Disclaimer: VK belongs to Hino Matsuri

Disclaimer: VK belongs to Hino Matsuri.

CHAPTER 5

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That went over better than I envisioned, Kairi thought as she bustled around her room, getting ready for her first day of classes. The vampires were actually rather friendly once you got past their guarded exterior. Or if you got Kaname's approval. Hmm, I suppose I better call him senpai during school hours. Wouldn't want anyone out for my neck if I showed disrespect, she figured.

Since she lived most years of her life in the States, formalities never grew on Kairi. Neither did holding back her tongue. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door. She swung it open and Yuuki greeted her from the other side.

"Morning sister! I thought we could have breakfast together before heading to class."

Something welled up inside her at being addressed as family. She gave the grinning Yuuki a genuine smile at the other girl's acceptance of her. "That'll be great."

At the cafeteria, the place was filled with Day Class students chatting as they ate their morning repast. It was a big difference from the near emptiness on Sunday. Even the queues were long. Yuuki explained to her about prefect duties on the way to the café. They walked in the wide open doors and got in line.

"So at every 5 pm on school days, I have to report to the Moon Dorm's gates—" the redhead broke off when she noticed the dead silence that had befallen the entire cafeteria. Even the lunch lady who was doling out a serving of mashed potato onto Yuuki's tray had fallen quiet, frozen in mid-motion with the scoop poised above Yuuki's plate. Kairi realized the cafeteria lady was staring at her with a star struck kind of shock. In fact, she swiveled her head to look, the entire Day Class student population was staring at her in awe.

The uniform, she reminded herself. When they had been leaving the vacated Sun Dorm, Yuuki had asked why Kairi's clothes were still white. Obviously the Chairman mentioned to Yuuki and most likely Zero too about putting her in the Night Class which she declined, but failed to tell them she still didn't own a black uniform. At least that's two people she didn't have to explain it to, which leaves the rest of the Day Class student body.

Swell.

The silence dragged on and Kairi could have sworn if a pin dropped, the sound would have been deafening. She cleared her throat awkwardly and faced the lunch lady, placing an order for Breakfast Set A. The portly middle-aged woman blinked a few times before she triggered into action, getting her meal prepared swiftly and holding out the ready tray for Kairi with reverence.

The redhead gave an appreciative thank you, to which the lunch lady nearly fainted at, before she moved on with Yuuki to find a seat. Everywhere was occupied but as they neared a table with a group of males, the boys immediately sprang up and offered them their seats.

Well, I'm not one to turn down a generous offer. Kairi graced the goo-goo eyed boys with a dazzling smile, effectively turning them to mush while the other students watched on. Sliding into her seat smoothly opposite Kairi, Yuuki leaned forward and whispered, "Gods, have they got the N.C.W.S. bad!"

Kairi raised a brow. "N.C.W.S.?"

"Night Class Worship Syndrome," Yuuki said as she took a sip from her glass of milk. The redhead laughed. "Wait till prefect hours. You'll find out how much more worse the N.C.W.S. gets."

Kairi gave Yuuki a wary look which the other girl responded by digging into her casserole.

Halfway through their meal, Kairi felt curious about why the Day Class students would think she was really from Night Class when she lacked that ethereal glow to her form, though they had stopped staring already; thank god for that.

She voiced her thoughts to Yuuki and the girl gave her a disbelieving look. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

"Just this morning, in fact. Why? Do I have unbrushed plague still stuck on my teeth?" she asked worriedly.

Yuuki shook her head. "Far from it, you've got pearly whites. And if you haven't noticed, your looks rank up there with the Night Class. Add your special coloring into the mix and you fit right in with them. See why they thought you were one of the elite?"

"But I'm not Night Class-anything! And my coloring is due to my mixed heritage. Besides, red hair and blue eyes are rather common in the States, you know." She said in a lowered voice.

"It isn't in Japan." Yuuki pointed out. Kairi grudgingly admitted her reasoning was justifiable though it was shallow of the Day Class students to focus solely on good looks, though it was for the best this way. If they knew what lay behind the beautiful veneer of every Night Class student and the extent of how much she actually relates to them…

Kairi shook away those thoughts. She'll go down that particular memory lane only when working on the project. Inhaling in the last of her breakfast, they left the cafeteria as the bell rang to signal the start of lessons.

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Hugging a heavy armload of worksheets and notes, Kairi frantically jogged to the Moon Dorm's gates. She was late for prefect duty thanks to that crazy teacher who kept her back after class for pop quizzes to gauge the extent of what she learnt back in her previous school. Then she was forced to sit and wait while he graded her papers. Even worse, she had to endure a mini lecture on how she still had to work hard and catch up on Cross Academy's curriculum despite her near perfect marks.

Good thing I aced those tests. Lord knows he'll give me more worksheets if I failed, Kairi hurried across the campus grounds. Kamakuro Sensei had brushed aside her prefect duties when she pointed out she had to leave. In fact, the man looked downright annoyed when she mentioned 'prefect'. Methinks he has a grudge against prefects, the redhead thought as she neared the Moon Dorm. Her run slowed into a walk before she stopped in her tracks completely, staring at the giant crowd of Day Class girls gathered on either side of the huge gates, giggling and wearing hearts in their eyes. Was there some celebrity coming she didn't know about?

"Kairi! You're finally here! Where were you?" Yuuki exclaimed from where she was holding off a horde of girls from getting too close to the gates. Zero merely stood in front of his side of girls and they stayed a respectable distance from him. Kairi had to give dibs to that killer look on his face though. Zero knew how to pull one mean death glare.

The Day Class girls froze in their giggly actions before they whipped their heads to look at her. Shoot. Yuuki shouldn't have yelled my name! Then they burst into gasps and started screaming her name instead, just as the gates creaked opened and the vampires poured out.

"Crap!" Yuuki shouted. It was going to be double torture getting the Night Class to the classroom block when the human girls were going wild over them and Kairi. How was her foster sister going to be able to help when she's busy saving her hide from the clutches of the Day Class girls? Yuuki would never have guessed how popular Kairi could get. In spite of the redhead declining to be associated with the Night Class and that her white uniform was an order mix-up, she still won the adoration of boys and girls alike by the end of the Day Class lessons with her modest behavior and that understated dignity she possessed.

Although, Yuuki reasoned, it was most likely the friendly aura of Kairi's that endeared the other students to her in addition to her bearing resemblance to the vampires because the Night Class was never approachable despite pretending to be so. As much as the girls shrieked and professed their love, Yuuki supposed that deep down, the humanity of the girls recognized that the Night Class were something else entirely. Something else not human like them. Something dangerous.

Since Kairi had none of that keep-your-distance vibe, it was only natural for them to stick to her like glue, what with the white uniform she was temporarily sporting.

On the other side of the gates, Kain was running a hand through his head, giving a frustrated sigh at having to do this almost every day. In contrast, Aidou was hopping with excitement while the other vampires wore bored expressions. Imagine their surprise when they stepped out to see the Day Class girls not fawning over them. Instead, they crowded in on the pretty newcomer, screaming her name.

Kairi's feet flew into action and she deftly ducked down and tumble-rolled away from the oncoming girls. Executing neat somersaults, she landed in between Yuuki and Aidou. Straightening, she breathed in as the vampires, Yuuki and Zero looked at her in amazement. Nobody escaped the clutches of rabid fangirls so easily!

Yanking on her prefect armband, Kairi smacked Aidou in the face with her thick worksheet stack when he began showering her with compliments.

"Save it." They had work to do.

The girls blinked at the sudden disappearance of their newest idol then they turned and saw her—uncaring of the prefect armband—standing alongside the Night Class students. Shrieking anew, the girls leapt as one in their direction. Kairi's eyes bugged at the onslaught. This was part of prefect duties?! Chairman Cross was really stretching the meaning of prefect there.

Kairi jumped in front of Kaname just as a girl threw herself forward, colliding together with her. Yuuki covered the west perimeter while Zero had the east. Kairi took the center and also the brunt of the attack as the person she was shielding was Kaname. You'd think he'll help! But noooo, he's just staring down at my head and—, her thoughts flew from her mind when she felt Kaname leaning close into her and getting a whiff of her hair which she, thankfully, had washed earlier this morning with her favorite strawberry-scented shampoo. Then the Pureblood moved an inch forward and their bodies came into contact.

Kairi froze up at the feel of the solid form at her back. For crying out loud, the curve of her derrière was nestled against his hips! She jerked her head around, hissing, "What are you doing?"

That utterly striking visage of Kaname's gave a playful smirk.

Momentarily distracted, Kairi couldn't defend herself when more girls slammed into her and shoved her further against Kaname. She 'oofed' and snapped her attention back to the task at hand, pushing against the girls and getting them to back off a few steps, removing her body from contact with Kaname's.

Lucky thing no one else noticed that little display, her cheeks flamed. Everybody was busy fending off girls or in the girls' case, trying not to be fended off. Zero was spitting curses as the girls tried to bypass him and Kairi decided to do some yelling of her own. "Move it!"

A few pairs of hands wrapped around her outstretched one and a couple more grabbed her right arm that was curled around the papers. What--? Her eyes widened and she barely screamed for Yuuki before she was yanked into the mess where she was immediately manhandled by her new fans, her load of papers scattering like dead leaves.

Yuuki twisted her head in time to see Kairi getting swallowed by the Day Class students. Skidding to Kaname, Yuuki managed to act as a barricade in time, leaving Aidou's side unprotected as girls swarmed him and Kain. Zero wasn't having much luck controlling his side either as the girls had a tactic of stomping on his feet before trying to dart pass. He forcibly restrained himself from pulling out his gun and firing a few shots.

They were getting overwhelmed. The girls were pushing them back and the Night Class was unable to move forward.

Plus, one of the prefects was currently jammed between a dozen Day Class students as they squabbled to have a chance to touch her hair.

Kairi struggled to free herself as her classmates yanked on her long hair left and right, exclaiming about the color or its silkiness. Something white on the ground caught her eye and she realized it was one of Kamakuro Sensei's worksheets, right before a few feet trampled on it. Her heart sank as she imagined the verbal abuse to her ears when she handed in dirty tattered papers to the fussy teacher.

She redoubled in her efforts to get free as more girls crowded onto her in an attempt to touch a "Night Class" student, never mind she was a prefect. The touches began to get out of control when the girls and some guys began landing their hands everywhere just to have a feel since her hair was all booked. Hands suddenly landed on her legs, some dangerously close to under her skirt and she let out a shriek.

I'm being groped and my papers are getting shoeprints! A vein of anger popped up on her forehead. The growing cacophony surrounding her was liable to turn her insane or the heat from the surrounding cloister of bodies would roast her alive if she didn't do something soon. Sucking in a big breath, she let it rip.

"QUIEEEEEEEEET!!"

Miraculously, they did.

She wrested free and emerged from the heart of the crowd, gasping for air. Seeing her worksheets strewn all over the ground and brownish instead of its former pristine white, Kairi had had the last straw.

Snapping to face the girls (and some boys), she worked her lungs. "All of you GET IN LINE!"

The black clad students scrambled to follow her orders, gathering in neat rows on either side of Moon Dorm's gates, as if they were in military school instead.

"Zero, Yuuki, herd them back to their dorms." Her tone brooked no argument so Zero actually let her order him around. But just this once.

"Get moving." He growled at the girls when they stayed stuck, giving longing looks at their white counterparts, in particular at Kaname and Kairi. Why would they be starry eyed over the person who just barked at them? The silver haired teen decided this was one of life's unsolvable mysteries, along with what went on inside these fangirls' heads.

Yuuki had gotten her rows moving already and she walked alongside them to prevent any fanatic from jumping out. Zero copied her example and soon they vanished from sight as they rounded the classroom block with the Day Class students to head for the Sun Dorm.

That left Kairi and the bewildered Night Class standing at the gates of Moon Dorm with her papers as floor decorations.

Heaving a tired sigh, she knelt down and began the arduous job of picking her notes off the ground. A hand came into her vision and held out a few sheets. Kairi blinked and traced her gaze up the arm to see Kaname giving her a slight smile.

"My thanks, General," He teased.

She huffed and snatched the papers from his hand. "Shut up."

Ruka's eyes narrowed into slits as she watched the exchange. She used all of her willpower to prevent stomping over and yanking Kaname-sama's hand away from that little human girl, reminding herself that it would shatter her air of elegance.

Collecting the papers around her, Kairi stood and blinked when Takuma and Rima handed her the rest of her worksheets, the former with appreciation for what she did and the latter maintaining her cool expression. "…Thanks."

Aidou bounced to her side, latching onto her free hand. "Whoa, I didn't know Kairi could be such a fierce lioness! Wanna roar in bed?" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Go hang yourself." She deadpanned and pulled her hand free. Her eyes darted to the clock tower at the classroom block. "Get going, you're late for class."

She shuffled her papers into a semblance of orderliness though they were crumpled beyond crumpling. She still had to do this stack by tonight. As the Night Class students walked passed, an idea struck her and she stopped another gorgeous short haired vampire girl.

"Hey, what's your name?"

The female stared at her face for a while, not offended at the casual hand the redheaded human placed on her forearm.

"Seiren,"

Kairi offered her a grin. "Hi there, Seiren. Will you guys be having Kamakuro Sensei's classes tonight?"

Seiren nodded and Kairi stopped herself from whopping out a cheer. Yes! Now she could carry out what she had in mind and delay the deadline for this stack of homework. Better still, she might not even have to do it.

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A/N:

Kairi's got a plan up her sleeve. It actually has more to do with the vampires than worrying about her homework.

And I'm making Seiren one of the closer vampires to Kairi. Because the manga portrays her as a distant kind of person, it gives me room to expand her character to suit my plot.

The entire chaotic-ness of the class exchange was pretty ugh to write. I think there'll be a distinct lack of emphasis on that part from now on.

The whole manhandling part probably seems extreme, but in reality stars get mobbed like that if their bodyguards aren't there to protect them, ne?

Review please. Thank you!