"This is pointless." Shu sighed; he was leaning back in his seat, earbuds firmly in place. Kaori looked at him in disbelief.

"Is this coming from the guy who has to repeat their third year of high school?"

It really didn't matter what she said; Shu seemed to be off in his own little world, eyes closed and perfectly at ease with wasting her time.

"Did you bring your textbook?" Kaori asked.

"Nope."

She walked over to stand in front of him, hands on her hips as she looked at him with a frown.

"Don't you even care that you might fail and end up having to repeat the third year again?"

"Nope."

That does it.

Kaori tore out his earbuds with a frustrated huff; before she could say anything, Shu grabbed her wrist and glared at her through dull eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

As scared as she felt, Kaori matched his glare eye for eye, trying to keep the tremble out of her tone. "Our teacher assigned me to help you with your studies." she told him lowly. "We're both stuck after school with each other until you start showing some improvement in your academics. The sooner you take this seriously, the sooner we can leave."

Shu stared at Kaori blankly; she honestly had no idea what he was thinking.

She sighed as he loosened his grip slightly. "Look, I know this kind of thing isn't a big deal to you, but I also know you're not stupid. If nothing else, put in some effort so you can get school over with."

Shu sighed heavily; he never really understood why his father insisted he and his brothers enroll in this school. Night or day, it didn't matter in his opinion; he just wanted to be left alone and not have to bother with something so useless to him.

"Has anyone ever told you how noisy you are?" Shu yawned and leaned back in his chair. "Let me borrow your textbook."

"I need it too." Kaori protested; with a groan of frustration she moved her desk next to his. "We'll just have to share today. Thank god I only have to help you with one subject."

"Thank God, huh?" Shu looked at the open book, barely listening as she talked. "If only she knew. Humans are so clueless." his eyes narrowed and he felt a distinct pain in his chest; why did every experience with a human end badly? "Weak, stupid humans...why can't they just leave me alone?"

"Hey! Are you listening?" Kaori had snapped her fingers in front of his face impatiently; Shu barely spared her a glance.

"No."

Kaori resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Pay attention please. We only have so much time left; you shouldn't even need my help with a simple chapter like this."

"Fine." he said shortly, straightening up slightly and training his gaze to the pages.

"It's more trouble if I ignore her. If it means this will be over quicker, than I'll just have to play along." Shu began diligently taking notes; Kaori stared in awe at the sudden change.

"Okay then." she smiled brightly. "Let's get to work."

Shu told himself that he was only continuing these study sessions to get the school to stop pestering him, to protect his pride (Reiji would never let him hear the end of it if he had to repeat a grade for the third time), and to get Kaori off his back.

It had nothing to with the they way she encouraged him, or when she brought snacks and asked if he was getting enough sleep, or when she smiled proudly whenever he showed her a completed and passed assignment.

At least, that's what he wanted to believe.

"Wow, you're really good at this." Kaori grinned up at him as she looked over his translated worksheets. "I know the teacher didn't ask me to help you because you weren't smart."

She continued to check off his sentences and compared them with the answers sheet. "Imagine what he could do if he actually had any motivation."

Shu's half lidded eyes widened slightly. "Asked?"

Kaori looked up from the sheets. "What?"

"You said our teacher asked you to help me." Shu began; she had never seen him look so perturbed.

"Well, yeah." Kaori said feeling a bit confused herself. "He told me you were having issues with your school work, mainly in your writing class."

"I thought you were assigned this." Shu replied. "But if it was a request, you could've told him no, couldn't you?"

She nodded. "Yes, that's true…"

"Why did you say yes?"

"Well, I don't see why not." Kaori thought for a moment. "To be honest, I was kind of confused. You seemed smart, always knew the answers when you were called on." she looked down a bit self consciously. "The thing is, I thought it would be a waste if you had to repeat the class again. I just wanted to help."

Shu averted his eyes and sighed wearily. "You really are ignorant."

"What?" Kaori said. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Shu said; he groaned a bit and stretched as he stood up from his seat. He leaned over her shoulder and sniffed her hair lightly. "At least you smell nice."

"Shu?!" Kaori tried to move away but his hands held tight to her arms; he dipped his face to her neck. She yelled out as she felt the pain of his teeth sinking into her skin.

"Get off!" Kaori couldn't even move her arms to push him away. "Shu, it hurts!"

"Hm." Shu pulled away with a disgruntled frown. "You have no right to get mad. You made me this way after all."

"You fucking bit me!" Kaori thrashed around desperately as she felt a bit of blood trail down her neck; the mark was throbbing and she felt a light headed. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you-?!"

"It should be obvious." Shu sighed in exasperation. "I was feeding off you." he licked his lips slowly. "What a rich flavor...not bad at all…"

"That's not-" Kaori stared at him fearfully. "Are you seriously trying to tell me you're a vampire or something? You're crazy!"

"Frankly, it doesn't matter whether you believe me or not." Shu chuckled quietly; his grip on her arms relaxed only for him to wrap his own arms around her even more tightly.

"You did this to me...you reached out to me, you smiled at me."

"Let me go, okay?" Kaori tried to reason. "Someone will walk in any minute."

Shu's laugh was amused, almost merry. "I seriously doubt that. There's barely that many students here during regular night classes, and most definitely not at this hour. Besides, if anyone tries to interrupt us, I'll just kill them anyway."

She stared at him unseeingly. "He can't mean that...can he? This can't be happening, this sort of thing isn't real!"

Kaori's struggling didn't faze Shu in the slightest; to her shock, she noticed he was looking down at her with an expression easily described as affectionate.

"Humans really are so weak." he said absently as he nuzzled her neck. "Still, your fighting this is getting a bit bothersome. Is it your pride?" his hand slowly went to pet Kaori's thigh under her uniform skirt. "Are you embarrassed to admit you like this?"

She tried to glare at him, but the pain in her neck was making her feel faint; it occurred to Kaori that maybe it was from blood loss.

"You need to relax." Shu lifted her up effortlessly; the world was blurred for only a second.

"What the-? How did we get here?!"

He was holding Kaori in the middle of the music room; rumor was it was his own personal place. She had never given much thought to why the other students wouldn't step foot in it.

"He can't be that fast." Kaori felt her body tense up as the truth crashed over her.

"Here." Shu slipped one of the buds into her ear; it played a soothing violin concerto; she stared up at Shu in horror as he carried her to a small couch in the corner of the room. He laid down on the cushions, making Kaori lie on top of him; he smiled up at her and lazily nipped at her neck.

"We've been working nonstop. Break time." Shu yawned; he was talking as if she had consented to this impromptu snuggling session.

"Shu, I want to go home now." Kaori demanded; his eyes flipped open at the harsh tone.

"You'll stay if I want you to."

Kaori grit her teeth as he began sucking her blood again, this time more roughly, their bodies practically molded together. The soft music played on, not aware of the brutal scene.

"You brought this on yourself; from the noises you're making, I'm suspecting you're enjoying this." Shu's apathetic expression turned to a smirk. "How lewd of you, tempting me with your whimpers. You're practically begging me to suck you dry."

"Shu, please." Kaori begged him feeling desperate. "Please, just let me go."

"You started this." Shu retorted. "I love you and you're going to have to take responsibility for it."

He pulled apart more so he could stare straight into her eyes.

"I should tell you right now, don't underestimate me. If you try to run, it will be all too easy to chase you down and capture you. Not that you actually want to leave. I figured there was a reason you agreed to help me." Shu chuckled. "If you admit to your little crush on me, I'll be gentle. I'll even let you sleep in my bed with me afterward."

"I don't even like you." Kaori glared; anger was building up through her fear. "I wouldn't have agreed if I knew you were a monster."

Shu didn't like that one bit; he yanked her hair to the side and tore open her shirt. Kaori squirmed in pain as he bit down just above her chest; after retracting his teeth, he lapped at the oozing blood with a satisfied smile.

"This is really happening you know." Shu stated. "This isn't a nightmare, even if you may feel it is; I'm only giving you the punishment you deserve for lying to me. If you stop being so stubborn, I can make it a dream. Just don't think because I love you I'll go easy on you when you're being disobedient prey."

Kaori flinched as he gently cupped her face. "It's been a long day. Let's go to sleep."

Shu made Kaori rest her head on his chest; she couldn't hear a heartbeat. He petted her slowly as he yawned. The music was fading into silence.

"Behave if you want to wake up again."