Jaxxon Kurenai was jittery. Literally jolting on the spot and yet so completely in control. It wasn't anything that made Jaxx jump like, so Zero knew that his at-the-moment partner was signalling something big.
"Jaxx, what's up," He whispered at tones inaudible to humans. A blood-sucker might hear him if they were paying enough attention, but he doubted that. Never would he rule out the possibility out of instinct but he didn't feel it likely to happen.
"A coven, easy 15 level Es in there," She raised her pale arm and motioned at a church," It's almost ironic about the location but damnit I can feel them."
She always could. Ever since Zero had first seen the girl standing outside the Night dorms, muttering almost absently," There's something in here. Something not human."
Now, years later, here they were. They'd met when Zero first joined the schools classes and first became a guardian of the school. Both he and Yuki had balked at how easily she'd slipped through them and made it to the Moon Dorms doors when she wasn't even trying. When Zero managed to catch up, she was standing in the middle of the living room with a gun to Kaname Kuran's forehead.
"I believe you, you ready? We've got orders to wipe them off the map," Jaxx took off the safety and smirked, with that smirk they both dashed into the church and opened fire on anything that got too close. Within about 30 meters roughly was too close. However, as they ran, Jaxx gasped, then fell through a spot of rotting floor. Zero dove and caught her hand, using his free arm to fire on anything getting to close to him.
"They're here," She was screaming and firing, though her voice was raised to be heard over the din, not by the fear Zero had to believe she felt. She was dangling among at least 8 level Es, she had to be afraid. Right?
"Kill 'em," He called, and in that moment of distraction, an E latched onto his throat with fangs fully extending. A small yelp escaped the experienced hunter before he could halt it. He knew Jaxx had heard, because her grip had tighten and her firing became more rapid. She could probably guess what happened, and knew if he lost too much blood, he'd have to drop her and that'd put her in the lions den.
"Shoot the bastard Zero! Shoot him, he's not human anymore," She bellowed and Zero forced his free arm up to the persons head, ignoring with much effort the fact that this E was easily only 13. Zero pulled the trigger before the thought could even enter him. Regardless of the effort, it always hurt the hunter to know that this was what he could become if Kaname wasn't so in love with him, so willing to share his blood with the D.
"Can you pull me up, or do you want me to flip," He felt her give a small tug to test whether the grip he had was a death grip or he was still alive. He shifted to lie on his stomach and began tugging up his partner. She grinned and tossed her bloody curls back into her face," Let's go see your boyfriend. I'll call the Association later," She grinned and the two began their walk back. Zero leaned on Jaxx' shoulders for support, blood loss was getting to his head. That friggan E had drank fast, deep draughts from him. He smiled softly and Jaxx quirked an eyebrow.
"What?" The question slipped from the girl's mouth.
"I'm thinking, I smell like death and that damn E leeching onto my neck, right," he waited for her to nod and when she did continued," Kaname will hate it." He smirked and Jaxx giggled.
"Yea, yea he will," she shook her hair out to get the ashes of dead Es out and lowered him into the passenger seat of their car. She hopped in the driver's seat and sped down the road towards home.
It took an hour to get back, even with Jaxx' crazy driving, she never did abide those 'law' things. She had a serious authority problem, possibly even worse then Zero's - if it was possible. The second they got back to Cross Academy, Jaxx was in the Moon Dorm.
"We're home," she called and beamed happily when Kaname's inner circle appeared around her, moving at paces too fast for the untrained eye," Hi guys," she wrapped her arms around them and kissed all of their cheeks then dashed to the stairs and yelled up," Kaname! Zero smells funny!" She laughed and smiled when Kaname popped up from the general direction of his office on the second floor.
Jaxx could barely notice the gush of wind from Kaname moving from one room to another before his voice reached her.
"Pardon me Jaxx," He glided down the stairs with a malicious smirk on his face, he hated it when Zero came home smelling different. Smiling with all the grace of an angel he wrapped his arms around the blood soaked teenage girl, not caring about the crimson liquid that got transferred onto his chest. Jaxx giggled, knowing she had probably just woken the Vampire Prince up and he was trying to make it look like he'd merely been working.
When Zero walked in, Kaname's lips turned down into a scowl. Everyone paused, seeing the glare narrow in on the hunter's neck. Instinctively Zero brought his hand up to cover the bite marks that refused to heal. Kaname strolled forward and Jaxx noticed how Zero had to physically stop himself from backing away. If I could notice, Jaxx almost spoke the words in her head, then Kaname could too.
"Come with me," Kaname spoke, then walked right by the hunter walking back up the stairs. The vampires threw him a smirk and Jaxx gave him a thumbs up as Zero bounded up the stairs behind his lover. Knowing full-well, the sooner the pale-haired hunter wasn't in their line of sight, the less sex-jokes he'd have to endure.
"So? Tell all," Rima giggled and tugged Jaxx to sit on the couch with her and Ruka. Jaxx opened her mouth to speak but then her personality took a 180 turn. Usually in the Moon Dorms Jazz was all smiles and laughs. Only one person could put an angry glare in her bright eyes, and a ferocious tilt to her lips.
"What's he doing here," with the way she said it, he might as well have been the foulest curse on the planet.
" I am visiting my grandson," Asato Ichijo smiled viciously at the 16year old," and who knows, maybe my adopted daughter." He raised an eyebrow at Jaxx.
Everyone knew that Jaxx had been dropped on the Ichijo's doorstep when she was 1 year old. But ever since, she's hated him. She was kept in a different house then Takuma and Kaname, but received equal attention. Only Takuma was never hit, Asato had a tendency to slap her. She never said anything about her years there beyond," He liked hitting me."
"Get out," She barked and ripped her gun from it's holster. Asato snarled and moved forward, Jaxx jerked off the safety and shifted her finger onto the trigger, half-pressed, half-not," I said get out," She seethed.
Her aura made the room's temperature drop a few degrees. The sudden cold washing over the dormitory was obviously enough to catch Kaname's attention because he was on the bottom stair in seconds. The picture of perfection. But his blood red eyes shone in the dim lighting of the night and showed his annoyance for the situation. Asato always caused problems with Jaxx when he was here. And it continually irked the pureblood.
"Ichijo-san, I think it wise you go now. Obviously Jaxxon has made her decision to either shoot you or get you to leave. I believe everyone would prefer the latter," Kaname walked forward and placed one hand on Jaxx' shoulder, the other on her gun, slowly lowering it. He held back a flinch when his wrist brushed the anti-vampire charm she'd engraved onto her gun to prevent a vampire from using it. A vampire, like Kaname.
"Not me, I like the former I want to shoot him," She snarled, but allowed Kaname's pulsing, calming aura to wash over her own. Diffusing the rage in her system, and forcing the bonfire burning high within to calm back down. Asato walked forward, kneeled and kissed Kaname's knuckles. Kaname stood silently, though those who knew him well, could tell it took will power to not jerk his hand away.
"Takuma...Jaxxon," He growled the final name as he walked from the building.
"Thanks Kaname, I probably would've shot him," She sighed and sat down on the floor, crossing her legs in annoyance. Kaname reached down with the hand he didn't feel the need to wash and ran it through her curls. She leaned into the motion and savored the comfort Kaname was pulsing.
"I know, that's why I came," He worried his neck, and Jaxx immediately recognized the motion as the bond between he and Zero tugging at his psyche to go back to his lover. Jaxx sighed and shoved his hip lightly.
"Go, Zero wants you and these guys can handle me. You want him and he wants you. Get out," She smiled simply and Kaname smirked. Appreciating the simplicity of some things was one of Jaxx' strong suits. She could very easily see the world as black or white. He nodded, bent and kissed her forehead than disappeared," You guys can handle me right," She quizzed quickly and laughed when the whole room shook their heads no.
"Gods no, Kaname can handle you because of that aura control he's got, Zero because you two take your rage out on Es then deal with one another. Us, we just hide while someone gets Kaname," Aido grinned and dove to land softly on a couch. Jaxx got up then lay down on his back with a soft sigh, she curled up and snickered.
"You're comfy Aido, and now you're stuck as my bed for at least a few hours," She leaned her head onto his neck and fell asleep moments later.
"Of course I'm the bed. She always sleeps on me," Aido complained without shifting, he always acted insulted when Jaxx did this but how often had the others caught him and her asleep together on couches or hammocks was astounding. Jaxx was the one who introduced the hammock, regardless of how undignified it was to get into, it was insanely comfy.
"Have fun Aido, we're going for a walk," The rest of the vampires turned to see if Aido would protest, but noticed he was fast asleep, using his crossed arms as pillows and letting Jaxx curl one hand into a fist in his shirt. Both of them shared a room and a bed, but there was nothing romantic in it. Regardless of the taunts the blond vampire received from his cousin Kain.
That following morning, Jaxx and Takuma were, of course, the only ones up. They met up in the kitchen and both threw on cooking aprons and put their fists sideways on their palm. Traditional waiting pose for rock paper scissors. Every morning they played this game for food groups. Usually it was vegetables and bread for the loser, meat and blood for the winner. This morning they were playing for who did bacon and who did eggs.
"Rock, paper,scissors," Jaxx pulled rock, Takuma had scissors. Jaxx smirked," You're cooking the eggs and toast. I'll do the bacon and blood." Takuma sighed.
"I don't know why you insist-"
"Because your a much better egg-cooking guy than I am. I can't even get scrambled right, you can do like amazing eggs with some crazy fancy name that I can never remember," Takuma laughed at Jaxx' answer but set to work on the eggs anyway," Takuma? Why don't you ever date anyone?" She also had a tendency to spring random questions like that on him without warning.
"Because I have a boyfriend. You know him, we just don't broadcast it, we try to be like Kaname and Zero, but it's harder for those two because of who Kaname is. Shiki and I are easy-going," he shrugged and flipped Aido's and Zero's sunny side up eggs, tossed around Rima, Ruka and Shiki's scrambled ones and Kaname's omelet got turned.
"Oh," She nodded and thought it over as she shifted the bacon, then scurried across the kitchen and took out a pitcher. Filling it with water, she tugged out a small box of tablets from the cabinet above her head. Takuma smiled and waited while she processed everything. Jaxx was the kind of girl who definitely didn't care what other people thought about her, but often worried about how her own thoughts would be interpreted.
"What kind of eggs do you like again," Takuma queried, among the amount of people the duo cooked for, it was easy to let people's favorites, especially the person you cook with, go in one ear and out the other.
"Eggs Benedict," She dropped 8 tablets into the water and stirred quickly, the water changing from clear and glassy to red and swirling, blood tablets, what a marvel. Designed and tested by the Night class here at the academy and nearly completely functional, it didn't erase the thirst, not yet, but it very nearly did so.
"Ah yes," He scruffed his hair and within 15 minutes, they had both finished, setting the table with the food already in place. They were both just placing glasses at the places when the rest of the inner circle, plus Kaname and Zero joined them. Most of them looking as though they didn't know their name, on the other hand, Kaname and Zero looked so intensely alert and why shouldn't they be. Because Zero lived with Kaname, the hunter's organization saw fit to drop unannounced. Unfortunately for them, Jaxx kept ratting them out to Kaname and by the time the overseers arrived, the house was cleaned and everyone was all grace and charm. Not a hint of anything malicious.
"Dig in," She and Takuma both glowed with pride as everyone gave murmurs of praise. The two of them had been cooking for this group since the week after Jaxx arrived. Ever since they've never once gotten a negative response. Except from Zero who would say it only in jest.
Once everyone polished off their breakfast and downed the blood, Aido and Kain took dish duty, preforming a excellent clean in about 2 minutes. The girls and Shiki in the meantime dashed about the lounge - the only place the overseers could go without Kaname threatening them - making sure everything was spotless. Then people took their places. Vampires everywhere.
Kaname and his closest associates took center stage, all positioning themselves in the most welcoming position possible for people they wanted dead. The rest of the Cross Academy population of vampires took different positioning. Some flaunting their skill and balancing precariously on a small piece of the banister, others displayed the comfort they had that the hunter's didn't. Complete comfort in their own skin, so some were sitting on lover's laps.
Jaxx was positioned in the most casual position she could think of for someone as wild as her, also for Zero's and Kaname's comfort, she was splayed across their laps back slightly arched to the side so the lovers could hold hands without being caught. Zero wasn't particularly good with public displays of affection in front of humans, hunters? Not in a million years. Kaname couldn't afford anyone not wrapped around his finger to see how close Zero was too him.
The overseers merely walked in, so Kaname didn't bother acknowledging their presence, he merely continued his conversation with the surrounding vampires, all of whom were glowing with pride that the Pureblood Prince was talking to them.
"Ahem," One of the hunter's cleared their throat and Kaname ignored them, Jaxx instantly recognized the look as if they want my attention, they may fight for it. The hunter cleared her throat again and Kaname finally turned.
"I'm clearly busy, it's incredibly rude of you to invite yourself into my workplace without my permission in the first place. Get out and knock," He turned his back again and ignored the steadfast huffing and puffing of 2 insulted hunters.
"Kuran, don't be a jerk," A new voice, familiar as hell to all of them spoke. Zero spun in surprise and smiled.
"Master, how are you," He questioned and Kaname waved him forward. The elder hunter strolled forward, smoking his character cigarette and toting his shotgun.
"Touga I believe I'm being reasonable by not kicking you out, the rest are gone and you don't smoke on school grounds." Kaname sighed and waved a few of his vampires forwards to usher the other 2 protesting hunters out the door. Touga nodded indulgently and put his cigarette out in a ashtray handed to him by a blood-sucker.
"How the hell are you guys, now that the song and dance are over," Touga was one of select few to know almost everything about everything, save what Kaname hid from everyone.
"Touga," Jaxx threw herself onto him at the last second to knock him off his balance. Touga cursed and smiled.
"Fine, you win, you can knock me on my ass," He laughed and scruffed her hair, this vicious little girl had clicked with Zero so fast it made his head spin, now she and he were as close as the Master hunter and his student. Long ago, they had made a bet consisting of whether or not Jaxx could knock him to the floor.
Today's strategy was very interesting, call his name to gather his attention then pounce, most people didn't want attention before they jumped, which was exactly why she did so. It was a surprise and yet not all in the same way. Damnit, Touga sighed, she's got me.
"Yes! Did you see that Zero," She grinned and bounded to her friend who clapped hands with her. She smirked and dove backwards into a walkover onto the couch, getting comfy in seconds. Touga threw the shotgun to her and sat on the opposite couch kicking his feet up on the table.
Zero joined her and Kaname on the couch and waited, Jaxx almost always began the report. Every 3 months Touga showed up to hear how every mission had gone. This exercise killed two birds with one stone, it kept Zero's and Jaxx' memories so sharp they couldn't forget anything, and it got the Hunter's Association off their asses for a little while longer. That was ideal for everyone.
"Case23984: E terrorizing the neighbouring village where I was staked, Zero went out and killed it on my recommendations. Case23985: D falling into E swiftly, took his ass out before he could do damage. Case23986: Rogue vampire, used to be a C class but he decided the rules didn't apply to him, Zero dropped him before he could blink and before he could drain the 7 year old he'd kidnapped..." It continued like this for hours, the vampires listening intently to Jaxx listing case after case, deceased vampire after deceased vampire, but no one protested.
Es were scum, all of which in their opinion deserved what they got, a bullet from a hunter. Ds made them jumpy, but Ds like Zero, who were in complete control were fine. It took years upon years to form this opinion of the silver haired hunter but it got there.
"Case25000: A coven of Es gathering to wipe out a town, Jaxx and me went into their nest and shot them all. The town survived with minimal casualties. 5 deaths before we got there," Zero sighed as he finished off the report. Everyone froze at the word coven.
"They've gathered," Both Kaname and Touga breathed the words, equally horrified," Touga, I'll be sending out my people to aid the Association with their missions. Taking on our own cases, we have better resources fortunately. Centuries to develop good contacts," Kaname smiled almost bitterly about the time he had on his hands, you'd think never dying would free up time, but really it only made you busier. Retiring? As if.
"Fine by me blood-sucker, Zero how many?"
"Easy 15, and all ages, I had a frigging 13 year old latch onto my neck-"
"Where the fuck where you Jaxx," Touga cut off the younger hunter and turned on the youngest female in the room. Jaxx breathed deeply and glared ferociously, she had always said that she hated the accusing tone Touga took with her.
"Where was I? I was dangling into a room full of hungry Es, forgive my being a little bit busy you jerk. Don't jump until you know the situation. Kind of like look before you leap, only this leap can get you drained dry for forgetting where the floor is rotten in a century old church," She barked and then sighed and leaned back into the couch," and don't even think about lecturing me about responsibility when you've fucked up too."
Both huffed but smiled at the other, they both got along in the weirdest ways but it was always forgotten the next day. Touga rose and hugged Jaxx, shook hands with Zero and forced himself to do the same with Kaname. Kaname sighed and tightened his grip and smirked.
"If I didn't know any better Touga, I'd say you were afraid of me," Kaname chuckled softly when Touga's grip began breaking his hand," That's more like it." The two broke away and Touga left.
"That was fun-" Jaxx began but was cut off by a vampire being dragged in.
"Jonas?" Both Kaname and Takuma raised an eyebrow, Takuma automatically falling into step with Kaname as they approached the boy. He was anew vampire, dating that human girl that....Kaylie, Karlie, Kylie! Yes Kylie was the name.
"That bastard Aiden," The vampire spluttered and tried throwing the police officers holding his arms off him. Kaname growled.
"Kneel and stay there. Thank you for bringing him here you two," He smiled at the two vampires he'd sent to monitor the dance and the vampires in attendance. Jonas dropped to his knees and as instructed stayed there," What did he do," He asked the two officers. Kaname always listened to the people he sent out first, smarter to hear the story from an un-biased party before listening to one side.
"Tried to kidnap said Aiden kid, then failing that, had a good try to kill him, failure on both counts."
"Oh you are in so much trouble," Jaxx snickered and laughed harder when Jonas snarled viciously at her.