Author Note

18 parts... hmm... feels like it's getting long. :P lol! Although it probably isn't, but it just feels that way. Lol.

+-+-+-+-+-+

Utau walked along the sidewalk. Honestly, she would've preferred to walk on the road, the street was just too busy for her liking, but it was supposedly a bad thing to do. Pfft, humans and their crazy laws.

People swarmed around her and brushed up against her sides. It disgusted her. She just wanted to yell at them to get away from her. No matter how many people surrounded her at this moment though she felt horribly alone, and angry.

She kept a scowl on her perfect mouth and sunglasses covering her pretty face as she trudged forwards. Why did she even come out today? There were too many people. Humans, to be specific. Other vampires she didn't mind at all, but humans...

Utau hated humans. They were revolting beings with their soft, easily broken hearts, and just as easily broken bones. They made her feel angry, disappointed, and... envious. They were the stupidest beings alive in Utau's opinion, but she was envious of them.

They had nice, cushy homes to go to, friends and family surrounding and supporting them, barely any worries in the world, and they didn't have to go hunt for their own food. And as much as she hated them, a small part of her wanted to go back to the way things were before... To just be a carefree girl again, to just forget everything and just go out with a normal boy on a normal date or something.

Utau continued along the path in front of her. Instead of staring dully straight ahead like she usually did, she decided to slow down and look at everything around her.

"Hey, look at that girl; she's hot, isn't she?" Utau heard two guys on her left whispering together. One was tall and blonde, the other a bit shorter with brown hair.

"She's kind of pale though," the short brown one looked at her and wrinkled his nose a little.

"I'll put some colour back in her cheeks," the taller one decided, and walked up to her. "He-"

Utau shot out her arm, grabbed the front of his shirt, and shoved him back a bit harder than she should have. She was supposed to be just an innocent, week, average girl when she was around town, but Utau wasn't just anything. She was strong a person, and she'd show everyone just how strong she was.

Utau left the stunned and angry guy behind her. Yet another reason to dislike humans... The guys are jerks.

Suddenly she saw Amu with group of other kids come out of what appeared to be a dessert shop. "Amu..." Utau mumbled to herself as she walked closer towards them. They laughed. So carefree... I hate them.

"Hinamori Amu!" Utau yelled and pointed her finger at the pink-haired girl.

"Eh?" Amu turned slowly around to look at her with a confused look on her face.

"Vampire," Utau heard a boy in Amu's group whisper. The boy had messy copper hair and green eyes. He looked confident as well. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he looked like he knew she heard him.

"Amu, get behind us," a boy with green hair told her and gently pushed her back a bit further away from Utau. The two boys and a girl stepped in front of Utau.

"B-but it's just Utau, Kairi!" Amu protested. She sounded like she really believed Utau would never try to hurt her.

Just Utau!? Utau let out a little animal-like snarl. The girl in the group shoved Amu further back, and the boy with the copper hair stepped closer to the front.

"Yo, vampire, care to explain why you're here? Otherwise we might have to, you know, kill you," the boy explained.

"Kukai!" Amu exclaimed in a panicked tone. Jeez, what was she so worried about?

Utau snorted humorously, "I'd like to see you try, kid."

"We're not kids, we're vampire hunters," the girl with long, light brown hair and hazel eyes interjected.

"I'd still like to see you try," said Utau.

"Don't hurt Utau! She's my friend!" Amu yelled after a while of being ignored. Everyone finally looked towards her, and then she blushed from embarrassment. Shock was written plainly across Utau's face.

"You're a weird girl," Utau mumbled.

"H-hey," Amu weakly objected.

"So, even if we can't hurt her, we can still show her we're better then vampires," Kukai grinned mischievously.

Utau's eyebrow twitched irritably, "Are you challenging me?"

"Oh, I so am," Kukai gave her a defiant glance.

"Lead the way, hunter," Utau smirked. Kukai dashed off with Utau following along right beside him. She was surprised to find that he could match her in speed. Maybe he wasn't exactly a normal boy, but he certainly was different.

"You're pretty fast, vampire," Kukai teased.

Utau didn't accept teasing though. "I was going to say the same to you," said Utau.

"We're here," Kukai announced.

"We're... where?" Utau asked, looking around at the surroundings and not seeing anything of any particular interest.

"The grocery store."

"Why are we at a grocery store?" said Utau in an appalled voice. "I don't eat this kind of food."

"The way I figure it, we buy a bunch of hot peppers, and we can see who can eat the most before you get sick and possibly throw up or I need to drink water or something to get rid of the heat," Kukai explained.

"I was hoping for something a little more dangerous and a little less gross, but fine. You're on," Utau agreed to his proposition.

They walked into the store together and ended up purchasing a plastic bag full of jalapeño peppers. The checkout person gave them a weird look, but Utau managed to ignore them (even though what she really wanted to do was slap them). Kukai paid, as Utau had no money. What possible use would she have for money?

Utau led them both back outside and sat down on a little metal bench on the sidewalk. "You ready hunter?"

"Absolutely," he answered and settled down beside her.

They both took a hot pepper out of the bag. Kukai bit the whole pepper off the stem and Utau followed in suit right after him. She felt like she was going to be sick. Utau had never thrown up before (she didn't know if vampires even could), but she'd seen plenty of humans do it.

The hot pepper wasn't hot at all to Utau, but it tasted disgusting. She guessed this must be what it would be like for a human to eat their dog or cat's food. She'd seen that kind of food in a grocery store once (she had gone in there out of sheer boredom and a tiny bit of curiosity, but she'd never told anyone about that incident), and it looked like it would taste horrible. Why couldn't humans just cook up a steak for their dogs? That's what dogs used to eat, meat, so where did this weird "pet food" idea come from? Utau mentally sighed, humans...

She looked over to Kukai to see that he was coughing and trying – unsuccessfully – to be quiet. Utau grimaced as they both picked up another pepper. Her stomach roiled, and she fought back the urge to gag. The hunter looked like he was just about ready to cry. She wasn't about to give up that easily though.

Ten jalapeño peppers and a lot of bad trash talk (Utau kept gagging in the middle, and Kukai either started coughing or had to keep wiping the teats from his eyes) later they were out of hot peppers. Neither of them had given up. She certainly was surprised that he hadn't up.

"I need to go get water!" Kukai blurted as Utau announced that she was going to be sick. She saw Kukai run off towards the closest store before she darted towards a bunch of bushes and collapsed onto her knees. She threw up until she heard footsteps coming towards her.

"Uh, you okay?" Kukai asked her timidly. Utau was going to turn around to glare at him and tell him to get the hell away from her, but just ended up throwing up again. She felt the vampire hunter start to stoke her back as if he was trying to comfort her.

"Don't touch me," Utau ordered menacingly, and Kukai withdrew his hand. She hauled herself up to her feet and stumbled back out onto the sidewalk.

"Well, that was kind of a stupid idea, huh?" Kukai laughed. Utau glared at him in response. She snatched his mostly drunken bottle giant bottle of water out of his hands and threw it halfway across the parking lot where it exploded in a watery burst. "I was going to finish that," Kukai muttered.

"I know," Utau said, then turned sharply away from him and began to walk, to where though she wasn't exactly sure. "Hey, Vampire hunter," she called out with turning around. "There's something big coming up, a revolution of sorts. You can practically feel it in the air, can't you? You'd better be ready, because we've already begun choosing sides."

"And which side are you on?" Kukai asked.

"My own."

------------

"Hey, Ikuto?" Amu piped up. She and Ikuto were sitting on Amu's bed. Her dad had left to take Ami to see the carnival that was in town, which allowed Amu to easily sneak Ikuto into her room. He looked up from her hands that he was playing with. "What did the vampire hunters talk to you about earlier today?"

"Nothing much," Ikuto answered evasively.

"Because they told me that there was going to be a war with vampires, and I... I want to help them," Amu whispered. "They told me that we'd protect each other. So, um, what do you think?"

A million emotions seemed to flash across his face in a split second until it settled on a small pensive frown. "Well, on one hand, it makes me kind of angry that they told you before I decided if I wanted you to know –" Amu glowered at him "– and nervous that you might get hurt. But on the other, it makes me love you more for wanting to help."

Amu threw herself across the gap between them on the bed, and hugged Ikuto tightly.

"Amu!" Ikuto exclaimed, but it sounded kind of muffled. "Your-"

She felt a sharp prick on her neck, and automatically jerked back. Amu felt her neck with her hand and looked down to see the tiniest drop of blood on it.

Ikuto was looking at her weird, almost as if he was in a trance or something. "I'm sorry I... You shoved your neck in my face, and when I tried to tell you that you should move one of my fangs pricked you."

"Oh, um, okay. Sorry," Amu said. He was still looking at her kind of weird and it was unnerving.

"You should probably go put a band-aid on that," Ikuto suggested.

"But it's barely even bleeding, I don't need one," Amu reasoned. When Ikuto opened his mouth to respond she saw that two fangs were still protruding from the top of his mouth. They looked really sharp.

Oh, thought Amu, finally realising why he was telling her to go put on a band-aid. "I-I guess I could just g-go and..." she let her sentence trail off as she stood up to walk over to her bathroom.

Ikuto's arm shot out and grabbed her arm before she got very far. She turned back around and he pulled her down on top of him. He drew her closer, then slowly licked the bleeding side of her neck. "You taste good," Ikuto purred.

Amu felt frozen in place. What do I do!? Do I move? Do I stay still? A million different scenarios flooded through her mind, but all she could do was sit there.

Ikuto shuffled back a bit. His expression was a mixture between a grimace and lust. "Sorry..." He mumbled.

"It's okay," Amu responded softly. For some reason a part of her felt almost disappointed. "But, um, if you want to... y-you could," she said so quietly it was barely even a whisper.

Most of the grimace disappeared from Ikuto's face to be replaced by surprise. "Amu-"

"I-I won't be upset or anything if you do," she continued.

Ikuto abandoned his surprised look, and lustfully swept his gaze over her. He gently pushed back her tank top strap, exposing bare skin over her shoulder. Amu shivered at his touch. Pressing his face into her neck he inhaled deeply then licked her neck again.

Amu gasped at a sharp pain in her neck. It quickly dispersed and she was overcome by a really happy and calm feeling. It was like the sensation of giving, but a hundred times better – and a bit more romantic.

After what seemed like a really short time the feeling disappeared and Amu opened her eyes to give Ikuto a tipsy smile. She felt dizzy, but happy.

Ikuto smiled back at her. "Are you okay?"

Amu ignored his question. She wouldn't even be able to put into words just how happy she was. She snuggled into his arms instead. "Hey, Ikuto, I've never said it before, but you know I love you, right? I love you, Ikuto." Her neck throbbed, but she didn't care. This all felt perfect.

+-+-+-+-+-+

Author Note

Sorry for the long delay before this part! I've had A LOT of school work to do with summative projects and exams and stuff (it's amazing how in such a short time, 30% of your final mark is decided).

Thanks for reading!!! ^-^ Hope you enjoyed this part!
Please review! Thanks! :)

3 Happily-random