Akane entered The Moon Dorms, irritated but unsurprised to see Kaname on one of the couches in the seating area of the lobby, a book in hand, his presence, seeming completely coincidental. Akane knew better, of course, and had to struggle to keep her face in the same disinterested expression she'd had when talking with Yuki.

She walked calmly into the room, passed the Pureblood and headed for the stairs.
"Was everything alright?" Kaname inquired, not turning from the pages of his book. Akane had reached the staircase to the right side of the room, opposite where he sat. His question halted her as her anger was quickly rising back to the inferno it had been after leaving Kaien's office.

Kaname looked up after not receiving an answer, to see Akane watching him with a tired, and a convincingly concealed, irritable countenance.
"If there was any cause for concern, I'm sure you'd have been called, Kuran." She didn't want to argue with the Vampire. The anger and hurt she cradled in her chest, after her times with Yagari and Yuki, could so easily get her mouth moving, revealing things she may regret. So, she continued up the stairs without a backwards glance, not staying to hear if Kaname had anything more to say.

Akane stopped at her door with a sigh as her irritation rose again at the scent from inside her room. Her emotions were an easy trigger for her eyes to change and cause, an almost, violent urge to lash out rise inside her, which coincided with the awakening of her hunger. Rubbing her hands over her face in exasperation, she proceeded to open her bedroom door.

Aido sat on the cushioned chair at her dressing table, flipping through the pages of one of the many books Ichijo left for her to read. His head lifted once the door closed forcefully. Akane stood glaring at him, unable to hold back her anger any longer. Aido said nothing but rose, his expression darkening slightly at the glower on Akane's face, her eyes fazing between red and green sporadically as she fought to keep her cool.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Aido asked, taking a step towards her. The movement seemed to rouse Akane. She shook her head and stormed into the room, to one of her large chest-of-draws and wrenched the top-drawer open. She pulled out a long pair of pyjama bottoms (white with black and pink hearts), and an old green tee that was faded and stretched. It was good for little else now.

"Does this have anything to do with that Hunter?" Akane slammed the drawer shut, the force, shaking the whole cabinet. The room was silent, save for Akane trying to bring her erratic breathing back to normal as she fought the sting of angry tears as they gathered in her eyes. Eventually, she broke, and her head lowered as a hand rose, too late to catch the sob that escaped her throat. Aido made to approach when Akane suddenly flung herself into his chest, her nightclothes falling from her hands to the floor as her arms wrapped firmly around his torso.

She didn't want to be like this! Seeing her friends and having them treat her just like they used to, it made her so happy, even Yuki couldn't diminish that feeling. Yet, that man!
"He has no right to ask anything of me! I owe him nothing!" she cried into Aido's chest. Aido's hands caught her the moment she was within reach and wound around her tightly. One hand was held securely around her waist while the other rested gently on the back of her head, stroking the soft strands in a soothing gesture.

He'd learned by now, Akane would only talk, really talk, when she'd gotten through whatever caused the block stopping her. It had taken her nearly a month to agree, just to answer some questions about her father and herself when she was Human. He hoped their friendship meant they could skip the trust-building, and arguing, and that she'd tell him once she settled in his arms. But he wasn't about to push it, not since he'd heard Kaname pushing all the wrong buttons just by waiting for her. Aido had been entering Akane's room when he'd caught her scent returning to the dorms. He'd shut the door just as he'd heard Kaname speak, wincing, as he imagined the glare Akane would have shot him. If he wanted to know what had gone on in Kaien's office with that Hunter, Yagari, he'd have to wait.

Eventually, Akane's angry crying dwindled to unpleasant hiccupping, before she pulled away from Aido's warm, and comforting embrace.
"I don't want to talk about it," she revealed in a mumble with her head bowed. "Not right now. I just want to go to bed." Aido raised a hand to the side of her face and coaxed her into looking up at him as another tear escaped. Her face and eyes were red from crying, but the extra moisture made her forest green eyes sparkle.

He shouldn't feel his heart clench so severely just at the sight of those eyes, so raw and open to his interpretation, but he couldn't look or move away from her. He should be grinning, showing his fangs, causing a drop of fear in her delicious scent, before chuckling and saying something mildly suggestive to cut the tension and turn her anger into petulant irritation. Not swiping at a tear with his thumb as his other hand rises to mimic its' twin on the other side of her face.

Akane's eyes are widening now, staring like a deer in the headlights at the pensive, soft expression on Aido's face. This wasn't a look she'd seen him wear before. He'd had looked thoughtful before, but this was so different from those expressions. He'd never held her face like this, never stared into her eyes so deeply, as if staring into her soul, it scared her.

Yuki stood in front of The Moon Dorms for several minutes, looking up at the empty windows of the elegant, yet imposing, structure. Eventually, she moved away and walked back to school, where classes would be continuing after their morning break. Coming into her brightly lit classroom, she sat next to her friend, Sayori, as their Geography teacher began his lesson. But her mind wondered, too caught up in everything that happened during and after Ichijo's party to concentrate on his lesson.

Her proposal to Zero and his unhappy cooperation had left her with a burden she never imagined she'd willingly carry. The effects of his feeding (the dizziness and tingling in her fingers and toes), had taken some hours to fade, but his face had been the biggest plague of her thoughts since last night. He'd looked so beaten, so defeated, an expression she'd never seen on her long-time friend's face before. But she couldn't let him wallow or hide anymore. He was too important to her, too precious to her heart to let him waste away, be it from hunger or poisons thoughts.

She knew Kaname would keep a close watch on Zero from now on, and she understood why he insisted that Zero be moved to the Night Class, but she just couldn't do that to him. Zero hates Vampires. He wouldn't survive, being surrounded by them. She sighed as the severity of hers and Zero's arrangement began pressing down on her mind. It's ok. If I keep Zero in check, Kaname never has to know what I'm doing.

Sayori nudged Yuki, bringing her focus back to the class as their teacher walked by, after instructing them to get started on the task he'd set, a task Yuki had been too preoccupied to listen to because she realised something. Where's Zero? She'd asked him to come to school today but he hadn't come. She'd let it slide in their first lesson, but she knew if he hadn't come by now, then he wouldn't bother, giving him far too much time to think and rethink himself into another state of self-loathing. Or get himself killed by a trigger-happy Hunter! Yuki left the classroom in a flurry, not sparing her infuriated tutor a glance as she slammed the door behind her. She ran through and out the school building, heading straight for Kaien's on-site residence, where she'd been told by Yagari, Zero, was currently being held.

Zero was, indeed, sat on the floor, in his room at Kaien's house, thoughts tumbling through his head. He'd attempted to rid himself of the memory of Yuki's blood, the feel, the taste but it was an impossible endeavour. Even the thought of her blood had him rubbing, absentmindedly, at his throat.
"Why are the windows covered?" a voice spoke as sunlight suddenly penetrated the cage around his head he'd made with his hands. Yagari stood at the now, uncovered window, curtain still in hand. His back was turned to his pupil, but he still attempted a dialogue. "How's that shoulder?"

After his unhappy first meeting with his niece, coupled with the sorry state of his favourite students, it made Yagari feel at somewhat of a loss. He'd seen his sister in that girl's face and heard her in her voice. Her stubbornness, her anger, the clever argument, because, she'd been right about him. His failure to look for his younger sister had resulted in her death, the descent into madness of her husband, and his niece being turned into the monsters, he was bred to hunt.

For now, Zero was still Zero, so, no matter how long that lasts, Yagari knew he had to fulfil his duty as Zero's mentor and put him out of his misery. However, he'd decided, if Zero chose to resist, he wouldn't push it. Because, when it came down to it, he cared deeply for Zero, and honestly couldn't think of a worse thing to do as his last act as the boy's teacher.

Zero stared, wide-eyed and still. That hadn't been what he'd expected upon seeing the man again. Truthfully, he'd expected a bullet through the skull, not a conversation.
"That gun was specifically designed for Vampires. Even those of high-speed regeneration and recovery couldn't hope to heal so fast from a bullet from my gun!" Yagari declared as he spun, a gun in hand and pointed directly between Zero's eyes. The boy looked up at his elder's narrowed, accusatory gaze as he continued. "Unless they drink fresh blood, of course."

Zero was immobile, his heart racing in fear and adrenaline, coursing thick through his veins, but he remained seated, resigned to his fate, until Yuki threw open the bedroom door and saw the gun about to end him for good. Yagari pulled the trigger. Yuki jumped and held her breath as the blood drained from her face in fright at the loud and final sound. Everything stilled in the room as the smoke from the gunshot cleared, along with the ringing left by the deafening sound. Zero held the barrel of the gun, pointing it up and away from his head. Yuki still had her hand clasping the doorknob tightly, and Yagari stood waiting, relief and disappointment flooding him at Zero's decision to defend himself.

"Wouldn't it be better if you were killed by me, and not someone else? Have you forgotten?" Zero, looked up at the tired face of his mentor and watched as he raised a hand to his right eye. "' I won't make you regret losing your eye to save me, that's what you promised. But seeing you like this, makes me think, it would have been better if you'd died." Zero's breath caught in his chest as pain stabbed at his heart bitterly.

Yuki gasped in horror at the awful admission, and watched, as Yagari lowered his weapon and sighed in defeat at the young man sat at his feet.
"If I killed you, it would bring me a level of peace, I think." Yagari and Zero watched one another for a few, tense, and heartbreaking moments. Yuki stayed in the doorway, feeling like an intruder on such a painful moment between Zero and his teacher. Finally, Yagari turned away. "Struggle, all you want, for as long as you can. But the life you've chosen is a life drenched in blood. So, stop running from it, Zero." Zero watched as Yagari placed his gun back in the hidden holster in his coat, and walked to the door, where Yuki stood, now feeling more than ever, that she should've just stayed in class.

"Little girl!" Yagari acknowledged as Yuki scurried out of his way at the door. She was startled to be addressed and mortified at being referred to as 'Little Girl'.
"Me? What?"
"You'll have the job of putting him down when the time comes. Hope you're up to it." Yuki stared at him as he bent to pick up a large suitcase, that she hadn't noticed just inside the doorway in front of her. "Damn! This is heavy!" Yagari muttered as he struggled to walk with it out of the room before giving up altogether and reminding himself to collect it some other time.

"You were trying to kill Zero in the pool…"
"Trying to kill him?" Yagari interrupted, turning his piercing, sapphire, blue eye on her. "You think, if I was trying to kill him, I would have missed from that distance?" Yagari shook his head in derision and turned once more to Zero. His head was bowed, his eyes, clouded by his turbulent thoughts. "And you!" he said gruffly, pulling Zero's attention back from his toxic mind. "I expect you to be doing better at our next meeting. Another thing… that woman, she may still be alive." Zero's heart stopped.

Yagari walked the short hallway to the main foyer of the small home and exited into the sunbathed academy grounds. He took a deep breath, turning his face to the clear, blue sky. His cobalt eye drifted to the distant roof of The Moon Dorms. After observing the view for a short minute, he turned and left the academy, continuing his journey back to The Hunters Association Headquarters (where he belonged), for his next assignment.