A/N: Okay Beth, I promised you content to read, and here it is…well, part of it, anyway…most of this is for you know when, and during you know what. Anyway, since you told me you are dying for content to read, I thought I'd give you this as a little something to look forward to. Lord knows you have other things coming as well, like the epilogue to L&L and the epilogue to Dreamweaver, not to mention a few other things during that time, but since I'm salvaging those bags of tricks from the dying USB, I can give you this.

Admittedly, some of these are longer than others. Keep your chin up. Hope it brightens your day, at least a little bit.

Shizuru/Mai 100 Prompts
Prompt # 1-4

1.Beauty
(Dark vampire, AU)

This was a game she played before. Too many times in her countless years of life, if the numbness she felt could really be called living. It was doubtful. She was an old hand at toying with her prey. A huntress unwilling to let the game be lost merely due to her own starvation. She was powerful indeed, but her vices were without a doubt stronger. Clawing at her mind with merciless temptation, it growled like beasts in her gut.

"There is nothing more beautiful than a woman's scorn, wouldn't you agree?" Her words, those like liquid heat were carried in her warm whisper. "Will you not cry out? Perhaps you might beg me for mercy? If you did, I might comply."

"Mercy?" The woman asked, as she forced the word from her throat in a single strangled utterance. "D-do you even know what that word means?"

"A fine question." A fawn eyebrow raised in interest, as this woman dared to ask her something best ignored. "Well, no matter. I know what it doesn't mean, and that's all I must know." A smile played at the edges of her lips as sharp teeth glinted dangerously in the moonlight. "You're a tough girl…I like that in a toy, but you won't stay like that for long."

Wordlessly, a soft hand reached up, thumbing away blood that dripped from her assailant's chin. "Maybe not." The victim barely breathed. "Why live like this, you've already dug your fangs into me. Dying would be a reprieve." Softness, kindness, and understanding. "Better to die young, than to live forever."

"You pity me, whelp?" Shizuru asked shakily. "I own you…you're mine, do you understand?" She spat darkly, her hand clutching at the girl's neck. "You shall not pity me."

"You're a sad creature, aren't you?" Mai asked quietly. "Sad creatures should be pitied."

Weak, uneasy, a tempest continued brewing in the deepest depths of her heart. Stained with mud, drenched in sweat, dripping with gore, the rain could not wash away any of her sins. Fawn tresses clung to the side of her face, bangs matting down to cover the twisted gleam in crimson eyes. Empty violet gazed up at her.

She licked her lips, cleaning them from her meal. "You haven't a clue." Blood, warm and sticky coated her fingers. "Sad am I? Pitiable? I'm neither. I'm not even a creature." She tasted them, blinded by the flavor that so tempted her. "Though, I am a monster, perhaps." Shizuru explained as she gripped the girl tightly, her nails digging into the soft flesh of her prey's neck. "You'll do well to remember that."

"Wh-" A broken gasp cut through the silence. The injured woman found herself unable to speak, lifting a hand to the wound. She felt cold, drained of the life giving substance. Although strangely, she found herself spared from the cusp of death. Fogged sense began to clear slowly, as the predator gazed onward, watching pained twitches, and uneasy shudders. "Why am I still alive?"

"Why indeed?" The creature herself, hadn't a clue. "Why should a spare you?" Shizuru considered aloud, as she caressed a pale, lifeless cheek. "Why make you one of my kind?" Her fingers trailed downwards, ghosting over flesh she had nipped at, finding the exquisite taste beyond measure. "Why not devour you instead?" She licked again at the wound she'd made in the woman she fancied. No answer came. Only desire, only passion, igniting at the faraway emotion. "I could break you, tear into you, until there was nothing left."

"You won't." It was weak reply that slipped beyond the weakened woman's lips.

If it was newly born instinct, or something else, Shizuru remained unsure. Her eyes narrowed, finding those soft shimmering violet eyes void of hate. Lacking both deceit, and a desire for revenge. She would light the embers of such a gaze, she desired such a goal. "I will paint you in the darkest black. You'll see." Shizuru said then as she gently lifted the busty woman into her arms. The promises resting in crimson eyes darker than the deepest black. "Only then, will you kill me."

Unrelentingly, intoxicating, and sinfully beautiful...she would dream of such a day.

…

2.Love
(Fluff, HiME-Verse)

What would it mean to feel the difference between the softest caress she had ever known, and the most demanding flair of the senses? What would be the stopping point between that singular ghosting kiss? One that lingering in hesitancy. How would that contrast so perfectly with the confidence to capture that sweet surrender without a fleeting thought? What was the difference between a temptress and an enchantress? What about the line between perfect beauty, and mysticism?

If love were to face lust, what would win? What flip of a coin would cause rapture to crest upon the soul?

Shizuru was unsure, because she was not a gentle woman. She was unable to understand the tenderness of the kiss gifted to her. It was something that snared her once solidly founded logic, shredding it to bits, casting it onto the depths of shadow. Never before had fingertips touched her face in such a way, pushing away emotion that threatened to drown the both of them.

Baited breath fell from her, crimson meeting those dearest pools of violet. Their gaze was a shared promise, one never to be spoken by words. Yet even so, in that one tiny moment, she was brought to question the tiny voice in her heart.

Was it love? Probably not.

…

3.Dream
(A Nightmare, HiME-verse)

"You don't love me." Emptiness, a void so deep nothing was left.

"I do." A truth and little more.

"Won't you stay?" A quiet question, hardly heard.

"I can't." A denial.

"Why?" A nearly silent scream.

"What would happen if I did?" A question that couldn't be answered.

Face to face, a shadow loomed between them unspoken. Like a monster under the bed, rattling angry chains. Shizuru sighed as Mai stood quietly. One woman blocked the door, the other stood firmly with a bag in hand. A lack of commitment leading into the threads of threats best tangled, looped into a battle of wits. A standoff so fierce that there was no victor for this particular war. Only losses on both sides.

"I don't want you to go." Again, beseeching words begged for forgiveness.

"I don't want to leave." A broken admittance.

"Then don't." A soft offer, maybe even an order.

"You breathe her name in your sleep." An accusation, one so heartrending, it hurt to even say it.

Shizuru looked away, tears at the edges of her eyes. Mai sighed, feeling as though she were the one brandishing the sword upon the woman she loved, cutting her very soul to bits. Together they stood, but not on solid ground.

"It isn't what you think." Crimson eyes hid behind closed lids.

"How can I believe that?" Violet widened, lips tightening into a thin line.

"It was a nightmare." Words shook violently, as she leaned back onto the wall, slipping to the floor. "I killed her…I killed her because I loved her. I loved her, and I couldn't have her…so I killed her. I told her I'd kill her, so I did."

A thump, and Mai's bag crashed to the floor as she rushed to Shizuru's side. The woman's tears were hot against her cheek, flowing so rapidly that they cascaded over the palms that cupped her cheeks.

"Natsuki's fine." Quiet, but firm.

"Is she?" An aversion to comfort.

"We saw her just the other day." Unrelentingly honest.

"Don't do this." Clarity lost to the fog of emotion.

"That was a dream." Warmth in the face of adversity. "You're awake now."

"Not if you leave." Fear dripping with self-loathing.

"I won't." A promise. "This isn't your nightmare anymore."

…

4. Haunted

(HiME-verse, dark humor)

"I swear to God, you scared the shit out of me." Mai murmured quietly as she huddled under the blanket.

"Poltergeists don't exist." Shizuru laughed quietly. "You've just watched one too many horror movies with Natsuki."

"don't blame me. It's not my fault she hates rom-com." Mai shuddered as she thought of all of the gore that had flickered across the wide screen in the past several hours. "Why does she like that stuff anyway."

"Well, that's Natsuki for you." Shizuru said with a soft smile as she lifted up the comforter. "Besides, rom-com probably scares her more than all of the zombies and poltergeists in the world." She slipped underneath, pulling her lover into her arms, nuzzling the smooth skin at the nape of her neck. "If you wanted, I'm sure I could distract you."

Mai rolled her eyes, a soft laugh tumbling out of her. "Of course you'd think of that."

"It would probably be a bad omen." Shizuru said then as she nipped gently on Mai's ear. "Some ravenous murder always jumps out during a steamy romp in the sheets."

"Oh, God." Mai sighed, feeling her skin ripple in gooseflesh as soon as that hot murmur melted into the air. "Hey, 'Zuru don't make jokes like that."

"It's one of the three basic rules of horror movies." Shizuru said honestly as her fingers pushed up the fabric of Mai's top, exposing supple flesh. "Never go anyplace illogical, if it seems like a bad idea then it probably is, and never give into mortal vices."

Mai just smirked. "What about never wear white nightgowns in front of me ever again?"

"I'm wearing one now." Shizuru said with a soft gleam in her eye. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Does ripping it off and setting it on fire count?" Mai asked softly as she watched Shizuru release the top two buttons of the long flowing gown.

"You're free to rip it to shreds." Shizuru murmured then as she leaned in to kiss Mai on the lips. "The fire on the other hand, had better wait until tomorrow."