Angel From My Nightmare (Vampire Knight) *Takuma/OC*

01. Hello There

"Make sure you give her clearance at any time," Satoshi Harima – who frequently encouraged his Night Class students to refer to him more formally as Satti-san – told the guard on duty at the Night Class building. "She has long, wavy, blonde hair, blue eyes, slim, roughly average height... She starts here tomorrow."

"You still sure this is a good idea?" the guard asked gruffly. Satoshi had explained the situation to him and that he'd already gotten the headmaster's permission for his daughter's permanent clearance to all of the school buildings.

"Of course," Satoshi replied brightly. "She's a smart girl – she'll figure out the school's purpose real quick. She won't like what she finds, but I'm certain it'll do her good in the long run."

"If you say so, Mr. Harima," said the guard with a shrug. It wasn't really his business. He was just here to do what he was told.

"Satti-san," Satoshi prompted.

"No," the guard replied bluntly. "You're free to get your pupils to call you whatever you like, but count me out."

"You're so boring," Satoshi pouted. There was a good reason he was such good friends with headmaster Kaien Cross, without even going into their shared past as hunters. They could both be as childish as each other. It was a little embarrassing for two grown men.

"Whatever, sir. Keep your cutesy nicknames with your students, not with me," muttered the guard. He then added, "I sure hope your daughter's not like you."

"Of course she is! She's sweet and intelligent and very ambitious," Satoshi gushed, ever the indulging father. He always became starry-eyed when talking about his children.

"Already sounds nothing like you," said the guard quietly, still muttering more to himself. He then cleared his throat. He knew that it wasn't his business, but he still had to check one more time. "Do you really think this is for the best? From what you've told me, it sounds like you're throwing your daughter into her idea of hell."

"And that's exactly the point," said Satoshi, more solemnly. "I want to change her idea of hell. I'm sure that once she's attended Cross Academy, Harry will have a very different opinion of the beings that plague her nightmares."

XXX

Harry was a well-known control freak. She was extremely organised to the point of being obsessive-compulsive and was constantly paranoid over keeping everything perfect that was within her control. She could still cope under pressure, which she often had to do when dealing with her chaotic family, but she much preferred being able to live within routines that she'd built on.

The only thing she feared was the unknown and the unnatural – anything she didn't understand; anything she couldn't control.

But right now, she was feeling nervous. She was starting at her new school today. It wasn't exactly anything unnatural or uncontrollable, but it definitely meant she'd be breaking away from her usual routines. If she was going to be living somewhere new, she'd have to start a whole series of new routines there too.

"How's the shoulder?"

Harry looked up at her older brother from the passenger seat, her thoughts interrupted. "Not too bad. At least it won't be on display or anything."

She'd never been noticeably strong or fast, so her brother had been teaching her to spar since they were kids. Hideki was good at fighting – so good that he'd been fired consecutively from his last three jobs for having tussles with other employees... and even a customer on one occasion. He was a nice guy, but he had a short temper that he just couldn't control.