Heka: Okay this was written somewhere in the middle of my O Levels. Yes I write. I write when I can't go online, am feeling bored or otherwise. Else I wouldn't be here, posting it for all! Also I didn't feel like doing The Perfect Birthday for now as it was getting nil reviews and thus…

Shigure: Right.

Heka: My exams are over! I'm Going Postal! And people say I look like Shigure…

Dark: What? Eww!

Heka: I'm… Going To Post!

Shigure, Dark: What?

Heka: Stories!

Shigure, Dark: ……………

Shigure: Right. That's it. I'm Going Mad.

Heka: Please review and tell me what you think about it! Oh yeah, this was, scarily, inspired by a dream! And now, my disclaimer: everyone here doesn't belong to me; they belong to the great Bunny-sama who drew them and created them. I guess only the story's mine but then again, we may never know…

Dark: Oh, shut up and get on with the story already.

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

Title: The Keeper

'Riku… please help me…'

The girl endowed with a crop of coppery red hair jerked her head up. She was supposed to be revising for a very important Math test the next day but somehow, she must have fallen asleep. Glancing at her clock, she saw that it was almost eleven in the night. Shaking her head in a bid to clear her mind, she refocused her energy on the dull-looking textbook in front of her. The voice sounded distinctly familiar though…

'Riku!' the whispery voice cried again, this time more urgently. Alarmed, Riku looked around her fair-sized room. There wasn't anyone around but the balcony door was open, with a little wind blowing through it. That was odd, as she always had the doors closed at night. Standing up with a slight frown, Riku moved to close the door only to notice someone with familiar messy purple hair out on her balcony, leaning against her glass doors, looking extremely faint and exhausted.

'Dark!' Riku exclaimed softly, leaning over and helping him to her room. The handsome teenager with violently purple hair looked distinctively worst for the wear, his black shirt and cargo pants, clothes that he had been wearing when he disappeared a few days ago, torn in several areas. Riku's room was dark save for her table lamp but she noticed that he winced even in the dim light and it pained her. 'Are you alright? Everyone's been looking for you! Where did you go?'

Dark gripped her shirt sleeve, murmuring urgently as he lay down on her bed. 'Riku… I didn't make it. The Window of Opportunity… I missed it.' As Riku sat down next to him, she stiffened as she heard his words. The Window of Opportunity. She knew of it alright.

A few days ago, she had coerced her twin sister, Risa Harada, their best friend, Daisuke Niwa and his irritating cousin who decided to tag along, Dark Mousy, into going to the haunted house at the edge of town and the forest. She had heard of all the stories concerning it and after much consideration, Riku decided that she didn't believe in any of them and wanted to prove it. Unfortunately in their bid for truth, all four teenagers had been attacked by something huge and white, and all three of them woke up a few hours later in a clearing near the house with bite marks on their necks. All immediately knew what had happened but Dark Mousy had disappeared.

Frantic, they ran to Daisuke's house, which contained a veritable library on all things occult. There they had learnt feverishly of vampires, their victims and the Window of Opportunity, which lasted for twenty-four hours. Should the victim hold out for twenty-four hours after getting bitten, by not consuming anything which contained blood, the bite would heal and the person would remain human. However, should the victim give in to temptation and consume blood, the bite would heal as well but the victim's fate would be sealed as a vampire.

The three of them had held out for almost a day in Daisuke's room before Risa had nearly given into the hunger. However, they had restrained her and encouraged her, as well as each other. And although the hunger and the temptation had been so great, they broke through the Window of Opportunity, and became human once more.

Their joy was short-lived however, as Dark was still missing. They were uneasy- Dark didn't have any relatives other than the Niwa family. Emiko, Daisuke's mother had nearly driven herself to insanity worrying about her suave nephew. They had continued searching for him, and even today, Riku had returned just an hour ago from a search party that had combed the area around the haunted house again, but to no avail. And now, Dark was lying on her bed, looking ghostly pale and tired.

'Kill the light, Riku. It's hurting my eyes,' Dark whispered, putting his arm over his eyes. Riku switched off the light obediently and returned to Dark's side, to examine him more closely. He was looking a little whiter than usual, his eyes were slightly bloodshot and dilated but overall he looked okay, she decided.

As she continued examining him, a wave of guilt washed over her and she blinked furiously at the sudden tears that appeared at the edge of her eyes. Though she knew that Daisuke and Risa probably didn't really blame her for leading them into the house, it had not stopped Riku from embarking on a massive guilt trip for the past few days, crying for no apparent reason when she was alone in her room.

'It's my entire fault,' she muttered, guilt and anger written all over her face.

'Hey, it's mine too. I gave in at the last hour. I can't believe what made me in give in though,' Dark laughed softly and bitterly, feeling better now that the light had been switched off. 'It was road kill that broke me… road kill!'

He sighed and turned, noticing that Riku was crying quietly, her tears dropping onto her hands on her bed. He tapped her shoulder gently and asked, 'Hey Riku, can you help me with something?'

-/-

'To remain as humane as possible after passing the Window of Opportunity is an immensely difficult task. Most victims give in to temptation after two or three days, the longest ever for a human lasting around a week. However, in rare cases, a victim may be able to find another person to share his or her burden with, thus increasing his or her chances of remaining humane by a large extent. Often, the other person is used as a supply of 'willing' blood for the fledging vampire. This person is then referred to as the vampire's Keeper, as the person 'keeps' the vampire from embracing his or her true nature.'

-/-

'You want me to be your Keeper?' Riku asked incredulously, all tears forgotten. After passing the Window of Opportunity, she had spent ample time at the Niwa's residence, researching on vampires and how to deal with them. She had read about Keepers but they never seemed to last long, indeed most died after a few short months or became vampires themselves.

Dark looked at her, his purple eyes shining with the confidence he had in her, distinct in the moonlight. 'Yes. Please? You've done it before, with Daisuke and Risa…'

Riku wanted to refuse as her fear of death was great. However a strong force within her rebelled: her conscience. She was the one who made him who he was today, and she should be the one to bring him out of it, or at least prevent him from sinking any deeper into it.

She nodded silently in agreement. Dark broke into a true smile and embraced her.

'Thank you,' he breathed into her left ear, filling his nose with her scent. Riku shivered slightly; she had never been embraced like this by someone of the opposite gender. Daisuke didn't count, they were best friends. All she could smell was him, all she could hear and see was him too… and all she could feel was his arms around her in this tight hug and her heart best much faster than before. What was this feeling in her…? So warm, yet unfamiliar… and something in her said in a smug voice, 'I could get used to this…' and Dark broke the embrace, albeit a little reluctantly.

'Are you cold? I'm sorry I left the door open…' Dark smiled apologetically. 'But that was the only way I could contact you-' he stopped as he saw Riku stand up mechanically and start rummaging through her drawers, finally locating a penknife. She pushed the blade out and tested its sharpness, before heading wordlessly to the bathroom.

'Riku…?' Dark asked, a little alarmed by her silent behaviour. 'What- what are you doing?' he craned to look as he heard the sound of tinkling water in the bathroom, before Riku emerged again with the knife, now clean.

'I'm your Keeper right?' Riku said softly as she sat by the side of the bed, with a very strange expression on her face. 'I know the role of Keepers,' she continued, and she stroked his cheek gently, whispering, 'You must be really hungry, huh?'

Dark was stunned. He was starving for blood, something he wanted to deny himself for the rest of his life if possible but here was Riku, offering herself to him… and him only. If only she knew what this mean to him…

Dark swallowed wordlessly, not only in anticipation, as Riku began to debate on where to cut herself.

'Not the arms… I'll have a hell of a time hiding these from Risa, she'd start thinking I tried to kill myself or something…'

'What about your shoulder?' Dark suggested with a faint smile, a mere shadow of his infamous smirk. 'You're always wearing T-shirts so it'd be well hidden.'

Riku glared at him and then pursed her lips. It was a good idea, after all, even if it was from the Great Hentai himself. 'Fine...' she sighed and she pulled the collar of her oversized shirt to reveal her collarbone and bra strap. Dark held her shirt and he looked almost as unsure as she felt.

'Wait. Will you become a vampire like that? I mean, I am drinking your blood and all…'

Riku shook her head as she positioned the blade to make the deepest cut in the shortest amount of time. 'No because… this blood was willingly given and the cut wasn't made by a vampire's teeth. Besides… the blood's already left my body… somewhat.'

Dark nodded, satisfied that she would not become like him because of her kindness. Now he watched in fascination as Riku lifted the blade and paused- closing her eyes tightly, and bringing down the blade hard on her skin and flesh. There was a soft hiss of shock from Riku and there it was… red and shiny… at her shoulder. It was… beautiful…

Riku noticed his blank look and frowned. Pulling the blade out with a wince, she snapped, 'Hurry up, you idiot! Before it clots!'

A large blob of blood was forming on her shoulder, and Dark's hunger was calling out to him. Shaking his head slightly, he lowered his head, placed his lips at her shoulder and took his first gulp of human blood.

The moment the blood touched his tongue and entered his throat; Dark felt like it was the first sip at the Fountain of Life. He had tasted animal blood before… but this- this was far more superior to any animal's blood! It was sweeter than anything he had ever tasted, it revived him, it filled him, it was… in short, something straight from heaven… and it was in his mouth and he couldn't stop himself from wanting much, much more of this.

Riku had sunken into a sort of stupor the moment his lips touched her shoulder. She had flinched when his mouth touched her bare skin but had relaxed slightly when she convinced herself that it was alright. However, she couldn't block out the strange emotions she was feeling. From all she knew, he was only drinking her blood but there was something else to it. Something else much more… arousing. The feeling of Dark feeding off her shoulder was hair-raising (I mean, come on, your best friends' cousin's a vampire?) but strangely, not unpleasant. It felt almost good, like someone giving her a particularly good massage. Almost automatically, she closed her eyes to soak in the strange, good feelings, only to open them again in surprise when Dark's hands moved to envelope her in another tight embrace, this time more urgently as he continued to leech her blood. Riku's heart, for some weird reason was working on overdrive, beating much faster than ever before as Dark continued his feeding. His lips were brushing her shoulder, his tongue was this rough feeling on her skin and it seemed so wrong… yet strangely, so right… and it wasn't hard to imagine where they would have gone if this wasn't actually a feeding session-

Riku winced slightly, jerking out of her very inappropriate thoughts. Something was scraping against her skin- and it hurt. Looking down, she was startled to see that Dark's canines had lengthened. She wanted to push him away- her hands were actually closed on his arms when she stopped herself hurriedly. She was his Keeper, she reminded herself over and over again, and it was her responsibility that he got fed, and he was depending on her for blood now-

Thus she forced herself to lie acquiesce in his arms, and waited- until the tell-tale signs of nodding off warned her that perhaps, Dark was feeding too fervently.

Shifting slightly, she nudged him, a sign that he should stop- and a sign that he ignored completely, except for an obliging 'mm' and then he continued his feeding, his eyes closed in ecstasy. Riku was beginning to feel annoyed- she agreed to be his Keeper and she knew of the consequences of her actions but there was a limit to how much Dark could drain, before she could faint and probably bleed to death on the floor- unless he got to her first.

'Dark!' she snapped. 'I'm going to faint!'

She felt him take one last long gulp before he pulled away with an almighty effort. She noticed that the edges of his mouth was still dripping with a little of her blood. She watched him lick the drops off with relish, before he leaned down and cleaned her wound with a few complementary licks, accompanied by his trademark smirk.

Furious, Riku took a bandage she had prepared beforehand and covered her wound before temptation rose again. Dark was now apologetic, and explained why hastily, as though he was slightly afraid of her, and also high on coffee.

'I'm sorry Riku- I forgot… but you tasted so good, and wonderful and glorious and it was so fantastic that I couldn't stop myself and I was so hungry that-' he prattled on, a satisfied grin very obviously on his face.

'Full now?' Riku grumbled, checking her bandage to see if the blood had clotted successfully. Losing so much blood in such a short time wasn't doing wonders was her temper, and the recipient apparently gained back his ego and he didn't look very grateful at all either. Damn it, she thought.

For a reply, Dark gave a tiny burp and grinned childishly. 'Sorry Riku,' he murmured and then said a little louder, 'Thanks.'

Mollified, Riku didn't answer until she had taken the First Aid kit from the wall and was opening it on the bed, still holding the wad of bandage to her wound. 'Whatever for?'

Dark subjected her to an intense stare as he watched her remove cotton wool, a pair of tweezers and some antiseptic. 'For what? Riku, you've given me the first full meal I had in days, you accepted me as a vampire and you agreed to by my Keeper, and you're still asking whatever for?'

Riku couldn't bring herself to look at him. 'You don't blame me for turning you into what you are today?'

Dark laughed. Riku found herself longing for it and then she wondered why. 'Nonsense! Why would I? it wastes energy and I'll never be able to bring myself to be angry at you- ' here, Riku flushed, something that Dark could see perfectly in the darkness, 'because you're just too nice and cute to be angry at- ' here, she flushed deeper, much to his amusement, 'and besides, aren't you repaying me already, by being my esteemed Keeper?'

Riku stared at him, forgetting her tweezers completely. Dark shrugged and grinned. Unable to find an answer to his statement- normally she would have slapped him hard and called him a pervert but today, she just didn't feel like it- tired after the feeding session, she told herself hastily, not feeling weirdly happy and all- nope not at all; and she turned away to attend her wound again. 'You seem much better now…'

'Yeah, I've just fed remember? Blood's my food now, yours especially, being the first human I ever tasted.' Here, Riku glared at him when he gave her a roguish wink. 'I mean, come on, I know how to appreciate fine stuff you know,' he smiled but Riku could detect the sad tone behind his cheerfulness.

'I'll find a way to turn you back to human, Dark.' She reached out to touch his knee reassuringly, her wound, once again, forgotten.

'No you can't,' Dark replied cheerfully. 'It's irreversible already; after passing the Window of Opportunity. I'm stuck like this forever.' There was a carrying note of finality in that statement. Riku winced. And it was all her fault…

'I'm sorry.' She squeezed his knee. She couldn't see his expression but she guessed it was a bitter sort of smile. He could see hers clearly however, and her eyes were bright with unshed tears. Tenderly, he covered her hand with his.

'Don't be,' he said softly, stroking her hand. 'You've already made it up to me, by being my Keeper. It's an important responsibility, you know.' He smiled. 'So you've got to be the best Keeper there is, okay?'

'Yes,' Riku nodded, her head still downcast and her tears threatening to spill.

'Hey, from the way you're acting, it's like you became the vampire instead of me…' he teased. Riku forced a laugh and her tears finally dropped from her eyes. Wiping them away quickly, she didn't notice Dark moving closer and putting an arm around her until his arm rested on her shoulder, careful not to touch her wound. She jerked away slightly, feeling uncomfortable being this close to him; however Dark's grip was firm. 'Besides, ' he added, 'I think this suits me better, with my name and all… and I like the night better too…'

'Really,' Riku sniffed, turning away as she finally remembered to apply antiseptic on her wound. Tsking softly, Dark grinned and took the cotton wool gently from her hands. 'Hey…'

'I maybe a vampire but there's many things I still can do you know… and besides, I see better in the dark than you do,' he chided with another smile, as he pushed her hair away to examine the wound. 'Wow, it looks deep…'

'All for you, Dark Mousy, so you better appreciate it,' Riku replied, hissing slightly as the stinging solution touched her tender wound. 'Ow!'

'I know,' Dark replied, his tone far more serious than ever before, as he cleaned her cut. 'I appreciate it Riku, I appreciate it much more than you'll ever know.'

The rest of the little First-Aid session passed in stifling silence, as Riku didn't know how to answer to his statement: it was too embarrassing.

After putting a plaster on her wound and blowing a small kiss that outraged Riku- 'It'd heal better that way!' he had said with a most adorable look on his face when she smacked him; Dark stood up from the bed, rubbing his head ruefully, now more energetic after his feeding session, and peeked at Riku's not-too-neat table.

'Math test tomorrow?' he inferred, picking up her textbook up and scrutinizing it. Riku sighed and lay down on her bed, exhausted by the blood transfusion.

'Yeah… but it looks like I can't study now, with you hating light and me not being able to see in the dark…'

'Hmph. We'll see.' Dark tugged her off her bed and pulled her towards the balcony and as soon as they were outside, they were bathed in moonlight. Riku smiled slightly. 'Good thing I'm not a werewolf eh?' Dark grinned. 'Now can you see?'

Riku squinted at the book, unwilling to say that she could see the book, giving him something to rejoice about and besides, she was tired... 'Yeah, almost,' she said but Dark snapped it shut. Riku's face was a mixture of anger and confusion as Dark winked.

'Don't worry, you won't need it. I'll tutor you,' Dark said with a smirk as Riku rolled her eyes mentally. 'I'm seventeen and one year older than you after all. C'mon, let me help you! What don't you understand?' Dark continued, with a very stupid grin on his face.

'You'll help me?' Riku asked suspiciously, leaning by the balcony door and yawning slightly.

'Of course. You mean I can't help my own Keeper?' Dark pouted, leaning on the balcony railing. Riku laughed. What goes around, comes around then…

'Well… thanks,' she replied. Dark smiled and beckoned for her to come closer to him, and put his arm around her again, enjoying the feel of her warm body close to his and her completely adorable squeak of alarm at his forwardness.

'No problem. Stop fidgeting, Riku, your teacher doesn't like mischief makers. Now about that topic…'

-/-

The white figure standing at the edge of the forest overlooking the town chuckled as he watched the two teenagers together at the balcony.

'So he got a Keeper. Pathetic attempt, but admirable at the same time. But he'll fail. They always do.'

-/-

Heka: I was supposed to end here but another night of staying up after sleeping about three long hours in the afternoon proved me wrong…

-/-

'And so, when you have quadratic equations…' Dark was reciting to the starry night sky above Riku's balcony, feeling so much better for the first time after a few days of starvation. 'You get…'

He stopped as his sharp ears caught a very soft sigh which emitted from somewhere near his right elbow. Turning to see, he broke into a gentle smile when he saw Riku leaning on his arm, her left arm interlocked with his right, her eyes closed as she dozed. Just as he was going to brush away a stray lock of hair from her cute face, Riku jerked awake in alarm.

'What? I mean, yes… you find the determinant ri-i- ' Riku murmured sleepily before breaking into a yawn. Dark smiled again, something which Riku noticed, and it alarmed her slightly. He was so weird sometimes… 'What?' she asked. He seemed to smile so much around her, so much that his face looked like it was going to crack, she thought, as Dark patted her arm.

'You should rest, my Keeper.'

Riku looked at him as though he had two heads. 'What? No! This is very important!' she retorted, now wide awake.

'But… not everyone had to feed me tonight…' Dark teased, his purple eyes gleaming with mischief. She was just so adorable, he wanted to hug her and never let go. 'Besides, there's no point in continuing, my dear, you'll just fall asleep again,' Dark pointed out, rather logically, in Riku's opinion, which made that the first, she added to herself. However before she could protest violently, Dark was already steering her easily towards her bedroom.

'But- but-' Riku stuttered anxiously as Dark continued to push her towards her bed. 'The Math test! My teacher will kill me!' she moaned. Still, when she laid eyes on her bed, all other thoughts except for the thought of how wonderfully soft and inviting her bed looked, vanished from her mind and mouth.

Dark sat her on the bed, carried her feet up onto the mattress and proceeded to tuck her in. Riku frowned, remembering her test and tried to get up but Dark pushed her down firmly with just two fingers. How'd he get so-?

'Vampire strength, dear. You should visit Daisuke's library more often.' Riku stuck her tongue out at him as Dark sat down next to her on her bed, having tucked her in to his satisfaction.

However, another question arose from Riku's sleepy mind and she asked in all innocence, 'Why me? And I'm not your dear!' she added.

Dark, who had been smoothing her covers, stopped. 'What, why you?' he repeated, not looking at her even though he knew exactly what she meant.

'Why me, as your Keeper? You could have gotten Daisuke or Mrs Niwa- she practically loves you- or Risa!' Riku persisted, placing her hand beneath his chin and turning his face to look at her. His skin was so smooth…

Dark pulled a chair over to the right of the bed and sat on it the wrong way- him facing the back of the chair, his own back facing the moon.

'Well,' he began, staring at her and making her feel uncomfortable again, 'you were the first person I thought of- hey, honest!' he yelped as Riku flung a pillow his way. Catching the fluffy projector missile, he hugged it and continued, 'I mean do you seriously think it'd look nice if I was sucking Daisuke's blood? It looks really wrong to me…'

Riku only looked blank. This guy cared about his image so much even when he was dying of starvation! He was hopeless. However, she winced when a very disturbing mental image appeared in her head.

Dark grinned. 'Glad you see it my way, and anyway, my aunt wouldn't really have minded but I think she'd never live it down that I let myself become a vampire in the first place. Risa, she'll probably reject me straightaway. She doesn't really like vampires, even though they can be devastatingly good looking and as hot as me.' He sighed dramatically, placing his hand on his chest in the traditional actor's flourish.

Riku made a face. He was so egoistic sometimes… she'd be happy to pop that ego bubble of his. She had much experience in that area, and she was about to do so when Dark's next sentence caught her off guard.

'… Besides, I knew you wouldn't leave me in the lurch; you are such a nice person and so sweet, and you'd help me and accept me… and even agree to be my Keeper…' His voice died away when he saw Riku's face change from an angry expression to a guilty one.

'Hey, it isn't so bad you know. I get to meet you every night- ' he grinned suggestively.

'Never said I liked it,' Riku snapped, her anger returning when she caught the hidden meaning of his words. Why that stinking flirt. To think she gave him her blood!

'- and drink your lovely blood, which I am very, very, very grateful for,' he added as he saw Riku get ready another comeback. 'And…' he smiled and shrugged.

'If being a vampire means all of this, then I'd rather be one, Riku.'

Riku didn't move. Did he mean it? Didn't he blame her? She knew she'd kill anyone who changed her into what he was today. He was actually… happy?

'Are you mad?' she whispered voicing her thoughts, her eyes huge with shock.

Dark laughed. He would never, ever get over the fact that she was so cute, how her face was a shifting canvas for all her expressions, and how quickly they appeared and disappeared…

'And I'm not saying this just to cheer you up, though you could use it,' he added, earning him another pillow in the face.

'And, now we've got to be serious. As my Keeper,' here he emphasized the 'my' just to see her turn red and swing another pillow into his face, 'you've got to last as long as possible. We'll be setting up some ground rules, alright?'

-/-

It was nearly two in the morning when Riku finally gave in to the comforting waves of sleep, leaving Dark to observe her in relative peace. She would always notice when he was staring at her, observing her every move and curve, and ask what the matter was. Now… he could watch her in silence, and she would never complain. Her coppery sheen of hair, her smooth soft skin, which could never get tanned even under the sun's fierce glare for her track practices; her beautiful deep brown eyes like liquid chocolate, which were now hidden behind her eye lids which were framed by her long lashes…

And her nose. God knows how many times he had wanted to kiss that adorable nose, just to see her go red.

His eyes trailed to her lips. They were full and luscious, for a sixteen year-old, and looked so soft and inviting; it took all the self control he had not to kiss her fully on her lips before progressing onto a very much overdue match of tongue tag.

They had spent quite a while discussing on how much he could drain and when. After much debate, conducted in whispers after hearing with bated breath, Risa stumbling towards the washroom at night past Riku's bedroom, they had finally agreed that Dark could come every night if he wanted to but could only drain her once a week, resting Riku's underlying fear of dying by bleeding to death.

'For the rest of the week, you're on your own, Rat Boy,' Riku had growled half-heartedly when Dark protested to this. 'I'd grow really weak if you drain me every day…'

'How do I know how much to drain?' he had asked, a little too innocently.

Riku had given him another whack with her pillow and exclaimed, 'You're the vampire! You should know! And you tell me to read Daisuke's books more… geez!'

He smiled slightly as he remembered her angry look. Now he tucked her in gently for the last time, ready to leave before the sun rose. Then again, the sun would only rise in four hours time…

He laughed to himself and settled more comfortably on his chair, watching her sleep.

Under all that emotions, there was this very guilty girl with deep issues. No one blamed her for bringing them to the weird house, everyone recovered anyway, except him. He knew she was still feeling very terrible about the entire incident, and it twisted him inside. He guessed she'd never be able to forgive herself, which was why he asked her to redeem herself, in a way, by being his Keeper.

Fact was that, he was actually grateful to her. Without the bite, he would not have been able to sit here and watch her sleep; without the bite, he would not be able to have so many potential chances to tell her how much she meant to him- every night! It was heaven!Without the bite, he would have gone on secretly liking her while she proclaimed her dislike for him…

Dark chuckled softly. Life was interesting, after all.

He tilted his head back as he remembered how her blood tasted. It was sweet, tantalizing, delicious and wonderful, just like her. And only for him to enjoy. And enjoy it he would, every last drop of it, until she was swooning in his arms, flushed with all the emotions he had injected into her as he fed, where as he would pierce her innocent skin for the first time and turn her into another him…

Dark lifted his head in alarm. Where did that thought come from? Then he felt it- the thing he had been suppressing for so long was now awake, revitalized by Riku's blood. It was getting stronger- the vampire nature in him, and he didn't know how much longer he could last, keeping it under control. Now it was willing to compromise with him, as it saw Riku as a veritable supply of blood and an object of desire, the only thing he and it had in common. He couldn't be noble any more in front of it; it was a part of him, and it knew him as well as he knew it.

And they both wanted Riku.

He shivered. Pretty soon, he feared that it was going to break lose during his feeding sessions and turn Riku into a vampire like him.

'I'm sorry Riku,' he whispered, clasping one of his hands over hers. 'I really am.'

He squeezed her hand gently and watched in surprise as Riku's fingers slowly curled around his, as if in response.

Leaning over to kiss her goodnight and goodbye, for now, he took a long moment to savour her scent. The sweet smell of jasmine engulfed his now-sensitive nose and he took a deep breath, imprinting the smell into his brain, something to remember during the day when he waited for the night to come. She was the picture of peace, now that she was sleep, her soft silky hair falling gently over her face. He remembered the first time he saw her- at the community swimming pool where he had accidentally walked into the wrong changing room and saw her half-naked. Thankfully there wasn't anyone else, or he'd have more than Riku's wrath to deal with, which was bad enough on its own. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her rage, her eyes flashing magnificently and even then her lips looking so… delicious; and even though he was much taller than her, she had stormed up to him (fully clothed then) and all would have gone badly for him if Daisuke had not appeared miraculously to explain the situation. She had then grudgingly kept her temper, based on the fact that he was after all, her best friend's cousin and had settled on biting him with her poisonous words and calling him a pervert every time they met.

Speaking about that, she didn't call him a pervert at all through out this whole night…

Dark considered that an achievement, before his conscience told him it was probably her guilt stopping her from doing so.

Still leaning over, he realised that he wasn't the only one enjoying her scent… and he didn't like it at all.

Her scent… it would always matter to him now, he thought as he took a final deep breath. Remembering himself, he slipped his hand out of hers and placed his lips on her smooth forehead and left quietly through the balcony, leaping off the railing and disappearing into the darkness, vowing never to let the creature in him get to her.

For Riku was very dear to him… and Dark was a very selfish man.

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

Heka: Yay! It's finally finished!

Dark: That's so… perverted of you, that- that-

Heka: Yeeesss?

Dark: That I love it so much!

Riku: When I find a lawyer, you are going to be so dead…

Heka: Eeep! I'll find the Wee Free Men! They hate lawyers!

Shigure, Dark, Riku: The what?

Heka: Sorry, Terry Pratchett moment. And I want you all to review! Yay! It's a One-shot but I think with enough reviews I could continue it into a story! Yay! Of course we all know who's big and white and belongs to D. N. Angel don't we?

Krad: No. I don't.

Heka: Never mind. Now I'll just sit here and hope you review. I love one-shots, they're so angsty and all, and well-written ones make me cry…