Visitors from the Future

by xiaoj

AU Time Travel. One teenage female & two kids landed in the Cross Academy's Woods surrounding the Moon Dormitory - out from nowhere in particular. Who are they & Why are they calling Kaname and Zero - 'Daddy' & 'Father? Completed! Sequel to Come Soon, Look out for 'Embracing the Future',

16. Chapter 16

Title: Visitors from the Future

Genre: General/Romance/Friendship

Rating:T

Pairings: Zero/Kaname

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Vampire Knights. It belongs to Hino Matsuri - I only borrow the characters from the series and use it in my own fic. However, I do own the three original characters featured in this story.

Author's Notes: I apologized for the little 'OOC' in Kaname in the last chapter, I must have been spending time writing too much of Takuma over the past week ... so ... ^^;; I'll be sure to keep Kaname in character as much as possible, but there would be no guarantee since sometimes I just wrote whatever reactions that comes to mind for the characters ... so, once again. Apologies in advance ^^;;

---

Chapter 16 - Maria Kurenai

The morning after the ice-skating trip, both Akane and Zero were in a relatively bad mood. Their reasons, though were entirely different from one another. For Akane, it was due to her waking up late and thus ended up being late for class since her 'transferring'. For Zero though, he had a couple of reasons in mind that resulted in his bad mood for the day. Then again, not that it matters since his mood had never been good ever since his family's demise.

First and foremost, he had woken up to his dormitory mate banging on his door loudly claiming that the Chairman wanted to see him prior to the lessons' time. Thus, he forgo the idea of sleeping in entirely and simply decided to get himself dressed for the day. When he arrived at the Chairman's place, instead of the owner he found Yuuki sleeping with an unguarded expression on the sofa couch of the Chairman's living room.

Then, his blood-lust had decided to rear its' ugly head at him reminding him of the fact that he had not been feeding from Akane over the whole of last week. With Yuuki sleeping so peacefully on the couch, the temptation to bite the girl was great but he managed to stop himself before he could get too close to the sleeping girl. Just when he was about to heave a sigh of relief at his own self-restrain, Kaname Kuran choose that very moment to walk through the door.

{Flashback}

"I certainly hoped that you are not doing what I'd thought you're doing ... " Kaname Kuran had said, upon sighting his uneasy expression on his features.

There was a moment of tense silence before the pureblood addressed him again, "You shouldn't be this surprise about my presence, I'm just here to speak with the Chairman on some issues. Besides, haven't you been around long enough to know that I don't always required a permission from the Chairman just to pay a visit to his living quarters? " Kaname Kuran then smirked at his look of surprise.

He had said nothing then, for he was simply too stunned to move. Thank goodness, he had managed to stop himself before he bite Yuuki out of the sheer temptation of blood-lust, if nothing else. The pureblood might be lusting after him, but he certainly doubt he would be able to get away unharmed if he were to be caught biting Yuuki for blood. The pureblood would definitely kill him then.

Just when he was about to heave a sigh of relief when the pureblood turned to leave the place, he nearly stumbled at the former's next words.

"If you are looking for the Chairman, he's over at his study. Have I not told you of the reason why I've kept you alive thus far? The only reason that I've kept you around and alive, despite the countless times of your open defiance towards me was for you to protect Yuuki. Because I knew you would never do anything to betray her. Well ... at least, that had been my intention towards you, up until recently. " The pureblood's tone had been firm, before it suddenly turned so soft that Zero had some trouble catching wind of the former's words.

With that, Kaname Kuran had left the room completely and leave him behind alone to soak everything in.

"Damn you, Kuran! Of all the possible timings that you could've told me about that ... You just had to say that now, don't you?! " He muttered aloud sullenly, his mood darkening for a significant moment before heading towards the direction of the Chairman's study. Just when he thought his impression of the pureblood was improving, the pureblood had to say something like that to remind him of how he should be hating the former.

{End Flashback}

Turns out that the Chairman's reason for wanting to see him, was because of an elimination order issued by the hunters' association and directed towards him. The head of the hunters' association had wanted to test out his ability to hunt a 'Level E' vampire down, wanted to see if he would be able to carry out a mission without hesitation or failure. His initial reaction was to reject the order, but the Chairman had told him that rejection was simply not allowed and that was to go along with the order issued by the association, and hoped that it would only be a one-time issue.

Thrown in the fact of his barely suppressed blood-lust, it would be a miracle if he was not in a bad mood. The sheer idea of him approaching Akane for blood, instead of the former locating him when he needs it was making him uncomfortable. Still, for the sake and the safety of the school's population, he would have to do it.

---

Kaname Kuran, on the other hand, was feeling weary both physically and emotionally. Physically because this was the sixth morning that he had forgo the idea of sleeping, just for the sake of sorting out his thoughts and plans if nothing else. Emotionally, he was tired out by the internal struggle of 'tug-and-war' between his desires for Zero, and his devotion towards Yuuki.

He desired the silver-haired hunter vastly, and so much so that it scared him shit-less. Yes, he was scared because the feeling that he felt towards Zero was not within his expectations. He expected loathing or hatred when it comes down to dealing with the silver-haired hunter, not the feeling of lust; concern and something else which he still had some trouble putting a name to it.

With Yuuki, he had been prepared to devote all his love towards the girl since young. Everything that he owns, be it his blood, fortune or heart - it would be given freely and shared with Yuuki, unquestioningly. Yet now, a part of him wanted to share these things with the silver-haired hunter too and that freaked him out.

The logic in him was trying to tell him that this was just a phase, something which was triggered by the trio's arrival and that it will passed. After all, the future was always subjected to changes, isn't it? Yet, another part of him think otherwise. That part of him was his heart and desires, and they are the one that got him accustomed to the idea of having a future with Zero.

"Father?" Akira's voice jarred the pureblood out from his thoughts, as he looked up from his seated position on the couch to find his youngest twin son approaching him.

"Yes, Akira? Do you need another bed-time story ?" He questioned, wondering about the reason why the boy had yet to settle in bed when Subaru had fallen asleep as soon as the boy's head hits the pillow on his King-size canopy bed. The ice-skating session from before had obviously tired the elder twin out, but it was obviously not the case for Akira.

"Something's bothering you. " Akira Kuran said simply, as he climbed onto the lap of his younger father without the former's permission.

If Kaname was surprised by the boy's sudden desire to be empathetic to his troubling thoughts, he did not showed it. Instead, he allowed the boy to get comfortable on his lap before speaking up. "Yes, something's indeed bothering me but its' nothing that you should concern yourself with. "

The boy pouted childishly for a minute, before a cocky expression took form on his features. Looking up at Kaname, Akira started. "Well ... you can choose not to tell me anything that's troubling you, but you can't stop me from taking a wild guess at it. "

Kaname arched an eyebrow up in skepticism, but still he indulged the boy by urging Akira to share those insights with him. "Go on, and take your chances at it. Although, I doubt you will know what has been bothering me. "

For a while Akira said nothing, merely looked up at him with those beautiful lilac eyes that reminded him so much of a certain ex-human, nearly causing him to shift uncomfortably under his son's unwavering eyes. Then suddenly, the eye contact between Akira and himself broke and he suddenly found himself holding his breath when the boy started to speak.

"Ah ha! I knew it! You are having trouble dealing with your feelings towards Daddy! " Akira proclaimed proudly, and confidently.

For a split second, Kaname Kuran's usual mask of indifference nearly cracked but he managed to keep himself from pressing for an answer out from the boy seated on his lap. Instead, he merely stared down at the boy hoping that the intensity of his gaze would perhaps get an appropriate explanation of how Akira had managed to tell what exactly was on his mind before.

Akira, being a pureblood and the youngest son of Kaname Kuran, did not even flinch despite being subjected to the fierce intensity of his younger father's gaze. Instead, the boy merely responded lazily and with a hint of dry humor lacing the tone of his voice as he explained himself to his younger father.

"Excuse me, I may have acted 'dense' or 'stupid' at the majority of the time here ... but I am still your son, alright?! Do you think I'm really that 'thick' to have not realized what has been bothering both my parents', after observing how they behaved around one another, for such a long period of time? Granted, both of you were younger now ... but still, I'm sure that nothing much have really changed over the years. "

"Alright, fine! Something did changed over the years, Daddy's hatred towards the vampires had lessen greatly. Your tolerance towards the hunters' have improved gradually. The social status of Daddy in the society of the vampires had improved significantly. You started showing your real emotions freely instead of hiding them behind a mask of indifference among friends and families, but in public - you'll still hide them from sight. The same to go for Daddy.

The two of you had also grown accustomed to each other ways of thinking, and had learn to accept the obvious differences to the thoughts of one another. I think that's enough for the time-being, if I continue on any further ... I'll be giving you all the answers on how to make that relationship between Daddy and yourself work, without you making any efforts with relations to that issue! "

Akira ended his long-winded speech with a grin of triumph, as he took in the dumbfounded look on the features of his younger father. He almost punched his fist into the air as a sign of victory to celebrate his successful attempt to crack his father's usual mask of indifference.

"Now ... I'm off to bed, good luck sorting out your thoughts on the issue. " Akira commented, as he headed back towards the bedroom to join his elder twin in bed while leaving behind his young father to digest what he had just revealed and said.

"Damn! I can't believed I actually let my future son gain the upper hand on me ... " Kaname muttered aloud to himself, as soon as he regained his composure.

Then a certain image of him showing his 'affections' towards the silver-haired hunter freely and easily in front of Takuma, Seiren and Akane crept into his mind and he cringe inwardly with horror. Then he sighed inwardly, after all what's done cannot be undone. He will just have to bear it in mind, not to do that again in front of the others. At least, Akane's family and Takuma could be considered as one too, if he were to take into account of the former's relations with his future adopted daughter. As for Seiren, he knew the former would not go around telling people of his private information.

---

While Kaname Kuran was busy sorting out his feelings towards the two guardians of the academy, one of them was combing the town area for a particular 'Level E' which the former had been told to eliminate. Yuuki Cross, on the other hand, was busy following after her patroling partner from behind for she found the fellow guardian's behavior strangely secretive for the day.

Akane, meanwhile, had been pulled into town by Rima to join Shiki and herself for a last minute advertisement shoot. One of the models who was involved in the shoot with them had taken on an urgent leave of absence and after discussing with their manager, they had decided to rope Akane in at the very last minute. Initially, Akane was reluctant but after being subjected to the lengthy nagging session from her over-enthusiastic cousin, she had caved and given in.

They were on their way out when Takuma received a call from the Vampire Council for them to deal with a 'Level E' that was creating havoc in town, claiming that the council does not want to let the association 'win' again, this time around. Since Rima and Shiki were on their way out, Takuma had told them to take care of the matter before heading for their advertisement shoot.

"Pull over!" Akane had shouted at the driver upon their arrival at the site, before opening the car door on her side without waiting for the driver to brake the car fully. Rima and Shiki, on the other hand, stepped out of the car only after they were certain that the car had stopped fully.

Akane ignored the two nobles following her from behind and merely allowed her keen hunter's senses to lead her to where the 'Level E' was hiding. The reason why she had been so enthusiastic about the hunting mission, was because she thought she had sensed Zero around the vicinity as well.

"A-re? Shiki-senpai, Touya-senpai? What are the two of you doing here? "

"That did it! I've to hurry now, if you are here ... Then certainly, Zero must be around too. Damn it! How could he took up the mission before he was fed himself?! " Akane cursed under her breath as she took off towards the direction where she was certain that she had sensed the silver-haired hunter's presence.

"Huh? Akane?! Why are you here too? " Yuuki asked, only to be brush aside by the frantic girl whom told her to ask the two nobles instead.

However, before Yuuki could brought up her doubt to the two night-class members, Shiki had already pushed her behind as he launched an attack towards the 'Level E' that nearly sneaked up for an attack from behind the female guardian. The attack had send the 'Level E' back into hiding again, and not wanting to be burn by the sun-rays. Shiki did not pursued after the escaped 'Level E', even while the sun in winter was not exactly scorching hot. It would still hurt the skin and eyes of the vampires.

Only Kaname and Takuma could endure being out in the sun without the use of an umbrella in winter, among the higher ranking vampires that Shiki had gotten to know over the years. The ex-humans, on the other hand, could move about in the sun freely and probably that was due to their human genetics in them that allows them to do so.

Meanwhile, Akane was half-way up the stairs of that abandoned building which the 'Level E' had used as a temporary hiding place when she met up with the silver-haired hunter whom was coming down in pursuit of the escaped vampire.

"Akane?! What are you doing here? "

"What else?! I've to feed you, isn't it?! "

"Huh? Now?! " Zero stared, uncomprehendingly as he regarded the vampire girl with his lilac eyes.

Akane rolled her eyes and said, "No ... I'm not telling you to bite me here, but I'm still here to feed you. " With that said, the girl pull out a small bottle about the size of a cough syrup and handed it to Zero.

"Is this what I think it is, again? "

"Yes, its' blood in there but not Ichijo's this time. They are from me ... Kaname-sama forbid me to let you drink from me directly, and so I had to resort to using this method. Anyway, I find this method more convenient too. At least, I need not go in search for you all the time now ... I can just give you a new bottle every week in class and nobody would suspect a thing, after all ... there are indeed medication syrup that's red in color. " Akane responded, before commenting.

"I think you'd best drink it now, then you can proceed on to save Yuuki. I could sense her distress from here, in the meantime, I'll go and find that unfortunate hostage of that 'Level E' from before. "

Upon Akane's mention of Yuuki's name, Zero's eyes widen in surprise. "What?! You mean Yuuki's out there?! "

"Yeah, I think she thought you are running away from home or something, that's why she made it a point to follow you when you sneak out from school ... "

Zero fought the urge to roll his eyes at how Yuuki had allowed her imagination to run wild on its own, running away from home was the very last thing on his mind at this point of time. Moreover, it was not as if there has been anything happening that might resulted in his inclination to react in that manner. Nonetheless, he wasted no time in emptying the bottle of blood from Akane before returning the empty bottle to the stupefied girl and continue his way down the stairs.

"Did he just drink those blood willingly, or was I imagining things? " Akane murmured to herself as she stared at the now emptied bottle with disbelieving eyes.

With a shake of her head, she continued on her journey upstairs deciding not to dwell too much on Zero's lack of protest against the idea of ingesting blood. Perhaps, the former was just too 'hungry' for blood that he no longer cared to protest when the blood was offered to him for his consumption.

Zero, on the other hand, had accepted the offered blood that easily because he knew fighting against his desire for flesh blood would not make his life any easier, in fact his resisting against the idea would only worsen it. In other words, he was just going along with what Akane had told him earlier and since there was no one else around to witness his 'feeding session' with the sheer exception of themselves, then why bother resisting it since he will still ended up ingesting them, either willingly or Akane would resorted to forcing it down his throat again.

Not wanting to have a repeat of the previous episode whereby the girl had force-fed him with the blood, he would rather drink them willingly, this time around. After all, who knew what the pureblood would do if he had allowed himself to be force-fed by Akane again.

"Damn, why am I thinking about him again?! " Zero muttered to himself as he fired a shot at the 'Level E' that was holding Yuuki in a death grip.

"Let go of her, and do not ever touch her again! " Zero warned, as he fired yet another shot towards the 'Level E' and once he noticed that the vampire's grip on Yuuki had loosen somewhat. He pulled the girl away to safety before ending the life of the 'Level E' with a final blast through the head of the vampire.

Once settled, he shifted his attention back towards Yuuki and threw the girl a look of annoyance as he addressed the former. "Yuuki, I hoped you have a very good reason to explain about your presence here ... "

"Zero, I know I shouldn't be following you ... but I was worried. You never even made it a point to tell me what's on your mind these days, anymore! " Yuuki tried to justify her actions by blaming them on Zero's lack of insight to let her in on what has been going on with his life, over the past few weeks.

"I wasn't aware I had been telling you those things, before. " Zero retaliated, knowing for a fact that he had never inform the former about such information willingly, in prior.

"But you always tell me when I asked you about them, but recently you'll keep me away even when I took the initiative to enquire about them. " Yuuki protested.

"Yuuki, the reason why I've told you in the past was because I cannot stand your constant nagging if I kept those information away from you. However, you didn't know what I was back then ... You only knew what the Chairman had told you about my family's demise by the hands of a pureblood. Then when you realized that I'm an ex-human, you started to get uncomfortable around me. Hence, my decision to keep you away from me as much as possible. However, after a while you started to bug me again when you judged that I'm safe enough for you to interact with. Then when you see me drinking from Akane, you freaked out on me. "

"I didn't! " Yuuki tried to protest only to be cut off by the silver-haired hunter, as the former continue to speak his mind. Not caring if he was giving away his identity of being an ex-human in front of the two night-class members, but then again considering how the twins had turned up and claimed to be his sons with Kuran from the future. He was certain that with the intelligence of the night-class members, they would bound to figure things out on their own, soon enough.

"Well, you might claimed differently now but your behavior back when Kuran and yourself chanced upon the sight of me drinking off from Akane's neck says things differently though. Then Akane and I had come to the same conclusion to keep the possibility of my becoming a 'Level E' from you, you have to resort to going to the night-class members for answers. Knowing that you'll panicked if you were to witness how crazy one would get after their ultimate fall to the status of a 'Level E', I had kept my reasons for leaving the academy grounds from you this afternoon. Still, you had ended up following me despite the Chairman's advices for you to remain on campus. "

By this point of time, Yuuki was completely silent. Everything that Zero said had made sense, and even while she knew Zero was on the verge of blowing up at her actions. The former had managed to restrain himself from doing so, and instead had opted to 'lecture' her nicely and calmly without resorting to the use of any forms of harsh language.

"I hate to interrupt, but the girl upstairs' still breathing and very much alive. So what should we do about her, Kiryuu? " The voice of Touya Rima broke in, drawing both guardians' attention to herself.

"Check her for any bite marks, it would be drastic if she had been bitten. If there's no visible marks of her being bitten, then call for an ambulance and claimed to say that she had fainted while walking. If there were indeed bite marks being present, notify the vampire council immediately. " It was Akane whom responded, after taking a look at the unconscious girl's identification card.

Upon Akane's words, Zero found his eyes snapping towards the victim in shock. He had been so pre-occupied with the 'Level E' issue and had not bothered to take a good look at the hostage before, and now he was in shock.

"Please tell me ... that's not one of my unknown cousins from my mother's side of the family ... " Zero questioned, despite knowing that it probably was. Otherwise, Akane would not have reacted that solemnly after taking a look at the girl's identification card.

"Fujiwara Shiori, that's the name reflected on her identification card. The clan's big enough to spread over the whole of vampires, humans and hunters society ... its' better to be safe than sorry. So how is it? " Akane asked, as she turned towards Rima's direction.

"No bite marks have been spotted yet, so I'll say she's safe. " Rima concluded, after checking all the possible areas where a vampire would mark its' victim.

"Good, then call for an ambulance. Do not remove the memories from her, its' pointless anyway. " Akane added, before replacing the identification card back to the girl's wallet.

---

Some distances away, a certain female was observing the sight through the eyes of a hawk. Giggling girlishly, the girl had commented.

"I've finally found you, my Zero-chan! Aa ... those eyes filled with such depressing sadness, its' still such a wonderful sight to behold. "

"Come, I believed its' time for us to make a trip over to the Cross Academy now. " The female said, directing her words to her loyal follower.

"Yes, Shizuka-sama. I'll inform Maria-sama to get ready for the trip, then. " Ichiru Kiryuu said, as he made a move to leave the room.

Later that evening, Kaien Cross requested for Yuuki to meet him in his study after their dinner.

"Yuuki, I need you to head out front and bring in one of our new transfer student. " Kaien Cross told Yuuki, despite his uneasiness about the whole situation. Still, he had no choice. It was either Zero or Yuuki whom had to go out and meet the new transfer student, but knowing Zero. The former would flipped, so it had to be Yuuki.

After all, the new transfer student was a night-class student and moreover, seemed to be a distant relative to Shizuka Hiou. That was his reason for not sending Zero out there, fearing that his ward might went berserk and resorted to threatening the new student into giving out Shizuka Hiou's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Shizuka whom had taken up residence in her distant relative - Maria Kurenai's body felt something off when Yuuki approached her. The female guardian's blood had smelt too alluring and sweet to be one of human heritage, but still she failed to come up with any possible reasons as to why the blood of Yuuki Cross was so tempting that even she felt like taking a bite for herself, and taste the rich liquid flowing under the girl's skin.

"Oh my ... you looked so delicious. " The awfully sweet sound of Maria Kurenai's voice escaped before she could stopped herself, and inwardly she withheld a cringe at the sound of her relative's voice.

"Maria-chan! Those words are not to be spoken behind the walls of this academy. " The Chairman's voice cuts in warningly, reminding her of the pacifism ideals that was in place on school grounds.

"Oh, I apologized for my slip of tongue. I'd forgotten about it. " Shizuka responded, using the annoyingly sweet voice of her distant relative while trying her hardest not to snort at the Chairman's ideals and to frown at the sound of her 'unusual' voice.

"It's alright, just remember to refrain from saying those things again. Now, Yuuki please show Maria-chan to where the night-class are having their lessons. " Kaien Cross instructed, making a mental note to watch the new night-class member closely. There was something in the girl's aura that kept nagging at him, but he had no idea why it was bothering him this much when he could sensed no hostility from the girl.

"Chairman, I was wondering if I could be granted special permission to make use of the abandoned dormitory building which used to belong to the teachers in this school as a temporary living quarters for myself. As you know, I've been living in the mountain areas all these while and does not really react well when I'm in a crowd. So ... " Shizuka started, trying to sound as pitiful and uncertain as possible.

"Ah ... I can see where you're coming from. Well then, you have my permission to do so but its' only for a week. Within this week, you'll have to get yourself accustomed to spending time in the crowd. After all, that's one of the rule which the night-class members in this school have to obey in order to continue staying on academy grounds. " Kaien Cross responded, acting cheerful and optimistic again.

"Thank you, Sir. I appreciated the gesture of consideration. " Maria Kurenai thanked him, before moving to join the awaiting Yuuki on the other side of the door.

Inwardly, Shizuka was smirking to herself. One week, that's more than enough time to achieve her ultimate aim in coming to the academy. 'Oh ... Zero, I wonder how you'll react to my presence this time around. '

~to be continued~

Date started: 25/05/09

Date completed: 26/05/09

Date edited: 26/05/09