-Sakura-
"…hey, Sakura, wake up. …We're going to be late."
The prodding in my side refused to leave me alone even for a moment, even as my body ached for a little peace. I only shoved my head deeper into my pillow as my alarm clock continued to blare at me before the person that was trying to prod me awake kindly shut it off. There was silence before a tired sigh came from the person that stood beside my bed.
But that didn't mean that the person was going to allow me to sleep, either…
The blankets were torn off of my body without a single moment of hesitation, and the tired sigh soon turned into a growl of irritation. The voice was perched right beside my ear, as if to make sure that I couldn't escape the words… "Sakura, get up now. If we're late for training, then you're the one getting the blow from Kaien-sensei."
…training…
I realized with a shock that I had forgotten. The first day of training was today.
"...Damn it!"
My amethyst eyes flashed open as I pushed myself out of my cocoon of blankets and pillows and scrambled to get myself out of bed. How could I have forgotten about today! After thirteen years of school, the constant shuffle of classes, learning the dreary subjects of how blood fueled the vampires, about weapons, combat and defense, today was finally the day that it all paid off…
And Toga was going to be right by my side through it all.
We were the only two students to have pulled ourselves through the school years, the first two graduates of the Cross Academy. The other children had either dropped out, moved away, or… simply fell victim of the ever growing threat of the vampires preying on the hunters children. The vampires were soon beginning to realize that the only way to defeat the hunters was to take down the weakest generation and watch the entire vampire hunter race crumble.
But it wasn't going to happen to me and Toga… As I jumped up from my bed, I looked up at Toga's surprised face. He had grown so much over the years… Those years of teasing him that I was going to stay taller than him seemed to simply bite me in the ass as he now nearly towered over me. His ruffled black hair nearly swept over his ice blue eyes that stared at me in confusion to my sudden excitement. He was only wearing a pair of black pants, while his shirt was tossed on his own bed that sat just across the room. We were roommates, even though it took nearly begging on our knees to make it so… They had been together for too long to be separated now.
"Don't just stand there, grab your shirt, get ready!" I yelped at him as I realized that he wasn't quite as prepared as he liked to say that he was. I didn't wait for an answer from him as I bolted to my closet, snatched the first shirt and pants that I could find and rushed to the bathroom that we shared. Sure, it was awkward from time to time for the first week that we moved in… Toga would always complain that I took too long in the shower, and then he would always leave the seat up…
All I hoped was that the quarrels didn't turn into an argument.
Things had changed ever since they had graduated Cross Academy… After countless years of fighting, Toga's parents finally split up the day after his graduation. Apparently they only wished to stay together to help Toga through school, even when the two had already begun the split up through the third grade when his mother and father moved to different sides of town and Toga would spend most of his time being shoved from home to home. It happened often with arranged hunter marriages…
And the marriages happened far too often. It was rare that hunters ever married for love. With the shortness of their life, spanning to maybe thirty to forty years if they were lucky, hunters were always in a rush to pass on their traits and hunter genetics to the next generation. Hunter families will usually pair up their children with mates even while they were as young as six or seven to ensure that the best traits would be passed along. It surprised me that Toga's parents could stay together long enough to even have Toga in the first place…
But even as most of the elder hunters would like to think, Toga and I were not forced to become mates… We were simply friends… …Or at least that was what I kept telling myself.
…My parents, on the other hand, married for love. They dreamed of being together ever since they met on a hunting mission… And they dreamed of having a large family, lots of kids, maybe living to see grandchildren… But that all ended when Father never returned from hunting. Mother still waited for him every night, sitting on the porch, sitting out in the cold… all to wait for her husband to come back like he promised her all those years ago.
I shook the thoughts out of my head. Love had nothing to do with what I was about to do today. Training was going to be touch and it was going to be brutal… If I wasn't focused, well… Not being focused gets you killed. Toga already nearly found that out when a Level E had trapped him ten years ago when he went too close to the fence… If it wasn't for one of the guards spotting the Level E, he could have easily been killed…
I shook that thought away too. No one was dying today. All we were doing was starting our training. They wouldn't force us to fight anyone or put us in danger…
After changing out of my pajamas quickly, putting up my blonde hair in a high ponytail, I rushed right back out of the bathroom. The ponytail always itched… As if it felt wrong. I tried messing with it once or twice before, but it only felt worse…
Toga was already starting to slide on his shirt, pulling it down over his head, just in time to see me messing with my ponytail. He blinked just slightly before he let out a sigh. "…Come here. You can't hunt if you're just going to play with that all day…" he grunted, leaving me confused. I always left my ponytail alone when I had to… Why would he be complaining about me 'playing' with it?
But he soon gave up on me walking any closer to let him help and came over himself. He moved himself behind me and gently held my ponytail before gently sliding it down, careful not to tug on my light blond hair. …He was always this gentle with me. Warmth spread through my cheeks as he rested his hand on my shoulder as he focused on my ponytail. My hand stirred by my side, and the thought of resting my hand on his poked its way through my head. The blush colored my cheeks a faint red at the thought, but I tried to hide it… I can't get distracted today, or risk getting thrown out of training on the first day.
Eventually he moved his hand off of my shoulder as he finished with the ponytail. "…There. Now that'll be more comfortable," he murmured, and I could feel his warm breath on my neck… What was wrong with me today…!
I took a step away from him the moment that he released my hair. "O-okay, thanks…" I murmured out of faint embarrassment and quickly took my steps to the door. We needed to get going… Toga seemed to hesitate behind me but eventually followed.
The hallway opened up in front of me, and there were still things piled up in boxes for me and Toga to move in. All we did was move in last week… We still hadn't gotten around to all of our things, but I already knew that I probably packed a thousand boxes too much of clothing. We ignored the boxes as much as we could as we stepped around it and rushed down the hall. This building had just been built last year… It would be used for training the students from Cross Academy that graduated and would spend a full year of training. It would be grueling work… But worth it to finally start hunting the vampires they worked so hard to kill.
We rushed our way through the halls as we soon realized that we were going to be late, rushing past the training rooms, the shooting range, the weapons room, before soon coming to Kaien's office. The double doors stood menacingly over us as
Well… This was it. I looked up to Toga as he stood beside me, his blue eyes surveying the door with a growing sense of unease. He seemed to be just as nervous as I was… I watched him swallow down his worry before he looked down to me. "…Ready?" he asked me, obviously trying to keep his own voice from shaking before he soon reached out his hand to me…
I stared down at the open hand. Was I really ready for what lied behind that door? I could always just turn and leave… But what would I run to? Failed hunters rarely lasted very long… They were usually the prey to vampires first since they were easy targets. I swallowed down my growing fear as my hand slowly reached out and took Toga's. His fingers curled gently around mind, holding it in his palm. I hesitated… then intertwined my fingers with his.
"…Ready," I murmured, trying to keep my voice as strong as I could to hide my nervousness. I looked back up at his face and saw the smirk greeting me… A soft smile crossed my face at the sign of the smirk and looked to the door. This was it… There was no turning back. Toga took the step forward and grabbed onto the door handle before pulling the heavy doors open…
There greeting me was Kaien Cross. He stood behind his desk, his hands folded behind him, his amber eyes just as cold as they always were… But there was someone else. Standing on the other side of the desk was a man, his back turned to them. He wore a thick sweatshirt, pulled up to cover his head. He was tall… lean yet muscular… Who was he?
At the sound of the door, Kaien looked straight back to them, and didn't give a moment of hesitation before he began to speak. "Ah, it's about time you both got here…" he muttered before he raised his hand and motioned to the sweatshirted man. "…Meet your training partner," he finished and the sweatshirted man seemed to stiffen before turning around in a flash, yanking down his sweatshirt hood to see properly…
White hair.
Dark blue eyes.
That cold, emotionless look…
…Oh no. …It was him.
"…What are you doing here!?"