Caged Nightingale

Chapter 1: Visit

Vampires have always been known as intelligent, lovely, beautiful creatures of the night. Unfortunately, within the noble world appearances and how one presents themselves to elders can be extremely crucial for survival. And if you're near the purebloods in the noble bloodline, all you truly have is yourself.

"Hitomi-sama," one of the maids slowly inched through the door, her eyes a bit worried. "Your grandfather wishes to speak with you." the small vampire crouched near the corner turned her head, her light gray eyes blank, and her raven black hair dangling in front of her face. She'd been speaking to Kimi, her stuffed black rabbit, again.

"What does Oji-chan want?" Hitomi murmured curiously, her tone having the usual ring of childish curiosity.

"I do not know, Miss. Please don't keep him waiting." the maid disappeared behind the door, and with a sigh Hitomi grabbed Kimi and made her way downstairs. Her grandfather was one of the elders of the council, and the only family she had left, but he rarely ever came to see her.

"Hitomi, I am glad to see you are well." her grandfather, Akihito Shiratori, half-smiled at his granddaughter, though he assumed she didn't realize that.

"Good to see you too, Oji-chan." her grip on Kimi unconsciously tightened as she curtsied to the guest. He slowly took her hand, leading her to the parlor as he spoke.

"I've come here to inform you that starting next week, you shall attend Cross Academy with Kaname-sama and the night class." she stood silent for a few moments, letting it sink in. Kaname? The little boy she used to play with as a small child? He was the only friend she ever had, and then he suddenly disappeared, leaving her alone. You and I will be friends forever, Mi-chan! He promised her the last day they'd spoken. He was her big brother, in a way. She was devastated when they no longer saw each other, and still wondered where he went off to.

"I don't want to, Oji-chan." she whined, regardless, folding her arms across her chest. Akihito sighed.

"You'll make new friends, and Kaname-sama will teach you how to properly behave."

"Who cares about Kaname-sama?" she hissed. "I still don't want to go!" he promptly slapped her across the face for saying such a thing.

"Don't you dare speak in such a way towards our pureblood lord!" her cheek stung tremendously. "I've taught you better than this, Hitomi!" a furious silence came forward.

"As soon as you catch his scent, regardless that you cannot see him, you will deeply respect Kaname-sama and do whatever he asks, am I understood?"

"Yes, Oji-chan." she dashed up the stairs, running into her room and slamming the door loudly.

"Why do I have to go, Kimi?" she whispered to her rabbit, burying her face within its stomach, tiny white tears dripping down from her useless eyes.

–

Everyone knew about the new transfer student coming, but they didn't quite figure out who it was yet. Class hadn't begun, and it grew quiet when the door opened and a small girl walked through clutching a stuffed rabbit. Without a word or glance to anyone, she sat down in the farthest seat back, whispering almost inaudibly to her toy.

"Is that her?" Aido murmured, eying the new comer cautiously. Kain nodded, noticing the strange vibe she gave off.

"You aren't going to speak up, Shiratori Hitomi?" Kaname asked from across the room, never looking up from the book he was reading. Again, she practically ignored him, although she was half-sure it was her old best friend, Kaname.

"Oi! Kaname-sama is speaking to you!" Aido snapped at Hitomi, still nothing. "Are you deaf?"

"No. I can hear quite well." she murmured, stroking Kimi's ears.

"Then why didn't you answer Kaname-sama?"

"Because I don't want to." Aido and Ruka's eyes widened furiously at such blatant disrespect to their lord.

"Why you little …!--"

"Ruka, Aido!" Ichijo interjected, sighing. "Don't start problems within the first five minutes, please."

"But Takuma-sama she---"

"I know." He sighed once more, came up to face Hitomi, and smiled gently. "Um. Welcome to our school, I'm Ichijo Takuma and those two you were just fighting with were Aido Hanabusa and Souen Ruka."

"I wasn't fighting with them, they just randomly decided to yell at me for something stupid." Hitomi said in almost a whisper, never looking up from her stuffed animal. Ichijo didn't want it to get too awkward on her first day, and it almost made him laugh how she wasn't the least bit afraid nor intimidated of Kaname.

"Stupid?" Aido repeated scornfully. "Why I ought to--"

"Aido." Kaname silenced the impending threat. "Leave her be, she just got here." Aido huffed immaturely, but let it go. The class went on as it usually did, with the occasional glance at Hitomi. When the sun began rising, everyone exited as quietly as they came in. She tried following the sound of all the footsteps, but she still had yet to truly memorize the area. The footsteps disappeared, and she wandered aimlessly trying to figure out her way back. A hand suddenly grabbed her own.

"What are you doing?" Aido snapped, still frustrated from earlier.

"I have to get back to my dorm, don't I?" She retorted, trying to tug her small hand out of his long pale one.

"Then why a--" it clicked in his head, and his eyes softened just a bit. "I see. I'll take you there then." she immediately snatched her hand away from his.

"I don't want your pity," she hissed, wrapping her arms around Kimi. "I can find my way by myself, like I always have." he chuckled darkly.

"Very well." and he was gone. She exhaled sharply, and began wandering around once more. Everything was so foreign and unknown to her senses. It frightened her, and it felt like the sun was already starting to rise.

"What are you doing outside of the moon dorms, vampire?" an angry, cold voice asked her, suddenly grabbing her hand.

"I … I don't know." she was too scared to fulfill any prideful response. Her reply confused him, vampires never admitted to fear unless in extreme situations.

"You're not allowed to be wandering around. Get back to your dorms." he let go of her hand roughly, and began walking away.

"Wait!" she cried frightfully, the footsteps stopped.

"What?" he hissed rudely.

"Please … help. Where is it?"

"What are you, blind?" his voice was extremely distant and angry, and it scared her just a bit. Regardless, she laughed weakly at his contradiction.

"Yes." his eyebrows furrowed together. A blind vampire? He'd never heard of it, but her eyes gave it away. With a grunt, he grabbed her small hand and began leading her back to the moon dorms.

"If I may ask, what's your name?" she murmured at one point.

"Kiryuu Zero." his skin gave off such a cold temperature, it almost made her shudder.

"That's a cute name." Hitomi smiled. He didn't respond.

"I'm Shiratori Hitomi." he was pulling her roughly, and his tight grip began hurting her wrist. Something about Zero intrigued her, however. Although she couldn't quite figure out what it was exactly. They were there shortly enough, and she felt Kaname's eerie presence.

"You need to take better care of your classmates, Kuran." Zero murmured cryptically, roughly shoving her into the parlor of the dorms.

"Thank you, Zero-chan." She whispered so low only he could've heard. He almost snapped at her for calling him -chan but let it go.

"I apologize for having to go to this trouble for our new student, Kiryuu-kun." Kaname said as Zero left, slamming the door behind him.

"Aido, why didn't you help her?"

"She didn't want me to, Kaname-sama." he murmured, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Ruka, show Hitomi to her room." the blond vampiress took Hitomi's hand, leading her up to her room. Kaname stared blankly after them.

–

Aido was still curious about the newcomer, how she never spoke to anyone and kept clinging on to that stuffed animal of hers.

"I just don't get it." He ranted to his cousin, Kain Akatsuki, for about the fifth time. "Why is she so anti-social?"

"She's the remaining descendant of the Shiratori clan. After her parents died, her grandfather went to extra lengths to keep her out of harm's way, especially since she's blind. So I guess she never had friends, and depended on her toys for company." Kain shrugged, regardless. It was time to leave for class. Hitomi immediately hated all the screaming in her ear, but then she recognized a familiar scent and smiled.

"Good morning, Zero-chan." she knew he wasn't going to smile at her. Aido glanced over his shoulder curiously, his eyes narrowing.

"Don't call me -chan." he growled under his breath. She giggled, but kept walking, almost skipping forward. Half-way to the building, she silently slipped away unnoticed at all. All she had to lead her was the different scents, and her desire to finally experience what it's like to be outside of her luxurious prison. She could almost bathe in the moonlight dancing on her skin, it felt phenomenal.

"Is this what's it like to be outside?" she whispered to Kimi in awe, twirling in circles. Her hand came upon a bumpy surface, and it was rather wide.

"A tree." she gasped, leaping from the ground to one of the branches. She suddenly felt a presence not too far away.

"Hitomi-san?" a confused female voice called. She recognized it somewhat, the girl Yuki, who showed her around when she first came. "What are you doing up in a tree, and not in class?" Hitomi jumped down, pouting tremendously since her bliss was interrupted.

"What is it, Yuki-chan?" she stretched her arms in the air.

"You should be in class, Hitomi-san." Yuki's voice was firm.

"Not now, Yuki-chan." Hitomi whined, shifting where she stood.

"You can't ditch class, it's against the rules." She murmured. "Since you're new here I won't write it up, but I can assume Kaname-sempai will scold you for it."

"All the more reason to stay out here." Hitomi giggled, hopping back up into the tree.

"Hitomi-san." Yuki sighed. "Plea--"

"Get down here, Hitomi." Zero ordered her coldly. Her face lit up at the sound of his voice.

"Zero-chan!" Yuki giggled. Zero groaned almost inaudibly, his teeth clenching together. Hitomi hung from the branch like a primate, laughing like a child locked in a candy shop.

"Hitomi," Zero growled, what little patience he had dissolving. "Stop acting stupid and get back to class."

"But Zero-ch--"

"Now." she let out a small immature whimper, but began feeling her way down. Her foot slipped however, and with a sharp gasp she began plummeting to the ground. A body shot through the air, catching her, and slinging her over their shoulder like she was a sleeping bag.

"Ditching class already, Hitomi-san?" Aido murmured as they hit the ground. She thrashed in his grip with no use, he was strong.

"Got her, Hanabusa?" Akatsuki came forward as Aido nodded.

"Let me go." she hissed, squirming recklessly.

"Keep moving like that and I'll sever your limbs." Aido whispered menacingly, which made her freeze in terror. "Let's get you back to class, Kaname-sama wishes to remind you of the rules here." she waved goodbye to Zero, hoping he wasn't looking away.

"Bye, Zero-chan." he didn't respond, and as they left, she was too frightened to realize she had forgotten something extremely crucial on the ground.

–

A/N: I was debating whether or not I should post this. But, I decided to be fair, since I deleted Love Fangs AND Moonlight Feline. I just didn't like all the blatant flaws I found in both of them, after a while. So, please enjoy this new story, and I hope I do well to please you all!