"You have a new assignment."

My father sat across the wooden table from me and the sunlight streamed into the kitchen making his usually light chestnut hair, a golden blonde. The rays highlighted the scattered patches of gray and made the deepening lines on his face stand out. His glasses hung low on his nose and his shirt was wrinkled from his apparent all-nighter spent working.

I nodded and stared at the half eaten donut and lukewarm coffee, my chin rested on my palm. I yawned and fingered my necklace with my other hand, dreary from my own late night. It was originally suppose to be only routine with one level E from the list, but instead I was ambushed by three of those bloodsuckers. I killed all of them just fine, but it was still tiring.

I heard the scratching of his scruff and looked up at him. He took another large gulp of coffee and loudly placed the cup back on the table.

"What is it?" I replied.

The corner of his mouth raised and he scratched his stubble again, "Well it's more of a favor really."

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms, "Meaning?"

"It's a favor for your brother."

"Toga? What's does he need from me?" I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

After this turbulent year Toga had been up to his neck with work, whether it being the fallout with the previous Association Head, the assassination of the Vampire Senate, or Cross Academy itself. It was a general state of unrest throughout both the Hunters and the Vampires, and things were now finally seeming to get back to normal. But I was honestly surprised he had asked me for anything now rather than before when everything was so hectic.

Dad leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head, "As you know, Toga had taken up the mantle of temporary Headmaster while Kaien Cross was absent."

I stifled the threat of a smile at his choice of words and covered my mouth, "You mean while he was forcibly detained, but wasn't the Headmaster just released?"

"Yes and now he's also the new president of the association."

I gave him a sarcastic laugh, "Wow. What a leap for him."

He shook his head and grinned, "Well given the circumstances, it's not that big of a leap."

"I guess not," I said.

"It's just," he stilled and looked outside at the cold winter sun.

I frowned at him, "It's just what?"

"It's just that the overall situation is still…" his eyes darted away, "unstable."

"What's your point?" I asked quickly. His beating around the bush provided me with no answers to the questions already rapidly developing in my head.

"We need some more eyes, some more support at the academy."

"And you're talking in regards to me, correct?"

He rubbed his chin, "Correct."

"So what does this entail?"

"Nothing too difficult, you will attend Cross Academy as a student and will help as a Hunter whenever needed."

I pursed my lips, this wasn't the worst assignment in the world, far from the best actually, but still a job was a job. And a job meant that I had to look at this from an objective point of view, though Cross Academy was always a place of mixed feelings. While I admired Kaien Cross's passion and rigor in trying to make a place where vampires and humans could truly coexist, I looked at the actual product with disdain. I, with the rest of the Hunters, held an immense distrust and dislike of that particular race. But due to the events from last year, there was no longer a night class and even if there was, I couldn't say no. Cross was a family friend and Toga was my brother. I had to accept, there was no other option.

I let out a heavy sigh and got up to clear the table.

"When do I start?"

"Tomorrow."

"Mmm," I hummed in agreement as I placed the dishes in the sink.

Toga never was one for giving a head's up on anything.

I scanned the open suitcase laying on my bed making sure I had gotten everything I needed. It was hard to pack for an indefinite amount of time. Kiba, my gray cat gently nudged his face on my leg. He was normally more of a loner, so I took his sudden affection as a sign that he knew I was going to be gone for a while. I spread out on the rug with him and petted him as I gazed up at the ceiling, twisting my neck around to survey my room. It was simple. An old wrought iron bed covered in white sheets sat in the middle next to two wooden nightstands, each with a different equally old desk lamp. Both of my large windows were open and the brisk air that flowed through made me wish I wasn't wearing cotton shorts.

His steps were heavy and he knew I could hear them as he walked toward my door, but he knocked out of politeness.

"Come in," I yelled as I scrambled up trying to look like I was still in the midst of packing.

The door opened and he was looked vastly superior compared to his prior state. Instead of his wrinkled and stained lab coat, he wore a heavy black trench coat matched with a pair a of brown dress shoes. He even shaved.

He leaned against the door frame, taking note of my partly empty suitcase, "Are you ready yet?"

"I think so, just bringing the essentials," I responded putting in another shirt and some extra ammo.

"Oh, I almost forgot, there's a meeting tomorrow between the association and the vampires. Kuran wants to establish some new guidelines about our co-existence, strengthen them, or whatever. So pack something nice."

I walked over to my dresser and rifled through my clothes to find something nice, as my dad put it, "Why the wardrobe policy? I thought it was just a standard thing."

He went over to my closet and got out a white lace dress, "After the meeting, they're throwing a ball and you're on security duty."

"That sounds just splendid," I said as I fished out a pair of shoes to go with.

I threw both items into my bag and hurriedly zipped it up, "I'll be done in a minute, I just need to put the uniform on."

After I heard the door thud close I stripped and managed to assemble the Cross Academy uniform together. It was a crisp black thing and it actually looked pretty nice, but I chose to not wear the necklace that went along with it. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and twisted my own round golden locket. It was a gift, inherited by me from my mother, much like my looks were too. I had her wild black waves, icy blue eyes, and even her medium-sized stature. Occasionally I witnessed my father staring at Toga and me with a longing in his eyes. We were in no doubt her children, almost reincarnations of her, and the only difference was that Toga had inherited dad's height.

I pushed a stray lock out my face and adjusted the red ribbon that had somehow managed to become loose. I really did look like a normal high school girl, of course not including the fact that hidden beneath my skirt was a gun holster wrapped around my thigh.

I took one last look-over and patted Kiba on the head before I left.

The drive did not take as long as expected, my dad took up the time briefing me on various things about the academy and the association. I stared out the window listening until a certain bit of news made me turn around and face him in awe. Was it possible to be surprised and not surprised at all? It was definitely news, but for some reason I was expecting it too.

"Zero. As in Zero Kiryuu is going to the next President of the Hunter's Association?"

It was his turn to stare out the window, "I had the same tone as you when I heard it."

"That's fucking fantastic. The slave to the Kuran Princess, is being groomed to be the next head," I leaned my head back into the headrest.

"It's about power, the next president needs to be able to scare the rest of the hunters into submission, and he has," he said the next words slowly with care, "plenty of power."

What he said was very true. Due to his circumstances and upbringing or that he had pureblood blood swirling around in his veins, he was extremely strong and skilled. Born to talented hunters, trained by Toga, and even turned into a vampire. He was an enigma of power.

I spent the rest of the car ride silent, thinking about all the things Toga had ever told me about Zero and Ichiru. I was pretty sure Zero was not even aware that Toga had a younger sister, though I already knew all about him. There was a certain professionalism about Toga that he kept very well disguised, he treated his students with an overwhelming familiarity, but kept particular things to himself, which included me. My father attributed that the reason was that he didn't want a distraction such as a girl the same age in the twins' lives, it would have interfered with their training. I knew better, their parents were high level hunters and dangerous to be around. They were frequent targets and it was unsafe for child me to have interacted with the family.

Unfortunately by the time I was of age and able to hold my own, Zero's parents were murdered and he was adopted by Kaien Cross, but now we were finally going to meet face to face. I still grieved silently that I will never get to meet Ichiru, but that book had closed already, a year ago when the academy was torn open into a battlefield.

As if my thoughts had lined up with my location, we pulled into the front of the school, I hadn't even registered when we passed through the main gate, the road leading up to the entrance seemed longer than I remembered from the few times I've visited in the past. I peered up at the large building, it was all arched windows and grey stone, giving off a very academic feel. In an odd way it was welcoming, with it's clean lines and condensed nature surrounding the premises. If you didn't already know, there was no way to tell that a group of vampires used to attend school here.

"Haven't seen you in a while."

"Come here," Toga reached out and enveloped me in a tight one-armed hug, as always he smelled like cigarettes and gunpowder.

We stood in the Headmaster's office and he looked ecstatic, "Oh my! You've grown and you look just like your mother, so beautiful! It's been far too long!" He jumped up and stuck both of his arms out, "Give me a hug!"

Like how everyone else dealt with his antics, I ignored him. Instead I turned back to Toga, "Loving the new President."

"Bullshit, he's just a figurehead, I get to do all the dirty work," he said gruffly.

I smiled, "I missed your crassness."

Toga gave me a small grin and another quick one-armed hug.

A bell went off and he glanced at the clock, "Class starts in 5 minutes, Kaito should be here by now to show you to class."

I didn't hear about this, "What do you mean by Kaito?"

"He-" He was cut off by the opening of the door.

"Sorry I'm late," Kaito smoothed his hair back and looked at me, "first day."

He was a student of Toga's and in the past, a frequent guest in my house. He didn't look very different, taller and more sturdy, but he still had the same dark sandy hair and brown eyes.

Toga's eyes squinted in frustration, "Kaito's a teacher in training here and right now in charge of your class while the homeroom teacher is out."

"Yeah I get the gist of it," I started to walk out, "class is going to start soon, see you later Toga."

He called out at me, "Call me Onii-," and the door slammed before he could finish.

I walked towards the third year classrooms, not really sure which one was mine.

"Wait," Kaito shouted behind me. I slowed and he caught up with me.

"So should I be calling you Takamiya-Sensei now?"

He chuckled, "Well you should, but it sounds so weird coming from you."

We had more of a brother-in-arms relationship, an easy camaraderie.

"You've been gone for a long time." For some reason it sounded like an accusation.

He nodded and stared straight ahead, "Yeah, I have."

I looked at him and the corner of his lips were slightly turned downwards, "So how many times have you been a 'teacher in training' now?"

"Fourth time," he said as he smirked and stopped in front of a classroom door, "So any aliases or covers for you?"

"No. I'm myself."

"Great," he paused and ruffled my hair, "Missed you, kid."

A/N: I will be using the western name order, with given name first and surname last. I will also still be using Japanese honorifics.