Chapter 9

"Souen Ruka problem"

AU: for those of you who haven't noticed yet, I rewrote the previous chapters with minor fixes and changes. There have been some small added scenes too.

Everyone was crowding in the foyer, waiting for the head of the Ichijou family to show up, with the exception of one Kuran Kaname.

As I was standing by the wall, I could overhear Kuran's inner circle talking about how class was cancelled for this. Apparently, it's because of the respect we have to show by welcoming him here. They seem scared of him though, probably because he is on the council.

Before long, we all heard Ichijou calling out to Kuran.

"Kaname! You don't have to come out personally since he's only here to have a few words with me."

"I haven't seen Ichiou for a long time, I just wanted to come greet him." He was walking down the main stairs like he was late on purpose so that he could make an entrance. "Can't I?"

"It's not that you can't…"

But before he could finish, the huge dorm doors opened with a loud creak and an even louder bang as they flew into the wall beside it. "Kuran-sama…" I zoned out all the boring ass-kissing and whispered under my breath "pathetic". I got some nasty looks from the nobles nearby but it was the reaction from Ichiou and Kuran who caught me off-guard. Ichijou senior had been on his knees, kissing Kuran's hand at the time. I watched as his head span to face me. He stood and walked over to me. "Taking in lost dogs now, Kuran-sama? It seems you haven't taught him proper manners yet." He never took his eyes off mine while addressing Kuran. I just stared back unflinchingly. "Hio Shizuka-sama's rubbish isn't your mess to clean up." I held back my flinch at hearing that woman's name.

I have never been, and never will be, that woman's property.

No one came to help me like I saw Souen about to do for Kuran. I had to wait this out. I couldn't get out of this by talking, it would only make it worse. I was forced to take this verbal assault in front of the entire class. That didn't stop me from glaring at him though.

"Leave the boy alone, I will give him an appropriate punishment later. Please talk with Takuma and go. I believe Chairman Cross has something to talk to you about. Something to do with this year's donation." Ichiou gave me one last glance before everyone left to go back to their own devices. Ichio going to a study room to chat with his grandson.

Kuran looked pissed but I had to get by him to get to my room anyway, so I had better get this over with, sooner rather than later. I tried to get past him, but he grabbed my forearm tightly.

"That was the dumbest thing you could have done. All you had to do was say nothing." So I said nothing and just stared back at him, like I had with Ichiou. "That could have gone much worse than it did. You are lucky it's not him punishing you."

"So, what's my punishment going to be? You want me to apologise for 'disrespecting' him?" I asked, using air quotes to emphasise 'disrespecting'.

"I can think of something more interesting than an apology." He motioned for Souen to come over to us.

This can't be good.

"I want you to take etiquette lessons from Ruka once a week for the rest of the term." It was worse than I imagined. I stared wide eyed at him, but looking towards Souen, I could see that I wasn't the only one who didn't like this agreement.

"But, Kaname-Sama, there's no way I could possibly…"

"I'm not asking." Kuran cut her off before she could disagree further. Turning back towards me, Kuran looked calm or even a little amused by my expression. "You will both meet after class and wherever Ruka sees fit." He began walking to the stairs before twisting his head slightly to say "Do not let this happen again." And he continued on, leaving Souen and I alone.

"…" There was an awkward silence for a moment. I tried to sneak away since she was still looking at where Kuran had walked away but she must have seen me move.

"I can't believe you just jeopardised Kaname-Sama's reputation by insulting Ichiou!" She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and crosser her arms disbelievingly.

"It's not like I wanted this to happen. How was I supposed to know that Kuran would force you to teach me?"

"Honestly…" and she walked away from me, shaking her head.


Everything was dark at first but I soon realised what I was doing. I could taste blood in my mouth. I was feeding off of Yuki once more, however, I couldn't remember how I got to this point. Not that it mattered. I was draining her and I couldn't stop. I wouldn't stop. I felt like I had no control and soon enough I had drunk her dry. I pulled my fangs from her neck and she fell to the ground in an eerily familiar position. She was a perfect replica of the position my mother died in. On her stomach, with her face turned to the side with her right hand reaching out towards my father's body. I stepped back in shock and closed my eyes, trying to will everything away, and when I opened my eyes, her body was gone.

The smell of bloody was still heavy in the air and as I turned around, Yuki was standing there with a cold look on her face. Her clothes were covered in the blood that ran from her neck but before I could reach for her, she began morphing into another person. Her hair grew long and stark white. She grew taller and her face became slimmer, expression turning cruel and her teeth growing into sharp points. I stumbled back and fell.

I jolted up from my bed, it was hard to breath for a moment. I could still smell the sweet copper. Hold on, I can smell it? But where was it coming from? Twisting on my bed, I saw that it was an hour before dawn. I got up, throwing a shirt on quickly, and walked quietly towards my door, opening it just enough to be able to see down the hallway towards Kuran's rooms.

The smell was definitely coming from there, but before I could stick my head out to even check if anyone was around, I heard a door close and hushed footsteps walking towards my room. I closed my door, not the whole way, but just enough to not be noticed. I could see the unmistakable silhouette of one Souen Ruka walk past my door. She was wearing the same thing that she was wearing earlier that night and had the smell of blood clinging to her. It must have been her own blood that was spilt. She looked upset, did Kuran do something to her? Surely not.

I closed my door and went back to my bed, sitting on the covers. As much as I hate him, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. Perhaps she was willingly giving him her blood? But that wouldn't explain why she looked so upset. The scent of blood would have been stronger too, so maybe she offered it freely but he refused?

After thinking about it further, I came to the conclusion that I was probably correct. There's not anything I can do about it now anyway. There's no point dwelling on it further.

By now the scent of blood had vanished and I felt like I could breathe a little easier so I tried to sleep once again, only it hadn't come to me.