Necro: Well, once again, I'm doing things without Holic, but this time, she did contribute. Most of it is mine, but for once, she has something to put out.
Kana: *glare* I can't believe you're gonna be doing this...
Necro: Relax, you get to show up here, along with Zero.
Zero: Before you two get to arguing, why does that up there say M?
Necro: It's rated M for Murder.
Kana: And Many Later Sex Scenes.
Zero: *sweatdrops* NecroHolic does not own Vampire Knight, only Fleur (Necro) and Milano (Holic).
Prologue: Disenchanted (My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade)
Fleur trembled in fear as stood in front of the closed stone passageway, tears falling from her beautiful violet eyes, one pale hand clutching her black raincoat shut over the collar of her knee-length bubblegum-pink dress. She knew Lance had told her to run, to seek refuge in the forest, and to trust no one unless they gave her reason to first, but she didn't want to abandon her brother, not when he had been told to get out of here by their parents. Her pink heeled sandals clicking as she took a step towards the door, she screamed when the stone thumped loudly and the smell of Lance's blood seeped through the hidden hinges of the covering, the frightened girl running from the mansion as fast as her legs could carry her, her copper-red-streaked onyx hair flying out behind her. Today was Fleur Drake's twelfth birthday, and she was now the sole heir to the Drake fortune.
Toga Yagari sighed as he shot the latest Level E to cross his path, already regretting his decision to stub out his cigarette a few blocks ago, even if it was to prevent him from smoking it past the filter and possibly to his own lips (he'd done it before). It was strange so many vampires were in a supposedly safe city protected by not one but two full-grown dragons, a red and a black, and their two children, but judging by the screams of "kill the serpents", perhaps it was to be expected. Dragons were an iffy part of the vampire class system, usually regarded with equal measures of fear, respect, and disgust; apparently the fear and disgust had been enough to prompt a snap among the vampire community towards their draconic neighbors, hoping to take down the ancient beasts and their young through sheer numbers and killing off the survivors later. Sickening.
The cry of a small child pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned to see a Level E pinning a young girl to the wall and tugging on her now-dirty pink dress (or at least, he thought it was pink). Without hesitation, Toga shot the vampire in the heart, diving forward through the dust to catch the girl before she hit the pavement and gently set her on her feet. "You should be more careful," he pronounced. "Next time I may not be around to save you."
She looked up at him as haughtily as she could manage in her condition and the current situation, uncertain if she could trust him or not. "I thought I would be able to keep him under control, but if we're going to discuss what one should do, I feel obligated to point out that you should stop smoking, those cancer sticks will be the death of you one day."
He frowned at her, eyes narrowing. "You have quite a spark to you, Miss Drake," he said, picking up enough indicators to feel comfortable identifying her with the prominent dragon family here, "but you don't quite have the fire to back up your sharp tongue."
"I am only twelve by the count of my kind, vampire hunter, so it is understandable for me to be without such means."
He looked her over for a moment, critically observing the long red-streaked black hair and willowy set to her figure, thought it was the defiance in her posture and spark in her lavender eyes that made his decision for him. "Come on," he said, turning to walk away.
She crossed her arms, her eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Someone's got to look after you and teach you how to get yourself out of trouble. I like you well enough, so why not take you on as my apprentice and save myself some damn paperwork?"
Kaname blinked in surprise when he saw all his friends staring at him with a strange light in their eyes in the otherwise-deserted sitting area. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.
"Not quite," Hanabusa said, fidgeting nervously.
"You know we're more loyal to you than our families, Kaname-sama," Akatsuki stated bluntly.
"We already consider you our coven leader," Ruka added.
"And each other as covenmates," Senri continued.
"So we were thinking," Rima murmured in an undertone, blushing lightly.
"Why not make it official?" Takuma finished, flashing the pureblood a winning smile.
Kaname quirked a single eyebrow at them (The single eyebrow cock—just about the single most bad-ass thing honor student Kaname Kuran will ever be able to accomplish; I wonder if he practices in front of a mirror?). "Did you all rehearse this for an April Fool's Day joke in September?" As they all shook their heads, he suddenly realized they were serious. "The binding process is quite unpleasant," he warned them.
"We all made our decisions long ago, Kaname-sama," Akatsuki pointed out.
"Each one of us weighed out the chances on our own," Ruka clarified.
"And we all decided," Senri began.
"Throwing our lot in with you was better than standing alone," Rima finished.
"You won't let us down without a fight, Kaname-sama," Hanabusa pronounced.
"Which is why we all made our choices the way we did," Takuma declared, his chin high and eyes determined, the others following his lead.
"Very well then," Kaname sighed, shaking his head. "Looks like I can't change your minds after all."
Over the course of the past year, Fleur had matured beautifully into both a hunter and a "woman". She could effortlessly hide herself in a crowd while attracting attention from their targets at the same time, not to mention she could cook things far more edible than the shit Toga could and still took pleasure in using knives, a handgun, or even her own claws to kill vampires. She may have been less driven than Zero was, but she was made of stronger stuff that he was, and Toga had never been more proud of her (not that he would ever admit it).
With all this in his mind, when Fleur's piercing scream yanked him from his slumber, he was quick to run over to the other's hotel bed and turn on the bedside lamp. At the introduction of light, she yelped, hiding her eyes behind her hands but not before he'd seen the change in her pupils. Toga knew enough about dragons by this point through his browsing of hunter documents about the subject when she wasn't looking to know that she was going through the equivalent of puberty for dragons and was in agony right now. Searching his memory, he recalled that most dragons would present physical signs of their affection during this time to calm the sensations; figuring it was worth a try, he pulled off the silver hunter's medallion from around his neck and draped it around hers. To his surprise, she calmed down instantly, though when she spoke, her tone broached no arguments. "Toga Yagari," she panted, her hair hanging down over her eyes, "what the hell were you thinking when you bound yourself to your younger female dragon student?"
"Onii-san?" Milano Kuran called, letting herself into Kaname's study.
"Milano!" Kaname greeted his illegitimate sister, smiling. "My, my! Your hair sure is getting long!"
"Kaname!" She giggled, stepping up to the ebony desk, aside her brother, "I"m nearly fifteen, you don't have to treat me like a baby!"
"I know," the pureblood sighed, placing a familial hand atop Milano's plum-colored head. "I just worry that you're under too much pressure, not being able to tell anyone you're a Kuran…" he lingered off.
"But I'm not really a Kuran!" Milano protested, "At least, not by birth. I'm just here in case something were to happen to you." Kaname sighed and turned his back, suppressing his emotions towards his sister, who was always at the ready in case of some kind of major disaster. "Kaname?" Milano asked, turning to stand next to him again. She then proceeded to slip her hand in his, causing much confusion to the pureblood when he was suddenly no longer in control of his body. "I'll be sure to take care of Cross Academy when you're gone."
"What?" he asked, trying to wrench away, "No! You won't take the Academy! You won't kill me!"
Milano froze their hands together, thwarting any plans of escape from Kaname. "Oh, but I will! I've been waiting for this moment for 10 years, to finally claim the last piece of fortune the Kuran family desperately clutches to!"
"Milano please!" Kaname cried, looking into his sister's all-white, un-pupated eyes, grabbing his golden dagger from the desk and holding it an arm's length away, the tip pointing directly at his chest.
"The Kuran's time has come! You, finally, are the last of your forsaken bloodline!"
"Damn you, Mil-" Kaname choked out before plunging the dagger deeply into his chest, making the most serene blood-spurt Milano had ever seen. The last Kuran then fell to the thick carpet, repeatedly stabbing his torso until Milano could no longer enter his mind, confirmed of his death. Looking down, the girl realized her dress was soaked in her brother's lifeblood, completely covering her once-white, modestly calf-length dress. She quickly melted the ice binding her to the corpse, left Kaname's eyes open, and turned the doorknob to get out of the study when a forceful knock hit the door.
"Kuran? Yuki wants to make sure you're okay, she heard something coming from the study… Kuran?" The door opened, and a boy with lavender eyes took a tentative step inside, holding out his anti-vampire gun. Milano, knowing she would only have one shot at this, rolled out from underneath the desk where she hid and lunged towards the boy, frantically trying to make physical contact.
"Shh…" she tried to calm him when her hands cupped his face, proactively freezing their flesh together. Milano proceeded to degrade his mind, causing a slight struggle at first, but then reduced his will to nothing, killing him. She left Kaname for the surviving members of his coven to find, hurriedly stashed the other body in the forest outside of the Academy, retreated back to the Kuran manor, and waited to be informed of her dear brother's suicide.
"Takuma? Why is it that you always like making me go outside to sleep?" Senri grumbled, his eyes closed as he attempted to hide his face from the sunlight by burying himself deeper in his friend's lap.
Takuma pouted. "Aw, come on Senri! Don't tell me you don't like the wind on your face or the warmth on your skin!" he cried, gently running his fingers through brunette locks encouragingly. It had been a long time since they had done this sort of thing, but he actually found it soothing to have a warm body close to him when nearly everyone he had let into his heart had hurt him.
"The sun is in my eyes, I can't get away from the brightness, your tree shades worth shit, and the wind blows fucking leaves in my hair. Excuse me for deciding that I'm more of an inside person… and that you need to seriously brush up on how to be a vampire because you are breaking just about every rule for them right about now." And yet, with all the comfort and contentment radiating from their keystone, Kaname, Senri couldn't really find it in him to protest all too much. I bet his niece Milano is visiting him right now… or maybe his mate, Zero, he thought lazily, not bothering to investigate the source through the slender bond they all shared. I never would have pegged Kaname-sama to be someone who dotes so firmly upon his soulmate or his family, but considering how close he is to Yuki and how kindly he acts towards her, I guess it's to be expected.
The alarm that shot through the bond startled both vampires, causing Takuma's head to turn back towards the Moon Dorm and Senri to sit bolt upright. A ways beside them, up in the trees, Ruka and Akatsuki jumped down from the branches, Hanabusa following moments later and helping down a tense Rima. "You guys feel that?" Takuma said.
They all nodded. "How could we not?" Akatsuki asked.
"Kaname-sama's in trouble!" Hanabusa yelled, running off, Rima only a step behind him, while it took Ruka and Akatsuki a moment to process the thought and Senri and Takuma a little longer to actually stand up.
Akatsuki and Ruka were at the edge of the clearing, Takuma and Senri still in the center, and Rima and Hanabusa long gone when it happened. Pain rushed through their heads, going through every inch of their bodies. They all fell to their knees, gripping their heads in agony at the ocean of pain distracting them from everything they knew. At first that was all it simply was, pain, but then something else laced into it, a subtle turning of directions until none of the vampires were quite aware of what was reality and what wasn't anymore. Nothing made sense, but then, for an instant, ice-blue eyes met clear green ones and held. "Takuma," Senri panted exhaustedly, "help me push this back."
Of course, Takuma thought belatedly, Senri has some pureblood in him. He reached out, interlocking their fingers, and whispered, "On three, we surge outwards." The younger vampire nodded, tightening his grip in preparation. "One, two, THREE!"
The two let out a fierce surge of energy, Senri pushing it out and Takuma controlling it as best he could. He swept into Akatsuki and Ruka, soothing their confused minds, then into Hanabusa's, a dark place filled with shadows, and finally Rima's, which was stretched as thin as a rubber band. The two were shaking when they came back to themselves, clinging to each other as though they were the sole survivors in a storm, and Ruka and Akatsuki across the meadow weren't in much better shape.
Seeing that Senri was in no position to do anything, Takuma firmed his jaw and tentatively made his way into the woods, using the trees for support until he found a wilting Hanabusa pinning a muttering Rima to the ground. "What happened?" he asked tiredly.
"The strain of losing Kaname-sama was taking it out of me, but when she tried to shield me from some of the pain, her mind snapped like a broken twig," he muttered forlornly, his head bowed. His next words surprised the older blond more than anything else had in his entire life. "What do we do now, coven leader?"
Necro: Well, I won't be uploading this next chapter, so 'til I see you again... DON'T DO ANYTHING YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO EXPLAIN TO THE COPS, THE PARAMEDICS, OR A SIGNIFICANT OTHER!
Zero: I likely will show up again, but we all know I'll be disobeying that second thing.
Kana: I definately won't show up outside of Necro's stuff, and since I'm a perfect honor student, I don't need to worry about the recommendation.
Necro: Don't worry, you can be my little helper, Kaname!
Kana: ... *is mildly creeped out* Please review, as it will help these two nutjobs update faster.
Zero: If you review, Necro will give you a paragraph from her contribution of the next chapter!
Necro: I'll also show you a sweet dream next night...
