I woke some time later with a chill and opened my eyes to find that Takuma had stolen all the covers. With a quiet laugh I slid from the bed and pulled on one of his shirts and my shorts before padding across the hall and into my own room. Kiyo was still sprawled across my bed and snoring so I grabbed a change of clothes and walked into our bathroom to shower.
When I came out she was sitting upright with a cheesy smile on her face.
"I would recommend showering before coming home next time if you don't want me to know you had sex," she giggled, tail thumping on the bed behind her.
I rolled my eyes at her and moved to place my clothes into my hamper.
"I have long since given up trying to hide anything from you. However, I didn't need the rest of the night class smelling him all over me like that," I stated.
Kiyo shrugged a bit and danced over to me.
"So how was it? Wait… I'm not sure I actually want to know though… was it good? How in the hell did you go from telling him that his grandfather has sided with Kaname against us to having sex," she ranted, her head cocking to the side as her mouth finally stopped.
"I don't know, it just kind of happened. And it was good, but I'll spare you details," I told her with a smile.
"But I'm such a masochist," she whined, "I like details."
"You don't want them," I told her before she suddenly gasped.
"He bit you," she exclaimed, finger pointing to the tell-tale fang punctures in the side of my neck.
"I let him," I sighed, placing a hand over the marks with a slight hiss.
"You should probably cover them before we go to class tonight though. I think biting is forbidden to begin with and you're a dragon," she said, rocking onto her heels.
I nodded before snapping my fingers to cover the marks.
"I wonder why they weren't healed yet. You usually heal pretty fast," she rambled on.
"I have no idea Ki," I responded, my voice sounding bored almost.
"You know, you're the science-y one, if it had been me you would be doing all sorts of cruel and unusual experiments trying to figure it out. Can I do experiments on you? It would only be fair," she said, inching her way closer to me with one hand outstretched towards my neck.
"Ki, I love you but I will break your arms if you come any closer to my neck and try to experiment on me," I glared at her.
Kiyo let out a bit of a whimper, her ears falling flat as her hand dropped.
"You're so mean," she pouted.
"Pout all you want but I won't let you experiment on me."
She huffed at me before turning to flop back onto her bed and look at me with a bit of a frown.
"What are we going to do about Kaname?"
I sighed, sitting on the edge of my bed and place my head in my hands.
"I remember something about a party tonight that all the vampires are going to, it'll give them something to do to feel useful. See if we can't find anything out that way. I was thinking we should pick up his trail again tonight, see where he went and if we can't just catch him and end this," I told her, rubbing my temples a bit.
"I think that sounds like a plan, but I think it would be better if we stayed here to listen and see if they find anything. The amulets we gave them won't transmit as well if we're jumping from plane to plane all night. And I'm still kind of exhausted," she admitted sheepishly.
I shrugged, smiling a bit.
"That sounds just fine with me. We'll turn this into a war room and see what we can plot out while they infiltrate. We should probably brief them," I sighed, looking around our room.
"Not a problem," Kiyo stated, snapping her fingers.
Gone were our beds, dressers, and piles of clothes. All our hard work at decorating the room vanished, leaving bare wooden walls with maps for wallpaper. Various pins were already placed in the areas we had checked and the planes we had followed Kaname to the night before. We were now seated in two almost throne-like chairs with high backs placed at opposite ends of a long wooden table. The surface was scarred with gouges and burns at our respective ends and covered with maps as well. At her right hand sat a huge book titled simply "War" and at her left lay her sword. At my right was my sword and on my left was a book titled "War Magicks" that lay crookedly on top of another book titled "Aerial Tactics". Our closet door flew open to reveal a small library filled with more books on the arts of war.
"We won't be changing this back until we've finished," she stated with a small smile.
"Where will you be sleeping?"
"Where I always do when we're warring. In the war room."
I nodded and stood, smoothing my shirt out and noticing she had changed our clothes as well. I now wore my black hunting uniform and she matched me. I smiled at her before turning towards the door.
"I'll wake the vampires for their briefing."
"Don't be long. We won't have much time before they feel the need to get ready, nobles that they are," she scoffed, now fully in war mode.
"Don't knock it Kiyo. They're all we've got on our side," I paused in the doorway, looking over my shoulder at her, "and we'll need all the help we can get. You know that as well as I."
Without waiting for a reply I stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind me. Figuring I should rally my best ally first, I made my way to Takuma's room and knocked lightly on the door.
"You can just walk in you know," he told me, smiling as he opened the door.
"I need you to wake the others and bring them to the… to the room I share with Kiyo. It will be referred to the war room until this is all over however. Will you be needing my help with this, or can you manage?"
He frowned slightly but nodded.
"I can get them, we'll be there shortly," he told me.
"Don't delay. You all have a party to attend tonight and will need your time to get ready. However we will hold you over to say everything we need to."
Takuma nodded and turned back into his room to put on a shirt.
"We'll be right there Kieko."
I turned away and made my way back to the war room, taking up my seat once more.
"Takuma is getting them together and bringing them here. It won't be long," I told Kiyo.
"It better not be," she scowled, looking up from her book with a bit of a sigh.
I rolled my eyes at her a little and nodded towards her book, "anything useful?"
Shaking her head, Kiyo let the book fall shut with a dull thud.
"Not exactly, not for this particular fight at least."
I nodded, propping my elbows up on my end of the table.
"Can't say as I'm surprised, this is a pretty unique situation. How do we always," I stopped speaking as there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Kiyo called, standing with her hand on her sword.
I placed a hand over one of the daggers on my hip as I stood a little myself, ending up in a sort of crouch.
Aidou pushed the door opened and stepped inside with a flourish.
"We have arrived," he declared, freezing with wide eyes as he saw the positions Kiyo and I were in.
I smiled a little, placing both of my hands back onto the table top.
"Come in, all of you, take a seat."
Kiyo snapped her fingers and there were suddenly enough seats around the table for each of them to sit. As they filed in one by one and took a chair, Kiyo and I stood, each moving to a marked map.
"As some of you may know, Kieko and I went following Kaname last night. He has already gotten to Ichijou's grandfather which means we need to work fast. Tonight you will all be attending the party as previously planned. However, you will also be given tasks," she began.
"I expect excellence. You will say very little on the subject, but you will be inquiring about their loyalty. Ask what they would do if another dragon were to come to power. If they would swear loyalty, then you will give them these," I finished.
As I stopped speaking, Kiyo moved forward and dumped a bag out onto the table. Out spilled several hundred tiny origami cranes made of black and gold paper.
"Each person who would swear loyalty to a new dragon is to get one. When they ask why, tell them that they will understand soon enough. After the party the cranes are charmed to deliver a message and then self-destruct," she said, smirking at me a little.
"It is the safest way to contact others and build an army. However," I began.
"If you even get the slightest feeling that you shouldn't trust someone, don't," Kiyo finished.
"Instincts are important, if you feel like you can't trust them, you probably shouldn't. We can't risk Kaname finding out what we're doing," I continued.
"Why not," Aidou piped up.
"Because, if he's not already building an army finding out that we are would make him start. We can't risk him getting to them before us. We have to move under the radar," Kiyo growled.
Aidou flinched and nodded while muttering an apology.
"Alright, any other questions," I asked, eyes scanning the room.
When no one spoke up I nodded.
"Go get ready and get out there. Remember, this is my life on the line. Please, I'm trusting you all."