Disclaimer: The following characters mentioned in this fanfic do not belong to me (With an exception of Heather, Rosa, and Camilla). They are created by/belong to Ayana Itsuki, and the wonderful gentlemen at TV Tokyo. If I did own them, then I'd r0x0r j00r b0x0rz! (Please forgive me for the random l33t speak)
--Love Eternal…? Training--
The next few weeks to pass were grueling ones indeed for Shido. With his new associates giving him guidance and instruction in his new life, Shido was subject to various lessons and practice sessions to learn and perfect his new skills and abilities. As a newly-turned vampire, he had to first be accustomed to the fact that day and night was now completely switched for him. With an exception to rainy and cloudy days, Shido was often restricted to the confines of his newly-acquired home. Like a child, he often found himself restless during the day, and he'd wander around the manor aimlessly while everyone else was sound asleep inside their coffins. Coffins… he had to get accustomed to sleeping in those as well. Something about sharing the same sleeping quarters with someone who was to sleep forever didn't quite feel right to Shido; but considering that it didn't matter, since both the unnamed dead and Shido were no longer of the living, Shido ended up with mixed feelings about the matter, and usually just accepted it.
The other thing that Shido needed to assimilate into his new life was the most basic of basics that he would occasionally refuse to do… Drink the blood of a living human being, or any animal if the latter wasn't readily available. Shido often had a problem of drinking human's blood, even if it was "delivered" to him by one of the sisters. If Shido knew the blood came from somewhere other than a human, he could stomach it somewhat; otherwise, Shido would attempt to drink it, but would immediately refuse. Ever since his incident with Heather, Shido couldn't force himself to drink the blood of another human. He'd make up some kind of excuse for himself whenever the time came for him to drink, and the other vampires simply understood his wishes and said nothing more of the matter. Still, in the back of his mind, Shido new they thought otherwise, especially Camilla, who was his new teacher or 'keeper' as she saw things. Camilla always seemed to give Shido the same death glare whenever the two met in the hallway or during his lessons. He knew why, though he never thought of it as his fault; yet he figured it'd be best to not press the matter. She was already on the verge of killing him if she had the opportunity to do so. That's why Shido always dreaded when the time came for him to learn of his new methods of self-defense.
Every other day of the week, Shido would be escorted to the court yard of the mansion by Camilla, and she'd "teach" Shido how to arm and defend himself. With Camilla slurring her speeches when mentioning something important, and barking corrections at Shido whenever he messed up, Shido wasn't sure if he was even being instructed properly at all. Even when he did something right, Camilla hadn't acknowledge his efforts, and just claimed it was all based on luck. Shido half-believed her most of the time. Then came one night when Camilla mentioned that Cain would be overlooking this training session. Shido, already nervous that his teacher that was out for his afterlife was to be training him again, only compounded his nervousness knowing that Cain would be there to watch everything that happened. As they walked down the marble-laden walkway towards their usual training grounds, Camilla spoke in her usual manner: strict, often barking her orders like a drill-sergeant rather than an instructor, and always expecting perfection. "Today, we will be reviewing your self-defense training up to this point. Lord Cain will be watching, so if you pass out again, or trip over your own feet… again… I will remove your tongue and pour salt over the wound as it grows back! I will NOT have you embarrass me in front of Lord Cain. Is that clear?"
"Understood… you overbearing, sand-blasted hag…" He tried to hide the last part under his breath, but Camilla heard it and replied with a quick turn on her heels and a sharp, "What was that, mouse!?"
"I… um… nothing…" Shido looked away to hide his innocence.
"Nothing, what!?"
"Nothing… Mistress Camilla…"
"You listen to me, and listen well… A woman can't hear a mouse talk if all it does is squeak! If you have something to say to me, mouse, then at least act like a man and say it to my face!" she spat, not wanting to deal with any sass as she tried to mentally prepare herself for when they met up with Cain in the court yard. Shido resisted adding "with a face like that, I'm sure you'd be mistaken for a man…" and continued following Camilla to their training session.
Upon arriving, Cain was already there, just as she said. Rosa was also sitting on his lap, giggling like she usually does, and only stopped when Camilla cleared her throat to announce their arrival. Rosa then disappeared and reappeared in a chair next to Cain. Shido felt even more nervous, seeing that Rosa was here as well. Over the past few weeks, he and Rosa had been getting closer to each other as she taught him some of the basics of being a vampire; mainly in the arts of seduction. He hoped that he wouldn't mess up like Camilla mentioned earlier. "Hmmm… This should be interesting…" Cain said stroking his chin as Shido and Camilla assumed their positions a few yards across from each other. Camilla turned to face Cain, bowed, and said, "With your permission, Lord Cain, we will now commence with the demonstration." Cain nodded to show his approval and Camilla returned to her original position.
"First, the creation of weapons from one's blood…" She bit her finger, as she has done many times before and formed a whip out of the blood that dripped from it. The whip glowed softly in her hands as she gripped it firmly. "Now, demonstrate what you've learned, Shido." Cain cleared his voice, and Camilla corrected herself. "… Master Shido." Shido grinned slightly, and mimicked what his teacher did, only instead of forming a whip, his blood changed into a rather crude-looking, yet sturdy rapier. The light from Shido's eyes flickered a bit to show that he couldn't quite concentrate on the weapon's image in his mind, but he was still able to maintain the rapier's shape. Cain nodded, and the demonstration resumed.
"Shido, distance attack demonstration, commence!" barked Camilla. Shido nodded, and raised his opposite finger to his lips, and prepared to bite down. Camilla had already done so, and swung her arm in front of her. From her finger, flew drops of blood that turned into miniature darts. Not quite prepared for the darts to fly as fast as they had, Shido instead dodged them and waited for another attack; yet Camilla's arm hadn't lowered. Realizing what was happening, as she had done this before during a training session, Shido ducked just in time to see the same darts flying just inches over his head. "Lesson #11: A vampire's blood is theirs to control." Camilla said, as she mentally controlled the path of her darts. Now was the time for Shido to counter. Biting on his index finger, Shido swung his arm just as Camilla did, and drops of his blood flew to intercept the darts. His eyes glowing a little brighter, the drops of blood hardened, and knocked the darts out of the sky. Shido could hear Cain clapping his hands, and his spirits rose a bit, until he suddenly heard Camilla shout, "Close-range combat… commence!"
Turning back, Camilla had dashed towards Shido with her whip drawn. With a swing of her arm, the whip flew towards Shido's face, and in a sad attempt to deflect it, Shido held up his rapier to block it. It only ended up with Shido's rapier being entwined in Camilla's whip. 'I got her!' Shido thought, hoping that she'd do what she did. Using the force of Camilla's pull on her whip, Shido leapt at her, in an attempt to strike her; but Camilla was, admittedly, faster than him. With a twirl, Camilla dodged Shido's attack, and planted a swift roundhouse kick to the back of his head. Shido yelped in pain and fell to the ground holding the back of his head. "Lesson #13: Only a fool puts all of his trust in his weapons!" Camilla barked.
"Go, Camilla! Do your best, sister!" Rosa cheered from her seat. Camilla replied by showboating with her whip. Cain, not willing to show his excitement, sat and watched in silence. Shido got up, and tried to formulate a plan in his mind to try and catch his teacher off guard. Camilla, on the other hand, had launched another attack by latching onto his foot with her whip, knocking Shido on his back. He was looking pretty stupid right now as Camilla stood smiling at Shido's clumsiness, and waited for him to get up. Shido, thoroughly mad at his tutor, quickly got to his feet, and planted his sword in the ground. Biting both of his index fingers, Shido swung both of his arms to release a small flurry of "blood bullets" at Camilla, who thought of nothing of his attack. Quickly measuring the distance between each bullet, Camilla literally danced between each one, successfully avoiding the attack.
Looking at Shido's position, Camilla was surprised to find that Shido was no longer there. It didn't take long for her to find him, for she looked skyward to find Shido falling towards her with his sword ready to slash down upon her. Camilla, quick to respond, grabbed her whip in both hands and held it up to meet the blade. Then with a quick flicker of her eyes, the whip lost its form and quickly changed into twin short swords just in time to catch Shido's rapier.
"You senseless dolt…! You really haven't been paying attention… to your weapons training, have you…? Rapiers… are designed to stab… not slice!" Camilla pointed out while keeping Shido at bay. While she kept Shido off of her, Camilla stuck her tongue out at Shido. Shido, thinking it was an attempt to mock him even further, was only made even angrier; but his anger soon turned to surprise when she then bit her tongue, and with a short flash of her eyes, spat out another one of the blood darts she threw earlier towards Shido's face. Not having enough time to dodge, Shido had no choice but to prepare for a world of hurt.
"MY EYE!!!!" Shido's rapier immediately lost its form and he began rolling on the ground in agony, grabbing where Camilla's dart jammed into his eye. Rosa rushed over to Shido's aid as Camilla wiped the excess blood from her mouth, pretending that she did nothing wrong. "Master Shido! Master Shido, please calm down!" Rosa exclaimed. Shido only screamed even louder as Rosa tried her best to hold him down. Camilla walked over to where they were, and spoke calmly, "Lessons # 4 and 2: Anger blinds even the most fearless warrior… and expect the unexpected. Two lessons, I hope you will take more seriously in the future, Master Shido…" Shido shot her an angry look with his remaining eye, which Camilla just shrugged off. Rosa, on the other hand was doing her best to coax him into calming down, for only then would he be able to focus on healing.
To Shido's surprise, Cain hadn't come to his rescue as he did before. Did he not care, or did he just not want to take sides? Whatever it was, Cain sat still, watching the entire event silently. Eventually Shido's wound healed itself, and his eye was back to normal. Rosa checked if everything had healed properly and returned to her seat. Camilla sighed and said, "If you are through whining, I'd like to continue… Or is the mouse not done yet with making a fool of himself?"
"No!" Shido got to his feet, and clenched his fists. "We will continue…"
"… Very well, we shall continue, if not to entertain Lord Cain more than you've already had with your incompetence and lack of focus. Be grateful that you heal a lot faster than most vampires at your level." Shido could only think that she hoped otherwise. Slowing down his breathing, Shido calmed himself down a bit to focus on the fight. Camilla, now armed with her twin short swords, assumed a defensive stance. Now that her offensive capabilities had doubled, Shido needed to find a hole in her defense in order to strike.
'How am I going to get her to drop her defenses long enough for me to attack? She's already more than capable of fending off my attacks… Maybe if I…' Shido formulated a plan in his mind, though he wasn't sure if he'd pull it off. Taking a look up at the moon, Shido estimated when he'd be able to make his move, when he suddenly heard, "Lesson #1: NEVER take your eyes off your opponent!" He looked down long enough to see Camilla's whip flying towards him once again. Instinctively raising his hand to block the whip, Shido realized he hadn't reformed his rapier, and ended up having his hands bound by the whip. Camilla's hold on him was tight, and her next actions seemed more than obvious. Keeping Shido's arms bound with her whip in one hand, she slowly brought herself closer to Shido, while holding one of her swords in the other. She was obviously tired of being on the defensive seeing as Shido wasn't attacking.
Shido was running out of time, and needed to act fast. Looking over towards one of the marble pillars that was near him, Shido matched the times when Camilla would move, and slowly edged himself towards the pillar. As he reached the pillar's shadow, Camilla then stopped in her tracks, took hold of her sword, and aimed it at Shido. "Lesson #8: Make full use of your weapons whenever possible…!" As Camilla stated another one of her 'lessons', she flung her short sword towards Shido; and with a loud 'Snickt', the blade of her sword stood fast in the shadows where Shido had backed against the pillar. His silhouette stood there, pinned against it.
'Idiot! Why didn't he dodge out of the way!?' Camilla thought. She was only a few yards away, and he had plenty of time, but why hadn't he moved? She didn't have long to ponder about his actions when Shido's silhouette against the pillar disappeared leaving her sword poking out of the pillar, and she felt the sharp point of a blade poke her back. "Lesson #15, Camilla: Not everything is as it seems…" Shido stood behind Camilla with his rapier pointed at her with a smug look on his face like he had outsmarted the most intelligent man in history. Acknowledging his efforts, Camilla's weapons lost their forms, and she raised her arms in what seemed like defeat. Shido could hear Rosa clapping from the sidelines at his accomplishment. "So, you used your shadow as a distraction… I didn't teach you that one. It must have been my sister who taught you that skill… I applaud your resourcefulness, Master Shido; but there is one important lesson you've forgotten…"
"And what would that be? 'Lesson #2: Expect the unexpected?'" Shido mocked, believing he had the upper-hand in the situation.
"Not quite…" Camilla's hand lowered slightly to gain Shido's attention. Wanting her to stay still, Shido poke a bit deeper into her back with his rapier. Camilla then swiftly delivered a back kick to Shido's most precious family jewels. Overcome with pain, Shido fell to his knees and grabbed his crotch, giving Camilla enough time to twirl around, and perform a crescent kick to the back of Shido's head where his head met his neck. Shido fell to the ground immediately. As the world around Shido began to fade to black, he could barely hear Camilla say, "Lesson #3: The fight isn't over unless your opponent is either unconscious or dead..."
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Shido awoke hours later to his shock to find himself in a coffin. 'What's going on!? Have I really died!? Did Camilla kill me to subside her rage against me!? … Wait… what am I thinking…? I'm already dead…' Slapping himself for his stupidity, Shido opened up the coffin and sat up to find himself inside his room in the basement of the mansion. "Oh! You're awake!" He heard a familiar voice say in a corner of the room. It turned out to be Rosa, who sat in a chair, apparently glad to see Shido was well. Shido embarrassed about how his demonstration went, lowered his head. "I lost…"
"Yeah… you did. But don't feel too bad about it, though… My sister has had centuries of combat training supervised by Lord Cain himself, so it's no surprise that you lost…" Rosa said reassuringly. 'Is that supposed to make me feel better?' Shido thought. "But I was surprised that you used the doppelganger technique I taught you so effectively. I could tell even my sister was surprised." Shido's spirit lifted a bit, knowing that he did have the upper-hand at some point.
"Well, I appreciate you bringing me here when I passed out…"
"Oh, it wasn't me who brought you here. Lord Cain insisted that he do so himself." Rosa said to his surprise. 'Cain did? So I guess he does care…' Shido thought, not sure as to why he'd prefer Cain taking care of him rather than Rosa. "He even bathed you while you were asleep."
"… Bathed?"
"Yes, of course. We can't have you smelling like dried blood and grass, now can we?"
"I… suppose not…" Shido blushed at the thought of Cain cleaning his naked body. "I have lost a bit of blood haven't… haven't… I…?" Shido suddenly felt woozy, even though he was sitting in his coffin. The entire room seemed to be spinning around at mach speed, and it made Shido sick to his stomach. 'What's… happening…?
Rosa had leapt from her chair to Shido's side. "Master Shido! Are you alright?"
The answer was obvious, but Shido responded with, "No… I feel ill… The room is spinning, and… my throat is dry… I'm so thirsty…" Shido gripped his throat and held his head as it pounded with pain. This same dryness in his throat was all too familiar to him, as Shido had felt this sensation as before. "Heather…" he said dryly.
'Heather…?' Rosa was confused as to who this 'Heather' person was, but assumed Shido was hallucinating, which meant she had to act fast. "Master Shido, you've avoided this lesson in the past, but I think it is now time for you to feed--" Shido immediately pushed her away with what little strength he had.
"NO! I won't! I won't re-live that moment…!" Shido suddenly shouted at Rosa. "If I do… if I do… I'll loose whatever humanity I have left…" As he grabbed his head in pain, Shido clenched his teeth. He knew he needed blood, any kind would do, but he wouldn't bring himself to do it. But his throat was so dry, he swore it would crack. "I won't do it!"
"Master Shido, you must! No matter what the action, everything in this world does whatever it must to survive! As vampires, we must drink the blood of others. I… I'll donate some of mine to help you, but you must--"
"I SAID I WON'T!!" Shido slammed his fist on the edge of the coffin. Tears began to stream down his eyes, as he tried his best to resist the urges that rushed through his body like a stampede. He said no, but his body was screaming yes with all of its might. Rosa tried her best to sympathize with him one more time: "Master Shido, I know what it's like… I too didn't want to drink blood when my sister and I first turned. I felt like I would change into something disgusting if I drank blood willingly… I felt that I would never learn to like what I've become; but I knew that I needed to survive. All things survive in one way or another… and… I want you to survive as well…"
Rosa placed her hand on Shido's head to help calm him down. Like a dog unsure of its new master, Shido jumped slightly when he felt her hand touch his head, but then calmed down a little. Like a master feeling sorry for its pet, Rosa lovingly stroked Shido's hair. After she was sure he'd calmed down a bit more, she brought Shido's head up. "Now, let me care for you, as my sister has cared for me…" Slowly bringing her hands to her back, she undid the strings to her corset and removed it as well as the top of her dress. "… Just think of it as being nurtured by your mother…" Shido's thirst had reached his limit, and with Rosa displayed in front of him with her clothing removed, he could no longer disregard the messages his body sent him. His eyes glowed with a soft amber light, and his fangs began to grow. Rosa brought Shido closer to her bosom, and cradled the back of his head. At first, he was reluctant to, but then Rosa whispered, "It's alright… this will be just between us…" and like a newborn, his instinct to feed took over. The room was filled with the sounds of Rosa gasping and moaning as she nurtured Shido back to normal health. But unaware to the two vampires, their lord and master watched silently in the shadows with a clenched fist against the wall…
-End-
A/N: An update! Yay! I had this one prepared earlier, but with little-to-no access to the internet, I found it a bit hard to submit this one… ; Hmmm… Shido and Rosa have gotten quite friendly, haven't they? Will that lead to Rosa's undoing, or will Cain allow someone else inside this already screwed up relationship? Is Cain willing to share? I'M NOT TELLING! LOL!!!11oneeleven1! But perhaps you guys can give suggestions? Maybe I'll implement them into the story… maybe I won't… As usual, you got questions, comments, or flames? Then COMMENT!! As always, thanks for reading, and we'll see you in the next chapter.
