authors note: sorry for the extremely long hiatus! (again)

Chapter Four:
Meeting them... Again?

The second I opened the door of the bathroom, Vergil was there. He had a stern look on his face, as usual. He only wore his pants and had a towel draped over his shoulder.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" he asked.

"Sorry. Didn't know you were waiting for the shower!" I said, faking a smile.

"You were cursing in the bathroom while slamming your fist against the wall and almost broke your hand... Unless you were doing something I don't wanna hear about in there..." Vergil said. His face was still stern, even with his last sentence.

"It's nothing." I said, looking away from him. I blushed being slightly embarrassed that he would say something light that. Vergil took my right hand and raised it up to his face.

"What are you doing?!" I said, trying to jerk my right hand away from him as I held my towel up with my left.

"Mine healed too fast. I didn't get a chance to see what they looked like before they went away... Yours will be here for a couple hours at least." Vergil said, examining my hand as I struggled against him.

"They look a lot like bite marks, pretty deep ones at that... Couldn't wait for me to come home and cook dinner?" Vergil taunted.

"I said it was nothing!" I yelled.

He let go of my hand as I jerked it away once more.

"You're getting all emotional over it, so it's obviously not nothing... And besides, I spoke to Stein today." Vergil said, as he leaned against the border of the bathroom door.

I looked away again. I had no reply to what he had said since it was the truth.

Vergil pushed past me and entered the bathroom. He bent down and picked up all of the dirty clothes and tossed them to me. I almost fell on my face as I caught them all and glared at him. He tossed Ikki last. For the second that Vergil touched Ikki, it shocked him. I jolted a little at the pain.

"I coulda just got him, ya know!" I yelled.

"That's what you get for not being honest with me and taking so long in the shower... We'll talk when I'm done."

I groaned and walked out of the bathroom as Vergil slammed the door shut behind me.

I looked up from the book I was reading as I heard a knock on my door. Even though it was open, Vergil still had the decency to knock... which was rare.

"Can I come in?" he asked, poking his head through the door.

I sat up from my bed and closed my book before putting it down on the nightstand next to me. Vergil sat next to me on my bed and stared at me until I gave him a look that said "Soo...?"

He coughed awkwardly.

"You make it seem like you're about to give me a sex talk or something..." I said, trying to make him a bit uncomfortable... Just a bit. I had given myself a lot of time to calm down in the shower. Reading had also kept me distracted, but I still didn't feel like opening up to Vergil about what was going on with me.

"No, no... None of that... God, don't even talk about that. I'm not your Daddy..." Vergil said, his face flushing with redness as he looked away from me a little bit.

There was an awkward silence between us as we both stared in different directions at different inanimate objects in my room. I chose to stare at the striped pink and purple kitty clock on my wall. The clock was on its stomach. The lime green eyes on its smiling face shifted from side to side simultaneously with its tail, but in opposite directions.

"Sai..." Vergil said in worried voice.

I looked at him since any ounce of emotion was something I rarely detected in him... Not counting anger of course.

"I know about your cravings. I knew that they were bothering you even before Stein talked to me about it. You're a vampire. It's natural for you to crave human blood. I know you're doing your best to try and sate them without human blood... If you really need to, you know you can start drinking from me ag-"

"No!" I interrupted him.

"But... You need real blood." Vergil said.

"I told you before that I was never going to drink from you again unless I was dying. I can't do that to you again, Vergil. It's an invasion of your privacy and it'll just be proof that I don't have myself under as much control as I thought I did."

"What control, Sai?" Vergil asked. His voice had gone back to being emotionless.

I was taken back by what he said a little... Once again, because it was the truth. I was really starting to lose control of my hunger...

"You almost ate your fingers off just because of a little cut you got on your leg in the shower." Vergil stated, making me feel even worse.

"What right do you have to patronize me like that?! You have no idea what I'm going through! Just the sight of blood... my own blood! It makes me go crazy! You've never had to deal with anything li-"

This time Vergil interrupted me. "The Kishin."

"What?!" I asked, confused.

"You think I don't understand what it means to fight off what my instincts are telling me to do? I've been fighting them my whole life, Sai. I'm descended from a line of Devils... Devils are in hell for a reason. My ancestors slaughtered humans for the fun of it. The Kishin's damn madness wavelength has only stirred that instinct in me up. Stop being such a drama queen... You just started dealing with this now because I satisfied your instinctive needs before. Meanwhile no one was there to satisfy mine." Vergil said. His voice remained calm... but that was the scary part.

I looked away from him again. I couldn't believe that I almost blew up on him when I didn't even know what he was going through for all this time. The thought of the Insanity Plague swept through my mind. Was I really going to turn out like that? Would I lose myself just like the rest of the Al Bhed before me? The thoughts brought tears to my eyes.

I turned to Vergil. "I don't want to end up like them, Vergil... I don't want you to end up like the rest of the Devils before you either... I-I'm scared."

I broke down and covered my face with my hands. I felt Vergil's arms wrap around me as he pulled me close to him. I leaned against him and gripped his t-shirt as I cried into his chest.

"Don't worry... We'll get through this. We've gotten through everything together this far..." Vergil cooed.

"Look at me." He said, stroking my hair.

I looked up at him with my puffy red eyes.

"I won't let you go crazy only if you do the same for me. Okay?" He said with a soft smile.

I laughed a little.

"Okay." I said with a sniffle.

"Promise?" Vergil asked.

"Promise." I answered.

We hugged each other tightly. Vergil turned and kissed my forehead.

"You know, you're the only one that I really care about now. You're the only family I have." Vergil said.

"You're the only family I've ever had." I said. It was basically the truth. The only thing that I remembered about about my real family was my mother... When she was already insane... I had no idea who my father was or if I had any siblings, aunts, or uncles... Nothing. The only person that came to mind when I thought of family was Vergil and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I sighed in relief as I laid back in my chair at the table. Vergil and I had just finished the lunch we had made together. I couldn't describe how nice it was to relax in the comfort of my own apartment in casual clothes (pics on my site aeonsoul234 . webs . com) with absolutely nothing to worry about for the time being.

I patted my stomach twice. "That was great! I'm so full!"

"Complimenting yourself again I see." Vergil said.

"I bet if I could taste, it would've tasted like crap." Ikki commented.

"Oh, shut it!" I said, slapping him once.

Of course, Ikki had a retort, but I ignored him since the door bell rang. Vergil started to get up, but I waved my hand to him as I got up and he sat down. I walked over to the door and stood up on my tippy-toes to see through the peep hole. It was Sid.

I opened the door and greeted him. "Hey there, Sid. What's up?"

"Good afternoon, Sai." Sid said nodding to me. He looked inside of our apartment and saw Vergil sitting down at the table.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything." Sid said.

"No, not at all. We were done eating anyway. Come in." I said, stepping aside so Sid could come in.

"Thank you, but I should be on my way soon. I have a lot of preparations for the restarting of classes and am in need of Vergil's help. I need to brief him a little about the classes he will be helping me teach for the meantime before he gets his own."

"No problem."

I turned to Vergil. "Ya hear that, Verg?!" I yelled to him.

"Yeah!" he answered with a wave after finishing his iced tea.

"I'll be in room 372 in the North building when you are ready." Sid said to Vergil.

Vergil nodded in reply.

Then Sid turned to me. "Shinigami-sama also said that he would like you to meet the meisters that you will be working on missions with today. Find Stein and Marie. They will be able to introduce you to the meisters."

"Okie dokie!" I said with a smile.

"Alright then. I'll get going. Have a nice day." Sid said with a little wave.

I waved back to him before he turned around and started walking down our stoop, which I now noticed was not a pretty sight. All the flowers that were previously there had long-since withered and had been replaced by ugly looking weeds. Ivy had made its way all around our steps and on the railings as well.

"Gotta work on that..." I said, closing the door.

I walked back over to the table where Vergil was as I started clearing plates away.

"Sid said to meet him in 273 North." I said.

"You mean 372 North..." Vergil said with a sigh and a sweat drop on his head.

I chuckled uneasily. "Whoopsie... Well, good thing you heard him!"

"Damn it, where could that man be?" I said as I paced around the courtyards of the DWMA dormitories. I was on my way back to the apartment after going all the way to Stein's lab to find him not their. I had checked all around the DWMA campus as well; No Stein.

"All this trouble just to say 'hi'... Why can't I just meet them during my stupid missions?" I thought.

My tongue traced my extended fangs. I had been trying to get them to retract for the past ten minutes, but it failed to work.

I cursed myself. "I knew I should've drank a tablet before heading out..."

"Sai..?" I heard someone call.

I turned around and saw a familiar mop of red hair on a man in a suit with a cross shaped tie.

"Oh, hey Spirit! It's nice to see you again!" I said with a smile on my face.

Spirit walked up to me and rustled my hair.

"Hey!" I protested as I tried to fix it.

"Nice to see you too... Even though I assume the reason you're back is because of the Kishin." Spirit said. I saw his eyes flit to my fangs. He looked away and tried to make it seem as if he hadn't looked at them in the first place.

I blushed a little, embarrassed that I couldn't control them at the moment.

"Unfortunately that is the reason..." I said.

There was a little awkward silence between us. Mentioning of the Kishin could do that to just about any conversation... A crazed demon god who had just been awakened was not a subject anyone was willing to openly talk about.

I coughed to break the silence and then spoke. "Hey, Spirit... Do you have any idea where Stein is?"

"He's in the courtyard with Marie watching my daughter and some of the other students play basketball. Why?" Spirit answered.

"Shinigami said that I should see him so he could introduce me to some meisters and their weapons that I'm going to be on missions with."

"He was definitely talking about Maka and them. They're a tough crowd... Quite powerful for one star meisters. I'll show you back to the courtyard where the basketball court is then." Spirit said with a smile.

Spirit motioned for me to follow him as he turned around to go back in the direction where he came from. While we walked, he boasted about how the last time he saw me I looked so much younger and different and blah, blah, blah... He asked about Vergil once, but I could tell he just did it as a courtesy. He never liked Vergil that much. As a matter of fact, not many people took a liking to Vergil. After a short ten minutes of walking, we arrived at the basketball courts. I saw Stein sitting down on a bench with a woman with blonde hair and an eyepatch, who I guessed was the one that Spirit had called "Marie". I looked at the people playing basketball. They all appeared to be around my age. There was a girl with medium long blonde hair that was down. She looked rather confused on how to play basketball. On her team was another girl with short blonde hair who was constantly giggling and another older girl who had long black hair. They were playing against a team with a boy with blue spikey hair who was extremely loud, a boy with white hair, and another boy with black hair with three white half stripes.

"Game!" the boy with the blue hair yelled as he made a swish.

The team of girls all sighed.

"Sheesh! Why did you guys agree to play us again?" the boy with the white hair asked.

"We didn't agree! You three just said you were all on the same team and started playing the minute we set foot here today!" the girl with the long blonde hair yelled.

The one with the short blonde hair giggled. "It's ok, Maka! At least there was no punishment game this time!"

The girl with the black hair laughed at that. "You're getting better, Maka. We'll play again soon and beat them next time."

"YOU THREE BEAT US?!" the boy with the blue hair yelled before going into a fit of laughter that had him clutching his stomach on the floor. His rude act was met with a hard chop to the head with a book that the long blonde girl had left on a bench nearby.

"Hey, Sai!" Spirit called.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" I said running over to where he was next to Stein and Marie. I hadn't even realized how distracted I got watching them... I had never really interacted with anyone my age. The only person I was close to was Vergil.

"Hello Stein." I said with a quick wave to Stein. He politely smiled back slightly.

I turned to the woman next to him with a smile. "Hi. I don't believe we've met. I'm Sai."

"Nice to meet you, Sai. I'm Marie, Stein's temporary weapon." the woman answered, returning my smile. We shook hands.

"I've been told that Shinigami wants you to meet the elite one stars." Stein said.

"Yes. He said that I should meet them before we go on missions together." I answered.

"Well, I don't see why that's necessary... Seeing that you've already met them before." Stein answered.

I looked at him weirdly. "I don't think so..."

"It's ironic that memory isn't a very reliable thing, isn't it?" Stein said.

"I guess..." I answered, confused.

"Anywho, I guess we should call them so you can introduce yourself again to them. I'm sure they'll remember you even though you don't seem to remember them." Stein said.

I nodded. Stein got up and started walking towards the group. I followed a couple feet behind him. What was he talking about? I had never met any other person my age before...

"Hey! Wait one minute before you start getting ready to play the next game!" Stein called to the group as they fussed over teams.

"Have we bothered you, Professor Stein?" the girl with the long blonde hair asked.

"Not at all... I'd all like for you to meet someone... for the second time. I'm sure you'll remember her." Stein said.

They all looked confused as I walked up to them. The girl with the short blonde hair was wearing a crop top. Her neck was fully exposed and the artery in her neck was pounding from having run around so much, even after the game. She was quite energetic. It enticed me so much that my fangs popped out once again, but I didn't notice. They had reverted when I was watching them play basketball since I had gotten distracted.

"Hello, my name is Sai." I said flashing them a smile, unawaringly showing fangs and all.

"Sai, this is Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, and Patty." Stein said, almost tauntingly to me. As he said each of their names, they all said a little hello to me.

He turned to the group. "Sai has recently come back with her guardian from being sent away on missions. Shinigami-sama would like for all of you to get acquainted, some of you reacquainted, with her since you will be doing missions together. You'll later be acquainted with her guardian as he will be teaching new courses in the curriculum once classes start up again."

"You..." Kid said.

"Me?" I asked, confused.

"She looks familiar to you too, Kid?" Maka asked Kid.

"Yes... She does." Kid answered.

He turned to me."You're a vampire, aren't you?"

I blushed, realizing that my fangs were out. I covered my mouth.

"Vampire?! There's no such thing as vampires!" Black Star said.

"Yeah, vampires are only things in books." Soul added.

"That is a little bit of a rash thing to say, Kid." Tsubaki agreed.

"WoOoO! Dracula!" Patty exclaimed.

There was a little bit of an awkward silence.

"I remember!" Kid said.

Everyone looked at him weirdly.

He looked at me.

"You... You used to bite me when I was younger! My father used to try and make me play with you and you'd bite me in the hand!" Kid said, clutching his right hand.

"What? You're crazy!" Black Star said.

"I think I'd remember if I bit you when I was younger..." I said, a little weirded out.

"Look! I have scars!" Kid said, waving his hand in front of me. As he said, there were small multiple pricks about an inch apart. They were hardly visible, but since his hand was right in my face, I could see them.

I laughed nervously.

"I have those too! And I remember getting bitten whenever Shinigami-sama was babysitting me in the Death Room when I was younger!" Maka exclaimed.

She also showed me one of her hands. There were similar tiny pricks.

I looked at them and squinted, trying to think back.

I got a sweatdrop on the back of my head... I actually did sort of remember biting both of them at one point. I remembered biting Kid more-so than Maka.

"Oh... heh heh..." I said, laughing nervously.

"See? I told you that they'd remember you." Stein said.

Half of the group looked confused, while Maka and Kid were just staring at me weirdly.

"S-Sorry... about... that...?" I said with an uneasy smile on my face.

Kid sighed. "It's no matter now. As long as you don't go biting me again."

"Same here." Maka said.

"I won't... unless you let me..." I joked a little. Kid smiled slightly.

"So... How do we know you're not one of those crazy people who thinks they're a vampire?" Soul asked.

"Yeah! If you were really a vampire, wouldn't you melt when water splashed you or something?!" Black Star asked.

"Black Star... Witches melt in water in stories... Vampires are supposed to turn to ash in sun light." Tsubaki corrected.

"That's what I said! Aren't you supposed to be turning into ash now?" Black Star said.

"I can assure both of you that Sai is the real deal. She comes from a line of vampires that are now extinct. There's a lot of misconceptions about humanoids that come from literature. I'm pretty sure that Medusa wouldn't have been a challenge to beat if simply pouring water on her would've killed her..." Stein said.

Suddenly, the group became a little uneasy.

"Well... I should be getting back to the lab now. I must make preparations for the resuming of classes tomorrow. See you all in homeroom." Stein said, seeing that he had made the situation a little awkward.

Once again, there was another awkward silence.

"Hey Soul." Black Star said, breaking it.

"What's up?" Soul asked.

"You think the girls can beat us now that they have another player on their team?" Black Star asked with a smirk on his face.

Soul returned his smirk. "Not a chance."

"I don't think so either." Kid added.

"We'll see about that!" I replied.