Disclaimer: I do not own the VK characters

The Midori Incident

Chapter 6

"Zero..."

"Hurry, Zero... I don't want to miss it..."

His limbs were as heavy as lead. He was breathing hard, jogging alongside of another person. It doesn't make any sense.

"Come on, run faster.. I thought I was the weak one," a small frail hand caught his, pulling him on running at a faster pace. Who are you?

He glanced at his companion, a young boy around ten, eleven? No, he couldn't tell. Brats are still brats after all. It was dark and they were cutting through a desolated pebbled path in some park. Was it a park? He couldn't really tell. It must be, because wooden benches and flower beds are park things right? Darn, it's so hot... Where the hell am I?

They had stopped sprinting, gradually slowing down into brisk strides as soon as they skirted the path. Twigs and dry leaved crunched under his black steel-toed boots throughout the steady uphill climb. What an odd choice of footwear.

Somehow his feet knew where they were going and kept up with the panting, light haired boy. The other pale hand was clutching at the front of the olive green T-shirt. Unlike him, his companion wore plain white sneakers and was not lugging any heavy duffel bag on his back. The boy had a slight pungent chemical smell lingering around him, like antiseptics and hospitals.

"We're here!" the boy exclaimed. "Don't start complaining and ruin the moment, Zero. I'm fine," his exotically coloured eyes shone in excitement, breathing harshly as they stopped at the edge of a high cliff overlooking a picturesque view of a small town. Why are you calling me by that name?

"Just look at the view!" the boy exclaimed, spreading his arms theatrically as if to gather the caressing night breeze into his embrace. "It's so pretty, even lovelier than thine eyes I love. No, I take it back, naught can surpass your magnificence," he wanted to laugh at the silliness of those words but instead of teasing the silver haired aspiring thespian, he involuntarily stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder beside him. They must have had the same height because they fitted perfectly when the boy meshed them together and laughed quietly. It was awkward on his part but the boy seemed to like the closeness of the contact, so he bears with it.

Nevertheless, the boy was right about the view, light shone through hundreds of quaint windows, illuminating the streets which were bustling with festivities. Multi-coloured paper lanterns hung from electrical poles, giving away a soft glowing ambience. The townsfolk were like colourful dots making their way westwards towards a Shinto shrine erected on a hilltop. Although, crickets and cicadas drowned the human din in the distance, he could still feel the energy washing over him.

Instantly, he was pulled down to sit on the soft green grass, his duffle strap fell off his shoulder when the bag hit the ground with a thump. The boy frowned at him. "Hey, where did Tomohisa-sensei drag you this time? It's no fun being stuck alone with Yagari-sensei. You're barely home these days, Zero. Why do you need another teacher anyway?" he whined.

He saw those eyes again, they were like amethysts. He knew those eyes. Why are you calling me Zero? I'm not..You are.. But his voice didn't come out.

"And I hate it when he hurts you," the boy choked out in between his laborious breathing; there were tears in those striking orbs. Hurt? Strangely, he felt his own chest tightening and blood draining out of his brain. The feeling was similar to those times he was caught doing something worth angering Kaname-sama. But this time, it was not his distress.

Almost trembling, his hands had moved to reach out and wipe off a straying teardrop on the boy's cheek, and then he heard himself spoke "It's not like that. He took me out to the northern outpost to.. To train." He recognized the nuance in his voice from somewhere before but.. Was it fear accidently woven in those words?

The boy lunged forward, grabbed his right arm roughly, and tore off the cuff buttons in the process of yanking the stiff cotton shirtsleeve up. "Then why he did this to you?" the boy shouted in frustration.

Panic seared across his heart, he stared down at the rope burns around his wrist. Ugly welts criss-crossed marring the pale skin of his inner forearm. When did I get this? Again, his body moved on its own, yanking the appendage away and hid the hideous marks by pulling down the sleeve as much as he can.

The boy launched himself at him, slamming all of his bodyweight, tackling him down onto the grass and embraced him too tightly. "Don't hate me, Zero! I'm so sorry," the front of his light blue shirt was getting wet. "He's so mean and I can't do anything to stop him. I'm weak. Please, don't leave me,"

The sky lit up with a burst of colourful fireworks. "I'm not going anywhere, Ichiru." His fingers buried themselves in the soft silvery hair and he found himself humming an unfamiliar tune to comfort the stricken boy. He had called the boy "Ichiru". So, he was with the Kiriyu twins, he realized belatedly. In some way, he was seeing an enactment of their past from Zero's standpoint.

Strangely, he had never believed the twins were close. Because, if he was not mistaken it was the younger twin who had lent a hand in the destruction of his own family. He had his sources. But why am I seeing all this?

His eyes closed as he hugged the other boy lying on top of him. "I love you, Zero," it was the last thing he heard before his vision was flooded with the blinding colourful burst of light illuminating the night.

The next moment, his vision focused on a pair of bare feet surrounded by flowing silk. There was a faint tinkle of a bell when the feet moved away. The little boy was gone. Paralysed, he couldn't feel anything, he couldn't breathe, and he couldn't hear the words being said by a familiar silver haired boy standing by the open door.

A familiar scent flooded his senses, there was too much of it. After straining to get his vision into focus, his stomach churned upon settling his eyes on the bloodied carnage in the room. Two bodies, a man and a woman were sprawled in awkward angles, bathed in pools of their own blood. A fragment of whitish spine chord protruded from a horrendous slit in the woman's throat. Blood leaked slowly from the gash seeping in-between the varnished floorboards. He didn't dare to cast his eyes on the man. Deep down, he was sure the man and the woman meant something.

It hurts so much I can't move. Still, the magnitude of anguish he was experiencing overrides the searing pain on the left side of his neck. Soon enough, the helplessness was replaced by simpering hatred as soon as then tall woman with beautiful silvery white hair glanced spitefully at him. She then walked after the smirking boy out of the room. That's her! The kimono clad, blood drenched female slaughterer undoubtedly was Hiou Shizuka. God, those are Kiriyu's parents!

The ghastly images faded as fast as it started and he woke up in a dank room filled with strange looking weapons hanging off the walls. Axes, guns, chains and knives of all sort and sizes made a menacing picture in the dim light. He was securely strapped down to a wooden chair and he could sense another presence in there with him.

"I'm truly disappointed in you dear boy..." somebody was whispering near his ear. He was hurting and he recognized the cause all too well; bloodlust. The left side of his neck stung like it had been punctured and pierced over and over again. Shit, even my ears hurt... His shirt was streaked with horrid red.

A hand yanked his head back forcefully, and then he stared into a pair of fiery amber eyes. Their intensity bothered him. "It was rather discourteous don't you think? Choosing a stranger as your guardian when you knew you could have simply come to me..." strong fingers gripped his chin cruelly when he tried to look away. He was afraid, cold fear were slowly creeping and coiling around his heart. What's going on?

"How could you push me away?" a disgustingly wet tongue licked the column of his throat all the way up to his cheek, stopping there as the voice spoke again, "You ran away even though you knew that you're my favourite.." a mouth sealed his in a brutal kiss. Get the hell off me!

Then it was gone, replaced by small hands thumping against his chest, "Zero, Stop being mean to Kaname-sama!" He smacked them away. Heated jealousy slithered and coiled in his stomach. What now?

He was no longer being strapped down in that room but somewhere cosier and homely. Delicious smell of freshly baked cookies wafted in the space. He was beginning to dread these changing scenes, it confuses him.

It was some sort of an old kitchen. A kitchen won't be dangerous, right? Or comes with a pervert.

"I don't get it Zero. People say good cooks have big, soft caring hearts but you never give up acting like a terrible, terrible, terribly mean goblin," a little girl with big brown eyes pinched him hard on the arm while munching on a heart shaped cookie. Great, another snivelling brat. Here we go again. He groaned inwardly.

"I am one. Here, eat another one and grow fatter. See if your Kaname-sama still likes you then" again, his body moved on its own and stuffed a piece of cookie in her already full mouth. "And don't inhale your food," he heard his sneer when she spluttered and choked. She comically downed a glass of water in one continuous gulp. Oh my God, it's Yuuki-sama.

A low airy laughter reached his ears and he spun around, homing on the source. A boy with dark brown hair was smiling secretively at them while sipping something from his cup. Huh, Kaname-sama? He was turning away, and to his horror, he was blushing. What the hell is happening? I'm not me, its Kiriyu; this doesn't make any sense.

The scene changed again, he was walking in some sort of a passageway made of old granite, carrying something limp and heavy in his arms; someone limp and heavy to be precise. There were no sign of life. Sadness, despair, remorse, and rage were breaking over his core like a giant oceanic swell. I'm not the one feeling all this. He reminded himself.

There were piles of rubble in the distance, smoke and dust filled the starless night air. Something about the picture of destruction seemed familiar to him. He had been there too. When he glanced down at the lifeless body, cataloguing the longish silver hair falling over the still but familiar face; he knew that person. Kiriyu Zero? No, it's minus the tattoo and the juvenile piercings. He recognized the person at once; Kiriyu Ichiru. This was the night Kuran Rido's games came to a catalytic end. And also the episode which Kiriyu Zero lost his twin.

He had made it outside. A creeping feeling of being watched made him lift his head up and locked eyes with none other than the Kuran siblings. Strangely, he had felt nothing, just cold numbing nothingness as he shifted his gaze from a forlorn Kuran Yuuki to the unsympathetic Kuran Kaname. The cold unfeeling eyes had torn out his soul. Yes, but why does it upsets you Kiriyu? You despised him too.

Images took over, he saw Shizuka's smiling sinisterly and heard her metallic bell tinkled when she turn to disappear, replaced by a tear stricken Yuuki. As if she was pleading, her silent words never reached his ears but he smelt it tasted it, her powerful blood and then the vision of her blurred. There was that hot amber eyes again which ignited reminiscences of terror and pain. They too slipped away and a hand reached out from the dark abyss. It wrapped around his windpipe, crushing it as a pair of reddish brown eyes appeared. He can identify them anywhere, it was Kuran Kaname; angry and determined. Suffocating red flooded in, drowning him.

Then, another hand clawed at his collar and yanked him down to peer down at the still face of Kiriyu Ichiru. He was holding the cold corpse again. All of the sudden, the eyes snapped opened; red veins marred the brilliantly angry amethyst and he let the body go. Standing up, Kiriyu Ichiru advanced towards him. He was no longer Kiriyu Zero because he saw the vampire hunter walking away, vanishing into the shadows.

The stiff hands caught him by the arms, pulling him so close to the now decaying face before he heard the dead human shell snarl, "Release him!"

Then he was shoved off the cliff overlooking the shimmering townscape. Fireworks blinded his eyes at the same time as he touched the hard packed earth, skidding uncontrollably before crashing back into reality.

He could smell danger. As soon as his vision cleared, he saw those sharp amber eyes boring into his soul. Those eyes belonged to a human and that very human had his hands wrapped dangerously around his throat, cutting off his air supply. Too bad that was not enough to kill him. Which twisted demon had granted Kiriyu's phantom permission to follow him back out? Speaking of that damned Kiriyu... Where the heck is he? What the hell had happened?

"That would be enough. The E's still alive." Somebody had spoken from the shadows of the room. He was back at that Midori place again. There was a strangely pleasant taste in his mouth. He knew he had done something bad. But what was it? He couldn't remember. The strange fleeting images still lingers in his mind.

The amber eyes narrowed and pulled back, giving him the full access to the man's features. He was about forty, rather tall, light haired and of course, human. Odd, he had never seen him before but those freaky cat eyes are familiar. Come on Hanabusa, boot up your brain already. Focus, focus, focus! There are at least two of them. Where the hell is Kiriyu? Which E is still alive? Who would care if an E's alive? Stupid imbeciles!

Before he could react, the man grappled him down, pushing his face against the rough, dirty wooden floor boardsand snapped his wrists into some sort of metal cuffs. It burned him immediately. Fuck, not hunters again! I'm so screwed.. A merciless kick to his midsection flipped him viciously onto his back. Great, deepen that cursed hole in my gut.

The amber eyed man sneered at his confused expression when he realized that he was no longer bleeding there. "Just like magic, huh? One moment you're becoming extinct, the next moment you're fine... Can't you remember anything you've done, mangy bloodsucker?"

The man yanked him up by the hair, forcing him to sit up in a kneeling position to which he growled defiantly, earning a tight slap across his face, splitting his bottom lip. That moment, he saw Kiriyu's still figure and another person crouching down beside him.

Like the tall amber eyed cat, he too was wearing a black business suit and a slim black tie. "Hey, haul that useless Takahashi over here. It's time for this blond brat to pay back his dues," said the hunter. The other one with light brown hair and gave him a quick affirmative nod and walked over to another motionless body beside Kiriyu. He didn't need to see the face to notice something about the other one; he was a noble class vampire like him. What the hell? Hunters and vampires just don't work together. Something deep in the pit of his stomach told him that both of them meant deep trouble.

The noble unceremoniously dragged the unconscious Takahashi by an arm across the floor. The sleeve on that arm was torn away and there was some blood still seeping out of some jagged claw marks on the inner arm.

"It was quite a scene you know... I can't believe a hunter could go that far for a worthless bloodsucker," the hand gripping his hair was unusually strong for a human. "First, he tried to save you by forcing Takahashi's blood down your throat. But obviously it's not up to your taste." Yeah, I must have spat it all out... Oh my God.. Kiriyu! Aidou remembered.

"Hell, princess! Do you know that you're half dead? Spoiled, ungrateful girly boy!"

Kiriyu must have fed him Takahashi's blood to help him recover. But he had rejected that vile, pungent red liquid.

Aidou's mind burst out in mortification. He had drunk from Kiriyu instead; his grievous wound had healed so he must have taken a lot, which also explains the strange visions earlier. Those were not hallucinations. Those were fragments of the vampire hunter's memories that had slipped into the blood he had stolen. I've drank the blood of a hunter. It's as taboo as drinking from a pureblood. Oh, I'm so dead.

And those amber eyes, that vision in the weapon filled room seeped into his mind again and the cold fear Kiriyu had remembered all of it at once. What heck really happened in there? The name.. He had a name. Kiriyu Zero had felt the same cold fear when his twin brother said it in those memories.

"Tomohisa.." he hissed it aloud.

He must have been right because the amber eyes widened momentarily before turning to pure disgust. They had propped Takahasi up half sitting, half lying against the nearby wall. "Now, you shall drain Takahashi dry and then revive my Zero." Aidou had failed to notice the real colour of that light shoulder length hair before. It was silver, the same shade of silver like Kiriyu's.

"Sure, when hell freezes over..." he knew exactly the hunter was implying and judging from the state of his already healed injuries, the Kiriyu must have done nothing to stop him from overfeeding earlier.

"You better not remember this afterwards, or I'll fucking come back and kill you," Kiriyu's words resonated against the walls of his mind.

Come back... so he said. If Kiriyu had wished to find a way out of his pathetic life, he was not going be the one to bring him back.

TBC

A/N: Too much to do and too little time. There are tons of mistakes... I'm sure. (.)