Wow, it's been an eternity since I've written something for VK! I have to admit that I am not up to speed with the manga, so this is set sometime in the first or second season. In other words, nothing too specific except for the minor detail that Yuuki is still human in this story.
This was written as a contest-entry for a fabulous new VK group on Deviant Art! They're just starting out but are rearing to go! Check in with them sometime, okay? I'm sure they'd be grateful to anyone wanting to enter the contest! Writing or drawing; whatever. Closing date is 19 August 2012.
The contest rules were to create a summer-themed VK artwork in correspondence to opening a book or text to a random page and, eyes closed, picking out a random word. I did this with Arthur Miller's play The Crucible and ended up with my finger pointing to the word "NEVER". I included a lot of references to a certain classic children's story in this, so be sure to look out for them! I thought they were obvious but there are some that are more subtle.
WARNING: There will be references to non-child friendly things. Like eating people. Hints of sexual undercurrents will also be present, so I REALLY recommend that nobody under the age of 13 years reads this. There will also be swearing. I have tried to keep it to levels that I believe the characters themselves would use either in thought or speech.
Title: Forever to Neverland
Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)
He was chaperoning... a freaking Day Class Field Trip. Into the mountains. For an overnight camp. Because the Chairman had decided that it might be educational. And because Yuuki had decided to fall ill with a raging fever. How very inconvenient of her.
Of course, that Kiryuu bastard could have just gone alone on this trip to take care of the humans. So what if a couple of them ended up dead? No big deal.
Then again, things never work out for Aidou Hanabusa that way; oh no. Aidou shifted, trying to get comfortable on the tree stump that he was sitting on. Around him, Day Class girls hurried about trying to set up camp. They looked to be struggling a bit but Aidou remained sitting. Like heck he was going to help. He was the Chaperone. He didn't have to do anything except supervise the lowly creatures.
Aidou was convinced, as he tugged moodily at his hoodie and adjusted his sunglasses, that Kaname and the Chairman had planned this from the moment they realised that Yuuki was too sick to go on the overnight camp. Kiryuu just conveniently couldn't manage to come on this stupid excuse of a class trip because of some 'prior engagements' that he had, according to the Chairman. Naturally, Kaname would be around at just the right moment to volunteer Aidou's services instead.
Kain insisted that it was Aidou's own fault; he had wanted to flirt too much with the Day Class Guardian. Privately, Aidou was sure that Kaname just wanted him off Cross Academy grounds so that he couldn't go accost Yuuki while she had a fever. It was a tempting prospect; she was much too easy to rile up and putting her on the spot had always been entertaining.
So now because of the pureblood and the Chairman, Aidou was stuck on a mountain with about sixty humans struggling to set up a campsite. The sun was setting and Aidou only hoped that night came soon so that his eyes would stop hurting from the glare.
One girl, passing him where he sat on his tree stump, stumbled when she glanced at him. She blushed pathetically and fumbled with the tent canvas in her hands. Aidou flashed the befuddled girl a smile with his brilliantly white teeth, to which she whimpered something and then rushed off, clearly flustered. Good thing she couldn't see his bored eyes behind his sunglasses.
So easy. Much too easy.
This hike was some kind of survival camp, apparently. The class would be escorted into the mountains, left alone for a night and then collected the following morning. There would be no adult supervision save for one lone teacher who, quite frankly, didn't look like he'd be moving anywhere after the hike up the mountain. Aidou sneered at the balding teacher who'd flopped down in the shade of a tree and was now sitting there, immobile, while the students - all sixty of them - ran around trying to set up camp before the summer sun set. All of the boys had disappeared into the bushes to try and find something edible. Speaking of which, Aidou's throat was itching. He longed to find his own meal; any one of these tasty morsels would do really. Unfortunately, he was forbidden to touch them. Before he'd left, Kaname had told him in no uncertain terms that, should any of the Day Class return in any condition short of what they'd left in, Aidou would meet a swift and messy end. Aidou grimaced as he remembered the pureblood's deadly serious glare. Normally he didn't heed the warnings much, especially when it came to taking liberties with the Day Class girls - it didn't count if they came to him first - but this time he was actually scared of what Kaname might do to him. A slap across the face would not cut it this time, he knew.
And it wasn't just if they came to harm by his own hands. Aidou knew that should any of the Day Class whelps return in any manner of maimed or lifeless condition that Kaname-sama would hold him - Aidou - responsible. How tedious. Like Aidou could care less about the petty humans.
The sun had almost set and the girls - he had to hand it to them - had managed to set up camp. Tents were pitched in two very distinct groups. Clearly one side was for the girls and the other for the guys. Aidou had to wonder how long those two groups would stay separated. After all, except for the balding teacher, who looked to be half deaf anyway, there was no adult supervision. Aidou grimaced at the thought of having to overhear all of... that because of his heightened hearing. Maybe he'd find some nice tree a few kilometres off and curl up in that. It was the middle of summer, after all so it wasn't as though he had to worry about the students freezing to death. Aidou smirked as he thought how incredibly superior he was to these little bugs.
A mosquito buzzed up to him and he squashed it between his fingers. It had already bitten someone, the blood was smeared across his index finger and thumb now. Aidou's nose scrunched in disgust. He didn't settle for second-hand blood. If he was going to eat anything he'd find it fresh and fit and would take from nothing except the truly enticing. He had standards.
The leader of the girls' group - tall, slim, dark-haired and pretty - was approaching him. She was fluttering her eyes at him now, ever-hopeful. "Aidou-senpai," she said in a voice that she was meaning to be sultry. "Would you be so kind as to help us build the fire? The boys aren't back yet and we've found some great wood to use nearby." Aidou kept quiet, knowing exactly where this was going. Behind the leader, several other curious girls were standing still, obvious blushes creeping over their faces. They wanted him to stand up and show them his big, bad man strength and then, upon lifting whatever flimsy piece of wood they'd found, would use the opportunity to shower him with cleverly thought-out compliments. Quite frankly, doing anything for anyone was not on his high-priority list. Doing something for a bunch of human girls fell even lower than that. Given his current snappy mood - sleep deprivation, sun-exposure and niggling bloodlust did that to a guy - he wanted nothing more than to snap their silly little necks and be done with it.
But he couldn't. Because he was the charming and debonair Aidou-senpai of the Night Class, heartthrob of the girls and shining knight to all. Damn his public image.
So he flashed a grin from his pearly whites and tilted his sunglasses, resolving to let them get a glimpse of his eyes and make them melt where they stood, when he latched onto an interesting sight. A slight girl - medium frame, average height, minimum muscle mass - was slugging an enormous tree branch behind her, heaving it towards the designated fire pit. Her cheeks were puffed, her short honey-coloured hair tangled messily with some twigs caught in it and her face was flushed from exertion. His blue irises widened as he realised that he could faintly smell blood from her; she'd probably scraped her hands on the rough bark.
She smelled sweet. Like honey. Involuntarily, his mouth began watering.
He hurriedly resolved not to breathe. Punishment, punishment, punishment, he repeated in his head. Kaname-sama. Punishment!
But so sweet...
He hurriedly replaced the sunglasses over his eyes as he realised that his world was taking on a tinge of red. The girl was still struggling with the log and the girls' leader was still looking at him, expecting him to play the gentleman. Well, he'd go with it for now. But he'd have some fun along the way.
With a few lithe, graceful steps, he was beside the struggling girl and bending down so that his head was leaning over her shoulder. "Need some help, Darling?"
Her breath hitched and her heart faltered even as her movements stilled. Aidou smirked slightly.
Too easy.
Then she stepped away and turned to face him, a hand reaching up to brush away the bangs clinging to her sweaty face. Her eyes were startled, like a doe by a gunshot. Only she wasn't running from him. Then, a heartbeat and a second later, she was composed once again, her breathing evening out from the exertion. "Aidou-senpai," she greeted, a perplexed undercurrent to her voice. "Do you need something?"
He studied this human with little interest, sizing her up. She was average on all possible levels. No impressive physical features and, from her speech so far, no daunting persuasive skills. Up close her scent was heady and Aidou swallowed, trying to force the bloodlust down. Despite how amazing she smelled, her physical assets were nothing special. With a firm mental nod, he classified her as a pushover. "I think," he intoned suggestively, "that it's more of a question of what you need."
She blinked once and then allowed a small frown to mar her features. "If you are trying to woo me, Aidou-senpai, it isn't working." The girl rolled her shoulders even as he stared at her, thrown just a little off-balance. Then she turned back to the log she'd been lugging and, getting a good grip with her raw hands, prepared to continue dragging it. Had that girl seriously just used the word 'woo'?
That was when his upbringing - always help a lady - kicked in. Determined to get under her skin, he placed both hands on her shoulders and brought her to a stop. A thrill passed through his fingertips as he could literally feel her blood rushing beneath her skin.
"I insist that you let me do that." So he wasn't really keen on helping humans out; but this was a matter of pride, damn it! And she was practically screaming: eat me, eat me now.
The girl shrugged out of his grasp, taking two measured steps away from him. While normally he'd put her desire for distance down to the fact that he made her uncomfortable, he couldn't hear her heart rate increase at all, given that it was still pretty high from dragging the heavy log over the rough forest floor. She actually looked a little bit irritated with him as she proceeded the brush her shoulders off, as though his hands had left dirty imprints on her practical black rain jacket. Why was she wearing a rain jacket in summer anyway? "Alright then. By all means, Aidou-senpai."
Again she threw him off. With the way she was acting he'd have thought for sure she'd put up a fight. But no; she had to comply with him and let him get his way in carrying the damn log and make him do the manual labour. Manipulative wench.
Not so easy.
She continued to perplex him. When the sun set - finally - and he could take his protective sunglasses, hoodie and scarf off, she proved to be useful around the camp. When none of the girls were able to start a fire, she provided a convenient box of matches that she'd stowed in her shoe before showing them how to pile the wood so that it would light. When another girl cut her finger - oh damn all that human blood - she was the first one to procure a plaster from her pocket.
They sat around the camp fire for a while, the flickering flames climbing high as the girls chattered to one another. Aidou heard one of them remark how this was just like a summer slumber party, only without the make-up and the popcorn.
The boys still weren't back yet. Some of the girls in the group were beginning to get worried about the boys, asking one another whether the guys would be alright. Aidou wanted to roll his eyes. None of them knew the answer for certain yet they told each other that everything would be fine with an entirely misplaced confidence. What morons.
But he smiled and nodded when they turned to him for assurance and let them believe their silly fantasies. Like he really gave a damn what happened to those hormonal, pubescent humans.
Other girls were more worried about their supper being late. Selfish hags. What about his needs, huh? He hadn't had sleep for over 24 hours now, he hated the heat, the sun had given him something close to a migraine despite his precautions to cover up and he desperately wanted a drink. Preferably fresh and as soon as possible. If one of them volunteered to play his walking bar for the night he would not say no. But of course none of them knew, so they wouldn't. And even if they did, he could not because of Kaname-sama. Damn orders.
One girl with a mischievous streak to her had started telling scary stories. She was actually pretty good with the actual storytelling, her voice carrying the tension of the campfire and isolation, but the actual creatures which she spoke of were so bland. She'd tried telling a story about vampires and Aidou had tried so hard not to burst out laughing. All of the modern fiction had invariably influenced the outlook on vampires and monsters, especially for young girls. Somehow the romanticized fantasy world had turned a chilling, bloodthirsty creature such as himself into little more than dark, enthralling boyfriend material. And bloodsucking actually seemed to have an appeal to these girls! Some squealed excitedly when the girl speaking got to the bit about the bite, transforming the hapless damsel into a fearsome creature of the night. Aidou rolled his eyes. They obviously didn't quite realise what they were giggling over. Fangs freaking hurt, damn it! Aidou didn't see any of these girls lining up for puncture wounds by daylight.
The story ended and some girl grabbed onto his arm. Aidou patted her consolingly on the head. He knew from her lack of actual shivering that she wasn't really scared but was playing the part to have an excuse to grab onto him. Typical.
Too easy.
A particularly timid girl - Aidou couldn't be bothered to remember what her name was at this point - gave a small whimper from where she sat on her side of the fire. "What if... what if the boys are..."
She let it hang there, too afraid to continue. Aidou wanted to groan and rub his temples. These humans; so silly and nervous and-
"Don't worry," a voice piped up to his right, a twist of agitation laced in her words. "They'll be fine. Even if something happened to them, we'll find their corpses in the morning." All heads, including his own, swivelled round to the speaker. Aidou's eyes widened when he realised that the tree-dragging, fire-lighting girl was the one who'd spoken. She looked utterly unfazed by the horrified stares that she'd drawn and continued to stoke the fire.
"Wakaba-san!" one of the more forward girls chided her. "That's a terrible thing to say!"
Ah, so that's what her name was. Aidou glanced down at the class list that he was carrying. For once he was actually glad that chaperones had to take register with the help of a list. As he scanned down the list, he found her name quickly. Wakaba Sayori. Pretty name. Her hands had not been bandaged or treated despite her obviously having plasters on her person. He could still smell slight traces of that delightful scent. At least it was masked by the smell of smoke from the fire. The other girls - about thirty of them - were all having a go at her about being insensitive. The timid girl from before was looking close to tears. Wakaba Sayori was ignoring them all, instead placing another log onto the flames. Aidou actually cringed as he heard some of the nastier things. Ouch.
"Calm yourselves, ladies," Aidou called loudly, making every head swivel towards him and ceasing the insults. He never minded the occasional jab, but there was a limit to everything. Bowing charmingly, he flashed a debonair smile. "Worry not. For even if unlikely harm should have befallen your treasured classmates, I shall be here to protect you from it." The predicted swooning began then.
As he entertained the ladies with stories of his wondrous exploits, Aidou caught sight of the girl - Wakaba Sayori - slipping quietly away from the fire. Slowly the girls began to drift off into their tents, fatigue overwhelming them. Aidou lost count of the number of times he had to reassure each leaving girl that the boys would return in no time. Just as the last vanished into the darkness and he leaned back to take a deep breath and relax, another voice interrupted him.
"You're quite the actor, Aidou-senpai."
He pretty much jumped back up when he heard her voice. She was leaning against a tree close to the fire, her arms folded behind her back and her eyes fixed firmly on him. Aidou noted idly how they reflected the fire. He sighed gustily. Quite frankly he wanted nothing more than to disappear, find a hotel somewhere down the mountain and sleep for three days straight before coming back for however many of the human student that were still alive. He wanted to be selfish and sleep! But he couldn't even escape with her standing there. Perhaps he could freeze her where she stood and get her memory wiped later.
"Don't think that I owe you anything, Aidou-senpai," the girl interrupted his thoughts. "Your interference was appreciated but not needed."
"Right," he replied lazily, thinking of the vicious girls from before and giving her a look that clearly said that he didn't buy it. "That's why you looked like you were ready to burst into tears." The night was making him cocky. This was his territory and this human girl - a creature of the day - was falling into his world.
"And burdening yourself with the attention of so many girls must have been so hard on you." Her comeback was delivered swiftly but without much bite. It made his mouth turn downward in a scowl. He was supposed to be in charge right now.
"Do you have some kind of grudge against me?" he asked, honestly a little more than irritated.
"You make trouble for Yuuki," she replied calmly. Her honesty was blunt and somewhat startling. He'd expected her to deny everything or perhaps ignore him. "Other than that I have no particular reason to despise you."
But you do anyway, Aidou wanted to retort. The girl surprised him by coming over to sit on a log across the fire from him. "What do you want now?" Aidou spat.
"Nothing." She wasn't even looking at him, instead fiddling with her fingers and looking down at the ground instead of the fire. The silence hanging over the fire was awkward. He noted that, in her absence, the girl had removed her rain jacket and was now instead wearing a simple light blue spaghetti-strap top. Wakaba Sayori's hands were still scraped open and now, with only the two of them at the fire, Aidou's mind was conjuring up an array of enticing images that he could be doing to help her with those wounds. How would she react if he tried to lick the scrapes? Involuntarily, his tongue ran over the front of his teeth, feeling the prickling of his gums as fangs began to elongate. A knot of bloodlust was coiling in his stomach. Aidou's fingers were curling into the log that he was sitting on, splintering it. His throat itched horribly now. He was a predator by existence and the night was beckoning him, the hunger making him reckless. The girl was untouchable for now, but Aidou could not quell the desire to see her squirm. She was much too calm.
"Wakaba Sayori," he began, catching her attention with his deep tone. His bloodlust was beginning to affect his perception. The girl turned to look over at him, her large eyes innocent and unsuspecting. Putting the fact that he was a vampire aside, wasn't she aware of the fact that he had a reputation as a playboy? She'd come to him when he was alone. Should he try something on her, there'd be no help coming for a while. The tents were a good distance away. She'd be helpless...
Fool. Such a beautiful little fool.
"You're rather brave coming to me alone at night." He was leaning forward. "Are you not... afraid?" The trunk splintered more under his grip. It was all he could do to keep his eyes from glowing crimson.
"Thank you for your concern, Aidou-senpai, but I'm not sure what you mean." The girl tilted her head to the side, confused. "Did you think that the stories would have frightened me?"
Aidou's jaw slackened. He could not believe it. Here he was all but pouncing on her, ready to rip her composure to shreds and make her run in fear, and all she did was sit there? How much more obvious did he have to be? Gritting his teeth, he spoke again. "Stories, you call them?" His voice was raspy even to his own ears.
"Yes. Stories." She repeated herself firmly.
She was too damn sure of herself. This human needed to be knocked down a notch. She claimed not to be afraid of the supernatural. His pride as a part of that supernatural was snarling for him to push her down. "Truly?" He was on his feet. "You feel no fear when there's a creak in the dark? A noise that you can't see?" She was looking at him oddly. He was walking towards her then, his steps the pads of a predator. He wasn't sure what expression he was wearing but her eyes flickered when he smirked to show his teeth and that was fine with him. "The smell of blood?" He'd rounded behind the tree trunk that she was sitting on now. She was stiff, looking into the fire and he could see her exposed shoulder muscles tense up beneath her blue spaghetti-strap top. He was close enough to hear her heartbeat now; even and measured, yet picking up the pace as adrenaline seeped into her blood. He could smell it again; that sweet scent. It was making him ravenous. Aidou could literally feel the seconds slipping and ticking away within him as he inched closer to her from behind, her scent begging to be sampled.
Just a taste, his body screamed. Just a nibble.
"Having too much pride is a deadly thing, Wakaba Sayori." He'd literally exhaled the last words onto her skin. Aidou didn't remember stepping this close to the girl; stooped over, his mouth was hovering above her shoulder. The bloodlust was clouding his thoughts, making him lose track. She jerked, a sharp breath being sucked between her teeth.
She spoke then, her voice shaking a bit but with a kind of focused vehemence behind it. "Rich coming from you, Aidou-senpai."
Her tone made him falter for a second. Then - and with a bone-chilling certainty - an unkind smirk curved its way over his face. Her spirit was taunting him in ways that made him dangerous. His mouth opened, his teeth gleaming as his sight turned red-
A bellow sounded from somewhere behind him. "We're alive!"
Aidou spun around, all bloodlust suddenly rushing from his mind as though it had been doused in galleons of ice water. From the bushes in the distance, figures were emerging. Dimly, Aidou recognised the loud and raucous banter of the human males. Cursing, Aidou stepped away from the girl.
So delightfully, damnably close.
One of the more assertive guys came sauntering forward, a bashful grin on his face. "Ah, sorry Aidou-senpai! We really did try to find some food for everyone but in the end we couldn't. Hope you don't mind!"
Did he mind? Oh, Aidou had a few choice words to say about that. He'd been literally moments away from devouring possibly the most appealing blood he'd ever smelled before... and the human asked if he minded?
Aidou sincerely wanted to tell the human to get lost - literally - and let him eat the girl in peace.
"Say," another of the humans piped up from where he was strangling his friend in a playful way. "Where're the girls?"
Disgust rose in Aidou's throat. He mentally sneered at the boy disdainfully. He was seriously contemplating just killing them all and go hunt down Wakaba Sayori again - she'd disappeared by now, slipped discreetly into the shadows and vanished between the trees - to continue where he'd left off.
Yet he could not. He had to perform his duties as chaperone of this ridiculous outing. Kaname-sama had demanded it. Aidou scornfully took out the register list and began to tick off the names of the boys who were present. He was thorough with it and as each name was called the group diminished, heading towards the group of tents set up further away. Aidou could already see some of them veering off onto the wrong side of the campsite.
Having sent the last boy off, Aidou glanced back down at the list. He groaned loudly and dramatically at what he saw, putting a hand over his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"How many?" a soft voice asked from beside him and Aidou jumped to the side, visibly startled. Wakaba Sayori blinked her large caramel eyes at him, her question still lingering in the air. How had she snuck up on him like that?
"How many what?" Aidou retorted, quickly collecting himself and slipping the list into his pocket.
"How many are missing," she elaborated.
"None," Aidou snapped, turning his back to her and beginning to stalk back to camp. He didn't want to deal with this right now. He wanted to satisfy his own needs and go to sleep.
"How many, Aidou-senpai?" she insisted and Aidou rolled his eyes.
"I told you, none-" His words tethered off as a rustle of paper reached his ears. He spun around to see the girl holding the register list that he'd stuffed into his pocket.
"Looks like there's six missing," she said.
"How did you-" Aidou gaped at the paper, his hand going to his empty pocket. "Give me that!" He snatched it from her grasp hurriedly and kept it away from her. "And it's none of your business how many worthless runts are missing, now go to sleep!"
She was not happy with that remark and her lips thinned into a harsh line. "I do not recall you ever being given permission to decide curfew at this excursion, Aidou-senpai," the girl remarked in retaliation. Aidou gritted his teeth. What was with this girl and undermining him? She was just begging for a repeat performance of his earlier stunt. This girl was relentlessly toeing the line between her pride and death.
"Just go away already," Aidou brushed her off, beginning to walk towards the tents as well. "They'll show up sooner or later and if they don't we'll find their corpses in the morning." He was surprised when she flinched as he repeated her own words. He raised an eyebrow at her odd behaviour.
"I don't want to find their corpses, Aidou-senpai, I want to find them alive."
"What's with you?" he asked. "Earlier you were perfectly fine with them dying somewhere."
"No I wasn't!" she retorted, her voice rising until it was almost loud, a fire kindling in her eyes as she stared right back at him. "I would never wish for my classmates to die. It was..." she trailed off, looking away from him. "It was meant to be a joke," she mumbled almost shyly, a dusting of pink coating her cheeks.
Aidou stared at her incredulously. "A joke?" She nodded, her blush becoming worse by the minute. Aidou couldn't believe it. Was she perhaps one of those people who didn't mean to be rude but just ended up doing so regardless?
"You're going to go look for them, aren't you?" she asked, taking a step towards him then, shaking off her embarrassment. "You are, right?"
Aidou was taken aback by her suddenly forward nature. He hurriedly righted himself. "They'll find their way back soon enough. I'm not worried."
"They're my classmates, Aidou-senpai. As chaperone, you have to go search for them."
"Well, I'm not. Besides, that other teacher who hasn't done anything so far and is probably curled up in his tent somewhere can go look for them! I've done enough. So go to sleep already. I'm tired." To prove it, Aidou yawned widely, not even bothering to cover his mouth with his hand and stretching luxuriously.
That did not appear to be the response that Wakaba Sayori was waiting for. A chillingly thunderous look passed behind her eyes before she straightened up. "Alright. Since it seems that you are simply another unaccountable and unreliable person, I supposed I shall have to search for them alone."
Aidou - ironically - froze. The girl was intending to come along? And wait, she'd just insulted him!
In truth, he really didn't want to go out there and search for a couple of lost boys who were too stupid to just stick with the pack. But on the other hand, the girl was going to go alone, which basically translated into trouble in Aidou's book. A dozen scenarios of what could happen to the girl on her own played through his mind.
He had to go with. Kaname-sama would kill him otherwise.
And besides, his mind whispered, taking her along with him would give him another chance to dominate her. She had this spark of upright pride to her that mellowed beneath the surface and reared its head when confronted. It was the subtle kind of self-respect that a lot of people lacked. Aidou had crushed the pride of countless people over the years; sometimes completely unintentionally. Yet she was proving to be a challenge. A provoking challenge...
It made him competitive and all the more certain that he had to win. He had to prove that he was better than this girl.
"Alright then," he said, a sly grin forming on his face. "Follow me."
"Forget this!" Aidou roared, tossing the flashlight into the bushes in a fit of childish temper. It hit something and the light flickered out. Whatever. It wasn't like he'd even needed that to begin with. His vision was perfect at night without the need of some stupid torch that he was only using for appearances. The human girl behind him came to a stop as he did. "We've been hacking through these blasted bushes for the past three hours and I have had just about as much as I can take!"
"It has only been an hour and a half, Aidou-senpai," the girl corrected him.
"Well that's still too long!" he grumbled, folding his arms over his chest. He glanced at the girl from the corner of his eye. This was ridiculous. The whole reason for bringing her along in the first place was so that he could prove to be superior to her, yet throughout the entire trip she'd maintained a cool head and made him look like an immature brat just because he whined a little.
"Here," she said, pulling a longish black object from her shorts pocket. Taking a few steps towards him, she held the object out to him. "It's a spare torch. I brought one along just in case." Bemused, Aidou took it. Who in their right mind carried a spare torch around? Batteries sure, but a whole torch?
The girl wasn't looking very fazed by their situation. It was like she took midnight hikes through the wilderness with strange boys on a regular basis. "So," she asked, glancing over at him. "Where are we?"
Aidou sent her a scathing look as he rolled his eyes. "Weren't you keeping track? You seem like the type who would."
She shrugged, adjusting her flashlight. "No. I wasn't."
"Huh? So you bring a spare flashlight but don't bother to try and keep track of where you are?"
The girl shot him a questioning look. Her eyes were radiating innocence, yet her tone was challenging him. "You said that I should follow you, Aidou-senpai. Since you sounded so sure of yourself that I figured letting you keep track of our position would be more beneficial to our search party. So I did. Was my faith misplaced?"
Aidou's fingers were twitching. Damn, he wanted to strangle that girl! "You're freaking impossible." What was with that girl? That much blind faith could kill someone!
She didn't seem to have heard him since she was staring out into the darkness again. "You know, it would be pretty bad if we got lost."
"Luckily for you," Aidou replied. "I know exactly where we are."
"Then it'll be your job to get us off the mountain once we find the other six boys." The girl was barely surprised to hear that he did know where they were. Why wasn't she more panicked about the possibility of them being lost? How was he supposed to throw her off her rhythm when it seemed like she had the best damn balance in the world?
He was angry and just a little bitter. So he clenched his fists, turned away and frowned. "I don't feel like it. I've been on this mountain for three hours-"
"One and a half."
"Like I said, too long!" Aidou gnashed his teeth. "Those pathetic humans can find their own way back to camp. For all we know they're already back and sleeping in their stupid tents like the pansies they are! If you don't want to leave yet then I'll go back on my own. Have fun getting lost."
There - finally - a reaction! The girl's eyes narrowed distastefully and her eyebrow twitched a little. But that was it. "So you would leave me on the mountain on my own?" Aidou stilled for a moment, glancing at the girl. The surprising thing was that it was actually a question. Not an attempt to flirt with him or an opening to flutter coy eyelashes at him. She was actually, seriously asking him that question in the same casual manner that one would ask about the weather.
He wasn't sure if he liked it or not. He knew how to deal with girls who were trying to make a move on him. He knew how to pull a curtain over his emotions and desires to achieve whatever goal that he was told to. He was a world-class fibber and dealt expertly in deceit. Sometimes it left a sour taste in his mouth to present such a fake figure of himself to the world. The only ones he was ever really honest around were Kain and Ruka. He could lose his temper with them all he wanted and not have to worry about them shunning him in any sort of serious way. The feeling of being himself was nice. He didn't have the chance often.
Come to think of it, wasn't he acting just as spoiled and brattish with this girl as he did in front of his cousins? Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she seemed to be showing zero interest in him. She wasn't making advances so he didn't fall back to the ladykiller facade.
Regardless of that though, there were two distinct differences between this girl and his cousins. The first was that, obviously, she was a human. The second was that her blood had an incredible allure to him. Even now he could still smell it from the shallow, scabbing scuffs on her palms. He quickly turned his thoughts to safer pastures. He had to get through this trip without slipping up. Kaname had dropped the news about his chaperoning job on him so suddenly that Aidou hadn't even had time to pack. His blood tablets were back at the Academy. He was thirsty, a very appealing creature was standing just a mere meter away from him and they were all alone with nobody to hear her should she scream. Perhaps taking her along hadn't been such a smart idea.
He had to quickly take his thoughts off of that prospect. And he had yet to answer her question. He cleared his throat. "Don't worry. Even if I did leave you here, they'd find your corpse in the morning."
The girl cringed again, frowning. "You're not letting that go, are you?"
"You have a startlingly morbid sense of humour," he told her conversationally. "I like it." To his complete and utter surprise, Aidou watched the girl's face - her calm, collected, impassive face - light up in a furious blush. He heard her heart stutter as her breath caught. Through the dark summer night, Aidou watched stunned as a hesitant, shy smile curved at her lips. He stared, watching her eyes light up and her face morph into an expression of joy.
Truthfully, Aidou didn't know what to do. Why was she so damn pleased about that? Luckily, he realised that he didn't need to do anything. A normal human would never have been able to catch her delighted expression in the dark, so all he had to do was pretend that he hadn't either.
"Thank you." The whisper was so feint that a human wouldn't possibly have heard it. Aidou's ears latched onto the two words easily though. Even more confused than before, he turned to watch her again. She was looking back at him, her torchlight allowing her to see his face. She must have read the bewilderment in his eyes because she smiled again and explained, "Nobody ever finds my jokes funny. Thank you."
Despite himself, Aidou found his own cheeks warming. What was she saying? She was making no bloody sense.
"D-don't mention it!" he blurted, stubbornly looking away, hoping that she hadn't caught sight of his red cheeks. There was an awkward silence then, the kind that only exists when the air is charged with things that are begging to be said. He wasn't the only one feeling it apparently.
"L-let's go then," the girl mumbled, pointing her finger into the darkness and taking a hurried step forward. Because of her haste, she didn't really look where she was putting her feet.
A second step to the right...
Aidou saw though and he dove forward, his fingers locking around her wrist even as her feet crunched through the dry, crumbling edge of the ditch. The inevitable happened and her weight and momentum - already falling - pulled him along as his own footing failed, the earth giving way beneath him too.
The world was a blur of colours and jolts. Instinctively, Aidou's arms had wrapped around the object his vampire side desired, keeping said object from harm. As they rolled to a stop at the bottom of the ditch, Aidou opened his eyes to find himself pressed rather intimately to the shy girl. Up close, her scent was enveloping him, kicking his vampiric instincts into overdrive. He could feel his fangs elongating again. Quickly, so that he wouldn't do anything rash, Aidou sat up and scooted away from the fallen girl. His back was pressing up against a boulder while his chest tightened and his knuckles turned white with the force that he was restraining himself with. Why was her scent so strong? It was maddening. Like she was actually bleeding-
"Ow," the girl muttered, pushing herself into a sitting position. "The wasn't nice." She raised her hand, staring at it before frowning lightly. "Guess I really will need a bandage now."
Aidou repressed a groan. Now that she'd brought his attention to it, he could smell it more clearly. Somewhere during the fall she'd sliced open the palm of her hand and now she was bleeding. Sweet, sweet blood that was putting him through physical pain with his efforts to resist. He really wanted to taste...
No, he chided himself. What he'd done earlier at the fire had been cutting it way too fine. He had to refrain from acting on something as base as bloodlust. He had to. Not only had Kaname-sama ordered him to, but it was also for the secrecy of the Night Class. There was nobody here who could erase memories now. If he gave in to his instincts and exposed the secret of the Night Class, there would be hell to pay.
Aidou noticed as the girl frowned and muttered something about her bandages being back at camp before reaching down to the bottom of her summer shirt and ripping. A strip of light blue fabric about three centimetres wide came off and Aidou felt his eyes wandering to the patch of exposed skin. He could see her bellybutton. Was it weird that he found that attractive?
Groaning, Aidou let his head fall back against the rock. It was no use. They'd still be out here for hours looking for those six lost boys and he could not continue functioning as he was now. He was more of a danger to the girl in this state than anything else. He had to get himself under control and unfortunately, Aidou knew only one way.
Sighing, he resigned himself to his option, although a twinge of anticipation was making his stomach roll pleasantly. It wasn't like he was taking advantage of the situation or anything. Of course not. He was taking measures to prevent himself losing control. Cutting his losses, so to speak...
"Sayori, give me your hand."
Having just wound the strip of fabric around the wound, she blinked at him in confusion and then drew back a bit to look into his face. "Excuse me?" Her voice sounded unnaturally high and for a moment he didn't understand the problem. Was she embarrassed that he'd called her by her first name? Then he took in her blushing cheeks and mortified expression and he understood. His eyes widened. "Not like that, numbskull!" He was probably blushing too. "I meant to give me your hand! Stretch your hand out!"
It was almost an insult that she only relaxed after he'd explained to her that he wasn't in fact asking her to marry him. But the relief passed quickly and a frown took its place on her face. She was wary of him. "Why?"
Aidou sighed heavily. He was really not in the mood for this right now. "Look. I'm exhausted, thirsty, in a shitty mood and sitting in a ditch. Would you please just humour me by giving me your hand?"
She was still hesitant but she did as he asked, stretching her hand out towards him with her fingers curled slightly into her palm. She was shaking a bit more than usual, though that was probably just the uncertainty. Grasping her offered hand in both of his, Aidou turned it palm-up to that he could see the strip of shirt that she'd wrapped around the bleeding wound. Swiftly hooking a finger beneath the blue material, he sliced through the multiple wrapped layers with a subtle sliver of ice. They fell away from her skin before she really knew what was happening.
The scent of her injury was sweet in a twisted way. He could already feel his breathing grow heavier as he inched his face towards the bleeding cut. The girl - no, Sayori - was trying to draw back now. Aidou tightened his grip on her wrist but stopped his advance. It would be easy to just pin her in place and disregard her anxiousness. After all, hadn't the original plan been to make her squirm? Well, he wasn't having it. She was going to sit still while he enjoyed his treat, damn it. So he lifted his head until his eyes met hers and spoke to her in a firm, compelling voice. "Stay calm, Sayori."
"Only when you tell me what you're doing."
She was jittery, anxious like a butterfly aware of watching eyes. Aidou levelled her with a long, heavy look, hoping to tell her that what he was about to do would not hurt her in the long term. "Sayori, trust me."
Was it because he'd used her name? Regardless of reason though, she seemed to calm down. Her large eyes were watching him carefully, still a little nervous. Something - perhaps his partial human nature - compelled him to make her feel comfortable. "You can look away if you want to," he told her, lowering his head to her hand again.
"It's okay," she breathed, shaking her head. "I'll... watch."
Kaname-sama would definitely disapprove.
Nose skimming lightly over the unbroken skin beside the cut, he inhaled the sweet scent. Aidou could already feel his mind swirling into a frenzy. He reminded himself to keep his composure; at least some of it. Carefully, Aidou allowed his tongue to dip from his mouth, running it over the injury. He could hear Sayori draw in a sharp breath. Again he moved his tongue over the cut, drawing out the motion, letting her get used to it.
There was a spark of recklessness about this situation. Aside from that pathetic excuse of a useless teacher, this was a trip without grown-ups, without rules and without boundaries. He could do whatever he wanted and if the girl wanted to watch him suck her blood then she could bloody well do so!
She'd shown some faith in him before when she'd let him lead her through the darkness. Now he'd show her a little trust to keep quiet about this. And besides, she tasted so good. Sweet and gooey, rich and heavy. A hint of something reminding him of fresh air tingled on his tongue. Grinning a little at his odd analogy, Aidou had to conclude that she tasted of flowers and nectar. He could almost picture her feeling right at home amidst a field of sunflowers. He wondered if she'd like said field as much if illuminated by the moon and not the sun.
It didn't really matter though. Overhead, the stars of the night faded into morning, the first rays of irritating sunlight pricking at his eyes. The last drop of addictive red blood was lapped up and Sayori was leaning on his shoulder, tired. His arms came up to support her and he buried his nose in the crook of her neck. With her taste still on his tongue, it was easier to resist. Inhaling her, he felt himself drift off, drugged with her scent.
He thought he heard her murmur a quiet scolding, though he sensed a smile.
And straight on till morning...
Faith.
Trust.
Bloodlust.
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