Life has been sooo full of action these days!

ANYWAYS, THE ACTION IS GONNA START GETTING A MOVE ON SOON. So be prepares, my lovely readers! And thank you, if you're reading this, for sticking with me despite my horrible hiatuses and infrequent updates! I should really keep a blog or something so you guys can know I'm alive and you can nag me more... because you'll see me online and can be all "WHY U NO UPDATE?" haha yikes!

(1) deedle-dee-dee, this chapter kinda contains a small scene from One tree Hill. I don't watch the show, frankly, haha, but I've seen the quotes online and it's the most adorkable thing ever. I changed it around, though, so it wouldn't be the exact same, but I thought it fit and I'm crediting it now by saying: I do not own One Tree Hill! So voila! Enjoy!

-x-

Chapter Nine: Prototype II

-x-

The bell for second period signaled the wave of doors clicking open, followed by footsteps intruding on the empty hallways.

"Hey, Arisa-chan!" a boy snickered. "Where'd your lock go?"

"Give it back, Shuuya!" she snapped, reaching for it hastily as he held it high in the air and skipped backwards.

A girl down the hall gasped. "I forgot my English homework!"

"Didn't you spend all night doing it?" her friend inquired, triggering a groan.

"Ew, the toilet is overflowing!" The laughter of baritone and tenors reverberated in the second floor washroom, and a custodian rolled his eyes as he pushed his cart over to the clamor.

"Did you see the way Yamamoto kept looking at you in Chemistry?"

"Oh shut up! He has a girlfriend. You know that..."

Another girl was franticly darting her eyes back and forth. "Have you seen Chisato-chan around? She needs to give my notes back!"

"Hey, you know Makino-chan? In Culinary Arts today, I asked her to pass me the sugar and she totally ignored me! It was so awkward..."

"Really? Are you sure she heard you?"

"Maybe not? She just kept doing what she was doing. People think she's guilty for giving Linske Sensei a heart attack, so she's being quiet."

"Uh... Wouldn't it be even weirder if she didn't feel bad for giving someone a heart attack?"

"Yeah... I guess. I don't know. I think she's just being a bitch."

"Kiryuu-kun," Mr. Hawkins smiled from his desk, eyes hidden behind layers of wrinkles, "shouldn't you be getting to your third period classroom?"

Zero didn't bother glancing up, but kicked his feet out from under the table and stood. Mr. Hawkins was old, and was most unlikely to hear any of the passerby chatter from the students outside his classroom door. Perhaps it was why he followed his question with, "It seems that Makino-san is too busy to visit me today."

As if he was implying that Zero was waiting for her. He exited the room without so much as a response or a goodbye.

"Young love," remarked the old man from his desk. A student entered his room silently to take his seat first, and Mr. Hawkins gave him a friendly greeting despite his back being turned away from the door to write on the board.

-X-

"Period cramps," the nurse repeated, skepticism and mockery in her tone. "That's a first."

The nurse's office was empty except for her. Cross Academy was prestigious enough (not to mention expensive enough) to turn off all ideas of missing class, only to spend hours catching up and being reprimanded. Students rarely faked illness to be excused to the school infirmary, including Aya.

"I didn't know you got paid to ridicule students that come here in pain," Aya snapped. "Being a nurse sounds fun. I'll think about it when I write my career choices next week."

The nurse frowned, but retained professionalism to avoid any further remarks of spite. "I have a meeting to attend to for the break. I'll be back in 20 minutes and a bit, so if you need me, you can just-"

Aya drew the curtains around her bed in a single motion. "I won't."

"I'll be in the staffroom," she finished anyway, hanging the sign on the door impatiently to leave. "Oh, and who might you be?"

Aya didn't need to hear his name to know who he was. She had come to the infirmary because the very thought of the boy from yesterday who looked just like her brother...

She tried to calm down the headache that came.

"A headache?" The nurse wasn't talking to her, though. "Do you have any medicine or—Alright. There's just one more person in here, but all the beds are opened. I have a meeting to attend to, so I won't be in here for a couple of minutes, but let me know if you need anything."

The door closed quietly, leaving the two alone in the room.

She half expected him to push past her curtain to look at her: half hoped, actually. But she wasn't entirely sure she was in the mood for talking to him, nevertheless that he might have come into the infirmary for her. Psh. As if.

One of the beds beside her creaked as body weight climbed atop. Could it be possible that he didn't know she was there? Surely he would have smelled her, or even heard her from outside.

The person shifted again in the bed beside her. It was as contagious as a yawn, and she adjusted her position to face the side of the intruder. Creak. Creak. Creak.

"Why are you here?" Aya whispered, half hoping he would hear and half hoping he wouldn't.

For a moment, he didn't respond. She blushed, thinking perhaps she had gotten ahead of herself, and –

"Headache."

"Ahh." She was such a loser. "Okay."

A breeze through the open window reached in and fluttered the sterile white curtains that separated them. It lifted them upwards, and Aya could see the foot of his bed. It was so close – if they both reached out, they could touch each other's hands.

Her cheeks grew hot – but she wasn't sure if it was because of the notion, or because she was embarrassed for thinking about it at all. Maybe she really was sick after all. She wasn't herself as of late.

"What's bothering you?"

For a moment, she didn't respond. His eyebrows furrowed, thinking perhaps he had gotten ahead of himself, and –

"Uhh..." She hesitated. "Period cramps?"

"... I asked, 'what's bothering you', not 'what lie did you tell the nurse'."

"For all you know, that's really why I'm here! It's not like I need to tell you when I'm on my period. Your nose probably knows before I do."

At this, they both blushed. Aya felt like slamming her head into a wall, but opted out for a self-inflicted forehead slap. What did she just say?

"I guess that's true," he muttered. She calmed down a bit. "And you are on your period."

"... Thanks, you jerk. I totally did not know that. Gee, did you ever think about being professional menstrual cycle radar? You could be like a psychic for sluts who want to know if they're going to miss their period, and if they are, then they won't sleep with so many guys and get confused as to who's the father, and-"

"Stop."

"You started it," she huffed immaturely.

Another breeze blew in, flapping the curtain surrounding the small beds. Aya reached out with a hand to grab it, since it was annoying, to hold it in place.

"Is it really worth it?"

"What?" she blurted unintelligently, hand still tugging gently on the curtain.

"Whatever it is that's bothering you. Is it worth stressing over?"

Aya paused to collect her thoughts. "How do you... even know that something is bothering me? You haven't even seen me for two days, nevertheless..."

"I don't need to see you to know there's something bothering you."

"... What's that supposed to mean?" With a quick motion, her reflexes tugged the curtain away just enough for her face to look out toward his direction.

His curtain hadn't been drawn in the first place, and he faced her with his piercing lavender eyes. Her cheeks grew hot again, and she tugged the curtain closed.

Creak. Creak. Creak. She faced away from him, snuggling deep into the confinements of the ashen sheets.

"It's none of your business."

"Nothing's bothering me."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why do you even care?"

Is what she could have said.

"I think... I'm just scared, I guess. I think," she answered instead without certainty.

"Hn." That was his way of telling her to continue.

"Just... I guess I've always taken pride in being able to stand up for myself, and speak my mind and be assertive... and most of the time that even crosses the line into obnoxious territory."

"Hn." Aya smiled at his emphatic agreement.

"So the fact that I'm finally faced with something... that I don't want to stand up to, and that I don't want to face... It's overwhelming, you know? I'm so used to feeling strong. Feeling weak just isn't... me."

"But Zero," Her voice trembled a bit, he noticed. He took great care not to exceed his limits and push past the curtain where she must have been curled up tightly in her sheets. "I'm not sure if I'm just having a hard time getting over what's bothering me, or if I'm having a hard time getting over the fact that I can't get over it."

He said nothing. Aya wasn't the type of girl who needed to hear advise unless she asked it of you, and she wasn't asking.

"Don't laugh," she warned.

"I'm not laughing," he defended.

Aya rubbed her eyes, relieved that they were still dry and shifted in her bed to face upwards. The metal legs continually creaked under her body weight but she found the sound familiar and a bit comforting instead of annoying now. Maybe it was her imagination, but the creaking was softer now, as if she had magically become lighter in the course of a minute.

And it seemed as if Zero had become weightless too as he maneuvered off the bed, the noise telling her that he was being ginger and cautious.

"Is your headache gone?" Aya asked, sitting up.

"Hn."

"Great." She swung her legs off the bed and drew the curtain open. Zero's hands were shoved into his pant pockets, arms hanging loosely. He looked at her expectantly, and she returned a shy smile. "I'm feeling a bit better, too."

-X-

Yagari Touga looked out the glass window of the third floor hallway at the brunette careless passing by the courtyard. She walked through the gym doors into her next class, and called out to one of her close friends, Sayori Wakaba, but Touga didn't know her name and couldn't care less.

She was a peculiar one, that girl. He had heard from Kaien that she was as innocent as could be: a gentle girl with a strong sense of justice, and a natural caring quality about her that appealed to those around her. When Zero had first been brought into Kaien's care, it was her who greeted him with sincerity, nurturing him back to a healthy state of mind and making him feel welcome, or so Kaien said.

But from the way Kaien was squirming with hearts in his eyes and talking in a high pitch voice, Touga wasn't entirely sure what those words were worth.

And then there was his former apprentice: Zero Kiryuu, or what was left of him. He had definitely recovered from the last time Touga had laid eyes – or, an eye – on him. From the moment his family had been attacked by Shizuka, it was obvious that the boy would never be the same, and as much as Touga wanted to despise the boy and shun him like the rest of the atrocities he hunted, there was a bond he couldn't get rid of. It was too much to say that Zero was like a son to him, but if he would hope that if there were ever a point in time where Zero's death was necessary and human lives were to be at stake, Yagari hoped selfishly that he would not be the one to drive him away from this world.

Now, this was where the reminiscing stopped, because Touga was acutely aware when secrets wafted in the air to poke fun at him.

From Kaien's letters and postcards, one could very easily assume that he refrained from mentioning the girl known as 'Aya' due to – perhaps – a dislike for her, or the mere fact that Kaien was not as close to Aya as he was to his other 'children'.

This was surely not that case, Touga concluded, when Kaien looked about ready to gut Touga's eye sockets and blender him for triggering such a vulnerable scream from her.

Right on cue, a door on the lowest floor opened, and the Hunter watched with mild curiosity as the aforementioned girl strode into the courtyard. She paused, as if to check the surroundings, before glancing behind her.

She called his name, and Touga's eyes narrowed considerably.

Zero's hands were shoved deep into his pockets as he trudged out of the doorway, held by yours truly. He muttered something that she must have caught, because she immediately let go of the handle, forcing him to dodge or suffer a humiliating door slam. He shouted something at her in irritation, and she laughed.

They walked, side by side, with his hands still in his pockets and her fingers hooking onto each other behind her back. The space between them was enough to fit an entire person, with room to spare. Obviously they weren't close, Touga mused.

She muttered something, eyes glancing up meekly to watch him.

He smiled, eyes lowered to the ground, trying to avoid her gaze.

But she caught it, and knowingly smiled to herself...

And then glanced up to meet Touga's eyes.

Touga froze. Aya blinked, and then gave him the dirtiest look she could muster.

"I thought I told you to stop being creepy!" she shouted from outside. Zero stopped walking to face the window as well, but by then, Touga had removed himself from the sill and was walking down the hallway outside.

Sharp senses? Touga pondered. No. It couldn't have been a coincidence that she looked up. Could she be...

The door behind him opened, followed by the outburst of,

"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU PEDOPHILIC STALKER! I WANT A WORD WITH YOU."

An idiot. Touga cursed under his breath, trying to 'subtly' take longer, quicker strides without running. I am an idiot.

-X-

"Dammit! I swear he went this way!" I groaned.

"His scent is still strong," Zero remarked from beside me. "He can't be far."

"Whatever, I'll deal with him later. Boy, do I have a bone to pick with him now-" A door opened from behind us, and a weight washed over me for a second. I turned just short of Zero, who must have picked up on the scent just recently as well.

"Ah," Kaname smiled serenely, coming out from the Kaien's office. "Kiryuu-kun and Makino-san. What a pleasant surprise."

From inside the office, a hissed, 'Dammit, Kaname! You never listen to me anymore!' could be heard. I frowned.

"A... pleasant surprise..." I hesitantly walked toward him. "Right."

"I was just finished having a word with the chairmen. Now that you are present, I assume it will not required for myself to relay the news to you." He glanced slyly inside the office.

A nervous laughed replied, obviously Kaien's. "Of... course. How fortunate for you, is it not, Kaname?"

"What's going on?" I pressed, very ready to break out the bitch attitude and cross my arms. "From experience, I know that bad news comes whenever the two of you meet up to... inform me of news..."

"Not entirely. I'm sure you will be pleased to know that you are no longer required to room in my residence." My eyes brightened considerably.

"YES!" I rejoiced, throwing my hands up in a 'hallelujah' motion.

"So what's the catch?" Zero voiced beside me. I scoffed: what a pessimist. Who cares what the catch is when I don't have to room with—

"...Wait. He's right. There's something else too, isn't there?"

"Oh, excuse me. I must be getting back to my... friends. I'd hate to keep them waiting for me. I shall see you both soon, Kiryuu-san..." I pushed past him into the office. "Makino-san," he finished, but I didn't care about him anymore.

"Kaien," I ordered, "what's going on?"

Kaien ran a hand through his blonde hair and avoided my eyes. I leaned back and crossed my arms. "What is this news that even Kuran doesn't want to tell me?"

Kaien breathed a sigh and motioned for me to sit. "Zero, take a seat as well. And Aya, it's not that Kaname didn't want to tell you... It's that neither of us wants to deal with your reaction once we tell you."

"My reaction?" I recurred.

Zero got up from the couch...

"...Your wrath," he confessed.

And plopped himself on a chair in the far corner of the room, away from us. He didn't have to be a psychic to know that things were going to get ugly.

-X-

Aya was about 8 years old when she met Kaien.

"Hello," she said. She gave a small bow, because her mother had said it was polite to do so when greeting people.

"Hello," he replied, and awkwardly squatted to speak with her. She smelled faintly of Vampires, so his first instinct was that there was one nearby the park, or one that had encountered her, but had fortunately not attacked. He wouldn't know until later that it wasn't the case.

"What is your name?" she asked, with a slight bounce in her legs. It was hard for her to stay still sometimes.

"My name is Kurosu Kaien," he introduced. "And you?"

"Makino Ayame," she said, "but you can only call me Aya."

"Only Aya," he repeated from his lips. She instinctually offered a first name. She hopped on the spot, looking very cozy in her winter coat. "It's very nice to meet you. Are you from here?"

"No." He waited for her to continue. She didn't.

"Where are you from?" She blinked at him. He waited.

"Do you know where your parents are?"

"Yes," she whispered. He shifted awkwardly.

"Shall we go to them?"

There was no change in her expression. "But I don't want to die."

Oh. "Did you run away from home?"

"No."

"Then what happened?"

She stayed silent again, and he was just about to ask another question when she answered, "Vampires came."

Oh. This was no runaway youth or stubborn child who was avoiding time-out.

"Aya," Kaien cooed. "Who is taking care of you right now?"

"Can I come with you?" came abruptly. It was Kaien's turn to tilt his head to the side, then.

"Aren't you living with anyone?"

She completely ignored him. "Can I come with you?"

"Aya, listen to me," Kaien reached out to take her petite hands. She flinched, but didn't pull away. He mused inwardly to himself if she would usually pull away, and that if she really trusted him enough to not retreat. "I want you to tell me everything that happened, okay?"

"I can't."

He frowned. "And why not?"

"You have to promise to take care of me first. What if I tell you and you leave because you're too scared?"

He stared at her with an uncanny mixture of disbelief and respect. "Did you try going up to 'nice men' before and tell them everything, Aya? And did they leave you? Is that why you're telling me this?"

"I'm not stupid." He inwardly face-palmed. "I've been following you and I know you kill Vampires."

OOOOOOH BOY. The pieces were starting to add up, and this was not good. How did he not sense her even once, if that was true?

"You've been following me..." he repeated to himself, "and you've watched me hunt a vampire... which mean you've been following me for at least 2 days now?"

She nodded, her face still expressionless. She even hopped a bit on her toes, unable to keep still.

"Aya, do you know how dangerous that is? You could have been hurt!"

"If I die, no one will miss me," she whispered. His jaw tightened.

"...How long have you been alone?"

"Two years."

"Two God forsaken-?" He stopped himself.

"Brother told me to find a nice human." A nice human? "And you kill Vampires. So you have to be nice."

Oh, the irony of a child's logic. Bemused, Kaien tried to concentrate and make sense of the situation. But what confused him more was the way she was speaking.

"Aya... You're human, aren't you?"

"Yeah - "

"Oh, good."

"- I think."

Kaien took a deep breath in, and slowly exhaled. The girl's stomach growled hungrily and she looked down and shushed it as if it were a pet. He cracked a smile. "Well, we'll sort that out later. For now, let's get you something to eat."

"I'm a vegetable."

"A- what? You mean a vegetarian?"

"A vegetable." He quickly ran through the definition of vegetable and looked at her again. After confirming that she didn't fit any of the definitions, he nodded to himself.

"Not human, but a vegetable. Quite a girl I have on my hands. You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

Needless to say, Kaien would laugh at the accuracy of his words a few hours later when Aya would tell him everything.

-X-

"Do you remember when we first met, Aya?"

"Is that a trick question, Kaien? Because I will wrestle you to the ground for information if you're trying to distract me with nostalgic childhood memories—"

"It's a legitimate question." I propped up a vermillion brow, but huffed a sigh before replying.

"Of course I do. I followed you for a week before approaching you."

"A WEEK?" he took off his glasses to massage his temples. "I thought you said it was 2 days!"

I shrugged. "Did I? Well, I followed you for a week: surprise! You scarred my little 8-year-old eyes more than I ever thought possible. I will never understand why one can take so long to kill a Vampire when all you have to do is shoot it in the – THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT! Moving on, what about it?"

Kaien cleared his throat and laced his fingers together. "That day, you mentioned briefly that you weren't sure if you were human-"

"I did?"

"-so..." he pressed, emphatically telling me not to interrupt. "I did some research. I watched your mannerisms, and I took what I could from what you could remember about your parents."

I clenched my jaw. My parents.

Kaien's eyes softened, knowing how touchy the subject was, but he moved on accordingly. I was grateful.

"Even in folklore, demons often took on the form of humans, which was why I never doubted that you were, in fact, a demon like I had first surmised. Demons have the most in common with the vampire, after all, with the great exception that Demons had habitually not eaten animals or creatures and held the ability to transform in and out of their demonic and human forms. And it was obvious that you were neither tempted at the sight of blood, nor did you ever transform into a wolf during full moons, or grow fairy wings from your back- but I digress. None of this is important, besides the fact that I began looking up the demonic species for your behalf."

I nodded slowly to myself. Kaien blinked me down.

"... You've never done any research on your own species, have you, Aya?"

"Well, if you must put it that way..." I laughed sheepishly. Kaien sighed, but smiled again.

"That is both good and bad. If you had, you probably would have figured it out yourself and confronted me about it. But because you hadn't, I was able to work behind the scenes and solve this mystery without worrying you."

"Wait, what mystery?" I felt the overwhelming urge to scratch my head. "I wasn't even aware that you were trying to figure something out."

Kaien looked grim. I glanced over at Zero, who's face was somewhere between surprised and horrified. He was staring at me without words, his lips parted just slightly.

I assumed he understood what was happening.

"What is it?" I looked at both of them, feeling very excluded and, not to mention, embarrassed. "What is it that I'm not seeing?"

"Aya," he said softly, and I did not like where any of this was going. At all. "I think I was wrong."

"What?" I choked out. Kaien nearly flinched.

"I think you're half human, Aya."

I gasped.

The room went silent.

"Wait, that's it?" I blurted. Kaien blinked me down, again. "You think I'm a half-demon? This is the 'big news' you've been wanting to tell me for so long?"

"Uhh..."

"This is great!" Kaien leaned further back in his chair, as if I were a bomb that might explode at random. "I can't – Wow, so that means I'm half human, then? So... So all those years you made me feel like an outcast were for nothing?"

"...Uh-"

"I can't even be pissed off that I wasted so many nights – so many years being sulky about my stupid species!" I was having a party by myself. "You know what, now that I think of it: you're right! I'm normal, Kaien! I can't believe I ever let that bring me down—why are you looking at me strange?"

"I'm not looking at you strange!" Kaien responded a little too quickly. Just a tad. Enough for me to catch it.

I frowned. "... What?"

"I'm so glad you're happy about being part human-"

"Kaien." But the gears in my head were starting to churn – something, might I add, they very rarely did.

"You really have to learn how to not interrupt people, Aya," he reprimanded, but I wasn't having it. He cleared his throat.

And he cleared his throat again.

I let out an exasperated sigh, and was about to make another threat when Zero spoke.

"What does this have anything to do," Zero had gotten up and was pacing over, "with why she had to room with Kuran?"

I mouthed an 'ah'. I had almost forgotten about that, but obviously Zero hadn't.

"And rather," he continued, "why she doesn't have to anymore?"

"Not that I'm complaining," I remarked. "I am very happy to not have to sleep in his room anymore, even though he.. did have an ensuite... and a kitchen.."

"He had a kitchen in his room?" Zero repeated, displaying his very obvious opinion of it being preposterous.

"Fully functional. I'm thinking of buying a waffle machine for my own room now. It's the sexiest thing to wake up to the smell of waffles doing their thing in the kitchen." Zero looked at me sharply. "Not that I'm saying there was anything sexy about being in his room! ... except the waffle part."

"You're impossible."

"I just said that only the waffles —wait, Kaien, you haven't answered yet!"

"Oh, would you look at the time, you two should be going back to your dorms-"

"No." We glared him down. He gave a gulp.

"Alright, settle, settle, children." Kaien shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Aya, you... remember what I told you about the cheesecake? And the grass?" I nodded. "Well, I wasn't exactly lying, but –"

"You what?"

"I did not lie to you Aya, please," he scolded me again for my interrupting. If patience was a rope, mine had already unraveled into millions of tiny, scattered threads. "What I did was for your own protection, I assure you. However, it was not for your protection from... vampires."

I snorted. "You mean there's something else out to get us?"

"Yes," he replied seriously, and I felt bad for snorting, "Something much... trickier."

He went on. "As far as Vampire Hunters are concerned, there are only three species: Humans, Vampires, and Vampire Hunters. You, my dear Aya, fall under none of them completely."

"So you were trying to let her fall under the category of Vampire Hunter to avoid suspicion," Zero accused, slamming a fist on Kaien's desk, "by rubbing the scent of a vampire on her!"

Zero seemed to have a much better grasp on this than I did, so I asked him, "But... why would it matter if I don't fall under the three categories?"

His lavender eyes bore into me as he sat back down. "Yagari Touga."

"That man gives me a headache," Kaien chuckled. "He shows up nearly two weeks before he said he would and catches me red-handed. Kaname's scent hadn't rubbed off on you enough, and he could tell the difference. Not to mention that you were running alone for a while and probably sweating when he found you, making your own individual scent stronger. I couldn't make you room with Zero, though I would have much rather done that, and I'm sure you would have too. Yagari would know Zero's scent right away."

"So... you didn't want Zero's creepy-ass teacher knowing that I was a dem- a half demon?" My brain had a habit a hurting every time I thought too hard. It was starting to hurt then. "And... why does this matter?"

"It matters," Kaien sighed, "because all demons were thought to be extinct for nearly a thousand years, so long ago that they're only used in folklore, yet you exist, Aya."

I blinked.

"And that means..." Kaien made firm eye contact with me, holding my gaze.

"They'd use her to repopulate," Zero grit out. He looked like he knew a lot more than he was saying.

"By they, are we still talking about, uh, Yagari?" I said quietly. "Because... that's really creepy. A lot creepier than I would have ever-"

"This is serious, Aya." I nodded meekly to myself. I wasn't really sure what to say anymore. Before, when I knew I was a demon, it seemed like I was only ever concerned about 'fitting in' and being normal. Now that I was apparently more normal than I thought I was before, why were even more problems arising? Shouldn't it be the reverse?

I was just so tired of dealing with everything.

"Aya," Kaien's tone was soft, but I didn't look up. "Dear, look at me."

"I don't want to, Kaien." He said nothing. "No, it's not that I don't want to look at you, but I just don't want to do this anymore."

"Aya," he said, exhausted, "I know-"

"Actually," I stood up, "you don't. Maybe you're trying to understand it, but you don't. So both of you please shut up while I sort my thoughts out."

Sometimes I surprised myself with how nice I could be.

"Last time when I came in here, Kaien, I nearly broke down. I basically did, but I'm trying to save some of my pride by saying that I didn't, but both of us know that I was dangerously close to letting out the waterworks."

"I'm going to completely contradict myself now. Let's treat me as a normal, 17 year-old human girl for 5 minutes," I sucked a deep breath in, and let out, "I keep having this crap sprung on me that some bad stuff is going to happen, that I'm going to get bitten, that I'm going to have to be an 'Eve' soon and try to repopulate my 'species' – And you know what sucks? I understand why I have to deal with all this crap! I'm not even going to get into 'Oh, why me? Why do I have to go through this? Why have I got to be the one?' because I get it. It's not my fault. It's not anyone's fault that it had to be like this..."

"Aya-," Kaien began. I answered him with a show of my palm. He was going to have to wait until I was finished.

"But I just need to have a moment: to reflect. You know, why am I important? At all? Why does it matter?" I paced away from my chair, my body filled with so much adrenaline and emotion that I had to walk around and pace to keep myself from trembling. The very thought of it was frightening. "There are vampires: there are humans, which the vampires eat, and then there are the superhero Vampire Hunters who kill the Vampires so that the humans can live – SO WHO THE BLOODY FUCK CARES ABOUT THE RANDOM, GINGER DEMON IN THIS?"

They winced. Kaien looked like he was about to remark on the ginger thing being inaccurate because my hair was technically a vermillion brown but I was not going to get into that. I was on a roll.

"I get that I'm some rare endangered species or some crap, but it's not like I'm any more special than a white person born and raised in china," I crossed my arms. "I was raised as a human. I can't transform into a demon. Apparently my blood was going to turn all ripe and juicy between the ages of 20 to 30 or some crap, but that was a lie."

Kaien cleared his throat.

"But other than my own girly, emotional angst, anyone who looks at me can very clearly identify me as a human: so why, pray tell, does repopulating me make any difference? I'm not a fucking zoo animal to put on display that will cause any sort of amusement, and as far as I'm concerned, you just told me that I'm a half-demon! So there's really no chance of me having kinky sex with a demon and making full demon babies anyway!"

"Aya, your language –"

"Shut up, we're all over 16; we can handle this," I retorted, collapsing into the chair again.

"I think in the span of 2 minutes, I've gotten over myself, Kaien, which really goes to show how freaking scary us girls can be," I groaned. "I feel normal, Kaien. I don't know how being human feels exactly, but my thought process, the way I walk, the way I eat, the way I live – it's all normal, isn't it? I couldn't ever escape that stupid nagging that told me it's just an illusion; that I'm just a freak, but I'm starting to think... that I have to let it go. So what if I'm not human? I grew up surrounded by humans, I was taught by humans, and I have human friends... I'm basically a mortal, aren't I? And if I can get over the fact that I'm a freak, why can't everyone just leave me the crap alone and let my business be... not their business?"

They said nothing for a few seconds, so I added in a "End rant," for good measure. "I need water."

Kaien chuckled and passed me the mug on his desk.

"That was your first time hearing one of Aya's rants, isn't it, Zero?" I nearly choked on the liquid, and peeked over to the silver-haired boy sitting in the loveseat next to me. He looked indifferent, like he wasn't exactly sure what on earth he had just heard.

"Hn."

"I've gotten used to it over the years. You usually don't swear that much, though, Aya. Way to keep it PG 13 for the readers."

"Meh." I slurped noisily. "This is rated Teen, anyway. Gosh, that felt good. I really do love talking. The author and I might have that in common; must be why she's made me rant like 3 times in this story already."

Kaien chuckled again. "How are you feeling?"

"Like how I always feel after I rant to you. Better, but still mad. Mostly at you."

"Me?" he mewed innocently. I blinked again to make the imaginary drooping cat ears disappear from his head.

"It's always in your office, you notice, Kaien?" I put his empty mug back onto the table with a loud thud that signified if was empty. "So what have we learned?"

"You're probably a half-demon," Kaien ticked off a finger.

"You made her room with Kuran to fool Yagari into thinking she was a Vampire Hunter," Zero offered monotonously.

"And everyone should really get the fuck over themselves and mind their own business!" I clapped my hands and threw my arms upwards like I had just made a revelation. They looked at me. "I'm not jokin-"

His expression changed abruptly and he shot up in his desk with Zero, whose face was just as ashen. "What was that?"

"What was what?" They both looked down on me, and I stood up to ease the distance.

"Didn't you hear that?" Zero asked, but the severity of his tone told me that I wasn't being pranked.

"Hear what?" There was a whale-like moan that I heard suddenly, low-pitched and very soft. They winced again.

"That," he said. I blinked.

"I.. I heard something, but... I don't think it was the same thing you both heard."

"Judging by your calm expression, it was no where near as loud and painful as what we - " Another moan, this time, closer. I looked out the window just as they did. "...hear."

"Kaien?" His face was full of concentration, like he was trying to make sense of something. "Kaien!"

"I don't sense anything," he muttered. "It's not a vampire."

"Didn't think so," Zero fired. "Let's g-"

"No, Zero," Kaien instructed, opening a drawer and taking something out, only to be obscured by his sleeve and coat. "You stay with Aya."

"What?" I frowned. "What am I, some damsel in distress that needs protecting?"

"For right now, yes," Kaien growled. "An unknown force attacks at a nearby radius that I can't track or sense, directly after I conclude that there are other forced out there after you, Aya. I'd say you need some protecting about now."

I could feel his frustration and concern, so I said nothing. He was at the door, now. "Both of you, follow me. I'm taking you to the far east wing into the dungeon where you should be safe."

"B-but," I finally managed to stammer in the chaos. "Kaien, we can help! We can fight! What about the rest of the students?"

"They can't hear this," he explained confidently, paces hurrying into a sprint. "The fact that no one's running the halls and coming out of the school in a panic is proof."

He was right. I realized that no horrified screams had erupted. Everyone was still in their rooms, happy and cozy, and we were the only ones running in the halls. But why?

"... I... I think it stopped," I offered meekly, trying to be helpful. Kaien seemed to consider it as well, as he suddenly stopped sprinting and took a moment to listen carefully. Zero and I stood still and listened as well.

"Why if it isn't the Three Stooges." We turned to look at Yagari approaching. Shivers ricocheted down my spine, but Zero and Kaien looked hardly surprised.

And then

I realized

That I hadn't been able to sense Yagari at all.

"Any clue on what that could have been?" Kaien inquired, and I could have been imagining it, but it sounded almost like he was accusing Yagari...

The man grimaced. "Why would I need to use sound waves when I can already sense vampires by myself? I have better things to do."

Kaien nodded casually, and it was obvious that he had thought the same thing as well.

"Are you going to check on the night class?"

"I was planning on doing that once we got... students to safety." I looked at Kaien, but he didn't look at me back. Something told me that he didn't want Yagari knowing of his suspicion that it had something to do with me.

"As a chairman... You would think that your first priority when it came to high-pitched waves of pain that only those infused with Vampire blood could hear..." Yagari worded strategically, and he drew closer to us as he spoke. "Would be to protect the vampires, would it not?"

"Because you'd be a big fan of that option," I spat, very uncomfortable with him in my space. "Save the vampires. Is that the motto Vampire Hunters have on a good day?"

"Aya," Kaien warned under his breath. I looked at him sharply.

"What?" I asked, but it wasn't a 'what is it?'.

It was a 'what did you just say? I didn't hear that'.

"Aya?" Kaien tried again, but I was losing it.

"I... I was just lost in thought," I attempted. I backed away until I noticed that Zero was behind me. "Ahem, so uh, are we going to save the Vampire now?"

"Aya, did you hear what I just said?" I whipped around to meet the voice of Zero.

"You- you said something?" I turned back around to face the two older men, where one face looked highly amused and the other looked deathly grim. They must have both heard what Zero said. This was looking very bad.

"What does that sign say?" Zero pointed to a tiny sign at the end of the giant hall.

"... It's... yellow?" He frowned. "Orange?"

"You've lost it," I glanced at Yagari, who had spoken, "You've lost your ability to hear and sense things out of the ordinary..."

"I-" I couldn't say anything. My vocal chords were in full working order, but my brain was not. It felt muffled, and almost warm, like someone had wrapped my brain up in a blanket. My eyes were just a tad foggier than usual, too, which was beginning to really freak me out. Was it the sound waves? Had they altered something within me? But then instead of targeting the vampires, they could have made it like... something only I could hear, right? Gosh, nothing made sense anymore!

"You're just an ordinary human," He laughed, like it was so funny. Kaien took me by the shoulders and stared at me head-on.

There were very few times I had seen Kaien with a deathly serious-expression on his face. This was one of them.

"Aya, you're going to sleep in my room tonight, okay?" I opened my mouth to protest. "No, I will not have you sleeping alone in this situation."

"I can handle myself-"

"Aya," I twitched and looked down, but I felt Kaien's fingers brushing against my cheek. He wanted no objections. He couldn't deal with them. Not right now.

"Okay," I breathed, barely loud enough for even myself to hear. But it must have been plenty loud enough for the three acute senses in front of me.

Which I used to have, I convinced myself.

"You know where it is," he finished. He pulled away, and my first reaction was to shiver from the way Yagari was staring me down, almost at a glower. "Zero, will you take her? Touga and I will check on the night students –"

"You and who?" Touga objected.

"- but I'll be there soon. Stay with her until then, Zero. I'm counting on you." Kaien completely ignored Yagari, who looked borderline irritated that he had to go 'check on the night students' like some hall monitor. They spoke quietly to each other as they walked.

Not that I could hear a single word.

Zero and I walked in silence, neither of us really knowing what to say. He never said much, and I was suddenly not in the mood for talking.

But he said, "So you're human now. Or at least your abilities are."

"...For now," I repeated. "This makes no sense. I've slowly progressed my mindset today from thinking I was a demon, to a half-demon, to suddenly a Human. Maybe Kaien planned this. He's certainly been full of secrets as of late..."

We reached the room, and I entered in the code that only Zero, Yuuki and I knew. I typed it. It beeped and the light turned red. I had gotten it wrong.

I tried again. It beeped. Red light. I scowled. One more time.

"Here," He scooted in from beside me and I grumbled. He smirked at my immaturity.

"He must have changed it," I asked, trying to take a peak. The little light turned green and beeped twice. "Dammit! How did you do that?"

He looked at me sideways, a sexy smirk playing onto his lips. "Idiot."

"Do that again," I quipped.

He blinked and scowled to look away, knowing exactly what I meant. I laughed and gave him a hip-bump out of the way. It caught him entirely off guard.

"Did you just-"

"Give you the 'bump'?" I pushed open the door and entered. "Hells yeah, I did!"

He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. I couldn't hear it, but I found myself not caring too much. Zero constantly muttered things under his breath that I couldn't hear, and I had a feeling they weren't really mutters, but just mouthings.

"You should go check on Yuuki. These might be supernatural forces out to get her again, like they always do," I said, running over to Kaien's bed to leap. It smelled just like his cologne. Luckily, I couldn't smell the vampire. But Zero could, by the way he sniffed the air. Kaien always did have an unnaturally large amount of vampire blood in him than usual. It was why he never seemed to age anymore.

"Yuuki's human," Zero reminded. I nodded. She wouldn't have been able to hear anything.

"I worry about her sometimes," I sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "She's crushing way too hard on Kuran. I don't think it's as simple as a crush anymore. The only thing that's stopping her from raiding his boxer drawers is the fact that she's too pure of a girl for that."

Zero gave me a look. I shrugged like I couldn't help it.

"Did you?" he asked. It took me a moment.

"You're-... YOU THINK I RAIDED HIS BOXER DRAWERS?"

"Never mind," he said quieter, like he was embarrassed he even asked.

"Of course not! You know full well that I hate his -..." Zero had shoved his hands into his pocket and cast his gaze into the lower left corner.

"...Are you jealous?" His eyes grew wide, just like a little kid who had been caught red handed.

"As if," he covered with a scoff, but it wasn't fooling me, and he knew it. For all the negativity and chaos that had happened throughout the day, no one could really blame me for wanting to have a little fun now... right?

"You know, for all the hate I have for Kaname," Zero's jaw clenched when I said Kaname's first name. "I must admit, he is veeery killer sexy."

He heaved a heavy sigh and began to pace.

"Especially when he comes out of the shower in nothing but a towel hiding his family jewels-"

"Are you done?" he snapped, looking about ready to lunge at me.

"Do try to hold onto that title of Bona Fide Sex God of All, Zero. Kaname might just snatch it out from under your nose!"

"There you go again."

"Sorry, where do you want me to go, Zero?" I purred. He was uncomfortable, his cheeks flushed and his ears tinted red.

"You're having too much fun."

"I haven't even started playing yet," I laughed when he heaved another sigh. Now that I thought about it, it was a long time since I had teased him like this!

And then, he stared straight at me. "Do you think you could handle the consequences?"

I was speechless.

"That was good!" I nearly shouted, and he rolled his eyes and cursed. "Dayum, I knew I'd influence you one way or another. Next thing you know, I'll find virgins clawing at your door, begging to sleep with-"

"Makino."

I squeaked. "Alright, I'll stop before it gets to watered down porn."

He gave me a look. I shrugged again like I couldn't help it.

"One day, I'll give you a taste of your own medicine."

"Oh please," I scoffed at him "Like I'd back off that easily."

"I learn from the best." I looked at him, his face expressionless, but his eyes a hardened challenge.

"Oh really, wanna bet?" I confronted. He took a seat in one of Kaien's chairs, 2 meters away. "When the time comes, who will chicken out faster?"

He considered it for a moment. "What's your wager?"

"Your top." He blinked.

"You want my shirt?"

"Naked from the waist up," I finished triumphantly, watching his face frown, "for one whole day."

He wasn't happy. I added to sweeten the deal, "I'll make sure it's not on a school day, just for you."

"Then you wear nothing but my shirt," I dropped my jaw. "One whole day."

"That's-!"

"I'll make sure it's not on a school day," he mocked, crossing his arms, "just for you."

"Oh, shit just got real." I laughed, running a hand through my hair. "Better work on those abs of yours if you don't want to embarrass yourself."

"I could say the same to you." He gave me a once-over for spite. I refrained from unhinging my jaw.

"You're on, Kiryuu." I held out a palm to shake on it. "You better be ready when I call you out."

He took my hand for the first time. It was always him grabbing my wrist, or me being the one to grab a hold of his hand to stop him from leaving or something.

Since the last time I had taken his hands nearly 5 years ago, they had grown. They were much larger than mine, and his fingers were both bony and lanky, but so full of strength. He clamped down on me, not bothering to be gentle. I did likewise, and squeezed down on his hand.

"Bet's on," I announced.

"Bet's on," he agreed.

End of Chapter Nine.

-X-

I wanted to end it on a good / light hearted note. I re-wrote this chapter so many times, you have no idea. I think I have 15 pages worth of 'scraps and extras' that I cut out and put into another document to maybe use in the future because they wouldn't fit. It was a dread writing this chapter.

It didn't turn out at all the way I wanted it too. When I had written about 6000 words of my very first copy, I realized that I was pushing the progression wayyy too fast. You might notice there was a lot more to absorb in the chapter. My apologies that it wasn't done smoothly. I DO want to get a move on with this story, because it's one of my oldest next to my Hitsufic. I'm kind of in a hurry to end this so I can start a new AU Vampire Knight story. I love Zero to fackin death but I cannot STAND Vampire Knight anymore.

THAT BEING SAID, I'LL TRY TO UPDATE THIS SUMMER BREAK BUT MY PARENTS ARE BEING MEAN AND SAYING I HAVE TO WORK OUT. /cries... Used to be a dedicated athlete until I found the internet. I can understand why they're mad but MY MANGA, FANFICTION, DIGITAL ART, AND EVERYTHING IN ON THE NET QQ

Mysteries will be solved soon, and answers will be given. I feel like this is still so very much in draft form. Gosh, I should get a beta.

Leave a review on your thoughts if you have time, because I'm really super nervous about this one!