Chapter 6~ Ice and Moonlight
We stayed on the rooftop until the sun was starting to sink below the trees and the day class began to gather at the gates. "Looks like that's our cue." Hanabusa said, opening his eyes. I had stopped playing some time ago and had been content to just sit and watch as Cross Academy began to come to life with the flow of day class students.
"Seems like it." I agreed quietly, watching the disciplinary committee members try to hold off the tidal wave of day class students. "Looks like they've got it rough." I said, nodding to where Yuki and Zero were forcing back a group of ambitious girls. I looked over at Hanabusa as he chuckled.
"Ah, my wonderful fans." He sighed dreamily and jumped to his feet. "Well, I'm off." He winked at me and almost skipped down the steps. I sat there for a moment longer before clutching my ocarina to my chest for a minute. With a sigh, I pushed myself onto my feet and headed back down to get ready for class.
"You seem in a better mood today." I jumped and spun around to see Takuma standing near the base of the steps, smiling, already in his uniform.
"It was nice to get away from the chaos." I admitted.
"Trade one for another?" Takuma asked, eyes glowing in a teasing manner.
"What are you talking about?" I accused, stiffening.
"I saw Hanabusa come down a moment ago. He was more excited than normal." Takuma chuckled and walked past me. I had no reply as the vice president vanished down the hallway. Giving my head a shake, I headed back to my room and changed quickly into my uniform.
"About time you got here." Akatsuki's bored tone drew my attention to the base of the stairs. Everyone else was waiting in the parlor as I came down the steps.
"You ready?" Hanabusa asked, coming up behind me. He grinned mischievously and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him and startling me.
"Hanabusa." Akatsuki sighed.
"Oh, let them have some fun." Takuma smiled at me. Before I could reply, we were heading out behind Kaname for class.
"Idol! Over here Idol!" That phrase was the one that kept echoing in my head as we walked past all the day class students.
"Idol?" I asked, looking up at Hanabusa, who still had an arm around my shoulders.
"That's my nickname here. My last name is Aido and so it just sort of fit." Hanabusa smiled at me for a moment before turning to a group and waving happily to a group. "Looking lovely today ladies!" He called. This caused a huge reaction among the girls, and everyone started trying to push forward past the disciplinary committee. I sighed as we continued on, aware vaguely that Hanabusa kept a grip on me all the way to class.
Class was a bit of a bore again, but at least it was calmer than yesterday. I had my notebook back out and was drawing out a set of lines for a music staff, wanting to see if I could make another piece to work on for tonight. Beside me, Hanabusa looked over at what I was doing, watching silently. Behind me, Akatsuki was watching us with bored curiosity.
About halfway through the "class" Kaname announced that we could head out on our own for a bit. I was getting to my feet when Hanabusa tapped me lightly on the shoulder. "Mind if I follow you for a bit?" Surprised he would even offer I just managed to nod. Hanabusa smiled and let me lead the way out of the classroom.
A soft breeze was blowing outside, ruffling my hair back towards him. I heard him take a deep breath and then sigh. Looking back, I saw his eyes were closed, a slight look of pleasure on his face. "You really do have a nice scent." He breathed before looking back at me. "So where are we going?"
"I don't know about you, I was heading to the forested area." I said, heading off, gripping my notebook tightly.
"The song you were working on?" He asked and I realized that he was following me.
"Yeah, I wanna make this a special song, so I'm making sure to get everything I can." I could almost hear his thoughts, wondering what I was talking about. In the end, he remained silent and we continued to head deeper into the woods. Once I was happy with where I was, I sat down, leaning back against the tree, closed my eyes, and sighed.
No sooner had I sat down I jumped back up again, eyes wide. "What's wrong?" Hanabusa asked, a tense edge to his voice, but I barely heard him. Where I had been sitting was a small puddle of blood and more was continuing to run down my back. "Ariao?!" Hanabusa grabbed my arms before I could fall to the ground.
"Finally found you." A dark voice chuckled. My vision was blurring already, so all I could see was the light beige overcoat and hood.
"You are going to pay for that." Hanabusa growled, eyes glowing crimson. A sudden chill pierced the air. "Turn to ash through ice." Hanabusa's voice was the last thing I heard before I blacked out.
When I woke up, I was in my dorm, the notebook and ocarina on the nightstand near my bed. I sat up quickly and looked at the window to see that the sun was already up in the sky. How did I get here? I wondered, pulling myself gingerly out of bed. I could still feel the pain from the wound of whatever that strange vampire had used, but thankfully, it had stopped bleeding.
A knock at the door made me jump. "Ariao, are you awake?" A moment later, Takuma came in. "Glad to see you're awake." he sighed, coming over to me. "Kaname was wanting to talk to you when you woke." I must have looked a bit nervous, because he put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. Hanabusa is serving his punishment."
"What?!" I pulled away, tense. "Why? Hanabusa's done nothing wrong!"