Blood Candy 9- Birthday Party
"Aido, Akatsuki. I'm expecting the prefects. Please make sure no one messes with them."
"Hai." The two guys leave and I sit on the railing of the veranda. Everyone is staring at me. After a few minutes, everyone looks towards the path, where Akatsuki, Aido, Yuki, and Zero are walking to the party.
"Hanami-sama, they're here." I smile and bounce off of the rail, closely followed by Maru. She hardly ever leaves my side.
"Welcome! I'm glad you decided to come."
"Um, what's going on?"
"It's a birthday party of course."
"Who's?"
"Technically it's Ichijou-kun's party, but it's my birthday today as well." I glance at the table with the cake and punch, where Ichijou is standing. "Though it's all his own world over there."
"Oh. H-how old are you?"
"In Human years or vampire years?" Ichijou comes over, excited.
"V-vampire years…"
"I'm eighteen! I'm a grownup now! I want a kiss for my present!" I gasp and pound his head.
"Idiot! Think about who you're talking to! Oh, I'm…not sure how old I am. I lost count a good hundred years ago."
"Hundred years…"
"But in human years I'm…" I count on my fingers. "500."
"But…"
"It's different for me. Do you want some cake?"
"Actually, Hanami-sempai. We came to ask about today." I sigh.
"Okay. Ask away. Everyone here knows about it already. Maru-chan, can you get me a slice of cake please?"
"Sure."
"I understand that there's no way we could leave a vampire roaming around like that, but why did you kill it? Why that vampire?"
"Two reasons, one, I'm a hunter, and two, that vampire used to be human." I look down slightly.
"Hana-sama." I take the cake from Maru and lean on the wall behind me, eating.
"But…then…"
"I'll explain better, Yuki-chan. Vampires have a sort of pyramid. There are four levels. By class, there's a handful of Purebloods at the top of the pyramid, in charge of it all, then there are the nobles who make up the council of elders and other important groups of vampires, below them are the normal vampires, and finally there are the former humans. Those vampires are managed by the nobles, and most often the vampire that made them a vampire in the first place. At some point, without proper handling, a former human can go insane and lose all sense of self control or humanity. At that point, they fall out of the pyramid and are labeled Level E. It's a small competition between the Hunter's Association and the nobles to eliminate those before humans are killed or injured. Because they pose the highest risk of exposing us."
"Oh. But…"
"Zero is a member of one of the most elite family of Hunters, so he already knows this."
"Eventually all former humans fall to Level E."
"At my request, Onee-sama took care of it."
"Kaname-sama's here…"
"Kaname-sama is attending the soiree…how odd."
"Well, it is partially Hanami-sama's party. That's probably why."
"Kaname-sempai…" I go up the steps, again closely followed by Maru.
"Maru-chan, you don't have to follow me at every step. Enjoy yourself."
"I am enjoying myself, Hana-sama." I sigh, but drop it.
"Yuki, why didn't you inform the Chairman? You're a member of the disciplinary committee, yet when Onee-sama invited you, you came here…to a dangerous place like this."
"But! I didn't think it was something I should report…and I wanted to know the truth firsthand."
"Firsthand huh…Yuki, Kiryu…come over here." They walk up to the veranda and end up standing beside me. "Yuki…sit beside me." Kaname sits on a chaise lounge and Yuki blushes.
"Huh? No thanks." The aura of shock and displeasure is annoying. Both of them look over. "I'm fine."
"Yuki." She relents and plops on the seat beside him. I sigh when he pulls her closer to him and I sit on the rail again. Zero leans against the pillar beside me, casually.
"You brought that gun with you, didn't you?"
"Of course." I smile slightly.
"You don't go anywhere without it, do you? Why didn't you kill it first?"
"There were people in the building. They heard noise. It would have brought them out if I had shot it." I nod.
"Perhaps, Kiryu…you sympathized with him?" Zero steps forward and pulls his gun out, pointing it at Kaname's head. Seiren acts immediately, threatening to rip out his throat by putting her finger nails on his neck. Her nails cut his skin.
Not good. For me at least. The smell of his blood is more tempting to me than anything else. I get up and touch Zero's arm. "Seiren…it's alright. I said something I shouldn't have."
"Zero…" I push his arm down, forcing him to lower his gun, and then I glare at Kaname. "That was uncalled for, Little Brother." The atmosphere is very dark suddenly. This isn't going well.
"The reason we're here is because Kaname-sama, the Pureblood, is here."
"Kaname-sempai is a pureblood…then…Hanami-sempai too?" I nod solemnly.
"That said. This is a party! We should all be celebrating for Ichijou-kun!" I go back to the rail and sit down.
"Hana-sama, do you want more cake?"
"Sure. Zero, do you want a piece? It's really good."
"Whatever." I sigh and smile at Maru.
"Can you bring him a piece too, Maru-chan?"
"Hai." Maru goes down to the cake and starts talking to Shiki. After a few moments, I catch the scent of her blood and look back. Oh no. Zero. I look at Zero and he dashes out.
"Zero!" I jump off the rail and follow him. I can hear Yuki following as well. I catch up with Zero and catch his hand. "Are you okay?"
"I really can't tolerate the blood tablets. Every time I try to take them, I get sick." I nod and touch his cheek.
"That's fine. Don't beat yourself up over it." I bend my head to the side and Zero hugs me, pulling my hair out of the way at the same time. I shudder slightly as he licks my neck and then bites me. After a bit, he backs up and I wipe a bit of blood from his chin. "Feeling better?"
"Yes." I smile.
"The blood of the person you love satisfies the most."
"Are you going to go back to the party?" I shake my head.
"No. I don't usually go to parties anyways. I just went because Maru hasn't gone to a party in a while and she needs to have some fun. She spends so much time all but glued to my side." We walk to a small pool and I sit on the little rail surrounding it.
"Hey, Hanami…"
"What?" Zero kisses me and pushes me back, into the water. After a moment in the water, we break the kiss and come up for air. I hear a click and look behind Zero. "Ya-Yagari-kun! Why are you pointing a gun at Zero's head?" I wince as a bullet whizzes past my head, grazing Zero's shoulder. Blood spatters my face and I catch Zero.
"I never thought I'd be killing my dear student with this gun. Curse me with your last breath and die…vampire."
"Sh-shishou…" I hug Zero and turn around, blocking Yagari.
"Kuran Hanami huh. The famous Vampire, Vampire Hunter. Don't think I won't shoot you as well." I lower my hand and get my knife out.
"I'd like to see you try, Yagari-kun."
"Hanami, your face…" I smile, wincing.
"I'm fine. It barely went past. Are you okay?" And he just barely drank from me.
"Yea. It's already healed." I nod.
"That's good."
"Both of you are hurt."
"You're in trouble, Yagari. I'm bleeding. And the entire Night Class is just about half a minute's run at top speed from here. No doubt they've already caught the scent." I walk towards the edge of the water and climb out of the water. In almost the same movement, I rip the gun out of Yagari-kun's hands. "You're lucky that it's pretty much impossible to scar a pureblood."
"And why do you defend him? You trying to say that he's not Level E yet? And besides, isn't it taboo to drink blood from a pureblood. Looked like he was attacking you." I smirk, but wince and touch my face. Zero gets out of the water and hugs me.
"Are you okay?" I nod.
"I'm fine. It'll heal quickly. And I really wouldn't mind getting attacked by Zero. If you know what's good for you, Yagari-kun, you'll leave."
"Hanami, how do you know him?"
"Hunters. Yagari-kun is in about the same circle of Hunters I run with. Unfortunately. I hope there's no one in the Night Class that you're targeting. If you were, I'd have to kill you, Yagari." Kaien shows up, closely followed by Yuki.
"Is everything okay?"
"It will be once I can't see Yagari anymore. I'm leaving."
"You can't go back to the dorm like that, Hanami." I sigh.
"You're right." I turn around in Zero's arms and touch his shoulder. "May I?" He nods and I reach up with my mouth, biting him.
"Disgusting." After a moment, I lower my head and touch my face. Perfectly healed. "Well, that explains it. I'm leaving before I puke." I roll my eyes and look back. Kaien and Yuki are staring at us and Yagari is leaving.
"Since when are you two…?"
"Since Valentines." Yuki looks away as Kaien stares at her.
"I'm going back to the dorm then." Yuki leaves and Kaien stares at us again.
"Okay, I want an explanation."
"I don't think that there's much to explain. As far as tonight is concerned. There was a birthday party at the Moon dorm, to which I invited Yuki-chan and Zero. A little accident happened and one of the members of the Night Class was cut. From there, I'm sure you can figure out how Zero and I got here."
"Okay. But why are you two soaking wet and Zero's shirt bloody? And your face looked like you were grazed by an anti vampire spell."
"Well…Zero did attack me…but not in the way Yagari was thinking. We fell in. And Yagari had to go and fire his stupid gun at us. Fortunately, he forced himself to miss and it barely grazed us. Everything's fine now though."
"Wait, what party?"
"A birthday party for Ichijou Takuma-kun. And, sort of for me. Apparently, Ichijou-kun and I share a birthday. Oh. I need to get back to the dorm." I kiss Zero softly and duck out of his hug, hurrying to the dorm. "See you later!"
