"All of it's my fault."

"Hey Akane!" A familiar voice called out to me, I looked up from my book, and saw the warm teal eyes that comforted me so. Eyes that belonged to none other than my best friend and only friend Miku. Her long messy black hair shaded some of her face, hiding it from view; she leaned over the table and rested her elbows on it.

"There's a new volume of that manga out today, you want to stop by the book shop and get it?" Miku asked, I nodded and put my book in my backpack. She pulled my arm and practically dragged me out of the library, Miku and I chatted happily, ignoring the disapproving glares we were shot as we walked past. I never understood why Miku choose me to be her friend, out of all the people she could've chosen why did she choose me? To this day I still didn't know why.

Ever since I was little people looked at me as if I was some kind of trash, I always heard them whispering things behind my back. No one ever spoke to me; they thought they'd be cursed if they did. Even my own mother wouldn't dare to look at or acknowledge me, she didn't even bother. I hated her. I loathed my older sister, she was always the praised one, the one who could never do anything wrong. But according to everyone else my existence was wrong.

I try not to think about these things when I'm with Miku, it depresses me. Hugging my arm tightly she pulled me into her favorite bookstore and browsed the shelves hunting for the certain comic she loved, I'd read it and took somewhat of a mutual interest in it. She squealed as she found it and held it up triumphantly; the cover pictured a small girl being held by a taller boy who was leaning into her neck, white fangs protruding from his mouth. In red angular letters the title read Kyuketsuki no hoyo. A story about how an innocent high school girl falls in love with a hopeless romantic vampire.

At the time I didn't realize how ironic that concept was.

Miku paid the woman at the counter and bounded excitedly out the door, "I wonder what's going to happen this issue! Kei better not be dead! He needs to save Michiyo, he's her only hope!"

"Well why don't you read it and find out?" I asked, Miku gave me a slightly surprised look. "Eh? But part of the fun is guessing! Besides I'll read it when I get home."

"Oh! I almost forgot, are you free tonight?" Miku asked while straightening her uniform. I thought for a moment, of course I never had anything planned that didn't involve Miku. I shook my head, Miku smiled "Good because there's something I've been dying to do but I don't wanna go alone."

I stopped and said in a serious tone. "What is it?" She avoided eye contact and twirled her thumbs. "Wwwweeeeeelllllllll, look you don't have to go if you don't want to. But I really want you too!"

"Miku you're never this vague with things, out with it!"

"Okay! Okay! Well there's this place not too far from the mall that's rumored to have real, live…" Miku leaned in close. "vampires."

"What? That's ridiculous! Vampires don't exist. Besides that sounds really dangerous. You know what my father says about places like that-" I reasoned, but Miku was hearing none of it and cut me off. "Please! Oh please Akane! Even you said your father's too paranoid for his own good! You don't even have to talk to any of them, just please come with me!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose in irritation, "Fine! But only to protect you, I'm not getting involved in any of that freaky shit." She jumped up and hugged me, "Oh you're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah, but when I say to leave we leave." I said flatly, Miku let go of me and nodded furiously. "I promise! I just wanna see if I can find someone like Kei." A dreamy look came across her face. I rolled my eyes, "You know he's a fictional character right? I doubt there's any real person like him."

All she did was shrug and continued walking down the sidewalk. I wasn't looking forward to this; I had a really bad feeling.

.

Miku knocked on my window later in the night, everyone else in the house was asleep. I grabbed my jacket and a knife from the kitchen, just in case. I hid the knife in the jacket and hopped out the window. Miku hugged me and began to lead me past the closed mall and down a few back alleys.

"How did you find out about this place again?"

Miku just shrugged and said. "If you look hard enough you'll find bunches of places like this, what takes true skill is picking out the real from the fake." She stopped in front of what looked like a club. But there was no sign indicating the name. The few people who hung around outside paid us no mind and catted as they clinked glasses filled with a thick red liquid.

'It's just wine, not blood, they are drinking wine.' I reassured myself. My stomach did flips as Miku drew me nearer and nearer to the leering building. I stopped dead before Miku was able to reach the door. She tugged on my hand a second, third time.

"C'mon, we're not even inside yet. Don't tell me you wanna leave now."

I didn't hear her, but somehow she managed to push me inside. They were lots of people there, some crowding around a what looked like a bar and others were dancing in the middle of the room. There was hardly any light inside and I could barely see five inches in front of me, so I latched onto Miku's arm as to not lose her. All of the sudden I felt claustrophobic, I felt like there was an overbearing weight on my chest. My grip on Miku's arm tightened if possible.

Miku's eyes seemed to glow in the little light, "Aka? Are you okay? Here, lets go sit down." She helped me over to a plush ottoman in the left corner of the club and sat down with me. We were sitting in silence before I started to shake, and I became far too aware of the people surrounding us. I peered at them through my bangs, their eyes swirled with a sick red color that made me want to vomit, and I could smell blood everywhere. 'What's happening to me?' I asked myself, every time my heartbeat it racked my brain and blurred my vision. We have to get out, now.

This time I said it out loud, "We have to get out, now!"

Miku gave me a confused look, "Why whats wrong?"

I ignored her and wrenched her from her seat, I pushed past the crowd of-whatever they were- not caring if I made them angry. I just had to leave that place.

When we finally made it outside I took a deep breath, and stopped for only a second before I broke out into a run with Miku following close behind. I ran through all the alleys Miku had brought me through. My spirits raised only slightly when I saw my house across the street. I only made it halfway before I heard a heart-stopping scream from behind me. Miku wasn't there. I ran to the alley I had just come from, she wasn't there. I began to panic. I ran to the second alley, she wasn't there either. There was another scream, closer now.

"Miku! Miku, where are you?" I cried, almost literally.

" AKA I'M-" She was cut off by a horrible cracking sound. "No! No Miku answer me! Dear Kami please don't be dead!"

The smell of fresh blood filled my nostrils, I spun around. No more than five yards away from me lay Miku, or what was left of her. I fell to my knees, not wanting to believe the sight in front of me and let the tears fall. "This is my fault." I couldn't make myself crawl any closer.

"Why are you crying flower?" A smooth voice called out to me. I froze, footsteps approached from behind. When the footsteps stopped a hand was place on my shoulder, a large very pale hand. I slowly turned my head and looked up, there was a very tall man with long dark hair, I couldn't see his face but I could easily see his glowing red eyes and two sharp fangs that gleamed in his smile. I stumbled back, reaching for the knife I'd hidden in my jacket. The man's hand stopped me, the other grabbed my chin and tilted my head, as if examining me. The hand holding my chin let go and took the knife from me. "I wouldn't want you accidentally hurting yourself."

He leaned in closer, I tried to scoot back but ended up pressed against the wall of the alley. His smile grew wider and he said, "You look so much like your father, I wonder is that how you knew to leave? After all, you do have his eyes." he caressed my cheek.

"G-go away!" My voice came out raspy and hoarse.

"I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Taiki, Taiki Nakashima. And you are mine now." Taiki said. I squirmed over to the side, but he grabbed my throat and pulled me up to his level. I gasped for oxygen but he tightened his grip. Taiki's smile all but disappeared, "There is no use trying to struggle flower, for I am much greater than you." he leaned into my neck.

I clawed at his hand and tried to kick him. "No! Get away!" I felt his fangs scrape the junction that connected my neck to my shoulder and the grip around my throat tighten with an iron-grip.

There was a piercing pain that shot all the way to my spine, and I began to weaken by the second. My mouth lay open in a silent scream, not able to find the energy to give a real one.

It went on for what felt like hours before he released me, I fell to the gravel gasping for air. Taiki turned over my left arm, so my palm faced him. I couldn't see what he was doing, nor did I care to. "You're not quite ready yet flower, your hunter senses have not fully blossomed yet. There's no fun in having you in this state. But just in case you feel like disappearing or changing your appearance, I'll give you this." I wailed as loud as I could as something burned into my wrist. I shakily watched as Taiki pushed a red hot iron rod into my overturned wrist. Unable to forget the smell and sound of my burning flesh.

When he finished he walked down the alley, I couldn't force myself up. My limbs and eyelids felt like they were made of lead. I tried to force myself to stay awake, knowing that if I fell asleep I may not wake up again. But it was too much, I couldn't bear to live with myself anymore knowing that I killed my best and only friend, the only person who cared for me. I let out loud choking sobs as I let sleep take me.

.

As I woke up I originally thought that I was dead. But was disappointed to find myself in some type of hospital. The was a plastic tube that ran across my nose and fed me oxygen. I glanced up at a heart monitor, my vision still hazy.

"Good you're up, I was worried for a second that you were lost." A deep male voice called out from my left. I lazily looked over that way. In one of the hospital chairs sat a man with wavy black hair and light blue eyes-or more of eye, he had a brown leather eye patch covering the other. He wore a long brown coat and had a smaller scar on his chin.

"Wha? I bu-" I tried to form a coherent sentence but failed, my mind still to foggy from the medication they had me on.

"My name is Toga Yagari, I'm a vampire hunter. I found you unconscious in an alley, you'd almost bled out. Look, do you have any family I could contact to let them know that you're okay?" The man, Toga, explained.

Family? They were never family to me. The only family I had was Miku and-she's…she's… I began to choke up and broke out into furious sobs. Toga froze and tried to calm me down, awkwardly rubbing my head and patting my shoulder. "It's alright, your safe now." He reassured.

"I-I have n-no family anymore."

The hunter looked down, "Oh, I didn't mean to bring anything up."

"I" He looked back up at me as I began to speak again. "I want to kill the monster that did this to me. I will make him pay."

Toga glanced at me, looking very serious. "I can take you to a place where you can learn how to kill the monsters that attacked you. The nurses said you could be discharged later today, if you really want to got through with this meet me at the café across the street at six."

He turned and walked over to the room's door, but stopped. "I don't believe I caught your name." He stated.

Akane Fukishima is dead, "Call me Aka."

A/N: I love reveiws, just putting that out there.