A/N: Sorry sorry sorry it took me so long! I was incredibly busy with so many things at once, writing kinda dissapeared to the background. Please enjoy this chapter
CH 4: The Hermit.
The glass mirror shattered to pieces as Kaname gave his reflection an infuriated window to his right cracked but stayed in place. As he covered his eyes, trying to contain himself, Aidou smacked the door open and moved to Kaname's side so fast, he wouldn't even have been seen by human eyes. He was closely followed by Ruka and Kain.\., although they followed at a more controlled pace.
"Kaname-sama!"
His three closest friends echoed his name in unsison, showing their concern for their friend and master. They looked at the mirror shards and the cracked windwo, and back at their friend again, surprised that he didn't contain his powers, curious and afraid to what might have cost this outburst.
"I believe I must apologise, Aidou."
Aidou did not hide his surprise and confusement. Hiding his feelings never had been his strongest virtue
"Kaname?"
"It seems my selfcontrol is almost as bad as yours when it comes to Cross Yuki."
Aidou looked at him with eyes popped wide open in shock and disbelief. Kaname was still covering his eyes, but he heard Ruka turn on her heels, attempting to leave.
"Ruka. Thank you for feeding me. I won't be needing your blood anymore."
She left without replying and Kaname knew very well why. He knew she had been in love with him for a very long time. And he cared about her, even though he realised fully well that he had been using her the past couple of months. She had offered him her blood , so he wouldn't have to feed on humans, but it was hardly sattisfying. He was thankfull for it. But he just didn't feel The Connection with her. Something he did feel with Yuki. Yuki was meant to be his life partner, even though she did not know that herself. But he had known from the very first time he met her. That day, almost fourteen years ago.
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"Excuse me, Cross-san? May I introduce the Kuran prince to you? "
The ashy haired man turned around to face Kaname, and his legal guardian. His face lit up with a slight smile, and he bowed.
"It is always a pleasure, Aido-san."
"This is my protégé, Kuran Kaname."
Cross Kaien looked at him, and to Kaname's surprise he kneeled and bowed his head.
"It is my honor to meet you at last, Prince Kaname. Your mother has told me so much about you. I look forward to serving you, as I have served your parents.
Kaname looked down on the man, who looked like he was in his early thirties, humbly kneeled before him. He didn't like all these people bowing to him.
"Please get up."
His voice sounded annoyed and Aidou Nagamichi gave him a scolding look from the side, remembering to keep up his parent's good reputation. And, more importantly, act like the royal blood he was.
"Excuse me for my rudeness. Please tell me, how did you know my late mother?"
As they were talking, Kaname listened to the explanation of this man. To his surprise, the man appeared to have been close friends with his parents, and knew every little thing about them. But he was shocked when Cross Kaien told him about his secret job, and at the end of his story he looked at Nagamichi with a barely hidden anger.
"A vampire hunter?"
"We can trust him, Kuran-sama. He is on our side. He's helping us to keep the criminals among us in check. He is the only human capable of punishing an Offender."
Before Kaname could answer, a little girl, with long, straight, mahogony hair and brown eyes like a wild deers, came running out of the house.
"Daddy! Daddy! Look! I caught a butt...butt...butterfly!"
The small, five year old girl struggled with the name of the insect a little, but proudly showed it to her dad. And sure as she said, the butterfly was calmly resting on her little thumb. Her eyes sparkled like stars, and her smile was blinding. She was obviously excited to show her new little friend. Cross Kaien turned and kneeled in front of her, admiring the butterfly.
"Now Yuki, It is beautifull, but you know you can't keep it. A butterfly needs to be free. It would be cruel to keep it captive, you know that right?"
"Why, daddy? I'll take care of him."
As Kaien was gently explaining to his daughter why she couldn't keep the butterfly, Kaname firmly grabbed Nagamichi's lower arm.
"Aidou...I feel something I have never felt before. What is with this girl?"
Aidou lowered his voice to answer him.
"She is his adopted daughter, Kuran-sama. He found her on the side of the road last year. Hurt, barefoot. They haven't found her parents yet, so he takes care of her. There is no hope they will ever find her parents. It's been over a year. There was a car found,a rough mile from where he found her, crashed and burned, with two burned bodies in it, but there was not enough there to identify if they were her parents ,so he officially adopted her. Why do you ask? Are you not feeling well?"
"I feel like she's binding me to this very spot."
In the meantime Kaien had gotten back up to his feet, his daughter at his side.
"May I introduce my daughter to you, Prince Kuran? This is Yuki."
Two big, brown eyes looked up at him, observing him. And then she gave him her brightest smile yet.
"Kuran-sama!"
And his heart felt warm for the first in a long time.
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That had only been the first of many times Kuran met her when she was a little girl. A strange feeling, like magnetism, kept leading him back to her, visiting her whenever he could. After a while she started calling him Kaname,wich made him feel strangely happy. He started playing with her, even though Aidou Nagamichi tried to discourage him to visit her as often as he did. But he couldn't help it.
"From the moment your father and I met Yuki, I knew I would make her my wife. From that first moment, I've felt the Connection with her."
Aidou and Kain looked at him. Aidou looked very much shocked, where Kain didn't even move a muscle. But Kain was the first to speak.
"The Connection? With a human? Are you sure, Kaname sama?"
"More sure than i have ever been. And that's one of the reasons I made a hermit out of myself. I can't hurt her again."
"Again?"
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...
In the meantime, on the other side of the mansion, Yuki woke up in her own bed, immediately confused about how she got there. The last thing she remembered was pricking her finger on the thorn of that rose. Who was that man that was there with her? Did he bring her here?
He was clearly one of the Lord's private staff members, considering the way he was dressed. But what happened after she pricked her finger?
"You're finally awake. God, you're a nuisance."
Yuki turned her head towards Zero's voice, seeing him sitting on a chair next to her bed, his legs stretched out, his arms crossed, like he was watching over her.
"What happened?"
Zero didn't look at her, but looked away as if something was annoying him.
"Apparently you fainted after pricking your finger on a thorn. I can't believe you can't even stand a little bit of blood."
"I can! I never fainted at the sight of blood!"
"Well, you ended up here. You explain it then."
But Yuki couldn't. She couldn't remeber anything at all. Apart from that man.
"Who was that man in the library?"
Zero's eyes flashed up to her face, only to quickly look away again.
"What are you talking about? You were alone when Shiki found you. Rima called me and ordered me to bring you to your room."
"There was someone there with me when I pricked my finger, Zero."
"You must be delussional."
His obvious disbelief annoyed Yuki tremendously. Like she would just make up a face like that. It was the handsomest face she ever saw, and she simply could not forget it. How could that just be her imagination? It infuriated her that Zero didn't believe her.
"Get out, Zero. I want to take a bath."
As she threw her covers to the side, Zero firmly but gently pushed her back in the matress, and covered her up again. He was now sitting on the edge of the bed, one hand next to each of her sides, leaning over her a little. It made Yuki uncomfortable.
"Zero?"
"You're suposed to rest. Go to sleep. I'm going down to eat. I'll save some for you and bring it up later."
Zero bowed down, gently kissed her forehead and got up. Surprised and confused, Yuki watched him leave, and turned to her belly, hugging her pillow.
"What did he do that for? Stupid Zero."
But Zero had been right. She felt exhausted and before long, Yuki fell sound asleep.
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"Yuki...Yuki...Yuki...I love you."
"Stop..Stop! What are you doing?"
The man from the library pushed her back against the wall, putting his hands on her, kissing her neck, looking at her with these hungry eyes. Suddenly he landed her on the bed, crawling on top of her as he tugged at her clothes.
"Ahh, please! You can't..."
She gasped when he kissed her lower ribs,and kissed a trail to her breasts.
"I love you Yuki."
"I don't know who you are!"
His face snapped up, his glowing red eyes meeting hers. Yuki screamed in horror when she saw blood dripping from his lips, and his lips pulled up in a wicked smile.
"Remember me, Yuki. Love me. Remember me."
"Stop it!"
But the man leaned down again, and Yuki once again screamed as she felt a sharp pain just below her ribs. When she looked down, she saw that he was still kissing her, but it seemed like he was trying to leave a hickey, and then she saw the blood.
He bit her! He was drinking her blood! He looked up at her again, his eyes glowing blood red. And Yuki screamed on top of her lungs.
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Yuki jerked upright in her bed, sweating. She was out of breath, her troath hurt, and she felt tears rolling down her face. She threw aside the covers for the second time that day, and pulled up her shirt, feverishly touching her sides and her ribs.
She was okay. Everything was ok. It was a dream. There was no blood, no wound.
Yuki slowly got up and walked to the bathroom, turning on the shower. When the water reached a nice temperature, she gor in the shower, and starting washing up, hoping the warm water and the nice calming scent of her bathsoap would wash away the nighmare. When she was done , she carefully got out to dry off, and turned to face the mirror, to see how tired and worn out the nightmare had made her look.
She screamed in surprise and fear when she saw the reflection of his face behind her in the mirror. She quickly turned around to face him, but he wasn't there.
Had Zero been right? Was she imaganing things?
A/N: Thanks for reading again! let me know what you think!