It had been days since the incident with Yuki and Aido. Yuki hadn't seemed phased by what had happened but, that was Yuki. Not many people noticed just how much of a thick skin she had, but then again, not many people knew what kind of a life she had. When your life was filled with the monsters from fairy tales, it took a lot to break you.


Maya had gone to look for Yuki the morning after the incident. She had a rather small bandage around her hand indicating that Maya had been right, Aido hadn't hurt her much. After a brief conversation between the two Maya had been ready to go back to the infirmary before Yuki had asked to speak to her privately before her classes begun. Both girls went to sit in the main courtyard of the academy. Some students bustled about but it was still fairly early so most wouldn't be on their way to class just yet.

"What's the matter Yuki?" Maya had asked, concerned. Yuki sat silent for a while. Every so often she would open her mouth as if to speak, but quickly closed it again, looking for the right words to express what was wrong.
Maya stared, silently, at the girl next to her, whom Maya had considered for years to be her sister, one of her best friends in a way. She grew up with Yuki and knew her like the back of her hand. But the girl she looked at now was nothing but a ghost of that girl.
She was smaller, skinnier, shrinking away from the world. Shaking with worry, eyes wide with fear.

Eventually, Yuki spoke.

"I think there's something wrong with Zero." She had said, softly.
Maya was slightly taken aback. The way Yuki was, she had expected the worst. Though as she looked at Yuki, who had kept her head down the entire time, she could she that she really was concerned. It worried Maya, deep inside. She placed her hand on Yuki's arm, willing her to elaborate. Yuki shuffled her feet slightly, before continuing.

"I barely see him anymore." She said, almost whispering. "And when I do, he never says anything. He never looks at me. I don't see him eat, I don't see him drink. I don't even think he's sleeping." Her voice had slowly begun to rise and quicken in pace as she became more hysterical. Maya rubbed her shoulder softly to calm her.
"I go to check on him at night sometimes, he's never in his room." She raised her hands, shaking them in an erratic fashion. Her face twisted in confusion and frustration. With a large sigh she dropped her head into her hands. Maya could barely hear her as she spoke again.
"He doesn't even turn up to class anymore."

The air was silent around the two girls for a while afterwards. Both of them pondering over what had just been said.
Yuki had stopped shaking, her chest feeling lighter than it had done before.
Maya on the other hand, felt the exact opposite. She had always been a huge part of Yuki and Zero's lives. When did she suddenly become so distant that she noticed none of this? She looked at Yuki, who was now sitting upright, her face brighter. She felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She had let them down. Both of them. She should have been the first to notice anything wrong and she didn't.
Yuki looked at Maya expectantly, awaiting her to give her a solution to her predicament. Maya sighed softly.

"You're going to be late, Yuki" She said, "Go to class, don't worry, I'll go find Zero and talk to him." Though she felt like she should be doing more for her this seemed a perfect solution for Yuki, who was now beaming.
After thanking Maya, Yuki quickly set off for her class, one she wasn't going to be late for, for once.

Luckily for Maya, the usual horde of hypochondriac students was a small one today. Grabbing her pager in case she was needed, she locked the infirmary and headed off to find Zero, choosing to search the grounds rather than the classrooms.

It didn't take her as long as she thought it would to find him.

In the outermost stall of the stables was a horse named White-Lily. A white horse with an incredibly hostile temperament. The students are all mostly frightened of her, but she seemed to have a soft spot for Zero. And him for her. When Maya found the pair Zero was sat in a pile of hay, chatting quietly with his good friend. Though White-Lily was visibly unhappy at Maya's intrusion, Zero never lifted his head.
A heavy silence drifted in the air.

Maya waited, not wanting to disturb Zero from whatever train of thought he may have had. She realised, after a while, that what she really wanted was for him to make the first move, to reach out to her for help. The pang in her chest returned. She had been blind to their lives but looking at Zero shown her, just as much as Yuki had, that she had failed them.

He looked like death.
Like anger and fear.
His eyes were sunken and his cheeks were hollow.
He looked like he hadn't slept for years.

To the dismay of White-Lily, Maya made her way over to the boy in the hay. She thought it wise not to reach out and hold him.

"You've been missing a lot of classes you know, Zero." She said. It came out forced, almost awkward. She mentally scolded herself before continuing, Zero all the while pretending she wasn't there.
"Yuki's worried about you, you're scaring her." Zero lifted his head slightly, but said nothing.
"She told me, you're not eating, you're not sleeping. You ignore her. You're skipping classes. It's like you're trying to make yourself disappear." Maya, suddenly desperate for an answer, turned to Zero, pulling him by his shoulders to face her.

He let her pull him.
Limp. Numb.

"I want to help you Zero. I need to help but I-" She struggled for the words to describe her mixed up thoughts.
"You have to tell me what's going on! If you do, I can make this better."

Without warning, Zero ripped himself from Maya's grip, walking to the other end of the stall, as far away as he could get.

"Make this better?" He said, almost mocking her words.
"Make this better? What if you can't make this better Maya?!" He screamed at her and she couldn't help but shrink away from him as he came back towards where she sat, still in the hay.
"Did you ever think that this might be something that you can't fix with your fucking medicine cabinet?! You have absolutely no idea what is going on."

"So tell me." She pleaded, standing up to face him properly.

"Why should I tell you?" He whispered, retreating back away from her.
"You won't understand"

"How do you know that I won't?" She said defiantly. He lunged himself forwards, grasping her by the shoulders, shaking her.

"Because you don't care Maya!" Zero's eyes were hard with anger but Maya could see he was holding back tears.
She couldn't hold back. She let the tears flow down her cheeks, her chest in agony.

"You know I care Zero," Her voice broke slightly.
"How could you say I don't care, I love you"

"No you don't! You came here because of Yuki. You didn't notice, you never took the time to notice Maya. Do you even know me anymore?" Maya's shoulders began to throb slightly under Zero's grip. He stared at her intently, waiting for her answer.
She didn't back down.

"You're Zero Kiryu. The person who tells me stories in the night and cooks for me when Kaien's cooking is too unbearable. The quiet little boy who I cared for and grew up with. Who grew into this amazing, kind and intelligent young man who has his whole life ahead of him. My little brother." Zero dropped his head, relaxing his hands on Maya's shoulders. They stood there, motionless, for what seemed like an eternity.
Eventually he walked past Maya and she did nothing to stop him.

"Your little brother has gone, Maya." He whispered.

After a while, Maya had managed to pull herself away from the stables, confident Zero wasn't returning to somehow change what had just happened.

She felt lost and almost alone. She knew he wasn't lying to her. Her little brother was slowly slipping away. She could have cried out in frustration. Not knowing just what was going through Zero's mind. The fact he thought she didn't care, the fact he felt he couldn't speak to her anymore. It killed her a little inside. She felt hollow.

Though she didn't feel it at the moment in time, Maya was a little lucky. There were no patients to deal with right now and no one had tried to reach her. She could be alone for a little while.
Strangely, she thought, she found herself thinking of Aido, of the night in the infirmary when they spent the good part of an hour laughing at him. She yearned for his company to pull her out of her new-found depression.

When she got back to the infirmary a strange feeling washed over her. She could have sworn she had locked the door. She was positive she did. One time she had left It unlocked for an hour at the most and some students had stolen cough syrup from her. Needless to say Kaien was not pleased so she knew It was a mistake she was unlikely to make again.

Slowly she opened the door, peering inside to see if anyone was there. A faint rustling could be heard from inside and what sounded like someone going through her medicine cabinet.
Maya pushed the rest of the door open with as much force as she could, taking whomever was sneaking around in her infirmary by surprise.

To her own surprise, it was Kaien, looking like a child with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Maya! My sweet baby sister! I was just looking for erm-" Maya watched as her rather flamboyant older brother, now rather flustered, flailed around her desk, stumbling over his words to try to explain why he was sneaking around her medicines.

"Looking for what Kaien?" She asked with a slight smirk in her voice. Though she was far from the best of moods it cheered her up slightly to witness her brothers antics. Kaien's eyes darted everywhere searching for his answer until he found it on the floor. He lunged for the box of aspirin at his feet.

"THIS!" He yelled triumphantly, holding it straight out in front of him.
"This! This is what I'm looking for, this..," He searched the label not-so-inconspicuously, "Aspirin! I have a headache and you weren't here so being the Chairman I got it myself and now you are here so I'll leave you to your work bye!" He rushed off almost as fast as he had been speaking.

Maya would have been ready to question the situation if she hadn't been distracted by a student who had supposedly broken her wrist.

She never even noticed the other box Kaien had been holding.


Five days after the incident with Yuki and Aido, Maya is dreading his return from suspension. Without him to gawk over, most of the day class girls had been returning to their dorms when they were actually meant to. It was rather nice not to have to fight off hormonal teenage girls everyday, especially with Zero no where to be seen during disciplinary duty.
But now Aido was back and, as if they had wrote it in their diaries, all the day class girls knew it.

"Good morning girls!" Called that familiar, cheery voice. Aido walked with his head held high, a smile on his face as well as in his eyes.
"I missed you all!" He cooed. The crowd sighed together, desperately trying to force themselves past Yuki and Maya.

She hated to admit it but Aido actually made Maya laugh.
He was one of the happiest people Maya had ever met.
He had an air around him that made anyone it touched happy. Even when he made her job of keeping the day class girls at bay impossible, she couldn't help but smile.


A/N It's been a while since I have updated (sorry). I got a new job so I will most probably update weekends or on days off (if i'm lucky).

I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far :3 Ya'know I won't really know how you guys find it unless there's a couple of reviews, hintety-hint-hint :D

& I hope you don't mind the lack of Aido in this chapter. I don't want to rush anything, I want their relationship to seem real (as real as you can get with vampires ;])

& also, ALSO! I want to stress the fact that Maya's life doesn't revolve around Aido. So whilst he is going to be the main aspect of her life in the story, I don't want to neglect the other parts, like her relationship with Zero & others :)

ANYWAYS, I reckon I'm rambling. So remember to review because you're lovely :3