Aido's heart pounded as he chased Akane's scent though the faux forest surrounding the school. His mouth watered, his eyes stung, and his hands shook around the hilt of his ice-sward at the strain he exerted to keep his composure at the powerful draw of her blood. He steeled his nerves, preparing for the sensory onslaught he was bound to endure when he reached her.
She may want to protect that Level D, but he hasn't seen her for over four months. I was shaky after just two weeks. His sobering thoughts pushed his legs to pump faster, hastening his pace to arrive at a scene he'd expected but had not been prepared or ever wanted to see.
Akane was pressed against a tree, held tightly in the painful clutches of a male Vampire. Her arms were draped lazily over his shoulders as he bit into her neck, guzzling every drop of blood that spilt from the wound he'd viciously bit into her, decorating her throat with a new mark to match those Aido had uncovered.
The Vampire was tall and lean, with defined muscle to his arms and shoulders, seen through his thin, grey, hooded sweater. He wore a pair of dark blue denim jeans and a pair of old and worn, white, running shoes, yellowed with age. He looked to have been turned in his early thirties with messy dark blonde hair felling in disarray around his face, and his blood-lusting red eyes gleaming in the darkness, displaying his nature.
"Hay!" Aido bellowed, gaining the Vampire's attention. He pulled his lips back to hiss at the Noble for interrupting his meal when he finally lifting his blood-stained face from Akane's neck. A snarled rose from the back of Aido's throat at the sight of Akane's blood smeared on the lips of another. He was more incensed that the wretched creature had the gall to challenge him.
Akane's head spun and rolled back onto her shoulder while the grip the Vampire had on her waist, tightened. The Vampire's grip held fast to Akane as he turned to face Aido, placing himself between his pray and his competitor. The conflicting emotions of a father wanting to protect his child and a Vampire, so close to slipping into bloodlust, and needing to feed, tore at him. He snarled, tightening his already, bruising grip on Akane's torso as others arrived to steal her away.
"Aido!" Kaien called as he and Yuki rushed to the scene, spotting Miu laying on the ground and Akane being held in the Vampire's unyielding grasp. Yuki startled at the amount of blood on and around Miu and felt her heart clench at the sight of Akane's hand shakily rising then dropping back down, to dangle uselessly by her side. She was too weak to fend off her attacker, but her movement had drawn his attention.
"Please... l-lets go home." Akane lightly whimpered, pain and fatigue laced through her breathy whisper. Aido's grip tightened on the hilt of his sword. She was so tired, so limp, and weak, she could barely speak, drained to the point of unconsciousness because of him. What further angered him was the look in her eyes, because, even now, she looked at that Vampire with such love and adoration.
She hadn't lied to him when he'd teased her weeks ago. She'd said she loved this Vampire, with confidence, because it was the truth. The bitterness that seethed within Aido at this realisation was unwelcome and baffling. He drove the emotion away to deal with later after he took care of this Vampire. He had invaded Cross Academy and injured two Day Class Students. Aido would do his job and dispatch this threat, as instructed by his Vampire Lord and headmaster.
"Get away from her!" Aido commanded with a growl, gripping his sword ready to fight. Kazuo glared fiercely at the higher-level Vampire. Who the hell was he to command him? Who was he to look at his daughter like that, to lust after her blood like that? She was his! He was the only one allowed to look at her, to touch and hold her. The only one that he would allow to feed on her and this boy wanted to take his precious girl for himself, to take his place! Filth like you, aren't allowed near her!
Aido struck out with his weapon like lightning, but Akane's blood had worked in restoring her father's reflexes, the boost only the blood of an Unfortunate can offer. He threw her from his side, away from the oncoming threat and dodged Aido's ice sword which had been aiming to remove his head from his shoulders. Kazuo's face was set in a ferocious grimace of fury, teeth bared and fingers out like talons. Suddenly, his face went blank. His eyes lost their red hue, replaced with a deep, forest-green Aido recognised.
Kazuo's head whipped around the small clearing to find where his daughter had landed when he'd flung her back. Aido was rooted at the sight of those green eyes and the rich scent of Akane's blood washing over him, too strong, too much. He felt sick.
Attention turned to the slumped figure that had landed at the foot of a tree, some two feet away from the waring duo. Blood from the bites on her neck blended with the blood seeping from the fresh wound on the back of her head from her harsh collision with the tree's rough bark. Aido dropping his sword, frozen to the spot while Yuki covering her mouth to halt a silent scream, and Kaien stared only to look away in shame and sorrow. The colour draining from his face.
A jagged, broken branch protruded from Akane's stomach covered in blood and gore which flowed from the gaping hole in her body like a river. Her eyes were what stopped Aido's heart completely and sent his ears ringing and his legs to give out. Wide, terrified, confused and staring right at him!
For one crippling moment, his world went silent and numb until Kazuo moved, abandoning the fight with a desperate whine as he ran to his daughter, futilely pulling her from the tree and cradling her in his arms. He wailed in agony as Akane's dazed eyes sought out his face in her blurred and darkening vision as her chest stubbornly rose and fell.
"D… Daddy?" she weakly called, finding the strength to raise a trembling hand to the hand her father used to cradle her cheek delicately.
"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. My baby, please, please don't let this happen. You're all I have!" Kazuo sobbed to his daughter with his forehead resting against hers, begging for something she couldn't give. Her heart clenched at the sight of her father's tears, and yet, every drop seemed to chip more of him away. He'd been without her for so long, his resistance to the excessive amount of blood was useless.
Akane winced as the hand carefully holding her face squeezed, fingertips and fingernails digging into her chin and cheekbones. The pain of his fangs was nothing compared to the pain that currently stole her breath away. The stab of betrayal that sliced her heart when those needles pierce her once again, was soul-destroying.
So tired, sore, and nauseous and now, time is playing with her. When was that awful ringing in her ears, that comes with defining silence, going to stop? Beneath her back was wet and cold, her head hurt, and everything looked dark…or is this just what happens when you die? How… uneventful. Suddenly, the darkness was gone, or at least, the lack of colour was gone. Akane dropped some inches, feet, miles? She couldn't tell, but she hit the hard, wet ground eventually. It didn't hurt, she couldn't feel much. The starry sky greeted her, accompanied by colourful, twinkling specks dancing and fall around her.
Akane stared, dazed for what could have been minutes if she'd been asked, but were only seconds for those around her, before her view of the serene night sky was invaded by blue. A blue so pale, it could have been part of the brightest spring morning or the clearest ocean bay. I know those eyes?... they're...
"Pretty."
"Nakamura! Can you hear me? Stay with me!"
The voice that came with the eyes was urgent, desperate, familiar. Akane's delirious mind took too long to recognise and understand what was happening. Her heart was beating too fast, her body felt so warm, but her legs and hands were numb with cold.
"Aido?" she croaked wearily. I'm scared.
"You're gonna be fine, everything will be fine. Just stay awake for me."
Aido panicked, rushing to Akane, and skidding on the ground to lift her as gently as he could, holding her head in the crook of one arm, while his other hand put as much pressure as he dared on her abdomen. He ignored the feeling of soft and slippery organs which protruded grotesquely. It could all be fixed, it had too, but the blood kept coming, seeping through his fingers into his shirt and blazer, spilling onto the ground.
If he attempted to freeze her wound to stop the bleeding, not only would he cause her body temperature to drop dangerously and too quickly, but with his hands shaking and his mind in such a panicked state, he didn't think he would have enough control over his powers to confidently help her without causing more complication.
Kaname stood off to the side, watching as the dust cloud, formally known as Kazuo Nakamura, drifted away on the wind. Yuki stood on shaking legs, crying quietly, staring wide-eyed at a girl she admired for her intelligence, die in the arms of a desperate Vampire. Kaien knelt beside Miu. He was relieved to find her wounds wouldn't be life-threatening, most of the blood came from a wound on her head, but that did little to soothe the grief of watching another of his beloved students' lights go out.
"Akane, you have to keep your eyes open, please! Headmaster, do something!" Aido begged, looking to the ex-Hunter to save his… friend?Kaien wanted to believe something could be done, but the medical attention Akane needed would never reach her in time.
"I'm sorry, Hanabusa," he began quietly. "She has minutes." Aido felt the sting in his eyes the same moment he felt his heart twist painfully in his chest. He felt sick, faint, and angry. He glowered in fury at Kaien before lowering his topaz eyes back to Akane's dazed, forest-green gaze.
"Headmaster?" Kaname called, having caught up after needing more time to collect himself, sending the man a meaningful look. Kaine turned, looking between the Pureblood and the crumpled, bloodied form of his student. He furiously brushed his fingers through his hair, messing up the ponytail he kept it in. He had no time or right to consider things for himself, he had to put this in her hands, she had to decide, he couldn't do it for her. So, Cross Academy's Headmaster sighed and gave one last searching look at the stars. Forgive me, Megumi.
Turning back to Kaname, he nodded solemnly, then bent down to collect Miu in his arms. Kaname moved closer to Aido, damning his instincts for the desire to rip the lesser Vampire from the Unfortunate and take the blood, currently being wasted on the ground, for himself.
"Come, Yuki. We must get Miss Hayashi to the infirmary and get the Night Class back under control." Yuki nodded uneasily, looking stricken to leave Akane in the state she was in. "Kaname, she has to consent, otherwise…" Kaien let his words hang in the silence that followed, and once Kaname turned with a nod of affirmation, he quickly left with his daughter, quietly sobbing as she followed.
Aido's head shot up at Kaien's words, daring to hope, and watched as Kaname nodded. Funnily enough, this did not give him the full relief he thought it should. The closer the Pureblood came, the tighter Aido held onto Akane, wanting to shield her.
"Miss Nakamura? Miss Nakamura, can you hear me? This is Kaname Kuran." Akane heard the voice and slowly understood what was said, before straining herself to look in the direction it had come. Aido winced at the pain he saw flash across her eyes, their light, dulling by the second. "I am a Pureblood, Miss Nakamura. I know you know what that means."
Kaname knelt beside her, keeping his movements slow. Aido, slightly shifting her away from him. He was wary, for good reason, Kaname's eyes had never been so vibrant.
"I can save you, but only if you permit it. Do you want me to help you, Miss Nakamura?" Aido looked down at Akane, stroking her cheek with the hand that cradled her head, watching as comprehension filtered into her mind. Her dulled, tired-eyed widened but the pleading look she sent him made the sick feeling settle in the pit of his stomach again.
"I'll take care of you!" He hadn't known where it came from, but he knew he'd meant it. "I'll look after you and help you… You need to say something, Nakamura." Please! Anything but your name in that book! Kaname watched his subordinate as he earnestly pledged to the dying girl, offering himself to her if she chose to transform. He was struck with curious jealousy to see, despite the blood, Aido was under complete control. Perhaps small-scale, prolonged exposure helps prevent lapsing into bloodlust, Kaname speculated. He looked back to the quickly fading Human in his subordinate's arms. Or, perhaps, another reason.
Akane tried to speak but all she managed was a splutter and a gurgle, blood running out the corner of her mouth in her desperate attempt to speak. Her tired and terrified eyes looked for the pretty blue eyes, she used them to force herself to focus. I don't want to die. I don't want to die, she chanted.
"I… d-don't want… to die!" Kaname wasted no time and quickly lifted a useless arm and sank his fangs into her soft flesh. She didn't flinch, but silent tears fell over her blood-stained cheeks as she struggled to remain conscious.
"Lord Kaname? Lord Kaname?... Kaname!" Aido yelled as he watched Kaname feed, taking more than Akane could afford to lose. Thankfully, Kaname managed to wrench himself away, turning his head, dragging air into his lungs desperately, as the large influx of energy thrummed through his veins, pumping his heart painfully. It was exhilarating, fascinating, and an almost perverse joy overtaking him. Such an addicting feeling of invincibility, calm, elation, and power.
"Unfortunate blood is a dangerous thing," he concluded breathlessly.
Both Vampires turned back to the injured girl to find her eyes closed and her chest rising dangerously shallowly. Kaname bit into his wrist instantly, tearing the flesh ruthlessly to make sure plenty of blood flowed from the wound before it healed. He placed his bleeding wrist into Akane's mouth, but his blood just filled her mouth before pouring out the sides of her lips. She wasn't swallowing.
"Come on Nakamura, you have to swallow, please!" Aido begged, feeling his nose and eyes prickly and his heart and stomach drop. Kaname tore into his wrist again but got the same result. "Damn it, Akane! Come on!" On the third attempt, Kaname was beginning to wonder how and if he would be able to pry Aido from the girl's corpse, when finally, her throat bobbed, and her mouth emptied of his blood. He bit into his wrist hurriedly again and was relieved as she swallowed down a few more gulps. Aido's body sagged in relief.
"That's it, keep going Akane," he encouraged her soothingly as he held her tight to his chest and hid his head in her hair.
Akane's breathing stabilised after a few larger gulps of blood. Kaname knew she would need to rest for her body to fully heal whilst it changed.
"Take her to The Moon Dorms, and make sure to have blood tablets and fresh clothing ready for her when she wakes," the Pureblood ordered as he re-did the buttons of his shirt and blazer cuffs.
"Yes, Lord Kaname," Aido automatically agreed, lifting Akane into his arms as he stood.
"Aido, make sure all traces of her blood are removed from the dorm. The Night Class will already be in a frenzy." Again, Aido nodded, turning towards his dorm.
"And Aido…" He stopped, his back facing the Pureblood. "Your promise stands. She is your responsibility. You will guide her. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Lord Kaname." With that, the Vampires parted ways. Kaname hurried to the Night Class to help the Kaien restore order and explain about their new dormmate. While Aido took the unconscious Akane to the safety of The Moon Dorms.