Tsukiyomi-Hio: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

mspyrrha: Thank you! I'm enjoying writing the growing friendships as well. I'm glad you liked the bride scene! :D Haha, I agree! Both reactions are adorable. (: I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Thank you for reading! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!


This was just like her luck. There wasn't a single microwave in sight, which crushes any hope of getting the soup heated fast. She finds herself rooted for a few minutes before she sighs and makes her way to the counter, where she sets the can down. She closes her eyes and takes a slow breath. She would have to find not only a bowl and a pot, but she would have to find a can opener, too. Of course Ayato had to get a can that didn't have the easy open option. With a sigh, she opens her eyes and gets to work. She finds the bowl first, which is shortly followed by a pan. The can opener is trickier to find, but she finally manages to do so, after digging through most of the seemingly endless drawers in the kitchen. Before long, she is warming the soup up in the pan.

That's where time seems to drag by, but it's finally done. Once it's in the bowl, Mai sets about searching for a spoon. How had she managed to forget that? She had just opened an unexplored drawer when something heavy leans against her from behind, causing her body to stumble forward. Unintentionally, her body closes the drawer, and she awkwardly leans over the counter. She lets out a soft grunting noise before glancing over her shoulder. A shock of blonde hair fills her vision.

"Yui?"

She it was stupid to think it was her friend, since the blonde was clearly heavier than her friend. A scoff cements the fact that it wasn't her friend at all. Every muscle tenses, and she tries to shove against his weight, but she isn't even able to move him an inch. Her breath catches in her throat, and she desperately hopes he doesn't try to bite her. The seconds tick by for what feels like hours. Finally, a soft, barely audible, voice asks, "Do you have to be so loud?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Mai breathlessly responds. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the weight disappears. Mai breathes a soft sigh of relief, and she quickly spins to face him. She fully expected Shuu to be only inches from her, but he was sitting across the room on the floor. Still tense, Mai watches him for any signs of movement. It quickly becomes apparent that he had likely fallen asleep again. With a sigh of relief, she quickly starts to search for the spoon again, though she's careful to look over her shoulder at him every few seconds. Luckily, she manages to find it without much difficulty. She scoops the bowl up and makes her way to the door. Just as she's about to leave, a wave of guilt washes over her. She glances down at Shuu, silently wondering if she should atleast try to wake him up before she left. Her gaze shifts from the lazy blonde to the soup in her hand. Yui needed the food more than Shuu needed to wake up, and there wasn't a guarantee that he would even move. Besides, why should she care where he slept? With a wince, she realizes that Yui's constant worry over the blonde was starting to rub off on her. She casts one more glance at Shuu before she decides to take the cooling soup to Yui and return. If he was still there, she would attempt to wake him up. With that in mind, she quickly returns to Yui's room. Thankfully, Ayato was gone when she returns.

After some coaxing, she manages to get the blonde to eat. Upon seeing how pale and out of it Yui seemed, Mai decides to keep what had happened with Shuu quiet. The last thing she wanted was her friend pushing herself too far by trying to help her. Once she is done eating, Mai collects the dishes and quietly slips out of the room. Before she is fully out the door, she glances back to find that Yui had already slipped back to sleep. In an effort to keep it that way, she quietly shuts the door and quickly makes her way toward the kitchen.

To her utter dismay, Shuu is right where she left him when she returns. She sets the bowl in the sink along with the now cooled pan and runs water over both to rinse the excess sauce off. It takes a few minutes to find the dish soap, something to clean with, and a towel to dry with, but she finally manages to clean and return everything to where she found it. Once that is done, she turns to observe Shuu. She wasn't quite sure how being so slumped over was comfortable enough to sleep, but he was managing it somehow. With a sigh, she moves to squat in front of him. A devious smile spreads over her face, and she considers reaching out to repeatedly poke him in the cheek to wake him up. In fact, she lifts her hand to do just that when she gives the plan more thought. The more she actually thought about it, the more she realized that it likely wouldn't work. Her eyes roam over his face for a moment before they narrow in on his hair. She couldn't stop the smile from spreading over her face, and she reaches out to grab a small bit between her thumb and index finger. It didn't come as a surprise that it was soft, since she figured all the brothers were well groomed.

She lightly tugs on his hair a couple times. She made sure it wasn't enough to hurt, but it was enough to be annoying. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be affecting the vampire, or, the more likely scenario, he was simply ignoring her. Either way, it was ruining her plan to actually get the lazy Shuu moving. With a sigh, she starts to pull her hand away. Suddenly, something cold warps around her hand and pulls it back. Her entire body tenses to keep from following her hand, so she ends up leaning awkwardly closer to Shuu than she'd like to be. Her eyes widen in disbelief when Shuu lifts her hand up to lightly press against his cheek. His voice is so low that she could barely hear it over her racing heart. "You have spent too much time around those triplets."

She knew he wasn't trying to be romantic in anyway, and those words only cemented the fact that she was in danger. Still, her breath catches in her throat, and she finds herself unable to move for a few seconds. He chuckles softly, and his eyes open to meet hers. Her heart stops completely upon seeing that his eyes are glowing an eerily beautiful blue color. His voice sounds amused when he says, "I believe you owe me."

Upon hearing those words, her senses return, and she gives a sharp tug on her hand. She attempts to protest by saying, "Wait, Shuu!"

It was too late at that point, since Shuu had turned his head just enough that his lips brush over her wrist. She only has time to suck in a sharp breath before the pain races up her arm. She grits her teeth and immediately stops trying to pull her hand away. The minute she does, something strange happens to her body. It suddenly feels warmer than normal, making Shuu's hand and lips feel even colder than before. That wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the strangely pleasant feeling that was slowly working up her arm.

She silently takes that back. The worst sound was hearing him swallow her blood. Thankfully, the situation only lasts a few moments. She feels Shuu pull his mouth away from her wrist. That's when she realizes that she had closed her eyes at some point. She slowly opens them to find that he was looking in her direction with a small smirk on his face. "Ah, perverted little human. You are finding enjoyment in this."

Mai's eyes widen, and she tugs on her arm once again. She fully expected him to keep a hold of her hand, so she wasn't prepared to catch herself the second he let go. She tumbles back onto her butt, but she doesn't let it bother her. She just uses her hands and feet to push her further away from the blonde, who slowly runs his tongue along his lips to catch any stray drops of blood.

"You're blushing."

Mai stops moving away and reaches up to cover her cheeks with her hands. Childishly, she snaps. "I am not!"

The chuckle just makes her face burn even more. She wants to look away in embarrassment, but her body wouldn't. The last thing she needed was to look away from the predator sitting in front of her. Deciding to turn the conversation away from her flushed face, she says, "Why did you bite me?"

"We had a deal that you ran out on," he practically sighs. His body relaxes, and his eyes close once more. Mai narrows her eyes, silently reminding herself to never underestimate him due to laziness again.

"Why aren't you in school?" She wanted nothing more than to just let him go to sleep, and she wasn't sure why she was trying to have a conversation with him. She figured it was due to the fact that she was trying to work up the courage to tell him that she hadn't been enjoying his bite. She attempts to distract herself by shifting into a more comfortable position.

He releases a drawn out sigh. "Too troublesome."

Mai can't help but stare at him in disbelief. He must have sensed her staring, since he slowly opens his eyes again. Mai can't help but take a deep breath and shake her head. She honestly should have known better, since this wasn't the first time she had dealt with him. She tenses when he shifts, which seems to amuse him even more. Thankfully, his smirk is short lived. The silence seems to last for a few minutes before he closes his eyes once more.

"You reek of two of the triplets."

Mai's can't help but roll her eyes. She pulls her knees up and begins to wrap her arms around them when she notices something on her arm. To her horror, there was smeared blood on her wrist where Shuu had bitten her. She quickly scrambles to her feet and moves over to the sink to wash the blood off. Once she is done, she turns to face Shuu. It shouldn't, but it comes as a surprise to find him still sitting in the exact same position. Slowly, she makes her way back to where she was sitting before.

"You really should choose better underwear if you plan to flash them," Shuu mutters. Humiliated and confused, Mai can only stare at him. He chuckles and shifts in order to sit up a little more. Mai tenses when she sees him moving. "You are wearing a skirt."

Her eyes widen, and she looks down. She wasn't sure how, but she had completely forgotten that she was still in her school uniform. She had her knees bent so she could wrap her arms around her legs. This hiked her skirt more than she would have liked. With a gasp, she quickly adjusts her sitting, so she is resting on her knees. Still, Shuu's chuckling only makes it worse. She fights the urge to just run away, since she felt Shuu would use it as an excuse to tease her further. Desperate to change the subject, Mai asks. "Do you know what seeing a woman in white would mean?"

He releases a sigh and closes his eyes. "I'm tired."

Frustration builds in her chest, but she tries to keep it out of her voice. Unfortunately, she's not able to. "Are you seriously planning to sleep right there?"

"Hm." That is the only response she gets from him before he seems to drift back off. She clenches her fists and abruptly stands up. She could find something more productive to do than deal with him. She tells herself that it didn't matter what he thought of her anyway. She starts toward the door, but she is stopped by the sound of his voice. "Why aren't you in school?"

She had only been a few more steps from leaving the room when she stops. The question takes her by surprise, since he sounded genuinely curious. She glances over her shoulder to see that he was watching her with an apathetic look. She finds herself searching his eyes and face for confirmation of her suspicions. Unfortunately, she doesn't find any. With a sigh, she assumes that she must have just heard something that wasn't there. She coldly states, "Yui isn't feeling well, so Ayato dragged me here to look after her. Speaking of which, I need to go check on her."

She tenses when he scoffs. She silently waits to see if he had anything else to say, but it was becoming apparent that he wasn't going to. Just as she turns to leave again, he says. "Ayato is with her."

She pauses mid-step. All sorts of thoughts flood her, and before she knows it, she is making her way back to Shuu with an important question in mind. She kneels just out of arm's reach with a serious look on her face. He had relaxed against the wall once again, but she had already decided that she was going to bother him until he answered her question. She doesn't bother waiting to see if he was still awake or not, she simply asks her question. "Does Ayato love Yui?"

The silence felt incredibly heavy after her question. Shuu showed no signs of answering, but she wasn't going to give in so easily. She slowly clenches her fists and scoots closer to Shuu. "Shuu."

He still remains silent. Against her better judgement, she crawls even closer to the blonde. Despite her pounding her heart, she reaches out to lightly shakes his shoulder before she jerks away. To her utter frustration, nothing happens. She quickly reaches out to shake him a little harder this time, and she jerks her hand back once she is done. This time she earns a sigh. Satisfaction rushes through her veins at seeing his blue eyes once more. The second his eyes start to close again, she narrows her eyes, and she puts an expectant look on her face. The satisfaction quickly wears off when he proceeds to just close his eyes. She felt like pulling her hair out. How could someone be so lazy?! He couldn't even answer questions properly! With anger coursing through her veins, she reaches out to shake him once more, but his cold hand wraps around her elbow. With a sharp tug, she is dragged toward him. She uses her other hand to brace herself. Her heart races, and she finds her face only inches away from his. He lets out a soft chuckle, and his voice is low, "Why haven't you asked him yet? Are you afraid?"

She stubbornly shakes her head, but she didn't dare say anything, since she knew it would come out as a squeak. She didn't want to let him know just how much he scared her. His grip becomes painfully tight on her arm, but his face still looked amused. "Do you think he is capable of loving her?"

"I….I don't know." Mai wanted to sound strong, but she barely got those words out. She could feel herself shaking, but she didn't even try to stop herself from doing so. Now that she thought about it, there wasn't a point in doing so. He could probably hear how loud her heart was pounding, and it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. She didn't even try to fight against him, and she wasn't sure why. She found that all she could was stare at him. To her absolute horror, his face starts to swim. She desperately fights the tears, since she didn't want to cry in front of him. She hears a sigh, and the grip on her arm loosens. Allowing her to jerk her body away from him. She quickly moves to the opposite side of the kitchen. What was wrong with her? When did she turn into such a crybaby? She could still feel her body shaking, so she wraps her arms around her abdomen and stares at her feet.

"She belongs to Ayato. It isn't about love." Shock runs through her body, and her watery gaze snaps up to look at Shuu in disbelief. Despite the fact that she was still fighting the tears, she feels a few escape down her cheeks, which she quickly wipes away.

"How can you say that?" She snaps, thankfully sounding stronger than she felt. "That's not fair to her. She is a human not an object, and she has the right to pick whoever she wants to be with! She deserves to find love!"

He scoffs and shifts once again. His hand reaches up to press against the music player attached to his neck. She grits her teeth and barely keeps herself from storming over to him. Just as she is about to lose her self control, he says softly. "I haven't seen him treating anyone the way he treats her."

She narrows her eyes at him. Was that his roundabout way of saying that Ayato did have feelings for her? Could she even trust his word? He seemed to be sleeping every time she saw him, so how much could he actually know? Still, at least he had answered her question. She lets the silence stretch on a bit more while she works on her frustration. She finally settles on a question and asks softly. "Does she have to die?"

She silently hopes that he answers this question, too. It takes a few minutes before he finally does, but she was willing to wait. His voice is so soft that she wonders if he was drifting off to sleep again. "The process has already started. Whether she lives or dies is entirely up to her."

Dissatisfaction fills her chest, but she tries to keep it from overwhelming her. Unfortunately, she doesn't get a chance to ask anything else, since Ayato appears in the doorway. He barely spares a glance at his older brother before his green eyes lock onto Mai. She couldn't stop herself from tensing up when he makes his way toward her. His voice is cold when he says, "she's throwing up. Go take care of her."

Mai grits her teeth, but she bites back the cold retort. She casts a glance at the now sleeping Shuu and quickly makes her way out. Yui needed her more than she needed answers. Though she had to admit, she wasn't relishing the thought of being in the same room as Yui, while she was throwing up.


Thankfully, Yui only had the twenty four hour flu, so she felt better the next night. Reiji had caught Mai on her way to shower and had informed her that she would be punished for skipping class the night before. He had also informed her that he had called her parents and informed them that she was at their manor in a study session with Yui, but she had lost track of time. She hadn't paid much attention to what he saying due to the fact that she had been feeling warmer than normal, since she had woken up. Once he excuses her, she quickly showers and follows Yui down to the limo. She was vaguely aware that Laito was saying something outside the limo, but she didn't really pay attention to it. She had simply leaned onto Yui and closed her eyes, intent on falling asleep. Something brushing her side causes her to open her eyes, but, before she gets the chance to see what it was, she is shoved, prompting her scoot closer to Yui. She lifts her head to look at a frustrated Subaru. She rolls her eyes and shifts her body into a more comfortable position before proceeding to doze back off.

Once she gets to school, she quickly hurries away from the brothers and Yui. She takes off the jacket of her uniform and rolls up her sleeves. She flinches when she realizes that she had probably gotten sick from being around Yui the day before. In addition to feeling warmer than normal, her body felt stiffer than normal, though she figured that it was due to sleeping on the couch in Yui's room.

"Miss Mai!" A hand lands on her shoulder causing her to jump and spin around. Wide eyed and pale, she stares at a horrified school nurse. Trying to hide her blunder, the nurse smiles at Mai. She gestures toward her office and says. "You don't look well. Maybe you should come lay down before classes start."

Mai tiredly shakes her head and says, "I don't want to get in even more trouble than I already am. I'm just going to go to class."

"Mai," the nurse says. She reaches out to put a hand on Mai's shoulder. That's when she realized that the students around her was whispering and stealing glances in her direction. With a frown, she tries to figure out what was going on. A sense of dread was starting to build. Thankfully, the nurse drags her attention back with a stern voice. "Perhaps you should come lay down. There is someone who wanted to talk to you before school."

It takes a moment for her brain to figure out why her heart was racing. Once she does, her heart skips a beat. There was a caseworker who was supposed to follow up with her today concerning the bruise on her forehead. To her horror, she realizes just how bad her comment had sounded. She ducks her head and quickly makes her way to the nurse's office with the nurse trailing behind her. Upon entering the room, she notices that it's empty aside from one woman, who was sitting in front of the nurse's desk. She was dressed in a flowing white skirt and a white button up shirt. Her dark hair was pulled up in a loose bun. She smiles upon seeing Mai, but she remains sitting. The nurse shuts the door the moment she enters. Mai glances back nervously, but the caseworker draws her attention with a kind greeting. Mai only gets the chance to return it, before the nurse quickly tells the woman what Mai had said.

Fighting the mounting horror in her stomach, Mai quickly says, "Wait. That came out worse than I meant it to be. I just forgot I had an interview today,"

"Sweetie, you don't have to make excuses. Remember, you are safe here. Why don't you sit down, and we will just talk," the woman pleasantly says. Mai gives her a nervous glance, but she does what is asked of her. Once she is sat down in an uncomfortable chair a few feet away, the woman retrieves a pen and clipboard from a briefcase on the nurse's desk. She turns her full attention onto Mai and smiles. "Well, my dear, shall we talk about the new bruise?"

"What?" Mai can't help but be confused by the question. The woman gives her a sympathetic look and gestures to Mai's arm. She glances down only to stare in horror. Shuu had left a hand shaped bruise just above her elbow. She reaches up to grab her sleeve and pulls it over the bruise. Her gaze snaps up to see a look of sympathy still on the woman's face. "That isn't my parent's hand print. I live in a loving home, and I have a great relationship with my parents. They would never do any to hurt me!"

Her head gives a painful throb at the sound of her own voice, making her feel sick to her stomach. She is vaguely aware of the woman saying something to her, but she didn't hear a single word. All Mai could think about was how tired she was becoming. An annoying tickle starts in the back of her throat, and she suddenly feels like she is going to throw up. She leaps to her feet, but she didn't have to go far. A small bag appears before her face, and she doesn't think twice about grabbing it and emptying her already empty stomach. She sinks back into the chair, and she closes her eyes as exhaustion starts to take over. She could faintly hear the nurse prompting her to open her mouth. She does, which is followed by something being pressed under her tongue. She doesn't need to be told to close her mouth, since she figured that the nurse was taking her temperature. She could hear the women talking and uses that as a focus.

"She's sick."

"I still need to find out where those bruises come from."

"She isn't going to be giving you anything useful this way. Listen, there are quite a few students sick with the flu. It's nothing serious, so I recommend you try coming back another time," the nurse argues. Before the case worker gets a chance to respond, the door opens. Mai flinches once she sees a familiar red head stepping in. He makes his way over to Mai, despite the cold look she is giving him. He leans down to gently brush his lips against her temple, causing her to flinch away from him with a soft snarl. The case worker clears her throat, drawing the amused green gaze away from Mai.

"Who are you?" she asks, sounding stern.

"Ah, hello there, beautiful," Laito coos. He steps toward her and scoops up her hand. His lips brush across the back of her knuckles before casting her a charming smile. "It's rare to see someone so beautiful at our school. I'm sorry I didn't greet you sooner."

Mai suddenly feels even sicker to her stomach, A light blush creeps across the woman's face before she pulls her hand away with a stern look. "While I appreciate your compliments, we are in the middle of something important. If you are not sick, please leave us in peace."

Laito gives her a feigned look of hurt. He clears his throat and says, "I would love to allow you to continue, but I'm sorry that I can't. You see, I asked her to help out my family's house guest last night, and she, unfortunately, seems to have caught the flu."

He, once again, steps back over to stand beside to Mai. Despite herself, she lets out a soft breath of relief, silently thankful that Laito seemed to be helping her. The woman glances between the two of them with a suspicious look on her face. She opens her mouth, likely to protest but Laito cuts her off by saying. "Ah, you are worried about the bruise on her arm?"

The caseworker's mouth snaps shut, and she simply nods mutely. Laito leans down to press he wonderfully cool cheek against Mai's. She closes her eyes and lets out a slow breath. She didn't think that she would ever get used to his cold body, but she was relishing it at the moment. His next words cause her eyes to snap open. "Ah, that was my fault."

Her eyes meet mortified faces that mirror the feelings deep inside her stomach. She pulls away from Laito in order to turn her flushed, but mortified face on him. His green eyes are full of mischief when his gaze locks with hers. She slowly starts to shake her head, but this just makes him smirk at her. Dread fills her chest and stomach, and she tries to protest. "That's a li-"

He clicks his tongue and turns an apologetic look on the woman. He practically purrs, "I get a little rough sometimes, but I promise I don't mean any harm. My sweetheart here keeps it quiet though, since she knows that it'll embarrass me."

His arm wraps around Mai's shoulders, pulling her against him. Every muscle in her body tenses, and her gaze snaps back to the woman to find she was nervously writing on the clipboard. She was about to deny everything that Laito had just said, but she is distracted by the fact that she could see the woman's hands shaking. She closes her eyes hoping this was just a feverish dream that she was having. The second she hears Laito's voice, she considers elbowing him. "I promise you that she was telling the truth. Her parents do love her very much. They are doing the best they can. If you still have doubts, you can talk to my father. He works closely with them, and I'm sure he would have no problem vouching for them."

Mai turns her gaze just enough to see Laito out of the corner of her eye. He was still giving a charming, yet seemingly sincere, smile to the woman. Mai reluctantly turns her gaze back to the caseworker, who looked like she was very lightly blushing while regarding Laito. The uncomfortable silence was making it harder and harder for Mai to breath. Finally, the woman breaks the silence by asking. "May I ask who your father is?"

Laito lets out a chuckle and says softly. "Tougo Sakamaki."

Surprise flickers across the woman's face before she abruptly stands up and gives them both a strained smile. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Sakamaki. I will follow up with your father. Thank you for your time, Miss Mai. Please take care not to….get more bruises."

The woman's face flushes, and she quickly leaves the room. Mai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She elbows Laito in the ribs, who grunts and steps away. She casts a glare at him and stands up. Her hand flies to her mouth, and she closes her eyes to fight the nauseous feeling from taking over. She jumps when she feels a cool hand on her forehead and flinches away. Upon opening her eyes, she finds the nurse standing there with a stern frown on her face. Once again, Mai flinches and tries to mentally prepare herself for the questions that she knows will follow. The nurse doesn't disappoint by sternly asking, "Did you really take care of a sick friend?"

Mai wanted to feel offended, but she was getting more and more tired. The nurse releases a sigh and glances between Mai and Laito. Upon seeing the calculating look, Mai says desperately, "I'm not sleeping with him!"

The nurse focuses on Mai once more and asks, "Does your parents know?"

Silence fills the room again. Frustrated, Mai casts a cold glare in Laito's direction in hopes that he would finally admit the truth. The nurse's voice reluctantly draws Mai's attention back to her when she says, "Sweetie, I need to know the truth. You don't have to be scared. I promise that I won't judge you. It's actually not uncommon for young adults to become sexually active around your age. We would just need to take measures to keep you from conceiving."

Feeling utterly humiliated, Mai snaps her gaze onto Laito again, who simply holds his hands up with a laugh. She practically snarls at the fact that he wasn't trying to help her with correcting the lie. Taking a deep, calming breath, she returns her attention to the nurse. She says, "I can assure you this bruise did not happen at home; however, Laito isn't the one who gave it to me. I am still a virgin, and I have nothing but a friendship type relationship with Laito, though I'm starting to reconsider that. He lied in order to help me, because we are friends."

She turns a stern look on Laito, who simply shrugs his shoulders, yet he still looked infuriatingly happy. She couldn't help but feel like something had either completely gone his way, or he was very irritated with something. Either way, Mai just wanted to get away from him. The last thing she wanted to do, especially when she was sick, was deal with Laito. It doesn't take much for her to convince the nurse to write an excuse for her to miss the day. Unfortunately, she's not the only one who leaves the school. She tries her hardest to just ignore the footsteps following behind her. She considered turning to ask him what he was doing, but she thought better of it. He was probably just waiting for her to ask, so he could use it as an excuse to force himself into taking care of her. She just ducks her head and works her way toward her new home. Laito's footsteps seem haunt her, especially since she knew he was letting her hear them for a reason. The second she is only a block away from her house, she decides that she can't take it anymore. Her head was pounding, and she felt like her body had been run over. The annoyance of him following her home was just too much. She spins to glare at him. He stops just out of arm's reach, with a cold smile on his face. A chill races down her spine, and every warning bell starts to ring in her mind. He was clearly upset about something, but she tries to force that out of her tired mind. Instead, she focuses on trying to sound brave. "What are you doing?"

She's incredibly relieved when her voice doesn't seem to waver. She was out of breath and felt even hotter than before. Her head gives a violent throb, but she's able to shake it away. With a sense of horror, she realizes that Laito's green eyes are colder than she ever seen them, and she was starting to second guess her question. Her entire body tenses, and she slowly returns to walking toward her house. His footsteps echo behind her again. She felt a mounting sense of dread with every echoed footstep. She slowly digs out her key and opens her front door. Just as she turns to face Laito, she finds that he is gone. Her breath catches in her throat, and she only spares a second to glance around for him. She wasn't sure if she should feel afraid or relieved that he had disappeared. She turns back to her house and steps in. She shuts the door behind her and leans against it with a sigh of relief. Her eyes close, and she decides that she will shower before going to bed.

A startled cry is ripped from her throat the second a hand slams only inches from her head. Her gaze snaps open and up to find Laito leaning closer than she was comfortable with him being. In fact, his body was almost touching hers. She presses her legs tightly together, and she puts on her best frown. Out of instinct, she lifts her hands to place them on his chest in an effort to keep some sort of distance between them. He tilts his head with a small smile that practically screamed danger. "Your clothes smell like Shuu."

She doesn't get a chance to respond before his free hand reaches out to press on the bruise, causing her to release a soft hiss of pain. She presses herself even harder against the door and mockingly asks, "What? Are you jealous?"

With no emotion on his face, Laito stares at her for a moment. Finally, a look of amusement passes over his face, and he pulls back a little to laugh loudly. She flinches and closes her eyes when the sound sends throbs of pain through her brain. She feels him moving beneath her hands and opens her eyes only to find his face mere inches from hers. Her eyes widen, but she doesn't get a chance to try to duck away from him. His cold forehead presses against hers, and she finds herself relaxing at the sensation. Her eyes drift closed, and she releases a slow, relaxed breath. The relief is cut short when Laito says, "You could have invited me."

Mai's eyes snap open, and she proceeds to shove him as hard as she can in pure disgust. "You are disgusting. It wasn't like I did anything….weird with Shuu. We talked that's all."

She steps around him and starts toward her room. Despite not feeling well, she couldn't help but feel anger overtaking anything else. She sighs in frustration when she hears him ask, "Is that really all the two of you did?"

With a sigh, she stops just outside her room and narrows her eyes at him. She was about to retort when bile rises up her throat. Which forces Mai to make a mad dash to the bathroom. The rest of the night and most of the next day seem to float by in a blur. She is vaguely aware that Laito had drug her, not gently, off the bathroom floor and plopped her on her bed. She's not sure, but she thought he might have kissed her forehead, but she figured that she was dreaming, since she was more asleep than awake. She's unable to really remember who had been there to give her medicine or get her drinks, but she does remember muttering a thank you every time.

Finally, she wakes up feeling much better than before. A light growling in her stomach is her prompt to get out of bed. With a flinch, she realizes that she was still in her uniform, though she's thankful that it was only 6 p.m. She strips, changes into an old tank top and sweats, and proceeds to start washing her uniform and a few other pieces of clothing. Her feet lead her to the kitchen where she finds cold cereal to eat. Everything seemed so quiet, that she figured that it would be ok to relax for once. After all, everyone should be sleeping at that time. That turned out to be one of the largest mistakes of her life. She was about to finish her bowl when two arms loosely wrap around her shoulders from behind, and a cold chin comes to rest on her shoulder, causing her to jump and let out a surprised sound. In accordance to her luck, she tips and spills the small amount of cereal and milk all over the table. She leaps to her feet, mildly satisfied when she hears a soft thud of the chair hitting the person followed by a grunt of annoyance. She spins to glare at Laito. He gives her a playful smile and pushes the chair off to the side. She steps away from him so she can reach back and scoop up the bowl without taking her eyes off of him. She returns it to the sink and moves to grab a towel. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Latio leaning on the counter with his chin resting in the palm of his hand while he watches her. His face was suspiciously blank, which sets a tendril of fear going in the pit of her stomach.

The silence continues to stretch out as she cleans up the mess. He even follows her to drop the dirty kitchen towel in the dirty clothes. She was determined to ignore him no matter what, but she was getting more and more nervous and frustrated by his silence and lack of facial expressions. In an effort to calm her nerves, she returns to the kitchen. Just as she is pulling the fridge open to a bottled water, Laito decides to make a move. He presses his body against hers from behind effectively pinning her against the fridge. She lets out a growl and tries to push back against him, but her entire body freezes the moment she feels his lips ghost over her shoulder. Every muscle in her body tenses, and she begins to worry that he might actually bite her right in the middle of her own kitchen. The tendril of fear explodes into full blown fear. Breathlessly, she asks, "Laito? What are you doing?"

He pulls his head back, but the fingers of one hand replaces the feel of his lips. It feels like she suddenly loses the ability to breath at the light sensation of his fingers slowly moving down her shoulder and arm. Her breathing returns when his hand reaches hers. Only seconds later, she loses the ability to breath again when his breath puffs against her neck. Her eyes closely tightly in fear. She wanted so bad to fight back, but she wasn't quite sure what to do, since he was standing behind her. She silently berates herself for turning her back on him when she knew that something was wrong. Her mouth was starting to feel dry due to her fear, and it only gets worse when his cold hand intertwines his fingers with hers. She forces herself to focus on trying to find a way out rather than the fear mounting the pit of her stomach. There was only one thing she could think of at the moment, and it might buy her some time. She whispers softly, "Laito, stop. This is my kitchen, and I think my parents are home."

His chuckles are felt more than heard. His voice is barely audible when he says, "Half the fun is getting caught."

She tries to shake his hand off, while using the other to push on the fridge. In what feels like retaliation, he squeezes her hand so tight that she was worried he was going to break the small bones in her hands. She stubbornly bites back any sound of pain. To make matters even worse, he suddenly lifts and presses it against the fridge beside her head. She jerks her other hand closer in order to keep it from getting caught. Unfortunately, she's not fast enough, since he catches her wrist and pins it to the fridge as well. She halts all efforts to push on the fridge in fear that he might squeeze her hand and wrist tight enough to do serious harm. She turns her head to try to see him, but he simply leans out of her view.

"You need to be punished." His voice is low and dangerous that it sends a chill down her spine. Her eyes snap closed the second his teeth scrape the skin along the connection between her neck and shoulder. Desperate to stall the seemingly inevitable, she says.

"I don't understand. Why I should be punished? If you are really just hungry, can we do it somewhere else? I remember our deal, so I promise not to fight. Besides, you don't want to be stopped midway through, right?" Her words came out in a muffled rush. She tries to focus on her breathing. She couldn't panic, or she would make a mistake. She had a feeling that Laito wasn't in the mood for mistakes. That self control slips away when he rocks his pelvis into her butt. She slams her hands as hard as she can against the fridge and says loudly, "No!"

She's surprised when he allows her to push back, but it gets worse when he completely disappears from behind her. Her momentum causes her to fall back into a heap on the floor. Just as she twists and gets herself righted, she feels Laito wrapping his arms around her from behind again. With a sickening spin, she finds herself in a cold, almost dank smelling hallway. She glances up and down the hallway to find that it was lined with large iron doors that practically screamed danger. Chills race up and down her spine. One end of the hallway led into pure darkness, while the other led to an iron door that was open just a few inches. Every instinct told her that she was being led to the open door, but after inspecting the darkness, she found she didn't relish heading that way either. She glances back at the door before she slowly eases over to the wall closest to her and sits down. She wraps her arms around her knees and decides to just wait for Laito to become bored and retrieve her.

There was no way in hell she was going to follow unspoken directions and go into the creepy door at the end of a hallway. That just spelled doom, but she couldn't see what waited for her in the dark either. She figured her best bet was to simply sit against the wall with the occasional glances at the ceiling just to be sure nothing was creeping along there. She flinches when she's sure that she hears creepy moans of pain floating from inside the iron doors, but she kept telling herself that it was likely just the building she was in settling. Buildings always made strange noises, and it helped to keep her sanity to some degree. There was an underlying smell that was driving her crazy though. She couldn't quite place what it was. Finally, the moment she was waiting for happens. Laito materializes in front of her with a small frown on his face. Mai leaps to her feet the second she sees him. Without any regard to his uncharacteristic frown, she slaps him hard. Shock fills her body at the fact that she had managed to hit him. Her wide eyes meet cold green eyes.

"I…. Laito?"

He tilts his head just a little and a smile finally takes over his face, but it wasn't his usual playful one. The best way to describe it would be cold. His voice retains its' playfulness, though it does nothing to ease her fear. If anything, it causes her fear to grow. "You don't play games very well, do you, Sweetheart?"

"I'm not playing a game. Please take me home," Mai whispers. Unfortunately, it still echoes off the walls. His response is to let out a chuckle before his hand wraps tightly around her wrist. With a sharp tug, he drags her down the hallway toward the door. Despite her best efforts, she isn't able to stop him.

"You know the best way to achieve orgasism?" he suddenly asks. Mai flinches, and her face flushes. She only manages to stutter a few times before she's once again interrupted by Laito's laugh. Worry was tearing at every part of her being. She tries even hard to pull away from Laito, but he just tightens his grip to the point of pain. His voice continues on. "Being watched. Nothing is better than that, though I suppose pain comes in a close second."

With a creak, the door moves under his touch. Her heart stops completely the second he jerks her through the door. With another jerk, he has her stumbling past him. He releases her just as her body moves past his, and she's barely able to retain her balance, but she sinks to her hands and knees only moments later. She was in a rather large room that was filled with various instruments of torture from the medieval period. Fear overwhelms every part of her being, and every instinct she had was screaming at her to run. Not planning to second guess herself, she scrambles to her feet and spins toward the door, only to run straight into Laito. His arms wrap around her, and he starts to walk forward, forcing her to walk backwards. Mai thrashes in his arms, even tries to drop her weight, but it doesn't affect him in the slightest. Frantically, Mai finds herself begging. "Latio, please don't do anything weird. Please! How about we talk about it?! I didn't do anything to deserve being punished by any of these! Please! I even promised to let you drink my blood! Please, Laito! Please!"

Her back collides with something hard and cold. Her body jerks, which earns a sadistic chuckle from Laito. She twists her head from side to side the best she can to see what they had ran into. Her horror mounts the second she sees that it's a bull with clear scorch marks on the bottom. She finds that she's unable to breath around the lump in her throat that she's positive is her heart. Her gaze snaps around to meet cold, green ones. She had never been so terrified of Laito before, not even when he had bitten her the first time. He leans in to brush his nose along her jaw, but she found herself too numb to react. He inhales deeply, and she's sure that he is smelling her. Her entire body begins to shake so bad that she was sure she wouldn't be standing if it wasn't for Laito. She barely manages to beg softly one more time. "Please."

He scoffs against her skin and pulls his head back. He gives her an almost gentle and caring look. She tries, but she knows she fails, at trying to hide her horror. He leans back just a little more before he begins to laugh. It echoes eerily off the walls, making her feel even worse. Once he finishes laughing at her, he leans so close that his face is only centimeters away from hers. "Do you know what you did wrong?"

She mutely shakes her head. She honestly had no idea what she had done to warrant such behavior from him. He moves so that he can lean in and brush his lips along her jaw. She wants nothing more than to shove him away, but she was still paralyzed with fear. His lips brush over her jaw once more, but, this time, he mutters almost lovingly, "You can still smell it with your dull human senses, right?"

He plants another kiss; this time it's on her cheek. It was almost like he was trying to console her, but she highly doubted that was the intention here. She keeps her mouth tightly closed. It was hard enough to keep breathing, so she didn't want to add talking to that. He presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth before switching sides. "Do you know what it is?"

His lips brush her jaw once again. She stubbornly doesn't say a word, but it doesn't seem to bother him. He finally makes it back up to her mouth, where he once again kisses the corner. He pulls back to give her an excited look. "It's blood. Human blood to be specific. These tools have been washed so many times, but it doesn't change the fact that millions of people have been tortured to death by these. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Bile quickly rises in her throat, but it disappears just as quickly. Laito pulls her body tightly against his. She flinches when he lovingly presses his lips against hers, but he was clearly uninterested in getting her to kiss him back, since he didn't try very hard. His gentle kisses move back down one side of her face toward her neck. She finally manages to work up the courage to ask, "What did I do?"

"Hm?" He pulls back to regard her for a moment. She manages to look him straight in the eye, despite still shaking so bad that she couldn't stand on her own. Suddenly, her body is flung backwards into the bull once again. She hits it so hard that it drives what little air out of her lungs. Her head collides against the metal side with a solid thunk, but it's not as bad as other times he had shoved her. Still, she sinks to her knees beneath the bull with a ringing head. He squats in front of her. His hand gently cups her chin, drawing her attention upward. She has to blink a few times to clear the double images she was seeing. While she is doing that, he says. "I don't like liars, Sweetheart. I don't mind sharing either, but I'd like to be present the next time you decide on a threesome."

"What?" Confusion fills Mai's body. She reaches up to feel the back of her head for any bleeding or a bump. Thankfully, there isn't.

"Shuu." That word causes surprise to fill her stomach. This was what it was all about? Once she focuses on him again, she sees that he is giving her an expectant look.

Anger overtakes any pain or fear she has left. "What the hell are you talking about?"

His hand scoops up the wrist Shuu had bitten, and he digs his thumb into the wrist Shuu. Pain races up her arm, and her fingers go numb. Out of instinct, she tries to jerk her hand away, but Laito keeps a tight grip on her. Tears of pain and anger fill her eyes, and she glares up at him. He leans close to her ear and says coldly. "I would like an invite next time."

She isn't sure when it had started, but she was biting her lip at that point. The taste of iron unfortunately brings her back to her senses. A look of adoration is plastered on Laito's face when he pulls away, but she had a feeling that this was just an act. She turns her head away when he leans in to kiss her. A chill runs down her spine the second she hears him breathlessly say, "I love you."

The only warning she gets is his breath against the skin of her neck. She doesn't even have time to tense before his teeth sink painfully deep into her neck. She flinches and closes her eyes tightly. Laito's arms wrap around and pull Mai into his lap, though she wasn't positive when he had actually sat down. She was fully prepared for pain, but this bite took her off guard.

An instantly, pleasantly warm sensation was rushing through her veins. In fact, everything felt clearer for a few seconds. Despite herself, she leans her head to the side a little and takes a deep breath. She tells herself that it was to keep herself from squirming in his grip and hurting herself, but she knew it wasn't the true reason. She clenches her teeth tighter and tries to ignore the pleasant feeling that had every body part tingling at that point. She unintentionally lets out a soft moan.

The pleasant feeling is short lived when black starts to invade her vision. Her body was starting to heat to uncomfortable levels. Panic starts to swell in the pit of her stomach, and her vision starts to feel like it's swirling around her. She shifts, and the pleasure turns to pain. The pain helps to wake her up once more. Her arms had somehow gotten loosely wrapped around his neck. She shifts her body, vaguely aware that she was straddling him when something below her brushes her clothed womanhood. She flinches when she realizes what it could be, but she had more important things to worry about. Her fingers were becoming numb, and she slowly lifts her hand to his hair. Her fingers sink into it easily. Her slow mind wonders how long he hadn't been wearing his hat.

"Laito, please stop." Her voice was so low that she didn't think he could hear it through his greedy gulps. She flinches when he moans into her neck and pulls her tighter against him. Her fingers wraps around his hair at the roots. With a sharp tug, she finally manages to get his attention. His green eyes seem to appear before her. She uses them to focus on staying awake, even though her head dips forward a few times. "Stop."

She didn't even have the energy to flinch. She could barely keep herself awake at that point. A pair of cold hands come as a shock when they gently cup her face. Her eyes focus on his. She knew she should have seen this coming, but she hadn't. His face suddenly becomes a lot closer than it was before. She wasn't able to process that he was kissing her until every inch of her mouth is coated in the metallic taste of her own blood, making her nauseous. His eyes had closed when he had started kissing her, so she loses her ability to focus and was sagging against him. Her eyes start to slide closed. Just as she is about to give in to sweet nothingness, her body is jolted. Her attention focuses just enough to remember glowing, green eyes and haunting words.

"You're my toy."

Everything fades into darkness, but it felt much more bittersweet this time.


There are a few things that she is aware of when she slowly wakes up. One was that her neck wasn't as sore as she thought it would be. Another was that her mouth still tasted of iron, and it made her gag. When she shifts in bed, she is greeted with a pleasant scent that makes it worth dealing with the taste in her mouth. On top of smelling good, the bed felt so warm and comfortable that she lets herself slip back to sleep. Her body jerks awake only seconds later by a knock on the door. Her eyes snap open and she twists to a sitting position. "Sorry, mom! I'm….up?"

Her voice trails to a whisper as horror builds. She wasn't at home. In fact, she was sure this was nothing short of a nightmare. She was still in her sweats, but her shirt was missing. Thankfully, she still had her bra on. To make matters even worse, the door had opened to reveal a look of irritation on Reiji's face. He slowly makes his way to the foot of the bed and gives her a look of pure disgust. Mai scrambles for the blankets in order to try to cover up her bra. She knew her face had turned a deep crimson color, and she opens her mouth to try to explain. "I.. It's not what it looks like."

She flinches at how cliche she sounded, but she couldn't think of a different thing to say. Reiji makes a simple dismissing gesture, so she's relieved of that duty. His red eyes flicker over the bed before landing on Mai. "Do you have your uniform with you?"

She opens and closes her mouth a few times before slowly shaking her head. He releases a sigh and pushes up his glass. "Pathetic."

She grits her teeth and pulls Laito's blankets closer. She was determined not to feel any more humiliated than she already felt. Unfortunately, that was getting harder and harder to do with the way that Reiji was staring at her. A look of satisfaction suddenly spreads over his face, causing worry to bubble through the humiliation. He leans over the foot of the bed and says. "You skipped class yesterday."

"I wasn't feeling well," Mai stubbornly argues. He scoffs and straightens once more. He moves to smooth out his uniform.

"That good-for-nothing isn't answering his door again. As punishment for not informing me or Shuu first, you are responsible for getting him to school. I will have some familiars return to your home in order to get your uniform." He doesn't give her a chance to even tell him that her uniform had been in the washer for a few hours. He simply turns and leaves the room. Mai's eyes narrow at the door as silence takes over the room. She glances around to find that Laito wasn't even in the room. Despite a sense of relief, suspicion quickly fills her chest, and she slowly makes her way out of the bed. Her legs felt shaky beneath her, but she wasn't as weak as she thought she would be. She looks around the room, but she unfortunately can't find her shirt anywhere. With a flinch, she realizes that she would have to borrow one of Laito's. She slowly makes her way over to the closet. With a sigh, she steadies her nerves and opens the door.

Her heart leaps into her throat when two arms wrap around her waist. She's pulled back against a cold body. In seconds, she is trying to shove those arms away. A chuckle against her neck only has her fighting even harder. With a snarl, she says. "Let me go, asshole."

He chuckles once more before spinning her on the spot. Black spots fill her vision, and she unwillingly leans on Laito for support. Once she is steady, she quickly pulls herself away. Thankfully, he doesn't resist her pulling away. Instead, he gives her a playful grin, much to her relief. It felt almost like she was dealing with the regular Laito. With a teasing hint to his voice, he asks, "so what are you doing?"

She narrows her eyes at him. Without meaning to, she snaps, "Where is my shirt? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Her arms quickly wrap around her chest, though she's sure that he's the one who took her shirt. He steps around her and begins to look through his clothes. She clenches her fists tightly and asks as calmly as she can. "What the hell were you doing yesterday?"

She watches him turn to face her. Her frustration builds upon seeing the sadistic smile on his face. That's all she gets to see since a piece of clothing suddenly wraps around her face. Her heart skips a beat, and she reaches up to rip the shirt off, only to come face to face with an uncharacteristically serious look on Laito's face. He was only inches from her face. His voice is low, and it sends chills down her spine. "I was punishing you. As for your shirt, it got blood on it, so I sent it to be cleaned. You should be thanking me, Sweetheart."

Anger ignites in the pit of her stomach, helping her to feel less scared. She presses his shirt over her chest and leans closer to him, hoping that he understands that she is trying to be just as threatening as he was being. She practically growls out, "I did nothing wrong."

A smile breaks out over his face, but she doesn't get a chance to react before his fingers lightly brush the side of her neck that he had bitten. Out of instinct, she flinches back, fully expecting it to hurt. To her surprise, she doesn't get a jolt of pain through her body. Suspicion only fuels her anger, and she backs up a few steps, so she's more in his room than his closet. He tilts his head for a moment, which just makes his smile seem even more sadistic. She clenches the shirt even tighter. She suddenly felt completely naked in front of him, but she knew that she still had her pants, underwear and bra on. Still, she wanted nothing more than to put the shirt on, but she didn't dare take her eyes off Laito. Despite still smirking at her, he clicks his tongue and releases a mock frustrated sigh. He takes a seemingly threatening step toward her, causing her to take two steps back. Much to her increasing horror, her actions seem to just delight him even more. His voice sounds cheerful, but Mai has a feeling that he's actually being threatening. "You didn't invite me to your playdate with Shuu. That wasn't very fair of you. Next time, you'll think twice about doing that, hm?"

Those words cause her stare at him in utter disbelief. She was having a hard time wrapping her mind around what he was saying, so her gaze drops to the floor, while she tries to figure out how to respond to his twisted explanation. Laito takes advantage of her lapse in attention to close the distance between them. It's not until his cold fingers brush her jaw that she finally snaps back into reality and slaps his hand away. She takes a step back and snarls. "You're insane. Why would it matter to you?"

A brief look flashes over his face before it disappears. Unfortunately, she doesn't get a chance to see what it was. He tilts his head with the smirk on his face once more. "Didn't I tell you? I love you."

She can't stop the scoff from leaving her mouth and clenches the shirt even tighter. She didn't see him leaving the room anytime soon, so, against her better judgement, she turns her back and pulls the shirt on as fast as she can. Thankfully, he doesn't touch her, and she's able to turn around to face him again with a frown. Her eyes narrow, and her voice is barely above a whisper when she asks, "How can you say those words so easily?"

He chuckles and turns away from her. She watches him make his way over to his bed, where he drops his fedora. His hand reaches up to run his fingers through his hair before he turns to face her. Her entire body tenses at the playful smile on his face. She was starting to regret her question, so she opens her mouth to tell him that she had changed her mind. She didn't want to know the answer anymore, but she doesn't get a chance to. To her absolute horror, he pulls his shirt off, which is quickly followed by his pants. She spins on her heel to look away without a second thought. Her wide eyes stare at the wall while she tries to get the image of him in only boxers out of her head. It's silent for so long that she was starting to consider glancing back to see if he had simply gotten redressed and left. Just when she manages to work up the courage, he starts talking, causing her to jump. "You didn't seem to hate the way I drank your blood."

She was pretty sure that his voice was meant to sound arrogant, but she can't help rolling her eyes. She doesn't get a chance to deny anything, since he had continued talking."In fact, I'd say you were enjoying it. I wonder….. Would you like to try bondage?"

Her face flushes, and she jumps when his arms wrap around her from behind. She immediately starts to squirm in his grip, hoping that he was at least dressed. Since she wasn't getting anywhere just squirming, she tries to twist so she can shove him away. Unfortunately, he was holding her too tightly. In a last ditch effort to get free, she drops her weight and grabs his arms, intent on causing some sort of pain in order to make him release her. Unfortunately, a bone crushing squeeze keeps her from digging her nails into his skin. It also effectively winds her. She is gasping for breath when his nose brushes along her cheek. Her entire body tenses, and she finds it even harder to catch her breath. She has to force out between her teeth. "I'm not interested in doing that sort of stuff with you."

He chuckles against her skin. Just as suddenly as he grabbed her, he lets her go. She whirls to face him, only to instantly regret it. He was standing just out of arm's reach, and he wasn't wearing anything other than a playful smile. Despite not being completely innocent, she had never seen a naked man in real life. It takes a moment for her mind to catch up to what she was seeing. The second it does, she whirls back around, but that doesn't help to erase the image on his naked body from her memory. Her mouth opens and closes a few times, and her face goes an even darker shade of red. He had touched her only seconds before, and she was now positive that he hadn't been wearing clothes. Her mind starts to race wildly, causing her to closes her eyes tightly and take a slow steadying breath. Thankfully, the wild images in her mind slowly disappear with each breath she takes. To her relief, Laito had remained silent during this, which gives her time to recollect her thoughts. She needed to get out of the room as soon as possible, but she didn't dare turn around again. Unfortunately, the door was behind her. In an effort to not think about being in a room alone with a naked Laito, she asks. "What does the world love mean to you?"

He makes a soft noise that she assumed was a scoff, but it was too quiet for her to be sure. He steps around in front of her, causing her to flinch and close her eyes. She silently berates herself for asking him something so stupid. She didn't expect him to answer, so it doesn't come as a surprise when he asks, "What do you think love is?"

She slowly opens her eyes, intent on only focusing on his face. Unfortunately, her curiosity gets the better of her, and she glances downward. Thankfully, he's dressed in his school uniform, which is complete with his fedora. Despite herself, she feels her body relax just a little and takes a few seconds to observe the amused look on his face. Finally, she manages to softly say. "I think love isn't like the fairytales say it is. I think that there isn't always a happy ending, but I think it's a wonderful feeling. That everyone deserves to feel at least once in their life."

His eyes narrow a little, and it looks like he might be ready to say something, but she doesn't give him a chance to. "I do think they got the feeling in the pit of your stomach right. A warm feeling that, at times, feels like butterflies. I think that if you love someone, you worry about them, even if you are mad. You argue; you don't always agree, but at the end of the day, you still go to bed with them. Or at least wish them goodnight. I also think that love changes over time. It matures."

Her eyes meet his, and he gives her an amused look. A frown covers her face, and she asks softly. "What?"

"You are so naive that it's cute," he says with a playful tone. Confusion feels her body, which only grows when he starts to laugh.

"What are you talking about?" she slowly asks. She watches as he pulls his hat off and runs his hand through his hair. He closes his eyes and releases a slow breath. Seconds later, his eyes slowly open to give her a sadistically playful look that sends her heart racing with fear. He sets his hat back on his head and takes a slow step toward her. Despite the fear coursing through her veins, she stubbornly stands her ground as he stalks closer to her. The closer he got the harder it was to breathe.

"Your view on love is like a child's. There is no true love," he mutters. Before she has a chance reconsider being stubborn, he reaches out to run his fingers through the hair framing her face in an almost loving manner. She leans away from his touch, careful to keep her surprise at his action off her face. Still, that simple action just makes his smile grow. He leans even closer to her, only his hand catches the back of her head this time, preventing her from escaping this time. To make matters even worse, his fingers twist into her hair, causing her to let out a loud sound of pain. Her entire body tenses, and she prepares to knee him between the legs when a knock on the door has her jumping. Unfortunately, Laito wasn't surprised, so his hand didn't move at all. Pain erupts through her scalp, and tears well up in the corners of her eyes. His face fills her vision, and fear causes her heart to stop. He had a mock look of curiosity on his face. She understands why only moments later when he slowly pulls his hand straight down. The pain in her scalp gets even worse, and she was sure that he was trying to rip some of her hair out by the roots. She ends up leaning her head back even further to keep from pulling her hair anymore than necessary. In the end, her back arches enough to press her chest into his.

"Laito, it is time to go to school. You have ten minutes to get down to the car." Mai's eyes flick to the side, but all she can see is the bed. She flinches when something cold slowly runs along the jugular vein in her neck. Her eyes flick back to look at Laito. All she can see is a sea of red hair. His cold tongue runs along the spot he had previously bitten, then it moves to run up the front part of her throat. She flinches and releases a soft noise of irritation in the back of her throat and reaches out to shove on Laito. To her surprise, he allows her to shove him away, but he doesn't release her hair. Her head snaps to the side, and she twists her body to try to ease the pain. She lets out a cry of pain and stumbles backward into Laito when he tugs. His arm wraps around her waist, and his hand finally leaves her hair. Despite the tears of fear and pain welling in her eyes, she starts to squirm. Her fight only becomes stronger when his hand slowly works its way up her leg. To her horror, he had moved from the front of her thigh to the inner portion. She desperately tries to shake his hand off, but she had a feeling that he wasn't going to let her go easily. His voice is low in her ear when he mutters, "there is only one type of love."

His hand lightly brushes over her womanhood, causing her suck in a sharp breath and jerk in surprise. He chuckles against her ear and pulls her even tighter against him. "See? Isn't this better than some fairytale about a prince in shining armor?"

His fingers brush her a couple more times, preventing her from responding with more than a strangled noise. She wasn't sure when she had stopped struggling, but the sound of his mocking laughter in her ear causes her to struggle as hard as she can once more. Thankfully, he releases her. She jerks away from him and twists to face him with a weak glare. She hated that her body felt warmer than normal, and she was panting lightly. He gives her a flirtatious wink and leans forward to say, "I see you didn't find it completely disagreeable, Sweetheart. Perhaps if you are good, I can play nice when we get home from school."

A thoughtful look spreads over his face, and he tilts his head. Just as she was about to respond to him, but his next words cut her off. "I suppose we could always do it in school, if you are impatient."

She can only stare at him in complete shock before she gives her head a violent shake and snarls, "Go to hell."

His chuckle feels almost like he is mocking her, but he vanishes before she can say anything else. She lifts a shaking hand to her mouth and closes her eyes, desperate to tell herself that this was nothing more than a bad dream. A soft knock on the door has her jumping and spinning to face it. Every muscle in her entire body tenses, and she finds herself unable to even move. The knock continues until she's finally able to shake away the shock that was flooding her body. "Ah, c…..come in?"

The door slowly opens to reveal the old man she assumed was somehow related to Reiji. He bows and moves over to the bed, where he proceeds to lay out her school uniform. To her continued humiliation, he also lays out a bra and underwear. He sets the shoes on the floor and turns to face her. His face is downturned, and his eyes were closed. She expected him to bow and leave, which he does bow. Instead of just leaving, he says softly. "Master Reiji informed me that you were going to try to rouse Master Shuu. He said to assist you in anyway necessary. He would also like to remind you that if you are late to school, your punishment will be extended."

Mai flinches at the thought. The man bows once more and sweeps out of the room before she can ask him anything. She frowns after him, but she gives her head a shake and turns to quickly get dressed. She wanted nothing more than to shower before going to school, but she didn't think she had the time. If she knew anything about Shuu, she figured that she would be cutting it close. The brothers usually arrived at school, at minimum, fifteen minutes early, and Laito had wasted some of her time already. She moves over to feel the uniform. To her surprise, it was completely dry. She lifts the shirt to smell it, only to find that it simply smelled like laundry soap. With a sigh, she decides to not waste time on figuring out how her uniform had been cleaned in such a short time. She just needed to quickly get dressed. Once she is ready, she slips out of the room. To her relief, the old man is patiently standing outside Laito's door. He gestures down the hallway, prompting Mai to start walking. When he falls into step behind her, she feels a sense of relief flood her body. She wasn't sure what he could do, but she still felt it was better not to be alone with Shuu. She glances over her shoulder at the old man. "May I ask a question?"

"Yes, my lady." Despite being polite, it makes her cringe. She looks ahead once more to judge how much further she had. If she had questions, she figured she had better hurry to ask before they arrived at Shuu's door.

"Please don't call me 'my lady'. It makes me feel…..weird. Do you serve Reiji?" She glances back in time to catch a nod.

"I'm something of a familiar to him." She glances back, since she wasn't quite sure she heard him right. The image of the familiar in the car sends a chill down her spine, and she shudders. She wasn't sure she wanted to know anything more than that. Still, she was feeling a little more confident, so she slows her steps, expecting him to catch up to her. Unfortunately, he simply slows his steps to match hers. With a sigh, she returns to her previous pace. "Can I ask you about Laito?"

"I'm afraid I am only be able to tell you basic information."

Disappointment fills Mai's chest, but she quickly crushes it and spins to face the old man. With a new sense of determination, she says, "Ok. Can you answer this, then? I've been having these weird…. I don't know what to call them. I see these women that seem like they are calling out to me, almost like they are warning me of something. Do you know anything about that?"

The old man's head hangs even lower than before. Hope and suspicion fights for a foothold in her stomach. She had a feeling that he knew what was going on, so she could only hope that he would actually tell her. Frustration fills her chest when he finally does say something. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I cannot answer that."

She closes her eyes and takes a moment to crush the overwhelming disappointment. She finally turns back around, continues walking. After a few minutes, she asks, "Who would know the answers to those questions? Oh, I would like it if they gave me a straight answer."

It's silent for so long that Mai was starting to believe he wouldn't say anything at all. That made her hopes sink even further. Was there really no one who would answer her questions? Once again, she realizes that had gotten involved in something she didn't quite understand beforehand. She abruptly stops just outside Shuu's door when something occurs to her. She wasn't regretting it as much as she had before. She jumps when the old man reminds her that she only had ten minutes. With a sigh, she lifts her hand to knock on the door. Just before her knuckles hit the door the old man drops a figurative bombshell. "Master Reiji also would like me to inform you that you have to get Master Shuu to school, or you will be punished."

Despite going to school without Shuu hadn't occurred to her, Mai couldn't help but stare at the door in utter frustration. It felt like Reiji was setting her up to fail, and she couldn't figure out why. Just as she closes her eyes, the old man informs her of the time constraint. She decides not to bother knocking, and she just lets herself into the room. The minute she opens the door, she is surprised by how dark it was. With a frown, she whispers softly. "Shuu?"

To her mounting frustration with the situation, she is met with silence. After repeating his name a few times, she grits her teeth and steels herself to venture further into his room. She runs her hand along the wall, feeling for the light switch. She misjudges the distance from the door to the stairs and ends up painfully sliding them. Pain races up her leg when she tries to use her foot to stop herself. A cold hand catches her seconds later, and she is pulled upright just as the lights come on. She flinches both with the light and the throbbing in her ankle. She had a feeling that this was going to be a prelude to how the night was going to go. She glances back to see the old man give her a small nod that she assumed was supposed to encourage her. She mutters a thank you and turns her attention across the room. With a sigh, she slowly limps her way in that direction. Every step causes her to let out a small squeak of pain. Her irritation only rises when she makes it to the large bed, only to find Shuu in the exact center of it. She couldn't quite reach him, and she didn't want to crawl up on the bed if she didn't have to. She leans against it and uses her weight to try to bounce the bed. Unfortunately, it appears the mattress was designed to deal with motion, so it doesn't disturb him at all. She tries calling his name as loud as she can, but she's met with the same results as before, only she gets a couple of comments such as 'stop being so noisy' or 'go away, woman'.

Completely unsure of what to do, Mai glances at the old man for help, only to have him inform her that she only had six minutes to get to school. After making a loud noise of pure irritation, Mai slowly, and reluctantly, climbs up onto his bed. She tries not to use her aching foot more than she had to. Just as she is about to crawl closer to Shuu, she realizes that she still had her shoes on. She twists to dangle her feet off the edge and slips one shoe off easily. The other makes her hiss softly in pain. She could see through the sock that it was swelling. With a sigh of irritation, she decides to just ignore the pain. She couldn't do anything about it right now, so she was just wasting time. She turns to crawl toward Shuu when her eyes meet one blue eye. Shuu was laying on his stomach so half his face was hidden in the pillow. The upper half of his body was completely bare, leaving her hoping that the half that was covered was wearing some sort of clothing. Every muscle in her body tenses, and she scowls at Shuu. She doesn't even bother trying to hide her irritation when she demands, "Get up. It's not just your schooling that is on the line here."

He scoffs and simply lets his eye drift closed again. Mai can't help but roll her eyes and crawl closer. She slowly reaches out, ready to pull her hand away should he show any signs of grabbing her. Her hand latches loosely onto his shoulder, and she gives him a few shakes. She puts as much authority into her voice as she can. "Get up, Shuu. I don't want to have to deal with Reiji getting even more upset at me."

"You do know that you won't make it to school on time, and you will still get punished, don't you? So why bother trying?" Shuu's muffled voice asks from the pillow. She scowls at him, though the effort is wasted on him. She rolls her eyes for what felt like the millionth time.

"Get up, Shuu," Mai demands yet again. "I'm not leaving you alone until you get up. I promise you that you won't sleep either. Not if I have anything to do with it."

To her utter irritation, she watches his chest rise and fall. Her hands grip the blanket tightly in irritation before an idea springs to her mind. She slowly scoots her way off the bed. The second she puts weight on her wounded ankle, it buckles leaving her in a heap on the floor. She lets out a strangled noise that was a cross between pain and irritation. To her relief, the old man appears and drags her back to her feet. She leans close to whisper her plan to him. For the first time, she sees an emotion flicker across the his face. He didn't look very enthusiastic with her plan. His voice is so soft that she can barely hear it. "Ma'am, I would like to caution you about this. It is not wise. The full moon is in a few days."

Mai resists the urge to ask what the moon had to do with anything, but she decides to file it away and ask it later. Still, she can't help but smile at his protest. She had a feeling this was drastic enough to get the lazy blonde moving. Mai reaches out to pat him on the shoulder. Trying to sound as kind as she can, she says, "I know you don't agree, so how about this? You retrieve the stuff then you can leave the room. I'll wait till you are gone before I act. Then, whatever happens is on me."

His face had returned to the blank look. His voice is so low that she can barely hear him say, "You are injured. If Master Shuu retaliates, you will be in danger."

He mutters something else under his breath, but he bows and turns to leave. Mai turns her gaze back to Shuu. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised to see the headphones, but she was. She swallows hard and slowly crawls back up onto the bed. Working her way over to Shuu, she stops before him. For a moment, she considers taking them out, but she decides to wait until last second to do so. It'd ruin her fun if he woke up prematurely. For a brief moment, she considers the possibility of her plan not working, but she quickly shoves that thought away when the old man shows up with the bucket. The ice inside clinks softly. The old man still looked unsure as he passes the bucket over to her. She simply smiles at him and waits for him to leave. The bucket was heavier than she expected it to be, so she sets it on the bed, careful not to spill any. With a deep breath to steady her nerves, she reaches out to grab the music player but stops. Her eyes glance to the bucket then back at him. She could still soak him without getting his head and neck. With a devious grin, Mai lifts the bucket and proceeds to tip it over the middle of his back, then she jerks it toward his lower body. The second that Shuu moves, she finishes upending the bucket and scrambles away. She leaps off the bed, only to end up in a painful heap on the floor again. Still, she scrambles to stand and turns to see what Shuu was doing. To her utter surprise, he hadn't moved an inch. In fact, she wasn't even sure he had woken up. She considers approaching, but she silently reminds herself that this was likely a ploy and decides to wait to see what he would do. She slowly inched her way to the door. Once she reaches the stairs, she frowns. He still had not moved an inch. She knew that she was late to school already, and it was looking like she was going to be even later.

"Shuu?" Mai cautiously calls out. His body still doesn't move, so she slowly makes her way back to the bed. She didn't dare get any closer, but she was starting to feel incredibly guilty about throwing ice water on him. "Are…..are you alright?"

She's relieved when she hears a groan. The minutes tick by before he slowly lifts his hand and gestures for her to move closer. She quickly shakes her head, but he gestures once more. Mai frowns at him and says sternly, "I'm not stupid, Shuu. I just dumped ice water on you. Even if you are lazy, there is no way you won't retaliate against me."

She can only stare in utter amazement when he lets his hand fall beside him and shifts. Silence settles between them that Mai stubbornly refuses to break. Finally, she gives in and says, "Look, Shuu, I'm already in deep trouble with Reiji. Can you please get up and get dressed?"

Anger almost overwhelms her when she is met with silence yet again. Finally, she turns to look around his room. With a flinch, she moves to his closet, finds a uniform, and gets some shoes. She proceeds to limp over and dump the clothes on the bottom of the bed with the shoes on the floor. Then, she makes her way over to the dresser in an effort to find underwear and socks. Once those are located, she proceeds to dump them on top of his clothes. She seethes in both pain and frustration, "I got your clothes for you. Just get out of bed, Shuu!"

Once again, she's met with silence, though she had a feeling that he was deliberately ignoring her. Her eyes narrow, and she scoops up the clothes and moves slowly around the bed to put them on the nightstand. Just as she reaches out to grab and pull the blankets off the bed, she is met face to face with blue eyes. She flinches back, but his arm was already wrapping around her shoulders, effectively pulling her closer to his cold body. Her face is pressed against his collarbone, making it hard to breath. Despite the pain in her ankle, she starts to wiggle, flinching every time her ankle bumps into his body. After only a couple of flinches, his leg appears between hers and wraps around the one with her sore ankle. He proceeds to pull it between his and immobilize it. His arm appears around her waist when she tries pushing him. Thankfully, she wasn't lying in the puddle of cold water, but she could feel it soaking his pants, which was starting to soak into her skirt. She lets out a growl and snaps, "What are you doing? We need to get to school."

"I'm cold."

She stops struggling and rolls her eyes. She didn't see an effective way of breaking out of the blonde's hold, and it was her fault that he was cold. Despite not being happy about cuddling with the lazy male, she figured it was better to not waste her energy trying to escape, plus she was feeling guilty. After taking a couple slow breaths to calm down, Mai says softly. "I'm sorry that you are cold, but you shouldn't have just laid in the wet spot, so you can't exactly blame me. Now, let me go."

"You're warm," he practically sighs out. It sounded like he was going to sleep again. Panic sets in, and she moves her head enough to look up at him. She grits her teeth upon seeing that his eyes were closed. She immediately looks to the side when he pulls her closer. She could feel him pressing his face to the top of her head.

"I swear to god, Shuu, if you go to sleep, I will take that MP3 player away and hide it in the school."

She chances a glance upward when his head pulls away from hers. His eyes were slightly open, and a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. Dread fills her body, and it renews her efforts to wiggle free. His voice is low, barely audible. "Do you believe in God?"

Disbelief fills her body, and she once again stops struggling in favor of trying to look up at him. Is that all he took away from her threat? Finally, she manages to force out. "I hardly think what I believe in really matters in this situation. Let go and get up."

He lets out a chuckle that she can feel through his chest, causing a shudder to run down her spine. She tries to lean her face as far away as she can. An almost playful looking smirk adorns his face when he says, "you should take responsibility for making me cold."

She rolls her eyes for what felt like the millionth time and falls silent. Her mind was racing in an attempt to get Shuu to not only let her go, but to get him out of bed. A knock on the door causes her to jump. The sound of the door opening sends a shock of hope through her body. She wiggles a little, to which Shuu doesn't even react. She finally manages to be able to turn and find the old man standing beside the bed. Shock runs through her body upon seeing the look of amusement on his face. Unfortunately, it's only there for a couple of seconds before the old man manages to wipe it away. Her eyes narrow at him, since she had a feeling he was about to mock her. Sadly, she's right. "It looks like things are going very well for you, Ms. Teddy Bear."

She attempts to make a rude gesture, but she knows it comes off as awkward. She struggles a little once more before stating desperately, "Help me!"

The old man dips his head before he reaches toward her. She's not quite sure what exactly how it happened, but the old man manages to free her from Shuu. The second she puts weight on her wounded ankle, forgotten pain races up her leg, causing her to reach out and lean on the old man. He doesn't seem surprised, nor does he lean under her weight. Her eyes lock with the blonde, and she reluctantly feels like she's been defeated by the blonde. It's only made worse by the fact that the old man informs her that she is somehow already two hours late for school. She tiredly lifts a hand and waves it. "I give. Can I have a ride home?"

The old man wraps his arm around her waist and helps her to limp her way toward Shuu's door. His voice is once again emotionless when he says, "I'm sorry, ma'am. Master Reiji informed us that you are walk home if you would like to go home. In fact, you are so late that you would have to walk to school. You are going to be punished regardless to whether you show up or not."

With a sigh, Mai nods and asks softly, "Can I just lay down, then?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees him nodding. Thankfully, they were out of Shuu's room at that point. To her surprise, they turn away from Yui's room. It takes her only a few seconds to realize where they were headed. She stops instantly, causing him to jerk her slightly. She turns a frown on him and sternly says, "No."

He dips his head lightly and says politely, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I naturally assumed that you would rest in Master Laito's room, since you seem closer to him than any of the others. Where would you like to go?"

She continues to frown at him and says slowly. "Yui's room, please."

The second they get turned around, she asks, "Why do you think I'm closest to Laito?"

He takes a moment to answer; it was like he was trying to think of the least offensive way of saying it. "You smell strongly of Master Laito."

Her jaw drops open, and she finds herself just staring at him for a few seconds before her face flushes. She knew it wouldn't have helped, but she found herself thinking she should have showered. She turns her gaze straight ahead once more and mutters. "I don't think I do."

Thankfully, he doesn't respond, since she was so wrapped up in her thoughts. At least, she didn't think he did. Finally, she manages to sort out her thoughts and glances at the old man to ask, "Can I ask you why Laito is so….."

She trails off, completely unsure of how to ask her question. Silence is her only answer, but she wasn't in a rush to get one. They were moving slowly, so it would take them a while to get to Yui's room. Once she realizes the old man wasn't going to answer an incomplete question, she releases a sigh and decides to start with something easier. She scrapes her brain for an easier question. Once she finally finds one worth asking, she glances at the old man and asks softly, "Why is Ayato the way he is? You know, possessive and pushy?"

The ghost of a smile touches the old man's face. With a jolt, Mai realizes that it was a look of fondness, but it is gone before it can fully form. His voice is low, but it was like he was seeing something else. "He was kind as a child. He played with his triplet brothers quite often, so I suppose Lady Cordelia would be the reason for Ayato's current behavior. She spent what little time she gave him lecturing or punishing him."

Surprise fills Mai's body. This was the most she had heard aside from the fact that the brothers all had different mothers. She decides to push her luck even further. "Did their mother spend more time with Kanato and Laito, then?"

The old man slowly shakes his head. With a sigh, he continues to explain. "I believe their mother never wanted any of them. She only gave birth to compete with their father's other wife, Beatrix."

A tingle of pain races through her stomach. This just roused even more questions than it answered. On top of it all, she had a small tendril of sympathy for them. She quickly shakes her head and reminds herself that it didn't excuse their current actions. She focuses on the old man again. "So, does Ayato ever give up something that he's claimed?"

The old man slowly shakes his head. "If you are referring to Ms. Yui, you are too late. She is already doomed."

A cold jolt races down her spine, causing her to freeze. The old man jerks her lightly, but he stops moving, save turning to look at her. She couldn't help but feel a sense of suspicion rising in the pit of her stomach. Her mind kept telling her that it was nothing short of a coincidence that he had said the same thing as the woman, but her instincts were telling her that it wasn't. Suddenly, her skin starts to crawl, and unease fills her entire body. She swallows hard and clears her throat. "What happens to the brides?"

"They die." His response was so cold that it has her pulling away from him. She had almost convinced herself that he was somewhat caring, but she now had a feeling that he was just as cruel as the brothers.

"How?"

He dips his head, and his voice is barely audible. "They don't survive being transformed, and Miss Yui is already headed down that path."

It feels like she is being suffocated. She reaches out and grabs a fistfull of the old man's clothes. "How?"

He releases a sigh and says softly. "Master Ayato simply drinking from her will transform her. The more he drinks, the closer she gets to the edge."

Her thoughts were racing so fast that she couldn't form a coherent question. Finally, she manages to get ahold of them just in time to breathlessly ask, "Can she leave and stop this process?"

The silence is enough of an answer for her. She didn't want to think about what Yui was being transformed into, and she didn't plan to ask. She already knew what it was. An overwhelming sense of defeat fills every inch of her body. With a shake of her head, she reminds herself to not give up on Yui. She hadn't transformed yet, so there was always hope. She pulls away from the old man and coldly says, "I'll get myself to her room."

She doesn't wait for him to say anything. She just proceeds down the hall as quickly as her ankle will allow. Thankfully, she's able to make it to Yui's room without further incident. With a flinch, she crawls up on the bed and collapses into the middle of it. She lays on her side and thinks about what happened that day. With a jolt, she realizes that she must smell like Shuu again. A tendril of fear curls through her stomach at the thought of the last time that had happened. She stubbornly closes her eyes and forces herself to not think about it. After all, she didn't belong to Laito. She assumed it was because she had just finished getting over being sick, but she felt so tired. She figured having her blood sucked till she passed out wasn't helping anything either. With a sigh, she lets herself drift off to sleep. The last thought she had before going completely under was she hoped that Yui is the one to find her rather than Ayato or Reiji.