* In Shiki's Room. *

After Yuki lost consciousness, Shiki picked her up from his bed and carried her out of the bedroom.

* In the hallway. *

Shiki walked down the long, dim-lit hallway and sees his older brother leaning against the wall. His face was shadowed by the moonlight that poured into the hallway from every window, but Shiki knew that his brother was grinning at him.

"It's not very fair to keep her all to yourself, Shiki." Ren teased as Shiki ignores him and walks past.

Ren watches his brother's back for a few seconds before letting out a sigh and turns his head, looking out of the window beside him. His eyes glowed as he stared up at the blood-colored moon.

"I wonder if this'll work..." Ren mumbled as he closed his eyes and began to walk down the hall.

~ The Next Night ~

* In a Large Ballroom. *

Shiki pushed open the door and quietly closed it behind him as he stepped into the large ballroom. He swiftly strides across the checkerboard marbled floor as he makes his way towards the silver birdcage that was placed in the center of the room.

The top of the birdcage had reached almost up to the ballroom's ceiling. And as for its width, it was big enough to fit a king-sized bed with a bedroom bench placed in front of it and a small round dining table with a pair of chairs accompanied with it. It's color scheme for the objects residing within the birdcage were all white, while outside the birdcage, it was colored with various shades of black and gray―with the exception of the black and white checkerboard floor.

Shiki looks past the silver bars to see Yuki awake. He unlocks the door and steps inside the cage, making his way towards the bed.

"Good evening, Yuki." Shiki greets as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed. "Did you sleep well?"

Yuki doesn't answer and continues to quietly stare down at the bed. Shiki looks down at his feet before standing up.

"I'll come back later... I only came to check on you before I left the manor." He says and begins to walk towards the exit.

Just as Shiki closes the cage door behind him, Yuki parts her lips to speak.

"Why are you doing this...?" Yuki asks, her voice almost a whisper, but loud enough for Shiki to hear.

The cage door clicks close and Shiki doesn't turn around.

"If I don't, you'll try to leave again, right?" Shiki replies.

Yuki's eyes widens in shock as she looks up from the bed and stares at Shiki's back.

"Shi―"

"Yuki," Shiki calls before Yuki. "I'll ask Ren to come later, so just be patient and wait for him. I promise he'll answer your questions."

~ A Little Later ~

Ren comes into the ballroom with his arms crossed behind his head. He whistles a familiar tune which Yuki recognizes. The angel closes her eyes and unintentionally, she begins to sing.

"The birds, to the sky; the bugs, to the fields.
All of them on the road home.
The first star of evening has shone,
So let's head home.

To my warm house."

Ren claps as he enters the silver birdcage and Yuki opens her eyes, blushing in embarrassment after realizing that she just sang.

"It's been a long time since I've heard your beautiful voice, Yukkin." Ren remarked with a smile.

Yuki turned and faced Ren, watching him with her rose-pink colored eyes.

"Ren..." Yuki called. "What are you doing here...?"

Ren raised a brow as he eyed Yuki.

"Didn't you have questions that you wanted answers to?" He replied as he turned around, pretending to leave. "If not, then I'll just..."
"Wait, Ren." Yuki said as she tugged on his pale-colored dress shirt.

Ren waited for Yuki to release his shirt before turning around.

"So? What would you like to know?" Ren smiled as he fixed his clothes.

Yuki looked down on the bed, deciding what she should ask first.

"Why... Why are you doing this? Why go so far as to lock me in this cage?" Yuki asked.
"Simple. It's so that you wouldn't leave." Ren replied.
Yuki shook her head. "I can see that, but... What would be the reason for keeping me in here?"

Ren knelt down in front of Yuki and looked up, his honey-colored eyes met her rose-colored eyes.

"Yukkin... This is our way of protecting you."
"But... There are other ways, isn't there?" Yuki asks.
Ren shook his head. "Shiki and I... We're only thinking about protecting you and for that we'll do anything."

Then the hybrid chuckled at himself and lowered his head.

"In the extremest sense, no matter how you'll think of us, we've already decided to do this... Even if it means making you hate us."

Yuki stared down at Ren's white-colored hair and placed a hand on his head, gently petting it.

Ren's eyes widens in surprise and he moves away from her.

"What... Stop it..." Ren mumbles.

"I'm sorry..." Yuki apologizes as she lowers her head. "I didn't mean..."

"No, it's fine. I must have hurt your feelings when I suddenly moved away." Ren took a seat next to Yuki. "What other questions do you have?"

Yuki thought about Ren's question and remembered something.

"How do you two know about Judgement? I don't think I've ever told anyone about it... and I don't think Setsuna would either." Yuki asked as she faced Ren.
"Ah, that... Well, how should I explain this?" Ren said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "A certain vampire told us about it...? I don't remember who, but I do remember hearing about it right after you erased your own memories."
"A certain vampire...?"
"Yeah... I can't tell you who though."
"Oh, is that so..." Yuki said as she looked down at the dress she changed into before Ren came.

"Then, what are you protecting me from? I've already told Shiki that Judgement cannot be avoided..."

"Hmm... How should I say this?" Ren muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Simply... We're protecting you from him."

Yuki tilted her head in confusion. "Who's 'him'?"

Before Ren could answer, a distant howl from one of Ren's wolves could be heard.

"A wolf...?" Yuki asked as she looked around, only to see that there were no windows.

Suddenly, Ren stood up and quickly dashed to the cage door, cursing under his breath.

"R-Ren...!?" Yuki called after him as he closes the door behind, continuing on towards the exit of the ballroom.

Yuki watches the ballroom door slowly close and stands from her seat on the edge of the bed. She walks to the cage door and when she reaches it, she pulls the door open. Without hesitation, Yuki stepped out of the cage and quickly rushed to the door that Ren ran through just a few minutes ago.

The angel carefully opens the door and peers into the hallway. Thankfully, there was not one person outside and this was the angel's chance to escape.

Yuki slipped through the door and sprinted down the hallway.

* In the Foyer. *

After a few wrong turns here and there, Yuki finally reached the entrance of the manor and scanned the area before descending the steps. As she descended the staircase, she noted to herself that both Shiki and Ren are not anywhere in the manor and concluded that the howl from earlier must have been some kind of warning.

Once Yuki stepped off of the last step of the staircase, she hurried to the entrance door.

I wonder if the howl meant that there was a trespasser in the area... Yuki stated as she left the manor. This place... I think I've been here before...

Suddenly, Yuki heard a distant sound of footsteps and she quickly ran into the forest that surrounded the manor, quite like the Sakamaki Manor.

As the angel ran blindly through the forest, pieces of her memories as a child slowly surfaced.

There were memories of her playing hide-and-seek with her brother; memories of her first meeting with Ren and Shiki; the Sakamaki brothers; and when a human boy called out to her. Everything that happened within these woods came back to Yuki and small tears slid down her face as she could only think of one thing:

I wish those moments could last forever...