Okay, that last chapter was REALLY long. I'm gonna try to make this one shorter, but don't get your hopes up, I'm terrible at writing short things. Plus this is a backstory so I have to put in a ton more information than I do on a regular chapter.
For the record, Leorio and Kurapika are not back together yet, Kurapika's just going through a strong state of denial and Leorio never stopped loving Kurapika. Just in case that wasn't clear, I've been told that I make zero sense so I thought I'd clarify. Onto the shitty story that makes the bible seem short!
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Kurapika's POV
I woke up with cold arms around me, it took me a while to register where I was and who I was with. It took me even longer to remember what had just happened. I tried to leave Leorio's hold, but was held there. I kept struggling, but it was becoming clearer by the second that he wasn't going to let go.
"Thank goodness, you're awake." he mumbled against my shoulder. I felt something wet drip down the side of my neck, it wasn't blood, I could tell he had already bandaged the wound up. Was he... crying? "I'm so sorry, I lost control, I didn't mean to take so much. You should have used the cross."
"A little hard to do that when your arms are being pinned to your sides."
"True, sorry about that too."
"It's fine, but can you let me go now?"
"Just a little longer?" I huffed, arguing would be a waste of time in the end since he had the control, so I relaxed back against him.
"Not too long, okay?" He smiled widely and hugged me tighter. His fangs were no longer visible and I was trying very hard not to think about the fact that he was a vampire. Looking at him right now made him seem like an average human, but now that I knew the truth, I couldn't get it out of my head.
"How does your neck feel?" You aren't making it any easier Leorio!
"It's a little sore, but I'll live."
"Oh, well if we ever do that again, I did hear something a while back... if I lick or even kiss the area I'm going to feed from before I bite, it should numb the pain, and then if I do it again after, it should help the wound seal."
"Why didn't you do that this time?!"
"I wasn't sure if it would be welcome, you don't seem to like me very much right now."
"If it numbs the pain, I'm all for it. Even if it does seem strange now that we aren't dating anymore."
"Can you please stop saying that. I hate being reminded that I lost you, and I hope that you'll come to accept me soon. I don't know if I can last without you. I was sleeping with your sword thingies for crying out loud!"
"Why'd you sleep with my nunchakus?"
"They remind me of you... and they smell like you, it makes me feel closer to you." I didn't know what to say to that, he was sleeping with wooden nunchakus in order to feel like we were together, the need for cuddles suddenly made sense though.
"Hm, so that's why you wanted cuddles then?"
"Yep."
"You're such a baby. Anyway, let's watch a movie or something, it's starting to look like I won't be able to leave for awhile with you holding me like this."
"Okay, what should we watch?"
"I don't care."
"Well then... what about that Arretty one? What was it called again?"
"The Secret world of Arrietty?"
"Yeah! That one!" I nodded and he turned it on. The movie had amazing graphics, I always loved to watch it, a good storyline, good characters, plus it was very relaxing.
Leorio never loosened his grip, and it was starting to get uncomfortable. I hated being in the exact same position for more than an hour, and who knows how long it's been? "Uh... Leorio?"
"What is it?"
"Can you release me from these restraints called your arms for a little bit? It's becoming uncomfortable."
"Oh, sure." He let me go and I climbed off the couch, but I went a little too fast and instantly became dizzy which resulted with me falling back on top of the vampire. He laughed, "Falling for me all over again huh?"
"No, I just moved to fast," I huffed with my face a light shade of pink from embarrassment. I don't like Leorio anymore, he's just aiming out to hurt me. I just need to get out as soon as possible.
Suddenly the tv started to glitch and turned to the news. "What the hell?! It was just getting to the best part!" Leorio whined. I looked towards the tv just as the reporter began to speak.
"Hello everyone and welcome to AniNews. We interrupt your program for an important announcement. As of now, and for the foreseeable future, nobody will be allowed to leave their homes. There is an unidentified illness going around right now, and we know is that it's highly contagious. For everyone's safety, no one can leave the building they are in now. Even if this is not your house, you must stay there until further notice. The only time you will be permitted to leave the property is if there is an urgent emergency like a fire. As for food and all the basic necessities that you'll need, we are having the police force and government officials deliver foods for each individual per household. Anyone who is caught leaving their house will be arrested immediately. We thank you for your cooperation and stay safe." then the screen went back to our movie, but Leorio was quick to pause it.
"I guess you'll be staying here a little longer than you thought." He wasn't smiling, he probably already knew my opinion on the matter. I sighed and paced the living room. Great, now I'm stuck in a house with a vampire who also happens to be my ex-boyfriend, and who may or may not want to kill me.
"It seems that way," I muttered looking towards the vampire.
"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Why would he want to help me? Maybe he just wants me to trust him, but I'll never trust a vampire. "I know you hate messes so I'll clean up, but is there anything else I can do for you? I know you still don't trust me, so if there's anything you need, please let me know." I nodded and walked into the kitchen.
The kitchen was destroyed as well. All the bowls had been thrown around, silverware was starting to gather dust as they lay cluttered over the ground. The fridge was left open, and inside, it looked like Leorio hadn't thrown out any of the food. "I was really hoping you'd come back, even if it was just to talk for a bit." I stared at all the fridge's content and wondered if he actually meant that or was just lying to me again.
"Did you manage to get blood from the hospital?" I decided to change the subject.
His eyes widened and he suddenly looked panicked, "Oh shit! I completely forgot! Maybe I can go now before they get here."
"Dammit Leorio. If you get caught and arrested, how do you plan on getting blood in jail? You shouldn't risk it. Can't you just feed off of animals for a while?"
"I can try, but it probably won't be as safe for you. Animal blood will make it so that I don't starve to death, but it doesn't satiate the hunger even a little bit. If I miss a meal, I could bite you on accident."
"Well, let's just see how it goes. If you try to attack me, we'll have to come up with a different strategy. Please Leorio?"
"Okay." he turned away from me and started to pick up the kitchen. I watched him for a few seconds before I walked to the opposite side of the kitchen and started cleaning it up. This was definitely a two man job. "Kurapika, you don't have to help you know. I said I would clean it up, you didn't cause the mess or anything, I did. I should be the one to clean it up."
"It'll take two weeks for you to clean this house by yourself."
"So what? Then I guess I'll just be cleaning for two weeks."
"Or we could get it done separately and not live in a cabin which has an interior like a tornado just went through it for two weeks."
"You have a point." I didn't respond and went back to putting everything back. A few of the windows and doors were broken so Leorio would have to fix those later. I wasn't much of a builder, neither was he, but he was better at it than I was. "Do you want to turn on some music or something?" I ignored him and continued to tidy up the disastrous room. He could do what he wanted, I didn't feel like talking to him.
It seemed as if the reality of the whole situation had finally dawned on me. The only things that I brought here were the cross and my phone, everything else was at Mito's. Which meant I was stuck without a change of clothes, a toothbrush, really anything hygenic. I was left without any of my special possessions, including my contacts. If I got really mad at Leorio right before one of those deliveries they were talking about comes, I'd be in deep shit.
So, it wasn't just the fact that I was stuck with my vampiric ex-boyfriend, I didn't have anything to live on. I didn't want to ask to borrow Leorio's stuff, he'll probably ask for something in return, and chance are, it won't be cuddles. The whole situation screamed danger, just why did I have to get back my nunchakus? No, why did I have to forget them in the first place?
I huffed and walked out of the room, not being able to bare being in the same room as Leorio anymore. It felt so wrong to be anywhere near him now, I couldn't quiet the voices ringing through my head that he was only out to hurt me and that the longer I was here, the more chances he would get. But I also couldn't stop the voices that were screaming that I still have feelings for him and that he would never hurt me without my permission. They were tearing through my brain like the tornado that destroyed the cabin.
"Hey, Kurapika wait!" I didn't turn around, but I did stop walking for a few seconds so he could catch up. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly. I shrugged and made my way towards the bedroom so that I could pick up the stray shards of glass that were sprinkled along the floor from my nunchaku case. "Are you ignoring me now?" I didn't respond and he watched me enter the room. "So... I'm gonna take that as a yes... uh... I'm gonna talk to you anyway. Even if you don't respond, I like talking to you." was he really? He seriously can't take a hint. "You don't have your stuff here so you can borrow whatever you need from me... except my toothbrush, you can use one of the extras."
I tried really hard not to start laughing that and just ignore it, but the harder I tried, the harder it became. I could feel my shoulders shaking with the laughter, and it was becoming impossible to take full breaths. As a result, I ended up falling over trying not to laugh. Luckily, I missed all of the sharp shards of glass. Though I did hit my head on the bookshelf, it hurt a lot, but I was to busy trying to hold back the laughter that was bubbling up to care.
"Are you ok?!" Leorio exclaimed as he sped towards me. Then he seemed to notice my shaking, "Kurapika?"
I started laughing loudly and I couldn't stop it. A lone tear fell down my face from how hard I was laughing. I looked at Leorio's face, he looked relieved that I was ok, but also worried about my mental state. He was obviously confused as to why I was laughing, which only made me laugh harder. I tried with every bit of will within me to stop laughing, I thought of all the terrible things that had happened to me and the people I cared about, but nothing could stop the heinous disease called laughter that had taken me over.
"Kurapika, please stop laughing, your're scaring me!" Leorio carefully approached me and lay his hands on my shoulders, then he started to shake me around. Though it didn't help the situation at all because I just kept on laughing. "I'll do anything, just please stop laughing."
"You're not helping at all," I laughed even harder clinging to him for dear life. He smiled a little that I was happy for the first time in forever, though he was still concerned about my mental state. To him, I probably just started laughing out of nowhere since I waited so long to do so.
"Well then how can I help?! You're freakin' me out!" He yelled. My laughter, which had been starting to cease due to my speaking, started to grow again, and now I was laughing so much that I couldn't even look at Leorio without going into hysterics.
"God...dam...mit," I tried to say through the laughter, but I didn't know if he could actually understand it. "Just... stop talk...ing for a... few... minutes." I suggested breathily.
"O-okay," I was laughing too hard to notice that the vampire had started to hug me. He did as I told him to do and stopped speaking. He just held onto me and played with my hair. Though I did notice that.
"H-hey, stop it!" I giggled, since when do I giggle? The laughing continued on, and even though it was at a snails pace, was fading away.
"Finally," he grumbled when the laughter had completely gone. "What was that?"
"Don't ask me."
"Who am I supposed to ask?!"
"Uh... Atua?"
"That makes sense." I nodded and then noticed just how close I was to Leorio. I quickly crawled off of him, he didn't try to stop me, though he did start complaining about how he was enjoying that.
"Why do you like to be so close to me anyway?"
"Well, I genuinely love being as close to you as possible, and the obvious reason, because of your warmth." he answered truthfully. My warmth, huh?
"Oh, uh okay," before I could change my mind, I crawled back into his lap. He smiled and hugged me tightly. "Better?" He hummed. I didn't know why I did what I did, but something inside me clicked to make me completely dismiss the fact that he was a vampire for just a few moments. And when I did realize what I had just done and to who, I couldn't bring myself to move. Though my heart did start beating at a million miles an hour.
His hand found the area of my heart and started to draw light circles around it. "Thank you, you hate me so much yet you still do these nice things for me."
"I don't hate you, I don't think. I hate vampires."
"Doesn't change the fact that I'm grateful."
"I don't understand, I've been doing this stuff for years. Why be grateful now?"
"Before you didn't know what I was."
"Oh, that's true." Then the doorbell rang, "It must be those people who give us the tracking device things, I'll go answer it." I stood up but Leorio caught my wrist.
"Can I go with you?"
"I don't care." I mumbled and walked to the front door with him trailing behind me. When I opened the door, two people were standing there. One had bright grey hair, it was so light that I almost thought it was white. The other was the polar opposite with dark midnight hair. Neither of them looked particularly friendly, and the black haired one kept looking at me really weirdly. "Hello, I am Kite, and this is Feitan. We are here to give you the tracking devices and answer any questions you may have."
"We'll also deliver supplies to you." The black haired one said, he kept staring at me and I was suddenly very happy that Leorio had come down with me.
"Okay." I replied, the black haired's eyes never left me, and I felt Leorio start to shift around so that he was slightly in front of me.
The silver haired man who was probably 3-4 feet taller than the black, handed us a silver box. "Here are two bracelets, is there anyone else living here that we should know of?"
"Nope, just us." Leorio replied studying the bracelet.
"How do these work?" I asked a little hesitant to put the piece of tech on.
"We have a giant tv screen, and these send regular symbols that make you appear as dots on the screen. Do not worry, the bracelets have been tested and proven to have no harmful side effects on the wearer. We will not be able to hear or see what you are doing either, we just need to know that you aren't leaving the house."
"I see..." I put mine on before asking the question that I'm sure everyone was asking, "How long do you think we will have to stay here?"
"We don't know the details, probably around a month or two." Kite said, I noticed that Feitan had barely said anything, he really doesn't talk much. Why would they make Feitan do this whole discuss and deliver thing if he can't even socialize?
"That's pretty long." Leorio commented, "Have they found out the incubation period yet?"
"No, we still do not know that."
"Oh."
"We need to move on Kite." The black one grumbled.
"Yes, you're right. If you have any questions, just call me at this number." He handed us a business card that had a picture of him and Feitan on it along with their names and contact information. Then he was pulled away by the small black haired boy.
Leorio closed the door and sighed with relief. I looked up wondering what could possibly be so relieving. He saw my stare and said, "That Feitan guy was a vampire, and a strong one at that."
"You're kidding!" A vampire?! I couldn't even tell!
"Nope."
"Damn it." I grit my teeth and looked down wondering how I missed it. Ever since my clan was killed, I've been doing nonstop training to kill vampires. A part of that training was to be able to recognize vampires without being told what they are, which I am clearly failing at.
I felt cold arms wrap around me, they felt so comforting and familiar, the only problem was I knew who they belonged to, a vampire. Someone of the same species as the people who killed my entire clan. It took a little effort to build up the motivation to move Leorio's arms from me, but when I eventually did, he didn't fight back. He hasn't been fighting back much at all since we broke up, all his stubbornness seemed to just disappear. Why is that?
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing? You thought it was welcome because of what happened earlier. I'm not going to be mad at you for a misconception of that sort."
"I-I see..." He stuttered.
I walked to the living room to retrieve my nunchakus so that the resident vampire wouldn't try to bargain for more cuddles, or worse. The nunchakus had been set down neatly on the couch, easy to spot and in a semi safe place. I mentally thanked Leorio for not leaving them on the floor like most people would have done.
Leorio then walked into the room, "Kurapika?"
"Hm?" I didn't look at him, but this time I just didn't feel like it, I wasn't feeling any hate towards him presently.
"I didn't get to thank you for earlier, it would have been a much worse situation than it turned out to be if I tried to go to the hospital right away."
"I already told you that I just don't want the civilians getting hurt when I can do something about it."
"That doesn't mean I'm not grateful to you. You overcame your hatred of vampires, even if it wasn't for all that long, just so I could get a meal." I saw him bow down in my peripheral vision.
"I never thought I would give my blood to a vampire willingly." I mumbled knowing that he could easily hear me with his superior vampiric senses. "Was it as wonderful as you hoped?" I rolled my eyes at the question.
"No."
"So the stories were wrong then?" Why am I taking offense to that? It's not like I care.
"How did they describe it?"
"Let's see... the most amazing flavor mixed with the comfort of life... um... the warmth of the Kurta's blood is supposed to enhance the flavor 10 fold, that's why vampires would prefer to drink from us when we are alive."
"Yeah, they were way off."
"Sorry it was such a disappointment." I grumbled, I still hadn't a clue why I was so upset about not tasting good to him.
"You misunderstand Kurapika. The stories were wrong because no amounts of words could describe the flavor. I've never tasted anything like it." He seemed dazed as if he could still taste the blood.
"So, is that good or bad?"
"Definitely good. I didn't realize you had such strong from feelings on the matter."
"Neither did I."
"Well, no matter. If everything goes well, I won't have to hurt you anymore. You deserve way better than me who lied to you for 6 years. And about something that was apparently super important."
"It wasn't the fact that you lied to me, I get why you'd wish to keep that a secret. You told me right after I had just confessed to vampires being the ones to kill my entire clan."
"Yeah, that was really stupid of me."
"I probably wouldn't have freaked out quite as much had you told me some other time. Though I'd still probably freak out a ton."
"Would we still be together?"
"I seriously doubt it." I glared at the ground. I wasn't going to let him convince me into starting our relationship up again. "Regardless, all that is already over, I don't hold any real grudges against you so I'm not gonna swear revenge on you like I did with the Troupe. But, I don't trust you. I don't know if I ever will, it's impossible to tell the future."
"Yes, I know. If there's anything that I can do to convince you that I don't have any harmful intents I'll do them immediately. Unless it puts you in harms way, then I won't do it."
"Goddammit Leorio. You're making it seriously hard to despise you right now."
"Like you said, you don't despise me, it's my kind that is the fuel of your hatred." (When you want to say something really deep and wisdom-y but then realize Leorio's talking -_-)
"That's very true." I began to wonder what it would be like if Leorio and I were dating again. What would be different? What would be the same? Would it even work? I mean, we were dating for two years and it worked, why wouldn't it because I have acquired some new data that already existed. A part of me wanted to give him another chance, and everytime I was around him, that part grew. I could feel my distrust slowly melting away.
"Oh shit."
"What is it?"
"How am I supposed to get blood with the tracking devices?" Shit, he's right. We don't know if they respond to a heat signature or what, but if he wears his outside, he could get arrested. But he'll need to go outside in order to get his food.
"Do you think that I could wear the bracelet while you went out?"
"No, I already tried to take it off, but it seems that we would need some kind of key to remove it."
"Damn. We are so unlucky."
"You can say that again." He groaned and flopped back up against the back of the couch. We sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of us moved a muscle, we just stared at the wall. Well, I stared at the wall and Leorio stared at me. I felt him shift around a bit so I turned to face him, I was about to ask what was wrong, but he answered the question before I even had the chance to ask. "Ok, before I suggest this, I want you to know that this is 110% optional, and I don't want you feeling like your answer is going make me change my attitude towards you... but what if I took little bits of your blood everyday? Just until this whole quarantine thing is over of course."
I couldn't tell if this was what he wanted all along or if he really couldn't think of another solution. I assumed it was the latter based off how long he was thinking about it, which was basically the entire time I was studying the wall. I was also failing to come up with another way to keep Leorio fed and sane. I didn't want to be his personal blood bag, that would only cause me to hate him for being him when there wasn't really a choice in the matter.
"We can try it, I can't think of any other solutions either." There was reasonable hesitance in my voice when I agreed, but that was to be expected in this predicament.
"Really?" he sounded like he couldn't believe that I had actually accepted that.
"Unless you can think of something else, yeah. I'd prefer for you to drink from me safely more often than have you drink from me less often but have each time hold more risk."
"That's right!"
I sighed feeling a mix of frustrated and conflicted. "Don't you dare start treating me like a blood slave or whatever you call it."
"Of course not! I'll always ask, and if you don't want it, I won't. And it's not like I'll come to you all the time, just a couple times a day, that way I can take only a tiny bit, so it shouldn't affect you at all. Except for wasting a little bit of your time."
"Well we got plenty of time... I can't believe I'm stuck with you of all people for possibly two months." I complained.
"Would you rather be stuck with some other vampire?" I squinted my eyes at him and made the best unamused face I could. He chuckled a little at my reaction. "Well then, do you want to finish cleaning the house, we've only done about a fifth of the work for down here, and you already saw how bad it is upstairs."
"Yeah, I'll work down here, you start on the bedroom and I'll finish up the kitchen. Also, you're gonna need to fix all the windows and doors you broke."
"I know, I'll get started with that after I've finished the rooms upstairs."
"Okay." I walked into the kitchen which, even though we had already began cleaning it, was still a pigsty. I sighed, this is going to take a while...
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4623 Words
Okay, I ended up cutting this chapter in half so it wouldn't be as long as the last one. So, yay! Another Leopika backstory part, sorry to all of those who don't want to read it. I just thought it would be a nice little addition to the story, just to understand everything better. Turned out, writing a backstory is really hard. Hehe.
What'd you think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Weird? Why is this backstory taking so damn long?!
Bai!
~Author-chan