Eyes Red as Blood

Tenth Night: The Days before the Soirée

Two days went by without incident. Kaname would not answer any of Arisu's questions regarding Kai, so her time was spent mostly with the other vampires or Yuki and Yori. In the mean time she had finally gotten used to the screaming Day Class students.

"Kaname, I don't want to go," Arisu whined as they walked to their classes, "why do I have to go to class too? You know I already learned all the curriculum for all four years!"

"It's not a matter of wanting to go, but a matter of having to go," Kaname replied looking through the notebook in his hand. Most of the vampires surrounding them were surprised that the two could have such an informal conversation with one another in front of other people. Arisu took the time to study her brother. He always kept his hair a bit longer than most, his eyes were the same color as her's, and the uniform fit him perfectly. "What are you so intently staring at?" Kaname asked, his eyes never once leaving the page he was looking at.

"You really do look like him," Arisu replied. She switched her books to her left arm, so she could slip her right hand into the crook of his arm. Because Arisu had been walking a bit slower, Kaname had to slow down a bit. The Aristocrats' stared at them in open shock, they had never seen this kind of scene. Some were so utterly amazed that they stopped walking; all around you could hear books falling on the ground. Kaname had never been one to link arms with another person. The only person who he even bothered to show most of his feeling to was Yuki. Hanabusa pouted, but reluctantly took out a camera and took a picture of the two siblings.

"Hanabusa, keep that picture and you won't be alive tomorrow," Kaname spoke. That statement alone set everyone at was.

'Does anything ever escape Kaname's notice?' Arisu wondered.

"Kaname," Arisu began speaking again, "who is supposed to be our history teacher? I haven't seen him since we got here."

"Yagari Toga," Kaname replied, already bored with the conversation.

"One of the legendary vampire hunters?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, this might actually be a fun school year," Arisu replied as she removed her hand, seemingly able to walk on her own again.

"Please don't do anything that will get you into trouble," Kaname said. His eyes were giving her a warning.

"Yes, yes, I know that," Arisu said with a smile on her face, "I wouldn't want to get another one of your lectures again. Those things are long, Kaname!"

"Hmm," was all Kaname replied. 'They are supposed to make you stop being troublesome,' he thought.

They soon rounded the corner, and saw Yuki and Zero walking through the hallways. Arisu immediately ran to them to give Yuki a hug. Yuki and Zero were walking so close to one another that she accidentally brought Zero into the hug. Because of her pureblood strength, she crushed Yuki and Zero together. Tension in the quickly rose as Zero and Kaname glared at one another. The Aristocrats backed away for safety's sake.

"What the hell?" Zero exclaimed as he tried to get out of Arisu's hug. He was way out of his comfort zone, especially around Yuki.

It was truly a bizarre scene. Kaname was glaring at the threesome. Zero was glaring at Arisu while he was trying to escape. Yuki was blushing since she was being squished in between the two. Arisu was smiling happily. Everyone else retreated a couple more feet away.

"Let go of me," Zero demanded as he finally got Arisu to release her grip.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Zero," Arisu smugly smiled. "I was just trying to hug Yuki, but you were standing too close!"

"Hm," Zero replied, turning to face the other direction. He directly caught Kaname's glare and tried to stare him down. Yuki and Arisu chatted away.

"Uhm, I think we should stop them, Arisu," Yuki told her as she looked at Zero and Kaname. The dark auras were growing bigger, intensifying.

"Nah, you want some?" Arisu asked instead. She had taken popcorn out of nowhere. Yuki could not resist, so she gave in and started eating. In a couple seconds, Zero and Kaname began insulting each other.

"Whoa! What's going on here?" Asked a voice next to Yuki.

"Oh, we're just here enjoying the show," Arisu replied. Her eyes widened slightly when she turned to see who it was, but she recovered quickly, "Would you want some popcorn?"

"Yeah, sure," they replied and grabbed a handful of popcorn to munch on. Zero instantly stopped insulting Kaname and froze in silence. "I was wondering when you were going to notice me," the person spoke through the crunching of popcorn.

"I haven't seen you in a while, sir," Zero said, nearly bowing his head out of habit.

"Yes. I've been away on business," Yagari explained, finishing the remaining popcorn in his hand. "So how's it going?" Yagari continued to completely ignored all of the other people.

"Fine," was Zero's one word answer.

"Uhm, hello, I'm Arisu," Arisu spoke up, "It's nice to meet one of the legendary vampire hunters."

"Ah, yes. You are the new pureblood the dolt let into the academy," Yagari said speaking about the headmaster. He stared at Arisu intently before adding, "you don't seem that bad."

"Ha! You don't even know," Zero muttered.

"By the way Zero," Yagari turned to look at Zero, "why did you request for a new Artemis rod?"

"Oh, Kuran has to borrow the one Yuki had. The Headmaster told me to give her a weapon, and I didn't think Bloody Rose would be good to give to her."

"But why?" Yagari asked, scratching his head, "She's a pureblood, so I'm sure she can take care of herself. Besides, she has that pack of vampires to help her out." For the first time he acknowledged the other vampires as he pointed them out. Most of them instinctively moved closer to Arisu and Kaname, wary of the two hunters. Arisu waved Hanabusa off when he began to hover near her.

"It's the Academy's rules apparently," Zero grumbled.

"Alright then," Yagari reached into his pocket, "here." Another small rod appeared and Yagari tossed it at Zero. Before Zero could catch it, a small hand intercepted it.

"I thought you would know that Zero cannot touch the Artemis rod because he is a vampire," Yuki said venomously, "but I guess I was wrong." She did not approve of the way Yagari disregarded Zero sometimes. It irritated her.

"I guess I must apologize then, little girl," Yagari smiled. Yagari had found her to be interesting... Well, he found provoking her to be fascinating. The air grew tense as the vampires grew restless. They wanted to leave as soon as possible. However, Arisu interrupted.

"Uhm, I was wondering if you could teach me how to wield Artemis rod properly," she looked at Yagari.

"I can't. Even if I had time, I don't want to," Yagari replied bluntly. Arisu's eyes lowered. Instinctively, she knew there was no way he would teach her, but she still had hoped. "But tell you what, Zero has been a hunter for quite some time now..."

Arisu and many of the others (especially Zero) were confused. 'What did he have to do with everything?'

"I'm sure he would love to have a student, now." A smile spread across his lips. If looks could kill, Yagari would have died the instant Zero looked at him. "Well," Yagari pulled out a pager that was supposedly ringing, "it seems the Association has another job for me. Good luck being an official teacher, mister Zero."

Zero chuckled darkly as Yagari walked off, "Someday I will get you back for this. Just you watch." Then he turned to Arisu, "If you really want to learn to use Artemis, fine, but don't expect me to hold your hand throughout. I don't care if you actually master the techniques or not, got it?" Arisu nodded, thankful that she would finally have someone to teach her. She had been thinking about asking Kaname, but somehow she doubted he knew how.

"Thank you."

"Hm," and with that Zero left.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Yuki said as she turned and jogged after Zero, "Bye!"

"Bye!" Arisu turned around and Kaname looked half-dead. She went to Kaname's side and held on to him by his arm. "Kaname, are you alright?"

He did not reply and surprisingly, Shiki answered for him, "It's the first time Yuki Cross has ever forgotten about him. I think he feels sad." To the vampire's surprise Arisu burst out laughing.

"What's so funny," Rima asked munching on pocky.

"Ka- ha-ha -name, gets upset over the smallest of hahahaha," Arisu replied, clutching her stomach.

Instantly, Kaname reverted to his old self, "Yes, but I can't say I approve of you spending time with Kiryu."

"Aw, c'mon, Kaname." Arisu stopped laughing.

"I have to agree with Kuran," a low voice said behind Arisu. Before she even had time to react, Kaname sent a wave of power, almost hitting the person if he had not moved. The power bore a hole on three trees lined up behind Arisu.

"Calm down, Kaname. I was only agreeing with you." Kai Koruya stood now a couple of feet next to Arisu.

"You will do well to remember what I told you," Kaname menacingly said, and he motioned for his most trusted aristocrats to go and protect Arisu, leaving the rest of the Night Class to stand their ground next to him. Rima stood at Arisu's left, Hanabusa at her right, and Ruka directly in front of her. A couple of steps in front of Ruka were Senri and Kain wearily looking at Kai. Seiren was already standing next to Kaname.

"Yes how could I forget," Kai replied. His tone implied he could not have cared less. "Overhearing the last conversation, I was going to ask you if you wanted me to teach Miss Kuran how to use Artemis."

"Thank you, but I would much rather prefer Zero teach my sister," Kaname replied in a deadly voice."I believe he actually has the qualifications to do so."

"Harsh, but if that's what Miss Kuran, wants then so be it," Kai said. "Ah yes, before I forget. I transferred back into the Night Class for the rest of the semester." That was the last thing he told Kaname before adressing Arisu, "I believe I will be seeing you at the soirée this Saturday? I bid you farewell, Miss Kuran."

Seriously, the guy was starting to give Arisu the creeps. The Aristocrats relaxed and disassembled their protective barrier around Arisu, "Thank you, everyone."

"It was our pleasure," both Ruka and Hanabusa answered at the same time. When they realized, they began glaring at each other. Most of the other vampires began to relax as well.

"Now, how about we forget about this incident and move onto more pressing matters," Kaname said still glaring at the spot were Kai was.

"What pressing matters?" Almost everybody was thinking the exact same thing.

"Why your first debut to the vampire world," Kaname replied, knowing full well Arisu was the type to dislike gatherings where there was a possibility of being objectified or idolized.

"Oh, you mean the soirée," Arisu responded glumly, "I asked the Headmaster if he would let me go to town tomorrow so I could get all I needed. He said yes, but that someone would need to accompany me. I asked Reiko if she wanted to go with me, but she declined." Arisu turned mischievously towards Hanabusa. He was so far the only other vampire other than Kaname who she spent the most time with.

"Would you like to go with me?" Arisu asked, praying that he would say yes so that she would have a free day.

Hanabusa did not know how to answer, so Kaname answered for him, "Wouldn't it be more fitting if Rima or Ruka were to go with you?"

"Actually, Kaname-sama," Rima began, "Senri and I have a photo shoot tomorrow, so I can't go."

Ruka declined by saying that she had promised her father that she would visit her family that day.

"Then it is settled, Hanabusa you will be accompanying my sister anywhere she wants to go," Kaname declared and he started walking again.

Hanabusa felt underappreciated and he pouted; nobody had even bothered to ask him what he wanted to do.

"Don't worry it'll be more fun than you think," Arisu assured him, patting him on the arm.

Edited: 3/16/20