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Jirou Kyouka had heard the stories. Of course she had; they were a huge part of her childhood and they carried over quite well into her line of work as a witch.
She just hadn't expected them to be true.
But the proof is standing right in front of her, with long dark hair and dark eyes, looking her up and down hungrily, and wow, the proof is beautiful.
Kyouka drops her mug.
“Oh my gods,” she blurts out. “Who are you?”
“Um,” the strange woman in her house says, turning her gaze to the floor.
“What are you doing in my home, vampire?”
The stranger doesn’t deny the claim, which cements Kyouka’s theory. No one would let themselves be called a vampire unless they actually were one, she reasons, and when the woman smiles shyly and awkwardly, Kyouka catches a glimpse of long white fangs.
“I’m really sorry about this,” the
vampire
offers. “The sun is coming up, and I need to stay inside, and your house was right there-”
“So you just. Broke in?”
The woman smiles sheepishly. “Yes. I didn’t think anyone was living here. Again, I really am sorry. I wouldn’t do this if I had any other choice.”
Kyouka nods, because this isn’t real. It’s a five a.m. hallucination caused by too much potion experimenting and lack of proper sleep. There’s no way this is real, so she can go back to bed now. Thank the gods. “Okay. Fine. Is there anything you need?”
“No, thank you.” The vampire flashes a grin at her. “You can go back to sleep now. I’ll be gone once the sun sets again.”
“Alright.” Kyouka trudges back up to bed, leaving her favorite mug shattered on the floor with an incredibly pretty vampire who may or may not be a hallucination.
She throws up a simple protection spell with all the energy she has left (read: barely any) and collapses into bed, blacking out as soon as her head hits the pillow.
---
When Kyouka pads downstairs fourteen hours later, the only evidence that it wasn’t a dream is a bundle of flowers and a note that simply says ‘Thank you :)’ in elegant script sitting on her kitchen table. The pieces of what had once been her mug are swept up, and - Kyouka sniffs the air - there’s a pie? An apple pie? Oh my gods, a vampire made her an apple pie.
---
“It was so weird!” Kyouka complains to her best friend, Denki, later that day. “I went down to get some coffee and she was just… there. How did she even get in?”
Denki shrugs. “Weird vampire powers?”
“Probably.” Kyouka sighs, frustrated. “I didn’t even get her name.”
“Oh?” Denki raises an eyebrow at her, smirking. “Sounds like someone’s got a cruuuush~”
Kyouka turns bright red and smacks his arm. “I do not!”
Denki pokes her in the side. “You do.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Do!”
“Don’t!”
“Do!”
As they bicker, Kyouka thinks privately that even if she did, it wouldn’t matter anyway.
After all, it’s not like she’s going to see the vampire ever again.
---
The vampire is in her kitchen.
More specifically, the vampire is hanging upside down from her ceiling beams, staring wide-eyed at Kyouka. “Uh,” she says.
Kyouka coughs. “Um, hi.”
The woman pulls herself up and then does a backflip off the beam, landing fluidly next to Kyouka.
They make awkward eye contact again and Kyouka attempts a smile. “So, what brings you to my, uh, house?”
The vampire shrugs. “I just wanted to thank you again for letting me stay the day.”
“No problem.”
A slightly uncomfortable silence follows, before the woman clears her throat. “I’ll be going, then. Thank you.”
And then she’s gone before Kyouka can say anything else.
---
Kyouka is gathering sage and thyme under the full moon when the vampire shows up again.
“Hello.”
Kyouka startles. “Oh gods. You scared me.”
“Sorry.” The vampire doesn’t seem particularly apologetic, though, instead opting for a cheeky grin. “What are you doing, darling?”
Kyouka’s body takes a screenshot. “What?”
The vampire blinks at her innocently. “Is something wrong?”
“I-,” Kyouka splutters. “Nope! Just fine!” Her voice cracks embarrassingly.
“Okay then.”
Desperately Kyouka tries to remember what they were talking about. “I’m, um, picking herbs. These ones are better gathered under the moon, so. That’s why I’m here.”
The vampire nods, and seems genuinely interested in what Kyouka’s saying. “What kind of herbs are these?”
“I’m only picking two right now, thyme and sage, but I have loads. There’s lavender over there, and lamb’s ear, and rosemary.” Kyouka leads the vampire around her garden, pointing out all the different ones, and the woman asks questions and comments on how lovely they all look and then all too soon the sky is getting lighter and the sun is rising and the vampire gasps.
“Oh dear, I’ve lost track of time, I have to go.” She winks at Kyouka. “I’ll see you around.”
She disappears without a sound, leaving Kyouka flushed with her cheeks hurting from smiling so much.
---
Kyouka bangs her head against the wall. “Denki, I still don’t even know her name!”
Denki cackles.
Traitor.
---
“Are you going to kill me?” Kyouka says it so matter of factly that it even surprises herself.
The vampire looks over from where she’s baking a cake in shock. “No! Why would you say that?”
“Well, you’re a vampire, and I’m human, so…”
“No.” The vampire puts down her measuring cup and walks over to Kyouka. “I don’t care for human blood. I drink from animals only. I have no plans, now or in the future, to eat you. I promise.”
Kyouka meets her eyes, sees the sincerity in them. “Alright. Just wondering.”
“Besides,” the vampire snorts, “I have no doubt that if I even tried to harm you, you would take me out in seconds.”
“But that won’t happen.”
“No.”
The vampire goes back to her cake, and Kyouka goes back to watching her.
---
Kyouka sits on the edge of her porch with her lute and plucks the strings a few times, humming, to warm up.
“Where the north wind meets the sea....”
“That sounds really nice,” the vampire compliments, suddenly appearing in her peripheral vision.
“Holy fuck!” Kyouka prides herself on not jumping this time.
“Apologies.”
Kyouka sighs and turns back to her lute. “Thanks, though. It’s nothing much, I’m just trying to put an old lullaby my mom used to sing to music.”
“Can I hear?”
When Kyouka hesitates, the vampire backtracks quickly. “You don’t have to, of course. I’m sorry for pressuring you.”
“No! No, it’s not that. Just. I’m not that good.”
The vampires reaches forward and lays a reassuring hand on Kyouka’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’re amazing, love.”
Kyouka blushes. She’s been doing a lot of that lately. But the reassurance helps, and she picks up her lute and strums it a couple times.
“Here we go.”
“Where the north wind meets the sea, there’s a river, full of memory…”
When she finishes, Kyouka looks up to meet the vampire’s eyes and finds her staring at her, mouth slightly open and eyes glazed.
“Are you… okay?”
The vampire seems to come back to herself. “Yes, I just zoned out. Sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“Oh.” A pause. “Thank you. You were fantastic.”
Kyouka nods, shy, and looks at her feet, swinging her legs back and forth.
When she looks over again, the vampire is gone.
---
“What’s your name?” Kyouka asks, seven months into knowing the vampire.
The vampire looks up, jarred, from where she’s helping prune the lavender. “Are we doing names now?”
“I don’t know, are we?”
“I wasn’t sure if that was something we do, dear.”
“Yes.” Kyouka sets her jaw, ignoring the rush that the pet name gives her. “It is.”
“Alright.” The vampire stands and stretches and her shirt rides up, allowing Kyouka to catch a glimpse of her stomach before she tears her gaze away.
“Shall I go first?” The vampire asks.
Kyouka nods, and the vampire dips into a curtsy.
“Yaoyorozu Momo, at your service.”
“That’s a pretty name,” Kyouka remarks, and finally, finally she has a name to put to the face (and person) that she’s fallen in love with.
“And now you, darling.”
Kyouka grins. “Nice to meet you, Yaoyorozu Momo. I’m Jirou Kyouka.”
“Hello, Jirou Kyouka.”
Oh, Kyouka is a weak, weak woman.
She blinks, and then all of a sudden Yaoyorozu is standing in front of her. “Yaoyorozu!”
“Momo,” Yaoyorozu corrects, and Kyouka feels lightheaded.
“But that’s your-”
“First name. Yes. May I call you Kyouka?”
“Y-Yeah, of course.” Oh gods. Momo is going to be the death of her.
“Kyouka.” Momo is leaning closer, eyes searching. “May I kiss you?”
“Kiss-?” Her brain is short circuiting. “Yes.”
And then Momo closes the gap between them and they’re kissing.
---
(“Finally!” Denki exclaims when she walks into his house with swollen lips and a bright smile. “It only took you and Yaomomo, like, forever!”
“Yeah, it’s-” Kyouka pauses. Her eyes narrow. Denki freezes. “I never told you her name.”
“Uh, yeah, about that.” Denki gulps. “Babe, you can come out now.”
“Babe?” Kyouka raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Denki gestures to someone behind her.
Kyouka turns. It’s another vampire; this one has messy purple hair and eyebags. “You’re his boyfriend?”
Eyebags nods. “Yep.”
“And you know Momo how?”
“I’m her brother.”
“Great! Thanks! Remind me to give you the shovel talk later!” Kyouka whirls on Denki. “So, Denki. Anything you’d like to say?”
“I’m sorry?” At the look in her eyes, Denki jumps up and runs, Kyouka hot on his heels.
“You watched me pine for months! Months! A true friend wouldn’t do that! I’m revoking your status as the platonic love of my life!”
Denki gasps. “You wouldn’t!”
“I would!”
“What’s going on?”
Kyouka recognizes her lover’s voice immediately. “Nothing much. Denki here was just telling me that he’s dating your brother.”
Momo’s eyes widen and she looks at Denki. “Oh, you must be Kaminari! Hitoshi talks about you all the time! It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Kyouka walks over to stand beside Hitoshi as the other two chat. “It’s like dating sunshine incarnate, isn’t it?”
“Definitely.”
As they watch their partners talk animatedly, Kyouka smiles.
Maybe this wasn’t the life she would’ve chosen for herself, but now that she had it, she wouldn’t give it up for the world.