Nasty Habits;

Naomi tried to ignore the loving stares that her classmates gave Yagari. She could tell the amount of crushes that blossomed from today alone. All of the gossiping and their comments on Akira Saito had gone out the window when they laid their eyes on their new professor.

"You know maybe the student that had an affair with Akira Saito had a point."

"It would be so worth it."

Naomi glared at the Day Class girls gossiping besides her; how fucking dare they? Naoto Yamamoto died, and they're – She kicked their seats roughly that the girls fell into each other. The girls turned to glare at her, but they flinched when they saw the cold look in her eyes.

Naomi hissed, "Have anything else to say?"

They only shook their heads in fear.

Naomi shifted her focus back to the front of the class but not before shooting them another sharp glare. Asuna stared at her in shock.

Naomi shrugged, "What?"

"Nothing," Asuna whispered.

Naomi was quick to defend herself, "They deserved it," she whispered back.

"I didn't say anything."

"Your face did."

A loud sound came from front of the class, "Please pay attention."

Naomi huffed as she took small notes down. The class was spending the rest of the day with Yagari, under the guise of the students getting acquainted with their new professor, but after what Naomi had done no one was in the mood to ask their professor any personal questions. Not than any personal question they could've come up with would compare to Naomi's incessant questions she would ask him during their lunch break.

The students were walking out of the classroom chatting about what they were going to eat lunch as Naomi lagged behind to continue talking to Yagari.

She waved her assignments in front of Asuna, "I'll catch up with you later. I need to turn these in."

Asuna smiled, "I'll save you a seat."

Once the classroom was empty, Naomi put her assignments on their rightful folders for their respective classes.

Naomi crossed her arms, "Is Tanaka a vampire hunter?"

Yagari took a box of cigarettes from his pocket, "You should ask him."

Naomi nodded, "So that's a yes."

Yagari let out a small laugh and put a cigarette in his mouth, "Tanaka was right. You are clever."

Naomi swiped the cigarette from his mouth, "So you talk to him often." She dumped it in the trash, "Good to know. By the way, if Zero really is a Level – D, then he should go to the Night Class."

Yagari stared at the trash can and his crumpled cigarette, "That's up to the hermit."

"Hermit?"

He smiled, "The Headmaster."

"Whatever," Naomi shook her head, "but if Zero falls into the Level – E category then he could be a danger to everyone."

Yagari sighed, "If it comes down to that." He took out another cigarette, "I will kill him myself."

Naomi narrowed her eyes at him, "Is that why you're here?" She tried to swipe the cigarette out of his mouth again. "Because of Zero?"

Yagari stopped her hand before she could reach it, "You should go meet your friend."

Naomi pulled her hand back, "It's barely noon and you're in a classroom – you shouldn't be smoking."

"Go, before I fail you."

Naomi scoffed, "You can't do that!"

"Sure, I can," He lit the smoke.

Naomi crossed her arms, "That's not very 'ethical' of you."

He laughed as he waved her off.

Naomi stomped of the classroom and headed to the courtyard – Asuna liked eating outside under a large tree that gave just the right amount of shade from the sun. When she got there, Asuna had asked what she was asking Yagari – Naomi shrugged her off with simple; "I just wanted to make sure he got all the of my assignments to the rest of the professors."

"Turns out Zero didn't come to school today," Asuna said nonchalantly, or at least, she tried to sound like she was just stating information.

"I don't really care," Naomi said, but she did care. If he wasn't at school, then where was he? Was last night his breaking point? Has he already turned into a Level – E?

"I just thought since the whole prefect thing," Asuna said, "you guys would be hanging out more."

Naomi pursed her lips, "Yuki, Zero, and I are not friends and I already told you I'm a not prefect."

Asuna ate some fruit from her plate, "Are you sure about turning the position down?"

"Yeah." Naomi stabbed a piece of melon with her fork, "Do you want to hold back a hoard of Day Class students every day at sundown?"

Asuna let out a laugh, "No."

"Exactly."

There was an awkward pause that Naomi didn't truly understand so she said, "You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine," still she added this for just in case there was any other meetings with the prefects, "but they'll probably still be meetings with Headmaster Cross and them. They're being very thorough with the whole Akira Saito situation."

"Oh," Asuna said, "so they're just trying to keep an eye on you."

"Rule breaking will prove to be more difficult," Naomi smiled.

Asuna snickered a little before saying, "I'm not worried about you too much. I'm more worried about you and Haruto."

Naomi frowned, "Can we not talk about him? It's going to ruin my appetite."

"The cold war has gone on long enough." Asuna expressed, "Haruto feels awful about everything – "

"He should feel awful."

Asuna nodded, "I agree, and he's trying to make amends. He told me he talked to you last night and apologized."

Naomi rolled her eyes, "You mean that half-assed apology?"

"He's trying – "

"I don't care."

"Nao – "

"No." Naomi said firmly, "But by all means if you want to talk to him and be friends with him, go ahead."

"That's not what I meant," Asuna said, "Nao, please."

But Naomi was already on her feet. She threw the rest of her plate in the trash outside and when class resumed, she gave Asuna the silent treatment.

Was she being childish? Yes.

Did she care? No.

The bell rang and Naomi didn't stop when Asuna called out her name. Naomi had just dumped today's given assignments and the Sun Dorms and walked out of the building without so much as sparing a glance at anyone. By the time she made it to the academic building to get to the gates the Night Class classes were already near their end. She wasn't too worried, without Zero lurking in the hallways the only people she had to worry about avoiding were the Night Class students and Yuki.

Naomi walked quietly through the dark hallways.

A low bell rung; is that the Night Class bell?

She shook her head, there's no reason for them to come to this side of the building. It'll be fine.

Still, she moved quietly until she made it to the double doors that led to the entrance. She gently pushed one on of the doors open; just a couple of more steps… She reached the gates.

Naomi picked the lock of the entrance gates and smiled triumphantly when the lock gave away with a satisfying click. She pushed opened the gate and was about to slide out when she heard:

"Running away again?" asked a voice behind her.

Naomi knew that voice: Kaname Kuran.

"Shouldn't you be in your dorm room?" Naomi said.

Kaname smiled, "I'm obligated to inform the Headmaster, but I'm sure you know that."

He sounded … playful.

Naomi shrugged, "I'm sure that I don't care."

She slipped through the gates and as she was about to close them behind her, Kaname said behind her:

"Naomi, it's not safe at night," he frowned.

Naomi's face scrunched up in anger and whirled her head at him, "Stop, do not call me by my first name." She snapped, "We are not friends, so don't speak to me as if we are." She closed the gate behind her, "And I can take care of myself."

Naomi stomped off into the night.

Kaname was not stunned. He knew Naomi was temperamental – she always had been.

"Girl's got nerve," said Yagari as he leaned against a tree behind him, "Does she know you're a Pureblood?"

Kaname tilted his head a little to look over his shoulder, "Yes, she does, hunter."

Yagari was lighting a cigarette and nodded, "Before this, you were hugging Yuki so warmly." Smoke hazed out of his cigarette, "I don't know why you'd break tradition for her – you must know what she did with Zero."

Kaname glared at him.

Yagari smirked, "After all, the evidence is still there."

Kaname turned his full attention to the vampire hunter.

"Now with this one," Yagari continued, "you actually seem concerned, yet I heard from the hermit that you didn't know her until a few days ago."

Kaname gave nothing away.

Yagari shrugged it off, "Nevermind, it's uncomfortable waiting for an honest answer. What's your motive? Why haven't you driven Zero into a corner?"

The cigarette's bud went off and the cinders blew into the wind.

Kaname walked away from Yagari, "So that I won't lose Yuki, of course."

"What of Naomi?"

"I met her a long time ago when we were children." Kaname frowned as the wind blew through his hair, "Not that she remembers."

Naomi spit out a leaf that had gotten into her mouth when she yawned, stupid wind.

She pulled open the door to the coffee shop and started yelling, "Tanaka! Tanaka!" she hit the bell on the counter multiple times, "I know you're here! Tanaka, we need to talk!"

"Why are you yelling?!" Tanaka shouted from the kitchen as he came in, "What is it?"

"I want to know why there's a vampire hunter at Cross Academy," Naomi demanded.

Tanaka sighed, "Leave it alone, Naomi."

"No." Naomi said, "Yagari just a shotgun at Zero and I had to move the barrel of a gun with my bare hands, so he wouldn't die."

Tanaka frowned, "Why were you in that situation in the first place? Cross told me you refused the prefect position."

"Why does it matter how or why I was there?" Naomi sat down on a stool, "The point is that I was there, and now, Yagari is teaching ethics."

Tanaka rubbed his temples, "The Hunter Association sent him there."

"I said why, Tanaka, not who."

Tanaka ran his hand through his hair, "They heard about Zero's 'condition', they just wanted to make sure he wasn't a threat."

Naomi nodded, "What about you? Is true you're a vampire hunter?"

"Retired," he grunted.

She scoffed, "Don't tell me you retired because you actually believe in the pipe dream that co-existence is possible?"

Tanaka glowered, "Cross and I believe in the same thing. Vampire and humans – "

Naomi snorted, "They can't even hold it together for an hour. I went to the Moon Dorms to 'meet' them and both times I was attacked. This," She took out the Phthisis out of her skirt pocket, "is the only reason I wasn't murdered last night."

Tanaka clenched his fists, "I don't doubt you instigated?"

"So what?!" Naomi shouted, "Nothing I said remotely warranted me getting attacked or almost frozen!"

"These people aren't – "

"Like us?" Naomi said, "I'm aware."

Tanaka sighed, "This isn't a joke, Nao. Peace between us is crucial or do you really want Purebloods running around turning innocent humans into vampires?"

Naomi raised an eyebrow, "Like what happened to Zero?"

"If we manage to pull this off, then Purebloods can't do as they please anymore." Tanaka expressed, "So what happened to Zero and his family will never happen again."

"Is he really going to turn into a Level – E?"

Tanaka poured black coffee into two mugs, "Eventually."

"Isn't it better to kill him now," Naomi said, "before he becomes a real danger?"

"Nao, they're not animals," he said.

"But Level – E's are, or so I'm told."

Tanaka prepared Naomi's coffee exactly the way she liked it, "Zero still has a mind of his own. He can still make choices – the right choices."

Naomi grabbed the mug from Tanaka's hand, "He bit Yuki and I think that he still is." She held the mug up to her lips, "He should go to the Night Class. I don't know why he's not."

"Zero wouldn't survive there – "

"Yagari said that too." Naomi leaned forward resting her elbows on the counter, "Why –?"

"The Kiryu's are – " Tanaka sucked in a harsh breath, "were – " he paused, "were a family of vampire hunters." He drank his coffee, "Do you know what they teach us when we're little?"

Naomi shook her head.

"Hate." He said, "That all vampires and hunters can ever be, is enemies. Zero was taught that too and now he is one. I'm not asking you to get along with him." He paced his mug down, "I'm asking you to show some compassion."

Naomi stared at her full coffee mug, "He hates himself, doesn't he?"

Tanaka said nothing but he didn't need to – the answer was clear.

Naomi supposed she should've realized sooner. The way he carried himself, the way he isolated himself from others like he was scared that if he got too close, he would hurt someone, even before she knew about what he was, it was obvious. She just never cared.

Naomi looked up from her coffee mug, "Why did you let me enroll?" She asked, "You might preach about peace and the chance at coexistence, but you knew it was dangerous. You knew there was a sliver of a chance that I could get hurt."

"No," Tanaka pointed at her defensibly, "I trust Cross, never once, did I think you were going to get hurt."

"Well, I didn't really," Naomi said, "Kaname Kuran intervened the first ti – "

Tanaka tensed, "You listen to me. You stay away from him, he's a Pureblood. They can't be trusted."

Naomi glared at him, "Weren't you just talking about coexistence and peace?"

Tanaka shot her a look she hasn't seen since she was a little girl: the-do-what-I-say-it's-for-your-own-good-look.

"Alright, I'll keep my distance," Naomi surrendered. "It's not like I talk to him on the regular."

Tanaka grabbed her half-empty cup and said, "You need to get back to school." He waved his hand, "Get the hell out of here, kid."

Naomi eyes widened, "I haven't even finished my coffee yet!"

"And you shouldn't be out this late."

"Technically, I shouldn't be out of campus at all."

Tanaka placed the mug back down, "Drink the rest then go."

Naomi grabbed her butterfly knife from the counter and stuffed it back in her skirt pocket.

"Do you like it by the way," Tanaka gesture toward Phthisis, "It used to be mine."

She drank some the rest of her coffee, "Really?"

"Yeah, I gave it to Cross." Tanaka said, "Thought you should have it now."

"Well, thanks it came I handy yesterday," Naomi smiled, "it sort of melted a vampire's face off."

Tanaka chuckled, "It's easy to use and even if you don't land a hit – just a touch from Phthisis will do some serious damage, even to a Pureblood."

"Have you…" Naomi paused, "ever killed a Pureblood?"

"One," Tanaka said, "and attempted to two kill others."

Naomi was already done with her coffee when she asked, "Who were they?"

Tanaka took the mug from her, "It doesn't matter." He gestured toward the door, "Go."

Naomi huffed, "Fine," she jumped off the stool, "but before I go, I wanted to ask was one of them the Pureblood that turned Zero?"

Tanaka frowned and his eyes shined in regret, "I didn't kill her, but I tried. I couldn't find her."

"Wh – "

"Get. Out." Tanaka sharply pointed to the door.

Naomi grumbled in defeat, "Fine."

Tanaka gave out a long sigh when she left, "I shouldn't have told her to stay away from the pureblood. She's probably going to gravitate towards him now."