Sliver Night
By: A Really Big Idiot
100 Years Ago
Smirk.
It was hard, but Zero tried to prevent his lips from twitching.
But still.
Wow.
Yuki really had no clue as to how to hold a gun correctly, did she? Was she getting her ideas from a movie or something?
Zero raised one of his silver eyebrows, but decided to take pity on his struggling soon-to-be wife. "Yuki..." He softly said. "You need to keep your back straight and keep both your eyes open."
Hmmph!
Without saying anything, Yuki frowned at her soon-to-be husband and then she turned around to frown at the far away target practice dummy they were using at the Hunter's Association's private shooting range.
Yuki really didn't want to say anything in her defense because Zero was the expert here. However, she took a small bit of pleasure in the fact that Zero was so serious about this! Yuki wasn't very confidence with using guns, and vampires could always find ways around them if they really needed too. However, Zero was adamant that she learn how to use one properly. After all, to quote Zero's annoying practical (but strange for someone like her) bit of advice: "Nothing stops a rapist better than a bullet to the brain, Yuki."
The fact that Yuki Kuran-Cross was a pureblood vampire and only a fool would even think of doing something like that to her...didn't seem to factor into Zero's weird brain. Then there was the fact that she had two of the most overprotective men in the world watching her back! Zero would kick the living snot out of any man who dared to even look at her wrong, while Kaname would sooner destroy the entire world than allow her to break a fingernail!
Honestly, those two always blew things way out of proportion sometimes!
Yuki almost rolled her eyes. Goodness! Yuki may not be the greatest warrior woman in the world, but she could defend herself at least! See! She might not know about guns, but she had a weapon! And she used it often enough! Even though it was usually in its rod form, it turned into a cool death scythe when she got angry enough!
So there, world!
Zero couldn't win against the urge. Try as he might, Zero's rebel lips formed a light smile against his cool guy will. Honestly, Yuki. He shook his silver head with amusement. He quickly move towards her and he stood right behind her and hugged her waist.
Yuki tried not to blush too deeply as Zero's right arm guided her gun-holding right hand towards the dummy shooting target gently, and Zero's left hand was thoughtfully hugging her waist.
Yuki's small nose was tickled with a lovable scent.
Yuki could barely hold back a cheery grin. There was one benefit to all of this though! In this position, Yuki was able to freely soak up Zero's warm and steady presence and scent without her being a creep or weirdo about it! Things were definitely looking up.
Yuki took in a deep inhaling breath.
The special scent of Zero seemed to gently glide into her nose and sail through her body like a warming embrace.
Zero always smelled like the richest of sandalwood. His natural scent had a wild woodsy but calmly musky scent that always made you feel safe and secure. Zero's unique scent always gave Yuki a sense of peace and confidence. No matter what – Zero's scent always told her that he was here - and real and steady - and that he would forever kept her safe.
Zero's warm breathe tickled her right ear and Yuki couldn't stopped her blush. Fortunately, at that angle, Zero wouldn't be able to see it!
Zero gently guided Yuki's gun holding hand towards the target, but he was...distracted.
Very distracted.
Very, very distracted.
Very, extremely distracted.
Damn you hormones! Focus!
Yuki's unique natural scent and close warm body was making him think of things that were not related to target practice dummies.
So, while trying not to seem like a complete dweeb, Zero secretly inhaled the scent of Yuki's short brown hair.
As always, it was the scent of white tea and ginger.
For another small moment, Zero felt absolute serenity and pure happiness.
Yuki's unique scent always remained him of purity and total acceptance. Yuki was the first person to refuse to let go of him, even though he was a monster that could destroy her very soul. Yuki was the first and only person that tried to understand him and like him for who he really was. Yuki was the first person that fought for him, cried for him, and continued to always save him from his darkness.
He owned her so much and he would happily spend the rest of his days making this most special person of his happy and safe.
Once again, Zero silently vowed that he would always, always, always protect this special person.
So, as Zero guided her hand, Yuki opened her dark-brown eyes and focused intensely on the far away dummy target.
The scent of white tea and ginger - fresh, pure, free, and bright – lightly danced in the wind.
The scent of rich sandalwood - calm, steady, confidence, and safe – tightly embraced the breeze.
The twin scents mingled with each other.
And, as one, they pulled the gun's trigger.
It was a Bull's Eye hit.
Chapter Fifty-Four: Nervousness
Present
Rima and Seiren looked at each other.
Before them stood the elevator that would lead them up to Yuki's private upper three floors of The Queen's White Wing of the Imperial Hotel. The two women had both tried to contact their royal friend, but she wasn't answering or responding to any of their urgent messages.
This was most disturbing.
Despite the fact that they were on the ground floor, above them, Rima and Seiren could feel various spikes of dark and wild pureblood vampire power burst out and shake the foundations of the building from time to time.
So while Rima was obviously on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Seiren was experiencing a emotion she didn't typical experience.
And that emotion was nervousness.
This situation was something that Seiren was intimately familiar with and the normally stoic army woman felt like history was repeating itself.
Yuki, her dear friend, was falling back into madness...again.
By darkness, Seiren didn't know what do to...and she was greatly alarmed because of it.
What in the world could she do?
What in the world could she actually do?
Then, suddenly, the last person on the face of this dark earth that Seiren wanted to see right now appeared before her like a dreadfully mocking poltergeist.
Seiren blinked. Was that unnerving man singing 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat?' However, while the melody was light, the words...were utterly disgusting.
'Cut, cut, cut a fool! Burn his skin and bones! Death, Death, Death, a dying life should scream." A dark male voice gleefully sang as he walked the hallway.
Yoshiro Yamamoto sauntered up to their position with a wicked smile on his pale dead lips. His fangs were far too bright and pearly. Did the man brush with bleach?
For a strange moment in time, Rima was utterly speechless at this new development, but Seiren's blood was boiling.
Of all the people to appear, Yoshiro did not factor in high on her list.
Something bad was going to happen.
Seiren could feel it.
The man was dressed in his usual coverings – dark thick sunglasses, a black cap, and his typical black clothing. However, strangely, in his deceptive soft hands, he was holding something she didn't think was right, and it seemed so out of place for such an unsettling soul to have.
The man known as the Queen's Dark Hand was holding a tiny little black kitten.
Even the kitten itself seemed unsettled by its current possessor.
Was it even breathing?
Rima was rapidly blinked her blue eyes at the strange picture, but Seiren's silver eyes flashed with dark warning.
Yoshiro gave the two distressed women a peculiar smile and, without any forewarning, pressed the up button for the elevator.
"What are you doing?" Seiren harshly demanded. There was no possible way that man was even considering to see her dear friend at such a delicate moment.
Yoshiro's dark lips mockingly twisted. "I am going to see my dear dark lady, army woman."
"No." Seiren snapped. Her voice stated that she wouldn't allow any argument. "You cannot go up there." This man would make the entire situation worst!
Yoshiro smirked. "My dear dark lady has summoned me, army woman." His white fangs gleamed. "Do you usually question her wishes?"
Seiren took in a deep sharp breathe, but Rima's blue eyes narrowed darkly. "Why in the world would she summon you and not speak to either of us?" The lawyer rashly demanded.
Yoshiro raised a nonexistence eyebrow at Rima's harsh question, and it seemed like he was about to say something, but then he decided to closed his mouth.
And smirked.
A moment of disturbing silence came between the three unsettled persons.
BING!
The two women nearly jumped at the loud sound.
The evaluator door suddenly opened and without so much as a word, Yoshiro walked into the elevator, holding his little black is-it-dead-is-it-alive kitten.
The man lips twisted in a dark smile again, and Seiren could feel the hair on the back of her neck burn with anxious fright. That strange man always unsettled her, despite her outwardly indifferent persona, but Seiren felt like she was frozen into place at his new evil smile.
While the two women couldn't see the eyes of the Queen's Dark Hand, something about his expression told them that they didn't want to see his hidden eyes at that moment. Eyes were the windows to one soul. after all.
Therefore, did one really want to look into the soul of someone so... sinister?
That would not be greatly advised. Seiren nervously thought.
Then out of the blue, the man mocking said. "Do you want to know why the Queen trusts me more then she trusts the both of you?" Yoshiro lightly asked.
Rima gasped in outrage.
Seiren hissed her disgust.
But before the two women could rebuke the cruelly mocking question, the twin elevator's doors slammed shut.
Sosono stared at herself in the mirror.
She was rapidly waving her silk Korean fan quickly in order to cool her desperately red face.
By darkness, what an...intense show...she had witnessed during her familiar spying.
Her pale white hand fan her red face faster.
King Kaname Kuran...
Honestly...my how things have changed! If Sosono had remembered correctly, the original King Kuran that she had met and fought against so long ago would merciless torture and hang those types of men who engage in that sort of...affair.
By darkness! Why was she so strangely hot?
My, My, My...
Through her various pigeon familiars, Sosono had seen many things take place within the royal family. She had seen the King drink himself drunk. She had watched the Queen's breaking mental state. She had witnessed the two children squalling with each other. And she had seen an unknown man cooking a fabulous dinner within the tyrant king's bedroom.
Everything was most curious.
However, the terrible argument between the two children had spiked up her interest. The young dear prince had informed his little sister that their wicked father was cheating on their weak mother with another man.
To say that Sosono was shocked at the revelation couldn't even begin to give justice to her surprised feelings.
So, she had instantly went to work to find out who this third party person was. Surely, she could use such information for her advantage, couldn't she?
Thus Sosono had spent her hours on her minicomputer looking at all the various pictures, reports, and articles written about this entire First Court Session drama of King Kuran and Queen Kuran so she could find a clue as to who that third party person was.
It was like finding a 'Mr. Kim' in Korea!
She hadn't found one clue as to who could possibly be that person who King Kuran was cheating on his wife with. Sosono's thoughts went wild, and she was beginning to think that perhaps it was Ichijo (He was the closest to the man after the queen...) or maybe even that whorish Aido (Stranger things do happen...), but those thoughts were utterly useless in the end.
But based on what she had just (happily) saw, the King's hidden lover was the silver-haired bodyguard!
In a strange way, that made perfect sense.
Sosono felt like slapping herself. Clearly being imprisoned so long had addled her mental sharpness!
Of course, it was the bodyguard! Honestly! How could she have not seen it? For one to even think that a pureblood vampire king like Kuran would need a bodyguard was utter foolishness. She should have immediately knew something was odd about it!
Perhaps the cover story for the man's close existence to the royal family was that he was the bodyguard of the little princess? It made sense to Sosono to believed that Kuran would do such a thing to protect his precious little daughter. However, if that was the true case, why was the man in the tyrant's king bedroom, eh?
Pureblood vampires are notoriously territorial. They didn't like others in their personal spaces. And she would know - being one.
But by darkness! The Far Eastern Vampire King had a hidden male lover!
And my, my, what a glorious creature that man was!
Sosono blushed hotly again!
The King had gently held his beautiful moonlight face and kissed him breathlessly. The man had willing participated in the action like a gifted aristae, and then the two engaged in a not-so-innocent activity...
Sosono waved her silk fan even faster.
By darkness, would she have to take a cold shower to get rid of this dark blushing face of hers?
But, all in all, Sosono finally realized her plan of action.
Honestly, Sosono felt like Lady Luck's graces were far too kind to her lately. If Sosono had any sense (which she did – in great abundance) , it would be that she would need to be on her guard now more than ever before because of it.
After all, Lady Luck was someone you should always be careful with.
She was notorious for being fickle.
An Hour Later...
Queen Yuki Kuran knew that if she didn't start doing something now she would immediately crack apart again. That good voice had saved her again and her only true comforter was here, but that won't be enough.
It wouldn't be enough to hold back her madness.
And she couldn't go mad right now.
Zero...
Zero, I will win. Yuki promised herself again for the thousandth time. I will win. But in order to do that...I think I might have to become a monster..
While Yuki had gotten comfortable with hating herself, she didn't want Zero to hate her, but if she...
In the afterlife, will you still look at me with kind eyes after everything is finished, Zero? Yuki mindlessly thought.
She was in one of her private second floor hotel rooms that had been converted into her temporary office.
On one of her office's side couches, The Queen's Dark Hand, Yoshiro Yamamoto, was playing with a small black kitten and was humming a unknown tune that suspicious sounded like 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'. However, she couldn't make out his words as Yuki's current attention was on a very surprising phone caller on her private secret line.
Yuki wasn't quite sure why this man was calling her at this moment.
The European Pureblood Vampire King Maxwell Von Anderson's smooth voice sang into her ear. "My dear, I'm quite impressed." His masculine voice echoed with amusement. "Half the Far Eastern Realm? My, my, you are quite the impressive little thing."
"Indeed." Yuki neutrally said.
While she had known this man for quite a bit of time, she didn't trust him for a second. In spite of this, the man strangely liked to offer her unusual bits of advice from time to time. Yuki had no idea of what to make of it. The man clearly disliked her soon-to-be ex-bastard-husband, so why did he take such a vested interest in her?
"I hope you'll have great success in this grand drama of yours, my dear." Maxwell's voice continued to sing. "The beginning of this show was quite impressive, so I can't wait to see the ending."
Yuki's eyes flashed darkly. But something about Maxwell's sing-song tone made her curious. "You don't think I'm mad?"
"Aren't all purebloods mad in some ways?" Maxwell's voice sounded like it had a dark smirk in it. "After all, we are the ones that live forever on a diseased and dying world! If one wasn't mad, how could we ever survive?" There was a small pause in his voice. "What is wrong with a bit of madness? Doesn't it always change the world?" He whispered.
Yuki's always-tight heart suddenly lost some of its tightness.
Doesn't madness always change the world?
At that moment, Yuki suddenly realized that she found something she could do. Madness! Something that could rip apart Kaname's plans against her. Madness! Something that could help her win. Madness!
But to get that something – she would have to do something utterly crazy and totally mad.
Madness.
Doesn't madness always change the world?
"Goodbye, Maxwell." Yuki said in a strangely closed tone.
"Goodbye, my dear Far Eastern Queen." Maxwell replied. "Nonetheless, if you desire anything at all of me - simply give me a call." A dark flavor was added to his singing voice. "I am at your services, my Lovely Mad Queen."
Yuki's pale face was frozen stiff. "Goodbye, Maxwell." Then she promptly turned off her phone.
She stared at nothing for a moment. Yuki's mind was completely blank.
Emptiness. Lost. Loneliness.
Foolishness. Wildness. Madness.
Yuki turned her cold dark-brown eyes towards the oddly quiet Yoshiro. Yoshiro's dark sunglasses prevented Yuki from seeing his eyes, but Yuki knew the man was intensely focusing on her.
Suddenly, Yoshiro gave her a bright smile. "Are we going to Hell, my dear dark lady?" He asked carelessly. "We haven't been there for quite some time!"
Yuki stared at him. Everything suddenly clicked in her mind. "Yes." Her voice sounded so strange, so distant, and so lost. "Yes, Yoshiro. We are going to Hell."
Yoshiro's bright smile blazed even brighter. "Oh, goody!" He happily said. "What are we going to do when we get there?"
Yuki's tight heart felt like it stopped beating. "We are going to capture a demon, Yoshiro." She said quietly. "He is a monster demon that I want to viciously murder, but I desperately need to use."
There was a expecting wicked silence between the two lost mad dogs.
"How can I help you achieve this, my lovely dark lady queen?" Yoshiro breathlessly asked.
"First, find a way for us to get into Sing Sing Vampire Prisoner Island." Yuki's dead voice commanded. "I require the witness testimony of the monster man called Kenichi Daisuki. " Yuki's dark-brown eyes flashed crimson. "He is the man that murdered my precious Zero, but I will use him to murder Kaname's entire world."
Yoshiro was so pleased, that he gave her a great bow. "As you wish, my dear queen."
To Be Continued
