Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight, any of its characters or settings; I own only Mizuki Haruka and any other unrecognizable characters.
Author's Note: Okay, just thought I'd mention this early on: I'm trying to use the Japanese honorifics as best I can, and as I am not of Japanese origin, I doubt that I'll be using them efficiently. So ... if there are any mistakes here, can you - at least - forgive me for my crappy knowledge of the Japanese culture? Gomen!
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Aidou Hanabusa had never liked class.
This was mainly due to the fact that he usually excelled in whatever he found himself participating in: he was a whizz-kid when it came to academic studies and (mainly due to his outward appearance as opposed to anything else) he got along with pretty much anyone in the vicinity.
This was why he sat, with his face masked with an indifferent expression, and his fingers beating a random tune on the desk.
'Just think, Hanabusa,' he thought to himself, 'after this class, I could hunt-'
The arrival of two figures halted his train of thought before it could go any further: it seemed that the 'guest' had finally arrived.
Aidou, seeing as it was his custom, took his time to assess her appearance.
She was reasonably tall (although she looked pretty short next to the regal pureblood beside her); wearing an unbuttoned shirt atop a white tank top, with a black skirt and white flats; her hair in waves of golden-brown. But, her eyes ...
Aidou suddenly felt like looking away: un unexplainable wave of - fear? - washed over him, as he felt her eyes move to absorb his form. Swiftly, he moved his gaze to his desk, where he glimpsed his fingers shake a little.
'Stop it, Hanabusa,' he chastised fiercely, and clenched his hands into fists' no-one, much less a female, should bother him this much ...
Even Ruka didn't scare him this much ... she just annoyed him.
Kaname's calm, velvety voice caused Aidou to focus on his next words. "Greetings, everyone. Now, as you may have guessed. we have a guest among us today." He extended an arm. "This is Mizuki Haruka, a permanent resident of the Night Class here at Cross Academy."
Aidou glanced at his cousin Kain, the more level-headed of the two. Predictably, he didn't even blink at the news. Was it just because of the unexpected arrival that the blond felt - hesitant?
She had already caused some unfamiliar emotions to stir inside of him, and - for the first time - he was lost as to why she affected him so much.
It wasn't love, that was for sure - he had promised himself, at a young age, that he would not fall into that web of betrayal and emotional attachment. And besides, he thought with a touch of smugness, he was far too good-looking to even think of sharing his looks with anyone else.
Shameless flirting was okay - an intimate relationship, though ...
He repressed the urge to shiver.
The female smoothly made her way towards the desk beside Aidou's, and it took some of his willpower for his blue eyes to meet her intense green gaze.
Those eyes ...
They seemed to stare past his own gaze, as if they were peering into his soul, peering inside his mind-
'Are you afraid of me?'
He almost jumped at the sound of the voice, which had spoken inside his head. Perplexed, he looked back at the female, who continued to gaze at him, a hint of a smile on her face.
'Um ... no?' He spoke the words mentally, understanding that he was currently witnessing her 'ability'.
She laughed, the sound unheard by everyone but the blond. 'Don't worry about it. Most people react that way once I surprise them like this.'
Aidou had no reply to that, so simply sat silently. The scent of jasmine overshadowed him.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Mizuki Haruka."
The voice did not echo inside his head, as he had been expecting, and he opened his eyes to look back at the female, now with her hand extended in greeting, her arm resting on his desk.
He smiled, the smile of a charmer. "Hanabusa Aidou." He shook her offered hand.
She smiled at him. "Again, I'm sorry for startling you."
He shook his head. "You ... didn't startle me that much, anyway. It's nothing new."
She shook her head and smiled in return, with the look of knowing something that the blond did not. "I see Kaname-sama hasn't told you everything."
Aidou's eyebrows creased together. "What - about you?"
Haruka nodded, still with her eyes closed. Suddenly, she opened them and looked back at Kaname, who was elegantly seated behind his desk, his eyes on the pair.
'Maybe another time.' The voice, this time, sounded from inside his head.
Aidou's eyebrows rose, before he shrugged. 'Sure, whatever you want.'
The female turned back to Kaname, and Aidou realized that he was not the only vampire to have witnessed Haruka's ability.
He looked back through the window. The majority of the stars had shown themselves now, and Aidou sneaked a glance at the moon, which continued to shine brighter than any other star out there. Lost in thought, Aidou continued to stare up at the moon.
A black raven surveyed the Night Class with its alert and curious eyes.
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Yuuki, for reasons escaping her, could not go to sleep.
Zero had become impossible to deal with; he barely talked to her (unless it was necessary), and when he did talk to her, it was always about their duties as a Prefect.
She looked down at the Moon Dorm, her eyes yearning to see him again.
'Kaname-senpai ...'
That day, ten years ago ... if it hadn't been for Kaname, she wouldn't be here right now ... She definitely owed a lot to him for saving her, that was for sure-
"Yuuki? Are you still awake?"
Yuuki hastily turned back and met the eyes of her roommate, Yori. She smiled sheepishly, and placed a hand behind her head.
"Hehe, yeah ... sorry, Yori."
Yori shook her head. "It's okay." She then frowned. "Hey, you aren't still ... thinking about Zero, are you?"
Yuuki shook her head this time. "No, he's pretty hard to understand, to be honest." Yori had been just as clueless as Yuuki when it came to Zero; he was troubled, but they couldn't bring themselves to hunt down the cause.
Yori smiled slightly. "Well, then, you should get some sleep. Then, you won't have to sleep and snore in class."
Yuuki dove under her blanket. "Har har, Yori."
The sound of silence pierced the air for a few seconds and Yuuki, who was still blinking in the dark, realized that Yori had fallen back asleep. Removing the blanket from over her head, Yuuki peered at the photograph that stood on her bedside table: with herself placed beside Zero, she with a smile on her face, he with a frown.
She smiled again at that memory: the Chairman had been his usual enthusiastic self when Zero (or rather, she) had unveiled that they were going to be in the same class together. Hastily, he had asked for the pair to stand beside each other, so that he could take a picture.
Yuuki resisted the urge to laugh out loud. Zero looked so ... serious in the picture that she found it laughable. This is why, she thought fondly, things shouldn't change ...
She frowned at that last thought: 'things shouldn't change ...'
Zero seemed to have changed; he usually stayed in his room alone nowadays, and didn't always come to class. Even now, she questioned whether this new change was because of her; she felt a sudden spasm of guilt hit her: Zero's presence had always been a comfort to her (even though she had never admitted it outright) and, to have it taken away from her ...
'No matter what happens to Zero,' she thought, as she snuggled deeper into her blanket, 'I'll always be there for him.'
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Due to Kaname's request, Haruka had to stay behind whilst the rest of the Night Class students made their way to their dorm rooms. Due to his regal Pureblood status, she had been forced to comply.
Some time later, Kaname had also exited the classroom, promising that he'll talk with her; time had passed, though, and she was curious as to what he would want to talk with her about. She had already filled in the application form required to enrol in the Academy, and she was pretty sure that the Headmaster and Kaname must have discussed the factors affecting her admission into the Academy. Therefore, she exited the classroom, tingling with a new feeling - curiosity.
She had barely walked a few steps when she felt a gentle hand wrap around her wrist. She looked back and was greeted with the figure of Kaname.
'I didn't notice you there, Kaname-sama.' Even Haruka remembered the amount of respect that was due to a member of a Pureblood family.
'That was because you were preoccupied with your thoughts, Haruka.'
She looked down at their intertwined hands, and attempted to discover what Kaname wanted to talk about.
"Haruka," (she looked back up at him), "did you expect me to protect you from your parents - make them see sense?"
"That ... had been my intentional idea."
"Well ..." Kaname closed his eyes. "It would prove slightly difficult, what with my biggest ... priority right now."
Haruka continued to stare at him and realized that he was referring to Yuuki, the Prefect.
She narrowed her eyes. 'But, why-?'
"Please refrain from dwelling into my thoughts and memories." Kaname opened his eyes, his expression gentle but stern.
Haruka looked down at her arm, as Kaname released it from his grip. "Sorry, Kaname-sama."
He stared past her. "Yuuki is ... a very delicate creature. It would be unwise to-"
Kaname suddenly looked through the window, and Haruka immediately followed his gaze; they had both heard rustling outside.
Swiftly, the two vampires took off for the balcony. It took them a couple of seconds to reach their destination, and they jumped down, landing steathily on their feet.
The pair continued to walk side by side, Kaname looking left and right swiftly.
"That's strange, I-"
Both pair of ears caught another side, and both bodies immediately stiffened.
It was the sound of a gun's safety disengaging.
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Author's Note: I apologize for the delay of this chapter; Real Life is not a friendly thing (where my stories are concerned), and - admittedly - it took me a while to get into the 'VK mindset' of things. Sorry again!
Ash Phoenix