[ Japan, 1912 ]

Hara Masako was born in mid-spring. She was what they called a butterfly in a moth's nest.

It was because her beauty stood out among the people. Her skin was white like milk, her hair as fine as silk and as dark as coal and eyes a strange shade of blue-black. Her parents thought her to be an angel and the people believed her to be a lost princess.

But Hara Masako did not want to be a butterfly, she wanted to be like the rest.

Because she stood out, her family hated her. Masako was born into a poor family who barely had enough money to feed themselves, her parents worked many kinds of jobs just to earn income.

It was dreadful, Masako was never fed anything but leftovers of leftovers and her parents never let her inside the house. Masako never had a pair of slippers on her feet and she had to mostly spend her time begging for food by people who pass by her.

So, the night when she turned 11, she overheard her parents talking to a stranger at their home. She took a peek and found a large sum of money being handed over to her, while her parents pointed at the backdoor where she was peeking.

It did not take long before she realized what was going to happen, and then she ran away from home.

For 2 days, she had continued walking until she reached the next town, where she got sick and fainted in the roadway.

When she had awoken, she was greeted by a friendly face. The room she was at was made of ceramic, and the paintings on the wall shouted riches and western. The woman had introduced herself as Mori Madoka, who asked her where she had come from.

Overfilled with guilt from the kindness of a stranger, she told her story to her and cried when she finished. Masako missed her siblings but she did not want to return because she knew her faith was only to be a sex slave. She had made many friends who ended up being taken by that man.

She thanked Ms. Mori profusely and asked if she could pay her back with anything but money. Ms. Mori refused everything Masako offered.

"Instead, you will go to school." Madoka firmly said, "After you finish your schooling, then you will pay me back."

Masako had refused at first, and this went on for three weeks, until one night someone had knocked into the door of the room she was staying at and a tall Chinese man introduced himself as Ms. Mori's fiancée.

"Tell her you are going to school, she mostly never asks me for anything and when she does I make a point of making sure her wishes are granted." Mr. Koujo said.

And that was how she reluctantly started her schooling. She repaid their kindness by making sure she stayed the top of her class.

"You are so precious, Masako!" Ms. Mori exclaimed when Masako had her first grading card. "But you should also go out and have fun! Don't you have any friends?"

Masako shook her head but at the sight of the worried face in front of her, she smiled her sincerest smile, "You are my friend, Ms. Mori."

After she spoke those words, Ms. Mori wailed loudly and spoke about how very special Masako was to her.

[ Japan, 1927 ]

When Masako turned 16, Ms. Mori and Mr. Koujo called her upon the drawing room. They made her sit in front of them and both looked so serious that Masako was almost afraid she was going to get kicked out, not that she would beg them to let her stay because she already owes them too much.

"Lin isn't a human," was what Ms. Mori said after she was assured she was not going to get kicked out. "He's a vampire and we are getting married."

Masako had been confused at the first two news, and then smiled brightly at the last news which made her forget the first two. "Oh, that's wonderful news, Ms. Mori! Congratulations, Mr. Koujo!"

After that Ms. Mori and Mr. Koujo asked to be called by their first names, and then they proceeded to explain that Mr. Koujo— Lin, was a victim of a kind of plague from the eighteenth century at England and that besides him, there was four others.

"Are you family?"

"We were strangers who met under a cruel faith," Lin said. "Two young gentlemen were there to attend for their parents, A researcher who just came back from a journey and a widow who continued to mourn for her dead husband. They are family now."

Masako was surprised with the news, but nonetheless, accepted it without much of disbelief.

Come the day of the wedding, Masako was asked to be the bridesmaid as there was no one in the family who could do so. It was a private wedding, and not much knew about it.

She had met Luella, the rumored widow, and Martin Davis, the researcher, both who were married in the nineteenth century. She also met the two gentlemen, who the Davis couple adopted legally in the same century they married.

Masako had read the newspaper the next day and found out that Lin is a very rich politician in Japan.

It was official that she did not like the twins very much. She found Oliver very distrustful, and he had refused to speak in Japanese. Eugene, on the other hand, was way too westernized that Masako couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Even more so when they had been asked to stay with Masako to take care of the mansion (and her) while they were on their honeymoon. Masako believed that it was supposed to be she who is to take care of the twins, mostly Eugene on that part.

She had made sure that Eugene did not stay with the Japanese ladies into the house for any longer than necessary and that Oliver ate his meal, both blood and vegetables.

When Masako had finished her education, Lin and Madoka told her that they had to move to a different town. The new town they were staying at was the very same town she was born in.

She told this to Madoka, (and Lin explained her story briefly to the twins,) who immediately demanded her to tell where her previous home was. Masako was surprised at the anger Madoka had shown and Lin explained to her how he prefers to think of her as his own daughter.

Masako was touched, but still she refused to tell where she lived. She had told Madoka that it was alright, and that her parents did nothing wrong. The twins laughed at that, and told her she was being nice to people who did not deserve it.

[ Japan, 1931 ]

The first-time Masako truly felt that she was living with vampires was the night she had visited her family. Madoka and Lin had both left the country to return to England, so Masako found the chance to satisfy her curiosity.

She walked the familiar road to her old home and was surprised to see a smaller house than she remembered. She walked closer towards the window and found her mother on the floor with her father. In front of them was a small girl and the same old man as before.

Her mother had spotted her and shouted so loud that Masako flinched, took a step back in surprise and then fell on the ground. The rocks had scratched her palms and was stinging from the open skin. She hurriedly stood up but a sharp pain on the back of her head made her lose consciousness.

She regained consciousness when she became drenched with cold water. Masako was undressed of her clothes and what only remained was her thin kimono slip.

She shivered from the cold, hugged herself, and shrank back when she saw an old man hovering over her, her obi dangling in his neck. She screamed as the man had pressed his hand into her stomach and she trashed around just to get him off her.

Masako had thought she succeeded when she no longer felt the weight on top of her until her slip was torn away and then she knew it was going to be over.

She hated her parents, hated how she was born with her face, and was sorry for leaving Madoka and Lin.

"MASAKO!"

Masako was surprised to see Eugene's face inches away from her. At the sight of a friendly face, and quite possibly her savior, she hugged him and cried about how sorry she was that she did not tell them she had left.

Oliver had said from the back that she was stupid, and Eugene quite literally threw the door at him. He did not return after that. Eugene turned back to her and wrapped her around his haori.

She cannot tell if it was Eugene who was shaking or it was just her, the difference was really hard totell and maybe it was both of them as he was as shaken as she was.

So she placed her hand over his (that was trying, and failing, to tie the belt around the haori he had placed over her,) and then spoke, "Thank you, I'm fine, I don't mind being naked, let's just go home please."

And he nodded, wrapping the haori tightly against her before tucking a hand under her things and carefully on her back, he carried her home.

When she was secured in the warm bath, he had left to get her clothes. Oliver knocked into the door when Eugene left.

"Your blood stinks, do something about that." He said.

She was surprised, of course, but glad all the same. "Then that only means that you would not be able to take my blood, doesn't it?"

He tilted his head at her and then flashed her that annoying smirk he does when he knows something no one else does, "Quite the opposite really. I'm being nice tonight so I'm going to ask if you like to know why?"

She nodded.

"If you're blood stinks to our kind, that means your blood belongs to only one." Oliver said, and upon hearing the footsteps of Eugene, he told her to remember her words and then left her alone.

Eugene reappeared and handed her a wet towel, she thought about what Oliver d=told her and then gathered her courage to ask, "Oliver said my blood stank, does it?"

Eugene stared at her first in surprise for the question, and then anger that Oliver entered without helping her out of her torn clothes, and then he paled more so than usual. He drew a shaky breath and then excused himself, but before he could stand up, she grabbed his wrist.

"Does it?"

The look he gave her was something she could never forget, and she suddenly knew the answer. "No." He exhaled, and then firmly, "No, it does not."

He sat next to her, "Don't worry. I will not drink your blood."

"Why not?" She asked, not sure if she was supposed to feel offended or relieved. She supposed it was more insulted, "Is there anything wrong with my blood?"

"No, nothing," he assured her, "It's wise to forget everything Oliver says."

"No," Masako said, "It's wise to remember everything Oliver says, he's the smart one."

He was silent, stuck in deep thought when she spoke again, "What did you do to the man? I did not saw him in the room."

"Beaten down, half-alive, and I let him go," Eugene said, and then met her eyes, "If I had known you were… I should have killed him."

"that would have made eyou a murderer,"

"Killing animals does not necessarily make you a murderer," Eugene said.

"If you had know I was what?"

"Nothing," Eugene said. "Let's wash your hands now."

She pulled her hand back from his hands, "No. I want you to drink my blood."

"Don't be an idiot," he said, moving to grab her hand once again.

"I won't," she repeated. And then stood up the tub, ignoring the fact that she was already practically naked.

"Masako," he uncharacteristically growled. But he would wrestle her down if he really wanted to force her to wash up, and she did not want that.

She sat down, "You wash me up. I'm injured."

He gave her a blank look that reminded her so much of Oliver that she splashed him with a bit of water, "The water is turning cold, hurry up."

And wash her up he did, and every time his finger ran into the dip just under her breast, on her arm and on her stomach, she shivered involuntarily. It was wrong, after she had almost been raped, but Eugene was a friend.

He had stopped just by the back of her hips, and then pulled his hand away as if she had burned him. She turned around to ask why he had stopped but paused when she saw his red eyes.

Red.

She has never seen those, not even on Lin.

She turned her body to face him fully, "Eugene? Are you… Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," he said again and then left her alone.

The next day, it did not take long for Masako to notice that Eugene was avoiding her.

He kept to his room, that he shared with his twin, too long that Oliver left his chair and read in the library instead.

By the evening, Oliver walked his meal out (a Japanese student who looked absolutely smitten,) and then turned to her. "As much as Eugene annoys me, you're his. He's not going to die from a week of fasting from blood but he is going to be sick."

"He doesn't want my blood," Masako said, not looking up from her own book. "I reckon it tastes as bad as it smells to you."

Oliver tore the book away from her, pulling out a paper knife and unceremoniously slicing her palm. She cried in surprise and pain, drawing her hand away from him. "Oliver!"

The cut was deep despite the bluntness of the knife, and she knew that Oliver intentionally pressed harder to draw blood but it was an accident to cut that deep.

Before he could speak, Eugene had stormed into the room, staring at her and then her hand. Masako looked down and gasped, it was staining her kimono and the carpet. "Oliver! Madoka will get mad, this is her favorite rug."

Cradling her aching palms, she wondered if the physician was still working late at night. Her wound would require suture.

The thought flew away when Oliver grabbed her injured palm, letting it carelessly drip into the marble floor. No matter how much she tried to pull her hand away from him, she did not budge. His hold into her wrist was too tight and she was sure it would bruise.

Masako stopped struggling when Eugene took a step towards her, watching the red liquid flow from her palm to her wrist and then her elbow where the drops fall to the floor.

Oliver's hold on her wrist was replaced with Eugene's and he was shaking when he pressed his lips into her palm, and an audible gasp slipped out of her lips and Eugene's arm slipped to support her back. Her head was spinning in a strangely warm manner and she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, her hand on his hair.

Her gasps and the sound of her name on his lips was like gold. And she ached for him, she wanted him so, so much.

And that must be why he had refused to drink from her.

But Masako did not care if she was his, because he was hers.

[ England, 2017 ]

"Masako, please let me get Mai!" Eugene spoke through the door.

Masako ignored him as Mai gave her an amused look.

"Noll is going to murder me!" Eugene tried again. "I even made a letter of apology! We've been together for ninety years, you know how Noll is when he gets mad."

"Is it okay to ignore him?" Mai asked finally.

Masako looked up at her, the girl was so young, probably a few years younger than her. Oliver probably could not wait until she turned legal, unlike Eugene who… no, Eugene was worse. When he had found out, he had marked her right away. At least Oliver had self-control, from what Mai had told her.

"Yes," Masako said. "Are you bothered by it?"

Mai smiled at her sheepishly, "Only a bit, you've been together for 86 years?"

"Yes."

"And you never get tired of him?" Mai asked, finally managing to ignore Eugene's cries.

Masako smiled, "Never."

"Oh, I was worried I might get sick of Naru next time." Mai giggled, "I guess not."

A/N: Aaand this is Masako and Eugene's story. Oliver started working as a professor for his new identity (which they change every 10 years) at around 2016 and that was the year blood bank was set into. You'll notice that I am a very sloppy writer;;