ａ ｎｉｇｈｔ   ｔｏ  ＂ｒｅｌａｘ＂

『 your p.o.v 』

The following couple of nights passed by as uneventful as they possibly could. Compared to what's been going on, having normal nights to simply lounge around and talk with the Sakamaki's is very uncharacteristally mundane to say the least.

"You know how to make takoyaki's?" Ayato asked, nudging my shoulder some with his own as we sit beside one another on a bench, the rose bushes within the back courtyard swaying some as a small gust of wind blows by.

I glanced to the red headed vampire for a moment and then shook my head. "No," I said while I looked back down to the book resting on my lap that I may or may not have stolen from Reiji's lab the other night, "I don't think I was ever taught how to make that."

Ayato sighed. "Didn't you say Chichinashi is still hanging around?" He then asked. "Ask her for help."

"What if I don't want to make any?"

"Then you're mean and I'll have to punish you."

Closing the fantasy styled book, I sighed. "Ayato, why don't we just go out and by some? I don't think you'd want me cooking."

"You weren't all that bad of a cook when we lived at my father's church," Yui spoke up with a small laugh. "Though you did nearly set the kitchen on fire a couple times so maybe you shouldn't cook."

I rolled my eyes at that. "Yeah no, Yui agrees that I shouldn't cook."

Ayato sighed. "Damn, what type of a wife are you going to be if you can't even cook?"

"Sexist much?" I asked before blinking a couple times. "Wait, wife? Who said I was going to be your wife?"

The red head smirked wickedly as he placed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to his side. "What, do you not want to be married to me?"

"Is this some kind of proposal..?" I asked unsure of what's actually going on here.

"Idiot, of course not." He said, looking out to the rose garden now, the crescent moon high up above us. "I won't claim you until Kino's dead."

"How reassuring."

"Shut up."

Glancing up to the red head, I couldn't help but laugh some. "God, you haven't changed one bit from back then."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ayato asked, the corners of his lips twitching up just ever so slightly.

I hummed as I leaned into his side. "Well, when we were kids, you were always so hot-headed and quick to do whatever you wanted. Kind of a jerk sometimes too, but you were nice when you wanted to be. It's funny seeing how your direct approach to things still hasn't changed even after all these years."

Ayato stayed quiet for a moment, staring down at me now with those light green eyes of his. "You haven't changed either." He murmured. "It's weird."

"Rude." I scoffed. "How is it weird that I haven't changed?"

"You lost your memories- well, someone fucked with them with magic and now you're this human girl. Shouldn't you be angry with us? We're not taking you to those two First Bloods and there's nothing you can do to make us take you. You just let us bite you as much as we want without putting up much of a fight and you're even making yourself comfortable here. You're going to die if something doesn't change, or are you too stupid to not realize this?"

I didn't respond. That was surprisingly, deep, for Ayato. In all the time I've been here, he's never once been so direct with his thoughts. Has he ever been so transparent..?

"Do you want me to be upset with you all?" I asked. "Because as frustrating as all of this is, I could never hate you guys."

Ayato scoffed, his arm tightening around my shoulders ever so slightly. "That right there is what will kill you."

"You wouldn't let me die." I said matter-of-factly.

"And what makes you say that?" The red head responded.

Smiling, I rested my head against his shoulder. "If you didn't care, you wouldn't be sitting with me right now would you?"

There was a breath of silence before Ayato scoffed once more. "You sound like you already know everything."

"Am I wrong though?"

"Oh shut up and let's go buy some takoyaki's."

Laughing, I didn't put up a fight as Ayato grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the bench, our fingers interlaced as he led me inside his families mansion.

As the red headed vampire led me through the mansion and then down the street just out front, I vaguely heard Yui giggling. "It's been so long since I last saw Ayato so happy."

I smiled a bit at that. She's right. Ever since I showed up, everyone's been so tense and on edge- it's only within these last few nights that the boys have slowly begun relaxing. This is the first time Ayato's looked so happy and carefree though and I can't necessarily say that I'm complaining about this either.

It reminds me a lot of how things used to be when we were younger. Ayato was always the first of his brothers to seek me out, wanting someone to play with when his mother wasn't dragging him off to god knows where. He'd lead me just like this, by the hand to the rose gardens just outside the large castle, the two of us easily getting lost without a single care. Those were simpler times...

The faint howls of wolves broke out in the distance. I glanced over my shoulder into the forest, the Sakamaki's estate no longer in sight now. "When do you think I'll be allowed to go back..?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Ayato's grip on my hand tightened. "I don't know."

"You'll come with me won't you?" I then asked. "To the Demon World?"

The red head looked to me before smirking. "What, you don't want to be alone without me?" He asked all smug like.

I rolled my eyes some. "You're insufferable. Maybe I'll just go by myself after all."

"Idiot. I'll go, I'm not letting those two steal you away from me again." Ayato said, his eyes lingering on myself for a second longer before once again looking to the road stretching out before us. "I'd be an idiot to not put up a fight this time."

Studying his expression, I glanced back to the forest where the howls of wolves could just barely be heard. "What was it like for you as a kid Ayato? When we knew each other that is? I don't remember the two First Bloods at all..."

"Shin was always trying to keep you for himself and the First Blood Queen adored you to no end so on the off chance that we did visit, it was rare that we got to see you." He recounted. "Carla didn't really care, I think. We never saw him. He hated us so we didn't exactly go trying to be all buddy-buddy with him either."

"But what do you remember about me?" I asked.

Ayato took a little longer to come up with a response to that question. "You were, the same." He decided on saying. "Cordelia hated you, the other two mothers were nice to you, and the other First Bloods treated you like something that should have never come into existence and yet you were always smiling. I remember you as the person you are now I guess."

"It must be the human in me." I mused. "Yui was nice as well."

"Probably," Ayato said with a small laugh. "But you having some Demon World blood in you too, makes things interesting."

"Oh, how so?"

"You never back down."

I blinked a couple times as I stared up at Ayato before breaking out into a bright smile. "I can't let you guys have all the fun now can I?"

The red headed vampire chuckled. "I won't hesitate to kill you I swear."

"Yeah yeah, are we almost there yet?" I asked, dismissing his half-hearted threat. "Someone is going to get concerned what with the both of us being gone."

Ayato rolled his eyes. "Don't think about anyone else when you're with me."

Giggling, I nudged his arm with my shoulder. "What, you jealous of everyone else?"

"As if."

"Sure.~"

Ayato tsked as I only laughed more, the convenience store finally coming into sight as we walk further into the outskirts of the city. Though much to my surprise, there was a very familiar vampire sitting on a nearby bench, dozing in and out of sleep as he sits there with his arms crossed over his chest.

Squeezing Ayato's hand once before slipping my hand out of his, I offered him a small smile. "You head on in first, I'll wake Shu and see what he's up to before meeting you inside."

The red head stared at me for a moment before sighing. "Whatever, I don't have time to wait for his lazy ass to move." He said as he continued walking towards the convenience store.

Watching Ayato disappear inside the small store, I made my way over to the blonde headed vampire. Crouching down just in front of him, I peered up at the sleeping boy. "Are you really asleep?" I asked, my hand just ever so lightly resting on his knee as to keep myself steady.

The blonde didn't bother opening a single one of his eyes as he smirked. "What type of a fool do you take me for?" He asked a question of his own.

"A fool who sleeps outside at four in the morning." I mused, standing up now and glancing around some. The nightlife of the city is surprisingly quiet, only a few cars here and there driving on by. Though even with this now being the city with the forests surrounding the Sakamaki's and Mukami's estates nowhere in sight, the howls of the wolves can still be vaguely heard far off in the distance.

"What are you doing here with that arrogant idiot?" Shu asked, snapping me from my thoughts.

I refocused my attention on the blonde. "Ayato wanted some takoyaki's so we came to buy some. Want to come in with us and pick out some snacks for yourself?" I then asked, my gaze drifting upwards to the night sky, the stars being just barely visible what with all the bright lights coming from the city's large buildings.

The blonde vampire opened just one of his ocean blue eyes to look down at me. "What are you going to get?"

"Probably some cookies. Kanato and I have similar tastes in our preferred sweets so I might pick up a second pack for him." I responded with ease as I stood up. "So how about it, care to join Ayato and I in our midnight snack run?"

There was a beat of silence before Shu slowly rose to his feet, reluctantly opening both of his eyes now to glance around some. "I guess..." He mumbled as he walked passed me and straight for the convenience store.

Inside, I noticed that besides the cashier, Ayato, Shu, and myself were the only people in here at this time of night. The cashier looked minutes from passing out themselves and I can't say I blame him either. It is somewhere around four in the morning right now and even if this is normal hours for us night creatures, it's by no means normal for a human to be up at this ungodly hour.

Shu wandered his way over to the snack isle, Ayato dipping in between two isles further back filled with tons of different foods to choose from. I stuck with the blonde, peering down at the shelves for the cookies Kanato and I often eat together when we're in his room. Though upon further inspection, I noticed that our favorite cookies were all sold out. "Well, that's unlucky..." I murmured as I glanced around for some sort of alternative.

For as much candy as Kanato eats, he's still pretty picky about which ones he gets so it's not like I can just grab any candy bar and call it a night. Though I guess getting him something is better than bringing back nothing. And that means I have to grab some things for Reiji and Subaru as well. Can't go leaving them out now can I?

"You're thinking a lot over snacks," Shu spoke up.

I glanced to him with a small smile. "I'm trying to figure out what to grab everyone. Reiji probably wouldn't like anything from here so I'm stuck on what to get him. Though I think Subaru would be fine with some chips. So would Laito."

The blonde headed vampire stared at me for a moment before reaching out and grabbing a couple of different snacks. "These are what they like." He said, handing me an array of snacks, my arms now full. "Reiji will drink any of the tea as long as it's not cheap. Subaru likes most chips but hates the ones Laito loves. Kanato won't eat any of this candy except for those exact truffles; says the other brands are too bland for him or something idiotic like that."

Blinking a couple times, my smile widened as I happily hugged the snacks close to my chest. "Never would have thought that you'd pay attention to what your brothers like." I mused.

Shu sighed. "When you're around them long enough, you learn things about them whether you want to or not." He mumbled, grabbing a couple of chocolate bars for himself before making his way out of this isle and over into a different one.

Watching him go, I shook my head some. "He really is something else isn't he?"

Yui giggled. "They truly are siblings whether they want to admit it or not. They're just not your average siblings is all." She said knowingly.

I nodded some in agreement. "True. Now, where did Ayato run off to?" I murmured more to myself as I left this isle in search for that green-eyed red head.

Peering down a couple of different isles and stumbling across Shu taking a nap in the middle of one of them, I couldn't help but laugh when I finally found Ayato. The poor thing had his arms full of all sorts of takoyaki packs, all different brands and flavors and he's still trying to grab more. Maybe it's a good thing he didn't go grabbing a basket for himself or else he might just grab all the takoyaki's on sale and then some!

"You need help choosing, Ayato?" I asked as I walked up to the red head.

Those light green eyes of his shifted to me before he huffed and looked away. "I'm perfectly fine. Are you done yet?"

Glancing down to all the snacks I'm currently holding, I nodded. "Yeah, Shu helped me grab snacks for everyone so I think I'm ready to check out. Do you want me to pay for my snacks or-"

"With what money?" Ayato cut me off with a laugh. "You came to our mansion with nothing but the clothes on your back, remember?"

My cheeks reddened some. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry. Could you pay for these then?" I asked with a sheepish smile.

Rolling his eyes, Ayato nodded in the direction of the front counter before walking off over towards it, me following behind him quickly. Placing down my items, I glanced around some. Shu's still missing. Maybe he's sleeping in another one of the isles again...

"I'll be right back, Shu grabbed some things for himself and we'll need to pay for those too." I murmured, hurrying off in search of that sleepy blonde headed vampire before Ayato could tell me to stop.

Oddly enough, the isles felt somehow off as I walked past a couple. This convenience store isn't all that immense. It's actually rather small for a convenience store so not being able to easily find Shu in a matter of minutes, is well, alarming to say the least.

I glanced around some, noticing how everything feels almost static. I walked to the next isle and finally found Shu standing and looking at some snacks sitting on the shelf. Though when I took a closer look at him, it became evident that he wasn't moving in the slightest bit, not even his chest rising and falling, almost like he was frozen.

"I see you're out shopping." Kino said, appearing behind me before walking to stand between Shu and myself. "Having fun on your little date?"

"I wouldn't call this much of a date, but I was having fun, yes. What are you doing here Kino?" I asked, mindful to not let my uneasiness show. I can't let him see that I'm scared of him or else he might start toying with me even more. I must remain calm, or at least appear so. "I thought you gave me a month to decide whether or not to take you up on your offer?"

The black haired vampire with the bright blood red eyes smirked over to me as he walked even closer to Shu, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder as he leans against the taller vampire. "I came to check up on you and see if you've made your decision yet. Though by the looks of it, something tells me you're having a little too much fun here with these two, don't you agree?"

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at his sickeningly sweet and yet condescending tone. "Kino, what did you do..?"

"Me?" He asked before chuckling some. "Nothing, other than sending my familiars off to the Sakamaki's mansion."

My eyes widened at his words. "You didn't."

"But I did! Isn't it wonderful? My wolves will finally have some fun playing with your beloved vampires." Kino spat out, his smirk falling into a deadly cold and serious expression.

"You gave me a month."

"I never said no harm would come during that month, simply that no death would come."

"You're evil." I murmured, my eyes flicking to Shu who's still motionless before refocusing on the black haired vampire. "Do you get a kick out of making my life miserable?"

Kino thought for a moment before nonchalantly shrugging. "You're just a bonus, my only goal is to kill off these dreadful vampires and First Bloods. But since you love them so much and I do need you to love me as well, I can't go killing them or else I'll be forced to kill you when you inevitably act out of spite and anger. So I'll be letting them live for the time being, but I never promised I wouldn't have my fun now did I, ___?"

Feeling my stomach drop and the blood in my veins run cold, Kino suddenly vanished, Shu glancing to me as he was lifted from that immobilizing curse. "Lewd woman, what's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"We need to go home." I said, grabbing Shu's hand and dragging him straight for the front of the convenience store.

Ayato had just finished buying everything for us when I made it to him. "Took you long enough, hurry up and give me what-"

"Forget about the food." I cut the red head off, grabbing his hand with my free one and dragging both of these vampires out of the convenience store. "We need to go home."

The blonde headed vampire yanked his hand out from my own once we had walked maybe five feet at most outside the store. "We're not going anywhere until you tell us what's wrong." He said simply, Ayato stopping to stand put as well.

I sighed in frustration. "Kino just appeared and said he's going to have fun with us. Nothing bad is happening here, but there's no telling what's taken place back at the mansion now that we've been gone. We need to go home, now."

Ayato sneered. "That bastard, he just never fucking quits."

"Meet us just outside the gates," Shu said to his younger brother before grabbing my hand and pulling me to his broad chest.

In an instant, we were teleported to just outside the front gates to the Sakamaki's mansion. I took a deep breath in and struggled to return my breathing back to normal. This human body isn't fit for teleporting like that...

There were no howls of wolves from what I could hear, everything appearing to be normal. I glanced up to Shu only to already find him looking down at myself with a blank expression. "Well, nothing happened while we were gone." He said with a bored expression.

I shook my head. "That can't be." I murmured as Ayato appeared beside us.

"Did shit hit the fan or is she just going crazy because of that stupid Founder magic?" The red head asked, swinging the bag of snacks over his shoulder as he looks to our home.

"It appears that she was fed false information. Nothing looks out of place here so let's just go inside. It's bothersome staying out here for any longer." Shu responded, keeping a firm grip on my wrist as he starts to lead me towards the front doors to his family's mansion.

A howl broke out from behind us not even a moment later, both Shu and Ayato moving to stand in front of me as to protect me from any predator that might wish to take my life. Though this wolf isn't one of Kino's, but rather belonging to the pack protecting me.

"This one's alright." I said, gently pushing between the two Sakamaki's to get a better look at this wolf. "This one doesn't belong to Kino."

Ayato groaned. "Another one of these fucking wolves? Why doesn't it just stick to the shadows like all the rest?"

Shu remained quiet, studying the creature as I approached it.

"There's something wrong, correct?" I asked the wolf to which it howled loudly, turning away from myself and walking a few steps before glancing to me from over its shoulder.

Without a second of hesitation, I took off running with the wolf, both Shu and Ayato calling out for me to stop as more howls suddenly broke out from behind us all. But I couldn't. This wolf needs me to follow and I cannot simply ignore it. The one and only other time the wolves showed themselves were when Kino had taken me away from the Sakamaki's and they wished to show me the way back to my home. Now it wants me to follow it after Kino had left with a cryptic message, so of course I'm going to follow.

"But couldn't you have waited for the Sakamaki's?" Yui asked, concern lacing her words. "You don't know where this wolf is leading you! And there's more coming towards the Sakamaki's mansion so maybe you should stay here with them instead-"

I shook my head. This path looks familiar if only a little bit. It's leading me somewhere I've already been.

"You walked down this path when I first led you to the Sakamaki's mansion." Yui helpfully supplied.

"But there's somewhere at the other end of this path, right?" I then asked.

There was a beat of silence before Yui spoke once more. Her words were hushed, almost as if she was scared to answer in the first place. She knows just as I do that the place this path leads to will end in bloodshed, maybe not death, but plenty of blood. The thick iron smell beginning to saturate the air only confirms my suspicions.

"Yes," Yui answered, "the Mukami's mansion is at the end of this path."

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          Cute Ayato, cute Shu, dipstick Kino, and ayyyeee injured Mukami's coming up next.~

          Question of the Chapter: Do you think it's possible for Kino to change before it comes down to him being killed by your character and the other vampires, or is it still possible for him to have a change of heart and not have to die? I'm 50/50 on this one lol part of me is like "of course he can change cuz he's a cutie pie" and the other part of me is like "stop pretending he's a legend just because his seiyuu is Maeno Tomoaki and accept the fact you wrote him into being a true villain lmaooo" ;-;

          I is sad because I gave myself an opportunity for things to be cute with the Sakamaki's for at least a couple of solid chapters and my dumb mind decided that no, fluff can wait and we need the Mukami's so let's just kill two birds with one stone and have angst involving the Mukami's :'D I've already accepted the fact I'm going to hell.

          As always my lovelies, thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a nice day/night/evening/life :')

                    ~ Love, ｋａｔ ♡