Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Knight

Chapter 9

Visitors

Yawning, Reina stretched her arms over her head, keeping the book she had been reading held in her right hand. She made a small noise of annoyance as she readjusted her position on the couch and glared at her stomach, her daughter was intent on making her nice, calm, boring days as adventurous as possible. She would kick and jump around all day and the reactions from Reina varied from happy smiles to the small woman clapping a hand over her mouth and running to the bathroom when the child got a little too carried away.

"Are you alright, Reina?" Ken asked, he was sitting in one of the plush armchairs across from her, reading through some of the mail that had arrived not long ago. Everyone else was still asleep, it was the middle of the day after all and the sun was quite high in the sky.

"I'm fine," she answered with a sigh, moving around so that she could lean into the arm of the couch and stretch her black clad legs out. Smoothing out the dress like light blue sweater she wore and patting her stomach, she looked up at Ken who looked as handsome as usual in his dark gray slacks and black button up that was left untucked with the top few buttons undone. Reina had grown to know the brown haired man fairly well over the last several months and though he tried to keep his emotions to himself, she was beginning to see through the small cracks in his facade. She believed he was finally beginning to see that he could trust the people around him. He had lived his entire life around people who had forced him to do and be witness to terrible and heinous acts of violence when he was a gentle soul that was content to sit outside and stare into the night sky, he wanted nothing to do with the name that was given to him and the pain it came with. "Is something wrong?" Reina asked when she saw the slight narrowing of his gray eyes.

"Hmm," he looked up at her from over the letter he was reading, the corners of his mouth twitching ever so slightly. "No, nothing's wrong. Yet."

A snow white brow lifted questioningly. "Yet?" She studied the man across from her, he seemed like he wanted to start laughing and when Reina's head cocked to the side and her eyes went towards the window, he actually did laugh. "Were we expecting company?" She asked in confusion, sensing a vehicle moving towards the manor, but unable to sense the people in it yet.

"Well...Not exactly, but.."

"Oh, give me the silly thing," Reina snapped when Ken started chuckling, she snatched the paper from his hand and scanned through the contents. She had started out curious, but as she read over the letter her fingers began to hold a little too tightly to the paper and a small scowl made its way to her face. "That damn man, this is dated two weeks ago! Why are we just getting it now?"

"From what I've heard about him, he probably forgot to mail it," Ken answered, trying to hide the amused grin that kept creeping over his face and making his lips twitch.

"And you think it's funny?" Reina said, crumpling the paper up and tossing it at his face. "If it were just him, that would be one thing, but to bring the other two with him? Into a house full of vampires who don't like them? Is it just me or does that sound like a bad idea?"

Ken couldn't help but laugh at the annoyed look on Reina's face which earned him a small growl and a scowl. He coughed into his hand before looking up at her and trying not to smile as she glared at him, looking more like a spoiled child than a pregnant and full grown adult.

"Sorry," he amended.

Reina sighed before cocking her head to the side again. "Wait...You mean that's them coming right now?"

"You're just now figuring that out?" Ken teased, raising his arms in defense when Reina threw a pillow at him.

"You know, I think I liked you better when you didn't express much emotion," Reina snorted, folding her arms over her chest arrogantly.

Shaking his head, Ken stood up and walked around the coffee table to offer Reina his hand, which she sniffed at and turned her head away from stubbornly

"They're going to be here soon. I assume you'd like to make arrangements for their arrival," Ken said.

Huffing, Reina gave Ken a small glare before relenting and taking his hand and letting him help her up from the couch.

"I'd rather just send them back to the Association. I'm not fond of being spied on, even if it's just a cover," Reina replied as she stood.

"A cover?"

"The Hunter's Association would never allow him to come here, not knowing that the foes he'd be against are purebloods. They wouldn't want to risk open war with the vampire community," she said, her eyebrows drawing together in thought and confusion. "Plus, there's no reason for the Association to be suspicious of anyone here and you know it. Those here are all from the families that are actually trying to rebuild the vampire society into a society that can coexist with humans. So why send people to spy on us? Especially them? There's something else going on and I intend to find out what," she answered seriously, meeting Ken's eyes for a moment before walking off to find Midori since their guests would be arriving soon.

"I suppose that makes sense. It's still likely that Association would want to know what's going on here though. After all, my family is responsible for quite a bit of suffering," Ken answered, a sad inflection to his tone.

"True," Reina replied. "If they just so happen to be here when I'm attacked then they would have a chance to eliminate your family."

"Right."

"And you're ok with this?" Reina asked, watching the gray eyed man closely.

Ken nodded, smiling forlornly at her. "I'm no fool, Reina, I know what my family has done. They have brought their fate upon themselves."

It didn't take her long to find Midori and have the woman start issuing orders to several others and waking even more. Once she had done that, Reina made her way back to the front of the house, she had every intention of being the one to greet the three people whose car was just now pulling into her long driveway. Ken was waiting for her by the stairs, leaning casually against the banister with his arms folded over his chest.

"I've gotten to know you pretty well, I trust you and you've become a very good friend, but I know you're hiding something from me," Reina said as she walked up to the man who was leaning against the dark wood of the railing behind him.

There was no immediate response from him, he just studied Reina and the challenging set of her face as she stared up at him. After a moment, he sighed heavily and unfolded his arms from across his chest. "I got a letter-"

"From Kaname?" Reina asked before he could continue.

He nodded before continuing. "From Kaname, he didn't want me to tell you anything and at the time you were still keeping yourself locked up in your room and I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily until we had more information. According to some sources he has it is highly likely that my father is planning to attack us here before the month is out. He has gathered a good number of the family together, even the elders are moving and that's rare."

"Is that why they're here?" She asked, trying to calm and level headed.

"I don't know, the first I heard about this was the letter today."

"What do you think, are they going to attack?"

"News has gotten around that you're pregnant. They'll see that as a weakness and an advantage since they won't expect you to fight back. They know Kaname isn't here and he's the biggest threat against them. I'm not viewed as a threat, they know all my strengths and weaknesses, or so they believe," Ken answered with a small smirk. "Everyone else will just be viewed as a nuisance and with three purebloods, your entourage of several powerful aristocrats is nothing. They think you're weak and I think they will most definitely take advantage of that."

"Then let them, they'll be surprised to find that I'm far from weak," Reina spat, taking a deep breath before turning to the double doors and walking to them before flinging them open to face the three rather surprised men walking up her steps. There was a blond man, a man with unruly brown hair and a younger man with silver hair and lavender eyes, people she hadn't seen in several months.

It only took a moment for the blond man at the head of the group to regain himself and grin like an idiot before flouncing up the remaining stairs, earning him a sigh and an eye roll from the two men behind him. Reina glared at the man that was practically skipping towards her with a big grin on his face, but that didn't stop the man from throwing his arms out and trying to hug her. Instead of wrapping his arms around the white haired girl, the man got nothing but air and wound up falling face first into the ground.

"Cross," Reina hissed down at the man whose arms she had just avoided being crushed in.

"Oh dear why would you do that to me? I thought I was like a father to-"

"Shut up you idiot," the brown haired man grumbled, raising a booted foot to kick the blond who was attempting to get up and causing him to fall back onto the ground with a muffled shout.

Reina merely stood beside Ken and the two looked down at the now rather rumpled Kaien Cross that was half in the door and half out. The man muttered to himself as he pushed himself up and dusted himself off turning to glare at the brown haired Toga Yagari that had kicked him, said man simply shrugged, the cigarette in his mouth bobbing slightly.

It wasn't until Reina sneezed, a quiet squeak of a sound and took a small step back, that everyone's attention turned to her as she shook her head and crinkled her nose. Ken had put a hand on her back to steady her and was looking down at her to see that she was alright, it took him a moment to realize that she had shifted her anger from Cross to the brown haired man who had somehow failed to notice that she was scowling at him as she put her hands over her stomach.

The silver haired boy sighed, withdrawing his pale hands from the pockets of his jeans to grab the cigarette from the mouth of his teacher and toss it on the ground. He then stepped on the cigarette, effectively putting an end to the continuous line of smoke that had been permeating the air.

"Thank you, Zero," Reina said sweetly, smiling at the boy and then Yagari who had turned his attention to her for a moment.

"What?" Zero grunted when he looked up to see that Yagari was staring at him. "She's pregnant if you hadn't noticed."

"Sorry," Yagari mumbled.

Reina sighed, leaning into Ken as she began to realize just how tired she was.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Fine, just tired," Reina answered, not failing to notice the narrowing of Zero's eyes as Ken wrapped his arm around her. "And I'm wasting my energy because someone failed to give me proper notice that a bunch of vampire hunters were going to be joining me and the several other vampires that are staying here."

"You said you sent a letter," Yagari said to Cross.

"I did," the man whined, rubbing at his neck when his friend tweaked his brow at him. "I just forgot to mail it."

Both Zero and Yagari sighed, muttering curses under their breath as they looked away from the blond man.

"I also know you're not here to simply spy on me, but at the moment I don't care, I want to go lay down."

"Would you like me to help you?" Ken asked.

Shaking her head, Reina straightened herself up and met Zero's eyes. "No, Zero will help me. If he doesn't mind of course." She raised a hand for him to take and at first he only stared at her, but after a moment, he stepped forward and took her hand, letting her entwine their arms together before turning to the stairs.

It wasn't until after he and Reina had gotten to her room that Zero spoke as Reina sat down on the padded bench beneath her window.

"How long?"

"Excuse me?" Reina asked, not understanding Zero's question.

"How long have you been pretending to be okay?"

"I'm not pretending, I'm perfectly fine."

"You're lying," Zero shot back.

"And how would you know?" Reina snapped irritably, but she already knew the answer. Out of everyone in her house at the moment, she and Zero knew each other the best, they had each others blood in their veins after all and after adjusting to the new aura she gave off, it wasn't hard for him to be able to sense what she was feeling.

"Because I can feel it," he replied, locking his lavender eyes with her sapphire.

"I'm fine," she said dismissively, breaking their gaze to look out her window.

"Have you had an attack yet?"

Reina looked down at her hands for a moment before she shook her head, her white hair swishing around her face. "No. I haven't had an attack yet, the tablets are still working. I just need them much more often than normal."

"Why did you want me to walk you up here?" Zero asked, leaning against one of the posts of her bed and watching her.

"Because you won't lie to me like Cross and Yagari will, like they've likely been told to do by the one man you hate more than anything."

"What makes you think we're here because of Kaname? Cross got some information saying the Takamora's-"

"I already know that," she cut in harshly. "Who gave you the information is what I want to know."

"How should I know?"

"Was it him or not? It's a simple question. Don't make me force you to answer, you know I can," Reina said quietly.

"What does it matter?" He asked.

Her eyes narrowed. "I want to know if the bastard sent you here to protect me since he couldn't be bothered to do it himself and he doesn't believe I can protect myself."

"He left again, didn't he? After everything that happened, everything you lost because of him, he just took off and disappeared. He abandoned you again."

"Yes, he abandoned me again and when I needed him the most. He has no right to interfere in my life, but that's exactly what he's doing, isn't it? You three were sent here to keep an eye on me just like the others were, I'm a burden to him and nothing more," Reina said harshly. A small bitter laugh slipped through her lips as she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm not a fool, something he keeps forgetting. He wants me protected and he isn't here to do it himself and he doesn't plan on being here at all, so he's having whomever he can do it for him. Sounds like Kaname to me, so correct me if I'm wrong in my assumption."

"You're not wrong," Zero answered. "Kaname is the one who asked Cross to come here."

"Makes me wonder if he feels guilty for abandoning me once again or if I was just an after thought."

"It's guilt."

"And what makes you say that?" Reina asked curiously.

"Because if it wasn't, I'd kill him myself."

Reina snorted. "There you go sounding like you like me again. I thought we'd already established that you hate me and my kind, which makes me wonder why you'd willingly walk into a house full of vampires and even be willing to sleep under the same roof."

"I don't hate you, I owe you."

"Owe me?"

"Yeah, I owe you," he stated, pushing himself away from the bed post. "You gave me two options that day, remember?"

"Yes, I told you to either accept what you were or hate yourself and every other one of my kind."

"Well, I made my choice and I don't hate our kind." He said nothing else as he walked out of the room leaving Reina staring after him blankly.

It took a few minutes for his words to fully sink in, but when they did, a small smile graced her features. "Well that was unexpected."


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