(Sorry for the wait lol I've just been working on original stuff for the past few months :0 hope u enjoy! I love cheesy shit and cliches)

Living with Ayato, Reiji thought, was a direct threat to his own mental health. Watching Ayato go about his own daily life, when he was a child, was infinitely stressful. It was like watching someone build a tall sandcastle: an act considered trivial for most, but Ayato kept getting distracted by his own hubris and building his castle taller and taller until, considering its fragile material, the tower inevitably tumbles down and turns back to dust. And you watch him throw a fit over it, scream out in frustration like his whole life's work had been destroyed by some cruel act of God, before he finally settles down and starts building it up again, vowing to make it even taller this time.

For starters, if you want to build a castle that stand up, then you ought to start with a stable foundation and stronger materials than sand. That was why Reiji studied religiously, far beyond what his tutors expected of him, in order to create the groundwork that he could properly build a castle on. And he toughened himself up, so much so that mentally, he was much stronger than sand. He wished he could have given this advice to Ayato, but Ayato was just a child compared to him and he probably wouldn't understand.

Still, watching Ayato's castle collapse was pitiful.

Reiji thought that he could recognize potential in someone. It was as if Ayato's potential was decreasing. The most tragic thing about Ayato's situation was that each time things didn't work out for him, each time he got overwhelmed, each time he bit off more than he could chew - he'd become less interested in building a strong castle and more interested in just making one that stood up. That was how Ayato began slipping in his studies, how he began flipping through his textbooks in five minutes and claiming he read the whole thing, how he began setting certain subjects aside entirely. Maybe it was overwork, maybe Ayato was just rebellious. Ayato would become more and more obsessed with the idea of being great, but less concerned with actually putting in the mental effort to become great. Reiji pitied him.

And good lord, Ayato really did have his crashes and burns. Reiji had witnessed them, although sometimes he only witnessed the aftermath. Ayato's failure to meet expectations or his reluctance to put in the work often landed him in serious trouble with his mother, and Ayato might check out mentally for days after she punished him.

Reiji could remember Ayato returning home soaking wet one night, shivering and bruised and smelling like mud, his nose running and his breath hitched, and sniffling and choking on his tears. And Reiji cautiously asked, "Did you fall in the lake?"

Ayato had tried to punch him. He didn't get very far in the process, though: he raised his fist above his head but something in his body (mental or physical exhaustion, Reiji assumed) didn't let him go through with it. So he dropped his fist and kept on crying.

There really was nothing Reiji could do, seeing Ayato hit rock bottom so often. It wasn't like he could intervene and stop Ayato's mother from punishing him, and doing Ayato's studies for him was out of the question too. It would get Reiji in trouble. And besides, it's not like he was under any obligation to help.

Once, when Reiji's studying lasted far into the daytime and he was finally getting ready for bed, he happened to look through a window and see Ayato. He was sitting with his back against the door, and his head in his hands, shielding his face from the harsh sunlight. Reiji, with his own impressive logical skills, was able to surmise that Ayato had disobeyed his mother, so she locked him out in the sun.

Maybe seeing Ayato break down so many times had affected Reiji somehow. In any case, he moved without thinking. Before he knew it he had retrieved a parasol from the umbrella rack in the living room, and he opened the back door for Ayato.

"You should come inside," he said, squinting at Ayato in the sunlight. Vampires had both eyes and skin that were very weak to the sun, being nocturnal and all.

Ayato looked back at Reiji, appearing shocked to see him there. Sure enough, his face was stained with tears. Wordlessly, he shook his head. Reiji guessed that if Ayato went inside, he would receive a much worse punishment later on.

"Fine." Reiji planted the parasol firmly next to Ayato, shielding him from the sun. Then he sat down next to him, and opened the book that he had been studying with previously.

"What are you doing?" Ayato's voice cracked. "Go back inside, stupid."

"I have just as much a right to be out here as you do."

"I don't want you here." Ayato wiped his eyes.

"Is that so? Then, I'll leave and take the umbrella with me."

Suddenly, Ayato grabbed onto Reiji's sleeve. "No!" he whined. "You should stay here and read."

So Reiji did. Eventually Ayato's sniffling subsided and he drifted off to sleep. He kept his grip on Reiji's sleeve the whole time, and it didn't even loosen when he dozed off. Ayato mumbled in his sleep, and he pulled at Reiji's arm and nearly kicked the parasol over a few times. Reiji thought that he was very childish.

But Ayato was a child. It was natural for him to be childish. While he was reading, Reiji absentmindedly hoped that the looming threat of adulthood would leave Ayato alone for a little while, so he could be a child in peace. He still could build a magnificent castle, but without rest and the proper support, it would ruin him. If Reiji had been more self-aware, he might have wished the same for himself as well.

It was unfortunate that Reiji couldn't help him a little bit more.

The arrival of this recent news inspired Reiji to call an impromptu family meeting. Ruri excluded, of course, since Ruri was still out in the rose garden with Yui. Reiji wanted to discuss this as soon as possible while Ruri wasn't around to listen in. Karl Heinz's letter was still completely illegible since Laito had gotten his hands on it first and abused it to the point where it was completely ruined. Reiji had some familiars decypher it and make another copy, and that copy got passed around the living room.

Reiji read it very carefully before passing it to Shu. Shu took even longer, staring at the page blankly, before he handed it to Ayato. Ayato didn't even read it before passing it right to Kanato, and so on. The room was stiflingly silent while this transaction occurred.

"Well," Reiji sighed. "So our sister Ruri is engaged to be married to one Lucius Gottfried."

"What a nasty name," Ayato commented, staring up at the ceiling.

"It's unpleasant," Kanato agreed.

"I'm sure he's a nasty person," Laito huffed. He was through crying, but was still clutching at a tissue and looking miserable. "I bet he's cruel and Ruri won't like him at all."

"Now, Laito, you don't know that."

"I bet you I'm right, though." Laito blew his nose.

"It's a terrible fate that she has. It makes me want to mess it all up," Kanato said darkly.

"There'll be consequences if you do," Shu told him. He was looking elsewhere.

After some thought, Kanato responded, "I don't care much."

Subaru was dead quiet.

"It is in your best interest to get your ideas of meddling in this engagement out of your head," Reiji said sharply. "You all know that you can't go against our father's wishes like this. You'll be severely punished if you do, and likely Ruri will be as well. You only want to ruin this engagement for your own selfish reasons."

For a moment no one said anything. There was a thick tension in the air. Then suddenly Ayato's yell broke the silence, making everyone jump a little. "You know what, Reiji? You can be a little bitch sometimes!"

Ayato had seemed so detached from the conversation, so no one had expected an outburst from him all of a sudden. Ayato had an odd twist of anger on his face, uncharacteristically serious for him. He had stood up from his chair and his hands were clenched in tight fists. "You know damn well none of us want to see Ruri married off and it's not selfish. You know that Ruri would be torn up if she had to leave home and leave her mom all alone to go marry some guy she's never met. And don't pussyfoot around the fact that you've got no idea if this guy's any good for her - in fact I bet you know that Laito's right and he's probably a douchebag. You just don't wanna stick up for your sister because your dad said so, and you gotta kiss his ass all the time. Even at the expense of your sister! You're the selfish one."

Reiji was shellshocked and completely speechless.

Kanato got out of his chair too. "When I had to meet potential suitors I hated it!" The words were difficult for him to say. "I hated every single one of them and how they looked at me and how they talked to me, and I hated hearing them talk about me because it sounded like they wanted to own me. I don't want Ruri to get sold off to one of those creeps. I want to protect her from that!"

"When I first met Ruri-" Laito joined in. He looked like he was about to start crying all over again. "I was so scared something was going to happen to her. Even when she was with us, I was afraid she was going to be corrupted. She's only a kid, you know! She's only a kid - she shouldn't be forced into a relationship like that. And you know that, Reiji, don't pretend you don't!"

The three of them voiced their agreement with each other and continued to loudly protest letting Ruri get married. As they talked over each other, Shu chuckled. "You're outnumbered," he said to Reiji underneath all the noise.

Reiji looked frustrated and loudly cleared his throat, hushing the triplets. "...Subaru," he said clearly, his voice ringing throughout the living room. "You haven't said a word this whole time."

Subaru shrunk as everyone turned to look at him.

"You're Ruri's blood brother. If what these three really care about so much is Ruri's safety, maybe you have some insight on how Ruri might feel about this."

Subaru vaguely gestured. "I…"

"You're the one who had to deal with all the suitors before," Shu spoke up. Everyone else was so riled up; his voice was the calmest one. It made Subaru feel a little better, like he wasn't caught up in the crossfire. "You've seen how she acts around those boys."

"Yeah! Subaru'll know," Ayato chimed in.

"Ruri won't...like him," Subaru said awkwardly.

"How do you know that?" Reiji demanded.

Subaru was having immense difficulty putting these words together. "I think she doesn't...like...boys," he stuttered out eventually.

Ayato cocked his head. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Subaru was starting to get red in the face. He didn't really want to discuss Ruri's personal life in front of everyone. "Ruri likes girls. Idiot."

The conversation halted right there. Slammed the breaks. Came to a tire-screeching stop. That piece of information hung in the air for a while, circling around everyone's heads.

"Girls?" Ayato echoed, as if he had never heard the word in his life.

Shu laughed again and shook his head. "Really. I can't believe none of you realized."

"I-I realized!" Subaru said defensively.

"I did too!" Ayato added, though it was infinitely clear that he did not.

Reiji stared at the ground, waist-deep in thought as he processed this. "...Where is Ruri now?"

"...Outside with Yui." Subaru sounded reluctant to say it.

"Subaru," Reiji looked at him with conviction. "Please go out there and tell her this-"

Ruri and Yui were walking together through the rose garden, talking and laughing. Yui was admiring the white roses all around her. Ruri watched the girl next to her instead, studying the way the moonlight shone off of her fair hair, and the way the white roses complemented the blush on her cheeks, and the way her left hand gently touched the rose petals. Her other hand was holding onto Ruri's and swinging rhythmically back and forth.

"It's all so beautiful," Yui sighed happily.

"I think so too," Ruri responded, but her eyes never left Yui.

Suddenly Yui looked at her too, and showed her the prettiest smile Ruri had ever seen. "But I think the prettiest one here is you, Ruri." Forget the moon, Yui was outshining even the sun at this point.

In her surprise, Ruri tripped over her own feet. She recovered her balance before she could fall, but she had to grip tightly onto Yui's hand for support. She felt her soul soaring for a brief moment. Her heart was jumping for joy. But a sudden shadow of doubt cast over her, and she gave Yui a worried look. "Are you making a joke?"

Yui tilted her head to the side a bit, shifting her blonde hair. "No, of course not."

Ruri stopped walking. "Then, are you lying?"

"Ruri!" Yui gave her hand a squeeze to signal that she was being genuine. "I meant it." When Ruri didn't look convinced or even the slightest bit reassured, Yui asked: "Don't you know that you're beautiful?"

Ruri heard the question through her earpiece, and then it bounced around in her head, echoing. "I'm not," she said quickly, to get the idea that she even could be out of her head.

"What makes you say that?" Yui's voice sounded sad.

"I'm-"

Ruri didn't even know where to start. The memory of the slug came back to her first, and she hurriedly let go of Yui's hand, as if to prevent it from being stained. The sound of Angelica crying and calling her gross. The look of terror that the human woman had given her when Ruri set her free. And, finally, the tears Yui shed when Ruri had bitten her.

"I'm sorry that I tricked you into thinking I was beautiful," Ruri finished her thought. Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

"I won't accept that answer!" Yui said, reaching out and grabbing both of Ruri's hands. "You're beautiful, both inside and out. Has someone told you that you're not?"

Silently, Ruri nodded. It was in the eyes of every suitor who had met with her, and on the lips of each of their gossiping mothers. And she knew she was ugly on the inside too.

"They were the ones lying, not me."

Ruri looked up at her.

She pointed up to the night sky. "You're like the moon."

"The moon?"

"The moon is unquestionably beautiful. It is so beautiful that it makes the night glow. So beautiful that humans look to it every night, and build spaceships just to reach it. But the moon can't see itself; it can only see its reflection in the lakes and oceans. Its image gets distorted in the water, so the moon can't see how beautiful it is."

Ruri fixed her red eyes on Yui's face. She gripped Yui's hands back, just as strong.

"Like the moon, you don't see how beautiful you really are."

"Yui, I love you." The words fell from Ruri's lips before she knew it.

"I love you too, Ruri," she said breathlessly. "I'm so thankful just to exist at the same time as you."

"Even when I hurt you," Ruri said quietly.

Yui shook her head. She let go of Ruri's hands, and purposefully pressed the tip of her finger to the thorn of one of the roses. A drop of scarlet blood appeared on her finger, contrasting against the pure white of the rose.

Yui offered her hand to Ruri. "I'm not afraid of you, Ruri," she said gently. "I want to devote myself to you. So please, drink my blood."

Cautiously, as if handling one of the roses, Ruri took Yui's hand. She gave Yui one final look, and saw no trace of fear or hesitation on her face. Then she pressed her lips to the tip of Yui's finger, kissing it. The taste of Yui's familiar blood was sweet, but the vow that this act represented was even sweeter.

The sound of footsteps interrupted them. Subaru stood at the edge of the garden, looking at them with a resigned expression. He was looking at Ruri as if this was the last time they would ever see each other. Ruri didn't understand why.

Back in the mansion, Shu stopped Reiji right before he retreated into his study. "Reiji."

Reiji stopped walking but didn't look at him. "I suppose you wanted to try and convince me to interfere in this engagement as well."

"No." Shu's gaze settled towards the floor. "That wasn't what I came to say."

"Then?"

"It's not your fault," Shu said in a low voice. "The others were taking it out on you because there wasn't anyone else they could take it out on. I know that you don't like it either."

"..."

"And while you were tutoring her. You didn't know she was hard of hearing. You don't need to feel guilty about it-"

Before Shu was finished speaking, Reiji turned and glared at him with eyes alight with raw, furious anger. "If you think-" his voice was trembling with the effort it took to keep his emotions in check. "-that we can do anything to change that man's decision without directly endangering Ruri's life, you are delusional."

"...All right," Shu responded quietly, watching as Reiji turned away and slammed the door.