Disclaimer: I don't own anything though I have to create this other OC for the plot sake.
Chapter 10: Layout of the Mind
"Stay away, Ichiru!" a distant voice called callously. Underneath a tree, Shizuka Hio, now was a fragment of the past, sat watching the other child who shared Zero's genetic makeup and he was looking back with subtle fascination. The word "vampire" kept repeating in a distant, spoken in the child's voice, but there was no sight of the person who was speaking it. It wasn't hard to guess whom the voice belonged to even though the timbre was younger. The rationale was Zero wouldn't be able to see himself unless there was a reflection of his being and thus explained the absence of his physical body in the current image the pureblood was looking at. Even at young age, the hatred towards vampire was already rooting deep in his heart with the way he was trying to keep his brother away from Shizuka. He must have triggered the memory first because of his biting action itself.
Next preview was the massacre, the infamous tragic incident in the hunter's community. To be the one witnessing the killing as a child, it must have left an unhealed scar in Zero's past. This pain, Kaname was familiar with because it was the pain he saw in the hunter's eyes on every encounter they had. Then Yuuki came into the picture when Zero took resident at Cross' home. Yuuki's word empathizing Zero's loss, the words that she uttered to comfort Zero to show that she too shared the same hatred as Zero with Kaname as her only exception must have created acceptance reserved for the girl alone. Zero had no place for vampires at all in his heart which explained his treatment to Kaname. His hatred gorged so deep that Kaname could feel how strong the hatred was targeted at him when he was this close to the hunter. For all he knew, the hunter's memories must have been filled with direct hatred towards his kind that had pertained Zero's hostility in his present time.
Kaname witnessed the scene changes episode by episode. He now understood that Zero had never had fond memories that would change his perspective towards vampire. And Kaname who responded to Zero's hatred just as equally was also responsible of the buildup of the negative feeling. He had his own episodes where he would hurt the hunter, mentally and physically, thinking that Zero's hatred towards the vampires was unjustified, blaming it all on Zero's hunter background. Every movement Zero made on Yuuki, he viewed it as attempt to assault Yuuki. That he blamed on Zero's level E predicament. Now, he knew otherwise, a change in his attitude had already taken its own form. Kinder and kinder, that was how his treatment was going to be towards Zero.
Once you know the truth, you truly will behave in respect to that change, the pureblood mused.
While the memories created that feeling of sympathy, they were not the ones that the pureblood was after.
"Show me Snow Queen", he mumbled softly in the crook of Zero's neck. The hunter winced at the pain when Kaname withdrew his fangs to speak before piercing the skin back at the same spot, this time more carefully.
"You will never believe me, won't you?" Zero said quietly as a lone tear trailed down his cheek at the unwanted flash of images filling his head. He felt only resentment towards Kaname for being selfish in his approach to learn something.
Kaname pulled Zero's closer. He needed to probe deeper. He needed to find what he needed to know. To do this, he needed Zero to reveal the memory related to Snow Queen. "Come clean with me, Kiryuu-kun. I will not hurt you if you do".
"Didn't I tell you I know nothing", Zero's clutched the pureblood's shirt. "Didn't I tell you?" he repeated angrily with a louder volume. His mind abruptly became fuzzy which startled Zero and the room's temperature dropped. In Zero's viewpoint, the room was the one that grew cold but in Kaname's viewpoint, the hunter was the one losing his body heat. Counting this time, it would be the fourth occurrences. Even with the changes and his realization that he could not let Zero bear with the cold, he didn't halt in his search through Zero's memories.
"Why is the room cold?" for the first time, Zero had asked the question when he was conscious. Kaname ceased to answer; he had a hunch that he was getting closer to what he was looking for when this odd occurrence happened. In response to Zero's strange condition, the collection of the memories had also become rather strange. The memories afterwards were fogged as if something was trying to keep him away from coming closer. Memories cannot be covered with fog of this intensity; no one can intentionally create a fog to keep his memories away. Sure there were cases where someone would hide what they remembered deep in his mind but he would still be able to access easily. He wouldn't be surprised if this fog was a resultant from a spell.
Kaname stumbled in the memory lane when he heard a traumatic scream in the distant. The pureblood had almost let go of his bite when the terrified scream amplified loudly into his own mind. The screams were coming from every direction and it was difficult for him to pinpoint where the image was hidden exactly. He sunk his teeth a little deeper and drew a bit of blood to help him focus more on his search. Underneath him, Zero was trembling due to both cold and fear and if Kaname had looked into Zero's eyes, he would notice how the hunter's iris had dilated and how his lips wouldn't stop quivering.
The fog started to become less dense after a while and Kaname was extremely shocked at what he discovered. The voice and the sound of a body falling became clearer and Kaname saw a face that resembled Zero staring back at him, whom he could only assume was the boy he had seen earlier; Zero's previously deceased brother. The other man's face was disfigured and by the way he was moving and licking his lips, Kaname knew he had brought to surface a memory one would wish to forget. He could hear Zero's voice begging the other man to stop his carnal lust in the memory. And the reply the hunter received in his muddled and fragile state of mind was a disturbing declaration of "I love you, nii-san. I want to conquer you. Your soul is mine and your life belongs to me, your Snow Queen. Knowing this, you must surrender because I will not lose this time". The staging was vivid after the fog finally disappeared and Kaname was shaken by Zero's pushing on his chest while heaving in heavy pants.
"Get off me, you bastard", Zero struggled to push Kaname off him but enduring the coldness had made his body rather weak and sluggish. Kaname grabbed the hunter's arms and locked them to stop the struggling. He had to go through this or otherwise, he would never be able to find out about the spell.
When the defilement scene ended, another scene replaced and it was a collection of involuntary events of Zero gazing at the painting "Ice Princess" in the boy's dormitory. Most of the time, it was just the hunter admiring the painting but the desperate longing seeped through every inch of Zero's being that his head was only filled with his 'Snow Queen'. Kaname couldn't ignore Zero's longing he had momentarily felt as he extracted the memory. On an occasion, the teenager had even used the painting as his jerking off material in the dead of the night but Kaname had another hunch that Zero didn't remember any of it. He figured that what he was seeing now was the memory of things that happened out of Zero's bodily control. Otherwise, it wouldn't be covered by fog. The pureblood unlatched his fangs once he thought he shouldn't carry on anymore and touched Zero's cheek apologetically. Releasing Zero's arms, he studied the blank face Zero had put on.
"I am sorry", he said quietly but his words didn't get through Zero who looked in the distant, clutching tightly to Kaname's coat when his hands found their way there. The pureblood could finally understand the situation better and even if he hadn't seen everything, he could retract his accusations towards the hunter. The one that had been victimized by the spell was the hunter. The one that cast it was Ichiru. Ichiru, previously thought as dead, was still among the living. He would have to analyze these facts and the prophecy once he was done dealing with the hunter.
"Kiryuu-kun?" he called for the hunter but Zero didn't response. He was motionless like a manikin, causing unease to surface on the pureblood's face. "I'm cold and lonely", the hunter said in a low voice after a long silence, "I want to go back to my only home".
At first, Kaname thought the hunter was referencing to the mansion but he was proven wrong when Zero suddenly stood up and gazed outside of the window of the dining hall only to say, "It's a far away journey to the snow castle. I want to see my queen soon but will I ever?" while spacing out in the bright morning.
"I feel cold here", the hunter clutched his shirt where his heart was. "My queen is out there. I have to go back. My body will be numb by this coldness if I don't find my way to her soon. The snowflakes, oh, they are so beautiful. I want to see my queen soon". He trembled and hugged himself to find warmth.
The young hunter found it impossible to stand upright anymore that he collapsed on his knee, letting out a longing moan. His cry was loud and desperate as if he was lost in a melancholic notion. He lost his consciousness soon after his body gave out from the extremely low temperature.
"Hanabusa", Kaname had not forgotten about the noble who was watching the whole production silently. "Whatever you saw just now, please keep it to yourself".
"Um, Kaname-sama, am I allowed asking Kiryuu about this later? I am rather curious about his condition actually".
Kaname gave him a pointed glare. "Okay, maybe not", the noble stood up and decided to nurse Zero instead. Due to the leash spell, he could not be separated from the hunter or he would risk pain on his thumb. He touched the hunter's hand. The cold skin sent a goose bump running down his spine that he pulled away quickly.
"He's still rather cold", said Aidou, relinquishing himself from his coat to put over the hunter.
"Carry him to my bedroom", was what the pureblood ordered his underling to do. The blond noble obeyed and carried the hunter over his shoulder. He might be small but he had the strength of an ox and still he had to admit that Zero was quite heavy. He tried to erase what he saw from his mind. He didn't know what to feel when he saw two enemies having close contact that was almost intimate. Not that he could ever spout his confusion to Kaname's face or he would be asking for a slap from Kaname for being nosy. He just had to swallow the information and just forget. Simple as that.
He was high but slowly, he was regaining the ambience of his surroundings. He was a chuckling mess the whole time he was transported to a new location by the two vampires and it was so embarrassing that Kaito wanted to erase the memory forever. Feeling jittery while bearing a headache as his mind cleared, Kaito tried to focus his sight on the object in front of him. No, it wasn't an object he was staring at. A strong alarming urge to run away hit the Takamiya and coupled with his destructive headache had caused the hunter to hurl on his side.
"Welcome back to earth, Hunter-san", the being in front of him spoke with mirth.
"I don't need that kind of greeting", Kaito wavered in his attempt to sit up.
"Well, I am being rather nice considering that you have just soil my precious tile", replied the other.
"Who gives a damn?" the hunter mumbled under his breath grumpily. Whoever this being was, Kaito wanted to get away from him. He heard clanking sound and around his feet, he saw the source of the noise: an iron cuff around his left ankle.
"What the fuck?" he cursed angrily, tugging at the chain with his hand.
"Oh, I don't like it when my property has such a foul mouth. We have a lot to learn, don't we?"
"Pr- What are you jabbering about?" Kaito looked up in confusion. He took a good look at the being in front of him. The perfect porcelain face of a haughty aristocrat with well kempt short black hair entered his vision. Black eyes with epicanthic folds stared back at him sharply and from the intense prickly feeling he was having, Kaito was sure he was looking at another pureblood vampire. Previously, the same sensation was experienced when Kaname was within his vicinity. To think that the purebloods in the academy were not the only ones in the world made him believed that with wrong provocation, the world will end in the hands of the bloodsuckers.
"Who are you?" the hunter spoke in a venomous tone. The pureblood closed his eyes, rubbing his two fingers together as he sat calmly in his chair.
"I am Reo Hanadagi. Nice to meet you", Reo said, smirking at the light chestnut haired hunter. All the while, Kaito could only think of one thing. He searched for his gun but he would be stupid to think that Reo hadn't discarded it away. Kaito scooted further into the shadow since the chain was long enough for him to be out of the pureblood's reach. Reo might seem friendly but the air surrounding him was in fact contradicting his tone and mannerism.
"Why are you hiding in the corner, hunter-san? Shouldn't you be giving a proper introduction? I have told you my name. It is only fair that you share yours too".
"Not until I have you killed", Kaito responded threateningly.
"What a feisty puppy you are, hunter-san. I only want to be nice to you. I like to play fair so you can ask me questions while I ask mine. Of course, I'd like to do so while knowing your name". Reo curled his thumb and tucked it underneath his index finger, making a suggestive motion by pulling and pushing the thumb forward and backward.
"You have one sick hobby, you psycho".
"Oh, that I am aware of. Of course, I like to indulge myself with blood too. Hunter's blood taste heavenly".
The pureblood licked his lips and stared eagerly at the hunter hiding in the shadow. He liked Kaito's face very much and he intended to keep the hunter around a little longer than the other hunters he had killed. With Kaito's aggressive attitude, he would surely have a lot of entertaining time extorting information about the Kuran.
"How many of them have you killed?" Kaito asked dangerously, referring to the hunters the pureblood had killed.
"Uncountable! It's impressive actually. I thought your headquarters would keep tab on their employee's deaths. But I guess the soldiers meant so little to the rook, queen and king".
"We are not just mere soldiers. We are serving for the life of others".
"Well, I am meddling to save the monarch family's ending. I hardly think common people have any values other than mere livestock for us. More prominently, I was rudely awakened from my deep slumber because a strong killing intent on my life was whispering from afar. The pureblood prince seems to yearn for my head and to think that he desires to kill another monarch of the old clan. Tch. Tch".
"Then, it is for the better, isn't it?" For the first time, Kaito felt the need to support Kaname's goal.
"Hm, if violent is a solution, even on another pureblood, my action to enjoy the life I am currently given is vindicated. Really, this hunter breed is very new to me since I have been in hibernation for so long. To think that their blood will be rather different is just… unthinkable. The last hunter they had sent to trail me was an old coot. I lost interest from looking at the wise face so I ended his misery quickly. At least they are sending to me a better looking prey this time", Reo's smirk tightened in amusement. He walked steadily in a proud posture towards Kaito who was ready to choke the pureblood.
"Ah, you don't have to be so tensed. We'll have some fun while I do the interrogation".
TBC...