"It was this morning...."
"No...NO!" She shouted into the receiver, dropping the phone and grabbed Kaien's car keys as she sprinted out of the door.
The tires smoked as she spun into the parking lot of the Association, taking a 180 into an empty space a the end of the row. She jumped out, not bothering to lock it and raced inside, shoving past the guards and running inside. She shoved passed other hunters who turned to look after her as she ran towards the hallway that descended towards the cell. Kaito came from the hallway and grabbed her.
"Maya, don't."
"Let me go!" She shouted.
"Stop!" He hugged her, preventing her from running down that hallway.
"LET ME GO!" She roared. The wolf part of her snarled and snapped against the bars of the cage that threatened to break. She caught a glimpse of the President making his way towards the archives. "I'm going to kill him, let me go!" Kaito began to drag her back towards the front doors as she protested, letting out a true animalistic snarl in the Presidents direction. Everyone was staring at the two of them as Kaito was finally able to drag her out.
"You need to CALM DOWN." He hissed in her ear, arms like steel bars to prevent her from escaping.
"I want to see Daisuke!" Maya protested.
"He's gone, Maya. They've disposed of the body. I am not letting you take one step in there until you control your wolf side."
Her body was trembling, shaking with such an intensity that it may have looked as if she had just been pulled from an ice bath. The wolf inside her was still vicious and unsated, it wanted blood. She wanted blood.
What seemed like a few minutes, had taken only seconds before Maya had stopped shaking, anger no longer lingered, only anguish. Her legs gave out. Kaito, who still had a firm hold on her, had slid to the cement with her. She bent forward, sobs ripping from her chest. Her brother's arms, once restraints, pulled her into a comforting embrace.
"I don't...don't understand..." She choked out. "Why...why does this...always happen t-to me!" Burying her face in her brother's coat collar, she clung to him. "We were supposed to...be getting married!"
Kaito didn't say anything and she was glad he didn't. Silence is what she wanted, what she craved. She had broken a promise to Daisuke. Maya never broke her promises. All she could think about was him and what his final moments would have been, and she could feel the disappointment, it was palpable in the air. "I'd promised I'd see him. I promised I'd be the one to kill him."
"I know..." She heard Kaito say, slowly rocking her from side to side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maya leaned against a tree, arms crossed, staring at the trees across the path from where she stood. Yagari had asked her to sub for him tonight to teach Ethics to the Night Class. Kaien encouraged it when she wanted to refuse, saying that it would be good to get some practice in teaching after she'd graduated with a major in teaching, and she'd done nothing with it since. Besides, having done nothing for the past four days after the news of Daisuke's death, it was time to get back into the swing of things. Work was good for grief. Nothing was going to bring him back, and it didn't feel good to sit in that hole, thinking about him constantly when she knew there was no point. He was gone for good, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt like crazy.
The sound of approaching footsteps gently shook her from her thoughts. Glancing left, she saw the Night Class heading towards the main campus building for classes. As they passed, she caught Kuran's attention. "Kuran, do you have a minute? I need to speak with you."
The entire Night Class stopped, looking at Maya as she approached.
"Please?" She asked.
Kuran looked at the rest of the vampires. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes." They looked hesitant and wary, not wanting to leave their precious leader in the presence of a hunter.
Maya waited a few more seconds until they were out of earshot before speaking to him. "Yuuki told me you'd visited me in the hospital after I'd been shot. So, that leaves a massive question in which I want a good explanation, Kuran. You gave me your blood, why?"
He stared down at her calmly. "Consider it a thank you for saving my life."
A seed of doubt planted itself in her mind. "I was perfectly capable of healing on my own, Kuran. I know what I am, you know what I am. There was a reason you came, wasn't there? What exactly are you planning, and what part do I have to play in your little games?"
A small bit of surprise flash across his eyes, but it faded almost immediately. "That, I already know. Soon, you will know why I did what I did, and why I gave you my blood. Just as Yuuki is very dear to me, as are you, Maya."
Maya was appalled. She didn't know this boy. She heavily disliked him, but he was an important person, that's why she'd saved him, nothing else...right?
"What do you mean!" She called after him as he left her to stand there alone and incredibly confused, but he didn't respond.
She watched as Kuran walked away and opened her mouth to call after him but found that no words would come, nor could she follow him. Her feet were glued to the spot. Dear to him? What had he meant? In what way would she understand why he had given her his blood? And why was Yuuki so important to him? She was just a human, and he, a pureblood.
The Ethics class she was supposed to teach was not for another hour but it wouldn't hurt to look over the lesson beforehand and be somewhat prepared instead of looking like an idiot in front of a bunch of high-class vampires. Maya had also bee informed that a new Night Class student had moved into the Moon Dorms last night and would be arriving to class late.
With a sigh, she stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and headed towards campus. Maya jogged up the stairs and entered the empty lecture room. Yagari left the Ethics book on the front desk, along with a list of several things that needed doing after the lecture part of the class ended. The class was two hours long, which was rather extensive, but it left an hour open for the lecture, and the other hour to work on homework or essays with the presence of the teacher.
Maya sat down, flipping to the dog-eared chapter and began to read through the bullet points and long paragraphs about equality between the four species that walked this earth. Amusingly, it also contained a large portion of Dire-wolves and their place in history, including a few famous faces and their backstories. She wrote down several key points on the blackboard, a rough outline of the lesson, and then combed over a few details before the vampires started to file in.
She paid them no mind as they seated themselves. Glancing at the clock, it was 11:30 p.m. and class was supposed to start. Expectant eyes poked her in the back and she turned, staring at a classroom full of students.
"Good evening, vampires." Maya greeted, walking around to the front of the desk. Their eyes flared in response. "Your teacher couldn't be here tonight, so I'm your substitute."
"You're not much older than us, how could you possibly know enough to teach us, Hunter?" Asked a dark haired vampire from the front row. Maya let her pure, dire-wolf aura pulse dangerously about the room, causing everyone besides Kuran to shiver.
"I graduated from the Association with a Major in Teaching with a Minor in History and Marksmanship." She said a grin on her face that was not at all polite but used as a blocking device to shove back an angry unprofessional retort that threatened to escape her. Teaching also had to learn to hold her tongue, despite how badly she wanted to fight back.
"Masato-kun. I suggest that you listen to Takamiya-sama," Kuran said from the back corner of the room. "She is here to teach us what we must know in order to live in a co-existing world."
Masato shrunk under the aura of the pureblood, lowering his head in fear and embarrassment after being put in his place.
"Thank you, Kuran-sama. Which leads to our lesson for today...." Maya went on to teach about co-existence along with the lesson before leaving the class to start the essay she had had to assign. She sat there, grading papers that had stacked on the desk, Yagari having left her a rubric for what was required in the paper, and occasionally glancing at the door. The new Night Class student was supposed to show up soon.
A clearing of a throat in front of her made her jump slightly, and Maya looked up to see Takuma standing there with three papers in his hand.
Her eyebrows went up in surprise, and she couldn't help sounding impressed. "Are you done already?"
Takuma let out a nervous laugh, running a hand through his short blond hair. "Eh, no. But I'd like to see if looks alright." Maya took the papers from him, holding a red pen in her hand as she ran through it once, then twice.
"I don't see why you asked for my help, seeing as it's perfect." She said, a note a teasing entering her voice and allowed herself a small smile. She handed the thin stack back to him. "Is there anything else?"
"I wanted to ask, but Kaname wanted to know too. Are you doing alright?"
Maya was about to say she was fine when a presence brushed over her, making her flinch and her eyes to go wide. Looking over at the door, she saw a girl, maybe seventeen, enter the room. The girl had long silver hair and dark grey eyes. It wasn't that woman, she knew that. But, the feeling that she got just now. It was like an ice bucket had been dumped down the back of her shirt.
"Is this the right class?" She asked in a sweet and innocent voice.
"Are you...signed up for Ethics second block?" Maya asked, gripping her pen until her knuckles were stark white to try and stop the trembling that had begun in her hands.
"Yes. I assume you're the new student I was informed of. Can I ask your name?"
Her stormy grey eyes made direct contact with Maya's deep green and another shiver went down Maya's spine. "Maria Kurenai. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The rest of the class went by with tense silence, and Maya found that she could no longer concentrate on the work in front of her, and found herself stealing glances at the strange girl. The aura she gave off told Maya that Maria was a pureblood vampire. Thankfully, the bell rung, and Yagari came in soon after the vampires left.
"Hey kid, thanks for covering for me... you alright?"
Maya's eyes snapped back to Yagari, eyes still trained on the doorway after that girl had left. "Huh?"
"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." The ever-present cigarette in his mouth moved as he spoke, smoke curling into the air.
Maya ignored the question and plucked the cigarette from his mouth, throwing it to the ground and stomping on it. "No smoking indoors, Master." She said before walking out of the classroom.
Disclaimer: All rights go to the wonderful Matsuri Hino!