Caught

Being careful is always advised.
Not paranoid, not unaware.

A perfect balance.

It was a very dark night. After music practice, Fuyuki was walking home whilst taking her own sweet time enjoying the nature around her. Today she decided to take the route from the park back. Not only that. Someone's presence was around. Usually she would just ignore it walk away, but it was for work this time. Turning around, she saw a middle-aged man crawl out from the bushes. With leaves and sticks in his black greying hair, he seemed as if he was some homeless bum. The thing that came slightly surprising was that his outfit consisted of a kimono in shades of blue, hanging across his neck was a charm, even though it is not feudal Japan or some event going on. She watched the man as he scanned his surroundings with his chalky brown eyes before standing up properly and removing whatever was stuck onto him.

"Hahaha! Maeno-san, I found you!" He let out a low laugh. "Hm? Just out of school, eh. That means you're going home, so I'll make this short."

His smile turned into a straight line, his eyebrow furrowing with eyes tingeing with ferocity. The grey-headed girl was not surprised by this change of attitude. This was one needed for his line of work, even hers, really. Although Fuyuki is one of the laziest things you could ever find around, she was unbelievably serious at carrying out her responsibilities. She would not stand being mocked for not being serious at work or whatever needed her attention and would blow a hole in whoever that might say that. She turned back her attention to Sasaki Koujirou, the youngest child of three, from the Sasaki Shrine. It caught the attention of many that all of them became vampire hunters instead of becoming the head priest of the shrine. In fact, Koujirou's other two siblings- twins in fact, joined one of the most infamous vampire hunter groups- Vampire Circus. Being the youngest and most influenced by the family's lineage, Koujirou stayed on to protect what was left of his family. Fuyuki tapped her feet impatiently for the man to continue whatever he wanted to say.

"Are you interested in killing vampires, Mercenary?" He asked, a cold smile forming on his lips.

"Just get to the point already." Fuyuki said, raising a brow.

"Hm... heard of the name Mukami Ruki?" Koujirou continued as he eyed the surprised girl carefully. "A half-vampire. Makes him all the more dangerous! Halves aren't naturals. Their tendency to go berserk for blood is way higher. You go to the same school as him, so I'm asking you to assassinate him. For a good price, of course."

"Rejected." She said immediately, spitting on the ground. "You're a vampire hunter, it's not my job."

"Ah, but sometimes I can hire people like you to do it,no?" The man put a hand to his head. "Its safer for your race to do such dangerous jobs, isn't it."

"Bah. I'm not taking your excuses. I'm the one who chooses my clients, not you." The teen shoved the man aside. "Go back to Edo, I am not interested in your offer."

"Hmph. I know you're affiliated with the target." Koujirou said with a sour voice, eyes full of disgust.

Ignoring him, Fuyuki decided to leave. Koujirou took off in the opposite direction, waving a hand without looking back.

"The next time we meet, death will be lurking."

"Maeki~ You're late today~" Kou complained as he set himself on the sofa, changing the channels on TV. "Aha, this is the one with me in it. Isn't it great?"

"Shut up, you self-important brat." Yuma scoffed, grinding on his sugar cubes. The whole family except Ruki was in the living room.

Power in exchange for a gaping hole in her mind, void of memories. Of course, the reason was as fine as it was. Emotional triggers from those remembering causes such powers to run amok and such an occurrence was unacceptable. At the same time, these painful memories are not to be stored away forever, if full powers were to be obtained. Slowly gathering a sense of self over the several full moons, which barely gave her a fill of the gap, this one right now was throwing several, disconnected and scattered flashbacks flowing into her mind. And always, she'd be asleep. Fuyuki knew that it wasn't the best time for this to happen, with a foreseen event occurring. Weighing on a scale, her brother's life costed as much as her own. Although he was obnoxious, dominating, an asshole and a sadist, she still cared. Even if he said that he could do it himself, the fact is: he'd never fought alone against a vampire hunter. This very fact worried the girl a lot. That man- Sasaki Koujirou- was clearly going to kill her anyway so...she could handle him herself.

"You're looking pretty grim, Fuyuki."

Turning around, Ruki was seen walking down the stairs. Although her usual dead panning face was still around, her small frown was already enough for anyone to understand that she was pondering over something.

"Yeah. I've got bad news, so I need you all to listen." Fuyuki cleared her throat as she watched her brothers mutter their thoughts over her words.

She set herself on the couch beside where Kou and Yuma were, sitting beside Azusa. Ruki sat alone on the remaining one.

"So, what is it?" Ruki folded his arms together, anticipating the news.

He eyed his siblings: Kou who seemed curious but slightly disinterested in the situation, Yuma being a grump but concerned about what Fuyuki was about to say, Azusa calmly waiting for the next move and Fuyuki, the one with the news, stared at him with clear eyes.

"You." She pointed a finger at Ruki, who slightly jerked back at her gesture. "You're targeted by a vampire hunter."

He let out a small gasp before accessing the situation. Kou laughed loudly at his predicament, wiping his tears.

"Ahahahaha...! Well onii-sama, were your feeding habits not clean enough? Or were you simply too unaware hiding your activities?"

Ruki cringed at Kou's words. Maybe he'd been too careless after all.

"Hmm. This vampire hunter must be very observant to spot Ruki in action." Everyone looked at Azusa, who stated his views. "As half-vampires, we are to be more cautious of what we do. We are more likely to be hunted down, after all."

"Pah, what do they want to do with him anyway?" Yuma scoffed. "Them humans can die so easily, so we'll just kill him."

"Yuma-kun, you're such an idiot~" Kou playfully flicked a candy at Yuma's forehead, earning a small growl from him. "They're not called vampire hunters for no reason~"

"Were you guys not taught the history of vampire hunters?" Fuyuki quickly questioned them.

"Nope." An immediate answer came from Yuma, who obviously didn't know a crumb of it.

"As Azusa said, this man is hunting down Ruki because he is a half-vampire. He seems to be quite serious about this. Ruki... just what did you do recently?" Suspicious stares pierced through the targeted vampire as he ran through his memories.

"That handicapped girl..." He mumbled.

"Woah, you went for a disabled lady!" Kou exclaimed. "That's unexpected from you."

"Hmph, it was getting boring." The eldest gave him a quick answer. "She might have been still alive."

"When was that?" Azusa inquired.

"Last week."

"The girl must've into contact with the vampire hunter. He most probably spent the last week researching Ruki. He knows where we study at, but as long as the location of our house is not known, you should remain safe."

"Fuyuki, are you planning to do something reckless by yourself again?" Ruki frowned at he saw his sister give him the 'it's obvious' look. "I'll deal this myself."

"No." She gave him a sharp answer, surprising him once again. "You're inexperienced in this area. Maybe I'll let you watch what I'm going to do...but you're not doing this yourself."

"This is my problem, there's no need for you to get involved!" Ruki's pride and concern for her were both mixed into his voice. "I need time to think about this."

After saying that, Ruki stood up and left his seat, heading towards the kitchen for some relaxing tea. The younger siblings watch him carry his tea set back up to his room, not looking back. Kou grinned widely, amused at his onii-sama's predicament. When it comes to making slip ups, Ruki would be the last one to do so...or so they thought. This made Yuma throw him a questioning look.

"What's so funny about the situation?"

"Ahahaha, you know it! Ruki-kun's all muddled up over this...it's a rare sight." Kou fumbled over as he continued laughing.

"Well, that can be amusing in its own way." A small grin formed on Yuma's face. "He's always so serious and uptight after all."

"Mmm. But that's just like him to be worried, actually." Azusa softly mentioned one of Ruki's quirks. The rest nodded in agreement.

"He's really stuck up though. Livestock this, livestock that. The rest of you as well..." Fuyuki words trailed off as she ran through the million moments in her life where her siblings had pridefully looked down on others. "Uahh... talk about the lack of an open mind."

"What's wrong with that?" Yuma scoffed once again.

"It makes you stupid because you wouldn't want to learn more." Fuyuki snapped her fingers as if triggering something. "Stupid like you."

Her insult coupled with her straight, emotionless face angered Yuma. His rage was at it's finest, ready to pounce on the girl any time before he noticed her grin foolishly; one she would have when she was ready with...

"Are you going to bribe me again?" His eyebrows twitched when he saw her lean back on her seat, fawning over Azusa's hair.

"Aww, I wouldn't call them bribes. They're prizes. I made them, as you know."

Her smile never-fading, her eyes clearly told him that she didn't have much time on her hands to deal with the aftermath of his outburst. Aware of the weight she had to carry over the current situation, Yuma tried his best to calm down by grinding his sweets again. He was grateful that diabetes was now out of question since he had become a vampire. Kou snickered once again, amused at Yuma's reactions. The blond stood up, stretching himself.

"We should be resting soon~ Hurry up and eat the cake Maeki-chan made for you okay?" Kou licked his lips as he imagined himself eating the whole treat in front of the sugar boy.

He trotted back to his room, humming his new song that he recently showed his sister. Right behind him were Azusa and Fuyuki, both of them catching up with each other's lives. Alone in the living room was Yuma. With the constant cries of crickets, he scratched his hair in annoyance.

"What can I do to help...I'll have to keep watch of Maeki."

Authors Notes: I had too many scenarios and I couldn't pick out one, but I finally managed to arrange the arcs. Well, this commences the first arc in the series: The Hunter arc. Please do note that Sasaki Koujirou's existence is pretty significant, so be sure to remember him even after his arc ends!