Disclaimer: Mmm… I'm running out of clever comments here… if I ever had them, that is.
I bet after last chapter I left you thinking, huh? I take it now you understand Gingetsu a bit better. Now I'm going back to my usual trying-to-be-funny-and-I-hope-I-make-it attitude. Here we go then!
3,2,1… Let's Jam!
Seras was sitting in her room drinking her blood. Master had said that if she didn't he would be mad at her and she was trying to follow Niko's advice. She just hoped Master would actually notice she was acting different… it was so hard for her to believe he could see her! She had always thought he only saw Integra. After all, Integra was much more beautiful than her…
Well Police Girl, you have your own attractive to me you know? a voice rang in her head. She gulped and tossed a bit of blood in her uniform, and some drops trickled down her chin.
"M-master?" she choked, blushing. "What did you say?"
"I said" his deep voice sounded again, this time to her ears. "That I think you have your own charm." Two hands gently rested on Seras's shoulders. She stiffened and almost jerked away, but suddenly remembered Niko's words. And the touch wasn't all that bad either… actually, it wasn't bad at all.
She relaxed. She heard Alucard's chuckle as she did so, but decided to ignore it.
"Police Girl, It has lately come to my attention that I might have been a little… uncaring to you since you were turned. I should have paid more attention to you."
"Oh… I… that's all right, I know you're busy with all your duties, so…" she whispered, but her words were cut off as he started massaging her shoulders slowly and carefully, making round movements with his expert fingers. She couldn't stop a sound very close a purr.
He chuckled again.
Her head started to feel heavy as she began to fall asleep under her Master's care. She let it fall back and find it resting on Alucard's stomach. She looked up at him and saw his red eyes full of something she hadn't yet see… at least not addressed to her: care.
He smiled dimly to her. Seras started to doze off, but her sleepy eyes kept staring into Alucard's.
He saw the blood in her chin and leaned forward. She unconsciously resisted but Alucard calmed her down with his hands. He licked the blood clean and looked at her eyes again. She was bewildered, and afraid, but excited too.
Alucard rounded the chair, and put his hands back on her shoulders this time standing in front of her. He could have entered the circle of her legs but he considered it too soon for that. He didn't want to push her. He leaned forward deliberately slowly, so she could stop him if she wanted, always staring in her eyes.
He damned himself for following that hunch, but it was late to back off now.
Finally he touched her lips with his. Seras didn't react. She didn't know how. Master was acting so weird! He touched her lips again, this time pressing them. Seras raised instinctively her hands and put them on Alucard's chest, but she didn't push him away.
Alucard bend his knees so he would be at her height and patiently coaxed her mouth open. Seras clenched his coat. Alucard instinctively took his right hand to her's, gently covering it.
He moved very slowly and patiently against her tongue, so she wouldn't feel pressed, and let her try to copy his movements. But she was still very shy with him even now that he showed her he wanted to be closer. He started to think maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
Then all of the sudden she started reacting to his invitation. He felt her clenching harder to his coat, scared, but she was getting firmer in the kiss. He finally pulled back enough to see in her eyes, gently breaking the kiss.
She was in a sea of feelings. The excitement of his attitude, the kiss, the warmth… and suddenly he caught a thought. "Police Girl… was that your… first kiss?" he asked quietly.
Seras looked down, embarrassed. He still held her hands on his chest. He laughed out loud, in a mix of feelings that confused him. He was happy about the kiss, but he was happier to know he was the first man ever kissing her. She was so pure…! And he was acting like a teenager! he suddenly berated himself.
He realized she was closer to him that he had thought. And not physically. He suddenly felt insecure and confused.
Absently, he took her hands to his mouth and kissed them gently. He caressed her cheek with his left hand. Looking at her eyes full of love he felt even more puzzled of his own feelings.
He let go of her hands and just stayed there, kneeled in front of her, hat and glasses gone and almost shaking.
In one of the most human gestures she had ever seen him do, he ran a hand through his hair and stood, backing off a bit. She saw the confused look on his eyes. He almost seemed human when he did that.
"I… will go now, Police Girl." He muttered looking down. "I shall see you later in the night." He started to phase off but remembered something. "Drink your… nevermind."
Seras remained there sitting, the taste and the feeling of his lips and his tongue lingering in her mouth, and felt like crying. Why did he have to do that? Why would he give her her first kiss and just leave like that? Was he toying her again? That was so mean!
She stood and started walking about the room, holding back her tears and twisting her hands. She needed to understand! She needed to speak to someone…
The name practically formed itself on her mind.
Niko.
+break+
Kazuhiko was sitting on the chair in Niko's room waiting for her to come back from the bathroom. It was usual for her to take a shower every two days, even if the dirt just did not stick to a vampire's body. It was a memory of her education as a Geisha; they were always clean and beautiful.
He had his arms crossed and was thoughtful. His glasses were on the table, turned off. Gingetsu was still asleep anyway. It had been hard for him in the morning. More than they both expected, for that matter.
They expected now Integra would be a little more cautious with her actions. Kazuhiko kept asking himself what Gingetsu had meant when he said her uncle had shot her. Why would her uncle shoot her? No kid can be that bad! Maybe there was a reason for her to be like she was. Gingetsu and her were not all that different after all. Save for the fact, maybe, that Gingetsu did have a sense of humour. Not a big one, that is, but it was there.
The door opened and Niko walked in, brushing her long hair. She looked at Kazuhiko with a big smile.
"What's new, Kazuhiko-kun?" she asked leaning against her coffin bed.
"Just thinking. Gingetsu and I spoke to Sir Hellsing today. We told her everything about the Project, and all. "
"That's weird… I didn't think Gingetsu would speak of it so lightly to anyone he didn't know well."
Kazuhiko raised his shoulders, not trying to understand his friend's attitude anymore. "He seems to trust her. If you ask me she does seem reliable."
"But of course" Niko replied. "She handles Vlad after all, right?"
"Yeah" Kazuhiko smiled wickedly "She's got him on a leash allright."
"Don't be mean!"
"Sorry if I don't feel sorry for him, but seriously, he's insane."
"So what? Never saw anyone crazy before?"
"Yes… and they didn't impale people as a hobby."
"CUT IT WITH THAT!"
Niko was usually calm and serene. Gingetsu, Kazuhiko and Vlad were actually the only persons that could crack her patience. Or at least, the only ones that dared do it.
She glared at him as he smiled widely, and started brushing her hair again. Kazuhiko loved to make her angry with that particular subject. She was kind of sensible when it came to Vlad.
There was a knock on the door. Niko tossed the hair brush on the table close to Kazuhiko's glasses and opened.
She stared in shock. "Seras? What's wrong?"
"Master did something very mean!" Seras stuttered very low.
Kazuhiko stood to give Seras the chair and looked at Niko. The Japanese girl was very, very upset. What the hell did Vlad think he was doing? What HAD he done?
"Seras" Kazuhiko kneeled beside the girl. "Tell us what the Imp… Alucard did to you." His blood was starting to run faster too.
"He kissed me. And then… he left!"
Niko sighed in relief. Kazuhiko was so relieved he laughed out loud. For a moment there he thought Alucard had…
"It was my first kiss!" Seras snapped at him. The Captain immediately stopped laughing.
"Oh."
"He came to you, he kissed you and then he left? Just like that?"
"Yes! Why does he do that? Just when I start to believe he cares…"
"I'm quite sure he does." Kazuhiko said taking her hand softly. "He's just stupid, you know? Murderers are like that around the girls they like…"
"Cut-it-out." Niko growled very low. Kazuhiko restrained another laugh. But he couldn't help to smile.
Niko stood and left the room. Kazuhiko saw her leave and only had one thought before turning back to Seras.
"Someone's getting shot."
+break+
Alucard was sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees and chin on his palms. He still had a dizzying felling in his body that lingered after kissing the Police Girl. He didn't quite understand why, but he remembered the same feeling from the first time he had kissed Niko, or Integra (the only time she let him kiss her).
And yet it was different. It was to think they were always different, but he hadn't kiss someone in such a while he wasn't sure anymore. And he couldn't get the image out of his mind.
The door opened without a knock and Niko walked in. Alucard sighed. She was pissed, he could tell that much. He should have thought Seras would go with her. They got along very well.
Niko closed the door and leaned against it, narrowing her blood red eyes.
"I take it Police Girl told you what happened?" Alucard asked. He felt very tired. That was strange. He wanted to lie down and sleep. But he had been awake for less than two hours!
"How could you do that to her, Vlad?"
"What… I don't get it!" Suddenly he felt defensive and angry. "I gave her time to shove me off if she wanted! She didn't do it!"
"You seriously think she would have done it?"
"She has done it before! She used to back off when I got near, snap at me, ask me to leave, tell me I'm mean!"
"You were different to her tonight, so she was different to you!"
"I don't understand her." Alucard mumbled angrily like a child. That didn't do much better to Niko's own mood. He was SUCH a CHILD!
"Because you haven't tried, now have you?" she said very low trying to calm herself down. He stared back, eyes flashing.
"What do you believe I have been doing for the last year and a half?"
"Walking around the stain in the carpet, that's what you've been doing!" Niko yelled at him walking away form the door.
"She has been rejecting me since I turned her!" Alucard stood, getting more and more furious by the second. He clenched his hands in fists. "What was I supposed to do? Rape her?"
"Tonight she let you in, and you rejected her!"
"I did not!"
"Then why THE HELL did you LEAVE?"
"I didn't know what else to do!" Alucard felt his anger disappearing. He relaxed a bit, though still felt defensive, and sat on the chair, very tired. He also felt Niko's anger start to lessen. "I felt lost, allright? She confuses me so much…! I never know what to do to make her listen about the blood, I never know how to act so she won't be scared. She's scared of me and I don't know how to make it better!" he ran a hand through his jet black hair, felling like crying. He hated that feeling! He had always hated to feel impotent.
Niko kneeled in front of him, not very sure of what to tell him. That was the old Vlad she knew, sensitive and caring. That was the Vlad no one in the Hellsing manor knew. It was the man behind the mask.
"She felt very hurt, Vlad. She doesn't know how to handle man, and particularly you are her master. She needs guidance. Let her in, guide her to you. I can help but I can't make the work for you two pair of kids. If I assured you she wants you closer, would you feel more secure around her?"
Alucard silently nodded.
"Well I assure you she really wants you closer." She whispered. "Now for Buda's sake, go to her!"
+break+
Niko had left about an hour ago. Kazuhiko had taken Seras to her room and talk her into sleeping a bit more, because she was tired of the rush of feelings. He waited with her until she fall asleep and then used the remote to make the coffin lid go down as he walked out of the room.
He went up the stairs into the kitchen, thinking of having a tea after the whole hysterics of the night, and ran into Gingetsu on the way.
"I thought you were gonna sleep a bit more." He said. The blonde shook his head.
"No I'm fine. Where's Niko?"
"We had a bit of a crisis down there with Seras and Alucard and she's trying to fix it."
"She should be hunting not acting Miss Match."
"Sue her."
Gingetsu growled low. "General Kou will save her anyway."
"You're probably right." Kazuhiko said smiling.
"She does spoil both her and you."
"You don't have to get all sensitive about it just because she didn't spoil you…"
Gingetsu glared at him. "Walk." He said pushing him to the kitchen.
+break+
Alucard made the control work with his mind so the lid would rise. He stood close to the bed, watching Seras sleep for a long moment.
Seras was awaken by the lid rising. She moaned wanting to sleep more and sank her face in the pillow. Then she felt the bed going down, like someone had sat there close to her back. She looked over her shoulder.
Alucard was sitting there. But he wasn't looking at her. Seras felt like asking him to leave bur hold her words back. He wasn't himself lately. She was starting to worry.
Seras shifted in bed so her back would face the wall, and she could look at her Master better. He looked sad.
"Master?" she asked softly. Alucard looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He lowered his head to look at his hands.
"Seras, I'm… honestly sorry. I acted badly earlier and I believe I caused you pain. I didn't mean to."
They both stayed quiet for a minute as Seras swallowed the words. He was apologizing to her! He was really sorry about what he had done! And… was he calling her by her real name?
"But Master… why did you do that?"
"I don't know Seras. I felt lost, that's all. I didn't know if I had done wrong or right. I needed air, I guess…"
"I mean the kiss Master." Seras replied kind of harshly.
"Oh." Alucard smiled weakly. Yes smiled not grinned. It was a true smile that reflected on his eyes. He was a bit embarrassed. "That. I must admit I've been wanting to do that for a while now. I'm sorry I never told you I thought you were beautiful Seras. I'm just not like that."
"So you kissed me because you think I'm pretty?" Seras started getting upset. Was that everything he saw of her? She thought she was pretty that's all?
Alucard got nervous. "No, Seras I kissed you because I like you."
Seras didn't have an answer to that one. But she suddenly felt stupidly happy. Like a little child that has been given a sweet out of nowhere. The elder vampire noticed that and smiled himself. He felt reassured by that.
"You do?"
"Yes I do. And if you wonder, no I didn't know that would be your first kiss. Otherwise it would have been different."
"Different how?"
"Just different." Alucard raised his shoulders. He smiled wider to her. "So do you accept my apology?"
"You're forgiven Master."
+break+
Niko got in the kitchen and sat herself next to Gingetsu. The blond man looked at her inquisitively.
"If you think you finished acting the female version of Cupido, we have to go hunt."
"What's the rush? It's not like Tsukishiro is going anywhere right?"
"We don't know." Gingetsu answered. "Anyway I don't believe it wise to mess with Alucard's personal matters."
"He wouldn't have personal matters if it wasn't for me." Niko harshly replied, thinking in his pride and his attitude.
"Please don't share information like that." Gingetsu murmured. Niko and Kazuhiko laughed. "Let's go."
The three Japanese got up and left the kitchen. They went of one of the meeting rooms and started talking about what they knew. Niko thought it wise to give Alucard time to talk to Seras before calling him to the briefing.
"Apparently Tsukishiro is not alone." Gingetsu said. "There are three more and much older vampires with him. Apparently two of them are Chinese, the other Indian."
"What is this, the International Vampires Association?" Kazuhiko left the folder in the table, arching an eyebrow. "What are this guys up to?"
"It remains to be known, but from what I gather I believe they are trying to summon something. Something or someone."
"That can't be good." Niko said. "Any idea what it may be?"
"Not at all."
"Well what are we doing tonight?"
"We're trying to find out. I know where they are right now."
"Positive?" Kazuhiko asked seriously.
"Yes."
"Let's go then. We don't want to keep them waiting." Niko replied getting up. The other two followed her.
Then Alucard phased through the wall into the room.
"We are going hunting, Alucard." Gingetsu coldly informed him. Not very friendly at all. He completely changed around everyone else than Niko or Kazuhiko. The ice cube took over.
"Oh good. I need to discharge energy. I hope to run into the Vatican Hound."
"Everything allright?" Niko's voice rang in his mind.
"Everything allright." He answered. "This will be a fine evening."
+break+
Kazuhiko docked and pressed his back to the wall looking at his small laser. He could see Gingetsu's white hair behind the half destroyed wall as the Lieutenant Colonel fought with ghouls with his sword. He could see the blasts of light that both Alucard's and Niko's guns emitted when shooting. He could hear (and it was annoying) Alucard's laughter.
If someone asked him right there how the hell had they ended up like that, he seriously wouldn't have known what to answer. One second they were peacefully walking in an abandoned building, the second Alucard was shoving him aside so he wouldn't get killed, the next Niko and Gingetsu were destroying ghouls, later he was destroying ghouls himself.
He breathed deep, he stood and started covering Gingetsu with his laser.
Next something went through the wall close to him, destroying it. Fragments of the wall were thrown everywhere. One in particular hit him in the head opening a deep cut over his eyebrow.
He sat down on the floor trying to stop the bleeding, because he couldn't see, as Alucard walked through what was left of the wall, a maniac (yes, more maniac than usual) smile on his features. He raised the Casull and started shooting to whatever was on the floor.
Kazuhiko's curiosity could the best of him and he looked. It must have been a vampire because he only saw dirt, ashes and the silver bullets.
"The Indian scum, permanently silenced." Alucard said with a chuckle. Then he turned to see Kazuhiko and gave a step closer to him. "Would you like me to lick that clean?" he asked teasingly, but somehow innocently.
"Get closer, get shot." Kazuhiko warned in a growl.
"It could get infected."
"I rather die of gangrene than have you touching me thank you."
"I take it you wouldn't say the same to Niko."
"She's a woman. Speaking of which, you should be covering her."
"She doesn't really need coverage." He said in a monotonous tone.
They heard more shots and yelling.
Niko had finally run into Tsukishiro. He was a tall young man, with a sad look on his red eyes. He had two very big guns on his hands and was good at shooting. Niko didn't like to be hurt, so it was taking a while.
"Look Tsukishiro" she said in Japanese reloading her gun. "We're not here to kill you. We have orders of taking you back if possible. Make it possible."
"I'm not going anywhere!"
"Fine, but you're making it harder on yourself; I'm not the one getting shot."
"Oh, you're getting shot!" Tsukishiro started shooting his big guns at her. Niko avoided the first round but the second time three bullets hit her in the chest. She stood there indignated as her wounds healed, and frowned.
"Hey! So, you wanna play it rough? FINE! We'll play it rough! Two can play THAT game!" she yelled at him preparing her Dakki.
"Niko, fall back." She heard Kazuhiko's voice in her head. She growled.
"…but not today!" she added to Tsukishiro. "We'll play it rough, next time! THEN you'll know what rough is!" she spat at him and then disappeared.
She reappeared next to Kazuhiko. "I almost had him, Kazuhiko! Why did you order me back?"
"Oh, you know, I missed you." Kazuhiko answered raising his shoulders and tiding his head. Then he looked back to the front of the house. Niko followed his gaze.
There, in front of them, glowing strangely, there was a very big sign that appeared to be from alchemy, like if painted to an invisible wall. Niko studied it without moving, sensing something wrong about it. The only thing they could hear was the Casull's gunshots and, from time to time, Alucard's laughter induced by the battle thrill that always filled him at the prospect of a killing.
Gingetsu appeared next to Niko, visor glowing as the information downloaded to it's core. Still, he couldn't get any firm data about it that could tell them what it was. And he didn't like it. Niko saw this in the glowing of his blade.
She carefully gave some steps forward to the sign, that was two times as tall as her and just as wide.
Then all of the sudden the sign burst into a violent yellowy light and started blowing wind at her. Hot wind. She covered her face with her arm. Niko screamed in pain as she felt her skin burn with it. She vaguely heard Kazuhiko and Gingetsu yell too, but she found she couldn't really move.
The pain she had initially felt in her upper body shot to the rest of it, as if running through the veins together with her blood. It burned her waist, her legs, her toes. She smelled her hair burning too. But she couldn't move! She started to panick. She couldn't just die like that! Not like that, not there, in front of Kazuhiko and Gingetsu!
"Please don't let this happen…" she prayed silently, pulling with all her remaining strength to try and move, but it was hopeless. "Please, they don't deserve this!"
Then the light stopped, or something blocked it… it didn't matter. It was gone. Niko finally was able to move. Actually she fell to the floor as her legs couldn't hold her anymore. The floor was cold. She liked cold. She vaguely felt her skin still burning… she was panting painfully… the air caused a terrible agony as it reached her lungs… there wasn't an inch of her body that didn't ache miserably.
She felt someone very carefully turning her on her back to see her. Someone lifted her form the cold stone floor into his arms.
"No… it's cold… let me stay…" she whispered.
"No." a male voice answered firmly. "You need attention."
She partially recognised Gingetsu's voice. Oh, so it was him…
Why not Kazuhiko?
That was her last thought before falling to unconsciousness.
So she didn't see Alucard lifting Kazuhiko's body from the floor, after he had jumped in front of her and received the light's full power on his back.
The elder vampire turned to where the sygil, for that's what it was, had been a second ago. The air felt hot and smelled old around that spot. He sniffed it absently a second. He shifted carefully Kazuhiko's form in his arms, to steady him better so he wouldn't hurt him, but he was so fragile that was difficult. Strange how he didn't look fragile at a first peek.
Alucard started walking after Gingetsu and looked up at the moon. His eyes widened.
A red halum around it. Red as blood. How could he have passed over that when studying the night earlier? Could he have not noticed such awful thing? He felt uneasy and frowned. Red halum meant death. No exceptions. He looked down at the man in his arms and a wave of terrible angst struck him.
Hahahahahaha… you're gonna have to wait for the next chapter! This is getting serious now, I mean the plot. I've played around it enough. Promise is, there will be more of Seras, Walter and definitely Integra in incoming chapters. Oh and you might be meeting Barus too… Kazuhiko will just love that one. o--
Namariel out!