The next morning, I woke up by someone trying to open the door.
"AUCH!" I yelled, whilst rubbing my head in pain.
"I'm so sorry, lady Tsukino. I was told to check up on you since you hadn't woken up yet. I didn't know that you were sitting against the door. Please accept my sincerest apology, lady Tsukino." A blond boy with forest green eyes stood in the doorway.
"Apology accepted," I said, by now I was also standing in the doorway, rubbing my head in shame, "although it's also kind of my fault for falling asleep whilst sitting in front of a door, but don't tell anyone I said that." I flashed him a smile. "Thank you for coming to check up on me. What's your name?" The blond guy let out a relieved sigh.
"I'm Takuma Ichijo, the vice president of the night dorm's."
"Well, thank you... er..."
Why are you such an idiot, Shiro... Why are you so socially unskilful...? Why am I at this school... Oh yeah, my parents...
I nervously twisted my hair whilst trying to figure out how to put this without being embarrassed.
"Forgive me but... how am I supposed to address you?" Takuma stared at me with a dumbfounded expression and then started to laugh.
"That's what was bothering you just now? I thought that something bad had happened."
"Well, Takuma-sama and Takuma-san both sound too polite, but Takuma-kun sounds like we're closer than we actually are, seeing as we just met. I suppose I could go with Ichijo-kun, but that'd constantly remind me of your grandfather..."
"Takuma-kun is fine you know; a pureblood princess mustn't be troubled with such trivial matters."
"Well, if you live life being closed off from the outside world, things like this become difficult..." I said, puffing my cheeks out. Takuma's eyes turned understanding. "I'm sorry to hear that..."
"It's alright. I was overreacting, Takuma-kun~." I smiled. "Sometimes, it's better not to take everything so seriously."
"Well then, we should hurry to get to our class in time. I'll leave so you can get dressed. Your uniform is put in your closet; I hope that it'll fit."
"Takuma-kun... Not that I possibly couldn't go there on my own, but could you please wait for me outside the door…", I said, whilst staring at my feet in shame.
"No problem, lady Tsukino!" Takuma said. "Shiro's fine, you know," I said. I went into my room and took in the luxury. I didn't bother with showering, since Takuma was waiting for me, and I'd showered yesterday. Instead, I just washed my face and put on my uniform. The skirt was a bit short, but overall it fit nicely. I tried to tame my big wavy hair by combing it but gave up after my arms were starting to get tired and just left it be. I put a hairband (with a ribbon on it) in my hair so if would look at least half decent. I walked out of the room ready to start my day when I heard Takuma trying to stifle his laughter.
"Takuma-kun, what's so funny!?" I asked, semi-irritated.
"Nothing, it's just... You forgot to put on shoes..." I blushed and rushed into my room and put on some black shoes. I walked back out of the room and puffed my cheeks.
"Shall we go then?" Takuma said.
"Humph..." I followed him through the hallway.
"I'm sorry for laughing at you back there. I didn't mean to, it's just..." Takuma said as we walked through the hallway.
"Forget it... It's okay... The only pureblood you know is Kaname, and he is 'perfect'," I said. "You wouldn't know any better." All my life my parents have been trying to compare me to him. Saying things like, "Kaname could do this when he was five" and "You should try to be more like Kaname". It's not like I actually knew him, or met him in person more than once or twice, but I still held a grudge against him simply because of my parents compared me to him. In a way, he subconsciously ruined my life, since all I was allowed to do at home was studying, so I could surpass him one day.
Takuma abruptly put an end to my daydreaming.
"Nobody is perfect, not even Kaname. You're probably more perfect than you think you are." Takuma blushed.
"Ah Takuma-kun, that's so nice of you to say!" I said as I took his arm and hugged it. Meanwhile, we'd reached the large staircase leading towards the lounge-room-thingy. All eyes were on me as I descended down the stairs, trying to hide behind Takuma. Meanwhile, Kaname had arrived at the top of the stairs and started to make his entrance as well. When Kaname had reached the bottom, he started to introduce me.
"Night Class, this is Shiro Tsukino, heir of the Tsukino family. It is an honour for me to welcome her to Cross Academy. Lady Shiro, come forward please?" I reluctantly let go of Takuma's arm and walked towards Kaname. As I took my place next to him, all of the Night Class bowed to me. "I ask of you to take Lady Shiro's orders as my orders and ask of you for your complete loyalty and devotion to Lady Shiro. Anyone who doesn't... Will know of the consequences..." Kaname said whilst glaring at them with red eyes. "I think it's time to go," Kaname said, changing the subject as if nothing had happened. I immediately sprinted back to Takuma's side and hid behind him since I felt stared at like an animal in the zoo.
"Lady Shiro, it'll be alright. They're not going to bite you," Takuma said, trying to calm me.
"Vampires are scary, though..."
"...says the pureblood vampire who can probably kill us with the snap of her fingers." Takuma turned serious again. "I think you should be more afraid of the Day Class fangirls, though..."
"The what?" I said in confusion.
"Well, since vampires tend to look beautiful to humans, the Night Class has gathered quite a few fangirls who treat us like idols. Yuuki, the girl from the disciplinary committee, tries to stop them from trampling us with Zero but... Zero tends to be late, so she ends up being trampled instead most of the time. With a new student in the Night Class, especially since the student, you, is a girl, the Day Class girls will be extra hyped up and possibly, even jealous..." Takuma explained to me. "I'm trying to prepare you for the worst, though, don't worry about it."
As we got closer to the gates, the screaming became louder and louder. I even saw a girl who was trying to climb the walls, but also heard a voice that chilled my bones, basically telling them to get off the wall or die. I shivered in fear for what was to come, but when the gates opened was welcomed by two perfectly formed lines on each side of the road with a bewildered Yuuki in the middle of the road. Yuuki bowed and gestured for us to continue walking.
The Day Class girls screamed in excitement and I covered my ears with my hands, in an attempt to block out the horrible sound. Takuma smiled at me in reassurance. Immediately after that, his gaze turned serious again as he realised what he'd done. The Day Class girls were staring at me with evil eyes. They were whispering and I could slightly pick up what they were saying with my vampire hearing.
"Takuma smiled at her... …Takuma likes her... ...she took Takuma from us..." I continued to walk even faster dragging Takuma along as a meat shield.
"Those Day Class girls are scary..." I said when the Day Class girls couldn't hear us anymore. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt a familiar presence behind me.
"What are you doing here?" Zero asked us. I could hear him taking out his gun. I wasted no time pondering over how he got here and quickly froze time and teleported behind him. I giggled and took the gun out of his hands and took out the bullets. I then put the gun back in his hands. I walked around him for a bit and couldn't help but laugh at the serious look on his face. I tried to turn the corners of his mouth up into a smile and tried to make him frown less but to no avail. He ended up looking funny instead. I went to stand next to Takuma and unfroze time again, trying to act like nothing had happened.
Takuma saw the weird look on Zero's face and laughed at him. Zero turned even more irritated and tried to fire his gun at Takuma's shoulder. Takuma stiffened, waiting for the impact, but nothing happened. Zero stared at his gun in confusion. He tried firing again, and again nothing happened. I held up my hand with the bullets in it.
"I wouldn't want you to hurt us, would I?" I said with an innocent look on my face. I could hear him curse under his breath as I walked away, dragging Takuma along with me.
"How did you do that?" Takuma asked me.
"Simple, I just froze time," I answered.
"You froze time?" Takuma said in confusion.
"Yup, I can control time and space. The only limitation is that I must have been there before. I can't go back in time before I was born or teleport to a place I haven't been to before. That's why I had to drive here. Otherwise, I would've teleported myself here, saves a lot of time and trouble. And sleep... And the food..." At the thought of food, my mouth started to water and my throat started to burn. I grasped my throat in pain.
"When was the last time you fed? You need blood, don't you?" Takuma said. "Wait, I've got some blood tablets in my pocket."
"Blood... ...tablets?" I said in confusion.
"Yeah, there's a substitute for human blood, blood tablets. You can dissolve them in water or take them as a tablet." "
How come... ...I've never... ...heard of them?" I asked.
"Well, they're relatively new, and they're still being tested and refined. What do you usually drink then?"
"Mommy's... ...and Daddy's blood... I thought that that was normal... Apparently, it's not..." I said.
"Well, these tablets will never compare to real blood, but since you're hungry, try them," Takuma said.
"Okay, Takuma-kun~!" I smiled. I took a tablet from his hand and placed it in my mouth. Then I swallowed. It tasted so artificial, that I vowed to only eat these when necessary. Takuma tried to stifle his laughter.
"What?" I said.
"You look like as if you're eating a sour lemon," Takuma replied.
"Well, it tastes worse than a sour lemon. I don't get why people don't like lemon's anyway, lemons aren't so bad. The real evil hides in strawberries. Every time you think they're going to taste sweet, they end up tasting a bit sour. And don't even get me started on grapes, those treacherous fruits. One grape may taste sweet, then you try a second grape and it's more sour than a lemon. At least with a lemon you know it's going to be sour…"
Takuma dragged me off to the classroom, letting me ramble on as I tried to hide my flustered state…
"I mean, what did I ever do to you, honeydew melon? At least the watermelons treat me kindly…"
…all the while digging my own grave.
