As tired as Akane had been, she couldn't quiet her thoughts long enough to fall into a truly deep sleep. Throughout the day, she woke, tossing and turning fitfully, rising before 2 p.m. hoping a warm bath would soothe her. The moment she and Aido had shared, had been pushed to the back of her mind, along with the rest of the mountingly complicated thoughts and emotions concerning him. Everything else, however, from that boy at Ichijo's party, her mother's brother showing up and having the gall to demand anything from her, it had all caused her temper to simmer. Her temper felt like a grumbling volcano that could irrupt at any time.
Akane began to wonder how much longer it'd be, how much more it'd take before her mind cracked and she did snap. She'd learned to be more open and honest with others since coming to the academy (Miu having a big hand in that), but still. It had been a long time since she'd said anything to alleviate her burdens. Logically, she knew the last four years of pushing down the grief of losing her mother, for her father's sake, had caused a lot of underlying emotional issues. These were all being exposed thanks to the events of the last few months. The unpleasant slap in the face of hers and her mother's pasts, being the most recent.
She acknowledged she needed to talk to someone, Aido would be preferable. He was the only person who had any real idea of her life before Cross Academy (as sad as that was). But if she did confide in him, that would mean allowing herself to be vulnerable, ripping open old, and barely concealed wounds. It was daunting, but Miu had asked her to count on her friends, to trust and talk to them when needed. She'd promised Miu she wouldn't let herself fall into her usual, unhealthy coping mechanism of overworking herself. She longed for the numbing effect studying had on her emotions, if even for just a short time.
Her bath ended within half an hour. After she's dried and dressed for class, Akane found herself back in the archives below The Moon Dorms, reading books on Purebloods while the three Unfortunate books lay, not too far away. Something had stirred in her when her mind while she'd let it wonder during her bath, travelling to a name she'd recalled after seeing that silver-haired boy at the party. A name she hadn't thought of in years.
Aido sighed, stopping at the edge of the central seating area in the library, watching Akane flip through the pages of a large book, her eyes flitting over two others that lay open on the table on either side of her. He was becoming more aware of what Miu had referred to when she eluded to Akane having the unhealthy tendency to bury herself in schoolwork. It was worrying how deep she fell in just to escape her demons.
He heaved another sigh before striding over.
"I know, it's nearly time to go," Akane said before he even got to the edge of the large circular table. He stopped with his hands in his pockets and looking over the many books surrounding her. Akane sighed, forcing herself to close the book at Aido's lack of response. "You don't have to look at me like that."
"Like what?" he asked. Akane hadn't even looked up but could feel the concern and confusion rolling off him in waves.
"I'm not obsessing," she defended, gathering the books together and stood, leaving all but one sat in a neat tower on the table. "I wanted to check something."
The last book, held open and clutched to her chest, was old, but Aido recognised it as one of the many books detailing the lineage of pure-blooded Vampires. Akane walked around the table to him, and silently placed the book down. He looked at the large family tree that spanned across the pages, angling his eyes to the name Akane was pointing at.
"I can't find a picture of this woman," she said, frustrated.
The name she highlighted was, Shizuka Hio, a Pureblood thought to be dead. She hadn't been seen or heard from in four years. Aido was confused as to why Akane would need a picture of her but complied. He placed his satchel on to the table and went in search of a book he thought might have what Akane wanted. She followed him through the aisles of shelves to a darkened, slightly dusty corner of the library.
Aido stopped to read the titles of the books along one of the shelves labelled, Mental Health. All the shelves had the same brass labels at their ends. The calligraphy, elegant and the metal, highly polished, glinting in the firelight. Aido stopped at a book titled, The History of Vampiric Madness. He began flipping through the pages as he walked past Akane, heading back to the better lit area in the centre of the room. He came to a stop at the table and set the book down next to the others.
Akane came beside him and looked down into the faded portrait of Shizuka Hio. Her eyes were a pale, cherry blossom pink. Her hair was white, almost silver, and her porcelain skin seemed to shine, even from the pages of a book. Akane slowly pulled out a chair from around the table and sank into it, her eyes, never leaving the pink stare of the woman in the book. Aido followed, his unease growing at the wide-eyed stare down Akane had with the book.
Suddenly, a deep frown stole across her face as a growl rumbled from her chest as she pushed the book away, seemingly unable to look at it any longer. Akane sighed, bringing her elbows up on the table, and placing her hands on the back of her bowed head, pulling at her hair in a frustrated manner.
"That's her." Aido's mind reeled, going back to the question's he'd asked Akane when trying to decipher as much as he could about Unfortunates. "How long has he been feeding on you?" "Since I was twelve…" "A level D?"
He looked at the girl beside him, closing both books silently, and shifting so he faced her sideways in his seat. He was about to reach out to her like he'd done often as of late, but she sprang to her feet with a cry and paced, causing Aido to jump. Akane's hands found their way to her hair, to the back of her neck, to her face, before stopping over her eyes as she bent, and another angry call ripped from her throat. Aido was at her side prying her clawing fingers from her face and forcing her into his chest.
She didn't cry but gritted her teeth to stop the deluge of hate, anger, and grief from spewing out of her mouth. Her hands held the sides of Aido's uniform with a white-knuckle grip as she allowed her senses to be surrounded by him, letting herself sink into him. The sound of his heart beating in his chest, the feel of his arms holding her close, his breath fanning over her ear, attempting to soothe her with comforting words.
Eventually, the tension began to leave her as Aido's scent began clouding her mind, to the extent she began nuzzling into him, trying to draw his scent in even more. Aido stilled as Akane's head began to climb from his chest to his neck. It took all his self-discipline to not start when her nose lightly touched the side of his neck and stroking up and down his throat. She sighed in content as his scent, finally, became unobstructed by the scent of his clothing.
Akane's hands loosened but just as they were about to climb higher, her eyes opened with a pop and she sprang back and away from Aido's statue-like form. Akane's face bloomed scarlet at the realisation of what she'd done. What had she done? She'd been lost for a second, completely enthralled by a smell. But it wasn't just a smell, it was his smell, a scent she'd known for months, a scent that affected her from the first moment she'd smelt it!
"I'm sorry!" Akane apologised, looking away from Aido's startled and blushing face. "I-I don't know what I was thinking." She breezed past him to gather the two books and add them to the tower she'd left earlier, before grabbing her bag and standing awkwardly beside the table. Aido, belatedly realised she was waiting for him to pick up his bag from the table and hurriedly grasped it.
"Don't worry, Nakamura!" he said, his voice a few octaves higher than normal. Akane raised a brow. "No harm, done, ha, ha, ha!"
Despite her embarrassment, Akane couldn't help the snort of laughter (she'd tried to stifle), from working out her throat. Aido was red and jittery, all because a girl got so close to him? It amused and somewhat, please Akane to know such a thing could fluster him. Maybe the Playboy, is more innocent than he'd like others to believe? She thought, teasingly.
"Relax, Aido. If I'd known you'd have been this amusing, and easy to fluster, I would have done it sooner."
"Eh!" Aido replied. Akane smirked back, walking past him to the doors. "Wait a minute!" He yelled, swivelling on the spot to face her. "Did you do that on purpose?" Akane turned, her bag held innocently in front of her as she walked backwards. That smirk grew with every step.
"Who can tell?" And she walked through the doors.
Aido stood astonished for a moment before growling and storming after Akane, the blush still staining his cheeks.
"Nakamura! Nakamura! Akane!"
"Hanabusa!" she called back with a giggle, the girliest sound he'd ever heard her make. He was surprised to hear his first name from her lips. The only other time she'd said it, was the first time he'd come into her room. She'd said his full name when she was angry and afraid back then. The playful lilt to her tone this time made his name sound more pleasing to his ears than normal. She turned to look at him from where she waited on the stone steps as he trotted after her with a childish frown. He didn't know what he would have done if she'd seen the goofy smile, he'd worn just moments ago.
"Oh, come on. Get over it!" she said, shoving his shoulder playfully.
"That was not cool," he griped at her.
"Consider it payback for all the times you've teased me," and never cared, she added to herself. He frowned at her smiling face but, begrudgingly, turned away and started up the stairs. The silence only lasted for a few moments before Aido spoke again.
"So, that's her?" Akane stopped, Aido followed. "The Vampire that attacked your parents…" She nodded, her frown replacing her cheery smile. "You know, she's thought to be dead? No one's seen her for four years." Akane scowled harder at this.
Aido waited a while longer for Akane to speak before continuing his ascent, but Akane's hand shot out and caught his arm, halting him from going further. He turned and waited, knowing she wanted to say something. Was this what had been bothering her? Was she ready to talk to him now? Akane released his sleeve and leant against the wall with a long, drawn-out sigh. She folded her arms, her satchel hanging awkwardly at her side.
"I was coming home from school," she began. Aido mirrored her stance on the opposite side of the stairs. "There was a park close to my house, and I passed it every day. One day, a boy was in the park, sat on the swings, by himself." Aido frowned. Akane had never mentioned a boy before. "He was cute," she admitted peeking up at him quickly. "I stayed to talk to him. He seemed nice, and he said he was coming to my school, so I wanted to get to know him. It got late and I left to get home." She turned to the stone staircase, watching the fire dance in the torches as a means of distraction.
"He asked me to stay longer, but I left," she continued, her voice, becoming distant. "I remember, being in the back of the policewoman's car, she'd said 'kids shouldn't have to see that', but I saw. My hallway used to be white. My mother loved white, but when I saw into my house, it wasn't white anymore." Akane quieted after this, trying to collect herself. Aido waited, understanding the immense difficulty she had speaking about this. He was proud she was confiding in him something as guarded as this moment in her life because he'd never truly expected her to tell him the full version of events.
"They pulled my mom out first, then my dad on a stretcher. They wheeled him straight into the ambulance. I wanted to go with him, but I was still stuck in the car. I clambered around the backseat of the car, following the ambulance as it drove off down the street. That's when I saw her. She was holding the boy's hand. I thought, she was probably his mother or something, but I realised, she was looking at me, and she was smiling." Akane's glower was back, her eyes, angled on the stone beneath her feet. "She smiled at me, right to my face, and he just stood there! He seemed, almost bored," she spat bitterly.
Aido stood thinking on this boy that'd been with the Hio Princess. There was no way she'd had a child in isolation, and she'd never married her intended. So, where had the boy come from? Akane said he was cute, so Aido surmised, they'd been around the same age. He couldn't have been a Vampire; he'd have ripped her to pieces. No, he was a distraction, something to keep Akane away long enough for her parents to be dealt with. Despite the reverence Vampires held for Purebloods, Aido included, this level of obvious cruelty that some Purebloods through the ages had been known for, was something he could never understand.
Akane huffed as she turned to sit on the stairs, her bag dropping down beside her.
"That boy, at V.P.'s party…" Aido frowned, wondering who Akane was referring to. "The one in the Day Class uniform?"
"Zero Kiryu!" Aido exclaimed, startling Akane at his sudden vocalisation. "The boy you saw with the Hio Princess, was Zero Kiryu?" Aido dropped to sit beside her, his eyes wide.
"That's Kiryu?" Akane asked. Aido nodded confused, before realisation set in.
"You've never seen him before, have you?" Akane shook her head. "Figures," he said, his face momentarily contorted into a scowl before confusion replaced it. "Wait a minute? Kiryu hates Vampires. They killed his whole family, four years ago. That's how he ended up with the headmaster. He took him in."
"Well, unless he has a double…" Akane replied tiredly, getting to her feet, and dusting off her uniform.
"Come on," she said to Aido, who was still racking his brain on the step. "We're gonna be late at this rate." Aido stood and followed Akane up the steps and down the corridor. They could hear the chatter of students already waiting in the lobby, but before they stepped closer, Akane grabbed his arm again. "Umm?" she began uneasily. "Thank you, for before, finding the book, and listening." Aido nodded with a rare, genuine smile.
"Anytime, Nakamura."
"Akane," she corrected with a cheeky smile and hurrying off without him.
Aido stood slightly dazed.
"Akane," he tested the name on his lips, tasting it on his tongue. "Akane," he said again with a happy grin. His mood was far better than it had been this morning and much better than last night. Aido couldn't take the smile off his face. He didn't even care when Kain looked at him funny, probably questioning his sanity, judging by the expression on his face.
"Whatever it is, it's either stupid or inappropriate, so keep it to yourself," he'd said after Aido's grin persisted. Akane stood talking with Ichijo but giggled at the cousins, feeling a funny lightness to her heart at the look on Aido's face.