Chapter Text
Nitori Aiichirou is by far the most awkward little vampire Rin has ever met.
It all starts when he's assigned a younger target, a fresh turn. It's a shame, really, he thinks. The younger ones are always the most reckless, more likely to get caught as they fumble over and abuse their new found power. This one's trickier than most are, however. He attends school, of all things, as though nothing at all has changed. At first Rin feels pity, but then he realizes how dangerous and opportunistic a location like that is. A vampire that's young enough could easily pass off as a high school student, but at a school with a dormitory that becomes so much more sinister. Being one of the youngest hunters in his group, he's sent without question.
After pulling a few strings, the target is penned in as his roommate and Rin can't help but feel like gloating. 'The tables have turned.' He muses. 'You thought you would live with an easy victim, but you were wrong.'
And then they're introduced.
Expecting some kind of malevolent, corrupted youth, Rin's surprised when instead he's met with an awe-struck sixteen-year-old that gushes over him as though he's the most incredible thing the vampire has ever seen. Of course, the target has no idea that he knows he's a vampire, but there are two little fangs in this Aiichirou's mouth, longer than they should be and telltale, and Rin has no question that he's exactly the one he came to find.
It seems the boy joins the swim club and he wonders vaguely if it's cheating for someone who doesn't need to breath to compete.
Rin joins, too, after a time, if only to keep an eye on him. It's really only too easy to corner someone in a locker room or a shower, so he has to be vigilant. He assumes it'll be something of a task to tail Nitori, but he's once again surprised--the vampire takes to following after him. He's like a duckling, Rin is startled to realize, and it throws him off for a day or two.
And then he realizes that the target must know why he's there. He's being counter-watched.
Of course he initially tries to dismiss this idea--it's fairly absurd--but soon enough he comes to find that it makes some sense. The vampire's looking for a weakness, so Rin won't give him one. The cute, doe-eyed admiration is met with reprimands and silence. The more he doesn't engage, the more the vampire tries, and Rin's pleased to have seen through his little plan.
After a few weeks he feels confident enough. The target hasn't attacked anyone yet, surprisingly, but it's too much of a risk to just leave him alone. Normally he tries to catch a vampire in the act, tailing them if need be, but this one doesn't seem all that inclined to seek out a fresh meal. In fact, Rin tracks down his supplier and finds he's a so-called vegetarian--animal blood, not human. It's cute, he supposes, but it's only a matter of time until something snaps. A vampire absorbs nutrients from blood and a human's is ideal, like a snack designed to perfectly soothe a sudden craving.
So Rin takes vitamins and eats healthy, avoiding any junk in order to tempt the vampire. And it almost works, too, when they hover in the locker room one evening. Nitori looks at him and there's a strange sharpness to his eyes, nearly feral, but as soon as he sees it it's gone.
Rin knows what he needs to do.
Even if the target isn't engaging, he's a liability, and Rin stays up one night with his earbuds in, listening to the silence of the room, waiting. He regrets long ago taking the bottom bunk, as cornering Nitori on the top bunk will prove difficult, but he's made his bed and now he's quite literally lying in it. He sits. And he waits.
Eventually Nitori finishes up with whatever homework he's been working on, exhausted from staying up all day, weary. He tosses Rin a smile. "Will you be sleeping soon, senpai?" He asks. Rin pretends he can't hear him, concentrating on the bars holding up the mattress above.
Nitori lingers for a moment there, almost hopeful, expectant, before sagging slightly with that quiet little smile of his.
"I hope you won't push yourself too hard. You need your rest too." Nitori tells him before busying himself with getting ready for bed. The vampire doesn't even shut off the lights, leaving them on for him as he clambers onto the top bunk. After twenty minutes he's asleep, Rin is sure of it.
He almost feels a pang of regret as he moves over to the closet and unlocks a black box, pulling out a simple stake. It's all he feels he'll need for this one. Nitori isn't aggressive or malicious--he won't see it coming. It'll all be over before he knows it and then his soul can rest peacefully, no long forced to sustain on the livelihood of others like some kind of sun phobic parasite.
It'll be messy, he thinks as he numbly climbs up the ladder and carefully maneuvers himself onto the top bunk. It won't be pretty. It'll hurt him and he will die.
Rin has to remind himself that he's done this countless times, suddenly perturbed at the nature of his own thoughts.
But then he just sits there, frozen, staring at the little bundle of blankets, and he can't help but feel like Nitori is the exact kind of person to be a horrible blanket hog. He's snuggled up, still breathing as though he has to, the little white peak of his fangs just barely visible from his parted lips.
'Is it necessary?' Rin wonders. 'He hasn't done anything wrong...'
And that's true--he hasn't.
Nitori has friends, he swims, he works hard, he runs out in the sun with the others despite the irritated red it speckles over his skin, and he's always there, cheering Rin on, telling him he's a natural at swimming and helping him improve his time.
You'd barely think he was a vampire, looking at him.
Rin idles there for nearly an hour before he comes to terms with the fact that he can't do it. He climbs down, puts his weapon away and goes to bed. He normally sleeps lightly, but tonight he dozes, reluctant to realize that this means he doesn't consider Nitori a threat anymore.
And, as he watches him for another month, he can't help but feel that maybe he's not.
The Force is upset with Rin. His assignment was to kill a vampire and he's been given plenty of time to carry out his task. They send him coded text messages, threatening to reassign him if he doesn't perform soon. They're aggressive and stern because they care--they don't want to lose him to hesitation and sentiment.
Rin knows what they'll do.
Soon enough they'll send someone else who will do the job that Rin can't. They'll send someone who won't hesitate. Nitori will be dead and Rin will be reassigned and watched like a hawk for any further transgression. One more infraction and he, himself, will feel their wrath. Maybe he'll merely be discharged but he knows too many secrets.
He realizes all too late his position in this game--kill or be killed. He'd just always assumed prior that the killer was vampire in nature.
Rin enters the room one night to find Nitori sitting at his desk, humming as he goes over his homework. He looks up at him and smiles. "Good evening, senpai. Did you enjoy your run?" He asks, trying not to look disappointed at the fact that Rin had told him to stay behind this time.
He looks at him, stern. "Nitori." He says. No fuss, no muss, no honorifics. Just his name.
The vampire looks at him, surprised, and sits up a little straighter. "Yes, Matsuoka-senpai?"
"I know what you are." He says simply.
Nitori goes very, very still at that moment, practiced, certain that Rin means something else. It's almost endearing. "What's that, senpai?"
"You're a vampire." Rin says, just looking at him, noting the widening of his eyes and the sudden, horrified flush of his face.
"I- I don't know what you're--,"
Rin stalks forward and grabs his chin, lifting it up as he presses his fingers into his cheeks, forcing his mouth open for observation. The little fangs gleam at him, tidy and white. "I've always known." He says as he releases him.
Aiichirou looks as though he's panicking now, frantic, and Rin marvels suddenly because maybe he really didn't know that Rin knew... but then why--?
"T- these are just-- genetic! Yeah!" Nitori says, smiling, plastic, before he very clearly deflates. "I--... I can't..." He says, looking away. "I can't lie to you. I'm sorry. They're not genetic."
Rin's not sure what he's apologizing for. All in all, he was the one who called Nitori out. He should be the one apologizing. But instead he awkwardly runs a hand through his hair. "It's fine. I'm familiar with vampires."
Nitori looks surprised at this. "You are?"
"I hunt them." Rin explains, no nonsense.
Once again Nitori looks shocked but then it calms into something subdued and resigned and Rin wonders how on earth he can look like that when he has so many aspirations. "You're here to kill me." He says, lips quirking weakly. It's not a question.
"Yes, I am." Rin tells him, because it's true. Or, rather, it was once. But before he can say anything Nitori continues.
"I... was told that someone might come for me." The other boy admits, and there's a slight, wet sheen to his eyes, but he's not crying--not yet. "I was told that I... was making myself a target. I knew something like this might happen..."
Rin frowns. "Then why would you--?"
Nitori smiles at him. "I didn't want to give up on everything. I've already died... technically. But I wanted to keep going anyway. I wanted to graduate and..." He looks more teary now, but he determinedly holds it back. "It was only two years ago..."
So he'd be eighteen now if not for the attack, at least in physical appearance.
Somehow speechless, Rin is silent, a lump in his throat that feels tight and unbearable.
The vampire looks up at him and smiles. "I was ready to give up... before you came. I didn't have as many friends. It was difficult to fit in. These last few months have been some of the best of my life. So... if you kill me, it's okay. As long as it's you, Matsuoka-senpai, I don't mind."
Rin feels a jolt in his body that forces him to move forward and he grabs the other boy's wrist and hauls him to his feet, a yelp on Nitori's lips from the sudden manhandling. He looks frightened but he doesn't shy away, standing where Rin leaves him as the hunter goes and digs through the closet.
He returns and throws a duffel bag at his chest, which Nitori belatedly catches.
"Pack your things. We're leaving." Rin tells him.
Nitori's surprised. "Where are we--?"
"I'm not about to kill someone like you, but if I don't then they'll just send another hunter. So pack your things."
For a moment Nitori hesitates, uncertain, staring at him with large, confused eyes.
Rin sighs and looks at him. "Ai." He says, and that gains the boy's full attention. "You don't deserve to die over something you had no control over. Now pack your mess or so help me..."
Nitori smiles then, warm and bright and awkward. His cheeks start to wet with tears of some sort but Rin lets him have his emotions without prodding at them. They don't really have the time to sit around and talk about their feelings but the air is substantially lighter now, even if there's some kind of vague, ominous threat looming over the two of them.
He uses his personal phone to text Gou and lets her know that he'll be arriving at Iwatobi station soon.