A Human's Fascination

by Kalafina94

He had fascinated me the second I had laid eyes on him. From his auburn-blond hair, to his ocean-blue eyes, and to the easy way he seemed to walk with his eyes closed. It was all so fascinating to me. HE fascinated me. It was all pure, genuine curiosity about him that kept me from closing the door to this strange senior that never seemed to want to work up the effort to graduate.

1. Chapter 1

So yea...my first one-shot. Sorry for the length, but I just couldn't resist. I'm seriously in love with all of the Sakamaki Brothers right now and I've been in a fanatic drawing mood lately and let's just say they are my unfortunate targets. Especially Shu. Definitely Shu. He's my favorite right now. *Fangirls happily*

Anyway, please enjoy and I hope everyone likes this. :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even Shu, which I'm horrendously upset about. I only own my OC. She's definitely a keeper.

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The First Time He Had Been Mentioned, I Had Been A Recent Transfer To The Freshmen Class

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I glanced around the room in confusion, frowning slightly at the weirdness that was suddenly happening. Girls from my class and the other classes were crowding around the sliding door, giggling and squealing and using whatever voice they had left to make excited whispers to their friends. The girls in this class were strange to begin with, but the whispers and crowding around each other had warning signals going off in my head left and right.

I may have only just been here for two weeks, but even I knew this wasn't normal behavior. Some of the few guys in the room seemed to know what was going on, though. They had exasperated looks on their faces and one of them was groaning in what I assumed to be despair if the fake tears running down his face were anything to go by.

"Hey, hey! Did you hear?!"

"I did! I heard he's finally left the Music rooms today!"

"Where is he?!"

"I thought you knew!"

"I heard he was roaming around in the senior halls!"

More squealing sounds erupted from the girls and they all quickly rushed out of the classroom, heading in the direction I was assuming to be towards the senior halls. Bewildered and slightly interested in what was going on, I turned to the girl who sat beside me. I think her name was Kira.

"Do you know what's going on today?" I asked, watching as she neatly stacked her papers and put them in a plain blue folder, which she quickly put into her fashion brand messenger bag. She was a pretty thing, in my opinion. She's on the short-side—though that was nothing compared to my pathetic height—and she could probably do without the dreamy expression she always wore, but she was definitely a looker.

She hummed absently to me, pulling out another folder meant for the next class after this break and pulling out the homework assigned to us last night. I patiently waited for her to answer me, knowing that she wouldn't do so until she felt like it. It had irritated the hell out of me when she first did this, but it became easier to understand when I finally got a basic understanding of what her habits and mannerisms were.

"Rumor has it that Sakamaki-sempai has finally come out of his sanctuary in the Music rooms," She finally said, turning in her seat to give me her full attention with a smile on her face. "Sakamaki-sempai doesn't believe in this rule called attending classes, so he's always lounging around in the Music Department and sleeping the day away until it's time to go home."

Perplexed, I asked, "And he doesn't get in trouble for skipping all the time?"

Kira shrugged, smiling her dreamy smile. She looked like one of those dyed blond ditzy girls that always giggled over the little things in the classroom next door. Except instead of being blond, she had an interesting head of dark purple. "He used to get in trouble all the time when he first started out here, but I guess it became such a normal thing that the teachers just didn't find it in themselves to bother anymore when he wouldn't care to begin with."

I found that complete bullshit in my opinion. The teachers here were completely anal about everyone attending class and being on time. You were late by so much as a second, you instantly had detention with the meanest teacher in the whole school. Thank God being a transfer student had its advantages since I got lost all the time trying to find the three classes that I switched rooms to throughout the day. This guy was so lucky.

"Huh," I huffed, leaning my head into my hand as the five-minute warning bell sounded. "Lucky bastard."

Someone made a loud clicking sound with their tongue and the sound of a chair being roughly treated against the wooden floor followed right after. I looked up just in time to see a head of white stomp out of the room despite the warning bell that had just sounded, shoving past the unfortunate students that got in his way.

"Don't mind Subaru-kun," Kira advised, pulling a pencil out of her bag. "He's got a horrible temper and it's common knowledge around here not to argue with him when he's in one of his moods."

"That's something more than a horrible temper," I whispered, laying my head in my arms as the final bell started and class started with the teacher walking in. I just found it oddly peculiar that this Subaru just chose that one moment as we were talking about the mysterious Sakamaki-sempai to throw a tantrum.

How strange...

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The First Time I Saw Him From A Distance, He Had Been Leaving The School With His Brothers

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Letting out a squeak, I barely managed to dodge the oncoming group of girls that just about ran me over. Kira steadied me, grabbing onto my arm and giving me a concerned look. I shook her hand off and scowled at the girls, roughly adjusting my bag back over my shoulder.

"What's going on now?" I grumbled irritably. It had not been a good day for anyone, seeing as how it was mid-terms week, and I was in a foul mood to begin with without all these girls trying to make me face-plant into the ground.

Kira stood up on her tip-toes, struggling to see over the crowd of girls that were surrounding the gates before lowering herself back down. "It seems the Sakamaki brothers are leaving the school right now."

At my confused look, Kira tugged my arm, insisting that I follow. I reluctantly did so, though I had to laugh when she pushed girls and the occasional boy out of the way as we struggled to get to the front of the group. She pointed to an oncoming group that was just walking out of the school. "Those are the Sakamaki brothers."

Suprisingly, I wasn't interested in who the brothers were. I was more interested in the wide...variety of hair colors that they all had. Two had hair red enough to resemble blood, two others had purple hair, though one was much darker and looked much more presentable than the lighter-haired one, a white-haired boy, and an auburn-blond.

I blinked, doing a double-take. "Is that Subaru-kun?"

Kira smiled. "His last name is Sakamaki, Kobayashi-san."

Scowling at her, I said, "I'm sorry I don't remember everyone's last names."

"What's mine?" She asked.

"Imura," I said instantly, though I face-palmed right after I said it. Kira laughed at me and said nothing else.

"Shut up," I grumbled. "So I can't remember his in particular. So what?" I gave her a challenging smirk. "You going to arrest me for not remembering some boy's name, officer?" Kira's father was a well-known police officer in the next town over and Kira's made it perfectly clear that she plans to follow in her father's footsteps.

She returned my smirk with a rare one of her own, the unfocused look that almost always seemed to be on her face disappeared to a more playful one. "Don't tempt me. I might just go through with it once I nail the job when I'm older."

We both laughed at that, but we stopped when a cold voice interrupted us. "You're in the way. Please move." Looking up, I met a pair of red eyes that were framed by a set of glasses and the darkest of purple and black locks I've ever seen.

Kira did something entirely surprising and bowed her head slightly in respect to the boy before us. "Forgive us, Sakamaki-sempai. We'll move."

I gave her an incredulous look. We weren't even standing in his way. I turned back to the boy and frowned. "We're not even standing in your way. You can just go around us." His eyes narrowed.

A choked sound caught in Kira's throat, but it was still loud enough for me to hear it. I planted my feet into the ground as she tried tugging me out of the way.

"Please do not make me ask again," He told me calmly, though the underlying threat was definitely heard and acknowledged.

"Please do not make me repeat myself again," I told him just as calmly. I wasn't one to pick fights with a student—and he was a student since he was wearing the boys' uniform—but something about him just...didn't sit well with me. He wasn't intimidating, but his mere presence had me tensing up.

"Kobayashi-san, please," Kira whispered into my ear. "Let's just move out of his way. We're blocking everyone else from leaving by stopping him." And she was right. I could see the annoyed line of students standing impatiently and I wasn't too keen to be nearly run over again.

I stared at narrowed red eyes before bowing my head an inch to the boy in apology and stepped to the side to let him pass. He promptly glided passed us and the six others behind him immediately trailed behind him. Two sets of lime-green serpentine eyes met mine in what I assumed to be interest as they passed by, a tiny, frail-looking blond-haired girl under the arm of one of the boys, her head down with her hair covering her eyes from my view. Subaru and the other purple-haired boy passed me without a second glance and the auburn-blond boy walked right on by with his eyes closed and what appeared to be earbuds firmly placed in his ears.

Either he's got his eyes open the tiniest bit so as to see where he's going or he's legitimately walking like he's asleep. Either one is still pretty impressive.

"They aren't a very pleasant bunch, are they?" I asked sarcastically as a black limo pulled up the sidewalk. Oh, so they're rich, too? Wonderful. Now I'm just going to be waiting for maids and butlers to show up at the school to cater to their every need.

"Reiji-sempai doesn't take lightly to those with rude manners," Kira informed me, warily eying the brothers. "He's very strict with his brothers concerning their responsibilities and it seems that he's finally gotten manners implanted into Komori-san, too."

I snorted under my breath at that. "You can't just implant manners into a person forcefully. It doesn't work that way." I blinked when something clicked in my head. "She lives with them?"

"She's a new tenant to their house, yes. I heard that she's related to them somehow and she's only staying with them until her father comes back from overseas."

I watched the girl, Komori, and Subaru climb into the limo with the others and the door shut lightly behind them, the limo instantly moving away as soon as the door clicked shut. The car disappeared down the dark road as Kira and I walked the short mile that it took to get home.

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The First Time I Met Him Face-to-Face, I Had Legitimately Tripped Over His Legs

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I huffed in exasperation, leaning against the wall to support my tired body. I didn't consider myself fat and I liked to think that I was in okay shape, but after running around the track for a whole mile, I was seriously reconsidering those previous thoughts. Compared to the rest of my classmates, though, I was fairing pretty well. They all looked like they were about ready to drop dead. Except for Kira. She looked perfectly fine. She wasn't even sweating! I had a feeling she was holding back and just didn't want to put in the effort of getting done before everyone else and having a longer break time. Hence why I finished before her.

"Okay," I wheezed. "I think it's time I hit the gym again and get back into shape." My calves burned something fierce and I don't think I've ever missed my ankle brace as much as I did now. Now I remember why Mom always insisted that I wear it whenever I do running exercises.

"Kanako-sensei, can I go get my brace from my locker?" I called to the opposite side of the field where my teacher stood with hawk eyes trained on the people she knew to be slackers. She turned to me with a kind smile and waved her hand in affirmative. Her voice carried over to me as I speed-walked to the lockers as she yelled at an unfortunate bunch of girls that had tried walking in her split second of distraction.

Sighing, I raised my arms above my head and arched my back, exhaling heavily as a series of loud pops echoed from my spine. Pushing open the door, I walked down the first row of blue lockers and popped open mine, rummaging through my stuff for my black brace. Finding it, I sat down on a bench and began the task of putting the thing on and tying the laces in the complicated fashion that this brace required.

"Thanks for giving me the hardest brace to understand, Mom," I mumbled in annoyance, tightening the last top lace and double-knotting it to keep it in place. Making sure my locker was closed, I left the locker room. And that's when things got weird.

As I was turning the corner, I hadn't paid enough attention to the ground—why would I do that to begin with, is the question—and therefore had missed the black leg that was placed oh so effectively in my way. And the rest is obvious from there.

I did a lovely face-plant into the ground after tripping oh so gracefully over said leg.

"Son of a bitch," I cursed into the ground, twitching. I pulled myself into a kneeling position, one of my hands rubbing at my nose to make sure I hadn't hurt it. My hand came back wet and covered in a red substance.

"Why can't you watch where you're going, asshole?!" I snapped at the person whom I knew to be lying on the ground without turning in their direction. It was probably one of the boys from the other gym class trying to play hooky by hiding near the girls' locker rooms and—

"So loud," A voice whispered tiredly. "Keep it down."

Pausing, I stopped worrying over my bleeding nose to turn over my shoulder to stare at the unfamiliar voice. A mop of auburn-blond hair caught my attention first before my eyes traveled from the eye-capturing hair color to the fair-skinned face with the closed eyes that was scrunched up slightly. The faint sound of music coming from the earbuds that were in his ears was loud enough for me to notice the cords wrapped around his neck that connected to the MP3 Player that rested there.

"You're...Sakamaki-sempai, right?" I asked curiously, feeling immensely awkward that I couldn't address him properly since I didn't know his first name. I silently hoped he wouldn't be offended by the honorific since there was more than one person named Sakamaki in this school.

He didn't deem me with an answer. His face had long since smoothened out into a more relaxed expression and his entire body language practically screamed that he was asleep. His breathing had already evened out and his chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

I found it incredibly hard to believe that a person could fall asleep that fast in such a short span of time, but proof was currently being thrown at me right now and it was plainly obvious nothing I would do would wake the boy up. I contemplated throwing a kick at his face, but quickly threw that idea away. He seemed lethargic and lazy, but I got the feeling that he still wouldn't appreciate the damage to his face regardless.

Rude bastard. Didn't even apologize for tripping me and giving me this damn bloody nose.

Shrugging my shoulders, I climbed to my feet and plugged my nose to stop the steady blood flow that was still running down my chin. I was stopped before I could even take a single step back towards the Nurse's office.

"Takada-sensei isn't in today."

Turning my head, my amber eyes met one half-open, startingly blue eye. Specks of white winked at me from the blue recesses and I found myself so drawn in by the beautiful color that I almost missed his next sentence.

"You'd have better luck with Kanako-sensei. She's the only other person here that has the most medical knowledge." A flash of a knowing look, along with a different emotion entirely, appeared in his eye before it slowly closed.

Flushing red that I had been caught staring red-handed, I furiously nodded my head to him. "Okay," I said with a heavily congested voice. I sounded so retarded with my nose being plugged so tightly, but I knew the second I let go, blood would continue to flow and I'd rather not make a mess out of my only gym shirt. "T-Thank you, Sakamaki-sempai."

I got no response from him again and I took that chance to flee the area, running straight to Kanako-sensei, who instantly fretted over my bloody nose and handed me numerous tissues to hold up to my nose to stop the blood flow. It would figure that not five minutes after she gave me the tissue and instructed me on the correct way to stop a bloody nose, said bloody nose had stopped bleeding and I was left looking like I had just left the ring after a bad round with a professional boxer.

I was left irritable and short-tempered for the rest of that day. Kira was the only one that was spared of my bad mood. Anyone else was fair game. As I was washing away the blood that had somehow managed to get in my cobalt-blue hair that night, a single question kept popping in my head and I couldn't help but wonder at the oddity the question posed.

Why the hell was Sakamaki-sempai sleeping near the girls' locker rooms?

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The First Time I Had Practiced At The School, He Had Been Napping Behind The Piano

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"Son of a bitch!"

Cursing violently, I grabbed a pencil from my bag and assaulted the harmless piece of music before me with the eraser, ridding the paper of all the incorrect notes and little reminders from the side margins. Placing the pencil roughly down on the Music stand and collapsing into the chair behind me, I rubbed my face tiredly.

It was hopeless. Transposing these scales from Treble to Bass clef wasn't something that I could do right now.

I ran my hands through my hair in aggravation. "This is pointless!" I growled. "Why would he give me a task he knew I can't do right now?! I mean, come on! I can't even read Bass clef music!"

"You're too loud. Quiet down."

I was ashamed to admit that a high-pitched squeak had left my lips when the now familiar voice echoed out from behind the Piano. I was also ashamed to admit that I had fallen right out of my chair and proceeded to knock over my stand in the process.

"Sakamaki-sempai!" I exclaimed, fumbling over myself to stand up and retain at least a small semblance of pride. "When did you—"

"Lower your voice," He said tiredly, though I heard the command in his voice. It had me bristling in indignation, but I tampered down the urge to retort rudely. "You're too noisy."

"We're in a Music room, sempai," I replied sarcastically, unable to hold back my sarcastic urges. "There's going to be noise whether you like it or not."

He cracked open an eye to stare at me. I stiffened at the calculating look that was there, but I forced myself to relax and appear nonchalant about his sudden appearance in the room that I could've sworn I had signed out in my own name. His eye closed and he exhaled quietly, relaxing further into the floor that he was using as his bed.

He wasn't doing anything wrong, and he certainly wasn't being obnoxious and trying to distract me from my work, so I decided to ignore the strange boy and continue to struggle with figuring out the difficult assignment that was handed out to me last night and was going to be due at the beginning of class tomorrow. I picked up my stand, music, and pencil, placing all three right in front of my stand as I sat down in the chair. Picking up the Clarinet the teacher had let me use, I automatically placed my fingers over the correct keys and was about to start trying to read basic scales in Bass clef again when a shadow appeared over my shoulder.

"You're doing it wrong."

Glaring over my shoulder at the fair-haired boy and mentally congratulating myself for not visibly starting at his quiet approach, I retorted, "And I suppose you're the Music genius here?"

He blinked at my sarcasm, but otherwise said nothing back. One long arm reached over my shoulder and a long finger pointed at the music. "In drawing the Bass clef symbol, the first dot is supposed to be placed on the fourth line up." He pointed at it. "It indicates that that note is F. Coinicidently, Bass clef is also called F-clef, so that should've been your first hint. After drawing the arc and curve, these two dots should've been placed on the top and bottom of the fourth line."

Frowning, I pulled out my notes that I had taken during Music Prep yesterday, flipping a few pages before finding the correct one. I was horrified to see that he was correct in every way. I reluctantly fixed my poorly drawn symbol, drawing the correct one on the fourth line up just as he had said.

But it seemed he wasn't done there. He continued talking and I continued to listen like he was the teacher and I was the student that he was instructing.

"Now that that is corrected, it'll be easier to understand just what it is that you're trying to read. When reading Bass clef, the one thing that you have to remember is that it's just one note down from Treble clef." He pointed to the top line. "You see this as F?" I nodded. He lowered his finger down to the fourth line. "In Treble, you see this as D, but in Bass, it's known as F. Understand?" I slowly nodded my head and he continued his explanation.

It was a long explanation and I was surprised the lazy boy even took the energy to help me understand what it was that I was trying and failing to do. It involved a lot of confused looks on my part and a lot of head shakes on his part, but he was thankfully patient and taught me in a way that he thought would be to my advantage. Eventually, it all started to make sense and after that, he started to point to lines and spaces and demanding to know what the note was.

I'll be blunt, my first time through, he wasn't very impressed. His facial expression hadn't changed, but I could feel the irritation and disappointment that emanated off of him in waves. By the second and third tries, I had done significantly better and I was happy that he seemed pleased with my progress. The only thing that bothered me was that everytime he got close to me, my heart did this weird skipping beat and it would race away like a racecar would to a finish line.

Deciding to ignore the strange sensation and hoping he couldn't hear the loud thumping in my chest, I thrusted my hand out towards him. He halted in his instruction and gave me a blank look.

I gave him a hopeful and friendly smile. "Seeing as how this isn't our first meeting, why don't we introduce ourselves? I'm Kobayashi Akira. It's nice to meet you."

He didn't look excited about learning a complete stranger's name even if he had met them on more than one occasion. For some reason, though, distrust and wariness was evident in his eyes, but it disappeared after a split second when he seemed to mentally catch himself. And while he didn't shake my hand, he did at least give me his name after he had closed his eyes for whatever reason I couldn't figure out.

"Sakamaki Shu."

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The First Time I Figured Out I Had Developed A Crush On Him, I Had Been Visiting My Dad's Grave

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It was nearing nine on a late Sunday night as I walked to the cementary. I had school tomorrow and I should've been relaxing at home before I went to bed in the early hours of the morning since I had school tomorrow night, but the urge to come visit Dad's grave had been too much. I kept getting this pulling sensation that kept telling me that I had to go and visit him tonight. Mom hadn''t understood my sudden need to go see him, but she had allowed me to go with the exception that I bring the gun Dad had given her and a can of pepperspray to boot before I had so much as stepped foot out of the house.

It was rather chilly tonight, a cold breeze steadily blowing from the North as I walked through the gates that led into the cementary. I shivered into my trench coat, pulling the flaps closer to my body in a weak attempt to perserve warmth. The gun Mom had given men bounced on my hip as I walked and I found that I was heavily uncomfortable with the unfamiliar weight on me.

Swerving through the numerous and long rows of gravestones, I reached a back corner of the cementary where a large tombstone rested closest to the fence. A large cross bearing the beautiful figure of Jesus Christ was the entirety of the gravestone. A simple plaque with my father's name, date of birth, date of date, and some kind words said about him in his honor were engraved into the stone at the foot of the large tombstone.

I crouched down before the grave, picking up the dead Lilies that rested against the grave and replacing them with a new set that I had kept safe in my coat. I wiped away the little dust that had collected along the top, noticing the incensce candles that have been long cold lodged into the ground on both sides of the grave. I realized that Mom or Grandpa must've been here some time ago to come and clean Dad's grave without my knowing.

"Hey, Dad," I whispered to the grave. "It's been a while since I've last been here. Sorry about that. School's been hectic lately. We've been trying to get all our tests and stuff in since Winter Break is coming up soon. I hope you can forgive me for making you wait."

It was hinted at that talking to inanimate objects was the first of many signs of insanity or dementia. Mom never believed such folly. Whenever she came here with me on the rare days that she can handle seeing Dad's grave, she would talk to the stone as if he were sitting there before her in his lazy sitting position. She would always do it just to prove a point, though. And it was only with Dad's stone that she ever did it.

I made myself comfortable before the grave, crossing my legs and resting my elbows on my knees. "How's life up there? Is it doing you some good at last? I've been fine. Mom has, too. We've all been trying our best to keep moving forward. We have so many people around us that are ready to support us if need be. Obaa-chan came by the other day. She gave us a bunch of home grown fruit and vegetables and ordered Mom not to let a single one go to waste. I can tell she's been worried about us and our health."

I rubbed away the tiredness from my eyes, yawning widely as I did so. It wasn't even very late and I was already tired. "Kira's been a great help to me, too. She's been helping me get by in some of my classes ever since I first moved here half a year ago. I'm passing all of my classes thanks to all of her hardwork and tutoring." I suddenly had the urge to tell Dad about the boy that I had personally met at last two weeks ago. Sakamaki Shu.

"There's this other person that's been helpful to me, too, Dad," I said quietly. "He helped me a while back when I was struggling in Music Prep. His name's Sakamaki Shu and he's probably the laziest person I've ever met in this entire world." I laughed here. "He's almost as lazy as you are!

I sobered up a few seconds later, staring at the ground sadly. "He seems like a nice guy, but I don't know what to think of him. He's very strange. Not in the bad way, but not in a good way either. But there's something about him that fascinates me. From the way he teaches to the way he makes my chest do these strange flipping sensations." A shaky, fake laugh escaped my throat. "I mentioned it to Kira and she said I developed a crush on him. Can you believe it, Dad? Never thought you'd see the day where your little girl finally developed a crush on a boy, huh? And it only took me sixteen years to finally develop my first one, too."

Against my will, tears began to stream down my face and I hiccupped into my hand, sniffing pitifully as I tried to contain the aching pain that lingered in my heart ever since Dad had died.

"I miss you, Dad, and I wish you were here to tell me what to do about Sakamaki-sempai. I'm not sure what these feelings are and to be honest, I could've used some of your awesome advice right now." Another hiccup escaped my lips. "I wish you were here to tell me what the hell is going on with your little girl right now..."

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The First Time I Had Discovered Clues About What He Was, His Brother Had Confronted Me About Interfering

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"What is this?"

I rubbed my fingers along the seat of the window in the Food Prep room curiously. Class had just ended and I was the only one in the Food Prep room, seeing as how I still had a thing or two to clean and put away, but I was in no hurry. We had a free period for a while, so I wasn't concerned about being late. I was more concerned about what this liquid on the window seat was.

Bringing it back up to my face, I saw that it was something a red-brownish color. And it wasn't fresh either. The stuff caked and cracked on my fingers and fell to the ground in tiny pieces.

"This looks like blood," I murmured thoughtfully, "but why would there be dry blood just sitting here like this? Didn't sensei see this?" Now feeling just a little suspicious, I turned to to leave the room with the intention of finding Mashima-sensei and asking him if he had seen the blood, but was stopped by the door abruptly slamming open with a great enough force for the door to hit the wall and bounce right back.

The first one I immediately noticed was the Sakamaki brother that had been giving me weird eye looks when he had been leaving the school six and a half months ago. That look wasn't there. A malicious smirk was on his face and his lime-green eyes glinted with intentions that I immediately didn't like. And then there was the other person.

Komori Yui. The girl who sat in the back of my History class. The new Sakamaki tenant. And she looked downright horrified to be here and to see me standing there in the room.

"What the...? Why are you here?" The boy demanded arrogantly. "Yours Truly thought this class had long ended."

Yours Truly?

Yui brought her hands up in placating manner, whispering kind words and hoping to appease the boy. Her sleeves creeped down and my eyes instantly locked onto the purple-black markings on her right wrist. I frowned and glared at the boy. His eyes narrowed, but his lips twisted into a smirk. He knew what I was looking at.

"Ayato-kun, maybe we should leave," Yui suggested meekly, sounding like a scared little mouse that was trying to keep from being eaten by a large cat. "Kobayashi-san is obviously trying to clean up and we need to leave her be so—"

"Yours Truly doesn't really care what the Chisai has to say," The boy, Ayato, drawled, rudely shoving away Yui's words. A smirk which I could only describe as lecherous was directed at Yui. "Besides, I'm hungry." I ignored the way Yui tensed to instead glare at the obnoxious redhead.

"Chisai?" Ayato glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "You're so original, Sakamaki-sempai," I bit out, struggling to keep from grinding my teeth together in an obvious display of irritation.

Ayato seemed to start at the honorfic I had given him and he frowned at me in confusion for a few seconds before a light bulb seemed to have gone off. Then that smirk that I was quickly starting to hate appeared again. "Ah, I see now. I thought I recognized you. You're the girl in Subaru's class and the one that kept trying the Tableware Otaku's patience after school all those months ago." Ayato laughed. "Man, I've never seen him so pissed before! It was hilarious!"

I wasn't going to comment on who the Tableware Otaku was. I already had a good idea as to who it was after he said that last part. "I feel honored to have been reminded by one such as you, Sakamaki-sempai," I said sarcastically. His eyes narrowed into a fierce glare and I knew that he didn't find my remark funny or humorous in any way.

Yui looked between us nervously, wringing her hands together fretfully and looking about ready to jump right in between us. That, or drag Ayato somewhere else. And for some reason, I found that I didn't like that latter option anymore than I did the former. I wanted Yui to get out of this room and put as much distance between Ayato and herself as quickly as she can. It was a strange feeling, but it was hard to ignore and my lips moved without my consent before I could stop them.

"Komori-san." She started at her name being said so sudden, but she turned to me anyway. "Kira was looking for you. Something about a Science project or something like that?" Yui looked confused, but realization dawned a few seconds later and her face paled more so than it already was. "She's in Himeko-sensei's room. On the first floor? She's waiting for you there." Not waiting for a reply, I stalked passed Ayato, who looked about ready to blow a fuse, and directed Yui to the door. I gave her a light shove out and she gave me a lingering, worried look before she hurried towards Himeko-sensei's room downstairs.

A loud slamming noise echoed right next to my ear and I only had to turn my head an inch to see a black-clad arm at my eye level. I knew that it was the same on the other side, too. I turned half-way and met Ayato's glare with one of my own. I was not impressed with his display of attempted dominance and I made sure he saw that in my expression.

"You had no right," He finally hissed.

"I had every right," I retorted. "You were going to hurt her." He snorted at that and fury engulfed my body. "You'd have to be stupid not to see the bruises on her," I snarled at him. "I don't know what you are doing to her outside of school, but if it keeps up, I will be alerting the school and the police!"

A thoughtful expression crossed Ayato's face and he pulled one hand back so he chew on his thumbnail. "She has bruises on her?" He mumbled. "Damn that Raito. He's been getting to her when I'm not around."

His words had me freezing and my mind whirling. Ayato hadn't denied hurting Yui, so it was safe to say that he had a part in the bruises. And this Raito...he must be another Sakamaki. He was hurting Yui, too, if what Ayato said was true. And that dark-haired brother...Kira said he was a manners freak. He wouldn't hesitate to beat rude mannerisms out of a person is what she said.

Were all the Sakamaki brothers hurting Yui?

Blue eyes covered by lightly curling auburn-blond hair flashed before my mind and I bit my lip. He wouldn't dare. Would he? Shu didn't seem like the person to hurt someone as defenseless as Yui. He was too lazy and lethargic. He just didn't seem like that kind of person.

But it's obvious that most of his brothers are hurting her. And he must've seen the bruises. He isn't stupid. So is he...not doing anything to help her? Is he letting her suffer?

I couldn't finish that thought process when a rough hand grabbed my chin and forced my attention back to glinting serpentine eyes. "Stay out of my way," Ayato said slowly in a threatening voice. "Chichinashi is my prey and Yours Truly won't hesitate to destroy you if you keep interfering." He released me, flashed me a smirk that showed way too sharp canines, and promptly left the room, leaving me standing startled. I groped for the wall behind me and slowly lowered myself to the ground.

Yui is his prey? What the hell does that mean? Why is he...talking like he's not human?

. . .

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The First Time I Discovered What He Was, He Hadn't Reacted The Way I Had Wanted Him To

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. . .

I had found him on the rooftop of the school the day I had discovered just what it was that was going on in the Sakamaki household and just what it was that all of the Sakamaki brothers really were. And just like every time that I saw him, my steps stuttered and my heart jumped into my throat, threatening to choke me. He looked so peaceful, one arm draped over his stomach and the other being used as a pillow as he no doubt blared music into this ears from the earphones that were always wrapped around his neck. But then I remembered what it was that I was here for. I shook away the weird feelings and strode towards the slumbering boy, my steps determined and purposeful.

I stopped a couple inches away from him. "Sakamaki-sempai, I need to talk to you." I was expecting the reaction I was going to get, but it still irritated me that he didn't react the way I had wanted to. He continued to sleep on as if I hadn't said anything. Mustering up what little courage I had left, I crouched down beside him, snagging one of his earphones, and ripping it out of his ear.

The hand resting on his stomach whipped out, snagging my hand in a frightenly strong grip. I winced at the feeling of my wrist bones grinding together so roughly, but I remained still and looked down, surprised to see both of his eyes open. Ocean blue orbs were narrowed at me and I could see the beginnings of irritation swimming in them. His eyes never failed to captivate me whenever he decided to open them.

I stared straight into his annoyed eyes, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from complaining about the pain my wrist was going through. "I need to talk to you, Sakamaki-sempai," I repeated, anxiety and nervousness churning in my stomach and making me feel nauseous.

His face betrayed nothing and I could see him reigning in the irritation he now knew to be showing in his eyes. "What is it?"

I decided long before I came up here to be straight-forward and blunt with the auburn-blond. I didn't think he'd appreciate me beating around the bush and further succeeding in pissing him off. "I know what you and your brothers are," I said bluntly.

He paused, like time had just stopped and he was a frozen statue. His face remained carefully closed-off and his eyes were as blank as a white canvas. Betraying nothing or whatever it was that he was thinking. "How did you figure out?"

I was mentally pleased that I had been right, but I was also completely terrified that my assumptions had been proven true. The way I looked at Shu, he wouldn't do anything that required effort unless it directly threatened his life or interfered with whatever goals he had in life. I was heavily betting my life on the lazy and lethargic part of Shu that he wouldn't try anything because it was too much of an effort. We both knew who was the stronger and faster of the two and I had no doubt that he could silence me quickly and effectively if he really wanted to.

"Books," I said, hoping that my thoughts weren't being reflected in my eyes. "And your brother. Ayato. He isn't very secretive when he's demanding food and leaves clues behind. It's unfortunate for him that his favorite spot is the Food Prep room. I'm always the first and last one in that room and I know that room better than even the teacher does."

Shu sighed, loosening his grip on my wrist, but retaining enough pressure to let me know that he wasn't letting go anytime soon. "Troublesome," He groaned quietly, bringing his other hand up to run it through his curling hair. "Reiji's gonna be unbearable if he finds out some random student figured our secret out."

"I won't tell," I said, embarrassed that I had just said some cheesy line that some fake heroine in a vampire movie would say to her vampire captor in the hopes that he won't kill her or suck her dry. "If it makes it easier on you and your brothers, I'll destroy what little evidence I managed to collect on all of you."

Shu's eyes slowly opened and he looked at me in a way that I knew meant he was curious at my response. His hand tightened on my wrist as he sat up. I released the earphone that I had been holding captive and let him put it back in his ear. I stiffened when he leaned closer to me, his nose close to my neck. I heard him take an experimental sniff and I was thankful that I had taken a shower this morning when I woke up, but then I remembered that he probably wasn't worried about what kind of shampoo I used and my heart picked up speed at the possible situation that I had gotten myself into.

"You smell almost as good as that girl does," He mumbled into my neck. "That's surprising..."

I gulped nervously. "Is that supposed to be taken as a compliment or an insult?"

He surprised me by resting his head on my shoulder and with his face still turned inward, soft puffs of breath hitting the skin on my neck and sending shivers down my spine.

"Take it however you want it," He said softly before he closed his eyes and accordingly fell asleep on me, leaving me bewildered and shocked.

. . .

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The First Time He Bit Me, He Told Me Never To Leave

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. . .

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" I asked Shu, who walked besides me with a heavy slouch prominent in his shoulders. I almost wanted to laugh out loud at the exhausted look he was sporting right now. "I know it's still early for you to be up, but if you're really against coming with me, you're welcome to go back home and sleep."

Not that the lazy boy needed anymore sleep. I'm surprised too much sleep hasn't done anything funny to him yet.

Quite a bit of time had passed since I had told Shu I knew he and his brothers were vampires. I ended my freshman year with high marks. I couldn't say the same about my companion, though. Shu was once again held back—no surprise there—and I was currently in the middle of my sophomore year at Ryoutei Gakuen. During that time, Shu and I had grown just a bit closer. And by closer, I mean that he no longer considered me just a passing face in the hallway and finally acknowledged me as a friend with heavy persuasion and persistance on my part. It was nice being friends with the lazy Sakamaki and he didn't mind my presence, which made it better for me. He also didn't try any funny business or pull the vampire card on me, so that was another plus. Another plus was that he finally got tired of me calling sempai, so he gave me full permission to call him by his first name. I returned the offer happily after getting over my initial shock.

His brothers still didn't know that I knew their secret. Only Yui knew and she swore her life up and down that she wouldn't tell. I believed her. I could trust her enough to keep a secret like this.

Winter Break had started a week ago and we were currently on our way to do something in town. I had needed some space from my Mom since she was in one of her depressing moods and I remembered Shu had always found his brothers annoying and loud on the weekends when they were free to do whatever, especially Ayato since he and Yui had gotten together. I ended up forcing the auburn-blond vampire out of his house around noon and taking him with me to town to do something fun. I didn't know what he considered fun, but he hadn't told me anything in particular that he had wanted to do, so the choice was completely up to me.

Shu sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he yawned. "It's too noisy in that house," He stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "At least you're quiet. Even if it is too early to be walking around like this."

I arched an eyebrow. "This is normal human time for me. You better get used to it." Shu sighed again.

Looking around the plaza, I tried finding something that would keep me entertained and would keep the vampire from falling asleep on me again. I spotted a movie theatre nearby and grinned. Grabbing his sleeve, I pointed at it. He shrugged his shoulders and followed after me as I skipped happily to the front doors.

"What do you wanna see?" I asked him, reading the movie board.

"I don't care," He said.

"Of course you don't," I said sarcastically before humming thoughtfully and smiling. "Are you okay with that new version of Alice in Wonderland? Alice in the Land of Hearts?" Shu shrugged again and I took that as a yes. He looked like he wanted to scowl at me when I bought him his ticket before he could even pull out any money, but I dragged him away before he could say anything.

"It's a good thing we got here when we did," I chirped. "The movie starts in ten minutes! We have just enough time to go find seats!" I could feel Shu's stare burning holes into my back, but I studiously ignored him, excited to see this new movie.

The theatre room wasn't packed, but it certainly wasn't empty either. Shu refused to sit in the front row and I couldn't see much in the middle rows since there were a bunch of tall people sitting in front of me, so we eventually decided on seats all the way at the top in the corner.

"These are some great seats," I commented as the movie started. Grasping both arm rests, I turned my body to the side as far as it could go and fell limp in my seat with a contented sigh as loud pops were heard. I didn't have to look at Shu to know he was giving me a raised brow and a peculiar expression on his face. I grinned at him and relaxed into my seat as the credits finally passed and the room dimmed to darkness.

Right when the movie started and the first few characters were introduced, I found that I really liked the Twins when they were in both their child and adult forms. They were positively cute in an adorable, brotherly-fashion. Shu said they reminded him of Raito and Ayato when they were younger and how they always annoyed everyone with their pranks and he always wanted to murder them both everytime he was the butt of their jokes. I didn't understand how he made that connection from these adorable Twins to those two troublemakers now.

Shu didn't seem to find Blood as impressive as I did. He said he reminded him of a sick combination of Reiji and Raito, except he was more polite than Reiji was and wasn't as perverted as Raito was. I couldn't look at Blood the same way after that. It made me very disturbed just to think about it.

The one thing we both liked about the movie was Elliot. I was surprised that Shu liked someone like Elliot, but I didn't comment on it, afraid that he would retreat back into his usual quiet self. I didn't miss the little smiles he would make whenever Elliot had appearances and I discovered that I liked Shu's smile.

Half-way through the movie, Shu's head suddenly connected with my shoulder and I looked over to see him asleep. "Are you kidding me?" I moaned in despair, thinking he had once again randomly fallen asleep. I shook his shoulder. "Shu, you can't sleep now! Wake up!" His reply was muffled by my shoulder. "What?"

"I'm thirsty."

I tensed at that and frowned at him. I inched away from him, gently trying to pick his head up and place it on the armrest. One of his arms snaked around my waist and pinned me in place as the other grabbed my hand. Blue eyes opened blearily to stare at my tiny hand before he lifted his head and brought my hand to his mouth. My face bloomed a bright red and I tried retracting my hand from his grasp, but failed epically.

"There are other places to draw blood from other than the neck, Akira," He said knowingly before his lips parted. I got a brief glimpse of sharp canines before his mouth latched onto my wrist and his teeth bit through the skin as if it were butter. I cringed at the sharp flash of pain and the tingles that ran up my arm. Shu's thumb rubbed soothingly over my palm, seemingly having a mind of it's own as he seemed to not have noticed what he was doing.

The feeling of having blood drawn more forcefully than any needle could ever do was...strange, to say the least. It was like...injecting a person with laughing gas. Except it had the opposite effect. Instead of making me giggly, it sent spiking pleasure throughout my body, especially in my arm. It was intense and pleasurable and...I suddenly understood why Yui had told me that having a vampire bite you was more addicting than doing drugs or drinking alcohol.

Shu pulled back and I noticed the thin trail of blood that dripped down his chin. My blood. Instincts pushing me to do this daring move, I leaned forward to kiss the trail away. Shu's jaw jumped at my action, but he didn't pull away. The sharp metallic taste of my blood was strong in my mouth and the thick substance felt uncomfortable being swallowed down my throat.

"I don't get how you can drink this on a daily basis," I murmured as I pulled away slightly. "It's difficult to swallow."

"That's because you're not a vampire," He retorted. "You can't taste what we taste."

Smiling widely, I asked, "Can I ask what I taste like?"

Shu cocked his head to the sound thoughtfully, contemplating my words. "Something new," He finally said. "Like...a woods-y taste."

"So Nature?" I recieved a shrug as my answer. I laughed at him and asked him to release my hand. He did so without complaint. Inspecting the bite wound, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the wound had already clotted and was closing up even as I stared at it.

"Our saliva helps close wounds like that so as to avoid suspicion should our target decide to run for help," Shu said boredly, reading the wondered expression on my face.

"Huh. That's pretty cool." A smile danced on Shu's lips and he turned back to the movie to prevent me from getting a better look. I followed his example, grinning stupidly at the screen like it was the best thing since ice cream. A warm hand placed over mine casually and my heart fluttered in my chest at the possessive grip Shu's fingers had as they held mine. It wasn't hard for me to read in between the lines.

Don't ever leave.

I squeezed back. Best. Night. Ever. Hands down.

I promise.

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As you can see, I have a slight problem with this Anime. I'm addicted to it. And I'm super pissed that there is only one season with 12-13 episodes. Makes me so mad. Those rumors about there being a Season 2 better not be a lie or someone's gonna die. I'M DESPERATE FOR MORE.

I'm just gonna leave this be now. :) Time to get back to drawing more Shu and Subaru and all the other Sakamaki brothers! *Skips away with hearts flying around*

-KalafinaJ