Hey, me and my awful time management skills are baaaack! I'm once again really sorry about the wait, but I hope the chapter is worth it.

Now, I'm sure you've noticed I uploaded two chapters at once, and that's because they were both supposed to be one long chapter. However, when I noticed just how long it would have been (almost nine thousand words!), I decided to split them up into two in order to spare you guys from an exhaustingly long read.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth…

"Look out, look out…"

In through your nose, and out through your mouth…

"Pink elephants on parade, here they come…"

In, and out…

"Hippity hoppity…"

In, and out…

"They're here, and there, pink elephants everywhere…"

Justine knew how completely insane she probably looked to the people around her, curled up into a ball on the ground while singing a weird song from an old movie to herself, but in that moment she could care less about what they thought of her. Her only concern was to stop herself from having a complete breakdown and possibly leveling an entire city block with her powers. A police officer had tried to talk to her a little earlier, but Justine could not bring herself to speak. What even was there to say? She had almost died. She had almost fucking died, again. That car and its drunken asshole of a driver would have crushed her to death, had it not been for…

She couldn't bring herself to raise her head up to look at her surroundings, but she could still hear everything, despite her best efforts. The driver of the car had unbelievably managed to survive the initial impact and was currently being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher, the paramedics desperately trying to save his life. There were also several police officers interviewing witnesses, all giving their separate accounts of the crash.

"He just started gunning for that girl…"

"I saw him taking sips from a flask, so he was probably drunk. People are so irresponsible nowadays. Back when I was young…"

"Her boyfriend just jumped in and pulled her out of the way! He was so fast, I didn't even see anything until the car crashed into the store!"

Oh, great. Not only did she go through yet another near-death experience, now total strangers thought that Laito was her boyfriend. It was bad enough that their classmates thought that they were dating…

"My Darling was in danger, so I did what anyone would do. I'm just glad she's safe." Laito's voice caused Justine to lift her head, seeing said vampire speaking to a man in uniform.

"Hey, no need to be so modest. You saved that girl's life. You're her hero." The officer praised, Justine barely suppressing the urge to gag. She would rather not think of Laito as being her anything, let alone her hero. Still, she had to hand it to him, he was giving an Oscar-worthy performance as the worried, humble saviour. Justine might have fallen for it herself if she didn't know better.

He really did save her, though…

"Excuse me, miss?" a voice said from beside her, causing Justine to let out a small scream in surprise. Turning quickly, she saw that it was just a paramedic, kneeling down beside her with a startled expression and a first aid kit at her side.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." The woman quickly apologized, holding her hands up in front of her as if to show that she meant no harm. Justine nodded silently, calming down as she felt her heart rate slow down to a normal pace.

"Can I look you over really quick? I just want to make sure that you're alright." Looking at the medic's reassuring smile, Justine nodded again, the woman opening her first aid kit and inspecting her for injuries. She tried not to cringe whenever the woman touched her, knowing that she was just doing her job, unlike a certain fedora-loving vampire she knew.

'Okay, she looks to be fine. She's one lucky girl.' Justine heard the medic say as she began to pack up her first aid kit.

"Well, I don't know if I'd call myself lucky…"

The woman gasped, her eyes going wide as she halted her movement. Justine was confused, not sure why the medic looked so shocked.

"What… what did you just say?" she managed to stutter. Justine raised an eyebrow at the woman's question.

"Um… you just said that you thought I was lucky, but I don't really... think…" she trailed off apprehensively, not wanting to disturb the woman more than she had apparently already did.

"I… I didn't say anything…" Alright, now Justine was becoming concerned as well.

"But… you did. I heard you clear as day. You said that I looked fine and that I was lucky." She insisted. The paramedic's whole body went rigid as she took in Justine's words, the confusion on her face giving way to fear, along with a slight hint of revulsion. Without saying another word, she hastily packed up her equipment and scurried away, leaving a confused and slightly anxious Justine by herself.

"But… I heard her…" she muttered to herself, not sure of how to process what just happened. God, what an absolute shitstorm of a night this was turning into.

"Oh, Darling! I'm so glad that you're alright! I was worried you were hurt~!" she heard Laito's infuriating voice say as she felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around her shoulders, making her instinctively flinch.

"Oh, shut up. You know that I wasn't hurt, you bastard. Now let go of me!" she grumbled irritably, trying to pry his arms off of her, but to no avail.

Goddamn vampire super strength.

"Oh, come now. Is that any way to talk to your hero?" he teased, his usual sly smirk displayed prominently on his face.

"Leave me the hell alone!" Justine's scowl deepened. Laito whistled at her, as if impressed by her ceaseless defiance.

"Well, aren't you being testy right now? What's wrong?" he asked condescendingly, using the kind of tone one would use to talk to an ill-behaved child.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? I was almost killed, you jackass!"

"Oh, don't worry, Darling. You're always safe with me~." He cooed, tightening his hold over her. He winced slightly, his grip becoming a bit painful.

'Sure, make me feel pain. That'll totally convince me that I'm safe with you…' she thought derisively.

Wait a minute…

"You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" she questioned, her eyes narrowing in on his smirking face suspiciously.

"Darling, it really hurts to know that you have so little trust in me. Why would I ever want to kill you?" he grinned at her.

"Who said anything about killing me? I almost get hit by a car, you just so happen to swoop in and save me, and you make me think that you're Prince Charming or some crap like that."

He laughed uproariously at her accusation, "Do you really think I would go to so much trouble for something like that? You have such an active imagination, Darling. Of course, that's just one of the things I love about you."

"Oh, shut up." She was able to break away from him, getting to her feet and crossing her arms. Of course, if she was being honest with herself, it did not seem like Laito to stage such an elaborate scheme to make her like him. She knew that he was more than confident that his "stunning charisma" would be enough to win her over. Damn it, she hated having to admit that he was right about something….

"So…" she heard that ambulance doors slam shut and warily watched it speed off for the nearest hospital, "He's still alive, right?"

"Just barely, from what I heard. They're not even sure if he's going to survive the trip to the hospital." He answered. He sighed thoughtfully as the ambulance drove farther and farther away from sight. "You know, no matter how many times I witness it, it's always amazing to see just how fragile mortals are. Honestly, one measly little car accident and you're at death's door? That's just ridiculous."

"Fragile?" Justine balked, "You're saying you could survive a head-on collision and walk away without a scratch?"

"Well, I might have a few cuts and bruises, but I would be more or less alright. My kind are a tad more resilient than humans, Darling." He winked at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, good for you; you'd make a great crash test dummy." She retorted as she retrieved her school bag from off the ground. When she held it to her chest, however, she could faintly feel something vibrating from the inside. Knowing that it was most likely her phone, she dug it out of her bag, only for her face to go pale after laying eyes on the screen.

Seven unread texts.

Three missed calls, with another currently incoming.

All from Akira.

"Oh, shit. Oh shit, I'm so fucked!"

"Such language, Darling. I should punish you for being so naughty~…" she heard him purr from behind her.

"Shut up, man! Just shut up!" she shouted in a panic, sprinting a few meters away from him and answering the call.

"Akira-"

"Justine, where the hell are you? Why aren't you at school and why haven't you been answering your phone?" Akira's furious voice thundered right into Justine's eardrums, cutting her off and causing her to wince.

Okay, yeah, he was pretty mad…

"Akira, look, I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry? Justine, I've been driving all over town like a maniac looking for you, because when I came to pick you up, I was told that you apparently decided to skip the rest of school and run off to god knows where in the middle of the night, without so much as a text! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

She grimaced; the feelings of guilt brought on by Akira's words cutting through her like a knife. He was completely right to be angry with her, she realized. It had been unbelievably stupid and selfish of her to just ditch school like that without even letting him know.

Christ, she had been doing everything she could for the past two weeks to not make him worry, and then she went and did something to make him more worried than she's heard him be in a years.

She'll be taking her dunce cap in a nice sky blue, thanks.

"You didn't even answer any of my calls and texts! I thought that something horrible had happened to you!"

"Um, well, actually, something did happen…"

"What? What happened, are you alright?" she could hear his voice lose some of its anger, giving way to concern.

"I'm fine, there was an accident, some guy was driving drunk…" she turned back to look at Laito, who gave her a cheery smile and wave. She just barely resisted the urge to flip him off.

"Look, just tell me where you are. I'll come pick you up, you'll tell me what happened, and then we will be having a very long talk about what you did tonight." Akira compromised.

"Yeah, okay…" she replied meekly, "I'm standing in front of the Mistuo's Electronics in that shopping district near Ryoutei. The one that's open at night."

"Alright, I'm on my way. I should be there in about two minutes; and don't you even think about moving an inch from where you are until I get there, do you understand?" She muttered a quiet yes, but before he hung up, there was something she still needed to say.

"Akira, I… I'm so, so sorry, I really am…" There were a few moments of torturous silence, before she heard her father heave a resigned sigh and end the call. Justine could only stare back at her own reflection in the phone's black screen, her face burning with shame and her blue-gray eyes welling up with tears.

Nothing. He literally had nothing to say to her, and she did not blame him one bit.

Laito whistled amusedly behind her. "Well now, he didn't sound too happy, did he?"

She glared at him with watery eyes, her expression betraying both rage and anguish. "Fuck. You. How the hell do you even know what he was saying?" she grit from her teeth. Grinning knowingly at her, he tapped on the shell of his ear.

"Right. Vampire senses and all that crap." She grumbled, wiping her eyes. "Look, my dad's going to be here soon, so just go away, alright? Leave me alone…" she put her phone back into her schoolbag and sat back down on the ground, curling herself up into a ball and burying her head in her arms. Normally, she would rather be eaten alive by lions than allow Laito to see her in such a state, but she was far too preoccupied by her own feelings of guilt to care.

Strangely, several minutes of silence went by, causing Justine to lift her head in the red-haired vampire's direction. He was just standing there, staring down at her with a neutral, unreadable look in his eyes. For some reason, it put her more on edge than his usual predatory grins.

"What? What is it?" she muttered, now almost wishing that he would make one of his perverted quips. Eventually, after baring down at her with his unsettling gaze for a few more seconds, he yawned loudly and stretched his arms over his head.

"I suppose it is getting late, plus I'm sure I'll be getting an earful from Reiji for ditching. So, if there are no more cars trying to run you over, I'll be heading home too. Goodnight, Darling~." He turned his heel and began to walk away, giving her a little wave goodbye.

'Hold on…' she thought as she watched him leave, 'God damn it, he still…'

"Wait!" Justine called out to him. In an instant, he stopped and turned to look at her curiously. Getting to her feet and taking a deep sigh, she continued, "Look, before I say anything, I just want to make it perfectly clear that I don't like you. Not at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure I hate you with everything that I am. You're a perverted, sadistic, infuriating pain-in-the-ass that I would just love to throw into an active volcano. That being said…" she could not even bring herself to look at him face-to-face for what she was about to say to him, "If it weren't for you, that car would have killed me, that's a fact. Again, I hate you, but I also believe in giving credit where credit's due. So… thank you, Sakamaki-san, for saving my life." She finished as she felt her cheeks turn red from humiliation.

She looked back to gauge his reaction, only to jump out of her skin when she saw that he was now standing mere inches away, forcefully taking her hands into his much colder ones, his face blushing with an almost euphoric expression.

"Oh, Darling~," he gushed, "Of course I would save you; I can't let my beloved prey die like that! We haven't even had any fun in the bedroom yet…" He sent her a sultry wink that made a chill go up her spine. And not the good kind.

"Oh my god, get away from me! Forget I said anything, damn it!" she groaned as she tried to free her hands.

"Sorry, Darling. Once words are spoken, they can't ever be taken back," he took his eyes off her and looked down at the black paper shopping bag he left aside, "Oh! I almost forgot!" he bent down to pick up the bag and practically forced it into her hands, "A little something for you. Think of it as a token of my affection~!"

With that, he casually walked down the street and out of Justine's sight, but not before giving her one last sultry wink that made her grimace. As soon as she could no longer see him, she looked down into the bag and reached in, pulling out a black -no, a very dark purple- piece of cloth that felt unbelievably soft and silky.

"What is this?" she thought aloud as she tried to pull the entire garment out of the bag. Suddenly, she heard a car honk its horn behind her. She turned to see Akira's car pull up to the curb, her father quickly stepping out of the vehicle and make his way over to her.

"Justine!" he called. Forgetting all about the Laito's gift upon seeing her father, she ran to him and hugged him tightly.

"Akira, you're here! Look, I know I already said this, but I'm so, so sorry! I just-"

"Justine." He interrupted sternly, placing his hands on her shoulders and gently pushing her away from him, "I need you to slow down and tell me…" he looked over at the destroyed store entrance in alarm.

"… What on earth happened here…?"

The car ride home was dead silent. Justine could only sit in the passenger seat with her head down, too ashamed to even attempt to talk to Akira. Honestly, what was there to even talk about? She had seriously let him down, she knew that, and all she could seem to do was tell him over and over how sorry she was.

Soon the car pulled up to their house and the two wordlessly entered through the front door. Once inside, Akira sighed deeply and finally broke the tense silence. "Sit down, Justine. We need to have a serious discussion about tonight."

"Y-Yeah, okay…" she replied tentatively, taking a seat on the living room couch. He sat down on the armchair across from where she was,

"Look, more than anything, I'm glad that you're safe, but I just need you to be honest with me right now." Justine nodded. "I'm going to be frank; do you not trust me?"

"What?" she balked, "Of course I trust you! You're the only person I trust!"

"Then why didn't you tell me you wanted to leave school early, or at the very least tell me where you were going? I had no idea where you were; do you have any idea scared I was?" he shot back, anger beginning to seep into his voice.

Justine's face burned with shame. "I'm sorry… I wasn't thinking…"

"No, clearly you weren't. Otherwise you would have at least called me." He pinch the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down, "Listen… I know I'm not your real father-"

"Yes, you are!" She shouted heatedly, the raw emotion in her voice startling Akira. "Don't say, don't ever say that!"

"Justine, I-"

"You're my dad in every way that counts! That son of a bitch rotting in prison doesn't deserve to be called my father, remember? You were the one who said that! So please…" her hands clutched her hands together tightly, trying not to let her emotions overcome her. "Akira, don't ever say that you're not my dad…"

His expression softened as he sat down next to her. A single tear ran down her cheek as she looked up at him.

"I know, cherie. I'm sorry I said that. But still," he firmly placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "After everything that's happened to us, when you just go off on your on without telling me, do you know how worried I get?" She nodded, wiping her eyes.

"Justine, please, tell me the truth; why did you leave school early?" Justine bit her lip and guiltily looked away. "Justine." He said again, more firmly this time. Still, she remained silent, not sure of what to tell him. She obviously couldn't tell him anything about Laito; that would only make things so much worse. But on the other hand, she was so sick of lying to him. It wasn't fair to the man that saved her.

"Alright, Justine, here's what I'm going to do," he began. "I'm going to throw out some suggestions of what I think is going on, and you tell me if I'm wrong or right, okay?" Justine nodded.

"Good. Now, were you feeling sick?" She shook her head.

"Did something happen with your… powers?" She shook her head again.

"Is somebody bullying you?" she flinched, which only confirmed to Akira that he had guessed correctly, "Who is it?"

"… I don't know…"

"Justine."

"I really don't, I swear!" she insisted. "All they've done so far is vandalize my desk, and I think spread some rumours. I have no idea who's doing this, I promise!" In all fairness, there was someone other than Laito bullying her, and she really didn't have any idea of who it was. So, at that moment, she was not lying to him, not really. She was just not telling the whole truth.

Jesus, that did not really sound much better…

Akira took a deep, resigned breath. "Justine, who didn't you tell me?"

"Because… because I didn't want you to worry about me. You've already done so much, sacrificed so much, and I didn't want to be anymore of a burden on you than I already am, and…" Justine had to stop mid-sentence to avoid breaking out into sobs. She tried so, so hard to stay strong, but the it felt as if the full weight of the night's events finally came crashing down on her all at once.

"Justine…" Akira gently placed his hand on top of her head, brushing her wavy hair away from her face. "Listen to me. You have never been a burden to me, not ever, you hear me? I love you, and I'll always be there for you. So please, don't think that you ever have to keep secrets from me for my sake."

Well, if his goal was to stop her from crying, he certainly failed, as his loving words made fat, wet tears to roll down her eyes almost uncontrollably. She was not openly sobbing, but was just barely keeping it together.

"Oh, cherie. Come here." He said as he took her back into his arms, the girl practically melting into his embrace. Now openly weeping, she clutched the back of his shirt so tightly she worried she might have stretched the fabric too much.

Honestly, it felt so good to tell him even a little bit of what was going on. She was still not going to tell him about the Laito situation, she couldn't, but to not feel quite so alone as before gave her an enormous sense of relief.

After hugging it out for another minute, they parted as Justine wiped her eyes.

"Justine, I want to protect you and keep you safe, but I can't do that if I don't even know where you are. So please, don't ever do what you did tonight again, okay?" She nodded. She never wanted him to feel so afraid for her safety ever again.

"Thank you, cherie. That being said, however," his smile dropped and was replaced with a deadpan expression. "I'm locking away your movie collection for the rest of the week."

Justine's jaw hit the floor as Akira got up off the couch and made his way to the staircase. "What? But I thought that everything was okay now!" she swiftly ran to block his way to the stairs.

Akira raised an eyebrow. "Justine, I'm glad we talked things out, but you did something wrong, so I'm still going to punish you." He sidestepped her and made his way up the stairs towards her bedroom.

"Don't Akira, please!" she cried as she followed him up to the second floor. "At least let me keep Rosemary's Baby!"

"Come on, Justine, be mature about this. Besides, I don't like that you have a Roman Polanski film anyway."

"Hate the artist, Akira, not the art!"

Akira opened Justine's bedroom door as quietly as he could and peered inside. She was laying on her bed, tucked under the lime green covers and fast asleep. Good, he thought; she needed rest after the night she'd had. It was a Sunday, which meant no school that night, which meant that she could sleep in. Akira smiled warmly at her sleeping form before he closed the door shut.

He did not want her to be awake as he checked the house for any unwanted guests.

He made sure all of the windows were shut and locked, and well as the backdoor in the kitchen. The motion sensors outside had not been triggered, and checking the security cameras stationed at the porch and backdoor thankfully yielded nothing. He had previously entertained the idea of putting cameras inside the house as well, just in case, but Justine would have none of it. She greatly valued her privacy, which he understood. Psychic wonderchild or not, she was still a teenager who did not want to be on camera in her own house. He understood, of course; he supposed was just being overly paranoid.

After his extensive security check, Akira went back into his room, sat down on his bedspread and ran a hand through his short black hair. He had not wanted to alarm her, but hearing about her just barely avoiding certain death had him terrified for more than just the obvious reasons. She had said the man driving had clearly been intoxicated, and there was a good chance that was all it was, but eight years of being Justine's guardian had taught him not to rely on chance.

He would have to try and talk to the police, as well as find out what hospital the man had been sent to. Of course, it would have to wait until the next night, as he had promised Justine that he would spend the day with her. He was sure she had planned a movie marathon, but now she would have to come up with something else for them to do, he thought with a chuckle.

As he looked out his window and saw the morning sun begin to rise, he thought of Justine, and the first time they had watched a sunrise together, a few weeks after she had come to live with him. Words could not describe the look of joy on her face that day, her young eyes filled with hope for the first time in what had to be years.

If there was any, any chance that those people had found her, then Akira needed to be prepared to protect her by any means necessary.

Alright, chapter 11 is done! Again, I'm sorry for the long wait. I hope you liked it, and I hope you also like chapter 12!

MA