Thank you for answering my question and the explanation of Erica will be here soon, it is kind of confusing though so be careful you might get lost.
Title: The Haunting
Summery: '"I saw my sister, Erica". "Your sisters dead Hanabusa" Kain stared at his cousin. "I know" Aidou sighed...' As secrets begin to reveal themselves and strange murders begin to increase, who is there you can truly trust.
Language: English
Rating: K+
Genre: Drama and Supernatural
By: Maxine/Stebbins -Stella-
Fanfic: Anime-Vampire Knight
Includes: Gruesome scenes and possibly self harm further on. No more really for this chapter right now... We will see as the story goes on.
Spoilers: There will be no real spoilers in this story but I may talk about them in these little bits, if I do I will put a big 'SPOILER: EPISODE...' before I write it so you know.
Chapter Five: Winning And Losing
When Hanabusa was younger, he had always been afraid to be alone, especially in the dark, it made him feel even more terrified of it. When he was younger, he used to run and hide in one of his sisters bed, sometimes he would go and find his father in his study and sit on his lap, or he would cuddle up to his mother in bed. This was when he was very younger though and no one said anything about it.
But when he reached a certain age, his sisters began to question him and his father began to tell him to just try and get back to sleep. But then finally, he had a little sister named Erica. She was very small at birth and quite a few people didn't think she was going to make it, but she held on, and soon, she was toddling around the house like crazy.
So then whenever Hanabusa was afraid, he would go into her room and sit by her coat, talking to her the whole night, and although she never spoke back, she would stay awake and watch him, as if she understood. Then when she grew up and began to sleep in a bed instead, he would climb in and cuddle with her, still telling her stories.
If their sisters or parents ever came in and saw them then Hanabusa would lie and say Erica was afraid. Soon when Erica could talk, she would lie herself and say that she was scared and wanted Hanabusa with her. They were getting very close but after a while they just began to break apart.
Erica was getting into her dancing and ballet while Hanabusa's teacher was pushing him harder and harder. And in desperate thoughts of impressing his father and everyone else Aidou began to push Erica away just so that he could study more and learn basic facts that most older men didn't know.
Soon Erica was involved with her dancing and spent a many times practicing, but still she would try and play with Hanabusa only to be pushed away. She began to feel alone, but then, the day before her dance performance (the day before her death) she had a horrible nightmare in her small room and felt very afraid. Shaken and nearly in tears of the dream.
She slipped into Hanabausa's room and went over, when she climbed under his covers she woke him accidentally. He mumbled in his sleep and sat up, he looked down to see Erica, so small, cuddled up against him in her long white night gown, blushed and keeping her eyes shut like she was already asleep.
"Erica what are you doing?" Hanabusa asked
"Sleeping, shh" she whispered
He giggled "Come on Erica what's going on?"
"...I'm scared" she whispered "I don't wanna make a fool of myself"
"You won't" Hanabusa sighed "you're an amazing dancer"
"Really?" she blushed but beamed
"Of course, now stop acting all modest" Hanabusa rolled his eyes
"Sorry" she laughed and curled up "I can sleep here right, I miss sleeping together, we used to do it all the time when I was younger"
"You know how WRONG that sounds!" Hanabusa laughed
"Oh Hanabusa, you are so dirty minded!" Erica giggled then grew serious "Can I sleep here tonight?"
"I guess, why not, come on" Aidou lay down and draped his arms around her "Go to sleep"
They lay there in silence, Hanabusa's eyes closed and Erica's arms on his shoulders. Her eyes remained wide opened and she stared through the dark at her brother. After a while of pure silence she reached over and poked him dead on the nose. She did this often when she was little, it always got his attention. This time he blinked and frowned at her, then raised on eyebrow and shook his head "What?"
"Remember when we were younger?" Erica asked "And we used to be really good friends, we used to always hang out"
"Yeah I remember" Aidou sighed
"Why don't you want to hang around me anymore?" she asked
"I have work Erica, and so do you" Aidou sighed
"But the work takes forever! Dancing only takes an hour, and then your study shouldn't take all day, but you make it last that long and it isn't fair" She said
"Erica not now, go to sleep or go back to your own room" Aidou snapped
"But that's not fair. I cant sleep. I am too nervous" she said
She stared at him, he was scowling at her and this made tears fill her eyes. She sniffed and wiped her eyes, then her nose with the back of her hand. Aidou sighed and sat up, Erica followed him. He faced her and sat on his knees, then reached forward and wiped her eyes as more tears dribbled down.
"Don't cry Erica, I didn't mean it" Aidou sighed
"Yes you did, you are so horrible lately" Erica sniffed
"I am sorry. You know. No matter what Erica. I will always love you more than anything" Aidou said "You know that right"
"Yeah" she sniffed "I know that"
"Never forget OK, promise me, pinky swear you will never forget how much I love you" Hanabusa said holding out his hand with his small pinky finger extended.
Erica smiled and held out her own hand, their Pinky's wrapped around each other and the shook them up and down like shaking hands while chanting "Promise with a Pinky, Cant break the pinky promise, so keep your promise pinky, because we promise"
They then broke apart and began to giggle. They wrapped their arms around each other and laughed as they fell back against the bed, lying beside each other, grinning. With his warm presence and love, Erica found the will to drift off into a wonderful deep, sleeping dream.
*VK*VK*VK*
It was Ichijo that had heard the scream. At first he couldn't understand why it bugged him, but then he realized it was Aidou's scream. He ran to the large path again and called for Kaname and Seiren. They had heard the scream as well but had been father off the Ichijo. They all break to a halt and look around.
"Where is it coming from?" Seiren asked
"I do not know" Ichijo blinked "Kaname?"
Kaname however, remained silent, he was listening, feeling the vibrations in the Earth. He shut his eyes and allowed Ichijo and Seiren to stare at him. It would take a minute but if the screaming continued he would be able to tell where is was coming from.
Seconds passed, those seconds turning to minutes. Ichijo began to grow impatient, the screaming wasn't as loud but they could still just about hear it. Seiren was preparing to ask Kaname if he was alright when he lifted his head.
"Over there" Kaname pointed off to the trees
"Sure?" Ichijo asked
"Positive" he replied and began to move towards the direction of what he said.
Seiren followed without question, Ichijo right behind her. Although none would say anything, they were all extremely nervous. Seiren was least nervous because she swore to follow Kaname through anything, she was quite sure this was nothing compared to some of the things they had been through together. Ichijo wasn't sure what to expect and he didn't know what was happening. Kaname was desperate to see if Aidou was really behind the killing or if it was a vampire that had looked like Aidou to the girl in the dark.
"Do you guys smell that?" Seiren suddenly asked
Kaname had been so lost in his own thoughts as he walked that the smell of blood had completely evaded him. It was Aidou's blood, he wasn't sure if this pleased him, meaning that maybe whatever had done it was after Aidou but then he wasn't happy that his friend might be hurt, either way he lost a close friend.
"It smells like... Hanabusa" Ichijo mumbled
"Lets move!" Kaname said and began jog
"But wait!" Ichijo hesitated
"What?" Kaname scowled as he looked back
"I mean, I know we have to help Aidou but... It just doesn't seem right, I mean, all I am saying is... Maybe is it a trap. Maybe... Maybe..." Ichijo didn't seem to be able to go on
"Maybe what?" Seiren pushed at him
"I mean... Maybe Aidou is dead" Ichijo whispered
"No" Kaname stated
"But Kaname, they could have kept his blood to lure the trap and-" Ichijo was cut off
"I said no!" Kaname roared at him, his powers lost control and a a large tree trunk was blaster from the actually tree making Ichijo jump. Kaname's eyes were on him, blazing red.
Ichijo looked at his feet and bowed slightly "I am sorry Kaname, I just have an uneasy feeling about all of this"
"Right" Kaname said ignoring him "Lets go"
In truth, Kaname had silenced him so harshly and early because he didn't want to think about what it would be like if he lost Hanabusa. He cared about him so much, he may hit him but that was just the basic punishment that he needed otherwise he would have ran wild and it would have gotten very out of control, if he had a choice he would hire someone else to hit him, but he knew the only way he would learn was if someone Aidou respected more than anyone else did it. That was him, possibly Kain but he knew Kain would never punish Aidou and if he did then he would do it lightly. He couldn't think of that though. As he ran along he focused only on how he needed to prove that Aidou wasn't killing the day class students, he knew what would have to be done if Aidou was... Kaname didn't think he would be able to deal with that job.
Soon all three of them went from jogging to running as fast as they could, now following the smell of blood that filled there nostrils. They ignored the feeling of dread and ran when Kaname, in front of the other two, stopped abruptly. In front of them was a very strange large temple. It was strange but attracted their attention, they could feel the blood coming from the temple and knew it was where Aidou was.
Kaname stepped ahead and circled the temple, he found the doors and tried to open them but failed, he scowled and grabbed the handle, using his vampire strength to try and break them down but something was stopping him.
"Kaname" Ichijo began, his trap theory becoming more and more realistic. Kaname knew this too and didn't want to hear it aloud, so turning around and shooting him a glare stopped his words straight away.
Seiren was being more help, she was looking around the building for any weaknesses, although she found plenty of wholes there was no way in, she tried looking through but one was covered by a bolder, another it looked like someone standing in front of it and when she called out they didn't answer, and the last four where covered by flames.
"No way in Kaname, but I think someone has started a fire" Seiren said when she was beside him again
"Fine then" he began looking for a soft spot "We will just have to make our own way in"
*VK*VK*VK*
Aidou gasped and gripped Ryou's clothes. As he gulped down the blonde's blood, he felt his body shifting, his arms and legs stretching, body growing, eyes brightening, hair growing, skin growing darker. He wrapped his arms tightly around him and drank more, Aidou'sbody growing weaker. He moaned as tears dribbled down his cheeks. Ryou was holding so tightly that it was almost hurting him, not helping that his body was weak and having someone squeeze just made it hurt even more.
"Stop it!" Kain shouted and ran forward, Ryou had been so mesmeriesed by the sweet tasting blood, he had allowed him to reach them both. Kain grabbed Ryou'sshoulder and began to burn it, by the time the other man had let go of Aidou and spun around, hitting Kain hard on the chest, his shoulder had caught fire.
"Ahhh!" he roared and stood, more in shock than real pain, Aidou falling hard onto his hands and shaking with pain and fear, his hands hitting the cold surface, sweat beads rolling down his forehead and dripping down his nose and falling between his two hands.
Ruka looked over but couldn't see passed the hound that held her down. She tried to control its mind but her powers didn't seem to work on this creature. She reached over and her hand managed to grab a large brick that lay beside her, one of the many bricks that seemed to be knocked out out the wall, leaving small gaps where they once were. She brought it round and over her and knocked it hard against the hounds head, cutting into its skin and cracking the skull. It rolled away from her and whined in pain, eyes shut tightly so it looked like nothing more than the shadow of a real animal.
Not waisting a second, Ruka was on her feet and ran at Ryou, she jumped and kicked him hard in the back, his mind had been so on Kain that he hadn't seen it coming and was knocked forward into the wall, letting of a grunt of pain. That seemed to be his weak point, he was easily distracted by other people, if they could all use this against him then they very well could win.
Falling to her knees beside Aidou, when she trusted that Ryou was too far away and she saw Kain was keeping him as busy as he could, she reached forward and pulled him up so he was facing her again "Hanabusa! Come, we must go!"
He didn't answer her, just stared at Ryou, now looking completely like his old self, he smirked and put out the fire on his shoulder then stepped up to Kain whom had been mocking him and saying how Aidou would never belong to someone as bad as he was. Kain stepped back, shocked that his fire had not even left a singe, let alone really hurt him, even though he wouldn't be able to see it unless he got close enough to look at his black skin. Ryou chuckled at his face and rose a hand facing him.
"Do you know why I was, and am, so feared by most vampires and even a few humans, Akatsuki?" He asked, when Kain said nothing he continued "Because, I, have a special power, not just to control a small variety of people but to absorb other powers from people from having some of their blood, even if it is just a drop, when I taste it, I have it" after saying that and without warning he jumped forward and bit into Kain's arm, pulling back seconds after taking a small sip from above his elbow.
Kain staggered back and gasped, he shut his eyes and when he opened them again, Ryou stood, hand open, a flame sitting calmly in his palm, not hurting him at all. Ryou smirked and waved a hand, the flames grew to an unimaginable size and flew at Kain and he dodged just in time, they caught the wall and seemed to light onto the dust and dirt of the temple, catching fire and spreading rapidly.
"Hanabusa we must go!" Ruka snapped kneeling in front of him, her eyes wide with worry at how long Kain could keep him busy, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him lightly, staring deeply into his blue eyes, hoping to re connect with the boy that once used to drive her crazy.
"I can't" he moaned softly and shut his eyes, as she shook him he moved like a rag doll but didn't fight.
"Shut up!" Ruka shouted and slapped him hard across the face attracting unwanted attention "Snap out of it! Just snap out of it! Come back to us! Just come back already!"
"Don't. Slap him Souen" Ryou suddenly said behind her, he grabbed her arms and lifted her up throwing her at Kain, knocking them both down to the floor, hard.
The fire was still spreading, soon covering most of the wall and some of the floor. While Ryou keeled down to Aidou and touched his cheek with three fingers smirking. He whistled and the hound ran over to him, he got down and whistling into the hounds ear, then stood up again, it ran over to the wall and began to headbuttit very hard, by now the door was covered by the blazing fire, Ryou was trying to make a new way out.
Kain and Ruka both jumped to their feet and ran back over to him again, trying to fight him off and help a frozen with fear and confusion Aidou. Ryou brought his foot around and kicked Kain in the side, then brought it up on the side of his chin and face. While doing this he swung his arm around and grabbed a handful of Ruka's hair and pulled her away, then rose his fist, making sure his knuckles were on fire, and punch her repeatedly in the face, not stopping until he heard a satisfying crack of a broken nose.
"Hanabusa!" Kain choked out as he crawled to him "Do something, get help, SOMETHING!... please?"
Tears fell down Aidou's cheeks as he stared at Kain, lying on the floor, cough and trying to stand. He got on his knees and crawled to his cousin, still crying freely, unable to shake the feeling of fear and loneliness that filled him. Aidou reached over and took Kain's hand and began to sob allowed, Kain gripped his hand and looked up.
Aidou wanted to help Kain so much, he wanted to fight Ryou and go home, but at the same time, he wanted nothing more than to curl up against Kain and cling to him, sobbing against his chest and covering his eyes and pretending that none of it was happening and hoping that Kain would protect him like when they were children.
Ryou was still throwing Ruka against the wall and then kicking or punching her with flaming limbs. Kain pulled Aidou to look at him and hissed "Get out, get Kaname, anyone, go home or anything, please" then he stood and grabbed Ryou from behind, pulling him from Ruka and stabbing him through the side with his own hand. Ryou roared and spun on Kain.
"You little..." he started but angry closed his voice, so instead he then grabbed both Kain's and Ruka's necks and smashed their faces against each other. Aidou shouted out at him to stop but was ignored. The fire crackled, the hound grunted, Aidou cried, Ruka moaned, Kain growled... Ryou laughed.
"Please stop!" Aidou shouted "Just stop! Stop and you can have me! You can have me and use me for whatever I promise!"
Ryou looked down at him "Really now?"
"NO! Hanabusa no!" Kain roared
"Be quiet!" Ryou snarled and looked at Aidou "Really?"
"Yes, really, please just let them go" Aidou sobbed
"Fine then" his smirked darkly
Then suddenly the hound was knocked back from the wall by a large blast, he was knocked into the opposite wall and fell down, either unconsiousor dead, either way he was soon covered by the flames. Ryou dropped Ruka and Kain and looked around to see a large whole in the solid walls. Outside stood the three vampires, all looking serious, confused and angry. Kaname, standing in the middle, a hand on his forehead, frowning as he looked upon the scene. Ichijo was confused and shocked, wanting to run forward and help the others but unsure if he should. Seiren didn't have any expression and frowned slightly, also confused.
From what they could see, Ruka and Kain were bloody and bruised on the floor, shaken and in clear pain. A complete stranger stood over them, smirking slightly. Behind him was a still crying, pale, shaking and fear filled Aidou, on his knees. It was a very strange site and they didn't know what to make of this. But one by one they all jumped through the hole and walked forward.
"What is going on here?" Kaname asked
"Kana...me" Ruka gasped and tried to sit up "Long... story..."
Ryou scowled he spun around and grabbed Aidou pulling him up and turning, scowling on Kaname"I have business, goodbye" he pulled Aidou along
"NO!" Kain shouted and stood, he reached over and grabbed Aidou's other arm, giving the blonde vampire the distinctive feeling of what a rag doll feels again when it is being pulled by two younger children "You are not going anywhere with my cousin"
"You are starting to annoy me" Ryou growled and raised a hand, however before he could do anything, Kaname was suddenly in front of him, hand raised in the sign of a warning.
"Let him go" Kaname ordered
Ryou scowled at Kaname for a second, then smirked and shrugged "Fine, I own Hanabusa, and I will get him back, he will be mine, and there is nothing you can do about it"
With that he smirked and waved a hand, the small mound in the fire, that must have been his hound, vanished and he made his way to the hole. As he jumped through he stopped only to look back at Aidou, who was watching him, and winked sarcastically. The minute he done this and disapeared from the hole, Aidou fell to his knees, covered his face with his hands and howled. Kain sighed and got onto his knees beside him, arms wrapping around him, Aidou buried his face in his cousins shoulder and cried.
"I want an explanation" Kaname growled
"It is a long story Kaname" Ruka coughed and looked around "Plus I dont know how much longer vampires can last in smoke and fire"
They looked around, most of the walls and floor had in fact been covered by a thick layer of black smoke, rising slowly above the crackling flames bellow it. The smell was hard to choke down and soon they were all coughing as they tried to breathe. Aidou was choking from both smoke and tears. They looked around, the hole in the wall was beginning to become covered by flames.
"Kain!" Kaname snapped "Cant you control it?"
"No!" Kain said after a moment of trying "I don't know what's wrong, its too wild, and there's too much of it!"
"Aidou!" Kaname snapped at him instead "Use your ice Hanabusa!"
He responded by more howling into Kain's shoulder
"He isn't going to be much help" Ruka sighed
"Then we need to just jump through, now come on!" Kaname shouted, very angry now
They nodded, Ichijo and Seiren went first, running and quickly leaping through the hole, their trouser legs caught fire and they spent ten minutes trying to put it out but other than that, they were fine. Then Ruka ran and leapt through, some of the flames singed the tips of her hair, and her socks where burnt but like the other two, she was fine. Kaname then went after her, but stopped as he looked back, Kain was trying to get Aidou to get up and come along. Kaname sighed and went back over.
"What is going on?!" Kaname snapped
"It's just... It's confusing..." Kain blushed
"I can't leave" Aidou sobbed "I have to stay! I have to stay for Erica I have to die for Erica!"
"What is he talking about?!" Kaname shouted
"It's confusing" Kain stammered he then looked down at Aidou "Hanabusa! Please! Come on! We have to go!"
"NO!" he sobbed and shoved Kain away
Kaname got down and grabbed his wrists, then held them in one hand and forced his face up to look at him. He shook him hard and snapped at him "You are coming and that is that!"
"Kaname... I can't" he moaned
"Shut up and come on!" Kaname shouted and picked Aidou right off of the floor. One arm under his knees, other other behind his back. He stood and looked at Kain, who looked very worried. He then snapped at Kain "Come on! Move!"
Kain jumped but then nodded and ran for the hole. By now the flames were thick and large, growing over the hole, they would have to jump through the flames if they wanted to get out. As Kain ran through the fick fog and landed on the other side, his clothes had caught fire but since they were only little flames he could extinguish them in seconds. His skin and hair both fine, he shivered and coughed up the remaining smoke that had gotten into his lungs.
As Kaname ignored the thrashing Aidou, who wanted to stay for his sister, he made his way to the hole as he began to struggle, Aidou getting worse and worse, he was kicking and punching, sobbing and coughing. When without warning Aidou just stopped struggling, stopped fighting, just stopped. When Kaname looked down he saw Aidou staring into space.
Erica stood, smiling at him, she waved softly. Aidou yelled and struggled, he managed to get back to his feet and shove Kaname away. Then ran over to his sister. She smiled brightly and held up her arms, she wanted him to be with him. But as Aidou ran over to her, Kaname grabbed him from behind. One arm wrapping around his chest, the other around his waist, pulling him away from the flames.
"Let me go!" Aidou cried and struggled
"Hanabusa!" Kaname hissed into his ear "Hold still"
Aidou suddenly couldn't move, he stared at Erica desperately, her arms were still up and held out to her but her face had fallen.
"No, I have to help her" Aidou whispered "Please, I can save her!"
"Who?" Kaname frowned
"Erica, please Kaname, please" Aidou sobbed
"Look..." Kaname said, letting Hanabusa out of his power "I will come back for her, lets just get you out ok?"
"OK" Aidou whispered
But as soon as Kaname let his arm drop from around him, Aidou spun around and then ran over to help his little sister Erica. Kaname shouted for him but was ignored. As Aidou was about to reach her, her face beaming as she held her arms up, waiting for him to pick her up and swing her around and hold her, she had felt so empty for so long, she needed her brother back. Kaname watched as a large part of the ceiling fell, either the heat was too much or the place was just far to old and landed on top of the blonde. And he disappeared beneath it.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Ok we have one more chapter left and then thats it! The end of this story! OMG! Hope you have enjoyed it, and please review!
I will only continue if I get at least one review per chapter, otherwise it will just become one of those stories that gathers dust (not literally, lol XD)