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: Shizuka finally appeared XD What will happen now?! Yes, thanks for all the wonderful reviews that keeps me going. I'll really try to keep everyone in character, though sometime I might just slip up ^^;; if I did, let me know. So that I can do something about it in the next chapter ... try and pull them back or something ^^;; Now then, without further ado ... I'll bring you the next Chapter - Enjoy!
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Chapter 17 - Shizuka Hiou, Part 1
"Damn!" Zero cursed as he sat up in bed, drenched in perspiration. A quick glance at the clock on his study desk informed him that he still had another two hours to go before he needs to get himself ready for school. Why am I dreaming about that woman again?!
The silver-haired guardian had been woken from his slumber due to a recurring night-mare of his, over the years. The night-mare was as usual about how the pureblood Shizuka had wiped his family out, it was a night-mare which had haunted him for years since his family's demise. However, the night-mare had stopped visiting him in his dreams for a little while over the past year. Then, why was he dreaming about it again, now?
At the same time, within the walls of the Moon Dormitory - Kaname Kuran and his friend Takuma Ichijo were discussing about the new transfer student, Maria Kurenai.
"Kaname? So what do you think we should do with the new transfer student?"
"Since you're so concern about the issue, why don't you take up the responsibility of 'taking care' of her." Kaname Kuran responded, as he replaced a book which he had been reading earlier on back onto the book shelves within the library of the Moon Dormitory.
"Eh?! " Takuma's eyes widen for a second, before resigning himself to the idea of playing 'baby-sitter' to the mysterious new transfer student.
"So what do you reckon that she would do now? " Takuma questioned, despite knowing that his friend would not tell him anything of importance.
"Whatever she's up to, its' nothing good. That much, I'm certain. " That was the only response, Kaname was willing to supply to his curious friend.
Seeing as the pureblood was not going to reveal anything else to him, Takuma sighed aloud as he excused himself from his pureblood friend's presence.
Meanwhile, Aidou Hanabusa was discussing about the identity of Maria Kurenai with his cousin, Akatsuki Kain. He had no idea why, but he kept on receiving strange vibes from the new transfer girl. Something about the girl's aura seemed fishy to him, and that was the reason why he had gotten his cousin to help him out in researching on the girl's background information.
"Hanabusa, what is it that you want to know about Maria Kurenai? Everything about her record seems fine to me. If this is about her lack of respect in front of Kaname-sama, I'm sure that its' probably due to her lack of interaction with the society that resulted in it. " Akatsuki Kain said, after reading through the records of Maria Kurenai for the umpteen times since he had gotten hold of them.
"Akatsuki, have you ever seen that woman before? " Aidou questioned, his brows furrowing in deep thoughts.
"That woman? "
"Yes, that woman who shared the same pureblood status with our leader, Kaname-sama. The very same person whom disappeared after going insane - the 'Mad Blooming Princess', Shizuka Hiou. " Aidou elaborated for the sake of his lost cousin.
"No, I've never met her before. Rumors has it that she's dead. " Akatsuki responded, before adding. "Anyway, can we drop the discussion about her? Its' unlucky. "
Akane sighed inwardly as she observed the response of every residents within the walls of the Moon Dormitory, it seems like Maria Kurenai's presence affected everyone greatly. The common class vampires were jittery all day long, talking among themselves how creepy the new transfer student had seemed to be. The noble ranking vampires seemed pre-occupied with the issue as well, her own cousin was send to 'watch' over the new girl. Although, Kaname Kuran seemed unaffected on the surface but Akane could sensed that the former had a dark aura around himself too.
Akane was more than willing to bet, only the twins and herself seemed to be at ease with the whole situation. Probably because the twins had no idea what was going on, and she simply just cannot be bothered to deal with such issues anymore. Though, she still made it a point to keep an eye out on the situation lest she ended up getting trapped in the middle of the whole 'storm' without knowing it, herself.
---
Lunch break for the day-class students that afternoon was absolutely eventful for Akane in more sense than one, she had been standing together with Yuuki, Zero and Wakaba Sayori when Yuuki questioned about the excited atmosphere that lingered in the air that day.
"Don't you know? Its' almost time for the annual 'dinner and dance' for the school's founding, in fact, the date for the event had already been fixed and announced on the notice board this morning. " Sayori told Yuuki, calmly.
"Eh?! Really? When is it?!" Yuuki asked, for she had been busy studying and preparing for the upcoming Mathematics test tomorrow that she failed to take notice of any happenings about the school, these few days.
"Its' this upcoming weekend ... " Sayori responded, frowning as she noticed their class representative heading towards them with a dark look.
"Yuuki Cross ... I certainly hope that you have been studying for the upcoming paper, I'm sure that you would have known by now that the class that came up last on the school's ranking chart for the term would have to help the school committee in the overall preparations for the 'dinner & dance' event. Our class have been unfortunate enough to land in that position last year, and I certainly hoped that this year we would not have a repeat of the last year's event." The class representative said, gloomily as he regarded Yuuki with dark aura emitting off his body.
Yuuki froze as she cringed inwardly at the possible reactions of the class representative, if she were to flunk the test again. Then again, its' not as if she did not made it a point to study. The thing is, she did try her best to study but for some reasons she always have a tendency to blank out during the examinations period. That was the reason why she had always flunked her papers, sometimes she wished she had the brain of her patrolling partner. For Zero always seemed to be able to pass his exams, despite the fact that he was always absent from class.
"Yori-chan, what should I do?! " Yuuki wailed in desperation, as the class representative stalked off in a dark mood.
"... I don't know, why don't you tell the Chairman to get you a tutor or something? " Sayori tried to calm the nervous girl down, as she started giving out random suggestions to her distressed friend.
"Zero ...? Zero!? Are you listening to me?! " Yuuki waved her hand in front of the silver-haired guardian, drawing the former's attention to herself.
"Yes? " Zero responded, distractedly.
However, before Yuuki could get another word out. The fangirls around them started yelling out in excitement again. Then one of them called out towards Akane, and said.
"Hey, Kiryuu! Your boyfriend is chasing after another girl! "
"What the hell are you talking about? " Zero was about to reply when he realized that the person was actually directing their words towards Akane instead of him, upon noticing the figure of Takuma Ichijo running after the new student of the night-class - Maria Kurenai. For a while, he thought he had sensed the presence of Shizuka Hiou around before the feeling disappeared altogether.
'Am I hallucinating or did I really sensed her, just now?' Zero frowned, as he thought inwardly to himself.
"... " Akane rolled her eyes at the fan girls whom seemed to have officially classify her cousin as her potential boyfriend on campus, then again, she supposed it cannot be helped.
After all, she had no desire to clarify her actual relationship with the green-eyed blond vampire in public. For the whole situation is already complicated enough, with her going by the identity of Zero's cousin here and if she were to claim Takuma as her cousin at the same time. Then people are bound to come down with the misunderstanding that Zero and Takuma were relatives, and that would create a whole lot of troubles for both Takuma and Zero.
Just then Aidou Hanabusa came by and decided to fool around by giving Yuuki a hug from behind, that managed to divert the day-class girls' attention away from Takuma whom was still going after Maria who seemed to have the idea in mind to pay the cafeteria a visit in the broad daylight.
"Aidou, I would like to have a word with you in private. " Zero interrupted, still feeling somewhat disturbed by the presence of Maria Kurenai.
Aidou Hanabusa looked over to the silver-haired hunter as he nodded in response, "Good. I have something that I wish to clarify with you as well. "
"Well then, I'm going back to the classroom first." Akane announced, ignoring Yuuki's pleading expression as she departed from the site without a backward glance towards the two guardian's direction. She knew the moment 'Idol-senpai' leave the area with Zero in tow, the fan girls are going to chase after Yuuki and she had no intention of being caught in between Yuuki and the fan-girls.
---
Later that evening, Zero had been passing by the Chairman's study when he was called in by the former. Kaien Cross had been coaching his adopted daughter, Yuuki in her studies for some time now, but he actually had some pressing matters' awaiting for his attention back in his office. Therefore, upon catching sight of his ward, Kaien Cross had called for the latter's attention.
"Zero, do you mind teaching Yuuki for a while? I had something urgent which I need to attend back at the school office ... " Kaien Cross started, but upon noticing the dark look on his ward's features. He added. "Well ... if you don't want to, its' alright. I can always get Akane ... "
Zero sighed, knowing that there would be no way he could have wriggled himself out from the tutoring position. Heading towards where Yuuki was situated, Zero placed his uniform jacket aside as he reached for Yuuki's assignment, going over the questions one by one. Throughout the session, he had one of his hand placed by the side of his neck. It seems like the spot where Shizuka had bitten him in prior, had been pulsing ever since that particular morning when he had been awakened by the night-mare.
"Zero, are you alright? " Yuuki asked, hesitantly not knowing if her friend would take offense at her words or not.
"I'm fine. Come on, let's get these things over and done with. " Zero responded, changing the subject swiftly as he gestured to the number of questions which Yuuki had answered wrongly on the exercise book.
Yuuki sighed inwardly, realizing that Zero was probably changing the subject to avoid her previous inquiry about his welfare. It seems like the distance between them had suddenly grown a mile apart, and Yuuki does not like the idea at all. Still, if she attempted to do anything on her own and without consulting Zero in advance, her friend would 'flip'. That much, she knew. With that, she shifted her attention back to the questions on her exercise book and frowned as Zero tried his best to explain to her the differences between the four different algebraic equations, and when they should be used in the questions of the revision exercise.
"That would be all, and please try to remember them and keep them in mind until the paper's over. I'll be going now. " Zero said, as he made a move to stand and leave the room.
Yuuki nodded, not knowing to respond. Still, only a minute had passes by before she allowed her curiosity about Zero's condition to lead her down the same path which her friend had took, after the former's departure. She followed Zero from behind quietly, all the while until she reaches the more isolated areas of the school. An area that was usually used only in formal functions. Otherwise, it would be practically abandoned by the majority of the school's population.
It was there which she heard the disturbing words coming from the new transfer student of the night-class, and directed towards her friend. She had been about to take a step forward, bringing a stop to the inevitable confrontation between Zero and Maria Kurenai when she felt someone pulling her back. Although the thought of struggling did crossed her mind in prior, she did not have a chance to act upon them as she found herself losing consciousness, soon after.
The person whom had rendered her unconscious was none other than Kaname Kuran, himself. Despite his own worry about the silver-haired hunter's plight, Yuuki was just as important to him as the hunter. Therefore, he could not and would not simply allowed Yuuki to put herself into danger, out of her concern of Zero's situation. He knew Zero would be able to handle himself just fine, and if he were to intervene between what goes on between Maria or rather Shizuka, and Zero. Things would get very complicated, and that was the very thing he had hoped to be able to avoid - at least, for now.
Meanwhile, Zero was distracted from his fight with Shizuka when he thought he had heard Yuuki calling out for him. That moment of distraction costs him greatly, for the loss of blood resulted in the coming back of his blood-lust again. Thankfully, the previous injury which he had managed to inflict upon the body of Maria Kurenai was doing a good job at distracting Shizuka from their fight as well. Thus the fight between them was forced to a stop, as Shizuka retreated for the time-being.
Meanwhile, two figures watched the scene enfolded in front of their eyes in silence. Neither saying a word to the other, both figures were females and dressed in the unmistakable black day-class uniforms of the academy. One turned on her heels and exited from the area without a word, whereas the other stepped forth into the light and attended to the fallen figure of Zero Kiryuu as soon as Maria Kurenai left the site with her silent bodyguard in tow.
---
Wakaba Sayori was seated up in bed as she observed the unconscious and sleeping figure of her room-mate, Yuuki Cross in silence. Looks like the pureblood prince of the Kuran clan had came by while she was out, and perhaps it was time for her to prepare herself mentally for the possible late-night visitors that she might have, over the next few days.
Sensing a stir in her unconscious friend, Sayori hurried to hide herself under the cover of the blanket as she pretended to sleep. Thankfully, Yuuki was only awake for a few minutes before falling back asleep again. This time around, Sayori allowed herself to be lull to bed by the sound of her friend's even breathing. No point dwelling about what had yet to happen, she would think of a possible explanation about her absence tonight if the pureblood prince did send someone over to inquire her on the subject.
In the meantime, Akane sighed as she approached the silver-haired hunter slowly but determinedly. Zero tensed when he sensed a vampire approaching him, but relaxed visibly when he realized that the approaching vampire was his future grand-niece, Akane.
"Come on, its' time for you to feed. Although, Kaname's not going to be happy about you drinking off from me directly ... but there's no other options available tonight. I didn't have the ready bottle of blood on me, this evening. " Akane said, purposely speaking aloud so that the approaching figure of Kaname Kuran could hear her warning in advance.
Kaname, though disliking the idea of Akane feeding Zero directly had no choice but to relent at Akane's words. After all, despite his desire to feed Zero with his own blood. He knew, it would not be wise at this point of time. Since the spilling of his blood would no doubt, send the whole night-class into a craze-like mode and he might even risk alerting Shizuka Hiou of his growing feelings for the silver-haired guardian.
Just then, a shuffle of footsteps were heard echoing down the abandoned hall-ways before it came to an abrupt stop in front of the pureblood. Kaname sighed inwardly, as he took in the similar looks of anxiety on the twins' features and knew instantly that the twins had disregarded his orders for them to stay within the walls of the Moon Dormitory out of their concern for Zero.
"Father, I tried stopping Akira. I really did, but he won't listen ... " Subaru started to explain himself, sounding distressed of the whole situation.
Kaname took one look at Akira's expression and nodded in response. "I know."
Turning towards Akira, Kaname addressed the younger boy and said. "Akira, get your emotions under control now. I'm sure you do not want the whole school to collapse. It would upset your Daddy if that were to occur. "
Akira blanched as he tried to suppress the amount of rage that was pulsing in his veins upon the sight of his 'Daddy' being injured.
"Is that Akira and Subaru?" Zero asked, still sounding a little weak from the blood loss and slightly disoriented after drinking from Akane.
"Daddy!" Two similar wails of anxiety reaches their hearing range, as the two boys hurried over to kneel by the side of the injured silver-haired hunter before Akane could even respond to the former's query.
Zero grimaced slightly upon the sudden weight of the two boys clinging on to him, and he nearly throw the infuriating pureblood a look of gratitude when the former removed the two boys from his injured body forcefully.
"Boys, calm down ... I'm fine, just injured. I'll survived, so do stop with that depressing look alright? " Zero told the distressed twins, before he struggled to get himself into a standing position as he attempted to convince the boys that he would be fine.
The boys though not entirely convinced, managed a nod at their Daddy's words before giving in to their Father's request for them to return to the Moon Dormitory with Akane. As soon as the twins' had their back turned against Zero, the silver-haired guardian nearly stumbled and fell and if it was not for the sudden support of the pureblood's arms around himself. Zero might have lose his ability to stand up straight, altogether.
"You can let go of me now, Kuran. " Zero started, as soon as he regained control of his body actions.
"No. Not yet, you're still disoriented. Your body need time to repair itself, and until I'm certain that you are able to stand on your own. I will not relinquished my hold on you. " Kaname responded, his tone firm leaving the fellow hunter no room for objections.
Realizing that the pureblood would not be letting go of him anytime soon, Zero sighed inwardly as he resigned himself to the idea of being supported by the former as they made their way back to the Chairman's living quarters. He would have to spend the night at the Chairman's living quarters, since he knew by now that making his way back to his dormitory room would not be a possible option due to his injury. Especially, since his injury was a result from being slash by a sword. That would be hard to explain, as a typical human-being would not be able to survive such a damaging wound without going to the hospital.
---
The next morning, Zero ended up having to skip through the whole period of the examination as his body was still regenerating itself to recover from the damage which Shizuka had did to him, the night before. Yuuki, on the other hand, kept getting the feeling that she had forgotten something that was of utmost importance and that inevitably resulted in her daze-like manner throughout the whole examination time period.
No doubt, that caused the whole class average results to fall significantly and thus causing the class representative to stare at Yuuki all day long. After all, Yuuki was the main culprit that resulted in their class being ranked last among the whole level of the year two students. For it seems like all Yuuki had managed to write on the paper was her own name, the rest of the paper was completely left blank. That was far worst than Zero, whom had simply choose not to turn up for the paper.
Later that evening, Zero woke to find the twins sleeping in a crouching position by the side of his bed. He was about to move them onto his bed so that the boys could slept on more comfortably, when the door leading to his room within the Chairman's living quarters open up to admit the entrance of Kaname Kuran.
Not wanting to wake the twins from their slumber, Zero nodded towards the pureblood as an indication of his acknowledgement of the former's presence. To which, Kaname responded with a nod of his own. Silence reigned, as the two of them just spend their time watching the slumbering figures of their future sons.
"I thought you weren't going to let them out from the Moon Dormitory? " Zero whispered, keeping his voice soft such that he would not risk rousing the twins from their sleep.
"I can't possibly banned them from wanting to visit their other parent, can I? Besides, I doubt they would obeyed my orders after witnessing the degree of your injury last night. They were getting restless, and if I do not allow them to pay you a visit. They are still going to sneak out, either way. So I figured I might as well just bring them over, lest they tried to wander off by themselves without an escort. "
Zero nodded to Kaname's response, as he watched the two boys tried to make themselves comfortable by using his lap as a pillow. He was currently sitting up in bed, Kaname was now standing by the side of his bed after the twins had been moved to a sleeping position on the silver-haired guardian's bed.
"What did you do to Yuuki last night?" Zero finally asked. Although, he wanted to know if Kaname Kuran had known about the identity of Maria Kurenai before the events of last night occurred. He felt that it might be better if he received no answers to that particular question, somehow he had a feeling that the answer which he would received should the pureblood choose to respond, would break his fragile level of trust in the former.
"Nothing drastic, I'd just removed the memories of last night from her mind. It would not do any good for her to get involved in the situation between the two of you. "
"I see ... " Zero responded, his tone vague and slightly miffed. So the pureblood did know, but had not bothered to let him in on the fact. Oddly enough, instead of being angered by the notion he was just irritated.
"I had my suspicions when she first arrived, but I didn't think it wise to act upon the situation then. For I need evidence to support my conjecture, and I need to know her motives for coming here before I can do anything else. "
"Kuran, Shut Up! The twins are waking, I do not want them to be involved in the situation either. Besides, I didn't really ask you to explain your reasoning to me, did I? " Zero whispered harshly, throwing a glare towards the dark-haired pureblood vampire whose presence was starting to irritate him now.
Just then Subaru spoke hesitantly, and tentatively. "Daddy? Are you fighting with Father again?"
"... No, Subaru. We weren't fighting, he's just being his usual annoying self. " Zero told the boy calmly, as he tried to ignore the gaze of intense from the pureblood that was now boring a hole through the back of his head.
"Daddy, are you feeling alright now? " Akira then spoke up, opting to ignore his Father's existence in the room by concentrating his attention solely on the pale figure sitting on the bed.
Zero patted both boys on the head fondly, before assuring them. "Yes, I'm fine now. The wound's fading and healing nicely, so the two of you can stop worrying now. Daddy will be as good as new, in another day's time - alright? "
Both boys nodded, heaving a sigh of relief before they finally turned towards the awaiting pureblood and asked. "Father, can we stay here tonight?"
Kaname's eyebrow twitched, before responding. "No, your Daddy still need his rest tonight. If the two of you are around, he won't be able to rest properly. "
Zero threw the former a look of annoyance, but did not object to the pureblood's words. He supposed he did need some time to himself, either to rest or to sort out his thoughts.
---
The night of the 'dinner & dance' arrived, and two days had passes by since his previous fight with Maria Kurenai or rather, Shizuka Hiou in Zero's opinion. He had arrived back at his dormitory room only to find a brand new set of formal gents' suit being laid out on his bed and immediately felt his eyebrow twitching upon the sight.
He did not even have to ask around the building to know whom had been in his room earlier, it was quite obvious from the way his fellow dormitory mates had been staring at him upon his return from the school.
"Damn Kuran! If he thinks that I'll be wearing that to the function, then he's sorely mistaken." Zero cursed aloud, to no one in particular before throwing a glare of venom towards the innocent set of gents' suit that was lying on his bed waiting to be tried on.
At the same point of time, over at the girls dormitory building. Wakaba Sayori accepted the box of evening gown from the hands of Kaname Kuran, with an inward sigh. It seems like every time she attempted to visit somewhere within the school grounds, she would ended up being force to interact with the night-class members. Ever since the talk she had with a certain blue-eyed blond vampire two night ago when the former trapped her down within the school building, while she was doing some last minute preparation for the school's event.
This time around, the president of the Moon Dormitory had trapped her down while she was on her way to the washroom with the request for her to deliver the said piece of garment to her friend, Yuuki.
Knocking on the door to their shared dormitory room, Sayori resigned herself to the idea of playing messenger for the pureblood as she spoke up from the doorway.
"Yuuki, are you going to the event dressed in the school uniform? You do know that even backstage helpers are allowed to have a few dance of their own out in the event hall, right?"
"Yori-chan, well ... but the Chairman had entrusted me with the duty of maintaining discipline among students whom took part in the event, just now ... " Yuuki responded, with a helpless shrug of her shoulders at her friend's words.
In return, Sayori just looked at her for a while and said. "Well ... it's up to you, I guess. Anyway, this came for you just now. Kaname-senpai had delivered it over himself. "
"Eh? Kaname-senpai? " Yuuki blinked in surprise, she had thought that the former had already forgotten about her existence recently. After all, ever since the arrival of Akane and the twins, the pureblood had been focusing his attention more on Zero than herself.
When Yuuki finally arrived at the event hall, she was not surprised to find her silver-haired patrolling partner already stationed by the side of the ballroom, conversing with her adopted father.
"Ah ... looks like Yuuki-chan had decided to dress herself up for the event too. Papa is so happy! " The Chairman greeted Yuuki's arrival with his annoying sing-song tone of voice, causing Zero's eyebrow to twitch involuntarily.
"Chairman, do me a favor and shut up! Your voice is grating on my nerves!" Zero gritted out, resisting the urge to strangle the ex-hunter right there and then.
"A-re? Zero, you're dressed up as well? " Yuuki piped up, her eyes brightening up with interest since she had knew her silver-haired friend to be one whom detested the idea of such events. So she was exceptionally curious to know the reason why her friend had made an effort to come for the event, dressed in something else other than the typical black school uniform of the academy.
"It's not by my own choice! I was forced into this particular attire by that crazy father of yours! " Zero gritted out in annoyance, upon the memory of the Chairman knocking on his door only to notice that set of gents' suit lying on his bed untouched and practically forced him into wearing it for the school 'dinner & dance' event. If it was not for the fact that he wanted so much to stop the man from nagging, Zero would very much preferred to wear his own uniform rather than the suit prepared by that infuriating pureblood going by the name of Kaname Kuran.
During which period of time, Shizuka Hiou whom was inhabiting the body of Maria Kurenai was patiently waiting for her chance to strike. She had sent Ichiru to where she had kept her real body hidden, while she remained in one of the empty room situated near the event hall. She knew the female guardian would come and approached her in time, she was certain of that. Rather, the baits which she had used would ensure to lure the girl over to her like how the fishes would be attracted to the bait of the rod.
~to be continued~
Date started: 27/05/09
Date completed: 29/05/09
Date edited: 29/05/09