Chapter 6: Politik
"Give me strength, reserve control
Give me heart and give me soul
Wounds that heal and cracks that fix
Tell me your own politik"
-- Coldplay. "Politik"
Airi was sprinting at an inhuman speed to the Hunters' Headquarters. Incidentally, they happened to be at Cross's house, and since Airi was resourceful and had used her status as Tyki's fiancée to pull the school records, she knew exactly where to go.
Perhaps it hadn't been a great idea to tell Lavi where she was going. She'd thought it would be better to tell him if she was going to recruit him, but he was more trouble than he was worth.
Because now, he was following her at breakneck speed, dragging Kanda along like an idiot. Airi rolled her eyes. Hauling a human around like that was going to attract way more attention than it needed to, and it wasn't like Kanda needed to know what was going on. He was just a human after all. Just food.
Airi stopped about a block away from Cross's house and turned around, scowling as she saw Lavi leap down in front of her a few seconds later, Kanda in tow.
The Japanese youth detached himself from the Brit as fast as he could, his blue eyes flashing.
"What the hell?!" Kanda demanded. "Why'd you take me along?!"
"Save you some money hiring a cab," said Lavi indifferently. "And I thought the presence of a human would restrain Airi from doing something reckless."
"Not really," shrugged Airi. "You know what, forget everything I said, okay? This doesn't concern you. Take Kanda back home and let me deal with this myself."
"What exactly are you planning?" snapped Lavi. "You should know better than doing something stupid—if you're going to be associating with Hunters about a conspiracy, you're going to be killed if Mikk finds out."
"If he finds out," said Airi coolly. "And I don't particularly care about being killed."
Lavi scoffed. "Sure."
"My words aren't empty like yours, Lavi Bookman," Airi said coldly. "I've lived for over three hundred years. I've lived a decently long life. The only thing that matters to me is revenge. If I die afterward, so be it."
"Afterward," said Lavi sardonically. "I'm saying you're going to die before anything happens!"
"Why do you care?" It wasn't Airi who said this, but Kanda.
The two vampires turned to look at the human, surprised at his easy intervention in their conversation.
"Actually, let me correct myself," he said frostily. "Why do I care? Why am I even here? This whole situation is so fucked up—this isn't any of my business—"
"Strange words from someone who so anxiously wanted to hear about my past yesterday," pointed out Airi. "But I must agree. Kanda has nothing to do with this. He's just food—nothing more."
"Food?!" sputtered the kendo captain. "I'm not going to sit here and be degraded to the status of food—"
"But that's all you are, really," smirked Lavi. "Unless you want to be something more than that."
Kanda's eyes glinted.
"There's nothing I can do about this," he said frigidly. "Whatever Totsuka does is up to her—she could just go die if she wanted to. It'd save me a hell lot of energy."
"How cruel," sighed Airi. "But he's right. Now, Bookman, take him home like a good boy, okay?"
"No. I'm going to find out what you're doing."
"And report me to Tyki?" she said acidly. "Would you want my death lingering over your head?"
"I don't particularly care, seeing as you didn't really have a problem trying to kill me the day before—"
Airi covered the distance between the two of them in one fluid movement, her onyx eyes widening imperceptibly as she stared straight up at her former Donor. Lavi instinctively took a step back, green eye clouding in caution.
"Listen to your creator," she said softly, bringing a hand up to his cheek. "Listen to your princess."
"Former," hissed Lavi, though Airi could see the wariness etched on his European features.
"…Do you really think so?" smiled Airi, her fangs lengthening threateningly. "I know that the only person you really ever listened to was me. Not even your grandfather. After all, that's why you offered to be my Donor the moment the Totsuka reign fell, right?"
Her fangs were growing longer, almost to the length that she pierced with. She leaned inevitably closer, that seductive smirk still on her face. Lavi's wariness bordered fright.
"Don't—"
Kanda's hand grabbed her neck suddenly, yanking her back. His blue eyes were narrowed, betraying no sign of fear. Airi's smile widened as she distanced herself a bit from Lavi.
"…Nice eyes," she said, turning her attention more to the human. "…You're not scared at all. I can't even smell fear coming from you."
"Freaky as you all are, I'd rather not see anyone die," he said icily, ignoring her comments.
"How kind…and non-human," she sighed, her fangs diminishing as she stepped back. "Stepping into danger for someone who's not even of the same species as you is not very…normal…well, you are a very interesting human, so I suppose that's why…"
The two males said nothing as she simply licked her lips, thinking.
"Fine then…come along, if you must," she said finally.
Lavi looked relieved.
"Good," he said, "I'll just make sure you don't do anything stupid—"
"If you can keep along, that is," she finished.
She disappeared instantaneously, laughing softly to herself as she sensed that Lavi couldn't keep up. Airi was feeling euphoric, so free, so strong without Tyki there. She remembered how she felt after she had heard that she needed to go to Tokyo, back to him. Disgusted, desperate…how she hated him for keeping her weak whenever she was with him.
Airi arrived at the side of the mansion easily, unnoticed by the security. They were just humans, after all. The Hunters were inside the house itself, armed and alert. But Airi knew Cross well, and she knew all his blind spots. He was overly paranoid about his right side, given that that was the side with his mask, and thus he normally left his left side open.
Airi picked up Cross's scent amidst the smells of the other Hunters (disgusting and bitter, every last one of them) and scurried up the side of the manor. Cross was in the highest room, conveniently with a window. Of course his guards were stationed outside the room; after all, who would think that a vampire would go to meet Cross through the window in broad daylight?
She climbed up on the windowsill that was on Cross's left side, opening it in one deft motion. She slipped in the room; she heard the gun cock the instant her feet hit the ground, but Airi reacted immediately, kicking up and knocking the gun out of his hand. Cross took a step back, his eye narrowed, expecting her to back off a bit in order to find another opening, but Airi simply leapt right on top of him, pushing him back down on the leather chair he'd just risen from.
Cross's handsome face contorted in revulsion as he recognized her.
"What the hell, Totsuka?" he growled as Airi sat herself comfortably on his lap.
"Hello, dearest Cross," she said, lips dancing at his cheek. "It's been a while since we've been able to speak coherently to each other, no?"
"Don't call me by my first name; we're not that close. What are you doing here?" he demanded, eye watching her warily.
"Ara, you want to get down to business that fast?" she said softly, bringing a slim finger up to his chin and running it over the stubble. "Come on, dear Cross…you can't be a bit more affectionate?"
"Attractive as you are," he said, "I'm not into vamps."
"Really?" she said loftily. "So the little…mishap we had a few years ago…"
"I was drunk."
"Mm hm," she said skeptically. "Funny though, I couldn't taste the much alcohol in your blood."
"If you're here for some sort of reminiscence, sorry that I can't say I really want to participate," he smirked. "If you're here for something else, well…" His smirk grew suggestive.
"Naughty, naughty Cross," smiled Airi sexily. "Well, I'm here for business, but if sleeping with you will help convince you, then I suppose I don't really mind…you're so attractive, after all…" A few of her deft fingers toyed with the top button of his shirt.
"Tch, female vampires, promiscuous, every last one of you."
"You don't mind though," she purred, leaning very close to his face as her fingers played with a strand of his red hair. "You know, Cross…your blood last time tasted as fantastic as a vampire's…you should feel very pleased with yourself, as that's the highest compliment I can give to a Hunter like you…"
"I suppose so, Airi," he said in an equally seductive voice. "Don't you always say that Hunters' blood tastes like…"
"Shit?" she offered.
"Yeah," he grinned wryly. "But I guess you didn't mind me at all, eh?"
"No, I didn't. And I felt stronger than I'd ever felt since my inglorious fall…property of drinking my enemy's blood, probably. Do you want to try again? I wouldn't mind tasting your blood, Cross-sensei…"
"Ha, adding on the title already, eh?"
He wrapped his arm around her neck, bringing her closer to his face. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her lips and her smile widened. She brought a hand to his neck, feeling the pulse there and the rush of the blood under her fingers, and at the last minute, she moved her lips down to his neck, her fangs lengthening.
Just as she was about to pierce his skin, Airi felt a cold metal barrel dig into the side of her head.
"You didn't really think we were going to go all crazy again, did you?" said Cross with a vindictive sneer. "I only gave you my blood last time since I was drunk."
"Along with a few kisses here and there," she said. "Forgive me if I don't believe you, Cross, when you say that it meant nothing. Only vampires are so detached from their emotions that nearly sleeping together doesn't mean anything. You, dear Cross, are still a hatchling compared to us when it comes to becoming an ice doll."
"I have a gun to your head, Totsuka, and you still have the nerve to call me by my first name and insult me?"
"I know you won't pull the trigger," she said calmly, sitting up a bit. "You know that the instant you pull it, I could kill you, and at the same time, you don't have the guts to do it."
Cross's eyes flashed. "You—"
"On the other hand," she interrupted, "I'm sure I kicked Judgment out of your hand. I'm guessing you've bonded better with your weapon over the last few years—you can call it to you now by simply stretching out your hand?"
"Tsk, only a former princess would know all these facts so well."
"You happened to tell me these things yourself, if you don't remember."
"Tch, I think I liked it better when you were royalty compared to what you're like now," he snapped. "You're much too reckless now. Get off me, Totsuka, or I'll blow a few holes through your head."
"I'd like to see you try," she retorted, dark eyes glittering.
Cross said nothing, but Airi heard the distinctive sound of the gun cocking. She moved without delay, twisting her body to the right as she fell off of Cross's lap. A bullet grazed her cheek, stinging much more than a normal cut, and she rebounded onto the floor, jumping a few feet away.
"You actually shot," she said, impressed. "I didn't think you had the gall to do it. But that shot had no killing intent, Cross. Looks like you're still soft when it comes to me." She brought a hand up to her bleeding cheek, feeling the wetness of the blood as it dripped down her alabaster skin. "I suppose you've drawn enough blood to make me a bit wary of you though. Let's see…"
She pulled up the sleeve of her blazer, exposing her wrist, and cut it deeply with her sharp nails, letting the blood flow over her fingers.
"You're not a pushover like Lavi," she remarked, painting each of her fingertips with the incarnadine liquid. "I suppose I can't just fight you with my regular abilities."
"You don't think I'm just going to stand here and wait for you to finish your damn ritual, do you?" Cross said dryly, raising Judgment in front of him and cocking it again. "Idiot vampire."
"Tsk, so impatient."
Airi sprinted forward, her hands glowing crimson as she placed them together, drawing them apart and revealing a blood-colored sword, lengthened and lethal. Her eyes tinged red, she gripped the sword tightly in one hand and appeared instantly in front of Cross, slicing in his direction. He dodged effortlessly, once again pulling Judgment's trigger, his flaming red hair dancing as he moved quickly.
Airi missed as she swiped next, hitting instead the wall, creating a huge slash in the middle of the whitewashed wood. Cross took advantage of her moment's halt and fired his gun incessantly. Airi propelled herself up, her muddy eyes gleaming as she watched the bullets lodge into the wall behind her. She threw her sword at Cross, missing narrowly; she followed through with an attack just as the blade passed Cross's neck, bringing her hands together and drawing out another sword and slashing at him. She caught his chin, barely, but it was enough for him to give her some ground.
The door burst open, but neither of them stopped their fight. Two vaguely familiar Hunter scents joined the room, but they were nowhere on Cross's level. Airi ignored them, her eyes focused on her main prey as she called her fallen sword to her, gripping it tightly the moment it flew into her outstretched hand.
A female's figure appeared in front of the vampire, kicking out at her face. Airi ducked, catching the limb and twisting it so that her opponent fell; the scent became familiar: it was Lenalee. Which meant that the other newcomer…
Airi sensed someone behind her and moved just as a white, squared blade plunged where she had just been. The vampire turned around, dropping Lenalee's leg as she observed her third opponent: Allen Walker. She'd just parried his sword when Cross appeared behind his apprentice.
"Allen, move!" shouted the adult Hunter, readying his gun.
The apprentice obeyed, but Airi moved as well, feeling the bullet graze the top of her head. The Hunters encircled her, attacking simultaneously. She swore under her breath, dodging Allen and Lenalee's attacks by jumping up, but Cross anticipated her movement, reaching up and grabbing her by the shoulder. He slammed her down onto the ground, the tip of his gun at her head.
"Finally," he said spitefully.
"Damn," she groaned. "Underestimated your little apprentices, Cross."
"So do I want to know why you're even here, Totsuka, or should I just kill you?"
"Do it if you dare, Cross. Death doesn't particularly frighten me. Being alive for three hundred years and knowing that I'm going to live another millennia at the hands of Tyki Mikk sort of takes the appeal out of life."
At the mention of Tyki, Cross's one visible eye flickered.
"You want to die? Then allow me."
"Better than you right now than Tyki in a thousand years," she said, dropping hints as big as bombs.
Again, Cross's expression changed at Tyki's name.
"Shishou," said Allen hesitantly, "perhaps we should listen—"
"I didn't sense any killing intent from Totsuka-san," agreed Lenalee. "I don't think she meant harm."
Cross snorted. "She had two blades out and ready to kill us all, and you say that she didn't mean any harm?"
"I didn't," said Airi innocently. "If I really did want to kill you, I would've created a lot more swords, my dearest Hunter."
The two apprentices were looking extremely curiously at the way Airi spoke to Cross.
The door burst open again, and two other Hunters came in, dragging Lavi and Kanda with them. Allen sniggered at the sight of Kanda, who looked absolutely livid.
"Marian-sama!" one of them said. "We found these two—a vampire and human—intruding at the side door—"
"They're with me," said Airi. "I was hoping they weren't stupid enough to follow, but it's my fault they're here. Let them live?"
"You like to ask a lot on your deathbed, Totsuka Airi," said Cross wryly, digging Judgment harder into Airi's forehead, causing her to wince. "Handcuff them with the vampire-restraining cuffs," he ordered the guard, who nodded fervently, "then leave them here. I'll deal with them."
"Yes, sir, and shall we bring another set for the female vampire?"
"No," said Cross coldly. "I'll kill her myself."
"Don't do it," said Lavi quickly. "I know she pissed you off, but killing Mikk's fiancée will definitely spark a war and—"
"Oh stow it, Lavi," said Airi. "You know as well as I that Tyki wouldn't give a damn. But you really will kill me without listening to my proposition, Cross? I assure you that it's worth a few seconds of your time."
The guards cuffed Lavi and Kanda and left them in the room, shutting the door behind them.
"What the hell am I doing here?!" said Kanda angrily. "And cuffed?! I'm a fucking human!"
"True…" mused Cross. "Allen, you can let the human go."
"Aw, c'mon Shishou," sneered the white-haired boy. "It's too much of a pain of the ass to go find the key…"
"Moyashi," growled Kanda, "I swear, I'll kill you the moment—"
"You get un-cuffed, right?" sniggered Allen. "But see, that's the little problem in your otherwise flawless plan—you can't hit me!"
Airi cleared her throat, annoyed that Cross was still on top of her and that Judgment was still boring into her forehead. The audience turned their attention back to her.
"Listen to me?" she said.
"…Fine, I will," said Cross. "After I make sure you can't do anything else but talk."
He cocked the gun. Airi's eyes widened.
"Just handcuff me!" she exclaimed. "There is no need—"
"Too bad, Airi. Precautions are necessary for a wonderful ex-princess like you."
"You bastard—"
Sometimes, Airi wished that her mouth would stop running with insults because it only seemed to piss people off further.
And when Cross was pissed off, he liked to shoot things.
He pulled the trigger.
Kanda watched, stunned, as the sound of the resounding shot reverberated in the now deathly still room. The smoke from the barrel of Cross's gun cleared, revealing the sight of a crumpled Airi on the floor. Cross towered over her, his face impassive. Blood was seeping onto the carpet, pooling around Airi.
"…Shit," said Lavi shakily. "You killed her. And Mikk just left today—there's going to be a war—"
"Oh shut up, vampire," snapped Cross as he watched Airi's still figure. "I know you're alive, woman, stop being melodramatic."
Airi didn't move. Cross nudged her leg with his foot.
"Wake up, Totsuka."
Airi's leg whipped out and swept under Cross's foot, causing him to trip. She stood up slowly, snarling, as her hand gripped her bleeding shoulder tightly.
"Who…said that was necessary…precautions?" she said, breathing heavily.
Kanda noticed that her eyes, wonderfully onyx a few moments before, were now rather red. Oh damn…
"The cuffs don't work on you anyway, so that would've been pointless," said Cross, gingerly standing up. "Shooting you seemed like the best way to disable you."
Airi's eyes landed on Kanda, who stiffened instinctively.
"Well, at least my Donor's nearby," she commented, staggering slightly as blood dripped from her hand onto the carpet.
"You said you wouldn't be taking any blood for over a week," Kanda snapped, annoyed. His wounds from before still hadn't healed, and he didn't want to suffer anymore than he was already.
"…Sorry. I wasn't expecting getting hit with an anti-vampire weapon," she said, shooting a nasty glare at Cross. "So…about my proposition, Cross…"
She stopped as she was seized with a coughing fit. Lenalee stepped forward, concern on her pretty face, but Airi held up a hand to hold her off.
"I'm fine, girl," said Airi with a brief nod. "No need to evoke the anger of your teacher over me…ngh. My arm's…numb…Cross, what the hell is up with your weapon?"
"It's the first time you've been hit with it, so you wouldn't know," said Cross with a satisfied look on his face.
"Ugh…bastard…"
Airi walked over to where Kanda was sitting, and much to his surprise, sat down beside him. He felt her fingers slip to his bound wrists and after a few moments of fumbling, felt the handcuff unlock, leaving his hands free.
"What?" he said, confused.
"Don't complain, Kanda-san," she said, lifting his left hand off the ground and bringing it to her lips.
He felt her fangs graze his fingertips and snatched them out of her grasp quickly.
"Oh, come on, Kanda-san," she said, letting out an exhausted breath. "Just a few drops will keep me in control for the next few hours."
"This is getting a bit ridiculous," he said coldly.
"Don't complain," she sighed. "It doesn't suit you."
She forcefully pulled his hand to her lips again, her grip much tighter than before, and Kanda, being the mere human he was, couldn't pull away. He was overly conscious that all the inhabitants in the room were watching the two of them with great interest, while Allen was grinning broadly.
Airi's fangs pierced his skin, not deeply, but enough for him to sharply breathe in. A smirk flitted to her crimson lips, her multifaceted eyes watching for his reaction as she brushed her tongue over his callused fingers. Kanda abruptly realized that this was an extremely suggestive action and attempted to pull away, but Airi held his hand still and continued to lick it until the blood stopped flowing. Finally, she released him, and though she looked extremely weary, her smile was still prominent.
"Filthy," said Kanda, appalled.
"That was enjoyable. I swear you blushed, Kanda-san."
"He definitely did," called Allen from a few feet away. "I bet he was having dirty thoughts—"
"Shut up, moyashi—"
"Admit it, straight-fringe, the vamp's probably the best-looking girl in your year, and that was a bit of a turn-on for you, I suspect—"
"I will kill you—"
"That's enough," said Airi. "If they had just handcuffed me, things would've been fine and I wouldn't have had to embarrass you, Kanda, so blame Cross for it."
"And that's why I didn't handcuff you," said Cross deprecatingly. "Seeing as you can just snap them off, there's not much of a point, unless it's Mikk who's cuffing you."
This time, it was Airi whose expression changed at the sound of her fiancé's name.
"I'm sure he does, doesn't he?" continued Cross, a smirk growing on his face. "You're probably so used to him tying you to the bedpost or something—"
Kanda hardly had time to blink when Airi's crimson sword suddenly lifted itself off the floor and whizzed toward Cross at an unimaginable speed, catching the redheaded Hunter in the shoulder and causing him to swear loudly.
"If we're going to continue talking about Mikk and me with sexual references, we're ending this conversation and I'll riddle you with a million holes until you die," she said in a deadly tone.
"Touch a nerve, hm?" Cross said confidently, pulling the sword out of his shoulder. "Didn't know you were so touchy about being Mikk's whore—"
Airi's face, as always, was composed with alarming arrogance and impassiveness, but those eyes of hers that steadily grew redder flashed with unspeakable fury as the sword twisted itself in the air and came crashing down toward Cross. The Hunter moved lazily out of the way, disappearing and reappearing before Airi, his gun loaded and aimed at her face.
"You're still a child, Totsuka Airi, no matter how many centuries you live," he said quietly.
"And you're just the same insufferable man you were five years ago, Cross Marian," she said with equal lethalness.
The sword came spiraling out of nowhere, piercing Cross from behind through the same shoulder, jarring him so that he stumbled forward, arm outstretched as he leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth.
Airi simply stared at him out of the corner of her eyes, not moving as she sat beside Kanda. Very slowly, she stood up so that she was right in front of the wincing Hunter, her cold eyes more arrogant than ever before.
"Just because I've fallen from royalty doesn't mean you Hunters should take me lightly," she said serenely. "You seem to have gotten a bit cockier just because you hit me once, Cross Marian."
Kanda saw Airi's pale arm slink around Cross's neck; her lips met his wound and she drank deeply, her eyes open all the while.
For some reason, Kanda didn't feel terribly happy seeing Airi drink someone else's blood.
Obviously, Allen and Lenalee didn't like the idea of a vampire drinking their teacher's blood right in front of them either, for they both moved forward instantly.
"Don't bother," Airi said evenly to the apprentice Hunters. "I can rip his head off before you could come within a foot of me. I'm just drinking the blood he's losing; no harm done."
Cross switched hands and held the gun to Airi's temple with an unsteady left hand.
"I must say that the second time taking your blood is much worse than the first," Airi commented nonchalantly, ignoring the presence of the golden gun. "Empowering nevertheless…"
Kanda heard the gun click, but Airi had already pushed Cross far away from her, sending him back to the ranks of his apprentices. Blood was smeared across her lips and chin; she wiped it away indecorously on the sleeve of her white blouse as she looked at the Hunters haughtily.
"Stand up, Lavi," she said softly.
"…The cuffs?" the Brit said, annoyed that he'd been ignored for a good bit of the conversation.
Airi leaned over and unlocked them with a deft twist of her wrist, leaving Lavi to massage his wrists gingerly.
"Lavi. Who do you swear allegiance to, Tyki or me?" she asked.
"…What?"
"Answer the question. If you want me to phrase it differently…it's who do you like more, me or Tyki?"
"Neither," said Lavi flatly.
"…Who do you detest less?" she rephrased for the second time.
"…You."
"Very well. Kanda."
Kanda looked up at her.
"What?"
"Same question. Me or Tyki?"
"…Why do I have to choose? I'm human."
"Just answer the damn question," she said snappishly.
"…You, I guess."
"What's the point of this?" demanded Cross, nursing his wounded right shoulder.
"To show that I at least have two supporters here, though one's a Donor," she said with a twisted smile. "Allow me to pose the same question to you, Cross Marian. Who do you detest less, me or Mikk?"
"I think you're disgusting," said Cross almost childishly.
"Where are you going with this?" inquired Lenalee with narrowed eyes. "If you want us to honestly answer the question, we'd rather side with you than the Noah family, but that's rather fruitless, seeing as there's one of you and many of them, unless—"
The Huntress suddenly gasped, realizing something.
"You can't be serious," she said faintly. "You are utterly outnumbered, even if we join you—"
"Join you for what?" said Allen, confused.
"I am very much outnumbered, Lenalee Lee," admitted Airi, folding her arms. "But what I lack in quantity, I make with quality. You seem to be forgetting, Lenalee Lee, that I am previous royalty, and the Totsuka reign, monarchial as it was, was more favorable than the current Noah reign. I'm the ex-princess and fiancée of the main Noah heir, who is one of the most abominable people existing in this earth, but who is very, very powerful. This gives me resources…my previous status gives me connections…I have many more followers than you would think…and most of them aren't vampires."
"You want us to join you so you can overthrow the Noah reign?" said Cross incredulously.
"That is my proposition," said Airi, nodding as she leaned heavily against the wall. "Join me. Help me. And when we overturn the Noah—"
"If you overturn the Noah," corrected Allen, stunned.
"Whatever you think," she said quietly. "Once they're gone, I'll let the Hunters decide how to govern the vampire society."
"You're unbelievable!" shouted Lavi, grabbing her by the shoulder. "They're your people! The Hunters will kill them ruthlessly, they'll slaughter them—"
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen; I also have confidence that the Hunters are more human than they let up to be. They won't ordain the slaughter of innocents…though I can't say I'll really care, because most vampires side with the Noah, and are thus traitors, every last one of them," she spat.
"…How long have you been planning this?" questioned Cross warily.
"Ever since my parents were killed. The night Tyki announced that I'd be his fiancée…the night I swore I'd kill him with my own two hands in retribution," she answered, her onyx eyes so cold that they sent shivers down Kanda's spine.
Cross looked mildly impressed, but mostly surprised.
"That long?" he said. "Who have you gathered?"
"None of your business. Not until you agree to join me."
"…It's the other Hunter associations, right? They've all joined you. Klaud, Tiedoll…maybe even Sokaro. Unbelievable…the traitors…"
"They're not traitors," she said icily. "I gave them a good offer. One that you would take if you had the slightest bit of self-preservation."
"Self-preservation?" scoffed Cross. "I don't think so. We can survive the reign of the Noah, so don't expect us to be helping you out of your desperate situation with Mikk, because we don't really care how he treats you, even if you are his whore—"
A glass residing on Cross's desk exploded the instant Cross finished his insult. He was unfazed as Airi glared at him with murderous intent.
"I'm asking you," she said with incredible control, "because I know that you, Cross, are the best Hunter. That doesn't make you perfect personality-wise. Believe me, had I not been humbled enough through my experiences, I wouldn't have come asking you like this. Whether you will join will be up to you. I await your answer. You know where to find me."
She turned to face the two people who had come with her. Kanda's head swirled with the amount of unfamiliar information he was taking in, and he had uncharacteristically stayed quiet most of the time. A smile played at Airi's crimson lips as she looked at him. He stood up gingerly, cagey of her gaze.
"I'll take Kanda back to his place," she told Lavi. "If you have questions, we can talk later. As for you, Hunters…good day, and think about my offer. Choose wisely."
She brought a hand around Kanda's waist and before he had time to voice anything against the degrading position, they'd left the room.
Once the vampires and the Donor had left, Cross settled back into his leather seat by his desk. Lenalee and Allen stood nervously in front of him, not knowing what to do about his sullen mood.
"Shishou," said Lenalee, "should I get you bandages?"
"I have some right here," he said, pulling open a drawer of the desk. "Help me bandage up."
"I'll do it," said Allen sharply. "I don't want you going all pedophilic because Lenalee's touching you."
"Shut up, boy. She's a fine young woman—that wouldn't be pedophilic."
"No," the white-haired boy muttered under his breath, "it'd just be outright disgusting."
Cross chose to ignore this statement as he unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it down over his right shoulder.
"Damn woman," he cursed. "That'll take a while to heal…"
"…What are you going to decide, Shishou?" inquired Lenalee.
"I don't know," he said, exhaling as he massaged his temples with one hand. "It's a good offer, being able to finally keep all those vampires down, but a part of me just doesn't trust Totsuka Airi. She makes it sound like she doesn't care if she lives, given this foolhardy plan, but if she manages to overthrow the Noah and somehow survive…that won't be good."
"Why?" said Allen quizzically. "I heard she was a relatively good ruler."
"But the whole appeal of this offer is that the Hunters rule," explained Cross patiently. "If Airi—Totsuka survives, and she doesn't like the way it's run, she could probably mobilize all the vampires and turn them against the hunters. Either way, things will go the way she wants them to."
"Shishou, what previous relationship did you have with Totsuka-san?" said Lenalee sternly.
"Nothing," said Cross firmly. "Don't ask about it. Now, if we're going to accept this offer, I need to make sure that Totsuka dies."
"What?!" exclaimed Allen. "That's…that's low, Shishou!"
"It may be, but you can't say that she's a good vampire, Allen!" said Cross. "Airi's clever, but not in a good way. She's too headstrong, and she has this uncanny ability to bide her time in order to get what she wants—if she somehow manages to overthrow the Noah, who knows what will happen if she sets herself up as queen!"
"I still don't like this," said Allen indignantly. "That's like…backstabbing her."
"It doesn't matter," Cross shrugged. "If she's really so indifferent to dying, she won't care herself."
"I don't think she's so apathetic to dying," said Lenalee dubiously.
"Forget it. My condition still stands," said Cross firmly. "But the thing is, we can't let her know that we're going to kill her in the end…and she'll be damn hard to kill…"
"I'm against this," said Allen stubbornly.
"I don't care, idiot. Who will be the best…Bookman? No…he's too weak, and she's on guard around him."
"Shishou, this is…unnecessary," insisted Lenalee. "If you don't like her, then just don't take the offer!"
"But it's a good offer," said Cross musingly. "So who could kill her…unless we got Mikk to? But then who would kill Mikk?"
There was an awkward pause as Cross simply sat there, thinking. A few minutes passed. Cross suddenly clapped his hands together, a satisfied expression on his face.
"That's it. Kanda."
"…What?" said Allen disbelievingly. "He's just a normal human."
"Better than average," said Lenalee, smiling as she looked up at the ceiling to avoid Allen's scathing glare.
"Fine," Allen snapped. "Better than average, but he can't do a thing."
"Which is why we train him," said Cross, digging through a drawer for a pack of cigarettes.
"Train him to do what?"
Cross lit a cigarette as he stared at his apprentices, thinking that the white-haired boy was truly stupid.
"Train him to be one of us, idiot. A vampire Hunter."
Free Talk:
It's been a while...a month to be exact, actually. I'm sorry for not updating this sooner. I've been having mixed feelings about this fic, since it's much darker than my other ones and I've been debating whether or not I've made a mistake writing this. Regardless, thank you very much for your reviews. :)
Even though Kanda was present throughout this chapter, he didn't get much screen time because the interaction was mostly between Airi and Cross. Sorry about that. There will be AirixKanda development in the next chapter though. And believe me, their relationship will develop in the strangest way--after all, this is Airi we're talking about. While we're on the subject, let's talk about her some more.
I know some of you might not like Airi as much as you like Rima or Rei. I find that to be understandable. Airi is very cynical, very confident, and somewhat sadistic. She's also really alluring, and she knows it. If you're thinking she's rather...loose because she was all up on Cross, let me point out that they were trying to kill each other a minute later. Their relationship is nothing more than serious "frenemies," for lack of a better word. Airi needs Cross, Cross needs Airi, but they don't necessarily like each other.
I was trying to think of a chapter title for this and my iTunes (which is on shuffle) was ironically on "Politik" by Coldplay, and it just fit so perfectly. :) I was very happy.
I think I had more to say about this, but it's all left my head for the moment. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints (but not flames, please), feel free to review or PM.
Oh, I remember now. Is Cross too OOC? I'm wondering...
But anyway, please review! :) I promise that the next chapter will come out sooner than next month. Thanks for reading, and again, please review!
Love, m.n