Cheese with that Whine

-X-

Last Chapter:

"Hey... I'm a vampire, by the way." He suddenly blurted out.

Chapter 12: Human

Notes: Dedicated to all the Aidori closet romantics.

Warning: Fear the ultra fluffy-ness... and corny-ness!

Oh yeah, and this is the last chapter.

In moments of extreme happenings, great men often thought before they spoke.

This was not one of those moments.

What the fuck did he just say?

What the fuck—

What the—

The fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck my life. Forever. And ever and ever and ever. And ever. Of all eternity. Fuck my life. Fucking fuckity fuck. Damn. I am so glad that I'm not actually a pureblood. Then I won't have to spend the literal eternity of watching fate constantly fucking My Life in the ass while I sit behind, powerless and unable to do anything, because nobles have a time limit on this Earth, THANK FUCKING—

"Thank you." Yori said suddenly, her words being able to single-handingly eclipse the turmoil of curses rampaging through his brain. She then began to wipe the remaining tears that streaked down her cheeks, and when she looked at him—

God.

When she looked at him, it was like her fucking eyes smiled. Her whole expression was alight with something small and rare and special and something deep, something that was trustful and naive but it held weight and was of utter fucking significance, that something in his gut told him that this was one of those flashbulb moments where he will remember every grain and detail of everything. This simple, magnificent occurrence only happened once in a person's lifetime, and he better not fuck this up.

She is giving you something, and it is small and frail and easily breakable. It cannot be healed, only fixed. Like glass shattering into millions of pieces, it can be pieced back together. But fragments will be missing. It will always be missing. It will never be the same, so you cannot fuck this up.

You better not fuck this up you better not fuck this up you better not fuck this up.

The fact that she said those words meant that she understood. She completely understood without any hurt or betrayal or menace in her eyes, nor did she pressure him into anything more.

But there were a thousand words she could've said.

Like you're a monster.

Please don't hurt me.

… Please, I'll do anything you want. Just please...

Don't kill me.

I'm scared of you.

I don't know who you are. Who you can be.

Just please go away.

So why did she choose thank you?

Aidou sputtered a reply. "Y-you're welcome." He didn't know why he felt so unnerved.

She is human of red blood, of anonymous background, she has no special powers, no special qualities, no outstanding feat. She is young, oh so young.

But she is already out of your league.

Strangely though, as he waited and watched for an expression to break out of her face (how would she react? Would she be scared? Would she scream? Would she get angry and slap him too?), he found that he wasn't afraid.

Okay, so maybe he was holding his breath until she actually said something; his shoulders were tense and rigid and his fingers were digging into the dark brown dirt and too green grass. And yeah, he felt a little restless and nervous, but he wasn't afraid.

Or scared shitless.

Or worrying that Kaname-sama might pop out of the bushes anytime now and say "I GOT YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

For the first time in a while, he didn't find himself regretting what he said just after a second he'd uttered it.

There was a short moment there, after he had accidentally or intentionally blurted out The Secret of the World to the girl, that he really did consider maybe pushing her off and running the hell away, or finding out if it was really possible to kick one's own ass.

But after a few seconds passed, he found that he didn't mind. Or that he didn't think it weird that he didn't mind. He was comfortable with her knowing, because it was her.

Actually, from all the crap that just happened to them, of course he would want her to know. He even wanted to laugh at himself for waiting this long if only it wouldn't make him look like he was high or taking crack.

And what? It only took a little kidnapping, some kids falling off of a lake, and a rampaging bear to finally get the truth out of him? Wow.

Maybe he really was on crack.

Maybe his brain knew what he wanted to say and said it for him.

Maybe he had a bout of convenient Tourette's.

He really didn't know. But he was grateful to it, whatever it was.

After all, he never thought first before speaking in the first place anyway, and he always voiced out what was on his mind.

Maybe, it really was him that blurted it out.

But no, she shouldn't rush herself or anything, even if he asphyxiated himself from holding his breath too long, waiting for her to answer. Even if he summoned most of his courage to just say that little sentence. Of course not. She should wait till he keeled over, dead. She should take her time.

Then, as if sensing his urgency, Yori suddenly laughed.

The sound was melodic to his ears, like bells ringing or piano playing. It made him unsure though, upon whether or not he should force himself to laugh along too just to avoid looking like an idiot or narrow his eyes at her sudden bout of convulsions.

He decided to be indignant about it, but she once again caught him off guard by simply brushing away a strand of hair away from his eyes and giving a gentle expression. Aidou blinked, and titled his head. She almost looked angelic from this point of view.

"I think... I think I already knew that, Aidou-sempai..." She contemplated after a moment of silence. How pathetic was it to say that he hoped she had been lost in his eyes during that short period, because he had been lost in hers? … that pathetic? Okay. Never-mind then.

Yori acknowledged his curious glance with a pursed lip. "I guess that... I've been suspicious of you throughout the whole camping trip... but I've purposely remained doubtful and ignorant because—because, well, I didn't want things to be complicated... and I was sure that you... wouldn't want somebody to be poking around in matters where they should've just stayed out of, especially if you were some kind of..."

Some kind of?

"Novel... character—"

Ouch. That kind of stung. He never heard that one before.

"So I tried to avoid doing that..." She continued, looking down at her fingers and subtly growing a bit quieter. "I know if I were in your position, that was how I would've liked for things to be... though—" At this, she steadily met his eyes again, offering what looked like an ironic smile. "I guess when that certain incident happened... you were forced to tell me, huh?"

Aidou immediately snarled the minute the question left her lips, averting his eyes to glare off into the distance. As if he didn't already want to strangle himself. Being the one at fault of that certain incident, her words had especially made him feel like even more of an asshole.

Whether or not it was hard to believe—he actually didn't like feeling like an asshole, thank you very much. Assholes were not heroes in story-books or movies. Assholes did not get a happy ending. Little kids did not go around shouting, "When I grow up, I want to be an asshole!" Assholes were the ones who got hanged in the 17th century or shot in the 21st because they were being an asshole.

And also, assholes were not fan-favorites of the readers. But assholes were—and still are, in fact, hot. And blond. It seemed that all hot and blond men were either jocks, assholes, or both.

I guess you were forced to tell me, huh? Aidou sighed, glancing at Yori from the corners of his eyes. He scowled furtively. "I wasn't forced to tell you." He said, brooding. "Things like that don't have to happen for me to tell you. I would've done it, eventually."

"Eventually." She echoed, smiling.

He gave her an unamused look.

Her smile widened. "It was a rhetorical question, Aidou-sempai. And more importantly, I was just... I was trying to lighten up the mood."

Ah, shit.

"I guess I'm not really cut out for that... I seem to make things worse." She concluded, laughing lightly at her own characteristics.

Shit, shit. And shit.

A delicate grin broke out of her features. "But... I'm really glad that you told me, Aidou-sempai. Thank you."

And judges, we have a winner.

Aidou stared, dumbfounded, before his expression immediately melted into another scowl. Though, as he studied her features more, he found her smile to be contagious, and soon enough, he found his lips quirking upwards too. He sighed, huffing a bit and shaking his head. I can't win with her. He thought, disappointed with himself and his unusual lack of competitiveness, though felt oddly okay with it.

Usually, he was used to being the one to make people fall head over heels to his charms. Though the girl seemed to be doing it unintentionally. Damn her.

He stood to his feet then (because there was the imminent danger of getting lost in her eyes again, as ridiculous and painful as it may sound) and reached for her hand, offering to help her up. Yori took it silently, though he didn't let go, even after he had done his part.

She turned her head towards him, eyebrows raised in curiosity and not at all fooled by his seemingly blank and easy-going expression. Aidou didn't notice, or pretended not to notice, and pointedly stared at what was in front of him. (Trees, trees, trees, more trees, and oh look, a rock. Hello rock.) His hand tightened around hers, and to Yori, he seemed to be a little dissatisfied about something.

Ever the observant and understanding one, she touched his shoulder lightly with her other hand, making him turn around and blink at her in surprise.

"What?" He asked, and she shook her head, trudging along beside him.

"It's nothing. I just wanted to say that everything's fine, you know. You don't have to do anything."

"Right." Aidou murmured tersely, staring back at the clearing in front of him again before he suddenly scowled at himself in irritation. Just spit it out, man. She already knew The Secret. Might as well tell her the other stuff that came along with it. The Secrets of The Secret.

"It's just those damn E's..." He confessed a short second later, his grip on her hand tightening even more. Aidou sighed insufferably, searching for the right words. "If I just had more time, I could've—well, I should've, I guess, since it's part of what I do..."

Yori listened patiently. There were all these questions running through her head: like E's? Was that a nickname for the vampires earlier? Or a sort of rash? And what did he mean that he should've, and that it was a part of what he did? What other things does he do? Though she remained faithfully silent, knowing that it must've been a delicate topic for him to explain to her merely like that.

She heard him sigh again in irritation.

"I don't know." He murmured, frowning. "I feel like I just want to bash their heads in or something. Can I say that?" She smiled, nodding, and he felt a little eased at her expression, though it was short-lived when a soft growl escaped his lips again.

"Especially... especially when—fuck, for Pete's sake." Aidou huffed, closing his eyes. "I just want to get some payback, some retribution for what they did. To me, for making me look like such an idiot and an asshole. And to you, for..." She could tell that he was struggling.

"For hurting you..." He finally managed out, voice becoming more hushed and muffled. "Especially for hurting you." Yori was quiet, not believing herself to possess anything that could add to this, though she felt herself deeply touched by his words. Instead, she ran a comforting hand along his arm, trying to ease him. He acknowledged this by relaxing his tense shoulders, just a bit.

"I just really, really want to kick their ass." Aidou finished, now somewhat satisfied in his explanation. Yori let out a quiet laugh, then immediately cupped her mouth. He looked down at her, grinning despite himself.

She shook her head, offering a smile. "You don't have to do anything. It's fine. I mean, at least we escaped, right?"

"Right." Aidou replied noncommittally, though he sighed. He shouldn't be surprised if she didn't feel any lingering anger or resentment towards the level E vampires from earlier. It was all in the past, and he bet that she'd only say something like "Getting mad because of what happened in the past is stupid."

But still, who didn't feel any anger towards their kidnappers? Wasn't it usually built inside the hostages to be angry towards their captors after the whole shebang happened? Unless she had Stockholm's Syndrome. Aidou fervently hoped not. That was twisted and messed up and disgusting and worst of all, he'd have competition.

What, did she already have a reservation in Heaven to make her act so kind and forgiving? Well, this was Yori we were talking about. He wouldn't be surprised if things turned out that way.

He felt a twinge of fondness for her.

"Aidou-sempai, you're still holding my hand." She told him a while later, when they had walked for quite a long distance and could now see their campsite.

Aidou glanced down at his hand, and what do you know, it was still, in fact, gripping hers quite tightly. He thought nothing of it, did nothing of it, and instead wore a smug expression, a smirk crawling its way up to his lips. "Oh, I don't plan to let go." He said, very seriously.

And she didn't know why, but she felt a sudden swell of pride at his statement.

As the two walked through the thicket of trees, the familiar campsite, with its colorful tents poking out and a long wisp of smoke from a bonfire climbing towards the darkening horizon, finally came into view. Aidou picked out the voices of the students, carried by the wind, signifying that all seemed okay and though they didn't seem jubilant, they were at least relatively ignorant of what happened.

Yori's gaze turned towards Aidou when she felt him tug at her. "Wait," He called, halting in his step and making her turn around.

"What is it, Aidou-sempai?"

His face reverted back to the somber expression that he had been wearing all night, ever since he had rescued her. It looked so off-place against the background of his handsome features, so pale and smooth. His eyes, the color of ice, seemed to almost glow underneath the moon light. And his hair was incandescent, like the golden threads that the fairytale character, Rumpelstiltskin, offered to give to the miller's daughter. And yet his expression remained daunting, and dark circles stained his beautiful face.

"I can't go back there with you yet. I have to do something first." He told her.

Yori's brows furrowed at the blond's choice of words. "Have to?"

"It's part of the whole reason why I was supposed to come here." Aidou said dryly. "Hell, I should've finished it early, but the situation was kind of well... fucked up."

Yori remained silent, even when his tone suggested a playful undertone. Aidou frowned at her sudden lack of words. She had always been a quiet girl, and although he wasn't the best in understanding human empathy, he knew enough to distinguish when she was simply being reticent in her silence or being solemn. If he didn't know any better, he could even say that perhaps she was sulking.

This brought an immediate grin to Aidou's lips, which sparked some life back unto his otherwise somber features, consequently relieving the girl.

"Aw, Yori-chan," He began teasingly. "Don't be like that. I need you to stay here... to—to look after the other students. Yes. Exactly. When I come back, tell me if they suspect anything, alright?"

"Okay." Yori responded, giving a quiet smile, although she held a wary look in her eyes. "Be careful, sempai."

"Hey, don't worry about me. You're talking to a guy who got mauled by a bear and survived. How many people can say that, hm?"

"That's true," Yori gave a soft laugh, eyes impossibly radiant despite their circumstance. An impulse suddenly grabbed Aidou, and without thinking twice, he bent down and kissed her again.

There was a pause.

"Shit. Sorry. I don't know why I did that." He said, blushing madly.

Though they've already kissed before, the girl still couldn't help being stunned at the random act. The blond hid half of his face with his hand, brows furrowed and scowling despite his face still being quite feverish. There was a moment where their gaze were frozen towards each others' faces in an awkward staring contest, before the noble then immediately turned around, not unlike a little boy who was embarrassed about showing affection to the girl that he liked.

"Er. I guess I should go now—"

"Wait!" Yori blurted out. Aidou, startled, turned to face her again. Her hands gripped the back of his shirt. For some odd reason, his heart palpitated like crazy. He knew hers did as well, for he could hear the rapid pace of her heartbeat thumping against her ribcage.

"Y-yeah?" Aidou called. He coughed and fought the tremor in his voice. "What is it?"

At first, Yori was quiet as she herself tried to figure out a reason as to why she had suddenly stopped the boy in front of her from leaving. The girl closed her eyes tightly, Why did he have to go and kiss me like that? Now my mind's all jumbled up. She usually didn't act like this. The only plausible explanation she could think of at this moment was that it seemed like his impulsiveness was rubbing off on her.

She knew that she shouldn't deny it to her own conscience: the fact that she would feel sad to see him go. But she was not the type to probe questions when one didn't want to answer, and nevertheless, she had gotten used to this type of circumstance and was good-natured in her patience and understanding, despite being kept in the dark and being—well, it wasn't quite 'abandoned', but something that was definitely close to the feeling—due to her best-friend always having to leave her over her prefect duties (now she understood why it had been of dire importance to keep the fan-girls away from the Night Class).

Despite her good-natured personality and her unwillingness to investigate things that did not concern her, however, it didn't mean that she didn't always feel a little bit sad over the fact that it set a kind of rift between them, nor that she didn't continue to fret over them, as she already somewhat knew what was boiling beneath the surface. Yori had always been quite an observant girl, even when she was little. And after all, still waters ran deep.

"You said that you didn't plan on letting go," was all Yori could finally muster up in her explanation.

"W-what?" Aidou heard her perfectly, given his super-human capabilities, but he sputtered just to think that she would say anything like that. Did he finally give in to the freak occurrences of his insomnia? Was he hallucinating or something?

"You said. You didn't plan on letting go." The girl repeated, more firmly this time. Her eyes locked with his. "Didn't you?"

"Well, y-yeah..." Goddamn his stuttering. "What about it?"

"I—... I want to learn." Her voice was suddenly shy, but she did not break away in her honest gaze. "I've been left in the dark for so long now, I— I just, I want to make more of a difference. I'm tired of just watching, of being a bystander. For once, I'd like to experience it. And, and live the experience."

Aidou said nothing as he attempted to soak in her words.

"I want to know more about you, Aidou-sempai. If you'd let me." God, there was something in her voice, too genuine and sincere, that tore him apart to pieces. Damn it.

Aidou couldn't tear his gaze away from her big, chocolate-brown eyes, which seemed to implore him. It held a different kind of commandment, the kind where the very thought of just saying no to her and causing her grief afflicted his mind to no end. His lips pursed tightly, brows flexed together in something akin to agitation, but instead of denying her an answer, as Yori was accustomed to, he merely gripped her hand once more.

"If you die, I'll kill you." She heard him whisper under his breath.

The horizon seemed to be in a war against night and daybreak. Although it wasn't at all bright out yet, their surroundings were no longer submerged in utter darkness, like before. The sky turned from a deep, dark black into a cool, dark blue, and as the two walked, a cold breeze passed by. A few stars dotted the sky, though most had been blocked by the tall trees which littered across the forest, its twisted branches covering the heavens and displaying sinister shadows across the forest ground. For some reason, Yori felt like somebody had been watching them during the entire duration of their walk.

Raven wings fluttered into the sky as Aidou brushed past a tree branch, setting off a whole cacophony of eerie noises, like poking a stick into a beehive. Owls hooted, raccoons darted past, and creatures of the night scuttled along.

One of them stood next to her.

A chill crawled through Yori's skin, raising goosebumps, and her small frame shivered slightly. She felt a cool material drape over her head then, and when she looked up, she saw Aidou drawing back his arm. Murmuring a quiet thanks, she put the jacket on, hugging herself tightly as another cold breeze passed their way.

"Are you alright?" Finally came Aidou's voice.

"What? Oh, yes. I was just wondering, are we near the building?"

Aidou pursed his lips. "There." He said simply, and pointed.

True to his words, the abandoned and deprecated old warehouse stood a few ways off into the distance, its ghostly stature bringing back fresh, unwanted memories that flooded into their minds after just being there moments earlier, where she had previously been taken captive. Just as her hand dropped down to reach for his, the blond had automatically gripped it, like second-nature, without the need for words.

A few moments of tense silence passed. And then, "Are you sure about this?" Aidou asked, perhaps for the umpteenth time. Yori did not say anything and merely nodded. At her final consent, Aidou brought her hand up, summoning a sharp piece of ice from his fingers, before swiftly slicing her skin open and drawing blood.

The girl winced greatly, letting out a small cry as the cut had to be big enough for the scent to be carried by the wind and into the distance to draw out every one of the creatures from their nest. Trickles of red liquid bubbled up and dripped down on the ground. It took every ounce of strength for Aidou not to bend down and lap it up like a dog.

The wound suddenly spurted, and without warning, blood began to seep out in greater amounts until her whole hand and her forearm was covered in the intoxicating fluid.

"Yori, stop it. Stop it." Aidou called, shaking his head to rid his senses of the provocative smell. Yori promptly tore of a piece of her shirt before wrapping it around tightly over the wound and tying a knot with her teeth.

Goddamn it. This must be a new form of hell. He had already ingested numerous blood tablets when they were still at the campsite, thinking that it would be enough to sate him temporarily, but looking back now, the thought had been naive, especially when the sight and the smell of the girl's blood casted sinful temptations into his mind.

Yori looked up at his torn expression with anxiety, though nevertheless steeled herself in her trust of him. Though she couldn't help the violent shiver that tore through her spine as she watched his mouth open, fangs already elongated. Aidou worked his jaw, and then licked his lips. He smiled down at her.

His eyes were tainted with the color of blood.

"So now you get to see what I really look like, under the guise of beauty and aesthetics. Life's such a fucker, isn't it?" He smirked wryly.

"I trust you." Yori said, not losing beat.

"I don't."

And he pushed her down. Immediately, a swarm of level E's charged at him from the shadows of the trees, and upon the force, he fell down on top of Yori, barricading her under his weight. She looked in horror, too paralyzed to scream as she watched several men with their mouths wide in contorted grins and their fangs, sharp and unforgiving, trying to reach in and tear at her. Drips of saliva fell past Yori's face as she squirmed beneath Aidou. They reminded her of a pack of wild hyenas.

Suddenly, pillars of ice convulsed from the ground and thrust into the stomachs of two men, and the face of another. Aidou thrust the others away in a fierce shove as he struggled to get up. He reached back and gripped Yori, helping her to her feet.

"You ugly fuckers." Aidou spat. There were several bite marks on his arms. "As if I would make it that easy."

Another group of level E's attempted to charge at them, only to be met with sharp columns of ice pierce their body. The noble grinned. "Anyone else?"

With Yori's blood capturing the level E's into a violent frenzy, it made it easier to kill them, as they all focused upon one target. The downside to this was that it drove Aidou insane as well, especially since she was just behind him, so sweet and ripe for the taking. Unlike the other exemplaryNight Class students, he wasn't known to control his urges.

Aidou shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts, and just as he opened his eyes, he caught a level E rushing towards him in time. Fuck! Two more joined on this assault. Aidou fought them off, capturing their mouths with a hand before they could bite him and gorging sharp pieces of ice into the inside of their throats and out of their heads. Eventually, he himself became drenched in their blood, enough so that even he could smell their disgusting stench permeate through his very pores, drawing more level E's to rampage upon him.

"Shit!" Aidou swore loudly, body encumbered down upon the pit of dead level E's lying on top of his as more continued to surge and pile on. "Yori— run!" He barked at her, causing the girl to come out of her numbed reverie. She looked at him with wide eyes, her body stiff with fear. The blood from her wound had not dried yet, Aidou accounted, as it continued to seep through and soak the cloth, turning the light material crimson-red. This time, he snarled at her. "RUN!"

"NO!" She screamed back, just as vicious.

"Goddamnit!" Aidou growled as her shout attracted a pair of level E's who were otherwise advancing towards him. Noticing her still fresh wound, they took in the scent of her impossibly delicious blood, too human and vulnerable, and immediately, they changed their trajectory and abruptly lunged for the girl.

Just as the Yori braced herself, a barrier of ice ensconced her in a wave, at the same time ramming the level E's as they collided with the onslaught of ice. The force threw them off a good few feet, and a gun fell with a 'thud!' from one of their jacket pockets. It slid all the way across Yori's feet, thanks to the slippery ice, stopping just a few ways off from where she stood. In a rush of adrenaline,Yori abruptly ran towards it and swooped below to grab it.

It had a rose carved unto the side.

Without even thinking about the fact that she was first and foremost a pacifist and that she had never even used a gun before, her mind recalled what she saw in television and media and her fingers, clumsy and awkward, tried to quickly disengage the safety by pulling down on the safety lever and in a second, with a trembling hold, she pressed down unto the trigger. Yori looked away and closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she repeatedly fired bullets at the level E's surrounding the noble, each time taking a step back as each firing lashed out and forced her to recoil back because of her flimsy grip.

Between Aidou's colorful, loud swears at the sight of the girl not even watching her targets ("Open your eyes, damn it!") the gunshots roared, miraculously managing to pierce through his aggressors. Aidou shoved them off, shrieking from the poison in the bullet, though his eyes immediately widened when a bullet whizzed just an inch away from his ear. "Holy shit—! Yori, stop—"

BANG

"Yori—!"

BANG

"Stop— you have to—!"

BANG

"STOP, YORI."

At his scream, the girl immediately threw the gun down, fingers feeling as if they had been burned. She drew in quick, shallow breaths. Her frame shook terribly.

"Fuck me, why the hell did you close your eyes!?"

"I—I, I don't...! I don't know, I'm sorry, I was so scared—!" She stammered with wide panicked eyes, hyperventilating.

Aidou immediately felt bad, regretting his quick temper. He had forgotten that before this, she had never even picked up a weapon before. "No, it's okay, you did a good job actually. Thanks." He ushered, and she nodded stiffly, still shaking.

The blond picked up the scent of more level E's looming in the distance, rushing towards their position. Though there wasn't as many as them as the first encounter, there still seemed to be quite a number... probably six or more, perhaps. Aidou deduced that they had been nestling in that little abandoned warehouse and allotting people over time. How long had they even been encamped there, before they were disturbed by the stench of blood? Yori's arm was still drenched in the red liquid, and so was Aidou.

Before long, a swarm had surrounded them once again.

Suddenly enraged, a pump of fresh adrenaline coursed through the noble's veins. This was fucking ridiculous. He had had enough of this shit. Aidou's icy blue eyes were cold and vicious as he snarled at the first ones who dared charge at them.

All at once, a pillar of ice pierced through their chests. As another group advanced, he covered his arm in ice and tore through one's heart in a ferocious lunge, and then pulled, throwing the still beating heart down to the ground.

Yori immediately closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hands as the concoction of horrible screams began. Sounds of agony enveloped her mind, and she could not help but imagine that it was Aidou who had been screaming. It made her feel sick to the point of throwing up.

The noble grabbed a level E's head before ripping it off. A sharp column of ice pierced through another one so that it dangled lifelessly from the floor. The two acted as though separate, like the ice was its own entity. He tore limbs while it pierced organs. Unable to take in the sounds of agonized shrieks, coupled with her tormenting imagination any longer, Yori grit her teeth, willing courage into her bones, and she stood up, spurting towards the blond's figure. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, and she buried her head into the back of his shirt, sobbing.

"Please... stop it." Yori cried, pleading in a trembling voice.

The feeling of sudden wetness from the back of his shirt was what finally broke Aidou out of his ruthless trance—the instant realization that the girl was crying. He paused, memories blurring before his actions tore open at his mind. All at once, he felt immediate shock and intense remorse inflame his very nerves, spreading down throughout his body like a wildfire. Shit. What did I do?

Gingerly, the blond turned around to face her. Yori flinched away slightly, though Aidou did not miss the gesture. Oh, that's right. He was a killer. It set his mind off like a lighter to an oil leak.

"That's why I said you should've never come along. You don't know what it's like yet." The blond scowled, angrier at himself more than anything. His lips were set into a hard line. "Are you scared of me now?"

And then, Yori couldn't help but laugh. It was soft and wondrous and entirely dry, a multitude of contradictions in one chuckle.

She didn't know why his question had spontaneously made her laugh, despite the fact that she was still crying. Their circumstance seriously didn't hold a speck of humorous quality at all. And yet, as she wiped the tears away from her eyes with dainty fingers, the sound of her laugh made the blond more than bewildered.

"I'm terrified." The girl said finally, voice honest and sincere. Tears still rolled down her cheeks, one by one. Though as if a fire had been doused out by cool water, she enveloped him in a tight hug and buried her head in his chest. Shocked, Aidou ceased breathing, as if he was afraid that this was only a dream from his wildest imagination, and that upon the slightest movements, the illusion would shatter like glass and he would be transported back to reality, in front of a crying, human girl with wide, frightened eyes and an expression that shunned him away.

But the movement of her head nestling under his neck woke him up, and upon realization that this was not a dream, and that this was in fact reality, he—in the most extreme and dire caution—carefully drew up his hand and slowly, gently, softly, swept a few strands of hair from her face and pressed his lips against her forehead, skin contact barely touching as if he was afraid that it would spur her out of the moment, making her realize what she was doing and move away from him.

"I'm terrified that something might've happened to you, Aidou-sempai." Yori murmured from his chest, and the sound of her voice was like a fresh drink of water that he took comfort in. "I'm just honestly glad that you're okay."

Aidou closed his eyes and merely sighed. A load of weight he didn't even know he was carrying was lifted from his shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"You're hurt." Yori said quietly, observing the many bite-marks on Aidou's forearms with morose.

Aidou shrugged, and only gave a mock sigh of dejection. "I know right. They completely ruined my perfect skin." He joked, and aside from that, merely seemed to put off the injury as though they were only paper-cuts.

Yori said nothing, though she still remembered when he had pushed her down and instead had taken the blunt of the bites from the pack of level E vampires. While she had gotten dirty from all the sweat and scum of fighting in the forest, she remained relatively unharmed. Meanwhile, Aidou was covered in bite-marks all along his arms, neck, and shoulders. Crud and grime and filth of dried blood and dirt, mud, and twigs from the forest tattered his body like Christmas decorations. His face shone with sweat, and his hair had been slicked back with water.

After a long walk back, they were now back at the campsite, and the early break of dawn began to peak from atop the tall trees, the rays of sunlight creating a beautiful horizon composed of stark orange and magenta hues, as opposed to the dull, dark blue color that it was just hours before. The coming of the sun dramatically altered the state of their surroundings. It eliminated the eerie shadows and instead provided comfortable shades. It signified an end to the reign of the creatures of the night and instead allowed the day creatures to once again dominate the land freely, and ignorantly. And perhaps more importantly, it reduced the fallen vampires into nothing but gray ashes. The girl was still amazed at this vast change from just the appearance of one ball of hot gas.

Yori sat inside Aidou's tent, as the blond was the only one that did not share a tent with the rest of the students, as he had refused to do so early on in their trip. She tended to Aidou's injuries (or what he called mosquito bites) despite his continued resistance against her bandaging it, for she persisted that for them to fully heal, they still needed to be disinfected. He then proceeded to tell her that if the marks were not from an anti-vampire weapon, or holy water for that matter, then there was no need to disinfect or bandage anything, so therefore her logic was flawed. He then abruptly shut up when she gave him a sour look, daring him to test her once again and see what would happen.

But ever an ass, he pressed on despite her threat.

"You're still wounded too." Aidou reminded her. Yori looked down at her hand, having forgotten all about the cut that he drew in order to lure in the level E's. When she looked up back at him, however, he gave her such an intense stare that she began to be wary, afraid that the smell of her blood would envelop him into another blood-lust. She gulped down, hard, grip tightening upon the cotton balls that she held as she attempted to inch away, though he only crossed the gap between them in quick successions, crawling towards her with an almost predatory smile.

"Aidou-sempai—" Her voice rose an octave, eyes widening in fear and opening in aghast when he had suddenly grabbed her arm, licking his fangs, and—

—kissed her.

Damn him.

He drew back with a grin. "Gotcha."

Irritated, it took every strength and maturity that Yori possessed in order for her to not thwack him in the head with his own pillow. How dare he manipulate her fear like that! Her face couldn't help but redden, however, completely betraying her mind. Aidou's grin only widened at the sight of her blushing, a rare occurrence for which he strove to see as many times as he could.

She opened her mouth to say something, though he interrupted her with a yawn. And like all the creatures of the night, the coming of the sun signified an end to his reign.

Feeling tired as well from the adrenaline rush that now left her body empty, Yori found that his yawn had been infectious, and alongside each other, both fell asleep, the blond draping himself over the girl with arms, legs, and limbs impossibly intertwined.

"Hey, have you heard? There's a bus parked out just outside the clearing."

"Wait, what? But I thought we had a few more days before we had to leave!"

"Yeah, Headmaster Cross even came. Apparently they found out about the crazy bus driver and how we weren't even in the proper campsite."

"Ugh, this sucks! I thought we had a couple more days with Idol-sempai. Why couldn't they just let us finish our camping?"

Aidou awoke to the sound of the students gossiping, their voices combining together in a mix of pandemonium that penetrated through his slumber by way of his sensitive hearing. He heard every conversation, distinguished every voice, and try as he might to stuff a pillow over his head and ignore them in his desperation for sleep, he could not help but pick up upon one significant piece of information.

Headmaster Cross. That bastard.

Rays of sunlight shone through the light material of his tent, making the vampire slightly wince and hiss as he shielded his eyes away from the sun. Grabbing a hoodie-jacket and sunglasses from his bag, he placed the sunglasses over his still too sensitive eyes and slung the hoodie over his face before he ventured out into the sunlight.

Upon his exit from the tent, a maid from the Academy—the Night Class, more particularly, greeted him.

"What's going on?" Aidou inquired tersely, annoyed at just having woken up.

"Good-morning Aidou-sama. There is a bus waiting just outside the clearing to take the students back to the Academy. Since we have discovered an abandoned bus with the same number as the one that Headmaster Cross assigned to take the sophomore students to their campsite, a further investigation was called, and we also discovered that the students were not taken to their proper campsite. We questioned the other bus driver, who reported that she had dropped you off here. Their camping trip has been cut short to prevent the parents from worrying."

"About damn time." Aidou huffed, taking in the new piece of information. He crossed his arms. "I heard the headmaster is here. Where is he?"

"He is greeting the students near the bus."

Before Aidou set off to maybe castigate the older man, a remark from the maid stopped him dead on his tracks. "Kaname-sama extends his gratitude in ensuring the student's safety, Aidou-sama."

Though the sun shone high in the sky, a cold chill nevertheless produced goosebumps on Aidou's skin. Frowning, he only nodded stiffly at the maid before setting off to find his target—err, headmaster.

"You—" Aidou hissed as he saw the whimsical man shaking the students hands and ushering them towards the bus.

"Oh, Aidou-san!" The headmaster greeted, beaming. Aidou found that his smile hurt his eyes, and that it somehow grated on his every nerve. "How are yo—oh, oh. You look... you look— I really like your sunglasses, are those—"

"Shut up," Aidou said curtly. "You... you are the reason to why I'm like this. Do you know what kind of hell I went through, just looking after all these damn human brats?"

"Well, I heard that you had been mauled by a bear."

"Yes. Precisely. For some unknown goddamned reason, these group of students attract a highly suspicious probability of dangerous shit every other damn day. You know that bus driver you assigned the girls to? Yeah, he fucking took them hostage. I had to run after them. RUN. On my bare legs, on a hot summer day."

"Well—"

"No, no, I'm not finished yet." The blond snapped. He willed himself to calm down, and to not immediately try and choke the man in front of him. It took a quantity of self-restraint. "I found a horde of level E's hiding out in some kind of abandoned warehouse, and they seemed to be working together. I'm not certain if they're really capable of that or if someone from a higher rank is using them, but that's what it appeared to me. Also, you might want to talk to the hunter's association about the distribution of their anti-vampire weapons. Every-time one of those fuckers gets killed, there's the possibility that the more intelligent level E's can take their weapon." The noble said coldly.

"Oh my." Headmaster Cross gasped, putting a hand over his mouth.

"Exactly."

"No, I don't mean that—while it is a rather marvelous discovery—it's just that... did you actually do your job properly?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Aidou immediately growled, scowling at the back-handed complement. "Agh, damn. Whatever, I'm too tired. Anyway, why did you come here too? Aren't there more pressing matters back at the Academy?"

"Oh, well it's come to my attention, as you said, that there has been some number of supernatural encounters, so I had to come here and control it." When Aidou gave him a confused look, the Headmaster's whimsical qualities instantly left his face, leaving an expression of severity that few only got to see. "I had to wipe their memories."

Normally, Aidou wouldn't think twice about this, and actually would be even one to enforce it. Though upon the older man's words, his eyes widened behind the dark tint of his sunglasses. "You... when—"

"Kaname was gracious enough in lending some of the Night Class staff. They're currently distributing refreshments that contain memory wipers. The school can't risk anything."

The blond's face contorted, and he immediately turned around, searching wildly for—

"It's no use, Aidou-san." Headmaster Cross' voice was monotonous, somehow being able to read his mind.

—one girl. A girl with brown hair and chocolate-brown eyes and a soft—

"She's already in the bus."

—a soft, quiet, little smile that he saw even when he closed his eyes.

No, it can't be.

No.

No.

Aidou's gaze tore away from the headmaster, and instead he searched frantically at the number of people already sitting inside the bus.

There.

She was sitting near the window, and her face—

It had the same look of careful, guarded passiveness upon the day that he met her.

They locked eyes, his desperate and hers—devoid of any recognition of him. She merely tilted her head, looking confused as to why the fan-girls' revered Idol-sempai seemed to be staring at her.

And then.

And then—

She gave a sly smile.

Holy mother of God.

Breath caught in his throat, the blond refrained from showing his astonishment and merely pursed his lips, biting back a grin.

Despite being too human and vulnerable, she never ceased to amaze him.

A/N: Derp. The end. I know, it took two years. But hey, I didn't give up. I've updated twice in three days, I should say that I'm on a roll here. Oh, CWTW, what can I say to you? With your random-ass title, you were an evolution of my changing writing style—from the very horrible, eye-strain that is called the first chapter, and the multitudes of chapters that followed after that, to my current writing style, which I hope in God's name is a vast comparison.

To all my past readers and reviewers, thank you for your support. You were what made me dawn on this story again and actually have enough motivation in finishing it, just because I like you guys that much.

This s.o.b of seventeen pages is finally finished. Thank goodness.