It must've been late August when Yuri found herself in the Sakamaki mansion. Quite truthfully, she awoke the following morning and laid in bed, her eyes gazing to the ceiling a strange look on her face. She began to wonder of the night before, of Ayato and his whereabouts, of the flower field, and the sunny weather outside. Strangely enough, her mind began to hopelessly shift; she remembered Shu and only hours before. Why was he there? In her bedroom? Why business did he have in the place in which she slept? Yuri was perplexed; for she had no idea. Yet, she was completely aware that this place would be playing with fire.

It was ten or so when she finally woke from bed and dressed, departing downstairs rather curiously at the moment. The house was surprisingly empty, all except for Elise, the maid Yuri could hear humming from a room down the hall. What would two females in a place full of men have in common with one another? Whatever it was, Yuri wanted know. Subsequently she slowly began to knock on the door, reluctantly pushing it in.

"Elise..?" Her voice called. "I-it's Yuri, Yuri Hatori," she remarked, hesitantly looking inside to find the woman flabbergasted and dropping a cloth in her hand.

"M-Miss Hatori! I'm so sorry, I was distracted. Please forgive me. I'm not so used to many people being awake at this hour," Elise bowed before her, and Yuri turned a crimson shade of red.

"O-oh! It's alright, please! Don't apologize to me!" Yuri assured her, laughing a little awkwardly at the moment. She shook her hands in assurance as Elise returned to her posture.

"Miss, really, I'm not accustomed to accepting the apologies of my master, but, thank you," she simply smiled. "How may I serve you?"

Yuri rubbed her sweater's sleeve and sighed in relief; her face began to relax a bit. "Oh, well, actually, I was rather confused, you see, the house is especially quiet this morning. What time does Reiji and the others usually wake up?" Her voice questioned rather curiously.

Elise gave a face of confusion; she was mostly perplexed at the realization that Hatori hadn't the faintest idea of this place. "Oh, you see Miss, they're not usually awake until six o'clock this evening," she replied. Yuri couldn't help but be bewildered and perky of the idea. After all, she enjoyed her alone time very much. "I hope that isn't much of an issue. The Sakamaki sons are especially used to being active during the night,"

Yuri looked about the room, sighing a little. "Oh, I see. I haven't the faintest idea of what to do, you see. I've never had an entire day to my own..." Yuri began to drift to the rags and bucket of polish on the floor. "Ah! I'll help you!" She beamed happily.

Elise went wide eyed; she hastily followed after Yuri and shook her head. "O-oh no Miss Hatori! You mustn't touch those! M-master Reiji will be greatly troubled if he finds you doing my work!" Her hands met Yuri's in an attempt to pull them away, and, rather quickly, Yuri caught notice of her cold hands; she was confused for a moment, because she hand't paid close attention to the others'.

"You're so cold, are you okay? Are you sick?" Yuri said in a rather surprised tone. Her hand began to move towards Elise's forehead, and she quickly retracted away into the floor to be alone.

"Don't touch me!" She shrieked rather loudly. Yuri was taken back as she examined her, for she was exceptionally pale and ghost white. Her eyes were surrounded by blue and purple splotches that were poorly hidden by powdered makeup.

"I-I'm sorry," Yuri said reluctantly, standing back up and nervously backing away to the door. Elise simply looked at Yuri in response with a stare quite displeasing towards her. After a moment the woman simply bowed apologetically.

"Ah! Forgive me, Miss! I'm so careless!" She cried, Yuri beginning to bow before her and forcing a little grin.

"N-no it's alright, really," Yuri said quietly, flashing the woman a smile full of the innocence and fragility of a doe. Elise stared into her eyes for a good moment before shaking her head and looking about the space.

"If you're really set on staying in here with me, perhaps you could enjoy Master Reiji's library. He has quite the collection, really. I've lost count of how often he's read most of these books," she began to laugh. Yuri nodded in response as she drifted over to the bookcase packed full of literature and other works.

"T-thank you, though I'm not the best reader," Yuri's voice gently responded as it laced with embarrassment. "You really think Reiji would be alright with me reading these?"

Elise tensed up slightly; Reiji was rather protective of his collection, and was certainly anything but appeased when others would frolic in his study. All she could do was pray for the best since he was asleep, hoping he wouldn't awake anytime in the near future to find Yuri in his sacred space.

Thus, Yuri made a place on the rug for herself, surrounding herself in various works of literature and poems by various authors. She had a complicated time comprehending most of what she had been reading, and gave her utmost attention to the black and white photographs and paintings throughout the books. Though, as she turned pages in one particular novel by European author Peter Vincent, there were several images that depicted animals and canine teeth, and began to run her fingers across a rather blurry image of these fangs.

The title, in English and subsequently a language Yuri did not know but could subtly pronounce, was The Complete Works and Studies of Vampiric Entities, a first edition wrapped in a leather jacket. Her eyes examined them as Elise washed away and polished the floors. She found herself immensely uncomfortable as she found photographs of figures dressed in black, flashing their canine teeth at the camera. Though for the most part, these pictures seemed completely unintentional.

What Yuri would find next would frighten even the bravest soldier; the forthcoming photograph on the following page depicted a young woman's corpse laying in a coffin, completely disfigured and mutilated. Yuri felt her throat go dry; she began to feel nauseous and sickish as she could barely pull herself to look away from the grotesque scene. There was blood and lashes in her neck, her breasts were nonexistent and seemed to have been either cut off or mutilated to the point that they were unrecognizable. Yuri could feel tears swelling in her eyes; the image forced those memories back into her head. Yuri's mind began replaying the night in the basement and Hikari's fate.

The incident had only been a year ago, and, what Yuri dreaded the most, was that had Hikari lived, she would be an adult by now, free from Yakimura's prison house. Yuri couldn't help but cry as she sat there on the rug; she slammed the book together once again and covered her face in shallow humiliation.

Elise looked up at her from her place in front of the fireplace, her hands covered in stain from her work. She was no good with feelings, and hadn't the slightest idea of what to say to Yuri.

She simply cleared her throat and sat up, wiping the stain on her apron. Sure, she felt rather pitiful for Yuri. After all, her fate in the Sakamaki house would be terrible, and Elise knew that. Subsequently, she invited the girl to entertain herself with chores to pass the time.

Yuri nodded in agreement as she wiped the tears from her eyes and rose to her feet; it was merely an accident and a misstep when she kicked her shoe into the book, flinging it across the rug as she fell to the floor.

"Ouch!" Her voice squeaked, sniffling and reaching to pull herself off the floor with the arm of a chair. Yuri's eyes caught sight of the book wide open as Elise's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"O-oh Miss! You shouldn't be reading that!" The woman cried, springing forward and attempting to collect the pages of notes Reiji had made and tucked between the chapters. Yuri watched her and began to cry again in disgust for that book; she shook her head and covered her ears.

"Don't get mad at me!" She pleaded; even after Yuri had scurried as an ant off the floor, she now sank back into the carpet and sobbed. Elise watched her and furrowed her eyebrows in response to the girl now laid on the floor. "I-I don't wanna get yelled at anymore..!" Yuri sobbed.

Elise was perplexed as she began to relax; it dawned upon her to let Hatori cry, and when she began to calm her senses, Yuri stood up and began to gather back all the books. Yuri apologetically placed each book back onto its proper place on the shelf, recovering from the choking she'd done.

"You should really rest," Yuri sniffled as she hesitantly reached for the vampiric novel and placed it back onto the shelf. "A-after all, you look really tired...mind if I ask the last time you h-had sleep?" Yuri's voice was full of sorrow; she felt a little better when she could help others, it distracted her from her own pain.

Elise felt herself pause and look to her shoes. When was the last time she had rested? Why, it had been so long ago that she couldn't recall.

"I...I can't remember, Miss," she responded, bowing and folding her hands. Yuri's eyes widened ever so slightly at the woman's words, and she began to usher her towards the sofa.

"I-I can take care of this..." Yuri stated, indicating to the woman to remove her shoes and lay on the cushions. "I've worked all my life, it's no problem..."

Elise attempted to discourage her and shake her head, insisting on returning to her work; however, Yuri was stubborn; she fetched a pillow from a chair near the window and looked about the space. "M-Miss Hatori, really, I ought to work,"

Yuri put a finger over her lips. "Shh, I've got it." She smiled slightly, her tears barely visible now. Elise couldn't say a word of discontent to Yuri, for she didn't want to fight her over it. "Elise, such a pretty name." Yuri hummed to herself as she fetched the bucket of stain and cloth, sitting beside the fireplace and beginning to scrub the floor. "Where does it come from..?"

Elise, who had now closed her tiredly from the exhaustion, merely opened her lips to reply. "German..." She replied shortly.

Yuri began scrubbing the stain into the hardwoods, her hair slipping over her shoulders. "Oh, you're from Germany? I think the girls are pretty over there..." Yuri's face went a little red as Elise slowly began to fall asleep.

"It doesn't matter..." She muttered, her voice fading as a fisherman into the foggy midst of his harbor. Yuri was alone again, and, now, she continued scrubbing the floors with stain, painting them a lovely mahogany hue. Her mind began to wonder; her tears began to come back, as all the talk about death began to depress her. Yuri felt saddened as she kneeled there painting the hardwoods. Her mother came back to her thoughts; the woman she wished to see as the man in the snow had promised. She felt both betrayed and even a little numb now.

Yuri began to stare bellow her; tears began running the liquid and mixing it into the floor she'd already gotten to. Yuri slowly began to drift her head towards Elise and the sofa where she was resting; she then looked to the book on the shelf and wiped her eyes off. What was inside of Peter Vincent's book? She dreaded seeing the picture again but couldn't resist.

Thus, Yuri spent a great deal of time scrubbing the floor until she'd reached the edge of the room; her knees were sore, and her eyes ached from crying. The bookcase mimicked her; she stared at the leather bonded book and began to suppress Hikari and her mother.

Stumbling upwards, Yuri dropped the rag into the bucket and used her spare hand to grab the clean one. She wiped her hands and approached the bookcase; the clock rang off in the distance of the room, it was about five thirty now. Slowly and delicately, Yuri pulled The Complete Works and Studies of Vampiric Entities off the shelf and quietly began to open and scan the pages. There were various papers full of notes written in hiragana. She could read it, and thus, Yuri stumbled away into the curtains and sat at the window seat. There were pits of knots in her stomach as her eyes lingered to the notes Reiji had seemingly scrambled into the papers.

The complete works of Mr. Peter Vincent are essentially mortal folklore; his vampiric theories and observations are strictly based upon the speculation of Catholic theology and subsequent denominations, both of which have no vital importances in the murder of a vampire. Though, there is faint truth regarding the myth of the Christ's name, for it enrages a vampire and reduces his power.

Mr. Vincent's statement regarding the murder of Aische is, in theory, far from the truth. In regards to his publication of this book full of fabricated lies and falsehood, he has found truth in a single section of the Bat Clan's doctrine:

An ancestor of pure-blooded vampires, the fathers of our race, may find capability in achieving the status of a god or deity, provided he finds means efficient enough. However, though he has achieved this status as his own Christ, there are a great few things he is incapable of achieving:

I: The deceased will remain as they are; for only the woman possessing the heart of a demon and the soul of a saint will be permitted revival.

II: The immortality of the new Christ is proficient in all things, the only remaining exception is the bonds of Heaven, a place in which repulses demons and kept safe from his darkness.

III: Should the time come for the God of the underworld to be overthrown, the only man capable of his death is another God, in which he will ultimately be replaced through taking the blood of a virgin on a full moon, all during the hour of the dead.

Deliver this report to father the forthcoming night of the following full moon.

Yuri found herself nearly choking on his aspirations. "T-this is far too well written to..." Her voice faded away. What interest would Togo Sakamaki have in vampires? Yuri's mind was scattered, and she had trouble pressing all the puzzle pieces back together. She began to remember Yakimura and her first night in that woman's house. Yuri didn't want to read anymore, she quickly attempted to neatly place the papers back inside the book in which they came.

"Vampires are cold...vampires are dead...vampires sleep in the day...I can't do this!" Yuri's mind swirled as she scrambled to put everything together. Unfortunately, Yuri's haste wasn't fast enough. She'd spent far too much time reading and cleaning, and the clock in Reiji's study struck six.

Yuri ran over to the shelf and quickly struggled to put the book back into its place. To her dismay, the stench of cologne she found to be alluring filled the room. A very displeased Reiji stood adjacent to the doorway dressed in a more casual wear of his usual clothes.

Yuri felt as though she would vomit; Reiji was scary at times, though she'd only been there for a day. She tried to push the feeling in her throat down as the man sent the most demonic, unnervingly sinister face he could conjure up.

"I-I'm sorry...!" Yuri shrieked, quickly bowing in hopes Reiji would accept this shallow, rather quick apology she made so she could pack her things sooner.

However, Reiji simply closed the door and Yuri could see the knob mold around his fingers; her heart sank as he approached Elise first, who scurried up upon his arrival and flew out the door, leaving Yuri alone. Her eyes began to fill with tears as she watched Reiji's finger push his glasses up the bridge of his nose, coming closer towards her.

"And here I assumed you weren't a stupid, juvenile brat. My, I'm greatly disappointed," his voice seemed to growl as he pushed a hand into the book case, the other grabbing her by the throat. "So tell me, stupid girl, what all have you read? This is my personal space and you intruding is exceptionally foolish and impolite of you. Should I dress you in an apron and force a maid status on you? Or should I do something, lest to say, far worse?"

Yuri's eyes widened as she began choking; her mind went into a frenzy, thoughts of death began to seep in, and her adrenaline had begun. "I-I couldn't u-understand t-the book..!" She cried, her tears beginning to fall down her face.

Reiji began to squeeze tighter; it must've taken ten seconds before her lips began to shade purple and blue, yet Reiji seemed to have no intention of stopping anytime soon. "Your lies are laughable; you read my notes, correct? Perhaps I should show you the truth of this place,"

Yuri saw Reiji snicker lowly; he moved in towards her neck, closer and closer until Yuri heard him breathe against her. She tried oh so very hard to think, but she was too shaky and too alarmed that the only thing racing into her mind was a novel Yakimura had banned in the house. Loire had it, and Yuri saw him reciting a line in it describing the methods in which a vampire could die. Stakes were hammered into its chest, along with the words of faith.

However, Yuri couldn't remember what they were; there was a man whom she had heard Loire speak of as he recited the book.

"Stupid woman, foolish and impolite. You'll be lucky I don't kill you," Reiji opened his mouth wide, and, just as in the diagrams of Peter Vincent's book, Reiji presented her with a set of piercing fangs, canine teeth hanging from the top and bottom corners of his mouth. He released her throat and grazed the side of her neck, to which all Yuri could think of in response was to get away from him.

They were unlike anything she'd ever felt, and thus, her blood seeped from the graze in her neck as she screamed at her highest volume. It must have been three seconds before she mustered up the strength to kick Reiji in the kneecap, causing his leg to snap and practically fall to the floor. Yuri seized the opportunity and ran for the door, slamming it open and fleeing the room.

Yuri was met with very little options as she fled down the hallway and down the steps. She was bleeding, the wound painful enough that it simply caused her entire body to ache. "I'm gonna die..! I'm gonna die..!" She cried to herself; the wound was vital, of course. Yuri hadn't taken her iron tablets in over a week from all the chaos. Her anemia grew worse and she collapsed at the foot of the stairs and held her arms against her chest. A single cut could mean a terrible tragedy if left untreated.

Her eyesight grew hazy as she sat there, her knees skinned on the floor. Her throat ached in pain as she struggled her hardest to take a solid breath. Yuri could hear footsteps making their way down the hall though they seemed lighter in a sense. She shook her head and fell over into the floor, her body aching from it all.

"I-I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die here all alone! T-they're gonna drink me d-dry!" Yuri began sobbing as she did her best to cover her face from the male walking down the hall.

"Now you gone and caused a racket, pathetic." Reiji growled lowly as he made his way closer towards Yuri. "Obtuse woman. You honestly believe you'll be able to escape a place like this? My, you certainly are an idiot."

Yuri scrambled up as best she could; she was in great pain as she began the chase once again, dashing down the hall and tugging on door knobs in hopes one of them would open. "S-stay away from me!" She cried, beginning to scurry away from him. "D-don't touch me!" She pleaded as Shu sank into her mind again. Surely since only the night before when he seemed especially fond of Yuri he would help her now. At least, that's what Yuri hoped.

Reiji began charging at her now, his pace accelerating as he walked down the hall. Yuri was at the end now and on the second to last door; her heartbeat raged war in her chest as she slammed the door opened and ravaged towards the bed in the far corner of the room. "Shu!" Yuri screeched, tears rolling down the sides of her face.

She began shaking him by the shoulders as he slowly opened his eyes and gave her an unsettling face. "S-Shu p-please d-don't let R-Reiji hurt me!" She cried, looking to him rather frightened.

"What the hell are you in here for...piss off and leave me alone," Shu groaned, rolling over and practically ignoring her. "I don't care."

Yuri looked to the door where Reiji stood now, entering the room and making his way over towards her. She shook Shu's shoulders again, and in response, he simply knocked her off the side of the bed where she hit the floor with a somewhat loud thud. "You sound like a pig when you cry...get out of my room," Shu closed his eyes again in great displeasure, Yuri going wide eyed as Reiji lifted her up by the arm and seemingly growled behind a deep breath.

"I'll have to punish you for this, stupid woman. Folly of you to think running to this lazy, damned imbecile would do you any good." Reiji snatched her and began pulling her by the arm out of the room. Shu opened up his left eye and watched them with a frown.

"Don't fuck her up too much..." He simply stated before closing his eyes and returning to sleep.