RE-EDITED to be more visually appealing!
So yeah, there's an OC (there are a few, actually) and I really would like to say that she's not important and will disappear in a few chapters, but that would be a total lie! So sorry! XD but don't worry, she's not gonna get between out boys, so it hardly matters anyway!
Feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated! XOXOXO
Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by me obviously...friggin'sadface...!
Because no pain in all the world could compare to this. His heart had taken all the breaks it could bear, and now? It crumpled, leaving him with nothing but an empty hole in his chest. Death would be a luxury.
Chapter 6: Day One
"First of all, I would like to thank each and every one of you for dedicating your time to our studies, and let me start by assuring you that your sacrifices and patience will most certainly be rewarded," he grins while announcing this, because apparently he's just told them the greatest news they'll ever hear and couldn't be more thrilled to be the honored one delivering it. "Now," he continues, taking a few steps closer to the front row - too close for a typical hunter to be comfortable with. Zero assumes the man's trying to demonstrate trust by doing this, but being his cynical self, it just comes off as foolish to the silver-haired vampire. "When I first proposed the idea of this clinic to the council, they weren't entirely convinced. As a matter of fact, I believe their first reaction was somewhere along the lines of 'Wait, you want to be alone in a room with Level D's?'"
There's a shared, nervous giggle that passes over the desks, down the rows, skipping Zero altogether, of course. Despite his bitterness at the man's initial 'thanks' - because frankly, hearing words like 'dedicating' and 'patience' made him want to punch someone in the throat - he had to admit, the young teacher was quite a talented speaker. It wasn't necessarily what he said, but the way he said it. One of the most important qualitites of an effective speech was its speaker's knowledge of their audience and their ability to relate to them. Blondie did exactly that - his point wasn't hindered with sesquipedalian words that only a dictionary would know the meaning of; his tone was casual and light, even joking. He knew how to put people at ease - to make them feel comfortable and safe - and how to make them like him.
These types of tactics typically have the opposite effect on Zero. He wasn't particularly fond of people who tried to manipulate his emotions.
The man beams at their responses, oblivious to Zero's seething gaze, or, if he isn't, he's very good at hiding it. "I eventually was able to persuade them, however, and I'd like to say that by the end of my spiel, they thouroughly supported my cause, but frankly, that probably wasn't the case. Now, I'm going to be honest with you, because I believe that honesty is one of the best ways of demonstrating respect, and I hope that in the future, you'll return the favor: the true reason for their easy acceptance of my offer was most likely due to the fact that it provided them with a cheap, affordable place to store your kind away, and would ultimately keep every single one of you from becoming a threat." He shakes his head and clicks his tongue in genuine-looking disappointment. "But I don't think we should be discouraged by this - quite the contrary actually. I don't think we should let them get to us. I think we should prove them wrong."
A few people are nodding now, some with closed eyes and respectfully bowed heads. Others just continue to stare blankly into the man's flashing gray eyes.
With twice as much passion as before, the speaker smiles widely, the hazel in his irises flickering with determination. "Which is why I could not delay it any further! Your road to recovery begins now. After all, there is no better time than the present. You've all already started the first few steps of your treatment."
The group looks around awkwardly, eaching person blinking, checking the vampire in front of them, behind them, and beside them for any bulky IVs or tricked-up wires.
This earns another warm laugh from the blonde man. "Don't look so worried," he soothes, "It's nothing bad."
Zero can't see how doing something to someone without their permission wouldn't be described as 'bad'.
"Look," the man sighs after taking in the students' dubious and apprehensive expressions, "Remember the vitamin supplement you were all given this morning?" He pauses, waiting for at least one listener to physically move their head up and down in a nod. A red-headed male two rows from the front appeases him first. "Well, each tablet contained a large dose of sugar, fat, protein, and a salt-based solution. These are some of the same main components of the plasma that makes up about sixty percent of our blood. So, in other words, you've all already received the nutrients your form requires for the day."
Zero's aching throat begged to differ.
"Of course, this means that you will not be provided with, or be permitted to consume, any other sources of nourishment beside the ones given to you by the nurses. And by given to, I mean willingly - stuff like human food and medications. Absolutely no one is allowed to take what isn't theirs."
Despite his words being vague, it is made obvious by his suddenly pinched tone and narrowed eyelids what exactly he means.
"If any of you even do so much as attempt to bite or attack one of the clinic's staff members, or each other, for that matter, believe me when I say there will be consequences." His features soften again, and he throws a smoldering grin at the little girl Zero had noticed earlier. "But then again, I have strong faith that we will never reach that point."
Zero can't help but hear the command in the compliment. After all, the man had never specifically said he had faith in them, just that he had faith that it wouldn't happen - that he had a full proof way of preventing it.
"I know this is a difficult task I'm asking of you, but believe me when I say, I know each and every one of you will succeed. Just like any other addiction, bloodlust is curable. Every bit of it - the constant cravings, the pain, the need - it's all a state of mind. With the right positive outlook, anything can be accomplished. Within a few months, you can overcome your handicap, and become the strong, independent people I know you're destined to be."
The room is silent as what he said settles in, though Zero thinks he could take all the time in the world and still not fully understand what the man is offering. Nothing about his idea is too complex - nothing at all. It's just so - so ridiculous. Too idealistic. The type of thought that sounds good on paper.
But when it came to real life?
A elder man, gruff and graying, stands up abruptly, large, thick hands grabbing his tiny desk and shoving it aside with an irritated huff.
"Bullshit!" he yells, gritting his teeth and fisting his hands at his sides.
It's a trainwreck just waiting to happen; even after only one word, Zero can so clearly see that. They all can see that.
Yet they find they cannot look away.
The young blonde does not startle like the rest of them, and it's then that Zero realizes that this is what he had been expecting all along, because no matter how much he tried to sugar-coat the statement, he must've recognized that he would be basically telling them they're going to be starved.
No one says a word until the old, scraggily man continues, the whiskers on his face trembling with each movement of his cracked lips. "Don't you see?" he asks his classmates, eyes inflamed. "Don't you see what's happening?"
He looks pointedly at a member of the first row, the same girl Blondie had focused on not too long ago. Zero wonders why everyone feels the need to pick on her. But then he remembers, because oh yeah, being a kid sucks. She quivers under his intense gaze, and the woman beside her - who, judging by their same ocean blue eyes and similar nose shapings, Zero assumes is her mother - holds the child's hand in a death grip, glaring back into the dark, nearly black eyes of the screaming elder.
He sneers, his top lip pulling up to exposed stained, dulling fangs, and turns back to face the speaker. "Tell me how," he demands. "Tell me how you expect banning us from the one thing that keeps us from falling is going to keep us from falling. Because, let me tell you, I can almost promise that at least half the people in this room will be an 'E by the end of this week."
A lady with shoulder-length waves of chocolate, stringy hair lets out a cry and buries her face in her palms. Another woman, three seats to Zero's right, begins shaking, tiny water droplets puddling on the corner of her wooden desk. A boy, not much older than Zero, is nodding his head furiously.
Blondie's face morphs. No longer is the charismatic and charming man that had a way with words before them. Instead, in its place is a kind of malice Zero had only had the displeasure of witnessing once.
One eye an angry red, the other a a haunting blue.
It's there for a second, and then it's gone - like a nervous twitch.
"Sit down," Blondie directs calmly, barren of all emotion.
And the man does. Because what else could he really do? What could any of them do?
"Now that that part's all over and done with," he flashes a bright and toothy truimphant smile, "Let's begin on the topic of sponsors..."
But Zero can't think of anything else now but that cold, cruel gaze. He knows its owner is long gone, but he can't surpress that fear the creeps its way into his chest and drips into the pit of his stomach, heavy like a stone.
He knows he's not there. He knows that dwelling slows down the process of forgetting. He knows that he should be focusing on other more important matters - like this, for example. He knows that there was definitely a major flaw in this entire organization. He knows that he's not going to be able to stubbornly fight his way through this. He knows these kind of things take effort and time. But sometimes knowing isn't enough.
Sometimes knowing is even worse.
"Okay," Kain mumbled, frustrated, running a hand across his face, trailing it along his jaw bone until it cupped and rubbed the back of his straining neck. "Let's pretend that you're right." Aidou's mouth opens in protest, but he is stopped by his cousin's quick hand that raises, "No. No talking until I'm finished. You had your turn." The fiery haired vampire fixes him with an admonishing glare, daring his polar opposite to disobey.
With a reluctant sigh, Aidou nods in defeat and waits silently for Kain to continue.
"Good," Kain mutters, trying his very best at the last-minute to take the condescending edge out of his tone, knowing that it would grate at Aidou's last nerve if he left it as is - sarcasm and all. He may sometimes take pleasure in watching his cousin squirm, but he wasn't a sadist. "As I was saying, let's 'assume' that your idea is spot-on accurate... we're still left with the question of who, which definitely poses a problem."
Aidou's lips parted once again, and he choked out a single undignified, garbled syllable before cutting himself off. They form into a slight, bitter smirk, instead, and rest there for a moment as the blonde slowly raises his hand into the air above his curls.
It takes Kain a second to realizes what Aidou's doing, but when he does... "Go. On." It comes out as a spit.
"The 'who' is not the problem," Aidou claims, "It's the 'why'."
"Not necessarily," Kain volleys back. "The 'who' is what's causing the 'why' to begin with."
Honestly, the Takuma thinks the real problem is the two's inability to communicate properly. Either that, or the fact that they keep managing to go from part A to part B to part C and then back to part A. Three steps forward, one step back... or something like that.
Shiki speaks for the first time - picture of innocence as it's from behind his pocky - and it's an odd-mixture of a carefree and kind of worried noise that makes his friends immediately quiet. "Why don't we just ask Kaname who it is, and then see where we'll go from there?"
And wouldn't that be an idea!
Ruka emitted an unladylike snort - but she's far too determined to say what she wants to say to care enough to muffle it even slightly with her hand. "And you think he'll just flat out tell us? If Aidou's right - " this earns a growl from the blonde who's pretty convinced by now that he is, in fact, right " - then there's no way Kaname's going to even begin to admit to such an action. It's reputation-staining, and not only that - it's a crime."
Shiki simply shakes his head. "If things continue they way they've been going..." he trails off, knowing that he need not say the rest. Because they knew - they understood. "What other choice does he have?"
"Fuck, really?" Yagari asks, face painted with disgust.
"I'm only saying this because I know you have a tendency to overreact about these kinds of things: so please remember, I said I wasn't one hundred percent positive. I have little to no evidence, and I certainly am not ready to take this matter to anyone, which includes the Hunter's Association, so for the luvagod, keep it quiet. And I would be less than pleased if I discovered that you oh, let's say, assualted - and only because I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and am assuming you wouldn't do anything too rash like murder. So yes, assualted a student on my campus and accused them of doing something they may have or may not have done." Kaien warns, sternly.
"Then what the fuck am I suppose to do?" his friend questions loudly.
"Wait."
An annoyed huff, and the hunter simmers down, spitting out a chipped, "Fine," before jumping up from Kaien's office chair, and hurrying out the door, grumbling curses under his breath. He turns before leaving, "But don't think I'm not going to do everything in my power to find out the fucking truth." And the door is opened and slammed closed.
Kaien lets out a much-needed exhale and twists his head to the side, popping the weary and knotted muscles.
"I want to be your sponsor."
Zero looks up, away from the swirling pattern of the wooden desk, away from his tightly clasped hands that lay there, thumbs alternating, tracing invisible circles in the air - a task that he realizes is much more difficult than given credit for. He thinks the household phrase about twiddling thumbs should have its connotation changed to one far less negative - it takes talent to master such an action, and Zero thinks that one who sits around and has the patience to practice it deserves to be complimented, rather than critiqued. Or maybe he's just looking too far into it.
His sentimentality seems to have grown over the past few days, and frankly, he finds that he's building a strong dislike towards himself.
"Excuse me," the girl impatiently ticks - the same girl who had been relentlessly screamed at earlier - obviously less than thrilled at the idea of being so blatantly ignored. "I said I wanted to be your sponsor."
Zero blinks boredly, and untangles his hands, throwing them behind his neck. When the girl just stands there, regarding him with fiery blue eyes, he clicks his tongue absentmindedly and responds, "My what?"
"Your sponsor," she growls, "Remember? It's that thing Hisao-san just spent twenty minutes talking about."
"'Hisao-san'?" Zero inquires, squinting. "Who's that?"
She gapes, wide-eyed like a suffocating fish - somthing of which he's sure, with only knowing her for a few pleasant seconds, she would not happily accept upon being told - and then giggles.
It's soft and sweet and innocent and good.
"You are so lucky to have me, then! Otherwise, you'd be completely clueless!" She laughs again, clutching at her stomach. Her eyes are twinkling and her blonde curls are bouncing and even though she looks nothing like her, Zero can't help but be reminded of her. Of Yuuki.
He guesses that's probably why he nods his head when she asks him for the second to time to be his sponsor, and for him to be hers.
And this girl - this girl he hardly knows - settles into the empty desk beside his, and grabs for his hand, and it's so big compared to hers that she has to hold it with both of her tiny palms. "Okay," she smiles like they're old friends, and Zero supposes that's why little kids are able to make friends so quickly - because really, they're not even old enough to have old friends. New friends were old friends. "Well, you missed a lot when you were daydreaming in lalaland, so let me catch you up. Oh, by the way, my name's Akiko!" She winks like she's sharing some private secret with him. "And it's very very nice to meet you, Zero-kun!"
He doesn't even bother asking her how she knows his name, because frankly, nothing this Akiko girl has done so far has made any sense.
And something in him says that it has little to do with the fact that he's just met her - that that's just her personality.
And oh, how exciting that prospect was...