Yoh and Hao walked through firelit corridor, all other people made them way, looking with fear and respect. The brothers pushed open the big, wooden, folding doors and walked into marble-walled room. There, around the wooden table, stood six men with Mikihisa in the middle. The table was covered with maps, papers and photos: they obviously were planning the strategy of the battle. Mikihisa narrowed his brown eyes to his sons and showed everyone else to leave. As the three were left alone, Mikihisa walked from behind the table and started:
"Hao, how courageous of you to finally show up in front of me" Hao had to controle himself from punching the man, which he, through a very shot time, learnt to hate.
"It wasn't fear that prevented me from coming here"
"Was it a stupid infatuation to that Kyouyama bitch?"
"Don't you call her like that!" Yoh and Hao shot out together. Hao looked to Yoh with amazement. Now he saw completely different person in Yoh. Not only did he join the opposition of his father, but he also protected his brother's love. Wow. Where the hell I've been when he grew up?
"You're against me as well?" Mikihisa eyes Yoh. Yoh's eyes became angry, his voice – husky.
"I'm against your idea of war. That's not the way to live and ruling the world isn't proper as well" Mikihisa's face became angry and confused at the same moment. His eyes shifted from Hao to Yoh.
"We came here to give you a chance of choice. We can end this war here and now" Hao smiled weakly, expressing his sarcasm "or we can all die in a pool of blood" Hao's eyes drilled Mikihisa, but his answer was obvious.
"I won't go in such negotiations. Especially with my own sons"
"If you won't, we're no sons for you anymore" Yoh said, nothingness in his eyes, which would show up in such rare times when Yoh was angry or disliked someone. Nevertheless, Hao saw that these words cost Yoh very much.
"So how's it going to be?" Hao looked cruelly to his father.
"I. Won't. Negotiate" he closed to the brothers "vampire species is not worth living on the same ground as werewolves do" Hao once again controlled his fists from punching.
"Vampires are no worse than we are. Their culture and traditions are older and better than ours. Why do you hate them so much" Mikihisa lowered his eyes, not knowing what to answer.
"You are hiding something from us" Yoh corned him with piercing gaze of his eyes "it's time to tell us, since we came to the reasoning" Mikihisa eyed Yoh and turned his gaze to Hao.
"It started with your brother…"
xxxFLASHBACKxxx
Mikihisa and Vincent were walking through the halls of huge cave. Both men were dressed in formal gowns, making them look like two king, discussing the matters of a countries. That was nearly true.
"Do you think that is true?" the man with short grey hair asked, his voice silently echoing from the stone walls.
"The fortunetellers say that it is" the man with long brown hair answered with a sigh "and they never were mistaken" Vincent stopped and Mikihisa faced him.
"If that's true, we have but one choice"
"And what is that, Vincent?" Vincent's eyes lingered in nothingness for a while. Then he suddenly woke up and said out demandingly.
"We will separate them: one shall be with your cavern for ever, without truth reaching his ears"
"And the girl?"
"I'll keep her under my wing. She'll become vampire. This would be the best" Mikihisa scoffed.
"Don't you think that would be better to kill her?" Vincent smoke his head.
"No. She's important as well. I won't let the last child of noble family of Kyouyama to die" Mikihisa nodded.
"That settles it then. My son will be turned tomorrow at full moon. He's strong enough for that already" Vincent shook his hand and turned to leave.
"You won't regret not killing her, will you?" Mikihisa asked the old man. He stopped.
"I hope I won't. There's an old saying: you can run, but you can never hide from your destiny. I hope we're not doing bigger mistake from that of letting them be together"…
xxxENDxOFxFLASHBACKxxx
"I didn't understand him the" Mikihisa said in lowered voice"but now I do. We have done a mistake in either case. I should have killed that girl then, but I didn't. I trusted in Vincent's senses that she can be useful. And all she did was destroying my son's life" Hao fumed inside.
"All she ever did was giving me life I never had!" he wanted to charge to Mikihisa, but Yoh stopped him.
"I knew you would meet again, no matter what. Your destiny was written in your blood. So go on, get out of here. You both have nothing to do here anymore" Yoh and Hao looked to each other. Yoh let go of Hao and they both turned away from a person they once called father…
Two brothers gone out of the cave unstopped, although they expected Mikihisa to do something.
"Kinda hard to swallow, huh?" Yoh asked Hao as they walked to Hao's car. He nodded.
"Yeah, but I'll cope with that. I just wonder how Anna will take it" Yoh shrugged shoulders.
"Well, from all I've heard and saw of her, she would act quite calm" Hao laughed and, catching Yoh by neck, he rubbed his back head.
"Hey, no fair!" Yoh tried to punch Hao, but he leaned from him fist.
"Hey, Yoh? Thanks for being my brother" Hao said sincerely. Yoh smiled sheepishly.
"Hey, those seven hundred years were wonderful. I couldn't imagine a better brother" they both walked to Hao's car and drove towards the city.
Anna sat by her computer, looking to the clock every minute. Damn it, Hao! Where the hell are you! Bill approached her.
"Miss Anna, could I have a word with you" Anna nodded, leaning back in her chair and looking to him.
"There are two werewolves that drove here. They claim to have come in peace" Anna stood up.
"Lead them here. It must be brothers Asakuras" Bill nodded and walked out of the room. Anna sighed in relief, knowing that nothing bad happened to both of them. A door, through which Bill just gone, opened once more: this time seven men walked in, two completely identical to each other, whit four surrounding them and with Bill in front. The group walked to the platform and stopped in front of Anna. Hao gave her a slight smile, obviously feeling uncomfortable in the middle of vampires' crowd. Anna gave each brother a serious look.
"How did it go?" she asked coldly, but Hao noticed a worry in her eyes.
"Mikihisa doesn't agree with negotiations. You know him: if he persists, he does it to the end" Anna nodded.
"Yes. What about his forces?"
"He's summoning a huge army" this time Yoh spoke. He obviously knew more about it" I don't know when exactly, but he's going to attack the city from all directions" Anna sighed. That wasn't good news.
"Well, we'll have to…"
"What are the werewolves doing here?" a sharp voice flew across the room. Everybody looked to the source of it: Ren Tao stood in a doorway, looking furiously to the brothers. Yoh and Hao smirked as one.
"Wow, that hot-headed idiot's still here" Yoh started with sarcasm in his voice.
"I thought he's already hiding in mountains. Not that he doesn't have to do it now with that haircut" Ren's cheeks grew red from anger.
"Why you!" he began to charge towards the brothers with his kuan-dao (A/N: or whatever you spell it), but Anna stopped him in a middle.
"Chill out, Tao. They are my guests and allies, so be polite" she enjoyed this annihilation of Ren's proud: slightly saying, she hated him anyways. When Ren collected himself, Anna turned to the crowd, which was watching the entire scene.
"For this final battle, vampires and werewolves will fight along, for no species are to be better or worse than another. If somebody disagrees, they can leave right now" no one moved, not even Ren, although his gaze was killing "good. Soon, the battle will begin, so be ready for any moment. Destiny's with us" she risen her katana. The crowd answered the same, lifting their hands or shotguns.
"Destiny's with us!" they shout out. Anna turned around and smiled to the brothers.
"Welcome to my world" she greeted them cheerfully.
"What a hospitality of yours" Yoh laughed out loud. Anna smiled to him.
"Yeah, we know how to greet guests" suddenly Jeanne approached them. She looked worried. Anna asked:
"What's wrong?"
"No answer from Lyserg's squad for about three hours. I think something might've happened to them" Anna looked to Bill, who was standing nearby.
"Bill, send Caleb's squad to check it out" Bill nodded and ran to fulfill orders. Anna turned back to Jeanne.
"Lyseg's squad is too well-trained. They cannot be in big trouble" she tried to believe in what she said. Jeanne nodded and turned around, sitting by the computer. Anna turned back to the brothers.
"Werewolves?" Hao asked. Anna nodded.
"No doubt. I would be surprised if not" she looked to Yoh, who couldn't tear his gaze from white-haired woman. Anna looked to Jeanne, sitting by computer and then to Hao, who winked to her.
"Hey, Romeo, wake up" he whispered in his air. Yoh laughed nervously and turned red. Anna laughed sincerely.
"Jeez, Yoh, you're so predictable" she said, still laughing. Hao smirked to him.
"Yeah, my little brother wasn't tough nut for me when it comes to lying"
"Ok, that's enough of embarrassing me" Anna and Hao laughed once again and all three left the room. They walked outside to take a breath of fresh night air.
"Can you believe we are on the same side?" Yoh asked.
"Few days ago I wouldn't even have thought of it, but now…"
"Everything's possible" Hao ended Anna's thought. The three stood in the yard, admiring the brightness of the stars…