A/N: Yay! An update! So if you squint in this one, you could see the hints of some IchijouxKaname here. I mean, you gotta love them together, since Ichijou's the only dude who could ever top Kaname (even though I made him kind of extremely uke in here, bahahaha, I apologize).
And we also see what happens to Aidou. Read on, and please REVIEWWWWW. :D Thanks so much to the people who reviewed my first chapter of this story, you guys get a thumbs up from me. Most particularly, I thank Katie-luvs-MCR for her constant support of my stories and Dark Stiletto for that awesome review.
-I still don't own Vampire Knight, or Philippine Mythology thingos-
Now, without further ado, I present…
CHAPTER II
A certain blond, green-eyed vampire poked his head inside Kaname's room. Takuma Ichijou couldn't help but give out a quiet chuckle.
"What is it, Ichijou?" Kaname asked, no emotion masking his voice. He gazed up inquisitively at the moon, and at the twinkling stars. The moon was huge and full on this particular night. Kaname wondered what was going to happen before the sun was going to rise.
Ichijou walked over to his friend's side, following his gaze. "As much I do respect you, my lord, but don't you think what you're doing to Hanabusa-kun is a little bit…err…cruel? You could have asked me to do the job instead."
"Ah, yes," agreed Kaname, closing his eyes and grinning. "I am aware that Aidou wouldn't last a minute out there, but it would be interesting testing our little friend now, isn't it?"
"What do you think is causing all this? You seem to be rather calm about it."
"I think I have a good idea of what's going on."
"Oh," nodded Ichijou. He looked at the handsome pureblood, and then back at the marvelous moonlight. "I bet on my manga collection that Hanabusa-kun will be ending up hanging by Yuuki's flying torso the whole night."
Kaname smiled. "Ichijou, you know we don't have to bet on that."
Ichijou returned his smile, but looked behind him as a loud, banging knock sounded from the main entrance of the Night Class dormitory. "A visitor late at night? I'll go see who it is, please excuse me."
Soon enough, the noble blood disappeared into the darkness. It wasn't long before Kaname grew alert as Ichijou's frightened shriek echoed from downstairs.
"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
"Ichijou!" yelled Kaname. He dashed down the stairs and found the blonde vampire on the floor, crawling backward in fear and pointing hysterically at the sprawled-out figure at the porch.
A whispery, faded-like voice came from the figure. "I—I need…waaaaaterrrr…."
The pureblood made an attempt to see what exactly it was clearly. "What?"
"Waaaaterrrr!!!" the scary, whispery voice repeated, a little more irritated than last time. "Damn it, Kuran, gimme some water!"
Kaname smirked at the figure. He'd know that tone anywhere.
"IT HAS A TAIL!!!" Ichijou whined, grabbing hold of Kaname's black button-down shirt, and motioning behind him.
He exhaled calmly and helped the terrified Ichijou up. "Calm down, there's nothing to be afraid of. Look closely."
Reluctantly moving toward the figure, Ichijou soon realized it really was nothing to be scared of; but then maybe the look on the thing's face was.
"Oh!" he laughed, although soon blinking amusedly at it. "Kiryuu-kun, it's just you…with a tail."
The newly-born sireno gasped for breath and glared up at the relieved green-eyed blonde. "Senpai, you really didn't have to scream that loudly."
"Whoops. My bad."
"Kiryuu, what in the world happened to you?" demanded the brunette vampire impatiently as he strutted to the porch.
"T-that's not the point," Zero attempted, holding his chest in difficulty of breathing. "The point is something terrible happened to Yuuki. You have to help me save her before it's too late. I'll explain everything soon."
Ichijou observed the merman. Zero's skin was drying up while he hyperventilated. "Kiryuu-kun, do you need some blood?"
"NO! I TOLD YOU, I NEED WATER!"
Kaname raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "You know how to save her?"
"Yes!" Zero gritted through his teeth. "We vampire hunters have been taught about other vampire-like creatures too, and the thing Yuuki just turned into is one of them. The other half of her body is still in the pool area. I lacked the strength to take it with me, but it has to be safe from harm too. If you please help me, I'll tell you what else I know."
A moment of apprehension came between the two rivals. Soon, the older of the two nodded. "Well, I was planning to catch her upper torso myself, but then you seem to know what you're talking about."
He turned to his follower, "Ichijou, carry this boy up to the bathtub and sever it from the tiles. We're bringing Kiryuu-kun along with us. After that, take Yuuki's lower torso from the pool area. Also, do you know where Kain, Shiki, and Rima are?"
Ichijou shook his head sadly, bending down to Zero's level. "No, but I'll do just that. Come on, Kiryuu-kuuun!"
"Hey, wai--," but the young sireno blacked out again as Ichijou picked him up as if he weighed a feather. He spat his tongue out in disgust while he felt Zero's newly scaled skin. "Eww, Kaname-sama, it feels like I'm holding an oversized fish!"
"Bear with it, please," exhaled his lord. Ichijou sighed and dashed into the bathroom.
Yuuki, Kaname pleaded. Please…be safe.
Hanabusa Aidou panted, running back and forth, following the echo of the strange, inhumane laughter. He slowed his pace. How long has he been running again? Oh, right. 20 minutes.
20 long minutes, he thought. That bitch better be around here somewhere.
"Yuuki-chan!" Aidou yelled as he walked through the trees. "Yuuki-chan, come on out! Hide and seek's over."
A wicked cackle soon responded to Aidou's call. He grew alert and ran on the pathway to the nearby town. Following the laughter with his vampire-sensitive hearing, Aidou darted across the trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of the bizarre flying creature. It's either he catch whatever it is, or fear Kaname-sama's painful wrath. Aidou thought facing an angry Kaname would be a thousand-fold more horrible than being eaten alive by whatever Yuuki has become.
"Aidou-senpai," Yuuki's recognizable voice came. "Aidou-senpai."
Once Aidou looked above him, he gasped as he saw the dismembered flying torso. His expression softened when he observed the look on Yuuki's face. Tears were flowing from her eyes and only one expression could be read—fear. Yuuki was scared.
Her hand pressed to her chest, tears running down more. "Aidou-senpai."
"Yuuki-chan!" he replied, stepping toward her cautiously. "It's okay. Kaname-sama told me to come get you. Come on now, there's nothing to be afraid of. I'm here. I won't hurt you, I promise."
The girl was still using her mutated bat wings for flight.
"I'll carry you if you come down from there!" Aidou said in the sweetest voice he could make.
He paused for a moment to think how her guts would feel like. He shivered. Eww.
Slowly but surely, Yuuki lowered to the ground, but stopped once she got to Aidou's level. She drew closer to him, leaning her tear-stained face near his obviously fearful one. Aidou involuntarily took a small step back.
"Aidou-senpai," the female creature reached a hand out to touch his face gently. "Aidou-senpai will…help Yuuki?"
And inside Aidou's mind, he panicked. Shit, shit, shit, shit, her breath stinks like hell. And look at that awful set of un-flossed teeth!
"Yes," he said, trying to sound truthful. "Yes, I will help Yuuki-chan."
She smiled a cruel, distrustful smile, leaning closer and closer to the terrified vampire. Aidou even thought she was about to kiss him. "Well then…you can help by…LEAVING ME ALONE."
And with that, she clawed Aidou's face with her enhanced, lengthened fingernails. Aidou screamed in pain as he grabbed onto his blood-stained cheek. Once he glanced up, the mutated upper torso flew at lightning speed back into the night sky, its deafening cackling resounding in the forest again.
"ACK! WHY YOU--!"
Aidou called while he used his speed to catch up at her pace, "IT'S A GOOD THING WE VAMPIRES HEAL FAST, Y'KNOW! AND DON'T YOU RUN FROM ME, YUUKI-CHAN! I'M NOT GOING TO STOP CHASING YOU!"
He held his breath, bracing himself as he jumped as high as he could…
…grabbing onto the manananggal's waist.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU FOOL!?" shouted the monster in its distorted voice. Aidou held her waist tightly, hoping his weight would bring her down. He winced when he saw how high Yuuki was flying.
"I-I'm not letting go of you, Yuuki-chan!"
"Idiot, I'm stronger than you! Let go this instant!" she commanded, bringing her claws up to scratch his hands off of her. Aidou smirked and froze his hands with his powers onto her waist. He grinned, winking at her.
"You're forgetting about how I can manipulate ice, Yuuki-chan."
Aidou lost his smile once she smiled back. "You want to fly with me? Then let's fly, Aidou-senpai."
Yuuki flew as high as she can. Pleasure ran through her veins as Aidou's screams grew louder and louder.
Aidou made sure he stuck to the monster like glue.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! KANAME-SAMAAAAAAA!!!"
"Kaname-sama!" Ichijou alerted in his perky tone. He pointed up to the sky. "Looks like we really didn't have to bet after all."
Zero glanced up at the two flying shadows from the bathtub he was in (which Ichijou placed on top of an old cart he found), narrowing his lavender-shaded eyes. "God. Yuuki, what the hell happened to you?"
The pureblood exhaled in disappointment. "I've always known Aidou was nearly useless. Oh, and Kiryuu, you better know where Yuuki's headed off to."
"She's going," Zero murmured, clutching the edge of the bathtub. "She's going to the nearest town."
Ichijou chirped. "Eh? Nearest town?"
"To eat," Kaname growled, his irises turning into a deep crimson red. "We have to stop her before that happens."
"I think," the noble blood gulped, holding onto the cart tightly. "…I think we have to get through that thing over there first."
"What thing?"
"That thing."
All two and a half vampires looked at the shadow lurking within the emerald green bushes. Ichijou was tempted to run behind Kaname's back again once the new creature stepped into the moonlight.
The silver-haired sireno couldn't restrain himself. "WHAT THE F--."
Shiki narrowed his blue eyes to take a better look at the picture he was looking at. "This looks like a strange one."
Tikbalang is a creature of Philippine folklore said to lurk in the mountains and forests of the Philippines. It is generally described as a tall, bony humanoid creature with disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats down. It has the head and feet of an animal, most commonly a horse.
"Okaaay," Shiki said, his right eye twitching a bit. "So it has the legs and head of a horse and the body of a man. Hmm. Tik-ba-lang."
He looked outside the huge window, and snapped his head back to rub his eyes. Shiki could have sworn he saw a flying upper torso and another person dangling helplessly from its waist.
"Naaaah," he chuckled, going back to reading the book.
To be continued…
Heh. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't very good. I wasn't really feeling it much. I did like writing about Ichijou though. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Please don't forget to hit that review button! Thank you. :D