A New Family

Vampires and Yoichi

I was sitting on the couch examining my new ulaks when there was a knock on the front door. I sighed and sat up. "I'm coming!" I opened the door to find someone from the army that I didn't know.

"Sachiko Hyakuya?" he asked urgently. "Of the Moon Demon Company?"

"That's me," I answered. "What's up?"

"It's Yuuichirou. There's a vampire loose in Second Shibuya High School. He's gone after it, and we're getting everyone from the Moon Demon Company before anyone can get hurt. We need you to go help him!" the man exclaimed in one breath. Before I could think to get Shinya, I grabbed my ulaks and sprinted through the door.

"Dammit, Yuu," I whispered as I got nearer to the school. "You're making it harder and harder for me to protect you. Just please, stay safe until I get there."

I got to the school within minutes of leaving the apartment and began my search for Yuu. I looked absolutely everywhere, it seemed, but then the answer hit me - literally. A shard of glass from a broken window above me scratched my cheek as it fell. I peered up and saw Yuu falling through the air with the vampire squeezing his neck. "Yuu!!" I screamed. The pair hit the ground roughly; I involuntarily winced at the thought of possible broken bones. As luck would have it, the vampire fell directly onto Yuu's sword. I knew his sword wasn't cursed, so I quickly ran up and sliced the vampires neck with my left blade, making her disappear into a cloud of dust.

"Sachi? What are you doing here?" Yuu asked curiously. "And why did you kill that vampire? I totally had her!"

I grabbed Yuu's hand and pulled him to his feet. "Someone showed up at my door earlier and told me that everyone from the Moon Demon Company needed to come here and kill an escaped vampire and save your sorry ass," I explained. "And your sword can't kill vampires. It's not cursed, and my ulaks are."

Yuu gave me an incredulous look. "You're in the Moon Demon Company? You have cursed gear?! Geez, the things you can miss in one day..." he exclaimed. "To be honest, I'm extremely jealous. Great job, Sachi-chan." He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me slightly.

"Aww, would you look at that? Hard-headed Yuu is actually capable of compassion," a voice from beside Yuu joked. I looked around Yuu and saw Guren standing there with the rest of the Moon Demon Company. "Great job, Sachiko. First day on the job and already making progress."

"Thanks, Guren!" I chirped with a closed-eye smile. He reached over and ruffled my hair a bit.

"That's 'Guren-sama' to you." 

I smacked his hand away. "Yeah, yeah..."

"Hyakuya-kun!!" a new voice called happily. Yuu and I turned our heads to find the source of the voice: a brown-haired boy wearing the same uniform that Yuu was in was sprinting towards us at top speed. To avoid risk of injury, I backed away from Yuu and stood by Guren. The boy tackled Yuu to the ground in a hug and went on and on about how happy he was that Yuu was alright. Little did he know, he was practically suffocating my brother. 

"Ouch, you're hurting me, Yoichi!!" Yuu yelled as his face turned slightly blue. "Somebody get him off me! I'm gonna pass out!!"

I laughed slightly at that. I'd help, but he'd be fine. Suddenly Yoichi screamed again.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" I figured it was about time to step in.

I walked over and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Yoichi, is it?" I asked, to which he nodded. "Nice to meet you, Yoichi! I'm Sachiko Hyakuya, Yuu's sister." I held my hand out happily. He shook my hand gently, but pulled away quickly.

"I-I'm so sorry about what I did to your brother!" he apologized with a deep bow. I laughed at his actions; clearly he hadn't known Yuu for a long time.

"Don't worry about it. That idiot will be just fine," I promised. Guren stepped forward and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Perhaps we should get him to a hospital just in case," he informed me. I looked at him and shrugged; I knew for a fact Yuu was to stubborn to be seriously hurt from something like a hug, but to each his own. Guren walked over to Yuu and threw him over his shoulder. "Alright, you're all dismissed." 

In Yuu's hospital room, I sat in a chair by the window and kept watch over Yuu while Yoichi leaned against Yuu's bed.

"Sachiko-san?" he said softly. "If you and Yuu are siblings, how come you two look nothing alike?"

I chuckled at his innocence. Someone like him seemed too pure for a world like ours. "We lived together in the Hyakuya Orphanage along with a few others," I mumbled with a nostalgic grin.

"What happened to the others?"

I gulped. "They were all killed by a vampire noble before Yuu and I escaped the vampire city." I had physically healed from the incident, but the memories still haunted me. I dreamed about our family every single night; poor Shinya had to deal with my crying from nightmares at least once a week.

Yoichi stared at me in shock. "I'm so sorry........" he whispered sadly. 

I shook my head slightly. "At least Yuu and I still have each other, right? And our friends, of course. But you know what? I think you're the only friend he has."

Yoichi blushed a bit. "No, wait!" he protested. "There's Shinoa-san too!"

"Shinoa Hiiragi?" I questioned. 

"Yeah! Purple hair, really short, kind of a bad attitude," he described. 

"Ah, yes. I know her. I live with her adoptive brother, Shinya," I informed. Before Yoichi could answer, we heard a small noise coming from Yuu. It almost sounded like.....whimpering? I got up and walked to my brother's side. Tears were running down his slightly red face and fell onto the sheets beneath his head. "Yuu....." I whispered. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it slightly. I knew exactly what he was dreaming about, as I had dreamed about it more than my fair share of times: our family. He was seeing Mika and Akane and Haru and everyone else, most likely dying. Yuu seemed to struggle a bit in his sleep, so I reached up with my unoccupied hand and pushed some of the hair away from Yuu's forehead. Before I could sit back, Yuu's unoccupied hand shot into the air and his eyes flew open. He glanced over to me and Yoichi.

"Sachi? Yoichi?" he muttered. I nodded and squeezed his hand with a sad smile; he looked so....broken. 

"Hyakuya-kun! You're awake!!" Yoichi yelled. "Shinoa-san, Hyakuya-kun woke up!"

Shinoa entered the room almost immediately. "Hello, Shinoa-san!" I greeted.

"Ah, Sachiko-san, hello," she replied softly. "I see your brother has woken up. About time, too."

I nodded slightly and turned my sights back to my brother, who was staring at me intently. I leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "I know what you were dreaming about. Don't worry, I won't be disappearing anytime soon, and those two won't either, by the looks of things. You've got yourself some good friends, you know that? Take care of them," I said. Yuu nodded silently. I stood up straight again and released Yuu's hand. "Well, I better be off!" I announced. "Shinya will be worried. Yoichi, Shinoa, take good care of my brother, okay? He can be a bit of a stubborn idiot sometimes." 

With that, I left the room and went home thinking about Yuu's teammates, especially Yoichi. There was something about him that was different than everyone else. I thought I could really be good friends with him.