Chapter 1
Mary had been staring intensively at the ceiling for an hour; among the many things she hated, hopelessly waking up long before the expected time was one of the top 10. And it wasn't the first time happening, since she had been living under the same roof with the Sakamaki brothers.
From mid-July on, she had experienced tumultuous nights, often without falling asleep for long periods, and nightmares had shown up more and more arrogantly; everything had contributed to worsen her mood, and therefore she didn't feel like having a word with the vampires or Yui: she thought about Laito too much, and she hadn't been able to contain her concern.
Distracted, she had also got a bit physically weakened and one day, looking at her mirrored self in the bathroom before a warm and (so-hoped) soothing shower, she had widened her eyes in front of her pale and sickly appearance; only then she had realized what was causing Subaru's anxious glances and Yui's sad ones: therefore she had tried to get better, controlling her emotions and moderating their influence on her behaviour.
Dreams, though, how could they have been stopped?
Mary rolled over in her bed, sighing, and eyed the clock on the bedside table: there was still half an hour before getting up, change clothes and prepare for going to school; and she didn't feel any pity from her body to reassure another final nap.
- Huff - she muttered, moving a strand of hair from her face and turning to the supine position; her side collided with a sturdier body and instinctively she sniffed the air, smelling the clean scent that made her blush, just slightly after getting used to it.
- Shuu-san? - she murmured, patiently, without looking at him; the blond moved on his side, thus reducing to a minimum the distance between them.
- I've been here since a long time - he muttered with his closed eyes, his voice thick with sleep, and rested his forehead against the girl's head; then he frowned, sulking - you should have noticed.
True, the girl thought, Ari-sensei wouldn't approve this distraction of mine... and Mark would give me one of those deadly head-butts that only we twins can give...
The vampire opened one of his eyes, looking darkly at her pensive expression while ignoring him involuntarily, and growled angrily, sure that she was thinking about Laito's comatose state; he brought his lips to her ear and bit on it eagerly.
Mary winced, abruptly moving away from the young, and stuttered not to start again with his capricious attempts to keep her for himself: the side effects of his hormones did not benefit her poor heart, being too shy and demure; nevertheless, Shuu began to "cuddle" with her in his own way, sometimes biting her neck or her arm to drink small amounts of blood.
In fact, since a couple of months, the handsome blond seemed to rather prefer kissing her than sipping that aromatic scarlet fluid, embarrassing her hugely often to the point of making her faint; but nothing extreme had occurred yet, after the usual sequence of attentions given to the girl by the vampire: as soon as his hands wandered too close to her chest or her butt, the chair in front of her desk promptly flew straight at his head.
The young man just kept on kissing her, not giving her a chance to breath; until he heard her mumbling protests from below and, finally standing up with his torso, observed her: she had a bright red face, barely hidden from her out-of-shame trembling hands, and her messy pyjamas left a bit uncovered her belly and her cleavage, where her only noticeable scar was still carved onto her skin, memory of a little incident she had experienced about six years before.
Mary took a deep breath, whispering that if he had continued to treat her in that way, sooner or later her heart would have packed up, leaving her at the mercy of his overwhelming person; the vampire chuckled.
- And what's the problem, huh~? Didn't you confess to me? - he said with a joking and teasing voice, tickling her sides.
- That doesn't mean you can keep o-o-o-on... - she stammered, staring in disbelief as she escaped from that annoying grip and frowned.
- Oooh Shuu~ I love you so much~ I want to be yours, Shuu~ - he mocked her, grinning; she felt a throbbing nerve on her forehead and, even though she wished to blend together with the mattress, she slammed both her hands on the vampire's cheeks, glaring at him, and threatened him to stop it.
Obviously the blond, slightly annoyed by that reaction, didn't listen to her and began teasing her again, squeezing her waist with his arms in a jealous hold; he put his lips next to her ear, blowing cold words of sadistic irony. The girl, next to the boiling point, pondered whether throwing the closet on him and simultaneously risking her own safety.
- Enough – Reiji's cold voice froze the young girl and made his brother snort - It's time to get ready... I no longer tolerate the noise you keep on making, you're disturbing everyone, good grief! - he scolded them harshly and, before teleporting, he recommended not to waste any more time.
In the meanwhile, Mary had sat up and exchanged a knowing look with Shuu, who was laying with his arms folded behind his head to snooze some more, after having stolen another pretty intense kiss from her; it looked like Reiji had spoken to nobody. She stood up, rubbing her mouth on her pyjama's sleeve with an embarrassed expression, and headed for the locker to take her uniform out, asking him to go out so she could change.
She repeated the request as she still sensed his presence and, while placing the uniform jacket and the shirt on the chair, she turned and called him severely; with a bored sigh, the vampire grinned, glancing at her mischievously.
- And why shouldn't I stay and enjoy the show?
The wardrobe fell mercilessly on the bed.
Reiji was in a foul mood and Mary wasn't unaware of the reason behind such hostility against her: certainly, even though he didn't have a soft spot for her, he didn't appreciate either her relationship with his brother which he deeply and openly envied.
And as they rose, bowed and sat back at their desks, she wondered if she could do something to improve their fraternal relationship; she wasn't expecting to cause somewhat-drastic changes, affectionate gestures (as if! It would have been shocking!) or whatever, but at least reinstate that mutual understanding that all brothers and sisters should have had.
In the meanwhile, the teacher had proceeded with a speech of welcome back from the summer holidays and had just announced the arrival of a new student in their class; Mary, too distracted by her thoughts, didn't noticed the sharp noise caused by Reiji's usual broken nerve, who would have had to pay an astronomical amount of money for all those surgeries that would have fixed said nerve, had he not been a vampire.
As soon as the newcomer set foot in the classroom, a striking and familiar feeling ran down her spine; the girl slowly raised her eyes from the paper she was scribbling on to young man who was writing his name on the blackboard.
- Mukami Ruki. Yoroshiku - he said in a piercing voice, concealing a tone of mystery, turning around to face the whole class, ignoring the joyful sounds and choked ones from most of the female population; his blue eyes, adorned with greyish streaks, first met the girl's dark irises, who frowned, recognizing him: he was one of those four vampires whom she had come across in the school hallway, months before...
- Oh, everyone, I'd like to change your actual positions...
Reiji-san will be sooo happy, she thought, breaking in a cold sweat because of the negative vibes she was feeling, coming from the back of the class.
Each student had drawn their own number, while the teacher arranged them randomly on the blackboard in a grid representing their desks; before settling in the new location, Mary exchanged a few words with some of her classmates who were complaining of how exhausting moving their desks was, eyeing occasionally the two vampires: they were near the windows, the new student in the front and Reiji in the back; between them was to be another student, who would had to be the victim of a heavy and gloomy atmosphere for the rest of the school year.
I already know how this is going to turn out, was the sarcastic remark to herself, shifting her gaze from the three (her favourite number - at the moment the traitor number!) written on that piece of sheet to the one on the blackboard's grid, looking for it anxiously.
- Great - she commented with a faint voice, though with a stressed impassive expression, and raised her desk heading towards that trap; she was sure she had seen a grin on the new classmate's face, a nervous grimace on Reiji's and, finally, on the window glass she had glanced at her own reflection: she was really happy, so happy she wanted to cry.
Yoroshiku: "Nice to meet you"
Thanks for reading~ I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!
