CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A New Light

For no other reason than me being lonely, I made sure that Akira was allowed into all my classes the next day. When lunch rolled around, I brought my nearly hundred pound German shepherd into the library as well where I sipped my coffee and pretended to read. A good trick to not looking like a complete loser in school was to look completely absorbed in something. And if that meant being consumed by a novel about Japanese mythology, then so be it.

The lunch hour dragged on and I spent it with a dog who looked like he would rather go for a run but dutifully stayed by my side and eventually, that ended too and was replaced by yet another long, uneventful class. So far it seemed as if the highlight of my day as far as social interaction went was whispering the answer to a math question – can you believe it? Hanabusa had taught me well – to some boy who did not pay attention. He turned, and with a sincere smile, thanked…another girl. I didn't let it bother me. That highlight was closely followed by me asking the librarian if there were any coffee filters left.

Needless to say, my life was reverting back to normal. All I had to do was avoid wandering at night and surely, it would stay that way until I leave.

With this in mind, you could understand my shock at leaving the main campus late, walking in the dark – it was still winter, after all – and trying to escape the cold, letting Akira go, and getting inside the dorm where I kicked off my boots before jogging up to my room, cold and jittery, and throwing off my uniform jacket and socks, closing the door behind me…

And of course, turning the light on.

But - but - the lights did not simply turned on.

It glowed.

With a gasp, my head shot up and my eyes, wide, moved across my ceiling, jaws dropped.

The usual white, plain ceilings changed…drastically. It was stark black and against them were warm, glowing stars – yes actual stars. Phosphorescent little dots on my – Cross Academy's – ceilings and Jesus, was that Aquila in the corner? The star that Hanabusa hadn't been able to see the –

Hanabusa.

By the time I turned around, I had a grinning boy who looked much too proud of himself in front of me. His hands were in his pockets – but not of his uniform. Instead, he was wearing a very classy, high class outfit of a bright scarf against a darker jacket and even darker pants…dress pants? "You did this?" I asked although I already knew the answer to my question. My amazement turned into suspicion. "Why?"

"To prove to you that I'm not a monster," he said, smiling.

"I didn't call you a monster," I reminded him. "And how would an over glorified painting make up for the fact that you drunk my blood?" I could not believe the words coming out of my mouth. It sounded so odd admitting that there were vampires and yet…

"Hey! I just went Picasso for –"

"Michelangelo," I corrected, "I thought you were smarter than that, Hanabusa –"

"Regardless, I –"

"And this isn't painting! You stuck glow in the dark stars on –"

"I was trying to show you a nice gesture, you picky little –"

"Oh God, at least you asked for permission, right? Because I'm not going to paint it back –"

"Kaede!" he shouted, his eyes wide and his hands on my shoulder. I didn't react. My eyes just move down to his hands and then slowly back to him. He got the point and took a step back. Then he took a deep breath, covering his face and after a moment, he nodded to himself and ran his fingers back through his hair with a new resolve. "Look, I was trying to do something nice for you."

I opened my mouth and then closed it. I turned away, glancing back up at the ceiling. It was cool, I guess, but…"This is just an apology, right? You're not trying to," I didn't want to say buy my affections because it would make it sound as if I meant something to him and I really didn't want to be the one to take the leap of saying something like that, "I don't know…"

I ended up not having to declare anything as Hanabusa took a step closer, beaming, and looking much too proud of himself. "Seduce you? Why yes," he declared.

I stared at him. He had to be kidding. What type of guy makes his intentions so clear? He could be sarcastic, but his tone sounded genuine – it was just his words that threw me off. I continued staring at him, at every inch of his face as if waiting for something to jump out at me and make me realize what was going on but he still held that same smug expression on his face.

Now, years of forming a very intimate and close relationship with my computer and television shows – Japanese, French, English and American ones – made a flash of scenes go off in my head of me falling hopelessly in love with him after several failed attempts of trying to diverge from the fact there was some underlying feeling I had for him. Except…that was in television. In reality, I had none. There was no romantic attachment I had with Hanabusa, and I knew that for certain.

Vampire – God, I still could not quite accept it – or not, Hanabusa was…out of my league. It wasn't that I lacked self-confidence and thought that I didn't deserve him, but I knew that we were incompatible the way I knew that I would never become a mathematician.

But why not amuse the idea? If there was no harm to come out of it…and I was leaving anyway…

"All right," I said, shrugging, "go. Seduce me."

Now it was his turn to stare. "Seriously?"

I nodded. "Mhm, go ahead. Woo me."

He made a face. "I think you're secretly a ninety year old woman," he said slowly.

"If that was your attempt. I give it a two – no, a one point five –"

His hands flew up, his eyes wide. "Okay, okay! Fine. Get dressed."

"I wasn't aware that I was naked," I mumbled, looking away. At the idea of going anywhere when I just wanted to sleep made me more hesitant of playing his game now. He gave me a look but the humour was gone and he almost looked desperate, as if he earnestly needed me to give him a chance. But that made no sense at all. I didn't know his motive, but I knew that there was no sincere affection…but that face…

I sighed. "Fine, get out."

A grin took place of that puppy-eyed face and too excitedly, he went to wait outside the door.

xx-x-xx

Hanabusa snuck a glance at the girl walking next to him. She was shorter like that, he realized, much shorter when they were walking next to each other. He was always so used to them sitting in front of each other between a table and pile of graphing papers and textbooks. Now with her walking alongside him, the difference in height became more evident. She was easily five inches shorter than his 5'10 and for whatever reason, it brought him a sense of satisfaction that lit a smile on his face. Her eyes flickered up.

"What's so funny?" She frowned.

"Oh, nothing," he mused, "hey, you never did tell me when your birthday was."

She raised an eyebrow and he could see each little tint of gold in those eyes as she did so. "You never asked."

"I'm asking now."

"I'll be seventeen in April."

He stopped.

"What?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"You're only sixteen?!" he stammered.

At his question, she rolled her eyes. "What do you think? You've been teaching me grade eleven material for the past couple months." She eyed him carefully. "It's weird, you're so smart in math and yet you can't put one and two together."

He scratched his head, sighing. "I'll give you that one." Of course there was only a year difference, but how had he not noticed this before? He was usually so perceptive but with the way Kaede acted, age was never on his mind. With this second – no, third: He now knew that she was noticeably shorter, that her birthday was in April and that she was a year younger – revelation in mind, he began trying to pick up little things about her. As they left the campus, he mentally began listing the things he did know about her.

Her name was Misane Kaede, or Kaede Misane, or Cadence, endearingly known as Cadie by her father, Misane, or Cadence Leroy. She could use any of those names interchangeably. He knew that she had a lineage most consistently of French and Japanese. He knew, of course, that she was Achromatic. Her birthday was sometime in April, she was in the eleventh grade.

She loved astronomy.

She loved her dog. She loved doing nothing. She was used to being alone. Her father held a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics. Her mother, a freelance painter. He knew that she hated math, and math hated her as well. He knew that she took her coffee black, and drank it religiously. He knew that she was around five foot five, had dark hair with just hints of red in there, hazel eyes and…and he knew that she was staring at him.

"What?" she asked, aggravated by all his staring. He blinked out of it.

"Sorry?"

"You've been staring at me for the past three minutes," she crossed her arm, "and you haven't even told me where we were going."

He blinked again. "Oh, we're going out."

She gave him a withering look. "Thanks, Hanabusa, I haven't noticed," she said, heavy sarcasm dripping from her tone. He looked slightly startled, as if he didn't know what to make out of the situation. His mind was still focused on that data sheet he was compiling in his head. She doesn't like to go out, her social cues are limited, she is unfazed by others. It wasn't until she waved her hands in front of his face that he finally was able to stammer out. "Uh, at a restaurant."

Her face lit up – but then scrunched up, dare he say, cutely. "Not to put you on the spot, but you didn't exactly tell me to bring money."

He rolled his eyes, his usual self returning as her unassuming self shined through once again. "I'm paying, of course."

"Right, Aidou Enterprises," she said in a drawl as he led the way, nodding to the right once they left Cross Academy property. "What is that your parents do anyway?" she asked. He liked it when she asked about him for whatever indiscernible reason. Or maybe he just enjoyed talking about himself.

"Drug network, human trafficking, and your occasional assassin for hire…"

She gave him a look and in that dry expression, he remembered that she knew he was a vampire. With a cough, he corrected himself. "Business."

"Ah, very vague."

He smiled almost boyishly and it was so easy for her to forget that he wasn't human when he looked so normal. But then her eyes moved down and she was reminded once again of the social class difference between the two. From the outside, there wasn't much of a difference if compared from a distance – she was just wearing a plain, dark green parka over an everyday pair of jeans and scuffed up brown boots she was pretty sure were meant for hiking but did just fine against the January winter here in Japan. She was passable.

Hanabusa, on the other hand, screamed out wealth. Upon closer inspection, his jacket was probably well over a thousand American dollars – too often, she referred to things in American currency when faced with American designers – and his scarf alone was probably enough to afford her entire attire. They arrived in the restaurant, a much classier one than she would expect in such a small town, but only after a comment on her behalf about him actually walking for half an hour to which he told her he was simply – quote – "waiting for her to look up and realize she was madly in love with him". They were seated immediately and she was confident that the smile he flashed the waitress' way had something to do with it.

Once he took off his jacket and scarf to reveal yet another expensive but simple and smart looking vest with a crisp, darker button down beneath, she inwardly hit her forehead with her palm. "You know, you could have told me we were going somewhere with a dress code," she told him.

He looked around, blissfully unaware of the setting of wealthy college students or lonely business men and women who had the misfortune to come across the town, hungry, but too pretentious to stop at a simple fast food restaurant. There was not a single child in the dark restaurant lit solely with accent lights all the way up on high ceilings, making it look as if there were stars hidden in dark clouds. That, with the occasional decorative lights hanging down closer but not quite towards each table, the chandelier at the front of the restaurant and candles behind intricate frames that lined the sides of each booth almost made it impossible for her to see.

She was, very obviously, the youngest person in the restaurant and looked the part. Being completely underdressed in a simple knit sweater, she could practically feel the judgement in the air. Hanabusa seemed immune to it all as his eyes scanned the menu.

When she looked down to see was a French inspired one – and an expensive one, at that – any prior dreams of just simply dishing out on comfort food went out the window. It was one of those restaurants where it sounded good but it also sounded completely uneatable with only two options per course. Is that lamb? Nope. She went with the other one – a dish full of adjectives but in short, was fish.

Hanabusa took the lead. "Are you hungry, or do you want to skip appetizers?"

"I just want to get to dessert," she admitted openly. He laughed – and it was a warm one that caused several heads to turn and later duck in hidden smiles.

"Skipping appetizers it is, then," he said and another pretty – not cute, but pretty – waitress arrived, her long inky black hair in a flowery bun. She went heavy on the eyeliner and dressed all in black, reminding Kaede very much of a mix between ballerina and pageant queen. Hanabusa didn't seem to notice.

And when his eyes, looking intensely light but indiscernible from blue and green in the light, looked up at her, a little smile on his face, Kaede wondered what he was thinking about because it couldn't possibly be her that made him look that way.

He looked more than happy. But she didn't know why.

xx-x-xx

I had never regret eating before. Not until that evening.

I started puking.

No more than ten minutes after I had a bite of the beautifully garnished and put together dish of fish and something else – my stomach started reacting violently and I felt nauseated. It wasn't until I left the restaurant promptly afterwards with Hanabusa that I began pinning the blame on the dish. I was never too picky with food and could basically eat everything in sight so when I – or more correctly, Hanabusa – spent a ridiculous amount of money on a dish at a high end restaurant, the thought never occurred to me that I would be sick from it.

At one point I dashed inside a coffee shop, thanked the Lord – the Buddha, Allah, Brahman, Krishna, Hari, all the Shinto gods, every one – that it was a clean one. I heard someone yell about customers only but Hanabusa easily took control of that as I shut the door and wretched out my entire insides.

"Kaede!"

"I'm okay!" I groaned back, now disgusted as I realized my hands touched the dirty toilet seat. I felt my stomach churn again and I scrambled to grab some toilet paper to clean the seat -

Only to grab it and hurl out not only everything I ate today, but every single organ I had in my body too.

What did I do to deserve this?

How's everyone first week of school? Glad you still have time to drop by this story!

I will try to update this once a week or every two weeks or so (since I have a lot of FFs on my dish right now + a tone of homework) but Stars and Shadows isn't abandoned because...this is a fun story to write. A good break from all the angsty ones.

Thanks for reading! Hanabusa's Failure to Make Kaede Love Him Part Two will be coming soon :)

Reviews would be lovely!