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 Eight: Uncertain Intentions

Nasrin walked into the classroom. Immediately the dark and powerful aura hit her like a brick wall. She had never felt this way, not even at the Lab. To her the aura felt so strong that it soon had begun to give her a headache, which she hoped would go away as she got accustomed to living here.

"Class, this is Nasrin Gates," the teacher told them. He sounded annoyed and Nasrin knew that would work to her benefit eventually. He looked at Nasrin and told her, "Sit anywhere."

Nasrin nodded and then went to sit in an empty space near the window. The aura wasn't so bad over here and Nasrin could look out and see the sky. How long? She wondered dismally, How long will I have to be here? She didn't know what they, the scientists, were thinking. Something always blocked their thoughts from her and mind tricks didn't work on them, no matter how much she tried. She sighed and looked back from the window and faced the front only to see somebody turned around watching her. He had blond hair that lay down neatly on his head, and jade green eyes. He was smiling a little and was watching her intently.

"Is there something you want?" Nasrin asked a little sarcastically. She didn't want to get connected with people here. Well... maybe Lily, but that was because they both knew about the Lab and could talk about what to do about it.

"I wanted to introduce myself since I'm the vice-dorm president," he answered back, he didn't sound smug... he sounded almost... nice. "I'm Ichijou Takuma."

He held his hand out and Nasrin took it and shook it. His aura felt warmer and kinder in a way. To be honest she had never felt an aura so open before in her life. Is he really a vampire? Nasrin found herself wondering.

"Is there something wrong? You look troubled," he asked. His voice sounded concerned, and even his eyes showed worry. Worry, was there such a thing? She was an experiment, the only things that they ever worried about were if she didn't complete something to their standards. Not about her. Not about her feelings and her personal dilemma of being tortured every day of her life.

"No, it's just that I've never been out of the United States before," she blushed. "I've never been so far away." I didn't know that they could track me in Japan.

He looked more relaxed as he heard this, "You'll be all right. Everybody misses their parents at first, but then they're fine about not being around them. They even kind of like the freedom it gives you."

His words were meant to be comforting, but for Nasrin to hear that somebody thought she missed her parents... She couldn't even pretend that she missed the people who had been in charge of her. "My parents and I never really get along. That's why they would send me away to school in Chicago," Nasrin hastily corrected Ichijou. "I was always very eager to get away from them."

Ichijou smiled sadly at her. "Sometimes I've felt the same way about my grandfather," he admitted.

"It's interesting that some people – people like us – try to leave bad situations," Nasrin whispered, almost to herself. "And then there are others like Lily who choose to remain in dangerous situations until they have no choice but to leave."

Ichijou appeared shocked as he asked, "Are you referring to Lily Waters? The prefect?"

Nasrin felt her eyes widen, and quickly denied, "Oh! No, I was referring to my sister! She hates running away from problems, so she refuses to attend boarding school. She's much stronger than I am. She would remain with our father even if he became violent."

For a moment Ichijou didn't say anything. He seemed to be turning over Nasrin's response inside his head – as if he was not entirely certain it was truthful. Eventually he replied, "I'm certain that's very brave… But it doesn't seem very wise."

Nasrin shook her head. "I feel the same way," she admitted. "But it's her choice, and I respect her for it."

"I do, too," Ichijou whispered. With that, he turned around in his seat and resumed listening to the lecture.

Nasrin attempted to return her attention to the lecture as well, but after only a few minutes, she lapsed into a daydream state. Instead of focusing on the instructor, she gazed out the window. The treetops were swaying with a crosswind, and Nasrin closed her eyes to imagine how the breeze would feel as she flew across the starlit sky.

She had not realized that she'd fallen asleep until she felt herself being shaken back awake.

"Nasrin-san," Ichijou said, as if awakening a young child. "The teacher dismissed the class, and we're heading back to the dormitory. I thought I'd walk with you since you're new."

"Oh. Thank you," Nasrin replied, grateful that she had not been left behind to wander aimlessly about the school-grounds.

After Nasrin had gathered her books, Ichijou led her out of the school and across the grounds. For a while they walked in silence, and Nasrin found herself wondering about why the Lab had dropped her off at Cross Academy.

Although she seemed to have dropped right onto the water fountain, Nasrin had actually arrived via car. The reason she'd appeared at the fountain had been due to her excitement over her chance to use her wings of her own free-will. When she had seen Lily sitting on the edge of the fountain, she immediately recollected a young girl with the same features. Landing on the fountain, she had realized that the girl sitting at the fountain was the same girl from her past. In her excitement, she had fallen into the water before she'd managed to leap from the fountain-top.

Nasrin had been shocked to find Lily attending Cross Academy. How could it be mere coincidence that Lily and Nasrin had been sent to the same private school? And perhaps it could have been coincidence – if the school had been in the United States, or if the school had no night class filled with vampires.

"One of the good things about this school is that we get to have class at night," Ichijou was saying. "If you were to attend a regular human boarding school, you would have to be outside during the day."

"Hmm… Yeah," Nasrin answered, only half-listening.

Ichijou continued to ramble on about the benefits of Cross Academy's attempt to increase good relations between vampires and humans, and Nasrin was careful to occasionally nod and agree with whatever it was he was saying. Finally, one of Ichijou's comments finally caught her attention.

"In fact, the Night Class here developed the blood tablets used by most vampires," he informed her.

"Blood tablets?" Nasrin asked, startled.

Ichijou looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "You didn't know?"

"No, I guess I never even thought about it," Nasrin admitted, as if she had been startled by the Night Class' achievement, and not the existence of blood tablets themselves.

"Yeah, it's pretty impressive," Ichijou continued, smiling. "Actually, attending Cross Academy is what provided us with the insight needed for developing the blood tablets."

Nasrin nodded, and Ichijou resumed his praise of Cross Academy. When they finally reached the Moon Dormitory, Nasrin was a bit relieved.

"I'll show you to your room," Ichijou told her. "Your luggage has already been brought up by one of our maids."

"Luggage?" Nasrin repeated before she could think better of it. To correct herself, she hastily added, "I'm so exhausted I completely forgot I have to unpack…"

Ichijou chuckled a little as they climbed the stairs. He led her to a room at the end of a long corridor. "Well, here you are, Nasrin-san," he told her. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Nasrin watched him walk away to his own room before unlocking her bedroom door.

Inside the room, Nasrin was startled to see two large four-poster beds; each was made up with luxurious sheets of a soft lavender color. Despite these two large beds, the room still had enough space for a small sitting area, as well as two desks. The room even had a large bay window with a window seat.

In front of the bed nearest the window were two extra large suitcases. Curiously, Nasrin went to unpack their contents.

Probably empty, Nasrin thought. Some sort of prank.

However, the suitcases were not empty. They were each packed to capacity with designer clothes, toiletries, and books. They contained so many items that Nasrin was not completely certain whether or not she felt up to sorting through them in order to put them into their proper places. Finally she compromised with herself, and decided to unpack one of the suitcases immediately, but wait until the next evening to unpack the other.

Although Nasrin was not accustomed to sleeping during the day, her journey to Cross Academy had left her severely jet-lagged, and despite the sun streaming through her curtains, she managed to fall asleep quickly.

A darkness enveloped her. A darkness so thick that the air itself had become impossible to breathe. The blanket she'd been given lay forgotten somewhere on the concrete floor. Sometime during the night, she had abandoned it in hope of obtaining breathable air in its exchange.

It was her first night back, and already Nasrin was desperate to escape this terrible place. It was the darkness she hated most – following it closely was everything else.

The darkness made it impossible to determine whether she were ever truly alone. Often Nasrin found herself wondering if something sinister was lurking in the corners waiting for the right moment to strike. Nightmares were especially difficult to recover from when the darkness prevented Nasrin from comforting herself with the familiarity of her surroundings.

No comfort existed in the darkness of the Lab. Even her blanket could no longer bring her the false-sense of security it had when she'd been younger. A blanket would not prevent her from being taken away from her room – ironically, her safe haven – for more experimentation.

Perhaps the only thing more frightening than the darkness of that room was the narrow stream of light that was impossible to detect when they opened her door.

Just as this thought crossed Nasrin's mind, a narrow stream of light appeared out of the darkness. As it did, Nasrin attempted to reassure herself that it was only a dream, but the stream of light grew larger. Silhouetted in the light were two figures.

Appearing even more malignant standing in the only spot of light, they began to move toward Nasrin.

Nasrin heard herself gasp, then cry out, "No!" But in the next instant the scene had become distorted, and Nasrin was no longer certain where she was.

The sunlight was streaming in through the partially opened curtains of Nasrin's room. After what felt like hours, Nasrin finally managed to wrench herself from her dream-world. Reality came rushing back suddenly. Even the vampires present in her dormitory were preferable to the Lab's darkness and scientists.

Nasrin hadn't screamed, so nobody came rushing to her room. Although all the rooms in the Lab were soundproofed, Nasrin had learned to control outbursts during her sleep. If there was a creature lurking in the depths of her bedroom, she wanted it to notice her presence as little as possible.

Slowly Nasrin forced herself to climb out of the bed, and headed to the window. Sitting in the seat, she looked out over the school-grounds.

In the distance, she could see students roaming about the campus. She wished that she could wander about outside during the day, but she knew better than to burst out of her room and escape onto the grounds when everybody was convinced that she was a vampire.

Instead, Nasrin left the window, and began to unpack her second suitcase. The second suitcase's contents were much the same as the first. The only different items included were a few pictures of people Nasrin had never seen in her life. They didn't even seem to be the scientists from the Lab. They were just random people the Lab had decided looked similar to Nasrin, and could pass as her parents or siblings.

Shaking her head, Nasrin placed the photos on her nightstand. "Absurd," she muttered, eyeing the dark-haired woman who was supposed to be one of her relatives.

A few spare uniforms were already present in her closet, and Nasrin retrieved a fresh one and placed it on the spare bed.

After unpacking, Nasrin was not certain what to do while waiting for the night's classes. It was only two in the afternoon, and they did not need to gather for class until seven that evening.

Wishing that the Lab had thought of tossing in a pack of cards or some other way to occupy herself, Nasrin went back to the window seat and simply watched the students moving about campus. The envy that filled her as she watched them was ridiculous due to its simple nature: The sun. For nearly seven years, Nasrin had been locked in darkness, and now she was forced to remain inside during the day.

I don't know how I'm going to stand it, Nasrin found herself wondering. I think I might go insane being forced to continue living in darkness.

For the next four and half hours, Nasrin passed the time away by counting the number of students on the school-grounds. It was almost embarrassing how worked up she got each time somebody moved out of her line of vision, and if anyone were to walk in on her, she was certain they would be immediately convinced in her insanity.

A half-an-hour before the meeting time, Nasrin went off to shower and get dressed, relieved to be doing something productive finally. She dressed carefully and tidied up her hair as best she could in the hopes of giving off a good impression. She was certain she was nowhere near as beautiful as the vampires, and she certainly was clumsier.

As Nasrin reached for the door-handle, she steeled herself. She only needed to get through a day without embarrassing herself. Hopefully if she followed the vampires' lead, she would be able to avoid giving away her secret.

She just hoped it wouldn't be too difficult.

Chapter eight updated; I decided to completely replace the chapter from Shawn's perspective - I hated it beyond measure. I hope this chapter is good enough; I wasn't certain how to end it, honestly. :/

As always, let me know of any errors.

Much thanks,
Mango