Disclaimer: I don't own 'Vampire Knight' or anything from that universe. Yuko Hayashi is mine.
Truthfully
Yuko Hayashi was comfortably seated in the warmth of a car, her fingers drumming rhythmically against her knee in an attempt to ease her own boredom.
"Stop that." ordered the man beside her, although he did not think she would listen.
He was proven right when Yuko cast him a sly glance, and only persisted in indulging in one of her many irritating habits. Even despite the briefness of the look, it was long enough that he once again found himself bewildered by the forest green of her gaze. With mousy brown hair that curled in waves, cropped in a pageboy cut, even he could concede that Yuko possessed an unorthodox beauty.
"I wanna get moving." She replied coolly. "And if you, Toga Yagari, wish me to stop this, then you should let us begin the hunt."
"It's too soon; we could lose him in all this snow." argued Yagari.
Yuko sighed and leant back in the passenger seat. "We could let him get away as well, if waste our time sitting in here."
Yagari didn't notice it until that moment, but the odd silence caused him to realise that Yuko had given up on her finger-tapping. Instead, she was leaning on her elbow, fingers twisting around the two earrings that lay punctured through her right ear.
Yagari huffed. "That's not going to happen, not on my watch."
He watched amusedly as Yuko turned towards him, thin eyebrows poised in question. "On your watch? As if you have the skill; I'm obviously the better hunter here."
In accordance with his acceptance of the challenge, Yagari smirked. Competitions such as these, contests of their pride and wits, were neither uncommon nor unfriendly; it was well known that the pair loved squabbling.
"Huh, then why am I in charge of this mission?" Yagari shot back.
"Because," Yuko lifted her legs up to rest on the dashboard of the car, "I let you. I wanted to see if the years of my training had finally gotten through that thick skull of yours."
He snorted. "The only reason you couldn't teach me anything was because I already knew it all."
Yuko's own coy smile turned vicious. "All right then, care to test your claim?"
"What are you saying?" asked Yagari.
"I'm saying let's make a bet; whoever kills this vampire is the better hunter." She elaborated, not at all concerned about the repercussions that could affect her pride.
Yagari considered this for a moment, before shifting his weight forward. "How about who ever kills the vampire gets to ask for one thing of the other one?" he proposed.
Tossing her fringe out of her eyes, Yuko nodded slowly. "Agreed." She said, and then held out a hand.
Yagari took it, although he did not shake it. Instead, he held it for a moment, wondering at the softness of her skin and just how warm and alive it was within his grasp. He didn't regain the will to pull away until Yuko shot him a curious look.
After that while had passed, Yagari finally replied with, "Agreed."
Yuko, in the self-inflicted absence of further words, looked out the window once more. The snow continued to fall, delighting Yuko with the intricacy of its downward path. Watching the ice dance had a nostalgic effect upon her. Yagari knew this, and was privy to the knowledge because Yuko herself had mentioned this to him on one occasion; she had said it was something she had used to do with her parents, and small as those memories must be, it was all she had left of them.
"Okay, let's go." Yagari ordered, relenting.
Yuko smiled, before she quickly slid out from the car. Yagari did the same, heading around to the boot immediately. His weapon of choice, his gun, was something she had always insisted was a disadvantage. Yuko considered her own weapons to be far superior; she had, secured to her body, a small anti-vampire gun, and a knife with the same properties. Because of their smaller size, each weapon was easily concealed underneath her black coat.
"Ready?" Yuko asked.
Yagari slung his shotgun over his shoulder and nodded. "Ready."
He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, before passing Yuko by. She followed him closely, walking in such a way that she was both behind and beside Yagari. They both wore boots that kept the snow out, and though Yuko had even donned a scarf, the cold found ways to creep into her skin.
"If you're cold, you should have brought gloves." Yagari pointed out.
Yuko rolled her eyes, before replying sarcastically with, "Yes, thank you, I hadn't realised that."
Yagari sighed. "Do you want my coat then?"
Yuko eyed the man before her. "You'll freeze." She pointed out, to which he shrugged and she muttered evenly, "Idiot."
"You're the one who didn't bring gloves." argued Yagari. "So do you want my coat or not?"
"No." grumbled the woman.
By now, the road was no longer in sight. Instead, the pair of vampire hunters were surrounded by white-barked trees and snow. If not for the dangerous situation, Yuko would have found the environment peaceful. Even as it was, she found it quite relaxing to be there; the company wasn't too bad either.
As they walked, Yuko drew her knife from the belt within her coat, and then tapped Yagari on the shoulder.
"Shall you, or shall I?" she asked, her eyes flickering towards the knife.
Yagari grunted, unamused by her display of humour. Yuko flashed him a teasing grin, and Yagari countered by ruffling her hair irritatingly. She pushed his hand away, muttering obscenities she hoped he would hear.
"Just go take up your position. Stay alert." She ordered.
"I will." Yagari replied, trudging away.
Yuko looked towards the knife, and then towards Yagari once more. The plan was simple; she was the bait, and Yagari was the backup. It was her job to lure the vampire in, using her own blood, and from there she would attempt to give Yagari, who would be positioned in a tree, a clean shot at the Level E with his gun. There was a bit of risk with using herself as bait, and they both knew it. Yagari had initially been opposed to the plan, until Yuko argued that she would rather risk herself then the life of some innocent. He would have been stupid to argue with that.
"Let the hunt begin." Yuko muttered grimly, drawing the blade across her hand.
Blood welled in her palm, pooling around the incision until Yuko closed her hand and let the crimson liquid drop onto the snow. It created a gory stain, a contrast that wasn't entirely pleasing to see, when it splashed over the icy ground.
Yuko would have liked to have wrapped the wound then and there, but she couldn't afford the time it would take. Instead, she flicked as much of the blood off as she could, so that it was less slippery for when she held her knife.
Soon, nothing could be heard but silence. Yuko revelled in it, only to tense when the wind picked up. Her nose tingled, a familiar scent pervading the air. She knew what it meant; Level E.
Had she not honed her body to move without thought, Yuko would have been dead in that second. She dodged easily, stepping to her left as a body flew right by her. In that movement, Yuko also reached under her jacket and drew her handgun from its holster. It clicked as she took aim at the thing that had missed her by inches.
The vampire rolled over the ground, picking itself up with inhuman grace. It turned, and when it did so, Yuko saw the face of a human. He would have been mid-thirties when turned, same age as she was. He would have had a family, perhaps planning to create one of his own. Yuko knew that her expression was soft, lacking, and so she forced herself to look to the creatures eyes. They were wide, diluted pupils, red around the rims; not just vampire, but Level E.
She pulled the trigger, firing a shot from her gun, yet her hesitation caused her to miss. She knew, she knew so very well, to never hesitate. It was the one rule that she had always enforced. Never hesitate. But she had, just then, and Yuko could only blame it on her late-night movie addiction.
The vampire lurched forward towards, swinging its clawed hand towards her. Yuko dropped, ducking underneath the swipe. She rolled to the side, spotted a jerky movement from the corner of her eye, and shot once more. The vampire screeched, yet Yuko knew she had missed again.
The two stood, facing each other across the field of snow. Yuko figured out her bearings, realising that Yagari was positioned behind her and was unable to get a clear shot at the Level E. She attempted to step left, which only caused the vampire to flinch forward. Yuko realised that her next move would only cause the fight to begin again, and so, knowing this was inevitable, she rushed forward.
If Yagari couldn't take a shot, she figured she would.
The vampire reacted as well, leaping forward in an animalistic attack. With her knife held before her and a quick thanks to God for giving her ambidexterity, Yuko aimed for flesh. The snow in her eyes must have made her blink, however, because by the time she knew what was happening to her, she was on the ground.
Her anti-vampire knife had hit flesh, plunging through the vampire's right hand so that it emerged out the other side. The other hand was a problem, however, as it pinned her down by her shoulder. Yuko attempted swing the gun around, only the Level E changed its position before she could.
Legs now on her arms, the vampire hunched over Yuko and wrenched her head back. Yuko knew her knife was still in the vampire, yet the wound was not so severe that the Level E would disintegrate in time. A stab to the heart or head would have been far better.
The vampire's face drew nearer, mouth unhinged and teeth flashing. Saliva dripped onto her throat, and Yuko, in what could have been her last moments, thought one thing.
Yagari would annoy the shit out of me for letting this happen.
A second later, and that 'would' became a 'will'. A gunshot echoed around the forest, and the vampire above Yuko stopped, paused, ended. He was nothing but dust in the wind, no longer existing, and Yuko was immensely relieved this was so. She liked not dying.
She lay in the snow for a moment longer, recovering her breath.
"Yuko!" shouted Yagari, who had been the cause of the Level E's demise.
As she was still short on air, Yuko replied by raising her hand and giving him a thumbs up.
Her hand was still extended when he reached her. Yagari took it, and then the other when she lifted it up, before using them to pull Yuko to her feet. She looked a little bewildered, her emerald eyes wide, startling Yagari with such a display of vulnerability. Without thinking, he enveloped her in a hug.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered beside her ear, close enough that his lips brushed against her piercings.
Yuko returned the embrace in response, arms circling his waist just as he did hers. "It might have been because I stayed up last night watching Alfred Hitchcock movies." She murmured, attempting a light tone.
"That," he declared as he pulled away, "was pretty stupid of you."
Yuko crossed her arms defensively. "Well-" she attempted to argue.
"But now we know that I'm the better hunter." concluded Yagari.
Yuko started. "What?"
Yagari shrugged, before smirking slightly. "I shot the Level E, and I killed him. So I'm the better vampire hunter and you owe me." He elaborated.
Yuko frowned; there was no way she would accept that as the truth. She opened her mouth to argue, only to become distracted when Yagari placed a hand on the arm that held her gun. The other, she noted belatedly, rested against her cheek.
Before she – or he – knew it, they had kissed.
"What the hell?" Yuko whispered, looking up at Yagari.
He seemed as surprised as her, and in that surprise, he blurted, "This's what I wanted from you."
"Yeah, but still…" Yuko mumbled, raising her eyebrow.
It was then, in her shock and stubbornness and the rising of feelings long suppressed, that she created another plan no less dangerous to her previous one.
The gun dropped from her fingers, freeing her hands, and it was Yagari's turn to look as confused as he could; which wasn't much. Yuko grabbed him by the side of his face, fingertips brushing his dark hair and skin, before she initiated a kiss of her own. It wasn't as hasty as his, as she had been better prepared for what to expect, but that didn't make it any less special.
Yuko stepped backwards, creating some necessary space between them. She placed a hand on her hip.
"To be fair, I did also wound the vampire, and I am the reason you were able to kill him in the first place." She reasoned.
Yuko smirked playfully. "So that's what I wanted from you."
So I know the action is bad (I've haven't written many fight scenes) and this is definitely not as long as I hoped it would be. If you spot any mistakes point it out please.
Feedback is welcome, as well as general appreciation for this oneshot.