Change of Heart - Chapter Ten
For Disclaimer see Chapter One
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A Walk Through The Park - Part Two
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After a while -- and after some more quite conversations between Marie and her friends, she and her friends joined us. They were ready to leave, so I led them back outside, using the same way I used before to lead them inside. Everything should have gone smoothly for nobody was supposed to be outside their rooms and especially not here in the school building right now, but we were seen, right then when we went downstairs.
It was Katashi, who stopped in whatever he was doing and stared at us. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be in his room at Sun Dorm. Well, he opened his mouth to say something but he never got it out because Zero interrupted before Katashi could do anything. I watched how he stepped in front the younger of the two Mori brothers and fixed him with his glare -- and Katashi seemed to be caught by it because he froze.
"You haven't seen anything Katashi Mori," Zero said in strange tone, which sent shivers down my spine. "Nor have you heard anything. We have never been here." I stared from him to Katashi -- and back; what was happening?
Katashi's eyes glazed over then and he nodded slowly.
"You're not supposed to be here, so go back to you room and sleep." Zero ordered him to do.
What? I stared at them, watching Katashi leaving like a sleepwalker, like in trance -- hypnosis? I guess I've stood there with my mouth wide open in surprise too. What had just happen?
"That?" He replied to my unspoken question and shrugged. "Just a little bit of hunter magic. Works because he's rather low rang in hunter terms."
"That was a close call." I replied, taking his explanation as it was. I know he wouldn't say anything more, but he had surprised me again. Well, I shouldn't be surprised, because I've always thought that there was more to Zero than what he let us see.
"The rest is just a walk through the park." He muttered finally and shook his shoulders, meaning we should continue -- and he was right of cause. Wasn't as if we had all night for this -- and the longer it took for us to get Rogue and her friends to leave the Academy's grounds the more probable it was that someone would notice us.
"I wish." I replied in doubtful tone. Well, Zero was right, it was really only a walk through the park -- but this was Cross Academy and it wasn't your ordinary park. Who knew what could happen? It was night after all and if Katashi didn't follow rules, what about his brother? They were always together, as far I knew.
"I agree and we cannot have this being repeated." The woman, Ororo Monroe said softly and then her eyes changed to an eerie white. I gasped in surprise but she only smiled in response. True, I knew they were mutants but I had no idea what their powers were; I still had no clue.
The air outside had turned into a thick fog when I finally opened the door for us. I gave her another look, which she replied with a shrug and a grin. Oh, so she could manipulate the weather, neat. Very handy this one, for I doubt anybody would see us in this fog. Yet, I was glad that Logan led the way because I'm pretty sure I would've ended up in the wrong place without help. Well, I guess Zero wouldn't have any problems with that either, but I was only a human girl, nothing special, really.
It should have taken us only a few minutes to reach the main gate, normally, but I wasn't sure where we were or how far we were, not in this fog. In the end, it took us far longer than a few minutes, because something happened, which stopped us from leaving the Academy's garden the way we wanted to do. I think there must have been a noise, because I felt suddenly like someone was watching me and glanced nervously at my surroundings. I glanced and noticed that he was quite tense. He looked wary too; so, he had probably felt it as well but I couldn't be sure cause he looked almost always that way, wary.
I still had no clue were we were and my sense of time had been off since the late afternoon. Well, all I could see was fog, but I got more nervous by any passing moment. I shivered, partly because of the wet heavy coldness of the fog around us but the larger part was because that uneasy feeling hadn't left me, but instead had become stronger. I still felt watched and with the silence surrounding us, it was really creepy.
It was Logan then, who motioned us to stop. I looked questioningly at him but he just shrugged and muttered something, which sounded dimly like we're not alone. Well, it caused me to look around again, but I could find nothing but fog, not even the usual sight of the Academy's park at night -- which didn't have to mean there was nothing out there.
I had just human night vision after all, but then I too, saw what he had heard; there was Zero's twin, appearing out of the fog like he was ghost. I shivered; I felt suddenly very cold, which had nothing to do with the night air around me.
"What?" Zero exclaimed and froze but took automatically a step in front of me, like shielding me from his evil twin. "Ichiru?!" His voice turned from sounding surprised into an angry growl and I could just stare at both of them. I stood far enough away from Zero to see both of them but not much more. I shivered again, seeing as they were looking so alike yet they were so different on the inside.
Zero was gruff on the outside but I knew that he cared, but Ichiru? There was nothing but hate and poison in his gaze. Zero's brother was really creeping me out, worse than any vampire I had ever seen so far.
"Did you miss me brother-heart?" Ichiru taunted, smirking slightly and took a step closer to Zero.
Zero did reply only with another growl and he would've attacked him, if Logan hadn't stopped him with touch of his hand, muttering something like 'he's not worth it' into his ears. After this, Logan gave Ichiru a curious glance and took a step closer to him, stepping between Zero and Ichiru.
"Strange, you look like his twin, but you don't smell like it." He said in a calm observing voice. It was clear it was a warning of sorts, a warning made to rile his opponent up.
"Of course, that's because we're different species now." Ichiru sneered with a poisonous glance at this twin brother, who had all hands full to keep himself from attacking. I could see how Zero struggled to keep himself in check, but his eyes, which were displaying traces of red, gave the extend of his anger away.
"Nah, that's not what I meant, bub."
"Who are you, and what are you calling me? Bub?" Ichiru's glance turned even colder, if that was even possible. It was clear that he felt affronted by Logan's words.
"Me?" Logan raised his right eyebrow and smiled broadly, displaying false innocence and too many teeth, but I noticed the tone of amusement in his voice. Logan was toying with Ichiru and was enjoying it -- greatly.
"Yeah, you."
"Leave." Zero spoke up again, his voice dripping with menace barely under control, that much that I took one of his hands in mine, trying to calm him down. It worked, barely; I could still feel him trembling ever so slightly. No, Logan was right, it wouldn't do any good for Zero to lose his cool -- that's what Ichiru wanted after all.
"Ah, I'm sorry but I can't." Ichiru smiled sweetly at his twin at this. Well, it reminded me of a snake's smile, poisoned honey.
"You're not that good; against us all." Zero replied with raised brows, motioning at us all, clearly not believing what he just heard.
"He's right," Logan agreed, "you're no match for us bub." Yeah, he did it again, calling him bub and making Ichiru even madder. It was pure tactic, distracting the enemy by making him mad -- and it seemed to work nicely, considering the way Ichiru reacted every time.
"Oh, I think you're right. Alone I'm no match for you -- but I'm not alone." Ichiru nodded and then made a strange motion -- and we were surrounded. There were lots of men; no they were vampires, I thought, because of the strange feeling I got from them. A feeling, which reminded me strangely of Level E's -- but that couldn't be? What sane man, vampire would use them like that? It was complete madness, as they couldn't be controlled.
I had been right they were vampires, because I could see gleaming red eyes now. Worse, I think Zero knew their leader after the way he knitted his brows and his glare turned far beyond his icy glare, he'd just given his twin; if his normal glare was ice, this was artic cold. "Colder even than the ice, Aido controlled." I thought.
"Ichio," Zero mumbled then, sounding like it hurt to even speak this name. Um, wasn't that Ichijo-senpai's uncle? Well, if he was, he certainly didn't look like family -- not much. I could hardly believe that this scary vampire was related to kind Ichijo-senpai, to Takuma-senpai then. No, the mad, no, evil gleam in those eyes made me cringe inside with dread. Had I just thought that Ichiru was scarier than any vampire -- well, I guess I had been proved wrong by this vampiric sociopath.
"That's Ichijo-sama to you." Ichiru corrected in an icy tone -- and then all hell broke loose, because they decided to use this moment of confusion to attack. I remember dimly that I got Artemis Rod out just in time to defend myself, but I knew I was hardly a match for those vampires and the only reason I had a chance at all was because of the staff in my hands.
Worse, Zero knew it too and gave me lots worried looks while he was locked in a sword fight with Ichiru when he shouldn't be distracted. Thankfully he seemed to do okay in his fight with Ichiru, but he kept shooting at random vampires, who got too close to me.
Well, I felt rather useless with all the people around me, even if I stood my ground against one or the other vampire too. I watched Ororo, eh, Storm as she told me before, rise into the sky. Wow! I didn't know she could fly. Yeah, that was really awesome -- but what came then was even more so, course the winds were picking up faster, turning into a storm, which took the last autumn leaves from the trees around us and drove the vampires away from us for a short moment until they got used to it.
So, you can image what a rush it was around me with thunder in the air and lighting striking at random vampires, and Logan, I guess he was moving as fast as any of the vampires and then there were daggers popping out of his knuckles and the two vampires to his sides were dust. It caused a short surprised look from the others, which told me that other than Logan, they hadn't known about vampires -- until now. It was a little hard to argue against hard facts; normal people simply didn't turn into dust besides we didn't have time to muse about it.
Well, I had my hands full defending Rogue and myself, knowing that we two were the most vulnerable of us and myself. Even her boyfriend, sort of, this Bobby was better, using ice to freeze the approaching vampires. I gasped, seeing that he was covered in ice, making it hard for the vampires to bite him.
Well, Rogue was better than I in this too, in fighting, seeing as she had only her bare hands to fight with. Her movements were graceful, skilled and much faster than I had expected them to be, martial arts; it had to be. Logan, I remembered, he had been the one, who had her taught this. Well, we were both slow compared to Logan or Kurt, who were both a lot faster than us. Well, Kurt, he was moving around with so much grace and agility that it was difficult keeping track on him.
It was hard to follow his movements, but there was more to it, because he disappeared suddenly with a loud bang from my sight. It was a rather dull sound. "Urgh," I muttered because of the smell of it. It smelled strongly like sulphur and then everything went black around me. "What happened? Where am I?" I thought confused before I could see again. "Wha, wait -- I had been over there, hadn't I?"
"What?" I said aloud, feeling dizzy for the second time during this day.
"Here you are Fräulein Yuki." I heard Kurt say a moment later.
"You brought me here, didn't you?" I murmured in wonder, realizing what he must have done.
"Yes, I did." He replied and pointed to the place where I had just been; there were several vampires fighting with Logan now. I sighed in relief; that had been a close call.
"Thanks. Um, Kurt." I almost whispered, but didn't get to say more because we were interrupted by a scream from the other side. I know, I turned around right in time to watch one of the vampires getting close to Rogue; close enough to bite her.
I could do nothing, only watch in horror, because Rogue then screamed, they both froze and then -- she fell, fell like a leaf would from a tree in autumn while that vampire simply remained unmoving; his eyes were glassy from touching her. Worse, I thought I had seen blood there, had he bitten Rogue? It happened too fast, and then, then the vampire was no more, because Logan screamed in rage and rushed to them, tearing him apart with his claws.
I think I'll never forget that feral look of his eyes then; he looked so very like the mad level Es I've seen and still -- it was different. Maybe it was, because he wasn't mad, but only deadly like any other predator. Yes, that's what he was, I realized and swallowed uneasily, just like Zero and the whole Night Class; it was there just beneath the surface, the predatory instincts. I looked up then, because it was too quiet; the fighting had stopped around us. I noticed there were only Ichijo-sama, Ichiru and one or two of Ichijo-sama's vampires left.
Well, anybody froze but Ichijo-sama -- he kept getting closer to Rogue, but kept his gaze on Logan, silently challenging him into doing anything. I shivered with dread. What was going to happen? That old vampire was really creepy, worse; I didn't know what he might be capable of doing. "Why wasn't Logan doing anything?" I wondered, seeing his still figure.
Then Ichijo-sama had reached her and knelt down, touching her -- nothing happened. The old vampire smiled instead, which gave me the chills. Was Rogue still alive? She had to be, I hoped it with all my heart, for her friends.
"You can do nothing for her, wolf." He said smoothly.
"She'll be fine, vampire." Logan spat in return, glaring at the old vampire in front of him but he was still immobile.
"Oh, I'm sure." He chuckled in return, making Logan's claws pop out again. "You think that helps against me?" His voice had turned to a devilish purr, smooth as silk and suddenly Logan looked in horror at the old vampire in front of him.
"What are you doing?" He managed out barely, but it was only a whisper. Logan didn't move, couldn't move I noticed. He tried but his legs wouldn't bulge. "Was this Ichijo-sama's doing?" I thought in horror, it felt like tunnel vision to me, as I stared at Rogue, Logan and Ichijo-sama. Everything else was blurred to me, seeming unimportant right now.
"No, but this certainly will." I heard a voice from behind, Storm; I hadn't seen her before because she had been hovering in the sky, just beyond my vision. Ger voice was as cold as the gush of winter wind, she sent towards the old vampire in the centre.
"I don't need your help, Ro." Logan grumbled, sounding annoyed yet seeming to approve of her action towards Ichijo-sama but I could see that he still couldn't move even he got back some command over his voice.
"I know." She smiled in return and the cold got worse; it got colder by any passing moment. It made me shiver and pull my jacked closer to me, but I wasn't even in the centre of the cold she'd called. I stood around ten metres or so away from them -- and I was very glad about it.
Then everything turned upside down, meaning all hell broke loose because Ichijo-sama was striking at Logan with something, invisible, strangling him. Well, his concentration was broken a moment later, when Storm sent lightning down at Ichijo-sama.
Only, it didn't last long, because he seemed to use some strange of shield to defend himself against the bolts of lightning, Storm kept throwing at him. I watched him change his focus from Logan to Storm, which was a mistake, because Logan used that moment to break from Ichijo-sama's hold on him.
Ichijo-sama noticed this and tried to get Logan back under control, but it wasn't much use against Logan's strength of will. Logan fought against Ichijo-sama's hold and he was gaining strength. Step by step he was getting back the control over his body and took a step forward, then another, slowly but steady.
He kept getting closer to him, slowly, but unstoppable, until he could finally strike him with his claws, wounding the old vampire enormously. It seemed strange to me that Ichijo-sama didn't react in time to move away, no, something wasn't right. It looked like he had done that on purpose, letting Logan getting this close to him.
Well, I got my answer a moment later, because Logan didn't got a second strike because Ichijo-sama moved surprisingly fast for being wounded like that -- but then I doubt Logan's claws held any special anti-vampire spells to prevent him from using his vampire healing powers. I think Logan tried to hit the old vampire a second time, but he did only scratch him, ruining his clothes a little more. I think I heard a metallic noise too, like something had broken.
I guess my mind was so focused on their fight, that I didn't noticed Ichiru sneaking up to me because I could barely defend myself against him then. Thankfully Zero was in time to push me out of his brother's way and then they were gone.
What happened? One moment it looked like Ichijo-sama was winning against Logan and then there had been that plink and they were gone.
"Yuki, are you okay?" Zero asked, still holding me tightly, like I could fall anytime again.
"Um, yes, I am. Thank you". I murmured.
"He has hurt you." He said, sounding anguished and brushed against my left cheek with a soft cloth -- a handkerchief? Since when does he own such things?
"Um, Zero it's nothing." I objected, feeling my cheek, which felt a little sore from my fall but at the same time tingly from his touch. "It's only dirt from when I've fallen down, Z-Zero."
He had pulled me into a hug. "Zero…." He held me tight for another moment before finally releasing me.
"Thank God." He murmured.
I looked around, seeing that we were truly alone, and sighed in relief. It looked like we had won win the fight for the time being, but some things, were yet different, for one, Rogue was still unconscious and Logan kept checking her life-signs, murmuring unintelligible things under his breath, which sounded suspiciously like curses; not, that I couldn't understand this under after all what happened.
"How is she?" I asked into a rather disturbing quiet.
"Alive." Logan grunted and took her into his arms. "She's breathing, but that's all what's normal."
"Logan?" Storm asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah?"
"You're touching her," She replied, "and nothing's happening."
"Yeah, you're right." He agreed then turned his attention back to me. "Her powers had returned, right?"
I just nodded. Well, I found this as confusing as they did, and I had much less knowledge about how mutant powers worked then them -- naturally.
"We should go…" I heard Storm again, but I lost my focus on it quickly because Zero suddenly slumped down. I rushed to him and saw with horror that there was blood on his shirt, lots of blood. There was a long gash on his chest, which didn't seem to heal. "What happened?" I whispered to him, knowing that he should normally heal a lot faster. Why hadn't I realized this sooner, when he had hugged me?
"Ichiru." He answered in a hoarse voice, barely noticeable. "Backstabber."
"You need blood," I whispered, realizing now that there could be only one reason why he wasn't healing properly. Ichiru's blade must have an anti-vampire charm on it and blood was now the only thing to help him heal this kind of wound. I remembered Yagari-sensei words well enough about those kinds of wounds -- and this looked really nasty.
"No!" He argued but was short cut by a snort from behind. I looked up to find that Logan kneeling beside us.
"Do me a favour bub," Logan replied in a slightly annoyed voice, thus interrupting us.
"Eh?" Zero stared at him, confused.
"Stop fighting it." He explained then. "You gotta embrace that beast to control it. Yeah, gotta embrace it bub."
"How do you know?" Zero replied with wide eyes, clearly surprised by these words. I guess he'd thought his secret was hidden to anyone else but us.
"Bah, I can smell it." Logan-sama snorted. "You're one of them." He explained, meaning vampires. He shrugged and paused then, like thinking about his next move. "And now, do me a favour and shut up."
"Wha?" Zero tried to object once again but was stopped by Logan's wrist, he held directly in front of his lips.
"Drink already. I don't have all day." What? Logan was offering him his blood. I hadn't expected this, remembering the way he had spoken about Night Class. I had expected him to despise them, just like the hunters did. Seemed I was wrong in this, too.
"Zero." I pleaded, knowing that he needed this, even if he seemed to think otherwise. Well, he continued fighting his instincts until Logan tricked him, nicking his wrist with one of his claws.
I sighed in relief, when he finally began to drink, thinking that we got the most complicated things behind us, well but poor Rogue. I sighed and hoped she would be okay somehow.
It was then that I noticed the looks, the others were giving us, Storm, Kurt and Bobby were staring at us. They were looking surprised but thankfully not too shocked, so I stood up and giving them another thoughtful look. "Yes, it's true." I said simply.
"He's really a …" Kurt replied but trailed out, grapping the cross around his neck. I guess he must be catholic or something -- and seemed to believe in vampires, too, considering his reaction right now.
"Vampire, yes." I chuckled and shook my head, seeing Kurt's alarmed expression. "I'm sorry but that won't work. You can forget almost all that crap from legend."
"Really?" He replied with wide unbelieving eyes, almost as if he had had other experience with vampires considering crosses, holy water and all that stuff.
"Yeah, really. Zero might be a vampire but he's certainly not undead and the sun doesn't burns him to crisp." I explained, seeing the mixed expression of Kurt, Storm and Bobby. They looked like they did accept what I had just said, but there was something strange in Storm's eyes, like a shadow of something, not so unlike like a clouded sky at November, a greyish blue.
Well, Bobby looked kind of flabbergasted. He looked like he had just seen a ghost, something, which shouldn't exist, as far he was concerned, but couldn't deny its existence at the same time. I think he wanted to say something but didn't after a look at the still unconscious Rogue. So, instead he just cradled her in his arms.
"Why's she not waking?" He muttered to himself but didn't sound like he really expected an answer from us. "She's breathing and there's a pulse too, but…"
"He's done something to her." Logan muttered in response, knitting his knuckles and took Rogue back into his arms, now that Zero had taken his fill of blood he needed to heel. Logan looked angry but I noted a look of helplessness in his eyes -- because he couldn't do anything for her. It must be disturbing to feel this way for a man like Logan, helpless. I watched him kneeing down beside Rogue and sniffing at her, why, I didn't know.
I looked back to Zero, who now looked a whole lot better to my eyes but I noted how embarrassed he was about this whole incident. Okay, he looked really cute that way too, being this flustered and it made me smile after all.
Things seemed to look much better all of a sudden, but it didn't last long, sadly.
A moment later I shivered because the air seemed to get menacing cold and looked at Storm, but her eyes were her normal colour, so she wasn't using her powers. Strange, that made it worse, cause that meant it wasn't anything physical but … and death aura? I jerked around towards the direction where it seemed to come from.
"What?" I muttered in surprise. I thought he had decided to return to Moon Dorm, then why was he here now? And so sudden too, like appearing out of nowhere, all right, maybe not out of nowhere, as I had been preoccupied with worrying about Zero and Rogue.
No, there he was, Kaname, standing directly in front of me, and he wasn't alone. I could out make Ichijo, Shiki, Aido, Kain and Seiren standing behind him. "Why?" I asked myself again, "and why now?" We could've used them a few moments ago, not that I hadn't faith in Rogue's friends, but if they had been earlier here we could've preventing her being bitten.
Well, I had been so surprised that I only recognized the dark look on his face, he felt cold. Kaname was glaring at no one else but Logan, who returned to talking quietly with Zero -- probably about the same issue as before.
There was something in Kaname's expression what I could only describe as -- jealousy?
"Oh, the blood," I thought, remembering how he would probably see this, that Logan had given Zero his blood so he could heal. Giving blood was something very intimate to vampires, at least that was the picture I've been getting about this issue.
"Stop," I intervened, again, internally sighing as this was the second time I faced him like this today. "Zero had been hurt and needed it to heal." I explained it to him, which worked thankfully fast. Just at the moment that I said that Zero had been hurt, his expression changed into one of worry instead, I noticed.
"How?" He asked in return, looking straight at Zero, seemingly checking him for any remaining wounds.
"Ichiru." Zero answered for me. "Stabbed me in the back when I pushed Yuki out of his way."
"He was here? You're all right Yuki?" Kaname replied with raised brows, but I could see his hands itching, like he wanted to pull Zero into a hug but thought better of it because he wasn't alone with him.
"Yes, and yes, Yuki is fine." Zero answered, still sounding a bit tired to me.
"No," I heard Ichijo murmuring in response, his tone sounding like a mixture of surprise, dread and déjà vu? It sounded like had feared this but had hoped it might not be true against all odds. Had he sensed his grandfather nearby? If so, it made me wonder even more, why they had arrived so late.
"What did he want here?" He managed to ask after a moment of painful silence.
"Nothing good it seems." Logan answered and pointed to still unconscious Rogue in his arms.
"What happened to her?" I heard Aido's anguished voice then, he had noticed the unconscious form of Rogue in Logan's arms.
He had walked up close to her, almost touched her but stopped right in time, seeing the dark look on Logan's face.
"She was bitten." Logan grumbled. "By one of you."
"Let me see," Kaname replied then paused for moment seeing Logan's dark look. "Please, it's important." I could barely understand what he was saying to Logan because his voice was so quiet. Kaname seemed to check Rogue somehow, the way he gave her a long serious look, then touched her briefly all the time the frown deepened by the any passing moment.
"Aido, what do you think of this?" He nodded towards Rogue.
"She's rejecting the change," Aido gasped after he took another look at Rogue but Kaname nodded only.
"What? You're sure?" Zero interjected, disbelief clearly in his voice. "It's impossible, isn't it?"
"Yes and no." Kaname replied, pointing towards Rogue. "Technically, this shouldn't been possible at all. Ichio is only a noble."
"So, you're not sure at all what this is, is it that?" Zero replied, making the other vampires around Kaname gasp with surprise for this bluntness, but the calmed down quickly after a look from Kaname.
"She cannot leave Cross Academy." Kaname concluded, speaking out what I feared after all I just had heard. It was logical in a way, since it was caused by a vampire so it could probably only cured by another vampire, but I trusted Kaname to know what to do to help Rogue.
"What??" Logan practically yelled at him, ignoring the death aura of the residual pureblood. Logan didn't seem like someone to fear anything I mused, after all I had seen of him in this short time. I could see that Bobby wanted to object too but he was quieted by Storm and Kurt at his side.
"Kaname-sama is right, we need to take her back and get her treated." Ichijo added, trying to support Kaname's argument to Rogue's friends, who were obvious to what was happening around them. Well, I wasn't sure myself, but I hoped they would see reason because Kaname's voice made me fear for poor Rogue -- what ever this was, what happened to her.
"Logan," I pleaded. "Please. They're right. We've got to take her back." I took another look at her pale face. "And fast." I added, seeing her look so vulnerable, so fragile.
So, thankfully Logan gruntingly agreed and we went back to the Academy, to Moon Dorms especially. We were much faster then before and I some trouble keeping up with them. Well, I didn't object it was necessary to get back fast.
We used one of the empty guest rooms to lie her down, to keep her warm for now. Zero and I went up there watching her sleep with Logan guarding her.
"Like she's his daughter," I thought while I watched him sitting there, beside her bed, eyes clouded and far away. He seemed to be frozen, so quiet and motionless he sat there.
"She'll be okay for now." Zero muttered next to me.
"What?"
"It takes days for this to complete, and -- Aido-senpai, said we still have time." He had paused before speaking out Aido's name, as if he wasn't really comfortable that we would need his help. "Really, I've never thought that he has a side like that." He meant Aido being educated in using spells and things like that, and not just being playboy Idol-senpai.
"Well, he cannot be all that shallow." I chuckled in response. "I guess there's more to everyone here."
"Maybe." Zero grumbled, like usual.
I gave him a smile. Yes, it felt almost like normal again -- beside all the trouble we're facing now.
We left Logan alone with Rogue to rejoin the others because we really needed to make plans, Rogue might be stable now -- which I wasn't completely sure about, but we really need to come up with a solution. The others, meaning Kaname, Ichijo, Aido, Kain and Kurt, Storm and Bobby were in the main hall, discussing.
"Why haven't we noticed him earlier?" I heard Kaname mutter to Ichijo but the vice-president seemed to be as clueless as Kaname.
"I don't know Kaname-sama." He replied. "It had been just a few minutes ago that I felt him here, Ichio." Ichijo seemed to find the old vampire as creepy as I because I could see him blanch every time his grandfather's name came up.
"Maybe it's because of this." Kain held a bracelet of sorts in his hand; no it was more a necklace. It looked like something some men wore around their necks but the pendant looked like nothing I had ever seen. It gleamed in an unholy red colour under the dim light here, a red circle with a single black rose at its bottom.
"It's a blood-charm!" Aido piped in. His expression showed a mix of both excitement and dread, strange. Then he scratched his head and frowned. "I didn't knew that Ichio was capable of such. He might be one of the oldest nobles I've ever known of but he's just that, a noble." He then took the pendant from his cousin hands, inspecting it closer.
"This incredible, maybe he had help -- no, it feels like him, but I don't understand it." He sounded frustrated now, and I couldn't help staring at him, like I had never seen him before. He sounded so different than usual, so serious. I hadn't known that Aido was interested in things like this, charms and such - magic.
"No, he shouldn't be able to do them either." Kaname agreed sounding now truly worried.
"What's it?" I asked, "A blood-charm?" It tasted strange on my lips, like something dreadful and dark, which it probable was.
"It's used to mask ones aura and smell." Kaname explained quietly. "Ones, like this have been outlawed for centuries."
"So, that's the reason you guys haven't been here earlier," I concluded, feeling relieved that it hadn't been by any other reason. "You haven't known that they were here."
"Exactly."
"Outlawed? So, that means if it can be linked back to Ichio, it would get him into trouble?" Zero asked with a hopeful look towards the pendant.
"Normally yes, but problem is, Ichio's holding a strong position in the Council." Kaname shook his head but his voice sounded like he wished the opposite were true.
"Politics." Zero muttered in return.
"Yes, politics." Kaname agreed with little smile but Zero looked flushed suddenly. Politics were a safe topic, weren't it, but Zero reacted as if Kaname would've said something -- obscene?
"So, what do we do than?" I asked instead, trying to change the topic to something helpful -- and talking about politics certainly wasn't helpful right now.
"We need to research this curse." That was Aido, answering my question.
"So, it's a curse?" I wondered.
"Yeah, nothing else makes sense, doesn't it, Kaname-sama?"
"Yes, of course. A curse, it makes sense." Kaname nodded and then paused for moment, his gaze travelling from Aido to Zero and he smiled a little crooked smile.
"You could need help."
"Hmm, yes." Aido agreed hesitatingly.
"Zero, you know quite a lot about hunter charms, don't you?"
"Yeah, what?" Zero replied then stared at the pureblood with wide eyes. "Oh, no." He grumbled and I could see that Aido wasn't too pleased about this development but he kept quite because of Kaname-sama.
"Please, for her?" I pleaded. "I'll come too, to help you with the paper work."
"Um, okay." He muttered. "But you don't know anything about the old language."
"Eh, but I can sort out paper and do other stuff, Zero." I objected. "I know you, you'll forget eating and sleep if working on something." I paused for effect. "And then you'll be useless."
"Oh, okay." He agreed finally but I could see the tint of red on his cheek. Oh, I loved to do this, to tease him like this.
"Ehem, I might be of help too." Kurt interjected. "I might not know much about these things but I do know research."
"All right, you can join them." Kaname agreed to let Kurt join Aido and Zero in their research -- and he seemed to be very pleased about it too.
"What about us?" Storm asked pointing at herself and Bobby. "I have some knowledge of history and old languages too and Bobby surely wants to help too."
"You can help Ichijo in looking up information on the pedant." Kaname replied calmly.
"Oh, that would be fine," Ichijo replied with a smile and motioned them to follow him. "Let's start right now." He was back to his bouncy happy self I noticed. Storm and Bobby were only staring at him, remaining on their placed. I had to fight a chuckle at the sight.
"You're coming?" Ichijo called again when he noticed that they weren't following him, he paused, giving them a closer look. "Any of you tired?" He asked quietly, his eyes full of compassion.
"No, I guess it's okay for now." Storm replied then glanced at Bobby at her side. "Bobby?"
"Oh, I'll …com…" Bobby answered but yawned in the middle of his sentence. "Oh, I guess this means, I am tired." He looked down.
"I'll show you your room then." Ichijo replied and left with them. "We start research tomorrow, it'll be fine."
Well, that meant it was only us three here, as Aido and Kain had left with Ichijo too.
"Yuki-chan, you must be quite tired too." It wasn't a question but a statement because it was quite obvious by now. I had yawned several times since we had arrived here and I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep myself up. I looked at my watch, noticing that it was far beyond our usual time when doing patrol duty.
"Kuran's right. Let's call it a day." Zero said and only managed barely not to yawn, too.
"Oh, all right. Zero, Kaname." I said then stopped. "What?" I glanced from Zero to Kaname and back, noticing the intense look they were giving each other.
"Oh, all right," I muttered and then noticing that Zero didn't seem to be aware of me, so I pushed him forward.
"I can go home alone." I added and ran out of the room and almost went into a run towards Sun Dorm. I couldn't help but wonder if he would notice that I'm gone and follow me -- or not.
At first I nothing happened, for a rather long while, then I heard familiar steps behind me.
"Yuki!"
"Yes?" I asked innocently.
"You've done that on purpose, haven't you?"
"Hmm, maybe." I muttered.
"Yuuki!!" He growled in return which made me smile; smile because I had my Zero back.
Thankfully we reached both our Dorms without any interruptions and I was finally able to go to bed, which felt like heaven after all what happened. Well, one should think I would've fallen asleep as soon as I was in bed but I couldn't sleep at first. Thoughts, again, I couldn't help wonder about Cross Academy and my life in general.
It had felt lately much like this was Twilight Zone and not Cross Academy, with people appearing and disappearing out of nowhere.
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Thanks for reading. Feel free to review.
Thanks to you, The Invisible Fan for your comment about the X-Men not leaving too soon,
because you gave me some ideas there. :D
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About Aido knowing about vampire curses and such, well, I couldn't help myself but I've borrowed the idea from Blackened-Wing. It sounds so reasonable. Well, someone has to know about such things and I chose Aido because of other things too. Wanted to have him to play important role for saving Rogue.
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Miarath