Chapter One:
Nana's Help and a Run-In With Ichio
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Notice: Chapter One starts when Li-chan "Lia" arrives in Tokyo. Six hours after she leaves Cross Academy.
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Six hours after leaving Cross Academy….
Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. I had to ring the doorbell a few times, before she answered. She was shocked to see me standing at the door, even more so, when I told her I was pregnant. "Saints alive, Ashli. Why are you here? I thought you were at Cross Academy." "I was, I had to leave because of the baby." "She's pureblood. That's understandable. I think it would be best for you to move in with Shin, at least for now anyway. I'm gonna call for an emergency meeting." "Nana, wait. You said 'she' what did you mean by that." " Oh, the baby. It's a girl." She said as she went to call everyone for the emergency meeting.
Thirty minutes later….
"Hey, Nana. What's this all about, anyway." Nobu said. "I'm gonna tell you in a minute. Ashli, come out so everyone can see you." Nana said as she led me into the room.
"What in the world is Ashli doing here! Wasn't she supposed to be at Cross Academy, Nana?" Yasu asked.
"Ashli please tell them why you're here." She said to me.
"I had to leave Cross Academy to go into hiding."
"Why do you have to go into hiding, Ashli?" Hachi asked me.
"Well, um… you see I'm four months pregnant and the baby's pureblood. So, do you understand why I left." I said.
It took a few minutes for everyone to recover from absolute shock. Yasu was the first to recover.
"This is serious. Basically what needs to be done first is to get her a new identity, and figure out where she's going to stay and where she'll work at. Nana, let me handle all the legal stuff. You need to handle things here." Yasu said, then he walked out the door.
"Okay. You heard the lawyer. Now, Shin. It would be for the best if Ashli moved in with you, for obvious reasons, for now anyway, then we'll get her a place of her own later." Nana said to him. "You're right. Hey, Nabu." "What?" "You're moving out." "Huh! What for?!" "Ashli will be moving in and I don't think it would be fair to me or to her if you come barging in when we're asleep." Shin said matter-of-factly to Nobu as he kicked him out the door. "There you go, Hachi. You can have him all to yourself."
Two months later….
"Hey, Lia guess what." Nana said as she sat down at the other end of the couch. "What, Nana?" I said as I tried to sit up. "Since I woke you up from your nap. I'll make this short and sweet. You got the job!" she said with a grin on her face. "I did. Really." "Yeah. Your interview is in two hours and I also heard that the president of the company will be interviewing you himself."
At the company headquarters for Fashionista Magazine….
"Yasu. Can we take the elevator. There's no way I'm going to be able to climb twelve flights of stairs." I said as I fanned myself with an old magazine. "Of course we're taking the elevator, Lia. Come on, it's here." He said as he helped me into the elevator. Five minutes later we had made it to the head honcho's office. Knock. Knock. "Come in. may I help you."
"Yes. I'm Lia Komatsu. I'm here for my interview." I said as the president turned around to speak with me. I was shocked and speechless when I saw that the president of the company was Ichio. "My, my, my this is a surprise." He said as he walked over to me. "Please sit. You must be tired. I didn't think you would take the job, especially in your delicate condition." Ichio said as he sat across from me. "How did you find me?" I asked him while putting a protective hand on my unborn child. "Since you asked. I was able to find you, because Kaname Kuran-sama asked me to keep an eye on you." Then he noticed how I had placed my hands protectively on my belly and said. "No need for that. I'm not here to hurt you or your baby. I'm only here to hire you for that job you wanted." "Oh! Yes, of course. Thank you." I said as I made my way out of the building as fast as I could.
Back at Lia's apartment….
"NANA!! NANA!!" I shouted as I opened the door. "What!? Where's the fire!?" Nana said as she came out of the kitchen. "There's no fire Nana, but we might have a slight problem on our hands." I said as I sat on the couch. "Huh!? What kind of problem?" she asked me as she glared at Yasu. "I had a run-in with Ichio, you know, the old geezer from the senate." I said to her. "WHAT! HOW!? WHEN!? WHERE!?" she randomly said as she started to panic. "Nana, calm down. It appears that Ichio is the president of Fashionista Magazine. Don't worry Nana he's only there to keep an eye on her under strict orders from Kaname Kuran." Yasu said while taking the iron skillet out of her hand. Meanwhile, as all of this was happening, Seiren decided to take the job as Lia's assistant, also under strict orders from Kaname Kuran. Who at that very moment was having a hard time dealing with an hysterical Yuki Cross.
Back at Cross Academy;Moon Dormitory;Kaname's room….
"WHAT AM I GOING TO DO! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO! More importantly WHAT AM I GOING TO TELL KANAME!" Yuki Cross said to herself, becoming more and more hysterical as she quickly ran to her fiancé's room. "KANAME KURAN! WAKE! UP! RIGHT! NOW!!" she shrieked as Kaname was suddenly jolted awake by Yuki's hysterical screaming. "Yuki,Yuki calm down and tell me what's wrong." Kaname said as he tried to make her sit in a chair. "YUKI! What has happened to make you so hysterical for any way." He said as he firmly gripped her shoulders. "Kaname, I'm three weeks pregnant with your son." Yuki said to him.
(*thud*- sound of Kaname Kuran fainting and falling on the floor.)*
Now back to Lia's apartment…
"Wow, it's ten p.m. already. Hey. Nana." I shouted from the living room. "Hey what!?" she shouted from the bathroom. "It's ten o'clock. You're gonna be late for the concert." "WHAT! ALREADY!" "Yeah. You better get going." "Yeah, you're right. Are you gonna be okay here by yourself." "Yeah, I'll be fine. Good luck with the concert." "Okay,bye. See you later." She said as she went out the door. As I was six months pregnant, there was not a lot of things I could do, especially when I was by myself. Nana, being the overly protective best friend that she is, had taped a list of things I could do when I was by myself to the fridge. Just out of curiosity I looked at her list.
The list read like this:
LIA! This is a list of what you can do when you're by yourself!
Sit on the couch
Watch t.v. for a while
Go to bed
There. Now I won't have to give myself a heart attack worrying about you.
NANA ^,^
"HA! HA! Very funny, Nana." I said to myself. Sometime later that night I woke up only to find Seiren sitting on the edge of my bed. "What the-! Seiren? What're you doing here?" I asked her as I sat up in my bed. "Keeping an eye on you, that's what." Seiren said as she sat on the other side of the bed. "I'm moving in as your roommate and I'm also your assistant at Fashionista Magazine." "That's all fine with me, but what about Kaname and everyone at school." I asked. "Mr. ROYAL PANTS will be fine. It's you he's worried about. He thinks someone might try to kidnap you before the baby's born." She said. "Now that you mention it. I get the feeling we're being watched and the feeling's not good."
Little did they know that within six weeks' time. Nana, Hachi, Seiren, and Lia would be up against their biggest and worst nightmare possible; being kinapped and held hostage by a pureblood vampire they all thought was dead.