Yuuki noted the sigh that had come with the end of the sentence, her heart hurting as she thought she heard the sadness that was carried with it. "I'm sorry.. "
The vampire shook his head slowly, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned against the window frame. "No need to be sorry, Yuuki. It was a long time ago, it's just been a while since either of us has explained it to someone. "
"Well please continue. I'd like to know what happened. "
"Well, it's a little obvious, at least to me, what their next course of action was. The closest hunters had pulled Kit from the shelter of the cave, being dragged by the scruff of her neck. I tried to take her back from the men, but the mage had take the moment I was distracted to put a barrier up around the cave that now kept me trapped inside. I could do nothing to help the little gray fox that had helped me, and that was all she was now to them, a mere fox.
"I could do nothing! " Hokaiju slammed his fist against the window frame, rattling the glass violently, near the verge of shattering it. "I was helpless but to watch as they skinned her alive, tearing away that silky gray fur as Kit's screams of pain tore holes into my heart. "
Yuuki gasped at the words Hokaiju spoke, hot tears pricking at the backs of her eyes, her hands clasping over her mouth as she sobbed. She wasn't able to comprehend the level of cruelty it took to kill anything, especially something that meant you no harm, let alone put it through such torture while alive. Yuuki shook her head as the tears began to fall, her body shaking.
"Those inhuman creatures. They laughed the whole time they tortured her. In the end, it was not a final blow that killed Kit for the first time in her young life, but the inconceivable amount of shock. Her body could no longer cope and it shut down.. It didn't take long for the bastards to realize she was dead and they quickly turned their attention back to me. I was livid; growling and roaring at them, but no amount of vocalization would deter them.
"It seems for all their preparations however, the humans didn't know exactly what Kit was. The mage had verbally classified her as a low rank magical being, but these pieces of filth were in for a rude awakening. I of course did not know what Kit truly was, so imagine my surprise at the blinding white light that bathed the area and the ear splitting noise that came with it. The hunters could not hear the sound that Kit's rebirth made, but the light was enough to catch them all off guard.
"One thing that Kit left out in her explanation of Nova Foxes is that when a Nova rebirths, their maximum life span increases and their magical abilities double. So for Kit, the death had given her a boost that was more then adequate to deal with the hunters. It would have been anyway, had Kit's first bout of rage not kicked in. "
Yuuki blinked, tilting her head in confusion. "What do you mean rage? "
Hokaiju shifted in his spot, moving away from the window to stand in the middle of the room in front of Yuuki. "Imagine this if you will. When a Nova Fox, normally peace loving, is angered to the breaking point, they go into a state simply known as rage. Their bodies exude an immense amount of that anger in the form of invisible flames that cover their entire body. The flames are unbelievably hot, and are like this even three feet away. They are the hottest however, directly within the flames themselves, comparable to the scorching heat of the sun. "
Yuuki watched with wide eyes as Hokaiju motioned with his hands to further get the point across. Her mind's eye was easily able to picture the small gray fox she had seen but a few weeks before, snarling at the group of hunters as her hackles rose with the heat from her rage.
Pausing for a moment so that Yuuki could take in the information, Hokaiju moved to lean against the window again, just watching the clouds that listlessly moved through the sky. The position of the moon told the vampire the night was near half done. Closing his eyes, Hokaiju continued. "As I said, had she not been so angered by their act of sheer cruelty, Kit could've easily dealt with the group of humans, possibly sparing their lives. Her rage quickly took control of her motions, forcing Kit to rampage until every last human was slaughtered. It wasn't the kindest or quickest of deaths either. When the first hunter had noticed that Kit was alive again, the group quickly scattered into the forest. From my position in the cave, I wasn't really able to see what was happening but I soon found that the barrier was no longer around it.
"Seems that even in their rage state, Nova Foxes are at least semi-coherent. Kit had gone for the mage first, and as I began to inspect my surroundings, I found the half-ash half-completely charred body of what was the mage. Reeling my head around, I could see Kit stalking up on another hunter, several trees and bushes turning to ash as she passed them. The ground wasn't faring any better either. It was pretty darkly burnt from her rage.
"The hunter that Kit was stalking had started to turn to run, and from where I was, I barely caught of glimpse of her casting a spell to knock the man down. He was pleading to her to let him go as she paced toward him slowly, and when she jumped to get around him and attack from the back, I saw that her deep purple eyes were void of any such emotion as compassion.
"When Kit got close enough, I was able to hear his screams of pain, the invisible flames burning him alive.. I had turned my head at that point. " Hokaiju turned his gaze to Yuuki, gauging how she felt by the slight shaking he could see in the hand clasped over her mouth and the tears trying to continue to force their way down her cheeks.
Though the vampire said nothing, Yuuki nodded and continued to stay silent, patiently listening to every detail and taking it all in the best she could.
"Needless to say, there were many more screams within the course of the next twenty minutes. When I was able to hear nothing once more, I began to search for the little gray fox, sniffing for her scent. Not surprising when I could only smell the charred remains of several humans and plants, though.
"Kit found me shortly after, though it wasn't hard for her to spot me in the slightly diminished forest. Her head was hung as her tiny paws carried her toward me, ears folded back in what looked like shame. Kit knew that the hunters had done her wrong, but even so, it was unlike a Nova Fox to kill humans.
"I lowered myself to the ground, my head stopping her in her tracks. The look in her eyes was really hard to bear. She had so much regret that filled those deep purple eyes and I could not think of words to say. Of course at that time, I had no way of knowing that Nova Foxes spoke most languages, and my original thought of her possibly not understanding me kept me from talking. " Hokaiju turned his head to the noise that was coming from the bed, hearing Zero shift in his unconscious state. Yuuki's head tilted as she heard it as well and the tall vampire could see the worry in her eyes. He watched as the young brunette's fingers stroked away stray silver strands from Zero's brow, making the teen stir a little more, but he still did not wake. Hokaiju leaned his head against the window, the cool glass soothing the agitation he was feeling from unearthing old wounds.
"Zero should be awake soon Yuuki. If not, then he'll just sleep through the night but that's also normal. It completely depends on the particular… vampire. "
"I know Hokaiju. I just can't help but wonder if he's resting okay and try to help make him more comfortable. " Yuuki lifted her head to look at Hokaiju, waiting for him to meet her gaze before smiling softly. The vampire nodded and grinned somewhat, his fangs glinting in the pale moonlight as his head turned. The grin faded quickly as Hokaiju continued the story.
"As we sat in that burnt forest all those years ago, we just stared into each others eyes, never saying a word. Her ears twitched every so often as she picked up sounds from farther away then my ear could detect, and one sound in particular made her turn her head.
" 'My clan. ' she had said in what sounded clear as day to me. Kit got up on all fours, padding quickly around the forest, nosing each ash pile that use to be a tree or some sort of plant, healing them back to their natural states. The ashes that were the remains of humans were scooted just as quickly into a single pile and buried in the cave that we had taken shelter in. After finishing, Kit made her way back over to where I was still laying, sitting back on her haunches beside me as the head clan members, two Elder Nova Foxes, with a couple Adult guards, approached.
"Kit lowered her ears and crept slowly toward the Elders, laying at their feet and began speaking in the Nova Foxes native language. To this day I can't really make any comparison to what their language is similar to, but that's because there is nothing similar to it. At any rate, the Elders listened quietly as Kit explained, their eyes lifting to mine every so often. I knew they were judging me, and it would not have been good for me to anything out of place, so I stayed still.
"However, when Kit had finished, the Elder with eyes the same color as Kit's pounced on her, the claws on his paws extending toward her throat. Kit said something to the Elder, making the second one, a female with deep green eyes twitch her ears and intervene. The two Elders spoke a few moments before saying something shortly, turning quickly after and leaving. It wasn't until then that I realized my heart was pounding, and I was finally able to relax when the group of Novas left. "
"What was it that the Elders said to Kit? I hope it wasn't anything harsh, I mean she was technically justified. " Yuuki was worrying the fabric of her jacket sleeve as she listened, her deep brown eyes never leaving Hokaiju though he did not share her gaze.
"The Elders put on her on temporary banishment. " Hokaiju shifted his gaze from the window to Yuuki's eyes, meeting her stare for the moment.
"Temporary.. banishment? How do you temporarily banish someone and for protecting themselves? " Yuuki's eyes narrowed as the judgment sunk in, not sitting well with the prefect.
"The Elder's wanted Kit to take care of the mess she had made for not being able to keep her rage in check and to keep danger away from the clan. They knew that other humans would come looking for the group that was missing and Kit's smell was all over the ashes. The humans would easily link two and two and find out who had caused the deaths. "
"Well.. I suppose that makes a bit of sense, but it still doesn't seem fair.. " Yuuki pouted as she spoke, her brow furrowing a bit more.
Hokaiju sighed heavily, nodding at Yuuki's words. "Life is hardly fair Yuuki, but the Elder's knew what they were doing. They were several hundred years old after all. " Ignoring Yuuki's surprised gasp, Hokaiju continued his story, beginning to tire some. He wanted to finish this soon. "At any rate, once the Elder's were outside of our range, Kit turned around and informed me of the news and her plan. She was going to let herself be captured by the humans and plead her case.
"Though I was young, I knew that it was pure suicide to attempt something like this because the humans would not listen. There was already much prejudice among themselves, let alone the hate they felt for anyone or anything different. I soon found that Kit was extremely stubborn and there was nothing that was going to stop her. She knew the dangers and the possible consequences, but also knew that she had to fix what had been done.
"Needless to say however, I felt responsible for Kit's current task at hand and thought that I should at least accompany her and try to help. She figured that it was not the best course of action, as she could return from the dead if negotiations were to go sour, and I could not. " Hokaiju chuckled to himself, remembering how he had sat there dumbly and just stared at Kit before he had agreed. "She was right of course; I am very killable. "
"You and everyone else who isn't somehow immortal.. "
The voice startled Yuuki out of the mental trance she had fallen into as she listened to Hokaiju. Beside her, Zero groaned and opened his eyes, barely able to turn his head to look at Yuuki. The brunette all but collapsed on him, making the taller vampire by the window smile as he watched.
The air in Zero's lungs escaped in a surprised whoosh as Yuuki fell on top of him, sobbing. Lifting a weak and shaky hand, Zero stroked Yuuki's hair a moment before letting the hand rest at the back of her neck. Though his energy was coming back, the teen found it very hard to move. "How long is it going to take for me to be able to move properly Hokaiju? "
"You'll be fine by mid morning I assume. " The tall vampire peered at Zero a moment before returning to his gaze to outside the window. Hokaiju felt it was wise to let the two have a few moments to themselves.
Yuuki grumbled as she lifted her head from Zero's now damp shoulder, pounding at his chest with one fist. "I was so worried about you, you big jerk.. Why did you have to make me worry? "
"I'm sorry Yuuki.. I didn't mean to make you worry. It's not like I can control what the blood wine did to me… " Zero winced as Yuuki hit his chest again, making him grin somewhat as he looked at her. "Thought I must admit, I've been trying to wake up for a while now. I was kind of worried when I couldn't and even a little more so when I found myself awake but couldn't talk. It's like my body was slowly turning back on. "
"I'm sure that's merely a side effect of the wine, right Hokaiju? " Yuuki tilted her head to look at the dark haired vampire as he leaned against the window, blinking as he merely nodded, but said nothing.
Zero noticed the puzzled look on Yuuki's face, leaning his head backward to see Hokaiju. The taller vampire was just staring out into the night, obviously lost in his thoughts or memories. Sighing softly, Zero closed his eyes and settled back against his pillows, the hand at Yuuki's neck slipping to her cheek to recapture her attention.
Yuuki jumped a little at Zero's slightly cold fingers, her eyes falling back to the silver haired male in front of her. "So, how much of the story have you heard? "
Zero stared blankly ahead a moment before returning his gaze to watch Yuuki's eyes. "Right around the point where the Nova Elders showed up.. I woke right around then, but I was able to hear from when the hunter's first hurt Kit.. " Zero's voice dropped as his eyes closed once more. "I'm sorry you had to witness that Hokaiju.. "
Yuuki looked from Zero to the tall vampire standing by the window, saddened by the tone in Zero's voice and how Hokaiju stood silent with his arms crossed. The tension from that sad note left the room's occupants silent, especially Yuuki, who found no words to make anything better or to get either of the two vampires to talk. Yuuki's fingers clenched lightly at the material of Zero's shirt, causing him to open his eyes once more, the silver of his irises shimmering in the moonlight.
Hokaiju's hands dropped to his sides, sighing deeper then he had all night. The motion and noise made Yuuki look up and Zero shift on his bed to get a glimpse of the now very sullen taller vampire. "You know.. This wasn't the end of the terrible things I witnessed. There were other events that happened as a result of me stumbling into that poor foxes' life. Sometimes I wonder if she would've been happier without meeting me. After all, our meeting started a war. "
A/N: I'm sorry to all those who are reading this and are like "OMG GET TO MORE VK STUFF." I had to explain a lot to make it easier to understand certain aspects of the two realms and Kit's sadness. It gives background to the council as well anyhow. This will eventually give reasons as to why Yuuki thinks Hokaiju reminds her of Zero. At any rate, I hope you all are enjoying, more to come soon I hope! Thanks :3
P.S. - CLIFF HANGER. AGAIN. XD