Vampire's Assistant

Seventeen

We got to my room and I had Akatsuki stay outside. "No, I'm not standing outside your door. You're making this worse than it needs to be."

"No, Akatsuki, I've loved you for years, but then I was human. I was just learning about vampires and I didn't know if it was real, hero syndrome, or magic vampire powers so I couldn't say anything. If you had have said something, none of this would have happened. You should have known as a human, I couldn't do or say anything. No, you're not the typical kind of person I'd love, but I loved you nonetheless. Hanabusa was even helping me for a while. But when he realized you'd never see me that way, he spoke up and said he'd be with me, and that lead to this. I loved you and slowly, that love was pushed back, and now I'm in a very bad situation. So you can't start getting mad at Ruka. You can't start shifting things towards me because of this. You never even told me, I found out by accident. All I want is to get my uniform on and get to class. It's bad enough I have to pretend I don't know Rei is my daughter, but now I have to pretend that none of this happened too. And to make matters worse, Hanabusa is planning on dumping me for a human anyway. So in the end, I'm alone, and that's why Kaname said I should be with Zero. Because in Kaname's mind, Zero is alone too."

"Eri..."

"Just stand guard and wait. I'll only be a moment."

I went inside and fixed myself up. Once in my uniform, I tied my hair back and walked out. When Akatsuki saw me, his eyes went wide. He knew what it meant to have my hair tied back. It meant things were serious. He just followed me as I went towards the school. He didn't say anything, but I could hear everyone else.

"Isn't that Wild?"

"Why is Wild with that disciplinary committee girl?"

I stopped and turned to him. "You can go now."

"I made a promise..."

"Isn't this awkward for you?" He tilted his head in confusion. I grabbed his shirt and buttoned it. "At least keep the bottom buttons done up."

He grabbed my hands. "You're shaking."

"I'm fine."

"You're really taking this hard."

"I am, Akatsuki. I don't know how you're not."

"I am on the inside, but after saying your boyfriend is planning on dumping you, I'm questioning a lot."

"Yeah, well, I blame Kaname for all this."

He smiled down at me. "Hey... you never actually got married, did you?"

"Don't look so happy about that."

Akatsuki buttoned up his shirt. "Fine, I won't. But it doesn't mean I'm not happy."

I hit him. "Stop it."

"You were the one who told me first. Being a level A, and me being a level B, it's the same as it would have been if I said something back then. That's your thinking, isn't it?"

"You frustrate me."

"Good, that's what I want."

Girls started whispering again. "Is Kain wearing his uniform properly?"

"Who's the girl he's with?"

"That's Erika Shizuoka."

"I heard she's Kaname Kuran's sister."

"I heard she's the only one who can tame Wild."

"Tame Wild? Why would she want to do that?"

"I wish he'd do anything I'd say."