A/N: Ah let's see...I'm sorry about this chapter? It's not like it's particularly bad or anything but it might not make sense, I'm not sure really since I'm the one who wrote it I don't have any real clue what if anything at all is being translated clearly from my brain to you guys. Let me know. If you're thinking 'you're making Zero too OP' you're probably right but it just added to the story and there are explanations for it later on please don't hate me. I really enjoy Zero's character a lot, if you can't tell, and so I like messing with him in different power playing positions which didn't happen in the manga so that's my reasoning really for most of my fanfictions. I don't mean to make them like all powerful god-like beings, sometimes it just turns out that way and in this one, it did so if you don't like that then I'd stop reading this fic here. Move to my OHHC fic maybe? That's a rough one. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoy Chapter 5: Speculations ~Len
Ch. 5: Speculations
"How was your date with Kiryuu?" Aido questioned immediately. The others turned their focus on Takuma once the question was asked, everyone was eager for his answer.
"I'd hardly call it a date but we had a good time at the tea shop." Takuma replied with a light smile.
"Oh? Then where is Kiryuu?" Ruka asked after looking around for a second.
"He went down to the stables for a bit, frankly I believe whatever happened at that meeting with the Chairman of the association has him on edge and worried." He explained looking over at Kaname and giving him a slight nod. The pureblood nodded back before he turned back to his book. The blond understood the small gesture, the two would talk about the evening later.
"Did he tell you what all they talked about?" Kain wondered aloud looking up from the coffee table. Takuma however shook his head.
"I believe whatever was said and decided will not be discussed with any of us for a while longer. Zero-kun is still quite secretive and very quiet." Came the answer with a slight sigh as Takuma glanced out the window towards the direction of the stables.
"I have a feeling that this war Kiryuu-kun is to be on the front lines of is going to be troublesome." Kaname announced with a mental sigh. Takuma and the others couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Zero sighed as he glanced around, the black rose vines crawled up the stable walls and covered much of the ceiling. Closing his eyes the vines dried and fell to the ground before seemingly turning into ash with a small flick of the silverette's wrist. 'The power of my Silverblood is still increasing, if I don't start exercising it soon it'll build up too much and I will have no chance of control.' He voiced in his head, using a few vines to pull himself up into a standing position; as the hunter walked out of the stabled and headed towards the moon dorms the vines burned in blue flames behind him and his eyes flashed silver. There was a level E in the distance, towards town from the school and far enough for him to shoot without causing too much disruption to the surrounding areas. 'A perfect target to practice some blast control.' The teen mused, turning and darting off into the forest.
'Where are you going?' Aido, who had been keeping tabs on the hunter asked himself as he quickly followed the other off academy campus. Zero seemed to be quite a bit faster than the last time Aido remembered, following the level D up to a vacant isolated church he watched Zero easily made his way to the top. 'How the hell is he going to hit anything with Bloody Rose from there?' He snorted in his head, though his inner voice was swiftly shut up when a glowing bow and silver arrow was pulled out of nowhere. With narrowed eyes he could see the level E that the ex-human was aiming at, but even he could hardly see it so he had no clue how the ex-human could. 'Idiot.' The blond decided and shook his head, leaning against the wall he was looking to watch the cocky prick fail.
'I don't have enough power to kill humans right now thankfully, but this could shake some ground and break a few windows.' Zero reminded himself, the level E was clear in his sight. Pulling back the bow and perfecting his aim one last time, the hunter let his arrow streak through the air and hit dead on. The power attached to the arrow exploded, Zero watched as the ring of power expanded faster than light over the area. Aido's eyes widened and he braced himself against the wall as the wave of invisible power hit the church. It was a small tremor that only cracked the windows out here, but he wouldn't want to be near the source of the arrow.
'What the hell was that?!' The blond questioned, his skin tingled and sparked from the assault of hunter magic. He watched as Zero skillfully took off back towards the school without making a single noise. 'Has the damn level E always been so strong?' He wondered as he slowly followed, finding his body extremely lethargic from the magic. No doubt if he wasn't a noble or any lesser class than he was he would have been paralyzed and dead before he could even think about it.
'Why the hell is that moron following me?' Zero asked himself as he fleetingly saw Aido at the church, he had been focused on the level E and only half noticed the scent of the icy noble. 'I'll have to make sure to keep clear of him, and watch out for any other possible followers.' He added as he quickly slipped inside his room via the window he had purposefully left open.
"Where have you been?" Kain questioned as he watched Aido stumble in the door. The older of the two did not wish to be caught up in the younger's idiotic quests to bring misery to Zero but he figured it would be best to at least ask the idiot what he had been doing for nearly half the evening. "And why are you moving so slow?" He added as an afterthought. His cousin was usually much more energetic than what he presented himself to be just now.
"I don't know what all happened, I was tracking that stupid level D on a spontaneous hunt but something was abnormal." Aido started to explain as he sat down on his bed and groaned.
"What was different? I'm sure he goes on random hunts all the time. Probably makes it easier on him in the end." The older shrugged. Aido shook his head however.
"No, this was unlike him, he had so much power. We went to the old abandoned church, he killed the E with a bow and arrow but they weren't normal. It was as though they were glowing and when it hit there was a wave of power that flooded the area. I can still feel the magic coursing over my skin and the slow moving is because it was equipped with some paralysis charm I assume." The blond told him, lying on his back and running a hand through his hair.
"We don't know the extent of Kiryuu's hunting power, it could be normal and we just don't know. Although I admit it's strange he didn't use Bloody Rose, also the wave of power...I believe what's what knocked Rima and Ruka down earlier. Cracked a few windows and broke the door too." Kain ventured thoughtfully. Aido raised an eyebrow at his cousin.
"I think it has something to do with the war. If I find out I'm sure Kaname-sama will be pleased with me." Aido smiled mischievously. Kain sighed and shook his head.
"Don't get yourself into trouble Aido, Kaname-sama is having Takuma try and find out everything he can about what is going on. If you mess it up Kaname-sama may have your head." He warned though he knew it was falling on partially deaf ears. 'Takuma may kill you as well.' The older cousin added in his head but decided not to say anything more.
"I'll wait until next week to start tracking him on missions, are you in or what?" Aido asked him to which Kain rolled his eyes, he had a feeling that no matter what he said he would get dragged into some part of his scheme.
"I'm not going to get in Takuma or Kaname-sama's way with this." He answered eventually. "And what happens when Kiryuu catches on to you? It's not like you can hide yourself from him if you plan on tracking him anywhere; he's a hunter and a skilled one at that." The amber eyed noble added on giving his cousin a look of warning. Aido flicked his hand dismissively at the comment.
"He won't know, elite hunter or not I can be stealthy enough to evade his senses." The blond assured with confidence that Kain knew would get them into trouble. Kain shook his head and silently, mentally, prayed there wouldn't be total disaster and humiliation in store for his cousin.
"That idiot will get himself killed." Kaname mumbled from his study where he and Takuma were filling out more paperwork for the Council elders.
"If Aido does end up tracking or trailing Zero-kun there will be no doubt he will be found out quickly. I'm sure Zero-kun knew he was there this time as well, and if he truly is hiding for one reason or another Aido may get into some trouble." The blonde sighed with a small shake of his head.
"I'd like to believe he isn't that stupid, but if what he speaks of is really what occurred and Kiryuu did cause the tremor earlier then I believe it is worth looking into. Until we have further evidence however it is better we only stay curious." The vampire prince decided with Takuma nodding along.
"I believe I am actually starting to get somewhere in his walls, when the right time comes I can ask him if he is on the open side that day." He offered finishing another paper and leaning back in his chair for a small break.
"That would be ideal, I'd rather not go snooping and risk getting caught by him. Satan knows what he would do if that were to happen." Came the dry reply with Takuma sweat-dropping at the scenarios running through his head for the outcome of that encounter.
"With the war coming up, do you believe the Hunter's Association is setting him up for failure by sending him on so many missions before he will be sent to the front lines?" The noble ventured to ask, unable to completely hide the concern in his voice.
"I don't believe that the Association thinks of Kiryuu's health very much. Either that or they know something more about Kiryuu." Kaname answered, sipping at his tea languidly reading through another paper.
'I do wonder, what all do you have hiding about yourself Zero-kun.' Takuma questioned inside his head as he felt the teen's presence moving from his quarters down to the library where he seemed to spend quite a lot of time. 'His safe haven within the moon dorms it seems like, because no one else goes to the library for long periods of time.' He mused to himself. Zero truly was the epitome of introverted once he settled into an environment.
"Do you think you will be able to settle him into the rest of the moon dorms?" Kaname questioned after a small stretch of silence, he was curious to see if the ex-human actually could function around others without hiding away from them all the time.
"I don't believe he is uncomfortable with us so much as society today, he knows quite a bit about the past; a past most vampires don't know of at all. Frankly, I don't think Zero-kun hates vampires or us for that matter. I do believe that he isolates himself for fear of hurting others, he thinks so little and hatefully of himself, he doesn't think he can get close to others. That needs to be resolved before he will open up to the night class at all I'm positive." Takuma answered with a pained tone in his voice. Kaname frowned at that. He knew Zero hated himself, that was obvious, but he didn't have any idea how much.
"Do you believe he hates himself enough to push away everyone else for their protection and sacrifice himself in the meantime?" The pureblood wondered aloud.
"I'm not sure, it's possible he would, why do you ask? Is there something you're concerned about?" Takuma questioned back turning to face the vampire prince.
"This war, it is possible that Kiryuu-kun goes too far with taking it on by himself if he feels he has to protect anyone around him." Said prince replied causing Takuma's eyes to widen.
"If that theory is correct then it's possible Zero-kun will leave the academy in order to start his isolation from everyone here long before the actual wartime is upon the association." The noble sighed and crossed his arms while leaning against the window. Kaname nodded along to his friend's words, thinking along the same lines himself.
"Keep close tabs on him Takuma, but don't stray too far into the fire or he may retaliate against you." He advised eventually to which the noble nodded and bowed slightly to his superior's words.
"Tomorrow is Monday, it's likely that he will start taking missions again for the next week. I have a feeling Zero-kun uses missions to avoid gathering places with the rest of the moon dorms." Came the added on thought from the blond. Kaname nodded and mentally sighed.
'There will be only so much we can do about Kiryuu in the whole, but maybe we can do something to keep him around long enough to figure out what is needing to be known.' The pureblood thought to himself, the sun was rising quickly and the nobles started shifting towards their rooms. "Let us turn in for bed before we work through the night." He decided, standing from his mahogany desk and putting the rest of his papers to the side. Takuma followed quietly and with a slight bow, he headed in the direction of his room.
A/N: Do you see why I apologized at the beginning? Yeah sorry again, anyway this was chapter five I hope you semi-liked it. I promise the following chapter won't be so...eh. But for right now this is what you have to deal with, I'm going to take a short break (a couple hours or so) from uploading because it's 3 am and my eyes are starting to hurt like a bitch. Thank you again, I hope everyone has a wonderful night, day, evening, etc. ~Keep Calm and Fanfiction On~