Sorry for the chemistry jargon in the last chapter. I wanted to make myself sound clever. LOL.
Because chemistry rocks my socks off.
Seriously LOL.
By the way, this is a message to say that I am in fact leaving for holiday on Saturday, for ten days.
It will be a painful separation: me and my laptop, and there will be severe withdrawal symptoms.
But most of all, I will miss updating this story and reading your lovely reviews! You have no idea what every one of your reviews does to me! I feel like I can't stop smiling.
You're all the real driving-factor behind these super-fast updates. I really appreciate it guys.
But soon, there will be a break where THERE WILL BE NO STORY, AND I AM SO SORRY, BUT I WANT TO GO ON HOLIDAY TOO.
And as soon as I come back I will begin updating IMMEDIATELY. I promise you! So please be patient and wait for me! Don't leave me… (desperate much)
Don't expect chapters during that time, this is a notice to those people who have been faithfully reviewing every chapter (looks at Sonzai-chan, Hashi-chan, etc…) ILU 3
K, on with the story while I'm still here then…
Kain found a surprising number of people in the lab.
Two Vampires.
Usually it was only one Vampire who hung around the labs in his free time, and that Vampire was certainly not Kuran Kaname.
Aidou was still fiddling around with his chemistry shit, but Kaname was fast asleep on the bench across from Aidou, arms curled around a bunch of lab coats which he was sleeping on.
"Yo Hana," he said, strolling in carefully. He knew from experience that if he jumped him during an experiment and Aidou messed it up, there would be dire consequences.
Aidou glanced behind him, "Hey Kat. Aren't you watching Kiryuu?"
"He's on the phone with his Hunter master," Kain leant against a lab bench. "What's up with you?"
"Blood pill experiments," Aidou said, jerking his thumb towards the clutter on the counter. He didn't bother explaining further. Kain didn't care anyway, and he knew he'd get frustrated explaining things to Kain. Over the years he'd accepted that some parts of chemistry were just too complex for Kain to grasp. It wasn't that he was stupid. On the contrary, Kain was very smart, even though he looked more like a brainless jock. It was just that Kain's level of intellect compared to Aidou's was like comparing a chicken to a dolphin (a.k.a. Aidou was out of his league).
And that gap left Kain in the dark on many of the things Aidou babbled on about, since they were usually well above his head.
Aidou enjoyed teasing him mercilessly about this.
Until Kain would get angry and would whack Aidou's ass Aidou-chichi style.
"What's up with him?" Kain mock-whispered, pointing at the sleeping Kaname.
"He's just tired," Aidou said, a little smile playing on his lips. He began to clear away the equipment with a practised ease.
"So, did you find anything out with your experiment?" Kain asked, trying to read Aidou's chicken-scratch writing.
"Nope. Just that any natural herbs that we could ever use to substitute the chemicals we usually put in these pills tastes just as bad as the original recipe. Also, no matter how many times I try, they won't work for-"
Aidou stopped mid-sentence, snapping his mouth shut as if he was about to let out a secret.
Kain quirked his lip, "For?"
"Nothing," Aidou said quickly, "You wouldn't understand it."
Kain rolled his eyes at Aidou's "you wouldn't understand it" play, poking at a spare folded piece of fluted filter paper and twirling it around the table. It looked like a ballerina's tutu to him.
"How's it going with Kiryuu?" Aidou asked, washing his hands.
"I found out he can eat tons of shit without stopping, and is still skinny," Kain complained. Aidou rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. Not many knew that Kain's impressive physique had only been acquired through long workouts and a strictly controlled diet. "I can't believe some people are born like that."
"I can't believe some people think we're born like this," Aidou added, poking his own flat stomach. "Fucking gene inheritance. Our ancestors gave us a bunch of fat genes that no one will ever know about. Suuure, they helped us survive the Ice Age and whatnot, but now we have supermarkets and tons of money!" he whined.
Kain chortled, hushing down when Aidou flicked him on the forehead, looking pointedly at Kaname.
"So, apart from the eating," Aidou pressed.
"He's okay. He's actually not awful to get along with. Kind of annoying at first, but you get used to it. He's quite a lot like you, you know- ow, OUCH. Stop it Hana. Let go, let go."
Aidou finally released Kain's ear after a harsh tug.
"Don't compare me to that grump."
"I think he just needs some time to get used to us Vampires. Once he gets past all that, I think we'll actually be able to get along."
"Sure, we'll get along all buddy-buddy," Aidou snorted sarcastically, "Over my dead body. That asshole is blackmailing Kaname to give him his blood."
Kain's teasing grin smoothed out, "You can't be sure of that."
"No, but what other reason would Kaname have to feed him? He must have something over Kaname's head. Something big like… maybe he saved Kaname's life or something. We have to find out what it is and confront him about it-"
"I wouldn't try that if I were you."
Aidou and Kain almost jumped ten feet in the air as Kaname raised his head.
Kaname levelled both of them with warning glares.
"You will not poke around Zero and my business, Aidou. Kain," he added, "You will not give in to your cousin's foolishness. You will treat Zero with due respect, am I clear?"
They nodded.
"I appreciate your concern about my well-being, but I can assure you that nothing is being held above my head. And it's none of your business why I do what I do, alright?"
"Hai Kaname-sama."
Kaname nodded approvingly, checking his watch. He swore, hurriedly shucking the safety specks and lab coat and leaving the room with great speed.
Ruka hurried upstairs to go to their rooms to grab a few things as Rima continued towards Kaname's study to report back. Rima walked quickly, wanting to set off as soon as possible again. She ran down the corridors as quietly as she could, wishing Seiren was there beside her and well enough to show her how true sneaking was done in absolute silence. That girl was incredible, like a Vampire-ninja. Rima ran so fast that she barely saw the person walking by before she knocked into them, propelling the other person to crash into the adjacent wall.
"OW, ow what the-?"
She blinked, cocking her head to the side. It was Kiryuu-kun. His hand was patting around the ground for something. He peered up at her, groaning as he did.
"Why is it whenever I bump into one of you, I'm always the one ending up on the fucking floor?"
Rima pulled him up easily enough, apologising quietly.
"Have you seen Kaname-sama?"
"No," Zero said gruffly, "Not since last night anyway. Where the hell did that phone go?" he began patting around in the dark carpet, eventually finding it, "Shit. It hung up."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, he never hangs around much anyway."
It had taken seven calls before Yagari had bothered to pick up, and he hadn't been very happy when he had. He hadn't spoken much either. Rima nodded, not knowing much about Yagari, other than he had been a rather comforting face to see during the Level E ambush she had survived a few days ago.
"Where did you go?" Zero asked suddenly, noticing Rima's windswept hair and flushed cheeks from going outside.
"To the Vampire Council. Kaname sent me and Ruka to inform them about the war, but… they already knew."
Zero blinked, "How?"
Rima shifted uncertainly, "I need to speak to Kaname, please excuse me Kiryuu-kun," she began to walk again but Zero followed her.
"I need to speak to Kaname too," he insisted.
He saw the hesitant look she shot him with. Maybe she had picked up on the underlying anger in his tone, or was it the pissed expression on his face? Zero knew he was being rather obvious with his emotions, which showed how furious he really was. Usually it wasn't difficult at all to keep his emotions and facial expressions under control, but with Kaname… there was something deeper in his anger than just anger. There was disappointment too. There was his hurt pride. Zero wasn't one to make friends easily, what with his standoffish personality and short temper, his gruff attitude and scary aura that he maintained to keep a comfortable distance with society. He didn't have very many friends at all... so Kaname proposing friendship to him was a huge deal to him.
To know that Kaname had possibly only been trying to make friends with him because he had forged a Bond with him, binding Kaname's life to Zero, so that he could control his own life more easily… well, how could that not be taken in offence? It was disheartening to know that this all could be a scam for Kaname to keep a closer watch on Zero's safety, and by proxy, his own safety.
He had to talk with Kaname about it. He had to soothe his own insecurities regarding their relationship, to know how he should act towards him. If all Kaname wanted was for Zero to watch his own life carefully, he would agree to do so without complaint, because he knew he owed his life to Kaname for feeding him instead of letting him starve. If this was all Kaname wanted, then he would have to tell him that that was fine, but they couldn't be friends anymore.
What was the value in a fake friendship? He didn't need or want Kaname's pity.
Rima sighed, "I don't think that is a very good idea, Kiryuu-kun," she confessed.
"Toya-san, I really don't care, and I'll come with you either way," Maybe she'll be able to find him, Zero thought to himself. He hadn't been searching for Kaname in any way that day, but the Pureblood's absence wherever he was made Zero think Kaname had completely vanished for the day.
The petite girl bowed her head in submission.
No one would ever win against Zero's blunt stubbornness.
Takuma wondered where Kaname was. It was unlike him not to be prompt.
He waited outside Kaname's study, respecting his best friend's personal space too much to intrude without his permission. Kaname was a very private person.
Any time that Takuma had been inside his study, the walls had been artistically decorated with regularly spaced simplistic paintings. The bookshelves were strictly factual, but not pertaining to any particular hobbies or interests of Kaname's of which Takuma knew of. On the desk was only his laptop, usually a few stacks of paperwork, pens and a few paperweight decorations (a couple of them were clay rabbits, from Yuuki).
It was a totally generic study, with nothing that detailed it specifically to Kaname.
But Takuma had the feeling that it was purposefully bare. He was sure Kaname was hiding secrets right in plain sight that no one would ever uncover. He was a cunning man.
He was also a punctual man. Where was he?
Sighing, Takuma checked his watch again. What did he want to talk to him about anyway?
Takuma's mind flickered to Shiki.
He could guess what it was about.
"You shouldn't trust Shiki so much," he could imagine Kaname saying. It was like Kaname was accusing Shiki of being like Rido. But that was a lie. Blood doesn't make a person who they are. Shiki was completely different to either of his parents. He was Shiki. He was good.
Takuma's heart thudded as he thought of Shiki in the cell in the basement, all alone.
The poor boy was probably agonising over the fact that he had endangered everyone, even though it hadn't been his fault that Rido had cursed him. It had been beyond their control, especially as Rido had dragged Shiki away from Takuma in the bush, all that he could hear was Shiki screaming, the sickly snap of twigs and bone, the pungent smell of blood and flesh torn-
Takuma had to find the cure to the curse. He had to get rid of that scar.
What could heal a scar? It was no ordinary scar either. Takuma thought hard over his rather limited knowledge about curses and scars… his expertise lay more in knowledge about Vampire Law and management, since he was Head of the Council now.
He would have to research. Shiki couldn't. He didn't think that anyone other than him was really thinking about curing Shiki.
It was up to him.
Now, he asked himself again,
What could heal a scar?