slight blood mention towards the end

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As people tend to say, life goes on no matter the circumstances an individual faces.

After the short hours that Yumeko had been stuck inside the holding room because of Ibara, she had been led back into a different room (this time much more furnished and seemingly lived in). Inside were Yuto and Teru, who held a curious gaze in his eyes. If he was amused by the situation, she wasn't sure. Yuto on the other hand, was ready to burst into tears when she appeared in his sight.

A short warning from Teru towards the elderly Furukawa was made before the trio made their way outside. It turns out that Yumeko had been held captive somewhere under the Furukawa family home. It was an old fashioned Japanese home but with certain modern renovations from the looks of the interior.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go home." Teru spoke, confusing the female vampire. She wasn't living with them anymore but did he mean her or was he saying it in general or-

As the questions began to filter through her mind, Teru noticed her hesitation and took hold of her wrist and began to walk in the direction of the Minamoto home. There were a few things that the talk with her earlier as well as this whole kidnapping ordeal made him realize.

One, he held some sort of good feeling towards the ruby eyed vampire despite what he thought and two, he enjoyed her company with his siblings.

"Wait a minute, human. I'm not letting you take my sister with you. This wasn't part of the deal." Yuto's voice cut off both of their thoughts. Yumeko began to swim in even more questions and Teru turned to glare at the seemingly older vampire.

Right, the deal. In exchange for helping Yumeko out of the Furukawa compound, Yuto had to provide some sort of defense. However, Teru had said he would get Yumeko back home, he hadn't meant with her brothers, but instead with him and his siblings. At the knowledge of this wording loophole, Yuto blanched on the floor. He should have been more specific.

"No, um, Teru. I think I should return to my brothers. I'll see you at school. Or something..." The vampire was rather docile now. She had put on a false bravado in front of Ibara and her grandfather but truthfully she was tired and she wanted to be in the safety of her brothers. Of her family. The Minamoto siblings had come to be a pseudo family for her but she felt like she would be intruding and now with her own family having appeared, she wanted their comfort.

Teru frowned at the answer. He hadn't expected that but nonetheless released her wrist and watched as she and her brother left off in a separate direction.

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School was the same boring thing as it had been previously. Though some of her classmates had greeted her in the morning, by afternoon it was as though she were any other student. At least the concealment curse Teru placed on her persona still worked.

Yumeko had never thought much of it, seeing as she was left alone. However, now after the previous events of last night, it made her feel somewhat lonely. She was used to solitude but why did she feel this way?

Her mechanical pencil tapped onto her notebook, scarce of any notes. There wasn't much need for her to write notes, just listening to the lecture would suffice. Though this week was torture (everyone was studying for exams), maybe she should redownload that one app she heard some of the girls talk about before; or had it been Ibara who had told her?

Speaking of the vampire hunter, she hadn't shown up for class. At all. Her desk remained empty, even the homeroom teacher had noticed her absence; guess she hadn't given a note of excuse.

Most of the day had gone by in a similar boring manner. By boring, there wasn't much for Yumeko to do. Lessons were mainly review and even clubs had postponed activities until after exams so everyone could focus, this left Yumeko free to leave home earlier than expected. However, she preferred to wait, the sun wouldn't feel as harsh during the evening.

The student council room usually was busy with a flurry of students dropping by or other teachers and staff that appeared for business one way or another. During the pre exam period, this activity dropped to a minimum and thus, there wasn't a need for everyone to be there. Teru was the one to remain mainly; besides he did his work far more efficiently on his own.

Yumeko, by habit, dropped by the room after leaving her classroom. Opening the door, she realized her mistake. "Aren't you going to step inside?" From inside the room, Teru called out to her. Weighing her options, it really wouldn't be too bad to wait inside and he wasn't going to bother with her so it should be fine. . .

It wasn't fine at all. In her hands was a book she was supposed to be reading but her gaze wandered back to Teru more than she would have liked. His rejection to her advances before would have never bothered her and yet here she was now, trying to avoid an awkward conversation. Should she clarify why she wanted to go home with her brothers?

Teru on the other hand kept his emotions in check as best as he could. Usually Akane would stop by and drop off something or just to say some snide remark. On quiet days like today, Teru wouldn't see any of the other members.

"How are your studies going?" His voice cut through the silence like a knife on butter.

"They're going well. If anything, shouldn't I be asking you that? Word is going around about a first year studying like crazy. Didn't you and Akane make a bet of sorts?"

Yup, definitely zero tension between the two. "My, don't tell me you're jealous of the bet." The blonde smiled as if without a care of the growing tension in the room. To him, there was no reason for the two to be awkward, he was only speaking teasingly to a friend. Yes, ultimately he considered the vampire in front of him to be a friend... as hard as it might be even to himself to admit it.

"... What is there to be jealous about?" The blonde raised an eyebrow at this.

"I wonder."

The vampire remained quiet, not knowing how to further the conversation anymore. Or rather, she didn't want to continue. Teru, sitting next to her, shuffled through his papers, completing some club activity forms asking about funds for summer, room request forms and the like. He could study well regardless since he didn't want work piling too much on him later.

His hands slowed, before he looked towards Yumeko's direction. She had been quietly leafing through her book. Not once had he felt her gaze on him; it was unnerving. "What?"

Without lifting her head, she questioned his gaze. Normally, she would have teased the exorcist about why he was staring and yet those words were long gone from her mind at the moment.

What she didn't need was a mindless romance, but rather, a friend to rely on. Teru could be neither of those.

He sighed quietly and continued reading and signing his paperwork. His silence spoke a million different things but none were comforting. As the last paper was read and answered accordingly, Teru dropped them off at a separate desk near the door. The blonde stopped just behind the vampire, unsure if his next action would be appropriate or not.

"You should stop by the house again, both Kou and Princess have noticed your absence." He spoke while gently grabbing a lock of her hair and twirling it in his hand. The action caused Yumeko to pause in her reading, as she turned her attention behind to the male.

His eyes held a soft glimmer to them, almost as though he were holding something precious. He was leaning into her, a lock of her hair being raised to his lip before they caressed softly.

His eyes locked onto her own ruby orbs, with an unknown intensity, the vampire was unsure of what to do. Teru leaned a hand forward towards the table and held his gaze as his other hand let go of her lock of hair and placed it on the chair's back. No words were spoken, just the two awaiting for the other to react.

The door suddenly opened. "President, have you seen-", it was Akane. His words became frozen midway, seeing the two upperclassmen so close. Unbeknownst to Yumeko, Teru's position made it appear as though he were kissing her. Thus anyone who came in would assume they had walked into an intimate scene. Such was the case for Akane who closed his eyes, took his glasses off and gave them a small wipe before putting them back on.

As he opened his eyes again, the vampire and exorcist duo had separated and were staring at him. Neither appeared to be flustered.

"For a minute there, I thought my eyes were about to be scarred. And just as I was about to thank senpai for taking away the demon president..." the last bit he muttered under his breath.

"Akane, what is it? Who were you looking for?"

Gone was the dark gaze from Akane's face, remembering why he was here. "Right, uh,... ah, an upperclassman was asking if Fujisaki-senpai was here. Well, I'm not sure who she was."

"Did she give her name?" It was suspicious to the vampire, no classmate would ever really look for her. Unless, "She didn't give her name. Just that she would be waiting for you in the courtyard after exams ended. Something about wanting to talk? Oh, she was wearing glasses if that helps any."

The older students shared a glance before the female sighed and stood up, gathering her bag to leave the room. "Thank you for the information, Akane. Good luck with your exams."

As the vampire trailed the hallways, she wanted to know why Teru was acting so weird but also what could Furukawa possibly want. After the abrupt end to her 'interrogation', Yumeko still wondered what more had brought to Ibara 'kidnapping' the vampire.

As she was opening her parasol, loud squeals caught her attention. Outside the gates, waited a certain tall, silver haired brother of hers. He, too, held a parasol of his own to block the sunlight. It made him appear like a fragile beauty to those who saw him.

Yumeko rolled her eyes. There was a small group of students crowding him who was beginning to look rather uncomfortable at the attention. "Brother, I didn't think you were going to pick me up." She really truly hadn't expected him to do that.

If Yuto could cry then and there, he would have. He hadn't thought he'd have gathered such attention. His saving grace had been his sister who was smiling but was probably annoyed. He did do something unnecessary after all.

"Right, it's been awhile and I had the time so I thought why not."

As Yumeko neared, the small group of students could only stare as the two vampires joined and left together. The two parasols side by side were strange to see. Though they couldn't help but wonder, who was the student walking next to the handsome wonder.

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"Didn't you say he would keep you from leaving? Even from us, your own family?" The older male twirled his wine glass playfully, though the conversation he was having with his sister was a bit too somber.

"Something like that. Guess humans do only lie." Yumeko didn't look over at her older brother, feigning interest in her book; it was becoming harder to ignore her hunger.

"You have to eat soon... you can't go on like this. Stop being stubborn." Yuto looked at his siblings, concern swimming in his eyes. Luka was feeding just well but after the whole situation with Yumeko leaving the Minamoto house, it was clear she hadn't fed since.

"I would if I could..." Yumeko was tired of her brother's constant nagging. Had they forgotten already? By taking only a single person's blood for a prolonged period of time, they wouldn't be able to feed on anyone but that person; not only that but she had given her oath to him. A mistake on her part when she had originally told Teru but now she'd have to live in suffering. Unless...

No, she had her pride to think about. Someone like her couldn't constantly allow herself to be rejected and keep going back to the same person. Because... even if she liked Teru, if he couldn't even think of her as a friend then what was the use of staying with them. Especially now that her family had found her. That had always been her ultimate goal, right?

"What do you mean by, if you could?" She stayed silent as the oldest began to get closer, wine glass in hand.

Her chin was suddenly grabbed, forcing her to look up directly at Luka. His crimson eyes stared down threateningly, bringing fear to Yumeko. What was this? Why did she feel so scared? He'd never shown his bloodlust towards his younger sister but there was a point to prove.

"Hey little sister, answer me. What do you mean, if you could? Surely, you don't mean... you gave him your vow."

"..." She stayed quiet, eyes trembling at the upcoming repercussions. Unexpectedly, Luka shoved the wine glass to her mouth. Yumeko spit back out the bloody substance, unable to drink the blood from the glass. Her hand flicked both his hand and the glass away from her, in attempts to free herself and cleanse her mouth.

Yumeko winced as the glass crashed onto the floor.

"You gave a human a sacred vow? For what? Hey, Yumeko. Answer your older brother would you."

Luka's voice was chillingly low, reverberating through her ears coldly. What was this sensation? She wanted to fight back but she could only tremble in his presence. Even as droplets of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, she couldn't move. Since when... since when had her brother become so terrifying?

"Luka, that's enough." Yuto's soft voice broke through the spell Luka had on Yumeko. Though he too wasn't happy with her decision, he also didn't want his sister to be in pain. But for her to use a vow... the equivalence of marriage for vampires to be used on a human. It was preposterous and frankly, unheard of and yet here was their sister.

Yuto placed a hand on her forearm, leading the shaken vampire away. Even though her hand covered her lips in attempts to block the nauseating feeling, her whimpers could be heard.

She hadn't asked for that to happen, for her vow to have been used. But what else was she supposed to do if she wanted to survive when she was all alone.

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not at me disappearing a whole month 🥲 yeah that wasn't really supposed to happen but it did oop.. least the semester is over! it's starting to get a looooooot colder here recently too so i try to avoid touching some of my devices because of that too tbh. also this fic will be ending soon (about time tbh) and then i'll probably do some side stories maybe even continue the halloween au (some people wanted to read more from it apparently) uh anyway! thanks for reading and stay safe!