Things are not always what they seem
Prologue: Vampires suck, literally
XxXxXx
I don't like vampires. Wait, no that's to light a term. I hate vampires. No, not because they would try to drink my blood until I'm dead or that I'm afraid of them. I just don't like them. Period. No matter how good-looking, sweet, or nice, I don't like them.
Why you ask? Well it started when I was five. No, a vampire didn't try to drink my blood, and no I wasn't viciously attacked by one. In fact, I had never even met one. Well, little old orphan me, was without any parents. Yeah, I had parents but I didn't see them enough times in the year to call them parents. And would you like to know why? Well, my insensitive and uncaring parents found vampires more fascinating then I was! I mean, what's so great about some thing that would happily drink from your neck if you let it? It was either cute, big brown eyed me, or a pack of vicious vampires who liked eating people. Yeah, my parents are thrillers.
They're not dead yet, either. Because every holiday I still get one of those cheesy postcards that they send.
So while my parents went off vampire studying, they left five year old me with my mom's crazy sister, who'd rather go off to some foreign country to eat turtle legs then take care of five year old who had temperament problems.
So for the next ten years of my life, I grew up in a small house with my aunt, who was an animal freak. She had five dogs, three birds, and a couple of fish. I home schooled until my aunt decided that I was needed a new outlook on life. She sure was quick in telling me to pack everything that was important to me (excluding the cheesy postcards), and giving me a train ticket, the school brochure, and an envelope I wasn't supposed to open until I got to the school. And to add to all that, one of her fish, who died within twenty minutes of the train ride.
To make things easier on both me and the fish, I pitched him out the train window when the attendant wasn't looking. I hope he has a nice time in fish heaven, and if not I guess somebody down there is having a nice serving of mini fish sticks.
Being on a train full of adults was boring, so I pulled the school brochure out of my backpack. Cross Academy was what it said. It was fancily put together. I've come to understand that when a school's brochure is really nice, usually the school isn't that great. I scanned through the first few pages, looked at the dorms, classrooms, and the extremely cute uniform I wouldn't mind wearing. I stared down at my blonde locks, and then at the color of the uniform. Black would clash with it, but the white would go perfectly. So you got to choose your uniform color? I assumed you could, since there were two on the page.
After a while, the brochure got pretty boring to and I did the one thing that I wasn't able to do straight through for ten years. And that was sleep! Oh yeah, five dogs and three birds can make a lot of noise! Yelling shut up at three in the morning had become a daily habit for me.
But of course a train ride is bumpy so that ruined everything.
xXxXx
Despite my discomfort, I miraculously found a way to sleep. It wasn't very long, at least not to me, because it seemed that the second I closed my eyes the attendant was gently shaking my shoulder telling me that the train ride was over.
When I finally came to, walked out of the train, I must've been a sight! People were staring at me as if I had two heads or something! Shrugging, I stifled a yawn and headed for the information desk to ask where I could find my luggage. It was then that I realized that I had to use the bathroom.
The bathroom wasn't hard to find, and the moment I entered at glanced at myself in the mirror I knew why people stared at me so strangely. I had dried drool on the side of my mouth, my hair was tousled up, my clothes were wrinkled, and my eyes were really red. And I was supposed to go to Cross Academy looking like the thing that just wouldn't die? I had way much more pride then that!
You see one thing about me is that I always try to be prepared. I had known my aunts strange antics ever since I started living with her, and when you live with a person like her you'd best be prepared!
So I went ahead and used the bathroom. After that I took my backpack off and grabbed my brush, eye drops, lip gloss, and a pair of jeans. It only took me ten minutes to spruce myself up a bit, so much that I would look decent. Shoving my wrinkled skirt, brush, eye drops, and lip gloss back in my backpack, I headed out the door probably looking like a totally different person.
I headed towards the information desk. A lady with large blue eyes looked up at me politely. I handed her my ticket and told her that I wanted my luggage. She merely smiled at me.
"It's already been picked up Ms. Alice, if I may call you that." She said my name as if we would be seeing each other very soon.
I slightly frowned. "Picked up already? By who?" I didn't mean to sound rude, it just bothered me that I wasn't aware of where my things were. Over the years I had become very touchy when it came to things that were mine.
"By that handsome, young gentleman over there." The lady pointed over to a guy with silver hair shading his eyes in the shadows. And low and behold my two bags were right beside of him.
I suddenly became very terse. "May I have my ticket back?"
The lady nodded, "Here you go, Miss. Alice."
I took it. "Thank you…and please just call me Alice. Miss Alice makes me sound older then I really am." She was acting as if I would see her again so why not correct her the first time?
Her blue eyes twinkled. "Have a nice day, Alice."
I didn't tell her nice day back. Instead, with a look of dominance, I headed over to the guy who thought he had the right to claim my luggage. What made it even more annoying was that I didn't even notice him, when I had probably passed him.
The moment I got into one foot of him, I snapped. "Excuse me, who are you and why do you have my stuff?"
It took him a minute to answer. "You are Alice Kurusu, correct?" He didn't look up at me and I didn't like that. I liked to look at people directly when I spoke to them.
"Yeah, I am but that doesn't answer my question!" I had my hands on my hips by then. If we went to step two, I would fold my hands disapprovingly. Most of the time, when I came across a guy who gave my trouble, we never went past step three.
The guy who was really starting to get on my nerves sighed at me. "If you want answers you have to follow me, besides we're running low on time." Now I was starting to get on his nerves and that was perfectly fine with me.
"I'm on no schedule at all, buddy! So if you'd like to get moving you'd better start talking." If he refused I would move on to step two. And that's when it gets funny, or at least, to me it gets funny.
He sighed again, and this time finally looked up at me. He gave me this look of unimportance, but I still heard exactly what I wanted to hear. "My name is Zero Kiryu, I go to the school that you should be arriving at in the next ten minutes, if you'd like to check for identification here it is." He took some sort of name tag out of his pocket, and threw it to me. I smiled satisfyingly; he had read my mind.
I looked over it, then at him, and just to get over his nerves I exaggerated my check. Walking closer, I looked at the name tag and then circled him about six times, looking him up and down. I finally stopped in front of him, with my lips pursed. I was trying so hard not to laugh.
"Hm, I don't know. The guy in this picture looks a bit more like a sadistic killer who lures young girls into his lair where he kills them, stuffs their heads, and then puts them on his trophy shelf so he can show his friends…what do you thing Zero?"
Maybe it was the fact that I had made myself sound like a complete and total idiot, or the look of annoyance on Zero's face that finally broke my façade. I burst out laughing, while Zero merely shook his head and told me to follow him. And I did because I think I had caused him enough trouble for one day.
When we got near the exit I saw a girl with brown hair and brown eyes. She was standing in front of a carriage type thing, and she had a big smile on her face. I really didn't know why she was smiling so much, there's nothing exceptionally happy about me.
"Okay, I get it…the welcoming committee…" I murmured to myself, as we got close enough that I could hear her talking to Zero about something I didn't care about. She turned to me.
"Hi! My name is Yuki Cross, I'm a prefect and I will be your guide for Cross Academy!" She stuck out a slender hand towards me and I shook it. As Zero was putting my stuff inside the carriage thing, she moved closer to me and whispered,
"Zero didn't give you any trouble did he?"
I grinned and shook my head no. It had been the other way around, but of course I wasn't going to tell her that.
XxXxX (I noted that they both have their uniforms on.)
Yuki was very chatty when we were riding towards the Academy. Not in a bad way, though. She was very friendly, and made you think that there is nothing wrong in the whole world. And of course when a person is that chirpy, you know something very deep and interesting is going on. I would find out soon enough.
Zero seemed very bored, and I guessed that it was because he heard her talk all the time. He wasn't the friendliest person that I had ever met, but I knew that if you wanted to vent out or just annoy a person, he was just the one to do it on.
And then there was me, the blond brown eyed girl who looked out the window while chatty Yuki talked and bored Zero tried to ignore us. When looking at nothing but green vegetation got really boring I started listening to Yuki again. And that's when I noticed what seemed to be a choker on her neck.
"I like your choker." I told her, with a smile.
I had expected her to start smiling again and then start gushing about where she got it and why she got it, but instead she got this solemn look on her face and then told me thank you, as she gently touched it.
Although I didn't show it, I was frowning on the inside. That was really strange. I mean, her reaction was way off and suddenly she because really out of character. Either I was giving it to much thought, or something really was going on.
She started conversation again, and this time I joined her. I told her a little bit about myself, excluding the, I hate vampires part. I didn't see any reason to tell her. There shouldn't be any vampires where I was going, so I didn't tell her.
Suddenly we stopped and I knew we were there. I took no time in jumping out first. Stretching, I took a deep breath and then I ran up to the school gates. It then dawned on me that I still had to open the envelope my aunt gave to me.
It wasn't hard to find in my backpack, and except for a couple crumpled edges it was fine. As I looked in it, I saw a note, a picture, and some money. My curiosity bubbled over and I grabbed the picture first. My heart skipped a few beats when I saw the guy! He was gorgeous, and I had a picture of him? I turned the picture over to the back and saw the name written in perfect script, Kaname Kuran.
Putting the picture back in she got the note and started reading it.
Alice, hello! If you're reading this you must already be at the Academy. And if you're not stop reading!! Anyway, I bet you're wondering just what the heck I'm thinking right? Sending you away after such short notice? You should be used to it by now, but still. Remember when I told you, you needed a whole new outlook on life? That's one reason, and the other is that you're on a mission!! Isn't that just so crappy to hear? Yeah, I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. I knew you wouldn't go if I did tell you so I didn't. So, you need a new outlook on life and you're on a mission. That explains the picture (try not to drool too much). You see, your parents gave me the picture and told me to give it to you. They wanted me to send you to Cross Academy so you could get more information on Mr. Kaname Kuran. Why? Well I don't know why, but since you're going to Cross Academy from now on you should be able to find out. When you do, please send me a letter explaining it. Since you're going to be gone, I'm going to need a good laugh. Always brush your teeth before and after you eat, don't talk to strangers don't spend all your money on buying voodoo dolls of your parents, and don't forget to feed Kaori (the fish)!
By the time I had finished reading the letter, I wasn't sure if I should bang my head against the gate or hightail it back to the train station and buy another ticket home. In the end I didn't have a choice because Yuki was beside me and she was opening the gate. Zero was right beside us.
The moment I stepped inside, I felt a strange presence. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was because there was nobody outside. It was like we were the only people there at all.
"Classes don't start yet, so it's kind of quiet." Yuki said. She was now the one who was holding my bags. "Come on, I'll show you the dorms." She smiled at me, glanced at Zero, and then back at me.
"Zero can you please tell dad that I picked Alice up?" She asked him. He nodded and then turned in the other direction. For some reason I don't think he accepted because he wanted to, but because he wanted to get away.
Yuki showed the dorms, my room to be specific. Apparently I'm going to be alone because the bed beside mine was already made and the room held no signs of anybody living in it.
"So I'm going to be a loner while I stay here?" I asked Yuki good-naturedly. She shook her head and lowered her voice. "We have another transfer coming in tomorrow. And that will be your room mate."
I nodded. "I think I can take one night out here alone."
Yuki grinned. "If you need any company my room is just four doors down."
I was about to tell her that noise wasn't an option, but I paused, suddenly remembering my uniform of choice. "Yuki, regarding the uniforms, do you mind if I get the white one?"
"Hm? Oh, sorry but those are for the Night Class students." Yuki suddenly walked over to the window, gesturing that I follow her. As we looked out, she pointed to a building that was right beside where we had classes.
"That's where the student vampires stay."
At first I thought she was kidding, but when she started talking about when her father decided to let vampires enroll into the school, I knew she was dead serious. And that was when I froze.
This time, Yuki noticed that I wasn't paying attention, that I was just staring straight ahead, not moving a muscle, with no facial expression. She reaches for my arm to try to wake me, but I start laughing before she can.
I laugh because of my idiot parents, my idiot aunt, her idiot fish, idiot vampires, and idiot me. I don't stop, I just laugh until my stomach starts to hurt and then I start to cry. No not tears of joy, pain, or anything else. Their just tears with no emotion.
Yuki didn't know what to make of my random emotional breakdown. I could tell by the way she looked at me. She watched me as I laughed and cried at the same time. And I knew what she was thinking.
And just as quickly as I started to laugh/cry I stopped. I sighed and wiped my face with the back of my hand. I walked over to my bed sat down, I pat the seat that was beside me and gestured Yuki to sit. And she does.
So I told her my story because I couldn't hold it in any longer. I told her about my hate for vampires, my parents and how they dumped me with my aunt, and about the fish that died. But I didn't tell her about my "mission". That was one thing I'd like to keep secret.
I end with telling my name. "Hello, my name is Alice Kurusu. Nice to meet you Yuki Cross."
And she smiled and said. "I know."
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I hope you enjoyed!