Chapter 4~ Night Class Talk
Hanabusa sank back into his seat and put his face in his hands. She's got every right to be mad. I should have told her from the start! He cursed himself silently. With Ariao now gone, the room became a swarm of noise. No one seemed to know what to make of what had just happened.
"Man, you really messed up." Akatsuki said from beside him. "She looked like she was about ready to kill someone."
"No kidding." Ruka said, looking at him pointedly. Hanabusa wasn't in the mood for an argument tonight, however, and let the taunt go in one ear and out the other.
"You really think that this Zane character will take her, don't you." Takuma had come over to sit in front of him.
"He's her fiancée." Hanabusa nearly choked on the word. "What can I really do about that?"
"But if that were really the case, wouldn't he have come with her to Cross Academy from the start?" Shiki asked around a stick of Poky. He seemed to be into the conversation for once, watching him with sharp icy eyes.
"Yes. I don't think she quite feels the same way about this as Zane does." The room fell quiet as Kaname spoke. He walked over and stood near Hanabusa's desk, eyes dark. "Headmaster Cross said that Zane had been searching for her after she up and vanished about four months back. Whether that was because of her brother or not, we don't know."
"Still…what if Ariao left Zane for the same reason she tried to hand herself over to Nire?" Ruka said, and Hanabusa felt the ground drop from under him.
If she's never gotten over Zane…then where does that leave me? Hanabusa let his head drop to the desk, not sure if he was more annoyed that Zane was really coming, or angry that he hadn't told her the truth when he had the chance.
"You know we only have ourselves to blame right now." Hanabusa looked up to see Takuma's green eyes shadowed.
"She was just starting to trust us? Isn't that what she said?" Akatsuki asked, running a hand through his hair.
"Yeah." Ruka agreed softly. That caused the whole room to fall quiet again.
"As a Songblood, she was raised to trust in no one but herself." Hanabusa said quietly after a moment. "We finally gain her trust…only to toss it away and for what?" He balled his hands into fists on the table. "Because every one of us here still fears that Rido might come back through her? Won't things like this only make that more of a reality?"
"It'll probably happen anyways. Rido is easily seen in her." Kaname said coldly.
Probably isn't an answer! Hanabusa thought, looking away from the Pureblood. "But Ariao's not Rido." He said, getting to his feet.
"What are you planning on doing?" Akatsuki asked, watching him. Hanabusa headed for the door. "Hanabusa?"
"I'm going to find Ariao." Hanabusa said stiffly, not looking at the other students.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Shiki asked in a bored tone.
"You'd be better waiting for her to cool off first. Otherwise, someone's going to get thrown around." Rima agreed in almost the same tone as Shiki before popping a stick of Poky into her mouth.
"I'm more worried about Ariao right now than anything else." Hanabusa said, looking over his shoulder at them for a moment before heading off.
Back in the Moon Dorm, I sank into a sofa and looked up at the ceiling. Sorin and Rhyl were on guard outside since I insisted I wanted some time for myself. There was only so much I could really think about with those two hovering over me.
First, what did I really expect? I hadn't really been at Cross Academy very long, was it really reasonable to think they'd put any real trust in me? Who my father was only made that fact a million times worse. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had probably over-reacted.
Second, who did I want to be? I was jumping back and forth between Songblood and Pureblood. Not only did it confuse me, it undoubtedly confused everyone else too. I'll have to apologize to Lord Kaname. I thought with a sigh. And to everyone else too…especially Hanabusa. I winced as the memory of his hurt expression repeated itself in my mind. I had definitely taken that too far.
Third….My thoughts trailed off as someone knocked on the door. "Lady Ariao? Lord Zane is here." Sorin called through the door.
"Already? He's supposed to be here tomorrow!" I called out, thinking this was Sorin's and Rhyl's idea of a joke.
"I decided to drop by early." The voice made my blood turn to ice. There was no mistaking that accented musical voice. It was Zane. "May I come in?" When I was silent, the door opened slowly and Zane poked his head in, pale blue-green hair slightly mused from the breeze outside. His turquoise eyes locked on mine and he smiled broadly.
"It's been a while Zane." I said, rolling to my feet as he came forward.
"Perhaps a bit too long." He said, coming over to give me a hug.