CHAPTER 2

Monday afternoon came quickly. Yori managed to keep a calm front, considering what she had witnessed on Saturday. But now she began to notice some strange things.

It was after school and Yori was leaving the class room. She thought over the conversation she had with Yuki before leaving the room.

Yuki was tired again and was caught sleeping in class. Yori had commented to Yuki about staying out all night and sleeping all day like a vampire. And seeing her reaction had made Yori wonder. Yuki had turned a bit red and asked if she believed in vampires.

Right away, Yori said, "No, of course not. I was only kidding." But now the wheels began to turn in her mind. She remembered the look Yuki gave when 'vampire' was mentioned.

Did Yuki believe in vampires? Maybe that's what that creature was at the book store, a vampire. That explained the dust part, but what about that night class guy? Was he and his fellow classmates vampire hunters? Is that why they seemed so strange? And what exactly did Yuki do as a prefect so late at night? Was she vampire hunting with them? Something was up and Yori was going to find out. She decided that she would spy on Yuki.

-

-

Kain had been a little worried about how Kaname was going to react. His setting off the fire alarm at the bookstore was a bit too public, but to his surprise Kaname didn't seem to care. As long as the target was exterminated and there were no witnesses to the deed, everything was fine.

Kain was feeling pretty relieved. He was sure there were no witnesses. The only thing that bothered him was what happened to that girl? He hadn't seen her outside the bookstore or anywhere else. And he didn't tell Kaname about her because he didn't know her name or where to find her. And even though he thought he recognized her as a day class student, he didn't have any proof. During class changes, he tried to scan the crowd for her, but he couldn't find her. What more could he do? So he decided he would handle it on his own if a situation were to arise.

-

-

Yori had a hard time sleeping the next couple of nights. Images of what she witnessed on Monday evening played in her mind.

While spying on Yuki during patrol, she had discovered what the night class really was. They weren't vampire hunters, they were vampires themselves. She had watched from hiding as Adiou had bit Yuki's hand and how Zero came to the rescue with Kuran not far behind. And then she heard ...memories being modified? They could do that? Stunned for a moment, she had managed to stay hidden until everyone was gone and somehow made it back to her room undiscovered. She had a lot to think about.

She lay awake in her bed trying to make sense of everything. There was a lot to take in and after thinking over it for a while she concluded that she definitely didn't want her memories tampered with, much less her blood getting sucked, so she was going to keep it all to herself. And she went on with life, acting as if she knew nothing with her calm, quiet manner. But she avoided seeing the night class as much as possible.

Despite her restless nights, Yori managed to make it through school without falling asleep. She quickly headed over to the library to grab some books for a report. Sitting down at a study desk, she started to look through some books and began to nod off.

-

-

Kain was annoyed. He was getting irritated with his cousin's ramblings about Yuki's blood and on and on and on. Kain already wasn't happy about getting punished along with Hanabusa and he wondered why this idiot wouldn't stop talking about this obvious taboo subject.

So he decided to leave class for some peace and quiet and headed to the library.

He walked to the back of the library where the tables were and he pulled a 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle off the shelf.

As he sifted through the pieces, he heard a very faint sigh. Immediately, looking up and around the room he saw her. The girl from the bookstore.

He walked over to her to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Nope, it definitely was her. The girl's head was buried in her folded arms on an open book. Besides her was a stack of books and a notebook.

Kain felt relieved. He sat down on the opposite side of her table and slouched in the chair putting an arm over his eyes. After not seeing her at school, he almost thought she didn't exist.

Yori stirred a bit and slowly lifted her head.

"Have a nice nap?" she heard a voice say.

With a small gasp, Yori immediately snapped to attention. Right in front of her was the night class guy from the bookstore.

Kain peeked under his arm at the girl. Seeing her stunned look, he straightened up and poked her in the arm.

Yori flinched a bit and looked at him with a 'what was that for' look. She watched as he stood up and stretched his arms above his head.

"Just making sure you weren't a ghost," he said.

Kain walked over to the large table were the puzzle was. He started to sift through the pieces again. "I didn't see you here at the school. I almost thought I was imagining things."

Yori looked at him for a moment. In her mind, she was nervous and confused. Wasn't this guy a vampire? She felt her neck trying to be discreet as possible. Nope, no bite marks. So what was this guy waiting for and why was he doing a puzzle?

Out of curiousity, Yori got up and walked to the table. She stood perpendicular to him and tried to be as normal as possible. Even though on the inside, she was scared.

"Hmmm, 5000 pieces….That's going to take you a while," she commented.

"It's alright, I like the challenge," he replied. Without looking at her, he continued, "So what happened to you at the bookstore? I tried to find you, but you were gone."

"Oh, uh gomen. I got really cold from being wet, so I headed back to school." She technically didn't lie. "What about you?" she asked. "I mean…you and that guy….what happened?"

"He took off when the sprinklers turned on and I tried to chase him, but he disappeared," Kain said.

There was a moment of silence as Kain searched through more puzzle pieces. "Did he do anything to you?...You seemed kind of scared at that time."

Yori thought for a moment. She didn't want to let on how much she knew. "At first, he stood just a little too close, so I walked away. But then he started to follow me and that's when I got scared."

Kain watched her as she spoke. He was looking for something to indicate that she saw something out of the ordinary. He could tell she was nervous, but she seemed calm and what she said made sense. Maybe, she's shy...

Yori looked at him as well to see if he bought her story. She felt relieved when he started to work on the puzzle again. He seemed to be satisfied with my answer.

Feeling a little more comfortable, she got closer and started to sift through the puzzle pieces. She found some edge pieces and began to fit them together, adding them to his already connected pieces.

Kain was surprised at her participation and was even more certain that she didn't need her memories erased. At least that's one less stress to think about.

They remained silent for a bit while they continued working on the puzzle. Yori seemed to relax more as she worked and then she remembered something. "Arigato for…um…what you did at the bookstore, senpai," she said

"Sure," he said without looking up, "And it's Kain. Akatsuki Kain."

Yori stopped what she was doing and looked at him. "Ok…..Kain-senpai, arigato. And I'm Sayori Wakaba." He nodded in reply as he continued to work and Yori gave a small smile.

What a strange vampire, she thought, He doesn't even seem interested in taking my blood. Not that I'm complaining…

Then Kain perked up. He heard footsteps and some voices. He knew who was coming. Uh oh...

Before she knew what was going on, Yori was being pulled by her arm over to the bathrooms.

"Kain-sempai, what's going on? What are y..?"

"Shh," he interrupted, looking at her with a finger on his lips.

Yori obeyed and he opened the women's bathroom door. He let go of her arm and urged her in.

She gave him a puzzled look as he closed the door and again he tapped his lips with his finger indicating to her to stay silent. She nodded in reply. He gave her a small smile and then closed the door.

Kain felt relieved that she complied easily as he walked back to the table.

"I think he went in here," a faint voice said. "Akatsuki!...Akatuski!..." someone called.

Kain closed his eyes. Can't I even get a moment's peace around here?

"Akatsuki, are you in here?" the voice was louder this time.

Kain put both hands on the table and hunched over a bit. "Hai, Hanabusa," he said with an irritable sigh.

"Akatsuki, what are you doing in here?" Adiou, his cousin, asked loudly as he appeared around the corner.

Kain straightened up putting a hand in his pocket, while the other remained on the table. "Hanabusa, the library is a place to use a "quiet" voice," he said emphasizing the word quiet.

"Tch, what does it matter? There's no one here," Adiou said. He sat down in a nearby chair and stared at the ceiling.

"What about Akatsuki? He's here." Ichijo responded as he appeared from around the same corner.

Adiou looked at Kain and said, "Oh, am I bothering you?"

Kain responded with a huff and began working on the puzzle again.

Somehow, he had to get these guys out of here before they discovered…

"Hey, cool. A puzzle!" said Ichijo as he came over to check it out.

"Why are you guys here?" Kain asked.

"Ah, ah……I know what it is!" Adiou said jumping up pointing a finger at his cousin. "You're frustrated," Adiou continued. "You want Yuki's bl.."

"Hanabusa! I do NOT want to hear about that subject anymore," Kain said firmly.

Adiou sighed and put his hands on top of his head. He started to pace a little in the direction of the bathroom.

"It makes me thirsty just thinking about it." He paused looking towards the bathrooms. Kain eyed him suspiciously. "Thirsty enough, that I think I smell…"

WHACK! Kain smacked Adiou in the back of the head.

"OW! What was that for?" Adiou asked rubbing his head.

"Because you're being an idiot," Kain replied.

Ichijo laughed and said "Hanabusa, you have been talking about it a little too much."

Adiou quickly walked back over to the table and said "Oh, if you only had been there and smelled…"

"Alright, Alright!" Kain interrupted. "You guys found me now get back to class. I'm going to put this away and I'll catch up with you in a bit."

"Ok, sounds good," Ichijo said. "Come on Hanabusa. I think he just wants some time to himself."

"Fine," Adiou said as he turned to follow.

"That hurt you know."

"Good," Kain said as he continued working on the puzzle. He listened hard until he knew they were gone. He gave a small sigh and looked towards the bathroom. How was he going to explain the reason for hiding her? He knew Adiou was irritable about the whole Yuki incident and probably would have used this opportunity to drink from this Sayori girl as a substitute and then he would get in trouble again… Yeah, gomen, I hid you because my cousin wants to suck your blood and I don't want to get in trouble. He mocked in his head. No, that wouldn't work.

Just then the bathroom door opened a little. Kain looked over and said, "It's fine. You can come out now."

Yori came out cautiously. She saw Kain looking at her deep in thought. "Arigato, for hiding me. I don't like Adiou-senpai that much. He has always made me nervous."

Kain looked at Yori in surprise. He didn't know what to say. Almost all the human girls he had seen or known were charmed by his cousin. With the exception of Yuki and now this girl. Interesting...

"Well, I'd better head back to my dorm. It's getting late and I have some more studying to do," Yori said as she went to gather her books.

"I'll walk you out," Kain said.

They walked in silence all the way to the main doors of the building. Kain opened the door for her and followed her outside. Yori stopped and looked at him.

"It's ok, I can manage the rest of the way. You'd better get back before they come looking for you again." She bowed and said, "Arigato, Kain-sempai. It was nice meeting you."

Kain nodded and said, "Sure." He watched her go for a moment and then went inside.

Yori climbed into bed. She had made it back to her room without a problem and was thinking about the last few hours. Just before she drifted off to sleep she concluded that she would return to the library…to do some vampire research.

A/N: I know Kain seems a little OC with the puzzle, but it fits in my story and I don't care. Plus, I love puzzles.