A/N Been forever hasn't it? We actually finished writing this at least two weeks ago. We just didn't get around to uploading it until now. So...sorry about that. But at least it's here, right? Better than nothing. Review please, as usual. Enjoy!

Nine

Suzuki climbed into the car after us and spent the entire ride chattering about utter nonsense. He had apparently enjoyed his time on the game show very much, not to mention that he was very fond of this city, that alley, the snow, a small pub that sat next to a flower shop, most human breakfast foods, AB positive, several music artists I had never heard of, Mozart, plaid patterns, blue colored pencils, the Hawaiian islands, and staple guns, which I would never be bold enough to let him near for fear of seeing a nuclear explosion soon after. You never know with Suzuki. Special things happen around him.

"You'll be staying at the academy?" Yuki asked politely.

No, please no, I thought.

"Of course, Yuki," the Headmaster said.

I hung my head. Damn. As much as I loved Suzuki, I really didn't want him around me that much. It was bad enough when we were younger, and now it seemed like he had actually gotten worse.

"I'd love to stay at the academy," Suzuki agreed. "And by the by, you wouldn't happen to want $100,000, would you? You know, the earnings from the game show. I don't really need/want it. Figure a headmaster would be able to find better uses for it."

"Why did you go on that game show again?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"You really don't know?"

"Nope."

"You were just somehow inclined to walk in and use your ridiculous powers to win a huge sum of money that someone else probably deserved more than you did?"

"Yup."

I shook my head and was quiet for the rest of the car ride. What an idiot. He was going to be the death of me one day. Wait, no. Scratch that. I was going to murder him one day. Death by strangulation was a horrible way for a pureblood vampire to go. It was almost as embarrassing as being killed by falling into a sewer filled with radioactive robotic ducks.

I heard about that happening to a friend of the family once; it was huge news all over the vampire community. My parents were talking it over when I just "happened" to walk through the room and overheard their entire conversation about the poor sap. It took a moment for the information to sink in, since I was so young at the time. It was back before we were banished, when we were still among high society. I was scared of sewers for a long, long time after that.

When we got back to the academy, I went straight to the room Yuki and I shared without a second glance at Zero when he appeared in the hallway. Exhausted, I flopped down on my bed and wormed my way down under the covers, determined to get as far away from the outside world as I possibly could for the next twelve hours or so.

Suzuki

"Hello, Lefty!"

"Hello, Righty!"

"And how are you today, Lefty?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Righty! How are you this fine evening?"

"Perfectly spectacular, old friend!"

Watching, and listening, to my hands have a conversation was amazingly compelling. They were controlling me, telling me what to say when. It was like they had taken over my brain.

"And what do you think of Cross Academy, Righty?" my left hand asked.

"It's wonderful, Lefty! Though the kitchen staff could be a bit more gracious." My right hand gasped. "Lefty! Your eyes are smearing off!" It grabbed a marker from the table and retraced Lefty's eyes.

"Thank you, Righty!" my left hand said. "I thought something was a bit off."

"Would you just SHUT UP?!?" the silver-haired boy snarled from across the room.

"I warned you," Kanji dried a plate and handed it to Yuki. "But you wouldn't listen to me. You thought I was joking when I told you that Suzuki is insane, you thought I was just over exaggerating. You thought I was being melodramatic, and you didn't give it a second thought. But now, now that you've agreed to let him have all the freedoms of a normal person, you're stuck with him."

I stared at her blandly. "Righty and Lefty don't appreciate that. I'm sorry, dear friends; please continue."

"As I was saying," Lefty said. "Thank you for fixing my eyes, Righty."

"My pleasure, Lefty," Righty put the marker down. "But anyway, as for Cross Academy…this kitchen staff sure is aggravating."

"Exactly my thoughts," Lefty agreed. "We've only been here two nights and they've already thrown three plates at us."

"Imagine what would happen if we were in a room filled with knives!"
"I don't think we'd survive, Righty!"

"That's it!" the silver haired boy growled, reaching for another plate.

"Zero, don't." Kanji warned. "It'll provoke him. Do you really want to deal with Lefty and Righty for the rest of the week?"

"No. I really don't."

"Maybe he'll get tired of it!" Yuki said cheerfully.

"I like that Yuki girl," Lefty decided.

"Yes, quite right. She's the only who hasn't tried to kill us!" Righty agreed.

"But that boy with silver hair…"

He put down the plate he was holding. "That's it. I'm leaving."

"There he goes!" Righty said as he walked out the door.

Kanji threw her hands up. "I give up. I really do. Suzuki, Lefty, Righty, you're going to either have to shut up or get out."

I stood up. "We'll leave then, if that's what you want." I turned to leave and wheeled back on my heel. "What's the silver haired boy's name?"

"Zero," she said crossly.

"Zero what?" Righty asked.

"Kiryu."

Righty, Lefty, and I all gasped. "Kiryu?!"

"I don't even know how you just managed to make all three voices at once."

"You mean the famous clan of hunters?" Lefty asked, shocked. He wasn't taking this very well. Another shock like this and he might have a heart attack.

"Lefty! Hang in there!" Righty said desperately.

"I'm fine," Lefty choked. "I'm fine! Don't worry about--"

Spasms wracked through him.

"LEFTY!" Righty screamed. "NO!"

Lefty hung limp on my wrist.

"LEFTY!" Righty and I yelled.

"I can't go on without Lefty!" Righty said dramatically. "Life isn't worth living without him!"

Only moments later, Righty was limp as well, nothing more than a normal vampire hand, with no personality at all. All it was good for was grabbing onto things and finger painting.

"Righty!" I yelled. "Not you too!"

I heard Kanji sigh behind me and walked out the door, ashamed and depressed. This wasn't just a coincidence; this was a murder. It was all Zero Kiryu's fault. He must have planned it ahead of time and then killed them.

He was going to pay.

"Kiryu!" I spotted him in the hallway. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" he snapped.

"You know very well what!"

"No I don't!"

I paused. He was telling the truth. No lie could ever get by me. I looked at him suspiciously. "You're off the hook…for now."

"Ah, thank you. I was so worried." He rolled his eyes.

I stroked my chin in thought. "Yes…I bet you were…liar!"

He stared at me. "What?"

I loomed over him. "What are your intentions involving my sister?"

"Kanji?"

"Yes," I said thoughtfully. "Kanji."

"I—I don't know!"

"Liar!"

"What am I supposed to say?" he asked, frustrated.

"Do you love her?" I asked before he had time to think. That's what you have to do, act before they can think, before they have time to even process a single thought. You catch them unaware that way.

"I don't know!"

"LIAR!" I hadn't expected him to actually give me a lie. That meant that he really did love her; otherwise, he would have told me the truth and said no. He was guilty on all accounts already, and we hadn't even been talking for more than three minutes.

"Why are you so insane?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Who are you to say I'm insane?" I countered, throwing him off his thoughts again. I was too clever for him, wasn't I? He growled and I hissed in reply. "What makes you think you deserve Kanji?"

"I never said I did."

"That's…true." Hm. Puzzling. Puzzling indeed. "Could it be because you are a Level D?"

He shrugged dismally and I cocked my head to the side.

"You're an odd one, Kiryu." I smiled. "Perfect." I clapped him on the back. "You're perfect for her. Just don't tell the Kuran kid and everything'll be good."

Kanji

Suzuki.

Is.

Unbearable.

Already he had spent the night having conversations with Lefty and Righty, trying to revive both of them, and then throwing pant-filled balloons and the Sun Dorm because it needed "a touch up." The idiot also managed to find and break the Headmaster's "borrowed" computer, leaving the Headmaster to take it back to wherever he had stolen it from.

The next day, I was woken by Yuki frantically cleaning the room, kicking up clouds of dust that clogged up the air with a feather duster in one hand while also managing to vacuum with the other. Blinding sunlight was streaming in through the window and I hissed, pulling the covers over my head.

"They're all coming back tomorrow!" she said desperately.

"Who?" I asked groggily, peeking out of my little cave. "And do you have any idea what time it is?"

"It's almost noon," she turned the vacuum cleaner off and put the feather duster down as she ran to a bucket and sponge and started madly scrubbing away at the floor. "And it's the last day of holiday break, so all of the other students are coming back tomorrow! This place needs to be spotless when they do!" She sat straight up. "I haven't even started on the Moon Dorm!"

"Have fun with that," I grumbled.

"No! I won't!" she yelled. She was going into a Yuki Frenzy.

"It was sarcastic," I muttered. "Don't take it seriously. Lighten up."

"I DO NOT NEED TO LIGHTEN UP!" it was almost like steam was coming out of her ears. "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO NEEDS TO LIGHTEN UP!"

"I don't think so," I stared at her through the little part in the blankets. "When was the last time you had a CAT scan?"

"Cats? We don't have cats here," her eye twitched.

"Yuki, you need some fresh air. How long have you been cleaning for?"

"Since five this morning,"

"That's seven hours. You need to take a break."

"But there's still so much to do! I haven't even moved onto the other dorms! I managed to get some cleaning done in the main building, but then I had to leave because the teachers are setting things up and I can't stop!" she wailed.

"Then leave me out of it. Go get Zero and tell him to help you. What about Suzuki? You can con him into cleaning. Just tell him that if he cleans enough, Righty and Lefty will be revived."

"But isn't that bad? Tricking people into helping you?"

"Not when it's Suzuki. He's a monkey, not a person."

"How could you say that about your older brother?" she gaped at me—rather, at what she could see of me, which was only a small portion of my face and my eyes—and guffawed.

"Very easily." I recalled every stupid thing he had done, every prank he had played on me, in one horrible moment. When I was about to die and suddenly saw my whole life flash before my eyes, I hope those bits could be left out. Wouldn't that be great? The last thing I see before I go: Suzuki dumping a bucket of fish heads on me from the roof above. Oh yeah. That'd be perfect. I rolled my eyes.

"Well aren't you excited that break is over?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Not at all."

"But you get to see everyone else," she said. "You don't have to spend day and night without any sleep, watching vampires and making sure no stupid human fangirls go after them. You get to lead a normal life."

"Yuki, I'm engaged to a bigheaded pureblood, in love with a Level D, my parents just died, and now my idiot older brother is here wreaking havoc on Cross Academy. On top of everything else, I still don't know why my parents were killed and I have no clue how to lift the curse running through my blood. I'd hardly call it a normal life."

She looked downcast. "Oh yeah. That whole curse thing…."

"I'm working on it."

"Are you really?"

"Kind of."

I really needed to get a move on with lifting the curse; I just hadn't had the opportunity to do any research or experiment with anything. It was still on my list of things to do. It was just continually being bypassed. It wasn't very fun, sitting around thinking about it. I tried to ignore it. But Zero couldn't keep his sanity forever. I could save him. I had the power. Just…the stupid curse….

It needed to go.