His Only Princess: Chapter 11
"There was absolutely nothing good about my sleep last night!"
Even though she had went to bed fully intent on sleeping well since her day had been one so productive and fun, she kept tossing and turning throughout the night, waking up what felt like every hour to her. It was already late morning, and the sun had crawled up high in the sky, shining brightly through her thin white curtain—she had taken down Naomi's blackout ones while she was away—making her squint while she peered out the window.
A new layer of snow coated the ground, covering up all of its imperfections from the day past. Unconsciously, her fingers traced up her neck, and she silently wished that her skin was the like that, like the snow. While the bite marks had finally faded, it had been an extreme pain to have to hide them every day, and since she couldn't just opt to wear a scarf during class since it was against dress code, she had to suffer with that itchy bow around her neck for almost a week.
Heaving a breathy sigh, Yori shifted and lift herself off of her bed.
Town was quiet. Headmaster Cross had granted her permission to leave campus and go out for a few hours, as long as she promised to stay in heavy traffic areas of town where she would always be close to the public, which was easy to promise. While she was a rather independent, reserved person, after everything she has witnessed over time, being in the company of others always made her feel more at ease than being all alone. Even though only a few pedestrians wandered the cobbled paths, it wasn't an uncomfortable emptiness.
Yori glanced in almost every shop window she passed by, much like she had during her walk in town with Takamiya the other day, and a small part of her wished he was there to accompany her now. He was right when he said it got lonely going to town by oneself, which surprised her; going to town alone used to be an activity she loved to do.
"Oh well," she mumbled and smiled a little, making her way to a bookshop where the owner was just now turning around the OPEN sign.
By the time noon had came around and the sun was in the middle of the sky, Yori had her arms full of new books, plus a little bag with a treat from the bakery. She walked a little more, making her way to a seating area with barren trees, benches and a small pond, that was now frozen over, and brushed off a spot on one of the benches, taking a seat and placing her book pile neatly in her lap. Thumbing through her newly acquired stash, she reached over and plucked her treat from its little paper bag while she picked a newest reading material, settling on one with a odd title but a very interesting cover.
"His Only Princess," she recited. It sounded a little too romantic for her, being the realistic girl she was, but still, she was quite intrigued by its looks. On the cover was a very cliché looking damsel type character, but something about her was also off from the original "damsel in distress" type. What it was, Yori couldn't put her finger on, but that also wasn't what had caught her eye. Behind what she supposed was going to be the main female character of the story was a very dashing looking man, dressed in all black with a silver mask over his eyes and cheekbones, leaving only his lower face exposed. The two of them where in a..quite intimate looking pose for a book cover, she thought, looking as though they were about to kiss, but she found it kind of tender and sweet appearing. "This looks really...oh!" She gasped in surprise when her eyes wandered further down the cover, catching a figure she hadn't seen earlier, probably because it was pretty dark in the bookstore. It was another man, equally handsome appearing as the first, only somewhat more sinister. He was below the loving looking couple with his hands gripped in the bottom of her dress, as though he was trying to tug her away from the first man. "A love triangle?" Now, Yori was quite intrigued, partly because she had witnessed a love triangle unfold before her own eyes before, and partly because some small part of her wanted her to desperately be that hopeless romantic and swoon over these types of things. Thumbing through the pages, she soon was immersed within the story world, completely loosing track of time.
"Excuse me, young Miss?"
Yori looked up quickly, shocked. Standing in front of her was an elderly grandfather with a kind smile on his weathered face. Standing up in a rush, she almost spilled her large pile of books before correcting herself and bowing politely to the man before her.
"May I help you, Ojisan*?" she smiled at him.
He returned the smile, his already wrinkly eyes crinkling up even more until they were hardly able to be seen.
"I am the grounds keeper for these sitting areas, and I am afraid it is closing time now," he spoke with a gentle voice, the smile staying on his face the entire time.
Yori was shocked.
"Closing time? Ojisan, what time could it be now?"
He seemed to sense her frantic change of behavior, and chuckled softly.
"Do not worry, young one. It isn't that late; it is actually," he lifted his coat sleeve, checking his watch. "Only half past six. Do you have somewhere you need to be?"
Hearing the time, some of her worry drained from her, but she still knew she had passed the curfew Headmaster Cross had given her, and he would certainly be angry once she returned to the Academy. Gathering her books in her arms, she waved his question off with a hand.
"It's nothing to worry about. Thank you, Ojisan. I'll be taking my leave now," she waved to the elderly man as she walked away.
"Have a safe walk back to wherever you came from, young Miss!" he called after her.
She looked over her shoulder at him one last time, and then jogged hurriedly down the road back to the Academy. It had gotten progressively colder, and somehow, she hadn't noticed. Supposing she must have been far too involved with her book at the time, she shrugged it off and tightened her scarf around her neck, picking up her pace slightly when she noticed that the street she was on was entirely barren.
"That's weird." A chill worked its way up her spine as she continued to walk, the air around her only growing colder the further she went. Any sound she heard sent her heart racing, which she thought was a very bad thing.
What if one of them is behind me?! Her mind screamed while she tried her best to calm her racing heart. Where was Takamiya when she needed him? Even better, where was Zero and his trusted Bloody Rose? Where was anybody when she needed them?
"Okay, just relax," she chanted to herself under her breath, taking slow, even breaths, allowing each of them to strip some of the chilled fear from her bones. "Everything is fine, everything is okay. You're fine, and no one is—,"
"Excuse me, lady?"
Yori froze at the little voice behind her. She really, really didn't want to turn around, but at the same time, the voice behind her sounded like it belonged to a young child. Balling her fists up at her sides, she debated in her head for a few seconds about whether or not to turn around when the little voice called out once more.
"Lady, can you help me? I lost my mommy and I'm scared."
I suppose that decided it for me, she thought a little wryly, but she felt her heart break at the poor sounding child behind her. Slowly, she turned to face them, and came face-to-face with a little boy who couldn't be any older than five. He really looked scared, and tears were beginning to shine in his large brown eyes. Tentatively, she took a few baby steps closer to him, and another thought crossed her mind. Would a vampire use crying a tactic? She honestly felt bad for having such thoughts while watching his cherub-like face and his little mouth quiver, but nowadays, no one could be certain about who was one, and that was what frightened her the most.
"W-where did you last see your mommy?" she asked, mentally cursing herself for stuttering. If there was any chance that he could be a vampire, showing any sign of fear would result in a horrible fate for her. To cover her blunder, she straightened up as tall as she could make herself, looking down her nose at him.
He looked around him carefully, shrugging his shoulders a few times.
"I don't remember. I was walking with her, and she told me to wait at the fountain while she went shopping for my birthday. But she never came back!" By now, he was wailing his words out, and his voice echoed off of the buildings around them, fading into the encroaching darkness.
"Okay, okay!" she whispered hurriedly, relaxing from her rigid position. If she was sure of anything by now, it was that he was more than likely not a vampire. However, the chances of her wandering back into town with him were non-existent, so she had to think of another plan. "Um...say, do you like sweets?" she asked, hopeful. Still though, he continued to cry, not even seeming to acknowledge her question or the fact that she was even there anymore. "Hey, little boy—,"
"Ryutaro? Is that you I hear?"
The little boy, Ryutaro, stopped his screaming and crying almost immediately, turning his head frantically in search of the owner of the voice.
"Mommy!"
Out of the shadows, a tall woman slinked out, moving almost like skittish liquid. Every move she made made her seem like she was on edge, and the fast pace at which she moved made Yori want to reach her arms out and grab the little boy and run. She finally made her way to the boy, stooping down to wrap her arms tightly—too tightly, it seemed—around his small body.
"Oh, Ryu. I've been looking all over for you. Where did you go?"
Ryutaro sniffled and clung to his mothers dress.
"Where you told me to go. I really didn't leave, I promise! But then you didn't come back, and this nice lady was going to help me find you."
Immediately, the woman's stony eyes zoned in on Yori, and it felt like her veins filled with ice water while bile rose in her throat.
"Were you?" she attempted to sound grateful, but her voice was cold and cackled slightly when she spoke.
"Ah, well, I was-he was very upset and—,"
"Thank you, then" Ryutaro's mother bit out, clutching him to her side possessively. He didn't seem to mind how forceful she was acting towards him, but it unnerved Yori in every way possible.
Still wary of letting him leave with his mother, Yori decided it probably best if she just high-tailed it and went on her merry way back to the Academy. Bowing her head to the mother and offering a small wave and smile to Ryutaro, she turned on her heel and marched quickly up the street, wanting so badly to turn around and see if they were still standing there or walking away.
Maybe I can pretend to be staring around at things, she thought, kind of like...a tourist! She had seen a few tourists around before, and they always stopped and looked at everything. So, she did. Stopping in front of a little trinket shop, she pretended to admire the things through the window, taking a few breaths before glancing to her side.
Ryutaro and his mother were no where around to be seen.
"I was so worried over nothing," Yori almost laughed from the sense of relief she felt, dropping her tourist act and heading back on the path to the Academy.
She hadn't gotten very far when she heard a snapping sound resonate somewhere behind her. Her boots scuffed against the snow covered concrete as she once again stopped in her tracks.
It was quiet once more, the only sound being her erratic breathing and a few hoots from an owl somewhere far away. Sighing at herself, she hit her forehead lightly with her fist a few times when something reached her ears, sending ice shards up her spine.
"Excuse me, lady?"
Before she had time to react, something latched onto her back, holding tightly around her neck, almost strangling her. Her hands flew up to her attacker, clawing at their coated, little arms, and her mind matched the voice with the little boys face from only a few minutes ago. Ryutaro.
"Good job, Ryu."
His mother soon appeared before her, looking entirely different than she had moments ago. Now, her hair was wild and stringy, falling in her face, covering up her wide, crazed eyes.
"Now, I think it's time for our reward."
"Y-yo-your r-reward?" Yori stupidly stumbled over her words, shaking in fear now as the boy released himself from her neck. He wrapped his small hand around hers and practically dragged her over to his mother with a surprising amount of force. The woman lifted her nose to the air, taking a long inhale before smiling, revealing a mouthful of sharp, grey-white teeth.
"You smell divine."
With lightning fast speed, she lunged at Yori, wrapping her hands around her neck and pulling her against her. Yori fought against her all that she could, kicking back and pulling at her hands.
"No, no! Let go of me!" she screamed out, hoping that someone would hear her and help. She jabbed her elbows back, hitting the vampire woman in the stomach, but it didn't affect her much. "Let go of me! Please, someone help!"
Zero had finally managed to relax himself enough to fall into some sort of state of sleep. He was on his bed, curled on his side with his knees brought up to his chest, eyes screwed shut and hands covering his face. Finally, the burn in his throat had settled down some, and he could focus on other things—
"...someone help!"
—other things like that, he assumed, forcing his eyes open. He waited for only a second, hearing the person scream out again, and then rushed out of his apartment, not bothering with a coat or even closing his door behind him.
"Get...off of me!" Yori screamed out again, still struggling as hard as she could while the crazed vampire attempted to sink her teeth into any part of her skin. Ryutaro hadn't really done much but stand there and watch what was happening. That was, until his mother ordered him otherwise.
"Ryutaro! Help mommy! Grab her legs."
Like lightning, Ryutaro had his body wrapped around her lower half, looking up at her with the same crazy look that his mother possessed. And with the added restraint, Yori could no longer use her lower half to fight the vampires off.
"Get off, get away from me! Help!" In one final, desperate attempt to free herself, Yori lowered her head to the hands at her her neck, turning until her mouth was against the vampires forearm. Opening her mouth, she pushed all thoughts of how insane this was and bit down on her forearm, hard, earning a piercing shriek from the vampire, who in turn loosened her grip from around her neck. Even though the action made her feel like an awful human being, she brought her fist down on the child vampire's head as hard as she could, definitely knocking some sense out of him, as he let go of her legs after a few seconds. Even though the woman vampire still had a pretty decent grip on her, she now had more room to fight.
"Haven't you had enough, vampires?"
The voice like knives broke the hysteria, and before anyone could turn to face him, a click was heard and bang!went the Bloody Rose, a perfectly aimed bullet going through the woman vampires head. She immediately released her grip on Yori, who stumbled and fell to the ground from the sudden action, screaming and shrieking before evaporating into nothing.
Ryutaro looked almost sad, but it was only for a brief second before he lunged at the weapon wielder, who didn't even think twice before aiming his gun at the small child and pulling the trigger once again. Yori watched in absolute disbelief as Ryutaro, too, vanished into nothing.
The purple afterglow from the Bloody Rose shone for a few seconds before fading, and Zero pocketed his weapon once again before taking notice of who the vampires almost-victim was.
"Wakaba?"
Yori's head snapped up, and despite everything that had just happened, the amount of relief that washed over her was too great now.
"Zero-kun!" she scrambled to her feet, almost tripping, and reached out, latching her arms around the Hunter's lean torso.
Zero was surprised by her actions, and didn't really know what to do. Things had obviously been weird between them since their own incident, and while they had made up, they were never that close to begin with, so any kind of physical contact with her still deterred him. He raised his hands and gently laid one against her upper back, barely touching her, judging his own and her reactions. Her heart was racing from her fear, and with her so close, her scent assaulted him to no end. But, surprisingly, even though the pain in his throat burned and throbbed, it was something manageable, at least at the moment. And she didn't seem to be scared off by him touching her; actually, she wrapped her own arms tighter around him.
"I was so scared," she mumbled, her words muffled by his shirt, but he still heard them. Taking a shaky breath, she spoke again, her voice trembling. "I was so scared!"
"Shh, it's okay now," Zero offered up comforting words and pressed his hand fully against her back, letting his other one come up to the back of her head, holding her close to him. She turned her head and buried her nose against his lower chest, which made his heart flutter. "Don't cry."
Hi guys! So, I'm back after a very long, very unexpected hiatus. Really, it was unexpected. There's been quite a few things going on, so it made it literally impossible for me to update. I have wanted to, though! And I really hope you all have held on to some hope for this story.
Did anyone catch what Yori is reading? Why not add my own story, within my story? Hahaha *wink wink, nudge nudge*
I was totally going to add the whole "hey, why don't Zero and Yori go to his apartment?" in this chapter, but it's already late, and I feel that would be dragging this one on for too long and...yeah. It'll be a flashback in the next one. A long, long flashback, because I've missed writing about these two :')
*Ojisan is a Japanese term used towards an elderly man or an older male citizen.
Please, my wonderful readers', continue supporting this story and reading! Your support means very much to me! :)
*Also, I don't know if she's still on hiatus, but one of my incredible readers' Lakemet has written some incredible stories on here, and I promised a long time ago I'd promote them. So go check some of those out!
Until chapter 12!
*P.S. Make sure you check my profile regularly for update dates! Those will be posted once I get the chapter post dates planned out! (:
-Anzu-chan (formerly IdleScribe)