When a forbidden kiss is stolen

|Moon's note : Junko's name means obedient child. Therefore, if Ren jokes about her name, he is actually joking about it's meaning.|

|Shopping District, Night|

'So, that client wanted some nice fall pictures huh?' Junko thought to herself, kicking a pile of leaves out of the way. Her long scarf trailed behind her, collecting leaves in the delicate wool which she failed to notice. 'Even if he says that, it's pretty impossible to have an original shoot here. Highschoolers in love is a pretty common theme nowadays…' her thought continued as she watched a highschool couple walking together. Not being able to resist the temptation, she ended up taking a picture of them either way, against the autumn – leaved background. '… and so is little kids playing with leaves… How am I supposed to get an original marketing photo here?' she thought again, kicking another pile of leaves.

She wiped the lens of her camera clean. It was her most prized possession, and the means to her survival for now. No matter what it took, she would get a great picture, and get paid in full. 'Alright, I can do this!'
Looking around, she noticed a deserted smaller street. 'Oh, of course! If the main street is full of commonly used themes, then logic would dictate that the smaller unused street should contain many not so often used themes!'
Pleased with herself, she made her way to the street, purchasing some hot, strong coffee near a stand. Cup of coffee in one hand and camera in the other, she smiling made her way past a whole number of people that seemed to be in an equally good mood. Still, once she had reached the smaller street, there were no more people to be spotted.

'I suppose some scenic shots would be nice…' she mumbled, operating her camera with one hand, unable to put down the hot coffee somewhere. She took a few pictures, until a movement about 15 meters further caught her eye. She zoomed in, to see a pretty black – haired woman flirting with a guy who's bangs seemed to hang partly in front of his face.
'Honestly…' she thought. 'Light green – grayish hair? What kind of fashion statement is that? Also… this feels a little bit like I'm some kind of perv. On the other hand, I'll just take the pictures now, and then ask them if it's okay if these get used! Great plan, Junko!' she congratulated herself.

Looking back at the couple, she could swear there was something about the man though. It seemed as if his teeth – no, his canines – were slightly longer than usual. She shook her head. 'Honestly… I've been watching those late – night vampire movies too much!'
She looked back through her lens, her breath at once lodged firmly in her lunges. The man's canines weren't just bigger than expected, they were also growing. Her photographer instinct kicked in, and she started to click her camera. The woman in the man's arms fainted as he looked up straight in the camera. Dark golden eyes pierced hers as she could see the blood softly dripping from the man's teeth.

The second after that, he was standing right in front of her. Her blood pulse quickened as she started to panic. 'My my, what have we here? A stray human girl, looking for trouble.' He smiled, holding out his hand towards her. 'Look into my – Aaaah!'
He screamed as she threw her scalding hot coffee in his face. Probably it wasn't as much pain that made him yell as it was anger and surprise. Still, Junko wasn't one to waste an opportunity. She turned around, and started to run away. The vampire growled, grabbing blindly after her as he attempted to grab her. Instead of getting her, he caught her scarf, pulling it from her neck.

'Ah, my scarf!' Junko cried out, looking back worried. The vampire was still trying to wipe away the hot coffee from his face. 'Come back here, you stupid human!'
'No way!' she yelled, sprinting to the street, completely panicking by now. It was only a little bit, and she reached the shopping street that was filled with people. Without thinking she kept running, trying to get away from the man that had been definitely up to no good at all.

Ren used the scarf to pat away the remainder of the coffee that had scalded his skin. 'Tch… not good.' He muttered, glaring in the way the girl had run of. She had had a camera. And he had heard clicking sounds coming while he had been busy with his latest meal. He was smart enough to put two and two together, and reached a conclusion he did not like one bit.
'If this gets out, I'll be in trouble. Sheesh, this kind of thing should be happening to Karin, not to me.' He continued muttering, looking back to the woman that was lying against the tree. He had panicked, and ended up getting too violent with his prey. He looked down at the scarf he still had in his hand, and brought it to his nose. He inhaled it's scent, memorizing it so he would be able to find that girl and erase her memories.
Soon, he would see her again. His new prey.

|Junko's Apartment|

'Haaaah… haaaah… haaah…' she slammed the door shut behind her, feeling her heart hammering away in her chest. She couldn't think quite straight as she let her jacket fall to the floor. Subconsciously she placed her camera on the table, careful not to scratch it. Stumbling she managed to reach the kitchen, opening the crane so she could stick her head underneath the cool water. It helped a little to cool her heated face.
'That's right…' she said, wiping her face with a towel. 'I was just imagining things… Poor guy, I even threw coffee in his face, anyone would be angry then. I guess I overreacted.' She took the camera, so she could look at the pictures and convince herself she had just been imagining it.

She hadn't been.

The fangs stood out so clear on the picture, she didn't even have to zoom in to see them better. 'No way.' She zoomed in, just to be sure. 'No. Fucking. Way.'
She pushed the camera away from her, and jumped up. 'This is bad, this is really, really, really bad! I saw a vampire! What am I going to do?' she started walking circles around the table, round and round and each times she turned she felt herself sinking lower in anguish.
'He's going to kill me! I'm sure of it! Gyaaah, he'll probably rip me into a thousand tiny pieces and them I'm going to end up dead and I'll be buried and I'll never be able to finish my work!'

She grabbed a pillow and started to pluck on it in exasperation. 'I need to think of something! I need to think of something really, really fast. But what's going to save me? There's nothing keeping that vampire from killing me…'
Her eyes landed on the camera that was lying in the sofa. Perhaps she could use the picture she had taken to protect herself? The vampire probably wouldn't kill her if there was a chance that more people would find out about his identity. She reached for her neck so she could pull her scarf a little, before she realized that the vampire had ripped it off. 'Stealing my scarf like that… he had some nerve for a vampire!' she said, trying to cheer herself up a little bit.
She sank in her couch, holding her head between her hands. 'I'm just doomed.'

|The Maaka Residence, Morning|

'Ren – niichan!' Karin said, surprised at seeing her big brother lying in the couch. The man was awake, and seemed to be staring intently at a scarf. He looked up to see his sister, and gave a grunt to acknowledge he had seen her. Karin came a little bit closer, but made sure to keep her distance from her ill – tempered brother.
'Is something wrong, nii – chan? It's unusual for you to be home, and you're even sleeping on the couch instead of in your coffin.'
'Nothing that would concern a brat.' He mumbled, before he looked back at the scarf. Karin shivered when she saw that look, which she knew all too well. It was the look he got in his eyes when he was about to assault her again, lifting her up by her head so her feet couldn't touch the ground.

'I'm just being worried about my big brother, like a sister should do…' she mumbled. Ren got up from the couch, glaring at his sister. 'Are you going to continue talking like that, or are you going to run off to your human school where I can't get my hands on you?' he asked menacingly, showing of a canine with a smile. Karin let out an 'eek' before she ran away, her hands firmly around her bag. Ren watched her run off, before diverting his attention again to the scarf. It was an old thing, and he had spent an hour picking all of the leaves out of it so they wouldn't interfere with the smell.

'That girl, throwing coffee in my face as if I was some unwanted pushy guy that doesn't know how to quit!' Ren grumbled to himself, pacing around his living room. 'Treating me like some third – rate scumbag!' he strangled the scarf in order to relieve some stress.
He hadn't even gotten a good look at the girl's face. The only thing he knew was that she had long hair. He did like long hair, so if she ended up looking cute he might even have some fun. With a little luck, the situation could turn in his advantage.
He scratched the back of his hair, and went to the kitchen. The situation bother him more than he cared to admit. Because, when you really thought about it… he had just been turned down flat. Not just flat, the coffee in his face had been a clear enough hint that his charms didn't cut it. The whole situation was just a big stab to his ego.

He clenched a fist, looking for a glass in the kitchen. 'That stupid human, running away like that and leaving me standing there! I'll make her pay for that!' He gulped down his water, but was squeezing it too hard, making the glass shatter. 'Gah!' was the only thing Ren could manage to bring out as he started to pick the glass out. 'Stupid… I'll have to take care of this pretty soon, if I want to be able to enjoy my life again.'

|The shopping District, Midnight|

Junko rubbed her hands together, not being sure what she was hoping to accomplish by coming here the day after the incident. She took a bite from the chocolate bar in her one hand, and then a sip from the hot chocolate in her other hand. It calmed her down a bit, but she was still on edge. 'The sooner I get this all over with, the sooner I'll be able to return to a normal life. And, if everything works out, that vampire will have no choice but to help me out! I just need to make sure I survive this night. That's all.'

Ren walked in the street where he had last seen the girl, though he had little hopes of finding her. What were the odds of harried prey returning to the scene of the hunt? Still, this was the place where he had the best hopes of finding the one who had found out about his secret. If he ever want to get back to his easy days of loving women and feeding of them, this had to be handled first. He smelled the scarf he had wrapped around his neck again. Her smell was pleasant, a sure sign that the girl had been stressed for a period of time when she had been wearing that scarf.
He considered that to be a good omen.

He blinked when he sniffed the air. 'That can't be! She's stupid enough to return here?' he looked around, trying to see her. Things would have been easier if he had been able to see her properly. There were too many women with long hair here, and their smells overpowered the one he was searching for.
Somebody tapped his shoulder. He turned around, expecting a cute girl who would be asking him to hang out. As he looked down, the girl that had tapped his shoulder seemed to be insecure. Finally she spoke up. 'You're… the vampire, right?' she asked softly, so nobody could hear her. At once Ren's breath was caught up in his throat.

Instead of speaking, he grabbed her by the hair. Panic arose in her eyes as her body stiffened, and she attempted to beat him off. 'Hey, this is a public space, don't do anything funny, okay!' he said nothing, instead bringing the lock of hair to his nose. She let out a small yelp as he sniffed it, dropping her food on the ground.
'You're the girl that interrupted me yesterday!' he said, glaring at her. She gulped, but then she noticed the scarf he had around his neck. 'My scarf!' she said, attempting to grab it. Ren grabbed her hands before she was able to reach.

'If you don't mind, I would prefer not being touched by a filthy human as yourself.' Junko huffed when he said that. 'Really now? You seemed to be fine being touched by a human just yesterday night. What are you, some kind of playboy vamp –'
He placed a hand over her mouth, smiling at people walking by to make it seem like a lover's quarrel. 'Can you stop saying that word so much in public?' he said, not so much being worried about how she said it so easily but that the girl had in fact accepted the existence of vampires so easily.

She slapped his hand away, removing herself from his presence. 'If you give me back my scarf I will!' Ren sighed. Apparently the scarf was important enough for the girl to make a fuss about it. He took it off and gave it back. He hated women screaming at him, after all. When breaking up, he made sure to simply disappear, so they wouldn't be able to find him.
Junko accepted it, and put it back on. The girl was experiencing some pretty hefty stress, he could make that much out. Still, the stress factor dropped considerably when he handed her back the scarf. 'Thanks.' She said, not looking at him. She cleared her throat, before talking again. 'Say… would you like to come to my place?'
Ren didn't believe his ears. This would be even easier than he had thought.

|Junko's home, 2 am|

She opened the door, letting Ren step in before she followed. At once he turned to her, grabbing her face as he looked down on her. 'You're not the type I usually fancy, but it's not a bad if it's only one night, right?'
She blinked. 'Excuse me?'
'Well, the reason you invited me to your apartment. Obviously you just wanted to have sex with a vampire. That's okay. Afterwards I'll just –'
He was cut off as her fist collided with his jaw. He stumbled backwards out of surprise. 'What the hell? Is this your idea of foreplay?'

'What the hell are you thinking?' Junko asked, blushing fiercely. 'Suggesting a one – night stand so easily, you really are a playboy vampire! That wasn't why I invited you at all!'
Ren got up, glaring at the woman in front of him. 'If that's the case, I'll just –'
'And you can't kill me either!' she snapped at him, her stress going to unexpected heights. To Ren, she seemed to be getting more and more like one of the best meals he could ever have. Still, he wasn't able to focus on that now.
'Kill you? Stupid human, I was going to erase your memory!'

'Ah?' she asked, as she stopped yelling. 'You're not going to kill me?' At once she relaxed again. 'Ahahaha… silly me.' She said, scratching the back of her head. 'Guess I've been watching too many movies.'
'You really thought I was going to kill you?' Ren asked, not believing what she had just said. Humans really did think of vampires as monsters after all.
Junko looked away, clearly embarrassed about the situation. 'Ah well, it's just that you were looking so scary last night when I ran away, I thought for sure you would get revenge by ripping me apart.'
'You threw a cup of steaming hot coffee in my face! How was I supposed to react at something like that then? Now, just hold still, and I'll make you forget all about this.'

'I told you, you can't!' she said, shoving a picture in his outstretched hand. Ren paused, taking the picture in order to take a closer look at it. 'This is –' It was an enlarged picture of him, about to sink his fangs in the woman from last night. He crumpled it, showing a smirk to the woman in front of him. 'How stupid of you, handing me the only thing protecting you.'
Junko pulled out a dozen more pictures from her back pocket. Ren snatched them, ripping them to shreds. She picked a picture up from her desk, holding it out to him. It met the same fate as the previous ones. She smiled softly at him. 'There are a lot more, all over this house. If you can find every last copy, I'll let you erase my memory!'

|1 Hour Later|

'This… has to be the last one…' Ren panted, ripping the picture to shreds. That annoying woman was sitting in the sofa, taking notes on which ones he had found. With a smile Junko shook her head. 'Oh, you're not even close, dear vampire – san. But you can still try to erase my memory. Only, if I were to find a picture of you biting someone, I might end up remembering everything again. Wouldn't that be troublesome?' she asked, still smiling.
Ren was completely mortified. 'You have to be a demon. It's not possible for even a human to be this evil.'

Junko directed her gaze towards Ren, suddenly far more serious. 'Then, will you listen to my proposal?'
Ren glared at her, before sitting in one of the padded chairs so he could rest a bit. 'Sure. I don't have a choice, do I?'
'Then, I would you like you to help me complete my dream. I'm sure that you will be able to help me out, since you're a vampire.'
'What do you need help with?' Ren asked, feeling more and more down with the minute.
'I'm writing a book. Vampires live very long lives, don't they? Furthermore, they're more objective about humans than we are ourselves. Therefore, I think you would be the perfect person to help me write that book. You can proofread it, give helpful suggestions…'

'You need a vampire to help you write a book?' Ren asked, not believing his pointy ears. Junko nodded, seemingly happy that he seemed to get the point. 'Yes, that's it. If you help me, I'll never tell a living soul about you. I promise.'
Ren sighed. 'I doubt I'll be of much help to you, but you've got me in a grip with that picture. Fine, I'll help you. But you had better not be taking up all my time!'
Junko smiled. 'I won't. Then, let's be good partners from now on. My name is Junko. Junko Akane. Nice to meet you!'

Ren shivered. 'It's a demon, I'm sure of it.' He thought to himself.