Chapter 4: Saving You

As of this moment, Kai had decided that the Council was a joke.

Here she was, sitting on a comfortable sofa in the corner, observing the old vampires talk amongst themselves. She had been worried for nothing. Why?

Because they had nothing.

It had been a long walk for her to get where she was now. Ichio had brought her to the northern most point of the ship. Kai imagined that maybe he planned to dispose of her right away instead of bringing her to the council. Alas, no such thing occurred. She was led to a door, 4 men surrounding the perimeter.

'Guards...' She thought.

The door led them further, down one flight of staircases and onto another where a lengthy hallway awaited them. This hallway narrowed to a brilliant white door. And behind that door was this room. This wasn't in the blueprints but they must be somewhere near the hull. Ichio had directed her to the sofa and taken his seat at the head of the long table at the centre of the room. Men and women alike between their mid fifties to sixtires were seated across from each other (No one would ever guess that they were over a couple centuries). Normally, one would think that a person impersonating another would be a little scared. Not Kai. No sir, not her. She was just resigned to giving the cushions near her a few more fluffs.

And though she couldn't see them and them, her, she could still hear the. The Council made no efforts in their criticism of her.

"She has Amaya's eyes . And if her eyes are like Amaya's, they are the same as her twin's."

"Regardless of relation, Amaya has already set her heart on that girl being her niece. Rido-sama also recognized that girl as his niece."

"But do we really know if Rido-sama has even met her?" An oily voice suggested. "There has been a record of Amaya's instability."

"Perhaps you should ask your niece herself, Katsuo."

The member named Katsuo was snide. "Perhaps."

"And ask for the papers that were recovered. Rido-sama must have looked over them."

"If Rido-sama says they're fine, we'll accept this as fact."

There were then mumbles of agreement.

Rido-sama this, Rido-sama that. Everything revolved around the pureblood. She zoned in and out of the conversation but it seemed that the same points were being tossed around about her being a fraud or not, those same points coming back to the topic of Rido-sama's verification being needed. Kai was strangely displeased that they had not even asked her questions about her origins. She wouldn't have given them a straight answer but it could have at least given a reason for being here. Compared to being stuffed in here, she'd much rather be outside.

There was a sound to her left.

Kai located the source, a vent harrowed into the wall, the grill firmly bolted. Nothing out of the ordinary there but as Kai peered closer, she realized that the person that she thought she saw behind the metal bars was definitely not supposed to be there.

Shiki…

She stared for a couple of seconds and then shook her head, giving it a light tap of her fist. She must have been imagining his voice…and face for that matter. How weird….

"Pst!"

Kai didn't even bother looking; it was a waste of her time… it was just her mind playing games with her.

"PST!"

Strangely, her imagination was making the "psts" more aggravated.

Hmmm….the wonders of the mind…..

"Baka. Look. Over. Here."

Kai nearly smiled again. For the sake of indulging her imagination, she looked back down at the vent and stared. In disbelief.

The bolts had been mysteriously unscrewed and the metal grate was set aside neatly and noiselessly. And then she saw his head, a messy brown head that was halfway out the vent. And dang, did he look angry. That look was too real for her to just dismiss as imagination.

She looked over in the direction of the Council. They were still debating her case, so she turned and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Shiki lowered his eyes and grumbled something incomprehensible.

"What?" Kai whispered.

Cross at her hearing failure, he started to shift and move back inside the shaft.

"Saving you. Hurry up..."

But she wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

"Why?"

"Ichijo said that he'd take my pocky away…" Shiki offered grudgingly, his voice muffled in the vent already.

"Right." She curtly replied, casting one more look behind her before sneaking inside the vent shaft after Shiki feet first. Before completely going down the length of the shaft, Kai pulled the vent cover back in place and melded back in place with a small electric current. Satisfied, Kai followed after Shiki, finding him laying around at a T-intersection of the shaft and another . Once caught up with him, he was quick to get back up on his knees and guide her down the shaft.

"Where are we going?" She asked tentatively. She liked the silence but at the same time, she also would like to know where they were heading. Shiki looked back and seemed to mutter to himself, stopping in the middle of the shaft so abruptly that Kai almost got her face stamped on by his shoe. He reached for something in his pocket, normally a difficult thing to do in such a tight space, but he managed to do so, making it look easy. What he had taken out was a crumpled map of some kind which she saw was a map of some kind, littered with red arrows pointing in the most absurd directions.

"….Your room." Shiki pronounced before pocketing the paper again. Kai nodded her head, accepting the answer without complaint, and waited for him to continue.

With the Council…

"Was the act convincing enough?" A voice spoke up a few minutes after Kai had escaped with Shiki through the ventilation shafts.

"Yes." Ichijo Asato, the head of the Council, leaned forward in his chair and locked his hands together on the table with a malicious smirk on his lips. "It's best she believes that we are ignorant about her origins."

"Such a pity though, losing Hana." Someone said. "If only she hadn't opposed Rido-sama."

"Do not make unnecessary comments."

"In any way, that girl left in a rush with that quiet boy. Senri, was it?" Katsuo yawned in response.

"Katsuo, at least try to remember the name of Rido-sama's son." Ichio sternly proposed.

The man bowed his head and said, "Yes, sorry. But to some degree, he is my neice's son. Allow me that slight discrepancy."

Ichio merely accepted the excuse and moved on the next matter that Rido had left for him to go through with.

"We have done what was requested of us."

He then stood up and faced the wall, back facing the others. "I trust that all of you know that nothing leaves this room."

He was met with silence and then resumed, "That being said, this meeting is now dismissed."

The head of the Council heard the slow shuffling of one chair and then another and then another. In due course, everyone had exited the room and it was only Ichio left behind. Only he knew what was to happen exactly to Toya Rima in the end.

Pity that the Toya women have to die so young... Ichio thought before turning around to leave the room.

Kai and Shiki had been crawling in the ventilation shafts for more than 10 minutes and finally, Shiki came to a stop when they saw an opening that lead to a familiar room.

'My room….' Kai thought, trying to rub her knees. They ached from being scraped against the metal bottom of the shaft so much. 'Why stop here? Isn't he going to open it?'

She was just about to voice her question aloud but then Shiki spoke, with the hint of a smile.

"Baka Aido, Ichijo's instructions were easy."

Shiki bit his finger and a string of blood floated out towards the grate opening. Kai watched from behind him in disclosed awe and waited as the blood's acidic-like properties melted away most of the bolts that were holding the vent cover on to the opening. Once the vent cover fell off, the two of them quickly scrambled out of the shaft and attached it back. Once that was accomplished, Shiki went straight for the door without saying anything.

For some reason, Kai wanted to tell him to wait. She didn't know what for though. She merely watched him open the door to her room like he was acting in a slow motion movie and the moment the door slammed, the significance of his departure dawned on her. As if her mind had just reactivated itself, two words delicately rolled off of her unmoving lips.

"…..Thank…you." Kai thanked the eerie silence of her room and paused. She promptly dropped down into her queen sized bed. She laid there, motionless like a broken doll whose strings had been cut off, but the gears in her mind were turning as she began to think of what her next move should be.

Outside of Kai's room, the rest of the vampires were happily enjoying themselves. Laughter and conversation could be heard in every aspect of the ship. In fact, it seemed to Shiki that there was no place where he couldn't hear someone joking about the current stock market values or having a heated discussion about how so and so looked after only purchasing a certain cream or whatever.

Not that he cared. He had planned to return to his rooms and gather some sleep but somehow, his feet had lead him back to the area where Kai was currently staying.

That girl… Shiki scoffed and ignored some younger vampire girls who had the appearance of fifteen and fourteen year olds and were giggling just like humans too. If they had wanted acknowledgement, they were looking at the wrong man. Where's Aido when he needed him?

"Yo."

Shiki blinked and noticed Kain behind him, relaxed in a pair of khakis and open collared shirt.

"Yo?" Shiki replied dumbly, not knowing what else to say.

"So how'd it go?"

Shiki arched an eyebrow at Kain. "What went?"

"You know, that thing Ichijo had planned out for you." Kain pressed, wondering whether Shiki really had no clue. "With your cousin?"

Shiki simply shrugged his shoulders and began walking. Kain took a few steps to catch up with him and they were walking side by side through the corridors.

"I'll take it that it went well. Or maybe, you don't want to tell me?"

"Okay." Shiki muttered. 'Let's go with that...'

"SHIKI!"

It was the elder Shiki. Kain did not want to be part of whatever was going to happen so he quickly departed. In his experience, it was better to quit certain things ahead, before they got bad.

"Shiki! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!" Amaya, glorious and as carefree as ever, approached her son in knee high khaki pants and a turquoise blouse, looked stunningly attractive on the former movie star.

"Why?" Shiki replied shortly, already suspiscious.

"I forgot where Kai's room was and…"

'Oh reallly?' Shiki thought it strange.

"It's down this corridor. Take a left, door 42-something." Shiki said, swung around and hoped for a hasty escape. Unfortunately, his mother grabbed his shoulder.

"Not so fast! I'm busy right now- Oh wait! Touya-san! Don't forgot to send your sister my regards!" Amaya got sidetracked as she started greeting passing people...

"Anyways, could you do me a favor?"

'Do I even have the option of refusing to do it?' Shiki wondered. 'Look what happened the last time I did a favor...'

"No."

"Of course, you can!" Amaya carried on brightly, like she had never even heard his refusal. Shiki swore she did it on purpose…

"All you have to do is give this to her! Just go to her room and drop it off will you? Not just in front of the door but actually go inside and chat for a while."

He had tried, and now given up. Who were they talking about again?

"Who?" asked the stoic Shiki.

Amaya laughed as if her son had just told the most hilarious joke. "Kai of course. Do you think that I would allow you to go into anyone else's rooms or for anyone else to enter her rooms."

"Right…" Shiki answered in a less enthusiastic voice.

"Here you go!" Shiki's mother dropped a light package wrapped in light brown paper into his outstretched arms and patted her son on the cheek lightly.

"What is it?" Shiki asked curiously, poking in random places at the package in an attempt to determine exactly what he was delivering to the girl.

"It's a secret." Amaya giggled with a cheeky look. Shiki didn't answer and Amaya's smile grew wider. "You'll find out soon enough."

Before leaving, Amaya paused and turned around. "By the way, we're planning on stopping by the Isles for a couple of days. Did you remember to pack your swimming trunks?"

"…."

Amaya grinned and took her leave without another word. Shiki noticed, before leaving himself, a woman come up to his mother and speak in a very rushed manner. He hung around for a few moments and watched his mother's face grow increasingly agitated and even angry as the other woman, whom he finally realized was her subordinate, relayed some kind of news to her. Unexpectedly, Amaya's hand struck the other woman, causing the other to stumble for a moment, clutching her face.

"I am sorry, Shiki-sama. She was taken before I could-"

"No excuses!" Amaya's harsh voice reminded Shiki of a time when he had insulted his father in early childhood. He had gotten slapped across the face exactly the same way as the subordinate had and knew from similar incidents that the tone of voice she was using now was a extremely restrained version of just a one hundredth of her anger at this moment. He wondered….what news could've possibly caused her to react like this.

"How could the Council do this without my consent? This is my ship until Rido returns! If my niece is concerned, so am I." She snarled, still restrained, but louder than before, almost hysterical from the thought.

Shiki left before he got too caught up with this mess his cousin's sudden appearance had brought about.

He wove his way through the corridors and arrived at her door in a handful of minutes. He rapped his knuckles against the solid wood of the door.

Silence.

Shiki raised his hand and gave another knock, one that was substantially louder than the first. But still, no answer. Was she purposely trying to test his patience again like when he had been forced to "save" her (used in Ichijo's own terms) from the Council "dark intentions" (again, another reference taken from Ichijo who had used it in his speech to convince Shiki to reclaim his cousin and set her free).

'I have my own suspicions about her myself and I'm sure Ichijo does too…yet why does he continue to stand up for her?' Shiki contemplated as he shifted with irritation in front of the door.

.She!

Shiki knocked repetitively on the door as hard as he could without causing an indent in the wood.

He waited. For the last time.

A hopeless feeling overcame him and for the heck of it, Shiki reached down for the doorknob and turned it. Astonishingly, the door opened and soon enough, Shiki was inside.

"Hello?" Shiki narrowed his eyes as he walked in, searching for another body in the room but there was no one…. Or was there? He could sense her somewhere close. Then he began to hear noises that sounded like squeaks coming from the bathroom.

No wonder she couldn't open the door, she couldn't even hear him. Shiki moved towards the bathroom door and was about to knock….until the door was flung wide open and he had to swiftly jump back to avoid getting hit in the face. Light flooded into the larger room and so did flourishes of hot steam. He opened his mouth but never got to say a word because the moment Kai saw his shadow, she instantaneously began to initiate a full-blown barrage of whatever she could get her hands on in the bathroom.

Toliet papers, face towels and even a hair dryer came flying out of the bathroom. Shiki, reacting as fast a mouse to cheese, dodged the items and even managed to catch most of them in his hands while the package was tucked safely underneath his arm. He remained silent through this all and passed the time tolerantly until finally the barrage ended because he'd like to think she has run out of things to throw. He was surprised to see everything but the bathroom sink in his hands.

As he set whatever he had in his hands down, Shiki checked the package and was nearly as horrified as having bathroom items thrown at him once he saw its current state. It was ripped all over and he could even see inside a bit. Curious he peered through a particular rip that was wide enough for him to catch a glimpse of some sort of cloth. Intrigued, Shiki sadly looked up at the wrong time at Kai who apparently had one last thing to throw at her intruder.

Squeak.

He looked down at the rubber duck.

"Out." Fury coloured Kai's voice, Shiki just ineptly standing there with the package at hand.

"But this package…"

"Out." Kai repeated more severely.

"But this-"

"Out."

Starting to get fed up, Shiki dropped the package on the floor with a short muffled sound as it hit. "Here." He stated sharply.

As unrelenting as ever, Kai refused to stop insisting upon his exit.

"Out."

Sigh.

He had tried, hadn't he? Now when his mother asked him whether he had delivered and stayed for a while with this insufferably sadistic girl, he could say that he had. For at least ten minutes which may be stretching it a little bit but still…. Shiki began to tentatively move towards the door.

She stopped him even before he had come within five steps of it.

"Wait." Kai muttered, clutching the remains of the package in her left hand that she had ripped open and its contents in her right as she examined it closely. "What is this?"

"Don't know." Shiki faced her and his eyes widened. She had that cloth in her hands. There was also a small piece of paper that had a few scribbled words. It read:

Kai,

Hope you like it. The colour made me think of you.

Shiki

Shiki had no idea what "it" was.

Why had she done this? Why him?

She would never have done this without some egging on. Shiki's mind quickly jumped to the next guilty suspect and to no surprise, Ichijo's face came to mind, smiling a blameworthy grin.

"Is there something I ought to know about you?" Kai asked.

Shiki said the first thing that came to mind.

"I…hate pink."

Then he slammed her door a second time and left.

Confused, Rima threw the clothing on the bed and examined it. She doubted Shiki had personally wanted to give this to her. It was not like him at all.

Really, a branded swimsuit and her impression of that ignorant man did not match.

And for the longest time, she had always wondered about his statement of his hatred of pink.

She would have completely understood why he chose to say it at that time...if the swimsuit hadn't been a dark blue.