Yui sighed as she walked the halls of the mansion, keeping her ears open for any sound of the brother's coming up behind her. Despite the fact that she didn't like being fed on, it was pleasing when one of them came up and ordered the others to stay away…though there were only two that really did that. Ayato and Subaru, though Subaru hardly ever came to her anymore now that a woman called Arianna came back. Yui had met the woman and she was beautiful, older than the rest but still lovely. Her long red hair was pulled into a long ponytail and her jade eyes matched Ayato's; it was no wonder she doted on Ayato when they had the same hair color and eye's.
"Oh, Yui!" A female's voice exclaimed and Yui knew it was none other than Arianna. She turned around and smiled at Arianna, the only one who didn't feed on her aside from Subaru. "Oh, Aunt Arianna." Yui stated, having grown accustomed to calling Arianna, Aunt, due to Ayato's, Kanato's and Laito's influence. "You know you don't have to call me Aunt, right?" Arianna asked, a smile on her lovely face. "I know, but it's rubbed off on me." Yui responded and Arianna giggled. "I see; I guess Ayato has rubbed off on you a lot I take it?" Arianna questioned and Yui giggled. "Yeah, I guess." Yui replied with a blush, whenever she spoke about Ayato, she'd start blushing. Arianna noticed the reaction and smirked, it was just like she thought. Despite the fact that Yui said she'd never love any of them, it seemed Ayato's sudden kindness toward Yui was beginning to affect her rather she like it or not.
"Say Yui," Arianna started, grabbing the young girl's attention. "I was wondering if you and me could talk alone for a little bit." She began and Yui nodded as she followed Arianna into Arianna's room. When she entered she noticed Subaru was sleeping but he woke when he heard the door opened, and shifted his eyes their way. "Hn?" He mumbled sitting up. "Should I leave?" He asked Arianna and she kissed his cheek. "If you wish, I just have something I want to ask Yui." Arianna said and Subaru shrugged. "I'll be back." He stated before he suddenly disappeared.
"Sit down dear." Arianna said and Yui obliged and sat down, before she saw Arianna open a closet door. "Now I must inform you that a ball is coming up and everyone is to attend, especially the females as it is required that all females are to be known within households." Arianna explained before she pulled out a red dress. "As a result it is our obligation that one of the males within the household brings a female and stays with her while the ball is going on." She finished as she laid the strapless, red dress on the bed. "What?" Yui questioned, shock in her magenta eye's. "You mean I have to go to a Vampire Ball?" She questioned nervously.
"It's required, else you could get punished if they find out a female was here and they didn't get to meet her." Arianna explained, before she grabbed a small box from the closet laying it on the bed as well. "May I ask what all of this is about?" Yui asked, and Arianna laughed. "You have to attend yourself Yui, and I figured you might like to wear something that confirms to you, as well as something to make vampire's think you are a vampire as well." Arianna explained as she pulled out a small necklace and choker, placing them beside the dress. Suddenly a knock came at the door, making both women jump but Arianna opened it nonetheless and saw Reiji. "It's time for dinner." Reiji stated but Arianna frowned.
"We are in the middle of getting an outfit ready for Yui for the ball that is coming up in a few weeks. Since none of you men took it upon yourself to inform her, I am doing everything I can to have her ready for the ball!" Arianna scolded and Reiji glared at her. "Her manners are-!" He was interrupted by Arianna's hiss. "Despite her manners she is forced to attend!" Arianna snapped out, silencing him. "Remember what happened to the last bride that didn't show up?! She was murdered for not attending!" Arianna shouted and Reiji flinched back, the last bride was a scar on his heart. "I...I understand; I shall leave you two be." Reiji mumbled and left, while Arianna closed the door. When she was still silent, Yui gathered her courage to speak. "Is everything okay with Reiji? He seemed...well he..." Yui didn't know what to say, she never saw Reiji flinch.
Arianna sighed, Yui deserved the right to know. "...The last bride fell for Reiji and Reiji fell for her, and she was extremely close to her awakening as a vampire." Arianna explained as she turned a little, but not fully around. "But when a ball came around, Reiji didn't want her to go, so she didn't but when the council found out...she was murdered when she was found. Reiji was with her and tried to protect her...but he failed." Arianna stated as she turned to face Yui, her black dress seemed to drag like her emotions. "She was wonderful, kind and carefree, everyone in the household saw her as one of them; she fought any who tried to feed on her off except Reiji, whom she gave herself to. Reiji loved her dearly and her death cut him more deep than anything else. She was actually the last bride that had been here before you." Arianna explained and Yui felt a pang of sympathy hit her heart, Reiji seemed to have suffered dearly.
"I-I see..." Yui mumbled and Arianna sighed. "Don't worry about it, he seems to have officially moved on, but it raises a question." Arianna said, earning a questioning look from Yui. "Who do you wish to take you to the dance?" Arianna asked and Yui flushed. Arianna chuckled at Yui's expression, of course she wouldn't know; she just found out about the dance! "Once you figure it out, let me know. I have all the dresses I need laid out, each one matching one of the brothers except Subaru as he is taking me." Arianna stated and Yui looked toward the dresses.
She realized each was a different color; topaz, obsidian, pale amethyst, jade, and blood ruby. She blushed as she realized each color represented a certain vampire, Arianna was going to make sure they matched. Topaz for Shu, matching his hair; Obsidian for Reiji matching his mainly black hair, Pale Amethyst for Kanato, Jade for Laito's bright green eyes, and Blood Ruby for Ayato's red hair. "Make a decision by the end of the week." Arianna said, bringing Yui back to reality. "The ball is Saturday night to Sunday morning, so make sure you know who should bring you." Arianna said and began hanging the dresses back up and Yui nodded as she left.
[~~~~~*~~~~~]
Yui sighed as she walked the school halls with Subaru beside her, he offered to escort her instead of the other boys so she wouldn't be fed on while she went to her classes. She had already crossed Reiji off the list, she didn't want to bring any bad memories of the previous bride, whom she learned was called Lisa, back to his mind. Shu would be nice but he would ignore her in favor of listening to his music, so she wondered if she should cut him off the list as well.
"Oi, Bitch-Chan!" A voice called out and both her and Subaru turned around to see Laito behind them, smirking. "Got a question for ya Bitch-chan." Laito purred out as he walked toward the two. "What is it?" Yui asked while Subaru tensed should Laito try to bite her. "There's a ball coming up this weekend, and I wondered...do you want to go with me?" Laito asked, bringing a blush of embarrassment on his face to persuade her.
Yui jerked back in surprise, she thought she'd have to ask! "S-sorry Laito, but...I already know who I'm going with." Yui quickly said and Laito seemed shocked, he couldn't tell if she was lying or not. She herself seemed shocked she said that and he figured she had made a subconscious decision and he laughed. "Alright, well thought I'd ask." Laito said and kissed her hand, opening his mouth but Subaru yanked Yui behind him. "She needs to get to class Laito, don't make her late." Subaru said and dragged Yui to her class.
"Heh." Laito chuckled as he thought on who it was Yui was taking. "I can only think of one person who makes her heart truly beat." Laito said with a smirk as he walked off. 'I can't believe I just lied to him and he didn't snap at me for lying. Do...do I already know who I'll bring?' Yuki thought with a frown. She crossed Laito off the list as well after that, despite the fact that he truly seemed to like her and would protect her from the other vampire's, he was a little too perverted and that always made Yui feel uncomfortable around him. School ended as she headed home this time, Kanato was beside her; though she was uncomfortable, she knew the boy wouldn't hurt her if they were heading home.
He bit her one time on the way home and both Arianna and Ayato snapped at the boy for it and he didn't do it again. "Hey Yui," Kanato began, catching her attention. "did you hear about the ball this weekend?" Kanato asked and Yui nodded. "Are you going with someone?" He asked, looking directly at her as they entered the house. "Huh? Well-!" Yui was interrupted as Arianna walked over and grabbed her arm. "I need her real quick Kanato, sorry honey." Arianna said and dragged Yui off, leaving the purple-haired boy behind.
[~~~~~*~~~~~]
Ariana sat Yui down at a chair, allowing the girl to see that Subaru was behind her, reading a book of some sort. "Alright, I need to try some hairstyles out on you. Look at which one you want..." Arianna laid a book in front of Yui, and smiled. "and pick whichever hairstyle you want me to try." Arianna explained and Yui smiled, flipping through the book.
Yui had always been an only child, so someone that she could hang around with would be amazing. Arianna seemed to try and always make time for her, which Yui was grateful for; the elder vampire even tried to save her on countless occasions. She stopped as she saw a certain hairstyle, it was common, not something real fancy but it still caught Yui's attention. The hair was in a bun with what looked like a ruby pin keeping it all together, jade emeralds surrounding the ruby; the bangs were left alone to frame the face and give a look of maturity to the woman.
As she continued to stare at the hairstyle, the accessories that made the hairstyle complete...one word came to her mind. 'Ayato...' She thought, stroking the picture, catching Arianna's attention. "Hm?" Arianna hummed, and looked at the picture she stroked and her eyes brightened. "Ah, the Queen's Bun; it requires the jewels to complete its look. You wish for me to try this on you?" Arianna questioned, bringing Yui back to reality, who nodded. "Alright, I'll try it. Your hair is really wavy, so it might take some time. If I start to pull too hard or yank your hair, alert me okay?" Arianna asked and Yui nodded.
Thirty minutes later, after several mistakes and quite a few 'ouch'es from Yui; Arianna was finished. Yui's hair had been pulled up into a small, tight bun with her bangs and some strands to stay down and frame her face, making her look older than she was. Arianna left to grab a ruby and some small jades, allowing Subaru to look up and get a good look at the hairstyle. His eyes widened as he noticed she looked more mature than usual, the hairstyle complemented her perfectly. "You look more mature." He simply stated, making Yui blush. "T-thank you." She mumbled out, poking her pointy-fingers together.
Arianna returned shortly after and placed the gems in her hair, aligning them to complement her hairstyle before she deemed herself done. "There we go!" She exclaimed making Subaru jump at the exclamation. "For crying out loud Arianna, warn me!" He complained but she just winked at him, making him blush. "I'll make it up to you later." She purred out, before she turned her attention back to Yui. "So, what do you think? You like it?" Arianna asked as Yui looked at her reflection. Her mind went blank as she realized there were two jade gems placed under the ruby and her mind went hazy as it formed the face of Ayato, giving a smirk. She slowly reached a hand up, tracing the eyes, smirk and hair, confusing Arianna.
"...Ayato..." Yui whispered out, catching Arianna and Subaru both off guard. "Ayato?" Arianna questioned and saw Yui trace the picture again. She realized that the two jade gems were below the ruby and with Ayato having jade eyes and ruby hair, the placing of the gems must've reminded her of that. Arianna smiled and made the decision that this was the hairstyle for Yui. "Okay Yui," Arianna began, bringing the girl back to reality. "this will be the hairstyle for the ball, it fits you." Arianna turned toward Subaru. "Don't you agree hun?" She asked and Subaru looked at her, and gave a silent nod.