Title: To Stand Against the Sun

Genre: romance, drama

Rating: M for language, violence, and sexual themes

Pairings: JohanXJudai (spiritshipping); very, very mild ManjoumeXJudai (rivalshipping); other minor pairings

Summary: Judai Yuki was not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen when he moved to live with his Dad in Copenhagen, Denmark. But this where his life truly begins. There he meets Johan Andersen, a mysterious and captivating student at his new high school. Judai soon discovers that Johan is hiding a secret, after he impossibly saves his life from a van with his super-human strength and speed. Judai is determined to unravel his secret, but the truth is more terrifying than he realized. Johan is a vampire. Any normal person would just keep away from him, but Johan and Judai have fallen passionately and unconditionally in love with each other. And so begins their forbidden relationship between a human and a vampire. But the young lovers soon discover that their troubles are only just about to begin.

Me: The next chapter is up and running!

Lucy: Johan has rescued Judai from getting hit by a moving van, and now, Judai seems to really have some feelings for Johan! But does Johan feel the same way as Judai does?

Me: If you want to find out, then please read on!

Lucy: This is going to be a fun chapter, so we hope that you will all enjoy it!

Chapter Four: The Invitation

In my dream, it was very dark, and what dim light there was seemed to be radiating off Johan's pale skin. I couldn't see his face too well, but I could see him standing in the corner of my bedroom, his dark green-gold eyes staring at me.

In my dream, he walked over to me and crawled onto my bed, his cold hands pressing onto my bare legs- since I slept with just my boxers and an old T shirt.

In my dreams... things happened(1).

But, unlike a dream, I could feel things that I could only wish I would ever feel. Johan's body- cold like his hands had been- pressing against mine. His dark-colored eyes, staring down at me. I couldn't hear his breaths in my dream, but I could feel them. His breath wasn't as cold as his body was, it was almost as warm as my body was. He stared deep into my eyes for a moment, and I couldn't remember much of what had happened right after that.

I would awaken in the middle of the night, a blush on my face.

I rushed to the bathroom to calm myself down by splashing cold water on my face and then I went back to sleep, but the same thing happened. It was just this once, however, that I had a dream with Johan that was this explicit. This... nice.

After that, though, he was in my dreams nearly every night, but he was always far away from me, never in reach.

The month after the accident, things were a little hectic, but slowly returned to normal.

At first, I was the center of attention for the rest of the week after the accident. Mituso was impossible, following me around, obsessed with trying to make it up to me. I tried to tell him that I was fine and that I didn't want anything- especially since nothing had happened to me. He followed me to my classes and to lunch. Kenzan and Hayato gave him disgusted glares and glanced with concerned eyes whenever they saw me. They followed me to my truck every day to try and make sure I was fine.

No one seemed concerned about Johan. I explained over and over that he was the hero in all of this- and much to my distaste, I stuck to his story and said that he had been standing beside me the whole time.

I understood, after about a week of comments from my friends saying that they hadn't seen Johan standing near me until after the van had been stopped, that no one else was as aware of Johan as I was. No one else watched him the way that I did. No one surrounded Johan or asked him a single question about what had happened.

The Andersens sat at their usual table and continued to talk amongst themselves. None of them, especially not Johan, looked my way anymore.

When Johan sat next to me in class, he was trembling the whole time and sitting as far away from me as possible. Every now and again, the hand closest to me would ball up into a fist- as would his other one- and his breath would hitch. I would peek at him from the corner of my eyes and see that his eyes had gone from a green-yellow to a dark emerald-black color.

The only conclusion I could come up with was that he wished he hadn't rescued me.

That was it, wasn't it?

My heart sank when I thought of it. But it was the only thing that I could believe of. Johan must have regretted saving me from being crushed by Mituso's van. That had to be it.

I wanted to talk to Johan very much and figure out what was happening. I had to get back on good terms with him. I felt that if I knew that he did in fact regret saving me, then somehow, I would feel better. Plus, the dreams I had been having made me feel very strange. I blushed at the mere thought of it.

He was already seated when I arrived at the Biology room. He was looking straight ahead. I sat down, half expecting him to look over my way. He didn't, and I felt a bit sad.

"Hello, Johan," I said pleasantly.

Johan glanced at me from the corner of his eye, nodded once, clenched his fist, and looked ahead again.

That was the final contact I had with him for the rest of the week. I watched him from a distance every now and again. He was either at the lunch table or near his shiny silver Volvo with his adopted siblings. He wouldn't look at me, but I would see his golden-green eyes turning considerably darker with each and every day, until they were a deep black with a touch of green around the edges.

Kenzan was pleased by the obvious coolness between Johan and I. He would casually come up and talk to me during Biology, ignoring Johan as much as Johan ignored him.

Strangely, as soon as the rain let up and the sun started to come out, just a little bit, Rei called me and asked me for my permission to ask Hayato to the school dance.

"Are you sure... I mean, you didn't want to ask him, right?" she persisted when I told her I didn't mind in the least.

"No, Rei, I'm not going," I assured her.

Dancing was way out of my range of abilities. I knew that with my klutziness, I'd be screwed the moment I even attempted a twist or even a small step on the dance floor for that matter.

"It'll be fun," Rei coaxed.

"You have fun with Hayato," I told her.

The next day, I was surprised to find that Rei wasn't her usual peppy self. She was silent all through Math and Spanish. She was silent as she walked along by my side, and I was afraid to ask her why. If Hayato had turned her down, then I knew right off that I was the last one she would want to confess it to.

My fears were strengthened when Rei sat as far away from Hayato as she possibly could. Hayato was unusually quiet.

On our way to Biology, he was silent as well. The dark look on his face told me that something was definitely wrong. He didn't say anything until I was at my seat and he was perched at my desk. Like always, I was aware of Johan sitting beside me, but like always, he didn't say anything or even look in my direction.

"So," Hayato said, looking at the floor. "Rei asked me to the school dance."

"That's great!" I smiled.

"Well," Hayato stared at me, clearly not too happy with my reaction. He blushed and look away for a moment. "I kinda... I kinda told her that I had to think about it."

I frowned and gave him a partial glare. "Why would you do that?" I asked. Though I was agitated that he didn't give her an answer, I was a bit happy that he hadn't given her an absolute no.

His face turned bright red again. "Well, Judai, the thing is... I was wondering if you were gonna ask me."

I paused halfway through one of my breaths. I felt a strange wave of grief wash over me. Hayato had nearly turned Rei down because he was hoping that I was going to ask him? But I wasn't going to the damn dance! But I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Johan's head tilt slightly in my general direction, his eyes flickering to me for a moment.

"Hayato, I... I think you should tell Rei yes," I said.

"Did you already ask someone, Judai?" Did Johan notice that Hayato looked over in his direction?

"No, I'm not going at all," I answered.

Hayato looked stunned. "Why not?" he demanded.

Crap. I really hadn't been expecting him to ask me why. I was planning on him just accepting it like any normal person would. But, since he asked, I guess I better answer. I really didn't feel like explaining the safety hazards that dancing would cause for me, so I quickly made new plans. "I'm going to Dragor that Saturday, so I won't be around," I told him.

"Can't you go some other weekend?"

"Sorry, no," I said. "But you shouldn't keep Rei waiting any longer- it's rude."

Hayato nodded and turned and headed back to his seat. I closed my eyes and tried to take in a few deep breaths to keep calm. Mr. Daitokuji had just begun to speak, so I opened my eyes.

And Johan was staring at me curiously, the same familiar edge of frustration visible on his face.

I stared in shock, expecting him to quickly look away like he always did. But instead, he just kept on staring into my eyes. Their coal-black color held mine for what seemed like countless hours. I was unaware of anything else but him and my pounding heart rate. There was no way that I could look away. My hands started to tremble.

"Mr. Andersen?" Mr. Daitokuji called.

Johan seemed reluctant to turn and answer the question I had not heard. "It's the Krebs Cycle," he answered.

I looked down at my text book the moment his dark black eyes released me. My cheeks burned, and I must have looked a sight. I let my brown bangs fall in my face, preventing Johan's incredibly blackened eyes from staring into mine and keeping the same spell over me. I couldn't believe the rush of emotion I had felt- all because he had happened to look at me for the first time in what felt like forever.

I tried very hard to ignore him for the rest of class, but it was nearly impossible. When the bell finally rang, I practically threw myself up from my seat and tried to make a run for the door.

"Judai?" His voice shouldn't have sounded so familiar to me after only having known him for a short time.

I slowly turned, unwillingly. I didn't want to feel what I knew I would feel the moment I locked eyes on his all-too-perfect face. My expression was wary and nervous when I looked at him while his was almost blank, unreadable.

"What? Are you finally speaking to me again?" I tried to make myself sound agitated. It just amused him.

The corner of his lips twitched as if he were fighting a smile. "No, I suppose not," he admitted with a soft, almost inaudible chuckle.

I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, gritting my teeth. Johan waited. "Then what do you want, Johan?" I asked, trying to keep my fast growing temper from spiking. I kept my eyes closed- it was much easier to talk to him like this.

"I'm sorry." He sounded like he meant it. "I'm being very rude, but this is safer for both of us."

I opened my eyes. He looked serious.

"I don't understand," I murmured. It wasn't a lie.

"It's better if we're not friends, Judai," Johan said, looking into my eyes again. "Trust me."

My eyes narrowed. I had heard that one before. "Well, I guess you should have figured that out earlier, huh?" I snapped. I was definitely angry with him, and I wanted him to know it. "I bet you could have survived without all of this regret, huh?"

"Regret?" The word and my tone caught Johan off guard. "Regret what?"

"Letting that stupid van slamming into me."

He was astonished. No- he was horrified. When he finally spoke a moment later, he sounded furious. "Judai, you think I regret saving your life?" he almost yelled.

"I know you do," I snapped.

"You don't know anything," he growled back. Yup. He was definitely mad.

I turned my head sharply away from him, keeping my jaw clenched against any horrible comments that I wanted to throw at him. I gathered my books and headed for the door. I had been meaning to make a simple sweep out of the room and keep whatever shred of dignity I had left, but like the klutz I am, I caught the toe of my boot on the doorjamb and dropped my books. For a moment, I considered leaving them. I sighed and bent to pick them up.

Johan was already there. By this time, he had already stacked my textbooks into a pile. He handed them back to me, the same mixture of emotion I had seen many times on his face.

"Thanks," I said coldly.

His dark eyes narrowed. "You're welcome," he said back just as icily.

I turned away and stalked off to Gym class without ever looking back at him. I could hear him mutter something under his breath, but somehow, I knew that none of it was directed at me. It sounded... like he was furious with himself.

Gym was horrible. We moved on to basketball. My team never passed me the ball- which was very smart of them- and I fell down a lot. Sometimes I even took a few people with me, not that they yelled at me or anything. Today was worse than ever because my head was so filled with Johan. I couldn't stop thinking about him, especially when I needed my balance. Damn him for entering my mind all the time!

It was a relief to leave, finally. I rushed for my truck. There were so many people that I didn't want to see. My truck had received minimal damage in the accident, but Mituso's van had been totalled.

I knew the damage to his van was thanks to Johan, despite what he said.

I almost had a heart attack when I rounded the corner and saw a tall, dark figure leaning against my truck. My heart restarted when I realized that it was only Kenzan, smiling and waving at me.

"Hey, Kenzan!" I called.

"Hi, Judai!"

"What's up?" I said as I unlocked my car.

Kenzan stepped back and allowed me to open the truck door, but he held it open for me. I smiled at him to show my thanks. He smiled back, but he seemed like something was bothering him. His next words caught me off surprise.

"So, Judai, do you... want to go to the dance together?" he asked.

I glanced over in shock. "Huh?"

Kenzan sighed and leaned up against my truck. "Well, Hayato said you weren't going, and I wondered if you were just worried that you would be hurting Rei's feelings. And I don't mean for us to go like... like a couple or anything. I just meant like a group of friends going," he explained to me, and it made me feel a bit better. Here was one guy not hitting on me.

"Thank you for asking me, but I'll be in Dragor that day," I said.

Kenzan smiled. "So, that wasn't just an excuse to make Hayato go and ask Rei?"

"Nope," I smiled.

Kenzan smiled and tapped me on the shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow in English," he said. He gave me one more friendly smile. "Let me know if you change your mind about going with me and my group of friends, okay? It'll be fun." He trotted off to his car after that, not looking back in my direction as he hummed a small tune to himself.

I heard a low chuckle from the other side of the parking lot.

Johan was walking past the front of my truck, looking straight forward, his lips pulled into a tight line. I hopped into my truck and slammed the door a bit louder than I should have. I revved the engine and set the truck into reverse and moved out of the parking spot. Johan was already in his car, two spaces down, sliding out smoothly in front of me and cutting me off. He stopped there- to wait for his family. I could see the four of them walking towards his car, but they were far away, by the cafeteria. I considered taking out the rear or his shiny silver Volvo, but there were too many witnesses. A line was beginning to form behind me. Mituso was behind me, waving. I was too aggravated with Johan, his earlier comment, and his current stunt to acknowledge Mituso.

While I was sitting there, looking everywhere but at the shiny Volvo in front of me, I heard a knock on my passenger window. I looked over; it was Mituso. I rolled down my window, which got stuck halfway. I growled, but ignored it.

"Sorry, Mituso. I'm stuck behind Andersen." I growled Johan's last name. I was furious with him today.

"Oh, I know- I just wanted to ask you something," Mituso smiled.

Oh no.

This can not be happening.

"Will you go with me to the spring dance?" Mituso asked.

"Sorry, Mituso. I'm not going to be in town on that day," I explained. "I'm going to be in Dragor." My voice sounded a bit angry when I said it. I had to remember that it wasn't him who had used up all my patience for today.

"Yeah, Hayato said that," he said.

"Then why-"

"I was hoping that you were just letting him down easy," he smiled.

"Sorry, Mituso," I said. "I really am going to be out of town on that night."

"It's cool. We still have the prom."

He was gone before I could say anything more on the subject. I could feel the shock on my face. I looked forward to see Alice, Fubuki, Asuka, and Jim all sliding into the Volvo. In his rear-view window, Johan was shaking with laughter, his eyes locked on me, as if he had heard every single thing that Mituso had just said to me. I growled. One little bump wouldn't hurt his car or anyone in his family; just that shiny silver paint job. I revved the engine to my truck and went for the gas.

But they were all in, and Johan's Volvo was speeding away. I drove home slowly, trying not to hit anything.

When I got home, I decided to make chicken enchiladas that would keep me busy with their long process. While I was simmering the onions and peppers, the phone rang. I was almost afraid to answer it, but it might be Nerigon or my mom.

It was Rei, and she was ecstatic. Hayato had caught her after school and accepted her invitation to the dance. I celebrated with her briefly while I stirred the ingredients. She had to go because she wanted to call Momoe and Junko to tell them. I suggested that maybe Momoe should ask Kenzan, and that Junko should ask Mituso. Rei said that it sounded like a great idea, since they were both available. Now that Hayato had agreed to go with her, she sounded upset that I wasn't going to the dance. I gave her my Dragor excuse.

After I hung up, I tried to focus on cooking.

But my head was spinning, trying to analyze every single word that Johan had said to me today. What had he meant by "it would be better if we were not friends"?

My stomach twisted when I thought of something.

Maybe he noticed how much I noticed about him. Maybe he thought that I was too absorbed with him and that he didn't want to lead me on. So we couldn't be friends... because he wasn't interested in me?

I sighed.

Can't say that I blame him. I'm not interesting at all. I'm nothing. I wasn't interesting. He was. Interesting... and brilliant... and mysterious... and perfect... and possibly able to lift full-sized minivans with one hand.

Well, that was fine. If he wanted to pretend that I didn't exist, I could do the same. I would do the same.

Nerigon seemed suspicious when he came home and smelled the peppers I was cooking. I couldn't blame him. I hadn't cooked something like this before. It was fun to watch him eat nervously, as if waiting for it to poison him. I stifled a laugh as he pretended to choke and collapsed. He gave a laugh and continued eating.

I waited until he was almost done. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah, Judai?"

"Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to Dragor for the day a week from Saturday... if that's okay?" I didn't want to ask permission, but I felt that it would be rude to just tell him stuff instead of asking him.

"Are you going by yourself?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Dragor is such a big place, Ju- You could get lost," he fretted.

I sighed and folded my arms. "You really don't think highly of me, do you, Dad?" He chuckled at this. "I'll be fine. I can read a map you know, and Dragor isn't that big. "Besides, I'll just be in the libraries, game stores, and looking for some clothes for the upcoming weeks. Nothing super fun going on there."

Nerigon nodded and let the subject drop.

The next morning, when I arrived at the parking lot, I parked as far away from the silver Volvo as I could. I didn't want to get too mad and end up owing him another car. Getting out of my truck, I fumbled with my keys and dropped them into a puddle. As I bent to get them, a white hand shot out and grabbed it before I could. I jerked upright. Johan Andersen was right next to me, leaning up against my truck.

"How do you do that?" I snapped.

"Do what?" He sounded amused as he held my keys out to me. I reached for them and he dropped them into my palm.

"Appear out of thin air."

Johan seemed even more amused when I said that. "Judai, it is not my fault that you are extremely unobservant," he said with a hidden laugh. His voice was quiet, as usual.

I glared at him. His eyes were considerably lighter than before- a rich, slightly dark green-yellow.

"Why the traffic jam yesterday?" I demanded, trying not to look directly at him. "I thought you were supposed to be pretending that I didn't exist or something like that. Not irritating me to death."

"That was for Mituso's sake, not mine," he smiled. "I had to give him his chance."

"You-" I gasped, unable to find a bad enough word to call him. I grit my teeth and tried to calm down. It felt like the heat from my anger should be able to burn him, but it just seemed to make him more amused.

He continued. "And I'm not pretending you don't exist."

"So you aretrying to irritate me to death. Since Mituso's van didn't finish the job."

His emerald-yellow eyes widened and anger flashed across his face. His lips formed into a tight line, all sense of humor gone. "Judai, you're utterly absurd," he said, his low velvet-like voice cold.

My hands tingled- I wanted so badly to punch someone or something. I was shocked. I was usually a very noviolent person. I turned my back and started to walk away.

"Wait," he called.

I ignored him and continued walking through the rain. Johan was beside me in several strides.

"I'm sorry, that was rude," he said. I continued to ignore him. "I'm not saying it isn't true," he continued, ignoring the fact that I was trying to ignore him. "but it was rude to say it, anyway."

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" I mumbled.

Johan chuckled. "I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me." He seemed to have recovered his good humor.

"Do you have a multiple personality disorder?" I snapped.

"You're doing it again."

I sighed and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. "Fine," I pinched the bridge of my nose with my index finger and my thumb. "What did you want to ask me, Johan?"

"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday- you know, the day of the spring dance-"

"Are you trying to be funny?" I growled.

I spun around to glare at him, my face getting drenched as I had to look up to glare at his face. He just smiled, ignoring my anger. That pissed me off, but I let it go and continued to glare. His eyes and his expression were wickedly amused.

"Will you allow me to finish?" he asked.

I bit my lower lip and clasped my hands together to keep from hitting something. I stared into his eyes, and he was smiling back at me. I felt my face heat up, and I tried to make it so he couldn't see my blush.

"I heard that you were going to Dragor that day, and I was wondering if you wanted a ride."

That was unexpected. "What?"

"Do you want a ride to Dragor?"

"With who?"

"Myself, obviously." Johan said each syllable as if he was speaking to someone whom he believed to be mentally handicapped.

I was still stunned. "Why?"

"Well, I was planning on going to Dragor within the next few weeks, and, to be quite honest, I don't think that your truck-" He jerked his thumb in the direction of my truck- "can make it."

I started to walk away, but I was in too much shock to maintain the same level of shock. "M-my truck works just fine, thank you very much for your concern," I murmured.

"But can it make it there on one tank of gas?" He matched my pace again.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern, you stupid, shiny Volvo owner," I mumbled.

Johan laughed at my comment, but otherwise ignored it. "The wasting of finite resources it everyone's business," he said. I turned to glare at the large smile on his face.

"Honestly, Johan." I felt a shudder go through me as I said his name. "I can't keep up with you. I thought you didn't want to be my friend."

"I said it was better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be."

"Oh, thanks. Now that that's all cleared up." Heaven sarcasm. I must be furious.

I realized that I had stopped walking again. Johan and I were under the roof of the cafeteria, so I could see his face more clearly. It sent a cool and warm shiver down my back. It was a strange mixture. The calm and warm expression on his face didn't help with the fact that I was supposed to be mad at him right now.

"It would be... safer for you not to be my friend," he explained. "But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Judai."

His green-yellow eyes were intense as he practically whispered the last words. His voice was calm and serious. I couldn't remember how to take a breath for a little while, my cheeks bright crimson.

"Will you go with me to Dragor, Judai?" he asked, still serious.

I couldn't speak, so I just nodded.

Johan smiled widely, and then his face became serious once again. "You really should try and stay away from me, Judai," he warned and then he gave me a wide smile. "I'll see you in class."

He turned abruptly and walked back the way we came, leaving me to deal with the blush on my face.

Me: Hah! Johan made Judai blush once again! (1) Ha ha! Judai's having sex dreams already!

Lucy: And now Johan has decided that he won't try to stay away from Judai anymore because he just can't, and though he hasn't admitted it yet, he does really want to be around Judai!

Me: But what will happen now and will Judai understand why Johan seems to be so interested in him?

Lucy: Please review and we shall update as soon as possible!