An assignment in Siberia plus the Kiriyu Twins. If there be any degrees of annihilation, Kuran Kaname is fully entitled to regard himself razed to the nth degree. The nth degree means "to the outmost degree/limit". Remember your maths equations? The algebraic convention for an arbitrary integer? Trending to infinity...
I don't own the VK characters.
Forgive my bad English. A non-native speaker is attempting to write here.
The Nth Degree
Chapter 1: The Death Machines
"I still don't understand why we have to bring him along," groused a slender, striking young man as he slung his heavy duffel bag onto his back, pointing a defiant finger at him.
The teen tugged at the collar of his olive green nicely fitted overcoat impatiently. Kaname could see his own reflection staring back blankly in the fashionably large mirrored sunglasses perched on that finely shaped nose. The airport was bustling with Christmas travellers; a large screen loomed in the background indicating arrivals and departures of aircrafts. Tacky plastic pines decorated with thousands of garish brightly lit ornaments and colourful plastic embellishments pricked his eyes. The sound of powerful jet engines amongst the din of Christmas tunes reverberated against the wall. Kaname hated travelling in those loud, combustible, hunkering pieces of metal. Those were death machines, and he was about to get on one of them. 'Splendid.' Kaname was worried.
"Orders... We get them so, we follow. Just ignore him," a pale, equally good-looking teen answered tiredly, picking up his own identical black duffel bag and slung it on. Then, he lugged a twin handled monstrous 4 by 2 steel plated case. He too was wearing an olive green overcoat; it was slightly worn compared to his companion's. The first teen huffed indignantly and grabbed one of the handles, and then they hoisted the case up onto a trolley. Kaname stared at the two intriguing creatures as they ignored curious stares, weaving speedily through the crowd despite having the steel coffin wheeled in front of them.
Inhaling deeply, Kaname followed the two teens towards the gates, dragging his luggage behind him. Kaname checked in his bags without a hitch, unlike the two undertakers who has to charm their way through customs despite of having the proper paperwork for the steel plated crate.
Armed with a killer smile and his fancy sunglasses pushed up into his unholy silky silver hair, one of the copies convinced the security that the two of them were too pretty good-looking to be terrorists and they were only transporting antique pieces to their family friend overseas as presents.
His partner was not amused, a frown marred his face as his twisted a key into a lock and popped the lid, revealing: a plain looking katana with a bronze dragon coiling around the scabbard, two sets of dangerous looking daggers and a pair of kodachis. They are hunter weapons or anti-vampire weapons, whatever you call it lay innocently in there- disguised as relics.
In Kaname's opinion, the blades are not as intimidating as the matching tattoos on the left side of the the teen's neck. The matching outfits, those steel-toed boots they wear, the similar haircuts and their juvenile ear piercings made them stand out from the airport crowd. It amused Kaname because one of them wore a frown that could induce an avalanche while the other has a smile that could seduce anything on legs. The whole package made them look like the 'diabolical evil-twins of Christmas present'. They were indistinguishable but, dissimilar.
The cheery teenage ghoul lewdly joked he would be hiding the swords up in his pants if had the intention of hijacking a plane. The other one glared and slapped the ghoul hard behind the head and then apologized copiously for the misbehaviour. Miraculously, the middle-aged officers burst into a fit of good-natured laughter. They allowed the two juveniles to pass through, whishing them well and hoped that the twins would their holidays in the tundra.
The cheerful ghoulish twin stopped smiling the moment his brother took his arm and dragged him through the gates.
"Zero, remind me to freeze my ass out in the blizzard when we get there," the ghoul pouted, shook his arm free and naturally slipped it around his brothers's waist.
Kaname felt a pang of jealousy when Zero smiled and stole the sunglasses. He ruffled the silver mop affectionately.
"Oh geez, don't mess up my hair," the ghoul he snatched back his glasses.
"I would if you learn to quit flirting your way around and casting off saucy jokes like a frivolous air headed bimbo, Ichiru."
Suddenly, Ichiru pressed his body flush against his surprised copy and captured Zero's bewildered face dramatically with his long fingers. The sudden move caught the attention of the curious onlookers. Satisfied with the reactions, the Ichiru inched their faces closer, lowered his voice deliberately and spoke, "For you Zero, I would forever be your girl. Take me brother- whichever way you want me."
The crowd gasped, several faces blushed- hands covered mouths in shock. "Shut up, Ichiru!" Zero rolled his eyes, shoved his younger brother off roughly. Ichiru stumbled a few steps back but the evil, satisfied smirk had been permanently etched onto his face.
Zero turned away, cursing and muttering empty threats; his cheeks burn bright red right up to his ears. The crowd parted to give way as Zero stomped towards the seats, dumped his carry-on bag unceremoniously onto the tiled floor. Then, Zero glowered and plunked his body on the moulded plastic a few seats away from Kaname. Zero tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling.
Ichiru was still snikering when he walked up to join them at the seats. Kaname cleared his throat and raised an amused eyebrow at Zero. He did not say anything but Zero snarled at him, "Shut it, Kuran!" Kaname raised both of his hands in mock surrender. The vampire hunter rolled his eyes in annoyance as he stretched his long legs out in front of him- Zero was exhausted.
In the corner of his eyes, Kaname caught Kiriyu Ichiru, the younger half of the pair- glaring daggers at him at the other end of the seats. Ichiru puts his sunglasses back on and stared at the airplanes lined outside of the huge glass windows- imitating a bug. Kaname chuckled inwardly because the only things the Kiriyu twins have in common are their unpredictably explosive temper, their innate talent of being impudently abrasive and of course their irresistibly drool-worthy-good-looks. Kaname wouldn't acknowledge it openly. 'Well, at least one of them was unaware of the last said trait to flaunt it to his benefit.' Kaname could not say the same for the younger twin.
Kaname glanced over to Kiriyu Zero at the other end of the row of plastic seats. Zero was pinching and massaging the bridge of his nose, in between of his eyebrows to make his headache go away. Obviously, the silver haired trigger happy killer was tired from all the hunter related assignments thrown at him in between classes, schoolwork and prefect duties.
Oh, woe and here I am, Kuran Kaname the pureblood vampire prince stuck with two of the most ruthless vampire hunters over the holidays; about to travel coach for a joint assignment in Siberia. I feel peachy, just plain peachy.
So here's the catch: I've been on a work trip with a dear friend of mine (about 3 weeks ago) and I came out with this draft. She read it and laughed because we were looking at my story traffic data for another fic I wrote. There were over 4,+++ views for the 11 chapters but I got less than 20 reviews. Wierd? Cruel? Unfair? Sure... "But I don't mind," I said. "The numbers are proof that people do read the story, I'm happy besides not everyone's shameless like the two of us. Not pressure. It's a free world," I blabbed. She laughed saying that I'm a pathetic writer in denial. Whaaa...? That episode ended just like that.
Precisely 2.75 hours ago, we; Lily and I being twisted best of friends and all got into a stupid riff and she posed this challenge. I cannot post a new chapter to this story unless I get at least 20 reviews per chapter. The hits wouldn't count. She must've been crazy. So, forget it people. With that kind of trending and my sucky chapter... THIS will be the one and ONLY chapter. Don't bother to review. I won't have to continue writing that way and I could devote my resources (time/ energy/ brain power/ bad temper) and focus on torturing my slaves (co-workers/underlings/victims) and whatever to earn big bucks for our bloodsucking corporation... because I'm a loyal idiot who won't even rest even though I'm physically/emotionally below par and approaching MY limit.
Thank you for reading and I repeat, you had just read the DRAFT. There're tons of mistakes. I'll just monitor the stats and that'll tell me you've read. Coz I've lost my faith in getting feedbacks. Period. And I'm sorry for going bonkers. I've a lot of angst to vent out. Excuse me, I have to search for something to punch.
