as well. Reeling backwards, snatching his mouth away from her skin as if it could burn him, Natsume nearly let Mikan fall to the floor, but upon realizing she could bleed to her death if he didn't staunch her wound he returned to her body to seal the wound with his saliva and lay her on his bed.
He left her room the way he got in, by the window, but the look he gave the room behind him as he left it was one of pure fear.
Mikan... he thought ...can those memories be real?
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