A/N- Hello again ladies and gents! I didn't get this to you in a timely fashion, but this time I have a good excuse. I do not have occasion to do this very often and so I am very excited to bring you a holiday update that is my longest chapter yet! I hope you enjoy this chapter and I wish you all the happiest New Year! ;-D
Disclaimer- Profane language, explicit violence and sexual content, emotional trauma and sexual abuse (I don't think in the grand scale of things that the abuse is awful but it is undoubtedly abuse. If this makes you uncomfortable or will trigger anything please don't read! I will let you know when the possible trigger moment is by putting ##########.)
Yuki's POV
I braced myself, sucking in a deep breath as I watched the grenade come closer and closer. I jumped when I felt the slight tingle along my skin when it hit my shield and dropped to the ground. There was a fraction of a second of delay and then the sound of fire tearing through the night exploded in a brilliant flash that crept up the pale jade shimmer of my shield. I didn't so much concentrate on trying to absorb all that energy as allow my magic to drink in the wall of flames licking at it. I watched the curling red-orange glow fade into the shield until it swirled through the jade barrier like the brilliance of Fall through water.
When all that remained was the smoke and earthy debris steadily raining down I withdrew my shield, sucking all that energy into myself. My head went back on my spine, eyes closing as a gasp was ripped from my throat. The power of it flowed along the inside of my body, licking at the confines of me just as it had my shield. I vibrated with the euphoria of so much power and took my first shaky step. I left the cloud of smoke at a full-out run to the relieved mutterings of Twister who was now on his knees beside Kaname administering CPR. I slid to my knees opposite him.
"How long?"
"Heart- failed...after- grenade- toss..." His breath was short as he worked on Kaname. Shit. Twister looked over at me. "What's your- plan?" I stuttered for a long unsure moment. I hadn't thought past the explosion. I had the power now. The question was how to do it? I was suddenly sucked into a memory I had tried to block out.
"Yuki-" He stared down at me with incredibly wide eyes a second before I thrust all the energy of my pent up sexual frustration into him. He gasped loudly and I sighed in relief. He closed his eyes and seemed to be fighting all that energy, all that sex, my sex. I watched him swallow convulsively, body vibrating with the most primal urge we know. I rolled out from under him, sweeping one of his arms out in the process. He fell face first onto the bed as I rolled to my feet. He moved onto his side and hissed, seeing me standing nearly naked beside the bed before slamming his eyes shut. I watched his body slowly curl into a ball
"Yu-...ki-..." He gasped my name out...
I abruptly ripped myself out of the memory with a sharp gasp, pushing down the regret and rage of that particular moment, and knew what to do. I leaned over Kaname and put both my hands on his face, closing my eyes as I willed all that energy into him and hit a wall. The magic flowed down my arms but crashed to a halt where my skin touched his. Fear panged through me.
"What's wrong?" Kaname's body moved with the motion of Twister's ministrations, still and blue. I shook my head, trying once again to no avail. Tears blurred my vision as I shook my head repeatedly.
"No. Not today. You aren't dying on me today. You hear me, you son of a bitch? You're not getting off this easy." I Threw my leg over him so that I straddled his hips, shoving Twister back in the process. He was saying something about needing to keep Kaname's blood flowing but I ignored him as I placed my lips against Kaname's.
His mouth was so cold against mine. So cold. I pushed that swirling warmth at him again but was met with failure. I sat back with a shout of frustration, tearing at my clothes and weapons rig without care until I was in nothing but my bra from the waist up. I pressed my body flat on top of his, cradling his face in my hands as I kissed him. This time I shoved my magic into him as if I were literally breathing life back into his lungs. His body jerked beneath mine as I finally felt the first tendrils enter him. My magic trickled in at first and then, as if the gates had opened, I was pouring into him. I directed all that heat at his heart, willing it to beat. An odd, sharp snap sounded deep within him and then came the first hesitant beat. I shoved all I had at it and it began to race too fast for a moment, as if making up for lost time. His eyes flared wide and a small sound filled my mouth as his muscles began to spasm slightly. Triumph tore through me a second before I realized his heart was hammering away so fast, way too fast. His mouth tore away from mine and he took a screaming inhale, dragging more of my magic into him as if I were still feeding it to him. I realized our mouths were a point of connection for the magic a second before his heart stopped again. His back arched but the rest of him stayed motionless, still frozen. His eyes rolled in his head and I knew why his heart had stopped. It had been too much. Too much too soon. I withdrew my magic from his heart letting it flow as it may through the rest of him. I held my breath, waiting, until his heart thumped, slower at first before picking up to a steady pace. Kaname screamed before falling back against the floor. His eyes searched the room, wide and wild for a moment before finding me. His chest heaved and I couldn't miss the terror and confusion, like a horse about to bolt. I was opening my mouth to say something when he spoke.
"Yu-ki...?" His voice was rough and breathy as he panted. I nodded, offering him a small smile.
"Yeah. It's me." I was staring down at him, watching what I could only describe as the look a man gets when he's seen a ghost. I had never seen Kaname look like that. Never.
Suddenly he gripped me tight and pulled me against him and I was so relieved that he was alive that I didn't protest, didn't want to protest. My face rested against the side of his neck, my breath carrying his scent back to me, only he no longer smelled like himself. I frowned and analyzed this new smell. What once smelled cloyingly sweet now smelled like someone had ground up and mixed that concentrated candy perfume into a cream and froze it, a much subtler smell that reminded me of the more delicate aroma of ice cream. Not only had the sweetness changed form but the type of candy itself had changed as well. His new scent didn't cling to the back of my throat like a sucker candy would but it was darker, richer and smoother like something with chocolate, changing the chemistry altogether. Chocolate ice cream. He smelled like chocolate ice cream. Either Sara's magic or his impromptu date with death, maybe a combination of the two, had tainted him, changed something deep within him. Had he never come this close to death before? Correction, had he never died before, because for a few minutes there he had been dead. I'd never asked because who thinks about shit like that?
"You smell different." He was quiet, breathing still irregular. I thought about his breathing pattern and suddenly I could feel his, our, lungs expanding, feel the slight rattle of each inhale. I had forgotten to break the connection. I went to sit up so I could focus on doing just that but his arms tightened around me slightly.
"Please." He whispered. "Just a while longer." Whether he was talking about the embrace we were in or the magic I didn't know but I relaxed into his body giving him what he'd asked for because honestly, I didn't want to move. Not yet. He'd scared the shit out of me and I wasn't quite ready to give up the intimacy of the moment. I guess nothing is ever going to be as intimate as saving someone's life. Yep. Nothing says you love someone like bringing them back from the dead to torture them some more with the conundrum of drama and trivialities that is your dysfunctional relationship. Or was that the true definition of love? Nah, I was just being pessimistic. There has to be more to love than that...right?
"Lady Yuki?" Twister's voice came distantly to me and I realized I'd closed my eyes at some point without realizing it.
"Mmm?" I hummed. I was so comfortable, if a bit chilly. Wasn't it a bit cold?
"Yuki." Kaname's voice this time, much clearer as it rumbled through my chest. I hummed my question to him as well. I was thinking this new chocolate ice cream smell was much more comforting than his previous smell and that I should probably feel guilty about not having been too fond of how he'd naturally smelled. Then the world shifted and I was laying on my back now, the ground damp and cold. I frowned as I began to tremble from the chill.
"Yuki." Kaname again but louder, more forceful this time.
"Cold." I mumbled. I felt a very warm hand against my cheek and cuddled into it. Kaname was swearing and then I heard him and Twister talking quickly and quietly in the background.
"Whatcha whispering about?" I mumbled. They continued speaking and I just lay there, trying to hear them.
"This is a new form of magic-..."
"...have to...try and control..."
"...not exactly precedented..."
"...What happened?..."
"...very fast...confusing...had me throw a grenade at her-..."
"You threw a grenade at her!" Twister's voice was a higher pitched, more rapid blur of nervousness and I only caught three words.
"...told me to..." Damn straight I had and it had worked too! "...listen...wanted to save you...tried to reason..."
"...be talking to you later about this...Yuki?...Yuki, can you hear me?" I felt his hand on my face again and until that contact I hadn't known just how cold I was. My teeth began to chatter. "...cold...Yuki? Can you talk to me, baby?" I hummed at him. "...need you to speak..."
"Use your words, suga'. We need you to speak, let us know you can hear us."
"Hear. You...cold." They were saying something but I couldn't hear them and then something suddenly slammed into the side of my face, whipping my head to the side with the sting of the aftershock. My eyes flew wide to find Kaname kneeling next to me. Well, someone was feeling better.
"Listen! You need to break the connection between us. I'm not quite sure what you did but I think when you shoved all that energy into me and it didn't work you panicked and...feeding me your life force along with...break connection...will die...hear me?..." My other cheek suddenly stung to match the first.
"YUKI! Break the connection! I'm back, dammit! Stop trying to heal me, I feel great!" I felt light and airy now and everything had gone quiet and still for a moment. Then someone wrapped their hand in my hair, using it as a handle to move me against a very solid chest. I smelled leaves on a cool fall wind. Such a familiar smell. Where did I know that smell from. His voice came to me, first in vibrations against my back.
"Little queen?...No one can save you but you, little queen...break the connection or die." I swam towards that voice through the cold depths I'd sunken down into. "Fight. Fight or kill you and your child both."
My body jerked in reaction to that as terror drowned me in icy waves. My baby. I was feeding our lives into Kaname. I had to save the baby. It was almost as if I had no control over it at all, it just happened on it's own. One second I was wide open, pouring everything into him and the next that gaping hole slammed shut snipping the rope attaching us with an audible and rather painfully abrupt crunch and the world that I hadn't known was spinning so fast came to an abrupt halt. I cried out and heard him echo me before something heavy hit the floor. For a long couple of minutes nausea tried to creep up my throat and out of my mouth but exhaustion won out and my body went limp against the other man's. He felt so familiar, so why couldn't I remember a name? He chuckled softly and I could tell I was moving by the feel of the air shifting around me.
"'Atta girl." Those were the last words I heard him speak and as the darkness crashed over me I suddenly knew who's arms I was in. Zero. My Zero.
I came to snuggled deep within the sprawling limbs of a puppy pile of what had to be massive proportions. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and lifted my head groggily to see two people in front of me and I think three behind me and two more curled among and around the legs of everyone at the bottom of the bed. Seven. Seven people, but who were they? I squinted as I tried to discern faces. I recognized the feel and smell of Takuma against the front of me and thought I'd find Senri in front of him but was surprised to find Kaname sprawled on his back, allowing most of one side of Takuma's body to splay across his chest and legs. I wiggled a little trying to see who was at the base of the bed and felt the soft push of large breasts against my back and the tightening of her arm around my waist. Ruka grumbled in her sleep and I smiled. I knew that whoever was behind Ruka would be either Senri, Busa or, a more recent addition, Twister, because as often as Ruka slept in puppy piles with me, she'd only sleep with certain people at her back. Sure enough I found the massive shoulder spread of Twister behind her. I couldn't see who was behind Twister, all I got was a line of pale leg thrown over his hip that was most definitely female. Who else would be in the bed that was female? I ignored it for the time being and craned my neck to see who was at the bottom. I frowned as I saw a long mass of dark curls pooled over the face of a woman, mingling with a much shorter drapery of silver hair that I knew was silky soft to the touch. A nasty feeling coiled through me as I looked at how his much taller body curled around her so fragile-looking frame. She was the only person in the bed that had clothes on, or at least scrub pants and a plain black bra that cupped her perfect breasts like it was made to display them for all their glory. I looked to Zero laying so still behind her to find his eyes open and watching me, startlingly enough. His one eye watched me through the thick curls of the woman against him. I lay my head back down abruptly and glared holes into the dark ceiling above me, wanting more than anything else a way out of this damn bed. Two unknown females in bed. I didn't like it. I didn't usually dislike females in bed but I suddenly hated it. I needed to get away.
"How do you feel?" Takuma's voice came softly, thick with sleep.
"How did you know I was awake?"
"Your body tensed." Ah. Of course.
"You're much too angry for someone who woke up among such a bounty." Twister's voice came on a thick rumble.
Normally I would agree with him and would want to stay curled up in the middle of such things but today I just couldn't. Ruka's arm tightened around my waist and I knew she too was awake. Good, most everyone in my immediate vicinity was awake so I didn't feel bad extracting myself from the tangled mess of bodies. I was surprised to discover that Rima was the woman behind Twister. She wasn't a fan of the puppy pile, which was probably why she was in the least cuddly position on the bed. Everyone except for the woman Zero cuddled was awake and looking at me. I scratched my scalp to find dried flakes of blood caking under my nails. I stared at the dirty brown color of it for a moment. I don't think I'd ever get used to being covered in other people's blood. The day I did become comfortable with it I'd know that I'd crossed a line I'd never be able to step back over. I just hoped that day never came. My voice when I spoke sounded empty.
"I think I'm gonna go shower." But I didn't move. The curly haired woman made some cute, soft little noise in her sleep and rolled to face Zero, slinging an arm over his waist and snuggling her face against his chest. He looked down at her and I watched something shift in his eyes, something I didn't want to see, something much too much for the slip of a thing in front of him. Envy speared through me as I glared at her. Who was this woman? Zero met my eyes abruptly and I turned on my heel for the bathroom.
"I'm going to wash the dead people I'm wearing down the drain, now." Even I could hear the scathing heat in those words and I inwardly chastised myself for allowing that much to show.
I turned the water on, cranking up the heat as far as it would go. While I waited for it to warm up I went over to the sink finding four toothbrushes: mine: Takuma's green one, Ruka's pink one, Busa's blue one and my own yellow one. That was what let me know I was in my own room. I should have noticed sooner but I hadn't. I'd been too distracted by my own emotions. I ignored the mirror, not wanting to see the blood caked on my skin, and squeezed some toothpaste on my brush. I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when I felt someone behind me. I rolled my eyes up to see Kaname standing pale and perfectly nude. He was watching me carefully as if expecting me to react badly. His eyes flicked over to the shower then back to me.
"May I join you?" He glanced down at himself and gestured vaguely at the smears of blood on his chest and neck from where I had laid on him still covered in wet blood when I was healing him. I sighed and spit the minty freshness down the drain before rinsing my mouth out. I tapped my toothbrush against the side of the sink before placing back in it's resting place next to the others. I stood for a moment simply staring down into the sink, breathing in the growing heaviness of hot water in the air. I walked to the shower without looking at him.
"Come on."
"Are you certain-"
"I said come on." Before I change my mind. I kept the last to myself but a part of me thought I probably should have said it aloud. I slipped my fingers under the small connector piece between the cups of my bra and ripped it free. The bra that had started as a pale spring green was now a disgusting shade of brown and reeked of death having soaked up the blood of our enemies, so it didn't matter if I tore it. I'd never be able to wear it again. I slid my panties down my legs and swung open the glass door of the shower, stepping into the small room, it was simply too large of a shower to be called anything else, leaving the door open behind me as I stepped under the waterfall that acted as a shower. The water was scalding, forcing a march of goosebumps across my skin at the extreme temperature difference. I shuddered under the water and hung my head, simply allowing the water to pound down on top of me like a torrential rain.
I hated this. I hated the reek of death and decay, the feeling of someone else' life crusting and flaking along my skin and the tacky feeling of it when it was wet again. I hated that anyone should ever know what it is like to be covered in so much hot and sticky blood that the color of their skin, hair and clothes should be lost like the pieces we gave up of ourselves as it dried. I hated that I wanted to love the man who closed the door to the shower behind him like I thought I always would. I hated that the thought of his naked body against mine could move me only because I knew the pleasure I felt when our bodies joined. I hated that I was in love with a man who wasn't mine and likely never would be again because my husband had made it so. I hated that I couldn't hate Kaname as much as I wanted because a part of me would always love him. If ever you truly love you lose a piece of yourself to that person, a piece that will always be theirs, a piece that will never let you forget the person they were when they burgled your heart...even if that person no longer exists.
"Yuki...?" Kaname's voice sounded so uncertain. Uncertain enough that I turned around and blinked at him through the water. I don't know what my face showed him but it made him reach through the water towards me. He flinched and yanked his hand back, staring at the fall of water separating us. He ran his eyes over me and I watched his chest heave in the motion of a sigh, the sound of it lost to the pounding water. He stepped through the water and I watched him tense, his breath leaving him on a hiss loud enough that I heard it. He ignored the heat of the water, even though I knew he was not fond of such hot showers, and closed the distance between us, wrapping his arms around me. I stood motionless in his arms for a handful of moments before finally resting my arms against the small of his back. His body relaxed marginally against me and I allowed him to hold me for a few minutes before I pulled away. He was quiet as I washed my hair, twice, and ran conditioner through it. I turned around to find him watching me. He cleared his throat and looked away.
"What soap may I use?" I tossed a three in one soap to him that Takuma and Hanabusa insisted was the best thing ever.
He looked up at the last moment and fumbled to catch it, failing in the end. He picked the bottle up from the floor and read it with a raised eyebrow before squeezing a half-dollar sized amount in the center of his palm. I watched him lather his hair with a smirk, knowing that Kaname was just vain enough that he, unlike most men in my life, preferred to use salon grade shampoo and conditioner on his hair so that it fell perfectly around his face without any work or hair product at all. I watched the suds slide down the defined lines of his body, all wet and delicious. I really can't explain what is was about men and water that kick-boxed my salivary glands so hard but I was suddenly so tempted to jump his bones. His cock was at half-mast already, bouncing gently with his motions. I swallowed hard and turned my back to him so that I could finish washing. I finished before he did and was back under the water rinsing off when he made a small noise. I grinned as I felt the weight of his gaze on me, stretching my arms, arching my back and running my fingers through my long hair under the water. When he moaned softly I decided to change the game and dropped my glamour, turning to face him as I did. His eyes widened marginally but his now hard cock never flagged. He stepped forward and began rinsing off only inches from me. I watched the water and soap pour down the long, hard lines of his body and found my heart racing. I was done, so why was I still standing there watching him. His eyes opened once all the soap had swirled down the drain and I was left staring at the amazing beauty of him. I shook my head and brushed past him on my way out of the shower.
"Yuki." I ignored him, shrugging on my green and gold bath robe before swinging the door open and exiting into the radically cooler temperature of the bedroom.
Zero and the human and Senri and Takuma were still in the bed. Rima and Twister had left. Taki and Senri were cuddled comfortably with Takuma on his back running his hand through Senri's tousled, rich mahogany locks. Zero was still cuddled up with the petite human woman, casually running his fingers up and down her back. I'm pretty sure I had interrupted their quiet conversation as the three men were silently staring at me with the clear air of something interrupted. I smiled gently at them without meaning it and swept around the bed, dropping my towel and flinging the armoire doors open to begin rummaging around. I was dressed in a pair of form fitting black jeans and a long sleeve, red button down as Kaname finally exited the bathroom. I ignored him as he made his way out of the room, preoccupying myself by braiding my incredibly long hair. When I was done I turned around fast enough that my braid whipped over my shoulder. Zero was still staring at me but the other two were laying in silence, eyes closed. Only Taki's hand in it's lingering strokes disrupted the illusion of sleep. I eyed the woman next to Zero trying to figure out who the hell she was. It was only when she rolled onto her back, the tangle of her curls falling away, that her face was revealed and I knew who she was. I fought down my anger and swallowed hard a few times, taking several slow, deep breaths.
"How is she?" Zero raised an eyebrow at me, looking down at the woman in question before gingerly trailing his fingers over the bright pink, round and shiny scar on her stomach.
"Considering the fact that she was run through? I'd say she's doing pretty fantastic." I forced myself to look away from him and nodded, grabbing socks and pulling on a pair of black, high-top converse. I stood there for a minute, contemplating where to begin. How did I start trying to figure all this mess out when there were so many damned variables? I finally sighed and let my legs collapse so that I fell cross-legged to the floor. I leaned back against the armoire behind me and thought it through for several quiet minutes, feeling the eyes of the men on the bed waiting for me to decide. Suddenly I knew where to begin.
"What happened, Taki?" I looked over to find that he'd averted his gaze. He remained silent for so long that I had to ask him again before he responded.
"It would appear that Sara has escalated her pursuit of the throne, m'lady."
"I already know that, Takuma. What I don't know is how you happened to be Johnny on the spot as her second, or would that be third or fourth, declaration of war?" He rolled his eyes over to me and I could see his chest moving faster as his breathing increased. He sat up, gently extricating himself from the cozy nest of blankets and tangle of Senri's body against his. When he stood I allowed my eyes to follow the long, lean lines of muscle down the naked back of his body. He seemed to be searching for something.
"Where are my damn pants!" He growled under his breath, flinging discarded clothes around in his search before he finally decided against looking and just walked to the closet, flinging the door open to disappear inside. He came out about a minute later wearing a pair of dark blue jeans that fit very nicely across his hips and thighs, billowing out slightly at the knee, and a deep green button down, flapping open around his chest. He leaned against the wall next to the closet, staring down at the floor. I knew something was bothering him because Taki was never all that concerned with how dressed, or undressed, he was. Whatever he had to tell me was something he obviously didn't think he could say without clothes on which meant he was feeling pretty uncertain of himself right now. So not a good sign. I waited as long as my patience could hold out.
"Don't make me have to ask you again, Takuma." His shoulders slumped forward just a bit before he forced them back by shifting so that his hands were pressed between the wall and his lower back. The movement forced the shirt further apart so that the dark green cloth served as a colorful frame, highlighting all that pale muscle, an unconsciously sexy motion that all the aristocrats were capable of. They just didn't seem to realize how utterly gorgeous they were...for the most part.
"I do not know how to answer your question, my queen." I raised an eyebrow at that.
"You don't know how? Or you don't want to because I won't like the answer?" He chuckled softly but it was an empty sound.
"A bit of both I'm afraid." I frowned because I despised the sound of insecurity I heard in his words, a sound that seemed to say louder than any words that Takuma was afraid that he was about to lose something, like he was about to say something that would lose him...me and everything that came with. I wanted to make it easier for him.
"Come here, Takuma." His head snapped up and there was a slight glint of panic in those wondrously green eyes. He swallowed hard several times, gathering his courage before he did as I said. He stopped about two feet away from me. "Kneel." His legs buckled as if they'd been ready to go for some time now and he was suddenly on his knees in front of me. I got to my knees and closed the distance between us until only a few inches separated us.
"What, if I may ask, are your intentions, my queen?" I looked into those amazing eyes, looked past the color and the perfect large almond shape of them, past the thick line of brilliant lashes. He shifted uncomfortably under my scrutiny and I saw a deeply rooted fear there, barely beneath the surface. He was scared. So scared, but of what? As his friend I wanted to simply hold him and comfort him until it chased that fear from his eyes. As his queen, I had to know what had happened, even if that meant having to cause him the pain of stabbing at festered wounds.
"I have to know what happened. You understand that, don't you?" He nodded, swallowing hard again.
"Yes." It came out a whisper. Gods he was afraid. I gently touched my fingers to the back of his hand and his whole body jerked, not a reaction I had ever gotten from Takuma. I fought to keep my face blank as I ran my hand lightly up his arm. His breathing doubled and I watched his eyes widen, pupils dilating as he began trying to fight back what looked like panic, but he didn't move away.
"Calm down, Takuma. I am not going to hurt you, I promise."
"You do not know what it is I have done. You cannot make me that promise." I hesitated.
"Have you done something worthy of being hurt, Takuma?" He swallowed convulsively and bowed his head so that I could no longer see his eyes. My chest constricted because more than anything in the world at that moment I just wanted to get up, walk out and remain blissfully ignorant. I wanted to pretend that I didn't need to know what was making him so scared, but dammit, I needed to know. I needed to fucking know. I slid my hand up his neck until his jaw was nestled firmly in the palm of my hand and moved his head until I could see those eyes again. He resisted a bit at first and then yielded to me. The tears that filled his eyes sent a thrill of terror through me.
"What have you done, my friend?" He flinched and the barely contained tears broke free. "Tell me." His mouth opened and closed again and again like he was trying to figure out how to say a thousand things all at once.
"I am so sorry." He finally whispered. It took everything I had not to simply wrap him in my arms and tell him that whatever it was, I forgave him. Instead I offered him the only thing I could in that moment.
"You don't have to tell me."
"What?" He looked stricken for a moment and I couldn't help but to smile softly.
"Let me see for myself. Open yourself to me and I will look into your mind." I could see thoughts flit through his eyes in a whirlwind of emotions, faster than I could comprehend. I knew he was weighing the cost of telling me versus letting me see. If he told me I would only be privy to the words he spoke and sometimes words failed at conveying the complexity of a situation or decision. If he showed me there would be no detail that wouldn't be divulged, no emotion or physical pain that I would not feel. It was invasive and yet if he yielded his mind to me that one action might in the end be his greatest defense. He began to shake his head but he stopped himself. I watched resignation battle with his terror in those impossibly wide eyes before he nodded once. I smiled gently at him but he was not reassured. His hand came up to press against mine along his jaw.
"Can I ask for one kindness before we do this?" I frowned slightly before nodding my head in agreement.
"If it will lessen your fear then yes." He laughed softly, shaking his head.
"It will not but I...it will give me something to hold onto if..." He shook his head again and I ran my thumb soothingly back and forth over his cheek. His eyes slid shut and he sighed softly.
"What is it, Taki? Ask and I will do what I can." He hesitated for a moment before he turned the weight of those eyes on me.
"Kiss me?" I must have looked as shocked as I felt because his head dipped down to the ground. What was he about to reveal to me that he...I didn't allow myself to think about it any more. I remembered the single kiss we had shared before and allowed the memory to fill me as I slid my hand slowly into his hair, closing the small gap between our bodies so that we were pressed together in a tight line. His eyes widened when he realized I was giving him what he'd asked for. I ran the fingernails of my other hand lightly along his jaw as I guided his head to the angle I needed it at. He responded by wrapping his hands around my waist and hoisting me up using just his arms so that our lips met. His lips were as soft as I remembered but they were much more unsure than they'd been last time. I kissed him softly several times before finally gently asking for permission by flicking my tongue over his bottom lip. His breath hitched and suddenly I felt the urgency behind his kiss. His mouth fed at mine and I could taste how scared he was about what we were about to do. The taste, feel and smell of him filled my head so it felt natural to do what came next.
The door inside me that held back my magic flung itself wide open and he made a small noise into my mouth as we were both enveloped in the warmth of it. He drowned himself in our magical kiss as he let go. I directed my magic in a soft flow between our mouths and felt his spine bow slightly in reaction before that soft pop that only I could hear sounded that let me know I was inside him before the chaos of memories swarmed my mind. The hardest part about all of this was in directing the flow enough to sift through the thousands of memories to find the ones I wanted. I tried my best to ignore the ones irrelevant to my purpose and thought really hard about what I wanted to know. Sara. I thought her name really hard and was blindsided with a flood of images. The images slowed and began shifting on their own until they all but stopped.
"Please. Don't hate me." Takuma's voice plead in my mind before I was suddenly lost to him.
##############
She walked towards me in a flowing white and pale blue gown that looked like something out of a wedding dress catalog. Sara always had been one for dramatics. The thin lace straps that held the dress up mingled with the cascade of blonde waves that poured around her, flowing with the soft wind that tickled my hair across my neck. My heart raced and the part of me that always reacted to her sat up and begged the question of what was underneath and, more importantly, if we'd get to find out. Embarrassment and shame panged through me at such a thought when I knew what she was here for.
"Hello, my kirei."
"Sara." I tried to force down the part of me that she commanded and likely always would.
"When I heard you were back in Japan I thought a visit would be in order."
"It is dangerous for you to be here. You shouldn't have come."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Worried for my safety are you?" I ground my teeth. Always. She was always looking for some sort of declaration of love from me despite the fact that she already knew how I felt. Yet I was always left wondering how she felt for me. I scoffed.
"You're supposed to be dead, remember? You can't exactly keep that illusion up if you're spotted." She grinned evilly and cocked a hip to rest her hand on.
"Then I'll just have to remove the eyes that attempt to debunk the magician's act, now won't I?" I shook my head and turned away from her to pace over to the gazebo.
"What brings you back to Japan? I thought you were Kaname's right hand man in his quest to conquer the world with his pretty smile and falsities? Surely you have not succeeded just yet." I shook my head.
"They are not falsities, Sara. And we won't be here long." I heard the shuffle of her dress getting closer and part of me wanted to run because that was the smart part, the one that saw her for the monster she was. That same part also knew that Sara loved a good hunt and like any predator enjoyed the thrill of the chase. A smaller, though much more poignant, completely irrational part saw the danger and didn't care. In fact, it loved the thrill of her or the darkness she brought out in me, loved the fact that if I ran I knew she'd chase me. I couldn't ever explain my attraction to her, even to myself but for whatever reason it was there...and I hated it. I felt the soft, lushness of her body press against the back of mine and my eyes slid shut. Her hands slipped under the gray suit jacket that hid my weapons from the public eye, sliding along the smooth, thin black cotton shirt between her hands and my stomach. She tightened her arms around me grinding her left arm and her stomach into the guns at the small of my back and in the shoulder rig under my arm. I heard her breath leave her on a shaky sigh followed by a small shiver of delight.
"Oh how I have missed you, my kirei." My own breathing hitched and my cock was already responding to her. "Have you missed me?" She asked as she began tugging my shirt out of my pants.
"You know I have." My voice was going deep with the prelude to sex. Her hands roamed over my bare skin and I hissed as her nails left a stinging trail down my chest and stomach.
"Yeah?" Her nails bit into the tender flesh over my hip bones and I shivered for her.
"Yes." I groaned. She gently ran her nails over the hard outline of my cock beneath the tight black jeans I wore. I smelled the delicate aroma of her arousal a second before her hand moved deftly. I heard the jingle of my belt and then I could suddenly feel the light breeze across the sensitive skin of my very hard cock a brief moment before her hand closed over me. My breath left me on a low moan as she began working me over.
"It has been so long." I shuddered and threw my hand out to steady myself against one of the wooden posts of the gazebo as she tightened her grip on me to where it almost crossed from pleasure to pain. Almost, but not quite.
"Sara...not like this."
"How then?" I could hear the evil smile in her voice and I moaned.
"Please. Don't make me beg." She laughed, low and sultry as she did something with a twist of her wrist that swept her hand over the head of my cock again and again, drawing me closer to where she wanted me.
"Tell me what you're doing here in Japan and I might give you what you want." So that was what she wanted. I knew it couldn't have just been me she wanted. It rarely ever was. I grabbed her wrist, stilling her hand on me by force. She tightened her grip on me again but this time it was painful and not pleasurable. I hissed and squeezed her wrist until I felt the small bones grind together. She made a noise of protest and her fingers twitched like she was trying to squeeze me again but she couldn't. I continued to apply pressure until just a bit more would crush the tiny bones and finally got a small pain sound. Her hand was loose around me and I took my chance to get away, moving in a blur of motion so that as I whirled to face her I saw her stumble, catching herself on the same post I'd steadied myself on. Her hand twitched as the blood flowed back into it. She glared at me, lips half parted, breath coming a little fast. I adjusted myself so that my precious bits weren't dangling out in the open anymore, watching her eyes clock the movement.
"I won't play your game."
"Oh but you will. In the end, you always do." Yes. It was an unfortunate truth that I did, one way or another, buckle to her eventually. But not this time. This time she was going to play my game. I grinned.
"If you want me, if you want...this-" I gestured with a sweep of my hands down my body, "then you'll have to come get it." I watched her eyes narrow as a slow, utterly sinister smile curled the edges of that gorgeous mouth up to reveal her fangs slowly growing in length. I swallowed hard and turned on my heel, running as fast as I could while fastening my belt to keep my weapons intact but not bothering to fasten my pants. Even though I couldn't hear her coming I knew she'd be following me, chasing me because she was a predator, and I'd volunteered to be her prey. Just like that, she was playing my game. The only question was what would happen when she caught me? It wasn't a question of if but when, because catch me she would. A part of me, that dark and macabre part, was ready and...eager for the anger she'd inevitably feel at being so predictably swept into a game she couldn't resist. I let myself go to that darkest of places and enjoy the thrill of the chase, of being hunted, not knowing what was going to come next.
I felt the wind of my own speed rip my hair back from my face, felt it tug at my clothes. I ducked and dodged branches, hopped over fallen trees and over the small river that ran through the forest around the campus. I smelled her, felt her behind me and didn't allow myself to think about moving because she would sense it. Instead I just let my muscles and instincts take over, launching myself into the air so that I could see her run forward as if I was still in front of her. I dropped back to the ground, rolling with the impact and taking off to the right. I had a moment or two, maybe more before she would be back on me. I saw her running slightly behind and to the left of me out of my peripherals and knew she was going to leap before she did. I slid to a sudden stop, sliding on my ass across the leaves on the forest floor, feeling her pass over me. I put my foot down, angling myself and launched at her still air-borne form, drawing the knife at my hip.
Our bodies collided, spinning through the air until we slammed into the ground, rolling over and over each other with the momentum, each vying for dominance. She growled loudly next to my ear before I slammed her back into the ground. Her eyes widened in a moment of uncertainty as I brought my blade down in a silver blur, burying it in the dirt so close to her head that I smelled blood from where the blade had nicked her ear. I smelled for a brief second a small hint of fear that exhilarated me to the point of distraction. I had scared her. Me.
I had just one tiny moment of victory before her fist slammed into the side of my face hard enough to send me rolling across the ground. I was hauling myself to my knees when her weight crashed down on top of me, grinding my body into the leaves beneath. She grabbed a handful of my hair and wrenched my neck to the side plunging her fangs none to gently into me. I screamed at the intense pain behind the severity of her bite, clawing at the dirt, wanting to throw her off me and yet too scared that in doing so she might tear my throat open. The endorphins flooded through me and suddenly I was moaning, writhing beneath her in pleasure rather than pain. I cried out in half pleasure, half pain as she dug her fangs in deeper, worrying at my neck slightly. Fear tore through me as the thought that she might actually kill me this time occurred. As she dug her fangs in more I knew the thought had occurred to her too. I moaned loudly as every draw from her mouth on my neck and the fear that made my heart fill my mouth swept me closer and closer to orgasm. So close. So...close...
I tried to pull out of that particular memory and shift to another but found that I couldn't. Why was Takuma showing me this memory still when all that was left was sex between him and Sara? I tried again but heard a faint, "Just watch." I settled in and watched. If he wanted to show it, I could watch.
Her fangs in my neck and the weight of her on my back were suddenly gone drawing a whimper from me and then she used her grip on my hair to whip me onto my back. I fell back on the ground and then she was on me. My body jerked as she ripped my t-shirt off and then she growled into my face from inches away, my blood dripping from the edges of her lips, straddling my waist and digging the gun at my lower back into me. Fear tingled through me but I stayed still, unsure of what she might do if I moved. I had started this but she would end it and the thought both terrified me and flipped my switch.
I stayed perfectly still as she slid down my body until she straddled my thighs. She cocked her head and fanned my ruined suit jacket out around my upper body, eyes roving over me until she stopped on my weapon. She gently ran her fingers over the Browning in the custom made holster. I stopped breathing for a moment. She moved so quickly I couldn't track the motion. She yanked my jeans down around my knees and when I looked down I saw her staring up the line of my body, muscles coiled like she was about to launch herself at me and tear the meat from my bones with her fangs like a true wild beast. Her eyes left my face and took in my hard cock, sticking up like a large exclamation point and a small helpless noise crawled up the back of my throat as she crawled slowly up my legs until I could feel her breath on the underside of me. She licked her lips and made as close a sound to a purr as I'd ever heard come out of a human throat. My body was torn between being so afraid that I could taste and feel the meaty thrum of my heart in my throat and turned on to the point of pain. My body throbbed and ached for her in more ways than one, cock bouncing with each ragged inhale. She stared into my eyes from almost an inch away from my cock and I saw that this could go either way. Even she didn't know whether violence or sex would please her more, whether she'd fuck me, or eat me. I opened my mouth, to do what I'm not quite sure, but just then she struck, sinking her fangs into my thigh, inches from the groin My mouth opened wider in a silent scream that I had no air for as my spine bowed and then my body spasmed as the wet heat of her mouth closed around me. She swallowed me down gently so as not to tear me up with her fangs, her motions, slow and painfully careful. I realized that she'd retracted her fangs as she began to suck and roll me around in her mouth. I was nearly stupid with the closeness of orgasm when she pulled away completely. I cried out in disbelief and she laughed, a dark sound that rose goosebumps all over my body.
"Beg for me." She sucked me down again and I couldn't think. She pulled away again right when I was about to come and I nearly screamed in frustration. "Beg." I panted as I tried to relearn how to speak. Her mouth once again closed over me and my eyes fluttered back into my head, my legs and body twitching with every small movement of her mouth on me. Please. Please. Please! I realized I needed to say it aloud.
"Please! Sara!" She laughed with me in her mouth and the vibration of it almost did me in but she pulled away again. Tears filled my eyes as my body twitched beneath her and breath was too hard to come by.
"Now. Tell me what you are doing here in Japan?" If I'd had the air I would have screamed because I wasn't supposed to talk about what we were doing anywhere during our travels but her mouth robbed me of reason. Once again she drew me close and then stopped. "Tell me." She did that twice more, each time taking less and less time. "Tell me, my kirei." Then she swept me away again with a few draws of her mouth, once, twice.
"PLEASE! OH GOD, SARA, PLEASE!" I screamed with what air I had.
"Tell me and you'll get your reward." Her mouth was yet again working at me and I was completely blinded with the need to come. My body quaked for her, burning as I had never known before. When she pulled away this time my muscles actually seized and I shivered uncontrollably. "Tell. Me." She punctuated each word with a flick of her tongue along my cock.
"Can't-" I ground out. She laughed while sucking on the head of my cock and I thought I was going to die.
"Won't." She responded. I was helpless before her, incapable of moving even if I NEEDED to. My body was rebelling against me. I was all out crying now as she laved at me like a cat with cream.
"Can't...breathe..." I cried out, back arching as she took all of me down her throat and held me there, digging her nails into my hips painfully to stave off the orgasm. She pulled away quickly and repeated her request.
"Can't...think..." I gasped out.
"Don't think. Just speak." She went to go back to me and I just couldn't.
"Noooo..." I said on a sob. "Let me...breathe...need air...to think." She laughed and ignored me, running small strokes of her tongue along me, making my whole body twitch in response. "Yuki! Here...because of her!" I shouted. She stopped for a second and I spit out everything I could think of.
"She got...involved...in politics with...Dai Moto. Kaname's..." She rolled her tongue around the head of me and I moaned long and low. I forced out the rest. "He wants to...supervise negotiations!" She laughed.
"There, now. That wasn't so hard, now was it?" In that moment I hated her. She slid me slowly into her mouth and I moaned as fast as I could draw breath, her tongue swirling around and around as she slowly took me into her. I was ready to go about halfway down but she paused and all I could do was writhe. She swallowed me down her throat until her lips pressed against the skin at the base of me and she contracted her throat around me once, twice, three times. My eyes rolled back into my head and my spine bowed as the orgasm she had so long denied me whited out the world. I screamed, muscles seizing as she rolled, sucked and swallowed down everything I poured into her mouth, every movement of her mouth triggering another wave of orgasm. I screamed until I had no air and then my body took over, hands clawing at the dirt, head flung back to the heavens as every part of my body tried to free itself.
##################
I ripped myself completely out of his head for a moment to give him wide eyes. Both of us were panting and sweating. I was so wet between my thighs that I knew I had physically come from the memory of his orgasm and from his half-lidded eyes and the sound of his heartbeat in my head I knew he had gone too. We both swayed on our knees but I had left the door open between us and he swept me back into his head.
I was bloody and broken on the ground, heaving myself to my feet on a broken knee and a dislocated shoulder. Blood poured down my face and into my eyes, blinding me, filling my nose so that I couldn't smell anything but the strong copper scent of it. I was trying to use the air around me to tell me where she was but all I could feel was the rib protruding from my stomach, the blood painting my skin with a tacky barrier between me and the world. Suddenly a sharp blow to my good knee resounded with a loud crunch. I screamed in agony as both knees met the floor, pain tearing through me like a wave of glass. Something wrapped around my throat and then I was dangling just far enough off the floor that my toes could brush it. I clawed at the thing with my one good hand, everything but the thundering sound of my heartbeat and the deafening whir of my blood disappeared as I gasped for air. My fingers tried to find something to grab onto to hoist myself up but my hands slid along the metal wire like oil on water. The wire suddenly released, dropping me to my knees again. The blinding waves of agony prevented me from breathing and I passed out.
I came to with a scream as a bolt of ice shot through my core. My teeth chattered and I coughed past the pressure of something around my throat. The wire that had knocked me out was the only thing that kept me from falling to the floor.
"You are going to tell me the names of everyone within Yuki's ranks, my kirei, I don't care who or what they are. If they are working for her, I want to know. I can do this for days. Can you?" Her voice came from right in front of me and I spit a mouthful of blood at her. The high-pitched peal of outrage from her was terrifying but the terror receded on a fresh wave of a new pain as the sharp snap of my arm breaking in two places sounded.
I struggled to free myself from the memory but Takuma held me there, speeding the memory up so that it went by quicker but I still saw everything, heard every bone break, felt every pain every hopeless, helpless plea that left his lips until finally when his body had given up the fight and his mind had broken the names just poured out of his mouth. Even when he had no more to give she continued torturing him until he had resigned himself to death and only then did she stop. He moved us past that memory to the aftermath of the battle in the star dorm that had almost cost us so much, the battle that Sara had instigated. I knew that Takuma had no idea exactly what she was planning, he just knew it was going to be something big.
As I cleared the wreckage that was once the front door I couldn't believe what I was looking at. How? How could I let her do this? A few steps into the foyer left me on my ass in a couple inches of gore. I sat up and wiped blood that had splashed onto my face away, glaring my hatred of her into those smiling eyes. Sara was reclining casually on the steps standing when she saw that she had my attention. She walked easily in her high heel boots through all the mess to stand a few feet away. I ignored her and looked around at the carnage. It didn't seem real.
"It is beautiful isn't it? Some of my best work yet, if I do say so myself." I sneered my disgust at her which made her laugh as she extended her hand as if to help me up. I slapped her hand away.
"You disgust me." I spit at her.
"Aww! You're so cute when you hate me." I shoved her away as I scrambled to my feet, looking around me.
Blood and thicker things painted the walls about halfway up and coated everything else until the image of being inside a human body was too close for comfort. The archway underneath the grand staircase was crumbled in upon itself, the second floor balcony was cracked all to hell and caving in in some places. There was so much gore everywhere that you couldn't see the chunks of broken and discarded weapons underfoot until you tripped on them. I stopped in my tracks, heart plummeting to my feet. I couldn't breathe as I ran through the gooey mess, tripping and sliding in my hurry to get to her. No! It couldn't be! I fell to my knees and slid to a stop next to the fallen body. My hands shook as I reached out to her, hesitating for a second before touching her. I slid my hands under, rolling her limp body into my lap. The long length of her ponytail draped across her face in a thick line, wet with all the blood. I peeled it away to find her face slack and my heart stopped beating. The world spun and my vision went red as I found Sara with my eyes standing only a few feet away, watching me with a bemused expression on her face.
"YOU DID THIS!" I bellowed in rage. She swept a dramatic, mocking bow, a wicked smile curling her mouth into something vicious.
"Guilty as charged." She stood straight and cocked her head to the side as she took in the room around us as if wondering how Yuki's body was the only intact one in the cluster-fuck that was the foyer. "Is she dead?"
I opened my mouth to say something and stopped, looking down at the woman in my lap. I hadn't actually checked to see if she was alive. I frantically searched for a pulse, finding none. I almost threw up but forced myself instead to calm down. I listened, closing my eyes to block out the visceral imagery around me in order to focus. Getting past the smell was the hardest. With this much death and destruction the whole place reeked like a slaughterhouse crossed with an outhouse. I finally heard it, the sluggish whoomp-whoomp of her heart beating. I slumped in relief before gathering her up into my arms. I couldn't stand the thought of her laying in the disgusting pool of death that the foyer had been reduced to. Sara laughed loud and boisterously as I stood with her in my arms.
"The bitch just doesn't know when to die!" I stared at her long and hard. If looks could kill Sara would be in indistinguishable pieces scattered among the rest of the carnage.
"If she would have died you would have been right behind her. I promise you that, Sara." She raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so? And who would have killed me? You?" She laughed hard enough that she had to wipe tears from her eyes. "I needed that laugh." I growled and turned my back to her, picking my way across the floor carefully so that I did not fall with Yuki in my arms.
"Get away from here while you still can if you value your life."
"Your empty threats are doing nothing but pissing me off, Takuma. I'd be careful if I were you." I was on the steps now.
"I wasn't threatening you. I don't need to. That was your warning. Others will come soon to check on their queen, among other things. They will not be as lenient as I am forced to be, of that I am positive."
"Ahh...so even after all this you are still trying to save me, eh? Tell me, my kirei what will it take to make you hate me? You obviously are not a good enough friend to warn them of their destruction. Don't you love them?" I stopped at the top of the stairs turning to glare at her.
"I have tried to save you every way I can, Sara. You are beyond saving."
"What if I just don't feel like I need saving or want to be?"
"Either way. A lost cause. You cannot save those who do not wish to be saved and there is no saving the insane."
"I'm insane now, huh?" She was so amused.
"Only the truly insane can act and think as you do and still believe they are sane within their own rights." She cocked her head as if kicking the idea around in her head.
"So what if I am? Doesn't even an insane person need to be saved every once in a while?" I shook my head.
"Make up my mind, Sara. Do you want to be saved or don't you? Regardless it does not matter because I realize now that you are a woman gone out of her mind and even if I wished to save you, I cannot. I have tried, you nor anyone else can fault me that. I have only failed because trying to rescue the insane from the depraved depths of their own mind is in and of itself insane." The smile was gone now and fury gleamed in her eyes.
"Does that not make you the mad hatter to my cheshire cat, Takuma?" I finally conceded to myself that I had only ever deluded myself into thinking that there was something under all her insanity that could possibly be capable of loving me the way I had loved her for so many years and simply nodded.
"I suppose it does." My voice sounded sad and defeated even to my own ears. I turned away from her and began walking down the hallway.
"Do not walk away from me, Takuma."
"Heed my warning or don't. I no longer care." She was in front of me suddenly, her hair floating around her on an icy wind of her own creation.
"Perhaps I should just finish the job while the little whore is down and out then and seal our fate." Terror ripped through me so fast it stole my breath.
"Your fate." I mumbled.
"You have helped me, Takuma. That makes you an accomplice and if you are found with her body would that not paint a suspicious picture?"
"I will not idly stand by whilst you murder, my queen. Attempt it and I will kill you or die trying."
"You could never stand against me. You forget. I rule you! I am your queen, Takuma! You live and die by my order! We will be insane together. Forever! There will never be another way. You are mine!" I saw in her eyes that the next time she got her hands on me I would pay for the words I had spoken. I resigned myself to my fate and drowned in hopelessness and the grief of what my dishonesty had almost cost me and the rest of the world this night as I walked down the hallway behind Sara because I did not trust her to walk behind me right now.
I drowned in dozens of memories of Sara torturing Takuma to get information since I came back to the academy. Sometimes she did not have to torture him if it the information she wanted was small enough that he didn't think it worth it to endure the pain she'd put him through. Other times he tried to resist and withhold his information but she wrung it out of him every time. She had beaten him down with a smattering of affection sprinkled among the ocean of abuse and sucked the spirit right out of him. When the last memory he showed me of her most recent attack against him played back I was as emotionally exhausted as he was.
All the encounters building up to this point showed that Takuma had fought to withhold what he knew but would at some point crack. This time was different. I felt his determination that this would be the last time she came to him for information. He would not yield, not ever again. When I felt Sara's cold fingers close around his, our, heart the one beating in my own chest shattered. He'd had enough and was ready to die. He was content with his decision to fight her unto his death because he thought this was the last time. He thought he was free finally. He boldly dared her to tear the heart she had toyed with for so long free of his chest and for just a second was triumphant over her. The dismay, rage, terror and agony that tore from his mouth in haunting peals as she implanted her magic deep within him like a ticking time bomb for another to have to endure echoed through me. She had won. Once again, Sara had won.
I ripped myself free of his mind with a scream and none of the gentleness of my entry. We both collapsed to the floor and I struggled to breath past the terrible pain in my chest. I heard people moving around the room but I didn't care to look. I sat up with a wince, rubbing my hand over my heart. Takuma was curled into a ball on the floor. Senri was only feet away, hand reached out like he was going to touch Takuma. I waved him away and watched him reluctantly fall back a few steps while glaring at me. He couldn't possibly hate me as much as I hated myself in that moment. I realized now that it probably would have been easier on the both of us if he'd just told me his story as opposed to watching it unfold and feeling it all over again. I placed my hand on his shoulder gently and his whole body jerked, drawing up into a tighter ball.
"Takuma." I heard him mumbling something to himself over and over and I leaned in to hear it.
"Please, don't hate me. Please, don't hate me. Please, don't hate me. Please, don't hate me..." I shoved the soft, fleshy part of my thumb into my mouth to stifle the sob that almost burst from it. I closed my eyes shut tight and bowed my head so that no one would see the tears pouring down my face as I tried to collect myself enough to help piece back together my friend I had just broken...again. I bit down until I tasted my own blood in my mouth, the pain helping chase back the agony a little. I released my hand and angrily swiped at my tears with the hand that wasn't dripping blood. I crawled quickly around the tiny ball he'd curled all that six feet and change of height into.
"Takuma." I called to him softly. When he didn't respond I slid my arms under his shoulders, rolling him onto his knees and he didn't fight me, but he didn't uncurl either. He stayed hunched over with his forehead on the floor. "Takuma. Look at me." I gently ran my fingers through his hair until I had a full handful to lift his face up. I saw a flash of panic in his eyes until he saw my face. Had he thought I was her? Oh gods. What had I done to him? I cradled his face in my hands and lifted it until his eyes were level with mine. I wiped the silent tears from his face with my fingers but there was so many of them that all I was really doing was spreading the wetness of them across his face.
"Please. Don't hate me, my queen." I fought down the tears that burned up the back of my throat but I couldn't stop them. I did the only thing I could think to do in that moment that would reassure him. I leaned in and kissed the tears from his eyes, kissed the saltiness of them from across his cheekbones, down his cheeks and over his jawline until I finally claimed his lips. I felt his body go still as I gave him the most gentle kiss I could ever remember having given in my life. I lingered for a second before kissing the corners of his mouth then going back to kissing him full on the lips again. His mouth opened for me without me having to ask and he began to very hesitantly kiss me back. Our kiss was slow at first, a kiss so sensual and gentle that you'd swear we were lovers, then it grew into something more where I showed him as much as I could without jumping him then and there that I treasured him. I broke the kiss first and we both sucked in huge lungfuls of air, chests heaving. His face was forcefully blank as if he wasn't sure what expression I wanted to see so he was being cautious. I placed a chaste kiss on those full, now ripe red lips.
"I do not hate you. I could not hate you if I tried, Taki." I watched his eyes flick over my face as if discerning the truth behind my words and then his bottom lip began to quiver seconds before he collapsed and began to sob. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in my lap as his body heaved heart-racking sobs. Whether he cried as a release after so much abuse, relief of having someone finally know and no longer having to hide his pain or shoulder this burden alone or any combination and more I don't know. I simply pulled as much of his body into my lap as I could and held onto him, running my fingers through his hair and humming softly to him, rocking slightly back and forth. I don't know how much time passed like that but movement next to me whipped my head up and I blinked in shock to find that it was Zero who knelt beside me. He ignored me and stared down at the man in my lap. He reached his hand out, hesitating before gently touching the other man's hair. He ran his hand softly along Takuma's jawline until those giant, brilliant green eyes rolled up to look at him. Whatever he saw in Zero's eyes stole his breath.
"I don't know you very well but I am familiar with your pain." I watched his lips curl into a sincere and comforting smile. "It will not always feel like this. The pain will fade." He ran his thumb along the curve of Taki's jaw before pulling away. "I promise." Takuma stared up into Zero's eyes for a moment and then Zero stood and turned away. Both of us watched him walk over to the bed and gather the still unconscious Nekohime into his arms and walk out of the room. We stared at the closed door for a moment before Taki rested his head in my lap with a sigh. I frowned deeply as I glared at the door he'd left through. He'd said he was familiar with Takuma's pain and that it would fade. Did that mean bits of my Zero were beginning to come back? I shook free of that thought and turned my attention back to the man curled around me. He was no longer crying, eyes closed, face completely passive as if he were finally at peace.
"Thank you, my queen." I sighed and looked away from him, still running my fingers through his hair. The silence grew so thick between us that I heard his heart rate pick up.
"My queen?" I could hear just how anxious my lack of response was making him and wished I could just say that everything was going to be okay, that I'd always be here for him. I felt such a strong urge to feed him lies simply to prolong this moment of relief for him. I wanted to. I really did, but what came out was so very not comforting.
"Don't thank me yet, Takuma." His whole body went stiff against mine, singing with tension. I petted my hands along those now taught muscles. "Calm down, Takuma. I'm not going to hurt you." Intentionally, I added to myself. A knock at the door sounded before Ruka poked her head in.
"Come in, Ruka." She stepped in and quickly shut the door behind her.
"Lady Yuki."
"What is it?" I couldn't help the edge of irritation behind my question. Why was there always something else that needed fixing? Ruka either ignored my intonation or simply hadn't caught onto it.
"Prime Minister Moto is on the phone waiting to speak to you."
"About what?"
"I'm not sure, my lady, but I believe it is to discuss an urgent matter."
"Isn't it always." I muttered to myself, sighing deeply before dipping my head in acknowledgment. "Fine. Tell him I will call him back when I manage to get a moment to do so." Ruka shifted uncomfortably.
"He said he thought you might say something along those lines and told me I was to remind you that among your duties to your people you also have a duty to him, as your ally." I growled and whipped my head to face her.
"I do not have the time nor patience to deal with such petulance right now. You tell him I said he can fucking wait!" She nodded too fast and bowed deeply at the waist, a notion of submission that was not lost to me. I growled to myself and slammed my eyes shut tight, scrubbing my hands over my face as I took deep, even breaths. I kept my eyes closed and threaded my fingers back through Takuma's hair, the man now so still I could hardly feel him breathe. "I did not mean to yell at you. I apologize. Just tell Dai that I am in the middle of sorting out some major issues among my people and need a few minutes. I will get back to him as soon as I possibly can."
"Yes, my queen." A few moments passed and I did not hear her move to exit the room. I inhaled until my chest shivered from my lungs being too full before I let all that air slowly trickle free.
"What else, Ruka?"
"Headmaster Cross and Toga Yagari have also requested a brief meeting with you to address some matters pertaining the recent attack as well as issues concerning the campus itself. And I believe Lord Kuran would like a word with you as well." I scoffed. Finally, a request I could blow off. I tapped Takuma on the head softly until he looked at me, eyes uncertain.
"Come, Takuma. Let us relocate to the conference room. We have much to discuss with the others." He swallowed hard several times, eyes going wide.
"Lady Yuki, I...-" I placed a finger gently across his lips.
"Have no fear Takuma. You need only listen to what I have to say." Though you will not like it, I thought silently. He nodded and I helped him stand before Senri stepped forward and offered to help Takuma. I handed Taki over to him and began making my way to the door. I stopped in the threshold and glanced at the three of them before letting my eyes slide shut as I did something I'd only managed to do once before, and even then it had been an in the moment kind of thing.
I let my power burst free from me on a liquid tide. My magic first rushed over Senri, Takuma and Ruka and I heard them gasp, felt and saw them with a part of my mind that projected them like glowing beacons to the more rational part of my head that needed an explanation. As my magic rolled further and further out every vampire tied to me and mine popped up like glowing blips on my preternatural radar. Since all of our vampires were oathed to us with a blood bond it allowed me to find them if I knew where to look. The blood bond was an archaic practice among our people, even Kaname had given up on oathing, but it was one I had always insisted on. I used it now to call all my vampires to me by sucking that magic back to me, drawing thin lines of their auras along with the receding wave. When the last bit of my magic fell into place inside me a low bell sounded, the reverberations vibrating down those aura lines to my people and I felt them. I opened my eyes and stood straight from where I had leaned against the doorjamb for support.
"They're coming. Let us move to the conference room." I knew without looking that they were right behind me as I began walking down the hallway.
Kaien's POV
I staggered and gripped the windowsill that I'd been looking out of tightly as her magic rushed over me. My head fell forward on my spine and I sucked in a sharp gasp as it molded around me. I fought against this demanding magic when I heard Kaname gasp too. I turned, plastering my back to the wall next to the window, to find Kaname down on one knee, head back as his chest heaved.
"Oh god..." He said on a low moan. The tide of her magic pull back so fast that it felt as if the powerful undercurrent of a receding wave were ripping the feet out from under you and sweeping you away with it. A piece of me followed that torrent of power and then a soft bell sounded and I could feel her coming. She was coming to us. I blinked rapidly and shook my head, finding myself on the floor. I stood up on shaky legs and found Kaname also on the floor.
"What was that?" He was breathing as if he'd run a marathon. He slowly turned his head to me and I raised an eyebrow at the swirling, brilliant red of his eyes, but it was his fangs that were distracting to me. They had grown to battle length, dropping down nearly half an inch below his chin to the point that his jaw had enlarged to accommodate such massive teeth.
"What was that, Kaname?" I repeated. He smiled and I watched some fierce emotion gleam through his eyes before I glimpsed a tiny spurt of fear.
"That was the call of the queen, my queen. That was Yuki, Kaien." His voice lisped around the massive fangs. He shivered and held a hand up to me.
"Help me into one of those chairs. I can feel her getting closer and do not wish to be sitting on the floor when she arrives." I did as he asked, sitting promptly in the chair next to him.
"What is the call of the queen, exactly?" He sighed and I watched the fangs begin to retract.
"I have never felt it before because there has never been any woman that I have ever dreamed of calling queen. I have only ever heard of it from the mouths of pureblood families that reigned over their parts of the world."
"I know that the pureblood families split the world into fiefdoms in order to govern the aristocrats and B and C classes while executing level E's. It was a ploy for power as much as it was an attempt at setting up a government system for vampires."
"Yes, and it is largely successful. There are many little kings and queens, but there have only ever been two true kings and three queens."
"I don't think I quite understand." He shook his head.
"You do not make light inquiries, Kaien. This is a difficult subject to explain. I will surmise it to say that the call of a king or queen is only afforded to those who have both the power and charisma of a true monarch. Only those who follow their lord or lady out of devotion, no matter what that devotion may be, answer the call. It is called the call of the Queen or King partly because both titles are ones of love and respect among our people." I stared at him in silence for a moment and opened my mouth about to ask another question but he silenced me as the door swung open to reveal Yuki. As she swept into the room I saw behind her the faces of Senri holding Takuma, who looked a little worse for wear, with an arm around his waist and Ruka. Yuki stalked around the table to stand at the head of it where Kaname usually sat. I felt the room filling up with vampires and every single one of them had swirling red eyes. Kaname seemed not to notice or maybe he just didn't care. The only person of any interest to him was Yuki. I too found myself staring at her. Her eyes glowed so bright they cast shadows on the smooth, polished wood of the table. In just her tight black jeans and red button down she commanded my attention as if she should have been decked out in crown jewels with a throne behind her. She scanned the room with those amazing eyes of hers before she looked at me suddenly.
"Kaname. Father." Her eyes flicked further back in the room. "Toga." She addressed us before she pulled her phone out. The whole room was quiet as we listened to the ringing of a phone. The connection clicked and then a male voice came over the line. She took the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker.
"Finally! It is about time Yuki! Have you any idea what I've been going through over here, I mean you just would not believe the-"
"Dai." She spoke his name with authority without needing to raise her voice and the man fell silent.
"What has happened?" He knew without needing Yuki to say anything more than his name that something was up. The man was smart and clearly the two of them were a perfectly compatible pair.
"I have Lord Kuran, Headmaster Kaien Cross and all of my vampires with me as we speak. I have put you on speakerphone because a matter has risen which requires everyone's attention."
"It must be of grave importance if you are allowing me to listen in on such things." Yuki's lips quirked up into a small, wry smile.
"Yes. I fear it is." No one said a word as we all waited for her to continue. Finally she sighed deeply and looked around the room, her eyes settling on one person in particular.
"You understand what I have to do here, Takuma?" I turned my head to see him look to the ground at his feet, nodding slightly. When I turned back Yuki was staring blankly at her phone on the table. "I am sorry, my friend."
"Yuki, you cannot possibly have gathered us here for what I think you intend?" Kaname finally spoke. Her eyes turned to him and anger danced within their glowing depths.
"And why not?" He opened his mouth but she shook her head. "Just shut up." She stood a little straighter and let her eyes rove over the vampires in the room.
"Many of you are new to this job. I'm not sure most of you understood the level of danger you were signing on for when you agreed to become members of our forces. I even suspect that you may have thought we were kidding when I told you this life of politics is closer to some macabre mash up between war and Hollywood glamor. It's not all it has cracked up to be, eh?" A light wave of laughter went through the room.
"But I did warn you and still you signed on. You oathed yourselves to us and pledged away your freedom under our sovereign rule." She shook her head and chuckled slightly. "And what fools you are for it." She dissolved into a fit of laughter that had some people shifting nervously and others smiling along with her.
"Yuki, what is the-" She held up a hand for silence and righted herself. When she spoke her eyes were stone cold, as if the laughter had never been.
"Very few of you are left that have been with us from the start of this campaign. You are testament to the savagery of the resistance against our cause." Her eyes went one by one to the handful of whom she referred to before she once again looked to the rest of them. "We have lost an unimaginable number of comrades, confidants and brothers in arms to our fight and I have never in my life been more tempted to simply give up." Everyone in the room shuffled and shifted, the air filling with gasps, sharp inhales and a few grunts.
"Yes. I admit to wanting to throw my hands up and say fuck it. Fuck it all. Because I am tired of seeing my people slaughtered, tired of mourning, of washing away the blood of my people from weapons, skin and floor." She shook her head and bowed it, leaning her hands on the table. "But here I am, in yet another position where I am forced to ask you once again to risk everything for us."
"Yuki, please. We need to talk about this before-" She growled at him.
"I am not finished yet, Kaname." He fell silent and simmered in a quiet rage.
"One female vampire known as Sara Shirabuki has announced herself our enemy and has declared war on Kaname and myself. She has thrice attacked us, having admitted to being the primary conspirator behind two of these attacks. Twice has she almost cost us the lives of two of our comrades who stand among you now as well as the life of Lord Kaname and myself. She has tortured our people and is to blame for the deaths of countless others. On top of all of this she has a long and rather intricate history of murder, deceit and luxuriating in the grotesque arts of torture. You know what she wants. She wants my position, she wants to rule as I do." She took a long, deep breath that shuddered as it came out. "In the light of full disclosure I have to admit that Sara offered me a deal." This earned more muttering and Kaname sat forward a little in his chair. Did he not know this?
"She came to me in the aftermath of the battle of the Star dorm proposing that no one else had to die if I resigned as queen and allowed her to fill my place by Kaname's side. I refused. I would not see my people led by a mad-woman. I couldn't stand to see everything we have done, everything we have lost to be undone under the chaos of a lunatic." She stared defiantly at the farthest wall in silence for a few moments letting all the information sink in. "You can damn me if you wish. Sometimes I question the wisdom of decisions that I have made, but that is not one. Nor do I regret the decision I am about to make."
"Stop! Just stop! I see where this is going, Yuki." Dai's voice came loud and clear over the phone and I think we all had forgotten he was listening because all eyes snapped to the phone. "You cannot do this just now."
"I have to. Sara Shirabuki must die. She has declared herself an enemy of the crown, as you humans like to say, and committed multiple acts of treason for which the punishment is death in any country around the world."
"I understand your reasons but-"
"Do you? Maybe you'd understand if I put it on a larger scale for you. She is guilty even of violating the laws of war by taking my people as prisoners of war in order for her to declare war. You did not see the state she left my people in! You have not seen the bodies pile up around us, bodies of my friends, of my people!" Her eyes were wild with the rage that was elongating her fangs.
"You are quite emotional and you have more than enough reason to be but listen to me. You must be patient. There is a time for everything and now is not the time for this." He spoke quickly, more than likely to avoid interruption again, but his voice was otherwise much calmer than it had been when he'd first answered the call.
"If you are implying that I am letting my emotions cloud my judgment I can assure you that my judgment is quite clear."
"Your argument is rational and I am not saying she does not need to die for her crimes. I am saying your timing is off."
"I understand what he is trying to say." My voice came out a bit louder than I wanted it to but the second her swirling red eyes came to rest on me I slightly regretted having spoken up. I cleared my throat and sat forward a bit in my chair.
"You are already fighting the humans to recognize vampires and give them rights among other things. You are also fighting the vampires and vampire hunters who would sooner see you dead than see you succeed. Wars fought on two fronts result in defeat. You cannot possibly hope to win a war fought on three, or would that be four, fronts. You are strong and ambitious, my dear, but you mustn't let this be the demise of us all. We do not have the resources or the manpower to win against such odds."
"And if news gets out about the vampires and hunters fighting among themselves what do you think that will do to the clout you and Kaname have managed to gain among other human political leaders." Yuki's eyes narrowed on the phone at Dai's words. I was about to open my mouth to say something to quiet her anger but Kaname beat me to it.
"The humans have fought among themselves and racked up a body count so high that even the gods have wept at such destruction. But they have never seen vampires fight. If they were to witness the skill, powers and abilities that many of us fight with they would run in terror and everything we have done would be for naught." The wood of the table cracked where Yuki had a death grip on it and if she was breathing I couldn't tell. Oh shit. This was not good!
"Do you think I relish the idea of signing my people up for yet another fucking war? Do you think I want this?" Her voice was low, a growl curling the edges of her words into something dangerous. "Six years. It has been nearly six years we have been locked in war with those who oppose us and we have steadfastly taken on all-comers: human, vampire and hunter alike. I have accepted that this is the price we have to pay for being the monster coming out of the closet and an end does not appear to be in sight. We might be warring like this for many, many, many years yet. So, when do we have time, manpower or resources to address the mutinous bitch that keeps kicking in our defenses, thinning our ranks and making our already long-suffering people tremble under her torturous ways? What do you propose we do? Wait until she kills me and countless numbers of our people and takes the fucking throne!?" The room was so quiet that only Yuki's labored breathing could be heard. Her hair floated around her on a wind of her own creation, eyes glowing, fangs slightly elongated. She lifted her hands into the air, palm up, in an all encompassing gesture as she raked the room with her eyes.
"If anyone has any suggestions speak now, because there is no rule in any fucking book that dictates how to handle a situation like this. I am at a loss as to what to do. Someone, anyone, please, tell me what I should do if you have a better idea." Everyone was stock still and no one even breathed, let alone took her up on her offer. She was right. Sara's rule, if she were to ever be allowed such a privilege, would most assuredly be the destruction of us all. I felt tears burn up the back of my throat as I watched my precious Yuki search the faces of the vampires in the room one by one, almost desperately until she came to rest on me. My heart hurt at the look of defeat and regret I saw momentarily in her eyes before she once again stared out at the room with resolve I knew she didn't feel. I wished with everything in me that I had another solution to offer her that didn't involve violence
"It is settled then. As of right now I, Yuki Cross," I saw Kaname stiffen beside me at the noticeable use of her surname as opposed to his name, "Lady of the vampires, declare that I and anyone who chooses to follow me are hereby at war with Sara Shirabuki who has attempted regicide a number of four times and is found guilty of treason of the highest order, the punishment for which is death. Any and all who stand in her defense will be found guilty of treason by association as confidants and co-conspirators. There will be no mercy for anyone who stands as obstacle against my decree. Anyone who wishes to challenge my decree you are free to do so right now or forever hold your peace."
"Yuki, this is a bit harsh not to mention rash, don't you think?" She turned to glare at Kaname and smiled slightly.
"No, I do not. I think it's just desserts." No one else spoke up and after several minutes she nodded just once.
"Then if there are no contestations my decree is official. Sara Shirabuki will die either by my or any hand of which I control. I have spoken thus is it law." Kaname started to stand and say something but I grabbed his arm and held him still until he turned to glare holes through me. I was not fazed but instead whispered fast and low to him.
"Keep your mouth shut. Time for dispute is over. It is too late." Yuki's voice rang loud and clear, whipping both our heads around.
"As a compromise to accommodate the issues of resources and manpower as pointed out by...my advisers, I have decided to delegate. Kaien Cross, as the headmaster and founder of Cross academy and the Executive Minister of outreach and relations for HAVAV you are delegated the task of maintaining the PR and communications in and around the academy, this includes any and all press conferences concerning the academy, as well as attending to your regular duties as Headmaster. Do you object?" I shook my head with a soft smile, happy to see that Yuki was learning that ruling did not mean having to attend to everything personally, and terribly saddened by the conditions under which she was forced to learn this lesson. She seemed to be waiting for a verbal response from me.
"Not at all, my queen." Her face fell into a slight frown at the title which made me smile. I knew she hated it when I addressed her as such but in professional situations such as this I had no idea what to call her except by her title. She turned to Kaname beside me.
"Kaname Kuran, Lord of the vampires to my Lady and my partner in the founding, development and maintenance of CVHR to you I delegate the task of continuing to appeal to the human politicians as you have been doing. Use any methods short of ones that will instigate war in order to sway them to our cause. This of course, as you know, entails quite a bit of danger as well as press exposure and conferences. You may recruit in your travels to your heart's content as long as you follow the recruiting protocol. Objections?" He frowned at her like he was contemplating what he should or shouldn't say in the moment before he spoke.
"Who can I take with me in my travels?" Somehow I had expected him to be less adult about this.
"Ask me that again later after I am finished here." She turned again to Zero. "Zero Kiryu and Toga Yagari to you I-"
"I have not said I am staying among your ranks." We all turned to the tall, dark and daunting hunter posted against the furthest wall, arms crossed, an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. Yuki was quiet for a moment before responding.
"I apologize for the assumption. Do you intend to stay with us or leave?" He stared at her long and hard for a few moments and Yuki never flinched, she just calmly stared back.
"I suppose I could hang around for a while. It looks like you could use all the hands you can get." Yuki dipped her head graciously. "Besides, I always kill more vampires when I'm around you." Several people shifted uncomfortably at this but Yuki laughed, an abrupt and loud sound.
"You have my most sincere gratitude. Your skills will be of great benefit to me and mine." She cleared her throat before continuing. "Toga. Zero. To you I give the tasks of training everyone within our ranks, no vampire or human is barred from this. Training is hereby mandatory. You will also be responsible for recruiting and maintaining the academy's perimeter and other security measures."
"That is quite a lot for just the two of us."
"I do not care how you divvy the tasks up between you as long as you get it done and vigilantly stand by your jobs. They are very important." Toga stared steadily at her for a moment.
"Having another person to aide in the tasks you have delegated to us would be most beneficial since, as you said, they are very crucial." Yuki chewed her lip, a gesture common to her as one of thoughtfulness, for a few moments before dipping her head.
"Who would you want?" He glanced around the room, analyzing those present.
"Your ranks have changed much since last I was among them. I would like the opportunity to see them in the training ring before I make my decision." She nodded.
"Done. You and Zero will effectively be operating as the heads of security for Cross academy and only myself and Headmaster Cross will outrank you. Am I clear?" They both nodded.
"Perfectly." Zero said.
"Understood." Toga mumbled around his cigarette. Her eyes shifted again as she nodded and she opened her mouth about to speak before I interrupted her.
"I have said it before and I will say it again, Yuki. This is a school founded on principals of peace between vampires and humans. I will not tolerate it being used like a military compound." My voice rang loud and clear, unyielding. Yuki turned thoughtful eyes to me.
"He is correct, little queen. If your political campaign is to be taken seriously this is a matter which if revealed to the press could destroy you."
"Yes, we cannot have the Academy act as the cornerstone of our campaign while also treating it as a base of operations." Kaname too pitched in his opinion.
"This academyis, for all intents and purposes, the 'base of operations' for us. It is where we have chosen to center our campaign and as such requires a certain level of militarism. For our student's protection we must maintain guard against those who would seek to destroy us at our core."
"I have never disputed the need to defend the academy from the outside world. It is a necessity, now more than ever, unfortunately. However, I cannot allow you to treat these grounds as if they were a boot-camp for your soldiers. That would go against the foundational principals I have upheld since I built this school." I felt the warmth of anger stirring in me as her eyes calmly took in my demeanor.
"This would be a hell of a thing to have the media blow up in our face, Yuki." Dai this time. Yuki stared at me for a few moments in which everyone seemed to be waiting to see what she would do.
"I hear you, headmaster. You have proposed another conundrum for me to think upon."
"This is not a request, Yuki. You will not be permitted to treat my academy however you please. This is my verdict." She blinked at me and I felt the tension rise in the room while returning my own unwavering gaze.
"Now, headmaster, I would ask that you remain calm-"
"No, Dai. Headmaster Cross is right." The politician fell silent once again. I dipped my head in acknowledgment of her concession.
"Thank you for understanding, my queen." I saw the skin flinch around her eyes but she nodded before smiling softly, though I could see exhaustion in the fake happiness she offered me.
"This academy was your dream long before it was ever mine, father. I would not trample upon it. I will think upon what you have said." I smiled brilliantly at her, heart all a flutter in my chest as she acknowledged me as her father, which she so rarely did these days.
"Oh, Yuki!" I heard both Kaname and Zero groan at my exclamation that made Yuki clear her throat but earned me an embarrassed smile before she went back to business.
"Ruka Souen, your skills and experience in combat are indisputably impressive. However, in regards to your current state I am removing you from any potentially combative situation. As you have proven yourself adept at such things in the past you are hereby designated to be event coordinator. This task includes but is not limited to the fashion, location, decoration, make-up and anything else that goes into making events ranging from press conferences, political balls and even school dances a success. Again, you defer only to myself or headmaster Cross."
"So, what? Because I'm knocked up I'm now useless?" The scorn in Ruka's voice was thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. I cringed a little at the tone and wanted to go to her and wrap her in my arms. Then I realized just how much worse that might make the whole situation and it became a lot easier to ignore the urge.
"You are far from useless. There is a near constant stream of events going on so you should almost always have something to do, if you fear getting bored, and I have seen no one else with a more keen eye for such things. You know as well as I just how important these events are to our cause. Do not criticize it." Ruka looked like she was going to say more but then she snapped her mouth shut and simply persisted to look thoroughly annoyed. Yuki ignored her and looked back to Kaname.
"I would designate someone within your own ranks to manage the fashion front, Kaname. Perhaps with her background as an idol you would find Rima to be of great use?" He nodded.
"Agreed."
"I would stay here with...you." Rima said. I sighed and shook my head.
"I know you would prefer to stay with Senri, Rima, and I hate to keep separating you two but it is out of necessity that I do so until we have increased our ranks."
"She is correct, Rima. We simply do not have enough people to afford the luxury of taking everyone's preferences into account." Rima turned and pointed viciously at Toga.
"But he gets the pick of the litter for a third member for his tasks?!" I felt the temperature drop and Yuki's voice rolled through the now chilly air of the conference room.
"Toga will be choosing only from those who are left after we have discerned who is going with Kaname and who is staying with me. He does not have the pick of whoever he wants. You have traveled far and often with Kaname and like it or not we all have to do things we do not want. Separating you from Senri is not my idea of a good joke, this is not pleasurable or funny for me. It is necessity. Suck it the fuck up."
"What is your purpose in keeping Senri with you instead of sending him with Kaname?" The window Rima was standing in front of shattered outwards making the petulant woman leap forward with a squeal before bowing at the waist and staying there.
"I will not repeat myself again, Rima. Question me once more on the topic and I assure you I will answer with less patience than the former two times."
"Understood. My apologies, my lady."
"Why, ifI may ask, are you keeping Senri here?" Kaname asked. I heard the table groan as the pressure in the room dropped again making my ears pop. Yuki took several deep breaths before answering.
"When Ruka gets to a point where she needs bed rest more than anything else there is only one person I can think to take over for her." He nodded and sat back in his chair as if he understood perfectly. Yuki delegated a few more tasks before Takuma asked the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
"And what do you task yourself with, my queen?" She stared at him for several minutes before sitting down in the chair she had neglected through the entire meeting. I knew before she spoke why she'd finally chosen to sit.
"I am going to hunt down and kill Sara Shirabuki." The room exploded into chaos. Even Kaname was yelling now. I stayed calmly in my seat, frowning at the quiet and oddly patient look on Yuki's face as she let everyone yell around her, eyes taking it all in.
"Preposterous!"
"You cannot hunt in your condition if Ruka is removed from combat for the very same!"
"You are our queen! Queens don't fight their own battles!"
"You cannot seriously put yourself at risk for vengeance!"
"You risk us all by risking yourself!"
The onslaught of outraged comments just kept on rolling and all Yuki did was sit there and watch it all. After more than ten minutes and two almost fights among the vampires Yuki finally held up a hand for silence. I saw her lips move but could not hear her over all the commotion. When words weren't working she decided to use a different method. The air suddenly scorched along our skin as if for just a moment were were all burning. The pain of it drew a yelp from myself and many others. All of us, rubbing our hands along our skin, turned to face her where she calmly sat in her chair, fingers steepled against her chin, watching us.
"That hurt, Yuki!" I cried, trying to rub away the awful sensation. Her eyes flicked over to me and I saw nothing friendly in them. I sank back into my chair and found Kaname doing the same thing. He met my eyes and for a moment both of us were on the same wave length. This was no longer the Yuki we had known only a handful of years ago. This Yuki was not to be trifled with. I whipped my head around when I saw her rising once again, hands flat on the table top. Her eyes scanned the room with a bold challenge in them.
"I understand that you might disagree with my decree and I have sat and let you yell your protests. I hear you. But my word still stands." Several people bristled and she made it a point of flicking her eyes to each one of them before continuing. "I am well aware that I am with child. That fact will not prevent me from hunting Sara." Quite a few people began speaking at once in protest but she silenced them with a hand and a slight drop in the temperature as a metaphysical warning to hold their tongue.
"I will hunt her. I never said I was going to go into combat to do as such. I am removing myself from combat as well." A whir of relieved voices went through the room and Yuki simply talked over them. "I thought when I first became the Lady of the vampires that the best way to lead was through example. I would not ask my people to do anything I would not do myself. This was the code I operated under. It was only recently that I learned that a Lady that rules from the front lines is risking her people as much as she is saving them." She bowed her head and continued speaking. "I would fight beside all of you if it meant that I could be there to save even one of you." My eyes teared up and I had to bite my lower lip to keep it from trembling. The pain in Yuki's voice was palpable. She hated sending her people to die without being there to lead them. She shook her head and stood ram rod straight and her eyes were a swirling red so bright that the pale skin of her face and neck reflected the cast-off light.
"I wish I could be among you to hunt this bitch, to see her face when her final judgment sweeps down on her. Believe me, I would have the head of anyone who dared kill a one of you." She shook her head. "But I cannot. Not personally. I will be your Lady, your commander in chief, and as such I ask you all now, who will be my general? Which of you will lead our people into battle in my stead?" I stared around the room with her and bit my lip just a bit harder, wishing slightly that I could accept the offer she extended. Not a single person moved for a few moments and then two moved at once. I watched as Twister and Hanabusa stepped forward but it was the last man that stepped up a moment behind them that made my jaw drop. Yuki eyed the three men, stopping on the last.
"You surprise me, Sayer." The man in question was the quietest and most enigmatic among the entirety of the vampires. As far as I knew he had been on Yuki's service since she'd been back in Japan. I wasn't quite sure how he had come to join her but there he was.
"I could say the same of you, my lady." His voice was a deep and enchanting melody and half of his mouth twisted into a partial smile. Everyone stared in awe at the first words I think most, if not all, of us had ever heard him speak, taken aback by the wonder of his voice as well as the circumstance that finally made the man known as Mute contradict his nickname. When I looked back to Yuki I found one corner of her mouth quirked up in a small smile to echo his. Twister chuckled deeply and shook his head before stepping back among the throng. Hanabusa eyed the movement and then he went back to looking at Sayer who only had eyes for Yuki, who was watching the exchange intently. Whatever Hanabusa saw in Sayer was enough for him to smile widely before bowing his head and stepping back with a dramatic sweep of his arm in indication for Sayer to step forward. The quiet man eyed both men before looking back to Yuki who was grinning now. I frowned. What the hell had I missed?
"Well Sayer, it would appear that your nomination as general is uncontested." The man grinned to match Yuki making me frown deeper. She nodded.
"Does my queen approve of me as her general?" He emphasized her title as if implying that he could give two shits about any approval but her own. Yuki laughed.
"She does. Though leading requires quite a bit of talking." She said while smiling. Sayer simply fell with liquid grace to one knee, bowing his head deeply.
"I will serve you with all the honor I possess unto my death." She frowned slightly but nodded, not that he could see the motion, before she spoke.
"Rise, Sayer, as the general to the Lady of the vampires." He stood as smoothly as he'd fallen, like water pouring upward, and raised his face until he could look at her.
"I rise, honored, as general to the queen of the vampires." An appreciative murmur went through the room and then I watched with teary eyes as one by one everyone in the room began putting fists over their hearts and bowing their heads. When my eyes came back to Yuki I saw her with an odd expression somewhere between awe and pure terror. Her eyes were brimming with tears, of which she let a single one slip, quickly swiping it away before everyone lifted their heads. She dipped her head regally now that they could all see her, acknowledging the honor they had all just bestowed upon her.
"Now that we have that settled, I think it's about time we figure out what Mr. Moto called us for." Kaname's voice wasn't loud but it carried the hint hint of anger pretty well, at least to me. Yuki looked at him for a few heart beats before nodding, ignoring his obvious though unexplainable anger. She looked back at the room full of vampires and addressed them.
"You may all be excused. Except for you Takuma, Senri, Zero and Toga. We have some things to clarify yet." As everyone was shuffling out Dai spoke up again.
"You may wish to keep Ruka on hand as well." Yuki sighed and motioned for Ruka to come forward. Kaname nor myself made any move to exit since we both figured us staying was expected without having to ask. When everyone was gone Kaname spoke.
"Why are Senri and Takuma here?" I watched Yuki exchange a long and knowing look with Takuma that made me raise my eyebrows.
"They are staying because I wish to address them more privately."
"M'lady-" Takuma began with wide eyes before Yuki cut him off.
"I know, Taki. I did not address what I have learned this night publicly for a good reason. However, you have become a liability that must be managed." Takuma flushed a deep red and bowed his head, looking at the floor. I saw the look of hurt flash through Yuki's eyes that was gone almost as fast as it came before she continued. "Takuma, you're job is to remain at my side and guard me at all times. Any time you are not with me, you will be with Senri." Senri looked stricken at the news.
"But my queen, why me?" She looked at him as if attempting to find an answer that would make sense to him before simply waving the question away.
"Because you are his friend and I said so. You two may leave now." Takuma didn't say anything or even look up from the floor. He simply turned and made his way out of the room. Ruka was frowning at Yuki almost as hard as I was. It appeared that she had put Takuma under constant surveillance. Why? Senri looked like he wanted to say something but he bowed his head instead and mumbled a brief goodbye before ducking out of the door. She stared at the door for a few moments before turning to address the rest of us.
"What was that about?" Yuki shook her head.
"Later, Kaname." He narrowed his eyes but turned to face the phone on the table as if the man were sitting in person.
"Go on, Mr. Moto." The man chuckled before clearing his throat.
"You always have the most intense shit going on." His voice was thick with laughter that the gleam in Yuki's eyes certainly did not appreciate.
"Speak quickly, Dai. My patience is threadbare tonight."
"After all that I would imagine so." She growled softly.
"Okay, okay! Yeesh!" I could almost see the push away gesture that came with the sarcasm that barely covered the panic beneath. Then he began. "If your night is going terribly this is not going to make things better for you, Yuki."
"Just spit it out, Dai."
"Fine. The press is going bat shit. They want answers, a lot of them. Like, what the hell is going on with the vampires that the gates to the academy, that you swore was being protected, were blown all to hell and back? Or, why both Yuki and Kaname are holed up at the academy like it is a bunker when it is supposed to be a school? My personal favorite is the question of whether the two of you are getting a divorce since you have split your separate ways in politics." Yuki ignored the question by soldiering on, but Kaname went deathly still next to me, staring at her without even blinking as if she might answer the question here and now. I fought not to simply shake him and yell in his face that clearly Yuki was done with him. Even if I understood what had happened I still agreed with Yuki on this one. I wanted as any father does to see my daughter happy. Clearly she would not find that happiness with Kaname. Yuki spoke in a calm voice.
"I assume that you are about to propose a press conference."
"Yes, one which You, Kaname and Cross should all attend." Yuki was blinking quietly at the phone.
"Understood. When are you setting this conference for?" Kaname spoke smoothly and Yuki's eyes alone snapped over to look at her husband and I shifted in my seat to hide my discomfort at the hollow look within them.
"Tonight has been one of many revelations for all of us. However, I feel the need to add another to the list." Kaname's knuckles cracked from squeezing his fists so tight and Yuki simply shifted her eyes back to the phone. "As soon as I am able I have the full intention of stepping down as Lady of the vampires. You shouldn't bank on reassuring the public with or of my marriage to Kaname." Dai was silent for a handful of moments before he suddenly went off on a very colorful tangent in rapid Japanese.
"This is terrible timing Yuki. You have to reconsider this."
"I have made my decision."
"Well, make another one dammit!" He shouted. Yuki raised an eyebrow but I could see the anger in her eyes.
"My marriage is my own to dissolve if I wish."
"You are a politician. You have to see what this decision will do to your career."
"I cannot bring myself to care." Her voice was completely devoid of any emotion. "I never cared for politics."
"But do you care for the cause? You said earlier that you were tired of your people dying, even pointing out how much you have already lost. If you really care about that loss you will not undo it by keeping to this decision." I watched her eyes flare red before she closed them and began breathing slowly. "You have also just used your position to declare a war against this Sara bitch. Your people are loyal to you, Yuki. If you step down they will go with you and your people will surely die."
"He's right. Now is not the time for such decisions. It is a blatant fact that a politician's success may boil down to marriage status. Neither Kaname nor you may succeed in politics if you divorce. You must remain as you are, a united front for the world to draw from." Toga's voice was calm and solid.
"And what of our partnership? Our fight to gain vampires rights including marriage? The entire rights campaign hinges upon your union with Kaname. You two are the staple of the movement."
"Enough." Yuki's voice came out a low hiss, silencing whatever Dai had been about to say. "You have made your point in spades."
"Thank you." She ignored him.
"Set up the conference and we will be there." No one argued. "Is that all?"
"There are a few things I would like to discuss with you in person after the conference."
"Done. Anything else?"
"I would like to consult with Ruka over the upcoming charity ball for HAVAV." Yuki said nothing and Ruka cleared her throat being brave and stepping up to bat.
"I would be more than happy to help you any way I can. I have your email as well as your number. I will call you to discuss things a bit later."
"Excellent. I will be talking to you ladies later then."
"Indeed." Yuki leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and waved a hand at the phone which promptly exploded. The rest of us ducked to avoid the android shrapnel. I eased myself from my knees to my feet to see Yuki standing slowly as if she were drugged.
"You are dismissed, Ruka." Ruka's eyes were wide at the unusual display of anger but she quickly bowed before fleeing the room without a word.
"That was a bit unnecessary don't you think?" Kaname's voice was so calm. The wood of the table groaned as frost began creeping up from Yuki's end. Fucking Kaname! I glared at the mocking smile on his face as he said, "Temper, temper, dear."
"Eat me." Her voice was dead-pan as she flipped him the finger without looking at him.
My jaw dropped and Toga made a small choking noise. Zero outright laughed earning a flat look from Yuki. The usual snow white pale of Zero's skin was flushed a lovely pink as he nearly doubled over with laughter, shaking his head and holding out a single hand, the other wrapped around his stomach, as if saying "Please don't kill me! I can't help it!" Toga took a step away from the younger hunter but had his hand over his mouth like he too was stifling a laugh and Zero was not helping. I looked back to Yuki. She was watching the two men with a blank face.
"Go ahead. Yuk it up." Zero was breathless with laughter for about another minute and change before he finally stopped. It was only then that Yuki spoke.
"Takuma is not to be trusted with vital information. I am ordering that guard rotation be changed every week. No one is to guard any one place or person for any substantial period of time. He will remain at my side so that I know what he is exposed to. When I attend to crucial matters he will be with Senri." There was no smiling or laughing now.
"Would you have us guard Senri when Takuma is with him?" Toga asked
"No, we do not have the man power to spare for such things. Takuma would never harm Senri and if Sara makes a move on either of them I will know."
"What do you mean he can't be trusted?" Kaname asked.
"Did I stutter? I thought I was pretty clear." Kaname sat down in his chair with a low growl. There seemed to be a lot of that going around tonight.
"I heard what you said. I ask what brings you to this conclusion?" She froze then and seemed to be contemplating how much to tell him. Kaname slammed his hand into the table hard enough to make the whole thing shake. "Dammit, Yuki! This is stuff I need to know and the exact thing that pisses me off. All your fucking secrets!" Her eyes glowed so bright they cast shadows and I watched her fangs protrude a bit.
"Do not talk to me about secrets and deceit. I am not withholding this information for you. I do it to defend a man we both cherish. Believe it or not, Kaname, you are not at the center of every decision I make."
"No. Quite the contrary." She shook her head and smiled, a gesture made to look genuinely terrifying because of the eyes and fangs. Both hunters stiffened.
"I will not debate with you about such things as who is to blame for what. It no longer matters. What matters is how we work as lord and lady, not husband and wife. My decision about Takuma is because of the information I have recently obtained revealing some...rather damning things about his relationship with Sara."
"We have always known about their relationship."
"No. You have." Her voice was thick with accusation. "Information you didn't care to share."
"Like you didn't care to tell me about your encounter with Sara in the first place?" She was quiet for a handful of moments that I spent wondering what was about to happen while Kaname simmered with rage next to me.
"Fair enough." My eyes widened and all the warmth of his anger faded away as if she had taken all the wind out of his sails.
"S-Seriously? You aren't going to argue with me?" She looked pointedly at him, cocking her head slightly.
"What is there to argue about? You are right. I don't argue over things uselessly."
"And I do? That's what you're saying, right?" I sighed and closed my eyes. Always. Why did he always have to take it that extra step. He couldn't just leave an implication at just that. No. He had to be a child about it.
"You, Dai and my father have all managed to put me in place with points that I might have ignored otherwise. Now let me return the favor. I might have to remain married to you, but I do not have to like it. Let me be very clear, I will remain your wife for legalities and politics and do everything necessary to help our people as Lady of the vampires. I do not have to like it, and believe me...I don't. We don't work as a couple but we have to work as a team. So, grow the fuck up." His anger flared so hot I scooted away from him.
"You-"
"You, what? Bitch? Yeah. I am, but you are as stuck with me as I am with you. We don't get along, I don't like you and you are a pain in my ass! But I am asking that for the sake of our people that you and I both work on our communication. Our personal and work life need to remain separate. Keep as many personal secrets as you like but stop hiding shit I need to know for politics and our people and I will do the same." He simmered at her without a word long enough that I thought he was just going to blow up.
"Fine." She nodded and the tension level in the room dropped.
"Thank you." She looked at the other two men and opened her mouth to speak but Kaname beat her to it.
"What of our child?" She didn't even look at him as she simply began walking toward the door. "Yuki?" She flung open the door.
"This meeting is over." She called back before she disappeared through the door. We all looked at Kaname who was standing with his hands on the table, glaring at the open doorway, eyes red, fangs elongated and body shaking as if he were tempted to go after her. Zero suddenly stepped directly in Kaname's line of sight, legs apart as if ready to take a hit or give one.
"I don't know you that well but I do know you won't look after her like that around me." I was so surprised that I almost laughed. Still defending her. Even if he had no memories of her, seeing him stand there like that in her defense warmed my heart. The wood of the table exploded where his hands had been, the two now separate ends falling to the floor as wood chips rained down. Toga popped up off the wall from where he'd casually been leaning at the same time that I moved, putting myself in Kaname's path. He was going for Zero.
"Always in the way!" He lisped around nearly three inch fangs. I held my hand out, knowing he wasn't talking about me but rather the man behind me.
"Stop, Kaname. If you wish to harm him you will have to go through me." Kaname came to an abrupt stop.
"This is the second time in as many days that you have stood before me like this. You might want to reconsider finding yourself in this position, Cross."
"Stop putting me in positions like this and I won't have to." Kaname stepped up to me until our chests brushed each other with every inhale. I stared into his face from less than three inches away. He was breathing heavily, his magic swirling around us so that our hair danced across our skin. Man was he pissed. I stood boldly in the face of that rage, never flinching. His eyes flicked down to my neck. Was that what had put him on edge? I lifted my hand and pulled the lapel of my pale blue button down to the side until my collarbone was exposed. When his eyes followed the motion I turned my head slightly to the side so that I was still able to see him but providing a better striking angle and a more tantalizing view.
"Go ahead, if that's what you want." It was harder for vampires to control their emotions when they didn't feed regularly. I didn't know when last he had fed but if giving a little blood would defuse the situation it was a small price to pay.
"I hear my blood has quite a kick to it though so you may not want the audience." His eyes were solidly on my neck so I took a gamble, leaning into him until our chests were flush and turning my head to the side a bit more in invitation. His hand wrapped around my throat and faster than I could blink I was slammed back against the wall beside the door. I was left looking at the elegant cursive words engraved on the side of the Bloody Rose aimed solidly at Kaname's head and down the arm of Zero to see a look on his face something close to disgust and pure hatred.
"Zero, don't." I said, feeling the tension in Kaname's body against mine. Toga stepped up beside Zero placing his hand on the younger hunter's forearm, easing the gun towards the floor. Those beautiful lilac eyes filled with confusion.
"You sure about this, Cross?" Toga's voice was wary but I knew if I said no he'd get Kaname away from me one way or another. I offered them a soft smile, winking at Zero before turning my head so that Kaname's attention stayed on my throat beneath his hand. I certainly had his attention because I felt the rumble of his growl in his chest against mine and along my neck where I felt his fangs scrape as he opened his mouth wide.
I knew the strike was coming and closed my eyes, letting my body go loose against his so the initial bite didn't hurt too much. I vaguely heard Toga saying something before Kaname plunged his fangs into my neck. My body tensed on it's own and I made a small noise at the pain. No one seems to think about just how painful it would be for someone to bite into them until they bled and then suck at the wound. Thankfully the endorphins kicked in pretty quickly. I let Kaname wrap his arms around me. When he tried to sink his hand into my hair he realized it was pulled back in a tight ponytail and settled for holding my head. He moaned and sank his fangs in deeper, pushing me back into the wall with his weight. I gasped and dug my fingers into his waist. It wasn't my first rodeo but it had been a while since I had fed a vampire and I'd forgotten just how potent the endorphins were. We were pushed together in a solid line so that I could feel how my blood effected him from the hard length pushed into my hip and knew he could feel mine too. I tried to ignore the pleasure and the sounds Kaname was making. It was pretty standard knowledge that the feed was a double edged sex weapon which required a great deal of comfort with sex to submit to it. I tightened my hold on his waist, breathing heavily as that great weight began to build deep within me.
"Stop-" I gasped as he jerked me violently against himself, lifting me up so that I was on my tip toes and digging his fangs in deeper. If I fought him it would only make the situation worse and I knew he couldn't drain me dry. No vampire could drain someone. Their stomachs simply couldn't hold that much blood. It was the orgasm I was trying to avoid. It was always just a bit awkward when you came in someone's arms who wasn't your lover and Kaname and I would never be that.
"Kaname, s-stop-" I groaned out as my body began to twitch against his with each pull on my neck. "Stop!" I said a little louder as I felt myself riding that edge of orgasm. He pulled away from me with a loud cry, head going back on his spine. He released me suddenly and staggered back as I fell in a heap to the floor. I breathed heavily, eyes fluttering as my muscles spasmed, my whole body raging at the denied pleasure. I heard a slight thump and rolled my eyes up to see Kaname down on one knee, hand balancing him against the floor. He was panting hard, hair hanging around his bowed head as if he were fighting for control. I just lay on my side, watching him, waiting to have full use of my muscles again. He lifted his head to look at me and his wide eyes were glowing so bright, my blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. He lazily swiped it away with a shaking hand.
"I've never-" He shook his head and cleared his throat as if to rid it of the husky edge of sex. I watched him get on his knees and crawl towards me until he was right in front of me. He reached his hand out and I hissed as his fingers brushed the ragged edge of the wound he'd made, whipping my hand up to grip his wrist.
"Kaname-"
"I was not gentle with you. I apologize. I just...lost control." I held his wrist still but it didn't matter because he began to lean over me again. I thrust my palm into his chest weakly and he stopped. I shook my head, still panting.
"Too...soon..." Kaname frowned apologetically.
"I'm afraid that I was rough enough that I need to close your wound before you lose too much blood." My breath hitched but I could see the logic of his argument. I let my body go limp, arms falling back to the floor. He took that as an invitation to continue. I squeezed my eyes shut tight as his tongue began laving at the wound on my neck. I moaned softly when he delved his tongue into the deepest parts, digging my nails into my palms. He politely ignored my involuntary noises and by the time he was done closing my wound I was back to the sweating, twitching mass I had been. He moved back a few feet before plopping back onto his ass and folding his legs. He shook his head and showed me a goofy smile I had never seen on the man's face before.
"You should have warned me." He slurred.
"I did." He giggled, actually giggled! I frowned at him.
"You said your blood had a kick to it, not that it would knock me on my ass." I rolled my shoulder in an attempt at a shrug.
"Now you know." I mumbled, hauling myself to a sitting position against the wall with a grunt. My head still swam with the endorphins, body feeling light and fuzzy. We were both high on the feed.
"Why?" I didn't ask what he meant because I knew.
"I think it has to deal with the human genetic base and all the vampire boosters. Something about the combo really does it for vamps." He laughed until he fell back against the floor.
"Does it? Yeah, you could say that." I hauled myself to my feet using the wall as a support.
"You also shouldn't feel the need to feed again for some time, it varies depending on the vampire but usually it's around the two month mark."
"Mmmmmm...tasty and more sustainable." I chuckled and shook my head. I left off the power boost part because I didn't need him walking around thinking he was the superman of vampire kind, even though he sort of already was.
"Don't get any ideas." I said as I began to round the door frame to leave. He laughed again.
"Cross." He called, stopping me. "Thank you." I tossed him a smile over my shoulder.
"No problem. Now go home, you're drunk" He dissolved into a giggling mass on the conference room floor and that was how I left him as I staggered back to my room for a shower. I suddenly needed to wash away the shit storm that the night had become.
Zero's POV
Toga and I were talking about how we were going to arrange the schedule for the guards if we had to keep shifting it around.
"Mr. Moto raised a few very valid concerns-" We both stopped dead in our tracks as we saw Yuki high tailing it like something was chasing her. We both drew our weapons, searching the area for the threat but finding nothing except Twister running after her at a much more sedate pace. It was only then that I noticed the little queen wearing running gear. She was exercising. Toga and I simply holstered our weapons and began walking again.
"There were quite a few concerns that were not addressed due to the drama of the evening-" We both stopped again as we heard the sounds of flesh on flesh and the grunts that came with a good fight. Without a look we both took off running and I quickly out paced him. I skidded to a stop as I rounded the corner of the gymnasium. I frowned at the scene before me. Yuki and Twister were engaged in a fight, though the man was clearly distressed.
"I really must-" He grunted as she spun, delivering a kick to his stomach that doubled him over. He dove to the side before she could bring her knee up in a vicious move that would surely have rung his bell hard as fuck. Toga came up beside me, gun already in hand and in motion to aim. I knocked the gun from his hand before he could aim it at the little queen and her poor victim.
"What the fuck is going on here?" He glared at me but I didn't take my eyes off the vision of the two fighting vampires.
"It would appear that they are sparring." Toga scoffed and plucked his gun from the ground indignantly. He didn't say anything about me knocking his gun away because like me he knew that the first rule of owning/using guns was that you did not under any circumstances point it at anything you weren't willing to kill. I watched as Yuki moved in a blur of punishing blows that were so fast I could not keep track of them all.
"That is an ass whooping, not sparring." Toga said and I had to agree as we both watched Twister spin through the air and roll across the ground. I looked to Yuki as she stalked across the ground the wind whipping her long ponytail around her as she moved. There was no wind tonight strong enough for that. I moved in a burst of speed that put me in front of the fallen Twister. She stopped.
"That is enough little queen." Her eyes were a dim red and I knew I was right to intervene. She was losing control of herself.
"He won't fight back!" She nearly shouted. I raised an eyebrow.
"I can't imagine he would want the death sentence that would come with such an action."
"We used to spar all the time."
"And now you are a blooming mother and to harm you is to sentence oneself to death. Doubly so since you are the queen." Her anger flared as a look of near panic came over her. "Unless he has done something to deserve punishment you need to can the whoop ass you're raining down on him." She bowed her head and nodded. "If you need something to beat on I will take his place." She whipped her head up and the shock on her face was nearly comical until a flash of hurt went through her eyes followed by guilt.
"I'm so sorry, Twister. I was not thinking." She called past me to the man on the ground. I moved so she could see him. He hauled himself to his knees.
"I can take it, my queen." She shook her head and turned away.
"You should not have to." She was gone, leaving a wind behind her. I turned to Toga who flung his arm in the direction she had disappeared.
"Well! Go after her! I'll stay here and tend to him." I turned and ran after her without another word. He was right. She should not be alone right now. Who knew what she might do. I sighed deeply as I ran. Who knew being on the queen's detail would include this much emotional babysitting? I stopped suddenly, scenting the air. Her scent was everywhere and I shivered as something tickled across my mind. I breathed deep the smell of jasmine and peppermint and shuddered as it reminded me of another smell, a similar one.
Her body was soft under mine, her dark hair splayed in a wash against the pale sheets.
"Fuck me, Zero." She rolled her hips up into mine and my eyes slid closed, the scent of jasmine and vanilla filling my lungs, making me moan as I burned for her. I wrapped my arms around her small waist and lifted her onto my lap as I sat back on my heels. I hungrily claimed her lips, the taste of her driving me wild and the sensuous roll of her body against mine drawing a sound more animal than human from me as any restraint I had splintered away. She broke the kiss, throwing her head back as I drove my cock deep into her, both of us crying out.
I ripped myself free of the memory, staggering before falling to my knees. I was panting hard, cock stiffening from the physicality of it. What the fuck had triggered my flashback. My heart constricted within my chest at the memory of my first time with Inara. It must have been the jasmine. I shook my head and stumbled to my feet, still feeling her skin against mine. I gasped as the feel of magic flooded the air. I ran for the source of it, crashing through the trees until I skidded to a halt at the edge of the treeline looking in awe at what I was seeing. Yuki was standing in a sphere of water in the center of the lake and I could barely hear the sound of her scream over the rush of the water rising in giant towers and arcs that exploded like fireworks. I watched the display with wonder. I must have stood there for fifteen minutes simply watching Yuki play with water in ways I could scarcely describe, bending it to her will.
I watched as five giant pillars of water formed around her, shooting at least a hundred feet into the air, a roof of water spilling above her and growing larger like the pillars were feeding it. Finally the pillars were seemingly sucked up into the giant mass of water above her and I saw the moonlight dance through the swirling mass in a dazzling display before all that water exploded into a fine mist that rained down only over the lake. The whole scene shifted from an under the sea thing to something you might see once in a lifetime. A breathtaking moonbow arced through the rain she had created. The scene was spoiled as Yuki collapsed into the water, going completely under. I ran into the lake, swimming across as fast as I could and diving down where I had seen her fall, flailing blindly through the dark water for anything. It was her eyes that told me where she was and they were not stationary. She was swimming right toward me. I froze and waited to see what she would do. I watched those red orbs swim a circle around me before retreating to the surface. I followed her and found her already swimming toward the shore. I stepped out of the lake, watching her wring out her so long hair, wrapping my arms around myself.
"Are you mad? Don't you think it's a little chilly for an evening dip?" The slight fall breeze was suddenly exponentially colder. She turned and smiled at me, unzipping her form fitting jogging jacket to reveal a sports bra. She took off the jacket and tossed it to me.
"There. It's not much but it might help you stay a bit warmer." I glanced skeptically down at the small jacket and scoffed. Yeah, maybe my hands. It might make a good scarf. I slung the jacket over my neck as she began walking through the woods without another word and followed.
"So, what was all that about."
"Exercise." She said. I shivered in the cool wind but she seemed just fine in her tight yoga pants and sports bra. Exercise my ass. That was a lot of things, spectacular being one of them, but I knew what it really was. It was a release in a safe...beautiful way. She stopped and turned so abruptly that I almost ran into her. She stared up into my face from half a foot away with a grin.
"If you are that cold you can run back to the academy. I'm a big girl. I know my way back." I frowned down at her but couldn't manage to maintain the expression. I was too distracted by the way the water on her skin and breasts caught the moonlight peeking through the gap in the trees and the shine in her eyes. I cleared my throat and looked up and past her.
"I'll be fine." I mumbled. She laughed a high and delightful sound before whirling and taking off, running so fast that I almost didn't know what had happened, she just suddenly wasn't there.
I scrambled after her and cursed under my breath as the cold air whipped across my wet body, chilling me thoroughly. I stopped as I cleared the treeline to find her throwing her body around in an athletic display of cartwheels, somersaults, hand-springs, flips and whirls, rolls and a few very flashy martial arts moves that was all very impressive. I crossed my arms for warmth and once again watched her, listening to the shouts, grunts, yells and other noises that goes with a good exercise routine. This was certainly exercise, to say it wasn't would be a lie. The way she bent, twisted and threw her body around it was almost like watching a dance performer, a very energetic one with a good base in martial arts. I wasn't sure whether she was closer to a fighter, dancer or gymnast throughout the whole thing because there was no rhyme or reason to anything she did. It was simply an explosion of energy and emotion. It wasn't until she began doing hand-springs towards the back of the maintenance shed that was nearest that I stepped forward. She was going to crash right into it if she didn't stop. Did she know she was about to crash into a building? I began running towards her but stopped as she came to a sudden halt right in front of the brick wall. She was breathing fast and hard, sweat gleaming along her pale skin as she placed a hand against the wall to steady herself. Her legs buckled and she crashed to her knees. I stood still, watching as she bowed her head under the weight of whatever emotion had made her do all of this. I was suddenly choking on my heart as she slammed her fists into the wall in a blur of speed twisting her body with each blow as if imagining punching through an enemy the way you are taught to in combat training. I ran forward and quickly wrapped my arms around her shoulders, lifting her completely off the ground and away from the wall. She didn't waste any words, she simply drove her elbow back into my diaphragm with everything she had, which was quite a bit. I instantly let her go and dropped to my knees, wrapping my arms around my waist as I struggled to breathe. Fuck! She had knocked the wind right out of me. I glared up at her finding her eyes wide and pain filled.
"I am so sorry. I just keep hurting those I care for tonight." I ignored her apology and looked down at the blood steadily dripping from her hands that she didn't seem to notice yet, but she would soon. Oh yeah, she'd regret going twelve rounds with a brick wall real soon. She flicked her eyes up to the moon above and her lips moved like she was offering a soft prayer before she stepped towards me and extended her hand. I raised an eyebrow.
"Can you stand?" Probably. But I don't think she even realized how bad it was going to hurt if I took her up on her offer.
"Yes." I said, voice a bit thick with the pain in my gut. She waggled her hand at me and I cocked my head, raising my eyebrow further, flicking my eyes down to her hand then back up to her face. She just stared at me patiently.
"Okay." I muttered as I slapped my hand into hers, wrapping my fingers around her much smaller ones. Her eyes flinched at the pain and I saw a muscle flex in her jaw but then her fingers gripped my hand back and she hauled me to my feet. She was a small thing but damn was she strong. I let go as soon as I could and she nodded just once before turning and walking back. I watched her for a few steps, smelling and seeing the blood dripping from her hands. She stopped and turned to me.
"I'll take my jacket back now." I reached up and was surprised to find it still around my neck before tossing it to her. She snatched it out of the air and turned to begin walking. I heard a ripping noise and knew what she was doing when she stopped again. I moved until I was beside her. She silently wrapped her left hand with the sleeve of her jacket, using her teeth to tie it off. Other than the tight line of her lips she bore the pain I knew she felt in silence without any other sign. She finished the other hand and slipped the torn jacket on and then we were moving again. I watched her all the way back to the star dorm wondering what drove this woman to do the things she did. She had surprised me so many times tonight I didn't think I could possibly be surprised again. When we swept through the front doors I saw Kaien walking along the second floor balcony, hair wet around his shoulders. I saw his eyes widen as Yuki continued moving for the stairs without pause like she hadn't noticed the man, and maybe she hadn't. I was once again wrong as she turned in Cross' direction at the top of the stairs, stopping several feet away.
"What has happened, Yuki?" She shrugged.
"I happened. I need you to do something." His eyes were wide, nostrils flaring as he scented the air.
"Anything."
"You need to reach out to a contractor and begin constructing a building at the outermost defenses of the academy in the woods. It should still be just outside our defenses but as far from the academy as possible and include a fully equipped gym, a dojo for martial arts and hand to hand weapons training as well as a shooting range that has to be as sound-proof as the staff rooms in this dorm." I eyed the woman before me curiously. Toga and I had been discussing something similar earlier. Kaien raised an eyebrow but smiled and nodded.
"I was thinking something similar myself."
"Yes. We have to at least provide the illusion that the academy isn't our fort in the storm." He frowned as she walked around him and down the hallway. He turned so that he could watch her as she left him standing there. I too was watching her.
"She's grown into a rather amazing woman, my Yuki." I turned my head slightly to see a look of pride, love and admiration on his face. He suddenly turned a blinding grin on me. "Hasn't she, Zero?" I looked down the hallway at her receding figure and frowned slightly.
"I have no knowledge of the girl before the woman so I'll just have to take your word on that one." Kaien frowned and I saw that look in his eyes that most people at the academy had for me, the one that said they knew something I didn't, a lot of something that I should know and it was weird that I didn't. You have no idea, buddy, I thought to myself as I began walking down the hallway.
"Zero." I stopped and turned my head enough to say I was listening. "Yuki is strong. Stronger than I ever imagined she'd be but she's going to need more than soldiers to get her through what is coming." I nodded. I understood that.
"I know. She may be queen, but even queens need friends. I just don't know if now is the best time for such things."
"There is no better time."
"We'll have to agree to disagree on that one." I began walking down the hallway again.
"Help her, Zero." I smiled softly to myself.
"I thought I already was." I mumbled. I let myself get lost in the hallways of the dorm, not quite sure what to do with myself. I should probably go find Toga or sleep while I still could but I just wandered. I let my thoughts wander where they may, which more often than not was stuck between the human doctor who reminded me so much of Inara, the chaos of the coming months and Yuki. I kept seeing her face when she saw me curled around Nekohime, the strange mix of anger, jealousy and profound loss. Did she miss intimacy with her husband? I frowned at the thought of Kaname. What a dick. I wondered if he realized yet that his wife had outclassed and more than likely outranked him? Did she miss him or was that look...for me? The way she had reacted to me when I'd confronted her about my memory said a lot for the latter but then again I had been naked at the time. I might have reacted the same if she'd been naked and vindictively trying to seduce me. For a vampire she was pretty cute. I more than likely would have reacted much less appropriately had our roles been reversed.
My mind flashed to what had happened earlier, the thoughtless panic behind the running and the ass beating she'd given Twister. The water show she'd put on followed by the run through the woods and all her crazy acrobatics. I saw the way the moon gleamed along her skin as her body twisted and flew through the night. I found myself grimacing as I remembered the way she'd pounded away at the wall like she'd tried to beat something into submission, or to death, something deep inside that there was no running from. Emotions were a bitch sometimes and whatever she was feeling, it was eating her up. I heard the soft sound of water lapping and smelled chlorine like a kick to the cerebrum, which is probably why I hadn't smelled her. As if my thoughts had summoned her there she was, feet dangling in the pool. She was still dressed in the yoga pants and sports bra I'd last seen her in. The pool was massive and in the ceiling above glowed the galaxy as one might see it over a Sahara and there were no other lights on, they weren't needed.
I blinked in awe as I suddenly felt like I'd been dropped in the middle of some insane fantasy movie. The ceiling was reflected in the enormous pool that occupied most of the floor so that there were stars and planets everywhere and somewhere in the middle of it all was Yuki, staring into the water completely lost in thought without a care for the amazing room around her. I watched her for a few moments before I walked around the edge of the pool to plop beside her, folding my legs as I looked around. She wasn't surprised by my presence, in fact she never budged. I sat beside her waiting for her to say anything at all but she seemed content to sit in silence. I scowled as I saw that not only had she not bothered to clean or bandage her hands but that they were worse now. She should be healed but instead her hands shivered in her lap from fresh abuse and the material of her yoga pants, that should have been dry by now, was wet. I was nose blind to anything but the overwhelming scent of chlorine but I'd bet money that wasn't pool water. Her pant-clad legs were in the pool as well as her running shoes.
"Little queen?" She turned her head slowly and her eyes were the last to move to me but she was now staring at me with those empty eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
"The same thing as you, I suppose. Just thinking." She dipped her head as if that made sense.
"Lot to think about." Her voice sounded even more hollow than her eyes looked. What the fuck could be so wrong? I frowned and asked.
"What's got you so down in the dumps?" Her face never showed any emotion as she turned to look back at the water.
"War and death are feasting at my table and I've just piled on another course. I keep hurting those I value when they might be gone with the rise of the sun. I am knocked up. My husband is a childish ass-hat that I cannot divorce because of the politics I let him drag me into when I thought love was enough to get me through everything else. Take your pick, and if you don't like any of those I've got more." Again her voice was flat despite the sarcasm that the words implied. I felt my mouth pull into a small smile.
"So, basically you hate being queen, which is unfortunate because you're sort of good at it, and your husband." The barest hint of a smile quirked the corner of her mouth up and she shrugged. Not an answer but not a denial. "Do you hate him or yourself more?" She was quiet for a long moment.
"Why do you ask that?" I shrugged and looked up at the ceiling.
"How long are you going to let him believe the kid is his?" Her head whipped towards me and I rolled my head to eye her with a small smile. "I told you, don't treat me like a fool, little queen." I tapped the soft skin beside my eyes. "These eyes see a lot." She stared at me for a long time and even staring into her face for as long as I did I had no idea what she was thinking.
"If not his then whose child do you think I bear?" My eyes widened. All that time and this is what she came back with?
"I haven't the faintest clue, but I know it is not his."
"How?" I frowned.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out." That was the best I could give her. Yes, I had the way she reacted around him when the baby thing was broached for evidence to support my claim but...I couldn't explain it but I just knew. It was a gut feeling. I tried not to ignore my instincts.
"Surely you must suspect someone as the father." I cocked my head at her, face twisting with contemplation. Why did she care who I suspected?
"No. Should I? Why should it matter who I think the father is? Clearly you are maintaining this as a secret. My question to you is, how long are you going to deceive him?" She looked back into the pool.
"Does it matter?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because some deceptions are more easily forgiven than others." She took a sharp breath and held it for a few heartbeats.
"Which deception is greater, the one he dealt to me or this?" I shrugged.
"Depends."
"On what?"
"Which one of you bears the most guilt. If you regret what you did, if there is only guilt when you think of the babe in your womb then I think you already know the answer." We sat in silence for a few minutes and then a question popped into my head.
"Does he know you slept with another man?" She turned her head to look at me, eyes firmly on mine.
"Yes." The word was cold and harsh.
"Does the father know?" Her breath hitched.
"He knows of the babe but not that it is his." Her voice was soft and the loss was there, but what was it for? And why was I even sitting here having this conversation? It was none of my business who had been between her legs or how she handled her personal life. As long as she was a good queen that was all that mattered. And yet I found myself asking another question.
"So you're hiding this from both of them? If they both know about the other than why hide it?" She searched my face for a moment with an odd expression on her face before she unexpectedly slipped into the water. I watched her disappear into the silvery pool of stars and waited for her to resurface. She popped up on the other side of the pool and hauled herself out onto the tiles, getting to her feet. I called out to her without moving, despite my urge to. "Why hide it, little queen?" She bowed her head and put her hands on her hips.
"Because if I tell Kaname he will try to kill the father of my child for something he doesn't know about." I shook my head and chuckled softly.
"And if you tell the father? Do you think he would want the child?"
"If he is the man that I hope he is." She began moving towards the locker room, probably for a towel. I don't even know why I asked my next question.
"Do you love him?" She went stock still. "Your child's father." She turned enough so that I could see the fire that lit her eyes and had my answer.
"When I tell Kaname I hope he takes it well."
"And if he does what you fear he will?"
"I will kill him." I couldn't help the dumbfounded look on my face as my jaw went slack.
"Just like that? You'd kill him, your husband, just that easily?" She turned away and began walking towards the locker room.
"I love Kaname. I think I will always love him. I never said it would be easy but yes. I'd kill him." She opened the locker room door, spilling blinding white light in an arc through the room. "Just like that." And with that she disappeared into the light and I was left sitting by the pool, wondering how it was that I had come to be here for this conversation. I was staring at the door where she'd disappeared. She was such a curious woman.
I heard the soft thwap of something wet and popped to my feet, jogging to the locker room. I was blinded momentarily as the door hushed closed behind me, making my way quietly down the rows of lockers to the loud spray of a shower punctuated by that soft wet thwap. I rounded the end and hesitated at the entrance to the showers, not knowing what I would see. Yuki was making small pain noises that followed each small thwap and I knew what she was doing. I rushed into the showers to see her shoes, socks and pants strung in a line to the shower head she was under. Just as I suspected I found her punching the tile wall, blood trickling down the white of it like a grotesque explosion of color. I ran forward, wrapping my arms around her and lifting her off the floor. She growled in protest and began struggling to get free. My eyes widened at the thick trail of blood down the wall. I grunted as her struggling increased and put my back against the wall to steady myself. I wasn't going to let go until I was sure she was going to stop hurting herself.
"Let me go!" Her words came out as a bass growl, low and dangerous. I shook my head and swore as her head smashed back against my face and I lost my footing on the wet tile, slipping to the floor. I tightened my hold on her and wrapped my legs around hers to help hold her still.
"Not until you have your shit together." I said back. She fought to no avail for a while and then slowly she fell still, panting. When her body went completely lip against mine I still held her, just in case she was trying to dupe me. She was so still that I finally had to move just to see if she was still conscious. I leaned her upper body back so that I was looking down at her. Her incredibly long hair was plastered to her face. I gently pushed at the heavy weight of it, tucking it behind her ears until I could see the clean triangle of her face. She stared up at me with large eyes a rich golden-honey brown, if such a plain color could be used to describe a color so brilliant. I was suddenly struck by something that hadn't really occurred to me until just then. She was beautiful. She stared up at me as if trying to figure out what I was doing.
"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"
"The pain helps." I looked down at the hand that was spastically dancing against my knee, the other was against her stomach doing the same thing.
"Helps what?"
"It helps me focus when I am being yanked every which way possible." I watched her hands continually spasm and knew that there would be nerve damage and possibly a broken or, likely, shattered knuckle or two.
"I need to look at your hands." She made no move to fight me so I simply lifted her left hand gently and began untying the bloody rag that her makeshift bandages had turned into. I was gentle but somehow I doubted she would care if I squeezed her fucked up hands right now. When the sleeve fell away I quietly hissed, trying not to grimace at the red ruin of her hand. I could see the odd, pale pink bone of her first three knuckles and yes, one of them was shattered. The other was worse with two of her knuckles being practically non-existent. Why? How could someone do this to themselves? There was only one way that I knew of to heal this much damage. Yuki tapped my legs around her waist in a silent signal for me to let her up. I wasn't sure I should.
"Don't worry. I'll heal."
The regenerative powers of vampires, particularly purebloods, was nearly boundless but this would take a while to heal without help. I met her eyes and raised an eyebrow at the red threading through the gold of those large orbs.
"Let me up." I unwound myself from her and watched as she stood without hesitation and walked to stand beneath the shower head again.
She tipped her head back and ran her fingers through her hair, the water tainting pink as it pounded down on her open wounds. I flinched just watching this shit but she never made even so much as one noise. I hissed quietly as she lathered her hair with the soap from the dispenser on the wall. That had to burn, but again she didn't react. The suds ran over her body but it was when she swept her hair over her shoulder that I had a moment of realization. She was still wearing underwear and showering. The thought was almost comical if I didn't notice the scars all over her skin. There were several huge ones on her back but there were so many scars, thin, ragged, smooth and rough, shapes and sizes of all kinds. She'd acquired all of this in six years? I recalled her speech from earlier about all that they had lost. The epic of her short time as queen, a time clearly written in blood, was in the scars painting her skin. The war must be vicious indeed. How much had she lost if this was what she had come away with? How many battles had she fought? I found myself looking at three long scars that ran down from her right shoulder blade across her spine to end on the left side of her lower back. It looked like something had clawed the fuck out of her. About four inches from where her heart would be was a rather large scar like someone had pushed a wine bottle through her.
"I usually have a three date minimum before men get to stare at me like that." I felt heat flush into my face and looked down at the tile of the floor. She chuckled softly but something about it sounded sad. "I need to wash my body, so unless you're going to sit there while I get all naked and soapy you need to go." I turned to look at her to see that she had poured her hair down her backside, hiding the scars, a move I am not entirely sure was unintentional. She had her face turned up into the stream of water, hands on the wall to support her as she let the water pound down around her. Something tried to tickle at my brain again but I quickly shoved it down, not wanting one of my flashbacks to further embarrass me. I stood, my clothes clinging to me like a second skin.
"I'll leave. After you've fed." She turned her face to me, water pouring down the delicately beautiful lines of it. I saw that the red had mixed with the golden brown until her eyes were an amber shot through with blood.
"You volunteering?" I stared at her for a few moments and without allowing myself to think about it too much popped the first three buttons on my shirt as I walked towards her. Her eyes widened and I watched her eyes glow with the rush of red, fangs sliding out slowly. I hesitated mid-step for only a second at the odd flutter in my stomach. I had my shirt halfway unbuttoned.
"Stop." She lisped around her fangs. I swallowed hard and frowned as I uncharacteristically found myself attracted to her. She was a vampire! I told myself. A pureblood to boot! I continued towards her with a renewed sense of purpose, peeling my shirt off and letting it fall to the floor with a wet slap. She shook her head and held out a hand. "I said stop, Zero." I halted only because of the frantic look in her eyes. What was she so afraid of. "You don't want this." I smiled.
"No. I don't particularly want to feed you. However, you can either take what I offer and heal or don't and have your people see that." I pointed to her hands on the wall, still bleeding. A muscle in her jaw twitched as she ground her teeth. "Your choice. Though I don't think evidence of their queen's possible future breakdown would be very good for morale." A low growl trickled through the room and then I was staring up at her from the floor which just suddenly came up and hit me without me ever seeing her move. My heart was in my throat and I fought to simply lay there without reacting because this was what I had pushed for. She straddled me halfway up my chest and I couldn't help but to look up the line of her body, finding even more radical scarring, particularly the giant scar in the center of her chest that peaked over the top of her unusually low cut sports bra looking like she'd taken a shot gun blast at mid-range. Just beneath her sternum was a triple spiral that looked to be branded into her, the bottom part looking oddly smudged yet clearly defined still. There were plenty of scars to take in, and yet I found myself unreasonably drawn to the thin line just under her belly button that stretched from hip to hip looking like a massive surgical incision. Whatever blade had done that had been very sharp to make such a clean cut. I was suddenly staring into her face from inches away as she laid on top of me, breasts pressing into my chest.
"Now that I have you beneath me you suddenly don't seem so gung ho anymore." I could still taste my pulse on my tongue as I stared up at those swirling red eyes. I thought of a thousand things to say but I honestly didn't know if I would be able to talk at all right now so I just turned my head to the side, offering her my neck. Her breath came faster and I closed my eyes, waiting for the strike.
Ruka's POV
I paced up and down the hallway having passed by my room at least a hundred times without going in. I didn't think I really wanted to go in there. Every time I saw my bed all I could think of was the night that I had fallen asleep cuddled so close to Kaien. Headmaster Cross! Headmaster Cross! You have to use his appropriate title! I internally chastised myself. I forced my mind away from that night, had it really only been two nights ago? I shook my head violently and heaved a huge sigh. So much had happened, was about to happen, and I was going to be side-lined because...I stopped and looked down at the still damn near flat expanse of my stomach. Only the tiniest modicum of roundness was hinted and I noticed it solely because of the hours I had spent staring at the flesh in question. How could such a small thing be such a nuisance, and so untimely too? I know Yuki had removed me from combat and to my current position for the same reason she had removed herself. I knew this and yet still, I hated it. She needed a soldier, not a fucking party planner. I turned around and ran smack into Kaien and would have fallen in my haste to take a step back if he hadn't reached out and steadied me, eyes wide.
"My apologies. I didn't mean to startle you." I froze, feeling his hands on my arms like a bolt of lightning through my core. "Are you okay?" His eyes flicked over me checking for injury and just knowing he was looking at me had an effect. I shook my head and then quickly nodded before he thought I was hurt.
"What are you doing here?" He smiled and he was so beautiful that I was left staring open mouthed.
"Well, this is the hallway, isn't it?" Oh. Yeah, right. Hallway. Anyone could walk through. Why did he need a reason to be in the hallway?
"Y-yes. I suppose it is." I stuttered as if I were a brainless girl talking to a high school crush.
"I might ask why you are pacing up and down the hallway instead of getting some rest while you can?" I shrugged, which is when I realized he was still holding me. His eyes flicked down to where we touched and he let go, taking a step back. I missed the closeness of him immediately and almost reached out to him but ground my nails into my palm to resist the urge instead.
"I can't stop thinking enough to sleep." He chuckled softly and nodded, pushing his wire frame glasses up on his nose. Now why did I find such a simple gesture so cute? It was as if after all these years of not noticing him now that I did I saw everything about him, every word, action and look in high definition. Weird.
"I completely understand. If I were being honest I would confess that I am not here by coincidence. I came to check on you to see how you are feeling." I smiled softly at him as I stared up into the rich mahogany of his eyes with that brilliant golden ring around the pupil like the shine of the sun as the moon eclipses it. "Ruka?" I realized I had been staring.
"Yes?" He frowned slightly
"Are you okay?" I opened my mouth to say yes but that wasn't what came tumbling out.
"No."
"Do you need to see Ganash? I will get him back to campus as soon as possible." I shook my head with a smile at the blatant concern I heard in his words.
"It is nothing that a doctor can cure."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" I didn't even hesitate.
"Yes." He watched me calmly as I walked the half a foot over to him and slowly circled him until I stood behind him. He was completely still as I reached up and slowly slid the hair tie holding his incredibly long, strawberry-blonde hair hostage down the silken length of that frustrating ponytail. I ran my fingers through the thick length of it all, spreading it around the mass of his shoulders. He shivered and I smiled, butterflies whirling through my stomach as I followed the collar of his sweater jacket down, parting it and drawing it off his shoulders and down the long length of his arms to let it fall on the carpet. He was left standing in a loose purple t-shirt that I found was very thin as I slid my hands over his hips and around his waist, barely separated by the nearly non-existent material. I pressed my body against the back of his, rubbing my face against the silk of his hair and breathing him in. A soft sigh escaped him as he shuddered at my touch, hesitating only a moment before running his fingers up and down my arms around him, leaving me with goosebumps everywhere. I had no idea why I was so bold with him but it was like I just had no stop, like the part of my brain that was supposed to object and keep my impulses in check just went on the fritz around him. I pulled back and walked around to the front of him to find his lips parted, eyes trailing my movements. I pressed my body back against his, running my hands up the firm lines of his back muscles to pull him closer. His eyes slid shut as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.
"Come to bed with me?" His eyes opened and I didn't miss the way his throat convulsed as he swallowed.
"I-" He cleared his throat before continuing, "I don't think that would be a good idea." I pouted as a genuine feeling of need swept through me.
"Please." I whispered, his eyes on mine were thoughtful as if he were trying to find any reason to walk away. I saw the exact moment he surrendered and didn't need to see the nod to know he would come with me. I stepped back from him and bent to snatch up the sweater I'd dropped before making my way down the hallway to my room. When he closed the door behind him he walked over to stare out the window while I got ready for bed. I came out of the bathroom smiling when I saw him still standing where I'd left him. He turned as I shut the bathroom light off.
"Are you going to sleep in jeans?" He looked down and smiled when he looked back up.
"If it is okay with you then yes. They are not nearly as uncomfortable as they look." They didn't really look all that uncomfortable. They were a soft, faded sky blue with tears in the knees, fitting loosely enough that they wouldn't be that uncomfortable to sleep in. I shrugged and crawled onto the bed.
"If you're going to be comfortable then I don't mind." Why should I? Although I couldn't help but wonder what was under them. The thought surprised even me. He slid out of his slippers and padded over to the bed. "Stop." I said quietly when he was at the edge.
He did and I crawled over to him. His eyes widened but he stood there and watched me come to him, very purposely keeping eye contact. I knelt in front of him and it was as if I didn't have any control over myself. I slid my hands under that thin purple shirt and up his sides, shoving his shirt up as I made my way to his shoulders. He raised an eyebrow at me but complied by silently lifting his arms. I had to stretch my body against his in order to get the shirt off, feeling him take a sharp breath. I felt him staring at me as I ogled him because there was no polite word for what I was doing. His muscles were so finely etched that I could trace the stitching of them over his ribs into the ten pack that delved into his jeans that hung sinfully low on his hips with a looseness that promised ease of access to the flesh beneath. I was thoroughly distracted by the v of his hips and the strawberry-blonde happy trail that disappeared beneath the damned denim. Was he wearing underwear? I shivered and sighed audibly.
"It has been a long time since anyone has looked at me like that." I felt heat explode across my face and began to retreat, stopping when his fingers gently wrapped around my wrist. "Don't be embarrassed. I think I like it."
I turned back to him with a shy smile on my face that made his eyes go soft as a quiet chuckle left his lips. I shuddered again. Damn! Under all those clothes was a weapon worthy of the gods. I was suddenly so very grateful he was a pacifist. I grinned at my line of thought and giggled as I fell back on the bed. He licked his lips and ran his eyes over the shorts and tank top that was my usual sleep wear.
"I, uh...um, I think I should-" He cleared his throat again.
"Just come to bed, Kaien." His eyes widened slightly and I saw him take a deep breath as he slipped his glasses off before he crawled onto the bed and fell on his side several feet away from me with his eyes closed like he could summon sleep. I tried to stay where I was but I couldn't keep my eyes off of him and my body itched to be against his. I was suddenly right in front of him, hand already playing in his hair, no thoughts included. I ran my nose across the ridge of his collar bone, breathing him in. My eyes closed as I let my breath out on a slow, shaky inhale. He smelled so good! He still smelled like the first breath of silence after the winter storm but now I smelled cinnamon too and the combination was intoxicating. His hands kneaded at my waist and he was gasping, which is when I realized I had been nuzzling his neck. Pleasure speared through me. I really fucking liked hearing him gasp for me. He shuddered beside me and I slid my body against his, pressing my breasts into his chest as I bent my head to run my lips along his neck. His breath hitched again and I felt my fangs tingling with the urge to bite him. I kissed the spot I would bite if I did and hesitated, waiting for him to tell me to stop, before I ran my tongue in circles. His body twitched in response.
"Ruka..." He whispered. "I think I should...leave." Something tore through me that stole my breath at the thought of not having him next to me. More. I wanted more. I lightly dragged my fangs up the large vein in his neck. A voice in the back of my mind was screaming hello! Impulse control! Do your fucking job!
"Oh god..." He breathed, quietly panting. I dropped my forehead against his shoulder and fought for air, attempting to combat the urge to bite him. I knew what that cinnamon smell was now. He was turned on. Turned on for me. Oh god was right.
"Kaien-" I groaned and my voice was thick with need, the need to feed on more than just blood. His hand tightened where he gripped my side and he muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously close to oh fuck.
"Do it. Feed on me if you need it, Ruka." His words were throaty and I barely stifled the moan that tried to burst free.
"Kaien, I-" He turned his head a bit more, making for a better striking angle and I forgot what I was going to say. I plunged my hand into his hair and pulled him as close to me as I could. His breath was short and fast, going out on a small grunt of pain when I sank my fangs into him. I pulled hungrily at his throat and moaned in unison with him. Oh my gods! I had never tasted anything like his blood before. He tasted like something savory akin to an amazing steak with the heady kick of the best damn wine you've ever tasted, multiplied by some unfathomable number. He gripped me tight to him so that when his spine bowed I didn't tear his neck. His hand ran up the outside of my thigh, which had somehow wound up slung over his hip, kneading. It took no effort at all to roll him so that I now straddled his hips. He cried out and grabbed my hips to still them where they had begun to move on their own. I felt him hard and pulsing just beneath the jeans and I wanted him. I tightened my grip in his hair when he kept trying to throw his head back, not wanting to hurt him. His hands were tight on my hips, keeping those still but the rest of my body was writhing against him as I felt the orgasm building within me.
"Ruka...you have to-" He moaned loudly and his hips bucked up against mine. "Fuck!" He cried out. "Oh fuck! You have t-..." His whole body began vibrating against mine and hearing him moan and cry out just flat did it for me. "Stop! Stop or I'm gonna-" He sucked in a loud breath and his body tensed. Come for me, baby. No sooner than I thought it he screamed, spine bowing so that I rode his stomach as he clawed at the bed in his release. I sucked down the endorphins that flooded my system as a sort of side-effect of his orgasm, drawing closer to my own. He screamed my name, hips rolling, body bucking, every draw of my mouth bringing a fresh wave of orgasm. My world exploded out of nowhere forcing me to break from his neck or risk tearing his throat open. I threw my head back, using my hands on his chest to balance myself while I rode the orgasm, driving my hips against his. His hands found my hips again but instead of stopping me this time he helped me ride him, crying out beneath me as I yelled my orgasm. Something weird clicked into place and it sounded very much like a gear shifting. Kaien rolled me over and began rolling his hips against me. I wanted him! I began fumbling to get to the button on his jeans. He was panting on top of me, staring down at my struggle. He shook his head and reached down to gently grab my hands, eyes fluttering.
"Can't...just went..." I grinned and then laughed as I pushed his hands to the side. I had his jeans undone and halfway down his thighs discovering that he definitely had not been wearing underwear which made me moan. I wriggled down between his thighs, forcing them as far apart as the jeans that rubbed across my breasts would allow. I didn't have the patience to try and get his pants completely off.
"Ruka-" He gasped and his hand plunged into my hair as I swallowed his half-erect cock.
I liked the feeling of men when they were soft, it made it easy to play with them. With how big he was while half-erect I knew it would take some work to be able to do this when he was rock hard. I rolled my tongue around him, sucking down the tangy sweetness of the come that had covered him from his release in his jeans. I rolled my eyes up to find him with his head thrown back to the sky. I had to be gentle with him because of the fangs but when my teeth brushed the base of him he cast wild eyes down at me that made me contemplate something I had never done before. I scraped lightly over the base again and he moaned, so I pulled completely off of him, watching his cock stiffen like magic before biting the flesh just above his hip, making him cry out, sucking long enough to get the endorphins flowing again before pulling away. I was going to try to suck him back into my mouth but he wrapped his hand in my hair and used it to yank me away from him and pull me none to gently back up his body before pushing me into the bed, falling into a push up position above me so that all that wonderful hair fell in a waterfall around his face and shoulders. I moaned as he hooked his fingers under both the underwear and the shorts and yanked them down my legs, not even taking a moment to take his own pants off before he slid his hands up my inner thighs, parting them. I yielded more than willingly to him and was nearly begging for entry, rolling my hips up for him and moaning. His eyes were glowing with that dark light that any lover can get when they know they can have you and you'll do anything they want.
"Please! Kaien!" I cried out. He groaned and then I was writhing as he slipped inside me with a quick thrust of his hips.
"Oh fuck!" He moaned.
His eyes were wild now and I hissed in pleasure as he reached up and tore my tank top away, spilling my breasts free before he began thrusting into me in something I could only equate to dancing. I dug my fingers into his hips and thighs while he danced for me, hitting a spot at my entrance as well as one deep inside me with each stroke. The orgasm came out of nowhere, making me seize against the bed and scream his name. He suddenly deepened his thrust and began hitting that sweet spot way deep inside me that had me careening into oblivion again before I'd had time to come back from my first trip. He cried out above me and I felt his whole body quake with his orgasm Thrusting deep inside me one last time before falling on top of me so that he moaned into my hair while our bodies reformed after the implosion. He rolled off of me, making us both moan as he pulled out, falling onto his side and scooping me up with one arm so that I was nestled against the front of him. I don't know which of us fell asleep first but for the first time in...forever, I slept in the arms of my lover in complete comfort.
I woke to the pleasant ache between my thighs that said I'd had great sex and the solid warmth and smell of Kaien surrounding me. I frowned as I lay there, unable to place the reason I had woken up. The knock at the door was loud and impatient, like it wasn't the first time they had knocked. I felt Kaien's muscles tense and knew he was awake before he sighed into my hair. The next knock was louder, rattling the door with the weight of the blows raining down on it.
"Ruka! Are you in there? Open up!" Yuki's voice came to us and I felt the panic shoot through him before he broke from me and rolled off the edge of the bed, crashing to the floor.
I rolled to see him pop up and look around the room. His eyes fell on the bed and finally found me where he stared for a few minutes, taking everything in. His eyes were wide, lips parted, breath coming fast.
"Ru-ka!" She punctuated my name into two syllables, pounding on the door with each one.
His gaze flicked to the door and he turned to dart into the bathroom, tripping over his pants that were around his knees to fall on his face. I reached out to him as I crawled to the edge of the bed but stopped and shoved my hand against my mouth to stifle the giggle as I saw him attempting to frantically yank his pants up and fasten them while demonstrating his profound knowledge of the profane that fell from his lips. I burst out laughing as he popped to his feet only to be tripped again by the sheet tangled around them. He landed in a push up that reminded me of what we had done this morning, tightening things low in my body so hard and fast it drew a gasp from me. He kicked the sheet off his feet and spun in a crouch to look at me, head cocked to the side. I offered him a smile that showed how much I appreciated the view and how adorable I found him. His eyes slid closed as he scented the air and he shuddered, a gesture cut short by the incessant pounding at the door and Yuki's impatient demand for entry. His eyes widened and he looked around as if searching for an escape. I frowned but hiked a thumb over my shoulder at the window.
"If you are searching for an escape the window is your best option." He smiled at me and bounced to his feet, making haste for the window. "Though as soon as I open the door she's going to know what happened. What we did." He stopped and turned enough to look at me, eyes roving slowly over my very exposed body before licking his lips. He smiled shyly and turned back around, pulling the curtains open and flinging the window wide. I moved in a blur across the bed and grabbed his glasses, clearing my throat, wagging them at him when he turned his head to look. He grinned and darted forward, fingers wrapping around mine as he leaned in to me until his lips were an inch from mine.
"I will return to you later I just-" He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against mine. "I cannot have her find out this way." I frowned and slid my other hand along his jaw line. His lips were soft as they pressed against mine in a lingering, albeit chaste kiss that was all too fleeting. He stood up and darted over to the window where he crouched and turned to look at me. I smiled at him and laughed at the sight we made. We were like teenage lovers, sneaking out of the other's window so as not to get caught. He smiled brilliantly and I made a soft noise of surprise as his mouth suddenly pressed against mine. He kissed me several times, pushing me back into the bed. He broke away and sighed as he stared down at me before flinching a bit as Yuki announced she was coming in.
"I must go."
"Then go." I said, kissing him quickly and slapping at his shoulder playfully.
He grinned at me and then he was gone in a flash, diving out the open window without hesitation. I heard the knob turning and saw his oversized, thin, purple shirt along with the soft pile of his sweater from last night. I cursed under my breath and snatched both of the items off the floor, tossing them out the window and pulling it shut just as the door swung open. I turned to face Yuki as she stepped cautiously into the room. Her eyes wandered the room searching for me, taking in the fucked up bed with my discarded shorts and underwear flung haphazardly at the foot of it. When her eyes found mine they were wide and swirling red, mouth parted and breath coming too fast as she scented the air. I offered her a shy smile and shrugged, knowing she knew exactly what had happened and not knowing how exactly to explain it, or if I even needed to.
A/N- Alright guys, phew! This was a looooong one but I promised you an update much sooner than this, which I never gave. So, to make up for it I have given you the longest chapter yet. I tried my best to edit through it all but if there were mistakes I missed I apologize. I also apologize in advance for the shit I put poor Takuma through. Poor, poor Taki! *snifflesniffle* I do hope that this helps you bring in the new year with a bang. Lol. A lot has happened in this update and the metaphorical shit is about to hit the fan, so tell me what you think. I'd also be interested in hearing what everyone's new year's resolutions are. Mine are to get the novel I have been trying to finish finished and hopefully published as well as to graduate and officially be done with school and get a job then an apartment, or house (depending on whichever is the better investment) with my lovely fiance. Not too much. Lol! Have a great New Year smash ya'll and be safe! Please, don't be the first five minutes of Supernatural. Ta-ta for now, loves! ;-*
