AN: Take 3 of my nervous attempt at Shima! Let's see how it goes...

"Please take care of Shiki-kun." It almost sounded like a plea. A whispered plea as Ichijou-kun's eyes clung to her coworker's back, darkening with seriousness.

Rima absorbed the lines of preoccupation that marked her friend's brow and nodded assent. "Sure," she agreed, even while internally sighing. After a few shoots working together...Shiki still seemed like a frustratingly boring person.

"It's time," one of the staff declared, calling an abrupt end to their conversation. "Rima, Shiki, please head for building C. And Shiki, you get sunburned really easily, so share Rima's umbrella."

The mahogany-haired model glanced up at the sun, grimacing in a gesture that, surrounded by the human staff, only she and Ichijou would understand. The bright sunlight was both disorienting and discomforting for vampires, which was only part of the reason why she carried a parasol with her whenever she ventured out in the daylight hours. The stroll across the grounds to building C wasn't a particularly long one, but Rima did not want one freckle to mar her pale, white skin. Not when she was renowned for her complexion. Perhaps later, years from now, when she was forced to abandon her career, she would abandon the parasol, too.

"Can you please act like a professional model?" the staff demanded when Shiki didn't immediately comply with their request, and Rima gestured for her coworker to join her under her lavender parasol as they were shuffled along to their interview. Ichijou waved them off cheerfully, ducking back into the sleek black car that had brought him and her mahogany-haired coworker to the agency that afternoon.

"So troublesome..." Shiki murmured, and her lips rose a fraction of a centimeter in agreement. "Why do we have to have an interview in the daytime..."

Rima blinked, caught off guard by the sudden conversation. Even if it was a mere sentence that he'd uttered, it was a sentence more than she'd anticipated. It seemed her coworker was in a better, or at least more talkative, mood today. Could it be because of Ichijou? Perhaps the vice president had a positive effect on her colleague. "This time it's a more popular magazine, so we can't really dictate the time of the interview." She shrugged. "Well, it's no big deal. We can go back to sleep later."

"Maybe..." In front of them, across the lawn, stood the small brick building labeled C. "It's here, huh?" Shiki muttered, stepping forward to push open the door.

Shutting the parasol with a soft click, Rima followed her coworker into the faux-welcoming lobby. To their left was a waiting area of plush chairs and recent magazines; to the right, a fish tank built into the wall housed various darting, colorful forms. It reminded her more of a dentist's office than a building for a modeling agency, and judging by the glance framed by upraised eyebrows that Shiki exchanged with her, she surmised he felt the same. Before either vampire could move to ring the bell at the unmanned reception desk, a honeyed voice caught in their ears.

"Oh, you two must be Toya and Shiki-san!" A tall woman stepped forward, offering them her hand to shake. She presented a professional figure in her blue suit with her ash-brown hair tied back into a tight bun. She adjusted her glasses, giving them a friendly smile as she told them, "I'm Sofia Grimm. It's a pleasure. Right this way, if you please?"

The room she led them to was small but cozy. Rima and Shiki immediately made themselves comfortable on the green, floral-printed couch, and the reporter settled herself into the chair across from them, retrieving her recorder from her handbag. When she asked them for permission to begin, Rima nodded idly. It was to her that Sofia first turned her attention.

"So, Toya-san, tell us how you got involved in modeling."

It was a question that the blond vampire had answered many times, but never in the company of Senri Shiki. She took a small breath, curious about coworker's response, and stated, "I admired Shiki-san's mother. I loved how brilliantly she came alive in her films. …I was so sad when I learned she quit being an actress after only ten years…"

Beside her, Shiki had grown strangely still, a thousand miles away as his eyes unfocused into nothing. He seemed to fade away, grow dusty and incorporeal. Rima adjusted the slight pensive frown that threatened her lips, straightening it back into impassiveness.

"Oh. How wonderful that the two of you are partners now!" the reporter gushed. "The recent winter shoot the two of you did has received rave reviews. Is there any secret to your success?"

Rima shrugged. "My father has always told me to gather news about the industry, so I always pay attention to the new trends..."

"But initially you were interested in acting, is that right?"

"Yes. I still am." One day... For now, that dream had been put on hold.

"Well, I hope to see you perform someday! Shiki-san, tell us, do you have any other aspirations aside from modeling?" Sofia turned her attention to the burgundy-haired model now.

Gradually, the grey eyes shifted back into focus, and he answered, "Not particularly..."

"Why did you enter the modeling world?"

A lackluster shrug.

Undeterred by his lack of response, the reporter pushed on. "Regardless, you're quite popular here in Japan, especially with teenage girls. Many are asking, are you currently in a relationship?"

Rima snorted to herself. The questions were as ridiculous and shallow as ever.

"No."

"What is your ideal woman like? Do you have any role models?"

"My ideal woman... She's..." Shiki trailed off.

"Yes?" The reporter leaned forward.

"Ideal." His nonplussed expression perfectly accented the sarcastic response. Rima cracked a smile.

The reporter was losing enthusiasm now. "What about role models?"

Another shrug.

"And you, Toya-san?"

The blond said coolly, "Hana Shiki, of course."

Sofia pursed her lips. "Of course."

The rest of the interview didn't go any better. Shiki barely offered more than two words of the remainder of the hour, and Rima's responses were repetitions of ones she had already given in earlier interviews. When their time was up, Sofia was obviously more than ready to leave the room, and Rima was more than ready to oblige her.

"Thank you both, it's been a pleasure," the woman told them, voice absent of all sincerity, and while she had to drive all the way back to Tokyo that day, Rima and Shiki were attending the luncheon in the adjacent building. Rima didn't have much sympathy, and as soon as she'd voiced a token goodbye she wasted no time exiting the building and heading for the luncheon held that afternoon.

Absorbing the tables laden with food for the luncheon after the interview, Senri felt the heavy mixture of scents sink into the pit of his stomach in a leaden knot. His appetite had vanished years ago and never returned. Watching the staff gorge themselves on the various plates made him queasy. Somehow, food had lost all its appeal to him.

Actually, if there was something he wanted to eat... Wasn't it...blood? For an uneasy moment, the swarming room of humans filled with that hot red liquid seemed almost appetizing. In the next moment, he shifted closer to Rima, inhaling the faint electric hum of her blood, and felt pacified. Pacified, and also...agitated. He shut his eyes, allowing the glimmer of crimson hunger to pass. He did like her scent, even if it did rasp at the back of his throat in a disquieting way that was difficult to ignore. He should talk to her, but he couldn't remember how to interact with anyone apart from Ichijou. He had passed too many years collecting dust, walled away from the world with his mother...

He glanced at the slender, golden-haired model beside him. As for Rima herself, he was gradually becoming accommodated to her presence. She was not a friend but neither was she a stranger, and he had no complaints with her aside from her occasional mentions of his mother. He knew Hana Shiki had gained quite a reputation and it was natural for her to have fans, but...away from the house, he didn't want to be reminded of what awaited him at home. He didn't want to remember his mother's wild, untamed hair and vacant eyes. More than anything, he didn't want to remember the agonizing, ravenous slash of her teeth at his throat. He flinched, the muscles in his neck spasming with the whisper of reminiscence. She always bit so deep...as though she was attempting to sever his very life with her fangs.

Still. She was his mother and it was his responsibility to care for her. And...in spite of everything...he still felt some kind of nameless emotion when he imagined her alone and hungry back at the house. Affection? Pity? Perhaps that vague lump of sentiment he couldn't decipher might in fact be labeled as love. Quashed down along with all the rest of his emotions, it was impossible to say. Nevertheless, he wasn't in a hurry to return home. He was content to remain at the academy, attending classes at night, working during the day, and sleeping at every opportunity in between. Besides, Ichijou, the only friend he'd ever permitted himself to have, was here.

Staring absently around the bustling, noisy room, Senri felt markedly disconnected. He only desired to return to his bed in the dorms and sleep. Sleep, and forget once more the unpleasant memories of Hana Shiki, the berating afternoon sun, and the pointless interview. A model was an image, a disjointed body and face. Why did personality matter? The camera lens didn't differentiate its subjects, didn't reveal their pasts or their aspirations or their thoughts. What use were interviews in the modeling industry? What use were such shallow lies?

There was nothing interesting to know about him anyway. He was simply the embodiment of his mother's wishes and the painful reminder of his father. Nothing more. Nothing else.

Rima glanced over at her partner. After the interview, if it was possible, he had withdrawn even further into himself. And he wasn't eating. As the staff gobbled every morsel in sight, he stared down at the table with unfocused, overcast eyes. Even his pallor was greyish, unfocused, and adrift. She bit her lip. True, it was frustrating how unresponsive he was, but Ichijou had asked her to look after Shiki. And he was her partner, after all...

The blond's snack of choice was chocolate pocky. Today, she had come prepared with a new package of delicious cookie sticks, and although she was reluctant to share them, she made an exception. Without sparing the aristocrat a glance, she proffered one of her precious sticks. A pause. She swallowed the rest of the mouthful she had been chewing, head propped in her other hand as she surveyed the table with a distinct lack of interest. The pause hovered uncertainly until, at last, she felt the snack leave her hand and heard the unmistakable crunch of a bite. She stole a glimpse of the mahogany-haired vampire, who was devouring the treat at an alarming rate. Immediately, she offered a second stick, which disappeared just as quickly.

Perhaps she should have been amused. Instead, she was concerned. If he really was hungry, he should eat...yet he always picked at his plate at meals. No wonder he was always falling asleep in the common area in the dorms at the academy or in various chairs between shoots here at the agency... Troubled, she continued to feed him pocky, occasionally taking a cookie for herself. Rima was always careful not to overeat, though as a vampire her metabolism was quite high and she didn't have to fret over her figure like the human models. Shiki, on the other hand, was lucky he wasn't underweight. She assumed he had to at least be drinking blood at home and taking the tablets at the school. ...Right?

No, probably not...

Troubled, she passed her coworker yet another of the chocolate sticks. Didn't Shiki take care of himself at all? He was a model, and that required a certain amount of physical and emotional upkeep. But, if he wasn't eating, wasn't regularly sleeping, wasn't drinking blood... Vexed, she glanced at the clock and wondered how much longer she had to endure this day. It shouldn't be her responsibility to preoccupy herself with Shiki when they had only been working together for a month. But. He was her partner, too...

Working her way through another cookie, the blond vampire pushed such concerns from her mind. Ichijou could worry enough for both of them. And anyway, she wasn't going to brood over someone who barely exchanged words with her. Even if that someone was talking with her more, bit by bit. She shook her head. No. She had already made her decision. Let Ichijou deal with it.

All the same, the remainder of the pocky passed slowly to the mahogany-haired model throughout the afternoon.

AN: Thoughts? Review!