3 cheers for momentum! It's probably going to stop anytime, and then not resume until after Christmas, but for now I'm writing as long as the inspiration is there!

~Belle

I jumped, the pill bottle falling out of my hand and landing on the vanity, the cap popping off and spilling the tablets everywhere. I looked at Aido, who had his arms folded and was leaning against the doorframe to the bathroom and was glowering at me.

"OhmygodI'msorryletmecleantheseup." My breath went all out in a whoosh and I tried not to turn red.

Aido sighed, frustrated, and came into the bathroom, lightly pushing me away from the counter. "No don't worry. I'll do it."

"No no it's okay I-" I gasped at what I noticed occurring with a tablet that had fallen into a small puddle on the counter.

It fizzled, and dissolved into blood. I inhaled sharply. "Is that-"

"Yeah." Aido said.

"So these tablets are dehydrated blood?"

"No... they're artificial. We developed them here in the Night Class."

"Well that's kind of cool..."

"Yeah."

I rinsed the blood into the sink and picked up the remaining tablets and put them back in the bottle. I noticed Aido helped me, but didn't say a word. I was worried that he was angry. I gave the white porcelain vanity one last wipe to ensure it was dry. When I put the bottle back in the cabinet and turned to leave the bathroom, I noticed his eyes were a dull ruby, practically blood-colored themselves.

"Ah," I sighed, knowing what he wanted. "I can... hang on." I sat on the vanity, reaching for the band-aid on my neck.

Aido's eyes widened, and I could see they were brighter. "Um, no... I, I won't take any blood right now I'll just..." He leaned over and opened the cabinet, grabbing one of the bottles of tablets. "Here we go." He breathed, leaning away. "I'll be back later, Kisa-chan." He then left the bathroom, and I heard the bedroom door open and reclose some distance away.

My hand was still frozen in midair, and I put it back on the vanity.

Well that was officially the weirdest thing I've ever seen. My mind pondered. A vampire that doesn't want blood...

Yeah, it's strange alright. I thought back, slipping off the vanity. Something Kain said struck a chord with me though... If those are the only medications Aido's taking... and they're not working... what does that mean? What does that do to him?

My mind went blank. I don't know!

I heard the door to the dorm room open and close again, and I figured Aido'd forgotten something. So I started into him. "You never said where you were going Aido." I looked up and saw Kain grabbing something out of his nightstand drawer. "Oh, Kain." I said. "Sorry," I sighed, "I thought you were Aido."

Kain made a face. "I just saw Hanabusa downstairs... I thought he'd be looking for you..."

"Yeah, I know, his eyes are..." I gestured to mine absent-mindedly, figuring he'd probably get the picture. "He knows I'm here. He left actually. I offered to let him..." I gestured to my neck. "You know."

Kain nodded solemnly. I figured I'd ask him about the pills before he left.

"Aido told me about the... blood pills." I tried to gauge his reaction to this, to see if it's something I'm supposed to know. It was neutral, so I continued. "Do those work for all vampires?"

Kain's posture sharpened. "Why do you ask?"

"Well just speaking from a medical prospective, not all medications work for everybody." I said, hoping I wasn't making him angry. "It seemed like you guys have only developed them recently... so do they work on everyone, or have you identified any vampires they won't work on yet?"

"They generally work on everyone." Kain said carefully. "And we've only discovered one scenario where they won't work."

Aha.

"What's that?"

"I can't tell you." Kain said, walking past me to the door of the dorm room. "You should go and find Hanabusa. He'll be in the garden." He stepped out into the hall and pointed down one hallway. "Use the stairs at the end of the this hallway." He disappeared.

I sighed. Is there ever going to be a day where nothing is a secret around here?

My inner voice actually laughed. Probably never.

I finished drying my hair and pulling it to the side and braiding it into a long braid; even braided my brown strands reached a couple inches above my belly button. I looked out the window and figured I'd need a jacket in this late fall weather, so I threw on my day class coat over my sweatpants and t-shirt ensemble. Looking horribly mismatched, I went out into the hall and started to make my way in the direction Kain had pointed.

I was interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. "Here again?"

"SHIKI!" I shrieked, whirling around. "Don't scare me like that!" I relaxed slightly at the sight of a sort-of familiar face.

"You've had your blood taken recently." He said bluntly, stepping away.

"Yeah, um." I said, smoothing my band-aid out with my fingers. "Aido was thirsty last night, so..."

"He's taking too much." Shiki warned me lowly. "Kaname-sama's noticed and that's a bad thing."

"Shitttt." I breathed. "What do I do?"

Shiki shrugged. "I don't know if there's anything you can do. Are you going to see him now?"

"Yeah... is he still out in the garden?"

Shiki nodded, and then stepped closer to me again, carefully peeling away the band-aid. He touched my two bite marks gently, and I winced in pain.

"You should tell Aido to be more careful with your neck." He whispered. "At this rate, these are going to scar..." He leaned in and licked them slowly. I blushed horribly as he drew away, and noticed his eyes were red. He tapped his own neck in the same spot and I felt for where the pierce marks normally were. They were gone, and so was the pain.

I knew I needed to stay away from Shiki right now unless I wanted to lose more blood, so I gave him a smile. "Thank you." I said sincerely, and he nodded, licking his lip before walking away.