Dawn: Hello everyone and welcome to Instinct!
Zero: Shoot me now, please, just shoot me now.
Kaname: *pouts* So you'd really leave me alone with HER, Zero? I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!
Katsu: *facepalm* I just hope you guys don't act like this to neoko, otherwise she'll never agree to do this ever again...
Ichiru: You say that as if we should care.
Takuma: *smiles happily* ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.
Chapter One: The Will of the Fallen
The three vampires looked beautifully graceful as they stared up at the imposing Senate building, each of them with a different thought in their head. Kaname knew that he was here only to prevent things from going horribly wrong as they confronted the Senate about the death of their leader, Asato Ichijo. Takuma knew that he had to at least attempt to repeal the motion that shapeshifters were forbidden in Japan, even if he had to reveal the truth that he'd taken one as a "pet". Aurora knew that she had to confirm her destiny as an Ichijo and relay the events leading up to his death. They all had something to protect, something to hold dear to them, and a reason to come home. None of them hoped to kill anyone, especially since Aurora's powers were only starting to come back to her a little (Ichiru still had control of them, though it was becoming increasingly obvious that they shared the power instead of simply having it passed on to the silveret as they'd all feared) and Takuma still hadn't awakened his own powers, leaving Kaname as the only one properly ready for a fight should it occur. "Well," Aurora asked, steel in her blue-green eyes as they flashed a brighter green for a moment, "shall we?"
Ichiru awoke alone in his bed, his lavender alight with fear for a moment as a light breeze rustled the loose items in the room he shared with his twin before he recalled that Aurora had a meeting with the Senate today and calmed himself. He sighed heavily, dragging a hand through his mussed silver hair as he focused on calming himself before he accidentally broke something, pointedly redirecting his senses to the feeling of the soft cotton sheets on his bare chest. He was a part of the Day Class for now, along with Zero, but like Katsu and Aurora, he planned on joining the Night Class once the holidays were over. He'd asked Zero if he was planning on transferring as well, but the hunter had just sighed and said he still needed time to think about it. Deciding that spending time with Yuki Kuran and the other Night Class vampires was preferable to moping around the room, or Aurora's, waiting for her to return, he got out of bed, changed his pajama pants for a pair of dark blue jeans, and pulled on a Killjoys T-shirt from Zero's side of the closet.
"Kaname-sama," a man purred, sitting up straight in his chair as he stared at the imposing pureblood flanked by the redhead in her sexy black sheath dress and the blond in his Night Class uniform, "to what do we owe this visit?"
The brunet took the high-backed chair Aurora impulsively pulled back for him, nodding his thanks at her for the action she hadn't fully knocked out of herself yet from her servant days despite his and Takuma's patient attempts to school her into the confident noble she had every right to be, both by her blood and her actions. "Asato Ichijo was my appointed guardian, regardless of my request for independence. It is my right to attend the meeting concerning his estate, never mind that I am here on Aurora Ichijo's own request."
"I'm sorry," a woman to his side questioned, an ashen blond like Ruka, spreading an elegant yellow fan over her pinched mouth, "but there is no Aurora on the records of Asato's will or anywhere on the Ichijo family tree."
The redhead's jaw came up, a belligerent exposure of her throat that clearly stated she wasn't afraid of them. "My mother is not on the family tree because she was a human seer," she hissed, deliberately extending her fangs just enough to demonstrate that the quality hadn't been expressed in herself, "and I was sired out of wedlock. I have not come forward until recently because until now, events have allowed me to live comfortably without exposing my true heritage to any save Kaname-sama." That wasn't exactly the truth, Kaname had known she was a dhampir sired by an Ichijo but she hadn't been aware that he'd learned this fact from her blood until he'd told her in the car while they were on their way here, but neither vampire seemed inclined to dispute the fact. "Besides," she added, "the Kurans and the Ichijos are directly related, and I doubt that the fact is immediately obvious short of actually comparing the two bloodlines." Underneath the table, Takuma's hand stole over to hers, squeezing tightly in a congratulations of how she had handled the Senate with enough presumption and fire to let them know that she was just as sure of her actions as Kaname himself was, but the pureblood refrained from such actions, knowing they weren't quite called for yet. He'd praise Aurora once they'd left the Senate far behind them. "But if you insist," she continued, her eyes flashing that sharp green, "I would not mind letting a neutral third party taste my blood to determine if I am indeed an Ichijo."
Takuma's eyes lit up a bright crimson as he yanked her behind him, Kaname even visibly shifting his posture slightly into a better position to protect her should anyone attempt to take up her bold statement. Assuming Kaname was protecting his mate, it was natural for Takuma himself to react so violently to such a proposal from his sister and would have happened if anyone else from his family, including Asato, had offered his blood as well, the first man replied, "That won't be necessary, Aurora-san. You have no reason to lie to the Senate on a matter such as this one, and if you were going to tell such a blatant lie, it would make more sense for you to pretend to be a Kuran than an Ichijo." Behind the blond, where no one could see it, she fidgeted slightly at the last part of his words, but no one notice other than Kaname himself, but he withheld his opinion about the action for a later time. "But this does lead to the very interesting matter of Asato's will."
The pureblood's eyes narrowed slightly, recalling the document from memory and instantly pinpointing the section in question without needing any further explanation. "In the event of my death," he stated dryly, quoting the fancy handwriting from a handful of times he'd seen the important parchment and witnessed it, "the eldest person able to claim Ichijo blood and to take over my seat on the Vampire Senate must do so. If he or she does not wish to claim my position, he or she may relinquish his or her claim to whomsoever he or she chooses, and so on."
Takuma nodded, recalling the same document as well. "Since Aurora is only nearing her sixteenth birthday in the next month or so, that makes Kaname the oldest at 18, then me at a few months younger."
"Not quite, Takuma," Aurora spoke up, getting the undivided attention of everyone in the room. "Senate protocol bans a pureblood from holding a seat on the Senate, if only to prevent the very class system put in place to protect said purebloods from letting those purebloods abuse their power and influence the members on the council, that is, if there wasn't compulsion involved in the equation to start with."
Zero sighed as he entered Kaname's private chambers, looking around for where'd he set down his Disciplinary Committee patch, and froze at the sight of the neko boy sitting at a chessboard, his yellow eyes narrowed as he contemplated the board, his hand resting on a battered bronze bishop. "Katsu?" he asked, somewhat unnerved by the fact that the shapeshifter hadn't shown up on his senses until he was sighted, "What are you doing in Kaname's room? Surely you know he, Takuma, and Aurora are at some kind of meeting tonight."
"It may not seem like it," the black-haired boy replied, his tail flicking behind him as he restored his scent, recognizing the hunter would be much more comfortable if he could properly smell him, "but both Kaname and I go way back, further back than anyone else I know who's still alive, except for my family of course, but I do believe many of them exterminated by vampires. Most generally don't like us shapeshifters. They think we play too many games in our interactions with outsiders, which is understandable considering that our lifespans typically extend many times longer than any other creature, including even the pureblood vampire, and I do agree that my cousins and siblings are too busy in their endless pursuit for power over each other, but then again, I also agree that they play quite complicated games themselves." His keen nose picked up the slight relief from not being roped into the group of vampires, a classification he'd been trying to deny for so long, and the sudden insecurity from knowing both that Kaname and Katsu had been close for a very long time and that vampires liked to play with people. "Relax, Zero, Kaname's absolutely infatuated with you. He couldn't care less about me, as if I'd let him when Takuma's so good to me, and while he too manipulates people, he does it to protect the people he loves, a category you fall neatly inside."
"What was he like when you met him?" he asked, fighting back the jealousy that Kaname wasn't here to tell him these things himself and that Katsu apparently held such a large part of Kaname's past in his hand.
"Lonely," he replied, sighing deeply as he got up, striding towards the door. "Kaname was very lonely, even with me by his side during the wars and everyone fretting over his safety. He liked me because I knew who and what he was and didn't treat him differently like everyone else did." He smiled ruefully, indicating the single bronze bishop with a nod of his head, the one at odds with the remainder of the plain ebony and ivory pieces. "I remember that when we first met, chess was a fairly new game. I was the one who taught him how to play, but he was much better at it than I was. In fact, that very bishop is all that I believe is left of the original set we played with."
Takuma looked uncomfortable. He didn't want to take a position on the Senate, that would open him up for ridicule if Katsu was ever discovered and his lover for execution in such an event, but with Kaname illegible and Aurora too young for such a responsibility, he knew it was up to him to take the position. "I-" he began, but before he could continue, Aurora threw him onto the table, expertly pinning him before he could get over the shock and giving him a harsh nip to the throat, drawing blood. "Aurora-chan!" he gasped, his hand flying to his neck to cover the holes her fangs had punctured in his flesh, his emerald eyes wide with shock. Even Kaname looked somewhat surprised by her actions, though if the emotion was only present in his wine red eyes.
"There," she said to herself, her tongue swiftly cleaning a few spatters of stray blood from her lip, though that was the only blood of his that she'd actually ingested. She raised her gaze to glare at the other Senate members, her eyes that beautiful burning beryl coloring that they took when her bloodlust spiked. "According to Title Sixteen Chapter Six Section Eighteen, by asserting my dominance over Takuma, the eldest viable candidate for the Senate seat, I have just invalidated his bid and left no choice for the position other than myself. In addition, he is the oldest living descendant of Asato Ichijo, so the action also caused everything in his inheritance to be transferred to myself, but since I have no interest in taking such things by force when he would gladly give me them if I asked, I forfeit my right to the Ichijo fortune and estate save for that one Senate seat."
Kaname took pains to keep the sudden burst of pride from his eyes at how his Aurora had managed to manipulate the Senate so blatantly and in a manner that they couldn't dispute since it followed the very rules they'd established. "But Aurora-san!" the woman protested, her fan snapping shut, "You are much too young to take on such a duty!"
"Which is why all my votes shall be taken by proxy," she replied coldly. "Now if you would excuse me, I would like to return to Cross Academy and my boyfriend who is ever-so-patiently awaiting my return."
"Hanabusa, Akatsuki," Yuki said quietly, mildly exasperated, "it's no point playing Mario Kart if you're only going to let me win."
The younger blond blushed as he threw down his controller. "I didn't let you win!" he protested, crossing his arms grumpily as he glared angrily at the innocent Wii wheel with enough malice to put it in a reasonable amount of danger of being frozen to the floor. "Yoshi just drives worth shit."
Akatsuki chuckled at that, his Luigi managing to get into a decent third place while Hanabusa's Yoshi spun out in eleventh. "Hanabusa, you drove into the chain chomp about seven times and off the course somewhere closer to thirteen." Ruka teased coldly, enjoying poking fun of the blond.
"Oh yeah?" he demanded, whirling around to glare at the ashen blonde. "I'd like to see you do better!"
Without another word, she grabbed the Gamecube controller that was on the footrest, settling herself beside Yuki on the couch while Hanabusa sprawled himself out on the floor and leaned against Akatsuki's legs from where he perched on the couch. With glee, he chose the next course, Rainbow Road, and ignored the sounds of Rima and Senri get beat soundly at blackjack, which was being taught by a gleeful dealer Ichiru and a taciturn Zero, who looked more in the mood for poker than blackjack with his scowl. As Senri lost yet another hand to Zero, how the two silverets were so good at winning the Cheez-its they were gambling with he didn't know though he had a sneaking suspicion that the younger twin was cheating and the older one simply smarter at avoiding that cheating than the two nobles were, he looked up, noticing that Katsu, who had firmly denied playing a gambling game and citing that he hadn't gambled since 1294, had disappeared. However, a new hand and the sound of Hanabusa's shock that Ruka had managed to not just push him off the course and cause him to get last place but also finish in first with Yuki in a close second were more than enough to distract him from the shapeshifter that was his friend's lover.
Aurora picked up the little black cat patiently waiting for her outside the Senate building while Takuma and Kaname continued to discuss the finer details of Ichio's will, ruffling his soft fur with her fingers. "Thank you," she murmured softly. "If you hadn't told me that would work so well, I don't think I would have gone along with it." At that, the kitten merely yawned at her, his yellow eyes slitting closed slightly with the movement as he rearranged himself in her arms and fell soundly asleep next to her warmth.
Dawn: Erm, I know it's not really M worthy, but since it will be before my return, I'm gonna leave it up under M...
Kaname: I can't believe Yuki got the whole Moon Dorm playing Mario Kart...
Zero: Where'd they even get a Mario Kart anyway?
Takuma: *slowly backs away guiltily*
Katsu: I don't even know how to play Mario Kart...
Ichiru: *evil smile* I'd be happy to teach you...
Dawn: Review while I'm gone, please! And for this chapter, well, REVIEWS=MARIO KART!
Kaname: Well, we'll see you soon, but Dawn won't until she gets back, so until then... BYE DAWN!
Dawn: *walks away*
*the instant she's gone, a party starts up*