So I know I'm suppose to be busy with rewriting part 1 like I said before - and I know my updates haven't been the most pleasing time wise T_T sorry! - HOWEVER, I got something for ya'll. One person voiced out for a sequel/spin-off to A Smile Apart revolving around the daughter after I finished the story. I kept the idea in the back of my head since then, but never really considered it cause of how much work it would take to do another new story. But one beautiful sunny day, when I was writing the next rewrite for part 1, an idea for a story came to me. And so I went ahead and wrote a little bit of the first chapter. Check it out below :)

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Chapter 1 ?

I carefully peaked into the room from the doorway, using all my strength to silence my breaths. My parents and their friend, Kaien Cross, sat in the center of the room by the fire. Mother's back faced me, but from just seeing the absence of my father's smile on his visage was enough for me to know that something was not right.

"He's been watching you all this time, both of you," Cross said with unease. "And he's pieced everything together."

"Has he now," my father softly responded. The indifference he had never shown, startling me.

"You're taking things rather calmly," Cross inferred, straightening up from leaning forward.

"We've been expecting this," I then heard my mother put in. "Either Yagari, another hunter, or even a vampire…Someone was bound to find out sooner or later. We just hoped that whoever it was, they'd understand. But…Well, like I said…We 'hoped'."

"It's not that Yagari doesn't understand. He's just so…molded by the system and the rules, that he…can't let it go, especially since he's the head of the hunters." His stern eyes behind his round glasses contrasted so much from the benevolent ones I remembered from before whenever he visited. He then warned my father, "He will come for you."

"As the top vampire hunter to date, I have no doubt he will."

"This is serious, Ichijo!" Cross bellowed, startling me almost to the point of squealing. His raised voice sounded nowhere near the mellowness that I was used to from him. I grabbed on tighter against the frame of the door, trying to conceal myself but wanting to get closer. "He will hunt you like game," was the next thing I picked up once I calmed my heartbeat and refocused on the conversation.

I saw my mother place her hand on my father's. She must've smiled at him in some way because it was only hers that was able to make him smile back the way he did. He looked down at the table for a second, organizing his thoughts.

Then he brought his gaze back to Cross and said, "If Yagari's coming for me, it's just me he wants."

"Hunters are driven to only kill vampires. They won't even consider humans as targets. Yoka will be fine."

"And Kazumi?"

"Classes resume next week. She will be safe at the academy." What my father said in reply, I never knew. For one of the maids suddenly appeared.

"Miss Ichijo," she called out to me, quickly coming to my side. "We couldn't find you in your room." She saw the distress that clung to my face and the tension of the conversation in the other room through the crack of the door. Brushing aside her frown, she smiled graciously and placed her hand on my arm. "Come now, miss," she said, leading me away down the hall. "Some matters are better off not known."

I didn't bother inquiring the maid of the situation. She wouldn't have known the details, only what my mother or father told her – that whatever it was they were talking about with Cross, I was not to hear a word of it.

"If you need anything, please let me know," she said once we reached my bedroom. She softly shut the door as she left, leaving me alone in my chamber once again. I went over to my desk and saw the letter that I had received earlier this morning.

"He will come for you." I couldn't get those words out of my head, the meaning behind them and the secrets that my parents obviously were keeping. I picked up the piece of paper, admiring the beautiful handwriting in black ink. And here I was, going about with life like I had everything figured out. What are they not telling me? My room felt emptier than ever, and loneliness revisited me. I took my seat and opened the middle drawer filled with an assortment of exquisitely printed paper. Carefully picking one, I took up my pen and began writing to temporarily free myself from these shackles of despair.

Dear Keiji,

I need you . . .

I know it's short, but it's just an intro/glimpse. Please post a review and let me know what you think about it: how much you love it, how much you hate it, anything to let me get a feel of whether or not my idea for the story is worth diving in to. Thanks for your support.