Sorry! I know it has been forever this time, but I promise there was a very good reason and I may have news to share next week when I update (which I will—update that is). I hope you enjoy this chapter as late as it is.
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As soon as Kaname opened his eyes, he knew that he was still asleep. The landscape around him was not the woods where he and Yuuki had taken their impromptu nap, but rather the clearing where they were training the nobles and he knew that he didn't have the energy to have transported them and that Yuuki hadn't learned that particular magic yet. He looked around in curiosity wondering why his subconscious had chosen to bring him here of all places.
A moment later, his question was answered vividly and graphically. Suddenly Yuuki appeared in front of him wearing the same "come-hither" expression she had worn earlier. Despite knowing what the outcome would be, Kaname was powerless to change the events that had happened earlier that day and could only watch as his body was forced to go through the repeating events, including the horror in her eyes that had been there just before she threw him across the clearing. He closed his eyes so he didn't have to see the tortured expression on her face and waited for the blow to fall.
It never came. Instead, when he opened his eyes, Yuuki was frozen with horror in her eyes and disgust clear on her face. He recoiled from her, he had seen that expression directed at him from too many people that he had loved when they discovered what he really was. He couldn't bear to see it on her face as well. He turned away from her, the tears that he hadn't shed earlier burning his eyes. He knew that she didn't really feel hatred and disgust towards him, but he also knew that she should. He was not worthy of her devotion. He was manipulative, vindictive and he was a murderer.
"Just now figuring that out, huh?" he heard a voice say. He turned to face the speaker and saw his mother. Not Jurri Kuran, but his biological mother.
"Mother," he said, surprised at how weak his own voice sounded. "What are you doing here?"
"I've always been here," she replied her voice cold. "I've seen everything you have done. And I'm ashamed of you. To think, I defended you when the others said that you were unnatural and that we would be better off to kill you before you killed us. Did you know that was why I sent you away? I couldn't bear to have them kill you. But it appears I made a mistake."
"No, Mother," Kaname begged, surprised to hear tears in his words. "Please, please don't say that."
"Why not?" she demanded. "It's true. What good have you ever done in this world? How many people have you slaughtered? How many of them actually deserved it and who are you to decide if they did? I can't believe that the little baby that I gave life to could have grown into you! I'm glad you changed your name. You're not my son."
"But I am," he said. "I have always loved you and I miss you."
"Love," she scoffed. "Do you even know the meaning of that word?"
"I doubt it," another woman said. Kaname recognized her voice and felt a sob rise up his throat. She couldn't be here too, it just wasn't fair.
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"Ok," Zero said barely repressing his sigh. "Try to hit me." They were still trying to sort out the vampires and it seemed like they were getting nowhere, thought the large groups of already sorted vampires said otherwise. The vampire he was currently facing was fast, and seemed to know what she was doing. He was impressed when she actually managed to land a blow . . . until she cried out in pain and held her hand to her chest.
"Let me see it," he demanded and waited while she looked at him with tear-filled green eyes before she offered her hand to him.
"Don't touch it," she said just as he grabbed her wrist and felt for broken bones. Her hand itself seemed fine so he touched her thumb, ignoring her cry of pain as he did, and felt the two pieces of bone move.
"You had your thumb inside, didn't you?" he asked already knowing the answer. She nodded, tears streaming down her face. "I thought so," he said. "If you'll go right over there, they will splint it so it heals right. You'll be fine."
She nodded again and set off for the side of the room where they had set up a first aid station for the people that were bound to get injured. He watched her leave rubbing his hand over his eyes and shaking his head. We're so screwed, he thought bitterly. Still shaking his head he turned back to the line.
"You're up," he said to the vampire at the head of the line. "By now you know the drill." The vampire, this one a male, walked timidly towards Zero and attempted to swing what Zero thought was supposed to be a punch. "That way," Zero snarled pointing towards what he considered the hopeless cases. "Next," he called before the other vampire was even completely out of the way.
"Zero," he heard Seiren say and turned to face her, hoping the frustration he knew was on his face didn't make her think he was frustrated with her. "May I have a word with you?" He sighed and followed her glad to be free from sorting for a moment. She led him outside and closed the door behind them before she rounded on him and backed him against the wall.
"I understand that you are frustrated," she said, her face inches from his own. "I am too. But you cannot talk to them that way! They are scared and trying to learn something new and your attitude is not helping them to feel comfortable while learning it."
"They should be scared," he replied, not cowed by her chastisement. "They wouldn't last ten seconds against anyone, let alone the hunters."
"Of course not!" she said. "They are not fighters! They were normal vampires that were intending to do non-violent things for the rest of their lives. They weren't intending to get caught up in a war and have to fight if they wanted to live. You have to be patient with them."
"We don't have time for that, Seiren!" Zero shouted. "The hunters are probably on their way right now. Do you think they are just going to sit back and wait for us to be ready before they attack? No! They are going to attack as soon as they are ready in hopes of taking us out before we stand any kind of a chance."
"You're right," she said with a shrug. "They are going to attack, and soon. So how exactly is terrorizing the vampires that are trying to learn going to help?"
"It won't," he mumbled.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't hear what you said. Can you speak up?"
"It won't," he said louder. He ignored the smug smirk on her face and instead of starting a fight said, "Let's get back in there and get this done." She hugged him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek before she followed him into gym and returned to their places. He nodded to the vampire who he was supposed to be testing and was surprised when he bowed before beginning his attack.
This vampire actually knew what he was doing, one of the few that did. He actually landed a few good punches on Zero before the ground began to tremble. Zero was glad that they had decided to pad the floor when the shaking caused him to fall since he had been a little off balance from dodging the vampire's kick. Once it stopped, the other vampire offered him a hand and waited for Zero to pronounce judgment.
"Um," Zero said to buy time while his brain caught up with recent events. "You're with them." He pointed over his shoulder to the handful of vampires that could fight. "But don't go over there yet, we need all need to step out and see if there is any damage to the building . . . or I think that's what we need to do."
"OK," the other vampire said heading for the exit. The others looked at him curiously, they hadn't heard what Zero had said and thought that he was ejecting the other vampire from class.
"Listen up!" Zero called, immediately taking their attention from the leaving vampire. "I think that was an earthquake. Which means that we need to leave the building for now. Once we get outside, I will find the headmaster and see what else we need to do." He stopped there, expecting that they were going to leave since the conversation was over. However they continued to stand there as though waiting for something. "What are you waiting for? GO!" he snapped and they immediately headed for the door in a herd.
"What the hell was that?" Zero asked Seiren as she got closer to him.
"An earthquake," she replied as though it wasn't a big deal. "A rather small earthquake."
"Are you sure?" he asked looking at her. "Cross Academy isn't anywhere near a fault line."
"What else could it have been?" she scoffed. "It's not like—"
They had just stepped outside and when his eyes adjusted to the change in light, he saw that not only had she stopped talking but her eyes were wide with surprise. "What happened? What's the matter," he asked grabbing her shoulders and shaking her slightly. She raised a hand and pointed over his shoulder.
He turned to see what she was pointing at and felt his expression mirror hers. He was speechless, where hours before there had been nothing by sky, now there was a sheer rock face. How had that happened? It must have been . . .
"Kaname-sama," he heard Seiren breathe. "He's the only one that could have done this. We need to find them, he wouldn't have used this much magic without a reason."
"The hunters," Zero replied, feeling the blood drain from his face as he realized that for Kaname to do something this drastic something must have happened to Yuuki.
"No," Seiren replied, having realized what he meant. "That can't have happened." Without another word she took off running towards the clearing where Yuuki and Kaname had been practicing earlier.
Some of the nobles glanced up in curiosity as she sprinted past, Zero following close behind her. "Class dismissed," Zero called over his shoulder on the way by. The vampires looked around for a moment before they shrugged and decided to wander the grounds a bit since they had free time.
Zero had always thought that he was fast, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't catch up with Seiren. He was hard-pressed to even keep the distance between them consistent. He just hoped that she wasn't about to sprint into the middle of a battle. With that thought, he tried to coax a little more speed out of his muscles so that she wouldn't be alone for long. He needn't have bothered. The clearing was empty.
"They're not here," she said looking at him. The lost expression on her face made Zero's chest ache.
"I'm sure they're fine," Zero replied trying to reassure her even though he realized that at least one of them probably wasn't fine. "They probably just headed back to the house."
She shook her head. "No," she said her voice edging toward panic, "we would have run into them. That is the path back. What if—"
"No," he stopped her with a finger against her lips. "We're not going to play the 'what if' game. We know that as of ten minutes ago Kuran was alive, because there is no way that Yuuki has that much power. Freaks the shit out of me that he does. Anyway, since he was alive, I am certain that Yuuki is too since we know the kind of things he will do to people that try to hurt her. We just need to find them."
"And how are we going to do that?" Seiren asked wearily her shoulders drooping. Zero had never seen her like this and he wasn't sure that he liked it. She was always so strong and sure of herself and one little setback defeated her. Something was wrong.
"We look," he said. "Let's go this way." She just nodded and followed him off into the woods in the direction he had indicated without even asking why he wanted to go that way. Something was definitely wrong with her and Zero fully intended to find out what it was.
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So, what did you think? Let me know what you think is going on with everyone. Thank you for reading this chapter and thank you in advance for your reviews ;).
As always thank you to everyone who favorated or subscribed to this story (you know who you are).
And a special thank you to:
BookWorm Missy: I'm glad you enjoyed it, I was a little worried that he was a little over the top.
Guio: See, I continued. Sorry it took so long :/
KUKAIxAUTUMN: I am probably reading waytoo much into your comment. . . Anyway thank you for it.