Chapter 5~ Rooftop

"What are you doing here?" I asked, tensing. As far as I knew, he wasn't one of the ones that I had helping me around the school.

"That's a bit cold." Hanabusa said, taking a few slow steps towards me. His eyes were turning more crimson the closer he got to me. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He paused a few feet from me, his gaze never swerving from mine.

"Well, I'm fine. You can go now." I said, taking a few steps back, only to have him follow me step for step. "Hanabusa." I let a growl enter my tone.

"You're still only a common vampire, no matter how hard you try to act like one of us." He had me backed against the wall now. "There are still rules you should be holding to."

He was right, and we both knew it. In the hierarchy of the vampire world, the rankings went from former human to common vampire to aristocrat to Pureblood. Within the common vampire category, however, was a number of divisions, one of which being Songblood. Though I was never positive on where "Songblood" ranked in the system, I knew it was somewhere near the top, almost directly below aristocrat. Meaning, in short, that I still had to bow to the students here whether I wanted to or not.

Hanabusa reached out a hand and placed it lightly against my chest, pinning me completely against the wall. "That's a good girl." Hanabusa said, smiling. With his other hand, he lifted my chin, exposing my throat. "Just a quick sample." He breathed, leaning forward.

"Hanabusa, what are you doing?" Out of the corner of my eye I could just see Akatsuki coming in the door. Before I could say a word, Hanabusa's fangs struck and I froze, terror washing over me again. I heard Akatsuki swear before Hanabusa was pulled off me.

"Why are there always interruptions?" Hanabusa pouted as Akatsuki slammed into the opposite wall.

"You know that Lord Kaname told us not to draw her blood." Akatsuki said, running one hand through his hair in frustration.

This is bad. How many others are like Hanabusa? He had a point with the rankings remark. No matter what I say, I'm still only a commoner. I thought as I crouched and picked up my ocarina.

After Akatsuki had dragged Hanabusa away yet again, I sank onto the bed, my fingers skimming the puncture wounds on my neck. Thankfully, the blood had already stopped flowing and the wound itself was shallow enough for a bite. With a sigh, I fell back into the bed and was soon fast asleep, the ocarina still in my hands.

When I woke, the sun was about halfway across the sky. I got up and stretched before heading to the bathroom to freshen up. Once that was done, I headed over to the closet and grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, quickly threw them on, and grabbed my ocarina before heading for the door. I still had enough time before it was time to head for class, and I wanted to see if what I had thought earlier was true.

On the way back to my room yesterday, I had noticed a small flight of stairs that had been almost hidden from view in a corner leading up somewhere. If I had to guess, those stairs were from when the construction people had first built this dorm to lead up to the roof, and that was my ticket to a private spot to practice. If I was right, that is.

With a soft sigh of relief, I was glad to see the steps still in the same place as yesterday. Not that they would move, but I almost thought I was seeing a hallucination. I chided myself lightly before taking the first step. A loud CREAK echoed down the hall and I froze, waiting for someone to come and wonder what I was doing. When no one did, I tried another step, only to repeat the process.

I don't know how long it actually took me, moving like that, to reach the roof, but when I finally did, I paused and closed my eyes, glad to have been right about something for once. From the way it looked up here, no one had used those steps in a long time. Leaves had built up in the crevasses between the small wall and the roof and started to decay there. There was even a bird nest tucked away in a corner that was slowly falling apart.

"Might take a bit, but there's still a good view out here." I said to myself, looking back behind me at the view of Cross Academy. I could see plans already to turn this into a sort of private garden. After clearing out a small spot, I sank to the floor, leaned against the small wall, and began to play.

Hanabusa sat up, blinking sleepily. In the bed next to him, his cousin, Akatsuki rolled onto his side and covered his head with the blanket. "Go back to sleep, Hanabusa." He moaned.

"It's not me." Hanabusa snapped, looking around. Just on the edge of hearing was what sounded like someone playing an instrument. Ariao's probably gone back to practicing in her room. He thought, then blinked. Wait…if that were the case, why would we hear it? Puzzled, he got up and looked out the door.

"It's no louder out here. Where's it coming from?" He said to himself. Glancing back at his cousin, he slipped out and closed the door behind him.

It took him a good two hours to finally realize that there was a flight of steps that led to the roof, where the music seemed to come from. How long have these been here? He wondered as he started to climb them, pausing every now and then to make sure the music really was coming from this direction. Sure enough, at the top of the stairs, sitting off to one side with closed eyes, was Ariao playing her ocarina.

I paused as I heard someone come up on the roof with me and opened my eyes to see Hanabusa staring at me owlishly. "What?" I asked, not sure whether to be blunt and tell him to leave or not. Hanabusa seemed to snap back out of his trance at my words for he shook his head and glared at me for a moment before replying.

"I don't have to tell you anything." He said smugly.

"Whatever." I shrugged, closed my eyes, and went back to playing. It wasn't long before I got a real answer from him.

"I wanted to see what you were doing up here." He admitted quietly.

I paused. Did I just hear…concern in his voice? I wondered, looking back at him. Turning my attention back to the view of the forests beyond the school fence, I blinked. "Don't worry about me. I've taken worse."

"You shouldn't have to be used to that!" Hanabusa snapped, drawing my attention back to him. His eyes held a bit of crimson and I tensed as he stormed over to me. "Songblood or not, you shouldn't be used to anyone taking your blood!"

"You think that I stroll up to a vampire and tell them to take my blood?" I growled, glaring at him. "You were dead on with the rankings remark. I'm only a common vampire." I saw his eyes change back to their normal icy blue as shock began to show in his eyes.

"You should still do something." Hanabusa said softly, kneeling in front of me so that we were at eye level. "Your music. Why not that?"

"Never enough time." I said sadly, looking away. "Most of the time, they sneak up on me."

"That's why you're so jumpy around us." It wasn't really a question, but I felt the question in the tone. With a sigh, I nodded. "And here I am. I've only made things worse." That caused me to look up. There was a touch of sorrow in his voice that puzzled me.

"Like I said, I'm used to it." I said bluntly. I could tell by the tension that hit him that he was biting back a sharp remark. After a moment, though, he got up, walked over to clear himself a spot nest to me, and sat back down.

"I think I'll stay up here for a little while." Hanabusa said, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall.

"Do whatever you want." I said, not looking at him. At that point, I didn't really care what he did, so long as I could practice in peace. I was pretty sure he had fallen back asleep before I started playing again, so I kept the tone of the music soft.

His control has a bit to be desired, but he really doesn't seem all that bad. I thought, leaning back again and closing my own eyes while the lullaby from my mother filled the air.