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

Not my Time
A Vampire Knight Fanfiction

Chapter Seven: Memory Lane

I couldn't help sleeping through all of my classes. They were so boring, and I was so tired. The equation didn't equal a great answer.

The fact that it was only Tuesday made the day worse. Thinking about three more sleepless nights simply made me even more tired. Staying up all night was bad, but having to deal with the fangirls' insanity was sure to be worse. When I remembered that I needed to help control them today, I almost collapsed on the spot.

Although I was concerned with my new job as a Disciplinary Committee member, remembering how much my life had changed in only a few months gave me an odd sense of comfort. Along with this sense of comfort came the nostalgia of my childhood.

I used to be the daughter of a horse trainer. My life had been quiet and simple – if a little painful. For a couple years even the abuse couldn't prevent me from working with horses. Feeling the reins in my hands as I rode reminded me of my purpose in life, and spending the day trail riding with Kidd showed me that I still had a companion I could trust. Despite the abuse, my work at our farm made my life enjoyable. The day I had to finally shutdown our family's training program was the worst day of my life. After losing the horses I retrained, the horse farm just didn't feel the same. I hated waking up, and getting ready in a barn-loft apartment that wasn't echoing with impatient whinnying, and many days I would wake up reciting old feed schedules aloud to myself before remembering that I only had my father's mare and my gelding to care for. At times only my artistic talent enabled me to rise above the threat of despair.

I entered my first art competition in kindergarten. The contest was only for our local school, but for a kindergartner who loved to draw, the art contest was the most important event of the year. After my mother died, I continued to enter my artwork into competition. Recently I had managed to arrange for a few pieces of my artwork to be displayed at an art exhibition in Algonquin. The exhibition had gone well, and I probably would have had a few others if Kaname hadn't taken me away from Sleepy Hollow.

When it came time to do my job as a Disciplinary Committee member, I was exhausted and more prone to daydreaming than preventing the fangirls from charging at the Night Class. Although I attempted to maintain control of the girls, they took advantage of my inexperience and managed to crowd around the gate. They screamed loudly as they watched the gate in anticipation, and a few girls attempted to climb the gate and wall despite my efforts to stop them. Just when I thought a real disaster was about to occur, the gates opened and the girls suddenly displayed perfect obedience.

Even though the girls were now easier to control, they got louder and more annoying as the Night Class filed out. Much to the chagrin of the fangirls, Kaname chose to talk to Yuuki. I almost smiled since I knew that Yuuki liked him, and it was obvious that Kaname liked her. Although Kaname still gave me the creeps, I was happy for Yuuki. When I looked up next I saw Kain glance around until he found me and then gave me a small smile. Obviously he was happy that I hadn't given up on the job after one bad day.

I gave a smile in return and then, satisfied that I was okay, he continued talking to Aidou.

Aidou was cheerful, I noticed. He was excitedly waving at all of the girls who continued to scream louder and louder as they clamored to gain his attention.

Most of the other Night Class students looked bored, with the exception of - excluding the dramatic Aidou - Ichijou who smiled and waved calmly at his fangirls. He was walking near the back of the group with a boy with dark maroon hair and slate gray eyes and a blond, pigtailed girl with bright blue eyes, who both seemed utterly bored and tired with the situation. I did not blame them a bit.

Once the Night Class was safely at the school building, the girls started to simmer down. It took them a while longer before they left, but once they did, we all sighed in relief. After a brief conversation, we then split up to patrol different areas. I watched as Yuuki peered through a window at Kaname, and I laughed quietly as Zero caught her red-handed. Yuuki looked startled, then pretended to check on the rest of the Night Class. I watched as Zero sighed and continued towards the woods. I headed to the fountain where I was sure nothing bad could happen to me.

I sat on the edge and dipped my hand peacefully into the cool water. I sighed and thought about how my life used to be. Believe it or not, my father used to be good. We used to go fishing every Friday since I could cast a line. He used to take me to the park, to the fair, to any place I wanted to go. And I remember my mother... how she was always so happy around him. In the end these memories were what I survived on, if it were not for them I would have thought suicide a good alternative to my situation. However, they were also a curse. Memories meant that I still saw the good in him, and that I still believed he could change, or rather unchange.

It was a boring night, no Day Class girls were wandering around in my section, so I took the opportunity to do something else. First I took out my sketchbook, only to realize that I had nothing to draw with - darn me forgetting my pencil in class again. Plan B was to take out the copy of Bleach in my school bag. I had read it about a hundred times already since it was the only one I'd thought to keep on me. I hadn't thought that I would be going away for this long - or at all, really. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out that I wasn't really reading it again; I was more or less just turning a page every so often.

I sighed and let the book drop to the ground. It didn't matter.

Right now, I was too distracted thinking about the mysterious man who sometimes appeared in my dreams. Each time I awoke I attempted to sketch his features onto a sheet of paper; however, his visage eluded me each time. I couldn't shake the feeling that this man was the key to figuring out why the legendary weapon had chosen me as its true owner, and I also couldn't help believing that my inability to remember his face was not an accident. Somehow, I didn't know how, that man and I were connected.

I had just put my hands over my face when suddenly there was a blood-curdling scream and then a loud splash. I realized that it had come from right behind me when a wave of cold and wet - very wet - water hit me from behind.

I whirled around and exclaimed, "Who caused that?" The only response was laughter from somebody who I couldn't see. I could feel murder in my eyes. This was one of my last uniforms, and I wasn't going to class in something wet or torn! And how dare some ... person laugh at me at a moment like this! "Don't lose your cool over it, Lily... don't lose it..." I muttered to myself.

The laughter came again, definitely a girl's, and it was high in pitch, as if it hadn't been used in a while. "Where are you?" I called out in a whisper. I began walking around. The girl was close, but why couldn't I see her?

"Oh! And I'm all wet!" came the voice again. That voice... it sounded faintly familiar... "Oh!"

Suddenly a girl became visible. She was sitting on top of the fountain. Her hair was pitch black and hung in waves down to her waist. Her eyes were pure purple surrounded by pitch-black eyelashes and a very pale face. Although at first I believed her to be a vampire, at second glance it was obvious that she did not belong to this elite group. Instead of a pair of fangs, she had black wings with streaks of white and silver. Calmly she pulled a sweatshirt over her head to hide them, then gracefully jumped down to look at me more carefully.

"I know who you are," she told me suddenly. "I was in your town, remember? I met you, I was seven and you were six."

I shook my head, but didn't doubt that it had occurred. She continued, "It was in a graveyard. We didn't talk long. I was going to Chicago, remember? I told you about tha – that place..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes filled with tears. I remembered then. She had been a runaway from a genetics Laboratory. I met her only that one time and she confided to me the secret because she caught me with a broken wrist that she wanted to heal. Until the moment she'd reminded me, I'd cast all thought of her and her circumstances out of my memory.

"Don't tell me you don't remember?" she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Because I want so desperately to know that I'm not alone in my secret still."

"I remember, Nasrin," I told her. "I just want to know how you got here so suddenly."

She looked around as if somebody were suddenly spying on us and then replied, "They dropped me off here. I don't know why."

I was confused, "Who did?" I asked.

"The people who run the lab. You know how I told you that I ran off?" Not waiting for a reply, she continued, "It was all a test. After two years of 'freedom' they took me back. They wanted to see how I'd react around people and then how I would adapt back to my normal life. And now it's happening again! Lily, you have got to help me!" Nasrin suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Watch it," came a voice from behind her.

Nasrin turned around and was face to face with Zero who was pointing his gun at her. "You don't smell like a human," he commented. "Get away from Lily-chan."

"Zero, it's okay," I told him calmly. "Zero, nothing happened. It's all okay."

That gun wouldn't affect her if he shot, right? It only killed vampires, right?

"Kiryuu, will you aim that thing at every one of us that you see?" Aidou asked as he approached.

He walked over to Nasrin and stood in front of her. Nasrin glanced at me. Who is this twerp? The thought rang through my head as if it were one of my own, but I knew it was from her. It was the look she gave me that told me, and the fact that I knew who Aidou was.

Hanabusa Aidou, he's a noble class vampire and apparently they all think that you're a vampire too! I thought back to her desperately hoping she had enough sense to stick to the cover they had unwittingly given her.

"Who might you be?" Aidou asked flirtatiously.

"I don't have to answer that do I?" Nasrin asked. "Because I don't like telling my name to creepy strangers, such as yourself."

The look on Aidou's face was priceless. He looked as if a lightning bolt had struck him. His confidence fell, and he clearly could think of nothing to comeback with. I couldn't help but giggle under my breath, which caused Aidou to glare at me. "Don't do that!" he yelled at me. I stopped immediately, even though I knew Aidou probably wasn't serious.

"I see that everyone has met the new girl," Kaname said as he approached our small group.

New girl? Is that me? Nasrin asked me. I nodded.

It looked as if this was Nasrin's new test - getting along with vampires when she wasn't one. Although I felt bad for her having to live with people who thrived on blood and in darkness, I wondered if her personality was any different after what she'd been through.

"Yes, this is Nasrin Gates. She just came from a boarding school in the United States. Welcome her, and remember that American customs are different from Japanese ones," Kaname told them. "Lily, go take Nasrin to the headmaster. I want to talk with these two about skipping class."

"Yes, Kaname-senpai," I said then quickly led Nasrin away from the vampires.

"Watch it, parasite," Zero warned Nasrin. We watched as he walked slowly away.

Nasrin looked at me with a worried, yet very surprised face. "Why is he..."

"I don't know," I replied before she finished.

That had always bothered me, not knowing. It seemed as if Zero held a grudge against every vampire without any exception. I knew nothing about his past other than vampire hunters had raised him. Was his hatred of vampires simply due to how his parents had raised him? Or was there more to his history than met the eye?

As we walked to the headmaster's office, I realized that it was nearing midnight and that he might not be in his office, but as we got closer, I saw that the door was open and he was sitting at his desk waiting for us.

"Hello, Lily-chan, I see you brought the new girl," he said. Enthusiastically he turned to Nasrin. "And what do you think of peace between vampires and humans?"

Nasrin looked surprised. "I think it would -uhm- be interesting?" she asked more than answered.

Headmaster Cross looked as if he was going to cry, "Here are your uniforms. Take them and change, then go to class." He started sobbing before he'd managed to finish his sentence.

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Let's go before he gets any more emotional."

Nasrin looked guilty, and before she left she whispered, "I'm sorry that I caused such a scene."

I just shook my head and pointed the bathroom out to her. She went in to change and in a moment she reappeared. She turned around and asked, "Do you see my wings?"

"Nope, the Night Class uniform seems to work miracles," I told her grinning.

As we walked back to the Night Class' classroom, we didn't say much. Actually, we didn't say anything - at least not until we got there. When we got to the door that separated us from the Night Class, Nasrin went hysterical. She fell to her knees with her head in her hands, crying and mumbling some things in gibberish, others in English, and a couple in Japanese.

"Why would they send me here? In a school filled with vampires? Of all the places to go..." Nasrin was mumbling some phrases of illogic again. "What are they going to do when two years are up? Say that suddenly this isn't the right school for me? Why? Why do they do this to me? They might as well just... kill me at this point..."

She went on to cry more about what a failure she was and that her life was torture. "Nasrin," I said, and when she didn't react I repeated it and shook her a little. She still didn't react. "Nasrin! Get a grip! You have to go in there! I have other things to do tonight!" I shouted at her.

She dried her eyes and looked like she suddenly was going to laugh, "You're right. And the good news is I have two years where I can't be controlled, and that's better than nothing. I guess. I'm sorry that I'm keeping you from doing your job, Lily."

With a happier countenance she turned and opened the door. I watched to make sure that she went in, then quickly left because the dim school gave me the creeps. Shivering, I paused and glanced back at the classroom where I'd dropped Nasrin off. How terrible it must be to be forced to attend classes with vampires. If never seeing the sun didn't kill her, could the dark atmosphere?

The rest of the night I thought about meeting Nasrin that day she thought she could be free. It had been the first day she had been let go, now it was the first day again and we met again almost immediately. Did they know that Nasrin had told me their secrets? Did that put me ultimately in danger too? What if somehow our fates were entwined? Did my father's abuse of me counter Nasrin's secret enough that they didn't need to kidnap me? Was being abused a good thing in this moment, or had the lab been manipulating both Nasrin and me secretly?

I shook my head at the silliness of my questions. Although I did wonder why Nasrin looked so much like my mom…

Revised this chapter; not my favorite chapter, to be honest. I just needed this one to introduce Nasrin, so I kept it pretty simple.

Notes:
Nasrin: pronounced: naah-ZRIY-n: Persian for "wild rose"

Hope you like this chapter; let me know of any errors.
Mango