"Reason to Live"

It had been days, Aido couldn't remember how many, since the last time he saw the world. He lay his head on the metal table, starving and and feeling melancholy. The room was just so... Dull. Sitting in such a place made him think. He didn't like thinking because it usually lead to him reminiscing of the past. And when he did think of the past, he only saw Haruna.

"How much longer are you going to keep me here? I told you for the thousandth time, Yuuki and I did not kill Isley," Aido grumbled. Whatever he said, the hunters didn't believe. What was the point in questioning him if they weren't going to listen to him? "He locked himself and Yuuki inside the mansion and took the anti-vampire weapon, killing himself with it."

Yagari slammed his fists on the table, leaving a dent in it. Aido couldn't stand it anymore. The last time he was being questioned by them, they nearly tore him to shreds. This time, he wasn't sure if he was going to make it out in one piece. "Kaname Kuran has been killing purebloods lately; you sure Yuuki Kuran isn't an accomplice of his?"

"She's too innocent! Someone like her isn't even capable of kicking a puppy," Aido spewed, going crazy.

Yagari leaned close enough for Aido to feel his breath on him, "You keep telling me the same story. The innocent people are always the ones who are dangerous-"

"Visitor," chairman Cross spoke meekly through the ajarred door. Behind him stood Haruna, looking quite expressionless. Aido groaned at the bad timing; he didn't want her to see him like this. Furthermore, he had no idea what he'd say to her.

Yagari glared one last time at Aido before leaving the room, leaving Aido and Haruna alone. Well, they weren't entirely alone since Yagari and Cross would be listening to them from the other side of the wall.

Aido stiffened as Haruna took a seat in front of him. Oddly, she didn't seem too upset. He imagined that she'd have tear-swollen eyes and a puffy face but she looked rather... Normal. "Are you angry at me?" Aido managed to ask. He scooted away from her, feeling stupid for being afraid of her.

Instead of answering, Haruna pulled from behind her a plastic bag full of goods.

"What is that?" Aido asked, curious.

Haruna pulled out a few books, clothes, and food. "To keep you comfortable... I made sure your clothes were at least lavender scented. Hunter-san told me that you couldn't sleep without your sheets smelling like it."

Aido turned a shade of red in embarrassment. It wasn't because he was ashamed for liking lavender, but rather, he was humiliated because she was comforting him. Shouldn't it be the other way around? She just lost her fiance and Aido was suspected of having a part in his murder... Yet she was helping him.

"Do you not like it?" Haruna asked after Aido didn't give a reaction. "Am I imposing-"

"Is this your way of making me feel guilty?" Aido chuckled almost insanely. "Why are you doing this for me? I could be the one who killed Isley for all you know."

Haruna was moribund-like; she rubbed her hands together while shrugging. "You have a family and a goal to uphold your pride. You aren't the type to throw all that away." Aido couldn't believe how forgiving she was. It was this trait of hers that always made her vulnerable and made him fall for her. "Isley had always been..." she struggled to find the right word, "unstable. Sometimes it felt like he was fighting with himself; I just hope he isn't suffering anymore."

Aido could tell that even though she was telling him that Isley had always been miserable, it hurt her to label him as that. "If you're feeling responsible for his death, don't." Haruna lifted her head up in surprise. He could read her like an open book. "Someone like you could do no wrong."

Haruna shook her head, not wanting such compliments. Reaching into her handbag, she pulled out the vile of blood left for her. She showed it to Aido, though kept it hidden from the view of the hunters who were watching them from the window. "This is his blood. He told me that his memories are contained in here. If I drink it, he said I'll understand why he did what he did."

"Why haven't you drank it yet?"

"I'm not sure if I want to know the truth."

"Why would you not want to know the truth? It can help give you closure-"

"I want to remember Isley the way I knew him. I don't want my image of him to change," Haruna spoke softly. She stared deeply into the contained filled with crimson red blood, getting lost in it. "He might have made a lot of enemies, but to me he was... In his own way, kind."

Aido didn't want to be rude, but he found her words hard to believe. Were they still speaking of the same Isley? The same pureblood who pushed and harassed Aido around for days without end? Seeing the bitter smile on her face, he couldn't say a bad thing about him. "What will you do from here on?"

Haruna fell dumb at the question. She hadn't taken the time to think about the future; she didn't even tell her family about the death of Isley. Fearing her mother would break down in despair, she figured that the best way to avoid an emotional meltdown was to just lie and tell them that the engagement was off, even though it bothered her to tell fibs, especially a huge lie like this one. "I move on," she simply answered.

Aido was somewhat relieved to hear that she wasn't going to mope around for the rest of her life over her fiance's death, but the regret in her words echoed in his conscience. They were so vacant - so hopeless. He pitied her. There was no meaning to 'moving on.' To her, he knew, it just meant to live life until death arrived. Unfortunately, she would live for an eternity. Where would she go from there?

Haruna noticed the worry in his gaunt face. "Don't look like that. Maybe I'll dedicate my life to researching cures or something," she laughed. Aido held a stern face, unamused.

"Find a reason to live Haruna. You look so sad; I don't want to see you go down the path Isley took as well."

Haruna fell silent. Once her family passes away, what would she do afterwards? Would she be able to wander the vast world by herself? She couldn't imagine embarking on such a lonely journey all alone. Her hand reached up to her neck, touching the spot where Isley once bit her and turned her. It ached. "Easier said than done."

Aido's chest hurt to see her eyes glisten with unshed tears. He cursed at himself for being a coward. Contact... He wanted to hold her hand and tell her that he would take care of her, but he never said a word. Would those words save her? "Haruna, I-"

The door opened; it was chairman Cross and Yagari. Cross gestured for Aido, "It's been confirmed that the handwriting on Isley's suicide note is his own. We don't have any other proof to keep Yuuki and you here, so..."

Yagari huffed, throwing one last smug look at Aido before untying his wrists. Aido rubbed his bruised wrists. Really though, who did these hunters think they were? Protectors of humans? They were so shady. "Ah, Haruna, where are you going?" Aido asked, following her as she exited the room. "Before-"

"Aido-san, you don't have to try so hard to be my friend. I won't go and turn to dust; relax. I'm glad you and Yuuki-san are not being suspected anymore. I'm sorry you two got involved with Isley's tragedy."

"You're so quick to say goodbye..." Aido spoke, looming over the feeling of being unwanted. "I can't help but worry about your welfare. Forgive me if I'm being a nuisance."

"I appreciate your concern," Haruna said dryly.

"What will you be doing for the week?" Aido asked. Things had been hectic lately; maybe it would be a good idea to spend a day together to get their minds off things, he thought. "Perhaps we can-"

"Funeral preparations," Haruna replied bluntly. Aido apologised. "I'll see you around."

2 Weeks Later

Haruna was the last person to stay behind at the funeral, along with Seymour. He lay on top the grave, moaning as he rubbed his head against the tombstone. "You loved Isley the most, didn't you?" Haruna asked, patting his back to soothe him. The day was sunny, but inside, she felt it was raining like last time. "Isley, besides Seymour and me, a few others came, not a whole lot though. The ones who did come were mostly the hunters though." She could picture Isley glaring at her, asking if she was calling him a loner with no friends.

"I think this is the first time that someone gave a pureblood a typical funeral that humans usually perform." Haruna looked beside her to see Aido dressed in a fine suit. "It's quite nice for a change," he lay a bouquet of white flowers on the ground where Isley lay. Haruna was surprised they weren't lavender flowers.

"Sometimes he complained about being a vampire, believe it or not. I think secretly, he wished he was born a human. I thought I might as well bury him like one." Haruna held a bittersweet smile, running her hand along the dirt ground.

Aido sighed, rocking in place. "Did you know Antarctica is a desert?" he repeated the same question she asked him from long ago. Haruna seemed surprised; he smiled slyly. Last time she asked him this, he was mind-blown and she laughed at him. "A genius like me knows these things."

"I knew it was a desert. I'm just shocked to see that you like trivia." Aido's teeth clenched as he tried to stay calm at her stoic demeanor. "I always wanted to be a penguin, you know? The male would stay and warm the egg for a long time in the cold while the female goes to hunt for food. That kind of love is magical."

Aido was amazed at the things that went on in her head. It was fascinating to see this other side of her. "If I was a penguin, I'd just make an omelette out of my kid- er..." Haruna scowled at him. "Did I say out of my kid? I meant for my kid. Mugetsu loves eggs," he laughed awkwardly, seeing her unaffected. His lips became dry, his mouth parched. "Do you hate me?"

"What do you mean?" Haruna asked.

Aido struggled to speak clearly. "Do you blame me for Isley's death? If I was stronger, I probably could've saved him. Or maybe secretly, I was wishing he'd kill himself-"

"Come on Seymour, let's go home." Haruna pulled Seymour by the leash. He whined a little before trotting towards the car. Before departing, Haruna looked at Aido in the eye. He couldn't tell if she was angry or depressed. "Don't blame yourself for his death," she scolded harshly, "what he did was his choice. I'm already angry with him; please don't make me any angrier. If I feel like this any longer, I feel like I might go mad."

"If you need to release your hate on someone, lash out at me." Aido was dead serious. It would hurt him so terribly, but if it would make her feel better, he would be happy to take the fall. "Use me in any way you wish; I'm yours."

Haruna faltered. "... Don't say something so depressing." She quickly walked around him, circumventing his words that made her insides tingle.

Aido watched them disappear, feeling lonely as he stood by himself in the cemetery. "What was that all about?" Aido looked beside him to see Mugen, who held a sleeping Mugetsu in her arms.

"Oh, it's you," Aido noted, uninterested.

The elderly woman looked at him with dull eyes; the wrinkles around her eyes were slightly visible when she sneered at his rudeness. "You're one to act cool. 'Use me in any way you wish; I'm yours~'" she mocked, cackling in the end.

"Ergg, you old hag," Aido gritted between his teeth and fangs.

"Although I agree that it is good for you to explore the vast variety of women now that you are getting a divorce with your wife, I don't agree with the way you are misleading Ms. Haruna."

"M-misleading!?" Aido shouted, nearly waking up his son. Quieting down, he whispered in a baffled voice, "How am I misleading her?" He couldn't believe he was listening to this babysitter he hired for Mugetsu. It was unbelievable - and she was belittling him too!

Mugen gave a sly look, taking the advantage of the moment to position herself higher than him. "You seem quite ambivalent. It seems, young master, that you don't know who to side with: your father or Ms. Haruna."

Aido frowned, confused. "I've made my decision; I'm upholding my father's honor."

"And that's why I say you're misleading Ms. Haruna. You can't flirt with her and leave her hanging on the edge," she told, upbraiding him.

"Flirting?" Aido gasped, baffled. "I was not putting the moves on Haruna-"

"Don't be in denial; you know you were." Mugen watched Aido turn fiery red. "Ms. Haruna is a good girl. She doesn't deserve your empty concerns."

"Who are you to say I don't care about her-"

"One look at the girl and you can tell she's in love with you."

Those words quelled Aido; he stuttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "Really?" he asked, a little too excited. "She really still has feelings for me- ah, what?" He rubbed his arm in pain as Mugen slapped his arm, scolding him further.

"Listen to me," she continued, "what you are doing to Ms. Haruna isn't fair. You tell her that you can't love her because of your father, but you go and tell her to rely on you. Poor girl must be going insane from your indecisiveness," Mugen shook her head in shame.

"I meant to rely on me as a friend. I won't seduce her," Aido spoke as a matter-of-fact.

Mugen gave a dull stare to realize how dense Aido was. "I may have aged quite a bit, but I'm still a woman; I know how she feels." When Aido asked how Haruna might be feeling inside, Mugen responded with a simple answer. "Loving someone when they won't let you? It's an endless storm inside the heart."

The breeze blew gently in the air, sweeping away their conversation.

"Are you awake young master?" Mugen asked, referring to Mugetsu who was now stirring awake. Aido looked at Isley's grave; now he realized what Isley meant when he kept telling him how spineless he was. "Young master," Mugen spoke to Aido, "what is it that you truly want to do?"

Haruna's Home

"Calling the engagement off?" Haruna's mother asked. "Again?" Sakura and Cara sighed, figuring that this was probably another one of Haruna's dramatic meltdowns and that eventually Isley and her would get back together.

Before, when the wedding was originally supposed to take place, Haruna's family was invited but never made it to the wedding due to the rain. They assumed that the big day would just be rescheduled, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.

There was a tremor in Haruna's voice as she told the horrific lie. "Cara, call brother-in-law and tell him that his fiancee is being stubborn again," Sakura held out the phone. "They'll get back together-"

"We won't!" Haruna shouted, almost too loudly. She grabbed her legs, stopping them from shaking, but she realized she was shaking all over. It hurt to lie, especially when it reminded her that Isley was never coming back.

Sakura and Cara looked at each other, backing away slowly. "Haruna, is something the matter?" her mother asked; it was obvious that Haruna was in distress.

"Mom," Haruna muttered. She didn't want to have to tell her family that Isley was gone. She had hoped to at least tell them later in the future, but not now. Isley was an important person to the family - he had become the son her mother never had, the brother and father figure that Sakura and Cara never had. How could he tell them that he died? "Isley's... he's-"

There was a knock on the door. "Who could be visiting us?" her mother asked. Sakura skipped down the hall, opening the door and peeking through the small crack. "Who is it?" her mother shouted to her.

Sakura shouted back, "A prince!" She squealed, blushing brightly.

"Is there a Haruna- ah! Haruna," Aido called from outside. He waved to her. Her family laid eyes on her, instantly giving her looks that demanded an explanation of who the man was. Sakura let him in after Haruna told her to welcome him in.

Sitting together in the living room, Haruna's sisters and her mother fawned over Aido, whispering things like, 'handsome foreigner' and 'Godsend.' Aido and Haruna avoided eye contact, each looking away from each other. "H-How do you know my dear Haruna?" her mother asked, quite in love.

Aido scratched the back of his head, laughing generously, "Well mother-in-law-aaah! I mean... hi," he said awkwardly. He almost forgot that he wasn't her son-in-law anymore and that they forgot about him after Isley tampered their memories as well. "I'm a friend of hers and Isleys, that's all."

Her mother seemed disappointed at the 'just friends' part. After hearing that Isley and Haruna were never getting together again, she hoped that perhaps Aido could be a possible husband for Haruna. "Ah, since you're a friend of theirs, could you tell me why their engagement is off?"

Haruna cringed, wondering why her family had to be so inconsiderate and pushy. "Mom, don't ask Aido-san of such things; it's embarrassing."

Aido mouthed a silent 'oh' when he realized that Haruna had decided to hide the truth from her family about Isley's suicide. Giving it a brief thought, Aido decided it was safe to go along with Haruna's tale. "Because they don't love each other," he glanced at Haruna. She was quite surprised that he'd willingly get caught in her web of lies; she'd have to thank him later. "And..." Aido drifted off for a second, "I'm going to marry Haruna."

… "What?" Cara asked calmly when no one said a word after Aido's daring proposal.

Haruna shot a shocked look at Aido. Confidently, he spoke, "I hope you don't mind. I haven't even known you all for long and I'm already saying this. Truthfully, we had an affair a while back, but after we separated, Haruna found another man - Isley. But now that they're apart... I hope it's alright that I take Haruna back?"

Before Haruna had any time to say no, her mother was already shaking Aido's hands and welcoming him into the family without any regret. "Stay for dinner - tell us more about you," her mother gushed.

After Dinner

Haruna stepped outside with Aido, making sure to get far from her house so that they weren't being spied on. They made it to the nearby park. Because it was late out, there was not a soul in sight. "Dinner was delicious. I hadn't had a real meal like that before with a family," Aido spoke, recalling what it was like to have a gathering.

"Thank you for saving me from my lie... but what was that proposal all about?" Haruna asked, quite annoyed. "It's already bad that I have to lie about Isley. Now I'm going to have some major explaining to do when I tell them that this marriage isn't happening-"

"Who says it isn't happening?"

Haruna tilted her head, quirking a brow. "What are you saying?"

"I mean what I say." Aido's icy blue eyes peered into her brown ones; he didn't look away for one second. "Marry me," he proposed for the second time since the night they met long ago.

"Wh-why are you saying this?" Haruna asked, so confused. She thought that he wanted to please his father, so why was he telling her to marry him? Was it a trick to make her angry?

"Earlier," Aido looked up at the stars while circling around her, "I asked for you to find a reason to live. You said you didn't have one." There was a calm atmosphere in the air, for once. Haruna shuddered before him, feeling his gaze burning into her. Speaking with a strong voice, he asked her, "Can I be your reason?"