Summary - Allison talks about being in class as a substitute teacher. She goes on to tell us how she got to Cross Academy.

Eylloooo^^ I'm getting quite a few hits, but no Reviews! I know it may be kinda early to expect some, but please do let me know what you think! Reviewers get gifts, virtual ones of course! It's the thought that counts :)

ItTakesWork has managed to edit this one too. = I must be pathetic at it too. [Just went over the piece again - only to find a truck load of errors.] Allison's thoughts are in italics

Random Note : I have been told by quite a few people that this chapter should be split up into two - again. And the prologue got slightly confusing. Too much going on or something. I'm thinking of stripping it down. Did the prologue and this chapter give you a headache? And did you leave it midway ? If so, let me know why, so that I can work on it. Thankers xD

Chapter 1

When I first entered Cross Academy, I thought of it as an ordinary hostel for ordinary kids. Was I wrong!

I was accepted by Cross Kaien-sama, who so graciously agreed to let me use the schools facilities in order to coach myself. All of this, under the condition that I was to be a substitute ethics teacher. This would mean that I could study only at night. The idea didn't seem to appeal to me (at all) but there was no way out of it.

After having me comply with his condition, Kaien simply sent me off to my room.

I went up to my room only to find it to be the tackiest I'd ever seen. By tacky I'm referring to the floral wallpaper, gaudy wooden cupboard and mustard yellow curtains. Does it sound horrid enough yet? To make matters worse, there wasn't a toilet in my room.

Heck! I'd have to show my not-so-glam-face to the world EVERY morning.

Just as Allison had done ventilating, and was starting to unpack, somebody knocked on her door.

Murakami lifted herself off the carpet, brushing down her emerald summer dress. She turned the knob and pushed open the door, but only partially. She didn't need the person standing outside, judging her, by the mess she'd created in her room. Outside, stood a fairly tall student who'd been shuffling his feet about until Allison had opened the door. Hands in pocket, he informed her, that the Chairman had requested for her to meet him - immediately.

"WHAT! Wasn't I just there?" exclaimed Allison, only to be given a kind of - death stare - by this... gorgeous student?

'*Eek* Student-Teacher. Teacher-Student. Student-Teacher. One last time... '

It didn't take her much time to realize, that he wasn't in the happiest of moods either. Choosing to walk behind Mr. Not-so-nice, Allison caught herself unintentionally staring at him. His gait, clumsily put on uniform *making her cringe*, star light hair, tattoo...

"A tattoo? How old is anyways?"

One arriving at the office, he held the door open for her. Allison mumbled an inaudible thanks.

"Chairman, you requested for me to be here?" she said as she carefully took a seat behind the desk. From the corner of her eyes she noticed that the 'informant', had taken his leave.

"Allison-chan, how do you like the room? I hope you're comfortable."

"It's perfect. Thank you Chairman."

It's just that it's barely been a few MINUTES since I left your room...

"I'm glad to hear that, Allison-chan. Please help yourself with something," Kaien said pointing at the teapot, "I have something I've got to ask you dear...

Do you Allison, believe in fairy tales?"

Wow, is he mad? The tea was very well made. I helped myself for a second time and let him know that it'd been ages since I'd read a fairy tale, but I did believe, that a person could live their life like one.

"No, no I didn't mean it like that." He said smugly. "I meant to ask you whether you believe in the existence off mythological creatures. Say, vampires?" AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! Such a funny old man. "I don't think so Kaien Sama." she replied, suppressing her laughter as well as she could.

The Chairman's face lit up, "Well you most definitely should then Ms. Allison. Why is it that you think we have a Night Class?"

This was getting to be a little too weird for Allison. She decided to be as tactful as possible and said to him, "Excuse me, if I'm being impudent, but, I have loads of unpacking to do Chairman. I'm sure we can have this conversation some other time, eh?"

Cross Kaien's face turned grave, his voice took on a slightly more serious tone, "Allison-chan, think of it as you will, but I am not wasting your time here. I do not expect you to understand just yet. I have therefore, appointed my daughter Yuuki Chan to 'hang around' with you. I trust she'll show you around and very soon you shall come to believe what I have just told you. I need you to know this considering you will be spending a lot of your time in the main building with the Night Class. That's it, you may leave."

Allison stood up abruptly and left the room rather confused. Very confused. As expected, Prefect Yuuki was waiting outside the Chairman's office.

"Hi, I'm Yuuki. And I'll be your escort for today!"said Yuuki whilst waving her hand about.

She then pulled from the corner, Allison's 'informant', "And this, is Kiryuu Zero!"

NOTE - This is where I merge the first two chapters, just so that there is a bit more weight in them.

Allison's thoughts are still in italics

Allison extended her hand towards the young man, hoping, he would respond and not well - just stand there. *The only thing worse than an unmet handshake is an ignored high-five* she thought.
Judging from his expression though, he had no intention, what-so-ever, of responding. Yuuki quickly got hold of Allison's open palm and shook hands with her.

A miserable attempt to cover up for Zero's shrewd behavior.

"I think my *hangout buddy* as his Dad put it, needs a hug!" Allison hollered, acknowledging two unsuspecting and extremely baffled passer bys. They turned around to look at her then quickened their pace, also whispering into each others ears.

A petite girl with shoulder length, razor sharp hair, dropped her head and let out a silvery laugh. From the corner of her eyes Allison could see Zero had lifted up one of his eyebrows.

"I'm not even joking Yuuki-chan." Allison stated firmly, only to be stopped mid-sentence, by Zero's silky voice, "Cross Kaien-sama is not my father. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to attend, Murakami-*senpai*."

Taking his leave, the submissive student pompously walked back to his class.

A startled Allison's cheeks flushed a deep red. Zero addressing her as 'senpai' really got to her. She'd forgotten that she was not at Cross Academy as a pupil, but as a teacher. And though not much older than the students, she would have to conduct herself as tactfully as possible. Her behavior then was unacceptable to her. Caught in her own web of thoughts, she could hear Yuuki's dull bellowing, "Zero! You hopeless dweeb! *Ugh*Fine! Leave! But don't be late for duty!"

Yuuki then looked up at Allison," Don't mind Kiryuu Zero, Murakami-senpai. To be withheld is in his nature."

Allison responded with a kind nod as the prefect went on to say," I don't know where to start! Is there anything Murakami-senpai would like to see or know?"

"Yuuki-chan is it possible for you to refer to me as plain Allison, I'm new here, and as you may have guessed not much older than you are. I may have come in a teacher but I'd like to get to know the students here better. The teachers here are presumably, too old, for me to be on friendly terms with. And anyways, I'm horrible with honorific titles." replied Allison in an as a matter-of-fact tone. " But enough of that! Why don't we start at the canteen. I'm famished! What say you?" said the unconventional teacher.

Yuuki didn't know what to make of what she'd just heard. What she did know was that. Allison Murakami gave off a considerably pleasant vibe. Yuuki, being the accepting person she was, chuckled and directed her finger straight down the corridor, "That !'Allison' is Sayori Wakaba. A close friend, very dear to me. I daresay my best friend! Yori," she exclaimed, "over here!" frantically trying to grab her attention.

The girl noticed this and yelled back, "YUUKI, don't you have a class to attend!" She ran her fingers through her raw sienna hair. It had a beautiful flow to it.

I should wash my hair more often.

Yuuki simply invited Sayori over to where they stood. The girl ran over to them.

"Yuuki!" she panted, "don't you have a class to get to!" She'd managed to ignore Allison altogether so far.

Not knowing what to do, Murakami stood there, shuffling her feet about. She noticed her platform heels weren't the navy blue she had thought them to be. They were purpler in the light. Allison tried shifting her leg about. Under her shadow, out of her shadow, hoping they were actually blue and once again not purple. Unfortunately for her, the mystery had to be left unsolved, because right then, she felt someone lightly tap her shoulders.

"Allison, we'd better hurry to the canteen. It's impossible in there once the bell rings." Yuuki chirped. "Konnichiwa Murakami-senpai." Sayori said in a similar voice to Yuuki's, finally acknowledging Allison.

Allison responded with a "Hey..." topped with an awkward smile.

They silently began making their way towards the canteen. Yuuki seemed to have convinced Yori to stay and Allison seemed to have missed out on it, while debating over the color of her heels.

Eventually, the trio barged into the canteen and the randomest thing happened. They collectively... started laughing... It was as if they'd scripted it and unknowingly so, a precious relationship had blossomed.

x

The canteen looked more like an oversized kitchen to Allison. Stained walls, tiled flooring and the poignant aroma of red chillis.
A connecting door to their right led straight to the mess. The canteen itself had three round tables. Allison cautiously placed her palm on the rickety table, taking it's support to adjust the straps of her heels. Yuuki and Yori skipped along to where the chairs had been stacked and pulled out three of them. Allison lifted her palm off the table and took a seat besides Yori. Yuuki quietly went over to the counter to get their lunches.

The two seated girls eventually engaged themselves in deep conversation. Yuuki returned with steaming hot rice. She planted the plates on the table and took a seat herself.

"This is..*sorry*.. really good." exclaimed Allison, with much difficulty at that, as she gulped down the rice.
Yuuki and Yori gave her approving nods. "Oh! By the way Yuuki,"she said while licking a finger clean, "the chairman, what's his deal? Having me *hangout* with Kiryuu Zero and you. He was rambling about Vampires or something, how you'd protect me, something. Hahaha. Care to explain?"

Yuuki's already wide eyes grew wider, her chopsticks almost left her grasp. "Allison!" she said regaining herself, "Kaien-sama was probably just *nervous laugh* messing around with you or something."

"Besides, we all know there's something wrong with Kaien-sama." a certain somebody muttered, before placing himself adjacent to Allison. It was the second time she had been startled by him, and she hated the feeling. Kiryuu Zeros' voice was extremely disarming.

Zeros plate clattered onto the table. He took each bite haltingly, not shifting his gaze from the plate. "How rude Zero!" proclaimed Yuuki as she punched his arm playfully.

I've got to leave...

In an instant, Murakami got up from her chair and addressing Yuuki she said,"Yuuki-'chan' I need to get back to my room. There's loads of unpacking to be done. You can show me around later."
and with that Allison hurriedly rushed out of the canteen. She could hear Yuuki calling out to her, "Allison! Allison! What happened?"

Allison stopped only when the canteen was nowhere in sight. Composing herself she headed straight to her room.
Locking the door behind her, she dropped herself on the bed. Allison stared blankly at the ceiling, wondering what was wrong with her.

Why did I just do that? Wait a minute! Did I really do that? LORD! How embarrassing! I need to reorganize my thoughts. That's it.

Allison grabbed a pillow that lay besides her and scrunched it up, then hugging it as she would've hugged her plushie 'Minnie', Murakami shut her eyes...

Thank You for reading .

Now fly away and let me know what you think. Much appreciated. ^^

Sorry I haven't been updating to soon. Have loads going on =/

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