Chapter Three
It was morning again. The magnificent sun rose, painting the sky in pinks and oranges. Clouds hung low, the sun's golden light painting them also. A full moon could be seen fading opposite of the sun, the man on it giving the morning a blessing smile before he slept once more.
"Vampires," Ayama began thoughtfully, while she gazed at the moon, "are like moons."
Hiroshi followed her line of sight and sighed. "I suppose. Ayama! Hold the parasol properly!" He scorned, holding his own black umbrella against the sun.
She too sighed and blocked the sun's rays. Through the white fabric of her parasol, she could nearly feel the warmth, which both stung and tingled. Hiroshi and Ayama had snuck out of the dorms that morning, mostly because Ayama still couldn't sleep during the day, especially when she hadn't seen the sun rise.
Morning was her favorite time. She loved how the cold dew would stick to the air and surround her, leaving droplets on her skin. It would augment the scent of the earth, of the blooming life. Morning was also her favorite because it was where the moon and sun got to see each other .
She had always imagined that the sun and moon were an ancient old love story which hung untold in the sky.
Standing upon a stone bench, she twirled on her toe. "Hiroshi? Do you ever…regret kissing me?" She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, then looked away once his stare met hers.
He stared at her with his wide, brown eyes. Taking her hand and gazing up at her, he replied calmly, "I think….I think I have come to terms with it quicker than you have."
She blinked and whispered, "Well, I am sorry. Either way, I am sorry, Hiroshi." Using his hand to help her, Ayama stepped down from the bench. "I have a feeling we're being watched." She turned to look up at the windows of the dorm, Hiroshi following suit.
But there was nothing. Ayama knew her sense wasn't wrong, but she also knew that whoever was watching, didn't mean harm. Yet, she had no idea how she knew. Kaname had said she would have to find her powers by herself, but already it seemed she had so many! Most of it, she realized, was following her senses.
Ayama twirled the handle of her parasol and, still holding Hiroshi's hand, turned and began walking away. Hiroshi followed, as he always had, as he always would.
It wasn't long until she spotted him. He was emerging from the trees, a tall, silver haired angel who looked more lost and fallen than anything Ayama had ever known or seen. His intense eyes remained on Ayama as she walked toward him. She sensed Hiroshi tense, so she squeezed his hand to calm him.
"Good morning, Zero," she called out.
He glowered and muttered something under his breath. Then he said, more audible this time, "What are you doing out here? It's morning. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
Hiroshi stepped in front of her, growling defensively, "She can't sleep in the morning. And what about you, guardian? Shouldn't you be in class?"
Zero's eyes narrowed, and Ayama noticed his fingers twitched toward his belt, which appeared to have a gun tucked in it. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know Zero very well, and he already seemed to dislike her, but would he shoot her?
Then, remembering she was a pureblood, a vampiric force not to be reckoned with, she gently pushed Hiroshi aside. There was a small giddy yet nervous feeling in her stomach at the thought of being invincible.
"Hiroshi…" she said sternly. "You must be tired since you sound so grumpy. Why don't you go inside and sleep?" She knew he would understand it to be a command and would have to obey.
Glaring, he unwillingly trudged back to the Moon dorms entrance.
Ayama and Zero stared at each other, not speaking, not blinking. The silence drew on with small birds singing their sweet tunes and flying about the sky. A gust of cold wind swept both of their hair into their faces, yet neither one still moved.
Finally, Zero was the first to break the silence. "Chairman Cross says your name is Ayama Wakahisa."
She nodded, still staring at his face, his small chin, his sinewy limbs. His body was narrow and lean, built for running and flexibility.
Something flashed across his eyes, whether it was fear or confusion, she couldn't tell. "You were raised by humans," he stated flatly.
Smiling, she corrected, "Not by humans, with humans."
He didn't respond. Instead, he murmured, "Wakahisa….Be careful. This school isn't what is appears to be at all. And, about Kaname…be careful around him. He always has his own agenda." Shrugging, he stalked off.
Puzzled by his strange warning, she realized she had forgotten to ask him what he was. But it was too late, he had disappeared. Moving slowly in the direction of the Moon dorm's entrance, Ayama glanced up at the windows, knowing that something sinister was watching.
And Kaname was.
Shuddering, Ayama entered the dorm, closing the heavy doors behind her.
"Ah! Ayama-san!" Ichijou and two other vampires were standing at the stop of the grand stairs. "What were you doing outside during the day?"
She smiled and answered honestly, "I wanted to see the sun rise. Is that okay?"
The other two vampires exchanged surprised looks. One had bright turquoise eyes which shone and glittered. His blonde hair was splayed about his head, similar to his friend's hair, which was a mussed mess.
Ichijou slowly descended. "Ayama, this is Aido Hanabusa and Kain Akatsuki. They wanted to meet you." He smiled and stopped as he reached the end of the stairs.
Closing her parasol, she bowed and replied, "Pleasure to meet both of you officially. Why are all of you up this morning?"
Ichijou rubbed the back of his neck and grinned nervously. "Oh, well…you know. We were just strolling about and…"
"Kuran told us to retrieve you. He wishes to speak with you," the one named Kain spoke up bluntly.
Ichijou whirled around and glared. "So much for subtle," he grumbled grudgingly.
Ascending the stairs, she responded, "Well, I will put my parasol up in my room and meet him in just a moment."
Aido stepped in front of her. "Uh, well. Kaname-sama wishes to speak to you about your room." He glanced at Kain and Ichijou.
"What's wrong?" her eyes darted between the three of them.
Kain answered the question first, "It's been ransacked, your room."
"What?!" the surprise left her lips before she could stop it. Without another word, Ayama took off up the stairs, dashing passed the closed doors, the whitewashed walls. Skidding to a halt, it was easy to tell which one was her room.
Stepping in, over the shreds of the door they had just replaced, Ayama saw Hiroshi already beginning to clean.
"What happened?" she cried out, staring at her belongings strewn across the floor. Some of her clothes had been ripped, her books torn and thrown. The canopy of her bed was ripped to pieces, only strips hanging from the poles then. Her bed was covered in goose feathers, her pillows completely annihilated.
A message was written in red across the wall.
"Powerful blood: powerful drink. Your blood is ours."
Scared, Ayama slowly began walking backwards. Backing away from the damaged scene, she ran into something solid and screamed, jumping away.
Hiroshi was immediately by her side, wrapping his arms around her as she buried her face in his chest.
Kaname appraised the room with steady, yet angry eyes. "Hhmm. This is unfortunate. Security here is excellent, so it must have been an inside job. Amaya," he reached out his hand, "why don't you come with me? We should report this to the Chairman."
She clung to Hiroshi, reluctant to let go of his familiarity, of his comfort. But she knew she had to go. Releasing Hiroshi's shirt, still shaken, she allowed Kaname to take her hand gently and lead her away.
As they walked, servants in black and white appeared, as if they had been hiding in the walls, and proceeded in helping Hiroshi clean up. Other vampires woke and opened their doors in curiosity, but the sight of the formidable Kaname and terrified looking Ayama had them shutting their doors once more.
Kaname said to her as they walked, "You are a different pureblood, Ayama. More different than you realize."
"So, others will continue to harass me because I was raised by humans then?" she asked, staring at the ground.
He gazed at her a moment, his expression, as always it seemed, unreadable, and it gave Ayama the feeling that his words meant more than she really did realize.
--
She had excused herself from class. Yagari hadn't appeared to care at all. He was mostly frustrated that she had interrupted his lecture which Ayama couldn't remember what it was about anyway. She wasn't actually bothering with listening or learning any of the complex things the vampires were being taught.
It wasn't that she couldn't understand, she simply was apathetic about it. Her parents had been her teachers and tutors when she was younger and had home schooled her. Ayama loved her parents as teachers. They were enthusiastic about every subject ranging from how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs and how to understand quantum theory. Ayama never did understand quantum theory, but she felt that that didn't matter anymore.
Wandering around the fluorescent lit hallways, she basked in the silence, the quietness. It surrounded her, enveloped her, made her senses come alive. Closing her eyes as she walked, Ayama found she could sense her surroundings- the walls, the chair at the far end of the hall, the passing windows. She even found she could hear the sound of running water through the pipes and the soft buzz of electricity as it flowed through the walls.
Using her nostrils, she was able to detect the former presence of human life. Ayama could smell the sweat, the nerves, the crushes. She could easily detect the smell of vampires. The scent was unnatural, not alive. It was like the smell of catacombs, undetectable by humankind.
Ayama wandered, eventually leaving the building completely. She found herself roaming, just looking and listening, practicing her abilities. The campus, she realized, was a lot larger than she expected.
Finding her way into the forest which surrounded most of the academy, Ayama was amazed by the natural beauty she hadn't experience in so long. At her home, she would always find some reason to be near trees or on trees, or outside for that matter. Any reason at all just to be near the earth.
Placing a hand on the rough bark of a tree, she sighed and leaned against it.
"Tired, are we?" A silhouette appeared from behind a cluster of bushes.
Ayama cried out, startled, but she was instantly aware that it was a vampire. He even stepped out of the shadows to reveal a white Night Class uniform.
Smiling, she held her hand over her pulsing heart and said, "You scared me. Why are you here? Did Yagari or Kaname send you to retrieve me?" She stayed by the tree, digging her nails into the bark.
Something was amiss. She was sensing more vampiric presences than what she was seeing.
Smirking cruelly, the unrecognizable vampire hissed, "We were not sent by that lowlife hunter, nor the pureblood."
Others, not wearing the school's uniform, seemed to appear out of thin air. Their faces were all pale and blank, their eyes dull. Ayama counted nearly ten, including the one masquerading as a Night Class student.
Her hear jammed painfully against her ribs as Ayama fought to control her breath. It wasn't a good situation at all.
"Wh-what do you want?!" she cried at him, gulping repeatedly as she kept her back against the tree. Her mind was racing- all sorts of escape routes embed into her mind. She just wasn't sure what would work.
His eyes, with a mere blink, turned a vicious red. "To complete our mission." He slowly began to prowl towards her.
Ayama knew she was a pureblood, knew she was supposed to have some sort of ability to save her, but, when she looked inside herself for anything, she found nothing. Emptiness. "And…what is that?" She steeled her legs for her plan.
"To capture powerful blood." And he lunged.
And Ayama jumped.
She went straight up, her hand grasping an outstretched branch. But it wasn't long until the others were jumping, their fingers splayed out to grab any part of her.
Ayama screamed and swung herself to the next tree, hitting it with a painful thump. She could feel some scrapes form on her brow, but disappear as soon as they had come. Not wasting time, she clawed her way up, scrambling to get away as her pursuers came from behind like panthers. They spread out and made a move to encircle her tree.
Noticing this, she panicked and jumped for the next tree. Her jacket was caught on a branch, and she was forced to rip it off. More twigs and branches scratched at her stockings, but it all was minimal and only stung for a second.
Another vampire crashed into her as she swung low. Together, they clawed at each other, falling to the ground with a painful crash. Her attacker pulled at her hair, causing Ayama to scream as she kicked him in the face and rolled away.
But then there was another and then another. She charged two of them, allowing her inner vampire to take over her, envelope her.
Ayama froze mid-attack, shivers and tingles running up and down her spine. It was then that she could feel everything. She wasn't even sure what the everything was, but it coursed through her veins and throughout her body, giving her a feeling of superiority, of awesome power.
The invaders stopped in their tracks, staring in fear at Ayama as her eyes turned blood red. A few began shaking, backing away slowly. Only a good few shook off her waves of power and authority.
But, either way, it was too late. A force was building in the palm of her hand, something she wasn't sure she had full control of, and yet, she didn't care if it was controlled or not.
Raising her hand, her whole body shook as she slammed her palm to the earth. A power stronger than a blazing fire and roaring tornado ripped through her and crawled through the earth, shaking the earth's plates with a tremendous force.
Everyone fell to the ground, including a shocked Ayama. The earth opened where her attackers were and swallowed them whole. Trees snapped and fell like simple twigs. Ayama could even hear the far off screams of the Day Class. The ground rumbled and rolled, shook and quaked furiously. The earth, when finished eating her enemies, proceeded to close its mouth with more rumbling and shaking, forcing the grass and dirt together like a massive tidal wave.
And, when things went still, Ayama sat in the middle of the destruction. Dirt fell on her like dry, brown rain, dousing her hair and white uniform. Feeling so weak and drained, she laid on the ground and closed her eyes. And, with an enervated sigh, the vampire within her fell back asleep.
Before Ayama walked completely into the dark abyss of dreams, she could hear two distinct voices.
"I knew something like this would happen," growled Yagari.
"It was only an accident. You must take her to my room for rest," advised Kaname.
But Yagari protested, "No. The infirmary. She looks dead."
"You seem to forget, we are dead."