Blueeyeddevil06, thank you for being my beta.

Mamoru sat at his normal seat at the arcade talking about a very not normal subject with Andrew. He struggled to even say the word. Not out of fear from being overheard, but from the bizarreness of discussing what until today had been fiction to him.

He had been shocked when Motoki insisted he knew about Usagi. Mamoru had made a very veiled reference to knowing that she was "different." His friend nodded and said, "You mean that she's a vampire? I know."

"Sssshhh!" Mamoru hissed out and looked around quickly to see if anyone overheard what he'd said.

Motoki just scoffed. "You're kidding, right?" He rolled his eyes at his usually practical friend and asked, "and if they overhear me at all, they'll think we're talking about a movie or something." He then flashed a wicked grin and yelled, "Vampire!"

He pointed at the kids still playing video games and families chatting. "No one cares," Motoki added. "No one actually believes in them."

Mamoru grimaced and nodded abruptly. "But they're real," he said quietly.

"And we have secret knowledge. No one would take us seriously. Why do you take it seriously?" Motoki pressed, trying to understand his friend's state of mind. "You haven't talked to her about it yet."

"Yamato, my boss. He's such a practical man and I respect him. He believes in this all. Plus he discovered that the London police even work with vampires." He then leaned closer to Motoki over the counter and whispered, "they use them to go against werewolves."

Motoki couldn't help himself. He started laughing. Mamoru had been playing poker against four werewolves and he didn't even know it. When he managed to stop laughing, he said, "You mean like our poker buddies?"

Mamoru sat up straight suddenly, confused and a bit dazed, and asked, "w-what?"

"I'll explain, but I need to start back just a bit further. Usagi made me nervous, well I was weirded out around her. And honestly I was a bit afraid of her. That made absolutely zero sense to me. She looks like she would blow over in a slight breeze, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, she noticed and confronted me about it after you left. She knew I was born on a Saturday. Apparently that makes me more sensitive to the supernatural."

Mamoru looked at his friend thoughtfully and said, "Van Helsing was born on a Saturday in the stories."

"Funny thing, that. He's real. So's Dracula. Actually, Usagi's friends with him." As he watched the shock roll over Mamoru's face, he continued. "So after she told me I'm afraid of her on a visceral level because she's the apex of the apex predators, I mentioned our poker buddies gave me a weird feeling too. That's why she came."

"You're telling me she showed up and met four werewolves by herself? Is she crazy!?"

"One, she didn't know they were werewolves, two, she's more than a match for them. They were at a disadvantage."

"Jadeite grabbed her arm!"

Motoki smiled at the obvious protectiveness he heard in his friend's voice. "And she was wearing a silver ring she burned him with. They both hid it, but she really hurt him. He just thought it was an accident that she grabbed his arm that way." Mamoru breathed harshly through his nose when he heard that.

"She says we're meant to be together."

"She told me that too. It's why she confronted me when she knew I was scared of her. Usagi desperately doesn't want me to object."

Mamoru looked at him with pleading eyes. "I can't get her out of my head. I feel so drawn to her. That's a huge problem."

"Why?"

"Because it is!"

Motoki rolled his eyes, "She won't hurt you. Not you, physically, but even more so your heart. You're so used to disappointment. Sheesh, I worked so hard to be your friend. It's like I could actually see the walls you built up to protect yourself. I see what she sees, not romantically, but the person worth working to get to know. I couldn't have a more loyal friend. And as much as you'll deny it, you're a great friend."

"I have never reached out to you!" Mamoru said in absolute frustration. "When's the last time I called you? I'm an awful friend."

"For such a smart person, you can really be dumb sometimes. Why would you need to call me? I see you every day when you come to hang out with me at the arcade. You're even here on the weekends drinking your morning coffee."

The shock of Motoki's statement felt physical to him. He stiffened completely, and he thought back over the amount of time he spent with his friend. Then he was completely honest, "But it hasn't been about you. I come because I get something out of it. I like being here."

"Poor Usagi," Motoki teased. "You're so emotionally inept you don't get that this is true friendship. We both get something out of this."

Mamoru was having the weirdest day of his life. He found out vampires are real, werewolves are real, and that he was a really good friend to Motoki. He thought it was strange that the last one freaked him out the most. The idea that he could be enough for anyone, a comfort, it blew his mind. He had been so sure he couldn't emotionally connect with anyone. After all, he was a genius, and despite being in a traumatizing accident, didn't every parent want a smart child? He figured, after meeting a few families, and having them pick dumber, sweet children, that it meant he couldn't emotionally connect with anyone.

Of course childhood heartbreak and insecurities hid the truth from him. People, all people, hate to feel stupid. As much as a parent would love to have a child as a doctor or lawyer, their intelligence creates its own problem. Even at ten, he was accidentally making adults feel stupid. He would use words or concepts they had to look up after their adoption interview. They told themselves they weren't capable of raising such a smart child. Truth was, he made them feel stupid and their pride was in the way. So, it was that, something he'd done to try and impress them, make them want him, that drove them away.

But here's the beauty of Usagi's love. He didn't know what joy and happiness lay in store for him. He didn't know what life changing love was. Many times in the future he'd look back on his previous life, the one before her, and it didn't touch him. It was a dark blip in a life full of love that surpassed any other love. What did a bit of loneliness matter when he had her?

He walked down the hall to his apartment and Usagi was there waiting for him already. He checked his watch and it was 6:45. She was early.

"Hello," she said tenderly. "I-I'm never on time…today though…" she smiled and fidgeted with her silver-colored purse. "I figured you would expect me to be prompt."

He noticed she was beautiful in a white pleated skirt and a pale pink top. Her unusual hair style made him think of Odangos and he smiled. "Have you been waiting long?"

"I haven't knocked. Honestly, I'm kinda nervous. You found out quite a bit today."

He moved closer, unlocked the door, and ushered her in. "Yes, but I'm a man who likes facts, and I'm trying to look at it that way."

"Facts." She said definitively "I can handle facts."

"Good, because I have a lot of questions."

She giggled, "Trust me. I believe that completely."

"Vampires in London?" He smiled when she looked shocked. "You know about that?!"

"Yes."

"The head of the unit calls herself Venus. I'd love to meet her. She's done so much good."

Usagi sat down on the couch and set her purse on the floor next to her feet. "But you're deflecting." She looked up at him and suddenly morphed into a vampire. She had black veins around her eyes and her irises were red. Long fangs also protruded from her mouth and her skin looked a shade paler. It was all something that should have been out of nightmares for him. And yet he noticed all it did was turn him on.

He flopped into the armchair next to him and ran his fingers through his hair. "You don't look the way I expected."

"What?"

"As a vampire, you're different."

She blinked a few times and then asked, "is–different a bad thing?" She asked with a venerable tone.

"Absolutely not." Different; was turning him on more and more.