HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHUU~!

I haven't updated anything for over a month! Am I not just the kindest writer in the universe? But I've got my reasons, you know. My school computer needed to get fixed so I turned it in a month ago. And now it's back! Nothing's changed with it though, but it's back!

Sorry it took so long!

I'll continue right away! Good to be back!

It was foggy now. And very, very dark. It was cold too of course. It would soon turn into November so there's no wonder that it'd get foggy and painfully spooky. I must have wandered around for hours now, but everything looked exactly the same. I'd had no idea how the forest looked or how big it was when I first took off, and that seemed like a big disadvantage now.

I couldn't even remember when I last ate. Reiji had interrupted me when I was already starving for something, and that feeling was definitely worse now. The legs lost their motivation at what the eyes could see – which was absolutely nothing. For all I knew, I could be going around just in the same spot. I could be right next to a road and just not know about it. I could have passed several houses and buildings.

My toes hit something on the ground, and with a scream suppressed in my throat, I tumbled forward over a large stone. I grunted heavily as I got up from the ground (I barely even had any energy to do that), using the goddamn stone as support. It was big and grey, and I definitely should've seen it. But the white thick layers of fog didn't reveal its secrets even though it was right in front of your feet.

It made me think of a story I heard when I was little. Grandma told me that the fog was just millions of fairies dancing in the air at night.

"You are just fucking mocking me, aren't you?" I tried to tell them, but no fairies answered. I continued forward, walking around the big boulder.

I was going to starve for sure.

I think I passed a familiar tree, but how could I know? All the trees here looked familiar, and so none of them really were. I'd tried shouting out, calling for help to whoever would or could hear me (even those fucking fairies). It didn't worry me one bit that Shuu would maybe hear.

After all, he didn't want me there anymore. And didn't care about whatever I'd do. Even if that was starving to death in a never-ending forest.

"Oh, shut up," I spat at my feet and legs. They were screaming. Shouting and pleading for the rest of the body to stop walking and rest for just a while. Maybe even to lie down and wait.

Or find a cave and sleep in, my tired brain suggested. The rest of me seemed to agree, and I began searching around for a place to sleep.

I couldn't find any cave in the end and about 90% of me had already given up and just wanted to rest now. The leaves and branches of the tree I was under wouldn't give much cover for rain in case that was to come, but it couldn't be helped. I was tired, hungry and left sulking under a damn tree with no energy, and I was starting to run out of hope and motivation to continue.

But even if I would have to live in that forest, I wouldn't turn back now to try my luck and search for the mansion. I'd either die here or get back to my home. I had decided that when I first jumped into all this.

I'd definitely find something to eat tomorrow. For now, I settled on getting some rest and energy.

I was preparing ingredients for something to eat. It had been a long time since I'd last been in the kitchen, but I could still remember which wooden cabinet contained what. My legs felt shaky and unsteady when I reached for them, but I was sure that I was gradually getting better. Or at least, I tried to tell myself that.

"It really feels good to be cooking again," I hummed, grabbing the salt. I stood up, ignoring the pain stinging in my back, and placed it carefully on the counter. "Now…. Ah, eggs!"

I walked a couple of steps to the right and opened the fridge, refraining myself to do anything else than soft movements in order to prevent any pain. To my relief, there was plenty of milk inside the fridge. I wondered for a minute who did all the shopping in the family, because I rarely ever saw any butlers or maids.

Probably Reiji.

"Let's see… eggs, mirin, salt, soy sauce, oil… Yeah, that's about it-"

"Do you have to talk out loud?"

I shrieked at the sound of someone else's voice and stumbled into a wall. The person clicked his tongue and sighed. "So noisy…" It said. I followed the sound of it and shot my head to the right. My eyes landed on Shuu, sitting on a chair with his upper body plumped down all over the table.

"S-Shuu-san!?"

He didn't respond, but kept his eyes closed in the attempt to fall asleep again.

"H-How long have you been here?" It looked like he had been sleeping on that chair for hours, but that couldn't be possible.

"Long enough," he shortly answered and opened an eye. "Moreover, what are you doing here?"

I blinked a few times. "Isn't that obvious? I'm cooking…"

"Well, don't. You're being noisy."

"Uhh…"

I didn't know what to reply with. Instead, I grabbed a frying pan from one of the lower cabinets and, without causing too much noise, placed it on the stove. I put the oil into it and turned the stove on, waiting for it to heat the pan.

The silence was beginning to get awkward, at least for me, and I wanted nothing more than to have something to talk to Shuu about. But talking to him is hard, especially now when I haven't seen him in so long.

"Would you like some?" I finally asked. I could tell that Shuu wasn't pleased about having his precious quiet time ruined, so I quickly continued to say something more. "I'm making tamagoyaki, and thought you might be hungry. I haven't eaten anything since-"

I went silent.

"Since Raito locked you into the dungeon?"

My eyes went up to meet Shuu's. They were slightly open, eyelids revealing only a pair of serious slits with the color of a beautiful clear blue. The way they could see straight through me made my chest sting a bit, and even though I knew how obvious my feelings always were, I tried to hide them.

He stared at me in a way so intense that you'd think he tried to search for secrets hidden somewhere in my eyes. The thought made me uncomfortable and I looked away.

"You were gone for two weeks," he said, after a while of silence. He didn't sound at all concerned, but stuck to his relaxed, quiet tone. So why did he seem so upset? "What did that guy do to you this time?"

I pursed my lips, fingers feelings sweaty against each other at Shuu's reminder. "I'm okay."

"That's what you usually tend to answer."

I turned around from him and began to mix down the salt, eggs, soy sauce and mirin into a white bowl. I thought for a minute about what I should answer him, or if I should answer him at all. I knew that Shuu wouldn't understand anyway, but he was still the best one to talk to concerning Raito.

"I've told you that I can take care of Raito. He's… I know that there's good in him…" I stopped stirring in the bowl for a minute until I caught myself stare into nothingness. "I'll make you some tea while you wait."

Raito would treat me badly most of the time, but it felt good to know that I could always talk to Shuu. Shuu didn't understand how I felt and would find my choices stupid, but he was a good listener and I appreciated having him around. I somehow knew that he still cared about it in some way, or in the very least, he made me feel like he did. And that was good enough. Having someone care about me after such a long time, even if it was just my imagination, felt good.

This time, I had been locked into a dungeon. I had gone two weeks without any food, water or light. Every now and then, Raito had come down, sucking my blood and spent some time torturing me with horrible words and painful treatments before he would shut that metallic door behind him. As time passed, the time I spent alone grew and he visited less and less. It started to feel like he'd never come back, and I realized how dependent I was on him.

He always did cruel things to me, but this time I had actually thought that I wouldn't make it. "Maybe he's tired of me"? The thoughts had run through my head many times down in the dungeon. "So this is the time when Raito will finally end it all and kill me, huh?"

I even prepared myself mentally to just die at last. But then, he freed me. It seemed as if he wasn't tired of playing with his toy just yet after all.

Raito had gone too far this time.

Even I knew that, and yet…

I woke up and stared into the many trees in front of me, streaks of the morning's sunlight shimmering through the branches.

"Strange," I said as I replayed the dream in my head. "Very strange."

Man, I needed to get those Sakamakis out of my head. I rarely ever dreamt of them. It had happened maybe once in the beginning, but never in this realistic, detailed way that this dream had. I figured that it was because of our long-awaited separation or something along those lines.

Yeah, that's probably it, I though and got up from my spot to begin to walk.

Once again, I walked for hours. I only rested every now and then to try and come up with some strategy. I really wished that I had paid more attention to these kinds of classes in PE, but I never really expected something like this to happen.

Time passed and my legs complained. Still nothing edible found. The forest was so thick here that I couldn't even see the sky anymore, but what would it matter. I could still tell day and night easily apart. The biting cold was a constant reminder of night creeping closer, and I had got nothing effective done at all so far.

I wasn't just hungry anymore, I was thirsty too. But water was nowhere to be found, and I was pretty positive that the lake I had passed my first day was far away. Everything was dry and impossible to get the tiniest drop of moisture from.

Being lost in thoughts, the hit against my right toes came as a big surprise. I scraped my knee as I fell down over a big and hard object.

"What the fucking hell?"

I used it to get to my feet again. But my eyes flickered in pure horror as I took a good look of what had blocked my path. There, right in front of my feet, was a big, grey boulder. And I didn't hesitate for a second to confirm that this was definitely the exact same fucker that I'd run into yesterday.

"I'VE BEEN GOING IN A FUCKING CIRCLE WHY THE FUCK I'M GONNA KILL SOMEONE SOMEONE WILL DIE BY MY HANDSSSSSS!"

Why the fuck?

So I took off left and left the stone with harsh stomps, almost running in my complete irritation. I promise you that I would've run if I'd had the energy.

Time wasted, 24 hours completely fucking wasted.

I was exhausted. A long day had passed. A day filled with school, work, and Raito. It was finally night, and I was heading straight to bed. I had waited a long time for this, so I was quite surprised and bothered to see something lying on my bed.

I had absolutely no idea what it was at first, but I noticed when I got closer how the upper part of it raised and sank over and over again. I was surprised to discover that it was a body, a person, lying there on my bed. Over the hem of a blue cardigan were blond curls of silky, soft hair.

Now that I knew that it was Shuu, I wasn't surprised anymore. This was the kind of thing that you could expect from him. "Shuu-san? What are you doing here?"

He didn't answer me, but I was pretty sure that I heard a small groan in the back of his throat slipping out. He was still half asleep, aware of my presence.

I swallowed hard, bothered. "Shuu-san, can you please get out of my bed? I was just going to sleep."

A small sound, maybe a mumble or a whisper. "Then sleep."

I felt myself get a little irritated, and frustrated, now. There I was, sleepy and tired from today's work, and he had to be stubborn when he's actually lying down in MY bed in MY room.

"Why do you have to sleep in my bed?"

He turned around in the bed to face me, looking just as bothered as I felt. I swallowed down hard again, not backing out from his serious stare.

"You have your own bed in your room, Shuu-san. Not to mention that I've seen you sleep in corridors and couches many times before, so I don't understand why you are here. If you could just please return to your room and let me-"

Something tugged at the hem of my pink shirt, and I was down in the bed. My back was against Shuu's front and his arms smoothly wrapped around me as soon as I was down, leaving me no time to get out of the bed.

"Shuu-san, please let g-"

I didn't have time to finish my protest before he softly spoke into my hair. "Why do you stay with that guy?"

I froze when he said that. Something with Shuu told me that he noticed it, but I'm not sure what. Maybe he let out a small breath or sigh, or maybe his body softened around mine. This was the number one topic that I wanted to stay out of, even if it was with Shuu.

Finally, I managed to come up with some bad reason. I could literally hear how unconvincing and bad it sounded in my own ears. "Well, I chose him that first day after all. I don't know what to do, and I've got nowhere to go."

"I know the things he does to you. You wouldn't have to put up with all of that if you just left him." I don't think he meant for me to hear what he said, but Shuu muttered quietly into my hair; "You deserve better."

I felt guilty now. Guilty for always having Shuu take care of me after being bruised and broken down by Raito, as if I was some doll that Shuu always had to repair because a spoiled kid wouldn't stop breaking it while playing.

"He's not really a bad person," I said. "I know that he's very kind deep inside, he just rarely lets it show."

"You love him."

It had come so suddenly that I had no idea how to answer and I'd had no time to plan how to react right. I had just started to relax, but was now tense once again and at a loss of words. My first instinct was to deny and protest, but I'd learned that it was no use. And I knew the answer very well nowadays myself, so lying was pointless.

Shamefully, I shrunk in the bed and nodded weakly. I felt like a criminal for loving someone like Raito. I closed my eyes and took a discreet, long breath.

"I'm sorry."

My gaze was placed in complete distaste at the stone once again appearing before me, cerulean eyes empty and weak. I was at the verge of passing out, but also tear down the whole forest. Both at the same time, perhaps.

This was the fourth time, the fourth fucking time that I stood in front of the same fucking stone. I had run into it in the morning and tried to turn right instead of left this time, but now it was in the way of my path once more. Where was I supposed to go for me to not come back by my feet?

I didn't understand. And it was driving me insane with frustration how every decision I made could lead back to this one fucking thing. One or two times I could understand, but when a fourth time occurred, it was no coincidence anymore.

Had someone, maybe the Sakamakis, placed out identical stones on several different paths in the forest – for maybe some event or decorating or something? Or was this some kind of magic trick done by the Sakamakis? Perhaps real vampires don't only bite and suck blood, but they also know magic spells and stuff?

I decided to at least try my last option before assuming too much. Turning around, I dashed away and left the stone further and further behind me. I tried to memorize as many things as I could along the way so that I could compare the surroundings if I ran into that damn grey lump of hard material.

It happened eventually, as expected. It took longer time than I expected (it even turned dark and cold), but I was standing in front of that fucking boulder again, so why did the time it took matter. I didn't even have the energy to get angry. Just very, very confused and depressed.

The trees around the boulder did look familiar, and if I remembered totally correct, it was the same ones. And that meant that the Sakamakis didn't have several stones in the forest and I just ran into every one of them, but that I had returned to the very same for five times in just three days.

This day, day three in the forest, ended with me curling up to one of the nearby-trees, hugging my knees with the branches as cover for possible rain or wind. I kept my eyes glued to the stone on the other side of the withering yellow leaves as I waited for sleep to come. I thought a little about the weird dreams I'd been having lately, and if I maybe would be having them again tonight, until I dozed off.

"Shuu-san, you can't sleep in a place like this. You'll catch a cold."

He has plumped down in one of the mansion's halls, half of his back resting against the wall in some kind of half-lying-half-sitting position. I had been on my way to the bathroom after picking up towels and had had no idea for how long he'd been there once I found him, but by the looks of his irritated growl, he probably wasn't satisfied with whatever time he'd got.

"I've told you before," he groaned as he stretched his neck a bit before changing position slightly. "Vampires don't catch colds."

I insisted by getting closer to him, holding out a hand. "But you can still feel cold, right? You must be freezing by now."

His narrow, irritated eyes gave in with a little complaining and bothered glance, but he still refused to take my hand. He exhaled something resembling a sigh and slowly got up from the floor.

"So bothersome…"

I didn't think I'd ever heard him talking so slow. It somehow made him seem even lazier which made me wonder what reason had caused it. Or maybe it was just my imagination?

But it did feel like Shuu had been a little weird the past days. One day, he could be appearing in front of me absolutely everywhere and be quite chatty, and then it felt like he was avoiding me the other. And when he talked, it was never even about something important or necessary, so I couldn't understand why in the world he would be speaking willingly with me.

"Are you coming?"

I had only been spacing out for a second, but he had already started to walk. I quickly followed with a confused wrinkle of my nose. Why did he suddenly want me along? He'd usually tell me to go somewhere else and let him be. It couldn't just be my imagination. No way ever. Something was really up.

His eyes didn't meet mine when he talked. "Where is Raito?"

He's talking about Raito now?

I blinked, confused, but then let my gaze sink to the floor. "I don't know," I replied. "He hasn't been around for a week now. He's been acting… weird lately."

I stopped myself from adding; "and so have you."

Shuu didn't answer, which meant that he was either not interested, not satisfied with the answer, or he didn't have something to say. I didn't want to gamble on anything so I continued, gripping my hands around the towels harder. "It makes me a bit worried. I'm not sure what to do about it either…"

"I see."

This time, I was the one not satisfied by the answer. It was so short and suspicious in a way ,and made me frustrated. Or maybe I just panicked, and he wasn't hiding anything at all from me.

"Have I done anything to upset him!?" I yelled. "What can I do to make him come back!?"

It seemed as if Shuu didn't know how serious and worried I actually was. Because when I turned to face him, I saw how surprised he was at my expression. He immediately turned his eyes away when they met with mine, looking straight ahead instead.

"I don't know."

And that was it. I continued to look at him, desperate for him to give me an answer that would help me. But Shuu just looked straight ahead as if I wasn't there, and nothing more was said during the walk.

I realized what I had just done and turned away. I felt ashamed over my behavior just now, because I was acting like a stupid kid who expected Shuu to have all the answers in the world for me.

I didn't want Raito to go away. I knew that what had happened now, having Raito leave and never come back, had been the only thing occupying my thoughts for so long, but I now knew that it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted Raito to be by my side, and I wanted to be by his. I didn't want him going somewhere else and forget everything about me.

I must be absolutely mad for thinking and reasoning like this.

I really did love Raito. I knew this for sure now. I just want him to come back to me.

"W-Well, then. This is where we split ways," I told Shuu and pointed vaguely at the bathroom door next to me. "I'm going to take a bath now before bed, so..."

He just looked at me for a second, standing still. No reply, no gesture, just a small look and that's it. Why did he even want me along? It wasn't like we talked about anything important today or anything.

I swallowed awkwardly and got into the bathroom silently, but before I could close the door, Shuu's hand blocked the way and pushed it open further so that he could squeeze through.

"S-Shuu-san!? What are you doing? Weren't you going back to your room?"

"Later." His body pushed me further into the room and I dropped the towels down on the ground.

"Later!? What do you mean late-"

I was cut of by pure horror. My thighs hit the edge of the tub and caused me to fall down backwards into the warm water I'd prepared, screaming. I came up with a splash and looked with an accusing, bothered look at Shuu. The whole scene hadn't touched him one bit, and yet I was in a tub with soaking wet clothes and hair.

"Why would you do that!? That was really mean and unnecessary of you, Shuu-san!"

He ignored me and pulled a chair, which he'd gotten out of nowhere, beside the tub and sat down on it. I was actually a little surprised that he didn't join me or mock me or… anything, because that's what I'd expected once falling down.

"Get over here," he ordered and used his hand to direct me to sit with my back facing him. It seemed fishy, and I protested and really didn't want to go along with it, but he had me do everything he said in the end.

I flinched as I felt something touch my head. A little more contact and I realized that it was his hands and that it was my hair that they were touching.

I heard a mumble from behind that I couldn't quite make out. After that followed a small exhale and; "I'll wash your hair."

"You really are acting strange today."

I said it without thinking. It just kind of slipped out before I could force it back down again, and now I realized what I'd said and waited awkwardly and impatiently for some reply or questioning.

But it didn't come. Shuu just kept quiet and fumbled around with soap in my hair. I wished for a minute that I could've seen his face, because I was curious about what kind of expression he had and what he was feeling.

Why was everyone acting so weird lately? It felt like everyone looked and saw me differently – especially Raito. Or what did I know? Raito had left a week ago, so I had no idea what he saw when he looked at me or how he felt.

It had come so suddenly, him leaving. I'd had no clue that he would, so I was absolutely shocked once I discovered him gone. And unexpectedly sad as well. I found myself waiting around for him to return, but he didn't. I just couldn't understand what it was that caused him to leave out of the blue.

"It's okay," I heard Shuu say quietly from behind. It was first then that I realized that my shoulders were trembling, or that all of me was. My vision was all just a big white blur because of my wet eyes.

"It's okay." He said it again. His voice was so soothing and calm that it pained in my heart even more. I almost wished that it were Shuu whom I loved and not Raito. Why couldn't I just forget about him?

It hurt so, so much.

"It's okay."

That's when I just closed my eyes and let it all out. I let the tears fall and didn't care about how I started to hiccup. Shuu continued to wash my hair, and I wept like a baby during the whole time.

Day ten.

I'm so tired. I can barely walk anymore and I don't understand a thing. Today is day ten. I've spent one week and three days in this forest now, ten nights and days, and neither my hunger nor thirst has been clenched. I've managed to get some sips of water from moistened plants in the mornings, but it's barely enough to keep me alive.

My lips are so dry that several cracks have formed over them and it feels like there isn't even a trace of saliva left in my mouth. My stomach is so empty. Every step hurts so badly and I've been throwing up a lot the past time. Not that there's anything left to throw up, but my body continues to force something to go out.

I feel dizzy. As if I'm on my way to faint as soon as I move. I take a step and it immediately makes my vision go blurry and my head to throb. My legs give in and I've had to crawl because I just don't have the strength to get up after I fall sometimes.

I just want to come home. I want to see my family again. I want to see them again. I want to see my family again. Please just let me see my family again.

My head is spinning and I feel incredibly dizzy. It takes all I've got just to stay awake, so walking is really hard. My knees refuse to stay steady and just keeps on bending more than they should at every step they take.

Ayato took too much blood. He left me with barely anything left. I think it's because he got angry with me and wasn't really worried about sucking my blood. It wasn't like there was anyone there to stop him or anything. The one who was supposed to suck my blood wasn't even here anymore.

I wasn't even sure where I was heading. I didn't care. What did it matter? What did anything matter?

Why did you leave me here, father? Why would you have me living with vampires? You couldn't have known, right? There's no way you knew what their kind was, right?

The sound of a door could be heard maybe only a couple of meters in front of me, but I didn't bother looking up. It was probably just one of the brothers, something supernatural in the mansion, or maybe my imagination. I didn't really care. I kept my eyes glued to the ground and continued to drag my feet after the floor, one side of my body pressed against a wall for further support.

"My, my, you look really bad."

My eyelids flew open. I threw my head up and stared in shock at the person in front of me. I repeated my own words in my head.

(It was probably just one of the brothers.)

He smiled, a little wearily and pitying. "Can't handle even a couple of days without me, Bitch-chan?"

I tried to say his name. I tried to call out to him. Nothing came out at all. My lips just quickly went up and down, unsteadily and trembling. Small fragments of my voice managed to get out, but that was it.

He'd said "a couple of days" just now, but in reality, three weeks had passed. I really had thought that he wasn't coming back.

"Cat got your tongue?" he asked, making me flinch a bit.

Then, when he finally took a small moment to actually study my situation a bit and take a look at my stance, his smile and eyes flickered of a different emotion. His emerald eyes were glowing. "Well, isn't this scene awfully nostalgic?"

I was too filled with emotions to take in what he was saying, and I didn't pay it much attention. Instead, I staggered forward toward him. Normally, I would've found those glowing eyes threatening and would've known better not to approach him, but I couldn't refrain.

I was still heavily shocked as I walked toward him. My face had frozen the exact same moment that I saw him, and I was now gaping with eyes wide and almost in a trance at what they were seeing.

I started crying only once I was in his arms. He accepted me with a warm embrace, making it even harder and more painful for me to try and understand why he ever left in the first place. My cheeks were warm, the back of my eyes sore and on fire. I was wailing and weeping like a young child into Raito's chest until standing up really was too much for me. My legs were shaking too much, making me slowly fall on my knees.

I don't know what happened after that. My eyelids closed, refusing to open again. I passed out.

Once I woke up again, I was in Raito's room. It felt like ages had passed since I'd last seen that golden chandelier when opening my eyes. The green bed with a golden bedpost and frame, the green and white curtains hanging over two big windows reaching all the way down to the floor to my left, the fireplace built in white marble, the green armchair standing next to a round little table made out of beech wood. I shamefully caught myself thinking that it felt like home.

That was until I realized that I couldn't sit up in the bed or even move. I felt panic crawling in the back of my head and quickly looked up to my left hand. Across my wrist was a black piece of cloth connecting me to one of the bedposts. I looked to the right and the other wrist looked exactly the same. My eyes couldn't reach my feet, but I knew that they were bound as well when I tried to move them.

"Good morning, Bitch-chan. Did you sleep well?"

The cooed voice came from right beside me, to the left where I'd looked at my wrist just a second ago. I quickly turned my head around, and there he was. Right beside me. Chin resting on the back of his hand that was on the bedpost where my wrist was tied. Which was very close to my face.

I shrieked. When did he get there?

It seemed as if my reaction was funny to Raito, because he began to laugh. He leaned back and straightened his back, standing casually. His hand was still holding on to the bedpost and it made me feel even more as if he was in complete control. Which he was.

"Raito-kun! P-Please, what is the meaning of this!?"

I wanted to ask him why he would do anything like this after we've just reunited after so long, but I didn't want him to know that I'd missed him. I didn't want him to know how I felt, because I already knew that he didn't feel the same way back. But why did he have to do this first thing after meeting me again?

I did want him back again, but this was not what I wanted.

He closed his eyes then and turned around. Having him walk a couple of steps forward in such a slow and relaxed way worried me. Without turning to face me, he began to talk.

"You can't be alone for even a little while, can you? You always need me around or someone will take advantage of you." I could tell by his voice that he was smiling widely. His shoulders even trembled a bit when a sweet chuckle escaped. "Poor little Bitch-chan. Too weak to defend herself."

I wanted to protest. Or at least say something back, because sitting there in silence only felt pathetic. But the words didn't come out. I didn't know what to tell him, and I hated to admit that I was still overwhelmed and unaccustomed to have him back. It all didn't feel real. It was more like Raito was only a distant memory. It felt weird, especially since I'd pictured our reunion a little bit differently.

"Did it feel good, having Ayato suck your blood?" Raito has finished his little walk. I had no power to stop him when he crawled on top of the bed, hovering over me with his palms tightly pressed down against my wrists. "Hey, what else did he do?"

"Please, Raito-kun... Why do you have to do this? Why… now?"

"Why now, you ask? Because I've wanted you for so long now, Bitch-chan. It was such a long time since we saw each other." Then, suddenly, he almost let out a laugh, and looked at me mockingly. "Or were you hoping for a more romantic reunion?"

I flinched. "N-No-"

"However, I'm not interested in things like love," he said, ignoring me. His hands travelled up to my left wrist, outside of my vision. There was a small ruffling sound, and then my wrist felt loosed. He did the same with my other wrist, and went down to my ankles.

"What are you doing?" I asked abruptly as he fiddled around my feet, and I felt a little paranoid and worried. But of course, when it comes to Raito, who wouldn't?

He stood up, finished, and I realized that I could move, now untied from the cloth. I sat up in the bed, but hesitated before doing any other further movement, such as run away. I feared what Raito would do, and I hated myself for waiting for his orders.

"Go on," he encouraged. "Run away. Let's have some fun, shall we?"

Raito walked over to the middle of the room and sat down in the green armchair, his chin resting on his entangled fingers in a posture that reminded me of the one Reiji often had.

I swallowed hard, but stepped down to flee anyway. As soon as my left foot touched the cold ground, I dashed off out of the room. I ran quickly with quick breaths, looking for something or someone that could help me. I knew that this was just another one of Raito's games that he held for a little extra amusement, and I didn't want to lose this time.

I ran for so long, until I was completely out of breath and had to slow down. And eventually, I had to stop to breathe or I would've died. But it didn't even take a second before I was forced up against a wall, as if Raito had just been lurking around in the shadows of the mansion and waited for me to stop.

I grunted a bit, panting heavily. I was held up by the collar of my school uniform's dress shirt. It felt like I wasn't taking in any air at all. Raito looked at me with narrow, cold eyes. He was disappointed.

"What a shame. You've gotten worse at this since the last time we gave it a go, Bitch-chan. I was looking forward to a more thrilling hunt than this."

I grasped the hand holding onto my collar with both of mine, trying to make him loosen the grip a bit. "Please… Raito-kun… Let go…"

"Oh well," he sighed, but before he leaned in toward my neck, I saw his lips curl up into a smirk. "At least I've still got your blood."

"No! Raito-kun, I can't give away any more blood right now! I'll die!"

I tried to push him away, but he neither listened to my words nor respond to my actions. He bit down into my neck, and I let out a whimper. My hands moved to his back and clutched the soft material of his green hoodie. I knew that I didn't have much blood, even after a bit of sleep. I hadn't recovered yet, but Raito still sucked with a big appetite.

"Oh, it's so good… I've really missed your blood, Bitch-chan." He licked up drops of blood gushing out. "You know I love you. I love you so very much."

I closed my eyes, wondering why it had to be like this.

I woke up screaming and trembling. I breathed heavily for a long time, completely frozen. I'd had a lot of strange dreams lately, but this topped everything. What was wrong with me? Those kind of detailed dreams where you have completely different emotions from real life and all. They can't possibly be normal, can they? Something was definitely not right.

It wasn't even morning. The darkness was still creeping over the forest, a white moon and some stars acting out as the only light. I looked up at the sky again, seeing that not only was the moon big and clear, but it was full. Like a round orb up in the black. I prayed for a minute to God that even though vampires may exist, please don't let werewolves do as well.

I'd woken up in the middle of the cold night. My fourteenth night. Celebrating two weeks in a forest with a nightmare and a full moon, huh.

I reached out for my shoe to the left. There was still some water left in it, and I felt a little unsure about whether I wanted to drink some now or if I should save it for later.

It had rained a day ago, and I'd almost forgot in my happiness to collect water in something. I didn't have any bucket, so I had to use my shoes. Luckily, they weren't made of cloth that would suck up the water. My Lolita shoes weren't so bad now, huh?

I only had one shoe left though, and I felt so stupid for drinking some of the only water I had so quickly. I really regretted it, but there was nothing I could do. Two weeks had passed without having anyone find me, and I had run into that same stone at least once a day now. Things were really beginning to look hopeless.

I got to my feet and was just about to walk, but stopped myself when a sudden, soft voice reached my ear.

"You lost, Little Lamb?" It said right out of the blue, and I froze.

I first thought that it was Shuu, but then remembered a thousand reasons for it not to be (whereas the biggest ones were that Shuu didn't talk like that and that the voice was feminine), and I hastily turned around in hope of meeting the face of a person that could help me.

My eyes spotted a beautiful pale woman tilted against a tree three or four meters away. Every part of her seemed to be tall and appealing, especially her long legs. She was wearing a long, green dress that made her breasts seem even larger than they already were. Her eyes were amber from what I could see in the dark, and her curly, copper hair covered parts of them.

"Thank God," I said, a lot more hoarse than I thought. I had almost forgotten how my own voice sounded, and it felt familiar to me.

She truly was beautiful, but I couldn't understand why someone so dressed up and glamorous would be wandering around in a forest for.

But I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the good parts. Someone had found me, and I was being rescued. I was definitely close to crying, and I felt the back of my eyes and my cheeks burn.

"My name is Kazuka Mayu," I quickly said and stepped closer. "I-I was abducted a month ago! Please help me!"

"Help you?" The brown-haired woman said, questioning. The way she looked puzzled made me worry a lot. Maybe she just hadn't heard of me?

No, that wasn't it. Because she laughed after a little while, looking at me with pity. "Oh, you thought I was here to help you! No, no, no." She shook her head.

"What?" The word faded as it came out and became a small, weak wail.

"I've got no intention of saving you or help you from whatever shit you've got yourself into. I just followed a good scent, that's all. And I found you, Little Lamb. What even have you been through, looking like that?"

I started trembling when I understood what she was saying. She wasn't a person here to save me. She was one of them. And saving me was the last thing she'd do right now.

I wanted to run, but stood still in some sort of weird frozen state. I didn't even have any energy to run or escape, but I really wanted to try. But I couldn't.

Something caught her attention, making her look up to the right with a weird expression. I think it was some sort of scent that I had too bad sense of smell to catch, but I didn't stay long enough to figure that out. I used the situation to my advantage and began to get away. But it didn't go fast, even if I did my best to run at least a bit.

"Oh, so this is Sakamaki territory, huh... And that means you're their prey, Little Lamb," I heard her mumble behind me, and I could feel her focusing, hard stare burning on my back. "I guess I'll just have to make this quick then."

Something jammed into my side all of a sudden, and once I was pinned up against a tree by strong, delicate hands, I understood that it was her. She must have been in quite the hurry, because she didn't waste one second before tearing her sharp fangs down my shoulder.

I screamed in pain for her to let me go, but she just made it all more painful and rough. She sucked hastily up as much as she could get and it was sickening for me to watch and hear the blood that used to have been in my body gulp down her throat.

Shuu usually always sucked slowly and lazily, so this was really painful and unusual for me. Never before had I been drained so quickly. Never before had I felt my vision and reality get blurry before. I could barely stand up for any long, and the woman didn't bother holding me up or catching me when my knees budged. She just bent down on one knee and continued.

"Oi. What do you think you're doing with someone else's belonging?"

The woman biting me stopped moving for a second when she heard the low voice. Her fangs were pulled out and she completely let go of me in order to stand up. I just crumbled down on the ground in a very uncomfortable position on my stomach. She wiped the gape of her red lips with the back of her wrist and stared at the man with an evil glare, like she was trying to claim dominance over me through her eyes.

The last thing I did was look up to see the shadowy man, his curly blond hair only slightly lit up by the moon. His blue eyes were glowing threateningly in the dark, and he didn't at all look amused. Rather angry, actually.

I couldn't describe the feeling I got when I realized who it was. It was something like a mix of being relieved, overjoyed and delighted, but absolutely so much stronger. Like the greatest prayers of a strong believer had been answered. I felt blessed and saved.

I was looking with eyes full of tears at Shuu as if he was God himself.

I really wanted to see what was going to happen now, but my eyelids didn't allow it. I was so exhausted and, strangely, relieved and calm. My brain just shut off and everything I knew of just went far, far away.

So that's it for Shuu's birthday and for my first update in a very long time! Feels really refreshing! And quite the long chapter here too, so I hope that that helps you all forgive me for the long wait.

Next update will be for Raito, because I really left that one with quite the unfair end.