A/N: This is a filler chapter, just so y'know. And Zero and Takuma's interaction is strictly friendship. Also, sorry for updating a bit late... I had a joyful vacation at the theme park hotel a few days ago. I missed my internet. XC. Alright, get on with it.
Disclaimer: I do not own VK. Just the plot.
SNOW QUEEN
by: SilverMoonRoze
At night, anyone would have a bad vibe when walking in the hallway of the empty building, especially with a few windows opened, airing the hallway, teasing people's sense of smell with it's blooming bushes. It was already Springtime, the season where nature flourishes. It was also around this time when small musicians sang what should have been thought as beautiful music.
It was beautiful; there was no doubt about it. There was still a tinge of loneliness in each pattern and people's mind emphasized on it, tricking them into thinking it as scary instead of captivating.
Takuma was one to enjoy night-time orchestra such as this. He found the rhythm sweet and gentle to the ears. He would enjoy reading his manga with just the brightness of the street lamp light, if he didn't have an urgent task to complete. Right now, Zero was clinging on his arms for support, staggering on every steps to the infirmary. The hunter's chest was contracting quickly; redness was spreading on his face up to his ears.
"Here we are", Takuma said, tapping on the door three times lightly. Unlike human, a vampire doctor had the capability to detect any aerial sound.
"Come in". Takuma opened the door and helped the hunter to the bed. Zero laid sideways, facing away from Takuma and the doctor.
"Is he having a fever?" the doctor questioned, clicking his writing utensil in between his fingers.
"He threw up but I am not sure if he's running a fever", Takuma answered, looking worried himself. And I believe it's your job to tell me what's wrong with Kiryuu-san.
The doctor left his seat to check up on his patient. From his lab pocket, the said doctor took out a thermometer and pulled down Zero's pants and his boxer. Zero, realising that his pants were taken off, tilted his head, giving a warning glare at the offender.
"What do you think you're doing?" Zero growled.
"I'm sure you know".
"No, I don't!"
"Well, if you have to know, I'll tell you. I took off your pants".
"That's not what I meant!"
The doctor found Zero's reaction quite amusing. Most of his patients didn't react as boorish as the hunter. He didn't even have to ask permission to carry on with his treatment procedure except for Aidou who asked every steps out of curiosity. He was unsure how to handle a patient like Zero but he'd have to give a shot. In his opinion, the said patient didn't look fine and dandy. Well, this is going to be a little bit difficult.
"You would have to trust me, sir", he said.
"Return my lower garments!" If they continued to bicker, he would never get to treat the patient. The doctor hinted Takuma to coax Zero into cooperating with him with a pointy mouth.
"Now, now, Kiryuu-kun, Doctor-san just want to make you better. We should let him take your temperature reading", Takuma cooed. The hunter, a little affected by the tone he was using, buried his face in the mattress.
Mr. Doctor put on his glove, tugging on its edge to make sure the gloves were in place. He probed the thermometer into Zero's rectum, waiting for a minute before pulling it out again. He took the reading on a piece of paper and returned to check Zero's tongue and mouth.
"He has fever but it isn't serious. He just needs a proper rest".
"Does he need any medication?"
"I'll prescribe paracetamol. For now, use the infirmary. I'm about to leave when you walked in".
"Thank you, doctor", Takuma shook hand with the doctor. He was going to remind Zero the doctor's advice but the teenager was already sleeping on his own. Takuma smiled and pulled the blanket to keep the hunter warm. He picked up the pants on the floor.
"Now where should I hang the trousers?"
He realised the one thing the infirmary was lacking; a locker.
"Well, I guess I'll just put it on the doctor's chair", he hung the pants on the arm rest. Takuma chose to stand by the window, looking through it to see the forest. His attention shifted when he heard a soft whimper from the hunter. The said blond went over to check on him. He was apalled to see Zero shivering even with a blanket on.
"Cuh Ca Cold", the said prefect stammered.
Takuma switched off the fan but Zero didn't stop shivering. This made the blond vampire worry.
"Kiryuu-kun, wake up", he shook the hunter's shoulder lightly. At first, Zero refused to open up his eyes. Takuma, being a caring person by nature, rubbed Zero's back. The hunter felt his honesty; he was desperate to look at someone to erase the coldness throbbing in his chest. Zero was confused. It was as if each frames of his movement was sharply divided, making the scene jumpy from an episode to another. One moment, he could only remember the incident with Ichiru, then, he felt feverish and the next thing he knew, he was feeling cold in his chest.
The coldness was spreading from his heart to his skin. Zero wanted nothing else but something warm to keep himself together. If the coldness spread any further, he was afraid he'd be frozen forever.
"Ichijou-san, I am cold", Zero whispered, grasping his shirt tightly. Too cold. There was no warmth left in his body.
"I'll get you an extra blanket. Stay put", Takuma opened the cabinet and took a blanket from the pile. He spread it out and amassed it on the hunter. Zero stared openly at the blond vampire, reaching the vampire's hand.
"I-I am cold. I nnneeed w-warmth", the hunter pleaded. Zero wasn't lying; his skin radiated coldness and under the fluorescent light, his face was starting to become paler. Takuma added the number of blanket layers onto the hunter but nothing changed. If a pile of blanket couldn't warm up Zero, nothing else could.
"P-Please I-I-Ichijou-sempai", the hunter rubbed his arms to heat up his body.
Ichijou sighed. There was no helping it. He could only think of one way to warm a cold body. Taking off his clothes and dropping them to the floor, Takuma walked over to Zero.
"Just this once", he pulled the hunter close to him. He wasn't sure if it would work but Vampires were known for their body heat. He could feel the hunter tensed a little in his hug. He was feeling discomfort too. However, he was glad that Zero stopped shivering. At least, he didn't have to worry about the hunter dying of an unexplainable cause.
Just about when the awkward feeling was lessening, the door was suddenly opened.
At the door were Kaname, Yagari and Kaien. Different emotions flashed on their faces, making Takuma fearing the consequences. Takuma didn't think his explanation would be easily accepted. Anyone would think he was trying to take advantage on Kiryuu-kun. He wondered if he would be able to make it out alive.
He sighed heavily, preparing to correct the wrong.
What a nutcase! was the first thing that crossed Yagari's mind when the vampire got on with labelling his student a dangerous threat to the world. If he was going to point finger and blamed an orphan for everything that he'd fallen victim for, then Yagari wished the conversation to end.
Cross too wasn't sinking well with the idea of Zero as a threat. He was only a teenager even though he was more dependable than other hunters around his age group.
However, Kaname made his point clearly. After explaining Zero's action he perceived unacceptable, his worry was enough to convince Cross that they had to make sure similar occassion wouldn't happen again. He also explained the prophecy predicted and how Zero could be involved in the agenda. After all, this involved Yuuki and the world and Cross wanted to protect his daughter as much as he wanted to protect his son.
Yagari didn't accept it fully but his thought on this matter was out of question. Right now, they needed him to view it from a neutral viewpoint to reach the right conclusion. Kaname insisted on changing Zero's status to a vampire. To him, if Zero moved to Moon Dormitory, it would be easier for him to supervise the ex-human.
Yagari had another idea. Instead of declaring Zero as a vampire, he'd rather have a supervisor from the night class to watch over Zero in Sun dormitory. He absolutely wouldn't hand Zero easily to the vampires.
A hunter would always be a hunter, even if he was turned.
"Why don't you pick a representative from your kind to be your dog?"
"I never treat anyone like a dog".
"Oh yeah? They certainly act like one".
"I'd like you to refrain from insulting my friends", Kaname said. Cross nodded in agreement. He liked Yagari's idea better but he didn't want them starting a mouth fight.
"Kaname-sama should pick someone and room him with Zero. There's enough room for two people", Cross said calmly.
"If that's what you and him had agreed on, I'll select a representative", Kaname nodded.
"I'll check on that idiotic boy", Yagari excused himself. He was half a distance away from the infirmary when Cross caught up with him. Yagari crossed his arms.
"What? I'm worried about him too, y'know".
Another presence sent shivers down Yagari's spine. He groaned inwardly; the pureblood was following them to the infirmary for whatever purpose he was having in mind.
Yagari didn't bother to knock and barged in noiselessly. He froze midway when he saw what he shouldn't see. The same reaction plastered on the other two faces. Takuma looked at them and grinned while Zero seemed to ignore their presence altogether. When he saw the serious faces, he sighed heavily.
"What are you doing to my student without anything on?" Yagari started when he could find his voice.
Takuma rubbed the back of his head. "You see, this is a misunderstanding".
"It looks like you're about to have your way with him", Kaname stated calmly.
"That's why it's a misunderstanding. You see, I just want to warm him up, Kaname-sama".
"Isn't that piling blanket enough?" asked Cross, coming closer to the cuddling pair.
"Kiryuu-kun seems to have a sudden cold attack. Not even that many blankets can warm him up. That's why I decided to use my body heat". He hoped that would clear the misunderstanding.
Kaname waved dismissively. He couldn't care less what Takuma wanted to do to the hunter. Yagari was dissatisfied but it wasn't the pureblood's problem. Knowing Takuma for a long time was enough to convince him that the vice president didn't mean harm even when his willy was hanging down below.
Kaien also believed the blond. Takuma was not a trickster or a liar, that much he knew.
"We understand, Ichijou-san. That's why we will let this one go, won't we, Yagari?"
"Don't look at me", Yagari snapped.
Takuma laughed. "Thank you for believing me", he expressed his gratitude. He stole a look at the hunter and found the said teenager sleeping comfortably.
"I think Ichijou-san will make a good roommate candidate", Cross said.
"Roommate?"
"We are trying to find a roommate for Kiryuu-kun to keep him out of trouble", Cross explained, caressing the sleeping teenager's hair gently.
"That isn't possible", Kaname interrupted," Ichijou will have matters to attend to as a vice president. In fact, I have another candidate in mind".
"Kaname-sama is right. I won't be able to watch over Kiryuu-kun all the time".
"Then name this person", Yagari glared at the pureblood sharply.
"I can assure you this person will not hurt Kiryuu for his loyalty to me is very deep. In fact, Aidou will do a good job. I have high expectation of him", Kaname said. Yagari didn't look pleased but all of them who were present knew Aidou's obsession to Kaname and despite seeing Zero as his rival, he would never go against Kaname's absolute order on the matter, if stated clearly.
"If my student died, I will kill you, bloody pureblood", Yagari said warningly. He needed a smoke to calm his head down.
When Zero woke up, he found himself alone on the infirmary bed buried underneath thick layers of blankets. Pushing the blankets off him, he stood up groggily, trying to recall his memory of last night.
Nothing seemed to click though.
"How did I end up in here?" he muttered. To top it all, his pants lower clothing were hanging on the arm rest. He ran his hand through his hair and proceeded to put on the boxer and pants. This isn't the first time he had forgotten the event that happened. He was aware how real his memory lapse was.
Except, he was too tired to bother about his memory loss. This sucks.
It was already late midday since his classes started and the last class was only half an hour to its end. It would be an interference if he were to walk into the class in the middle of a lesson. Zero chose to skip his class and head straight on to the headmaster's house.
Thinking that nobody was inside, he went straight to the kitchen. He would have been happy to cook early dinner if it hadn't been for Hanabusa who was sitting at the island, his eyes wandering at the pots and pans before meeting with Zero's dangerous glare. Hanabusa wasn't too happy to see him either and his eyes narrowed dangerously. The feeling was mutual.
"What are you doing here?" Zero hissed.
"What do you think? I'm waiting for you to show you your room so that I can unpack my stuff", Hanabusa replied with the same tone.
"You becoming my roommate? I don't think I like that".
"It's an agreement between headmaster Cross and Kaname-sama. More like a command. Here, take a look at this", Hanabusa handed to him a piece of letter. Zero read it quietly and by the time he finished, he was already cussing internally. They had decided on Hanabusa being his roommate.
"I'm going to see headmaster and talk to him about this. There's no frigging way I'm sticking with you". Zero stormed to the headmaster's office, scrunching the letter in his hand vengefully. He prepared himself with a gun and kicked the door open. When Cross saw him, he immediately duck to dodge the bullet coming right to him.
"Zero-rin, that's very dangerous!" Cross whined childishly.
"This", Zero propelled the scrunched letter on the table, "explain".
Cross scratched his cheeks, his laughter sounded fearful. Zero didn't hide his anger at all. If anything, he didn't want to be rooming with Hanabusa at all. Furthermore, Hanabusa hated his guts. The feelings went two ways. Cross couldn't see a way out. He had to tell Zero the reason Hanabusa was assigned to be his roommate. He waited for Zero to sit down, which the teenager did and he began to explain.
Zero didn't accept Hanabusa as his room-mate well as he had expected but the young hunter looked defeated after listening to Cross' explanation. He would have to deal a stupid vampire for the time being until they lifted the threat verdict on him.
A vampire under Kuran's control was a bad news for him.
"I'll try to compromise", he said before leaving the headmaster to his paperwork. It was better then living with someone he didn't know anyway.
Aidou carried his luggage with him. Zero showed no sign of helping to carry his luggage along the way the way to the sun dormitory where he would be rooming with the said ex-hunter. When Zero let him into the room, the first thing they observed was a double decker bed that was already set up to make the room less crowded. The layout of the room had also been changed to hold two occupants without inflicting discomfort to any of them. Aidou dropped his luggage on the lower bed's mattress; no one would make him climb ladders everytime he needed to go to sleep. Being in a less than the accepted standard room was already an unhealed scar to him.
Zero dropped the spare key on Aidou's desk. The prefect was quiet all the time they were in the same room and Aidou being obnoxious by nature, was irritated by the silent treatment he was receiving.
He cleared his throat a few times to break the silence.
"Look, I know you're the emo type but you're making me piss just by sitting in the same room as you", Aidou stated.
Zero ignored him. The nerve.
"And why would I be here anyway?" he complained miserably.
"Why don't you ask your pureblood leader?"
"That's not it! I know why I'm here! To keep an eye on your movement and if you are doing anything suspicious, I am to report it immediately to Kaname-sama".
"You don't have to start talking to me then", Zero climbed the ladder up. He was too exhausted to even care about the blond vampire who had started to arrange his clothes and books in his locker. The prefect kept his Bloody Rose underneath his pillow just in case the blond would decide to attack him in his sleep.
"It's not like I want to talk to you", he heard Aidou scoffed, "Oh, and that corner next to the side table will be my reserved lab area. Do not touch anything". Zero readjusted his lying position to face the wall. It would not do him any good to stare at the chirpy blond who was humming unknown tune to entertain himself. It was at first a soft hum but Aidou deliberately increased his volume to annoy Zero and he was successfully getting the result he wanted when Zero pulled the blanket up to his face to filter the noise.
"Do you really think that I would let you sleep?" Aidou huffed.
"Shut up. Tonight is Monday night. I have to wake up early tomorrow for my morning classes!" Zero replied from underneath the blanket.
"You could at least do me a favor by helping me arranging my stuff".
"I don't give a damn about your stuff. Do me a favor by keeping quiet", Zero replied.
Aidou put away the last item in the bag on the desk which was an alarm clock given to him from Kain. It was a bit old and it would be better to buy a new one but this one was speacial to him because Kain made a rare shopping trip on his own to buy it for Aidou. And they were only five at that time.
"Can you stop being chipper all the time?" Zero complained. The cheery mood was nervewrecking.
"Shut up! My emotion control is not your business".
"Stupid vampire roommate".
"Stupid ex-human roommate".
Zero groaned inwardly. Tonight was going to be a long night.
A/N:Phew! Alright! Everything is already in place! Let the game begins. See you on the next chapter!