Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing ok in the crazy world we're all living in at the moment. I'm sorry I haven't been as productive as I could have been with this. I promise I will be better, but it's sometimes difficult to keep my head in the story at the moment. Not an execute, just a fact right now. Thank you to the new readers and reviewer of my story. I hope you're enjoying this and I hope it can distract you for even a minute from what's going at the moment. Please, stay safe, stay home and stay positive. Enjoy XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Yuki returned to her dorm room to Sayori packing her bags, ready to leave for break. She welcomed the distraction of helping her friend to pack brought. Once Sayori's bags were packed Yuki walked with her down to the main courtyard, where the rest of the Day Class were congregated They greeted and hugged each other, confirming plans to meet during the break before climbing into their respective cars and heading home. Yuki was pleased to see the man had escaped his job long enough to collect his daughter. Sayori had mentioned that her father had been absent most of their last break due to work. She waved her friend and her father off with a bright smile, but she couldn't make it reach her eyes. Sayori, so in tune with her friend and her constantly shifting moods had noticed the forced cheer and over-enthusiasm when conversing with her father. They must have fought again, she thought as the car rode away. With Sayori gone, Yuki turned her attention to her duties to ensure the rest of the students left safely. She was disappointed but not surprised that Zero hadn't shown.
Not wanting to stay in her dorm room alone, Yuki finally dragged herself through the door of her adoptive father's home, pulling her boots off her sore feet, stretching her back as she straightened and rotated her neck, relieving some of the tension that had built up over the last couple hours. Or was it, days at his point? She didn't know, she did know she was exhausted and was more than ready for food and bed. She meandered through the house and into the kitchen, where Kaien was already in full frilly aproned glory, preparing the evening meal for his make-shift family, humming happily to himself.
"Dinner won't be long," he called over his shoulder.
"Great." Kaien turned at Yuki's tired response.
"Why don't you go take a bath," he suggested with a sympathetic smile and the tired girl. The Day Class were lively on the best of days, but they were way more energetic and excitable during the end of term. He smiled fondly at her grateful expression to his suggestion.
"Yeah," she agreed before shuffling out of the room, discretely searching for her Prefect Partner, peeking into the living room as she passed, but he was nowhere to be found.
Yuki trudged down the hallway to her room and collected a set of night-clothes, toiletries, and two towels before entering the family bathroom, careful to leave one of the towels on the door handle outside, keeping to the house code of conduct when occupying the bathroom. Why Headmaster doesn't just get a lock, is beyond me. Secure in the knowledge no one will be entering, Yuki moved to the bathtub, turned on the taps then once the tub was sufficiently filled, she undressed and stepped into the warm water.
The room filled with steam, the condensation fogging up the mirror above the sink in minutes. Yuki sighed as the head began to work its magic on her tense, tired muscles. She'd always preferred her bathwater more on the hot side, bordering on scolding, as Zero had complained multiple times over the years of seeing Yuki leave the bathroom with her whole body flushed bright red from her baths. Content, Yuki sank lower into the water. Her body, quickly relaxing, while her muscles slackened and her mind drifted. She started to wonder why she'd even brought up her past with Zero in the first place. I've lived for 10 years without knowing who my parents were, or who I was, or why I was abandoned that night. Why am I suddenly thinking about them now?
The faces of the most precious people in her life swan in her mind. Sayori, Kaien, Zero, Kaname, they'd always been enough to lessen any awakened desires she'd had in the past to know more, or, at least, they had been. Yuki had always felt she knew all she needed to. Kaname had found and saved her from a bad Vampire. Kaien had taken her in, raised her and taught her absolutely everything, from getting dressed to talking. She recalled how hard it had been, at times though, when she was young. It had been painful to realise she didn't have a 'real' family, that the man she called father was not really that, or that the boy who'd saved her was the same kind of monster as the one that had attacked her.
Sleep had been difficult and filled with fitful nightmares of being chased, abandoned, and hunted over an over. When did the dreams stop? she thought absently as she leant further into the water and gazed thoughtfully up at the ceiling. They stopped when Zero came. When Zero had been brought to Kaien and Yuki's door in the middle of the night, he'd been bloody and broken, a shattered soul trapped in a strong shell of flesh, bone, and misery. He'd looked so wounded, so beaten. That day, Yuki had pushed all her sorrows aside in a bid to lessen his as much as she could. She'd decided she would do anything she could to make sure Zero never hurt as much as he did then, ever again. But he's been hurting all this time. Always crying inside… and I never noticed. Yuki buried her head in her hands as a wave of guilt struck her heart.
Zero had been battling his vampiric instincts for four years, all alone, he'd never once confided in her. She'd thought he'd tell her anything, that he trusted her by now, but he hadn't, he never had, he hadn't trusted anyone, and it hurt her to realise it. How could I have ever expected him to trust me? Shizuka used me so easily against him, she was so cruel… and she was right. I'm cruel too! The pained look Zero sent her when she'd asked if she'd be stronger as a Vampire surfaced in her thoughts. He'd looked like she'd slapped him as if she'd physically struck him across the face. Thinking about it now, after everything that had happened to them and in the academy recently, she couldn't believe how stupid she'd been, how blind.
Yuki was angry at herself, angry that she couldn't read a room, angry that she always unknowingly hurt the people she loved. Always lacking, struggling to keep up with everyone else. She wanted to remember, to be whole, to have a better grasp on herself in the hopes it would allow her to have a better grasp on those around her, and not just to understand them, but to hold them close and protect them better. She wanted Zero to trust and confide in her, for Kaien to acknowledge her as more than just his "cute little Yuki", and she wanted Kaname not to worry about her anymore so "see" her.
Knock! Knock! The door sounded, startling Yuki out of her frustrating tug of war with the locked door to her memories. She felt dizzy after straining so hard, the heat must be making me woozy.
"Yuki, Headmaster says, dinner's ready. Are you nearly done?" Zero asked. There was silence from the bathroom so Zero knocked again, louder this time. "Hey, you ok in there?" Yuki shook herself to clear her thoughts and alleviate the sudden dizziness she felt.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just getting… KYAA!"
Zero burst through the door immediately at her cry. He rushed to the bathtub and the trembling girl who looked like she was trying to climb the tiles to get away from the water.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he panted, wanting to reach out and comfort her but reluctant to touch the first naked girl he'd ever seen, and a scared one who happened to hold his heart at that.
"It… It was nothing, don't worry. I-I'm getting out." Zero was concerned and confused, he hesitated but reluctantly, he turned to leave the room but as he reached for the door, Yuki sprang from the bath and clung tightly to his shirt, begging him to stay.
His back was turned, so he couldn't see Yuki, but he could feel her fearful tremors from the grip she had on his arm. It worried him.
"What's the matter, Yuki? You're acting like you've seen a ghost." Zero wanted, so much to turn and wrap her terrified body up in his arms, to understand and help her, but Yuki got shy when she wore a bathing suit in front of him.
"I… I tried to remember, but when I did…" There was silence for a good minute until Zero voiced a thought he'd had for a long time about Yuki.
"I used to think, perhaps, your parents were Hunters, that they'd been attacked by Vampires that night you were left in the snow. It made sense for how you'd ended up, alone, near where a Vampire stalked, and why no one claimed you afterwards."
"No, Headmaster said he'd never found a case within the Association of an orphaned child after a Vampire attack, at that time."
"That clown could've missed something." Yuki giggled despite herself. "You could request access to the Hunters Association records, see for yourself if there's anything that explains where you came from or anything that might jog your memory." Yuki had never felt such a need to know more about what had happened to her and her parents 10 years ago until she was desperate to know.
After the third day, the bannister sliding had lost its mystique and Akane was back to good old walking down the stairs in the mornings. Slipping back into a more Human sleep pattern had been mercifully simple, she only hoped reverting back to a Vampire's sleep schedule will be just as painless. After a morning of exhausting all the entertainment that could be sought in the amusement room (there're only so many times one can play solitaire, dominoes, darts or pool), Akane had eaten lunch and read threequarters of a fantasy novel. Now, she was bored and stalking the shelves of the archive room, looking for something interesting or relevant on Unfortunates, or those that had studied them.
She'd been studying the books in the archive room for a couple of hours when she heard the door to the underground room open and Zero's scent invaded the room. His scent was followed by the clicking of shoes on the stone floor as he approached Akane at the seating area in the centre of the room. She watched him with a quizzical stare and tilt to her head as he neared, his hands deep in his pockets with that typical unpleasant scowl on his face. However, unlike his last visit, his sure strides and determined posture showed he'd come with a purpose rather than an inability to deal with his emotions. Her interest had been piqued.
"Kiryu?"
"What? Checking on Vampires is part of my job." Akane was unconvinced but amused to see Zero's assuredness waver at her sceptically raised brow. Deciding to leave him to his secrets, Akane went back to skimming the book she'd found in her search for the researchers and scientists documented in the main book on Unfortunates. The book was full of information on some of the brightest and most influential geniuses in vampiric history and Akane hoped to find more about the time these people studied the Unfortunate phenomenon. She feared most of the early information had been lost forever, so, she'd concentrated on more recent news articles and scientific journals published around the last Unfortunate research but, surprisingly, there hadn't been any mention of Unfortunates so far.
"What are you looking for?" Zero asked, glancing at the many books stacked on the table beside her.
"Nothing, in particular, just looking up some famous Vampire scientist for a class. I've got nothing better to do stuck here, might as well get some work done." A partial lie, but she was under no obligation to tell Zero the truth.
"And these?" He'd found the Unfortunate books amongst the stack he'd moved to inspect. She saw his frown deepen as he read the spines, not deriving any understanding for their contents. Their titles were rather ambiguous. Or it might be the Pureblood book that's making him frown so hard, Akane mused as she eyed the stack where one of the many lineage books on Purebloods sat.
"Personal research," she answered curtly. Zero's frown remained. He took to walking around the table slowly, glancing at the books that lay on top, ignoring Akane's growing impatience as she waited for him to explain why he'd come. "Wanna tell me why you're here Kiryu?" she finally asked, after her tolerance for his procrastinating had ebbed. He turned to see her eyes boring into him, displaying her irritation in frigid, green pools. Having that penetrative, inquisitive gaze directed at him so intently caused a spike of nervousness in his gut, as it had ever since he'd first met the Vampire.
Hiding his uneasiness behind the comfortable barrier of his cold demeanour he pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and continued to walk around the table, distancing himself a little from the Vampire. His reason to visit The Moon Dorms had been prompted by the advice he'd given Yuki. He'd wondered what Akane knew of her Hunter family and if she knew what liberties they could take with her life. Why he cared, he couldn't say, he just knew he'd been feeling anxious about Akane's Hunter connections more and more since his earlier visit to the Vampire dorms. What's wrong with me lately?
"We're going to The Hunters Association. Yuki, the Headmaster, and I" Akane was surprised. Her eyes widening before squinting as if trying to see something, confusion quickly rearing its head and replacing the irritation that he'd seen in her expression.
"Ok… have fun?"
"We're going for Yuki to check up on something," he elaborated, his courage seeming to come back to him now that her gaze was no longer so piercing.
"And? Is there a safe room I need to know about, or something?"
"You have Hunter blood." The air stilled as the amusement Akane had briefly held, died. "You could still have family within The Association. If you wanted, you could find out about them in the archives."
Akane was so perplexed that she wasn't sure if she should yell or laugh at him. Zero had little to no knowledge of Akane and her family's past. As far as she was aware, he knew who'd turned her father and murdered her mother and that her mother had been a Hunter, but that was about it. Did he think she wanted to reconnect with the blood relations she had left and by extension, The Hunters Association?
"Why on earth would I want to know any of them?" she asked, dumbfounded.
Zero didn't reply right away, he seemed to be deciding his word carefully.
"Look, I'm not sure what you know about Hunters," he began, pushing a hand through his hair, looking troubled. "There's, this, sort of, right, an unspoken leniency given to the families of a Hunter that have been turned. The family can decide to take them out without needing authorisation from The Association, they could kill you. I thought you should know who they were and if they were a threat."
This was news, and barbaric!
"So, someone from my mother's family can just, what, blow me away without any consequences, just because I'm a Vampire?" He looked away again, scowling into the forest of books and shadows around him. This had never bothered him before. He'd always liked to think that if his parents had still been alive, they'd have killed him without hesitation. Thinking about how much he loathed every breath he dragged through his lungs, how little value he saw in himself as a Hunter after he was turned, it had comforted him somewhat. His thoughts had been quite different, however, when he'd imagined Akane being the target of such an honour killing.
The pain that still struck his chest at the memory of her terrified eyes looking down at him, now, felt more like a stab to his abdomen, the blade, twisting and digging deeper at the thought of her looking at a relative with that same dread in her eyes, but if that happened, she'd receive no mercy. She sat before him now, a Vampire, but also a girl, in a school uniform, with big green eyes looking up at him, appalled to learn of this practice which had been as natural to him to consider as killing any other Vampire in the past. At this moment, however, the idea left him feeling physically sick.
Zero didn't answer, he didn't need to, his expression told her enough, surprisingly, she was please to know how uncomfortable the thought was to him. She shook her head and scoffed, angling herself back towards the table.
"Thanks for the heads up, but I don't want to know more about those people than I already do. If they wanna come for me, let them!" He could feel her anger ripple in the air around them. He hadn't meant to upset her, but this wasn't something he was any good at. Unpleasant news always seemed to be far more so when Zero was the one to deliver it.
He didn't try to soothe Akane, he wouldn't have known how and would've probably ended up annoying the girl more if he had. So, he left The Moon Dorms for Kaien's house to meet back up with Yuki and Kaien. It was time to head to The Hunter's Association Head Quarters.
"Are you both absolutely sure about this?" Kaien asked for maybe, the tenth time since they left the academy. "There's still time to turn back." He wasn't thrilled to be bringing them to Headquarters. Yuki had never been, she was intrigued to see more of the world her friend belonged. Zero had been here many times as a child but not since his parent's death. This was Kaien's main concern, he didn't want Zero being exposed to potential trigger-happy cousins.
"Zero?" Yuki asked as they neared the large, imposing gate at the entrance. "Is it ok that I'm here? The way he's going on, it's like we're breaking some rule."
"Ignore him," Zero replied, irritated by the man and his flightiness around them. "He's just whining for the sake of it, besides, don't you wanna see if there's anything here about that night for yourself?"
They walked through the gates and entered a village, surprising Yuki. She'd thought The Hunters Association headquarters would have been this huge building, dedicated to training and keeping the peace, not streets filled with shops and family homes with open play areas for children to run around. Kaien eyed the buildings around them, as did Zero while Yuki's head turned this way and that, looking for a sign of life amongst the buildings, anyone through the windows and alleyways. The place appeared deserted but felt so claustrophobic. She stepped closer to her companion.
"It's not Yuki I'm concerned for," Kaien said quietly. The pair stopping to consider their guardian. "You were free to come and go before Zero, but things are different now. You're a Hunter and a Vampire, letting you into the archive, as you are, would be a huge ask for even the least distrustful Hunters."
"But he's a Hunter, he's killed for them! If they don't let him in just because he's a Vampire, that's just using him!" Yuki said passionately but Zero quickly covered her mouth and looked around the seemingly deserted streets cautiously. "Zero?" Yuki mumbled through his fingers.
"Don't criticize the Association so much. The people here are Hunters, they are the Association." She nodded, trepidation growing as they walked on cautiously and quicker than before.
Zero led the way to a large building on the Western side of the town which Kaien explained was the actual main Headquarters for The Hunters Association. There were finally people, but their appearance only served to increase Yuki's unease. They keep staring.
"They're not looking at you, so don't worry," Zero said, trying to lessen Yuki's worry and ignore the bitterness it caused in him.
"Try not to take it personally," Kaien soothed, making sure to stay close to his children in such a dangerous place. There were Hunters at every turn, stopping in their tracks to gawk at them, sneer at them. It was unfair Zero had to just accept this kind of treatment from people that once pitied and cared for him when his parents were killed before they knew he'd been tainted.
"There are wards at the entrances to every building in this town," a burly man said, gaining the trio's attention. "They're meant to repel Vampires." Yuki's annoyance rose. This man had stopped them to pick a fifth with Zero! He was older, maybe in his forties, built like a tank with thick blond hair he'd styles back, wearing a black t-shirt and black cargo pants, with heavy black boots. He leant nonchalantly against the wall, grinning at them spitefully as he continued. "To have got by them, means, you must have been domesticated, and, oh, yeah, there's your mark," he sneered as he pointed to his neck for reference.
Yuki snapped, stepping around Zero and pointing an accusing finger at the man.
"How dare you! A grown adult picking on children. You should be ashamed of yourself!" she yelled indignantly. The man eyed Yuki quizzically before some bout of realisation entered his eyes as he noticed the eyes of many Hunters trained on him. He scratched his head uncomfortably mumbling about Kaien's brat getting him into trouble. Brat! Yuki thought indignantly. This place is worse than The Night Class!
A stifled chuckle from Zero had Yuki's head whipping round to yell at him for laughing.
"Now, now. There's no need to cause such a fuss," Kaien said. Look's like trying to keep a low profile just went out the window.
"I think that will be enough of that," said a syrupy voice. Yuki turned to see a tall, beautiful man, dressed in an elaborate kimono of white, red, and gold. He had long, blond hair pinned up with two beautifully decorated combes and held a bejewelled fan in front of his coyly smiling painted face, regarding the scene before him.
"Zero is a Kiryu, a highly respected and largely superior clan within our association. The fact the boy possesses the added power of a Vampire has made him a more dependable allay to us." The burly Hunter scratched his head again as he bowed, begging forgiveness from the Head of the Association.
"I meant no disrespect to the Kiryu clan, it's just, he's a Vampire after all." Bonk! The fan the Association Head had been holding connected with the head of the man, hard.
"You're too stubborn," he complained, giving the man no sympathy as he clutched his head in agony, stumbling away.
With the Head now present, it appeared all the other Hunters had decided the trio were no longer worth their consideration and averted their gazes and attention elsewhere, something Yuki was glad to be rid of.
"So, what brings you here, so far from your academy, Cross?"
"We're looking for reports from around ten years ago," Zero answered. The Head turned to him with a smile.
"Zero, haven't you grown, and who's this?" he said leaning into Yuki to get a better look, startling the poor girl at the sudden appearance of his face in hers. "Your girlfriend?" he teased from behind his fan.
"Eh!" Yuki squeaked, embarrassed.
"It's been a while," Zero answered apathetically. This man had always irritated him, as much if not more so, than even Kaien.
"Zero, you're so cold!" the Head whined from behind his fluttering fan. "Kaien, what kind of manners do you teach these kids at that school of yours, huh?"
Kaien forced a laugh, gaining Yuki's attention as he stepped beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder as he spoke.
"If you have no intention of showing us to the archive room, then please, leave us to our searching!" Wait, does Headmaster, not like the Head of The Hunters Association? The man sighed and turned away, gesturing for them to follow, grumbling all the while that people were so sensitive these days. The man lead the trio down a quiet corridor, emphasising he was only allowing them access to these private records because it was Kaien that had asked. Yuki's frown hardened in confusion as the two men bantered back and forth. Zero noticed Yuki's glances at the pair and realised she hadn't known how high up Kaien and his family had been within the Association.
"I guess you never knew much about this stuff," he reasoned.
"Yeah, he always manages to dodge my questions when I ask about his involvement with The Hunters Association."
They continued to follow the flamboyant man down a few more corridors and down a flight of stairs when he turned to a set of double doors along the hallway they were currently navigating, throwing the large white doors open theatrically.
"This, my friends, is The Library of Records, chronicling nearly every event in our illustrious history," he said, spreading his arms wide and leading the way into the room. Zero had been about to enter when he caught the hesitation on Yuki's face.
"Do you want to stop here?" Yuki was startled out of her head by Zero's quiet question. She turned to him and shook her head, determination steeling her nerve.
"No! I'm just nervous. I want to remember, I have to!"
Zero caught himself a little late as he brushed a knuckle over Yuki's cheek in a soothing caress but walked away before Yuki could turn her surprised gaze up at him.
"The records from that ten or so years ago should be this way." Yuki was caught off guard by the little flutter in her heart at Zero's rare display of affection but shook her head to rid herself of the distraction. She was here on a mission! Kaien appeared from the many shelves, carrying a stack of record books, smiling at his adoptive daughter, encouraging her to come to join him at one of the tables to look through the materials he'd gathered.
Zero looked at the spines of the many record books along the shelves. The books were stored by decade and family, so without knowing if Yuki was connected to a Hunter family before Kaien took her in, meant they had a long search ahead of them. He sighed as he reached for the first of many books he intended to collect when he was interrupted by the Head of the Association, calling for his attention in another part of the archive room.
"Perhaps we'll find something of interest in the uncategorised section," he said holding his fan over his mouth as he led Zero further from his companions.
The boy followed his superior into the back section of the records library without complaint. He hadn't been this deep into the records room before. He remembered, as a child he'd only ever been allowed here with Yagari and then he'd been forced to sit and wait for his teacher to bring the books required for their lesson. He'd never been allowed to roam around the room himself. The Head opened a set of doors to the side of the room they'd entered and walked to one of the many pedestals with large boxes of unknown contents sat on top of them, that flanked the edge of the room.
"The records here have been so badly damaged, many of them are unreadable," he explained as he fingered one of the boxes. The moment he unsealed and flipped open the lid, Zero felt the roar of the beast he kept under lock and key rush to the surface. "Not surprising due to the amount of Hunter blood staining the pages. These are all that's left of the personal records of a Hunter, slaughtered by a Vampire." Zero staggered at the strain to hold his hunger at bay. He was disgusted! Even old, dried, and decaying blood caused the monstrous savage inside of him to react.
"As I thought, even this garners a reaction from a Vampire," the Head mused, voicing Zero's inner thoughts. The man observed him with a clinical eye from behind his fan, gaging his response as he struggled. "I see, even though you want it, you refuse, but there's no telling whether you'll be able to contain yourself in the field." Zero glowered up at him from his folded position against the wall. What kind of sick joke was he playing at? "It seems twins born to Hunters really are cursed, and people say I put too much weight in old superstitions."
"What are you talking about?" Zero groaned, his legs trembling and sweat beading his brow.
The man watched the boy indifferently as he gasped and panted in obvious pain. He was not interested in the boy's suffering, he was a tool for the Association, a valuable one, one he was hoping to utilise for times to come, but a tool all the same. However, if he was having such strong reactions to blood clearly passed its recommended date of consumption, Zero was further along than Kaien had let on. The man's eyes narrowed as he neared the boy, bending down to speak to him in a quieter tone, one stained in secrecy and deceit.
"You are acquainted with the Pureblood, Kaname Kuran? The Kuran line was among the purest of their kind. Though, you don't have the influence to ask for such a thing, should you be able to drink the blood of a Kuran, it could extend the time you have left before falling to a Level E."
The boy was slumped on the floor now, ripping his eyes away from the infernal box that was still open and letting the scent of blood continue to fill the air of the small room.
"I don't want to prolong my life that long," he replied bitterly.
"Pity, that Unfortunate has appeared to have benefited from being turned by a Kuran." Zero's lungs seized. "You know, that hasn't happened for nearly a thousand years. From what I've gathered," the Head continued, tapping his lavish accessory against this chin thoughtfully. "Miss Nakamura has even displayed minimal abilities, very unusual for an ex-Human."
Zero glowered as he forced his legs beneath him and straightened. Was the Association threatening Akane? Did they intend to use her for something? Zero knew from their last conversation in The Moon Dorms that Akane wanted nothing to do with The Hunters Association but Zero knew, if they had plans for her, they wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Nakamura and I are different."
"Yes, I suppose you are," the Head agreed, his narrowed eyes watching him over his fan. "In any case, using the blood of another Pureblood hasn't been tested to lengthen the time taken to fall to Level E before either. It may not even work, but I still have much for you to do for me, young Zero." Zero felt fear creeping up his spine at the calculating look on the Head's face. What was he getting at?
The suffocating feeling in Zeros chest was broken by a cry from Yuki. Zero dragged himself, staggering from the room and the bloodied pages as quickly as his unsteady legs could carry him, but the cold and heavy stone the Association Head had dropped in his gut remained. He entered the room to find Yuki stood to the side of the table she'd been reading over the books Kaien had brought, while Kaien quickly smothered the fire that had once been a book with his coat. Zero rushed to Yuki, shielding her from the dying flames.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"I don't know! I just opened it and it just…" Yuki stammered pointing at the charred remains, shaken by the shock of a book spontaneously combusting in her hands.
"It was one of the records from the Winter, ten years ago," Kaien revealed once the fire had been put out and he was able to read what was left of the pages.