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!

Lucy: In this chapter, Judai goes to Farum with his friends, and there, he meets Jun Manjoume. Jun and Judai have been friends since they were little, but they have not seen each other in a long time!

Me: Will they remember each other?

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

Chapter Six: Horror Stories

Friday sucks, or at least, this one did. Johan, as stated, had started his weekend early with Jim. The rest of the Andersens were at their table, but none of them were looking in my direction. Fubuki and Asuka seemed to be deeply engaged in conversation, and the small, pixie-like one, Alice, was watching them with growing boredom.

"What did Andersen want yesterday?" Rei asked me.

"He didn't exactly get to that," I grumbled.

She just laughed and patted me on the shoulder. Hayato and Kenzan were throwing their food at each other, talking about the trip to the beach in Farum tomorrow. I wouldn't admit it, since it would inflate Hayato's ego, but I was actually excited about it.

That night, Nerigon seemed enthusiastic about my trip.

I guess he felt guilty about leaving me home alone on the weekends. But he had built up so many habits and hobbies over the years that it would be cruel of me to think that he would try to break them. He knew all of the kids going and he seemed to like them. He approved. I wasn't so sure that he would approve of my upcoming trip to Dragor with Johan Andersen? I didn't try to think about it.

"Dad, do you know the area up in the Mountains?" I asked.

"Which mountains?"

"The ones surrounding Copenhagen," I said. "Some of my classmates were going hiking up there."

Nerigon looked surprised. "That's not a very good place to go hiking," he said. He sounded surprised, too. "There are a lot of bears up there. Most people go there for the hunting seasons."

"Ah."

In the morning, after a dreamless night, I went to the store that Hayato's family owned. I had seen the store, but I had never been in to it before. It was one of those stores that sold clothes. I would probably have to go there someday to get some new clothes, I was certain. I parked my car and got out. The group of kids were standing close together. Hayato was there, along with Mituso and Kenzan. Beside them were two boys who I thought had been named Billy and James. Rei was there, along with Momoe and Junko. Behind Rei- who was waving at me like an idiot- was a girl named Seika and another girl who I didn't know. I recognized her later as the girl I had knocked over in Gym during volleyball. She glared at me and whispered in Seika's ear. Seika brushed her black hair back and glared scornfully at me.

So it's one of those days it is? Fine. Bring it!

Hayato was happy to see me. The way that he came running at me as if he hadn't seen me in several years was living proof of that fact. I almost laughed, but tried to keep it down.

"You came!" He sounded relieved.

"I told you I was coming," I pointed out with a wide grin.

"We're just waiting for Amanda and Jackson... unless you invited someone else," Hayato added.

"Nope." I hoped I wouldn't get caught in the lie. I was wishing that somehow, though, Johan would show up. It would brighten my day up a bit, especially since I would be spending the day with bitchy Seika and her group of bitches.

Hayato looked pleased.

"You can ride with me," he said. "You can have shotgun."

"Thanks," I murmured with a grin.

I felt a bit bad, since Rei really seemed to like Hayato. The numbers worked out for me. Amanda brought two more people, and it was necessary to use all the seats possible. I managed to squeeze Rei in between Hayato and me. Hayato didn't seem to mind, and Rei was ecstatic. She gave me and thankful smile and hugged my arm the whole time.

Farum wasn't that far from Copenhagen.

I zoned out through most of the trip and tried to recall all the times in which Nerigon had brought me to Farum to go fishing with his friend Ulric Manjoume and his son Jun.

When I finally snapped back to reality, we were in the middle of an area in which there were benches surrounding the small fire pit. Amanda was setting sticks into a tepee shape, smiling the whole time. I sat on one of the bone colored benches and watched them light the fire up. I had a smile on my face the whole time, but my mine was elsewhere.

I remembered something.

When I was little, I use to play with this boy who had long black hair. He lived in Farum, and he was part of this tribe called the Quilliates(1). The trib e was fairly modern, but they were very superstitious, or rather, the elders were.

After half an hour, some of the boys wanted to go play in the tide pools. I wanted to go, but at the same time, I didn't. I loved tide pools, but I always ended up falling in to one. It was fine when you were six or seven, but now, I was seventeen, dammit! I was not falling into a tide pool. It would also break my promise to Johan- not to fall into the ocean.

I decided to go hiking with a few of the others.

During the hike, I listened to Hayato and Kenzan argue about nothing. I laughed with them, but I wasn't focusing. I was trying to remember the boy with black hair who had been my friend when I was little.

When we returned, our group had multiplied.

As I got closer, I could see that they were kids who lived on the reservation, kids who were members of the Quilliates. Some had long black hair, and a few others had mixtures of other colors, but they all had one thing in common. Their eyes were all a similar shade of gray. They were all a nice bunch of kids, laughing and telling jokes with everyone else.

I sat down on one of the benches and sighed.

When he was done talking to Junko, one of the boys walked over to me with a smile.

He looked about fifteen years old, and he had long, glossy black hair tied back with a dark blue rubber band. His hair was spiked in the front and his dark gray eyes were set high on his face. He looked amazing, though not as good as Johan did. My positive opinion of him was destroyed by the first words out of his mouth.

"You're Judai Yuki, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I sighed.

I was getting sick and tired of people doing that. It was like the first day of school all over again.

He stuck out his hand. "I'm Jun Manjoume," he introduced himself with a wide grin. "You bought my dad's old truck."

My memories clicked. This was the boy who I had played with as a child. This was the guy that Nerigon had been talking about. I felt bad that I hadn't recognized him in the first place.

"Manjoume!" I jumped up and hugged him rather than shook his hand. "It's been ages!"

Jun Manjoume flashed me a grin, happy I had even remembered him at all. "It has," he said. "Though I'm shocked you remembered me. You would remember my older brothers though."

"Chosaku and Shoji," I said.

"They're not here at the moment," he said when he noticed that I was looking around for them. "So, how do you like the truck?"

"It runs great," I said.

"It's really slow," Manjoume laughed.

"Not really."

"Have you tried going over fifty?"

"...No."

"Good." He smiled. "Don't."

I couldn't help but laugh as well. We both started laughing together, and this caught the attention of Seika. She glared at me, then put on a flirty smile and walked over to Manjoume, swinging her hips a bit more than necessary. Manjoume didn't pay any attention to her. This must have made her angry, since she tried to act more seductive as she walked over.

"You know Judai, Manjoume?" she asked, sounding shocked.

"We've sort of known each other since we were little," Manjoume admitted. "Me, I've known him since I was born."

Seika's eyes narrowed when she saw me. "How nice," she hissed softly.

She didn't sound like she thought it was nice at all. Her fish-like eyes took in every detail of how Manjoume and I laughed together and it must have pissed her off. I smiled at that.

"Judai," she called again. She watched my face carefully as she spoke to me. "I was just saying to Mituso how it's such a shame that none of the Andersens could come with us. Didn't anyone think to invite them?" The look of concern she gave me was unconvincing.

"You mean Dr. Andersen's family?" one of the boys from the reservation, the one with long blue hair and narrow eyes, called.

He was closer to a man than a boy, and sent chills down my spine. His eyes seemed to peer into mine, and he seemed cold. He seemed like the type of person that you didn't want angry.

"They don't come here," another boy from the reservation called.

The way he said it made it seem like the Andersens didn't just not come here, it made it sound like they weren't allowed to come here.

The way the bluenette boy had talked about the Andersens made me interested. I wanted to know more. I turned to Manjoume and flashed him a wide grin. He'd tell me.

"Want to walk to the beach?"

He jumped up without a second thought, still smiling.

When we were down on the beach and away from anyone else, I turned to face him. He was swinging his arms by his sides, flashing me another major grin. It made me laugh.

"Who was that guy Seika was talking to?" I asked curiously.

"Ryo Marufuji- he's twenty," he answered.

"What was he saying about the Andersens?" I asked.

Manjoume inhaled deeply. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone," he said. "But I get a feeling I can trust you." He flashed me another grin. "Do you like scary stories, Judai?"

"Love 'em," I answered with a true grin.

Manjoume stopped walking and looked up at the darkening sky.

"Legend has it that the Quilliates descended from wolves- and that wolves are our bothers. It's against tribal law to kill one," he said.

His voice lowered.

"Then there are the stories of the cold ones."

I was interested now. "Cold ones?" I asked. I remembered the time in Biology when Johan's hand had brushed mine- how cold and hard his skin had felt when it touched mine.

"Yeah," Manjoume said. "There are stories about them as old as the wolf legends. Others are more recent. Legend has it that my great-grandpa knew a few of them. But those are just legends, after all."

"Your great-grandpa knew them?" I asked.

"Yes. He was a tribal leader. You see, the cold ones are the natural enemy of the wolf- well, not the normal wolves, but rather the wolves that can turn into humans. Your people would call them werewolves, I think."

"Do werewolves have enemies?"

"Just one."

I hoped that he wouldn't end it there. I wanted to know. This was all clicking together perfectly.

"So, you see," Manjoume interrupted my thoughts, as I wanted. "The cold ones are our natural enemies. But the coven- that's what they call their groups. Covens- that came to my great-grandpa was different. They were known as the strange gold-eyed ones, and they didn'tr bite humans. It was something they were highly against. Because of this, my great-grandpa made a truce with them. If they stayed off our lands, we would not kill them or expose them to the humans." He winked at me.

"Why would the truce need to be like that?" I asked. "They weren't dangerous, so-"

"They're always dangerous, Judai," Manjoume told me. "They claimed that they drank animal blood, and we haven't had any issues with 'em."

I tried to keep my voice as casual as possible. "Are the Andersens similar to the cold ones that your great-grandpa made the truce with?" I asked, my voice filled with questions and interest.

He smiled. "No," he told me. "They are the same ones."

He flashed me a wicked grin and continued on with his story. He obviously liked my horrified face.

"There are a few more now- a new female and a new male," he said. "But the rest are the same. In my great-grandpa's time, they already knew the leader, Joshua. He'd been here before."

"What are they?" I whispered.

He smiled darkly.

"Bloodsuckers," he said. "You might know them better as vampires."

I stared out at the ocean, my body shivering. It all made sense now. Johan was a vampire. Or... was he? I couldn't tell. It made too much sense. It seemed like it would be true, and yet, it was so crazy. Nothing like this could be true. But then again, there was no way that Johan could have kept Mituso's van from crushing me.

"You have goosebumps, Judai," Manjoume laughed. "So, you think we're a bunch of superstitious fools?"

I gave him a shaky smile. "No. I think you're just a very good storyteller."

"Cool." He grinned.

On the beach, there was a noise, as if someone was approaching. Manjoume and I looked up and saw Rei and Hayato making their way over to us. Hayato looked relieved, and Rei looked happy to see me. She looked confused and curious when she saw Manjoume. Manjoume smiled at the two approaching people and waved.

"Don't worry!" he called. "I just kidnapped him for a little bit. Nothing permanent."

Hayato laughed. Rei smiled.

"We're packing up, Judai," Hayato told me. "It looks like it's going to rain."

"Okay." I jumped up. "It was nice to see you again, Manjoume. When Nerigon comes to visit Ulric again, I'll be sure to come with him and visit."

His smile stretched. "That'd be great!"

I pulled my hood up and followed after Rei and Hayato. I heard Manjoume's footsteps crunching off into the woods. A few drops of rain had fallen already, splattering against the rocks. When we got to the car, everyone was ready to go. I crawled into the backseat, claiming that I already had my turn at shotgun when Hayato asked what I was doing. Momoe stared out the window the whole time, and Seika was trying to gain all of Mituso's attention, which left me time to lay my head back, close my eyes, and try not to think about how much sense Manjoume had just made on the Andersens and what they were.

Me: So, Judai has met up with his friend Manjoume from when they were friends several years ago! And it seems like they are going to continue to be friends, so that is a good thing! (1) Not a real tribe, but this is what they are in my story.

Lucy: And Manjoume let Judai have a little taste of the history of the Andersens!

Me: Now Judai knows that something is up with Johan! But what will he end up coming up with? Will he figure out just what Johan and the rest of the Andersens really are?

Lucy: Please review and we shall update soon!