Ninth Night

"Ahh! Stupid Reitsu!" Yuuki angrily shouted inside of herself with a throttle of raged emotions. "Zero was just about to say something important to me when he suddenly showed up!" She crossed her arms sullenly. "And it might have actually been something serious, too!"

Her brow furrowed together into that of an annoyed scowl. The visage of her face subsided into a more settle expression as she sigh, still slightly dissatisfied, and let the whole idleness of the matter pass. Yuuki stood upon the dew sprinkled grass, normally executing her prefect duties. The moon was vivacious with a soft lilting light that seemed to make the dew sparkle prodigiously. She and Reitsu had separated momentarily for the time being to commence the duties evenly. Yuuki grimaced at the haggardness of the duties as she vigorously patrolled the grounds judiciously.

"Reitsu…" Yuuki said to herself as if with careful caution. "He seems to look at Zero with such disdain. Does he really support the Headmaster's ideology? He doesn't seem to particular like or dislike vampires…"

But the more these thoughts and predictions of Reitsu intertwined elusively the more they made Yuuki feel lost and confused. Regardless of all that though, the night proved peaceful without any strife or mischief being conjured. Or so Yuuki had determined with relieved ease. However, unbeknownst to her, a dark shadow lurked behind her with a crave of lust in it's eyes. Unaware to Yuuki, as she turned to leave the grounds, a cold wind that bit her maliciously with a morbid intent whipped past her. The wind felt as if a hot iron was being pressed to her skin—so intensely hot, that it felt so bitingly cold. Yuuki felt a pang of fear shiver down her menacily, for now standing before her in the dark of the night, was a creature with lust-colored eyes, and a frightening aura that followed it.

"A—vampire?!" But Yuuki had no time to think further as she suddenly felt a sharp object prick her cheek. She winced from the anguish of the pain as she desperately tried to wield Artemis. But just as she pulled it out in a flash of a second, a strong hand swiped past her crudely; knocking the iron rod out of her flimsy grasp. The vicious vampire—for that is what it was—protruded in front of her now at it's full height. That gaze that all vampires seemed to possess of a thirst for something sweet conversed into it's own eyes. Yuuki felt terrified with shame as she also mentality felt that she could not stand up to the ravenous beast. The vampire lurched at her as she closed her eyes to chastise away the unbecoming event. Expecting to feel a surge of pain sink it's fangs deep into her, she but only heard a loud bang as everything became utterly quiet and still. She slowly opened her eyes, ready for anything else, but the only thing her terrified eyes saw was dust billowing at her feet. She knew in an instant that that was the distasteful remains of the vampire.

"Yuuki!"

Yuuki penetrated her gaze in a spectral drift upwards as she saw Reitsu standing there a few yards away—projecting a gun exactly like Zero's anti-vampire one in front of him. She heard a clack of the weapon being put away as Reitsu now stood close to her.

"Are you all right?!" He asked anxiously, a very small tint of concern entering into his voice. Yuuki felt that she could not answer, still quite shaken by the blinding occurrence. But she only managed to nod her head vaguely, darting her eyes back down to the dust at their feet.

"What—" she began inquiring in a trembling quiver.

"It was a Level-E."

Yuuki looked back up at Reitsu as those words produced from his speech. As if in disbelief of rejecting the statement, she scoffed in an oblivious reply, kicking the dust away from her,

"That's impossible. A Level-E couldn't get into the school."

"Yeah, but it was." Reitsu said quietly. "And it was a student of the Day Class—see?"

He bent down and lightly indicated at the uniform of the Day Class with a single finger. The black and gray lines of the plain uniform's appearance lay within the dust as Reitsu had dictated. He stood up and dusted his hands, picking up the uniform in the process.

"We need to tell the Headmaster." He turned his back on the dust as Yuuki silently followed his steps.

"It had to be a former human." Reitsu remarked, their feet plodding in unison through the pitch night. "None of the vampires here were or are former humans—they're all high aristocats. So that means…a student of the Night Class turned this ordinary human of the Day Class into a vampire."

He paused as if waiting for Yuuki to say something in mere objection, but when she only remained mute, he continued on saying in a low voice,

"And the only ones capable of turning humans into vampires…are purebloods. And the only pureblood in this whole academy…is Kuran Kaname."

Yuuki could not deny the veracious matter. It was, is, true. Kaname is the only pureblood vampire in the whole accommodation of the Night Class. In addition, the person, the wretched human who fell victim to the vicious Level-E state, really was a Day Class student. But Yuuki did not want to believe the trickery of this deceiving lie. Kaname would never do anything such as that. Yuuki had firm trust in that fact. But a thread of doubt sewed itself into her trust; a thread she felt ashamed of, and wanted to dispose of it quickly.

"Kaname-senpai…" Yuuki said to herself with a bereavement face as her and Reitsu no stood in front of the Headmaster's office door. Reitsu swung open the door and strode in totally unfazed, Yuuki, on the other hand, walked into the room as if she were being sentenced to be executed. The Headmaster looked up surprised from his assortment of work piled onto his desk.

"Yuuki! Reitsu!" He exclaimed as his glassed-eyes noticed the dreary, dull colors of the uniform in his nephew's hands, a question forming within them.

"Headmaster…" Reitsu conferred slowly. "There was a Level-E on campus just a few moments ago."

"Ah…I see."

"…But you already knew that, huh?"

"Yes." The Headmaster stood up now with a rather serious face. He opened his mouth to speak, but was suddenly thrown off of the intention as Yuuki yelled out,

"It wasn't Kaname!" Veracity danced in her eyes with embery flames. To Yuuki's surprise, the Headmaster only replied calmly in a quite voice,

"I know. At least…" He paused and looked briskly away. "I don't want to believe that it was him."

"H-Headmaster…y-you're implying that you…suspect him?!"

"There are other possibilities." Reitsu suddenly interfered. "It could have wandered in from outside the aca—"

"Impossible." The Headmaster interrupted flatly. "It was wearing a Day Class uniform; and it's inevitable to be able to get in through the gates so easily."

"But what if…what if…" stuttered Yuuki as she narrowed her eyes in deep thought of a conclusion. "What if they were bitten outside of the academy by another pureblood, then enrolled into the academy, and—"

"That's impossible, too. We would have known if he were bitten and being changed into a vampire before we would allow him in the Academy."

"But…doesn't it normally take years for the transformation to go complete?"

"You're thinking of Zero, eh? It varies. Zero just happened to be able to withstand the vampire instincts for years. Whereas…it can only be a few days or weeks in some instances."

"You sound like you're trying to make it appear as if Kaname is the culprit!" Yuuki shouted angrily, swiftly turning her back in a foreboding manner.

"Yuuki!" The Headmaster called after her as she turned the knob of the door harshly. "Where are you going?!"

"To ask Kaname myself! I'll prove that he's innocent!" The door slammed with such a strong conviction as if Yuuki's very dissuasion on the matter was locked in there. She earnestly attempted to prove that this case was just an unjust accusation.