Akane had remained awake for some hours after Aidou left. She continued to find sleep difficult, with her senses being battered with information, but eventually, sleep did claim her in the hours of the late morning, and she slept relatively soundly, for the most part. Dark, mahogany eyes made fleeting appearances in her, otherwise, dreamless sleep, causing a rush of adrenaline that went idle, meaning, she woke with the feeling of used and sore limbs. Her body recovered from the fatigue as soon as she was up and dressed, but her mind was still lagging by the time Aidou arrived to take her on a tour of The Moon Dorms.

The early afternoon saw Akane following Aidou as he introduced her to the other students milling about the dorm before school. It was rather uneventful, except, for the rather heated yet, amusing argument that was going on between Aidou and Ruka. They'd been abusing each other since they passed her and Kain, in the corridor. Aidou had properly introduced Akane to his taller cousin, Kain (who nodded in acknowledgement at Akane), yet passed over Ruka as if she wasn't there.

Akane and Kain stood side by side as the two bickered and snarled at each other, shouting nonsensical threats and childish insults.
"Is this a normal occurrence?" Akane asked, leaning discreetly towards the taller Vampire. She received no verbal reply, but the sigh and tired look that overcame his face was answer enough.

"Miss Nakamura! Hello!" a cheerful voice called from down the hall. Akane turned to see Ichijou waving in greeting as he walked down the corridor with Senri Shiki, who appeared to have a stick of pocky caught between his lips, a typical sight.
"I see Aidou's showing you around the dorm," he commented as he stopped in front of her. "This is Senri Shiki," he introduced happily, explaining to Akane again, that they were roommates, and reiterating that she was welcome to stop by at any time.

Akane looked up at the taller Vampire with the blank expression and tilted her head in silent greeting, which he returned. She remembered Miu and Kimiko both telling her how quiet Shiki was, so she felt no need to strike up a conversation, which seemed to be pleasing to the maroon-haired male. Shiki silently offered the box of chocolate pocky to the new Vampire, gauging her slight surprise and quizzical tilt of her head to the left, as if she was asking if he was sure. He arched a brow in response and was pleased when Akane shrugged and plucked a pocky stick from the box and captured it between her teeth.

"Come on, Nakamura. I'll show you the kitchen and where to find the staff area, next," Aidou suddenly announced, pulled her away and down the stairs before she had a chance to thank the silent model for the treat. Ichijou waved, chuckling amusedly while Shiki continued to nibble tiredly. Ruka stormed away and Kain followed quietly, with another sigh escaping his lips.

"That was rude!" Akane chastised Aidou as they left the staff room, where she'd met the head maid.
"What?" Aidou asked confused. He had been nothing but charming to the Vampire maid.
"Not that! Earlier with Shiki and V.P., and Souen! Getting into stupid arguments with your cousin. You're not four, and I'm not some doll for you to drag around either!" Aidou was silent but the look of petulant disagreement was evident on his face. He was supposed to be her teacher and coach, to help, and guide her. He didn't like the thought that she could be close to anyone else. Except for Ruka. Her, he'd just wanted to annoy, and he knew he had no worries when it came to Kain. He was surprisingly lazy and only had eyes for Ruka.

Akane sighed.
"Look, I know you feel responsible for me, and well, you are." Aidou's frown deepened remorsefully, as he looked away. "But, I know why you told. I chose to tell you what was going on and you had very few options available to you after I came to the changeover. I'm not angry with you anymore, so you don't need to keep doing that."
"Doing what?" Aidou asked quietly, fighting the awkward fluttering he could feel in his gut at her words.
"Cocooning me! I want you to be my friend," she declared confidently.

Aidou stared, astonished. No one had said those words to him quite like that before, and certainly not with that look.
"You, what?" he asked dumbly.
"I don't want a teacher, a guide, a guard or a handsy acquaintance who doesn't know when it's appropriate to cuddle." He smiled fondly at that, with a cheeky raise of his eyebrow. "I want a friend here, and you know more about my life than anyone ever has. I trusted you and… I still do." Akane stretched out her hand and waited for Aidou to grasp it. He didn't take it immediately. His mind came back to the thoughts that had been floating around in his head since Tuesday.

He couldn't take her hand, a symbol of friendship, and deceive her right off the bat! With a resolute expression, his hand rose. Akane smiled and shook it but Aidou pulled her closer unexpectedly, causing her to tumble into his chest with a gasp. He caught her easily and grinned, unapologetically, when she looked up at him with the same adorable frown he remembered.
"Follow me you klutz, there's something I gotta show you."

Aidou took her wrist and briskly headed to a part of the dorm Akane hadn't been yet. Instead of following the corridor back to the lobby, they turned the first right after the staff area and headed down a set of stairs. This part of the dorm was as prettily decorated as the rest of the building, except there was no natural light that could reach underground. So, the area from the stairs on was illuminated by torch or lamplight. The pair threw long shadows on the walls, across the floors and ceilings as they walked but Akane's new sense of sight was much sharper, so this low level of light was more than enough.

At the bottom of the steps was a small foyer, that housed a set of large double doors (mahogany, of course). The doors were heavy, with rounded, iron door handles.
"You're gonna love this," Aidou declared with a grin as he grasped one of the handles and turned it. Akane was puzzled but found she was excited to see what he had to show her. Judging by his assumption, she would like what lay beyond these doors.

Akane could guess from the scent alone what she would find but it did little to prepare her for what she saw beyond the doors. The room was cavernous, possibly taking up the entire footprint of The Moon Dorms. Filled from floor to ceiling with shelves upon shelves of books. Akane stared in awe. She was not an obsessive reader, but you didn't have to know the entirety of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to appreciate this treasure trove of knowledge.

Aidou stepped inside and held the doors open for Akane as she followed him with her mouth still dropped open.
"Close your mouth, Nakamura," Aidou giggled before pulling her to his side, trapping one of her arms while his coiled around her and tilted her chin. She glared up into his mischievous blue eyes, trying desperately to keep her heart at its normal rate while her nose was filled with his smell. "Or would you like me to close it for you?"
"Get lost, pervert!" she ground out as she shoved him back and stomped into the aisles of bookshelves, followed by his amused chuckling.

"Why did you bring me here anyway?" Akane snapped as she found herself at the supposed centre of the room, where a large table sat surrounded by comfortable looking mahogany armchairs.
"To show you something. Now, sit here and wait for me." Akane frowned but did as she was told. "Don't miss me too much," Aidou's voice called from within the room somewhere behind her as he left.

It was some moments later when Akane heard him making his way back, but she didn't turn to acknowledge him as he appeared from around a corner, and only frowned deeper when she noticed just three large, old looking books in his hands. He placed the books down on the table, and pulled out a chair beside her, but made no further move than that. She was about to reach for the book on the top herself, when Aidou's hand quickly slapped down on the top of the pile, holding them in place.

"I wasn't supposed to show you this yet. Lord Kaname said to wait a while until you got used to everything," he revealed but quieted after he mentioned the Pureblood.
"And you decided to… what… disobey him anyway? Heaven forbid!" The look of a kicked puppy crossed his face at the thought of going against Kaname's orders, causing Akane's eyes to roll, but she decided to be patient and let him explain.

"This is important, and I think it's better for me to just show you than for you to find out some other way." The way he spoke made this whole thing sound far more significant to Akane personally than she would have liked, but she was also fully aware that what Aidou was doing, was for her benefit. Disobeying a Pureblood for her no less. Whatever was in these books, it was something Aidou felt she deserved to know, but by the look of doubt that crossed his face as he continued to hold the books to ransom, she realised, she may not like what she found within their worn pages.

With a sigh, Aidou lifted the first book. It was the compilation of the Unfortunates catalogued by The Vampire Council for the last three millennia. He placed the handmade tome before the ex-Human and allowed her to open it to a random page, filled with names, description and scene reports of the Unfortunates that came before her. Akane's face was scrunched in confusion as she began to read but quickly changed to shock and pity as she read on, as the books mainly described the deaths of the individuals.

"What is this?" she asked in a whisper as morbid curiosity forced her eyes to continue to glide over the page until the end, only to turn it and begin at the top again.
"We call them Unfortunate. Their Human, except, their blood is far more potent than an ordinary person." Aidou let her read for a few moments more in silence, so he could build enough courage to say what he had to say next. "Like you."

Her eyes stopped, her body stiffened, and her head slowly rose and turned to Aidou with a look of pained bewilderment.
"You were one of those Humans, Nakamura, an Unfortunate. You nearly caused a riot when you first came to the changeover. We just weren't prepared for it. Everyone has been taking extra blood tablets ever since you arrived, because of the intensity of your scent."

Akane turned back to the book and Aidou could see her clever mind working out what that would mean. The tears brimming in her eyes as she stared at the pages in front of her was his cue to speak again before he let her anger cloud the truth.
"I wanted to understand why you were different because I'd never heard of Unfortunates before. But when I first came to your room, I nearly lost it! I thought I'd never let that happen again, despite the fact, I wanted to know more about you. But then Headmaster Cross let you go into town and asked us to keep an eye on you, then you saw that Level E and I ended up lying to Ichijou…"

He was rambling and not even looking at her. Akane was staring at him like he'd sprouted wings as he furiously tried to explain himself. It took Akane some seconds to realise that he thought she would be angry and blame him for all this somehow. "And you were always so interested in everything…" He stopped because Akane had suddenly stood and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders.

Aidou sat as still as stone as his mind tried to figure out what possible scenario this situation would fall into but came up blank.
"Um?" he muttered unintelligently.
"I'm not mad." That's a first? Aidou thought in confusion as Akane pulled away and sat back down in her seat. She was quiet for some time as she continued to read the pages. After the turning of the third page, she sighed and slowly closed the book.

Aidou waited uncomfortably in the silence but he didn't want to do or say anything that might set her off. He could see the tears just waiting to fall from her eyes. If she tilted her head down just a little, they would fall, but she didn't, and he remained quiet.

"They died, so young." Akane's voice was small, sad. She felt such pity for the Unfortunates listed in these pages. So far, thirteen had been the eldest she had found and that was just, so, tragic.
"We think it starts when they hit puberty, some are earlier than others," Aidou offered delicately.
"I was twelve when I started my period… She came… because of me." The tears fell finally but Akane was silent as she cried.

Aidou inwardly cringed at the sight of the tears rolling down her blank, haunted face. She looked so hollow at that moment, and there was nothing he would allow to stop him from offering her his arms, as he wound them gently around her. Akane accepted his comfort as she felt such a rush of guilt and self-hatred crash into her. It was her fault! All of this was her fault! If she had never been born, her parents would not be dead. Her father wouldn't have suffered the loss of his wife, his humanity, and his sanity. He wouldn't have felt so conflicted and angry at what he had become, because it would never have happened!

Of course, Akane knew this trail of thought was nothing but detrimental, and completely illogical. She would have had no control over the scent of her blood, just as she wouldn't have been able to control the weather. Her family had been destroyed because a Vampire caught her scent and followed it. But unlike many of the Unfortunates in the book, a Pureblood had found Akane and devised a plan to keep her, by killing her mother, the Hunter, and turning her father.

She had waited for Akane to be out of the house before attacking. Then, she'd forced her father to bend to her will, thanks to the bond and her Pureblood status, and used him to ferry Akane's blood back to her. The anger, hurt and guilt flipped at that moment to rage, disgust and hatred. Akane had not been the cause, she had been a reason to attack, but the cause lied with the Pureblood, and she decided, she would find this Vampire and see how far these rules regarding Purebloods, could bend.