The part-nephilim was casually splayed out on her bed when Yuuki walked into the room.

"Um, do you have any swimsuits I could borrow? I don't have any," the petite blonde called out sheepishly.

Hitomi all but dropped her book onto her face as she abruptly sat up with a flabbergasted expression. She couldn't imagine that the vampirette could conceivably have anything left to want.

Both girls were acutely aware of the fact that the Sakamaki household showered Yuuki with generous abundance. If the wealth was her own, not a second would have been lost in its distribution to the less fortunate. As was the case, her hosts would be insulted if she threw out their gifts and so Yuuki settled for passing some of them onto Hitomi instead.

Although the part-nephilim insisted that these gestures meant nothing to her, Yuuki could tell that they pleased her companion. Little by little, she intended to chip away all of the girl's existing hostilities. The blonde knew the difference between self-inflicted house arrest and forced imprisonment more than anyone. She would do anything to lighten up the brunette's life-long days spent in captivity.

"Not even the school one piece?" Hitomi eventually gawked.

The vampirette shook her head. "First of all, I never learned how to swim so it wouldn't make sense to get one. Secondly, I was exempt from athletic activities due to my weak health. The school doesn't know that I've gotten better."

"Alright, let me rummage through my stuff. By the way, a lot of these are hand-me-downs from Lilith so don't expect me to find something your size."

They had received a few boxes filled with Nakusa's old things soon after Ayato and Laito departed. These belongings had been relinquished as a matter of convenience. The parties involved in the Ryoutei murder scandal and its subsequent cover up could, of course, easily afford to dispose or purchase clothes. Sending them to Hitomi simply helped eliminate the traces of Lilith as well as save the royal family the annoyance of providing for an unwelcome resident.

"It's okay, I can make a few alterations." Yuuki answered, settling into an armchair as she waited.

"I didn't know you could sew," the girl commented as she shuffled through her closet.

"Yeah. Funny story – I learned from a guy who still doesn't know how to use a needle properly."

"Haha, what? How did that happen?"

Yuuki shrugged. "Kanato didn't have enough patience to sew by hand. Eventually, he just had Reiji order a machine so that he could still make things without having to rely on me."

The brunette pursed her lips. There had been some recent tension residing between her and the middle triplet. Hitomi avoided him if she could help it.

"Oh, here they are." Hitomi pulled out a tub filled with swimsuits and lingerie that she never used on a regular basis. Turns out Lilith had quite a collection. "Judging by the size, these should be her old ones."

The chocolate-haired female held up a bright, neon bikini with a teasing smile. "Hey, what about this one?"

"God, I am definitely not wearing something like that!"

The blonde glanced at the display and realized that cup size and level of risque correlated positively. "How old was Lilith when she wore these?" Yuuki asked, picking up an innocent, white ruffled tankini.

"Why did I guess that you would choose that?" Hitomi paused and sighed to herself before saying, "Probably when she was about ten."

"Okay, now I just feel depressed."

"Take heart, Yuuki-sama. Technically, that wouldn't suit you if it wasn't a tankini. These are probably a better fit."

"Should I try them on?"

"Be my guest."

A few minutes later, Yuuki emerged from behind the privacy panels nearly in tears. "Hitomi~ there's no way I can wear something this embarrassing. What if one of the boys see me?"

"Oh, hush. You used to let Kanato-sama dress you."

"B-but Kanato is innocent."

"Humbug! He's a hormonal young man just like the rest of them. A predator at a moments notice in every sense of the word." Hitomi warned with heavily implied meanings behind every syllable.

Yeah. A young man who's likely been traumatized by the idea of s-e-x since he was a child... He'll be the last to ever take advantage of anyone.

"I'm sure you don't see Laito-sama and Ayato-sama as pure, now do you?" Hitomi continued.

"That's different. They're blatant perverts who're probably fooling around somewhere halfway across the world... It's not like I can do anything about it."

Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine! Kanato's my stylist. Got a problem with that?"

"Nope. Not at all, Yuuki-sama." The part-nephilim chuckled at the sight of the vampirette anxiously looking at herself in the mirror. "You look fine."

"Are you sure this isn't too much skin?"

"Milady." It was what she called Yuuki whenever she was losing patience and couldn't find it within her to add the respectful -sama. "For a girl raised in a church, you've always shown more leg than some would consider appropriate. And everyone in this house has seen you wear a sleeveless shirt before. Relax."

"Alright, I'll go with this then. You pick one too and we'll go to the pool."

"Already?"

"Would I be borrowing yours instead of buying my own if I intended to do this some other day? I want to start practicing now that I have some free time, so come on!"


"KYAAAH! Hitomi, no! Not the deep side, please!" Yuuki shrieked as the brunette pulled her through the pool.

"Stop struggling, milady." Hitomi replied between annoyed strokes. "You'll be fine. You've learned how to float already."

The term reserved for moments of utter exasperation failed to suppress the pupil's panic.

"Okay, okay – I've been cheating," the vampirette fibbed in desperation. "You probably noticed that I had a foot on the ground back there, right?"

"Liar. What are you so afraid of anyway?"

"Drowning." Yuuki deadpanned.

"Pfft. It's not like you'll die in any case. But if you keep dragging against me than there's a likely chance THAT I WILL... Just hold onto my arm."

The vampirette tried to reign in her splashing. "Let's just practice on this side for now."

"Of course not! Weren't you the one who begged me to teach you? Where did all that enthusiasm go, huh? Stop resisting already or I'm going to call it quits. You're being unreasonable."

Yuuki hiccuped at the scolding and resigned herself to the lesson... Her logical side began to laugh at her.


A/N:

Hey, guys! I know I've been gone for a long while since I've last uploaded a chapter. My world's recently been flipped upside down because of the sudden move and so I couldn't seem to get to it. Let me just say that uprooting oneself and settling elsewhere is not the easiest thing to do. I hope everything calms down within the next two months. Thanks for patiently waiting for me in the meanwhile.

I have actually planned out the rest of the story by this point and all I have to do now is write it down. This here's more of a transition chapter setting up for Kanato's character wrap up. I realize this is mostly written in Hitomi's POV (which is unfortunate because the original characters are inherently far more important) but there's a particular reason why I'm hammering the fact that her presence is important. Fear not - I'm ensuring that everyone has adequate time to be addressed and I've realized that there are plenty of chapters to come.

Note to my previous readers: After much deliberation, I have decided to make a few significant changes to Yuuki's known back story in previous chapters as summarized here...

Yuuki was adopted by a priest who raises her as if she was his own child. (Since she is likely of European descent, there were no known relatives to take her in.) She is told her birth parents, who passed when she was only an infant, were good people but little else. With a very weak constitution, Yuuki had to undergo surgery a few months prior to the story. At this time, Richter donates Cordelia's heart because he realizes Yuuki has the ideal conditions to house it before the soul dies along with the recently-killed body. Further angered by this betrayal, Karlheinz takes measures to secure Yuuki as a sacrificial bride to be protected by his sons until he can return home.

When Yuuki finds her father's diary (which had been given to Sakamaki to hold on to), she scoffs at the words that say that he loves her. Why would he send her to such a horrid place if he did? Laito claims that the church willingly gave her up, but Richter later reveals that her father has no idea about the awakening. Comforted by this knowledge, Yuuki continues to believe that her father truly cares for her. She prays for his safety and good health from afar and occasionally made a few failed attempts to contact him.

During her episodes of depression, she pines for her lost family. The Sakamaki brothers help alleviate this pain by keeping her emotionally and mentally busy (something of a distraction).