Vampire's Flower

Chapter IV:

Consolation? The hope that I could take all your pain!


Title: Vampire's Flower

Summary: Sato Hana, an 19 year old meme generation girl somehow stumbles upon the dystopic world of Owari no Seraph where she soon learns she should have probably paid attention to her Twilight obsessed friends' jabber instead of yik-yaking about how a squirrel took off with her biology homework or the fact she was now considered adult with responsibility and paying an arm and a leg to listen to a guy talk about things she'll never get in her life– might as well pay that 535,800 yen for the lecture mum gives her. Now, suck in world where vampires ruled the world and humans were considered livestock, she soon learns she must choose to either be eaten or die trying to get back to her world.

Pairing: Ferid x Hana x Crowley, Mika x Hana x Lacus with slight Hana x Waldo Gilles.


Thank you to those who have read, reviewed and favourited my story:

lovelyanimeangel- Glad you enjoyed it! Here's another chapter for you to love! You're gonna see more of Hana's spunk! She has that I survived-the-uni-I-can-survive-anything mindset and it's gonna be a huge surprise for vampires haha!

Rosalian- Thank you for your feedback really appreciate them! I did think it was little bit overdone her speechso I made several changes! Enjoy this chapter too!

Melody Violet- Haha you'll see more of Hana's courage in further chapters! Well I'm following more manga timeline rather than anime and since next chapter is coming out on 6th March (I think) I'm gonna be focusing more on manga story plot. I did thought they rushed the last season and there were so many unanswered questions! Well I don't know what happened during those last 4 month (apparently its 3 month in manga) between them and wanted to write chapters focusing on the budding relationship between Shinoa's group and Mika. Enjoy this chapter!

Guest#1- Thank you! Hana can do crazy things when she's drunk, something you'll read later on!

jessyB– Thank you for reading! Here's more!

ShadowYashi- It's a good manga/anime although you could really see the budget cut in the anime and there was some lacking but overall it's good! If you like Kuroshitsuji type of anime (aka dark, tense, action filled) then this is something you should check it out if you have time : )

Guest#2- Thank you! Glad you like the OC! Here's a treat for you! Another chapter! Yay!


I could see my words were a comfort to him even if it was temporarily and merely more influential while we were alone in this room away from the world that probably told him otherwise. Lifting myself from his hold, I swung my leg back from the awkward closeness when my knees jerked under the sudden burden of my body weight and fell face flat on the wooden ground with a sickening crunch.

"OUCH! FREAKIN VANILLA!" I howled with pain, clutching my nose and wondering if I had broken it.

Mika quickly knelt down, ushering me up to a sitting position to examine my injuries, "A-Are you alright?!"

"Am I bleeding? I-is it crooked? I-if it is, by how many degrees? Is there's still a plastic surgery clinics here? Am I Lord Voldemort?!" I babbled in panicky tone, my fingers shakily touching on the sore bridges.

"You're not bleeding, it looks fine." Mika said worriedly, "I-I'm sorry I shouldn't have drink that much from you I-"

"It's not broken?" I asked, relieved, "It looks fine?"

He nodded, "I–"

"Then it's fine." I quickly dismissed it, although this didn't seemed much help to lessen his worry, "I'm really fine, as long as my face looks…human..I'm fine. It's not your fault; it's mine for moving so sudden like that. SHH!" I shushed him before he rambled about how much of a monster he was because he nearly broke my nose, "I'm FINE. I'm still breathing." I stretched out my arms and jiggled my fingers toward him, "Help me up?"

With one smooth movement, he grabbed by my waist and holstered me up, gently laying my feet to the ground although his arms were still securely tight against my waist probably out of fear that this time I might really break my nose.

I waited until I felt confident enough I could support myself and pried his arms away, "I thought you had a small stomach."

His eyes darted to the side in avoidance, either out of shame or embarrassment at the exposé of his greedy nature.

"It makes you seem more…" I struggled to find the word but decided to settle for something simple instead, "More like a person." I paused before quipping playfully, "You sure you only need it two times a day?"

He nodded stiffly.

"Well holla if you need more, I'm here when you need me." I mentioned, opening the door when sounds of struggles reached our ears and within seconds, Mika was at the bottom of the stairs rushing to the barn where it originated.

"HOLD HIM DOWN!" I heard Shinoa ordered, "Kimizuki hold down his arms!"

"Let me," Mika slipped between Shinoa and Shiho and used one arm to pin Yuu's thrashing arms to the wall while he used his knees to press down his legs before forcing his mouth open with his free hand allowing Shinoa to slip the blood into his mouth. I arrived soon after to see Yuu's tongue darting to catch the last drop of the blood gliding on the edge of the bowl like a thirsty man's plea for an oasis. For a moment, I wondered if that's what Mika looked like while drinking my blood then flashes of the psycho's bloodlust expression licking his lip of my blood passed by my eyes, triggering my instinctual fear of the predator.

"MORE!" Yuu – no the demon – demanded, "GIVE ME MORE!"

They stepped back with the empty bowl as chains shackled frailly against his brutal strength gained from recent feed, worriedly examining Yuu who growled at them with stares that promised their painful death if he were to be freed from the bindings.

"Yuu…" Mika reached out to him but the only answers he received was a snarling snap of his fangs.

I slipped my hand into Shinoa's, surprising the petite girl as I faced her courageously, "It'll be alright in the end…you told me he became a demon to protect you guys' right? If he has the strength to do that, he'll have the strength to come back. Yuu may be a lot stronger than we thought or what he even knows."

Something flashed passed her eyes that went as quickly as it came but it was enough to recoup some of her strength and she returned my firm grip before I let her go although the warmth shared by our two hands were still burning by our side.

If my suspicion is right…unusually powerful strength and abilities…he's the angel/demon…former experimental subject…surrounded by his friends' love and unwavering loyalty, vampire friend….he's the main character of this world and main characters are always able to come out of whatever shitty hole they are in.

"..Let's go guys." Shinoa pulled me along, Shiho second to follow and lastly Mika whose eyes were still upon his friend until the door shut. We heard few more growls then heavy calmness as soon as we were out of sight from his wrath.

Shinoa then turned to me with an attempted smile, "You must be hungry right? Let's go."

"Are you coming?" I asked Mika, who shook his head and decided instead to lean against the wall broodingly.

"Well, you're always welcomed inside." Shinoa said, "Not just for sleeping." She twirled around and led me inside although I could see her words somehow stirred something in him from the slight parting of his lip even if couldn't see his eyes hidden by his hair.

"You're awfully kind to him." Mitsuba commented with a hint of disapproval although it was more from the distrust of his hidden agenda before he was the same species that they had sworn to eradicate.

Shinoa turned to address the group who she knew they had been keeping their distance from the vampire – it was not of outright odium but subtle coldness in their treatment of him, "He's Yuu's friend – any friend of his should be friend of ours'. We should understand his situation first. How did he turn out like that? What's happening to that boy? It is human nature to at least worry about him. Amongst us, there are many who came here, tired of being left out because of our origins. But look at the way we're treating Mika. We are no different from those who mistreated us."

I stared at the tiny girl with impressed look, unaware she had such percipient insight within her but then again, I'd already suspected from the beginning that she wasn't just assigned as the leader of her group for no logical reason at all. My countenance mirrored others as they gaped at her with equal amount of awe and astonishment.

Shinoa nonchalantly headed to the kitchen then stopped and turned to face Shiho expectedly, "Aren't you going to make us breakfast?"

Shiho blinked before giving her a conceding grin, cocking his head to the side with little embarrassment of having acted more immature when he was usually the level-headed one.

I sat down as Shiho put a steamy dish of food from last night in front of me while others settled for something simple like bread and cereal and water, "Thank you." I picked up my spoon and dug in.

"So," Mitsuba motioned toward me after taking few bites out of her toast, "How's your world like?"

"Well," I stopped eating, chewing the remaining food before speaking, "It's quite normal, I'm presuming our technology is more advanced though..well in terms of daily life stuff like phones and stuff. We occasionally have news about tragic accidents and incidents but other than that, it's quite peaceful I guess."

"Were you a student?"

"I am still a student," I corrected, "I was just finishing my 2nd year in nursing degree when I ended up here. I lived in Tokyo all my life but my grandparent lives in Osaka so I'd visit them for few months every summer holiday. How about you guys? How did you end up where you are?"

They explained how their lives changed after apocalypse and it surprised me there was actually a ruling family in Japan which Shinoa was part of but she had emphasised her last name didn't define who she was and hinted she was not at all closed to her family. They all attended the same high school – which Shinoa has revealed serves as a large-scale human experiment – and there was only one elementary, middle and high school which after graduation they were given choices to become part of the army or become regular citizens and how they were encouraged to 'procreate' – totally different from my uni who likes to say study is better than sex or alcohol to which I asked if they had empirical evidence to back over such controversial claim much to their bewilder. I was still waiting for those researches from them.

"..If you don't mind asking, Yoichi," I interjected, "Did something happened to you with vampires?"

The whole table became heavy with tensity and cursed my blunt mouth for asking such personal question without care, "I-I'm so sorry, j-just f-forget it!" It was too late, the water has already been spilt and the damage was done.

I couldn't bear to face his eyes that were downturned to the floor drowned in memory of whatever had happened between him and the vampires.

"My sister…was killed by a vampire.." He gave me a half-smile although it was just a quick twitch of the both corner of his lip but I was surprised his voice lacked hatred rather full of sadness and unresolved mourning, "By the name of Lacus..."

My eyes widened in recognition and I burst out of my seat, "THE PSYCHO?!"

Yoichi flinched back in surprise at my outburst, "H-Huh?"

"That bastard been sucking blood from all sorts of people," I muttered irately then twisted to the gentle boy, "Yoichi, I'll promise you…next time I see him I will slap him so hard that his head disconnects from his body and escapes the earth's gravity. I would leave a handprint on his sorry face so detailed that artists from centuries to come would study the fragmented pieces of his face. I will strap a military grade land mine to my palm and slap him so hard that seismologists all over the world would be losing their shits. I would chop off my hand, toss it into a civil war era cannon, and cannon slap that psycho back into the colonial period and chidori slap the chakra out of him." I promised him, "Better have that camera ready by then because it's going down in history."

He looked at me mildly with fear before squeaking out, "Uh…thank..you..I guess?"'

I knew behind those kind façade of his was always tormented by guilt and shame – to lose a family member… someone who didn't have to die, but did, was a scar that forever remained with those left behind and what's more is that no level of comfort or words can get rid of that scar. Ever. However rather than making comments, I simply said, "It will be my pleasure." I sat myself down and rewarded myself a spoonful of rice, "So when's your guys birthday? We don't know how long we'll be here, might as well celebrate it if any of you have one in near future."

"Mine's on Christmans," Shinoa revealed

"Oooh, same as Jesus' b-day," I piped with a grin, "My brother's a day after you. Lucky bunch."

"Yuu's on October 16th." Shinoa added.

"Mine's July 7th," Mitsuba said.

"September 19th!" Narumi grinned.

"Mine's November 23rd," Yoichi said.

"Mine's on 26th," Shiho added.

I wiggled my brows suggestively to the two boys, "Someone's parents had an awesome Valentine's Day."

This earned me a few chuckles from the group.

"Well mine's on March 15th which was like less than a month away in my world, what month is it now here?"

"It's 29th March." Shiho answered.

"Hmm," I nodded my head interestingly before moving on, "So guys had anyone you didn't like in high school?" I grinned, eyeing the two girls.

The exchanged looks and nodded, "There was this one girl who thought she was better than any girls in our class when she couldn't even get a lower class demon to make a contract with." Mitsuba stated stoically.

"She's the one that kept making fun of my height." Shinoa gritted out, "Funny how she just decided to get married to a random solider without waiting to graduate when I remember her bragging how she'll join the Imperial Demon Army."

I was quite relieved at least their high school experienced sounded 'normal' with the usual main and side bitches in the story.

"Well for me one time this girl really hated me and wanted to ruin my reputation or something so one day I was talking to a boy and she came up and really obnoxiously said 'you know she has a crush on you right?' and he was like 'man I hope so or else this is gonna get really awkward'. She fuckin told my boyfriend that I liked him." I rolled my eyes at the memory.

Shinoa and Mitsuba burst into laughter.

"You must miss him badly." Shinoa said with a small comforting smile.

"Nah, that bastard cheated on me with his dog." I shook my head in disapproval, "Vaseline everywhere. Should've have seen the sign. He tried to sell weed to someone while we were on a date so he would have enough money to take me out on our first date."

Disgusted horror filled their faces and I realised they took them seriously, "JK, just kidding, he cheated on me with some girl."

"Oh…" Mitsuba's eyes darted back and forth uncomfortably.

"Don't worry about it," I flapped my hand dismissively, "Like I had a glimpse a picture of that girl and I got insecure because wtf does he like men? What the hell is that? She looks like a dog! I got him good when I found out about him cheating on me, I invited him for a romantic candle lit dinner in a deserted area and told him stories about how I killed my ex-boyfriends in the wood because he cheated on me and then I pointed to the trees and said 'Actually those woods right over there' and blew out the candle and laugh and before you know it, he disappeared crying for his mum. Besides crying is not my thing really, if I think about it long enough I could cry but I won't. I'll cry at the end of the day, not with fresh make up because when your mascara is 3000 yen, we don't do tears."

"..You're so weird." Mitsuba muttered.

"It's called experienced. Well let me tell you as someone who dated several assholes in my 19 years of living," I told, "If you think he's cheating then he's cheating. Every time I caught them cheating, I knew it before I found out. I know because I know how to listen to that voice on the inside of me that tells me when a man is cheating. I know how to tell. If your man, if he goes to work or university all day long and then comes back to the dorm, smellin' like a fresh bar of soap, something's up. I ain't got time to be sittin' around all day guessin'."

"People say relationships are supposed to be about... trust." Yoichi shrugged as if unsure in his own statements.

"Uh-uh, I'm an old school fool. I was checkin' his bank statements, his credit card statements, I made sure I got text to my phone every time he was using his card on whatever, wherever and whenever, I checked his time card at work and compared it to the hours that he said he was workin' and it better have match the money that he has comin' to his account. I was checkin' his phone bill, I'm checkin' the numbers that he was callin' on his mobile bill, I checked his mileage in the car. His job is 5.5 miles from his dorm, the university is 2.1 miles. I checked the mileage when he goes to his parent's house. That is 6.7 miles from his dorm... and when any of those miles come back 2.2 or 4.6 or 6.9 or 9.7... If he comes back and I see 3.8th and a half of a mile that means he came from the bar near the university, road to the store to get some breath spray to kiss some hoe before coming to me. His resting heart rate was 64 beats a minute. If he came to the dorm and claimed he was with his parent all day, if that resting heartbeat is 88 beats a minute, he been cheatin! The bottom line is you have to check on them men. All that time you spent, trainin' that man on how to be right for you, you think that you're really gonna let some other woman take all that on the job training so easily? Uh-uh! That's why, I have his mobile right here and I'm waiting for it to ring so I could tell what a man-whore he is to whoever's calling. Not just because I forgot to give it back to him when we broke up and forgot to charge it before I came here." I quickly added, wriggling the useless technology in my hand to emphasise my point.

"That's why I actually prefer d-bags that will cheat on a girl within 3 months of the relationships. Not these toenails of satan that waste like 2 years of your time and wait for you to introduce them to everyone you love including your ancestors before they cheat on you. Now when you break up you have to slaughter a goat at your great-grandfathers grave to apologise to the ancestors for introducing them to a hoe. Do you even know how much a goat costs? Do you know?" I rolled my eyes at the memory, hand curled upward in irritation, "And you know what the most the annoying thing is? The guys I find attractive are either famous, taken, twice my age, don't know I exit, not real, players, or gays. I don't know about you guys but I think this is a God-given sign that I should just stick to fries before guys."

The reaction was expected, I thought scanning their fish-out-of-water expressions calmly. Wait, did we sit so far apart from the beginning? I swear the chairs inched away few distance than I last remember it was. Paying no heed, I finished the remaining of my food while others seemed to need some time to recover before they resume eating their food in silence as well.


After finishing breakfast, I took a quick shower with the purified water collected from nearby well and changed into new clothing – a simple loose black short-sleeved t shirt, a skirt and boots – and threw my old ones onto a pile where they'll be washed later with others. Now that I wondered, why did the girls of the army have to wear skirt while men get to wear comfortable trousers? People knew they were girls without having them to wear skirt to emphasise their gender. Like who cares what gender you were when you're in war? Not like you gonna stun your enemies to death by flashing your business for everyone to see. I walked outside and saw Mika guarding the barn as usual but I saw his lids draping heavily over his eyes.

"Hey," I called over, ruffling my damp hair with the towel, "Go to sleep. I'll take over."

When he ignored me and stubbornly stood beside the door stiffly, I walked over to tap against his shoulder when his hand shot out to catch my wrist quite painfully, "OW!"

Realising he had put more strength than he intended; he loosened the grip but did not let go, "Don't touch me."

I felt myself caught off-guard by his sudden outward cold treatment toward me when back in my room he seemed more like a person with emotions other than guilt or anger.

"Well, if you don't want me to touch you – go to sleep." I said, waiting for him to release my wrist.

"I'm fine."

"What does your body tell you?" I retorted, "Take care of yourself before you take care of others."

"Why do you care?"

Oh no, I thought with a sigh, don't tell me he listened in one ear and out the other..

"Do you think you're not worth being cared for?" I asked before trailing off, knowing I should just respect what he wants to do and give him time to ready himself to do things he want to do rather than forcing him, "What's wrong?" I questioned.

I waited for his answer and I knew he wouldn't say but decided to leave him with a candid word of solace and a small smile, "It's all right, you don't have to tell me. You can tell me later when you want to. But whenever you need my help, you have to tell me. Okay? Try trusting people for once because if you don't trust people, you lose people. If you lose people, you lose everything." I turned and walked inside the house to do some house chores to lessen some of Shiho's jobs. While Shiho cleaned the ground floor, I took the upstairs.

I filled the tub with water, squirted some soap since there wasn't detergent and poured the piles of dirty clothes to emerge it in the water for an hour. I started from the boys' room, taking their sheets and blankets before dusting them outside the window before making their beds and repeated it for the remaining two rooms.

I was sweeping the cobwebs on the nooks and crannies of the ceiling corners when something large drooped down to the centre of my face before my eyes met its multiple eyes and its wiggling eight legs.

"KKKKKKYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

My screams echoed throughout the houses, scrambling as far as my hands and legs could carry me away as the monster scrabbled toward me as if it could smell my fear and knew it was on the higher food chain than me.

I rolled over, swinging my legs to bring my weight to the front and stood up with my duster before I mercilessly brought it down on it, "DIE DIE DIE KYAH!" I swear it was still moving no matter how much I was squashed it, "MOONSSTTERR!"

The door burst opened and walked in Mika, his gloved hand on his sword ready to unsheathe only to be met by a bewildering spectre.

I, too immersed in having this little monster eradicated from the face of the earth, didn't notice the intruder to the room and kept on crushing the spider that was still twitching before I gave it few more good poundings and its upturned legs slowly dropped down till it touched the wooden floor.

I looked up and was surprised to see Mika whose confused expression equalled mine, "Oh, did you come to sleep?"

"No, I heard a scream and…"

I lifted the duster, revealing the flatten spider before I picked it up with its furs and handled it like I would with toxins as my arms gently guided it to the opened window and shook the spider off the duster.

"Ugh, I hate spiders more than anything in the world." I shivered, "You think vampires are monsters? Well I rather face them than be in a room with one of these. Now I gotta have to clean the blood off the floor great!"

I took the rag I hung near the window to line dry, knelt down before scrubbing furiously of the crime scene, checking each time to see whether the redness had come off the wood, "Seriously I don't tolerate bugs in my house, either get a job and pay a bill or get out!"

I stopped scrubbing when I realised Mika was still standing in the same spot and looked up waiting for him to say something, "Is something wrong?

He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something then hastily left the room wordlessly as abrupt as he came.

"I-I was j-joking about the vampire!" I called after him, reckoning my sorry-excuse-for-a-joke was the reason for his leave. I sighed, I was an expert at having a really funny story or joke to tell but wording it badly enough that it was no longer funny.

I went back to the bathroom, unplugged to let the water drain as I kneaded the water out of the clothes and staggered out of the bathroom, using the wall to lean against to balance the weight of heavily wet laundry and headed outside to the back of the house where clothing line and pegs were. Shaking the clothes one last time of water, I laid them on the rope for them to dry overnight.

"Ugh, my back!" I tried massaging my back and stretching them backward but I swear my body was physically older than what it should be! It doesn't feel the same anymore!

It was around mid-day when I and Shiho finished all the chores while the two girls lazily lounged on the sofa, gossiping about something all this time. I saw Shinoa emerge with the bowl of red liquid which I instantly knew was blood and accompanied her to the barn. Mika's whole body stiffened in response, his hungry eyes glued to the blood before tearing his gaze away with a clench of his teeth.

"Are you hungry?" I asked even though I knew the (right) answer.

"No." He chock out, voice strained with effort as he opened the barn and let us in, him following behind us. Mika marched toward Yuu who immediately growled at the intrusion while his eyes knowingly focused on the bowl with ravenous stare.

Pinning his legs and arm to the wall, Shinoa dribbled the blood into his mouth and I noticed he seemed less violent than before – perhaps he realised they were coming to feed him what he desired: blood. Although that subtle submissiveness was gone as soon as the blood disappeared down his throat and began to lash out for more.

They slowly backed out, Mika being the last to enter and exit as Shinoa closed the barn door.

"If you're hungry, drink," Shinoa suddenly divulged without facing Mika, "We can't have you lose your focus because you're too stubborn to drink."

"I'm fine." He quickly countered.

"Whether you're vampire or not, he doesn't care about your outer appearance. No matter how your eyes and face change, you're still the Mika Yuu knows inside. This is my order to you as the leader of this team: drink." Shinoa revealed to him then turned to me, "Make sure he gets enough blood –even if you have to walk around bleeding in front of him."

I nodded, suddenly feeling the huge amount of respect and awe I have for this petite girl increasing into tenfold quite rapidly. I knew Shinoa was doing her best to make Mika feel at least part of the team and group rather than some unwelcome outsider – something I feel quite grateful for since she was doing her best to overcome the prejudicial thoughts I'm sure the army indoctrinated into her mind from the beginning. With that she left us to schedule the things between us.

I turned to look at him, "Do you want lunch or just dinner?"

"I don't need it right now."

I nodded, heeding his wishes, "Don't you want to sleep?"

He shook his head, "I'm fine."

I smiled in defeat and nodded, "OK, just do whatever you want. You're always welcome to sleep if things become too much for you. We can take turns."


Soon the sun was setting into the sea and from the kitchen I saw Shinoa walking out with another bowl of blood. This time I remained in the house as I finished my last bit of dinner before going upstairs. When Shinoa came back, I headed outside to retrieve Mika seeing he probably won't come without being called.

"You must be hungry," I told him as I motioned him to come in.

His footsteps were heavy and reluctant, his whole being on guard as we headed upstairs in silence. Closing the door behind us, I pulled my shirt down a bit to expose a part of my neck and brushed my hair to the side. Since he wasn't moving from where he was standing, I stepped forward, tilting my neck to 180 degree angle.

"It's alright," I told him when he made no move, "Do you know there's no right answer for living as a human? Or a vampire for that matter I suppose. But you can become a better human being or vampire – you put forth your effort. You're trying that's all it needs." I took both my hands to gently guide his face down to my neck. Soon, I felt something warm hovering over my neck, his tongue darted out to lick my neck before his fangs pierced my skin. The pleasures returned. I closed my eyes, losing myself in the feelings as his arms came to grip my shirt and my hands came to rest on his shoulder.

I felt he was drinking little more than I expected, noting the dizziness slowly creeping into my sight but I could bear it. I was about to say stop when he retracted his fangs from my neck and purposefully stepped back, my hands still on his shoulder.

"Can you help me get onto the bed?" I asked, "I really don't want to break my nose in a world without hospital."

Using his arms as support, I gently sat myself down on the bed, "Better?"

He nodded, face flushed and I couldn't help but smile, "Good. Because as snickers say: you're not you when you're hungry." Then added, "And like I said this morning: you are not a monster. You're not capable of being a monster and you'll never be one. We humans are much weaker than we like to think. Because we are weak, sometimes we become cruel – so next time someone calls you a monster, just know it's because we're weak and we know, so all we can do is hurt you with words and hope we succeed. We do that to each other anyway so try not to take it to your heart. Because as my little cousin always said, an entire sea of water can't sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can't put you down unless you allow it to get inside you." Then again, my words were against probably thousands – millions – of those who thought otherwise and voiced it.

His eyes – I have noted from the beginning – were a whirlpool of emotions. His face may be cold but his eyes held what he was thinking. I stared into his eyes and he into mine and I reached out, unsure whether he will stop me or not. When he didn't and my fingertips grazed his soft lock of blond hair, I tilted my head in curiosity, "You're not Japanese are you?"

"I'm…half."

"Half what?"

"Russian."

"Vodka?" My eyes glistened with excitement, "I always wanted those Russian hats – the furry ones."

"I don't really know much about my other heritage," He confessed.

"Do you mind if I ask from which side you get your Russian heritage from?"

"…My father."

"Ah." I said and left it there, "So I'm doing some sort of censure thing at the moment like Julius Caesar and was wondering when your birthday is?"

He blinked in surprise, "M-My birthday?"

"Yes, birthday…the day you were born?" I elaborated and when Mika didn't speak, I urged him, "C'mon, mine's March 15th. There's no harm in letting me know right?" I unsurely interjected the end sentence.

There was a longer pause than the first time before he muttered, "…May 1st."

Having gotten my answer, I stood up from the bed, "Let's go downstairs, people might get worried I'm doing something harmful to you."

He frowned.

"I think they're scared of me from some things I told them this morning." I said, "Yeah, I'm not normal. I'm strange. But what's normal? Everyone has a bit of psycho in them. Beside that boy totally had it coming."

I opened the door, ignoring the deepening frowns in his face and headed downstairs.

"Hi guys!" I announced as Mika appeared next to me, "See, he's fine! I didn't hurt him."

Their eyes sceptically inspected us although light-heartedly when Shinoa commented, "You're the type of person that prefer psychological torture."

"True but I've grown up now." I reasoned, "Few months can do wonders to a person's psychological growth you know." I joked, "I'm an adult now but more like an adult cat…like someone should probably take care of me but I can also sorta make it on my own."

Mitsuba rolled her eyes and shook her head in disapproval before swivelling to Mika, "Are you staying?'

Mika glanced up in surprise as Mitsuba continued, "I'm sure Yuu will be alright, Yoichi said he wanted to look after him so that you can rest for a bit. It'd be nice…if you stayed..with us in the house."

His lip parted more at the implication and I swear his look softened; so close to giving into it but fisting his hands and tearing his eyes away from them, he wordlessly walked out. I poke my head out from the window, attracting his attention as I notified him, "Are you going to be alright, you two?"

Yoichi gave me a nod with a shy smile and I pulled back into the room, giving the two boys room to (hopefully) bond.

"It's a nice night isn't it," Yoichi asked.

Mika acknowledge him before simply nodding.

He's such a quiet person, Yoichi thought with a sweat drop.


-4th day-

Mika could feel his lid drop heavily, threatening to shut and fall into the comfortable abyss. Biting the inside of his cheek, he forced his eyes to snap open as he saw the sun brightening the shadow of the night. His sensitive eyes narrowed at the response of harsh light reaching the barn and his ears picked up the stirring sound of humans waking up.

All four soon emerged from the door, bowl of blood in hand and this time Shiho had been the one to supply the blood and nodded to him as Mika opened the door to the inside. Yu's hostile reaction to them was same as usual, lip curled back to reveal pair of sharp fangs as he greedily drank the given blood and demanded more. They walked out as Shiho revealed, "We need to wash and change his clothes later, we need you to..knock him out."

Mika nodded and Shiho went back into the house. Although he could sense the four preparing breakfast, he didn't sense the other human. It didn't take him long to realise she was sleeping by her slow steady heartbeat and sedated breathing. His throat burned uncomfortably, his tongue dry as his body begged for his share of blood soon. Suppressing his shameful urges, he closed his eyes and focused on keeping his mind clear.

Morning went and came the afternoon but no indication Hana rising from her sleep anytime soon. Shinoa noted with each passing second, Mika's face was darkening with overwhelming thirst and exhaustion. Shinoa didn't want to wake Hana up since she seemed quite tired yesterday and proposed a proposition: "Since Hana isn't waking up, do you want to drink from me?"

He shook his head furiously, spurning before she could even finish her sentence.

"I don't mind, you know."

"I'm…" He panted, "..Fine."

"I'm gonna go and wake her up," She twirled to head to upstairs when a hand grasped her wrist, holding her back.

"Don't." He said, "I went longer without blood before."

Shinoa pursed her lip before surrendering to his request, "Fine."


Shinoa was getting anxious – everyone was – they could see the thirst was getting to him yet he refused to have her woken up and deep inside her heart, she could feel a spark of fear at the notion of him losing control was growing.

"Just how long is she planning on sleeping? All day?!" Mitsuba voiced in utter disbelief, "Is that even humanely possible?"

"With her, I think anything is possible." Shiho interjected dryly. He had tried to act nonchalant about it but knew his refusal could put everyone in danger – Yuu included.


-5th day-

When they amused on the idea that she'd not awake until the next day, they had not planned it would in fact come true. Despite Shinoa's urges that he drink, he had adamantly refused; choosing to starve and she wondered if he truly believed becoming a demon was better than drinking blood rather than a mere notion of not wanting to wake Hana up. It baffled Shinoa for a moment because he was not like any other vampire they had come across and knew that Hana for whatever reason saw through that. It was probably easier for Hana to believe goods in vampire since she had not experienced their world at the beginning of the apocalypse or the humiliation of being a vampire's livestock or just lack of experience with other vampires other than Mika.

Shinoa peeked through Hana's door, checking to see she was actually alive and not dead and amusingly, there she was, barely breathing, sprawled in the bed, her head and legs dangling off the bed and blanket just barely covering her torso. Her sleeping behaviour was just like Yuu who she heard from those who had experienced of sharing bed or saw him sleep.

It was in midst of their late lunch when she scrambled down to the kitchen nosily, hair sticking out in all directions and looking baffled at distorted time.

"How long was I out for?"

"Approximately 22 hours." Mitsuba stated in matter-of-factly tone.

"Mika's been starving since yesterday," Shinoa remarked, "Vampires that don't drink blood becomes demons and I have a feeling he hadn't been drinking blood frequently before he met you."

I froze, waiting until her word sink in before I could fully compartmentalise the commented inference.

"Oh shit!" I cursed and sprinted to outside.

I found Mika hunched against the barn, knees curled toward his chest and for some reason, I thought he had died.

"OH MY GOD!" I bent down, "Are you alright? I'm so sorry! Oh gosh, why didn't you wake me up?! A-are you dead?!"

When he looked up, I sighed in relief, "Oh gosh, I thought you tapped out!" I pulled my shirt down, just exposing part of my shoulder, "Here."

He saw my neck was marred with bruises of different colours, darkest one being when he first bit me and he seemed horrified at the wounds he knew he inflicted upon me. Flooded with contrite, I threw myself at him, "I'm so sorry, it wasn't on purpose! I mean I'm so used to someone waking me up! When I was little I thought being a grown up meant you had no bedtime. It actually means you are in charge of your bedtime. I grew up and found out I'm not equipped for this responsibility!" As I babbled on, I noticed his whole body hardened at the contact and I moved back, "Can you forgive me?"

He found himself speechless, wondering why she was asking for his forgiveness.

"Come on, you must be really hungry right now." For some reason, the word 'hunger' bothered him. Normally others – vampires or humans – would use the word 'thirst' as it were some kind of animalistic comportment but by using the word 'hunger' he felt as if she was unconsciously humanising such actions; as if blood was on an equal footing as human food.

I frowned when I thought for a moment when instead of Mika I saw her again. How helpless she must have felt. How lonely she must have felt. How desperate she must have been. I was rattled by how much they seemed to be alike – was that why I saw her in him?

He pushed me away, "I don't want it."

This time it was different. He had always pushed me away every time when it came to feeding but the firmness in his voice..the fact that he used 'want' instead of 'need' told me this was it. I stared into his eyes and saw the despair and void of hope swarming inside it.

"Yu's gone." He suddenly stated.

"He's not." I thought otherwise.

"Once you become a demon, they can never go back to being human. Or a vampire."

"There must be a way."

He shook his head and inclined his neck to lean against the wall, staring at the sky before he closed his eyes in relent, "I want to be alone."

After several minutes, I nodded and stood up. My steps were heavy as they carried me back to the house and with one final glance, I went back in.

"He doesn't want to drink."

Nobody said anything, deciding to focus on their food as I thanked Shiho for putting my share of food in front of me. We ate in silence.

Few more weeks pass by and not once had Mika asked for blood. I could feel the tension straining between the groups each passing moment he refused to drink and how detached he was to the rest of us. I did ask if he was hungry to which he answered no or if he wanted to come in and sleep which he said no every time and the only time he was in the house was to have a quick wash and change of clothes. I also had a feeling he was sleeping outside the barn. This pattern went on until I had woken up to his disappearance one random morning.

At first I didn't think of much, dismissing it as morning stroll or something but when after few hours there was no sign of him coming back I panicked. Alerting others of my intention to go and find him, I started off from the bottom of the hill to work my way up.

I tried calling him, knowing his vampire hearing would pick up my voice and when he didn't appear I began to worry and panic. I sprinted toward the top of the hill, something inside me saying he was there and to my relief he was but then I saw how close he was to the cliff.

My eyes widened as I began to suspect the worst. I ran toward him, "WAIT! MIKA–!" My foot got caught on my other leg, tripping me down to the hard ground face flat. This got his attention as he treaded to help me stand up.

"Are you alright?"

I threw my arms around his neck, tears dripping down my soiled face, "Don't kill yourself!"

"?" He frowned in confusion, trying to pull me back to demand elaboration but I tightened my hold around him.

"Please don't kill yourself!"

He didn't know how or what he should at her declaration, instead finding himself tongue-tied at her pleas. Then he caught a whiff of her scent and felt his fangs itch with urge to pierce that delicate skin and gathering enough strength he tore her away from him so that he could face her. Her face was darkened from the soil she had fallen on earlier and the fact that she was crying wasn't doing good at her overall appearance – it was a comical image if it had happened in different context.

"I'm not…I'm not going to kill myself." He said, I promised Yu.

I sniffed, wiping my nose in unladylike manner, "Y-You're not?!"

He shook his head and if I had been standing, I'd have collapsed as I felt all the strength leave my legs at his confirmation and I burst out into crying, covering my face with my hands as tears uncontrollably trailed down my cheeks.

"W-why are you crying?"

I hit him in the chest much to his shock, wailing in relief, "YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

"Huh?!" He decided to ignore her crude language but couldn't deny the fact that he had not been called an idiot before other than by Yuu and her sudden morph of sadness into anger confounded him deeper.

I brought my knees together, burying my face as my weeping got louder and I could feel he didn't know what to do – he wanted to comfort me but he had no idea how to. I didn't know how long I cried for because even if I wanted to cry more, I couldn't. I was probably dehydrated and wished that I had water in hand so I could hydrate myself to cry more because my heart was still filled with unresolved sadness that was waiting to come out like waterfall. When I looked up and saw Mika's troubled expression, I could feel the heavy, suffocating sensation disappear and pondered if this was how I'd have felt if I just took that call.

"I don't know why," I spoke, voice hoarse from all the bellowing, "But you remind me of my friend." I cupped his cheeks, an action that startled him as I pulled his face closer to me, "Maybe it's your eyes…or just the way you are..her name was Haru."

Was. Past tense. Existed but not anymore.

"You know she killed herself too?" I revealed reticently, "She didn't want to die but she didn't want to live either and I guess to her dying was easier than living. I should've seen it coming…always saying sorry out of blue, bursting into tears while just doing random things, asking me to be there or at least pick up my phone when she's having hard time, always joking how she was gonna be killed by the train…it was all there you know, but people you know…we're so busy thinking about our own bruises, our own scars, we forget about others." I covered my eyes at the flash of painful memories, "You wanna know what happens once you kill yourself? Your parent comes home from work only to get a call that their baby died and when they get to the hospital, they can't even identify their own daughter because her face is crushed beyond recognition from the collision, and they have to tell their little daughter her sister is dead. The person she looked up to and loved. The person she bragged about to her friends, the person she wanted to be just like when she grew up, the person that made her feel safe. But she's never really going to get to grow up and smile and laugh and love because she'll always be consumed with this feeling of missing you. And now there's something missing from your family and they can barely look at each other anymore because everything reminds them of you but you're gone and hurts more than anything. And you think that your mum never cared because she was always busy and yelling at you to finish your homework and clean your room and forgot to say I love you sometimes but really, she loved you more than anything and she doesn't leave the house anymore, she can't even get out of bed and she's getting thinner and thinner because it's too hard to eat. Your father had to quit his job and he doesn't sleep anymore, every time he closes his eyes he sees his baby dead, and the image never goes away no matter how much alcohol he drinks. And then your best friend hears the announcement. You killed yourself. And suddenly she's screaming and crying in the middle of road and all she wants is for you to hug her and tell her it's gonna be okay like you always did, but this time, you're not there to do it, everything is dark now that you're gone and her grades are slipping, she barely goes to university anymore and she tries to live her life recklessly in hope something will kill her to see her again and apologise for not taking her call that time. Now everyone who knew you, whether they were a big part of your life or someone you passed in the hallway a few times a week, they carry this aching feeling around inside them because you're gone, and they miss you, and they don't know why you left but it must've been their fault and they should've stopped you and they should've told you they loved you more and that feeling is never going to go away. And so you killed yourself but you killed everyone else around you too. Suicide doesn't take away the pain; it gives it to someone else." I take my hands away from my eyes, my fingers warily grabbing the hem of his robe, feeling the tears forming in the corner of my eyes threatening to fall, "So please don't kill yourself…instead kill what you don't like. I had an old self that I killed. You can kill yourself too, but that doesn't mean you have to stop living…but if after all that, you still want to die, die. But die tomorrow. If tomorrow feels hard for you too then die the day after that. If you feel the same pain the day after that, even if you die the next day or the next day after that, it won't be too late. If you live each day at a time like that, then a good day will definitely come. There will come a day where you'll tell yourself 'I did a good thing by not killing myself back then'. Life gets better. Make sure you're there to see it." I pulled him into my chest, silently promising myself that this time I would pick up that call; that I'd save him in place of her and I wasn't going to throw away this God-given chance from heaven.

"I don't care whether you're a vampire or a human, you just being alive is good enough for me." I muttered. We stayed in this position until I could feel my legs numb from the weight of his body but I didn't care. There was slight shuffling as he slowly brought himself up.

"Why? Why do you care?"

"Because you looked so pained, like you'd die of sadness." I told him, wiping my eyes like a berated child, "And I don't want that same mistake happen again, not while I'm here and I wanna say this to you: that every living thing has a right to live and nobody has the right to give their lives up. That you can't abandon yourself because as soon as you're born, you're precious to someone. That if you don't give up on yourself, no one else can. You have to believe you're precious. That you're not alone. And I don't know what happened to you in the past, but you're allowed to smile and I think it'll be okay for you to be happy. It's not your fault what happened to you. It's not yours, theirs', or anyone's fault. It's not your fault. And I want you to survive and live to see a better world with others."

His face was whirlpool of emotions – more than I ever seen on him – like he was perturbed to hear those words from anyone, never mind from a strange alternate-dimension-person who hasn't known him for long. We were quiet for some time now, Mika apparently choosing not to say anything and I didn't blame him because I had a feeling he was the one who was used to giving love to others more than receive them.

I asked him once again, my voice trembling, "Are you going to kill yourself?"

"..No." He shook his head; to my relief, his answer was quick, void of hesitant that I was so used to see in him.

I offered him my pinky finger, "Promise?"

He stared at her finger – so childish he first thought but so innocent in its meaning as he brought up his own fifth finger to link around hers', "Promise."

Loosening my finger from his, I wordlessly pulled down the shoulder of my shirt and I saw the same hesitancy creeping back into his eyes, "You promised." Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled his face into the crook of my neck to rest there, "I want this, Mika."

He clenched his eyes shut, hands coming to grip my back and sunk his fangs down to my neck, sending immense pleasure down my spine and I couldn't help but let out a small yelp. His arms travelled down to my waist and tightened around it, pulling me closer as he hungrily gulped down the blood. My palm stroked his soft hair, encouraging him to take more until he was fully satisfied. I could feel my eyes droop, my arms losing its strength to fall onto his shoulder until it lost all its strength to hold onto his shoulder to lifelessly hang by his arms.

Abruptly he pulled back, realising the dangerous lines he was about to cross, quickly cupping the back of my neck just as it dropped backward. His eyes widened when he realised just how much he drank when he heard faint murmuring of her heartbeat instead of strong, steady beat.

"I-I'm sorry, I drank too much." He regretted allowing himself to get carried away but the moment a drop of her blood fell into his mouth; something inside him wanted to drink until he could no longer hear her heartbeat and feel coldness instead of warmth on his skin.

"It's fine," I murmured, grabbing his gloved hand, "Let's go back."

Mika heaved my body up bridal style as we headed down the hill to the house. I leaned into his chest, choosing to rest my eyes for a bit and found serenity in the sound of his heartbeat in my ears.

Having finished washing the laundry, Shinoa carried the damp clothes to the outside when she spotted a figure approaching from afar. It wasn't until he was within few feet to the house did she noticed weakened Hana lying limply in his arm but what irked her was the dirtied state she was in. Her face was smothered in dried soil and obvious remnant of crying was evident in her face. Shinoa knew something has happened and angrily dropped the washings onto the floor before marching up to him.

I heard thumps getting louder, peeking one eye open I was met with flashes of red hovering above my face when barraged of irate voice brought me out of my little nap, "HEY YOU! I'VE HAD ENOUGH WITH YOUR LITTLE MOOD SWINGS! TELL US HONESTLY IF YOU'RE HAVING A TOUGH TIME, IF YOU'RE MAD, IF YOU WANT TO SCREAM LIKE CRAZY, IF YOU'RE LONELY, THEN TELL SOMEONE! IF YOU'RE ANXIOUS, THEN TELL SOMEONE! THE WORLD ISN'T MADE OF PEOPLE WHO CAN ANALYSE OTHERS YOU KNOW! DON'T SULK ON YOUR OWN LIKE THAT AND MAKE EVERYONE GODDAMN WORRY!"

I must admit she took my words straight out of my mouth – couldn't have said it better myself. We must be connected.

"You a my main bitch from now on," I grinned weakly, momentarily catching Shinoa off guard by my declaration but quickly recovered, brows furrowed upward and lip pursed. I then addressed toward Mika whom I'm sure was feeling guilty (hopefully?), "You're forgiven if you take me to bed." I interjected before looking at Shinoa, "Do you have any chocolate? Or sugar?"

"Yes," Shinoa sighed, rolling her eyes at my usual inappropriate response at such times.

We went into the house, taking the chocolate and allowing Shinoa to clean my face with small damp towel before he carried me upstairs in his steady arms.

"It's so nice to be carried," I ripped the chocolate package open, taking a big chunk of the sugary sweet into my mouth, "You know the only memory I have of being carried is to the hospital?"

Mika frowned, using his feet to push the unlocked door open as I continued, "When I was 6, my dad once let me pet a pregnant goat, and it head-butted me, knocked me out and my dad had me unconscious while in a stroller pretending I was asleep because he wanted to see the penguins before taking me to the hospital. Apparently I had a really strong skull so it didn't do much damage although I can't say the same thing for the goat."

He propped me down to the bed gently, bending his knees in the process as his face levelled with mine. And I found myself once again hypnotised with his red eyes, "Your eye colour is so pretty." I unconsciously blabbed out and his cheek slightly reddened, "I mean I liked your blue colour because it's such a pretty eye colour but red is cool. It reminds of Sharingan red you know, like mixture of maroon and venetian red – you can't get contact lenses with that colour."

"All vampires have them."

"I don't know colour red doesn't suit everyone." I shrugged, biting into the chocolate again before putting the rest onto the bedside table. Resting my head onto the pillow, I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, "Hey, do you mind staying with me until I fall asleep? Just until I fall asleep. I fall asleep really fast. So fast you blink once I'm already in the dream world."

He nodded, crossing his legs as we faced each other. My eyes staring deep into his and he into mine, "Doesn't my eyes bother you?"

I shook my head, "Not really, I think it makes me more sleepy.. actually..."

My eyes blinked rapidly, resisting the urge to close for a while before his face blurred into darkness and I fell into deep, dreamless sleep with those red eyes staring at me.


A/N: Anyone caught a reference from a certain film in this story? I'll give you a hint: Why did I get married too?

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