CHAPTER 1:Delving a little deeper
In the room of the Moon dorm President, Takuma Ichijo was standing at the side of the only pureblood he is loyal to, Kuran Kaname. Currently, he is looking at Kaname who was looking at the profile of the new student who was in the process of being enrolled to CrossAcademy.
"Kaname-sama, are you sure about this?"
"Why wouldn't I be? She would make a great pawn to protect the king and queen." As he said that, he glanced at the set of chess on his office table.
Ichijo understood. "But she definitely isn't the easiest person to control."
"True, which is why one of the Night students will be assigned to see over her."
'I pity the person who is going to do so.' Ichijo thought as he sweatdropped at the way Kaname talked nonchalantly about the duty to see over her.
(Meanwhile)
A girl stood outside the large gates of the CrossAcademy with her luggage beside her.
"Ugh, its almost sunset and its still so bright", the girl muttered to no one in particular, as she held up a hand to shield her irritated eyes.
"Ah, you must be Hamazaki-san, aren't you?" The girl, turned around to see a particularly bright and cheerful person.
"H-hai. And you are..."
"I'm Ichijo Takuma, vice president of the Moon Dorm!" Surrounding him were sparkling diamond lights and a bright setting.
He's too cheerful. "A-ano, are you really a vampire? I-I'm sorry. D-did I offend you?W-wait, don't cry!" The girl started to panic.
Apparently, it seems that Ichijo-kun seems to have taken offense to the question and was about to cry.
Hamazaki's POV
I finally made it to the office. Ichijo-kun almost cried just because I asked him if he was a vampire. He kept asking if it was wrong to be happy and appreciate life. He said he didn't want to follow the protagonists in the shounen vampire manga, who were all emo-ish. I offered him a candy, and he stopped crying.
Matakku..
Ichijo led me to the Chairman's office. I opened the door after knocking on it.
"Aah~ You must be Hamazaki Aria. Come in." wow. Cheerful.
"Konbanwa, Kurosu-san."
"Okay, you already fill up the forms and went through the procedure, right?"
"Yes."
"I assume you know the rules in this school?"
'No, not really' was what I wanted to say before I was interrupted by the opening of the door.
"Kaname-kun, you're late."
"Good evening, Chairman. I see, you're Aria-san. Ichijo, take Aria's luggage to her room first. Keep a watch on the others in the dorm."
Ichijo left immediately. Kuran-sama turned to face the Chairman,"If it's alright, I'll explain to her the rules myself."
The Chairman's expression turned serious as he turned to look at me, "Try not to cause any trouble, and please keep Kaname-kun informed about your whereabouts all the time. The Council's henchman could try to come after you even though Kaname has already informed them."
"Hai, arigatogozaimasu, Chairman." I said with an earnest tone, as I bowed low.
As I stand up, I saw that the Chairman was looking at me with a strange look. He had a strange smile plastered on his face too.
"..."
"..."
Aaaaanddd, he snapped out of it. I kind of expected that he wouldn't stay too serious for too long. "Aria-chan, come eat dinner with me and my children sometime soon, okay?! I can't wait to see you more often!" He now had this silly grin on his face and was leaping around the room with joy.
(Later on)
"You know that the Chairman is actually quite concerned about you, right?" Kaname and I were walking towards the Moon Dorm. Its already night and there wasn't any daylight painted on the night sky.
"..."
"You can speak normally to me, you know. Don't just keep quiet all the time." He chuckled.
"The chairman built this school for a few reasons. He wants humans and vampires to leave in peace. He may be a vampire hunter, a very famous one, but all he ever did was to mercilessly slay one vampire after another under the orders of the Vampire Hunter Association. After a while, he realized that he didn't want to just kill and kill. Thanks to a friend, he had an idea to create a community where vampires and humans can live with each other in peace."
"..."
"In a way, he was like you." My eyes widened in realization at what he meant. He could've ended up being a crazed person, so could I. We were both controlled and trained to kill. But now when we are free of those clutches; both the vampire council and vampire hunter association alike; we are free to live with a purpose in life: to protect; to dedicate our life. And not just living life like a dog.
"Now, you understand what he felt when he saw you?" He resumed his steps after seeing my eyes widened and realized that I understood.
He started walking, leaving me behind. "Are you coming?"
"H-hai!"
I hastened my walking pace, my line of sight continuosly towards the man who is slowly changing my life.
(Later on)
"Okaeri, Kaname" Ichijo-kun greeted Kuran-sama as we reached the doorstep of the Moon Dorm. "Good evening, Hamazaki-san"
I only nodded my head. As we make our way to what I suppose is the living room or lounge, we were greeted my a chorus of "Kaname-sama" by the other vampire students.
It wasn't surprising, the students were (shamelessly) whispering about me, the new girl. We're vampires, I wonder why we don't realise we have really good ears. *tone of sarcasm*
Kuran-sama stood in front of me, with Ichijou by his side. He turned back a little to face me. "Introduce yourself."
By then, everyone heard him. "Hai. Hajimemashite, my name is Hamazaki Aria. I am a new student here. Please to meet you."
They were soft chatters going around instantaneously.
"Hamazaki?... The daughter of that pureblood and noble?"
"Isn't she the vampire Council's assassin?..."
"...What is she doing here?..."
"Is Kaname-sama going to be safe?"
"... She looks a little skinny and weak? Is she really that notorious killer?"
I take offense to that last question. There were a lot of similar questions and different opinions circulating in the class.
Kaname started to speak. "From today onwards, she will be protecting me, just like Seiren. You'll be guiding her along the way Seiren. Is it clear?"
Seiren appeared out of nowhere. She was slender and held a very solemn look on her face. Very serious too. "Hai, Kaname-sama"
"I will not tolerate any insults that are thrown towards her direction. Understood?"
Everyone nodded or just answered with a yes.
The students took the silent atmosphere as a dismissal and started to head for their rooms, I assume. Out of nowhere, a guy with blonde hair and crystal blue eyes bowed in front of Kuran-sama. "Kaname-sama! This girl is an assassin from the Vampire Council! Why is Kaname-sama using this girl as a bodyguard? Kaname-sama's relationship with the Council is already tense. They might order her to assasinate you! Please reconsider this matter once again!"
Kaname-sama's expression looked as though he was thinking. The fellow vampire students were discussing about it. Ichijou looked really tense.
"Aidou." Kaname-sama called out. "H-hai."
The air was really thick and Aidou was literally sweating out a bucketful full of nervousness. I think he regretted saying what he said.
"I will do as I wish."
Aidou looked like he was about to faint. I think he was expecting Kaname-sama to hit him or something.
"However, since you have been so kind to express your concern towards my safety, I will leave you in charge of showing Aria around the school."
"D-demo, Kaname-sama..."
Kaname gave him the look which translated, 'Are you disobeying my orders?'
Aidou instantly shut up. "If I hear any trouble regarding Aria, I will personally have a long discussion with you in my office." That left pretty much nothing to discuss. Too bad for Aidou.
"Hai."
"The rest of you are dismissed. Aria, please follow me to my office. We need to discuss about the rules of the Academy."
(Office)
"Is it okay if I don't share my room with a roommate?"
"I suppose that's alright. Aria, vampires here aren't allowed to kill human students let alone, with on them."
"Then, how am I suppose to feed?"
"With this."
Kaname-sama threw me a box. I took it and slid the cover only to find white tablets.
"Is this for headaches or something?" They look like paracetamols.
"Put them in the water to dissolve it. It is substitute blood tablets."
My face instantly turned to one of disgust. I used to think I'll never have to take those nasty stuff as long as I am an assassin. You know, easy blood. Level Es, D, C, and B. All that's left is the pureblood's blood. Must be the best.
I can't wait for that day to come. A level B like myself able to kill a level A. Hehe.
"Is there something funny that I should know of?" Kaname-sama's voice intruded my thoughts.
I just realised how inappropriate my thoughts were, especially since I'm about to start working for him, and not the Council.
"No."
"Good. I'm sure you're aware of the transition of the Day class and the Night class?"
I nodded.
"Just to let you know, there'll be 2 guardians or prefects who know of our existence, and is in charge of the communications between us and the humans. One of them is a vampire hunter, so I expect you to know better than to provoke him. The prefects are the Chairman's adopted children, so it would help if you could be a little more cooperative."
His face was serious and I knew that he meant business. He is my master from here on out.
After a few more trivial things, like the school books, uniform and whatnot, he dismissed me, asking Ichijou to escort me to my new room. Lucky for me, I didn't have a roommate.
(In my new bedroom)
I took a look around. It was comfortable, and was way better than those rooms that I had to sleep in during assassinating missions. As I sat down on the bed, my mind wondered to that day.
Flashback
(In the room in chapter 1)
"Have you thought about my offer?"
I knew this was coming. I didn't know what to think. I'm confused. Is this pureblood someone I can trust? I don't want to overthink this. It's a lifetime offer, after all.
The main question: 'him or the vampire council?'
But this is an opportunity for me to find out who I am, a chance to meet my family members. It's true that the vampire council taught me in my studies, trained me, fed me, clothed me and whatnot, but their intention the whole time was to make use of my blood; even I cannot turn a blind eye to that.
They never said it directly in my face, but I'm not foolish enough to believe that they'll actually treat me nicely for no apparent reason. I know my status. I may be an assassin, but because of my blood status, a level B, with the least amount of tainted human blood, I am a lady, a noble.
I attend balls and galas occasionally, and the vampire community knows of it. When it comes to murders, blood and the likes of it, its not a secret. It's common and known to many high status vampires, but its not made public.
Finally, I decided on my decision.
"I understand. I accept."
If I didn't know a pureblood any better, I would have said no. This is a pureblood and an assassin we're talking about.
From the pureblood's point of view, what are the likes that the assassin won't go to the council and tell them about the deal if she declines? What is the best way to shut her up?
And I accepted this whole thing, which means that the council will must likely hunt for my head and serve it on a silver tray.
Either way, it's almost like a dead end.
"Good. I wouldn't know what to do if you refused. Pack your things and go to Cross Academy. I will go to the council and have a friendly chat with them. Don't worry, you'll be safe in the school. By the time you make it there, I must've probably arrived. I already handled the forms and procedures, so just relax. I will also not forget the other end of the deal. I will reveal your relatives to you when the time is right."
"How will I know when is the end of the deal?"
"It will be obvious." He chuckled softly at me.
"I am now under your care, Kuran Kaname-sama."
"If you have any problems or troubles later on, I hope that you can rely on me."
"Hai, Arigatogozaimasu."
When he left, for some reason, I felt my heart was lighter, as though my burden have been lifted, even if it weren't a lot. And for once after a long while, I smiled.
End flashback
I smiled a little. I just hope I'm not taking the wrong path after all. I'll take a nap and see what to do from there. It's a new life, it's got to be better then living under the roof of uptight and grumpy old vampires.
...
A/N: Yo! I updated. Surprisingly, the scenes and the name of the OC came naturally. The rest of the plotline should be loosely based on the anime season 1 here on out. I feel like there's always something to add to my story and I'm like, is it good enough?
And then there's those moments when I write I think its awesome, and the next day when I see it, it's no good anymore.
Anyways, I might just get a little too angsty when I'm too self absorbed into the emotion of the OC, so warn me if you think it's too angsty. I might wanna put in a little cliche parts *swoons*.
One more thing, can you guys log in when you review? (it's okay if you don't have an account ) if you wanna reply, I just might name my guest one by one; like Guest 01, Guest 02 and whatnot.
~Rieko