Once Upon a Vampire's Dream

Chapter Seven - Dancing in the Rain

(A/N - I promise I haven't forgotten about my loyal readers. School and medical problems just keep getting in the way, guys. However, I have a really fun chapter for you guys. Enjoy!)

Yuki groaned. "I didn't understand anything Mr. Yagari was talking about!"

Zero flicked her in the side of the head. "You would have if you hadn't been asleep again."

"Zero!" Yuki exclaimed, "That's not fair and you know it! We were up all night again dealing with the Day Class girls."

Zero rolled his eyes. "That isn't an excuse. Claudia and I were dealing with them too and we didn't fall asleep in class."

Claudia tuned out their argument. She could smell the heavy scent of water in the air and the sky was unusually dark. She was pretty sure it was going to rain.

Sure enough, large droplets splattered to the courtyard, turning the stone a much darker grey than normal. Day Class students were covering their heads with their books and running for the cover of the breezeways at the edges of the buildings. Claudia set her books down on the cement of the breezeway and stepped out into the rain as it began coming down harder. She turned her face up to the heavens and felt the rain patter her face. It was wet and cold and amazing. She'd seen rain from the window of her room in the Ichijo house, but she had never been allowed to feel it.

A warm hand grabbed Claudia's arm and pulled her back under the breezeway. Another hand grabbed her other arm and steadied her as she lost her balance and Claudia found herself staring at Zero.

"You're going to make yourself sick if you stay out there," he said. He took in the peculiar look on Claudia's face. "Have you never seen rain before or something?"

Claudia grinned and made a so-so shrug.

Zero sighed and rolled his eyes. "No wonder. C'mon then, we'd better get you back to the Night Class dormitory so you can dry off, otherwise you'll catch a cold in your wet clothes," he said as he stooped to pick up Claudia's books from where she had abandoned them on the concrete.

Suddenly, a strange feeling spread through Claudia. First, it tingled her toes and then moved up her legs, causing a shiver up her spine before it pooled and coiled in her stomach. She didn't know what this feeling was, but a smile spread its way across her lips and as soon as Zero's back was turned as he picked up her books, she ran back out into the rain and into the woods bordering the Academy.

Zero straightened and cursed as he saw Claudia disappearing into the woods. "Shit." He shoved Claudia's books toward Yuki, not even caring that she was so startled she almost dropped them. "Stay here, I'll go get her."

"Be careful, Zero!" Yuki shouted at him as he ran out into the storm.

The rain was pounding harder now, coming down in sheets so hard, it made it almost impossible to see. Claudia loved it. Zero, on the other hand, was very much not loving it.

The rain was slicking his hair down, dragging it into his eyes so he was constantly shoving it out of his face so he could keep Claudia in sight. He didn't understand how such a small girl, who was so thin it looked like she'd been starved before coming to the Academy, could run so fast, especially for so long. Zero was a vampire hunter, trained to catch creatures with inhuman speed and he was having trouble keeping one sick-looking girl in his sight in this weather.

As he ran through a bush, he saw a brown object in the mud in front of him. He stopped and picked it up and turned it over. It was one of Claudia's shoes. Muttering under his breath, Zero kept going. He saw a glimpse of Claudia's silver hair in front of him and he pushed himself to run faster. Not only was the idiot running around in a rainstorm, but now she only had one shoe.