If you've reached this far, I congratulate you. And thank you at that too. -w- Hmm. So. Again. I do NOT own Vampire Knight. AT ALL. And uhmm. What else? I don't know. Please read. :3

++Chapter One++

"I'm fine. I can do this alone. You don't have to accompany me." Rima told her butler for the nth time, pulling out her lavender umbrella to protect her from the sun's agonizing rays as she took a walk around the abandoned building.

However, stubborn as he is, the butler shook his head and insisted, "But, young lady. It is dangerous to be alone. Please remember that you are a young lady of the Touya household. I cannot imagine what tragedy would befall if something were to happen to you."

"Stay here. That's an order." The emotionless girl commanded and her butler stood still with a weary expression on his face. "I'll be fine. Wait for me until I get back."

With that, their argument ended and Rima went on her way to explore the ruins. It was horrible. The building was barely recognizable and the plants surrounding it were dead and rotting. Although the land was pretty firm and good, she figured that cleaning the place up would cause more than the land itself. She continued to look around to reach a decision. When the hot sun finally caught up with her, she sat down on a piece of huge rock.

Rima sighed with troubled air surrounding her. She, then, looked straight ahead to analyze the ruins of the building when instead of seeing the building, she saw a human-like figure sitting in front of her with lifeless blue eyes. He was gorgeous with his dark red hair and cold aura, this, Rima observed.

They stared at each other for a while, both showing no sign of emotion.

"This is private property. You shouldn't be here." Rima told him, clutching the handle of her umbrella tighter. Something wasn't right with the guy in front of her. He was alluring alright. But he was also mysterious and somehow, simply dangerous.

The red haired guy nodded. "I know." He said. "It's not like I want to be here. I want to get myself out of here as soon as possible just like the people who own this place do."

"What do you mean by that?" She inquired, her curiosity getting the best of her. She mentally scolded herself for it. Rima didn't like talking, less more to strangers and she knew she shouldn't have asked him a question. She knew that she could've just turned around and walked away like she never met him.

"I ran away. Now I'm lost." He retorted with a straight face.

Again, they fell silent, staring at each other's eyes. Rima noticed that his eyes were a few shades lighter than hers and that his hair looked like it was soaked in blood from the redness. The silence between them was deafening. Rima felt irritated by it but decided to not care, which is more convenient. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of a growling stomach.

"Ah." The guy said flatly. "That must be mine."

Rima sighed and rummaged through her bag and luckily was able to find some chocolate pocky lying around. She, then, stood and walked up to him, offering him a stick. The guy, though puzzled, took one and began chomping it down.

Rima was about to ask a question when suddenly, a cold hand grabbed her head. She couldn't turn around to see who or what it was. She couldn't even scream like she was instantly paralyzed right then. All she could do was beg the stranger in front of her to save her with her eyes. Surprisingly and thankfully, the boy seemed to understand and quickly rose from his very casual position.

He glared at the monster behind her. "Let go."

Rima shivered in fear as a inhuman groan was let out from behind her. The monster's grip tightened, giving her a slight headache. Inside her head, she was panicking so bad she thought she'd lose her mind if it wasn't for her naturally calm and reasonable personality. Hoping to see her perpetrator herself for reassurance, Rima put all of her strength into turning her head even for just a little.

But what she saw, she didn't expect. The monster holding her wasn't like the monster she saw in movies. It was completely human, only with pale, almost grayish skin and sharp teeth in a wide grin. Her helpless blue eyes met the creature's gleaming red ones, causing one emotion to fill her body all throughout: fear.

She couldn't turn away from its eyes. It was so scary that she was too paralyzed to look away. Rima felt tears form behind her eyes and she knew, for the first time in front of another person, she was about to cry if not for the stranger's hands covering her eyes.

This is freaking ridiculous. She thought, trying to comfort herself by closing her eyes so as not to see more. She knew it made no sense since her eyes were already covered but she just had to.

All of a sudden, a high-pitched, inhuman shriek was let out and her head was freed. Rima kept her eyes closed as the stranger drew her closer to him, still covering her eyes. In a split second, another shriek was let out and was followed by a dying voice.

With her left hand, Rima pulled the stranger's hand down. Her eyes met the dissolving body lying on the floor not too far away. She stared at it until in completely disappeared into a bundle of sand, leaving its clothes.

She couldn't say anything but go down on her knees in a mixture of happiness and fear. Her eyes didn't leave the now-sand figure, trying to make out what the hell just happened. Then she reverted her eyes to the stranger who was again, chewing on some of her pocky. He extended his hand out to her which she took to stand up.

Almost immediately, Rima fixed herself up, returning to the calm and reasonable person she was. She brushed off the dirt from her coat and fixed her messy hair. Then she stood straight and looked like nothing ever happened.

"Your name… what is it?" Rima probed as the guy took his seventh stick.

"Shiki." He replied curtly. "Senri Shiki,"

"You said you ran away." They guy nodded. Then she took her pocky away from him. "Then… come with me and be my bodyguard."

At that point, Shiki stopped eating to stare and ponder deeply about an answer. He looked at Rima and back to the chocolate pocky she was holding. She didn't fully understand what the heck she was doing. It wasn't rational to offer some stranger—not to mention a dangerous looking one—a job out of the blue and she knew this fact. However, no matter how hard she tried to struggle against her want to take in the said guy, her reasons were never enough to completely turn the tables upside-down.

Shiki, on the other hand, stared at her, pondering long and hard if he should accept her bodyguard offer. He had no place to go and his 'home' was no longer a house that protected him after the night it became the main reason of his harm. He looked at her and wondered if someone like him could protect a person like her. Shiki was very simple-minded but his decision took longer than he expected.

I might just end up killing this little lady. He thought. He hated it. He didn't like to become a bodyguard for someone. It was too tiresome and well, being the lazy person he is, too much trouble. But again, he thought about his current state. He was lost with nowhere to go and a little trouble wouldn't be so bad.

He closed his eyes and thought, if she gets too troublesome, I'll just kill her. And with that, he nodded his head to accept her offer. Rima's face didn't light up or show disappointment of some sort. She just bobbed her head once and waved the pocky, motioning him to follow her back to her car.

Rima decided to curtly survey the area before going back. When she and Shiki finally got to the car where her butler waited, she folded her lavender umbrella and sighed. Her butler, upon seeing Shiki, stood up and pointed a gun at him. This, however, failed to evoke any emotion from the man.

"Who are you? Why are you following the young lady? Answer me!" He demanded. Rima knew this would happen so she sighed and slammed on the car's hood.

"Stop it." She ordered. Right away, her butler lowered his firearm but his gaze remained fixated on Shiki. "He's my new bodyguard. Don't ask me questions."

The butler was visibly perplexed and disappointed for he was unable to suppress his emotions like his two company. But like Rima ordered him, he did not question her decision any more. He then gave a curt nod and stood by Rima to open the door for her. Rima went inside, followed by Shiki who was given a piercing stare by the butler. Soon enough, they were on their way back to Rima's mansion.

All throughout the whole trip, the butler kept a close eye on Shiki through the mirror. Rima, who was getting tired of her butler's annoying behavior and the earlier events, rested her head on Shiki's shoulders, causing him to be taken aback although it wasn't obvious.

She fell asleep on his shoulders, making the poor butler panic more. Shiki, getting tired of the load on his shoulder, took Rima's head and let her rest it on his lap. This time, the butler cleared his throat to somehow voice out his disapproval which Shiki ignored. By the time they reached Rima's mansion, the butler was red from disappointment and concealed anger.

"Young lady, we have arrived." The butler said, placing his hand on her shoulder to wake her up.

"Don't touch me." She said coldly with her eyes closed. The poor butler immediately pulled his hand back and gave a curt nod to motion his apologies. Rima opened her eyes and sat up, squinting to see Shiki who was about to open the door for himself and his new master.

She stared at him, focusing on his attractive blood-dyed hair. It was disturbing how a feeling of nostalgia creeps up on her every time she stares at his hair. It was a feeling of familiarity mixed with an unexplainable desire.

Suddenly, she felt a tingling sensation go down her spine. His tired eyes met her just-woken-up ones. "What are you waiting for?" Rima demanded, a hint of embarrassment and hastiness in her voice.

"Nothing." He said, pushing open the car's door.

What's up with that? Rima thought. However, she ignored Shiki's behavior and stepped out to greet the agonizing sun.

"Are you okay?" Shiki asked, seeing Rima helplessly shield herself from the sun with her thin arms. He was about to reach for her umbrella but then she stopped him.

"It's okay." She reassured him. "I just don't like the sun, that's all."

Shiki found this puzzling and ended up thinking about it so much. He pondered deeply and would sometimes stare at Rima with a look that screamed "I hope what I'm thinking is wrong." Rima noticed this and misunderstood it as Shiki's perversion of some sort, making her uneasy. She managed to shrug it off and briskly walk to her office with Shiki following close behind. And when she swung open the door, a golden invitation greeted them, sitting comfortably atop her table.

"I don't like that color." Rima muttered under her breath. Taking a few steps forward, she managed to catch a glimpse of the words written on the golden envelope. There it read:

"To the young lady of the Touya household, Rima Touya

-Udou household"

"I knew it," She grumbled lowly and cursed. With a heavy heart, she took the letter and sat down on her chair with a sigh. Her eyes went through every detail of the letter. She made sure to not miss the important parts like the 'Udou grand ball' part and the 'everyone is obliged to come' part.

After she finished depressing over it, she put the letter back and threw it on her desk. She almost forgot Shiki who was standing by the door is he hadn't spoken up.

"Why are you so depressed over a ball?" He asked.

Rima took a deep breath. "I don't like it." She said in an almost inaudible voice.

"But you need to attend it." He said as a matter-of-fact.

"Unfortunately, I have to make a good impression and maintain stupid bonds with the different families." She said with a sigh. She couldn't stop sighing. Just looking at the invitation was very tiring. Just the thought of needing to wear a dress and sweet talking everyone made her knees weak.

Ignoring her thoughts of skipping out, she reached out for the ball gowns catalogue atop her desk. She flipped the pages madly until she found a dress suitable for the event. It was a royal blue strapless gown. It was simple and sophisticated, perfect for not standing out too much which she was planning to do.

Rima reached for the phone and dialed up her maid's number. After a few rings, a pitchy female voice picked up.

"Yes, young lady?" The girl over the phoned asked.

"Place an order for the royal blue gown on page 13." She said then looked up to see Shiki who was again, gnawing on pocky. "Oh, and a black tuxedo to match."

"A tuxedo?" The girl was obviously puzzled.

"Yes, a tuxedo. We'll both be there for the fitting." She said and hung up.

If you think this story is worth continuing. Please say something. Anything. Cause I lose my will to write real fast. . Please give some review. I'm like, begging for it. Q_Q Anyways. That's it. For now. I guess. :) Nyaa~