Blood Oath: Destiny

Chapter One: Reluctant Princess

It had been one year since Ametsuki had said her farewell to Hanabusa, and yet she had never found closure from the love she felt for him. Each morning as she went to sleep, she always found herself wishing that he would burst through her bedroom door or scale the wall to her balcony to say that he had found a way for the two of them to be together. But she knew that would not happen all due to how she was still under the care of her Aunt Shizuka who was completely against her being with Hanabusa after the events that had taken place. Though Ametsuki had tried countless times to convince her aunt that what had happened had not been Hanabusa's fault because of how he had been under Yukiro's hypnosis, Shizuka refused to budge on the matter. So at the moment Ametsuki walked down the corridor to her room, feeling the presence of her protector and adopted father, Satsujin.

In the last year he had taken to being like a father to her, and protected her even more fiercely, not that it was necessary. All due to how until Shizuka saw it as that Ametsuki and Yuki were ready to be introduced into vampire society, they were to remain locked inside the Hoshioko estate. Something Shizuka had told both young princess' was for their own good. That Kaname Kuran was still out there and there was no telling if he would aim to do anything to either of them or not. So to that end, Yuki had accepted it to an extent since Zero had, surprisingly, agreed with Shizuka that it was best for the two young vampires to not leave the grounds. Ametsuki on the other hand, hated being caged.

And as luck would have it, she was planning yet another escape attempt once she was in her room away from prying eyes, but the second she opened her door she felt a hand on her shoulder as she froze and turned to look only to see that it was her aunt. "Aunt Shizuka?" Ametsuki asked trying to play being innocent of what she was about to attempt for the tenth time that week, and it was only Wednesday.

Shizuka looked the same as she had a year before, only difference was her expression was kinder than it had been, something Ametsuki thought was due to her having regained a member of her family she had thought was dead for fifteen years. Though Shizuka shook her head at her niece as she soon spoke. "A little birdy told me that you might be planning to try and run away again." She said in a hurt tone since she just wished to keep her niece safe.

Ametsuki gave her a bit of a guilty look before she turned to face her aunt more. "Only because it has been a year and you have not allowed Yuki or me outside the gates of the estate. We are no more than prisoners here because most of the time we are not allowed to even be in the garden without someone right there with us and another hiding in the shadows." Ametsuki said with a hint of frustration in her voice. "I just want to have freedom again." She said only for Shizuka to walk past her.

"Come here." Shizuka said as she kept walking only to go to the balcony of the room and slip past the lace and silk curtains that were lightly fluttering in the wind as she could feel her niece behind her. "Look toward the gate and tell me what you see there." She said as Ametsuki walked over.

She listened as her foot falls as she walked, due to how she was wearing flat white slippers that made only a subtle sound as she stepped on the stone that made up the balcony. Once she was beside her aunt, Ametsuki leaned forward resting her pale hands on the stone rail she felt her light pink dress that was hugging her small figure to her waist then hanging loose down past her knees shift with the subtle movements. She closed her eyes for a second before opening them as her cerulean eyes focused on the gate in the distance. At first she didn't see, but once she did her eyes widened.

"Level E's?!" she asked in shock as she was still staring at the gate. "Why would there be Level E's here?" she asked in worry.

"I am not sure why, but we have been trying to look into it and so far all we can tell is that they are not coming here at random." Shizuka said as Ametsuki closed her eyes only to sigh ever so slightly. "So that is part of why I do not want you or Yuki leaving the grounds, because neither of you know what you are doing yet with your powers as purebloods." Shizuka said as she turned but she stopped once she heard Ametsuki's voice.

"There is more to the reason why you are keeping us locked away in here, isn't there?" Ametsuki asked only for Shizuka to look back at her, meeting her nieces cerulean eyes with her own pink hues. "I don't want to be kept in the dark anymore, please if there is something going on, tell me." Ametsuki pleaded.

"I will tell you tonight, now get to bed." Shizuka said as she walked to the large glass door that connected Ametsuki's room to the balcony only to stop. "And do not try to leave because today there is more than just Satsujin keeping an eye on you." She said as she walked through the curtains and disappeared, leaving Ametsuki alone on the balcony.

/

At the Aidou villa, one remained awake even as the first rays of sunlight started to color the sky with a wide hue of colors. Hanabusa Aidou sat on his bed with numerous old books littering around him as he poured over four large volumes at a time. He had been trying to find a way around the way society worked, that the purebloods were not allowed to marry who they chose but who was picked for them by the matriarch or patriarch of the family should the direct parents no longer be alive. 'There has to be a loop hole in here somewhere…' he thought to himself only for there to be a knock at the door. His blue eyes went to the door as he spoke. "Yes?" he called as he reached up running a hand through his blonde hair that was slightly disheveled since he had not bothered to keep it in place at the moment.

When the door opened it was to show one of the maids, Setsuna a common level vampire. She stood a good head and shoulders shorter than Hanabusa while he was standing. She had long black hair that fell to her waist that she wore half up allowing her dull green eyes to be seen, all of which blended into her typical black and white maid uniform she wore. "I am sorry to bother you, Master Aidou." She said as she opened the door more and bowed only for Hanabusa to stand up and stretch.

"No need to apologize, Setsuna. What do you need?" he asked as he finished stretching after his back popped a few times.

"Your father, Lord Aidou, asked me to give this to you." She said holding out a piece of paper as Hanabusa walked over and took it from her before reading it as his eyes narrowed at the text on the letter.

"Is this all?" he asked in a calm tone.

"Yes." Setsuna said as Hanabusa did a slight wave with his hand.

"You are dismissed, Setsuna." Hanabusa said as she bowed her way out and he looked over the letter again wondering just what was going on with why his father would be doing this. A soiree to honor the princess of the Kuran family and the princess of the Hoshioko family a year after they had been revealed. 'Something isn't right, no one is even supposed to know about the two of them…' Hanabusa thought as he sat down on his bed and looked out toward the rising sun, something that seemed dull compared to the light from the smile of the girl he yearned to see again.

'Maybe if she does come to the soiree I will see her again, even if from a distance since I doubt I will be allowed near her…' he thought to himself as he fell to his side on his bed soon dozing off not noticing that Setsuna slipped back into his room to draw the curtains to cast the room into near perfect darkness.

'What is weighing so heavily on your mind?' she thought to herself since in truth she had been brought on as a maid and a nurse for Hanabusa when he had been only a child, so she had all but watched him grow up. 'Ever since when you got back from Cross Academy following its destruction you have not been the same.' She thought to herself with a sad expression as she looked at Hanabusa's sleeping face as she soon headed from the room. "Sleep well…" she whispered as she closed the door.

/

The following night around ten Ametsuki sat perched on the rail of the balcony of her room as she stared up toward the crescent moon over head. She could not help but feel nostalgic due to how it had already been a year since she had awakened to her true self, something that actually brought a faint chuckle from her lips. All due to how at the moment she was actually hiding the pain of the love she had lost forever and one she had been forced to turn away from. At the thought of her late adopted mother, Misaki, Ametsuki reached up as she opened her mouth ever so slightly as she touched her fingers gently to her fangs that were not that pronounced at the moment. 'She gave everything she could in order to allow me to keep living…' Ametsuki thought to herself as she removed her hand from near her mouth as it fell to rest at her side on the rail of the balcony as she was wearing a knee length sky blue long sleeve dress that hugged her figure down to her waist then hung loose. At the moment she was wearing matching slippers, not that Ametsuki even seemed to notice.

'Just how long does Aunt Shizuka plan to keep Yuki and me locked up here? Even with the presence of random Level E's, surely there is no other reason, or maybe she is still hiding things from me about what is going on…' she thought to herself since they had remained locked in the estate since they had departed the academy. Sure some members of the Senate had tried to come by but they never got past the gate due to how Zero and Ichiru kept near a constant watch. 'Hanabusa…' Ametsuki thought as she closed her eyes only to see the face of the one she loved. 'I want to see you again…' she thought before she heard her door open as she remained where she was only to feel herself being hugged from behind as a wave of long brown hair moved about her and the one behind her. "Hi Yuki." Ametsuki said in a neutral tone.

"Thinking about him again?" Yuki asked as she moved her arms away from Ametsuki and moved so she could hop onto the railing before sitting beside her friend. A simple bit that drew Ametsuki's attention to Yuki to notice she was wearing a light pink dress that was of the same style along with matching slippers. Though as Ametsuki looked away from Yuki, she heard her friend sigh. "You are, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Though can you blame me? It has been a year since we saw one another and from what my aunt said a million times over, there is no way that I will ever be allowed to be with him." Ametsuki said in a sad tone. "All due to how she would never give her blessing to me being with him, and neither would Satsujin." Ametsuki clenched her fists at her sides.

"You know that they only want what is best for you. After what he did…I cannot blame them for not giving their blessing." Yuki said in a cautious tone due to how she knew Ametsuki at times could get worked up when someone brought up what had happened a year before.

"He was not himself!" Ametsuki growled as she clenched her teeth.

"I know but you know that as the matriarch of the Hio family that Shizuka has the final say in matters like that." Yuki said as she put a hand lightly on Ametsuki's. "And while I know you would love to see him again, there has not even been any word on where he went after the two of you parted ways." Yuki said in a sad tone since she could tell that being without Hanabusa was tearing at her friend in more ways than one.

"I know, but I refuse to give up that we will see one another again!" Ametsuki declared in a determined tone before she looked to Yuki to see her pulling something from a pocket on her dress. "What is that?" Ametsuki asked as she saw a crumpled piece of paper in her best friend's hand.

"It is an invitation to a soiree, and from what Zero found out someone in particular is going to be there." Yuki said as a second later the paper was torn from her hand and Ametsuki was un-crumpling it before scanning it frantically.

Once Ametsuki was finished reading it she looked toward Yuki with a grin on her face. "We have to get Aunt Shizuka to let us go to this!" she said as she hopped up onto the rail and then jumped down onto the balcony as Yuki turned and slid off of it.

"But you know," Yuki said in a worried tone. "If she finds out the reason that you want to go is to see him you know she will say no." Yuki said only for Ametsuki to shake her head.

"That will be the main reason, but you know that everyone has been biting at the bit to see the two of us, the two vampire princess' that vanished only to reappear suddenly." Ametsuki said as she grabbed Yuki's hands almost bouncing up and down with anticipation. "Please help me convince her!"

Yuki could not help but laugh a little at the excitement that Ametsuki was showing because of how she had not seen her this excited in a while. So after a few moments she relented. "Alright, I will help you."

/

By around midnight Ametsuki and Yuki sat in the library as tonight was to be a lesson on balance, something both girls had been suffering with for the last few weeks. At least in terms of the exercises they had to do. So now Shizuka stood before the two girls who were struggling to remain sitting upright under the weight of the dictionaries perched on their heads. Though when both seemed to manage that for a few moments, she spoke. "Now, stand and do not drop them." Shizuka instructed as in unison both girls went to stand only for both to lose their balance and fall to the floor with thuds from their bodies hitting the rug and from the dictionaries smacking into the rug with a fair amount of impact.

"This exercise is impossible!" Ametsuki grumbled as she sat up rubbing her head only to adjust herself so she was sitting on the rug looking toward her aunt. "Isn't there another way to go about doing this without the dictionaries?"

"There is but this way the lesson sinks in faster." Shizuka said as she watched while Yuki and Ametsuki slowly got up. "Because sooner or later you will have to make an appearance as the heiress' of your respective families." She said with a hint of disapproving in her voice at the thought of the two having to do something like that.

"That may actually come sooner rather than later." Ametsuki said only to receive a shocked look from her aunt. "There has been a formal soiree announced and they want both Yuki and me to attend." She said as she held out the piece of paper that Yuki had shown her before, which was taken from her hand in a second as her aunt scanned the letter.

"Yuki, leave us." She said as Yuki looked surprised but she did as she was told as she turned and gave her friend a reassuring smile before leaving the room to go find Zero. Though once the door closed, Shizuka walked over to a chair and sat down as she stared at the piece of paper for a moment longer before allowing her arm to gently fall on the arm rest so that she was seemingly sitting there idly but in truth anyone who knew her well enough could see that she was stressed. "Come here." She said to her niece who walked over and knelt before the chair her aunt was sitting on. "What did we just talk about last night?" Shizuka asked in a low tone as she gave Ametsuki an annoyed look. Sure she loved her niece beyond all measure, but at the moment she was really testing her patience.

"We talked about how Yuki and I were being kept inside the walls of the estate because neither of us have developed our abilities to the point that should something happen that we would be unable to defend ourselves." Ametsuki said as Shizuka nodded at her.

"Yes, and there is more to it." Shizuka said as she reached out lightly catching Ametsuki's hand and guiding it up close to her face. "Something I can see in your eyes." Shizuka said as her eyes took a faint crimson look before she shifted her niece's wrist only to sink her fangs gently into Ametsuki's wrist, something that no longer made Ametsuki flinch. After a brief second of drinking Shizuka leaned back as the bite marks on her niece's wrist healed over. "You still hold love in your heart for that boy." She said as she looked at Ametsuki with a sad look in her pink eyes.

"And if I do?" Ametsuki asked turning her face to look away from her aunt.

Though Shizuka did feel pained by Ametsuki's answer, she leaned forward moving her hand to the side of her niece's face and guiding it so that the two were once again looking at one another. "I am merely wanting to protect you from the pain that comes with having fallen in love with one that you cannot be with." Shizuka said as Ametsuki stood and walked away from her aunt over to the large floor to ceiling window.

"I could be with him! If you would give your blessing on us even being near one another!" Ametsuki said as she lost her temper only for the glass before her to shatter and rain down on her but it never made contact due to how Shizuka used her own telekinesis to steer the shards away from Ametsuki. "I have looked it up, and all of the laws and text dealing with when a pureblood chooses to be with one who is not one it only requires the approval of the patriarch or matriarch of the family." Ametsuki said as Shizuka was slowly walking over closer to her. "Why won't you?" Ametsuki asked as a few tears fell down her pale face. "When you say that all you want is my happiness but you will not allow me to be with the one that I love."

Shizuka felt as though she was being stabbed through the heart with each word that her niece was saying. She knew that there was more to why she would not allow her niece to be with Hanabusa, at least not yet. There was still one key factor that she was hiding from her niece, something she had actually removed from her while drinking her blood before the spell on her was broken before. Though once she was close to Ametsuki she moved her arms up and around her niece's small figure and pulled her close so that the child was crying into the front of her yukata. "I am wishing to spare you the pain that I feel every day since I lost the one I fell in love." She admitted as Ametsuki continued to silently cry against her. "All I have ever wanted was your happiness, my precious Ametsuki." She said as she held Ametsuki tighter.

/

Yuki walked around until she found Zero sitting outside in the garden under one of the trees that was in bloom. "Zero!" Yuki said as she walked closer and sat down beside him as Zero shifted and opened his violet eyes and looked toward Yuki with a gentle look as he even had a trace of a smile on his face.

"Done with your lesson already?" he asked but Yuki shook her head.

"Shizuka dismissed me since she wanted to talk to Ametsuki alone about the soiree invitation that we got." Yuki said in a worried tone. "But then as I was walking around I heard a shattering sound only to go and check and saw that the large window in the library was shattered where not even the wood panes between the glass was left." She said as she looked down due to her being worried about her friend, that is until Zero had reached out and brushed his fingertips against Yuki's face and tucked some of her long hair back behind her ear.

"She is going through a rough time right now. Just be there for her and I am sure everything will be alright." Zero said just trying to reassure his girlfriend that it would be alright, even though deep down he had a suspicion that there was something more going on than what was being told. More so from what he had seen keeping especially Ametsuki locked up in the home where she had seen her parents murdered as a child was doing much more harm than good.

"I hope so." Yuki said only for Zero to pull her closer and gently wrap his arms around her holding her close.

"I will go and speak to her in a bit and get this all figured out. That and if need be I will try to have a talk with Shizuka about the current situation." He said since he knew about the Level E's near the borders of the estate, and how in truth the Senate had been trying to personally get through to exterminate the insane vampire, Shizuka, and to capture the one who was a problem to all vampires, her niece, Ametsuki. Zero had only recently been allowed to know the truth behind why Ametsuki was seen as a major threat, a power that was unheard of for a pure blood to possess. Where through biting one she could not only grant them the curse of being a vampire, but also allow them to have free will. That and drinking her blood had the same effect to an extent, and from what he gathered it was for that reason that she had been under spells to conceal her until the previous year when the hunter, Misaki Kuren, had sacrificed herself to free Ametsuki from the control of another vampire.

"Zero?" Yuki asked as she reached up poking the side of Zero's face bringing him back from his deep thoughts as he shook his head at her before he stood and offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet.

"We should get back inside." He said as he kept her hand in his before he started to go back toward the front door of the estate with Yuki beside him as he was resolved to talk to Ametsuki when it got to be close to dawn when he was sure that Ichiru would be out patrolling the grounds while everyone else was resting.

/

A few hours later Zero excused himself from being with Yuki as he headed toward Ametsuki's room due to how he knew that after the bit in the library Shizuka had let Ametsuki drink some of her blood and then sent the distraught princess to bed. However as he neared the door he felt an uneasy feeling before he heard a cold voice.

"What are you doing here, Zero?" the voice of the woman who was still his master as a vampire, Shizuka asked as she stepped closer so that Zero could see her.

"I was wishing to check on Ametsuki because Yuki said she was upset." Zero said which was the truth but he was also wishing to find out what it was that Shizuka was hiding from Ametsuki due to how he had a feeling that it was the key to finding out why Shizuka would not let her niece be with the vampire that she loved.

"No need to be concerned." Shizuka said as she stepped closer giving Zero a cold look. "Go back to bed, but first, tell me the real reason you are here." She said in an order since she knew because Zero had never been permitted to drink the blood of her niece or feel Ametsuki's fangs pierce him that there was no possible way for him to resist an order from her.

Zero's violet eyes went slightly hollow as he lowered his eyes ever so slightly before he spoke. "I was wishing to find out more into why you will not let her be with Aidou because it is obvious that she is in love with him and him with her. So it makes no sense that you would say over and over that you wish for nothing more than her happiness only to not allow the one thing that would grant her lasting happiness." He said unable to help himself, something that still made him despise Shizuka.

Though at hearing the reason that he was outside of her niece's room, Shizuka's pink eyes narrowed into a harsh glare. "You are not to pursue this any further!" Shizuka said in a low almost threatening tone. "This does not concern you so just keep to yourself and never mention this suspicion again, especially not to Ametsuki!" Shizuka finished with a firm order, something that left Zero unable to do anything besides nod in understanding that he would do as she said. "Now go back to your and Yuki's room." Shizuka said as Zero turned and heading back in the direction that he had come from.

Once he was out of sight Shizuka looked toward the door that led to her nieces' room with a sad look on her face. 'If only there was a different way to go about making sure that you remain happy.' She thought to herself as she turned to walk away from the room only to soon feel a pair of eyes on her as she stopped. "Do not give me that disapproving look, Satsujin." She said since she knew who was there.

A second later Satsujin stepped out of the shadows as he looked the same as he had the year before, with blonde spiked hair, blue eyes. Though at the moment he was wearing a black tank top and black pants with his black boots and matching black gloves. "What exactly are you hiding that you do not want Zero or anyone for that matter to find out about?" he asked as he stepped closer.

"I am not hiding anything." Shizuka said as she turned her back to Satsujin only to feel him right behind her as his arms went around her shoulders and waist. "You have no idea how it sometimes frustrates me that you are not a vampire that fears the purebloods." She said casually since in truth she did find it frustrating but also amusing due to how he never hesitated to show the slightest bit of disrespect for her.

"Because of how you cannot order me to forget about what you are hiding the way you can with Zero?" Satsujin asked only for Shizuka to shrug away from his touch as he merely let his arms fall back to his sides. "I know that you want to protect her, that is one goal that the two of us continue to share to this day. However," Satsujin moved his arms up and crossed them before his chest. "Either you tell me what exactly is going on or I will use every possible means to get it from you." He threatened only for Shizuka to stop and look back at him with an amused look on her face with her pink eyes alight with laughter.

"You know that neither of us can use force on the other without it upsetting her." She said since that was the only reason the two sometimes got along despite how they had the potential to be together, but Shizuka was not willing to let anyone besides Ametsuki in past the wall she had built around herself after the loss of the human man she had once loved.

"There are other ways to go about extracting information than harming the one that I want to question." Satsujin said calmly only for Shizuka to turn to fully face him.

"You are not going to let this drop, are you?" she asked only for Satsujin to shake his head to show that he would not. "Very well." Shizuka said as she turned with the faint sound of the bell jingling that she wore. "Follow me." She said as she started down the corridor with Satsujin following behind her as she led him into the library. "Shut the door behind yourself." She ordered as he did so.

Shizuka walked over to the chair she typically used when in the library as she sat down Satsujin sat down not far from her. "Where do you want me to begin?" she asked.

"From the beginning." Satsujin said after a brief second of thinking it over all due to how he was sure this had something to deal with what had happened a year ago.

Shizuka nodded as she stood only to walk over to one of the far shelves as she reached up tracing her pale fingers along the leather spines of the large volumes on the shelf before her. "You of course know that Ametsuki was born to my younger twin and a man from the Hoshioko family." She said as she found the book she was looking for as she pulled it out and held it close as she walked back over to the chair as she offered the book to Satsujin. Once he took it she took a seat once again.

"I already know that part, and that because she had an odd ability, even among purebloods your mother, her grandmother, sealed her so that she would not have to live with the pressures of being a pureblood princess. Or deal with having to always live in hiding due to her odd ability." Satsujin said as he placed the large book on his lap as it felt like it weighed a good ten pounds. "Is there a point to this book?" he asked giving Shizuka a reluctant look.

"Yes, open it." Shizuka said as she kept her pink eyes locked on Satsujin hoping he would not take the truth to badly.

Though feeling Shizuka watching him so closely put Satsujin on edge ever so slightly he obliged and opened the book and started to flip through a few blank pages before he came to a picture that left him beyond shocked. The picture on the page was of Yukiro with a man who had white hair that was grown out to his shoulders and eyes that matched Ametsuki's only a little sterner. "What the hell is this?!" Satsujin exclaimed.

"Calm down and then I will tell you the full true story of Yukiro's ties to Ametsuki." Shizuka said as Satsujin sat there beyond shocked because he had always thought that it had been random that Yukiro had targeted Ametsuki and kidnaped her as a small child. But from the look of this picture, her father and Yukiro had once been friends in their youth.

A/N: I know I cut this off with a cliff hanger, but the connection will be explained in the next chapter. Does anyone have a guess on what the connection is? Were they best friends? Acquaintances? Or do you think there might have been a different connection between the two of them? I plan to have the next chapter up by early next week or sooner. And as a note that I forgot to put in the prequel yet again: I do not own Vampire Knight. I only own the characters that are not recognized from the series. Until the next chapter.