Here's a new one for you. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing (figured it was about time for another one of these things, though I think at this point we all get it :) )
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Yuuki and Kaname walked down the tunnel in silence. Neither of them found it comfortable. Yuuki was troubled by what she had just seen Kaname do. She knew that as a pureblood vampire he had killed, she had been there for one very memorable incident. She knew that as an ancient, he had been in wars and killed there as well. She knew that he had murdered the senate.
Yes, she knew all this but even the knowledge that he had the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, of people on his hands did not bother her near as much as what she had just seen him do. Somehow killing people to protect himself or others, or even for revenge was acceptable to her. Torturing someone for revenge was not. She just couldn't get that image or those sounds out of her mind. She had to fight back tears at the memory of it.
Kaname knew exactly what was bothering her, but he had no idea what to say to her. He didn't want to lie to her, so there was no way he could apologize to her. He was not sorry for what he had done to RIdo. He opened his mouth to say something, but he still had no idea what. Finally he said, "Are you not going to talk to me?"
She looked up at him and realized that she had no response to that. "I just don't know what to say," she replied sadly. He reached over and stroked the side of her face and was a little disappointed when she only allowed him to touch her but did not lean into his hand.
"I'm sorry what I did upset you," he finally managed to say around the lump in his throat as he realized that he may have lost her to his own need for revenge. Yuuki heard the unspoken 'But I'm not sorry for what I did,' and turned her head away from him unable to look at him at the moment. She was confused, she thought of him as a good person, but what he had just done, and his lack of remorse for it, were not the actions of a good person.
He reached for her shoulder but then dropped his hand back to his side and said, "Come we should get back to our bodies before anything else happens." He continued to walk down the tunnel; glancing back occasionally to make sure that she was still following him. He hated the way she kept her eyes downcast, staring at his heels rather than risk meeting his eyes. For the first time in his life he was truly clueless as to how to proceed. He was relieved to note, once they entered her mind, that the chaos had calmed significantly. However it had been replaced by sadness and a more controlled confusion and he knew that it was his fault.
"Welcome home," he whispered to her before he began his ascent through the layers of her consciousness, being careful not to read any of the thoughts around him for fear of seeing something he didn't want to. However, had he read them he would have seen the beginnings of understanding beginning to blossom.
She remembered the bloodlust she had felt when Rido had attacked her and Zero and the others. Her own lashing out at Sara and wishing her a slow painful death when she attacked Kaname. She could understand why he had lost control like he did, and after seeing the consequences of losing emotional control, she also understood why he had seemed cold while doing it. She may not have liked his behavior, but she could at least understand how he had gotten there and why he had done what he did.
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Zero, Seiren, and Kaien were standing at the edge of the barrier watching closely for any sign of a change in either of the purebloods within. Suddenly the barrier separating the two groups vanished and was replaced by a feeling of oppression and confusion. Seiren dove suddenly for Zero just as he threw himself out of the way of a tendril of power.
Kaien likewise had dodged a spike of power from Yuuki. As it passed him, he was surprised at the strength of it. He had been attacked by Juuri once and she had apologized for using too much force, but that was nothing compared to this. Had it of hit him, he would not have been knocked down, he would have been killed. He jumped back a few feet, hoping to get out of range.
Zero and Seiren moved back a few feet as well and stared intently into the space between them and Yuuki hoping for some sign that she was either going to attack again or cease all together.
"Now I know she's not just injured," Aidou said suddenly. "She's lost control, hasn't she?"
"How did you know that?" Zero demanded suddenly, admitting that it was truth in the same sentence.
"I've read about it," Aidou replied sticking his nose in the air. "But no one in living memory has actually seen it. Perhaps I should take notes!"
Ruka smacked him upside the head. "She is NOT a science experiment, Hanabusa," she spat. "Quite frankly, I'm disgusted that you would even think of that."
"You'd better hope she doesn't tell Kaname-sama," Kain added seriously. "I doubt he would take that well at all."
At their words Aidou visibly paled. "It was only an errant thought," he gasped out, "I swear, I would never have actually done it." Ruka gave a rather unladylike snort in response and turned back to the unconscious purebloods.
"So what happened in the other cases?" the headmaster asked suddenly, desperate for hope. "I asked Zero and he said Kaname just said they hadn't ended well. I don't know which of them was editing, but I need to know the truth. Will you tell me what happened to them?"
"Well," Aidou began uncomfortable, then he shifted into Professor Aidou mode and continued as though giving a lecture and not discussing a friend's fate, "This is a condition that has only been documented three times, and each time had a different outcome. In the first case, the pureblood was in the middle of a town when she caught her lover cheating on her and lost control. She managed to destroy over half of the town before she was killed to prevent the destruction of the rest of the town.
"The second," he continued, "was able to be calmed by his lover and regained control of his powers on his own. The third," he stopped to swallow and his brow furrowed before he continued in a less controlled tone," the third I could only find vague references to. Eventually I found an eyewitness account from the scene. His lover had been killed by another vampire, and his powers surged out of control and ripped him to shreds where he stood. No one else was harmed in that case and many argued that it was just a suicide, but there was an etching. No one would commit suicide that way." Aidou turned a little green before he added, "I couldn't sleep for a week after seeing it."
"So," the headmaster began slowly, "there is only a one in three chance that she will be alright?"
Ruka sensing his anguish at that fact sought to reassure him, "Those are only the cases we know of. Vampire history, like human history, goes back well before written history and this kind of thing would be unlikely to be passed down as other than an admonition among purebloods about the dangers of emotions."
They were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice the oppressive feeling of Yuuki's emotions disappear. They also didn't notice Kaname remove his hands from Yuuki's face and wince slightly as his skin moved. He glanced down at them and all he saw was red angry blistered flesh. Strangely enough, the pain made him feel a little better. Somehow he felt that he deserved it.
Yuuki moaned slightly and sat up slowly. She opened her eyes and the first thing she say was Kaname looking at his burned hands, covered from head to toe in dried gore.
"What happened?" She asked crawling to him forgetting her remaining frustration with him as well as his state in light of his pain, "Did she. . . I mean, he, I mean . . . ugh! This is confusing! Did that happen because of Sara's body?" He looked at her with unfathomable eyes and shook his head. "Did," she began in a quiet voice, "Did I do all that?"
He nodded slowly, "Or at least the burns. Technically I am responsible for the blood."
"I'm sorry," she cried throwing her arms around him. He was about to reassure her, but they were interrupted.
The headmaster looked up when he heard Yuuki's voice and seeing her sitting up sprinted to her side. He stopped short of hugging her, unsure if she was injured and if he might hurt her. "You're alright!" he breathed.
She turned to look at him, her eyes bright and leapt into his arms, "I'm so happy to see you," she wept. "I thought I would never see you again."
He was taken aback by her reaction and then returned her hug. "Don't ever do that to me again," he whispered in her ear. She tightened her hold on him slightly, then released him as she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Zero standing there uncomfortably. He rubbed his tattoo absentmindedly and finally said, without looking at her, "I'm glad you're alive."
Yuuki smiled and hugged him quickly before releasing him, "I'm glad too," she replied. Suddenly the sound of flesh meeting flesh filled the clearing and everyone turned to face Aidou.
"Why did you all look at me," he yelled holding up his hands. "It wasn't me."
"This time," Ruka added in a whisper as everyone looked for the location of the sound. It had come from where Kaname and the headmaster had been standing.
After Yuuki had released him, Kaien had walked over to Kaname intending to see if he was alright as well and thank him for saving Yuuki. That was not what had ended up happening. Instead, he did something he had never even thought of doing, he struck Kaname. His frustration with what had happened to his daughter needed and outlet and Kaname was the best one to blame for his worry.
Everyone was shocked. Aidou, Kain, and Ruka had never seen anyone strike a pureblood (other than another pureblood of course) and looked to Seiren to see what her reaction was to all of this. Seiren was unsure what to do, her master could easily handle this threat, but it was her job to interfere, but she wasn't supposed to harm humans, so she just stood by Zero who had his arm out slightly, prepared to stop her if he needed to. Zero, however, had to hide his smirk from the others; he had wanted to smack that man for so long. He was just surprised that the headmaster had been the one to do it. He half-heartedly hoped that Kaname would take it poorly; he had heard legends about Kaien's fighting skills but had never gotten to see them in action, and given the way the man generally behaved, thought that they were just that: legends.
Once she figured out what had happened, Yuuki tried to put herself between the two men fearing the exact thing that Zero was anticipating. She hoped that the love they both had for her would prevent them from doing anything stupid. "Headmaster," she chided, "That was uncalled for." He glanced at her incredulously as she glared at him.
Kaname was the only one, other than Kaien, that understood why Kaien had hit him. "No," he gently corrected Yuuki, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I deserved that." He nodded to Kaien and the man visibly deflated. He too had thought, deep inside that Kaname might react badly and the part of him that lusted for blood was prepared for that outcome. With this calm understanding however, his anger and bloodlust faded.
"Kaname-kun," the headmaster began flabbergasted realizing, as if for the first time, that he had just assaulted one of his students, "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I shouldn't have—"
"I assure you," Kaname cut him off gently, "I understand. And I would have probably done worse if I had been in your position. It is fine."
Yuuki looked between the two confused and then turned to Ruka and Seiren. "Is this one of those things that men do that we will never understand?" They both shrugged and looked at the boys expectantly.
"Don't look at me!" Aidou shouted at Ruka, and Kain nodded silently.
"I don't know," Zero said looking away from Seiren blushing, "Fighting never seemed to help me and him." He finished with a head bob at Kaname.
"Oh?" Kaname asked, smirking evilly, "I would say that our last little fight worked out much of the tension we had. Wouldn't you?" As he finished he placed an arm around Yuuki's shoulders. She wrinkled her nose at the blood still covering him, but allowed him to do so. Zero snorted in response and turned a deeper shade of red as he remembered what had started their last fight.
"So," Yuuki began slowly, trying to wrap her head around it, "fighting helps men work things out?"
"It helps women too," Kaname said with laughter in his voice. "You don't get to be superior just because you have matching sex chromosomes. Your gender just doesn't usually resort to physical violence; rather you stick to the verbal kind. Which in the hands of the right woman," he finished in an undertone," can actually be harsher than a punch to the stomach." Yuuki laughed and playfully elbowed him in the ribs.
He released her and rubbed his side in mock hurt and tried to tackle her, but she jumped out of his way. Kaien smiled to see the two of them playing together like children, and though he was tired would not have interrupted them for the world. These were the first real smiles he had seen on Yuuki's face in days, he almost could have believed that she was still human if not for the fangs her smiles revealed.
She even tried to pull the others into the game, but the nobles were still too intimidated by Kaname to be willing to join in and as she was trying to recruit Zero, the sun came over the trees and blinded her. She cried out in pain and curled into Kaname's chest to shield her eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered with his lips against her hair. Before she could ask what he was sorry for, they were all once again standing in the headmaster's sitting room. It was a sign of just how far they had traveled that the sun was not yet over the horizon here. She gave him a small smile of thanks and turned to the others.
She was about to wish them good night when Aidou, being Aidou, asked, "So what happened, and what was it like?"
"Umm," she stalled, unsure how to answer either question.
"We will discuss this tomorrow," Kaname said firmly. "It has been a trying day, and I am tired. As are all of you, I'm sure." There were grumbles of agreement at his words. (All except for Aidou who mumbled, "I never get to find out anything.")
"You are welcome to stay here again," the headmaster interjected, "the sun is almost up and it is a bit of a walk to the moon dorms."
They nodded their thanks and after wishing Kaname and Yuuki a good night, headed to the rooms that had been given to them the night before. The headmaster did the same, followed soon after by Zero and Seiren. Then only Yuuki and Kaname were left in the room.
"I'm so glad you're ok," he whispered leaning down to kiss her. She backed up and turned her head away. He was slightly stung by her refusal, but much like with Kaien's slap, he understood it. She was still troubled by what he and Sara had done to Rido.
"So," he asked, "you're still angry with me?"
She looked up at him with innocent eyes and replied, "I am still a little confused, yes." She watched his expression fall slightly then added, "But this time it was because you really need a bath."
He glanced down at himself and realized that he was still covered in gore. "I suppose this is a little off-putting," he laughed. "You're not completely clean yourself," he added looking her over.
She glanced at herself and realized for the first time that she had dried blood on her as well. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You do make a mess, don't you?" she finally asked.
He laughed at her facial expression. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you cleaned up."
"But," she protested, "You need a shower a lot more than I do. You can go first."
"Oh," he said with another devilish grin, "I wasn't planning on there being a first."
"The chairman only has one shower. So someone has to go first," she said. He raised an eyebrow at her suggestively. "How can . . . Oh," she trailed off with a blush as she realized exactly what he meant by no one got to go first.
He took her hand ignoring the slight twinge of pain as he did so and led her upstairs. When they were two doors down from the bathroom she stopped suddenly and whispered, "Kaname, we can't."
"Why not?" he asked over his shoulder. "I have seen you naked, you have seen me naked and we will be saving water."
She looked at him a moment, but then realized that he had a point, there was no reason they couldn't do it, only reasons they shouldn't. Like the fact that they were in her adoptive father's house. But by that logic there were a lot of things she shouldn't have done in the past couple of days.
Realizing he had won, he walked into the bathroom and waited for her to join him before he closed the door. He attempted to lock it, but the handle would not oblige him.
"It's broken," Yuuki said reaching around him to hang a towel on the outside. "That'll keep everyone out." He failed to see how a strip of cotton would keep people from entering, but didn't argue the point. Instead he began to follow Yuuki's lead and take off his blood-sprayed clothing. Yuuki was running cold water in the sink to attempt to soak out the blood stains, but he stopped her.
"It won't help," he said simply. "Even if we can get the color out, the blood itself will never wash out. They will always smell like her blood."
"Maybe if we bleach them after," Yuuki suggested.
"Trust me," Kaname said, "Even bleach cannot remove the smell of pureblood." She turned off the water with a sigh and dropped her clothes onto the counter.
"Good thing I didn't like this outfit," she mumbled. He laughed slightly and turned on the shower. After giving it a moment to get hot, he stepped into the spray and looked expectantly at her. She followed him a moment later and he let her have the water. He watched as the spray revealed her pale flesh under the blood. Oblivious to his observation, she grabbed the shampoo and set about washing her hair, only to realize that she didn't get enough due to the ridiculousness that was now her hair.
"I swear to god, I am going to cut it off," She grumbled as she added more shampoo to the hair piled on her head.
"I wish you wouldn't," Kaname said reaching up to help her wash the blood out of her hair. She jumped a little having almost forgotten that he was even there. "I really like it this way."
"Yeah, well you don't have to deal with it," she quipped halfheartedly. She was really enjoying the feeling of his fingers on her scalp.
"I can if you'd like," he whispered in her ear, making her flesh goosebumb despite the warm water pouring over it. He gently pushed her head under the showerhead and washed the shampoo out. She was a little disconcerted to see the reddish color of the suds as they went down the drain. Even once the suds were gone, he kept massaging her scalp.
"My turn," he said suddenly kissing the side of her neck. She blushed, both at the thoughts she had been having and the fact that she had been hogging the water.
"I'm sorry," she gasped, grabbing the conditioner bottle and dancing around him to let him have the spray and began massaging the conditioner into her hair.
He looked at her confusedly and finally she asked, "What?"
"You aren't going to help me?" he asked with a smile. He fought the urge to laugh as she blinked owlishly and the blushed again. It had never occurred to her to help him.
"I can't reach," she mumbled trying to find a good excuse for not even offering to help.
"That is a simple fix," he replied kneeling in front of her facing her. She took the shampoo from his hands and began attempting to get the blood out of his dark hair. She felt her blush begin to creep down her neck as she realized that this position put her breasts at his eye level. Her embarrassment was compounded when he picked up the washcloth and began washing said portions of her anatomy.
"Wha-" she asked looking down at him. He had his eyes closed against the soap and was washing her strictly by touch.
"There is no reason to waste time," he said simply before he resumed what he had been doing. She closed her eyes at the feeling. His hands coasting across her skin felt amazing, the soap took away even the little bit of friction that was usually present which , while odd, was also exhilarating.
Kaname felt the same way, the slight barrier and lubrication provided by the water and soap took away all the slight imperfections, though the soap slightly stung his still healing hands there was no way he intended to stop. Even he had never imagined that the simple act of showering with her would be this nice.
When the shampoo lather began to get ridiculous, Yuuki gently leaned Kaname back so that his head would go under the water and washed the suds off. As she tried to reach further behind his head to make sure it was all gone, she lost her balance a bit and move one of her hands to his shoulder to steady herself. Shocked at the slightly rough texture and his wince she looked the shoulder and was surprised to see that it was still scabbed over from where Kaname had hit the barrier. She looked at him, hoping he would explain why he had yet to heal only to be shocked again.
The blood and suds had washed off his face, revealing a livid red weld down his right cheek. She reached out as if to touch it, but then pulled her hand back. "What happened here?" she asked stroking the skin beside the mark.
"Your power lashed out at me when I got too close to you," he replied simply. "I know you didn't mean to, so you need not apologize," he cut off her apology before it could even begin.
"Why hasn't it healed yet, or your shoulder?" She demanded.
"Two reasons, both actually enough to slow healing, but together. . ." he replied with a grimace. "The first, you accidently cut me with Artemis. The second is that I am still a bit behind on feedings." He smiled at her apologetically.
"Both are actually my fault," she said sadly kneeling next to him and leaning her head to the side. "I can at least fix one of them here." When it seemed that he was going to refuse she wrapped her arms around him, simultaneously pulling his head towards her neck and pressing herself against him.
Needing her blood, and realizing that she was not going to give up until he took it, Kaname sank his teeth into her neck, trying not to remember that Sara/RIdo had done the same thing not long ago. When she felt him bite her she quit holding him to her and stroked his back gently as he took her blood and the warm water ran down both of them. She also tried to send him her understanding and a plea of forgiveness for hurting him again.
Kaname felt her need to share something with him, so he allowed her to let him see whatever it was. The love and understanding that flowed into him from her warmed him more that the water ever could. He had been so worried that he was going to lose her, and again she surprised him.
Again, he quit feeding too soon for Yuuki's taste. She was going to have to find a way to make him take more blood or they would never make up for all the time he went without. As if sensing her thoughts, Kaname stood to make it more difficult for her to attempt to make him feed again.
And for the second time this shower, Yuuki realized that they were in an awkward position. One that gave her an idea. She glanced up at him, gauging his reaction.
He saw a strange glint in her eyes and for some reason it made heat begin to pool around his hips. "What are you thinking?" he asked after clearing his throat.
"You'll see," she replied with a smirk that he didn't like at all.
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I know that was an evil place to cut it off, but I did it for two reasons. 1.) This chapter is absolutely massive (by that token so is this fic but eh) and I had to end it somewhere. 2.) I'm out of time before I have to leave for work.
That said, I hope you all enjoyed this monster of a chapter. And I know at least one person is going to call me on Kaname being OOC, but you do need to take into account that at this point we are so far from cannon that I don't think it counts. Also, near death experience make people kinda weird for a while. (Anyway that is my justification since it bothered me a bit too).
Yuukivampirefan: I just couldn't bring myself to make her like that. It was just too much. Besides, I needed a voice of reason, right? And thank you so much! I try but sometimes I worry that I fall flat. And here is a new update! The goal on those is once again 3 US CT of Fridays.
SY: Thank you! And see, brand new chapter
Miss Turkey Sub; You're welcome :) You will be a great addition to the fanfic family! Now we just need to get you writing ;) and Thank you again, you need wait no longer.
Cosmic-lover: I was going for amusing, thank you for noticing :) And I'm glad you liked it, I was a little worried that it was too violent, even for this story. The Seiren and her mom thing was completely unplanned until it was written, and then I was like "hm, I kinda like that" and just left it. Thank you for the complement, I hope you like this one.
As always thank you for reading. Leave me a review if you have the time. Until next time,
Stickdonkeys