Naru sat in the arcade at the counter, sipping her milkshake, when she saw her former classmate come in with some of her friends. She hopped up, smiling as she made her way over to her. "Ami! It's been a long time since I last saw you!"

Ami smiled back. "Naru! It's so good to see you too. How have you been? Are you still…." She trailed off as her Naru started shaking her head.

"Dating Umino? Nope. He broke it off with me a while ago."

"Sorry?"

Naru waved away her sort of apology. "It's all for the better. Trust me! I'm so much happier now."

It was then that she met Ami's friends, Makoto and Usagi. That sent her reeling. She was racking her brain over the possibility that she was just introduced to that Usagi.

"Is something wrong?" Ami asked, concerned, picking up on Naru's increased heartbeat. It had sped up when she introduced Usagi; she was sure of it.

It was Usagi, though, that pulled Naru with her over to a table in the corner. Makoto and Ami followed, confused but trusting Usagi.

Usagi pulled at Naru's collar, exposing bite marks. "The vampire who bit you can't heal the puncture marks with their saliva." She announced abruptly.

Naru blushed, "no, but I wanted him to bite me. He's not… Using me, um, for my blood."

"And he's how you heard of me," Usagi said. "Your heartbeat sped up when you heard my name."

"Yes…." she said, casting her eyes to the table. "He's how I heard of you." She fidgeted and added, "he's a good man." she looked up at Usagi earnestly and said," he really is!"

Usagi listened to Naru's strong heartbeat and looked at the good color in her cheeks. She also noted her eyes were radiant and not sunken. "He drinks from you, but he doesn't take too much. If he didn't care about you, you wouldn't look so healthy."

Naru almost jumped out of her seat when Motoki placed her forgotten milkshake down in front of her. She was terrified he had overheard what Usagi had said. So she was floored when he chimed in, "talking about vampires with Naru-chan?"

"You know her?" Usagi asked.

"She's a regular, and her mother owns OSA-P. Our parents are all members of the small business owners' group here. I've known her practically my whole life."

"Then can you sit for a minute? She's dating a vampire and knows of me," Usagi replied. "And for some reason, she's terrified. I can smell it on her."

"You don't have to be scared of her," Motoki assured Naru.

"I-I not scared for me!" Naru insisted. "It's… for the man, the vampire, I love. He's good and adores me, but he's been…." She stopped talking. She was terrified that saying anything would be a betrayal to the man she had given her whole heart to.

"Does he love you?" Motoki asked.

That brought a calm to Naru. A sweet smile spread across her face. "Yes, he loves me so much. He's so good to me! I didn't know it could ever be like this! It's…so wonderful!" She blushed. "Sorry, I got carried away."

Usagi shifted and locked eyes with Naru. She was incredibly powerful, and while undoing compulsion was a tricky thing. One useful thing came easily to her. "I am speaking to the inner Naru. Hear me and count the times you have been compelled. Now tell me!"

"Once," Naru replied with a blank look, "Naru is compelled now."

Usagi made a strained face. "Well, that was a miscalculation." She looked over at Makoto. "So, with vampire culture, you should know I just made a big boo-boo. I assumed I would discover her devotion was forced. Or I actually worried I would because of her connection to people I care about. And now, I compelled a woman loved by another vampire to tell on him." To make her point, she said, "how do you think Mamoru would take that?"

"Oh, shit," Makoto said.

"Exactly."

Naru shook her head. "You don't get it. He will be glad you know that –that you can trust him!"

Ami frowned, "Naru, it's not all puppies and gumdrops now. He will be mad."

"No!" Naru objected again. "But… Oh, I wish I knew what to say. It's all so terribly complicated. I refuse to betray him, but what if it would be helping?"

She searched frantically and grabbed up two butter knives. She fisted them, drawing strange looks. She knew if it went badly and it looked like Usagi was going to compel her to give up Sapphire's location. She would use them to stab out her own eyes. If she were going to risk betraying his trust, she would risk her own sight.

She looked at the table, afraid to look at any of them. "He wants you to trust him. And he doesn't know how to approach you. Maybe now you'll trust what I say." She trembled and hardened her resolve. If she had to, she would use the knives. "The vampire I love wants to work with you desperately to right all the wrongs he was forced to commit. His name is… is Sapphire."

She looked over at a chuckling Motoki; she knew he was human and couldn't compel her. He said, "they figured as much. They were waiting for him to approach them and help them out. There is a new enemy."

Still holding the butter knives in a tight grip, she said, "really? Are you tricking me?"

"No. I have been in the meetings they have. They figured out how he was controlled. They already believed it before a detective they knew found proof of what spell was used. He had zero choices."

She dropped the knives and wept into her hands. "I tried telling him that, but he won't listen!" She said, sobbing. "I hope he finally listens to you."

Usagi took her hand, comforting her. "What were the knives for? You know you couldn't hurt us with them, right?"

"Of course I did. But I knew if I stabbed my eyes out, you couldn't compel me to give up his location. If it went badly, I was going to do just that."

Makoto made an awe sound and said, "it looks like bonded love to me."

"Me too," Usagi replied.

Ami smiled, "he must be a good man. Naru is too sweet and kind to be bonded to anything less."

Naru blushed. "He is a good man, but I don't know about the rest."

"Tell me something about him," Ami requested.

"He's so wounded after what his brother did to him. Sometimes it looks like his self-loathing and the darkness might swallow him whole." Naru's look softened. "Then he looks at me, and it's obvious all the evil memories are chased away, and he smiles, he honestly smiles. When his whole focus is on me, he's happy and at peace. I had never felt so special in my entire life before."

Usagi smiled at her, "let's arrange a meeting through you. A place of his choosing and a time of ours. Fair?"

"I can't speak for him, but it sounds fair to me."

"Or," Sapphire said, sitting down next to Naru, "you can stop pretending you didn't know I was listening in for a bit now."

Usagi rolled her eyes dramatically. "I wasn't pretending I didn't know. I was giving you time to think about meeting me. It was a show of respect. Especially since I didn't think you would want Naru at the meeting. Vampires in love tend to worry that the humans of their affection could be used against them as a bargaining chip."

"You don't use innocent humans," Sapphire stated matter-of-factly.

Sapphire pulled Naru into his arms and held her. "If you ever think of harming yourself again to protect me, I will be infuriated."

"I was worried I was betraying you by talking to her about you. If I did. I was ready to do anything to keep you safe."

He shook his head at her. "You didn't betray me. And even if you did, I wouldn't hate you. You were what gave me the strength to fight against Diamond. You were who I was thinking about when I told Usagi how to kill my brother. Somehow focusing on your love loosened his hold on me just enough so I could work against him a little."

He held her and looked at Usagi. "I figured out the werewolves betrayed Diamond after they found love. I didn't tell him."

"I know," Usagi stated. She pointed at Makoto, "she's the vampire that helped Nephrite. She's young, and we've since been working on the finer points of compulsion."

"I'm sure she didn't have much time to act anyway." He frowned. "I was just angry that night. The bombing…. I was looking at others to be angry with. I couldn't stop him, and I hated myself."

Naru prompted, "he wants to help you now. It matters to him to work for good after all that he was forced to do and witness. He worries he can't be of help or that you won't want him."

"Beryl is taking over Diamond's position," Usagi replied. "How involved-"

"I want in! I've heard of her, and she's as twisted as Diamond and has powers like Emerald. I need to help."

She cocked her head, "you resist saying it. Why? You have to know the truth."

"Fine. I want to help, my queen. I resisted because this was how I felt before you became queen. I didn't want you to believe this was out of ingrained loyalty."

"No," Usagi said, "you wanted to make your choice based on your desires and not a sense of duty."

"Yes," he admitted. "That's probably exactly what it is."

"Queen?" Naru asked, confused.

"I assume she found her bonded love. Once Usagi did, and he became a vampire, they became king and queen. The first and only we will ever have. It's a significant reason Diamond wanted to be an Immortal and not a vampire. He didn't want anyone to have power over him."

Naru looked up wide-eyed at him, and he wanted to kiss her for it. She was so open and honest with her feelings and affections. Never, even when he had been alive, had he experienced that. "Will… Will you be safe?"

He kissed her nose and shook his head. "I can't promise that. But I can promise you that I'm selfish enough to keep you by my side." His unbeating heart felt like it swelled in his chest.

She looked over at Usagi. "Do you really trust him? Or is he just a pawn? I mean no offense." She turned to look at Sapphire since she felt him stiffen at her question. "I'm not trying to offend her. I just want to make sure you are valued."

He looked at her, shocked, "don't risk yourself for me, ever."

Naru rolled her eyes, "that's not going to happen. Don't act stupid; it does suit you. What would happen to you if I got hurt?! I feel the same way about you!"

Motoki smiled and said, "I like him. He brings out the best in Naru-chan."

Sapphire glared at Motoki. "And all I can think of right now is wanting to break your neck for calling her a pet name."

"Sapphire," Naru scolded. "He's an old friend."

Motoki shrugged, "I know I'm messing with him. I've been around the supernatural enough to know what I am doing. I'm making a point."

Usagi nodded and said to Naru, "yes, he's being genuine in his adoration for you and his desire to work with us. If he weren't, Motoki would have been on his ass across the room at the very least, and most likely, his throat would have been ripped out.

Motoki grew pale but moved on. "To be fair, I trusted him based on what Kunzite said," he admitted. "I didn't think I was risking anything. But I did want to ensure you would all be safe."

Usagi chuckled, "it is a wonderful but weird world to have a human looking out for me."

"You did so much for my best friend; I would do anything for you," he replied.

"Your best friend?" Sapphire asked.

"Your king," Motoki answered, smirking.