"Fork in the Road"

"Is it really necessary that you sit there and watch me undress?" Haruna turned her back towards the pureblood while focusing all her attention on trying to not expose herself to him. He smirked, enjoying the view.

"Of course it is. I have to make sure you don't steal anything while you're changing," he looked up and down with no complaints. She knew it was just an excuse. After quickly dressing back into her old clothes, she didn't hesitate to find the exit. "Who says you're going just yet? I said you'd have to compensate earlier."

Haruna didn't think he was serious - why would she even take him lightly anymore? Everything he said was serious. He didn't tease for no reason. "What is it you want? You want me to beg?" With the little pride she had left, she didn't really care at all. Should he want her to wag her tail with her tongue hanging, she would do it. If he wanted her to kiss his feet, she would do it (with much hesitance though).

The look in his eyes was up to no good. She couldn't figure out what made him so... psychotic. Unfortunately for her, it was she herself who made him that way. To have waited 11 years just to find out that his love had forgotten about him made him so anxious. "Your body and soul."

… "Just for stopping you and Aido from killing each other?"

He shook his head. As if to intimidate her, he stood up to show the difference between them. He was much taller and stronger; if he wanted to, he easily could've taken what he wanted. "You're compensating for so much more than just that." He grabbed a few strands of her hair, running his hand along her jawline.

What he said made Haruna laugh a little. "What did you ever do for me that instantly makes me indebted to you?" All he's ever done was make fun of her and threaten her. Should she be happy about that?

Isley's fingertips ran down her throat; his hand glazed over the scars from Aido's old bitemarks. It seemed like he was going to strangle her, "It's not what I did for you. It's what you did to me." His eyes grew dangerously red, "The guests are gone. I don't think anyone will be able to hear your cries."

Before he could do anything, she slapped him in hopes to get him back to his right mind (if he even had one). "I didn't do anything to you! As I recall, I'm the one who actually helped you!" She backed up into the dresser. She could feel his breath tickling her.

"I waited 11 years for you because you promised you would marry me. However, you had the nerves to go and get screwed over by some men. Had you never gone and done something so stupid, we'd be-"

"I did it for my family."

Haruna wondered if she only made her situation worse. Talking back to the guy was always dangerous as he usually acted without thinking. He answered back, completing his previous sentence, "We'd be together."

As crazy as it sounded, he was right. Had she stayed put, she would've never sold herself away and thus, never met Aido. She would've remembered Isley and perhaps they would've married in the end. "If I could go back in the past, I wouldn't change a thing; I would do it all over again." Isley snarled at her idiotic response. Who in their right mind would want to go through the same things she did? "To never meet Aido - it's unthinkable."

"Can you really say you love a man like him? He's a womanizer and someone who can't even go against his ethics to protect the woman he loves. What do you see in that?"

"What happened in my past never changed how he thought about me. That's enough for me."

He waited, expecting a smarter response. Was that all she saw in him? He finally let out a cold laugh then abruptly stopped, "Get out. You humans are truly stupid." Haruna managed to squeeze past him. She took a last glance at him before leaving; he stood still, deep in thought. Although he always treated her like a rag doll, she was still able to feel something for him. She felt pity and a bit... Guilty.

For the past years, he must've felt lonely. He must've yearned for contact even though he was the one who shut the world out. She sighed, feeling stupid for wanting to help the vampire out. "When you feel better... Don't hesitate to drop by sometimes. You don't have to stalk me or break in the through the windows. Just knock on the door."

He didn't respond, making her unsure of whether he would take her offer. If they couldn't be married, she at least wanted them to be friends. Maybe it would be too painful for him that way, she thought, but if he wanted to sever ties with her and become strangers, she was fine with that too. "See you."

2 Months Later

"You're paying right?"

Haruna let the noodles fall out of her mouth. "That wasn't a question, was it?" It was more of a request. Isley shook his head no, saying he left his wallet at home. "That was the same excuse you said last time," she stubbornly pulled out her wallet. How could he, a rich pureblood, make her, a struggling girl, pay for both their food? "Idiot."

He glared, "Watch your tongue before I do something terrible to you." He threatened her so many times already, she was used to it by now. "Ah, but this would be considered a date, wouldn't it-"

"Keep dreaming." She pushed him aside. Unfortunately for him, she would always turn him down.

"Is it because you still like Aido?"

Haruna should've said no, but she couldn't say a word. Ever since the party at Isley's, she hadn't seen him since. Time to time, Isley would tease her and tell her he saw Aido just to see her rattled up. He'd tell her how big Misha's stomach was and how Aido still looked depressed from screwing things up with Haruna. She found out that the Cross Academy had to shut down temporarily due to an 'invasion of vampires' or something like that. Ever since then, Aido has been serving the Kurans. "It's because you're an idiot."

It all seemed like a dream to her now. "Ah, you look pale. Are you going to throw up again?" Haruna hated how he always asked questions he knew the answer to already. She swallowed, hoping it would stop herself from vomiting all over the place. Isley figured she had cancer a while back; the guy wasn't as stupid as she thought. "I'm telling you, one nip at your neck and you'll be cured."

"Quit talking about that already," she groaned. Even after so long, he still insisted on turning her into a vampire. However, with the medusa's glare that she had mastered, he wouldn't dare lay a finger on her. "No one's going to miss me when I'm gone anyway." Well, her family might've, but hey, death is a part life. Besides, she couldn't stand the thought of becoming a vampire and watching her family grow old and die. "Go home before my mom sees you."

Her family had met Isley a while back. Her mother already accepted Isley as part of the family; she began calling him 'son' the moment she met him. Oh, if she only knew his true nature. "Why? Mom loves me." Isley even started calling her his mom. Haruna couldn't believe how the world could turn against her so easily. "I know you love me too, honey-" He grabbed his face in pain, feeling his cheek throbbing after Haruna slapped him. "You've become abusive lately-"

"Ah... I think my mom's started another fight with the neighbor. So embarrassing," Haruna dreaded, seeing her mother outside yelling hysterically. "What did you do this time?"

"Me? Ha! Look who came to drop by." Her mother wielded a kitchen knife, ready to slice up someone. Haruna turned ill at what her mother said. The last time she said that was when her father came by. Could he be back?

"You'd better tell your mother that it's a mistake to raise her hand against someone like me."

Ah... That conceited voice added with that attitude of 'I'm better than everyone' - Haruna didn't need her eyes to see who it was. "What brings you here, Misha?"

Cafe Coco

To prevent bloodshed, Haruna relocated her meeting with Misha to Cafe Coco, a restaurant near her workplace. "Hello? Eyes up here!" Haruna snapped back to reality. She'd been staring at Misha's stomach for a good five minutes and she couldn't believe someone could be in such good shape for being pregnant at three months.

"Sorry," Haruna sipped her cup of coffee. "So, what did you want to discuss?"

She thought she never had anything to do with the Aido family anymore, but Misha showing up out of the blue must've meant something was wrong. A giggle left Misha's lips; she threw a glare to Haruna. "I stole your man and I'm carrying his child. Could you at least try to act a bit hateful? It's such an eyesore to see you so carefree."

Yes, what she said was true, but Haruna couldn't gather enough strength in her muscles to narrow her eyes at her. She'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't angry. Of course she was, she disliked Misha. A lot. Still, it was hard to hate a pregnant woman. "You didn't come all this way just to pick a fight with me, right?"

She scoffed, feeling like a fool, "You think you're better than me just because you've got a pureblood by your side," she crossed her arms. Haruna didn't think that at all. It was a drag to be involved with Isley.

"Not at all, and he's not by my side, he's on my back," Haruna corrected her. "Hey, what are you doing? You're pregnant!" She tried to snatch the cigarette in Misha's hand away, only to get a slap on the wrist.

She stuck the cancer stick between her lips, lighting it and inhaling a deep breath. "I need your help, okay?"

Haruna frowned. Well, if she needed help to quit smoking, she was clearly seeing the wrong person. "You should go see a therapist or something - go into a rehabilitation center-"

"That's not the problem moron." This girl really did not have any class for being an aristocrat, Haruna thought. She wanted to tell her that if she wanted her help, she'd have to stop degrading her, but what the hell, it didn't matter to Misha. Haruna was just a doormat, nothing more. "The problem is, I'm not pregnant."

. . .

Not pregnant? What? What did that even mean? "But you went to the doctors and told everybody you were. Didn't you?" Oh the confusion!

"I lied! Everything was a lie and now, I'm screwed because in six months, everyone's going to find out the truth!" She went ballistic; the cigarette didn't help calm her down. Even if this was her real problem, she still needed to check into a rehabilitation center.

Wait a minute... If her being pregnant was a lie, then... "This little lie of yours is the reason why Aido and I aren't together." Now Haruna felt pissed. "I'm not helping you, nope. No way. You can figure this problem out on your own. Tell me how it goes when the truth spills out." She wished she could be there to see Hanabusa's father reaction. Oh, it would be priceless.

Misha grasped her hand as she attempted to leave, "But I don't know anyone else to turn to!"

Haruna could feel the inner demons inside herself being unleashed. Everything that Misha had done to her up until this point - it was laughable to even think that she'd want to help her of all people. "And why am I that person you turn to? Because you think I'm still that naive and nice girl who won't turn her back to anyone, even her enemies?"

"Because," Misha paused, tears swelled in her eyes. Pfft, Haruna held no sympathy.

"Well? Because?"

"Because you're pregnant."

. . . Huh! "Oh I get it, this is another one of your mind games, right? Because you somehow know that I have stomach cancer, and now you're just saying that I'm pregnant to get me all happy so that when I least expect it, you backstab me."

Ha, she knew it all too well. So predictable, so malicious, and so avoidable. "I'm not lying this time. Here, take a pregnancy test if you have to," she held out a box of them.

Haruna stared at it, wondering if it was a bomb instead. She had to assume the worst; people are coming up with creative ways these days to get back at their rivals. She snatched it, tossing it into her purse, "Putting that aside, why would you assume that I'm carrying a baby?"

"That one time, when stupid Hanabusa made you his housekeeper, I knew about that. I was watching the entire time." The whole time? Haruna wondered when she had bugged Aido's place. Technology these days are really getting out of hand. "I followed you to the hospital when you fainted."

Was it normal for women to keep an eye on their husbands like this? If so, Haruna really needed to step her game up. "Yes, and you should have learned that I was diagnosed with cancer-"

"No, you aren't. I made the doctor lie to you about that using my vampire abilities. Realizing that you were a threat to my marriage with Hanabusa, I quickly went to a different hospital and made the doctors there lie to my family that I was pregnant, when in truth..."

"You were not," Haruna slumped in her chair. What a twist - it was like a scene you'd see in a television series. "Okay, so if this all were true, how does me being 'pregnant' help you?"

Misha smiled that manipulative smile, "You would want the best for your child, wouldn't you?" Haruna nodded. Why wouldn't she? "And in your current situation, you're not so well off, are you?" Yes, she wasn't rich nor was she poor, but her family managed.

"Where are you getting at?"

"You know exactly what I'm going to say. Don't act like you don't know," she put her cigarette out, exhaling the smoke in her face. Haruna covered her nose, in fear that it'd hurt this baby that was supposedly growing inside of her. She didn't believe Misha's story yet, but just to be on the safe side, she didn't want to take risks.

"... I'm afraid I don't know." Haruna said that, but somewhere deep in her gut, she had an idea of what Misha would say. Maybe she was just too afraid to say it, who knows.

Misha's soft hands held Haruna's rough ones, "For the sake of your baby's future, give him up to me. That way, he'll be able to grow up with both parents, he'll have an education, and he'll have a lot of love-"

"You're insane. If I was pregnant and I did raise this child, he would receive all of that. You think I won't tell Aido the truth?"

"I know you won't. Do you understand what father would say? He'll hate Hanabusa even more, is that what you want? Even more, he'll look at that child as an abomination." Haruna grew silent, it was true. "You must know what it's like to grow up without a father. How can you put your child through the same thing-"

"Enough. I'm done talking with you." Why was there a sudden fear in her heart? She didn't have anything to be afraid of... right? All of what Misha was saying could be a lie still. There was no need to think ahead.

"Fine. Think it over again, and when you come up with an answer, call me," she handed Haruna a paper with her information on it. "Remember," she whispered with deadly venom in her voice, "think of what's best for the baby."

Haruna's Residence

Haruna sat on the toilet while holding the test in front of her, waiting for the results. If there's a line, then it means she's pregnant. Her hands traced over her stomach. Is she really carrying Hanabusa's child? Was it really not cancer? She didn't know how to react if it turned out she was.

Waiting for the results seemed like a long time since it was like a matter of life or death. 'Think of what's best for the baby...'

She hated hearing Misha's words at such an important moment. "Ah, it's done," she held the test to eye level. No doubt about it, there was a red line. She was pregnant.

In that split second, so many thoughts occurred to her - how would she give him a life without worries, how would the baby feel growing up without a father?

Hot frustrated tears fell onto her lap, "I should be rejoicing... Why am I thinking of bad things only?" She understood that she had to consider what Misha requested. Haruna couldn't comprehend... She barely confirmed that she was pregnant, and yet she wondered how it was possible to love the baby so much already. "I don't want to let you go."

Naturally, she wanted to be the one to feed him and to teach him how to walk. "Will you hate me for making you stay here with me when you could have a better life with your papa? Or will you hate me for giving you up?"

A/N: Sorry I couldn't make this chapter a bit more, 'woah!' I didn't really make the scene where she found out she was pregnant that big of a deal, because I'm pretty sure it was obvious she was when Misha was telling her about it. Oh, and the baby isn't a boy. I'm only referring to it as 'he/him' because it makes it easier for me. So right now, it's genderless. Hope you liked it!