A/N; This is the second in the ongoing series of AU stories that several of us from Xana's Lair are writing. I'm still keeping with Yumi and Ulrich. This is based off of How to Begin a Journey, written by the fabulous Kittyclaw!

I hope you enjoy this, and if so leave a review for me!

How to Reveal Yourself

"That sounds like fun! I think I'd like to do that."

Ulrich smiled at her.

"How's your hand? I can't believe you scalded it yesterday."

She smiled at little back. She liked having a friend.

"Yes, it was unpleasant. I'll be fine though. I'm used to that happening."

"It happens often? I have a special balm for bad burns. My dad taught me how to make it."

She smiled again, she liked this Ulrich.

"Have you met my roommate? The kid is crazy. I swear there's something wrong with him. He can't be normal."

She stopped in the hall, watching him carefully.

"Why would you say that?" something tugged at the pit of her stomach. How would he feel if he knew just how different she was?

"He's like an animal or something. It's just weird. Have you ever met anyone that needed to have their meat rare, like bloody."

She drank blood a few times, she didn't like it though. That knot grew a little tighter.

"I guess that's a little strange." She conceded. Did most humans eat their meat when it was bloody? She didn't really know.

"Do you want to meet him? I think he's in our room."

She hesitated. He noticed that immediately.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. It's okay."

"No. I I'll admit that I'm intrigued."

"Okay "

They made their way up the stairs, chatting about class, the first days of school. Everything was perfectly normal.

Right up until they made it to Ulrich's dorm room. He opened the door and stepped in, and Yumi awkwardly stood at the threshold, eyeing it uncomfortably.

"Are you okay Yumi?"

She nodded. Her lip twitched a little. "Can I come in? It's rude to just barge in."

A second head poked from behind Ulrich, his weird roommate she guessed.

"Sure you can. I was just leaving anyway."

He winked at Ulrich in a way she took to be far too improper.

"I'm not some kind of tramp." She stated, forcefully enough to make him pause as he walked past her.

"Sorry, it's just; you know how Ulrich is such a ladies man." He turned and left.

She turned to Ulrich, ready to accuse him of something. The threshold didn't set her teeth on edge anymore. She crossed it, ready to give him a piece of her mind. She thought she had found a friend. The knot in her stomach was back; tighter than ever.

She opened her mouth and caught a whiff of something, something that made her whole body ache. Her finger was pointed at his chest.

"How dare you- is that-" Her eyes darted around, and there on the nightstand was half a clove of garlic.

"Garlic?" she finished. She was already sick to her stomach. He saw where she was looking and picked it up.

"I told you he was weird."

"No!"

With a sudden burst of strength she propelled herself away, her back slamming into the door and spilling out into the hallway on her back. He arm upraised to shield herself. Her hand came into focus above her head, her fingernails had grown out, forming claws, and she could feel her fangs protruding from her gums.

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!

She could feel hear heart racing in her chest and hear the blood running through his veins, the adrenaline in his system gave his scent a tangy edge to it.

Two came to the forefront of her thoughts; one, he didn't seem to be scared, he was actually looking at her in curiosity. And two, she was still on the floor on her back, in a dorm room hallway. He was standing above her, unsure how to react to this new development in their relationship.

He finally offered his hand to her, to help her up which she gladly accepted. It wasn't as strong now, but she could feel the pulse of his heart through his wrist. He grimaced and she realized her claws were still out. So were her fangs.

"Sorry." It was weird to talk around them, not quite uncomfortable.

"It's okay. So you're a vampire?"

"Unfortunately." She looked at his wrist, he was bleeding a little. Her fangs felt nice and sharp against her tongue. She realized she was licking her lips. Ulrich hadn't backed away. "Where is it? I would have thought you'd want to keep it nearby."

"Why would I want to do that?" he looked hurt. "I thought we were friends. Aren't we?"

Her fangs had retracted. They were back in her gums where they belonged.

"I'm a vicious monster. I thought all humans were terrified of us?" the knot was back in the pit of her stomach. She was going to have to leave already. It hadn't even been a week.

He half smiled; "I've seen more dangerous things than vampires Yumi." He took her hand, the one she burned and turned it over. "I knew you didn't scald yourself. Here"

He pulled a tube from his sock drawer. "Rub this into the skin. You'll be fine in a day or so."

She sniffed the cream, and deciding it was safe started working it into her raw skin.

He was still looking at her. His gaze was inquisitive, and that seemed to make her angrier, and that made her want to cry. She liked this boy. He was nice to her and wasn't as dull as she had noticed so many other humans to be. She didn't really want to have to relocate.

"Why are you staring at me?" She demanded, her eyes growing fierce again, she could feel the tips of her fangs poking at the inside of her gums.

She had expected him to react in some way, but he stood their calmly unafraid. Something he said to her rang in her head.

"What's more dangerous than one of my kind?" she shrank back down, becoming the shy girl again. She felt drained and exhausted.

He swallowed, uneasy.

"You know my secret. Can't you tell me yours? I'm going to have to leave anyway, so what does it matter."

She had transformed again, she sounded to him like a regular teenage girl, afraid of being cast out. Needing to have someone soothe her fears.

He sat her down on his bunk, an arm awkwardly around her shoulder. "Why are you going to have to go away?"

She fixed him with a blank stare, and he took his arm away. "I exposed myself. People are going to find out, and then I have to leave. I don't want to leave; I just got uprooted and sent here. Not a week and I've ruined everything. I didn't even want to be here in the first place."

Her frame was wracked with sobs. Ulrich patted her back and offered her a tissue. She waved it away and rolled her eyes at him. She didn't have tears. "Vampire, remember?"

"I train dragons, or I'm supposed to, I'm not very good at it and so my dad sent me here to learn discipline." He choked everything out all at once. She stared at him.

"You're joking."

"Really." He pointed at the ointment he gave her. "Family recipe. Its good right?"

She shrugged her shoulders and then had an idea. "If you try to out me, I'll out you. Got it?" he nodded.

They were silent for a moment.

"Can I ask a question?"

"That was a question, but, sure, okay."

"How come you like, you know, catch fire?"

"Huh? Oh, older vampires don't really have to worry about that sort of thing as much. And I've always been fairly resilient compared to the others I've met."

"Older vampires? You look like you're maybe sixteen."

She shot him a withering look.

"Oh, right, you don't age. How old are you then?"

She stood up as if he had slapped her.

"That is not something you ask a lady! It is rude and uncouth. It shows very poor breeding and-" she stopped herself there, and started to chuckle.

He looked at her strangely.

"I'm sorry. People aren't allowed to ask a woman her age when I was alive."

He swallowed, not inclined to invoke more of her anger. "And that was?"

She took a deep breath, like she was stealing herself for something very difficult.

"You don't have to. I don't really care."

Yumi sat back down. "I just wanted to be normal. I had a life and friends, and all that… a fiancé."

Ulrich sat up. "A fiancé? Weren't you a little young for that?"

"Not in Japan." She waved him off. "This was forever ago. I died; I don't want to get into it okay? I've dealt with my own passing and then everyone else's. It's been long enough we decided I was ready to try again. Being around people."

Ulrich was silent for a while; it was a lot to take in. this girl sitting next to him, who looked maybe half a year older than him, had outlived everyone else in her life. It kind of made his problems seem childish.

"I'm a terrible dragon trainer. I mean like you have no idea, I can't even manage a Scandinavian Broadwing. Those things are like the smallest dragons around. They're timid compared to the ones my dad handles. I'm a failure at the one thing my family has been doing for hundreds of years."

She poked him in the shoulder. "We're all kinds of screwed up aren't we?"

He half smiled at her. "I guess so. Friends? I won't tell anyone you're a vampire that's probably older than any three people here."

She smiled back, and he found himself looking for her fangs. "I like being your friend Ulrich."