A/N: Sorry for the delay, grad school is rough. But also I had a bit of trouble with the climax here. Hope it works okay as it is. Anyway, I've got like half of Ch. 10 written and winter break is coming up, so we'll wrap this story up pretty soon. Thanks for your continued support!

Ch. 09: The Catalyst

If Reiji's rules of propriety had been petty and arbitrary before, his new rules were absolutely unreasonable... as in, "lacking logical reason." If she rolled over more than twice during the night, she was punished. If Reiji believed that as a representative of the household, she wasn't showing enough initiative in participating in class discussions, she was punished. If she didn't change the pipettes in their case between 7 and 8pm each night, she was punished. Why the oddly specific time frame? Because "in your constant endeavor to do your job as my assistant, you should anticipate when such housekeeping matters might be accomplished in a schedule that neither hinders my work, nor leaves me lacking the proper tools I might require in my evening experimentation. Between 7 and 8 I have decided to take a nightly reading break, so you may put the lab in order at that time," Reiji explained.

And even when she managed to adhere to all of his rules, Reiji inevitably found some aspect to criticize her for. The whole interaction inexplicably ending with her tied or cuffed to his bed, or bent over his study desk, becoming his preferred test subject for any new... "toys" he acquired. His punishments rarely hurt her, but the humiliation alone was nearly becoming more than Masumi could bear. She could feel her emotions rising up in her like a tidal wave, just about to crash over the shore of her sanity, whimpering and crying as Reiji brought her to that precipice over and over. His whips tore through her clothes, so to avoid having to replace them constantly, he ordered her to strip down to her underclothes before he had his fun with her. And it was clearly fun for him, for nearly every evening ended with Reiji in a surprising state of undress, shirt untucked and sleeves rolled up, glasses off and fangs exposed as he panted for breath. It wasn't particularly the exertion which caused such a need, Masumi could tell, so it likely had to do with that...thing in his pants which brushed against her thighs and the crack of her ass when he leaned forward to drink from her neck after he'd finished with her beating.

Masumi blushed when she thought of those moments. She wouldn't admit, even to herself, that they were her favorite part of the day. His sharp fangs sliding into her throat, the only instruments of sweet torture which could actually elicit a pained response from her body; his hot, heavy breath against her skin in contrast to his cold hands, which gripped and dug into her hips; the way his lips left dark bruises on her pale skin, like he was claiming her for everyone to see... What had begun as a punishment was quickly becoming a source of pleasure for the young girl. She wondered if it was just because it was Reiji, the man-the vampire prince-she both hated and respected (as an academic, anyway), or if it was just her, if she had always been this way, and just never knew it? Either way, Masumi subconsciously recognized her newest fascination with masochism. But how long could this go on? It felt like she and Reiji were reaching some sort of summit in their relationship, their play, and a single action could topple them from their perch, or change everything.

Apparently the answer was four weeks. Sumi hadn't been to school in four weeks, her parents having pulled her out on an indefinite leave of absence until the family could somehow regain some of its honor in the eyes of the unforgiving elite community. But when Masumi followed Reiji into their English class, there she sat in her usual desk, eyes fixed on the door. As soon as Reiji turned his attention to other matters, Suki shot Masumi a smile that made her hairs stand on end. It was a smile she was becoming accustomed to seeing on Reiji's lips, a smile that promised punishment, but on Suki it left her feeling less thrilled and much more concerned.

It was their final class of the day, and Masumi's focus was drawn to the experiment she was assisting Reiji with. As demanding as he was, she had little time to think about the vindictive vampirette fuming on the other side of the room, having been relegated to the nose-bleed section after her fall from grace. Suddenly she left her lab station, striding quickly and purposefully toward the prince. Masumi had been gathering another beaker for the runoff from their experiment, and closing the supply cabinet gently, turned to return to her station. Thus she was just in time to see the glint of steel as Masumi pulled what looked like an antique hunting knife from a pocket inside her uniform jacket. Almost dumbfounded at the sight, Masumi only had time to choke out a "Reiji, behind-!" before Suki's hand was flashing through the air, the knife held facing out in one fist, as if she meant to plunge the blade straight through the boy's ribs and into his heart.

A thought flashed unbidden through Masumi's mind:

It's far easier to reach vital organs going through the rib cage rather than from the front, like they do in movies.

And then a second:

Even a vampire wouldn't survive a knife to the heart.

Horrified, Masumi felt like her body moving in slow motion as she reached out... To do what? she wondered.

To stop her. To catch it. To knock him out of the way... Something, she silently answered herself.

But even as she thought this, she was judging the distance between her and the spot where Reiji stood over their burner, checking to make sure their solution was heating evenly. She looked at the distance between Suki and Reiji, as she ran down the center aisle, only one table away from theirs now. Masumi still had to round the corner of the table next to theirs and step across the aisle. She wasn't going to make it in time. She felt a scream lodge itslf in her throat and for the first time since she'd entered the Sakamaki mansion, she wished she had a vampire's speed and reflexes.

All of this, and my body is still too weak to do what is needed, she thought. But she didn't stop moving, didn't close her eyes to avoid watching the blood spurt, watch the boy she'd come to love fall... Love? That word caused her to stumble and cost her just a fraction of a second. A moment almost too short to count. Too late.

But there was no cry of pain, no blood staining Reiji's school uniform, no crow of victory from Suki. No, it was Suki who cried out. Between the instant Masumi had closed her eyes to blink and the moment she reopened them, Reiji had turned and grabbed the young vampirette by the wrist, twisting until he heard a snap and the knife clattered to the tile floor. He then lifted Suki by the throat and threw her backwards across the room. She crashed into the supply closet where Masumi had gotten the beaker, the sound of shattering glass deafening in the otherwise silent classroom. Everyone's eyes were on the vampire prince, the working head of the Sakamaki household. Waiting on his word. From the doorway, a few first-year girls who remained loyal to Suki screamed. Obviously they had rushed over to see what had become of Suki's scheme.

Reiji merely sniffed.

"I'm disappointed you would stoop to the level of physical retaliation, Nakamura-san. You were humiliated by your superior for dabbling in a world you cannot understand and do not belong in. And now you have merely proven yourself to be of a lower class. To do something as utterly pedestrian as to attempt to kill me... You sicken me. Come, Masumi," Reiji turned back to his "bride" (who stood facing Suki, unlike her classmates, whom Reiji held in rapt attention), one arm reaching across her body to her opposite shoulder to turn her around and usher her out of the classroom. Since he'd already turned his back on the seething vampirette, he did not see her rise, blood dripping down her arms, her legs, her temple. He never saw the second blade she reached for and threw toward him with blinding speed.

But Masumi did. Her heart seemed to stop in that moment, as she realized it would lodge itself squarely in Reiji's neck, and he wouldn't be able to move out of its way. Even if he could respond fast enough to turn around, the blade would only catch him in the front instead of the back. Before her eyes she saw a vision of what was to come-of the sick schick sound of the blade sinking into Reiji's flesh, of a suspended moment before he crumpled, of blood pooling around his head as he lay on the floor at her feet...The thought was so horrible that Masumi couldn't imagine any pain worse than the ache in her chest.

Not again. I won't fail to save him this time.

Without another thought, she flung her hand upward and caught the knife before it could touch her vampire prince. Being human, it wasn't a graceful, skilled grip which halted the blade's momentum. No, she simply wasn't fast enough for that. But she understood physics quite well-well enough to know that if the blade had to go through something else first, it would never reach Reiji. And as she'd hoped, she hardly felt the smooth steel sliding through her palm, ripping through skin and ligament and tendon before the tip of it just poked through the skin on the back of her hand, stuck fast in her flesh instead of his.

A gloved hand shot up to grasp her wrist, dragging her closer to Reiji as he turned 90 degrees to face her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight of the knife sticking out from her palm, even to look up at Reiji, to see his reaction, if he would be angry... or pleased. Had she overstepped? He is a vampire, after all, he probably could have avoided it again, she thought now, her brain slowly regaining its logical reasoning skills. Have I made him look weak in front of his subjects? I mean, a prince being saved by a human? What kind of propriety is there in that? But a low hiss brought her attention back to Suki, back to the situation at hand. Suki was laughing.

Masumi could actually feel Reiji's grip on her wrist tighten as his whole body tensed. She'd never seen him show this much emotion in public, and it fascinated her. The perpetually cool, level-headed prince was furious, and this time he was not above letting his displeasure be known. Though human, even Masumi could feel the power pouring off the vampire. A quick glance revealed that every other vampire in the room had stepped back and ducked their heads, nervously licking their lips and searching for an exit like cornered puppies. His anger was an aura, a dark, living thing, focused on the other side of the room where Suki stood her ground... Yet it didn't terrifying Masumi the way it seemed to terrify the other students. She tugged at his grasp gently and used her other arm to hesitantly touch Reiji's cheek. His head snapped in her direction again, and his eyes seemed to glow a brighter shade of red than usual. Masumi let her lips twitch up into a small smile as she attempted to calm him.

"It didn't hurt, really, Reiji-san. It's okay, I-" she stopped mid-sentence, and her smile faded. Her eyes flickered down to the blade again, noticing for the first time an extra, unnatural sheen coating the steel. Shit. She had only enough time to glance up into Reiji's eyes once more before her eyes rolled back in her skull and she fell, limp, into his arms.