Stronger for You
A/N: Welcome and well met! This is my first Vampire Knight story, and it is, for my own selfish purposes, and AU. I will touch lightly upon the actual story of VK in future chapters but to feed my own selfish needs, it will center around my own characters. I do hope you enjoy the beginning of what I hope will be a long and captivating story. Please, please, PLEASE review to let me know how I'm doing!
SUMMARY: Abandoned as a child, vampire Aya Kiyozawa is adopted by the fallen Kiyozawa nobles. She grows up angry and confused about why she was left all alone in the forest and sets out with her adopted sister to find the meaning behind her past and strange powers…. Will be rated "Mature" in future chapters, and pairings are iffy at best right now. Better summary will come with more chapters!
-x- -x- -x- -x- -x-
Chapter 1: Dreaming a Memory
Snow fell lazily in huge tufts resembling pulled cotton, swirling and dancing around the form of Chiyo Kiyozawa. Mid-winter on the Kiyozawa estate, which was nestled comfortably in the far peaks of a lonely mountain range, had afforded her and the remains of her broken family more than enough snow this year. She didn't enjoy it like she used to. She used to welcome the frigid air, full of snow fights and pink cheeks, and more importantly the resultant time spent before the raging fire in their immaculate home. The snow failed to chill her skin now, although by all means it should have. She should have been freezing, should have noticed the puffs clinging gently to her lovely, shocking red tresses. She longed with all her shattered heart to -feel- the icy fingers of winter caressing her skin.
Yet, all she managed to feel was… empty.
She gazed despondently across the small snowy field, watching dispassionately as the servants willingly entertained her young daughter Akina. Somewhere, deep in the locked away places of her heart, she felt guilty for not paying attention to her enchanting child. She looked too much like Tatsuya…
The cruel fingers of pain constricted around her heart, forcing her breath to come in short strangled puffs. Any memories of Tatsuya brought on the most agonizing grief Chiyo could ever imagine. It felt as though she were in the eye of a hurricane of glass shards, tearing at her from the inside out, though no physical damage ever showed. The pain of her loss crippled her with its emotional weight, slamming her heart over and over again into a wall of torturous spikes, until the pain finally consumed her completely and she fell to her knees in the snow. To be lashed innumerable times with razor wire was preferable this. That pain would only be temporary and at least those wounds would heal.
Tatsuya Kiyozawa had been the bastard son of a pureblood mother. She'd hated him since his conception, as he was a betrayal of her secret affair with a lower noble vampire. He was always neglected and shunned, always in the background of family functions. Until the day of his eldest brother's wedding to Chiyo's elder sister. Chiyo fell in love immediately with the handsome Tatsuya and they planned that very day to run away together. They were very happy for many years in their mountain retreat, until the day the hunters came and shattered her their lives and taking Tatsuya away from her for eternity.
Her sensitive hearing alerted her to one of her servants crashing through the forest to her right, panic evident in the girl's rattling breath, and she hastily rose to her feet, dusting snow from her kimono sleeves with shaking hands. A small voice in the back of her mind told her this was highly unusual behavior, even for one of her humans, who were schooled rigorously in etiquette for the honor of serving a noble vampire family. She straightened herself and smoothed the waist of her kimono, which had become slightly rumpled after the attack of her memory. It wouldn't do for the help to see her in a such a state, so she pushed the thoughts back that were threatening to overwhelm her once more.
"Chiyo-sama, hurry! Come look at what Mayuko-chan found by the river!" The young woman's eyes were wide, filled with fear and excitement, as she come to bow before her mistress, out of breath and disheveled from her sprint through the forest.
Sachiko rarely, if ever, forgot her manners before Chiyo-sama, but she clearly considered this an emergency. She grabbed Chiyo's hand and tugged impatiently, hoping to hurry her along. Any other time, Sachiko's impertinent behavior would have warranted punishment, but Chiyo was too intrigued to care, allowing the servant girl to drag her through the trees and down towards the little creek that wound through the hills.
Chiyo sensed the child before she ever saw her.
Eyes widening in disbelief, she broke free of Sachiko's gentle grip and all but flew to the small child's side, her kimono bearing the formal crest of her family billowing out as she swiftly knelt on the ground at the little girl's side. She sat, stunned for a moment, as her gentle silver-blue eyes took in the sight of the girl child, possibly five or six years old, curled into a ball, lying naked in the snow. Amazed that she was even alive, Chiyo lay a shaking hand on the girl's forehead to find it warm still. How lucky the child was that her vampire blood healed her even before she sickened with a fever! She shoved at her right sleeve impatiently, the thick brocade unwilling to comply, as she deftly checked the girl over, feeling all of her tiny limbs for signs of a break. She slowly lowered her head to the girl's neck and sniffed delicately. The sweet, oh so fragrant life giving blood Chiyo could smell emanating from the tiny body was fortunately still safely contained inside.
Enigmatic.
Powerful.
Pure.
"A… a pureblood child? How is this possible?!" Dazed, she motioned to her servants to come closer. "She appears uninjured, but we must take her to the house immediately if we wish to save her! Sachiko-san, please fetch my spare blanket from the field."
As the young woman sped off back in the direction from whence they came, Chiyo turned to the elderly servant behind her. "Mayuko-san, please inform the others that we are leaving and send Amaya ahead to the house to alert the doctor."
Mayuko bowed quickly before hobbling off towards the field as fast as her aging body would take her, leaving Chiyo alone beside the stream. A faint glimmer in the air caught her attention. Her eyes searched for the source of the power, scanning the tree-line wildly for any signs of approaching danger, perhaps the evil being who left this precious child all alone, before coming to rest on the helpless little body before her. At first she didn't catch the change, but suddenly it was -there- and there was no denying it was the power of a pureblood vampire.
The girl's auburn tresses changed, subtly at first, but after a moment not even a half blind human could have missed the change. The color of the silken strands darkened until it was a deep chocolate, shot through with honey blond, scarlet red, silver and raven black highlights. The miraculous color remained only for a moment, before it slowly faded back to its original color, leaving Chiyo stunned and breathless.
The girl's eyes fluttered open groggily, drifting and unfocused. Chiyo was as still as a statue, not wanting to startle the child, but her pounding heart gave her away and the girl's attention snapped to Chiyo. She uttered a small, frightened squeak and pushed herself upright and away from the stranger by her side. Chiyo leaned towards her, arms outstretched invitingly in hopes of offering comfort the poor girl.
"Oh child, whatever cruelties life has dealt you, you have nothing to fear anymore. I shall protect you as my own daughter."
The girl gazed at her savior with wide eyes, the colors flitting from brown to green to blue and back, for only a few short moments before scrambling into Chiyo's warm embrace, hiding her face in the woman's fragrant hair.
"Do you have a name, little one?"
The girl slowly shook her head. "I - I don't know…"
"May I call you Aya, sweetling?"
"Aya..."
-x- -x- -x- -x- -x-
A/N - Aya means "Colorful", Akina is "spring flower", Chiyo is "A thousand generations", and Kiyozawa is "Pure spring", for anyone who was curious. Akina was supposed to be Amaya (night rain) but it was just too close to Aya. nn Don't forget to leave me a review!