Chapter 7: Eat or be Eaten

"What is your work, Ikuto?" I wondered. He seemed apprehensive, but – with the awesome might of my stare – he gave and replied hesitantly,

"I work with a company that hunts supernatural creatures." This was not something I had expected. Then again, I didn't think Ikuto was some pencil pushing cubical worker.

"...But you are a supernatural creature..." I stated blankly. Ikuto stared into my eyes.

"In the world I live in it's the law of eat or be eaten. Unfortunately you have now been introduced to that world." his expression saddened.

To live by a single phrase such as "eat or be eaten", am I ready for such a thing? Can I do that? Such a thing troubled me. Ikuto's whole world troubled me. I realized with clarity like no other that I didn't understand Ikuto, and that I had forced my views upon him just moments ago.

Did I regret it? Of course not. I could never bear to see him in that state again – where he was half insane with hunger and half insane with the strength to ignore his hunger.

"Tell me more, about your job."

"The company I work for doesn't only hunt creatures, it also studies them. Hunting is for the ones out of control. We capture the wanderers and study them."

"Wanderers?"

"...Well often supernatural beings travel in packs, groups, clans – whatever you want to call them. Sometimes one strays away. That's where Easter comes in."

"Easter is the name of the company?"

"Yes."

"I see... And how do you fit in at Easter? How did you come to work there?" Ikuto was more than hesitant to answer the first question. I could see it in his movements, his expression, and I could hear it in the way he stuttered.

"I... I'm cleanup." he finally replied. I stared at him – unblinking – until he explained further, "I... I get rid of the evidence."

"...The... evidence." I repeated blindly like a parrot.

"Any sort of capture or destroying of the dangerous, there's sometimes some work that's needed to be done, to cover it up." I was about to ask a follow up question, a question I knew would bring me down a dark alley that Ikuto did not want to take me to, and he could see it in my face and decided to answer the second question.

"Pure blood vampires... there's not a lot of information on them, because they are not only rare, but they are powerful. They are royalty and therefore have guards and so forth and they are pompous too. So you will almost never find a Pureblood just wandering around the streets of a human city nor will you find one willing to become partners with anything less than another Pureblood.

"but me – having no family and no where to go – I was a wanderer. It was the single most perfect chance for Easter. I was on their most wanted list for months on end. It was unbelievably tiring. I finally found their headquarters and snuck in to find out why they were after me. Once I understood their process I went to them and made a deal. If they gave me a job I'd give them information. The job came with decent pay and a small abode in an apartment owned by Easter.

"A lot of special agents hung around there, I got my hands on some information that nobody was supposed to see. Now they're watching every move I make. I can't go home without risking getting killed. It's something I'm worried about. If I stay here too long they'll find me."

"So... that's another reason for not drinking blood for a long time. If you do stories of someone going around and sucking people's blood might lead Easter to you."

"Well... I'm pretty sure none of my victims tell anyone about what happened, 'cuz really, who'd believe them? Plus I'm sure they'd be too afraid of me to even try spreading stories around, but yes something like that." I had crossed the room and had my arms around Ikuto's neck before I knew what I was doing.

"You're a fugitive. On the run – no place to go, no one to turn to. That must be so horrible – like when you have a bad dream over and over again and you just keep reliving the same nightmare."

"You're wrong, I have someone to turn to. I have you. For as long as I don't put you in more danger than you're in right now I think I can rely on you. I've been relying on you haven't I?" I gazed into Ikuto's beautiful blue eyes – there was no sign of red anymore – and nodded.

"Amu no!" Ran yelled at me, "Amu don't do this! You can't trust a vampire let alone a vampire that'll so willingly go back on his own kind! What kind of person is that? Can you not see he's no good?"

"Ran's right! That jerk is just going to get you into trouble Amu!"

"Miki, I understand Ran not trusting Ikuto-san, but you? Why would you care? You never care? I thought you hated Amu." Miki looked taken aback by Suu's comment. She looked at the floor.

"I never said I hated Amu. I just begrudged her for making me haunt her."

"It wasn't her decision. She's just a little girl, how could she have understood?"

"ENOUGH SAPPY TALK I WANT THAT BLOOD SUCKING VERMIN OUT OF MY SIGHT NOW!"

"Stop talking about my brother like he's a cockroach!" Yoru yelled at Ran. Ran screamed at him.

"HE MURDERED YOU AND YOU STILL STAND BY HIM? WHAT KIND OF DUMBASS ARE YOU?"

"You don't know Ikuto so how dare you say things like that about him!"

"I KNOW VAMPIRES!"

"HOW COULD YOU KNOW VAMPIRES! YOU'RE SOME LITTLE GIRL!"

"How do I know? How do I know? I'm a freaking vampire hunter that's how I know!"

"Vampire hunter?" I questioned, shocked. Ran looked at me.

"You saw it in the vision Amu, I'm surprised you hadn't started asking questions. The person chasing me had been a vampire. I'm was just a trainee of course – being so young – so there was no chance I could take on a vampire alone, so I ran. I kept running until I fell off that building. The next thing I knew I was dead. And now you fraternize with this vampire scum even after knowing he murdered his family!"

"Ran, calm down." Suu murmered.

"No Suu! Ran is perfectly justified in hating Amu. Not only does Amu hang out with Ran's life long enemy she also is the cause of our deaths! That's why she has those visions."

"Visions?" Ikuto asked.

"When we came to haunt her, Amu saw how each of us died." Miki explained.

"Well, I also see how any other ghost died." I corrected Miki. She looked at me stunned. She hadn't realized that I saw others' deaths besides that of the ghosts that haunt me. Ikuto got off his chair and turned me around. His hands gripped my shoulders too forcefully I thought the bone might break. He looked down at me ferociously.

"You see how people die!? You saw how I died didn't you! You had a vision of what happened to my family didn't you?" I couldn't stand his angry stares so I looked at the floor.

"Yes." I answered simply. Ikuto let go of me and spun around so that his back faced me.

"AAAARGH! And you still stand by me! It's not bad enough that I told you what happened, but you had to actual see it too! How can you stand being around me?"

"But I don't only see the death I feel it too. You fought against whatever force it was that made you kill them. You killed them, but you didn't want to."

"If I had been stronger they wouldn't be dead!" his hands clenched into fists and shook with frustration. I walked up and hugged him.

"Ikuto you were strong! You fought so much that you were able to get Utau to run! That saved her life!"

"How can you so much as look at a murderer like me?"

"O shut up! I'm tired of this self-pity act! C'mon! You love being a vampire, admit it!"

"Well... I am super fast and super strong. Plus, as a Pureblood, I get some special powers to go along with my other vampire powers."

"See? So stop complaining! You saved your sister, you have awesome powers, and at least you still get to spend time with your little brother, right? Isn't that enough? Nobody's perfect you know." Ikuto put his hands on mine – which were locked together to keep him in the hug.

"I really can turn to you can't I?"

"Yes. You can. I'll protect you when no one else can!" When I said those words it was like my whole world changed. I knew I would protect Ikuto from Easter. I'd have to protect all these supernatural creatures around me. Didn't that me I was a guardian? I sighed internally. I had no choice now. I had to join the Guardians. It seemed like my destiny.

After school the next day I paced in front of the abandoned greenhouse where the Guardians helped out ghosts. I wasn't sure how to accept their offer. I'd been planning all last night and the whole day how I might say it, but words were failling me. But luck seemed to be on my side because the bipolar purple hair walked outside at one point.

"So are you going to come inside or are you going to continue wearing a whole through the earth?" he/she asked.

"Eh? Well..." I had no idea how to begin.

"You finally want to become a Guardian?" he guessed. Relief flooded through me.

"Yes."

"Then come inside!" Nadehiko! I finally remembered the boy's name. He was annoying me because he was acting girly again.

"Tadase! Kukai! Yaya!" Nadehiko called, "Amu-chan has finally agreed to join the Guardians!"

"Eh!? Really?" Yaya rounded a corner and hugged me cheerily, "Welcome Amu-chi!"

"HAHA! Hinamori-chan! I knew you couldn't resist my good looks!" Kukai teased. He seemed much less agitated today than that other day.

"Welcome Hinamori-san." Tadase – looking gay as ever – bowed to me. Kukai pried Yaya off me saying,

"Now now Yaya! You had your turn so I'd like to have mine."

"Eh? Wai—" but it was too late Kukai swept my into his arms hugging me really tight. He was unbelievably strong. I guess I already knew that from when he kicked my head into that tree, but still he was about as strong as Ikuto. He started howling with laughter. I could feel the vibration to the sound resonating under his skin. He was a really nice guy. I surprised him by hugging back, but then to cover up that gesture I had to hug the heshit (he + she + it) and the gay-homo-faggot and Yaya for a second time. I kept having to remind myself This is for Ikuto. This is for Ikuto. Remember, eat or be eaten.

Author's Note: Sorry to any Nadehiko fans about the heshit thing. It's an inside joke among many of my friends. So please tell me what you thought of the chapter. I hope it was good! I really really hope so! And the whole eat or be eaten thing is a theme that will be reappearing, just a warning. I think I put that in there because our class just finished reading Call of the Wild and that was one of the themes (honestly I didn't like the book that much but I do like the themes it offered)