Happy New Year, everyone! It's been a long while since I touched this fic, but I've missed writing and I missed this story as well. I'm still very much into DL! So excited for the new game, character songs and whatnot! Anyway, enjoy the story, and feel free to leave me a review if you wish!

Chapter Rating: M

Chapter warnings: Brief coarse language, violence


What time was it, Yui had no idea. Sunlight was gently seeping in through the gaps between the curtains, although they were drawn, so it could be morning, but it could also be in the afternoon. She rubbed at her eyes. Outside, snow was falling lightly. It was just as any other day.

Adjusting herself in a bid to get comfortable again under the sheets, Yui turned to her other side, where she came face to face with a familiar someone.

Seeing Ayato's sleeping mask gradually sent Yui's mind into overdrive. She could recall the night before, which happened only several hours ago. The feeling of skin on skin, how she had clawed her nails into his back, how she had felt him throb inside-

Clinging the sheets tightly to her body, eyes now wide open, her very own nakedness only served as a fond reminder of what exactly happened. Ayato was still sleeping soundly, looking completely handsome and at ease. Yui swallowed once, before sliding out of bed with stealth, not forgetting to quickly adjust her nightgown on her way. Then, she scurried quickly into the bathroom, her heart still pounding.

Yui stared at herself in the mirror, her hands gripping the edge of the basin. It's not like she looked any different. She's not feeling very different either. But it's just-

"Morning, Chichinashi," a low voice sounded into her ear, which made Yui jump, although she instantly recognised who it was.

"Ayato…! Good morning," she replied timidly.

Without knowing, Ayato had slipped into the bathroom and managed to encircle his arms around her waist, pressing his bare chest into her back. Taking advantage of how her face was now tilting towards him, he leaned down to kiss her.

Yui felt her face grow warm, her cheeks tinted red. Ayato then peppered kisses down her neck and along her shoulder. Yui had even assumed that Ayato might want to bite her, but he didn't.

"I haven't showered yet," Yui said softly. She felt him smirk against her skin.

"Then let's go."

He took her by the hand and led them towards the shower. Yui wasn't used to any of this. She wasn't used to sex or waking up to an overly affectionate Ayato, but somehow, he was being so gentle and so nice, and it captivated her so, that she can't refuse. When he got in with her, midway lifting her nightgown up over her arms to toss it aside, she guessed taking a shower with someone else would soon be added into the list of things that she wasn't already used to, but could. As warm water rained down on the both of them, amidst open-mouthed kisses and the sound of drops of water hitting the ground, he took her against the glass door for the second time in a day. But she guesses that if it were Ayato, then things will be wonderful.


"My, my, what do we have here," Laito tutted, a smile tugging at the end of his lips. His gaze on her made Yui feel extremely uneasy.

The day had barely begun and all Yui had on her agenda for the day was help Reiji pack up the kitchen, which is proving to be difficult with Laito constantly grinning into her direction. Although Ayato, who was around and keeping watch had told him to buzz off, it did little to shoo him away.

"You know what I smell?" Laito giggled, "I'll give you hint, Bitch-chan. It's not the leftover Christmas pie you're holding."

"Fuck you, pervert," Ayato yelled.

"Oh, don't be mean now, Ayato. Not all of us got to have steamy, hot Christmas sex with Bitch-chan," he replied.

"What did you say-?" A familiar voice came from behind all three of them, startling everyone. Yui looked up only to find Subaru. For some reason, he seemed increasingly upset.

But Subaru didn't even need an explanation because he could smell it in the air. It was as clear as day and it hit him the very moment he got into the room. Yui's scent had unmistakably changed. It now smelt heavier, thicker. To his knowledge, there was only one way how this could happen to any female.

His eyes shifted instantaneously to Ayato, then back at Yui. Laito had explained something before going back to bickering with Ayato, and Yui seemed to be asking him about something too, but all of it was lost in the background, like some irregular buzzing white noise. Unable to stand it, he turned and immediately left.

"Someone's in a terribly awful mood," Laito noted.

"Maybe somethin' happened," Ayato said, "Who knows."

Yui didn't say anything as she went back to cleaning. The one thing she recalled most about just now was the way Subaru had looked at her. It was burned into her mind, because he'd looked as if she'd just disappointed him.


Subaru remained in a foul mood till the end of the day. All he did was leave the mansion for a few days, just to get some peace and quiet and he returns to this? Of course, he could see it coming from a mile away and it's not like he and she had a thing going on, or anything…but it still disturbed him greatly that things turned out this way. He didn't particularly really hate his older half-brother, but for her to be with him. It was just…wrong. There are just some things he aren't able to wrap his head around.

As he was deep in thought, a tiny rap sounded on his room door. For anyone to knock so gently and not actually be barking out an order or two, he'd bet it was Yui. Subaru opened the door to find that he was right.

"Subaru, I made some Christmas cookies. I was wondering if you'd like to taste some," she said, holding out her plateful of baked goodies.

"Hmph," he replied gruffly, already turning heel. But since he didn't exactly yell at her or tell her to go away, Yui entered the room anyway.

"You missed Christmas with us. Where'd you go?"

"…Back to the demon world."

"I heard from the others you had a place of your own there. How'd the trip go?"

"It's fine, nothing much."

Yui's lips were in a thin line. She was staring straight at him but her expression was hard, worried, something that Subaru had never seen before.

"If anything happened to me, you'd be someone I go to, Subaru," Yui opened her mouth to say. "That's why, I want to be someone that you can go to, too."

Subaru almost wanted to get angry. He wanted to scream at her, to tell her all the things that were in his head and to blame her, but he knows if he ever did, she might never speak to him again. There were certain things she can't know, and one of them were his feelings towards her. Or else, it'll tear their friendship apart and she'll feel conflicted. He would never want her to feel this way.

Wearing a thick scowl on his face, Subaru shifted to face away from her.

"I said, I'm fine!" he yelled. He looked up with a glare, but Yui's expression tore him apart. She looked shocked and tears were welling up at the corners of her eyes.

She didn't say a word, although she did lay down the cookies on his coffee table. It was only when the door closed and when Yui was gone, did he allow his expression to soften a little.

It was all her fault. It was always her.


"So, he won't come out?" Ayato asked. He was happily occupied by playing darts in the family game room. Yui was lounging at the couch reading, although she could hardly get the words in, and for some reason, Shu was there too, sound asleep. None of the other brothers were around, but since Shu's presence didn't irritate Ayato today, it didn't matter if he were there or not.

Yui shook her head. "He's been in his room all evening."

"Fucking rude piece of shit," Ayato grumbled, as he sent another dart flying towards the board without even bothering to aim. "You don't have to care about that bastard, Chichinashi. If it were yours truly, I'd have eaten all the cookies myself, and then punched him in the face already!"

"So…noisy…," Shu half-peeled open his eyes, awoken at how loud and angsty Ayato was being.

"Just get back to sleep, lazy ass," Ayato shot back rudely.

Yui didn't even really give more than half a shrug as a form of reply. The Subaru she knew was gentle, kind and he wasn't so closed-off from her. Something must've happened, but if he won't say anything, she can't force the words out of him either. It hurts, to see the distance he was putting between them, and she didn't know what to do. Just then, Ayato came over to her and grabbed her by the chin to face him.

"I don't like it," he glared at her.

"Wha- what do you not like?" Yui asked, suddenly snapped out of her thoughts.

"You, thinking about him. You shouldn't even care about any other guy besides yours truly."

"I…I was just-," Yui's mind raced to search for some sort of explanation that would be acceptable by Ayato, but before she even so much as come up with something, Ayato had pulled her into his arms and the lights all went out. The room was instantly pitch-black.

Yui could feel her entire body stiffen, even though Ayato's arms were still wrapped around hers. She nearly wanted to scream when she heard Shu's voice, coming from the direction of the sofa still, but managed to stop herself just in time.

"Someone's in the house," she heard him say.

Yui dared herself to ask, "W-who is?"

Neither of them answered the question. Hastily, Ayato pushed Yui towards Shu's direction, even though all Yui wanted was for Ayato to stay.

"Take care of her. I'll go check it out. If anything happens, you know what to do."

Since it was completely dark inside, Yui had no idea the expressions that they wore on their faces, or what was even really happening. She only heard the door open and shut quickly, and then Ayato was clearly gone. She had been left alone in the room with Shu.

"Shu, what's going on? Please tell me something."

"Vampire hunters. Probably," he said lazily, as though it was something not to be feared. "Also, you look like you're about to pass out. Sit. The couch is right behind you."

Yui almost forgotten that vampires could see in the dark, meaning she was the only one out of them that looked helpless. But while she was panicking, how on earth is Shu, the vampire that's being hunted, remaining so calm about this?"

"Relax," he assured her, "It's just three of them."

"Shu, you knew about this?"

"They've been stalking us for a while now. Can't remember. I guess they wanted to finish the job so they could be done by New Year's."

Shu continued, "They left clues around. Tried to get rid of footprints, even laid traps. We've got different parts of the mansion covered, and this room is pretty far away, so you can just wait it out. Don't bother too much about it."

Yui was taken aback, and despite the oldest Sakamaki brother being with her, she still found herself on high alert. It suddenly dawned on her, that maybe back when she was ice-skating with Ayato just a few days back, what she felt wasn't a figment of her imagination. It could have been a vampire hunter.

Which also means that Ayato had been close to harm then. If anything happened to him…she wouldn't know what to do.

"Will Ayato be okay?" she had to ask. Instantly, she could hear Shu letting out a small, disbelieving, 'ha'.

"Look at you, so attached to that man…hah. He's a fighter. He's not going to die."

It hadn't even been more than 15 minutes since the lights went out and that Yui was confined to the room, when she felt Shu shift, telling her that it's fine to leave the room now. When she was hesitant, Shu led the way, opening the door and letting the light stream in.

The halls were still dark, poorly lit only by a few candles and the light of the moon. It was also cold, but it seemed to feel better as they approached the main hall, where Yui could see light. Out of nowhere, Reiji appeared in front of them. He didn't look very pleased to see either one of them. Yui also couldn't miss the blood that on his blazer, shirt and hands. It was so fresh that it was still wet.

"The both of you," Reiji said curtly, "…We've disposed of them. There were indeed only three, as we have spotted. You will help with the cleaning up later, of course."

Shu ignored him delightfully, although Yui said yes, at least. As they closed in on the living room, the sight nearly made her want to throw up. There was blood everywhere, on the floors, on the walls. The bodies of three men piled up in a stack, all of them lifeless. At one side, the Sakamakis had stripped them of their weapons and threw them aside. There were crossbows and knives made of silver, but they all had blood on them. It was…ghastly.

"Chichinashi!"

Yui mentally told herself to get it together, upon hearing and seeing Ayato was safe and sound, even when she saw the amount of blood on Kanato and Laito's hands as they hung around the room. Only Subaru was seemingly missing. She had to keep telling herself that if the boys didn't do this, the vampire hunters would kill all of them. When she saw Ayato's face come into view, she knew she couldn't let that happen.

She wrapped her arms around him the first moment she got. He was alive and well. Knowing that he wasn't harmed was all she needed.

"You okay?" she heard him ask. Her immediate response was just to bury her face in his chest and nod, silently grateful.

Laito couldn't resist but give a loud, audible sigh. "How unfair. Where's my own princess, a girl who'll hold me after a hard day's fight, hmm?"

"Maybe when you stop sleeping with and disappearing on every female," said Reiji crudely, as he started arranging the furniture back into place. Laito lets out a chuckle.

"Ooh, relationship advise from Reiji. Point taken."

"Oi," Shu piped up, "You guys missed one."

All of them turned towards the direction Shu was looking at, and there stood a man, his crossbow aimed towards them at the front door. He had a hood over his face, but his hands were clearly shaking a little. When he saw the bloody sight of his once-partners on the ground, he let out something of an angry sob.

"I'll get him," Ayato said, removing Yui's arms from around him. The man didn't run, seemingly still trying to process the situation and the sight before him.

And then, suddenly, he froze, when his eyes laid upon Yui.

"Yui-?" Everyone heard him say, but it was too late by then. Ayato had zipped over so quickly that regular humans couldn't possibly have predicted it, let alone react to it, and had overturned the man's own crossbow against himself. There was no hesitation to the shot fired. The only reaction the man gave was to shakingly pull out a small knife to swipe at Ayato, before he was so quickly disarmed. Still, even Ayato had heard him say the name he was so familiar with, which he couldn't comprehend.

With the arrow lodged into the man's chest, his hood finally fell and his face came to view. The next thing they all heard was Yui's tiny voice.

"Father?"