AN: As always, written by myself and Diana Moore. Thank you for reading.

Annie Epilogue

Her newfound little bit of freedom was unexpected but very, very nice. Annie sat on the beach, toes touching the tide that rose up to greet her, while her arms wrapped around her knees, looking at the sun starting to dip over the water. Due to the season, it should've been cold, but she guessed things worked differently in the demon world. Despite her plenty perverted company, she had opted for a bikini, red hair loose for a change. Annie sighed, shifting a bit. Damn, things are weird. Feels are a thing.

Shuu sat a little bit away from her, leaning heavily forward so that his arms rested on his drawn-up knees. His eyes had drifted shut, and he may have nodded off for a few minutes. He then raised his head and blinked, shifting bare feet in the sand. He hadn't taken off anything else, adjusting his sweater. Annie glanced over at him, yet again, wondering why he was being a boob but not wanting to give in and like, ask him or something. She pried herself up and stepped forward into the water, intent on one last swim before they had to go. She didn't know when she'd next get the opportunity. Shuu watched her, eyes shifting over her figure.

"Your hair looks sexy down," he uttered quietly, not particularly worried if she didn't hear. For once, she didn't bite, merely glancing over her shoulder.

"Thanks," she said quietly, before walking a bit deeper. Yes, the seawater would absolutely tangle the hell out of her curls, but it was alright. One time wouldn't be the end of the world.

Shuu smiled slightly and tilted his head a touch. "So...did you enjoy it? The Full moon? Or would you try and avoid it in the future?" He asked silkily.

Now she reddened slightly. "I liked last night," she mumbled. "It was... weird to see you like that," keeping her back to him very intentionally, she waded in until the water reached her hips. "...Was kinda hot," she added under her breath. Shuu hummed, tugging at his music player and unclipping the choker around his neck which kept it in place. He set it down on the towel and a moment later, reached out- drawing her back into him as he stood behind her in the water, having teleported.

"What was that?" He asked quietly, amusement dancing in his voice.

"I said it was kinda lame!" She barked, reddening darker. "Dumbass, your pants are wet now. You're like a freaking child."

Shuu smiled, nipping her neck. "You wanted me in here with you. Don't pretend otherwise. You've been sighing all day," large hands wandered to smooth up her hips, tracing the shape of her. Annie's lips turned up a bit as she got an idea that would likely get her in trouble, but she didn't particularly care.

"True," she said teasingly, before tugging him down into the water with a sudden yank. Annie quickly squirmed her way behind him so that she'd basically tackled him, water up to his chest. "Get fuckin rekt!"

Shuu blinked and sighed. "Big bully," he accused, leaning back into her heavily to force her deeper into the water. She made a sort of 'ack' noise, going under completely, pinned to the sand. She kicked, shoving at his back. He chuckled and leaned away, turning around and letting her surface, tugging her to him and wrapping strong arms around her waist.

"You can be my lifesaver in the water. Float with me," he muttered, lips turning up.

Annie sputtered and wiped the water away from her eyes. "Pain in the ass," she huffed, despite having started it. She leaned into him, however, content to snuggle. If nothing else, Shuu was at least very cuddleable. Shuu looked at her, eyes half-lidded as usual. Blonde hair brushed into his eyes, before he leaned his head onto her shoulder.

"You must be pretty eager to get back to the human world, huh?" He asked, voice lethargic.

"Don't bring that up," she said warningly, stiffening. "That's heavy shit. You really wanna do this?"

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Nah. Forget it, troublesome woman," he muttered, hand sliding down her back and settling on her waist.

"Didn't think so," Annie mumbled, squirming a little bit. Time to change the subject, maybe get him riled up. She squirmed harder and managed to detach herself, taking a few paces away and splashing him. He closed his eyes and tsked, spitting the water from his mouth. He tasted the salt and winced, before a wave lulled him toward the shore, crashing over his head and soaking him further. He rose once more, looking very much like a drowned cat.

Annie giggled and paced back, grinning. He really should have worn a bathing suit. Clasping her hands behind her back, she cocked her head cheekily. "Getting wet for me, are you?" She teased.

"That's your job, not mine," he snorted, lulling onto his back in the water and looking up at the sky, glancing at her when the tide brought him back into her. "Heh...the sun is bringing out some freckles on your skin. Cute."

Annie sighed. He's being so docile tonight, and even though it's the norm, it's so weird after last night. I just wanna provoke him, at least a little. She didn't answer, not sure how else to bait him. Splashing didn't work. Neither did tackling. Weird. She drifted down and grabbed him by the shoulders, dunking him under to see if maybe, just maybe, that would do it?

Shuu's hand reached out and wrapped around her neck warningly, standing up again and resisting her weight on his shoulders. He moved so that he was bent toward her face. "Stop doing that," he uttered in annoyance, voice pitched lower.

Annie latched onto his hand and giggled. "Can't," she smiled, thoroughly unconcerned about his hand on her neck. "It ain't a beach trip without roughhousing."

Blue eyes narrowed slightly, lips tilting up and spreading wider to reveal a fang. "Ah...I get it. After last night, it's given you a taste for rougher play. Heh..dirty woman," leaning down and licking her cleavage, his free hand traced the line of her bikini bra, moving his fingers under her breast and cupping as he bit down. Annie reddened down to her neck as she squirmed.

"No, you stupid fuck! ROUGHHOUSE. As in, like, scrapping! And wrestling! Not kinky tit nomming, Jesus fucking Christ!" She griped, thoroughly exasperated. She wasn't sure what she should have expected.

Shuu chuckled and drew back, licking his bottom lip and straightening. He then pushed her over into the water, turning away and heading back to the shore. "There you go, annoying. I don't roughhouse. Too much work."

Giggling and pushing off the sand easily, she caught up to him, holding on around his leg like a child. "Do it. Don't be a pussy," she teased, reaching up and poking his ass.

Shuu groaned, carrying on with her attached to his leg, waddling awkwardly out of the water and onto the dry sand. He tugged off his soaking sweater and undershirt, plopping the soaking wet clothes onto her head. "You rejected my kinky bite. That's as far as I go today," amusement curled in his eyes. Annie pouted, throwing the clothes onto his towel, because she wasn't enough of a prick to put them in the sand.

"You got HOW MANY KINKY BITES LAST NIGHT?" She reminded him, gesturing to the countless marks on her skin.

The vampire sat on the towel, looking at her and smirking. "Mn...I know. Heh, I like this one... looks like a crescent moon," he gestured to one mark under her ribs, tracing it with his thumb. Annie winced. It still stung a little.

"Shuu, cmon," she whined, climbing over to straddle his leg. "I'm usually very low maintenance. Super indulgent. Not at all a brat. I DESERVE this."

"Uh-huh," sarcasm dripped from his tone. His thumb dipped forward, nail digging slightly into the mark as he leaned into her and kissed her navel, sucking the skin. "You should have had your fill of excitement last night. I'm not...like that usually. You'll just have to get used to it," he uttered, remembering when he'd slipped and told her that he was usually weaker, sentimental. He was certain Reiji would agree with that side of himself. Annie winced, before sighing and seeming to deflate a bit.

"One good round, and I'll let you touch my butt?" She offered, in a last-ditch attempt.

Shuu shoved her down into the sand, but crawled onto her, weighing her down heavily and effectively stopping there. His body stayed pressed against hers. "Did you prefer the me from last night?"

Annie squirmed a bit, lips pinching. "I wouldn't put it like that, it was just... different. You're still the same pervy dude," she pointed out. "It was just...weird, in a kinda nice way. Couldn't tell you why, though."

"Well, you only have to wait a month for it to happen again," he said, leaning down and resting his chin on her chest, looking at her with half-lidded eyes. ".. I wonder if I'll be able to manage an excitable girl like you back at home," he mused.

Annie raised an eyebrow. "Eh? What are you on about?" She asked, tone perhaps just a touch grumpy. I just wanna fucking wrestle, and it bothers me IMMENSELY that I have to wait a goddamn month.

"You're going to be high maintenance, I can tell. Urgh...if you run, I'm going to have to catch you and punish you and everything. Fwaa.." he yawned. "Oh...you'll sleep in my room, by the way. It's too much of a pain to have you in a different room."

Her mouth twitched slightly. "Heh. Is that a promise, or a threat?" She asked teasingly. "I would pay sooo much money to see you try and chase me down. I don't stop for naps."

Shuu snorted and lifted himself off her, laying down on the sand and crunching his fingers through the wet sands. "I'll just chain you to my bed. Heh...maybe naked," he smirked to himself.

She stood up and padded back in the direction of the water, skin hopelessly sandy again. "No way in hell," she said flatly, lying back in it and washing it off. "Perv."

He shrugged, closing his eyes and tilting his head back, opening them to look up at the sky again. A multitude of purples, pinks and oranges paint the sky because of the setting sun. He wasn't usually up early, but something in him had wanted to get away from his brothers before they all returned home. He'd be bringing the high maintenance girl with him into that house of murder and death, after all. His eyes drifted shut again tiredly as though he found it difficult to keep them open. Annie glanced back at him, mistaking him for asleep. Wordlessly, she got out of the water and grabbed a clean towel, before carefully coming over and sitting beside him.

Leaning over, she put her head on his arm and cuddled up to his side. "Hey, we should probably do that sentimental thing now that we didn't do last night," she said quietly. Shuu opened his eyes a touch. He then yawned softly.

"Hm...what do you want to talk about?" He asked, voice thick with tiredness.

"I dunno. I brought it up. Now you say something constructive," she poked his side.

"Uh...what's your favourite colour?"

"Yellow, that isn't constructive," she whined. "Feels stuff. You said you were sentimental."

Shuu blinked slowly. "Hm...in case you were interested, yellow is my colour. If you wore that to a Vampire Ball, it would mean that you were trying to curry favour with me," he smirked.

"What do you mean, your colour?" She frowned. "That seems really weird. Is it like an ownership thing?"

"It's a royalty thing. It's supposed to help us locate potential partners easier. For flings, romances or...maybe marriage one day," he snorted.

She nodded. "Yellow's been my favourite colour for forever. It isn't to hit on you," she said dryly. "Besides. I can't picture you in my favourite shade. Picture the colour you would put on a baby blanket, that's what I mean."

Shuu chuckled, "yeah...that sounds like mine. I just wear it as a tie, nothing fancy." He closed his eyes, fingers loosely curling over her wrist. "So…when you come back with me to the human world, don't go running off, alright? It'll be a pain to drag you back. Just stay next to me."

"I'm not... gonna run," she affirmed softly. "Actually, I might, but only with the intention of being caught, if that makes sense."

He shifted slightly and curled his fingers into her hair, despite the sand coating his digits. "... Why?" He asked quietly. "You wanted to talk sentimental.. so...why wouldn't you run for real?" Annie swallowed, shifting and looking away a bit.

"I dunno," she muttered. "I don't have a good reason, besides the 'it wouldn't work' one. I'm here. Guess I may as well... stay, or whatever."

Shuu nodded slowly. "Good reasoning, I guess. Well...I'll keep you, so that's a thing," he grunted, leaning up and shifting her up with him. "Let's get going," plopping a towel on her head, he rubbed her hair.

Annie sighed, wanting to scrap still, but letting it go. "Kaaay," she sighed, wrapping the towel around her shoulders. "Ugh. I'm so sandy, gonna shower when we get there."

Shuu smirked. "I'll join you," he chuckled, parting the towel to nip her shoulder, before pulling himself up and grabbing his soaked sweater and shirt.

"I wasn't offering," she said, but her tone doesn't have the normal bite. She soon sighed and walked towards the road, "but whatever."

A limo pulled up out of no where and Shuu opened the door, climbing inside and unbothered by his wet, sandy pants on the leather seat. Annie sat down as well, wincing from the feel of sand pressed between the leather and her bare thighs. "Let's get back fast," she mumbled.

Shuu glanced at her while the limo pulled away. He then patted his lap. "Oi...come here. I won't do anything perverted."

Annie rose an eyebrow. "I somehow doubt that," she mumbled, before crawling over anyway and sitting on his knees. She left her feet on the seat and leaned her head against his shoulder. "You're being awfully snuggly today."

"Hn...call it sentimentality," he curled his arm around her waist slightly. He looked out of the window, the clouds reflecting on his blue eyes.

Annie poked his nip. "For someone who claims to be sentimental, there really haven't been many sentiments," she said dryly. He hummed, closing his eyes.

"I'm not, I said you can call it sentimentality. Things are fine how they are, aren't they?"

She paused a moment, but nodded. "Yeah. This is alright," she agreed, closing her eyes. "I can deal with this." Maybe even like it.

He remained quiet, feeling her breaths fan out onto his bare chest. The limo continued on for some time, until the temperature dropped and Shuu opened his eyes, the sky darker, and he wasn't certain when he'd fallen asleep. He stroked her arm slightly. "We're in the human world. We'll be there soon."

Annie had curled closer to him and started to shiver. "Damn, it's cold," her wet hair and general lack of clothes becoming an issue now. Shuu chuckled and twirled her red hair around his fingers playfully. He then looked up, a shadow falling over his face slightly the moment he registered where they were.

"There it is," he muttered, laying eyes on the distant shape of the mansion, which was drawing closer. His brothers would be waiting inside, minus Subaru, who had run off after his mother's death. Shuu wondered if he'd had the right idea.

"It looks cold," she said grumpily. "Can you do the teleporting pizazz so that outside is not a thing?"

Shuu remained quiet, the image of her arriving in a limo not lost on him. He shifted his gaze down to Annie and instead of seeing her draped in a towel, white lace covers her legs, falling to the floor. He can even feel the gossamer thread of a veil. Annie noted his expression and curled her fingers through his, smiling like things were fine. He hoped that bright smile wouldn't wither, but as they approached the mansion, he couldn't help but think that she'd traded her life as a harem girl for that of a Sacrificial Bride.

End