Chapter 12: Paths Converge

It had been weeks since Yoko last went to town, as her father did not let her leave the schoolgrounds much. He allowed her to go this time with the twins to buy groceries, having run out of ingredients for dinner.

Ichiru was in one of his healthier spells and had annoyed Zero into letting him tag along, complaining he would sooner die of boredom than from sickness. Zero had caved in and allowed him to come, under the condition that he dress warmly from neck to toe. While Ichiru had to dress like it was the middle of winter, Yoko was dressed for the fall weather. She wore a dark purple sweater over a button up shirt and black jeans with knee-length boots. As usual, her messy curls were tied into a ponytail.

Right now, she was standing outside the pharmacy, waiting for the twins to finish purchasing medicine in preparation for the fevers Ichiru was susceptible to during winter. As she waited, she observed passersby and the scenery. Some mothers walked by pushing babies in strollers or tugging kids along. A few shopkeepers stepped out for cigarette breaks. It was a mid-sized, idyllic town, made even more picturesque by the colors of autumn.

Something caught her eye – on the branch of a nearby tree, there was a butterfly with light yellow wings. If it were not for its fluttering wings, Yoko would have missed it, given how well it camouflaged with the orange and yellow leaves of the tree.

How odd seeing a butterfly at this time of year, she thought. Perhaps it had escaped from a nearby greenhouse?

It reminded her of the butterflies she seen all summer. This past summer there had been more butterflies than usual. Whenever she sat in the gardens to read among the morning glories and irises, butterflies hovered nearby, sometimes even landing on her hair or shoulders. When she strolled around the school grounds, butterflies followed her. Perhaps the gardener had made some changes to attract more pollinators?

As she pondered the unnatural sighting, the bell over the pharmacy door chimed as Zero and Ichiru exited. As Zero walked over to her, he sensed something was off. It was the feeling of being watched. He scanned their surroundings but did not notice anything strange – wait, there was a butterfly this time of year?

As though it had sensed his wariness, the butterfly fluttered its wings and took off.

Zero shook his head, perhaps he was imagining things. In any case his instincts had not sensed a malicious presence. He beckoned to Yoko, and they set off for their next destination, the farmer's market. It still irked him how the headmaster had been so careless and forgot to stock up on groceries. The pantry back in the house was empty except for a few dusty cans, relics from who knows when.

Hopefully, they would be able to purchase the produce they needed before the market closed. Zero was tired of living on (probably expired) canned food like they had been doing for the past few days and was determined to cook a replenishing meal tonight. Although Yoko and the headmaster seemed perfectly content eating canned beans and fish, those two were abnormal in their gastronomic tendencies. He and Ichiru needed real food, his brother especially, considering his naturally weak constitution.


The sun was starting to set when they finished their shopping. It would be completely dark by the time they made it back to Cross Academy. Yoko carried the paper bag filled to the brim with produce, the leafy tops of carrots hanging out and Ichiru carried the lighter bag of fresh bread and pastries (mostly for him and the headmaster, since neither she nor Zero were into sweets). Zero who had been walking in front of them came to a sudden halt. He turned and she noticed he wore a grim frown. Ichiru saw Zero's expression and understood that he had sensed a vampire near them.

A few seconds later, they heard a woman's loud and anxious cry.

"Help! Someone help! My daughter, my daughter has been taken by some man!"

They looked back to see a crowd forming a street away, around a woman who had collapsed on the ground, sobbing and pointing in the direction the kidnapper had gone. Zero's face darkened and he thrust the bag from the butchers at Yoko, who caught it, barely managing to hold both bags without dropping anything.

The kidnapper was probably the vampire he had sensed just now.

"Ichiru, stay here with Yoko. I'm going after the kidnapper."

Ichiru nodded.

Although he was nowhere near as fit as Zero given his health conditions, he was still capable of some self-defense. Fortunately, he was carrying some hunter talismans on him which can temporarily immobilize a level E, giving them time to run. He also carried a small combat knife with anti-vampire properties, something his parents had given him to protect himself in case of emergency. It was not the most impressive set up, but he should be able to protect himself and Yoko if push came to shove.

Zero took off, disappearing into a small alley as Ichiru and Yoko moved aside to a corner and waited. Although they were worried about him, they knew he had experience hunting level E's. Given the expectations the Hunter Association had for him, Zero had been going on hunts since he was 14.

The association and everyone only expect things from Zero, but not the hopeless and weak me, Ichiru thought with a hint of bitterness, but quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

Ever since Ichiru could remember, he had admired his strong and kind twin. However, as they grew older, a small darkness had grown and festered in him. Part of him resented Zero, wondering why Zero was so strong and he was so weak even though they shared the same genes. He struggled to suppress those ugly feelings and had channeled his energy into mastering hunter spells, something that required less physical exertion. Thankfully his hard work paid off, and he was proud to say that at least in this field, he outshined his multi-talented brother.

After extensive research and tinkering, Ichiru had succeeded in strengthening the immobilizing power of hunter talismans to three times their usual magnitude two years ago. Even Yagari-sensei had been impressed and asked him to craft some for him and his colleagues in the field. For the first time, he had been acknowledged by his parents and Yagari-sensei, and he had been elated for weeks afterwards. The experience had further motivated him, and he was currently working on a bigger and more ambitious spell for use in the field, with completion being within reach soon.

Although Ichiru had been deemed unfit to be a hunter, it was hard staying away from things concerning hunters when the rest of his family were active members of the association. Even if he was not a hunter, he can still help with the "backstage" aspects. Members of hunter families that failed to qualify as hunters stayed involved by performing administrative and clerical duties at association headquarters. Others helped maintain hunter weaponry, of which there was a limited amount, given that they were all forged from the same parent metal in the furnace underneath the headquarters. In the future, Ichiru hoped to get a job in the weaponry department. He was confident he could figure out how to enhance the spells cast on hunter weapons and make them deadlier to vampires.

The crowd was already dispersing, and within a quarter of an hour, only Yoko and Ichiru were left on the avenue. Most people were home eating dinner at this time.

Ichiru leaned against the wall and wondered how long Zero will take. Just as he was about to close his eyes and doze off, he heard the shrill wailing of a baby. He saw a man carrying a crying baby leap off the building adjacent to them, and land only a few feet away from them.

Both Ichiru and Yoko froze in shock.

The man (clearly a vampire given his ability to jump and land unscathed from a two-floor building) glanced back and Ichiru started, seeing his eyes glowing red. The vampire had fallen to level E, as evidenced by his maniacal expression, sharp nails, and unkempt appearance. Another woman's desperate scream for help sounded, and the vampire quickly took off down the alley opposite the direction Zero had gone.

Ichiru was overtaken by his desire to chase after the kidnapper vampire. Although his decision was mostly motivated by the desire to rescue the baby from the crazed vampire, a smaller motivation was the selfish desire to prove himself. He could trap the level E with his talismans and contain him while waiting for Zero to arrive and deal the final blow. Yoko would probably be safe since she had the Artemis rod with her.

"Stay here and when Zero returns tell him I've gone after the other vampire," he barked at Yoko and took off before she could stop him.

Yoko stared in frustration at his back as he too disappeared.

Although Ichiru was fine now, who knows when he might relapse? His fevers snuck up unannounced, he could be fine in the morning and confined to bed by night. He might not even be fully recovered from his last bout of sickness. It was too dangerous for him to go alone, and she would never forgive herself if something happened to him.

At that moment she hated how weak she was as a regular human. Although humans had accomplished amazing feats, when they were stripped of their weapons and technology, they were among the lowest on nature's pyramid.

Yoko glanced down the alley Zero had ran off into but saw no sign of him. She slipped her hand into her bag, feeling the cool metal of the compacted Artemis rod, and made up her mind. Leaving the bags of groceries behind, she took off after Ichiru.


Kaname's acute senses told him there were around 5 level E's running rogue in town. He had left Cross Academy accompanied by a few followers to deal with this problem, before the Hunter Association stepped in. Since he was the pureblood responsible for the vampires at Cross Academy, every time trouble sprouted up involving vampires in the vicinity, the association was quick to blame him for letting problems happen on his watch. Kaname intensely disliked hunters and refused to give them any ammunition for criticizing him.

Kaname had dispatched his followers in pairs, sending them after the targets. Takuma had been paired with Senri, and Hanabusa with Akatsuki. He now stood alone at the intersection of two smaller and less frequented streets, observing the sunset and waiting for their return. It should not take long, his followers were aristocrats, and their opponents were level E's, on the lowest strata of their pyramid.

The problem with Level E's is that they had lost their sanity, and thus moved unpredictably, like desperate animals making one final reckless charge to take their predators down with them. If not careful, the predator could end up harmed because they underestimated the ferocity of their prey. However, Kaname trusted his followers were more than capable of dealing with level E's without sustaining a scratch to themselves.

As Kaname waited, he pondered the recent surge of level Es in the surrounding towns and felt his anger simmer at how that depraved descendant of his was finally making his move and causing all these problems even before he showed up. Why had someone like Rido, who had no regard for the sanctity of the lives of others, been born from his blood?

His insidious inner voice interrupted him. Rido took after your dirty aspects, that's why. For the sake of your goals, you're willing to sacrifice others too, he's simply more open about his desires and deeds than you. The voice laughed, harsh and grating, before vanishing in the depths of his mind.

Kaname clenched his eyes shut, and after a minute, reestablished his inner equilibrium. It was annoying thinking too much, things he wanted to avoid always found a way to slip past the mental barrier he had erected and torment him.


Yoko had run down several streets and checked several alleys, with this being the latest, but Ichiru was still nowhere in sight.

She paused to rest, but her head snapped up when she heard a loud noise of wood and glass breaking behind her. Looking back, she saw a figure rise from the ground, having fallen through some wooden crates. Glowing red eyes peered from behind long and scraggly hair. He was like the other vampire who had appeared before her and Ichiru earlier, both resembling patients that had escaped from a mental asylum.

Her instincts screamed at her to flee, but her feet were frozen in place due to fear. This was the first close encounter she had with a level E and she suddenly became keenly aware of how alone she was. She was once again reminded of how impressive Zero was, to constantly deal with frightening beings like this. The vampire looked at her and sniffed the air.

"You smell good." He cocked his head and examined her with more interest, "You probably taste delicious."

The vampire twisted his mouth into a disturbing grin and realizing how dire the situation was snapped Yoko out of her inactivity. She quickly drew the Artemis rod out, extending it to its full length. Even if the odds were against her, she would not go down without struggle. She did not have much of a choice.

Only by putting up a fight could she hope to stall him off long enough for help to arrive. Her rod was simply a rod, useful for defense, but useless for more than that. Unlike Zero's weapon, the Artemis rod was not capable of killing. And even if it was capable, she wondered if she was capable of ending someone else's life…

Before she could warn him to stay back, he lunged at her, and she barely dodged out of his way. He quickly went after her again, and she managed to aim her rod at his head and hit him straight in the left eye. With a loud wail, he clutched his eye, and she took the time to run towards the larger and hopefully more populated street.

She was only human, without the enhanced speed and strength of hunters and vampires. There was no way she could beat him, so the wisest option was to run for help. Hopefully Zero was nearby…

However, the level E soon recovered from his pain and started running after her. Within half a minute, he overtook her and forced her up against a wall.

Before he could bite her with those glistening fangs, she rammed the rod into his mouth and held him back with both arms extended. He snarled angrily like a wild animal caught in a trap. As he struggled, he managed to claw her left arm, his blade-like nails cutting through the yarn of her sweater with ease. Yoko winced as he drew blood. Gritting her teeth, she kept pushing him back despite the burning pain in her arm.

His eyes were glowing red with blood lust, and he was still biting the rod, all signs of rational thinking having deserted him. The only thing he understood was the need to drink blood.

Despite the grim situation, seeing someone who used to be human become a being controlled by their basest desire to devour blood made her pity him. She wondered what he used to be like when he was still human. Did he have family waiting for him? If he had family, they would be heartbroken if they saw him reduced to this mindless state.

The rod shocked him with its anti-vampiric properties, and he finally released his bite and staggered back, growling. He stared at her for a few seconds before lunging forward again to attack. She was able to avoid the brunt of his attack, but he managed to slash her right upper leg. Her blood seeped out and drenched her jeans rapidly.

Yoko squeezed her leg with her free hand, trying to staunch the bleeding and simultaneously pushed her mind to think of an escape plan. With her limited abilities, her best bet was to hold the level E back while waiting for Zero to show up and deal with him. Unfortunately, that was not likely to happen. Instead, she would probably be drained and dead before help arrived. She hoped that at the very least, Ichiru was not in a similar predicament as her…

The vampire gnashed his teeth and glared at her with its eerie red eyes.

She felt her head start to spin from blood loss and realized with some apprehension that he had probably severed the femoral artery. That is bad…even if he didn't drain her to death, she would probably bleed to death within minutes.

The dizziness overwhelmed her, and she sagged against the wall, her grip on her rod loosening. With a dull clunk, Artemis slipped out of her grasp, falling onto the cold ground and rolling a foot away. She tried to keep her eyes on the level E who was still looking at her, but her vision was already going blurry. All her senses were slowly going dull, and her heart thumped loudly in her ears as it rushed to pump blood to her lower extremities.

Despite the fuzziness in her eyes, she could see the level E creep closer, coming in for the kill.

She prepared herself for the inevitable and closed her eyes. At this point she no longer had the strength to run or hold him back.

Instead of sharp fangs, she felt someone embrace her.

Yoko slowly opened her eyes to see a girl her age, with large brown eyes and long, light brown hair looking down at her. The girl was crying, her tears falling unrestrained, and she was calling her name anxiously. Yoko wondered how this stranger knew her name. Oddly, she could not help but feel that this girl she had never met was somehow familiar.

Looking to the side she saw the snarling level E pinned to the ground by a swarm of butterflies…butterflies that looked the same as the one she had observed earlier.

"Yoko, you're bleeding so much. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you!"

The girl's voice interrupted her drifting thoughts and Yoko wondered who she was…maybe she had met her before but had forgotten? However, it was now hard to think…all she wanted to do was let go and sink into the darkness.

She heard a loud "phwishing" sound, like that of a tower of sand crumbling. With much effort, she kept her eyes open and turned towards the sound.

Kaname-senpai was standing near where the level-E had been, the nails on his fingers extended, and his hand covered in blood. There were specks of blood on his camel hair trench coat, and his eyes glowed red. He wore a coldly furious expression on his beautiful visage.

The last thing Yoko saw before she gave in to the overwhelming darkness was Kaname-senpai moving towards her, his lips moving as though sounding out her name.


Yuki clutched her sister tighter as Kaname approached, his expression still very frightening.

Her mind was a jumbled mess, her thoughts clamoring loudly and demanding her attention. She could not keep calm; her hands trembled, and she could not stop crying. She had no idea how to save Yoko. Shizuku had been right, all she knew how to do was cry. She berated herself for being so pathetic and useless…

Yuki was a vampire, and all the wounds she had ever suffered had simply healed on their own, quick and clean. Yet Yoko was now a human, and her cuts were not closing, and all this blood was pouring out with no sign of ceasing. Yuki did not know how to stop the flowing blood; she did not know how to stop her sister's life from slipping away.

Yuki turned to face Kaname. He would know what to do, he had to!

"Pl-please save Yoko!" she managed to choke out between her heavy sobbing.

Kaname gave a cursory glance to the girl, and his eyes widened for a second. That familiar face and coloring, as well as the aura of a fellow pureblood (though much weaker than him) – could she be?

He snapped out of his reverie, now was not the time to clarify the stranger's identity, he needed to tend to the severely wounded Yoko first. At the very least, he was sure that whoever the stranger was, she had not harmed Yoko. In fact, she had probably saved Yoko from the level E.

The rich and alluring smell of Yoko's blood hung heavily in the air. Takuma and the others would undoubtedly sense it soon and realize what had happened. Judging from the amount of blood drenching her clothes and spilled on the ground, her life was in danger. Yoko 's vampire traits had been sealed, so she was as vulnerable as a human now. She would die of blood loss if he did not get her to a hospital soon.

Kneeling down, he quickly shrugged off his coat and tore a strip of his shirt, using the makeshift bandage to tie up Yoko's arm and stop the bleeding. Time was of essence…he had to hurry. He furrowed his brows as he concentrated on administering first aid. It had been so long since he had to treat someone that he felt his composure waver as he tended to her.

He had not felt such panic since the night Rido had attacked the Kuran manor. And fear…the fear of once again losing someone important to him. He had lost too many people he loved over the countless years he had lived…he could not lose Yoko too.

But now was not the time to wallow in fear and the past…he did not have that luxury.

"Let me carry Yoko, we need to get her to a doctor," he stated quietly but firmly/

Yuki nodded meekly and released her hold. He swept Yoko up in his arms.

"Follow me." Kaname ordered without looking back at Yuki.

Not sparing even half a second for her response, he morphed into a flock of bats and flew off, heading to the nearest hospital at the fastest speed he was capable of. If the human doctors could not save Yoko, he would be left with no choice but to break her seal, the very seal that Juri had given up her life for.


Kaname managed to rush Yoko to the hospital, where emergency room doctors quickly took over. Kaname and Yuki sat in the waiting room, each lost in their worries as the doctors treated Yoko and gave her a blood transfusion. After two hours of tense uncertainty, a doctor informed them that Yoko's life was no longer in danger, although she was still unconscious and would need to rest for a while. She was transferred to a private room, where Kaname and Yuki now sat beside her bed.

While they waited for the headmaster to arrive, Yuki fidgeted in her chair and glanced nervously out the corner of her eye at her brother. From the moment he had ordered her to follow, to now, he had not spoken another word to her, nor glanced at her.

Now that Yoko was safe, Yuki was aware she should explain what had happened, who she was and how she meant no harm. She didn't want her older brother mistaking her for someone with bad intentions. She had simply been observing Yoko and lost track of her for a short period. One of the hunter twins had sensed her familiar, so she had laid low for a while. Her attention had also been momentarily drawn away by the homework her real body had to deal with back in the mountain cottage. When she finally resumed her observations, Yoko had already disappeared from the main avenue.

By the time her familiars found Yoko again, Yoko was being attacked by the level E. In the urgency of the moment, Yuki had manifested a copy of herself from her butterflies to protect her sister. Even now, the Yuki sitting beside her sister's hospital bed was a duplicate, her real body and heart miles away.

She wondered if Kaname knew her identity. He seemed to trust her enough to let her follow along, and to sit in Yoko's hospital room with him…

Yuki wanted to get it all out in the open, instead of sitting here in stressful silence. But she had no idea when she should start talking and questioned if she should even start talking. Although her older brother no longer wore the scary expression he had earlier when he killed, his eyes still contained a frightening darkness. He did not seem to be in the mood for any conversation.

The minutes ticked by, and they continued sitting in silence as they kept vigil at Yoko's bedside. The only sounds in the room were the reassuring hum of the medical equipment and their breathing.

After an indeterminate amount of time passed, Yuki saw Kaname shift in his seat.

He placed a hand on Yoko's forehead, his eyes glowing red as he used his power to erase her memories of what had happened and substitute the missing memories with fabricated ones. Yuki was slightly alarmed, but made no attempt to stop him, knowing that would be futile and that he had his reasons. Perhaps it was better for Yoko to forget this incident…she had nearly lost her life and might be traumatized.

A few minutes after he finished tampering with Yoko's memories, the door opened and a few males quietly stepped in.

Yuki stood up and observed the strangers warily. The four appeared to be aristocrats, level B vampires like Maria.

Kaname finally turned to her. "It's alright, they're not enemies."

At his words, Yuki recalled she had seen them before at Cross Academy. They had been walking behind Kaname when the Night Class headed to the lecture building. It seems they were part of his trusted inner clique.

She sat back down.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, and two more people frantically rushed in. She was more familiar with them, having seen them often with Yoko: the hunter twins that served as school guardians alongside Yoko. From what she had seen, they were like brothers to Yoko.

While the vampires glanced at her with reserved curiosity, they kept their composure and silence, waiting for their leader to speak first. Meanwhile, the twins openly stared at her, with both concern and confusion evident on their faces. However, their curiosity about her identity and what she was doing there was quickly overshadowed by their worry for Yoko.

"Kuran, what happened? Why is Yoko hurt?" The twin with his hair cut shorter glared at Kaname accusingly.

"Kiryu, watch how you talk to Kaname-sama!" The blond vampire with cerulean eyes warned.

His irritation and steadfast loyalty to her brother was apparent in how quick he had been to rebuke the hunter.

Her brother raised a hand, which stopped the blond from further berating the human.

Kaname then turned to stared coldly at the twin who had spoken. "Kiryu-san, Yoko was attacked by a level E after you and your brother both ran off, irresponsibly leaving her alone. She got hurt badly and could have died due to your negligence."

Zero was unable to respond, due to the truth in the pureblood's words. He gritted his teeth and continued glaring at the pureblood.

Yes, he knew he should not have left Yoko alone, but he had to save that child from the level E. The reason why Yoko was hurt in the first place was because of purebloods! Without purebloods, there would be no level Es, and Yoko, as well as that kidnapped child would not have been endangered.

Yuki sensed the room's atmosphere getting tense and debated whether to tell them to argue elsewhere and let Yoko rest, or if that would be inappropriate given her current position as an outsider. To her relief, someone else spoke up in her place.

"Kaname, Zero-san, the two of you need to calm down. It's clear you both are worried about Yoko-chan, but now isn't the time to be throwing blame around." The taller blond vampire with green eyes interjected while placing a reassuring hand on Kaname's shoulder.

Kaname gave Zero a hard look before turning back to face Yoko and sighing. "Takuma is right. We are not here to assign blame, that would be a waste of time. What matters is that Yoko is safe. She lost quite some blood, but she will recover."

Zero and Ichiru glanced at each other, both sensing the other's self-guilt. They should not have left Yoko alone, especially when they were aware of how attractive her blood was to vampires. Even back at school, Hanabusa had the habit of flirtatiously teasing her about how "delicious" her blood smelled, having caught a whiff of her blood once when she fell and scraped her knee.

Ichiru looked down, reproaching himself for running off. Although he had managed to immobilize the level E with talismans and wrest the traumatized baby from its claws, Zero had not arrived to kill it. Instead, Takuma and Senri had shown up, the blond putting the vampire out if its misery with one slash of his katana.

He had only discovered something had happened to Yoko when Takuma and Senri had suddenly stilled, detecting the strong scent of blood in the vicinity. The two of them had followed the scent of Yoko's blood to the hospital. Before they hurried off, Takuma had informed him that Yoko was hurt, and to head to the hospital. After rapidly returning the baby, Ichiru had rushed off to the hospital.

Similarly, Zero had tracked down and hunted the level E, returning the kidnapped girl safely to her mother, before bumping into Akatsuki and Hanabusa who had just finished off another level E nearby.

Kaname shifted his gaze to the nervous girl by his side and came to a decision.

"I need to go report this incident, so Zero and Ichiru-san, stay here with Yoko until Headmaster Cross arrives. Aidou and Kain, the two of you stay as well and keep watch."

"Yes, Kaname-sama, leave this to me," Aidou assured, his voice brimming with eagerness to serve.

Kain likewise accepted Kaname's order, though with less flare than his cousin.

"Kuran, we'll look after her even without you asking, and me and Ichiru are sufficient to keep watch," Zero growled while looking at the wounded girl.

"I really wonder about you and your brother's reliability after what just happened," Kaname retorted drily as he rose, beckoning Yuki to follow him.

Yuki stood and started walking after Kaname. Two steps later, she abruptly turned back, having remembered something. The hunter twins kept their eyes trained on her as she walked over to the bedside table, took the compact Artemis rod out of her pocket and placed it on the table. She had picked it up before following Kaname to the hospital, having noticed that her sister had dropped her weapon. She gave them a curt but polite nod before exiting, leaving her sister in the care of those four.

Yoko would be alright now, but meanwhile she had to deal with Kaname. She was not sure how their conversation would go and felt more than a little apprehension…


A/N: The siblings finally meet. And to clarify the timeline, this chapter takes place roughly 7-8 months after the previous chapter. Both sisters are 16 now, since according to wiki Yuki's birthday is March 9. So Yuki has been spying on Yoko for a bit over a year now lol.