New Years Day- Angel Eyes

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They arrive at the recording studio, and find Sora waiting at the front of the steps. He rushes over to greet Tatsuki, but stops in his tracks as he spots Takuma beside her. He keeps his composure, and observes him.

"Hey, Tatsuki. Who's your friend?" Sora questions looking over at Takuma. 

"Takuma Ichijo, nice to meet you, Sora. Tatsuki's told me a bit about you." He says extending his hand and giving Sora a tight smile. 

"Nice to meet you, Takuma." He says taking his hand and also giving him a forced smile. Tatsuki is oblivious to the menacing aura protruding from these men. She just observes the dark aura floating above her curiously.

"Listen, Tatsuki. I have something to tell you." Sora says looking back at her with a real smile. 

"What is it?" She questions him. 

"I'm going to be attending Cross Academy too. Although I couldn't get into the Night Class with you. They put me in the Day Class, but gave me permission to leave when we start recording our new CD." Sora tells her excitedly. He cracks, and hugs her tightly, making Takuma anger.

"Isn't that great? We'll be going to the same school." He says to her. 

"Yes, that sounds nice." She says, and finds that she actually means it in spite of her expression not showing anything to prove it. 

"I'll be starting tomorrow, and I wanted to tell you, so you could maybe help me out. Showing me around, you know?" He says letting her go, but keeping his hands in hers.

"I can't. Day Class and Night Class aren't allowed to intermingle on the daily. Only on special occasions." She tells him as she remembers the rules that many have tried to instill in her since she walked through the gates of Cross Academy.

"Is there a reason I wasn't allowed in the Night Class?" Sora questions Tatsuki. 

"You're not like the Night Class students." Sora arches an eyebrow confused. 

"What? And you're saying you are?" Sora questions her. 

"More than you will ever know." She tells him removing her hands from his. 

"Are you some sort of geniuses or something? Or something non-human?" The two of them slightly tense, but don't make it too obvious for Sora to see. He was only joking around though, so he wasn't really looking out for any kind of reaction.

"Yes, we're a class of geniuses." Takuma says not lying entirely. 

"Well, I guess that explains a lot." He says not taking his eyes off of Tatsuki. "I always knew you were smart." He puts a hand to the top of Tatsuki's head. Takuma tries to keep his composure, but it's becoming more difficult by the moment. He rubs the back of his neck to keep from choking Sora.

"Tense." Takuma flinches as he realizes that Tatsuki was observing him. 

"What?" Sora questions her. 

"I'm learning about emotions and body language that goes along with those emotions, thanks to my brother, Senri." Tatsuki tells him. Sora looks at her in disbelief, and finds it surprising that she's telling the truth. He observes her carefully. He understands a little bit more about Tatsuki's reserved nature. She doesn't hide her emotions. She doesn't have any because she doesn't know what they're like.

"I'm going to help you feel then." Sora says to her. Tatsuki tilts her head to the side. 

"Hm, that's very kind of you, but she's already being helped." Takuma says finally cracking, and putting his arm around Tatsuki. "Now if you'll excuse us. Tatsuki and I have to be somewhere." Takuma says pulling her away from Sora. She looks back and waves at him before looking back at Takuma. Confused at their reactions. She has a lot of questions for Senri once she goes back to the academy.

"Takuma? Where is this other place we are going to?" Tatsuki questions as he continues to drag her away, completely forgetting that they had a driver that they left behind. Also that she originally wanted to come to the recording studio herself. Takuma stops as he realizes what he was doing. He's too embarrassed to tell Tatsuki that he only took her away to get her away from Sora.

"Would you like to have breakfast with me?" He questions her as he faces her with a smile. 

"I already see breakfast." Tatsuki says as she presses her body against Takuma's, and pierces her fangs into his neck without warning. He slightly topples, but catches himself, and Tatsuki.

"No way." Sora is at a bad angle, and he thinks that Tatsuki and Takuma are kissing. He feels his heart break at the sight of it. He clenches his hands, and leans against a wall. He lightly bumps his head to the back of the wall.

"Tatsuki, why? I've tried everything to get you to notice me, but you meet this guy at Cross Academy in just a couple of weeks, and you're already kissing him? I've been closest to you, so why could you never look at me? What are you hiding from everyone? Or does he know your dark secrets, too?" Sora questions himself sadly. He thinks he was closest to Tatsuki, but in reality he has no idea who she really is.

"Tatsuki, why do you always break the 'no blood' rule?" Takuma questions as he wipes away his blood from around Tatsuki's mouth. 

"I don't like the blood of strangers on those blood tablets. I prefer blood from those I know." Takuma can tell that there is more to what Tatsuki is saying. 

"It's not just the blood tablets, is it?" He questions her. Wanting to know her. She shakes her head.

"That's the only blood I fed on. Strangers blood that I would know for only an instant." She looks at her hands. She can still see the blood on her hands. Even after all these years.

"My singing is my own, if that's what you're thinking. I didn't take the blood of some aspiring musician." Tatsuki says looking into Takuma's green eyes. 

"I wasn't questioning your talent." He says to her. 

"Then you dislike that I drink your blood without permission?" Tatsuki questions trying to figure Takuma out. 

"No, I-I really don't mind if you drink my blood. Uh-" 

"Drink my blood." Tatsuki says exposing her neck. Takuma looks around, and pulls her towards the alley, and then drinks her blood. Her arms wrap tightly around him as he slowly drinks her blood, savoring each gulp. As he gets used to drinking her blood, he fears he'll become addicted and will only want to drink fresh blood from here on out.

"Takuma, we should go to the car." Tatsuki finally says as he pulls out his fangs from her neck. He listens to the slight tremor in her voice and lifts his head up to meet her dazed gaze. She reaches her thin fingers up to his face and lets blood slide on to her finger and wipes it off him. She looks at the bloody finger and licks off the blood. His gaze is intent on the black nail polish that mixes with some of her blood. He has to pull away from her and clean himself up.

"Y-yes, lets go." He leads her into the idling vehicle. Takuma had completely lost his composure and just said whatever he could think of to get Tatsuki away from Sora and those intense emotions lead to this moment. He feels guilty for acting like he's some jealous boyfriend when he hasn't even opened up or thought about his own feelings for Tatsuki.

"Um, well, it's still early. We can find a lot to do right now, or we can go back to the academy. We don't have class today, so you can oversleep today." He tells her as calmly as possible. The chauffer waits for the cue to go to their next destination.

"Lets go to a mall and get out of... um your pajamas and my uniform." Takuma's eyes widen as he realizes he had gone after Tatsuki in his pajamas and she hadn't gotten out of her uniform from the night before. 

"T-to the mall, please." He tells the chauffer who nods and drives. Takuma sits back and thinks. "What is a mall like? I've never been inside one, most of my clothes were either custom made by tailors or gifted to me by others." Takuma explains to Tatsuki as she looks at him closely, taking in every word he has spoken.

"You have to see it to experience it. It's probably crowded by humans and to be honest, seeing someone in their pajamas is probably the least strange thing they would see. You might stand out though since you're so handsome and refreshing." Her blunt comment makes Takuma blush and look over at the honest girl.

"T-Tatsuki..." All he can do is cover his face and hope she doesn't pay attention to his blush. He has to turn his head out towards the window, jumping as Tatsuki rests her head on his shoulder. He calms himself down and lets her rest her head as they arrive to the mall. 

They find a store chosen by Tatsuki. He is surprised by all the dull lighting and all the gothic and sexy clothing there. Many observe the out of place, bright colored man. It's not something he isn't used to since he's always being observed at the academy by fangirls and a curious Tatsuki. The employees seem to have fun in wanting to dress up him and Tatsuki, the clothes they offer him are definitely not his style or what he wears normally.

"Ah, turn it up! This is Suki Shadow playing right now!" The cashier leans down to turn up the music over the shop speakers. Takuma smiles, finding the lead singer's voice almost familiar. Yet he's sure he's never personally heard of a Suki Shadow. He doesn't even listen to the genre of heavy rock, metal, etc.

"Takuma, I'm ready. We can go to a different store and find clothes for you." Takuma jumps as he looks at Tatsuki who is holding a bag with her uniform in it. She wears a dark purple corset top with thin straps and a black pleated skirt.

"Wow, your body type is so similar to Suki-chan's! I bet you could cosplay as her and get mistaken for her!" The cashier mentions as she practically drools over the cute Tatsuki. All she can do is shrug and pretend that she and Suki are not the same person. Tatsuki's focus goes back to Takuma who once again is listening to the song. She grabs his hand, making him look down at her.

"I'll let you have a CD so you can listen at your own time. Lets go." She pulls him out and leads him over to a store that sells more formal wear for men.

"Oh, are you a fan of this Suki Shadow?" Takuma asks her as they head in to look for clothes for him.

"I am Suki Shadow." 

"Eh?!" The few customers at the store look at the blond that just yelled out. He blushes and apologizes before ducking a little to "look at shoes" with Tatsuki.

"Y-you're Suki Shadow?! I'm sorry, I had no idea what kind of music you sang! Your voice sounds so beautiful and it caught me off guard." Tatsuki blushes at the compliment and starts to mess around with one of the shoes before her.

"Yes, I'm a metal singer. That song is one of the first ones I put out in my first album. This was before Sora joined the group." A little irritation sets in Takuma as she brings up Sora so nonchalantly. Tatsuki doesn't really pay attention and looks up as one of the sales representatives peeks over at the ducked duo.

"Um, can I help you?" Takuma looks up at the man and takes control of the situation and makes up a lie to explain the whole pajama fiasco. Tatsuki finds a chair and sits down to wait for Takuma to get dressed and fitted. She plays around with her phone, now that she's alone with her thoughts, she remembers Rido Kuran.

"Oh, do I have a song bird in my domain? How precious." Tatsuki jumps and closes her notebook as Rido walks into the usually undisturbed library. The little girl can only assume her father got bored and is there to harass her verbally, emotionally, and mentally. She holds her notebook close and looks back over at her father. "Hey, don't mind your papa. Sing for me a beautiful song." 

"I don't want to sing anymore." She gets up from the floor and the only way to get out is past Rido, so she tries to do just that. He grabs her notebook from her hands and looks at it. Tatsuki looks back over, she wants to pull back from his grasp, but he will hit her if she does.

"Oh, are you writing songs for your little brother? You know, I don't think he's ever going to hear them." Rido closes the notebook and tosses it in the fireplace. She jumps and tries to go get her notebook right from the fire, but Rido grabs a hold of the back of her shirt to keep her from stupidly doing just that. "Uh oh, looks like all your music is gone. I hope you have a great memory my dear little girl." 

Tatsuki watches the flames die down, she doesn't give him the satisfaction of watching her cry. She feels fortunate that she is able to remember most of the songs she wrote. All she can do is write them again and keep the notebook away from Rido's sights. He lets her drop to her knees and she picks up her pen.

"Well, he was wrong. I could show Senri my music and be by his side. I won't let him interfere and ruin it all. I'm not even sure what I could do to stop him right now though. There's no way I will look to Kaname for help. Not that he really could help in this situation. He was of no help in the past when he had a chance to destroy him." Tatsuki lets out a sigh and looks up as Takuma walks over to her in his button up shirt and black slacks. He adjusts his tie and smiles.

"Well, now I feel much more presentable. I'm sorry for the wait, Tatsuki." He apologizes to the young woman. She stands up and walks around him to look his outfit over.

"Handsome as always." Takuma blushes at the abrupt compliment and laughs a little nervously. 

"Um, thank you, Tatsuki. Well, now shall we go so you can show me your music? I really want to hear it in person." He's taken off guard as Tatsuki grabs his hand and pulls him out of the shop. His hand closes over hers as she leads him outside. Tatsuki grabs her parasol and holds it over their heads, hanging the bag with her uniform on her wrist as she leads him over to a bench of a park.

"Sit here." Tatsuki sets up an instrumental song of her music and gives him her phone. "Play the song when I tell you to." He nods at her as she walks across from him. She does a few vocal exercises before allowing him to play the music. 

Takuma listens to the music carefully, being surprised by the tone and pace of it. His jaw drops as Tatsuki starts to perfectly sing along to the music, she begins to show him emotions she normally can't show. Every part of him can feel the pain inside her as she sings the melancholic melody. It almost feels like he is able to feel what she tries to hide within her heart.

The song comes to an end and Takuma is thrust back into reality and the present moment. He smiles brightly and claps his hands happily.

"Tatsuki, that was beautiful! I'm surprised at your vocal range, does that screaming hurt your voice?" She shakes her head, lowering her head as she blushes. Her expression doesn't change, but if he focused his imagination, he could probably see flowers floating around the happy girl. All he can think about is how cute she can be with her actions and her honesty.

"Thank you... no, it doesn't hurt me. I know how to use my voice for it to not hurt. But if I do it too much then it will start to hurt after a while." He nods in understanding and hands her phone back. She looks through her phone and shows her in concert. "Here, this is me in a concert. I wear a disguise, so no one can recognize me on the streets. I hear a gray-blue contact over my reddish-brown eye and wear wigs. I don't do many interviews since I'm very bad at it." 

Takuma chuckles at her honesty and watches her work her magic on stage. The song is different and this one is a sad song. It's a little softer and has less screaming than the one she sang to him.

"Is all your music filled with sadness?" He asks her, watching her tilt her head.

"Sadness... um, I don't know. I think so..." Tatsuki thinks about her research and also goes over the lyrics of her music. "Oh, I guess it is sad. Should I write happy music then?" She is genuinely curious as to what he thinks. He looks at her surprised and hums. 

"Well, I don't know much about music in your genre. I would like to know how happy music sounds in that genre. Though, that's up to you in the end. If your emotions are in the songs, then that is what will come out best." He tries his best to explain to her. Tatsuki looks to the side in thought.

"My emotions are in my music? Okay, then I'll write lyrics and add a new song to our latest album. I want to see what will come out." Tatsuki sits down on the grass, Takuma is startled and holds the parasol over their heads to keep the sun from hurting them too much. She looks at her phone, pulling up a writing up and begins to focus, humming different tunes and writing out words, erasing words, etc.

"Ah, Tatsuki... she's so silly." Takuma thinks to himself as he watches her work so seriously. He sits down next to her and waits for her to come back to the present moment. He casts his green eyes over at her and observes her profile. "She's also really cute and honest." He hears her voice in his head telling him that she loves him. 

"Do you really understand the weight of those words, Tatsuki? Saying such a thing to someone like me... We are in a difficult spot right now because of my grandfather, so it's hard to think about anything else between us right now. But... I also don't want you to slip away to someone else." Sora comes to mind as remembers the way he looks at Tatsuki.

"Is there something on my face?" Takuma jumps as he's caught staring at her so intently. He clears his throat and shakes his head.

"No, I was just lost in thought. Are you done writing your music?" Takuma questions trying to look at her phone screen. She shakes her head and saves it, putting away her phone.

"I need to go over it later, when I get the chance. We should probably go back." Tatsuki stands up and wipes away any stray grass on her skirt. Takuma follows after her and does the same to his dress pants. She holds on to his arm and they walk out of the park and back to the vehicle that will drive them back to Cross Academy.