*EDIT*

Enjoy!

monettes

(I do not own Diabolik Lovers, only my OC.)

CHAPTER 1 REWRITTEN (28/02/2016)

Prologue: part 1

→ Bear

It was on a typical dark, stormy night that the woman had fainted before the gate of the orphanage. It was a common sight, a woman with a belly round as a balloon, seeking shelter in one of the only places that would take her. Well, until the baby was born, of course.

The woman was brought in, with hands shaking and wet hair sticking to her face like silken threads. She had to be a prostitute. Her sunken eyes and bleak skin gave away the signs of malnutrition. The rags she was wearing only confirmed that she was in fact, poor. Just like many others. The only treasure she really had, was her uncommonly beautiful face. The only work a poor woman like that could get in times like these, couldn't be anything else than to sink on their knees for soldiers and other men with a penny to spend.

However, she had one other treasure, one she was about to bring to the earth.

A girl.

Masami.

Getting some sleep in this goddamn place isn't going to happen, is it!

It was way past midnight, but Masami had still not managed to fall asleep. With the little space she had on her half of the bed, she was rolling around, trying to find a good position to get snoring.

However, it didn't seem like there was going to be any snoring tonight.

Oh no.

There were a few things that Masami had to deal with.

First and foremost, Masami didn't sleep all that much anyway. It was natural for her to roll around and stay awake more than half the night, even if she had an exhausting day. It had always been like that. Even her caretaker, Miss Anda, kept complaining about how she wouldn't shut up as a baby.

Secondly, you had the girl with who Masami was sharing a bed with. A few weeks ago, there was this boy who came in with the flu. The girl next to Masami had caught said flu. And what had happened to that boy, the one who turned this orphanage into a flu fest? He had died a few weeks after arrival. He had quite literally coughed himself to death.

Now Ava, Masami's bedpartner, was also coughing loudly in her sleep, with her mouth UNCOVERED! Masami was trying to not breathe the air on her right and covered her face with her blanket.

One day, I'll die…

…But like hell that I'll day any time soon!

The third reason why this night would be a completely sleepless night was the roaring thunderstorm outside. Every five minutes or so, an electric, bright light would flash through the small window near the ceiling. Soon, the light was followed by the tumultuous sound of the thunder itself. Masami, being the luckiest person on this rotten planet, was placed in a room where a lot of the younger kids slept as well, mostly new kids.

WHICH IS EVEN WORSE.

Masami was sort of the caretaker, or even guardian who had to teach this kids what the real and hard world really looked like. (She wasn't so good at it, though) Older kids who were born in the orphanage were ought to fill their free time with trying to calm down the naive kids from the outside.

The kids were scared of the thunder. They were crying, calling out for their dead mothers or fathers. Masami had tried to calm a few of them down in the past, but she couldn't baby them too much. She had to be hard. So she let them cry and let them shout and let them get used to what living here really was like.

Growing up as an orphan you start to get used to the lack of sympathy and kindness in your daily life. Orphans were treated as mere tools, they were not human beings in the eyes of the common people.

Orphans were disposable. There would be no one that would remember their names. No one that would care.

You had to be hard and you had to fight for your place, even here in the orphanage. In these times of war, the amount of new kids arriving was immense. Even Masami, who was born and bred in this first class hellhole, was surprised by the flood of children. It was certainly not a positive thing, au contraire, it meant that there would be more mouths to feed, which was already a problem before the whole storm of new orphans.

However, Masami was lucky that she often had to work in the kitchen. Her supervisor, Anda-san, would give her an extra treat for her hard work if she was in a good mood. Oh, how Masami cherished those moments.

Anda-san got attached to Masami somehow, maybe because of the fact that she had taken care of Masami since she was a baby.

Maybe that's why Masami didn't mind to be treated so badly. Or at least, she didn't seem to care anymore. Just because she never knew any better.

Nonetheless, Masami still had to endure Anda-san's tyranny. The woman really took mood swings to another level. Facing her when she was in a bad mood?

FATAL.

She could even make grown men weep, that's how bad it was. And Masami? She had to spend the whole day with her, working, trying to live up to Anda-san's expectations. Masami had to work longer than the others, her jobs were often physically very tiring and rest? Masami wouldn't dare doing that, or she would get hit or worse –spend a week in the isolation cell. By now, she could recognize every pebble, every corner, and every scratch in the isolation cell.

The isolation cell and I are best buds. It knows all about my non-existent secrets.

Masami glanced at the girl next to her, leaving her trail of thoughts. The girl snored quietly now (thank all the gods above) with a cough occasionally interrupting her breathing.

Masami turned to the wall, trailing her fingers over the brick where she had scratched in her name. Just in case she did die here, she would have something left of her in this world.

"Masami, have you cleaned the floor?"

"Yes."

"And the dishes, have you done those?"

"Yes, I just finished doing them."

"Hmm… I suppose you haven't peeled the potatoes yet for today's soup?"

"No, Anda-san. I'll get right to it."

"That's what I like to hear."

And so Masami started to peal the almost infinite looking amount of potatoes. An hour had passed, maybe even two hours. Masami lost track of time. Maybe, in time, she would turn into a potato herself.

Finally, after half an hour more, she was done with the potato work (on the verge of becoming one herself). Her hands were raw and red and her body felt stiff from sitting in the same position for such a long time. The usual business.

Across from Masami, Anda-san was sipping from a cup of tea while reading the newspaper.

"I'm done, Anda-san," Masami said while wiping her hands of her skirt.

The woman looked up from her paper, looked at Masami with those piercing grey eyes and then pushed something in Masami's hands.

"These fell on the floor earlier, some rat tried to steal them. Of course that child has been punished." Anda-san casually took another sip from her tea. "I give you this for only one reason and one reason only; to show you that children who listen and who do as they have been told, will be rewarded."

Masami looked down at her hands and stared at the small, white cubes.

Sugar?

"Thank you, Anda-san."

"Do not thank me. I need you to be trained, to be disciplined. From the day that I held you, just before you mother died while giving birth to you, I knew you would become my successor. I am old. I am not able to stay alive forever." Anda-san sighed deeply, it sounded almost regretful. "Do not disappoint me. The only reason that you're not a part of the entertainment group is because of me. Do not forget that. Be grateful or you will face the consequences."

Masami nodded. There wasn't much to say. Anda-san had said the same thing, every morning in the kitchen for the past few months. She really was getting old.

Nevertheless, Masami didn't know how to feel about this. She guessed she was lucky in some way, but on the other hand, Anda-san confirmed that Masami would be stuck here.

Forever.

"I heard there was some trouble in the garden. Go check. You're dismissed." And with those last, firmly spoken words, Anda-san turned back to her paper and her cup of tea.

Masami nodded once again, put the cubes in the pocket of her skirt and then left as she was told to do. She felt an itch in her stomach that told her that she was about to get herself into trouble.

"Your gang? How pathetic! They're just a bunch of delusional idiots! Especially that leader… Locks or whatever his name was." Laughter erupted and more insults were thrown at the victim or victims.

Oh, no. Not him again.

Masami walked as fast as she could, almost slipping over the wet grass. A crowd had gathered around the troublemakers and were shouting and waving with their fists.

"Don't you talk like that about Lucks, ya bastard!" announced a second voice that trembled with anger.

And so the real fight began. Masami could hear shouts, from the crowd and the troublemakers themselves. Fists were thrown in the air by the bystanders with every punch that was thrown, shouts erupted with every victory.

How exiting.

How was she, an eleven-year-old, going to tell him to stop fighting?

Suicide or not?

Well, it was this or facing Anda-san. An easy choice, if you had to ask Masami.

Got to do what I got to do!

Die!

"Idiot!" A loud smack was soon followed by the cheering of the audience.

"Go back to the trash where you belong!" The second voice let out a groan of pain, followed by a loud gasp after –probably –a hit in the stomach.

"Erhm…"

The girl had made her way through the crowd and was currently standing in between the fighting boys. She analyzed the situation. A kid with a ponytail against a group of fourteen-year-olds. And he had defeated two of them.

Impressive.

The two defeated ones were covered in bruises and one had a bleeding nose. Masami swore that this kid had a lot of experience in fighting, he couldn't be able to defeat a bunch of kids twice his size just like that?

"Masami, go mind your own business," said a raven-haired boy who was two heads taller than her.

She looked at the other boy who got up with a slightly confused look on his face.

"A bunch of fourteen-year-olds fighting a ten-year-old… that's a bit low, don't you think? Even for you, Shinji."

She had known the boy for a long time, but they never got along very well. Masami always tried to avoid Shinji, and it would always work.

Until now.

"I'm eleven!" the boy on the ground shouted.

Masami ignored that and turned back to the raven-haired boy. "Don't you have work to do? You know that you'll get into trouble if they find you fighting again. It's the third time already. They might throw you out, Shinji."

"Ha, trying to command us again, Masami?" The boy took a step forward. "I won't get into trouble if no one tells the caretakers that it was me who was fighting, right?"

"I just got my orders." Masami wasn't backing down and didn't show any sign of fear or suppression, she had learned that trick over time. Very useful. But at this very moment she felt her voice trembling, showing signs of hesitation. Yes, she felt intimidated. Certainly when a boy, two times her size was getting closer.

He was getting a bit too close.

"Ha?! Masami, you want to get into a fight or what? I don't hit girls, but I'll make an exception for you." The boy grinned and grabbed her by her collar. "Little girls shouldn't interrupt our business. And you sure as hell know that I don't like snitches."

His gang members started laughing along as they were enjoying the whole show.

Masami grabbed his wrist and started to struggle her way out of his grasp, but he was too strong. No way that she could beat him. The only thing she could do was mentally preparing herself to get beaten up.

This isn't really my lucky day, is it?

"What's going on here?"

A caretaker showed up, and not just a caretaker… It was Rie-san. And she was in a bad mood.

Crap.

The other kids rushed back to work. Shinji, who still held Masami by her collar, quickly dropped her on the ground before rushing away.

"Ah, you two were the ones making the noise instead of doing your job, huh?" said the tall woman, pointing at the ponytail kid and her.

"No, I had to…" began Masami, but Rie-san immediately interrupted her.

"Don't speak to me like that," the woman scoffed.

You were the one asking the damn question!

"But she didn't do anything!" said the ponytail boy with his fists clenched out of anger. He had gotten up and looked furious.

Was he an idiot or something? Didn't he know that yelling at the caretakers would only make them more pissed than they already were?

"LIES!" The woman grabbed the boy and her by the arm and walked away with them, just like Masami had expected. She mentally slapped herself in the face for getting into trouble again. It had been a week since! She was getting close to a personal record! And now, because of this kid, she was back at zero. Dammit.

The boy tried to struggle, but it was useless. Masami already knew where she was taking them.

The cellar of the right wing, where they would be thrown into the punishment cell, also known as the isolation cell. The calm-down room for naughty, naughty children.

Masami really had the worst of luck.

"Hey! Let us out, you hag!" screamed the boy as the woman locked the door.

"Hey, shut it! Do you want to stay here for a week or what?!" Masami pulled him from the door. She wasn't really protecting him. Rie-san was notorious to not care who did what, as long as she had someone to blame. Accomplices too, if she had the chance.

"Tch…"

"What a pain," mumbled Masami as she sat down. The cellar was dirty and sleeping on the cold, hard ground was everything except pleasant.

Home, sweet home.

Ten minutes passed.

"Hey," the boy began.

"What?"

"Why did you help me?"

"Eh… I didn't help you. I was just asked to stop a fight," she shrugged.

"Hmm."

"You're new, aren't you?"

The boy groaned when hearing this. "I've been here for a few weeks now. It sucks," he said as he kicked with his foot against the wall.

"Ah well, welcome to hell," Masami said in a pretentious wise tone.

At this the boy let out a chuckle. Then another sound.

It was his stomach.

"Argh." He put a hand on his stomach and turned his head away out of shame, hiding a blush. One of the advantages of the cell was not getting any food until the next morning.

A fabulous system, really!

"Oh, I've got something." Masami remembered that she still had the sugar from earlier, so she walked up to him, much to his surprise. As she sat down, she quickly took the cubes out of her pocket and spread them on her lap.

Seven cubes.

The boy curiously looked up and stared at the small, snow white cubes.

"What's that?"

"Sugar. You can have some if you want." She handed him three cubes.

"Heh? You're sharing it with me?" He looked puzzled.

"Eh, yeah. But you can always give them back if you don't want them~" she said as she popped one of the cubes in his hand into her own mouth.

"AH?!"

"Are you going to eat one or not?" Masami lifted her brow and handed him another cube to compensate for the one she stole from him.

He nodded and put one in his mouth, a little hesitant though.

Soon after he let out a pleasant shriek. "Wow! It's delicious!" he said happily before putting another one in his mouth, sucking on it intensely. "I never had anything like it."

"Hah, never had any sugar? Mmm, that's not unusual though…" Masami mumbled and handed him another one when she saw that he ate all the other ones he had. It was fascinating how quickly his mood had changed by handing him something as simple as a sugar cube. He was in a completely different world.

Masami ate another cube and handed what was left to the boy.

"Are you sure you want to give them to me?" the boy asked as she was wiping of her dress.

"Yeah, it's fine. You're enjoying them way more than I am anyway."

The real reason why Masami decided to share her food, was that he had stand up for her against Rie-san. No one had ever done that for her. In the orphanage the motto was "save your own skin". If you didn't, then you were not able to survive. It was as simple as that.

"I'm Bear. What your name?" the boy gave her a bright smile.

Masami couldn't help but smile. It was a very, very strange name. Somehow, it did fit him perfectly.

It was funny to Masami that he had introduced himself to her.

But…It was never too late to make friends, right?

"I'm Masami, nice to meet you," she beamed back.

Did I have an unlucky day, today?

Yes.

Was it bad, though?

...Not really.