I was vaguely aware of Kiyo grabbing Takuma and jumping out of harm's way. However, I was out for blood now. The pureblood had attempted to harm him…Kaname would not live the night.

I brought my sword down to attack the vampire. As I watched, he vanished. His laugh surrounded us. Kiyo glared at the trees near us as she put Takuma down and I felt my heart beat increase. I began to curse him in as many different languages as I could before attempting to find his scent again. It had vanished with him. Something wasn't right. My eyes grew wide as realization hit.

"Ki…he can jump," I told her. I watched as her eyes grew wide as well and her sword lodged in a nearby tree.

"Damn him to hell! Now I have to track him down! Damn vampire!" she snarled. She then fell silent as we both began to realize what this meant. Thankfully, our moment of astonishment was cut short by Takuma's voice.

"Jump?" he asked. "What does that mean?"

Kiyo sighed and grabbed her sword from the tree. She sheathed it and looked at me.

"Let's go back to your room, Kie. It will take awhile to explain this to him and we may as well be comfortable. Besides, the leech is long gone by now."

I nodded and scooped the pair up. I flew back over the wall and up to my window. We went inside and I dropped them to the floor. I snapped my fingers, putting me in my pajamas and flopped onto my bed with a sigh.

"I missed you bed," I grumbled, nuzzling closer to the softness. Two more flops followed me after a moment, one on either side of me as Takuma and Kiyo lay down as well. I began to drift to sleep when Takuma's voice broke me out of my trance.

"So…jump?" he asked.

My eyes popped open and I dragged myself into a sitting position. I prodded the wolf next to me and, when I didn't get a response, dragged her up as well. She glared at me, so I knew she was awake. I turned to Takuma and saw him already sitting up. I wiggled onto his lap. Kiyo got up and flopped in the chair, head on one arm and legs draped across the other. She then looked over at Takuma.

"Since you asked, I thought long and hard about what I should tell you. Since you already decided you'll be in this adventure, I've decided that you're worthy of the truth. The term 'jump' is used by Kie and me to describe moving from one plane of existence to the next at will. Up until this moment in time, we believed I was the only one able to do it. Basically, anything that has ever been written about or described, dreamt of or thought up exists somewhere in its own little plane. Kie and I don't know how or why I can travel at will through them, but I can and I am able to take others with me. It's odd, but hell I'm just odd. Now I've explained jumping." Here, her focus turned to me.

"What I want to know is how that bloodsucker figured it out. We've been trying to teach you for years and now suddenly he can? Something isn't right here."

"I know. It doesn't make sense. He must know something. As much as I hate to retract our agreement about prisoners of war…we need to figure this out."

Her eyes grew wide as she looked at me.

"You put that agreement into place, Kie…you said you couldn't do it anymore."

"Don't make it sound like you put up that much of a fight, Kiyo," I growled. "I'm not weak just because I couldn't deal with the things we were doing for someone else's fight!"

"I didn't… that's not what I meant, Kie-chan. I'm sorry if it seemed like that but it isn't what I meant. I just… you're right. That was for someone else and wasn't right. This is for us. This is our fight. Anything goes." Her grin turned slightly malicious, causing Takuma to flinch beneath me. I pushed the thoughts of torturing the prisoners with Kiyo alongside me out of my mind.

"Don't worry," she assured him, "You are safe. You've made her happy and she's laid claims to you. Even if she won't admit it…OH! Look at the time! I have to get to bed before I prepare. After all, jumping takes a lot out of you!" With that said she jumped up and ran from the room before I could say anything.

I started to get up and go after her but a pair of hands wrapped themselves around my waist and held me back.

"Let her go," Takuma whispered into my ear, settling me back into his lap.

I shivered and lay back against his chest, pouting a bit.

"You can't let her get away with that. It'll never stop if you do," I grumbled.

His lips ghosting across my neck stole all further protests from my lips.

"I think it'll be alright," he muttered, "now let's get some rest alright?" He shifted me off of his lap and moved to lie down beside me.

I just sat there for a moment, staring at the wall, before falling back against the bed. I rolled to my side that I usually slept on, which just happened to put my back to him. Next thing I knew his arm was draped over my waist and he had formed his body to mine, his breathing even.

I fell asleep easily, despite all that had happened and despite the fact I was laying with a vampire.