Rin Itoshi

Many people, in your situation, would have gone mad. In the years when he was a child, before he had been turned, anybody who would have mentioned harboring blood-sucking monsters would have been tried and potentially been executed or at least isolated and cast out.

That was far, far back, though. After his transitioning, Rin stopped counting the years. Time stopped being a real notion when you were no longer hurtling towards your death. Immortality made it so you were adrift in life, watching humanity progressed (and sometimes regressed) from afar. You became a mere spectator. And Rin did watch— he witnessed wars and famine and scientific advancements. Some of them seemed like magic. Despite not physically aging one single bit, he felt every bit of ancient as he was. Technology was a foreign notion to him; there had been none of it when he was born. And now, there were moving vehicles everywhere, gadgets that have changed the ways of life completely. It was both a fascinating and a horrifying process, watching humanity become so alienated from what he used to know.

The little minka he lived in was tucked tranquilly in the woods. It became worn out as time passed on and he only made the necessary repairs to not let rain or wild animals in. He spent most of his nights outside exploring and hunting wild animals for their blood, since sleep wasn’t a necessity to him, just a way to pass the time. During one of those rare nights when he slept, he was awakened by the sound of screams and the sound of rapid footsteps crunching up the dried leaves on the forest floor. There were multiple footsteps, though. Rarely anyone ever visited these woods, and he was so annoyed at being disturbed that he got up and went out to give the intruders a piece of his mind.. only for you to bump into him. He remembers how scared you had been back then, covered in dirt and scrapped skin and two burly men had stopped right in front of him. You had visibly tensed, shooting him an urgent look and he didn’t have to be a genius to realize those men were unwanted.

“Leave.” He’d told them. It was such a simple request, but humans were so egoistic and above all, stupid. They played tough in the face of danger and had the guts to be shocked when tragedy befell them. The men barked out ugly laughs, sneered and advanced, and in a split second, they were lying dead on the floor with two nasty gashes on their abdomens.

He’d covered your face, steered you away from the corpses and into his house. You were obviously shaken, both from the chase and also from the sight of his nail glinting with blood. He remembers, also, how incredulous you had been when he’d told you the truth about who— what he was. You had accused him of being a liar, then you had moved on to calling him insane. It wasn’t until you saw him bite into the raw flesh of a bird that you had to accept the facts.

He’s been housing you for a while now, even though he isn’t so sure why. You didn’t have a home and he liked that someone knew what he was, even if he wouldn’t admit it. It was more relieving to wake up next to you cooking or doing whatever rather than the empty silence he was so sick of. You taught him about the modern world while he offered stories from his time.

It was now December, and a generous layer of snow had covered the forest floor and the naked trees. Inside the small minka, however, all was warm and cozy. It was Rin’s first time getting into the holiday season. He had obviously learnt about it, but he never felt the need to celebrate. This year, though, he found himself setting up colorful decorations alongside you and helping you bake cookies in strange human shapes. (Gingerbread cookies, he recalls).

“A stranger comes into people’s houses to leave gifts?” He scoffed, swatting away at the flour floating in the air and turning his vision grainy. “Isn’t that dangerous? What if he harms them?”