Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight.
Note: I own Ann Violet.
Love Of Friendship
By: Hikari Maiden
I don't belong here. I don't go to school here. I'm not an invited guest here. I'm trespassing. I'll get into trouble. I know, but I must stop my stupid cousin before… An image flashed through her mind and fear and sorrow gripped her heart. I must hurry before it's too late. This pain is unbearable. It's difficult to breathe. Ann Violet snuck around the grounds of Cross Academy.
Her right big toe caught on something on the ground and she instantly fell forward. She hit something hard and a sound burst from her lips and she coughed and panted. Her chest and stomach hit something hard and her arms hung from the object. Her knees hit the pavement hard. She moaned, "Ow…"
She sat up with a sigh. I guess this is my punishment.
The object on the ground slowly opened his eyes. He sniffed the air around him. I smell blood. He slowly sat up and that's when he noticed Ann beside him with an awkward expression on her face. He noticed her scraped knees and concern entered his green eyes. "Are you all right?"
She nodded. Her pale, blue-green eyes met his green eyes and a smile spread along her bright, pink lips as she blinked her mascara, colossal black lashes, black eye shadow on her eyelids and white eye shadow in the crease of her eyelids, blended together, black eyeliner on the edge of her eyelids and beneath her eyes, pink blush on her cheeks, a powder all over her face, and a base all over her face.
Her bare foot caught his eyes. Is she barefoot? A high heel sandal near him caught his eyes. That must be hers. He stood, then, he helped her up. He grabbed the high heel sandal and handed it to her. "Is this yours?"
"Yes. Thank-you." She gently took it from him and slipped it onto her foot.
He stared at her foot. She's got tiny feet.
Ann noticed the boy had blonde hair and green eyes. She glared at him. "Why were you on the ground?"
"I tripped."
She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glare at him. "Boi, don't you lie to me!" It felt as if her heart slammed into something hard and began to slowly break. He's hiding something from me! Idiot! How can you be so reckless? If I lose you, I'll be sad! She sighed as tears came to her eyes. "Take better care of yourself, you reckless moron!"
He gave her a confused look. Hold on! Is that…? How did…? When did…? "Ann?"
Tears fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. I can't believe him! "Who do you think? Idiot! You worry me, Takuma Ichijou!"
He gave her a suspicious look. She's supposed to be with grandfather. "Why are you here, Ann?"
I heard he recently got really, really bad injuries, but I didn't hear how. "I heard you were doing reckless things! Stupid cousin!"
I battle evil vampires. "Who told you this, or were you eavesdropping again?"
He's going to lecture me again because it's rude to eavesdrop, but it's difficult not to eavesdrop. "I know it's wrong to eavesdrop, but it's difficult not to!"
"Calm down."
Eyelids heavy, eyes, lashes, face, chin, and hair ends wet with her tears, she told him, "I haven't seen you, or spoken to you in a while and I hear that about you. You're an idiot, Takuma. I hate you." She sighed and her eyelids closed and another set of tears fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. I feel so sleepy and my body feels so heavy. She began to fall, then, she stubbornly tried to force her eyelids open and she stubbornly tried to regain her balance. Intense pain shot through her head and entire body. All went black.
Takuma caught her. "I don't think you're able to hate." She's upset. She doesn't hate me from the bottom of her heart. He carried her to his room and laid her on his bed. He stared at her. Hmm…Like a kitten…
Kaname Kuran entered the room with an expression of concern. "Ichijou-kun?"
Kuran-kun? He felt his heart leap and begin to pound as he turned his head and his green eyes met deep, red-brown eyes. He doesn't normally come inside my bedroom. Is it something awful? Images of Ann as she struggled to escape from a pureblood entered his mind and he felt his flesh turn cold and he felt cold chills chase through him as he felt heat rise from within. He felt something heavy inside the center of his chest and stomach. He noticed himself sweat and tremble and he struggled not to lose his composure. He breathed a little shallowly. He battled to keep his voice steady as he asked, "Something wrong?"
"Are you all right, Ichijou-kun? You seem paler than normal."
He forced a grin. "I'm fine! Eheheheheh!"
"You won't look at me and tell me that. That nervous laugh doesn't convince me." He approached the blonde. "Mind telling me what's on your mind?"
His forced grin faded and a sad expression crossed his face and entered his eyes. He stared at the figure on his bed. "It's her."
Curiosity entered Kaname's expression. "Who is this?"
Takuma glared at him, fire in his eyes, and told him in an ominous tone of voice, "Don't even think about it. Touch her and answer to me."
"You've lost your marbles."
Aidou Hanabusa entered the bedroom. "What are you two up to?"
Kaname turned to him, a playful gleam in his eyes, and a grin spread along his lips. Hanabusa-kun. He's fun to tease. He playfully called, "Oh, Hanabusa-kun."
The blue eyed boy responded in a snooty tone of voice. "What?"
"So, that's how you want to play. I love to play dirty. I'm an ace."
He drives me up the wall. "Why you dirty little, sneaky little, underhanded little…"
He chuckled.
Ann's eyelids slowly opened and she spoke in a sleepy tone of voice. "Takuma?"
Takuma didn't answer right away.
She quickly sat up and she began to panic. She panted and trembled. "Takuma?" Tears entered her eyes. "Takuma?"
Takuma placed gentle hands upon hers. She's trembling. "Shh…I'm right here. Calm down."
Blonde blur above pale blur and two, slightly round green blurs on the pale blur. I think it's Takuma Ichijou. Hold on! She glared at him. "Your hands and fingers had better been cleaned!"
She considers me a complete goner. "I'm a blonde, but I'm not a complete goner. You have no confidence."
He's trying to help. I should be nice and I should thank him for his efforts. After all, I'm a burden and I'm not welcome here. I probably never will be welcome here and I probably always will be a burden. I'm an intruder because I'm not an invited guest. I should leave as soon as possible, but…Takuma… She looked away as tears slid from her eyes and along her cheeks. "Thank-you. I appreciate your help." Why must I cry in front of him? I'm such a big crybaby and a spoiled brat. It feels as if I want attention. No one likes a person like that.
Aidou asked, "Is she related to you, Ichijou-kun?"
"Ann Violet wasn't even a day old when my family adopted her. Her mother was too young. Her mother had no husband and no job and still lived with her parents and her brothers and sisters and her brothers and sisters were still young. Her birth brother and birth sister were adopted by her birth grandmother. Her birth mother had her at eighteen, her birth brother at seventeen, and her birth sister at sixteen. Her birth brother, her birth sister, and herself are all a year apart. She's the youngest at nineteen, her birth brother is next at twenty, and her birth sister is the oldest at twenty-one."
Aidou looked at Ann with a gentle expression of kind, warmth. "You must be attached to Ichijou-kun, huh?"
She nodded. "I love my reckless, moron of a cousin a lot. I wonder if he understands." He probably doesn't and he probably hates me. I caused him and everyone so much trouble. Everyone probably hates me.
Something tells me that she's severely wounded within and she bleeds to death. Something tells me that this is emotional and if I don't console her, her mental state will become unstable and she will become physically ill and possibly die. Takuma sat beside her on the bed, then, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. He placed a gentle hand on her head. "You may not realize it, but I do."
"Then, why must you…?" A horrible image flashed inside her mind and her eyes widened as she gasped and jumped. What the heck?
Takuma stared at her with concern. Is she all right? "Ann?"
Her lips trembled and she struggled to speak. "T-T-Ta…ku…ma?" She grimaced and hissed as she pressed her hands against her ears and desperately pulled away from Takuma. "OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!"
This happened before. He firmly, yet gently held her in place. "Shh…Calm down."
Even his voice is painful at the moment. She struggled, but managed to calm down.
Takuma felt her muscles relax and he loosened his grip.
She lowered her arms.
"What did you see?"
"Bloody. Parts of corpses. Whole corpses. Tons of them." She quickly turned towards Takuma and her eyelids squeezed shut as she buried her face and began to sob. "Scary!" Her hands trembled as she gripped a portion of his shirt in each hand and squeezed so tight that her knuckles turned white. She wasn't aware that she had grabbed a portion of his shirt in each hand and that squeezed so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Her entire body began to shake uncontrollably. She struggled to hold back a fit of coughs.
She's scared out of her mind. I must calm her down quickly. He whispered, "Hey. Let's think of something else."
Her voice sounded like a muffled whine. "Like what?"
"How about something happy?"
"It's difficult. I don't know how."
"You gave up before you tried. You don't know if you don't try."
"Yeah, but I'm scared."
He placed gentle hands upon hers. "It's alright. I'm right here."
She looked at him. "Please, don't leave."
He smiled. "Don't worry. I promise, I'll stay as long as you wish."
She smiled. "Thank-you." Her grip on his shirt loosened. "You make me feel better."
Aidou laughed. "She reminds me of our beloved Yuki-san!"
Kaname chuckled. Aidou is insane.
Hikari Maiden: Takuma tells Ann things I've been told before. Also, if any of my reckless, moron cousins read this story fan fiction, this is a message from the bottom of my heart. I mean this message with all of myself. I don't want to lose those I've shared with so much as a child. Don't be idiots and over exert yourselves. Get some rest if you're sleepy. Go inside, out of the hot and humid weather, into the air conditioner, if the heat and the humidity is too much. Don't work yourselves until you collapse from exhaustion and heat and you have an accident at work and you get hurt. Your younger cousin loves and worries about all of you.