Sorry about the last chapter. It was the most depressing one I've written in a long time. And now on with the story...

Disclaimer: I still don't own Yami No Matsuei...

-Chapter 9-

"What the hell am I going to do now?" Nariko said, looking around the room at the three unconscious men.

"I might as well wake Tsuzuki and Ryu up so that they can tell me what happened. I'll let Damian stay out of it. Personally I don't think he's ready to face what happened, and neither am I." She said, waving her hand so that Tsuzuki and Ryu awoke.

"What..." Ryu mumbled as he was brought back to his senses.

"Listen carefully. I need you to tell me what happened and where Hisoka is." Nariko said as calmly as she could.

With that Tsuzuki started to cry again.

"Come on Tsuzuki. Please don't cry." Nariko said, going and sitting next to Tsuzuki, pulling him into a hug.

Ryu just looked at them- Tsuzuki sobbing into Nark's shirt as she rubbed his back. Ryu felt himself fill with anger and a sense of betrayal. 'Kuri, what's happened to you?' he thought.

Nariko looked up at Ryu, silently asking for an answer. Ryu opened his mouth to speak and slowly the words spilled out. He told her everything and by the end, he too was crying.

"That bastard of a brother!" Nariko cursed to herself, still holding Tsuzuki. She looked down at him and then at Ryu. "Ryu can you give us a moment?" she asked.

Ryu nodded in response, not trusting his voice.

"You can go and relax in my room. Sometimes a shower helps, Tsuzuki will be joining you shortly." Nariko said as Ryu walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind him.

"Alright, come here." Nariko said, shifting so that Tsuzuki was sitting comfortably on her lap. His crying still hadn't slowed.

"Shhh... it's alright. Let it out. Let it all out." Nariko whispered.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there as Tsuzuki continued to cry, every now and then calling out Hisoka's name. Nariko felt helpless. There was nothing she could do right now to help him except let him cry his heart out. Finally the crying subsided enough that Nariko decided to speak.

"Tsuzuki, I don't know if there's anything I can say that will make you feel better, but I will say this- I will do everything in my power to get Hisoka back. I can promise you that Tsuzuki. I just need time. I need time to figure this out, but we will get him back." she said, tightening her hold on the man.

Tsuzuki let out a small chuckle, which confused Nariko.

"Another girl told me that once and look what's happened..."

"But this time it's Kiyoshi and Muraki so we need to think this through, but I will say this, the war is on."

"What do you mean?" Tsuzuki asked confused.

"I'm going to enter the battle Tsuzuki. I wasn't planning on it, but if it's a war Kiyoshi wants, then he's going to get one." Nariko replied with a small smile.

Tsuzuki wasn't sure what to say and just snuggled against Nariko, feeling drowsy for some reason.

"You need to rest now Tsuzuki alright? Just let yourself relax..." Nariko said, slowly pulling Tsuzuki into sleep.

Tsuzuki went limp against Nariko. She let out a sad smile as she picked him up and carried him into her bedroom. She placed him on the bed and heard the shower going; apparently Ryu had decided to take a shower.

"Rest up Tsuzuki." She said as she closed the door. She slowly let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding. She walked over to Damian, and took a moment to think things through.

'I'm not sure what to do about Damian and I still don't know how I'm going to handle Tsuzuki when he wakes up. Ahhh, Damn it all.' she thought.

She sat down next to Damian and slowly brought him awake. He opened his eyes, and blinked in confusion.

"What happened?" he mumbled.

"You're home was attacked." Nariko replied.

"That's right... and... No! No! Let me go back Nariko! No!" Damian yelled as Nariko grabbed onto him.

"They're dead Damian, all of them, and Hisoka is missing." Nariko said.

"It can't be... no..." Damian whispered as a few tears escaped, he quickly wiped them away.

"Don't you dare hold this in. You loved every one of those girls and you have every right to cry. So please, be honest with yourself and let it out."

Damian looked at her as the tears began to flow more freely. He couldn't help it but he was crying. He hated to cry, he was a man, a vampire man and crying wasn't what they did. But now here he was- crying into the chest of the woman he was changed by.

"They really are all dead?" he asked.

"Yes and I'm sorry. I know there's no way to bring them back, but we will get back at them for this. I promise you."

"How can you promise that? You don't know what's going to happen." Damian said.

"I have my reasons, and I will do everything I can for you, you know that right?"

"I know but still you have your other fledglings to worry about. I'm not the only one." Damian said.

"I understand that, but you're the one I'm in love with, you get special treatment." Nariko replied.

Damian let out a small snicker as he continued to quietly sob, until be basically passed out. Nariko had nothing to do with it this time; the man was simply wiped out.

She laid him down on the couch and went into check on Tsuzuki and Ryu. She opened the door and was glad to see that they were both awake.

"Well, I see that you both are awake now." she said, sitting down on a chair.

"Nariko... Who were all those girls?" Tsuzuki asked, trying his best to keep from crying again.

"Those were the girls who lived with Damian. Yes he fed on them, but never enough to hurt them. He would never hurt them. He loved each and every one of them and never wanted to them to get hurt." Nariko replied sadly.

"But how did he get so many? It doesn't seem like a girl's dream job." Ryu asked.

"He found each of them- some where about to commit suicide, or were simply running away, with no place to go or life to live. They all wanted to get away and that's what Damian offered. Most of those girls would be dead without his interference."

"They're not exactly living." Ryu mumbled. Yes, he was being mean, but he honestly couldn't help it. His mind had sort of shut down until further notice.

"You both have been there. That place was built for those girls. He took a lot of time making sure that they had everything they wanted. Hell, they could even go out if they wanted as long as they didn't say anything about him. They never did by the way and wouldn't be able to eve if they tried because of his influence over them. Now all that's left is a man, who's feeling broken and I can't handle all of this!" Nariko yelled, storming out of the room.

"Wait Nariko!" Tsuzuki yelled going after her. He looked around and noticed that she was out on the balcony. He cautiously approached her. "Nariko?" he asked.

She turned around to look at him. "Oh, Tsuzuki. Come on out if you want. Sorry about that."

"It's alright. I don't think I'd be able to handle all of this." he said, leaning against the railing.

"Tsuzuki, please stop blaming yourself."

"But I failed him again Nariko. I let the one I love be taken from me and now who knows what's going to happen."

"But that's just it Tsuzuki, you didn't let this happen. I know you well enough to say that you fought Kuri the best you could, so please stop beating yourself up about this. We need to look forward. Dwelling on what has happened won't help us now."

"But still. I don't know what to do. Please, tell me what to do; what will make this pain go away."

"Getting Hisoka back is the only thing that will help you Tsuzuki and you know that. I can't do anything else." Nariko replied sadly.

"But you were able to knock us out, can't you do something." Tsuzuki pleaded.

"If I were to do anything you would still wake up to this nightmare, it's better to face it now."

"But what are we going to do?"

"We're going to go after them. I'm already gathering my fledglings. It'll take a few days for them all to get here but we should still have time."

"What are you talking about?" Tsuzuki asked confused.

"Tsuzuki... I have an idea, but you need to be pretty open about this one." Nariko said.

"Alright, let's hear it." Tsuzuki replied.

"You remember how I made you promise that you would do anything you could to protect Hisoka?" she asked.

Tsuzuki flinched but nodded.

"Well... after a lot of thought, I came up with a possible way to fight Kiyoshi."

"And what would that be?" Tsuzuki asked.

"Basically I'm going to enter the battle, as I already told you. As we speak my fledglings are gathering. It'll take three days for everyone to get here and for me to go and talk to my other brother." she replied.

"So where do I fit into all of this?" Tsuzuki asked.

"You realize that Kuri was changed, and that's why she has the amount of power that she does, right?"

Tsuzuki nodded.

"So, we're going to need all the strength we can get and if you would be willing to do this, we'd have a much better chance."

"And what are you saying exactly?"

Nariko took a breath before replying "I'm saying. I want to change you into a vampire."

-End Chapter 9-

I'm sorry to end it there, but I had to because of the next chapter. Please don't kill me! Thanks for reading and please review!