Aido's POV~
'Where is she? Where the HELL is she?!' I thought, running back to the others, at the top of the building, where the fight continued. Searching a long the way for any sign of her. But I somehow knew she would be at the building "She should have been there. Why wasn't she there?!" I asked aloud, although no one heard me. She was supposed to be there. Her friend said she was right behind her. Then why wasn't she there?
~Flashback~
All of them standing in unison. I couldn't help but feel a little touched by their wanting to keep their memories of us. "Umm, Aido-sensei. Does Hikari know you're a vampire as well?" her friend, I think her name is Tsuki, said. "Ah, yes. Well Hikari…Hikari…where's Hikari?" I asked, looking around at the girls faces, trying to find hers, but couldn't. "Hikari, wait! Where's Hikari?!" she shouted over the heads of the girls. There was a brief murmur in the group, but it was obvious. Hikari wasn't there.
"She was…she was right behind me. But she couldn't walk, and had to talk a breather. Then Nami came along. Nami. Nami! Where are you?!" Tsuki shouted over the crowd. Again the murmuring continued, before the crowd parted, showing a shaken and frightened looking girl. "Nami, where is she? Why isn't she here?" Tsuki said, stalking towards her, murder in her voice. "She…she…she's gone." she stammered, hugging herself. She was right behind me, and…and…then there was a person. A vampire. They came up to us. And asked…asked which of us was Hikari. She…she went with them. She told them it was her, and went with them." she continued.
"Why didn't you stop her?! Why didn't you keep her from going?!" Tsuki said, roughly grabbing Nami by her collar. "You don't think I tried?! I had a knife! I tried to fend them off! But Hikari…She grabbed me from behind, and threw me to the ground! Told me not to get in her way!" Nami shouted. All the while she said this, I listened to her heartbeat. It was uneven, and gave away her statement. She was lying. It must have been obvious, because Tsuki called her on it.
"You're lying. Hikari would never say that. She is the most harmless person I've ever known. And most of all, she's not an idiot. To just up and walk away with someone she doesn't know? That's not her." Tsuki said, releasing her grasp on Nami. I was about five seconds from going over to her and demanding she tell me what happened to her. But she spoke before I could. "I'm telling the truth. The person came over to us, asked which one was Hikari, and she went with them. I've no idea where she went!" Nami yelled, upset by the constant badgering. Her heart rate was normal. She was telling the truth, however partial it may be. That just left one question.
Where was she?
"Seiren. Stay here. I have to go find her." I said, turning back to the door where Seiren stood. "But Yuuki-sama said-" she began to say. "I know what she said! But all the same, I know she'll understand, if I leave the girls in your hands." I said, walking past her, and into the night.
~End Flashback~
'One of Rido's minions. It had to be. But why Hikari?' I thought, nearing the fountain. So much had happened here. Our first official meeting, when I asked her to meet me here. Our first kiss together as a couple. And the first time I told her I loved her.
Near the edge of the fountain, on the ground, shone a knife, its blade glowing silver in the darkness. I picked it up, and looked at the reflection inside. 'This girl. How can one human girl…make me so worried…so crazed…so…so in love with her?' I asked myself. I turned the knife's reflection away from me, to something I saw glinting behind me. On the ground, was what looked life broken, twisted metal. Why did it look so familiar. Then it occurred to me. Hikari. Her crutch! Why was her crutch here? If this was here, then where was she? She couldn't just walk away without it. Well, she maybe could, but it'd be rather slow going.
'Why is that here?' I asked myself, turning my attention away from the blade of the knife, and turning towards the broken crutch. 'Why is it broken? Did Rido's servant brake it?' I thought, walking towards it to pick it up. However, when I bent down to pick it up, a bright flash of light caught the corner of my eye, I turned my head just in time to see a ball of blinding light aiming for me.
'What is this?!' I thought, jumping backwards, out of the way of the light, as it rushed past me, blinding my sensitive eyes, and fading into the darkness. "What the hell was that?" I asked aloud, rubbing my eyes to get rid of the light burned into them. "Light energy. Wonderful, isn't it?" spoke a female voice from beside me. I turned toward the voice, although I couldn't see her clearly. "A noble?" I asked, squinting my eyes to see her better, although spots clouded my vision. "A vampire, yes. A noble, possibly." she said again, a smile in her voice.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" I asked, my vision clearing. Before me she stood. White-blond hair, and glowing yellow eyes. Pale skin and a skinny body swathed in a purple skirt, and a yellow shirt, with one shoe on and one shoe off. In a word, she was beautiful, but that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous. "My master calls me Mitsuko. And he has ordered me to kill you." she said, grinning maliciously. She raised her hands, palm up towards me, and glowing light began to gather in her open palms, before they shot out straight at me. Orbs of light. That's what I thought. Until when I narrowly dodged them, I figured out that they were pure energy. When they passed and disappeared again, I rubbed my eyes and tried to get rid of the stinging. 'Too bright.' I thought, squinting back at the woman.
"Not back there~" she said behind me. Turning quickly, I saw her just as quickly as she disappeared again. "Why does your master want me dead?" I shouted, knowing she was near. "Master's order. Do not question master." she responded, reappearing in front of me. Before I could blink, I felt her fist on me face, knocking me back several feet, despite her size. Brining my hand up to gently prod at my bruised face, I looked up in time to see her throw another ball of light. Creating a barrier of ice, the orb ran into it, and reflected the light it threw off before fading.
"Watch your back!" she yelled behind me, kicking me in the stomach when I turned towards her once again, knocking me back into the wall of ice. My back hit it, breaking the wall, and letting me fall to the ground just beyond it. Gasping to get air back in my lungs, I sat up and looked for her, finding her gone once again. 'More hide-and-seek.' I thought, walking into the barrier of the trees just beyond the fountain. "You cant hide from me Hanabusa. I can see you. Even when I use my light." she said, from the surrounding trees. "Then show yourself! Stop hiding like a child!" I yelled, barring my fangs, my eyes glowing red.
"I'm not hiding! Not anymore!" she yelled, reappearing beside me yards away, before conjuring up her 'light' again, and flinging it towards me. This time I was ready, I knew her moves. Blinding her opponent first, and then attacking them head on. Building another wall of ice, the light hit, reflecting it again. I heard a twig snap under foot, I swung around to catch her fist, and brought mine against the side of her face, causing her to crash into the nearest tree. In the dying light of the last orb she threw, I saw something glitter on the ground near her feet when she kneeled down and clutched at her face. "What is that?" I asked quietly, narrowing my eyes at her, as she glared up at me.
"Why? Does it interest you?" she spat, picking it up to inspect it closer. My stomach twisted in knots when I saw that it was a ring. A thin silver ring. Like the one I gave Hikari. "H.A. Hanabusa Aido. Is this yours? Or is it your lovers'?" she asked with a sly grin. "Where did you get that?" I asked, my voice beginning to rise. "Are you the one who took her?" I asked, stalking towards her, feeling my fangs begin to elongate. "Hikari?" she asked, standing up, wiping away a small trail of blood that sprang from her nose. I felt my anger triple when I heard her speak her name, and lashing out, caught her arm when she moved away from me, drawing blood from a shallow cut. "You'll never find her," she said laughing, gripping her shoulder. "She's gone."
"Where is she?!" I yelled, feeling the air around us go ice cold. "What have you done with her?!" she ran, weaving between the trees. But I was faster. Catching up to her, and grabbing her throat, I slammed her against another tree, holding her there while she clawed with one hand at my arm. Gripping the ring in her other hand. Prying it out of her hand, I held it up to my face, to see if it was genially hers. Beside the H.A., I had put another engraving on the inside, nearly invisible to the human naked eye. 'I am yours.' was inscribed there. Curling my hand around the ring, my anger grew again, and I looked up at the woman, gasping for breath, under my hand. "What did you do with her? Where is she?!" I asked, pressing her further into the bark, that the tree might break under the pressure.
"She's gone! And she's never coming back!" she gasped, clawing at me again. "Then neither will you." I spoke slowly, building up the ice around our feet, slowly creeping its way up her legs. Before it was up to her waist, she began to cough sporadically, and spit up blood. The crimson specks on her lips. She began to cough again, and specks flew onto my face, at the corner of my lips. Through instinct, my tongue flicked out and touched the drops. And I was overcome with a sense of recognition. The ice, up to her waist, stopped dead cold, and my grip on her neck loosened until she was held to the tree only by the ice. She brought her hands up to her neck and face, wiping away the blood, and clutching her bruised neck.
"This blood." I whispered, fixed in a trance. The blood. This blood. Sweet, and full of emotions. The most obvious, anger, desperation. And the underlying of the girl within. Sweet, honest, my only love. Hikari. "Hikari." I whispered, looking at the girl before me. How had I not seen it before. When I was overcome with grief at what might have happened? When I was overcome with rage, when I thought she was gone? The shape of her face, the underlying worry in her eyes. The smell of her hair, or her scent. "You're Hikari." I whispered, stepping closer to her, and bringing my hand up to entangle it's self in her now white-blond hair, bringing my head closer to hers until I buried my face in her hair and breathed deeply. This is her scent. "Get away! I'm not Hikari! My name is Mitsuko!" she yelled, shaking her head to get free. 'Only one way to find out.' I thought, burying my head in her neck. "Wh-what are you doing?!" she cried out, struggling to get away again. "I have to know if you are her or not." I whispered against the skin of her neck.
Letting my tongue slide out and lick her neck, I felt my fangs elongate in sweet longing to bury themselves in flesh. She whimpered against the touch, and I was filled with the memory of the first time I ever bit Hikari. In the remembrance, my jaw snapped down, fangs burrowing into her flesh, blood rushing forward into the open wound and into my mouth. Her memories, buried deep into her subconscious. Every fear, every guilt, every feeling of inferiority, rising to the top. And I saw her last moments, before she was turned. Before she lost consciousness. An overwhelming warmness overflowing her body, and then turning cold as ice in her veins. Placed in a coffin, and left to change in darkness. Screaming out for relief from pain, clouding her vision, and pushing down on her chest. Opening her eyes, and looking down at her hands, seeing them glow, and a faint sting in her eyes when she looked at the light they emitted. Looking away, and pounding against the coffin lid with her fists, and the lid being pulled away. Rido's face. Rido's voice, commanding her to kill me. At first shock and confusion, and the underlying tone of anger. Ebbing away into a cold hearted doll, and malicious intent. And scornful pride at serving her master.
I released her neck, and looked at her eyes. Half lidded and glaring at me. Panting at the sudden loss of blood. "You're Hikari." I said with finality. Burying my face in the crook of her neck again, and holding her close. "No I'm not! I'm not her!" she cried, trying to shake loose of my hold. Feeling tears touch my shoulder. "If you aren't, then why are you crying?" I asked, holding her face in my hands, wiping her tears away with my thumb. "Because…because…" she started trailing off, worry clouding her eyes. "I don't remember, my master…he told me to kill you, and then I forgot all that happened before then." she said, hanging her head, and wiping her eyes.
"Please. Please remember. You are Hikari. If you cant remember, then…then….then drink my blood!" I exclaimed, deeming it the only way to recover her memories, if she saw my own. She looked at me, doubt and worry, coming into her eyes again. Until a look of determination took over, and she nodded her head. Loosening the collar of my shirt, until my neck was revealed, I leaned my head to the side, and let her bury her face in my neck, licking the skin and promptly biting down hard. I flinched at the unnatural brutality of her bit, and reveled in the sound of her drinking my blood. How long had I wanted this? To feel her drink my blood? Sighing in ecstasy and pressing her head closer.
It ended too soon when she pulled away in surprise, touching her lips stained with blood. Eyes welling up in tears. Pupils dilated in fear, irises turning muddled, and deepening to their natural milk chocolate color. Her hair shimmering bright, before darkening in the little light there was. "Hanabusa." she whimpered, touching my face, tracing the bruise. "I'm sorry. Hanabusa, I'm sorry!" she cried, clutching my collar, and burying her face in my jacket. "Hikari. Please don't. I promised I wouldn't hurt you, and look at you!" I said, cupping her bruised cheek, and gingerly touching her neck. "If I'd known it was you…I should have known it was you." I muttered, touching my forehead to hers, letting tears stream down my cheeks at my broken promise.
"Hanabusa, no. There's no way you could have. It was the decision I made. My own stupid fault!" she cried. "Why? Why did you want to be turned?" I asked, caressing her bruised cheek. "I felt so useless. I didn't want to depend on you anymore. Something, just something I could do to help you, protect you like you protect me. I feel so inferior compared to you. And then Rido started coming to me in my dreams, and he played on my weaknesses, and offered me the choice to become a vampire. He lied to me! He said I could spend the rest of my life with you as a vampire, and then when I was turned…he told me to kill you!" she shouted, her voice rising in volume. She started to get choked up, and started to hiccup in frustration as she cried more. "Hikari, it'll be okay, I promise. Please don't cry. You've snapped out of his orders. You'll be okay." I told her, rubbing her back as she wept more and more into my shoulder.
She looked up at me, anguish in her eyes. "But Hanabusa, what do I do now? I'm a former human. A level D. Someday, I'll become a level…" she said, trailing off before burying her face against my neck. "I wont let that happen. I have a plan. And you need to follow it to a T. Okay?" I asked, holding her face between my hands again. "What's the plan Hanabusa?" she asked quietly, holding my hands with hers. "To get you to drink Rido's blood, so you can be a stabilized vampire." I told her, with every bit of seriousness I could muster. I wont let Hikari fall to Level E. I will not lose her. I cant.