"Maya! I thought you said you'd be ready!" Her brother yelled from downstairs. She huffed, glancing one last time at her twenty-one year old self in her vanity mirror one last time before grabbing her suitcase, purse, coat, and shoes and went down the stairs quickly but carefully.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Calm yourself!" She yelled and walked to the atrium, throwing the suitcase at her brother. He was taking her to Cross Academy, and since she'd be staying, they agreed that he would keep the car until further notice, and that also included the motorcycle.
He caught it with a grunt. "Jeez, what's in here?"
"A dead body." Maya quipped.
"Haha, very funny." He said, leaving the front door open when he went outside, while she slipped on her shoes, coat, and purse under one arm.
They were silent most of the car ride, not really having anything to talk about until they pulled off on a paved road and up to a long set of stone stairs that ascended up a hill around 4 p.m.. Getting out, Kaito pulled her suitcase from the trunk and handed it to over, giving her a one-armed hug.
"Hey, you be careful alright? Don't let those bloodsuckers get out of line. You have your gun don't you?"
Maya patted her purse and nodded. "I will. You be careful too."
She watched as Kaito drove away, giving a short goodbye honk before heading back the way they'd come. Maya released a heavy sigh, and ascended the staircase with belongings in tow. Getting to the top of the stairs, she was greeted by a small stone archway and tall pointed metal fences as far as the eye could see in either direction before they disappeared into the trees.
Kaien Cross was standing there at the open gate as if he'd timed her arrival perfectly, along with a young girl she had to live with as a step-sister of sorts, Yuuki Cross.
"Maya-chan! You came when I asked!" He cried, running forward to tackle her with a hug. She stepped aside, watching him fall to the ground.
"You'd just have someone come and drag me here by my toes if I protested." She said.
Kaien chuckled. "Follow me, and I'll fill you in on the way." We walked onto campus, and he pointed to a brown brick building at the center of campus, at least three stories high, and long. "This is the Lecture Hall where all the classes will be held for the Day Class and the Night Class."
He then pointed to two dorms, both far apart from each other on each side of campus. The 'Moon Dorms' as Kaien put it, housed the vampires, the 'Sun Dorms' held the regular students. However, she almost laughed, seeing the irony in the situation. The Moon Dorms were made of white brick, while the Sun Dorms were dark brick. From the far distance they were from the moon dorms, she noticed a tall white wall with heavy wooden doors as a gate protecting the building.
"Your room number is 301 in the girl's dorm. Single bed, I didn't think you wanted a roommate.I remember you telling me! " Yuuki told her, handing over a key to the bedroom with a large smile that Maya didn't return.
"You thought correct," Maya replied, stomach growling rather loudly, announcing that she had yet to eat today.
Kaien smiled, gesturing over to a small two-story building off to the side, nestled in some trees. "Come over for dinner when you're ready to eat."
He walked off and Maya made her way towards the girl's side of the sun dorms, and she was rather pleased with the fact that he had placed her on the top floor so that there would be no obnoxious foot stomping above to drive her insane the rest of the year. Opening the door, she found that it contained a small twin-sized bed against the wall, plain grey sheets already on it, a nightstand, one dresser with a full bathroom containing a shower, and vanity. Not feeling the slightest urge to unpack, she threw her things on the bed, closing and locking the door with the key she had been given and then made her way towards Kaien's small home.
The smell of tomato soup drifted into my nose as she found her way into the kitchen, as did the sound of more than one voice. Who else was here? Kaien told her that no one else would be arriving until Saturday, and it was only Thursday. Rounding the corner, she saw Kaien standing at the stove. Yuuki was sitting at the small round table. The other person in the room was standing at the kitchen counter, back to her, hands busy cutting up slices of tomato. Her eyes widened at the sight of that familiar, unusual silver hair.
"Zero?!" Maya exclaimed with astonishment. Zero turned, pale lilac eyes mirroring emotion, hands freezing mid-movement on the cutting board.
"Maya!" He stated, appalled. At the moment, she wanted to run up and hug him, the other part of her wanted to punch him in the face.
"You two know each other?" Yuuki asked from the table.
"Where the hell have you been!" Maya exclaimed, anger ruling over the excitement. "I haven't seen you in five years! Not a word or even a call!"
"Maya, not now..." Kaien said, she ignored him.
"Answer me!"
"I don't want to talk about it." Zero replied, mouth forming into a thin line before he turned back to the cutting board to set down his knife and then wipe his hands on a hand towel.
"Then were is Ichiru? I suppose he'd be up to telling me instead of you who doesn't want to talk at all." She said, crossing her arms as her emerald green eyes stabbed daggers into her long lost friend's back.
Zero made a noise in the back of his throat and began to exit the kitchen.
"Are you not going to eat?" whined Kaien, eyes puppy-dog-like.
"I'm not hungry." Zero replied, not even pausing as he left. She stared after him but turned to Kaien for some sort of consolation and answer.
Yuuki ran after Zero, leaving the two of them alone.
"His parents and Ichiru were killed after a vampire attacked their family five years ago." He replied.
Maya's eyes widened. "A vampire? Who!"
"Shizuka Hiou."
A cold tendril of fear and utter horror shot down her spine. The same pureblood vampire. Without another word, she ran after Zero, racing outside to see if she could spot either him or Yuuki, but there was no one. Yuuki ran towards her from the left of the house, looking distraught and a bit lost.
"I can't find Zero anywhere." She admitted.
"Don't worry. I can." Maya replied, jogging towards the middle of the campus. Her keen sense of hearing, sight and smell were a great advantage in a situation like this. It was one of the reasons that the Takamiya family was one of the most prominent, and the most unique. Only a few other Hunter families were the way that they were, but were scattered around the world.
There were four species. Humans, Vampires, Vampire Hunters, and Direwolves. Direwolves were neutral in the ways of law and war. Thousands of years ago when Vampire Hunters first came into existence. Amara Takamiya was the first of her species to create their line. Direwolves were a proud and noble race of supernatural creatures, but as the war between vampires and hunters grew, the more the direwolves were forced to pick a side and choose. Most of the line was wiped out, and those who had survived hid, isolating themselves from the rest of the world. Thus, the Takamiya line stayed true to this day, now once again flourishing. But, the gene for such power had become sparse.
Maya's father had the direwolf gene, and it had only passed to Maya. Her older brother had remained a pure hunter, courtesy of her mother. She was able to phase into her wolf form at will, clothes turning to fur and two legs turning to four. It didn't hurt as much as it did the first time, now it felt as if her skin was being stretched with tape, but soon disappeared.
Maya stayed in human form, finding Zero leaning against the trunk of a tree, staring into the large lake that lay behind Kaien's residence.
"Zero." Maya came up next to him, staying a few feet away.
He stared at her, eyes hard and cold. "What. Come to give me sympathy? I don't want it."
She frowned. "Don't you want to tell me what happened?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because it happened to me too!" She blurted out, immediately fed up. The Zero she used to know never acted like this. He was open, kind and caring. The person standing there was but a shadow of that memory. "My parent's were killed by that woman too!"
"You still have family alive, your two brothers. All of my family is dead."
"Only one brother, Zero," She said. "I am in the same boat as you, so don't you dare get angry with me, and don't push me away."
-Two Days Later-
Running a brush through her hair, and giving the outfit she wore one final look-over, Maya exited her room wearing jeans, boots, and a deep maroon cardigan. It was something comfortable for the long day she was about to endure.
The day was filled to the brim with work, but it was lessened when a few of the professors that were to teach came to help with the incoming students. Some of them were vampires, but she guessed it was all a part of the coexisting pacifism. Once that was finished it was now in the early evening and Maya was pulled into Kaien's study.
She stared at the pureblood vampire across from her in the office. Kaname Kuran, one of the most prominent and respected in the vampire world. Zero was standing as far away from the vampire as possible, glaring daggers at the certain figure in the room with nothing but hatred.
"Kaname here will be in charge of keeping the rest of the Night Class in line, as to not cause problems between the day class and the night class," Kaien explained, once introductions had passed a few minutes before. She stared at the brunette haired vampire warily, her hunter instincts already on edge from the short expanse of space between them.
Kaname smiled at her, but Maya saw that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. He spoke with Kaien for another few minutes before leaving the room, Zero an Maya relaxed considerably.
"I don't understand why he's here. Why is he of any importance?" Zero hissed, irritated.
"It was Kaname's parents who wanted peace, as do many other vampires. Kaname-kun is here to represent all vampires and their wishes towards peace." Kaien replied, staring at him.
Zero snorted. "This is a joke." He stalked out of the room, slamming Kaien's door shut behind him so hard that one of the pictures on the wall rattle dangerously.
"Please help Zero see reason, Maya. I know it's hard for him. These vampires are good people."
Maya looked at Kaien, who was staring at his desk with a tired look on his usually over cheerful face. "Good? How are they good? They manipulate others, hurt people and drink the blood of the innocent. They are nothing but beasts in human form."
"They use blood tablets as a substitute-"
She folded her arms. "I don't care. I hate vampires, purebloods in particular. You may have an easy time getting along with them, but I have my reasons."
"Maya-chan..."
Maya stepped forward, placing her hands on his dark-stained desk. She leaned forward, voice dangerous and low. "Is that why you took me in? To see the good in vampires and to adopt these pacifist thoughts? Sure there are good vampires out there, and sure I was neutral to it when it when I was younger, but that was years ago." Kaien did not lift his gaze and began shuffling through a binder on his desk.
"You are too stuck in the past. It's time you let it go. Shizuka Hiou is no more, can you not get closure from that?"
"I still have questions that need to be answered, so no. I will never let it go until I uncover the truth. You don't understand, how could you understand. I lost both of my parents and my brother Jax a couple years after that. I doubt he even knew our parents passed as he was starved and driven mad, all because of a pureblood vampire. Maybe not that by That Woman, or Kuran, but some selfish, disgusting bloodsucking pureblood who was hungry." She could not hold her anger back anymore, spending too long putting up with all of this which wasn't helping her fulfill any goals, it was just delaying them. "Beg and plead with me all you want, but I will...not...yeild. It's not just to avenge my parents, but for my brother, and Zero's family too. I will kill any and all vampires who harm another living soul in my presence. You can count on that."
Kaien's head snapped up, eyes wide. "Now wait just a minute, Maya!"
"Don't tell me what to do, Kaien." Angry tears blurred her vision as she turned away, walking out of his office and slamming the door, hearing a picture shatter on the wood from inside the office as she marched down the hall.
Author's note:
I promise that this will get better. It's just the beginning! Please let me know if you have any questions!
Also, the way that this story I have planned is long. Very long.
A few things to point out. Maya is older than Zero, Yuuki, and Kaname. I was going to have Zero and Maya pair up, but I may not do that the more that I think about it.
Ages: Maya - 21
Yuuki- 16-17
Kaname - 17-18
Zero- 17-18
Kaito- 24
They are a bit different than in the manga, but that's how I imagined it :)
Disclaimer: All rights go to the woderful Matsuri Hino!