Karin

By: Rebecca Matecha

Chapter 1

A new year!

My name is Karin. I guess you could say I'm a normal 16 year old girl, sort of. You see, I'm a vampire, but not exactly a normal one. When you think of a normal vampire you think of a blood drinking, sun hating, monster. Well, normal vampires do drink blood, burn in the sun, and can seem pretty scary.

As I said, that is "normal" vampires. I am not "normal" in the sense of vampires. I love the sunlight, I DON'T BURN!!!!! The main difference is that I don't drink blood; instead I have a surplus of blood. I do bite people, but instead of drinking their blood; I inject the extra into them. Don't worry it doesn't hurt; in fact, it makes them more energetic and happy for a few days.

I live with my onii-san (big brother) in Japan. His name is Shori, and yes he is a normal blood drinking vampire. He is a classic way over protective onii-san. One time last year a guy from my school asked if I wanted him to walk me home from the track race because it was getting dark. I delightedly accepted (he was so cute).

When I walked up to the house I turned around and was about to ask him if he wanted to see a movie after school Friday, my brother came storming out of the house and started screaming and yelling and scared the guy off.

I was so mad that I didn't talk to him for a week. Then one day at school I saw him flirting with like three girls and I found out that he had a girl friend. He was a total jerk and I would have ended up heart broken if it weren't for Shori. Since then, when he is overprotective I just deal with it and think, "He does it because he loves me."

I have been living in Japan for four years, this was my fifth. My house is located in the woods. Not many people no where it is. In fact the only people who know are me, my onii-san, a few bats, and a bird. My brother, being a normal vampire, has the ability to erase a person's memory. Whenever someone found out where we lived he would erase there memory so that they wouldn't investigate.

Due to this, I have only two friends, Usui-kun and Kyoko-chan. No one here knows about us. We have no parents, although the school and everyone else believe we do. They abandoned us, but this is not a sob story I'm writing.

I go to school like a normal human and act like a normal human. In school I act like a normal girl. I get average grades and don't draw attention to myself. So far, I have not encountered any vampires around here. I believe that is fairly lucky considering how many are out there.

It can be pretty hard to keep my secret sometimes. Luckily, I have been able to so far. My brother does not approve of me going to school and finds me very weird. Even though he says this, he grudgingly allows me to.

I need to bite someone about once a week. If I do not bite someone I will get a horrible nose bleed, one that is not at all normal. Due to that I try to bite at least once a week if not more. My two friends have seen me get these nose bleeds and are always keeping and eye on me (they think I have an extremely high blood pressure). I'm not exactly sporty; in fact I basically suck at sports.

So far, I don't really like any guys. Most of them are jerks. I hope I'll eventually find a guy I like, although I might have already found one. My main problem is finding a guy my brother won't scare away. So far, all guys I have gotten to like a little, my brother has scared away. The only guy my brother has allowed to get close to me is Usui-kun, and that's because he thinks I need someone to keep me safe during the day. That is the only reason I know of, at least. Oh well, at least that is a start.

So far I have been enjoying my life. I have been living like a fairly normal teenage girl. Unfortunately, life is not all great, and, of course, something bad is bound to happen. For now I'll do what I can, and wait for my life to change, although, I don't know if it'll be for the better or for the worse. Now we shall find out.

Chapter 2:
11th Grade Bites!

It was the first day of my third year of High School. The sun was just coming over the horizon, staining the sky the color of blood. I stretched, yawned, and got changed. Then I headed downstairs to make breakfast. On my way downstairs, I passed onii-san. As he walked by, I heard him mumble something about staying up all day, and disturbing him when he was trying to sleep. Then I walked down the hall and into the kitchen.

I made a quick breakfast and packed a bento boxed lunch for today. I then grabbed my backpack and headed out the door. As I stepped out I looked around. It was a beautiful day, the sun was high in the sky, and it seemed like it was going to be a great day. I walked down the trail and onto a side street.

Then as I was walking past a side street I noticed a boy about my age who looked lost I noticed that he had my school uniform on and had the Third Years Crest, the wolf, on his shoulder. I realized he must be a new student at my school. Just as I was about to go show him how to get to school I noticed something that was very important.

His hair was to perfect a black, to glossy and under control, his skin a too pale color with a too perfect complexion. His eyes were the bronze color that no one who had ever met a vampire could miss. He was a vampire, and he was walking towards me and towards the suns deadly rays. Before he could step into the sun, and show that vampires were real, and before he could die, I dove forwards, shoving him back into the shade, and into safety.

As soon as he was in the safety of the shade I moved back blushing. "That was really stupid, you could have gotten hurt or revealed what you are," I accused. He froze immediately, looking at me with a scrutinizing gaze. "Who are you, how do you know what I am, and if you know what I am, why did you try to help me," he asked, genuinely baffled. I realized I had just basically blown all that my brother had worked for. I was in big trouble. Before he could ask any more questions, I turned and ran for it.

I ran out into the crowded street and didn't stop till I saw the familiar corner store where Usui-kun and Kyoko-chan were waiting. I immediately slowed down so they wouldn't ask any questions. When I reached the store, they asked where I had been and said that we had better hurry or we'd be late.

We barely made it in time. Just as they were closing the school gates, we rushed in. We then hurried to homeroom. We all had the same homeroom. As we walked to our seats Usui-kun said, "Hey look, there's a new kid in class. Do you know him, he keeps looking at you?" I didn't even have to turn around because I knew who it would be, the vampire. Even though I knew, I turned around and met those bronze eyes. I could see in his eyes that he would find me so he could find out what had happened this morning, and my eyes responded that we would talk after school. I know you're thinking, how can you communicate with looks, but trust me, you can.

I spent the whole day dreading the moment the final bell would ring. Then that moment came. Everyone else practically screamed for joy, but I just moped thinking, "If this vampire doesn't kill me, Shori-sama is sure to. That's when I realized something, in class the sun light had been hitting him directly and he hadn't burned!

As I was pondering how that was possible, I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned around to see my teacher looking at me. Almost all the kids were gone. I had been so absorbed that I hadn't noticed that almost everyone had left. I apologized for holding my teacher up and left. I went to my locker and got my stuff. When I walked out the doors, he was waiting for me.

I walked right by him and headed to the park. Once I found a bench that was deep in the woods, I sat and waited. Seconds after I had sat down he walked around the corner and walked strait over to me. He then sat right next to me to my extreme dislike.

"Do you know what I am?" He asked me cautiously.

I looked over at him and glued on a fake smile. "Yes, I know what you are and if you'd like me to leave you alone, leave me alone." I said trying to sound friendly.

"Say it out loud, I want to know if you are telling the truth." He said dryly.

"Vampire, it is pretty obvious." I said chuckling.

His hands tightened on his legs and he sucked in a breath. "How do you know?" He then gave me a scrutinizing look over. He then suddenly leaned forward and put his face close to my neck. Instead of biting, however, he smelled me. He then pulled back sharply and gasped.

His eyes widened and he whispered "Vampire." Then he started cracking up.

"Why the heck are you laughing?" I asked him.

"Oh sorry, it's just that I was pretty confused as to how a human could tell I was a vampire so easily. This explains a hell of a lot, though I am still confused as to why you ran." He said.

Immediately I paled; what should I say? That's when I noticed it was getting dark. Dang it, I forgot that it was the time of year that it got dark early. Maybe if I changed the subject Shori-san would wake up, see I was not home and come looking for me. I began to improvise.

"Hey I didn't get your name," I said mischievously. "My name is Cross Karin, but everyone just calls me Karin."

"Pleased to meet you Karin, my name is Kuran Kaname, but you can call me Kaname." The way he said it made me blush. "Hey that's kind of funny. Doesn't Karin mean vampire in English?" He said smiling. "So why did you run?"

As I was about to try making something up, a dark shape came flying out of the darkness. Shori-sama, and not a moment to soon. He grabbed me, pulled me behind him, got into a fighting crouch, and growled. Immediately Kaname-sama was up ready to fight. He probably thought that I was being kidnapped by a strange vampire. I couldn't let them fight. I needed to find out why he hadn't burned in the sun. Before they could fight, however, I jumped in between them and shouted, "Stop."

They immediately stood up not wanting me to get involved, although they were still glowering at each other. "Kaname-sama, this is my onii-san Shori-chan. He is way over protective, please excuse his rudeness. Shori-chan, this is one of my friends from school, his name is Kuran Kaname."

Kaname-sama immediately relaxed and smiled, "Just call me Kaname-sama, I'm pleased to meet you Karin's older brother."

I looked over at Shori-chan while saying, "Excuse me Kaname-sama, I need to go have a talk with my brother." Then I grabbed Shori-chan and started walking.

Once we were alone, I said, "Listen, I saw him earlier, there is something different about him. Give me an hour to talk with him please. Do it for me."

He agreed but said that if I wasn't back in an hour he would come and get me. I then headed back as Shori-chan disappeared into the darkness. When I got back, Kaname-sama was sitting on the bench. When he heard me approaching, he looked up and smiled while patting the bench next to him.

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