Chapter 10 – Cross Academy
After that horrible incident the rest of the train ride was uneventful. Nicky mostly stayed in her cabin and Eli was very attentive. Also, Ichijou stopped by to apologize for what happened and to again assure her he didn't see anything. Nicky accepted his apology and the boy hurried away. He had kept his eyes down or to the side the entire time so Nicky couldn't help the feeling that he may have actually seen something and just saying he didn't. Nicky didn't ask and did her best to try and forget the whole incident. Luckily for her the train ride finally came to an end and as the exit the train it was just growing dark in Japan.
Nicky looks around them, holding on to her bag as Eli grins next to her. "So, what do you think?" Eli asks, looking down at her friend.
"Well," Nicky rubs the back of her neck. They were in another abandoned train station, similar to the one back in England. Only, here the signs were in Japanese instead of in English.
"It'll look better once we reach the school," Eli assures as they walk over to a line of three cars. Nicky opens her mouth to ask about it, but realizes that all of them won't fit in one car. Nicky was glad to see that she, Kaname and Eli were riding together again. She still wasn't comfortable around Aidou, Kain or Ichijou and Ruka was still acting a little hostile so she didn't want to ride with her either.
Nicky sighs as she settles in for the long car ride over to Cross Academy. She watches out the car window as the scenery rolls by. Between the train station and Cross Academy they pass through a town. Nicky perks up a bit, looking out at a few shops and eateries. She has always wanted to try authentic Japanese food and maybe buy some clothes. Nicky still had the money her parents have sent her over the last three weeks since leaving home and she would love to buy some souvenirs to send back to her parents. Nicky smiles, wondering how they would react to finding out that Nicky spent Christmas and New Years in Japan.
Nicky smiles when she imagines her mother's face. If Kathy was going to go have fun, then so was she! Nicky jumps a little when Kaname suddenly taps her on the shoulder. "We're almost there," he says, motioning towards a school surrounded by a wall. It reminded Nicky a little of her and Eli's school.
Nicky was glad to finally be out of the car after a nearly two hour long ride from the train station. Stretching, Nicky looks around at the school. It really did look like the Isis Boarding School. Strange… Nicky looks back to see the other cars pulling up as well while Eli gets their bags out of the trunk of their car.
"So, where are we staying?" Eli asks, looking over at Kaname.
"I spoke to Headmaster Cross yesterday and he said you could both stay with him. He has his own building separate from the student dorms," Kaname explains, "For now we have to head back to the Moon Dorms. Eli, you have been here before, so I'm sure you can show Nicky to the Headmaster's office. To start off, he would like to speak with the two of you. After that I'm sure he'll have either of the 'School Guardians,' Yuki or Zero, show you around the school grounds."
"Okay, so we'll head there first then," Nicky says, looking over at her friend who was grinning in an almost evil manner. Kaname nods at the girls as he and the rest of the vampires head off to their dorms. Nicky follows Eli as she begins heading towards the main school building where Cross currently was. "So," Nicky says, earning Eli's attention, "Why are you smiling like that?"
"What do you mean?" Eli asks, looking as innocent as she possibly could.
"The way you were grinning, I know you are planning something," Nicky crosses her arms, hanging her duffle bag off her shoulder.
Eli does her best to fight back a smirk, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Please don't cause any trouble," Nicky asks with a sigh, knowing Eli was probably going to ignore her pleas and do whatever she wants.
Once inside the two soon come to a pair of large double doors. Pausing, Eli knocks and the two hear a man's voice telling them to come in. Walking in, Nicky is caught off guard by the man sitting behind the desk. He was dressed in heavy clothes with a scarf wrapped around his neck and large glasses. "Welcome back Eli!" the man says, giving the girls a big, warm smile as he walks over to them and gives Eli a big hug.
"Hey Kaien!" Eli replies, hugging the man back before turning to Nicky, "Nicky, this is Headmaster, Kaien Cross. Kaien, this is Nicky." Eli introduces the two, stepping out of the way so Cross could get a better look at Nicky.
"It's nice to meet you Nicky, Kaname has told me so much about you!" Cross pulls Nicky into a hug as well. Nicky pats the man's back, a little uncomfortable with the sudden contact.
"Um, it's nice to meet you as well," Nicky replies, glancing over at Eli who could tell her friend was uncomfortable and loving it. "Kaname has told you about me?"
Cross nods, "Well, I'm sure you're both tired after your trip. Yuki, Zero," Cross calls out and two people wearing the day class uniform walk into the room. "These are the school guardians, Zero and my adorable daughter, Yuki!" Cross walks over to them and gives Yuki a hug. The girl just chuckles nervously, patting Cross on the arm. "They will show you to my home here on campus. After you have rested, Eli can show you around."
Nicky nods, giving the two students a smile while Eli rushes r=forward to grab onto Zero, giving him an unwanted hug. "Zero-chan!" Eli calls out as the boy struggles to escape the girl's grasp, "It's been so long!" The boy says something in Japanese that Nicky doesn't quite catch and Eli grins, responding in the same language.
"Um, what did they just say?" Nicky asks, looking over at Cross who was chuckling.
"Oh, Zero just said he didn't understand English and Eli repeated what she has said," Cross translates the conversation. He turns to Yuki and speaks to her for a moment and she nods. "Yuki is going to show you two to your rooms."
"Um, thank you," Nicky says, smiling at Yuki as adjusts the strap on her bag, it was starting to dig into her shoulder and she wanted to put it down. As the group walks out of the office Eli starts translating for the group so Nicky knows what's being said.
"So, where are you from?" Yuki asks, looking over at Nicky, "I already know Eli-san is from America."
"I'm from America too, but I go to the same school as Eli, in England," Nicky responds, speaking through Eli.
"That's nice, I'm sure it better to go to school with someone from the same country as you," Yuki smiles and Nicky nods. "Headmaster Cross told us you were a friend of Kaname-senpai?"
Nicky nods again, "Yes, he actually saved me when I was attacked outside school grounds. He's been very kind to me." When Eli translates the last sentence Zero scoffs, mumbling something. "Um, what did he say?"
Eli sighs heavily, "Nothing, but you should know Zero hates the Night Class, despises them really."
"Why?" Nicky asks, looking at Zero.
"Because he's a butt-munch," Eli says, matter-of-factly. Nicky giggles and Zero glares at Eli, asking what she assumed to was 'What did you say?' Eli just grins over at the boy and keeps walking.
About half way to Cross's home Zero stops, turning towards the others. "I have things I have to do," Eli translates for Zero who turns and begins walking away. Yuki nods and waves as Eli stares after Zero, quietly counting, "Five… Four… Three… Two…" that was when Eli takes off, running after Zero. The boy looks back then starts running as well, shouting back at Eli. Nicky and Yuki both nervous laugh before walking away. It was a little weird to be walking with Yuki since Nicky didn't speak Japanese and Yuki didn't speak English, but Nicky figured they didn't really need to be talking any more.
Arriving at the house Yuki lets Nicky inside and shows her to the room where her and Eli's beds have been set up. Nicky gives Yuki a smile as thanks and the girl gives her one in return, walking away. Nicky waves to Yuki from the window as the girl heads off to do whatever it is she does and Nicky decides to get changed for bed. It was another hour before Eli comes back to join Nicky who was already lying down.
"Had fun?" Nicky asks, looking over at her friend as she walks in, throwing her bag onto the free bed and begins rummaging through it.
"Tons!" Eli says, grinning, "Zero thought if he ran I would back off, but that only made harassing him even more fun!"
"Why are you so mean to him?" Nicky rolls onto her side, propping her head up on her hand.
"Because he makes it so easy," Eli replies snickering, "He has this deep hatred for vampires so he automatically doesn't like me, even though I was born human."
Nicky frowns, "Why does he hate vampires?"
"Well," Eli thinks for a bit, "he comes from a family of vampire hunters so it's probably genetic."
"I see…" Nicky looks down. That didn't really explain it though.
"Oh, and when he was a kid his family was attacked by a Pure Blood. His parents were killed, so that might be way too," Eli adds in, almost like an afterthought.
"Really? You think?" Nicky asks, sounding really sarcastic. That was most likely the reason why. Watching a vampire kill your parents would be a good excuse to hate all of them.
"What makes his hatred really funny though is that he's a vampire too!" Eli laughs, finally finding her pajamas.
"Wait, he's a vampire?" Nicky asks, shocked.
"Yep," Eli walks into the bathroom to change, leaving the door open just a bit so they could still talk. "The Pure Blood that attacked his family turned him, only he didn't drink her blood, so he's pretty much screwed."
"That's horrible," Nicky leans back against the headboard of her bed. She really felt sorry for Zero now, and to top it all off he was getting harassed by Eli. "Wait, if he's a vamp then why is he in the day class?"
"Because no one besides Yuki, Kaien, me and now you know. At least here that is. I'm sure the vampire hunters know about him but are keeping quiet about it," Eli walks out of the bathroom in deep red colored pajamas with little black bats printed on them.
"Wait, if no one else knows about this, how do you know?" Nicky asks, raising an eyebrow at her friend.
"Because, when I have free time I come here and stalk people," Eli replies, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal, "I know everything that goes on here at Cross Academy. How else would I be able to get away with messing with Ruka? I have dirt on everybody!"
Nicky chuckles nervously, glad to have Eli as a friend and not an enemy. She could actually be kind of scary. "Either way," Nicky lies back down as Eli does the same, "I think you should go easy on Zero. It sounds like his life has been pretty bad so far." Eli sighs heavily, choosing not to answer. Instead she rolls onto her side, shutting off the light. Nicky quietly sighs, closing her eyes and falling asleep. Something told her she was going to have to keep a tight leash on Eli during their stay.
Over the next few days leading up to Christmas Eve Eli has run off, leaving Nicky alone at least four times. Poor Nicky, who had no idea where anything was on the school's grounds, would end up wandering around until a passing day class student found her and escorted her back to Cross's home. Nicky wasn't really sure if it was a good or bad thing that most of the students weren't there. It was still winter break for the Cross Academy students, but there was some still there studying for make-up tests as well as a few who had chosen to stay over break, so the school grounds weren't completely empty. Nicky didn't want to have to explain why she was there to a large amount of people so it was kind of a good thing most of the students were gone.
When not wandering around lost Nicky and Eli would head into town to check out the shops and a few diners. While there Nicky picked up a few souvenirs to send home to her parents and friends back in her home town. She also picked up a few gifts for Eli and the others, even Aidou (though his gift was a really girly novel so it was supposed to be funny). She had to take Eli's advice on most of the gifts since she didn't really know the others very well.
Nicky was happy to hear that Kaname was planning a little Christmas party for Nicky and Eli and he was even inviting Yuki and Zero. Something told Nicky Eli was planning something, but she really didn't have time to worry about that. When Kaname told Nicky about the party it was only three days before Christmas and the party was scheduled for Christmas day so they had a lot of preparation to do before then. Nicky had always been a skilled cook and while staying at CA Nicky cooked a few dinners for Cross so he suggested Nicky prepare the food. When asked by Kaname, Nicky eagerly agreed to do the cooking but she soon realized that might be a little easier said than done.
It seemed Aidou in particular had a large appetite and she wasn't really sure what vampires might like to eat. Again, Eli was a huge help. She went around and asked each party guest what they liked to eat so Nicky could work on a menu. It seemed everyone's tastes differed and they asked for foods Nicky had no idea how to cook. When not harassing Zero Eli helped taste test the foods Nicky experimented with cooking. By Christmas Eve Nicky had the menu decided and had learned how to make the foods everyone asked for, with a few creative touches to make them Nicky's own recipes.
Nicky made sure to prepare everything she could the day before the party so she wouldn't have to spend the entire morning in the kitchen. The party was scheduled for later that night, around 6:00 when the vampires of the group would have been awake for at least an hour. They would be having the party at Cross's house with the whole place decorated with a big tree in the main room where they would be having the party. Eli had gone around the night before dressed as an elf to collect everyone's presents so she could put them under the tree and Cross had even decided to dress up as (a much thinner) Santa while he passed out the presents to everyone.
On Christmas Eve Nicky sighed happily as she and Eli both lay down to go to sleep. "Excited for tomorrow?" Eli asks, lying on her side with her head propped up on her hand. That night Eli was wearing her black pajamas with red blood splatters on them and Nicky was wearing white and fluffy pajamas that were very warm.
Nicky nods over to her friend, "Yeah, I hope everyone likes my cooking."
"Of course they will!" Eli says with a smile, "You are a great cook! It takes some serious talent to make Japanese cuisine with without any experience with an American twist. And if they don't like it, I'll hurt them!" Eli grins and Nicky chuckles.
"Good night Eli," Nicky says, closing her eyes.
"Night Nicky," Eli shuts off the lights and the two soon fall asleep.