Hi guys, Arashikishu000 here. First of all, I want to apologize for my serious lack of updating during these past few decades. I've been cramped with so much work and other activities and that I neglected my lovely readers! Again, I apologize. All I can hope for is for you guys to take me back and forgive me? *hopeful face*
Second of all, I missed you guys! It's been such a long time since I last wrote for fun, and boy, does it feel refreshing, ha ha. But most importantly, I've updated my story into a newer version that better suits my current writing style. After re-reading this story recently, I've realized that…well…it needed some renovation. I had so many ideas that I wanted to express through Bloodlust that didn't translate too well because of inadequate writing. Therefore, now that I've improved my literary merits a little (I hope), I wish to give you an improved version of Bloodlust. So in order to complete the transformation, I have renamed this fan fiction to Thirst. As a humble servant to your entertainment, I do hope you enjoy this story. Please review and tell me what you think; constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms. Alas, without further adieus, Arashikishu000 presents the Vampire Knight fan fiction: Thirst.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight. And that's a good thing. Trust me.
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1: Stones
The morning sun rose, enveloping Cross Academy in an embrace of warmth and light. Ice that kept the grassy fields rigid slowly melted into dewdrops as the chilly night atmosphere changed into bright, refreshing day. Anyone else would have described this scenery as beautiful. Anyone else but Yukari Shiina.
"Ummph" Yukari mumbled sleepily, head tucked deep in her blankets as she tried to avoid the sun's penetrating glare. She wanted nothing but to sink into blissful slumber for eternity, because she knew that when she woke up, she would have to face the incomprehensible and stressful entity known as school.
'So warm…so comfortable…so nice to sleep…dun wanna wake u—'
Suddenly, loud bursts of repetitive, choppy shrills blasted off in Yukari's ears. In the flash of a second, the girl screamed, threw off her blankets and scrambled to the foot of the bed. When Yukari finally regained her composure, she came face-to-face with the perpetrator standing beside her bed, one arm perched haughtily on her hip, and the other carrying the shrieking abomination. The girl was dressed in the pristine Cross Academy uniform, her flaming red hair falling neatly around her shoulders, not a strand out of place.
"Mari!" Yukari exclaimed over the noise. "Turn that thing off!"
"Raise and shine, Kari," Mari said with a deceptively sweet voice and finally turned the alarm clock off.
"Fudge, Mari…" Yukari slumped against the wall to her bed. "Um… is it time for school already?"
"Get up already, Yukari! It's already seven-twenty five—Class starts in five minutes!" Yukari almost jumped out of her bed in alarm.
"What? Five minutes?" Yukari's eyes widened like saucers. She was fully awake now. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?"
"Oh, stop whining. Your alarm clock has been ringing for, like, half an houralready. Here, catch." Mari threw a uniform with Yukari's arms as Yukari ran out of the door, with perfect precision. They had been doing this on a regular basis, after all.
"Thanks!" Yukari called. Fifteen seconds later she was in front of the mirror in the shared dormitory bathroom, rummaging a comb through her shoulder-length black hair and splashing cold water into her face. Tearing off her pajamas in a flurry of rapid motions, Yukari managed to tug on her uniform in two minutes. A minute later, she was hopping back to her room with a toothbrush in her mouth, with two hands trying to stuff her left foot in a sock. Mari's usually pretty face into one of absolute horror at seeing her best friend's state.
"I would be completely speechless right now if I wasn't your roommate. Or if you're not a girl."
Yukari rolled her eyes. "comf on, lefs go!" She said through her toothbrush as she took her schoolbag from Mari's outstretched hand. With that, the two girls sprinted down the hallway, having dealt with yet another typical morning.
xxxxx
Cross Academy was a unique school, to say the least. The school was relatively new, but it was built with an old, neoclassical feel. The windows stretched until they were almost as big as doors, allowing so much sunlight into the classroom that electric light was seldom needed during the day. The classrooms' structures were nearly identical to university classrooms, with stacks of long desks descending below one another, stopping at the front of the room, where the teacher lectured. The school was reputable for being more like a mansion than an actual high school. New students enjoyed the eccentric and fantasy-like qualities of the campus, but for students who were used to the panache, the lunch bell was a welcoming sound.
"Yay lunch!" Misaki, a cheerful blond haired girl announced. She was average in height and had two small, semi ponytails that lay on top of hair that dipped just above her shoulders. Misaki was a nice girl, but she was naïve and had a reputation to be a little gullible and cowardly at times.
Nonetheless, it was evident that the rest of the class felt the same enthusiasm as Misaki, for students quickly rearranged themselves into groups and started chatting away about test scores, scandals, and, most of all (perhaps the most important), the night class.
"Statistics say that 88% of teenage girls wake up early to do their hair everyday," Mari read from a magazine. Misaki, Kaoru and Yukari were all seated around Mari's table, the earlier two being far more attentive than the later. "Will have at least worn four pairs of skirts in their lives, and have at least one crush." Mari raised her eyes at Yukari.
"Yukari, why do I get the feeling that none of these rules apply to you?"
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Yukari said with a mouthful of steamed pork buns. "I get hungry a lot because I do so many sports."
"I was so surprised when I saw you two today, running into the classroom all breathless like that. I swear, the teacher's face was so red it looked like he was about to blow up." Kaoru, a self-proclaimed tomboy with short black hair giggled in an untomboy-like fashion.
"Hey, it's not like I come late to class everyday," Yukari defended.
"No, just most of the time." Mari smirked, arching a fine eyebrow provokingly at Yukari.
"Mari!"
"But it's such a shame, Kari. You're so pretty…if only you weren't such a tomboy. Then we'd really get some potential." Mari sighed dramatically.
"Hey Yukari, have you ever had a crush on anyone?" Kaoru prodded.
"No." Yukari replied. "I just don't have time for a boyfriend right now."
"Really?" Misaki retorted. "Not even on the night class? I mean, come on. Even the girls there are dreamy."
"It's impossible NOT to crush on them. I mean, they're perfection. Smart, beautiful, elegant and graceful… who wouldn't to date someone like that?" Kaoru gushed.
"Yeah, I guess that's true." Yukari acknowledged. What Kaoru said wasn't baseless. The night class's reputation for beauty, intelligence and grace was widespread throughout the entire school population. A person only had to take one look at a member of the night class to swoon and kiss their feet. But the first time that Yukari saw them, she was struck with a sense of ominous premonition that weighed like stones in her gut. The night class, with their superior forms and marble faces had so much perfection that they seemed to ooze superiority over people like her. And Yukari could see it in their eyes, in the way they carried themselves: their belief—no, the knowledge that that they could dominate everyone else if they so wished. Yukari had tried to avoid the night class ever since her that encounter because they've always made her feel uneasy. But Yukari didn't believe herself to be 'strange', as so many of her peers stated, just because she didn't fawn over the night class. In fact, she was confused as to why the others were so infatuated with the people who to her screamed danger.
But Yukari was telling the truth when she said she didn't have time to be distracted. The entire reason why she even got into the prestigious (and therefore expensive) Cross Academy in the first place was because she scored a sports scholarship here. Yukari grew up on a poor, rural village, and her single mother worked day and night to get her into a decent public school. So it was a big deal when she got accepted into Cross Academy.
'So I vowed to become a professional athlete and give my mum never ending luxury. What girl can afford to get a boyfriend with goals this big?' Yukari closed her eyes and nodded in agreement to her thoughts. If this was an anime, there would be a sparkle in her eyes. She chewed on another pork bun.
"Oh my gosh," Mari gushed, suddenly slamming her magazine down. "Ichijo-senpai is so hot!"
"Uh oh," Some boys behind Mari said. "There they go again."
"My favorite is Aidou-kun!" Misaki squealed.
"And they're way rich, to boot! I bet they'll just make the ideal boyfriend," Kaoru fawned.
"And we'll only have to wait for five hours until we can see them again! And this time I'm taking Yukari with me." Mari announced, looking at Yukari with a great big smile like she was doing her the favor of a lifetime.
Yukari stopped eating.
"But the girls who wait by the gates are so scary!" Yukari blanched in nervousness as she flashbacked about the last time she went with Mari…she ended up with bruises all over her body and hips that throbbed every time she moved. "Anyways, although I'd love to come, I have track practice now. So yeah, see you guys at dinner bye!"
"What are you talking about? We have History next. And your track meeting doesn't last from lunch to dinner, silly." Mari said with the same sweet-looking face as she carried that morning. "I hope you're not trying to avoid this, Kari." Mari placed her hand on Yukari's shoulders and squeezed in ominous warning. "Best friends do everything together!"
It was in these times that Yukari wished Mari didn't have such an aggressive personality.
"But I still have track after school, so I won't be able to make i—"
"That's ok Yukari, because I'll wait for you until your practice ends!" Mari said sweetly.
Yukari mentally cursed. 'Damn. Foiled again!'
xxxxx
Mari was serious.
"Mari, wait—sorry, coming through…ouch! Hey! Excuse me—oof!" Yukari choked as she struggled past the masses of girls that were constantly pushing against her. School for day class students had ended not too long ago, and the night class students were just about to come through their dormitory gates and go into the school buildings. In the darkening blue sky, a gigantic sea of girls were clamoring, pushing, and prodding against each other to get to the front of the gates. Yukari knew that Mari wanted to be in front this time so she could see her darling Ichijo, but she didn't know that it was going to be this…suffocating!
"Mari!" Yukari gasped as she finally reached the front of the masses of shrieking girls. "Mari, there you are! I thought I was going to die—"
Suddenly, the volume of unsynchronized noise maximized three folds, and random girls bounced up in simultaneous excitement. The school prefect Yuki Cross, who Yukari saw in the corner of her eye, was desperately trying to keep the crowd in line. Yukari knew that Yuki was uncannily athletic from what she'd seen in their gym classes together, but it still seemed like a miracle that Yuki was able to keep the girls from bursting into the gates. For a moment, Yukari forgot all about her own predicament and felt only sympathy for Yuki as she witnessed first hand the demands of the prefect's job.
From the sudden silence that Yukari heard, she assumed that the night class members were already at the gate. The gates opened slowly, confirming Yukari's suspicions, and the long-awaited night class students began to descend past the gates. The day class girls were struck in speechless, motionless awe yet again by the unworldly grace and beauty that the individuals before them projected. Yukari took this chance to reach Mari, having to push a few bodies out of her way as she proceeded.
Suddenly, without warning, the girls screamed in unison and the excitement that existed before intensified two folds. But strangely, no one in the front lines went forward to glomp the objects of their affections, almost as if there was an invisible line that separated the day class students from the night class students. It was as if, despite of the day class students' absolute adoration, they knew they had to keep a between themselves and the night class.
But this didn't stop girls (and some boys) in the back to try to claw their ways to the front. And Yukari, caught unaware of this sudden escapade of violence, suddenly found her body greeted with kicks, jabs, and sharp, painful prods. Suddenly, Yukari was pushed out of the crowd, over the invisible line and into cold, foreign emptiness.
Yukari stumbled, and soon she felt the sensation of falling, of danger and losing control. Yukari stretched her arms outward and shut her eyes in anticipation. But instead of hitting ground, Yukari fell on a soft barrier and felt strong, solid leverages circle around her back. Yukari opened her eyes in confusion.
The first thing Yukari saw was the distinct collar of a white jacket. Then, she noticed that everything around her had gone silent. It was as if she'd fallen into another dimension where time was frozen.
Suddenly, the arms that encircled her shifted. Yukari felt solid hands move on her back, hear the distinct rustling of her jacket, a rich sound that cleaved the silence. Yukari looked up and saw the most intimidating and bewitching sight in the sixteen short years of her life. For a split moment, a pair of emerald eyes bore into hers with a passive intensity that made her body freeze and her stomach sink. But the moment was so short that Yukari wondered if it even happened at all.
Pluck
Oh…
"Are you alright?" Ichijo Takuma, the boy who was supporting Yukari's sloping body in his arms smiled his pleasant trademark smile and Yukari finally comprehended the situation she was shoved in.
A night class student.
And then frozen time was irrevocably shattered and the world regained its usual discomposure.
"Kyaaaaa!" The crowds burst out. "Ichijo-senpai!"
Ichijo? Yukari panicked as she scrambled from his arms. "Sorry! Someone pushed me—"
Ichijo chuckled, not acting at all surprised for someone who just caught a girl who fell face-first into his chest.
"It's fine. Just remember to be more careful in the future, alright?" Ichijo warned Yukari in a sincere and good-natured tone. And the exact same smile again.
Pluck
Finally, Ichijo turned his eyes away and began to proceed in his path with the rest of the night students, who seemed to have stopped to wait for him.
Yukari stood there, dumbstruck, staring at his back until he disappeared.
"H-hey! To the day class student over there, please get back in line!" Yuki Cross shouted over the ruckus and blew her whistle.
"Huh—What?" Yukari snapped out of her stupor and looked behind her, coming face-to-face with the carnage of wailing girls. "No way! I'll never go back in there again, not in this lifetime—NOO!" But, alas, Yukari couldn't escape in time and was pulled back into the sea of dread.
Pluck.
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