*A/N Answering the lead's question: Emi is 17, Yuuki is 18 and Kaname is 19. And of course, as always I thank Katherine S for editing my chapter and adding a few ideas! Wonderful work! I'm very happy to work with you! ^_^
Aidō was sure that he saw both Emi and Kaname leave the house together just now, But it is not possible isn't it, Kaname-kun is suppose to be in a council meeting today. Aidō thought confusingly. Wanting answers, Aidō decided to follow the two pureblood and see for himself. I might be wrong, I did only just see the end of their trench coat, anyone can have the same trench coat with the same colour and the same fabric with the same length. Aidō tried to reason with himself. Aidō did not know why he is bothered with this situation, So what if that person was Kaname-kun, isn't this what I wanted, another chance with Yuuki-chan. Aidō thought, but curiosity still won him over. We all know that there is a saying though, "Curiosity kills the cat", What Aidō did not know was that the only difference in this situation is that Aidō won't end up dead, but he would definitely end up in a web of lies and deception the more he try to dig into the two pureblood's business.
Outside, the two purebloods were waiting for one of the servants to fetch a driver for a car to being them to the nearest town. Luckily, the servant was new to the family, therefore wasn't sure of the families's family tree. Thinking that it was normal, and that the Kuran family has a total of 2 cousins staying with them, the servant happily went to fetch a car, eager to please his masters.
While the servant was gone, the two purebloods were very aware of the eavesdropper at the front door of the house. Chuckling, Emi thought, Looks like he finally figured out that half of what I said was fake, that took him long enough. Though Emi was bored, What is taking the servant so long, I asked for a car, not for him to fetch me a town Emi thought impatiently. Though, being the cunning yet playful girl she is decided to play another game with him.
"Kaname, you came back early today. How was the meeting at the council, did everything go well?" Emi asked.
Kaname was very quickly learning that his princess was a very different Kuran, even though she only belongs to the sideline part of the family, she acts more like the main part of the family rather than just the sideline of it. He also figured out for a fact that his princess was a very impatient person when it comes to situation she has no control over, but when it comes to situations where she has control over, she is as patient as an eagle, waiting for the best angle to strike at it's prey. Kaname smirked Cunning, a trait the Kurans were famous for at the beginning that was lost as time pass, his princess not only inherited the looks and powers of the Kuran family, but the long lost traits too, something that the main part of the family had not inherit in years. Being the cunning a clever girl that she is, even if she has no control over a situation, she would be able to gain control over it after adjusting and gaining a few pawns. I would definitely be there, by her side through everything too.
"The meeting is going quite well, cousin. I ordered for a break and came back here to rest, only to bump into you." Kaname answered.
"How bad of you, to make the council wait and look all around for you. They must be running around the council building looking for you like mother hens without their heads on right now." Emi teased.
All was silent, until both of them burst out laughing, but instead of two laughing voice, there was three, Aidō was unconsciously laughing with them, but stopped immediately when he noticed his actions, signing with relief when he saw that he was not found yet, not knowing that the two purebloods noticed he was there the moment he stood near the front door. "I can imagine that" Kaname said after he calmed down from his laughing fit. Still chuckling, Emi stated "Oh well, that's one of the perks of being a pureblood, you can make people wait for you for however long you want and no one can say anything."
Just then, the car came, Kaname helped Emi up the car and climbed in himself. The servant drove off and Aidō came to a conclusion that the person he saw was Kaname-kun, thinking about the younger Kuran Kaname, the only one he knew, for now... Though he got the right name, and a similar face, he has no idea just how wrong he was.
In the car, Kaname and Emi started their conversation, this time, Emi was speaking to Kaname the ancestor and not Kaname the descendent.
"What would you do if he asks about this conversation at the mansion tonight when my descendent comes home. Lying to him like that, you are taking a huge gamble on his trust for you, little princess." Kaname asked and chided gently.
Giggling, Emi answered, "Don't worry about Aidō asking about that conversation, Kaname, Aidō has a crush on Yuuki, he is trying to win her over so he wouldn't say anything bad about my cousin in front of her knowing how much Yuuki loves him and how much she would hate Aidō if he says one bad thing about her brother. As for the lie, well, it isn't much of a lie either, your name is indeed Kaname it just depends on which Kaname. Aidō thought you were and my cousin did in fact ask for a break and did not reappear for the meeting after the break, causing the level C vampires to run around the council building looking for him. I just told one white lie, he did not come back, instead, you took his place during the conversation."
Putting a hand to Kaname's face, Emi caressed his face while speaking to him "It is a miracle how much both of you look alike physically, but that is where the similarity ends, emotionally and mentally, both of you are very different, in fact, I think you are very much better than him, in more ways than one. Oh well, but I guess it is an advantage that both of you have a similar face, might as well, make use of this to my advantage before introducing you to the whole vampire society again."
Kaname was not surprised that Emi was planning on making use of him, that, is the way of purebloods, that is what all purebloods do, if you want to survive, you have to plan, defend and fight back. It's kill or be killed. Kaname was also not surprised that his princess was spying on her cousin, though he was surprised that her cousin have not even noticed her spy yet. So far, no one was spying on them, But soon, this will all change Kaname thought, this is a fact that both purebloods know deep in their mind. Everything is going to change when Kaname is reintroduced to the vampire society. It would be easy to trick the lower rank vampires that Kaname is indeed her brother, but it would be harder to trick the other purebloods about that, it would be much easier for them to find out about Kaname's real identity. Thought the real problem lies with the ancient purebloods. There are only a handful of them left but they would be the once that would be the hardest to trick. In fact, it would be almost impossible to make them believe that Kaname is her brother and not their long lost king. Just from his face and presence itself, they would be able to figure everything out and no amount of masking his aura would help the situation. They would have to be very careful...
Noticing that the atmosphere has changed into a depressing one from the topic of survival, Kaname decided to change the topic to a more interesting one, a conversation that he remembered between Emi and her cousin, about the blood tablets that were newly developed. "Last night, I heard you and your cousin speaking about the newly invented blood tablets? Can you tell me more about it?" Kaname asked, interested to know more about the tablets that supposedly was suppose to allow them to control their hunger for fresh blood.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Emi was not surprised that Kaname heard everything that was going on in the mansion, the mansion though huge, the walls were quite thin, so she answered, "My cousin told me last night about the invention of the blood tablets. He told me everything he knew of the history of the blood tablets. All of those information are not interesting to me but one. The inventor of the blood tablets. My cousin told me that it was the legendary hunter, Cross Kaien who invented the blood tablets."
Hearing that, Kaname raised his brow angered and worried, "The legendary hunter, Cross Kaien, the one person who successfully killed hundreds if not thousands of our kind himself."
I was surprised that he knew about the hunter, he was sleeping in the coffin long before he was born. Seeing my confusion, Kaname explained himself, "From the underground room, apart from being able to walk to your room, there is another hidden door that leads to the Kuran library. When most of my memories came back as I'm sure you know this, you have been informed of all that I know about the past, I remembered about the underground room and that room was used for hiding, it is large enough to form a house in the mansion and it has hidden doors all around the room to travel around the mansion. I want to the library to check up on what I missed, there were quite a few books about the legendary hunter himself, his history and whatnot."
Of course he would go to the library first chance he gets, it is so obvious and totally fits his personality. Emi berated herself, How could I miss out on such an obvious information concerning his character. It seems like I cannot just depend on his memories to figure him out. Those memories are just a part of him, there is still another part of him that you have to figure out yourself while observing him. No wonder he became king and was so powerful, even if someone successfully figures him out, they do not know the whole him, they would have to know every part of him in order to truly understand him. And I'm sure drinking his blood to understand him fully is something no one can do unless he allows it himself. Hmm... I have to spent more time in figuring him out, Kaname sure is interesting, ne... Emi chuckled promising herself that she would spend more time trying to understand and figure out Kuran Kaname, the ancestor himself.
Seeing that Kaname is worried, Emi went on to explain to him the rest of the history concerning Cross Kaien. "He is an ex-hunter right now. Apparently, he stopped hunting us a few years back for a reason concerning aunty Juuri that was not told to the vampire society. They accepted the request for privacy and was just grateful that such a powerful hunter such as Cross Kaien would not be hunting them anymore. Kaien himself even said that he would help us anyway he can concerning the hunter association as long as we are not at fault. Now, he lives on the other side of this town. Even though he stopped hunting us because of aunty Juri, there are many questions and suspicions that I have for him so I have decided that I want to visit him and ask him about it. Additionally, now, it is forbidden to kill a pureblood without getting permission from the association first, if a hunter attacks a pureblood without a valid reason, he or she would be killed on the spot by either the vampires or the other hunters. No exceptions." Emi concluded.
"This visit is going to take a while, I promised you a walk around town, so why don't you walk around for a bit and I will join you and give you a tour after my talk with Kaien." Emi suggested.
"That wouldn't be the best idea, I am worried for your safety, little princess, I'll go with you, I would like to be able to protect you if need be and I'm also interested in this hunter anyway, so it would be a two way benefit for the two of us." Kaname objected.
"Kaname, it is going to be quite late for the walk after we finished the conversation and I promised you a walk." Emi whined softly.
"I insist, Emi." Kaname said with a serious look on his face. Frustrated for not getting her way, Emi threw a tantrum and broke the glass window at her door, startling the driver who was concentrating on driving the car. It was obvious it was the first time he was working with for purebloods as he was startled for the sudden break of windows but it was clear that he had experience and was used to the spoiled attitude of the high ranked vampires.
Seeing that his princess was irritated with him, Kaname signed and allowed her to throw her tamper, knowing that she was spoiled heavily by her family as she was the youngest and knowing that this would be the first tamper he witnessed but not the last. It looks like I have one spoiled princess to take care of. Kaname thought. One spoiled but perfect princess. Kaname concluded with his observation. Tamper spent, with a pout on her face, Emi looked out the window, deciding to ignore Kaname for a while as his punishment. Suddenly, she said, "Stop the car!" The car stopped with small poof of smoke coming from the tyres, proofing that the car stopped suddenly when driving in a high speed. Emi stepped out of the car and walked to what caught her attention.
Chuckling, Emi said, "And here I thought I was going to have to ask the Hios to give me one of their own as a personal bodyguard." Kneeling down, she asked rhetorically, "Why are you lying here of all places, Hio-san? Hmm... Doesn't matter, looks like luck is on my side." giggling like a little girl, she commanded the driver to carry her into the car.
She glanced at Kaname and returned her attention to the fallen Hio stroking her short hair away from her face while telling him one of her many plans that she was planning to do. "The Hios nowadays are known for their especially fantastic defence skills. The purebloods from this clan would each have one of the clans best vampire as a personal bodyguard. Now that there is only Hio Shizuka left and she is nowhere to be found, the Hio clan continue to train the vampires from their clan to be perfect bodyguards for other purebloods from other clans. Whether or not as a spy though, well, that depends on the situation on how you acquired the Hio vampire. For my case... she would be very loyal... I'll make sure of that. But first..." Emi finished.
Reaching Cross Kaien's residence, Emi and Kaname alighted the car and the driver knocked on the door.
"Ex-hunter-san!" the driver yelled, knocking on the door, still with the Hio vampire in his arms. Kaname stood beside me. "Cross Kaien-san!" the driver tried again. Finally, the door opened violently to show the three vampires an image of a silver haired boy with lilac eyes, aiming at Emi with his anti-vampire gun, Bloody rose. Both Emi and Kaname recognised. Immediately, Kaname pulled me behind him. Emi could feel a strong dislike forming between them starting from that moment. Laughing, I stepped out from Kaname's back and stood beside him again, looking at Kaname care-freely, knowing that he would protect me at all cost, he did swear that he would always love, protect and defend me.
"What do you want, vampires?" he said with a cold tone, filled with hatred.
"Zero-kun" I heard the other voice. "Do we have guests?" After a while in the doorway stood a weird man, wearing glasses and a pink apron.
"No" answered the silver haired boy. "Just four monsters." Emi sensed the air and said:
"Zero-kun? From the Kiryuu clan? Ah, I heard about you, in fact, everyone in our society heard about you and your... situation. That is one of the reason that Kaname had to go through those horrible and boring meetings with the council today anyway. Poor Kaname... At this, Kaname fisted his hands and tensed up. Seeing this, Emi hugged Kaname around the waist and Kaname immediately put his arms around her. Emi continued, I am deeply sympathetic about your... situation Zero-kun, but please put the bloody rose away, we are not your opponent, nor are we the vampire you should raise that gun at. You do know the rules, don't you? It would be a shame if the elite Kiryuu clan had to go extinct, because the heir cannot control his temper..." Giggling, Emi continued...
"Monsters? We are not that much different then, the only difference between the four of us and you is well, to put it simply for the hunters, we are of higher ranks. Sad, really, to think that you would be of an even lower rank than a level C vampire... Being a level C vampire is sooo much better than what you are now."
"Mind your own business!" Zero yelled pointing his gun at Emi again.
This time, Kaname reacted, eyes turning red, windows behind Zero suddenly broke into millions of tiny pieces, everyone but Emi flinched. In face, Emi just giggled and glided into the house followed by Kaname and lastly, the driver carrying the Hio vampire.
Taking it as a cue and trying to prevent anything else from happening "Zero-kun, don't be rude!" said the man. "Cross Kaien, you were calling me?"
"Yes" Emi answered. "I'm Kuran Emi and this" I pointed at Kaname "is my brother Kuran Kagami. This gentleman over here would be one of the Kuran families's driver, and the person he is carrying would be a noble vampire from the Hio clan, I found her on the street. Nice to meet you! As you can see, she needs medical attention immediately so I hope you may be of help to her." Emi finished the introductions.
"Bring her here" said the man who identified himself as Cross Kaien. "I know, what will help her." the driver put her on the bed, where Cross-san told Emi.
While the ex-hunter worked, Emi decided to start with her questions, remembering that there is still a walk to go through with. "I heard about you and your want to invent blood for vampires to drink by inventing blood tablets" Emi started.
"Yes, you are right." he said, while being busy with treating the noble.
"I know that my aunty Juri and uncle Haruka are helping you with the tasting right now. And I know that the progress is already finished halfway. I am not here to stop you or prevent you from reaching your goal, but after hearing about your actions in inventing the blood tablets, I have formed a plan myself and thus, I came here to offer you a deal." Emi stated, for once serious in front of both newly met men.
"Uncle Haruka and aunty Juri are both adult vampires, their taste in blood are dulled because of their age and the fact that they have been feeding off each other for years now, asking them to help you with the tasting of the blood tablets would be like asking a elephant to cross a river. It would be useless to form a perfect blood tablet to make it seem like real blood. I know, why you suddenly decided to help us and I am grateful for it, so here is my deal, I will personally help you with perfecting the blood tablets, thus helping you with part of your goal and in return, I want you to help me with something. Before I say anything, let me say, that this would not be a simple matter, once started, it cannot be stopped half way, are you willing to listen to my part of the deal?" Emi said.
Kaien thought over everything that Emi said. It would be a huge help, and it could form a huge step into finishing with his goal, if he accept Emi's proposition. He decided that he would accept, if he can do what Emi wants from him. "Alright, I accept your proposition. What is it that you want?"
At this, the almost forgotten people surrounding the pair in conversation jumped in. Zero exclaimed, "What! Cross-san, how can you say yes to a... a... a... VAMPIRE! You don't even know what she wants yet."
Ignoring Zero's exclamation, Emi continued, my parents formed a school called Cross Academy. It's a famous school, that I am sure you have heard before. A school for humans. Now that my parents are dead and the chairman for that school wants to retire, I am planning on using a few of the old buildings and rebuild it into a place called the moon dorms, for vampires. There will be no drinking blood once entering the school and that is why the school will only be open to the vampires until the tablets are ready. My goal, is peace between humans and vampires. And I want you, Kaien-san, to become a chairman of this school. We, purebloods, would be attending too, so, you don't have to worry about no one attending or some vampire drinking the day class student's blood. So, what do you think? Are you willing to help me?" Emi finished her long rant.
Surprised, Cross Kaien could only nod his head. Smiling, Emi and Kaname stood to leave, the driver once again carrying the injured but healing noble vampire. "Well then, I'll take my leave. Thank you for your hospitality and goodbye, for now..." Emi greeted and left, followed again, by Kaname and the driver.
In the car, Kaname turned to Emi and asked, "So this was what you were planning from the start? Peace?" Emi just smiled, and answered, "No, of course not, peace... is just a cover up, opening that school for vampires, it is to gather all my pawns for the plans. Oh, don't look so surprised Kaname, you were planning to do the exact same thing if I did not do it first." Emi said with amusement in her voice. She knew that Kaname wasn't just sitting in the underground room doing nothing for those times. He was planning too. Planning to...
With Emi breaking his innocent exterior, Kaname smirked and kissed Emi's cheek, "Ah... You do know me more than anyone ever did, Emi-hime..."