Ok, time for chapter 12!! Yayz!

And this one is extra long, that last one had to be short, otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep the flow of the storyline

(having already planned these chapters out in advance)

Chapter 12:

Tenma's promise


-Ichijo's pov-

"I don't understand…why are you doing this to yourself?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

"doing what?"

"Why are you trying to kill yourself?" I clarified, waiting for whatever reply she would give, if she gave one at all.

She never met my gaze in that small time. "tenma?" I questioned, reaching my hand up to move the curtain of silver/black hair.

She smacked my hand away, giving me a quick glance, and then turning away.

" …It was a promise" she started.

"what was?"

"This was" she answered, her arm wrapping around her middle.

-Tenma's Pov-

"It was something that happened to me a long time ago…."

-(flash back)-
-Tenma(6 yrs old)-

"mei-chan, wanna go to the park today? Onii-chan's taking me" I said, running past kotoru's side, and over to the little girl.

"Ok! I'll go get koru!" she said happily, running back into her house and back out, a girl the age of 5 tailing her.

"Hey! Where's karie-chan?" koru asked, pouting slightly at her friends absence.

"she had to go shopping with okaa-sama." I answered, laughing a little when she brightened up almost instantly.

"let's go!" she shouted.

-Park-

We neared the park, kotoru having gone to the store, so we could have something to snack on while here.

The first thing mei and I did, was run for the swings, koru at a close third place.

"I win again!" I shouted joyfully, sitting myself on my favorite swing at the end.

"I'll beat you one of these days!" mei retorted, moving to her own swing.

"you wish-" I paused mid-sentence, something wasn't right, I could only hear two of the swings. Wasn't koru swinging with us?….

"KYAA!!"

"koru!" mei shouted, quickly jumping off the swing.

Then I smelt it, blood. It was Koru's, and she was hurt badly.

My eyes widened, I knew exactly what had happened. "Mei Wait!"

"NO!"

I jumped from my swing, the moment my feet touched the ground I was off.

Hearing another scream, this time from mei, I forced myself to pick up the pace. 'please god, don't let me be too late!'

But I was. I came to Coming to a screeching halt at what I saw before me.

A level-E vampire loomed dangerously over koru, hungrily drinking every drop of blood he could from koru's small body. She was already horribly pale.

"v-vampire…"

I looked over at mei, her pale emerald eyes brimming with fresh tears. I felt disgusted, and I felt the anger inside me surge, but I quickly suppressed the feeling, not having kotoru around, I couldn't afford to let my control slip even the slightest bit now.

The vampire quickly looked up from his 'meal' and stared at me with smoldering crimson eyes, his fangs glinting with koru's freshly spilled blood.

His eyes widened, and he dropped koru almost at once, moving several feet away from the young child's body.

Mei ran up to her sisters small body, desperately trying to stop the blood flowing out.

"S-Seijun-sama…." the vampire said hoarsely, his head quickly sinking to the floor into a deep bow, hiding his face from view.

"tenma, why did he say 'Seijun-sama?" mei asked, looking up at me, tears filling over her pale eyes.

But to me, it felt as if time itself had frozen when I saw that vampire lung at her.

I quickly moved in front of her, blocking the attack I quickly dispatched him, turning to mei, I let one word pass my lips:

"Gomenasai"

But as I leaned down to heal the wound on koru, mei pulled the younger sister's body back, screaming loudly at me.

"Don't touch her, VAMPIRE!" she shouted, her voice filled with disgust at the word.

"mei, please let me heal the wound…" I quietly pleaded with the girl.

"there's no way I'm letting a monster like you touch her!!" mei shouted at me again.

My eyes widened and my body froze in place, my blood running cold.

"I'm….a monster?" I asked quietly. "I haven't done anything wrong! Why are you calling me the monster!?" I shouted back.

"Your just like them!! You drink the blood of other people for your strength!"

"NO I don't! I've never done that in my entire life, and I never would!" I shouted, tears beginning to build in my own eyes.

"how do I know that you're not lying?"

"I swear" I began, my hands on her shoulders. "that I will never do anything like that." I finished.

"…promise?" she asked, her smile somewhat returning.

"Promise…" I answered.

-(Flash back End)-


"And that's basically the story." I said sitting with my knees pulled up to my chest.

"bullshit" ichijo said.

"what!?" I shouted, temper rising.

"that's a ridiculous promise, and that girl wasn't worth it!" he shouted at me.

"that's what kaname said too…" I said, my head lowering, bangs covering my eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I have to agree with kaname." ichijo said, his golden eyes staring at me intensely.

"don't apologize to me, you don't need to." I said quietly.

"Tenma, it wasn't your fault. Nothing would have made that situation better." he said, his hand raised my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this, it's not like I gave my life away." I said, moving his hand, but I lost balance, and falling over, now laying on my side.

"You gave away your life when you made that ridiculous promise!" he said, his voice gaining more volume.

"How!?" I shouted.

"Tenma, you have to drink blood. It's something every vampire needs…" ichijo said, his voice trailing off slightly.

"There's been too much bloodshed on my account already…" I said, salty liquid beginning to grace my pale cheeks.

I felt a warm, gentle hand on my face, removing the salty tears from my cheeks. "don't ever think about yourself like that."

"what're you….doing?" I asked, taking my own hand, and removing his from my face.

I then felt him pull me closer, even if it was only a little, his hands wrapped around my shoulders.

'thump, thump, …, thump' My body froze. My heart just skipped again, dammit!

"tenma, is something wrong?" ichijo asked, trying to hide his worried expression.

I cringed when it skipped a third time, wrapping myself into a ball.

"I'm going to take you to your room, something's definitely wrong." he said, bending over to pick me up.

'no! if he's this close, he'll be able to tell..' but I couldn't push him away, I was too focused on getting my heart beats back to normal. "I'm fine, if you're so set on- ngh!" it had just skipped again, and this time it was really bad. My hand loosely grabbed the jacket of his uniform.

"you really aren't fine, if your heart's skipping like that!" he said, breaking off into a heavy run.

"Stop running!!" I shouted, my grip on his uniform tightening on his uniform for only a minute.

He immediately stopped, walking as steady as possible. "I'm sorry, I just got a little panicked." ichijo said, smiling sheepishly.

I laid my head lightly on his arm. "there's no use in panicking, I can't do anything about it." I said, my eyes closing slightly.

"yes you can help it. You can drink actual blood, and get better like that." he said, his smile fading slightly.

"and loose my honor, hell no."

"what the hell will honor get you!?" he shouted. Is honor more important than your friends, your LIFE!?"

"you don't understand, I don't have a choice…" I said, opening my eyes to look at him fully.

"have a choice?"

"being one of my family is no where as nice as it seems…." I said, allowing my body to relax slightly…

TA DA! didn't i promise some info for everyone?

that's a wrap for chapter 12, i hope everyone enjoyed it.

i know i had fun writing it. it sure beat history!

don't forget to review!

that's very important, and it takes only a minute from your precious schedule, so just do it! k?

SAIYONNARRA MINNA-SAN!!