A/N: Come on, somebody's still reading this, right? Pleeeaaasseee review!

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6. The Moon Dorm

"I still don't like this," Zero said through gritted teeth as he, Kaien, and Lyn walked toward the Moon Dormitory. Reneey had been left behind in Kaien's office so there would be no chance she would go spastic and try to attack anyone.

"It will be fine, Zero," Kaien said reassuringly. "The Night Class is in session right now -- no one will be in the Dorm so she'll be able to settle in without anyone to bother her and I can talk to Kaname as soon as classes are over."

"And if Kuran decides he doesn't care because she's my sister?" Zero asked with a glare.

Kaien shook his head. "No, I think he will be just as curious about how this happened as I am."

"Nice to know I'm a science project," Lyn muttered dryly.

Zero's gaze hardened. "He cannot tell the senate! If the vampires or the hunters find out, they'll treat her like a lab rat!"

"There's no way to keep it from him," Kaien said calmly. "I will ask that he and the others keep it a secret as long as they can but we both know the senate will hear about it eventually."

"I don't trust them," Zero growled and caught Lyn's gaze. "You shouldn't either."

Lyn snickered. "Trust, right. Because that's always been my middle name."

A moment later, she bit her lip and seemed to feel a little guilty for her constantly sarcastic attitude, sighing heavily. "Look, I really am sorry I'm not who you want me to be, Zero... but I just don't do being treated like a little kid. The way I remember it, I took care of myself for seventeen years. I don't rely on people. I don't trust people. Too many of them just aren't worth it."

"That's not a bad lesson to learn," Zero said quietly. It would help keep her alive, especially around the Night Class... but he couldn't help wishing he could be an exception. It felt so wrong to know his little sister didn't even trust him.

Then a different word clicked in Zero's head and he blinked. "Wait, you're seventeen? How is that possible? I'm seventeen, you're barely sixteen!"

Lyn shook her head. "I don't know. The closest I can figure is Reneey and I came from some sort of parallel reality. Although how that happened I haven't the faintest clue."

"... You speak kind of strangely now, you know that?" Zero observed.

The glare she shot him out of the corner of her eye was almost worthy of a vampire as she growled, "My accent is not 'strange.' I'm from Tennessee. Get used to it."

Zero fell silent then, at that moment realizing just how much he didn't want to get used to it. He had thought his sister was dead for so long but then when he had seen her... As stupid as it sounded, he had wanted her back so badly that now that she wasn't Lyndi anymore, it hurt as much as it had to lose her in the first place. And Zero didn't know how he was supposed to deal with that again.

"What are you doing here?"

Zero snapped out of his reverie to see Akatsuki Kain frowning at them from the doors of the Moon Dormitory. Bristling, Zero growled in response, "We could ask you the same thing. Why aren't you in class?"

Akatsuki shrugged. "Seiren and Ruka got upset about the Umbra hunter so Kaname-sama told Hanabusa and me to take turns watching the Dorm at night. Your turn."

"Lyn is going to be joining the Night Class," Kaien said with a smile. "We came to find her a room."

That was when Akatsuki really looked at Lyn and his golden eyes went wide. "What the hell?!"

"I take it he noticed," Lyn interjected, looking and sounding quite bored but secretly tensed for a reaction.

"She's human!" Akatsuki accused. "But she was a level D before, I saw her! How is that possible?!"

"We're not entirely sure," Kaien said with a smile but a sweatdrop on the side of his head.

"'Entirely sure'?" Lyn repeated with a roll of her eyes. "You have no freaking idea, you crazy old man!"

Zero stiffened and took a step in front of Lyn protectively as Akatsuki came closer with his eyes trained on her. "Come now, Kiryu," Akatsuki said with a frown. "I just want a closer look. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Glad to know I'm a zoo exhibit now," Lyn said sarcastically but stepped out from behind Zero anyway and fixed her gaze on Akatsuki. "You could at least call me by my name, you know."

"Oh, right. Lyndotia, I mean."

She growled. "It's Lyn."

Akatsuki smirked. "You think you could intimidate me as a vampire, much less now?"

Zero responded by pointing the Bloody Rose between Akatsuki's eyes. "She doesn't have to. Pass on a message to your friends for me -- if my sister winds up with any puncture marks in her neck, I'm not going to bother finding out which one of you did it before I open fire."

Lyn glared and hit a pressure point on his arm that made his elbow buckle. "Jeez, you're as bad as my grandfather sitting on the porch cleaning his rifle when I went on my first date. Knock it off; you're not my father."

"You're still my little sister, Lyndi, whether you remember it or not," Zero said firmly but at least he put the gun away.

Lyn groaned. "Someone kill me now before I go psycho from being treated like an inept five-year-old." She paused and added, "But on the bright side, I have discovered that vampires still have pressure points, too!"

"Somehow I doubt that would work as well on anyone above level D," Akatsuki commented which just caused Lyn to grin hugely.

"... So can I try one?"

"One what?" Akatsuki asked warily.

"Can I see if pressure points work on you?" Lyn clarified, her grin only getting more impish.

"... How exactly would you do that?"

"Hrm... Just the simplest one, I guess. Give me your hand."

Akatsuki raised an eyebrow and looked at her for a second, evaluating the possibility of danger in this experiment. He apparently decided it was minimal because he slowly extended his hand, palm up, but he kept his eyes on her anyway.

"Um... should I really be allowing this?" Kaien wondered uncertainly.

"What's the worst she can do, break an arm?" Zero said with a shrug. "For him, it would heal in a day."

Lyn rolled her eyes as she reached for Akatsuki's hand. "O ye of little faith. Anyway, just let me know if this hurts a bit."

She tested the pressure point with one quick twisting motion and a little pressure from her thumb. Akatsuki instantly hissed through his teeth and doubled over, trying to take the strain off his arm. "Okay, it works!"

"Aha! Victory!" Lyn declared, releasing his arm and punching the air. Then she blinked and wondered aloud, "Wait, why am I so excited about this again?"

"Damn, what were you trying to do, break my wrist?" Akatsuki complained.

"Sorry about that," Lyn apologized but she was still grinning crookedly. "Caywood-sensei always did say I'm a lot stronger than you'd think from my size and pressure points work even without a lot of force. Plus they're a lot more effective on guys, too."

"Apparently also effective on pompous aristocrats," Zero muttered under his breath.

Before anybody could get annoyed at anybody else and start some kind of blood feud, Kaien quickly pushed Zero and Lyn toward the door and objected, "Okay, okay, let's find a room!"

"The girls' rooms are up that staircase," Akatsuki said, pointing, as they walked inside. "I think there's an empty room next to Seiren's..."

Lyn blinked. "Dang. I've seen state capitol buildings less elaborately decorated than this place."

Akatsuki shrugged. "Ruka and Rima went a little insane with it."

"... Yeah... This place is scary."

"Nobody's going to bother you," Akatsuki assured her.

"Huh?" Lyn looked at him in confusion and then laughed. "No, no -- not you all. The... elaborateness." She made a face. "Makes me think of ball gowns and ribbons and lace and frilly pink things."

"... That's... an interesting perspective," Akatsuki said slowly.

Zero sighed impatiently. "The room, Kain?" he reminded him. "I really don't want to still be standing here when the rest of your class comes in."

Akatsuki nodded and started to lead them up the stairs, muttering, "You're going to have some explaining to do when they find out there's a human girl in our dorm..."