* I do not own Ayato-sama or any of these smexy creatures (except for a few OCs).

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Previous Chapter's Summary:

In panic, Subaru brought Yui to the church to calm her down. On the other hand, Ayato brought Julia to the plaza, needing her for some reason yet to be unveiled.

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Night 12

"Consequences of the Two Sakamakis' Revenge"

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- - - The Plaza - - -

The whole place was dancing with lights and festivity. Business was booming for the stall owners and shop owners at the plaza. It was still too early for the firework display, and so the people who had attended to enjoy the festival would naturally choose to spend their time and money on the variety of food and merchandise that were sold there as they wait patiently for midnight to arrive.

Indeed tonight was a night for everyone to enjoy, including a girl who may be in the verge of death.

Yui looked around as she walked slowly. She felt a bit of sad nostalgia, remembering how she'd also go to a festival similar as this one in her old town. She and her friends would often enjoy themselves with the food and games while they chatted their way until the end of the festival. But now, she couldn't freely go anywhere without getting permission or being accompanied by any of her housemates.

She missed those happy times in her previous life. She had often thought that if her father hadn't been assigned to this town and then be sent abroad shortly after the move, then perhaps she wouldn't have left her old life and live in that haunted manor.

No... to live wasn't really the right term... perhaps to be sacrificed was more accurate for it. At least, that's what Laito had been insisting all along. But of course, she refused to believe it.

Yui felt rather relieved to be able to breathe outside the confinements of the manor. Truthfully, although she had visited the church, she didn't want to return home yet. She feared that if she went back inside her room, she'd recall the words that Reiji had told her... of the possibility of her death.

She suddenly shook her head as if removing the thought inside her head. Fortunately, nothing has happened yet, so she was a little more confident that she wasn't about to die just yet.

Yui's eyes then followed a group of girls as they walked passed by her, laughing and chatting with one another.

'It must be nice to have friends right now.' The thought trailed inside her lonely mind. As much as she wanted to contact her old friends and interact closely with her fellow classmates, she couldn't. She feared that they might get caught in her situation. She didn't want anyone getting involved and being hurt because of her. In the end, she had to endure being alone.

'If I had someone whom I could talk to, then perhaps the idea of dying wouldn't be so lonely. If only I had someone... No, anyone... Anyone would do… Anyone who could distract me from thinking this way. Anyone who would simply listen, then I could fool even myself that everything is going to be fine. Anyone would do... even if that anyone is one of them.'

Yui suddenly stopped on her feet. She had been walking around the plaza as if she was alone when in fact she was, at that time, with a companion.

"Subaru-kun!" She finally called out to the guy who has been keeping his distance from her.

It has been quite awhile since they arrived at the place of festivity but oddly, Subaru would walk a few steps ahead of Yui but making sure that he wouldn't lose sight of her, and Yui would end up following him like she was a puppy.

Yui felt awkward and silly by this so she went and called out to him.

"What?" Subaru had stopped as well, seemingly annoyed at the tone of his voice.

"Uhm... would you like to walk beside me? It's hard to talk like this when you're too distant away from me." Yui pointed out as she slowly neared him.

"Tch. There's no need for talking. And stay away from me. You smell!"

Yui blushed in embarrassment. She wasn't the only one who heard that but also the people near them both, so in defense she stammered. "I... I took a bath!"

"That's not it, idiot!" The other responded, as he tried his best to stop himself from dragging her to a dark alley and dipping his fangs on her skin. "It's your scent..."

"What?"

"It's enticing me... I'm getting more hungry so stay away from me."

His words quickly registered inside her head. He did mention he was hungry even when they were in the church. It is also one of the reasons why Yui had invited him to go to this festival with her.

Yui then evaluated the situation, noticing how Subaru was itching to grab someone and drink their blood. If she would let him go now, someone might get seriously hurt. But if she insists that she stays with her, then she would have to find a way to appease his hunger. The question is... how to do it since the more she comes near him, the more he becomes hungry.

"Oi!" Subaru signaled her to come near.

"But I thought you said to stay away?" Yui pointed out, confused about his actions.

"Shut up and come here!"

And with that Yui quickly went and stood in front of him.

Subaru then caught his breath and covered a hand over his nose, wearing an expression like he was about to gag.

"P-Please don't make that face." Yui blushed another shade of red.

"Quiet, human! Hurry and wear this." Subaru took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

Yui obediently slid her arms into the sleeves, wondering why he was doing this. Perhaps she looked cold? Indeed it was a chilly night, but she never thought he'd have this much concern for her.

"Thank you." She mumbled.

"Tch. Don't say that." Subaru responded as he zipped the jacket up to her neck. "I'm doing this for myself. Your scent keeps floating all over. It's bothering my nose."

"H-How is this going to help?"

"I'm covering your scent with mine. In that way, it would be more bearable to be around you."

"Oh..." Yui responded with a nod.

"Other than that, some low class demons have been following us around. They might have been drawn by the scent of your blood. If that's the case, it would also be possible to attract other creatures. Damn! I should have sent you home before I went here. I can't even have a decent meal with you around."

"No, it's going to be fine. We're already here so let's enjoy the festivity until the fireworks display. And you also said you've covered me with your scent, so it means I'm well-hidden from those creatures, right? There wouldn't be problems anymore, right?"

"Not really. I don't know why, but your scent has gone stronger. They could still catch a bit of your scent but since yours have been mixed with mine, it'll confuse the nose. That'll also serve as a warning to those weaklings that you've already fallen prey to a greater being."

Yui went quiet for the moment, realizing something before she leaned closer to Subaru.

"What are you doing?" Subaru looked annoyed, much to Yui's contentment.

"Sorry. I was simply testing something." Yui smiled, quickly stepping away. "It seems that you're not that much bothered by my scent anymore. That's relieving."

"Why else would I lend you my jacket, stupid."

"Haha. Yes, you're right. Oh hey, didn't you say you were hungry? I remember passing by a stall that sold nice smelling takoyakis, would you want to try it?"

Subaru frowned at her. "I only want blood. Human food is like junk food for us."

"But even so, temporarily, it would still get rid of your hunger, right? Just wait here. I'll go buy you some takoyaki." Yui ran off, avoiding Subaru's refusal.

She remembered that time when the Sakamaki household was in chaos. Ayato had accused Subaru of eating the takoyaki he had left in the refrigerator. Subaru did not deny the crime and so continued the conflict of the two.

At that time though, Yui had thought that Subaru probably likes takoyaki as much as Ayato.

If she's correct then Subaru might just choose human food over human blood for just this once.

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"Ne, Ayato-sama! Doesn't this look adorable?" Julia squealed as she held out a jar with a dead frog inside it.

She and Ayato had been moving from stall to stall buying all sorts of weird stuff. Apparently, Ayato had told her he'd pay for anything she wished to have for the night. And so, Julia had bought a shrunken head, a snake-bone necklace, a voodoo doll, a skull jewelry box, and now a jar with a dead frog.

Ayato twitched inside, seeming to regret asking her for help. "Ah... I see you still have your unique fetish. Maybe it's a mistake to have assumed you'd be more lady-like after all these years."

"What do you mean? I can be lady-like if I need to. I just don't understand why I should be one since we're not in a formal occasion."

"Then you can't help me." Ayato mutt grievo

Truthfully, he had wanted to observe her since he wanted to have a reference. That's the reason why he had asked her to act like a girl. But as he can see right now, he was disappointed. Julia wasn't like the girl he was thinking of.

"I can help you if you just told me why. Asking me suddenly to act like a girl is just too vague. If you wanted to ask my help then just tell... Ayato-sama?" Julia noticed how he suddenly looked towards the other direction.

'Weird. Just now, I swear I caught Chichinashi's scent.' Ayato thought to himself, as he shifted his head from one side to the other.

"Hey, what are you spacing out for?" Julia asked. "Is everything all right?"

"What? Ah yes." Ayato returned his eyes on her, realizing he was distracted for a moment. 'No, I can't smell it in the air anymore. Or this just might be my brain playing tricks on me. Am I having a withdrawal syndrome? But it's only been awhile since I've abstained from taking her blood. What is this?'

"Really now, what's wrong with you?" Julia sighed, watching her companion get blown away by his thoughts in front of her. "Very well. Ne, Ayato-sama. Isn't that Bitch-chan over there standing by that light post?"

In alarm, Ayato turned to look at where Julia was pointing at, but later realized that he was being fooled. "You haven't met that person yet. Don't play tricks on me."

"Hahaha. Well it was fun seeing your reaction though. And my... how I quickly got your attention." Julia smiled slyly.

"Are you wishing for a beating right now?"

"I was kidding. Don't be like that. Anyway, the humans really are interesting, holding an event like this. There's a lot of things to be done here. I like it so far. But then again..." Julia's face changed into a pleading one. "What the hell are you thinking kidnapping me when you don't even plan on feeding me? This is too cruel! I'm hungry!"

"The fuck are you saying?!" Ayato snapped at her. "We've been walking around here for how long, you could at least have picked a human by now. So pick one already or I swear I'd end up smacking your head."

"In that case, I choose that guy!" Julia pointed at the disgustingly greasy old stall owner from which they have bought the dead frog from. "He has the same preference as mine. I bet his blood taste as good as..."

"Yes, that's it. I'm returning you back to the castle." Ayato dragged her away, suddenly giving up on the whole idea of his crime.

"Ahahaha. You're still as hotheaded as ever."

"Shut up!"

The thing with feeding a female vampire is not an easy task. The females have a rather sensitive reaction to blood. Thus, they require it to be purified first before they consume it. The first step of purification involves a male vampire sucking out the blood from the human victim, keeping it inside their body system for quite some time to filter it. Then the female vampire would suck the blood out of the male vampire to feed herself.

What's more tedious about this task is that the male from whom the female would feed on should have an empty stomach before he takes in the victim's blood. In this case, the male part would be acted upon by Ayato since he's practically drained out of blood from using his abilities to abduct Julia. But seeing how Julia had picked someone unappealing, Ayato is greatly appalled to do the task.

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Yui felt relieved that her plan had worked but somehow it also backfired at her.

"The nerve of you to order takoyaki when you don't even have the money." Subaru teased as he chomped on the takoyaki he ended up paying.

"Ah... I forgot I didn't bring my wallet. Sorry." Yui apologized as she walked beside him while carrying ten more boxes of takoyaki which Subaru had bought for himself.

"Oi, be careful with those boxes. I don't want any one of those to get wasted because of your clumsiness."

"Y-Yes." Yui carefully adjusted her arms to secure the boxes in place. 'This is alright. At least he's not looking for blood right now.'

"Hey." Subaru called out to her, resulting to Yui looking up at him.

She was greatly surprised to notice that Subaru was holding out a takoyaki in front of her face as if he was giving it to her. She felt doubtful at first, but found it rude to reject his offer. And besides, she hasn't eaten a thing today, and so she was also hungry.

Yui opened her mouth to accept the food but Subaru ended up retreating his hand away from her and ate the food instead.

Of course Yui felt embarrassed from being tricked so easily. But her hands were full so she couldn't react that much. All she could do was to make a face and call out his name. "Subaru-kun!"

"What? I paid for this." He pointed out.

"But that was rude!"

Subaru was amused to see her disappointment. It somehow made him feel a little relieved with the situation.

"You seem well." He said to her.

"Hm?"

"Before we came here, you were crying your eyeballs out in your room. It was funny how childish you were when you cried. There was also mucus running down your nose. It was disgusting."

"T-That's... that's because..."

"Well now. I didn't expect to see you two together in this place." Someone spoke out of the blue, leading to Yui and Subaru looking up front to see who it was.

"Laito-kun?" Yui uttered, also surprised to see him out on the street. More importantly, she noticed he carried a few shopping bags with him, so she had to ask. "What are those?"

"These? They're clothes for some girl I know."

"Oh..." Yui stopped probing, afraid of knowing too much than she wanted to.

"What are those?" Laito took the turn to ask since he also noticed her hands were full.

"Ah, it's takoyaki. Would you want one?" She offered a box but eventually Subaru took it away.

"Don't go on sharing things that you don't own." He reprimanded her.

"Subaru-kun. Can't you be gentle with the lady? You even let her carry those things." Laito commented.

But Subaru only glared at him as a response.

"You're hopeless." Laito sighed. "Anyway, Bitch-chan, you look fine considering that you might die any moment. Are you enjoying your last days with this guy?"

Yui's face became pallid upon hearing those words.

"Oi, what do you mean she might die?" Subaru inquired, a bit surprised.

"Hm~? Didn't anyone warn you? We were told not to touch her since her blood is contaminated."

"I already know that. Reiji called me earlier."

"Then perhaps he forgot to tell you she might also die because of this contamination."

"What?"

"Well, that's what I've heard so far. And I think the one to blame for this incident is the one that messed up Reiji's things last night. Why don't you ask Bitch-chan for more details? I bet she knows more about this matter since she's the one involved. Isn't that right, Bitch-chan?"

Yui was quiet.

"Haha~ I guess I've said too much. I'll see you two back at the manor. Oh by the way, Subaru-kun, why don't you go find Ayato-kun? It seems he found something nice while he was at the castle last time." Laito then walked off, waving his hand goodbye to both of them.

And as soon as he was gone, Subaru turned to confront Yui, but found himself speechless when he saw her grievous expression.

She was shaking with despair as she slowly looked up at him before bursting out in tears once again.

"I don't want to die just yet." She said in a whispered cry.

And that was the final moment when Subaru had realized the consequence of his whimsical revenge.

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Author's Blabbering Nonsense:

Here's another chapter. I write best when I'm depressed. It's the moment when I escape reality and submerge myself in the world of fanfics. XDDD Ah... Ayato-sama, Shuu-dono, and Subaru-kun.

Well, I'm looking forward to your reviews. Thank you to so many people:

*IreneAshlynHerondaledafangirl:

I will be glad to feed your greed. And yes, Subaru is and always be a cute tsundere in my eyes. Even if he doesn't think so.

*Cassandra Echizen:

I will see what I can do about Subaru x Yui x Ayato jealousy scenes, plus Ayato not doing anything stupid unless it's reasonable enough for his ego to accept.

*Savannah (Guest):

Sorry. This chapter does not involve any Ayato x Yui scenes. But I think there would be sweetness between those two in the next chapter. Wink. Wink.

*Noelle Anna-Marie:

Laito, Subaru and Yui happened to bump each other in this chapter. I wonder who will be having an awkward meeting in the next chapter?

*Aroosa (Guest):

I'm sorry. XDDD I will not promise this time, but I would like to update sooner too. Pray for me.

*GreenMoonLight:

I will do my best to continue this story for awesome readers such as you.

*Maso Neko-chan:

Yes, I do actually miss having Shuu x Yui moments. I'll think of something. I love Shuu-dono too.

*And to the many others: Thank you for adding this story to your list.