Chapter Text
Kuro looked up at the rod iron gates of the mansion, a sickly feeling settling in his stomach. The building beyond loomed dark against the cloudy sky and sent a chill down his spine.
“You sure this is the right place, kid?” The taxi driver asked, giving the building a skeptical eyebrow raise.
“Unfortunately,” He sighed, turning back to him and holding out his phone to pay.
The man held out the wireless pay square and shook his head, “If you need a getaway driver, just call us and ask for Yuuka.”
That got a startled laugh out of Kuro, who nodded and smiled, “Thank you, sir, I’ll keep that in mind.”
He stepped back onto the curb with his bags and waved before the taxi took off back onto the main road. With a deep breath, Kuro pulled on the suitcase's handle and began his trek up the long driveway after fighting the gate open. Lightning flashed overhead and thunder cracked sending electricity into the air. The young man took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of Ozone and oncoming petrichor.
The doors to the mansion looked large as he made it onto the stoop and the sky began to open up. He paid the cold water no mind as he reached over and rang the doorbell. He cocked his head to the side, it looked newly installed.
‘Strange...’
The chime lasted a few seconds before fading. Kuro waited and when no one answered after a few minutes, he reached out to ring it again. That’s when he heard it; someone screamed inside.
Most people would have turned tail and ran, called the cops while they were at it, but Kuro, for all cliche-sounding purposes, wasn’t most people. He grabbed the doorknob and pushed in. When it didn’t budge, he put a hand to the lock and breathed out. The mechanism inside the door clicked audible and Kuro pushed again. It gave way and let him in.
He dropped his backpack in the doorway with his bag and walked in a few steps, listening intently for another scream. Footsteps echoed from the stairs and he turned as a shadow crossed into his vision. To his surprise, someone was running his way and that person stopped dead in her tracks.
Tears streaked down her face, eyes wide and pupils pinpricks. Kuro recognized the face staring at him. She hadn’t changed since they were seventeen.
“Kuro?”
“Yui?”
Her expression changed from confused terror to elation as she ran at him and wrapped her arms around his back. She was so small, it startled Kuro to realize they’d been the same height when she’d been sent away.
When he’s been told by the sisters of the church she’s died in an accident.
Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her and felt a lump form in his throat as he let it sink in. The girl he’d been friends with and thought of as a sister was alive and in his arms. She was sobbing against his chest, happy tears and confused babbles. He listened quietly and let a smile fall into place.
“How are-? Why are-?” She was trying to form a coherent question and Kuro slowly pulled away to study her face, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m going to be living here for Uni,” He said, hands on her shoulders, “How are you here, Yui? I was told...”
He was cut off by chuckling coming from the stairs. The blonde woman’s shoulders went stiff at the sound and Kuro felt a cold pit in his stomach. It was a slap in the face that reminded him that he'd heard a woman scream not long ago. That had to have been Yui. It wasn't hard to find the culprit either. The man on the stairs was shorter than Kuro with purple hair and a chilling smile. Stranger, he clutched a teddy bear and had only eyes for Yui.
“Yui~ We never finished our game of tag.”
“Who are you?” Kuro asked, stepping forward so he could block Yui from the creepy man’s sight.
Teddy bear guy finally took notice of the darker-haired man and frowned, “You’re not the one I’m playing with.”
It was easy to fall back into his protective nature and he glared, “Tough shit, I ask who you are.”
“Kuro...” Yui’s hand grasped his jacket and pulled softly, he looked down at her confused, she shook her head, “Kuro this is Kanato Sakamaki, Kanato this is Kuro Ikeda.”
Kanato hummed, looking disgusted, “I don’t care who he is, he’s ruining my fun.”
Tingling spread through Kuro’s fingers, the urge to punch the shorter man was getting hard to ignore. Kanato took a step forward, and Kuro tensed for a fight. A sigh came from the hall beside the stairs.
“Please keep your noise to yourselves,” A raspy voice said as he emerged from the darkness, “Honestly, the amount of disturbances you all cause me is remarkable.”
The man who’d come in was taller than Kuro with black hair. His sharp gaze was fixed on Yui then on Kanato from behind glasses before settling on Kuro. He was already glaring but something in that glare became deadly as he made eye contact with the newcomer.
“What is the meaning of this?” He sneered, stalking toward the pair by the door, “Who let that creature in?”
Yui came forward and tried to reason with the taller man, “Reiji, this is my friend Kuro-”
“You let that thing in?” He asked a dead serious that made the hair on the back of Kuro’s neck stand on end.
‘There’s no fucking way....’ Kuro stepped into Reiji’s line of sight and glared, “I let myself in. I heard her scream and thought someone was being murdered.”
Reiji squared up to Kuro, looking down at him, “And why are you here to begin with?”
If looks could kill, Kuro and Reiji would be dead, but the smile Kuro gave the taller man was the final nail in the coffin, “I was invited to stay here for the next two semesters at the university. If I’d known there would be leeches, I would have turned the offer down.”
He saw Yui stiffen at his words, meaning she knew what he meant by the nickname. She knew what these men were, but she didn’t know what her childhood friend was. Guilt gave Kuro a pit in his stomach, but now wasn’t the time to amend what he’d kept from her. He was too focused on Reiji and the stiffness of his posture.
“I wasn’t informed something like you would be staying with us.” His voice was clipped.
“Wasn’t supposed to be me,” Kuro admitted, putting his hands in his pockets and sighing, “Unfortunately for you, the girl that was supposed to come here had a family emergency. She’s not sure she’ll be attending Uni at all. I didn’t have an apartment yet, so she offered her student living arrangements to me.”
“Unacceptable.”
“Tough lucky, mosquito.”
Reiji looked ready to rip his throat out but was interrupted by another voice.
“My, my~ Someone else the church sent us?”
Against the stairs banister lounged another man, red hair and green eyes hidden partially by the shadow of a fedora.
Kuro’s nose wrinkled as he studied the man, “How many vampires are there in this place?”
“Seven...” Yui murmured, looking down at her hands.
“By the gods...” Kuro took a deep breath and sighed heavily, “Great.”
_________
Kuro was led to the family room by Yui after Reiji had stalked off, presumably to get some answers. Kanato and the redhead watched the pair closely as the two moved farther into the house. Kuro’s suitcase and backpack were situated by his leg as they sat down. He didn’t trust vampires around his luggage considering the contents. Yui sat with him on the couch, her face a conflicted mix of happy and apprehensive. He reached out and offered his hand, something they’d done a lot as children.
She studied his hand, slightly tanned and nails painted a chipped black. Slowly she took it and when nothing strange happened she let them drop onto the cushions.
“I’m so happy to see you, but...” She trailed off, still studying their hands.
“But you have more than a million questions now?” He finished.
She smiled sadly, “Yes.”
“Fire away, sis, I’ll answer as many as I can.”
Yui smiled at that and nodded, “How... how did you know they were vampires? I didn’t even know when I arrive.”
Kuro sighed, scratching the back of his head, “That’s... a complicated answer.”
Her eyes raised to his face, “Does it have to do with the names Reiji was calling you? Are you someone dangerous to them?”
The ravenette studied his blond friend for a long minute. It had been five years since she’d been pronounced dead. In those five years, she’d been living with seven vampires. In those five years, Kuro could see in her eyes, that she cared for them. Despite the fear, she’s shown earlier toward Kanato. Despite the fear when Reiji had stalked toward Kuro after realizing what he was. Kuro didn’t want to hurt her and lying would be a sure way to do that, so he told her the truth.
“I am, but they’re just as dangerous to me.”
“What does that make you?”
“I’m a witch.” He smiled sadly as realization crossed her face.
“So that’s why...” It was her turn to smile sadly, “Father always told me to avoid you, I’m guessing that’s the reason?”
Instead of giving her a verbal response, Kuro squeezed her hand. In his teenage mind, he’s always feared he was the reason she’d been set away. And it’d been his fault that she’d been in a deadly accident. Sitting on a couch with her now was surreal. Like sitting with a ghost.
“Can I ask you something, Yui?” He asked, catching her attention.
“What is it?”
He swallowed, the lump from earlier trying to lodge in his throat again, “W-why didn’t you ever reach out to us? Me, the father, the sisters? What happened?”
Her cheeks turned a vibrant pink, “My... my phone was broken. I lost all my contacts.”
The tenseness to her shoulders was suspicious, and so was the pause in her words. But he ignored the urge to press her for more and nodded. She seemed to relax again when he changed topics. They spent the next few minutes catching up as best as they could without addressing the elephant in the room. Or addressing the fact that they weren’t really alone. Kuro could feel eyes on them, and judging by Yui’s carefully chosen topics, she knew as well.
It wasn’t long before those eyes watching them melded from the shadows and made their presence known. There was a scoff from beside the pillars on the right side of the room. Kuro’s attention snapped to the man standing there and he felt his heart catch. The vampire in question had white hair and vivid red eyes, almost like he'd stepped out of a fairytale. He locked eyes with Kuro and there was a pause.
“So, you’re the reason Reiji’s pissed.” The vampire sneered.
Kuro leaned back casually and smiled, “What can I say, I’m all the rage.”
“Subaru, you’re home early,” Yui said, giving him a warm smile that the man rolled his eyes at.
“I wasn’t planning on coming home early, but Laito was texting all of us to come home. It was annoying.”
She shifted uncomfortably, “That’s... not good.”
The witch watched their exchange with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, “What’s up?”
Yui looked like she was struggling to come up with what to say while Subaru glared at Kuro. He didn’t have to wait long before a yawn came from the farthest corner of the room. A tall blonde man was lying on the couch, unbothered by the three other people in the room.
“What they’re both trying to say is it’s about to get annoyingly loud here soon.” The blonde man sighed, deep voice bored.
“As if anything could wake you up, Shu,” Subaru growled.
One blue eye cracked open and looked over at the white-haired vampire. He didn’t refute the other man, just gave him an unmoving bored stare. His eye then trained on Kuro and he smirked.
“You’re in a lot of trouble, little monster.”
The back of Kuro’s neck prickled with heat at the nickname, a flush working its way toward his ears. He looked away and focused back on his female companion. Yui looked shocked at Shu’s words. Kuro was about to look at Subaru to see what his expression was when a loud voice came from the entrance hall.
Yui jumped in her seat and Subaru leaned back against one of the pillars.
“Sounds like Ayato’s back.” Shu hummed; eyes closed again.
Not sure what to expect, Kuro watched the door as another redhead with green eyes stormed in. They made eye contact and Kuro was instantly sure they weren’t going to like each other.
“So Laito wasn’t lying. We do have a hag in our home.”
Kuro stood up, “Well aren’t you a ray of fucking sunshine.”
Yui got up as well and put herself between Ayato and Kuro. She reached out to the vampire and put her hands on his chest to keep him from getting in the witch’s face.
“Ayato, please, he’s my friend from back home!” She pleaded, looking up at him.
The man looked down at her and scoffed, grabbing her wrist and giving her a hard yank toward the arm of the couch. She tripped and fell onto the cushions with a cry. Kuro’s temper flared and he struck out, punching Ayato in the jaw. The vampire stumbled sideways, holding his face.
“Don’t fucking touch her.” The darker-haired man growled; hands still curled to punch him again, sparks of purple danced across his knuckles.
Ayato righted himself and smiled, a crazed glint in his eyes, “You’re asking for it.”
“I should be saying that to you, asshole.”
Reiji came into the room at that moment, flanked by Kanato and - who Kuro assumed to be - Laito. The fedora-wearing redhead seemed to have a permanent smirk on his face. Upon seeing the scene before him, he laughed.
“I was expecting a spectacle, but this is really something~” Laito chuckled, grinning at Ayato, “I must say, brother, you got a rise out of him.”
Yui had picked herself up, unharmed from her fall onto the couch, and grabbed Kuro’s arm. Her childhood friend’s fists were raised in a mock boxing stance and Ayato looked ready to attack again.
“Kuro, stop, I’m ok!”
“Enough!” Reiji snapped, staring Kuro down, “I can’t allow a beast in this house if it cannot contain itself.”
“Leave it to vampires to push around a young woman who was taught not to fight back.” Kuro brought his hands down, allowing Yui to pull them down, “She’s small, so it’s fine to push her around, right?”
“She’s been here longer than you,” Reiji said, “She understands her place in this house.”
Kuro growled, living up to being called a beast, but Yui’s hands on his wrists were the only thing keeping him from striking Reiji as well. He didn’t want to hit her in the process. There was movement on the other side of the room as Shu got up from the couch. He still looked bored as he crossed the room to leave. Before he did, he looked over at his brothers.
“Having a little monster around shouldn’t be a problem.” He said, then made eye contact with Kuro, he held it for a second before smirking and exiting.
Heat prickled along Kuro’s neck again, feeling dismissed.
Reiji gave a frustrated sigh, “Just because he’s the eldest he feels like he's entitled to the final say.”
“Looks like we’ll be getting acquainted with our new boy toy from here out.” Laito hummed, giving Kuro a slow once-over.
“He owes me a game of tag.” Kanato said, sulking.
The remaining six vampires in the room were all staring at the witch. Kuro met each of them with a glare. Ayato’s face promised a rematch at some point soon, where there should have been a bruise was only a little red. Kanato’s face didn’t promise a game of tag, there was a predatory glint like he was ready for The Hunt. Laito looked at him like a piece of meat and Kuro had to suppress a shiver of disgust. Reiji was angry, but a cold angry that sent ice down Kuro’s spine and into his toes.
When he reached Subaru’s face, he couldn’t see anything like the other five. His red eyes were narrowed, watching. Something from earlier still lingered in his gaze and Kuro could feel it. There had been a strange moment between them.
A tug on his arm broke Kuro out of his stare down with Subaru, Yui was looking up at Reiji, “I’ll take Kuro to his room if that’s ok?”
Reiji waved her off, “Take it.”
Yui reached over, picking up Kuro’s backpack with a small struggle (it was heavy). She smiled at him when she got it over her shoulder and tugged his wrist again, to lead him away from the vampires.
“There’s an empty room not far from mine! Let’s go!” She led him out of the family room after he pulled his suitcase.
Six sets of intense eyes watched them go; Kuro made sure to send one last glare back before the door shut behind them. Yui led them through the house with all the obvious expertise of someone who’d been living there for a long time. She pointed out rooms and the such as they headed upstairs.
“I’ll take you to see the garden after you get unpacked! It’s so pretty right now,” She said as they came to a stop, she then pointed down the hall, “My room is that door.”
Kuro smiled, “Now you’ll never get rid of me, expect a lot of drop-ins.”
She smiled, but he noticed her shoulders were tense as she opened the door and motioned for him to go in. He looked around the room and whistled. It was huge with a four-poster bed and a fireplace. He eyed the bookshelf and desk curiously but decided against investigating it for a bit longer. Turning back to his friend, he watched Yui place his backpack on the bed carefully. Her smile was gone, thinking he wasn’t looking at her.
“I’m sorry for white knighting back there, Yui.” Kuro apologized, pulling his suitcase to sit beside the chest at the end of the bed.
Shaking her head, Yui tried to smile again, “Don’t apologize, it’s fine. I just forgot how protective you can be and how impulsive Ayato is. It's... been a while for both.”
“We’re very incompatible,” Kuro huffed, “Still I’m sorry I reacted like I did; I just didn’t like that he yanked you off balance.”
“I’m ok, really.”
“It’s not-” Kuro cut himself off and took a deep breath, “You know these guys better than I do. I don’t know if that behavior is normal or if that’s out of the ordinary, but I don’t like seeing someone I care about get tossed.”
She pinked, “It’s...”
The man sighed, shaking his head, “Let’s talk about it later. There’s been enough excitement for one afternoon.”
He picked up his suitcase and plopped it on the bed, “How about you tell me about them while I unpack, and tell me about how you’ve been now that we’re not being watched.”
That’s how they spent the next few hours while Kuro got situated in the room. She told him what she was comfortable with and Kuro didn’t press for anything upsetting. They’d talk about that stuff eventually, but for now, it felt nice for both of them to fall into old habits. Yui wasn’t a gossip like Kuro, but she did tell him about each of the brothers. Kuro was more than a little horrified to find out there were another seven that weren’t present in the house.
“The Mukami brothers, the Tsukinami brothers, and an estranged little brother to the Sakimaki family,” Kuro gave a long low whistle, “I tip my hat to you, sis, that must have been a handful.”
Yui’s expression was humble, “It hasn’t been bad. They’re all kind to me in their own way. They’ve taken care of me.”
Kuro wanted to believe her, but Yui had always been too sweet for her own good. And being placed in a house of seven vampires, then having seven more join the fray, she’d always try to see the good in all of them.
“You know... Subaru gave me the option to run away once...” She said quietly, “I almost took it.”
The witch studied her curiously, “Why didn’t you?”
“They... they needed me.”
Kuro hummed, not agreeing or disagreeing; it was noncommittal. An acknowledgment that it had been her choice. He wasn’t about to fault her for that.
“Subaru seems like an interesting one.” Kuro said after a second, “He was the only other one that wasn’t glaring. Curious guy.”
A fond smile came to the blonde’s face, “He’s kind. A little rough around the edges, but very sweet.”
"I gotta thank him for giving you the option to leave at some point."
She shook her head, "That's probably a bad idea, he could have gotten into a lot of trouble with his brothers if they ever find out."
The man nodded, closing his closet door, "And with that, I am done moving in." Kuro smiled then eyed the door, "Actually..."
He reached into his backpack and pulled out a long piece of white crystal. He stood in front of the door and tapped it with the crystal a few times, muttering between taps. When he was done, he placed the crystal on the doorframe.
"Now I'm done."
Yui got up from the bed, looking at the crystal confused, "What's that?"
"That is selenite and that is my way of warding vampires from entering my room." He looked down at her, "I have a second piece if you want me to do the same. I need to get more tourmaline later."
"I'm ok, thank you." Her smile was a little tight, but Kuro didn't hold it against her.
"So," He grinned down at her, "What about that garden?"