Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the Monogatari family and their story.
A/N: Well, for those who found that this update was posted last week, congrats! You are one of the very few. For everyone else…well, this was posted last week on the LJ I have for fanfic only. The address is on my profile, though you will have to actually type it in…links are doing funny things.
OH yes, also, I was nominated for best one shot on the Quil to Parchment awards...well, my story The Hunted was...it's listed under my other name, Ravenesque! Voting is suppose to start today, so go support your favorite stories!
Chapter 17
Stone
The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed in the room.
Ayame's hand held his cheek as his eyes cut up to glare at her through the hair that had fallen in his face at the impact. With a flick of his head, he tossed his hair out of his face and glared menacingly at Hermione. He stepped forward as if that move alone would intimidate her. She stepped away from the wall he had her pinned to and glared at him. He rested his hands against the wall and bowed his head.
"Please, Mi-chan," he said softly.
Hermione slowly turned to look at Ayame. His voice was so soft and held something akin to wanting. She really didn't understand what it was.
"Isn't there a goat or something around here that would satiate your blood thirst?"
"Blood thirst?"
His hand dropped from the wall and he turned around to look at her.
"This isn't a blood thirst, Mi-chan. Not just a taste of any blood would do…only yours."
Her forehead scrunched up in confusion. Inside this estate she was in their world and she knew so little of it in comparison to her own. There was so much she didn't understand. She vowed the moment she had the chance she would search the library not just for anything about their Darkland, but for anything about the Monogatari family and their curse. She had to be there for a reason and that reason was to help. She looked up to say something more, but Ayame had already moved forward and was holding a black stone out for her to take.
"Take it," he said. "If it does not burn your hand then it was meant to be yours."
Hermione looked from his haunted eyes down to the dark stone that seemed to glow as if burning like fire and gently plucked the stone from his hand. She wrapped her hand around the stone and held it tightly as if it could escape and looked up at Ayame.
"Does it burn?"
Curiously she could hear the slight hope in his voice. Not taking her eyes off him, she shook her head no. Ayame closed his eyes in defeat. How could that be? Kuro's stone burned like fire as well. How could she hold Ayame's without feeling the pain of fire? How could she hold it! He walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down, his hands immediately reaching up to his hair, gripping his head like a man going insane.
Hermione watched him not understanding how the stone and her blood were related to Ayame's yearning, but knowing she hated to see anyone or anything in pain. It was clear Ayame was in pain. He explained it was just her blood and though that didn't explain the stone, it explained the pain that seemed to pour from him.
He could hear his own heart pounding…he could feel hers pounding. His eyes fluttered open only to see a pale wrist hovering before his eyes like an offering at a buffet table. His dark eyes blinked and then looked up through his disheveled hair up at the young woman standing before him…offering the one thing that could satiate his current desire.
"Mi-chan," he started, but was cut off by her finger on his lips.
He closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath. Did she know what her touch did to him when he was in such a state of wanting?
"You said no other blood would do. I can't just watch you suffer," she said, pain etched across her forehead at the thought. Hermione took a deep breath. "This is the last time though, Ayame. Your actions…your reactions…it's like an addiction…"
Her words were cut off when Ayame suddenly stood, causing Hermione to take a step back. He grabbed her upper arms holding her in place and leaned his forehead down against hers. He closed his eyes.
"You're like a drug," he rasped out.
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Kuro sat alone in the room. The darkness outside had the house a flutter in activity though the room was empty and dark. He sat alone with his head in his hands trying to decipher the feelings surging through him…feelings that were not his own. There was anxiety and worry mixed in with confusion…understandable for what had been happening that evening.
He stood up suddenly, feeling the need to go to her…to explain his world, to explain the misunderstandings they seemed to have since her arrival. Could he really just give up on her because Ayame seemed so taken with her? That made him laugh. Taken with her? No, it was more than that. His bitter uncle was in love with her. That was obvious by the reaction to her blood. Rui had explained it to him once already. He stopped halfway across the room and closed his eyes. Was he willing to forgo the happiness of a family member for his own happiness? His job was the family's happiness. That was a weight placed on his shoulders as a child.
Did he even want that responsibility?
He needed to see her.
He needed to fix this.
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Ayame heard the soft knock on the door, but he said nothing. He didn't even bother to rouse Hermione from her slumber. Instead he remained where he was, lying on his side watching the way her chest moved up and down deeply as she slept. Hermione had fallen asleep on the wrong end of the bed, so as Ayame lay next to her when the door opened he had to look above him slightly to see who was coming through the door.
Kuro's anger was blinding. He didn't expect to find Ayame there, lying next to Hermione on her bed in his current disheveled state. The slow smirk that formed on Ayame's face seemed to add fuel to the fire burning in Kuro. In nothing more than two strides Kuro was lifting Ayame off the bed by nothing more than his throat and slamming him against the wall, baring his fangs in a clear sign of his anger. Kuro's hair fell into his face, having not been tied back. He looked up through his hair at Ayame, everything in him telling him to just kill him, but a large part reminding him that this was family…this was his bitter uncle, the one that lost so much and was now desperately grasping for the one thing that seemed to offer some form of comfort. His anger was maddening though.
"What did you do to her?"
"Nothing," Ayame choked out. "But not from lack of trying."
Kuro glared and Ayame smirked.
"Quite the tasty thing isn't she?"
At Ayame's taunting words, Kuro's grip tightened.
When Ayame's body hit the wall, Hermione had woken to the shocking sight before her. She stood up, rushing to Kuro and grabbing the arm of the hand that held Ayame by the throat. Kuro could feel the tingling from her touch through his clothes. His eyes cut toward her. Hermione blinked at the fire that seemed to dance in his eyes and the intensity of that flame. It took her breath away.
"Kuro, please. I offered. I can't stand to see someone suffer so I offered, but he wouldn't." Hermione's eyes cut to Ayame who looked like Hermione was divulging some horrible secret. Kuro let go of Ayame, allowing him to drop back to his feet.
"Don't you understand yet?"
Kuro's voice was soft, but the inflection of anger was still there warning Hermione how quickly he could grow angry with her or Ayame again. She looked up at Kuro and shook her head.
"When you let him drink from you, you are giving him a piece of your life…your soul…you are giving him something so sacred…something…"
"I fed you when you were in need," Hermione interrupted.
Kuro looked at her as if he couldn't believe she didn't get it.
"I was going to die, Hermione."
"Don't address her so informally!"
Kuro's eyes flashed with instant anger as he looked back at Ayame.
"I'll address her informally if I wish. You are the one without the right to do so."
Hermione chose to ignore Ayame and Kuro's exchange and concentrate on her and Kuro's conversation.
"And Ayame was in need."
Kuro turned back to look at her.
"He wasn't going to die! His only need was your blood. Haven't you noticed his behavior since his first taste? He craves you, Hermione."
Hermione blinked. She had never thought letting Ayame drink from her was something so…intimate, though Ayame's responses to it should have been a clue. She just didn't know their world and felt lost for the first time.
"Will all of you who drink from me crave me?"
Kuro looked away.
"No," he said. "The only time we actually crave someone's blood is if we drink from the one we love."
Hermione blinked, allowing the implication of Kuro's words to sink in. Her eyes shifted to Ayame who looked beyond angry as he left the room. Hermione's eyes wandered back to Kuro.
"What about you? What happens when you drink my blood?"
Kuro pushed his hair out of his face and took a deep breath.
"Everything becomes you. I can smell you with every breath, I can feel you with every heart beat and I can taste you like a yearning that won't go away."
Hermione's eyes widened at the intensity of Kuro's and she took a step back. Her eyes were wide and Kuro could see the slight fear in them. She wasn't afraid of him though. Her fear lied in the emotions she inadvertently caused. They were so powerful…so overwhelming. She couldn't look at him knowing what pain she had caused. Her fist tightened and she could feel the coolness of the stone she still held in her hand, even when she was sleeping. Kuro watched the question that danced in her mind create a crease in her brow as she nibbled on her bottom lip.
"My blood holds some sort of key to a cure. I know this. But what do these stones have to do with it?"
She held her fist out and slowly opened her hand palm up revealing the black stone he knew to be Ayame's. His previously pounding heart seemed to stop and his blood seemed to suddenly run cold. She was holding Ayame's stone. He was told of the intense fire his stone seemed to burn upon Hermione's entrance into his life, but never did he think…never could he fathom that she would be holding another's stone. Kuro always thought she would hold his stone with no ill effects. He always thought, believed she was meant to be with him. Why else would his stone have burned so brightly? Perhaps that wasn't it. Perhaps he was nothing more than a bridge connecting Hermione with the one she was meant to be with…Ayame. Kuro closed his eyes for a moment.
"Get some rest. Sobo will be here tomorrow evening."
Hermione watched Kuro quietly leave the room. It wasn't until she was sure she was completely alone that she lay back down on her bed and held the stone up to look at it. What was it about these stones? What was it about her holding the stone caused Kuro to look as if his heart had just been ripped from his chest?
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Hermione looked up from the books piled around her and the notes she had taken. How had the day passed her by so quickly? As she glanced up at the setting sun her mind drifted to those she missed…Harry, Ron, Draco, even Lucius. She missed the fighting with Lucius. Yes, it was a strange thing to miss, but it had become such a part of her life and really she needed to see him if she wanted answers…like why he had kissed her at the manor before Kuro arrived. They treated him like the enemy though and that too brought many questions to her mind. With a sigh, she looked back down to the book that currently lay open in front of her. It wasn't until the sound of her quill scratching across the parchment sounded in the room that she noticed she was not alone.
Chi stood by one of the book shelves. He snapped the book he was holding shut with one hand and looked upon Hermione with a smirk and evil glint in his eyes.
"Do you honestly believe you will find something I, a member of this family, have yet to find?"
He turned and slowly walked toward the table Hermione sat at. He stood across from her, looking down over the books she had pulled and the piles he knew to be those read and those needing to be read. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and smirked.
"I'll be kind and save you from needlessly spending all your energy." Chi glanced over the books again. "I can recite each book in turn for you or would you just prefer the synopsis of each?"
Hermione looked up at him, her nose in the air as if unaware that Chi was standing over her like he could intimidate her with his presence.
"Neither," she said. "I prefer to do my own work thanks."
She bent back over her parchment. Chi slammed his hands down on the table startling Hermione. She looked up at his eyes wide with a slight hint of blood thirst insanity in them.
"You silly little girl! Who exactly do you think you are? The future Princess? Or perhaps the future Malfoy? You are nothing more than a delectable little midnight snack for the youngest of the Monogatari family."
"Leave her alone!"
Chi looked up with that look…that exasperated look that said "here we go again." Hermione turned to see Chloe storming into the room and standing next to Hermione. Chi stilled as his eyes cut up to look at Chloe standing there, a slight sneer on his face.
"What are you doing here?"
Chi straightened up acting as if Chloe had not just yelled at him, but the slight warning undertone in his voice told Hermione he wasn't just forgetting it. Chloe's smiled brightened.
"I arrived with Hanajima-san. Kuro-san wished for another girl to be here for Hermione-chan. You haven't forgotten the annual winter celebration of Darkland have you?"
Chi gave her a withering look, but she ignored it and was already speaking excitedly to Hermione about the dresses Kuro had bought her to choose from.
Hermione smiled. She loved Harry and Ron, but often times they seemed to forget she was a girl. It was nice to be treated like a girl and not just a walking brain. Hermione smiled as she listened to Chloe's excited chatter. Glancing up at Chi, Hermione began to pack up her books. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and turned around to return the book he held, acting as if the two young women were not there.
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Dinner was the usual affair. Kuro sat at the head of the table with Hermione and Ayame on either side of him. Hermione nibbled on her food, her thoughts lingering on the dark stone in her pocket. No matter how many books she searched in, she could find nothing about these stones and the importance they had for the Monogatari family.
Hermione did not like not being able to find an answer.
She pushed the food around on her plate a bit more before Hanajima looked over at her and with her typical grandmotherly smile; she sat her chopsticks down and wiped her mouth with her napkin.
"Ask child," she said. "I can see the question on your face."
Hermione looked up. She had noticed how Hanajima referred to all of them as "child," even though Chi and Ayame were technically much older than her. Hermione blinked and reached into her pocket, pulling the stone out.
"Why is everyone bothered that I am able to hold this stone with no harm coming to me?"
Hanajima looked down at the stone in her hand. Her eyes widened and quickly glanced at Ayame and then Kuro. The Prince refused to look up at first, not wanting to meet those eyes that probably held pity in them. He didn't need pity. He needed answers. Hanajima took a deep breath, a sure sign she was about to tell a story of great importance. She turned to Hermione.
"Not long after the curse was placed upon Rui-san he sought the council of a well known oracle. When he arrived at her dwelling, she was waiting on the porch for him. She knew he was coming."
Hermione leaned in slightly as if that could put her further into the story being told.
"This oracle gave him a small pouch full of stones informing him that these stones represented each cursed to be born and the stones would be like fire to any, but those meant to love any one particular cursed."
Hermione's forehead crinkled up in thought.
"Wait. What do you mean?"
Hanajima smiled.
"Each cursed is attached to a stone. Upon a cursed one's birth the stone for him or her glows an icy blue until the changes begin to occur. Then it burns like fire to the touch. Only the cursed and the one they were meant to be with can hold the stone."
Hermione looked down at the stone in her hand. She felt nothing when she held it, but when she wasn't around Kuro she felt…empty.
"I am the Stone Keeper," Hanajima said as she pulled a pouch out of her pocket.
"There is one stone left in the bag. The only opal among them all," she said.
Hermione eyed the bag.
"The opal is Kuro's?"
Hanajima smiled and nodded.
"Then where is mine?"
Everyone turned to look at Chi. He looked rather put out that Hanajima still did not have his stone and refused to give it to him for safe keeping.
"I will not tell you again, Chi-san. I know where it is. I know who holds it dear. She has had possession of the stone for many years, since she was a child and stumbled across the stone."
"Who is it?" His voice boomed across the table.
Hanajima looked at Chi with a slightly cocked head almost looking amazed that Chi did not know. Hermione's eyes wandered over to Chloe who was brushing her hair over her shoulder as if in attempt to hide something. No one was paying her any attention, but Hermione saw it.
The choker Chloe always wore…the choker with the turquoise stone in the center seemed to be the object she was trying to hide. Chloe looked up feeling Hermione's eyes on her and smiled slightly as if letting Hermione know she was correct.
"Chi-san, it is not up to me to tell you who she is," Hanajima explained calmly. "It is up to you to find her."
With Chi back to his silent scowling, Hanajima turned back to Hermione and motioned for her to hold out her other hand. She did and Hanajima turned the pouch holding the opal upside down, dumping the stone into the palm of her hand.
Hermione stared at the opal in her hand. It sat there docile, causing no harm. The light of the chandelier over head was caught in the stone creating a myriad of colors to reflect. Still, the stone caused her no harm. Kuro looked down at the stone as if it had betrayed him somehow. Hermione's eyes wandered from the stone and up to look at Kuro. Their eyes met and she felt frozen in his gaze…a gaze that could frighten any man, but with her it sent shivers throughout her body.
She blinked and looked back at Hanajima.
"H-how can I be meant for both?"
Hanajima smiled.
"It can happen," she said.
"Do I get a choice in this?"
Hanajima nodded.
"Of course, Hermione-chan. You always have a choice."
Hermione looked back down at the stones in her hands and then back up at the grandmotherly woman.
"And what if I choose neither?"
At those final words the dining room doors were opened and standing there was the last person Hermione expected to see.
A/N: I feel I should apologize to you hopeless Lucius fans for the total lack of Lucius in this chapter. I am sorry, but with Hermione currently at Kuro's estate it is hard to write Lucius into it. Don't worry though…he is not lost. He shall return!