Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight. If I did Aido would have all the sweets he could eat!
If anyone has any suggestions for the disclaimer feel free to tell me (I'm running out of ideas). I'll give credit for the disclaimer to you.
Author's note: Thanks everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it, especially the reviews! They're what keep me writing this fanfic. If you have any problems don't hesitate to tell me so that I can improve on my writing.
I also want to thank Princesa de la Luna for reviewing the past two chapters. Thank you!
Woohoo! Over 150 hits! That makes me so happy!
Unlocking the Gates:
Meeting Ichijo Takuma
"So… are you excited about being at Cross Academy Ari-chan?" asked Ichijo while turning around to smile at her.
"Hai" said Ari while internally asking herself why he was calling her Ari-chan when they just met a few minutes ago.
"It's so great to have you here. I'm really looking forward to getting to know you better!" he said while turning to the right down a hallway after reaching the top of the stairs.
"Hmmmm…" said Ari intelligently in agreement, unsure how to reply to his statement. No one had ever desired to get closer to her after meeting her. Most had done their best to avoid her after meeting her.
"Here we are." said Ichijo-san while gesturing towards a solid looking wooden door. "This is your room. You won't have a roommate since Seiran doesn't want to share her room with anyone and the other girls already have roommates." he said looking towards her in worry. "Is that all right with you?"
"Hai" she said once again.
'He's going to think I'm an idiot if I keep this up.' She thought while watching Ichijo-san unlock the door to her room. 'I should try to say something else… but what do I say? I've never had to keep up a conversation with anyone before. Shiki-nii knows that I don't like to talk that much and Okaa-san doesn't speak much either.' She thought with something near to panic inside while walking into her new room.
"Arigato for showing me to my room, Ichijo-san." said Ari turning around and bowing respectfully towards him, her face an emotionless mask. Ichijo-san looked slightly shocked for a minute before smiling widely at her.
"You're welcome Ari-chan!" he said happily. "I was worried that I had angered you somehow earlier since you hadn't spoken much." he said with a sheepish smile.
"Iie" said Ari. "Most people don't like being around me, so I wasn't sure how to respond to your kindness at first." She said emotionlessly.
"Ano…. if you don't mind me asking, why don't you show emotion?" he asked hesitantly, afraid to hurt her feelings.
"If I allowed my emotions to escape from my control I could kill everyone around me. My emotions are linked to my powers." said Ari to Ichijo-san.
"Ahhh… that explains a lot, so you're not emotionless, you just don't show your emotions in fear that if you did you would hurt those close to you. You drive people away so that you don't hurt them." He said with understanding and something close to pity in his eyes.
"…. Hai" Ari said hesitantly surprised that he understood so quickly but not wanting his sympathy.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is your power? Shiki never said what it was." he asked with curiosity.
"Darkness" Ari said looking him straight in the eyes. Then she went to shut the door, not wanting to talk about it anymore.
"Matte!" he said grabbing hold of the door before it swung closed. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. It's obviously a touchy subject for you." He said with concern etched on his face. "I hope this won't ruin our chances of friendship? I'd really like to get to know you; you're different than the others here. You may act emotionless like the others but I can tell you're a very kind person. You wouldn't lock away your emotions if you didn't care about what would happen to the people around you."
"Why are you so kind Ichijo-san?" asked Ari, confused as to why he would be so kind to someone like her.
"I just want everyone to be happy A-chan and that includes you. Have a nice evening." he said as he let go of Ari's door allowing her to finally close it.
As Ari closed her door she was surprised to feel a smile trying to pull up the corners of her mouth. She hadn't felt the urge to smile since she was a child and the feeling was very foreign.
'How is this boy that I barely know able to get such a strong reaction from me?' wondered Ari as she looked around her room to make sure that her luggage had been put away correctly. 'I'll have to keep my guard up around him. It's too easy to just let everything go while he's around' she thought while imagining his beautiful kind green eyes looking at her with such compassion even though they only just met. Shaking her head to rid herself of her thoughts of him Ari went to her closet to find something more comfortable than the Cross Academy uniform to wear.
'These uniforms are ridiculous.' she thought while searching through her closet. 'Aha, found it' she thought happily while bringing out a pair of faded black sweat pants that were obviously too big for her. Turning around she searched through her dresser, pulling out a worn deep blue shirt that would hang loosely on her. Changing quickly she sighed in relief once they were on she tossed her uniform onto a chair. After tossing the uniform on the chair she felt bad, since the maids would most likely put it away when they saw it. She didn't want to cause them any more work than they already had to do. Ari walked over to the chair and picked up her uniform, carefully placing it on a hanger and putting it in her closet. Looking around her room she decided that she liked it. The colors of the room were all warm and comforting, deep greens, blues and browns. The bed was large and soft looking with plenty of pillows piled on top of it. The dressers were all solid heavy pieces of oak beautifully carved depicting forest scenes. The room was somewhere where she would be able to rest and relax without worry of others interrupting her peace. The best part was that it was hers. If she wanted to she could lock it and no one would be able to bother her. Then again this was a dorm filled with vampires and she doubted that a door would stop any of them from getting through if they were determined. A knock on the door suddenly interrupted her thoughts.
"Ari" came Shiki-nii's voice through the door. "It's time for dinner, are you coming down?" Ari opened the door, startling her brother. She then nodded her head indicating that she would go down for dinner.
Author's note: Dun dun duuunnn… what's going to happen at dinner I wonder?
I would like to know if people think that I'm going to slow with the plot or if I should speed things up. Please tell me so that I can improve on my writing. I'm not sure if the pace I'm setting is fine or not. Right now I'm just writing what comes to my head.
I also want to clear things up in case people were confused about Ari and how she hides her emotions. She has emotions, she just doesn't show them because her powers would escape her control if she did. The question is; does she really need to hide them to keep them under control? Just wanted to leave you with that little tidbit to think about!
I-Eat-My-Vegetables
