Okay, before you all burn me at the stake, I want to say that I'm sooo sorry for the long wait. I know it's been almost two years since I've updated this story, and more than half a year since I've update Elm Witch, but life is just kind of like that, I suppose. I'd like to thank all of the readers who still stuck with this story despite how long it's been, you guys are amazing!

To most people, it would seem that Justine had taken an obsessive interest in the green plastic hairbrush laying on the edge of her bed. She was sitting cross-legged on her purple sheets, staring at the down at the brush with great intensity.

'Come on, come on, move, do something at least…' she thought to herself, her teeth gnawing at her already rough fingernails. Normally she would have chastised herself for giving into her bad habit, but was rather preoccupied at that moment.

"I moved over 20 shards of glass like it was nothing just a few hours ago, why is this so hard...?" she muttered to herself. Granted, the only times she ha used her powers recently was when she was feeling emotionally cornered or when she felt like she was about to die, but still! There had to be something she was missing, some sort of mental block that prevented her from gaining full control over her powers.

If Justine were being honest, she knew exactly what her "mental block" was, but she'd rather not acknowledge that.

After giving up (for now) and deciding that some fresh air might do her some good, she left her room, walked down the stairs, and went out the door that lead to her backyard. Stepping on to the cold, slightly damp grass, she almost instantly began to feel better, at least a little bit anyway. It was still an hour or two from sunrise, so the sky was still black as pitch, save for the moon and stars. The cold air felt bracing and energizing, as if it was injecting life back into her veins.

Justine sat cross-legged on the grass, not caring it her pajama pants became a bit wet because of it. Looking up at the night sky, she let out a frustrated sigh.

'The night used to make me feel so at peace, but now… I don't know…' she thought to herself. It was not just the night, either. Nothing felt the same anymore, not since she has met Laito Sakamaki. He had been tormenting her every chance he got and he seemed to be trying to drive her completely mad. His crazy purple-haired brother had tried to kill her and then act as though she were at fault for not allowing him to. Hell, she had learned that goddamn vampires exist!

Justine barely even knew the meaning of the word "normal" anymore…

"I mean, if vampires are real, what other mythical creatures also exist? Werewolves? Witches? Faeries, maybe? Oooh, I hope the Tarasque is real!" Justine said to herself, her mind once again wandering to a completely different place from where she started. As soon as she realized this, she internally chastised herself and brought her mind back to her original train of thought.

'Seriously, my powers are looking pretty normal compared to everything that's been happening lately. I mean… where they ever that weird in the first place? I've always been able to do it, it's a part of me…'

"Was… was I wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have avoided them completely… If I had control over them, then maybe they'd stop ruining my life…" she murmured to herself, thinking back on the last 8 years of her life, how she had lived in fear of something that she was now starting to realize could actually benefit her. She'd always thought it was easier to just shut her powers away and pretend they did not exist.

It was a bit embarrassing for her to admit that she just now realized that such a way of thinking was not very healthy.

Honestly, if she was able to easily move over a dozen shards of glass just hours before, why the hell was she having so much trouble getting a hairbrush to go where she wanted? With a frustrated sigh, she ran her fingers through her messy hair and thought back to earlier that night. While she definitely felt violated and furious that Laito Sakamaki had invited himself into her home and had basically sexually assaulted her, she also felt a burgeoning sense of pride with how she had used her powers to get him to leave her alone.

'I'd never had so much… control over my powers before. I could feel where every single shard of glass was, and I could have stabbed Sakamaki with all of them. Ugh, I should have used that one sharp to slit his throat…' she contemplated before her thoughts turned to what he did just before he finally left her house. Lightly pressing her fingertips to her lips, her face turned beet red in anger and embarrassment at the thought of the deep, strangely passionate, and completely unwanted kiss he gave her before disappearing like a bitch.

"What the hell was that, anyway? I hit him with a chair, cut his face open, jam shards of glass into him, and he kisses me as if I'm the sexiest thing alive? What a freak…" she muttered, the chilly night air cooling her down ever so slightly. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and looked up at bright, crescent moon above.

"At least it's a nice night out…" she said before trudging back into her house, not quite sure if she felt any better or not…

"So, Justine, how are you liking Ryoutei Academy?" asked Dr. Sohma. Justine looked at the woman sitting across from her with a small smile, trying to look as cheerful as possible.

"It's nice. The school building is really beautiful to look at, plus I find the night air to be very refreshing." She replied.

If there was anyone in the world that Justine truly wished she could trust almost as much as her adoptive father, it would to be Dr. Hiroko Sohma. She had been her psychiatrist ever since she had moved to Japan, and the one that Justine felt was the closest to understanding what she was going through. She had gone through a string of therapists when she had lived in Canada and her native France, all of whom could never quite manage to reach her on an emotional level. There had been those who cared and wanted to help her, but there were also others just wanted to fill her up on medication she did not actually need and collect their paycheck.

Dr. Sohma had proven herself to be most definitely not the latter. She was a psychiatrist who specialized in children and teenagers who had gone through heavy trauma, and it certainly showed. With her short brown hair, clear blue eyes and kind demeanour, she gave off a warm, motherly vibe that never failed to put people at ease. She always put in the extra effort to get to know her patients and get across the massage that she really did want to help them. Justine had an endless amount of respect for her and always made sure to answer her questions honestly.

However, that didn't mean there weren't things she decided not to share with the good doctor.

"That's good. I'm glad you're feeling comfortable there. Have you made any friends?" she asked. Justine looked to the floor out of slight embarrassment.

"No, not really. I don't really want to, to be honest. I'm fine by myself." She replied, trying not to meet the woman's gaze. She knew Dr. Sohma was concerned about the fact that she did not have any friends and spent a lot of time by herself. She had brought it up to her father, feeling that if she tried to connect with her peers she would be better at opening up to people in the future. Even though Akira would have liked to see her with a friend or two, he knew that Justine liked being by herself and never forced her to socialize.

"I don't doubt that, Justine. I'm not trying to pressure you to make friends, you know that right? I'd just like for you to maybe… try and be more open to the idea, that's all." The doctor said, giving her a reassuring smile. Justine nodded in understanding.

"Now then, how have you been doing in your therapy group? You meet once every week, correct? Do you feel that it's helping?" Dr. Sohma inquired.

Justine shrugged nonchalantly, not feeling one way or the other about her group therapy. While she always went to every meeting and felt empathy for the other kids in the group, she knew that she had yet to really talk about herself or what had happened to her. She just did not feel ready to share that with the others yet. At the risk of sounding a bit cliché; it wasn't them, it was her.

Besides, she'd recently found herself with a whole new problem to deal with, one that wore a fedora and drank human blood.

"How are you doing with being in the kitchen? Do you feel that your anxiety had gone up or down?" Dr. Sohma asked, mercifully taking her mind off of Laito Sakamaki.

"Um, we're actually thinking of getting a second fridge and microwave to put in the garage. I could make food in there so I don't have to go into the kitchen." Justine replied.

A beeping sound made Justine jump a bit, her eyes going to Dr. Sohma's stopwatch she wore on her wrist. The doctor quickly shut off the timer to cease its rather annoying noise and turned back to her young patient.

"Sorry Justine, it looks like we're out of time today." She said with a kind smile.

"Oh, alright." Justine half-mumbled, already getting up from her chair.

"Well, it was great talking to you today. I'm just going to have a quick word with your father, and then we'll be done here." Dr. Sohma told her with a smile. Justine gave the doctor a small smile in return, not wanting to look glum in front of the person whose job it was to help her with her issues.

Coming to her appointment today, Justine was not sure whether or not she would tell Dr. Sohma about Laito. Omitting the fact that he was a vampire of course, she wondered if she would have any useful advice on how to deal with him. She decided against it in the end, though. If she told her psychiatrist that she was being harassed by a boy at school there was a possibility she would tell Akira, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen. He should not be burdened with her problems, not any more than he already was. The man had already done so much for her, adopting her, giving her a home and putting up with her… eccentricities. Why would she want to cause any more trouble for him by letting him in on what was going on? Well, that was how Justine felt, anyway.

Stepping out of the doctor's office, she followed Dr. Sohma to the waiting area where her father was sitting on one of the couches reading a magazine with a confused look on his face. No doubt he was trying to make sense of some article about how to lose weight by eating moss or something equally bizarre. Neither he nor Justine were ever into that sort of thing, though it was always morbidly fascinating for her to watch and see what people were willing to do to themselves for the sake of vanity.

Taking notice of Justine's return, Akira put down the magazine and smiled warmly at her. She smiled back, ready for him to talk to Dr. Sohma and go home to get ready for school.

"How was everything?" he asked her.

"Fine, we talked about school and things like that." Justine replied, going to sit on the couch next to her father. He nodded before turning to Dr. Sohma.

"Hojou-san, if you would come with me for a moment." She gestured towards her office before walking away with Akira, leaving Justine by herself in the waiting room.

The black-haired girl knew that her father's meeting with the doctor would most likely not take very long, as she had revealed nothing of great significance to her. Justine resigned herself to wallow in a state of boredom until Akira came back.

'Besides,' she thought, looking out the window at the setting sun, 'At least I've got a nice view…'

"Such a pretty sunset, isn't it, Darling?" an annoyingly familiar voice called from beside her. Justine could feel her stomach drop

'No… Oh God damn it no, not now…!' she thought to herself before daring to look and confirm what she already knew.

Justine reluctantly turned her head to see Laito, sitting nonchalantly on the couch with his usual cheerful grin. Her face twisted into a scowl at his presence, cursing the fact that he had decided to show up and bother her at her psychiatrists' office of all places.

"What are you doing here?" she grumbled angrily to him, briefly turning away from the annoying vampire to look at the receptionist's desk. She was typing away on a computer, eyes fixed to the screen. She clearly hadn't seen Laito enter the room, and was either still oblivious to his presence or just didn't care that he was clearly bothering one of the patients.

Well, someone needed to get fired.

"I just thought we could have a little bit of fun before school started, that's all~." He told her in a sly voice before wrapping his cold, pale arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. In a small fit of frustration, she punched him relatively hard in the chest, though this did little, if anything, to hurt him. He was just about to laugh at her pathetic attempt to fight back when he saw her cover her face with her hand and mumble under her breath,

"… Okay, why do you hate me? What did I do to you…?"

"What are you talking about, Darling? I don't hate you; I love you~." He teased. Turning her head to face the redhaired vampire, she looked him dead in the eye before saying,

"I wasn't talking to you."

The odd remark caught Laito slightly off guard, though he was able to recover quickly.

"Hearing voices, are we? That's no good at all. I suppose it's no wonder you need a therapist." He teased, hoping to find a new way to get under her skin and rile her up. Rather than become irate, however, she gave him an incredulous look before saying,

"Really? You're the one calling me crazy? This coming from the guy who thinks that it's socially acceptable to break into other people's houses and harass them constantly. Yes, I'm the unhinged one here." She pushed herself out of Laito's grip and moved over to the other side of the couch, arms around herself and a prominent frown on her face. She turned her head away from Laito, though she could still hear him chuckling at what she said.

"No need to be like that, Darling; it doesn't matter to me if you're insane. After all, the crazy girls are always the best in bed~." He whispered in her ear, leaning over to her and wrapping him arm around her shoulders. As a chill ran up her spine from the red-haired vampire touching her once again, she stood up from the couch and turned to face him with a scowl.

"I'm not crazy. After all, I'm not the one who surgically swapped their brain with their dick." She retorted, at this point 110% done with his nonsense. He gave her a look of mock hurt.

"Don't be so cruel, Darling. I came all this way because I wanted to play with you a bit, and you're being so cold!" he exclaimed dramatically, knowing full well that she knew he was being sarcastic.

"What the actual hell made you think I'd ever even want to spit in your general direction, especially after the shit you pulled at my house? Seriously, go away." She hissed at him, standing up from her seat next to him. He gave her his usual smug grin before is suddenly fell, the red-haired vampire turning his gaze towards the corridor leading past the reception area and towards the therapy rooms.

Towards where Akira had gone.

"So, you're here with that man, are you?" Laito said casually, causing Justine's anger to temporarily give way to confusion.

"What man? You mean… Akira?" She replied, not sure where he was going with this.

"Ah, so that's his name. I see you with him all the time, and he was one of your contacts on your phone. Not to mention your face lights up when you see him…" Justine's could feel her heart stop at this remark.

"Why do you care?" she asked, her voice thick with tension. Laito gave her another smug grin, but this time, his acid green eyes were as cold as ice.

"Oh Darling, you should know that I don't mind you fooling around with other men. Unlike certain people I know, I'd be more than happy to share you." He purred.

Justine was sure he said more after that, but at that point she could not even hear him due to the fact that she had to retreat into her own mind to process what he had just said. Wait, he thought that she and Akira…?

No.

"However, I think I might need to teach that man a lesson for not at least asking me if I wanted to join in. That's just rude, really."

No. He did not just threaten Akira.

The thought alone made Justine become more enraged than she had ever been before in her life.

She saw red.

"I suppose it's a good thing you're into older guys, since I'm quite a bit older than I look, as you may have guessed. However, you still belong to me, Darling. How rude of you to not ask me for perm-"

Justine didn't even give him time to finish his sentence before she roughly grabbed the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up to face her, livid, firey eyes looking dead into somewhat shocked green.

"You listen to me, you little piss-worm. First of all, Akira is my goddamn father. Even implying that he's done anything remotely sexual to me is absolutely disgusting. Second, I'm going to tell you right now that if you talk to him, if you look at him, if you go near him, hell if you even breathe the same air as him, I will fucking kill you, burn your house down, cut off your dick, and feed it to a pack of wild dogs. You probably think that you're the hot inhuman shit or something, but don't think for one fucking second that I won't do it. Am I clear, you filthy, scum-sucking son of a bitch?"

For a few moments, Laito did nothing, simply staring into her eyes in surprise. After he seemed to gather his thoughts back together, he gave her a grin, got up from his seat, and placed his hands over hers, yanking them off of his shirt with little effort. Justine's fury was still burning bright, looking at him as though she wanted to carry out her threat right then and there. He brought her hands to his cold lips, kissing them lightly.

Her anger was pure fire, ready to burn him up completely. It was not the merciless, cold fury he had seen that night in her room, the fury that he found himself unable to stop thinking about. The one so much like hers. Then again, while her colourful little warning was not quite the reaction he had been aiming for, it had been beautiful nonetheless.

He had no doubts that if she was able to, she would most certainly try to end his life. The thought alone made him almost shiver in delight.

"I've never met a girl quite like you, my Darling~." He said almost reverently, repeating the words he had spoken to her that night. Justine's look of anger did not change as she wrenched her hands our of his grasp, taking a few steps back to put some distance between them.

"You've said that before. You're honestly saying that no girl has ever wanted you dead? That's surprising." She deadpanned, her eyes still looking into his. Laito chuckled.

"Oh, there have been. But they were never as… direct as you. That's just one of the things I love about you, Darling." He said. Justine's hand curled into a fist.

"Jesus, stop saying that!" she raised her voice, not caring at this point if someone heard her. Laito feigned innocence.

"Hm? Don't say what, Darling?"

"That you love me! Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because it's true. I love you with all my heart, Darling."

"No, you don't! Not only do you not even know me, you seem to have made it your life's goal to torture me! You don't do that to people you love!" He smirked condescendingly at this remark, his eyes looking at her with something vaguely resembling pity.

"It's a pity you're so naïve, my Darling. It's alright though. I'll teach you all about love~." He told her in a sultry tone of voice, taking the opportunity to circle his arms around her waist and pull her closer to him. Justine immediately pushed her hands against his chest to pry him off of her, with about as much success as usual.

"Thank you again, Dr. Sohma." Akira's voice could be heard coming from the corridor leading towards the reception area. Justine instantly turned her head to the direction his voice came from, hearing his and Dr. Sohma's footsteps coming closer.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no!" she said to herself, dreading the moment that Akira would walk into the reception area to see her and Laito together.

The red-haired vampire in question, however, did something that surprised her. Instead of allowing Akira to see them together, he merely leaned down towards her ear.

"You'll see, Darling. I have so much to teach you…" Laito whispered into her ear before he vanished, freeing Justine from his iron grip. She stumbled a bit, trying to regain her balance.

He… had a chance to humiliate her in front of her father… but he didn't? Did he actually take her threat seriously, or was this just another game?

Justine could never tell with him.

"Oh course, Justine is a wonderful girl, she just needs -oh my god, Mitsuko!" Dr. Sohma's voice rang out, snapping Justine out of her thoughts and looking to see the receptionist, whose name was apparently Mistuko, slumped over her keyboard, seemingly unconscious. Dr. Sohma raced over to help her employee while Akira raced over to check on her.

"Justine! Are you okay? Did you see what happened to that woman over there?" he asked in a panicked tone of voice, his hands on her shoulders. Justine, mind racing to comprehend all that had transpired, could only stare at her father in shock and shake her head. Akira, worried about Mitsuko but relieved that Justine was alright, gently pulled his daughter to his chest and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. She happily returned it, really needing her dad right now. Looking up from his hug and out the window, she could see the sun had already set, and the moon was now shining brightly in the night sky.

It didn't make her feel any calmer.

Akira loved Justine more than anything in the world. He never would have guessed that the meek, frightened 9-year-old girl he had met that fateful day in France would end up becoming the light of his world. That was life for you, he supposed.

Given that he loved her so much, it pained him quite a bit that she did not want to share with him what was bothering her so much. Oh yes, Akira could easily tell that something was troubling Justine, even if she did not want him to think so. Did she not trust him enough? He had hoped that they had built up enough trust over the years that she would tell him anything, but he was beginning to think not. He knew that Justine was a bit… different from other people (aside from her powers, of course), and that her thought process was all her own.

As he dropped her off at Ryoutei Academy, he wondered whether or not he should press the issue.

After returning home, he parked his car and proceeded to check his mail. Sifting through a few bills and some junk mail, his eyes immediately fell on the last envelope in his hand, addressed to Justine. Though he already knew who had sent it, he took a look at the name of the sender and the return address.

Mailed from: Centre pénitentiaire de Rennes

Sender: Sabina Lenoir

Akira sighed, knowing how the situation would play out once he gave the letter to Justine (he refused to hide mail from her, not matter who it was from). He would give her the letter after school, she her eyes would light up in hatred when she saw the name on the envelope, immediately grab a red marker from her room and write "Return to Sender" in big, angry red lettering. She would then march outside to the mailbox, shove it inside and go about her life until the next letter showed up.

Akira was just a bit surprised that the courts had granted Sabina's request of any sort of contact with Justine, even if it was only through letters. Antoine Lenoir was allowed no such privilege, not that that horrible man would even want to try to ask for his daughter's forgiveness. Forgiveness that he did not even remotely deserve. None of that mattered, though. He was Justine's father now, and he would see to it that she would never have to be anywhere near Antoine ever again.

Mentally preparing himself for what was to happen when he took Justine home from school, he placed the letter along with the rest of the mail on the coffee table in the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

All he wanted was to give Justine a happy life. After all she had been through, she most certainly deserved it. He wanted her to smile, laugh, and be at peace with herself. At first, he had tried to encourage her to learn to control her powers instead of suppressing them completely. Unfortunately, by the time they had left France to move to Canada, she was convinced that the only way she could live in peace was to never use her abilities ever again. She had always been very stubborn, even as a little girl, so after she made her decision clear, he felt that there would be no point in arguing with her. He supposed he had just given up, he was more than a little ashamed to admit.

He knew why she felt this way, of course. Still, Akira wished she would finally realize that her powers were not the curse she thought they were; they were just as much a part of her as her brain or her heart.

Besides, Akira's mind flashing an image of the .44 magnum revolver (very illegal in Japan, he knew) that he kept locked in a safe in his office, there were more than a few external dangers that he needed to protect Justine from.

He'd saved her life before, and he was more than ready to do it again.

Okay, that's chapter 8! I hope it was worth the wait, and I would like to apologize again for the almost 2 year hiatus. I think I've found my inspiration again!

PS, the Centre pénitentiaire de Rennes is a real prison in France. The only all-female prison in the country, in fact! Decided to use it in my story to make it a little more authentic.