Embarrassment 3: Trust


It was unknown as to how long Keitaro would be gone from Japan. If things went well he could be overseas and back again within the week. But if things didn't work out... Keitaro didn't care. If there was a cure to half-vampire problem, it may not be too late for him to save himself.

From the moment that he found out half-vampires go feral, he had been searching all over the world for a half-blood who had lived longer than thirty years. But as the years passed, that dream started to dwindle. After a while, Keitaro tried to deny what he was. If he could just stop drinking blood all together, maybe his body would stop craving it every month. It never did and over time, he started having headaches and muscle fatigue whenever that time came around.

Keitaro spent the entire night with Kanon, seeing as it was her birthday. But at the same time, he decided the best thing to do would be to tell the rest of the Maaka family. Not that it mattered but he decided to let them in on his plans now that he was accepted by them.

"I never would have guessed there were that many half-vampires out there," Henry said thoughtfully after sitting and listening to Keitaro's intentions.

"You'd be surprised," Keitaro said, "There are actually more half-breeds out there then full bloods. Most of them never even know what they are. Humans and Vampires have been... well... together forever. Vampires don't realize that they could have children with Humans and many would have sex with a human, erase their memories, then leave without another thought."

He shot a quick glance over to Ren and realized that everyone else in the room was looking at him as well. Ren had slept with many human women and usually used sex to control them. And it had never crossed his mind that he could actually get any of them pregnant. But with the careless look in his eyes, it didn't bother him one bit.

Keitaro continued. "Women would have children and never know who the father was. So, you see, most vampires don't know of the existence and the child usually grows up normal... usually."

"What do you mean?" Karin asked.

"Well, not all half-breeds require blood. Some just never get the traits of their vampire parent. Those are the half-vampires that live an entire life happily without any problems. Then there are half-bloods like me..." He paused for a second and Kanon sensed a small amount of anger in him. She knew it was his self-hatred. "The only half-vampires you ever hear about are the ones that need to drink blood once a month. They are the ones that go feral and are a danger to everyone around them."

"Hunter," Anju said from her seat, "how do you know that going to this town will help prevent you from going feral."

Keitaro shook his head. "I don't know, Anju. But if there is a cure, I want to get my hands on it. Half-vampires have caused Cross Organization problems for years. This is my one chance to stop all of this."

He stood up and said farewell to the Maaka family. Kanon walked him to the door. As he left the room, Bridget glared at him with a stare of venom. Keitaro could feel her eyes on him but he didn't do anything about it. There was nothing he could do without starting a fight.

"You're really going to trust a half-vampire being near Kanon?" she asked when Keitaro was out of earshot. "How can you even let him past the barrier?"

"Keitaro doesn't seem like he would ever do anything to upset Kanon," Karin said in his defense. "Besides, my daughter likes being around him. We shouldn't try to force him out of her life."

"Tch," Ren snickered. "You're daughter acts just like my stupid little sister. She doesn't even know how dangerous he is."

"That's not true!" Karin whined. "If it weren't for him, Kanon wouldn't be with us right now."

"You're still going on about that?" Ren asked, annoyed. "You know it was him who convinced her to go to the elder house in the first place."

"Ren, stop messing with Karin," Carrera said before Karin could continue whining. She was not about to deal with her daughter crying again. "If Karin trusts Keitaro, you should trust her too, Ren."

"Thanks, Mama," Karin said.

"But," she continued, "It wouldn't be a bad idea if Kanon found a normal vampire."
"But..."

It was no use. The only reason that Keitaro was allowed to get anywhere near the Maaka mansion or Kanon was because Karin allowed it. It was the only thing that young Kanon wanted after the whole problem a year ago. Even Anju was against the idea of Keitaro knowing so much about them. She would like nothing more than to wipe his memory. They all knew that he had taken it upon himself to personally protect them, but they didn't want him to get near them. In all reality, it made all of them nervous to cross him, seeing that he was now the top vampire hunter. Though, Keitaro would never take it out on them.

Kanon walked with Keitaro all the way to the edge of the Maaka barrier before giving him a kiss. "Are you sure about this, Keitaro?"

He nodded and brushed hair out of her eyes. "Don't worry, Kanon. I'm sure of it this time. As soon as I find a cure, I'll be back in Tokyo."

Hours later when Keitaro was sitting on the plane about to leave Tokyo airport, he started wishing that he would have said something different to Kanon. The truth was, he knew that there was a town in America that many half-vampires lived, but he had no clue where it was. He had also managed to leave out the part that this wasn't the first time that Cross Organization had heard of a half-blood town. Keitaro's father had been desperately looking for a cure ever since he found out that his son had awoken. But all the so called towns that they have heard of before were fake and were never found. Keitaro had a very sickening feeling that this was a false town as well.

He also managed to leave out the fact that he had been having massive headaches all night while he was with Kanon. He was hiding it from her pretty well but he guessed that one of the family members saw him. Keitaro was supposed to feed almost a week ago, but he was refusing the temptation again. Now that he was on a packed plane with people all around him, thoughts started to cross his mind.

"There is nothing wrong with feeding on these pathetic humans, Keitaro," a voice was saying in his head. "Can't you smell the delicious scent of their blood all around. Go ahead... Bite them."

Keitaro squeezed his eyes shut as if in an attempt to block out the voice that was in his head. This was a new problem that had been happening recently. His own body was telling him to attack these people. He refused any temptation and even found himself arguing with himself.

I will not drink their blood, Keitaro thought. I don't need blood to survive.

"That's what you think, Keitaro," the voice replied in a dark, familiar sound. "But eventually your mind will snap from the pressure and you will do what you were born to do."

The voice in his head was not his own. It was a long ten hour flight, with the pain in his head. He even tried taking medicine, only to throw it back up in the toilet. As he looked at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror, he almost laughed weakly from the look of pain in his eyes. He looked like hell, as if he hadn't eaten anything in days. It was partially true. Food tasted like sand and ashes in his mouth, and he was only able to choke down enough food to survive. All he wanted was to live a normal, human life. But this was getting to be impossible.

"Keitaro, you're going to make it through this," he reassured himself. "You have to hold out long enough to find this cure."

He left the small, airplane bathroom and returned to his seat. But as he passed by a certain man sitting in an isle seat, he got a full whiff of the man's scent. Everything in Keitaro's mind went blank.


If you haven't figured out by now, I like to tell a story through a ton of side stories. This story in no way is going to follow Keitaro and his... problems. I'm just setting up the plot. Just letting you know ahead of time.