Chapter Text
November 28, 2003
Light woke up feeling heavy, having a hard time opening his eyes; dazed, he rolled his eyes at his surroundings, at first seeing everything blurry. His eyes were wet, he blinked a few times and squeezed them tightly, lifting his head until he could see, then realized he was on the floor. His head felt sore, but he soon noticed pain all over his body, especially in his neck.
Trying to recognize where he was, he stood up. He sat down and found it easier to analyze the place: it was the alley he always passed in front of every night on his way home from Gamoh school. He was alone and couldn't remember what had happened to make him end up lying there unconscious. For a moment he felt fear creeping up his back and anxiety rising in his chest; he leaned against the wall and checked to see if his bag was with him. He wanted to cry.
With one hand on the floor and the other on the wall, he pulled his bag onto his shoulder and stood up. His legs trembled with weakness, but with effort he soon began to walk, heading towards the street lit up by the yellow streetlamps. For now, it didn't matter what happened, he just needed to get out of that place and get home where he would be safe.
He walked with difficulty, his mouth was extremely dry, his head was spinning, he felt weak as if he hadn't eaten or slept for days. An autumn night in Japan could be cold, but he knew it wasn't as cold as he was making it out to be, so he hugged his body in an attempt to warm himself up - to no avail - he was as cold as a dead man.
His house wasn't that far from where he woke up, he walked for a few minutes - which seemed like an eternity to Light considering his condition - and was able to see it. The house was quiet and dark, he went through the door throwing his bag in any corner, just wanting to get rid of the unnecessary weight. He slipped down and sat on the step on the floor, removed his shoes, entered the house bumping into some pieces of furniture and, even though he knew where each one was even in the dark, he hadn't been able to dodge them, so he walked slowly like a blind man touching everything within reach, trying not to make a sound; despite his critical state, he didn't want to wake his family, since Sachiko and Sayu were already in their respective rooms and probably asleep - which was evidence of how long he'd been unconscious in the street, usually when he got home he found his mother and sister still awake.
He went up the stairs to the bathroom, turned on the light and saw his reflection in the mirror on the other side of the room. He could see his own veins around his eyes, his lips were excessively white and dry, his reddish eyes were deep-set, he looked very tired, his hair was messy and his clothes were dirty and crumpled from having been dumped on the sidewalk like a junkie.
His condition was lamentable, but what really astonished him were none of these things. Light's eyes widened in horror at the sight of blood on his neck, which was grotesquely tainting the collar and part of the shoulder of his jacket. He approached the mirror for a closer look, touched the spot lightly with his fingertips; his expression contracted, it hurt. In the midst of the wet blood on his skin, he could see two small punctures. He didn't know what to think.
He took off his coat in a hurry, squatted down by the sink and turned on the tap, sticking his neck under it. The cold water ran down his skin, causing a burning sensation that made him groan. Light looked down at the reddish water running down the white porcelain for almost a minute before sticking his entire head under the tap, which muffled the sound of the water in his ears and flooded his hair and face; he closed his eyes tightly, staying there.
When he had the ability to wake up to life, he climbed out from under the water and turned off the tap, his whole body shivering with cold, especially his chin, as the extremely cold water almost froze him. Light lifted his face and looked in the mirror again, breathing heavily and with both hands resting on either edge of the sink, there wasn't that much difference in his appearance, he was still critical, his drenched hair was even messier and stuck to his face, dripping thick drops of water, and almost half of the black shirt he was wearing was also wet. He tilted his head to the left, so that he could see his neck, now cleaner than before. The holes were really there, he hadn't gone mad, but he was certainly close.
*
The brown haired boy left the building without bothering to say goodbye to the other students. It was Friday, he was tired from studying since an early age and being forced to socialize since then; dealing with other people wasn't a problem for Yagami, but staying up from eight o'clock in the morning until that time of night surrounded by people talking non-stop in his ear was extremely tiring. He couldn't wait to get home where he could have a moment of silence and sleep, but first he would stop by a store on the way home, he was interested in a game.
The streets were not really crowded at night when it came to pedestrians, at least on some stretches of the road, and Light was grateful that he was unlikely to meet any acquaintances who might bother him.
The only noise was from the tires, engines and horns of a few cars passing on the street in the opposite direction to Light, cars that ended up throwing their headlights at him, making him close his eyes. He took one of his hands out of his trouser pockets, placing it next to his face in an attempt to protect his vision and continue to see the road, without much success.
As he struggled against the lights, Light caught a glimpse of something passing by him, as fast as a figure, but when the street was temporarily clear of cars and Light could see normally, he looked around and found no one. He found it strange that, because of the speed and his momentary blindness, the only features he had noticed, whether by impression or not, were how tall the figure was, and that it was totally dark.
He turned to continue on his way, whatever it was had disappeared, but a feeling he was being watched followed him. He tried to ignore it by continuing to walk calmly, he turned into the street and heard footsteps or a sound of some kind that wasn't emitted by himself; he then stopped, turned his head slightly, trying to catch a glimpse out of the corner of his eye if there was anyone else on the sidewalk. He felt the need to walk faster in his legs, causing him agony, and he took a deep breath to calm himself down. Maybe it wasn't the best day to go to the market, he thought as he hurried along, but at least he wasn't that far from home.
He walked a few meters and turned into the street again, when his body was abruptly pulled into the space between two closed stores. The place was dark and he couldn't see what or who it was, but he felt his body being grabbed from behind, and his immediate reaction was to struggle, his desperation building as he felt his efforts having no effect, whoever was holding him was as strong as a bull.
With their bodies together like that, Light could feel the difference in size between them perfectly, and knew that whoever had grabbed him was probably the same one who had passed him moments before.
A long arm held his whole body, he no longer felt the ground beneath his feet, another arm circled his chest with a hand nimbly covering his mouth while pulling his face making him tilt his head to the left. “Shhh”, the creature whispered in his ear, its voice thick and hoarse, before digging its teeth into Light's neck, biting down like a ferocious, hungry animal.
Light felt his flesh being pierced, a sharp, throbbing pain possessing the area, and then being sucked hard, increasing the pain, and he could feel his blood pouring out of his body. He continued to try to struggle and scream, terrified and perplexed by the situation. His physical efforts continued in vain and his screams were muffled by the large, thin hand on his face. Already feeling pain in all his limbs from exhaustion and the force of the other being on him preventing him from making sudden movements, he was losing his own strength as he felt the creature sucking ferociously on his neck. The scene they were in was dark, but Light began to see the world darkening even more around him, his eyes heavy and his body softening, he was blacking out. Whether staying awake and continuing to fight was an option, Light didn't know, he hadn't even had time to think until he had completely blacked out in the arms of the creature, which embraced him and continued to absorb him.
*
His clothes slid down his body, he stepped into the shower and turned on the shower, being hit by the hot water that soaked his hair and his entire naked body. It was the first comfortable feeling he'd had that night. Light washed himself, rubbing the foamy bath sponge over his skin, he felt dirty and tired. At least he thought a shower would make him feel better, but his mind remained distant, his gaze fixed on a corner of the room, his mind going over what had happened to him earlier.
Light didn't know what to think, his mind replayed what had happened over and over again in a loop, and he felt it all over again. The pain when he was bitten, the force placed against his body, the voice whispering in his ear, the moment when he was pulled off the street, or when he felt he was being watched. The anguish took over his chest and mind once again. He didn't know who or what he was, what he had done to himself, why he had felt so bad ever since.
He could imagine it, but he didn't want to believe it. Light couldn't say at what point he stopped bathing and just stood there with his arm resting on the glass of the shower stall and the water running endlessly over his body, nor how long he spent there, but hunger brought him out of his reveries.
He turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping the towel around his waist, noticing that he had forgotten to go to his room to get some clothes before his shower. He was definitely so upset that he was acting like an idiot, he thought.
In his room, he stood in front of the mirror, staring at his reflection, specifically at his neck. It was stinging, it had stopped bleeding but there was a purple bruise there, not to mention the deep teeth marks. He put on his pajamas and went down to the kitchen. He knew that his mother had prepared udon for dinner and probably had some left over for him.
He found his plate and heated it up. Suddenly he was so hungry that if he had felt he was going to faint before, now that possibility became even more dangerous. Light put as much as he could in his mouth with his chopsticks as soon as he took the food out of the fire, and sat down at the table, but got up and ran to the sink where he spat it all out. It was definitely the worst thing he had ever eaten. His mother had cooked it that very night, there was no way it could have gone bad, and his mother always cooked so well.
He was tired, weak and now angry, he tried to eat again, the horrible taste persisting, and he couldn't stand it and spat it out again, rinsed his mouth trying to get rid of the bad taste and threw the whole plate into the sink. What the fuck was going on?