Disclaimer: I do not own the VK characters.

A/N: Hi. I'm fast am I? A little short treat for you coz I think I won't be updating for a while. Will be stuck with work *groans*. By the way, despite of the lame new title, at this very moment, 181 of you guys has read the chapters, but still no reviews, just some new PMs inquiring about my real age.. What's that about? *laughs*. Nonetheless, thank you, I'm touched *bows*. Read away..

The Midori Incident

Chapter 4

She had flung herself into his arms as soon as he stepped into the mansion. The old butler welcomed him with a deep respectful bow before taking the luggage away from Seiren's hands. Stroking the messy brown tresses, he noticed her red puffy eyes; resentment flamed in his veins. "Any news of him?" he asked.

She looked back up in dismay, "There is no news of them. What should we do, Kaname?" Them she said, he gritted his teeth and pulled on his indifferent mask. Seiren had disappeared, her silent efficiency never ceased to amaze him.

Nobody would be reckless enough to harm Aidou, an heir from a prominent vampire family without dire consequences. But Kiriyu Zero was another whole different dimension. That impudent mouth of his alone will be enough to trigger his termination. "I'm sure things will be fine," he said with deliberate gentleness.

He was sure just because he could feel the faint pulsing life of a certain silver haired vampire in his heart. Weak but stable. Kaname had never believed he had developed some kind of connection with the hunter after donating his pure blood on a few occasions. Of course he could feel Yuuki too but it was natural because they had several exchanges from time to time. Can she sense him like I do? Kiriyu Zero used to feed off her and she, his paramour had always secretly pined for that dirty ex-human's blood since the day they officially parted. The day she had tainted herself with that lawfully forbidden life source; the blood of a hunter. Would there be some sort of a link between them?

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"Would you care to tell me why exactly are we hanging around here, Kiriyu?" groused Aidou. They were currently holed up in a dank old office set on the first floor of the meat processing plant. Musty furniture and cobwebs told them that the place had long been abandoned. Huge letters painted in red spelling "MIDORI" was painted on the grey zinc walls. No wonder they went out of business. Midori.. hah! Green meat, anyone?

Aidou had called his father's head of security using a cell phone they found on the knocked out hunter. That was the only call he had been able to make before the battery was drained. He prayed Takahashi would get to that plant in the middle of nowhere soon because dawn was approaching, golden streaks of light were visible at the horizon. The plant was set deep in a forested area with a gravel road leading deeper into the hulking trees, no vehicles were found within the vicinity. Their captor had had not been working alone.

His internal clock was begging for the desperately needed rest but given the current scenario, it was not an option. Being stuck with Kiriyu Zero alone was a sizable risk to take given the Level-D was severely hurt and it will be only in a matter of time before he would drop to Level-E, jump him and tear off his throat in his bloodied craze. If Es were nasty to deal with, a hunter trained E would be catastrophic. Come on, Takahashi. Get me out of here.

Although the assailant had been detained, he had yet to uncover the modus operandi of the whole thing. He and Kiriyu are two odd choices to be abducted. But to be killed, yes of course; in Zero's case. There are a bunch of people who wanted him dead of course. A vampire hunter is as dangerous as a caged tiger; he'll bite when he gets the chance. Not that he cared.

They had a good look at the man. Middle aged, dressed in no nonsense attire; a long dusty coat over a plaid shirt and dark pants. The weather beaten, grizzled face was unfamiliar to Zero. No documents to which Zero had laughed in his face citing that there was no villain stupid enough to carry Ids. How should he know? There was nothing special about Mr. Ogre apart from his imposing height and a crooked nose. He doesn't look anything like 'experienced' and 'cunning' as Kiriyu had previously warned. However, that mumbo-jumbo with the seals and spells Mr. Ogre deployed on him was something he had never seen before. Maybe he was good, but Kiriyu Zero was better and way much hotter. Gaaah, no he's not! I hate Kiriyu! I hate Kiriyu Zero! I hate Ze.. No, no, no! I hate Mr. Bull-Headed-Impudent-Popsicle!

After securing the bastard in the freezer, the vampire hunter decided to sit out in a corner of that small office space; his long legs stretched out on the dusty floor, arms hanging awkwardly by his sides while his face hidden beneath the long messy silver bangs. His lips were no longer blue from the chill.

Aidou had silently followed him up there; safety in numbers. Even there were only two of them. Hell, after watching the silver haired vampire's course of action in getting their asses out of the ice-box, that swift assault on Mr. Ogre, he made a deduction; Kiriyu Zero was the current potential danger and he was crazy enough to stick around the temperamental hunter.

Zero appeared to be sleeping but Aidou suspected otherwise. The boy was struggling to get his body under control. Without blood he needed time to heal. Although he had little experience with Level-Ds, he knew well enough that Ds succumbed to bloodlusts easier than the rest of them. He hoped Kiriyu Zero would pull through because Aidou could not afford to have a raving mad ex-human hunter chomping on his hide; not in his current weakened condition. He could not even freeze an ant. The hunter manacles had messed up his circuits.

The wretched gun, the Bloody Rose was nowhere to be found and to his delight, Zero was less threatening without his firearm. Bored and needing something to get his mind off his own thirst before help would arrive, he should try rousing Zero. Yes, thirst. The deep gash that lumbering oaf inflicted on him earlier was no joke. It had closed but left him sore but bruises were fading and so were those burns on his wrists. Lucky for him it was summer or else he would have frozen to death in his filthy torn shirt. God, he was bored. Perhaps he could tease Mr. Popsicle a bit "Hey, are you still there?" No response. Fine, try harder! "Should I kiss you back to life?" crouching down by the passive figure, he deliberately dropped his voice lower, like the way those screaming fan girls back in Cross Academy were so crazy about.

It worked because Zero snapped his head back up, shoved Aidou away and sent his most lethal death-glare at him, "I certainly did not remember inviting you to stay. Go away, princess!"

Princess? Satisfied with the reaction, he sneered while dusting himself up "Why, I certainly did not remember you regarding me in that way, dear knight."

Aidou snickered as soon as Zero flushed bright red, jumped to his feet, turned away and cursed under his breath. How cute was that? Wait.. I did not just say he was.. Gaaah! No way in hell. But he certainly was. Gaaahh! Stop it! Stop it! I hate hunters! I hate Kiriyu! I hate Kiriyu because he's damn rude, selfish, dirty, sexy, incorri.. What? Snap out of it, Hanabusa! Bad hormones, evil hormones, go away hormones!

Fisting his hair, Aidou braved his eyes to study the silhouette of the other's bare luminous back; subconsciously admiring the strong sinewy muscles, that graceful neck begging to be ripped open and he realized it was the first time he saw so much skin on Kiriyu; to his ultimate horror, he liked it. He liked it, and imagined; doing all the possible things to get that beautiful being crushed, conquered and destroyed under his will.

He adored beauty but beauty that comes with a lower being deserves to be destroyed, he remembered the old teaching well. Forget the teaching; why not let his nature decide? Kiriyu is an enemy, a hunter. Death by his noble hands would be condoned. But then he'll become one of those vampires that his revered pureblood abhorred. Curse his vampire hormones. You're above that, Hanabusa. Kaname would scorn you to your grave. Figuratively of course, an urn will do just fine.

"Seriously, there's no need for you here. My people could handle this from now. I'll personally make sure your superiors would be properly briefed on this incident," he paused when he noticed Zero's broad shoulders stiffened.

"Pick yourself up and go," Aidou tried his best to sound haughty like he was supposed to be plus he resented the faint twinge of concern lingering in his heart.

"Really, senpai?" the silver haired vampire turned to face him so fast sending plumes of dust swirling in the small space. Aidou coughed and clamped his mouth with his hand. "Refresh your memory a bit, blood-sucking genius. That bastard argued with someone and I doubt it was the misus. Take that scum away with your rescue party quietly as I'm staking this place out. I have no time to deal with you. Don't get in my way," the piercing amethyst still held some red in them. They look so pretty like that. I should pry them out and preserve in nitrogen freeze and give them to Kaname-sama as a trophy. Snap out of it Hanabusa! Bad, bad, bad vampire!

Then it turned into a staring match. The amethyst took on red again; anger crept into those alluring irises as if the silver haired vampire hunter had read Aidou's dark thoughts. The noble was just about to open his mouth with a sting when a shadow dropped down not more than three feet away from him from the high ceilings.

There was the glint of a long metallic blade. He jumped back and his eyes caught Zero brandishing the boot knife out to attack. His own senses flared in alarm and made a quick assessment of the newcomer.

Tall, lithe, a face that looks fortyish, a lower-class vampire. That was when he recognized the person. "Takashi! Kiriyu! Stand down, both of you!" he shouted but the hunter hissed and kept his stance. The sword was also brought into a slashing poise.

"Now!" he growled furiously at the two. The head of security reluctantly backed down; sheathing his katana upon the order but Zero remained on guard.

"He's one of my men, Kiriyu!" but Zero's lips took on an evil grin as he eyes the tall dark haired vampire, sizing him up.

Aidou wrung his hands, frustrated "Hell, you're so stupid! I. Know. Him. Put that thing away coz I'm getting out of here." However the vampire hunter still had his killer sights on Takahashi.

"Aidou-sama, master is waiting for your return. We must go,"

"One of your lackeys, senpai? " Zero stared intently at the suit clad Level-C, the knife still poised for an attack.

The vampire hunter searched Takahashi critically, a habit out of his training. Then he sneered "Of course, you're the Aidou's alpha Bloodhound. I've seen you around,"

"Seriously Kiriyu, you're nothing but another of those delusional hunter crack-heads. Let's go Takahashi. Instruct the others to extract that scum in the freezer," he ordered and the green eyed vampire who in turn, nodded in obedience "Yes, Aidou-sama."

"But do tell me, Aidou-sama. Are you sure Taka-chan is truly your dog?" Zero leered disrespectfully.

Aidou fumed but he did notice a subtle twitch in Takahashi's composure. Better to trust his one of his own than a manic Level-D, "Shut up and just go, Kiriyu! I. Have. No. Patience for your games."

"You might want to listen to me, professor as I think Takahashi here might have discovered the physics of teleportation," uttered Zero, wearing a mockingly earnest expression. Like a schoolboy lobbying for his teacher's approval. God, he's delusional AND annoying.

Sensing Aidou's mood, Zero pointed the tip of the knife at the still guard. "This hound arrived too swiftly, don't you agree?" the hunter snickered and gestured to a yellowing piece of paper lying innocently on the floor with a bony finger. There was some sort of an address printed boldly across it.

Aidou's brain went to work; there was some numbers; and he saw the connotation of Zero's rant. The postcode showed the place was at least 80 kilometres away from their hometown. In impossible distance to be covered within the minutes after his call for an extraction. Which means, Takahasi had been there all the time.

Seeing the mild panic in Aidou's eyes, Zero grinned smugly. "Unless, he's a pureblood in disguise," Zero punctuated his words by throwing the knife precisely into Takahashi's right kneecap. Howling, the Level-C caught Aidou violently by the shoulders and shoved the noble crashing into the nearest wall.

There's a forest fire in the neighbouring country. I'm a bit sick and the air's horrible. Stuck indoor coz my area got hit by heavy, heavy, foul smog. I may be agonizing but they must be suffering. Those poor souls. Hope it clears out soon. Take care and wear a mask if you're hit too.