"Why have you called me here headmaster?" The president of the moon dormitory pushed open the door after knocking politely, his face impassive and wary.

"This." For once, Headmaster Akiyama's face wasn't the bubbly bright face of a gentle and loving father but it was the face of a man who knew his duty. A serious face that gazed from behind framed glass. He tossed a file onto the table, Suhou not sitting but instead picking it up and leafing through it. A slow smile spread across his face.

"Ah," Suhou said calmly, snapping the folder shut. "I've been waiting for her. I'm honestly surprised it took her that long."

"What are we to do?" the headmaster sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his brows. He seemed to age visibly, the lines becoming prominent around his eyes, his movements slow and jerky.

"Admit her." Suhou tossed the file back to the headmaster already starting to head out the door. He paused just before he reached it, his hand on the doorknob, his body turned to leave but he looked back. "I'm curious to see how things will play out."

The soft click of the door closing was too loud in the empty wing. Takashi groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Ayanokoji Megumi, 16 years old, home-schooled because of her weak health. What am I to do..."

***************************

Such energy, Eiji thought as he tailed Yasuhiro, sticking to the trees and the shade. Why on earth was he running around doing things for everyone? Did he had no will or anything? Maybe he was one of those pathetic pushovers. Never mind that, Eiji shook his head. Why on earth was he paying so much attention to a mere human in the first place?

In the end, Eiji thought that he followed the boy around for a good part of the day. By the time he stopped to rest under a tree in the gardens, the sun wasn't as bright as it had been before. His friends were probably still up there taking a nap or something. Suhou had told them to stay for most of the festival. Eiji kneeled in front of Yasuhiro curiously. The boy's eyes were shut, soft snores coming from him as he slept, an open book dangling from his fingers. Eiji had to be extra careful not to get grass stains on his white pants. Sometimes he wondered why on earth the headmaster had decided to give a group of vampires white uniforms. It was just a bit ironic.

Pride and Prejudice, Eiji read as he lifted the cover of the book. The book was well-worn, and he could see from the barcode at the found that it belonged to the library. The pages were soft under his fingers and the pages golden with age. He hadn't read books like that. He had not the patience for long, 'boring' novels. His text of choice was definitely manga, beautifully drawn interesting manga. So Eiji liked art, he was a visually-inclined person. So sue him.

"I would prefer it if you put that down." Eiji would have said that he jumped but he was an aristocratic vampire and aristocrats do not jump! Eiji flushed, practically dropped the book back into Yasuhiro's lap.

"Have you read it before?" For some reason, Kin wasn't as jittery as he usually was. Perhaps because Pride and Prejudice was one of his favourite books. He loved Jane Austen's works in general because they were so well-written. So he might be a hopeless romantic, it's nothing that he should be ashamed of.

"Not really." Eiji managed to bring his heartrate back down from the shock, sitting down with his legs tucked inder him. "It's too long and boring."

"Boring? Boring?!" Kin repeated in disbelief. "It's one of the best novels in the world! Boring, what do you read, picture books?"

"Mangas," Eiji corrected with a frown, getting defensive over his choice of reading. "And they're not picture books." He glared at the human.

"Okay okay," Kin raised his hands. "I take that back. They're not picture books."

"Okay then," Eiji said, surprise clearly etched into his voice at how easily Yasuhiro had given in. "What's your name?" Eiji suddenly asked before mentally hitting himself at how forward he sounded.

But if anything, Yasuhiro didn't think anything of it, at least not visibly. "Yasuhiro Kin. I'm in my third year."

"I'm Sugiyama Eiji." Courtesy ingrained into him since birth made him automatically hold a hand out. "I'm in my first year. It's nice to meet you, Yasuhiro-senpai."

Kin gave a bemused smile that Eiji didn't catch but shook the hand. "You too Sugiyama-kun. You can just call me by my first name, it's what everyone does anyway."

"Alright then Kin-senpai." However Eiji didn't extend that same hospitality to let Kin call him by his first name. Kin didn't fail to notice that and his smile dimmed slightly.

"I suppose you ought to be on your way." Kin gently closed his book and stood up. "I have duties."

When Eiji looked up, he observed that indeed, the sun was starting to set and even though he had woken up way too early for his liking, he wasn't feeling tired at all. Like waking up at midnight to go to work and by the time it's noon, you've been awake for a while yet because it's daylight, you don't feel tired just yet. By the time he looked back down, Kin was already gone. Probably running around again. Eiji didn't know.

***************************

"Oh god how on earth are we going to be able pack this up in...twenty minutes!" Kei yelled, staring at his watch then back to the deserted remains of the festival, back and forth. They had approxiametely half the school building to clean up before the Night Class students got there. Well it wasn't like they'd be in the East Wing, their classroom was in the West Wing but all day class students needed to be out of the building in that time.

"I regret this decision, I really do," Kei whined, mock-sobbing as he plastered himself against the wall. Why oh why had he volunteered to clean up.

"Oh stop being such a drama queen," Ryou rolled his eyes, already unbottoning his cuffs to roll his sleeves up. His blazer was already long discarded somewhere over there.

"Drama queen? Me? Drama queen? Say that to my face giant!" Kei said playfully, a grin on his face to show that he meant no harm. Ryou tried and failed to stop a smile from spreading at the nickname that Kei had given him.

"Not my fault you're stunted," Ryou teased Kei, yanking down streamers by the handful.

"Oi! I take offence to that! At least I'm taller than mr frowny over here." Kei stuck out his tongue childishly pointing to Akito who held up a balloon and a pencil threateningly. "I take that back! Ryou save meeee!"

"And why would I do that?" Ryou turned his back on Kei who stopped halfway, his hand still stretched out. He might not be the headmaster's biological son but he had certainly inherited some of his more dramatic tendencies.

"Senpai," Ringo spoke up from where he had been quietly rolling up the ribbons. "We really need to get this done. Please?"

"Ringo-chan's right!" Kei agreed, reaching over to hug Ringo who flinched away and glared. He had a bit of a personal vendetta with Kei because he always kept catching him taking photos not that long past curfew! Only a few hours...

"Rejected again Kei," Akito commented bemused. "Block your ears if you must Kei, we need to get rid of all these baloons."

"Kurosawa-senpai nooooooooo," Ringo instantly protested as well, Kei trying once again to high-five Ringo, to make physical contact in general but Ringo snubbed Kei yet again.

"Not my fault," Akito answered and Ryou snickered before smoothing his expression over as Kei glanced his way.

"Ryou-chan!" Kei whimpered, holding onto Ryou and looking up like a kicked puppy. "Are you choosing stupid Akito over the wonderful me? Are you?" As his hands which gripped Ryou's uniform in an attempt to shake the giant around which only worked because Ryou was playing along, his bandage on his wrist started to fall apart. Akito in a harsh breath as the scent of blood hit him full in the face.

"I'll do a different room," Akito managed, his voice coming out strangled and he was evidently trying hard to sound normal.

"Akito, are you alright?" Kei asked concernedly. Akito didn't answer, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him. Ringo furrowed his brow. There was this hungry look that had come over Akito's face for a split second, so quick that he probably imagined it. It was so similar...so similar...argh, what was it that he couldn't remember? It was like one of those things that you just can't put your finger on, everytime he tried to think about it, the answer just disappeared into a fog of forgetfulness in his mind. Ringo shook his head, resuming the act of taking out the thumb tacks on the billboard. He had just imagined it, that's all.

Outside Akito leaned heavily against the wall, panting hard, his eyes blown wide but it was too dark to discern the colour. A trickle of blood ran down his chin from where he had bitten into his lip, and he hadn't intentionally decided to maul it. He fumbled in his pocket for a familiar tin, like those tins that have breath mints in them but they were filled with round white tablets with the printing B-102 engraved on them.

***************************

"Ah!" A limosuine pulled up in front of the black imposing gates of the academy. Behind the gates, a winding path led to the school building and viewed from the front (as the dorm bridges were connected to the back), it looked more regal, especially in the dark.

"What a cute school~" A shiny dark brown mary-jane clad food stepped out oof the limosuine, after the door was held open by a chauffeur, his face bowed. Students were allowed to wear their uniform however they wanted as long as they had the correct blouse, ribbon/tie, blazer, skirt and black socks. Their shoes simply had to be black or brown but they were allowed to wear whatever type they wanted.

The girl that stood out was dressed in the white night class uniform. Her hair was dyed to a very light blonde, almost white in the moonlight. Bangs framed her face, and a lock of hair was braided into a band that sat behind her bangs. Her hair was completely straight, flowing down to just under her shoulderblades. While on some people, the white blonde would look a bit odd, her incredibly pale skin made her look almost ethereal, the effect enhanced by her eyes which seemed faintly soulless, almost dead.

"Ayanokoji-san." Another figure clad in white pushed aside a branch, a smile on his gentle face though his posture was tense, guarded. "I hope the trip didn't do you ill. We're very pleased to welcome you to this academy."

"We can skip the formalities Busujima-senpai," Ayanokoji Megumi smiled slightly. "I am your junior. My father is not present. Please, call me Megumi."

"Megumi-san then," Komuro bowed, offering his arm to her, as was expected of him. "If you would please, allow me to you."

"How kind of you," Megumi commented. "You have truly matured senpai. But I must ask, what is the purpose of this...young lady."

"Suhou-sama has sent Kaede-san and I to you. There is no other purpose. I'm afraid that if you really must know, it's best to ask Suhou-sama himself."

"Perhaps I will." The corner of Megumi's mouth pulled up slightly, a thing that basely ressembled a sneer. Komuro wasn't looking but Kaede certainly was and though her forever blank face remained intact, her hand twitched and for her, that was an equivalent of a full-blown tantrum. Megumi's eyes slid over slightly and Kaede stared impassively forward.

"I have a feeling," Megumi suddenly said, breaking the silence. "That this year will be so fun~" Her voice was pitched high, a sing-song melody to her words. "Come quick Busujima-sensei. I want to meet the famous Yorukage-sama! I've always been in weak health and I've almost never been outside, this is awfully exciting!" Her words, her tone, her expression was childish as she tugged on Komuro's hand before giving up and skipping on ahead.

"Kaede-san," Komuro whispered, his voice pitched low so that Megumi wouldn't hear them, but it was doubtful anyhow. "Perhaps you should go ahead and inform Suhou-sama...?"

Kaede gave him a look that clearly said 'are you out of your mind?' "Suhou-sama gave me an order to Ayanokoji-sama." Her words were spoken carefully, each syllable weighted and evenly spaced out and there was no lilt to her voice to indicate anything other than robotic.

"Of course." Komuro very nearly laughed at himself for such a silly question. Kaede was unwaveringly loyal to Suhou but on a completely different level to what he and Eiji were considered. Komuro didn't even know exactly what place she had within Suhou's inner circle. "Ah, Megumi-san! Please be careful, you wouldn't want to injure yourself." Despite his suspicion around the new girl, he wasn't going to let her hurt herself just for that.

"Ah," Megumi turned around, her hair floating temporarily like an angelic halo. "Thank you Busujima-senpai! I'm just very excited."

"I can see that," Komuro chuckled as he caught up with her. He kind of felt bad about having doubts about her in the first place. She seemed to be a lovely girl, polite, respectful, worshipping the ground that Suhou walks on; that sounded about right. The trip up the hill wasn't a long one but Megumi was panting when she reached the top, hitting her chest in a distinctly unladylike manner as she breathed in short, sharp gasps. Vampires were built to be better than humans, they had great endurance, speed, strength and yet she was tired while Komuro and Kaede were barely winded.

"I'm sorry," Megumi choked out, her breaths evening out again. "It's just my health. It's so weak, I'm terribly sorry to be such a burden."

"No please," Komuro chuckled. "Don't be. We're here." He pushed open the door, letting Megumi go in first before he followed.

"Y-Yorukage-sama!" Megumi instantly manouveured her way through the tables to reach when Suhou stood. The others gave her a glance but no more. It was clear that she was a highly ranked aristocrat and Komuro quickly moved to fill them in.

"It's been too long," Megumi smiled as she stood in front of the pureblood. "For me to have waited this long, it is an honour that should not have taken these years."

Suhou inclined his head with a small smile. "Indeed. I have not had the honour of meeting you before...Ayanokoji-san, is it now?"

Megumi beamed brightly but if Komuro looked carefully, he could have sworn that the two were glaring at each other. It wasn't an intense hate born of revenge, it was more a challenging gaze. But when he blinked, their interaction was nothing different.

How very strange.

***************************

A few days or so later

"I hate you. I really do."

"Not my fault you're dumb."

"Not my fault you're smart."

"Indeed, it is not," Ryou smirked, tucking away their latest test into his folder of tests. If one looked through it, he had probably lost a total of no marks so far in the year and by the end, he'd probably lose a maximum of five. In total.

"Yamasaki-kun." A girl walked up, hands folded together and her face pretty flushed with blood. "Um...there's someone to talk to you." Ryou barely gave the girl a second glance as he looked towards the door.

"Isn't that Tsukimori?" Akito asked. Ringo was perhaps the only student in the school that had that shade of blonde for hair. Well at least the only boy. Really, his hair was going to fall out and he'd be bald before the rest of them.

"What does he want?" Kei asked curiously, resting his chin on his hand. The first year clearly looked uncomfortable, fidgetting with the bottom of his blazer, which has its sleeves rolled up, a clear violation of school rules but then again, the headmaster was pretty lax in inforcing it.

"I don't know." Ryou shrugged but nonetheless, picked up his bags and shoved his books unceremoniously into it. "I'll see you back at the dorm." School had just ended after all. Once Ryou had left with Ringo, Kei turned to Akito with a serious expression that made the latter grown in the back of his mind.

"What is it?" Akito sighed.

"Suhou-senpai invited us to a party," Kei blurted out in one breath before holding it, clearly anticipating the worst. Akito froze for the instant, his brain repeating those words over and over again.

"Us?' He finally managed. Kei exhaled sharply. If Akito had chosen to pick up on that point then he most likely wasn't taking it too badly.

"You me and Kin-senpai. It's for someone's birthday. Or for the new student. Or something. We were invited last year but I declined, can we please go this time?" Kei gave his best puppy eyes, hands clasped underneath his chin and looking up through his lashes in a way that he knew made his eyes look big and watery.

It worked just as he planned. Akito started at Kei's face for a slight second before averting his gaze and gritting out a "fine" from between his teeth. Kei cheered, hugging Akito tightly. "You are wonderful. I promise you won't regret it!"

Anna; I included the requested scene by Sammi-lou but the idea of 'Eiji almost touching Kin's beautiful sleeping face'. Beautiful sleeping face? Beautiful? I could not write that without cringing so I cut that part. Also they are all asian so they obviously have black/brown hair though some people dye it.

Yes the Ayanokojis are kind of equally ranked with the Busujimas and the Sugiyamas. They're in the top tier of the aristocrat vampires so there is a lot expected of them, they have to treat each other with the utmost formalities, it's all incredibly stiff. Sorry for the late update! I know it's a horrible chapter, it's kind of a filler one, a 'leading' one.