Author's Note: Thank-you, reviewers! Posting may come slower due to school, but I'll try to post as often as I can.

Disclaimer:No own.

When Hao stepped into his private garden, the last thing he expected was for someone to ram into him. But, if he were to guess the person it was, the only person who didn't know not to go into this particular, or would do it anyway, he would have guessed right.

"Mari?" he asked. Please tell me she's not unconscious. The last thing I want to do is carry an unconscious girl to her room. On the eighth floor. Especially not this one.

Her eyes flew open. "Hao!"

"Mari, what are you doing?" he asked. Her eyes widened, she pushed herself away from Hao, and she stumbled to the nearest wall.

Hao turned away, trying to ignore the girl who was currently getting violently sick in his private garden. He'd have to fix that later...

"Are you okay?" he asked when she fell quiet. Damn, he'd really hoped she get over this motion sickness of her's.

"Ma...Mari is...not feeling to well," she admitted.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and say 'Obviously.' He contemplated helping her inside.

Hearing a soft 'thump', he turned and blinked.

Mari sat on the stairs, panting heavily.

Okay, so he didn't need to help her. She could do that herself.

"Why are you out here?" he asked, trying to keep the curiousity out of his voice.

"Running," she answered blandly.

He resisted the eye-rolling urge again. But he did say "Obviously."

Mari glared at him from under her bangs.

"You do know this is my personal garden, right?" Hao said, pleased when a small amount of panic appeared in her eyes. But it was quickly replaced by defiance.

"So?" she said, sticking her bottom jaw out stubbornly.

Hao bit back a growl. He was kind (and Hao hated being kind; it was too...weak) enough to keep her from falling, and consider helping her, and she had the nerve to act like that? He attempted to read her mind, but all he found was a blank spot. Oh, yeah, he couldn't read her mind the night of her welcoming party, either...

"So, it's off limits to everyone, even Opacho." he snapped. Damn, this girl is annoying.

"Mari was unaware. Now that she knows, she will be sure to stay away, Hao-sama." she retorted, standing quickly. She swayed, and fell forward.

Without thinking, Hao stepped forward and caught her. He felt her stiffen, and she pushed him away. She looked as she was about to say something, but shook her head and marched past Hao into the castle.

Hao didn't notice. He was staring at the ground in front of him, thinking Why did I do that?

What-the-hell-what-the-hell-what-the-hell? Mari's mind ran over that one line over and over again as she ran (yes, ran; she had quickly gotten over her motion sickness) towards her room.

Then it changed into Why-why-why-why-why-why? Why did it have to be his garden? Why? she mentally whined. Why had she ran into him, why had he stopped her from falling, why had she liked it when he caught her?

No. She was not going to think of that. She was going to go to her room, lay down...and be questioned by Macchi.

Mari, why's your face red? Where were you? Did you get sick? What were you doing? Were you running again?

Okay, the bedroom was definately out of the question. At least until she got her heartrate under control...

So where would she go?

Library? No, Opacho was always there, even during the day (and Mari could barely remember where it was).

The big courtyard? No, that's the first place Macchi and Kanna will look.

The big hall (Mari never could remember its real name) where they held that party? No, people walked through there on a daily basis.

An idea hit her, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, she smirked. Within a few minutes she was in the kitchen (which was remarkably empty) preparing herself a salad. Yes, despite how she came across, Mari loved salads. In fact, if she could go forever with eating only salads, she would probably do so. But she would get hungry for a change, and she did require blood to survive.

Oh well.

Eating the salad, Mari tried to think of anything but her life. The weather was nice, which sadly meant she had the beginings of a sunburn on her uncovered skin. Before she became a vampire, she never got sunburned, so she had no idea if it would be painful or not.

She hoped not. Once, she had stuck her hand on the stove, and her mother had forced her to hold her hand in a bucket of ice for an hour.

Mari spent the rest of the day in the kitchen, leaving ten minutes before the other vampires would awaken (except for Kanna, Machi, Opacho, and Hao, all of whom had become diurnal, adjusting to Mari's schedule). She took a shower (ugh, she did have a sunburn), and after some debate, decided to leave her hair down. Walking to her room, Mari didn't bother trying to avoid places where people would normally be. They had just woken up, and all would be eating breakfast. She crept into her room, rolling her eyes at Macchi and Kanna, both of whom were sprawled on the floor. Picking up Chuck, she hugged in, inhaling the scent of flowers. Earlier that week, the doll had gotten a large tear, and much of the stuffing had fallen out (and being outside, the wind had spread the stuffing quickly), so she used the dried flower petals to fill she doll.

Despite the fact that this was the home of many vampires (or maybe because?) there were no 'Dracula' book's or any other vampire series. If she ever got to go to a city, Mari was going to change that. She pulled a blanket out of the closet (Macchi did occasionally have good ideas), turned off all the lights, and curled up on one of the couches. A feeling of de ja vu over took her, and she realized that she had been almost exactly the way she was at that moment the night Hao had changed her. Almost instantly she shot up and scanned the room, making sure no one was in there, then realized what she was doing. Mentally scolding herself, Mari laughed at how foolish she had been. She was already a vampire, she couldn't be turned into one again.

Mari is getting paranoid...the girl thought, settling herself on the couch. After a few minutes she remembered her sunburn, and thought of how much it was going to hurt (it was really red) and wished fervently that her sunburn would disappear. Trying to go back to sleep, the next thing she knew she was opening her eyes to see Macchi's face very close to her own. Not 'Hey, I can see your nosehair close,' but 'Hey, your pores are huge' close.

So what did Mari do? What anyone would do.

She screamed and lashed out, catching Macchi's chin with her fist.

"Shit!" Mari heard Kanna say.

Macchi collapsed on the floor, unconcious, and Kanna stood over her, shaking her head. "I told her not to surprise you..."

"Mari is so sorry, Macchi! Kanna, Mari is sorry!" the youngest girl said, reaching down to shake her friend.

Huh? Mari thought when she saw her arms. Instead of the angry red they were supposed to be, they were her normal pale white shade. Its a vampire thing, she told herself.

"I know. How annoying," Kanna muttered, glaring at Macchi's body. "Look, we're taking a break today, so there isn't going to be any training. Feel free to mess around, or whatever it is you do. I'll take care of Macchi."

Mari nodded, grabbed Chuck and left.

Macchi's gonna yell at Mari later...

Half an hour later, Macchi awoke. There was a strange feeling on her forehead...something rustling...She pulled off the piece of paper someone taped to her head, and bit back a scream. On the paper, written nicely, was 'Went out to drink. Be back whenever. -Kanna'