Hey guys. I have some ah… interesting news. In the back of our garden, bordering on the forest, is a little stream. This little stream is tiny, by all standards. It trickles peacefully in the autumn and spring and during the hot summer months it is near to non-existent.
Now, why am I babbling on about some quaint trickle of water? Because that quaint little trickle caused havoc in our yard! How a mini-stream can rise to meters of fierce current strong enough to completely blast away a cemented fence, plants and nearly a whole freakin' tool shed is just… wow.
There are supposed to be more flash-floods on the way. Lovely.
Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 5)
Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)
"I see."
The silence in the room was suffocating.
Kain stood behind the one large armchair currently situated before the large, sturdy oakwood desk, his hands tucked into his pockets casually but his back stiff, betraying his tensed mind.
The Chairman, sitting very unusually serious and sullenly in his chair behind the desk had his elbows planted firmly on its surface, his fingers interlaced and the lower portion of his face concealed behind his hands. "This… is different."
Kain sighed. "Different. Yes, it's different." Differently annoying, he thought.
The Chairman let a frown pass over his face as he thought. "What interests me is… how did this come about?"
"The chat-room, I believe," Kain answered.
A look of understanding dawned upon the chairman's face. "Ah."
The tense silence resumed.
"And you say he's been drawing her? Incessantly?"
"Yes," Kain repeated, somewhat tired. He'd explained the entire story already and he'd had to elaborate on numerous details, ending up in him talking for a good ten minutes straight, something he was not all that comfortable with doing.
"Hm," the Chairman frowned deeper before looking up. "What is your opinion on this, Kaname?"
The till-now silent pureblood leader lifted his eyes from where they'd been trained on the wall to meet the concerned gaze of the Chairman. "Aidou is persistent," he said. "In all likelihood he will not stop until he acquires what it is he desires."
"Ms. Wakaba," Cross supplied.
"More specifically, from what the picture depicts," Kaname gestured to the drawing splayed out on the desk, "her blood."
"Wait a minute, just hold on," Kain interrupted, speaking up then. Reporting the issue hadn't sat right with him from the beginning but his cousin's behaviour had sparked concern in him for both the girl and Aidou. However, he did not want Kaname-sama and the Chairman to assume the worst right off the bat. "Hanabusa went to seek her out in the library-"
"As you told us," Cross said.
"Yes, and he came back without the smell of blood on him. The girl was unharmed, I could smell as much," Kain continued.
"However, Kain," Kaname spoke then, "Aidou has an unfortunate track-record against him."
Kain frowned slightly, remembering the instances where his cousin had been sorely tempted to break the blood-pill diet and simply take the fresh alternative. There had been too many close shaves.
"That is what concerns me as well," Cross said quietly, standing from his seat. "However, Aidou does seem to have an interest in her. Perhaps it is not related purely to her blood." He let the statement hang in the air. "Perhaps the Wakaba girl should be informed of the true nature of the Night Class," he suggested.
"No," Kaname said, his voice carrying a note of finality. "Aidou's fancy has no future in it. It cannot and will not succeed. By giving the girl knowledge we only involve a human further in our affairs and a powerless creature such as her has no business knowing things that are out of their reach."
The Chairman nodded, agreeing. "Of course. Though if she isn't informed of the truth then a terrifying reality may suddenly hit her."
"Only if Aidou is fool enough to expose it," Kaname countered.
Kain cast his leader a questioning glance. "You're not going to forbid him from following her?"
"It would do no good," came the short reply and Kain nodded. Aidou rarely did anything anyone told him to do, though Kaname was a different story. But perhaps the pureblood didn't want to exert his influence over the noble just yet.
"Well then, in that case we should at least equip the girl." The chairman began heading over towards a smaller cabinet set beside a much larger and imposing one, reaching for the small key around his neck and easily sliding it into the lock. It gave a barely audible click as it was unlocked and the doors swung open silently.
Reaching into the shadowed recesses, the Chairman pulled forth a small bundle wrapped securely and tightly in waterproof cloth. He looked down at the small package almost fondly but with a hint of trepidation.
"This ought to do nicely."
Yori stared absently at the blackboard, her hands taking notes almost automatically without really knowing what was going on. It was a useful skill to have, she was sure, but she had other things on her mind at the moment.
Last night was the one where Aidou had appeared in the library and surprised her, causing her to fall… and giving him the chance to miraculously appear behind her and catch her in time.
Yori was still skeptic about how he had actually managed to sneak into the library without her noticing and even more troubled by the fact that he'd appeared so suddenly behind her. She supposed she could have felt flattered that he'd come to seek her out specifically but in this case it only made her even more unsettled. He was charming, witty, considerate when he wanted to be and altogether comfortable to open up to with issues that weren't too personal. And that was where the problems began. He was too charming, too witty and too considerate in his good moments. And most of all, she felt too at ease around him. Far too at ease. She constantly had to remind herself that he was a stranger, another playboy, someone like her brother, to withhold personal troubles from him.
It was far too frightening to deal with.
And he frightened her too. In a sense, he was unchartered territory. Not only because he was so terrifyingly intriguing…
But also because of who he was. Or at least how he acted.
Yori's shoulders stiffened slightly as she remembered his advance on her just last night. It had been thrilling and dangerous and absolutely exhilarating. She'd been completely frozen as his hand had skimmed over her arm.
Remembering suddenly his warm breath so close to her, she remembered the errant thought that her brain had put out at that exact moment when he'd drawn closer to her: kiss.
A steady blush spread over her cheeks as Yori recalled the trembling in her limbs. It was not enough that she had actually thought that he might have kissed her but now, remembering it, she knew she had actually wanted to see what a kiss from him tasted like.
Mortified at her own thoughts, Yori snapped her eyes shut and buried her face in her arms, not wanting anyone to see the rushing blood in her cheeks. How could she be thinking this? After all her talk of not being like his psychotic fan-girls she herself was suffering from an attraction towards him!
"Yori-chan?" A hand was tapping her shoulder incessantly. Yori ignored it.
"Yori-chan," came the whispered voice again. Irritated, Yori turned her head slightly to give her best friend a half-hearted glare whilst still hiding her face from view.
"What?" she questioned the brunette quietly.
Yuuki looked genuinely concerned, which made Yori feel a little bad for ignoring her. What was Yuuki doing awake in the middle of class anyways? Normally the girl slept through the day and was awake at night to perform her prefect duties.
Leaning towards her, Yuuki lifted her hand to her mouth and spoke behind it. "Yori-chan, are you feeling sick?"
"What? No, of course not, I'm fine. Really," she assured her friend. Fantastic, now she'd made Yuuki worry. Normally the routine was reversed with Yori fretting over her friend's lack of sleep. "I've just… got a lot on my mind, that's all."
Yuuki looked skeptical for a moment before shrugging once and then flashing her friend a smile. "You got me worried there for a minute Yori, not reacting when the bell went and all."
Yori cast her friend a puzzled look. "Bell?"
"Yes. The bell. For the end-of-day." Yuuki's face gained an alarmed edge to it. "Don't tell me you didn't hear it, Yori-chan? Are you running a fever or something?" Yuuki pressed her hand to Yori's forehead, trying to read a temperature.
"Cut it out, Yuuki," a bored voice interrupted from above them. "She probably just zoned out, no need to freak."
"Zero!" Yuuki nearly jumped out of her seat at the silver-haired boy's words. She pouted. "I'm not freaking out. Merely worried."
"Whatever," he replied, getting to his feet. "We'd better get moving if we're gonna get to the Moon Dorms in time," he grumbled.
"Ah! I forgot!" Yuuki jumped from her seat, racing towards the door and waving her hand above her head as she went. "See you later, Yori-chan!"
Yori couldn't help letting a small smile slip onto her face at the sight of her haphazard best friend dashing off to try and control the Day Class girls.
The slight smile dropped off her face as she remembered who would be arriving in the school buildings shortly after crossover. Yori tensed. If she remained in the building for much longer then it would only be a matter of time until he arrived. And if he cornered her again…
Shivers ran through her and she repressed them, refusing to allow herself to remember last night. She refused to end up like one of those girls. She refused.
And yet…
Yori sighed as she finished gathering her books together and trudged up the stairs towards the door. She was the last one in the classroom and by this time probably the only one left in the building. Yuuki and Zero had trusted her enough that she'd return to the dorms on her own and under any other circumstances there'd be no question about it. But now…
She shook her head furiously. Now was not the time for this!
"Oh, Wakaba-san!"
Yori turned her head, surprised, in the direction of the overly cheery voice. A man, dressed in a dark green shawl bounced up to her, peering curiously into her face. Yori stuttered for a moment before finding her voice again. "C-Chairman, I, ah-"
"I am so glad to find that you are still here, Wakaba-san," the Chairman interrupted her happily.
"Eh? I mean, you are Sir?" Yori hurriedly corrected her slip on formality.
"Wakaba-san, are you having any troubles lately?"
Her mind flashed to Aidou. Yori furiously shook her head. "No sir, none at all!"
"It is a common occurrence for the victim to defend their attackers, Wakaba-san," the Chairman told her in all seriousness.
"Uh-"
"You must not fear, Wakaba-san! This shall help!" With that odd proclamation, the Chairman grabbed Yori's hands and pressed a small bundle into them, curling her fingers around it for her and patting them twice. He smiled at her kindly. "Use this to defend yourself from creepy stalkers, Wakaba-san."
"I-"
"Oh, and take this too, will you dear? Make good use of it." Yori stared down at the clove of garlic in her hands.
"Well then, I must be off. See you later, Wakaba-san."
Yori was left standing speechless in the passage, the small bundle and clove of garlic clasped in her hands and a dumbstruck look plastered onto her face.
He walked into the building a little later, his shoulders somewhat tensed. He wanted her to be there again really badly. He wanted to see her again, sneak out of class to talk to her, hear her jibes and no-nonsense attitude, wanted to see if he could mess with her somehow… make her drop her icy face and let him in.
But on the other hand he desperately wished for her to not be there. He wanted to find her gone and out of his reach so that he couldn't pull a repeat of the night before. He'd liked it, yes. He'd liked touching her skin; it was so smooth. He'd liked inhaling her addicting scent whilst allowing his fingertips to flit caressingly over her cheeks and neck.
He'd liked it far too much. That's why she was better off gone. But, hell, he'd be lying if he didn't want to see her again!
That's why, when he took a tentative sniff and found her scent to be already stale, he felt a pang of disappointment.
"Hanabusa," his cousin spoke softly from just beside him.
"Hm?"
"She's not here."
Aidou plastered an ignorant look onto his face. "Who's not here?"
"Hanabusa-"
"Oh, I have a sudden urge to relieve myself! Excuse me please," he said very hurriedly and darted off in the general direction of the bathrooms. From behind him he heard Kain sigh in annoyance but paid him little heed. As soon as the blonde was out of sight, Aidou headed off in the direction of the library. He knew she wasn't in there from the lack of her scent but he had to make sure for himself.
Sure enough, as he reached the library door, he found the lights all off, the door closed and no sign of Yori bustling about inside. He scowled slightly and berated himself. He should be glad that she wasn't here. But, dang, he wanted her to be here!
Wrenching his phone from his pocket he accessed the chatroom within a mere few seconds. He was somewhat amazed to find that Yori was actually on.
Ice101: Why aren't you in the library again?
He waited with bated breath for her reply. It came sooner than he'd thought.
HazelNut: Because I had a feeling you'd be there.
He stared at his phone.
Oh, so that's how she was doing this then, was she? Be there one night just to completely disarm him and then vanish the next, driving him completely insane? Fine then.
Glancing out the window he noted that the moon was well in the sky by this point. There really was only one place that she'd be right now, especially at this time.
Aidou hurriedly assessed the situation. Nobody had really believed his claim of going to the bathroom in the first place so it didn't really matter if he deviated from his original plan a little. The prefects were out doing rounds, yes, but he could easily avoid them and if he happened to bump into Yuuki he could always just brush his being outside off as a need of fresh air. Zero on the other hand… would be more troublesome.
But he wouldn't get caught. If he couldn't even manage to sneak past two prefects, what sort of vampire noble would he be?
Snapping his phone shut and severing the internet connection, Aidou checked the latch on the window closest to him. It slid aside easily and allowed the glass to open fairly wide, making jumping from the window a simple task. Running there would take next to no time and energy due to his superior vampiric abilities. He supposed he should wait around a little while before zipping over and arriving within a matter of seconds and therefore probably creeping Yori out…
But what the heck. He was already impatient so he wasn't going to delay any longer. She'd just have to deal with the shock.
Yori sighed and shut her laptop. She really shouldn't have logged on but she had needed to access the school library's filing system with her password in order to check that all of the books were correctly checked out and organized. Hence, upon accessing the online data storage, she had automatically been logged in. She'd have to ask Yuuki how to deactivate that annoying setting since she wasn't the best in knowing how to tweak all of the little modifications without throwing something completely out of balance.
When Aidou had messaged her she'd debated over replying to him or not. Ignoring him had seemed the more sensible option but she had known that he would not have liked that one bit. Also, she'd wanted to speak with him. She knew she was being selfish in this; she wanted to talk to him but she didn't want to see him.
She sighed. What a hypocrite she was.
And then when she'd replied he'd just suddenly logged off without answering. She bit her lower lip, rereading what she'd written. Maybe he'd taken her words as an insult. She hoped not.
Closing her laptop and pushing it onto the bed beside her she looked down at her hands. Upon reaching her dorm room earlier she'd set the package from the Chairman down on her bed, wondering for a moment first what it was. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Yori had carefully unwrapped it, pulling the bindings apart. Needless to say that when she'd discovered that the Chairman had given her two strange looking silver accessories she had been very surprised. They had resembled two rather broad silver bracelets from which extended, on each one, a squared piece of silver metal protecting the back of each of her hands. She'd never seen stranger jewelry in her life and yet, intrigued, she'd slipped them on. They were so comfortable to wear that Yori had temporarily forgotten that she was wearing them, though she was still confused by the Chairman's words. How were these supposed to… 'ward off creepy stalkers'? Patterns were engraved on the otherwise smooth silver, though Yori had yet to study them properly.
"Yo," someone breathed into her ear.
Jumping, Yori spun around to face the sudden danger, her right hand coming round to swing at the threat on reflex.
Surprisingly, she found her mark, the silver metal backing protecting her hand colliding with a painful slap against skin. Hissing sounded and Yori gasped upon catching sight of the purple sparks springing from the point of contact, which she now recognized to be someone's neck.
Her attacker gasped and staggered, their form twitching for a second before falling to their knees on the floor before her bed. Yori stared in shock.
"Gah, ow! Shit, that freakin' hurts!"
Yori recognized the mop of unruly blonde hair and she clapped both her hands over her mouth, not believing her eyes. "A-Aidou-senpai!" She dove forwards, her hands reaching out to clasp his one wrist and shoulder, when he cried out again and two eruptions of purple light flared from the points where Yori had touched him. Jerking in a spasm, Aidou's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his muscles gave way, letting him collapse on the floor beside a horrified Yori.
Carefully now, Yori moved forwards, making sure not to actually touch him. Not knowing what to do, she hovered over him, her hands fluttering. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, Aidou-senpai! What happened? I mean, what-"
"Zip it, Yori," Aidou managed to growl out from between his teeth. Yori swallowed, still not daring to touch him.
Aidou tried to lift himself from the ground but his muscles seemed to have been forced into involuntary contractions, making controlling them an impossible task. He sighed and settled himself back on the floor. He just hoped that the effects of… whatever the heck she had shocked him with wore off soon. Coming to think of it, the stinging had felt remarkably similar to Artemis, the Cross Prefect's weapon, only intensified. His eyes flicked over to Yori's silver bracelets.
Ah. That explains it. What the heck is the Chairman thinking, giving a human an anti-vampire weapon? Aidou wondered. Does Yori now know that I… No. If she did she'd probably have run screaming by now, he rationalized with himself. Just then his brow furrowed and he took another tentative sniff of the air. Immediately his nose scrunched in utter disgust at the sharp, stinging stink. "What in the blazes is that horrible smell?"
His rational question seemed to appease Yori somewhat because he noticed her relax. "Hm? Oh, you mean the garlic?" she asked, reaching for the clove on her bed.
Aidou pulled a face. "Gross! Get that stuff away from me!"
"What?" she asked, confused.
Aidou realized that he'd reacted a little more strongly to the plant than was probably normal. "I'm ah… allergic," he said. "Allergic to garlic. Why do you have garlic in your room anyway?"
"Chairman Cross gave it to me," Yori told him quietly, her fingers entwining with one another bashfully, having replaced the garlic on her bed. "I'm assuming he wanted me to make spaghetti bolognaise for him or something. Why?"
"No reason." So she didn't know. He was relieved. It wasn't so much that vampires were weak against garlic – not at all. It just smelled utterly repulsive to their sensitive noses, hence causing most to give the plant a wide berth. Aidou almost chuckled at remembering how the superstition had come about. Really, if a vampire was determined enough they wouldn't let something as trivial as a bad smell stop them from killing their target. The idiot who had revealed to humans that vampires detested the smell of garlic was an idiot by the name of James Vander… Vander-something-or-other.
Silently, Aidou cursed him now. Because of that brainless buffoon he couldn't smell Yori; the blasted stench of the garlic was covering her scent completely. But maybe, Aidou realised, that was what the Chairman had intended…
Yori was about to open her mouth to speak when a shadow fell over her. Startled, she twisted her upper torso around again, her hand swinging with her on defensive impulse. Luckily for the intruder he was far enough away that he was in no danger of getting hit by her attack. Kain held his hands up from where he stood just beside her window in a gesture of appeasing surrender. "Whoa, whoa there. I only came to pick up that," he said, gesturing vaguely towards the blonde still lying on the floor.
"Oh, um, sure." Yori moved to the side quickly, getting out of Kain's way as the noble moved silently over her bedroom floor. Yori remained quiet, though she wondered why the plank that he had stepped on hadn't creaked. It was the one plank that she knew to always avoid at night if she needed the bathroom.
Hefting Aidou over his shoulder, Kain gave Yori a short glance before looking back to the opened window and then to the door of the room. Sighing, Kain headed grudgingly for the door. It would be far too suspicious if he could simply jump from the second floor and land with apparent ease, and he could not afford for the human girl to become any more skeptic than she already was.
Yori watched the tall Night Class student unlock her door and disappear through it near silently, Aidou still dangling over his shoulder.
She stared for a moment before hurrying over and closing the door once more, locking it again. How in the world had Aidou managed to get into her room? The door had been locked, she knew that. Sure, the window had been opened in order to get some fresh air into her and Yuuki's stuffy little room, but they were on the second floor and, Yori ran to check, there was no conveniently placed drainpipe fastened beside her window either. The walls were smooth and newly plastered, giving no handholds and there was no ivy or other climber plant growing there either. She couldn't spot a rope anywhere or even a ladder. Besides, what would Aidou-senpai be doing with a ladder?
And how had the other one, Kain she believed he was called, appeared in her room? He most certainly hadn't come through her locked door and the only alternative was the window.
How were all these people getting in?
Yori directed her attention onto the silver bracelets that the Chairman had given to her. She had no idea what they were but apparently, upon touching someone, they gave off a large electric shock, strong enough to knock someone to their knees. And when she'd touched Aidou a second time the metal must have brushed against his skin again, sending another shock into his already overloaded body. And she'd touched him in two places the second time! No wonder his muscles had stopped functioning!
Yori bit her lip. She really hoped he was okay; perhaps she should stop by the infirmary tomorrow and see if he was in there. If he was she could apologize and if he wasn't then he was probably well enough not to need treatment.
Now… how in the world did she get these bracelets off?
Aidou groaned and opened his eyes again blearily. He had a whooping headache coming on from those purple sparks and while he'd regained control over his muscles by now, they were all stiff and aching. Damn, that was one strong weapon the Chairman had decided to give to Yori. And she'd shocked him with it three times.
"Awake yet?"
Aidou turned his head to the side a little to see Kain standing beside his bed. "Akatsuki?"
"Yeah."
Aidou raised a hand to cover his eyes. "Where am I right now?"
"In our dorm. I figured that taking you back to class would be useless after the shocking you'd just gotten."
Aidou just gave a stiff nod, knowing that Kain would interpret it correctly as thanks.
"So," Kain said, taking a seat on the bed. "Are you feeling better yet?"
Grimacing, Aidou propped himself up on his elbows, trying to get his bearings. "I think so."
"Good." And Kain whacked him over the head, sending him crashing back into the pillows.
"Ah!" Aidou yelled, gritting his teeth. "What the hell was that for?"
"Emphasis."
A/N: And here's another chapter! Not all that much Aidou and Yori interaction I'm afraid but I felt the need to elaborate a little here. Don't worry, the next chapter will include plenty of scenes with those two!
PLEASE REVIEW!