Sorry it's a tad late guys, been super busy with work! Thanks for the reviews, I love reading them!

Aido, as well as everyone else, was incredibly agitated. Something in the air was wrong, his senses heightening impeccably. His shocking eyes snapped towards the window at the same moment as Ruka's, quickly followed by several other gazes. Beyond the glass, among the darkened woods, he could smell a disturbance. Water. If he strained a little, he could hear its movement, violent splashes forming in his mind's eye. And, among the natural goodness of the liquid, he could smell the luscious scent of Sansa. So much purity in one go hit him like a tidal wave; earth, salt, mint and water. Normally he welcomed such a scent, but there was something sour among it. He could only smell sourness in her scent when something was wrong―when she was blacking out.

"You smell that?" Ruka whispered behind the monotone on the teacher.

"Sansa." Akatsuki murmured, a frown tainting his features. Aido swallowed, flicking his gaze to Lord Kaname, whose eyes were pinned on the world beyond the glass. He sensed it, too, it seemed. Aido glanced forward, noticing the teacher's back was to the class, and then edged his way closer to the window, Ruka and Akatsuki close behind. Ichijo lingered at Lord Kaname's shoulder, and the five of them gazed outside silently while the teacher rambled on.

Sansa was climbing over the wall when he located her, pulling herself over the ledge and landing in a wet heap on the outside corridor. Her chest rose and fell heavily, like she was struggling to catch her breath. The concrete around her darkened with water, her usually dark blue uniform turning into a night sky black. Her long black hair glistened like silk, pushed out of her flushed face that shone with a coating of water. From here, he could see her eyes, the long lashes glittering with water droplets.

She lay still for a long moment before rolling onto her back, her gaze lifted to the sky as her breathing steadied. Even in the low light, his expert eyes could see the vicious clarity of her green eyes, seeming to glow with a new life he hadn't seen before. Aido was, to his astonishment, mesmerized by her sudden beauty. She looked like the darkest of angels, fallen from the rain clouds above. She was everything dark and mysterious he had read in books, that girl with a hidden secret, ugly behind the breathtaking beauty.

He thought back a few weeks, when Ruka had compared her to being a vampire, and indeed she could pass for one. The perfect shape of her cheekbones, the redness of her full lips, the crystal of her eyes. Her body, too, was like that of a vampire; thin, elegantly curved, her height short and enabling her stability tall people lacked. In his mind's eye, Aido replaced her dark uniform with a white one, and though imaginary, he knew that said uniform would transform her beauty to a far more dramatic splendour.

"She fought it off." Lord Kaname whispered.

Aido dragged his eyes away from the girl outside, taken aback when he realised where his thoughts had carried him. "Pardon?"

"The Darkling." Lord Kaname clarified. "I can smell it. That girl fought it off." He smiled, a proud look shadowing his features.

"Good girl." Ruka murmured, a small smile on her lips.

"But how?" Akatsuki said, looking puzzled.

"Willpower." Ichijo stated quietly. "I knew it was there, and it was only a matter of time before she herself awakened it. All she needs now is guidance on how to keep that willpower awake."

It wasn't just willpower, though, was it? Aido knew that there was strength in Sansa's blood that was yet to be put to the test. It was the kind of strength that transformed both a person's look and smell. Sansa was naturally strong, just like Yuki and Zero, but there was something deeper, a strength that was embedded in her nature. She had the power that went beyond any physical vigour, something that coated her scent like smoke. It wasn't just her purity that drew both Aido and his fellow species towards her, but it was also that dark unknown deep inside.

Being as curious as he was, in that moment he wanted nothing more than to taste that very power in her blood. Not a second later, he silently cursed himself for his ongoing lust.

Suddenly, Sansa began to laugh. It was such a bizarre thing for her to do, yet Aido found such a comfort in the sound he didn't care. He looked at her, watching as her hand went to her face, and the disbelief in her laugh was clear as day. She trembled, probably from both happiness and cold, and for a second he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his jacket to shield her from the cold. He forced the image out of his head, irritated until her laugh lifted him to a lighter place.

It was the first time he had ever heard her laugh with this much genuineness.

She sat up then, taking a deep breath to compose herself. She brushed away the excess water from her lashes, flicking them away with her thin, pale fingers. She looked down at herself, and suddenly she looked confused. Almost hesitantly she stood, fisting her skirts in her hands before twisting them, draining the fabric of water. What followed was the removal of her jacket, which she balled up and drained, too. Due to the revealing attachment of her white shirt, Aido finally had to look away, blood warming his cheeks uncomfortably.

"Delightful." said one of his fellow classmates, a boy whose name he didn't know. The boy's dark eyes glistened with lust as he locked his gaze on Sansa, his thoughts clearer than Aido would have liked them to be. Aido glared ferociously, a snarl rumbling in his throat. The boy looked at him, eyes wide, and he slunk back to his rightful place among the class.

What is wrong with me? he thought harshly, clenching his eyes shut.

"Thank you, Aido." said Lord Kaname.

"Huh?"

"For defending Sansa's dignity." he stated, smiling at his young follower. More blood rushed to his cheeks, and now caught under the teasing gazes of Akatsuki, he decided that it was time for a blood tablet and a boring lecture to distract himself.

Somehow, despite him being silent throughout the brief check upon Sansa just now, Aido felt as if he had spoken more words than anyone else.

Kaien Cross was out on the grounds when he found his daughter. Sansa was strolling towards him, dripping wet, her step oddly lighter than usual. He frowned; she was smiling, as rather brightly to say the least.

"Sansa? Are you alright?" he asked, stopping as she grinned up at him. She skipped straight to him, her hands grasping his arms as she beamed up into his face. It was rare to see her like this beyond the walls of his building, where Sansa, Yuki and Zero resided during weekends. He often walked in on Sansa and Yuki laughing at the TV together, or Sansa and Zero squabbling half-heartedly over something as silly as homework, and more than once he had caught all three of them laughing over dinner together. But never had he seen Sansa off guard outside of those rare occasions! She almost sparkled like a diamond in front of him, a new life forming behind her eyes that he had thought she'd lost as a child. She looked giddy.

"I did it!" she declared.

"Did what?"

"Fought off the Darkling! I got her out of my head!" she cried, hugging him energetically. "I am strong enough! I thought I wasn't but I am!"

"Sansa, darling―" he grasped her shoulders and pushed back gently, holding her at arm's length. His hands dampened over her shirt that clung crudely to her. His parental instinct took over, and he had to fight the urge to tell her to get changed immediately. "What are you talking about?"

"She attacked me again, that monster in my head. She tried to make me pass out again but I didn't! I told her to get out of my head and she did."

He pressed his hand to her forehead, frowning. Her skin was alarmingly hot despite the cold of the water that drenched her. "You're burning up."

"You're not listening to me! I don't need a bunch of blood sucking vampires to train me, I can take care of myself! I can beat this thing in my head, I know I can―" she wobbled then, going heavy mid-sentence, and she felt forwards into his chest.

"Sansa―!" he shouted, alarmed. He dropped to his knees, carefully adjusting her in his lap, and almost immediately the light in her eyes died away. He could smell her sweat, her face losing its giddiness as a faint fear blurred her features. He pushed her hair out of her face tenderly, sighing as her eyes began to close.

"I thought... I thought I could fight it..." she whispered, tears in her vision.

"You need to sleep." he told her sternly. "Those invasions of yours take all of your energy, that's something you can't fight."

"I don't want to sleep! I want to prove I can fight this!" she shrieked, squirming. He tightened his grip on her, staring at her with a hard expression.

"I'm telling you as a father that you must sleep, before you make yourself ill. We'll talk when you get your strength back." He adjusted her in his arms, lifting her as he stood. He hated seeing her like this, so vulnerable. This was the first time actually experiencing her passing out on him, and he fell even more sick than when he was met by her unconscious body. What he hated more, though, was seeing that light in her eyes die right in front of him, like watching the flame of someone's heart pinch out abruptly, plunging one into darkness. Later Sansa would be infuriated with herself, even though it wasn't her fault. He hated forcing her to spend time with the very things she hated, but not as much as he hated himself for not being able to help her.

"F-father," she whispered against his chest, her voice incredibly weak now. Kaien's heart jumped at the word, something he so rarely called him by, and for a moment he wondered if she was hallucinating.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to die." she croaked, tears merging with the water on her cheeks. His heart pinched, and with a stride towards him home, he pressed his lips to her hair.

"That's not going to happen." he promised her.

"But it is, though, isn't it? I was born not to live but to die. I can't even stay awake after fighting off a Darkling. I'm weak, but I don't want to die!" she cried, weeping into his chest. Good God. The poor girl was in an emotional turmoil! Everything in her eyes must have been so confusing and frightening. One moment she thought she was strong and capable of fighting, only to be thrust into the depths of hard truths that she was far from being able to take care of herself. Kaien closed his eyes, rushing her to his house, his face in her hair.

"Sleep, Sansa." he whispered. "Nothing will hurt you, not while I'm here."

"But―"

"Please, Sansa." The strain in his throat hurt and was audible in his tone. Sansa must have heard it, too, because she said nothing else. She took a deep breath before letting her head slack against his chest, and in mere seconds, her entire body became dead weight.

Lord help me. Kaien thought, praying to no one in particular as he hurried Sansa through his front door.

Sansa woke to something cool on her forehead, a cloth perhaps. Her body tingled with nervous energy, her thoughts muddled for a moment too long. Her heart peaked with uncertain panic, her eyes wondering about the room beyond a blinding light above her. The light burned the back of her eyes, making her squint against them. Not a second later, though, the room she was in swam into view; the open door ahead of her, the nightstand to her left with the photo of her, Yuki and Zero, the ticking of the clock above her head, the dozens of books coating the floor of the room like a makeshift carpet.

Her room, in Kaien Cross's home among the academy.

She groaned, sitting up and catching the cloth as it fell from her head. She shivered, still in her wet uniform, though it was more damp than anything. Pinned on the wall in front of her was a note, clearly in Kaien's handwriting, and she squinted to read it.

Get changed into dry clothes and come to the dining room,

Father.

Gingerly, she removed herself from the bed and dug out some old clothes from her wardrobe, feeling weak on her legs and her fingers not truly gripping for anything, only fumbling. She settled for a pair of night shorts and a tattered shirt, stripping from her wet clothes and slipping into her dry, more comfortable ones. Grasping a towel from the foot of her bed, she towel-dried her long hair as she left her room, taking slow, attentive steps down the stairs.

As she walked, the memories of the evening drifted back to her; the encounter with Kana in the corridor, the threat she and Kana directed to one another, the attack of the Darkling, the cleansing of her body in the pond, the voice of her mother... she remembered a burst of energy she hadn't felt in years, a happiness that overrode the heaviness of unconsciousness. She had felt so light it was as if she'd taken some sort of drug, and everything around her had seemed so bright and clear that she thought she was living a dream. But then she found Kaien, had tried to explain to him how good she felt, and suddenly that brightness inside her had been sucked out of her like a vacuum. She'd felt every last bit of her energy drain, the darkness overtaking her, and right now she had never felt more stupid in her life.

To be so naive would have her killed.

Yet now, as she looked around the walls coated in pictures of herself and her somewhat siblings, she thought there was a new light to them, like she was seeing them clearer. In fact, everything around her looked slightly better, more crisp in vision. Colours seemed to slightly glow; the shine of a glass framed photo glimmered like diamonds, the fibres of the carpet looked more defined.

What had Ishio said? Theoretically, if your kind are hunted for your entire life, evolution would evolve you to an extent that perhaps your could become just a slight bit more sensitive to things around you.

Her heart thumped with nervousness as she rounded a corner into the kitchen, where Kaien sat at the dining table just beyond the kitchen itself, his face in his hands. The great window behind him reflected his appearance, a ghost among the black of the night. She paused in the doorway, momentarily stunned, for she had never seen him look so emotionally caught up before. His hands trembled slightly as he rubbed his eyes behind his glasses, and from here she could see the shadows dusting the skin below his eyes. She saw the individual hairs of his ponytail, single strands escaping the ribbon. To anyone else he probably just looked tired, but to Sansa he looked close to a well covered up wreck.

She cleared her throat, and she didn't miss him jump. He looked at her, eyes wide, and then forced that childlike grin into action. "Oh! Thank God you're awake! How are you feeling?"

"Are you okay?" she found herself asking, despite everything. He gaped at her for a moment, and his face turned sheepish.

"I'm fine, but you worried me back there. Can you remember anything? You tried to explain something to me, about fighting off your Darkling―"

"She's not mine." she spat, though not at him. Sansa slowly went to join her adoptive father at the table, sitting directly opposite him. "She never will be. I'm not hers, either."

"So it's a female?" he said. "This is the first time you've mentioned a gender."

"It sounds female, so that's what I'm assuming. And to answer your question, I remember everything." In alarmingly crisp detail. She added in her thoughts.

"Tell me what happened." he pressed gently, resting his head in his hands with interest.

She missed out the part with Kana in the corridor, and simply explained the sudden attack of the Darkling, how she tried to taunt her in her head. Sansa told him that something willed her to fight back, though she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She said that she felt something hot overcome her, and that her body started fighting before she knew what she was really doing. She explained the screaming match in her head, followed by the dead silence that followed.

She went on to say how she travelled to the pond to cool off, and how she felt that spark flicker to life inside her, willing her to live and fight back―that spark being the voice of her mother. And then she told him of that sudden energy, up until the point she collapsed in Kaien's arms saying she didn't want to die.

Kaien never interrupted her, and when she finished, his expression was severe.

"What?" she asked, and suddenly felt very tired.

"Something about you is different." he said quietly.

"I feel different." she agreed.

"How so?"

"It's like I've been given a new vision. Everything seems clearer now, more vivid. It's so strange. Maybe I'm just tired―"

"No. I can see that clarity in your eyes. Before, when you woke up from a blackout, you always looked close to death. Even as a child, after your night terrors, I often watched over you for fear that your heart would stop beating. But now, looking at you, you have never looked more alive. Something is changing in you, Sansa, and I have reason to believe that that battle with the Darkling has something to do with it."

"Ishio said something about me having dormant heightened senses." she said, and she felt an odd flutter develop in her gut. Excitement? Fear? Both?

"I know," he nodded. "Kaname informed me this morning. He told me that himself and the others have reason to believe that you have powers in need of unlocking." He smiled then, an excited glint in his eyes. "I think that the Forsaken in you is beginning to wake up."

"Wake up for what?"

"The biggest fight of your life."

Behind Kaien's glasses, Sansa saw his hazel orbs swim with expectation, and the two of them stared at one another for a long while.

Then they both grinned.

Elsewhere, the vampires of the Night Class started at something in the air changing. They could smell the change of something, the blossoming of an inner life. The air thinned with this new scent, and they could even taste the deliciousness of this reformation. The image of a black rose flowering formed in their heads, a tainted beauty about to be awakened. The smell that came with it was strong; roses tainted with poison, as well as earth, mint and sugar.

Almost simultaneously, their throats burned ferociously, and everyone drank from their glasses of dissolved blood tablets. The rose in their heads continued to blossom, and among the group, Aido grinned over the rim of his glass.

Review!