A/N: Really sorry about the late update. When I said I had the next four chapters sitting on my drive for years, it is true, however I decided to change the course of the story and wrote this chapter all over again... and I dunno if it was the right choice huhu.. anyway here it is, forgive me for some errors because I will proofread this tomorrow since timecheck it's already 1:17am here... stay safe everyone and stay home as much as possible!
"I am very disappointed with what happened." Kaien declared, hazel eyes showing exactly what his words and face is expressing. As a retired hunter, he knows vampires and what they're capable of, but despite that he made a choice to trust Kuran Kaname and his followers, believing they have the same end-goal. A safe world for their loved ones, and then for the rest of the world.
The unmistakable sound of a gunshot was what alerted the headmaster from the comfort of his home as he was just about to hit the sack that was followed by the unique and aromatic scent of a pure blood. The blood of the most pure and powerful. Kaien was afraid something had happened to Kaname but the thought of some audacious fool daring to hurt or even worse, spill the blood of an ancient vampire -the progenitor of the Kuran Clan- scared him even more, not for Kaname but for whoever is going to be on the receiving end of his wrath.
It was most likely that if the bastard who dared to touch Kaname hadn't already died in the hands of the pureblood himself, that he would suffer the same fate in the hands of the nobles.
No one. Not a single one being is allowed to kill or attack a pureblood, most especially their King. The blood of a pureblood is sacred and protected. Even the Hunter's Association knows and has to abide by that.
Kaien hurried out to find the source of the scent, afraid that such an incident in his jurisdiction might put him and his academy in peril. When he realized that his feet were bringing him to the Sun dorm and the sight of some of his day class students outside of their own rooms looking at him and expecting him to do something because 'something weird is happening inside Kiryuu and Ito's room', his fear just intensified.
"We understand your sentiments, headmaster Cross." Takuma Ichijo lowered his head just a little then back up to meet Cross's eyes once more. "I failed to provide a solution to Kaname-sama's current situation. It was all my fault." The noble claimed. "I was tasked to-"
"That doesn't justify what Kaname-sama did." Kaien said bluntly, he believes the noble but it wasn't him who touched Zero.
"No, it doesn't." said the voice from behind the headmaster. He turned his head and saw the pureblood looking straight at him, so he stood up and faced him. "Please take your seat again, headmaster Cross." Kaname gestured and rounded the sofa to sit on his tall wine velvet wingback chair on the headmaster's left, the one that is closer to the window and just beside a side table. Kaien took notice of him limping just a little.
"Kaname-sama, please let me handle this." Ichijo pleaded with their leader.
Cross understands that the noble doesn't want to make their King do the apology because he knows that's what he came here for.
"Aidou, didn't Kaname-sama tell you to quit snooping around?" Kain called his cousin out, he doesn't want to get roped into his schemes anymore.
With a finger on his lips, Aidou motioned for him to keep quiet as he continued to press his ear on the pureblood's door. To think humans got so smart as to invent soundproof rooms is just unbelievable, it limited their exceptional hearing abilities and has been giving Aidou difficulties.
Frustrated that he still can't hear a thing, he puffed his cheeks and stomped away muttering curses under his breath. "That old man is feeding Kaname-sama stupid ideas again, I'm sure of it. He can't even control his bastard son and yet he's thinking of controlling two different species, how ambitious could he-"
"Cut it out!" Ruka's voice came out of nowhere, cutting Aidou's rumblings. Her wrinkly robes indicated the noble had already retired to bed but was roused by their commotion outside her room. Her room is the second closest to the pureblood, just right next to Takuma's. "Kaname-sama will tell us what happened when he is ready."
"It was his blood! His precious blood! You smelled it too! How can you all act so calm?" Aidou is already fuming about the lack of reaction from everyone else. "It was a gunshot, who else in this campus is always carrying a gun? An anti-vampire gun? That bastard Kiryuu needs to pay for this!"
"And he will pay for it." Said another voice from behind Ruka. "If Kaname-sama orders us to." Then she yawned, clearly still in need of sleep.
"We shouldn't wait for it! Are we robots? We can decide for ourselves, and I say, we go out there and kill that dirtbag now!" Aidou was gesturing his emotions out, his body expressing his eagerness.
"You don't understand do you?" Senri's voice made everyone turn to him from the stairs as he was ascending. He looked like he just arrived from somewhere.
"What?" Aidou asked.
"You were only too focused on Kaname-sama's blood and you didn't notice another scent." He pointed out and saw how everyone was taken aback by it. "Plus it all happened in the Sun Dorm, specifically in the prefect's room." He dropped the facts that shut everyone else up. As he was passing by everyone to get to his room, he was also trying to remove his coat. "You should get back to sleep now and let them handle it."
Offended, Aidou muttered "Just because you're sleeping with the Vice-President doesn't mean you can start ordering us around-"
Kain elbowed his cousin at the same time Shiki turned back, icy eyes trained on the blond noble. "Roommates! He meant roommates!" Kain corrected, wrapping his arm around Aidou's shoulder, squeezing hard enough to knock some sense into him. "Aidou's just exhausted, I'll make sure to tuck him in right away."
Aidou let himself be pushed around by his cousin after realizing he might have said too much.
'I will honor our agreement, Cross.'
That was what the pureblood told Kaien and though he's not satisfied, he will hold on to his words because that's the only thing he can do for now, to give him one more chance. He, as the school's headmaster and Zero's guardian, will do the right thing at the right time.
Kaname didn't apologize to him. He wouldn't accept it either. The apology should be done to Zero, and though Kaien doesn't know how that will happen, the pureblood assured him;
'I will no longer take Kiryuu's blood against his will.'
But despite that, he knows that he failed as Zero's guardian, he failed him and his parents...
The door to his office opened and revealed Zero in his Day Class uniform looking so crisp and fresh as if he wasn't just attacked the night before. There was hesitancy in his movements though.
"The Night Class Vice President did his voodoo thing to Ito and somehow made him responsible for those noises." Zero remained standing in front of his table, waiting for his acknowledgement.
Kaien knew the students have already been pacified and in order for the issue to die down quickly, the Night Class pledged to host and finance an activity for the Day Class students. A festival.
Zero watched the way his guardian slowly moved to change his sitting position. The silence is very foreboding and it isn't like the headmaster to be this brooding.
"Chairman?" Zero called out, taking a tentative step forward, unsure of what to do.
With his voice, it looked like the blond was awakened from a magical spell. His eyes that were trained at him seemed to have finally been able to see him. It wasn't long until deep furrows appeared on his forehead.
"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your guardian Zero! Your father!" Kaien Cross's voice was accusatory and dare he say emotional? With that, Zero was taken aback and had to take a couple of steps back. For all his time with Cross, he never knew this side of him.
"Did you really think I would favor Kaname-sama over you? Knowing that you are at a disadvantage?" The headmaster didn't even stand up but his words loomed over him and hit him like a concussion grenade, the one this other hunter accidentally detonated during their training that stunned every single living being in the area and left them bedridden for a day or two.
Zero was at a loss for words.
"I will do anything for you. You just have to trust me!" The headmaster finally stood up and turned his back on him, right hand massaging his head.
Trust. Zero gulped and looked down, eyes focused on the small crack on the tiled floor.
Is there anyone alive he can still fully trust with his life right now?
Toga Yagari
That's right. The man saved his life more than once and he's the only one he truly trusts. But how can he tell Kaien Cross that without hurting his feelings? How can he tell him that he thought he'd come last to him and that his connection to Kuran shattered the possibility of him ever trusting him?
In front of him is the same guy who took him in and treated him like his own son, who not once ever treated him badly and he feels guilty.
"I'm sorry." He uttered. He truly is.
A long silence stretched uncomfortably. A few seconds more and it felt like Zero would've been able to start hearing the headmaster's thoughts.
The sound of movements from fabric brushing against each other and friction from the shoes against the floor made Zero raise his eyes just in time to meet Cross's own.
"No, I'm sorry." He forced a smile and for just a little bit, the cheerful headmaster is back, though Zero knows better. "It won't happen again. He swore to me."
It's not like Zero didn't believe his guardian. It's Kuran Kaname he couldn't believe. It had been five whole days and he hasn't seen and felt him. So there might be an ounce of truth in it, but he can't take any chances.
That bastard knows nothing about common decency after all. All he has in his veins is bloodlust and his fucking pride. Zero still feels his skin crawl when unbidden memories of him flashes in his mind out of nowhere. The feel of his fangs piercing through his skin and the sound of him gulping his blood. The forceful way his fingers dig into his skin and the way his burning red orbs looks at him like he's a very delicious full course meal that's being presented to someone who hasn't eaten for forever.
Everything about him and what he did to him is so repulsive it leaves a sour taste in his mouth from the bile that rises in his chest to his throat.
But what irks him the most is when he remembers the pureblood's fucking lips on his skin and his mouth. His warm breath on his skin gives him goosebumps.
Just like that, his face heated up like he was boiling from the inside and steam was rising to his head, emitting thick smoke like a steamboat.
He needed to hit something and so he did. His fist found and landed on the nearest innocent tree that was minding its own business but unfortunately was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The intensity of his punch shook the said plant causing the birds to fly off. The pain was a welcome distraction but the sound of fireworks took his attention from checking his fist for bruises and splinters. The fascinating bursts of multicolored lights dancing in the sky was also reflected on the lake in front of him. Zero could also hear the joyous screams and applauses of the Day Class students.
The Night Class sure knows how to throw a happening. Not only are they apt at using their vampiric powers to get what they want but they also use their bottomless money pit, Zero scoffed. They threw a festival! All for the sake of covering up Kuran Kaname's ass.
"Fucking Night Class." He uttered under his breath.
"Stop cursing!" Yuuki's annoyed voice cut through the silence that followed after all the fireworks had collectively stopped.
Zero turned to see Yuuki dressed in a colorful flowery yukata and he couldn't help the admiration that flowed over him. She looks like a grown young woman, if that makes sense. Her hair was tied in a ponytail with a white ribbon and some stray wavy locks that may have been blown by the wind to the sides of her small face look perfectly imperfect.
Yuuki clearing her throat made Zero come to his senses. "The fireworks' over, they're starting to close the festival and I knew you never stepped foot in the grounds so I brought you some of the food I thought you might enjoy." She raised a paper bag into his view as she smiled at him.
Zero found himself sitting on one of the benches installed near the lake for students and faculties taking strolls to use. Yuuki was humming as she excitedly took out a box of hot takoyakis knowing full well that it's one of the silver-haired's favorite foods.
"Tsanang!" She giggled when Zero accepted the box. "I thought of you when I saw the stall. This is the only thing in the world that puts hearts in your eyes whenever we're in town doing the headmaster's chores."
As Zero looks at Yuuki more, he sees her youthful innocence and the need to protect those smiles and laughter suddenly pierced through him. Just like him, she had walked through a dark tunnel and while he came out broken and vengeful, she came out like a ball of sunshine, spreading rays of blinding light to the world. Protectiveness surged tight in his chest.
When he noticed her tilting her head to the side, waiting for his response to who-knows what because he wasn't paying attention, Zero said "You didn't poison this, did you?"
A pretend scandalized reaction was what Yuuki did as she lightly punched his shoulder causing Zero to lose grip on the box. Yuuki squealed and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the food on the ground, but thanks to Zero's trained reflexes, he was able to catch it in time.
They both didn't realize they held their breaths at the same time when they heard each other exhale together. Yuuki's infectious laugh that was followed by a loud snort coaxed a laughter out of him.
Something was going on in his chest. For some reason, it tightened too hard he had to put his hand over it to soothe it just for a bit.
"You clumsy bumpkin! You have blood on your knuckle!" Yuuki's worried voice echoed through the forest. He saw her take the box from the hunter's hands and pulled him towards her to inspect his wounds.
So that was where the sweet sweet smell came from. Though he wondered how the silver-haired boy got his wound, he was distracted by the scene he found.
His little Yuuki pulled the ribbon that tied her hair to wrap it around Kiryuu's hand, her beautiful brown hair cascaded down her back, and like a curtain coming down, it covered his view of the silver-haired boy as she fussed over him.
More than the kindness Yuuki is showing Kiryuu and the closeness between the two, including Kiryuu's enticing blood, it was the latter's eyes and laughter that floored him completely.
It was the very first time he saw those lavender eyes shine and sparkle, like a million stars were dancing in them and he couldn't take his eyes away. It was also the first time he heard him truly laugh, it was perplexing how just witnessing these, added to the tugging in his chest that never really went away since he met the hunter.
Thanks to the new liquid suppressant, he's now able to control his bloodlust, especially over Kiryuu's blood. Though he still feels the attraction to his scent, he's now able to manage and put a rein on his urges. Or so he thought.
"What do you want from me?" Kiryuu's voice guided his eyes back to the two in the clearing by the lake. There's a slight annoyance in his voice but he was looking at Yuuki with fondness betraying his intent, whatever it is.
"I need help with Math and Social Studies, hehe." Yuuki bit her lip, looking so cute in front of the hunter, it made him curl his fist.
Zero was surprised to see Kuran Kaname after what- two weeks?
He has finally joined his bloodsucking clique in their weekday parade. Tuning out the other nobles, he focused his eyes on the Night Class president and prepared himself for a possible staring duel, where he would gladly participate in and show how he isn't backing down and how he won over him this time.
On his part, the pureblood seemed to have tuned him out too because he all but looked in his direction, flashing smiles and nodding at everyone.
"Oh no, Kaname-sempai! Over here!" screamed the girls behind Zero.
"He wouldn't look this way!"
"I know right?"
"He looked at everyone but not here."
"Maybe because Kiryuu's in front of us, he's probably pissed him off."
"Let's stand behind Cross tomorrow, okay?"
They sounded frustrated and annoyed and unfortunately for Zero, they all had him to blame for it, and they should because it seems like the pureblood has taken the initiative to avoid him at all cost. He's got to give Kaien Cross more credit for his words. He owes him a bit of indulgence.
Three missions in almost one and a half months. That was such a downgrade. Zero was very disappointed and also bored. To be honest, and he didn't have to lie to anyone anyway, he enjoyed hunting Level E's more than patrolling the school grounds while the Night Class were playing pretend school.
That's why when he received his mission in the neighboring town, he bolted in excitement and eagerness the moment darkness started to paint the sky. Level E's hide from the UV rays, not only from the sun but also from light bulbs, so it was natural he'd start searching in the most secluded and darkest places.
He turned towards the direction of a human aura fast approaching his location. It was a weak one, and as it came closer, he could tell by the light footsteps that it was a child and he wasn't mistaken. A child whose about eight or nine years old in his nightwear was running barefoot in his direction. He kept looking behind him so he didn't notice Zero coming for him.
When he caught his small form, he was crying and his body cold and trembling, he screamed and tried to get away from his hold, scratching his arm and face in the process.
"Ssshhh it's okay, it's okay… I'm here to help you." He tried to calm him down. It took awhile for the boy to calm down and tell him what happened in fragments.
Missions were sent and assigned as fast as they can be to hunters in the area for immediate attention. That's why most of the time, they do not contain any backstory and the investigation is done as it is being tended to. The Hunter's Association cannot leave a Level E for too long, as it will cost more lives.
So hunters technically learn about the mission as they go. It seems like the man in question is attacking the boy's brother. "He's attacking my younger brother!" He was being led to a farmhouse in the middle of an open land far enough away from the town center.
There it is, the aura he's been looking for. It was coming from the house and as they approach, sounds of glasses breaking and things being thrown everywhere are getting louder.
"Stay here. No matter what you hear, you have to stay here." He told the boy and didn't wait for a confirmation before leaving him behind the wheelbarrow overflowing of dried hay.
Bloody Rose was ready on his hand, pulsing in his hand. The boy must have closed the door when he got out of the house, trapping the E in it.
It was one of the easiest missions where he enters and fires at the Level E, watching the ex-human fall on the floor and noting the end of a successful mission. He eyes the lifeless body of the boy bathing in his own blood.
"Ichiru!" Cried the child behind him who left his spot outside at the sound of the gunshot that signaled him safe to come in. Ichiru?
A cold chill crept up Zero's spine at the name and he was rooted on his spot. And just like a movie's flashback, he saw himself in the child as he ran over to his brother, not minding the blood as he sank beside him and gathered him in his little arms crying and repeatedly calling his name. "Please… please… Ichiru wake up... don't leave me."
Zero's heart ached. He felt it literally broke at the scene and how familiar it is. It was the same thing he did, except for his parents. Wet heat started to form on the corners of Zero's eyes as he looked away and found himself staring at a huge family picture on the wall. There he was, poor man he just killed.. With his wife and two kids…
"You're all I have left…" The boy continued.
Wait a minute. "Hey child… your mother.. Where-"
A piercing shriek almost broke Zero's eardrums not just because of its loudness but because of its closeness! And before he was able to complete his turn, with Bloody Rose on the ready…
"Kiryuu move!"
He didn't have enough time to process the sudden appearance of the owner of that voice because all he ever saw before he was pinned to the ground was a very fast movement, it almost seems like it isn't an actual Level E.
Zero recognized the mother of the child from the picture as she hovered over him, kitchen knife in her hand and with her fast movement, she already had it over his chest before she stopped midway and her head flew off, landing on Zero's side. Despite his shock at the un-Level E speed and ability to use weapons, he was still able to push the dismembered body off of him before he got more blood on him.
"Mommy!" The child screamed and ran towards the head.
That scene would have touched Zero further if not for the hand that offered him to stand up.
"You were careless!" Kuran seethed, his ruby eyes glowing and his aura filling the room and starting to suffocate him. "You're a hunter! Not an audience! You're not watching a movie!" And because he didn't take his hand, the pureblood reached for his arm in one hand to force him to stand up. "What were you thinking?!"
This is the first time for Zero to see the pureblood losing his composure this much, yelling at him and being so angry over his own mistake.
"You gave her an opening! Because you were revisiting your own family's attack in the middle of the mission."
Kaname went on and Zero still couldn't find a word or proper response to the brunet's overwhelming presence and reactions over him.
"..or are you going soft again, hesitating because you feel guilty for killing your own kind, you soon to be Level E-"
Zero's fist landed on Kuran's jaw, it was in all fairness strong enough to stop him from yelling at him but unfortunately wasn't enough to cause the right amount of damage to prevent him from pushing him towards the nearest wall. Their noses were touching already and he could feel and smell his warm breath on his lips and collar.
"Don't you ever-" Kuran gritted his teeth and immediately let him go, backing away from him and covering his nose, eyes glowing red even further. He saw how the sword he was holding changed its shape to a small dagger and disappeared in his hand. "You're wounded."
As if invoked, the sting from the wound that the pureblood noticed first made itself known. Zero found it on his arm. Shit. The woman really was too fast, it clearly was her kitchen knife that made the cut.
Zero pulled and tore the bottom part of his own shirt to wrap it around the wound and when he finished, the pureblood disappeared as fast as he appeared.