Chapter 1

3:39 AM. A typical weekday night led itself to be the night used for Zero Kiryu's departure into the unknown.

Long after the Cross Academy Disciplinary Committee patrol duties had finished, Zero had allowed himself a three-hour nap period, which had now elapsed completely. His alarm clock, buried under his pillow to stifle the noise, rang that shrill shriek as he hurriedly rushed to silence it.

Removing the bed covers and stepping down onto the carpeted floor, he groped along in the dark for his clothes and shoes so as not to wake anybody by making use of a light bulb. A slight stumble occurred and a whispered distress noise brushed past his lips as he made a slight injury to his toe whilst walking in the dark hallway of the boys' dormitory.

Reaching the outside, the boy of about 17 ran quickly yet diligently on soft step, until he reached the tree that led to the balcony of the headmaster's office. Using the door was not an option, as it was locked at this hour. Even if it were not locked, the opening and closing of doors at this hour was sure to cause a row in the building.

Recognizing this as his only option, the somewhat physically fit vampiric boy leapt silently onto a low tree branch, using his hands and feet diligently until he reached a point that the tree was high enough to reach the balcony, which he then established a footing on.

The only sound to escape from this ordeal was the hushed panting of the boy, and tree leaf rustles.

Taking not a moment more to waste, Zero Kiryu pulled open the glass window of the headmaster's office, which had carelessly been left slightly ajar, most likely to cool it off with outside breeze.

Luckily Headmaster Kaien Cross was asleep in his quarters and so he was not in at the moment. Zero breathed an internal sigh of relief, but he knew it was risky to stay there too long. He located the desk drawer he needed, opened it and swiftly snagged the wallet of the rich owner, founder, and headmaster of Cross Academy.

Cross Academy, a name he wished to soon forget; to never have to hear that despicable name uttered again.

With this hope on his mind, Zero diligently crawled out of the window and, without another thought, jumped off of the 15-foot balcony.

He hit the ground with a crash, but he'd had enough experience chasing delinquent Day Class girls during patrols that he knew how to land well, without a scratch, from a high place such as this.

He got up and made a mental note that he'd completed phase one of the operation. The next thing he did was make a trip on foot to the town's primary banking company, where he'd made a previous arrangement by telephone that there would be someone there at precisely 3:56 AM to complete a transaction that would be necessary in later phases of his operation.

By the time he had left town, it was 4:05 AM and he was making good time. In less than two hours, the sun would be up and he would be beyond reach of anyone at the academy, or anyone in town for that matter, or even anyone in the entire country.

Zero Kiryu, the mischievous boy who couldn't see the future past his nose (or so the academy girls gossiped) had completed the critical first stages of his plan and was en route to a new beginning for himself.

As he took a seat in the cramped commercial airplane he breathed a sigh of relief that he had come so far in just under thirty minutes. Using the banking card found in the wallet, the Kiryu boy had withdrawn a bulk of the money from the headmaster's savings account, and most of the funds in his checking account as well, but had left enough money so as to be discreet about his mission. (The headmaster had so much vast wealth that he wouldn't even notice the two-million dollars extracted from his account, but it would definitely be enough for Kiryu to buy an aviation ticket and get started on his voyage.)

I have finally done it… he told himself in a sigh of relief as he was traveling through the skies in the bright sunrise in this brand new (and not to mention incredibly expensive) mode of transportation. He looked out the window at the rising sun's reflection on the clouds. The sun's peachy rays glowing radiantly beyond the white puffs of cloud and fog in the sky looked just like one would imagine heaven to be, and Zero Kiryu felt like he was in heaven as he soared away from his past.