Chapter 1: Late Arrival

Aura Kaibara sighed wearily and went faster on her bike, her long black hair blowing behind her. Keeping her blue eyes fixed on the road. Releasing a sound similar to thunder and quickly she sped down the streets towards the academy and away from the life she had left behind. She came to a screeching halt at the side gates and was stunned to already find it still open. Aura cut the engine and got off the motorcycle.

A looming shadow made Aura blink as in front of her a large building towered over her. It was dark somehow in the sunset yet magnificent all the same. Its structure captivated her with a mysterious beauty that was unknown to her. From the dorms; there seemed to be two dorms on opposite's sides of each other. They must have been the moon dorms and the sun dorms she heard so much about.

"Such a huge school." she muttered as she took off her helmet, shaking her hair out. Aura stared up at Cross Academy and it stared back down at her. So far getting here today was a pain in the ass. It took her forever to find this place. You think this place would be easy to find since it's so big but it didn't seem that way on the directions. It was like it didn't even want to be found and Aura had a pretty good idea as to why that is. Vampires.

Aura picked up her belongings and drew near the main iron gates, and walked on. An odd chill hit her. She rubbed her arms and walked a bit faster. She kept getting an odd feeling like someone was following her.

Or something…Aura's voice said in her head.

Making a side way glance behind her at all directions. She sighed heavily, forcing herself to relax. Reminding herself that she was safe, and that nothing was going to happen to her here. At least she hoped not.

Aura shook her head and scowled heavily. "You're losing it, Aura," she muttered to herself as she flicked the cigarette to the ground, and quickly walked away, not once looking behind her.

A figure from the trees above watched her, head tilted to the side as it watched the mysterious girl walk away. And the figure eventually disappeared.

Too distracted by the schedule in hand she didn't hear the sounds of squealing and screaming girls in the distance. She walked briskly down the pathway to the moon dorms, arms full of luggage. Face concentrating on the piece of paper in hand as her legs carried her.

"I was supposed to be here hours ago." She sighed. She would have to hurry and take her luggage to the dorms, drop them off, at this rate she would be late for her first day of class. Aura laughed bitterly. No, her first night class. But who was she to complain? Her life had been nothing but darkness. That's all her life was. Not until he came.

Without paying attention, she had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't realize anyone approaching her. There was a thud! She bumped into something completely solid and utterly big. In a heartbeat articles of paper flew in every which direction, as she stumbled and fell backwards, but before she could meet the hard ground, two firm and muscular arms caught her.

Looking up, red faced and furiously angry. "Hey! Watch where you're…" She trailed, mouth open as the being in front of stared down at her. His eyes. She couldn't get the thought out of her head. Chocolate brown orbs that shone. He had the most majestic brown eyes she has ever seen. Brown hair. It looked good on him and the facial features of a god! Beautiful. She mused. Even with a frown. She came back to these bright, beautiful eyes. They were on her, and they looked irritated.

But something didn't seem right. Aura's eyes turned fearful. That scent. Aura froze. Pureblood.

"No…" She whispered in disbelief, fear in her eyes.

In a flash Aura roughly pushed away recoiling in fear of the pureblood, "Get away from me!" Aura shouted in fear, her arms wrapped around herself, her black locks covered her face and eyes from view backing away from the pureblood slowly, "N-No…it couldn't be you're the…"

Pureblood…. Aura's voice rang in her head.

She was shocked for a second before she soon found herself regained her composure back. His presence alone was enough to tell her that he was a powerful pureblood beyond anything she had ever seen.

Scowling and snarled out, "Watch it! I had papers and luggage in my hands, and you could have moved!" She was tense held up a strong front, except her voice was trembling and nervousness was obviously intact. "Thanks a lot, you jerk!" Cute, but a pureblood.

He stared at the girl as she looked at him in a defiant sort of way. She wore a woolly blue pea coat hung to her knees, with black pants that fitted, sticking out under it were brown laced boots. She was tall-string-bean skinny, an oval-shaped olive face. Hair framed her face then fanned out down from her back in black locks, and a motorcycle helmet at her side. The pureblood had never seen anyone so disorderly. She looked moody and self centered. Where had she come from? She couldn't be an Aristocrat - they acted dignified - yet she was utterly unlike anyone he had ever known.

Without a word she looked at the pureblood, glaring at him with a haughty expression. Looking into those dark blue eyes, that held something... He could see that the girl was different in a scary kind of way. Those eyes had a look of, hate and resentment.

"My apologies." The words fell from his lips like honey both bitter and sweet. He held an emotionless façade and Aura could tell he was not being genuine. His smile was fake. It was just a farce to put in front of the human day class girls so they wouldn't attract too much attention. The pureblood seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't put his finger on it.

Both of them oblivious to the attention they were beginning to attract, Aura kept arguing in the middle of the walkway. The other vampires were too stunned to even speak. None of them, even his own kind, wouldn't even dare to talk that way to him. Except for Zero of course, but that was nothing new. Although the human girls did not stop them from swooning over each night class student they adored, they were all looking at it as if it was a lover's quarrel, boy, were they wrong.

"Kyah! Get a room!" a day class girl yelled within the crowed. The two looked around noticing that people were starring at them, in fact all of them were. Silenced by the comment suggesting they sleep together, Aura began to gather her stuff up quickly.

The pureblood saw the scattered out belongings as well, and bent down to pick up. "Here you go," he said, holding them out.

If it was anyone but him she probably would have been grateful.

Aura groaned in annoyance. "Hey, what are you doing! I don't want your help!" she said angrily, picking her stuff up faster only leaving one left. She bent over to pick it up off of the ground, but before she could the familiar hand of the person that she had ran into took it before she had gotten to it. "Hey you asshole, I'm talking to you!" she stomped.

"Aura Kaibara..." he read, when Aura gave him a glare. "Night class," he muttered, he knew who she was, and he was expecting her to arrive the night before. Wondering why she was so late upon arrival. "You're the new student?" he asked.

"So what?" she muttered.

She didn't have to tell him-he already knew.

Aura frowned, feeling anger course through her body. "Did I say you could read that?" she growled matter-of-factly, snatching the paper from him.

The pureblood gave a sigh. "Point taken, now why are you late?" he asked in his usual monotone voice.

Aura looked down, and then growled. "... It's none of your business," she said, turning away. "Who are you to question me?!" Before she could think any further, a shout rang out.

"How dare you talk like that to Kaname-sama!" A girl's voice yelled in alarm.

Her heart stopped beating altogether, "Kaname?!"

So this is the pureblood Dorm President, Kaname Kuran?

"You better know your place" she spoke more loudly, stepping forward out of the crowed of white uniforms.

Aura looked at the girl.

She was a rather dull looking young female vampire. She had pale hair that fell in waves down to her waist. Her eyes were a few shades darker than her hair, making them deep brown. She also had the same pale, creamy skin tone that every vampire seemed to possess.

To someone like Aura she looked almost brave. Almost.

"Damn, shut up." she bit back, rubbing her ear.

Aura had enough of this girl's mouth already.

The girl gasped, while the others hid their chuckles behind their hands.

Aura's blue eyes then widened when she saw and realized who they were.

It was a group of vampires. Aura had a clue that these were the vampires of the night class.

"Who the hell is that…? Is she a new student or something," The blond vampire said and made his way to Aura, standing just beside the one named Kaname standing over her and he had this dark smile on his face as he looked at her.

The boy was lean and muscular, his hair blonde and messy, his face chiseled of that of an obnoxious child with a set of ice blue eyes and he was slightly tall. He wore a white uniform. He looked to be a bit of a womanizer as he held the human girls close to him, blowing kisses their way as they would faint below his feet.

"Hehe Idol-senpai!" The human day class girls giggled and gave the blonde a wave.

"Who are you…?" Aidou asked his voice low and husky.

Aura's eyes widened and the guy smirked, thinking he had some kind of effect on her. Her eyes then narrowed and she then said, "Who the hell are you, and why are you in my personal space?"

Aura didn't like this guy, he smelled like Axe and he wore a weird smile. Everything about him screamed douchebag, and she hated douchebags.

The smile was wiped from his face and the guy looked confused. Aidou's eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend. "Kaname-sama who is she?" he asked, annoyance laced in his voice.

Aura scoffed and glared at Aidou. "My name is none your business, who the hell are you?" she asked, moving away from the boy by the name of Aidou, getting into Aura's face.

"Aidou, conduct yourself accordingly." Kaname ordered.

"Yes Dorm President Kuran." he said, glaring at Aura.

"Good evening Kaname-sama." Seiren bowed. Kaname nodded and turned his head toward Aura who was confused at the unexpected arrival of Kaname's assistant slash body guard. "I came right away seeing as your arrival was delayed. Now, I understand why…" Seiren's voice trailed off glancing momentarily at Aura." Her gaze directed back to Kaname."Are you well, your —"

"Seiren, escort the new student to the moon dorms." Kaname ordered, interrupting Seiren much to Aura's displeasure.

The female vampire named Seiren nodded clearly not affected by the cut off as she was, "Yes, Kaname-sama. Consider it done." Seiren bowed.

"That won't be necessary." Aura shook her head.

Kaname turned out to be as she thought. He was a dark and dangerous being, who used others for his own gain. Not to mention that the academy itself was owned by the Kuran family. They were prancing around humans using the disguise of a simple school as their cover to hide the shady shit they did.

He turned and smiled. "Very well, then I expect you in class when your through settling in." Without another word, he left.

Aura thought heavily over those words. Look at him, already telling her what to do.

He was considered their leader. Her leader. All just because he was a pureblood. And a great example of that of her hatred towards. Aura would rather die before she would ever accept him as her superior. Preferably Kaname-sama. Purebloods were the root of all evil. One thing Aura learned throughout life's lessons was that never let someone tell you how you're supposed to live your life. But, she decided to take his advice just this once.

Ruka came up behind Aura, pushing her out of the way, flipping her hair over her shoulders while tossing her a glare before following Kaname with the rest of the vampires.

Aura's expression went hard. She met Ruka's gaze.

"Bitch," Aura hissed, turning away heaving a sigh of relief when the vampires left.

A piece of paper was suddenly thrust in front of her face. A pale tall boy with a black uniform had gathered her papers up from the ground as a dark scowl formed on his face. He pushed the papers more at her impatiently for her to take. "Take it."

"Thank you." Aura's voice was a whisper as she picked up her papers. He was looking at her with an air of such powerful dislike and distrust that it looked like he hated her. He was a vampire like her. She could sense it on him just like she had on the others but why was he wearing a day class uniform...

Aura stopped to stare at him. "You're just like them yet…"

The boy looked at her, after she had spoken, his brows raised, dusky purple eyes widening for a split-second. But then he shook his head, silver hair spilling across his handsome face as he looked away and strode down the walkway. "I'm nothing like them."

"Zero! That was rude!" A brown haired girl said chasing after the silver haired vampire.

"That's the last time I do something you ask me to do!" Zero yelled back over his shoulder.

"Zero!" The brown haired girl sighed and turned back around to face Aura with a bright smile. "Um... sorry about Zero. He can be really mean sometimes. Ah, here! Let me help you with that." Yuki offered but Aura declined the offer and smiled.

"It's okay. You don't have to trouble yourself."

"Are you sure?" Yuki asked.

"No. I insist. I'll just take this to moon dorms to keep it safe until the night classes are over."

Yuki gasped, "Eh? Your a vampire?"

"Yeah. You know about vampires?"

"Will explain everything in the Chairman's office," Yuki said. But before Aura could ask why the prefect explained. "It's just a standard procedure."

Aura nodded. "Oh, thank you." her shoulder's rose as if impatient yet reluctantly followed Yuki who came to the Headmaster office; Yuki chatted the rest of the way noting Aura was not very talkative. Yuki didn't seem to mind though.

Yuki opened a door into an office. Aura entered after her and the white haired boy was already there leaning against the wall. He watched her like a hawk as if waiting for her to make one wrong move. "Is it okay for her to be here?" Zero asked.

"I guess will see..." the man in the chair said.

"You wanted to speak to me, Chairman?" Aura asked.

"So, this is our new student..." A man with a ponytail, sitting behind the desk in front of the windows. He spun around in his chair. "Good evening. The reason I asked you here is because I needed to talk to you." He stood up and came over to her. "Please, come in." The Chairman smiled.

Aura nodded. "Thank you."

"I didn't think you would arrive so late. I apologize if there were any confusion regarding the directions that were sent to you." The Headmaster said, giving a friendly smile to Aura. "Now, before we begin. My name is Kaien Cross. I am the chairman of Cross Academy, this is my daughter Yuki Cross, and this is my son Zero Kiryuu. They'll be juniors this spring just like you."

Aura bowed respectfully, "I am pleased to be your acquaintance."

"No need to be so formal," Kaien smiled.

Aura shifted on her feet. "Sure." she answered him, avoiding Zero's gaze, not even daring to glance over at him. She hadn't looked in Zero's direction since their last encounter. But Aura couldn't ignore him any longer when he spoke up.

"...Who is she?" Zero asked, still wary of her presence.

Aura blushed because she forgot to introduce herself. "This is Aura Kaibara. Obviously she is a vampire, a new student to the night class. Her assignment here is a little late in the year but she will be moving into the moon dorms as of today." The Kaien said.

They looked at her in amusement, Aura was suspecting that maybe they're going to ask something related to her name, but it wasn't even close to that.

"Would you care for a drink?" Kaien asked in delight as he led her to the desk and offered a blood table, Aura accepted out-of-modesty.

That is alright, Chairman." Aura smiled as she took a sip from her drink. "This is delightful."

The Kaien smiled and bowed at her. "Thank you, Kaibara-san for the complement." The man smiled, "Now let's begin. As you know, this school aims to promote harmony between humans and vampires such as yourself. To protect the human students, however, we have a two-class system. The Day Class is all human and is educated during the day. The Night Class is the vampire class and is educated at night," the Chairman explained.

Aura nodded.

"Now, all of the Night Class students are aristocratic vampires (level B vampires) except for one, Kaname Kuran, who is a Pureblood. He's in charge of the Night Class as dorm president. If you have any concerns, questions, or problems involving the dorm please consult Kaname. Feel free to visit him any time."

Aura's whole body seemed to stiffen at the mention of the Purebloods name.

"Kaibara, you are the first and only level C vampire to enter Cross Academy. The others might take it as a shock at first, but I'm sure you will all get along just fine. The Night Class is all very friendly."

"I'm sure it will be fine." Aura muttered hotly clutching her fist tight as she spoke. Very friendly indeed! Aura thought sarcastically.

"Now, in the school, we have Guardians, also known as the Disciplinary Committee. They patrol the Academy and ensure that the Classes are staying where they're supposed to be. The Night Class must stay in the Moon Dormitory except for walking to and from lessons. This rule is strictly enforced, Aura. I ask you to please stay within the Moon Dormitory boundaries. Don't bite anyone. And for mostly, do not take blood from anyone. I don't have to remind you that I give leeway here because I respect my students, but if you abuse the freedom I give, I will take it away."

That statement was almost funny to someone like Aura. "You don't have to worry; I'd never do that, Chairman." Aura is ex-human. She learned to adapt. She didn't respect those who took someone's blood without their permission. Aura knew that all too well. Her human life was stolen from her as a child. It's not something she'd want to go through again and it's not something she'd wish upon anyone, ever.

Aura clenched her eyes tight in an attempt to forget the painful memories of a life she had spent years trying to forget, to vanquish the nightmare of his lips against her neck, fangs piercing her skin. Aura shook her head as hair fell across her face and attempted to concentrate on the Chairman's words.

"The Day Class students are not allowed anywhere near the Moon Dormitories and must stay inside after dark. This rule is more troublesome for the Guardians, as Day Class students are rather…infatuated with the Night Class. So please be patient and kind to any admirers that you may have."

Aura nodded at this, "So that's why there were screaming girls."

"Cross Yuki and Zero Kiryuu are the Guardians," the Chairman continued, "You will do well to keep in mind, that I expect you to be a good student, Kaibara. I expect this...skipping class, not returning to the dorms before curfew, and drinking blood on school grounds is strictly forbidden and will result in removal from the Academy. Zero, and Yuki are very well capable to, take care of any vampire who disregards the rules. And you know that to stay in the Academy there are academic expectations you must uphold."

Aura gave a nod that she understood.

Kaien coughed, "Your living accommodations have already been arranged and will be living on the third floor. Your belongings should already be there. That's all I have to say. I hope you have a wonderful school year." The Chairman turned to Yuki. "Yuki, please give Aura a tour of the school grounds."

Yuki nodded. "Hai, I'll show you the way. Follow me."

Aura bowed, and followed Yuki. Zero remained leaning against the wall with glaring eyes following her form.

Yuki led Aura through a maze of corridors and courtyards, and there were barely words to do the place justice. Swirling rose stems, thorns and leaves and flowers, grew across high, vaulted ceilings. Towering arched windows. Moonlight falling across the floor like a white glow. Sweeping staircases like brushstrokes. Countless fountains burbled in countless courtyards. Flowerbeds like ruffs, fur of green foliage and accents of vivid blossoms.

My old school never looked anything like this.

"And this is the Moon Dormitory," proclaimed the prefect, opening another tall wrought-iron gate. They passed through a large archway and then a huge building rose up in front of them as they walked towards it, the moon stroking its marble structure.

Her steps seemed slower. A familiar emotion bubbled in her stomach. She wasn't born an Aristocrat. How could she possibly be accepted here? Fear drove like a harsh knife into the knot in her stomach.

Aura stopped mid-halfway towards the moon dorms. She was too afraid to go near it as she stood there. That was how she felt. Aura felt the wind rush past her ears, it wasn't anything compared to the knot in her stomach. She shouldn't have felt afraid. She could do this. She had practiced this before- like the lines of a play. She knew this by heart.

Yuki stopped in her tracks when Aura grabbed the back of her uniform jacket, causing the brown haired girl to look at her direction. "Kaibara-san? What's wrong?"

"Yuki, can I ask you something?"

"Hai." Yuki nodded.

"Is Kaname… dangerous?" Aura asked.

"Kaname-sempai dangerous? Yuki asked her, her voice gentle, but even the brave daughter of the Chairman looked scared. She looked scared at the thought of him being dangerous.

Aura tried to speak, like it had always come so natural to her. Her throat burned, and swallowing felt like trying to inhale hot sauce. It scalded her mouth.

Yuki looked down and blushed. "Kaname-sempai," Aura felt her throat itch. The fire spread down her throat, and into her lungs. "Is a very kind vampire"

Aura turned pale at the end of the explanation. Aura looked like he had been slapped in the face. "Really."

They had been walking for several minutes, Aura and Yuki had been awfully quiet during that time, and even Yuki had looked rather thoughtful.

She led Aura up the steps and stopped just beyond the door. "This is as far as I go." Yuki bowed and turned but stopped and whizzed back around as if she had forgotten something. "Oh! Enjoy your classes!"

"Thank you, Yuki. You are very kind." Aura bowed back before opening the door.

She stepped into a vast entrance hallway. A balcony ran along the back wall, with twin staircases leading up to it. The curtains were all closed to protect the nobles' sensitive skin from the sunshine. In front of her were a coffee table and several sofas, at least there weren't any vampires in the dorm. It certainly made things a lot easier.

When she found her assigned room, she gasped. Her footsteps were quiet against the smooth paneling beneath her as she gazed around. The giant windows were set with ebony black drapes that had an ivory white window seat in front as a lone chest sat locked near a small table with dark leather chairs. Not far was a white marble fireplace, already lit, was a bathroom nearly blink on the bright lighting. She couldn't touch on how refined and spacious it was. There was a large bed with a closet, lined with warm covers. She had never had such a huge bed before.

Aura blinked dumbfounded as she swallowed, "This is…my room?" she gasped.

Aura's eyes fell on a white box on the edge of her bed. Opening it she found it was her night class uniform. Aura picked up her folded uniform and quickly dressed.

A slightly lopsided red bow on the shirt and a white blazer trimmed with black. Black socks reached halfway up her thighs and the white skirt was embarrassingly short. That girl Ruka and the other girl with pigtails could pull it off beautifully, but there was no way that she could. Aura managed to tug it down with difficulty.

When she glanced at her appearance, she hardly recognized herself. With a slight grimace, at the new uniform. Aura didn't feel like Aura any more.

Fiddling with her sleeves it had fallen around her hands, she folded them up a little where a scar overlapped her wrist. In the end, she just left it down again at an appropriate length. Aura was nowhere near ready to explain what she had been through to anyone.

She settled herself on the window seat suddenly feeling very tired suddenly, she fought her exhaustion. Remembering the day wasn't nearly over. No. Aura's gaze flicked towards the academy building. The night wasn't nearly over.


Who is that mysterious man?

And do you guys like Aura? She looks exactly like Naoto from Persona 4 except with long hair, more confidence, and a bit of an attitude.