Sorry everyone, school went a little crazy and I haven't had time to work on this as much as usual. That said thank you to everyone who has either read or reviewed so far. You really make my day.
\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/
Zero stood right in front of Rido, his gun pressed into Rido's forehead and his arm shaking with the need to pull the trigger. Again Zero was struck by the arrogance of the purebloods. Here he was, the bringer of death, and Rido stood there with an amused look on his face, no fear evident at all: it was unnatural.
With what he had just done to Yuuki, all Zero wanted was to wipe that look off his face forever. "Die you bastard," Zero said, intending to pull the trigger of the Bloody Rose to accent his words. Seconds passed and nothing happened. This was not because Zero was pausing for dramatic effect, but rather because his finger wouldn't move. The muscles in his arm were tensed, but he couldn't force his finger to pull the trigger.
At the look of confusion on Zero's face Rido laughed. "So Kaname's little knight is just as ineffective as his pawns," He said slapping Zero away from him. "I don't understand why so many purebloods have taken an interest in you. First my dear fiancée Shizuka and then my niece and 'nephew'. There doesn't seem to be anything special about you from what I can see."
Zero stayed on the ground trying to figure out what had gone wrong. He had shot Kaname before, and just now he had shot Rido and Yuuki so obviously the purebloods were capable of being shot. This was the second time he had been unable to shoot a pureblood and the first time he had assumed was because Shizuka had turned him into a vampire. Why can't I shoot him Zero asked himself in anger both the times it has actually been important for me to shoot one of those damn purebloods, I couldn't do it.
Making sure to keep Zero in his line of sight, Rido walked to Yuuki and ran a finger up her back, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. The freshly spilled blood hit Zero's nose and made his throat constrict with hunger. Rido sensing the change in Zero smiled predatorily.
"So you thirst for her blood," he asked. "Do you love her?" Zero turned his head away instead of answering.
Yuuki sensed her uncle's anger at the silence of Zero, though she couldn't see that Zero had also snubbed Rido, and knew that she needed to draw his attention again to protect her childhood friend. "He doesn't love me," she said, "Not like you mean anyway. He likes me, but more like a sister. We were raised together for goodness sake."
"So naïve," Rido said running a finger gently up the side of her face, watching the skin around Zero's eyes tighten in anger as she twitched away. Then without warning he grabbed Zero by the hair and drug him around Yuuki to drop him at her feet. "That boy loves you. Otherwise your blood would not have satisfied his hunger and kept him from falling to Level E. Even with Kaname's blood in him, don't look so surprised boy, I can smell him in you, not just anyone's blood could have done that."
Yuuki couldn't look at Zero to see if Rido's words were true, because she was too embarrassed about being topless in front of her childhood friend. They had shared many things, but her nudity was too much for her.
"What would it take to cause you to go mad with your need to feed from her?" Rido asked, eyeing Zero. "Would it take more of her blood?" With that he ran a claw-like hand up Yuuki's back drawing blood with all five fingers and causing her to arch and cry out in pain.
"Stop it," Zero panted, still refusing to look at Rido because that would put Yuuki's naked form into his line of sight.
"Or you'll what?" Rido asked licking Yuuki's blood out from under his finger nails. Zero seemed to shrink as his shoulders sagged with the realization that he could do nothing. Riso wasn't one of those stupid Day Class fan girls that he could intimidate into doing what he wanted, nor was he one of the Level E's that Zero occasionally killed for the council.
"Zero," Yuuki breathed, tears filling her eyes as the helplessness she now saw in him. He had always seemed so strong, and now here he was broken. It made her hate Rido even more.
"Oh dear," Rido whispered in her ear, "I think I may have crushed his spirit. That was too easy. I think my next target will be the feral looking brunette over there that spoke out when you all first confronted me. Then I will move on to you. Time will be the taming factor with you, I believe. Besides, in chess one generally takes the pawns and lesser pieces before they challenge the King and Queen. "
For the first time in her life, Yuuki felt so much rage at his words that her limbs began to shake. She drew her breath in a shuddering gasp and felt her teeth grind together in murderous rage. Rido was standing there talking about people as though they were a game. Though what Shizuka had done to Zero was bad, she had acted out of revenge, not simply for her own amusement. At least her behavior made more sense to Yuuki. When Rido turned his back on her and walked toward the nobles, being sure to kick Zero on the way by, Yuuki felt heat spread through her body, originating somewhere near her heart.
"Rido," she said, surprised by the power in her own voice.
"I will be back with you shortly my dear," He replied turning his head slightly to look at her. Something he saw in her eyes must have surprised him because he stopped and turned to face her fully. "Now Yuuki," he said soothingly, "it would be a good idea to calm down now."
Hearing the changes in tone all of the vampires that were present, who had previously had their heads turned so that they didn't see what was going on, looked towards the two purebloods. From Rido, with the palms of his hands facing Yuuki at about chest high, to Yuuki who quite frankly was scary at the moment, though they never would have thought it possible. None of her usually kindness was present in her eyes, rather it had been replaced by power and they glowed a menacing red to accentuate the change. Her usually smiling face was replaced with cold calculation that was so foreign that they were unsure what she would do next. For the first time they could truly believe what their senses had told them: that Yuuki was a purebloodd vampire and not a human. Suddenly she smiled and that was actually worse than the cold calculation had been, because it was a cold and predatory smile that should never have been on her face.
"Actually, Uncle," Yuuki said coldly, "I think it would be a good idea if you died now." With that, a wave of power swept out from Yuuki destroying Rido where he stood. Not just ripping him limb from limb but vaporizing him. The wave didn't stop there though, The noble vampires watched as it extended across the campus destroying every vampire in its path, except for the night class who were left standing in piles of sand looking around curiously.
"Come back from that," Yuuki said before she felt her anger leave her and her knees go weak from the lack of the strength the anger had provided. Seeing their pureblood princess collapsing, the nobles rushed forward, but were beaten by Zero who caught her and eased her to the ground placing her head in his lap, where he proceeded to take off his coat to cover her nakedness. Not wanting to be outdone by a level D the nobles all followed suit and soon Yuuki was covered in a pile of coats.
"We should get that sword out of her shoulder so she can be more comfortable," Ruka suggested quietly. When no one immediately volunteered she said, "Aidou, why don't you try?" Rather than reply sarcastically he knelt down behind her and grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled, expecting it to come out easily. He was shocked when it didn't move. He tried again, pulling a little harder this time, and instead of the sword moving Yuuki's whole body moved and she screamed in pain.
"NO," she panted, "Just leave it. It hurts, but not as much as you yanking on it does."
"But Yuuik-sama," Kain began."
"Please," she begged, "Just leave it for now." Then she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. They were standing there around her trying to figure out what out what they were going to do next when they heard an odd sound, like an animal in pain.
\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/
The first thing Kaname saw when he reached the roof of the building was a circle of vampires around two vampires in the middle. As his eyes took in every detail of the scene his heart constricted within his chest. Lying stretched out on the ground covered with different coats was a figure with a head of long brown hair resting in the lap of a silver headed vampire with silent tears pouring from his violet eyes. For once his perfect composure failed him and he heard a strangled sort of noise, and even though he knew it came from him he didn't care.
He sprinted across the space to the circle of nobles where he proceeded to drop to his knees beside his sister and the woman he loved. The air was saturated with the scent of her blood. He reached out and gently stroked her bruised face. He lifted the coat covering her shoulders gently trying to find the source of the blood. He was shocked at the gaping hole left by the bullet in her left shoulder and the lacerated mess that was her skin. He reached out to touch her, and then pulled his hand back thinking better of it.
"What happened?" he asked in a cold dead voice not lifting his eyes from his fiancée.
"Kaname-sama" Aidou began, "I'm so sorry. . ."
"I don't want apologies!" Kaname snapped looking up with his eyes glowing. "I want to know what happened to the girl I left in your care. How did she get shot and end up in this condition?" As he continued speaking his words began leaving his mouth like daggers causing those around him to flinch at his anger. "I don't doubt that Zero shot her, but I want to know how it happened so that I can know whether to kill him quickly or draw it out and who else I should include in this destruction."
"Kaname-senpai" Yuuki breathed her eyelids fluttering open.
"Yuuki!" he cried in joy at seeing her open her eyes. She smiled weakly at his reaction to her and began to reach up to stroke his face with her right hand only to stop with a wince of pain and grab at her shoulder.
"Yuuki?" his joy turned instantly to worry; he looked more closely and noticed that underneath the coats there was a sword through her shoulder. He looked up in confusion; his "friends" had tried to take care of her, but had left something as obvious as a sword that could cause her pain in her body. He couldn't understand it. It wasn't like she would bleed to death if they took it out. It was actually more likely that the reverse would be true.
Seeing his leader's confused expression Kain replied, "We couldn't get the sword out of her shoulder, Kaname-sama."
"We tried," Ruka said with tears in her voice that were not present on her face, "but the more we pulled, the harder it seemed to be stuck and the more pain it caused her, so we just left it in as she asked us to. Maybe you can remove it."
"I'll try," Kaname said wanting that cursed weapon out of his dear girl. "Ruka can you hold her upright for me?"Ruka nodded wordlessly and knelt down and lifted Yuuki's small frame into a sitting position, careful to keep the coats wrapped around her and to not jar the sword. She ran the sword under her arm and held Yuuki in a gentle embrace, holding the back of her neck with one of her hands and whispering in her ear over and over that it would all be over soon.
Ruka's behavior only solidified Kaname's belief that he needed to know what had happened to Yuuki and that someone would pay for it. This belief was further strengthened when he grabbed Yuuki's shoulder to give himself the leverage to pull the sword and she flinched away from his touch. Unsure of what he had done to hurt her, he changed the grip so that his hand was resting around the sword, and not actually restraining her. He pulled on it gently, expecting it to slide out easily, but it didn't even act as though he was putting any force on it at all so he pulled a little harder thinking that it may be stuck in the bones of her shoulder. This time the sword moved a little bit, but Yuuki cried out and arched her back in pain causing Kaname to stop.
"I'm so sorry Yuuki," Kaname said, "I know this is hurting you, but we have to get this sword out for your body to heal. I'm going to pull again on the count of three, are you ready?" Yuuki nodded weakly. "Ok," Kamane took a deep breath hating that he was hurting her it went against everything in him to cause her any pain even if it was for either of their own goods. "One . . . two . . ." but before he could say "three," Kaien Cross's hand was placed on his own restraining him from pulling again.
"Kaname," Cross said in a voice that was almost unrecognizable as his own. "Don't try to pull that sword out. Please allow me to do it."
"Headmaster," Kaname said, "I do not believe that is a good idea. Even though I know that you are not hurting her for your own pleasure, I do not know if I will be able to restrain myself if she cries out while you try to remove the sword. I may attack you and possibly even kill you. Pureblood vampires are very protective of those they love."
"So are humans," Kaien said, "and if I let you try to remove that sword you will not be able to and it will only cause her more pain. That is a specialized hunter sword that is designed to open like an umbrella once vampire blood touches it so it can't be removed during battle. The only way to pull it out is if the vampire is dead, or if a hunter who has nothing but love in his heart for that vampire removes it. Watch."
Kaname reluctantly released his hold on the sword and waited while Kaien closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and resolutely grabbing the hilt of the sword and pulling it out in one clean stroke. Kaname's fears proved to be unfounded because all Yuuki did was pant a little as the sword came free. She had heard Kaname's words and had bitten her lip in an effort to keep from crying out no matter how much it hurt because she didn't want to see her adoptive father hurt by an angry Kaname or the other way around.
Kaien gave Kaname a weak smile and a nod, which Kaname returned before he looked at Yuuki with anguish in his eyes. The next thing he had to do would not be painless or easy. He had to get that bullet out of her shoulder. He felt his limbs grow cold and a strange itchy feeling in his throat at the knowledge of what he was going to have to do.
"Yuuki," Kaname said gently, "I'm going to get the bullet out of your shoulder now. It's going to hurt, but I have to do it. Try not to move too much. I'll be as quick as I can." The sorrow in his voice made Yuuki cry. So many people had been hurt tonight just because she hadn't been strong enough to destroy RIdo until she had been provoked.
She didn't have long to contemplate how everything was her fault thought, because soon thought was erased by the white hot pain of Kaname's fingers in her shoulder searching for the bullet. He felt remorse at the feeling of her muscles twitching in pain around his fingers, but it was necessary to remove the bullet, so he dug deeper, until he felt his fingers touch the bullet. He tried to grab it but she twitched away in pain when he touched it. Despite this, he delved again and this time knowing about where it would be, grabbed it and pulled, a little roughly since it was causing him pain as well and removed it from her shoulder. He dropped it onto the roof and wordlessly looked at Ruka who passed Yuuki to him without a question.
Yuuki crawled willingly into his lap but when he put an arm around her flinched away from his touch. She looked up at him with sad eyes that he had never wanted to see in her face and her face held both an apology and a request. He nodded in assent and tipped his head sideways exposing his neck to her. She smiled sadly and licked up the side of his neck before she sank her fangs in. While she drank he placed his arm around her waist and stroked her hair, surprised to find that she was crying while she fed. He was not in a position to know that they were tears of relief and sorrow at what she had been through and forced to do that day. He had no idea what had happened but Kaname was going to find out, and then there would be retribution.
The noble vampires saw the look on their leader's face and prayed that when Kaname found out what had happened, they would not be held responsible.
\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/:\/
Here we are ya'll a nice long chapter to make up for the wait. I hope you enjoy.
~Stickdonkeys