Asuka
The weekend came as a blessing: I could stay in my dorm all day and do whatever I chose, which usually consisted of sleeping. Sadly, my plans were interrupted by an increasingly familiar presence and loud knocks on the door, although it sounded more like whoever was on the other side was trying to break into my room.
"Hey! Open the door, Asuka!" I could hear Zero yell through the door. I unhappily groaned into my pillow. "Asuka, open up!" I would never be able to fall back asleep with him banging on the door like that, so I tried pretending I wasn't there. "I'm not stupid. Don't try hiding from me just because I can't see you!" Unfortunately, that idea didn't work.
I hauled myself out from under the covers and glanced at the clock. The hands on the timepiece read 3:46, the middle of the afternoon. Just as Zero was about to attack the door again, I flung it open with what I assume was a less-than-pleased expression. "What do you want, Zero?" Glaring, I asked curtly.
"Headmaster Cross wants to see you. Don't ask me why. I didn't bother-" He paused and actually looked at me, with my disheveled silvery hair, oversized t-shirt, and baggy sweatpants. "Were you just sleeping?"
"Yeah, I was. Do you know how goddamned early it is?"
He looked at me as if I were crazy. "Asuka, it's almost 4:00 in the afternoon!"
I glared back at him. "I know. I'm normally not awake right now, but since I am, I'll go talk to the Headmaster or whatever you just said." I shut the door forcefully so that I could change my clothes in private. I just grabbed whatever was closest to me, which was my uniform. When I had finished dressing, I whirled out the door and briskly walked down the hallway, leaving Zero back by my dorm.
"Where are you going?"
"You said the Headmaster wanted to talk to me, didn't you? I'm going to his office." Zero didn't speak anymore; he just caught up and followed behind me. The halls were quiet and mostly void of students, most of whom were probably out shopping in the nearby town.
I knocked on the double doors to the Headmaster's office, responded to with the man calling out, "Come in."
I respectfully asked him, "Did you wish to speak to me, Headmaster Cross?"
Immediately, the Headmaster started gushing, "That's right! My precious Yuki has been telling me all about you! She already really likes you, you know, and from what I've heard, you'd make a perfect new Guardian for the Academy! How would you like to join the Disciplinary Committee?"
"That's very kind of you, Headmaster," I said uncertainly, "But I've only been here for a week. I shouldn't get a position on the Disciplinary Committee just yet! What would the other members think?"
Zero answered, "Well, Yuki would probably love having you join. I don't really care, but we're way overworked with just the two of us, so it's fine with me if you join."
"Oh, I see. It's just you and Yuki on the Committee. I didn't even realize you two were on it." I should have guessed they were on the Disciplinary Committee…
"How did you not realize that? We're the ones pushing back the fangirls from the Night Class every day!" Zero declared in exasperation.
"I don't go try to watch the Night Class! I would never want anything to do with vampires like them!"
"And that's why you'd make a fantastic Guardian! You know about the Night Class already, so there's no problem letting you on," the Headmaster announced happily.
I sighed, "Alright, I'll join the Disciplinary Committee. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get something in my stomach." With that, I left in search of breakfast.
Zero
There's something strange about her… Why can't I put my finger on it? "Are you sure it's a good idea to let her on the Disciplinary Committee? Asuka hasn't been here very long, and we don't know much about her."
"Don't worry, Zero," The Headmaster reassured me, "I'm sure Asuka will be absolutely fine. Besides, if anything does go wrong, you have your Bloody Rose gun."
"But it doesn't work on humans! That wouldn't do anything against her!"
"So you aren't worried about whether she's a vampire or not?" Headmaster Cross tilted his head in confusion. "I assumed you would have thought she has some connection to them, from what I heard from Yuki. Didn't Asuka say her biological family died and her foster family was killed, didn't she? By the sound of it, there were friends that she didn't mention who died as well. Doesn't that scream 'vampires' to you?"
I thought for a minute. "That may be, but I should be able to sense vampires, remember? Her presence isn't like that of one of those blood-sucking monsters in the Moon Dorms."
The Headmaster shrugged. "Well, if something does happen, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it. Now, run along, Zero. I have paperwork to do." Without further persuasion, I left.
Asuka
My small meal was bland and unappealing, and left my teeth and throat feeling as if they were coated with something gross. I wasn't even fully satisfied, but it would keep me alive for the time being. One of the nice things about eating in my dorm was that I had a sink right there to brush the residue off of my teeth, and no roommate meant no bothersome questions. It felt good to scrub my teeth and tongue free of the taste of my meal, replacing it with mint. Before I was finished, I heard knocking on my door again, but not as if someone was breaking in like Zero's 'knocking'. Seeing as I couldn't speak with a toothbrush in my mouth, I opened the door for my guest rather than calling for them to enter.
"Hi!" Yuki chirped, "Headmaster said you're on the Disciplinary Committee now!" I was still scrubbing my teeth, so I nodded in acknowledgement. "So, would you like to come get some ice cream in town with me before we have to patrol the grounds tonight?"
"Sounds fine," I mumbled, "But it's the weekend. Why do we still have to patrol?"
"Day Class girls are always up to something, Asuka. Can I come in while you finish getting ready to go?" I stepped aside to let Yuki into my room. She sat on my bed a bounced, making her look like a child. "So… Where's your roommate?"
"Don't have one." I rinsed the toothpaste out of my mouth in the sink. "Alright, we can go," I announced while shoving a small pill box into my pocket.
"What was that? That you just put in your pocket?" Yuki sounded suspicious of the tiny red-and-black box.
"It's just a box of aspirin," I replied, "I take them with me if I'm going outside for a while. As I said when I arrived here, I can't handle light very well and it gives me headaches." The response seemed to satisfy her, seeing as she sprung off of my mattress and bounded to the door.
"In that case, we'll sit inside if we can, okay?" Instead of words, I cast her a smile: The first smile I had shown at Cross Academy.
She reminded me of a dead friend.
It was sunset when we reached the Academy gates, and a blond boy blocked our path. His uniform was white, which I correctly assumed he was from the Night Class… A vampire.
"Hello there, ladies. Where might you two be off to tonight?" This guy's ice blue eyes wandered over Yuki and I in a way that I really didn't like. "Who's your friend, Yuki?" He sauntered over and touched my face, but I slapped his hand away.
"Hands off, vampire!" I snarled at him.
"Idol - I mean Aidou – Leave Asuka alone. You shouldn't even be out here since you don't have classes right now," Yuki tried to persuade the vampire, Aidou, to go away, but he refused to listen.
"But the Moon Dorms are so boring. I would much rather have fun with a pretty girl like this lovely lady. Well? Care to join me?"
"Never in a million years," I responded flatly.
Despite the fact that I was outright rejecting him, Aidou kept trying to flirt with me, "Come on, I'm a lot of fun! I wonder how your blood tastes… What's your blood type, sweetheart?" A loud crack resonated through the air around us. Aidou looked up in time to see a nearby tree on its way to the ground… And us.
"AIDOU! ASUKA! MOVE!" Yuki shrieked. Aidou did indeed leap backwards, but I did not, nor did I need to. The falling tree didn't hit me. Instead, it landed around an inch away from my face, not a scratch on me. "Asuka! Are you alright? You almost got crushed! Please tell me you're not hurt!" Yuki was in a complete state of panic, which nobody had done over me for over four years.
"I'm fine, Yuki," I responded calmly, "It didn't even touch me. You should be more worried about that vampire over there. I think he's pinned under a branch." Sure enough, the blond player was trapped under a tree limb, and seemed to be struggling to get it off. "Having a tough time there, vampire?"
"Oh, shut up."
"That's rude. Maybe I should just leave you there stuck under that tree. How does that sound?" Maybe being the bigger person wasn't worth it… Then again, you couldn't get much lower than someone like him.
"As if you could do anything…" It sounded as if he didn't believe that I could remove the branches that trapped him. They pinned his arms and legs to the ground, rendering him unable to move and quite humiliated. Mostly for my own benefit, I proved the vampire wrong by tearing the limbs off with ease. Not his, of course, the tree's. His facial expression was hilarious: A mixture of confusion, awe, frustration, and humiliation.
"Let's go, Yuki. Aidou will be fine." I dragged the other girl away from the gate back towards the school.
"Wait! We were going to get ice cream in celebration of you joining the Disciplinary Committee!" She protested and tried to turn me around.
"Let's do that tomorrow. It's getting late and all the shops will probably be closed by the time we get to town." I guided Yuki back to the Sun Dorms without further incident, save for her tripping because I was walking too fast. "Stay in your room until we have to patrol. I'll go tell the Headmaster about the tree."
The Headmaster arranged to have the fallen tree removed, after a fair amount of freaking out. I quickly left his office for the second time that day. I sighed to nobody in particular, "That man really needs to take a chill pill."
"Better get used to it, because Disciplinary Committee members have to deal with him a lot," said Zero's voice, suddenly next to me, "Let's go. It's patrol time, and I'll be orienting you, seeing as Yuki is pretty useless at it."
"Fine by me." I followed the silver-haired boy out of the building into the early night air. The moon was barely peeking over the treetops and the stars just beginning to shine. Remembering the time, I pulled out a small cell phone I kept with me and began to dial a number. "Zero, I need to make a quick phone call, alright? It won't take long."
"Go ahead. It's not like we're in class or anything."
The phone rang in my ear a few times before someone on the other end picked up. "Hello? Who's this?" A rough voice spoke through the receiver.
"Hey, Master. It's Asuka Kayo. I was told to give you a call."
"Oh, so you got that message? That's good. I wanted to let you know that I'll be delivering your order in around two days. Have you been keeping an eye on the vampires like I told you to?"
"Yes, I have. I'm on the Disciplinary Committee, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. It doesn't seem like they should be too hard to handle, but there is one vampire I'm worried about." I rather hoped Zero wasn't listening to my conversation, but I knew he could at least hear me.
"Is there an ex-human around?"
"That's right," I replied, "But this one isn't in the Night Class." It seemed like the air around me suddenly grew tense, and I knew my companion was tuning in to what I was saying. "This vampire is in the Day Class with the humans. His name is Zero." Click. "I've got to go, Master. I'll talk to you later." I ended the call and replaced the cell phone in my pocket.
I felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed to the back of my skull, ready to fire. "How did you know?" Zero's voice was filled with panic, but most would mistake it for hostility. "Who told you?"
"Nobody told me anything," I replied, "It's easy for me to tell if someone is a vampire. Did I forget to tell you? I'm from the Vampire Hunter Association, and as I'm sure you know, hunters are usually quite adept at distinguishing humans from vampires."