So I was rewatching the Vampire Knight series and I suddenly found Akatsuki extremely attractive. I'm not sure why, but he's suddenly tied with Shiki and I don't know what to think about it. And thus, this lovely new story was created. Don't ask why. It just was. I obviously have a problem...

Enjoy. :)

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"Who are you to judge the life I live? I am not perfect and I don't have to be! Before you start pointing fingers, make sure your hands are clean." -Bob Marley

Day One: Orders Are Orders

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"This is such a mistake," I growled at Yagari from my seat across from him in the—completely unnecessary—limo we were currently riding in. The car was too extravagant and attention-grabbing and while I mentally enjoyed the plush black seats and provided ice water, it was just too much for me to ever get used to.

I still didn't understand why Yagari insisted on such a thing. If I had a car of my own, I would've left the man to his fancy car and I'd be riding in comfort to our current destination, even if I am reluctant to do so. Both sides win. But no. It was either this or walk. Yagari would've made sure I'd never rent a car for the next decade with the amount of connections he had and seeing as how far our destination was, I ultimately chose the limo after having a five-minute staring contest with Yagari, which I obviously lost.

Stupid man...

Said stupid man pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and promptly lit one right there in the car. My nose scrunched up at the strong smell of tobacco and I waved away a puff of smoke the insufferable man blew right into my face. I made sure he heard my mumbled obscenities and rolled my window down slightly to get rid of the smell. He pretended not to hear the creative names I was giving him, inhaling on his cancer stick and exhaling a few seconds later.

"It's not my orders you're following, brat," Yagari said. "You do as the President orders whether you like it or not. It's as simple as counting."

"Stop calling me that," I snapped in a mock angry tone. Huffing, I crossed my arms and slouched in my seat. "Why couldn't he have chosen someone else? Surely Anna or Imura are more qualified for this job than I am since they have more years of service than my pitiful five years."

"Don't call me Surely," Yagari said half-heartedly. I snorted at that. "Seniority doesn't mean squat in the Hunter's Association. You do what you're ordered regardless of how hard the job is."

In all honesty, the job didn't bother me. It was just another mission assignment that was expected to be completed soon. Except it was here in Japan instead of Ireland. But it was the same concept. Just different countries. I was only reluctant in going because something about this job seemed suspicious to my mind.

Why would the President call in a transfer all the way from Ireland just to complete a Japanese assignment that could've been completed by one of the hundreds of Hunters under his command? It didn't make sense to me and the President keeping details from me wasn't giving me any hints as to why I was here.

He's been acting weird lately. Not that the President's not weird to begin with if the few times I've talked to him face-to-face were any indicators, but when he all of a sudden contacted me out of the blue two months ago demanding that I come to Japan for a certain upcoming assignment, he had been behaving...in a non-normal fashion.

Sighing under my breath, I slouched even further into my seat, wrapping my coat around me to preserve what little warmth I could. That stupid man insisted that the cold air be on for the entire duration of the ride since it was close to hitting ninety-degrees outside and he didn't want to sweat unnecessarily during the ride. It was just my luck that I had to sit under the vent, too. That stupid man had to of planned this. He knew I didn't do well in cold conditions.

"Quit pouting," Yagari sighed. "It's unbecoming for a Hunter."

"I can't help that I'm miserable," I grumbled at him before sitting up properly. "Do you have any mission details? The President and my Captain left me in the dark before I left, so I don't know anything."

Yagari rolled his eyes, leaning over to flick his finished cigarette out my window. "I swear, your Captain is the stupidest man alive."

"You're not the one that had to work under him for the past two months," I retorted, glaring at the second cigarette he pulled out. "You're going to get Lung Cancer one day and you're gonna be sh-" I caught myself before I said the swear word and coughed into my hand to cover it. "You're gonna be outta luck when you can't smoke anymore."

"Nice catch," He said sarcastically. "And I won't get Lung Cancer anytime soon. I still have awhile before I need to start worrying." Clicking his lighter numerous times, it took him a little bit to realize that it was empty. He scowled around his cigarette, shoving the lighter into his pocket and searching for a new one.

I wordlessly pulled out the lighter I always carried on me and held it up to his mouth. He arched an eyebrow, but let me light it without complaint. "Where'd you get that? And since when do you smoke?"

"I don't smoke. It's one of my Dad's. I stole it from him once when I was little and never gave it back."

Yagari huffed, a plume of heavy smoke escaping his parted lips and blowing right into my face like before. Except this one caught me completely off guard. "I'm surprised you found a full lighter," He said around my coughing. "Your old man has a bigger addiction than I do."

"Damn it, Yagari," I wheezed, struggling to find a form of fresh air. "You know I'm allergic to smoke!"

"That's fifty cents." I threw two quarters at him angrily. He smugly dumped them in an almost full Moonshine jar before stuffing it back in his bag. "This swear jar has been quite effective on you, Akira. That's the first time I've heard you swear all week."

"I'm sorry I'm poor, Yagari," I snapped, finally being able to breath after practically sticking my head out the window to get some fresh air. I dully noted that we were close to reaching a town surrounded by trees before I pulled myself back into the car. "The mission details?"

"Oh, right. The President was getting suspicious of the amount of attacks in the town near Cross Academy and wanted us to look around and see what we can find." He pointed at me. "We'll be there awhile, so expect to get other assignments while we're here."

I groaned. "Lovely. Hunting Level E vampires while getting side-missions."

He rolled his eyes before he gave me a slow smirk. I didn't like it when he smirked like that. It never spelled good news for us. Well, more me than him. "We're gonna stop by and say hi to an old friend of mine, too, while we're here. Do you know Kaien Cross?"

I blinked before gaping in shock at Yagari. "You know the Kaien Cross?!"

Yagari laughed his deep laugh, thankfully taking his cigarette out of his mouth so he wouldn't spew smoke everywhere. It almost sounded like he was cackling, but that might've just been my imagination messing with me again. "That idiot and I go way back." His eyes glinted in a gleeful way. "You'll be surprised what he's become now."

"Is it that bad?"

"He was definitely something special when I last saw him four years ago. I can only imagine how much weirder he's gotten now that his brats are all grown up."

I hummed, looking out the window to see that we were now gliding through the town I had seen earlier. I noticed that it was very clean, from the white-washed buildings to the watered down cobblestone side-streets. It also seemed to be a very busy day. People were bustling around on the sidewalks, many dressed in professional suits and carrying briefcases. I noticed there were very few children meandering around.

"I didn't know Cross-san had kids," I said as I watched a woman wearing a white blouse and a long dress flow in and out of the crowds. Her face was covered by a white shawl, but it didn't stop long tendrils of brown hair to spill out and billow in front of her. She was too graceful to be human, I noted absently. A quick glance in Yagari's direction told me he hadn't noticed her. I decided not to mention her and turned in my seat to face him.

"He doesn't," Yagari denied. "I think he adopted them. One of them is my stupid apprentice."

I perked up at that. "Oh? So I might get to meet the infamous Kiryu Zero soon?"

During the two months that I had been here in Japan, I had spent almost all of my time hanging around Yagari and getting to know the man that is revered as the strongest Hunter in the whole Association. Eventually, the topic of his apprentice came up and I pestered the man to tell me about him for a whole week before he finally relented, calling me annoying and troublesome before showing me a picture of a silver-haired boy and giving me as little details as possible. It was infuriating, but it was better than nothing and I wasn't complaining. Out loud, at least.

I was curious about the silver-haired boy. Yagari had said he was only one year older than me, but he had been held back for some reason and is still a 2nd year student. And though it was supposed to be somewhat of a secret within this particular Hunter's Association, I knew about the Kiryu massacre after a bit of shameless snooping around on my part, but there was surprisingly not that much detail on the attack. Just that Zero had been the lone survivor and that his younger brother had gone missing before Hunters had arrived at the scene. But that was all I could get on the mysterious Kiryu boy. Yagari had said never to mention his name in any Association walls. It was almost taboo to say his name in front of any of the older and more experienced Hunters. I didn't know why and I was almost tempted to do it anyways to figure out why it was almost illegal to say one name, but Yagari had insisted and made me promise not to say anything.

Yagari smirked. "Possibly." He blew out a ring of smoke. "I haven't seen him in a little over four years. I guess I'll admit to you that I miss seeing his stupid face."

"I love how you make fun of your poor apprentice when he's not even here," I commented.

Yagari snorted. Between he and I, we had been doing that a lot lately..."That boy is anything but poor. He's like you."

Deciding to play along, I jokingly said while flipping my hair, "Good-looking? Gorgeous? Smart? I didn't know you were trying to flatter me and Kiryu-san, Yagari!"

His foot lashed out to kick my knee, his aim true and leaving me a hissing animal as I cradled my knee. It throbbed painfully and Yagari didn't seem to care about the damage he had done. "Don't be vain. You know what I meant."

Grumbling, I brought my knee up to my chest to cradle it. "So I'm pretty much going to meet a male version of myself? This ought to be interesting." Yagari laughed his cackling laugh again.

A gentle tapping behind my head caught my attention and I turned to see the driver's knuckles lightly tapping on the sliding glass that separated us from him. "We've arrived at the hotel you'll be staying at, sir and miss," He said once I had slid the glass away. Beaming, I immediately hopped out of the limo, temporarily ignoring my hurt knee and breathing in deeply. I exhaled heavily.

"I've missed this," I said cheekily as Yagari pulled our bags out from the truck. He set mine down beside me, then promptly hit me upside the head. He thanked the driver, who nodded his head to us both, promptly stepping back into the driver's seat once he saw that we were well off and drove away.

"Just grab your stuff and follow me, brat," Yagari said, holding the door open for me as I stalked past him with my stuff, scowling at the new bruise he had given me.

Heads turned at our entrance, but they didn't stare for long before they all went back to their business. They probably assumed it was just a father and daughter on vacation. Yagari and I did look similar. Except for our eyes. We had different eye colors and different builds if we're talking musculature, but those were only the main differences between us. Other than that, we might as well have been related. Shame that we weren't.

After receiving keys to our rooms, we both headed towards the elevator. Yagari didn't believe in the idea that male and female Hunters should be placed in the same rooms. That's how people end up having something they weren't prepared for. He flat out told me he refused to bunk with me anyway. I was apparently too annoying for him to handle. Yagari trusted me—to an extent—enough that I wouldn't pull anything funny by myself, so I was free to have a room to myself as long as I behaved. Yagari didn't believe me when I said I'd be good while he wasn't around, but still got me my own room anyway.

"Your room's right across from mine," He explained as he tossed me my key. Catching it one-handed, I inserted it into the lock and turned, opening the door. "If you need anything, I'm across the hall." That said, Yagari mimicked my movements and closed the door behind him, leaving me standing in the hall by myself.

Hefting my bag onto my shoulders, I closed the door behind me and looked around the room. I smiled at what I saw. It was a cozy-looking, dimly lit room with the same white-washed walls that seemed to make up all the buildings in this town and brown carpet that felt like cotton beneath my feet. I experimentally wiggled my toes and giggled at the ticklish sensation it caused.

Tossing my bag onto the all-white bed that sat in the corner of the room, I grabbed the curtains that had the same color as my hair and yanked them open. I winced at the bright light that beamed right into my eyes and rubbed my eyes to get rid of the stinging feeling. Turning away from the light, I plopped down on the bed, sighing in content and reaching over to the bedside table to turn off the lamp that had been on.

I was perfectly happy just laying here all day. It was comfortable and had a homely feeling to it that made my being so far away from home more bearable. Being here gives me the space I do so love. I could never be by myself back home. I'd always be crowded by my parents and my siblings. It was almost always suffocating to be around my happy-go-lucky family that didn't know the meaning of personal space.

I felt bad for thinking negatively about my family when I was miles upon miles away from them. They were my family, after all. They were just trying to look after me. Trying to keep me happy and keep my wants and needs in mind as much as possible. They just wanted what was best for me. Mom was playing the doting and fair mother perfectly and Dad had perfected his over-protective role by the time my younger sister was born. My older brother was a natural when it came to teasing and pranking me. And my little sister…she had the fake tears and wails down right from the get-go. What could I possibly hate about my family when they're so…perfect?

Maybe it's just cause you can't stand the idea of perfection and just accepted this job to get away from all that perfection that surrounded you.

I pushed myself into a sitting position, shaking my head at the thought. No. I didn't hate my family cause they were perfect. That'd be selfish of me to think such a thing. Slapping my cheeks sharply, I pursed my lips through the sting and stood, emptying my bag and grabbing a spare set of clothes. Maybe a shower would me some good.

Hopefully it'll get rid of all this negative crap running through my head right now.

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I crouched down to the ground, fingers rubbing against the wet substance that Yagari had noticed with the help of a dim street lamp. Pulling back, my fingers were dyed red. I rubbed the blood off in a nearby patch of grass in repulsion. "This stuff is still fresh, Yagari," I commented as I stood back up and looked at the experienced Hunter. "What do we do?"

Yagari took off his signature brown cowboy-looking hat and ran a hand through his hair before replacing the hat back on his head. He was surprisingly not inhaling another cigarette for once, though from the perpetual frown on his face, I knew it wouldn't be long before he caved.

Night had fallen over the town. Without the brightness of the sun, we had to rely on the poor glow of the street lamps that littered the sidewalks. And without lights, it just created a tense atmosphere that had me tensing at anything and everything. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as a chilly wind blew by, causing a shiver to cascade down my spine uncomfortably. Why it was this cold in the middle of August was a mystery to me. It suddenly felt like Fall had come two months early.

I tugged my coat closer to my body with frozen fingers, watching Yagari examine the blood cleverly hidden in the crevice of an alley. There was apparently a Level E on the prowl and was causing waves upon waves of concern and fear for the citizens that lived in this area. And after sneaking into the Mayor's office—of which I'm exceedingly proud of since I didn't even get caught—and snooping through his latest files, there have been numerous reports of disappearances going on lately over the past few days. It made me angry that there have been no attempts to even find all of these people.

Though I highly doubted that they were still alive, anyway. But it was the thought that counted, at least.

"We need to find who it was that was attacked," He said, standing back up. "Chances are, the Level E had taken its food with it and is currently lurking around to find a suitable spot to continue feeding."

I pulled the assignment that had been sent to us from the Association a couple hours ago, unfolding the paper from the square shape I had made it. I mentally thought it retarded that we had already gotten another job when we just got here on top of finding the top honcho that we knew to be here, but I wasn't going to verbally complain in front of Yagari. That'd only get me another slap to the head that I really didn't want.

"There really isn't much to go by from what HQ gave us on this particular Level E," I said disappointedly as I scanned the paper that detailed our target. "No habits, no favorite spots, no anything." I angrily crumpled the paper into a ball and shoved it back into my pocket. "That was the biggest waste of information I've seen in my entire life."

"Don't complain," Yagari snapped, glaring at me. "We're given what we're given. HQ must have thought we could use the information that they had on this man to our advantage."

"Why would I need to know this man is a widow, has no children, and has no eye-capturing features to make him easily recognizable?"

"They obviously thought they had the need to give us something about our target. It's better than nothing in my opinion." He stalked off across the street without bothering to look for any oncoming cars. It was nearing close to midnight now and there weren't many stragglers wandering the streets. Maybe the occasional drunk, but they quickly disappeared from view, making a great deal of noise as they did so.

I hurried to follow after Yagari, pausing behind him when he suddenly stopped in the middle of the street. He turned his head left and right, apparently searching for something. He seemed to find what he was looking for because he nodded his head and glanced at me over his shoulder. "We're gonna split up from here."

"Did you remember any of the spots that the Level E's like to frequent?" I could understand why the man wanted to get away from me—I'll freely admit that I was too fidgety for any normal person to handle after a set amount of time—but I couldn't help but feel offended that he was so quick to send me off.

He slapped me upside the head. "Idiot. I haven't been here in over four years. I don't know what goes on in this town. We'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way and walk around. We'll come across him eventually."

I glared at him before accepting the order. "I'll check the left side of town. You got the right?" He nodded. "Do you want me to check in periodically?"

"Only if you find anything of importance regarding the Level E." Digging in his pocket, he pulled out the brand new headpieces the Association had sent us a couple hours ago. He tossed one to me before he placed the other one around his neck, placing the earbud in his ear and messing with the communicator around his neck before he found the right station. Copying him, I let him mess with my own communicator to his satisfaction before stepping back. "Meet back here in a couple hours. You got that, brat? A couple hours. Not a day or two later. A couple hours."

I waved his concern away with a flourish of my wrist, snorting. "Alright, alright. I'll meet you back here in a couple hours. I won't leave the town's premises. Promise."

I had an awful habit of leaving behind teammates whenever it came to these types of missions. I would be assigned a section of the place we were investigating, get caught up in whatever it is that I was looking for, and lo and behold, some odd amount of days had passed since I first started. I couldn't help my curious nature. I secretly blame my grandfather for this side of me, but he doesn't need to know that. He'd go into one of his infamous rampages. And nobody really needs to deal with something like that anymore.

It was just my luck that Yagari learned about it, too. The man really did his research. He knows practically everything about me just from reading my profile. I was seriously creeped out how the man knew what I liked and disliked right off the bat when we were first introduced. I had just about turned around to get back on the plane back home. He also had the misfortune of learning about this side of me on a mission gone wrong a week after I first arrived. He cuffed me good after that particular stunt. Hence where the head-slapping came from.

Too bad for me, I was kept on a tight leash after that mission and was confined to the Association's Headquarters for a while. I even had bodyguards watching me during that period of time. That stupid President had spies all over the place, watching me like hawks and sending unwanted shivers down my spine at their dead stares. Yagari, at least, was more understanding after I had reluctantly apologized for running off, but he wasn't that much different. He never let me out of his sights again whenever we went somewhere outside of Headquarters and he always gave me a curfew that he demanded that I always follow. It was annoying, but it was better than having people always following me and tracking my every footstep.

Yagari glared at my cheek. "I mean it, brat. So much as a second late and I'll make sure you suffer during your stay here."

I didn't have a shadow of doubt in my mind that he could actually pull that threat off. And knowing the stubborn idiot, he'd make me do all of his paperwork just for the heck of it. "Yea, yea. I'll be back on time." I gave him a cheeky grin. "If there's one thing I hate more than boredom, it's paperwork."

He rolled his eyes in a surprising display of immaturity and turned on his heel, walking in the opposite direction. I didn't miss the way his hand inched into his pocket and pulled out another one of those cancer sticks that he so loved.

Cracking my fingers and arching my back until it cracked pleasantly, I turned down an alley that looked suspicious enough and set out to find the Level E that was terrorizing the town. At the disgusting smell of decomposing garbage that was rotting away in the trash cans that littered the alley, I decided that this town wasn't as nice as I thought it was. With a smell like this, it'll be a big pain in the ass to track a vampire's scent in this town.

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He didn't know how it happened. It had just shown up right out of the blue and he was too slow to stop it. Still too new to this new life and immense strength and intense thirst that he had stupidly lowered his guard as he was about to finish off the prey he had captured for the night.

She was a tiny thing, that's for sure. All doll-like features and dainty everything. But she was still an adult. He didn't have it in him to kidnap children just to sate his thirst. It left a vile taste in his mouth. He was berated by the older, more experienced predators of the night for being so weak and soft-hearted and sympathetic, but he still had enough sense left to know that it made him uncomfortable and he vowed he wouldn't touch a child even if his throat felt like it had suddenly turned into a hot desert.

He hissed in pain as an intense fire burned from his hip where a bullet had bit into his skin and sent him flying backwards, biting his lip to hold in a shout when the sudden wound in his side flared abruptly. His food lay sprawled on the ground some feet away, pretty brown hair covering her face from view, but giving him an excellent view of the pale, slender neck that bore bleeding puncture wounds. He almost forgot his pain as saliva pooled in his mouth at the thought of blood being so close by and taunting him with that sweet, sweet smell that pleasantly reminded him of the time where he ate nothing but sweets as a child.

But then the very ground beside him was upturned by a stray bullet meant to capture his attention and he was reminded of the danger that he was suddenly in.

"What the...?" A light voice whispered in obvious confusion. A stray breeze blew the stranger's scent in his direction and he inhaled a huge whiff of the person's scent. His eyes glowed ruby-red at the intoxicating smell and he bared his fangs hungrily at the short figure that stood at the entrance of the abandoned building he had claimed as his own when he first changed. "You're not even a full Level E yet."

Footsteps had him snapping out of his trance and his eyes narrowed into a glare when the figure was revealed to be a woman. No. Not a woman. She looked too young. She kneeled next to the woman on the ground and moved her hair out of the way, fingertips gently pressing against the woman's throat and feeling for a pulse. He oddly liked the look of surprise on her face when she did find one.

"Now I know you're definitely not a Level E," She said, giving the man a thoughtful glance and scowling at the same time. A click and a gun was suddenly thrust into his face. He recoiled and snarled at the girl's audacity. How dare she point a gun at him! She turned her head away from him. "You're too cooperative to be one of them."

He could vaguely remember that term. That term that sounded so degrading to his ears whenever someone other than him said it. But where had he heard? Perhaps...when he was being turned? Yes...yes, that had to be right. He remembered a voice, a high, melodic, feminine voice, using that term constantly. Complaining about how the newly transformed were losing their sanity too fast. Useless. They were becoming useless to her.

"Tell me something," She demanded in a daring voice, breaking his train of thought. "Who is your creator?" Well, that topic was quick to be thrown out the window.

His lips curled into a sneer. "Long gone."

His wound was healing slow, he duly noted. Too slow. Enchanted silver bullets? Well, that was a big pain in the ass. He'd be stuck here for double the time until he was able to move more agilely. He hoped that he could distract the girl long enough to the point where his wound was at least closed and he could high-tail it out of there with his food in his arms.

"You mean they're dead?"

"I didn't say that, stupid girl."

A flash of silver and the gun clonked him upside the head. His face slapped against the ground, a sharp crack from his nose telling him that it was broken. "Answer me," She snarled.

He growled at her as blood flowed from his broken nose. He wished he could say some of the more colorful swear words that he knew, but the barrel of her gun pressed against his forehead more insistently, a clear reminder of what his current position was. He silenced the snarl that rose in his throat and settled for glaring. "They're long gone. They've abandoned us."

"Who's they?"

He was about to answer her with a snarky answer, but he stopped. He...couldn't remember. The faces were there. Right at the forefront of his mind. He could easily describe who it was that had turned him. But...the names. The names completely evaded him. They settled on the tip of his tongue, but he found that he couldn't say them without choking up. Frustrated, he furrowed his eyebrows, struggling to remember before giving up some seconds later. "I don't remember."

Her mouth opened, but she didn't get a chance to say anything else. A sudden BANG! was heard and he recoiled in shock before slowly looking down. An intricate, glowing green sign pulsated over his chest from where a bullet had pierced through his chest. He heard the girl shout indignantly to someone before his body jumped and burned with fire and then—

Nothing.

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Orders are orders. And they're expected to be followed, Akira.

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Yea...so, as you can see, I grew bored. Again. I'm terribly sorry...

-KalafinaJ