By the next day's first bell, everyone knew about it.
This might have been because of one largely unknown fact. The fangirls of Cross Academy, you see, are not just determined to a slightly psychopathic level, they are also cunning, smart, and stealthy.
And manipulative.
Do not forget manipulative.
They are manipulative enough to outsmart a fully trained vampire hunter into putting up cameras in the Night Class Dorms and spells on those cameras so that no one would be able to find said cameras.
This alone is why it would've been a good idea to erase their memories after the Rido Incident.
Or at least that was Zero and the other hunter kid's standpoint, or at least it was until the fangirl-run website went up.
The very funny, highly embarrassing (for the Night Class) and slightly informative fangirl-run website called 'V Tube' that was put up with the help of one of the more tech savvy hunter kids completely without the Night Class's or Headmaster's knowledge.
Zero was a proud member of said website and had even posted a thing or two, usually going there when he was in one of his "moods" as the other hunter kids and Headmaster put it.
Knowing all this, it was safe to assume that when one Zero Kiryu came back to his room after a day full of pointless work that couldn't keep his attention away from his current predicament with Kuran worth a damn he was in one of his "moods".
So, in hopes of not drowning in his "moodiness" he had logged onto the site in hope of finding something funny.
What he found, while pleasing to his more vindictive and jealous sides, only brought him down further in to his "mood".
"Shut up, Yuki," Kaname hissed, ignoring the smirks that had formed on the faces of all the other vampires, "this - this was a mistake on my part and for that I'm sorry but I can't take it anymore! While you are my sister, I do not love you. The wedding is off!"
Zero shoved off his headphones angrily and pushed back in his leather computer chair, letting himself go back as far as possible and his mind drift.
This was not supposed to be happening. He was not supposed to care about Kuran or anyone, really. He was just supposed to survive his time at Cross Academy, not draw attention to himself, and then disappear.
Getting attached was not part of the plan.
Falling in love was not part of the plan.
Falling in love with a bloody (heh, literally) pureblood was so far off the plan that he could no longer even make out the plan's silhouette against the sodding sunset.
Zero grimaced, why could something go right for once? Just one fucking thing—
The door snapped open, thus causing Zero to be broken from his inner angst and fall backwards off his preciously balanced chair all at once.
Leveling a glare at the tall brunette man smirking in his doorway and a slightly softer annoyed look at the smaller hazel-eyed girl at his side, Zero pulled himself to his feet. He felt only slightly mortified that he hadn't sensed them coming.
He blamed it on the aforementioned angst.
"Kaito, Yori. What are you doing here?" Zero asked, clearly annoyed.
Kaito, being his usual jerk-ish self, waltzed in and immediately popped open Zero's closet. A look of pain crossed his face when he saw the neat rows of Cross Academy uniforms.
"We," he said, pointing to Yori and himself, "are saving you and anyone near you from dying of your angst and general moodiness. Did you know you even have the other prefects worried? And here I thought they were all too dense to pick up on your evil moods. I guess I'll have to reconsider…" he said, his voice trailing off as he dug deeper into Zero's closet, searching for something that wasn't Academy wear.
Yori turned to the still glaring silverette with a halfway-sympathetic, halfway-amused smile.
"What Kaito is trying to say, Zero, is that, well, you need to get out more," she stated bluntly. "It's not healthy to stay boarded up in your room twenty-four-seven! Plus, the vampires are hosting a ball tonight and we need back up!" Her pleading expression shifted into an evil little smirk. "And I'd love to see the look on the Kuran Bitch's face when she sees what we've done with you." She seemed to be just restraining an evil cackle.
Zero sighed, he wasn't going to be getting out of this now, not with both Kaito and Yori on his case.
In the time he'd really gotten to know Sayori "Yori" Wakaba, he'd learned a few things.
One was that she was extremely loyal to those she cared about. So much so that she was willing to face down vampire and fangirl alike if it meant sparing a friend some pain. Zero had found that out when she'd subtly called Yuki a fake bitch when the pureblood had made a snide comment on Zero's blood class. The other thing he'd learned was that she didn't take betrayal well and had a hidden vicious side a mile wide.
It seemed that Yuki hadn't known that.
"Aha! I knew you had some decent clothes in here!" Kaito cried out suddenly, holding a black bundle that looked suspiciously like the ripped skinny jeans the twenty-two-year-old hunter and punk-rocker-at-heart he had given Zero for Christmas a year ago.
Zero raised an eyebrow. "Somehow, Takamiya, I don't think those would be proper for a vampire soirée."
Kaito blinked for a second before snorting. "Firstly, I don't care what you wear to the stupid, pansy-ass soirée. That would be Yori's department, gods only knows why she wants it." He walked over and clapped Zero on the shoulder, a bright grin on his face.
"I, my dear oblivious friend, am referring for the after party! Which come hell or high water you will be attending. Secondly, when did I become Takamiya! I thought we were passed that!"
Zero glared and shrugged Kaito's hand off him. "The moment you started raiding my closet and what the hell do you mean by 'after party'?!""Zero growled, his voice getting progressively louder towards the end.
Kaito examined his nails. "Oh you know, the parties us hunters throw after we've done our duty at the soirées. The things you typically try your best to avoid," the brunette replied lazily before heading to Zero's dresser, seemingly intent on finishing his search for Zero's "descent" clothes.
"And I have no say in any of this?" Zero asked, his voice sounding weak even to his own ears.
Twin "yups" came from both the closet and dresser areas respectively. Zero blinked; damn Yori moved fast.
Zero flopped down on his bed with something akin to a huff (not that he'd admit it) and let out a silent moan. There was no bargaining (or escape) with these two (he should know). And besides, it couldn't be that bad, could it?
Zero snorted, yeah right.
Sayori Wakaba, daughter and heiress to a prominent law firm that dealt with Cross Academy's legal needs among other less mundane clientele, nearly gagged as she regarded herself in the mirror located in the onsite bathroom of her dorm room.
Dressed in a light turquoise taffeta gown with a mid-leg hem, Yori looked like some kind of sea goddess. The black pearl studs at her ears and the choker of the cream variety hanging around her delicate throat only accented the look. Her hair was curled into gentle spindles and a sharp contrast of blue and beige cast her face into something extraordinary.
Her shoes were flat and Grecian inspired, made of durable black leather and laced snugly in case she needed to run. Below the layers of flowing gown she had hidden a sheath of throwing daggers around her thigh, while a beautifully crafted fan edged with sharp anti-vampire metal fit nicely inside her black-beaded bag or her lace-covered hand. Apollo, a shorter, less obvious version of the Artemis Rod, kept the fan company inside her bag.
She was beautiful and unassumingly fatal. A deadly doll, pulled by no visible string but just as gorgeous and seductive to the hollowed gentry and wannabe noblemen and ladies she'd no doubt deal with before the night's end as one of their own painted-up marionettes.
Yori abhorred it all. Her body itched beneath the tight stockings and pushup bra. The pearls around her neck were too tight and her ears stung from shoving the studs through. The makeup looked garish and excessive in the surroundings of her little seashell bathroom and the silky fabric of her dress felt strange and unnatural against her skin. The scent of it all – the hairspray that kept her curls in place, the new-clothes smell of her dress, the over-powering perfume of too much money and makeup – made her ill.
Everything in her cried out for the gentle comforts of a warm sweater and soft, practical denim skirt. For her much loved suede jacket and subtler jewelry, for her more obvious fighting companion, the Artemis Rod, which Yuki had tossed off after becoming a pureblood. Not because it burned her, but because she didn't want it anymore.
But, she reminded herself soundly, this was her job now. As a hunter it was part of her duty to dress in this way when she had to, make nice, and be alert in the case of a vampire unable to control themselves. It was a duty she'd depended on when Yuki had shoved her aside so harshly that Yori had been left with nothing to hold onto. Yuki had been so much of her world. Yori had realized that she hadn't had much time to really be herself. Vampire hunting, the focus and discipline it provided, had been just the thing she'd needed to bring herself together again.
It had offered her a unique kind of support network too; in Kaito, Master Yagari, and Zero himself. Friends and mentors that she could really depend on, because if they hadn't liked or wanted her, she was sure she would know by now.
And thus, all of this – the make-up and fakery and fuckery she would surely endure – was worth it.
And messing with Kuran Senior was fun as hell too, Yori reminded herself.
What? Did you think she was blind? She'd seen the way the miserable old miser had been storming his way over into the Sun Dorms. It was the main reason she'd cunningly manipulated Kaito and Zero into coming over to her room to finish getting ready. Nine out of ten bet his mood had something to do with his break-up and that he was somehow trying to blame Zero for it, and like hell if she was going to let that happen.
So, with a sweet smile and gentle word she'd gotten her boys over to her room where she was sure Kaname wouldn't venture. It might not stave him off forever (seeing as Kana-crap would most definitely be at this little vampiric shindig they were supervising), but it would at least give Zero a chance to settle down whatever shit he was battling at the second without Kuran Asshole Senior hanging over his shoulder. He and Kaito had left for the limousine less than a few minutes ago, leaving Yori to finish her makeup and head down.
Feeling slightly better about the whole situation in a rather vindictive kind of way, Yori walked out of the bathroom and cast a look over at the black leather backpack she'd stashed all of the stuff she'd need for the after party in.
Yori grinned as she drug a finger over the edge of the bag, feeling hope swell in her heart that maybe policing the vampires wouldn't be so bad so long as she had the after party to look forward to. Sure, they were often wild, crazy, and alcohol-soaked, but they were also a hell of a lot of fun and she was a teenager. You didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the appeal.
Reassuring herself that it would be waiting for her in the limo that would be picking up the hunters after the soirée, Yori turned and pulled open the door of her room. Shutting it behind her, the sixteen-year-old quickly made her way down the halls and main staircase to the front of the building where an all-black limo waited, all the while reminding herself that only some soirées made you dress up and it was just their bad luck that had gotten them assigned to one that did.
Yori had always found herself hating those ones extraordinarily.
With resignation in every step and the promise of the after party driving her forward, Yori stepped into the limo, thanked the chauffeur as she slid in and buckled herself into one of the few seats that actually had a seatbelt in one smooth movement. A bemused smile was on her face as the door snapped shut, leaving her alone with the bickering duo now in front of her.
"No, I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Oh come now Z, I'm sure you've tried it at least once."
"I—"
"Would someone like to fill me in here?" Yori asked, amusement plain on her face.
Kaito gaped, "My god, is that you Yori? Shit, if I didn't know better I'd say you were a vampire!"
Yori glared while Zero shook his head, a poor attempt at hiding one of his usually-rare smiles that now decorated his face.
"Seriously Yori-chan, you do look pretty nice. Though I'm not sure if blue is you colour..."
Yori snorted, trust Kaito to pick up on something like that. In all honesty she hated the dress more than a little, but she didn't have much choice. It was the only thing the Hunter Association's clothing stocks had in her size that didn't carry the risk of her boobs popping out the top if she needed to run.
Besides, she'd be climbing out of it and into her after party clothes the second the door of the limo slammed shut. Who gave a fuck if Zero and Kaito caught a flash of her in her underwear? Gods knew they were both gay anyway.
Pulling her thoughts away from the sweet relief of being out of her constricting gown, she turned to Zero and gave him one last look over before nodding to herself. She really had conducted a miracle when you considered what she'd been working with.
All in all, if you ignored Bloody Rose hanging on a chain from his waist and the Kiryu Clan's signet ring (which had only recently come into his possession after the death of Ichiru) on his forefinger, Zero looked, well, pureblood-like. Most specifically like a Hio, if you wanted to be cruelly accurate about it.
His hair had been brushed instead of just left to its own devices and now fell softly to his jaw in smooth layers while the piercings gave him an almost wicked edge. Through begging and blackmail she'd cajoled him out of that bloody Cross Academy uniform and into a sharp, streamlined black suit that she'd paired with a blood red silk dress shirt. The tie had been forgone, as per usual, but in the grand scheme of things that hardly mattered.
All of that coupled with Zero's signature blank glare came together to paint a very vampire-like picture, his ability to keep his cool and imperious attitude lending him the pureblood aspects.
His features just helped with that, Yori thought with a sigh. He, unlike Kaito and herself, had pale non-tanning skin and strange ethereal features that just weren't seen anywhere but for those with vampire ancestry or, apparently, Kiryu blood. She couldn't count how many rumors she'd heard while in the Association about that.
It was a strange act of irony when you thought about it. Zero, who had lost everything to Shizuka Hio, could almost pass as her relative if one bothered to look close enough.
Shaking away the unjust thoughts, Yori turned her eyes to the window but her attention was on her bickering partners, or more specifically, Kaito Takamiya.
The brunette had tried to pass off this little adventure as Yori being the worried one. In all honesty though, it had been Kaito who had come to her with the idea at the urging of Toga Yagari, the vampire hunter teacher Zero, Kaito, Ichiru and since just after the battle, she had been learning under.
Yori sighed tiredly. Something wasn't right.
Zero had been acting so strange lately. Not the kind of strange that signified him falling to E, thankfully, but still… it was like he was hiding something, something important.
Something that had to do with the Kurans. More specifically, the older, if Yori's observations were right.
"Kiryu-san, Takamiya-san, Wakaba-san, we have arrived," called the polite voice of their driver.
Yori just barely restrained a curse.
With dread she didn't let show on her face pooling in her stomach, Yori stepped confidently out of the limo and waited a moment for the others to do the same. She then followed Kaito and Zero into the main hall where they would then meet Yagari and proceed to suffer through the evening.
Yori shot one last look at Zero.
She just hoped that this soirée was the only bit of suffering they'd have to put up with.
Hey there people! I've decided that I'm not even going to bother groveling for forgiveness over my lateness because, well, that might just take too long! So, anyway, I hope you all like this chapter. I'm hoping to have the next one out soon(ish) and I hope you all Review because those make me write faster!
Also give thanks to the amazing SunaT.U, the most wonderful beta ever!
Please Review!
Sincerely,
BlackRoseGirl666
