Free My Heart (Zero Kiryu x Reader)

Chapter VIII - And the Problem Was... Blood

"Zero! You're still here!" Exclaimed Kaien, the Academy's headmaster, as he noticed the young Kiryu entering his office. "I thought you'd be at your apartment by now."

"Yeah, well... I can't leave the academy with Akatsuki Kain still wandering around it," came Zero's acrimonious response.

Mr. Cross sighed: "Zero, you know that young Mr. Kain is not the kind to harm the students here. So can you please ease up a bit and stop treating Akatsuki as if he is an enemy of yours?"

"Whatever. I am treating him the way he should be treated." The young man answered, earning a shake of the head from the older man. "Anyways... are they still upstairs?"

"No. Actually, Miss _______ fell asleep an hour ago and Akatsuki had to take her to her dorm," answered Kaien.

"I hope none of the students there would notice him going in and out of the dorm." Zero frowned, but then added in a mumble: "...especially those crazy female students..."

Mr. Cross laughed at Zero's comment: "Haha, that's true! I still remember how fond they were of Mr. Kain when he used to attend the class here."

"Quite the chaos, it was..." muttered Zero.

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Mr. Cross, "It's already half past eleven. The students should be in their respective chambers. So, don't worry. You won't have to deal with a mob of obsessed fan girls." He let out an amused laugh.

Ignoring the easygoing attitude of the older man, Zero asked: "So, he's not going to stay here, is he?" He crossed his arms as he stared down at Mr. Cross who sat comfortably behind his wooden desk.

"He had originally planned on staying here," the headmaster explained, "but I know the sensitive status that he's in since he's the heir of the Kain family, as well as his responsibilities as one of Lord Kaname's followers. So, I believe his plans have... changed. I don't think he'll be able to stay here even if he wanted to."

"Good." Zero nodded, looking uninterestedly at the nearby wall.

"Zero! You can't say that!" Kaien gasped while Zero simply shrugged, "I just did." He responded briefly. A disapproving grunt sounded from Kaien's throat; however, Zero couldn't care less about what his guardian thought of his attitude. "And what about his sister?" He asked, the same look of disinterest showing on his stoic features.

"_______ Kain?"

"Yes."

"She'll be staying," answered Mr. Cross.

"What?" Zero's stare hardened.

"She has to stay here for a while longer."

"I don't see the reason why she has to." Zero countered.

"Miss _______ is still in danger. Her life is in danger! She needs a safe place to stay, and I honestly can't think of a safer sanctuary than my academy." Mr. Cross reasoned plausibly. Zero grunted, but Mr. Cross resumed: "Miss _______ needs us. She needs our help, Zero."

"Your help, not 'ours'."

"Zero..."

"Is this some kind of charity? Because I don't recall becoming part of some public service committee." Zero commented quite caustically.

"Zero. It's only humane on our part to_" Mr. Cross was speaking but Zero was quick to cut his utterance off: "I am no human." He said. "Last time I checked, I am half hunter, half monster. So sorry for the disappointment."