Bloody Kiss Chapter Twelve
The sun had already set and the family of vampires, and of course the mortal, had safely arrived at home. Mrs. Hyuuga told the three vampire teens and the little one to their rooms, since she was going to tend to Mikan's wounds.
"Ow!!" Mrs. Hyuuga was holding a wet tissue to Mikan's fac0,e getting the dirt and blood off. She had put band aids on Mikan's limbs.
"I'm sorry, Mikan. You are going to have to sit still. I didn't ever need any medicine or band-aids since my children never get sick or come home with a scratch." Mrs. Hyuuga chuckled. Mikan scowled.
"I'm only human." Mikan muttered under her breath. Mrs. Hyuuga ignored her comment.
"Well I guess this is what you get for eavesdropping on my son and I..." (look at chapter 9) Mrs. Hyuuga closed her first aid kit.
"You knew I was there?" Mikan asked curiously.
"After being alive for...ooh, it seems I've lost count for how many centuries... Well anyway, those years paid off now. I can sense things that aren't in my sight. Natsume and the other two are only a few centuries old and he really couldn't care less about who is around him, but of course there are a few exceptions." She paused for a moment and then continued, "So I don't think he really noticed. We never get old. We always have a young appearance. Isn't that just wonderful?!" Mrs. Hyuuga sighed and touched cheeks which had no wrinkles. It was true that Mrs. Hyuuga didn't look any older than twenty seven.
"So why didn't you decide to escape at night?" Mrs. Hyuuga gave her an innocent smile. It took a while for Mikan to answer.
"Ummm... Well, Natsume said that vampires never slept." Mikan finally answered. The mother stared at her for a moment and started to laugh softly.
"He said that?" She whispered and Mikan nodded in reply.
"So it's not true? You do sleep?"
"He was lying. I can't believe he said that." Mrs. Hyuuga kept on laughing. Mikan didn't see why she was laughing so much and gave a nervous laugh.
"We can stay awake forever if we wanted to though but we prefer not to."
"I see. Can I ask you something, Mrs. Hyuuga?" Mikan asked quietly.
"Sure honey. I've got loads of time." Mrs. Hyuuga closed her first aid kit and lay on the ground. Mikan looked at the ground for a moment. She looked up and her eyes were wandering around the room until they finally landed onto the vampire.
"Who was that man?"
"Oh, I don't know."
"Please, Mrs. Hyuuga, I know that you're lying. Tell me the truth. I'm begging you." Mikan looked at her with pleading eyes. This time Mrs. Hyuuga's eyes wandered. She shifted her hair behind her ear.
"Oh, Mikan. I don't know If I can tell you. It's up to Natsume if I can tell you."
"Just tell her. She has a right to know." A voice interrupted their conversation.
"Hotaru? What are you doing here?" Mikan asked.
"I live here, idiot." Hotaru gracefully walked down the stairs and placed herself on the couch next Mrs. Hyuuga.
"But Hotaru, what about Natsume? I think he should have a say in this too." Mrs. Hyuuga looked at Hotaru with a concerned look. She gave her the exact opposite look.
"So you want to know about Takeshi?" Hotaru ignored Mrs. Hyuuga and looked at Mikan, who glanced at the mother before looking back to Hotaru.
"I would like to but if it's going to cause anymore trouble then you don't have to tell me." Mikan looked at her with a sincere face.
"Do you want to know or not?" Hotaru snapped.
"Yes." Mikan squeaked.
"Ok then. Let me tell you something first though: Ruka and I aren't really her children." Hotaru pointed at Mrs. Hyuuga. "But Natsume and Aoi are. We're just living with them because we're really close friends."
Hotaru paused and then continued. "Natsume was taken away from us a few centuries ago. For human years you could say that he was about six years old. Aoi was practically still a baby. It seems that Takeshi, the man from before, was also taken away from his family before Natsume was abducted. They were to work under a very powerful vampire and he still does exist. His name is Persona. He wears a white mask and lives in the dark so not many know what he really looks like. Takeshi and Natsume weren't the only ones taken away. All the vampires taken away were to work under him. We're not really sure what kind of work they made them do, but it seems that there were many tasks. For example, maybe some would have built a new lair for him or bring humans to him so he could feed on them. He didn't give them their needs to live on, which is blood, so many of the vampires dried out. He only fed few. Natsume doesn't talk about it much about it but it seems that Natsume had a different task. We think that Persona made him an assassin. Takeshi did the same work. Natsume and Takeshi were partners. They eventually became friends. They tried to help each other survive. But Takeshi became overwhelmed by the power that he had. Takeshi felt stronger and became willing to his work. He became loyal towards Persona..." Hotaru stopped and glanced at Mikan who was frozen. Mrs. Hyuuga couldn't bear listening and left the room and rushed into the kitchen.
"We tried to track them down. Natsume and Aoi's father was alive then. We searched nonstop. We went to different countries and didn't find them, but when we finally had to take a break Natsume's father went hunting to get us food. There were no humans nearby, so he brought us deer. We searched for decades but didn't find Persona's lair. Father was desperate to find him and we came across an island so small that it's not on a map. There was a very small stone building built on the island. Just by looking at it you wouldn't think that it would be Persona's lair! But it seems that the building is mostly underground and is really big. There were no guards and security cameras weren't invented yet but we knew that we would be noticed right away if we entered the castle. We all wanted to go in, but Father said that he'll go and we should hide. He told us that he would find us. We protested, but he started begging us to hide. He was afraid that Ruka, Aoi and I would be taken away too if we went. Ruka and I looked like we were ten years old. I think Aoi would probably be four years old in human years. So we hid underwater since we could hold our breathe for hours. We waited and waited. All of a sudden, everything shook, but it stopped right away. There were only a few shudders, but we all new that it was because of the Persona's castle. We all became worried and thought that we should go in to the castle too. We pulled ourselves out of the water and waited. Aoi was scared and started crying. The next thing we saw... Natsume came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, he was slowly walking towards us, face down with his eyes closed. His clothes were ripped and blood was covering his body, dripping off of him. When he noticed his eyes, they were the color of blood and water was flowing out of his eyes. His face had no expression. He just walked up to us stood there. He finally lifted his head. He looked like a ten year old just like me, but he didn't act like one...well, none of us actually did. He lifted a bloody hand to his mother's face. She took his hand into her's and to her face. She kneeled down in front of him and took him into her arms. Natsume looked at us and saw us all crying and tried to smile. Ruka didn't know what to do and patted his back. Aoi to our surprise knew that he was her brother and called him "Nii-chan". He smiled and ruffled her hair. I pinched his face." Mikan frowned but Hotaru ignored her and continued.
"We noticed that it was not only his blood covering his body. Stranger's blood covered him too but there was one that we recognized, Father's blood. All Natsume would tell us is he killed with his partner, Takeshi, under Persona's command. We weren't surprised, since Father had royal blood running through his veins. Father had found Natsume in his cell... He grabbed Natsume into his arms and started running back the way that he came from, but then came across Persona, who was giving Takeshi the order to kill Father. Father put Natsume onto the ground and told him to run. Father was already weak since he was worn out and didn't feed well. He knew that he wouldn't win the fight. Natsume didn't run, he tried to fight with Father. Father yelled at him and told him to go, but right at that moment Natsume saw Takeshi's hand go through his father's body. His hand shot through where his heart was. Natsume saw his heart fall to the ground. Father was barely still alive. Natsume rushed to his father's body and tried to help him to stand up, and even went to shoving his heart back into his body but that wouldn't help. But father kept still on the ground, facing Natsume and told him to just run. He said that he'd be fine and said thank you for being such a great son. Natsume stood up and looked at Persona and Takeshi. Persona patted Takeshi on the head. Natsume was enraged and was about to attack Persona, but he felt Father's hand on his ankle. Natsume looked at father, who was staring into space. Natsume knew he was already gone and decided to follow his father's last words and started to run for the main door. All the guards tried to capture but Natsume's anger became part of his strength and managed to escape after killing some of them. That is how Natsume escaped. We won and lost at the same time. What we didn't understand is why Persona let Natsume escape..."
Hotaru finished her story and was staring out the window with an expressionless face, but it was obvious that she thought of Natsume's father as her own and was holding back her tears. Mikan was silently crying and was looking out the window on the other side of the room.
There was silence.
A few seconds later Mrs. Hyuuga walked in with a tray and two cups of tea. She was smiling.
"I brought some tea." She said softly. Mikan and Hotaru looked at her and smiled.
"Thank you." They both said at the same time.
"No problem." Mrs. Hyuuga placed the two tea cups on to the table.
"It's already eleven o'clock. Why don't you both just bring your tea up stairs and rest?" Mikan nodded but started speaking.
"Can ask you a question?" Hotaru and Mrs. Hyuuga nodded.
"What do vampires eat and how long can they last without blood?"
"Not many vampires eat human food but we like to eat it. Drinking blood is our main diet but we only have it once in a while. We usually go to the nearest farm and steal a few cattle..." Mrs. Hyuuga giggled.
"We can last, like, a decade without blood. But it's very rare for us to dry out." Hotaru answered Mikan's second question.
"Oh. Well, I think I will take Mrs. Hyuuga's advice and go to bed." Mikan stood up with her tea in her hands.
"Good night, dear." Mrs. Hyuuga hugged Mikan.
"It seems that Natsume has overheard our conversation, so you might want to go up to see him."
"Hotaru! I don't think that's a good idea." Mrs. Hyuuga looked at Hotaru.
"They're going to have to talk about sometime anyway, and I think now is the best time." Hotaru said and walked up the stairs.
"Mikan, you know you don't have to go now. You're probably tired."
"No, I'm fine. I think Hotaru is right. It's best to go talk to him now." Mikan gave Mrs. Hyuuga a small smile and followed Hotaru up the stairs.
Mikan walked up to Natsume's closed door and sighed. She raised her hand to knock but the door opened before she could. Natsume stood in front of Mikan. He was holding the door open with one hand and ran his other hand through his ruffled hair. He still had his school uniform on. Mikan quickly retreated her hand and looked up at him. He looked down at her with a frown and walked back into his room and plopped himself onto his bed. He leaned on one hand and motioned for Mikan to come in. Mikan slowly walked in and put her tea on his shelf. The door quietly closed behind her, but she didn't notice.
"If you're going stand all the way over there and say 'Thank you for saving me and I'm sorry for being so nosy about your past,' then you can walk right out. I don't need your apology." Natsume grumbled. Mikan looked confused.
"You're partially right. I actually wanted to say 'Thank you for saving me and thank you for letting me know about your past.'" Mikan breathed out and smiled at herself. This time, Natsume looked confused. He raised one eyebrow at her and ran his hand through his hair again. He shook his head and motioned for her to come closer again. Mikan took a few steps forward and stopped when she was still three meters away from him. He kept motioning for her to come closer. Mikan had a nervous look again and took another three steps. Natsume had an annoyed expression and finally leaned forward and took her wrist and pulled her forward so she was standing in front of him. Mikan looked down at him and gulped, but Natsume ignored her expression and stared up at her. He held onto her wrist so she couldn't take a few steps back.
"Now, why are you saying thank you for letting me know about your past?" Natsume said in a low, curious tone.
"Be-because you knew that we were talking about what happened way back then and you could have gotten angry and broke our conversation" Mikan whispered. Natsume frowned and sighed.
"So I'm the big bad wolf now..." Natsume said so quietly that Mikan couldn't understand what he said. She tilted her head to one side.
"You're the bing bam woof?" Mikan asked confused. Natsume's frown disappeared and he smirked at what Mikan said.
"I wouldn't get angry and ruin your conversation. I also think that you have the right to know about Takeshi." Natsume said softly and reached up to touch her face.
"I'm sorry." Mikan looked down to the floor. Natsume held her chin with his hand.
"I thought you were thankful." The corner of his mouth rose. He slowly stood up, letting go of her wrist and laid his hand on her back.
"Yes, I am thankful, but I guess I am nosy. But..." Natsume pulled up her chin so she facing him.
"But what?" Natsume whispered. He leaned in towards her, making the distance between their faces less. Mikan finally look up at his face.
"Natsume! Do you have a fever? You're hands are really warm!" She raised a hand to his forehead, but he quickly let go of her and grabbed her wrist. Natsume noticed what he was doing and quickly put his hands in his pockets.
"Ugh, I'm just tired. It's best if you go to bed. We have school tomorrow." Natsume lied and pointed towards the door. Mikan nodded, oblivious at what Natsume was about to do to her.
"Will you be okay?" Mikan asked taking her cup of tea. Natsume nodded.
"Ok. Good night." Mikan smiled and opened the door and walked out. She walked to staircase and looked up.
"Sakura-san?" A gentle voice called out to her. Mikan quickly turned around and saw Ruka standing in front of her.
"Ah, Ruka. Where's Hotaru?" Mikan asked since Hotaru was always next to Ruka.
"Hotaru is already sleeping. I just wanted to know if you're still friends with Natsume." Ruka asked, ashamed that his curiosity had caused him to be nosy.
"Friends? Oh, yeah. I guess we're friends." It seemed as if Mikan was talking to herself.
"Oh, good. I just want you to know that Natsume may seem really mean, but he is a really good person." Ruka smiled radiantly at her.
"Yes. Thank you. I'll keep that in mind." Mikan giggled.
"Well then, good night Sakura-san."
"Can you please just call me Mikan?" She pouted.
"Of course, Mikan." He smiled innocently.
"Good night." Mikan sprinted up the stairs, but tripped on the last step. She heard Ruka laugh and rushed to her room. She quietly closed the door behind her and sighed. She changed into her white pajamas and went to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and washed her face. She went back into her room and lay down in her bed. She thought about the story that Hotaru had told her.
"Natsume..." Mikan whispered. With that, Mikan drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Nyaha! I finished another chapter! I didn't have much time so I spent one week writing this chapter, and it's pretty long! I think it's longer than the other chapter!! Yay! Celebrate good times c'mon!! Na na nana! (Turns music off) Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!
-SpaiseFreaque
