Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight. It belongs to its rightful owners.

NIGHT ONE: THE EDGE OF HUMANITY

Reika

"It's all on the peak, so bad I can taste it while it eats me . . ."

– "Staying Up," The Neighbourhood

FATHER'S SHOES TAPPED against the laminate flooring almost impatiently. Dark eyes had narrowed to the point of invisibility, waves of hair hanging into them to keep the glare concealed. His pouty lips had pulled to form a straight line. If I hadn't spent all of my existence beside him, I would have guessed that he was angry.

His voice, notes deep enough to raise the dead, boomed throughout the small room. "What gives this establishment such a rank that I should entrust the lives of my children to you, Headmaster Cross?"

The room was decorated with colours of blue, gray, and brown. Windows ranging over six feet tall gave view to the settling horizon in the distance. Trees blew from the breeze blowing around beyond them. And the sun, coating the blue sky in shades of oranges and pinks, shined through the window to bounce off of the Headmaster's ash blond hair.

He had sat behind an oak desk, his hands folded in front of his on top of two manila folders. His hair had neatly been pulled back into a ponytail while his bangs fell into his hazel eyes. He reached up to adjust the wire-rimmed glasses on his face. One would have suggested the man was handsome—his age was unknown, but he appeared no older than his twenties.

My hands moved to pull the scarf tighter around my neck. Upon our arrival to the small office, I had been instructed to sit by the wall in a set of chairs. Kaede sat to my right, his cerulean eyes staring out of the windows in boredom. His mouth parted to release a yawn. The tiny fangs protruding from behind his lips gleamed in the light. He, too, knew that Father's questioning was just for show. In fact, he had made us pack our bags yesterday, which now sat around our feet in a pile of designer labels.

The Headmaster sat up straighter in his chair to show Father that he held no fear. "I assure you that my academy is safe and well protected."

"By whom?" Father was the epitome of elegance as he spoke. "By humans? These two are better off protecting themselves if that is the case."

"They'll be staying in our Moon Dormitory—the president is Kaname Kuran. I doubt there will be much trouble," the Headmaster hummed.

Father's interest was peaked at the mention of the name. I simply sighed, my gaze trailing out of the window.

Outside, girls clad in black school uniforms pranced around without a worry in the world. The sun tinted their cheeks the same colour as roses, giving them a lively glow that I admired. Their laughter and smiles were carefree. They had banded together in groups of four or more, whispering tales that made me wonder. It made me wonder what it was like to breathe in the scent of flowers in the evening sun.

Perhaps it was ten thousand years ago this week. It was sometime in the month of July, the stories went. The stories of demons walking the earth at the edge of humanity's resolve. Monsters in human form; they plagued the world with fear and bloodshed. With their beautiful features, bodies seemingly crafted from the royalist of marble, they were the faces of pure destruction. They were the faces of calamity and sorrow for the human race. It was the reason why they themselves were no longer allowed to smell daisies in the summer evening.

They were forced to remain in low profiles. Their existence couldn't have been released to the public for if they knew, a second hell would break out. A war had been waged once. A war resulting in the expansion of the demonic race, and the loss in count of the living. Many years it continued before both sides had called it quits. The populations were falling too rapidly. The number of demons were growing too high. So, the creatures agreed, ridding the world from its disaster for a while. That was, until they began to get thirsty.

"Kuran . . ." Father's lips pulled into a small smile. "I haven't seen him since he was a mere child. I suppose he's keeping the vampires in line?"

The Headmaster nodded, blond hair framing his soft face. "That's the job he's chosen to take—yes."

Father nodded as well, glancing over at Kaede and I. "There are no classes lower than aristocrats in there, correct?"

"Yes." The Headmaster confirmed.

"Good. I refuse to let my children mingle with such . . . vermin." He said the word as if it were dirty, rotten, and disgusting. "I believe it's fine, then."

The Headmaster sent Father a smile despite his moment of hatred. He stood up out of his chair, towering over Father by an easy two or three inches. He stepped around his desk with the same smile still written on his features. His ponytail swayed behind him in streams of pale gold, and I found myself nearly holding my breath when he approached where we were sitting. Though, when he bowed a bit, I released it, a sense of ease washing over me.

"Nice to finally meet you two," he introduced once he stood up straight. "I'm Headmaster Cross."

Kaede tore his eyes away from the window. "I'm Kaede Kurosawa."

"Reika Kurosawa, sir." My voice was even.

He shocked me by waving my words off with a laugh. "No need for the formalities. I'm not that important. Headmaster Cross will do."

I made a sound to show that I understood. It wasn't every day that I went around calling someone like him something formal. He wasn't like I was, after all. It was the shallow way that I was raised; he was not even to be seen as my equal. You don't look up to people. People look up to you, Father had often instilled into my head, but after that night, I wasn't too sure if I could ever see myself as royalty again.

"Nice to meet you, Headmaster Cross."

He seemed pleased with my greeting. "You two know about the pledge you have to do, right?"

We nodded. It was one of the requirements to get into Cross Academy. Along with a survey-like test that we had to take, it was another of the steps to insure safety. Not for us . . . for the humans. In a preparatory school where lions and sheep slept in the same grounds, all of the appropriate measures had to be taken. I couldn't blame them for it. But, at the same time, it made me feel like I was some sort of beast that had the potential to ruin everything.

Which was the truth.

"Do you, Kaede and Reika Kurosawa, solemnly swear to not engage in any dangerous stunts involving those of the Night or Day classes alike? This includes swearing against the consumption of blood, fighting, or disobeying one of the officials," he requited. "You are not to let the Day Class students know about the existence of vampires. You are to uphold the peace between the two species, and demonstrate dignity and peace."

We held our right hands up, saying in unison, "We swear."

"Welcome to Cross Academy, then." He beamed since the pledge was completed. "I think you're the first set of siblings to join the Night Class."

It wasn't something all too reassuring. It was a lighthearted fact that he had to make us feel more at home. Considering that this was where we were going to have to live for the rest of the semester, I needed all of the comfortability I could get.

There were a lot of bad demons in the world. Ones who wanted to watch people suffer. It didn't matter whether they were of their own kind or not. It was those cruel souls that I hated the most. The ones who didn't care about anyone or anything other than the blood lust set in their throats. They were out destroying what the ancient vampires worked so hard to build.

It was where the academy came into place. It was a safe haven, if you will—a place for kindred vampires to reside. Demons who believed in equality, who were against the madness, came here to show the world different. They came to prove that their fangs could live without tearing through an innocent human's flesh. Or, in some cases, they came for other reasons.

Father's shoes clicked on the laminate flooring as he walked over to us. His hand—coated in several rings bearing the family crest—reached out to rest against my cheek. His lips had pulled into a small smile, and I could practically feel the coldness of his marble skin. It wasn't a kind smile, nor was it a loving one. It was an empty smile. I am a Lord, it seemed to say. For that, I returned the gesture by leaning into his touch.

"Be good," he commanded, his deep voice never faltering. "You two carry the family name upon your shoulders. Do not drag it through the mud."

Kaede gave a curt nod. "Yes, Father."

Father released me before turning to Headmaster Cross. "Do not hesitate to reach me if there is a problem."

"Of course." The man smiled.

Father had no other words after that. He was a busy man, after all. It wasn't everyday that he broke out of his routine, especially to escort us to a school. He was always off handling business fit for someone of his status. And as he walked passed us through the office doors, the lulling scent of men's cologne lingering behind, I let out another breath. One that I had been holding in for ten years. His presence was suffocating.

The Headmaster leaned his weight back against his desk. He, too, must have felt overwhelmed by my father's presence. Everyone did. He wasn't the sort of person to take lightly. Perhaps he may have been at some point in his four thousand plus years, but now no such thing remained. He was a figure of authority and praised for status within our personal hell. It didn't take a human to guess that much.

Kaede sighed beside me. He had reached up to brush some of his messy bangs out of his eyes. Like Father, he preferred to keep his hair unruly, the length falling down his neck in tendrils of black. His brows were pulled low while he looked up at the Headmaster What's next?

Headmaster Cross must have sensed his question. "There's no need to take measurements for your school uniforms. We have them already. Only thing left is for you two to be escorted to the Moon Dorms. My daughter is on her way to take you there."

My mind conjured up the image of a teenager girl with long, blonde hair and big, amber-coloured eyes. Surely she was as tall as this man was.

My thoughts were interrupted by the door opening once more. There was no blonde girl with long legs. It was the near opposite. Rather, it was a short brunette girl. She bounced into the room with a pep in her step, her russet brown eyes gleamed happily at everything in sight. She was wearing a black school uniform similar to the girls beyond the windows. She was a human.

The boy who walked in behind her held no resemblance to any of them. His face was pale, his jaw sharp and his brows thick and down-turned, unlike the Headmaster. His silvery hair reflected the light coming in from the sun, his long bangs hanging into his eyes. They were a strange violet, and hardened, even when he stepped foot into the office. His limbs were long to go with his height; it made everyone else in the room seem like a child in comparison. Just like the girl, he wore a black uniform with his red tie loose. He was human, too. Though, the aura that he displayed was nowhere near anything I had encountered that day. Something was off.

The Headmaster pushed his weight off of the desk, beaming at the two of them. "Yuuki, my wonderful daughter! Ah, Zero, you're here, too! Both of my children listened to me!"

It was like he became a different person. He was no longer the serious man trying to hold his own against my father. Now, he was flailing his arms around, grinning ear to ear, going on about how happy he was to see them. The girl chuckled awkwardly before moving away when he tried to hug her.

A low snarl pulled my attention away from the scene in front of me. It was Kaede. His eyes were trained on the two students, glaring almost disrespectfully at them. I followed his gaze to find out that the silver-haired boy was glaring back at him with just much distaste. The electricity between the two sent shivers rushing down my spine. There was a bad feeling about all of this.

"I'm getting sidetracked." Headmaster Cross cleared his throat. "Yuuki, this is Kaede and Reika Kurosawa, the new Pureblood students of the Night Class."

Yuuki's eyes went wide at the introduction. It made it easier to see the red undertones in her brown irises. They were pretty, I concluded, for they were nothing like my blue ones. They weren't harsh and scary like every set of eyes that I could recall. They were sweet and . . . innocent.

She shook her head, then, reaching a small hand out to me. "Nice to meet you. I'm Yuuki Cross."

My hand slowly raised to meet hers. She had initiated the handshake by gripping hers around mine gently. I could almost feel the warmth radiating off of her. Oh, how lucky she was to have her blood coursing lively through her veins. I myself couldn't remember a time where I wasn't cold.

Kaede didn't utter a word. He was too busy glaring at the other boy, who had leaned against the Headmaster's desk, crossing his arms over his chest. From where I stood, I could make out the symbol inked into the left side of the boy's pale neck. A tattoo. It was a pattern composed of swords and crosses. Where I had seen it before, I didn't know.

His glare shifted to me when he noticed me staring. My eyes went wide for a second before I sighed, looking back to the window. His eyes were so cold. They held so much emotion, yet so little at the same time. One would have thought that he knew me already by the way he looked at me—not on good terms, either. It was a look that no one deserved. It was a look that I didn't deserve, especially since I had never laid eyes on the boy in my entire sixteen years.

"Yuuki, do you mind taking them to the Moon Dorm?" the Headmaster asked. "I have to talk to Zero about something . . . alone."

She nodded in agreement, her shoulder-length brown hair whipping around from the action. Kaede was the first to stand up. He offered a hand to help me up, too, but I ignored it, saying that I could do it myself. All that it earned me was an irritated eye roll.

He bent down to pick up our bags. There were four bags and three rolling suitcases in total. With one arm, he effortless picked up the four bags, grabbing the handle of one of the suitcases with the other. He was carrying most of them including my things. Not that it shocked me. He had always been that way.

I grabbed onto the handles of the two leftover suitcases. Without so much as a peep, the two of us followed the brunette out of the office. She softly closed the door behind us to make our departure quiet.

The school was bright. Stone pathways led to different directions, sectioning off parts of the campus. Trees and foliage aligned those pathways to pain the scene in images of green. Flowers littered the spaces along with extravagant water fountains every now and then. Butterflies fluttered around in the flower-scented breeze. A few girls were giggling by a field of daisies. They all looked so serene; it was like an image straight out of a fairy tale.

Yuuki had been walking a bit ahead of us. Her brown boots clicked whenever she stepped on the pathways, her body turning to walk backwards after a few steps. Her big, brown eyes were set on us while a smile pulled at her lips. She was short for her age. I shouldn't have been one to talk, though, seeing as how I was about the same height. Perhaps an inch taller.

It amazed me. Never in my life had I seen someone so full of energy. It was . . . refreshing.

"I'm sorry about Zero." She sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "He . . . gets like that most of the time. He also isn't too big on the idea of new students . . . no offense."

What she meant to say was: he didn't want anymore of you people on campus. The way that he had looked at us made it obvious.

There was some sort of grudge behind his hardened lavender eyes. In that moment, he had chosen to direct it towards us. It was a look that made me feel dirty despite having done nothing wrong. It wasn't a look of disliking or a simple displeasure. It was more than that. For some reason, he hated us. Zero was the boy that hated vampires.

My brother glanced around at the structured buildings to ignore her statement. "How long has this place been here?"

"A long while now. It was founded under the dream that vampires and humans could co-exist. The vampires in the Night Class stay in the Moon Dormitory and the humans in the Day Class stay in the Sun Dormitory. They don't usually cross paths, except for when classes start. You see, when the Night Class goes to school, that is when the Day Class has to go back to their dorms. Some of the Day Class students are really nosy and like to watch the Night Class."

"When do our classes start?" Kaede asked.

"At twilight," Yuuki answered. "That's when the Night Class has to get to the school building."

My focus drifted over to where teenagers were playing around the fields. A few of them were walking around with their packed lunches, talking about who knew what. One boy had hugged two female peers close to his chest as they walked. They all let out a string of giggles. I liked the sound of it. It was filled with spirit a lot of people in this world was missing.

It looked like fun. To be galloping around in the sun like the glare of it didn't hurt their eyes. They didn't feel any hints of pain underneath the rays. They didn't get wicked sunburns. They didn't have to worry about their secret getting out. They got to live without any repercussions, and I wished that I could join them. But, I couldn't. I was a demon in disguise; lions didn't play with sheep.

A gentle voice brought me back to reality. "Kurosawa-sama?"

"Hmm?" I looked over to where Yuuki had been staring at me, and smiled lightly. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Kaede rolled his eyes. "That daydreaming habit of yours is going to be the death of you one day."

Yuuki chuckled. "It's okay. Have you guys gotten your blood tablets already?"

Blood tablets. They were small, white pills artificially coloured red when dissolved into water. Thy were the enemies, yet allies of vampires alike. They were substitutes for real plasma, and were supposed to give off the same thirst-quenching effect. Which they did . . . sometimes. Masked with a taste that was closer to horrid than not, they allowed for vampires to exist without draining humans of their life force. It was a matter of if you valued equality or not. The taste it left in ones throat wasn't worth saving a life if one did not care.

"No, we didn't get anything," I answered.

"That's all right. Your dorm president should be giving them to you if you don't have them already."

Of course. The dorm president.

She brought us to a building with an approximate three or four floors. The design of it was far grander than any of the other structures we had came across during our walk. Pointed roofs of royal blue and arched windows contributed to the Victorian style. It had been coated in shades of white to stand out. Trees along with iron gates surrounded the building to create a barrier between it and the rest of humanity. If one could even call it a building. No, it was a mansion for the higher ups—it was a demons' nest.

There were a set of white steps that led up to the front doors. Vines adorning matching flowers snaked up the sides of the walls, not to make the place look unkempt, but to make it look more expensive than it already did. Benches of the finest wood sat around the front porch. They offered a quiet place for one to rest, looking out at the nature that dressed the outside. However, they weren't the only things that made the place richer.

Two boys stood at the front of the dormitory. They were both fairly tall, dressed in white uniforms similar to the black ones of the Day Class.

Hair so light a blond that it almost appeared white dusted around one of the boy's faces. It didn't do much to shield his green eyes. They were dazzling, but they held no competition to the welcoming smile on his lips. He seemed like the friendly, approachable type compared to the male next to him.

It was the dorm president. That much was obvious. His white uniform was neat and proper, unlike his hair, which cascaded down his neck in brown strands. It was long enough to frame his face and to drift passed his red-brown eyes. And his face . . . every part of him looked like it was the work of renowned artists. There wasn't a blemish, a scar, not an indicator that he was anything less than what he was. His calm eyes watched us as we came to the steps, a small smile gracing his inhumanly gorgeous features, and I felt it. He was different than the other boy. He was one of us.

The blond one bent at the hips to form a bow. I smiled a bit due to the friendliness that radiated off of him. Much like Yuuki, his aura was something that I almost admired.

His voice was sweeter and softer than his face. "Kurosawa-sama, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Takuma Ichijo, the dorm vice president."

I would have bowed back to him had Kaede not shot me a look from the corner of his eye. Don't you dare.

"So Yutaka has finally decided to let you two enroll. It's too bad you've missed a whole semester already."

The brunet one stepped forward to meet us on the steps. He flashed his little smile at Kaede since his arms were full with our bags. It was a respectable gesture like the blond had given us. We watched as his long legs strolled over to me. My head had craned upwards just to look at him; he was taller up close, taller than I imagined him being. His hand reached out for mine before gently raising it up to his lips. I nearly blushed when he kissed it.

"I'm Kaname Kuran." His low voice was seemingly encased in velvet. "I don't believe we've met."

"You haven't. Father barely lets her out of the property." It was Kaede who spoke.

"Shame. A beauty gone to waste." Kuran's eyes flickered to Kaede as he released my hand. "Kaede."

"Kaname."

The way they looked at each other made it clear that they had crossed paths at least once. In fact, my brother rarely gave anyone a second glance. With his fair skin, glowering blue eyes, and lean build, he was held to a higher degree than most vampires. It shocked me to see him giving Yuuki and the Headmaster the time of day. Yet, here he was, conversing with a boy that I had never seen before.

Kuran turned to Yuuki with a smile still on his face. It wasn't like the ones that he had given us. Rather, this one was sweeter and heartfelt. It sent the girl into a fit of blushes from embarrassment. He asked if a few questions related to her health, and if she needed anything. Though it seemed like a normal conversation between two school students, their facial expressions told otherwise. He had taken a liking to her, and she sure as hell returned it.

He lifted a hand to run through the girl's hair. "I'll take it from here. Thank you, Yuuki."

"I-it's no p-problem, Kaname," she stuttered, bowing to all of us. "I'll be going now. It was nice meeting you two."

My fingers moved to form a wave. It had gone unnoticed for she had already turned on the heels of her boots, leaving down the pathways that we came. She had left us alone with the two boys on the porch. The blond—Ichijo—smiled once more as he opened the double doors for us to come into the buildings. Kuran stepped aside to allow us in first.

A nice group of people. How could I have expected any less?

The inside was just as extravagant. It opened up to a foyer of sorts, such as any mansion of the rich and wealthy would contain. Intricate pattered littered across the light blue walls. Pillars of marble stood in both decoration and construction purpose. The flooring, a white tile, was polished so well that I could see my reflection in them. A set of stairs were on either side, arching around the living space to lead to the second, onlooking floor. Couches of real leather sat at the center of the room, pieced around a dark wood coffee table. Arched windows displaying the school's emblem set in the walls, though they had been covered by silk curtains.

A few people wandered about the space. Most of them must have been asleep given the time of day. Those who were up were moving sluggishly around. Their eyes darted in our direction once the four of us entered, squinting to block out the harsh rays of the sun. They bowed their bodies in respect when Ichijo closed the doors. It was a sigh that I had once fed off of. It was a sight that I no longer could get used to.

Kuran gazed over at Ichijo with tranquil eyes. "Takuma, can you take their bags to their rooms? I have to speak with them in private."

"Of course." Ichijo gave a curt nod.

Kaede had no problem setting the bags into Ichijo's awaiting arms. I felt bad that he was having to do all of it by himself. It was the reason why I sent apologetic frowns his way when he came to collect mine. He simply smiled in return. The request must not have phased him; it definitely made me feel uncomfortable.

Kuran motioned for us to follow him up one of the set of stairs. I gave Ichijo one last fleeting look before following after the brunet. As did the people walking around the dorm, their blank eyes watching our every move. They didn't attempt to look away as we rounded the corner. We were out of sight, but their respects weren't.

He brought us to a room that I presumed was his. It was a larger scale than any other sizes that I would have predicted. Closed doors sat in the walls to lead into areas unknown. The curtains covering the multiple windows were doing good to block out the sunlight. It gave the room a dark atmosphere. In the center of the room were dark red couches—a table as well. It was decorated similarly to how the foyer had been, furniture and other things fit of a king.

He sat on the largest couch. His body appeared to be so relaxed against it, stretching out to accentuate his height, the red in his eyes almost blending into the leather. His hair dusted over his extended lashes and, in that moment, I wasn't sure if I should have been intimidated by the man, or just as comfortable as he was.

Kaede sat on the opposing couch across from him. I sat on the other end of it, quickly crossing my legs so that my skirt wouldn't give view to something inappropriate. I had no intentions in flashing Kuran in our first five minutes of meeting. It made Kaede roll his eyes. A scarf and a skirt in the summer—what a crime.

Kuran was the first to talk. "How is Yutaka?"

I smiled a bit. "Father's fine. He says it's been a long time since he's seen you, Kaname-sama."

"You don't have to call me that. We're both Purebloods, after all. Kaname's fine." He chuckled so lightly it was almost inaudible. "The last time I seen him, he was so fixated on your mother."

"Things never change," Kaede mused.

Kaname sighed. "Oh, but they do. Reika is out of her room, isn't she? How long has it been?"

He glanced over at me. I squirmed under his gaze. His eyes were so intense even if he hadn't meant for them to be. Nonetheless, his small smile never faltered.

"Ten years," Kaede answered. "What is it, Kaname? I'm pretty sure you didn't bring us in here for small talk."

"And if I did?" Kaname ran the tip of his finger in a pattern on the couch. "It's good to see that you haven't changed either, Kaede. I did bring you here for a reason. You see, with two other Purebloods in the dormitory, it makes things a bit . . . difficult. As the dorm president, I ask that you not use your abilities against the others."

He was talking about it. The uncanny ability of royalty that people like us held. The ability to be above everyone else. Monsters flocked to our beck and call like idiots if it were our wish. They bowed at our feet, practically licking gum off of the bottoms of our shoes if we wanted. If we willed it, if we commanded it, we got it. It made me envy the black uniforms more. They didn't have to worry about something as trivial as race.

Kaede smirked. "You want us to blend in?"

"I'm not exactly asking you to blend in. I'm asking you to stay in your place."

Here in these dorms, the three of us ruled. However, Kaname was the highest rank one could get. His blood was tainted with centuries of kings and queens. Compared to him, we were princes and princesses. He wanted us to respect that in a way that made everyone happy. We were above everyone else, but would remain a step below him. It was the way things worked.

I nodded. "That's fine. I'm sure all of the other Purebloods follow the same rules."

Kaname's gaze bounced from me, to Kaede, then back at me. "Does she not know?"

"Why would she? She's barely left our front lawn let alone heard anything about that mess." Kaede sighed.

"Including the three of us, there are about eight other Purebloods in existence," Kaname explained. "The numbers are declining."

My eyes went wide. The Purebloods were an important race within the demons in disguise. During the war against humans and monsters, the monsters had began to turn the humans to the dark side. The Purebloods were the creatures who held no ounce of human blood in their veins. They were one hundred percent demons. They were the highest rank one could get in the world of mixed blood vampires. And they had once stood tall . . . or at least I thought they had. Now, they had trickled down to nothing.

"Shizouka Hio has recently passed," Kaname continued. "Did you know her?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

Kaname's eyes trailed further into the room. "I'm not shocked. She's been hiding out for a long while."

"I don't suppose she took her own life?" Kaede started.

Kaname didn't say anything else. It was his way of letting us know that he wanted to drop the subject. Perhaps it wasn't a good time for it. It was daylight, after all. People like us had other arrangements to attend to.

His hand motioned to the table between the two couches. On it sat two black boxes, the school's emblem decorating it in red. They couldn't have been any bigger than few inches long and wide.

"Blood tablets," he said. "Those are yours. Let me know when you run out."

Kaede grabbed them both off of the table. He dropped one of them into my hand, standing up fast enough to cause a gust of wind to whip my bangs around. He was ready to leave this room. It was unknown to me as to what kind of past he and Kaname shared, though they both didn't seem to really take pleasure in the others' company. Their voices held a certain bit of distaste when they spoke. Whether it was due to their relationship, or because that was how they usually spoke in general, I did not know.

"Ichijo," Kaname called. The door opened as soon as the name left his mouth, and in looked the blond from earlier. "Can you take them to their rooms? We're done with business here."

Ichijo nodded in understanding. "Follow me."

I stood up to follow him and Kaede out of the room. Kaname made no action to walk us out like the blond was. He had no intentions in that. Instead, he watched us leave with burning russet eyes. It didn't take me looking at him to know that he was staring at the back of my head. Even when Ichijo softly closed the door behind the three of us, leaving Kaname in his own dark solitude, I could feel him staring through the door. If there was one word to describe him . . . it'd be intense.

Ichijo began the walk down one of the long-stretching halls. "This place is big, but it's easy to remember."

I didn't respond to him. The walls were lined with brown doors leading to different dorm rooms. In each hallway, there had to be at least ten doors, evenly spaced out in rooms I assumed to be on the larger side. Some of them were left open as well. Such as the door toward the end of one hall, giving view to a lavish bedroom that held a sleeping strawberry blond vampire. I tried not to look further into the room in fear of invading privacy.

The third floor was like the second. Halls upon halls of dorm rooms lined the blue walls. Those that weren't leading to rooms were of some other purpose. Less and less people were lingering about the higher up we went. It was on the more quieter parts of third floor did Ichijo finally come to a stop. His hand twisted the knob to one of the double door-ed rooms, opening it to reveal a space that shouldn't have even been considered a dorm.

It looked more like one of those studio apartments. Coated in pale shades of gray and blue, it contained couches, bookshelves, and a bed to match. It was a king sized bed—way out of standard for the typical high school student. Silk curtains did their best to block out the sunlight, some of it slipping passed them to shine inside. It shone around the bags that Ichijo had brought in earlier.

Ichijo turned to look down at Kaede with a smile. "This is your room, Kurosawa-sama."

"Really?" Kaede was shocked, too. "There's only one bed. I thought we got roommates in prep school."

"We do. Everyone else here are aristocrats. You're a Pureblood, so you get your own space," Ichijo replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kaede went further into the room. His eyes were roaming over everything that the room had to offer. He didn't look that amazed—he was spoiled enough as it was. He was used to getting the finer things in life in grand gestures. This room was nothing compared to his room at home, but it was still costly, and he liked it.

Ichijo looked at me this time. "Your room is down the hall. Follow me, please."

He started walking away from where we stood to leave Kaede in his new living space. I hurried along to catch up with the boy. His legs were long to match the size of his strides. I was a saddening five-foot-one in contrast to his—one could only guess—six or so feet. It took me jogging in order to keep at his pace.

"I hope I don't get my own room because of some special treatment," I said. "I'd rather have a roommate."

That made him chuckle. "That would be fine . . . if we had one for you. There's an uneven number of female students in this dorm. You would have had to sleep on your own even if you were an aristocrat."

"Great . . ."

He chuckled once more as he stopped at another set of double doors. He pried them open in a way that was almost like revealing a new car. My jaw went slack at the sight of what was beyond them. Kaname's quarters had been dark. Kaede's quarters had been blue. But mine . . . mine was a blinding white.

A white canopy bed sat on one end of the large room. White drapes, almost transparent from how light they were, hung around the bed like a veil. White rugs covered the tile flooring. The arched windows raised high, shining light on the chandelier hanging overhead. Bookshelves carrying famous labeled books rested against the white walls. Couches of the same sickening white sat on the other end of the room around a small table. Lilies decorated the space in white vases, filling the air with the scent of flowers.

I swallowed in fascination. "It's amazing, but don't you think this is a bit much? I mean, this is just an academy."

"Maybe. It was all your father's idea. He requested it," Ichijo answered. "He paid for it and planned it all. He said he wanted you to be comfortable here."

I sighed. "More like coddled to death."

The heels on my shoes clicked against the polished floor when I stepped inside. It was nice, that was for certain. Yet, it was a bit much for my liking. It was a room fit for a princess, something that I was not. I shouldn't have expected anything less from my father, though. He had a habit of trying to spoil me in way that were downright ridiculous. He was trying his best to get me to return to the way I was. A disaster.

Ichijo interrupted my thoughts with a bow. "If you need anything, feel free to ask, Kurosawa-same."

"Thank you, and Reika is fine. I don't really like all the honorifics," I told him.

"Okay." He smiled. "Let me know if you need anything, Reika-sama."

I sighed and chuckled. At least it was better than what he had called me first.

He left, closing the door behind himself. It was just me alone in the hoards of white. My gaze slid over to the luggage placed beside one of the white dressers. It would take some getting used to. Especially since I had came here to feel like the average person. It was a silly wish, I supposed. There was no average when it came to my life.

My feet padded across the floor. It was still evening. The divide between person and creature was the most prominent at this time of hour. They played under the sun while we stayed in doors. No matter how one hard one of us could try, our sleeping schedules just wouldn't allow it. We were beasts whether we looked the part or not.

I sat on the large canopy bed, my hands rotating the blood tablet box within them. I was hardly one to complain. Complaining about every single detail was what made life harder. It was best to sit back and let things happen. It was the conclusion that came to me after all this time. Things happened because they were meant to. Perhaps there was a reason why I wasn't allowed to be in those black uniforms—why I had to stain my teeth red often to keep from dissipating. Perhaps there was a reason why things like us were granted life in this world. Whatever that reason was, I couldn't wait to come across it.

There was no point in dwelling on it, though. What was is what was. I couldn't escape it if I tried. This room was only a reminder of that. I was a vampire, a Pureblood among a species of mixed races. Being blood thirsty was a curse in itself. Being of practical royalty was a slice of death upon the cake. There was no normal.

The white double doors at the front of the room burst open with an audible thud. Part of me had expected for it to be Ichijo coming back to tell me something he forgot, but I doubted he would have done it with that much force. It was Kaede who had came in, his eyes vivid with a sense of wildness that I hadn't seen in who knew how long. They fitted across the room before landing on me; I was the only burst of colour in the sea of white. His lips curled up into a snarl, and then, with a bark, he shut the doors behind him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He walked further into the room, almost stomping his feet. "We can't stay here. We're going back home."

We were here for a total of thirty minutes. Apparently, that was enough to piss the older boy off. At eighteen years of age, he was still stomping his feet like a kid. And for what? Because of Kaname?

"Why?" I questioned. "We just got—"

His fingers wrapped around one of the lilies that they had decorated the room with. It was plucked out of his vase and into his frail hands. It looked so pure next to his seething appearance. Though, it didn't last long. It began to whither under his fingertips, its white petals decaying into a brown and the stem losing its touch of green. It was dying . . . just like Kaede's patience.

"They have hunters here," he answered bitterly. "Father would disapprove. That boy in the office—the one with the tattoo. He was looking at us like that because he wasn't just any humans. He's a vampire hunter. I can tell one when I see one."

The boy with the violet eyes. The one who radiated so much hate and disdain. He was one of the people humanity had raised up in defense against monsters. He possessed the power to wipe us out if he so pleased. He was more than a pretty face. He was a killer. Maybe it was the reason why he felt so . . . off.

My eyes went wide. "That doesn't make sense. Why would they have hunters in a school full of vampires?"

"Beats me," Kaede grumbled. "I hate those guys more than they hate us."

I am a perfectionist. As a creative person in writing, art, music, and pretty much everything else, it makes my life difficult. It takes me forever to upload because I'm constantly rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. Ugh, I swear I've written this chapter probably seven times, and I'm still trying not to write it an eighth. But, anyways, thanks for the review, the favourite, and the follows! I wasn't expecting for this to get so much attention this soon!

Fun Fact of the Chapter: I despised the idea of making the Kurosawa family Purebloods. I worked out every possible way that I could make the story just as fulfilling with them being aristocrats. But, in the end, I had no choice, and Yutaka lived 3,000 years longer than he was intended to.

~ Insane