It's been such a long day for me. And when I say that, I mean a really goddamn long day. Checking the clock on the left wall I can see that it's already two in the morning. My head is splitting - it's actually killing me; then again, that's just what you get for having vampire scum making those things I have to call my classmates scream like they're possessed.
Women...
At least Yuki's somewhat covert in her praise of that Pureblood bastard...
Now that I think about it, where is she? She's normally slumped on the sofa around this time, complaining about how much her feet ache and that I'm such a boorish old jerk who needs to wait for her on patrols - excuse me for having longer legs than you. Sheesh. As much as her grumblings piss me off, it's weird and even a little lonely without them - I mean, she'd still hug me while telling me off before going to bed when I took a shower.
It's a key part in my routine, actually; wake up, get dressed, class with the other morons, get deafened while escorting the scum, get followed around by my bumbling best friend all night and then reprimanded before wished 'sweet dreams'. Being told that by her was about the only sweet thing about my daily life.
I shrug this away, refusing to think about something like that - I mean, there's no chance of it happening; her head's too full of Kaname Bloody Kuran to even look twice at me. God, why do I even care? Jeez, I need a shower to at least clear my head. I walk across the room and down the corridor, hands stuffed in pockets with my usual slouch, and I push the bathroom door open with my shoulder. I hear the sound of plastic bottles dropping and rolling as if someone had tried to shove them back on a shelf too quickly, and then Yuki goes falling to the floor as she tries to catch them.
"You're such a klutz," I roll my eyes at her, picking her up with one arm and setting her back on her feet.
"You're such a jerk," she replies shrewdly, pouting cockily in that way she does when she thinks she's made a really good comeback. I sigh, bending to my knees and retrieving the bottle of shampoo she'd knocked off just before I came in.
"Changing the setting for your daily scolding, then?" I ask, keeping hold of the bottle as I start picking my tie loose. She looks at me confusedly - like always, the poor fool - and I let out a snort of laughter. "The bathroom; my, how exotic." It looks like she's cottoned on, but there's no real way to tell with Yuki.
She rolls her big brown eyes but steps forward and hugs me.
"Night, Zero," she says in that sweet little voice of hers, her grip tightening a little as I pat her cropped brown head. "Sleep well - I'll see you in the morning, okay?"
"Not if I see you first."
"Oh, I really hope you don't," she giggles, but before I can question her she's off like a rabbit. I can hear her giggling all the way down the corridor to her room, and I'm just wondering what on earth that was all about. Probably nothing - something girly, no doubt. I really don't understand how the other gender functions...
I shrug, deciding to put off my education of the female species and its habits for another day, and slide my tie from around my neck so it slips to the ground. I crick my neck from side to side as I drop my blazer on the floor, unbuttoning my waistcoat and shirt.
Uurgh, so many layers!
It's immensely liberating once they're all off, hearing the rapid pattering of water spurting from the showerhead. It's freezing when I first step in, but it's not like I can't handle it - I've had much worse happen to me.
Feeling the water break over my head, beating against my aching neck and rolling down my shoulders, is amazing. And it's so quiet - no screaming girls, no Chairman (need I say more on that front) and no damn Purebloods giving me a hard time. At the thought of Kuran I can't help but bridle, as the water begins the finally heat up - bit of a cruel coincidence, really. The thought of him really does make my blood boil, though. The way he's treating Yuki is bad enough, in my eyes - like a little kid but also like a woman he wants to win - but on top of that there is what he is; a vampire. Not even stopping there, he's a Pureblood - the creature that turns your very blood black within you and makes you into one of them.
I grit my teeth, fists clenched as the water continues to pound over me. It's like a lease for my anger, the aggression that's slowly building up inside me each day that I have to keep up this damn facade of politeness towards the bastard so Yuki won't flare up on me again.
Well, at least I didn't look ridiculous while doing so...
I crick my neck a few more times, a little more violently than before, reaching for the shampoo bottle I'd brought in with me.
It was a lurid sort of pink colour and smelled like strawberries - no doubt some new brand Yuki had bought. Bloody women and their cosmetics...
Screw it all, it's still shampoo; I muss it up through my hair, feeling it drip down my back. Still, if I have to smell like bloomin' strawberries for the next few days...
I let it settle in my hair for a moment, rubbing my right hand against a few knotted muscles on my shoulder. After a day of vigorous writing - and thereafter target practice with Bloody Rose - as well as shoving back the over excitable girls of the Day Class really works up a strain. My fingers are also stiff, and I wring them out as I hold my head beneath the faucet.
I keep my eyes closed, not noticing the water running a shade of puce down the drain.
Shaking my head, I press my fingers to my eyes and rub them wearily before shutting off the water. I can't quite suppress a yawn as I grope around for a towel, wrapping it around my waist before picking up my clothes. With the condensation fogging up the mirror I can't see my reflection, but I'm barely even bothered to wipe it away.
I pull open the bathroom door and walk to my room, opposite Yuki's. I dump my clothes in their usual bedraggled pile on the floor, but take care to extricate Bloody Rose and place her on my bedside table. Rose is one of my few treasured possessions, always left beside the picture of me and Yuki in our first year. Other than those two things, the final one is a neck-chain and tooth that Ichiru got me to celebrate our eleventh birthday which I haven't taken off in years.
Throwing on a pair of bed trousers, I brusquely dry my hair with the towel and leave it hanging over a chair - it's not as if it's going anywhere - before slumping myself onto bed and scratching absently at my Hunter's Mark. It always gets a little hot and itchy at night, and I noticed lately that it starts glowing - just a little bit. Probably to make Level D's more visible to the Hunters.
I hate having it.
It's like a reminder of that night.
Every time I see my reflection, it's almost as if it's there to say - remember that time when your parents died? And remember Shizuka, and the way she bit you? Oh, and don't forget that your brother was abducted, either!
I grumpily roll onto my side and stare at the wall, heart pumping.
It takes a while for me to calm down - no revelation in that - but when I do I realise just how exhausted I really am. In almost no time at all I'm asleep, blankly and without dreaming. Like every night.
Unless it's a nightmare.
They were becoming ever more frequent.
And more frightening.
It seemed like I'd only been asleep for a few minutes when a bright beam of sunlight shone across my face through a crack in the curtains. A grim look through one peevish eye at my alarm clock told me it was just past a quarter to seven.
So early...
Stupid summer and its early starts.
Knowing I probably wouldn't get back to sleep again - and hearing Yuki's tuneless hum while cooking what sounded like bacon as it sizzled in a pan - I swing my legs out of bed and stand while stretching my arms and cricking my neck. It's always so satisfying, first thing in the morning. I pick up my plain white shirt from the floor and pull my arms through the sleeves, leaving it unbuttoned as I meander almost aimlessly from the room and down the corridor.
"Morning," I say as I enter the kitchen area of the dorms I shared with Yuki and her 'father'. Until then she hadn't heard me coming, and for a moment it looked as though she'd had a fit. Slowly she turned, and I saw her face was split in a euphoric sort of grin with her eyes wide as a child in a particularly extravagant candy shop. I frown at her, perching on a kitchen cabinet. "What?"
She doesn't reply, only starting to giggle madly. I question her again, and her giggles become wild cackles of laughter. She's clapping her hands, rocking back and forth, until finally she points at my face. Frown intensifying, I pushed off from the counter and walked to the bathroom. I bent so I was able to see into the Yuki-height mirror, and was struck dumb by my own appearance.
"Yuki, I'm going to kill you," I hissed, turning away from my pink-haired mirrored counterpart and wrenching open the door.
"I got yooouuu!" she giggled, and before I could reach for her she had flung her arms around mine and had begun trying to pinion them to my sides.
Fat chance, I was way stronger than her.
In an instant, she was the one at my mercy - on the floor beneath me, still giggling frantically.
"You have no idea how much I hate you right now."
"I love you, too, Zero!"
"You dyed my hair pink!"
"I know. It really suits you."
"I hate you."
"I love you."
"I hate you so much."
"Oh, shut up, you love me really. See - your face has gone all pink, too!"