I feel horrible! I've posted the first chapter but I completely forgot to mention and give credit to my beta! She's reading through the chapters for me before I post them and I forgot her! Ah! I'm so sorry Epi! *bows head in shame* You have permission to torture me with a hosepipe and lemon juice… ugh.
Well, on to the chapter!
Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 2)
Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)
The blonde sighed once slightly before reaching up with a hand and repressing a huge yawn. With a raised eyebrow, his cousin turned a questioning look towards him. "Get to bed too late again, Hanabusa?"
"He was probably up all day again, chatting up the silly human females." Ruka spoke dully without even bothering to turn her head.
Aidou scowled, "I did stay up late, but I wasn't chatting anybody up." Strangely enough he didn't want his other Moon Dorm members to think of the girl as just another 'silly human female'. She warranted more respect than that.
"That so, Hanabusa?" Kain asked, still skeptic.
Annoyed at his cousin's unusual interest in his personal affairs, Aidou resorted to his usual cocky attitude to get the endless pestering questions off his back. "But of course, Kain, you wouldn't know about chatting the silly females up now, would you?" His trademark smirk accompanying his adopted devious expression had the desired effect: The rest of the Moon Dorm's occupants sighed in exasperation and turned their attention to the large stone gates that were due to open at any minute now.
The dreaded 'crossing-over'. Somehow, Aidou just wasn't in the mood for it tonight whereas he normally had so much fun at it. It was like parading along a stage, showing off his talents and popularity to the crowd.
He remembered briefly a conversation from a while ago.
Ice101: Just out of interest's sake, do you go to the crossover in the evenings?
He'd been truly curious to hear her answer and she hadn't disappointed.
HazelNut: If you are implying that I am just another one of the crazed, instinct driven psychos that moon over the Night Class students then, no, I am not.
He'd smirked at his laptop screen, amused at her curt, clipped reply. She had seemed to take offense to being lobbed into the same category as his fangirls and, quite honestly, he couldn't say that he blamed her. Most of the Day Class students were, like she had so bluntly put it, crazed and overly hormonal school girls who had found an outlet for their excess energy in the form of obsessing over him and his classmates. And while he found it amusing, to a degree, it also became slightly excessive.
Having her level-headed and somewhat snarky reply to his question had brought with it a breath of fresh air. He liked it. And it left him with the desire to hear her say it for herself. He wanted to meet her.
Yet why she had to be so damn adamant about her anonymity he didn't know. He had, on multiple occasions, tried to coax even the slightest clue from her about her real identity and only been met with blockheaded, stubborn refusal. More often than not, Kain had walked in on him having a hissy-fit in front of his laptop screen and yelling about the stupid, no-good mule-rivaling stubbornness of some people.
Aidou shook himself from his thoughts as the gates opened and the screams became louder and more pronounced. Taking a breath, Aidou steeled himself. He'd parade along as normal, show off his mastery with the girls, play the flamboyant playboy for a while and then be on his merry way to class. Maybe he'd even mess with Yuuki a bit. He grinned at the last thought. The girl was always such fun to tease.
So, donning his flirtatiously confident attitude, Aidou stepped out of the gates. "Hello! How is everyone doing this morning?"
Ecstatic shouts echoed from the sea of girls. He only picked up a few words somewhere along the lines of 'Wonderful, Idol-senpai' and 'Pick me, Idol-senpai!'. Honestly. The silly girls never even seemed to question his use of 'morning' when it should be 'evening'.
Spying Yuuki a few meters off trying to control some of the more exuberant girls, he sauntered over, firing his air-gun at a gaggle of girls just for effect.
The prefect glared up at him as he approached. "Aidou-senpai! Please stay with the other Night Class students, you're causing more problems over here for me!"
Aidou merely grinned. "Oh? And here I was just coming over to greet you. You're so cold sometimes, Yuuki-chan." He knew precisely that those words would both get under her skin and rouse the fangirls that were shrieking jealously behind her to kick up even more of a fuss. He withheld his smirk as it had the desired effect and Yuuki had to struggle to hold back the horde of crazy females.
However, he knew when it was time to back off. Kaname was already shooting him a dirty look so, with a cheery wave, he began to turn away. Until an object peeking out of Yuuki's black blazer pocket caught his eye. His curious nature got the better of him. "Cross, what's that?"
Yuuki was for a moment visibly taken off guard that he'd addressed her properly. Glancing down to where he was pointing, she spied the object. "Ah," her face lit up. "Yori-chan recommended it to me earlier. She said my English needed touching up, though I don't understand a word of what's going on in there…" Her head fell in ashamed defeat.
Aidou was about to make a smart comment when he got a better look at the book's cover. He recognised it. After having it lying on his bedside table for nearly half a year and rereading it four times just because she had spoken about it briefly once, he would.
"The Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett?" the title slipped from him before he could think twice about it.
Surprised, Yuuki cast him another glance over her shoulder between yelling at the girls. "You know it, Aidou-senpai? Ah! You girls! Back! Right now, back!"
Aidou was about to open his mouth again and ask just who exactly this 'Yori-chan' person was when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. He turned his head to find his cousin standing impassively behind him. "Hanabusa, time to go."
The blonde noble quickly spotted the rest of his dorm mates already halfway down the path towards their class and he hastily rearranged his surprised features into a bashful, yet brilliant, grin. "Ah, sorry, sorry."
His cousin merely sighed and began walking. Aidou debated for a second whether to ask the prefect, still battling with the fangirls, who 'Yori-chan' was but decided against it.
As he headed off towards class, Aidou rearranged his thoughts. That book meant nothing. Hundreds of students had probably read it by now. Coincidences happened.
Yet, what if?
His mouth hardened into a determined line as he decided on his course of action. Kaname would probably kill him if he found out… but then again the pureblood generally did have something to kill Aidou for. And he was still alive right now, so why not push the boundaries just a little further?
Besides… he really wanted to find out who she was.
"Kain?" He turned quietly to his cousin walking beside him.
"Hm?"
"I'm going on a hunt," Kain stiffened, "and I need your help."
There was silence from his cousin for a while as they fell further behind to talk without being overheard. "What kind of hunt?" he finally asked.
Aidou withheld his smirk. He'd gotten Kain interested. If he could just make it more intriguing then perhaps… "For a girl," he continued. "A specific one. You up for it?"
His cousin considered Aidou's words, weighing up the pros and cons. Finally Kain expelled a sigh and ran a hand through his unruly locks. "Fine, fine. But I'm not losing any sleep over this, got it Hanabusa?"
Aidou nodded. "You won't."
From his perch in a tree, Kain growled. "I thought you said I wasn't going to lose any sleep over this, Hanabusa."
Sheepishly, his blonde cousin shot him an embarrassed grin. "Eh… a white lie?"
"Idiot," Kain grumbled and instead focused his gaze back on the milling Day Class students below, currently on lunch break. He just sincerely hoped that none of them would have the urge to glance upwards and into the trees for else they'd be spotted and then be in a whole world of trouble. Not only would they be swamped by fangirls but Kaname would also have their heads because he'd suspect that Aidou had snuck out to feed on the humans or something.
What exactly they were waiting for, Kain didn't know, but he would be patient just a little longer. Presently, the familiar scent of the Cross prefect caught his nose and he cringed. If they had been spotted by a prefect they'd probably avoid the whole fangirl scenario but by no means the decapitation by Kaname.
Kain glanced over at his cousin, who was wound tighter than a bowstring.
The blue-eyed noble, currently having an internal panic attack, had his gaze fixed intently on the ground, his jaw clenched tightly. Shit. That was Cross's voice. And if she was coming along then Zero probably wouldn't be far behind. And that could get ugly. Aidou inhaled through his nose, trying to detect the Vampire Hunter's scent.
Instead, a different one hit him. It was strong, musky and warm. Spicy. Like cinnamon. For a moment he reveled in it, memorizing it. He'd never smelled that particular scent before or he would have remembered it. Whoever the owner of that incredibly alluring scent was definitely wasn't present during crossover because he knew he would have recognized a scent like that. He forced himself to focus; an incredibly difficult feat at present with that scent still wafting around him and clouding his head.
A pebble hit his temple and he snapped out of his trance only to turn and glare at his cousin. Aidou noticed a slight tinge of red in his whole vision and realized with a start that the new, alluring scent had forced some of his vampire instincts to the surface. Concentrating for a second, the noble forced his eyes to return to their normal icy blue.
Just in time too, for not a moment later two figures passed beneath their tree. One was Yuuki Cross, the prefect, happily chatting away to a second girl her height and age beside her. Aidou's eyes focused on the second girl, whom he assumed the delicious scent was emanating from. Yet he held his breath to withstand the temptation of allowing red to tint his vision once more. She was pretty, he supposed. Somewhat elfin or water-nymph features that seemed too delicate on a human and would be more suited on a porcelain doll. She was the epitome of human frailness yet he couldn't have been more interested. She held herself with a kind of grace and he couldn't help but study her fluid movements.
So when Yuuki looked up into the tree and shattered his voyeuristic moment he was more than a little irritated.
"Ah!" Pointing, the prefect shamelessly drew attention to his and Kain's hiding spot, not even considering the fact that a few dozen Day Class students were incredibly close by.
The second girl's gaze twisted up too, and met his for a mere second. But it was all that was needed to grasp his full and undivided attention. Her eyes were the most intriguing shade of caramel. He could have stared at them all day, even in this blinding sunlight. He wondered what her eyes would look like under the moon.
And then the nymph-girl did something unexpected. Clasping her hand over Yuuki's mouth and her other arm around the prefect's waist, the girl dragged the writhing Cross girl across the lawn and around the corner, all the while muttering to any passing student about hallucinations and serious lack of sleep.
Taking the offered diversion, Aidou shot his cousin a quick glance before they quickly leapt from their hiding spots and made a hasty retreat back towards the Moon Dorms.
A/N: You guys… ROCK!
No, seriously! You do! I did some math the other day (dork-alert; dork-alert!) and I realised that, on an average, one in every 8 people who read my first chapter reviewed! And meanwhile, with my other stories, it's maybe one in every 50! Or less! I am SO happy that you guys like my story enough to review!
You made my day! THANK YOU!