Chapter 7: What A Warm Welcome
"Well, it's a bit odd to not have to explain the traditional night class rules, but I have to say I'm glad you accepted and came Ishura-san." Headmaster Cross told the girl cheerfully as he pulled her into a tight hug. "You take good care of her Ichijou-kun!" Cross let go of the girl and cast a warning look at the vice president.
With a gentle nudge, he sent the young hunter on her way. "And remember, no shooting my adorable students!"
"No promises." Arisa replied as she let Ichijou lead her away from the exuberant Headmaster's office. As they made their way across the expansive grounds of the Academy, Arisa found herself having to pause several times so the vampire could resume actually leading her, despite already knowing where to go.
"Used to being in the lead?" Ichijou asked with a smile after Arisa had to stop for the fifth time or so. "You don't have to walk behind me you know, Arisa-san."
"I'm practicing for when I get stuck following behind your little pureblood." Arisa tried to keep the bitter edge from her voice, but from the flicker of sadness she saw in the vampire's eyes, Arisa knew she hadn't succeeded. "Look, I…"
"Don't worry, Kaname's not like most other purebloods." Ichijou interrupted her. "As long as you don't cause any trouble, he won't bother you."
"I'm not worried about some pureblood bothering me Takuma-san." Arisa replied with a soft sigh. "I just…"
"Don't like having to take orders from vampires?"
Arisa fiddled with the ends of her sleeves nervously as she walked. "Honestly? No."
"Well, Kaname's not one to just bark out orders whenever he feels like it." Arisa knew that he was trying to make her feel better by saying that, but it didn't help the guilty feeling that festered in the pit of her stomach.
That guilt quickly turned to dread when they stopped at the entrance into the Moon Dormitory. For a moment, Arisa seriously considered marching back up to that fool Cross' office and telling him he was out of his mind for thinking this could work. But her pride soon got the better of her. 'They're just a bunch of snotty brats.' She kept telling herself as Ichijou pushed the door open so she could enter. 'Just brats, nothing more…'
"What the hell is a hunter doing here?"
"I don't know."
"Did someone piss off the Association over holiday break?"
"I bet it was Aidou."
"Maybe Kaname-sama finally just got fed up with him."
Arisa tried her best to tune out the curious mutters of the vampire's surrounding her as she followed Ichijou up the grand staircase that she guessed led to the rooms.
"There you are!" A noble shouted when the two of them reached the top of the staircase, running up to Ichijou with an irritated scowl marring his otherwise beautiful face. "Take your damn manga back. This one's got to be the most ridiculous one you've had me read yet!"
"Aidou, calm down…" Ichijou sweatdropped at the overdramatic vampire's behavior, slipping the book out of Aidou's hand before the boy could do any harm to it. "You're going to scare the new student."
"Like that's going to happen." Arisa scoffed. "The kid doesn't look like he could intimidate his way through a pack of junior high school bullies."
Aidou's eye twitched. "Well, you'd know all about that wouldn't you?" He sneered, eyeing the young hunter with contempt in his gaze. "After all, isn't that what they teach you hunters? How to look scary and use a gun?" He couldn't help but push the girl's buttons, she'd already gotten under his skin.
"Aidou." Ichijou warned, noticing the hand Arisa had at her side twitch slightly, as if it was about to go for the gun at her hip. "I'll find something for you to read later, now if you'll excuse us…" He finished the statement with a cheerful smile, leading the irritated girl away before she could take out her frustration on the young noble.
"You act like I was going to just ship out a pistol and put a bullet through that pretty blonde head of his." Arisa rolled her eyes, but allowed Ichijou to lead her away anyways. "You people don't have a very high opinion of us, do you?"
"Well, with Kiryuu-kun here, it's kind of-"
"That explains a lot." Arisa interrupted. "That boy has some serious mental issues, but not every hunter out there is as trigger-happy in a room full of aristocrats."
Ichijou glanced over his shoulder at her, curiosity piqued. "Then what were you going to do to him?"
"Beat his pretty little face in." Arisa answered as if it were obvious. She blinked when she saw him staring at her oddly, an embarrassed flush creeping up her cheeks. "W-What?"
Ichijou quickly recomposed himself. "Oh nothing."
"Don't "Oh nothing" me!" Arisa turned so she was walking backwards in front of him. "Spill it pretty boy."
"Really, forget about it." Ichijou didn't want to tell the girl that he'd found the idea of watching her beat Aidou to a pulp rather entertaining, more so than he probably should have. Stopping outside of the door that led to the girl's room, he paused when he fished the keys out of his pocket, staring at two almost identical keys. 'And I ignored Kaname's advice about marking them…' Ichijou thought dryly, a small frown tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Did you forget which went to which?" Arisa asked, suppressing a laugh when Ichijou quickly denied the accusation. "Let me see." She said, snagging them before he had a chance to respond. Arisa inspected both keys closely for a minute or so before inserting one into the lock and turning the handle, pushing the door open with a triumphant smile.
Ichijou rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly as she took the key off the key ring and handed the rest of his keys back to him. "You've got to teach me how to do that."
Arisa's smile widened a fraction as she turned to him, holding up the key in her hand. "This one doesn't show any signs of being used, it's not scratched anywhere or worn down like other, more often used keys would be. Unless you lose your keys like everyday, this one had to be it." Satisfied with her explanation, she walked into the room and began looking around.
The room itself was the size of the living room back at her home, and was lavishly decorated with antique furnishings and high grade, fine linens. "Wow, I almost don't want to touch anything…" Arisa muttered as she looked around. "Almost."
Ichijou watched her curiously as she explored the adjoining bathroom and closet. "You had a fiancé and a well-paying job, is something like this really that new to you?" He personally thought the room could have been decorated better, his own room was done perfectly to match his tastes after all.
"Hey, not everyone blows their money on fancy bed sheets." Arisa pouted, poking her head out of the closet to glare at him. "By the way, did one of you ransack my house or something? I don't remember even packing my stuff…" Arisa pointed to the numerous amount of boxes that sat inside the large closet.
Ichijou shook his head. "Ishura Meimura-san and her family brought up your things this afternoon while you were sitting in the Headmaster's office." Ichijou began to make his way to the door. "I'll be back in an hour to take you to class. Please be ready by then, the uniform is sitting on your bed. Until then your time is your own." He gave the girl a warm smile. "I'm not too far if you need anything, just catch one of the servants in the hallway and she'll get me for you."
"Yea, Class. Bye." Arisa muttered in reply, already preoccupied with pulling the piles of boxes out of the closet.
"See you later." Ichijou said as he left the room, even though he was pretty sure she was no longer listening to a word he said.
Once he was gone, Arisa's hands fell limply to her sides, all traces of the cheerfulness she'd exuded around him vanishing completely
Within that short hour, Arisa had snuck out of her room and made a pretty decent mental map of the dormitory, including the few secret ways to slip in and out that she could find. 'It's almost as if they invite the vampire's to escape.' Arisa frowned at the thought as she sat in her room when the hour was up, waiting for the overly friendly vampire to come and get her.
She all but sprinted to the door when she heard someone knock softly. "What happened to one hour, you…" Arisa stared up at the stranger standing before her. "You're not the pretty boy vice president…."
"No, I'm certainly not." The vampire replied with a mirthless chuckle and an empty smile. "I am Kuran Kaname, president of the Night Class."
Arisa suppressed the urge to shudder as he stared down at her with those calculating garnet eyes. "So… Where is pretty boy?"
"Busy, you're to come with me instead." Kaname answered, turning on his heel and heading down the hall.
Arisa stared after him for a minute before it clicked in her mind and she took off after him. "A "follow me" would have been appreciated."
"Is that so?"
Arisa frowned at the pureblood's reply. 'Yea it's so, not everyone jumps up and follows you automatically.' She wanted to reply, but being in this almost stifling atmosphere he held around himself, Arisa found herself biting back the insult.
As they made their way down to where she assumed the others were waiting, she tried to keep as much physical distance between her and the pureblood as possible, not liking how his presence made her feel so small. She felt chills run down her spine when his unfriendly gaze fell on her again, studying her as she walked not behind him like any of the others, but at the same pace as him, as if she wasn't his inferior but his equal.
Kaname didn't like the thought of that much, and his calculating stare turned frigid, dark amusement flickering like a burning candle in his eyes as he watched her shrink away from him further, finally falling into step somewhat behind him, where the hunter belonged in his eyes, out of his sight.
Arisa couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was about him that unnerved her so much. No, unnerved wasn't the right word. The stupid vampire frightened her, more so than any other of his kind that she'd ever met. Without any logical reason, she wanted nothing more than to flee from this man's side, to get back to the cheerful vampire who'd been with her when she arrived and let herself bask in his almost human-like atmosphere.
Arisa had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from letting out a relieved sigh when they arrived at the top of the staircase, Kaname heading down ahead of her to begin the march out of the dorms. She hesitated for a moment as she felt all the other vampire's eyes on her, her hand clenching the rail of the staircase nervously.
"Arisa-san, come on." Ichijou said quietly as he nudged the girl forward, effortlessly pulling her hand from the death grip it had on the rail. "Are you alright?"
"Fine. Perfectly fine." Arisa lied, arranging her face into a mask of cool indifference as she began following the others out.
Ichijou didn't buy her answer for a minute, but he didn't say anything more on the subject. Following beside her, he gripped her shoulder gently when he noticed her ears picking up the screaming of the day class girls. "It's alright." He reassured her. "It's us they're screaming for."
"You?" Arisa asked incredulously, casually shaking off his hand.
"Us." Ichijou corrected her with a grin. "You're a student of the night class, so you'll probably get a fan or two yourself."
"These girls have lost their minds…" Arisa muttered when the gates opened, staring at the multitude of girls, and even a boy or two, that tried to get at the night class students. The other members of the night class walked by her without so much as batting an eye at the girl's over-dramatic display of affection.
One student though didn't pass her by, he turned to her with a dark smile on his face. "Welcome to hell, little miss hunter." He said so quietly Arisa barely heard it. "Pray you come out in one piece."
Arisa watched the student walk away with narrowed eyes, not missing the quiet threat in his words. And from the way Ichijou tensed next to her, she guessed that she wasn't the only one who'd heard her little welcome.
And what a 'warm welcome' it was.
