Here we are, another update for you, and this one is a little massive. I hope you enjoy, things are about to get exciting again.
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"Oh! I've got another idea!" Yuuki chirped. Kaname rubbed his eyes in what was almost frustration. They had been at it for almost an hour and had yet to come up with an explanation that explained everything that had happened and didn't make Yuuki look weak. He tried to keep his face impassive and control his voice as he replied. He wasn't frustrated with her, only the situation and he didn't want her to think it was her fault that they were in a situation with no solution.
"What is your idea?" he asked pleased with himself when his words came out mildly interested rather than exasperated. Or so he thought, the look Yuuki gave him before she answered, however, hinted that some of his exasperation may have come through.
"Why don't we tell them that when I blasted her back she broke my neck," Yuuki suggested. "That explains everything! Why I didn't say anything, why I didn't move, and why I lashed out at you. It's perfect."
"Except for the fact that if you had broken your neck you would be dead," he replied not bothering to cover up his exasperation this time.
"Are you sure?" she asked. "Rido came back from being almost completely destroyed, we both healed without a scar after being shot and stabbed. Have you ever seen a pureblood die of a broken neck?"
"No," he replied slowly, "Generally when someone wants a vampire, pureblood or not, dead they decapitate them just to be on the safe side rather than stop at neck breaking. "
"So you've never seen it kill a vampire?" She prodded.
"I just said that I hadn't," he sighed.
"So," she continued, "even if it is not true that I could survive breaking my neck, if an ancient has not seen a vampire die of it in millennia then what are the odds that a noble will know that breaking a neck won't kill a pureblood even if it would a normal vampire?"
He opened his mouth to refute her logic, but closed it just a quickly and started to laugh at the sheer deviousness behind her words. It surprised him. This went beyond a little white lie into the realm of master manipulation. Her earlier suggestions had stuck very close to the truth and had not covered any of the things they would have seen. This however was a stroke of genius. It was nowhere near the "little tweaking" that she had wanted to do but it was perfect, in one elegant lie she solved everything.
"Yuuki," he said when he finally stopped laughing long enough to speak, "for someone who didn't want to lie to them at all, your mind is very good at coming up with lies."
Her nose wrinkled up at his comment, she didn't want to be known as a good liar. It went against her nature to deceive and trick people. "So will that work?" she asked a little brusquely because of her distaste for having been the one to come up with a good lie.
"I think it will," Kaname said smiling with appreciation. "Well, we have a long day ahead of us, we should get started." She sighed and moved to get out of bed and find clothes for the meeting. He saw her sigh and grabbed her hand to pull her back against him. "It'll be fine," he whispered in her ear, "I promise. Just stick to the story. They won't ask too many questions. They hate the idea of you being hurt almost as much as I do."
"Are you sure everything is going to go alright?" she asked turning in his arms, her crimson eyes seeking his.
"I'm positive," he replied kissing her gently on the lips and allowing her to get up and start what promised to be another long day.
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Silence filled the hall at the words of the vice-president. Everyone was wondering the same thing, can he do that? People were beginning to glance at their neighbors with that same question in their expressions by no one was willing to give it voice. The reasons for their silence were mixed. The gentler hunters were uncomfortable with the idea of engaging in a genocide because of the death of one man, and realized that the vampires were not going to hold still and allow themselves to be killed, more hunters would die. But they remained silent because they knew that they were a small percentage of the hunter population and were afraid that they would be counted as the enemy if they spoke up.
Some of the more blood-thirsty were thrilled beyond words at the idea of a bloodbath. The way they saw it, they vampires had been given a free pass to multiply and destroy the world for too long. This was just the chance they needed to end them once and for all. They too remained silent rather than voicing this idea because they were afraid to ask for fear that he would change his mind and take away their fun.
Zero was initially with this crowd, he had wanted revenge on all the vampires for so long that the idea of wiping them from the face of the earth made him smile with a bit of grim satisfaction. Suddenly an image of Seiren's gentle smile that morning flashed across his mind, he felt physically sick as he realized that she would be a target. Following right on the tails of that image was the memory of Yuuki crying out in pain. She would be a chief target as a pureblood. We can't do this, he thought vehemently. He was about to give voice to his objection when another beat him to it.
"You cannot do this," Kaien insisted. "I will not allow it!" Unlike Zero elation had not been his first emotion, it had been fury. How dare they even think about wiping out an entire race he had thought. Not just a race but MY FAMILY. Even thought a more logical part of his mind had told him to keep his mouth shut and leave quietly and refuse to fight, his emotions took control and the words left his mouth before he could stop them.
"Forgive me Kaien Cross," the vice-president said with a mock bow and a sneer, "I was unaware that I needed your permission to declare war." The rest of the hall laughed at his antics, but Kaien felt his jaw clench in anger.
"Actually," he said attempting to rein in his anger, "you do." More shocked glances met his words as people wondered at the arrogance of the old man; he wasn't that powerful, was he?
"I'm afraid you are mistaken," the vice-president replied, anger and a hint of fear beginning to color his words. He had known that the legendary hunter was going to be a problem, but he hadn't anticipated that he would make a scene in public. For the past nearly twenty years, the man had been nothing but docile, the Kaien that stood in front of him now scared him a little. This was not the man he had been expecting, this was the man he had once been, the man who had carved a blood swathe through history.
"I'm not," Kaien replied with a cruel smile, sensing the other man's fear and enjoying the fact that he was the cause of it. "Check you bylaws, you need the approval of the elders to declare war. I am an elder and I was not consulted on the matter. Therefore, your war is not allowed."
"Again you are mistaken," the vice-president answered a little nervously, "The bylaws state that I need eight out of ten elders to give their approval, and they did. We did not consult you because we knew what your answer would be, what with your daughter being what she is. We were convened, a meeting you missed by the way, when we received the news and took our vote then."
Kaien was about to demand to know why he had not been invited to the meeting of the elders when he remembered that he had been. That meeting had been scheduled the day after Rido had attacked the academy. In light of what had happened the meeting had totally slipped his mind. Not that he could have changed things had he been there, but he could have been preparing for this outcome.
"Even if it is authorized, it is wrong," Kaien continued anger rising again as he realized that he had no way to force them to not do this. "I, for one, refuse to participate in the eradication of a culture." There were a few murmurs of agreement in the amassed hunters.
"That is your right," the vice-president replied with a shrug. "But if you choose to take that decision, remember that if you are not with us you are against us."
"I have no objection to that," Kaien replied glaring at the other man, "Why would I want to be associated with an organization capable of such wrong?"
"If that is your decision," the vice president said with a nod. "Zero, despite your unfortunate condition, you are not considered the enemy. Your dear parents, god rest their souls, were good hunters and you have the opportunity for greatness. Will you join us or side with him?"
Zero glanced at the headmaster, an emotion in his violet eyes that Kaien couldn't place before he stepped in front of the older man and looked directly at the vice-president. "My parents," Zero began quietly, "were great hunters. They killed many vampires without remorse, as have I." The vice-president smiled victoriously at Kaien, enjoying the defeat and betrayal in the expression of the other man.
"But," Zero continued, "as you pointed out, and so generously offered to ignore, I am not just a hunter. I am also a vampire. True, for now you are willing to count me with the hunters, but what about later? How long until you all turn on me?" he waited a moment for a reply and when he didn't get one snorted derisively before he said, "You know what, go to hell and take your offer with you." With his final words he stepped back beside Kaien and gave him as small smile in response to Kaien's nod.
"We'll be leaving now and allow you all to continue plotting murder," Kaien said turning his back on the vice-president and heading for the door. Suddenly two men stepped into his path. "Please move," Kaien said, sorrow in his eyes. He knew these men and had watched them grow from children. "I don't want to hurt you,"
Zero had no such objections and just shouldered his way between the men, dragging the headmaster through with him. "Damn it," Zero snapped as more men stepped between them and the door. He glanced around to look for a way around them, and realized that he and the headmaster were trapped in a ring of hunters. "Well, shit!" he said before he got into a fighting stance, prepared to defend himself from the onslaught that was sure to come any second. Only that turned out to be unnecessary.
Kaien grabbed the first man brave enough to enter the clearing between the two groups and used him like a baseball bat against the next. They fell into a crumpled heap and Kaien turned to take on the next opponent. Without a weapon except for his bare hands, he almost singlehandedly carved a path through the crowd to the front door of the association. While Kaien was occupied securing the path forward, Zero was making sure that there was no attack from behind. He was in the middle of a fist fight with a burly hunter when another sucker punched him in the eye. Rather than knock him down like the man had been hoping, it only served to piss Zero off.
Knocking the first man out with an elbow to the back of the neck, Zero turned on the man who had hit him. Seeing the anger burning in the violet depths, he drew a knife from his pocket, hoping the blade would scare the enraged young man since, as an anti-vampire blade, it would not cut him. Zero smiled viciously, knowing that even if the man managed to cut him, it would not prove fatal since no idiot would pull an anti-vampire blade on another hunter since it wouldn't even break the skin.
Zero launched himself into the man, ignoring the shock of pain that followed the blade burring itself in his gut. The other hunter was more shocked by the warm blood rushing over his hand than Zero was, then he remembered that he young man in front of him was a vampire. He felt a laugh rise up his throat at the irony of it all before Zero's fist connected with his chin and he hit the floor unconscious.
Once he was down, Zero fought the urge to kick him in the side. He almost gave into that urge when he grabbed the handle of the knife to pull it out and felt an electric shock run up his arm causing him to release the weapon panting. It was then that he realized that the pain he felt from the wound was not only from the wound but also from the electrical reaction of anti-vampire metal to vampire flesh.
He was about to make another grab for it when he felt a hand reach for his shoulder. He spun prepared to fight, even with the knife still in his flesh. He managed to stop his fist inches from Yagari's sardonic face.
"So reckless," Yagari said with a chuckle, grabbing the knife and removing it, "stupid pupil."
"Thanks," Zero said stiffly. Scanning the crowd for another opponent while backing slowly toward Kaien, who had dispatched the man preventing their exit and was keeping the door clear.
"Sure," Yagari said, stopping a young hunter from attacking him with a simple glare. "Get moving, can't have you slowing us down," he said nudging Zero toward the door and allowing the injured silver-haired man to exit the building while he and Kaien protected their retreat.
Zero ran out the door and scanned the area to make sure that there were no ambushes waiting in the courtyard and then waited for the two older men to join him at the gate before he would make a run for it. Kaien and Yagari backed quickly across the courtyard, knowing that the open area could allow them to be surrounded again. Once they reached Zero, they exited to the street and shut the gate behind them, commandeering a rake from the garden to bar the door.
"Well," Yagari laughed, "You two sure do know how to make a scene."
"That won't hold them for long," Kaien said in reply. "We need to get moving."
They headed off down the street at a brisk walk so as not to attract unwanted attention, but Kaien was disappointed to see that people were still staring. It wouldn't matter, soon they would be behind the walls of the school and then they would be safe. He felt a twinge of guilt as he realized that he was placing his students in danger again, but what other choice did he have?
"That bastard I hit bled on my coat," Yagari said suddenly.
Kaien felt confusion at his statement. They had just fought their way out of the association, and were now enemies of the same association and Yagari was worried about his wardrobe?
"Yeah?" Zero asked. "I think I've got you beat, I'm still bleeding since the bastard I hit stabbed me."
"You're bleeding?" the headmaster asked suddenly. He hadn't noticed that the younger man had been injured. "Let me look at it."
"It's not that big of a deal," Zero said with a sad smile, "I'll heal, I'm a vampire remember."
"We all may as well be now," the headmaster replied matching Zero's smile with a sad one of his own before it fell. "We'd better keep moving, we need to get this news to Kaname and Yuuki."
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So, what did you think? I was a little disappointed to only get one review on the last chapter, but I will keep writing for you as long as you keep reading and being interested in the story. I'm a little worried that ya'll are starting to get borred with this.
Anyway, tell me what you liked/hated/ whatever if you have time. As always thank you to everyone who reads this, favorited or put this story on story alerts. And a special thank you to cosmic-lover. You rock!
Till next time,
Stickdonkeys