What a strange dream…

So much chaos. And then, floating…?

I almost wish to never wake up.

Please, let this peace continue.

.

.

.

Chapter 4: I Don't Need a License to Drive

There was a soft light covering the room as Akemi slowly opened her eyes. She blinked, taking a moment to orient herself, before sitting up and taking in her surroundings. With a quick inspection it was clear this was her own bed in the mocha room she had been assigned. A soft middays light was flooding over the room, and for a moment there was peace...

Then it seemed all at once, blood started rushing to her head from her sore cheek. She brought a hand up to cradle her hot face as the memories of the past day came rushing back, one after the other.

"That's right… this place..."

Akemi sorted through the events of the previous night, two single lines of tears streaming down each side of her face. She pulled her knees up, resting her head on them as she fought back the emotions that wracked her body.

"It's going to be—" and the reassurance to herself catches in her throat. Akemi pauses to inhale once slowly, and then again. "—okay…" she finishes quietly. "It's going to be okay."

Once she had been through her cry, she sat up wiping her face with the sleeve of her nightgown, heavily dampening it in the process.

Wait… nightgown? Where had this come from? She looked down at her state of dress. This was not certainly something she owned. It was far too… new.

Standing up to the side of the bed she looked down and swished it around a couple of times, admiring it. This was the first time she had worn something so, so… girly? in a long time. And it admittedly felt good.

"Snap out of it Akemi..!" she said, chastising herself. She let out a sigh and dropped down onto the side of the bed, sitting with her elbows on her knees in contemplation. She decided to ignore the question of how she came to accrue this new wardrobe item, worried about where that line of thought would take her.

"I need to make a plan…" she breathed out. Going over several scenarios in her mind, trying to figure out which would have the smallest brother-to-Akemi contact time ratio. Not seeing any good candidates at the moment, she let out a long sigh. Defeated, she slumped down for a moment, but just as quickly sprang up into a sitting position.

"Whatever…! Something will come to me… Eventually."

She then noticed her nightstand, a glass of water and an ornate pill box sitting daintily on top of it. Curious, she picked it up to inspect the case. Opening the box, she found several small round pills.

"What is this…? Aspirin? How did these get here?" She didn't want to make any assumptions, but a gut feeling told her it might be a certain glasses-clad hard ass. With her other hand she grasped the glass of water that was sitting next to it and proceed to immediately dump it down the sink.

"Yeah… right," she scoffed and set the glass down on the sinks' ledge. She made sure it all went down the drain before taking a sigh of relief. She then checked herself in the bathroom's mirror. Akemi examined the remnants of the night's activities, looking side to side. At least it seemed like Glasses knew what he was doing, seeing that the swelling was down, and there was only a dull ache when she moved. With a sigh, she turned on the faucet, watching the water go down for a moment before leaning down and washing her face a few times. It was nice how such a simple thing was able to calm one's nerves so well. She grabbed a towel that was lying on the rack next to the sink and wiped her face. Standing back up she looked back in the mirror again only to check her-

"Woah!" She whipped around, looking suspiciously at the white haired newcomer. Holding her hands up defensively towards him. She eyed him up and down as he stood leaning against the wall-arms folded and scowl in place.

"Who are you—how did you get in here?"

"Tch… Like that even matters." He shot a glare towards her. "I was just checking to see this new guest who's been stinking up the whole place."

"Eh..? Stink?" Did she? I mean, sure, she hadn't bathed since she arrived but it couldn't have been that bad, right? She shook her head, glaring right back at him "Either way… please get out of here. Right. Now."

"Heh, as if…" He seemed to have vanished for a moment in her eyes. Until suddenly, he was upon her, arms to either side of her head, almost pinning her to the wall. "It would be stupid to pass up a meal right in front of me. Don't you think?" he questioned as he moved his head towards her. Her eyes widened in horror, and she pushed him back with all her might. Not that he moved very far but it was enough that she was able to squeeze out of his hold.

"Gah…! Stay away from me!" she screamed, heading for the door as quickly as possible only to have it slammed in her face by the boy. A devilish smirk spread on his face.

"Are you psychotic?! Leave me alone!" she demanded as she scrambled backwards, the little space between them leaving her trapped and no where to go.

"Hahahaha! Fine, if you want me to be crazy, I can be crazy..." He promised through a stomach-churning laugh that made Akemi's heart nearly stop. He was on her again and gripped both of her upper arms, pinning them to her side. With the same threatening leer, he brought his face alarmingly close to her own.

"Heh, you might have been brought here for those three, but I just can't pass up the look I'll see on that witches' face if I get to you first..." Akemi could almost feel his voice in her soul as he brought his face down towards her neck, his breath fanning across her exposed skin.

"No, stop! What are you doing!?" she desperately questioned as she tried to free herself from his grip. The response was only his tightening hold, shooting pain up through her arms.

"Let me go!" she yelled, feeling something hard on her neck. Were those his teeth!?

"Just shut up for a minute!" he growled against her, forcefully bringing them back against the wall. Akemi's head and back banging into it roughly.

"Agh..!" she gasped as they made contact. The overwhelming pain disorientated her for a moment.

"Heh… there, that's a good look for you," he said upon examining her pained expression, before moving back in for the kill.

"No..! You're sick!" she shrieked as she could feel something sharp break the skin on her neck. Pain shooting through her entire body. Her eyes wildly moving about the room, she spotted her savior...

Akemi stretched her arm out as far as she could, grasping hold of the glass that was on the sink. And with all of her might, smashed it on the tile wall. Luckily, a fairly large, jagged piece remained in her hand.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she cried out desperately. And, through a bloodied grip, Akemi brought it down hard, lodging it directly into the assailant's side. He recoiled from the blow with a vicious snarl, allowing her to escape.

She scrambled towards the door of the bathroom, threw it open, and ran out into the larger space. Practically lunging for the exit to escape the room. She yanked hard on the handle, only to find it tightly shut.

"No, no, NO..!" she cried out as she tried a few more times to open the impossibly locked door. Giving up, she quickly turned around and headed for the balcony her room was equipped with. Leaning over the edge, she noticed just how far of a drop it actually was. Shutting her eyes tightly -seeing no other option- she prepared to leap. Bringing one foot onto the rail. Until her arm was roughly yanked back, thwarting her escape.

"Tch… I don't care if you go killing yourself." He took a moment before continuing. "Keh, actually, you're better off that way. But I won't let a perfectly good meal go when it's standing right in front of me." He brought her arm tightly behind her, holding it in place as she tried to pry herself from his grip. "How annoying, just stop struggling for a minute!"

"No..! Let me go!" she screamed as he held her neck to the one side with his other hand. She was trying to push him away from her as he brought his silver head down and unceremoniously latched onto her with his razor sharp teeth and started… sucking?

"What are you doing!? Stop!" she pleaded, in horror of what he thought he was doing. This was so messed up it wasn't even funny.

He pulled away quickly, an emotion she couldn't really place plastered across his face.

"Geh..! What IS this?!" It almost seemed like he spat. "Disgusting!" He threw her to the ground. She managed to catch herself, but the air still being knocked out of her as she gasped; trying to make it back to her feet. The white haired boy had different plans though, and blocked her exit.

Scooting back as quickly as possible from him, she leaned her back against the side of the balcony. A hand went up to grasp the bleeding wound that had been left by this man. She shot him a look filled with disgust, anger, and absolute fear.

"Well of course it's disgusting! What did he think -blood- was going to taste like!?"

Breathing deeply, she watched on in horror as he blocked her only safe way out of this situation.

For the moment he ignored her entirely, choosing instead to let out a satisfied chuckle.

"This is just great..! wait 'till she finds out her little toy is just a rotten apple. It's too funny!"

Taking this as a sign to keep moving, she tried to quickly get her body over the railing, not caring about the guaranteed injuries that were to follow. Her mind was only focused on escaping this maniac. Once again her egress was halted when the man grasped her by the neck, almost choking her and sending new waves of pain through the puncture marks.

"Stop! You disgusting psycho! Let me go!" she screamed as he pulled her back, clawing at his hand that continued to hold her fast.

Flinging her around, she could see the dark shadow that had overtaken his features as he held her, and she could practically feel her soul leave her body for a split second under his gaze.

"Agh..!"

He yanked her over the railing then, dangling her by the neck precariously as he continued to give his death-like glare. She gagged and choked as the terror of actually falling and the lack of oxygen hit her. She held onto his arm and tried to kick her feet out to make contact with the balcony to somewhat support her body weight, but it did little good to relieve the unrelenting pressure of his hand crushing her windpipe.

"Heh, that's right. I am disgusting… but that's not your place to SAY!" he shouted as he gripped her neck even tighter. Her eyes began watering uncontrollably.

"Please… I'm.. sorry!" she blurted out, struggling to gasp for air between each word. Not wanting this to be where it all ended. The tears were flowing full throttle now. "You're not… dis-gusting!" Black dots were starting to make their way into her vision as she desperately tried to cling to consciousness.

Just when she felt herself beginning to slip away, her body slammed to the cold floor of the balcony. She coughed and gagged as the air returned to her system. She doubled over herself taking in the deepest breaths she had ever needed to take in her life.

"Feh, it would be too boring if you were to die now..." he decided, tone bordering on flippant annoyance before he stepped over her crumpled form to head inside. Intentions seemingly abandoned for the moment. She managed to crane her neck up to watch as he easily opened the door, and slammed it behind him.

Just then, all of the strength seemed to leave her body for a moment as she just laid there on the cold floor, her whole concentration focused on just breathing in-and-out repeatedly. The blood still trickling out from where she had cut her hand, and from the bite mark the man had left.

She unconsciously began to cry again. How did this happen? What deity had she angered that put her in this awful house? She wanted to hope, and to fight, but it was becoming ever increasingly difficult. So instead -for the moment- she cried. Wishing her misfortune was leaving along with her tears.

.

.

.

A bit later, once she had sufficiently recovered enough to move, and her mind began to clear. Akemi slowly made it back up to her feet, supporting herself on the ledge of the balcony. Cautiously, she began to peer over the side, searching for that one glimmer of hope she thought she caught a glance of. Something she caught a glance of while the strange man had been about to drop her to her untimely death.

"I knew it…" she sighed, in desperate relief. From here, she could see the tall sturdy looking trellis that lined the mansions outer walls, clinging vines growing neatly across them even in the cool chill of autumn.

With her suspicions confirmed, the wheels in her head began to turn again. She just hoped they were strong enough to support the weight of one very desperate girl.

.

A/N: Hey everyone thank you for the reviews and favorites. It's very motivational! The next chapter should be up within the week, so I hope you all are still enjoying it.

See you next time! -Spf40k