AN: I'm back with a new chapter! I finally wrote my half-sister, telling her of my existence...please wish me luck! Anyway, If you see any mistakes, tell me.

Mari sighed, poking Macchi for what had to be the hundredth time.

First she drags Mari to watch a movie with her, then she falls asleep? That's...just like Macchi. Maybe Mari should cut her hair, or draw on her face, or-or-

Sighing, she squeezed Chuck. "Mari is out of ideas."

"For what?"

Mari squeaked, turning so quickly she fell off the couch. "Ow!" she hissed.

"Out of ideas for what?" It was Zen and Ryo, or BoZ, as they preferred to be called.

"Uh, Macchi fell asleep while making Mari watch Halloween, but Mari can't think of anything to do as revenge other than cutting her hand or drawing on her face," Mari confessed, slightly embarassed at falling so gracelessly.

"Oh, that's easy-" Zen began.

"-just put make-up on her!" finished Ryo.

"Huh?"

"I'll be back," Zen said, before he disappeared, only to reappear a second later holding a large box. "It's Ashil's make-up box!"

"What?"

"As we said, its easy," Ryo repeated as he opened the box. "Macchi hates make-up-"

"-so for revenge, just put some on her!" Zen smirked as he applied some bright red lipstick to Macchi's lips.

"Especially really guady stuff!"

Mari watched in amazement as Macchi's face changed from a sweet-looking fourteen year old into a trashy looking clown. She looked so ridiculous Mari had to practically place her fist in her mouth in order to not burst out laughing.

"Now, the price for us doing this is that you can't tell her about us," Zen said, packing up.

"You take the blame," Ryo paused. "Or say you don't know."

The two disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Mari took another look at Macchi, committing the picture to memory, then took off. She did not want to be around when Macchi realized what had been done to her face.

The days until Jeanne's clan arrived went by quickly. Hao trained Mari each day, sleeping at night (which made him feel way too human). To his delight, she seemed to have good control over her abilities, being able to sense where anyone is, heal and harm whoever volunteered, and pull heat out of anything. And he enjoyed he time he spent with her. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, though everytime he saw Anna, she'd made some comment. Even Yoh had begun to say things ('Hey, Hao, where's that girl of yours?' 'So, Hao, any progress?'-wink, nudge- and the one which never failed to make Hao turn red 'So, Hao, what are you going to name your first kid?').

He had no idea where they got the idea that he liked Mari (certainly not from Opacho- but the little brat had been giving Mari weird looks lately, so maybe...), because he didn't. She was just the youngest member of his clan, the youngest, most disobediant, cutest, sweetest- what was he thinking?! Mari cute? Mari sweet? No way! She was just a rude little brat that happened to be completely adorab-

Hao shook his head fiercely. There was no way in hell he thought that Mari was cute, sweet, OR adorable (but didn't cute and adorable mean the same thing? Ugh, his face was probably red). She was a stubborn brat. That's all. He looked in his mirror. Yep, his face was cherry red. Great, just great.

A knock on the door made him curse. He would just ignore whoever it was. They'd go away.

"Hao?"

Or not.

"Come in, Yoh," Hao called, frowning. As much as he wished he could just send Yoh away, if he tried, Yoh would get Anna, who would knock the door down. And Hao was tired of getting smacked by his brother's mate.

Yoh slid into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, nii-chan," he smirked. "You're blushing. Thinking of Mari?"

"If you're just here to tease me, get out," Hao hissed.

Yoh held up his hands in surrender, sitting on the end of Hao's bed. "No, no, I came for a serious reason."

"And that would be?"

"Well, I know Anna and I have been harassing you about your feelings for Mari-"

"I do not have feelings for her!" Hao shouted.

His brother rolled his eyes, saying "Whatever. We just want you to know that we don't want Jeanne to try to use Mari against you- in any way. So we told our clan not to say anything about her-"

"What would they say?" Hao asked suspiously.

"That you refuse to adit that you're in love with her- Hao! I'm trying to be serious! Put the lamp down!" When Yoh was certain that his elder brother wasn't going to try to brain him, he continued. "So, we're giving our word that neither our clan or us will make Jeanne think Mari is anything more than she is."

For some strange reason, that relieved Hao, the way the thought of Jeanne hurting Mari made his insides go numb. It just did. Strange, he's not normally this protective of his clan.

"Thank-you," he said, nodding slightly.

Yoh laughed, running his hand through his hair. A glint caught Hao's eye.

"You're wearing your ring," he stated. Yoh paused, then looked at his hand.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot what wearing on my finger was like, so I decided to wear it."

They both examined the golden wedding band in silence. It was a big secret that Yoh and Anna had gotten married in the human fashion, such a big secret that only Yoh, Anna, and Hao knew. Vampires had their own traditions, and marriage among them was called mating and was really just a formal ceremony telling everyone that two particular vampires were together and off the market. But simply telling vampires that Yoh was Anna's and Anna was Yoh's wasn't enough for the two- they spent enough time among humans that they wanted a real wedding. So one day (back before Hao had his own clan, centuries ago) they'd dragged him out of bed to a chapel they had reserved, and in front of Hao, a priest, two ducks, and three sheep, they'd gotten married.

No matter how tough Hao was (or tried to be) he couldn't deny that he was grateful he got to go to Yoh's wedding.

"So, you think you'll ever get married?" Yoh asked, a devilish glint in his eyes. "Maybe to Mari?"

Hao sputtered, not able to form any words. He stopped trying to stop, grabbed a pillow, then threw it at Yoh's head.

"Ow! Okay, okay, sorry, I just had to say one last thing!"

"Get out!"

Yoh ran out of the room, his laughter trailing behind him. Hao glared after him, even after the door had shut. There was no way he was getting married. That was for hopelessly-in-love fools, like Yoh. Not for him. He turned off all the lights, preparing to sleep.

No, marriage was definately not for him.