A/N: I'm out and away from my main computer, leading me to equally be away from skype…still, I had this segment lingering in the document manager, and I wanted to be able to toss it up… To those of my skype family who I haven't been on to see, have a very happy holidays (albeit belated), and I'll be on as soon as I am able...though that won't be any time soon with blood relatives and extended family invading my home at every turn, or me doing the same to theirs.

Blood Bound Promises
Chapter 2

She rarely left the sanctity of her home, but she did have to do so from time to time. Like every normal, average citizen, she assumed. It really didn't matter in the grand scheme. She had a job and so she did have regular wages. With those wages, she had to pay for living expenditures, which were slightly more than the average cost of living because she spent a much larger meal budget than most.

When Mai first asked her how she took her meals, she was sure that the carrot topped woman had some strange image in her head…it would not be the first time that such a thing happened. Mai found the life of a vampire strange at every turn, and the prospect of mealtime came with it's own questions and concerns.

"You want to know?" Shizuru murmured, her eyes leaving the television they sat in front of, glancing over to Mai.

There was a shy little shrug, and then a nod, as Mai's gaze lingered on the television a moment longer. "Well you do eat, don't you?" Mai asked, and Shizuru wordlessly nodded, unsure at this strange turn of events. "See, that' the thing. I've never actually seen you do it unless you've been in front of both Natsuki and I…even then the only thing I've seen you bite into is steak...vampires...they don't just eat steak, do they?"

"I usually don't have to chew my food." Shizuru said quietly, answering Mai's unspoken question. "The reason I usually refrain from taking my meals in front of you, is because I think it would bother you. It usually bothers humans, not that I blame them."

"It bothers me more that you try to hide it." Mai pressed quietly, bringing her gaze to meet Shizuru's.

"The kitchen then…" Shizuru said quietly. "I'll take lunch today…"

Humans and vampires were different by nature, but, not so far remove from each other that they couldn't find a middle ground. Rare or medium-rare steaks, for example, were considered a human meal. Yet, the meat was still bloody on the inside. Duck's blood soup, another identifiably human meal, drenched in blood by the nature of what it was.

There were many others, and all of them were things that could provide Shizuru with what she needed to survive. Yet, as she noticed Mai's curious glace as to why she poured herself a fresh glass of collected blood, Shizuru had to explain herself in a way she never before needed to before. Natsuki even as a human never asked, and other vampires already knew the answers.

"Consider for a moment, the merits of the act." She said as she placed the clear glass of dark, thick liquid on the table. "If you think it only a nutritional gain, you lump me in with human kind. If that were the case, I could get what I need purely from being a carnivore…there's more to the taking of blood than that, though, I suppose that's the most basic reason."

"But that's the blood that the liver was packed in." Mai responded, her nearly clueless violet eyes meeting Shizuru's once more. "I just brought that home from the grocery store a few minutes ago. Why would you drink that?"

"Strictly for this purpose…" Shizuru said, lifting the glass to her lips. This sort of blood was repugnant in odor and in flavor, it was not by nature her favorite kind…but it was one of only few safe bets. "My instinct is to feed from living things, usually…not unlike how a bat might feed from a cow…the mindset is to gather blood…not to render my prey to the brink of death…in my mealtime shopping, it's the liver that's the useless item."

Mai's nose crinkled at the thought. "If you don't mind me saying so…drinking the blood like that just sounds gross."

Shizuru's eyebrow quirked up. "I feel the same way about many human foods that also come in a glass…energy shakes, for example…those weight loss drinks your kind concocted…those soda drinks, nothing but sugar and corn syrup…how a meal can be made of that, or even delight in drinking such a purposeless substance, I'll never understand…"

Mai had to conceal a laugh at that. "Soda isn't a meal…you can't survive off of it alone."

"Yet, there are many who gorge themselves on the substance…" She drank her meal more quickly than she normally would have, if only to rid Mai of the sight of the act before it became intolerable to the woman's fickle perceptions. "Admittedly though, this is store packed blood. It is by and large repulsive to even my tastes."

"I'd rather eat the steak…" Mai muttered, the metallic smell was still in the room, and she found it unpleasant.

"Honestly," Shizuru laughed as she deposited her glass in the sink, rinsing it out. "I would too, but that's an expensive proposition for a daily meal." She then gave Mai a knowing glance. The woman had begun to cook her meals here, so it was probably prudent to give her a fair warning. "The drawer in the corner maintains surgical supplies because I do actually feed from humans occasionally."

"I thought you said you didn't!"

Shizuru placed her hands on Mai's shoulders, pulling the woman to her before the carrot top could begin to panic. "You asked me if I killed them." Shizuru said, her hand lifting Mai's chin to look at her. "I'd never kill someone for sport, but, I do need to eat…"

"Doesn't that just make more vampires?"

"We'd have to exchange blood…meaning you'd have to drink mine as well." Shizuru said quietly, trying to soothe away the tension she felt. She was much, much stronger than an average human female, and so it was rather easy to hold Mai, never letting her go. With one arm, she continued to do so, while the other slid into short carrot colored tresses. "No harm comes to the humans I feed from, if you need proof, you can always ask Natsuki."

"Oh, Shizuru….you didn't…"

"I have, many times."

"But that's…" Mai lifted her hands up, pushing Shizuru away, mostly because the vampire let her do so. They met eye to eye, confusion, fear….and something else…something that Shizuru couldn't begin to interpret lingered there. "Natsuki? I can't believe you'd bite her!"

"I don't bite people, Mai." Shizuru said with a roll of her eyes. "That's just barbaric, and quite frankly I…"

"You hush, and you listen." Mai murmured, cutting her off at the pass. "You are not to bite Natsuki, or feed from her, or whatever the hell it is that you two do together…never again." Mai said heatedly. "Do you understand me?"

Fiery little thing, wasn't she? The vampire was about to comment strictly that before she paused, finally identifying that third, single most important part of this rather odd puzzle. Shizuru's keen nose could detect a great many changes in a person's reaction. It was in their blood pressure, the number of beats their heart made, the way they sweat, the way they breathed.

"You're jealous…" Shizuru found herself surging forward, grabbing the short woman, flinging her to the wall, following close after. Her nose could detect it, that thrill of spike, the fear, the uncertainty. "Yesss…" a low hiss, and she grinned. "That's what you are…" Her pink tongue, still stained from her earlier meal, tasted the skin of Mai's neck, and she buried her nose to that intoxicating pulse.

Mai could feel the grin tugging at Shizuru's lips, they were so close. It was the first time since Shizuru told her what she was, that she feared her life could truly be in danger, and yet, she felt nothing but gentle lips kissing her, trailing fire up to the shell of her ear.

"I want you…"

"What?" Mai murmured. "Shizuru…no."

"Listen to me, girl…" Shizuru said quietly as she pulled away. "I'm a being ruled by instinct, you're a creature ruled by emotion…you keep spiking your heart rate like that, I'll be able to tell. Fear, desire, pleasure, pain…all of those things might as well be interchangeable when you're someone like me."

…

Time…

Distance…

She needed it most of all. The poor human woman, baffled and terrified had done nothing to raise Shizuru's ire since that day…but, she had been unusually cautious around the fawn haired vampire as a result of what had been a rather problematic afternoon. Weeks had trickled by.

At first it was just a few days of skirting around the sensitive topic.

Then, it was silence during mealtimes…this lasted a handful more days and nights.

After that, less and less time was spent merely talking at all…idleness forgotten entirely.

Shizuru couldn't blame the poor girl. Mai had been trying her best, pushing herself so adamantly out of her own comfort zone. Shizuru was surprised that Mai even lingered around at all…because, unfortunately enough, they both knew the truth. Shizuru was a deviant, a predator, a person who found human emotions amusing, lacking a deeper understanding of some of them. It boggled her that a human would dare demand something of her…especially something as routine as partaking a meal.

Jealousy…it was fickle…

Someone had to say something, to put to rest the demon toying with their greatest fears, and Shizuru stepped forward to tackle the issue head on when the disquiet became too much for her to take. "I am a vampire…"

It was the same thing she'd said the day she confessed about what she was, but this time, there was a darkness in her crimson gaze. "I am a vampire, and you…you are my prey. I drink blood, that is what I do, and I cannot…will not…be ashamed of how or when I do it. It is not something dictated to me by a mere human such as yourself…you haven't the slightest idea of the nature in which you're dealing with when you…tell me what….to…do."

Her words had slowly and painfully died at the fury in violet eyes. There was a distinct spike in Mai's blood pressure, and not the good kind. Her blood thrummed in a way that made her heat index spike. A blush of rage found her, lips thinning into a line and a very annoyed clearing of her throat made it all too apparent that Shizuru had stumbled over some type of unspoken land mine...and it was clearly a big one.

"What in the hell is wrong with you? Do you somehow get off talking to me this way? I'm your prey now?" Mai let loose a bitter laugh. "Get a grip, Shizuru. I'm nothing like that, and you….you should know that…I assumed you did."

Through gritted teeth and bared fangs, Shizuru sighed. "You audacious little…"

A palm clapped over her mouth, and crimson eyes narrowed.

"Don't you even finish that sentence...don't..." Mai warned as she pulled her hand away from Shizuru's lips. "I'm not just a meal ticket to you, Shizuru…I know that, so please don't make it out to be that way. We both know it isn't the truth."

"You're toying with fire..."

"And you think I can't take the heat?" Mai shook her head, reaching forward and grasping onto the collar of Shizuru's sweater, tearing it a little. "Look at me when I'm talking to you…" Crimson eyes however, were firmly planted away from that violet eyed rage. "Look. At. Me. Your fangs itch don't they? Bite me, end it quick, that's the easy answer…it won't make you happy though, and you know that, or else you would have done it already. So, we're going to talk like civilized, rational human beings, or we're not going to say anything at all."

"I'm not human, Mai."

"You know what I mean…"

"Well, I'm not a completely incompetent beast…unless you assume that I am?"

"Would you stop looking for a fight?" Mai released her, took a step back and sighed.

Shizuru gave her a hard look. "I seek nothing of the sort."

"I'd argue that." Mai murmured, but let that little matter drop. "Now, do you want to rephrase any of what you were trying to tell me? Or are we going to have a shouting match, because I can go for either one right about now...either way, this dispute ends today somehow."

"You're far too brazen…" Shizuru said then, arm crossed. "Enough to the point that you pose a threat to yourself. Doesn't my nature frighten you just a little?" Shizuru could smell the girl, her scent was distinct and strong. Of course Mai was afraid of her sometimes, but, she surely tried to hide it a great deal.

"I'm not easy to intimidate." Mai said quietly with a shrug. "Honestly, Natsuki's rougher around the edges than you are."

"Yet, I'm more deadly." Shizuru rebuked. "Natsuki, she's harmless…always would be too. There's nothing about her nature to make her into a killer."

"No, but she's managed to shut me up before, something you don't manage to do well." Mai shot back, wondering why Shizuru had a need for dominance. It was a sudden streak of it, nearly inexplicable. She knew she'd have to be above it, challenge it at every turn, and she knew doing that just might land her in hot water…but what else could she do? She certainly couldn't cower, and she wouldn't just let Shizuru trample all over her either. "Here's a hint, if you're going to make idle threats, at least makes ones that I know you're going to keep…all of this I'm-the-big-bad-scary-vampire nonsense has to stop. If that's all you were, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Because you would have run fleeing for the hills by now?" Shizuru asked, but Mai shook her head.

"Because I'd be dead." Mai wondered at Shizuru's abilities, her nature, and her reasons for her actions. "Either that, or I'd be kept in the dark about this whole thing. The fact that I know the truth, and that you haven't tried to rip me into pieces means something to you…what exactly…I guess I don't really know…and I can't claim that I know your mind either…"

No, Shizuru realized.

Mai would never be able to perceive the truth. Her body was ill-equipped to do so, and she would be inclined to wonder, because Shizuru would not be able to speak of that nature freely. It was complicated, even for her.