WHO: Chuuya Nakahara & Irina Romanov. WHAT: Chuuya comes back and isn't quite the same. WHEN: Thursday evening. WHERE: Irina's place. WARNINGS: Major spoilers for BSD Chapter 98. Also it's Irina and Chuuya. STATUS: Closed/Completed gdoc.
The vampire outbreak had spread quickly by now. Of course, since it had started within the mafia, most of them had been turned. Even Chuuya had eventually been turned, although at the moment, he didn't remember how it happened. Right now, he didn't even really know what was happening. He was now under mind control and barely knew what he was doing. If he had, he would've known he was now in Meursault, breaking into a high security prison for ability users, killing several guards. It was the same prison that Dazai was in. Only Chuuya wasn't there to break him out. Instead, he had made his way to Dostoyevsky.
Then he suddenly wasn't there anymore. He wasn't in the prison or even in Meursault. He was somewhere completely different. And the sudden change of scenery made him stop, even under the mind control. He heard a sound and turned, spotting a beautiful woman nearby. He stared at her, his eyes, now completely black with dark veins underneath. He didn't attack her or anything. Whether because there was no command to or because she felt familiar, he didn't know.
“Chuuya!”
He had disappeared. And even though she knew from others’ experience that he would come back, his belongings having not disappeared with him, that he would in fact return, Irina had been less than optimistic. Seeing him now, standing in her foyer first thing in the morning had taken her by surprise.
She hesitated for just a moment in the act of putting on an earring. After staring for the length of an eye blink she rushed forward in a literal blur to draw him into her arms.
Chuuya blinked and next thing he knew, he was being hugged. If he wasn't under mind control at the moment, he would've hugged back and kissed her. Maybe called her annoying if she did or said something that irritated him. But since he was still under mind control, he didn't react at all. He just stood there, arms hanging at his side.
She could tell immediately that something was wrong. Slender brows creased down as she pulled back to look at him.
“What is the matter with you?” The question was more of a demand than anything. Pale blue eyes searched his face then took note of his and the black veins. She had seen that before. In her world that would indicate a vampire who hasn’t yet learned to control their hunger. But Chuuya was not a vampire. Right?
Of course Chuuya didn't respond. Which probably would've been another huge indicator that he wasn't completely there. Normally he would've answered, maybe tell her to mind her own business if he was in a particularly bad mood. He was certainly never this quiet, unless something was really bothering him. But no, he just stood there.
Then he had this strong urge to bite her. It was how the infection had spread back in Yokohama and now most of the world back home. Moving close to her, he pulled her into a kiss. And promptly bit her bottom lip hard, his teeth sharper than usual.
The continued silence, the eyes and veins, it all made Irina suspicious. Then the kiss/bite came and confirmed that he was vastly different than when she’d seen him last.
She didn’t appreciate being bit like that and lashed out as only the child of an Original could. The palm of her hand struck Chuuya in the chest to send him backward then she blurred to a different position.
Once still, her own fangs were showing and her eyes were blood red. Someone would pay for this.
He was sent flying, hitting the wall. And he wasn't sure if banging his head knocked some sense into him or if it was something else, but he was slowly started to come to. Eventually the black eyes and veins faded and his normal reddish brown eyes were back.
He glanced around, memories coming back, before his eyes fell on Irina. Who was looking quite pissed. "What's with you?" he asked as he slowly got up, holding his head where he had hit it against the wall. "Did someone shit in your blood this morning?"
“You bit me!” He sounded more like himself now, but she wasn’t going to take the chance. “More than a love bite. You went for blood. Since when are you a vampire?”
She knew time passed for people when they got sent home. Had he been turned? The Tsarina eyed her lover from where she was, not wanting him any closer until she figured this out.
"I did?" His eyes fell on her lips and did he do that? He'd bitten her before during lovemaking, but never like that. He subconsciously moved towards her, wanting to check on the injury. But at her question, he stopped because he wasn't sure how to answer. Because he didn't know the answer.
"I don't know. I don't remember what happened."
Irina frowned then walked toward Chuuya. She did not enjoy mysteries that weren’t of her own making. “How could you not know? You went home and now are back. How is it you do not remember what happened in between?”
Were it her home there was an obvious answer, especially since he now seemed to have all the traits of her kind. His home, however, she didn’t know enough about.
"I mean, I know what happened back home. I just don't remember being turned or how that happened," Chuuya said. "Wouldn't be the first time I don't remember anything," he shrugged dismissively. He didn't remember anything from before he was seven. Probably a good thing. He had a feeling it was just a lot of being experimented on.
Anyways, he was more concerned about Irina's injury. Once he was close enough, he held her face in his hands, checking her lips. "It looks okay," he said. "Sorry I bit you so hard."
That was it. That crossed the line. Chuuya would never apologise, nor be this passive. Since he was so close, she decided to do something she rarely did.
“Look at me,” she said. When he met her eyes she stabbed her consciousness right into his mind. It wasn’t the same as telepathy. What she was looking for was anything that resembled control or influence. Once she found it she used her powerful bloodline to break it.
No, he wouldn't. Maybe in his own way, he'd apologised. There would've definitely been some yelling and insults, but not quite like this
He blinked, a bit confused at first but he did as he was told. Whatever control he was under had weakened before, but now it was completely broken and he was more or less back to normal. He glanced at her and made a face. "You look like shit. You should probably clean the blood off."
It was also because he was hungry and seeing it made him a bit dizzy. But he didn't want to drink from her, so he just went off to grab one of her blood bags she kept in the house.
Now that was the Chuuya she knew and loved. She frowned but not for his behaviour. “Who did this to you?” That was definitely a demand.
She made a mental note to ask Claudia to double her stock at the office and to let the vendor know she would need more at the house as well.
Chuuya had been to her house lots of times, he practically lived there, and he knew exactly where she kept her blood bags stashed. He opened the bag and started drinking the blood.
"I told you, I don't remember," he told her, giving her an annoyed look. "I know who started it all, but not who specifically turned me. And anyways, why does it matter?" It wasn't like she could do anything about it considering no one from his world was here.
Irina grumbled out a string of curses in Russian. He was right, of course. Whoever did this wasn’t here for her to sink her claws into. Well, it looked as if she wouldn’t be going to the office today. Claudia would figure that out.
She walked over to Chuuya and turned him around by his arm. “Because if anyone was to turn you it should have been me.”
Chuuya just calmly sipped the blood while she cursed. While he wasn't fluent in Russian, he knew some swear words. Enough to know the gist of what she was saying, at least.
He rolled his eyes. "Ah. Well, too bad for you, Babushka."
Well at least she knew he was back to normal. That much was a relief, but the rest was still debatable. Maybe it was a good thing she wasn’t going to the office. She might have fired her entire staff again.
“Idiot,” she hissed then released his arm. “Do you not understand what I just did?”
That definitely was a good thing. Chuuya still thought she was an idiot for firing Claudia and everyone else. At least she rehired them, though he did wonder if they'd come back if she'd did it all over again.
He glared. "Uh, no," he said, annoyed and confused. He figured she was just upset she didn't get to him first and that was it.
Irina planted her hands on her hips as she gave him a look that all but screamed he was being a fool.
“I broke someone’s conditioning,” she said in a snarl. “Someone had placed controls on you. I would hazard a guess it was whoever turned you.”
"Well, what's his name..." he paused to think a moment. "Bram Stoker is the head vampire and the one who started it all. He's the one who controls all the vampires, but last I heard, he doesn't have complete control and someone named Fukuchi does now."
He shrugged. "Anyways, it doesn't matter. I'm all good now." He grabbed another bag of blood. Maybe he was thirstier than he thought. "You should probably ask Claudia to get more," he said then added, "It's fine if she knows."
Bram Stoker? Was he serious? That was so cliche it was sickening. But that wasn’t what made Irina go silent and stare at Chuuya as if he’d grown a third eye.
She was silent for long moments before she threw her hands into the air. A long string of Russian came from her rapidly as she paced away.
Chuuya just sipped on the blood as he waited for her response. When she did, it definitely wasn't what he was expected. Well, he wasn't quite sure what to expect from her but it certainly wasn't that. He blinked, completely confused now.
"What?" he asked as he went after her.
She whirled around. “How can you not care what has been done to you? How can you just shrug this off?”
Irina blurred forward, only this time Chuuya could probably see all of her movements. She stood before him, her fingers on his cheeks as she looked into his eyes. There was no invasion from her this time. Just worry that wasn’t entirely contained.
“Someone…dared to…” Her eyes flashed red. He was hers. She loved him. That put him on a level of being untouchable to have royalty adore him as she did. And someone dared to do a lot more than touch him.
Chuuya blinked. "I never said I didn't care," he said. "I'm actually really pissed at Bram and Fukuchi for what they did to me and the mafia. That I had my humanity taken away from me again." He wasn't sure which made him angrier. All he wanted was to be human, but he also really did care for his subordinates.
"If Bram or Fukuchi ever show up here, then I'll rip them apart. But they're not here, so... I don't know," he shrugged. He was angry. The fact that he was calm about it meant he was more than just angry. But he couldn't kill the people responsible, so he didn't know what else to do besides just deal with it for now.
Irina nodded, content in his answer. “And I would hold your coat. Before I pluck their eyes out.” She smirked for a moment before she pulled him into a hug.
She kept it brief before he could start complaining. “I can help you with this, of course.” She moved to the fridge she kept the blood in to see how much she had left then sent a text to Claudia.
"I'll actually let you have first dibs on the eye plucking," he smirked in return. But he definitely would like to rip them apart. But obviously that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Too bad because he would've enjoyed it.
He did return the hug, glad to be back in her arms again. But he also wasn't the biggest fan of displays of affection, especially in public. Only with Irina, he didn't mind too much. "Thanks. I'm still getting used to all this."
She pulled back but only enough to give him a thorough kiss. It was more emotional than sensual. For now.
“Take a hiatus from your job,” she said. “You will live here for a while. There is much we must learn before you go back out into the world.” Like can he walk in sunlight without bursting into flames. “Meanwhile…”
This time the kiss was not just sensual but inviting and insistent. “You do realise, of course, that I needn’t hold back any longer.”
"For how long?" he asked. He didn't like missing too much work. Plus, he'd come to enjoy working at the casino. Except for the fact that there was a lab underneath it. He wasn't a fan of that for obvious reasons, but he just simply ignored it.
He returned the kiss. "You were holding back? How lame," he smirked a bit. He wasn't surprised, though. Sure he could handle more damage than the average person since he wasn't exactly a normal human, but he couldn't say he dealt with a vampire until now. But he could probably handle it even more now.
He pulled her closer to him, his hands on the small of her back and trailing downward. "Do your worst then," he said in a daring tone.