A/N: YAY CHAPTER FOUR WOOT. Now that I'm on summer break I hope to get loads done and try to update more. Anyways please enjoy this chapter!

Recap:

Steady, now. I thought to myself. You can do this. It's just like middle school. I lined up the arrow to the target, braced myself, and let go of the arrow, and help my breath to see where it would hit the target.

The captain spent the next couple seconds looking back and forth between me and the target I just shot at.

"Were you always like this?" he asked, confused about how to to analyze the results.

"I guess. That's not a bad thing, is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"No, no, of course not. I mean, I'm pretty surprised you didn't come to the club sooner."

"Well, things got sort of... complicated, but I'm here now." I shrugged.

"You're definitely joining the club, and as a regular starter."

I practically jumped with excitement. "Really? Is it really okay?"

"Of course! Just fill out the club membership form and you're all set," the captain handed me a slip of paper.

"Thank you so much!" I bowed repeatedly as I took the paper from him and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh, it's already that late! I should head back to the dorms. Thank you again! I'll definitely work hard!" I bowed again and made my way toward the door.

"Ah, hold on a sec, Takeshima-san. I'll take you to the dorms. It's dangerous for you to go out alone this late at night," the captain offered.

"Oh! That's too much trouble! I'll be fine," I replied, but the captain insisted on taking me back, so I let it slide and waited for him to change before heading out to the Sun Dorms.

The walk there was quiet, not that I minded, and the captain and I had our fair share of conversation along the way.

"So," he started. "I can assume you're the new transfer student that came, right?"

"Yes, that's right," I replied.

"How is life at Cross? Surely it's much different than your other school."

"Yeah, it takes some getting used to, but I have Yuuki and Kiryuu-kun helping me out."

"Kiryuu, eh?" the captain's voice sounded rigid. I thought I imagined it, but turned to face him anyway. "Why? Is something the matter?"

"No, no. I'm surprised that you've lasted this long being near him, considering how he usually scares the shit out of everyone else."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Kiryuu-kun's not that bad once you get to know him."

The captain stared me dead in the eyes. "I'd be careful around him if I were you," he warned. As he said it I saw the faintest tint of red in his eyes, even in the pitch dark of the night.

My fight-or-flight instincts kicked in again as soon as I saw those eyes. I took a step back.

"I should really get going. It's getting late. I'll see you at practice tomorrow, Captain!"

I took about three steps before he grabbed my hand and suddenly the pathway disappeared beneath my feet and I was in the air for a brief moment before coming down again.

"Sorry, Takeshima. Now that you've seen something you shouldn't have, I can't let you live." All the niceness in the captain's voice was gone, and now that I saw him again he was clearly a vampire.

"But... How... The sunlight..." I stammered.

The captain laughed. "I happen to be a vampire with my light sensitivity genes off, so it doesn't bother me to be in the sun. I blend myself pretty well, don't I?"

I looked at my surroundings and realized we were still on the academy's grounds, which was an immense relief despite the situation I was in.

"And don't think that Level E is going to save you. You mean nothing to him." The captain brought my wrist to his face and exposed his fangs, which stood out a shining white against the nighttime dark.

Shit. I thought. I'm gonna die. Right here. After only a few days as a high schooler. Some life I lived.

The captain was able to just nip my wrist before a loud gunshot was heard.

The captain let out a painful cry and staggered back to look in agony at his arm that had turned to dust.

"I should have know something like you snuck onto school grounds." I recognized Kiryuu-kun's voice as he suddenly appeared behind me and pulled me back away from the captain.

The captain looked at Kiryuu-kun with an intense rage. "You. You'll pay for this!" he screamed and charged at Kiryuu-kun with all his might.

Kiryuu-kun fired again just as the captain's face was merely inches from his own, and the captain disintegrated into dust almost immediately.

Kiryuu-kun his his gun in his jacket and faced me. "Are you okay?" he asked as his eyes went to the bite marks on my wrist.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Kiryuu-kun. It's not as bad as it looks." My voice was a bit shaky, but I felt oddly calm after I realized that this wasn't the first time I experienced this type of attack.

I saw Kiryuu-kun's eyes turn a glowing red the longer he stared at my wrist, but I could tell he was fighting the urge to bite me.

"I should head back to the dorms first then, Kiryuu-kun, since you still have to patrol all night." I quickly broke the silence and started walking towards the dorms.

"I'll go with you. Aido's probably skipping class and roaming around again. Who knows what he'll do this time." He sounded really protective, but I assumed it was just because I was targeted by so many people here it bothered him more than it bothered me.

He glanced at my bleeding wrist again before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handkerchief. "Here. Just cover your wrist with that until we get there. Your blood's scent is strong enough to reach all the vampires on school grounds. It's nauseating but also hard to resist."

I took the handkerchief and covered my wrist as soon as he said that. "Sorry for how how I can't control what my blood smells like?" I replied.

He gave me an annoyed look. "I'm not saying it's your fault. I'm saying that some of those things don't control themselves as well as they should."

I shrugged. "I understand." Then the conversation from before popped into my head.

"Oh yeah, about what I was asking you before... what was it?"

I could see that he was caught off guard. "What thi- oh, that? That was just an ampoule to clear your senses a bit. You lost a good amount of blood, so I gave you that to make up for the loss. I use it to... control myself when blood tablets don't exactly do the trick." He continued walking and I quickly caught up with him.

"Oh, okay," I replied.

We arrived at the Sun Dorms shortly after.

Kiryuu-kun went up the steps and opened the door.

"After, you," he said.

"Thank you, Kiryuu-kun," I bowed slightly and entered the main hall.

It wasn't too far of a walk, since our room was on the first floor, just at the end of the hall, but I know even that much was a struggle for Kiryuu-kun, who was trying his best to control himself from biting me.

As soon as we reached the door Kiryuu-kun unlocked it and gestured for me to go inside.

"Go on," he said. "I have to get back to patrolling."

I nodded in agreement and entered the room.

"Good night, Kiryuu-kun. I'll see you in class tomorrow. Don't stress yourself out too much," I turned to face him and bowed slightly as I sent him off.

He started walking up back up the hall again when he stopped, then turned back to face me. His expression didn't change, but his eyes gave off a softer vibe.

"What is it, Kiryuu-kun?" I spotted him right before I closed the door, and opened it again in confusion.

"... It's Zero."

"Huh?"

"Just call me Zero," he replied.

"Oh... okay." I was a little taken aback by what he just said.

Why would he want me to use his first name? I asked myself.

"It's just too long for you to call me Kiryuu-kun all the time. Plus it just feels odd to me, being called by my last name when we're... friends. So just call me Zero from now on." With that he left again, this time not turning back.

I closed the door behind me and replayed what had just happened.

"Zero...-kun..." I said, trying to get used to using his first name. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

"Alright, let's go take a hot bath," I told myself. That should clear my head up, I thought.

After getting the bath ready I stripped my uniform and noticed the small bloodstain on the shirt sleeve where the captain had bit me.

I sighed and washed out the stain as best as I could in the sink, since it didn't make sense to take a bath and then get dirty with washing out blood right after.

I took of Zero-kun's handkerchief from my wrist so it wouldn't get dirty, but then I remembered it was probably bloody since it covered the small bite marks on my wrist, so I decided to wash that too.

As I washed the handkerchief and my uniform shirt I kept thinking back to what Zero-kun said after he dropped my off at the room.

Why would he want me to use his first name? There's no specific reason, is there? I caught myself quickly. No, he said it was because calling him Kiryuu-kun is just an inconvenience, that's all. I'm sure there's nothing more to it than that. With that I finished and hung the kerchief and shirt on the spare towel rack to dry before finally entering the hot bath.

"Ah, this feels nice," I said to myself. As I sat in the bath I felt my muscles unwind and relax from the tension they'd been holding in. I felt the heat sinking in and didn't realize I had fallen asleep until there was a knock at the door.

I snapped awake and reached for the towel that was beside me before getting out of the bath and wrapping it around me before I felt dizzy and realized too late that I stood up too fast before I collapsed into the floor.

I heard a voice outside the door, which I recognized belonged to Zero-kun, and I realized he was calling my name. I tried to respond, but my voice wouldn't bring itself out. After not hearing a response, Zero-kun banged on the door, and eventually the door came swinging open, though all I could see were a pair of lower legs and feet.

Zero-kun lingered there, as if trying to grasp the situation, then came running to where I was on the bathroom floor. His voice was much louder now that he was closer.

"Hey, Takeshima, what happened? Stay with me!" He shook me a few times in an attempt to get a response, but when he saw I had trouble talking he thought of something else. "Blink if you can hear me," he said.

It took some effort, but after a second or two I blinked in response. As soon as Zero-kun saw me blink he relaxed a little and gave a small sigh of relief.

"I'll take you to the infirmary," he said. "You need to change first, though." As he lifted me up I held onto his shirt and and weakly shook my head.

All I'm wearing is a towel. This is embarrassing enough already. I thought.

He stared down at my face, which I knew was blushing. He looked away after realizing what he's just said, and I saw that he was faintly blushing, too.

"Nevermind. I think it's better for both of us if you stay like that," he said as he pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around me. "But that doesn't mean you should catch a cold," he added before hoisting me up again and running to the infirmary.

The way there was kind of hazy, partly from because I was dizzy and partly because I felt super weak, like my body wouldn't listen to me, but eventually we made it.

Surprisingly the doctor was still there, but then again I didn't know what time it was since I''d fallen asleep in the bath, so it also seemed like he was there during normal infirmary hours.

"Oh, hello Kir- Good Lord, what happened?" the doctor's voice was filled with concern and alarm as soon as he saw me.

"I found her collapsed in our dorm bathroom. For some reason she has trouble talking and these collapses have been happening a lot lately," Zero-kun's words came out in a rush as he followed the doctor to and empty bed and set me down.

"Did you hear her fall, Kiryuu?" the doctor asked as he checked my head for any trauma from the fall.

"I just heard a loud 'thud,' but I don't think she hit her head when she fell," Zero-kun replied.

"I see. Yeah, no concussion, but I have to check her for bruises," the doctor started to unwrap the blanket when Zero-kun's hand suddenly grabbed his.

"I think a nurse should do that instead," Zero-kun's voice was hard and he stared the doctor dead in his eyes.

The doctor smiled softly. "I understand. I'll send for a nurse right away. You can stay with her if you'd like," the doctor left after that, and the infirmary was silent for a few moments.

I felt myself slipping in and out of consciousness, and finally I was too tired and weak to stay awake any longer. I let myself fall asleep, and the last thing I saw was a tinge of red in a sea of lilac.

A/N: And there it is! I'm so sorry it took so long to get this done, I've just been travelling a lot and didn't have time to sit down and finish this chapter until now. Please look forward to Chapter 5!