AN: Thank you for the reviews and for being patient with me and for taking an interest in this little fic of mine! I really want to force myself to stick to short chapters for this specific story so that I'm able to update a lot faster.

With that being said, like any story of mine, I never know nor plan out ahead of time how long a story will be or really its plot. Haha. I kinda just go with the flow of things! Okay, enough of my ramblings.

Happy reading~ :D

I Hate This

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Ten-year-old Katsuki just did what felt like the most difficult thing he's ever had to do in his young life.

With quivering lips, he couldn't hold off his fangs from protruding out as he gritted his teeth, plunging his sharp canines into his very flesh. With tear-soaked cheeks and bloody lips, he ran back home all while digging his hand into his pocket and pulling out his own identical star shaped locket.

He reentered his home just as his mother, Mitsuki was descending down the stairs.

Before she could question his emotional state or the way his chest heaved, heavily panting as he stood there in front of her – he threw the locket at her.

"I HATE THIS FUCKIN' THING AND I HATE YOU!" he screamed, running past her and ran straight down the hall towards the doors that would lead him to their acres upon acres of backyard space.

Into the estate's gardens, he didn't allow his sore legs to stop until he reached the entrance of the labyrinth. By the time he coiled around the maze-like hedges into its very core where a hidden beautiful fountain awaited. He finally dropped onto his knees, scraping them with the cobblestone ground.

His lips had long since healed in his trek but now his body had to account for his freshly injured knees. "This isn't fair!" he growled to himself while balling his hands into tight fists at his side.

Just hours ago, as he woke up and got ready to get started on his plans for the day, looking forward to another day of summer vacation. A time where he could just goof off with his best friend that meant the entire world to him, he had been rudely interrupted by his mother. She summoned him into his father's office, explaining to him that while his father was away on a very important business meeting, he was already made aware of what news his wife wanted to tell their son.

Katsuki impatiently but silently waited for his mother to explain herself with a deep sigh escaping her. She asked him to hand over his silver star shaped locket as she rubbed the pad of her thumb over the front facet of the simple accessory.

"Katsuki, for the sake of little Ochako's safety, whatever I tell you in this room stays in this room" Mitsuki tells him while staring him dead in the eyes before a soft 'click' could be heard of her opening the locket. "Have I made myself clear?" her tone grows serious as she watches his flickering eyes for any wavering signs.

Katsuki could feel his pulse grow cold but quicken all the same at just the mention of Ochako. Not being one to show any sign of weakness, he juts his upper lip into a low snarl, "crystal" he says as he watches his mother nod.

Her stilettos tap on the wooden floor, pacing around her son as she tells him the secrets pertaining to his locket as his face contorts into several stages of emotions. It's then that one thing becomes apparent to him. The one thing that he never thought he'd ever have to do and that was to distance himself from Ochako.

"Ochako cannot know until her sixteenth birthday but…" Mitsuki hands the locket now locked again to Katsuki, "if I were her mother, I'd never tell her a single thing for the remainder of her life" she squeezes her son's hands in her hold, "you have your role and as such, I expect you to cooperate"

Katsuki scoffed with a roll of his eyes, "yeah, yeah I heard ya, Old Hag…"

Mitsuki would normally pinch his ear and call him a pain in the ass but with how dire their conversation had been, she remained civil. "Will you be okay?"

"No," he shook his head in an honest confession while feeling his heart shrink within his chest with an ache that would remain there as the years pass them by, "but I understand"

Katsuki pushed his back against the wall of the fountain and allowed his tears to freely flow. He knows that he's still young so his concept of love couldn't possibly be anything near the level of what his parents feel towards each other but he knows what he feels in his heart for one very special girl.

He knows that for her sake, he needs to push her as humanly possible away from him. Vowing to himself that he'll only tell her the truth if her own parents do once they're teenagers. For now, as his fangs pierced his skin again with stronger cascading hot tears, he'd watch and pray for Ochako to find comfort in their other friend, that spineless jellyfish Izuku. Feeling as if he's lost everything important to him in this world on that day, Katsuki shut his eyes closed and tried to tune out one nine-year-old's painful wailing.

"Mama! Mama!"

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"Kacchan doesn't want to be my friend anymore! What did I do wrong, Mama?!"

Katsuki could hear her with his enhanced hearing. "Nothing, 'Cheeks, you did nothing wrong!" he blubbered, choking back his angry tears and the taste of iron from his blood.

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"'Morning, Mrs. Uraraka!" a bright and cheery, freckle-cheeked, green-haired male greeted right as he rang the doorbell and patiently waited for the door to open for him.

"Oh! Come on in, Izuku!" Ochako's mother warmly greeted back, eagerly scooting out of the way for the boy to enter the house.

Izuku kindly thanked her and waited to the side while checking the time on his cellphone.

"Ochako, your ride is here!" the older woman called upstairs from the wooden banister, "Honey, you're going to be late!"

"Coming!" a fifteen-year-old Ochako hopped on one foot towards her closed bedroom's door, opening it to let them know that she'll be out in a minute. Finding her other shoe hidden amongst a pile of clothes on the carpeted floor, she slipped it on and returned to her floor length mirror to check her school uniform.

Twirling once, she silently approved her looks and then dug out her locket from underneath her shirt to sweetly kiss it once before placing it back into her shirt where no one could see it. It seemed a little silly to kiss an inanimate object but she felt close to it, as if it were a protection charm that she felt the need to thank for doing its daily job. Over the years, it became her secret little tradition.

Before completely leaving her bedroom, she walked over to her window to close it and peer into the mansion in the near distance. She could see him from her bedroom, wearing black sunglasses and something glimmering, catching the sun's reflection in his pocket. It wasn't the first time she's caught the shine from her distance but with not knowing what it was, she assumes it's just a simple silver wallet chain.

Some foolish part of her mind would like to imagine that he carried around a silver locket just as she does. Shaking her head, she can't bare to stare at her once, treasured best friend and runs downstairs to join the one person she can always count on to be there for her.

Greeting him with a chaste kiss to his blushing cheek, she grabs hold of his hand and bids her mom a goodbye, assuring her that she'll grab breakfast from the school's cafeteria.

It's her own fault for taking longer than usual this morning to get up from her cozy bed. Now she'll have to face her own secret punishment as she climbs into Izuku's olive green jeep and buckles up. If she were ten minutes earlier, she could've avoided the sight of seeing Katsuki's limo leave the premise.

Catching a tiny glance at the pitch-black limo driving past Izuku's parked jeep, she turns to face him and leans forward to cup his flustered cheeks in her hold. "You know I love you, right Bun-Bun?" she tells him like a well-versed mantra, calling him by her own sweet nickname for him that stemmed from his love for the fluffy woodland creature when they were kids.

"There'll never go a day when I don't tell you the same" Izuku chuckled placing his hands on top of her own over his cheeks. "I love you too, Ochako" he briefly closed his eyes to savor the moment until he yowled and hastily pulled away from her to soothe his neck where she just poked his tender skin.

"What was that for!" he cried out feeling a small trickle of blood running down his neck from reopening the two puncture wounds there.

"You're a terrible liar!" she accused, swiping her bloody finger on the underside of her skirt to clean it, "Staying home to study my ass! You were with Shouto again last night, weren't you?"

Ochako gave him a stern pouty face with narrowing eyes. He couldn't help but feel guilty but also find her adorable even though he wasn't supposed to. "I didn't lie to you" he clarified, "I was home. Shouto came to me, we studied together and well… things got a bit out of hand"

"Izuku…" she loudly groaned, being serious by using his given name. It's not that she was suddenly against vampires after her painful fallout with one as children but Ochako didn't want Izuku to start getting any ideas about vampires. Being a science-fiction and mythological creatures fanatic, Izuku was easily swayed by things.

Except vampires weren't a myth.

It was Ochako's job to protect her best friend from them, not having known the vampire he started to fancy that well. The most she knew about Shouto Todoroki was that he comes from a highly respectable, pureblood aristocratic family. The Todoroki name was both loved and feared within vampire society.

Part of her didn't trust his intentions with her very much human friend.

"Izuku, we've talked about this before…"

"And I've told you time and time again that Shouto's not going to hurt me"

"He's practically a prince!"

"And what? This pauper isn't good enough for him?"

"That's not what I'm saying" Ochako shook her head, frowning at his words.

Izuku leaned in to kiss her forehead, "have a little faith, Ochako, not all vampires are heartbreakers"

Ochako bit back her tongue, feeling her throat tighten with the sting of his words. "You better carry garlic spray with you, you hear me?"

He laughed, mentally apologizing for his hurtful words to her, "it's always in my back pocket!"

"Good" she grumbled.

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Done! To be continued.

Ooh are things laced with a bit of mystery! Dun. Dun. Dun.

Katsuki's cold behavior and the locket are both important and go hand-in-hand with each other. That's all I'll say.

Until next time!

You know the drill! Please R&R – it's greatly appreciated and I always get a kick out of reading your reviews/feedback. And again, please don't be afraid to – I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! Thankies~ :D