Thanks for your support everyone, I love hearing from you! Please enjoy the new chapter.
Mayb: I realize that in the manga, Seiren is a Level D, but it was never mentioned in the anime so I assumed that she was another noble. Since the rest of the Night Class never treat her any different from them, the way you would expect if she was a Level D, and Seiren has impressive skills in memory erasing and other spells, I think it makes more sense for her to be a noble, or at least a Level C.
Anyone who knows Zero realizes that the rumors of him being promiscuous and having many lovers are completely false. Kaname and Yuuki don't buy them for a second. But Zero is also a fifty plus year old man. Would your basic assumption be that a man over fifty is a virgin? No, most people would assume the opposite, unless they had evidence. And as Kaname's POV shows, vampire culture also doesn't prize virginity and encourages casual sex for pleasure. So they have even more reason to assume the opposite.
You and I can see Zero's state of mind from the inside. We know Zero's circumstances better than anyone. But Zero hides all that from the people in his life. He doesn't talk much, and certainly not about himself. Yagari or Kaito may have figured out he's never had sex, because they've known him the longest, but Zero's tried to hide his pain and unhealthy habits from them too, so they may not know how deep the problem goes. But Hunters and vampires don't communicate, so the two sides aren't sharing notes. That information isn't being passed on. If Kaname noticed Zero acting virginal, he could easily believe it's because of Zero's scary changes as an omega, and inexperience in the 'woman's role'.
Ester Shadow: The rumors that Zero was a whore were mostly prejudice and lack of communication. Among the vampires, Zero's status as a Level D earns him a lot of scorn, plus he's one of their best Hunters. So they already don't like him, and rumors that Zero slept with a bunch of Hunters plays into their ideas of what someone like him should be. So the rumor appeals to them, and it gets believed and spread. And the Hunters and the vampires don't exchange information, so it's not like the Hunters are telling them they're wrong. Conversely, among the Hunters the rumors aren't strong at all, because quite a few of them have worked with Zero in the past and know he's not that kind of guy. But Hunters aren't really familiar with omegas, and their ideas about omegas are pretty much 'will sleep with anyone' so there's a bit of a question if Zero's changed now.
Please reread the story warnings for this chapter; there's a brief moment that deserves a mention.
XXV. Keep an Eye on the Prize
Within the hour, Zero and the Kurans are on a plane to Europe.
Kuran's tastes being what they are, their ride is a private plane owned by the Kuran family, all gleaming interiors and real leather upholstery. No waiting in line or rows of squashed commercial seating for a pureblood. Kuran's plane has a comfortable sitting area inside, like someone transplanted one of Rosehill's drawing rooms into the belly of a plane. Decadent as it is, Zero's grudgingly appreciates the ability to lay flat as he naps, trying to avert jet lag (Purebloods, Kuran informs him, don't suffer bodily disruption from changing time zones. Damn leeches).
The Kurans and Zero aren't the only ones on the plane. Souen and Kain met them at the airport, clutching three suitcases - "One for Aido", Souen insisted. Zero had gotten the impression they'd hang onto the outside of the plane by their fingernails if Kuran refused them passage. Luckily for the nobles, Kuran didn't even blink, betraying his complete lack of surprise as he casually informed them he'd already arranged accommodations for six.
Despite Kuran's usual cool, unruffled air, Zero can detect a hint of concern for his subordinate underlying the mask. The pureblood really is concerned for Aido, one of the few long-time, deeply trusted members of his inner circle. If Zero dared, he might say Kuran is even worried. Yuuki is openly anxious; Aido is her friend and tutor, and she's known him for nearly forty years by now.
Zero decides he can't be the only one sitting around doing nothing, and calls a few Hunter acquaintances he knows from the operation targeting Shirabuki's feeder trafficking ring, asking them to see if anybody's heard anything in the last day.
The plane, it turns out, is for the rest of them, not Kuran. Kuran discusses the current situation and search strategies with Yuuki, the nobles, and Seiren on a conference call for about an hour. Then Kuran steps into a side compartment, opens a window, transforms himself into a stream of bats, and flies ahead to survey the situation. Yuuki watches her husband leave with wistfulness - she hasn't had enough practice to travel such a vast distance yet.
Due to the time difference, they arrive in the middle of the night. They're met on the tarmac by a pair of discreet black sedans, who whisk them away to a townhouse nearby, one of Kuran's properties he keeps for just this sort of emergency.
The house has been recently cleaned and stocked, but the faintly stale air, without having enough time to circulate as the house was aired out, shows what a rush the whole affair was, however composed on the surface. Without any servants, Zero cooks the five of them dinner once Kuran returns in bat form through an open window, with nothing but information to show for his efforts.
Kain and Souen are gratifyingly surprised by Zero's culinary skills, but even good food isn't enough to alleviate the worry from their brows. The atmosphere remains gloomy.
"Our window of opportunity is short," Kuran tells them. "Seiren timed their investigation while Shirabuki would be in North America for three nights. Aido is one of my inner circle. Shirabuki would love to get her hands on him, both for his value to me and for the information she would gain. Aido knows he must not give his name if he's captured, so hopefully the news won't reach her before we can locate and rescue him."
If he's still alive, but no one points out the omission.
"Seiren has uncovered Aido's last known location - one of Shirabuki's high security facilities, an industrial factory of some sort. Our problem," Kuran says, elegant even as he scoops a forkful of stir fry, "is that we're having difficulty determining if Aido has been moved or not."
"The property is extensive, and heavily guarded. Seiren can't get close enough to sense Aido without alerting the guards, which might endanger Aido's life. Nor can Yuuki or I - our abilities are sufficient, but our pureblood auras are too noticeable, and would alert Shirabuki to the fact she has something I want. That would give her leverage over me, and an interest in Aido. His life is far safer if he can avoid drawing her interest. Shirabuki likes to play games," he finishes grimly.
Zero lifts his eyes from his plate. "I could do it."
The vampires stare at him with varying degrees of skepticism and calculation - or worry, in Yuuki's case.
"I'm a Hunter," Zero reminds them. "Our lives depend on our ability to find targets before they find us. Sensing vampires is the one thing a Hunter can do better than an actual vampire, and we're bred so our auras are difficult to detect. Get me to the boundary, and I can tell you if Aido's there."
Kuran steeples his fingers, a crease forming between his eyes. Yuuki is more straightforward. "That's too dangerous, Zero!"
"Not any more dangerous than my part-time job," he reminds her, sitting up straighter.
Yuuki presses her lips together. "I don't like it. If what Kaname says is true, then we couldn't even be there to protect you."
"Luckily, I brought some options," Zero says, reaching into his long, wide sleeves. He places each object he's hidden inside on the table with a heavy thunk and a flourish.
Souen and Kain stare at Bloody Rose and Artemis Rod like Zero's set loose a pair of poisonous snakes on the dining room table, uneasy at the sight of such familiar and notorious anti-vampire weapons.
Kuran has a look of consideration in his eyes, though the rest of his face is impassive.
Sensing his chance, Zero addresses his next words to the pureblood seated at the head of the table. Kuran wants Aido back, or he wouldn't have dropped everything and headed to Europe. "I haven't been in the field in months, it's true. But my hands are steady and I've kept up my shooting practice. If something happens, I won't miss."
"Do you have a plan in mind?" Kuran asks, expression still shuttered.
Zero inclines his head. "I've packed suitable clothing, and I'll change after dinner. You'll take me tonight to the place Seiren found. Have your Shadow meet us there. She'll lead me to the edge of their perimeter, I'll search for Aido's presence, and then she'll escort me back to where you'll be waiting. In and out, done."
Kuran is silent.
Zero decides to push just a little more. "The more time you waste here, the more dangerous it is for Aido."
As the silence stretches longer, Zero starts to think his appeal has failed.
Finally, the pureblood unlaces his fingers, and let his hands fall to his lap. "You'll take a familiar," Kuran tells him.
Zero would feel triumphant, under better circumstances. Instead, he just nods, and takes his plate into the kitchen, pausing in the doorway on his way back out. "Yuuki and Kain have kitchen duty," he calls. "Souen-san?"
The noblewoman lifts her head in surprise. "Yes?"
"I can't take this dress off by myself. Will you help me until my maids arrive in a day or two with the rest of our luggage?" Zero asks. It's embarrassing to ask, but Souen is a beta female that the Kurans trust, the perfect chaperone and someone who might be permitted to see Zero partially unclothed.
"If Kaname-sama wishes," Souen says, looking with uncertainty to the pureblood at the head of the table for orders.
When Kuran doesn't disagree (Yuuki looks peeved about something though?), Zero takes that as agreement and leads Souen to his room.
Anticipating the necessity, Zero packed his outfit at the top of his suitcase - a set of his Hunter clothes in a dark camouflage pattern. All Zero needs is help undoing the many hooks and buttons imprisoning him in the clothing of his female human persona.
Souen was a good choice; she moves confidently and quickly, her deft fingers making short work of the dress. Soon, Zero is stepping out of the fabric pooled at his feet, modesty preserved by his underclothes. He thinks again how grateful he is for the fact an omega is required to hide their body - no one can see him and he doesn't have to look at himself.
"Do you need anything further, Kiryuu-sama?' Ruka asks. She's become more comfortable over the last month when she addresses him by his new title, though there's still hesitation and strangeness between them.
"Thank you, I'm fine," Zero replies, bending over his suitcase to collect his change of clothes.
Souen steps toward the doorway, then stops, turning back to Zero.
Zero raises an eyebrow in question, mind occupied by laying out the last few details of his plan.
Her face twists with indecision. Hesitantly, Souen tells him in a quiet voice, "My cousin's gotten in trouble before, but this time I'm worried he's gotten in more trouble than he can handle. So...Thank you for helping Hanabusa."
Zero blinks in shock, his coat half-unfolded in his hands.
Then, before Zero can come up with a reply, Souen whirls and rushes out in a swirl of skirts.
"You're welcome?" he says to empty air.
Zero crouches next to Seiren at the treeline, hidden from discovery by underbrush and shadows. Kuran's Shadow is perfectly patient and still, keeping a lookout for any watchers as Zero observes their target. Above them, Kuran's crow is perched in the branches, motionless except for the blinking of its eyes.
Full credit to whoever designed this place against infiltration - Shirabuki's facility would be almost impossible to sneak inside. There is nothing taller than Zero's thumb between here and the high chain link fencing, anchored by guard towers, that encircles the facility - a distance of over a hundred meters. Then there's another fifty meters from the fence to the buildings themselves. This space is just as empty, and swept periodically by searchlights. It almost reminds Zero of a prison, though according to Kuran it's a factory of some kind. What are they manufacturing that needs such stringent security?
Well, that's for Kuran to figure out. Zero's just here to search for Aido. He breathes out, shifting his weight into a more comfortable position, then reaches for mushin. It slips out of his hands, trepidation and fear of losing control weakening his resolve.
Zero grits his teeth. Mushin requires concentration and intention. He hasn't dared test the technique since his weird mind-bending episode. With doubt in his heart, Zero won't be able to grasp it.
Closing his eyes, the Hunter bows his head. Aido's life is in danger, and Kuran needs to know if he needs to storm this place or cross it off his list. They don't have time for Zero's fear. Hardening his will, Zero reaches again, and this time mushin settles over him like a cloak.
Nothing overwhelms his mind - his senses sharpen, but stay stable and within the limits of Hunter powers. Zero's shoulders lose some of their tension, and he lets out a long, slow breath, posture slumping.
Holding mushin and examining his own experience so minutely, Zero can't fail to recognize how the quality has changed. Mushin feels...deeper? Larger? Less like a pond, and more like swimming at the surface of an ocean, Zero decides, with currents and tides tugging and pulling at you, no boundaries to either side. There are layers beneath him. He can reach those shadowy places, if he wanted. All Zero would need to do is swim down.
His stomach clenches. That's too precarious a drop.
Zero concentrates on staying near the surface, without being pulled deeper, and gingerly reaches out toward Shirabuki's factory. His Hunter senses obey his direction, however unsteady Zero's commands, and he finds the C Rank vampire guards manning the watchtowers with ease.
Pushing further, Zero tries to correct his balance and firm his control, but he only slides deeper into mushin, toward that strange extra sense. Backpeddling towards steady ground, Zero allows himself a moment to pause before he resumes the struggle.
Beside his body, Seiren says nothing about the delay, but her head swivels constantly to watch their surroundings, on alert against ambush.
Perhaps fighting is the wrong reaction. Extending his senses again, this time Zero doesn't struggle against the creeping descent, allowing whatever stray impressions and sensations it sends to strike him. Gentle, light movements, he cautions himself - you don't fight the water, you let your body float with the flow.
There, that's the right method, Zero realizes, as he smoothly extends his Hunter senses, not even straining from the distance. Many more vampire auras are inside the buildings, still mainly C Rank, with eight B Rank individuals mixed in. Honing in on the nobles, Zero examines them one by one, searching for the single familiar aura he wants to find.
Seiren's attention snaps to Zero as he opens his eyes, shaking his head. "He's not here. I can tell Aido was here, but not for a while."
A dead end. The muscles in Seiren's impassive face tighten for an instant, before smoothing out again. Kuran's shadow taps Zero's elbow, and the pair begin picking their way back to Kuran for extraction.
Kaname doesn't raise his eyes from the orders he's writing to one of his spies, ignoring his Consort standing behind him, reading over his shoulder.
Don't ignore mate, reprimands the alpha. Mate is good and beautiful. We like looking at him. If we ignore him, he will go away. Make mate stay!
Kaname ignores the alpha instincts. "Was there something you needed?" the pureblood says when he's finished writing, folding and sealing the paper in a practiced motion.
Kiryuu crosses his arms in Kaname's peripheral vision. "I put out a request for information through the Hunter networks, and got a hit. Somebody thinks they saw something, and they're willing to talk to us, unofficially. I need you to take me to the meeting location."
See? Mate is helping! boasts the alpha.
Kaname contemplates the request as he unfolds a new sheet of paper and begins his next missive.
Since Kiryuu and Seiren confirmed the previous night that Aido has been moved from his last known location, all Kaname's attempts to track his lieutenant have failed. He has bent his entire information network - human and vampire - to this single task, and every promising clue has turned up fruitless. It's as though Aido disappeared into thin air, and Kaname is running out of time and leads.
Kiryuu waits patiently as Kaname finishes his letter, the scratch of his pen the only sound in the hushed atmosphere of their temporary residence.
It's times like these Kaname appreciates the limits of a pureblood body. Three days without sleep is nothing - Kaname hasn't lost a moment and his effectiveness doesn't slip. He can write as many of these as he needs until he finds the single clam with a pearl inside.
The pureblood puts down his pen, and seals the letter. "Alright," Kaname allows as he places it in the tray for outgoing correspondence, "I will escort you."
Perhaps the Hunters will have something new; Kaname cannot afford to overlook the smallest detail when it might yield answers. "Where is the location?"
Kiryuu's address brings them to a hotel, clean but aged and sagging at the edges, full of worn carpets and wallpaper a few decades out of fashion. Hunters always pick cheap accommodation, Kaname observes with disdain, remembering the first hotel Kiryuu and Nightshade stayed in.
"You'll need to stay here," Kiryuu says in the lobby. "A Hunter won't be comfortable with a pureblood listening in, and they asked to stay anonymous."
"Fine," Kaname agrees, ignoring the alpha's protests, and finds the least-stained chair in the waiting area for a seat.
Kiryuu's eyes narrow suspiciously at Kaname's easy agreement, but he shrugs, turns away and walks off, seemingly putting the pureblood's atypical behavior out of mind.
The moment Kiryuu is out of sight, Kaname opens his hand. Out flies a familiar shaped into a bat, formed from the tiniest wisp of power. Kaname's mouth curves, and he sends the small animal fluttering after Kiryuu's retreating back, careful to stay high and just within spotting distance. Call it paranoia at Aido's disappearance, but Kaname isn't taking any chances by letting something he possesses leave his vision.
Kaname's bat almost loses its target when Kiryuu ducks into an elevator, but Kaname finds a laundry chute in the nick of time, and the bat peers out into each floor until it spots the tail of Kiryuu's cream-colored Hunter coat disappearing around a turn. Squeaking once in victory, it hauls itself out on its little wing claws, and flaps after its target.
Kiryuu stops in front of a hotel room door - Kaname hides his familiar in an ornamental light fixture with a burned out bulb, peeking over the rim to spy. His Consort knocks, and when the door opens, Kaname experiences an unpleasant moment of deja vu.
Kaname knows that man - the thick, twisted scar marring his cheek is hard to forget. He was another Hunter assigned to the mission where Kiryuu received the injury to his side, the one Kiryuu was too starved to heal.
Without understanding why, Kaname stands up, and catches the elevator that's about to close, pressing the button for the fifth floor.
Kiryuu was surprised to see the scar-faced Hunter too, though only someone who knew him well would catch the flinch in his expression. Clearly Kiryuu remembers how this man spent the whole mission insulting him and treating him with contempt. The scar-faced Hunter hadn't even been grateful when Kiryuu injured himself saving his life.
The two Hunters exchange small talk, before scarface invites Kiryuu inside. The bat's ears perk up and swivel, but when the door closes it can feel the anti-vampire wards springing up around the room, muffling all the sounds inside and hiding the Hunters' auras.
Kaname frowns. Hunter wards to keep an off-the-books meeting private aren't unreasonable, but he has a sense of misgiving nonetheless. The pureblood reaches out to his bat familiar, taking deeper control, and glides down to the crack between the door and the carpeted floor. The deeply worn fabric and a slight warping of the doorframe has left a gap just large enough for his tiny familiar to wedge its head into, if it squirms and wiggles.
The door suddenly shakes, like something heavy was thrown into it, and Kaname's bat squeezes its nose through the warded barrier, almost brushing the heel of Kiryuu's shoe.
"Feel that? Not so strong when you're trapped by taming spells, are you bitch?" boasts the scar-faced Hunter.
The alpha snarls, and Kaname's brows draw together as the other passenger gets off at the second floor, leaving him the elevator's sole occupant. Kaname holds down the button to close the sliding door. He's in a human area, likely under video surveillance. Kiryuu is in trouble, but it sounds like the scar-faced Hunter wants to brag, and that gives Kaname time.
The door shakes again above his familiar's head. Kiryuu's voice sounds breathless, like he's speaking with little air. "What are you doing this for?"
"You stupid whore, don't play dumb with me!" The door shakes again, and his Consort grunts like he's been hit.
Kaname frowns. The alpha snarls again, longer and deeper.
"Think you're better than me, do you? You're just Cross' favorite. I don't need your help!" scar face shouts, and Kiryuu grunts again.
Third floor - two more to go. Kaname begins to pace back and forth along the doors.
"I always thought you were just a faggot, waiting for a real man to teach you right, but you were really a bitch all along, just like the rest of them. And I'll teach you your place right now," scarface leers, his tone suggesting his disgusting desires.
"I bet those leeches taught you how to spread your legs and treat a man like he deserves. I can't wait to use your bitch hole, but first I want to shut your chatty mouth. Down on your knees, slut."
Kaname roars, his mind blanking red as his alpha instincts take over, sensing the threat, howling and thrashing in the back of his mind. His beautiful mate is in danger, being threatened by a disgusting human! He must go protect mate now!
The elevator pings.
Kaname tears the doors open so violently he leaves handprints in the steel. He's reached the flimsy wooden door blocking his way to his mate before the time it takes his heart to beat, rage bleeding into every pore. The pureblood tears the door clean off its hinges, roaring again, his eyes glowing scarlet and his fangs bared.
The scar-faced Hunter jerks his head up, stumbling back in shock and falling to the floor. Kaname is savagely glad to see the terror in this filth's eyes, and how his mouth gapes open, cowardly in the face of greater strength.
The pureblood lashes out with his power, tearing through the paper-thin wards binding his omega's powers, and his sweet mate staggers backwards, keeping his gaze locked on the scar-faced Hunter. "I was fine, Kuran, his wards didn't restrict my Hunter powers -"
Mate gasps when Kaname seizes him, clutching him against Kaname's chest so nothing can take his mate away. The warm, tangible body in his arms reassures the alpha, and he squeezes as tightly as he can without hurting mate.
But the threat is still here, right in front of him, and Kaname snarls as he prepares to rip the scarfaced Hunter's body apart with his power.
"Wait, wait, Kuran, you can't - he's a Hunter!" Mate twists and struggles in his arms; Kaname rumbles, confused. Mate wants to leave him?
"I'm okay, he didn't do anything yet!" his omega shouts. "Kaname, you can't kill a Hunter for this, you'll be charged with his murder!"
Mate squirms until he's face to face with Kaname, shivering for some reason when he sees the pureblood's face. "You're not in there, are you? Okay, let's try this…"
Mate's eyes go big and wide, and he rubs his cheek against Kaname's chest. "Alpha, take me somewhere safe, please? I don't want to stay here."
Kaname rumbles, happy that mate is calling to him so trustingly. But there's still a nasty rat to crush before he can leave, a rat that dirtied his mate. It will only take a moment to tear it into tiny, bloody pieces. Kaname tries to lean past his omega to look at the cringing filth on the floor.
But his mate blocks his vision, rising up on his toes and thrusting himself in Kaname's space. His voice is urgent, full of stress. "Kaname, no! Look at me! Focus on me!"
Mate is frightened and upset; Kaname abandons his goal, trying to soothe his omega with nuzzles and soft caresses. He snuffles at silver hair; mate smells so good, so delicious.
"That's right, that's good Kaname," mate tells him, rubbing his arm. "Now will you take me somewhere safe, and stay with me until you feel better?"
Kaname shoots one last hateful, poisonous glance at the scar-faced Hunter, but hoists his mate into his arms, hiding his sweet omega's body behind his own.
Safe, mate wants to be safe, so Kaname takes them to their temporary den. Alpha-mate is gone, but Kaname hides their omega away in their bed, so mate can smell her on the sheets and feel more secure. Piling pillows and curling his body around his omega, Kaname creates an unbreakable barrier between the outside world and his mate.
Mate strokes his body and tells him he's doing well; Kaname purrs and buries mate deeper under pillows and covers and his own body.
Time blurs underneath the satiated pleasure of instinct, but gradually, Kaname comes back to himself, awakening to a creeping horror in his veins.
The scar-faced Hunter had intended to rape Zero. Kaname's mind cruelly plays the outcomes he's imagined before - the wounds and the hurt and the broken pale body - and his muscles draw tight. The images cycle in an endless loop playing in his head, repeating their terrible contents again and again.
Kiryuu must feel his tension, because he stirs, turning his head to glance over his shoulder.
"Kaname? Are you okay?"
The pureblood's spine pulls tighter. Kiryuu Zero is the most ridiculous person he has ever met. Why is he asking Kaname that question?
Kaname feels keenly his inadequacy, the same feeling that drove him to envy, hate, and fear Zero. He still can't find Aido, and now this. He presses his forehead into the sheets. "I feel like I'm going insane," he admits, those ugly, plausible might-have-beens circling around and around his mind, joining the worry that he might not make it in time, that Aido might already be dead, another person he'll lose because of his own failures.
His Consort hesitates, but reaches out anyway, touching Kaname's shoulder. "What do you need?"
Oh, but that makes everything even worse, Kaname realizes with faint bitterness. "I want to touch you - your bare skin," he orders.
The Hunter doesn't even protest, just shrugs out of his coat and pulls off his shirt, offering himself for the needs of others - for the abuse of others - the same way he always does.
Kaname rolls his Consort's body over with a twist of his shoulders, avoiding looking into Kiryuu's face, and buries his face in the milky skin of his husband's back, unmarred and soft, breathing in the perfume of his skin, satisfying his touch-hunger with the unprotesting flesh of the man beneath him.
This moment now, this warmth and closeness - Kaname could have squandered it all away. Kaname almost wasted everything.
"Turn over," he orders, and Kiryuu does, still with that unprotesting obedience and hint of confusion. Kaname urges Kiryuu to slide higher up the bed, and then to open his thighs with a light touch to the knee; the Hunter flinches, but obeys.
Then Kaname settles himself in between Zero's spread legs, with his head resting on Zero's belly, in the soft hollow that might one day grow with their child. Kaname's whole upper body shields the place that animal tried to plunder.
Anyone seeking Kaname's treasure will have to fight through the black dragon guarding it - after all, the white knight is the prize of his hoard, rarer than diamonds and willingly surrendered to his monstrous claws.
"Can you hear me, child?"
Zero opens his eyes to a tiny meadow under stars. This is the dream place he once met the Ancestor of the Hunters, but tonight there's no one present but himself. Yet Zero heard her voice, he's certain of it. "Honored Grandmother?" he calls.
A ghostly, transparent shape flickers in the spot the Ancestress sat, a soft feathery light like a mirage. "Here, Zero."
Blinking, Zero tries to think of a gentle way to point out her state. "Ah...are you alright, Honored Grandmother? You're a bit...formless"
Her voice laughs. "Yes. It takes time for me to build up enough power to manifest. This is a compromise, since I visited you so recently."
"I didn't expect to meet you this soon. Has something happened?" Zero asks, settling cross-legged on the grass.
"I was watching. Are you alright?" Her voice has the same gentle, reassuring strength as always, however faint her form.
Zero grimaces as he rolls his eyes. He's only just escaped the overprotective purebloods babysitting him - Kuran told Yuuki about what happened when she returned, and she'd flown into such a rage that Zero had barely been able to persuade her not to go looking for the bastard.
Both of them had fussed over Zero for the rest of the evening, driving Zero half-crazy with the weird cuddly alpha thing. They'd taken turns licking his bruises to heal them, and washing his skin clean of any scents before initiating a tenacious marking session. Zero hadn't even been allowed to leave the bedroom or feed himself, and he suspects he's stuck at the house for the foreseeable future.
"For the last time, I am fine. His wards were top notch, but he didn't even take my weapons!" Really, it was kind of embarrassing. Zero scowls. "And I've already reported him. He'll be taken off active duty and censured by a tribunal for inappropriate conduct, if Master Yagari has his way."
The Ancestress' tone is teasing. "And it wasn't nice at all to be rescued, was it?"
"No!" Zero insists, blushing with horror. She's right; Kuran will never let him live this down when he comes back to his senses. The Hunter groans, burying his face in his hands.
"But Zero," she says, her voice losing its lightness, "you know, it's alright to not be okay. You're allowed to admit if you're afraid. You're not a burden when people worry about you."
He can feel his face close up. He's not lying. Mostly. Everything had been fine when Zero thought the bastard was just going to beat the stuffing out of him. He knew how to deal with that, blindfolded and hands tied behind his back, wards or no wards, out of condition or not. Pain or dying caused him little concern.
But…
When the bastard had starting saying those things, there had been a moment when Zero just froze, a moment when Zero stopped feeling in control of the situation and just felt terror, in this body that still doesn't feel like his own. He's been trying very hard not to remember that moment.
"I'm fine," Zero says again, more firmly.
He gets the impression that the Ancestress would reach out to him if she could.
"Why did you bring me here tonight?" he asks.
Her voice quickens with urgency. "I know your friend Aido is missing. I think I can help find him."
"How?" Zero demands. Had the Hunters really uncovered something after all?
"Not how you think," she says. "This is too soon, and carries too much risk. But I knew you would want to know."
She seems to hesitate, but presses forward. "I told you about my abilities, didn't I? That when I was young, I knew things I couldn't explain through any of the senses recognized by science."
"Yes," Zero says, catching on. "But you said that was a 'minor manifestation'."
The feathery light bobs, like it's nodding. "As I grew older, I learned to extend my perception much further than that. And I think you may be able to do something similar."
"You do?" Zero says, dread tingling under his skin.
"I think I can guide you to access deeper levels of your power - just this once, until you've trained enough to control them on your own. You can use that to search for Aido."
"There's just one problem. I can't control it," Zero reminds her.
"You don't need to. I'll be in the driver's seat, so to speak. I'll provide the knowledge and control, and you'll provide the power and energy. But you should know this carries risks. You'll be forcefully tapping into your powers - that may have side effects."
"Like what?" Zero asks, already guessing he's not going to like the answer.
The feathery light dips lower. "I can only guess. You could blast your mind wide open, rendering you permanently unable to function. You could accelerate the awakening of your powers, leaving you with premature abilities you're not ready to control. Or nothing could happen. I just wanted you to be aware of all possible consequences before you decided."
Zero weighs this. He's extremely reluctant to dig deeper into the power he inherited from the Ancestress, but he had controlled his access when he scanned the factory for Aido. The Ancestress will be the one in charge anyway.
And Aido's running out of time.
Blowing out a breath, Zero nods. "Alright, let's try this."
The light of the Ancestress' form pulses. "It's not so simple. You're not a pureblood, Zero. You don't have the same amount of power I did. Your range and energy are limited."
"What do I do then?" Zero says, feeling a little frustrated.
"You need a target. After two days. Aido could be anywhere on the planet. There's no way you can search all that. You need to narrow down the area somehow."
"Alright," Zero says, already focussing on his new goal. "I hope Kuran can come through for us."
There's a dull thunk as Yuuki's head hits the desk. "Nothing again," she groans.
Tracking down all the vehicles that have passed through the area Aido disappeared is getting them nowhere. It's trucks, trucks and more trucks, but none of them have turned up with vampire cargo, and none of the drivers know anything.
Her shoulders slump. Their three days are almost up. Somehow, they have to find Aido before Shirabuki does. But nothing is working! What can Yuuki do to help? She doesn't have spies like Kaname, or Hunter contacts like Zero. All Yuuki can do is help Kaname sift through the threads his spies turn up.
A hand holds out a glass of water. Mindful of her papers, Yuuki takes the water, puts it down, and then reaches blindly sideways to catch Zero's waist and bury her face in the side of his stomach. Some Hunter creep went after him, she's allowed to be clingy, she reminds herself.
"Not going well?" he asks, stroking her hair.
"No," she grunts. "Why do you even need this many trucks?"
"How should I know?" Zero says, being irritatingly logical. "It's in the middle of nowhere. You'd think there wouldn't be that many."
Yuuki hums her agreement. Stupid trucks and their stupid cargo of - she drags her face out of Zero's belly - their stupid cargo of flour.
...wait. This is a wilderness area. Where's the flour coming from?
Struck by a sudden impulse, Yuuki shuffles through the other reports. Concrete mix, fertilizer, more flour, bags of sand - why are trucks dragging this stuff out of a forest?
"What does Shirabuki's factory make?" she asks out loud.
"We don't know," replies Zero, leaning his hip against the back of her chair.
"We don't know because nothing except people has left the factory as long as we've been watching it." Yuuki chews reflectively on the end of a pencil. "Trucks with materials go in. The factory works at all hours. Where does the product go?"
"Storage?" suggests Zero.
Steepling her fingers the same way Kaname does when he's thinking, Yuuki tries to pull her thoughts together. "Aido's not at the factory. But we can't find him, and we can't figure out how he was moved."
Zero waits patiently as Yuuki struggles to put her thoughts into words. "What if he wasn't?"
"Wasn't what?" Zero asks.
"Wasn't taken anywhere. He's not at the factory, but what if there's somewhere else nearby? A second facility."
Zero draws in a quick breath. "That explains the circumstances, but wouldn't we have found it by now?"
Yuuki slumps. "You're right. Seiren searched the area. There isn't anything else. Forget it, it's a stupid idea."
"I'm going to take a nap," Zero tells her, a strange tone in his voice.
"Okay, have a good rest. I love you," she says, already turning back to her task.
Zero tries imagining the meadow, and suddenly he's seated in the familiar dream space, knees cushioned by green grass. "Honored Grandmother! Ancestor of the Hunters!"
Her light is even weaker than before. "Zero? Have you found something?"
He shakes his head up and down in affirmation. "We need to search the factory again."
"But Aido wasn't there," she replies, puzzlement in her tone.
"Yuuki thinks there's a second facility nearby for transport," he says.
The Ancestress' light flickers. "If you're willing to take the risk, then I'm willing to try. You're certain?"
Zero licks his lips, mouth dry. He was over-exaggerating. This is really nothing more than a guess. But with nothing else, even a guess is worth a shot. "Let's try. What do I need to do?"
"Nothing. Just stay very still, and don't fight me. I can't take control against your will, and I don't want anything to go wrong. Your cooperation is vital."
The light draws closer. "Try entering mushin. Even in a dream, you should be able to find it."
Closing his eyes, Zero looks deep inside himself. And just like the Ancestor of the Hunters promised, mushin is waiting for him. He draws it over himself, all the extraneous worries and fears falling away as he sinks deeper. Cushioned by perfect calm, Zero breathes evenly, and holds his mind still.
A touch, like a hand on the back of his neck.
Zero leans into it, perceiving somehow that it means no harm. I'm ready, he thinks. It feels like he's standing at the edge of a diving board, facing backwards. He can't see where he's about to land, but he doesn't need to. Beneath him is a deep darkness. All Zero needs to do is let go.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
In.
Out. In.
And out.
Zero feels a push, and he bends with the pressure, spine curving back in a perfect arc. His feet leave the ground with a sense of weightlessness, and he's falling, falling - he hits, but without feeling a shock. It's like something heavy is peeling away, left behind at the surface, but Zero is diving deeper, deeper, down down down.
Where? Who knows? His guide is the steady pressure in the back of his mind, sure and unshakable.
Deeper, deeper, down into the depths - and then the world crumples inward, and they fly.
He thinks he tries to cry out. This isn't seeing or feeling or hearing. This is something new, all of them at once, something that leaves Zero over-sensitive and reeling, overwhelmed by the bombardment of stimuli.
He almost panics, but the hand on the back of his neck squeezes, lending him a point of focus.
Zero tries to breathe. Zero has no body, he realizes, and almost panics again. Did something go wrong? Is he dead, has he lost his body? Blood and ash, he's a floating invisible consciousness!
Zero feels dizzy suddenly, like the world is dissolving.
The hand on his neck squeezes insistently.
Slowly, Zero calms, repressing the fear, reminding himself of his purpose and how the Ancestress is wasting her energy every moment he can't get his head on straight. His panic just now almost destroyed their rapport.
Though he has no way of communicating, somehow she knows when Zero's back on mostly-even footing. Zero's view begins to change, whipping along above a forest canopy - well, they're moving, but Zero doesn't have anything physical to move? How does this even work?
The sensation of being like this - Zero's mind can't quite grasp it, it's so out of alignment in some indefinable way with his normal awareness. He struggles to name it, before giving up and settling on 'the moment when you wake up in a storm, and for an instant, you don't know if you're asleep or awake.'
The Ancestor of the Hunters brought them right near Shirabuki's factory, Zero realizes when he sees the fence. 'He' passes right through the fence like it isn't there - like he isn't there - moving across the empty yard in an instant. They halt right above the largest building, and Zero waits for instructions.
The pressure in the back of his mind becomes encouraging. Look, it seems to say. Reach out. Open your mind. What do you See?
Zero has no body he can center himself in, just his naked mind and his uncertain heart. To bare himself in such a way seems recklessly dangerous. He crouches down behind his mental walls, unable to push himself further. All of this is too much. He's not a vampire, and he doesn't want more power that makes him even less human. His mind is the last place Zero has left.
On the back of his neck, the hand is still gentle, not pushing him to reconsider his refusal. We could go back, Zero understands. He doesn't have to do any of this.
But he does. All Zero's fear and reluctance is disguising how incredible this is. His body is kilometers away, yet he can sense the people walking below him as though he were standing here in the flesh. There are so many ways his extra sense could make Hunts safer and quicker. Zero may not want this gift, but he can use it the same way he used his vampirism. No matter how it came to him, he'll take this ability and make the best of it.
His heart settles and his mind empties as Zero gathers himself. This is the gift of the Ancestor of the Hunters, his Honored Grandmother. He need not fear - she is holding his hand, walking by his side. She has never abandoned him, and she's still helping him now.
Reaching out, Zero surrenders.
If he still had breath, Zero would scream. But the Ancestress is there, channelling the deluge, sorting and discarding just as rapidly. All Zero has to do it endure the flow, just a little more, just a little longer...
A blink - they've jumped, and the Ancestress has brought them above the trees again, but the flow is being choked, and his awareness dives down, past the leaves and the branches and the trees, passing into the earth. The darkness and crushing weight of rock are not things that can touch him when his mind is untethered and roaming free. So Zero curiously watches the layers of earth move past, and then they break into empty space.
The hand on the back of his neck strokes once, and the world becomes narrow again, all that impossible awareness shrinking back down to a dull sense of nearby things.
They've found a tall concrete passageway with shallow water rippling at the bottom, some kind of repurposed water supply tunnel. It looks old; maybe even as old as the Cataclysm, when they built great technological marvels that modern humans still can't replicate. For all its age, someone has been in the tunnel recently; there are new rails built on raised pylons above the water and artificial lights brightening the gloom.
You don't have to move linearly when it's just minds and wills. You just let your vision blur around the edges, blink once or twice, and then Zero can see a brighter light, a faint dot at the end of the tunnel. It feels like they've gone kilometers, all in the tenth of a second, an eyeblink. It's so queer; Zero suspects the Ancestress was making allowances for his inexperience earlier.
Ahead, Zero senses people, vampire and human, many of them, their pulse of their auras and the sound waves of their hearts beating, their digestive systems churning away, their lungs breathing. The thermal heat of engines. The empty echos through soil of caverns and underground chambers. This is Yuuki's shipping facility, he realizes.
They pass many doors, until they peer out the tunnel exit into a warehouse. Ghosting through doors and walls until they find daylight, they leave the innocuous storage building and find a single-lane dirt road circling around a blue water lake. The Ancestress takes them high so Zero can survey the terrain, locking the landmarks into his memory. Then they blink back to the warehouse room with the tunnel entrance. The door's not open any longer, cleverly disguised behind a false wall. Zero retraces the route back out, until he's committed that to memory as well.
This information is valuable, but the most important question hasn't been answered yet. Is Aido here? They phase through the hidden door, sinking back down into the tunnel system. If Aido is being kept here, then below ground is the most likely place.
Zero's consciousness comes to rest in a busy central room; the guards and workers pass right beside him and through him, hefting sacks and crates. They don't seem to feel a thing. Zero doesn't either, like he's just imagining his presence here.
Another squeeze on the back of his neck; Zero understands, and reaches out again.
The Hunter still wants to scream, but the flood is the tiniest amount less overwhelming. It's like he can feel everything, all at once, without stopping.
The Ancestress cuts the flow, and darts away into one of the nearby tunnels, moving slowly enough that Zero can mark their route. He feels hope rise in his breast. Does this mean…?
Rooms and rooms piled full of the sacks Zero saw the workers moving earlier, but nothing else, until finally they reach a metal door with a brand new digital locking system. The aura shining behind the door is unmistakably B Class, even if Zero didn't recognize it for its familiarity.
He's found Aido - alive.
A door can't stop him, bodiless as his consciousness currently is. The cell is dark, but Zero's moved beyond the need for sight. Aido is crumpled in a corner, filthy and bloodied. Zero perceives the wounds, and the bleeding under his skin. Evidence of torture, he thinks with disgust. But vampires are tough, and Aido has the purity of his noble blood keeping him in good shape. Though that won't last forever, if they keep hurting him.
Zero knows his time is up; he can feel his body becoming heavier and heavier, being pressed back down to the earth.
Show me the way again, Zero pleads, hoping the Ancestress will hear him. She must, because they retrace their steps one last time, marking the defenses, reinforcing his memories of numbers and routes, finding the levers for the hidden door.
He's pushed it too far. He feels so tired. So tired. Zero tries to weakly project gratitude toward the Ancestress' presence, but before he can do anything further, everything fades out.
"Yuuki," croaks her Consort's voice, and Yuuki is snapped out of her daydream, the pen in her hand clattering to the desk.
"Zero?" she calls, spinning around.
Her husband is clinging to the doorframe like his body is made of noodles, all limp and floppy. His face is bloodless, with bruises under his eyes; he looks like he hasn't slept for a week.
"I thought you were resting!" Yuuki says, hurrying over to hold up Zero's weight.
"I know where Aido is," Zero says, out of nowhere.
Yuuki nearly drops him. "What?"
"Give me some paper and a pen; I need to sketch some diagrams while they're fresh in my mind."
Rather than taking Zero back to bed like she and her alpha want, Yuuki helps (drags) him over to her desk and folds his body into the chair.
Zero immediately seizes her abandoned pen, and starts scribbling on the back of a report. His shaky penmanship is nothing like his usual clear hand, but Yuuki can make out what he's written.
"Zero," she murmurs, "where did you get this?" It's so detailed, down to the camera angles and guard rotations.
He pauses, hand freezing above the paper. "A Hunter friend passed on the information," he says vaguely. "Call Kuran - call Kaname. And please, can you find me a map of the area around Shirabuki's factory?"
Yuuki nods, grateful but perplexed by Zero's odd behavior. "Shirabuki's factory? I might have one, but it's marked up. What do you need it for?"
"You were right," Zero tells her. "There is a second facility, linked underground to the first. That's where Aido is being held."
How does Zero know all of this? Something doesn't add up, but they're running out of time. Yuuki can get Kaname to pump Zero for information later, after Aido is safely back with his friends.
She pulls out her phone. "Kaname, we figured out where Aido is…"
Really, the waiting is the worst. Zero's never appreciated that before. He's always been on the front line, the one leading the charge as both the most skilled and the most expendable.
If he had the strength, he would pace, but Zero still feels wrung out. Why don't nobles feel this exhausted every time they use their special abilities? Kuran's inner circle could fight whole battles before they were worn out. Does Zero just have the most difficult, high maintenance power? Is throwing fire around easier than whatever psychic thing the Ancestress does?
Zero runs his hands over his face. Speaking of 'that psychic thing', eventually somebody isn't going to accept his excuses for how he knew where Aido was. Zero's information was suspiciously specific. No way a random Hunter would have known that, unless they were working for Shirabuki themselves.
Zero hasn't figured out what he's going to tell people when that time comes. He knows he should probably confess to Yuuki what's been going on, but it's only been four days since Zero knew about his new ability himself. It's a lot to take in and wrap his head around, and Zero knows he's going to sound pretty crazy if he tries to explain it to someone else. 'Yes, my mind slipped out of my body and went for a walk' - that's going to sound very sane.
Glancing at the clock, Zero's mouth tightens. Kuran is late. He was due over two hours ago, hopefully with Aido in tow, but he hasn't even sent a message. Something has gone wrong with their rescue.
A weak twitch in his overused Hunter senses gives warning. Zero straightens, glancing at the window; Yuuki looks up beside him on the couch where she's tucked her feet up underneath her.
"They're coming back," she says, and she scrambles to open the window for the horde of bats circling outside.
"Don't!" Zero shouts.
Too late.
The bats begin to reform; piece by piece a figure reveals itself. Tall, impeccably dressed, with an air of confidence and self-possession - and blond.
Shirabuki Sara smiles at them. "I hope you don't mind. I thought I'd drop by for a visit."
Yuuki draws herself up, her tension vanishing under her polished mask. "Shirabuki-san, it's a little late at night, don't you think?"
"But we have things to talk about," Shirabuki pouts, clapping her hands together. "Do you mind if I sit down?"
Yuuki and Zero look at one another. Kuran and the nobles could be back any minute. They need Shirabuki out of the house, or they need some way to signal it's not safe to return. It would be dangerous to give Shirabuki information of any kind. In their best case scenario, Shirabuki still knows nothing, she hasn't learned Aido was captured, and she doesn't find out about this incident, leaving them holding all the cards.
Perhaps it would be best to play along, and see if Shirabuki can be convinced to leave.
"If you like," Yuuki replies neutrally.
Shirabuki smiles sweetly, and perches on an armchair. Zero's going to have to burn it when she leaves, he thinks regretfully. Maybe the whole set, just for good measure.
"I heard you came to Europe quite suddenly," she says. "I'm sorry I wasn't in town, I would have liked to show you around."
In spider-lady's dreams. Zero wouldn't beg a penny from her.
"Kaname had business," Yuuki says. "I'm afraid it wouldn't have been possible."
"What a pity!" she exclaims, sounding enthusiastic but not very regretful. "Will you be staying long?"
"I doubt it," Yuuki says. "Kaname hopes to conclude his business soon."
Zero tries not to scowl. Shirabuki isn't put off by Yuuki's curt answers. Can't the woman take a hint?
"And Kiryuu-kun, how are you enjoying married life?" Shirabuki asks sweetly.
"I've had worse years," he says, deliberately giving a non-answer. If you count near-death experiences, this is only in the top five. In terms of sheer crap happening, top three. But it's only October, Zero reflects. There's still time for this year to work its way up in the rankings.
"You know Takuma-sempai, right?" Zero says, not missing the way Shirabuki misses a beat when he says the name. Time for a little indulgence in his favorite hobby: pissing off purebloods.
"I hope our marriage will be as happy as his and Shouto-sama's. They're so in love, you can just see it every time they're together," he gushes, playing up his enthusiasm.
Shirabuki isn't looking quite so cheerful anymore. Just a little more pushing.
"Did you know he's in season right now? Maybe he and Shouto-sama will try for a baby this year!" Zero says brightly, and Shirabuki isn't even trying to hide her wrath; one of the chair arms breaks off beneath her clenched hands.
"I don't want to hear that man's name any longer," she hisses between her gritted teeth.
"Who?" Zero replies casually. "Takuma-sempai? Or Shouto-sama?"
The pureblood clenches her teeth. "That man who stole Takuma from me! Takuma was supposed to be mine!"
"But Shirabuki-san," Yuuki says, tone innocuous, "you told me the other day you were glad you didn't have an omega. Fragile, you called them."
Zero glances at Yuuki, who's stayed out of the spider baiting so far. Not bad.
Shirabuki struggles to present her saccharine, caring mask, her face jumping until she can regain her control. "I did, yes," she tells Yuuki, smiling again like the last few minutes never happened. "But I've also seen such wonderful relationships between alpha and omega, that I can't help but want that for myself sometimes."
"Ah, I see," Yuuki says, hand folded demurely in her lap. "My husband will be home soon, and I need to get Zero ready for bed. If there's nothing further, we'll see you on your way, Shirabuki-san."
"Yuuki-chan is so responsible," coos Shirabuki. "Through according to rumor, not so responsible in bed." Her eyes flick to Zero, and it's clear she's making a dig at his virginity. Zero tries hard not to react. Creepy, sex-obsessed purebloods.
Yuuki shrugs, as though she doesn't care much.
"But I don't think I'll be leaving yet," Shirabuki says. "Didn't I tell you? We have things to talk about."
"Such as?" Yuuki inquires.
"Well," Shirabuki begins, a nasty look in her eyes, "I leave for a few days, and I come back to find something interesting has tangled itself in my web."
Tensing subtly, Yuuki's face stays impassive. "That's fortunate."
"Yes," the blonde says, smile becoming fanged. "I'm told I snared a little ice mouse, nosing around where he didn't belong."
Zero curses in his head. So much for the best-case scenario. On the bright side, Shirabuki seems to have headed straight here, instead of going to Aido's prison.
"While I'm happy for you, Shirabuki-san, what does this have to do with me?" Yuuki asks, keeping her calm. Zero's deeply impressed that she can keep up with Shirabuki despite having less experience and malice.
Shirabuki giggles, leaning back in her broken chair. "Oh, Yuuki-chan, don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you. I have your toy. I want to know what you're willing to give up to get him back."
Yuuki's spine straightens. She looks straight at Shirabuki without flinching and says, "It's not wise to brag before you check your traps, Shirabuki-san."
The elder pureblood's eyes narrow. "It's not very bright to provoke me, Yuuki-chan."
Yuuki leans back into the arm of the sofa, raising her chin. "You haven't offered me any proof of your claims, Shirabuki-san. For all I know, Aido could walk through that door any minute."
Shirabuki's laugh has a cruel edge. "Naive little princess. Don't you know when you're beaten?"
"I don't feel like I've been beaten," Yuuki replies evenly.
Downstairs, they can hear the door open. Zero tries to stretch his Hunter senses, but he's so burned out he can't reach further than a few meters.
"Perhaps Kaname-kun will be more sensible," Shirabuki says, smiling in victory and tapping her painted nails on the intact arm of her chair.
Footsteps. Zero counts them. The door closes. Kuran can't fail to have noticed the foreign pureblood aura upstairs. He'll take the necessary steps. Zero can count on that.
More footsteps, climbing the staircase. No one has called out.
Zero, Yuuki and Shirabuki are all sitting here, waiting to see what happens by introducing a new player. Yuuki looks as unruffled as Kuran's persona. Zero is blank-faced. Shirabuki is insufferably smug, certain she's won.
Kuran doesn't bat an eyelid at the sight of Shirabuki and his spouses having a chat together in his sitting room. "Shirabuki-san. It's rather late for company."
The blond simpers. "I just couldn't wait to see you and Yuuki-chan!"
"That's kind of you, Shirabuki-san, but perhaps another day. I'm quite tired."
"Come, Kaname-kun!" she says, waving her hand, "just a little chat. Perhaps about your Aido, hmmm?"
Kaname's unruffled expression doesn't budge. "Aido?" he says in a bored tone. "What's he done now?"
Shirabuki is starting to get a little angry. Kuran isn't playing her game how she wants. "I'm talking about how I captured him, Kaname-kun, and how we need to begin our negotiations for returning him. Or not, I might keep him if he's a fun toy," she adds cruelly, her real personality naked in her face.
Kuran raises an eyebrow. "That's strange. I saw Aido with his cousins a few minutes ago. Are you sure you're not mistaken, Shirabuki-san?"
"What?" Another crack, and the second arm of Shirabuki's chair is gone. Zero bets she has trouble doing interior decorating, with her temper.
Her eyes dart back and forth, calculating if Kuran's lying. Then Shirabuki's expression settles; she thinks Kuran's trying to bluff. She smiles. "I'm certainly not mistaken, Kaname-kun. I confirmed it myself. Your Aido is well-known, after all."
"Well, that's strange," Kaname replies, cocking his head to the side. "Aido, would you mind coming here for a moment?" he calls.
More footsteps, quick and high, from a light person with great energy.
"You needed me, Kaname-sama?" Aido sticks his head around the doorway. He bears no trace of the wounds Zero observed; his hair is neat, and his collar unwrinkled and clean.
"No," Kuran replies, not breaking his gaze from Shirabuki's shock. "That's sufficient. You may go."
Aido looks between the purebloods like he wants to ask what's going on, thinks better of it, and leaves.
The room is silent. Shirabuki's eyes are bulging with her rage and shock. "How - how did you - "
"Like I said, I believe you were mistaken," Kuran says smoothly. "Perhaps you should leave, Shirabuki-san, since there's nothing further to discuss."
Shirabuki clenches her jaw. "I'll see myself out," she says, but Zero hears the underlying message: this isn't over.
No one moves until the last bat has flown away.
Yuuki slumps to the floor, sliding straight off the couch. Kuran looks like he wants an entire cellar of wine. The armchair is completely wrecked.
"I can't believe that actually worked," Zero says.
Only once everyone's cleaned up and had their wounds treated does Zero ask the question that's burning in his mind. "How did you do it?" he says, glancing at the nobles in the dining room as he butters another piece of bread for more sandwiches, adding to the pile on the plate in front of him.
"I can't believe you threw me in a lake!" huffs Aido, spraying crumbs from his turkey and cheese sandwich (NO crusts, white bread NOT wheat, ONLY smoked turkey, cheese MUST be imported) as he eats with the graceless abandon of a starving lion.
"You were on fire," protests Kain - who eats anything Zero puts in front of him without protest, thnk the Ancestress.
"And who's fault was that!" Aido cries. "Countless lovely ladies appreciate my charm and good looks - you almost burned my eyebrows off!"
"You were filthy," says Souen, wrinkling her nose. "I don't know where the paddleboat came from, though." She takes another contemplative bite of her chicken salad croissant.
"I'll never look at dairy products the same way," Kain says.
"Llama," Souen says, and all three of the nobles shudder.
Kuran's Shadow, leaning against the wall, is completely unperturbed, and had also declined Zero's offer of a sandwich. Someday Zero's going to wear Seiren down, he promises himself.
"Kaname?" Zero repeats, trying to catch the pureblood's attention.
Kuran's lost in thought, staring at his empty glass of wine, but turns his head when Zero calls his name. "Yes, Zero?"
Zero passes him the bottle, and Kuran pours another healthy glass. "How did you fool Shirabuki? Aido looked like he had never been captured."
Kuran chuckles. "A bottle of blood tablets -"
"Which were really gross," Aido complains in the background.
"- a good feeding from both Ruka and Kain, an invigorating swim, a flight by bat - which seems to function adequately as a blow dryer - a comb, and a promise he could have the next fork I bent for his collection."
"He looks worse under his clothes," volunteers Kain, licking mayonnaise off his thumb. "Ruka slapped some concealer and a clean shirt on him, and told him not to show anything below his neck."
"I wasn't that badly off," Aido complains, "the guards fed me blood tablets and I gave them a fake name when they questioned me, so they didn't know I was valuable. And I made sure I cried a lot, just like Kaname-sama told me too!" the blond beams proudly.
"I take it things didn't go according to plan?" Zero prompts, looking to Seiren.
She shakes her head. "Your information was completely accurate. The three of us, with Kaname-sama waiting outside sensory range, entered the facility without detection. But Aido was not in the cell you marked, though the scent of his blood was still in the air. We split up to search for him. I found Aido being loaded into a transport vehicle, but Kain was seen, and the guards raised the alarm."
"And then we chased this idiot half-way across the country," Souen says, gesturing with her sandwich at Aido, who has his cheeks stuffed with sandwiches like a hamster with nuts.
Aido makes a protesting noise, and chokes on his food, more crumbs flying everywhere.
Sighing, Zero starts cutting the crusts off the next sandwich.
Yuuki looks up from where she's working through her tower of nutella and banana sandwiches. "Did you find out anything?"
The entire room looks at Aido. The blond inhales the last of his sandwich, and chokes again, hacking until he drinks a glass of water Kain passes him.
"I did one better," he says, puffing out his chest. "I got a sample."
"Of what?" a skeptical Souen asks.
"Whatever they're making," Aido replies. "Some kind of white powder. It's a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility Shirabuki's hiding out there. I don't know what the end product is - they ship the processed substance somewhere else."
"So it's just more drugs," Zero says, disappointed. They already knew Shirabuki made money off designer drugs. All this effort and so many people putting their lives on the line, wasted.
"I won't know until I test it. Maybe she's made something new," Aido says.
Kuran shifts, "That's for another time, Aido. Get some rest and finish healing. We'll return home tomorrow night."
"Yes, Kaname-sama!" the blond chirps, digging into another sandwich.
Zero watches Kuran and Yuuki discuss business at the dining table, speaking in quiet murmurs audible only to vampire hearing out of consideration for the sleeping nobles. They don't seem to realize Zero's there as they shift reports around, writing notes on one or two. If Zero leaves them at it, they'll be sitting here until they step into the car leaving for the airport.
Kuran won't be satisfied without rearranging his affairs with Shirabuki, Zero knows, but Aido's not the only one who needs to rest. Neither of them have been eating or sleeping much - Zero hasn't personally seen Kuran sleep in three days, actually - and it's time they slowed down.
The Hunter feels a little thrill as he makes his move, slipping silently into the room. Baiting vampires is always a risky ploy. The Kurans will sense him, but Zero doesn't want to be stealthy.
"Zero?" Yuuki says, lifting her head and blinking dully at him. "What's wrong?"
"It's past one in the afternoon. We have a flight in the evening," he reminds them, coming close. "You need to sleep."
"Later," Kuran says, already turning back to his plans.
Zero isn't going to be put off so easily. Kuran is the problem; Yuuki will fall into line if he can crack their husband's resistance. So Zero drifts around beside Kuran's chair, upping the ante. "Are you sure, Kaname?"
"Yes," the pureblood says without looking up.
Zero swings his leg over the side of Kuran's chair, settling lightly into the pureblood's lap. "You won't reconsider?" he says, straddling his husband's thighs and wrapping his arms around the pureblood's neck. Zero's clean and smells nice, and he's wearing the silk robe Yuuki told him was her favorite.
Kuran's redwood eyes look amused, but at least now he's paying attention. Zero presses closer, tracing the skin beneath pureblood's collar. "You haven't come to my bed in three days, husband. I'm worried that I've lost your interest. Maybe I should try my luck with Aido?"
A spark lights in Kuran's eyes, and his hands snap to Zero's hips, trapping the Hunter where he is. "I see your point, but you'll do no such thing."
Zero can hear Yuuki hurriedly cleaning the table, pushing their papers into a messy pile before she slides behind Zero, sitting on the wood. "We've neglected him, haven't we Kaname?"
Kuran makes a noise of agreement, peeling away the silk to bite at Zero's shoulder.
"Uh-uh, not yet," Zero says, grasping a handful of red-brown hair to hold Kuran still, until the pureblood has to look at him. "First you're going to go shower and change for bed. Then we'll -" he blushes - "do things, if you want. And then you're going to sleep until it's time to go, understand?"
"Ah," Kuran says, with a predatory smile, "there's my innocent little lamb. I wondered where he'd gone, but he was just hiding behind a wolfskin, shivering and waiting to be devoured."
"Can you even hear what comes out of your mouth?" Zero says, embarrassed on Kuran's behalf.
Tentatively, Yuuki rubs her hands down Zero's back. "With what happened, are you going to be okay if we 'do things'?"
Zero groans. "I've told you guys, one arrogant ass with a chip on his shoulder really wasn't all that scarring for me. I was thrown for a moment, yeah, but I was never in a situation I couldn't get myself out of, and that makes all the difference. I could've beaten him up with my bare hands if I needed to."
"Besides," he admits, hiding his face in Kuran's suit jacket, "I - I like it when you enjoy yourselves."
Zero really, really had, the other day when he'd gotten to watch their pleasure, surprising himself at the intensity. Making Yuuki feel good, and watching the bliss she received just from such a simple act had felt incredibly satisfying. Zero wants to keep being able to do that for her, to give that to her.
And even watching Kuran, the way he squeezed his eyes shut and his whole body tensed - it had an appeal, watching such a controlled, private man come undone. Yuuki was more uninhibited - louder, more free with the evidence of her pleasure. For Zero, being able to focus on his spouses without having to deal with his own body had prevented his normal anxieties associated with sex, and made the experience very attractive. One he wouldn't mind repeating.
Kuran hooks a finger under Zero's chin, tilting his eyes up to meet the pureblood's smirking face. "You liked it, did you? Then we'll certainly have to repeat it."
"Come on Yuuki, grandpa gets cranky when he doesn't get his nap," Zero says hastily, dismounting ungracefully from his pureblood-shaped seat.
Kuran does the subtle twitch that means he's displeased, but seems resigned to Zero's willful defiance by now, making no remark. Zero suspects he gets amusement from the novelty. Though Kuran does punish Zero with a swat to the rear, when Zero looks away.
Zero whirls around and glares, but relents when Yuuki gets in a squeeze of her own while his back is turned. "Perverted purebloods," he grumbles without heat. "Come on, I've run you a bath. Go get cleaned up; I've already laid out your clothes for bed."
"And then we get to the fun part?" Yuuki says hopefully
Zero colors again. "Maybe," he hedges, "if you're good and don't try to work anymore today. You've found Aido. Everything else can wait for tonight, okay?"
The Hunter bends down to give Yuuki a chaste kiss, and presses his lips to Kuran's mouth in an equally gentle manner. Then he leads them by the hand into the bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind.
Be afraid, Kaname. Zero's figuring out how to use the power of his sexiness against you.
Also, Zero can convert anyone through the power of his cooking. It's a fact. Feeding equals friendship.
Manga readers may get an extra bonus from this chapter, if they read carefully.
Next chapter: Rosehill gets a houseguest, Zero sidesteps, dodges and otherwise runs away from his problems, Yuuki plans a birthday party, and Kaname is the same nosy pureblood as always.