Chapter Three

The small boy and girl sat in the grass, side by side. The young girl could feel the boy's warm skin beneath her short sleeved shirt as they watched the adult vampire hunter's set up a picnic. The hunter's children played underneath a willow that billowed in the summer's breeze.

Ichiru took Suzume's hand. She jerked it back, a little girl who fought her emotions because her sensei told her to. Yet, to Suzume, it seemed Ichiru never tried to fight his, and Zero hardly displayed any at all. Then again, she barely even knew Ichiru's brother.

Ichiru took her hand again, a determined little boy. And, once again, Suzume took her hand back.

"Stop it," she commanded, glaring at him.

Staring at her with the eyes that drew Suzume in, Ichiru replied, "I don't want to. I want to hold your hand."

"Well, you can't," she sniffed, angling her body the other way. In the distance, she glimpsed Kazuo throwing a ball back and forth with their father. He grinned as their father laughed heartily.

Ichiru took her hand again.

Suzume jumped up, ripping her hand away from him. He was making her fail as a hunter, and she felt he was doing it on purpose. "I hate you, Ichiru!" she shouted in his face, turning and running to where the adults were sitting on a blanket, discussing targets. Suzume ran to her mother, crying.

Her mother gave her a sharp, austere look, slapping her face. "That is enough. You will compose yourself." She gripped her arm tightly, forcing Suzume to sit beside her. "Sit here and listen. Maybe you will learn something about being a hunter for once."

Stifling tears and cupping her stinging cheek, she glowered at Ichiru from the corner of her eyes. He had made her lose control.

"I hate you, Ichiru," she murmured.

"At least you don't hate me," another voice responded.

Suzume snapped up so fast, her vision blurred, and she was forced to lay back down. Waiting until the dizziness dissipated, she opened her eyes to see Kain sitting beside her.

Her insides twisted. "What are you doing here?" she spat with vicious venom. She pushed herself up slowly this time, looking around to see she was in the infirmary. Alone. With a vampire. Shaking her head, she berated Chairman Cross within her mind once again. To her, he was seeming more and more like the most foolish man she had ever met.

Kain's ember colored eyes assessed her with a mellow expression. "I was worried. I was especially worried when you kept saying, 'I hate you, Ichiru.'"

"Why?"

He shrugged, a small smile on his face. "You sounded as if you wanted to kill him. I was worried for his life, whoever this Ichiru is." He chuckled then stopped as Suzume's furious eyes struck him like a bat over the head.

"You have no right to be in here. I want you to leave," she said coldly.

Kain was silent for a moment. Then, rising, he said, "I will tell Chairman that you're better. You'll probably start your prefect duties tonight."

"How do you know about-"

He raised his hand. "I was the one who suggested it to Kaname. You can't possibly think he's a genius all on his own." He paused, leaning down to peer into Suzume's face.

She scooted away from him, scowling at the closeness and her erratic heartbeat. The corner of Kain's perfectly curved lips twitched into a quick smirk as his hand covered Suzume's.

She shook his hand off. "Don't touch me."

Something flickered across his dancing eyes as he replied calmly, "I want to hold your hand."

She froze, then had a realization. "It's impolite to eavesdrop on people's dreams."

He raised an eyebrow, face as placid as ever. "An honest mistake." He straightened his back and turned to leave, pausing at the door, "Suzume?"

"It's Sato to you," she corrected. If there was one thing in the world she didn't want, it was to be so informal with a vampire.

Keeping his back to her, he inquired casually, "Do you always talk in your sleep?"

She hesitated, then replied softly, "No. It only happens when I dream of Ichiru. Only when I dream of Ichiru."

"How often do you dream of him?" His tone was indifferent, and Suzume found she couldn't read his underlying intentions, besides the most obvious ones she was trying so hard not to notice and to forget.

She swallowed hard, realizing her own answer. She hadn't thought about it until he asked, she hadn't noticed. "No. The last dream was the last time I saw him." She lowered her eyes, staring at her hands and how much they had grown since Ichiru had first wanted to hold them. No longer did she have stubby fingers and pudgy hands.

But Kain still did not leave. He wasn't satisfied just yet. "And will you ever tell me who this Ichiru is and what happened to him?"

The answer came fast, sharp. "No."

He nodded slowly, walking away into the corridor. "See you around, then."

Suzume laid back down, weary and tired. She wasn't sure what time it was, though she could see a dimming light through the window's curtains. She even didn't know how much time had passed since the Day Class student had been kidnapped, and she suddenly wished she had thought to ask Kain, however much she disliked him.

Closing her eyes, the abyss of sleep found her more quickly than usual. It enveloped its arms around her and sent her more dreams of her lost Ichiru.

The Kiryuu's had asked the Kato family to watch over their sons. They were going away to track down two brutish vampires that had went on killing sprees, and their sons were still to young to come.

Zero and Kazuo immediately ran to Kazuo's room where they locked themselves in. Suzume knew they were talking about hunting. That was all they did, all they thought, and all they wanted.

Suzume sat on the Indian rug in her sky blue pants and flowery shirt. Her mother had taken away her toys when Suzume had disobeyed her sensei. She was stuck tugging on the frayed edges of the foyer's carpet.

When Ichiru had come, he had sat beside her without saying a word. And, this time, when he reached for her hand, she let him. It had been many months since the picnic, and Ichiru proved, unfailingly, that he cared for Suzume. The few times they spent together, Suzume's mother and father were upset with her. They were constantly upset with their daughter, viewing her as too emotional, too out-of-control. Suzume would always cry, wondering what was wrong with herself. But, each time, Ichiru had stayed by her side, had made her smile, made her laugh, by any means. And it had been Kazuo who taught her to accept herself, who stayed a faithful brother.

So it was now that she began to let Ichiru hold her hand. And as they held hands they would share stories. Sometimes Suzume would tell fairytales that she had created , while Ichiru would only tell stories of a knight in shining armor and his adventures. Both, however, would tell each other how much they loved and admired their elder brothers, even though Kazuo and Zero were favored. Somehow, not belonging, being the black sheep they were, was what connected them the most.

So, as Suzume stared at the red, orange, and brown oriented carpet, she found she wanted to hold no one else's hand but Ichiru's. And when she stared into his silvery eyes, eyes which only gazed at her, she knew he felt the same.

It was then, as they simply sat beside each other that Ichiru whispered, "I will love only you. Only you."

Later, as drowsiness hovered over her like a thick blanket, Suzume yawned and rolled over. Her eyes flickered open and closed, the second's glance revealing she was no longer in the infirmary, but her dorm room. This realization had her awake within minutes as she sat up and looked around.

Milky moonlight spilled into the room through the opened window. Suzume threw her legs over the side of the bed, taking a quick peek at Anzu sleeping across the room. Tip-toeing to the window, she looked out into the night, the stars hanging in the sky like thousands of diamonds.

Moving her gaze to below the window, she saw something more that took her breath away. At first, she thought it was Zero, but then she wasn't so sure. He wore dark clothing, not the school's uniform. The boy stood and stared up at the sky, facing away from the window.

But when she blinked, trying to process what she was seeing, he was gone, a phantom of the night. It had to have been a ghost. Suzume shook her head, sinking to the floor as she pondered.

It couldn't have been Ichiru, but there was always the possibility. After all, she never did know exactly what happened to him. A part of her was afraid to know. Tracing invisible circles on the hard, wood floor, Suzume knew she had to leave the academy. There was something strange and dangerous brewing, and she didn't want to be caught in any crossfires. She had to live, as she promised her brother.

Nearly a day before he died, Kazuo had been acting strangely. During that time, Suzume thought nothing of it. But it was only now that she realized he knew his time was coming. And it was then that he had made her promise. He made her promise to live, no matter what.

Someone knocked on the door. Suzume made no move to open it. She waited patiently as the door creaked open, a small face with big eyes poking in.

"Hello? Suzume Sato?" a light voice called in.

Suzume sighed, rising from the floor. "Let me get dressed, Yuuki. I will be out in a minute."