Intensity Within

(Mashed potatoes are my favorite, too~ We always have them in my house because my entire family is addicted to them. xD)

Kaname was taken aback by her rant, staring at her with slightly wide eyes. “Is that why you’re angry with me, then?” he asked with curiosity, a frown appearing on his features. “Who said I don’t care about all the vampires? You’re utterly mistaken if you think that I don’t. I’ll even prove it to you, if you so desire.” He folded his hands behind his back as he eyed her carefully, tilting his head in the slightest. “If you’re so certain that I’m such a bad person, how about you give me a chance to prove otherwise?”

Rina blinked, rather surprised with the wide smile he offered. “Um, yeah, sure, I’ll go with you,” she decided quietly, though she wondered if it was a good idea. She was a little worried that he’d end up regretting the decision and that she would get stood up or something of the sort. “Ah, do you really think Sakura will join me? I don’t want to impose on her, after all.”

@ Color Me Morbid
(Its starch gold, I tell ya. Haha(: )

Takuma dismissed her comment with a wave, "Don't you worry about imposing, Rina. Sakura needs a girl friend anyway, I'm simply just enough enough for her anyway." He smiled brightly, "Let me now what dress you two pick though, so I can correlate my pocket hanker chief with the same color if you don't get Sakura to give you alterations. Sakura always gives me the little part she cute off of the bottom if a dress is too long to use as my decorative hanker chief." Takuma smiled, Sakura was the best seamstress he knew, but Sakura was also good at a lot of different things like that because she had to be.

Sakura's big, wide blue eyes nearly fell out of her head at Kaname's request. "Prove it?" She crossed her arms in annoyance but her eyes were still wide with disbelief that he would even bother to think of such a thing, the tel of them hated each other anyway so Sakura's opinion on him shouldn't matter. "Okay, humor me, if I say yes, what happens? You invite a couple Night class student from the upper middle class of this stupid society and that's that?" She shook her head, the disbelief in her eyes was gone and replaced with the usual annoyed glimmer they got when she was around Kaname. "Yeah, no thanks. I don't want to waste my time."

(No kidding! I think I’d be the type of person to go through mashed potatoes withdrawal. xD)

“I’ll invite the entire Night class,” Kaname told her, though it was obvious that it wasn’t the main point of his bargain. “But, more than that, I’d like for you to accompany me as my partner or date, whichever you prefer to call it.” He wasn’t really sure how she’d react to his request, but he was surprised that he even suggested such a thing – even more so that he was hoping she would agree to it. Keeping that to himself, though, he eyed her carefully, wondering what she would think of it, what she would decide. “So, what do you say? Do we have an agreement or are you going to continue hating me?”

Rina offered a small smile up towards him and nodded slightly. “Will do,” she decided quietly, though a part of her was still worried that things would go horribly wrong. She didn’t mention it, though, and ran a hand through her hair, nodding again. “Why aren’t you going with Sakura, though? With you two being so close, I would assume that you would have planned on going together the moment the ball was announced.”

@ Color Me Morbid
(Ah, you're making me want mashed potatoes now! I can't even eat them either though )

Takuma laughed a little nervously then and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, Sakura's not apart of the aristocratic groups here... So, she's not invited or permitted to come." Takuma personally didn't like that viewpoint but it was incredibly hard to reason with Kaname, a man who was so set in his ways they had dust on them. "Besides, you seem like you'll much more fun. Sakura can be a bit of a handful sometimes. With her cynic view on life and all."

Sakura's brows went up when Kaname said he'd invite the whole Night class but then her jaw dropped to the floor when he asked her to be his date. "You want me to be your date to your ball? Is this some joke?" She pointed her fingers between them and subconsciously took another step closer. "We hate each other. It's a mutual hatred." To be honest, to head Kaname say her name and the word date in the same sentence made a flurry of butterflies erupt in her stomach and she fought with every ounce of herself not to blush. She was in plain shock.

(Ah, I’m sorry! D:)

Kaname arched an eyebrow to her words and shook his head. “I never recall saying that I hate you. I recall telling you that you should act more appropriately but I have never once said that I hate you,” he told her bluntly, a frown tugging at his lips. “But if you hate me so much that you won’t give me a chance to prove that you shouldn’t hate me, then that’s entirely up to you. At least I attempted to mend the bitterness between us, correct?”

Rina paused and blinked. Of course, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that she hadn’t been aware of the rules about the ball – she hadn’t been all that interested in it, after all. Eventually, she nodded, letting out a sigh. “That’s too bad,” she muttered quietly, “It was fun talking to her tonight. I think I would have enjoyed the ball if she were allowed to go. At least I could joke around with her, too.”

@ Color Me Morbid

Takuma laughed, "Yeah, there's a reason she's such a good friend of mine." He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets, "I hope you two can grow to call her friend too, Senri and Rina. Under all of her bravado and defenses, Sakura is the truest friend I've got."

Sakura frowned, she wasn't about to let Kaname off that easy. "You didn't have to say it, Kuran. Actions speak louder than words in case you didn't know." She crossed her arms and turned away from him, the sun was really beginning to take it's toll on her but she wasn't about to show it. "Why exactly do you plan to do in order to convince me, hmm?" She turned her head ever so slightly so she was looking at him over her shoulder as she waited for his answer.

"I'll prove it to you at the ball," was Kaname's answer because, honestly, he had no idea what he would do. He supposed he'd have to ask for Takuma's help in the matter since he knew Sakura better than Kaname did. "That is, if you'll be joining me. Otherwise, I'll have to find some other way to prove it to you." A part of him doubted she would agree to it - and that part somewhat ached, though he tried to ignore it.

Senri was surprised to hear himself brought into the conversation, but he offered a subtle nod nonetheless. "Well, from what I've witnessed so far, I have no problems with her," he decided, to which Rina smiled and nodded in agreement. "I'm sure we'll be good friends eventually. Unless she grows to hate us," she said, though she trailed off at the end in thought, wondering if that would happen.

@ Color Me Morbid

Takuma smiled sadly at Rina's comment, "Yeah.. I'm still worried about that for myself but so far she's been as loyal as a true friend could be. Though she'd gotten incredibly angry with me on more than one occasion, she always comes around eventually." He let a happier smile grace his lips, "I'm sure she'll grow to be like that with you two, too."

Sakura raised her brows and turned her head forward again, she could tell he had no idea what he was going to do. Sakura could hear it in his slightly doubtful voice and she grinned once her face was out of his sight. "I'll think about it," was all she offered before she began to walk to the door leading into the school. She wasn't really sure what her answer would be. She needed to talk to Rina and Takuma, she figured they'd know what to do.. Especially if she said yes. Sakura wasn't exactly swimming in cash, so finding a formal dress was going to be a challenge in itself.

Kaname watched her leave silently before he let out a sigh and began making his way inside as well. It was more than he thought to expect, to be honest, but he figured it was better than nothing. Looking around once he was inside, he began making his way towards his room, though a part of him wondered what Sakura’s final answer would be. Maybe she really did hate him so much that she wouldn’t agree to it.

Rina nodded slightly as she listened to Takuma, offering a smile in response. “I hope so,” she muttered, figuring it would be nice to have a girl as a friend, especially since her only real friend was Senri. As nice as Senri was, he knew too much about her and it sometimes made her wonder what he really thought about her. Regardless, she tried not to think about it and sighed as she spotted her room up ahead.

@ Color Me Morbid

Takuma peeled away from Senri and Rina as they passed by his room, wishing them a good sleep and that he'd see them at dusk. He got into his room, stripped himself of his school uniform but left on his black underwear on and dove into the covers of his bed feeling too exhausted to put on proper sleepwear. Takuma completely wrapped himself in his blankets and thought about the day, it had taken many turns he hadn't expected but overall he felt like the day had been a good one. Before he could really think too much he fell asleep with the beautiful face of Rina last in his minds eye.

Sakura yawned and collapsed onto her bed not even having the energy to get changed from her school uniform, after having spent so much time being stubborn and upset in the sun. She buried herself in her covers and her mind was asleep before her eyes even closed. Sakura dreamt of what the ball might be like if she were to say yes to Kaname's offer. She imagined the two of them fighting the whole time, throwing stupid cups of absurdly expensive punch at each other and Sakura eventually leaving Kaname drenched in the whole bowl. Sakura's dream then took an unexpected tunr when Dream Kaname grabbed hold of her arm, spun her around to face him and kissed her with a passion she wasn't sure the real Kaname had within him. Sakura woke with a gasp and ran a shaking hand through her hair as her wide eyes stared out before her. "Stop it," she told herself in a breathless voice. "You hate him, remember?"

(Do you want me to just skip to the next night?)

@ Color Me Morbid
(Sure!)

(I'm sorry this took so long! I'm traveling with my family right now and, where we're at, the service and wi-fi are horrible. We're supposed to be here for a week or so, but I'll try to update as much as I can until we go back home.)

A soft sigh left Kaname's lips as he blinked his eyes open, staring up at the ceiling with a slight frown. He hadn't really had a good sleep due to the fact that he wasn't used to caring about whether somebody was angry or hated him. When it came to Sakura, however surprising it may be, he cared about her opinion - whether he would admit it or not. Shaking the thought away, he moved to stand up and began getting ready for the night.

Rina, as per usual, hadn't managed to have a good sleep at all. She was used to it, though, so the fact that she probably had, at most, two or three hours of sleep was barely affecting her at this point. It still left her tired, though. Regardless, she moved to stand up and got ready.

(I just got home, so I'll be able to get back into my old pattern of replying. :3)

@ momentai.

Takuma woke with ease, he felt refreshed and he'd honestly had a very nice sleep. He began to get ready in the best of moods, the only odd thing was that he couldn't get Rina's face from his mind's eye. He's gone his whole slumber thinking of her, wondering simple things like what her favorite color was or why she always wore her hair down. Trivial things that didn't matter to most, but somehow mattered to him. Maybe it was because they'd talked about and loosely agreed to going to Kaname's ball together. He didn't really know, but he decided that Takuma was going to properly ask Rina to the ball. With flowers and a nice setting. "Yeah," he said to himself. "That's what I'll do."

Sakura was shaken by the dream' sending and couldn't push it aside the whole rest of the day as she laid on her bed. As soon as it was socially acceptable she left her room fully dressed and ready before heading over to Rina's room. She needed another girl's opinion, and not only was Tina te only one she had, but the girl was honest. Maybe not as honest as Sakura could be, but Rina was still honest. Timidly, Sakura knocked on the girl's dorm room door.

After he had finished gettting ready, Kaname went ahead and made his way out of the room. Looking around, he decided to go ahead and spread the word that the ball would be open to the entire Night Class. Whether Sakura agreed to go with him or not, he wanted to make an effort to at least gain her approval, and he moved towards Takuma's room and knocked, figuring that the boy would be a bit better at helping him spread the word than others would be.

The knock at her door surprised Rina and she whirled to look at it, wondering who was behind it making the noise. Maybe they had the wrong room - the only one who came to her room was Senri and it was usually later. Making her way over, she opened the door, blinking when she spotted Sakura. "Oh, hey," she greeted, eyeing the girl with curiosity before moving out of the way in case Sakura wanted to come into the room. "Is something wrong?"

@ momentai.

At the sound of a knock on his door, Takuma was slightly surprised but shocked to see Kaname on the other side. "Good night, Kaname, um.. What are you doing here?" He opened his door widely and stepped aside to let him in with a timid, if not confused, smile.

Sakura stood timidly in the hall, "Hi..." The blue-eyed girl stepped into Rina's room and waited until the door was shut to explain herself. "I need your help." She sighed and sat on the corner of Rina's bed feeling a little nervous and confused and maybe a little defeated. "After I left you guys last day and I went outside... Kaname followed me." Sakura then explained everything that had happened and how she wasn't sure what to do. "My whole problem is that I hate him and he's treated my horribly ever since he knew I was a person but the he goes and have the nerve to say it isn't a mutual hatred?! What the heck do I do with that?!"

Kaname shrugged in response to Takuma's words as he entered the room, glancing around for a moment. He stayed silent, contemplating on how to approach the subject, and eventually sighed. "The ball will be open for all of the Night Class students," he eventually informed Takuma, glancing over at him. "I figured I could use a little help with spreading the word about it." He hoped he wouldn't have to explain his change of mind and turned his attention back to the room, trying to keep himself distracted.

Rina blinked several times as she listened to the story, eyeing her new friend carefully. "He seemed kind of upset when he saw how well you and Takuma got along. Maybe he was actually a little jealous," she muttered, "Maybe he actually likes you and seeing how you interact with Takuma made him want to fix everything. Do you really hate him?"

@ momentai.

Takuma stood blinking in silence in response to Kaname's words. As he stood there looking at his best friend, trying to figure out Kaname's end game it suddenly clicked. An impish, playful grin spread itself onto Takuma's lips as he teased, "This wouldn't have anything to do with Sakura hating you so much, now would it?"

Sakura scoffed in disbelief and acted like she didn't even hear the last addition to Rina's comments, even though it made her stomach clench and flutter. "Yeah, I highly doubt that little idea. Kaname would never have any reason to be jealous of Takuma and I. Kaname probably only invited me to go to his dumb little ball to embaress me because I A. Can't afford a dress and B. To make a mockery of me."

Kaname scowled in response to Takuma, turning to glare at the boy evenly. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," he decided firmly, though it was a little obvious by his refusal to indulge the new subject that Takuma was completely right. Kaname just didn't want to openly admit it because he knew that it wasn't like him to care about what anybody thought. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Well, if that would be the case, why don't we prove him wrong?" Rina asked, letting a smile take over her features as she arched an eyebrow in curiosity. "I can help you get a dress, if you help me find one as well. Takuma said you might be able to help, so..." She trailed off, not really sure of what else to add. Instead, she smiled again and shrugged. "Plus I doubt Kaname would be able to make a mockery of you. He'd be too busy dealing with the others."