The wind twirled across, dancing around the two lone figures in the open field of Cross Academy.
Sliding free of his fangs, Kaname Kuran carefully treat the bite marks with licks and kisses until they close without a mark on the immaculate skin. He then slit his wrist open with his claw, and lightly place the wound onto the lips of the girl he is carefully supporting with his other arm.
"Drink my blood, Yuki."
Completely lost in her new body, the girl follows her instincts and starts to suck urgently, swallowing mouthfuls and careful not to waste the precious pure blood, knowing other vampires would kill to have what is offered to her freely. Before long, the recently changed vampire is stabilized, and Yuki Kuran is once again in control of herself, thirst, desire, all.
Meanwhile, the nobles spread across the academy scent Kaname's blood.
"Just from how often the scent of his blood is around nowadays, nobody would guess it belongs to a pureblood." Takuma Ichijo whispers to Hanabusa Aido, who is standing next to him, with mirrored concern in his eyes. As loyal followers and faithful friends, neither of them is supposed to allow this to happen, for a pureblood to be constantly spilling his blood and enlightening no one about it will most likely cause trouble. This time, however, amid the delicious smell of Kaname's blood, another fragrance fights to be noticed. Yuki. Having tasted Yuki's blood previously, Aido's senses jumped at the familiar scent...something is off about it. Takuma, who had never achieve any familiarity with Yuki's blood or her scent, picks up something completely different from the smell, the unique fragrance of a pureblood, sweet and delicious. Quickly exchanging glances, the vampires both realize what they missed and start moving toward the direction of the scent's origin with identical movement, vampire speed not slightly hindered by the astonishment and confusion that cloud their minds.
In moments, Aido and Takuma face the field where Kaname cradles Yuki in his harms, although the shadows of the school buildings surrounding the field are now occupied by other Night Class students, who regard Yuki with deep curiosity, yet dare not intrude on the Dorm President's private moment.
Kaname, although seemingly oblivious to the presence of the other vampires, silently shifts his head and directed his annoyed gaze toward the two newly arrived nobles, commanding the immediate displacement of the others who have unconsciously stepped into the pureblood's privacy. Having spent years of childhood with each other, the two nobles quickly acknowledge the pureblood's will and inconspicuously busied themselves with the task, while occasionally glancing toward field with suppressed bewilderment.
Nobody has ever expected this to happen, or even thought of it as mildly possible. But the impossible have happened, the scent, the aura, and the sense of existence cannot be faked; everything about her, although she appears to be unbelievably vulnerable, speaks what she is. Yuki is a pureblood vampire.
***
The cool night air lingers around the silver streaks as, unwillingly releases the smooth locks and moves toward the grimly quiet forest. However, their passing is not unnoticed by the hunter, with the obvious scent of Yuki and Kaname's blood it carries. The Bloody Rose instantly in the air, Zero Kiryu moved with vampire speed, a newly gained ability he hates to use under usual circumstances, toward the two purebloods, now truly alone in the field. In moments, he is hovering above Yuki, who is only semiconscious and incredibly confused, panic unmasked in his eyes. Sensing two purebloods rather than one, which is what he had expected, Zero's eyes dilutes and anger flares up in his eyes.
"What is this?" Zero whispered, his voice tight from shock and disbelief.
"What you think it is." Kaname voiced Zero's thoughts with bitter detachment, his eyes not leaving Yuki's delicate features, beautiful and graceful with vampire paleness, for a second as he lifts his free hand, wrist now healed, and gently caress her face and pushing aside a strand of brown hair.
"What did you do to her!" Zero yelled, shoving Kaname in the shoulders with unnatural strength magnified by rage. Without moving muscle, the pureblood neutralized the force with a flick of his mind, ensuring that Yuki is undisturbed by the violent hunter who seems especially ruthless tonight. Ex-humans are just so much trouble.
Over exerted from sleep deprivation and the physical change she had recently undergone, Yuki falls into an uneasily sleep, despite the clamorous hunter, whose voice magnified by her enhanced pureblood senses. Noticing her tense muscles slacking slightly, Kaname carefully lifts her into his strong arms, hugging her close to his chest, and walks toward the Moon Dorm in large strides. About to exit the clearing, Kaname suddenly comes to a halt and tilt his head slightly toward the Zero, who is still petrified from the initial shock of the event, hopeless gaze locked on the limped figure, now comfortably settled with her face nuzzling in the soft fabric of the white uniform.
"If you want an explanation, come to my room at noon today. I'm not doing this for you, Yuki would want you to understand, even if she doesn't yet." With that, the pureblood exits the field and moves toward the dorm with his usual confidence and grace.
***
Quietly closing the mahogany doors to his bedroom, Kaname roughly massaged his eyes as he settled into a velvet couch located in his study. He had sensed Zero approaching the gates of the Moon Dorm moments ago, and he wants to organize his thoughts before confronting the hunter. He had not been able to sleep well in the last 10 hours, because Yuki's tossing and turning in bed, allowed the pureblood no peace. Her uneasy sleep also turned out to be much more disturbing mentally than he expected, triggering the protected side of him, permitting himself no rest while his loved one is in such a vulnerable situation, even though he knows that his loyal subordinates will allow them no harm.
As footsteps near his door, Kaname detect the familiar scent of the comers. Zero and Takuma. Although all rooms in the Moon Dorm are built soundproof, the pureblood's ultra-sensitive ears are still picking up fragments of the one-sided conversation outside, Takuma both commanding and pleading Zero's departure. The steady thump that marks the hunter's arrival, however, never once slowed down. No such luck. Knowing that they are outside the door, Kaname tugged open the door.
"Its noon for God's sake, Zero-" Takuma's voice is much more exasperated as they near Kaname's room. Seeing the door opening on its own record, he could do nothing but apologize to the disturbed pureblood.
"I'm sorry Kaname-sama, he wouldn't listen." Takuma said, silently kicking himself for letting Zero disturb the obviously sleep-deprived pureblood.
"It's okay Takuma, me and Zero have some talking to do. I will escort Zero when we are done, you can go back to your room now."
Just realizing that he is still dressed in his pajamas, definitely not appropriate for any occasion, Takuma gave a nod of acknowledgement and quickly retreated into his room.
Closing the door behind Zero's entrance slightly louder than he intended to, because of the loose control he has on himself at the moment, Kaname gestured toward the empty couch, identical to the one he is sitting in, inviting Zero to site down. The hunter looked around the room, his gaze lingering on the couch and deciding it a safe seat, and props himself in.
"You have lots of explaining to do, vampire." Zero glared at Kaname coldly, appearing to have calmed down considerably since this morning at the field.
"Keep your voice down," Kaname replied equally coldly as he threateningly pressured the hunter's lungs with his mind, "we don't want to wake up Yuki now, do we?"
***
Where am I? Yuki moaned quietly as a wave of dizziness hits her. Her head clearing up slightly after a few still moments in bed, she began recalling the night's events. Forcing open her eyes, Yuki's pureblood senses detect two vampires outside the room she is sleeping in. Kaname-sama and.... Zero. Realizing with a start that she is sleeping in Kaname's bed, she nearly jumped up, but the conversation outside her room caught her attention.
"You have lots of explaining to do, vampire."
***
"Seiren, tea please." Kaname commanded to the silver haired girl, who seems to have appeared out of nowhere, now half kneeling in front of pureblood.
"Yes, Kaname-sama," Seiren said, and made her way toward the minibar in the corner of the study.
Let's get this over with, "Yuki is a pureblood, I believe you have realized by now." Kaname broke the tense silence, knowing that Seiren's presence can be ignored, since she never hears what she is not supposed to, and will die before breathing a word to another living being, human or vampire.
As Zero nodded tersely, Seiren noiselessly set down a large cup of genmaicha and exited the room through the opened window, betraying her method of entrance. The clouds slightly shifted, a beam of sunlight slips between the fluffy whites and enters the study, through the window Seiren had exited from moments ago. Irritation obvious on his face, Kaname throws the thick, velvet curtains close, letting them sway on their own record as long as the eye-piercing sunlight is blocked out.
"It started ten years ago. The hunters told you about the vampire war ten years ago didn't they? What they didn't tell you, is that, what seemed like a glorious war between vampires is really a power struggle in the Kuran family, between the oldest heir, Rido, my uncle, and Haruka, my father." Taking a sip of his tea, Kaname accepted Zero's sneer and contemptuous gaze with ease and indifference.
"Both of them have loved my mother, Juri, for the three thousand years they lived, but my mother loved my father, and only my father. Rido, whose love for my other transferring into hatred for both of my parents, formed an alliance with the Council of Elders, whom I believe you are aware of because of the Hunter's Association, and promised them the ultimate power and control that they so desperately wanted, and still wants, in return for their support in avenging my parents." Disgust flashed through his black pupils, usually betrayed no emotion, as he fails to mask the ingrained hatred.
"With their help, he successfully kidnaped my older sister, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting, and murdered her after drinking all her blood. Because of this, Rido was announced an outlaw by the vampire society, taking away his title as the heir of the Kuran family. One cannot fully absorb the full power of another pureblood without time to get acquainted with it, and therefore, Rido spent the next decade in solitude, practicing and increasing his power until the impatience of the Council of Elders ceased to tolerate his actions and demanded their side of the bargain. Knowing that Rido is more likely to target the next girl in the Kuran line rather than a boy, because it is said that the daughter of Juri will be her incarnation, Yuki was hidden in the basement of the Kuran mansion since the day of her birth. However, against the hopes of my parents and myself, the news of Yuki's birth still got out. Unlike my older sister, Yuki was extremely well protected, not constantly under the guard of many loyal elite assassins, including Seiren's father, but also surrounded by powerful anti-vampire wards that are set by the most masterful hunters and vampire sorcerers. Rido and the council were also unwilling to risk being opposed by the majority of the vampire population because of their open antagonism against the rightful heir of the Kuran line, the council conspired justifications for their unlawful acts, thus triggering the vampire war." Kaname quietly sipped his tea as he watched Zero's reaction. Although he attempts to appear disinterested in the historical background of Yuki's pureblood identity, there is an obvious spark of curiosity in the hunter's eyes. The hunter also appears to be much more relaxed, now that he is engrossed in a seemingly fantastic story, his back slacked against the couch and hands casually placed on the handles.
"Despite the turmoil in the vampire world, Yuki still grew up in the loving protectiveness of my parents, who granted every wish of her's, and rarely do they halt in spoiling her, if ever. I cannot recall an instance where they spoke in a less-than-gentle voice to her, nor anytime she is punished for her naughty deeds, not even when she pulverized the crystal chandelier in the hallway because of her childish games." There was a spark of nostalgic love in Kaname's eyes as his posture loosened unconsciously. "In fact, my parents were most worried about her finger, the only location that suffered an extremely minor cut, until the three days later when she was finally exasperated enough from their pestering to declare that she will never talk to them again shall they ask her about her finger again."
"But no, we were not allowed to keep the happiness. Rido was onto us again by the time Yuki was five, and he brought an army with him. That bastard simply could not leave us alone. Although he was killed by Headmaster Cross in the end, father died because of him and so did mother, in order to protect Yuki." A darkness descended upon Kaname's chocolate eyes, making them look deadly with hatred. "Mother performed the secret Kuran ritual that completely masks the vampire blood, at the price of the sacrifice of a Kuran. To guarantee that Yuki can live a carefree life, one that is unlike what a pureblood must endure, mother willingly sacrificed herself." Kaname flawlessly evaded the most painful part of the memory, already feeling too vulnerable to the hunter as he told the events that nobody knew nor understood completely. "At the same time, Yuki's memory is erased, so that she remembers nothing from the first five years of life."
Zero froze in awe. He expected something of that sort, a vampire ritual that turns a vampire into a human, just something these arrogant, insufferable purebloods would do, but he didn't expect the price to be so large. Is it possible for one of these creatures to sacrifice her own life for someone else's happiness, even if it is her own daughter? A year ago, the answer would be a definite no. But now? He doesn't know anymore. After all, he is the one taking charity from Yuki, constantly drinking her blood so he could avoid becoming a Level E. And unconsciously, he knew that Yuki would die for him, just because he is her childhood friend, his best and only friend. Although it seems as if Zero is the one protecting Yuki, often from herself when her she becomes brain dead, in reality, it is Yuki who makes up his world. Her warm smile, uninvited hugs and even stupidity brings a sense of warmth to him. But now she's a vampire. All of a sudden, the world has lost its boundaries. Yuki a vampire. Just days ago, he would kill anyone who mentions such an idea. Now? Reality is hitting him hard. Yuki, the one who protected him from his nightmares upon his initial arrival at Headmaster Cross's house. Yuki who would see his cold gaze and indifferent expression as an invitation for her spontaneous ideas, often having them both end up one ominous situation or another. Yuki who loved baking and cooking, although it seems as if she has inherited Cross's inability to distinguish sugar from salt, and any type of vegetable or meat from another. But all in all, the Yuki he loves. How could she be a vampire? She is everything but vampiric, everything but dark and evil like these blood-sucking monsters. And now she is not only one of them, she is a pureblood, the worst of all.
Feeling a fire of rage engulfing him, hands automatically clutching hard onto the handles of the couch, ripping the graciously decorated cloth cover. Kaname looked at the him coldly, having collected himself during the minutes when the hunter was deep in thoughts. Attempting to calm himself, the hunter quickly released the handle, realizing the harm he had done and the price of its repair. Wanting to punch the indifference from the pureblood, Zero's anger flared greater.
"So now, you just undid everything your mother sacrificed her life for. Brilliant, Kuran." Feeling a ting of satisfaction as a flash of pain passed through Kaname's eyes, the hunter felt an invisible force, knocking and pinning him onto the wall.
