Ha! Another chapter for ya'll. (I'm trying to make up for ignoring you for a month) I hope you enjoy it.
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Yuuki turned to look at her adoptive father. He was leaning against the door, out of breath, with his hair even more disorderly than was normal. She was about to ask him what happened when the smell of blood hit her nose. She sniffed a second time out of confusion. She knew whose blood it smelled like, but why would he be bleeding. She looked at Kaname in confusion and he shrugged at her wordless question.
"Zero," Seiren breathed. Just as the silver-haired young man came through the door and sat himself at the table like he owned the place. The scent of blood got stronger as he entered the room and confirmed both Kaname and Yuuki's suspicions and Seiren's words.
"What happened?" Seiren asked at the same time Yuuki said "Why are you bleeding?" Both women approached him, but Yuuki broke off when she saw the concern in the other woman's eyes and allowed her to be the one to check his wound. She watched Seiren expertly roll up the other vampire's sleeve to examine the wound.
Seiren fought back a wince as she saw the wound in Zero's arm. It was red and inflamed and deep. The only time that she had seen a wound like that was after Yuuki had been stabbed with the antivampire blade. But how could that have happened? Surely the hunter's association hadn't attacked him, had they? She looked up at him, wordlessly demanding an explanation.
"Got stabbed," he said with a shrug as though it didn't matter in the slightest. "I'll deal with it later," he finished rolling down his sleeve.
"By an anti-vampire weapon?" Seiren asked raising an eyebrow.
"How did you get stabbed by an anti-vampire weapon?" Yuuki blurted out, worry overriding her desire to let them talk to one another.
"That's what I need to talk to you about," Kaien said. "Kaname, Yuuki, I don't know how to tell you this . . . we had a meeting at the Hunter's Association today. And . . . well . . . there is no easy way to say this, so I will just tell you what happened." He paused to talk a breath and then looked Kaname straight in the face and said, "They have declared open war on the vampire race because the President was killed when you destroyed the senate."
There was a moment of silence at his words, which was broken by Yuuki.
"That can't be true," she breathed. "Kaname would never have killed a human, even when he was that mad. Right?" She turned to look at Kaname with the last word. She just knew that it couldn't be true, Kaname could be cruel, but he wasn't a murder, was he? A small, treacherous part whispered that technically he had murdered the senators, but she squashed it down quickly.
Kaname hated the trust that was in her eyes, a trust that he was about to shatter. "Truly," he answered, "I do not know. I don't believe that there were any non-vampire in the senate building at the time of my purge, but I am not positive that there were not. It could be true."
Yuuki opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Kaien. "Whether or not it is true is irrelevant," he said. Kaname looked at him gratefully, though the look on Yuuki's face said that this was far from over. "The hunter's association believes that it is true. Even if they don't really think that Kaname killed the president, they are going to use it as an excuse to start a war that they have wanted for a long time."
"But what if we can prove that he didn't do it?" Yuuki asked desperately. "Would they call off the war?"
"We can't prove that," Kaname said gently. "There is nothing left to use as evidence."
"Besides," Zero added, "They are bloodthirsty. They won't care about the truth. At this point they are hell bent on having a war. If we could prove that Kuran didn't do it, they would just create another excuse to pick a fight. Talking won't solve this; we have to prepare for war."
"Did they say when the war will start?" Kaname asked Kaien.
"It has already begun," Kaien said sorrow and anger in his eyes. "Zero, Yagari and I have already fought the first battle. It will take them a while to get out of the headquarters, but we could be under attack any time."
"Then we must prepare," Kaname said with a nod. "Aidou, Ruka, Kain, I need the three of you to go to the moon dorms and alert the other students. Tell them to get word to their parents and relatives about the war. Make sure that they use the most subtle methods they are capable of. Then I need you to get word to your parents and have them come here this evening, again by subtle methods to prevent them being attacked."
They bowed and left the room at a run, despite the fact that the sun was still in the sky. "Kaien," Kaname continued turning to the older man, "we need to get the human students off campus. Odds are that even if we leave, the war will still start here and we don't want any of them hurt."
"Already taken care of," Kaien replied, not at all perturbed that the younger man was taking charge in this situation. "I sent Yagari to send them home the moment we got back."
"Good," Kaname said with a nod. "Now we need to make some preliminary training plans. None of the vampire that we have available to fight are trained in war, unlike the hunters. Would you be able to train them in basic fighting skills?"
"Of course," Kaien replied.
"I can aid him with that," Seiren added.
Kaname nodded. Seiren helping would be ideal, that woman was lethal in hand to hand. Now he just needed Kyriuu to volunteer to help her and they would have a good basic training unit. But Kaname had no idea how to get him to do it, there was no way he could ask it of the young man.
"Me too," Zero said suddenly, surprising Kaname and pleasing him at the same time.
Again Kaname nodded. "I can train them in how to use their powers in battle," he continued. "And I can help Yuuki with the same while I'm at it. She is good at fighting, but if we can get her trained she will be more valuable as a pureblood than as a human-style fighter."
"No," Yuuki whispered in shock at his words.
"I'm sorry Yuuki," Kaname asked, turning to face his lover who currently had her face buried in her hands, "did you say something?"
"I said, 'no'," she repeated more loudly anger beginning to be her strongest emotion.
"Do you not agree with our battle plan?" Kaien asked confused at her reaction.
"No," she stated tears in her voice. "Because I refuse to fight."
"Yuuki," Kaname began only to be cut off by the upset woman.
"No, Kaname," she cut in, "don't 'Yuuki' me like I'm a child!" her voice broke at the end and tears began to run down her face. "I am not a child. Every day since you reawoke me as a vampire, something has gone wrong! And not just something little, Kaname. Something major." She paused to draw a shaky breath and blink a few tears away. "I understand that you are older than me but, by god, do not treat me like a child because after the last few days I am nowhere near being a child anymore."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I know the last week has been a little hard on you," Kaname sighed and tried to pull her against him to attempt to calm her.
"A little!" she shrieked, twisting free from his embrace to attempt to stare him down. "A little? Let's recap, shall we? We'll even forget about earlier this past year when I learned that my best friend is a vampire and the man that I have had a crush on forever is a pureblood vampire who I have no chance in hell with, ok?
"In the last week alone, I have learned that I'm not human. And not only am I not human, I'm a freaking pureblood! Then I learned that the guy that I liked so much is not just any pureblood; he's my brother. And then I learn that, 'oh, by the way, that guy who killed your parents, well . . . he's your uncle. And . . . . yeah, he's not really dead. And, just fyi, he is after your blood and kinda had a thing for your mom, who you look like so . . . yeah.' Not that anyone thought to tell me the last bit, I kinda had to figure that out on my own," she continued, glaring at Kaname, who winced at the reminder of what had happened to the woman he loved when he failed to protect her.
He knew that he should try to calm her before she lost control of her emotions, but her eyes weren't glowing and all the glass was still intact so he figured that it was better to let her rant. Kaien and Zero were thinking along the same lines as Kaname—though Zero would never have admitted it had he known—and were trying to figure out how to calm her down, or even if they should.
Seiren was glad that Kaname had sent away the other nobles, but was now wishing that he sent her too. She wasn't sure where this was going, but didn't like listening to a private argument between a couple. Also, she didn't want to be there if Yuuki did lose control again. Though she did agree with the other girl that the past week had been more than a little difficult for her.
Yuuki saw the worry and sorrow in all their eyes and the hint of fear that was also there. A small part of her felt bad for causing them to feel those emotions, but the rest of her was too busy trying to release some of the fear, anger and pent-up frustration she felt to care if she hurt them, so she continued.
"You would think," she sobbed, "that any normal week or even month, would be over now. But no that would be too easy. That same night the two of you," she pointed at Kaname and Zero for emphasis and both of them fought the urge to shrink away from the petite brunet in front of them, "decide that you need to have an epic duel over me. Not cool, by the way. We just get that settled and then the nobles show up demanding that Kaname and I decide how to lead the vampires, and give us a night to do it!"
She paused to make a noise of disgust before she continued, "But, heaven forbid, that be the end of that. No! Another crazy pureblood has to show up and challenge us to a duel! I swear, is insanity in our DNA or something?"
Yep, Zero thought smugly, insanity does run in the purebloods. It's from all the inbreeding. But even he knew better than to say that out loud in a room with one pissed off pureblood and one that hated him under the best of circumstances.
Kaname was just glad that she skipped over the part about him being a reawakened ancient. That was one of his few remaining secrets and he really didn't want it to become common knowledge. It might just give them an edge in the coming war. He tensed as she began speaking again, hoping that she would just keep that part to herself.
"And of course," Yuuki yelled, glaring at Kaname again, "you just had to accept her duel."
"Now Yuuki," Kaname began in a soothing tone, "You know that I really didn't have a choice. How would it have looked if we refused her? Besides, it wasn't really Sara so refusing to duel her would not have prevented the conflict that followed. It was inevitable and this way we at least got to do it on our terms.
"Our terms?" she scoffed. "How the hell do you figure that we did that on our terms? I was not ready for a battle with another pureblood and you knew it."
Kaname shifted uncomfortably and ran a hand through his hair at her words. She was right. He had known that she was not prepared for a battle with a pureblood. She had been extremely lucky against Rido, but he was foolish to think that her luck would have lasted her through another battle. He truly regretted putting her in that position.
"You're right. I'm sorry" he finally said with a tone in his voice that none of them had ever heard before. It almost sounded like regret. Seiren and Zero's eyes met in mutual shock. They had never heard, or even imagined hearing, a genuine apology from Kaname, let alone the regret currently emanating from Kaname. Kaien and Yuuki were less surprised since they had heard similar things before, but they were both still slightly surprised because neither of them had ever heard it other than in one-on-one situations. It shocked Yuuki enough that her next words were less shrill that the preceding ones had been, and her tone less harsh.
"Kaname, I know that's not how you planned things to go, but they did. I'm not blaming you, but. . . I mean think about it from my perspective. In the last week I have been involved in three battles with purebloods and now I'm supposed to help organize a war." She sighed and then continued. "It's just too much. I'm sorry but I can't handle this right now." She continued staring at him after she quit speaking, breathing heavily in an attempt to control her tear and failing miserably.
"I," she sobbed, tears beginning to flow again, "I . . . I just can't do this. There has to be another way."
Kaname reached for her again and, this time she allowed herself to be pulled into his embrace and began sobbing into his chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I didn't think about how hard this would be for you. But I can't see another way for this situation to end."
"But there has to be," she said desperately turning to face Zero.
"Yuuki," Zero said firmly. "There is no other solution."
"But if I try to negotiate with them," she said. "If I went with no weapons and under a flag of truce—"
"They will cut you down where you stand," Zero replied flatly grabbing her arm and shaking her slightly. Kaname had to resist the urge to attack Zero, but he knew that Zero was doing something that needed to be done, whether or not he liked it.
"They have declared open war. Do you understand what that means?" Zero asked, shaking her again when she scrunched up her nose and looked away from him. " It means that they are going to kill any vampire that they come across. Women, children, infants, non-combatant pacifists, they DON'T CARE! They are out to kill all vampires, just because you don't want to fight doesn't mean that they won't fight you."
"Zero. . . I . . . I can't kill again," Yuuki cried, imploring him to understand with her eyes.
He hated the look in her eyes, so desperate and helpless, but he kept his face blank and said something that he knew would hurt her, but that needed to be said. "How many of us will you allow to die to prevent killing?"
"That won't happen," she replied slowly, her face showing disbelief.
"It could," he said simply. "Any of us in this room would try to protect you, and would even give our lives to do it. That task would be much easier if you are willing to at least defend yourself, even if you can't bring yourself to attack. Just that in mind, as well as the fact that the hunters will not be using the same strategy and that it is much easier to defeat an enemy before they have you cornered."
Her mind instantly flashed back to the fight with Rido and her initial decision not to attack him until she was attacked first and how that had ended for her. Zero's right, she thought, as much as I hate the idea of killing another person, there are times when it is necessary and this is one of them.
"You're right," she said aloud, closing her eyes, "it would be foolish and selfish of me to refuse to fight. I will do what I must."
"Yuuki," Kaien began, "you don't have to—"
"Yes, I do," she cut him off. "Zero is right. If I refuse to fight, I will endanger all of you, and I couldn't live with myself if one of you died protecting me. Kaname, I need you to teach me how to fight."
He nodded his assent and looked her over critically. All trace of tears were now gone, save for the red still rimming her eyes. The set of her jaw told him that her decision was final and that nothing would change her mind, which was good because, though it pained him to admit it, Kiryuu was right. Keeping Yuuki safe would be easier if she was willing to fight. And the boy had been willing to use tactics that Kaname would never have employed to convince her.
"We can start as soon as we finalize the initial battle plans," he assured her. "Shall we continue planning?"
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Well, what did you think? Drop me a review using the pretty new button if you have time or an inclination. As always thank you for reading my newest chapter and thank you to the people who reviewed the last chapter. Ya'll rock!
Thank you for reading,
Stickdonkeys