Akane ran to the stairs, taking them two at a time in her haste to reach him. Though she was terrified, wanting to hide like it was all just a bad dream, the memory of his smile, his soothing voice, assuring her all would be ok. She missed him and wanted nothing more than to run into the warm embrace of his arms, where he would hold her tight as if he believed in the lies he told her.

She pelted out of the doors of the school building, her bag, painfully hitting her thigh with every second step. She had no way to find him but knew he would herd her, guide her to where he lay in wait. She rushed past the forest-like garden on the main path out of Cross Academy, the main gates in sight, when movement in the treeline to her right, caught her eye. Akane skidded to a stop so abruptly, it appeared she'd tried to stop herself from colliding with a wall.

Akane froze. The perspiration on her brow and the deafening drumming of her heart as it tried to beat out of her chest, were the only signs, she was not a statue. She saw them, red, gleaming dots shining through the gloomy night. Whenever she was caught in their sights, breathing was impossible. Those fearsome orbs continued to stare as Akane took a jerky step towards them, then another and another until she was cloaked in the shadows of the forest. He was merely an arm's length away.

"You left me again." His voice was so hoarse, so broken. She winced at the strain he was putting on himself to speak before he took what he so, desperately needed. He'd never wanted to frighten her. A futile wish. "I was lonely."
"I'm sorry I… I thought I found a way to help but... I w-was wrong." She turned away, ashamed that she'd failed him. She ran because she'd wanted freedom, but when she'd learned of Vampires, she'd hoped to find a solution, to free him too. But she had nothing. He had suffered for nothing! She was disgusted with herself for putting him through such pain.

Blinking through her gathering tears, Akane glanced around them, looking for a sign of her friend. The sight chilled the blood in her veins. Miu! She was sprawled out on her back, eyes closed, chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. Blood covered her grey jacket and soaked the ground around her as it seeped into the dirt.

Akane made to run to her friend but a strong set of hands caught her in a painful grip, anchoring her feet to the ground. Her tears fell freely at the horrifying wound she could see peeking under the collar, on her friend's neck. Large and vicious. Akane shuddered at the sight as her terror increased tenfold. He's angry with me!

"Is this why you ran away? Am I not enough?" His voice was still so rough but held a deadly calm she rarely heard. He turned her in his arms, to face him, his hands gliding to her biceps and squeezing, holding her in place. Akane dipped her head, forcing the tears she felt back into her eyes. She blinked furiously to dispel the white spots her fear caused in her vision. Her chest heaved with her panicked gasps as a hand reached up to lift her chin, gently bringing her face closer and forcing her to look at him. "Does she mean more to you than I do, Akane?"

His grip around her arm and chin tightened, but Akane summoned her wavering courage and kept her eyes locked with his crimson stare.
"N-n…" Akane replied, feebly. She mentally shook herself and forced the words from her mouth. Pull yourself together! Don't upset him anymore! "No, never…" His and left her chin to cup her cheek. His mouth opened, tasting her scent in the air and relishing in it. His eyes shifted to Miu then back to Akane. She flinched as his hand travelled from her face to the neck.

"If-f they find her l-like this... they'll take m-me away. She tried to reason, seeing his grip on his thirst slipping by the second and wanting to at least, make sue Miu was safe. "I need to help her." She pleased with wide eyes and a trembling tone, trying to placate him and stop his eyes from flitting to her friend's helpless body. "Then we can go h-home. They w-won't come after us. It'll just be the two of us, like it's supposed to be, ok?"

He watched her, drinking in the sight of his precious girl, the child he'd raised and loved more than anything else on Earth. Hating the crippling hunger that burned him inside and out, even now, when he was so happy, she was safe and sound, it gutted his sanity, steeling his mind from him. She deserved so much more than he could give or do for her, but he was a selfish man. He couldn't lose her. She was all he had, and he detested himself for needing her so desperately.

"Oh, I've missed you, Sweetheart," he sighed as he finally wrapped his arms around her, bringing her head to rest on his chest and burying his face in her hair, loving as the smell he'd missed so terribly enveloped him completely. He thought he'd go mad with hunger without her.

Akane's arms wrapped around him and squeezed in a shaky, reassuring embrace, burying her frightened face in his chest. The tears that had flowed silently, finally pulled out the sobs she'd held back. Paths were forged down her cheeks as the conflicting emotions to finally be somewhere she felt loved yet feared to be, washed over her.
"I missed you too... Daddy."

Akane didn't flinch as Kazuo Nakamura's fangs bit into her soft neck, greedily gulping down her blood, without a care for her cry of pain and shivering form. He was already too far gone. He wanted to drown in her, in everything she had.

He wanted it, her blood, her love, his beautiful daughter. The last connected he had to his beloved. The woman who gave up her family for him, gave him a child to cherish and adore, only to leave him to wander the Earth alone, as a monster.

He was trapped in the clutches of that woman, plagued by a craving which compelled him to harm his most precious person, one that depended on him, and needed his protection. Yet, he could not protect her, not from himself, he wasn't strong enough to go against that woman nor his desires. He loved and loathed it.