Disclaimer: Vampire Knight does not, has not, or will not ever belong to me. I only ask that nobody take my characters or ideas.

Not my Time
A Vampire Knight Fanfiction

Chapter Two: An Inexplicable Predicament

When I woke up I was in a bed in an almost completely white room. I could tell by the smell of disinfectant that it was a hospital; also, by the regular beeping of the machine monitoring my heart-rate. However, I could not recall how I had arrived at a hospital. The last image in my mind was of that man in the graveyard.

Had the man brought me to a hospital? Had he called an ambulance, or told the authorities?

A question escaped my lips as I drifted back into unconsciousness, "Where am I?"

When I woke up again there was a man sitting on the chair next to my bed. Maybe he had brought me here. Maybe he could give me some answers to my questions.

"Ogenki desu ka? - How are you?" he asked me. I stared at him. Why was he speaking Japanese?

Slowly I recovered and then answered, "Fine..."

I was suddenly glad for my love of the Japanese language. Often I had devised methods of avoiding my father, and one of the methods I utilized was to enroll myself in extracurricular classes. One of my randomly selected classes happened to be Japanese, and I fell in love with the language. Of all languages, this language was perfect. It contained so many different levels, so many different words and ideas to learn that I could put-off seeing or thinking about my father for nearly an entire month before duty finally brought me to the inevitable.

"Good, you were pretty hurt when you were brought here," he informed me. He smiled sadly. "I'm Doctor Hamasaki, by the way."

"Oh- I'm Lily Waters," I whispered. I was starting to feel sick again. And, to be completely honest, wanted him to go away, so I could be alone. I wanted to be able to think over a few things, but he looked as if he had some questions.

He took a small notebook out from a pocket, then turned back to me. I watched him without emotion.

"That's good to know," he told me as he got a pen ready. "I need to know some basic information about you so that we can contact your family members of your location and condition."

I nodded, understanding the importance of the information, but also aware that as soon as he had the information he'd be contacting my father. I watched him write my name and then told him, "I'm fifteen, and I'm from Sleepy Hollow, Illinois." I ended the sentence a little slowly as it fully sank in that it was near impossible for me to suddenly be in Japan. I must have been unconscious for at least half a week.

The doctor looked up sharply. "Illinois? In America?" he asked, unable to fully fathom my answer. "The man who brought you here informed us that he'd found you outside Kyoto – close to Cross Academy."

"Oh," I replied, surprised at this bit of news. "Yes. That-that's because I was vacationing near there. How long have I been out?"

"A couple days," he answered without looking up from his notebook. When he did look up he answered more specifically, "About five."

I felt uncomfortable under his watch, but when I tried to shift my position, a steady pain rose from my chest and I couldn't help but gasp as he gently pushed me back down to the bed. He explained my situation soon afterward, "You have to be careful, you have a few broken ribs, as well as a shattered right wrist. You probably will have to be here for a while, so take it easy."

I nodded and tried to relax in the bed. Then I almost whimpered, "I don't understand how I got here."

He nodded. "It's common to not remember or understand right away. You'll remember in time," he told me. "Do you have any living relatives who could be contacted?"

"Christopher Waters - my brother; he lives in Germany," I replied.

The doctor wrote down my brother's name, then told me, "We'll be contacting him to ask him to take you in. It may take a few weeks to sort this out."

I nodded, then asked, "Who brought me here?"

The doctor flipped through the notebook, then replied, "Kuran Kaname - a student at Cross Academy."

As the doctor exited my room, I wondered why that man in the graveyard (if it had been him) had brought me to a hospital in Japan. Wouldn't it have been simpler to leave me at a hospital in Carpentersville? Carpentersville was only ten minutes from my home in Sleepy Hollow... Japan was... days.

Unless that man wasn't human. Perhaps that man had been a creature out of myth. A being who could travel long-distance in a single step.

I shook my head. There had to be a logical explanation for this occurrence. However, the only logical explanation for being in a Japanese hospital was that I had been in Japan to begin with, and I knew that wasn't true.

This situation makes no sense... There is no logical explanation for my arrival in Japan. Exhausted from racking my brain for a logical solution that did not exist, I fell into a troubled sleep.

Time lapse

I had been in the hospital for more than three weeks, and I was feeling much better. I could sit up, and I spent most of my days sketching. I had become very comfortable with how things were going – even though I was in a hospital in Japan. Personally, what I enjoyed most about being in a Japanese hospital was that it was the perfect way to avoid my father.

The only drawback of being in a hospital in Japan was that my farm was being neglected, but I shoved that nagging feeling toward the back of my mind for the time being. While I did not want to remain in the hospital for the rest of eternity, I was perfectly content to be away from my father a bit longer. Besides, the authorities would soon correct the misunderstanding, and I would be on my way to my brother's, or even back to my horse-farm in the States.

"Are you ready to talk with someone, Lily-san?" a nurse asked as she peered into my room.

I nodded a little. Surely the visitor would be my brother. It made perfect sense; he wouldn't have wanted me traveling to a foreign country by myself. The fact that I had already been discovered in a foreign country seemed to be beside the point.

I was surprised to see man with shoulder length brown hair and deep maroon eyes walk into the room, closely followed by a blond haired, green eyed companion. Both immediately struck me as extremely handsome, and I thought I recognized the brown haired man from somewhere. After a brief moment, I realized he had the same dark aura that had surrounded the man I'd seen in my family's graveyard.

"Hello," the brown haired man greeted me, a soft smile gracing his lips. "I am Kaname Kuran, and this is Takuma Ichijou."

"Hello," I replied shyly. I felt my cheeks flush a little, and didn't allow myself to meet their eyes. In reality, I had many questions I wanted to ask of Kaname, but I was thwarted by his decision to bring his companion. Upon finding myself in a Japanese hospital, I had determined that true circumstance in which I had been found was between Kaname and myself. I had no intention to involve any outsiders in uncovering Kaname's true intention for taking me away to Japan.

"We were just in town, so I thought I should check up on you," Kaname continued. "I was the one who brought you here. You probably don't remember."

"Yes. Thank you for that," I replied, my voice was strangely devoid of any emotion. I had never been very emotional when thanking others for helping me; not because I wasn't appreciative, but because I could never decide an appropriate response (beside saying 'thanks').

"Yes. You're welcome. I couldn't just leave you," Kaname reminded me. "Next week there will be someone else who visits you. His name is Kaien Cross. He is the headmaster of Cross Academy, a private school just outside of here – Kyoto." He paused, then must have figured he should explain further. "He is going to meet you to decide if he wants to adopt you. I don't mean to say that I think he'll say 'no' when he meets you – no, quite the opposite – but he tends to be a little … enthusiastic over new people. Don't let him frighten you."

He smiled at me thoughtfully before turning to his companion. "Well, I think that's all I needed to say. I think we should go now, Ichijou." He turned back to me. "I wish we could have met under better circumstances, Lily."

I didn't know what to say to that, but knew I had to say something. "Yes, of course," I replied stupidly.

He chuckled a little at my reaction while his companion smiled at me placidly.

As they exited my hospital room, I discovered that I was more baffled than before. Had my brother decided that he couldn't take me in? Why was I being adopted by the headmaster of the school Kaname claimed to have found me near? Was Kaname attempting to keep me close?

Despite all the questions raised with the prospect of adoption by Headmaster Cross, deep down I felt relieved. My return to my father's wrath could be averted for a while longer. As this relief settled over me, the nagging in the back of my head started up again.

The farm would suffer. I still had the responsibility to take care of two horses who I couldn't forsake much longer. However, I managed to convince myself that they still had at least one round bale left, as well as three one-hundred gallon troughs.

They have enough to last until this situation is sorted out, I assured myself. I can afford to take a break away from the farm. By the time I'm really needed at the farm, my brother will have been able to sort out the situation.

Falling asleep, I tried to imagine what it would be like to have a headmaster as an adoptive father. He would probably be a serious, level-headed man with traditional values. Quite possibly the opposite of who my father used to be.

As I fell into a restful sleep, I shut the thought of my father out of my mind. Good or bad, I did not want to remember my father for a while. Remembering that my father once was a kind, gentle soul only made my heartache worse. It would have been so easy to forget him, or to hate him, if he had only been bad. Because I had known him as a good person, hating him or deserting him made me feel as if I were betraying that person he'd used to be.

Despite the abuse I had suffered at the hands of my father, I did not want to betray him. My loyalty to my father had been the only reason I had continued to provide for my father's needs. If I had wanted to, I could have forgotten my father much longer ago.

Now I had no options left. I had been forced to forget my father. I only wanted to know why Kaname had taken the option away from me.

Finished revising chapter two! I did re-write sections of it, but I kept it mostly the same... Mostly the purpose of this chapter is to bridge into Lily attending Cross Academy, so I tried to keep it simple. Once again, these first three chapters are more editorial because I need to set the scene properly before beginning anything more climatic. After the initial three chapters, this story will have more action, as well as more interaction with the Vampire Knight characters.

Please, let me know if there are any significant errors!

Thanks,
Mango