I hope you're still with me after the bad things I did last chapter. This chapter is mostly 'people talk and make decisions whilst exposition happens', but I threw my readers a juicy 'what happened while Zero was unconscious' flashback bone? Please forgive me. I know it gets a bit dry in some places.
By the way, it's always so interesting to see you guys try to guess what's going to happen in your reviews. I'm writing 1-2 chapters ahead of what I post, so it makes me feel glad and sneaky to surprise you. Plus sometimes you give good ideas I add in or I go 'why didn't I think of that?' and marvel at how clever you people are.
IV. Aggressive Negotiations
Zero was not supposed to wake up that first time. To allow his body time to heal and recover, the doctors who initially treated him kept him heavily sedated. Any D Rank vampire should not, under any circumstances, have been able to regain consciousness with that amount of drugs in their system. Zero is no ordinary D Rank, but his body should have sought to remain unconscious anyway, the instinct of a vampire in a safe place to heal its wounds.
What nobody took into account, however, was that Zero may be a vampire, but he was also a Hunter. Vampires had instincts, and vampire doctors knew how to work around those instincts and avoid triggering them. Humans did not have instincts, but after two hundred generations of cutthroat natural selection, Hunters had ingrained behaviors that might as well be instinctive. And one of those impulses demanded you never lose consciousness in the presence of a vampire, especially when injured. Wounded, weak, and surrounded by dozens of vampire auras, Zero's survival instincts kicked in and fought against the medication, mistakenly trying to save his life and allow him to escape.
Zero woke screaming, shooting upright in the bed only to be brought up short by restraints around his wrists that crackled and sparked. Not in his right mind and heavily confused from the lingering sedation, the Hunter fought desperately but without any real direction, toppling off the bed and hanging by his wrists from the bedrail, still bound, yanking to free himself until his wrists bled and his shoulder dislocated. Whenever anyone ventured close, he kicked out with his legs and struggled harder, biting and screeching like an animal caught in a trap.
Eventually, half an hour later, the medical staff got close enough to administer another syringe of sedatives. Exhaustion and injury slowed his reactions and his struggles gradually weakened, body hanging limply from his restraints as he panted and finally stilled. Zero remembers the whole episode like a lucid nightmare, not quite real.
Technically, Zero also remembers the he second time he woke up, but as a hazy dream where all the events were soft-edged and blurry like a watercolor painting. The heavy drugs in his system - the doctors learning from their earlier failure - left his thinking syrupy slow. The way his body swayed, slung like a sack of flour over some vampire's shoulder while descending the emergency staircase, did not alarm him like it ought to, but it did make him nauseous. Zero inadvertently foiled his own kidnapping when his near-empty stomach coughed up bile on the floor, his captor slipped, and then triggered the fire alarm trying to stop his fall.
The third time Zero wakes because he is meant to, gently, slowly ascending upward into awareness, shedding veils of gauzy sleep one by one. Events slot back into place; the gravity of his situation presses down on his shoulders. Shying away from memories of agony, Zero deliberately decides to set aside his questions for more practical concerns.
Just as Master Yagari taught him to, all those years ago, Zero is careful not to let any sign in his face or heartbeat show he's awakened. He extends his awareness to feel for living beings around him: twenty vampires in the surrounding rooms, many more vampires on the floors above and below him, and a dozen Hunters nearby. He's laying on a mattress, and not dressed in his own clothes. He's thirsty - in both senses - and his body aches fiercely, from too many points to bother cataloguing. The red haze is gone and his senses are back to normal. There's the pungent scent of cleaning products, and a tang of blood in the air that no amount of scrubbing could remove. He can't hear any voices or loud noises, only muffled blurs; the walls are thickly insulated, as they are in all vampire built structures.
Zero hasn't been in a hospital since he was human. Finding himself alone in the room, he dares raise his eyelids the barest slit, the better to examine the cold metal objects around his wrists. A set of steel handcuffs - Hunter equipment made to restrict vampiric strength, layered with strengthening charms; Zero owns a similar set himself. He tests his bonds, gingerly so the cuffs don't activate and shock him. He is handcuffed to the left bed rail of his hospital bed; the bed rail and the frame have also had strengthening charms cast on them, to prevent the wearer from shearing through the metal and rendering the handcuffs pointless. Zero closes his eyes again, the sight too painful. The quantity of guards plus the thoroughness of his fetters can mean only one thing. He's been arrested, awaiting trial before a Hunter tribunal, the most severe possible punishment for infractions to the treaty.
A dull sense of despair lodges in his chest.
That's it then. There's nothing he can do. Kuran's words echo in his head. Zero won't even be useful anymore. And if he can't be useful -
When the door opens and a single set of footsteps comes toward him, Zero doesn't even stir.
"Kiryuu-sa….Kiryuu-san? Can you give me a sign if you're awake?, a small woman's voice tentatively asks. She sounds a little frightened, and both Zero's turmoil and the fact she's a vampire can't stop his impulse to comfort her.
"I am. Please don't be afraid, I won't hurt you." His dry throat makes his voice crack; Zero's doing badly at being comforting.
He swallows and tries again. "I know that I'm in a hospital. Are you the nurse?"
"Yes sir, I'm Nurse Itou. May I come closer so I can get you some water?"
Rather than speak again, Zero nods against the thin pillow, and the nurse helps him sit up in the bed. There's not enough slack in the handcuff chain for Zero to bring his hands to his mouth, and nurse Itou leans him over so he can drink himself, a surprisingly considerate gesture. She's a petite, mousy thing who nervously avoids eye contact, but she still helps him steady his cup when his hands shake too badly to drink without spilling water on himself.
"I'm sorry, but I can't remove the restraints. If you feel well enough, I need you to do some exercises to check your responses to stimuli."
Zero nods again, and the nurse goes through a series of basic questions, checks his eyes with a small light, has him move his limbs in specific ways, and asks him to describe his responses to touch and pressure.
A little bored, Zero reaches out toward Itou with his Hunter senses and surprises himself by discovering she is a fellow D-Rank, lacking the volatility in her aura of one falling to Level E. He's intrigued despite himself. A stable D-Rank working here, in a vampire hospital?
Stable D-Ranks aren't that common in the first place; purebloods strictly guard their precious blood, and saving one insignificant human life isn't an important enough cause to shed it. It costs a pureblood nothing - socially or practically - to let a bitten exhuman die. There's billions of humans crawling around, after all, and another replacement meal comes easy.
Ex-humans who do receive their Master's blood belong to their Master, blood, body and life, and are often gifted to nobles as pets, but they receive some slight social protection from the pureblood or noble they serve. To work as a nurse, Itou must have a generous patron, or perhaps she was already trained when she was Turned. No wonder she's the one tending to Zero, she probably gets all the crap jobs that nobody else wants.
Any D-Rank without a Master was the lowest of the low, able to get work only from low paying menial jobs. Called Ferals by other vampires, most of them resorted to prostitution and other semi-legal avenues just to live. Zero himself was spared that fate only because his Hunter blood took precedence over his vampire status. Turning a Hunter was illegal anyway, earning the strictest penalties for the pureblood who bit them, and the Council of Elders hadn't cared enough about an unstable Level D who was falling to Level E to fight for jurisdiction over the illegal fledgling. Zero liked to think they regretted that decision, now that he was stable and very, very good at killing their kind. Whenever Yuuki wondered why he tolerated all the open hostility from the Association, Zero hadn't had the heart to tell her it was because that was far, far better than what he could expect if the Association abandoned him and he became considered a Feral Level D.
"How long have I been out," he asks Itou once they finish the tests.
She looks up from her clipboard like a mouse startled by a cat. "This is the third night you've been here, Kiryuu-san, counting the night you were brought in."
"Have they…" He had to wet his lips and start again. "Have they set a sentencing date yet?"
Itou hugs her clipboard to her chest, expression anxious, "I'm sorry Kiryuu-san, I don't understand."
Zero rattles the handcuffs. "Aren't I under arrest?"
"Oh! No, no, Kiryuu-san." The nurse waves her arms frantically and shakes her head.
"The doctors refused to treat you until you were...restrained. That's all! You're not in trouble. Promise."
She bites her lip and slowly asks him, "How much do you remember about when you were brought in. About what happened to you?"
"Nothing," Zero tells her truthfully. "I remember passing out at the Shoda mansion, then being here."
She looks pensive. "I'm not the right person to tell you about that. The Hunter Association President left orders for you to be left alone until he could speak with you. I need to inform him that you're awake."
Nurse Itou walks back to the door, but pauses with her hand on the doorknob. Zero has only just noticed, but the blinds on all the windows are closed. Curious.
"I was on duty in the ER, the night you were brought in. I've never been so terrified, not even -" she brushes the side of her neck skittishly, " - but it was like the night poured in, and Kuran-sama was there."
Itou says the pureblood's name the same way a religious man said the name of his god.
"He told us that if you died, he would kill whoever didn't help you."
Then she hurriedly leaves, like she thinks she might have said too much.
"Zero, Zero!"
Yuuki has the Level D's upper body gathered in her lap, heedless of the way it stains her dress, and is trying to wake him. She's frantic, crying uncontrollably, all her poise lost when she can hear Zero's heartbeat stutter underneath her palm.
The Hunters are in an uproar, milling around uselessly. Yamamoto roars for silence, and like the good dogs they are, they all go quiet.
After that, while Yuuki's crying still fills the air, Kaname rounds on Yamamoto; he does not like being blindsided, especially when it upsets Yuuki.
"You said he tried to commit suicide."
Yuuki's voice chokes and rises with grief, and Kaname winces at how his words must have hurt her, but doesn't relent.
"We thought he did!"
"Did Kiryuu actually confirm it, or did you guess?"
Yamamoto looks uncomfortable.
"This is not blood loss. Vampires, even Level Ds, do not simply collapse without cause. Did he have access to a Hunter weapon?"
"No, I'm positive. We took his weapons, and what he gave us matched his official records."
Kaname considers for a moment; all of the evidence leads to one conclusion.
"Kiryuu had a seizure; his pulse is weak and erratic, and he's lost consciousness after acting out of character. It's likely he's been poisoned."
As Yamamoto sputters, Kaname casts a look behind him where Yuuki is cradling Kiryuu. She may have chosen him, but she never stopped caring for the Hunter. He will have to save Kiryuu again, for Yuuki's sake. If her knight died now, like this, she would carry the scar forever.
"When was the last time he fed?"
"Fed?" Yamamoto repeats like Kaname's said a dirty word. The pureblood allows himself half a breath to collect his patience.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kaname spots movement. Seiren stands just outside the doorway; if she revealed herself to the Hunters, she must need to speak with him urgently. Her blank face would fool anyone else, but Kaname can see she's nearly white and her eyes are widened with shock.
"Excuse me for a moment," the pureblood says, and walks out into the hall. Yamamoto is conferring with the rest of the Hunters about how to get Kiryuu to a doctor, but Kaname extends the courtesy anyway.
"Kaname-sama," Seiren starts to speak, but her voice fails her. She steadies herself, bows in apology, and begins a second time. "I investigated the circumstances, as you ordered, but I must have made an error. Things cannot be as I surmise. "
Kaname is losing the last of his patience. "Seiren, your judgement rarely fails. Tell me what you have found."
"I discovered the place where Kiryuu was kept until we arrived. The whole room smelled...remarkable. Please confirm my senses are not wrong."
His Shadow hands over a cloth soaked in blood. There's a curious dullness to the scent; vampires can smell blood in the air like a shark senses a wounded animal bleeding into the water, but Kiryuu's blood simply gives the impression someone bled, without being able to pick out the normal markers of identity, condition and status. It's almost like the blood scent is anonymous.
Nonplussed, Kaname raises it toward his nose, and faint tendrils of the potent scent enfold him. Without conscious action, the alpha discovers his fangs have lengthened. The control of a pureblood is close to perfect, though their hungers plumb the depths of what it means to be a vampire, and Kaname's control above all others is nearly unbreakable. It's not bloodlust, but another hunger nearly as dark and deep.
He cannot stop himself from burying his nose and mouth in the cloth and inhaling deeply. The base note is the smell of Kiryuu's blood, almost familiar, but Kaname's memory of his youthful scent subtly differs from the matured bloom of adulthood. There's the musk infusing his skin, tremendously complex - the touch of warm, earthy human deafened by the rich spice of a Hunter's scent, layered with the cool, dark, shallow tone signifying a Turned vampire. Interlaced is a complimentary note - heady, sensual, and carrying just a hint of sweetness without being cloying. The accord between the two notes intoxicates the senses, lending an almost narcotic effect - just as it was meant to. The faint sillage would linger in the nose like a memory, long after its owner passed out of a room.
Kaname is staggered. Even a vampire as ancient as he is can still be surprised, he admits privately. Despite himself, he is a little awed. To witness the birth of a new thing is always wondrous. Even if it is that obnoxious Level D.
"Kiryuu Zero is an impossible being," Kaname muses slowly, "In ten thousand years, no Level D has ever presented as anything but a beta."
"You see why I wished to confirm it."
"Yes. Kiryuu Zero is an omega."
They stand in silence, allowing the weight of those words to rearrange what they thought possible. This discovery changes everything; Kaname is already adjusting his perception of tonight's events and how he will need to respond. After a moment of reflection, Kaname's manner becomes brusque, as though compensating for his uncharacteristic behavior by sweeping it under the rung.
"You've done well Seiren. Prepare to depart while I collect Kiryuu. You will escort Yuuki home and explain the situation to her."
Much as he would like to conceal Kiryuu's status from Yuuki, Kaname knows it will soon become common knowledge; an unbonded omega cannot be hidden. More importantly, Yuuki would see it as a betrayal if he kept it from her. Better to have it out and done now, then leave the matter hanging over his head.
After one more moment to compose himself, Kaname heads straight back inside to Yuuki and Kiryuu, announcing to the room, "My Shadow has found evidence regarding your Hunter's condition. Kiryuu needs to see a doctor immediately, or he will die. I will need to take him to a vampire specialist."
"Wait, wait, wait," Yamamoto breaks in. "You can't just take Kiryuu!"
"You want him to die without treatment?"
"Of course not, but you're a vampire. How can I trust you with his life."
Yuuki speaks up from the floor, earnestly pleading, "Please, Yamamoto-san, he's so cold. I'm afraid he'll die if you don't let us."
Yamamoto looks hard at his sister, considering, and the moment stretches.
"You're President Cross' foster daughter, right? You were raised with Kiryuu."
His sister nods hopefully.
Yamamoto looks at Yuuki's teary face, and blows out a breath.
"Okay, take him to your vampire doctor. I'll explain it to Yagari-san. What am I going to do about Shoda?"
"Shoda will not be a problem. I doubt he will trouble you much longer." Kaname says with certainty.
Kiryuu's scent had spoken of not just an omega - but an omega in season. When it became public knowledge that Shoda, himself an alpha, had forced his touch on an unbonded omega so aggressively the omega felt the need to attack him - not to mention been stupid enough to do it with the omega in season and hypersensitive to advances from an alpha - he would be ruined. Many alphas would see it as Shoda trying to steal the omega by cheating the courtship period.
If Shoda tried to press charges, they would be thrown out of court. Vampire law protected omegas for actions taken when defending themselves or their children; Kiryuu could have killed Shoda and been entirely within his rights. Endangering, harming or killing an omega was nearly as big a taboo as the one protecting purebloods. Omegas became the bondmates of society's most powerful and wealthy alphas, and powerful people did not like it when other alphas touched what was theirs or threatened the safety of their families.
Yamamoto's face remained skeptical, but he moved aside and barked orders for the Hunters to pack up. Now Kaname faces the most distasteful part: he will have to touch Kiryuu. It can't be worse than the way Yuuki looks at him with hopeful eyes, the Level D gently held in her arms. Kaname will touch Kiryuu if only to get him away from Yuuki.
Kaname carefully schools his face in a neutral expression and pushes down his revulsion as he reaches out to let Yuuki carefully settle Kiryuu against his chest. Kiryuu's limp weight is like a feather to a pureblood's strength, but Kaname thinks the Level D feels too light and not warm enough.
Whatever spell keeps Kiryuu's blood stripped of scent, it's not enough when the pureblood knows how to search out the hidden fragrance underneath, not when the source is so close, silver head lolling against his shoulder. His scent would not be so strong were he not in season, nor so compelling if unfamiliar. Kaname's instincts as an alpha stir, uncaring of the fact Kiryuu is his jealously hated rival or the discarded piece of an old game. How many times has he wished to tear apart the body he carries? The alpha only knows that Kiryuu is familiar, and omega, and sick, and needs to be protected. If Kiryuu still bled, the pureblood knows he would be red-eyed and murderous. Kaname wants - oh how he wants - to bend his neck and inhale the perfume straight from the Hunter's skin. Everything about the urge disgusts him beyond measure.
The pureblood holds onto that feeling of disgust to shore up his control. Saving Kiryuu is for Yuuki, and the exhuman is not out of danger yet.
"Yuuki, Seiren will take you home."
His sister begins to protest, looking at Kiryuu's pale face.
"I have far to go. I promise you I will stay until the other Hunters arrive. You need not worry."
Yuuki trusts him with this task; Kaname will not disappoint her, even if he would personally prefer that Kiryuu dies.
Hospitals built for vampires were rare. There is only one vampire hospital he can reach without passing over the ocean to the mainland. Most vampire doctors worked in small clinics and were occasionally summoned by noble households as private physicians. Vampires seldom required medical attention; they could heal their own wounds as long as they could drink blood and their perfect immune systems prevented human infectious diseases. Only lower ranking vampires needed semi-regular medical care; nobles required a doctor only for birthing, presenting during maturity, and palliative care for the most ancient elders. Kaname himself, as all purebloods, has never so much as visited a doctor. Kiryuu will need specialist care for a newly presented omega, and with the great distance involved, there is only one way to get him there quickly.
The atmosphere thickens and becomes heavy; the vampires in the mansion shiver while the Hunters tense. Kaname digs deep into his power and feels his consciousness disperse and spin out into many small points, his form, carrying Kiryuu, breaking apart into nearly a hundred black bats. The cloud of dark wings swirls for a moment in the room, then guided by one will, sweeps through the halls of the mansion before the astonished eyes of lesser vampires and disappears into the night.
Kuran Kaname is steadily working his way through an expensive bottle of claret, still in his stained dress shirt with the sleeves carelessly rolled to the elbow exposing strong pale forearms, and the ruined suit coat and vest discarded on a nearby chair, when his wife knocks on the door of his study.
He pauses with the bottle half-raised then knocks back another mouthful. Kaname's been expecting this meeting ever since he arrived home after dropping Kiryuu off at the hospital. The pureblood has already guessed why Yuuki's here to speak with him. Hence the alcohol.
He's always indulgent when it comes to his precious girl. Kaname will let her request whatever she wants of him, no matter what it costs to fulfill, so he puts the bottle down and calls out for her to enter.
She looks human again, with her makeup smudged by tears and wiping hands, and tendrils of her hair struggling free from pins and barrettes. Red-brown blotches mar her white dress, the same blood on his own clothing. None of it detracts from the distressed resolution showing in her face.
Her hands twist together, but Yuuki doesn't shy away from his gaze. They both know what she's here about, and that Yuuki knows that her brother won't like it, but she's going to ask regardless.
"Yuuki," Kaname says, his normal soft tone when talking to her, "You should have changed before you came to see me."
They both still smell of omega. It's as though Kiryuu is an invisible third presence in the room.
"Onii-sama, it was important so I came immediately."
She comes a few steps closer, earnestness straightening her spine.
"When Takuma Presented, you told me that he couldn't just stay by himself. That it was dangerous for an omega to remain unbonded. You said even betas couldn't be trusted because they might be working for an alpha. Takuma's the most powerful noble I know. He's the new leader of the council. He inherited his family's business empire."
Kaname turns away, unable to watch Yuuki's bright concern any longer, retreating to stand by the glass balcony doors.
"If Takuma can't be without a mate, then what about Zero! He's a Level D, and a Hunter, and he doesn't have any of those things. What happens to Zero?"
"Yuuki…" Kaname began. "Kiryuu lies under the Hunter Association's authority, so I don't know what the Association will want to do."
"But what I said before is true. Whether or not Kiryuu wishes it, he will either take a mate or be made to bond with an alpha."
Hearing his words, Yuuki has already made her decision, but she wavers a moment, knowing the weight of what she will say.
"Then…"
Yuuki screws up her courage, "Then I want to bond with Zero, as his alpha. I want us to court him, together. Please, Onii-sama, I can't let him be hurt."
Kaname hates Kiryuu for bringing this side of Yuuki forward so easily. He can barely get Yuuki to call him by his own name, no Kaname-sempai or Kaname-sama, but for Kiryuu she'll boldly face him and demand his help. For Kiryuu she'll ask, even when she knows it pains him to see her do it.
He knows he's fighting a losing battle, but Kaname tries to dissuade Yuuki from this course. He turns back toward his wife and advances, taking her hand.
"Yuuki, it doesn't have to be us. I can find an allied alpha who will treat Kiryuu well. You'll be able to see him whenever you like."
"Onii-sama, can you look me in the eye and tell me that Zero will be better off with with another alpha? Can you promise me they will love him unconditionally, and that no one in the world will care for him better than we can?"
Kaname can't lie to her, and his pained face says as much. He tries a different tack.
"A pureblood attracts many enemies, Yuuki. It would be more dangerous for Kiryuu if he bonds with us."
"I thought I might watch Zero die in my arms tonight. He's a Hunter; he'll face danger whether or not he chooses us. At least if he's by my side I can make sure the danger has to go through me to get to him. I will protect Zero. That's what I've decided. Even if he doesn't want or need me to."
She smiles at him, undeterred. "Besides, you keep me by your side, Onii-sama. If it's so dangerous then why not send me away?"
"Because I am a weak, selfish man," Kaname murmured, bringing her body into the circle of his arms and burying his face in her hair.
"Then I'm selfish too," Yuuki retorts, "And even more selfish than you. Because I want to stay with you. And I want to be with Zero too. If we do this, than I can have both of the people I love in my life."
"Are you ready to care for his needs, and the needs of his children?"
"I don't know. But Zero probably doesn't know either. And right now he's alone, and he shouldn't have to do this by himself. I'm not good with books, but I'll read as many as I have to to figure out what Zero needs, and we'll learn together. And I hope you'll help me too."
Kaname holds her tighter, and closes his eyes.
"Onii-sama," Yuuki says gently, "Love is not a finite thing. It grows. I will never love you any less because I also love Zero, or Cross, or Juuri and Haruka, or whatever children we may have."
Kaname sinks down into a chair, and pulls Yuuki back against him. He has one last card to play.
"Can you bear it if he hates you?" he asks quietly, looking up into her eyes.
"Even if Zero hates me forever," Yuuki declares, holding his face in her hands, "I'll bear it, as long as it keeps him safe."
"When we parted, I didn't understand his feelings or mine. I could stay away from him because I thought it was better for both of us. He hates purebloods, and we belonged to different worlds. But now being with him isn't impossible. If I have to spend ten thousand years working for Zero's love, then I will. I'm a pureblood too, Onii-sama. I'm not letting what I want get away without taking hold of it with both hands and fighting as hard as I can for it."
"So be it," Kaname agrees, voice so quiet Yuuki can barely hear him, "We will take Kiryuu Zero as our Omega."
"Zero has to agree first," scolds Yuuki, "we can't get ahead of ourselves - we haven't even started the courtship yet!"
Then she peppers kisses on his face and nearly strangles him with a hug, and doesn't notice when Kaname says nothing in return.
Tucked away in their beds, the students of Cross Academy don't stir when a shrieking black wind howls through the trees and over the rooftops - a wind that blows through the open window of their Chairman's home, and reforms into a vampire in his study.
"Kaname-kun," Cross Kaien says from where he's seated behind his desk, perfectly unruffled, like vampires flew in through his windows every day, "please have a seat."
Kaname does, opposite where Yagari Touga is sprawled on an armchair like a lazy lion. Appearances are deceiving - Yagari's single eye glints and Cross' hair is down. Tonight he's speaking not to his former teachers, but to the co-presidents of the Vampire Hunters Association.
He matches their relaxed postures with his own, content to project the fiction - for now - that this is simply an informal courtesy visit.
"Thank you for seeing me, President Cross, President Yagari. I'm pleased to see you got my message."
Yagari speaks up for the first time, not losing his characteristic drawl, "Yes, about that. What exactly does the most powerful pureblood leader need to say to us, that he asks for an unofficial meeting that's completely off the books?"
"I think, Yagari-san, it's what you need to speak to me about."
Instantly, Yagari loses his laziness. "And what do I need to speak with you about, vampire?"
"Recent events, of a personal nature to you both, that may be outside your control but within mine," Kaname says carefully.
The two Hunters digest that statement.
"I think," says Cross, "it would be best if you spoke plainly, Kaname-kun."
The pureblood leans back in his chair.
"Kiryuu Zero is still unconscious, is he not?"
"Kaname-kun, your agents have already told you he'll be kept asleep until tomorrow night," Cross gently chides.
"Have you considered what happens when he wakes up?"
Cross steeples his fingers. "The Association has not decided on a course of action."
"Then perhaps I may offer my views on the situation?"
Cross and Yagari exchange looks; Yagari is scowling while Cross looks wary.
"Go ahead, Kaname-kun."
Kaname leans forward again. He needs to be diplomatic; his plans will go much more smoothly if the pureblood can gain their support.
"As humans, you may be unfamiliar with the politics of presenting as an omega. I doubt you have spoken with one, except for the at-that-time unpresented Ichijo Takuma, and now Kiryuu Zero."
Yagari's weathered face tightens in a scowl at the reminder while Kaname continues.
"The vampire world has been content to let Kiryuu be considered a Hunter and to allow the Association jurisdiction over him - he held no value in the eyes of the nobles and the Senate. This is no longer true. He is now one of a protected, valued class of vampire, whatever his origins. They will seek to obtain him and bond him to an alpha."
"You now have three choices. One, you can hand Kiryuu over."
"No," Yagari growls, rejecting the possibility immediately.
Kaname graciously allows the objection to stand for the moment, and goes on.
"Two, you can imprison him in a place no vampire can reach, behind the wards of the Vampire Association Headquarters."
"Wouldn't work. Zero wouldn't be able to stand it," Yagari shakes his head.
"You're correct," Kaname confirms, "Its effects on his mental health aside, imprisoning Kiryuu is merely a temporary solution. It does not solve the problem. Kiryuu would have to spend the rest of his life, potentially hundreds of years, without ever leaving that building. And even that isn't infallible. The wards might someday be breached, or one of his fellow Hunters might betray him. Hiding Kiryuu presents similar problems."
"What is the third option?" Cross questions.
"If you truly want to deny Kiryuu to the vampires, then you will have to kill him."
"What!" Yagari roars and jumps to his feet.
Kaname ignores the one-eyed Hunter and continues on, holding Cross' gaze.
"Which leaves you with only one remaining possibility, if you value Kiryuu Zero's life and health: he must be bonded to an alpha. When and how this happens is up to you. Know that the more you try to keep this from happening, the more likely an unscrupulous alpha will be the one to bond him, and the worse Kiryuu's situation afterwards will likely be."
"Hold on," says Yagari. "Doesn't an omega have to consent to a bonding? Zero won't agree. That makes him useless to you vampires."
"You're partly correct, Yagari-san, but your understanding of omega biology is limited."
"We've never been able to study one," Cross remarks behind sharp eyes. "If you could enlighten us, Kaname-kun."
"Very well. You are aware of the origin of purebloods? The true origin, not the fairytale vampires prefer."
According to history, purebloods originated 10,000 years ago during the strife caused by global warming. The vampires claimed they spontaneously arose from humans, but anyone with knowledge of the three dynamics and an ounce of logic could see the truth: the purebloods were the most advanced bioweapon ever designed by humankind.
They were not the deadliest; anybody could whip up a virus that killed a billion people. No, what the purebloods could do was infinitely more complex, and it could be argued, more useful.
A single pureblood, unkillable except by their own kind, could easily subdue enemy forces, Turn them and then incorporate them into their own armies, overpowering their will and controlling them with nothing but a word, without the possibility of betrayal or disobedience. If no enemy soldiers were available to be turned, a pureblood could simply breed an army instead through human females or vampire mothers, also populated by subordinates who could be perfectly controlled.
All purebloods were born Alphas, but their primal, deepest instincts were designed to respond to an Omega and rule over Betas. Which begged the question of why, if the other two dynamics didn't exist yet and were descended from pureblood-human couplings, did those instincts complement and mesh so perfectly? Because they were designed to. Because whoever made the purebloods also created the Omegas and Betas alongside them, tucked into the pureblood DNA code, in a feat of genetic engineering unequaled in the history of the world.
The Ancestor of the Kurans remembered little of those early years; he was perhaps three when someone wiser and more foresighted dropped a hydrogen bomb on the research facility. It was already too late. The immortal purebloods survived, but their creators and all of their research was left little more than slag and glass. Putting yourself back together from a few cells took time, and the purebloods simply wandered off when they had bodies again. Some of the lucky ones found homes with human parents, while others like Kaname remained alone, and the myth of spontaneous creation was born.
"We're familiar with it. What has that got to do with anything?" Yagari asks as he sits down again.
"Omegas arose as an answer to a problem accidentally caused by producing invulnerable super soldiers."
Kaname stands and begins to pace slowly back and forth as he lectures. "The problem itself was first identified among the early prototypes. Invulnerability to human infectious diseases requires an immune system exquisitely sensitive to foreign bodies and equally as good at destroying them."
"So what?"
Kaname gives Yagari a dry look. "A fetus, medically speaking, differs little from a parasite. The mother's body must keep her immune system from attacking her infant during pregnancy, or she will miscarry."
"So the first pseudo-purebloods could not reproduce." Cross looks fascinated.
"Yes. The designers found a solution, though not a good one. A vampire's body will gradually learn to 'recognize' a partner's genes as friend, rather than foe, and stop the immune system from destroying them. But immune tolerance between partners can take centuries. Even now, every live birth means many failed pregnancies came first."
"For example, Souen Ruka's mother is an alpha married to a beta husband, and she has been very publicly open about her difficulty conceiving even a single child. The problem worsens among purebloods, who must breed alpha to alpha - Kuran Haruka and Juuri spent three thousand years together and only had Yuuki and myself. Their parents were even older, and after millennia of marriage still produced just three children."
"The bonding between an alpha and an omega is a streamlined version of the immune tolerance process allowed by their specialized biology. Completing a bond immediately and near permanently synchronizes the pairs' immune systems through an array of biochemical markers - pheromones through scent and taste, sweat, saliva, blood, semen and so on - and guarantees a chance at a successful pregnancy."
Yagari is squirming uncomfortably in his chair. Kaname gives him a thin quirk of his lips; the Hunter glares back like he guesses Kaname added those extra details on purpose.
"Once a year, an omega goes into season. If properly primed and attuned to an alpha, they will then go into heat. Only during those heats can an unmated omega bond, and an omega can conceive only with a bonded partner during their heat. As simple as it sounds, it's remarkably difficult. Heat is costly to an omega's body; it leaves an omega vulnerable and exhausts them, so their bodies won't go into heat if the conditions aren't perfect. When your lifespan lasts thousands of years, waiting another year for a good opportunity is better than becoming weakened during a poor one."
"Triggering an omega's heat requires precisely the right chemical sequence at exactly the right time. Their bodies require a minimum of nine months of exposure to a single alpha's pheromones to even begin the process. They must be healthy and well-fed. Stress hormones will disrupt the process, as will injury and trauma."
"One of the most vital heat triggers is intercourse while in season; without stimulation the omega's body believes it has no available partner and no heat will occur. An omega stays clear-minded while in season, but they are aggressive and as likely to murder an alpha as they are to mate with one. Raping the omega will block their heat, because it causes high amounts of stress hormones. Therefore, the omega must be a cooperative partner.
"To return to your question, Yagari-san, no, an omega does not have to consent to a bond. They only need to cooperate. Biology does not care if that cooperation was coerced or willing."
Kaname goes over to Yagari so he can stand over him while staring him in the eye.
"Do you know what happened to omegas in the time of the Ancestors, Yagari Touga?"
"There are always so many more alphas than omegas. Twenty or thirty would form an alliance, and together they would kidnap and capture a newly presented omega. Of course the omega wasn't willing! So they made the omega cooperative - by breaking their will first. Imprisonment, starvation, drugs, rape, torture - all of that and more to gain the obedient, unprotesting doll they wanted. Alpha instincts abhor harming an omega, but instinct can be overcome by avarice. Mostly, they got around it by spreading the task between themselves or ordering humans and betas to do do the dirty work. Eventually, even the strongest omegas gave in after decades of abuse and torture. Then those alphas would bond the omega, once it was conditioned to helplessness and wouldn't fight them. Not all of the alphas would bond successfully, after such a sloppy process, only fifteen or twenty of them. When the omega birthed a child, as soon as it was weaned the alphas would take it away, forcing the omega back into season to carry another child. That omega would never see its children again. Most of them died after less than a century when their bodies gave out under the strain."
Yagari is white as a sheet, his single eye wide with horror.
"That…"
He has to lick dry lips to speak.
"That wouldn't happen to Zero. Don't try to frighten me. You vampires don't do that anymore."
"For calling us beasts in human form, Yagari-san, you're remarkably generous to us. It was the monarchy ruled by my ancestors that created the laws protecting omegas and their right to bond whom they wished. For thousands of years, forcibly bonding an omega earned a death sentence for the offending alpha and their children.
Under the Council of Elders and the Senate, those laws have been less strictly enforced. There have been questionable occurances. Mysterious murders of newly bonded alphas, their young children also killed or suspiciously disappearing, any pregnancy conveniently miscarried in time for another alpha to bond the widowed omega. Courtships made into farce by death threats and blackmail against the omega's family by more powerful alphas unafraid of prosecution under the laws.
Not even a two centuries ago, a young omega and her sister disappeared from their family estate. The parents were not powerful or wealthy, and though they searched desperately, someone with both of those things was hiding their daughters. Five years later the sisters reappeared, with the omega bonded and pregnant. The omega claimed she had run away with the alpha in a love match; the sister reported she'd been held captive and her life had been threatened to force her sister to bond. The alpha's father, conveniently enough, belonged to the Senate and everything was swept under the table."
The Senate and Council had done most of Kaname's work for him, with their blatant corruption and gross cronyism. Conspiracy with the Hunters, once proven, destroyed whatever good public reputation remained in the eyes of neutral vampires. After that, even an adolescent pureblood could build a rival faction in fifty years, the opposition desperate for a leader to gather around.
"Enough, Kaname-kun. We understand that Zero is in danger."
Cross keeps his gaze fixed on the pureblood as he deliberately removes his glasses and places them on the desk.
"Why are you here tonight?"
"I know that you've contacted Shouto Isaya for help; I also know your old friend can do little. Shouto is already bonded, and he interferes little with politics, preferring to take no action. I am here to offer my help instead. I'm familiar with the Senate and have influence with the highest levels of vampire society, where the power of the Association does not reach."
"For what price?" Yagari snorts and crosses his arms.
Kaname returns to his chair, leaning back to place his hands on the chair arms and crossing his legs at the knee, before turning his attention back to Cross.
"You cannot stop Kiryuu's bonding. If you want what's best for Kiryuu Zero, I suggest you negotiate the circumstances of his bonding to his - and your - greatest advantage. Demand he be bonded - and married, for extra protection- to the alpha of your choice, in exchange for concessions from the vampires in the treaties between our races."
You ensure Kiryuu's future, the vampires can't complain you refused them, and the Hunters receive benefits from the deal, meaning Kiryuu will still be thought of as an asset and ally."
"And what will your role be in this?"
"I will help arrange the negotiations. As compensation, I would like you to refuse to use anyone but myself to oversee the meetings."
Cross tilts his head thoughtfully, "To ordinary vampires, it would look like the Association distrusts the Senate; it will discredit them, while you alone appear to hold our trust and confidence."
Kaname says nothing, but makes a careless motion with his hands, like it was of little consequence.
"A courtship is traditional," says Cross.
"A courtship is easily manipulated without complete vigilance; better to avoid the risk."
"It could stir resentment from alphas denied a chance at an omega and put Zero in danger."
"Not if you chose a powerful enough alpha, for whom the victory would be assured."
Kaname was counting on that anger, anyway. Shirabuki would be enraged if she were denied a second omega in less than two years. Any hasty actions she takes leave him an opening; Kiryuu will be excellent bait.
Cross was staring at Kaname again, eyes hard and a hint of suspicion in his face. So he's realized where this is going.
"And who would we chose as his alpha?"
Kaname keeps his voice steady.
"Yuuki and I will bond with Kiryuu."
"Hold the fuck up!" Yagari shouts, pounding on the arm of his chair.
"You?! You think we'll trust you? In the first place, you want us to agree to an arranged marriage? Do you think Zero would want that? To be sold off like a cow? To have us make this decision for him? You think he'd want to marry a vampire? Have children with one? After what you beasts have done to him? Taken away his humanity and his family? Not to mention what you did to him personally, Kuran."
"Kiryuu can always choose to die if he doesn't like it," Kaname says offhandedly. "Since the outcome is inevitable, take the route that gives you the most control to achieve the result you desire. What better option do you have?"
None, and all of them know it.
"Why shouldn't Zero take a different partner?"
"No Level D has ever presented as an omega. Kiryuu is the first such case, and we don't know if his body is capable of fully functioning as an omega. As an ex-human, Kiryuu's fertility is uncertain, and he brings no power or wealth to a marriage. The best, more powerful potential partners won't take the risk. You'll be left with only weak alphas who know they stand no other chance at an omega. Becoming a pureblood's partner also offers him protection; no ordinary vampire would dare harm Kiryuu despite his status as a Hunter and a Level D."
"You and Zero have a history of not getting along, Kaname-kun. What reason do I have to trust you with his future?"
"I am not asking you to trust me; I am asking you to trust Yuuki. Yuuki loves Kiryuu and values his life. I love Yuuki and will do anything to keep her happy; for Yuuki's sake, no matter what my personal feelings are, I will protect Kiryuu's life and health, and Yuuki will look for his happiness. You entrusted your daughter to me, Chairman Cross. Please entrust this matter to me as well."
"And Yuuki," Yagari asks skeptically, "has agreed to this?"
"She wishes to bond with Kiryuu."
If his sister wanted a hunting dog, then Kaname would present the mutt wearing a golden leash. Perhaps the circumstances will drive them apart; the pureblood can only hope.
Cross presses his fingers to his temples.
"I would require assurances regarding Zero's treatment and his rights."
"I will require assurances regarding Zero's behavior as my spouse. We can work out those terms during negotiations."
"We will continue to seek other options."
"I would expect no less."
Kaname is not worried; he's already made sure they'll find no better offers.
"Then we are agreed?"
Cross closes his eyes. "I was prepared to kill Zero if he fell to Level E, all those years ago. I can do nothing less, now, for his life. I will propose your plan to him. What he chooses is up to him."
"Excellent. Please guard him well. I'm told there was a kidnapping attempt a few hours ago."
Slumped in his chair, Yagari buries his face in his hands.
Let me know in the comments if there's anything you didn't understand about how omegas work in this verse, so I know what I need to explain more clearly in future chapters.
I deviated from the manga canon here about where purebloods come from, because I like my version better and Evolution Does Not Work That Way.
Immune tolerance during pregnancy is a real thing, by the way, and so is exposure to a partner's fluids preventing pregnancy complications. No, science has really suggested it helps! I can't make that stuff up.