RUN

"Hmm~ what to do now?"

Laito trailed off, his gaze fixed upon the moon above.

You didn't like it one bit, but you had to cling to Laito's arm for support from all the blood loss. You spoke up, hoping to distract him from any new ideas his twisted mind could concoct. "Can't I choose now?" you glared up at him.

He paused a moment before concluding with a simple shrug. "Fair enough, where should we go next, Queen Bitch~?"

Great.

You've earned a marginally less degrading take on your horrid nickname. Honestly though, would it be more or less so? You really didn't know at this point. Shaking it off, you heave a heavy sigh. There won't be much else to do on this side of the Carnival as far as you knew. You weren't about to ask Laito for any suggestions either. All you really could do now was suggest a long, non-traumatizing activity until your captor returned for you. It had to be soon. This day seemed as if it'd gone on forever.

"Let's take a walk through the park." you said.

Laito merely nodded slowly. "Hmm~ Maybe on the way back to the Carnival we could stop by the shops? I'll show you all the good stuff to eat." He shot you another coy smile. Even though you'd finally spoken your mind, looks like he still ended up deciding for you. You merely rolled your eyes, already taking steps towards the park. Already you felt your opinion was worthless and you'd hardly spent a day with him. You hardly reacted when he swung his arm around your waist as the two of you carried on. Adding to your sense of shame, you also had to cling to him for support.

The park was just as you'd left it. To think that the last time you were here, you were free. Now here you are, claimed by this bastard; as if your spirits could sink any lower at this point. If there was such a way, Laito was sure to find it. Never feeling so degraded in your life, you continued on together through the park. You felt as if you were his little prize on full display, being paraded through. You knew this feeling would only be magnified exponentially once you two would hit the Carnival.

The scenery was all the same. The Gothic street lamps cast an eerie yet sufficient amount of light upon the path. It not allowing much room to see beyond. You grew more uneasy with each step. You found yourself tightening your hold upon Laito. A sense of fear overcame you. You knew that whoever was watching was near. Terrified you halted where you were, unable to take a step further. You looked all about you, but such revealed no clues as to where such a foreboding gaze came.

Who were you kidding? How the hell could this be your captor? During your stay here, he'd never made his presence known until the end. Why change that now? So who is it? It wasn't the bastard attached to your hip as you first expected. Then who could it be? Your mind cycled through a myriad of possibilities. Your deepest fear was it being another one of them: the damned guests of honour. Mind jumping to the worst, what if you were killed in a battle between two of them? Of what if they found it fit to toss you between them, like some sort of sick plaything. You weren't sure which was worse at this point. The pressure of failure, compliance and preservation of your pride all came upon you at once.

Laito waited patiently, for a moment. He looked at you quizzically as you froze in place.

With a light laugh he leaned down to you. "Afraid of the dark~?" he teased.

You jumped a bit at the sound of his voice, but his words hardly registered. Your senses were all far too preoccupied with searching for a sign; anything to identify your persistent stalker. What if he attacked you? Then this bastard would have to protect you, thus you'd have to be indebted to him. You cringe at the thought. Any sort of growing closer to this man thoroughly displeased you. What if this? What if that? The endless cycle wheeled through your mind.

All you heard was a slight murmur before you found your head turned abruptly. Before you could register what was happening, Laito had you in his grasp yet again. Drawing you in, he takes you into a deep kiss. Just like that, you'd forgotten everything. Dazed, you found yourself fading away….for a moment.

... As soon as it began, it ended. ...

You felt his weight shoved off of you. As soon as you felt his presence disappear so suddenly, your eyes shot open. Laito was laying on the ground, several feet away. His head apparently had hit the ground pretty hard. Blinking for a moment, you look to your hands. There was no way in hell they could have done that..so what?

"Are you...alright?" A small voice was heard nearby.

You jumped back. You'd hardly noticed this one before and he'd been standing right beside you. What frightened you most was that if he hadn't spoke, you probably would have never known he was there. Wide eyed, you looked to him. He didn't look back. His gaze was fixed upon Laito's fallen form upon the ground. The displeasure upon his face told you everything you needed to know about their relation to each other. Going with your initial suspicion, you begin to back away slowly. This was a quarrel you wanted no part of; especially not if this was…

His gaze drifted to you. He blinked a moment as he picked up on your current action. Timidly he held his sleeve up, as if to cover his soured expression. Well shit, he noticed you. Just to be safe, you stopped where you were, awaiting this man's next move. He merely stared you down for the moment.

With a slight tilt of his head he spoke. "Are you...hurt?"

You gave him an odd look. Taking a quick glance towards Laito, you slowly shook your head. He paused a moment, mirroring your action as he too looked. You could have sworn he just moved. While you stiffened, he merely lost interest and focused his attention to you.

"Where...does it hurt?" He took a few steps towards you. You took several steps back. As he began to speak, you finally looked him in the eyes. What you saw nearly broke your heart. This young vampire bore such sadness in those eyes.

"Why...are you...walking away?" He said, searching your eyes for an answer.

"Ah..I see." Apparently he'd found it without your response. "So..you hate me...don't you?" He said, eyes downcast. "But...I don't...hate you."

Taken aback by his words, all you could do was stare back. How were you supposed to respond to a declaration like that; especially in this given situation? The only thing you knew was that for some reason, this one held interest in you. Now what if, you could use this to your advantage? You quickly glanced back at Laito before addressing the one before you. Admittedly you felt a slight tinge of remorse for deciding upon using his apparent fixation upon you as means of escape but what choice do you have? While the prospect of rebelling against your captor's wishes frightened you more, if you played it right, it would all appear to be the rivalry between two vampires at fault. Taking a deep breath, you look back up to him. You manage to give him a small smile.

This was just enough for a faint light to come within his eyes. He returned the gesture, his sad countenance softening. With a light sigh he said. "I'm glad…"

You had to be particularly careful with this one. You can't fall for his little act of innocence. You never know what exactly to expect from this group of men. This much you learned well from the heap on the ground feet away. Even so, as you two stared each other down, you couldn't help but wonder how a vampire; bloodthirsty and cruel, could appear so meek? Admittedly, all you had in comparison was your captor and Laito, they had set your standards low right at the start. Though knowing this, could this one be reasoned with? Wouldn't get your hopes up but it wouldn't hurt to try. He seemed somewhat concerned about your well being. So that's a start.

Encouraged by your previous gesture, he began to slowly advance. You held your ground, timidly looking back to him

"Don't worry…" He said with a soft smile

"I won't...do awful things...to you."

He stopped a few feet away from where you stood. A light gasp was heard as he got a good look at you. You noticed a light blush form upon his cheeks. Holding his arm back up to cover his face, you heard him mutter the word: Princess.

Shit. Your heart stopped the moment you'd finally realized who'd been standing nearby this whole time. How long had he been conscious? With a smirk, Laito kicked Azusa to the ground. Not giving him a second to recover, Laito yanks him back up by his hair, digging his nails into his scalp. In this moment, despite your intentions of not getting involved, you felt enraged at such cruelty. You yelled at Laito to leave the poor thing alone, throwing a fist into his gut. He simply caught your arm midway. Amused, he looked from Azusa and back to you.

"What are you fussing about? Didn't you know already Little Bitch?" he sneered. "He's perfectly fine. This runt likes the pain...Don't you?" Laito then proceeded to knee Azusa in the gut, causing him to gasp for air.

"You sick bastard." you growled, your arm shaking in his grasp. Laito only laughed more at your heated retort of hatred.

"Perfect~ hate me with all you got, Little Bitch." He grinned ecstatically, causing your face to contort in disgust. This man is utterly hopeless.

Through disheveled hair, Azusa's gaze still remained on you. His eyes widen as he saw your face contorted in pain as Laito tightened his grip on your arm. Laito was hurting you. Azusa's expression soured. No one is allowed to hurt you...without his permission. He clearly saw the disdain you held for this man. Even a fool could see this. He could see as plain as day Latio truly cared little for you. It was evident what he needed to do. He refused to lose to Laito. His gaze now fiercely intent, Azusa slowly turned his head to face Laito.

"Hey~ no need to be so greedy." With his devilish grin, he yanked Azusa's head back so he could clearly see his face. "Since I'm a such generous man~ I'll let you join us, just this once….well, what do you say? I can choke you while you attempt to drink all you can from the Little Bitch if you want~" He laughed a bit upon his last remark, shaking Azusa's head in his grasp.

Un-phased, Azusa looked back to you. You were still attempting to wriggle free, kicking and cursing furiously. Laito had hardly paid you any mind at this point. You'd done little to wound him if at all. Azusa's gaze drifted back to his abuser, staring him dead in the eyes. "You're...hurting her."

"Hmm~ what of it?" Laito shot back plainly.

Taking another glance towards your distressed form, he replied.

"She...doesn't suit you…"

Laito's eyes narrowed at this. However what little damage this did his ego merely dissolved into explosive laughter.

"What? And you think you can do better?" he spoke between laughing. "You've got a big mouth for a little rat." Laito's tone darkened as he now eyed Azusa with his coy smile.

Azusa merely frowned, brows furrowed as he stared back up at him. The memory of earlier events caused him to clench his fist in frustration. Laito chuckled as Azusa tensed up in his grasp. "Bingo~" he mocked him with that ever persistent grin.

…..

In one sudden movement, in the blink of an eye, Laito found a knife buried in his chest.

Azusa took advantage of his shock and dug the knife across, creating a significant gaping wound. Laito snarled in pain. In that moment, his grip loosening upon your arm. You seized the opportunity and jerked yourself free. For good measure, you kicked him, causing him to reel back; thus buying you more time to flee.

A moment of weakness overcame you. Looking back you saw Azusa stagger away as he too had managed to free himself from Laito's hand. Your eyes widen in shock once you noticed the blade in his back. Laito must have done that in retaliation as you managed to make some distance between you.

Azusa's gaze met yours, eyes glazed over from the pain. You cursed to yourself. Snatching his hand, you dragged him along with you as you fled the scene.

Laito, enraged, scrambled to compose himself. The blood he'd lost from the wound overwhelming him. He wasn't used to seeing so much of his own blood. However, he refused to let a little runt like him defeat him so easily. Gritting his teeth, he began to storm forward in the direction you'd fled.

.

He didn't get far.

.

Laito winced in pain when he felt a powerful grip upon his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're go'n?" A voice snarled behind him.

Laito tensed, he refused to address another of their party. He attempted to wrench himself free, but this only caused him to whirl Laito around roughly.

"Ey, I'm talk'n to you!"

Laito's gaze drifted upward to make up for the immense height difference between them. He could clearly see he was pissed. Fangs bared, he shook Laito, demanding an answer from him.

"I know you did something to Azusa. I can smell it along with your disgusting stench." Yuma sneered, shooting fiery darts with his gaze down upon the wounded vampire before him.

"What if I did~?" Laito shot back in pure defiance. Attempting to save face in this increasingly mortifying situation, he tried to remain bold in light of his still bleeding wound.

Yuma's anger only increased upon seeing the attitude he was getting. He managed a smirk when he finally noticed Laito's injury. "Heh, looks like he did a number on ya." With a loud thud, Laito was rammed into the ground by Yuma's fist. "Serves ya right." He slammed his fist into his hand triumphantly.

He stomped his foot onto Laito's back once he attempted to stand. Digging his heel in he shouted. "This oughtta teach you not to fuck with us!"

"I think he's had enough, Yuma."

Laito heard a stern voice from where he lay. Without looking up, he was all too familiar to whom it belonged to. He rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself. What rotten luck. Laito soon felt the weight of Yuma's boot slowly release him. It took him a bit to finally stand himself up. Wiping the blood from his face, he looked at it in utter disdain.

Ruki glared at Yuma, who held his hands up as he got the cue to back away. Folding his arms, pouting slightly, Yuma resolved to be satisfied with just glaring down at the battered man below him.

"Leave. You're done here." Ruki spoke, his gaze cold.

Yuma shot Ruki a look of confusion to which he made no move to address. He merely was fixated upon Laito's response. That would determine his next move. Ruki was prepared for a full-on battle. Yes, he had his group agree upon not doing this very thing. However this was different. This was for their brother.

Laito quickly picked up on the gravity of the situation.

Managing a slight grin, he spoke up.

"Now now, I know when I'm outnumbered. No need to be so uptight."

He agreed to leave it at that. Ruki nodded, not taking his eyes off of him until Laito was long out of sight. Yuma waited for a bit, mouth agape in disbelief. He finally piped up to ask Ruki for permission to hunt him down and to properly beat the shit out of him of course. Ruki denied him with no hesitation. Before Yuma had much time to grumble about it, something hit him. Eyes wide, he looked about him. He marched over to where Ruki stood, even going so far as to peer behind him.

"Ha-? Where the hell is…?"

"Azusa has something important to attend to." Ruki stated plainly.

"We mustn't pursue him for now."

"What the hell could be so important that he'd fuck'n ditch us after we just saved his ass?"

"Patience Yuma. We'll see soon enough." Ruki said, strolling past his dumbfounded companion.

Unsatisfied with his response, he scratched the back of his head and looked away. He noticed the slight pause in Ruki as he'd taken a brief moment to fix his gaze upon the lake in the distance. More confused than ever, he shook his head, finding nothing of particular importance.

...

With that, the two returned to the others. Both were received with joy upon their return. Yui seemed especially happy, most likely more than willing to have a break. However, Kou gave them a puzzled look upon seeing they'd returned empty handed. Ruki was assaulted by a hail of questions from the others; even from Yuma who thought it right to chime in. No matter how persistently they asked, Ruki refused to budge.

In an effort to distract them from their disappointment with Ruki's cryptic replies, he treated them to an extravagant dinner. Of course he knew this couldn't erase their concerns, but at least it would appease them even if for a bit. On the surface, it appeared successful. Kou and Yuma were bickering in no time, despite the fact there was more than enough for everyone.

The empty seat beside Yuma soon became impossible to ignore for all of them. While Azusa had always been the quiet one at the table, his presence had been counted; so much so that it hardly felt complete without him there.

They all had to wonder what Ruki was thinking. Why did he find it acceptable to return without their brother? Even more concerning was the burning question of what would even cause Azusa to stray from them in the first place...

Diabolik Lovers, the setting nor characters belong to me. I'm simply crafting a story based upon such.

Nor do I own the title, I have MEJIBRAY to thank for that