• CHAPTER 59 - SO? PUNISH ME.

    You could never feel any better than you are now. You're reunited with your one love and you're almost guaranteeing that you're inseparable forevermore. But how do you repair a relationship that's been torn and prudent the last month?

    The ride back to Matsuda and Orihime's house from Akatsuki's was actually fairly long to me, despite the spedometer topping a hundred miles and hour. I remember I had always waited for the day where Kai would get pulled over. I still kept a firm grip on his hand and avoided leaning on him since he wasn't so used to so much of my scent all at once. It took him so long before to adjust to my scent and now we have to start over again, not that I'm bothered by it. Well, maybe I kind of am because that probably means we won't be allowed to kiss for the longest time.

    The car ride was quiet and I had a million things to say and I was wondering whether or not Kai wanted to say anything. He kept squeezing my hand very lightly every few seconds and his thumb would unconsciously trace invisible circles on the surface of the back of my hand. The cold of his hand--despite how cold he really was--was surprisingly soothing. He breathed deeply the whole way back and I felt guilty; I wanted to climb out of the car and walk the rest of the way, just so Kai wouldn't be suffering so much.

    "It's not you," Kai whispered. "It's the fact that I'm too weak."

    I shook my head, "Shut up, Kai. You're not weak."

    Kai sighed, "We can't find a way out of the contract," he steered into the driveway and stopped. "But that doesn't mean we won't give up."

    We climbed out of the car and he helped me carry my things inside. I kept the engagement ring stowed in my pocket for safe keeping and allowed Kai to also help me unpack my things. One thing that confused me was that he didn't pack all of my clothes. He only packed two weeks worth of clothes from Matsuda and Orihime's house. Why would he--wait, the suitcase probably ran out of room. He wouldn't leave all of my clothes here if he were trying to get rid of me before. After Kai and I were finished unpacking, he rubbed the top of my head like he always had done before and he smiled at me.

    "Welcome back, kid,"

    My heart jumped and started racing. I hadn't heard that in the longest time and when I finally did hear it, I nearly died. Kai stopped rubbing my head and left with a small smile on his face. I stood by myself and was waiting, waiting for the moment where things would finally go back to normal, the moment where our lips would lock and the band would be around my finger again. Waiting for the moment where I knew my stay with Kai would be guaranteed.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    "Arisa, it's so awesome to have you baaaack!!" Miku cried out to me and glomped me.

    "Ah!" I screamed, taken by surprise at her sudden attack. It had been a day since I came back already and Miku was still ecstatic.

    Miku's face shifted to utter fury and she pointed her death finger at Kai, "I was about to kill that son of a b***h!"

    I gripped Miku's shoulders after Kai rolled his eyes, "Miku, it's fine now!" I panicked. "You don't need to kill him!"

    "I'll clout him with the skillet again!" she shouted again. "I'll knock even more sense into him!"

    "Miku, Miku, calm down!"

    "It's not a smart thing to piss off a pregnant girl," Kai sighed.

    Miku paused and she nearly breathed fire, "Are you calling me fat??!!"

    "Miku, you're not--!" I tried to explain.

    Out of nowhere, Miku cracked up in laughter, "That is pretty funny, seeing as I'm pregnant and all," her mood shifted after another sliver of a second and she started crying. "But it's still mean!! It's not like I can control the baby's size!! It's growing inside me so it's not like I can do anything about it!!"

    I stared at her in utter confusion and had no idea what to do. All within ten seconds, she went from wanting to cut off Kai's head, to laughing too hard to breathe, and then she started crying. I gracefully and cautiously pat her shoulder from a distance as she continued to cry.

    "Uh, Miku, it's okay...?" I tried to console her and yet guard myself, just in case there was another unknown mood swing.

    "Miku, Miku," Takeuchi came into the living room, sighing and shaking his head. "Let's get going. You have an ultrasound to go to."

    Miku's tears cleared up and her face glowed and she donned a smile on her face, "Okay!"

    Matsuda and Orihime came down from the stairs and stood by Kai and I, "Will you two be okay here alone?" Matsuda asked, eying Kai.

    Kai nodded and I looked around in confusion, "Where's Kira?"

    Matsuda's face fell with apologies, "He couldn't withstand your scent. He took off when you came here; he was in too much pain."

    I gasped and covered my mouth, taken over in shock and guilt, "Oh my god, I'm sorry!"

    "It's not your fault," Matsuda smiled and pat my shoulder. "We'll be taking off now. We'll be back late; the hospital is pretty crowded tonight."

    Kai nodded in confirmation and they all left, leaving Kai and I to ourselves. Neither of us knew what to say so I told him I was going up to take a bath and he only nodded and went into the kitchen. I wasn't afraid that I was alone with Kai where my scent is trapped in the house with him. I was more anxious than anything. The only thing I was afraid of was him leaving the house and not even telling me. My newfound phobia now is being alone. I had been afraid of being alone before, but now I'm absolutely horrified.

    I took my time in my bath, soaking up the skin-softening bubbles and managing to relax my tense muscles halfway with the jacuzzi jets and relaxation herbs. I had never felt so luxurious in the longest time. I had resorted to taking a shower in Akatsuki's apartment for the past month and was dying to climb into this bath again since I brought my stuff back. Thinking of Akatsuki again really brought me down, just thinking about how I abruptly abandoned him yesterday. I'll be waiting for a call with an interrogation from him, but I'm more concerned about the tension there will be between him and Kai...real tension.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    My bath had taken an hour and a half...holy crap. I wouldn't have been able to tell with the continuously steaming water unless I would pick up my hands and they'd be all pruny and gross. I freaked out after that and jumped out. Luckily, my pruniness went away quickly and I was able to calm down. I sat in the commodious bed in Kai's room for another hour just reading some book I found in one of the nightstands. I turned on a standing fan and allowed to it blow cool air on me on low since it was a little more humid today. I could have sworn I was going through menopause, though; I slipped off my shorts so all I was wearing was a white camisole and pink and white frilly underwear. Thank god I was alone...for all that I knew.

    There was a faint and barely audible knocking on the door and it was too late to throw my shorts back on before Kai walked into the room. I tried to quickly cover my underwear by curling up, but Kai had already seen my pretty undergarments when he walked in. I freaked out on him for not waiting to come in after he knocked.

    "Could you wait a little longer next time?" I hissed.

    Kai only looked around the room and tucked his hands into his pant pockets. He stood next to the bed and watched me as I falsely switched my attention back to my book. He was probably waiting for me to leave the room; it was his after all. I felt rude, making him stand by himself, so I inched myself over and invited him to sit, but he gently declined by not saying anything and just continuing to stare at me.

    "Kai, you should sit down," I invited again.

    He sat down, but his back was facing me. I felt rejected and continued with my book. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kai twist around and stare at me. He reached his arm across my midriff and placed his hand on the other side of me and when I looked up, his face was just about two inches from mine. His eyes were a dark brown now, a chocolate brown. My heart started speeding up again and my face burned crimson. Kai moved forward in the slowest way, preparing himself for whatever he was inclined to do. He touched his nose lightly against mine. The surface of his lips brushed over mine as light as a feather. My head was spinning, although his lips weren't really touching mine, but I was overwhelmed by the sudden closeness.

    The time finally came when he finally compressed his lips hard against mine. I leaned back far since I wasn't against the headboard because of all the fancy pillows I refused to remove. Kai held me back up and held me in that kiss for a long time. I shut my book--not marking my page--and kissed him back slowly. I could feel myself choking up on sobs wanting to come up and unremarkable relief that he wanted to kiss me too. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and gripped his hair and pulled him closer. He did the same to me, only he wrapped one arm around my waist rather than my shoulder, and started kissing me deeply. I felt myself melting under his touch, despite his freezing body temperature.

    Kai leaned me back so I landed on the many pillows that took up the bed. He removed his hand from my hair and squeezed and released a pillow repeatedly, using it as a stress ball. He couldn't handle my scent much longer, but he was inclined to get close again. I pulled him closer and kissed him harder than he was kissing me. I was getting so carried away in our second "first" kiss that I was losing my mind. He used the trick he had always used before; inhale when I exhale and exhale when I inhale. His breath was way cool and sent shivers down my spine every time I inhaled. He flipped us over so I was above him and we continued to kiss roughly. Kai grabbed my hips with his large hands and kept me planted where I was, not wanting to let go of me.

    "Kai," I breathed before I kissed him again.

    I had long awaited this moment and it finally came. I've been wanting to kiss him again for the longest time, I wanted to hold him again. But is it right since we're technically not engaged anymore? I didn't care. I was with him and I was going to take advantage of it. Kai was as enticed as I was; he cruised one hand up my waist and into my camisole. I gently pushed his hand away and he did it again and flipped us back over so I was below him this time. I started hoping that this wouldn't go to far, that he wouldn't think I wanted to go to the next stage, which I didn't want to do that. Kai kept his hand up my shirt and goosebumps coursed all over my skin. Kai broke up the kiss abruptly and growled to himself as I tried to catch my breath.

    "What?" I asked him, out of breath.

    "Arisa...I have to leave," he shook his head.

    When he tried to get off of the bed, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, although I knew I wasn't strong enough to pull him back myself so he probably gave me some help on that, "No! Don't!"

    "I...I can't--" he couldn't finish his sentence; his eyes were mixing to a deep, lustful crimson.

    "If you're thirsty, you're thirsty," I smiled lightly at him. I was still pretty dizzy from our make-out session.

    "Arisa, you have to let me go. I could kill you." he gritted his teeth.

    I shook my head violently and kissed him roughly again, knocking even more breath out of me. I pulled away about half an inch and stared at him, "Don't," I pleaded.

    Kai hissed to himself and a small, once familiar growl crept up his chest and through his teeth. He breathed deeply for a moment and tried to calm himself down. It's hard for him to suddenly take in such a large dose of my scent.

    "You weren't supposed to come back," Kai smirked. "You were supposed to refuse when I was packing your things. You were supposed to stay with Akatsuki."

    "So?" I rhetorically asked with a smirk on my face, hiding the pain from his words. "Punish me."

    Kai focused his eyes with mine in confusion and sudden shock as he comprehended what I was trying to say to him, "No, Arisa, I can't,"

    "I'll be fine," I guaranteed. "I'll know when to stop you. If we're going to be together again, then I'm going to announce myself as your Blood Bride once more and I don't care what you say."

    Kai leaned me back so I was lying on my back again and pressed his forehead against mine, "I can't take that risk,"

    "Trust me," I smirked again, "I know when to stop something once it's gone too far."

    And at that, he entangled one hand in my hair and kept his other hand up my camisole and violently kissed my neck. My heart started racing again and I gripped onto his shirt from the back. Chills raced up and down my back but at the same time, I was sweating. My body does pretty weird things during touchy times. Kai cruised his lips up and down my neck and seemed to be hesitating greatly. I held my breath and prepared myself after knowing Kai was going to cave in after another second. And he bit me. His teeth sunk in so rapidly and the pain finally came after he already started drinking. After I felt the pain, I winced and held onto him tighter. I had gone over a month without feeling that; I used to be so accustomed to that feeling that it eventually ended up feeling good. But now, it was almost unbearable.

    "Kai, you're fine," I whispered under my breath after feeling Kai want to break free from my reaction to the pain.

    My body was tingling and the tips of my fingers were feeling ticklish as I ran one of my hands through Kai's hair repeatedly. After a short moment, the pain of the wound was calming and I was feeling comfortable again. It's been the longest time since I've been bitten and here I was again, opting to become Kai's Blood Bride once more. But would an engagement be possible? I could feel some of my blood soaking into the pillow I was lying on and my vision was starting to blur a little; it was about time I decided to stop Kai. But I didn't want to, deep down. I would allow him to suck the life out of me just for him. But then I wouldn't want him feeling incredible guilt.

    "Kai," I whispered again, trying to gently pry Kai off. "Kai, that's enough." he still wouldn't stop drinking, he was losing control. I used the rest of my energy and pryed him off of me and he forced his fangs out. "Kai!"

    His eyes were the vociferous crimson, the crimson that said so much to say he was still thirsty. A few drops of my blood dripped from his face and onto my clean camisole. His face was hard to make out; my vision was too blurry. Kai rubbed my head and kissed my forehead and apologized a thousand times. I shook my head at him and grabbed his face lightly and sighed.

    "I'm fine," I slurred. Wow, I really was messed up now.

    "Don't be so naive, I almost killed you," he panicked and I responded by pressing my finger against his lips.

    "I'm just not used to it," my words were halfway comprehensible. "I have a question for you."

    "Anything," he seemed to be back to his normal self. He was speaking a little more and that relieved me a bunch.

    I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to adjust them a little to the dim lamp light that lit the room. I eyed the blood on his chin and sighed again, "What would change your mind to turn me into a Vampire?"