No Choice

Yoichi waited to the side as Kimizuki opened the door. Mitsuba was standing there ready to bring him breakfast, Yoichi just out of her sights.

"Go tell everyone to meet in the break room. Now." Mitsuba was a little suprised by the sudden request but handed him his breakfast and left to get everyone. Once they were all there Kimizuki came in to make an announcement. 

"Okay guys I have some very serious news." He paused and took a deep breath, "I found Yoichi but-" before he could continue everyone was yelling "What!?" and "Where is he?!" 

"LISTEN TO ME!!" everyone was silenced by his yelling. "Yoichi is, uh, well...Just wait here." He walked through the doors but stood just outside of them. Nobody in the room knew what was going on outside that door. Even Mika who listened in didn't quite understand what they were talking about.

"Maybe we should just show them? It would be a bit easier that way..." 

"Yeah, okay." Yoichi agreed sounding scared in Mikas opinion.

Kimizuki entered a moment later with Yoichi trailing behind and holding his hand. 

"Yoichi!?" Mitsuba and Yuu yelled in unison. They were about to rush up to him when everyone noticed. It was almost instant that they noticed the glowing red eyes, fangs and pointy ears popping out from under his hair. 

"Y-yoichi? What happened?" Yuu asked worried and scared.

Yoichi looked even further down. He was ready to curl in on himself at any indication of hatered or feeling of betrayal. 

"That bitch Ferid did this to him." Kimizuki responded for Yoichi knowing he couldn't bring himself to speak. Mika looked him up and down and sighed.

"Yoichi, did you drink human blood?" Mika asked. They all knew the red eyes meant yes but didn't say anything.

He nodded and took a small step back. "Alright so this is going to be a little hard to adjust to but I'm sure we can work everything out. Right guys?" Shinoa wanted to make sure no one was going to turn on their family for this. She was glad to see everyone nodded, even Narumi who hadn't said a thing the whole time. 

"I have a question." Narumi spoke up almost as soon as Shinoa thought it. "Did you...?" He pointed to Kimizukis neck where a vampires bite marks were just visable over his shirt. Both Yoichi and Kimizuki stiffened. 

"He had already had human blood before that happened. He hadn't had any in a few days so I offered, it's not like he attacked me or anything." Kimizuki finally spoke defensively. At this point Yoichi was hiding behind Kimizuki.

Everyone nodded and Kimizuki tried pulling Yoichi toward the table in the center of the room. He got Yoichi to sit down in a chair but he still looked stiff and ready to run for the exit. 

"Yoichi," Shinoa hesitated to approach which went much noticed by Yoichi. "Are you okay? You know we still care about you right? I don't want you thinking you're no longer a part of this family because of what you are." Yoichi took a few deep breaths and nodded. He couldn't bring himself to actually say anything. Not when he had thought that only about an half hour ago. Everyone stared at him expecting him to say something, anything. 

"I'm sorry..." He paused and looked up and around real quick before looking back down at his hands. "I doubted you guys. I thought you would all hate me. So I'm sorry." He said again. Mitsuba came only about a foot away from him, "It's okay Yoichi. I also wanted to apologize, about before you were kidnapped and all. Sorry, I shouldn't have even thought of that stupid dare." Mitsuba gave a smile and Yoichi returned it. 

"Now that all that is out of the way!" Shinoa yelled trying to relieve some tension. "We're going to need to go out to find food again today. Thanks to the search for Yoichi we found a car that works so we can go out farther today." Yoichi had missed the collective groans that almost always seemed to pass throught the room when Shinoa made an announcement. 

"Wait I have one more question. What do we do about his new...uh, 'Diet?'" Narumi asked.

No one answered immediately. 

"Don't worry about it guys. I'll handle it." Kimizuki said earning a stare. "Right Yoichi?" 

"Uh... Okay?" Yoichi didn't know how to respond necessarily. Did this mean he would drink Kimizukis blood every few days? That's the only thing that made sense from his statement. 

"Okay then is that all on the subject? Any more questions?" Shinoa asked a little annoyed. When no one answered she continued to speak. "Good, So who wants to go help search for food and anything useful?"

**

After some talking the ones who went were Shinoa, Mika, Yuu, Kimizuki and Yoichi. Mitsuba and Narumi stayed and basically just layed around the whole time. 

As they left Yoichi still clung to Kimizuki. The two walked behind the other three as they head for the car parked a few buildings away. Mika drove, Shinoa sat next to him and Yoichi sat in the middle back between Kimizuki and Yuu. Not the best seating arrangements in his case. He couldn't control all his heightened senses yet so he could hear everyones heartbeats and breathing and any other sound they made. It was really annoying but he was okay for now. At least he didn't feel thirsty. 

"Hey, Yoichi?" Kimizuki called to him in a quiet voice. "Uh yeah Shiho?" 

"Are you alright? You look kinda out of it." 

"It's just kind of loud..." Yoichi decided the truth was the best way to go. He noticed the confusion on Kimizukis face. To him the only sounds was the small conversations and the hum of the motor. 

"Nevermind, I'm okay." Yoichi half-whispered and tried to focus on one sound. 

He found Kimizukis heartbeat and to be honest the sound relaxed Yoichi. It was beating steadily and blocked out the other irritating noises. He focused on that until he felt the car come to a stop. 

"I haven't seen this area before so we should probably take a look around." Shinoa stated. Everyone got out of the car.

"Hm, We should split up. There's to much area to cover if we all stick together." Shinoa wasn't very enthusiastic which was a little strange. "Kimizuki you come with me and Yoichi go with Mika-san and Yuu-san." She turned to Kimizuki and realized Yoichi still clinging to Kimizukis arm. The more reason she wanted the two to split for a bit. 

Yoichi tightened when Kimizuki responded with "Okay" and moved away from him. The two walked away to the right and left Yoichi with the other two. As they walked away Yoichi could hear Kimizuki talking to Shinoa. 

"Why did you do that? You know Yoichi would rather stay with me right?"

"I want him to be comfortable around us. He has been stuck to you all day and has barely said anything to anyone else. He also needs to know we don't care that he's a vampire. Mika is a vampire and he's still family." 

A long sigh was the last thing he heard from Kimizuki before he felt Yuu poking his shoulder. Yoichi flinched at the sudden closeness of someone other than Kimizuki. Yoichi noticed how different they both smelled from Kimizuki.

"Come on lets go!" Yuu was excited to be outside and moving around. He was really energetic like usual. Yuu was speed walking in front of the two vampires with a large smile on his face. Yoichi felt a little strange around them now that he was a vampire but he tried to ignore the feeling. Yuu hadn't even seemed fazed once the first few awkward minutes we're over. Mika was just like he normally was. He never showed much emotion so Yoichi didn't know how he felt about all of it. Yuu seemed to be the only one who could tell how he felt. 

Now as they walked into an old grocery store that Yuu had spotted he acted as if everything was normal. Yoichi appreciated everyones attempt to act normal but Yoichi wasn't even sure Yuu was actually acting.

"Hey Yoichi! Go look over there. Mika you should search over there and I'll go that way." He was pointing in different directions as he spoke. Mika and Yoichi nodded and went to search were Yuu had sent them. Neither argued with Yuus random directions.

Even though the vampires wouldn't need the food they knew their friends would so they looked very carefully for their sake. Yoichi had gotten lucky and found some unexpired canned soups. Six cans in all. He shoved them in his bag and continued searching. 

Mika found some Spam but questioned its edibility. Yuu kept getting distracted but found a few water bottles, some only half full. They met again in the front of the store after about 15 minutes of searching. 

"So what did you find?" Yoichi asked quietly as he showed them the soup cans in his bag. 

"Spam... Whatever that is. It sayed it's edible so I took it." Mika announced.

"Just some water. We should go check in another store." stated Yuu. 

"Yeah that would be best. We should gather as much as we can." Yoichi agreed. 

They all exited the store together and continued down the old street. It was silent except for Yuu humming an unfamiliar tune quietly to himself. 

"How about there?" Yoichi noticed a small shop that had probably once been a convenience store and pointed it out. 

"You think we'll find anything useful?" Yuu asked.

"It's worth checking, right?" 

They pushed apart the old broken doors. They had once been automatic but now they didn't move an inch unless someone was moving them manually. Upon entering Yoichi spotted a movement out of the corner of his eye. Mika had obviously noticed it to when he turned to the direction it came from. 

"Guys? What's wrong?" Yuu faced the same direction as the other two but he hadn't seen whatever they had.

"Was it a vampire?" Yoichi asked. He wasn't sure how to tell apart the smells of a human and a vampire but he knew Mika probably could. "Human, I'm pretty sure."

Yuu just stared at them confused until Mika ran insanely fast in the direction they faced (which was to the right of the entrance.) Yoichi and Yuu followed but a lot slower. When they turned the corner Mika was standing by a small child he had quickly gotten off of after tackling her to the ground.

She ran off and Yuu was the only one to follow. Mika and Yoichi waited. If their were more children then they rather not scare them off. Yuu returned a moment later without any items or children. 

"So a group of kids live here. It wouldn't be right to take their food so we should probably just go." Yuu rubbed the back of his neck and walked closer to the others. 

"Oh, okay." Yoichi wasn't surprised. He had encountered some groups of children living in stores with his squad when they were still part of the JIDA. 

Of course then they could tell the higher ranked officers and they would find and take the children back to the city. 

Mika, Yuu and Yoichi all left the store. It had probably been a half hour by now. They kept searching stores but found nothing. They had probably already been raided by survivers of the apocalypse or the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. 

**

Kimizuki was obviously worried about Yoichi. He didn't want to let him out of his sight. Not like he didn't trust him but if he got taken again Kimizuki wouldn't forgive himself for letting it happen.

Thats why he was so relieved when he saw Yoichi waiting with the others at where they had first parted. 

Kimizuki didn't run bit he did quiken his pace. He wanted to hug and kiss Yoichi just because he was there and he could. He hadn't thought he would ever miss someone so much (with the exception of his sister.) 

"Kimizuki!" Yoichi turned to face him. Kimizuki wasn't close enough that Yoichi should have noticed him yet. Kimizuki assumed it must have been his footsteps since Yoichi had advanced hearing now. "Hey Yoichi." He smiled.

"Hey, Did you guys find anything good?" Shinoa stepped in front of Kimizuki which made Yoichi a little irritated. He walked around her and didn't answer.

"Yeah. We got some food and water." Mika responded to Shinoa. She nodded and lead the way to the car. 

Yoichi clung back to Kimizukis arm but he didn't mind. He was actually okay if Yoichi didn't want to talk to the others all that much. That just meant he could spend more time with Yoichi alone.

Neither of them talked as everyone walked to the car and loaded in. This time Kimizuki drove and Yoichi sat in the passenger seat. Yuu sat between Mika and Shinoa after Shinoa started complaining about sitting in the middle. 

Yoichi again focused on Kimizuki. His smell, his heart beat, and the memory of how his blood taste. He honestly didn't want to think about it but it tasted really good. He was so focused he didn't even notice when they stopped.

"Yoichi?" He felt Kimizuki place a hand on his shoulder and was brought back to reality. "Sorry, Lets go." He unbuckled his seat belt and he and Kimizuki got out of the car. The others were a few yards in front of them and made it to the hotel first.

Yoichi stopped Kimizuki before entering the building behind the rest of them. "What is it Yoichi?" 

"Shiho... Is this really okay?" 

"Of course! I- We don't care what you are Yoichi. I thought we already told you this?" 

"Yeah, right, sorry." Kimizuki pulled Yoichi into the building by the hand. (They sure do hold hands a lot.) 

"Are you tired?"

"Not really. I guess I don't really have to sleep now but if you're tired we can go to bed." Yoichi answered as the walked toward the break room. 

"Ah, right. I'm just gonna grab something to eat first. You can wait in the bedroom if you want." 

"No, I'll come with you." Yoichi wanted to stay with Kimizuki. He knew the only reason he didn't want Yoichi to come with him was because he didn't want to remind him that he couldn't eat regular food anymore.

They walked to the break room which was connected to the small kitchen area and Kimizuki went straight to the highest cupboards. 

"I put the food up here so the girls don't steal it all." He said jokingly. 

"Smart idea," Yoichi laughed. Yoichi was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to reach it either if he tried. Maybe with heels on. 

They both laughed and Yoichi watched as Kimizuki grabbed out a small can of soup and opened it. He poured it's contents into a pot and placed it over the stove before turning it on. 

"These are pretty easy to make. Though I'm sure they could mess it up or catch it on fire somehow." He shrugged with a small laugh and turned to make sure the soup wasn't yet bubbling 

"Yeah, If anyone could mess up canned soup they could." He said jokingly in response. They both laughed again and smiled at each other. The thought of not being able to eat the soup didn't even cross his mind as he laughed with his lover.

They were both quiet while watching small bubbles popped at the surface of the soup. Once the soup began to properly boil the stove was turned off. Kimizuki grabbed a single bowl for himself and set it down on the counter then poured the steaming soup from the pot to the bowl. 

Yoichi was staring at Kimizuki the whole time. He only stopped his staring when Kimizuki grabbed his bowl carefully and began walking to the table. 

He watched as the taller boy ate but stayed quiet. Kimizuki glanced over at Yoichi while he ate but didn't stare. He didn't want to make him uncomfortable. 

When the noodles were gone Kimizuki drank the broth and set his bowl down on the table. Yoichi stared at his hands placed in his lap with a frown. 

"Hey Yoichi. Let's go get ready for bed." Kimizuki tried snapping Yoichi out of whatever dark thoughts were going through his head. 

"Y-yeah, okay." Kimizuki noted how little Yoichi talked since coming back. Even towards him he didn't talk much. Only when necessary. Not starting any conversations.

**

"So whats this plan of yours then?" Crowley asked as they drove away from were they dropped off the new vampire. 

"You'll figure it out soon.~" Ferid playfully states. "Just do as I say.~"

Crowley sighed and leaned back in his seat. Whatever Ferid was planning didn't make any sense to him.

Ferid babbled on about nothing important and Crowley ignored him for the rest of the drive. He was grateful when they returned to where they had kept Yoichi. 

**

Yoichi didn't cuddle with Kimizuki that night. Nor did he talk to him before bed about his day with Yuu and Mika. He just went to his own bed and tried to sleep. Kimizuki guessed he just wanted this day to be over already. Maybe it'd be less awkward tomarrow. 

Kimizuki didn't say anything to Yoichi about it and just went along with it. He just placed his glasses to the side and fell asleep.

**

When Yoichi woke up it was still very dark outside. Falling asleep was harder than he thought and now he's waking up in the middle of the night. He sighed and stood up. He stretched a bit and left the room quietly. He didn't want to wake up Kimizuki. 

He wandered the halls. Usually he would get a late night snack when he woke up at night but that wasn't an option anymore. After an hour or two he plopped onto the couch in the break room. He wondered if anyone else was awake when the door opened. He turned slowly to see who it was and wasn't expecting it to be Yuu. The others may wake up at night but Yuu never woke up unless you made him or there was an alarm. Even when he constantly had nightmares the had to wake him up. 

"Huh? Yoichi? What are doing in here?" Yuu questioned when he heard movement on the leather couch. 

"Couldn't sleep..." Yoichi sunk back down into the couch. 

"Me neither." Yuu responded. "Yoichi I actually wanted to talk to you." 

Yoichi didn't want to talk to him or anyone else. He didn't want them to ask him any questions. Yoichi stayed quiet.

Yuu came closer and sat next to Yoichi which surprised him. "I know it must be weird but it's like you're trying to avoid us even when we all live in the same place and have to work together. It makes me worried. I just want to know you're okay and not going to try and leave or anything." Yoichi had again began to curl up. He didn't want to answer. "Yoichi? Please." 

"I won't," he paused for a second and continued, "I won't leave unless you want me to. I'm sorry for avoiding you guys too." Yuu smiled and stood. 

"Well no one wants you to leave so I guess you're stuck here." He pushed a peice of his hair out of the way. "Try to get some sleep okay?" He said as he walked back toward the door. "I'll try to."

"Okay..." Yoichi whispered as Yuu left. He still didn't get why Yuu was just walking around. Is that what he does when he can't sleep? Just wonder like Yoichi did? Maybe he purposely stayed awake and followed Yoichi so he could talk to him. Though Yoichi didn't think he would do that.

Yoichi sighed and got up. He slowly made his way to his room though he would have stayed in the break room until mourning had Yuu not asked him to sleep.

"Maybe..." Yoichi whispered as he stood in the doorway. He walked over to Kimizuki and carefully got under his covers with him. He didn't want to wake him. He snuggled in as deep as he could. " Goodnight Shiho." 

He fell asleep engulfed in Kimizukis scent. He really did enjoy the fragrance though he's not sure why he likes his so much more than the others.