I'm so so sorry it took me this long to upload the chapter *cries* I've actually had it written for days but I'm lazy, and it's also really short. It was originally going to be longer but idk apparently not.

On a side note, would you guys mind leaving some reviews for me? I had loads the last time I uploaded this and I know my writing has definitely gotten better since I rewrote the story, but I literally have three reviews for the entire thing and they're all on the first chapter ;-; It's really lovely to hear what you think about my writing, good or bad, and what you want to see in the future!

Sorry this is short again ;-;

Chapter 6- Nightlight

Aoi groaned loudly and grabbed the pillow from under her head, throwing it at the wall opposite her. It was three o'clock in the morning and she couldn't sleep, no matter what she tried. Izumo was feeling kind so she had finished her shift early that night, but after three hours she was still awake.

Deciding that she, Aoi Tanaka, would not be so easily beaten by insomnia, the girl curled up again and closed her eyes, only to open them again, moments later, utterly defeated. She needed food or a drink, or something. Anything that meant she didn't have to lie in bed just waiting.

Swinging her legs off the side of the bed she stood and padded quietly down to the bar, book in hand, planning on getting something to eat and reading for a while until she, hopefully, fell asleep.

When she arrived at the foot of the stairs she found that the door to the bar was open already, and through the doorway was a dim reddish glow, like fire, though she could feel no heat. Frowning and rubbing at the corner of her eyes with her fingertips, she walked gingerly over the threshold, her heart thrumming in anticipation. There was a tall figure sat at the bar, glass in front of him and the shadow of a cigarette between his fingers. The light beside him, jutting out from the wall, was small and so dim that she assumed it was creating the glow, her tiredness turning it into something it was not.

"Mikoto?" Aoi whispered, after a moment. "I-is that you?"

The dim light brightened a fraction, and Aoi could suddenly see more clearly. The redness had receded and now she saw Mikoto had reached up and turned up the brightness of the lamp, though he still wasn't facing her.

"I thought you went to bed." His voice was gravely and startled Aoi as it cut through the silence and her tiredness.

"I-I did." She told him, swallowing and shuffling forwards to sit down next to him.

"Then shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Can't."

"Can't?"

"I tried. Can't."

Mikoto gave her a look, one eyebrows raised, and them stared forwards again, picking up the glass and taking a sip. Aoi waited a moment, but when he said nothing she started to speak again.

"Why are you awake?"

"Why are you so interested?"

"Well you asked me."

Mikoto sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead with the side of his hand before putting his cigarette in his mouth and leaving it there. Reaching over the bar he picked up a glass and a bottle of amber liquid, which he poured into the former. He then placed it in front of her and topped up his own glass.

"Drink that. It'll make you sleep."

Aoi frowned at thee drink suspiciously. There seemed to be much more in her glass than what she thought you should pour, but Mikoto didn't seem to notice anything wrong with the picture.

"Isn't this just alcohol?"

"Mm."

"Oh."

After a moment she picked the glass up gingerly, gave a tentative sniff, and then took a sip, contorting her face and sticking her tongue out. Mikoto snickered and she caught sight of sharp canines.

With a defiant scowl, Aoi swallowed the entire glass.

"Make me sleep? Yeah right. I don't even feel any different!"

"-and Izumo keeps asking me why I came back to Japan, but I don't want to tell him!"

"Aoi shut up."

"He's so nosy; he forgets I'm a teenager; I need my secrets! They keep us alive."

"I swear to God if you don't shut up-"

"I just don't want to tell him I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life! How are you supposed to admit that to your cousin?! I mean everyone expectse to go to university, but I don't want to go to university, I'd hate university, but I don't want to do the same boring job every day for the rest of my life! Everything I really want to do seems too big for me! So that's why I decided to come to Japan-"

Mikoto finished his drink and quickly poured another. Izumo would never forgive him if he hurt a single hair on Aoi's pretty little head, so he'd really have to keep himself in check. Her incessant babbling was annoying; it had been going on for at least half an hour.

"-and now I'm living with Izumo and you and Anna and you and all your friends are so weird! Like, Tatara calls you King; what's up with that? And I swear you glow red sometimes and it's really weird and are you guys aliens? Because I don't want to be abducted-"

"Just tell Izumo you're scared." Mikoto rumbled, interrupting her. "He's not your parents-" she had spoken about them earlier. "-so what's the big deal?"

"You're right."

"Mm."

"You're right!"

"Right."

"It's not a big deal. Is it? I mean, is it really?"

"That's what I-"

"No! No it's not!" The girl sighed loudly and smiled at him. "Thank you, Mikoto! I'm going to bed now!"

And with that she fell asleep.

Mikoto looked down, sighed, then turned the light off and used his aura to make it to the door unscathed. He wasn't about to carry her upstairs (this wasn't a movie, and if it was, he was fairly sure it would be an action movie and he would be the villain) so she could just sleep there until morning.

He paused at the door.

Maybe removing the alcohol before Izumo discovered it next to his underage cousin would be a good idea.