Hallo it's Masoyan again~ nice to see you here. Sorry for the bit of lateness! I am actually quite surprised how well this story is doing. Thank you very much for reading and the review!
Owari no Seraph doesn't belong to me! Enjoy!

Chapter Four

4:27am and Natsuka was already wide awake. She felt well rested though, more than she has in a very long while. With a yawn, she rolled to the side of the bed, sitting up and straightening her messed up hair. Two and a halfish hours until training starts. Cold shower, food then training. Sounds about right.

There were three sets of clothes left on her bed last night that were still on the floor. One were the clothes she should up in and were all clean now. Another was a grey school uniform with a skirt and all that she wouldn't dare to wear. Lastly looked like a set of typical gym clothes with a plan shirt and sweats. Her sneakers had be cleaned too.

"How nauseating..."

She took the gym clothes with her undergarments and headed into the somewhat tiny bathroom. The shower was just big enough for one person which Natsuka didn't really appreciate being slightly claustrophobic. She dropped the clothes on the floor, turned the water to cold and stepped in. Her body tensed for a moment from the frigid droplets then relaxed, resting her head against the tile.

The clear pearls of water fell down her cream colored skin, tracing over some scars as they did so. That man was always careful to make sure none of her beatings showed. The worst ones were on her back. Faint lines etched into her skin from a belt. She had been burned, bones broken, choked, almost drowned and starved. But every time she came back, her body had gotten stronger and the pain began to lessen. There were many times she could have easily given into the temptation of ending it yet the one thing that kept her living was the kindness and love of her mother.

"Such a lovely family isn't it?"

With an empty laugh, Natsuka shut the water off and left the shower, taking the white towel from off the hook and placed it over her head as she leaned against the wall. It's only a matter of time before she can get her hands on a Black Demon Series weapon. Then with that she can destroy all those manipulative vampire bastards. She quickly dried off and dressed herself, rolling up the sweats to below her knees and shook her head free from any remaining water as she left.

The clock now read 4:53am.

After she get's something to eat, it's off to whatever training starts today. Her stomach growl a little in agreement. She was a little thankful that the doctors gave her a decent amount of food while they were running one too many tests on her. When she asked why they were running test, they gave her the whole spiel that they were ordered to make sure she wasn't a vampire. When she asked about the results, they never answered. She's pretty damn sure that there isn't a single speck of vampire blood in her.

Before she left with room, Natsuka made sure she had the pocket watch and her mother's locket then slipped her sneakers on and exited, locking the door behind her. This place is going to take awhile to get use too. Everything being so perfect and clean just made her stomach twist. She still half expects this to be just a dream and when she wakes up, she'll find herself tied up in a dark corner.

"Isn't it early for you to be awake Kuragari?"

Natsuka tensed from a familiar voice and met a dark gaze that she has hated the moment she first saw it. Hiiragi Kureto was standing at the end of the hall with his calm expression, glaring poisonous daggers at the strawberry blonde. His stare was unsettling in more ways than one.

"Training starts at 6. I still need to eat and make my way towards the school."

"I wasn't quite expecting you to even bother getting out of bed this morning."

"What's it matter to you what I do? And what are you doing here?"

"That is none of your concern."

He stayed for a moment, still glaring at Kuragari before leaving by elevator. Is she being watched? That was making her more uncomfortable than she already is. Every where she went at the labs, there was always someone from the Hiiragi family watching her. Kureto didn't show until the last day of testing though. But he's the one that makes her the most uneasy.

It seemed to take forever for the elevator to climb all the way back up to her. As it did, Natsuka decided that after todays training, she'll check her entire room for any sort of bugs. She also wanted to know what the hell the other rooms have in them. The elevator dinged, disrupting her thoughts and the doors slid open, revealing the green eyed blonde life like doll Sanguu Aoi behind them. Nastuka held back a grimace when she met her blank stare.

"I will be taking you directly to the school for you training after you have eaten."

"Is there a reason why you people are tagging me other than me being a Kuragari?"

"My superiors classify you as an importance."

"Now I'm some sort of exotic animal. How lovely."

"I suggest we get moving before you are late."

Natsuka hesitated just for a slight moment before she finally took a few steps forward. Aoi pressed the number one button and the doors closed for the decent.

'The people here are all creepy as fuck...'

~0~0~0~0~

"Guren-sama?"

"Hmm?"

"Guren-sama please wake up."

"I am awake."

"It's 5:39am. The beginning of training is going to start soon."

Guren grumbled as he removed the file that was laying on his face and placed it back on his desk when he straightened himself. Sayuri stood in the middle of the room with a clipboard and several sheets of paper were attached to it. The files he had on his desk were of the student candidates for the Black Demon Series. There were only eight; three girls and five boys. Among them was Kuragari Natsuka. That was the file he was kind of reading before Sayuri showed up. He stared at her picture in the folder; those silver-grey eyes hateful and dark.

"This is going to be a huge pain in the ass."

"All of the candidates have passed the initial test including Kuragari. They all seem worthy of handling a Black Demon."

"But how many of them would survive the temptation?"

"Oh w-well a couple of them would I suppose. They have the highest resistance."

"Out on the battlefield, a man can quickly change. Your instincts change. Humans are naturally weak and rely on an outside source to make them stronger. Training isn't the same thing."

The black haired man pulled on his coat with a heavy sigh and left his office with Sayuri following. This isn't the first training session Guren has done. There was a previous class, but none of them passed. Lately it's been a struggle finding those with high compatibility with Cursed Gear. Even those that were recommended by the higher ups failed. To make matters worse, Kureto keeps getting on his ass about how he isn't doing a sufficient enough job and keeps making it sound like it's his fault.

As he reached the lower levels where training was being held, Shigure had joined him and went over the candidates current standings. The odd one out was Kuragari which was of no surprise to him. He highly doubts she'll be able to work with any other students thanks to that royal attitude of hers. He's betting that she'll be the first to go.

"Despite not having much interaction with any other students, it seems that Kuragari Natsuka is the top choice to be team leader."

The smirk that was on Guren's face vanished completely as he froze. "Say that again?"

"Kuragari Natsuka has the best qualifications to be a team leader," Shigure stated in he monotone voice. "Though we don't know as of yet if she is compatible with a Black Demon Series weapon."

"That damn princess with the shitty looking sour face might be a team leader? Tell me that's a joke."

"Look who's talking."

"I heard that Shigure."

"A-ah we should get going Guren-sama, Shigure-san. The students will be arriving soon."

Guren shrugged and stuck his hands in his pocket as he continued on. Even if Kuragari can't get a Cursed Gear, she can still be a team leader. That doesn't fit at all. Who would even listen to someone like her? That standoffish presence, snotty know-it-all attitude, eyes full of dark hate. He's really starting to hope she fails the training.

But he's wishes were crushed when he entered the classroom and the only person in there was the grey eyed, strawberry blonde new royal pain in his ass: Kuragari Natsuka.

Tada! Fourth chapter is done! It's a bit shorter sorry... Time for Guren and Natsuka to hate each other! Yahoo-yah! I'm sure they'll find a way to like each other eventually. It's still a bit early...reeeeeeeview? I got cupcakes~
I do hope you enjoyed it! Ciao amici!