Leafing through her notes for the upcoming quiz in her next class, Yori felt both relieved and restless all at once. Relieved, because during the past two weeks she hadn't seen Hanabusa Aidou even once, and restless because the new knowledge that had been dumped on her was still every bit as mysterious and fantastical as it had been before. There were no hints, not even in the library, as to why vampires abounded at Cross Academy. Worse, she couldn't understand how, if the Night Class consisted solely of vampires, Yuki and Kaname Kuran were related. Was vampirism contagious? Was she herself at risk?
Perturbed, she halted in the middle of the corridor, stumped because last night, once again, her nightly search through the library had proved fruitless. She could probably approach Aidou and demand answers, but they would undoubtedly come with a catch, and she had determined to forget the uppeclassman, even though her dreams were inundated with him, forcing her to relive those moments in the shed over and over again like a broken record. With a sigh, she continued on her way, attempting to absorb at least some of the notes on her paper.
Yori began to round the corner when she spied Yuki and Zero in deep conversation. With a burst of intuition, she hid around the wall, listening attentively. She was almost certain they were discussing secrets that Yori was not privy to. Secrets that had yet to be explained. If she could glean any information from the prefects' conversation, she felt almost as though she didn't have a choice except to listen. She had to bear the burden of her knowledge alone, and she didn't want to approach Aidou again.
"I'm sorry, Yuki," Zero was apologizing, voice rough and broken.
"Zero, it's getting worse, isn't it?" Yuki inquired softly. There was no response, and the petite brunette suggested, "We could ask my brother for help."
"No!" issued the immediate, forceful response.
"Why won't you let anyone help you? At this rate, you'll...," the sentence was cut off by a choke, and Yori assumed her friend was crying.
"I'll end it before it comes to that," the hunter declared, and now Yori was positive Yuki was in tears.
"No, don't say that! I don't want that!" Yuki exclaimed.
Abruptly feeling as though she was intruding where she shouldn't, Yori retreated back down the hall. She didn't want to overhear something private, and her eavesdropping had left her with more questions than answers. Something was happening to Zero, something bad, but what? What could possibly be bad for a vampire?
She shook her head. It shouldn't concern her. She wasn't even supposed to know about the existence of vampires. Her discovery was an error, a glitch. Yet... Zero was her friend. He was her friend, and she couldn't just forget about him. If it was possible, she was going to get answers, one way or another.
Class had started nearly half an hour ago, but Hanabusa hadn't retained even a single word of the lecture. Hell, he couldn't even remember what subject he was in at the moment. No...his thoughts were occupied by something else. Or rather, someone else. Someone with wavy caramel hair, hazel eyes, and perfect curves. He smirked. Someone whose scent alone was enough to drive him crazy.
Hanabusa touched his fingers to his lips idly, recalling the rich taste of Yori's blood as it spilled into his mouth and down his throat. The mere thought of it itched at his fangs in a familiar primal urge he couldn't suppress. It had been 2 weeks since that night...and he was haunted by the memory. During class, his mind would loop around and around, inevitably back to her. In the dorms, the tablets he drunk to satiate his hunger were more acrid and bitter than they had ever been before. While he slept, his dreams often lapsed into elaborate fantasies in which he always inevitably tasted that sweet blood again. It wasn't normal. He'd already won. He'd already sampled Sayori Wakaba, and that should be sufficient. It always had been before. And yet, for the first time in his life, he craved the same blood a second time.
During his free hours, he found himself watching her from afar, observing her routines. She was a habitual creature and zealously studious, so most evenings she headed for the library after class. Unlike most girls her age, Yori kept to herself, although during the day he knew she was usually in Yuki or Kiryuu's company.
Kiryuu. The thought of the silver-haired hunter caused Hanabusa to scowl. Was it really necessary to run around campus biting his fellow prefect at every opportunity? It was sickening. Hanabusa was beyond agitated each time he discovered the two of them intertwined somewhere around the Night Dorms, inflicting their revolting displays of intimacy on all passerby.
Running his tongue across his teeth, lingering over the sharp points of his fangs, his thoughts returned irrevocably to the aloof, clever caramel-haired girl. If it was himself and Yori patrolling the campus...well, maybe he wouldn't be able to refrain from biting her at all hours, either... It was hard enough as it was to keep from approaching her again. He attempted some restraint, telling himself he didn't need blood, which was true, but he couldn't get her out of his head or off his tongue.
"Hanabusa," his cousin muttered, and the blond snapped back from the verge of another fantasy starring Sayori Wakaba.
"Hm?" he asked, already rather bored without his daydreams to occupy him.
The redhead studied him for a long moment. Then, in a whisper so as not to disrupt the class, "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"
Hanabusa glared. "What do you mean?"
Akatsuki continued staring at him expectantly, nonplussed.
"Nothing is going on," he grumbled.
"Sure," his cousin allowed, clearly not believing it.
"Nothing!" the blond insisted.
"Naturally," the other boy chuckled.
Exasperated and touchy, Hanabusa let the subject drop. Nothing was wrong. Nothing at all. It wasn't as if he was lusting after a human's blood. Nope.
He wanted to believe that. But ah, shit.
In her corner of the library on the third floor, Yori flipped through another useless book. There was simply no information to be found on vampires, let alone vampires at the academy. She'd found nothing in the history section or the supernatural section. Rubbing her eyes, she stretched back in her chair, attempting to loosen some of her stiff muscles from sitting so long in the same position. She stretched back...and found herself looking up at Hanabusa Aidou. Yori almost fell from her chair. When she righted herself, she was aghast. What was he doing here?! She had been avoiding him deftly, too! Until now.
"I thought you'd be here," he announced happily, looking quite proud of himself. "You really should consider changing up your daily routines."
"Humans are creatures of habit. Unlike others, I'm guessing," she replied cynically.
"Untrue. I like certain habits as well. And I was actually hoping we could arrange a new one?" The pointed look he directed at her stated his intentions as clearly as though they were printed in bold font on his forehead.
"Absolutely not," she declined.
"You realize you're in a delicate position, right? I allowed you to retain your memories-"
She cut him off, "If you're here to make demands or threats, think again. They won't work on me."
"Yori-chan," he whined pitifully, changing tactics, "I think I'm becoming allergic to the blood tablets..." He pinned vivid, simpering blue eyes on her.
The caramel-haired girl determinedly fixed her gaze on a speck of air floating lazily past the side of the vampire's head, avoiding those captivating eyes and that inhumanly stunning face. She was not going to be swayed so easily by what she was sure was a very convincing attempt. "I think you're full of it," she replied with an even clip, dropping her attention back down to the book at hand.
"Let me take you out on a date, instead, at least," he counter-offered smoothly. "I'm quite serious."
She closed the book shut with a decisive snap and stared him directly in the eyes this time as she answered with a tone that brooked no arguments, "Aidou-senpai, the only reason you want to take me on a date is so that you have an excuse to get me off campus, where it seems you would be at complete liberty to drink my blood."
A jolt of shock passed across his face, but almost instantly he recovered, pouting, "You don't trust me at all..."
"Correct," she told him simply, standing with every intention of leaving.
The blond blew out a sigh, muttering something about injustice. He folded his arms and regarded her with a slight crease marring his smooth skin. At last, he admitted, "You're the first girl I've liked who wasn't of a certain type...so I'm not really sure how to go about this... What can I do to convince you I'm being sincere?"
What? Yori felt her cheeks heating as soon as his words processed. Hanabusa Aidou, the strikingly handsome genius of the Night Class, liked her? For a dizzying moment, she wondered once more if her body wasn't really on the verge of death, comatose on a hospital bed. Or perhaps she'd been transported in her sleep to some weird parallel universe. If vampires existed, anything was possible. Yet, she didn't think he was lying. His preoccupied, crestfallen expression showed every indication of being genuine. Most of all, his unexpected, blunt, and seemingly candid confession persuaded her far more than any amount of flirtation ever would have.
"I believe you," she murmured softly. In response to the spark of azure that reignited his eyes, she shook her head, repeating, "I believe you, but I still think a date off-campus is just your excuse to drink my blood. Isn't it?" Her gaze was a challenge.
To her surprise, he laughed, raising his hands up in surrender. "You're very clever. I was hoping for that, of course..."
Her lips pursed. "I knew it. You're almost as predictable as I seem to be."
"I can't help it. Tasting it once wasn't nearly enough..." As his voice trailed off, a crimson ember punctuated the sentence, flaring to life through his irises before slowly fading.
She shivered, abruptly remembering the night in the shed and the heat of his mouth as he nourished himself on her blood. No matter how hard she tried to erase the memory, it always crept back on her in the dark of her dreams or in the static of her thoughts when she least expected it. She didn't want to believe that she had enjoyed being bitten by Aidou, especially when he had blackmailed her into the experience in the first place, but it was a fact that when her mind strayed to the sensation of that sweet anesthetic rushing through her veins, she almost dared to want it a second time. That secret, twisted desire scared her far more than anything Aidou could have threatened her with. Not that he had threatened her with anything in these past two weeks. No...he had been true to his word, and left her in peace with her memories intact...
"Once is all you'll get," she rebuked callously, starting to move away, when a sudden thought occurred to her. Maybe she could use his own method against him... The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Unless...you're willing to make a deal."
"This is sounding eerily familiar," he remarked drolly, although it was apparent he was more than receptive to whatever she had to say next.
She couldn't help it. She was still irritated from being used so blatantly last time. He had grumbled something about injustice, but she was the one who had been dealt that card. If he wanted her blood that much, she might as well take advantage to learn everything she could about the strange circumstances surrounding Zero and the school. With that in mind, she proposed, "I'll give you my blood on the condition that you explain to me how and why Zero-kun is different, and why he's in the Day Class."
The blond scowled before retorting with a tone that approached scalding, "If you're so worried for Kiryuu, make him your offer."
"I'm not worried about him," she denied impatiently, though she was in fact very worried after overhearing his conversation with Yuki. Could it be that Aidou was actually jealous? Then again, she had had a crush on Zero for a while now... Even if it was hopeless. "I have no idea why there are vampires at my school, and I have to start somewhere if I'm going to figure this out."
Aidou's features lifted a tad at that, and he mulled over her proposal for a moment, frowning pensively before he informed her, "There are some things I'm not at liberty to share with you. In the case of Kiryuu...if you really want to know, I think I can tell you the gist of it."
Yori felt her pulse speeding up in such a confusing mix of emotions that she wasn't able to decipher them properly. She nodded, hoping her eagerness to discover Zero's circumstances wasn't too transparent, and said, "Then I guess we have a deal."
A victorious grin popped onto his face. "When?" he asked in a velvet purr of pure satisfaction.
"I don't know...when is good?" She shrugged.
"Now?" he suggested.
"No." She shot him a disapproving look. "Not today."
"Damn." His shoulders slumped. He was incorrigible.
Rolling her eyes skyward, she told him against her better judgment, "Tomorrow is fine, though."
Like a kid, he brightened at this. "I'll meet you before class, this time, so you don't have to sneak out again. Behind the stables? We can walk for a bit first and talk."
"I hope you're not thinking this is a date," she said suspiciously.
"It could be," he demurred.
"We'll see," she sighed.
"Maybe next time you'll let me buy you dinner first."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, senpai," she chastised.
"Alright, alright," he surrendered. "Tomorrow, then."
"Okay. See you then."
She held up her hand to give him a brief wave, but the blond was faster, and plucked her hand out of mid-hair, bringing it to his lips for a lingering interim before releasing it and biding her, "Good night, Yori-chan."
Yori was feeling a headache coming on. Somehow, she was getting more and more involved with a very difficult, persistent person.
AN: Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! I loved the library suggestion -wink- so I will be sure to include that teehee. If you guys have FF accounts you should totally use them to review (so I can reply!) I'm really glad everyone is enjoying this story so far.
A lot of people have asked me about Yuki and Kaname and how that relationship works. It will definitely be explained (easily and boringly enough lol) but I'm not sure exactly when it will come up. Yuki isn't really an important character in this fic so just whenever Yori gets around to figuring it out LOL.
Next time: Aidou bites Yori take 2.