Vampire Knight Fan Fiction ❯ Of Living and Learning ❯ Of Living and Learning 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter2

Cold sweat beaded on her temples at the realization she was facing a vampire for real. A Pureblood at that; those crimson eyes spoke of his heritage. Kairi forced her vocal cords to work.

“My name is Kairi. I was looking for the admin block but got lost. I kept walking to find someone for directions and now I'm here.” She gave herself a pat on the back for not wavering in her speech.

The Pureblood considered her for a moment. Then he walked down the steps she hadn't covered and stopped before her. Leaning down, his mouth brushed her ear as he asked softly, “How did you know I was a vampire?”

Kairi flinched at the close contact. She backed down a few steps and resisted the urge to cup her ear.

“Your eyes; it gave you away.” She managed to croak out.

Kaname Kuran took in her appearance; faded jeans and a black cardigan with mussed waist-length red hair and tired wide purplish-blue eyes. The girl was actually very pretty. And if the way her jeans hugged her long shapely legs were any indication, she had a fairly excellent body under her clothes.

“Your last name, please.”

He watched as she hesitated in revealing her last name to him. He was going to ask why but got interrupted by the Moon Dorm's Vice-Dorm Leader. Takuma Ichijou rounded a corner and started at the sight of an unfamiliar human girl and Kaname standing together.

Noticing how the redhead tensed ever so slightly, he gave her a warm smile as he approached.

“Hello. I see you've met the Moon Dorm's Leader. I am Takuma Ichijou, the Vice-Dorm Leader. You are…?”

“Kairi,” she got out.

“I'm sure you have a last name.” Kaname eyed her with a steely gaze.

At this point, the redhead began to panic internally. Should she reveal her last name to them? These two were high-ranked vampires. Surely they knew of the Ratoleia family that did ground-breaking research on their kind. Heck, the Purebloods and Nobles were the ones who gave their consent for the project with help from Chairman Cross! She knew about the many vampire clans from her parents and the Ichijou clan comprised of nobles. Add a Pureblood into the mix and she suddenly felt apprehensive toward their reactions when they find out she's the daughter of Lucas and Reiko Ratoleia.

“I just need directions to the admin block,” she practically pleaded.

“Third building from the gate,” Takuma said before Kaname had a chance to open his mouth.

Kairi made for the door at a near sprint with hurried thanks. Once she was out, she continued running until she was a fair distance away from the dorm. Leaning against a pillar, she took in a few calming breaths. God…I just did something really stupid back there. I showed fear. Damned, she chastised herself. How was she to continue her parents' research if she clammed up upon meeting a vampire? Here at Cross Academy, she has the chance to work with real species of the vampire race. Her parents would have gone overboard with happiness if they were in her shoes.

Sighing and suddenly feeling very weary, Kairi pushed off from the pillar and jogged to the school's gate. From there, she figured out the third block and made her way into Chairman Cross' office.

Back in the Moon Dorm, Kaname was giving Takuma an irritated look. “Why did you do that?”

The other vampire shrugged. “She was clearly uncomfortable in our presence and you weren't making it any better. She's a student here so I'm sure you'll meet up with her again.”

“If not, you can always ask the Chairman for her information,”

Walking with leaden steps, Kairi tuned out all thoughts and sounds as she walked down the long hallway to the office door of the Chairman. Opening the door, she became aware of eyes staring at her and lifted her head. There were three pairs of eyes to be exact, one belonging to a petite girl, another to a tall silver-haired boy and the last pair was bespectacled.

“…Did I interrupt something?”

The Chairman leaped up at her words and rushed at her with his arms outstretched.

“Kairi! My, how you've grown!”

The redheaded girl in turn tried to breathe as the Chairman suffocated her in a bone-crushing hug. The petite girl came to her rescue and pried her overly affectionate foster father away, tossing him aside to Zero's arms where the teen promptly dropped the man on his butt.

“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly, looking over Kairi for any sign of fractured bones.

“Peachy,” she coughed.

Yuki helped the newcomer up and glared at her foster father. “Chairman! Don't do that again!”

“Oh, my precious daughter is rebelling against her dear father!” he wailed dramatically. A recovered Kairi stared while the two other students rolled their eyes.

“Ignore him,” Yuki muttered before saying in a chipper tone, “Hi! I'm Yuki Cross. That sulky boy there is Zero Kiriyu. We're the school prefects and the idiot Chairman is my foster father. Unfortunately,” she said the last part in an undertone meant for Kairi to hear only.

The redhead gave a small grin and Yuki replied in kind. Kairi directed her gaze to Zero and he acknowledged her with a nod. Rounding on the still prostrating dramatically Chairman, Kairi cleared her throat. “Umm…Sir? About my transfer to Cross Academy?”

“Huh? Oh, right.” He settled back into his chair and folded his arms over the desk, demeanor serious now. Kairi sweatdropped at the 180 change.

“Your papers are in order and your belongings have arrived at the dorm already. You will begin classes on Monday along with Yuki and Zero. They can help you familiarize with the school grounds and classes. If you're unsure about anything, you can always ask either one of them or me. After all, you're family now.”

“Thank you, Sir—” her words got cut off by the Chairman's violent head shaking.

“No, no, no! This won't do! You're one of my daughters now so you should call me father!”

Yuki and Zero stoned on the spot before craning their heads in Kairi's direction for affirmation to the Chairman's words.

“Err, thank you……fa—father.”

The overjoyed school director took no notice of her stuttering and squealed in delight. “Welcome to our family, my new cute daughter!” He cast Yuki and Zero a look. “You two should learn from your sister!”

Zero was about to pounce on the Chairman but the petite girl held him back. Kairi sweatdropped again; looks like the foster children barely tolerated their foster father.

Once Zero decided not to murder Chairman Cross, Yuki released him and skipped to Kairi's side, clasping their hands together. “Wow! I didn't know you were going to be the Chairman's foster daughter. Now I have a sister! Which beats having Zero as company all the time,”

“You're the one sticking to me.” The ex-human replied without missing a beat.

“Oh, shush!”

The Chairman simply watched the banter with a silly grin before switching his gaze to study the teenager the little girl that he remembered had grown into.

“Zero, Yuki, please leave us.”

The prefects stopped their argument abruptly and exchanged glances before shuffling out the door at the serious look on the Chairman's face.

Chairman Cross sighed and steeple his fingers, resting his forehand on his hands. Kairi fidgeted and wondered what he had to say.

“Kairi…I'm terribly sorry for the loss of your parents. I never imagine things would turn out the way they did. I would have done something, anything, to help. But I was tied up in my own affairs then and didn't get the news until after they passed away.”

He looked up at her then, his eyes regretful. “You're a strong girl. You've been holding up all this time. Along with the research…”

Kairi stiffened at the mention of the research. “Sir, may I ask something?”

He gave her the go ahead. She organized her thoughts and asked, “The vampires. They study with the humans?”

The Chairman shook his head in the negative. “No, they attend separate classes. They are what we call the Night Class. They have different study hours and a separate dorm from normal students. Again, I apologize; we should have been more specific in detailing Cross Academy's…eccentrics in your parents' will.”

“I see. Then, may I have permission to work with them regarding the continuation of my parents' work?”

The director looked incredibly taken aback at her words. “Of course you do. That goes without saying. I'm surprised, though. But this is good news. It would further strengthen the bond between humans and vampires that we have been trying to achieve.”

Kairi swallowed and nodded. She'd just given her word to continue her parents' project to Chairman Cross. She hoped she could keep it.

“One more thing, Sir; if anyone from the Night Class asks for my last name, please don't tell them.”

A raised eyebrow was her answer.

“I want to approach them on my own terms.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After the talk with the Chairman, Kairi found her way to the Sun Dorm and her room. It was a simple four-walled space with two beds on against each side accompanied by a cupboard at the foot of the bed. A dresser and a desk were in between the beds. There was an adjoining door to a toilet. And being a sudden transfer into Cross Academy, she had the whole room to herself as no one was scheduled to be her roommate. This was good as it allowed her privacy to conduct her research on the vampires. If someone saw how the research went, no doubt they would become squeamish.

She unpacked her trunks and stored away her belongings before hitting the shower room which was currently empty at this time of the night. Once she was cleaned, she sat down on the bed and looked over her timetable which the Chairman handed to her before she left his office. Dinner was at 7 pm onwards every day and Kairi glanced at the clock which showed 8.26 pm.

A yawn overtook her face and she decided to forgo dinner and just go to sleep immediately.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Notes:

Another dreary chapter. I really should stop doing that…

And a review would be nice.