Inspired by the Shiny Festa Kyun! Vampire Girl MV featuring Iori and Yayoi.

Early Halloween fic for you guys! Since I don't wanna wait 'till Wednesday to post this. Seriously, though, aren't Yayoi and Iori the cutest?

"Uu... why did I listen to them in the first place?"

Yayoi entered the mansion grounds warily, back hunched over and eyes glancing around like a cornered mouse. It was bad enough that it was nighttime, but tonight was also Halloween of all nights. And Ami and Mami just had to dare her to go into the scary mansion surrounded by dead trees and worn out stone walls. The full moon and dark shapes lurking about didn't help, either.

"I should just leave," she whimpered. But she'd promised she would at least knock the front door, and if Yayoi prided herself in anything it was her moral code. And that meant no breaking promises, especially to her friends.

A bat flew by just then, and she let out a squeak. Its wing had brushed by her face, causing her to stumble backwards, twist awkwardly, and spin around so that she'd completed a perfect circle. And that was when she noticed the girl sitting casually on a coffin.

It was right outside the actual mansion, blocking the broken front porch and crumbled steps. The girl herself wore a red-and-white dress with dark spider web stockings. Shadowy bat-like shapes decorated the bottom edge of the dress, and on her chest was a purple jewel encrusted in a black bow. Her eyes gleamed mischievously, and she smirked - revealing two very sharp fangs as she did so - and tossed back her long brown hair before hopping off the coffin.

Yayoi almost fainted.

The girl held up her hands in a predatory fashion and lunged forward with a growl. Yayoi let out a soft cry and backed away.

"P-please don't eat me. I'm small. And poor. I wouldn't taste good. And I'm poor." Yayoi put her hands up in front of her face. Somewhere in the back of her head she wondered whether that would even help against this vampire.

Lucky for her, her words alone seemed to confuse the girl. "Eat you?" She stopped in her tracks and straightened up, an almost disgusted look now evident on her face. "Why in the world would I want to eat you?"

"... I dunno. Don't vampires eat people?"

"We drink blood!" the girl said, obviously insulted. "That is very different from eating people."

"Oh..." Yayoi paused to consider this. Then she said, "Please don't drink my blood."

The girl sniffed, tossing back her hair once more with one hand and then folding her arms against her chest. She seemed to like being in control of the situation, at least. "And why shouldn't I?" she asked.

"Because... I'm small. And poor. My blood wouldn't taste good. And I'm poor."

"I don't think being poor has anything to do with this situation..."

The girl smiled, suddenly looking a lot friendlier. Yayoi hesitated, wondering if this was just a vampire trick. Maybe once she let her guard down the girl would swoop at her and kill her or something... Yayoi decided to relax her position but still kept a safe distance away and made sure to keep an eye on the front gate.

"I'm Iori," the girl said. "Everyone's favorite princess~ Nice to meet you." She winked.

Yayoi shivered unconsciously and Iori immediately scowled. "What's that look for?" the vampire girl demanded.

Had she been making a look? Yayoi couldn't tell, but she quickly forced a smile and waved her hands dismissively. "No way, it's nothing! Ehehe... I've... never met a real vampire before. My name is Takatsuki Yayoi. Nice to meet you."

Iori was back to calm and smiling by the time Yayoi had finished her greeting, and the orange-haired girl couldn't help but wonder if all vampires were this prone to mood swings.

"So? What brings you here at this time of day?" Iori asked, once more initiating friendly conversation. She gestured extravagantly to the stone statues and gnarled trees surrounding them, a perfectly cheerful look on her face as though she'd just pointed out rainbows and kittens.

"Um... my friends kind of dared me to come here."

"Oh?" Iori looked amused. "No wonder you look so scared. And here I thought you were just showing your unworthiness before the vampire princess."

Yayoi blinked. "Really? You're the vampire princess?"

"Nihihi! But of course! Who else but me would be fit for the future title of vampire queen?"

"Wow! Iori-chan, that's really cool! You're going to be the queen of vampires?" Yayoi said in awe.

Iori grinned triumphantly. "That's what I just said, isn't it?" She leaned forward, seeming to examine Yayoi more closely now. "Hm~ maybe if you're nice to me and visit again soon I'll reward you with the most privileged job of being the vampire queen's mortal assistant."

"You can do that?"

"Hmph! Shows what you know. The vampire queen can do anything!" Iori said proudly.

"That sounds kind of incredible."

Iori laughed again, and Yayoi grinned. She was suddenly aware that she'd completely let her guard down at this point and was completely open to any attack that might occur. But by now she was already pretty sure Iori wouldn't try to hurt her. Yayoi had always heard a lot of scary stories about vampires, but meeting one face-to-face now wasn't that bad.

"You're not half bad, you know," Iori said, clearly having been thinking along the same lines about the human before her. "Usually people run away as soon as I show up, but I've never met someone who would directly talk to me. Much less request that I don't eat her."

Yayoi tilted her head curiously. "Iori-chan, do you not have any friends here?" Her eyes suddenly widened. "Are you all alone? Are you lonely here, Iori-chan?"

"What?" Iori looked surprised at the change of subject. "Vampires don't get lonely."

"But if you never have anyone to talk to you, you must be lonely! That's terrible! Especially if people who come here always run away from you."

Interestingly, Iori only rolled her eyes and tapped her temple, looking half entertained and half impatient at Yayoi. "Come on, think a little, would you?" she said. "I'm the vampire princess, soon to be the vampire queen."

She paused. Yayoi waited.

"Soon to be."

Yayoi was still staring blankly.

"... That has to mean that there's a vampire queen right now, doesn't it?"

Yayoi was silent for a few moments longer, and then her eyes lit up with realization. Iori coughed, her smirk suggesting that she was holding back a laugh.

"It's not as though I'm lonely here," she continued. "It's just refreshing to have someone new to talk to. That's why I'm saying you have to visit, you know?" She looked at Yayoi expectantly. "Besides, I think you'll get pretty popular if you start saying you're tight with the vampire queen."

"Soon to be," Yayoi added.

"Don't correct me on something I just corrected you on."

Yayoi smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," she said. "I'd love to visit you again, Iori-chan. You're so nice! Plus, your house is super big. Do you think next time you could give me a tour? If that's alright with you."

"Well," Iori said in a dramatic voice, "I suppose if it's for her mortal assistant, the vampire queen could make some exceptions. The next time you come, Minase Iori herself shall personally show you around."

"Wow! Thanks so much, Iori-chan!"

Yayoi stepped forward to give her new friend a hug, but abruptly a swarm of bats appeared out of nowhere, shrieking as they flew around her. Yayoi cried out, and she could hear Iori shout something, but all that was lost when a new voice boomed,

"What is this about the vampire queen showing mortals around?" Lightning flashed, and a monster silhouette appeared, baring its fangs at her.

Yayoi couldn't help it. She bolted. It was a spur of the moment decision that she would find herself regretting in a few hours, but really, if you had just been attacked by bats and then faced a monster with really sharp teeth you'd be scared, too.

Once she got home, she promised herself she'd at least visit Iori again to say sorry.

Iori watched Yayoi run away, a slightly regretful expression on her face. With a sigh, the vampire princess waved farewell, and then gave a sharp glare to the newcomer beside her. "What was that for?" she snapped.

Miki blinked obliviously. "What? Miki just wanted to know why you guys were talking about her."

"Stupid Miki! You obviously knew that was going to scare her! You did that on purpose!"

"... Did what on purpose?"

Iori growled. "I swear, when I become vampire queen-."

"But you're not, yet," Miki said with a bright smile. "Miki is. So for now Deko-chan can't do anything about it~"

The blonde patted Iori on the head and happily skipped away. If it weren't for the fact that it'd be terribly unbecoming of a princess, Iori would have done so many things to that irritating girl.

"I'm telling you, I really did meet a vampire! Her name is Iori and she's the vampire princess!"

Ami and Mami exchanged a look of obvious disbelief. Yayoi puffed out her cheeks in irritation. Honestly! The two had sent her out to the mansion alone and now they wouldn't even believe her when she told them about it?

"Okay, but did you knock on the door?" Mami said.

"No. But I'm saying that I met a vampire."

Ami nodded slowly. "Yeah... see, Yayoicchi, what you met or saw there is irrelevant. What matters is whether or not you knocked the door."

"But... but I really did meet her!" Yayoi insisted.

Mami ruffled Yayoi's hair pitifully, an agonizingly sympathetic smile on her face. "It's okay, Yayoicchi, we still love you. Even if you are a scaredy-cat," she said. Then she laughed. And Ami joined in. They weren't taking her seriously at all.

Yayoi frowned. Well, she'd be the one laughing when they learned she was actually tight with the vampire queen.

Soon to be, of course.

Thanks for reading and please review!