Okay, here's to my second attempt at a vamp fanfic! I wrote this during my swim meet (today XD) so we will see how it goes. Everything but Hime belongs to Hino-sensei! R&R please! Constructive Critism is very welcome!
Also, for the other one, I'm at a bit of a block and have decided to change a couple things... So, we'll see what happens .
"Nii-chama?" the young voice echoed throughout the dark empty house. Little feet pounded quickly on the floor as the little girl ran around the house in a panic. Never before had her brother not answered her. Never before had he left her door open. Never before had the house been so dark when she was there. The darkness only seemed to multiply her terror as the once-familiar apartment she had lived in her entire life was made foreign.
"NII-CHAMA!" she screamed after a few more minutes of silence, the terror in her heart mirroring in her trembling voice. Tears were creeping up on her eyes as she opened every door in the house in a desperate search for her brother. The shadows were still in the house, the only light was provided by the half-hidden moon outside.
"Nii-chama, where are you?" she called out, sinking to her knees. Usually he was in his room at this time of night, or if he couldn't sleep he was in the kitchen reading a small book. An intense loneliness hit her full force. Tears easily spilled out of her eyes.
"N-Nii….." she couldn't even get herself to finish his name. A low moan caught her attention. Her head snapped up and in an instant she was running towards the sound. It was coming from the basement. Of course, the only room she hadn't looked in. Her breath came in quick gasps as she struggled to keep herself from crying. Her small hands reached for the doorknob and she could see her fingers trembling. There was an unsettling smell coming from the basement. She couldn't place it.
"Nii-sama…!" the cry was forced from her mouth as she entered the basement. Her brother was lying in a pool of blood in the center of the basement. The little girl was too busy trying not to faint to notice another presence. She staggered forward, unable to believe her eyes. Her tiny feet splashed in the blood, staining the simple white night shirt that fell to just above her ankles. The tears dried from her eyes as she was overcome with a terrifying sadness, and an overhwelming nausea from the horrifying scene before her. The depths of her loneliness was now deeper than ever. Her little 6-year-old mind seemed to realize he wasn't coming back. That he was never coming back again. She looked at his chest and barely recognized that there was a hole in his chest. Right where his heart should be, there was a gaping hole, showing straight through to the blood on the floor beneath him.
"Why?" the girl asked, confused. "Why you? Why did it have to be you? Why…." The girl babbled mindlessly, blankly following the trail of blood to the wall, where she took in the heart that was lying there, punctured by some kind of claws. Claws…. Claws. Her mind repeated over and over. Suddenly, everything snapped into place.
"W-who's there?" she called out, trying to sound strong. She was brave, you could give her that. However, her terrified eyes betrayed her. There was such a strong fear there, it was a wonder she could stand at all.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Murmured a young boy's voice. He emerged from the shadows, and the little girl's defenses unwound a little. He didn't look like he wanted to be here, and that helped a lot. He stepped forward to stand right in front of her.
"W-why?" she was trembling hard and she could feel her knees knocking together. She struggles to move her foot forward without falling. But she was unsuccessful, and fell forward, ending up grabbing onto the murderer for support.
"He was going to kill you." He said gently, stroking her hair soothingly. The young girl couldn't bring herself to hate him. The knowledge that he had brutally murdered her brother was obvious, but this boy's intentions were not.
"N-nii-sama wouldn't!" she protested quietly, unable to raise her voice. It made her feel much better since he was talking so gently to her.
"When he found out what you were, he was so disgusted he was going to kill you. Tonight, actually." He said sadly, as if it was the fate resigned to them all. The little girl backed unsteadily away from him.
"Never! You're a liar!" she shouted, finding her voice. Her eyes were so full of a broken belief, torn between this boy's sweet tones and her familiar brother, whom she noticed had indeed been acting strange the last few days. His words didn't make sense.
"I will never lie to you, Hime." He said, calling her by her first name. Startled at the familiar terms with which he was calling her, she looked straight at him. The boy felt as if she was looking into his soul, her eyes were so big and innocent. They swam with confusion. Her mind couldn't take it anymore, and her body shut itself down. She fell with a sickening splash into the pool of blood and the boy winced at the sound.
"Hey, wake up… Hime?" a soft voice lured her out of her deep sleep. "Wake up Hime, please…" the voice trailed off and said no more. Hime attempted to open her eyes, but they were too heavy. She couldn't do it. She sighed and let herself fall back into her meaningless dreams.
"Hime… You've been asleep far too long." The once-gentle voice was now sharper, and Hana felt herself being shaken. Hime groaned a protest. Her eyes fluttered open and she came upon a blurry image of a young boy with brown hair and lush brown eyes.
"Nii… sama?" she muttered, blinking her eyes in an attempt to see what was before her. She couldn't place it, but something was different. "Just… Just five more…. Five more minutes… I'll get up… promise…" she mumbled sleepily, attempting to prolong her time in bed.
"No. Get up." His gentle voice was hard now and he roughly took her hand and quite literally dragged her out of bed. Hime closed her eyes tight in a protest to the bright light streaming in from the window. It was way too bright. She had always hated when it was bright but this light was intense… It almost burned.
"Ow!" she hissed, cowering from the intense light. The boy nodded and walked slowly over to the curtains and looked out them for a moment before pulling them shut.
"Thanks." She muttered, relaxing and sitting on the bed. She blinked a couple times to clear her vision and realized she wasn't in her room. Only, as she tried to recall what her room looked like, she couldn't remember.
"Where am I?" she asked warily, immediately standing in a defensive stance on the bed.
"This is my room." The boy smiled, sitting on a red sofa at the edge of the room.
"… Who are you?" she asked, relaxing slightly but not sitting down.
"Kaname…. Kuran Kaname." He replied smoothly, holding her gaze evenly.
"Who am I?" she asked, unsure. She had no memories. She couldn't find them anywhere in her small brain. She sat down with a confused sigh but never took her eyes off of Kaname.
"Hime is your name." he answered her readily, looking at her closely, analyzing her every move.
"How come you know me…?" she looked at him suspiciously. How could he know if even she herself didn't know. "How come I don't?" she asked after his silence.
"You experienced a traumatizing event, your mind must have automatically shut down." He answered with little thought, as if he had been expecting this question. Hime didn't recognize that he was dodging his first question. She was too young, and tired, and distracted by this new information.
"Traumatizing…." She said absently, running her fingers through the fine strands of her golden honey-colored hair. Her green eyes wandered the room aimlessly, automatically memorizing every detail. She took a moment to sort through her feelings. Mainly it was the feeling of confusion, and that she was missing something. But there was another feeling. She felt safe. The boy Kaname's presence made her feel at ease. Her instincts told her she could trust him. Kaname watched her with a faint smile playing on his lips. She had such innocent eyes, it was like she didn't know the fate she was damned to.
Hime gradually became aware of a burning sensation. She couldn't place exactly what it was, but it was a desperate need for something. Her throat burned and her lungs seemed to expand too big for her chest, causing a tight pain. She gave a light cough to express her discomfort. She felt thirsty, but it was different than that. She felt a desperate desire, an immediate need, for something other than water. Water wouldn't do right now. Kaname could see her eyes grow crimson with the inevitable bloodlust, and he stood up and poured her a glass of water.
"Drink." Kaname ordered, handing her the glass of water and dropping some white tablets into it. A few seconds later the liquid turned into a sickeningly bright red color. Nonetheless, Hime's stomach lurched when she smelled it. Before she knew what she was doing her hand shot out and guided the glass in his hand to her mouth and she felt the cold liquid moving down her throat, instantly easing her pain. She sighed in pleasure as the tiredness drained away from her when she drained the last of the glass.
"Better?" Kaname chuckled, placing he glass on the counter. Hime nodded, feeling much more awake now.
"What was in that?" she asked quietly, sitting down on the couch next to him. Kaname couldn't help but notice how she sat as far away from him as possible, as if she wasn't comfortable sitting next to him yet.
"It was a substitute for blood." He said, looking down at her small form. She looked at him, mildly surprised, but then seemed to look down as if mulling it over in her mind.
"Why would I…" she trailed off, clearly puzzled. There was no denying the intense desire she had felt for the red liquid. But she couldn't remember if that was normal or not. As if reading her thoughts, Kaname gave a soft laugh.
"It is, of course, normal, especially for a pureblood like yourself." He gave her the answer to her biggest question so easily. Hime looked up at him in amazement. She relaxed her muscles and leaned against the couch, her body no longer angling away from him but toward him.
"Are you a vampire too?" she asked, the word automatically rolling off her tongue. She blinked her eyes at the foreign word but said nothing. If it was so natural for her to say than it must be what they were.
"Of course. I am a pureblood, like…" Kaname trailed off, seeing her eyes drooping as she quickly fell asleep by his side. He smiled distantly, a lonely look passing his face for a brief moment before he picked Hime up and laid her on the bed, covering her with his own silk sheets. He looked down at her innocent face tenderly, and wondered what nice dream she was having to make her smile. The second he had that thought, her face was contorted into one of intense fear and terror, and she groaned and thrashed about under the sheets.
"Calm down…" Kaname whispered softly, completely calm on the surface. But under his emotionless face his head was swimming with guilt. It had been more than a year and she was finally waking up. After seeing her so trusting and innocent today there was no way he could face telling her that he was the murderer of her beloved brother. Once she remembered, a lot of questions were going to need to be answered.
"Nii-sama!" Hime called out hoarsely. Kaname caressed her face briefly before disappearing, leaving her all alone to her nightmares to await his return.
So, what did you think! Please tell me! I know I have a lot to work on here, but I'm doing my best! (After all, I'm still learning :P). Sorry about all the POV changes, btw, I know it's not very clear. It's a bad habit of mine to try and include the thoughts of what everyone there is thinking. Anyways, I have the next chapter done as well, so I'll probably be endlessly editing that and get it up in a few days maybe :)