The water drops hit the floor making it the only sound filling the silence between Rin and No-Name stranger. His assistant, Eiko, was staring at the boy blankly, trying to read his face and emotions.

A cold drop of sweat ran from Rin's forehead and down his jawline. This was too much information. Especially when he can't understand a thing. How come he's not fully human? What's his family's history? What do these people want from him? And what about Kaya being in some sort of a process?

"What's the matter, no funny comments?" Eiko teased Rin.

"This shit is just messed up." Rin raised his eyes and looked directly to the two people standing on the other side of the door rail.

"Of course it is." The stranger spoke.

" What, seriously?" Rin stepped closer to them "You keep telling me all these riddles. It's nothing clear or specific. So, how about you cut this crap and tell me what is going on."

The man smirked in victory. He was pleased to finally see the frustration in captured boy's eyes.

"I thought this clown act of yours will never end"

"I just took a pause." Rin kept his eyes on the stranger.

"You know, you reminding me of this one person. Annoying. Filthy. Disgusting. Troublesome. Person."

As much as he didn't want to, Rin got more and more curious about this whole situation. Could it be that this man knows more about him than he thinks?

"Well, it's not surprising." The stranger smirked, "We are referring to your grandmother."

"My...my grandmother?" Rin stuttered for a second. Basically, because the talk about their grandparents had only come up a few times in the past. And now, suddenly some more facts and puzzle pieces were thrown under the boy's feet.

"You are so clueless...she was the sting in our necks for a long time. Not to mention that half-breed was causing so much trouble."

"What did she do?" Rin asked.

The question caused the man to go deep into his memories for a moment. Judging from his facial expression those memories weren't the most pleasant ones.

"Let's just say, I would like to personally rip off all four limbs off that woman."

"So you are keeping me here because of what my grandmother did to you?" Rin leaned against the railling with his both elbows.

"That's only part of the reason." the man slowly walked up closer to the boy "The main reason why you are here is because of your luck. Finding half-breeds these days became harder since they figured out more ways how to hide their existence." His low husky voice was like a dagger that sliced through Rin's mind.

It was like Rin missed the part about 'half-breeds' which was the key to understanding this more clearly. There were already many things going on here, it was hard to keep up with it, especially when he was still tired and had that stinging headache.

"I do know for sure that you are related to that woman which makes you part vampire."

It didn't take long for him to come to a realization. All of his brothers and Kaya were part vampire too.

Rin stepped forward, turning to the side. Through his head ran all of the memories from his whole life that he could recall. Beginning from his childhood, but there weren't any signs of anything supernatural... or was there...? He wasn't sure anymore.

"Does that mean that I will become one of you?" Rin looked one more time at the stranger and Eiko.

The both of them just exchanged amused looks with each other before turning back to the boy.

"You? As one of us?" The stranger's laughter echoed through the long hallway. "That would be the last thing we need. People like you...people who are dirtying our species...people like you are like cockroaches...we exterminate them." With those last words his eyes glowed in the dark, glaring at Rin.

He quickly realized the man's intention. He wants to get rid of him.

Get rid of all of them...

He was facing the person who might be the one who will end his life. The anger started filling up inside of him, and it started looking for the way to be release. But the boy contained himself. It was not the best time to be showing weakness, especially in front of these people. He mentally snorted from the thought that he had called these beings 'people.'

"For now dear boy, rest, gather your strength, pray or do whatever you like because your hasn't come yet." The stranger sighed. "Eiko, take care of this" he pointed around the place where all three of them were gathered. The girl gave a small nod.

"Hopefully, I won't have to wait long 'till we meet again." For the last time that evening, the stranger glanced at the boy before disappearing in front of his eyes.

The girl took a deep breath. It wasn't left unnoticed by the boy's gray eyes.

"Hating your job?" Rin asked the black hair girl. In response, she turned her head towards him and glared at him with irritation in her eyes.

"As for a person who has one foot in his grave, you are surely acting stupid right now." She the tray that she was holding on a chair.

"Does it really matter how I act right now?" Rin leaned again with his elbows against the gate "All this time you seemed so annoyed by my presence, I thought that maybe you'd have different feelings towards me. Kind of like a high school crush thing...?"

"Me?!" She raised her tone and stepped closer to the gate "You are the last thing that I would be attracted to."

"It so cute to see you lying to yourself" Rin teased her as if she was a little baby.

The girl's mouth hung slightly opened from his insolence. But she quickly she pulled herself together and slowly walked even closer to the gates at the same time reaching for the gate's bars with her silk-like soft looking hands.

"Listen to me carefully." She began to explain, now looking down at him "I am a predator and at this point, you are a meat bag. Food. Blood supply. So take my suggestion into consideration and stop annoying me."

"Who said I was trying to annoy you." Rin whispered, "Maybe I'm trying to seduce you." Rin rolled his eyes innocently. But it's too obvious that it was apart of his act.

She raised her eyebrows when she heard those words.

"Maybe the news about me getting closer to my death shook me too much." He gave a small smile to the girl and lowered one of his hand onto one of hers. Smoothly grasping her knuckles with his fingers. "To have one last go with a girl would be appreciated."

For a moment the girl froze on the spot. The boy's character; it changed so fast. From goofy prisoner to a Casanova-wannabe? She couldn't understand how a person could think about this kind of stuff during the moment like this. Unless...

Eiko softly smiled at the boy before grabbing his hand and pushing it so his whole body would smash into the gates. She pulled him a bit forward and bended his elbow behind his back, trying to make it extra painful.

"Stay in your place. The moment I opened the door you would have tried to escape."

"Ugh gha...damn girl. You have moves" Rin said through grunts.

She released him from her steel grip. Rin rolled his shoulder and massaged his elbows. That girl had a lot of strength. He had to admit, that was impressive.

"At least I tried." Rin mumbled under his breath.

"Don't bother." Eiko stated. She adjusted her jacket and bended over to take the chair with the tray on it.

"Eiko, wait." The boy's stubbornness didn't let him rest and demanded answers. "At one point you guys mentioned something about 'in the process' when I mentioned my sister. At least tell me, what does it mean?"

"You don't need to think about it." Eiko was about to walk away but Rin stopped her, asking for more of an explanation.

"Hold up why-"

"What can't you understand?" Now she sounded more irritated than ever "The fact is, the more the human interacts with a vampire the bigger the chances are for a human to be turned into a vampire. Since you and your sibling have vampire DNA in your system the awakening phase is triggered faster. Kapish?"

"..."

"Good." She sighed and started to walk away.

"Wait! What's the awakening phase!?" Rin pressed his face to the gate. But Eiko just ignored him "Notice me, senpai!"

The rain was hitting the window's seal from the outside. It didn't stop even a little. Or maybe I just didn't notice. Wouldn't be surprised. What just happened between me and Ayato was...indescribable. There was no second thought, everything was just natural. Some things I was expecting, some things were new for me. But overall I was left in a state of shock and from the looks of it, Ayato as well.

We both laid without any clothes on, under one sheet in my ward. Side to side, on our backs, squeezing together in one bed, staring at the ceiling, having no comments and not even knowing what to say. Instead of words, we heavily breathed.

"I ...wasn't expecting that" I took the first step of breaking the ice between us.

After speaking up, I could feel that Ayato's muscle relaxed, more than it was a few minutes before.

"What were you expecting?" He asked with that quiet husky voice of his.

"Well, before you came I was just thinking of getting myself a cup of coffee."

"Of course." Ayato sighed.

"And I thought that I might have gotten more sleep tonight," I said almost whispering.

I couldn't see it but I felt it with my guts that he had a smirk on his face. I could just feel it.

"And to be honest, I really didn't think that things would come to this..." I pressed a bed sheet closer to my chest.

"Tch. You think I was prepared for this?"

We fell silent again. I'm guessing he's as confused about this situation as much as me and I'm clueless when it comes to relationships. This is probably the point where have to ask ourselves a question: will this lead to something or did we make a mistake?

"What do you think about sex?"

Out of blue, he asked me. My eyes shot wide open and within a second I turned my head to face him. Cheeks flushed pure red. But I pulled myself together.

"Well..." I pressed my lips and looked back at the ceiling like there would be an answer written on it. "It...it's just a bit...," with my hand I brushed my hair back and scratched my head. "Weird?...Can't believe that kind of thing for you exists."

There's just too much confusion and unclarified facts going on here. Or is it just me thinking too much? I'm trying not to do that, but one way or another the thought itself comes to my head and starts making more of a mess than it already is.

"...L'Chaim to that"

I looked at the floor where our clothes were tossed, getting rid of everything that was in the way from each other's skin. The thought of the feeling and uncontrollable heat that I felt just a moments ago, made my heart beat faster.

"You dirty minded woman." Ayato teasingly called me.

"What? Me? No!" I pulled the bed sheets closer to my chest and shrugged underneath like it was some kind of protection shield from his piercing eyes.

As much as I wanted to avoid his green eyes, they captured me. For that mere moment I felt so comfortable looking at him. As if only right now I realized what I have done. What he did. What we both did last night . It's hard to describe the feeling filling up my chest. It wasn't regret. It wasn't embarrassment anymore. I felt weirdly peaceful but cheerless at the same time. Regret came to me faster, telling myself 'why I couldn't confess him sooner?'. Right now, is the last time I'm seeing him and only God knows when he will come back.

It looked like Ayato was reading my thoughts, but neither of us didn't need this ability to know about the situation we were in.

He took in a deep breath and without any warning turned his whole body to me, hovering his body over mine. It didn't take long till he presses his lips against mine. We slowly kissed, releasing the tension that was around us before.

Besides that, I was starting to feel sad. I just wanted to have more time to figure out the relationship between us 'cause right now it felt like one big question mark.

Usually, in similar situations, I just think of something else, something that would light up my mind and would be funny. Think of something, think of something think of something, think of something...Terry Crews in the movie 'White Chicks' dancing in the club?'

My attempt to compress laughter failed and through my tightly pressed lips I let out a giggle. Ayato stopped moving his lips at the same moment. He pulled away and looking down at me with a confused yet somehow annoyed look. That's understandable.

"You laughed."

"...I'm not gonna deny that...but if it makes you feel better at least this time I didn't say 'I couldn't feel anything'...oh."

That was a mistake. That was a really, really, really big mistake to bring up the New Year memories into this conversation. It's a bad habit of mine; speaking before thinking.

"Why do you think that would make me feel better?" This time a hint of anger could be heard in his tone which alarmed me to take actions to put down this spark of fire which could escalate into a fucking fire disaster a.k.a. hurting Ayato's ego.

"Okay. Look, I laughed because there was this one movie scene in my head and honestly, I'm lost right now, with my feelings, emotions, and more feelings and then more emotions and it's all adding up, and this hospital thing too. Plus in a few hours, the sun will rise. The salt is not going assmoothlyonmyforearmasitshouldandit'sonebigBowWowchallengewhichspeakingof-"I probably would have been babbling nonsenses nonstop if he didn't shut me up by placing his hand on my mouth and kept it there for a while.

Compared to him I seemed to be freaking out a lot more. Probably the fact that I just experienced my first-time finally came to my senses. I was more surprised at myself that all of the sudden I jumped into this decision not even thinking a little and just went with my instincts.

A few seconds passed and then he removed it from my mouth and looked at his palm.

"You didn't lick my hand. You're making progress, Orokana"

The more I live with these guys, the more weird habits of mine I find that don't surprise me, let's take for example this palm licking thing.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to resist this temptation?"

"Are you talking about my hand or me?" He gave me that devilish smirk, which he does a lot.

"About birds." To avoid answering that question, I just threw something joke-ish

"And maybe about bees as well?"

I narrowed my eyes and gave him a small grin, letting him know that I'm aware of what he wants. The boy simply wants me to say that it was hard for me to resist him.

"...You really want me to say it?"

"The answer is too obvious because it is me with who you are. But hearing those words coming from your lips would satisfy me more"

"And because you want it so much I might just keep it to myself."

"Then I will force you to say it and I do have my own ways to do that"

As the air around us became hotter and hotter suggesting all kinds of ideas, then the sound of the phone ringing caused echoes throughout the room, like a cold bucket of ice water being splashed onto us, it interfered with our...'plans'. Just the best timing for this to happen. Technology doesn't love me that much. Although, I felt like something that made me feel uneasy with this call almost like...I felt a disturbance in the force.

Ayato softly slammed his forehead against mine and sighed from annoyance. He just leaned over the edge of the bed and reach for his pants from where the phone was ringing. He checks who was calling and with a glimpse of my eye I saw that it was Laito.

'Well that explains disturbance'

'He has a peculiar aura around him. It even works through the phone'

'Mhm...Wait. You're still here?'

'I was here this whole time...every...second'

'Damn'

"That bastard always tends to call at the worst times" Ayato hissed.

"He's your brother, it's his job...but sometimes it's scary how accurate he is, like God, he's everywhere and nowhere." I saw in Ayato's eyes that he was annoyed by the call "But you can't ignore your brother."

I shifted my body a little to the side so he could sit down on the edge of the bed.

"What?" instead of 'hello' Ayato decided to go straight to the question which, again, he does very often. In the meanwhile, I decided to take this as a chance and collected a piece of my clothes to cover myself up with something more appropriate. Having bed sheet as a cover is one of the solutions but not the best one.

"Does it really matter where I am?" Ayato hissed at his phone as he started to get up and dressed, in the meantime I was already putting on my t-shirt. With one move I pulled out my hair from underneath the shirt and with my fingers brushed back a loose strand of hair behind my ears, only leaving side bangs to fall on my forehead.

Ayato was holding his phone between his cheek and shoulder while buckling up his belt.

"How the hell do you know this?" he took his phone in his hand. Whatever Laito said to Ayato, it made him change his facial expression instantly. Honestly, I think I know what Laito told him.

Ayato turned his eyes to me "Laito says 'hi."

"Cool."

"Wha- Dude, I don't need your tips. I know how to do it" There was a bit of panic in his voice which was a bit laughable. Accidentally I let out a small giggle, and because of that I received a glare from Ayato.

He listened for another couple of second before hanging up and tossing his phone on a the messy bed sheet.

"I know I should be surprised by the fact that Laito already knows. But it's kind of a normal thing by now. He's everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

"That always pissed me off," he said as he was putting on his shirt on.

"I think he's trying to be helpful...or he wants you to think like that...but then again he might know that we know and so everything comes back to the start...but he probably figured out this as well...it's like rocket science."

I looked under my bed hoping to find the other sock. From above I heard a whistle like how someone would call his dog or just a pet. I looked up and there was standing Ayato, in his hand the sock that I was searching for. As I was about to take it from him, he used his height to his advantage and raised that sock above my head making it harder for me to reach it.

"I got something that you want and you got something that I want." The vampire smirked at the same time showing his porcelain-like teeth.

"A sarcastic comment?"

"If you want to be punished after that, then go for it."

"I shall take this challenge." I stepped closer and leaned in to kiss him. In a mere moment, he deepened the kiss. With both his hands now on my waist, pulling me closer, and my hands in his soft red locks. This need of closeness and desire for him raised all over again. As if he was reading my thoughts, I could feel him smiling, and I couldn't help but do the same.

The way things can happen, it doesn't make sense. Sometimes you can't explain what you feel. Sometimes you can't explain why you are acting in a certain way. Sometimes you can't explain why the person charmed you. I can't explain why I fell for this man. There is no logical answer that I have. It is what it is, but for now, for once in my life, I should become a little bit more romantic, take everything and give whatever I have to this moment.

"Listen," I broke our kiss "When do you have to leave?"

"Why?" The aura around him darken.

"Well-"

"Do you wanna get rid of me?" The rising anger and fury came from his voice. The thing was, I didn't understand why he became like this. This time I didn't even try to insult him.

"Ayato-"

He let go of me. The eyes that a couple of minutes ago were more teasing and playful became blood-thirsty and burning in rage.

"This whole day everyone around me is just bothering me with the fact that I have to go to some fucking unknown place! It's basically an announcement that I'm a goddamn failure!"

I think I get it. He was angry at his father. He was angry at his brothers. But most importantly, he was angry with himself for not being able to be the best and for failing. This whole time, whatever he was doing, the thoughts of leaving haunted him. He needs a hell of a good distraction, and I'm not gonna let his attitude to push me away from my new goal which I just made right now.

"Well then, it makes two of us. If you haven't noticed I'm not perfect and I come with a lot of flaws as well. You guys took me without warranty, and you know what!? Failure or not, I don't give a shit about it! You know why!? Because I like you the way you are, Ayato Sakamaki!" At some point, I felt a lump forming in my throat, and a ball of tears in my eyes. For both of us, it was just one big mixture of feelings. And it was hard to express everything in one time but even harder to hold it inside.

"Tch, it's your fault." Ayato puffed his cheeks like a child.

"My fault?"

"You Orokana, you should have confessed to me before all this bullshit."

"Sure, blame it on me" I sighed. Even though he was arrogant, I was able to put out the fire before it got bigger, for now.

Ayato was looking around the room. His eyes search for something and it quickly found a clock hung high on the wall.

"I have about four hours before I have to leave the mansion."

"Four hours?"

I got lost in my thoughts. Some part of me wanted to lay with him in the bed but that wasn't my style. Hell no. I'm not letting this to ruin this night. It's just a bigger reason to figure out something better and more uplifting to do. The clock is ticking and being depressed is not a solution.

I walked to the other side of the bed and tossed him his jacket and scarf. He gave me a confused look.

"You put on these, I will get in the jeans and we'll go out" I gave him a smile

That fresh sensation and the smell after the rain helped to clear our heads. Hopefully, it worked for both us. Sure I was tired and exhausted but I was ready to push myself for the next four hours. I was ready to give good energy as much as possible. So this night would be memorable for him.

To reach the city's center we walked through the small park. At this point, he was acting like normal Ayato would but at the same time, not like normal Ayato. He was still teasing me, making jokes but I have my comebacks as well, so this was more like a competitive roasting challenge. At the end, he picked me up saying that if I won't stop being sassy then he will throw me into a nearby lake. Before I was forced to make any promises, I was able to get away from his grip but only because he purposely let me go (I could feel it) so he could chase me. The second time when he caught me I was starting to spill out my 'rights' which I was making up as I was speaking, but then he just put me down on the ground and shut me up with his lips. To be honest, I could get used to this really fast.

In the center, there were more people than usual but that's because it's the weekend. People sitting outside of bars, some smoking, some drinking. There were still were a few street musicians performing at the night time. Their music mixing with the one coming from the buildings. Every few steps songs changed from a smooth jazz to pop music, to rock.

The yellow string of lights hung on the trees, street lamps and from the windows, coming out all kinds of colors lights that lightened the road. We were almost halfway through the center which basically was one long street. All the time I was taking glimpses of him and every time I saw this hint of sorrow in his eyes which meant that I should think of something else. Something more active that would help distract him.

Then there it was. A poster hanging near the entrance in one of the bars said there is a pool table, dart, and thing like that, which get me an idea.

"Hey" I quickly turned to him "Tell me again, how good are you at darts?"

"Tch, you dare to ask me that? I'm the best at it."

"Mmmm we will see about that." I smiled.

I took his hand and dragged him into a bar. His grip was as tight as mine so we wouldn't lose each other in the crowd of people. This place had a dim yellow lighting, but the dance floor lights brightened up the surroundings better. Behind the bar, across the entire wall there were some interesting shaped bottles, giving an effect of a glass collage. All people of different ages, from elders to youngsters sitting on the bar stools or just hanging around the place sharing a bottle of beer or other beverage. The whole place had the vintage style mixed with a hint of modern.

Walking deeper into the room, on the other side of the place we found a dart board and luckily for us it was free. I took off six darts and without saying anything, I gave three of them to Ayato.

"Watch n' Learn, Orokana, cause I'm not giving free lessons."

"Am I a lucky gal or not?" I smiled.

"We will see. I will allow you to go first 'cause I don't wanna intimidate you with my skills" He said as he walked towards the stool next to the wall table.

"Fine by me, just don't chicken out when you'll see with who you are dealing with."

There are people who speak the loudest but does the least, and I think I just became one of those people. Let's just say that two of my darts was outside the scoring circle and only one dart gave me 3 points and Ayato just laughed.

"You think you can do it better? Knock yourself out." I gestured him to take my place.

"There's only a few people in this world who can do worse, Orokana"

And of course, he nailed it, way better than me. I always forget that vampires are basically naturally good at doing things. Where's the equality? But I'm still trying to jump higher than I'm able to and reach their level.

We played a few more rounds. During the last one, I used the last resort that I had. I thought in 'Basketball' style, doing everything so he would miss a shot. From intense staring real close to just doing weird voices, but that only made him stronger.

He asked me "what's next?" and I took him to play pool.

"Want me to embarrass you again, Orokana?" Ayato took two cue sticks and gave one to me.

"If you haven't noticed, I can do that perfectly fine by myself. But I'm pretty confident about myself this time"

I arranged the object balls and set the cue ball in the kitchen area on the table. This time Ayato began this game. On his first round, he got four object balls into table's pockets and left me in a complicated situation. The order of the object balls and the cue ball were in uncomfortable places.

'Well this sucks'

'Mhm, mhm...'

"So, Orokana, should we call it a game or will you try to beat me?"

Ayato placed his chin on a tip of his cue stick. As if I didn't hear his comment, I was too concentrated on the table and searching for a way for me to score at least one during my turn. There was one way, but it's a tricky one. I aimed the cue ball to my imaginary dot on the side rail from which it beat off and hit the object which went into a corner pocket. At this point, I had more clear shots to other object balls. At the end of my turn, I finished with four points. Just. Like. Ayato.

I looked up at him. Brushing my hair behind my ear and gave him a smile.

"Oh and by the way...I'm awesome." back in a day, I used to play pool with my brothers. Apparently, I still have my skills. Well, that and the fact whenever the game room in the mansion was free, I played there too, but none of the boys knows that. Why? Because they never asked me what I do in my free time.

"Okay, this might be interesting." he was walking around the table "What if we spice things up a little?"

"Proceed." I narrowed my eyes. He caught my curiosity "What's on your mind?" with the side of my hip I leaned against the table.

"Something like a competition. Loser has to do something for the winner." he stood in front of me with his hand leaning on the side of the table. Like the term 'personal space' didn't mean anything to him, he was looking down at me with excited green eyes, but I didn't mind it.

"You wanna sing Backstreet Boys? Because that's what you gonna do tonight, boy."

"I will sing it to you when you will get my name tattooed on your chest."

"...Okay, that's a good one. Old-school."

"You're up for this competition, Orokana?" he sticks out his hand towards me.

"Hell yeah."

We shook hands and continued the game. It didn't take long till the table was cleared out of object balls, leaving the one black object ball with the cue ball aside. Ayato missed the side pocket which in result left me bigger chances to score.

"Well, well, well Sakamaki." I slowly walked around the table like it was a circle of victory "Here's a little riddle for you. Whose name starts with 'Y' ends with 'U' and got beaten by me?"

Ayato just raised his eyebrows mixing it with an unamused look.

"It's you." I got the tip of the stick between my fingers and aimed at the cue ball. It was an easy shot. It just needs a gentle touch and victory is mine, but just as I was about to hit the ball...that sucker...he leaned with his hands on a side of the table. That did stop me for a moment but I managed to re-concentrate, but then he pulled off one of the tricks that I was using against him earlier in the darts game, but leveled it up.

"That's a pity that my name won't be written on your chest..." he got closer to my ear and with a hot breath whispered "But I will make you scream my name out loud"

I hit the ball for sure but unfortunately for me the cue ball, which is not supposed to go into a table pocket fell into a table pocket. Automatically making Ayato the winner.

"What the freak?" I turned to him with an expression of mixed anger and fear.

"It's called 'You lose, I win'."

Here's a thing, I didn't believe that Ayato would go with the idea of me getting his name tattooed. So in some way, I was calm and ready for anything that could happen. In my mind, there was a scenario of him just sucking my blood somewhere in the alley, just because that's a place where we can be caught and that would make me embarrassed and blah, blah, blah, but...but...all my bravery vanished the moment we stood in front of a small tattoo salon. You know one of those that work 'till the morning and fulfills drunken people's "good' ideas for tattoos.

Like a little child going to the dentist office, Ayato dragged me by the hand inside the building into a small receptionist room. Where, just across the room in the corner near a shelf with bottles lined up, there was a black leathered chair.

"You were serious about this!?" I gripped his hand tighter, pulling it so he would turn to me "I thought you were just teasing!"

"Hell no, Orokana." he just laughed "You are doing this" he was about to ring the call bell, placed on the tall table, but before he reached it I jumped on his back in attempt to stop him.

"Don't!"

He lost his balance just for a second but this trick didn't stop him from ringing the bell.

"It's so fun to see you scared, Orokana" he grinned at me when I got off his back.

From the back of the room, I heard footsteps. In a few moments, a man in his fifties was standing in front of us. He had a man's bun, some gray hair mixed with black ones. The same goes with his mustache. From his broad shoulders down his quite tough looking arms were pieces and pieces of colorful tattoos.

"Welcome, how can I help you two?" the artist adjusted his gray t-shirt by pulling the fabric down.

"Someone is getting tattoo tonight." Ayato softly hit my back, and all I could do was just look from Ayato to the artist and back with eyes the size of golf balls.

The artist let out a small laugh and walked behind the table and laid out a blue covered book, in which were pictures off tattoos that he probably did.

"Let me guess, there was a bet involved or something? Lots of people come here because of that"

"Yeah, and I will mark my victory on her skin so she won't forget it" Ayato opened the book and started looking through the pictures of the burning skulls kind of tattoos which made me freak out.

"Don't you dare choose the skull."

"Hey, I'm calling shots here. Whatever I pick out that will be on your skin"

"There's gonna be a tattoo...needled...into my skin. Tell me a better reason why I can't choose a tattoo?"

"Because I want it that way." he turned his head to me and smiled like the devil before going back to flipping pages of the book.

"...you're just making fun of me, aren't you?" It took me a while to realize what he did.

"When you're sitting in that chair, you can sing that from the top of your lungs."

This made my heart pump faster. At first I was freaking out from the idea of needles sticking an ink into my skin, but now I'm more afraid of what he will pick out. The boy can't even properly wear his tie, and generally a vampire's fashion taste is very peculiar. Lots of fabric or no fabric at all.

'I knew that one day this would happen'

'This is like one of those life lessons. Never do bets with supernatural creatures'

'Personally, I'm not against tattoos. I think it's cool'

'You are saying that now, but remember that my body is your body too'

'So?'

'*Sigh*...imagine a plate of takoyaki'

'...Oh hell on earth no'

'Now you understand why I'm so freaking out right now?'

'Well...you gonna learn today why you shouldn't get into a competition with a vampire'

'On who's side are you on?!'

Since I was sitting in the chair next to the wall, I couldn't see what Ayato showed to the tattoo artist. He also mumbled some comments. The artist just nodded and started sketching something on a piece of paper, but Ayato was covering the view with his body so I couldn't tell what was going on. He only looked at me for a couple of times with that excited mischievous smile of his.

"Yup, that will do it." Ayato agreed to whatever the artist showed. I was the only one there, stuck in a deep pit of unknown.

The next thing I know I was sitting in the chair with my back turned to the artist. I was digging my nail into the cushion of the chair's backrest. Ayato decided that he wants that tattoo on the right side at the back of my neck.

"I will do your tattoo a little lower where you have more meat. It will be less painful."

I tied my hair up in a messy bun and placed my chin on a top of backrest while the artist was cleaning my skin where the tattoo was about to appear. The smell of disinfector spread through the room as well as 90s rock music. At least there was some distraction.

When the design was applied on my skin I tried to picture in my mind what the size of the tattoo was. It didn't feel like it's too big but not small as well. It was really hard to tell.

"I think I'm more excited than you are, Orokana." Ayato sat in front of me on a small stool with wheels.

"Oh, the joy is just spilling over the edges." I gave a light dose of sarcasm "I'm just a little bit surprised by your choice"

Ayato rolled a little bit closer to me. The lamp's light which was direct to the back of my neck now touched his face as well.

"What do you mean?"

"Your style of marking is a little bit...different than the usual." I gave him a hint about the biting. For vampires leaving their fang marks, it's like marking their territory, and they get very aggressive if they notice someone else's bite marks.

"Tch, idiot, the usual way does not stay on you for long. I want this to be permanent, even though it's not my direct job, which pisses me off the most." he whispered angrily.

"So I'm being marked like an animal?" I surprised myself of this absurd thought.

"Idiot, I don't trust your mind, and this is for you, so you don't forget to whom you belong to."

"Hey!" I was about to protest, but on second thought "Well yeah, I wouldn't trust my mind as well." I gave him a smile. In return, he smirked. Even though this moment was only a second, it made me feel butterflies in my stomach.

"You ready? The first stroke is coming." The artist behind me warned me before doing the first stroke. The unexpected wave of pain went down my spine.

"Ohmmotherfffffffff!" I closed my eyes. It did hurt, but not as much as I thought.

"Better save cursing for later on, because this is just the beginning." the artist laughed and continued. At some points, he was doing short lines, the next time longer ones, but I guess I had developed some pain tolerance. So little, by little I was trying my best to pull myself together and think about something else.

"Is this the highest level of pain that you had experienced?" The artist asked me in the middle of his work.

"Close enough" I looked at Ayato who was going back and forth checking on how the tattoo is coming out.

"Really? What happened?" The artist asked.

I couldn't say that I'm used to vampires biting into my neck almost every single day, but people are already calling me crazy, so I stuck to the other story.

"Well this one summer, I decided to start working out, like for real. So I asked my brother to be my motivator and show me a few exercises. Well, he did push me to the limits, making every single part of my muscles feel the burn of working out. I could barely move, and yelling the song 'Stayin' alive' didn't work"

For a mere moment, the artist took a pause to laugh.

The last moments of this process were the most impatient in my life. I was eager to see the final result but at the same time, I didn't want to know what was eternalized on my skin.

"Just a few more strokes and I'll be done with your first tattoo." the artist encouraged me to bear with him for a little bit longer. I guess this activity was more tiring out of all. I do know that when a person feels pain, the body starts to fight that in which results as exhaustion.

"And we're done." the artist wiped the freshly made tattoo with some more disinfectants.

"This looks great." Ayato was standing behind me, next to the artist. In those last minutes he was observing the work.

"You say the same thing about a plate full of takoyaki." I slightly turned my head back.

"Well maybe there is something on your back that resembles takoyaki" he answered teasingly, but it felt so real.

"What?!" I fully turned to the smiling vampire. Were my fears correct after all? Do I have a tattoo of takoyaki? The artist gave me a small mirror and pointed to where the full-length mirror was so I could check the mystery that was kept from me all this time while we were here.

My heart was pounding, mostly because of the images I created in my head, and all of those were the worst case scenario. As I stood next to the mirror, my hand didn't want to raise the mirror in my hand, but after taking a deep breath I forced myself to look at whatever was on my lower neck.

"Oh my God...it's..." I had no words. I looked at Ayato and then to the artist "I love it" I was so surprised by the work and it was almost unbelievable that Ayato had chosen this for me.

Above my shoulder blade, there was a lined a shape of a bat made in an abstract art style. Like a doddle. My pale skin made the black and white contrast stronger. Nothing too much or too less. Perfect balance.

"Come to think of it, a plate of takoyaki would suit you better." Ayato ran his fingers through his hair.

"In that case, a broken hand would suit you as well"

The artist patched me up and gave the instructions on how to take off the newly made tattoo. Ayato and I took off and without any directions, we went wherever. It was just walking around. As most of the times, minutes pass slowly but now...it's too fast. To cover up my nervousness, I started talking about everything and nothing. Just story, after story, after story, after story. Mixing one ending with another one. Making a mess of big words.

After a while, we found ourselves back in the same park which we went to in the center of the city. I ran out of the stories to go in from what I could tell (that doesn't happen very often), but I guess it's for the best. Being together in silence, we stopped in the middle of the wooden bridge. Leaning on a damp rail, carved with names, number and signs, we looked at the still lake. I opened and shut my mouth. I wasn't sure what I was about to say but I had a feeling that I should say something. Anything.

"...Ayato" I slightly turned my head to him.

"Don't" he instantly interrupted. In the darkness, it was hard to see what face he was making. But I could tell it was not annoyance or anger.

"..." I rubbed my hands together to get them warmer.

"The first time when I saw...no...the first time when you opened your mouth" out of blue Ayato brought up the past, "I thought to myself 'I'm gonna kill you and I wouldn't give a shit about the consequences' "

"Off to good beginning."

"And I never thought that I will say this but" he paused for a moment "Don't die"

Considering the whole situation and things that were happening, it was most likely that this was the silence before some kind of storm. The fact that my health problems brought me to the hospital was the first sign that something more serious might happen. His request for me not to die...I hope it was sincere because I felt that this time he really cared for me.

"I'm not planning to" I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"If you get yourself killed, I will be furious. The only man who can take away your life is me"

"In a weird way I find this creepy and romantic. It's creentic...romapy?" I looked at him questioning.

In all this time I saw some softness in his eyes. It locked me in, hypnotizing me and pulling me closer. His lips pressing against mine. With every movement deepening the kiss. My hands wrapped around his neck while his around my waist and back. Ayato started kissing down from my lips to chin, jawline and down the neck where he stopped. Instead of softly placed kisses, he dug his fangs into my neck and started sucking my blood. My natural instinct was to free myself from his fangs, but he was holding me so tight that it hurt. Without even thinking to stop, he kept taking big gulps. I was slowly losing my energy and there wasn't much left.

"...and as almost every 'feeding' session ended up with me passing out. I woke up in my bed in the hospital, pretty sure that it was a dream but the tattoo was telling me something different, and finally, I'm here telling you this story first." I took a knight figure on the chess board and made a move.

The psychiatrist and I sat at the same table like the first time when we met in the hospital and this time I suggested to him that we have a chess match.

"How are you feeling, in general?" he asked me, his eyes not leaving from the board. His thumb scratching the bottom lip giving away his concentrated state.

"I don't know. I think I'm okay"

"Are you?" this time he looked up.

"No..." I lowered my voice "I wasn't okay when I woke up and found myself alone, dizzy and weak. Knowing that he didn't say goodbye and only bit me" I felt the anger rising inside of me which made me make my move without thinking about it.

"Check." the psychiatrist captured a bishop on my side.

"Damn it." now this made me focus on the game more.

"Your hatred interrupts your strategic thinking." he stated.

"I don't hate him. I...I need to accept the fact that I won't see him again for a long time."

"You know for people like you who struggle with a long distance relationship, I always say to not think about the time that you and your significant other are missing and try to concentrate more on time of meeting again. It's normal to feel angry and sad, but ask yourself: is it good for you to torture yourself like that?"

I thought about his words, and he's not wrong. Before I start to feel sorry for myself for not confessing my feeling sooner, I should be looking forwards for his return. What good will be sitting in one spot all depressed? I should speak with mind-doctors more often.

"...Damn, doc. You're good"

"Thank you for your compliments," he nodded "and I have to say I'm more surprised that this time you didn't accuse me of wanting to take your organs for examination."

"Actually, I thought about that and I decided if that will help for any kind of medical researchers, you are free to take my brain."

The psychiatrist smiled and moved a figure on the chess board.

"But you should know that because of Reiji's experiments on me there might be some surprises up here" I pointed at my head.

"Experiments?" The doctor stopped and leaned closer to me "What- what experiments?"

"Oh, it's nothing that endangered my life. For example, I was told that at some point I believed that I was a cat and we refer to that as 'The Cat potion incident 101' ".

*Back to The Cat Potion incident 101*

"The concentration of this should be lowered by 1/3 which would make...3,74 ml, that way I will only need 1,03 ml of this...yes this should work." while walking, Reiji wrote down some notes for improving one of his potions, which should increase the sensitivity of taste. He closed his notebook before reaching out for a door handle from his work room. As he walked into the room, the vampire got slightly startled by what he saw on the table where all of the equipment was placed.

"Yagami? What on Earth do you think you're doing? Have some manners!"

The girl was on her knees and hands on the table. With an expressionless face, her eyes followed Reiji's movement as he was stepping closer to the girl.

"Not that I mind, but did you lost your vocal abilities?"

She didn't say anything.

"Yagami?" now Reiji was taking slower steps, more thoroughly examine the girl's posture and the vibe that she was giving.

"It is inappropriate to not respond when some is calling-"

"Meow"

"..." For a long moment, Reiji lost it. The first thought that came in his head was that she is joking and acting all weird again just to get on his nerves, but then again, he did put the one new test potion in her food.

"Meow"

"That made you into a cat."

"...Meow." She looked down at the table. Her eyes caught a pen. This is when the cat 'thing' begun. With her hand, she slowly pushed a pen towards the edge of the table. Slowly watching it move 'till it reached the edged. With the final push, she made pen fall on the floor. Still keeping the eye on a rolling pen, the girl let out another 'meow' sound.

"Was it really necessary?" the pen rolled next to Reiji's feet. He bent over to pick it up. When he straightened up, he saw her already targeting for his mini golden scales which she already pushed to the edge of the table.

"Can you not?" Reiji addressed her not knowing if she was able to understand him right then or not, considering the fact that she thinks she's a cat. The girl glanced at him before pushing the scales down.

"Meow"

Reiji slammed his hand against the notebook making a loud sound which startled her and she jumped off of the table and crawled somewhere else in the room.

Reiji put the stuff that was pushed down from the table back into its original place, and that moment, when he just wanted to sit down in his armchair, he saw that his beloved spot was occupied by Kaya.

"Yagami, no." he did the same clapping thing which once again startled her away from his place.

"I can't believe this is happening. I have to mix something quickly to fix this- umph"

Out of nowhere, the girl jumped onto Reiji's lap. Just imagine, a cat jumping onto its owner's lap and becoming a purring fur ball. This just happened, but instead of a small cat, It was a human.

"That's it." it got on Reiji's nerves and the next thing you know the girl was tossed outside the room with the doors slammed just in front of her face. Reiji massaged his forehead and for a mere moment, believing that this will give him some peace and time to think this through, but even though the girl wasn't in the room that didn't stop her from meowing and scratching the outside of the door.

"I need to put that cat to sleep"

*End of The Cat Potion incident 101*

"...Not sure how did it go went, but I do know that Reiji was digging himself a deep pit from these so called 'pranks', but this is not the first time he's given me his experimental potions."

"Let me get this straight. There were multiple times where you were under the influence of Reiji's potions."

"Sometimes I was aware of it, sometimes I wasn't, sometimes I just didn't know what was happening" I shrugged my shoulders "But I think you should know that Reiji said that I barely act different than I normally do"